The Conspiracy of Pontiac and the Indian War after the Conquest of Canada

FOOTNOTES:

[1] Many Indian tribes bear names which in their dialect signify men, indicating that the character belongs, par excellence, to them. Sometimes the word was used by itself, and sometimes an adjective was joined with it, as original men, men surpassing all others.

[2] The dread of female infidelity has been assigned, and with probable truth, as the origin of this custom. The sons of a chief’s sister must necessarily be his kindred; though his own reputed son may be, in fact, the offspring of another.

[3] Schoolcraft, Oneota, 172.

The extraordinary figures intended to represent tortoises, deer, snakes, and other animals, which are often seen appended to Indian treaties, are the totems of the chiefs, who employ these devices of their respective clans as their sign manual. The device of his clan is also sometimes tattooed on the body of the warrior.

The word tribe might, perhaps, have been employed with as much propriety as that of clan, to indicate the totemic division; but as the former is constantly employed to represent the local or political divisions of the Indian race, hopeless confusion would arise from using it in a double capacity.

[4] For an ample view of these divisions, see the Synopsis of Mr. Gallatin, Trans. Am. Ant. Soc. II.

[5] It appears from several passages in the writings of Adair, Hawkins, and others, that the totem prevailed among the southern tribes. In a conversation with the late Albert Gallatin, he informed me that he was told by the chiefs of a Choctaw deputation, at Washington, that in their tribe were eight totemic clans, divided into two classes, of four each. It is very remarkable that the same number of clans, and the same division into classes, were to be found among the Five Nations or Iroquois.

[6] A great difficulty in the study of Indian history arises from a redundancy of names employed to designate the same tribe; yet this does not prevent the same name from being often used to designate two or more different tribes. The following are the chief of those which are applied to the Iroquois by different writers, French, English, and German:—

Iroquois, Five, and afterwards Six Nations; Confederates, Hodenosaunee, Aquanuscioni, Aggonnonshioni, Ongwe Honwe, Mengwe, Maquas, Mahaquase, Massawomecs, Palenachendchiesktajeet.

The name of Massawomecs has been applied to several tribes; and that of Mingoes is often restricted to a colony of the Iroquois which established itself near the Ohio.

[7] FranÇois, a well-known Indian belonging to the remnant of the Penobscots living at Old Town, in Maine, told me, in the summer of 1843, that a tradition was current, among his people, of their being attacked in ancient times by the Mohawks, or, as he called them, Mohogs, a tribe of the Iroquois, who destroyed one of their villages, killed the men and women, and roasted the small children on forked sticks, like apples, before the fire. When he began to tell his story, FranÇois was engaged in patching an old canoe, in preparation for a moose hunt; but soon growing warm with his recital, he gave over his work, and at the conclusion exclaimed with great wrath and earnestness, “Mohog all devil!”

[8] The tribute exacted from the Delawares consisted of wampum, or beads of shell, an article of inestimable value with the Indians. “Two old men commonly go about, every year or two, to receive this tribute; and I have often had opportunity to observe what anxiety the poor Indians were under, while these two old men remained in that part of the country where I was. An old Mohawk sachem, in a poor blanket and a dirty shirt, may be seen issuing his orders with as arbitrary an authority as a Roman dictator.”—Colden, Hist. Five Nations, 4.

[9] The following are synonymous names, gathered from various writers:—

Mohawks, Anies, Agniers, Agnierrhonons, Sankhicans, Canungas, Mauguawogs, Ganeagaonoh.

Oneidas, Oneotas, Onoyats, Anoyints, Onneiouts, Oneyyotecaronoh, Onoiochrhonons.

Onondagas, Onnontagues, Onondagaonohs.

Cayugas, Caiyoquos, Goiogoens, Gweugwehonoh.

Senecas, Sinnikes, Chennessies, Genesees, Chenandoanes, Tsonnontouans, Jenontowanos, Nundawaronoh.

[10] “In the year 1745, August Gottlieb Spangenburg, a bishop of the United Brethren, spent several weeks in Onondaga, and frequently attended the great council. The council-house was built of bark. On each side six seats were placed, each containing six persons. No one was admitted besides the members of the council, except a few, who were particularly honored. If one rose to speak, all the rest sat in profound silence, smoking their pipes. The speaker uttered his words in a singing tone, always rising a few notes at the close of each sentence. Whatever was pleasing to the council was confirmed by all with the word Nee, or Yes. And, at the end of each speech, the whole company joined in applauding the speaker by calling Hoho. At noon, two men entered bearing a large kettle filled with meat, upon a pole across their shoulders, which was first presented to the guests. A large wooden ladle, as broad and deep as a common bowl, hung with a hook to the side of the kettle, with which every one might at once help himself to as much as he could eat. When the guests had eaten their fill, they begged the counsellors to do the same. The whole was conducted in a very decent and quiet manner. Indeed, now and then, one or the other would lie flat upon his back to rest himself, and sometimes they would stop, joke, and laugh heartily.”—Loskiel, Hist. Morav. Miss. 138.

[11] The descent of the sachemship in the female line was a custom universally prevalent among the Five Nations, or Iroquois proper. Since, among Indian tribes generally, the right of furnishing a sachem was vested in some particular totemic clan, it results of course that the descent of the sachemship must follow the descent of the totem; that is, if the totemship descend in the female line, the sachemship must do the same. This custom of descent in the female line prevailed not only among the Iroquois proper, but also among the Wyandots, and probably among the Andastes and the Eries, extinct members of the great Iroquois family. Thus, among any of these tribes, when a Wolf warrior married a Hawk squaw, their children were Hawks, and not Wolves. With the Creeks of the south, according to the observations of Hawkins (Georgia Hist. Coll. III. 69), the rule was the same; but among the Algonquins, on the contrary, or at least among the northern branches of this family, the reverse took place, the totemships, and consequently the chieftainships, descending in the male line, after the analogy of civilized nations. For this information concerning the northern Algonquins, I am indebted to Mr. Schoolcraft, whose opportunities of observation among these tribes have surpassed those of any other student of Indian customs and character.

[12] An account of the political institutions of the Iroquois will be found in Mr. Morgan’s series of letters, published in the American Review for 1847. Valuable information may also be obtained from Schoolcraft’s Notes on the Iroquois.

Mr. Morgan is of opinion that these institutions were the result of “a protracted effort of legislation.” An examination of the customs prevailing among other Indian tribes makes it probable that the elements of the Iroquois polity existed among them from an indefinite antiquity; and the legislation of which Mr. Morgan speaks could only involve the arrangement and adjustment of already existing materials.

Since the above chapter was written, Mr. Morgan has published an elaborate and very able work on the institutions of the Iroquois. It forms an invaluable addition to this department of knowledge.

[13] Recorded by Heckewelder, Colden, and Schoolcraft. That the Iroquois had long dwelt on the spot where they were first discovered by the whites, is rendered probable by several circumstances. See Mr. Squier’s work on the Aboriginal Monuments of New York.

[14] This preposterous legend was first briefly related in the pamphlet of Cusick, the Tuscarora, and after him by Mr. Schoolcraft, in his Notes. The curious work of Cusick will again be referred to.

[15] For traditions of the Iroquois see Schoolcraft, Notes, Chap. IX. Cusick, History of the Five Nations, and Clark, Hist. Onondaga, I.

Cusick was an old Tuscarora Indian, who, being disabled by an accident from active occupations, essayed to become the historian of his people, and produced a small pamphlet, written in a language almost unintelligible, and filled with a medley of traditions in which a few grains of truth are inextricably mingled with a tangled mass of absurdities. He relates the monstrous legends of his people with an air of implicit faith, and traces the presiding sachems of the confederacy in regular descent from the first Atotarho downwards. His work, which was printed at the Tuscarora village, near Lewiston, in 1828, is illustrated by several rude engravings representing the Stone Giants, the Flying Heads, and other traditional monsters.

[16] Lafitau, Moeurs des Sauvages Ameriquains, II. 4-10.

Frontenac, in his expedition against the Onondagas, in 1696 (see Official Journal, Doc. Hist. New York, I. 332), found one of their villages built in an oblong form, with four bastions. The wall was formed of three rows of palisades, those of the outer row being forty or fifty feet high. The usual figure of the Iroquois villages was circular or oval, and in this instance the bastions were no doubt the suggestion of some European adviser.

[17] Bartram gives the following account of the great council-house at Onondaga, which he visited in 1743:—

“We alighted at the council-house, where the chiefs were already assembled to receive us, which they did with a grave, cheerful complaisance, according to their custom; they shew’d us where to lay our baggage, and repose ourselves during our stay with them; which was in the two end apartments of this large house. The Indians that came with us were placed over against us. This cabin is about eighty feet long and seventeen broad, the common passage six feet wide, and the apartments on each side five feet, raised a foot above the passage by a long sapling, hewed square, and fitted with joists that go from it to the back of the house; on these joists they lay large pieces of bark, and on extraordinary occasions spread mats made of rushes: this favor we had; on these floors they set or lye down, every one as he will; the apartments are divided from each other by boards or bark, six or seven foot long, from the lower floor to the upper, on which they put their lumber; when they have eaten their homony, as they set in each apartment before the fire, they can put the bowl over head, having not above five foot to reach; they set on the floor sometimes at each end, but mostly at one; they have a shed to put their wood into in the winter, or in the summer to set to converse or play, that has a door to the south; all the sides and roof of the cabin are made of bark, bound fast to poles set in the ground, and bent round on the top, or set aflatt, for the roof, as we set our rafters; over each fireplace they leave a hole to let out the smoke, which, in rainy weather, they cover with a piece of bark, and this they can easily reach with a pole to push it on one side or quite over the hole; after this model are most of their cabins built.”—Bartram, Observations, 40.

[18] “Being at this place the 17 of June, there came fifty prisoners from the south westward. They were of two nations, some whereof have few guns, the other none at all. One nation is about ten days journey from any Christians, and trade onely with one greatt house, nott farr from the sea, and the other trade onely, as they say, with a black people. This day of them was burnt two women, and a man and a child killed with a stone. Att night we heard a great noise as if y^e houses had all fallen butt itt was only y^e inhabitants driving away y^e ghosts of y^e murthered.

‘The 18^th going to Canagorah, that day there were most cruelly burnt four men, four women and one boy. The cruelty lasted aboutt seven hours. When they were almost dead letting them loose to the mercy of y^e boys, and taking the hearts of such as were dead to feast on’—Greenhalgh, Journal, 1677.

[19] For an account of the habits and customs of the Iroquois, the following works, besides those already cited, may be referred to:—

Charlevoix, Letters to the Duchess of LesdiguiÈres; Champlain, Voyages de la Nouv. France; Clark, Hist. Onondaga, I., and several volumes of the Jesuit Relations, especially those of 1656-1657 and 1659-1660.

[20] This is Colden’s translation of the word Ongwehonwe, one of the names of the Iroquois.

[21] La Hontan estimated the Iroquois at from five thousand to seven thousand fighting men; but his means of information were very imperfect, and the same may be said of several other French writers, who have overrated the force of the confederacy. In 1677, the English sent one Greenhalgh to ascertain their numbers. He visited all their towns and villages, and reported their aggregate force at two thousand one hundred and fifty fighting men. The report of Colonel Coursey, agent from Virginia, at about the same period, closely corresponds with this statement. Greenhalgh’s Journal will be found in Chalmers’s Political Annals, and in the Documentary History of New York. Subsequent estimates, up to the period of the Revolution, when their strength had much declined, vary from twelve hundred to two thousand one hundred and twenty. Most of these estimates are given by Clinton, in his Discourse on the Five Nations, and several by Jefferson, in his Notes on Virginia.

[22] Hurons, Wyandots, Yendots, Ouendaets, Quatogies.

The Dionondadies are also designated by the following names: Tionontatez, Petuneux—Nation of Tobacco.

[23] See Sagard, Hurons, 115.

[24] Bancroft, in his chapter on the Indians east of the Mississippi, falls into a mistake when he says that no trade was carried on by any of the tribes. For an account of the traffic between the Hurons and Algonquins, see Mercier, Relation des Hurons, 1637, p. 171.

[25] See “Jesuits in North America.”

[26] According to Lallemant, the population of the Neutral Nation amounted to at least twelve thousand; but the estimate is probably exaggerated.—Relation des Hurons, 1641, p. 50.

[27] The Iroquois traditions on this subject, as related to the writer by a chief of the Cayugas, do not agree with the narratives of the Jesuits. It is not certain that the Eries were of the Iroquois family. There is some reason to believe them Algonquins, and possibly identical with the Shawanoes.

[28] Charlevoix, Nouvelle France, I. 443.

[29] Gallatin places the final subjection of the Lenape at about the year 1750—a printer’s error for 1650.—Synopsis, 48.

[30] Nouvelle France, I. 196.

[31] William Henry Harrison, Discourse on the Aborigines of the Ohio. See Ohio Hist. Trans. Part Second, I. 257.

[32] “Here y^e Indyans were very desirous to see us ride our horses, w^ch wee did: they made great feasts and dancing, and invited us y^t when all y^e maides were together, both wee and our Indyans might choose such as lyked us to ly with.”—Greenhalgh, Journal.

[33] The Lenape, on their part, call the other Algonquin tribes Children, Grandchildren, Nephews, or Younger Brothers; but they confess the superiority of the Wyandots and the Five Nations, by yielding them the title of Uncles. They, in return, call the Lenape Nephews, or more frequently Cousins.

[34] Loskiel, Part I. 130.

[35] The story told by the Lenape themselves, and recorded with the utmost good faith by Loskiel and Heckewelder, that the Five Nations had not conquered them, but, by a cunning artifice, had cheated them into subjection, is wholly unworthy of credit. It is not to be believed that a people so acute and suspicious could be the dupes of so palpable a trick; and it is equally incredible that a high-spirited tribe could be induced, by the most persuasive rhetoric, to assume the name of Women, which in Indian eyes is the last confession of abject abasement.

[36] Heckewelder, Hist. Ind. Nat. 53.

[37] The evidence concerning the movements of the Shawanoes is well summed up by Gallatin, Synopsis, 65. See also Drake, Life of Tecumseh, 10.

[38] Father Rasles, 1723, says that there were eleven. Marest, in 1712, found only three.

[39] Morse, Report, Appendix, 141.

[40] See Tanner, Long, and Henry. A comparison of Tanner with the accounts of the Jesuit Le Jeune will show that Algonquin life in Lower Canada, two hundred years ago, was essentially the same with Algonquin life on the Upper Lakes within the last half century.

[41] For Algonquin legends, see Schoolcraft, in Algic Researches and Oneota. Le Jeune early discovered these legends among the tribes of his mission. Two centuries ago, among the Algonquins of Lower Canada, a tale was related to him, which, in its principal incidents, is identical with the story of the “Boy who set a Snare for the Sun,” recently found by Mr. Schoolcraft among the tribes of the Upper Lakes. Compare Relation, 1637, p. 172, and Oneota, p. 75. The coincidence affords a curious proof of the antiquity and wide diffusion of some of these tales.

The Dacotah, as well as the Algonquins, believe that the thunder is produced by a bird. A beautiful illustration of this idea will be found in Mrs. Eastman’s Legends of the Sioux. An Indian propounded to Le Jeune a doctrine of his own. According to his theory, the thunder is produced by the eructations of a monstrous giant, who had unfortunately swallowed a quantity of snakes; and the latter falling to the earth, caused the appearance of lightning. “VoilÀ une philosophie bien nouvelle!” exclaims the astonished Jesuit.

[42] Le Jeune, Schoolcraft, James, Jarvis, Charlevoix, Sagard, BrÉbeuf, Mercier, Vimont, Lallemant, Lafitau, De Smet, &c.

[43] Raynal. Hist. Indies, VII. 87 (Lond. 1783).

Charlevoix, Voyages, Letter X.

The Swedish traveller Kalm gives an interesting account of manners in Canada, about the middle of the eighteenth century. For the feudal tenure as existing in Canada, see Bouchette, I. Chap. XIV (Lond. 1831), and Garneau, Hist. Canada, Book III. Chap. III.

[44] Charlevoix, Nouv. France, I. 197.

[45] Charlevoix, I. 198.

[46] A. D. 1635. Relation des Hurons, 1636, p. 2.

[47] “Vivre en la Nouvelle France c’est À vray dire vivre dans le sein de Dieu.” Such are the extravagant words of Le Jeune, in his report of the year 1635.

[48] See Jesuit Relations and Lettres Edifiantes; also, Charlevoix, passim; Garneau, Hist. Canada, Book IV. Chap. II.; and Bancroft, Hist. U. S. Chap. XX.

[49] Charlevoix, I. 292.

[50] Ibid. 238-276.

[51] For remarks on the futility of Jesuit missionary efforts, see Halkett, Historical Notes, Chap. IV.

[52] Picquet was a priest of St. Sulpice. For a sketch of his life, see Lett. Edif. XIV.

[53] For an account of Priber, see Adair, 240. I have seen mention of this man in contemporary provincial newspapers, where he is sometimes spoken of as a disguised Jesuit. He took up his residence among the Cherokees about the year 1736, and labored to gain them over to the French interest.

[54] Sparks, Life of La Salle, 21.

[55] Hennepin, New Discovery, 98 (Lond. 1698.)

[56] ProcÈs Verbal, in appendix to Sparks’s La Salle.

[57] Du Pratz, Hist. Louisiana, 5. Charlevoix, II. 259.

[58] Smith, Hist. Canada, I. 208.

[59] Champlain, Voyages, 136 (Paris, 1632) Charlevoix, I, 142.

[60] Vimont, Colden, Charlevoix, passim.

[61] Vimont seems to believe the story—Rel. de la N. F. 1640, 195.

[62] Charlevoix, I. 549.

[63] A. D. 1654-1658.—Doc. Hist. N. Y. I. 47.

[64] Official Papers of the Expedition.—Doc. Hist. N. Y. I. 323.

[65] Doc. Hist. N. Y. I. 446.

[66] La Hontan, Voyages, I. 74. Colden, Memorial on the Fur-Trade.

[67] Doc. Hist. N. Y. I. 444.

[68] Smith, Hist. Canada, I. 214.

[69] PrÉcis des Faits, 89.

[70] Smith, Hist. N. Y. passim.

[71] Rev. Military Operations, Mass. Hist. Coll. 1st Series, VII. 67.

[72] Colden, Hist. Five Nat. 161.

[73] MS. Papers of Cadwallader Colden. MS. Papers of Sir William Johnson.

“We find the Indians, as far back as the very confused manuscript records in my possession, repeatedly upbraiding this province for their negligence, their avarice, and their want of assisting them at a time when it was certainly in their power to destroy the infant colony of Canada, although supported by many nations; and this is likewise confessed by the writings of the managers of these times.”—MS. Letter—Johnson to the Board of Trade, May 24, 1765.

[74] “I apprehend it will clearly appear to you, that the colonies had all along neglected to cultivate a proper understanding with the Indians, and from a mistaken notion have greatly despised them, without considering that it is in their power to lay waste and destroy the frontiers. This opinion arose from our confidence in our scattered numbers, and the parsimony of our people, who, from an error in politics, would not expend five pounds to save twenty.”—MS. Letter—Johnson to the Board of Trade, November 13, 1763.

[75] Adair, Post’s Journals. Croghan’s Journal, MSS. of Sir W. Johnson, etc., etc.

[76] La Hontan, I. 177. Potherie, Hist. Am. Sept. II. 298 (Paris, 1722).

These facts afford no ground for national reflections, when it is recollected that while Iroquois prisoners were tortured in the wilds of Canada, Elizabeth Gaunt was burned to death at Tyburn for yielding to the dictates of compassion, and giving shelter to a political offender.

[77] Le Jeune, Rel. de la N. F. 1636, 193.

[78] “I have exactly followed the Bishop of London’s counsel, by buying, and not taking away, the natives’ land.”—Penn’s Letter to the Ministry, Aug. 14, 1683. See Chalmer’s Polit. Ann. 666.

[79] “If any of the salvages pretend right of inheritance to all or any part of the lands granted in our patent, we pray you endeavor to purchase their tytle, that we may avoid the least scruple of intrusion.”—Instructions to Endicot, 1629. See Hazard, State Papers, I. 263.

“The inhabitants of New England had never, except in the territory of the Pequods, taken possession of a foot of land without first obtaining a title from the Indians.”—Bancroft, Hist. U. S. II. 98.

[80] He paid twice for his lands; once to the Iroquois, who claimed them by right of conquest, and once to their occupants, the Delawares.

[81] 1755-1763. The feelings of the Quakers at this time may be gathered from the following sources: MS. Account of the Rise and Progress of the Friendly Association for gaining and preserving Peace with the Indians by pacific Measures. Address of the Friendly Association to Governor Denny. See Proud, Hist. Pa., appendix. Haz., Pa. Reg. VIII. 273, 293, 323. But a much livelier picture of the prevailing excitement will be found in a series of party pamphlets, published at Philadelphia in the year 1764.

[82] Causes of the Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanoe Indians from the British Interest, 33, 68, (Lond. 1759). This work is a pamphlet written by Charles Thompson, afterwards secretary of Congress, and designed to explain the causes of the rupture which took place at the outbreak of the French war. The text is supported by copious references to treaties and documents. I have seen a copy in the possession of Francis Fisher, Esq., of Philadelphia, containing marginal notes in the handwriting of James Hamilton, who was twice governor of the province under the proprietary instructions. In these notes, though he cavils at several unimportant points of the relation, he suffers the essential matter to pass unchallenged.

[83] Witham Marshe’s Journal.

[84] Onas was the name given by the Indians to William Penn and his successors.

[85] Minutes of Indian council held at Philadelphia, 1742.

[86] Chapman, Hist. Wyoming, 19.

[87] Colonial Records, III. 340.

[88] Letter of Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, Jan. 25, 1720. See Colonial Records of Pa. III. 75.

[89] Minutes of Indian Council, 1746.

[90] Doc. Hist. N. Y. I. 423.

[91] MS. Letter—Colden to Lord Halifax, no date.

[92] Allen, Am. Biog. Dict. and authorities there referred to. Campbell, Annals of Tryon County, appendix. Sabine, Am. Loyalists, 398. Papers relating to Sir W. Johnson. See Doc. Hist. New York, II. MS. Papers of Sir W. Johnson, etc., etc.

[93] Garneau, Book VIII. Chap. III.

[94] Holmes, Annals, II. 183. MÉmoire contenant Le PrÉcis des Faits, PiÈces Justificatives, Part I.

[95] Smollett, III. 370 (Edinburgh, 1805).

[96] Sparks’s Life and Writings of Washington, II. 478. Gist’s Journal.

[97] Olden Time, II. 9, 10. This excellent antiquarian publication contains documents relating to this period which are not to be found elsewhere.

[98] “He invited us to sup with them, and treated us with the greatest complaisance. The wine, as they dosed themselves pretty plentifully with it, soon banished the restraint which at first appeared in their conversation, and gave a license to their tongues to reveal their sentiments more freely. They told me that it was their absolute design to take possession of the Ohio, and by G—d they would do it; for that, although they were sensible the English could raise two men for their one, yet they knew their motions were too slow and dilatory to prevent any undertaking of theirs. They pretend to have an undoubted right to the river from a discovery made by one La Salle, sixty years ago; and the rise of this expedition is, to prevent our settling on the river or waters of it, as they heard of some families moving out in order thereto.”—Washington, Journal.

[99] Sparks, Life and Writings of Washington, II. 6.

[100] Sparks, II. 447. The conduct of Washington in this affair is regarded by French writers as a stain on his memory.

[101] For the French account of these operations, see MÉmoire contenant le PrÉcis des Faits. This volume, an official publication of the French court, contains numerous documents, among which are the papers of the unfortunate Braddock, left on the field of battle by his defeated army.

[102] First Journal of C. F. Post.

[103] Letters of Robert Stobo, an English hostage at Fort du Quesne.

