in this session was the raising of a new regiment of foot in North
America, for which purpose the sum of L81,178 16_s._ 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 297: An extract from this letter, which is dated May 30, is
given on page 280.]
[Footnote 298: The italics and capitals are Sir Jeffrey's.]
[Footnote 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._]
[Footnote 300: _i.e._, Cuyler's detachment.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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.
"J^{N} 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 307: _Penn. Gaz._ No. 1804.]
[Footnote 308: Robison, _Narrative_. Robison was one of the party, and his
brother was mortally wounded at the first fire.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 312: _Account of Bouquet's Expedition; Introduction_, vi.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 316: MS. Letter--_Ourry to Bouquet_, 20 June, 1763.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 321: MS. _Minutes of Conference with the Six Nations and others,
at Johnson Hall_, Sept. 1763. _Letters of Sir William Johnson._]
[Footnote 322: MS. _Harrisburg Papers_.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 324: _Penn. Gaz._ No. 1809.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 326: MS. _Diary of an officer in Wilkins's Expedition against
the Indians at Detroit_.]
[Footnote 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_.]
[Footnote 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._]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 332: Doddridge, _Notes_, 221. MS. _Narrative_, written by
Colonel Stuart from the relation of Glendenning's wife.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 336: _Votes of Assembly_, V. 259.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 338: Sparks, _Writings of Washington_, II. 340.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 340: _Penn. Gaz._ No. 1811.]
[Footnote 341: _Penn. Gaz._ Nos. 1816-1818. MS. Letter--_Graydon to Bird_,
October 12.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 343: MS. _Elder Papers_. Chapman, _Hist. Wyoming_, 70. Miner,
_Hist. Wyoming_, 56.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 346: MS. Letter--_Gage to Johnson_, Dec. 25, 1763. _Penn. Gaz._
No. 1827.]
[Footnote 347: MS. _Lettre de M. Neyon de la Valliere, a tous les nations
de la Belle Riviere et du Lac_, etc.]
[Footnote 348: The following is Pontiac's message to Gladwyn, written for
him by a Canadian: "Mon Frere,--La Parole que mon Pere m'a envoyee, pour
faire la paix, je l'ai acceptee, tous nos jeunes gens ont enterre leurs
Casse-tetes. Je pense que tu oublieras les mauvaises choses qui sont
passees il y a longtemps; de meme 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 reponse.
Je t'envoyes ce conseil (_Q. collier?_) afin que tu le voyes. Si tu es
bien comme moi, tu me feras reponse. Je te souhaite le bonjour.
(Signe) "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_."]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 350: MS. _Johnson Papers_.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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_."]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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_.]
[Footnote 355: See Appendix, E.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 359: _Haz. Pa. Reg._ IX. 114.]
[Footnote 360: Papers published by Mr. Conyngham in the _Lancaster
Intelligencer_.]
[Footnote 361: This anecdote was told to the writer by the son of Mr.
Elder, and is also related by Mr. Conyngham.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 367: Loskiel, _Hist. Moravian Missions_, Part II. 211.]
[Footnote 368: MS. Letter--_Bernard Grube to Governor Hamilton_, Oct. 13.]
[Footnote 369: _Votes of Assembly_, V. 284.]
[Footnote 370: Loskiel, _Hist. Moravian Missions_, Part II. 214.
Heckewelder, _Narrative of Missions_, 75.]
[Footnote 371: Loskiel, Part II. 216.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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).]
[Footnote 375: See Gordon, _Hist. Penn._ Chaps. XII.-XVIII.]
[Footnote 376: Loskiel, Part II. 218.]
[Footnote 377: MS. Letter--_Penn to Gage_, Dec. 31.]
[Footnote 378: _Votes of Assembly_, V. 293.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 380: Loskiel, Part II. 220. Heckewelder, _Narrative_, 81.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 383: For indications of the state of feeling among the
Presbyterians, see the numerous partisan pamphlets of the day. See also
Appendix, E.]
[Footnote 384: Gordon, _Hist. Penn._ 406. _Penn. Gaz._ No. 1833.]
[Footnote 385: _Haz. Pa. Reg._ XII. 10.]
[Footnote 386: Loskiel, Part II. 223.]
