A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 3

Author: Miller, John, 1849-
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 926

USA > Pennsylvania > Erie County > A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I > Part 3

Note: The text from this book was generated using artificial intelligence so there may be some errors. The full pages can be found on Archive.org (link on the Part 1 page).

The earliest historical inhabitants of this part of the American con- tinent belonged to an Indian nation known as the Eries or Cats, and it is from this Indian nation that the second of the Great Lakes takes its name. This nation was never known by the name Eriez, as has been mistakenly stated, the error in the orthography of the name having been due to the lettering of a French cartographer who inscribed in the drawing of the lake the name "Lac des Eries," with a turn in the wrong direction in forming the letter "s." The various synonyms of the Eries were Eirgas, Eriehronon, Riguehronon and Carantouans. By some the mistake has been made of giving Kahkwa as a synonym of

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

the Erie nation. The Kahkwas of Seneca tradition were the Attiwau- drons or Neutral nation who inhabited the opposite side of Lake Erie.

But little is known of the Erie nation, as the French, who were the pioneers in this region. had little or practically nothing to do with the tribes south of the lake and did not occupy or attempt possession of this territory until after the Eries had ceased to exist as a nation. En- trenched as far west as the Sault Ste. Marie, and engaged in commerce, missionary work and exploration to the western end of Lake Superior and beyond, and by at least two routes to the Mississippi and down that stream, their common route-their almost universal thoroughfare-had been the Ottawa river to Lake Nipissing, the Severn river and Georgian Bay to Lake Huron and the west. Even after they had established a garrison at Detroit, when they had come to employ Lake Erie to a limited extent as a route of travel, they avoided the southern shore, and, leaving Lake Erie at the mouth of the Grand river, proceeded north- eastward across the Niagara peninsula of Canada to Lake Ontario on their journeys to the eastward. They had never sent missionaries to the Eries, and even the ambitious and enterprising Jesuits had left the nation that inhabited the country to the south of Lake Erie uncared for. Their existence was known, however, as Champlain's adventurous interpreter. Etienne Brulé, visited them in the summer of 1615.

The Eries were, however, known to their kindred of the Iroquois confederacy, for the territory of the Cats (this French appellation, sin- gularly enough, was also the name given by the eastern Indians to the Eries) extended eastward as far as to the Genesee, the frontier of the Senecas, and upon the eastern shore of the lake to the Niagara river. They were known as a tribe of great warriors and noted for their feroc- ity; they fought with poisoned arrows, and for a long time were a terror to the Iroquois. How numerous they were has never been even conjectured; nor is it related, either by the earliest of explorers nor by Indian tradition that they had any town or permanent abiding place, or locality where they practiced agriculture in the extremely limited way in which it was done by other Indian peoples of the great forest. From all accounts, though their territory was quite extensive, their number was small. As a matter of fact modern ideas of the numbers of the Indians at the time of the Discovery and of the various explorations, are ridiculously extravagant, for they were few and scattered and wide stretches of country occurred that seldom or never felt the impress of a moccasined foot. The Iroquois though powerful as a confederacy-the most powerful in the history of the Indians of North America-were never a numerous people. F. W. Halsey, in the Old New York Frontier, says "Just before the Revolution it is unlikely they numbered more than 15,000, if so many. When their influence was greatest, and they had not begun to suffer from the white man's vices, they are believed to have numbered 25,000, though never more." When it is considered that the Vol. I-2

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

Iroquois, when in the summit of their power, represented the population of the entire state of New York, the largest state east of the Mississippi, it will be acknowledged that the country was very sparsely settled indeed.

The Eries were of the same family as the Indians of the Five Nations or Iroquois. There were as many nations out of that famous confederacy as included in it that were still connected by blood. Besides the Eries there were the Hurons, up near Georgian bay; the Tobacco nation, just south of the Hurons; the Neutrals occupying the southern part of the present Ontario peninsula, and the Andastes, whose country extended south through eastern Pennsylvania. There were thus, it will be observed, five nations of the Iroquoian family that existed out of the confederacy ; and a sixth, of the same blood, there was, but that in time, moving north, united with the Iroquois, and the confederacy became the Six Nations of American history-this was the Tuscarora nation of the Carolinas. All of the other nations, out of the confederacy, were in turn exterminated by the Iroquois, who pushed the war against them relentlessly, nor ever ceased until as nations they no longer existed. And yet they were all of one kin !

