USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VIII > Part 65
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A Belt.
641
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
At a Conference with the Indians on Saturday the 8th Aug', 1761.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esq"., &ca., as before.
Joseph Pepy stood up & spoke as follows, vizt:
"Brother Onas :
"I am to speak a few words to you. We had a great Coun- cil Fire at Albany when a Friendship was first made with our Grandfathers, after which, about seven Years ago, our Brother, General Johnson, moved the Council Fire from Albany to his own House, where he said to us: 'I am one-half Indian & one-half English. What I say to my dear Brethren, the Seven Nations, shall be true.' The seven Nations were accordingly all assembled , to the place where he had kindled the Fire, at which time he took up a Tomahawk, gave it to them, & told them he was going to War against the French, & desired them to join with him; & promised them, that after the French were all conquered and removed, Trade should be made open and free to them, and all kinds of Goods should become more cheap, & that their Furs and Skins should bear a good price.
" Last Year General Johnson appointed his Brethren, the Seven Nations, to meet him at Oswego, upon which they did assemble there, at which time General Johnson, observing that their Chiefs and Warriors were not all come, he sent a second Message, desiring them all to attend him there, and when they did come, he said : "' Brethren :
""'I am very glad to see you here. I see many of your Chiefs are dead. I am now going against the French, and out of the pri- soners I shall take from them I will put as many in their room.' Now, Brother Onas, as General Johnson has not performed his pro- mise to us, we see death coming upon us, & the God above knows he has wronged us.
" Brother Onas :
" We give no Belt or String upon this Occasion, and only relate it as a matter of information to you.
" Brother Onas :
" Listen to what your Brethren of the Seven Nations say, in an- swer to what you told us Yesterday.
"You desired us to open our hearts, that nothing unknown may lay hid there, but that everything may come out ; We desire by this Belt, that you may do the same."
A White Belt of 8 Rows, with 3 Black Barrs.
" Brother Onas :
" We see Brethren on each side of us ; On the one side the Governor of Virginia, who does not speak or do right to us; on the other side, VOL. VIII .- 41.
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General Johnson, who does the same. We have often heard you speak, & you always do and speak right and justly to us; every time you speak it does our hearts good. When we look towards you, General Johnson, & the Governor of Virginia, we esteem you all as one ; how comes it, then, that you do not all speak alike ? We, your Brethren of the seven Nations are penned up like Hoggs. There are Forts all around us, and therefore we are apprehensive that Death is coming upon us. We want nothing but Friendship with you, so long as the Sun shall shine & the Waters run."
A White Belt of 9 Rows and 4 Black Bars.
" Brother Onas :
" Hearken to what your Brethren, the Seven Nations are going to say to you. When our.Grandfathers first made a friendship to- gether, God saw it; Now we, and all the Nations, would stand to the agreement they made, and when any Nations smile upon us we will join with them. Now, Dear Brother, may God Almighty give us strength and Knowledge, to continue our Friendship. We look at no other, but to you, to hold fast the chain of Friendship. We are crushed on all sides, so that we cannot stir ourselves, nor look any way but to you. Now, dear Brother, that we see you Face to Face, we desire that you would not slack your Friendship, but hold it fast."
A Black & White Belt of 7 Rows.
" Brother Onas :
" I would only let you know, in a few words, how our Brother, Gen1. Johnson, served us. When we come to bim for Ammunition, and bring our Skins, he does not give us the worth of our Skins, but only a handful of powder, and for that reason we think there is certain death coming upon us.
" He shuts up his powder from us, and will not give us more than will serve us two or three days. We only mention this to you, but if you will continue to smile on us, we will look to you." A White belt of 6 rows & 3 black Bars.
" Brother Onas :
" We are now sensible that we were under a mistake with respect to the meaning of this Belt (holding up the large peace Belt). We should not have brought it back to you again, if we had known what it meant. We are very glad that you have explained it to us. We look upon it as the Belt of peace, & will shew it to all the Nations over the Lake, and will Lodge it in the Onondagoe Coun- cil, where the only General Council Fire is kept, and where it ought to remain.
" Brother Onas :
" This is all your Brethren of the Seven Nations have to say."
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643
PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
At a Conference with the Indians on Monday, the 10th of Au- gust, 1761.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esqr., &c., &c., as be- fore.
