USA > Pennsylvania > Bradford County > Athens > A history of old Tioga Point and early Athens, Pennsylvania > Part 26
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188
OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS
Phelps and Gorham purchase are to be found in "History of the Hol- land Purchase," p. 335; wonderfully interesting, too!
In 1794 another treaty was held at Canandaigua, also conducted by Col. Pickering, and from that time the Indian difficulties seem to be settled, and this ended Pickering's Indian negotiations. There is a curious bit of history that here comes in our way, to which a brief allusion may be of interest. The British posts at Niagara and Oswego were not relinquished until 1796, and Governor Simcoe of Canada seems to have made all the trouble he could, threatening the whites and in- flaming the Indians. About this time Simcoe was visited by the French traveler, Duc de la Rochefoucauld Liancourt, who says :
"He (Gov. Simcoe) discourses with much good sense on all subjects, but his favorite topics are his projects and war, which seem to be the objects of his leading passions. No hillock catches his eye, without exciting in his mind the idea of a fort which might be constructed on the spot, and with the construction of this fort, he associates the plan of operations for a campaign, especially of that which is to lead him to Philadelphia."
His aim was supposed to have been to embroil the frontiers of western New York in difficulties which would end in war, when he, at the head of a British army, would take the high road to Philadelphia and fame. The following notice seems right in line with Simcoe's schemes :
"Maryland Journal, Nov 21, 1794. "Whitestown Nov 5.
"A gentleman direct from Canandaiquie informs us that 1600 Indians had come in to the treaty on Monday Se'ennight, and that a British Indian agent Wm Johnson, and an Indian interpreter from Niagara had found means to col- lect 26 chiefs in a bye-place, and were using the most persuasive acts and offer- ing large presents to induce the Indians to turn their arms against the United States. The meeting broke up in a disorderly manner. The inhabitants were greatly exasperated at this insolent conduct, of British agents, and gave out if Col Pickering did not cause their arrest, they would inflict upon them the Yankee punishment of tar and feathers." The same paper records later "that the Genesee treaty has terminated much to the satisfaction of the commissioner of the United States."
This concerned Tioga Point, because it lay on what was called the "Great Trail from the Susquehanna to Niagara." As early as 1787 (and doubtless earlier still) drovers often went through from Jersey with cattle for the garrisons at Queenston and Niagara. One Silas Hopkins relates that he and his father came through over Sulli- van's road as far as Tioga, and thence over Indian trails. A number of young men were along to see the country. He says the Indians were very friendly, but "levied tribute by selecting a beeve from every drove" as they passed through their principal towns. The drovers thought best to submit without murmur. Soon it became known that many emigrants and drovers with large sums of money were con- tinually on the "Great Trail," and robbers were attracted to it. Hop- kins says his father was once warned by Col. Hollenback that there were a couple watching for him, who eventually were arrested. Occa- sionally these drovers found a pioneer needing help to erect the frames of house and barn ; they always stopped and helped "raise." At times there was such a steady stream of emigrants over the Great Trail that an old pioneer says :
189
TRADING POSTS AND TRADERS
"I have heard it observed that in winters, one party on leaving their camp, would build up large fires for the accommodation of those who followed them, and in this reciprocal way, fires were kept burning at all the camp grounds."
One or more treaties were held at Otseningo or Chenango Point about this same period (June, 1786 or '87) by the projectors of the Boston Purchase. As this was not closely connected with the Tioga Point Indians, detail seems unnecessary here.
Trading Posts and Traders.
According to "Colonial Records" (see Vol. VIII) the Indians early asked to have trading posts established. At the treaty at Easton (1761) a Cayuga chief thus spoke :
"We are very poorly off, as we have no trade stirring among us, and, as we have mentioned to you, the things we buy from General Johnson are very dear, we hope that you will have pity on us, and erect a Trading House at Dia- hoga that we may be able to buy our goods cheaper. We are in great want of all kinds of goods-and hope you will supply us plentifully. We desire you would not allow any strong liquors to be sent, as we can fetch that ourselves .- We desire that you will send a good and honest man to trade with us."
