She is given to two Squaws.--Her Journey down the Ohio.--Passes a
Shawanee town where white men had just been burnt.--Arrives at
the Seneca town.--Her Reception.--She is adopted.--Ceremony of
Adoption.--Indian Custom.--Address.--She receives a new name.--Her
Employment.--Retains her own and learns the Seneca Language.--Situation
of the Town, &c.--Indians go on a Hunting Tour to Sciota and take her
with them.--Returns.--She is taken to Fort Pitt, and then hurried back
by her Indian Sisters.--Her hopes of Liberty destroyed.--Second Tour
to Sciota.--Return to Wiishto, &c.--Arrival of Prisoners.--Priscilla
Ramsay.--Her Chain.--Mary marries a Delaware.--Her Affection
for him.--Birth and Death of her first Child.--Her Sickness and
Recovery.--Birth of Thomas Jemison.
The night was spent in gloomy forebodings. What the result of our
captivity would be, it was out of our power to determine or even
imagine.--At times we could almost realize the approach of our masters
to butcher and scalp us;--again we could nearly see the pile of wood
kindled on which we were to be roasted; and then we would imagine
ourselves at liberty; alone and defenceless in the forest, surrounded by
wild beasts that were ready to devour us. The anxiety of our minds drove
sleep from our eyelids; and it was with a dreadful hope and painful
impatience that we waited for the morning to determine our fate.
The morning at length arrived, and our masters came early and let us
out of the house, and gave the young man and boy to the French, who
immediately took them away. Their fate I never learned; as I have not
seen nor heard of them since.
I was now left alone in the fort, deprived of my former companions, and
of every thing that was near or dear to me but life. But it was not long
before I was in some measure relieved by the appearance of two pleasant
looking squaws of the Seneca tribe, who came and examined me attentively
for a short time, and then went out. After a few minutes absence they
returned with my former masters, who gave me to them to dispose of as
they pleased.
The Indians by whom I was taken were a party of Shawanees, if I remember
right, that lived, when at home, a long distance down the Ohio.
My former Indian masters, and the two squaws, were soon ready to leave
the fort, and accordingly embarked; the Indians in a large canoe, and
the two squaws and myself in a small one, and went down the Ohio.
When we set off, an Indian in the forward canoe took the scalps of my
former friends, strung them on a pole that he placed upon his shoulder,
and in that manner carried them, standing in the stern of the canoe,
directly before us as we sailed down the river, to the town where the
two squaws resided.
On our way we passed a Shawanee town, where I saw a number of heads,
arms, legs, and other fragments of the bodies of some white people who
had just been burnt. The parts that remained were hanging on a pole
which was supported at each end by a crotch stuck in the ground, and
were roasted or burnt black as a coal. The fire was yet burning; and the
whole appearances afforded a spectacle so shocking, that, even to this
day, my blood almost curdles in my veins when I think of them!
At night we arrived at a small Seneca Indian town, at the mouth of a
small river, that was called by the Indians, in the Seneca language,
She-nan-jee, [Footnote: That town, according to the geographical
description given by Mrs. Jemison, must have stood at the mouth of
Indian Cross creek, which is about 76 miles by water, below Pittsburgh;
or at the mouth of Indian Short creek, 87 miles below Pittsburgh, where
the town of Warren now stands: But at which of those places I am
unable to determine. _Author_.] where the two Squaws to whom I belonged
resided. There we landed, and the Indians went on; which was the last I
ever saw of them.
Having made fast to the shore, the Squaws left me in the canoe while
they went to their wigwam or house in the town, and returned with a suit
of Indian clothing, all new, and very clean and nice. My clothes, though
whole and good when I was taken, were now torn in pieces, so that I was
almost naked. They first undressed me and threw my rags into the river;
then washed me clean and dressed me in the new suit they had just
brought, in complete Indian style; and then led me home and seated me in
the center of their wigwam.
I had been in that situation but a few minutes before all the Squaws
in the town came in to see me. I was soon surrounded by them, and they
immediately set up a most dismal howling, crying bitterly, and wringing
their hands in all the agonies of grief for a deceased relative.
