Etchemins, the country of the, 121.
Evans, Mr., murder of, at Pittsburg, 111.
Florida Indians, 95, 347.
Floridian languages, 125.
Forks of Delaware, the, 86.
Fort Allen, 166, 333.
Fort Duquesne, 86.
Fort Harmar, 112.
Fort McIntosh, 173, 219.
Fort Washington, 183.
Franklin at Fort Allen, 166.
Freeman, Mr., an Indian Peace Commissioner, 182.
French and Indian War, the, 67, 88.
French Missionaries, 119.
Gaaschtinick or Albany, 60.
Gachgawatschiqua, a Shawano chief, 86.
Gambold, the Rev. John, 126.
Gelelemend or Killbuck, a Delaware chief, 233;
biographical sketch of, _ibid._
Gentellemaan (gentleman), 188.
Georgia, 86, 121.
Gibson, Col. John, biographical sketch of, 48;
letter to the Rev. N. Seidel, 82, 85, 132.
Girty, Simon, 152, 279.
Gladwyn, Major, at Detroit, 108.
Glicanican or Indian tobacco, 212.
Glikhican, Isaac, a Moravian Indian, 341.
Gnadenhütten on the Mahoning, 91.
Goshachking, 237, 295, 327.
(See Coshocton.)
Greenland, inhabitants of, 118;
Moravian mission in, _ibid._
Greentown, incident occurring at, 144.
Greenville, treaty of, xli., 298.
Guyandots, the, xliv.
Hardin, Mr., an Indian Peace Commissioner, 182.
Harris, John, on the site of Harrisburg, 90.
Heckewelder, the Rev. John G. E., biographical sketch of, vii.-xiv.;
at Detroit, 144;
in Upper Canada, 168;
on the Muskingum, 102, 171;
associated with Gen. R. Putnam, 183;
on the Big Beaver, 190;
at Tuscarawas, 205;
at Lower Sandusky, 219;
at New Gnadenhütten on the Huron, 226;
dialogue with Killbuck, 234;
dialogue with Chenos, 237;
his “_Collection of the names of chieftains and eminent men of the
Delaware Nation_” alluded to, 270;
general observations and anecdotes, 310 _et seq._;
at Post Vincennes, 311;
at Marietta, 312;
advice to travellers, 318.
Heckewelder to Du Ponceau, letters of, 361, 371, 375, 380, 383, 395,
399, 409, 414, 422, 430.
Heckewelder to Wistar, letters of, 356, 358.
Henry, Judge William, of Lancaster, 82.
Hermit’s Field, the, 200.
Hervas, 126.
Holland, Luke, a Delaware, 178 _et seq._
Hoosink, 255.
Hudson’s Bay Company, the, 118, 120.
Huron River, now the Clinton, 93.
Hurons, the, xliv.;
disunited from the Iroquois, 119;
language of, 122.
Iceland, 119.
Indiana Territory, 85.
Indian Grammars by the Spaniards, 127.
Indians, their historical traditions, 47.
mounds and fortifications, 48, 49.
treatment of, by the Europeans, 76 _et seq._
general character, 100 _et seq._
belief in an all-wise and good Creator, or Mannito, 101.
hospitality, 101.
civility, 103.
humor and wit, 104.
respect for the aged, 104, 163 _et seq._
sense of justice, 105.
form of government, 107.
education of their children, 113 _et seq._
signs and hieroglyphics, 127 _et seq._
drawings, 130.
hunters’ marks, 131.
oratory, 132.
metaphorical expressions, 137 _et seq._
names given their own people and the whites, 141 _et seq._
intercourse with each other, 145 _et seq._
political manœuvres, 150 _et seq._
manner of marriage and treatment of their wives, 154 _et seq._
pride and greatness of mind, 170 _et seq._
wars and the causes which lead to them, 175.
manner of surprising an enemy, 177 _et seq._
peace-messengers, 181 _et seq._
treaties of peace, 185 _et seq._
ill treatment by the whites, 187 _et seq._
food, and the manner of preparing it, 193 _et seq._
dress, and love of ornaments, 202 _et seq._
dances, songs, and sacrifices, 208 _et seq._
scalp-whoops or yells, 215 _et seq._
alarm-whoop, 217.
death-halloo, _ib._
physical constitution and diseases, 220 _et seq._
_materia medica_, 224 _et seq._
sweat-ovens, 225.
physicians and surgeons, 228 _et seq._
doctors or jugglers, 231 _et seq._
superstitions, 239 _et seq._
manner of initiating boys, 245.
system of mythology, 249.
coats-of-arms, 252.
behaviour towards the insane, and their ideas regarding suicide,
257 _et seq._
drunkenness, 261 _et seq._
funerals, 268 _et seq._
friendships, 277 _et seq._
preachers and prophets, 290 _et seq._
computation of time, 306 _et seq._
astronomical and geographical knowledge, 308 _et seq._
general character compared with that of the whites, 328 _et seq._
Iroquois, the, 95 _et seq._;
supplied by the English with fire-arms, xxxii.;
the name given to the Six Nations by the French, xliv.;
the language, 119;
in the State of New York, 121.
Irvine, General William, letter to Wm. More, 81;
letter from Washington, 284.
Jefferson, Thomas, 122.
Johnson, Sir William, 68, 120.
Juniata River, Shawanose on the, 86, 87.
Kanawha, the Great, 89, 184.
Karalit, language of the, 118.
Kickapoos, the, 121.
Killbuck or Gelelemend, 233;
dialogue with Heckewelder, 234.
Killistenoes, the, 95, 322.
Knisteneaux, the, 95.
Knox, H., Secretary of War, letter to Heckewelder, 311.
Koguethagechton, Indian name of Capt. White Eyes, 280.
Kuequenaku, the Indian name of Philadelphia, 142.
Labrador, 118.
La Chine, a murderous affair between two Indians at, 105.
Laehauwake, Easton, 79.
La Hontan, Father, xliii., 119;
list of Indian nations, 121, 122, 124.
Lake Erie, 49, 85.
Lake St. Clair, 49.
Languages, Indian, 118 _et seq._
Las Casas, 331.
Leather Lips, a Wyandot chief, 297;
death of, 298.
Lehigh Hills, 52.
Lehigh River, the, 52.
Lehigh Water Gap, the, 91, 234, 334.
Lehighton, site of Gnadenhütten on the Mahoning, xxxi.
Lenapewihittuck, the Delaware River, 51, 78.
Lenni Lenape, national name of the Delawares, xxvi.;
were they or were they not conquered by the Mengwe? xxvii. _et
seq._; xiii.;
wars with the Iroquois, xxvii.;
settle on the Atlantic coast, xxviii.;
made women by the Iroquois, xxix.;
on New York Island, xxxvii.;
in the far West, 47;
on the Mississippi, 49;
confederated with the Mengwe to fight the Allegewi, 50;
on Chesapeake Bay, _ib._;
on the Delaware, 51;
consent to become women, 58;
seek to gain their independence, 62;
take up arms against the English, 68;
assert their national independence, 70;
their fate subsequent to 1763, and that of their kindred tribes, 83
_et seq._;
their number, 85;
language, 121, 124;
song of the warriors, 211;
words, phrases, etc., 431 _et seq._;
Tortoise, Turkey, and Wolf tribes of, 51, 52, 253.
Lincoln, Gen. Benjamin, 105.
Logan, the well-known Indian chief, 89;
his celebrated speech, 132.
Lord’s Prayer, the, in the Delaware, 424.
Loskiel, the Rev. George H., biographical sketch of, xxix.;
his _History of the Mission of the United Brethren_
_among the Indians of North America_” referred to, xxix., xxx.,
xxxvii., xl., 48;
quoted in full touching the making women of the Delawares by the
Iroquois, 59;
referred to, 70, 85, 86, 88, 90, 92, 97, 126, 134;
quoted, 206;
referred to, 213, 341.
Lower Sandusky, 159, 173.
Mæchachtinni, the name given by the Lenape to the Senecas, 99.
Machtitschwanne, or Massachusetts, 77.
Mackenzie, Alexander, 121.
Mahicanni or Mohicans, xliii., 53;
their account of the Iroquois making women of the Delawares, 60;
Moravian mission among them, 93;
called Mahingans, xliii., 121.
Mahikanders or Mohicans, xliii.
Maine, Province of, xxviii., 121.
Manahachtanienk, New York Island, 77, 262.
Maqua, the Mohican name of the Six Nations, xliv., 98.
Marietta, 311, 312.
Maryland, 53, 91, 92, 122.
Matassins, the, 123.
McKee, Alexander, 152.
Mechanschican, _i.e. Long Knives_, 142, 143.
Meigs, Return Jonathan, U. S. Agent to the Cherokees, 126.
_Memorials of the Moravian Church_ referred to, 302.
Mengwe, Delaware name of the Six Nations, xxvi.;
in the Great Lake region, 50;
on the St. Lawrence, 54;
their treachery toward the Lenni Lenape, 54, 64, 68, 98.
Messissaugees, the, 121.
Miamis or Twightwees, xii.;
of Lenape origin, 121;
their country, 93.
Michael, a Monsey buried at Bethlehem, 206 _et seq._
Micmacs, the, 121.
Minisink, the country of the Minsis, 52.
Mingoes, name given to the Six Nations by the whites, xliv., 98, 130.
Minsis or Monseys, 52, 53, 84, 85, 123, 124.
Miquon, Delaware name of William Penn, 66, 78, 142.
Mississippi River, the, xxvii., xxxii., xxxvii., 47, 49, 51, 85, 95,
118.
Mitchell, Mr., U. S. Agent to the Creeks, 126.
Mobilians, the, 126.
Mohawks, the, xxxiv., xxxv., 61, 96, 99.
Mohicanichtuck, Hudson’s River, xxxviii., 52, 53, 75.
Mohicans, xxviii., xxx., xxxiii., 71, 86.
Monongahela River, the, 87.
Monsonies, the, 123.
Montreal, 105.
Moravian Indians, the, xl., 81;
settle at Wyalusing, 83, 197;
settle on the Muskingum, 84, 85;
at Philadelphia, 166;
grant of lands by Congress to, 168;
on the Retrenche, _ibid._;
near Detroit, 176;
murder of, on the Muskingum, 184, 283.
Morgan, Col. George, 300.
Mourigans or Mohicans, xliii.
Muhheekanes or Mohicans, xliii.
Munsell’s _Collections of the History of Albany_ quoted, xxxi.
Muskanecun Hills, the, 52.
Muskingum or Tuscarawas River, xl., 84, 85, 102, 112, 171, 180, 252.
Muskohgees or Creeks, 125.
Namaesisipu, the Mississippi River, 47, 49, 51.
Nanticokes, the, xxviii., xliii., 53, 83, 90 _et seq._, 122.
Natchez, the, 126.
Natick dialect, the, 125;
Eliot’s Bible in the Natick, 94.
Naudowessies, the, 95, 119, 268.
Nazareth, Capt. John at, 52, 220;
the Barony, 336.
