USA > Pennsylvania > Colonial records of Pennsylvania, Vol. VIII > Part 74
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A String.
." Brother :
" I take this opportunity to acquaint You, that all our Guns, Hatchets, and other things are out of repair, and we beg you will give orders that they may be forthwith mended."
A String.
The Governor granted them their request, and told them their Guns, &ca, should be mended, & desired that they might be brought to the Council House for that purpose.
At a Conference with the Western Indians held at Lancaster, on Monday the 16th of August, 1762.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esquire, Lieuten' Gov- ernor, &ca., &ca., as before.
The Governor having acquainted the Indians that he was ready to hear what they had to say :
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Beaver, a Delaware Chief, spoke as follows :
" Brother :
" I do not chuse to speak now myself, as I do not speak clearly, and distinctly, & therefore shall appoint this Indian, named Cleg- hiccon (in English, Simon), to speak for me.
Then Cleghiccon spoke.
"Brother :
" The day before Yesterday you spoke to me, and I have heard you, and we your Brethren, the Western Indians, have all been con- sulting about it."
" Brother :
" I now inform you, in behalf of my Grandchildren, the Tawwas, they have none of your Flesh and Blood left in their Towns, for they have delivered them all up to you ; Likewise in behalf of my Grandchildren, the Twightwees, they have delivered them all up also, and have none left; Also on behalf of the Wawaghtanies, they have none of your prisoners, for they have also delivered them all up; And lastly, on behalf of another nation, called the Kicka- poes, they say they never had any prisoners."
" Brother :
" The day before Yesterday, I heard what you said, & I assure you I am very well pleased with it. From what you have said, I suppose this matter of the prisoners to be the principal Business for which you invited us here."
" Brother :
" I have told you I left some of your Flesh and Blood where I came from, and I assure you I look upon them as my own Flesh & Blood, & I assure you again, you shall see them some time hence.
" Brother :
"I am very well pleased that you have demanded them now, & assure You, You shall have every one of them that remains with us. "Brother :
" You may remember that you told me we should deliver all the , Prisoners at Pittsburgh, and I should be glad you would now shew to me the Persons here whom you shall appoint to receive those our Friends, and we shall be glad of it.".
A Belt of 7 rows.
Then Beaver stood up and spoke :
"Brother :
"This is all I have to say to you. We, the Western Indians, have nothing further to say to you; You know that we spoke three days ago to you, about the Friendship between us.
" Brother :
"The next Nation that have a mind to speak to you, are our Grandchildren, the Shawanese, and they are now about to speak."
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Then Miskapalathy, a Shawanese, rose up and spoke :
"Brother :
" I have heard what you and the Chief men have been conferring about, & now I desire you will hear your younger Brothers, the Shawanese. Our Chief men are not here, but we are sent by the Chief men to speak for them, & what we say comes from their Hearts. There are several of our Nation here, though but two of us are deputed by our Chiefs.
" Brother :
" I am very well pleased to hear you have cleansed our Council House. Now, though we who are left, are like Boys, I assure you we will assist you to cleanse our Council Chamber, & we will do it always from our Hearts."
A Belt of 8 Rows.
" Brother :
" You have heard what I had to say last Fall ; George Croghan knows it, & I suppose you know it. I told him then, that I would cut all the Prisoners loose, and set them at Liberty.
" Brother :
" I have heard what you said to my Grandfathers, the Delawares, respecting the demand of your Flesh and Blood, and I am very well pleased with your Demand, and I now assure you I am in a hurry to get home, for they, your Flesh and Blood, yet remain there.
" Brother :
" I have heard what you said. Now, I shall depart very soon ; I expect to meet my people and all the Prisoners at Pittsburgh, where I shall deliver them up, & you shall then hear what I shall have further to say to you."
A String.
" Brother :
" Now you have heard what I have said to you, & it is all I in- tend to say to you.
" Brother :
" I now want to mention something to you, about our Trade with you.
"Brother :
" We, of the Shawanese, Twightwees, Ottaways, Wawaghtanies, and Kickapoes desire you will take pity on us. Our Chief men at Home have their Eyes on us Boys, who came with our Grand- fathers, the Delawares, to talk with you about Friendship. We have now concluded our Friendship with you ; I now desire you will open a Trade with us, & that you will not be too hard in it. If you open a Trade among the back Nations, we desire to know at what prices you can afford your Goods."
