CONTENTS—Indian Names—The Five Tribes—The Sixth—Confederation—
Government—Subdivisions—Origin—Hendrick—Death—Brant—Birth—
Education—Married—Teaching—Christianity—Brant elected Chief—
Commissioned a British Captain—Visits England—Returns—Leads his
warriors to battle—Efforts of Rebels to seduce Brant to their
cause—Attempted treachery of the Rebel Herchimer—Border warfare—
Wyoming—Attempt to blacken the character of Brant—His noble
conduct—Untruthful American History—The inhabitants of Wyoming—The
Rebels first to blame—Cherry Valley—Van Schaick—Bloody orders—
Terrible conduct of the Rebels, Helpless Indian families—Further
deeds of blood and rapine by the rebel Sullivan—A month of
horrible work—Attributes of cruelty more conspicuous in the Rebels
than in the Indians—The New Englander—Conduct toward the Indians—
Inconsistent—The “down trodden”—The Mohawks—Indian agriculture—
Broken faith with the Indians—Noble conduct of Brant—After the
war—His family—Death—Miss Molly—Indian usage—The character of the
Mohawk—The six Indians as Canadians—Fidelity to the British—
Receiving land—Bay Quinté—Grand River—Settling—Captain Isaac,
Captain John—At present—Mohawk Counsel.
THE SIX NATIONS.
This once powerful Confederacy styled themselves Kan-ye-a-ke; also, they
sometimes called themselves _Aganuschioni_ or _Agnanuschioni_, which
signifies _united_ people. The French designated them Iroquois, from a
peculiar sound of their speech. The English knew them as the _Five
Nations_, and _Six Nations_, more generally by the latter term. The
original five tribes that formed the Confederacy, were the Mohawks,
Oneidas, Cayugas, Onondagas, and Senecas. Subsequently in 1712, the
Tuscaroras came from the south, North Carolina, and made the sixth
nation. But according to some authority, there were six nations before
the Tuscaroras joined them. However, we learn from several sources, that
up to 1712, the English, in speaking of them, referred to only five
nations. The Oneidas seem, at one time, to have been omitted, and the
Aucguagas inserted in their stead. The oldest members of the
confederation were the Mohawks, Onondagas, and Senecas. The union of
those three tribes took place prior to the occupation of America by the
Europeans. The time at which the confederation of the five nations was
formed is uncertain, but it is supposed to have been in the early part
of the sixteenth century. The league binding them together was rather of
a democratic nature.
Each tribe was represented in the great council of the nation by one
principal sachem, with a number of associates.
They were always deliberate in their councils, considerate in their
decisions, never infringing upon the rights of a minority, and dignified
in their utterances. They were noted, not only as warriors, but as well
for their agriculture, their laws, and their oratorical ability.
Each tribe was subdivided into classes, and each of these had a device
or “totem,” namely, the tortoise, the bear, the wolf, the beaver, the
deer, the falcon, the plover, and the crane.
They were for hundreds of years the terror of the various Indian tribes
peopling North America, and most of the time could at will, roam the
wide expanse between the Hudson Bay and the Carolinas. Other tribes, too
weak to oppose them, were from time to time completely exterminated. Of
these was the Erie tribe, which had entirely disappeared by the year
1653. Of those who stubbornly resisted the Six Nations, were the Hurons,
the Adirondacks, of the north, the Delawares, the Cherokees, and the
Mohicans.
Smith, an historian of New York, says that in 1756 “Our Indians
universally concur in the claim of all the lands not sold to the
English, from the mouth of Sorel River, on the south side of Lakes Erie
and Ontario, on both sides of the Ohio, till it falls into the
Mississippi; and on the north side of those lakes, that whole territory
between the Outaouais River, and the Lake Huron, and even beyond the
straits between that and Lake Erie.”
“When the Dutch began the settlement of New York, all the Indians on
Long Island, and the northern shore of the Sound, on the banks of the
Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, and Susquehanna rivers, were in
subjection to the Five Nations,” and in 1756, “a little tribe, settled
at the Sugar-loaf Mountain, in Orange County, made a yearly payment of
about £20 to the Mohawks.”
Among the traditions of this people is one that they had a supernatural
origin from the heart of a mountain, that they then migrated to the
west, where they lived for a time by the sea shore. Then, in time
returned to the country of the lakes. A country now passed into the
hands of the white man, who paid no just price. But the names of many
places yet indicate the history of the ancient owners of the soil.
