USA > Pennsylvania > Early history of western Pennsylvania, and of the West, and of western expeditions and campaigns, from MDCCLIV to MDCCCXXXIII > Part 50
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" Now, brother, you are here with us, you are our flesh and blood, speak from the bottom of your heart, will not the French and English join together to cut off the Indians ? Speak, brother, from your heart, and tell us the truth, and let us know who were the beginners of the war."
Then I delivered myself thus :
" Brothers, I love you from the bottom of my heart. I am extremely sorry to see the jealousy so deeply rooted in your hearts and minds. I have told you the truth ; and yet, if I was to tell it you a hundred times, it seems you would not rightly believe me. My Indian brothers, I wish you would draw your hearts to God, that he may convince you of the truth.
"I do now declare, before God, that the English never did, nor never will, join with the French to destroy you. As far as I know, the French are the beginners of this war. Brothers, about twelve years ago, you may remember, they had war with the English, and they both agreed to articles of peace. The English gave up Cape Breton in Acadia, but the French never gave up the part of that country, which they had agreed to give up; and, in a very little time, made their children strike the English. This was the first cause of the war. Now, brothers ; if any body strike you three times, one after another, you still sit still and con- sider : they strike you again, then, my brothers, you say, it is time, and you will rise up to defend yourselves. Now, my brothers, this is exactly the case between the French and English. Consider farther, my broth- ers, what a great number of our poor back inhabitants have been killed since the French came to the Ohio. The French are the cause of their death, and if they were not there, the English would not trouble them- selves to go there. They go no where to war, but where the French are. Those wicked people that set you at variance with the English, by telling you many wicked stories, are papists in French pay ; besides, there are many among us, in the French service, who appear like gen- tlemen, and buy Irish papist servants, and promise them great rewards to run away to you and strengthen you against the English, by making them appear as black as devils."
This day arrived here two hundred French and Indians, on their way to Fort Duquesne. They staid all night. In the middle of the night King Beaver's daughter died, on which a great many guns were fired in the town.
5th-It made a general stop in my journey. The French said to their children, they should catch me privately, or get my scalp. The com- mander wanted to examine me, as he was going to Fort Duquesne. When they told me of it, I said, as he was going to Fort Duquesne, he might enquire about me there ; I had nothing at all to say, or do with the French ; they would tell them every particular they wanted to know in the fort. They all came into the house where I was, as if they would see a new creature.
In the afternoon there came six Indians, and brought three German prisoners, and two scalps of the Catawbas.
As Daniel blamed the English, that they never paid him for his trouble, I asked him wether he was pleased with what I paid him. He said, no. I said, "Brother, you took as much as you pleased." I asked
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you, whether you was satisfied; you said yes. I told him, I was ashamed to hear him blame the country so. I told him, "You shall have for this journey whatever you desire, when I reach the inhabitants." 6th-Pisquetumen, Tom Hickman and Shingiss told me:
" Brother, it is good that you have stayed so long with us; we love to see you, and wish to see you here longer; but since you are so de- sirous to go, you may set off to-morrow : Pisquetumen has brought you here, and he may carry you home again ; you have seen us, and we have talked a great deal together, which we have not done for a long time before. Now, brother, we love you, but cannot help wondering why the English and French do not make up with one another, and tell one another not to fight on our land."
I told them, " Brother, if the English told the French so a thousand times, they never would go away. Brother, you know so long as the world has stood there has not been such a war. You know when the French lived on the other side, the war was there, and here we lived in peace. Consider how many thousand men are killed, and how many houses are burned since the French lived here : if they had not been here it would not have been so ; you know we do not blame you ; we blame the French ; they are the cause of this war; therefore, we do not come to hurt you, but to chastise the French."
They told me, that at the great council, held at Onondago, among the Five Nations, before the war began (Conrad Weiser was there, and wrote every thing down) it was said to the Indians at the Ohio, that they should let the French alone there, and leave it entirely to the Five Na- tions ; the Five Nations would know what to do with them. Yet soon after two hundred French and Indians came and built Fort Duquesne.
