History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 3

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340

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Along the shores of the Susquehanna, from the State line to the south line of the county, are spots that will be pointed out to you as once famous Indian resorts, villages, battle-grounds or scenes of massacres or something of that kind. There is a mixture of truth and fiction in it all. At one place, nay, at numerous places, may be pointed out spots in the dark and bloody legends, and at the isolated one or two places may be found memorial stones telling of where the wild children of the forests bent their knees in awe and child-like wonder at the simple, sublime story from the lips of the hardy mis- sionaries of the church, as they answered in the wilderness the glories of the ever-living God. Lazy, simple and credulous, these wild people of the woods were deeply impressed with the forms and symbols of the Christian religion. That part of religion they could see with the naked eye was all there evidently was in it to

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

these nomads, and they put on its outward forms with childish alacrity while deep in their hearts remained the undisturbed fetich worship of their tribes and fathers. They could simply add one religion to the other, not remove the one to give wholly the place to the new and the true religion.

The barbarities suffered at the hands of the savages by the early settlers of Bradford county are a nightmare of horrors. The story in its details is one prolonged agony. This was nearly the same story of every portion of the country east of the Mississippi river. The people fleeing to the forts, the rising smoke from the burning cabins, and the scalps of men, women and children dangling as trophies from the belts of the warriors; and the flesh of the tortured captives cooked and eaten by the most favored braves. Meaner than the ugly, hungry wolves, far more cunning and treacherous, human imagination palls in any effort to conceive of all the sad story that ran riot through the country. This was the average Indian. Not forgetful that there were crimes, monstrous crimes, committed against the wild people ; conscious of the fact that among the many immigrants to the New World were bad white men-some of the vile and vicious who had been banished from their native land-yet, the truth is, those were the exceptions, and for their crimes it is but little answer to be forever pointing to "Lo, the poor Indian." This gangrened sentiment has found its way too often to our school books and light literature, vitiating the minds of the young and closing their eyes to the truths of history. The curtain is now rung down on the long and bloody drama, and the fierce warriors that once ambushed behind nearly every tree in the forests are now the wretched remnant of beggars, in filth and rags, hovering on the con- fines of our civilization.

Indians always traveled in single file and, therefore, their paths were very narrow, and were sometimes worn deeply in the hillsides where the rains added to the wear. The great Indian highway, that is, the deepest worn path in the county, passed through from south to north along the river, much as is now the bed of the Lehigh Valley Railroad, on the west of the river in the northern part of the county, and east of the river on the lower part. The Wyalusing path crossed at Wyalusing, and was in a northeast and southerly direction, entering the county with Wyalusing creek about five miles west of the south- east corner of the county. The Towanda path entered the north line of the county about half-way between the Susquehanna river and the northeast corner of the county, and passed to the Shawnee village. The Minisink path came from the east, and passed nearly due west through the northern part of the county to Queen Esther's town. The Towanda path entered the county exactly at its southwest corner, and followed Towanda creek to the river; west of the borough some ten miles it branched to the north, and led to the Indian village north of Sugar creek, on the river. The Sheshequin path entered about the center of the west line of the county, and followed Sugar creek.

Nester and Wyalusing were the chief villages of the Indian con-

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

verts to Christianity under the teachings of the Moravian missionaries. At these points they built huts, and at Wyalusing-called Friedens- hütten-they built a church, and at one time claimed a population of more than 200 souls.

The management of the Indian by our Government since we became a separate nation has been one prolonged mistake. He has been always considered a foreigner in his native land, a foreigner under the Government that has made war on him and his, and conquered and held them, and to this day we hear of "treaties" with the red men, the same as if they were people of Japan or Kamskatka, and at the same time they are the "Nation's wards," regular boarders at the great American free soup stand-a kind of quasi acknowledgment of their title to lands-and these we purchase and never pay anything except the annual interest thereon. The Government in a manner feeds and clothes these poor wretches, and Christian people give in charity and send bibles, missionaries and school teachers, and tracts and prayers, and the Government opens Indian schools, colleges and training grounds, and carries train loads of pappooses and old hardened scalping experts back and forth from the Bad Lands and Lava Beds to see their "Great Father" at Washington and strike camps in the rooms of Willard's Hotel. On the mimic stage what a farce this whole hum- bug scheme would be-the roaring travesty on good sense is a national necessity to provide soft places for our gang of political bummers- which, by the way, is a great joke on the average tax-payer. The smallest modicum of honest common sense would have long ago for- ever disposed of the Indian question, by simply turning him loose and "root hog or die." Let him educate and christianize himself as well as provide for himself-exact and even justice with no favors.

