USA > Pennsylvania > Jefferson County > Brookville > A pioneer history of Jefferson county, Pennsylvania and my first recollections of Brookville, Pennsylvania, 1840-1843, when my feet were bare and my cheeks were brown > Part 2
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THE ORIGINAL BARK-PEELERS.
An Indian hut was built in this manner. Trees were peeled abound- ing in sap, usually the linn. When the trees were cut down the bark was peeled with the tomahawk and its handle. They peeled from the top of the tree to the butt. The bark for hut-building was cut into pieces of six or eight feet ; these pieces were then dried and flattened by laying heavy stones upon them. The frame of a bark hut was made by driving poles into the ground and the poles were strengthened by cross-beams. This frame was then covered inside and outside with this prepared linnwood bark, fastened with leatherwood bark or hickory withes. The roof ran upon a ridge, and was covered in the same manner as the frame, and an opening was left in it for the smoke to escape, and one on the side of the frame for a door.
HOW THE INDIAN BUILT LOG HUTS IN HIS TOWN OR VILLAGE.
'They cut logs fifteen feet long and laid these logs upon each other, at each end they drove posts in the ground and tied these posts together at the top with hickory withes or moose bark. In this way they erected a wall of logs fifteen feet long to the height of four feet. In this same way they raised a wall opposite to this one about twelve feet away. In the centre of each end of this log frame they drove forks into the ground, a strong pole was then laid upon these forks, extending from end to end, and from these log walls they set up poles for rafters to the centre pole ; on these improvised rafters they tied poles for sheeting, and the hut was then covered or shingled with linnwood bark. This bark was peeled from the tree, commencing at the top, with a tomahawk. The bark-strips
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
in this way were sometimes thirty feet long and usually six inches wide. These strips were cut as desired for roofing.
At each end of the hut they set up split lumber, leaving an open space at each end for a door-way, at which a bear-skin hung. A stick leaning against the outside of this skin meant that the door was locked. At the top of the hut, in place of a chimney, they left an open place. The fires were made in the inside of the hut, and the smoke escaped through this open space. For bedding they had linnwood bark covered with bear skins. Open places between logs the squaws stopped with moss gathered from old logs.
There was no door, no windows, and no chimney. Several families occupied a hut, hence they built them long. Other Indian nations erected smaller huts, and the families lived separate. The men wore a blanket and went bare-headed. The women wore a petticoat, fastened about the hips, extending a little below the knees.
Our nation, the Senecas, produced the greatest orators, and more of them than any other. Cornplanter, Red Jacket, and Farmer's Brother were all Senecas. Red Jacket once, in enumerating the woes of the Sen- ecas, exclaimed,-
" We stand on a small island in the bosom of the great waters. We are encircled, we are encompassed. The evil spirit rides on the blast, and the waters are disturbed. They rise, they press upon us, and the waters once settled over us, we disappear forever. Who then lives to mourn us ? None. What marks our extinction ? Nothing. We are mingled with the common elements."
The following is an extract from an address delivered by Cornplanter to General Washington in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1790 :
" FATHER,-When you kindled your thirteen fires separately the wise men assembled at them told us that you were all brothers, the children of one Great Father, who regarded the red people as his children. They called us brothers, and invited us to his protection. They told us he resided beyond the great waters where the sun first rises, and he was a king whose power no people could resist, and that his goodness was as bright as the sun. What they said went to our hearts. We accepted the invitations and promised to obey him. What the Seneca nation promises they faith- fully perform. When you refused obedience to that king he commanded us to assist his beloved men in making you sober. In obeying him we did no more than yourselves had bid us to promise. We were deceived ; but your people, teaching us to confide in that king, had helped to deceive us, and we now appeal to your breast. Is all the blame ours ?
" You told us you could crush us to nothing, and you demanded from us a great country as the price of that peace which you had offered us, as if our want of strength had destroyed our rights."
