History of Warren County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers, Part 4

Author: Schenck, J. S., [from old catalog] ed; Rann, William S., [from old catalog] joint ed; Mason, D., & co., Syracuse, N.Y., pub. [from old catalog]
Publication date: 1887
Publisher: Syracuse, N.Y., D. Mason & co.
Number of Pages: 1020


USA > Pennsylvania > Warren County > History of Warren County, Pennsylvania, with Illustrations and Biographical Sketches of some of its Prominent Men and Pioneers > Part 4


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The people of the Iroquois confederacy were divided into eight clans, the names of which were as follows: Wolf, Bear, Beaver, Turtle, Deer, Snipe, Heron, and Hawk. Early accounts and traditions differ, however; some declaring that every clan extended through all the tribes, while others assert that only the Wolf, Bear, and Turtle clans did so, the rest being restricted to a lesser number of tribes. It is certain, nevertheless, that each tribe-the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas-contained parts of the three clans last named and of several of the others.


Each clan formed a large artificial family, modeled on the natural family. All the members of the clan, no matter how widely separated among the tribes, were considered as brothers and sisters to each other, and were forbid- den to intermarry. This prohibition, too, was strictly enforced by public opin- ion. All the clan being thus taught from earliest infancy that they belonged to the same family, a bond of the strongest kind was created and perpetuated throughout the confederacy. The Oneida of the Wolf clan would no sooner appear among the Cayugas, than those of the same clan would claim him as their special guest and admit him to the most confidential intimacy. The Sen- eca of the Bear clan might wander away eastward to the country of the Mo- hawks, at the farthest extremity of the Long House, and he had a claim upon his brother Bear of that tribe which the latter would not dream of repudiating.


Thus the whole confederacy was linked together. If at any time there appeared a tendency toward conflict between the different tribes, it was instantly checked by the thought that, if persisted in, the hand of the Turtle 3


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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.


must be lifted against his brother Turtle; the tomahawk of the Beaver might be buried in the brain of his kinsman Beaver. And so potent was the feeling that for at least two hundred years, and until the power of the league was broken by the overwhelming outside force of the whites, there was no serious dissension between the tribes of the Iroquois.


Other Indian tribes had similar clans, having similar names, notably the Hurons, or Wyandots, as they have been termed during the last hundred years ; but these were confined each to its own nation, and had therefore very little political value. The Scotch, as has been said, had their clans, but, though all the members of each clan were supposed to be more or less related, yet, instead of marriage being forbidden within their own clannish limits, they rarely married outside of them. All the loyalty of the clansmen was concentrated on their chief, and instead of being a bond of union and strength, so far as the nation at large was concerned, the clans were nurseries of faction.


Iroquois tradition ascribes the founding of the league to an Onondaga chief- tain named Tadodahoh. Such traditions, however, are of very little value, historically speaking. A chief of that name may or may not have founded the confederacy. It is extremely probable that the league began with the union of two or three tribes, being subsequently increased by the addition of others. That such additions might be made may be seen in the case of the Tuscaroras, whose union with the confederacy long after the advent of the Europeans changed the Five Nations into the Six Nations.


Whether the Hedonosaunee were originally superior in valor and eloquence to their neighbors cannot now be ascertained. Probably they were not. But their talent for practical statesmanship gave them the advantage in war, and success made them self-confident and fearless. The business of the league was necessarily transacted in a grand council of sachems, and this fostered oratori- cal powers, until at length the Iroquois became famous among scores of rival nations for wisdom, courage, and eloquence, and were justly denominated by Volney, " The Romans of the New World."


Aside from the clan-system just described, the Iroquois league had some resemblance to the great American Union which succeeded and overwhelmed it. The central authority was supreme on questions of peace and war, and on all others relating to the general welfare of the confederacy, while the tribes, like the States, reserved to themselves the management of their ordinary affairs.