Their tears flowed freely, and they exhibited all the signs of real
mourning. At the commencement of this scene, one of their number began,
in a voice somewhat between speaking and singing, to recite some words
to the following purport, and continued the recitation till the ceremony
was ended; the company at the same time varying the appearance of their
countenances, gestures and tone of voice, so as to correspond with the
sentiments expressed by their leader:
"Oh our brother! Alas! He is dead--he has gone; he will never return!
Friendless he died on the field of the slain, where his bones are yet
lying unburied! Oh, who will not mourn his sad fate? No tears dropped
around him; oh, no! No tears of his sisters were there! He fell in his
prime, when his arm was most needed to keep us from danger! Alas! he has
gone! and left us in sorrow, his loss to bewail: Oh where is his spirit?
His spirit went naked, and hungry it wanders, and thirsty and wounded
it groans to return! Oh helpless and wretched, our brother has gone! No
blanket nor food to nourish and warm him; nor candles to light him, nor
weapons of war:--Oh, none of those comforts had he! But well we remember
his deeds!--The deer he could take on the chase! The panther shrunk back
at the sight of his strength! His enemies fell at his feet! He was brave
and courageous in war! As the fawn was harmless: his friendship was
ardent: his temper was gentle: his pity was great! Oh! our friend, our
companion is dead! Our brother, your brother, alas! he is gone! But why
do we grieve for his loss? In the strength of a warrior, undaunted he
left us, to fight by the side of the Chiefs! His war-whoop was shrill!
His rifle well aimed laid his enemies low: his tomahawk drank of their
blood: and his knife flayed their scalps while yet covered with gore!
And why do we mourn? Though he fell on the field of the slain, with
glory he fell, and his spirit went up to the land of his fathers in war!
Then why do we mourn? With transports of joy they received him, and fed
him, and clothed him, and welcomed him there! Oh friends, he is happy;
then dry up your tears! His spirit has seen our distress, and sent us
a helper whom with pleasure we greet. Dickewamis has come: then let
us receive her with joy! She is handsome and pleasant! Oh! she is our
sister, and gladly we welcome her here. In the place of our brother she
stands in our tribe. With care we will guard her from trouble; and may
she be happy till her spirit shall leave us."
In the course of that ceremony, from mourning they became serene--joy
sparkled in their countenances, and they seemed to rejoice over me as
over a long lost child. I was made welcome amongst them as a sister to
the two Squaws before mentioned, and was called Dickewamis; which being
interpreted, signifies a pretty girl, a handsome girl, or a pleasant,
good thing. That is the name by which I have ever since been called by
the Indians.
I afterwards learned that the ceremony I at that time passed through,
was that of adoption. The two squaws had lost a brother in Washington's
war, sometime in the year before and in consequence of his death went up
to Fort Pitt, on the day on which I arrived there, in order to receive a
prisoner or an enemy's scalp, to supply their loss.
It is a custom of the Indians, when one of their number is slain or
taken prisoner in battle, to give to the nearest relative to the dead
or absent, a prisoner, if they have chanced to take one, and if not,
to give him the scalp of an enemy. On the return of the Indians
from conquest, which is always announced by peculiar shoutings,
demonstrations of joy, and the exhibition of some trophy of victory, the
mourners come forward and make their claims. If they receive a prisoner,
it is at their option either to satiate their vengeance by taking his
life in the most cruel manner they can conceive of; or, to receive and
adopt him into the family, in the place of him whom they have lost. All
the prisoners that are taken in battle and carried to the encampment
or town by the Indians, are given to the bereaved families, till their
number is made good.
And unless the mourners have but just received the news of their
bereavement, and are under the operation of a paroxysm of grief, anger
and revenge; or, unless the prisoner is very old, sickly, or homely,
they generally save him, and treat him kindly. But if their mental wound
is fresh, their loss so great that they deem it irreparable, or if their
prisoner or prisoners do not meet their approbation, no torture, let
it be ever so cruel, seems sufficient to make them satisfaction. It is
family, and not national, sacrifices amongst the Indians, that has given
them an indelible stamp as barbarians, and identified their character
with the idea which is generally formed of unfeeling ferocity, and the
most abandoned cruelty.
It was my happy lot to be accepted for adoption; and at the time of the
ceremony I was received by the two squaws, to supply the place of their
brother in the family; and I was ever considered and treated by them as
a real sister, the same as though I had been born of their mother.