“Shamokin Daniel, who came with me, went over to the fort [du Quesne] by himself, and counselled with the governor, who presented him with a laced coat and hat, a blanket, shirts, ribbons, a new gun, powder, lead, &c. When he returned he was quite changed, and said, ‘See here, you fools, what the French have given me. I was in Philadelphia, and never received a farthing,’ and (directing himself to me) said, ‘The English are fools, and so are you.’”—Post, First Journal.

Washington, while at Fort Le Boeuf, was much annoyed by the conduct of the French, who did their utmost to seduce his Indian escort by bribes and promises.

[104] Trumbull, Hist. Conn. II. 355. Holmes, Annals, II. 201.

[105] At this council an Iroquois sachem upbraided the English, with great boldness, for their neglect of the Indians, their invasion of their lands, and their dilatory conduct with regard to the French, who, as the speaker averred, had behaved like men and warriors.—Minutes of Conferences at Albany, 1754.

[106] Causes of the Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanoe Indians from the British Interest, 77.

[107] Garneau, II. 551. Gent. Mag. XXV. 330.

[108] Smollett, III. 436.

“The French inveighed against the capture of their ships, before any declaration of war, as flagrant acts of piracy; and some neutral powers of Europe seemed to consider them in the same point of view. It was certainly high time to check the insolence of the French by force of arms; and surely this might have been as effectually and expeditiously exerted under the usual sanction of a formal declaration, the omission of which exposed the administration to the censure of our neighbors, and fixed the imputation of fraud and freebooting on the beginning of the war.”—Smollett, III. 481. See also Mahon, Hist. England, IV. 72.

[109] Instructions of General Braddock. See PrÉcis des Faits, 160, 168.

[110] The following is Horace Walpole’s testimony, and writers of better authority have expressed themselves, with less liveliness and piquancy, to the same effect:—

“Braddock is a very Iroquois in disposition. He had a sister, who, having gamed away all her little fortune at Bath, hanged herself with a truly English deliberation, leaving only a note upon the table with those lines, ‘To die is landing on some silent shore,’ &c. When Braddock was told of it, he only said, ‘Poor Fanny! I always thought she would play till she would be forced to tuck herself up.’”

Here follows a curious anecdote of Braddock’s meanness and profligacy, which I omit. The next is more to his credit. “He once had a duel with Colonel Gumley, Lady Bath’s brother, who had been his great friend. As they were going to engage, Gumley, who had good humor and wit (Braddock had the latter), said, ‘Braddock, you are a poor dog! Here, take my purse. If you kill me, you will be forced to run away, and then you will not have a shilling to support you.’ Braddock refused the purse, insisted on the duel, was disarmed, and would not even ask his life. However, with all his brutality, he has lately been governor of Gibraltar, where he made himself adored, and where scarce any governor was endured before.”—Letters to Sir H. Mann, CCLXV. CCLXVI.

Washington’s opinion of Braddock may be gathered from his Writings, II. 77.

[111] MS. Diary of the Expedition, in the British Museum.

[112] Sparks’s Life and Writings of Washington, II. 473. I am indebted to the kindness of President Sparks for copies of several French manuscripts, which throw much light on the incidents of the battle. These manuscripts are alluded to in the Life and Writings of Washington.

[113] Smith’s Narrative. This interesting account has been several times published. It may be found in Drake’s Tragedies of the Wilderness.

[114] “Went to Lorette, an Indian village about eight miles from Quebec. Saw the Indians at mass, and heard them sing psalms tolerably well—a dance. Got well acquainted with Athanase, who was commander of the Indians who defeated General Braddock, in 1755—a very sensible fellow.”—MS. Journal of an English Gentleman on a Tour through Canada, in 1765.

[115] “My feelings were heightened by the warm and glowing narration of that day’s events, by Dr. Walker, who was an eye-witness. He pointed out the ford where the army crossed the Monongahela (below Turtle Creek, 800 yards). A finer sight could not have been beheld,—the shining barrels of the muskets, the excellent order of the men, the cleanliness of their appearance, the joy depicted on every face at being so near Fort du Quesne—the highest object of their wishes. The music re-echoed through the hills. How brilliant the morning—how melancholy the evening!”—Letter of Judge Yeates, dated August, 1776. See Haz., Pa. Reg., VI. 104.

[116] Letter—Captain Orme, his aide-de-camp, to ——, July 18.

[117] Sparks, I. 67.

[118] “The Virginia troops showed a good deal of bravery, and were nearly all killed; for I believe, out of three companies that were there, scarcely thirty men are left alive. Captain Peyrouny, and all his officers, down to a corporal, were killed. Captain Polson had nearly as hard a fate, for only one of his was left. In short, the dastardly behavior of those they call regulars exposed all others, that were inclined to do their duty, to almost certain death; and at last, in despite of all the efforts of the officers to the contrary, they ran, as sheep pursued by dogs, and it was impossible to rally them.”—Writings of Washington, II. 87.

The English themselves bore reluctant testimony to the good conduct of the Virginians.—See Entick, Hist. Late War, 147.

[119] Haliburton, Hist. Nova Scotia, I. Chap. IV.

[120] Holmes, II. 210. Trumbull, Hist. Conn. II. 368. Dwight, Travels, III. 361. Hoyt, Indian Wars, 279. Entick, Hist. Late War, I. 153. Review of Military Operations in North America. Johnson’s Letter to the Provincial Governors. Blodgett’s Prospective View of the Battle near Lake George.

Blodgett’s pamphlet is accompanied by a curious engraving, giving a bird’s eye view of the battle, including the surprise of Williams’ detachment, and the subsequent attack on the camp of Johnson. In the first half of the engraving, the French army is represented lying in ambuscade in the form of a horseshoe. Hendrick is conspicuous among the English, from being mounted on horseback, while all the others are on foot. In the view of the battle at the lake, the English are represented lying flat on their faces, behind their breastwork, and busily firing at the French and Indians, who are seen skulking among the woods and thickets.

I am again indebted to President Sparks for the opportunity of examining several curious manuscripts relating to the battle of Lake George. Among them is Dieskau’s official account of the affair, and a curious paper, also written by the defeated general, and containing the story of his disaster, as related by himself in an imaginary conversation with his old commander, Marshal Saxe, in the Elysian Fields. Several writers have stated that Dieskau died of his wounds. This, however, was not the case. He was carried prisoner to England, where he lived for several years, but returned to France after the peace of 1763.

[121] Holmes, II. 226.

[122] Annual Register, 1759, p. 33.

[123] Mante, Hist. Late War, 238.

[124] “I have this day signified to Mr. Pitt that he may dispose of my slight carcass as he pleases; and that I am ready for any undertaking within the reach and compass of my skill and cunning. I am in a very bad condition, both with the gravel and rheumatism; but I had much rather die than decline any kind of service that offers: if I followed my own taste, it would lead me into Germany; and if my poor talent was consulted, they should place me to the cavalry, because nature has given me good eyes, and a warmth of temper to follow the first impressions. However, it is not our part to choose, but to obey.”—Letter—Wolfe to William Rickson, Salisbury, December 1, 1758.

[125] Knox, Journals, I. 358.

[126] Entick, IV. III.

In his letter to the Ministry, dated Sept. 2, Wolfe writes in these desponding words:—

“By the nature of the river, the most formidable part of this armament is deprived of the power of acting; yet we have almost the whole force of Canada to oppose. In this situation there is such a choice of difficulties, that I own myself at a loss how to determine. The affairs of Great Britain I know require the most vigorous measures, but then the courage of a handful of brave troops should be exerted only when there is some hope of a favorable event. However, you may be assured, that the small part of the campaign which remains shall be employed (as far as I am able) for the honor of his Majesty, and the interest of the nation; in which I am sure of being well seconded by the admiral and by the generals: happy if our efforts here can contribute to the success of his Majesty’s arms in any other part of America.”

[127] “This anecdote was related by the late celebrated John Robison, Professor of Natural Philosophy in the University of Edinburgh, who, in his youth, was a midshipman in the British navy, and was in the same boat with Wolfe. His son, my kinsman, Sir John Robison, communicated it to me, and it has since been recorded in the Transactions of the Royal Society of Edinburgh.

‘The paths of glory lead but to the grave’

is one of the lines which Wolfe must have recited as he strikingly exemplified its application.”—Grahame, Hist. U. S. IV. 50. See also Playfair’s Works, IV. 126.

[128] Smollett, V. 56, note (Edinburgh, 1805). Mante simply mentions that the English were challenged by the sentinels, and escaped discovery by replying in French.

[129] This incident is mentioned in a manuscript journal of the siege of Quebec, by John Johnson, clerk and quartermaster in the 58th regiment. The journal is written with great care, and abounds in curious details.

[130] Knox, Journal, II. 68, note.

[131] Despatch of Admiral Saunders, Sept. 20, 1759.

[132] Despatch of General Townshend, Sept. 20. Gardiner, Memoirs of the Siege of Quebec, 28. Journal of the Siege of Quebec, by a Gentleman in an Eminent Station on the Spot, 40. Letter to a Right Honorable Patriot on the Glorious Success of Quebec. Annual Register for 1759, 40.

[133] Knox, II. 78. Knox derived his information from the person who supported Wolfe in his dying moments.

[134] Knox, II. 77.

[135] Annual Register for 1759, 43.

[136] Gordon, Hist. Penn. 321. Causes of the Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians from the British Interest. MS. Johnson Papers.

[137] The following are extracts from his journals:—

“We set out from Kushkushkee for Sankonk; my company consisted of twenty-five horsemen and fifteen foot. We arrived at Sankonk in the afternoon. The people of the town were much disturbed at my coming, and received me in a very rough manner. They surrounded me with drawn knives in their hands, in such a manner that I could hardly get along; running up against me with their breasts open, as if they wanted some pretence to kill me. I saw by their countenances they sought my death. Their faces were quite distorted with rage, and they went so far as to say, I should not live long; but some Indians, with whom I was formerly acquainted, coming up and saluting me in a friendly manner, their behavior to me was quickly changed.” ... “Some of my party desired me not to stir from the fire, for that the French had offered a great reward for my scalp, and that there were several parties out on that purpose. Accordingly I stuck constantly as close to the fire as if I had been chained there....

“In the afternoon, all the captains gathered together in the middle town; they sent for us, and desired we should give them information of our message. Accordingly we did. We read the message with great satisfaction to them. It was a great pleasure both to them and us. The number of captains and counsellors were sixteen. In the evening, messengers arrived from Fort Duquesne, with a string of wampum from the commander; upon which they all came together in the house where we lodged. The messengers delivered their string, with these words from their father, the French king:—

“‘My children, come to me, and hear what I have to say. The English are coming with an army to destroy both you and me. I therefore desire you immediately, my children, to hasten with all the young men; we will drive the English and destroy them. I, as a father, will tell you always what is best.’ He laid the string before one of the captains. After a little conversation, the captain stood up, and said, ‘I have just heard something of our brethren, the English, which pleaseth me much better. I will not go. Give it to the others; maybe they will go,’ The messenger took up again the string, and said, ‘He won’t go; he has heard of the English.’ Then all cried out, ‘Yes, yes, we have heard from the English.’ He then threw the string to the other fireplace, where the other captains were; but they kicked it from one to another, as if it was a snake. Captain Peter took a stick, and with it flung the string from one end of the room to the other, and said, ‘Give it to the French captain, and let him go with his young men; he boasted much of his fighting; now let us see his fighting. We have often ventured our lives for him; and had hardly a loaf of bread when we came to him; and now he thinks we should jump to serve him.’ Then we saw the French captain mortified to the uttermost; he looked as pale as death. The Indians discoursed and joked till midnight; and the French captain sent messengers at midnight to Fort Duquesne.”

The kicking about of the wampum belt is the usual indication of contempt for the message of which the belt is the token. The uses of wampum will be described hereafter.

[138] Minutes of Council at Easton, 1758.

[139] Account of Conferences between Major-General Sir W. Johnson and the Chief Sachems and Warriors of the Six Nations (Lond. 1756).

[140] MS. Johnson Papers.

[141] The estimates given by Croghan, Bouquet, and Hutchins, do not quite accord with that of Johnson. But the discrepancy is no greater than might have been expected from the difficulties of the case.

[142] Bartram, Observations, 41.

[143] I am indebted to the kindness of Rev. S. K. Lothrop for a copy of the journal of Mr. Kirkland on his missionary tour among the Iroquois in 1765. The journal contains much information respecting their manners and condition at this period.

[144] MS. Journal of Lieutenant Gorell, 1763. Anonymous MS. Journal of a Tour to Niagara in 1765. The following is an extract from the latter:—

“July 2d. Dined with Sir Wm. at Johnson Hall. The office of Superintendent very troublesome. Sir Wm. continually plagued with Indians about him—generally from 300 to 900 in number—spoil his garden, and keep his house always dirty....

“10th. Punted and rowed up the Mohawk River against the stream, which, on account of the rapidity of the current, is very hard work for the poor soldiers. Encamped on the banks of the river, about 9 miles from Harkimer’s.

“The inconveniences attending a married Subaltern strongly appear in this tour. What with the sickness of their wives, the squealing of their children, and the smallness of their pay, I think the gentlemen discover no common share of philosophy in keeping themselves from running mad. Officers and soldiers, with their wives and children, legitimate and illegitimate, make altogether a pretty compound oglio, which does not tend towards showing military matrimony off to any great advantage....

“Monday, 14th. Went on horseback by the side of Wood Creek, 20 miles, to the Royal Blockhouse, a kind of wooden castle, proof against any Indian attacks. It is now abandoned by the troops, and a sutler lives there, who keeps rum, milk, rackoons, etc., which, though none of the most elegant, is comfortable to strangers passing that way. The Blockhouse is situated on the east end of the Oneida Lake, and is surrounded by the Oneida Indians, one of the Six Nations.”

[145] Mitchell, Contest in America. Pouchot, Guerre de l’AmÉrique. Expedition against the Ohio Indians, appendix. Hutchins, Topographical Description of Virginia, etc. Pownall, Topographical Description of North America. Evans, Analysis of a Map of the Middle British Colonies. Beatty, Journal of a Tour in America. Smith, Narrative. M’Cullough, Narrative. Jemmison, Narrative. Post, Journals. Washington, Journals, 1753-1770. Gist, Journal, 1750. Croghan, Journal, 1765, etc., etc.

[146] A striking example of Indian acuteness once came under my observation. Travelling in company with a Canadian named Raymond, and an Ogillallah Indian, we came at nightfall to a small stream called Chugwater, a branch of Laramie Creek. As we prepared to encamp, we observed the ashes of a fire, the footprints of men and horses, and other indications that a party had been upon the spot not many days before. Having secured our horses for the night, Raymond and I sat down and lighted our pipes, my companion, who had spent his whole life in the Indian country, hazarding various conjectures as to the numbers and character of our predecessors. Soon after, we were joined by the Indian, who, meantime, had been prowling about the place. Raymond asked what discovery he had made. He answered, that the party were friendly, and that they consisted of eight men, both whites and Indians, several of whom he named, affirming that he knew them well. To an inquiry how he gained his information, he would make no intelligible reply. On the next day, reaching Fort Laramie, a post of the American Fur Company, we found that he was correct in every particular,—a circumstance the more remarkable, as he had been with us for three weeks, and could have had no other means of knowledge than we ourselves.

[147] MS. Gage Papers.

[148] Sabine, American Loyalists, 576. Sparks, Writings of Washington, III. 208, 244, 439; IV, 128, 520, 524.

Although Rogers, especially where his pecuniary interest was concerned, was far from scrupulous, I have no hesitation in following his account of the expedition up the lakes. The incidents of each day are minuted down in a dry, unambitious style, bearing the clear impress of truth. Extracts from the orderly books and other official papers are given, while portions of the narrative, verified by contemporary documents, may stand as earnests for the truth of the whole.

Rogers’s published works consist of the Journals of his ranging service and his Concise Account of North America, a small volume containing much valuable information. Both appeared in London in 1765. To these may be added a curious drama, called Ponteach, or the Savages of America, which appears to have been written, in part, at least, by him. It is very rare, and besides the copy in my possession, I know of but one other, which may be found in the library of the British Museum. For an account of this curious production, see Appendix, B. An engraved full-length portrait of Rogers was published in London in 1776. He is represented as a tall, strong man, dressed in the costume of a ranger, with a powder-horn slung at his side, a gun resting in the hollow of his arm, and a countenance by no means prepossessing. Behind him, at a little distance, stand his Indian followers.

The steep mountain called Rogers’ Slide, near the northern end of Lake George, derives its name from the tradition that, during the French war, being pursued by a party of Indians, he slid on snowshoes down its precipitous front, for more than a thousand feet, to the frozen lake below. On beholding the achievement, the Indians, as well they might, believed him under the protection of the Great Spirit, and gave over the chase. The story seems unfounded; yet it was not far from this mountain that the rangers fought one of their most desperate winter battles, against a force of many times their number.

[149] Henry, Travels and Adventures, 9.

[150] There can be no reasonable doubt, that the interview with Pontiac, described by Rogers in his Account of North America, took place on the occasion indicated in his Journals, under date of the 7th of November. The Indians whom he afterwards met are stated to have been Hurons.

[151] Rogers, Journals, 214; Account of North America, 240, 243.

[152] MS. Johnson Papers.

[153] Extract from a MS. letter—Sir W. Johnson to Governor Colden, Dec. 24, 1763.

“I shall not take upon me to point out the Originall Parsimony &c. to w^h the first defection of the Indians can with justice & certainty be attributed, but only observe, as I did in a former letter, that the Indians (whose friendship was never cultivated by the English with that attention, expense, & assiduity with w^h y^e French obtained their favour) were for many years jealous of our growing power, were repeatedly assured by the French (who were at y^e pains of having many proper emissaries among them) that so soon as we became masters of this country, we should immediately treat them with neglect, hem them in with Posts & Forts, encroach upon their Lands, and finally destroy them. All w^h after the reduction of Canada, seemed to appear too clearly to the Indians, who thereby lost the great advantages resulting from the possession w^h the French formerly had of Posts & Trade in their Country, neither of which they could have ever enjoyed but for the notice they took of the Indians, & the presents they bestowed so bountifully upon them, w^h however expensive, they wisely foresaw was infinitely cheaper, and much more effectual than the keeping of a large body of Regular Troops, in their several Countrys, ... a Plan which has endeared their memory to most of the Indian Nations, who would I fear generally go over to them in case they ever got footing again in this Country, & who were repeatedly exhorted, & encouraged by the French (from motives of Interest & dislike w^h they will always possess) to fall upon us, by representing that their liberties & Country were in y^e utmost danger.” In January, 1763, Colonel Bouquet, commanding in Pennsylvania, writes to General Amherst, stating the discontent produced among the Indians by the suppression of presents. The commander-in-chief replies, “As to appropriating a particular sum to be laid out yearly to the warriors in presents, &c., that I can by no means agree to; nor can I think it necessary to give them any presents by way of Bribes, for if they do not behave properly they are to be punished.” And again, in February, to the same officer, “As you are thoroughly acquainted with my sentiments regarding the treatment of the Indians in general, you will of course order Cap. Ecuyer ... not to give those who are able to provide for their families any encouragement to loiter away their time in idleness about the Fort.”

[154] Some of the principal causes of the war are exhibited with spirit and truth in the old tragedy of Ponteach, written probably by Major Rogers. The portion of the play referred to is given in Appendix, B.

“The English treat us with much Disrespect, and we have the greatest Reason to believe, by their Behavior, they intend to Cut us off entirely; They have possessed themselves of our Country, it is now in our power to Dispossess them and Recover it, if we will but Embrace the opportunity before they have time to assemble together, and fortify themselves, there is no time to be lost, let us Strike immediately.”—Speech of a Seneca chief to the Wyandots and Ottawas of Detroit, July, 1761.

[155] Minutes of Conference with the Six Nations at Hartford, 1763, MS. Letter—Hamilton to Amherst, May 10, 1761.

[156] “We are now left in Peace, and have nothing to do but to plant our Corn, Hunt the wild Beasts, smoke our Pipes, and mind Religion. But as these Forts, which are built among us, disturb our Peace, & are a great hurt to Religion, because some of our Warriors are foolish, & some of our Brother Soldiers don’t fear God, we therefore desire that these Forts may be pull’d down, & kick’d out of the way.”

At a conference at Philadelphia, in August, 1761, an Iroquois sachem said, “We, your Brethren of the several Nations, are penned up like Hoggs. There are Forts all around us, and therefore we are apprehensive that Death is coming upon us.”

[157] Croghan, Journal. See Hildreth, Pioneer History, 68. Also Butler, Hist. Kentucky, Appendix.

[158] Examination of Gershom Hicks, a spy. See Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 1846.

Many passages from contemporary letters and documents might be cited in support of the above. The following extract from a letter of Lieut. Edward Jenkins, commanding at Fort Ouatanon on the Wabash, to Major Gladwin commanding at Detroit, is a good example. The date is 28 March, 1763. “The Canadians here are eternally telling lies to the Indians.... One La Pointe told the Indians a few days ago that we should all be prisoners in a short time (showing when the corn was about a foot high), that there was a great army to come from the Mississippi, and that they were to have a great number of Indians with them; therefore advised them not to help us. That they would soon take Detroit and these small posts, and then they would take Quebec, Montreal, &c., and go into our country. This, I am informed, they tell them from one end of the year to the other.” He adds that the Indians will rather give six beaver-skins for a blanket to a Frenchman than three to an Englishman.

[159] M’Cullough’s Narrative. See Incidents of Border Life, 98. M’Cullough was a prisoner among the Delawares, at the time of the prophet’s appearance.

[160] MS. Minutes of a Council held by Deputies of the Six Nations, with the Wyandots, Ottawas, Ojibwas, and Pottawattamies, at the Wyandot town, near Detroit, July 3, 1761.

Extract from a MS. Letter—Captain Campbell, commanding at Detroit, to Major Walters, commanding at Niagara.

“Detroit, June 17th. 1761, two o’clock in the morning.

“Sir:

“I had the favor of Yours, with General Amherst’s Dispatches.

“I have sent You an Express with a very Important piece of Intelligence I have had the good fortune to Discover. I have been Lately alarmed with Reports of the bad Designs of the Indian Nations against this place and the English in General; I can now Inform You for certain it Comes from the Six Nations; and that they have Sent Belts of Wampum & Deputys to all the Nations, from Nova Scotia to the Illinois, to take up the hatchet against the English, and have employed the Messagues to send Belts of Wampum to the Northern Nations....

“Their project is as follows: the Six Nations—at least the Senecas—are to Assemble at the head of French Creek, within five and twenty Leagues of Presqu’ Isle, part of the Six Nations, the Delawares and Shanese, are to Assemble on the Ohio, and all at the same time, about the latter End of this Month, to surprise Niagara & Fort Pitt, and Cut off the Communication Every where; I hope this will Come time Enough to put You on Your Guard and to send to Oswego, and all the Posts on that communication, they Expect to be Joined by the Nations that are Come from the North by Toronto.”

[161] Letter, Geo. Croghan to Sir J. Amherst, Fort Pitt, April 30, 1763, MS. Amherst replies characteristically, “Whatever idle notions they may entertain in regard to the cessions made by the French Crown can be of very little consequence.”

Croghan, Sir William Johnson’s deputy, and a man of experience, had for some time been anxious as to the results of the arrogant policy of Amherst. On March 19th he wrote to Colonel Bouquet: “How they (the Indians) may behave I can’t pretend to say, but I do not approve of Gen^l. Amherst’s plan of distressing them too much, as in my opinion they will not consider consequences if too much distrest, tho’ Sir Jeffrey thinks they will.”

Croghan urges the same views, with emphasis, in other letters; but Amherst was deaf to all persuasion.

[162] Drake, Life of Tecumseh, 138.

Several tribes, the Miamis, Sacs, and others, have claimed connection with the great chief; but it is certain that he was, by adoption at least, an Ottawa. Henry Conner, formerly government interpreter for the northern tribes, declared, on the faith of Indian tradition, that he was born among the Ottawas of an Ojibwa mother, a circumstance which proved an advantage to him by increasing his influence over both tribes. An Ojibwa Indian told the writer that some portion of his power was to be ascribed to his being a chief of the Metai, a magical association among the Indians of the lakes, in which character he exerted an influence on the superstition of his followers.