To the reader of history this extermination of related nations will appear as something monstrous and without excuse or explanation, save on the score of natural ferocity. But there is a good explanation fur- nished. It was not because they had not joined the confederacy, but because, according to the ethics of Indian life, they were unfit, and their manner of living was an abomination-according to the tenets they were criminals. Let us present the case :

In the organization of the savage communities of the continent, one feature, more or less conspicuous, continually appears. Each nation or tribe-to adopt the names by which these communities are usually known --- is subdivided into several clans. These clans can not locally separate, but are mingled throughout the nation. All the members of each clan are, or are assumed to be, intimately joined in a consanguinity. Hence it is held an abomination for two persons of the same clan to intermarry ; and hence, again, it follows that every family must contain members of at least two clans. Each clan has its name, as the clan of the Hawk, of the Wolf or of the Tortoise; and each has for its emblem the figure of the beast, bird, reptile, plant, or other object, from which its name is derived. This emblem, called totem by the Algonquins, is often tattooed on the clansman's body, or rudely painted over the entrance of his lodge. The child belongs to the clan, not of the father, but of the mother. In other words, descent, not of the totem alone, but of all rank. titles and possessions, is through the female.

Now the violation of this tenet or doctrine of clanship, it is asserted. was the real cause of the bad blood that existed between the Iroquois and the dissenting nations of the same family. Mr. Fiske points this out as especially applicable to the Eries. And it appears that even in the case

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

of the Eries the confederacy was willing that they should "bring forth fruits meet for repentance," as the opportunity was afforded to' do this. It was of no avail. The peace was broken in the making. The Eries and the Iroquois could not exist as separate nations and they would not be joined as one.

It was the year 1653 that the doom of the Eries was sealed. The Iroquois, to whom war was apparently necessary for existence, had carried on for a considerable period, hostilities, that ended only when the Hurons, the Tobacco nation and the Neutrals were totally wiped out (1650), and followed this up with a period during which they haras- sed the Algonquins and the French. At length, however, in 1653, they made treaties of peace with the latter, and for a term lived in amity with the colonists and their late Indian enemies. In the following May, an Onondaga orator on a peace visit to Montreal, said to the governor : "Our young men will no more fight the French ; but they are too warlike to stay at home, and this summer we shall invade the country of the Eries. The earth trembles and quakes in that quarter; but here all remains calm." Early in the autumn Father Le Moyne, who had taken advantage of the peace to go on a mission to the Onondagas, returned to Montreal (the source of the Indian history of this period was naturally the French) with the tidings that the Iroquois were all on fire with this new enterprise. and were about to march against the Eries, with eighteen hundred warriors.

The occasion of this new war, says Parkman, is said to have been as follows: The Eries had made a treaty of peace with the Senecas, and in the preceding year had sent a deputation of thirty of their principal men to confirm it. While they were in the great Seneca town, it happened that one of that nation was killed in a casual quarrel with an Erie whereupon his countrymen rose in a fury and murdered the thirty depu- ties. Then ensued a brisk war of reprisals, in which not only the Senecas but the other Iroquois nations, took part. The Eries captured a famous Onondaga chief and were about to burn him, when he succeeded in con- vincing them of the wisdom of a course of conciliation, and they resolved to give him to the sister of one of the murdered deputies, to take the place of her lost brother. The sister, by Indian law, had it in her choice to receive him with a fraternal embrace or to burn him; but, though she was absent at the time, no one doubted that she would choose the gentler alternative. Accordingly he was clothed in gay attire and all the town fell to feasting in honor of his adoption. In the midst of the festivity the sister returned. To the amazement of the Erie chiefs, she rejected with indignation their proffer of a new brother, declared that she would be revenged for her loss, and insisted that the prisoner should forthwith be burned. The chiefs remonstrated in vain, representing the danger in which such a procedure would involve the nation : the female fury was inexorable ; and the unfortunate prisoner, stripped of his festal robes,

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

was bound to the stake and put to death. He warned his tormentors with his last breath that they were burning not only him, but the whole Erie nation, since his countrymen would take a fiery vengeance for his fate. His words proved true ; for no sooner was his story spread abroad among the Iroquois than the confederacy resounded with war-songs from end to end, and the warriors took the field under their two great war- chiefs. Notwithstanding Father Le Moyne's report that eighteen hundred warriors were sent against the Eries, their number according to the Iro- quois account did not exceed twelve hundred.

