USA > Pennsylvania > Early history of western Pennsylvania, and of the West, and of western expeditions and campaigns, from MDCCLIV to MDCCCXXXIII > Part 48
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27th-They furnished us here with every necessary for our journey, and we set out with good courage. After we rode about ten miles, we were caught in a hard gust of rain.
28th-We came to Wekeeponall, where the road turns off for Wy- oming, and slept this night at Queenashawakee.
29th-We crossed the Susquehanna over the Big Island. My com- panions were now very fearful, and this night went a great way out of the road, to sleep without fire, but could not sleep for the musquitoes and vermin.
30th & 31st-We were glad it was day, that we might set out. We got upon the mountains, and had heavy rains all night. The heavens alone were our covering, and we accepted of all that was poured down from thence.
August 1st-We saw three hoops on a bush ; to one of them there remained some long white hair. Our horses left us, I suppose, not being fond of the dry food on the mountains : with a good deal of trouble we found them again. We slept this night on the same mountain.
2d-We came across several places where two poles, painted red, were stuck in the ground by the Indians, to which they tye the priso- ners, when they stop at night, in their return from their incursions. We arrived this night at Shinglimuhee, where was another of the same posts. It is a disagreeable and melancholy sight, to see the means they make use of, according to their savage way, to distress others.
3d-We came to a part of a river called Tobeco, over the mountains, a very bad road.
4th-We lost one of our horses, and with much difficulty found him, but were detained a whole day on that account.
I had much conversation with Pisquetumen ;* of which I think to in- form myself further when I get to my journey's end.
5th-We set out early this day, and made a good long stretch, cros- sing the big river Tobeco, and lodged between two mountains. I had the misfortune to lose my pocket book with three pounds five shillings,t and sundry other things. What writings it contained were illegible to any body but myself.
6th-We passed all the mountains, and the big river, Weshawaucks, and crossed a fine meadow two miles in length, where we slept that night, having nothing to eat.
7th-We came in sight of fort Venango, belonging to the French, situate between two mountains, in a fork of the Ohio (Allegheny) river.
* An Indian Chief that travelled with him.
t The money of Pennsylvania is chiefly carried in pocket books.
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in I prayed the Lord to blind them, as he did the enemies of Lot and Elisha, that I might pass unknown. When we arrived, the fort being on the other side of the river, we hallooed, and desired them to fetch us over : which they were afraid to do ; but showed us a place where we might ford. We slept that night within half gun shot of the fort.
8th-This morning I hunted for my horse, round the fort, within ten yards of it. The Lord heard my prayer, and I passed unknown till we had mounted our horses to go off, when two Frenchmen came to take leave of the Indians, and were much surprised at seeing me, but said nothing.
By what I could learn of Pisquetumen, and the Indians, who went into the fort, the garrison consisted of only six men, and an officer blind of one eye. They enquired much of the Indians concerning the English, whether they knew of any party coming to attack them, of which they were very apprehensive.
9th-Heavy rains all night and day : we slept on swampy ground.
10th-We imagined we were near Kushkushkee ; and having travel- led three miles, we met three Frenchmen, who appeared very shy of us, but said nothing more than to enquire, whether we knew of any English coming against fort Venango.
After we travelled two miles' farther, we met with an Indian, and one that I took to be a renegade English Indian trader ; he spoke good English, was very curious in examing every thing, particularly the silver medal about Pisquitumen's neck. He appeared by his countenance to be guilty. We enquired of them where we were, and found we were lost, and within twenty miles of fort Du Quesne. We struck out of the road to the right, and slept between two mountains ; and being destitute of food, two went to hunt, and the others to seek a road, but to no pur- pose.
11th-We went to the place where they had killed two deers, and Pisquetumen and I roasted the meat. Two went to hunt for the road, to know which way we should go; one came back, and had found a road ; the other lost himself.
12th-The rest of us hunted for him, but in vain ; so, as we could not find him, we concluded to set off, leaving such marks, that, if he returned, he might know which way to follow us; and we left him some meat. We came to the river Conaquonashon, where was an old Indian town. We were then fifteen miles from Kushkushkee.