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" Drunkenness, after the whites were dealing with them, was a com- mon vice. It was not confined, as it is at this day among the whites, principally to the ' strong-minded,' the male sex ; but the Indian female, as well as the male, was infatuated alike with the love of strong drink ; for neither of them knew bounds to their desire : they drank while they had whiskey or could swallow it down. Drunkenness was a vice, though attended with many serious consequences, nay, murder and death, that was not punishable among them. It was a fashionable vice. Fornica- tion, adultery, stealing, lying, and cheating, principally the offspring of drunkenness, were considered as heinous and scandalous offences, and were punished in various ways.
" The Delawares and Iroquois married early in life ; the men usually at eighteen and the women at fourteen ; but they never married near relations. If an Indian man wished to marry he sent a present, consist- ing of blankets, cloth, linen, and occasionally a few belts of wampum, to the nearest relations of the person he had fixed upon. If he that made the present, and the present pleased, the matter was formally proposed to the girl, and if the answer was affirmatively given, the bride was conducted to the bridegroom's dwelling without any further ceremony; but if the other party chose to decline the proposal, they returned the present by way of a friendly negative.
" After the marriage, the present made by the suitor was divided among the friends of the young wife. These returned the civility by a present of Indian corn, beans, kettles, baskets, hatchets, etc., brought in solemn procession into the hut of the new married couple. The latter commonly lodged in a friend's house till they could erect a dwelling of their own.
" As soon as a child was born, it was laid upon a board or straight piece of bark covered with moss and wrapped up in a skin or piece of cloth, and when the mother was engaged in her housework this rude cradle or bed was hung to a peg or branch of a tree. Their children they educated to fit them to get through the world as did their fathers. They instructed them in religion, etc. They believed that Manitou, their God, ' the good spirit,' could be propitiated by sacrifices ; hence they observed a great many superstitious and idolatrous ceremonies. At their general and solemn sacrifices the oldest men performed the offices of priests, but in private parties each man brought a sacrifice, and offered it himself as priest. Instead of a temple they fitted up a large dwelling- house for the purpose.
" When they travelled or went on a journey they manifested much carelessness about the weather ; yet, in their prayers, they usually begged ' for a clear and pleasant sky.' They generally provided themselves with Indian meal, which they either ate dry, mixed with sugar and water, or boiled into a kind of mush ; for they never took bread made of Indian
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
corn for a long journey, because in summer it would spoil in three or four days and be unfit for use. As to meat, that they took as they went.
" If in their travels they had occasion to pass a deep river, on arriving at it they set about it immediately and built a canoe by taking a long piece of bark of proportionate breadth, to which they gave the proper form by fastening it to ribs of light wood, bent so as to suit the occasion. If a large canoe was required, several pieces of bark were carefully sewed together. If the voyage was expected to be long, many Indians carried
Indians moving.
everything they wanted for their night's lodging with them,-namely, some slender poles and rush-mats, or birch bark."
When at home they had their amusements. Their favorite one was dancing. "The common dance was held either in a large house or in an open field around a fire. In dancing they formed a circle, and always had a leader, to whom the whole company attended. The men went before, and the women closed the circle. The latter danced with great decency and as if they were engaged in the most serious business ; while thus engaged they never spoke a word to the men, much less joked with them, which would have injured their character.
" Another kind of dance was only attended by men. Each rose in his turn, and danced with great agility and boldness, extolling their own or their forefathers' great deeds in a song, to which all beat time, by a monotonous, rough note, which was given out with great vehemence at the commencement of each bar.
" The war-dance, which was always held either before or after a cam- paign, was dreadful to behold. None took part in it but the warriors themselves. They appeared armed, as if going to battle. One carried his gun or hatchet, another a long knife, the third a tomahawk, the fourth
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
a large club, or they all appeared armed with tomahawks. These they brandished in the air, to show how they intended to treat their enemies. They affected such an air of anger and fury on this occasion that it made a spectator shudder to behold them. A chief led the dance, and sang the warlike deeds of himself or his ancestors. At the end of every cele- brated feat of valor he wielded his tomahawk with all his might against a post fixed in the ground. He was then followed by the rest ; each finished his round by a blow against the post. Then they danced all together ; and this was the most frightful scene. They affected the most horrible and dreadful gestures ; threatened to beat, cut, and stab each other. They were, however, amazingly dexterous in avoiding the threat- ened danger. To complete the horror of the scene, they howled as dreadfully as if in actual fight, so that they appeared as raving madmen. During the dance they sometimes sounded a kind of fife, made of reed, which had a shrill and disagreeable note. The Iroquois used the war- dance even in times of peace, with a view to celebrate the deeds of their heroic chiefs in a solemn manner.