The Indian knew nothing definite of his remote ancestors. He had his traditions and wild, crude legends, and some of them he perhaps believed himself, and others he cherished chiefly as we do epic poems. They were the exploits of great hunters and scalpers; something, no doubt, of the crude idea of our school boys in their Friday afternoon piping declamations about " Alexander's paw ! " as they would gather up their pudgy fists and beat the air, in the belief that that man-slayer went at his bloody work with bare fists. The Indians were merely wild children ; their history was unwritten, and was but dreams of fighting and killing their fellow-man. Their highest pleasures were in the prolonged and most exquisite torture-not necessarily of their ene mies, but of their captives-simply because they had them in their power; and after the victim was tortured to death, then to eat him was the crowning privilege. Their women were mere slaves and drudges, somewhat lower in their estimation than their mangy dogs. These Indians that stand so patiently in front of tobacco shops are much cleaner and more intelligent looking than the originals, as found running wild all over this country when the white man came.

All over the habitable world are evidences of the coming and pass- ing away of nations. Birth, growth and final decay, it seems, is

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

much the history of peoples as it is of the individual. All roads once led to Rome. And although this was in comparatively modern times, yet now these great works, paved highways and stone bridges are but wrecks and broken remains of that once powerful nation. The angel of death, it seems, extended his shadowing wings, and the "mistress of the world " bowed to fate, and the owls beat upon the casements of their palaces, and the wild beasts lick their cubs where once was only the busy feet of men. In the sweep of time the nations come and go, as the ripples chase each other on the resting waters. Birth and death and a little, short intervening struggle for existence is the be-all and the end-all, until existence itself is but change.

The numerous as well as powerful tribes of red savages found in possession of the continent have practically gone forever. The original wild Indian is now a memory. He has not passed out from his wild state and been civilized into a changed and higher existence, but before the pale faces he has been pushed from the Atlantic to the Pacific, and has sung his death-song and laid down to die. Some few miserable remnants of once great and dominating tribes have mingled their blood with the strange white races, and after being driven from place to place are now in the Indian Territory-the Nation's wards and depend- ants. Those that clung to their clouts and blankets, and refused the clothes and fashions of civilization, were driven to the lava beds of the western mountain fastnesses, and shot down like dangerous wild beasts, or hemmed in and starved to death.

What a numerous race of Indians was here but a century or two ago! How little will soon remain to mark their ever having existed ! The white man met their cunning warriors in the trackless woods and slew them. When the last miserable, dirty beggar of them has departed what will there remain, except the words of the historian, to perpetuate his memory ? Nothing. As a people they have petrified in their ignorant savagery. He could neither lift himself up, nor could his nature be elevated to that higher plane where lives a nobler human- ity. He has left behind no thought, no invention and no work of any value to the world or that deserves preservation. He was nothing, and therefore has left nothing. Ignorant, cunning, cruel and excess- ively filthy, he was neither useful nor beautiful. His wild nature could not be reclaimed, except by adulteration of his blood with other races. Born in the wild wood, rocked on the wave, his one redeeming trait was his unconquerable love of liberty; this he loved far better than life. He would not be a slave. Had he preferred existence and slavery to death, he might have lived on in peace with the white man. Indeed, he might now have had the ballot in his hand and enjoyed the fawning of our demagogues, a very hero indeed about election times, instead of the wandering beggar in rags as we see him. But this was not his nature. He would be free as the eagle of the crags, and in his choice between slavery and extinction he never halted. He met his fate with an unequaled stoicism, and his death-song rose in his throat as the caroling of the forest birds. . Herein was the strong individuality of the Indian-the redeeming quality of his nature.