In peace all power was confined to "sachems"; in war, to "chiefs." The sachems of each tribe acted as its rulers in the few matters which required the exercise of civil authority. The same rulers also met in council to direct the affairs of the confederacy. There were fifty in all, of whom the Mohawks had nine, the Oneidas nine, the Onondagas fourteen, the Cayugas ten, and the Senecas eight. These numbers, however, did not give proportionate power in the councils of the league, for all the nations were equal there. There was in


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THE IROQUOIS.


each tribe, too, the same number of war-chiefs as sachems, and these had abso- lute authority in time of war. When a council assembled, each sachem had a war-chief near him to execute his orders. But in a war party the war-chief commanded, and the sachem took his place in the ranks. This was the system in its simplicity.


Some time after the arrival of the Europeans they seem to have fallen into the habit of electing chiefs-not war-chiefs-as counsellors to the sachems, who in time acquired equality of power with them, and were considered as their equals by the whites in the making of treaties.


It is difficult to learn the truth regarding a political and social system a description of which was not preserved by any written record. As near, however, as can be ascertained, the Onondagas had a certain pre-eminence in the councils of the league, at least to the extent of always furnishing a grand sachem, whose authority, nevertheless, was of a very shadowy description. It is not certain that he ever presided in the council of nations. That council, however, always met at the council-house of the Onondagas. This was the natural result of their central position, the Mohawks and Oneidas being to the east of them, the Cayugas and Senecas to the west.


The Senecas unquestionably were the most powerful of all the tribes; and as they were located at the western end 1 of the confederacy, they had to bear the brunt of war when it was assailed by its most formidable foes who dwelt in that quarter. It would naturally follow, therefore, that the principal war-chief of the league should be of the Seneca nation, and such is said to have been the case ; though over this, too, hangs a shade of doubt.


The right of heirship, as among many other of the North American tribes of Indians, was in the female line. A man's heirs were his brother-that is to say, his mother's son and his sister's son-never his own son, nor his brother's son. The few articles which constituted an Indian's personal property-even his bow and tomahawk-never descended to the son of him who had wielded them. Titles, so far as they were hereditary at all, followed the same law of descent. The child also followed the clan and tribe of the mother. The object was evidently to secure greater certainty that the heir would be of the blood of his deceased kinsman. The result of the application of this rule to the Iro- quois system of clans was that if a particular sachemship or chieftaincy was once established in a certain clan of a certain tribe, in that clan and tribe it was expected to remain forever. Exactly how it was filled when it became vacant is a matter of some doubt; but, as near as can be learned, the new offi-


1 When the Five Nations were first visited by Europeans the Senecas chiefly dwelt among the hills south of the Cayuga and Seneca Lakes in New York, and along the Genesee River, though at the same time they had villages on the upper waters of the Allegheny and the West Branch of the Susquehanna Rivers in Pennsylvania. Thus they guarded a line extending from Lake Ontario to the navigable waters of the Allegheny. They called themselves Nunduwawgauh, or the " Men of the Hills," and had many traditions of the prowess and exploits of their ancestors.


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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.


cial was elected by the warriors of the clan, and was then inaugurated by the council of sachems.


If, for instance, a sachemship belonging to the Wolf clan of the Seneca tribe became vacant, it could only be filled by some one of the Wolf clan of the Seneca tribe. A clan council was called and, as a general rule, the heir of the deceased was chosen to his place; to wit, one of his brothers-reckon- ing only on the mother's side-or one of his sister's sons, or even some more distant male relative in the female line. But there was no positive law, and the warriors might discard all these and elect some one entirely unconnected with the deceased, though, as before stated, he must be of the same clan and tribe. While there was no unchangeable custom compelling the clan council to select one of the heirs of the deceased as his successor, yet the tendency was so strong in that direction that an infant was frequently chosen, a guardian being appointed to perform the functions of the office till the youth should reach the proper age to do so. All offices were held for life, unless the incum- bent was solemnly deposed by a council, an event which very seldom occurred.


Notwithstanding the modified system of hereditary power in vogue, the constitution of every tribe was essentially republican. Warriors, old men, and women attended the various councils and made their influence felt. Neither in the government of the confederacy nor of the tribes was there any such thing as tyranny over the people, though there was a great deal of tyranny by the league over conquered nations. In fact, there was very little government of any kind, and very little need of any. There were substantially no property interests to guard, all land being in common and each man's personal property being limited to a bow, a tomahawk, and a few deer skins. Liquor had not yet lent its disturbing influence, and few quarrels were to be traced to the influence of women, for the American Indian is singularly free from the warmer passions. His principal vice is an easily aroused and unlimited hatred; but the tribes were so small and enemies so convenient that there was no difficulty in gratifying this feeling (and attaining to the rank of a warrior) outside of his own nation. The consequence was that although the war-parties of the Iro- quois were continually shedding the blood of their foes, there was very little quarreling at home.