A Belt of 7 Rows.
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The Governor, asking the names of the two Shawanese Chiefs or Deputies, was informed they were called Miskapalathy, or the Red Hawke, & Wapemashaway, or the White Horse. The Governor told them he had heard what they had said, & it was very agreeable to him, and that he would give them notice when he should return them an answer.
At a Conference with the Western Indians, held at Lancaster, on Wednesday 18th day of August, 1762.
PRESENT :
The Hon'ble JAMES HAMILTON, Esquire, Lieutent Gov- ernor, &ca., &ca., &ca., as before.
The Governor, addressing himself to Beaver and the Delawares from the Ohio, spoke as follows, viz“ :
" Brethren :
"Listen to me, while I give you an answer to the Speeches that you made to me on Monday.
"You spoke to me in behalf of your Grandchildren, the Taw- was, Twightwees, Wawaghtanies, & Kickapoes, acquainting me that they had respectively delivered up all our people, who were pris- oners in their Towns during the War. . " Brethren :
" Let them know that we esteem this as the greatest mark they could have given us of the sincerity of their Friendship, & by this Belt we return them our hearty thanks."
A Belt.
" Brethren :
" You told us that our demanding the prisoners at this Time, & in the manner we have done it, was very agreeable to you; and you supposed it was the principal Business for which we invited" you here,
" Brethren :
" You judge right, in thinking that the affair of our Prisoners was a principal reason of our inviting you here; it really was so, for we had it very much at Heart.
"Another reason of our desiring to see you was, that we might renew our ancient Friendship, & brighten and strengthen the Cov- enant Chain, which so long & happily subsisted between our An- cestors. This last has now been done to our mutual Satisfaction, & it has given me, and all the good people present, the highest. pleasure to hear from your own mouths that, agreeable to our De- mand, you are determined to deliver up all the prisoners that re- main in your Towns, to such persons as I shall appoint to receive ; them, at Pittsburgh.
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" Brethren :
" I have not yet concluded upon the persons to be sent to Pitts- burgh for that purpose, but you may be assured I shall very soon, who, when they come, will bring with them a Message & full Cre- dentials from me, by which you will know that they are deputed by me to receive the prisoners from you. I propose they shall be at Pittsburgh the Second day of October next, by which time I ex- pect you will have collected all of them, & brought them to that place."
A String.
" Brethren :
" We shall now return an answer to your Grandchildren ye Shaw- anese.
" Brethren, the Shawanese :
" You told me at your last Meeting that you were pleased to hear what had passed between us and your Grandfathers, and with our having cleaned the Council Chamber, which you said you would always assist in keeping Clean. You told us also that your Chief men are not here, but have deputed you to speak for them, and that what you shall say comes from their hearts.
" Brethren :
" As we have been very sincere and open in every thing we bave said to your Grandfathers, we should have been glad that more of your Chiefs had been here to have heard it, but as they are not, we desire you will acquaint them & all your Nation, that we are ex- treamly well disposed towards them, and are determined to hold fast the Chain of Friendship that has been so happily renewed between us, & are glad to hear you will always readily assist us to keep the Council Chamber clean."
A Belt.
" Brethren :
" You told me that you had sent me Word last Fall by Mr. Crog- han, that you would cut all the Bands of the prisoners loose, and set them at Liberty, & that you were pleased to hear the Demand I made of your Grandfathers that they might all be delivered up; that you expect to meet your people & all the prisoners at Pitts- burgh, where you will deliver them, & that you are in a hurry to go home for that purpose.
" Brethren :
" Mr. Croghan delivered me your Message last Fall, & I was very well pleased to hear you had concluded to set our people at Liberty, and I am the more so to hear that you expect your people may be on the way to Pittsburgh with the prisoners, & that you will de- liver them up immediately, and your desiring to return home fortb- with for that purpose convinces me that you are in earnest, & I much approve of it.
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" Brethren :
" You desired we would open a Trade with you & the other West- ern Nations, & not to be too hard in our dealing with them. I must address my Answer not only to you but to the Delawares and all present, who I desire may listen attentively to it.
