USA > Ohio > Pioneer history : being an account of the first examinations of the Ohio valley, and the early settlement of the Northwest territory ; chiefly from original manuscripts > Part 10
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"I wanted to leave the village that evening, but the Wy- andots insisted on my staying longer with them. They said they would consider my message, for as yet I had seen nothing that was good. That night they all got drunk. The next morning, White Eyes and myself grew impatient to get off, but the head chief of the Wyandots still insisted on our staying, and gave us the strongest assurances that no injury should be done to us. He and some others, in com- pany with White Eyes, went over to Detroit and returned in the evening. He told White Eyes that his errand was to obtain the governor's leave for us to stay a few days among them, but that he would not suffer it; so that we must leave the village directly. The governor saw White Eyes, and threatened to put him in irons and send him to Niagara, if he did not leave Detroit immediately.
" We left the Wyandot village in company with a Wyan- dot man, and proceeded that evening as far as his house. The next day one Isaac Zane came to see me. In the course of conversation he told me that in talking with the half king of the Wyandots, he asked him if the governor had not delivered him a tomahawk belt. He said he had. That the Big Knife had threatened them for some time past, so that they could not mind their hunting, and that now they would threaten them. I asked him if it was his opinion that the Wyandots would join generally. He said it was almost certain that one half of them would not.
" The next day Zane and a Wyandot man came to where we were. We conversed a good deal on the subject of the quarrel between Great Britain and the colonies. I asked the chief what the Indians promised themselves by joining the King's troops ? I told him that perhaps while the con- test continued, they might be furnished with clothes and
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WILSON'S REPORT.
such like ; but when it was over, they must return to their former way of living ; that if the Americans should be suc- cessful, they would be so incensed against the Indians who fought against them, that they would march an army into their country, destroy them, and take their lands from them. He said it was very true. "There," said he, " is my toma- hawk. I will never lift it, nor shall any of my family fight against the Big Knife, if I can help it, unless they come into my own house."
" John Montour, and the Wyandot man who piloted me to Detroit, came up with us. Montour continued at Detroit two days after I left it. He told me that after I came away, he was drinking in company with the half king of the Wy- andots, and that when he got a little in liquor, he told him that the Big Knife need never expect him to be friends with them again ; and that for his part, he should follow nothing but breaking their heads wherever he met with them.
"We set out for Coochocking. Nothing material hap- pened on our journey. White Eyes appeared to be a good deal chagrined, as well at the reception he met with from the governor, as from the more western tribes of Indians. He said the Delawares, he thought, were equally as liable to be struck by the western tribes, as the Big Knife was ; that they kept every thing secret from them; and that, as soon as they found they were determined for war, he would collect all his people together, and would apply to his American brothers to send men to him, and erect a strong fort ; that then he should not regard them, for the western tribes were but very indifferent warriors, and if they struck he would soon return the blows. Then, said he, the gov- ernor of Detroit will need to take care of his head; and the people of the great falls of Niagara shall tremble, too. It was his opinion, if that should be the case, a number of the Shawanees would join him; for that one of their chiefs told him at Detroit, that his sentiments were the same as his, respecting Great Britain and the coloniés."
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THE DELAWARES.
From such sources as the above, the commissioners could hardly fail of procuring correct intelligence as to the inten- tions of the western tribes ; and from the report of Mr. Wil- son they had little favor to expect from any of them. The most they could calculate upon was a division in some of the tribes, as to whether they should actually engage in war with the United States ; but nearly all agreed in hold- ing friendly views toward their father, the king of England.
Soon after Wilson's return, they received a message from the Delawares at Coochocking, on the Muskingum, (this is now called Coshocton, by the whites,) that on the 20th of September, a party of eighteen Wyandots, two Mingoes, and one Ottowa warrior, had passed the "Standing Stone," (now Lancaster,) on their way down the Hock- hocking, for the purpose of making an inroad on the Big Knife, or Virginians. The commissioners immediately sent notice of the same to the frontier inhabitants, that they might be on their guard. In this way many of the war parties of the hostile tribes were disappointed in their expectations of falling by surprise on the inhabitants, from the timely notice of the friendly Delawares. Nevertheless, in case of an actual war with the United States, more than half of this tribe, it was thought, would fight against them. Mr. Morgan continued to exert himself unweariedly, in at- tempting to gain the friendship of the western tribes, and to induce them to attend the treaty. He was necessarily absent, in Philadelphia and Baltimore a part of the sum- mer, on business for the commissioners ; but towards the last of October, he succeeded in collecting some of the tribes at Fort Pitt. But the Ottawas, Wyandots, Chippe- was, and Mingoes, could not be persuaded either to attend or to send deputies to the treaty. They were stationed too near the British forces at Detroit, and were entirely devo- ted to their interests.