There we stopt, and sent forward Pisquetumen with four strings of wampum to apprize the town of our coming with this message :
" Brother, thy brethren are come a great way, and want to see thee at thy fire, to smoke that good tobacco, which our good grandfathers used to smoke. Turn thy eyes once more upon that road, by which I came. I bring thee words of great consequence from the Governor, and people of Pennsylvania, and from the king of England. Now I desire thee to call all the kings and captains from all the towns, that none may be missing. I do not desire that my words may be hid, or spoken under cover. I want to speak loud, that all the Indians may hear me. I hope thou wilt bring me on the road and lead me into the town. I blind the [78 ]
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French, that they may not see me and stop their ears, that they may not hear the great news I bring you."
About noon we met some Shawanese, that used to live at Wyoming. They knew me and received me very kindly. I saluted them, and as- sured them the government of Pennsylvania wished them well, and wished to live in peace and friendship with them. Before we came to the town, two men came to meet us and lead us in. King Beaver shewed us a large house to lodge in. The people soon came and shook hands with us. The number was about sixty young able men. Soon after king BEAVER came and told his people, "Boys, hearken: we sat here without ever expecting again to see our brethren the English ; but now one of them is brought before you that you may see your brethren, the English, with your own eyes ; and I wish you may take it into consid- eration." Afterwards he turned to me and said :
" Brother, I am very glad to see you, I never thought we should have had the opportunity to see one another more ; but now I am very glad, and thank God, who has brought you to us. It is a great satisfaction to me." I said, "Brother, I rejoice in my heart, I thank God, who has brought me to you. I bring you joyful news from the Governor and people of Pennsylvania, and from your children, the Friends ; and, as I have words of great consequence I will lay them before you, when all the kings and captains are called together from the other towns. I wish there may not be a man of them missing, but that they may be all here to hear."
In the evening King Beaver came again, and told me they had held a council, and sent out to all their towns, but it would take five days be- fore they could all come together. I thanked him for his care. Ten captains came and saluted me. One said to the others : " We never expected to see our brethren the English again, but now God has granted us once more to shake hands with them, which we will not forget." They sat by my fire till midnight.
14th-The people crowded to my house ; it was full. We had much talk. Delaware George said, he had not slept all night, so much had he been engaged on account of my coming. The French came, and would speak with me. There were then fifteen of them building houses for the Indians. The captain is gone with fifteen to another town. He can speak the Indian tongue well. The Indians say he is a cunning fox ; that they get a great deal of goods from the French ; and that the French cloathe the Indians every year, men, women and children, and give them as much powder and lead as they want.
15th-Beaver King was informed, that Teedyuscung had said, he had turned the hatchet against the French, by advice of the Allegheny Indians ; this he blamed, as they had never sent him such advice. But being informed it was his own doing, without any persuasion of the Govornor, he was easy on that head. Delaware Daniel prepared a din- ner, to which he invited me, and all the kings and captains ; and when I came, he said, " Brother, we are as glad to see you among us, as if we dined with the Governor and people in Philadelphia. We have thought a great deal since you have been here. We never thought so much be- fore." I thanked them for their kind reception ; I said, it was some-
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thing great, that God had spared our lives, to see one another again, in the old brother-like love and friendship." 'There were in all thirteen, who dined together.
In the evening they danced at my fire, first the men, and then the women, till after midnight.
On the 16th, the King and the Captains called on me privately. They wanted to hear what Teedyuscung had said of them, and begged me to take out the writings. I read to them what Teedyuscung had said, and told them, as 'Teedyuscung had said he would speak so loud, that all at Allegheny, and beyond, should hear it, I would conceal nothing from them. They said they never sent any such advice, (as above mentioned,) to Teedyuscung, nor ever sent a message at all to the government ; and now the French were here, their Captain would come to hear, and this would make disturbance. I then told them I would read the rest, and leave out that part, and they might tell the Kings and Captains of it, when they came together.