" Brethren :
" Trade is a Business of Importance, and what I intended to mention to you all at this meeting. You know that for some Years past this Government hath kept a great Store at Pittsburgh in or- der to supply you with goods, in exchange for your Skins & Furs, near your own Homes. Good men have been appointed to regulate the prices of our Goods and your Skin's, & great care has been taken that you should not be cheated or imposed upon by those who have from Time to Time kept the Provincial Stores; but I am sorry to inform you that the Charges of carrying our Goods & bringing back your Skins so many hundred miles on Horse back are so high that it is a great discouragement to that Trade, and we lose a great deal of money by it every Year, insomuch that I fear it will drop, unless your Uncles, the Six Nations, will consent to let us go with our Canoes up the West Branch of Susquehannah as far as we can, & build a few Store Houses on the Banks of that river to secure our Goods in as we pass and repass. This will cut off a long Land Carriage, and may be a means of encouraging the continuance of the Trade with you, & enabling our people to sell their Goods to you at a reasonable rate. We intend to speak to your Uncles on this Subject.
"Brethren :
" I have now finished my answers to your several Speeches, but I have still something particularly to say to Beaver & our Brethren of the Delaware Nation living at Allegheny, and desire you will attend to me.
"Brethren, the Delawares :
"I take this opportunity to inform you, That about Six Years ago your Brother, Teedyuscung, made a complaint the Proprie- taries, wherein he charged them of defrauding the Delawares of a Tract of Land, lying on the River Delaware, between Tohiccon Creek & the Kittatinny Hills. He alledged that this Complaint was not made by him, on his own account, but on behalf of the Owners of the Land, many of whom, he said, lived at Allegheny. This Dispute, Brethren, was, by mutual Consent, referred to our Great King George, who ordered Sir William Johnson to enquire fully into the matter, and make his report to Him, that Justice ' might be done you, if you had been wronged. Accordingly Sir William, about two Months ago, came to Easton, where, on the proprietaries' Commissioners producing & reading sundry Writings & papers, Teedyuscung was convinced of his Error, and acknowl-
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edged that he had been mistaken with regard to the charge of For- gery made against the Proprietaries, having been misinformed by his Ancestors, & desired that all further disputes about Land should be buried under Ground, and never heard of more, offering that such of the Indians as were then present should sign a Release for the Land in Question, & that he would endeavour to persuade the rest of his Brethren who were concerned to do the same, at this Treaty at Lancaster. Now, Brethren of Allegheny, as we are Face to Face, be plain, & tell whether you are satisfied with, & approve of, what was done at the last Treaty at Easton, and whether you lay any Claim to those Lands, that there may be no room left for any future dispute about it among our Children."
A small Belt.
To which Beaver said :
" Brother :
"As to my own part, I know nothing about the Lands upon the river Delaware, but since you request it, I will first speak to my own people about it."
Then Beaver, consulting with his Concellors, returned the fol- lowing answer:
" Brother :
"I must acknowledge I know nothing about Lands upon the Delaware, & I have no concern with Lands upon that river ; We know nothing of the Delawares' claim to them ; I have no claim myself nor any of my people ; I suppose there may be some spots or pieces of Land, in some part of the Province, that the Dela- wares claim ; but neither I nor any of my people know any thing of them ; As to what you and our Brother Teed yuscung have done, if you are both pleased, I am pleased with it ; As to my part, I want to say nothing about Land Affairs ; what I have at Heart, and what I came down about is, to confirm our Friendship, & make a lasting peace, so that our Children & Grandchildren may live to- gether in everlasting peace after we are dead."
Teedyuscung and his Delawares being present, something passed between them which was not interpreted.
The Governor addressing himself to Beaver said :
" I am very much pleased with what you have said; You speak like an honest man, and I hope that the friendship that has been made between us & our Brethren, the Delawares, will remain firm, as long as the Sun shines & the Rivers run.
Teedyuscung then stood up, & addressing himself to the Gover- nor, said :
" Brother :
"Before all these Allegheny Indians here present I do now assure you that I am ready and willing to sign a release to all the Lands we have been disputing about, as I told you I would at Eas- ton, & desire no more may be ever said or heard of them hereafter."
