USA > Wyoming > A sketch of the history of Wyoming > Part 2
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The Shawanese appeared to be alarmed on the arrival of the strangers who pitched their tents on the banks of the River a little below the Town, and a Council of the Chiefs having assembled, the declared purpose of Zinzendorf was deliberately considered. To these unlettered children of the wilderness it appeared altogether improbable that a stranger should brave the dangers of a boisterous ocean three thousand miles broad, for the sole pur- pose of instructing them in the means of obtaining happiness after death, and that too without requi- ring any compensation for his trouble and expense ; and as they had observed the anxiety of the white people to purchase lands of the Indians, they nat-
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urally concluded that the real object of Zinzen- dorf was either to procure from them the lands at Wyoming for his own uses, to search for hidden treasures, or to examine the country with a view to future conquest. It was accordingly resolved to assassinate him, and to do it privately lest the knowledge of the transaction should produce a war with the English who were settling the coun- try below the mountains.
Zinzendorf was alone in his tent, seated upon a bundle of dry weeds which composed his bed, and engaged in writing, when the assassins approached to execute their bloody commission. It was night, and the cool air of September had rendered a small fire necessary to his comfort and convenience. A curtain formed of a blanket and hung upon pins was the only guard to the entrance of his tent. The heat of his small fire had aroused a large Rat- tle-snake which lay in the weeds not far from it ; and the reptile to enjoy it more effectually crawled slowly into the tent and passed over one of his legs undiscovered. Without, all was still and quiet except the gentle murmur of the river at the rapids about a mile below. At this moment the Indians softly approached the door of his tent, and slightly removing the curtain, contemplated the venerable man too deeply engaged in the subject of his thoughts to notice either their approach, or the snake which lay extended before him. At a sight like this even the heart of the savage shrunk from the idea of committing so horrid an act, and. quitting the spot they hastily returned to the Town.
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and informed their companions that the Great Spir- ¿ protected the white man, for they had found him with no door but a blanket, and had seen a large Rattle-snake crawl over his legs without at- tempting to injure him .* This circumstance, to- gether with the arrival soon afterwards of Con- rod Weiser, procured Zinzendorf the friendship and confidence of the Indians, and probably con- tributed essentially towards inducing many of them at a subsequent period to embrace the Chris- tian Religion. The Count having spent twenty days at Wyoming, returned to Bethlehem, a Town then building by his christian brethren on the north bank of the Lehigh about eleven miles from its junction with the Delaware.
The English settlements were about this time rapidly increasing in the Colony of Maryland, and difficulties arising with the Indians in that quarter, a great number of the tribe called the Nanticokes, who inhabited the eastern shore of the Chesapeak Bay, removed to Wyoming in May 1748 with their chief Sachem called White .- Finding the pricipal part of the Valley in possess- ion of the Shawanese and Delawares, the Nanti- cokes built their 'Town at the lower end of the Val-
*This circumstance is not published in the Count's memoirs, lest, as he states, the brethren should think the conversion of a part of the Shaw- anese was attributable to their superstition. The author received the narrative from a companion of Zinzendorf who afterwards, accompanied him to Wyoming.
