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 II > Part 63
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Johnson-the office of Deputy Superintendent of Indian Affairs, with the rank, or title, of Colonel.
Colonel Butler repaired to Fort Niagara without delay. His in- structions from the Governor merely directed him to preserve the good will of the Indians, and retain them in an attitude of absolute neutrality. "This alone," states Maj. Ernest Cruikshank in his carefully-written and interesting pamphlet entitled "The Story of Butler's Rangers", " proved a task of supreme difficulty, as the country of the Six Nations was already overrun with spies and emissaries in the service of the [Continental] Congress, of whom the missionaries Crosby and [Samuel] Kirkland, and the interpreter, [James] Dean, were the most zealous and influential. They had even begun to plan the capture of Niagara, where there was a sufficient quantity of military stores to tempt an at- tack. The confidence of the Indians was greatly shaken by the success- ful invasion of Canada, which was continually being trumpeted in their ears by these men."
About the middle of January, 1776, through the medium of Indian runners, Butler sent out from Niagara to the Deputy Agents at Fort Pitt and elsewhere notice that he had been "appointed to the care and charge of the Indian Department, in Colonel Johnson's absence." Under the date of February 29, 1776, he notified the same officials that Johnson had desired him to write them to meet himn (Butler) at Niagara; " and," he wrote, "it is Colonel Caldwell's orders and inine that you attend a meeting we propose to hold at Niagara the beginning of next May."* Major Cruikshank states that " there is conclusive evidence that he [Butler] faithfully obeyed his instructions, and 'spoke to them [the Indians] of nothing but peace', until March, 1776, when he received a message requiring him to send down a body of warriors to assist in the reconquest of the Province. In this task he was quite suc- cessful. A hundred of the Senecas and Cayugas readily consented to go to Montreal to open a passage for traders and to 'make a path ' for Colonel Johnson, whom they expected to return at that time. At Os- wegatchiet they were joined by an equal number of Missassaugas, assem- bled from the north shore of Lake Ontario, and a small party of the 8th Regiment. The advanced post of the Americans at the Cedars surren- dered to them. This sudden diversion contributed materially to force, the enemy out of Montreal, and Butler felt, not unreasonably, that no small share of credit was due himself as the organizer of the expedition."
Early in April, 1776, Butler sent messengers to the Indians in the neighborhood of Fort Pitt (now Pittsburg, Pennsylvania), and at certain places along the Ohio River, and elsewhere, desiring them to attend a treaty to be held at Fort Niagara. Cruikshank says that Butler labored steadily to strengthen his influence among the Indians. He quietly established agents in the principal Indian towns in New York and northern and western Pennsylvania, to collect intelligence and keep the Indians in good humor. One of the ablest of these was William Cald- well, a young adventurer belonging to a good family in Philadelphia, who had assisted a number of British officers to escape from the hands of their American captors, and safely guided them through the wilder- ness to Niagara. Among others Cruikshank names John Johnston, an
* See "American Archives," Fourth Series, V : 818.
¡ Near the present town of Ogdensburg, St. Lawrence County, New York.
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Oneida trader of much experience, and William and Peter Johnson, half-breed sons of Sir William Johnson by his common-law wife, Caro- line Peters. At the same time a steady, although slender, tide of fugi- tive Loyalists from the border settlements of New York and Pennsyl- vania was setting in towards Niagara.
At Lake George, New York, under the date of June 8, 1776, the Rev. Samuel Kirkland (previously mentioned) wrote to Brig. Gen. Philip Schuyler as follows *:
" I left the Oneida country May 29th. The Oneidas and Tuscaroras have expressed great concern on account of Col. [John] Butler's growing strength and influence at Niag- ara. He has, by threats and proffers, prevailed upon the greater part of the Senecas, Cayugas and Onondagas to renounce the cause of the Colonies and engage on the King's side. By the last accounts from Niagara upwards of one hundred have inlisted in the King's service, and are now acting against us. The war-hatchet has been sent to the Chippewas and Ottawas. Should Colonel Butler get reinforcements at Niagara, with a supply of provisions, our Indian friends say our frontiers will soon feel his resentment- particularly the back parts of New York, Pennsylvania and Virginia. * * * *
"The Indians are now generally of the opinion that it is impracticable for them to continue much longer in a state of neutrality, and that it has now become necessary for the Commissioners [of Indian Affairs] to call upon the Six Nations and demand who are friends and who are not !"
