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 55
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On the breaking out of hostilities the inhabitants on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, having but few arms and no organized methods of defense, were struck with a panic and deserted their plantations. After a considerable delay, caused mainly by the failure of the Assembly to act-as we have before noted -- laws were passed and money was appro- priated for the building of a range of frontier forts and the raising, sub- sisting and paying of a Provincial force of 1,400 soldiers for garrison and patrol duty. These soldiers were enlisted for one year, and each man received "eighteen pence currency a day, and his victuals found." The cost to the Province of this force, including its officers, was about £70,000 in currency. The inhabitants of the Province of Pennsylvania and the Counties on the Delaware were estimated at that time to "amount to 200,000, of whom 30,000 may be capable of bearing arms."*
Early in January, 1756, Benjamin Franklin and other Commis- sioners proceeded from Philadelphia to the site of New Gnadenhütten (see page 327), where, guarded by a force of Provincials, they superin-
tended the erection of a wooden fort. It was completed January 25th, when there was a general discharge of fire-arms, a flag was hoisted, and the place was named "Fort Allen" in honor of the Hon. William Allen of Philadelphia, Chief Justice of the Province, who was a Masonic Brother and intimate friend of Benjamin Franklin, and at that time was Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Free Masons of Pennsylvania. Colonel Clapham having completed Fort Halifax, previously referred to, proceeded with his regiment of 400 Provincials early in July, 1756, up the Susquehanna to Shamokin, where, within the present limits of the borough of Sunbury, he began the erection of Fort Augusta, which he completed before the following Winter.
By advice of the Provincial Council Governor Morris gave public notice early in June that he had "suspended for three months hostilities against the Delaware Indians on the east side of the North Branch of the Susquehanna River, in order to enter into a treaty with them." On the 8th of June the Governor instructed Captain Newcastle to proceed to Tioga with a message to the Indians there, and a few days later New- castle, accompanied by John Pompshire and two other Delaware Indians from West Jersey, set out from Philadelphia for Bethlehem on horse- back. The Governor immediately sent the following notification to Colonel Clapham :
"Having sent the Indian Newcastle again to the town of Diahoga, accompanied by some of the Jersey Delawares, all our good friends-who may, and probably will, return by the Susquehanna-you will, in about a fortnight after this, cause a look out to be kept for them ; and if they return that way you will receive and assist them in their journey. Their signal will be a red flag with the Union in the corner ; or if they should be lost, they will carry green boughs or clubbed muskets. They will appear openly and erect, and will not approach you in the night."
The message entrusted to Newcastle for delivery to the Delawares, Shawanese, Mohegans and Monseys congregated at Tioga was in sub- stance as followst : I am glad to find a good spirit prevailing amongst you. I ratify and confirm all former treaties and engagements. I now kindle a fire and invite you to a council. I will take to the council clothes
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VII : 448.
+ See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VII : 145 et seq.
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and provisions for you. As you have laid down the hatchet, and desire the same may be done by us, our messenger carries with him our proc- lamation for a suspension of hostilities within certain limits. All prison- ers must be delivered up. "Agreeably to the repeated advice and request of Scarooyady and other Indians of the Six Nations, then residing in this Province, I engaged to build a fort at Shamokin for the protection of our friendly Indians, and I now acquaint you with the march of the forces in order to effect this work." The Governor also sent a "partic- ular" message to "Paxinosa the Shawanese King," to the effect that the Governor "had heard by all his messengers of the great fidelity with which he (Paxinosa) had adhered to the English, and that they relied on his giving the best counsel for furthering the good measures now taken." He was particularly invited to the council-fire. With these messages were sent several wampum belts-including one of fourteen rows and one of eight rows with eight strings tied to it.
Captain Newcastle and his party arrived at Bethlehem June 12th, and remained there until the 27th waiting for Newcastle "to recover from some boils" with which he was afflicted. Reichel states, however, that the party was detained by the intelligence that "one hundred men were gone from the Jerseys on a scalping party," they not having been advised of the suspension of hostilities. Leaving their horses at Beth- lehem the four messengers set out on foot for Wyoming, where they arrived on the first of July. They found the valley still deserted, but as they went up the river they met at the mouth of the Lackawanna- near the site of Asserughney-Kolapeeka, or Samuel, Paxinosa's young- est son, his brother-in-law and two other Shawanese, all formerly of Wyoming, who had come down from Tioga a-hunting. They were out of ammunition, and Newcastle sent them "with a letter to the Brethren at Bethlehem," where they arrived four days later.