Tokahaio stood up and spoke as follows, viz* :
"Brother Onas :
"You will please to hear what the Six Nations are going to say to you. Some of the English have settled upon our Lands, but we don't know from whence they came. We hope that as you are strong you will assist us in preventing them from settling upon our Lands, that we may not be wronged out of them."
A Belt of 7 Rows, with 6 Diamonds & a Bar.
" Brother Onas :
" We have heard that this Land has been sold, but we do not know for certain by whom. The Six Nations have not sold it, & never intended it as yet. Whoever has sold the Land stole it from us, and only did it to fill their pockets with Money; but we have heard that two Tuscaroras, one Oneida, & one Mohawk, have sold it unknown to the Six Nations."
A String of 4 Rows.
" Brother Onas :
" Hear what we are going to say to you. You know there is a line made between you and us, and we desire that none of the Eng- lish would settle on the other side of that Line. [Being asked what they meant by that Line, they answered, the Line of the purchase last made by this province from the Six Nations]. Some people have already settled over that Line, which people we do not like, & hope you will be strong and assist us in having them re- moved."
A Belt of 7 Rows with 3 black Diamonds.
"Brother Onas :
"We are very poorly off, as we have no Trade stirring among us, & as we have mentioned to you that the things we buy from Gen- eral Johnson are very dear, we hope you will have pity on us, & erect a Trading House at Diahoga, that we may be able to buy our Goods cheaper. We are in great want of all kinds of Goods, but especially of powder and Lead, and hope you will supply us plen- tifully with them. We desire you would not allow any strong Liquor to be sent among us, as we shall fetch that ourselves when- ever we shall want it. As soon as we see your people come with goods we will acquaint all our Young men with it, both far and near; & if your Goods are sold reasonable, we suppose that Gen -- eral Johnson will also sell his goods cheaper than he now does. We desire that you would send a good & honest man to trade with. us."
A Belt of 7 Rows & 4 black Bars.
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MINUTES OF THE
"Brother Onas :
"You have frequently sent us Messages by straggling Indians, Delawares, and others, upon whom there is no dependence. They sometimes lose the Belts & Messages, and sometimes drink them away, but if they happen to meet us, they are nothing but Non- sense. We desire you, therefore, that whenever you have Messages to send, you will send them by trusty Persons to our great Council Fire at Onondagoe, that we may be able to understand them rightly ; and as we have chosen Samuel Weiser for that purpose, you can always send your Messages by him."
A chequered String of 4 Rows.
"Brother Onas :
" You have often made mention of your Flesh and Blood, who are Prisoners among us. 'Tis true, Brother, there are some of your Blood among us ; there were Ten among the Cayugas, but our Bro- ther, General Johnson, has also often spoke of them to us, & we have delivered them all up to him; there is none amongst us at present. You must now look for them amongst the Delawares, your Cousins."
A Belt of 5 Rows, with three Black Bars.
"Brother Onas :
" We have nothing further to say, and as we have been here a great while, we desire the Governor to make haste to dismiss us."
(James Sherlock reports, that he had a Belt from the Onondagoes to the Delawares, at Chugnot, above Diahoga, demanding the English prisoners they had; that he received one Woman from them, & was coming off with her in a Canoe, but that Mechtochraway, the Delaware King, followed him, and took her from him, telling him that the Delawares would not deliver up their Prisoners till they heard what their Brothers, the English, would say).
At a Conference with the Indians, on Tuesday the 11th of Au- gust.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esq"., &c., as before.
The Governor, addressing himself to the seven United Nations, spoke as follows, viz',:
"Brethren of the Seven United Nations, & all our Indian Brethren now present:
"You desire me to open my heart, & conceal nothing from you; I give you this String to assure you that I will always communi- cate to you every thing that comes to my knowledge, or that rises up in my mind, which concerns our common Interest, & Keep no-
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
thing secret, but will agree that you and I shall have but one Eye, one Ear, and one Heart."'
A String.