King Beaver and Shingiss spoke to Pisquetumen :
" Brother, you told us that the Governor of Philadelphia and Teedyus- cung took this man out of their bosoms, and put him into your bosom, that you should bring him here; and you have brought him here to us ; and we have seen and heard him; and now we give him into your bosom, to bring him to the same place again, before the Governor ; but do not let him quite loose ; we shall rejoice when we shall see him here again." They desired me to speak to the Governor, in their behalf, as follows :
"Brother, we beg you to remember our oldest brother, Pisquetumen, and furnish him with good clothes, and reward him well for his trouble ; for we all shall look upon him when he comes back."
7th-When we were ready to go, they began to council which course we should go, to be safest ; and then they hunted for the horses, but could not find them ; and so we lost that days journey.
It is a troublesome cross and heavy yoke to draw this people ; they can punish and squeeze a body's heart to the utmost. I suspect the reason they kept me here so long was by instigation of the French. I remember somebody told me, the French told them to keep me twelve days longer, for that they were afraid I should get back too soon, and give information to the general. My heart has been very heavy here, because they kept me for no purpose. The Lord knows how they have been counselling about my life ; but they did not know who was my [94 ]
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protector and deliverer : I believe my Lord has been too strong against them ; my enemies have done what lies in their power.
8th-We prepared for our journey on the morning, and made our- selves ready. There came some together and examined me what I had wrote yesterday. I told them I wondered what need they had to con- cern themselves about my writing. They said if they knew I had wrote about the prisoners, they would not let me go out of the town. I told them what I writ was my duty to do.
" Brothers, I tell you I am not afraid of you, if there were a thousand more. I have a good conscience before God and man. I tell you I have wrote nothing about the prisoners. I tell you, Brothers, this is not good ; there's a bad spirit in your heart, which breeds that jealousy; and it will keep you ever in fear, that you will never get rest. I beg you would pray to God, for grace to resist that wicked spirit that breeds such wicked jealousies in you ; which is the reason you have kept me here so long. How often have I begged of you to dispatch me ? I am ashamed to see you so jealous ; I am not, in the least, afraid of you. Have I not brought writings to you ? and what, do you think I must not carry some home, to the Governor ? or, shall I shut my mouth, and say nothing ? Look into your own hearts, and see if it would be right or wrong, if any body gives a salutation to their friends, and it is not returned in the same way. You told me many times how kind you were to the prisoners, and now you are afraid that any of them should speak to me."
They told me they had cause to be afraid ; and then made a draught, and shewed me how they were surrounded with war. Then I told them if they would be quiet and keep at a distance, they need not fear. Then they went away very much ashamed, one after another. I told my men that we must make haste and go; and accordingly we set off in the after- noon from Kushkushkee and came ten miles.
9th-We took a little foot-path hardly to be seen. We lost it and went through thick bushes, till we came to a mire which we did not see, till we were in it; and Tom Hickman fell in and almost broke his leg. We had hard work before we could get the horse out again. The Lord helped me that I got safe from my horse. I and Pisquetumen had enough to do to come through. We passed many such places : it rained all day ; and we got a double portion of it, because we received all that hung on the bushes. We were as wet as if we were swimming all the day ; and at night we laid ourselves down in a swampy place to sleep, where we had nothing but the heavens for our covering.
10th-We had but little to live on. Tom Hickman shot a deer on the road. Every thing here, upon the Ohio, is extremely dear, much more so than in Pennsylvania: I gave for one dish of corn four hundred and sixty wampum. They told me that the Governor of fort Duquesne kept a store of his own, and that all the Indians must come and buy the goods of him ; and when they come and buy, he tells them if they will go to war they shall have as much goods as they please. Before I set off, I heard further, that a *French Captain who goes to all the Indian
* He was sent to collect the Indians together, to attack General Forbes's army once more on their march.