Among the Mohawks, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, was a
chief known as Old King Hendrick, or Soi-euga-rah-ta, renowned for
eloquence, bravery, and integrity. He was intimate with Sir William
Johnson, and it was between them that the amusing contention of dreams
occurred, that has been narrated.
In 1755, a battle was fought at Lake George, between the French, under
Baron Dieskau, and the English, under Johnson, resulting in the defeat
of the French. The French and English were supported by their respective
allies. At this engagement Old King Hendrick, then seventy years old,
but still full of energy and courage, was killed. Strangely enough it
was at this battle that Brant, then only thirteen years old, first took
part with his tribe in the contest. The mantle of Soieugarahta fell upon
the youthful Thayendinagea.
_Thayendinagea_, or _Joseph Brant_, was born upon the banks of the
Ohio, in the year 1742, while his tribe was on a visit to that
region. According to Stone, his biographer, he was the son of
“Tehowaghwengaraghkwin a full-blooded Mohawk, of the Wolf tribe.”
After the battle at Lake George, Brant continued with his people under
Johnson till the close of that bloody war. At its close, about 1760,
Brant, with several other young Indians, was placed by Johnson at Moor
School, Lebanon, Connecticut. After acquiring some knowledge of the
rudiments of literature, he left the school to engage in active warfare
with the Pontiacs and Ottawas. In 1765, we find him married and settled
in his own house at the Mohawk Valley. It is said he was not married,
except in the Indian mode, until the winter of 1779, when at Niagara,
seeing a Miss Moore, a captive, married, he was also thus married by
Colonel John Butler, to a half-breed, the daughter of Colonel Croghan,
by an Indian woman. Here he spent a quiet and peaceful life for some
years, acting as interpreter in negotiations between his people and the
whites, and lending his aid to the efforts of the missionaries who were
engaged in the work of teaching and converting the Indians.
“Those who visited his house, spoke in high terms of his kindness and
hospitality.” Sir William Johnson died in 1774, and was succeeded by his
son-in-law, Colonel George Johnson, as Indian agent, who appointed Brant
his Secretary. The same year Johnson had to flee from the Mohawk,
westward, to escape being captured by a band of rebels. He was
accompanied by Brant and the principal warriors of the tribe. The rebels
vainly tried to win the Indians to their side; but excepting a few
Senecas, they preferred their long tried friends. The regular successor
of Old King Hendrick, was “little Abraham.” It is said he was well
disposed to the Americans, probably through jealousy of Brant. At all
events, Brant, by universal consent became the principal chief. He
proceeded with the other chiefs, and a large body of Indian warriors to
Montreal, where he was commissioned as a captain in the British army.
“In the fall of 1775, he sailed for England to hold personal conference
with the officers of government. He was an object of much curiosity at
London, and attracted the attention of persons of high rank and great
celebrity.” Brant returned to America in the spring following, landed
near New York, and made his way through his enemy’s country to Canada.
He placed himself at the head of his warriors, and led them on to many a
victory. The first of which was at the battle of “the Cedars.”
But the rebels did not cease endeavoring to seduce Brant to their cause.
In June, 1777, General Herkimer of the rebel militia approached Brant’s
head-quarters with a large force, ostensibly to treat on terms of
equality. Brant had reason to suspect treachery, and consequently would
not, for some time, meet Herkimer. After a week, however, he arranged to
see General Herkimer, but every precaution was taken against treachery,
and it appears that not without cause. Brant and Herkimer were old, and
had been intimate friends. Brant took with him a guard of about forty
warriors. It would seem that Herkimer’s intention was to try and
persuade Brant to come over to the rebels, and failing in this to have
Brant assassinated as he was retiring. Says an American writer,
Brownell, “We are sorry to record an instance of such unpardonable
treachery as Herkimer is said to have planned at this juncture. One of
his men, Joseph Waggoner, affirmed that the General privately exhorted
him to arrange matters so that Brant and his three principal associates
might be assassinated.” Well does it become the Americans to talk about
savage barbarity. Brant thwarted the intentions of his old friend by
keeping his forty warriors within call. During all of the repeated
attempts to get the Mohawks they never swerved, but reminded the rebels
of their old treaties with England, and the ill-treatment their people
had sustained at the hands of the colonists.
The head-quarters of Brant was at Oghkwaga, Owego, upon the Susquehanna.