" Brethren :
"I am very sorry to hear that you apprehend General Johnson has been unkind to you; I am afraid the Evil Spirit is again en- deavouring to blind your Eyes, and mislead you; You well know that General Johnson has, for a great number of Years past, mani- fested his Love & friendship for the Indians on many occasions, and you have as often given proofs of your Esteem & good opinion of him. You should not, therefore, suffer the Confidence and Trust you have reposed in him to be interrupted by any Jealousies or Sus- picions, but you should open your hearts to him, & tell him your minds freely ; I am persuaded he is a very worthy Gentlemen, & your good Friend, and if you will lay your Grievances before him, I am sure he will do you Justice if you have been injured, & re- move all your uneasiness.
A Belt.
" Brethren :
" You say that you are afraid Death is coming upon you, & seem to apprehend yourselves to be in great Danger; I am much sur- prized to hear this, nor can I find out what has given Rise to your Fears, as there is now a perfect Peace and Friendship between you and all your Brethren, the English ; you must not, therefore, make yourselves uneasy without any just Grounds or Foundation; I speak to you from the bottom of my heart, and do assure you that I never heard, nor do I believe that there are any ill Designs forming against you."
A Belt.
" Brethren :
"I thank you for the particular affection you express for the people of this Province; We have always made it a Rule to speak to you plainly, & from the bottom of our hearts, & to treat you not only justly, but with Brotherly love and kindness ; And it now gives us great satisfaction to hear that you think so well of us; I assure you we desire nothing more than to live in perfect peace and friendship with you as long as the Sun and Moon endures ; We will always hold the Chain of friendship in our hands, and keep it bright and free from rust, and in all our future Conduct to, and Dealing with you, continue to use you well, and give you every proof of our affection and regard for you."
A Belt.
" Brethren :
" I have Carefully considered that part of the Speech you made Yesterday, wherein you say that some Lands have been stole from you and sold by some Indians, who have no right to them, to the English who had settled upon them. I know of no Lands lying
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MINUTES OF THE
within this Province which have not been purchased of you, that have been settled by the English, except a Tract lying on or near the River Delaware, about fifty miles above the Blue Mountains. " Brethren :
"I am glad to have this opportunity of speaking to you on this Head ; It is a matter of great Consequence, and has given me much concern; listen attentively, therefore, to what I shall say to you about this matter. You know that an Agreement was made a great while ago, between your Ancestors and your Brother Onas (which has been often renewed, and confirmed by many of your Chiefs now living) that your Brother Onas would never settle any Lands in this Province, till he had fairly purchased them of the Indians, who engaged that they would never sell any Lands in this Province to any other person than their Brother Onas ; That you may refresh your Memories, & call to mind this Agreement, I give you this Belt."
A Belt.
" Brethren :
" A great number of People who lived in Connecticut Govern- ment came about a Year ago and settled near this River, beyond the Lines of the Lands purchased of you, at a place called Cushie- tunck, and claimed all the Lands from thence quite up to Wyomink. As soon as I heard it, I sent Messengers to them, informing them these Lands had never been purchased of the Indians, & desiring them to remove away. They sent me back for answer, that they had purchased all those Lands of you, and under that pretence had a right to them, and would hold them. Now, Brethren, as you have told me you will hide nothing from me, I desire you will tell me truly whether you have sold these Lands to these Strangers who have settled them against my will, and consent ? (To which question the Six Nations made answer, That those were the Lands which they mentioned Yesterday to have been sold by four stragling Indians, without the Knowledge or Consent of their General Council, and that they understood Thomas King, an Oneida In- dian, was one of those who sold those Lands.)
Upon which the Governor said :
" Brethren :
"You know all such private Sales are of no Force ; I, therefore, join this String to the Belt, & desire you will send for those Indians in the Great Council'at Onondagoe, and reprove them for their Conduct, and cancell their deeds."
A Belt and a large String.
"Brethren :
"I have already, by the consent of my wise men, set up two great Stores, or Trading Houses, to furnish the Indians with all sorts of Goods, at a cheap rate, one at Pittsburgh, and the other at Shamokin ; at the last of which places you may easily supply your-
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
selves with whatever you want. The Expences, Losses, & many Difficulties which attend our sending Goods to these two places, are so great that I cannot set up another Store-house at so great a Dis- tance as Diahoga according to your desire. I am sorry to refuse you anything, but if I should agree with you to do more than I can perform, you would have just reason to charge me with deceiving you. You must not, therefore, take it amiss, that I always speak plainly to you, and tell you my mind."
