USA > Pennsylvania > Luzerne County > Wilkes-Barre > A history of Wilkes-Barre, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania, from its first beginnings to the present time; including chapters of newly-discovered, Vol. I > Part 16
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The union in one council of the cantons, or nations, each possess- ing equal powers, was the cause of their triumph over hostile tribes, who acknowledged no government but that of opinion, and followed no policy but that actuated by revenge or undefinable impulse. All the weighty concerns of the Six Nations were the subject of full delibera- tion, in open council ; and their diplomatic negotiations were managed with consummate skill. When the question of peace or war was decided, the councillors united in chanting hymns of praise, or warlike choruses, which gave expression to the public feeling and, at the same time, im- parted a kind of natural sanctity to the act.
* See note () page 81 ; also page 108.
¡ See "Life of Samuel Kirkland," in Sparks' "American Biography," XV : 163.
Į Some of the whimsical names which the founders of the Confederacy bestowed upon the sachem- ships were (translated into English) : "War-Club-on-the-Ground," "At-the-Great-River," "Falling-Day," "Dragging-His-Horns," "A-Man-with-the-Headache." "On-the-Watch" and "Wearing-a-Hatchet-in-His- Belt."-"Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1885," P. II, p. 180.
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Colden wrote that he was at a loss which most to admire in the Iroquois, "their military ardor, their political policy or their eloquence in council." De Witt Clinton, in an address on the "Eloquence of the Six Nations," delivered before the New York Historical Society in 1811,* said :
"The Confederates [Six Nations] were as celebrated for their eloquence as for their military skill and political wisdom, * *
* and there is little doubt but that oratory was studied with as much care and application among the Confederates as it was in the stormy democracies of the Eastern Hemisphere. * *
The most remarkable differ- ence existed between the Confederates and the other Indian nations with respect to eloquence. You may search in vain in the records and writings of the past, or in events of the present times, for a single model of eloquence among the Algonkins, the Abenaquis, the Delawares, the Shawanese or any other nation of Indians except the Iroquois. The few scintillations of intellectual light-the faint glimmerings of genius-which are some- times to be found in their speeches, are evidently derivative, and borrowed from the Confederates. Considering the interpreters who have undertaken to give the meaning of Indian speeches, it is not a little surprising that some of them should approach so near perfection. The major part of the interpreters were illiterate persons, sent among them to conciliate their favor by making [presents of] useful or ornamental implements ; or they were prisoners who learned the Indian language during their captivity."
The Six Nations appreciated the worth of their women, and the matrons were given a high place in their councils and possessed a sub- stantial veto as to peace or war. In 1789, at Albany, "Good Peter," in his speech for the Cayngas and Senecas to the Governor of New York and the Commissioners of Indian Affairs, said :+ "Our ancestors considered it a great transgression to reject the counsel of their women, particularly of the governesses. Our ancestors considered them mistresses of the soil. Our ancestors said : 'Who bring us forth ? Who cultivate our lands ? Who kindle our fires and boil our pots but the women ?'
-X *
* The women say : 'Let not the traditions of the fathers with respect to women be disregarded ; let them not be despised ; God is their maker !' * * The governesses beg leave to speak with that freedom allowable to woman and agreeable to the spirit of our ancestors. They exhort the great chief to put forth his strength and preserve their peace, for they are the life of the nation." When the Senecas at Big Tree, in 1797, refused to negotiate with Thomas Morris, and "Red Jacket," with undue haste, had declared the council-fire covered up, the women and the warriors interposed and consummated a treaty.
In the military department chiefs were elected for special causes, nor did they hesitate in extreme cases to depose the civil sachein to give greater force to battle action. The military service was not conscriptive, but voluntary, although every man was subject to military duty, and to shirk it brought disgrace.}
"The Iroquois were universally lighter in complexion than any other American Indians, and the Mohawks and Oneidas were the liglitest of all. So marked was this peculiarity, taken together with their superior civilization, that some of the early writers-mainly Jesuit Fathers-considered thein a different race from the common aborigines. A noted student of Indian life and character, Professor Donaldson, explains it on purely physical grounds, which is doubtless the true view. He says that for generations-even before the white man was known on these shores-the Iroquois had lived in comfortable habitations, tilled the soil, raised grain and fruits, and, generally speaking, had much
* See "Library of American Literature," IV : 254.
+ "Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1885," Part II, page 190.
