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 early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material. Volume I > Part 23
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During the Revolutionary War "Cornplanter" was in league with and fought on the side of the British. Immediately on the close of hostilities, being deserted by his British allies, he became con- vinced that he had been on the wrong side in the contest, and that the true policy for his tribe and race was to accept the situation and make friends with the victors. In October, 1784, "Cornplanter," then chief of the Senecas located on the Allegheny River, was present at the treaty held at Fort Stanwix, between the United States commissioners and the Six Nations, and it was mainly through "Cornplanter's" efforts that the Indians were induced to sign the agreement by which the Six Nations were to relinquish a large part of the territory they claimed to own; to restore all prisoners in their possession, and to perform other obligations. In December, 1790, a delegation of Senecas headed by "Cornplanter"-who was then the head-chief of his nation-visited Philadelphia for the purpose of laying some grievances before Congress and asking for aid in introducing agriculture and the arts of civilized life among the Senecas. The Rev. Samuel Kirkland, who, as their adviser and counsellor, was with this delegation during their stay of several weeks at the capital, was instrumental during that time in converting the chief to the Christian faith. In his journal Mr. Kirkland wrote (see Sparks' "American Biography," XV : 303) : "I think I never enjoyed inore agreeable society with any Indian than Captain Abiel ["Cornplanter"] has afforded me. He seems raised up by Providence for the good of his nation. He exhibits uncommon genius, possesses a very strong and distinguishing mind and will bear the most mental application of any Indian I was ever acquainted with. * * * He is an exception in regard to sobriety and temperance to the generality of Indians, never having been once intoxicated during the whole course of his life."
During the troubles with the Indians in the years 1790-'94 "Cornplanter" maintained his allegiance to the United States most faithfully, and rendered valuable assistance to the General Government and in the protection of the western frontiers of Pennsylvania. For these services he received permission from the authorities of this State to select from its unappropriated territory 1,500 acres of land for himself and his posterity. For his own occupancy he selected a tract of land two miles long and one-half mile wide on the west bank of the Allegheny River (and including two islands in the river), in the north-east corner of what is now Warren County. The remainder of the lands selected by him lay in what is now Venango County, Pennsylvania, and included the site of the present Oil City. All these lands were patented to "Cornplanter" by the Commonwealth in March, 1796. Upon the smaller of the two tracts (the one first mentioned, and now known as the Cornplanter Reservation) the famous chief located with his family in 1797, and here he lived until his death in 1836, at the age of about one hundred and three years.
In April, 1822, "Cornplanter" addressed a letter to the Governor of Pennsylvania, in which he com- plained that the whites had broken the treaty of Fort Stanwix by destroying all the wolves, by stealing his melons and vines, by destroying the pine trees and by bringing among the Indians great quantities of whisky, by which his people became drunken. He also protested against being compelled by the authorities of Warren County to pay taxes on his land, and in conclusion requested that a commissioner might be sent to the Allegheny to inquire into his situation and "to instruct the white people how they should conduct themselves towards the Indians."
"Cornplanter" was a half-brother of "Handsome Lake," mentioned on page 122. For a number of years "Cornplanter" and the famous Seneca chief and orator, "Red Jacket," were strong rivals. It is stated in "Chambers' Encyclopedia" (edition of 1897, I : 225) that ""'Cornplanter' * * is said to have been the earliest temperance lecturer in America." In 1866 the Legislature of Pennsylvania authorized the erection of a monument to the memory of the old chieftan, which was done at a cost of $550., "and now marks the grave of one of the bravest, noblest and truest specimens of the aboriginal race."
In 1903 Prof. Frederick Starr (see page 166) originated "The Cornplanter Medal," a silver medal- named in honor of the great Seneca chief-to be annually presented to that person in the United States who during the year shall have most distinguished himself in research work among the American Indians.
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to on page 135), and consequently is not mentioned by the Commis- sioner of Indian Affairs in his annual reports. The conditions of the Indians on this reservation are similar to those of the Six Nations who occupy the Allegany Reservation in Cattaraugus County, New York (immediately adjoining Warren County, Pennsylvania), and they are duly considered and treated of in the official reports relative to that reservation. The "Cornplanter" Senecas belong to the Seneca nation, voting with them for officers annually, and having a representative in the nation's council. They own a common interest in all the Seneca lands in New York, and share in the annuities that are paid. They have been admitted to the privileges of citizenship in Pennsylvania.