[163] The venerable Pierre Chouteau, of St. Louis, remembered to have seen Pontiac, a few days before his death, attired in the complete uniform of a French officer, which had been given him by the Marquis of Montcalm not long before the battle on the Plains of Abraham.

[164] MS. Letter—M. D’Abbadie to M. Neyon, 1764.

[165] Wampum was an article much in use among many tribes, not only for ornament, but for the graver purposes of councils, treaties, and embassies. In ancient times it consisted of small shells, or fragments of shells, rudely perforated, and strung together; but more recently, it was manufactured by the white men, from the inner portions of certain marine and fresh-water shells. In shape, the grains or beads resembled small pieces of broken pipe-stem, and were of various sizes and colors, black, purple, and white. When used for ornament, they were arranged fancifully in necklaces, collars, and embroidery; but when employed for public purposes, they were disposed in a great variety of patterns and devices, which, to the minds of the Indians, had all the significance of hieroglyphics. An Indian orator, at every clause of his speech, delivered a belt or string of wampum, varying in size, according to the importance of what he had said, and, by its figures and coloring, so arranged as to perpetuate the remembrance of his words. These belts were carefully stored up like written documents, and it was generally the office of some old man to interpret their meaning.

When a wampum belt was sent to summon the tribes to join in war, its color was always red or black, while the prevailing color of a peace-belt was white. Tobacco was sometimes used on such occasions as a substitute for wampum, since in their councils the Indians are in the habit of constantly smoking, and tobacco is therefore taken as the emblem of deliberation. With the tobacco or the belt of wampum, presents are not unfrequently sent to conciliate the good will of the tribe whose alliance is sought. In the summer of the year 1846, when the western bands of the Dahcotah were preparing to go in concert against their enemies the Crows, the chief who was at the head of the design, and of whose village the writer was an inmate, impoverished himself by sending most of his horses as presents to the chiefs of the surrounding villages. On this occasion, tobacco was the token borne by the messengers, as wampum is not in use among the tribes of that region.

[166] MS. Johnson Papers.

[167] MS. Speech of a Miami Chief to Ensign Holmes. MS. Letter—Holmes to Gladwyn, March 16, 1763. Gladwyn to Amherst, March 21, 1763.

Extract from a MS. Letter—Ensign Holmes commanding at Miamis, to Major Gladwyn:—

“Fort Miamis, March 30th, 1763.

“Since my Last Letter to You, wherein I Acquainted You of the Bloody Belt being in this Village, I have made all the search I could about it, and have found it out to be True; Whereon I Assembled all the Chiefs of this Nation, & after a long and troublesome Spell with them, I Obtained the Belt, with a Speech, as You will Receive Enclosed; This Affair is very timely Stopt, and I hope the News of a Peace will put a Stop to any further Troubles with these Indians, who are the Principal Ones of Setting Mischief on Foot. I send you the Belt, with this Packet, which I hope You will Forward to the General.”

[168] Mante, 485.

[169] Pontiac, MS. See Appendix, C.

[170] Pontiac, MS.—M’Dougal, MSS. M’Dougal states that he derived his information from an Indian. The author of the Pontiac MS. probably writes on the authority of Canadians, some of whom were present at the council.

[171] Pontiac, MS.

[172] Carver, Travels, 153. Gent. Mag. XXXIV 408.

[173] Memorial of La Motte Cadillac. See Schoolcraft, Oneota, 407.

[174] A high estimate. Compare Rameau, Colonie du Detroit, 28.

[175] Croghan, Journal. Rogers, Account of North America, 168. Various MS. Journals, Letters, and Plans have also been consulted. The most remarkable of these is the Plan Topographique du Detroit, made by or for General Collot, in 1796. It is accompanied by a drawing in water-colors of the town as it appeared in that year. A fac-simile of this drawing is in my possession. The regular fortification, which, within the recollection of many now living, covered the ground in the rear of the old town of Detroit, was erected at a date subsequent to the period of this history.

[176] Tradition, communicated to H. R. Schoolcraft, Esq., by Henry Conner, formerly Indian interpreter at Detroit.

[177] St. Aubin’s Account, MS. See Appendix, C.

[178] Gouin’s Account, MS.

[179] Letter to the writer from H. R. Schoolcraft, Esq., containing the traditional account from the lips of the interpreter, Henry Conner. See, also, Carver, Travels, 155 (Lond. 1778).

Carver’s account of the conspiracy and the siege is in several points inexact, which throws a shade of doubt on this story. Tradition, however, as related by the interpreter Conner, sustains him; with the addition that Catharine was the mistress of Gladwyn, and a few other points, including a very unromantic end of the heroine, who is said to have perished, by falling, when drunk, into a kettle of boiling maple-sap. This was many years after (see Appendix). Maxwell agrees in the main with Carver. There is another tradition, that the plot was disclosed by an old squaw. A third, current among the Ottawas, and sent to me in 1858 by Mr. Hosmer, of Toledo, declares that a young squaw told the plot to the commanding officer, but that he would not believe her, as she had a bad name, being a “straggler among the private soldiers.” An Indian chief, pursues the same story, afterwards warned the officer. The Pontiac MS. says that Gladwyn was warned by an Ottawa warrior, though a woman was suspected by the Indians of having betrayed the secret. Peltier says that a woman named Catharine was accused of revealing the plot, and severely flogged by Pontiac in consequence. There is another story, that a soldier named Tucker, adopted by the Indians, was warned by his Indian sister. But the most distinct and satisfactory evidence is the following, from a letter written at Detroit on the twelfth of July, 1763, and signed James Macdonald. It is among the Haldimand Papers in the British Museum. There is also an imperfect copy, found among the papers of Colonel John Brodhead, in the library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania: “About six o’clock that afternoon [May 7], six of their warriors returned and brought an old squaw prisoner, alleging that she had given us false information against them. The major declared she had never given us any kind of advice. They then insisted on naming the author of what he had heard with regard to the Indians, which he declined to do, but told them that it was one of themselves, whose name he promised never to reveal; whereupon they went off, and carried the old woman prisoner with them. When they arrived at their camp, Pontiac, their greatest chief, seized on the prisoner, and gave her three strokes with a stick on the head, which laid her flat on the ground, and the whole nation assembled round her, and called repeated times, ‘Kill her! kill her!’”

Thus it is clear that the story told by Carver must be taken with many grains of allowance. The greater part of the evidence given above has been gathered since the first edition of this book was published. It has been thought best to retain the original passage, with the necessary qualifications. The story is not without interest, and those may believe it who will.

[180] Maxwell’s Account, MS. See Appendix, C.

[181] Meloche’s Account, MS.

[182] Penn. Gaz. No. 1808.

[183] This incident was related, by the son of Beaufait, to General Cass. See Cass, Discourse before the Michigan Historical Society, 30.

[184] Carver, Travels, 159 (London, 1778). M’Kenney, Tour to the Lakes, 130. Cass, Discourse, 32. Penn. Gaz. Nos. 1807, 1808. Pontiac MS. M’Dougal, MSS. Gouin’s Account, MS. Meloche’s Account, MS. St. Aubin’s Account, MS.

Extract from a MS. Letter—Major Gladwyn to Sir J. Amherst:

“Detroit, May 14, 1763.

“Sir:

“On the First Instant, Pontiac, the Chief of the Ottawa Nation, came here with about Fifty of his Men (forty, Pontiac MS.), and told me that in a few days, when the rest of his Nation came in, he Intended to Pay me a Formal Visit. The 7th he came, but I was luckily Informed, the Night before, that he was coming with an Intention to Surprize Us; Upon which I took such Precautions that when they Entered the Fort, (tho’ they were, by the best Accounts, about Three Hundred, and Armed with Knives, Tomyhawks, and a great many with Guns cut short, and hid under their Blankets), they were so much surprized to see our Disposition, that they would scarcely sit down to Council: However in about Half an hour, after they saw their Designs were Discovered, they sat Down, and Pontiac made a speech which I Answered calmly, without Intimating my suspicion of their Intentions, and after receiving some Trifling Presents, they went away to their Camp.”

[185] Pontiac MS.

[186] MS. Letter—Gladwyn to Amherst, May 14. Pontiac MS., &c.

[187] St. Aubin’s Account, MS.

[188] Parent’s Account, MS. Meloche’s Account, MS.

[189] Gouin’s Account, MS.

[190] Penn. Gaz. Nos. 1807, 1808.

Extract from an anonymous letter—Detroit, July 9, 1763.

“You have long ago heard of our pleasant Situation, but the Storm is blown over. Was it not very agreeable to hear every Day, of their cutting, carving, boiling and eating our Companions? To see every Day dead Bodies floating down the River, mangled and disfigured? But Britons, you know, never shrink; we always appeared gay, to spite the Rascals. They boiled and eat Sir Robert Davers; and we are informed by Mr. Pauly, who escaped the other Day from one of the Stations surprised at the breaking out of the War, and commanded by himself, that he had seen an Indian have the Skin of Captain Robertson’s Arm for a Tobacco-Pouch!”

[191] Pontiac MS.

[192] Pontiac MS. Penn. Gaz. No. 1808. MS. Letter—Gladwyn to Amherst, May 14, etc.

[193] Gouin’s Account, MS.

[194] When a party returned with prisoners, the whole population of the village turned out to receive them, armed with sticks, clubs, or even deadlier weapons. The captive was ordered to run to a given point, usually some conspicuous lodge, or a post driven into the ground, while his tormentors, ranging themselves in two rows, inflicted on him a merciless flagellation, which only ceased when he had reached the goal. Among the Iroquois, prisoners were led through the whole confederacy, undergoing this martyrdom at every village, and seldom escaping without the loss of a hand, a finger, or an eye. Sometimes the sufferer was made to dance and sing, for the better entertainment of the crowd.

The story of General Stark is well known. Being captured, in his youth, by the Indians, and told to run the gauntlet, he instantly knocked down the nearest warrior, snatched a club from his hands, and wielded it with such good will that no one dared approach him, and he reached the goal scot free, while his more timorous companion was nearly beaten to death.

[195] Meloche’s Account, MS. Penn. Gaz. No. 1808. In a letter of James MacDonald, Detroit, July 12, the circumstances of the detention of the officers are related somewhat differently. Singularly enough, this letter of MacDonald is identical with a report of the events of the siege sent by Major Robert Rogers to Sir William Johnson, on the eighth of August. Rogers, who was not an eye-witness, appears to have borrowed the whole of his brother officer’s letter without acknowledgment.

[196] Extract from a MS. Letter—Sir J. Amherst to Major Gladwyn.

“New York, 22nd June, 1763.

“The Precautions you took when the Perfidious Villains came to Pay you a Visit, were Indeed very wisely Concerted; And I Approve Entirely of the Steps you have since taken for the Defence of the Place, which, I hope, will have Enabled You to keep the Savages at Bay untill the Reinforcement, which Major Wilkins Writes me he had sent you, Arrives with you.

“I most sincerely Grieve for the Unfortunate Fate of Sir Robert Davers, Lieut. Robertson, and the Rest of the Poor People, who have fallen into the Hands of the Merciless Villains. I Trust you did not Know of the Murder of those Gentlemen, when Pontiac came with a Pipe of Peace, for if you had, you certainly would have put him, and Every Indian in your Power, to Death. Such Retaliation is the only Way of Treating such Miscreants.

“I cannot but Approve of your having Permitted Captain Campbell and Lieut. MacDougal to go to the Indians, as you had no other Method to Procure Provisions, by which means you may have been Enabled to Preserve the Garrison; for no Other Inducement should have prevailed on you to Allow those Gentlemen to Entrust themselves with the Savages. I am Nevertheless not without my Fears for them, and were it not that you have two Indians in your Hands, in Lieu of those Gentlemen, I should give them over for Lost.

“I shall Add no more at present; Capt. Dalzell will Inform you of the steps taken for Reinforcing you: and you may be assured—the utmost Expedition will be used for Collecting such a Force as may be Sufficient for bringing Ample Vengeance on the Treacherous and Bloody Villains who have so Perfidiously Attacked their Benefactors.” MacDonald, and after him, Rogers, says that, after the detention of the two officers, Pontiac summoned the fort to surrender, threatening, in case of refusal, to put all within to the torture. The anonymous author of the Diary of the Siege adds that he sent word to Gladwyn that he kept the officers out of kindness, since, if they returned to the fort, he should be obliged to boil them with the rest of the garrison, the kettle being already on the fire.

[197] Pontiac MS.

[198] MS. Letter—James McDonald to ——, Detroit, July 12.

[199] Penn. Gaz. No. 1808.

[200] MS. Letter from an officer at Detroit—no signature—July 31.

Extract from a letter dated Detroit, July 6.

“We have been besieged here two Months, by Six Hundred Indians. We have been upon the Watch Night and Day, from the Commanding Officer to the lowest soldier, from the 8th of May, and have not had our Cloaths off, nor slept all Night since it began; and shall continue so till we have a Reinforcement up. We then hope soon to give a good account of the Savages. Their Camp lies about a Mile and a half from the Fort; and that’s the nearest they choose to come now. For the first two or three Days we were attacked by three or four Hundred of them, but we gave them so warm a Reception that now they don’t care for coming to see us, tho’ they now and then get behind a House or Garden, and fire at us about three or four Hundred yards’ distance. The Day before Yesterday, we killed a Chief and three others, and wounded some more; yesterday went up with our Sloop, and battered their Cabins in such a Manner that they are glad to keep farther off.”

[201] Pontiac MS.

[202] Penn. Gaz. No. 1808.

[203] Extract from a MS. Letter—Major Gladwyn to Sir J. Amherst.

“Detroit, July 8th, 1763.

“Since the Commencement of this Extraordinary Affair, I have been Informed, that many of the Inhabitants of this Place, seconded by some French Traders from Montreal, have made the Indians Believe that a French Army & Fleet were in the River St. Lawrence, and that Another Army would come from the Illinois; And that when I Published the cessation of Arms, they said it was a mere Invention of Mine, purposely Calculated to Keep the Indians Quiet, as We were Affraid of them; but they were not such Fools as to Believe me; Which, with a thousand other Lies, calculated to Stir up Mischief, have Induced the Indians to take up Arms; And I dare say it will Appear ere long, that One Half of the Settlement merit a Gibbet, and the Other Half ought to be Decimated; Nevertheless, there is some Honest Men among them, to whom I am Infinitely Obliged; I mean, Sir, Monsieur Navarre, the two Babys, & my Interpreters, St. Martin & La Bute.”

[204] The annals of these remote and gloomy regions are involved in such obscurity, that it is hard to discover the precise character of the events to which Pontiac here refers. The only allusion to them, which the writer has met with, is the following, inscribed on a tattered scrap of soiled paper, found among the M’Dougal manuscripts:—

“Five miles below the mouth of Wolf River is the Great Death Ground. This took its name from the circumstance, that some years before the Old French War, a great battle was fought between the French troops, assisted by the Menomonies and Ottaways on the one side, and the Sac and Fox Indians on the other. The Sacs and Foxes were nearly all cut off; and this proved the cause of their eventual expulsion from that country.”

The M’Dougal manuscripts, above referred to, belonged to a son of the Lieutenant M’Dougal who was the fellow-prisoner of Major Campbell. On the death of the younger M’Dougal, the papers, which were very voluminous, and contained various notes concerning the Indian war, and the captivity of his father, came into the possession of a family at the town of St. Clair, in Michigan, who permitted such of them as related to the subjects in question to be copied by the writer.

[205] Peltier’s Account, MS.

[206] Gouin’s Account, MS.

[207] Tradition related by M. Baby. The following is from the Diary of the Siege: “Mr. St. Martin said ... that one Sibbold that came here last winter with his Wife from the Illinois had told at Mr. Cuellierry’s (Quilleriez) that they might expect a French Army in this Spring, and that Report took rise from him. That the Day Capt. Campbell & Lt. McDougal was detained by the Indians, Mr. Cuellierry accepted of their Offer of being made Commandant, if this Place was taken, to which he spoke to Mr. Cuellierry about and ask’d him if he knew what he was doing, to which Mr. Cuellierry told him, I am almost distracted, they are like so many Dogs about me, to which Mr. St. Martin made him no Answer.”

[208] Rogers, Account of North America, 244. The anonymous Diary of the Siege says that they bore the figure of a “coon.”

[209] MS. Letter—Gage to Lord Halifax, April 16, 1764.

Extract from a MS. Letter—William Smith, Jr., to ——.

“New York, 22d Nov. 1763.

“’Tis an old saying that the Devil is easier raised than laid. Sir Jeffrey has found it so, with these Indian Demons. They have cut his little Army to Pieces, & almost if not entirely obstructed the Communication to the Detroite, where the Enemy are grown very numerous; and from whence I fancy you’ll soon hear, if any survive to relate them, very tragical Accounts. The Besiegers are led on by an enterprising Fellow called Pondiac. He is a Genius, for he possesses great Bravery, Art, & Oratory, & has had the Address to get himself not only at the Head of his Conquerors, but elected Generalissimo of all the confederate Forces now acting against us—Perhaps he may deserve to be called the Mithridates of the West.”

[210] Rogers, North America, 240.

[211] Gouin’s Account, MS.

[212] Rogers, North America, 244.

[213] Tradition related by M. FranÇois Baby.

[214] Tradition related by M. FranÇois Baby, of Windsor, U. C., the son of Pontiac’s friend, who lives opposite Detroit, upon nearly the same site formerly occupied by his father’s house. Though Pontiac at this time assumed the attitude of a protector of the Canadians, he had previously, according to the anonymous Diary of the Siege, bullied them exceedingly, compelling them to plough land for him, and do other work. Once he forced them to carry him in a sedan chair from house to house, to look for provisions.

[215] Penn. Gaz. No. 1807. MS. Letter—Wilkins to Amherst, June 18.

This incident may have suggested the story told by Mrs. Grant, in her Memoirs of an American Lady. A young British officer, of noble birth, had been living for some time among the Indians, and having encountered many strange adventures, he was now returning in a canoe with a party of his late associates,—none of them, it appears, were aware that hostilities existed,—and approached the schooner just before the attack commenced, expecting a friendly reception. Sir Robert D——, the young officer, was in Indian costume, and, wishing to surprise his friends, he made no answer when hailed from the vessel, whereupon he was instantly fired at and killed.—The story is without confirmation, in any contemporary document, and, indeed, is impossible in itself. Sir Robert Davers was killed, as before mentioned, near Lake St. Clair; but neither in his character, nor in the mode of his death, did he at all resemble the romantic adventurer whose fate is commemorated by Mrs. Grant.

[216] Pontiac MS.

[217] Pontiac MS.

[218] Another witness, Gouin, affirms that the Indian freed himself from the dying grasp of the soldier, and swam ashore.

[219] Penn. Gaz. No. 1807. St. Aubin’s Account, MS. Peltier’s Account, MS.

[220] “Being abandoned by my men, I was Forced to Retreat in the best manner I could. I was left with 6 men on the Beech, Endeavoring to get off a Boat, which not being able to Effect, was Obliged to Run up to my Neck, in the Lake, to get to a Boat that had pushed off, without my Knowledge.—When I was in the Lake I saw Five Boats manned, and the Indians having manned two Boats, pursued and Brought back Three of the Five, keeping a continual Fire from off the Shore, and from the two Boats that followed us, about a Mile on the Lake; the Wind springing up fair, I and the other Remaining Boat Hoisted sail and escaped.”—Cuyler’s Report, MS.

[221] Cuyler’s Report, MS.

Extract from a MS. Letter—Major Wilkins to Sir J. Amherst.

“Niagara, 6th June, 1763.

“Just as I was sending off my Letter of Yesterday, Lieutenant Cuyler, of the Queen’s Rangers, Arrived from his Intended Voyage to the Detroit. He has been very Unfortunate, Having been Defeated by Indians within 30 miles of the Detroit River; I observed that he was Wounded and Weak, and Desired him to take the Surgeon’s Assistance and some Rest, and Recollect the Particulars of the Affair, and let me have them in Writing, as perhaps I should find it Necessary to Transmit them to Your Excellency, which I have now Done.

“It is probable Your Excellency will have heard of what has Happened by way of Fort Pitt, as Ensign Christie, Commanding at Presqu’ Isle, writes me he has sent an Express to Acquaint the Commanding Officer at that Place, of Sanduskie’s being Destroyed, and of Lieut. Cuyler’s Defeat.

“Some Indians of the Six Nations are now with me. They seem very Civil; The Interpreter has just told them I was writing to Your Excellency for Rum, and they are very glad.”

[222] “The Indians, fearing that the other barges might escape as the first had done, changed their plan of going to the camp. They landed their prisoners, tied them, and conducted them by land to the Ottawas village, and then crossed them to Pondiac’s camp, where they were all butchered. As soon as the canoes reached the shore, the barbarians landed their prisoners, one after the other, on the beach. They made them strip themselves, and then sent arrows into different parts of their bodies. These unfortunate men wished sometimes to throw themselves on the ground to avoid the arrows; but they were beaten with sticks and forced to stand up until they fell dead; after which those who had not fired fell upon their bodies, cut them in pieces, cooked, and ate them. On others they exercised different modes of torment by cutting their flesh with flints, and piercing them with lances. They would then cut their feet and hands off, and leave them weltering in their blood till they were dead. Others were fastened to stakes, and children employed in burning them with a slow fire. No kind of torment was left untried by these Indians. Some of the bodies were left on shore; others were thrown into the river. Even the women assisted their husbands in torturing their victims. They slitted them with their knives, and mangled them in various ways. There were, however, a few whose lives were saved, being adopted to serve as slaves.”—Pontiac MS.

“The remaining barges proceeded up the river, and crossed to the house of Mr. Meloche, where Pontiac and his Ottawas were encamped. The barges were landed, and, the women having arranged themselves in two rows, with clubs and sticks, the prisoners were taken out, one by one, and told to run the gauntlet to Pontiac’s lodge. Of sixty-six persons who were brought to the shore, sixty-four ran the gauntlet, and were all killed. One of the remaining two, who had had his thigh broken in the firing from the shore, and who was tied to his seat and compelled to row, had become by this time so much exhausted that he could not help himself. He was thrown out of the boat and killed with clubs. The other, when directed to run for the lodge, suddenly fell upon his knees in the water, and having dipped his hand in the water, he made the sign of the cross on his forehead and breast, and darted out in the stream. An expert swimmer from the Indians followed him, and, having overtaken him, seized him by the hair, and crying out, ‘You seem to love water; you shall have enough of it,’ he stabbed the poor fellow, who sunk to rise no more.”—Gouin’s Account, MS.

[223] Pontiac MS.

[224] MS. Official Document—Report of the Loss of the Posts in the Indian Country, enclosed in a letter from Major Gladwyn to Sir Jeffrey Amherst, July 8, 1763.

[225] Pontiac MS.

[226] Loss of the Posts in the Indian Country, MS. Compare Diary of the Siege, 25.

The following is from a curious letter of one Richard Winston, a trader at St. Joseph’s, to his fellow-traders at Detroit, dated 19 June, 1763:—

“Gentlemen, I address myself to you all, not knowing who is alive or who is dead. I have only to inform you that by the blessing of God and the help of M. Louison Chevalie, I escaped being killed when the unfortunate garrison was massacred, Mr. Hambough and me being hid in the house of the said Chevalie for 4 days and nights. Mr. Hambough is brought by the Savages to the Illinois, likewise Mr. Chim. Unfortunate me remains here Captive with the Savages. I must say that I met with no bad usage; however, I would that I was (with) some Christian or other. I am quite naked, & Mr. Castacrow, who is indebted to Mr. Cole, would not give me one inch to save me from death.”

[227] Pontiac MS.

[228]

“Ouatanon, June 1st, 1763.