During my adoption, I sat motionless, nearly terrified to death at the
appearance and actions of the company, expecting every moment to feel
their vengeance, and suffer death on the spot. I was, however, happily
disappointed, when at the close of the ceremony the company retired,
and my sisters went about employing every means for my consolation and
comfort.
Being now settled and provided with a home, I was employed in nursing
the children, and doing light work about the house. Occasionally I was
sent out with the Indian hunters, when they went but a short distance,
to help them carry their game.
My situation was easy; I had no particular hardships to endure. But
still, the recollection of my parents, my brothers and sisters, my home,
and my own captivity, destroyed my happiness, and made me constantly
solitary, lonesome and gloomy.
My sisters would not allow me to speak English in their hearing; but
remembering the charge that my dear mother gave me at the time I left
her, whenever I chanced to be alone I made a business of repeating my
prayer, catechism, or something I had learned in order that I might not
forget my own language. By practising in that way I retained it till
I came to Genesee flats, where I soon became acquainted with English
people with whom I have been almost daily in the habit of conversing.
My sisters were diligent in teaching me their language; and to their
great satisfaction I soon learned so that I could understand it readily,
and speak it fluently. I was very fortunate in falling into their hands;
for they were kind good natured women; peaceable and mild in their
dispositions; temperate and decent in their habits, and very tender and
gentle towards me. I have great reason to respect them, though they have
been dead a great number of years.
The town where they lived was pleasantly situated on the Ohio, at the
mouth of the Shenanjee: the land produced good corn; the woods furnished
a plenty of game, and the waters abounded with fish. Another river
emptied itself into the Ohio, directly opposite the mouth of the
Shenanjee. We spent the summer at that place, where we planted, hoed,
and harvested a large crop of corn, of an excellent quality.
About the time of corn harvest, Fort Pitt was taken from the French by
the English. [Footnote: The above statement is apparently an error; and
is to be attributed solely to the treachery of the old lady's memory;
though she is confident that that event took place at the time above
mentioned. It is certain that Fort Pitt was not evacuated by the French
and given up to the English, till sometime in November, 1758. It is
possible, however, that an armistice was agreed upon, and that for a
time, between the spring of 1755 and 1758, both nations visited
that post without fear of molestation. As the succeeding part of the
narrative corresponds with the true historical chain of events, the
public will overlook this circumstance, which appears unsupported by
history. AUTHOR.]
The corn being harvested, the Indians took it on horses and in canoes,
and proceeded down the Ohio, occasionally stopping to hunt a few days,
till we arrived at the mouth of Sciota river; where they established
their winter quarters, and continued hunting till the ensuing spring,
in the adjacent wilderness. While at that place I went with the other
children to assist the hunters to bring in their game. The forests on
the Sciota were well stocked with elk, deer, and other large animals;
and the marshes contained large numbers of beaver, muskrat, &c. which
made excellent hunting for the Indians; who depended, for their meat,
upon their success in taking elk and deer; and for ammunition and
clothing, upon the beaver, muskrat, and other furs that they could take
in addition to their peltry.
The season for hunting being passed, we all returned in the spring to
the mouth of the river Shenanjee, to the houses and fields we had left
in the fall before. There we again planted our corn, squashes, and
beans, on the fields that we occupied the preceding summer.
About planting time, our Indians all went up to Fort Pitt, to make peace
with the British, and took me with them. [Footnote: History is silent
as to any treaty having been made between the English, and French and
Indians, at that time; though it is possible that a truce was agreed
upon, and that the parties met for the purpose of concluding a treaty of
peace.] We landed on the opposite side of the river from the fort, and
encamped for the night. Early the next morning the Indians took me over
to the fort to see the white people that were there. It was then that my
heart bounded to be liberated from the Indians and to be restored to my
friends and my country. The white people were surprized to see me with
the Indians, enduring the hardships of a savage life, at so early an
age, and with so delicate a constitution as I appeared to possess. They
asked me my name; where and when I was taken--and appeared very much
interested on my behalf. They were continuing their inquiries, when
my sisters became alarmed, believing that I should be taken from them,
hurried me into their canoe and recrossed the river--took their bread
out of the fire and fled with me, without stopping, till they arrived
at the river Shenanjee. So great was their fear of losing me, or of my
being given up in the treaty, that they never once stopped rowing till
they got home.
