USA > Pennsylvania > Lancaster County > Lancaster county Indians: annals of the Susquehannocks and other Indian tribes of the Susquehanna territory from about the year 1500 to 1763, the date of their extinction > Part 8
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1663-Jesuits Have No Faith in Iro- quois Plea for Peace with Them and the Susquehannocks.
These overtures for peace made by the Iroquois to the French and Jes- uits were looked upon by the latter with suspicion as is set forth in Vol. 49, Jesuit Relations, p. 147, as follows: "Some small Iroquois tribes, and in- deed the great body of them do not love us (the Jesuits) and they have a deadly hatred for the Algonquins. Thus when we see them so unmis-
takably urgent for peace we doubt their sincerity. And so seeing them- selves within two fingers' breadths of total destruction-famine and dis- ease having begun it, the Susquehan- nocks, Algonquins and other savages having advanced it, the French inter- ested in completing it-they pretend to wish for peace."
1663-The Iroquois Tribes Make New Expeditions on Susquehannocks.
In Vol. 49, Jesuit Relations, p. 153, as shown from a letter written at Quebec Sept. 22 "the northern tribes repeat their southern marches." It is stated that the "Anniehoronnous (a tribe of Mohawks), the Sonnontoueh- uonnores (the Huron name for the Iroquois), are now all situated along the Great Lake of the Iroquois, call- ed Ontario, from 20 to 30 leagues in- land. They are in villages and till the soil, raising Turkish and Indian corn and wheat. Beyond them far- ther southward they have savage ene- mies for some time past have been making vigorous war on them-the nation of the wolves, the aborigines allied with New England and the An- daste (Susquehannocks) with New Sweden." In to this latter nation they have been sending war parties for ten years and more. These ex- peditions are further explained in the extracts which now follow from Haz. Annals, pp. 346 and 347.
1663-Attack of Susquehannock Fort.
"Hazard sets forth the attack on Susquehannock Fort in 1663 by the Iroquois from the writings of A. Hudde as follows (Haz. Ann. 346) :
"Information was received by one Harman Reiders residing in the col- ony of New Amstel, of the English, which he received with request to communicate to us that the Sencas being 1600 strong with wives and children were on the march to the Minquas; that they were yet two
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days' journey from the Forte of the | 1663-Maryland Shows Further Inter-
Minquas. The Minquas have about 30 men, who were not yet in besides a hundred of the savages from the River who are in the Forte. The English requested some of the Min- quas which they declined, and now the English seem to favor the Senecas so that it is said they had resolved to send some of the men to meet the Senecas and conclude with them a treaty of peace and as the savages on the river will not always remain at the fort this may occasion disturb- ance on the river during the summer. This was intended for Wm. Beekman to communicate with him news of these parts. "A. Hudde."
1663-Maryland Again Helps the Sus- quehannocks with Powder and Supplies.
In Vol. 3, Maryland Archives, p. 486, under date July 28, it is set out: These are in the name of the Hon. Proprietary of Maryland to will and require you to go to the house of Jacob Clawson and Symon Carpenter, and there see delivered to Capt. Civ- ility and the rest of the Susquehan- nock Indians 2 barrels of powder-2 hundred weight lead; and after you are to go to the house of Nathaniel Ufley along with said Indians and there press any one of the three guns and let it be delivered to said Indians of which guns said Indians are to have the choice-all which particular being for public use, and this your authority." In Vol. 1, p. 505, Mary- land Archives, it is said: "The assess- ment to pay diet for the expedition to Susquehannocks was 6,380 pounds tobacco." And in Vol. 1, Maryland Archives, pp. 471 and 472, five Sus- quehannock chiefs being asked say their enemies in all the forts are about 1,460 men; and that they, the Susquehannocks, are now about 700 fighting men.
est in the Susquehannocks.
Finally Maryland shows further her alliance with the Susquehannocks by sending for them to treat again which is set forth in Vol. 3 Md. Arch. 487 as follows: "At a council held at Gold-smith's for pursuing any foreign enemy. Instructions, etc: You are forthwith to send to the Susquehan- nock Indians, to give them notice that they immediately come down to treat with you and the rest of the commis- sioners about the articles of peace lately confirmed by the Governor to- gether with their consent and ex- pectation strictly to insist upon the article namely that they shall not approach any English plantation but according to the tenor of the said Article of Peace, by stopping a cer- tain distance away and helloeing."