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towns came to Sawkunck, and said, " Children, will you not come and help your father against the English?" They answered, "Why should we go to war against our brethren ? 'They are now our friends." "O ! Children," said he, "I hope you do not own them for friends." "Yes," said they, " We do; we are their friends and we hope they will remain ours." "O! Children," said he, " You must not believe what you have heard, and what has been told you by that man." They said to him, " Yes, we do believe him more than we do you : it was you that set us against them ; and we will by and by have peace with them :" and then he spoke not a word more, but returned to the fort. So, I hope, some good is done : praised be the name of the Lord.
11th-Being Monday, we went over Antigoc : we went down a very steep hill, and our horses slipt so far, that I expected, every moment, they would fall heels over head. We found fresh Indian tracts on the other side of the river. We crossed Allegheny river and went through the bushes upon a high hill, and slept upon the side of the mountain, without fire, for fear of the enemy. It was a cold night, and I had but a thin blanket to cover myself.
12th-We made a little fire to warm ourselves in the morning. Our horses began to be weary with climbing up and down these steep moun- tains. We came this night to the top of a mountain where we found a log house. Here we made a small fire, just to boil ourselves a little victuals. The Indians were very much afraid, and lay with their guns and tomhocks on all night. They heard somebody run and whisper in the night. I slept very sound, and in the morning they asked me if I was not afraid the enemy Indians would kill me. I said, "No, I am not afraid of the Indians, nor the devil himself: I fear my great Creator, God." "Aye, they said, you know you will go to a good place when you die, but we do not know that: that makes us afraid."
13th-In the afternoon we twice crossed Chowatin and came to Pon- chestanning, an old deserted Indian town that lies on the same creek. We went through a bad swamp, where were very thick sharp thorns, so that they tore our clothes and flesh, both hands and face, to a bad degree. We had this kind of road all the day. In the evening we made a fire, and then they heard something rush in the bushes as though they heard somebody walk. Then we went about three gun-shot from our fire and could not find a place to lie down on, for the innumer- able rocks ; so that we were obliged to get small stones to fill up the hollow places in the rocks for our bed ; but it was very uneasy ; almost shirt and skin grew together. They kept watch one after another all night.
14th-In the morning, I asked them what made them afraid. They said I knew nothing; the French had set a great price on my head; and they knew there was gone out a great scout to lie in wait for me. We went over great mountains and a very bad road.
15th-We came to Susquehanna and crossed it six times, and came to Catawaweshink, where had been an old Indian town. In the evening there came three Indians and said they saw two Indian tracks, which came to the place where we slept, and turned back, as if to give informa- tion of us to a party ; so that we were sure they followed us.
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16th and 17th-We crossed the mountain and came to the Big Island, where having nothing to live on, we were obliged to stay to hunt.
19th-We met twenty warriors, who were returning from the inliab- itants, with five prisoners and one scalp ; six of them were Delawares, the rest Mingoes. We sat down all in one ring together. I informed them where I had been, and what was done; they asked me to go back a little, and so I did, and slept all night with them. I informed them of the particulars of the peace proposed ; they said, " If they had known so much before, they would not have gone to war. Be strong ; if you make a good peace, then we will bring all the prisoners back again." They killed two deer, and gave me one.
20th-We took leave of each other, and went on our journey, and ar- rived the 22d at fort Augusta, in the afternoon, very weary and hungry ; but greatly rejoiced of our return from this tedious journey.
There is not a prouder, or more high Iminded people, in themselves than the Indians. They think themselves the wisest and prudentest men in the world; and that they can over-power both the French and English when they please. The white people are, in their eyes, nothing at all. They say, that through their conjuring craft, they can do what they please, and nothing can withstand them. In their way of fighting they have this method, to see that they first shoot the officers and com- manders ; and then, they say, we shall be sure to have them. They also say, that if their conjurers run through the middle of our people, no bullet can hurt them. They say too, that when they have shot the commanders, the soldiers will all be confused, and will not know what to do. They say of themselves, that every one of them is like a king and captain, and fights for himself. By this way they imagine they can overthrow any body of men, that may come against them. They say, " The English people are fools ; they hold their guns half man high, and then let them snap; we take sight and have them at a shot, and so do the French ; they do not only shoot with a bullet, but big swan shot." They say, the French load with a bullet and six swan shot. They further say, " We take care to have the first shot at our enemies, and then they are half dead before they begin to fight."