A Belt.
" Brethren :
" I told you before, that if I should have occasion to send you any Messages, I would commit the care of them to Messengers of my own ; and as Samuel Weiser is a person recommended by you for that purpose, I will use him for the future."
A String.
"' Brethren :
"I am pleased to hear you sent to General Johnson our Flesh &. Blood, who were prisoners among the Cayugas. We esteem it as the Strongest Proof of your Friendship, that you can possibly give us. You all agreed at the Treaty held here three Years ago, that you would search all the Towns & Places in the Indian Countries for them, & deliver them up to us without leaving one behind; and . that if they had gone down your Throats you would heave them up again. I am sorry that but very few have yet been brought back, though I know there are a great many scattered up & down among the Indians; We cannot help thinking that you speak only from your Lips, and not from your Hearts, whatever professions of re- gard you make for us, till this promise is performed, and we see our Fathers, Mothers and Children, who have been carried into Captivity, restored to us ; this promise was the Condition on which the Peace Belt was exchanged between us. Some among you have been faithful, and sent back all the prisoners they had ; I do not therefore address this part of my Speech to them, but take them to my heart; it is intended only, for such of the Indians as have de- ceived us, and still detain our Flesh and Blood. I sincerely wish to be friends with you all, & therefore, once more put you in mind of your engagements, and insist on your immediately complying with them, by restoring the Prisoners, that nothing may remain to make any difference between us to the end of time."
A Belt.
The Governor addressing himself to Teedyuscung, spoke as fol- lows, vizt. :
" Brother :
" Agreeable to your request, I have taken into serious Considera- tion what you said to me on Wednesday last, and shall answer you with the same good Will and Sincerity that true friends always use with one another."
A String.
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MINUTES OF THE
" Brother :
" I readily acknowledge that you have been a great Instrument. in bringing about the great work of Peace ; &, according to the Promises you made us at this place three years ago, the Peace belt has been sent to several Nations of Indians who have since joined their hands to it, so that, by the Blessing of the Most High, the wound, by the means of the Medicine you have applied, is entirely healed; And it shall be my endeavour, as you say it shall be yours, to keep the wound from ever opening again."
A Belt :
" Brother :
"You tell me that all your Young men, as far as the Twight- wees, & those now with you, Mohickons, Opies, and Delawares, intend to join in, & stand to whatever you and I have agreed to, and that they will not take notice of whatever Drops of Blood may have stained the Road, but will look steadily to our Agreements. "Brother :
"I very much commend this resolution. It is a mark of Pru- dence and real Love for Peace; considering how many wicked Men there are in the World, it must be expected that private mis- chiefs and even Murders will now and then be committed. When this happens, we shall do well to let one another know of it, and join in taking all proper measures to detect and punish the Evil Doers. This being done, the public peace can never be affected or hurt. By this Belt I assure you that this is my Disposition & reso- lution, as well as it is yours."
A Belt and String.
" Brother :
"I take special notice of your declaring that you have cleared yourself as far as Wighalousin, Papounan's Town, as far as that place ; you say you have no Prisoners, but they are all delivered up, and you want to make a peace as lasting as the World. " Brother :
"I take this Public Declaration of yours very kindly. I believe you say true ; if all like you would do the same thing-and they are engaged and have often promised to do it-the peace would last forever. On the part of this Government all Engagements shall be punctually observed ; this String confirms my words."
A String.
" Brother :
" You say you would not have me look to you for anything fur- ther, for nothing will ever make a difference betwixt you and me, and therefore, if anything happens, it must spring from me, as your Young men have put all their affairs into the hands of their Chiefs. "Brother :
" Assure yourself that my heart is good towards you, and that I shall take all the pains in my power to prevent any Breach of the Peace; keep but your Young men sober & in order, and let them
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
do no mischief to the Inhabitants, and I am well assured we shall always remain on good Terms, and enjoy all the Benefits of Peace."
A String.
" Brother :
" I agree with you that friendly Conferences between us are of great use, as they give us an opportunity of settling matters that may arise from time to time, which might otherwise breed misun- derstandings between us. I shall be your Ear, and inform you constantly of anything that may concern you."
A String.