On the 8th of November, Colonel Morgan wrote to John Hancock, the President of Congress, as follows :
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110
LETTER OF COLONEL MORGAN.
" Sir-I have the happiness to inform Congress that the cloud which threatened to break over this part of the coun- try appears now to be nearly dispersed. The Six Nations, Delawares, Munsies, Mohicans, and Shawanees, who have been assembled here to the number of six hundred and forty- four, with their principal chiefs and warriors, have given the strongest assurance of their resolutions, to preserve in- violate the peace and neutrality they have engaged in with the United States. About sixty or seventy families, com- posed of most of the different tribes of the Six Nations, and a few of the Lake Indians, but principally of the Senecas, who removed from near the mouths of cross creeks, on the Ohio, a few years ago, and are now seated on the heads of the Scioto, have been the perpetrators of all the mischief and murders committed on the frontiers of Virginia, since the last treaty." "The murders which have come to my know- ledge, are of two women at the mouth of Fish creek (where one boy is missing), one man, opposite Hockhocking, where four others were wounded, and two soldiers, who were killed and scalped within half a mile of Fort Randolph, at the mouth of Great Kenawha, all on the banks of the Ohio. Two days before the last mentioned happened, the Shawa- nees made it their business, as they frequently have done, to inform the commanding officer at Kenawha, that a party of Mingoes, as these people are generally called, were in the neighborhood, with hostile intentions. Before any of these murders were committed, our frontier inhabitants were generally flown from their farms and evacuated the coun- try, for two hundred miles in extent, except at particular places, where some of them forted and proposed to make a stand. This flight was occasioned by the false alarms we received in the months of August and September last, res- pecting the great assemblies of Indians to attack this post, and of a general war being inevitable. In order to put a stop to the conduct of the banditti above mentioned, the Six Nations have now deputed a principal chief and several
f
111
COLONEL MORGAN'S PURCHASES.
warriors to go and remove the whole of them to the Seneca country ; or at least to make them sensible of their error, and engage them to desist. In case of a refusal, they are to threaten them with a total extirpation, as disturbers of the general peace ; in which several chiefs of different nations have assured me they will unite. Several principal men of the different nations having accepted the invitation of Congress to visit them, is a further proof of the peaceable disposition of their tribes. The Indians having frequently complained of our surveying their lands, and having now pointed to a recent instance thereof in public council, will give Congress a good opportunity to convince them of the , sincerity of our professions on that head. For the particu- lars of every transaction here, I beg leave to refer to the commissioners who wait upon Congress with their report."
The following is an extract from a letter of Colonel Dor- sey Pentecost, dated Catfish Camp, Tuesday, Nov. 19, 1776.
"On Monday morning last, within four hundred yards of the garrison at Grave creek, was killed and scalped the eldest son of Adam Rowe; and the younger, who was with him, is missing."
"Catfish Camp," was so named after an old Indian, who lived there for some years after the whites came into the country, and is the spot where the town of Washington, in Pennsylvania, now stands.
The winter of 1776-7 was spent in comparative quiet. It seems that the garrison at Fort Pitt contained one hundred men, under the command of Major Nevill; and the Fort Randolph, at Kenawha, one hundred and sixty-six men, un- der the command of Captain Arbuckle. In December, Col- onel Morgan purchased about five thousand dollars worth of clothes, blanketings, powder, lead, &c., from two traders, from Detroit, then at Cuyahoga, for the use of the United States. He also proposed that a large stock of provisions should be laid in at Pittsburgh, for the use of the troops and
112
LETTER OF CAPTAIN ARBUCKLE.
volunteers, should it be necessary, from the hostility of the Indians, to make an inroad into their country, to attack their towns. At the same time, he sent to Congress a statement of the condition of the British navy and garrison at Detroit.