The Indians are a people full of jealousy, and will not easily trust any body ; and they are very easily affronted, and brought into jealousy ; then afterwards, they will have nothing at all to do with those they sus- pect ; and it is not brought so easy out of their minds ; they keep it to their graves, and leave the seed of it in their children and grand child- ren's minds ; so, if they can, they will revenge themselves for every imagined injury. They are a very distrustful people. Through their imagination and reason, they think themselves a thousand times stronger than all other people. Fort Du Quesne is said to be undermined. The French have given out, that, if we overpower them, and they should die, we should certainly all die with them. When I came to the fort, the garrison, it was said, consisted of about one thousand four hundred men; and I am told they will now be full three thousand French and Indians. They are almost all Canadians, and will certainly meet the general be- fore he comes to the fort, in an ambush. You may depend upon it, the French will make no open field-battle, as in the old country, but lie in G.
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ambush. The Canadians are all hunters. The Indians have agreed to draw back ; but how far we may give credit to their promises, the Lord knows. It is the best way to be on our guard against them, as if they really could, with one thousand, overpower eight thousand.
Thirty-two nights I lay in the woods ; the heavens were my cover- ing. The dew came so hard sometimes, that it pinched close to the skin. There was nothing that laid so heavy on my heart, as the man that went along with me. He thwarted me in every thing I said or did; not that he did it against me, but against the country, on whose business I was sent: I was afraid he would overthrow what I went about .- When he was with the English he would speak against the French, and when with the French against the English. The Indians observed that he was a false fellow, and desired me, that I would not bring him any more, to transact any business between the English and them ; and told me, it was through his means I could not have the liberty to talk with the prisoners.
Praise and glory be to the Lamb, that has been slain, and brought me through the country of dreadful jealousy and mistrust, where the prince of this world has his rule and government over the children of disobe- dience.
The Lord has preserved me through all the dangers and difficulties, that I have ever been under. He directed me according to his will, by his holy spirit. I had no one to converse with but him. He brought me under a thick, heavy, and dark cloud, into the open air; for which I adore, praise and worship the Lord my God, that I know has grasped me in his hands, and has forgiven me for all sins, and sent and washed my heart with his most precious blood; that I now live not for myself, but for him that made me; and to do his holy will is my pleasure. I own that, in the children of light, there dwells another kind of spirit, than there does in the children of this world ; therefore, these two spi- rits cannot rightly agree in fellowship.
CHRISTIAN FREDERICK POST.
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[ No. XI. ] POST'S SECOND JOURNAL, 1758.
THE SECOND JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN FREDERICK POST, ON A MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA; TO THE INDIANS ON THE OHIO, IN THE LATTER PART OF THE SAME YEAR.
Containing his further negotiation with these people, to accomplish the design of his former journey, and procure a peace with them ; in which he met with fresh difficulties and dangers, occasioned by the French influence, &c.
But the Indians, being acquainted with his honest simplicity, and calling to mind their former friendship with the inhabitants of Pennsylvania, so far paid a regard to his sincerity, as to listen to the terms proposed ; and in consequence thereof the French were obliged to abandon the whole Ohio country to General Forbes, after destroying with their own hands their strong fort of Du- quesne.
October 25th, 1758-Having received the orders of the honorable Governor Denny, I set out from Easton to Bethlehem, and arrived there about three o'clock in the afternoon. I was employed most of the night, in preparing myself with necessaries, &c., for the journey.
26th-Rose early, but my horse being lame, though I travelled all the day, I could not, till after night, reach to an inn, about ten miles from Reading.
27th -- I set out early, and about seven o'clock in the morning came to Reading, and there found Captain Bull, Mr. Hays, and the Indians just mounted, and ready to set out on their journey. They were heartily glad to see me. Pisquetomen stretched out his arms, and said, " Now, Brother, I am glad I have got you in my arms, I will not let you go, I will not let you go again from me, you must go with me :" and I likewise said the same to him, and told him, "I will accompany you, if you will go the same way as I must go." And then I called them together, in Mr. Weiser's house, and read a letter to them, which I had received from the Governor, which is as follows, viz :
" To Pisquetoman and Thomas Hickman, to Totiniontonna and Shickalamy, and to Isaac Still.