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On which the Governor told Teedyuscung that he was pleased with what he had said, & that on that occasion he had acted like an honest man.
The Governor then concluded.
" Brethren :
" Your Brothers, the proprietaries, about three Years ago, di- rected me, as soon as Teedyuscung's complaint against them was determined & Justice done to their Characters, to make their old Friends, the Delawares, a present in their name, to supply your Wants, and as a mark of their affection and regard for you, and to convince you that they had no ill Will in their Hearts against you, but looked upon you as formerly to be their good Friends and Brothers ; Now as that dispute is happily at an End, I am at lib- erty to follow their directions, and shall accordingly order a present of Goods to be delivered to you from the proprietaries."
At a Conference with the Northern Indians held at Lancaster on Thursday the 19th of August, 1762.
PRESENT :
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esq"., &ca., &ca., as be- fore.
Thomas King, a Chief of the Oneidas, stood up and spoke as follows, viztt. :
" Brother :
" Hearken to what I am going to say in answer to your Speech to me the day before Yesterday ; I return you my thanks; It gives me pleasure that we see one another in the same manner our fore- fathers used to do;" Then taking up the Strings, delivered by the Governor, in their order, he repeated what had been said upon them.
"We are all very glad to see you & your Brethren that are with you, in health. All the Six Nations, and our Nephews, have had interpreted to them all that you said, and they are pleased with it, and very glad to see you, and that it has pleased the great God, who has all power in his hands, to suffer us to come together, to speak to one another freely."
A String.
" Then taking another String, he repeated the Governor's Words spoke upon it; and, in the name of all the Indians present, returned him thanks for his taking the Bryars out of their Legs, and healing the Bruises that were made in their Feet by the Stones."
A String.
" Brother :
" The other day you cleared my Ears, and my Cousins here, for which I return you my thanks ; & now, by this String I clear your
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Ears in the same manner, that you may hear what I have to say to you."
A string.
" Brother :
"You told me the other day, that as we were come from afar, and the Roads were very dusty, you cleansed our Throats from the Dust, and opened a passage to our Hearts ; we all return you thanks that you have cleansed us so far, & we do in the same manner clean your Throats & hearts.
A String.
" Brother :
"You likewise told me you wiped the tears from my Eyes for the loss of my Friends, that we may see one another clearly, for which we all return you our thanks."
A String.
"Brother :
"It is now three Years since you first demanded of us your Flesh and Blood. Now hear me, as to what I & all our Nations and our Allies, that lives as far as the Sunsetting, have done. " Brother :
"I assure you, in behalf of all of us present, & the Western In- dians, of whom you have been demanding your Flesh and Blood, that I have them here, & that it is not my Fault, neither can I say our Maker has been the Cause, but the French have been the cause why you have not had them sooner."
Then directing his discourse to his Brothers & Cousins, the Dela- wares, he proceeded and said :
"I never had occasion to go to war with the English Nation ; the people I had occasion to go to War with, live to the Southward ; it has been so from all Ages, & we have always gone to War against the Southren Indians; I never had cause to go to War with the English ; this was owing to the Evil Spirit, the Devil. When I used to go to War with the Southren Indians, and brought prisoners home, I thought they were mine, & that nobody had any right to meddle with them. Now, since I joined with you, I went to war again, & I brought French people home with me as prisoners, and you took them from me; this makes me think it was owing to the Evil Spirit.
" Brother :
" I desire you to be strong. I have heard you often say you would be very glad if I would bring you the Captives, and you would make me Satisfaction, because you know I am not as you are. I am of a quite different Nature from you; sometimes I think you are not in earnest with me, in telling me you will make me Satis- faction.
"Brother :
"We have heard you, & so have all my Brothers & Cousins to the Westward heard what you have said about giving us Satisfac-
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PROVINCIAL COUNCIL.
tion; Your Words seem to be very sweet to us. You told us if we did so and so you would do so with us.
" Brother :
"You know we are different Nations, and have different Ways. We could not immediately perform what you required of us, in re- turning your Flesh and Blood, because every one of these Nations have different Ways; that is the reason why we could not so soon perform it.
