USA > Ohio > The Revolution on the Upper Ohio, 1775-1777 > Part 10
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in our Towns in the hands of the Shawanese which we will also Use our best Endeavours to have de- livered up A String
Doctor Walker then delivered the following Speech to the Different Tribes of Indians Bretheren your younger Brothers the Shawanese are Greatly Obliged to the other Nations for their kind interpo- sition in their favor we are much pleased to find all the Nations present so heartily disposed to Establish the Peace of this Country Brothers we have heard your respective promises and Engagements relying On the Most faithfull Performance thereof we shall rest satisfied and desire you will all be strong in this Good Work that the Peace now Established betwixt us may Endure forever when you bring our flesh and Blood Negroes and Horses to this place (which we hope, will be soon) we desire you will deliver them to Captain Nevill Commandant at this Fort we have a few Presents to make you for your Winter Cloath- ing and for your Women and Children which were sent you by your Brothers of Virginia and which is over and above their Proportionable part of the pres- ent you will hereafter receive from the . Com[missi] oners Appointed by the Thirteen Un[ited] Colonies the Present put into our h[ands] will be delivered as soon as the Continental Commissioners finish their Business with you We are now in perfect Freind- ship with you all and hope to remain so forever A String to Each Nation
The Different Nations of Indians were then In- formed that if they were desirous of sending any of their Children to be Educated among the White
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People it shou'd be done without any Expence to them and that if any of them thought proper to Visit our Country they wou'd be taken by the Hand and treated with Hospitality21
At a Conference held with the Different Nations of Indians October 19th 1775 Present the same Commissioners as before The Commissioners as well as the Cheifs of the Different Nations proceeded to the Appointment of persons as well on the part of the Colony as the said Indians to Perform that part of the Treaty relating to the Delivery of the Prison- ers Negroes and [H]orses which remain among the Indians Mr John Gibson wit[h] one other White Man is Appointed for the Colony of Virginia Kightoi and Kenightie for the Six Nations Tete- puska, Winganum and Joseph Pepy for the Dela- wares and Allanawissica and Wewelatimiha for the Shawanese It is likewise Engaged by the Indians that Kiashota a Six Nation Cheif and Cap" Pipe a
21 The following letter, dated Williamsburgh, Nov. 18, 1775, is printed in Amer. Archives, 4th series, iii, p. 1542: "Dr. Thomas Walker, one of the gentlemen appointed by the Con- vention to treat with the Indians, is returned to this City and informs that all the different nations, who attended the treaty, are peacefully disposed, notwithstanding the endeavours of several persons from Fort Detroit to set them against this Colony in particular. Mr. Walker has brought with him a young Indian (son of the famous Bawbee) to be educated at college." This young chief remained in Virginia until 1779, but upon his return to the Indian country spread among the tribesmen unfavorable reports of the Virginians. See Hecke- welder, Narrative, p. 206 .- ED.
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Delaware Cheif shall go with them to the Shawanese Towns and Assist them in the Execution of their purpose
October 21st 1775
TIIOMAS WALKER ANDREW LEWIS JAMES WOOD ADAM . STEPHEN
BRITISH REPORT OF TREATY
[Lieut. Gov. Henry Hamilton to Gen. Guy Carleton. 45JI01 - A. L., draft in handwriting of Hamilton.]
DETROIT Novr: 30th. 1775 Decr : 4th 22
SIR: I had the honor of writing to your Ex [cel- lency] by the opportunity of Mr Bolton Master of the Gage Schooner, who is gone down to Canada to en- deavor to engage seamen for the service of the Lakes the ensuing season.23 Since his departure a Delaware savage, named Mahingan John arrived here 23d. Novr: from Pittsbourg where he had been present at a Council of the Virginians assembled there upon the design of engaging several nations to declare in their favor he came to this place in com-
22 In the manuscript the date Nov. 30th has been crossed out, and Decr. 4th substituted, as here indicated .- ED.
23 The British kept a considerable naval force on the Great Lakes during the Revolution. See papers concerning the equipment, in Wis, Hist. Colls., xi, pp. 193-202. The "Gage" was still in use in 1777. David Bolton later commanded the "Ottawa," and appears to have had charge of all the shipping on the lakes. See Mich. Pion. & Hist. Colls., ix, p. 351 .- ED.