Joliet, Marquette and Hennepin, the first white men to visit the

BIRDS OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

much the history of peoples as it is of the individual. led to Rome. And when sigh this was in compara i've? i'll now these great works, paved highways And you be my weeks and broken remains of that one powering walk : of death, it scoms, extended his shadowing wings, what ibe of the world " bowed to fate, and the & Os bead upon the offer at their palaces and the wild beastsbick their* *** * * axxx the bus feet of men. In the sweep of time que nations con waage as the Apples chase each other on the aring waters. Birthers w and a little short intervening straget my existence is the be- 1: 30 the end-all. antil existence itself is but Lange.

The numerous as well as powerful tribes of red savages found " possession of the continent have practically gone forever. The original wild Ind. " is now a melhory He has not is sed out from his ght state and won civilized into a changed and higher existence, but bet nes the pale fires he has been pusly d from the Atlantic to the Pacific ai! has sing his death-song and And down to die Some few miserably remnante of oner great ind dominating tribes have m ogled their bioes with the sto pure white races, and after being driven from what place are now in the I can. Terror: - the Nation's w ads and deper's. anis those that oling to then dlouts and blankets, and refuser fr. clothes and actions of civilization, were driven to the lava beds of 1 . westory armatain fastnesses, and shot down like dangerous wild has or benned in and sarved to de ith

What a number ans care of Ind ans was here but a century o any! How linde will soon remain to mark their over having exthe The what som that their canning warner- in the trackless wood. .. slen Ham. When the last miserable, dirty beggar of thets Ya: departed what will there remain, except the words of the historias ... perp trate his memory ! Nothing. As a people they have profite ir ta ir igmurat savagery Ile could nettoer hift himself up, not sold Ins nature be eirvateu to . but Higher plane where Bao a noble: buenoy. it. He has left be is Ino thought no invention and no work of ww value :o 're worid or tat il serv . preservation. He was nothing. ane therefore bas lofter thing. Wym rant, cummins. cruel and . Pexs ively filthc. he was repiog asstol ... beautiful. fis will nuto: would not be reclame, except by adaberation of his blood with other side- Born in the wild wood worked on the ware, his one redonda was hi- unconquerable bire of liberty: this he loved far . .. life. He would you be : Have Had he preferred exist me a u slater te death, he mi, At ha . lived on in pace with the white man. Intent be right now have bee the Caller in his hand and enjoyen of our demay ignies. avem b. r indeed about election Units the wandering Un year in sug , as we see lem. But tir nature. He would be war es the eagle of the craps an-

1 between she r and ex neuen be never halted. ar unequaled . men and the deathsong ne , woning of the west braga derer was th th Indiri -

Eden Overton In

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

Indians of the West, have left much authentic information of the con- ditions in which they found them. The pure and gentle Marquette was carrying to these wild children of the plains the Cross of Christ, and receiving the tender in return of the calumet and wampun. These explorers agreed that the northern Indians were inferior to those found in the South in their knowledge of the simplest of the arts. The Nat- chez were found to possess some little idea of the use of iron and cop- per, while their northern brothers knew nothing of it, and used only stone. On the borders of streams or lakes they had their scattered villages : their wigwams and shacks being the rudest and simplest structures. All seemed to be nomadic in their habits; each tribe having its chief, with no certain authority except to command hunting and warring expeditions. The men performed no manual labor, this being done by the women or squaws. In the timber they built their wigwams of bark chiefly. This was laid on poles that were brought to a center, and here a hole was left for the smoke to escape. If very hungry, they ate the game captured raw. The most of their cooking was over the fire or in the hot coals; they would boil water by heating stones and dropping into the water in their crude stone vessels. Their best cooks would but poorly compare with our French chefs in some of our fine hostelries. Their mode, for instance, of cooking a turkey was to pull a few of the largest feathers, and then cook it just as it was. This they regarded as not only saving labor, but saving all that part of the turkey that we throw away-a double economy. Their marital relations were loose and illy defined. Polygamy was often practiced, but not universally, as the bucks bought their wives, paying for them a pony, or game, or pelts, or whatever else that was the currency of the realm. Wives were bought often for stated periods when they would return and be in the marriage market again without at all bothering the divorce courts. It was only such dusky maidens as mated without being paid for that were dis- credited in the first circles of Indian society. The female chil- dren, in case of separation, by virtue of the terms of the contract, went with the mother, and the males belonged to the father. With these impediments in his way it may be assumed that he would as soon as possible get another squaw to support "the old man and the boys." Sometimes as many as sixty persons would compose one family, and altogether these would live in one wigwam-larger than the simple round ones. They slept upon the bare ground or on the skins of animals, and all their clothing in the rigors of the winter were also of the skins of animals. In the long winters their places of abode would be indescribably filthy. The numerous family and the dogs were huddled together in the smoke and the horrid air of their worse than kennels. While it was cold weather they never bathed, and they changed their clothes only by their wearing out and falling off. In the warm weather all took to the water daily, like ducks, but when they came out would smear themselves with horrid rancid grease, mixed often with certain kinds of clays. This seemed to be the only part of their toilet that they were at all particular to attend to. The food of the Indian consisted of all the varieties of game, eat-

