A history of old Tioga Point and early Athens, Pennsylvania, Part 10

Author: Murray, Louise Welles, 1854-1931. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Athens, Penna. [i.e., Pa.] : [s.n.]
Number of Pages: 726

USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > Athens > A history of old Tioga Point and early Athens, Pennsylvania > Part 10

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De Soto, in 1538, found a Spaniard among the southern Indians who had been a captive ten years ; he also speaks of "Saquechama," conjectured to mean Susquehanna.20

The New York Gazetteer of 1810 thus speaks of Spanish Hill, as reported by a correspondent :

"In the southern part of the town of Chemung is a large mound of earth- which is described as a work of art, but the top is a plain of some 4 acres."

We assume this means that the hill was artificial. In the Athens Scribe, of 1841, Sidney Hayden published a lengthy romance entitled, "Movanho," but he never gave, as promised, his theory as to formation. In the same paper, date November 1, 1843, an article is copied from the Owego Gasette, with the signature M. J. A. (identity unknown), entitled, "A Legend of Spanish Hill." This is a most ingenious tale, said to have been found written in Spanish, by Margarita, a Spanish girl captured in the south by Indians in 1657, and brought to this lo- cality. In this the name of Swan-za-gash-kin is given to the hill, and the fortifications were then claimed to be very old. Margarita thought of Cortez, but seemed to think they antedated even his day.

O. H. P. Kinney's poem represents Spaniards on the hill besieged by Indians, but finally ransomed by a Spanish maiden giving herself in marriage to an Indian chief.

"The story of the Spaniards has received embellishments one time and another from the local poet and would be historian, until the whole is surrounded

19 The Pompey Stone was found in Oneida County; it is oblong, 14 inches by 12 inches; has in the centre a tree with a serpent climbing it, and on each side of the tree what are said to be Spanish inscriptions and a true chronology of Leo X. This stone is in the Albany Museum and is thought by some to have marked a grave.

20 See Appendix, "Life of Brant."

OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS

by a vague haze of traditions, and one is really unable to decide whether the hill gets its name from the story, or whether the story was simply invented to ac- count for the name."-E. M.

Early in the last century Alpheus Harris settled at the foot of the hill. An old Indian was a frequent visitor, but when asked to ascend the hill he always refused, saying a Great Spirit lived there who would kill Indians. That he spoke with a voice of thunder, and made holes through Indians' bodies. This suggests muskets or cannons. Fifty years later, seeing the eminence for the first time, N. P. Willis thus described it :

"They call it Spanish Hill, and the fortifications were old at the time of the passing through of Sullivan's army. It is as pretty a fort as my Uncle Toby could have seen in Flanders, and was doubtless occupied by gentlemen soldiers long before the Mayflower moored off the rock of Plymouth. The tradition runs that an Indian chief once ascended it to look for Spanish gold, but, on reaching the top, was enveloped in clouds and thunder, and returned with a sol- emn command from the spirit of the mountain that no Indian should ever . set his foot on it again.

"An old lady who lives in the neighborhood (famous for killing two tories with a stone in her stocking) declares that the dread of this mountain is uni- versal among the tribes, and that nothing would induce a red man to go on it. This looks as if the sachem found what he went after; and it is a modern fact that a man, hired to plough on the hillside, suddenly left his employer and pur- chased a large farm, by nobody knows what windfall of fortune. Half this moun- tain belongs to a gentleman who is building a country seat on an exquisite site between it and the river, and to the kindness of his son and daughter we are indebted for information."

Naturally, the supporters of the Mound Builders' theory have as- sumed that treasures were secreted with the bones in the cave at its center. Wonderful tales have been told of the return at night of In- dians to hunt for the buried treasure. Spasmodic attempts at excava- tions have been made by various persons in the past, some looking for treasures and some for relics. All were disappointed, as far as known. Probably this search reached a climax in the '70's when the editor of the Waverly Advocate, interested and amused at the geological war waged in his columns over Spanish Hill, wrote an article, given the name of "The Spanish Hill Hoax," which attracted great temporary attention to the eminence.