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pany with a frenchman . (one Drouillard)24 whom Cap": Lernoult25 has employed & who was within ten miles of Pittsburg. Drouillard's busyness, was to enquire among the savages what was going forward, & to bring the earliest accounts to this place, as also to accompany any savage who might have got Belts to distribute, & to learn the result as well as to con- tradict false reports &ct. Mahingan John had got belts from the Virginians, which he was to deliver to a Huron chief called Old Calotte, who lives about
24 In the latter years of the French regime, the father of Pierre Drouillard emigrated to Detroit, where the son was born (about 1754). Pierre early became familiar with Indian languages, and was employed in trade with the savages. While among the Shawnee, he had a son, George, who after- wards accompanied Lewis and Clark on their expedition to the Pacific (1804-06). At the outbreak of the Revolution, Pierre was taken into the Indian department as interpreter for the Wyandot nation, receiving sixteen shillings per day until 1783. In 1778, he saved Simon Kenton from the stake, by the payment of $100 in goods. At the close of the war he sought Kenton's home in Kentucky, where the latter rewarded him with a gift of land, and a home in his own house. In 1786 Drouillard visited Congress, and was taken into United States service, being sent to negotiate with the Northwestern Indians. He finally settled on his farm between Sandwich and Malden and died there in April, 1803. He had married (1776) Angel- ine Labadie, by whom he left several children. Much of the above information was secured by Draper from the heirs of Kenton and Drouillard ; see Draper MSS., 17S and 8BB .- ED. 25 Richard Berringer Lernoult was in 1756 commissioned lieutenant of the 8th (or King's) regiment, and received his captaincy in 1767. Two years later he was stationed in America, and in 1773 sent with a small detachment to Detroit. In 1776 he was relieved. but returned to Detroit Dec. 1, 1777. There he was left first in command on the departure of Gov- ernor Hamilton for Vincennes in October, 1778. After the capture of Hamilton, Lernoult had entire charge of the de- partment of the West until relieved by De Peyster in Novem- ber, 1779. At Quebec he was promoted to a majority and served as adjutant-general for Haldimand, 1780-83 .- ED.
Lieut .- Gov. Henry Hamilton
After a portrait in the possession of Clarence M. Burton of Detroit
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10 leagues from this place who is much in the Eng- lish Interest, and who has declared he will not allow those Belts to go any further, but that they should be buried with him. We expect him here early in the Spring and shall endeavor to keep him in the same disposition. We have had accounts of your Excel- lency's success against the Rebels upon which I beg leave 'most sincerely to congratulate you26 As Mahin- gan John is to be at a Council next Spring at Pits- burgh, he has been made acquainted with some of the particulars which are sufficient to undeceive the Dela- wares and Shawanese, which latter from the purport of the enclosed papers your Excellency will perceive are not likely to continue upon terms with the Vir- ginians. Indeed any Peace between those people and any of the savage nations is liable to frequent interruptions from more causes than one. The Vir- ginians are haughty Violent and bloody, the savages have a high opinion of them as Warriors, but are jealous of their encroachments, and very suspicious of their faith in treaties, the Virginians having fur- nished them with frequent cause, seizing their Chiefs & detaining them as hostages, during which time their treatment has not been as mild as good policy should have dictated. In the inroads of the Virginians upon the savages, the former have plundered, burnt and murdered without mercy. Tis to be supposed from the character of the savages, that opportunity only
20 Referring doubtless to the defeat and capture of Ethan Allen, who rashly made an attempt upon Montreal, Sept. 24, 1775 .- ED.
9
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is wanting to retaliate, and that there can be but lit- tle cordiallity between them. If the affairs of the Colonials decline next year as I think we may reas- onably expect, from all I can learn of the disposition of the savages, the frontier of Virginia in particular will suffer very severely. The nation of the Hurons is greatly respected by all the neighbouring nations, and it is probable the expence of presents to them next Spring will be pretty considerable. C[aptain] Lernoult tells me your Ex: had mentioned to him by letter that he should have by this fall or the next spring six Months provisions in addition for this post and that of Missilimalkinak, which considering the proposed addition of seamen, and the Necessity of providing the savages will be very neces- sary. Mr: Hay who acts as Engineer here, and who understands the Huron language,27 judges from what the savages say that if the Virginians and Dela- wares should cross the Ohio next Spring it will be as early as April. The Virginians have several Em- issaries in pay and have given away in presents and
27 Jehu Hay was born in Chester, Pennsylvania, and in 1758 enlisted in the 60th (or Royal) American regiment. In 1762 he was promoted to a lieutenancy, and sent to Detroit with a detachment of troops. There he served during Pontiac's con- spiracy, and in 1766 was made Indian commissary. In 1776 he became deputy Indian agent, and major of the Detroit militia. Having accompanied Hamilton to Vincennes, he was taken prisoner (1779) by George Rogers Clark, and sent to Virginia, where he was finally exchanged in 1781, and passed via New York to England. In June, 1782, Hay was again in Quebec, where he was appointed lieutenant-governor of De- troit to succeed De Peyster. He did not, however, reach De- troit until the summer of 1784, and died a year later while oc- cupying his office. Hay had much influence with the Detroit Indians, by whom he was known as "Touraighwaghti."-ED.