Later we will notice certain small victories by the Susquehannocks against the Mohawks and the Sen- ecas, etc.
1663-Fatal Susquehannock Fort Ex- pedition Humbles the Iroquois.
The result of the Susquehannocks' slaughter of the Iroquois in 1662 had a very pacifying effect on them for a time. This is told in Vol. 49 of the Jesuit Relations p. 137 as follows: "This year a great embassy of Iro- quois met the Jesuit fathers,-the Algonquins and Hurons, the greatest ever known especially since the War which was now in progress between the Iroquois, the Hurons, etc. The Iroquois proclaimed that they wished to unite all the nations of the earth and hurl the hatchet so far into the depth of the earth that it will never again be seen in the future. They wished to place an entirely new sun in the heavens, level all the mountains and remove all the falls in the rivers
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and wished peace. They declared they are. coming, men women and children to deliver themselves into the hands of the French. But the Iro- quois as we know from 5 years' ex- perience are haughty and crafty and they never ask peace unless they have a scheme.
It seems that they ask this so that the French will live among them (p. 141) and surround their villages with palisades as they fear the Andastes or Susquehannocks, the savages of New Sweden who are better able than any other to exterminate the Iroquois and they (the Iroquois dare not longer go and ask munitions of war from the Dutch. They even begged for black gowns to go and convert the Hurons. Then they came with a white flag la- ter, but we were not deceived."
1664-The Seneca - Susquehannock War Opens.
The Iroquois having been badly frightened by the Susquehannocks, as we have already shown, in the ex- pedition of 1662, the Senecas now sallied forth to retaliate upon theSus- quehannocks. The Senecas were al- lied with the Iroquois. They prac- ticed a guerilla warfare. It began about 1664 and continued until 1675. We shall here treat only of the be- ginning of it. Its later stages ten years onward brought on Col. Ninian Baell's expedition against them from Maryland in 1675. In Johnson's His. of Cecil Co., p. 61, under date of 1664 he says, "Notice was sent to the Sus- quehannocks to come and treat with the commissioners of Baltimore County, because at this time the Sus- quehannocks were greatly intimidat- ed by the Senecas." This was Mary- land's first offer to help the Susque- hannocks against the Senecas. In Lyle's History of Lancaster County, it is stated p. 19, that the Senecas crossed the Susquehanna many miles
above the fort of the Susquehannocks and robbed and killed some of the whites. In June, 1664 one of the Senecas was captured and 40 of the Susquehannocks who were present at his trial wanted him burned as a punishment for his cruelty. In the same year 100 Seneca warriors came to the Chesapeake and killed several Maryland settlers and some Susque- hannocks they caught hunting. And in the summer of that year Maryland declared war on the Senecas; and the Senecas the next year went out on the warpath in full force against the Susquehannocks. This was in 1665, Lyle' p. 19. About this time the Marylanders and Susquehannocks
combined and made several expedi- tions against the Senecas; as the Sen- ecas now determined to eterminate both the Susquehannocks and the Marylanders. At this point we will leave the Seneca War for the present and take it up again at its crucial stage several years later, in chrono- logical order. Before leaving the
subject of the Seneca's invasion into the Susquehanna country we must note two more matters. The first is Robert Carr's account dated October 13, 1664 in a letter to Col. Nichols, on the subject of the Senecas coming down to southeastern Pennsylvania in Vol. 5 sec. ser. of Pa. Arch., p. 549. He says p. 550, among other things, "The cause of my not send- ing all this time to give notice of our success (He is writing from the Delaware) was the falling off of ye In- dians from their former civility, they abusing messengers that travel by land since our travel here though no ways incensed by us, but exasperated by the Dutch and their own inclina- tions that 80 of them came from the other side (near Susquehanna) where they inhabit and are so strong that no Christian yet dare venture to plant on that side which belongs to
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the Duke of York. They stayed 3 | surpasses everything grown in
nights and pretended they came to set- tle. We beg your endeavors to assist us in reconciling the Senecas, they coming and doing violence to ye hea- then and Christians and leave these Indians to be blamed for it. In less than 6 weeks several murders have been committed and one by these people (Senecas) upon ye Dutch and Swedes. This shows the incursions of the Senecas.