Governor Hamilton replied that they had great stores at Pitts- burg and Shamokin, and could not set up another "at so great a dis- tance as Diahoga.12
Unquestionably many of the solitary pioneers came as Indian traders, while we do not know positively about all of them. They gradually pushed further into the country, as they found it was safe. William Miller, who was east of Athens in 1784, was an Indian trader, afterward found at Newtown. Amos Draper,13 one of the pioneers of Owego, was another. Jesse McQuigg, an early Owego settler, said "The Indians all looked up to Amos Draper as a God." He had more influence with them than any other man in the country. In ad- justing the Boston Purchase no one could bring the Indians to terms except Draper, who came and stayed with them three days. They called him Qua-su (Bigman). He began trafficking with the Indians so early that it seems quite possible he was associated with Anderson and Ogden. He was living at Choconut in 1784. "At Painted Post the first habitation of civilized man erected in Steuben County was built by Wil- liam Harris, an Indian trader-a Pennsylvanian, who not long after the close of the Revolutionary War pushed up the Chemung with a cargo of Indian goods to open a traffic with the hunting parties of the Six Nations. The savages manifested much zeal in promoting the estab- lishment of a trading post at the head of the Chemung; before that they had to go to Tioga Point, nearly fifty miles below, to buy their powder, liquor, knives, bells, beads and jewsharps." Matthias Hol- lenback had stores at Wilkes-Barré, Wysox, Tioga Point and Newtown. John Shepard engaged as clerk for Hollenback and Weiss at Newe- town in December, 1784, and then concluded to go farther into the
12 It may have been this appeal which led "the honest Quaker" to establish the post at Sheshequin (in 1765) already mentioned.
13 Amos Draper was a son of one of the first settlers at Kingston. He began "traffick- ing with the Indians" up and down the river very early, from Nanticoke to Choconut, where he was in 1784. He had great influence over the Indians. whom he treated with integrity.
190
OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS
country ; and made his first business venture by taking 158 pounds of goods on packhorses first to Catherine's Town and then to Canoga, on Cayuga Lake, whence he sent his man back with furs and skins to exchange for more goods at Weiss and Hollenback's. He bought and sold guns, flour, brooches and blankets, and made two different expeditions to Canoga, nearly opposite Aurora.
Col. Proctor's Journal. . (Pennsylvania Archives, Vol. IV.)
This journey was made on horseback, with the understanding that he was to stop at no difficulties until he gained the settlement of Corn- planter on head waters of Alleghany River.
"March 19th, 1791.
"Arrived at Wilksburg14 about eleven o'clock; Had I known that Wilks- burg was my route to Cornplanter's I should have went through Bethlehem, which would have been fifty miles nearer than the way I went; spent the after- noon at our lodgings with Colonel Butler and Captain Grubb. The latter part of the evening I accompanied Colonel Pickering, prothonotary of the county and late adjutant general of the armies of the United States.
"March 20th.
"This day we set forward for Captain Waterman Baldwin's; arrived there in the evening ; halted for him part of two days as I had orders to take him with me to the residence of the Cornplanter, at which place he was intended to act as instructor of the Indian youth, as also a director in the mode and manage- ment of agriculture for the use and benefit of the Indians. This gentleman was made prisoner by Cornplanter during the late war, and was treated by him with remarkable tenderness until legally exchanged.15
"March 22nd.
"Encamped this evening in the woods thirteen miles from Lahawanock, on the water of Buttermilk falls. This cataract has a beautiful appearance from the river. It falls upward of eighty feet; and the place it issues through on the top of the mountain is about six in width, and its torrent is so strong that it is sufficient to serve many mills at one time.
"This place I had the opportunity of examining minutely when going on the expedition with General Sullivan against the savages in the year 1779, at which time I had the command of 214 vessels on the Susquehanna, taking with me the provisions and stores of 6,000 men. We then anchored off this cataract in the afternoon of the 1st August, and I landed and passed to the top of the sufficient to serve many mills at one time.
"March 23rd.
"The Susquehannah being so extremely high and all the waters leading thereto, compelled us to quit the river road and go by that lately cut (though not cleared) by John Nicholson, Esq., comptroller general of the State of Penn- sylvania.
"Encamped this evening with some sugar boilers in a hut not finished. The promoter of this manufactory, which appeared to be very extensive from the number of kettles and apparatus belonging thereto, is the comptroller of the State of Pennsylvania; and the conductor of the works, Mr. John Jones, of Northumberland County. They were unfortunate enough two days before to lose most of their provisions by the oversetting of a canoe in the main branch of the Lahawanock; but, of the provisions we had, we gave to them what we could spare, preserving what we thought would take us to Tioga Point, supposed 86 miles. The taking of this road which is cut about 20 feet in width, the trees lying across the same and in every direction, was not a matter of choice but necessity. By the taking of this we escaped some deep waters.