Their religious creed was limited to a somewhat vague belief in the exist- ence of a Great Spirit and several inferior but very potent evil spirits. They had a few simple ceremonies, consisting largely of dances-one called the " green corn dance," performed at the time indicated by its name, and others at other seasons of the year. From a very early date their most important religious ceremony has been the "burning of the white dog," when an unfort- unate canine of the requisite color is sacrificed by one of the chiefs. To this day the pagans among them still perform this rite.


In common with their fellow savages on this continent, the Iroquois have


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THE IROQUOIS.


been termed " fast friends and bitter enemies." Events have proved, however, that they were a great deal stronger enemies than friends. Revenge was the ruling passion of their nature, and cruelty was their abiding characteristic. Revenge and cruelty are the worst attributes of human nature, and it is idle to talk of the goodness of men who roasted their captives at the stake. All Indi- ans were faithful to their own tribes, and the Iroquois were faithful to their confederacy ; but outside of these limits their friendship could not be counted on, and treachery was always to be apprehended in dealing with them.


In their family relations they were not harsh to their children and not wan- tonly so to their wives; but the men were invariably indolent, and all labor was contemptuously abandoned to their weaker sex. They were not an amor- ous race, but could hardly be called a moral one. They were in that respect merely apathetic. Their passions rarely led them into adultery, and mercenary prostitution was entirely unknown; but they were not sensitive on the ques- tion of purity, and readily permitted their maidens to form the most fleeting alliances with those considered distinguished visitors. Polygamy, too, was practiced, though in what might be called moderation. Chiefs and eminent warriors usually had two or three wives-rarely more. They could be dis- carded at will by their husbands, but the latter seldom availed themselves of their privilege. These latter characteristics the Iroquois had in common with the other Indians of North America; but their wonderful politico-social league and their extraordinary success in war were the especial attributes of the peo- ple of the Long House, a people so long the owners and occupants of Warren county.


In the " Historical Collections of Pennsylvania " we find the following trib- ute to the prowess, etc., of the Iroquois nations : "The peculiar location of the Iroquois gave them an immense advantage. On the great channels of water communication to which their territories were contiguous, they were enabled in all directions to carry war and devastation to the neighboring or to the more distant nations. Nature had endowed them with height, strength, and sym- metry of person which distinguished them at a glance among the individuals of other tribes. They were brave as they were strong, but ferocious and cruel when excited in savage warfare; crafty, treacherous, and overreaching when these qualities best suited their purposes. . The proceedings of their grand council were marked with great decorum and solemnity. In eloquence, in dignity, and profound policy their speakers might well bear comparison with the statesmen of civilized assemblies. By an early alliance with the Dutch on the Hudson they secured fire-arms, and were thus enabled not only to repel the encroachments of the French, but also to exterminate or reduce to a state of vassalage many Indian nations. From these they exacted an annual trib- ute or acknowledgment of fealty, permitting them, however, on that condition to occupy their former hunting-grounds. The humiliation of tributary nations


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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.


was, however, tempered with a paternal regard for their interests in all nego- tiations with the whites, and care was taken that no trespass should be com- mitted on their rights, and that they should be justly dealt with."


CHAPTER V.


FROM 1655 TO 1680.


The Iroquois Triumphant-Obliteration of Dutch Power-French Progress-La Salle Visits the Senecas-Greenhalgh's Estimates-La Salle on the Niagara-Building of the Griffin-Its First and Last Voyage-La Salle's Subsequent Career.


T HE overthrow of the Kahquahs and Eries accomplished, the Iroquois, lords of all this vast region, went forth conquering and to conquer. This was probably the day of their greatest glory. Stimulated, but not yet crushed by contact with the white man, they stayed the progress of the French into their territories, they negotiated on equal terms with the Dutch and English, and, having supplied themselves with the terrible arms of the pale-faces, they smote with direst vengeance whomsoever of their own race were so unfortu- nate as to provoke their wrath.