A resident of the valley has written in lighter vein :

"On the whole it seems reasonable to suppose that Spanish Hill is a freak of nature rather than the creation of man. Without doubt, every race that has passed through the valley has laid hands on it in turn, but probably without rad- ically changing any features of it. It has been, in its day, the site of a village, burying-ground, fortress, and potato-patch, in turn; and yet, in all probability we see it to-day just as the first man who made his way into the valley saw it hundreds of years ago. There are many, to be sure, who will never be satisfied with such a rational explanation as this. They prefer that the origin of the hill should be shrouded in mystery. Their imagination fails to take fire at the thought of the great ice-sheets that clogged the valleys and covered the tops of the highest hills, or of the great floods that swept down over the land at the birth of the hill. They will always prefer the hazy Mound-builders, to the pow- ers of nature ; and the tale of the Spaniards and the Indian girl has the popular heart. And until they have dug the whole hill over, inch by inch, they will never believe but that there lie hidden in it the treasures of Captain Kidd, or of a prehistoric race as wealthy as the Aztecs. Long may the old hill guard its secrets."

POEM ON SPANISH HILL

Of all the stories and poems inspired by the hill and its traditions, the following seems the most free from fancies. It was written one hundred years ago; the youthful author, a lad of seventeen, was then a resident of Athens. It is worthy of note that just as little was known of the history of the hill then as now :

ELEGY

On visiting the ancient fortification called vulgarly Spanish Hill, at the con- fluence of the Tioga and Susquehanna Rivers.

Alas ! how sad a character of man I gain from this lone tract of labored ground ! His passions, manners, weakness, strength and pride Are truly pictured in this martial mound.

And what an awful thought it gives my soul, When lone inquiry strives in vain to trace The bloody story of the chiefs and braves Whose bones are resting in this solemn place.

No page informing speaks its silent tale, No ancient poet marks the fatal green ; Even Tradition's wondering tongue is still; Nought else is known but here a work is seen.

The greyest Indian warrior cannot tell Of these old mounds and half-filled ditches more

Than many a forest growth hath fallen here, And trunks been seen of growth long, long before.

Yes, here the panther and the wolf have slept Ages before Columbus tho't to roam :- The roving wild deer, with unconscious step, For years untold has made the spot his home.

Here has it stood, a silent monument, Speaking of things and deeds of buried yore- Of nations skill'd in all the arts of war- Of chiefs immortal, fall'n and known no more.

Perhaps some tyrant Victor's mad career Drove to these heights some little patriot band ; Souls fit for Greece were crush'd untimely here, And rude barbarians whelm'd a polished land.

Yes, here perhaps some truly noble souls, Braver than Hector or Achilles, fell ; A greater here may sleep than story knows- Wanting for nought but Homer's tongue to tell.

Here let the foe of man, from war's career, Rest his red sword, and stay his charger's speed; Ask what immortal hero slumbers here, What fadeless laurels bloom around the dead.

Warrior, perhaps some leader of the brave Drove fierce invaders to this last retreat; Here struck the foes of Freedom to their grave, And stampt the tyrant's heart beneath his feet !

OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS

Perhaps some Washington, with glory crown'd,

O'erpowered with numbers, tho' unmatched in fame, For Freedom's last retreat entrenched this mound,

And victory here immortalized his name.

This green intrenchment witnessed gallant deeds, Worthy perchance of Alexander's name :

And the cold bones among these shelt'ring weeds Could tell of battles with the tongue of fame.

But hurrying time has swept along the vale, And marked these mounds and bones with wasting years ; A thousand wintry wings have beat them pale, A thousand summers washed them with their tears. Charles Fisher Welles, (1806).

Some Curious Relics.

While Spanish Hill has never yielded up its possible treasures, it seems appropriate to describe here the treasures or curious relics which have been found in this valley and vicinity. For convenience they have been grouped in one plate, though doubtless widely sepa- rated in their origin. Naturally, the crucifix first attracts the atten- tion, and it would be the most appropriate to be connected with a Spanish expedition. This was unearthed in 1903 on the plains above the town. It is of wood (no doubt purporting to be the wood of the true cross) as black as ebony, possibly from lapse of time. It is seven inches long, bound in brass, and the figures are all in brass. It was found while excavating for an outside cellar way, just south of the corner of Desmond and Vanderbilt Streets, seven feet under ground. No habitation or burial place was ever known to be in this vicinity unti! since 1890. But the spot was on the old Indian trail to Owegy, on the upper river terrace, about 150 rods from the Susquehanna, and not far from the only spring ever known in the immediate locality. It is the style of crucifix worn only by priests or missionaries, being much larger than those worn by converts.