" Brother :
"I thank you for your information respecting what you told me was said to you by the seven Nations. You are now altogether ; speak your minds to one another freely and affectionately, as friends and Relations should do, and agree now on all points. If you mean really to continue at Wyomink, let your Uncles know it, and they will, I doubt not, consent to it. They seem to apprehend that danger is nigh to you, as well as themselves; but I hope what I have said to them of the good disposition of General Johnson, will quiet both their and your fears. By this Belt I assure you that I will give you the earliest notice in my power if any harm should ever be intended against you. At present I know of none ; I am assured that there is none."
A Belt.
" Brother :
"I shall be very sorry if you remove from Wyomink. This Province has chearfully, and at a considerable expence, assisted you to build Houses, and make your Settlements there commodious to you as long as You live. There you will always find us disposed to assist you; if you go away, it will not be so much in our Power. Consider this well. Your Uncles, who now hear me speak to you, will not, I hope, after placing you there, & after the expence that has been laid out by us in building Houses for you, desire you to go to live at another place, without Your giving them some Cause . of complaint, and that I hope you never will do. In confirmation of the truth of what I now say to you, I give you this Belt."
A Belt.
The Governor then, addressing himself to the Papounan, spoke as follows :
" Brother Papounan :
"I thank you for your Care in sending my Message to Achoan, & for delivering his answer. I shall give you no more trouble in this matter, nor send him any more Messages, but expect his Uncles, the Seven Nations, will acquaint him with what I have so strongly urged upon them, during these Conferences, with respect to the delivery of the Prisoners."
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At a Conference with the Indians the same day in ye Afternoon. Present as before.
In consequence. of the Governor's pressing demand for the In- dians to deliver up all the English Prisoners they had now with them, they produced one Girl, & delivered her up in form to the Governor.
The Governor then spoke to the Indians.
"Brethren :
"I am now to inform you that, since our last Meeting at this place, three Years ago, the Road has been stained with a few drops of Blood. The first thing of this kind happened over Susquehanna, where one Indian Man, his Wife, and two Children were found dead, having been either murdered or drowned in the River Cone- dogwainet. It no sooner came to my knowledge, but I issued a Proclamation, offering Two hundred and sixty-six dollars as a re- ward for detecting and apprehending all such as should be concerned in this murder; but, notwithstanding all my endeavours, nothing certain has yet been discovered.
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"About two months ago, our very good Friend, Thomas Hick- man, was found shot in the Tuscarora Path Valley. One person is now in Goal, on suspicion; two others were put into prison, but set at Liberty again, at the instance of the Indians, it appearing to them that they were innocent. All possible endeavours are now using to find out who did this wicked Act. A reward has been offered by publick Proclamation for their apprehension, & I hope we shall find them.
"There may have been some few more of such Instances, which I may not have been particularly informed of; but these are all that have reached my Ears.
" Brethren :
. "These are accidents which ought not to affect the peace made between us; It is as grievous to me as to you to hear of these wicked acts, and let them be who they will that have been guilty of these Murders, they shall die themselves, as soon as con- victed thereof by a lawful Tryal. With this Belt I collect their Bones, and put them all into one Grave.".
A Belt.
" I fill up their graves, & cover their Bodies with these strouds." Strouds.
"With these Handkerchiefs, I wash off the Blood from your Bodies, & wipe away the Tears from your Eyes."
Handkerchiefs.
" With this Belt I take all Sorrow out of your Hearts, I clear your Throats, Eyes, and Ears, and desire you will no more mourn for them."
A Belt.
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
Teedyuscung then informed the Governor that he desired to speak a few words to him, and to his Uncles, the Six Nations; whereupon the Governor desired him to begin, and he spoke as follows:
" Uncles :
"I beg you will hearken to what I am going to say. You may remember some Years ago, at our Council Fire, you took me by the Hairs of my head, and shook me, and told me to go and live at Wyomink, for you gave me the Land there, where I might raise my bread & get my living; now again you desire me to move off from thence, and would place me somewhere else. The reason why I complied with your first request was, because I thought you would give me the Lands at Wyomink in the room of some of our Lands you had sold the English ; I assure you now, that if I move from thence, some English will come and settle there in the midst of our Road, so that we cannot pass from thence to this Province, and we shall lose the Land, so that neither you nor me will have any bene- fit from it."
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