It is a common belief, among those who have not given the sub- ject any special attention, that there are now very few Indians-particu- larly uncivilized ones-existing in this country; and that the few who are here are either cooped up on reservations or traveling with "Wild West" shows or taking a college course. The report of the Commis- sioner of Indian Affairs for the year ended June 30, 1902 (the latest report now available), shows that there were then 270,238 untaxed Indians in the United States exclusive of Alaska and the Cornplanter Reservation in Pennsylvania. Of this number 84,500 were members of the "Five Civilized Tribes" (including some 21,000 persons of negro descent), and 5,272 of the Six Nations, as previously noted. These 270,238 "wards of the Nation" were located in twenty-seven different States and Territories, and all of them, with the exception of 21,673, occupied reservations. Twenty-seven of these reservations were "allot- ted," and 132 of them (comprehending 75,148,643 acres of land) were wholly or in part "unallotted." Of the 185,738 Indians exclusive of the "Five Civilized Tribes" there were 102,300 who wore citizens' dress wholly, and 41,844 who wore it in part; and there were 47,081 who could read, and 62,616 who could use English enough for ordinary purposes.
When we call to mind the ravages of disease, exposure, starvation and the white man, and then consider the number of Indians now here, in comparison with the number at the advent of the European on this continent, the Indian would seem to be a startling example of the sur- vival of the fittest. It must be noted, however, that of those who are now classified in the reports and censuses of the Government as Indians the majority are unquestionably not full-bloods. The increasing value of the reservations, the distribution by the National Government of great sums of money to certain tribes, the development of excellent educational institutions for the exclusive benefit of Indian children- these, as well as other advantages, have had the effect to draw into tribal relationship thousands whose claims to such relationship depend upon very small strains of Indian blood.
In several of the "Five Civilized Tribes" tlie title Indian includes Indians by blood, Indians by intermarriage and freedmen. The "Five Tribes," except the Seminole, all owned slaves prior to and during the Civil War. In 1860 the total number of slaves thus held was 7,369. These were freed by the Proclamation of Emancipation, which, low- ever, was not enforced and confirmed among the "Five.Tribes" until the adoption of the treaty of 1866, and then only after much protest. These freedmen were then admitted to full citizenship in some of the tribes-particularly in the Creek Nation-and are entitled to share
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in the distribution of the lands and moneys of those tribes. Since the war there has been a very large increase in the negro population of Indian Territory by immigration from the old slave States adjacent. The negroes-both the new-comers and the natives of the Terri- tory-have intermarried with the members of all the tribes except the Choctaw-in which tribe any Indian who marries a negro is punished by death. In some parts of Indian Territory occupied by the "Five Tribes" the negroes predominate, the whites come next, and the red men are often pointed out as exceptions-rarities, one might almost say. And yet legally and technically a large proportion of these white men and negroes are Indians, and are called such. Some years ago a prominent lawyer of Missouri went down into Indian Territory to transact some business with one of the tribes. When he returned home, after having driven a hard bargain for his clients, he commented on the people he had dealt with in these words: "Indians! Those fellows are not Indians. They are mighty smart Yankees, tanned a little."
In many other tribes throughout the country the intermarriage of Indians with whites and negroes has been going on for a long time, and in this way the Indian race is gradually losing its identity. When the reservation system shall have been abolished, and tribal relations brought to an end, the red men will begin to scatter, and the effect will be a general and rapid mixing up of the races. There are some scien- tists, however, who believe that the different white races of the United States are slowly converging to the type of the North American Indian, and that the Indians, as a race, will never become extinct, but will increase in numbers and be once more dominant when the physical forces now in operation shall have changed the white man into the Indian.
The notion that Caucasian settlers will be gradually Indianized in America and Africanized in Africa is an old one, and has been actively discussed at various times. Some seven years ago Prof. Frederick Starr of Chicago University, who is well known as a student of anthropology, made some careful investigations among the Pennsylvania Germans and summarized the results of his work in the statement that these people "are steadily approaching the physical type of the American Indian." Professor Starr measured the heads, heights, finger reaches and lengths of legs and arms of hundreds of school-children in Allen- town, Pennsylvania. Then he went to Kutztown-the heart of Penn- sylvania "Dutchdom"-and at the county fair collected photographs of great numbers of the "Pennsylvania Dutch" country people. Comparing these with the prevailing types of the German Palatinate of to-day he found that the "Pennsylvania Dutch" head had grown larger, the cheek bones higher and the eyes and hair darker, as a result of the American environment. A number of the photographs showed a striking sim- ilarity to the dominant features of the Indian face. Furthermore, he found that the "Dutch" of Pennsylvania have grown in stature over their compatriots in Europe, and they have a distinct tendency towards the strong, bony lankness of the American Indian. The American environ- ment is what has produced the physical unity of appearance among the Indians, says Professor Starr, and if it is capable of producing a com- mon type from the different peoples who first came to the country many hundreds of years ago, why may it not work a similar change in people
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of different nationalities who came after them and in the wake of Columbus ?