17th-Early this morning they called all the people together to clean the place where they intended to hold the council, it being in the middle of the town. Kushkushkee is divided into four towns, each at a distance from the others; and the whole consists of about ninety houses, and two hundred able warriors.
About noon two public messengers arrived from the Indians at Fort Duquesne and the other towns. They brought three large belts and two bundles of strings; there came with them a French Captain and fifteen men. The two messengers insisted that I should go with them to fort Duquesne; that there were Indians of eight nations, who wanted to hear me; that if I brought good news, they inclined to leave off war, and live in friendship with the English. The above messengers being Indian captains, were very surly. When I went to shake hands with one of them, he gave me his little finger ; the other withdrew his hand entirely; upon which I appeared as stout as either, and withdrew my hand as quick as I could. Their rudeness to me was taken very ill by the other captains, who treated them in the same manner in their turn.
I told them my order was to go to the Indian towns, Kings and Cap- tains, and not to the French; that the English were at war with the French, but not with those Indians who withdrew from the French, and would be at peace with the English.
King Beaver invited me to his house to dinner, and afterwards he in- vited the French captain, and said before the Frenchman, that the Indians were very proud to see one of their brothers, the English, among them ; at which the French captain appeared low spirited and seemed to eat his dinner with very little appetite.
In the afternoon the Indian Kings and Captains called me aside, and desired me to read them the writings that I had. First I read part of the Easton treaty to them ; but they presently stopped me and would not hear it; I then began with the articles of peace made with the Indians there. They stopped me again, and said they had nothing to say to any treaty or league of peace made at Easton, nor had any thing to do with Teedyuscung; that if I had nothing to say to them from the Gov -. ernment or Governor, they would have nothing to say to me; and far-
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ther said, they had hitherto been at war with the English, and had never expected to be at peace with them again; and that there were six of their men now gone to war against them with other Indians ; that had there been peace between us, those men should not have gone to war. I then shewed them the belts and strings from the Governor; and they again told me to lay aside Teedyuscung, and the peace made by him ; for that they had nothing to do with it .* I desired them to suffer me to produce my papers and I would read what I had to say to them.
18th-Delaware George is very active in endeavoring to establish a peace. I believe he is in earnest. Hitherto they have all treated me kindly. In the afternoon all the Kings and Captains were called to- gether, and sent for me to their council. King Beaver first addressed himself to the captains ; and afterwards spoke to me as follows :
" Brother : you have been here now five days by our fire. We have sent to all the kings and captains, desiring them to come to our fire and hear the good news you brought. Yesterday they sent two captains to acquaint us they were glad to hear our English brother was come among us, and were desirous to hear the good news he brought; and since there are a great many nations that went to see our brother; they have invited us to their fire, that they may hear us all. Now, brother, we have but one great fire; so, brother, by this string we will take you in our arms, and deliver you into the arms of the other kings, and when we have call- ed all the nations there, we will hear the good news you have brought." Delivered four strings.
King Beaver, Shingas, and Delaware George spoke as follows:
"Brother, we alone cannot make a peace; it would be of no significa- tion; for, as all the Indians from the sunrise to the sunset, are united in a body, it is necessary that the whole should join in the peace, or it can be no peace ; and we can assure you, all the Indians, a great way from this, even beyond the lakes, are desirous of, and wish for a peace with the English, and have desired us, as we are the nearest of kin, if we see the English incline to a peace, to hold it fast."
On the 19th, all the people gathered together, men, women and child- ren; and King Beaver desired me to read to them the news I had brought, and told me that all the able men would go with me to the other town. I complied with his desire, and they appeared very much pleased at every thing, till I came to that part respecting the prisoners. This they disliked; for, they say, it appears very odd and unreasonable that we should demand prisoners before there is an established peace ; such an unreasonable demand makes us appear as if we wanted brains.