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Fey on the east bank of the river just above the mouth of a small creek still called " Nanticoke Creek." About this time Colonel Cornwallis, who had been appointed Governor of Nova Scotia, arrived in that Colony and laid the foundation of the Town of Halifax .* While the French, whose settlements had become extensive in North Amer- ica, began to manifest great alarm at the encreas- ing power of the British Colonies, and with a view to check their growth and to provide for events in case of hostilities, they endeavored to engage in their interest the different Indian tribes that were scattered along the waters of the great Lakes .- The powerful influence possessed by the Six Na- tions over the other aborigines, and their contigu- ity to the French Colonies, rendered an alliance with them particularly desirable on the part of the French, and a good understanding was according- ly effected by means which seldom fail of success, A war it is true had not actually broken out be- tween the English and French, but circumstances gave such strong indications of an approaching rup- ture, that the colonies of the respective nations be- gan to apprehend such an 'event, and the Indians who were in the French interest attempted also to bring over to their views those tribes which still re- mained friendly to the English, or to provoke hos- tilities between them. The Shawanese upon the Ohio were among the first to form an alliance with the French, and as that portion of their tribe which
*Smollet-
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had removed to Wyoming still retained their lia- tred to the English, a formal proposition was made to them to leave Wyoming and rejoin their breth- ren on the Ohio. To this proposition one difficulty offered itself : a portion of the Shawanese had em- braced the Christian religion, and being attached to the Moravian Church, were determined to remain on the Susquehanna. An event however soon transpired which caused the removal of the Shawa- nese, and however trifling in its origin, produced an effect more powerful than the wishes of their Ohio brethren and the threats of the Six Nations. Disturbances had occasionally arisen between the Shawanese and the Delawares at Wyoming, and their mutual animosity had become so great as to break out into hostilities upon the least provoca- tion. While the warriors of the Delawares were engaged upon the mountains in a hunting expedi- tion, a number of Squaws, or female Indians, from Maughwauwame, were gathering wild fruits along the margin of the river below the Town, where they found a number of Shawanese Squaws and their children who had crossed the river in their canoes upon the same business. A child belonging to the Shawanese having taken a large Grasshopper, a quarrel arose among the children for the possession of it in which their mothers soon took a part, and as the Delaware Squaws contended that the Shaw- anese had no privileges upon that side of the river the quarrel soon became general, but the Delawares being the most numerous, soon drove the Shaw- anese to their canoes, and to their own bank ; a few
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having been killed on both sides. Upon the return of the warriors both tribes prepared for battle to revenge the wrongs which they considered their wives had sustained.
The Shawanese upon crossing the river found the Delawares ready to receive them and oppose their landing. A dreadful conflict took place be- tween the Shawanese in their canoes and the Dela- wares on the bank. Atlength after great numbers had been killed, the Shawanese effected a landing and a battle took place about a mile below Maugh- wauwame, in which many hundred warriors are said to have been killed on both sides ; but the Shawanese were so much weakened in landing that they were not able to sustain the conflict, and af- ter the loss of about half their tribe the remainder were forced to flee to their own side of the river : shortly after which, they abandoned their Town and removed to the Ohio. The Delawares were now masters of Wyoming Valley, and the fame of their triumph which was supposed to have driven the Shawanese to the West, tended very much to increase their numbers by calling to their settle- ment many of those unfriendly Indians near the Delaware who remained on good terms with their Christian neighbors.
As the conduct of the French and Indians as- sumed a more hostile appearance, the Government of Pennsylvania established a Fort* on the eastern
*This Fort is said to have been built by Dr. Franklin in person.
C
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bank of the Lehigh River above the blue mountains, which received the name of Fort Allen, in honor of a gentleman then forming a settlement below the mountain on the bank of the same river. Opposite to this fort, and a small distance up the Mahoning Creek which falls into the Lehigh at this place, the United Brethren from Bethlehem about the same time built a Town, which they called " Gnaddenhutten," (huts of mercy,) and which was principally intended for the protection and res- idence of the Indians who had become members of their Society. These Indians were a part of the Delawares, and a constant intercourse was kept up between Gnaddenhutten and Wyoming, by means of a warriors' path which led across the mountains. The hostile Indians from the north were occasion- ally discovered in parties lurking about the settle- ments of the Christian Indians, and some treach- erous person having murdered TADAME, the Chief of the Delawares at Wyoming, a General Council was assembled and TADEUSCUND, sometimes call- ed Tedyuscung, a chieftain residing at Gnadden- hutten, was proclaimed Chief Sachem, who soon af- ter removed to Wyoming, at that time the princi- pal settlement of the Delawares. Not long after this event a body of hostile Indians among whom were supposed to be many whites disguised as In- dians, surprised the Garrison of Fort Allen while incautiously skating upon the ice of the Lehigh at the mouth of Mahoning Creek, and having mur- dered most of them, the Fort and the Town of Gnaddenhutten fell a prey to the victors. The
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Town was attacked in the night and set on fire ; many of the inhabitants perished in the flames, while others were carried away captives. Those who escaped fled to Wyoming.