“Sir:

“I have heard of your situation, which gives me great Pain; indeed, we are not in much better, for this morning the Indians sent for me, to speak to me, and Immediately bound me, when I got to their Cabbin, and I soon found some of my Soldiers in the same Condition: They told me Detroit, Miamis, and all them Posts were cut off, and that it was a Folly to make any Resistance, therefore desired me to make the few Soldiers, that were in the Fort, surrender, otherwise they would put us all to Death, in case one man was killed. They were to have fell on us and killed us all, last night, but Mr. Maisongville and Lorain gave them wampum not to kill us, & when they told the Interpreter that we were all to be killed, & he knowing the condition of the Fort, beg’d of them to make us prisoners. They have put us into French houses, & both Indians and French use us very well: All these Nations say they are very sorry, but that they were obliged to do it by the Other Nations. The Belt did not Arrive here ’till last night about Eight o’Clock. Mr. Lorain can inform you of all. Just now Received the News of St. Joseph’s being taken, Eleven men killed and three taken Prisoners with the Officer: I have nothing more to say, but that I sincerely wish you a speedy succour, and that we may be able to Revenge ourselves on those that Deserve it.

“I Remain, with my Sincerest wishes for your safety,

“Your most humble servant,
Edw^d Jenkins.

“N. B. We expect to set off in a day or two for the Illinois.”

This expectation was not fulfilled, and Jenkins remained at Ouatanon. A letter from him is before me, written from thence to Gladwyn on the 29th July, in which he complains that the Canadians were secretly advising the Indians to murder all the English in the West.

[229] Loss of the Posts, MS. Compare Diary of the Siege, 22, 26.

It appears by a deposition taken at Detroit on the 11th June, that Godefroy, mentioned above, left Detroit with four other Canadians three or four days after the siege began. Their professed object was to bring a French officer from the Illinois to induce Pontiac to abandon his hostile designs. At the mouth of the Maumee they met John Welsh, an English trader, with two canoes, bound for Detroit. They seized him, and divided his furs among themselves and a party of Indians who were with them. They then proceeded to Fort Miami, and aided the Indians to capture it. Welsh was afterwards carried to Detroit, where the Ottawas murdered him.

[230] Evidence of Benjamin Gray, soldier in the 1st Battalion of the 60th Regiment, before a Court of Inquiry held at Fort Pitt, 12th Sept. 1763. Evidence of David Smart, soldier in the 60th Regiment, before a Court of Inquiry held at Fort Pitt, 24th Dec., 1763, to take evidence relative to the loss of Presqu’ Isle which did not appear when the last court sat.

[231] Loss of the Posts, MS. Pontiac MS. Report of Ensign Christie, MS. Testimony of Edward Smyth, MS. This last evidence was taken by order of Colonel Bouquet, commanding the battalion of the Royal American Regiment to which Christie belonged. Christie’s surrender had been thought censurable both by General Amherst and by Bouquet. According to Christie’s statements, it was unavoidable; but according to those of Smyth, and also of the two soldiers, Gray and Smart, the situation, though extremely critical, seems not to have been desperate. Smyth’s testimony bears date 30 March, 1765, nearly two years after the event. Some allowance is therefore to be made for lapses of memory. He places the beginning of the attack on the twenty-first of June, instead of the fifteenth,—an evident mistake. The Diary of the Siege of Detroit says that Christie did not make his escape, but was brought in and surrendered by six Huron chiefs on the ninth of July. In a letter of Bouquet dated June 18th, 1760, is enclosed a small plan of Presqu’ Isle.

[232] Pontiac MS.

[233] MS. Letter—Gladwyn to Amherst, July 8.

[234] Pontiac MS.

[235] This name is always applied, among the Canadians of the North-west, to the conductor of a trading party, the commander in a trading fort, or, indeed, to any person in a position of authority.

Extract from a Letter—Detroit, July 9, 1763 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1808).

“Judge of the Conduct of the Canadians here, by the Behaviour of these few Sacres Bougres, I have mentioned; I can assure you, with much Certainty, that there are but very few in the Settlement who are not engaged with the Indians in their damn’d Design; in short, Monsieur is at the Bottom of it; we have not only convincing Proofs and Circumstances, but undeniable Proofs of it. There are four or five sensible, honest Frenchmen in the Place, who have been of a great deal of Service to us, in bringing us Intelligence and Provisions, even at the Risque of their own Lives; I hope they will be rewarded for their good Services; I hope also to see the others exalted on High, to reap the Fruits of their Labours, as soon as our Army arrives; the Discoveries we have made of their horrid villianies, are almost incredible. But to return to the Terms of Capitulation: Pondiac proposes that we should immediately give up the Garrison, lay down our Arms, as the French, their Fathers, were obliged to do, leave the Cannon, Magazines, Merchants’ Goods, and the two Vessels, and be escorted in Battoes, by the Indians, to Niagara. The Major returned Answer, that the General had not sent him there to deliver up the Fort to Indians, or anybody else; and that he would defend it whilst he had a single man to fight alongside of him. Upon this, Hostilities recommenced, since which Time, being two months, the whole Garrison, Officers, Soldiers, Merchants, and Servants, have been upon the Ramparts every Night, not one having slept in a House, except the Sick and Wounded in the Hospital.

“Our Fort is extremely large, considering our Numbers, the Stockade being above 1000 Paces in Circumference; judge what a Figure we make on the Works.”

The writer of the above letter is much too sweeping and indiscriminate in his denunciation of the French.

[236] Croghan, Journal. See Butler, Hist. Kentucky, 463.

[237] Pontiac MS.

[238] Gouin’s Account, MS. St. Aubin’s Account, MS. Diary of the Siege.

James MacDonald writes from Detroit on the 12th of July. “Half an hour afterward the savages carried (the body of) the man they had lost before Capt. Campbell, stripped him naked, and directly murthered him in a cruel manner, which indeed gives me pain beyond expression, and I am sure cannot miss but to affect sensibly all his acquaintances. Although he is now out of the question, I must own I never had, nor never shall have, a Friend or Acquaintance that I valued more than he. My present comfort is, that if Charity, benevolence, innocence, and integrity are a sufficient dispensation for all mankind, that entitles him to happiness in the world to come.”

[239] Penn. Gaz. No. 1808.

[240] Pontiac MS.

[241] Whatever may have been the case with the Pottawattamies, there were indications from the first that the Wyandots were lukewarm or even reluctant in taking part with Pontiac. As early as May 22, some of them complained that he had forced them into the war. Diary of the Siege. Johnson MSS.

[242] Extract from a MS. Letter—Sir J. Amherst to Sir W. Johnson.

“New York, 16th June, 1763.

“Sir:

“I am to thank you for your Letter of the 6th Instant, which I have this moment Received, with some Advices from Niagara, concerning the Motions of the Indians that Way, they having attacked a Detachment under the Command of Lieut. Cuyler of Hopkins’s Rangers, who were on their Route towards the Detroit, and Obliged him to Return to Niagara, with (I am sorry to say) too few of his Men.

“Upon this Intelligence, I have thought it Necessary to Dispatch Captain Dalyell, my Aid de Camp, with Orders to Carry with him all such Reinforcements as can possibly be collected (having, at the same time, a due Attention to the Safety of the Principal Forts), to Niagara, and to proceed to the Detroit, if Necessary, and Judged Proper.”

[243] Penn. Gaz. No. 1811.

[244] Pontiac MS.

[245] MS. Letter—Major Rogers to ——, Aug. 5.

[246] Pontiac MS.

[247] Extract from a MS. Letter—Major Gladwyn to Sir J. Amherst.

“Detroit, Aug. 8th, 1763.

“On the 31st, Captain Dalyell Requested, as a particular favor, that I would give him the Command of a Party, in order to Attempt the Surprizal of Pontiac’s Camp, under cover of the Night, to which I answered that I was of opinion he was too much on his Guard to Effect it; he then said he thought I had it in my power to give him a Stroke, and that if I did not Attempt it now, he would Run off, and I should never have another Opportunity; this induced me to give in to the Scheme, contrary to my Judgement.”

[248] Penn. Gaz. No. 1811.

[249] Detail of the Action of the 31st of July. See Gent. Mag. XXXIII. 486.

[250] Penn. Gaz. No. 1811.

[251] Many particulars of the fight at the house of Campau were related to me, on the spot, by John R. Williams, Esq., of Detroit, a connection of the Campau family.

[252] MS. Letters—MacDonald to Dr. Campbell, Aug. 8. Gage to Lord Halifax, Oct. 12. Amherst to Lord Egremont, Sept. 3. Meloche’s Account, MS. Gouin’s Account, MS. St. Aubin’s Account, MS. Peltier’s Account, MS. Maxwell’s Account, MS., etc. In the Diary of the Siege is the following, under date of August 1st: “Young Mr. Campo (Campau) brought in the Body of poor Capt. Dalyel (Dalzell) about three o’clock to-day, which was mangled in such a horrid Manner that it was shocking to human nature; the Indians wip’d his Heart about the Faces of our Prisoners.”

[253] MS. Letter—Gladwyn to Amherst, Sept. 9. Carver, 164. Relation of the Gallant Defence of the Schooner near Detroit, published by order of General Amherst, in the New York papers. Penn. Gaz. No. 1816. MS. Letter—Amherst to Lord Egremont, Oct. 13. St. Aubin’s Account, MS. Peltier’s Account, MS. Relation of some Transactions at the Detroit in Sept. and Oct. 1763, MS.

The Commander-in-chief ordered a medal to be struck and presented to each of the men. Jacobs, the mate of the schooner, appears to have been as rash as he was brave; for Captain Carver says, that several years after, when in command of the same vessel, he was lost, with all his crew, in a storm on Lake Erie, in consequence of having obstinately refused to take in ballast enough.

As this affair savors somewhat of the marvellous, the following evidence is given touching the most remarkable features of the story. The document was copied from the archives of London.

Extract from “A Relation of the Gallant Defence made by the Crew of the Schooner on Lake Erie, when Attacked by a Large Body of Indians; as Published by Order of Sir Jeffrey Amherst in the New York Papers.”

“The Schooner Sailed from Niagara, loaded with Provisions, some time in August last: Her Crew consisted of the Master and Eleven Men, with Six Mohawk Indians, who were Intended for a particular Service. She entered the Detroit River, on the 3^d September; And on the 4^th in the Morning, the Mohawks seemed very Desirous of being put on Shore, which the Master, very Inconsiderately, agreed to. The Wind proved contrary all that Day; and in the Evening, the Vessell being at Anchor, about Nine o’clock, the Boatswain discovered a Number of Canoes coming down the River, with about Three Hundred and Fifty Indians; Upon which the Bow Gun was Immediately Fired; but before the other Guns could be brought to Bear, the Enemy got under the Bow and Stern, in Spite of the Swivels & Small Arms, and Attempted to Board the Vessell; Whereupon the Men Abandoned their Small Arms, and took to their Spears, with which they were provided; And, with Amazing Resolution and Bravery, knocked the Savages in the Head; Killed many; and saved the Vessell.... It is certain Seven of the Savages were Killed on the Spot, and Eight had Died of those that were Wounded, when the Accounts came away. The Master and One Man were Killed, and four Wounded, on Board the Schooner, and the other Six brought her Safe to the Detroit.”

It is somewhat singular that no mention is here made of the command to blow up the vessel. The most explicit authorities on this point are Carver, who obtained his account at Detroit, three years after the war, and a letter published in the Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 1816. This letter is dated at Detroit, five days after the attack. The circumstance is also mentioned in several traditional accounts of the Canadians.

[254] This description is drawn from traditional accounts aided by a personal examination of the spot, where the stumps of the pickets and the foundations of the houses may still be traced.

[255] MS. Journal of Lieutenant Gorell, commanding at Green Bay, 1761-63.

[256] Carver, Travels, 29.

[257] Many of these particulars are derived from memoranda furnished by Henry R. Schoolcraft, Esq.

[258] Henry, Travels, 45.

[259] This appears from the letters of Captain Etherington. Henry states the number at ninety. It is not unlikely that he meant to include all the inhabitants of the fort, both soldiers and Canadians, in his enumeration.

[260] The above is Henry’s date. Etherington says, the second.

[261] MS. Letter—Etherington to Gladwyn, June 12. See Appendix, C.

[262] Charles Langlade, who is praised by Etherington, though spoken of in equivocal terms by Henry, was the son of a Frenchman of good family and an Ottawa squaw. He was born at Mackinaw in 1724, and served with great reputation as a partisan officer in the old French war. He and his father, Augustin Langlade, were the first permanent settlers within the present State of Wisconsin. He is said to have saved Etherington and Leslie from the torture. See the Recollections of Augustin Grignon, his grandson, in Collections of the Hist. Soc. of Wisconsin, III. 197.

[263] This name is commonly written Pawnee. The tribe who bore it lived west of the Mississippi. They were at war with many surrounding nations, and, among the rest, with the Sacs and Foxes, who often brought their prisoners to the French settlements for sale. It thus happened that Pawnee slaves were to be found in the principal families of Detroit and Michillimackinac.

[264] MS. Letter—Etherington to Gladwyn, June 28.

[265] Henry, Travels, 102. The authenticity of this very interesting book has never been questioned. Henry was living at Montreal as late as the year 1809. In 1797 he, with others, claimed, in virtue of Indian grants, a large tract of land west of the River Cuyahoga, in the present State of Ohio. A letter from him is extant, dated in April of that year, in which he offers this land to the Connecticut Land Company, at one-sixth of a dollar an acre.

[266] Tradition, preserved by Henry Conner. See also Schoolcraft, Algic Researches, II. 159.

“Their tradition concerning the name of this little island is curious. They say that Michapous, the chief of spirits, sojourned long in that vicinity. They believed that a mountain on the border of the lake was the place of his abode, and they called it by his name. It was here, say they, that he first instructed man to fabricate nets for taking fish, and where he has collected the greatest quantity of these finny inhabitants of the waters. On the island he left spirits, named Imakinakos; and from these aerial possessors it has received the appellation of Michillimakinac.

“When the savages, in those quarters, make a feast of fish, they invoke the spirits of the island, thank them for their bounty, and entreat them to continue their protection to their families. They demand of them to preserve their nets and canoes from the swelling and destructive billows, when the lakes are agitated by storms. All who assist in the ceremony lengthen their voices together, which is an act of gratitude. In the observance of this duty of their religion, they were formerly very punctual and scrupulous; but the French rallied them so much upon the subject, that they became ashamed to practise it openly.”—Heriot, Travels in Canada, 185.

[267] The following description of Minavavana, or the Grand Sauteur, who was the leader of the Ojibwas at the massacre of Michillimackinac, is drawn from Carver’s Travels:—

“The first I accosted were Chipeways, inhabiting near the Ottowaw lakes; who received me with great cordiality, and shook me by the hand, in token of friendship. At some little distance behind these stood a chief remarkably tall and well made, but of so stern an aspect that the most undaunted person could not behold him without feeling some degree of terror. He seemed to have passed the meridian of life, and by the mode in which he was painted and tatowed, I discovered that he was of high rank. However, I approached him in a courteous manner, and expected to have met with the same reception I had done from the others; but, to my great surprise, he withheld his hand, and looking fiercely at me, said, in the Chipeway tongue, ‘Cawin nishishin saganosh,’ that is, ‘The English are no good.’ As he had his tomahawk in his hand, I expected that this laconick sentence would have been followed by a blow; to prevent which I drew a pistol from my belt, and, holding it in a careless position, passed close by him, to let him see I was not afraid of him.... Since I came to England, I have been informed, that the Grand Sautor, having rendered himself more and more disgustful to the English by his inveterate enmity towards them, was at length stabbed in his tent, as he encamped near Michillimackinac, by a trader.”—Carver, 96.

[268] Carver, Travels, 47.

[269] Gorell, Journal, MS. The original manuscript is preserved in the library of the Maryland Historical Society, to which it was presented by Robert Gilmor, Esq.

[270] Gorell, Journal, MS.

[271] There was a cluster of log houses even around Fort Ligonier, and a trader named Byerly had a station at Bushy Run.

[272] The authorities for the foregoing topographical sketch are drawn from the Pennsylvania Historical Collections, and the Olden Time, an excellent antiquarian work, published at Pittsburg; together with various maps, plans, and contemporary papers.

[273] Gordon, Hist. Pa. 622. MS. Letter—Ecuyer to Bouquet, 29 May, 1763.

[274] MS. Letter—Bouquet to Amherst, June 5.

Extract from a letter—Fort Pitt, May 31 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1798).

“We have most melancholy Accounts here—The Indians have broke out in several Places, and murdered Colonel Clapham and his Family; also two of our Soldiers at the Saw-mill, near the Fort, and two Scalps are taken from each man. An Indian has brought a War-Belt to Tuscarora, and says Detroit is invested; and that St. Dusky is cut off, and Ensign Pawley made Prisoner—Levy’s Goods are stopt at Tuscarora by the Indians—Last Night Eleven men were attacked at Beaver Creek, eight or nine of whom, it is said, were killed—And Twenty-five of Macrae’s and Alison’s Horses, loaded with Skins, are all taken.”

Extract from a MS. Letter—Ecuyer to Bouquet.

“Fort Pitt, 29th May, 1763.

“Just as I had finished my Letter, Three men came in from Clapham’s, with the Melancholy News, that Yesterday, at three O’clock in the Afternoon, the Indians Murdered Clapham, and Every Body in his House: These three men were out at work, & Escaped through the Woods. I Immediately Armed them, and sent them to Assist our People at Bushy Run. The Indians have told Byerly (at Bushy Run) to Leave his Place in Four Days, or he and his Family would all be murdered: I am Uneasy for the little Posts—As for this, I will answer for it.”

The above is a contemporary translation. The original, which is before me, is in French, like all Ecuyer’s letters to Bouquet.

[275] Copy of intelligence brought to Fort Pitt by Mr. Calhoun, MS.

[276] M’Cullough gives the following account of the murder of another of the traders, named Green:—

“About sunrise, Mussoughwhese (an Indian, my adopted brother’s nephew, known by the name of Ben Dickson, among the white people), came to our house; he had a pistol and a large scalping-knife, concealed under his blanket, belted round his body. He informed Kettoohhalend (for that was my adopted brother’s name), that he came to kill Tom Green; but Kettoohhalend endeavoured to persuade him off it. They walked out together, and Green followed them, endeavouring, as I suppose, to discover the cause of the alarm the night before; in a short time they returned to the house, and immediately went out again. Green asked me to bring him his horse, as we heard the bell a short distance off; he then went after the Indians again, and I went for the horse. As I was returning, I observed them coming out of a house about two hundred yards from ours; Kettoohhalend was foremost, Green in the middle; I took but slight notice of them, until I heard the report of a pistol; I cast my eyes towards them, and observed the smoke, and saw Green standing on the side of the path, with his hands across his breast; I thought it had been him that shot; he stood a few minutes, then fell on his face across the path. I instantly got off the horse, and held him by the bridle,—Kettoohhalend sunk his pipe tomahawk into his skull; Mussoughwhese stabbed him under the armpit with his scalping-knife; he had shot him between the shoulders with his pistol. The squaws gathered about him and stripped him naked, trailed him down the bank, and plunged him into the creek; there was a freshet in the creek at the time, which carried him off. Mussoughwhese then came to me (where I was holding the horse, as I had not moved from the spot where I was when Green was shot), with the bloody knife in his hand; he told me that he was coming to kill me next; he reached out his hand and took hold of the bridle, telling me that that was his horse; I was glad to parley with him on the terms, and delivered the horse to him. All the Indians in the town immediately collected together, and started off to the Salt Licks, where the rest of the traders were, and murdered the whole of them, and divided their goods amongst them, and likewise their horses.”

[277] Gent. Mag. XXXIII. 413. The loss is here stated at the greatly exaggerated amount of £500,000.

[278] Loskiel, 99.

[279] Heckewelder, Hist. Ind. Nat. 250.

[280] Pennsylvania Gazette, No. 1799. I shall frequently refer to the columns of this journal, which are filled with letters, and extracts from letters, written at different parts of the frontier, and containing very minute and authentic details of the events which daily occurred.

[281] Extract from a Letter—Fort Pitt, June 16, 1763 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1801).

“We have Alarms from, and Skirmishes with, the Indians every Day; but they have done us little Harm as yet. Yesterday I was out with a Party of Men, when we were fired upon, and one of the Serjeants was killed; but we beat off the Indians, and brought the Man in with his Scalp on. Last Night the Bullock Guard was fired upon, when one Cow was killed. We are obliged to be on Duty Night and Day. The Indians have cut off above 100 of our Traders in the Woods, besides all our little Posts. We have Plenty of Provisions; and the Fort is in such a good Posture of Defence, that, with God’s Assistance, we can defend it against 1000 Indians.”

[282] MS. Letter—Ecuyer to Bouquet, June 5. Ibid. June 26.

[283] MS. Letter—Ecuyer to Bouquet, June 16 (Translation).

[284] MS. Report of Alexander M’Kee, deputy agent for Indian affairs at Fort Pitt.

[285] MS. Letter—Ecuyer to Bouquet, June 26.

[286] Extract from a Letter—Fort Pitt, June 26 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1802).

“This Morning, Ensign Price, of the Royal Americans, with Part of his Garrison, arrived here, being separated from the rest in the night.—The Enemy attacked his Post, and set it on Fire, and while they watched the Door of the House, he got out on the other side, and the Indians continued firing a long Time afterwards, imagining that the Garrison was in it, and that they were consumed with the House.—He touched at Venango, found the Fort burnt to the Ground, and saw one of our Expresses lying killed on the Road.

“Four o’clock in the Afternoon. Just now came in one of the Soldiers from Presque Isle, who says, Mr. Christie fought two Days; that the Enemy Fifty times set Fire to the Blockhouse, but that they as often put it out: That they then undermined the House, and was ready to blow it up, when they offered Mr. Christie Terms, who accepted them, viz., That he, and his Garrison, was to be conducted to this Place.—The Soldier also says, he suspected they intended to put them all to Death; and that on hearing a Woman scream out, he supposed they were murdering her; upon which he and another Soldier came immediately off, but knows nothing of the rest: That the Vessel from Niagara was in Sight, but believes she had no Provisions, as the Indian told them they had cut off Little Niagara, and destroyed 800 Barrels: And that he thinks, by what he saw, Venango had capitulated.”

The soldier here spoken of was no doubt Gray, who was mentioned above, though his story is somewhat differently given in the letter of Captain Ecuyer, just cited.

[287] Record of Court of Inquiry, Evidence of Corporal Fisher. The statement is supported by all the rest of the men examined.

[288] On the 27th of June, Price wrote to Colonel Bouquet from Fort Pitt, announcing his escape; and again on the 28th, giving an account of the affair. Both letters are before me; but the most satisfactory evidence is furnished by the record of the court of inquiry held at Fort Pitt on the 12th of September, to ascertain the circumstances of the loss of Presqu’ Isle and Le Boeuf. This embraces the testimony of most of the survivors; namely, Ensign George Price, Corporals Jacob Fisher and John Nash, and privates John Dogood, John Nigley, John Dortinger, and Uriah Trunk. All the men bear witness to the resolution of their officer. One of them declared that it was with the utmost difficulty that they could persuade him to leave the blockhouse with them.

[289] MS. Johnson Papers. Not many years since, some traces of Fort Venango were yet visible. The following description of them is from the Historical Collections of Pennsylvania:—

“Its ruins plainly indicate its destruction by fire. Burnt stone, melted glass and iron, leave no doubt of this. All through the groundworks are to be found great quantities of mouldering bones. Amongst the ruins, knives, gun-barrels, locks, and musket-balls have been frequently found, and still continue to be found. About the centre of the area are seen the ruins of the magazine, in which, with what truth I cannot vouch, is said to be a well. The same tradition also adds, ‘And in that well there is a cannon,’ but no examination has been made for it.”

[290] Extract from a Letter—Fort Bedford, June 30, 1763 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1802).

“This Morning a Party of the Enemy attacked fifteen Persons, who were mowing in Mr. Croghan’s Field, within a Mile of the Garrison; and News is brought in of two Men being killed.—Eight o’clock. Two Men are brought in, alive, tomahawked and scalped more than Half the Head over—Our Parade just now presents a Scene of bloody and savage Cruelty; three Men, two of which are in the Bloom of Life, the other an old man, lying scalped (two of them still alive) thereon: Any thing feigned in the most fabulous Romance, cannot parallel the horrid Sight now before me; the Gashes the poor People bear are most terrifying.—Ten o’clock. They are just expired—One of them, after being tomahawked and scalped, ran a little way, and got on a Loft in Mr. Croghan’s House, where he lay till found by a Party of the Garrison.”