During the summer of 1777 while Burgoyne was advancing, the Mohawks
under Brant rendered important service. In the attempt to capture Fort
Stanwix, they took a prominent part. In the summer of 1778 the Indians,
with Butler’s Rangers were engaged principally in border warfare. It was
during this season that the affair at Wyoming took place, which event
has been so extravagantly made use of to blacken the character of the
Indians and vilify the “tories.” That Brant was not inhuman, but that he
was noble, let recent American writers testify. Brownell says: “many an
instance is recorded of his interference, even in the heat of conflict,
to stay the hand uplifted against the feeble and helpless.”
It was in the latter part of June that a descent was planned upon the
settlements of Wyoming. Of this event, again we will let Brownell
speak:—“It has been a commonly received opinion that Brant was the Chief
under whom the Indian portion of the army was mustered, but it is now
believed that he had as little share in this campaign as in many other
scenes of blood long coupled with his name. There was no proof that he
was present at any of the scenes that we are about to relate.”
“No portion of the whole history of the revolution has been so distorted
in the narration as that connected with the laying waste of the valley
of Wyoming. No two accounts seem to agree, and historians have striven
to out-do each other in the violence of their expressions of
indignation, at cruelties and horrors which existed only in their
imaginations, or which came to them embellished with all the
exaggeration incident to reports arising amid scenes of excitement and
bloodshed.
Wyoming had, for many years, been the scene of the bitterest hostility
between the settlers under the Connecticut grant, and those from
Pennsylvania. Although these warlike operations were upon a small scale,
they were conducted with great vindictiveness and treachery. Blood was
frequently shed, and as either party obtained the ascendency, small
favor was shown to their opponents, who were generally driven from their
homes in hopeless destitution. We cannot go into a history of these
early transactions, and only mention them as explanatory of the feelings
of savage animosity which were exhibited between neighbors, and even
members of the same family, who had espoused opposite interests in the
revolutionary contest.” Such, be it noted, was the character of the
inhabitants of Wyoming valley, who have been so long held up as innocent
victims of Indian barbarity. By the above, we learn that prior to this,
there had been contentions between the loyalists and rebels. The party
who entered Wyoming to attack the Fort, were under Colonel John Butler,
and were composed of some 300 British regulars and refugees, and 500
Indians. Now, it would seem that the depredation which was committed
after Colonel Zebulon Butler, the rebel leader, had been defeated, and
the Fort had capitulated, was to a great extent due to retaliatory steps
taken by the loyalists who previously had been forced away, and had seen
their homes committed to the flames. Such was the border warfare of
those days. It was not Indian savagery, it was a species of fighting
introduced by the “Sons of Liberty.” And if we condemn such mode of
fighting, let our condemnation rest first, and mainly upon those who
initiated it. Not upon the Indians, for they were led by white men—not
upon Brant, for he was not there—not so much upon the loyalists, for
they had been driven away from their homes; but let it be upon those who
introduced it.
The rebels were not slow to seek retribution for their losses at
Wyoming. Aided by a party of Oneidas who lent themselves to the rebels,
“Colonel Wm. Butler with a Pennsylvania regiment, entered the towns of
Unadilla and Oghkwaga, and burned and destroyed the buildings, together
with large stores of provisions intended for winter use.” In turn,
Walter Butler led a party of 700, a large number being Indians under
Brant, to attack a fort at Cherry Valley which was “garrisoned by troops
under Colonel Ichabod Alden.” It will be seen that the Indians and
loyalists did not enter an unprotected place to burn and destroy. They
attacked a garrison of troops. But the Indians exasperated by the cruel
procedure at Oghkwaga, became ungovernable, and about fifty men, women
and children fell by the tomahawk. This was the retaliation which the
Indian had been taught to regard as justifiable for the wrongs which had
been inflicted upon his own tribe—his little ones; yet be it remembered,
and later American writers admit it, that the commanders, Butler and
Brant, did all they could to restrain the terrible doings of the
exasperated men. “Specific instances are reported in which the Mohawk
Chief interfered, and successfully, to avert the murderous tomahawk.”