Mombert says p. 123 that in 1664 New Netherlands fell under the Duke of York and the English now having authority over the Dutch a firm al- liance was formed between the In- dians and the English. And now freely supplied with ammunition by the English in New York, the five nations make vigorous war against the Susquehannocks and the tribes on the south generally.
1664 - The Susquehannocks' Other Fort at Octararo.
Minor Matters. About this time says A. L. Guss in his work on In- dian History of the lower Susque- hanna, the Susquehannocks had a fort at the mouth of the Octararo as some of the towns located by Smith on his map cannot be located where he places them (p. 5). Mr. Guss also states that they (Susquehannocks) had a town on the Bolus river which is now the Patapsco entering the Bay at Baltimore. Also p. 5. He also says page 11, that the Susquehannock tribes warred on the Delawares too. Scharf in his History of Maryland, page 94 tells of the fierceness of the Susquehannocks at this time, but most of it we have had from other writers more nearly first hand.
Under practically this same date, a glowing description of southeastern Pennsylvania is set forth in Vol. 5, Second series of Pa. Arch., p. 447. It sets forth how every growing crop
Europe and especially says that furs of all sorts may be had of the natives very reasonably and great profit to be derived from traffic with them who are naturally a mild people and cap- able of being drawn out of blind ignorance to the saving light of Jesus Christ. Alsop's description of Susquehannocks we will take up in a future item.
1664-Progress of the Seneca-Susque- hannock War.
Lyle's History p. 9 says, "The Sus- quehannocks were now at War with the Senecas, one of the Six Nations, who opposed the Susquehannas and robbed and killed some of the white settlers. In June, 1664, one of the Senecas was captured; and forty Sus- quehannocks who were present at his trial wanted him burned as a punish- men for his cruelty. In June, 1664, about 100 Senecas came to the Chesa- peak and killed several Marylanders and some Susquehannocks whom they caught hunting. In June of that year the Maryland colony declared war on the Senecas, who went on the war path against the Susquehannocks the next year. The Marylanders as allies of the Susquehannocks sent several expeditions against the Sen- ecas, who threatened to exterminate both the Susquehannocks and the Marylanders."
1664-Incidents of the Susquehannock Iroquois War.
In June 1664, a Seneca was cap- tured by the Susquehannocks and the whites, and on the 7th he was examined before Council. The same is reported as follows in Vol. 3, Maryland Archives, p. 498: "Exami- nation of an Indian prisoner, a Seneca .- Yesterday when the prison- er was here there were forty of the Susquehannocks and two of Civility's
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uncles (Civility was a chief of the gave the sign and word and left their Susquehannocks) who made show of guns behind in the field." See Vol. 3, Maryland Archives, p. 499. much joy at his being taken, for they very well knew him and were sen- sible of his warlike exploits and would have persuaded us to have burnt him but we certified it was not our man- ner to torture prisoners; but that happily he might be sent home to his country for the good of us all. But we cannot find that the prisoner al- leged anything in his behalf and we suggest he take a present to his own country. Verily too if such a thing were done Civility, in the behalf of the Susquehannocks, would also go and that thereby a peace might be procured. And if Civility go with Claw- son to the Seneca country the Sus- quehannocks, we know, would will- ingly embrace the opportunity of a treaty." This is from a letter signed by Theo. Stockett, Sam'l Goldsmith and Franc Wright.
This Seneca gave the following nar- ration, viz .: "That he came to the house of Mr. G. M. Ball, not with in- tent to kill any Christians, but had brought a present for the Christians of forty beavers and several belts of peace for the Susquehannocks; that they desire peace and friendship (the Senecas) and that the boy taken and the men killed at the mill it was the Cinneka Indians, that did both. He says if he had been taken by the Susquehannocks he should not have been put to death by them, and that all the joints of his body and bones are belts of peace. He was asked how many troop the Senecas had coming out and he said 200; and ask- ed why so many were come if for peace, and he said nothing but that their fort did not desire war with the Christians, and the troops were come for revenge of the death of his son and five Indians more that were burnt by the Susquehannocks. When they came to Ball's plantation they
Evans and Ellis' history tells about this same incident and other related matter, p. 12, as follows: "At this period the Susquehannocks were at war with the Senecas, who crossed the river many miles above the Fort and penetrated to the head of the Bay, where they robbed settlers. Several inhabitants were killed and in June, 1664, one of the Senecas was captured and at his trial forty of the Susquehannocks were present, among whom were two of Captain Civility's uncles. They wanted the Seneca burned as they kenw his bloodthirsty character."