When Newcastle and the other messengers arrived at Tioga they found that Teedyuscung (who but a short time previously had returned from Fort Niagara), Paxinosa and a number of the principal men of the Delawares, Shawanese and Mohegans had gone to Fort Johnson in response to the summons brought by Ogaghradarisha, as previously mentioned. The messengers therefore awaited at Tioga the return of the Kings, but sent a runner to them at Fort Johnson to hasten their departure thence. The following letter* from Sir William Johnson to the Lords of Trade (London), written at Albany July 17, 1756, describes very fully the Baronet's conference with Teedyuscung and Paxinosa, which was completed before July 11th.
"The meeting at Onondaga confirmed my suspicions as to the French having in- fected the Six Nations.
At the conclusion of the meeting the Six Nations appeared to be sincerely disposed. * * The Shawanese and Delawares were there in small numbers, but did not come in sufficient numbers till the congress was closed. The treaty, there- fore, was adjourned to my house, and those Indians, with a deputation of Six Nations, came down to Fort Johnson, where were present the said Six Nation deputies, the King, or Chief, of the Shawanese, the King, or Chief, of the Delawares, settled on the Susque- hanna and its branches, and a great number of the Mohikanders [Mohegans], or River Indians, whom I have lately drawn from the frontiers of this Province and New Jersey to settle near to and under the protection of the Mohawks. These Indians were originally Delawares, and are still regarded as brethren by them. * *
"The Shawanese Chief on behalf of his people denied their having been concerned in any of the late hostilities committed on the southern Provinces. They are and shall continue to be attached to the English. The Shawanese on the Ohio, however, have been many of them seduced by the French and their Indians to join in the late hos-
* From "Documents Relating to the Colonial History of New York," VII : 118.
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tilities. The Delaware King confessed that some of his people had been deceived and deluded by the French and the Delawares who live near Fort Duquesne to join them in their late hostilities ; but that the message I sent him by the Six Nations last Winter, and that what passed in our names at the treaty held in consequence at Otsiningo, had opened their eyes, and that from that time his people had laid down the hatchet and ceased from hostilities. He expressed his sorrow and repentance for what had passed. In the most solemn manner he renewed the Covenant Chain of Peace, Friendship and Alliance in behalf of his people, and promised to return such English prisoners who had fallen to his people's share during the hostilities. Both he and the Shawanese King accepted the War-belt, and sung and danced to the War-song with extraordinary fervor ; and promised to follow the Six Nations in our favor, and, whenever I should call upon them, to join me in conjunction with the Six Nations.
"I concluded this treaty by taking off the petticoats, or that invidious name of women, from the Delaware Nation (which had been imposed on them by the Six Nations from the time they conquered them), in the name of the great King of England, and on behalf of all their brethren, the English, on this continent ; and I promised them that I would use my influence and best endeavors to prevail with the Six Nations to follow my example. The deputies of the Six Nations who were present approved of this measure, but said they were not a sufficient number nor properly authorized to do it."
On his homeward journey from Fort Niagara, previous to attend- ing the conference at Fort Johnson, Teedyuscung stopped at Canisteo, where, according to the testimony* of Thomas Moffitt (mentioned on page 334), the King boasted, in a drunken frolic at the house of "Queen Catharine," that "the Indians could make peace, and the Indians could also break peace when made." Moffitt also stated that when Teedyuscung left Catharine's house "he sold an English female prisoner for a horse, with which to perform his journey to Bethlehem." He probably used this horse in the trip from Tioga to Fort Johnson and return, as the journey to Bethlehem was made by canoe as far as Wyoming and the remainder of the way on foot. The party, which set out from Tioga about July 11th, consisted of Captain Newcastle, John Pompshire and the other two messengers ; Teedyuscung, his wife Elizabeth, their three young children and Captain Amos their eldest son ; Tapescawent (men- tioned on page 315), the King's private counselor, and a number of other Indians-men, women and children-who were joined on the way by a few others at Tunkhannock, so that when the company reached Beth- lehem in the evening of July 17th it numbered upwards of thirty. Pax- inosa was not with the delegation, he having remained at Tioga.