An order was passed for collecting provisions for two thousand men for six months; four hundred bushels of salt were ordered from Baltimore, the transport of which then was twenty-six shillings a hundred. Much of the flour was also brought on pack horses over the mountains, packed in half barrels, each horse carrying two of them. The price, east of the mountains, at that time, was from thirty-three to thirty-five shillings. Considerable quantities of flour and meal were, even at that early day, manufactured in West- moreland county-as appears from the contracts with certain millers. A dollar was seven shillings and sixpence, in Pennsylvania.
On the 26th December, 1776, Captain Arbuckle, the com- mander at Fort Randolph, wrote to Major Nevill in relation to the affairs of that station. He says :
Cornstalk arrived the 29th November, in company with Mr. Wood. The White Fish's son, Kee-we-tom, left the Kenawha that day for the Shawanese towns; but, meeting three Indians, (whom he says are Mingoes, but the Cornstalk, Delawares,) he returned with them and encamped opposite the fort, with Cornstalk. All got drunk that evening. In the night, two of the new comers crossed over the river above the fort. The next morning, Captain Arbuckle crossed over to Cornstalk's camp. The stranger gave him a string of wampum. Kee-we-tom called him a damned Mingo. Cornstalk said, no; he was a Wyandot. The stranger showed signs of fear.
Captain Arbuckle then crossed back to the fort, and found that Mr. Clark, one of his soldiers, was taken prisoner. The Indians were seen and pursued, but without effect. He, however, sent over the river to make prisoner of the stranger ; but Cornstalk endeavored to secrete him, and said
113
SPEECH OF COLONEL MORGAN.
he had run off. But, on searching, the party found him and made him prisoner; and Captain Arbuckle detained him until Clark was returned, which was about the 19th Decem- ber. He was brought back by White Fish and five other Shawanees. They informed Captain Arbuckle that thirty Mingoes crossed the Ohio, at Little Kenawha, for the settle- ments, a few days before.
Early in March following, Colonel Morgan sent the fol- lowing speech to the commandant of Fort Randolph, to be forwarded by him to Ke-sha-wata-tha, a chief of the Shawanees :
"The United American States to their brethren, the Shawanees.
" Brothers -I was glad to hear, by the message your good old wise chief sent to me by Chitteman, that our young brothers remember the good council which we had last .fall, and that they are determined to keep fast hold of our friendship.
"Brothers-If any of your young people should be so foolish as to listen to bad enemies, I desire your wise men will set them right, and not suffer the evil spirit to interrupt our good works.
" Brothers - You may depend we will hold fast to our promise, and not forget the wise councils of our ancestors, who have directed us, their children, to live in constant friendship with our Indian brethren. This our fathers agreed upon when they first met in this island and smoked together under the tree of peace; now brothers, don't let us forget our old covenant.
" Brothers - Whenever you see a white man, let him come from where he will, be sure to treat him kindly, as we do you- this will make our friendship last forever.
" Brothers-I have spoke to our brothers the Mingoes very often. I intended to send a messenger and speak to them once more. Then if they will not listen to what is 8
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DELAWARES AT FORT PITT.
good, I shall not speak again to them. Be strong brothers and let us strive to disperse that cloud, and then we shall have clear day light." [Four hundred white wampum.]
On the 4th of March, 1777, several of the Delawares arrived at Fort Pitt, with the following intelligence, which they communicated to Colonel Morgan, or Taimenend, a name which they had bestowed upon him, and means the white deer, and by which they always address him. " About twenty days ago, two Chippewa Indians, two Six Nation Indians and two white men came to the Munsey town in fourteen days from Niagara. The Indians made no delay there, but the two .white men, who were very tired, staid there. The Indians proceeded directly to the Kittaning, and there took one of your people, (Mr. McFarlane,) and have carried him to Niagara. They told our young people and the women, for none others were at home, that the com- manding officer at Niagara sent them for the above pur- pose, in order to hear the news in these parts. They were directed not to hurt him. Had our head men been at home we should have brought him back, for we will not allow this bad work to pass through our towns." Kittaning was a station on the Alleghany river, about forty miles above Fort Pitt.
On the 23d February, 1777, fourteen boat carpenters and sawyers arrived at Pittsburgh from Philadelphia, and were set to work on the Monongahela, fourteen miles above the Fort, near a saw mill. They built thirty large boats or batteaux, that were forty feet long, nine feet wide, and thirty-two inches deep. These were intended to transport provisions and troops, should it be necessary to invade the Indian country.