Many people, other than the Indians themselves, sincerely regret that the American aboriginals are surely although slowly becoming extinct, either by amalgamation with other races or by death. They apprehend that the Amerind people having built no temples, reared no monuments of stone, iron or bronze and having no literature will be forgotten. In their opinion, "such has been the Indian's life, such the result, that if the entire remaining Indians were instantly and com- pletely wiped from the face of the earth they would leave no inonu- ments, no buildings, no written language save one, no literature, no inventions, nothing in the arts or sciences, and absolutely nothing for the benefit of mankind." But, if the theories and deductions of Pro- fessor Starr are to be relied upon, the Amerind people will not only continue to exist and be remembered, but will be increased and strength- ened by large numbers of the Indianized Americans of modern times- particularly the "Pennsylvania Dutch" ! In any event, how can the red man be forgotten ? He will be remembered in the coming centuries from the fact that he has impressed himself upon the laws of this country, and has indelibly stamped by characteristic names-either of his own giving or drawn from his vocabulary by the whites-so many of our States, Territories and towns, bays, lakes and rivers.
Fifty-one years ago, in reply to a generally expressed opinion that the red man was rapidly disappearing and would soon be forgotten, Mrs. Sigourney (mentioned on page 69) wrote the following stanzas :
"Ye say that all have pass'd away- That noble race and brave- That their light canoes have vanish'd From off the crested wave ; That, mid the forest where they roam'd, There rings no hunter's shout. But their name is on your waters- Ye may not wash it out !
""'Tis where Ontario's billow Like ocean's surge is curl'd, Where strong Niagara's thunders wake The echo of the world ; Where red Missouri bringeth Rich tribute from the west, And Rappahannock sweetly sleeps On green Virginia's breast.
"Ye say their cone-like cabins, That cluster'd o'er the vale, Have disappeared as wither'd leaves Before the Autumn's gale. But their memory liveth on your hills, Their baptism on your shore, Your everlasting rivers speak Their dialect of yore.
"Old Massachusetts wears it Within her lordly crown, And broad Ohio bears it Amid her young renown ; Connecticut hath wreath'd it Where her quiet foliage waves, And bold Kentucky breathes it hoarse Through all her ancient caves.
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"Wachusetts hides its lingering voice Within his rocky heart, And Allegheny graves its tone Throughout his lofty chart ; Monadnock, on his forehead hoar, Doth seal the sacred trust- Your mountains build their monument, Though ye destroy their dust."
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CHAPTER IV.
EARLY INDIAN SETTLEMENTS IN WYOMING-EARLIEST VISITS OF WHITE MEN-MORAVIAN MISSIONARIES ON THE SUSQUEHANNA- CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANIES ORGANIZED- THE "WYOMING REGION" PUR- CHASED FROM THE SIX NATIONS.
"Here let me rest, by fair Wyoming's side, Where Susquehanna's placid waters glide ; While sparkling streams, 'mid meadows rolling free, Pay willing tribute to the distant sea." -Rev. Joshua Peterkin, D. D.
Chapman states in his "Sketch of the History of Wyoming"* that Count Zinzendorf, who visited the valley in 1742, "is believed to have been the first white person that ever visited Wyoming." Stone and Miner, writing years later than Chapman, adopted and gave expression to this view in their respective histories. At a still later date Pearce wrote that "the impression that the Count Zinzendorf was the first white man who ever visited the Wyoming Valley" was probably a mistake, and suggested that Conrad Weiser, the Indian agent and interpreter, had visited the valley some years previously to the coming of Zinzen- dorf. It is now known that Weiser was here more than once prior to 1742-as will be more fully shown hereinafter.