About a month after the receipt of the foregoing letter General Schuyler proceeded from Albany to German Flatst to hold the confer- ence, or treaty, with the Six Nations referred to on page 926. He reached his destination July 16, 1776, before the arrival of the Indians, and the next day wrote to the Hon. John Hancock, President of the Continental Congress, concerning a certain Albany trader who had "been detained at Niagara " since the preceding year " on a well-grounded suspicion of his affection to the American cause." He had found means to escape, however, and, accompanied by twenty-one Seneca warriors, arrived at German Flats almost simultaneously with Schuyler. He had left Niagara June 27th, and on his journey to the Mohawk River had tarried ten days in some of the Seneca villages. As to the information given by this trader to General Schuyler, the latter wrote as followst:
"The garrison at Niagara consists of about 200 men; that the fort is well repaired; that they were not under any apprehensions of a visit from us; that Colonel Butler (the Crown Agent) had frequently attempted to engage the Indians against us; that they constantly refused to comply, greatly commending us for recommending neutrality to them, and severely reprimanding him (Butler) for some scurrility thrown out against us. That a Seneca sachem, Cajaghsada,? from some town towards the Ohio|| (a man of great influence, and much respected by all the nations), in a long speech inveighed bit- terly against Butler for attempting to make the Indians parties to the war; that this man opened the eyes of the Indians to their true interest; that the few Indians that went down to Canada had been kept drunk for some time before, and went contrary to the inclina- tions of the sachems of all the Six Nations. That the Council at Onondaga had sent a sachem of note express to Niagara to bring away two sachems whom Butler, by dint of money and liquor, has kept about him all this Spring."
At German Flats, under the date of August 1, 1776, General Schuyler wrote to President Hancock at Philadelphia as follows **:
" Yesterday some of the Cayugas arrived and the remainder are expected to-day. The Senecas will be here to-morrow. There are about 1,200 Indians here-inen, women and children."
Joseph Brant-who in 1775 had been chosen to the office of Senior Chief of the Iroquois Confederacy, to succeed King Hendrick, who liad
* See "American Archives," Fourth Series, V : 764. ¡ A noted fertile tract of country stretching for some fifty miles along either bank of the upper Mohawk, but nowhere more than two miles in width.
Į See "American Archives," Fifth Series, I : 395.
§ This may have been Takeghsatu, or Sagechsadou, mentioned on pages 277 and 379, Vol. I.
" He was from the neighborhood of Fort Pitt.
T See page 117, Vol. I. ** Sec "American Archives," Fifth Series, I : 715.
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died some twenty years previously-went to England in November, 1775, as noted on pages 299 and 927. His observations, while there, thoroughly convinced liim of the great power of England ; and this conviction was intensified by the successes of the British (which he witnessed) at and in the vicinity of the city of New York in September, 1776. At that time there was no one among the Six Nations who could compare with Brant in native energy, talents and education. He entertained dreams of a great Indian Confederacy, to be independent of, but united in alli- ance with, the English, and as soon as possible after his return from England he made his way from the city of New York to the country of the Six Nations. His fiery eloquence stirred the Indians wherever he went, and when he arrived at Fort Niagara in December, 1776, he had already obtained many assurances of active support. Thenceforth Brant was, in many particulars, the acknowledged head of the Six Nations.
In the Spring of 1776 Sir John Johnson (see last paragraph, page 299, Vol. I) was still residing at Johnson Hall. At that time a large number of Highlanders from Scotland were established on the Johnson estates as tenants. To the peaceful German farmers of the neighbor- hood they seemed a rude, fierce, quarrelsome race, constantly wearing dirk and broadsword, and much given over to superstition and strange practises. Accordingly, when early in 1776 the local Whig Committee of Inspection announced that Sir John Johnson had fortified his home and surrounded himself with a body of Roman Catholic Highlanders for its defense, they could not have appealed to the inhabitants in a more effective way. Surrounded by his tenants, and strong in local influence, Sir John ventured to set the Committee of Inspection at defiance, and secretly began to form a regiment of guards for the support of the King's cause. His intentions being suspected, General Schuyler marched to Johnson Hall with a large force of troops early in 1776, disarmed Sir John and all his friends and tenants without firing a shot, and forced Sir John to sign a parole and enter into bonds for its observance. About the middle of May, 1776, learning that the Whig authorities had deter- mined to make him a prisoner and remove the entire body of Highland- ers from the country, Sir John concluded to flee to Canada. Montreal
was still in the hands of the Americans, but it was rumored that a Brit- ish fleet and army were ascending the St. Lawrence. Hastily assemn- bling about 130 Highlanders and nearly 120 other men of the vicinity who were Loyalists, Sir John set out for Oswegatchie,* guided by a few Mohawks. Within a short time his company was increased by Canadians and Indians to 500, and they arrived at Montreal the day after Governor Carleton had recovered possession of it.