[Footnote 387: _Historical Account of the Late Disturbances_, 4.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 389: _Haz. Pa. Reg._ XII. 11.]
[Footnote 390: _Haz. Pa. Reg._ XII. 12.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 392: Sparks, _Writings of Franklin_, VII. 293.]
[Footnote 393: Barton, _Memoirs of Rittenhouse_, 148. Rupp, _Hist. York
and Lancaster Counties_, 362.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 397: See Appendix, E.]
[Footnote 398: Loskiel, Part II. 231.]
[Footnote 399: MS. _Johnson Papers_.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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 Francais; 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.]
[Footnote 404: _Articles of Peace concluded with the Senecas, at Fort
Niagara_, July 18, 1764, MS.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 406: Henry, _Travels_, 183.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 411: MS. Letter--_Bouquet to Gage_, Sept. 3.]
[Footnote 412: MS. _Minutes of Conference between Colonel Bradstreet and
the Indians of Detroit_, Sept. 7, 1764. See, also, Mante, 517.]
[Footnote 413: MS. Letter--_Johnson to the Board of Trade_, Oct. 30.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 415: MS. _Report of Captain Howard_.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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 Ind^{n}
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."]
[Footnote 419: Mante, 535.]
[Footnote 420: MS. Letter--_Johnson to the Board of Trade_, December 26.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 424: MS. Letter--_Bouquet to Amherst_, 15 Sept. 1763.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 426: MS. Letter--_Robertson to Amherst_, 19 July, 1763.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 428: MS. Letter--_Bouquet to Amherst_, 27 Aug. 1763.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 430: MS. Letter--_Bouquet to Gage_, 10 Aug. 1764.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 432: MS. Letter--_Bouquet to Bradstreet_, 5 Sept. 1764.]
[Footnote 433: See p. 402, _note_.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 435: _Account of Bouquet's Expedition_, 5.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 443: _Ordinances of the Borough of Carlisle, Appendix._ _Penn.
Hist. Coll._ 267.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 448: _Account of Bouquet's Expedition_, 29.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 450: See Appendix, F.]
[Footnote 451: MS. Letter--_Bouquet to Gage_, 4 March, 1765.]
[Footnote 452: _Ibid._, 17 April, 1765.]
[Footnote 453: MS. _Johnson Papers_.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 455: For an account of Jesuit labors in the Illinois, see the
letters of Father Marest, in _Lett. Edif._ IV.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 458: Nicollet, _Historical Sketch of St. Louis_. See _Report on
the Hydrographical Basin of the Upper Mississippi River_, 75.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 460: MS. Letter--_St. Ange to D'Abbadie_, Sept. 9.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 463: _Diary of the Siege of Detroit_, under date June 9, 1764.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 465: MS. Letter--_St. Ange to D'Abbadie_, Sept. 9.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 467: _London Mag._ XXXIII. 380. MS. _Detail de ce qui s'est
passe a La Louisiane a l'occasion de la prise de possession des
Illinois._]
[Footnote 468: MS. _Correspondence of Pittman with M. D'Abbadie_, among
the Paris Documents.]
[Footnote 469: MS. Letter--_Campbell to Gage_, Feb. 24, 1766.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 473: MS. _Report of Conference with the Shawanoe and Miami
delegates from Pontiac, held at New Orleans_, March, 1765. Paris
Documents.]
[Footnote 474: MS. _Gage Papers._]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 478: See _ante_, Vol. I. p. 136.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 480: MS. Letter--_Fraser to Lieut. Col. Campbell_, 20 May,
1765.]
[Footnote 481: _Harangue faitte a 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._]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 483: MS. Letter--_Aubry to the Minister_, 10 July, 1765.]
[Footnote 484: One of St. Ange's letters to Aubry contains views of the
designs and motives of Pontiac similar to those expressed above.]
[Footnote 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._]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 489: MS. _Johnson Papers._]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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."]
[Footnote 493: _Doc. Hist. N. Y._ II. 861-893, etc. MS. _Johnson Papers._
MS. _Gage Papers._]
[Footnote 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.]
[Footnote 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. Cerre, 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
Cerre. 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.]
[Footnote 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 _Atoka_, 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."]
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The following list indicates any additional changes.
Page
10 Pontiac at Isle a la Peche[Peche].--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 Riviere a[a] 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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