Nentico or Nanticoke, xliv.
Nescopeck, 91, 166, 333.
New England, xxxii., 71.
New London, 94.
New York Island, xxxvi., xxxvii., 72, 208.
Niagara, xl., 174.
Nocharauorsul, the ground hog, myth of, 251.
Nordmann’s Kill, xxx., xxxi., xxxv., 60, 61.
North River, the, xxxvii., 51.
Nova Scotia, 121, 123.
Ohio, an Iroquois word, 48;
the river, 84, 86, 87, 339
Onas, Iroquois for William Penn, 142.
Oneida, 93.
Oneidas, the, 96, 99.
Ongwe-honwe, the name given themselves by the Iroquois, xxxiv.
Onondagoes, the, 96, 99.
Openagi, the, xliii.
Openangoes, the, 121.
Otayáchgo, Mohican name of the Nanticokes, 92.
Ottawas, the, xl., xii.
Owl Creek, 168.
Pachgantschihilas, a Delaware chief, 80.
Papunhank, a Monsey, 197.
Pascagoulas, the, 125.
Paxnos, a Shawano chief, 88.
Penn, William, 66, 107, 331.
Pequods, the, 94.
Perth Amboy, 148.
Philadelphia, Shawanose on the site of, 86;
Indians on the site of, 148.
Pilgerruh, a Moravian Mission, 85.
Pine Plains, Dutchess Co., N. Y., 93.
Pine Swamp, the, 166, 200.
Pipe, a Delaware chief, biographical sketch of, 133;
speech at Detroit, _ibid._, 151, 152, 153, 338, 347.
Pipe of Peace, 109.
Pittsburg, 69, 70, 86;
Mr. Evans murdered at, 111, 184, 190, 192, 279.
Point Pleasant, 89, 184.
Pontiac, 108.
Potomac River, the, 51, 90.
Pottowatomies, the, xli., 121.
Proctor, General Thomas, 295.
Proud’s _History of Pennsylvania_ quoted, 67.
Psindamocan, a preparation of Indian corn, 195.
Putnam, General Rufus, 183, 311.
Pyrlæus, the Rev. J. Christopher, biographical sketch of, xxx.;
his collection of Indian traditions in MS., 54;
account of the conspiracy of the Five Nations quoted, 56;
quoted, 61, 91, 96;
_Indian tradition_ quoted, 251, 347.
Quaekels, Quakers so called by the Indians, 143.
Quebec, 78.
Rauch, Christian Henry, a Moravian Missionary, 93.
River Indians, Mohicans so called, xxxiv., xliii.
Robbins and Arundel, Messrs., 173.
Rochefort, 126.
Rocky Mountains, 118.
Rogers’s _Key into the Language of the Indians of New England_
referred to, 142.
Rosenbaum, Cornelius, a Delaware, 264;
dialogue with Heckewelder, 265.
Sagard, Father Samuel, xliv.;
his Dictionary, 120, 127.
Samuel, a Moravian Indian, 220.
Sandusky, 153, 172;
Crawford’s campaign against, 284.
Sankhicanni, name given by the Lenape to the Mohawks, 99.
Savannah, 86, 121.
Schatikooks or Mohicans, xliii.
Scheyichbi, Indian name of New Jersey, 51.
Schussele’s painting, “The Power of the Gospel,” 294.
Schuylkill River, the, 86.
Schwannack, _i. e._, “salt beings,” 142.
Schweinitz’s _Life of Zeisberger_ referred to, 63, 81.
Senecas, 55, 69, 96, 99.
Sganarady, a Mohawk chief’s account of the origin of the Indians, 61,
250.
Sganiateratich-rohne, the Iroquois name of the Nanticokes, 92.
Shamokin, 91, 178.
Shawanose, the, xxxix., xli., 85 _et seq._; 121, 130.
Shechschequon, 91.
Shenango, 91.
Shikilimus at Shamokin, 88.
Shingask, 269;
funeral of his wife, 270 _et seq._
Shummunk, 91.
Silver Heels, a Shawano, 278.
Sioux or Assiniboils, the, 119.
Six Nations or Mengwe, their manner of attaining to power, xxxii. _et
seq._;
how they lost their power, xxxix. _et seq._; xliv.;
eat human flesh, 55;
unable to conquer the Delawares, 56;
their scheme to make women of the Delawares, _ib._;
insult the Delawares, 67, 119.
Snake Indians, the, 121.
Soccokis, the, 121.
Souriquois, the, 121.
Sproat, Col. Ebenezer, 312.
“_Star in the West, A_” referred to, 331.
Steiner, the Rev. Abraham, 49.
Stenton, John, 333;
his place attacked by Indians, 334, 335.
St. Lawrence, the, xxviii., xxxvii., 54, 56, 93, 95.
St. Pierre, the, 119.
Stockbridge, 93.
Susquehanna River, the, 50, 52, 90.
Sussee Indians, the, 121.
Sweat-ovens, 226.
Sweden, 119.
Tadeuskund or Honest John, 302.
Tallegewi, the, 48, 49.
Tamanend, 300.
Tamaqua, or King Beaver, 269.
Tammany Society, the, 301.
Tar-he, a Wyandot chief, 298.
Tassmanane, a preparation of Indian corn, 195.
Tatemy, Moses, Brainerd’s interpreter, 302, 307, 337.
Tawachguano, Delaware name of the Nanticokes, 92.
Tawalsantha, Indian name of Norman’s Kill, xxxi.
Tecumseh, 295.
Thomas, a Susquehanna Indian at Bethlehem, 267.
Thomson, Charles, xxxvi.
Thorhallesen, 118.
_Transactions of the Massachusetts Historical Society_ referred to,
94.
Trappers, the, Nanticokes so called, 92.
Treaties held with the Indians between 1740 and 1760, xxxv.
Trueman, Mr., an Indian Peace Commissioner, 182.
_Trumbull’s History of Connecticut_ referred to, 94.
Tschachgoos, the, 142.
Tuscarawas, the river, 85;
the town, 205.
Tuscaroras, the, 96, 99, 327.
Twightwees or Miamis, the, 121.
Umfreville, Mr., 121.
Unalachtgo, Turkey Delawares, 51, 53, 253.
Unamis or Turtles, 51, 53, 124, 250.
Unechtgo, Delaware name of Nanticokes, 92.
Upper Sandusky, 173.
Vater, Johann Severin, 124, 125, 126.
Vincennes, Post, 183, 311.
Virginia, xxviii., 53, 71, 90, 122.
Virginians or “Long Knives,” 76.
_Volney’s View of the Soil and Climate of the United States_ referred
to, 256.
Wabash River, the, 85, 183.
Waketemeki, 230.
Wampum, 109.
Wangomend, a Monsey preacher, 293 _et seq._
Wapanachki, xliii., 121, 123, 124, 126.
Wapsid Lenape, i. e. _the white people_, 142.
Wawundochwalend, a chief of the Tuscaroras, 206.
Wayne, Gen’l Anthony, xli., 89, 133, 192.
Weiser, Conrad, xxx., xxxi., 54.
Weissport, 166.
Wells, William, and the bear, 256.
Wetterholt, Captain Jacob, 334.
White, a Nanticoke chief, 90, 92.
White Eyes, Capt., a chief of the Western Delawares, xxxix.;
biographical sketch of, 69, 151, 152, 153, 279.
Whitefield, the Rev. George, 52, 336.
Williamson, Capt. David, in command of militia at Gnadenhütten on
Muskingum, 81;
his expedition by whom authorized, 283, 286.
Wingenund, Capt., a Delaware, 279, 284;
dialogue with Col. Crawford, 285 _et seq._
Wistar to Heckewelder, letters of, 354, 359.
Wolf tribe of Delawares, 52, 253.
Womelsdorf, xxx.
W’Tássone, name given by the Lenape to the Oneidas, 99.
Wyalusing, 83, 196.
Wyandots, xl., xli., xliv., 95, 119, 130.
Wyoming, 79, 91, 92, 166.
Yengees (_Yankees_), 77, 142, 143.
Zeisberger, the Rev. David, reference to his _Essay of a Delaware
and English Spelling-Book_, xliii., 125;
biographical sketch of, 63;
quoted, 97;
his German Iroquois Dictionary, 97, 120, 347;
his opinion of the Iroquois language, 120;
his Grammar of the Lenni Lenape language, 125, 127, 166, 279;
dialogue with Indian David, 167;
at Goschgoschink, 293, 338, 347.
Zinzendorf, Count Nicholas Lewis, in Penna., xxx.;
among the Shawanose of Wyoming, 88, 337.
[Illustration: FINIS]
FOOTNOTES:
[1] The annotations in brackets are by the Editor.
[2] Between the words “_if_” and “_what_” insert “_we can credit_.”
[3] A figurative expression, denoting the territory claimed by them,
and occupied at the time.
[4] Alluding to the white people settling those countries.
[5] [The book referred to here and elsewhere frequently in the course
of his narrative by the author, was written by the Rev. George Henry
Loskiel, a clergyman of the Continental Province of the Moravian
Church, and was published at Barby, Saxony, in 1789. It is entitled
“Geschichte der Mission der Evangelischen Brüder unter den Indianern in
Nordamerika,” and is a faithful record of the Christian work in which
the Moravians engaged chiefly among the Lenape and Iroquois stocks of
the aborigines, in the interval between 1735 and 1787. The material
on which the author wrought in the preparation of his history was
furnished mainly from the archives of his church at Herrnhut, to which
duplicates of the missionaries’ journals were statedly forwarded. In
this way he was enabled to produce a narrative which is marvellously
accurate, even touching minor points of topography, despite the fact
that the shifting scenes of his drama were laid in another hemisphere.
The preface was written at Strickenhof, in Livonia, in May of 1788. In
it Mr. Loskiel acknowledges his indebtedness for valuable assistance
to the venerable Bishop Augustus G. Spangenberg, who had superintended
the Moravian Mission in the New World in the interval between 1744
and 1762; and to the veteran missionary David Zeisberger, at that
time still in its service. It was the latter who supplied the larger
portion of the material relating to the history, traditions, manners,
and customs of the North American Indians, found in the ten chapters
introductory to the history of the Mission. This valuable work was
translated into English by the Rev. Christian Ignatius Latrobe, of
London, in 1793, and published there, in 1794, by “The Brethren’s
Society for the Furtherance of the Gospel.” It is now a rare book.
Having been consecrated a Bishop for the American Province of his
Church in 1802, Mr. Loskiel came to this country, settled at Bethlehem,
Pa., where he died in 1814.]
[6] Figurative expression. See Loskiel’s History, Part I. c. 10.[9]
[7] For “_declaring at the same time_” read “_and declared afterwards_.”