On July 18th Teedyuscung met in conference with Major Parsons (mentioned on page 254), for the occasion the personal representative of Governor Morris, and to the latter the King dictated a message, in which, for the first time, he formally declared to the English his kingship, in these words :
"This, what I have now in short spoken, is not only from me, but also from my uncle, the Mohawk (meaning the Six Nations), and from four other nations (Unamis, Monseys, Mohegans and Nanticokes), which in all makes ten, and these ten have but two heads of Kings between them."
The next day, following instructions previously received from the Governor, Major Parsons, with a guard of Provincial soldiers, escorted Teedyuscung and his retinue from Bethlehem to Easton, where it was purposed to hold the contemplated treaty. Information relative to the presence of the Indians in Easton having been forwarded to Philadel- phia, upwards of twenty Quakers of that city resolved to go to Easton with a wagon-load of goods, to be presented by themselves to the Indi- ans. In the meantime the Governor notified Major Parsons that he had
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VII : 284.
+ Tapescawen, or "Samuel," was a brother of Augustus (mentioned on page 338), who was the brother- in-law of Teedyuscung.
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found it necessary to change the place of treating with the Indians from Easton to Bethlehem. He wrote :
"You will transport the victuals and liquors provided to Bethlehem. I have ordered Colonel [Conrad] Weiser to call together such detachments of the several companies on the frontier, as can safely be spared, to attend this meeting of the Indians, where it is quite necessary to have a good number of troops. I think it is necessary that you should on this occasion draw together such force from the several garrisons near Bethlehem as they can safely spare. You are to move to Bethlehem with the Town Guard of Easton immediately on receipt of this, where you are to escort Teedyuscung and the other Indi- ans who, I am informed, are now at Easton."
Nicholas Scull (previously mentioned) and Capt. Joseph Insley from Fort Allen conveyed the Governor's orders to Teedyuscung, who thereupon made this response *:
"At a distance of 400 miles from hence I received your invitation to come and make
peace. * * Since you sent that message I am come, and will stay here ! I can't under- stand what you mean by sending me about from place to place like a child."
The Governor having been informed of the King's attitude in the premises consented to hold the treaty at Easton, and on Saturday, July 24th, he arrived there with his attendants, including several members of the Council. On the next day (Sunday), at 10 o'clock in the morn- ing, the Governor, his suite and others attended public worship and listened to a sermon by the Secretary of the Council, the Rev. Richard Peters, previously mentioned. In the afternoon, in the same building, the Quakers, who had arrived in Easton early in the morning of that day, held a religious meeting. On his arrival in the town the Governor had given an order that "no one should speak with the Indians, and a guard was set near their lodgings to enforce this"; but on Sunday evening Teedyuscung and the most of his retinue visited the inn where the Philadelphia Quakers were staying, expressed regard for and con- fidence in them, and supped with them. On the 26th the King and his company who had been drinking intemperately for several days before were now sober, and the King said his head and heart were clear and he was ready to enter on business. On the 27th the Governor went out fishing, and the Indians spent the day in drinking so much as to render them unfit for business. Conrad Weiser arrived in Easton on this day, and as it was expected that he would take part in the treaty as "Pro- vincial Interpreter," he stated that he was "a stranger to Teedyuscung, and desired time to be informed of his temper and his expectations." According to a letter written at the time by Major Parsonst "Teedyus- cung and his wild company were perpetually drunk, very much on the Gascoon, and at times abusive to the inhabitants, for they (the Indians) all spoke English more or less. The King was full of himself, saying frequently that which side (French or English) soever he took must stand, and the other fall; repeating this with insolence. * He * was the man that persuaded the Delawares to go over to the French and then to attack our frontiers ; and he and these [Indians here] with him have been concerned in the mischief done to the inhabitants of North- ampton County."
The treaty was formally opened on the 28th. Teedyuscung declared that he had been appointed by ten nations-meaning the Six Nations and those who were then collected at Tioga-"a King, or Sachem, to transact public business, and that whatsoever he did in these conferences
* See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 714, 722.
+ See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 724.