Such was the posture of affairs in 1754 when all hopes of a reconciliation between the Courts of Ver- sailles and St. James being at an end, M. de Con- traceur, Commander of the French forces in the West, arrived at the Forks of the Monongahela with a thousand men and eighteen pieces of cannon, in three hundred canoes from Venango, (a Fort which the French had built upon the bank of the Ohio,) and took by surprise a British Fort which the Virginians had built at that place .*
Orders were now received from England by the Governors of the several Colonies, directing them to form a political confederacy for their mutual de- fence, and to repel force by force .; It was also enjoined upon them to conciliate as much as possi- ble the Indians, and particularly the Six Nations, being directed " At so critical a juncture to put the latter upon their guard against any attempts which might be made to withdraw them from his Majesty's interests." A General Congress was ac- cordingly appointed to be held at Albany, to which place the Indian tribes were invited, and where Commissioners attended from the British settle- ments. At this Congress a number of Indian tribes assembled, and having entered into new engage- ments to cultivate peace and friendship with the
*Smollet. ¿Smollet ..
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English, made several very extensive sales of lands to the agents of the different Governments.
The Nanticokes, who still remained at Wyo- ming, and who retained too much animosity against the English to form an alliance with them, removed from the Valley during the year 1755 and began a settlement at Chemunk further up the river. A part of them also migrated to Chenenk where they were under the more immediate protection of the Six Nations.
Hostilities having now actually commenced along the whole frontier of the British Colonies; a party of Indians from the Six Nations fell upon the set- tlement at Shamokin,* murdered fourteen whites and made some prisoners, and having plundered a few farms returned to their own territories. Du- ring the same season the Nanticokes, who, having established themselves at Chenenk and being un- willing that the bones of their brethren remaining in Maryland should be exposed to the operations of English agriculture, sent a deputation from their tribe who removed them from the place of their de- posit, and conveyed them to Chenenk where they were interred with all the rites and ceremonies of savage sepulture. The French continued their un- remitted exertions to detach the Delawares from the interests of the English, and to strengthen their works on the northern and western frontiers, and built a fort which they called Du Quesne, at
*A settlement at the confluence of the W. & E: branches of the Susquehanna.
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the forks of the Ohio. Gen. Braddock was sent with an armed force consisting of British Regulars and American Militia to drive them from that quarter and to occupy the station ; but not having taken the necessary precautions, on his march against an ambuscade he was attacked on the banks of the Monongahela in the month of July about ten miles from the fort, and defeated with the loss of his own life and about seven hundred men .* This success added to that of M. de Contraceur produ- ced such calamitous effects upon the English cause, and added so much lustre to the French arms, that many of the Indian tribes, including the Delawares who had hitherto remained faithful to the British Colonies, now revolted and joined their brethren in the service of the French. In alluding to the means which had been used to produce this effect, Governor Morris of Pennsylvania, in his address to the Assembly in November, said " That the French had gained to their interest the Dela- ware and Shawanese Indians under the ensnaring pretence of restoring to them their country."}
F
The evil effects resulting from the hostility of the Indian tribes began to be severely felt by the British Government, and the Proprietaries of Penn- sylvania were requested to define explicitly their purchases of the Indians, and to obtain if possible a renewal of their friendship with the Colonies .- Instructions to this effect were accordingly des-
** Smollet.
iSee votes of Assembly, Vol. 4
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patched to the Governor, and messengers were sent to invite the Indians to a General Conference at Easton,* which was held in July ; but as the at- tendance on the part of the Indians was not gener- al, and many subjects of difference arising, the Conference was dissolved, and the subjects under consideration referred to a General Council to be Held at the same place in the autumn. Accord- ingly on the eighth day of November 1756, the different Indian tribes, represented by their Chiefs and principal Warriors, met Governor. Dennie at Easton where the Council was opened in the fol- lowing order. " At three o'clock the Governor marched from his lodgings to the place of Confer- ence guarded by a party of the royal Americans in front and on the flanks-and a detachment of Col. Weiser's Provincials in sub-divisions in the rear, with colours flying, drums beating, and music play- ing ; which order was always observed in going to the place of Conference. "}
Tedeuscund, who had been accompanied from Wyoming by most of his principal Warriors, per- formed the part of chief speaker on this occasion for all the tribes present, as he had done at the preceding conferences. He is represented to have supported the rights and claims of the Indians in a
*A Town which had been recently built at the confluence of the Lehigh and Delaware Rivers.