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Provisions to the amount of three thousand Pounds, I have desired Mr: Hay to give me a copy of his letter to Capt": Claus25 which I have the honor to enclose to your Ex : as it may save the time of Capt" : Claus communicating to you what it contains. A Canadian one Desnoyers" carries the Express, ac- companied by a Chipawaa Savage,30 they are to call at Niagara and pass by the way of Oswegatchies1
28 Col. Daniel Claus was born in Germany in 1727. Arriv- ing in Philadelphia in 1749, he met Conrad Weiser, a well- known Indian interpreter, and accompanied him among the Six Nations. Claus's proficiency in acquiring Indian lan- guages attracted the notice of the governor of Pennsylvania who commissioned him to learn Iroquois, during which time he resided with Sir William Johnson and King Hendrick, the Mohawk. In the French and Indian War Claus was com- missioned lieutenant of the 60th regiment, and deputy Indian agent under Johnson. At the close of the war, having mar- ried Johnson's daughter, he became superintendent for the Canadian Indians, an office which he held until 1776. Having then been superseded, he visited England, returning in 1777 with a new commission as deputy Indian agent. In that ca- pacity he accompanied St. Leger's expedition (1777) and was in constant service during the Revolutionary War. At itg close, while in the mother country to recover his estate con- fiscated by the Americans, he died in Cardiff, Wales, 1787 .- ED.
29 The Desnoyers were a prominent Detroit family, one mem- ber of which, living on the east side of the river, warned the English officers of the intended siege by Pontiac. Pierre Des- noyers and wife are noted in the census of 1779 .- ED.
30 The Chippewa are a large branch of the Algonquian fam- ily, whose first representatives were met by the French at Sault Ste. Marie-hence their French name, Saulteurs. Upon the founding of Detroit, one branch was attracted to that vi- cinity. Their chief habitat was, however, the shores of Lake Superior and the country north, where large bands of this tribe are still extant .- ED.
81 Fort Oswegatchie was on the site of the mission and for- tified post of Abbé Picquet, a Sulpician missionary, who began an establishment in 1749, called "La Presentation." By the time of the French and Indian War, he had attracted to this place a force of nearly a thousand Iroquois. Being surrendered
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to Montreal, they have directions to go to General Prescott,22 and wait for your Excellency's orders. As .soon as the season grows something milder ( for we have now very severe frost with snow) I shall re- view the Companies of Militia and make your Ex- cellency a report of the state in which I shall find them. As it may possibly happen that Captain Bol- ton (whom I have already mentioned) has been de- tained by bad weather. or some unforeseen accident, I send a duplicate of Capt" : Grant's 33 return of Na- val stores wanting for the Vessels, that if possible they may come by the first Batteaux. The Traders at this Place have presented me a petition ( respect- ing the carrying place at Niagara) to be laid before your Excellency, which I send by the Express. I am not a proper judge of the reasonable [ness] of
to the English in 1760, they rebuilt the fort and named it Os- wegatchie. A garrison was maintained therein until after Jay's Treaty in 1794. The fort was on the site of the present town of Ogdensburgh, N. Y .- ED.
32 Richard Prescott (1725-88) became major of the 33rd in- fantry in 1756. In 1773 he came to Canada, and with the rank of brigadier-general was in command at Montreal in 1775. When Montgomery captured the city, Prescott attempted to escape down the river, but was intercepted and made prisoner. Exchanged the following August (1776), he was sent in De- cember to command in Rhode Island, where he was again made prisoner by the Americans. Prescott was accused of much harshness in his treatment of American prisoners, and was greatly disliked .- ED.
33 Capt. Alexander Grant of the 42nd infantry was in De- troit as early as 1774. He commanded a vessel on the Great Lakes during the entire Revolutionary War, and later became commodore of the British fleet, as well as serving as magis- trate and councillor for the district. In 1812 he was still in command, after fifty years of service. He died at his home at Grosse Pointe about 1815, aged above eighty-five years. His naval service was efficient .- ED.