And now begins the bloody revenge which the rebels determined to inflict
upon the Indians, without respect to tribes. In April, 1779, Colonel Van
Schaick was despatched with a sufficient force for the purpose, with
instructions “to lay waste the whole of their towns, to destroy all
their cattle and property.” “The Colonel obeyed his orders to the
letter, and left nothing but blackened ruins behind him.” It was merely
a march of destruction, for the Indians were not there to oppose their
steps. The villages and property that were destroyed belonged to the
Onondagas, although they had not taken a decided stand with the loyalist
party. It was enough that they were Indians, and would not join the
rebels. But this was merely a prelude to what was preparing, in
pursuance of a resolution of the rebel congress. The infamous duty of
commanding this army of destruction, town destroyers the Indians called
them, was entrusted to General Sullivan, whose nature was adequate to
the requirements of the command.
On the 22nd August, 1779, five thousand men were concentrated at Tioga,
upon the Susquehanna. The men were prepared for their uncivilized duty
by promises of the territory over which they were about to sow blood and
fire. The Indians had no adequate force to oppose their march westward
over the Six Nations territory. Brant with his warriors, with the
Butlers and Johnsons made a gallant resistance upon the banks of the
Chemung, near the present town of Elmira. But, after suffering
considerable loss, the vastly superior force compelled them to flee, and
there remained nothing to arrest the devastating rebel army, and during
the whole month of September they continued the work of despoliation.
It has been the custom of almost all American historians to give the
Indians attributes of the most debasing character. At peace, unworthy
the advantages of civilization; at war, treacherous and ferociously
cruel. For this persistent and ungenerous procedure it is impossible to
conceive any cause, unless to supply an excuse for the steady course of
double-dealing the Americans have pursued toward the original owners of
the soil, and provide a covering for the oft-repeated treachery
practised toward the credulous Indian by the over-reaching New
Englander. To the Mohawk Nation particularly, since they proved true
allies of the British, have American writers found it agreeable to
bestow a character noted for blood and rapine. Nothing can be more
untrue than the character thus gratuitously portrayed, nothing more at
variance with the essential nature of the Indian, when free from
European intrigues, and the cursed fire-water. The aboriginal races of
North America are not by nature, blood-thirsty above Europeans. That
they are honest, just and true, capable of distinguishing between right
and wrong, with a due appreciation of well-kept faith, is well attested
by the conduct which has ever been observed by them toward, not alone
the Pennsylvanians, but every man found to be a Quaker. No instance can
be found recorded throughout the long bloody wars of the Indians, where
a hair of the head of a single man, woman or child of that denomination
was injured by the Indian; and thus because the upright Penn never
defrauded them. The Americans, while British colonists, with the
exception alluded to, made themselves obnoxious to almost all Indian
tribes. They never secured that hearty and faithful alliance that the
French did. There seemed to be something in the air, especially of the
New England States, which in a few generations blinded the eye, by which
the golden rule is to be observed.
The Americans, who have ever set themselves up as the champions, _par
excellence_, of liberty, to whom the “down-trodden of the old world”
could look for sympathy, if not direct support, have signally failed to
observe those lofty principles at home toward the natives of the soil,
while they continued for eighty years to keep in chains the sable sons
of Africa. They have found it convenient and plausible to prate about
the political “tyranny of European despots;” but no nation of northern
Europe has shown such disregard for the rights of their people as the
United States have exhibited toward the original owners of the soil.
Avarice has quite outgrown every principle of liberty that germinated
ere they came to America. The frontier men, the land-jobber, the New
England merchant, as well as the Southern Planter, have alike ignored
true liberty in defrauding the Indian, in sending out slavers, and in
cruel treatment of the slave. Then can we wonder that the noble-minded
Indian, naturally true to his faith, should, when cheated, wronged,—
cruelly wronged, with the ferocity natural to his race, visit the
faithless with terrible retribution?
The unbiassed records of the past, speak in tones that cannot be hushed,
of the more noble conduct of the natives, than of those who have sought
to exterminate them. The Mohawks, although brave warriors, fought not
for the mere love of it. They even at times strove to mediate between
the French and New Englanders.
To the Mohawks, the American writer has especially bestowed a name
bloody and ignoble. And all because they listened not to their wily
attempts to seduce them to join the rebels, but preferred to ally
themselves with the British. No doubt the Indian had long before
discriminated between the rule of British officers, and the selfish
policy of local governments. And hence, we find, in every scrap of paper
relating to the Mohawks, unfounded accounts of savage doings. But
taking, as true, the darkest pages written by the Americans against the
Six Nations, they present no parallel to the deeds of brutal vengeance
enacted by the American army under Sullivan, when he traversed the
fruitful country, so long the home of the Iroquois. Says an American
writer: “When the army reached the Genesee Valley, all were surprised at
the cultivation exhibited, by wide fields of corn, gardens well stocked,
their cattle, houses, and other buildings, showing good design, with
mechanical skill, and every kind of vegetable that could be conceived.