[291] This is a common Indian metaphor. To destroy an enemy is, in their phrase, to eat him.

[292] MS. Report of Conference with the Indians at Fort Pitt, July 26, 1763.

[293] Extract from a MS. Letter—Colonel Bouquet to Sir J. Amherst:—

“Fort Pitt, 11th Aug. 1763.

“Sir:

“We Arrived here Yesterday, without further Opposition than Scattered Shots along the Road.

“The Delawares, Shawnese, Wiandots, & Mingoes had closely Beset, and Attacked this Fort from the 27th July, to the First Instant, when they Quitted it to March against us.

“The Boldness of those Savages is hardly Credible; they had taken Post under the Banks of Both Rivers, Close to the Fort, where Digging Holes, they kept an Incessant Fire, and threw Fire Arrows: They are good Marksmen, and though our People were under Cover, they Killed one, & Wounded seven.—Captain Ecuyer is Wounded in the Leg by an Arrow.—I Would not Do Justice to that Officer, should I omit to Inform Your Excellency, that, without Engineer, or any other Artificers than a few Ship Wrights, he has Raised a Parapet of Logs round the Fort, above the Old One, which having not been Finished, was too Low, and Enfiladed; he has Fraised the Whole; Palisadoed the Inside of the Aria, Constructed a Fire Engine; and in short, has taken all Precautions, which Art and Judgment could suggest for the Preservation of this Post, open before on the three sides, which had suffered by the Floods.”

[294] Penn. Gaz. No. 1805-1809.

[295] “The next object of the immediate attention of Parliament in this session was the raising of a new regiment of foot in North America, for which purpose the sum of £81,178 16s. was voted. This regiment, which was to consist of four battalions of 1000 men each, was intended to be raised chiefly out of the Germans and Swiss, who, for many years past, had annually transported themselves in great numbers to British plantations in America, where waste lands had been assigned them upon the frontiers of the provinces; but, very injudiciously, no care had been taken to intermix them with the English inhabitants of the place, so that very few of them, even of those who have been born there, have yet learned to speak or understand the English tongue. However, as they were all zealous Protestants, and in general strong, hardy men, accustomed to the climate, it was judged that a regiment of good and faithful soldiers might be raised out of them, particularly proper to oppose the French; but to this end it was necessary to appoint some officers, especially subalterns, who understood military discipline and could speak the German language; and as a sufficient number of such could not be found among the English officers, it was necessary to bring over and grant commissions to several German and Swiss officers and engineers. But as this step, by the Act of Settlement, could not be taken without the authority of Parliament, an act was now passed for enabling his Majesty to grant commissions to a certain number of foreign Protestants, who had served abroad as officers or engineers, to act and rank as officers or engineers in America only.”—Smollett, England, III. 475.

The Royal American Regiment is now the 60th Rifles. Its ranks, at the time of the Pontiac war, were filled by provincials of English as well as of German descent.

[296] There is a sketch of Bouquet’s life prefixed to the French translation of the Account of Bouquet’s Expedition. See also the reprint in the first volume of Clarke’s “Ohio Valley Historical Series.”

[297] An extract from this letter, which is dated May 30, is given on page 280.

[298] The italics and capitals are Sir Jeffrey’s.

[299] On the 29th of July following, the fragments of five more regiments arrived from Havana, numbering in all 982 men and officers fit for duty.—Official Returns.

[300] i.e., Cuyler’s detachment.

[301] Amherst wrote again on the 16th of July: “My former orders for putting such of the Indians as are or have been in arms against us, and that fall in our power, to death, remain in full force; as the barbarities they have committed on the late commanding officer at Venango” (Gordon, whom they roasted alive during several nights) “and his unfortunate garrison fully prove that no punishment we can inflict is adequate to the crimes of those inhuman villains.”

[302] The following is a characteristic example. He is writing to Johnson, 27 Aug. 1763: “I shall only say that it Behoves the Whole Race of Indians to Beware (for I Fear the best of them have in some Measure been privy to, and Concerned in the Late Mischief) of Carrying Matters much farther against the English, or Daring to form Conspiracys; as the Consequence will most Certainly occasion Measures to be taken, that, in the End, will put a most Effectual Stop to their Very Being.”

The following is his view of the Indians, in a letter to Bouquet, 7 Aug. 1763:—

“I wish there was not an Indian Settlement within a thousand miles of our Country, for they are only fit to live with the Inhabitants of the woods: (i.e., wild beasts), being more allied to the Brute than the human Creation.”

[303] This correspondence is among the manuscripts of the British Museum, Bouquet and Haldimand Papers, No. 21, 634. The first postscript by Amherst is on a single leaf of foolscap, written at the top of the page and addressed on the back,—

“On His Majesty’s Service.
To Colonel Bouquet,
etc.”

——————————
“Jeff. Amherst.”
——————————

The postscript seems to belong to a letter written on the first leaf of the foolscap sheet, which is lost or destroyed. The other postscript by Amherst has neither indorsement nor address, but that of Bouquet is appended to a letter dated Carlisle, 13 July, 1763, and addressed to “His Excellency, Sir Jeffrey Amherst.” It appears from a letter of Capt. Ecuyer that the small-pox had lately broken out at Fort Pitt, which would have favored the execution of the plan. We hear nothing more of it; but, in the following spring, Gershom Hicks, who had been among the Indians, reported at Fort Pitt that the small-pox had been raging for some time among them, and that sixty or eighty Mingoes and Delawares, besides some Shawanoes, had died of it.

The suggestion of using dogs against the Indians did not originate with Bouquet. Just before he wrote, he received a letter from one John Hughes, dated Lancaster, July 11, in which an elaborate plan is laid down for conquering the Indians with the help of canine allies.

The following is the substance of the proposal, which is set forth under eight distinct heads: 1st, Each soldier to have a dog, which he is to lead on the march by a strap three feet long. 2d, All the dogs to be held fast by the straps, except one or two on each flank and as many in advance, to discover the enemy in ambush. 3d, When you are fired upon, let loose all the dogs, which will rush at the concealed Indians, and force them in self-defence to expose themselves and fire at their assailants, with so little chance of hitting them, that, in the words of the letter, “if 1000 Indians fired on 300 dogs, there would be at least 200 dogs left, besides all the soldiers’ fires, which must put the Indians to flight very soon.” 4th, If you come to a swamp, thicket, or the like, “only turn loose 3 or 4 dogs extraordinary, and you are immediately convinced what you have to fear.” 5th, “No Indian can well conceal himself in a swamp or thicket as a spy, for y^r. dogs will discover him, and may soon be learnt to destroy him too.” 6th, “The leading the dogs makes them more fierce, and keeps them from being tired in running after wild beasts or fighting one another.” 7th, Expatiates on the advantages of having the leading-straps short. 8th, “The greater the number of dogs, the more fierce they will be by a great deal, and the more terrible to the Indians; and if, when you get to Bedford, a few scouting parties were sent out with dogs, and one or two Indians killed and the dogs put at them to tear them to pieces, you would soon see the good effects of it; and I could almost venture my life that 500 men with 500 dogs would be much more dreadful to 2000 Indians than an army of some thousand of brave men in the regular way.

“Jⁿ Hughes.

“Colonel Bouquet.”

Probably there is no man who ever had occasion to fight Indians in the woods who would object to a dog as an ally.

[304] This is the letter in which he accepts Amherst’s proposal to infect the Indians. His just indignation at the atrocities which had caused so much misery is his best apology.

[305] The blockhouse at Presqu’ Isle had been built under the direction of Bouquet. Being of wood, it was not fire-proof; and he urged upon Amherst that it should be rebuilt of brick with a slate roof, thus making it absolutely proof against Indians.

[306] Bouquet had the strongest reasons for wishing that Fort Ligonier should hold out. As the event showed, its capture would probably have entailed the defeat and destruction of his entire command.

[307] Penn. Gaz. No. 1804.

[308] Robison, Narrative. Robison was one of the party, and his brother was mortally wounded at the first fire.

[309] Extract from a Letter—Carlisle, July 13 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1804)—

“Last Night Colonel Armstrong returned. He left the Party, who pursued further, and found several dead, whom they buried in the best manner they could, and are now all returned in.—From what appears, the Indians are travelling from one Place to another, along the Valley, burning the Farms, and destroying all the People they meet with.—This Day gives an Account of six more being killed in the Valley, so that since last Sunday Morning to this Day, Twelve o’clock, we have a pretty authentic Account of the Number slain, being Twenty-five, and four or five wounded.—The Colonel, Mr. Wilson, and Mr. Alricks, are now on the Parade, endeavouring to raise another Party, to go out and succour the Sheriff and his Party, consisting of Fifty Men, which marched Yesterday, and hope they will be able to send off immediately Twenty good Men.—The People here, I assure you, want nothing but a good Leader, and a little Encouragement, to make a very good Defence.”

[310] Extract from a Letter—Carlisle, July 5 (Haz. Pa. Reg. IV. 390):—

“Nothing could exceed the terror which prevailed from house to house, from town to town. The road was near covered with women and children, flying to Lancaster and Philadelphia. The Rev. ——, Pastor of the Episcopal Church, went at the head of his congregation, to protect and encourage them on the way. A few retired to the Breast works for safety. The alarm once given could not be appeased. We have done all that men can do to prevent disorder. All our hopes are turned upon Bouquet.”

[311] Extract from a Letter—Carlisle, July 12 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1804):—

“I embrace this first Leisure, since Yesterday Morning, to transmit you a brief Account of our present State of Affairs here, which indeed is very distressing; every Day, almost, affording some fresh Object to awaken the Compassion, alarm the Fears, or kindle into Resentment and Vengeance every sensible Breast, while flying Families, obliged to abandon House and Possession, to save their Lives by an hasty Escape; mourning Widows, bewailing their Husbands surprised and massacred by savage Rage; tender Parents, lamenting the Fruits of their own Bodies, cropt in the very Bloom of Life by a barbarous Hand; with Relations and Acquaintances, pouring out Sorrow for murdered Neighbours and Friends, present a varied Scene of mingled Distress.

“To-day a British Vengeance begins to rise in the Breasts of our Men.—One of them that fell from among the 12, as he was just expiring, said to one of his Fellows, Here, take my Gun, and kill the first Indian you see, and all shall be well.”

[312] Account of Bouquet’s Expedition; Introduction, vi.

[313] “I cannot send a Highlander out of my sight without running the risk of losing the man, which exposes me to surprise from the skulking villains I have to deal with.”—MS. Letter—Bouquet to Amherst, 26 July, 1763.

[314] “Our Accounts from the westward are as follows, viz.:—

“On the 25th of July there were in Shippensburg 1384 of our poor distressed Back Inhabitants, viz. Men, 301; Women, 345; Children, 738; Many of whom were obliged to lie in Barns, Stables, Cellars, and under old leaky Sheds, the Dwelling-houses being all crowded.”—Penn. Gaz. No. 1806.

[315] “The government of Pennsylvania having repeatedly refused to garrison Fort Lyttleton (a provincial fort), even with the kind of troops they have raised, I have stationed some inhabitants of the neighborhood in it, with some provisions and ammunition, to prevent the savages burning it.”—MS. Letter—Bouquet to Amherst, 26 July, 1763.

[316] MS. Letter—Ourry to Bouquet, 20 June, 1763.

[317] Extract from a Letter of Bouquet to Amherst, Bedford, July 26th, 1763:

“The troops & Convoy arrived here yesterday.... Three men have been massacred near Shippensburg since we left, but we have not perceived yet any of the Villains.... Having observed in our march that the Highlanders lose themselves in the woods as soon as they go out of the road, and cannot on that account be employed as Flankers, I have commissioned a person here to procure me about thirty woodsmen to march with us.... This is very irregular, but the circumstances render it so absolutely necessary that I hope you will approve it.”

[318] MS. Letters—Bouquet to Amherst, Aug. 5, 6. Penn. Gaz. 1809-1810. Gent. Mag. XXXIII. 487. London Mag. for 1763, 545. Account of Bouquet’s Expedition. Annual Register for 1763, 28. Mante, 493.

The accounts of this action, published in the journals of the day, excited much attention, from the wild and novel character of this species of warfare. A well-written description of the battle, together with a journal of Bouquet’s expedition of the succeeding year, was published in a thin quarto, with illustrations from the pencil of West. The writer was Dr. William Smith, of Philadelphia, and not, as has usually been thought, the geographer Thomas Hutchins. See the reprint, Clarke’s Historical Series, Vol. I. A French translation of the narrative was published at Amsterdam in 1769.

Extract from a Letter—Fort Pitt, August 12 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1810):—

“We formed a Circle round our Convoy and Wounded; upon which the Savages collected themselves, and continued whooping and popping at us all the Evening. Next Morning, having mustered all their Force, they began the War-whoop, attacking us in Front, when the Colonel feigned a Retreat, which encouraged the Indians to an eager Pursuit, while the Light Infantry and Grenadiers rushed out on their Right and Left Flanks, attacking them where they little expected it; by which Means a great Number of them were killed; and among the rest, Keelyuskung, a Delaware Chief, who the Night before, and that Morning, had been Blackguarding us in English: We lost one Man in the Rear, on our March the Day after.

“In other Letters from Fort Pitt, it is mentioned that, to a Man, they were resolved to defend the Garrison (if the Troops had not arrived), as long as any Ammunition, and Provision to support them, were left; and that then they would have fought their Way through, or died in the Attempt, rather than have been made Prisoners by such perfidious, cruel, and Blood-thirsty Hell-hounds.”

See Appendix, D.

[319] Extract from a Letter—Fort Pitt, August 12 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1810):

“As you will probably have the Accounts of these Engagements from the Gentlemen that were in them, I shall say no more than this, that it is the general Opinion, the Troops behaved with the utmost Intrepidity, and the Indians were never known to behave so fiercely. You may be sure the Sight of the Troops was very agreeable to our poor Garrison, being penned up in the Fort from the 27th of May to the 9th Instant, and the Barrack Rooms crammed with Men, Women, and Children, tho’ providentially no other Disorder ensued than the Small-pox.—From the 16th of June to the 28th of July, we were pestered with the Enemy; sometimes with their Flags, demanding Conferences; at other Times threatening, then soothing, and offering their Cordial Advice, for us to evacuate the Place; for that they, the Delawares, tho’ our dear Friends and Brothers, could no longer protect us from the Fury of Legions of other Nations, that were coming from the Lakes, &c., to destroy us. But, finding that neither had any Effect on us, they mustered their whole force, in Number about 400, and began a most furious Fire from all Quarters on the Fort, which they continued for four Days, and great Part of the Nights, viz., from the 28th of July to the last.—Our Commander was wounded by an Arrow in the Leg, and no other Person, of any Note, hurt, tho’ the Balls were whistling very thick about our Ears. Nine Rank and File wounded, and one Hulings having his Leg broke, was the whole of our Loss during this hot Firing; tho’ we have Reason to think that we killed several of our loving Brethren, notwithstanding their Alertness in skulking behind the Banks of the Rivers, &c.—These Gentry, seeing they could not take the Fort, sheered off and we heard no more of them till the Account of the above Engagements came to hand, when we were convinced that our good Brothers did us this second Act of Friendship.—What they intend next, God knows, but am afraid they will disperse in small Parties, among the Inhabitants, if not well defended.”

[320] Extract from a MS. Letter—Sir J. Amherst to Colonel Bouquet:—

“New York, 31st August, 1763.

“The Disposition you made for the Reception of the Indians, the Second Day, was indeed very wisely Concerted, and as happily Executed; I am pleased with Every part of your Conduct on the Occasion, which being so well seconded by the Officers and Soldiers under your Command, Enabled you not only to Protect your Large Convoy, but to rout a Body of Savages that would have been very formidable against any Troops but such as you had with you.”

[321] MS. Minutes of Conference with the Six Nations and others, at Johnson Hall, Sept. 1763. Letters of Sir William Johnson.

[322] MS. Harrisburg Papers.

[323] Extract from a MS. Letter—Sir W. Johnson to Sir J. Amherst:—

“Johnson Hall, July 8th, 1763.

“I Cannot Conclude without Representing to Your Excellency the great Panic and uneasiness into which the Inhabitants of these parts are cast, which I have endeavored to Remove by every Method in my power, to prevent their Abandoning their Settlements from their apprehensions of the Indians: As they in General Confide much in my Residence, they are hitherto Prevented from taking that hasty Measure, but should I be Obliged to retire (which I hope will not be the case), not only my Own Tenants, who are upwards of 120 Families, but all the Rest would Immediately follow the Example, which I am Determined against doing ’till the last Extremity, as I know it would prove of general bad Consequence.”

[324] Penn. Gaz. No. 1809.

[325] MS. Letter—Amherst to Egremont, October 13. Two anonymous letters from officers at Fort Niagara, September 16 and 17. Life of Mary Jemison, Appendix. MS. Johnson Papers.

One of the actors in the tragedy, a Seneca warrior, named Blacksnake, was living a few years since at a very advanced age. He described the scene with great animation to a friend of the writer; and, as he related how the English were forced over the precipice, his small eyes glittered like those of the serpent whose name he bore.

Extract from a Letter—Niagara, September 16 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1815):

“On the first hearing of the Firing by the Convoy, Capt. Johnston, and three Subalterns, marched with about 80 Men, mostly of Gage’s Light Infantry, who were in a little Camp adjacent; they had scarce Time to form when the Indians appeared at the above Pass; our People fired briskly upon them, but was instantly surrounded, and the Captain who commanded mortally wounded the first Fire; the 3 Subalterns also were soon after killed, on which a general Confusion ensued. The Indians rushed in on all Sides and cut about 60 or 70 Men in Pieces, including the Convoy: Ten of our Men are all we can yet learn have made their Escape; they came here through the Woods Yesterday. From many Circumstances, it is believed the Senecas have a chief Hand in this Affair.”

Extract from a Letter—Niagara, September 17 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1815):

“Wednesday the 14th Inst. a large Body of Indians, some say 300, others 4 or 500, came down upon the Carrying-Place, attacked the Waggon Escort, which consisted of a Serjeant and 24 Men. This small Body immediately became a Sacrifice, only two Waggoners escaped. Two Companies of Light Infantry (the General’s and La Hunt’s), that were encamped at the Lower Landing, hearing the Fire, instantly rushed out to their Relief, headed by Lieuts. George Campbell, and Frazier, Lieutenant Rosco, of the Artillery, and Lieutenant Deaton, of the Provincials; this Party had not marched above a Mile and Half when they were attacked, surrounded, and almost every Man cut to Pieces; the Officers were all killed, it is reported, on the Enemy’s first Fire; the Savages rushed down upon them in three Columns.”

[326] MS. Diary of an officer in Wilkins’s Expedition against the Indians at Detroit.

[327] “I have often seen them get up early in the morning at this season, walk hastily out, and look anxiously to the woods, and snuff the autumnal winds with the highest rapture; then return into the house, and cast a quick and attentive look at the rifle, which was always suspended to a joist by a couple of buck’s horns, or little forks. His hunting dog, understanding the intentions of his master, would wag his tail, and, by every blandishment in his power, express his readiness to accompany him to the woods.”—Doddridge, Notes on Western Va. and Pa., 124.

For a view of the state of the frontier, see also Kercheval, Hist. of the Valley of Virginia; and Smyth, Travels in America.

[328] For an account of the population of Pennsylvania, see Rupp’s two histories of York and Lancaster, and of Lebanon and Berks Counties. See also the History of Cumberland County, and the Penn. Hist. Coll.

[329] “There are many Letters in Town, in which the Distresses of the Frontier Inhabitants are set forth in a most moving and striking Manner; but as these Letters are pretty much the same, and it would be endless to insert the whole, the following is the Substance of some of them, as near as we can recollect, viz.:—

“That the Indians had set Fire to Houses, Barns, Corn, Hay, and, in short, to every Thing that was combustible, so that the whole Country seemed to be in one general Blaze—That the Miseries and Distresses of the poor People were really shocking to Humanity, and beyond the Power of Language to describe—That Carlisle was become the Barrier, not a single Individual being beyond it—That every Stable and Hovel in the Town was crowded with miserable Refugees, who were reduced to a State of Beggary and Despair; their Houses, Cattle and Harvest destroyed; and from a plentiful, independent People, they were become real Objects of Charity and Commiseration—That it was most dismal to see the Streets filled with People, in whose Countenances might be discovered a Mixture of Grief, Madness and Despair; and to hear, now and then, the Sighs and Groans of Men, the disconsolate Lamentations of Women, and the Screams of Children, who had lost their nearest and dearest Relatives: And that on both Sides of the Susquehannah, for some Miles, the Woods were filled with poor Families, and their Cattle, who make Fires, and live like the Savages.”—Penn. Gaz. No. 1805.

Extract from a MS. Letter, signature erased—Staunton, July 26:—

“Since the reduction of the Regiment, I have lived in the country, which enables me to enform yr Ho^nr of some particulars, I think it is a duty incumbent on me to do. I can assert that in eight years’ service, I never knew such a general consternation as the late irruption of Indians has occasioned. Should they make a second attempt, I am assured the country will be laid desolate, which I attribute to the following reasons. The sudden, great, and unexpected slaughter of the people; their being destitute of arms and ammunition; the country Lieut. being at a distance and not exerting himself, his orders are neglected; the most of the militia officers being unfit persons, or unwilling, not to say afraid to meet an Enemy; too busy with their harvest to run a risk in the field. The Inhabitants left without protection, without a person to stead them, have nothing to do but fly, as the Indians are saving and caressing all the negroes they take; should it produce an insurrection, it may be attended with the most serious consequences.”

[330] “To Col. Francis Lee, or, in his Absence, to the next Commanding Officer in Loudoun County.” (Penn. Gaz. No. 1805).

“I examined the Express that brought this Letter from Winchester to Loudoun County, and he informed me that he was employed as an Express from Fort Cumberland to Winchester, which Place he left the 4^th Instant, and that passing from the Fort to Winchester, he saw lying on the Road a Woman, who had been just scalped, and was then in the Agonies of Death, with her Brains hanging over her Skull; his Companions made a Proposal to knock her on the Head, to put an End to her Agony, but this Express apprehending the Indians were near at Hand, and not thinking it safe to lose any Time, rode off, and left the poor Woman in the Situation they found her.”

The circumstances referred to in the text are mentioned in several pamphlets of the day, on the authority of James Smith, a prominent leader of the rangers.

[331] Her absence was soon perceived, on which one of the Indians remarked that he would bring the cow back to her calf, and, seizing the child, forced it to scream violently. This proving ineffectual, he dashed out its brains against a tree. This was related by one of the captives who was taken to the Indian villages and afterwards redeemed.

[332] Doddridge, Notes, 221. MS. Narrative, written by Colonel Stuart from the relation of Glendenning’s wife.

[333] Gordon, Hist. Penn. Appendix. Bard, Narrative.

“Several small parties went on to different parts of the settlements: it happened that three of them, whom I was well acquainted with, came from the neighborhood of where I was taken from—they were young fellows, perhaps none of them more than twenty years of age,—they came to a school-house, where they murdered and scalped the master, and all the scholars, except one, who survived after he was scalped, a boy about ten years old, and a full cousin of mine. I saw the Indians when they returned home with the scalps; some of the old Indians were very much displeased at them for killing so many children, especially Neeppaugh-whese, or Night Walker, an old chief, or half king,—he ascribed it to cowardice, which was the greatest affront he could offer them.”—M’Cullough, Narrative.

Extract from an anonymous Letter—Philadelphia, August 30, 1764:

“The Lad found alive in the School, and said to be since dead, is, I am informed, yet alive, and in a likely Way to recover.”

[334] Extract from a MS. Letter—Thomas Cresap to Governor Sharpe:—

“Old Town, July 15th, 1763.