+ "Report on Indians at the Eleventh Census, " page 463.
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better shelter, better cookery, better sanitary arrangements, and alto- gether more of the good things of life than any other Indians. This mode of living had tended to 'bleach out' their complexions and endow them with other physical advantages."*
"It would be a gross error to suppose the Six Nations-who had conquered, and held in vassalage, so extensive an empire-were a rude rabble of ignorant Indians. Letters and the arts of civilized life they had not ; nor had Attila or Ghengis Khan. But they were profoundly versed in all the wiles of diplomacy, the subtlest stratagems of war, and all the arts of savage goverment, which they made subservient to the gratification of an ambition as lofty and insatiable as that of the greatest conquerors, civilized or barbarian, we read of in story."+
The following paragraphs-relating more particularly to the Six Nations-are from a letter written in February, 1771, by Sir William Johnsont to Dr. Arthur Lee of Virginia, "on the customs, manners and languages of the Indians."§ * "The Mohocks [Mohawks], who have long lived within our settlements,
* * though greatly reduced in number are still the acknowledged Head of that alliance [the "Confederacy of the Six Nations"] ; but in their present state they have less inter- course with the Indians and more with us than formerly-besides which they are at present members of the Church of England. Most of them read, and several write, very well. When, therefore, they subscribe an ordinary deed they frequently make use of a cross- after the example of the illiterate amongst us-and sometimes their names. But in things of mucli consequence they usually delineate a steel, such as is used to strike fire out of flint ; which, being the symbol of their nation, this steel they call 'Canniah' and them- selves 'Canniungaes.'| But from hence little can be deduced, as they had not the use of any instrument in that form before their commerce with the whites.
"The Oneidas inhabit the country a little beyond the settlements. * Some efforts have been made to civilize and Christianize them-but a great part are still in the primitive way. Being also reduced in numbers, and their political system much changed, their intercourse with the more remote Indians is lessened, and their knowledge of ancient usages decayed. They have in use as a symbol a tree, by which they would express stability. But their true symbol is a stone, called 'Onoya' ; and they call them- selves 'Onoyuts'.
"The Onondagas, whose residences are forty miles farther, are somewhat better versed in the customs of their ancestors. They call themselves 'People of the Great Mountain." * * * The Cayugas have for their symbol a pipe. The Senecas are the most numerous and most distant of the Six Nations. They have several towns and sym- bols, from which, however, little can be understood. * *
"There is in every nation a sachem, or chief, who appears to have some authority over the rest ; and it is greatest among the most distant nations. But in inost of those bordering on our settlements his authority is scarcely discernible-he seldom assuming any power before his people. And indeed this humility is judged the best policy, for, want- ing coercive power, their commands would perhaps occasion assassination, which some- times happens. The sachems of each tribe are usually chosen in a public assembly of the chiefs and warriors, whenever a vacancy happens by death or otherwise. They are generally chosen for their sense and bravery, from among the oldest warriors, and are approved of by all the tribe-on which they are saluted sachems. There are, however, several exceptions, for some families have a kind of inheritance in the office, and are called to this station in their infancy.
"The Chief Sachem-by some called the King-is so either by inheritance or by a kind of tacit consent, the consequence of his superior abilities and influence. The dura- tion of his authority depends much on his own wisdom, the number and consequence of his relations, and the strength of his particular tribe. Military services are the chief recommendations to this rank. It appears pretty clearly that heretofore the chief of a nation had, in some small degree, the authority of a sovereign. This is now the fact among the most remote Indians. But as, since the introduction of fire-arms, they 110 longer fight in close bodies, but every man is his own general, I ani inclined to think this has lessened the power of a chief. The chief of a whole nation has the custody of the
* Augustus C. Buell's "Sir William Johnson," page 50.
+ Miner's "History of Wyoming," page 35.
# See Chapter IV for portrait and sketch of his life.
¿ See "Documentary History of the State of New York." IV : 270, 271.
See page 110. " See page 108.