On the Susquehanna, on the Allegheny, on the Ohio, even to the Missis- sippi in the west and the Savannah in the south, the Iroquois bore their con- quering arms, filling with terror the dwellers alike on the prairies of Illinois and in the glades of the Carolinas. They strode over the bones of the slaugh- tered Eries to new conquests on the Great Lakes beyond, even to the foaming cascades of Michillimacinac and the shores of the mighty Superior. They inflicted such terrible defeat upon the Hurons, despite the alliance of the latter with the French, that many of the panic-stricken refugees sought safety for a time on the frozen borders of Hudson's Bay. In short, they triumphed on every side, save only where the white man came; and even the latter was for years held at bay by these fierce confederates.


Of the three distinct and rival bands of European colonists already men- tioned, the French and Dutch opened a thriving fur-trade with the Indians, while the New Englanders devoted themselves principally to agriculture. In 1664, however, the English seized New Amsterdam (now termed New York city), and in 1674 their conquest of New Netherlands was made permanent. Thus the Hollanders as a governing power in the New World were disposed of, and thenceforth the contest for supremacy was to be between the English and the French.


Charles 11, then king of England, granted the conquered Dutch province


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FROM 1655 TO 1680.


to his brother James, duke of York, from whom it was called New York. This grant comprised all the lands along the Hudson, with an indefinite amount westward, thus overlapping the previous grant of James I to the Plymouth Company, and the boundaries of Massachusetts under the charter of Charles I, and laying the foundation for a conflict of jurisdiction which was afterwards to have an important effect on the destinies of the country lying immediately to the northward of Warren county.


The French, meanwhile, if poor farmers, were indefatigable fur-traders and missionaries ; but their priests and Indian traders mostly pursued a route west- ward, through the region now known as Canada. There were good reasons for taking such a route. The fierce Senecas guarded the southern shores of the Niagara, and they, like the rest of the Iroquois, were unfriendly, if not actively hostile, to the French. By 1665 trading-posts had been established at Michillimacinac, Green Bay, on the site of Chicago, and St. Joseph, Mich.


But a new era was approaching. Louis XIV was now king of France, and his great minister, Colbert, was anxious to extend the power of his royal mas- ter over the unknown regions of North America. Under his instructions small exploring parties were sent forward into regions not visited heretofore by his countrymen. Accordingly, in 1669 La Salle, whose name was soon, and for- ever after, to be indissolubly connected with the history of America, visited the Senecas with only two companions, and found four of their principal vil- lages, from ten to twenty miles south from the present city of Rochester. In 1673 the missionaries Marquette and Joliet pushed on beyond the farthest French posts, and erected the emblem of Christian salvation on the shore of the Father of Waters. And in 1676-77 Father Hennepin visited the Indian villages along the Allegheny, traveling as far south as the mouth of the Ve- nango River or French Creek.


During the year last mentioned-1677-Wentworth Greenhalgh, an En- glishman, visited all of the Five Nations, finding the same four towns of the Senecas described by the companions of La Salle. Greenhalgh made very minute observations, counted the houses of the Indians, and reported the Mo- hawks as having three hundred warriors, the Oneidas two hundred, the Onon- dagas three hundred and fifty, the Cayugas three hundred, and the Senecas a thousand. It will thus be seen that the Senecas, the guardians of the western door of the Long House, numbered, according to Greenhalgh's computation, nearly as many as all the other tribes of the confederacy combined, and other accounts show that he was not far from correct.


In the month of January, 1679, La Salle-his full name being Robert Cav- alier de la Salle, appeared at the mouth of the Niagara River. He was a Frenchman of good family, thirty years of age, and one of the most gallant, devoted, and adventurous of all the bold explorers who, under many different banners, opened the New World to the knowledge of the Old. Leaving his


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HISTORY OF WARREN COUNTY.


native Rouen at the age of twenty-two, he had ever since been leading a life of adventure in America, having in 1669, as already mentioned, penetrated almost alone to the strongholds of the Senecas. In 1678 he had received from King Louis a commission to discover the western part of New France. He was authorized to build such forts and trading-posts as might be deemed nec- essary, but at his own expense, being granted certain privileges in return, the principal of which appears to have been the right to trade in buffalo skins. The same year he had made some preparations, and in the fall had sent the Sieur de la Motte and Father Hennepin (the priest and historian of his expe- dition) in advance to the mouth of the Niagara. La Motte, however, soon returned.