" The Indians, as well as ' all human flesh,' were heirs of disease. The most common were pleurisy, weakness and pains in the stomach and breast, consumption, diarrhœa, rheumatism, bloody flux, inflammatory fevers, and occasionally the small-pox made dreadful ravages among them. Their general remedy for all disorders, small or great, was a sweat. For this purpose they had in every town an oven, situated at some distance from the dwellings, built of stakes and boards, covered with sods, or were dug in the side of a hill, and heated with some red- hot stones. Into this the patient crept naked, and in a short time was thrown into profuse perspiration. As soon as the patient felt himself too hot he crept out, and immediately plunged himself into a river or some cold water, where he continued about thirty seconds, and then went again into the oven. After having performed this operation three times successively, he smoked his pipe with composure, and in many cases a cure was completely effected.
" In some places they had ovens constructed large enough to receive several persons. Some chose to pour water now and then upon the heated stones, to increase the steam and promote more profuse perspira- tion. Many Indians in perfect health made it a practice of going into the oven once or twice a week to renew their strength and spirits. Some pretended by this operation to prepare themselves for a business which requires mature deliberation and artifice. If the sweating did not remove the disorder, other means were applied. Many of the Indians believed that medicines had no efficacy unless administered by a professed physi- cian ; enough of professed doctors could be found ; many of both sexes professed to be doctors.
" Indian doctors never applied medicines without accompanying them
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
with mysterious ceremonies, to make their effect appear supernatural. The ceremonies were various. Many breathed upon the sick ; they averred their breath was wholesome. In addition to this, they spurted a certain liquor made of herbs out of their mouth over the patient's whole body, distorting their features and roaring dreadfully. In some instances physi- cians crept into the oven, where they sweat, howled, roared, and now and then grinned horribly at their patients, who had been laid before the opening, and frequently felt the pulse of the patient. Then pronounced sentence, and foretold either their recovery or death. On one occasion a Moravian missionary was present, who says, ' An Indian physician had put on a large bear skin, so that his arms were covered with the fore legs, his feet with the hind legs, and his head was entirely concealed in the bear's head, with the addition of glass eyes. He came in this attire with a calabash in his hand, accompanied by a great crowd of people, into the patient's hut, singing and dancing, when he grasped a handful of hot ashes, and scattering them into the air, with a horrid noise, approached the patient, and began to play several legerdemain tricks with small bits of wood, by which he pretended to be able to restore him to health.'
" The common people believed that by rattling the calabash the physician had power to make the spirits discover the cause of the disease, and even evade the malice of the evil spirit who occasioned it.
" Their materia medica, or the remedies used in curing diseases, were such as rattlesnake-root, the skins of rattlesnakes dried and pulverized, thorny ash, toothache-tree, tulip-tree, dogwood, wild laurel, sassafras, Canada shrubby elder, poison-ash, wintergreen, liverwort, Virginia poke, jalap, sarsaparilla, Canadian sanicle, scabians or devil's-bit, bloodwort, cuckoo pint, ginseng, and a few others.