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belts of wampum, &c., which are as records of public transactions. He prompts the speakers at all treaties, and proposes affairs of consequence. * * *
"All their deliberations are conducted with extraordinary regularity and decorum. They never interrupt hini who is speaking, nor use harsh language-whatever may be
their thoughts. * *
* On their hunts, as on all other occasions, they are strict observers of meum and tuum ; and this from principle-holding theft in contempt, so that they are rarely guilty of it, though tempted by articles of much value. Neither do the strong attempt to seize the prey of the weak. And I must do them the justice to say that unless heated by liquor, or influenced by revenge, their ideas of right and wrong, and their practices in consequence of them, would, if more known, do them much honor. It is true that, having been often deceived by us in the purchase of lands, in trade and other transactions, many of them begin now to act the same part. But this reflects most on those who set them the example. * * *
"Their language, though not very wordy, is extremely emphatical, and their style adorned with noble images and strong metaphors and equal in allegory to many of the
eastern nations. * * It is curious to observe that they have various modes of speech and phrases peculiar to each age and sex, which they strictly observe. For instance, a man says, when he is hungry, 'Cadagcariax,' which is expressive both of his want and of the animal food he requires to supply it; whilst a child says, in the same circum- stances, 'Cautsore,' that is, 'I require spoon-meat.' * * *
"The figures which they affix to deeds* have led some to imagine that they had characters or an alphabet. The case is this: Every nation is divided into a certain number of tribes, of which some have three, as the Turtle, Bear and Wolf ; to which others add the Snake, Deer, &c. Each of these tribes forms a little community within the nation, and as the nation has its peculiar symbol, so each tribe has the peculiar badge from whence it is denominated ; and a sachem of each tribe being a necessary party to a fair conveyance, such sachem affixes the inark of the tribe thereto-which is not that of a particular family (unless the whole tribe is so deemed), but rather as the public seal of a corporation."
Concerning the Mohawks Zinzendorf wrote as follows, in his "Account of his Experience among the Indians", in 1742+: "The Maquas are most part of them Christians so called, having been con- verted by the English missionaries, and have lost all their credit with the others because they have guzzled away all their land to the Christ- ians. And with this nation we have not hitherto so much as spoken, since we fear nothing so much as when such sort of people do endeavor to belong to us. And we have esteemed it a very great Grace of our Savior that, although these are as it were the next neighbors of the heathen to our congregations [at Shecomeco, New York, and its dependencies], yet we have had no manner of fellowship with them."
The Mohawks were the keepers of the eastern door of the "Long House," and their business was to transmit messages from without to the Grand Council of the League, and also to guard against the encroach- ments and invasions of enemies along the eastern bounds of the Con- federacy. The title of the hereditary sachem of the Mohawks who "watched the door" was "Dogacoga."
"'A Mohawk ! a Mohawk !' was a cry of heart-withering terror ; and when, in Queen Anne's reign, there arose a band of ruthless and bloody ruffians in London, who seized and wantonly inaimed their victims, to designate thein as supremely savage they were called 'Mo- hawks '!"
* See photo-illustration of deed in Chapter IV.
t See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," I : 120.
Hayden's "The Massacre of Wyoming, " page 32.
One of the "new inventions" of the London "Mohawks" was to roll persons down Snow Hill in a tub ; another was to overturn coaches on rubbish heaps. A vivid picture of the misdoings in the streets of London by these and other brawlers is given in The Spectator, No. 324. The following lines are from "Plot Upon Plot," published in London about 1713.
"You sent your Mohocks next abroad, With razors armed, and knives ;
Who on night-walkers made inroad,
And scared our maids aud wives ;
They scared the watch, and windows broke."
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Relative to the Senecas Zinzendorf stated, in his "Account" pre- viously referred to : "The third nation are the Senekas, who have been converted by the French missionaries some time ago, when they had to do with them; and of these I have observed that their Christian knowledge is nothing more than this, that they believe that our dear Savior was born at Bethlehem in France, and that the English have crucified him. Upon which account they are very much offended with the English ; and one sees them make crosses, and such like ceremonies. This is all I could find among them ; and when any of them comes to Philadelphia, they go to the Popish Chapel to Mass."
"The very name of Seneca had a terror with Indians of other nations. At the South and West, and among the nations of Canada, the Seneca war-whoop would almost conquer of itself. Even as late as the War of 1812 the Indians of Canada were struck with terror when
they learned that they must encounter the Senecas in battle.