;Minutes of Conference on file.
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dignified and spirited manner .* Tadeuscund, in his talk before the Council, said in substance as follows :- " There are many reasons why the In- dians have ceased to be the friends of the English. They had never been satisfied with the conduct of the English after the treaty of 1737, when their Fa- thers, Tishekunk and Nutimus, sold them the lands upon the Delaware: that although the rights of the purchase were to extend ". as far as a man can go in a day and a half" from Neshamony Creek, yet the man who was appointed to go over the ground, did not walk, but ran, and it was also expected he would go along the bank of the river, which he did not, but went in a straight line ; and because they had been unwilling to give up the land to the Eng- lish as far as the walk extended, the Governor who then had the command in Pennsylvania, sent for their cousins the Six Nations, who had always been hard masters to them, to come down and drive them from the land .- That when the Six Nations did come down, they met them at a great treaty held at the Governor's house in Philadelphia in 1742 with the view of explaining why they did not give up the land, but the English made so many presents to the Six Nations, that they would hear
*Major Parsons, who acted as Secretary to. the Conference, describes Tadeuscund as " a lusty raw-boned man, haughty and very desirous of res- pect and command," and adds, that "he was born some where near Trenton, and is now (1756) fifty years old." See Minutes of Conference on file in Secretary's Office, Harrisburg.
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no explanation from the Delawares ; and the Chief of the Council of the Six Nations (Conassatego,) abused them and called them women. The Six Nations had however, given to them and the Sha- wanese the country upon the Juniatta for a hunt- ing ground, and had so informed the Governor ;- but notwithstanding this the latter permitted the whites to go and settle upon those lands. - That two years before the Governor had been to Albany to buy more of the lands of the Six Nations and had. described their purchase by points of compass, which they did not understand, including not only the Juniatta but also the West Branch of the Susque- hanna, which the Indians did not intend to sell ; and w: en all these things were known they declared they would no longer be friends to the English who were trying to get all their country from them."
He assured the Council that they were glad to meet their old friends, the English, to smoke the pipe of peace with them, and hoped that justice would be done to them for all the injuries which they had received. This Conference continued nine days during which time all matters of differ- ence were considered, and the Shawanese and Del- awares, the two principal tribes, became recon- ciled to the English with whom they concluded a treaty of peace.
The object of the Pennsylvania Government however, was not confined to the pacification merely of the Delawares and Shawanese ; for knowing as the English well did the power and in- fluence of the Six Nations, this was considered only
.
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as a preparatory step towards forming a treaty with them also. To the formation of such a treaty ad- ditional difficulties were now created by some re- cent successes of the French near the Lakes. The Marquis de Montcalm with a body of thirteen hun- dred regular troops, seventeen hundred Canadi- ans, and a large body of Indian auxiliaries, laid siege to Oswego, a Fort built by the British at the mouth of the Onandago River on the shore of Lake Ontario, and the Garrison, consisting of fourteen hundred men, surrendered themselves prisoners of war on the thirteenth of August, their Com- mander, the brave Col. Mercer, having been kill- ed by a Cannon-ball .* No means however were neglected to regain the friendship of the Six Na- tions, and presents having been liberally distribu- ted amongst them, a Grand Council of all the In- dian tribes was held by special invitation at Eas- ton in October 1758. At this treaty there were present Chiefs and Deputies from the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagoes, Cayugas, Senecas, Tusca- roros, Nanticokes, Canoys, Tuteloes, Chugnues, Delawares, Unamies, Minisinks, Mohicons, Wap- pingers and Shawanese, amounting in the whole to about five hundred. The Conferences, on the part of the English were managed by the Governors of Pennsylvania and New Jersey accompanied by Sir William Johnson as Deputy for Indian affairs, four members of the Council of Pennsylvania, Six members of Assembly, two agents for the Province
*Smollet.
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of New Jersey and a great number of Planters and citizens of Philadelphia.