A few days after Sir John Johnson's departure from Johnson Hall his wife, Lady Johnson, who, with her children, liad remained behind, received a letter from John Butler at Fort Niagara, addressed to Sir John, acquainting the latter that he (Butler) had, "agreeable to Col. Guy Johnson's instructions, assembled a considerable body of Indians to go on service, and only waited to receive orders to proceed." After the flight of Sir John Johnson and his friends, the Loyalists who remained behind were made very uncomfortable by the Whiigs. Johnson Hall was converted into a barrack, and the contents either carried off or destroyed. Lady Johnson and Mrs. John Butler (who were sisters), with
* See "American Archives," Fifth Series, I : 866.
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their children, were removed to Albany as hostages, together with the families of most of the Highlanders and other refugees. Of Guy John- son's house only the walls were left standing.
On July 29, 1776, Col. Guy Johnson arrived in New York harbor from England, and joined the British forces on Staten Island, whence he wrote on the 9th of August to Lord George Germain (see page 605, Vol. I) as follows :
"This moment an inhabitant of the Mohawk River has found means to reach our camp, and informs that he heard that Sir John Johnson had reached General Burgoyne; that a Colonel Dayton, with 600 men, was repairing Fort Stanwix; that General Schuyler had opened a Congress at the German Flats, but that only some of the Oneidas and Oghwagas attended it; and adds that the rebels had carried off my negroes, &c., and demolished everything on my estate. The Indians that attended Schuyler have been long under the influence of New England missionaries, and I found some difficulty with them last year."
In the heart of the Mohawk Valley was the remnant of the Mohawk tribe of the Six Nations, narrowly watched by the Americans, but ready to obey the summons of Johnson or Butler. Joseph Brant did not dare to approach nearer to them than Onondaga, and more than one letter written by him to them to prepare them for flight was intercepted. About that time, states Major Cruikshank, "the Americans began to concoct schemes for kidnapping Butler. At the general council of the Confederacy Sangerachta,* principal war-chief of the Senecas, publicly accused the Oneidas of having entertained such a proposal, and asserted that General Schuyler had promised them $250. for Butler's scalp or person." The minds of most of the New York Indians continued un- settled and wavering to the end of the year 1776. It was generally supposed that they would ultimately join the party they believed most likely to succeed, and it was admitted on both sides that it would be almost impossible to keep them neutral much longer.
In September, 1776, a council was held at Fort Niagara with rep- resentatives of the Six Nations and certain western tribes. Lieut. Colonel Caldwell presided, and the Indians present determined to take up arms against the Americans. In the following November Lieut. Colonel Caldwell was succeeded by Lieut. Col. Mason Bolton as com- mandant of Fort Niagara. Refugees continued to arrive at Fort Niag- ara from the Mohawk, states Major Cruikshank, t " many of them being persons of influence ; and during the Winter [of 1776-'77] a Mr. Depue} brought letters from seventy inhabitants of the Susquehanna, announc- ing their wish to enlist as scouts, or 'rangers', under Butler's command. He had already encouraged them to join him at Niagara."
Under the date of March 26, 1777, Lord George Germain (previ- ously mentioned), the British Secretary of State for the Colonies, wrote from Whitehall Palace, London, to Governor Carleton at Quebec as follows§ :
"The proposal to send parties of Indians to Virginia and Pennsylvania has been maturely weighed. It is His Majesty's resolution that the most vigorous efforts should be made, and every means employed that Providence has put into His Majesty's hands, for crushing the rebellion and restoring the Constitution. It is the King's command that you should direct Lieut. Governor Hamilton|| to assemble as many of the Indians of his district as he conveniently can; and, placing a proper person at their head to conduct
* SAYENQUERAGHTA, mentioned on page 437. Vol. I.