[8] [John Christopher Pyrlæus was sent by the heads of the Moravian
Church at Herrnhut, Saxony, to Bethlehem, Pa., in the autumn of 1741,
to do service in the Indian Mission. Having assisted Count Zinzendorf,
during his sojourn in the Province in 1742, in the work of the ministry
among a portion of the German population of Philadelphia, we find him,
in January of 1743, prosecuting the study of the Mohawk under the
direction of Conrad Weiser, the provincial interpreter, at Tulpehocken,
(near Womelsdorf, Berks County, Pa.) This was in view of fitting
himself for the office of corresponding secretary of the Mission Board
at Bethlehem, and for the duties of an evangelist among the Iroquois
stock of Indians, to whom it was purposed by the Moravians to bring the
Gospel. At the expiration of three months he returned to Bethlehem,
and in the following June, accompanied by his wife, who was a daughter
of John Stephen Benezet, a well-known merchant of Philadelphia, set
out for the Mohawk country, his destination being the Mohawk castle of
Canajoharie. Here he remained upwards of two months, in which interval
of time he visited the remaining Mohawk castles, and by constant
intercourse with the Indians strove assiduously to perfect himself in
their language. Such was his progress then and subsequently, that in
1744 he felt himself competent to impart instruction in that important
dialect of the Iroquois to several of his brethren at Bethlehem, who
were training for missionaries. In 1748, while settled at Gnadenhütten,
on the Mahoning, (Lehighton, Carbon County, Pa.,) he rendered similar
service. Meanwhile he had acquired a knowledge of the Mohican, and in
1745 there appeared his first translations of German hymns into that
tongue--the beginnings of a collection for use in Divine worship in
the Mission churches. Eight of the eleven years of his stay in this
country were mainly spent in labors of the kind just enumerated. Having
been liberally educated, Mr. Pyrlæus was well qualified for the work in
which he engaged. Several of his contributions to this novel department
of philology, in manuscript, are deposited in the library of the
American Philosophical Society in Philadelphia. Among these are essays
on the grammatical structure of the Iroquois dialects, and a collection
of notes on Indian traditions. The former Mr. Heckewelder names on
a subsequent page, and from the latter he makes frequent extracts.
In 1751 Mr. Pyrlæus sailed for England, where he was active in the
ministry of his Church until his recall to Germany in 1770. He died at
Herrnhut in 1785.]
[9] [The passage referred to by Mr. Heckewelder is quoted in full by
way of annotation on a subsequent page.]
[10] [Norman’s Kill, named after Albert Andriese Bratt De Norman,
an early settler of Beverwyck, rises in Schenectady County, has a
south-east course of about twenty-eight miles, and empties into the
Hudson, two miles south of Albany, in the town of Bethlehem. In records
of 1677 it is called Bethlehem’s Kil. The Indian name of the stream was
Tawalsantha. In the spring of 1617 the United New Netherlands Company
erected a fort near the banks of Norman’s Kill, and in 1621 the Dutch
made a solemn alliance and treaty of peace with the Five Nations, near
its mouth.--_Munsell’s Collections of the History of Albany._ Albany,
1870.]
[11] For “_Mohicans_” read “_Lenape_.”
[12] [”_The History of the Five Indian Nations depending on the
Province of New York in America_, by _Cadwallader Colden_.” The
first edition of this rare book was dedicated by the author to his
Excellency, William Burnet, Esq., and was printed and sold by William
Bradford in New York, 1727. Colden emigrated from Scotland in 1708, and
first settled in Pennsylvania, engaging in the practice of medicine.
Removing to New York in 1718, he was some time surveyor-general,
subsequently a member of the King’s Council, and in 1761 commissioned
Lieutenant-Governor of the Province. This commission he held at the
time of his death at his seat on Long Island, in September of 1776.]
[13] [The proceedings of these conferences and treaties with the
Indians are spread upon the minutes of the Provincial Council of
Pennsylvania, which were authorized to be printed by the Act of
Legislature of April 4th, 1837, and published subsequently in seven
volumes. They are known as “The Colonial Records.”]
[14] At a Treaty, at Easton, in July and November, 1756.
[15] [Should be _Thomson_.]
[16] Loskiel’s History, Part I., ch. 10.
[17] The Iroquois were at that time a confederacy of only Five Nations;
they became Six afterwards when they were joined by the Tuscaroras.
[18] Meaning, that the Five Nations would assist the white people in
getting the country of their enemies, the Delawares, &c., to themselves.
[19] Loskiel, Part I., ch. 10.
[20] [The Indian converts attached to the Moravian Mission, whom Mr.
Heckewelder invariably designates “Christian Indians” throughout his
history. The Moravian Indians at this date were settled with their
missionaries in three towns on the Tuscarawas branch of the Muskingum
(now the Tuscarawas River), all within the limits of the present
Tuscarawas County, Ohio.]
[21] Loskiel, Part III., ch. 9.
[22] The proper name is _Wtáwas_, the _W_ is whistled.
[23] [In the summer of 1794, Gen. Wayne moved an army into the Ohio
country, and on the 20th of August defeated the confederated Indians
near the rapids of the Maumee, or Miami of the Lake. The result of this
campaign was a treaty of peace, which was ratified at Greenville, the
present county seat of Darke County, Ohio, in August of 1795, between
the United States Government, represented by Wayne, and the Shawanese,
Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, Potawattomies, Miamis and smaller tribes,
at which treaty about two-thirds of the present state of Ohio was ceded
to the United States.]
[24] [The missionary David Zeisberger, in a collection of Delaware
vocables incorporated in “_An Essay of a Delaware and English Spelling
Book for the use of the Schools of the Christian Indians on the
Muskingum River_,” printed at Philadelphia, by Henry Miller, in 1776,
defines _Lennilenape_, “Indians of the same nation.”]
[25] Colden.
[26] La Hontan.
[27] The Dutch called them Mahikanders; the French Mourigans, and
Mahingans; the English, Mohiccons, Mohuccans, Mohegans, Muhheekanew,
Schatikooks, River Indians.
[28] “Night’s encampment” is a halt of one year at a place.
[29] The Mississippi, or _River_ of _Fish_; _Namæs_, a _Fish_; _Sipu_,
a _River_.
[30] The Iroquois, or Five Nations.
[31] [Col. John Gibson, to whom Mr. Heckewelder frequently alludes, was
born at Lancaster, Pa., in 1740. At the age of eighteen, he made his
first campaign under Gen. Forbes, in the expedition which resulted in
the acquisition of Fort Du Quesne from the French. At the peace of 1763
he settled at that post (Fort Pitt) as a trader. Some time after this,
on the resumption of hostilities with the savages, he was captured
by some Indians, among whom he lived several years, and thus became
familiar with their language, manners, customs, and traditions. In the
expedition against the Shawanese under Lord Dunmore, the last royal
governor of Virginia, in 1774, Gibson played a conspicuous part. On the
breaking out of the Revolutionary war, he was appointed to the command
of one of the Continental regiments raised in Virginia, and served with
the army at New York and in the retreat through New Jersey. He was
next employed in the Western department, serving under Gen. McIntosh
in 1778, and under Gen. Irvine in 1782. At one time he was in command
at Pittsburgh. In 1800 Col. Gibson was appointed Secretary and acting
Governor of the territory of Indiana, a position which he filled for a
second time between 1811 and 1813. Subsequently he was Associate Judge
of Allegheny County, Pa. He died near Pittsburgh in 1822. He was an
uncle of the late John B. Gibson, Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of
Pennsylvania between 1827 and 1851.]
[32] Loskiel’s History of the Mission of the United Brethren, Part I.,
ch. I.
[33] [In 1789 Mr. Heckewelder, accompanied by Abraham Steiner,
(subsequently a missionary to the Cherokees of Georgia,) visited the
mission at New Salem, on the Petquotting, (now the Huron,) in Erie
County, Ohio, on business relating to the survey of a tract of land on
the Tuscarawas, which Congress had conveyed to the Moravians in trust
for their Indians. This was to indemnify them for losses incurred at
their settlements during the border-war of the Revolution.]
[34] The _Glades_, that is to say that they crossed the mountains.
[35] Meaning the river Susquehannah, which they call “the great Bay
River,” from where the west branch falls into the main stream.
[36] The word “Hittuck,” in the language of the Delawares, means a
rapid stream; “Sipo,” or “Sipu,” is the proper name for a river.
[37] [The Indians of this town proved troublesome neighbors to a small
company of Moravians, who, in the spring of 1740, were employed by
Whitefield to erect a large dwelling near its site, which he designed
for a school for negroes. The town lay near the centre of a tract
of 5,000 acres (now Upper Nazareth township, Northampton County,
Pennsylvania), which Whitefield bought of William Allen, which he named
Nazareth, and which, in 1741, he conveyed to the Moravians. Captain
John and his clan of Delawares vacated their plantation in the autumn
of 1742, and in the following year, the Moravians commenced their
first settlement, and named it Nazareth. Whitefield’s house is still
standing.]
[38] Loskiel, part I., ch. 10.
[39] The Reverend C. Pyrlæus, a pupil of Conrad Weiser, of whom he
learned the Mohawk language, and who was afterwards stationed on the
Mohawk River, as a Missionary, has, in a manuscript book, written
between the years 1742 and 1748, page 235, the following note which he
received from a principal chief of that nation, viz.: “The Five Nations
formerly did eat human flesh; they at one time ate up a whole body of
the French King’s soldiers; they say, _Eto niocht ochquari_; which is:
Human flesh tastes like bear’s meat. They also say, that the hands are
not good eating, they are _yozgarat_, bitter.”
Aged French Canadians have told me, many years since, while I was at
Detroit, that they had frequently seen the Iroquois eat the flesh of
those who had been slain in battle, and that this was the case in the
war between the French and English, commonly called the war of 1756.
At a treaty held at the Proprietors house in Philadelphia, July 5th,
1742, with the Six Nations, none of the Senecas attended; the reason of
their absence being asked, it was given for answer, “that there was a
famine in their country, and that a father had been obliged to kill two
of his children, to preserve the lives of the remainder of the family.”
See Colden’s History of the Five Nations, part II., page 52. See also
the minutes of that treaty, printed at Philadelphia, by B. Franklin, in
1743, p. 7, in the Collection of Indian Treaties in the library of the
American Philosophical Society.
[40] Loskiel, part I., ch. 1.
[41] The Rev. C. Pyrlæus, in his manuscript book, page 234, says: “The
alliance or confederacy of the Five Nations was established, as near
as can be conjectured, one age (or the length of a man’s life) before
the white people (the Dutch) came into the country. _Thannawage_ was
the name of the aged Indian, a Mohawk, who first proposed such an
alliance.” He then gives the names of the chiefs of the Five Nations,
which at that time met and formed the alliance, viz.: “_Toganawita_,
of the Mohawks; _Otatschéchta_, of the Oneidas; _Tatotarho_, of the
Onondagos; _Togaháyon_, of the Cayugas; _Ganiatariò_ and _Satagarùyes_,
from two towns of the Senecas, &c.,” and concludes with saying: “All
these names are forever to be kept in remembrance, by naming a person
in each nation after them,” &c., &c.
[42] Loskiel, part I., ch. 10.
[43] Loskiel, part I., ch. 10.
[44] Ibid.