They embarked in canoes on the lake. At their approach the Eries fell back, withdrawing into the forests toward the west till they were gathered into one body, when, fortifying themselves with palisades and felled trees, they awaited the approach of the invaders. By the lowest estimate the Eries numbered two thousand warriors, besides women and children-the Iroquois stated the Eries numbered between three thousand and four thousand, but this is no doubt an exaggeration ; perhaps even the former statement of two thousand is excessive.

The Iroquois approached the Erie fort and two of their chiefs, dressed like French men, advanced and called on those within to surren- der. One of them had lately been baptized by Father Le Moyne, and he shouted to the Eries, that if they did not yield in time they were all dead men, for the Master of Life was on the side of the Iroquois. The Eries answered with yells of derision: "Who is this master of your lives?" they cried; "our hatchets and our right arms are the masters of ours." The Iroquois rushed to the assault, but were met with a shower of poisoned arrows which killed and wounded many of them and drove the rest back. They waited awhile and then attacked again with unabated mettle. This time they carried their bark canoes over their heads like huge shields to protect them from the storm of arrows-for though the Eries had no fire-arms they used their poisoned arrows with great effect, discharging them with surprising rapidity. Planting their canoes upright against the palisades and mounting them by the cross-bars like ladders, the Iroquois scaled the barricade with such impetuous fury that the Eries were thrown into a panic. Those escaped who could; but the butchery was frightful, and from that day the Eries as a nation were no more. The victors paid dearly for their conquest. Their losses were so heavy that they were forced to remain for two months in the Erie country, to bury their dead and nurse their wounded.

From that time forward until permanent settlement by the white man, this portion of the country was a possession of the Seneca nation of the Iroquois confederacy, but it was such in name only, for it was rarely visited by any of the Indian race.

CHAPTER III .- THE FRENCH IN POSSESSION.

THE COMING OF THE EXPEDITION TO OPEN A WAY TO THE FORKS OF THE OHIO .- FORTS PRESQUE ISLE AND LE BŒUF BUILT IN 1753.

After the Discovery there were three of the European nations that took active steps to obtain possession, in whole or in part, of the new continent of America. The Spanish, following along the latitudinal parallels that had bounded the westward course of Columbus, were prompt to claim, and by conquest obtain, that portion of the new world that lay within or was adjacent to the tropics. The British selected the north Atlantic coast. The French, contesting with the British for the same coast, obtained footing on that part of it extending from the Nova Scotian peninsula, northward and, entering the Gulf of St. Lawrence, made their settlements gradually farther westward up that great river.

Each of these three nations was characterized by a distinct spirit in the conduct of its operations. With the Spanish, the impelling mo- tive was the desire for gold and all their efforts were marked by a spirit of conquest distinguished at once by greed and cruelty. The story of the subjugation of Mexico and of the conquest of Peru is in each case a tale of horrible inhumanity. If the Spanish figured as explorers it was ever with the yellow lure of gold in their eyes and their progress left a trail of blood behind. Even the religion which the Spanish car- ried with them as an inseparable part of their organization was as cruel as the spirit of their soldiery. It was different with the French. Theirs was a commercial enterprise; in that resembling the Spanish. But it was cleaner commerce, and there was no thought of bloodshed in it, un- less stress of circumstances called for it. Their idea was to make the natives useful to them; for the wealth that was to come to France, it was designed, should be produced by the furs that were to be collected by the Indian hunters in the great forest, and though they, too, as was the case with the Spaniards, had linked the church with the military in their great enterprise of acquiring a vast area of territory, their priests had set out upon a peaceful crusade. It was their purpose to convert to Christianity the savages of the new world. England's purpose was different entirely from that of both the others ; it was to open up a new

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

land to be converted into homes for the surplus population of the moth- er country.