+ In " The Story of Butler's Rangers," page 34.
# JOHN DE PUI, mentioned on pages 874 and 919. See deposition of the Athertons on page 922 for refer- ence to a "list " of Susquehanna Tories.
¿ See "B. M. 21,698" in the "Haldimand Papers," mentioned in the next chapter.
|| Whose headquarters were at Detroit, in what is now the State of Michigan.
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their parties and restrain them from committing violence on the well-affected, inoffensive inhabitants, employ them in making a diversion and exciting an alarm on the frontiers of Virginia and Pennsylvania. And, as there is good ground to believe there are consid- erable numbers of loyal subjects in those parts, who would gladly embrace an opportunity of delivering themselves from the tyranny and oppression of the rebel comites*, it is His Majesty's pleasure that you do authorize and direct Lieut. Governor Hamilton to invite all suchi loyal subjects to join him, and to assure them of the same pay and allowances as are given to His Majesty's other corps raised in America; and that such of them as shall continue to serve His Majesty until the rebellion is suppressed and peace restored, shall each receive His Majesty's bounty of 200 acres of land."
Lord Germain closed liis letter with the liope that the aforemen- tioned offers would enable Hamilton to extend liis operations and com- pel tlie rebels to weaken the main ariny, facilitate operations in other quarters, and "restore those deluded people to their former happiness and prosperity."
Upon the receipt of the foregoing letter at Quebec in May, 1777, the policy of Governor Carleton, with reference to the employment of Indians in the war then well under way, underwent a very considerable change, and June 5, 1777, John Butler at Fort Niagara received a letter from the Governor directing him to collect as many Indians as possible and join Lieut. Col. Barry St. Leger-acting Brigadier General-who had orders to advance from Montreal against Fort Schuyler, formerly known as Fort Stanwix. The whole force of the expedition was to be assembled at Oswego about the last of July, 1777; and in the meantime Col. Guy Johnson summoned a Grand Council of the Six Nations to ineet tlere at that time. There was a pretty full attendance at the Council, but a large number of the chiefs adhered faithfully to the cov- enant of neutrality made with General Schuyler at German Flats in August, 1776, as previously mentioned. Sayenqueraghta, the Seneca chief previously mentioned, arrived at Oswego with about 200 men of liis nation, and Joseph Brant headed about as many more warriors gath- ered from several tribes. Col Daniel Claus arrived from England with a commission appointing him superintendent of all the Indians who should be employed in the Fort Schuyler expedition. Carleton was compelled to ratify the appointment, but he requested John Butler to act as second in command-which he did, thus serving under his per- sonal enemy.
Colonel Johnson represented to the Indians at the Oswego con- ferencet " that the soldiers of the King were as numerous as the leaves of the forest ; that the rum of the King was as abundant as the waters of Lake Ontario, and that if the Indians would become his allies during the war they should never want goods or money. Tawdry articles, such as scarlet clothis, beads, and trinkets, were displayed and presented to the Indians, which pleased them greatly, and they concluded an alliance by binding themselves to take up the hatchet against the patri- ots and continue their warfare until they were subdued. To each mnan was then presented a brass kettle, a suit of clothes, a gun, a tomahawk, a scalping-knife, a piece of gold, a quantity of ammunition, and a prom- ise of a bounty on every scalp he should bring in."
Fort Schuyler was besieged August 2, 1777, and a few days later the battle of Oriskany was fought, as narrated in the note on page 448, Vol. I. Both John and Walter N. Butler participated in the siege and battle.
* The plural of the Latin word comes, and meaning "companions" or "associators."
" See W. Max Reid's "The Mohawk Valley," page 262.