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would be ratified by the Six Nations, who knew and were consenting to his coming, and were waiting with patience to hear what reception he and his people should find from Onas." He said further :
"Hearken to what I say. Abundance of confusion, disorder and distraction have arisen among Indians from people taking upon them to be kings and persons of authority. With every tribe of Indians there have been such pretenders who have held treaties- sometimes public, sometimes in the bushes. Sometimes what they did was come to be known, but frequently remained in darkness. To some they held up their belts, but others never saw them. This bred among the Indians heart-burnings and quarrels, and I can assure you that the present clouds do in a great measure owe their rise to this wild and irregular way of doing business, and the Indians will have no more transactions in the dark. * At the very time Newcastle came with your last message I was in treaty with the Six Nations, and received from them this authority [exhibiting a large "Peace- belt"]. This belt denotes that the Six Nations, by their chiefs, have lately renewed their covenant chains with us. Formerly we were accounted women, and employed only in women's business ; but now they have made men of us, and as such we are now come to this treaty, having authority as a man to make peace."
Captain Newcastle then explained that Teedyuscung had brought this belt with him from the Council of the Six Nations to the Dela- wares gathered at Tioga early in July, with this message* :
"Cousins the Delawares-You will remember that you are our women ; our fore- fathers made you so, and put a petticoat on you and charged you to be true to us and live with no other man. But of late you have suffered the string that tied your petticoat to be cut loose by the French, and you lay with them and so became a common bawd, in which you did very wrong and deserve chastisement. But notwithstanding this we will still esteem you ; and as you have thrown off the cover of your modesty and become stark naked, which is a shame for a woman, we now *
* * advise you not to act as a man yet, but be first instructed by us and do as we bid you, and you will become a noted man."
The King then explained the meaning and significance of the belt in his hand-which he purposed to present to the Governor-which was to the effect that the square figure in the middle of it stood for the lands of the Indians ; the figure of a man at one end of the belt indicated the English, while the figure at the other end indicated the French. "Our uncles told us," said Teedyuscung, "that both of these coveted our lands." Newcastle advised the Governor to accept this belt without hesitation, and at the same time urged the propriety of returning another by way of response. "The King," he proceeded, "will want abundance of wampum, and if he has it not the cause will suffer." The Governor, the civil and military officers present and the Indians then adjourned to an elaborate feast. Teedyuscung was so pleased with his reception and generous entertainment that, while at dinner, he declared in the warmest manner no endeavors of his should be wanting to promote the good work of peace. After dinner the Philadelphia Quakers came to bid him farewell, and he "parted with them in an affectionate manner." Later, he gave an account of his journey to Fort Niagara. The next day the Governor, taking up two belts of wampum joined together, addressed Newcastle and Teedyuscung and declared them to be messengers of peace for the Province of Pennsylvania in negotiations with the hostile Indians.
May 18, 1756, after a year of open hostility, England had formally declared war against France. The King's proclamation relative to this declaration was first published in Pennsylvania at Easton on Friday, July 30th, during the progress of the Indian treaty. The First Bat- talion of the Pennsylvania Regiment (in command of Lieutenant Colonel Weiser), formed in three divisions, the Governor, the members of the Council, other officials, the Indians and a considerable body of citizens
* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VII : 218.
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assembled in the open air to listen to the reading of the proclamation. It was not published in Philadelphia until August.
The results of the Easton treaty, which was closed on Saturday, July 31st, were not definitive, although Teedyuscung gave the assurance that he would exert himself faithfully and to the utmost of his ability in the service of the Province, and that he would do all in his power "to perfect a general peace with the Indians." But, instead of repairing immediately to the Indian country, the King and his retinue journeyed as far only as Fort Allen (New Gnadenhütten). The Captain command- ing the fort was in Philadelphia, and a certain Lieutenant Miller was in charge. Teedyuscung had sixteen deer-skins which he said he was going to present to the Governor, but Miller, by a liberal use of rum, secured the entire number of skins for £3. Newcastle, in disgust, left the fort and went to Philadelphia, but Teedyuscung remained behind, demand- ing more rum, which Miller freely gave him from the Provincial sup- ply. The King and his company continued at Fort Allen, almost con- stantly drunk and obstreperous and frequently expressing themselves in terms inconsistent with their professions made at Easton. Finally, on August 21st, they set out for the Minisinks, the King purposing to put a stop to the Indian depredations which were being committed there. Elizabeth, the wife of Teedyuscung, accompanied by her three young children, went to Bethlehem to stay, being unwilling to accompany the King on his expedition. From the Minisinks the King and his party came to Wyoming, and then proceeded up the river to Tioga.