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their demands and objections, but by all accounts the present occupyer has behaved with uncommon Dili- gence, activity and spirit, and I take the liberty of representing him to your Excellency as a very proper person, at the same time, that I by no means insinu- ate the facts alledged by the traders to be falsely stated. Mr Stedman told me when on the spot. that having been used to transport the loading of Bat- teaux, estimated at so many Barrels, or so many Packs, these Barrels & packs at a certain weight, he found some traders had added to the size of the former & the Weight of the latter, so that he came to a resolution of having all goods weighed in scales at the landing, & to take payment accordingly which would prevent imposition. It is not to be supposed however that the parties concerned are to be judges of the rates or to fix them themselves. I told them they were not to expect at such a time as this that regulations wore to be alterd, or another carrying place thought of on the opposite side (which is the Idea of the Merchs: in Canada as I am informd,) but that they might expect Government would in due time attend to their representation. I shall not at pres- ent take up your Excellency's time with a detail of matters relating to the civil state of the Settlement. when it is signified to me that it may be seasonably done. I shall take the liberty of laying before your Excellency such things as call more immediately for redress.
I am informed by a person of Character here (Mº: Hay acting Engineer,) that when Colo1: Bradstreet
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took Possession of this place & Missilimakinak" he took to the last place a number of Canadians with Arms to assist in taking Possession of the Post, & to cut fuel & do other services for the Garrison, they were promised half a Dollar pr: day, but never got payment, tho they had neglected their harvest & returnd half naked. such a precedent must be of the worst Consequence and I mention the fact to your Excellency as it has left a deep impression on those who were sufferers from such a dishonorable breach of word and Credit. I beg leave to remind your Ex: of a young man named Ferguson or Far- quharson, apprentice to M': Dobie Mercht at Mon- treal, who was extremely active as a Volunteer on the Sorel, and who gave the strongest proofs of his zeal for Government, I had promised him to speak in his favor to your Excellency, but my sudden depart- ure from Montreal would not allow me to be as good as my word, I hope to be excused for taking that liberty now, as I really look upon him to be a young man who would not be a disgrace to the service,
34 Col. John Bradstreet, although English born, spent most of his mature life in America. Distinguishing himself for gal- lantry at the siege of Louisburg (1745), he received promo- tion in the army; and in the French and Indian War was for some time in command at Oswego. His most noted exploit was the capture of Fort Frontenac (1758). After Pontiac and his braves had besieged Detroit for nearly fifteen months, Bradstreet arrived in August, 1764, with an army of twelve hundred overawing the recalcitrant chiefs. Having made a treaty with the Indians, Colonel Bradstreet sent a detachment of three hundred troops under Capt. John Howard to reoccupy Mackinac, or Fort Missilimackimac, as it was then called. With them went two companies of Canadian militia, composed of fifty men cach. Bradstreet was made major-general in 1772, but died two years later at Detroit .- ED.
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& whose talent seems to lye that way, he speaks french very well and is not forward.
The following Paragraph is copied from the torn pieces of a paper which coverd the Talk of the Vir- ginians to the savages at Fort Pitt, and which I sup- pose beeing deem'd by some of the council as too acrimonious has been corrected and crossed out as I have done exactly 35
I have sent this copy to your Excellency because tho not deliverd at the Council it shows how hardly they can restrain their inveteracy against the Sav- ages, and how little cordiallity there can be in their Professions on either side. it does not appear that the savages have returned Belts or Strings for those presented them by the Commissioners, nor have we any account of the answer given by them to the Talk of the Commissioners. a copy of the minutes is sent to Niagara, & will be forwarded in the Spring to Missilimakinak
HENRY HAMILTON 56
Copy of a letter to Gen !. Carleton Decr: 5th. 1775
wrote the same day to Genl. Gage an acct. of the meeting at Fort Pitt on the 7th. Octr: kept no Copy
same date to Gen !. Gage Boston 37 Gen1. Prescott, Mon- treal Lord Rawdon Boston 38 Captn: Gambel Montreal 39 Colol. Caldwell Niagara
35 Here follows a copy of Dr. Walker's speech of Oct. 14. as delivered to the tribesmen, without any omissions; see ante, pp. 116-118, Hamilton was incorrect in his surmise that this was too acrimonious to be delivered .- ED.