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

ing nearly everything except the rattlesnake. They called this reptile "grandfather," and believed that he had the soul of their dead ances- tor, and they held it sacred. When the hunters would find a snake of this kind they would surround it, carefully keeping out of striking distance, and they would light their pipes and blow the smoke at it, calling it by endearing names, and pray to it to guard their families and help them in their expedition, whether war or hunting. In a rude way they cultivated corn, melons and squashes. From the corn they made their "sagamite," parched and pounded the corn, mixed it with water, bran and all, and roasted the mass in the hot ashes. Sometimes they mixed in the meal ground gourds or beans.

They had three kinds of canoes, and these they made and handled dexteronsly. Having only stone axes they would burn down the tree, chopping away the charred part. They would chop it off at any required length in the same way, dropping water at the points they did not want to burn. The heavy wood canoes were burned out in a similar way, and with slow fires they could shape and fashion them exactly as wanted, and smooth and polish them with stone. A pirogue was made by fastening two or more canoes together abreast by poles reaching across on the top. These would carry great weight, and were not liable to upset. Their most common canoe was made of bark-elm or birch. The elm-bark canoes were very frail and not used for long voyages. To make a canoe of the elm they would select the trunk of a tree very smooth, and at a time when the sap was up. They would cut around, above and below the length wanted, and then remove the whole in one piece, shaving off the roughest of the bark, making this side the inside of the canoe; fastening the ends of the bark together, the sides of the canoe were held apart by bows that would be fastened in about two feet apart. They would sew up the two ends with strips of elm bark, and in such a way as to cause the two ends to rise, with a swell in the middle. Any chinks they sewed together and covered with gum they would chew. It may be that this is where our girls got the fashion of gum chewing without inherit- ing any knowledge of the better part of the business of making bark canoes. They would add a mast, and on this use their blankets or skins for sails. All the passengers in such a craft sat upon their heels. There was much art and perfect balancing required to ride without turning over. About like bicycle riding. It is supposed that one of our ordinary mouse or bug squealing girls could upset one of these vessels in a few seconds-at least by the time it had reached deep water. The chief merit of the elm-bark canoe was its lightness. A squaw could shoulder one with ease, and carry it along or over any portage. In ascending streams these people knew the road so well that frequently by crossing a great bend, and by going overland a mile or two, would save many miles around to the same spot.

Canoes made of birch bark were stronger and heavier, and looked more artistic in finish. The frames of these were of strips of cedar wood, which is light and flexible. This frame was made complete and was then covered with birch bark, which would be sewed together like

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

skins. The seams were covered with chewed gum. Cross bars were put in to hold the sides apart, and these made seats for the passengers.

The French fur traders were the only white men who adopted the Indian's mode of making canoes, or had the skill to use them after the Indian fashion. Some of these canoes of the traders would carry as much as 3,000 pounds, and in the hands of an expert they would shoot along the water with great swiftness.