[45] [The following is the passage from Loskiel, which that historian
copied from David Zeisberger’s “Collection of Notes on the Indians,”
compiled by the missionary during his residence in the valley of the
Tuscarawas, about 1778. “According to the account of the Delawares,
they were always too powerful for the Iroquois, so that the latter
were at length convinced that if they continued the war, their total
extirpation would be inevitable. They therefore sent the following
message to the Delawares: ‘It is not profitable that all the nations
should be at war with each other, for this will at length be the ruin
of the whole Indian race. We have therefore considered a remedy by
which this evil may be prevented. One nation shall be the _woman_. We
will place her in the midst, and the other nations who make war shall
be the man, and live around the woman. No one shall touch or hurt the
woman, and if any one does it, we will immediately say to him, “Why
do you beat the woman?” Then all the men shall fall upon him who has
beaten her. The woman shall not go to war, but endeavor to keep peace
with all. Therefore, if the men that surround her beat each other, and
the war be carried on with violence, the woman shall have the right
of addressing them, “Ye men, what are ye about? why do you beat each
other? We are almost afraid. Consider that your wives and children
must perish, unless you desist. Do you mean to destroy yourselves from
the face of the earth?” The men shall then hear and obey the woman.’
The Delawares add, that, not immediately perceiving the intention of
the Iroquois, they submitted to be the _woman_. The Iroquois then
appointed a great feast, and invited the Delaware nation to it; when,
in consequence of the authority given them, they made a solemn speech
containing three capital points. The first was, that they declared the
Delaware nation to be the _woman_ in the following words: ‘We dress you
in a woman’s long habit, reafilled ching down to your feet, and adorn
you with ear-rings;’ meaning that they should no more take up arms.
The second point was thus expressed: ‘We hang a calabash with oil and
medicine upon your arm. With the oil you shall cleanse the ears of
the other nations, that they may attend to good and not to bad words,
and with the medicine you shall heal those who are walking in foolish
ways, that they may return to their senses and incline their hearts to
peace.’ The third point, by which the Delawares were exhorted to make
agriculture their future employ and means of subsistence, was thus
worded: ‘We deliver into your hands a plant of Indian corn and a hoe.’
Each of these points was confirmed by delivering a belt of wampum, and
these belts have been carefully laid up, and their meaning frequently
repeated.
“The Iroquois, on the contrary, assert that they conquered the
Delawares, and that the latter were forced to adopt the defenceless
state and appellation of a _woman_ to avoid total ruin.
“Whether these different accounts be true or false, certain it is that
the Delaware nation has ever since been looked to for preservation of
peace, and entrusted with the charge of the great belt of peace and
chain of friendship, which they must take care to preserve inviolate.
According to the figurative explanation of the Indians, the middle of
the chain of friendship is placed upon the shoulder of the Delaware,
the rest of the Indian nations holding one end and the Europeans the
other.”]
[46] [_The Life and Times of David Zeisberger, the Western Pioneer
and Apostle to the Indians, by Edmund de Schweinitz, Phila._, 1870,
reviews the Moravian mission among the North American Indians from its
beginnings to recent times, besides very fully portraying the career
of the veteran missionary, who spent upwards of sixty years of his
life as an evangelist to the Indians, thirty-six of which were passed
within the limits of the present State of Ohio. He died on the 17th of
November, 1808, at Goshen, on the Tuscarawas, in the 88th year of his
age. Zeisberger, in the course of his long life in the Indian country,
mastered the Delaware and the Onondaga of the Iroquois, into the former
of which he made translations of a number of devotional books, while
he studied both critically, as his literary efforts in that direction,
partly published and partly in MS., amply testify.]
[47] Mr. Proud, in his History of Pennsylvania, relates that, some
time after the establishment of William Penn’s government, the Indians
used to supply the family of one John Chapman, whose descendants still
reside in Bucks County, with all kinds of provisions, and mentions
an affecting instance of their kindness to that family. Abraham and
John Chapman, twin children about nine or ten years old, going out one
evening to seek their cattle, met an Indian in the woods, who told
them to go back, else they would be lost. They took his advice and
went back, but it was night before they got home, where they found the
Indian, who had repaired thither out of anxiety for them. And their
parents, about that time, going to the yearly meeting at Philadelphia,
and leaving a young family at home, the Indians came every day to
see whether anything was amiss among them. Such (says Proud) in many
instances was the kind treatment of the Aborigines of this country to
the English in their first and early settlement. Proud’s Hist., Vol.
I., pp. 223, 224.
[48] [For “Easton in Pennsylvania,” read _Philadelphia_. Easton, the
county-seat of Northampton County, was laid out in the spring of 1752.]
[49] For “1742,” read “_and November, 1756_.” [The latter was held at
Easton.]
[50] [The so-called French and Indian war, the fourth and last of the
inter-colonial wars, which originated in disputes between the French
and English concerning territorial claims, and which, after a seven
years’ contest, resulted in establishing the supremacy of the latter
over the civilized portions of North America.]
[51] [The Conestogas remained on their ancestral seats, near the mouth
of the Conestoga, in Manor township, Lancaster County, Penna., long
after the other Indians on the Susquehanna had been crowded by the
advance of civilization beyond Shamokin. Here the remnant of this tribe
was fallen upon by Scotch-Irish partizans of Paxton township (now
within the limits of Dauphin County) in December of 1763, all that
were at the settlement killed, and their cabins burnt to the ground.
Ten days later, the remainder of this inoffensive people, who had
been lodged in the jail at Lancaster, were inhumanly butchered by the
same band of lawless frontiersmen. In Heckewelder’s “Narrative of the
Mission of the United Brethren among the Delaware and Mohegan Indians,”
there is a statement by an eye-witness, touching the last scene in this
bloody tragedy.]
[52] [White Eyes, alias Koquethagachton, a celebrated captain and
counsellor of the Delawares of the Ohio country, was first met
by Heckewelder at his home, near the mouth of the Beaver (above
Pittsburg), when the latter was on his way to the Tuscarawas, in the
spring of 1762. When Zeisberger entered the valley of that river, in
1772, and built Schönbrunn, the chieftain was residing six miles below
Gekelemukpechunk, the then capital of his nation, in the present Oxford
township, Coshocton County. In Dunmore’s war, as well as in the war of
the Revolution, White Eyes strove strenuously to keep the Delawares
neutral. Failing in this in the latter contest, and seeing himself
necessitated to take sides, he declared for the Americans, joined Gen.
McIntosh’s command, but died at Fort Laurens, on the Tuscarawas, in
November of 1778, before the projected expedition, which was aimed at
the Sandusky towns, moved. White Eyes was a warm friend of the Moravian
mission, and was deeply interested in the progress of his people in the
arts of civilized life.]
[53] Indian chiefs, in their public speeches, always speak on behalf
of their nation in the singular number and in the first person,
considering themselves, in a manner, as its representatives.
[54] [In August of 1779, Col. Daniel Brodhead, then commandant of
Fort Pitt, moved with some troops up the Allegheny, and in the forks
of that river destroyed several settlements, inhabited by Monsey and
Seneca Indians. “The Delawares,” he writes in his report to the War
Department, “are ready to follow me wherever I go.”]
[55] Loskiel, part II., ch. 8.
[56] Henry Hudson, a British navigator and discoverer in the employ
of the Dutch East India Company, sailed from Amsterdam in command of
the Half Moon, in April of 1609, in search of a north-eastern passage.
Foiled by the ice in the higher latitudes, he turned southwards, and in
September anchored in New York bay.
[57] Dele “_in which_.”
[58] Hackhack is properly a gourd; but since they have seen glass
bottles and decanters, they call them by the same name.
[59] These Dutchmen were probably acquainted with what is related
of Queen Dido in ancient history, and thus turned their classical
knowledge to a good account.
[60] The Hollanders.
[61] Manhattan, or New York Island.
[62] For “_Delawares_” read “_Mohicans_.”
[63] An Indian corruption of the word _English_, whence probably the
nickname _Yankees_.
[64] This word means “a cluster of islands with channels every way,
so that it is in no place shut up or impassable for craft.” The
Indians think that the white people have corrupted this word into
_Massachusetts_. It deserves to be remarked as an example of the
comprehensiveness of the Indian languages.
[65] The Delaware river. I have said above, p. 51, that _Hittuck_
means a rapid stream. I should have added that it means so only when
placed at the end of another word, and used as a compound. Singly, it
signifies a _tree_.
[66] The Swedes and Dutch.
[67] William Penn.
[68] Land traders and speculators.
[69] Easton, Northampton County, Pa.
[70] This actually took place at a treaty held at Easton in July and
November, 1756.
[71] _Council house_ here means “Connexion District.”
[72] _Pulling the council house down._ Destroying, dispersing the
community, preventing their further intercourse with each other, by
settling between them on their land.
[73] _Putting the fire out._ Murdering them or their people, where they
assemble for pacific purposes, where treaties are held, &c.
[74] _Our own blood._ The blood flowing from the veins of some of our
community.
[75] Alluding to the murder of the Conestogo Indians, who, though of
another tribe, yet had joined them in welcoming the white people to
their shores.
In a narrative of this lamentable event, supposed to have been written
by the late Dr. Franklin, it is said: “On the first arrival of the
English in Pennsylvania, messengers from this tribe came to welcome
them with presents of venison, corn, and skins, and the whole tribe
entered into a treaty of friendship with the first proprietor, William
Penn, which was to last as long as the sun should shine, or the waters
run in the rivers.”
[76] _The fire was entirely extinguished by the blood of the murdered
running into it; not a spark was left to kindle a new fire._ This
alludes to the last fire that was kindled by the Pennsylvania
government and themselves at Lancaster, where the last treaty was held
with them in 1762, the year preceding this murder, which put an end to
all business of the kind in the province of Pennsylvania.
[77] _The great Swamp._ The Glades on the Allegheny mountains.
[78] _Delamattenos._ The Hurons or Wyandots, whom they call their
uncle. These, though speaking a dialect of the Iroquois language, are
in connexion with the Lenape.
[79] For “1787” read “1781.”
[80] [These were the words of a war-chief of the Delawares,
Pachgantschihilas by name, in the course of an address to the Moravian
Indians at Gnadenhütten, in which he sought to persuade them to remove
from their exposed position on the Tuscarawas to a place of safety
among the Wyandots of the Maumee.]
[81] For “_us_” read “_them_.”
[82] [The massacre of Moravian Indians at Gnadenhütten was perpetrated
on the 8th of March, 1782, by militia led by Col. David Williamson,
of Washington County, Pa. The details of this atrocious affair are
very minutely given by De Schweinitz in _The Life and Times of David
Zeisberger_. While such of the borderers as had suffered from Indian
forays sought to extenuate the deplorable transaction, it was at the
same time made the subject of an investigation at the head-quarters
of the department. With what result, however, is inferable from
the following extract from a letter written by Gen. Irvine to His
Excellency William Moore, President of the Supreme Executive Council of
Pennsylvania, and dated _Fort Pitt, May 9, 1782_:--“Since my letter of
the 3d inst. to your excellency, Mr. Pentecost and Mr. Cannon have been
with me. They, and every intelligent person whom I have consulted with
on the subject, are of opinion that it will be almost impossible ever
to obtain a just account of the conduct of the militia at Muskingum.