"In the year when Elizabeth of England died (1603) no white man, it is safe to say, had ever seen the region which we call Pennsylvania. * Neither John Smith nor Henry Hudson entered Pennsylvania. They approached or reached the open doorway, but did not come inside. The actual visit of a white man was not made for six years after Hudson's call at the Capes. Apparently the first of white pioneers in Pennsyl- vania was a Frenchman, who came from Canada, Étienne Brulé [Stephen Bruehle], a follower of Champlain, the first Governor of New France. He was Champlain's interpreter and guide-'the dauntless woodsinan, pioneer of pioneers,' Parkman calls him."+
In September, 1615, when Champlain was preparing to join with the Hurons in the expedition against the palisaded village pictured on page 95, Brulé set out with a party of twelve Hurons from Upper Canada for the towns of the Carantouanis, to secure their co-operation against the common enemy. These people were allies of the Hurons
* See page 19, ante.
+ "Pennsylvania-Colonial and Federal," I : 1. 35.
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and are mentioned in the description of Champlain's map as "a nation to the south of the Antouhonorons in a very beautiful and rich country, where they are strongly lodged and are friends with all the other nations except the Antouhonorons, from whom they are only three days distant." The Antouhonorons, says Dr. Beauchamp, were the Upper Iroquois, or, perhaps more strictly, the Senecas ; although the Dutch, at the time of their discoveries, called all the Upper Iroquois Senecas. On the inaps of 1614 and 1616 the Carantouanis appear as the Gachoi, or Gachoos, mentioned on page 111, and they occupied the territory now compre- hended in the counties of Chemung and Tioga, New York. Immedi- ately to the south of these at the period mentioned were the Capitanasses, within the present limits of Pennsylvania.
Brulé, with his little band of Hurons, crossed from Lake Ontario to the Susquehanna, defeated on the way a small war-party of Iroquois and entered in triumph Carantouan, the chief town of the Carantouanis. This town was palisaded, and could send out when necessary 800 war- riors-which would indicate a total population of about 4,000 souls. Brulé secured here a force of 500 Carantouanis, and they set out to join Champlain and the Hurons; but as they marched slowly they reached the Iroquoian town only to find that Champlain had attacked it with his force, had failed, had himself been wounded and had retreated to Canada. Brulé and the allies therefore returned to Carantouan, and here the former remained the rest of the Autumn and all Winter "for lack of company and escort home."
While thus waiting Brulé explored the country and visited the tribes adjacent to that region, and early in the Spring of 1616 descended the Susquehanna River to at least the present Pennsylvania-Maryland boundary. Thence he returned through the same region (the valley of the Susquehanna), if not precisely by the same route, to Carantouan, and later rejoined Champlain-in whose "Voyages" Brulé's adventures on the Susquehanna were subsequently recorded. It may be well to note here the ultimate fate-as recorded by Sagard in his "History of Canada"-of this the first known white man to visit the valley of Wyoming. In 1623 he was living in Quebec, leading a very dissolute life among the Indians. Later he went over to the English, and in 1629 was sent by them with a message to the Hurons. The latter provoked at his conduct, put him to death and devoured him !
The Rev. David Craft, D. D., formerly of Wyalusing, Pennsylvania, and now of Angelica, New York, and Gen. John S. Clark of Auburn, New York, who have given a great deal of time to the study of aborig- inal remains in the valley of the upper Susquehanna, and elsewhere, are positive that the Carantouan of Brulé was situated on a high hill, in the shape of a sugar-loaf, near the present village of Waverly, New York. This hill, which is level on top and has an area of eleven acres, is crossed by the New York-Pennsylvania boundary-line, and is now popularly known as "Spanish Hill." Evidences of a palisade, an em- bankment and a ditch were apparent here in 1795-as noted by the Duke de la Rochefoucault in his "Travels Through the United States in 1795-'97." There was an Indian burial-ground at the foot of the hill. "Spanish Hill," or Carantouan, is situated about six miles north of Tioga Point, mentioned on page 34, and 101 miles north-west of Wilkes- Barré-following the windings of the river.