" Brother :
"I am sorry it is so difficult for us to understand each other; If we could understand one another, we would put one another in mind of the Friendship that subsisted between us and our Forefathers ; but as we do not easily understand one another, we are obliged to deliver you the Substance in short of what we have to say, which makes it tedious. (Meaning that they are obliged to Interpret in two or three Languages before it is told to us).
"Brother :
" You have often told me, if I would bring your Flesh and Blood, you would be very glad, and would give such Prisoners liberty to return with them, if they did not incline to stay with you, & to go where they pleased."
A Belt of 8 Rows.
Thomas King being asked who it was that promised the Prisoners . . should be left to their Choice, to return with them or go where they pleased ? He answered, the Governor promised it at Easton, & there were two Governors there at that Time. (Meaning Governor Denny and Governor Bernard, of New Jersey).
" Brother Onas : 1
"You have been requiring your Flesk and Blood these Three Years; I promise you I will give you them, and now I will deliver all I have brought."
A Belt of 8 Rows.
" Brother Onas:
"I am sorry we cannot speak to one another any faster, because we cannot understand one another without so many Interpreters, & this takes up much time, so that we must be slow in telling our Business.
"Brother Onas :
" You have told us of the Six Nations; that we must assist you to see your Flesh and Blood. If we assist you, you say you shall see your Flesh and Blood.
" Brother :
" We have done what we can, & that is the reason why you see so many of your Flesh & Blood ; some Indians part with them with
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reluctance, and wants to keep them longer; they are unwilling to part with them; this brings a great deal of Trouble on us, the Six Nations.
"Brother Onas :
" You have often told us, the Six Nations, that we should assist in getting your Flesh & Blood. I have done my Endeavors, and taken great pains ; I have got a great many of them, though at first with great Difficulty. When I brought them by the English Forts they took them away from me; All along from Oswego to the Carrying place, and so to Niagara, till I got to Shamokin, they got them all from me, and I believe they have made Servants of them. This is the reason why I brought so few of them. No won- der why they are so loath to come, when you make Servants of them. You know that you have told me that I should assist you, you can- not deny it; By and by you will say, I never told you to assist me, and that I tell lies when I say so.
" Brother Onas :
" You told me you would be very glad if I would bring you your Flesh and Blood, & that you were able to make me Satisfaction for them. You said you had Rooms full of Goods, and that we should never want any thing, while you have Goods. You told me we shall have a recompense for our Trouble in bringing them down. I assure you I have brought all your Flesh and Blood that I could get at this time; there are some behind yet, but they belong to such people as are gone to War against the Cherokees, and we could not take them without their leave, and when they return from War we will certainly bring them.
" Brother Onas :
"I have brought fourteen of your Flesh & Blood; that is all I could get at this time, for, as I told you, your people in the Forts have got them all away from me ; they have stole them or persuaded them to run away from me, & have hid them in the Bushes. As I told you, there are few left, that belong to those Indians that are gone to War against the Cherokees, with whom we have been at War from all Ages, and they are at War with you; I assure you when they return we will bring them all to you. You used to tell me I always came unawares upon you, when I did come ; You cer- tainly knew that I was coming ever since last Spring, and you might have got every thing ready for me. There is one Captive at the Camp that says he will not come ; he says the Governor has seen him, and talked with him at the Camp ; all the rest are here."
A Belt.
"Brother Onas :
"It may be there are two Governors of you; your Messages & your Words do not agree together; when I repeat what you have said to me, it seems disagreeable to you."
Here the Governor asked what he meant by two Governors, & desired him to explain himself for he could not understand him.
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He answered :
" Brother :
"You want to know what my meaning is, by saying there are two Governors. (In every Country there is always one head Gov. ernor, but here are two Governors.) It will not do for me to point out people, for you must certainly know there is more than one Governor. I hear one say such a thing, and another say such a thing ; but I will not point out any body, lest you should differ. You will hear of it hereafter. I heard that both Governors came from Philadelphia, but perhaps I may be misinformed."
The Governor desired to know whether any Messages had been delivered to them in their own Country, & by whom, and what the Messages were. He insisted on their giving him a plain answer.
They answered that the Cayugas, who were at Philadelphia in the Spring, brought the Messages to them, but do not pretend that they were delivered in the Governor's name, but they might have brought what passed only in private Conversation.
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