“May it please y^r Excellency:

“I take this opportunity in the height of confusion to acquaint you with our unhappy and most wretched situation at this time, being in hourly expectation of being massacred by our barbarous and inhuman enemy the Indians, we having been three days successively attacked by them, viz. the 13th, 14th, and this instant.... I have enclosed a list of the desolate men and women, and children who have fled to my house, which is enclosed by a small stockade for safety, by which you see what a number of poor souls, destitute of every necessary of life, are here penned up, and likely to be butchered without immediate relief and assistance, and can expect none, unless from the province to which they belong. I shall submit to your wiser judgment the best and most effectual method for such relief, and shall conclude with hoping we shall have it in time.”

Extract from a Letter—Frederick Town, July 19, 1763 (Penn. Gaz. No. 1807):—

“Every Day, for some Time past, has offered the melancholy Scene of poor distressed Families driving downwards, through this Town, with their Effects, who have deserted their Plantations, for Fear of falling into the cruel Hands of our Savage Enemies, now daily seen in the Woods. And never was Panic more general or forcible than that of the Back Inhabitants, whose Terrors, at this Time, exceed what followed on the Defeat of General Braddock, when the Frontiers lay open to the Incursions of both French and Indians.”

[335] Extract from a Letter—Winchester, Virginia, June 22d (Penn. Gaz. No. 1801):—

“Last Night I reached this Place. I have been at Fort Cumberland several Days, but the Indians having killed nine People, and burnt several Houses near Fort Bedford, made me think it prudent to remove from those Parts, from which, I suppose, near 500 Families have run away within this week.—I assure you it was a most melancholy Sight, to see such Numbers of poor People, who had abandoned their Settlements in such Consternation and Hurry, that they had hardly any thing with them but their Children. And what is still worse, I dare say there is not Money enough amongst the whole Families to maintain a fifth Part of them till the Fall; and none of the poor Creatures can get a Hovel to shelter them from the Weather, but lie about scattered in the Woods.”

[336] Votes of Assembly, V. 259.

[337] Extract from a MS. Letter—John Elder to Governor Penn:—

“Paxton, 4th August, 1763.

“Sir:

“The service your Hon^r was pleased to appoint me to, I have performed to the best of my power; tho’ not with success equal to my desires. However, both companies will, I imagine, be complete in a few days: there are now upwards of 30 men in each, exclusive of officers, who are now and have been employed since their enlistment in such service as is thought most safe and encouraging to the Frontier inhabitants, who are here and everywhere else in the back countries quite sunk and dispirited, so that it’s to be feared that on any attack of the enemy, a considerable part of the country will be evacuated, as all seem inclinable to seek safety rather in flight than in opposing the Savage Foe.”

[338] Sparks, Writings of Washington, II. 340.

[339] Petition of the Inhabitants of the Great Cove. Smith, Narrative. This is a highly interesting account of the writer’s captivity among the Indians, and his adventures during several succeeding years. In the war of the Revolution, he acted the part of a zealous patriot. He lived until the year 1812, about which time, the western Indians having broken out into hostility, he gave his country the benefit of his ample experience, by publishing a treatise on the Indian mode of warfare. In Kentucky, where he spent the latter part of his life, he was much respected, and several times elected to the legislature. This narrative may be found in Drake’s Tragedies of the Wilderness, and in several other similar collections.

[340] Penn. Gaz. No. 1811.

[341] Penn. Gaz. Nos. 1816-1818. MS. Letter—Graydon to Bird, October 12.

[342] Extract from a MS. Letter—Paxton, October 23:—

“The woman was roasted, and had two hinges in her hands, supposed to be put in red hot, and several of the men had awls thrust into their eyes, and spears, arrows, pitchforks, etc., sticking in their bodies.”

[343] MS. Elder Papers. Chapman, Hist. Wyoming, 70. Miner, Hist. Wyoming, 56.

[344] It has already been stated that the Quakers were confined to the eastern parts of the province. That their security was owing to their local situation, rather than to the kind feeling of the Indians towards them, is shown by the fact, that, of the very few of their number who lived in exposed positions, several were killed. One of them in particular, John Fincher, seeing his house about to be attacked, went out to meet the warriors, declared that he was a Quaker, and begged for mercy. The Indians laughed, and struck him dead with a tomahawk.

[345] MS. Gage Papers.

Extract from a MS. Letter—William Smith, Jr., to ——:

“New York, 22d Nov. 1763.

“Is not Mr. Amherst the happiest of men to get out of this Trouble so seasonably? At last he was obliged to submit, to give the despised Indians so great a mark of his Consideration, as to confess he could not defend us, and to make a requisition of 1400 Provincials by the Spring—600 more he demands from New Jersey. Our People refused all but a few for immediate Defence, conceiving that all the Northern Colonies ought to contribute equally, and upon an apprehension that he has called for too insufficient an aid....

“Is not Gage to be pitied? The war will be a tedious one, nor can it be glorious, even tho’ attended with Success. Instead of decisive Battles, woodland skirmishes—instead of Colours and Cannon, our Trophies will be stinking scalps.—Heaven preserve you, my Friend, from a War conducted by a spirit of Murder rather than of brave and generous offence.”

[346] MS. Letter—Gage to Johnson, Dec. 25, 1763. Penn. Gaz. No. 1827.

[347] MS. Lettre de M. Neyon de la ValliÈre, À tous les nations de la Belle RiviÈre et du Lac, etc.

[348] The following is Pontiac’s message to Gladwyn, written for him by a Canadian: “Mon FrÈre,—La Parole que mon PÈre m’a envoyÉe, pour faire la paix, je l’ai acceptÉe, tous nos jeunes gens ont enterrÉ leurs Casse-tÊtes. Je pense que tu oublieras les mauvaises choses qui sont passÉes il y a longtemps; de mÊme j’oublierai ce que tu peux m’avoir fait pour ne penser que de bonnes, moi, les Saulteurs (Ojibwas), les Hurons, nous devons t’aller parler quand tu nous demanderas. Fais moi la rÉponse. Je t’envoyes ce conseil (Q. collier?) afin que tu le voyes. Si tu es bien comme moi, tu me feras rÉponse. Je te souhaite le bonjour.

(SignÉ) “Pondiac.”

Gladwyn’s answer is also in French. He says that he will communicate the message to the General; and doubts not that if he, Pontiac, is true to his words, all will be well.

The following is from the letter in which Gladwyn announces the overtures of peace to Amherst (Detroit, Nov. 1): “Yesterday M. Dequindre, a volunteer, arrived with despatches from the Commandant of the Illinois, copies of which I enclose you.... The Indians are pressing for peace.... I don’t imagine there will be any danger of their breaking out again, provided some examples are made of our good subjects, the French, who set them on.... They have lost between 80 and 90 of their best warriors; but if y^r Excellency still intends to punish them further for their barbarities, it may easily be done without any expense to the Crown, by permitting a free sale of rum, which will destroy them more effectually than fire and sword.”

[349] Extract from a MS. Letter—Sir W. Johnson to ——:

“For God’s Sake exert yourselves like Men whose Honour & every thing dear to them is now at stake; the General has great Expectations from the success of your Party, & indeed so have all People here, & I hope they will not be mistaken,—in Order to Encourage your party I will, out of my own Pocket, pay to any of the Party 50 Dollars for the Head Men of the Delawares there, viz., Onuperaquedra, and 50 Dollars more for the Head of Long Coat, alias ——, in which case they must either bring them alive or their whole Heads; the Money shall be paid to the Man who takes or brings me them, or their Heads,—this I would have you tell to the Head men of the Party, as it will make them more eager.”

[350] MS. Johnson Papers.

[351] Extract from a MS. Letter—George Croghan to the Board of Trade:

“They can with great ease enter our colonies, and cut off our frontier settlements, and thereby lay waste a large tract of country, which indeed they have effected in the space of four months, in Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and the Jerseys, on whose frontiers they have killed and captivated not less than two thousand of his Majesty’s subjects, and drove some thousands to beggary and the greatest distress, besides burning to the ground nine forts or blockhouses in the country, and killing a number of his Majesty’s troops and traders.”

[352] Extract from the Declaration of Lazarus Stewart:—

“Did we not brave the summer’s heat and the winter’s cold, and the savage tomahawk, while the Inhabitants of Philadelphia, Philadelphia county, Bucks, and Chester, ‘ate, drank, and were merry’?

“If a white man kill an Indian, it is a murder far exceeding any crime upon record; he must not be tried in the county where he lives, or where the offence was committed, but in Philadelphia, that he may be tried, convicted, sentenced and hung without delay. If an Indian kill a white man, it was the act of an ignorant Heathen, perhaps in liquor; alas, poor innocent! he is sent to the friendly Indians that he may be made a Christian.”

[353] And when the Lord thy God shall deliver them before thee, thou shalt smite them, and utterly destroy them; thou shalt make no covenant with them, nor show mercy unto them.”—Deuteronomy, vii. 2.

[354] So promising a theme has not escaped the notice of novelists, and it has been adopted by Dr. Bird in his spirited story of Nick of the Woods.

[355] See Appendix, E.

[356] For an account of the Conestoga Indians, see Penn. Hist. Coll. 390. It is extremely probable, as shown by Mr. Shea, that they were the remnant of the formidable people called Andastes, who spoke a dialect of the Iroquois, but were deadly enemies of the Iroquois proper, or Five Nations, by whom they were nearly destroyed about the year 1672.

[357] On one occasion, a body of Indians approached Paxton on Sunday, and sent forward one of their number, whom the English supposed to be a friend, to reconnoitre. The spy reported that every man in the church, including the preacher, had a rifle at his side; upon which the enemy withdrew, and satisfied themselves with burning a few houses in the neighborhood. The papers of Mr. Elder were submitted to the writer’s examination by his son, an aged and esteemed citizen of Harrisburg.

[358] The above account of the massacre is chiefly drawn from the narrative of Matthew Smith himself. This singular paper was published by Mr. Redmond Conyngham, of Lancaster, in the Lancaster Intelligencer for 1843. Mr. Conyngham states that he procured it from the son of Smith, for whose information it had been written. The account is partially confirmed by incidental allusions, in a letter written by another of the Paxton men, and also published by Mr. Conyngham. This gentleman employed himself with most unwearied diligence in collecting a voluminous mass of documents, comprising, perhaps, every thing that could contribute to extenuate the conduct of the Paxton men; and to these papers, as published from time to time in the above-mentioned newspaper, reference will often be made.

[359] Haz. Pa. Reg. IX. 114.

[360] Papers published by Mr. Conyngham in the Lancaster Intelligencer.

[361] This anecdote was told to the writer by the son of Mr. Elder, and is also related by Mr. Conyngham.

[362] Deposition of Felix Donolly, keeper of Lancaster jail. Declaration of Lazarus Stewart, published by Mr. Conyngham. Rupp, Hist. of York and Lancaster Counties, 358. Heckewelder, Narrative of Moravian Missions, 79. See Appendix, E.

Soon after the massacre, Franklin published an account of it at Philadelphia, which, being intended to strengthen the hands of government by exciting a popular sentiment against the rioters, is more rhetorical than accurate. The following is his account of the consummation of the act:—

“When the poor wretches saw they had no protection nigh, nor could possibly escape, they divided into their little families, the children clinging to the parents; they fell on their knees, protested their innocence, declared their love to the English, and that, in their whole lives, they had never done them injury; and in this posture they all received the hatchet!”

This is a pure embellishment of the fancy. The only persons present were the jailer and the rioters themselves, who unite in testifying that the Indians died with the stoicism which their race usually exhibit under such circumstances; and indeed, so sudden was the act, that there was no time for enacting the scene described by Franklin.

[363] Extract from a MS. Letter—Edward Shippen to Governor Penn:—

“Lancaster, 27th Dec., 1763, P. M.

“Honoured Sir:—

“I am to acquaint your Honour that between two and three of the Clock this afternoon, upwards of a hundred armed men from the Westward rode very fast into Town, turned their Horses into Mr. Slough’s (an Innkeeper’s) yard, and proceeded with the greatest precipitation to the Work-House, stove open the door and killed all the Indians, and then took to their Horses and rode off: all their business was done, & they were returning to their Horses before I could get halfway down to the Work-House. The Sheriff and Coroner however, and several others, got down as soon as the rioters, but could not prevail with them to stop their hands. Some people say they heard them declare they would proceed to the Province Island, & destroy the Indians there.”

[364] Extract from a MS. Letter—John Hay, the sheriff, to Governor Penn:—

“They in a body left the town without offering any insults to the Inhabitants, & without putting it in the power of any one to take or molest any of them without danger of life to the person attempting it; of which both myself and the Coroner, by our opposition, were in great danger.”

[365] Extract from a Letter—Rev. Mr. Elder to Colonel Burd:—

“Paxton, 1764.

“Lazarus Stewart is still threatened by the Philadelphia party; he and his friends talk of leaving—if they do, the province will lose some of their truest friends, and that by the faults of others, not their own; for if any cruelty was practised on the Indians at Conestogue or at Lancaster, it was not by his, or their hands. There is a great reason to believe that much injustice has been done to all concerned. In the contrariness of accounts, we must infer that much rests for support on the imagination or interest of the witness. The characters of Stewart and his friends were well established. Ruffians nor brutal they were not; humane, liberal and moral, nay, religious. It is evidently not the wish of the party to give Stewart a fair hearing. All he desires, is to be put on trial, at Lancaster, near the scenes of the horrible butcheries, committed by the Indians at Tulpehocken, &c., when he can have the testimony of the Scouts or Rangers, men whose services can never be sufficiently rewarded.”

[366] Papers published by Mr. Conyngham.

Extract from the Declaration of Lazarus Stewart:—

“What I have done was done for the security of hundreds of settlers on the frontiers. The blood of a thousand of my fellow-creatures called for vengeance. As a Ranger, I sought the post of danger, and now you ask my life. Let me be tried where prejudice has not prejudged my case. Let my brave Rangers, who have stemmed the blast nobly, and never flinched; let them have an equitable trial; they were my friends in the hour of danger—to desert them now were cowardice! What remains is to leave our cause with our God, and our guns.”

[367] Loskiel, Hist. Moravian Missions, Part II. 211.

[368] MS. Letter—Bernard Grube to Governor Hamilton, Oct. 13.

[369] Votes of Assembly, V. 284.

[370] Loskiel, Hist. Moravian Missions, Part II. 214. Heckewelder, Narrative of Missions, 75.

[371] Loskiel, Part II. 216.

[372] Remonstrance of the Frontier People to the Governor and Assembly. See Votes of Assembly, V. 313.

The “Declaration,” which accompanied the “Remonstrance,” contains the following passage: “To protect and maintain these Indians at the public expense, while our suffering brethren on the frontiers are almost destitute of the necessaries of life, and are neglected by the public, is sufficient to make us mad with rage, and tempt us to do what nothing but the most violent necessity can vindicate.”

See Appendix, E.

[373] MS Elder Papers

The following verses are extracted from a poem, published at Philadelphia, by a partisan of the Paxton men, entitled,

“The Cloven Foot Discovered

“Go on, good Christians, never spare
To give your Indians Clothes to wear,
Send ’em good Beef, and Pork, and Bread,
Guns, Powder, Flints, and Store of Lead,
To Shoot your Neighbours through the Head,
Devoutly then, make Affirmation,
You’re Friends to George and British Nation,
Encourage ev’ry friendly Savage,
To murder, burn, destroy, and ravage,
Fathers and Mothers here maintain,
Whose Sons add Numbers to the slain,
Of Scotch and Irish let them kill
As many Thousands as they will,
That you may lord it o’er the Land,
And have the whole and sole command.”

[374] This incident occurred during the French war, and is thus described by a Quaker eye-witness: “Some of the dead bodies were brought to Philadelphia in a wagon, in the time of the General Meeting of Friends there in December, with intent to animate the people to unite in preparations for war on the Indians. They were carried along the streets—many people following—cursing the Indians, and also the Quakers, because they would not join in war for their destruction. The sight of the dead bodies, and the outcry of the people, were very afflicting and shocking”—Watson, Annals of Phil 449 (Phil 1830).

[375] See Gordon, Hist. Penn. Chaps. XII.-XVIII.

[376] Loskiel, Part II. 218.

[377] MS. Letter—Penn to Gage, Dec. 31.

[378] Votes of Assembly, V. 293.

[379] Extract from a MS. Letter—Governor Penn to Governor Colden:—

“Philadelphia, 5th January, 1764.

“Satisfied of the advantages arising from this measure, I have sent them thro’ Jersey and your Government to Sir W. Johnson, & desire you will favour them with your protection and countenance, & give them the proper passes for their journey to Sir William’s Seat.

“I have recommended it, in the most pressing terms, to the Assembly, to form a Bill that shall enable me to apprehend these seditious and barbarous Murderers, & to quell the like insurrections for the future.”

[380] Loskiel, Part II. 220. Heckewelder, Narrative, 81.

[381] Extract from a MS. Letter—Thomas Apty to Governor Penn:—

“Sir:—

“Agreeable to your Honour’s orders, I passed on through the Province of New Jersey, in order to take the Indians under my care into New York; but no sooner was I ready to move from Amboy with the Indians under my care, than I was greatly surpriz’d & embarrass’d with express orders from the Governor of New York sent to Amboy, strictly forbidding the bringing of these poor Indians into his Province, & charging all his ferrymen not to let them pass.”

[382] Letters to Governor Penn from General Gage, Governor Franklin of New Jersey, and Governor Colden of New York. See Votes of Assembly, V. 300-302. The plan was afterwards revived, at the height of the alarm caused by the march of the rioters on Philadelphia; and Penn wrote to Johnson, on the seventh of February, begging an asylum for the Indians. Johnson acquiesced, and wrote to Lieutenant-Governor Colden in favor of the measure, which, however, was never carried into effect. Johnson’s letters express much sympathy with the sufferers.

[383] For indications of the state of feeling among the Presbyterians, see the numerous partisan pamphlets of the day. See also Appendix, E.

[384] Gordon, Hist. Penn. 406. Penn. Gaz. No. 1833.

[385] Haz. Pa. Reg. XII. 10.

[386] Loskiel, Part II. 223.

[387] Historical Account of the Late Disturbances, 4.

[388] Haz. Pa. Reg. XII. 11. Memoirs of a Life passed chiefly in Pennsylvania, 39. Heckewelder, Narrative, 85. Loskiel, Part II., 223. Sparks, Writings of Franklin, VII. 293.

The best remaining account of these riots will be found under the first authority cited above. It consists of a long letter, written in a very animated strain, by a Quaker to his friend, containing a detailed account of what passed in the city from the first alarm of the rioters to the conclusion of the affair. The writer, though a Quaker, is free from the prejudices of his sect, nor does he hesitate to notice the inconsistency of his brethren appearing in arms. See Appendix, E.

The scene before the barracks, and the narrow escape of the German butchers, was made the subject of several poems and farces, written by members of the Presbyterian faction, to turn their opponents into ridicule; for which, indeed, the subject offered tempting facilities.

[389] Haz. Pa. Reg. XII. 11.

[390] Haz. Pa. Reg. XII. 12.

[391] This statement is made in “The Quaker Unmasked,” and other Presbyterian pamphlets of the day; and the Quakers, in their elaborate replies to these publications, do not attempt to deny the fact.

[392] Sparks, Writings of Franklin, VII. 293.

[393] Barton, Memoirs of Rittenhouse, 148. Rupp, Hist. York and Lancaster Counties, 362.

[394] David Rittenhouse, in one of his letters, speaks with great horror of the enormities committed by the Paxton Boys, and enumerates various particulars of their conduct. See Barton, Mem. of Rittenhouse, 148.

[395] “Whether the Paxton men were ‘more sinned against than sinning,’ was a question which was agitated with so much ardor and acrimony, that even the schoolboys became warmly engaged in the contest. For my own part, though of the religious sect which had been long warring with the Quakers, I was entirely on the side of humanity and public duty, (or in this do I beg the question?) and perfectly recollect my indignation at the sentiments of one of the ushers who was on the opposite side. His name was Davis, and he was really a kind, good-natured man; yet from the dominion of his religious or political prejudices, he had been led to apologize for, if not to approve of an outrage, which was a disgrace to a civilized people. He had been among the riflemen on their coming into the city, and, talking with them upon the subject of the Lancaster massacre, and particularly of the killing of Will Sock, the most distinguished of the victims, related with an air of approbation, this rodomontade of the real or pretended murderer. ‘I,’ said he, ‘am the man who killed Will Sock—this is the arm that stabbed him to the heart, and I glory in it.’”—Memoirs of a Life chiefly passed in Pennsylvania, 40.

[396] “Persons who were intimate now scarcely speak; or, if they happen to meet and converse, presently get to quarrelling. In short, harmony and love seem to be banished from amongst us.”

The above is an extract from the letter so often referred to. A fragment of the “Paxtoniad,” one of the poems of the day, is given in the Appendix. Few of the party pamphlets are worth quoting, but the titles of some of them will give an idea of their character: The Quaker Unmasked—A Looking-Glass for Presbyterians—A Battle of Squirt—Plain Truth—Plain Truth found to be Plain Falsehood—The Author of Plain Truth Stripped Stark Naked—Clothes for a Stark Naked Author—The Squabble, a Pastoral Eclogue—etc., etc.

The pamphlet called Plain Truth drew down the especial indignation of the Quakers, and the following extract from one of their replies to it may serve as a fair specimen of the temper of the combatants: “But how came you to give your piece the Title of Plain Truth; if you had called it downright Lies, it would have agreed better with the Contents; the Title therefore is a deception, and the contents manifestly false: in short, I have carefully examined it, and find in it no less than 17 Positive Lies, and 10 false Insinuations contained in 15 pages, Monstrous, and from what has been said must conclude that when you wrote it, Truth was banished entirely from you, and that you wrote it with a truly Pious Lying P——n Spirit, which appears in almost every Line!”

The peaceful society of Friends found among its ranks more than one such champion as the ingenious writer of the above. Two collections of these pamphlets have been examined, one preserved in the City Library of Philadelphia, and the other in that of the New York Historical Society.

[397] See Appendix, E.

[398] Loskiel, Part II. 231.

[399] MS. Johnson Papers.

[400] “The three companies of Royal Americans were reduced when I met them at Lancaster to 55 men, having lost 38 by desertion in my short absence. I look upon Sir Jeffrey Amherst’s Orders forbidding me to continue to discharge as usual the men whose time of service was expired, and keeping us for seven years in the Woods,—as the occasion of this unprecedented desertion. The encouragement given everywhere in this Country to deserters, screened almost by every person, must in time ruin the Army, unless the Laws against Harbourers are better enforced by the American (provincial) government.”—Bouquet to Gage, 20 June, 1764.

[401] In the correspondence of General Wolfe, recently published in Tait’s Magazine, this distinguished officer speaks in high terms of Bradstreet’s military character. His remarks, however, have reference solely to the capture of Fort Frontenac; and he seems to have derived his impressions from the public prints, as he had no personal knowledge of Bradstreet. The view expressed above is derived from the letters of Bradstreet himself, from the correspondence of General Gage and Sir William Johnson, and from a MS. paper containing numerous details of his conduct during the campaign of 1764, and drawn up by the officers who served under him.

This paper is in the possession of Mrs. W. L. Stone.

[402] Henry, Travels and Adventures, 171.

The method of invoking the spirits, described above, is a favorite species of imposture among the medicine men of most Algonquin tribes, and had been observed and described a century and a half before the period of this history. Champlain, the founder of Canada, witnessed one of these ceremonies; and the Jesuit Le Jeune gives an account of a sorcerer, who, having invoked a spirit in this manner, treacherously killed him with a hatchet; the mysterious visitant having assumed a visible and tangible form, which exposed him to the incidents of mortality. During these invocations, the lodge or tabernacle was always observed to shake violently to and fro, in a manner so remarkable as exceedingly to perplex the observers. The variety of discordant sounds, uttered by the medicine man, need not surprise us more than those accurate imitations of the cries of various animals, to which Indian hunters are accustomed to train their strong and flexible voices.

[403] MS. Johnson Papers.