As between these three great movements toward acquisition in the newly discovered land we have to do with but two, the French and the English. And, as concerns the history of the county of Erie, chrono- logically the French come first, for they were the earliest of the white people to identify themselves with affairs of the southern shore.

Early in the seventeenth century the French began their work of exploration of the interior of the American continent, and it is proper to say that this work of exploration was pursued with great enterprise and zeal. Much of it-indeed the most of it in the early years-was done by the Jesuit missionaries, whose work was directed more toward the Christianizing of the Indians than the extension of the power of the French king, although the importance of the temporal power was at no time lost sight of. So, between the missionary priests and the com- mercially-minded governors, who contrived to make a good deal of per- sonal profit out of the extension of French sway, the work of explor- ation and discovery was diligently pushed. At one time it was be- lieved that a navigable route to the other side of the continent could be found by way of the St. Lawrence and the great lakes, and the hope of this put spurs in the sides of exertion. In the process of time the ex- plorations of the French led them to the westernmost end of Lake Su- perior, and even to the Rocky mountains; while the Mississippi was reached by two different routes and explored to its mouth.

But with the work of exploration proceeding to this prodigious ex- tent and covering a long term of years-more than half a century- it is a remarkable fact that so important a feature of the geography of the country as Lake Erie and Niagara river (or more particularly Ni- agara Falls) remained undiscovered. This lake was not known to the French, except by report until 1669, and the great cataract remained a thing of report until 1678, when the La Salle expedition proceeded up the Niagara river to set about building the Griffon, the first vessel that ever sailed the upper lakes ( save the canoe of the Indian).

Another remarkable thing is that Lake Erie became known by what might be called a back-door discovery, for it was first visited by Joliet, returning from a western tour in 1669 and the exploration of the lake at that time was not complete. because after reaching Long Point, through fear of the savages on the shore of the southeastern end. the ex- pedition entered the mouth of Grand river, and proceeded overland to Lake Ontario.

There was a good reason for the failure of the French to make these explorations. There was a stumbling block in the way. That ob- stacle was the Iroquois confederacy. With almost every other family of Indians the French made progress. It seemed to be impossible with the Indians of the Five Nations. Their route to the west there-

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

fore took them as far away as possible from the land where their fears lay, and they chose to travel up the Ottawa and across to Georgian bay.

In the course of time matters changed somewhat. The French having established themselves in the north and the west set about ac- quiring what remained of the continent, and gradually, as their growing courage permitted, entrenched themselves in advanced posts, and setting up a bold claim, proceeded by extending their occupancy to make good their claim. It was in 1:20 that Father Bobi, a priest of the Congrega- tion of Missions, drew up a paper in which he sets forth the claim of France with much distinctness, beginning with the declaration: "Eng- land has usurped from France nearly everything that she possesses in America," and adding that the plenipotentiaries at Utrecht did not know what they were about when they made such concessions to the enemy. He maintains that the voyages of Verrazzano and Ribaut made France owner of the whole continent, from Florida northward ; that Eng- land was an interloper in planting colonies along the Atlantic coast, and will admit as much if she is honest, since all that country is certainly a part of New France. In this modest assumption of the point at issue, says Parkman, he ignores John Cabot and his son Sebastian, who dis- covered North America more than twenty-five years before the voyage of Verrazzano and more than sixty years before that of Ribaut. Far- ther along in his statement of the case Father Bobi declares that. "France, always generous, will consent to accept as boundary a line drawn from the mouth of the Kennebec, passing thence midway between Schenec- tady and Lake Champlain and along the ridge of the Alleghanies to the River Jordan (the French Broad, in North Carolina), the country be- tween this and the sea to belong to England, and the rest of the continent to France."