In a letter to President Hancock, of March 15th, 1777, Colonel Morgan speaks of the hostility of the border inhabi- tants to the Indians. He says : "Parties have even been as- sembled to massacre our known friends at their hunting
115
INDIAN BANDITTI.
camps, as well as messengers on business to me; and I have esteemed it necessary to let those messengers sleep in my own chamber for their security. It is truly distres- sing to submit to the injuries we have and are frequently receiving along the frontier settlements and out-posts, from the Mingo banditti and their associates; but it must be ex- tremely injurious to the interests of the United States at this critical time to involve ourselves into a general Indian war, which I believe may still be warded off, by pursuing the wise measures intended by Congress. It is not uncom- mon to hear even those who ought to know better, express an ardent desire for an Indian war, on account of the fine lands those poor people possess. But I fear the dreadful consequences of a general Indian war; and I believe it is more necessary to restrain our own people and promote good order among them, than to think of aweing the differ- ent nations by expeditions into the country, which may in- volve us in a general and unequal quarrel with all the na- tions, who are at present quiet, but extremely jealous of the least encroachments on their lands."
Colonel Morgan was unwearied in his exertions to pre- serve peace with the Indian nations, especially at this criti- cal period of our contest with Great Britain. With a for- midable force of civilized foes on the Atlantic border, and the addition of these savage hordes along our extended frontier, the liberties of the country would have been in im- minent danger. It was, therefore, of the first importance to avert this threatened catastrophy.
In a letter to the agent for Indian affairs in the northern department, he says: "The peace of this country has been greatly disturbed for many months past, by a banditti of the Six Nations, of every tribe, but principally of the Senecas of Alleghany. They consist of sixty families at most, but have gained some adherents by intermarriages with the Wyandots, Delawares, and Shawanees, and by assuming the air and authority of the Six Nation council. Their
116
LETTER OF CAPTAIN MOREHEAD.
whole number does not exceed eighty men, and even they are divided in sentiments. Yet they have, by sending out one or two small parties every month or six weeks, kept the frontiers of Virginia in a perpetual alarm, and occa- sioned an immense expense in garrisoning a number of posts. Were these people situated by themselves, they might easily be chastised; but they are seated in the midst of several nations whose friendship it is our interest to cul- tivate, and avoid every possible risk of injuring in any respect. Several attempts have been made to induce the Senecas to remove these relations of theirs, but to no effect. Sir William Johnson and his agents made several efforts in his time, for that purpose; but without avail. They have many years practised horse-stealing and robbery, on every occasion which offered itself. Yet I apprehend, if a serious deputation, of six or eight principal men of the Six Nations' council, could be sent to them, and to insist on their removal, it might be accomplished ; but they pay no regard to the Sen- ecas, who, indeed, appear very little desirous, at present, to remove or restrain them, though they have made many promises."
In March, an express arrived from the friendly Delawares at Mahoning, that a large body of northern Indians passed · by Coochocking, where they left their canoes, on their way to attack Kittaning, and to fall on the frontier inhabitants of Westmoreland. This timely notice enabled them to be prepared for the attack, and so for the present it was averted.
On the 21st of March, 1777, Captain Morehead, the com- mandant at Kittaning, wrote to Colonel Morgan : "Sunday morning my brother and Andrew Simpson left here to go home. Myself left it (for Twelve Mile run) on Tuesday, and found on the road, Simpson killed and scalped; my brother either killed or taken; a war mallet left on the road, and a tomahawk, with a letter, of which I have sent you a copy, enclosed.
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117
INDIAN LETTER.
Copy of the letter.
" NIAGARA, February 2d, 1777.
" A message from the chiefs of the Mohawks, Ononda- gas, Cayugas, Senecas, Tuscarawas, Missasagoes, and Chippewas -Serehowand, speaker -
" To the Virginians and Pennsylvanians now at Venan- go. You have feloniously taken possession of part of our country on the branches of the Ohio, as well as the Susque- hanna. To the latter we have some time since sent you word to quit our lands, as we now do to you, as we do n't know we ever gave you liberty, nor can we be easy in our minds, while there is an armed force at our very doors ; nor do we think you or any body else would. Therefore, to use you with more lenity than you have a right to expect, we now tell you, in a peaceful manner, to quit our lands wherever you have possessed yourselves of them, imme- diately, or blame yourselves for whatever may happen. Your pretence, of Colonel Butler coming into your country, you have no foundation for, as you know there is no army there ; therefore, we look upon it, that your design is against us ; but whether or not, nothing will make us easy in our minds, but your immediately leaving our country. We de- sire you not to make any excuses, by pretending to acquaint your congress, &c., of our behavior. The lands are ours, and we insist on your quitting them immediately." [A belt.]