It has been examined by Dr. Edwin A. Barber, Director of the Pennsylvania Museum in Fairmount Park ; also by some other students of old relics, who greatly disagree. They say it is old, it is new; the workmanship is French, Spanish, Russian! It must antedate 1650. It isn't fifty years old-it must have been lost or buried in the time of the Jesuit fathers-it hasn't been buried two years, and so on, ad lib- itum. One authority says that the feet, not being crossed, indicate greater age than would one with feet crossed. Dr. Beauchamp, who has given much attention to Jesuit relics, says :

"The crucifix might be of almost any age, that being a question of its sur- roundings; if used by the Indians, as it well may have been, I am inclined to place it between 1700 and 1760."

Many crucifixes have been found in New York State known to have been given to the converts of the Jesuit missionaries, and they have been reproduced in one of the New York State Museum Bulletins. The two here given were not included in that bulletin. They are of brass, of excellent design, though one was broken, probably by a plow.

RELICS FOUND AT OR NEAR TIOGA POINT

1 5

OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS

BRASS CRUCIFIXES FOUND AT OWEGO

They were found by Henry E. Kingman at Owego, on the site of the old Indian town Owegy, just west of the present William Street, on the surface of the ground, which was plowed and planted for several con- secutive years, and yielded many Indian relics, es- pecially red pipe stone pendants, and beads of va- rious sorts

obtained in trade. They are here re- produced, the exact size, by favor of Mr. Kingman.

The Spanish medal would seem to belong with the crucifix, though it was found on the east side of the Susquehanna, and the cru- cifix on the west. This Dr. Edwin A. Barber, Curator of the Museum in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia, thought a replica of a coin, such as is set in some ancient beakers or tankards of the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries, seen in museum collections. Having no denom- ination stamped on it, unless it is the reverse side, it seems more like a medal than a coin. It is in bronze, and was found in 1904 about eight feet under ground, while excavating for a cellar east of the Susque- hanna River about one hundred rods, and not far from Satterlee Creek.

No dwellings had ever been in this locality and it was too far back to have been washed in by floods. How came it there? The inscription is as follows : "Ferdinandus D. G. FI RO; IMP. S. AUG. GER. HV!" This is an abbreviated Latin inscription, translating about as follows: "Ferdinand, by the grace of God, made Roman Emperor. Succeeding to throne of Germany and Hungary." The date, 1558, and inscription seem to indicate a medal struck off to com- memorate the accession of Ferdinand I to the throne of the Holy Roman Empire of the German Nation, on the abdication of his brother, Charles V. This Ferdinand was a grandson of the great Spanish monarchs, Ferdinand and Isabella; he was raised by marriage to the throne of Hungary; was elected king of the Romans in 1531 and, as he had long been by election, president of the council of regency ap- pointed to govern Germany during the long absences of Charles V; he was formally elected emperor in 1558.

Its companion in the plate is a metallic button or medal, having on its face certain emblems of Odd Fellowship. Its rough back would indicate that it had been set in some material. It is brass, or light- colored bronze, tarnished and somewhat oxidized. About 1890 some workmen were engaged in repairing an old surface drain running from Main Street across "the Green" to the river, now between the Museum- Library and the Hunsiker property (1907). A few feet below the sur-

DESCRIPTION OF RELICS

face a skeleton was unearthed. On the skeleton were knee buckles, coat buttons similar to those worn by Continental soldiers, and a huge knife or dirk. M. P. Murray was superintending this work and picked up this badge, medal or button. The knife was carried off by the workmen, and the buckles and coat buttons crumbled into dust, as did the skeleton on exposure to the air. It was noted that this skeleton disintegrated more than many Indian bones found in the old burial grounds.21

This spot was set apart as a common when the town was laid out in 1786; there is no record or knowledge of any burial since that date. This relic was taken to Philadelphia and examined by James B. Nich- olson and other members of the grand lodge then in session. But, while the emblems on it are those of the fraternity, all pronounced it unlike any badge or jewel ever seen, and of which they had no knowl- edge. Circumstances also indicated that the burial had antedated even the Manchester Unity, organized in 1809 or 1813, as knee buckles were not worn as late as this date.

Some years later, when grading about the new building, Messrs. Murray and Ercanbrack found a grave near the river bank, evidently of an American or English surgeon; many dishes (broken after In- dian fashion), scalpels, knife, etc .; the dishes were such as were for- merly used in surgery. There are also many Indian graves on this spot, and every indication that it was the precise locality of Indian and British camps for a long period.

Mr. Chapman, a coin expert of Philadelphia, says this is an em- blem of a so-called "Heart and Hand Society," of which we have no knowledge.