Shortly after we left the shore opposite the fort, as I was informed by
one of my Indian brothers, the white people came over to take me back;
but after considerable inquiry, and having made diligent search to find
where I was hid, they returned with heavy hearts. Although I had then
been with the Indians something over a year, and had become considerably
habituated to their mode of living, and attached to my sisters, the
sight of white people who could speak English inspired me with an
unspeakable anxiety to go home with them, and share in the blessings of
civilization. My sudden departure and escape from them, seemed like
a second captivity, and for a long time I brooded the thoughts of my
miserable situation with almost as much sorrow and dejection as I
had done those of my first sufferings. Time, the destroyer of every
affection, wore away my unpleasant feelings, and I became as contented
as before.
We tended our cornfields through the summer; and after we had harvested
the crop, we again went down the river to the hunting ground on the
Sciota, where we spent the winter, as we had done the winter before.
Early in the spring we sailed up the Ohio river, to a place that the
Indians called Wiishto, [Footnote: Wiishto I suppose was situated near
the mouth of Indian Guyundat, 327 miles below Pittsburgh, and 73 above
Big Sciota; or at the mouth of Swan creek, 307 miles below Pittsburgh.]
where one river emptied into the Ohio on one side, and another on the
other. At that place the Indians built a town, and we planted corn.
We lived three summers at Wiishto, and spent each winter on the Sciota.
The first summer of our living at Wiishto, a party of Delaware Indians
came up the river, took up their residence, and lived in common with us.
They brought five white prisoners with them, who by their conversation,
made my situation much more agreeable, as they could all speak English.
I have forgotten the names of all of them except one, which was
Priscilla Ramsay. She was a very handsome, good natured girl, and was
married soon after she came to Wiishto to Capt. Little Billy's uncle,
who went with her on a visit to her friends in the states. Having
tarried with them as long as she wished to, she returned with her
husband to Can-a-ah-tua, where he died. She, after his death, married
a white man by the name of Nettles, and now lives with him (if she is
living) on Grand River, Upper Canada.
Not long after the Delawares came to live with us, at Wiishto, my
sisters told me that I must go and live with one of them, whose name was
Sheninjee. Not daring to cross them, or disobey their commands, with
a great degree of reluctance I went; and Sheninjee and I were married
according to Indian custom.
Sheninjee was a noble man; large in stature; elegant in his appearance;
generous in his conduct; courageous in war; a friend to peace, and a
great lover of justice. He supported a degree of dignity far above his
rank, and merited and received the confidence and friendship of all the
tribes with whom he was acquainted. Yet, Sheninjee was an Indian.
The idea of spending my days with him, at first seemed perfectly
irreconcilable to my feelings: but his good nature, generosity,
tenderness, and friendship towards me, soon gained my affection;
and, strange as it may seem, I loved him!--To me he was ever kind in
sickness, and always treated me with gentleness; in fact, he was an
agreeable husband, and a comfortable companion.
We lived happily together till the time of our final separation, which
happened two or three years after our marriage, as I shall presently
relate.
In the second summer of my living at Wiishto, I had a child at the time
that the kernels of corn first appeared on the cob. When I was taken
sick, Sheninjee was absent, and I was sent to a small shed, on the bank
of the river, which was made of boughs, where I was obliged to stay
till my husband returned. My two sisters, who were my only companions,
attended me, and on the second day of my confinement my child was born
but it lived only two days. It was a girl: and notwithstanding the
shortness of the time that I possessed it, it was a great grief to me to
lose it.
After the birth of my child, I was very sick, but was not allowed to go
into the house for two weeks; when, to my great joy, Sheninjee returned,
and I was taken in and as comfortably provided for as our situation
would admit of. My disease continued to increase for a number of days;
and I became so far reduced that my recovery was despaired of by my
friends, and I concluded that my troubles would soon be finished. At
length, however, my complaint took a favorable turn, and by the time
that the corn was ripe I was able to get about. I continued to gain my
health, and in the fall was able to go to our winter quarters, on the
Sciota, with the Indians.
From that time, nothing remarkable occurred to me till the fourth winter
of my captivity, when I had a son born, while I was at Sciota: I had a
quick recovery, and my child was healthy. To commemorate the name of my
much lamented father, I called my son Thomas Jemison.