1664-A Report that the Susquehan- nocks Have Defeated the Mohawks.
I find it set forth in Vol. 50, Jesuit Relations, p. 205, that "The Mohawks took flight on hearing the noise of guns and drums. They learned from some old men who had remained be- hind that quite recently news had come that the army of the Annieronta (Indian Governor) had been defeated by the Andastae (Susquehannocks). Thus we see that the Susquehannocks though they had many reverses up to this time (1664) were yet a terror to other tribes. Both their terrible name and reputation of yore and their exquisite cruelty to their cap- tives helped them to continue to be dreaded.
1664 -Maryland Again Co-Operates with the Susquehannocks.
In Vol. 1, Maryland Archives, p. 511, we find, "The Upper House show- eth to the Lieutenant General that Francis White is by ye order of ye House gone on special service for the province to the Susquehannock Fort, that your honors may hear the more true and certain intelligence of the enemies, whereon upon considera-
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tion had of the results of the defense of the Province against the incursion of the Indians, it is ordered that the original articles of treaty with the Susquehannocks be brought into the House and considered tomorrow." From this we see that not only the Susquehannocks but also the whites were in immediate fear of the incur- sion of the Five Nations into Mary- land and southern Pennsylvania. The Susquehannocks were considered the barrier between the whites and the savages from the north. In spite of all, a few years later the hordes of the north did come down and force the Susquehannocks into Maryland even to the Potomac; and Penn found when he came that the Susquehan- nocks were tenants only, and that he had to deal for land with the Five nations of New York who by that time owned all the Susquehanna country. Evans and Ellis in their history of Lancaster county, p. 12, tell of the movements which made it necessary for Maryland to act as above as follows: "In 1664 the Sen- ecas again came to Chesapeake and killed several settlers and some Sus- quehannocks whom
they caught hunting. There were 100 warriors in this raid. In June of the same year the Marylanders declared war against the Senecas and put Colonel Lewis Stockett in command.
1664. In September of this year the Assembly of Maryland took into con- sideration the Articles of Peace with the Susquehannock Indians of July 5, 1652, and also the Articles of May 24, 1661, and both were ordered to be communicated to the other branch- es of the government for renewal, etc." Vol. 1, Maryland Archives, p. 522.
1664 -- Maryland Makes a New Treaty of Peace with the Susquehannoeks and Formally Declares War with the Senecas of the Five Nations.
"Act to perpetuate certain articles made with the Susquehannocks-To the end that peace and amity with the Susquehannock Indians according to certain articles made with that nation may be kept and continued-be it enacted by his Lordship proprietor and the assent of the General Assem- bly, that the Governor and the Coun- cil of the province have full power to lay a tax not exceeding 6,000 pounds of tobacco per month to be employed for hyring (hiring) such and so many volunteers as can be got upon any emerging occasion as the Governor and Council should think fit toward the ayding (aiding) and assisting the Susquehannock In- dians when desired by them, for con- tinuing the said articles and preserv- ing peace and amity with them afore- said. And further that 6,000 pounds per month of tobacco shall be levied or raysed when the volunteers be up- on the service.
And further be it enacted by the au- thority aforesaid that the Lieutenant Governor of the province be empow- ered by virtue of this Act to purchase so many good fixed muskets, ammu- nition, swords and belts for the use of the public as soon as he can pro- cure them, for which he shall be al- lowed this present year out of the general levy by public assessment 4,000 pounds of tobacco and caske.
And further be it enacted by the authority aforesaid that in the inter- im-that is to say till the swords and muskets be purchased and bought, if necessity require - the Lieutenant General shall have power to press so many muskets and swords as shall be necessary in any part of the prov- ince for the intents, uses and pur- poses of Act; and that those musk- ets, swords and belts first mentioned be kept as part of the magazine of this province. This Act to continue
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for three years or to the end of the next General Assembly." See Mary- land Archives, Vol. 1, p. 539.
1664-Maryland Again Stands by the Susquehannocks Against the Senecas.