In the meantime, at Philadelphia, on the 20th of August, Capt. William Denny had succeeded Robert Hunter Morris* as Lieutenant Governor of the Province. The Proprietaries, desiring to be represented by a "military man with a ready pen," had issued their commission on the 7th of May to Denny, who had been a Captain in the British army. The new Governor, as well as the Provincial Council, becoming appre- hensive that Teedyuscung was not sincere in his peace professions (and it being insinuated that the Easton conference was only a ruse on the part of the King to gain time), decided to send Captain Newcastle to the Six Nations "to inquire into the nature of the authorities he [Tee- dyuscung] said he had received from them, and to learn his character and in what esteem he was with them and how far the several matters mentioned by him in the conferences were to be depended on."} New- castle being willing to go on this mission was sent via New York City and Albany, bearing letters to Sir Charles Hardy, Governor of New York, and to Sir William Johnson. In due time Newcastle returned to Philadelphia and reported to the Governor that he had had an interview with "Canyase, a Mohawk chief, one of the principal councilors of the Six Nations, who has [had] a regard for Pennsylvania." Canyase said to Newcastle# :
* ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS was born at Morrisania, New York, about 1700, the son of Lewis Morris who was Chief Justice of New York and New Jersey for several years, and Governor of New Jersey from 1738 to 1746. R. H. Morris was Chief Justice of New Jersey from 1738 until his death-it having been decided that his commission "conferred a freehold in the office, and that nothing had been shown to divest him thereof." It was during a part of this period that he held the office of Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania. "He was comely in appearance, graceful in manners and of a most imposing presence. Benjamin Franklin said 'he was eloquent, an acute sophister and, therefore, generally successful in argumentative conversation.' " He was an uncle of Lewis Morris, one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence, and also of Gouverneur Morris, sometime United States Minister to France. He died at Shrewsbury, New Jersey, January 27, 1764.
t See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VII : 222, and "Documentary History of the Colony of New York," VII : 197.
Į See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VII : 297.
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"Teedyuscung, on behalf of the Delawares, applied to me as Chief of the Six Nations. I told him that the Delawares were women and always treated as such by the Six Nations ; that the Delawares were the most nearly related to the Mohawks, who had given the Delawares protection and had permitted them to sit down and enjoy peaceably the lands on which they were seated. We, the Mohawks, are men ; we are made so from above. But the Delawares are women and under our protection, and of too low a kind to be men ; and we have observed you, the Delawares, have suffered your petticoats to be cut away by strangers, and are running about naked and doing things that do not become you in the condition you know you are in, subject to us. We have seen you in all your proceedings, and do not approve your conduct. Since you have been so foolish as to obey that stranger's voice and cut off your petticoats, and have taken the tomahawk and now appear in the character of a Man, I join and help to cut off your petticoats, and so far make a Man of you-but do not put a tomahawk in your hand. I know what is for your good, and therefore I will not allow you to carry a tomahawk."
On the 10th of September Governor Denny ordered a further sus- pension of hostilities against the Indians on the east side of the Susque- hanna. A month later Major Parsons wrote* from Easton to the Gov- ernor that nine Indian men and one Indian woman with four white prisoners (one of whom was Henry Hess, mentioned on page 333) had arrived at Easton, sent on from Wyoming by Teedyuscung, who, with four other chiefs and a great number of Indians, had arrived there from up the river. The King sent word that he desired to have his wife and children (who were still at Bethlehem) sent to him. Major Parsons pro- ceeded to Bethlehem with some of the Indians and made known the King's desire to his wife, but she decided to remain where she was. Seven of the Indians who had arrived at Easton with the prisoners told Parsons that they "were not subjects of Teedyuscung, but were Mini- sinks [Monseys], of a different tribe, and had come to visit their Brethren and Sisters who were at Bethlehem, and desired to pass."
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