No man can give any account, except some of the party themselves; if,
therefore, an inquiry should appear serious, they are not obliged, nor
will they give evidence. For this and other reasons, I am of opinion
farther inquiry into the matter will not only be fruitless, but in the
end may be attended with dangerous consequences. A volunteer expedition
is talked of against Sandusky, which, if well conducted, may be of
great service to this country, if they behave well on this occasion. It
may also in some measure atone for the barbarity they are charged with
at Muskingum. They have consulted me, and shall have every countenance
in my power, if their numbers, arrangements, &c., promise a prospect of
success.” _MS. in the Irvine Collection._]
[The following is a letter from Col. John Gibson, to the Right Rev.
Nathaniel Seidel, senior Bishop of the Moravian Church at Bethlehem,
dated _Fort Pitt, May 9, 1782_.
“SIR:--Your letter by Mr. Shebosh of the 11th ult., came safe to hand.
I am happy to find that the few small services I rendered to the
gentlemen of your society in this quarter, meet with the approbation of
you and every other worthy character.
“Mr. Shebosh will be able to give you a particular account of the late
horrid massacre perpetrated at the towns on Muskingum, by a set of
men the most savage miscreants that ever degraded human nature. Had I
have known of their intention before it was too late, I should have
prevented it by informing the poor sufferers of it.
“I am in hopes in a few days to be able to send you a more particular
account than any that has yet transpired, as I hope to obtain the
deposition of a person who was an eye-witness of the whole transaction,
and disapproved of it. Should any accounts come to hand from Mr.
Zeisberger, or the other gentlemen of your society, you may depend
on my transmitting them to you. Please present my compliments to Mr.
William Henry, Jr., &c.
“Believe me, with esteem, your most obedient servant,
“JNO. GIBSON,
“Col. 7th Virginia Reg’t.”
]
[83] [For a full account of this exodus, the reader is referred to a
paper entitled “Wyalusing and the Moravian Mission at Friedenshütten,”
by W. C. Reichel, in Part 5 (1871) of the Transactions of the Moravian
Historical Society.]
[84] For “_Mouseys_” read “_Monseys_.”
[85] For “1768, _about six_,” read “1772, _a few_.”
[86] Loskiel, part III., ch. 12.
[87] [Pilgerruh on the Cuyahoga, within the limits of what is now
Independence township, Cuyahoga County, Ohio, was the seat of the
mission during the time of the dispersion in the interval between May
of 1786, and April of 1787.]
[88] General John Gibson thinks that _Sawano_ is their proper name;
they are so called by the other Indian nations, from their being a
southern people. _Shawaneu_, in the Lenape language, means the south;
_Shawanachau_,[89] the south wind, &c. We commonly call them the
_Shawanese_.
[89] For “_Shawanachau_” read “_Shawanachan_.”
[90] The Shawanos call the Mohicans their _elder brother_.
[91] Loskiel, part II., ch. 10.
[92] While these people lived at Wyoming and in its vicinity, they
were frequently visited by missionaries of the Society of the United
Brethren, who, knowing them to be the most depraved and ferocious tribe
of all the Indian nations they had heard of, sought to establish a
friendship with them, so as not to be interrupted in their journies
from one Indian Mission to another. Count Zinzendorf being at that
time in the country, went in 1742 with some other missionaries to
visit them at Wyoming, stayed with them 20 days, and endeavoured to
impress the gospel truths upon their minds; but these hardened people,
suspecting his views, and believing that he wanted to purchase their
land, on which it was reported there were mines of silver, conspired
to murder him, and would have effected their purpose, but that Conrad
Weiser, the Indian interpreter, arrived fortunately in time to prevent
it. (Loskiel, part II., ch. 1.) Notwithstanding this, the Brethren
frequently visited them, and Shehellemus, a chief of great influence,
having become their friend (Loskiel, ibid., ch. 8), they could now
travel with greater safety. He died at Shamokin in 1749; the Brethren
were, however, fortunate enough to obtain the friendship of Paxnos or
Paxsinos, another chief of the Shawanos, who gave them full proof of it
by sending his sons to escort one of them to Bethlehem from Shamokin,
where he was in the most perilous situation, the war having just broke
out. (Loskiel, ibid., ch. 12.)
[93] Loskiel, part I., ch. 10.
[94] [After the peace of 1763 there was comparative quiet on the
Western frontiers, until the inauguration of the “Dunmore War,” in the
spring of 1774--a contest which the last royal governor of Virginia is
said to have excited, in order to divert the attention of the colonists
from the oppressive acts of England towards them. The initial military
movement in this war was Col. Angus McDonald’s expedition against the
Shawanese town of Waketameki, just below the mouth of the Waketameki
Creek, within the limits of the present county of Muskingum, Ohio. The
battle fought on the 10th of October, 1774, at the junction of the
Great Kanawha and the Ohio, between the garrison of Point Pleasant,
under General Andrew Lewis, and the flower of the Shawanese, Delawares,
Mingoes, and Wyandots, led by the Cornstalk, the Shawano king, in which
the confederate Indians were routed, was speedily followed by a peace.]
[95] See, in Loskiel’s History, part II., ch. 10, his account of the
visit of this chief to the Christian Indian Congregation at Bethlehem.
[96] For “_Shawanos_” read “_Nanticokes_.”
[97] [In 1726, John Harris, a Yorkshireman, settled at the mouth of the
Paxton Creek, traded largely with the neighboring Indians, cleared a
farm, and kept a ferry. John Harris, Jr., his son, born on the Paxton
in the above-mentioned year, inherited from his father 700 acres of
land, on a part of which Harrisburg was laid out in 1785.]
[98] _Zeningi_, according to Loskiel.
[99] For “_Schschequon_” read “_Shechschequon_.”
[100] [For “_Christian_” read “_Christopher_.”]
[101] Loskiel, part I., ch. 9.
[102] For “_Tawachguáno_” read “_Tayachguáno_.”
[103] [Now the Clinton, on whose banks New Gnadenhütten was built by
David Zeisberger in the summer of 1782.]
[104] [The first mission established by the Moravians among the
northern tribes of Indians, was among a clan of Mohegans, in the town
of Pine Plains, Dutchess County, New York, where Christian Henry Rauch,
of Bethlehem, began his labors as an evangelist in July of 1740.]
[105] Collections Massach. Histor. Soc., vol. I., p. 195; vol. IV., p.
67; vol. IX., p. 92.
[106] Collections Massach. Histor. Soc., vol. IX., p. 76.
[107] Coll. Mass. Hist. Soc., vol. IX., p. 77. Trumbull’s History of
Connecticut, vol. I., p. 28.
[108] The Atlantic Ocean.
[109] P. 235.--This MS. is in the library of the Society of the United
Brethren at Bethlehem.
[110] Loskiel, part II., ch. 9.
[111] Mr. Zeisberger wrote a complete dictionary of the Iroquois
language, in three quarto volumes, the first of which, from A to the
middle of H, is unfortunately lost. The remainder, which is preserved,
contains upwards of 800 pages, which shews that, at least, the Indian
languages are not so _poor_ as is generally imagined. It is German and
Indian, beginning with the German.[112]
[112] [This work, entitled “_Deutch und Onondagaishes Wörterbuch_,” _i.
e._, Lexicon of the German and Onondaga Languages, complete in 7 vols.,
MS., is deposited in the Library of the American Philosophical Society,
at Philadelphia. Also a complete grammar of the Onondaga by the same
author.]
[113] This word should be pronounced according to the powers of the
German Alphabet.
[114] Being, or Spirit.
[115] An old Indian told me about fifty years ago, that when he was
young, he still followed the custom of his father and ancestors, in
climbing upon a high mountain or pinnacle, to thank the Great Spirit
for all the benefits before bestowed, and to pray for a continuance
of his favour; that they were sure their prayers were heard, and
acceptable to the Great Spirit, although he did not himself appear to
them.
[116] When, between the years 1760 and 1768, the noted war-chief
Pontiac had concerted a plan of surprising and cutting off the garrison
and town of Detroit, while in the act of delivering an impressive
peace oration, to the then commandant Major Gladwyn, the _turning of
the belt_ was to have been the signal of the attack by his forces, who
all had their guns, which previously had been cut off to large pistol
length, hidden under their blankets. So I have been informed by some
of the most respectable inhabitants of Detroit, and by the Indians
themselves.
[117] For “_once_” read “_sometimes_.”
[118] For “_should_” read “_deserved to_.”
[119] For “_to_” read “_out at_.”
[120] Dele “_outside of the door and_.”
[121] Grammatica Grœnlandico-Danico-Latina, edita à P. Egede, Hafniæ,
1760, 8vo.
Dictionarium Grœnlandico-Danico-Latinum, adornatum à P. Egede, Hafniæ,
1750, 8vo.
[122] For “_Thornhallesen_” read “_Thorhallesen_.”
[123] [The Moravians have been conducting a successful mission in
Greenland since 1733. In 1761, David Crantz, one of their clergymen,
sailed for that distant country to collect material for a history,
touching its physical aspect and resources, the manners and customs
of the native tribes. Crantz’s work was published at Barby, Saxony,
in 1765, under the title of “_Historie von Grönland, enthaltend die
Beschreibung des Landes und der Einwohner insbeomdere, die Geschichte
der dortigen Mission der evangelischen Brüder zu Neu-Herrnhut und
Lichtenfels_.” An English Translation appeared in London, in 1766.]
[124] The Hurons, a great while, perhaps centuries ago, became
disunited from the Iroquois; many wars took place between them, and
the former withdrew at last to remote places, where they settled, and
were discovered by French Missionaries and traders: of this last I was
repeatedly assured during my residence at Detroit, between 1781 and
1786.
[125] Carver says that there are in North America, four different
languages, the Iroquois to the east, the Chippeway or Algonkin to
the northwest, the Naudowessie to the west, and the Cherokee, &c. to
the south. Travels, ch. 17, Capt. Carver, though he appears to have
been in general an accurate observer, resided too short a time among
the Indians to have a correct knowledge of their languages. [Mr.
Heckewelder quotes here and elsewhere from _“Three Years’ Travels
through the Interior Parts of North America for more than Five Thousand
Miles, &c.,” by Capt. Jonathan Carver of the Provincial Troops in
America, Phila._, 1796. Those tribes of the Naudowessies among whom
Carver resided for five months, dwelt about the River St. Pierre, 200
miles above its junction with the Mississippi. This was the extreme
westerly point reached by the adventurous traveller. The entire nation
of the Naudowessies, according to Carver, mustered upwards of 2000
fighting men.]
[126] Le grand Voyage du pays des Hurons, par Samuel Sagard, Paris,
1632. To which is added, a Dictionary of the Huron language, with a
preface.
[127] Philos. Trans. Abr., vol. lxiii., p. 142.
[128] Hist. of the Five Nations, p. 14.