" Wars among the Indians were always carried on with the greatest fury, and lasted much longer than they do now among them. The offen- sive weapons were, before the whites came among them, bows, arrows, and clubs. The latter were made of the hardest kind of wood, from two to three feet long and very heavy, with a large round knob at one end. Their weapon of defence was a shield, made of the tough hide of a buffalo, on the convex side of which they received the arrows and darts of the enemy. But about the middle of the last century this was all laid aside by the Delawares and Iroquois, though they used to a later period bows, arrows, and clubs of war. The clubs they used were pointed with nails and pieces of iron, when used at all. Guns were measurably substituted for all these. The hatchet and long-knife was used, as well as the gun. The army of these nations consisted of all their young men, including boys of fifteen years old. They had their captains and subor- dinate officers. Their captains would be called among them com- manders or generals. The requisite qualifications for this station were
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
prudence, cunning, resolution, bravery, undauntedness, and previous good fortune in some fight or battle.
""' To lift the hatchet,' or to begin a war, was always, as they de- clared, not till just and important causes prompted them to it. Then they assigned as motives that it was necessary to revenge the injuries done to the nation. Perhaps the honor of being distinguished as great warriors may have been an 'ingredient in the cup.'
" But before they entered upon so hazardous an undertaking they carefully weighed all the proposals made, compared the probable advan- tages or disadvantages that might accrue. A chief could not begin a war without the consent of his captains, nor could he accept of a war-belt only on the condition of its being considered by the captains.
" The chief was bound to preserve peace to the utmost of his power. But if several captains were unanimous in declaring war, the chief was then obliged to deliver the care of his people, for a time, into the hands of the captains, and to lay down his office. Yet his influence tended greatly either to prevent or encourage the com- mencement of war, for the Indians believed that a war could not be successful without the con- sent of the chief, and the captains, on that ac- count, strove to be in harmony with him. After war was agreed on, and they wished to secure the assistance of a nation in league with them, they notified that nation by sending a piece of to- bacco, or by an embassy. By the first, they intended that the captains were to smoke pipes and consider seriously whether they would take part in the war or not. The embassy was in- trusted to a captain, who carried a belt of wam- pum, upon which the object of the embassy was described by certain figures, and a hatchet with a red handle. After the chief had been in- formed of his commission, it was laid before a council. The hatchet having been laid on the ground, he delivered a long speech, while hold- ing the war-belt in his hand, always closing the address with the request to take up the hatchet, and then delivering the war-belt. If this was complied with, no more was said, and this act was considered as a solemn promise to lend every assistance ; but if neither the hatchet was taken up nor the belt accepted, the ambassador drew the just conclusion that the nation preferred to remain neutral, and without any further cere- mony returned home.
" The Delawares and Iroquois were very informal in declaring war. They often sent out small parties, seized the first man they met belong-
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
ing to the nation they had intended to engage, killed and scalped him, then cleaved his head with a hatchet, which they left stick in it, or laid a war-club, painted red, upon the body of the victim. This was a formal challenge. In consequence of which, a captain of an insulted party would take up the weapons of the murderers and hasten into their country, to be revenged upon them. If he returned with a scalp, he thought he had avenged the rights of his own nation.
" Among the Delawares and Iroquois it required but little time to make preparations for war. One of the most necessary preparations was to paint themselves red and black, for they held it that the most horrid appearance of war was the greatest ornament. Some captains fasted and attended to their dreams, with the view to gain intelligence of the issue of the war. The night previous to the march of the army was spent in feasting, at which the chiefs were present, when either a hog or some dogs were killed. Dog's flesh, said they, inspired them with the genuine martial spirit. Even women, in some instances, partook of this feast, and ate dog's flesh greedily. Now and then, when a warrior was induced to make a solemn declaration of his war inclination, he held up a piece of dog's flesh in sight of all present and devoured it, and pronounced these words, ' Thus will I devour my enemies !' After the feast the captain and all his people began the war-dance, and continued till daybreak, till they had become quite hoarse and weary. They generally danced all together, and each in his turn took the head of a hog in his hand. As both their friends and the women generally accompanied them to the first night's encampment, they halted about two or three miles from the town, danced the war-dance once more, and the day following began their march. Before they made an attack they reconnoitred every part of the country. To this end they dug holes in the ground ; if practicable, in a hillock, covered with wood, in which they kept a small charcoal fire, from which they discovered the motions of the enemy undiscovered. When they sought a prisoner or a scalp, they ventured, in many instances, even in daytime, to execute their designs. Effectually to accomplish this, they skulked behind a bulky tree, and crept slyly around the trunk, so as not to be observed by the person or persons for whom they lay in ambush. In this way they slew many. But if they had a family or town in view, they always preferred the night, when their enemies were wrapt in profound sleep, and in this way killed, scalped, and made prisoners many of the enemies, set fire to the houses, and retired with all possible haste to the woods or some place of safe retreat. To avoid pursuit, they disguised their footmarks as much as possible. They depended much on stratagem for their success. Even in war they thought it more honorable to dis- tress their enemy more by stratagem than combat. The English, not aware of the artifice of the Indians, lost an army when Braddock was defeated.