The following extract from Henry’s Travels will exhibit the feelings with which the Indians came to the conference at Niagara, besides illustrating a curious feature of their superstitions. Many tribes, including some widely differing in language and habits, regard the rattlesnake with superstitious veneration; looking upon him either as a manitou, or spirit, or as a creature endowed with mystic powers and attributes, giving him an influence over the fortunes of mankind. Henry accompanied his Indian companions to Niagara; and, on the way, he chanced to discover one of these snakes near their encampment:—

“The reptile was coiled, and its head raised considerably above its body. Had I advanced another step before my discovery, I must have trodden upon it.

“I no sooner saw the snake, than I hastened to the canoe, in order to procure my gun; but the Indians, observing what I was doing, inquired the occasion, and, being informed, begged me to desist. At the same time, they followed me to the spot, with their pipes and tobacco-pouches in their hands. On returning, I found the snake still coiled.

“The Indians, on their part, surrounded it, all addressing it by turns, and calling it their grandfather, but yet keeping at some distance. During this part of the ceremony, they filled their pipes; and now each blew the smoke toward the snake, who, as it appeared to me, really received it with pleasure. In a word, after remaining coiled, and receiving incense, for the space of half an hour, it stretched itself along the ground, in visible good humor. Its length was between four and five feet. Having remained outstretched for some time, at last it moved slowly away, the Indians following it, and still addressing it by the title of grandfather, beseeching it to take care of their families during their absence, and to be pleased to open the heart of Sir William Johnson, so that he might show them charity, and fill their canoe with rum.

“One of the chiefs added a petition, that the snake would take no notice of the insult which had been offered him by the Englishman, who would even have put him to death, but for the interference of the Indians, to whom it was hoped he would impute no part of the offence. They further requested, that he would remain, and not return among the English; that is, go eastward.

“After the rattlesnake was gone, I learned that this was the first time that an individual of the species had been seen so far to the northward and westward of the River Des FranÇais; a circumstance, moreover, from which my companions were disposed to infer, that this manito had come, or been sent, on purpose to meet them; that his errand had been no other than to stop them on their way; and that consequently it would be most advisable to return to the point of departure. I was so fortunate, however, as to prevail with them to embark; and at six o’clock in the evening we again encamped.

“Early the next morning we proceeded. We had a serene sky and very little wind, and the Indians therefore determined on steering across the lake, to an island which just appeared in the horizon; saving, by this course, a distance of thirty miles, which would be lost in keeping the shore. At nine o’clock A. M. we had a light breeze, to enjoy the benefit of which we hoisted sail. Soon after, the wind increased, and the Indians, beginning to be alarmed, frequently called on the rattlesnake to come to their assistance. By degrees the waves grew high; and at eleven o’clock it blew a hurricane, and we expected every moment to be swallowed up. From prayers, the Indians proceeded now to sacrifices, both alike offered to the god-rattlesnake, or manito-kinibic. One of the chiefs took a dog, and after tying its fore legs together, threw it overboard, at the same time calling on the snake to preserve us from being drowned, and desiring him to satisfy his hunger with the carcass of the dog. The snake was unpropitious, and the wind increased. Another chief sacrificed another dog, with the addition of some tobacco. In the prayer which accompanied these gifts, he besought the snake, as before, not to avenge upon the Indians the insult which he had received from myself, in the conception of a design to put him to death. He assured the snake that I was absolutely an Englishman, and of kin neither to him nor to them.

“At the conclusion of this speech, an Indian, who sat near me, observed, that if we were drowned it would be for my fault alone, and that I ought myself to be sacrificed, to appease the angry manito; nor was I without apprehensions, that, in case of extremity, this would be my fate; but, happily for me, the storm at length abated, and we reached the island safely.”—Henry, Travels, 175.

[404] Articles of Peace concluded with the Senecas, at Fort Niagara, July 18, 1764, MS.

[405] MS. Johnson Papers. MS. Minutes of Conference with the chiefs and warriors of the Ottawas and Menomonies at Fort Niagara, July 20, 1764. The extracts given above are copied verbatim from the original record.

[406] Henry, Travels, 183.

[407] Every article in a treaty must be confirmed by a belt of wampum; otherwise it is void. Mante, the historian of the French war, asserts that they brought four belts. But this is contradicted in contemporary letters, including several of General Gage and Sir William Johnson. Mante accompanied Bradstreet’s expedition with the rank of major; and he is a zealous advocate of his commander, whom he seeks to defend, at the expense both of Colonel Bouquet and General Gage.

[408] Preliminary Treaty between Colonel Bradstreet and the Deputies of the Delawares and Shawanoes, concluded at L’Ance aux Feuilles, on Lake Erie, August 12, 1764, MS.

[409] MS. Letter—Gage to Bradstreet, Sept. 2:—

Bradstreet’s instructions directed him to offer peace to such tribes as should make their submission. “To offer peace,” writes Gage, “I think can never be construed a power to conclude and dictate the articles of peace, and you certainly know that no such power could with propriety be lodged in any person but in Sir William Johnson, his majesty’s sole agent and superintendent for Indian affairs.”

[410] Extract from a MS. Letter—Gage to Bradstreet, Sept. 2:—

“I again repeat that I annul and disavow the peace you have made.”

The following extracts will express the opinions of Gage with respect to this affair.

MS. Letter—Gage to Bradstreet, Oct. 15:—

“They have negotiated with you on Lake Erie, and cut our throats upon the frontiers. With your letters of peace I received others, giving accounts of murders, and these acts continue to this time. Had you only consulted Colonel Bouquet, before you agreed upon any thing with them (a deference he was certainly entitled to, instead of an order to stop his march), you would have been acquainted with the treachery of those people, and not have suffered yourself to be thus deceived, and you would have saved both Colonel Bouquet and myself from the dilemma you brought us into. You concluded a peace with people who were daily murdering us.”

MS. Letter—Gage to Johnson, Sept. 4:—

“You will have received my letter of the 2d inst., enclosing you the unaccountable treaty betwixt Colonel Bradstreet and the Shawanese, Delawares, &c. On consideration of the treaty, it does not appear to me that the ten Indians therein mentioned were sent on an errand of peace. If they had, would they not have been at Niagara? or would the insolent and audacious message have been sent there in the lieu of offers of peace? Would not they have been better provided with belts on such an occasion? They give only one string of wampum. You will know this better, but it appears strange to me. They certainly came to watch the motions of the troops.”

[411] MS. Letter—Bouquet to Gage, Sept. 3.

[412] MS. Minutes of Conference between Colonel Bradstreet and the Indians of Detroit, Sept. 7, 1764. See, also, Mante, 517.

[413] MS. Letter—Johnson to the Board of Trade, Oct. 30.

[414] MS. Remarks on the Conduct of Colonel Bradstreet—found among the Johnson Papers.

See, also, an extract of a letter from Sandusky, published in several newspapers of the day.

[415] MS. Report of Captain Howard.

[416] “About the end of next month,” said the deputies to the Miamis, “we shall send you the war-hatchet.” “Doubtless,” remarks Morris, “their design was to amuse General Bradstreet with fair language, to cut off his army at Sandusky when least expected, and then to send the hatchet to the nations.”

[417] MS. Letter—Morris to Bradstreet, 18 Sept. 1764.

The journal sent by Morris to Bradstreet is in the State Paper Office of London. This journal, and the record of an examination of Morris’s Indian and Canadian attendants, made in Bradstreet’s presence at Sandusky, were the authorities on which the account in the first edition of this work was based. Morris afterwards rewrote his journal, with many additions. Returning to England after the war, he lost his property by speculations, and resolved, for the sake of his children, to solicit a pension, on the score of his embassy to the Illinois. With this view it was that the journal was rewritten; but failing to find a suitable person to lay it before the King, he resolved to print it, together with several original poems and a translation of the fourth and fourteenth satires of Juvenal. The book appeared in 1791, under the title of Miscellanies in Prose and Verse. It is very scarce. I am indebted to the kindness of Mr. S. G. Drake for the opportunity of examining it.

The two journals and the evidence before Bradstreet’s court of inquiry agree in essentials, but differ in some details. In this edition, I have followed chiefly the printed journal, borrowing some additional facts from the evidence taken before Bradstreet.

[418] “8th. His going away, leaving at Sandusky Two Jersey Soldiers, who were sent out by his Orders to Catch Fish for his Table & Five Principal Inds. who were Hunting, notwithstanding several spoke to him abt. it & begged to allow a Boat to stay an hour or two for them; his Answer was, they might stay there & be damned, not a Boat should stay one Minute for them.”—Remarks on the Conduct, etc., MS.

Another article of these charges is as follows: “His harsh treatment at Setting off to the Inds. and their officers & leaving some of them behind at every encampment from his flighty and unsettled disposition, telling them sometimes he intended encamping, on which some of the briskest Inds. went to kill some Game, on their return found the Army moved on, so were obliged to march along shore without any necessarys, and with difficulty got to Detroit half starved. At other times on being asked by the Indⁿ officers (when the Boats were crowded) how they and y^e Inds. should get along, His answer always verry ill natured, such as swim and be damned, or let them stay and be damned, &c.; all which was understood by many & gave great uneasiness.”

[419] Mante, 535.

[420] MS. Letter—Johnson to the Board of Trade, December 26.

[421] The provincial officers, to whom the command of the Indian allies was assigned, drew up a paper containing complaints against Bradstreet, and particulars of his misconduct during the expedition. This curious document, from which a few extracts have been given, was found among the private papers of Sir William Johnson.

A curious discovery, in probable connection with Bradstreet’s expedition, has lately been made public. At McMahon’s Beach, on Lake Erie, eight or ten miles west of Cleveland, a considerable number of bayonets, bullets, musket-barrels, and fragments of boats, have from time to time been washed by storms from the sands, or dug up on the adjacent shore, as well as an English silver-hilted sword, several silver spoons, and a few old French and English coins. A mound full of bones and skulls, apparently of Europeans hastily buried, has also been found at the same place. The probability is strong that these are the remains of Bradstreet’s disaster. See a paper by Dr. J. P. Kirtland, in Whittlesey’s History of Cleveland, 105.

[422] The following is an extract from the proclamation:—

“I do hereby declare and promise, that there shall be paid out of the moneys lately granted for his Majesty’s use, to all and every person and persons not in the pay of this province, the following several and respective premiums and bounties for the prisoners and scalps of the enemy Indians that shall be taken or killed within the bounds of this province, as limited by the royal charter, or in pursuit from within the said bounds; that is to say, for every male Indian enemy above ten years old, who shall be taken prisoner, and delivered at any forts garrisoned by the troops in the pay of this province, or at any of the county towns, to the keeper of the common jails there, the sum of one hundred and fifty Spanish dollars, or pieces of eight. For every female Indian enemy, taken prisoner and brought in as aforesaid, and for every male Indian enemy of ten years old or under, taken prisoner and delivered as aforesaid, the sum of one hundred and thirty pieces of eight. For the scalp of every male Indian enemy above the age of ten years, produced as evidence of their being killed, the sum of one hundred and thirty-four pieces of eight. And for the scalp of every female Indian enemy above the age of ten years, produced as evidence of their being killed, the sum of fifty pieces of eight.”

The action of such measures has recently been illustrated in the instance of New Mexico before its conquest by the Americans. The inhabitants of that country, too timorous to defend themselves against the Apaches and other tribes, who descended upon them in frequent forays from the neighboring mountains, took into pay a band of foreigners, chiefly American trappers, for whom the Apache lances had no such terrors, and, to stimulate their exertions, proclaimed a bounty on scalps. The success of the measure was judged admirable, until it was found that the unscrupulous confederates were in the habit of shooting down any Indian, whether friend or enemy, who came within range of their rifles, and that the government had been paying rewards for the scalps of its own allies and dependants.

[423] Gordon, Hist. Penn. 625. Robison, Narrative.

Extract from a MS. Letter—Sir W. Johnson to Governor Penn:—

“Burnetsfield, June 18th, 1764.

“David Owens was a Corporal in Capt. McClean’s Compy., and lay once in Garrison at my House. He deserted several times, as I am informed, & went to live among the Delaware & Shawanese, with whose language he was acquainted. His Father having been long a trader amongst them.

“The circumstances relating to his leaving the Indians have been told me by several Indians. That he went out a hunting with his Indian Wife and several of her relations, most of whom, with his Wife, he killed and scalped as they slept. As he was always much attached to Indians, I fancy he began to fear he was unsafe amongst them, & killed them rather to make his peace with the English, than from any dislike either to them or their principles.”

[424] MS. Letter—Bouquet to Amherst, 15 Sept. 1763.

[425] “If the present situation of the poor families who have abandoned their settlements, and the danger that the whole province is threatened with, can have no effect in opening the hearts of your Assembly to exert themselves like men, I am sure no arguments I could urge will be regarded.”—Amherst to Governor Hamilton, 7 July, 1763.

“The situation of this country is deplorable, and the infatuation of their government in taking the most dilatory and ineffectual measures for their protection, highly blamable. They have not paid the least regard to the plan I proposed to them on my arrival here, and will lose this and York counties if the savages push their attacks.”—Bouquet to Amherst, 13 July, 1763.

[426] MS. Letter—Robertson to Amherst, 19 July, 1763.

[427] “They have at my recommendation agreed to send to Great Britain for 50 Couples of Blood Hounds to be employed with Rangers on horse back against Indian scalping-parties, which will I hope deter more effectually the Savages from that sort of war than our troops can possibly do.”—Bouquet to Amherst, 7 June, 1764.

[428] MS. Letter—Bouquet to Amherst, 27 Aug. 1763.

[429] MS. Letter—Bouquet to Amherst, 24 Oct. 1763. In this letter, Bouquet enlarges, after a fashion which must have been singularly unpalatable to his commander, on the danger of employing regulars alone in forest warfare: “Without a certain number of woodsmen, I cannot think it advisable to employ regulars in the Woods against Savages, as they cannot procure any intelligence and are open to continual surprises, nor can they pursue to any distance their enemy when they have routed them; and should they have the misfortune to be defeated, the whole would be destroyed if above one day’s march from a Fort. That is my opinion in wh. I hope to be deceived.”

[430] MS. Letter—Bouquet to Gage, 10 Aug. 1764.

[431] MS. Letter—Bouquet to Gage, 27 Aug. 1764. He wrote to Governor Penn, as follows:—

“Fort Loudon, 27 Aug. 1764.

“Sir:

“I have the honor to transmit to you a letter from Colonel Bradstreet, who acquaints me that he has granted peace to all the Indians living between Lake Erie and the Ohio; but as no satisfaction is insisted on, I hope the General will not confirm it, and that I shall not be a witness to a transaction which would fix an indelible stain upon the Nation.

“I therefore take no notice of that pretended peace, & proceed forthwith on the expedition, fully determined to treat as enemies any Delawares or Shawanese I shall find in my way, till I receive contrary orders from the General.”

[432] MS. Letter—Bouquet to Bradstreet, 5 Sept. 1764.

[433] See p. 402, note.

[434] Captain Grant, who had commanded during the spring at Fort Pitt, had sent bad accounts of the disposition of the neighboring Indians; but added, “At this Post we defy all the Savages in the Woods. I wish they would dare appear before us.... Repairing Batteaux, ploughing, gardening, making Fences, and fetching home fire Wood goes on constantly every day, from sun rise to the setting of the same.”—Grant to Bouquet, 2 April, 1764. A small boy, captured with his mother the summer before, escaped to the fort about this time, and reported that the Indians meant to plant their corn and provide for their families, after which they would come to the fort and burn it. The youthful informant also declared that none of them had more than a pound of powder left. Soon after, a man named Hicks appeared, professing to have escaped from the Indians, though he was strongly suspected of being a renegade and a spy, and was therefore cross-questioned severely. He confirmed what the boy had said as to the want of ammunition among the Indians, and added that they had sent for a supply to the French at the Illinois, but that the reception they received from the commandant had not satisfied them. General Gage sent the following not very judicial instructions with regard to Hicks: “He is a great villain. I am glad he is secured. I must desire you will have him tried by a General Court-Martial for a Spy. Let the proceedings of the Court prove him a Spy as strong as they can, and if he does turn out a spy, he must be hanged.”—Gage to Bouquet, 14 May, 1764. The court, however, could find no proof.

[435] Account of Bouquet’s Expedition, 5.

[436] This speech is taken from the official journals of Colonel Bouquet, a copy of which is preserved in the archives of Pennsylvania, at Harrisburg, engrossed, if the writer’s memory does not fail him, in one of the volumes of the Provincial Records. The published narrative, which has often been cited, is chiefly founded upon the authority of these documents; and the writer has used his materials with great skill and faithfulness, though occasionally it has been found advisable to have recourse to the original journals, to supply some omission or obscurity in the printed compilation.

[437] The sachem is the civil chief, who directs the counsels of the tribe, and governs in time of peace. His office, on certain conditions, is hereditary; while the war-chief, or military leader, acquires his authority solely by personal merit, and seldom transmits it to his offspring. Sometimes the civil and military functions are discharged by the same person, as in the instance of Pontiac himself.

The speech of Bouquet, as given above, is taken, with some omission and condensation, from the journals mentioned in the preceding note.

[438] The following is from a letter of Bouquet dated Camp near Tuscarawas, 96 miles west of Fort Pitt, 21st Oct. 1764: “They came accordingly on the 15^th and met me here, to where I had moved the camp. Time does not permit me to send you all the messages which have passed since, and the conferences I have had with them, as we are going to march. I shall for the present inform you that they have behaved with the utmost submission, and have agreed to deliver into my hands all their prisoners, who appear to be very numerous, on the 1^st of November; and, as I will not leave any thing undone, they have not only consented that I should march to their towns, but have given me four of their men to conduct the Army. This is the only point hitherto settled with them. Their excessive fear having nearly made them run away once more, that circumstance and the Treaty of Colonel Bradstreet, of which they produce the original, added to the total want of government among them, render the execution of my orders very intricate.”

[439] An Indian council, on solemn occasions, is always opened with preliminary forms, sufficiently wearisome and tedious, but made indispensable by immemorial custom; for this people are as much bound by their conventional usages as the most artificial children of civilization. The forms are varied to some extent, according to the imagination and taste of the speaker; but in all essential respects they are closely similar, throughout the tribes of Algonquin and Iroquois lineage. They run somewhat as follows, each sentence being pronounced with great solemnity, and confirmed by the delivery of a wampum belt: Brothers, with this belt I open your ears that you may hear—I remove grief and sorrow from your hearts—I draw from your feet the thorns which have pierced them as you journeyed thither—I clean the seats of the council-house, that you may sit at ease—I wash your head and body, that your spirits may be refreshed—I condole with you on the loss of the friends who have died since we last met—I wipe out any blood which may have been spilt between us. This ceremony, which, by the delivery of so many belts of wampum, entailed no small expense, was never used except on the most important occasions; and at the councils with Colonel Bouquet the angry warriors seem wholly to have dispensed with it.

An Indian orator is provided with a stock of metaphors, which he always makes use of for the expression of certain ideas. Thus, to make war is to raise the hatchet; to make peace is to take hold of the chain of friendship; to deliberate is to kindle the council-fire; to cover the bones of the dead is to make reparation and gain forgiveness for the act of killing them. A state of war and disaster is typified by a black cloud; a state of peace, by bright sunshine, or by an open path between the two nations.

The orator seldom speaks without careful premeditation of what he is about to say; and his memory is refreshed by the belts of wampum, which he delivers after every clause in his harangue, as a pledge of the sincerity and truth of his words. These belts are carefully preserved by the bearers, as a substitute for written records; a use for which they are the better adapted, as they are often worked with hieroglyphics expressing the meaning they are designed to preserve. Thus, at a treaty of peace, the principal belt often bears the figures of an Indian and a white man holding a chain between them.

For the nature and uses of wampum, see note, ante, p. 141, note.

Though a good memory is an essential qualification of an Indian orator, it would be unjust not to observe that striking outbursts of spontaneous eloquence have sometimes proceeded from their lips.

[440] The Shawanoe speaker, in expressing his intention of disarming his enemy by laying aside his own designs of war, makes use of an unusual metaphor. To bury the hatchet is the figure in common use on such occasions, but he adopts a form of speech which he regards as more significant and emphatic,—that of throwing it up to the Great Spirit. Unwilling to confess that he yields through fear of the enemy, he professes to wish for peace merely for the sake of his women and children.

At the great council at Lancaster, in 1762, a chief of the Oneidas, anxious to express, in the strongest terms, the firmness of the peace which had been concluded, had recourse to the following singular figure: “In the country of the Oneidas there is a great pine-tree, so huge and old that half its branches are dead with time. I tear it up by the roots, and, looking down into the hole, I see a dark stream of water, flowing with a strong current, deep under ground. Into this stream I fling the hatchet, and the current sweeps it away, no man knows whither. Then I plant the tree again where it stood before, and thus this war will be ended for ever.”

[441] A party of the Virginia volunteers had been allowed by Bouquet to go to the remoter Shawanoe towns, in the hope of rescuing captive relatives. They returned to Fort Pitt at midwinter, bringing nine prisoners, all children or old women. The whole party was frost-bitten, and had endured the extremity of suffering on the way. They must have perished but for a Shawanoe chief, named Benewisica, to whose care Bouquet had confided them, and who remained with them both going and returning, hunting for them to keep them from famishing.—Capt. Murray to Bouquet, 31 Jan. 1765.

Besides the authorities before mentioned in relation to these transactions, the correspondence of Bouquet with the commander-in-chief, throughout the expedition, together with letters from some of the officers who accompanied him, have been examined. For General Gage’s summary of the results of the campaign, see Appendix, F.

[442] Penn. Hist. Coll. 267. Haz. Pa. Reg. IV. 390. M’Culloch, Narrative. M’Culloch was one of the prisoners surrendered to Bouquet. His narrative first appeared in a pamphlet form, and has since been republished in the Incidents of Border Warfare, and other similar collections. The autobiography of Mary Jemison, a woman captured by the Senecas during the French war, and twice married among them, contains an instance of attachment to Indian life similar to those mentioned above. After the conclusion of hostilities, learning that she was to be given up to the whites in accordance with a treaty, she escaped into the woods with her half-breed children, and remained hidden, in great dismay and agitation, until the search was over. She lived to an advanced age, but never lost her attachment to the Indian life.

[443] Ordinances of the Borough of Carlisle, Appendix. Penn. Hist. Coll. 267.

[444] The author of The Expedition against the Ohio Indians speaks of the Indians “shedding torrents of tears.” This is either a flourish of rhetoric, or is meant to apply solely to the squaws. A warrior, who, under the circumstances, should have displayed such emotion, would have been disgraced for ever.

[445] The outcries of the squaws, on such occasions, would put to shame an Irish death-howl. The writer was once attached to a large band of Indians, who, being on the march, arrived, a little after nightfall, at a spot where, not long before, a party of their young men had been killed by the enemy. The women instantly raised a most astounding clamor, some two hundred voices joining in a discord as wild and dismal as the shrieking of the damned in the Inferno; while some of the chief mourners gashed their bodies and limbs with knives, uttering meanwhile most piteous lamentations. A few days later, returning to the same encampment after darkness had closed in, a strange and startling effect was produced by the prolonged wailings of several women, who were pacing the neighboring hills, lamenting the death of a child, killed by the bite of a rattlesnake.

[446] This and what precedes is meant to apply only to tribes east of the Mississippi. Some of the western and south-western tribes treat prisoners merely as slaves, and habitually violate female captives.

[447] The captives among the Shawanoes of the Scioto had most of them been recently taken; and only a small part had gone through the ceremony of adoption. Hence it was that the warriors, in their desperation, formed the design of putting them to death, fearing that, in the attack which they meditated, the captives would naturally take part with their countrymen.

[448] Account of Bouquet’s Expedition, 29.