When La Salle arrived he went two leagues above the falls, built a rude dock, and laid the keel of a vessel with which to navigate the upper lakes. Strangely enough, Hennepin does not state on which bank of the river this dock was situated ; but the question has been carefully investigated, especially by Francis Parkman, the historian of French power in Canada, and by other eminent writers on early history in Western New York, who have proved beyond a reasonable doubt that it was on the east side, at the mouth of Ca- yuga Creek, in Niagara county, N. Y .; and, in accordance with that view, the little village which has been laid out there has received the appellation of " La Salle."


Hennepin distinctly mentions a small village of Senecas situated at the mouth of the Niagara; and it is plain from his whole narrative that the Iro- quois were in possession of the entire country along the river, though few of them resided there, and watched the movements of the French with unceasing jealousy.


The work of construction was carried on through the winter, two Indians of the Wolf clan of the Senecas being employed to hunt deer for the French party, and in the spring the vessel was launched, " after having," in the words of Father Hennepin, "been blessed according to the rites of our Church of Rome." The new ship was named Le Griffon (the Griffin), in compliment to the Count de Frontenac, minister of the French colonies, whose coat of arms was ornamented with representations of that mythical beast. It was a diminu- tive vessel compared with the leviathans of the deep which now navigate these inland seas, but was a marvel in view of the difficulties under which it had been built. It was of sixty tons burden, completely furnished with anchors and other equipments, and armed with seven small cannon, all of which had been transported by hand around the great cataract.


The Griffin remained in the Niagara River below the rapids for several months. Meanwhile Father Hennepin returned to Fort Frontenac (now Kingston, Canada), where he obtained two priestly assistants, and La Salle superintended the removal of the stores and armament from below the falls.


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FROM 1655 TO 1680.


When all was ready the attempt was made, and several times repeated, to ascend the rapids above Black Rock, but without success. At length, on the 7th of August, 1679, a favorable wind sprang up from the northeast, all the Griffin's sails were set, and again it approached the troublesome rapids. There were thirty-four men on board, all Frenchmen with the exception of Tonti, an Italian, who had been chosen by La Salle as second in command.


As the little vessel approached the rapids a dozen stalwart sailors were sent on shore with a tow-line, and aided with all their strength the breeze which blew toward Lake Erie. Those efforts were soon successful. By the aid of sails and tow-line the Griffin surmounted the rapids, all the crew went on board, and the pioneer vessel of the Great Lakes swept out on the bosom of Lake Erie. As it did so the priests led in singing a joyous Te Deum, all the cannon and arquebuses were fired in a grand salute, and even the stoical Iroquois, watching with suspicious eyes from the shore, gave evidence of their admiration by repeated cries of " Gannoron ! Gannoron !" Wonderful ! Won- derful !


This was the beginning of the commerce of the upper lakes ; but, like many another first venture, it resulted only in disaster to its projectors, though it was the harbinger of unbounded success by others. The Griffin was navigated to Green Bay, where La Salle and Hennepin left it, started on its return with a cargo of furs, and was never heard of more. It is supposed that it sank in a storm and that all on board perished.


La Salle was not afterward identified with the history of the lower lake region ; but his chivalric achievements and tragic fate have still such power to stir the pulse and enlist sympathetic feelings, that one can hardly refrain from a brief mention of his subsequent career : After the Griffin had sailed on her return voyage, La Salle and Hennepin proceeded in canoes to the head of Lake Michigan. Thence, after building a trading-post and waiting many weary months for the return of his vessel, he went with thirty followers to Lake Pe- oria, on the Illinois River, where he built a fort and gave it the expressive name of " Crêve Cœur"-Broken Heart. But, notwithstanding this expres- sion of despair, his courage was far from being exhausted, and, after sending Hennepin to explore the Mississippi, he, with three comrades, performed the remarkable feat of returning to Fort Frontenac on foot, depending on their guns for support.




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