This is a sufficiently clear statement of the position of France with relation to the new American continent, and this statement will help to an understanding of the motives behind the aggressive manifestations observed with reference to the French during most of the seventeenth century. The activity of the French was stimulated by the fact that here and there manifestations appeared of a disposition on the part of the English to break over the border as the French had been pleased to define it. It was especially aggravating to them that the English had so much influence with the Iroquois nation, and, to prevent the spread of the British into the interior it was decided to take firm steps. The Miss- issippi was theirs. They claimed by reason of that fact, that all the tributaries of that river, and the countries they drained, were also theirs. The British crown nad granted a charter to a hody called the Ohio Com- pany. This involved La Belle Riviere. It was therefore incumbent upon the French that possession should formally be taken of the land they claimed. It was this disposition of England's that impelled the French to send forth the expedition of Celoron. With a force of 300

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

men Capt. Celoron, in 1749 proceeded from Montreal, and landing at the mouth of Chautauqua creek at a place now known as Barcelona. on the south shore of Lake Erie, carried the canoes and luggage of the expedition across the high ridge, a distance of about twelve miles, and embarked upon Chautauqua Lake. Traversing the lake and following the stream at its outlet they entered the Alleghany river and passing down, stopped at the mouth of every important affluent and buried a lead plate the inscription on which was to the effect that the King of France had taken formal possession.

But the effect of the Celoron expedition was not what had been hoped for. Something more imposing must be done. It was decided to send forth an expedition to occupy the Ohio. This was an enterprise of Gov. Duquesne's and was decided upon only after giving the subject due consideration as well with reference to its military results as to any other-and it is not to be doubted that a leading purpose of the French was to impress the Indians and win them over by this show of power and enterprise, for the natives were very susceptible to any demonstration of an ostentatious character. Although the colonial minister advised against it and charged Duquesne : "Build on the Ohio such forts as are absolutely necessary, but no more. Remember, His Majesty suspects your advisers of interested views," a word of caution that the governor could not fail to understand the meaning of, for graft and jobbery and corruption flourished at the French Canadian capital ; Duquesne would not be turned from a purpose that to his way of thinking led to obvious ad- vantages.

The decision to organize and send out the expedition was quickly reached and Duquesne mustered the Colony troops and the Canadians. From these he selected a force of rather more than a thousand men, increased by subsequent detachments to fifteen hundred, an army that seemed to the Indians a mighty host, and led them to declare that the lakes and rivers were covered with boats and soldiers, from Montreal to Presque Isle. The Mohawk warriors on the St. Lawrence who saw them pass hastened home to report the news to Johnson.

The importance of this expedition called for a man of ability to be its leader. Now at Quebec and Montreal there had developed a society as gay and lively as even the mercurial French could desire. and there were fair women as well as brave men; and festivities and flirtations and all the flounces and trimmings that gay society demands. Prominent in this society was a young military officer named Pean. He was rich- through illicit trading in furs, and other jobbery. Péan had a handsome wife, and she was popular. She was admired by Péan's superior of- ficers-by Governor Duquesne. If there had not been a somewhat parallel case reported in the scriptures where a soldier named Uriah had a wife whom the King admired, the incident of Péan might be set down as original and Frenchy, for what happened to Uriah was

HISTORY OF ERIE COUNTY

the fate of Pean-except that the latter was not killed. It was desired that Pean should have command of the expedition in order that he might be lost in the wilderness and separated from his handsome wife. Gov- ernor Duquesne, however, decided that though Péan must go, he could not go as the head of the expedition.

For the position of commander of the Ohio expedition Sieur Marin was chosen. He was a soldier of parts, seasoned by long service, and qualified by wide experience in the wilds of America, as an explorer, and when occasion demanded, as a fighter of Indians. And Péan went also. He was Marin's lieutenant. It was not a service that permitted the company of ladies. His handsome wife was left behind.

Need help finding more records? Try our genealogical records directory which has more than 1 million sources to help you more easily locate the available records.

A twentieth century history of Erie County, Pennsylvania : a narrative account of its historic progress, its people, and its principal interests, Volume I, Part 3

Author: Miller, John, 1849- Publication date: 1909 Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co. Number of Pages: 926

Author: Miller, John, 1849-
Publication date: 1909
Publisher: Chicago : Lewis Pub. Co.
Number of Pages: 926