The formalities of the Conference having been settled in a manner nearly similar to those of 1756, the Assembly entered upon the consideration of the great objects which had called them together. The Indians generally were loud in their com- plaints against the English for having made en- croachments upon their lands, and declared that this was the cause which had provoked them to hos- tilities. Tadeuscund, who acted as ambassador for most of the tribes, and who had been princi- pally instrumental in forming the Assembly, ex- plained to the tribes the general object of the meet- ing and the principles upon which he, as their rep- resentative, had made overtures of peace. The Chief of one of the Six Nations on the other hand expressed in strong language his resentment against the British Colonists who had killed and imprison- ed some of his tribe, and he as well as other Chiefs of those Nations took great umbrage at the impor- tance assumed by Tadeuscund whom, as one of the Delawares, they considered in some degree sub. ject to their authority. Tadeuscund however sup- ported the high station which he held, with dignity and firmness, and the different Indian tribes at length became reconciled to each other. The Con- ference having continued eighteen days, and all causes of misunderstanding between the English and the Indians being removed, a general peace was concluded on the twenty sixth day of October, At this treaty the boundaries of the different pur-,
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chases made from the Indians were more particu- larly described, and they received an additional compensation for their lands consisting of knives, hats, caps, looking-glasses, tobacco-boxes, shears, gun-locks, combs, clothes, shoes, stockings, blan- kets and several suits of laced clothes for their Chieftains ; and when the business of the treaty was completed, the stores of rum were opened and distributed to the Indians, who soon exhibited a scene of brutal intoxication. *
Peace with the Indians continued until the Year 1763, when a war again broke out between the English and the Indians about the same time that peace was concluded between the English and French, and notwithstanding the pacification be- tween those nations hostilities between their Colo- nies and the Indian tribes continued until the Year' 1765.
Having thus brought down the Indian History of Wyoming from the earliest accounts to the time of the first settlements commenced by the Whites in the Valley, we shall next take a view of the causes which led to those settlements and the con- troversy which they produced between the Gov- ernments of Pennsylvania and Connecticut .-
*Minutes of Conference .- Smollet.
1146137
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CHAPTER II.
Origin of the English claim to North America- Plymouth Company formed-Their Grant in- cluded Wyoming-Proprietors of Connecticut purchase part of the Plymouth Grant-Connec- ticut Charter obtained-New York first settled by the Dutch-Conquered by the English-Penn- sylvania Charter obtained-Indian Treaty at Albany-Susquehanna Company formed, and Wyoming purchased of the Indians-Attempt to settle Wyoming and Coshutunk-Peace with the Indians-First settlement of Wyoming-Legal opinions concerning the different claims to Wyo- aning-Murder of Tadeuscund-Destruction of the Wyoming Settlements by the Savages-Mi- litia of Pennsylvania sent to the relief of Wy- oming-Christian Indians settle at Wyalusing -Indian Treaty at Fort Stanwix-Wyoming purchased by the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania Settlements resumed at Wyoming, and a sep- crate Colony formed there-Settlements commen- ced at Wyoming under the Proprietaries of Penn- sylvania-Settlers at Wyoming made prisoners by the Pennsylvanians-Settlement re-establish- ed, and Fort Durkee built-Attempt to form an amicable settlement of the controversy-Expedi- tion under Col. Francis-Surrender of Fort Durkee-Wyoming plundered by Ogden's for- ces-Ogden's Block-house taken by the Connec- ticut Settlers-Governor Penn applies to Gener- al Page for assistance-Fort Durkee again taken by the Pennsylvania Troops-Fort Durkee re- captured by Troops under Capt. Stewart.
IN the preceding Chapter, sketches of Histo- ry are given which may be familiar to almost every reader, and which, at the first view, may not ap- pear necessarily connected with the History of
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Wyoming. It has been done that the reader might, by having them presented to view, discov- er the influence and effect which these transactions have had upon the measures and conduct of the different Indian Tribes that successively inhabited Wyoming Valley. In this and the following Chap- ters extracts will be made in a similar manner, that such part of the subject as is connected with the History of other times, and of other States, may be more readily understood.
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