*
*
*
The Senecas were a very martial and warlike nation. They were sternly independent, and sometimes took up arms when the other tribes sat smoking in quiet on their mats. The Senecas adhered with dogged obstinacy to the French in the rapid decline of their ascendancy on this continent."*
The Senecas were the keepers of the western door of the "Long House," and they performed duties similar to those of the Mohawks at the eastern door. The title of the Seneca sachem whose particular duty it was to watch the western door was Donehogaweh ("Open Door"). t
In 1763 the Senecas, alone of the Six Nations, were in alliance with Pontiac, and played a conspicuous part with the great Ottawa in his plan of surprising a cordon of posts in the Lake country, and extirpa- ting "the dogs in red clothing" that guarded them. Gen. Sir Jeffrey Amherst was bitterly incensed at this conduct of the Senecas, and pro- posed to take a large force of regular and Provincial troops and "wipe forever from the face of the earth that faithless, cruel tribe, who have [had] already too long debauched the good name of the Iroquois Con- federacy by pretending to belong to it." General Amherst objected to any further negotiation with the Senecas. "They were, he said, desti- tute of honor, faithless, treacherous, and a race of natural-born criminals and murderers. They cumbered the ground. He could make no use of them but exterminate them as a warning example to all other Indians. No male Seneca capable of bearing arms should be spared. * The women and children should be taken prisoners and afterwards dis- tributed among other tribes. The Seneca nation as an organized tribe must disappear."
Sir William Johnson vigorously opposed this policy. "The Senecas, on their part, hearing of General Amherst's project, sued in the most abject manner for peace. * * Upon this, Amherst relented. They gave up to him nineteen of the 'instigators,' and after hanging two of the worst of them at Onondaga Castle, by way of an 'object-lesson,' the General abandoned his declared intention of 'exterminating the tribe.' * The hanging of the two sub-chiefs of the Senecas by General Amherst was the first exhibition the Indians had seen of the Anglo- Saxon mode of punishing murderers. In order to make the spectacle
* Turner's "History of Phelps and Gorliam's Purchase" ( Rochester, 1852).
+ See pages 123 and 135.
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more impressive, the General ordered the bodies of the culprits to be sunk in Onondaga Lake with stones tied about their necks, as food for the fishes. And he forbade any mourning or funeral rites for them in the tribe."*
"The Second Nation" [of the Confederacy], wrote Zinzendorf in 1742, "and which properly governs the rest, is the nation of the Onon- dagoes. Those are Philosophers, and such as among us are called Deists. They are brave, honest people who keep their word ; and their general weakness is that they delight in Heroick Deeds. * Their government is very equitable and fatherlike, but whoever will not stoop to them they are ready to root out. On the other hand, they carry themselves very civil and orderly towards the Europeans." In the latter part of the eighteenth century the Onondagas had become, according to a statement made by DeWitt Clinton in 1811, "the most drunken and profligate of the Six Nations" ; but early in the next century, through the efforts of "Handsome Lake," the Seneca "prophet," they had been led "to abstain entirely from spirituous liquors, and to observe the laws of morality in other respects."
In order that many matters merely touched on in some of the suc- ceeding chapters may be more clearly and completely understood by the reader, it is deemed advisable to conclude this chapter with a brief descriptive review of the characteristics, customs and habits of
NORTH AMERICAN INDIANS GENERALLY.
The mattert thus presented deals with conditions and describes usages which prevailed, more particularly, among the Indians of New York and Pennsylvania during the period of time comprehending the beginning, and the progress towards permanency, of the early settle- ments by white people in Wyoming Valley ; to which is added a brief account of the present-day Indians in the United States.
The North American Indians with whom European settlers first came in contact were divided into families or tribes, each distinguished by an armorial bearing called a totem, which was a representation of some animal or bird, as a deer, a bear, a tortoise, an eagle or a snipe.} The village (or "town," as it was called by some tribes) was (and is) the unit of organization in almost all the tribes. With the sedentary Indians the village was of a permanent character. Lodges, wigwams or tepees composed the village of the nomadic Indians-together with their live-stock and other property. A wigwam was constructed of twenty or thirty poles, each about twenty-five feet in length, which, being erected with their butts arranged in circular or other form and their tops united, were covered with bark, skins sewed together after having been dressed, or by any other material available. There was an aperture, closed with a flap, in the side of the wigwam for the ingress and egress of the occupants, and another aperture at the top, or apex, through which smoke from the open fire in the center of the wigwam could escape. The wigwams
.
* Buell's "Sir William Johnson," pages 227-230.
+ Drawn largely from Lossing's "Our Barbarian Brethren," Catlin's "Letters and Notes" and "Last Rambles," "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census," Stone's "Poetry and History of Wyoming," "Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1885," and the "Annual Report of the United States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for 1902."