Beautiful as was the scene in the eyes of the army, a few days changed
it to utter desolation; neither house, nor garden, grain, fruit tree, or
vegetable, was left unscathed.”
Says Stone: “Forty Indian towns were destroyed. Corn gathered and
ungathered, to the amount of 160,000 bushels, shared the same fate;
their fruit trees were cut down; and the Indians were hunted like wild
beasts, till neither house, nor fruit tree, nor field of corn, nor
inhabitant, remained in the whole country.” And the poor Indian women,
and children, and old men, were thus left at the approaching winter to
seek support at the British garrisons. Truly the rebels of ‘76 were
brave and civilized!
Thirteen years after, one of the chiefs said to Washington, “Even to
this day, when the name of the town-destroyer is heard, our women look
behind them and turn pale, and our children cling close to the necks of
their mother; our sachems and our warriors are men, who cannot be
afraid, but their hearts are grieved with the fears of our women and
children.” Thus the brave Sullivan, with his thousand rebels, made war
against old men, women and children, who were living in their rightful
homes. This was fighting for liberty!
The blood of the Indian, as well as the slave, has risen up to reproach
the American, and it required much of fresh blood to wash away the
stains remaining from their deeds of cruelty and rapine, inflicted
during their revolutionary war, under the name of liberty. The soldiers
of Sullivan were stimulated in their evil work by promises of the land
they were sent to despoil; and the close of the war saw them return to
claim their promises, while the rightful owner was driven away. A
certain portion of the Six Nations having received pledges from the
United States Government for their welfare, remained to become subjects
of the new nation. But excepting Washington himself, and General
Schuyler, not one heeded their promises made to the Indian. The most
unjust proceedings were begun and ruthlessly carried on by individuals,
by companies, by legislators, by speculators, to steal every inch of
land that belonged by all that is right, to the Senecas. How unlike the
benignant and faithful conduct of the British Government in Canada.
Brant continued during the war to harass the enemy in every possible
way, and in the following year, August, planned a terrible, but just
retaliation for the work of Sullivan’s horde. It was now the turn of the
rebels to have their houses, provisions and crops, despoiled. But all
the while “no barbarities were permitted upon the persons of defenceless
women and children, but a large number of them were borne away into
captivity.” Again, in October, Johnson and Brant, with Corn Planter, a
distinguished Seneca chief, invaded the Mohawk Valley. In this foray,
the same conduct was observed toward women and children. On one
occasion, Brant sent an Indian runner with an infant, that had been
unintentionally carried from its mother with some captives, to restore
it. Still, again the following year, the Indians under Brant, and the
Royalists under Major Ross, were found over-running their old homes
along the Mohawk and Schoharie. On this their last expedition, they were
met by the rebels in force under Colonel Willet, with some Oneida
warriors, and defeated them. Colonel Walter N. Butler, whom the rebels
have so often tried to malign, was shot and scalped by an Oneida Indian,
under the command of the rebel Willet.
We learn by the foregoing that the Iroquois were not only brave as
warriors, but they had attained to a much higher position in the scale
of being than other tribes inhabiting America. They were not ignorant of
agriculture, nor indifferent to the blessings derived therefrom. The
rich uplands of the country lying to the north of the Alleghenies, were
made to contribute to their wants, as did the denizen of the forest.
They were equally at home, whether upon the war path, the trail of the
deer, or in the tilling of land. The plow of the Anglo-Saxon has not in
seventy years completely effaced the evidences of their agricultural
skill. And not less were their sachems noted for wisdom in council, and
for eloquence. Not only corn, but beans and other cereals were
cultivated, particularly by the Six Nations. Fruits and edibles,
introduced by the Europeans, were propagated by the natives, and when
the rebel Sullivan, in accordance with orders from Washington, swept
over their country, large orchards of excellent fruit, as well as fields
of grain, were met with and ruthlessly destroyed, as were the women and
children, with their peaceful homes.
According to Rochefoucault, Brant’s manners were half European; he was
accompanied by two negro servants, and was, “in appearance, like an
Englishman.” Brant visited England in December 1785, and was treated
with great consideration.