[129] Barton’s New Views, Ed. 1798. Prelim. Disc., p. 32.
[130] The late Dr. Barton, in the work above quoted, append., p.
3,[132] seems to doubt this fact, and relies on a series of numerals
which I once communicated to him, and was found among the papers of
the late Rev. Mr. Pyrlæus. But it is by no means certain that those
numerals were taken from the language of the Nanticokes, and the
vocabularies above mentioned leave no doubt as to the origin of that
dialect.
[131] Letter v.
[132] For “_page_ 3” read “_page_ 5.”
[133] Letter xxv.
[134] He says that it is not copious, and is only adapted to the
necessities and conveniences of life. These are the ideas which
strangers and philosophers, reasoning _à priori_, entertain of Indian
languages; but those who are well acquainted with them think very
differently. And yet the Baron says that the Algonquin is “the finest
and the most universal language on the Continent.”
[135] Letter xi., p. 276.
[136] It should be properly _Tortoise_; but this word seems in a fair
way to be entirely superseded by _Turtle_, as well in England as in
this country.
[137] _Chippewäisch-Delawarischer, oder Algonkisch-Moheganischer,
Stamm._ Mithrid., part III., vol. iii., p. 337.
[138] Vater in Mithrid., part III., vol. 3, p. 283, quotes De Laet,
Novus Orbis, pp. 98, 103, Du Pratz, vol. 2, pp. 208, 9, Rochefort,
Histoire Natur. des Antilles, pp. 351, 394, and Hervas, _Catologo delle
Lingue_, p. 90; none of which works I have it in my power to consult.
[139] Mithrid., ibid.
[140] Loskiel, part I., ch. 1.
[141] Duvallon, Vue de la Colonie Espagnole du Mississippi, quoted by
Vater, in Mithrid., ibid., p. 297.
[142] The Bibliotheca Americana records 45 grammars and 25 dictionaries
of the languages spoken in Mexico only, and 85 works of different
authors on religious and moral subjects written or translated into some
of those languages.
[143] For “_or_” read “_nor_.”
[144] For “_met_” read “_saw_.”
[145] For “_days_” read “_hours_.”
[146] Loskiel, part III., ch. 9.
[147] For “_December_” read “_November_.”
[148] [Pipe, a leader of the Wolf tribe of the Monseys, was residing
in the Ohio country at the time of Bouquet’s expedition against the
Delawares and Shawanon of the Muskingum and Scioto, in 1764. When the
Moravians entered the valley of the former river, he was at home on the
Walhonding, about 15 miles above the present Coshocton. In the border
wars of the Revolution, he at first declared against the Americans,
withdrawing with the disaffected Delawares to the Tymochtee creek,
a branch of the Sandusky, within the limits of the present Crawford
County. While here, he was a serviceable tool in the hands of the
British at Detroit. To the Moravian mission among his countrymen he was
for many years unjustifiedly hostile. Eventually, however, he regarded
the work apparently with favor. It was the Pipe who doomed Col. William
Crawford to torture, after the failure of the latter’s expedition
against Sandusky in the summer of 1782. After the treaty of Fort Harmar
in January of 1789, Pipe threw all his influence on the side of those
of his people who now resolved at all hazards to uphold peace with the
United States. He died a few days before the defeat of the confederated
Indians by Wayne, near the rapids of the Maumee.]
[149] See Loskiel, part III., ch. 9, p. 704, German text, and p. 165,
Eng. Trans.
[150] It will be understood that he speaks here throughout for himself
and his nation or tribe, though always in the first person of the
singular, according to the Indian mode.
[151] Meaning his nation, and speaking, as usual, in the first person.
[152] Meaning women and children.
[153] Prisoners.
[154] To make his language agree with the expression _live flesh_.
[155] For “_with_” read “_of_.”
[156] According to the powers of the English alphabet, it should be
written Koo-ek-wen-aw-koo.
[157] Rogers’s Key into the Language of the Indians of New England, ch.
vi.
[158] For “_they_” read “_the Chippeways and some other nations_.”
[159] [In Green township, in what is now Ashland County.]
[160] For “_your_” read “_yon_.”
[161] After the word “_nation_” insert “_which they do not approve of_.”
[162] [Alexander McKee, Matthew Elliott, and Simon Girty,--the
first some time a British agent among the Indians, the second with
a captain’s commission from the commandant at Detroit, the third as
brutal, depraved, and wicked a wretch as ever lived,--deserted with
a squad of soldiers from Fort Pitt, in March of 1778. This trio of
renegade desperadoes, henceforth, in the capacity of emissaries of the
British at Detroit (with their savage allies), wrought untold misery on
the frontiers, even till the peace of 1795.]
[163] For “_they sure_” read “_they are sure_.”
[164] For “_reply_” read “_answer_.”
[165] The pronouns in the Indian language have no feminine gender.
[166] For “_decide_” read “_say_.”
[167] For “_man_” read “_men_.”
[168] Between “_is_” and “_even_” insert “_sometimes_.”
[169] For “_an old Indian_” read “_several old men_.”
[170] [The fort, built by Franklin in the early winter of 1756, stood
on the site of Weissport, on the left bank of the Lehigh, in Carbon
County, Penna. The well of the fort alone remains to mark its site.]
[171] For “_road_” read “_course_.”
[172] [The road from Easton, via Ross Common and the Pocono, to
Wilkes-Barré, formerly called the Wilkes-Barré turnpike.]
[173] [Mr. Heckewelder had been despatched by the Mission Board at
Bethlehem to Fairfield, on the Retrenche, (Thames,) in Upper Canada,
where the Moravian Indians settled in 1792, to advise with them and
their teachers, concerning a return to the valley of the Tuscarawas, in
which the survey of a grant of 12,000 acres of land, made by Congress,
had recently been completed. Pursuant to his instructions, he proceeded
from Fairfield to the Tuscarawas, to make the necessary preparations
for a colony that was to follow in the ensuing autumn, and re-founded
Gnadenhütten. The village of Goshen, seven miles higher up the river,
was built in October, on the arrival of David Zeisberger and the
expected colony from the Retrenche.]
[174] [The Wyandot village of Upper Sandusky was three miles in a
south-easterly direction from the site of the present town of Upper
Sandusky, the county-seat of Wyandot County, Ohio. Lower Sandusky, a
trading-post and Wyandot town, was situated at the head of navigation
on the Sandusky. Fremont, the county-seat of Sandusky County, marks
its site. Here the Moravian missionaries and their families were most
hospitably entertained by Arundel and Robbins for upwards of three
weeks, while awaiting the arrival of boats from Detroit, on which they
were to be taken as prisoners of war to that post. It was through
British influence that the Mission on the Muskingum had been overthrown
in the early autumn of 1781, and that its seat was transferred to the
Sandusky. Fort McIntosh stood on the present town of Beaver, Beaver
County, Pennsylvania. It was erected in October of 1778 by General
McIntosh, then in command of the Western Department.]
[175] For “_where_” read “_whence_.”
[176] [On the 18th October, 1755, a party of Indians fell upon the
settlers on the Big Mahanoy, (now Penn’s Creek, in Union County,
Penna.,) killed and carried off twenty-five persons, and burned and
destroyed all the buildings and improvements.--_Colonial Records_,
_vol._ 6, p. 766.]
[177] For “_Duke Holland_” read “_Luke Holland_;” the same where the
name again occurs.
[178] Indian stockings.
[179] [The three Commissioners set out from Fort Washington
(Cincinnati) for the Indian country in June of 1792, but never
returned. Despite the failure of this mission, General Rufus Putnam was
without delay despatched on a similar errand, and at Post Vincennes,
on the Wabash, in September of the above mentioned year, concluded a
treaty of peace with a number of the Western tribes. Mr. Heckewelder
was associated by the War Department with Putnam in this perilous
undertaking.]
[180] [Cornstalk, the well-known Shawano king, while held by the
Americans in the fort at Point Pleasant, at the mouth of the Kanhawa,
was murdered by some soldiers of the garrison, in revenge for the loss
of one of their companions, who had met his death while hunting, at the
hands of a British Indian.]
[181] The Bible.
[182] The Indians gave this name to General Wayne, because they say
that he had all the cunning of this animal, who is superior to all
other snakes in the manner of procuring his food. He hides himself in
the grass with his head only above it, watching all around to see where
the birds are building their nests, that he may know where to find the
young ones when they are hatched.
[183] This is not applicable to the Iroquois of the present time.
[184] [A Monsey of Wyalusing, at whose persuasion the Moravian Indians
settled on that stream in 1765, who became one of their number,
following them to the Big Beaver and the Tuscarawas, where he died
in May of 1775. Papunhank’s name occurs frequently in the annals of
Provincial history between 1762 and 1765.]
[185] [The Chinglacamoose, now the Moose, empties into the Susquehannah
in Clearfield County, Penna.]
[186] Dele _again_.
[187] Bethlehem.
[188] [“The serenity of Michael’s countenance,” writes Loskiel, “when
he was laid in his coffin, contrasted strangely with the figures
scarified upon his face when a warrior. These were as follows: upon
the right cheek and temple, a large snake; from the under lip a pole
passed over the nose, and between the eyes and the top of the forehead,
ornamented at every quarter of an inch with round marks, representing
scalps; upon the upper cheek, two lances crossing each other; and upon
the lower jaw, the head of a wild boar.”]
[189] See Loskiel, part I., ch. 3.
[190] See Loskiel, part I., ch. 11.
[191] For “_very often_” read “_sometimes_.”
[192] For “_inches_” read “_feet_.”
[193] For “_of_” read “_on_.”
[194] Podophyllum peltatum.
[195] [Mr. Heckewelder was in this year residing at New Gnadenhütten on
the Huron (now the Clinton), Michigan, where the Moravian Missionaries
ministered to their converts for upwards of three years, subsequent to
their compulsory evacuation of the Tuscarawas valley.]
[196] They call them _Doctols_; because the Indians cannot pronounce
the letter R. The Minsi or Monseys call them “Mĕdéu,” which signifies
“conjuror.”
[197] [Gelelemend, _i. e._, _a leader_, (whose soubriquet among the
whites was Kill-buck,) a grandson of the well-known Netawatwes, was
sometime chief counsellor of the Turkey tribe of the Delaware nation,
and after the death of Captain White Eyes, installed temporarily as
principal chief. He was a strenuous advocate of peace among his people
in the times of the Revolutionary war; and being a man of influence,
drew upon himself, in consequence, the implacable animosity of those
of his countrymen who took up arms against the Americans. Even after
the general peace concluded between the United States and the Indians
of the West in 1795, his life was on several occasions imperilled by
his former opponents. Gelelemend united with the Moravian Indians, at
Salem, on the Petquotting in the summer of 1788, where, in baptism,
he was named William Henry, after Judge William Henry, of Lancaster.
He died at Goshen, in the early winter of 1811, in the eightieth year
of his age. He is said to have been born in 1737, in the neighborhood
of the Lehigh Water Gap, Carbon County, Pa. William Henry Gelelemend
was one of the last converts of distinction attached to the Moravian
Mission among the Indians.]