" Brethren, Mr. Frederick Post is come express from the general, who sends his compliments to you, and desires you would come by the way of his camp, and give him an opportunity of talking with you. " By this string of wampum I request of you to alter your intended rout by way of Shamokin, and to go to the general, who will give you a kind reception. It is a nigher way, in which you will be better supplied with provisions, and can travel with less fatigue and more safety.
" WILLIAM DENNY.
"EASTON, October 23d, 1758.
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To which I added, " Brethren, I take you by this string, by the hand, and lift you from this place, and lead you along to the general."
After which they consulted among themselves, and soon resolved to go with me. We shook hands with each other, and Mr. Hays imme- diately set out with them. After which, having with some difficulty procured a fresh horse, in the king's service, I set off about noon with Captain Bull : and when we came to Conrad Weiser's plantation,* we found Pisquetomen lying on the ground very drunk, which obliged us to stay there all night: the other Indians were gone eight miles farther on their journey.
28th -- We rose early, and I spoke to Pisquetomen a great deal. He was very sick, and could hardly stir. When we overtook the rest, we found them in the same condition, and they seemed discouraged from going the way to the general, and wanted to go through the woods. I told them, I was sorry to see them wavering, and reminded them, that when I went to their towns, I was not sent to the French, but when your old men insisted on my going to them, I followed their advice, and went. And as the general is, in the king's name, over the provinces, in matters of war and peace, the Indians at Allegheny, want to know, whether all the English governments will join in the peace with them. The way to obtain full satisfaction is to go to him, and there you will receive another great belt to carry home, which I desire you seriously to take into consideration. They then resolved to go to Harris' ferry, and consider about it as they went. We arrived there late in the night.
29th -- In the morning, the two Cayugas being most desirous of going through the woods, the others continued irresolute; upon which I told them, "I wish you would go with courage, and with hearty resolution," and repeated what I had said to them yesterday, and reminded them, as they were messengers, they should consider what would be the best for their whole nation ; "consult among yourselves, and let me know your true mind and determination ;" and I informed them, I could not go with them, unless they would go to the general, as I had messages to deliver him. After which, having consulted together, Pisquetomen came and gave me his hand, and said, "Brother, here is my hand, we have all joined to go with you, and we put ourselves under your protection to bring us safe through, and to secure us from all danger." We came that night to Carlisle and found a small house without the fort, for the Indians to be by themselves, and hired a woman to dress their victuals, which pleased them well.
30th-Setting out early, we came to Shippensburg, and were lodged in the fort, where the Indians had a house to themselves.
31st-Set out early. In our passing by Chambers Fort, some of the Irish people, knowing some of the Indians, in a rash manner exclaimed against them, and we had some difficulty to get them off clear. At fort Loudon we met about sixteen of the Cherokees, who came in a friendly manner to our Indians, inquiring for BILL SOCKUM, and shewed the pipe they had received from the Shawanese, and gave it, according to their
* Near Womelsdorf, 14 miles west from Reading, Pa .- I. D. R.
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custom, to smoke out of, and said, they hoped they were friends of the English. They knew me. Pisquetomen begged me to give him some wampum, that he might speak to them. I gave him 400 white wam .- pum, and he then said to them : " We formerly had friendship one with another ; we are only messengers, and cannot say much, but by these strings we let you know we are friends, and we are about settling a peace with the English, and wish to be at peace also with you, and all other Indians." And informed them further, they came from a treaty, which was held at Easton, between the Eight United Nations, and their confederates, and the English, in which peace was established; and shewed them the two messengers from the Five Nations, who were going with them, to make it known to all the Indians to the westward. Then the Cherokees answered and said : " they should be glad to know how far the friendship was to reach; they, for themselves, wished it might reach from the sun-rise to the sun-set; for, as they were in friend- ship with the English, they would be at peace with all their friends, and at war with their enemies."
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