20th-We set out from Kushkushkee for Sankonk ; my company consisted of twenty-five horsemen and fifteen foot. We arrived at San- konk in the afternoon. The people of the town were much disturbed at my coming, and received me in a very rough manner. They sur-
* The peace made with Teedyuscung, was for the Delawares, &c., on Sus- quehanna only, and did not include the Indians on the Ohio; they having no deputies at the treaty. But he had promised to halloo to them, that is, send messengers to them, and endeavor to draw them into the peace, which he ac- cordingly did. F
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rounded me with drawn knives in their hands, in such a manner that I could hardly get along ; running up against me, with their breasts open, as if they wanted some pretence to kill me. I saw by their countenances they sought my death. Their faces were quite distorted with rage, and they went so far as to say I should not live long; but some Indians, with whom I was formerly acquainted, coming up and saluting me in a friendly manner, their behavior to me was quickly changed.
On the 21st they sent messengers to fort Duquesne, to let them know I was there, and invited them to their fire. In the afternoon I read them all my message, the French captain being present; for he still continued with us: upon which they were more kind to me. In the evening, fifteen more arrived here from Kushkushkee. The men here were about one hundred and twenty.
22d-Arrived about twenty Shawanese and Mingos. I read to them the message; at which they seemed well pleased. Then the two kings came to me and spoke in the following manner :
"Brother: we, the Shawanese and Mingos, have heard your message ; the messenger we sent to fort Duquesne, is returned, and tells us, there are eight different nations there who want to hear your message; we will conduct you there, and let both the Indians and French hear what our brothers, the English, have to say."
I protested against going to Fort Duquesne, but all in vain ; for they insisted on my going, and said that I need not fear the French, for they would carry me in their bosoms, i. e. engage for my safety.
23d-We set off for Fort Duquesne, and went no farther this night than Logstown, where I met with four Shawanese, who lived in Wy- oming when I did. They received me very kindly, and called the prisoners to shake hands with me, as their countryman, and gave me leave to go into every house to see them, which was done in no other town besides.
24th-They called to me, and desired that I would write to the Gen- , eral for them. The jealousy natural to the Indians is not to be de- scribed ; for though they wanted me to write for them, they were afraid I would, at the same time, give other information, and this perplexed them.
We continued our journey to the Fort; and arrived in sighit, on this side the river, in the afternoon, and all the Indian Chiefs immediately came over; they called me into the middle, and King Beaver presented me to them, and said, " Here is our English brother, who has brought great news." Two of them rose up and signified they were glad to see me. But an old deaf Onondago Indian rose up and signified his dis- pleasure. This Indian is much disliked by the others ; he had heard nothing yet, that had passed, he has lived here a great while, and con- stantly lives in the fort, and is mightily attached to the French ; he spoke as follows, to the Delawares :
" I do not know this Swannock; it may be that you know him. I, the Shawanese, and our father do not know him. I stand here (stamping his foot) as a man on his own ground ; therefore, I, the Shawanese, and my father do not like that a Swannock come on our ground."
Then there was silence awhile, till the pipe went round ; after that [82]
del the this Fath or no report batto to stit for m
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was over, one of the Delawares rose up and spoke in opposition to him that spoke last, and delivered himself as follows :
"That man speaks not as a man; he endeavors to frighten us, by saying this ground is his ; he dreams ; he and his father have certainly drank too much liquor; they are drunk; pray let them go to sleep till they be sober. You do not know what your own nation does at home ; how much they have to say to the Swannocks. You are quite rotten. You stink. You do nothing but smoke your pipe here. Go to sleep with your father, and when you are sober we will speak to you."
After this the French demanded me of the Indians. They said it was a custom among the white people, when a messenger came, even if it was the Governor, to blind his eyes and lead him into the fort to a prison, or private room. They, with some of the Indians, insisted very much on my being sent into the fort, but to no purpose; for the other Indians said to the French : " It may be a rule among you, but we have brought him here, that all the Indians might see him, and hear what our brothers, the English, have to say; and we will not suffer him to be blinded and carried into the fort." The French still insisted on my being delivered to them ; but the Indians desired them to let them hear no more about it; but to send them one hundred loaves of bread, for they were hungry.