36 Henry Hamilton, of Irish descent, entered the British army in 1754; two years later he received his lieutenancy, and served with the 15th infantry, at first in France and then with Amherst at Louisburg (1758), where he was slightly wounded. His regiment had part in the battles around Quebec, and later
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CONNOLLY'S PLOT
[The first document is an extract from a letter dated George- town, Md., Nov. 26, 1775, published in Pennsylvania Packet, 1775, transcribed in Draper MSS., 2JJ, book E. 30-33; the second is from the same source, Dec. 4, 1775, 2JJ34, 35.1
Agreeable to what I wrote you by - -, I set out on Tuesday morning last for Frederick-Town, and when within eight or nine miles of that place, had the pleasure to hear that Major Connolly with three companions were taken about five miles above Hagar's Town, on their way to Fort Pitt; Connolly
served in the West Indies. In April, 1775, he was appointed lieutenant-governor of Detroit, where he arrived Nov. 9 of the same year. He was accused of cruelty in instigating the Indians to war, and when captured by George Rogers Clark at Vincennes (1779) was sent to Virginia in irons. His ex- change was not arranged until 1780, when he returned to Eng- land via New York. In 1782 he was appointed to succeed Haldimand as governor of Canada, an office which he held until 1785. In 1790 he was made governor of Bermudas, and in 1794 of Dominica. During the latter incumbency he died (1796) on the island of Dominica .- ED.
37 Gen. Thomas Gage (1721-87) entered the army in 1741 and first served in Flanders. Coming to America with Braddock (1754), he continued here throughout the French and Indian War, and at its close (1763) was made commander-in-chief of British forces in America, with headquarters in New York. Having returned to England in 1772, he was sent two years later to subdue the rebellious province of Massachusetts. Not succeeding in this he resigned (1775) and returned to Eng- land .- ED.
88 Francis Lord Rawdon (1754-1826), later Marquis of Hast- ings, was a brilliant young nobleman who came over with Gage and served against the colonists until 1781. His most noted command was in South Carolina. He was active in English politics, and in 1812 became governor-general of India, in which post he remained ten years .- ED.
3º Thomas Gambel was a lieutenant when he came to Amer- ica in 1762. He had received his captaincy in August of the year in which Hamilton writes. See his letters from Quebec in Amer. Archives, 4th series, iv, p. 962 .- ED.
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has been this summer at Boston, where he presented a plan of operations for the next spring, to General Gage, which met the general's approbation, and he was now on his way to put it in execution.40 He is made Lieutenant Colonel Commandant, was to pro- ceed to Fort Detroit, where Captain Lord, who is now at the Illinois with two companies of the Royal Irish,41 was to meet him with the field pieces and
4º Upon reaching Lord Dunmore, off Yorktown in August, Connolly made such an impression upon the late governor's mind by his plan to advance against the colonists from the Western frontier, that the latter sent him by sea to Boston. There Gage approved his plan, and had he gone as was first proposed by way of Quebec and the Great Lakes to Detroit, it might have been successfully carried out-to the great in- jury of the American cause. The capture of Montreal and Ar- nold's expedition against Quebec, blocked the Canadian enter- prise, whereupon Connolly made his way back to Lord Dun- more, and attempted to reach the West through Virginia and Maryland. He was, however, too well-known and too strongly suspected to escape the vigilance of the patriots, who were warned by his letters to John Gibson and White Eyes (see ante, pp. 72-74), and arrested him as here stated on the night of Nov. 19 .- ED.
41 Hugh Lord was commissioned captain in England, in 1762. In 1770 he was assigned to the 18th Royal Irish regi- ment then in America, and probably went to Illinois with Lieut .- Col. John Wilkins, whom he superseded in command of that country in 1771. Wilkins was very unpopular with the habitants. Lord, on the contrary, made himself much liked by them. During his administration (1772). Fort Chartres was abandoned, because of being undermined by floods, and the garrison withdrawn to Kaskaskia, christening their stronghold Fort Gage. Lord was in Detroit until 1777. The following year he was promoted to a majority and assigned to the 75th, which took no part in the American war. In 1783 he was re- tired on half pay, but in the Napoleonic wars was major of the 7th Royal Irish, and commandant for the island of Jersey. He died June 2, 1829. His withdrawal from the Illinois early in 1776 doubtless was caused by the failure of Connolly's plan. See the latter's letters in Amer. Archives, 4th series, iv, pp. 617, 618 .- ED.
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