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
" The Indian's cruelty, when victorious, was without bounds ; their thirst for blood was almost unquenchable. They never made peace till compelled by necessity. No sooner were terms of peace proposed than the captains laid down their office and delivered the government of the state into the hands of the chiefs. . \ captain had no more right to con- clude a peace than a chief to begin war. When peace had been offered to a captain he could give no other answer than to mention the proposal to the chief, for as a warrior he could not make peace. If the chief in- clined to peace, he used all his influence to effect that end, and all hos- tility ceased, and, in conclusion, the calumet, or peace-pipe, was smoked and belts of wampum exchanged, and a concluding speech made, with the assurance 'that their friendship should last as long as the sun and moon give light, rise and set ; as long as the stars shine in the firmament, and the rivers flow with water.' "
The weapons employed by our Indians two hundred years ago were axes, arrows, and knives of stone. Shells were sometimes used to make knives.
The Indian bow was made as follows : the hickory limb was cut with a stone axe, the wood was then heated on both sides near a fire until it was soft enough to scrape down to the proper size and shape.
A good bow measured forty six inches in length, three-fourths of an inch thick in the centre, and one and a quarter inches in width, narrow- ing down to the points to five eighths of inch. The ends were thinner than the middle. Bow-making was tedious work.
" The bow-string was made of the ligaments obtained from the verte- bra of the elk. The ligament was split, scraped, and twisted into a cord by rolling the fibres between the palm of the hand and the thigh. One end of the string was knotted to the bow but the other end was looped, in order that the bow could be quickly strung."
Quivers to carry the arrows were made of dressed buckskin, with or without the fur. The squaws did all the tanning.
The arrow-heads were made of flint or other hard stone or bone ; they were fastened to the ash or hickory arrows with the sinews of the deer. The arrow was about two feet and a half in length, and a feather was fastened to the butt end to give it a rotary motion in its flight.
Poisoned arrows were made by dipping them into decomposed liver, to which had been added the poison of the rattlesnake. The venom or decomposed animal matter no doubt caused blood-poisoning and death.
Bows and arrows were long used by the red men after the introduc- tion of fire-arms, because the Indian could be more sure of his game without revealing his presence. For a long time after the introduction of fire-arms the Indians were more expert with the bow and arrow than with the rifle.
Their tobacco-pipes were made of stone bowls and ash stems. Canoes
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PIONEER HISTORY OF JEFFERSON COUNTY, PENNA.
were made of birch or linnwood bark, and many wigwam utensils of that bark. This bark was peeled in early spring. The bark canoe was the American Indian's invention.
When runners were sent with messages to other tribes the courier took an easy running gait, which he kept up for hours at a time. It was a " dog-trot," an easy, jogging gait. Of course he had no clothes on except a breech-clout and moccasins. He always carried both arms up beside the chest with the fists clinched and held in front of the breast. He eat but little the day before his departure. A courier could make a hundred miles from sunrise to sunset.
When a young squaw was ready to marry she wore something on her head as a notice.
Then kettles were made of clay, or what was called " pot stone."
The stone hatchets were in the shape of a wedge ; they were of no use in felling trees. They did this with a fire around the roots of the tree. Their stone pestles were about twelve inches long and five inches thick. They used bird-claws for " fish-hooks." They made their ropes, bridles, nets, etc., out of a wild weed called Indian hemp.
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