14 Wilkes-Barré (from Philadelphia by way of Reading).
15 Waterman Baldwin was a brother of Thomas; both were soldiers during the Revo- lution. He was chosen by the Indians in the presence of Washington as their agent; Corn- planter having adopted him when a prisoner to save him from death at the stake. He was given a fine horse named Roanoke, with silver mounted saddle by U. S. Government, and made many trips between Cornplanter's and Washington (told by the family).
191
COL. PROCTOR'S JOURNAL
"March 24th.
"We arrived at the cabin of Richard McNemara, fed our horses with the corn we brought with us, for he had none but about two quarts for his own use ; they however, provided us with a dish of rye coffee, made fine with the pole of an axe on a smooth stone, and maple sugar as bright and as well tasted as the best 8d sugar in Philadelphia; and as they deemed it would be charity to us, they gave of the juice of the maple, which appeared as clear as the limpid stream and pleasant to the taste and deemed very wholesome; paid for eating 3s. 9d. We were obliged to encamp early this afternoon under a very heavy storm of rain, thunder and lightning, and what is very remarkable, the snow was in general fifteen inches deep on the ground.
"March 25th.
"We still traveled by the way of Nicholson's road, till we reached the one cut by Mr. Ellicott, geographer to the United States, which leads to the great bend on the east branch of the Susquehannah, and to describe the same it is hardly possible, but to say the least of them, there is none can equal them for height of mountains, and swampy valleys. Encamped this night ten miles from Tioga Point ; heavy rain as usual, our horses worn down and ourselves more than commonly fatigued; had naught to eat ourselves or for our horses; and I may say with propriety, that until we arrived at Tioga, to save our horses, we travelled on foot more than half the way from the town of Reading.
"March 26th.
"We arrived at the ferry16 at Tioga Point, crossed to the flats, paid fer- riage, 3s. 9d .; repair of horse shoes, 5s. From thence we proceeded on our way to Newtown point, and lodged at the house of Mr. William Wynkoop. At Tioga Point I was compelled to purchase a pack horse, as the route we had to take from the Painted Post to the Genesee, was not inhabited, which, by computation, was 99 miles. Captain Baldwin also purchased another horse, the better to enable him to carry on the farming business for the Cornplanter, and for which I advanced him 75s., to be accounted for by him in his settlement with the Sec- retary of War. From hence I also took a guide named Peter, in his own lan- guage Cayautha, there being nothing but a blind path to the Genesee river; so that my retinue, at this time, amounted to three white men, one Indian and five horses. The horse designed as a pack horse, I received on the order of Colonel Hollinback, of Mr. Guy Maxwell, his partner in trade at Tioga, for which I drew in favor of them, on my daughter in Philadelphia, £15, for the horse, and for a sadle and bridle, value £3; took up our quarters this night in company with Mr. Jabez Colloor, a disenting minister, at the aforesaid Wynkoop's, with whom we spent a most agreeable evening ; and, during our conversation together, he enjoined me, in a very becoming manner, should I at any time see the Hon- orable Major General Sullivan, late the commander-in-chief against the Indians, in the year 1779, to tender to him the grateful thanks of himself and his parish- ioners, inhabitants of the district of Tioga, for opening a way into the wilder- ness, under the guidance of Providence, to the well doing of hundreds of poor families for life.
"Sunday, March 27th.
"Dined at Mr. Thomas Baldwin's,17 and halted for the night, and reviewed the ground on which the British and Indians were entrenched for better than a mile, against the forces under command of Major General Sullivan. I also saw many traces made by our round and grape shot against them, and a large col- lections of pieces of 53 inch Shells, which I had the pleasure of formerly causing to be exploded amongst them. Expenses at Mr. Baldwin's for present diet, pro- visions and forage, 53s. 10d.
"March 28th.
"Took breakfast at William Dunn's; for four persons, 6s .; oats and spirits, 4s. 7&d; also chain halter for a horse, 20s. From thence we proceeded to the Painted Post, or Cohocton, in the Indian language; dined and refreshed our
16 Moore's Ferry, below the Island.
17 Thomas Baldwin was a Sergeant in Durkee's Company; he was actively concerned in rescue of family of Roswell Franklin, and was granted a Colonel's commission for his services. He lived at this time near Elmira, where he built one of the first grist mills in the region.