[198] [Goschachking, sometime the capital of the Delaware nation, stood
on the Muskingum, immediately below the junction of the Tuscarawas and
the Walhonding. On its site stands Coshocton. The town was destroyed by
Gen. Brodhead in 1781.]
[199] For “_Americans_” read “_white men_.”
[200] The following extract from the Detroit Gazette, shews that this
superstitious belief of the Indians in the powers of witchcraft, still
continues in full force, even among those who live in the vicinity of
the whites, and are in the habit of constant intercourse with them.
_From the Detroit Gazette of the 17th of August, 1818._
On the evening of the 22d ult. an Indian of the Wyandot tribe was
murdered by some of his relatives, near the mouth of the river Huron,
on lake Erie. The circumstances, in brief, are as follows:
“It appears that two Wyandots, residing at Malden, and relatives to
the deceased, had been informed by Captain Johnny, an Indian living
on the Huron river, and also a relative, that a Shawanee Indian had
come to his death by the witchcraft of an old Indian woman and her
son Mike, and that in order to avert the vengeance of the Shawanee
tribe, it would be necessary to kill them--and furthermore, that the
death of Walk-in-the-water, who died last June, was caused by the same
old woman’s witchcraft. It was determined to kill the old woman and
her son--and for that purpose they crossed over on the 22d ult. and
succeeded in the course of the evening in killing the latter in his
cabin. The old woman was not at home. The next day, while endeavouring
to persuade her to accompany them into the woods, as they said, to
drink whiskey, they were discovered by Dr. William Brown and Mr.
Oliver Williams, who had received that morning intimations of their
intentions, and owing to the exertions of these gentlemen, the old
woman’s life was preserved and one of the Indians taken, who is now
confined in the jail of this city--the others escaped by swiftness of
foot.
“On the examination of the Indian taken, it appeared that the old
woman, shortly after the death of the Shawanee, had entered his cabin,
and in a voice of exultation, called upon him, saying--’Shawanee
man! where are you?--You that mocked me; you thought you would live
forever--you are gone and I am here--come--Why do you not come?’
&c.--She is said to have made use of nearly the same words in the cabin
of Walk-in-the-water, shortly after his death.”
[201] War-hatchet: from which we have made _tomahawk_.
[202] The Indians call the American continent an island; believing it
to be (as in fact, probably, it is) entirely surrounded with water.
[203] For “_killed_” read “_eaten_.”
[204] Mr. Pyrlæus lived long among the Iroquois, and was well
acquainted with their language. He was instructed in the Mohawk dialect
by the celebrated interpreter Conrad Weiser. He has left behind him
some manuscript grammatical works on that idiom, one of them is
entitled: _Affixa nominum et verborum Linguæ Macquaicæ_, and another,
_Adjectiva, nomina et pronomina Linguæ Macquaicæ_. These MSS. are in
the library of the Society of the United Brethren at Bethlehem.
[205] For “_Pauksit_” read “_P’duk-sit_.”
[206] See page 101.
[207] Probably alluding to a tradition which the Indians have of a very
ferocious kind of bear, called the _naked bear_, which they say once
existed, but was totally destroyed by their ancestors. The last was
killed in the New York state, at a place they called _Hoosink_, which
means the _Basin_, or more properly the _Kettle_.
[208] The same whom Mr. de Volney speaks of in his excellent “View of
the Soil and Climate of the United States.” Supplement, No. VI., page
356, Philadelphia Edition, 1804.
[209] See ch. 29, p. 225.
[210] See ch. 28, p. 221.
[211] See ch. 2.
[212] Dele “_lands or_.”
[213] This word means _liquor_, and is also used in the sense of a
medicinal draught, or other compound potion.
[214] [Shingask, which signifies _boggy or marshy ground overgrown
with grass_, a brother of Tamaqua, or King Beaver, ranked first among
Indian warriors in the times of the so-called French and Indian war.
The frontiers of Pennsylvania suffering severely from the forays of
this Delaware and his braves, Governor Denny, in 1756, set a price of
£200 upon his head or scalp. Mr. Heckewelder, in a “Collection of the
Names of Chieftains and Eminent Men of the Delaware Nation” states that
Shingask, although an implacable foe in battle, was never known to
treat a prisoner with cruelty. “One day,” he goes on to say, “in the
summer of 1762, while passing with him near by where two prisoners of
his--boys of about twelve years of age--were amusing themselves with
his own boys, as the chief observed that my attention was arrested by
them, he asked me at what I was looking. Telling him in reply that I
was looking at his prisoners, he said, ‘When I first took them, they
were such; but now they and my children eat their food from the same
bowl or dish;’ which was equivalent to saying that they were in all
respects on an equal footing with his own children, or alike dear to
him.”]
[215] A kind of round buckle with a tongue, which the Indians fasten
to their shirts. The traders call them _broaches_. They are placed in
rows, at the distance of about the breadth of a finger one from the
other.
[216] The same whom I have spoken of above, page 184, No. 4.
[217] For “_Albany_” read “_Pittsburg_.”
[218] See ch. 15, p. 151.
[219] The Indian name of Capt. White Eyes.
[220] Page 188.
[221] For “_Sandusky_” read “_Muskingum_.”
[222] See above, pages 81, 184.
[223] [Williamson did not lead the expedition against Sandusky, nor was
it organized for the destruction of the Moravian Indians, then in the
Sandusky country. It was led by Colonel William Crawford. Sanctioned
by General Irvine, then in command of the Western Department, the
undertaking was intended to be effectual in ending the troubles upon
the western frontiers of Pennsylvania and Virginia, by punishing
the Wyandots, Shawanese, Delawares, and Mingoes, whose war-parties
were wont to come from their settlements in Sandusky, to kill and
devastate along the borders. See Butterfield’s _Crawford’s Campaign
against Sandusky_, for full details touching the fitting out of this
expedition, its disastrous termination, and the awful death by torture
of its commanding officer.
In a letter written by Washington to General Irvine, and dated
_Headquarters, 6th August, 1782_, he expresses himself in the following
words: “I lament the failure of the expedition, and am particularly
affected with the disastrous fate of Colonel Crawford. No other than
the extremest torture which could be inflicted by the savages, could, I
think, have been expected by those who were unhappy enough to fall into
their hands, especially under the present exasperation of their minds
from the treatment given their Moravian friends. For this reason, no
person should at this time suffer himself to fall alive into the hands
of the Indians.”--_MS. in the Irvine Collection._]
[224] This name, according to the English orthography, should be
written _Winganoond_ or _Wingaynoond_, the second syllable accented and
long, and the last syllable short.
[225] The people were at that moment advancing, with shouts and yells,
to torture and put him to death.
[226] Ruth, i. 16.
[227] Of the value of one dollar.
[228] For “_bought_” read “_brought_.”
[229] [A Monsey settlement near the mouth of the Tionesta, within the
limits of the present Venango County. It was visited by Mr. Zeisberger
for the first time in the autumn of 1767; in the following year it
became the seat of a mission. In 1770, the Allegheny was exchanged by
the missionary and his converts for the Beaver. Zeisberger’s labors
at Goschgoschink furnished the subject for Schüssele’s historical
painting, “The Power of the Gospel.”]
[230] See Nile’s Weekly Register, vol. i., p. 141, vol. v., p. 174, and
vol. vi., p. 111.
[231] This appears to be a mistake; Leather-lips, as has been stated
above, was a chief of the Wyandots or Hurons, and is so styled in the
treaty of Greenville, otherwise called Wayne’s Treaty, where he was one
of the representatives of that nation.
[232] The Indian name of this chief was Tar-he; he was also a Wyandot
or Huron, and one of the signers of the Greenville treaty. How great
must have been the power of Tecumseh, who trusted the execution of
Leather-lips to a chief of the same nation!
[233] [The earliest record of Tamanen is the affix of his mark to a
deed, dated 23d day of the 4th month, 1683, by which he and Metamequan
conveyed to old Proprietor Penn a tract of land, lying between the
Pennypack and Neshaminy creeks, in Bucks County.--_Pennsylvania
Archives_, vol. i., p. 64. Heckewelder gives the signification of the
Delaware word “tamanen” as _affable_.]
[234] [Tadeuskund was baptized at the Gnadenhütten Mission, (Lehighton,
Carbon County, Pa.,) by the Moravian Bishop Cammerhoff, of Bethlehem,
in March of 1750. For additional notices of this prominent actor in
the French and Indian war, extracted from manuscripts in the Archives
of the Moravian Church at Bethlehem, the reader is referred to
_Memorials of the Moravian Church_, vol. i., edited by _W. C. Reichel,
Philadelphia, 1870_.]
[235] [Moses Tatemy was a convert of, and sometime an interpreter for,
David Brainerd, during that evangelist’s career among the Delawares of
New Jersey and Pennsylvania, who were settled on both sides of their
great river, between its forks and the Minisinks. A grant of upwards of
200 acres of land, lying on the east branch of Lehietan or Bushkill,
within the limits of the present Northampton County, Pa., was confirmed
to the chief about the year 1737, by the Proprietaries’ agents, for
valuable services rendered. On this reservation, Tatemy was residing
as late as 1753, and probably later. He was there a near neighbour
of the Moravians at Nazareth. In the interval between 1756 and 1760,
he participated in most of the numerous treaties and conferences
between the Governors of the Province and his countrymen, frequently
in the capacity of an interpreter. Subsequent to the last-mentioned
year, his name ceases to appear on the Minutes of the Provincial
Council. He probably died in 1761. Such being the facts in the case,
Mr. Heckewelder is in error when he states that Tatemy lost his life
at the hands of a white man _prior to 1754_. That a _son_ of the old
chieftain, _Bill Tatemy_ by name, was mortally wounded in July of 1757,
by a young man in the Ulster-Scot settlement, (within the limits of
Allen township, Northampton County,) while straying from a body of
Indians, who were on their way from Fort Allen to Easton, to a treaty,
is on record in the official papers of that day. This unprovoked
assault upon one of their countrymen, as was to be expected, incensed
the disaffected Indians to such a degree, that Governor Denny was fain
to assure them, at the opening of the treaty, that the offender should
be speedily brought to justice; at the same time, he condoled with the
afflicted father. _Bill Tatemy_ died near Bethlehem, from the effects
of the gun-shot wound, within five weeks. He had been sometime under
John Brainerd’s teaching, at Cranberry, N. J., and was a professing
Christian.]
[236] See above page 67, and see the Errata with reference to that page.
[237] Ch. 34, pp. 255, 256.
[238] [These chiefs were representatives of the seven nations with whom
Gen. Putnam concluded a treaty in September of the above-mentioned
year, and were on their way to Philadelphia.
_Note._--The following is a copy of the letter written by the Secretary
of War to Mr. Heckewelder, advising him of Putnam’s request that he
might be associated with him in his mission to the western Indians:
“WAR DEPARTMENT, _18 May, 1792_.