About the same time Maryland passed the following Act: "At a council held June 27th, 1664, the Council taking into consideration the protection of the province against the Senecas who lately killed some Eng- lish in Ann Arundel county and en- tered St. Mary's and ordered war there. Now war is to be proclaimed against the Senecas and a reward of a hundred arm's length of Roan Oke to be given to any one who kills a Seneca. That all the Kings of Friend Indians be sent word and all to get ready to go against the Senecas-that all officers are to send intelligence from time to time to the Governor and Council that they keep in corres- pondence; and whereas there is a Seneca prisoner in Patapsco who al- lges he came to seek peace and brought a present intended for us and the Susquehannocks-It is or- dered that the Indian be sent down to St. Mary's and kept in irons and a letter be written to Stuyvesant to give notice to the Senecas trading at Fort Orange that we have such a prisoner, whom we shall keep alive till we see if they want peace or war and if they do not desire peace we will put him to death; and that Col Clawson gave notice to the Susque- hannocks of our intentions and to ask them if they will join us or not." Vol. 3, Maryland Archives, p. 502. Stuyvesant was Governor of New York at this time.
1664-Oneidas Co-Operate with Senecas.
the
Maryland Archives, Vol. 3, p. 501, says: "It was claimed sixty Oneidas were come for war on the north side
of the Potomac to kill the English and Indians. There were 100 more gone to the head of Chesapeake bay to kill the English and Susquehan- nocks, and so they tortured two of those Susquehannocks."
1666-Susquehannocks Kill Iroquois and Carry Grief to Their Nation.
The tears and grief caused by Sus- quehannock prowess is told in Vol. 51, Jesuit Relations, p. 243, to this pur- port. Presents were given by the ambassador from the Iroquois of On- nontae, accompanied by the following speech: "I boast of having ransomed twenty-six captives for the French from those who would have burned them. But you have done more for us. I hope in the clemency of the French. I hope also to wipe from your faces the tears that Father Gar- ner told us had been shed by you in consequence of the death of our people who were killed by the An- daste (Susquhannocks)."
To understand this speech you must remember that the Five Nations (called by that name sometimes, and sometimes called the Iroquois, be- cause the Iroquois were the strongest of the five constituent nations) were composed of five different tribes or nations of which the great head was the Iroquois tribe proper, and the great chief of the Iroquois was the Emperor of the whole and from him the ambassador who made the above speech came to console the subordi- nate tribes who had suffered loss of men from the ravages of the Susque- hannocks in the great war. DePon- ceau in his translation of Campan- ius gives this interesting statement of the rise of the two leading forces of the Susquehannock-Iroquois War, that is, the Iroquois and the Susque- hannocks-"The Iroquois, at first in- ferior to the Algonquins, were driven out of the valley of the St. Lawrence
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into the lake region of New York, where by greater cultivation, valor and union they became superior to the Algonquins of Canada and New York as the Susquehannocks did over the tribes in New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia." See DePenceau's Camp., p. 158.
1666-Susquehannocks Presented to the King of France.
In Vol. 51, Jesuit Relations, p. 173, one of the Jesuit Fathers writes: "Monsieur De Salieres, colonel of a French regiment, who after growing gray in the armies of France, where he made himself very well known, came' over here to take part in the glory of subjecting the Iroquois. Of those savages he has taken with him five of each different tribe and even from that of the Andastae (Susque- hannocks) to present them to the King."
George Alsop's Account of the Sus- quehannocks, about 1666.
Scharf, in Vol. 1, p. 86, of his His- tory of Maryland, quotes Alsop as saying: "Those Indians that I have conversed with, here in this province of Maryland and Pennsylvania, are called Susquehannocks being a people looked upon by the Christian inhabi- tants as the most noble and heroic nation of Indians that dwell upon the continent of America; also are so al- lowed and looked upon by the rest of the Indians, by a submissive and tributary acknowledgment; being a people cast into a mold of a most large and warlike deportment, the men being for the most part seven feet in latitude and in magnitude and bulk suitable to so high a pitch-their voyce large and hollow as ascending out of a cave-their gait and behavior straight, stately and majestic, tread- ing on the earth with as much pride, contempt and disdain to so sordid a center as can be imagined from
centure drawn from the same mould of earth.
These Susquehannock Indians are for the most part great warriors and seldom sleep one summer in the quiet arms of a peaceable rest, but will keep, by their present power, as well as by their former conquests, the several nations of Indians around them in a peaceable obedience and subjection.
"When they desire to go on a de- sign that will and does require con- sideration some six of them get into a corner and sit in Juncto; and if thought fit, their business is made popular and immediately put into ac- tion; if not, they make a full stop to it and are silently reserved.
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