After the close of the war, Brant settled at Wellington Square, upon
land conferred by the Crown, where he lived after the English mode. He
died here 24th November, 1807. His wife, who never took to civilized
life, after her husband’s death, removed to the Grand River, and lived
in her wigwam. Some of her children remained in the “commodious
dwelling,” and others accompanied her to the life of the wigwam.
According to Weld, Brant had at one time thirty or forty negro slaves,
which he kept in the greatest subjection. He also says that Brant’s half
pay as a captain, and his presents yearly received, amounted to £500.
His last days were made unhappy by a debased son, who, after threatening
his father’s life, was at last killed by him, in self defence, by a
short sword which Brant wore at his side. Respecting another of his
sons, the Kingston _Herald_, September 5th, 1832, says:
“It is with unfeigned sorrow that we announce the death of CAPTAIN
JOHN BRANT, Chief of the Six Nations Indians. He died of Cholera, at
Brantford, on the 27th ult., after an illness of only six hours. Mr.
Brant was the son of the celebrated Indian Chief, whose memory was
unjustly assailed by Campbell the Poet, and for the vindication of
which the subject of this notice some years ago purposely visited
England. Possessing the education, feelings, and manners of a
gentleman, he was beloved by all who had the pleasure of his
acquaintance, and his death cannot fail to be deeply and very
generally regretted.”
We have spoken of the intimacy that existed between the Mohawks and Sir
William Johnson, the Colonial Agent of England. This, be it remembered,
was more than a hundred years ago, and great changes have taken place in
the opinion of many with regard to certain irregularities of society. We
cannot excuse the conduct of Sir William, when he had lost his European
wife, in taking the sister of Brant, Miss Molly, without the form of
matrimonial alliance; but we must concede every allowance for the times
in which he lived. But while grave doubt may rest upon the moral
principle displayed by him, we see no just reason to reflect in any way
upon the Indian female. Miss Molly took up her abode with Sir William,
and lived with him as a faithful spouse until he died. However, this
must not be regarded as indicating depravity on the part of the
simple-minded native. It must be remembered that the Indian’s mode of
marrying consists of but little more than the young squaw leaving the
father’s wigwam, and repairing to that of her future husband, and there
is no reason to doubt that Miss Molly was ever other than a virtuous
woman. And this belief is corroborated by the fact that four daughters,
the issue of this alliance, were most respectably married.
Of the Six Nations, this tribe always stood foremost as brave and
uncompromising adherents to the British Government, notwithstanding the
utmost endeavors of the rebels to win them to their side. It becomes,
consequently a duty, and a pleasing duty to refer more particularly to
this race, a remnant of which yet lives upon the shore of the bay. Among
the Mohawks are, however, remnants of some of the other tribes.
The tribe is so-called, after the river, upon whose banks they so long
lived. They did not formerly acknowledge the title, but called
themselves by a name which interpreted, means “just such a people as we
ought to be.” This name is not known, unless it may be Agniers, a name
sometimes applied by the French.
This tribe was the oldest and most important of the Six Nations, and
supplied the bravest warriors, and one of its chiefs was usually in
command of the united warriors of all the tribes.
It must not be forgotten that the Mohawks, who came to Canada, and other
tribes of the Six Nations, were to all intents, United Empire Loyalists.
At the close of the struggle, we have seen elsewhere, that the
commissioners at Paris, in their unseemly haste to contract terms of
peace, forgot how much was due to the loyalists of America, and urged no
special terms to ameliorate the condition of the many who had fought and
lost all for the maintenance of British power. Likewise did they forget
the aboriginal natives who had equally suffered. The fact that these
Indians were not even referred to, gave Brant a just cause of complaint,
which he duly set forth in a memorial to the Imperial Government. But,
as the British Government and nation subsequently strove to relieve the
suffering condition of the refugees, so did they afford to the loyal
sons of the forest every possible facility to make themselves
comfortable. Indeed, the British officers in command, at the first, gave
a pledge that all that they lost should be restored. The promise thus
given by Sir Guy Carleton, was ratified by his successor, General
Haldimand, in 1779, Captain General and Commander-in-Chief in Canada,
and confirmed by Patent, under the Great Seal, January 14, 1793, issued
by Governor Simcoe.