The sword was found opposite Miner's Island at Sheshequin, after an extensive river freshet in 1895, by Fred Davidson or Mr. Alliger. It was seen first protruding from the bank about six or seven feet be- low the surface ; he had to dig it out with a crowbar. This was about one and one-half miles from where the old boat was washed out, on the river flats, where it always overflows. It is in a fairly good state of preservation, even to the leather on the hilt. There is no clew what- ever to this, while it is possible it may have been buried with its owner. Who was he?

21 The Indians are said to have been buried at least 250 years.

CHAPTER V

ABORIGINAL HISTORY CONTINUED

From Expulsion of the Andastes to the Revolutionary War-The French and Indian War-Teedyuscung and the Treaties

Since history has been recorded at least twenty-five different tribes have lived at Te-a-o-ga, most of them tributary to the Iroquois.1 The Iroquois pursued the clever policy of dividing those conquered and removing them to localities where they could be watched, generally giving each tribe into the keeping of some one of the Six Nations, without whose consent the tributary tribe could not change their place of residence, and to whom they must pay tribute. Thus, immediately after the conquest of the Andastes, their lands were acknowledged by the other Iroquois to belong to the Cayugas and Onondogas. At this period (the end of the seventeenth century) the strife for territory was great between France and England, both trying to influence the Iroquois to adhere to them. Thomas Dongan, the English Governor of New York, persuaded the Onondogas and Cayugas to place their Susquehanna lands under the King's protection, lest Penn's agents should secure them, whereupon the said tribes claimed the lands as theirs by conquest, and "fastened them to New York." Yet Dongan professed to be friendly toward Penn. In 1684 these tribes announced to the Governor of Virginia :

"Wee have putt all our land and our selfs under Protection of the great Duke of York-We have given the Susquehanna River which we wonn with the sword, to this Government, and desire it may be a branch of the great tree that grows there." 2

Tribute was regularly collected from the conquered tribes, Colden3 telling of two old men who went about every year or two, and though wretchedly clad, "issued their orders with as arbitrary an Authority as a Roman Dictator." While the Delawares never acknowledged actual conquest, we find them meekly paying tribute, the chiefs even going to Onondoga for that purpose, bearing a large calumet or pipe of peace given them "upon making their submissions to the Five Na- tions, who had subdued them and obliged them to be their tributaries,"4 somewhere near 1650.

Tribute sometimes consisted of belts of wampum, highly prized, and very much used by Indians. Tribute was also paid in furs. In return the Iroquois gave protection when needed, but expected a cer- tain quota of warriors if called for. The special masters were gen- erally called "Uncles."

Doubtless, soon after the routing of the Andastes, Teaoga became the southern door of the long house of the Iroquois, as it was the

1 The Six Nations of Central New York; see N. Y. Museum Bulletin, No. 78.

2 In 1696 the Indian lands on the Susquehanna (which Dongan had obtained from "Sennica Susquehannah Indians by gift or purchase") were granted by him to William Penn for £100.

3 C. Colden's Hist. Five Indian Nations of Canada, 1755.

4 Quoted by Beauchamp without reference.

THE PENNSYLVANIA INDIANS

meeting of the trails and commanded the river valleys. Their terri- tory, as Morgan says :

"Was shaped something like a triangle; its base the great central trail from the Hudson River to Lake Erie, and its apex Tioga Point."

Dr. Beauchamp, their more modern historian, disputes the fact that this was an official door, but it is too evidently the natural southern gateway to their territory to discredit the writers of earlier date. It is not necessary to assert that Tioga meant a gateway-it was a gate- way, naturally. The Pennsylvania tribes, besides the Andastes or Susquehannocks, were the Delawares and Shawanese. The Delawares. or as they called themselves, Lenni-Lenape (original people), were Algonquins, claiming a western origin. After many years residence there, they crossed the Allegheny Mountains and discovered the two great rivers, the Susquehanna and the Delaware. These regions, they said, had then no inhabitants, and abounded in game, fish, etc .; there- fore, they decided the Great Spirit had directed them thither. Some writers think the Andastes were of this stock, but there is little con- vincing evidence. The Algonquins of New England, Long Island and the lower Hudson, were their kindred. The Delawares were divided into three families of which the Munseys or Moncies are best known. There were many minor divisions, but it should be remembered that the Minquas were Andastes.5 The Shawanese were also Algonquins, and the basin of the Cumberland River was their abiding place before Europeans settled on the continent.

