Told by Peter York.
An Ojibwa man and wife and one child were out hunting away back in the
woods and one day the man said to his wife, “We are going to have
trouble now. There are some Mohawks about, and they are going to come
to-night to kill us. There is no use running away for we are too far
from home. If I am killed they will take you away to their home.” The
night came and this man and wife watched nearly all night, till about
daylight they heard an owl and some other kind of bird. This shows that
the Mohawks were near and had surrounded their camp. There were fifteen
Mohawks and the one Ojibwa man had to fight them all. Well, he did very
well for he killed quite a lot of them, but his wife and child were
taken prisoners whilst he was fighting. He was not killed but escaped
and ran towards his home. He ran for two days till he reached home and
told his friends what had happened. He raised a war party of some forty
or fifty men and one old man, a prophet, and started after the Mohawks.
This old man, the Prophet, knew where the Mohawks went and he also knew
that the wife was still alive, and that child was killed on the way to
the Mohawks’ home, for he had that power. So the Ojibwa war party
started for the Mohawk country and while they were going the old man
said, “She has made her escape and is coming back.” So they all ran to
meet her and they met her. She told a very bad (pitiful) story to the
men. She said, “On the way every night I had to keep the fire going all
night to keep them warm. Some days they all go out hunting, but one had
to stay and watch me. One day they all went out but one bad man who
stayed in camp to watch me. This bad man made a big fire and went out
and cut a good-sized stick. Then he took my baby and ran the stick into
him (through the anus) and roasted him in the big fire. Well, I could
not do anything only cry, and this bad man came right in front of me
and began to mock and cry, and facing the other way showed his
buttocks. I grabbed his privates and pulled all I could, and he fell
down and I got up and rolled him to the fire and burnt him. Then I took
his gun, I did not run away till I killed every one them. Towards the
evening one came when I was inside the camp, when he got near I shot
him. He fell dead, and after a while another one came and I also shot
him. I took his gun which was loaded. The last time two came together.
Well, I thought, if I kill them this time I would be safe, so I made a
good aim and fired at the first. He fell and the other tried to run
away; before he got away I shot him dead and started to run back
towards our country.” One of the Ojibwa war party took her home, and
the rest went on their way to the Mohawk village. When they got there
they killed some of the children to pay the Mohawks for what they did.
This woman made a good plan to get these Mohawks. She did not run away
after she killed the first man for fear the rest would chase her and
catch her, so she stayed in camp and killed them as they came in singly
from hunting. She would take the gun of the man just killed and would
be ready for the next.
The Mohawks in camping at night fixed some poles around the fire about
two feet from the ground, and would lay on their backs with their feet
on the poles, warming their hind quarters. The Ojibwa woman had to keep
the fire going all night. The killing or torturing of children was the
worst thing Indians could do. This ends this story.
Note.—All these fights took place in this locality. The river referred
to is the Gull River. The Ojibwa used to come to where Beaverton now is
and then across to South Bay, Balsam Lake, by another route south of
the Portage Road. (This is borne out by other evidence than York’s.) I
spoke of the embankment at South Bay to York, but he had never seen it
though he had heard of it, and remarked that it was “one of the
fighting grounds.”