192
OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS
horses, it being the last house we should meet with ere we should reach the Genesee River. Addition of stores for ourselves and horses, 36s. 11d .; present dining, 14s. 3d; four new horse shoes, &c., 6s. 9d .; spirits, 1s. 10}d. Here I was joined company by a Mr. George Slocum, who followed us from Wyoming, to place himself under our protection and assistance, until we should reach Corn- planter's settlement, on the head waters of the Allegheny, to the redeeming of his sister from the unpleasing captivity of twelve years, to which end he begged our immediate interposition. On leaving the Painted Post, we entered the War- rior's path, lying on the north east side of the Tioga river. We had not gone above five miles up the same before we fixed our encampment, having completed thirty-five miles this day, which was more than we had done any one day, within seventeen days, since we left the city; it having rained or snowed every day since, and the worst of roads to encounter with, for, as we passed over hills and through valleys, the frosts were just mellowed enough to admit our falling through in some places, knee depth to the horses; rained this night as usual.
"March 30th.
"I should have premised that the course of the Warrior's path gives a traveller a sight of the river Tioga, upwards of sixty miles, and by such a way I would never desire to travel again.
"March 31st.
"This morning I found myself in a settlement of Indians, called the Squawky tribe, but a branch of the Seneca nation; having no interpreter with me, I wrote a letter directed to Captain Allen, or Horatio Jones, and sent it by a runner by the way of Connewago, or at such a place where he could meet with either of them, requesting that whosoever should receive it should repair to Squawky Hill to meet me; and should they meet any Indians chiefs or war- riors, to invite them to meet me also, having business of importance from Gen- eral Washington, the President of the United States, to lay before their nation.
"April 1st.
"About eleven o'clock there were thirty odd Indians collected agreeable to my invitation. And shortly afterwards, I convened them into council, and intro- duced my message by prefatory sentiments, touching on the candor and justice of the United States and of the unexampled conduct of his Excellency the Pres- ident, in the late interview he had with Cornplanter and others, who appeared as representatives in behalf of the Six Nations; by restoring unto them all their lands, which they feared were held from them by the power of the United States, by which act of his goodness, their situations in life were made com- fortable, and as lasting as they should demean themselves as faithful friends to the United States, and such a becoming deportment, it would entail lasting hap- piness to their children's children. This simple introduction being ended, I read the message to them from the honorable Secretary of War; having ended the same, they signified their full approbation, in their accustomed manner. For the particulars of their answer, which was delivered by Captain Little Beard, their principal speaker, see a subsequent page.
"Captain Little Beard in the close of his speech, acquainted me that their great warrior, Captain O'Beel, or Gyantawanka in the Indian language, had ar- rived at Pittsburg from Philadelphia, and sent out runners from thence to sum- mon the chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations at Buffalo,18 where he desired that the great council fire might be kindled, and where he should lay before them all the business that had been done by him at Philadelphia, and the public papers and documents which he had received for the Six Nations from the President of the United States, the Secretary of War, and from the Governor of the State of Pennsylvania. This information induced me to prepare myself for going to Buffalo in the morning instead of continuing my route to O'Beel's town, and urged it upon them in a very pressing manner that they would accompany me on this deserving errand to Buffalo, as its design was big with advantages to every Indian on the continent. Five of them immediately offered to attend Captain Houdin and myself and chiefs of the first notoriety in this settlement, accordingly appointed a sugar camp eight miles distant the place of meeting in the morning, where they must go and acquaint their people of this hasty de- parture."
18 Buffalo Creek.
193
PROCTOR'S COUNCILS, ENGLISH INTRIGUE
The council mentioned above was held at Buffalo Creek, May 20 to 29, 1791. Not, however, without much interference on the part of the British; of which Col. Proctor was finally made cognizant by friendly squaws, also by Captain Print, an Indian, who had been with Sullivan's Expedition. Mr. William Ewing, the young Englishman who was making the trouble, was reprimanded publicly before the chiefs, and commanded to proceed further at his peril, with threatened imprisonment, etc. (See Archives, Vol. IV, p. 599.) Thus a danger was averted, and Proctor's mission, so far, proved successful.19 In the final speech at the council the Young King of the Nations said: "Gen- eral Washington has kindled a fire at the Painted Post * he has called all the nations from the Grand river to the Oneidas, and it is our desire to attend the same * all matters shall then be talked over again."
It will thus be seen that the Indians were in almost continual conference with Washington's emissaries from November 14, 1790, to June, 1791. Proctor suffered every hardship on this expedition, and finally succumbed to illness from exposure. Cornplanter, it will be seen, had taken another route, and we must conclude Proctor was meant to precede him into the Seneca country, and that Washington did not know of the proposed Buffalo Creek council. Beauchamp says Proctor found Young King and Farmer's Brother sided with British, and that he had little success. This journal gives very posi- tive evidence of the attempts of the English to prevent peace between the Indians and the new Republic, most valuable in these times, when a constant effort is made to prove that all the actions of the English were exaggerated. One is also impressed with the fact that all lovers of truthful history should read State Archives.