[449] Colden, after describing the Indian wars of 1699, 1700, concludes in the following words:—

“I shall finish this Part by observing that notwithstanding the French Commissioners took all the Pains possible to carry Home the French that were Prisoners with the Five Nations, and they had full Liberty from the Indians, few of them could be persuaded to return. It may be thought that this was occasioned from the Hardships they had endured in their own Country, under a tyrannical Government and a barren Soil. But this certainly was not the Reason, for the English had as much Difficulty to persuade the People that had been taken Prisoners by the French Indians to leave the Indian Manner of living, though no People enjoy more Liberty, and live in greater Plenty than the common Inhabitants of New York do. No Arguments, no Intreaties, nor Tears of their Friends and Relations, could persuade many of them to leave their new Indian Friends and Acquaintance. Several of them that were by the Caressings of their Relations persuaded to come Home, in a little Time grew tired of our Manner of living, and ran away to the Indians, and ended their Days with them. On the other Hand, Indian Children have been carefully educated among the English, clothed and taught; yet, I think, there is not one Instance that any of these, after they had Liberty to go among their own People, and were come to Age, would remain with the English, but returned to their own Nations, and became as fond of the Indian Manner of Life as those that knew nothing of a civilized Manner of living. What I now tell of Christian Prisoners among Indians relates not only to what happened at the Conclusion of this War, but has been found true on many other Occasions.”—Colden, 203.

[450] See Appendix, F.

[451] MS. Letter—Bouquet to Gage, 4 March, 1765.

[452] Ibid., 17 April, 1765.

[453] MS. Johnson Papers.

[454] The superstitious veneration which the Indians entertain for the rattlesnake has been before alluded to. The Cherokees christened him by a name which, being interpreted, signifies the bright old inhabitant, a title of affectionate admiration of which his less partial acquaintance would hardly judge him worthy.

“Between the heads of the northern branch of the Lower Cheerake River, and the heads of that of Tuckaschchee, winding round in a long course by the late Fort Loudon, and afterwards into the Mississippi, there is, both in the nature and circumstances, a great phenomenon. Between two high mountains, nearly covered with old mossy rocks, lofty cedars and pines, in the valleys of which the beams of the sun reflect a powerful heat, there are, as the natives affirm, some bright old inhabitants, or rattlesnakes, of a more enormous size than is mentioned in history. They are so large and unwieldy, that they take a circle almost as wide as their length, to crawl round in their shortest orbit; but bountiful nature compensates the heavy motion of their bodies; for, as they say, no living creature moves within the reach of their sight, but they can draw it to them; which is agreeable to what we observe through the whole system of animated beings. Nature endues them with proper capacities to sustain life: as they cannot support themselves by their speed or cunning, to spring from an ambuscade, it is needful they should have the bewitching craft of their eyes and forked tongues.”—Adair, 237.

[455] For an account of Jesuit labors in the Illinois, see the letters of Father Marest, in Lett. Edif. IV.

[456] The principal authorities for the above account of the Illinois colony are Hutchins, Topographical Description, 37. Volney, View of the United States, 370. Pitman, Present State of the European Settlements on the Mississippi, passim. Law, Address before the Historical Society of Vincennes, 14. Brown, Hist. Illinois, 208. Journal of Captain Harry Gordon, in Appendix to Pownall’s Topographical Description. Nicollet, Report on the Hydrographical Basin of the Mississippi, 75.

[457] Lieutenant Alexander Fraser visited the Illinois in 1765, as we shall see hereafter. He met extreme ill-treatment, and naturally takes a prejudiced view of the people. The following is from his MS. account of the country:—

“The Illinois Indians are about 650 able to bear arms. Nothing can equal their passion for drunkenness, but that of the French inhabitants, who are for the greatest part drunk every day, while they can get drink to buy in the Colony. They import more of this Article from New Orleans than they do of any other, and they never fail to meet a speedy and good market for it. They have a great many Negroes, who are obliged to labour very hard to support their Masters in their extravagant debaucheries; any one who has had any dealings with them must plainly see that they are for the most part transported Convicts, or people who have fled for some crimes; those who have not done it themselves are the offspring of such as those I just mentioned, inheriting their Forefathers’ vices. They are cruel and treacherous to each other, and consequently so to Strangers; they are dishonest in every kind of business and lay themselves out to overreach Strangers, which they often do by a low cunning, peculiar to themselves; and their artful flatteries, with extravagant Entertainments (in which they affect the greatest hospitality) generally favor their schemes.”

Of the traders, he says, “They are in general most unconscious (unconscionable) Rascals, whose interest it was to debauch from us such Indians as they found well disposed towards us, and to foment and increace the animosity of such as they found otherwise. To this we should alone impute our late war with the Indians.”

He sets down the number of white inhabitants at about seven hundred able to bear arms, though he says that it is impossible to form a just estimate, as they are continually going and coming to and from the Indian nations.

[458] Nicollet, Historical Sketch of St. Louis. See Report on the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River, 75.

[459] Laclede, the founder of St. Louis, died before he had brought his grand fur-trading enterprise to a conclusion; but his young assistant lived to realize schemes still more bold and comprehensive; and to every trader, trapper, and voyageur, from the frontier of the United States to the Rocky Mountains, and from the British Possessions to the borders of New Mexico, the name of Pierre Chouteau is familiar as his own. I visited this venerable man in the spring of 1846, at his country seat, in a rural spot surrounded by woods, within a few miles of St. Louis. The building, in the picturesque architecture peculiar to the French dwellings of the Mississippi Valley, with its broad eaves and light verandas, and the surrounding negro houses filled with gay and contented inmates, was in singular harmony with the character of the patriarchal owner, who prided himself on his fidelity to the old French usages. Though in extreme old age, he still retained the vivacity of his nation. His memory, especially of the events of his youth, was clear and vivid; and he delighted to look back to the farthest extremity of the long vista of his life, and recall the acts and incidents of his earliest years. Of Pontiac, whom he had often seen, he had a clear recollection; and I am indebted to this interesting interview for several particulars regarding the chief and his coadjutors.

[460] MS. Letter—St. Ange to D’Abbadie, Sept. 9.

[461] By the following extract from an official paper, signed by Captain Grant, and forwarded from Detroit, it appears that Pontiac still retained, or professed to retain, his original designs against the garrison of Detroit. The paper has no date, but was apparently written in the autumn of 1764. By a note appended to it, we are told that the Baptiste Campau referred to was one of those who had acted as Pontiac’s secretaries during the summer of 1763:—

“On Tuesday last Mr. Jadeau told me, in the presence of Col. Gladwin & Lieut. Hay of the 6th Regiment, that one Lesperance, a Frenchman, on his way to the Illinois, he saw a letter with the Ottawas, at the Miamee River, he is sure wrote by one Baptist Campau (a deserter from the settlement of Detroit), & signed by Pontiac, from the Illinois, setting forth that there were five hundred English coming to the Illinois, & that they, the Ottawas, must have patience; that he, Pontiac, was not to return until he had defeated the English, and then he would come with an army from the Illinois to take Detroit, which he desired they might publish to all the nations about. That powder & ball was in as great plenty as water. That the French Commissary La Cleff had sold above forty thousand weight of powder to the inhabitants, that the English if they came there might not have it.

“There was another letter on the subject sent to an inhabitant of Detroit, but he can’t tell in whose hands it is.”

[462] MS. Gage Papers. MS. Johnson Papers. Croghan, Journal. Hildreth, Pioneer History, 68. Examination of Gershom Hicks, see Penn. Gaz. No. 1846.

Johnson’s letters to the Board of Trade, in the early part of 1765, contain constant references to the sinister conduct of the Illinois French. The commander-in-chief is still more bitter in his invectives, and seems to think that French officers of the crown were concerned in these practices, as well as the traders. If we may judge, however, from the correspondence of St. Ange and his subordinates, they may be acquitted of the charge of any active interference in the matter.

“Sept. 14. I had a private meeting with the Grand Sauteur, when he told me he was well disposed for peace last fall, but was then sent for to the Illinois, where he met with Pondiac; and that then their fathers, the French, told them, if they would be strong, and keep the English out of the possession of that country but this summer, that the King of France would send over an army next spring, to assist his children, the Indians.”—Croghan, Journal, 1765.

The Diary of the Siege of Detroit, under date May 17, 1765, says that Pontiac’s nephew came that day from the Illinois, with news that Pontiac had caused six Englishmen and several disaffected Indians to be burned; and that he had seven large war-belts to raise the western tribes for another attack on Detroit, to be made in June of that year, without French assistance.

[463] Diary of the Siege of Detroit, under date June 9, 1764.

[464] Nicollet, Report on the Basin of the Upper Mississippi, 81. M. Nicollet’s account is given on the authority of documents and oral narratives derived from Chouteau, Menard, and other patriarchs of the Illinois.

[465] MS. Letter—St. Ange to D’Abbadie, Sept. 9.

[466] D’Abbadie’s correspondence with St. Ange goes far to exonerate him; and there is a letter addressed to him from General Gage, in which the latter thanks him very cordially for the efforts he had made in behalf of Major Loftus, aiding him to procure boats and guides, and make other preparations for ascending the river.

The correspondence alluded to forms part of a collection of papers preserved in the archives of the Department of the Marine and Colonies at Paris. These papers include the reports of various councils with the Indian tribes of the Illinois, and the whole official correspondence of the French officers in that region during the years 1763-5. They form the principal authorities for this part of the narrative, and throw great light on the character of the Indian war, from its commencement to its close.

[467] London Mag. XXXIII. 380. MS. Detail de ce qui s’est passÉ À La Louisiane À l’occasion de la prise de possession des Illinois.

[468] MS. Correspondence of Pittman with M. D’Abbadie, among the Paris Documents.

[469] MS. Letter—Campbell to Gage, Feb. 24, 1766.

[470] By the correspondence between the French officers of Upper and Lower Louisiana, it appears that Pontiac’s messengers, in several instances, had arrived in the vicinity of New Orleans, whither they had come, partly to beg for aid from the French, and partly to urge the Indians of the adjacent country to bar the mouth of the Mississippi against the English.

[471] Pittman, European Settlements on the Mississippi, 10. The author of this book is the officer mentioned in the text as having made an unsuccessful attempt to reach the Illinois.

[472] At all friendly meetings with Indians, it was customary for the latter, when the other party had sustained any signal loss, to commence by a formal speech of condolence, offering, at the same time, a black belt of wampum, in token of mourning. This practice may be particularly observed in the records of early councils with the Iroquois.

[473] MS. Report of Conference with the Shawanoe and Miami delegates from Pontiac, held at New Orleans, March, 1765. Paris Documents.

[474] MS. Gage Papers.

[475] “The country people appear greatly incensed at the attempt they imagine has been made of opening a clandestine trade with the Savages under cover of presents; and, if it is not indiscreet in me, I would beg leave to ask whether Croghan had such extensive orders.”—Bouquet to Amherst, 10 April, 1765, MS.

[476] Before me is a curious letter from Grant, in which he expatiates on his troubles in language which is far from giving a flattering impression of the literary accomplishments of officers of the 42d Highlanders, at that time.

[477] The account of the seizure of the Indian goods is derived chiefly from the narrative of the ringleader, Smith, published in Drake’s Tragedies of the Wilderness, and elsewhere. The correspondence of Gage and Johnson is filled with allusions to this affair, and the subsequent proceedings of the freebooters. Gage spares no invectives against what he calls the licentious conduct of the frontier people. In the narrative is inserted a ballad, or lyrical effusion, written by some partisan of the frontier faction, and evidently regarded by Smith as a signal triumph of the poetic art. He is careful to inform the reader that the author received his education in the great city of Dublin. The following melodious stanzas embody the chief action of the piece:—

“Astonished at the wild design,
Frontier inhabitants combin’d
With brave souls to stop their career;
Although some men apostatiz’d,
Who first the grand attempt advis’d,
The bold frontiers they bravely stood,
To act for their king and their country’s good,
In joint league, and strangers to fear.

“On March the fifth, in sixty-five,
The Indian presents did arrive,
In long pomp and cavalcade,
Near Sidelong Hill, where in disguise
Some patriots did their train surprise,
And quick as lightning tumbled their loads,
And kindled them bonfires in the woods,
And mostly burnt their whole brigade.”

The following is an extract from Johnson’s letter to the Board of Trade, dated July 10, 1765:—

“I have great cause to think that Mr. Croghan will succeed in his enterprise, unless circumvented by the artifices of the French, or through the late licentious conduct of our own people. Although His Excellency General Gage has written to the Ministry on that subject, yet I think I should not be silent thereupon, as it may be productive of very serious consequences.

“The frontier inhabitants of Pennsylvania, Maryland, and Virginia, after having attacked and destroyed the goods which were going to Fort Pitt (as in my last), did form themselves into parties, threatening to destroy all Indians they met, or all white people who dealt with them. They likewise marched to Fort Augusta, and from thence over the West branch of the Susquehanna, beyond the Bounds of the last purchase made by the Proprietaries, where they declare they will form a settlement, in defiance of Whites or Indians. They afterwards attacked a small party of His Majesty’s troops upon the Road, but were happily obliged to retire with the loss of one or two men. However, from their conduct and threats since, there is reason to think they will not stop here. Neither is their licentiousness confined to the Provinces I have mentioned, the people of Carolina having cut off a party, coming down under a pass from Col. Lewis, of the particulars of which your Lordships have been doubtless informed.

“Your Lordships may easily conceive what effects this will have upon the Indians, who begin to be all acquainted therewith. I wish it may not have already gone too great a length to receive a timely check, or prevent the Indians’ Resentment, who see themselves attacked, threatened, and their property invaded, by a set of ignorant, misled Rioters, who defy Government itself, and this at a time when we have just treated with some, and are in treaty with other Nations.”

[478] See ante, Vol. I. p. 136.

[479] MS. Journal of the Transactions of George Croghan, Esq., deputy agent for Indian affairs, with different tribes of Indians, at Fort Pitt, from the 28th of February, 1765, to the 12th of May following. In this journal the prophet’s speech is given in full.

[480] MS. Letter—Fraser to Lieut. Col. Campbell, 20 May, 1765.

[481] Harangue faitte À la nation Illinoise et au Chef Pondiak par M. de St. Ange, Cap. Commandant au pais des Illinois pour S. M. T. C. au sujet de la guerre que Les Indiens font aux Anglois.

[482] MS. Letter—Aubry to the Minister, July, 1765. Aubry makes himself merry with the fears of Fraser; who, however, had the best grounds for his apprehensions, as is sufficiently clear from the above as well as from the minutes of a council held by him with Pontiac and other Indians at the Illinois, during the month of April. The minutes referred to are among the Paris Documents.

Pontiac’s first reception of Fraser was not auspicious, as appears from the following. Extract from a Letter—Fort Pitt, July 24 (Pa. Gaz. Nos. 1912, 1913):—

“Pondiac immediately collected all the Indians under his influence to the Illinois, and ordered the French commanding officer there to deliver up these Englishmen [Fraser and his party] to him, as he had prepared a large kettle in which he was determined to boil them and all other Englishmen that came that way.... Pondiac told the French that he had been informed of Mr. Croghan’s coming that way to treat with the Indians, and that he would keep his kettle boiling over a large fire to receive him likewise.”

Pontiac soon after relented as we have seen. Another letter, dated New Orleans, June 19, adds: “He [Fraser] says a Pondiac is a very clever fellow, and had it not been for him, he would never have got away alive.”

[483] MS. Letter—Aubry to the Minister, 10 July, 1765.

[484] One of St. Ange’s letters to Aubry contains views of the designs and motives of Pontiac similar to those expressed above.

[485] A few days before, a boy belonging to Croghan’s party had been lost, as was supposed, in the woods. It proved afterwards that he had been seized by the Kickapoo warriors, and was still prisoner among them at the time of the attack. They must have learned from him the true character of Croghan and his companions.—MS. Gage Papers.

[486] Journal of George Croghan, on his journey to the Illinois, 1765. This journal has been twice published—in the appendix to Butler’s History of Kentucky, and in the Pioneer History of Dr. Hildreth. A manuscript copy also may be found in the office of the secretary of state at Albany. Dr. Hildreth omits the speech of Croghan to the Indians, which is given above as affording a better example of the forms of speech appropriate to an Indian peace harangue, than the genuine productions of the Indians themselves, who are less apt to indulge in such a redundancy of metaphor.

A language extremely deficient in words of general and abstract signification renders the use of figures indispensable; and it is from this cause, above all others, that the flowers of Indian rhetoric derive their origin. In the work of Heckewelder will be found a list of numerous figurative expressions appropriate to the various occasions of public and private intercourse,—forms which are seldom departed from, and which are often found identical among tribes speaking languages radically distinct. Thus, among both Iroquois and Algonquins, the “whistling of evil birds” is the invariable expression to denote evil tidings or bad advice.

The Indians are much pleased when white men whom they respect adopt their peculiar symbolical language,—a circumstance of which the Jesuit missionaries did not fail to avail themselves. “These people,” says Father Le Jeune, “being great orators, and often using allegories and metaphors, our fathers, in order to attract them to God, adapt themselves to their custom of speaking, which delights them very much, seeing we succeed as well as they.”

[487] In a letter to Gage, without a date, but sent in the same enclosure as his journal, Croghan gives his impression of Pontiac in the following words:—

“Pondiac is a shrewd, sensible Indian, of few words, and commands more respect among his own nation than any Indian I ever saw could do among his own tribe. He, and all the principal men of those nations, seem at present to be convinced that the French had a view of interest in stirring up the late differences between his Majesty’s subjects and them, and call it a beaver war.”

[488] MS. Gage Papers. M. Nicollet, in speaking of the arrival of the British troops, says, “At this news Pontiac raved.” This is a mistake. Pontiac’s reconciliation had already taken place, and he had abandoned all thoughts of resistance.

[489] MS. Johnson Papers.

[490] The Lords of Trade had recently adopted a new plan for the management of Indian affairs, the principal feature of which was the confinement of the traders to the military posts, where they would conduct their traffic under the eye of proper officers, instead of ranging at will, without supervision or control, among the Indian villages. It was found extremely difficult to enforce this regulation.

[491] MS. Minutes of Proceedings at a Congress with Pontiac and Chiefs of the Ottawas, Pottawattamies, Hurons, and Chippewais; begun at Oswego, Tuesday, July 23, 1766.

A copy of this document is preserved in the office of the secretary of state at Albany, among the papers procured in London by Mr. Brodhead.

[492] “It seems,” writes Sir William Johnson to the lords of trade, “as if the people were determined to bring on a new war, though their own ruin may be the consequence.”

[493] Doc. Hist. N. Y. II. 861-893, etc. MS. Johnson Papers. MS. Gage Papers.

[494] Carver says that Pontiac was killed in 1767. This may possibly be a mere printer’s error. In the Maryland Gazette, and also in the Pennsylvania Gazette, were published during the month of August, 1769, several letters from the Indian country, in which Pontiac is mentioned as having been killed during the preceding April. M. Chouteau states that, to the best of his recollection, the chief was killed in 1768; but oral testimony is of little weight in regard to dates. The evidence of the Gazettes appears conclusive.

[495] Carver, Travels, 166, says that Pontiac was stabbed at a public council in the Illinois, by “a faithful Indian who was either commissioned by one of the English governors, or instigated by the love he bore the English nation.” This account is without sufficient confirmation. Carver, who did not visit the Illinois, must have drawn his information from hearsay. The open manner of dealing with his victim, which he ascribes to the assassin, is wholly repugnant to Indian character and principles; while the gross charge, thrown out at random against an English governor, might of itself cast discredit on the story.

I have followed the account which I received from M. Pierre Chouteau, and from M. P. L. CerrÉ, another old inhabitant of the Illinois, whose father was well acquainted with Pontiac. The same account may be found, concisely stated, in Nicollet, p. 81. M. Nicollet states that he derived his information both from M. Chouteau and from the no less respectable authority of the aged Pierre Menard of Kaskaskia. The notices of Pontiac’s death in the provincial journals of the day, to a certain extent, confirm this story. We gather from them, that he was killed at the Illinois, by one or more Kaskaskia Indians, during a drunken frolic, and in consequence of his hostility to the English. One letter, however, states on hearsay that he was killed near Fort Chartres; and Gouin’s traditional account seems to support the statement. On this point, I have followed the distinct and circumstantial narrative of Chouteau, supported as it is by CerrÉ. An Ottawa tradition declares that Pontiac took a Kaskaskia wife, with whom he had a quarrel, and she persuaded her two brothers to kill him.

I am indebted to the kindness of my friend Mr. Lyman C. Draper for valuable assistance in my inquiries in relation to Pontiac’s death.

[496] “This murder, which roused the vengeance of all the Indian tribes friendly to Pontiac, brought about the successive wars, and almost total extermination, of the Illinois nation.”—Nicollet, 82.

“The Kaskaskias, Peorias, Cahokias, and Illonese are nearly all destroyed by the Sacs and Foxes, for killing in cool blood, and in time of peace, the Sac’s chief, Pontiac.”—Mass. Hist. Coll. Second Series, II. 8.

The above extract exhibits the usual confusion of Indian names, the Kaskaskias, Peorias, and Cahokias being component tribes of the Illonese or Illinois nation. Pontiac is called a chief of the Sacs. This, with similar mistakes, may easily have arisen from the fact that he was accustomed to assume authority over the warriors of any tribe with whom he chanced to be in contact.

Morse says, in his Report, 1822: “In the war kindled against these tribes, [Peorias, Kaskaskias, and Cahokias,] by the Sauks and Foxes, in revenge for the death of their chief, Pontiac, these 3 tribes were nearly exterminated. Few of them now remain. About one hundred of the Peorias are settled on Current River, W. of the Mississippi; of the Kaskaskias 36 only remain in Illinois.”—Morse, 363.

General Gage, in his letter to Sir William Johnson, dated July 10, 176—, says: “The death of Pontiac, committed by an Indian of the Illinois, believed to have been excited by the English to that action, had drawn many of the Ottawas and other northern nations towards their country to revenge his death.”

“From Miami, Pontiac went to Fort Chartres on the Illinois. In a few years, the English, who had possession of the fort, procured an Indian of the Peoria [Kaskaskia] nation to kill him. The news spread like lightning through the country. The Indians assembled in great numbers, attacked and destroyed all the Peorias, except about thirty families, which were received into the fort. These soon began to increase. They removed to the Wabash, and were about to settle, when the Indians collected in the winter, surrounded their village, and killed the whole, excepting a few children, who were saved as prisoners. Old Mr. Gouin was there at the time. He was a trader; and, when the attack commenced, was ordered by the Indians to shut his house and not suffer a Peoria to enter.”—Gouin’s Account, MS.

Pontiac left several children. A speech of his son Shegenaba, in 1775, is preserved in Force’s American Archives, 4th Series, III. 1542. There was another son, named Otussa, whose grave is on the Maumee. In a letter to the writer, Mr. H. R. Schoolcraft says, “I knew AtÓka, a descendant of Pontiac. He was the chief of an Ottawa village on the Maumee. A few years ago, he agreed to remove, with his people, to the west of the Mississippi.”

TRANSCRIBER’S AMENDMENTS

Transcriber’s Note: The pages in this e-book have been renumbered, along with any references to that page number. Blank pages have been deleted. On pages that remain, some unnecessary page numbers may have been deleted when they fall in the middle of lists. Illustrations may have been moved. Footnotes (labeled FOOTNOTES:) have been moved to near the end. When a particular speaker’s preference can be determined, we have rendered consistent on a per-word-pair basis the hyphenation or spacing of such pairs when repeated in the same grammatical context. Paragraph formatting has been made consistent. The publisher’s inadvertent omissions of important punctuation have been corrected. Two lists of illustrations have been added.

The following list indicates any additional changes.

Page
10 Pontiac at Isle À la Peche[PÊche].—Suspicious
17 is also sometimes tattoed[tattooed] on the body
26 the rich borders of the Genessee[Genesee],
422 most of whom, with his Wife, be[he] killed and scalped
518 and to those of the RiviÈre Â[À] la Tranche
557 Beaujeau[Beaujeu], a French captain, leads a sortie
559 their character, 162[160];
560 Coureurs de bois,” or bush-rangers, 68, 162[160];
564 Indians, their general character, 13[15];
564 their pride and self-consciousness, 14[15];
569 scalps his own Indian wife and several of her relations, 421[419]
571 the massacre in Lanscaster[Lancaster] jail

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