"In old times" the Shawanese lived near the Spaniards and were always at war with them. Having signified a desire to remove and live under the pro- tection of the English and Iroquois, they were received into this Province in 1701, and placed on the Susquehanna. They came as strangers and the Cones- toga Indians became security for their good behavior.7 Afterwards they re- moved to the waters of the Ohio. In 1732 in a message to Gov. Gordon, they told that the Iroquois came to them nine years before and said they did not do . weil to settle there and urged them to assist in fighting the English, which they refused to do. About a year later the Five Nations told them and the Delawares that, since they had not hearkened or regarded what was said, they would put petticoats on them and look upon them as women in future."

Heckewelder also gives an account of this, somewhat different and disputed by other writers. But to return, for sixty years or more after the routing of the Andastes, peace reigned along the Susque- hanna, and the Penn treaty of 1682 preserved friendly relations be- tween the whites and Indians, although there was continued disagree- ment as to the ownership of Susquehanna lands; therefore, a council was held in 1736 at Stenton, near Philadelphia ; the Onondoga council of the Six Nations had resolved to settle the land question and sent eighteen chiefs. The result was not very satisfactory. The Indians still disagreed, and the Proprietaries were very grasping, which helped inflame the Indian wrath. The following year Conrad Weiser and Shikellimy (who had been appointed agents between the Six Nations

5 The general term of "Mingoes" was applied to all the kindred tribes in Pennsylvania as contra Algonquins.

6 See Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. I, 1664 to 1747.

7 If the Conestogas were Andastes, this would indicate that they were still of some im- portance; also that they might be kindred.

OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS

and Pennsylvania) were sent to Onondoga. This was the year in which Conrad Weiser visited Te-a-o-ga, and his diary gives the first account of an Indian town here, or it may be said the first record of the region after Champlain's. Extracts from Weiser's journal being given else- where, only those descriptive of Indians will be quoted here.

"There are many Indians living here; partly Gaiuckers (Cayugas) and partly Mahikanders.8 This water is called Dia-agon, and comes from the region of the Sinickers (Senecas) and Gaiuckers (Cayugas)."

He mentions that the Indians were not nearly as prosperous as when he saw them several years before, doubtless at the time of the Palatine migration. The next year Weiser passed through again, ac- companied by the Moravian missionaries, Spangenberg and Zeisberger. The date of this journey is from Weiser's "Life of Weiser" (it is not mentioned by other writers). It seems probable that it is wrong, and should be 1745, yet it is so found in Conrad's own journal.

In 1743 John Bartram, the botanist, came with Weiser and Lewis Evans (see Chapter III), and describes minutely their visit to the In- dians and friendly reception :

"Their town house is one mile above the junction of the rivers, it is about thirty feet long and the finest of any I saw among them.9 In 1745 many Mo- hicans lived at Tioga and until the French war the town was inhabited by Mo- hicans and Cayugas."

Zeisberger, who visited the Point with Weiser in 1745, tells of the Mohican town in the small triangle formed by the two rivers, and of their hospitality. The Mohicans were from New England, not the same as Mahikanders, although kindred, both being Algonquin tribes.

While Bartram's description would indicate a town nearer the Tioga than the Susquehanna, the general town site was on the high ridge (on the Point farm) southeast of the Stone House. The most notable evidences of occupation being the great masses of river mussel shells found in plowing on the ridge. In the early part of the eighteenth century, and probably all through it, here was generally stationed a Cayuga sachem to guard this southern entrance to "the long house," as the Iroquois territory in New York was designated. Whoever went up or down the rivers was halted at Teaoga and questioned as to his errand. For a hundred years this was a favorite rendezvous for war parties and councils, and here many prisoners were brought and often kept for long periods.

About 1740 the Catawbas, a southern tribe, came to terms with the Iroquois. It was, doubtless, soon after this that the first of these tribes appeared in this region, the Saponies, who lived at Teaoga, and the Tuteloes or Toteroes, who Schoolcraft says were from Virginia, and who long lived along the "Cayuga Branch" (name given to Che- mung River), and had a town near the mouth of the creek of the same name, in the vicinity of Tozer's Bridge, now vulgarized as Toodley- town. According to Zeisberger, who visited them, they were a wretch-

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A history of old Tioga Point and early Athens, Pennsylvania, Part 10

Author: Murray, Louise Welles, 1854-1931. 4n Publication date: 1908 Publisher: Athens, Penna. [i.e., Pa.] : [s.n.] Number of Pages: 726

Author: Murray, Louise Welles, 1854-1931. 4n
Publication date: 1908
Publisher: Athens, Penna. [i.e., Pa.] : [s.n.]
Number of Pages: 726