As already said, the Indians were cannibals, though human flesh was only eaten at war feasts. They would torture a prisoner to death ; in this the women and children were peculiarly delighted, and the body would then be thrown into "the war kettle," and greedily devoured after a partial cooking. An early traveler among the savages, Joseph Barrow, says he saw Pottawatomies and Miamis, with hands and limbs, both of white men and also of other tribes of Indians. The privileges of this feast were confined to the noted and foremost war- riors.

They would bury their dead with great care and ceremony. Jontel says: "They pay great respect to their dead. Some of the tribes would prepare the grave carefully and then for days weep and wail about it; others would dance and sing for twenty-four hours. These dancers would hang their calabashes or gourds about their bodies, fill- ed partially with dry beans and pebbles, and these would rattle and assist the mourners greatly in expressing their inconsolable grief. The heirs of the deceased were not forced by fashion to dissimulate their joy in the form of grief, because when the old man died they buried his fortune with him, and had to throw in something of their own to help him along the journey to the happy hunting-ground.

CHAPTER III. MISSIONARIES AND TRADERS.

THE FIRST WHITE MEN HERE-COUREURS DES BOIS-HUNTERS-THE MORAVIAN MISSIONARIES-ETC.

TT is now more than one hundred and fifty-three years since the first white man passed up the Susquehanna, following the windings of the river, and looked out over this beautiful valley. The waters of the streams were filled with shining fish, and the old dark forests were full of game. The great flat tops of the Towanda mountains had their gentle declivities sweeping away in graceful curves and windings to the soft, hazy, blue distance. Over all are the great hemlock trees, the mountain ash and the graceful pines, the more stubborn oaks, the thick groves of sumac and the climbing vines, all bending and bowing to the breeze, and clothed in green and bright flowers in the budding spring and in the rich colorings of the rainbow in the mild autumn, Here how beautiful and picturesque was all nature-the

HISTORY OF BRADFORD COUNTY.

ever-changing panorama of the seasons unfolding in entrancing vis- ions ! In the winter when the old gnarled trees bared their arms to meet the severest winter storms, and the driven snow softly wrapped in its white mantle the earth, folding it away for the winter's long sleep and quiet, and then the spring when the earth is fretted with sprouting and the buds and flowers and leaves begin their low lullaby, and the earth and air are again vocal with joyous life, and then come the birds of delicious song from their far south wintering-the low distant drumming of the pheasant, the "gobble, gobble, gobble," of the enormous bronze wild turkeys, the merry matin song of the golden- winged blackbirds, the chattering magpies, the hoarse croak of the crane, and the merry clatter of the wild ducks and geese, were answered by the nearly human scream of the striped panther and the sharp yells of the ever-hungry and savage wolf. In the rivers and the crystal mountain streams the shining fish disported themselves, and the beautiful shad, in great schools of many millions, would leave the salt sea and ascend to the head waters of the Susquehanna to de- posit their eggs; and the beaver in all his sleek cunning built his dams across the streams and thereon his winter houses, side by side with the sleek otter, and on land his fur-bearing conqueror, the bear, patiently hunted out the stores of the wild bees and grew rolling fat and laughed at the gorgeous springtime that came after his long winter's sleep in his dark and damp cave.

These mountains and hills had slowly risen from the unfathomed depths of the sea, their rocky heads dripping with waters of the briny deep; slowly, stupendously they rose, then were dry rocky cliffs, and the rains and the winds, the heat and the cold beat upon them and the rocks turned to ashes, and from the first delicate mosses clinging to the hard stones gradually came this forest giant crowning in glory the hill tops, penetrating the low clouds and protecting the humbler vines and heavy undergrowth, filling the earth with insect and animal life and the air with birds of radiant plumage, caroling their songs to the deep blue heavens.

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History of Bradford County, Pennsylvania, with biographical selections, Part 3

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.) Publication date: 1891 Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson Number of Pages: 1340

Author: Bradsby, H. C. (Henry C.)
Publication date: 1891
Publisher: Chicago, S. B. Nelson
Number of Pages: 1340