At the close of the war, a portion of the Mohawks were temporarily
residing on the American side of Niagara River, in the vicinity of the
old landing place above the Fort. The Senecas, who seem to have been at
this time more closely allied than other tribes to the Mohawks, offered
to them a tract of land within the territory of the United States. But
the Mohawks would not live in the United States. They declared they
would “sink or swim with England.”
Brant proceeded to Montreal to confer with Sir John Johnson, General
Superintendent of Indian affairs. “The tract upon which the chief had
fixed his attention, was situated upon the Bay de Quinté.” General
Haldimand, in accordance with this wish, purchased a tract of land upon
the bay from the Mississaugas, and conveyed it to the Mohawks.
Subsequently, when Brant returned to Niagara, the Senecas expressed
their desire that their old and intimate friends, the Mohawks, should
live nearer to them than upon the Bay de Quinté. Brant convened a
council of the tribe to consider the matter, the result was, that he
went a second time to Quebec to solicit a tract of land less remote from
the Senecas. Haldimand granted this request, and the land, six miles
square, upon the Grand River was accordingly purchased from the
Mississaugas, and given to them, forty miles off from the Senecas. The
above facts are taken from Brant’s MS. and History. We may infer from
this fact, that the party who did come to the bay under Captain John,
felt less attachment to the Senecas than the other portion of the tribe.
The quantity of land on the bay originally granted was 92,700 acres; but
a portion has been surrendered.
In the early part of the rebellion, the Mohawk families fled from their
valley with precipitation. They mostly went to Lachine, where they
remained three years. They then ascended the river in their canoes, and
probably stayed a winter at Cataraqui, the winter of 1783–4. The whole
tribe was under Brant. Second in command was Captain John, a cousin of
Brant, and his senior in years.
In the spring, a portion of the tribe entered the Bay Quinté, and passed
up to the present township of Tyendinaga. The majority, led by Brant,
passed up along the south shore of Lake Ontario to Niagara.
THE MOHAWKS AS CANADIANS.
Descendants of the bravest of all the brave Indian warriors of America,
we find them peaceable and in most respects imbibing the spirit of the
day. Ever since the party settled on the bay, they have manifested no
turbulent spirit, none of those wild attributes natural to the
wild-woods Indian, toward their white neighbors. Among themselves there
has been one occasion of disturbance. This arose from the quarrelsome
nature of one Captain Isaac Hill. This Chief, with his people, formed a
part of Brant’s company that settled on the Grand River. After a few
years, having disagreed with his nation, and become exceedingly
disagreeable from his officious and selfish conduct, he removed to the
bay, and united himself with Captain John’s party, which received him.
But he failed to live peaceably with them. Eventually the disagreement
resulted in a serious hostile engagement between the two branches, who
fought with tomahawks and knives. But one person was killed, a chief of
Captain John’s party, Powles Claus, who was stabbed in the abdomen. But
subsequently Captain Isaac Hill became a worthy inhabitant. His house
still standing, then considered large, was frequently open to the more
festive, across the Bay in Sophiasburgh.
Out of the six hundred Indians, now living upon the Reserve, there is
only one with pure Indian blood. His name is David Smart. It has been
elsewhere stated, that the custom prevailed among the Mohawk nation, to
maintain the number of the tribe, by taking captive a sufficient number
to fill the vacancies caused by death of their people. The result was,
that these captives marrying with Indians, they gradually underwent a
change, and the original appearance of the Mohawk has lost its
characteristic features. The circumstances of the Indians during the
revolutionary war, and subsequently in settling in Canada, led to
frequent unions between the white men of different nationalities and the
Indian women. Therefore, at the present day there remains but little
more than a trace of the primal Indian who lorded it, a hundred years
ago, over no inconsiderable portion of the North American Continent.
When visiting the Indians, on our way, we met some eight or ten sleighs
laden with them, returning from a funeral. We were much struck with the
appearance of solid, farmer-like comfort which their horses and
conveyances exhibited, as well as they themselves did in their half
Canadian dress.
While drunkenness has prevailed among the older Indians, it is pleasing
to know that the younger ones are far more regular in their habits. For
this, much credit is due to the Christian oversight of their former and
present pastors. They have 1800 acres of land. They number 630, and are
increasing yearly.
The seal of the Mohawk Counsel may be seen with the Rev. Mr. Anderson.
The armorial bearings consist of the wolf, the bear and the turtle.
These animals, in the order here given, indicate, not tribes, nor
families exactly, but rank. The wolf is the highest class, the bear next
in rank, and the turtle the lowest grade.