“SIR.--I have the honour to inform you that the United States
have for some time past been making pacific overtures to the
hostile Indians north-west of the Ohio. It is to be expected
that these overtures will soon be brought to an issue under
the direction of Brigadier-General Putnam, of Marietta, who is
specially charged with this business.
“He is now in this city, and will be in readiness to set out
on Monday next, and being acquainted with you, he is extremely
desirous that you should accompany him in the prosecution of
this good work.
“Being myself most cordially impressed with a respect for your
character and love of the Indians, on the purest principles
of justice and humanity, I have cheerfully acquiesced in the
desire of Gen. Putnam.
“I hope sincerely it may be convenient for you to accompany or
follow him soon, in order to execute a business which is not
unpromising, and which, if accomplished, will redound to the
credit of the individuals who perform it.
“As to pecuniary considerations, I shall arrange them
satisfactorily with you.
“With great respect, I am, sir, your most obedient servant,
“H. KNOX,
_Secretary of War_.”]
[239] [Col. Ebenezer Sproat was one of the colony which, under the
auspices of the recently formed Ohio Company, and led by Gen. Putnam,
emigrated to the Ohio country in the spring of 1788, and founded
Marietta.]
[240] Ch. 6, p. 104.
[241] For “_them_” read “_us_.”
[242] Sun-fish.
[243] Vocabularium Barbaro-Virgineorum, bound with an Indian
translation from the Swedish of Luther’s Catechism. Stockholm, 1696,
duod.
[244] Carver’s Travels, Introduction, p. 72. Boston Edit., 1797.
[245] Carver was only 14 months in the Indian country, during which
time he says he travelled near 4000 miles and visited twelve different
nations of Indians.
[246] For “_Indians_” read “_traders_.”
[247] [They were sent to Goschschoking (Coshocton), the then capital of
the Delaware nation, to condole with that people on the death of White
Eyes.]
[248] Ch. 7, p. 111.
[249] See above, ch. 18, p. 172.
[250] Dr. Boudinot was long a member, and once President, of the
Continental Congress, and his talents were very useful to the cause
which he had embraced. At a very advanced age, he now enjoys literary
ease in a dignified retirement.
[251] A Star in the West, or a humble attempt to discover the long lost
ten tribes of Israel, preparatory to their return to their beloved
city, Jerusalem. Trenton (New Jersey), 1816.
[252] See page 140, and following.
[253] Star in the West, p. 138.
[254] This relation is authentic. I have received it from the mouth
of the chief of the injured party, and his statement was confirmed by
communications made at the time by two respectable magistrates of the
county.
[255] [This outrage was committed at the public house of John Stenton,
which stood on the road leading from Bethlehem to Fort Allen, a short
mile north of the present Howertown, Allen township, Northampton
County. Stenton belonged to the Scotch-Irish, who settled in that
region as early as 1728.]
[256] [Nescopeck was an Indian settlement on the highway of Indian
travel between Fort Allen and the Wyoming Valley.]
[257] Justice Geiger’s letter to Justice Horsefield proves this fact
[258] [These unprovoked barbarities were perpetrated by a squad of
soldiers who, in command of Captain Jacob Wetterholt, of the Provincial
service, were in quarters at the Lehigh Water Gap, Carbon County, Pa.]
[259] [In this paragraph, Mr. Heckewelder briefly alludes to the _last
foray_ made by Indians into old Northampton County, south of the
Blue Mountain. It occurred on the 8th of October, 1763. An account
of the affair at Stenton’s, on the morning of that day, in which
Stenton was shot dead, and Captain Jacob Wetterholt and several of
his men seriously or mortally wounded, was published in Franklin’s
_Pennsylvania Gazette_, of October 18th, 1763. Leaving Stenton’s, after
the loss of one of their number, the Indians crossed the Lehigh, and
on their way to a store and tavern on the Copley creek, (where they
also had been wronged by the whites,) they murdered several families
residing within the limits of the present Whitehall township, Lehigh
County. Laden with plunder, they then struck for the wilderness north
of the Blue Mountain. Upwards of twenty settlers were killed or
captured on that memorable day, and the buildings on several farms were
laid in ashes.]
[260] [The 5,000 acres at Nazareth, which Whitefield sold to the
Moravians in 1741, were first held by Lætitia Aubrey, to whom it
had been granted by her father, William Penn, in 1682. The right
of erecting this tract, or any portion thereof, into a manor, of
holding court-baron thereon, and of holding views of frankpledge for
the conservation of the peace, were special privileges accorded to
the grantee by the grantor. It was one of few of the original grants
similarly invested. The royalty, however, in all cases remained a dead
letter.]
[261] Alluding to what was at that time known by the name of the _long
day’s walk_.
[262] See above, p. 302.
[263] The same of whom I have spoken above, p. 171.
[264] See above, pp. 135, 136.
[265] Above, p. 279.
[266] Carver’s Travels, ch. 9, p. 196. Edit. above cited.
[267] [Glikhican, one of the converts of distinction attached to the
Moravian mission, was a man of note among his people, both in the
council chamber and on the war-path. When the Moravians first met
him he resided at Kaskaskunk, on the Beaver, and at Friedenstadt, on
that river, he was baptized by David Zeisberger in December of 1770.
Subsequently he became a “national assistant” in the work of the
Gospel, lived consistently with his profession, and met his death at
the hands of Williamson’s men at Gnadenhütten in March of 1782.]
[268] See above, p. 338.
[269] Loskiel, p. 3, ch. 3.
[270] [The valley of the Conecocheague, which stream drains Franklin
County, Pennsylvania, was explored and settled about 1730 by
Scotch-Irish pioneers, among whom were three brothers of the name of
Chambers. The site of Chambersburg was built on by Joseph Chambers.
The Conecocheague settlement suffered much from the Indians after
Braddock’s defeat in 1755.]
[271] Letter V.
[272] For “_Zeisberger_” read “_Heckewelder_.”
[273] These papers have been communicated.
[274] For “_from_” read “_for_.”
[275] For “_schawanáki_” read “_schwanameki_.”
[276] For “_chwani_” read “_chwami_.”
[277] An Enquiry into the Question, whether America was peopled from
the Old Continent?
[278] The Chippeways have hardly any grammatical forms.
[279] See Philos. Trans. abridged; vol. lxiii., 142.
[280] Colden’s Hist. of the Five Nations. Octavo ed., 1747, p. 14.
[281] One of them empties itself into the north side of Lake St. Clair,
another at the west end of Lake Erie, and a third on the south side of
the said lake, about twenty-five miles east of Sandusky river or bay.
[282] For “_K’lehelleya_” read “_K’lehellecheya_.”
[283] From the verb _Pommauchsin_.
[284] In the original it is _N’mizi_; the German _z_ being pronounced
like _tz_, which mode of spelling has been adopted in this publication.
[285] For “_Wulatopnachgat_” read “_Wulaptonachgat_.”
[286] For “_Wulatonamin_” read “_Wulatenamin_.”
[287] For “_manner_” read “_matter_.”
[288] For “_achpansi_” read “_achpanschi_.”
[289] _Wenitschanit_, the parent or owner of a child naturally
begotten; _wetallemansit_, the owner of the beast.
[290] [_A Collection of Hymns, for the use of the Christian Indians of
the Missions of the United Brethren, in North America._ Philadelphia:
Printed by Henry Sweitzer, at the corner of Race and Fourth Streets,
1803. A second edition of this work abridged, and edited by the Rev.
Abraham Luckenbach, was published at Bethlehem in 1847.]
[291] For “_Indian corn_” read “_a particular species of Indian corn_.”
[292] All words ending in _ican_, _hican_, _kschican_, denote a
sharp instrument for cutting. _Pachkschican_, a knife; _pkuschican_,
a gimlet, an instrument which cuts into holes; _tangamican_, or
_tangandican_, a spear, a sharp-pointed instrument; _poyachkican_, a
gun, or an instrument that cuts with force.
[293] For “_Ktahoatell_” read “_Ktahoalell_.”
[294] For “_gunich_” read “_gunih_.”
[295] Quin et emissurus Fucinum lacum, naumachiam ante commisit.
Sed cum proclamantibus naumachiariis “Ave, Imperator! morituri te
salutant,” respondisset “Avete vos!” neque post hanc vocem, quasi veniâ
datâ, quisquam dimicare vellet, diù cunctatus an omnes igni ferroque
absumeret, tandem è sede sua prosiluit, ac per ambitum lacûs, non sine
fœdâ vacillatione discurrens, partim minando, partim adhortando, ad
pugnam compulit. Sueton. in Claud. 21.
[296] Gœthe, in Wilhelm Meister.
[297] For “_Eliwulek_” read “_Eluwilek_.”
[298] For “_Allowilen_” read “_Allowilek_.”
[299] For the English translation of these two words substitute “_the
most extraordinary_, _the most wonderful_.”
[300] For “_Eluwantowit_” read “_Eluwannitlowit_.”
[301] For “_Elewassit_” read “_Elewussit_.”
[302] For “_the supremely good_” read “_the most holy one_.”
[303] Bey vielen Amerikanischen Sprachen finden wir theils einen so
künstlichen und zusammengesetzten bau, und einem so grossen reichthum
an grammatischen formen, wie ihn selbst bey dem verbum wenige sprachen
der Welt haben: theils scheinen sie so arm an aller grammatischen
ausbildung, wie die sprachen der rohesten Völker in Nord-Ost-Asia und
in Afrika seyn mögen. _Untersuchungen über Amerikas bevölkerung_, S.
152.
[304] Among the Mbayas, a nation of Paraguay, it is said that young men
and girls, before their marriage, speak a language differing in many
respects from that of married men and women. Azara, c. 10.
[305] For “_schingieschin_” read “_schingiechin_.”
[306] The _k_ which is prefixed to this and the following substantives,
conveys the idea of the pronoun _thy_; it is a repetition (as it were)
of the beginning of the phrase “for _thine_” &c., and enforces its
meaning. _Ksakimowagan_, may be thus dissected: _k_, thy, _sakima_,
king or chief, _wagan_, substantive termination, added to _king_, makes
_kingdom_.
[307] See Letters 8 and 10.
[308] M. Raynouard, in his excellent Researches on the Origin and
Formation of the corrupted Roman Language, spoken before the year 1000,
has sufficiently proved that the French articles _le_, the Spanish
_el_, and the Italian _il_, are derived from the Latin demonstrative
pronoun _ille_, which began about the sixth century to be prefixed to
the substantive. Thus they said: ILLI _Saxones_, “THE SAXONS;” ILLI
_negociatores de Longobardia_, “THE Lombard merchants,” &c. So natural
is the use of the pronominal form to give clearness and precision to
language. _Recherches_, &c., p. 39.
[309] For “_Mamschalgussiwagan_” read “_Mamschalgussowagan_.”
[310] For “_Mamintochimgussowagan_” read “_Mamintschimgussowagan_.”
[311] For “_M’chonschicanes_” read “_M’chonschican_.”
[Transcriber’s Note:
Inconsistent spelling and hyphenation are as in the original.]