Previous to the final council at Buffalo Creek, April 27, 1791, Col. Proctor seems to have taken a wandering course in western and northwestern Pennsylvania, holding various small councils. His jour- nal is intensely interesting, and especially so the feasts prepared for him. Sometimes boiled chestnut, parched meal, sweetened, and tea made in wondrous fashion ; again, kettles full of boiled corn and bear's meat ; again,
"Young pigeons; some boiled, some stewed, and the mode of dishing them up was, that a hank of six were tied with a deer's sinew around their necks, their bills pointing outwards ; they were plucked but of pin feathers there plenty remained ; the inside was taken out, but it appeared from the soup made of them that water had not touched them before. Best repast I had seen for a long time, I ate of it very heartily .- Red Jacket acquainted me with the reason no council could be held to day (May 6). That it was their pigeon time in which the Great Spirit blessed them with abundance .- 'Tis a matter worthy of observation that at some convenient distance from every Indian settlement the wild pigeons hatch their young at this season-a hundred nests, a pair of pigeons in each are com- mon to be found in a single tree, so that I have seen one family have several large baskets full of dead squabs; these they take as fat as possible and after they are plucked, and cleansed a little they are preserved by smoke and laid by for use."
(No need of squab farms in those days !)
19 However he had been instructed to proceed to the Miamis, but the chiefs objected, and when they finally yielded to persuasion of squaws, he could obtain no vessel, so abandoned the trip.
194
OLD TIOGA POINT AND EARLY ATHENS
At a small council allusion is made to a treaty or council at Tioga Point two years since. Undoubtedly then, as Mrs. Perkins intimates, a council or treaty was held here previous to the one in November, 1790, probably when the Indian was murdered by the white man. The party witnessed many feasts and dances, and according to Proc- tor's accounts some of them seem very much like heathen worship of idols; and it has been claimed the Iroquois never indulged in such worship. (See following account.)
"April 21st.
"This morning the whole of the town were preparing to have a grand feast, to return thanks to the Great Keeper of all men, for their being spared to meet once more together; several of the chiefs called upon us to give us the invita- tion to be present, while they should perform devine worship in their way, add- ing, that Indians worshipped one Supreme head, the Preserver of all, both white and red men. Their speaker advised us also, to be prudent while they worshipped, and not to be guilty of laughing or gestures, though the manner of it might differ widely from our own mode of worship; he likewise told us, that we must bring with us our ear, (the interpreter) to testify that they taught the true principles, by moral precept, and that their teachers both men and women, admonished their hearers against thieving, lying and speaking lightly of one another.
"The manner of their preparing for worship is, that, in every house they provide large quantities of such provisions as they think proper to bring with them, and the more varied the better, so that they may have a little of every sort, and none of the same returns to that house again; their method being to exchange their victuals on the ground, eating that which was brought by their neighbor; thus prepared, they proceed to the statue, which was erected in the center of the village, bearing some proportion to a man, and justly painted as the Indians are in coming, but having no weapon of war about him, intimating that he was the maintainer of peace. This figure is about nine feet in height, and stood upon a pedestal of about twelve feet, having on breech clout leggings, and a sash over its shoulders, and a very terrible appearance. Under this statue were placed two chiefs termed the women's speakers, each of these held in their hands the shell of a large tortoise, the belly part covered with a thin skin stretched very tight, having, in the inside, several small stones, which shell being struck upon a deer skin which is stretched between them, beating time together, accom- panying the same with their voices, they made such melody that the whole of the assembly were delighted.20 The old and the young women dance around in a circle, the image in the center, the men following them, using gestures that would have made a saint laugh had he forgotten that he was in a place of wor- ship; but the women looked meek and humble, while they moved in concert in the dance, sliding their feet sideways, and folding their hands before them in a half circle, looking, at the same steadfastly on the ground inclining their heads to the left. The last of the worship was performed to what they call a brag dance; the young warriors retire to a house adjacent, where are paints, feathers and red clay ; with the two former they ornament their heads with feathers and their faces with paint, and their bodies with reddish clay that give their skins all the same cast; some with one-half their faces black and the other red, in order to look the more terrible; for in this manner they go to war. When all matters are thus adjusted and ready to sally from their show-box, their leader gives a long yell such as when a scalp is taken; and on the third being given, it is re-echoed by the whole rushing forward at the same time to the place of wor- ship, while they dance around the statue, throwing their bodies and heads in every curious attitude, and brag, alternately of the cruelties they had exercised in war, of prisoners taken and of thefts committed on their enemies, and of many exploits never performed."
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