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Colonel Hornbeck, in command of one of the frontier posts, or dis- tricts, of the Americans in New York, examined on August 23, 1777, shortly after the battle of Oriskany, a certain J. Osterhout, Jr., and " Nicholas ", an Indian, who had just come from "the Indian country". They deposed as follows :
" That the Indians have abandoned the Kookhouse, and are all moved back as far as Oghwaga or Coletien, being afraid of the people of Esopus and Minisink, as said In- dians had received information before they moved that 2,000 men were coming up to destroy them. * * That the most part of the young Indians were gone to join Butler at Fort Stanwix, and the wife of the Chief Sachem of the Five Nations had made a request to the sachems that all the Five Nations should be desired at once to hold them- selves neutral in the present contest or war-which request was granted her. Where- upon the Chief Sachem should immediately request the said Five Nations to stop their hostile measures and come in again with those that have hitherto been still; and if the young Indians should refuse to return, but continue with Butler in the war, then the Sachem offers to be at peace and continue in friendship with the people at Esopus, Mini- sink, Papaschunk, Cushetunk, Wyamock [Wyoming], and all settlements to the south- ward thereof, so that war should only be to the North; and if any of their young men should be killed to the North, they should not mind it or break friendship; and if any of our men should go in the war to the North and be killed, we should likewise not mind the same, or break friendship.
"An Indian is sent with Osterhout and 'Nicholas' by the Chief Sachem to Colonel Hornbeck to see how times are with him, and to desire of said Hornbeck that a corre- spondence may be kept with Esopus people and the sachems, notwithstanding the war to the North; and that once every three or four weeks a man may pass and repass between them, so that the women and children may be at peace and their work on both sides; that the road on the side of the Indians shall be constantly open for us safely to come to them and return. The Oneida Indians are heartily in favour of America, and very likely a war will soon break out between them and the other nations."
Colonel Hornbeck forwarded the foregoing information to Gover- nor Clinton of New York, who laid it before the Council of Safety for the State of New York at Kingston, in Ulster County, September 3, 1777, when that body immediately took the following action :
"In the opinion of the Council the message from the Indians of Oneoghquage [Oghwaga], which has been laid before them by the Governor, is an insult to this State, and that it is inconsistent with the honor and interest of the State to consider them in a state of neutrality while their warriors are engaged against us.
"Resolved, That it will be proper for his Excellency to inform the aforesaid Indians that unless their warriors are called in and return immediately, the said Indians will be considered and treated as open enemies.
' Resolved, That the Governor be empowered to take into pay such of the Indian warriors as may choose to enter the service of the State.
"Resolved, That the Oneida Nation are the allies of this State, and that we shall consider any attack upon them as an attack upon our own people."
In transmitting the foregoing resolutions to Colonel Hornbeck, to be forwarded to the Indians concerned, Governor Clinton wrote *:
"I am sorry to find that those Indians, regardless of former treaties and forgetful of the kindness we have always manifested towards them, have unprovokedly joined Butler and our other enemies, attacked our forts and inhabitants to the northward, and given the enemy every other assistance in their power to conquer the country. It is not to be wondered that, after such breach of faith, and daring insults on the part of the Indians, that they should leave their habitations and move back, lest the injured inhabit- ants of the State should take that revenge upon them and their families which their per- fidy and cruelty would justly warrant.
"I am to desire you will inform the Indian who brought thie proposals above referred to, that such of our young men as are in the war to the northiward were sent there to defend our forts and protect that part of the country against the English; that it was not their design to fight Indians, as they had no right to expect that any would have come against them; that the young Indians and warriors who had joined Butler went there designedly to fight and kill our people and to assist the English; that we cannot, therefore, consider the fathers and mothers of those young Indians as our friends, as it is natural for them to wish well to their own children, and to assist them; and unless those warriors shall be immediately called in, we must consider the nations they belong to our open enemies, and treat them as such.
* See "Public Papers of George Clinton," II : 271.
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"You will likewise inform the said Indians that the apprehensions they labored under, of our having sent a body of men against them, must have arose from a conscious- ness of the injuries they had done us in fighting against us, as there never were any inen ordered out to hurt the Indians. We chose first to let them know that we were not ignorant of their conduct, but at the same time to give them opportunity of repenting of it and of giving security for their future friendship and peaceable behavior towards us, in which case we might still live in peace and friendship with them, as we do with the Oneida and other nations who we consider as our friends and allies. Tell the Indians that if their young men are fond of fighting, and choose to be in the war, that they call come and join us ( who are their brethren, born in the same country ) against our common enemies, and we will pay them as we do our own young men who go out and fight for us. The Indians may see what reliance is to be put on the promises of Butler and his friends, by the shameful manner they have fled from Fort Stanwix, leaving their cannon, tents, ammunition, and even their provisions, behind them; though they boasted they would take that fort and proceed to Albany in a short time, and that our people dare not fight them."
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