# See pages 103 and 120.
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were taken down easily in a few minutes and readily transported elsewhere by the Indian women, or squaws, whenever a change of location was to be made.
The accompanying illustration is a reduced facsimile of a drawing made by George Catlin, showing a wigwam made of twenty-five dressed buffalo skins elaborately garnislied and painted. The poles supporting it were of pine, thirty in number, each twenty-five feet long, and, according to Mr. Catlin, had been "some hundred years, perhaps, in nse." This wigwam was purchased from Indians in the West in 1832 by Mr. Catlin, and taken by him to Europe for exhibition. It was brought back to this country some years later, and is now in the National Muset1111 at Washington.
The Algonkins lived in wigwams, and they moved frequently. The Iroquois lived in cabins, well constructed, with 11priglit walls covered with bark. In peace the nomadic village was placed in a favorite retreat, and here the Indians remained until war or the seasons forced them to remove. As a rule, the bands of a tribe had their well- defined camping grounds, which were sacred to them. A tribe seldom, if ever, camped or lived in a compact mass. The villages were frequently remote froin each other, and in war were signaled by fires or alarmed by runners. The individual Indian was (and is) merged in the village. From the camp or the village the warrior set out to acquire new honors or to meet deatlı. To it he returned alive or his story came with the survivors. This Indian village life, the growth of centuries, is at this day partially perpetuated on the Indian reservations in this country, for the love of it is one of the chief causes of the Indian's resistance to the white man's customs. The Indian does not like to live isolated.
With the exception of the Iroquois Confederacy there was no semblance of a national government among the Indians. A mixture of the patriarchal and despotic appeared everywhere. All political power was vested in the civil head of a family or tribe as executive, and it was absolute in his hands while he exercised it. He was sometimes an hereditary leader, but more often owed his elevation to his prowess in war, or liis merits as an orator or statesman. Public opinion alone sus- tained him. It elevated him, and it mnight depose him. He was called Inca, Sagamore, Sachem, or whatever else, in various languages, denoted his official dignity-like that of King, Emperor, Tsar, Shah, or Sultan. Gen. Ely S. Parker ("Donehogáweh"),* well known in his lifetime as an intelligent, well-informed Seneca Indian and a sachem of the Six Nations, wrote in 1884 : "The words 'sachem,' 'sagamore,' 'chief,' 'king,' 'queen,' 'princess,' &c., have been promiscuously and interchangeably used by
* See pages 121 and 135.
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every writer on Indians ever since their discovery. * The use of the term 'sagamore' is confined almost wholly to New England, and it has been applied promiscuously to heads of bands, large and small, and sometimes to mere heads of families. To use other terms, such as 'king,' 'prince' or 'princess,' is preposterous and presumptuous, considering the total absence among these people of paraphernalia, belongings and dig- nity of royalty."
The head-chief or sachem of a tribe, or nation, was at the head of a sort of republican government, and was only the executive of the people's will as determined in council or congress ; yet in those councils he was umpire, and from his decision there was no appeal. While a sachem or chief was in power the tribe or nation confided in his wisdom, and there was seldom any transgression of the laws promulgated by him. He had absolute control of all military expeditions, and withersoever the chief or leader of the warriors was sent by him, the fighting men followed.
In the public assemblies the greatest decorum prevailed, and, con- trary to the habit of civilized Parliaments and Congresses, every speaker was always listened to with the most respectful attention. Reference has already been made (on page 118) to the remarkable oratorical powers of the Iroquois. Eloquence in public speaking was a talent which the more intelligent Indians in every tribe generally earnestly cultivated ; and for the display of this eloquence inany opportunities were afforded at the conferences, councils, congresses and treaties held by the Indians among themselves and with the white people. The sachems and chiefs prepared themselves for oratory, by previous reflection and arrangement of topics and method of expression, as carefully as ever did the most polished speaker in the Senate or Council of a civilized people. Their scope of thought was as boundless as the land over which they roamed, and their expressions were as free and lofty as those of any civilized men. Their language being too limited to allow a wealth of diction, they made up in ideas-in the shape of metaphors furnished by all nature around them-what they lacked in words. Pierre François Charlevoix, the French Jesuit traveler and writer (1682-1761), said in his "Journal of a Voyage to North America" :
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