In a letter to President Hancock, Colonel Morgan sup- poses that Colonel Butler was the instigator of the letter, for the purpose of exciting the indignation of the Indians. He also acknowledges that their complaints were true, and that we had encroached on their lands, but not at Venango.
Small parties of the Mingoes, and other outlaws, con- tinuing to harrass, murder, and plunder the people on the frontiers ; especially those of Virginia, against whom the Indians had more just cause of complaint than those of
118
LETTER OF GOVERNOR HENRY.
any other of the frontiers, they attacking them whenever and wherever they could find them.
In consequence of these repeated hostilities, Patrick Hen- ry, governor of Virginia, in council at Williamsburgh, the 12th March, 1777, resolved to order an expedition of three hundred men, under the command of Colonel David Shep- herd and Major Henry Taylor, to be raised in the counties of Monongahela, Yohiogany, and Ohio, for an inroad into the country west of Ohio, to chastise the Indians living at Pluggystown, on the heads of the Scioto. At the same time he wrote to Colonel Morgan and Colonel John Nevill, the commandant at Fort Pitt, as follows :
" Gentlemen- You will perceive, by the papers which accompany this, that the Indians at Pluggystown are to be punished in an exemplary manner. When you apply to the Shawanees and Delawares on the subject, it may not be amiss to observe to them, that these villainous Indians, by their frequent mischiefs, may breed suspicions against innocent friends and allies, for it is often difficult to tell what nation are the offenders. Willing to cultivate that good understanding which subsists between Virginia and their nations, the Shawanees and Delawares cannot take umbrage at the march against Pluggy's people, more espe- cially as the latter march through the country of the former when they attack us." He then goes on to request him to give notice to the Delaware and Shawanese chiefs of the intended expedition, and that it be kept as secret as possible from the ears of the Indians at Pluggystown. The soldiers are enjoined to spare the women and children in the attack, and as many of the men as submit.
This communication was received at Fort Pitt on the 1st of April, and notice was immediately sent to Colonel Shep- herd and Major Taylor, to meet him on the 8th of the month, that they might decide on the best means of carry- ing the order of the governor of Virginia into effect. At
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LETTER TO GOVERNOR HENRY.
the same time they wrote to his Excellency, Patrick Henry, Esq., as follows :
"Sir- We had not the honor to receive your orders and the minutes of the 12th ult., until this day. We immedi- ately wrote to Colonel Shepherd and Major Taylor to meet us here, the 8th inst., to confer thereon, and determine the most effectual steps to carry the same into execution; and your excellency may be assured we will leave nothing in our power undone, that may tend to promote the interest of our country in general, or the success of this enterprise in particular ; not regarding the strict line of duty in our res- pective departments, but the promotion of the service on the most liberal plan. We, nevertheless, wish we were left more at liberty to exercise our judgments, or to take advice on the expediency and practicability of the undertaking at this critical time ; for although we are persuaded, from what has already passed between Colonel Morgan and our allies, the Delawares and Shawanees, that they would wish us success therein ; yet we apprehend the inevitable conse- quences of this expedition will be a general Indian war, which we are persuaded it is the interest of the state at this time to avoid, even by the mortifying means of liberal do- nations to certain leading men among the nations, as well as by calling them again to a general treaty. And if the state of Pennsylvania should judge it prudent to take some steps to gratify the Six Nations in regard to the encroach- ments made on their lands on the north-western frontier of that state, of which they have so repeatedly complained, we hope and believe it would have a very salutary effect. The settlement of the lands on the Ohio, below the Ken- hawa and at Kentucky, gives the western nations great uneasiness. How far the state of Virginia may judge it wise to withdraw or confine those settlements for a certain term of years, or during the British war, is too delicate a matter for us to give our opinion on ; but we have reason to think that the measures we have (though perhaps out of
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