25th-This morning early they sent us over a large bullock, and all the Indian Chiefs came over again, and counselled a great deal among themselves ; then the Delaware that handled the old deaf Onondago In- dian so roughly yesterday, addressed himself to him in this manner :
" I hope to-day you are sober. I am certain you did not know what you said yesterday. You endeavored to frighten us ; but know, we are now men, and not so easily frightened. You said something yesterday of the Shawanese ; see here what they have sent you," (presenting him with a large roll of tobacco.)
Then the old deaf Indian rose up and acknowledged he had been in the wrong; he said, that he had now cleaned himself, and hoped they would forgive him.
Then the Delaware delivered the message that was sent by the Shaw- anese, which was, "That they hoped the Delawares, &c., would be strong in what they were undertaking ; that they were extremely proud to hear such good news from their brothers, the English ; that whatever contracts they made with the English, the Shawanese would agree to ; that they were their brothers, and that they loved them."
'The French whispered to the Indians, as I imagined, to insist on my delivering what I had to say, on the other side of the water. Which they did to no purpose, for my company still insisted on a hearing on t this side the water. The Indians crossed the river to council with their Fathers. My company desired to know whether they would hear me or no. This afternoon three hundred Canadians arrived at the fort, and reported that six hundred more were soon to follow them, and forty battoes laden with ammunition. Some of my party desired me not to stir from the fire; for that the French had offered a great reward for my scalp, and that there were several parties out on that purpose.
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Accordingly I stuck constantly as close to the fire, as if I had been chained there.
26th-The Indians with a great many of the French officers, came over to hear what I had to say. The officers brought with them a table, pens, ink, and paper. I spoke in the middle of them with a free con- science, and perceived by the look of the French, they were not pleased with what I said : the particulars of which were as follows ; I spoke in the name of the Government and people of Pennsylvania.
" Brethren at Allegheny : We have a long time desired to see and hear from you; you know the road was quite stopt; and we did not know how to come through. We have sent many messengers to you ; but we did not hear of you; now we are very glad we have found an opening to come and see you, and to speak with you, and to hear your true mind and resolution. We salute you very heartily." A string, No. 1.
" Brethren at Allegheny, take notice of what I say. You know that the bad spirit has brought something between us, that has kept us at a distance one from another ; I now, by this belt, take every thing out of the way, that the bad spirit has brought between us, and all the jealousy and fearfulness we had of one another, and whatever else the bad spirit might have poisoned your heart and mind with, that nothing of it may be left. Moreover, let us look up to God, and beg for his assistance, that he may put into our hearts what pleases him, and join us close in that brotherly love and friendship, which our grandfathers had. We assure you of our love towards you." A belt of eleven rows.
" Brothers at Allegheny, hearken to what I say ; we began to hear of you from Wellemeghihink, who returned from Allegheny. We heard you had but a slight confused account of us ; and did not know of the peace we made twelve months past, in Easton. It was then agreed, that the large belt of peace should be sent to you at Allegheny. As these our two old friends from Allegheny, who are well known to many here, found an opening to come to our council fire, to see with their own eyes, to sit with us face to face, to hear with their own ears, every thing that has been transacted between us ; it gives me and all the people of the province great pleasure to see them among us. And I assure all my brethren at Allegheny, that nothing would please me, and all the people of the province better, than to see our countrymen, the Delawares, well settled among us."-A belt.
" Hearken, my brethren at Allegheny ; when we began to make peace with the Delawares, twelve months ago, in behalf of ten other nations, we opened a road, and cleared the bushes from the blood, and gathered all the bones, on both sides, together ; and when we had brought them together, in one heap, we could find no place to bury them : we would not bury them as our grandfathers did. They buried them under ground, where they may be found again. . We prayed to God, that he would have mercy on us, and take all these bones away from us, and hide them, that they might never be found any more; and take from both sides all the remembrance of them out of our heart and mind. And we have a firm confidence, that God will be pleased to take all the bones and hide them from us, that they may never be remembered by us, while we live,
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