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Dr. Beauchamp states (Bulletin of the New York State Museum, No. 32, pages 12 and 15) that at about the year 1600 "the Susquehanna River was held in Pennsylvania by the Iroquois family. Of these the Gachoi, or Gachoos, alone had land in New York, nor did they live there long. Their Iroquois foes gave them scant room in New York, but they were in close alliance with others of the family in Pennsyl- vania. Below them were the Capitanasses and the Minquas; the latter being the Andastés. Collectively and later, all these were known to the English as Susquehannas or Conestogas."*
Dr. Craft holds that from time immemorial until they were over- thrown by the Iroquois (in 1675, as noted on page 40) the Huron-Iro- quois Andastés were in possession of the valley of the Susquehanna in what is now Pennsylvania. Further, that the nation was composed of ten tribes, living in forty palisaded villages, of which the uppermost, the most populous and the strongest fortified was what Brulé and Champlain called Carantouan. Their second town was Oscului (mean- ing "The Fierce"), which stood on a bluff at the upper side of Sugar Creek, just where it empties into the Susquehanna, near the present borough of Towanda, in Bradford County. Here the path, or trail, lead- ing from the West Branch of the Susquehanna, joined the great Warrior Path which ran along the North Branch of the river. Their third town was Gahontoto (signifying "where there is an island," or "The Island Town"), and was situated on a bluff on the north side of Wyalusing Creek (in what is now Bradford County) at its junction with the Sus- quehanna. The site of this town lies north-west of Wilkes-Barré, thirty- six miles in a bee-line, or, following the windings of the river, 58 miles. The fourth town of this nation, so far as known, was Onachsae (signify- ing "A Cave"), situated south-east of Gahontoto, twelve miles in a bee- line, on a bluff on the north side of Meshoppen Creek at its junction with the river, in what is now Wyoming County.
Nothing is known concerning these towns, and others inhabited by the Susquehanna Indians, except what has been learned from tradition (and that is not much), from the meager information communicated by Brulé to Champlain and recorded by the latter in his "Voyages," and from a careful examination (made at an earlier day than the present) of the determined sites of these towns, and a study of the relics found there. All these towns had long been deserted by their original occupants when the white men-the recorders of history-began their settlements in the Wyoming region ; and neither the Indians then dwelling in, nor those from time to time frequenting, this region knew anything definite concerning the earlier inhabitants. Chapman, speaking of them gener- ally in his "Wyoming" (page 6), refers to them as aboriginals "of whoni very little is now [1818] known, but of whom relics have been found indicating a people of more importance than those tribes who subse- quently occupied the country."
Almost up to the time (March 4, 1681) of the granting by King Charles II to William Penn of the territory described in the charter as the "Province of Pennsilvania," that territory was wholly the Indians' land. "While they did not occupy it, in a strict sense of the word, they enjoyed its complete possession in the manner suited to their way of life.
* In this connection see pages 38 and 39, ante, relative to the Susquehannas or Andastés as Huron- Iroquois.
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* * How many there were of them is wholly left to conjecture. It is agreed that they were few." Oldmixon states in his "British Empire in America," published in 1701, that three years after the Penn grant was made "there were as many as ten nations of Indians in the Province of Pennsilvania, comprising 6,000 in number."
When the first settlers under the Connecticut Susquehanna Com- pany came to Wyoming Valley they found here the remains-well- defined and easily discernible-of two ancient fortifications or enclosures, respecting the origin and uses of which the Indians then here could give no information. One of these earthworks was situated within the present limits of the borough of Dorranceton, Kingston Township, and the other was located in what was at one time a part of the township of Wilkes-Barré, but is now the township of Plains. Neither the early Wyoming settlers nor their immediate descendants were given to any sentiment with regard to the preservation of Indian remains or relics or, for that matter, of the Indians themselves. They had come here from New England, through an almost trackless wilderness, for the purpose of building new homes and wresting a living from the then untilled soil and unbroken forest. And so Indian earthworks were ploughed over, relics were ploughed under and other evidences of an earlier occupation were destroyed and soon forgotten. Fortunately, before all this destruc- tion was completed, there came into the valley as citizens thereof a few men possessing intelligence and some sentiment who foresaw that the time would arrive when the later descendants of the first settlers would be greatly interested in learning all that could be learned con- cerning the aboriginal inhabitants of Wyoming. Foremost among these few foresighted men was Isaac A. Chapman, previously mentioned, whose portrait and a sketch of whose life will be found in a subsequent chapter. He had come to the Susquehanna region in 1798 at the age of eleven years, and in 1809 had located at Wilkes-Barré as a surveyor and draftsman. The following paragraphs are from Mr. Chapman's "A Sketch of the History of Wyoming" (page 8), mentioned on page 19, ante :
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