my friend whom I have accompanied to this place. I hope the Great
Spirit will still preserve my friend on his journey to Philadelphia,
and every evening when night shall overtake him, that the Great Spirit
will spread over him the curtain of safety,--that he may again meet
the society that sent him among us, for the purpose of teaching us the
useful arts of the white people; and that he may return to them my
kind thanks, for the kind offices which they are disposed to bestow on
us. I cannot omit this favourable opportunity to inform Friends that
I believe the young men placed at the Alleghany, have discharged the
trust committed to them, in endeavouring to do the best they could for
our advantage.
“Dear friends, when I first heard your voice, and learned your kind
offers to us, I was pleased; as I thought we were apt to transgress
the good rules of the Great Spirit, and by the aid and advice of your
people, the Great Spirit would lend us his aid, by which we might
become a better people. I hope you will not be discouraged, in still
aiding us, although we make slow progress in the arts of the white
people.”
The two Friends at Alleghany were enabled this fall, for the first
time, to sow several acres of wheat and rye, and several of the Indians
manifested a disposition to labour, by aiding them in gathering in
their summer crops.
Near the close of this year, the two Friends residing among the Indians
received a letter from the chiefs at Cattaraugus, expressive of their
great satisfaction, for the advice contained in the letter which had
been left for them last fall, and the great joy that they felt at the
prospect of receiving instruction and assistance from the Quakers.
These Indians were much addicted to intemperance, and although much
more favourably situated than the Alleghany Indians, to make progress
in the agricultural arts, yet they were in a poor and destitute
situation, and did not appear to make use of the advantages within
their power, to assist themselves. It was, therefore, believed right,
in reply to their letter, to urge the necessity of their abstaining
from intemperate practices, and of making use of the means in their
power to better their condition.
* * * * *
Therefore the two Friends wrote to them nearly as follows:
“Brothers, we are glad to hear that you have come to a resolution to
lay up so much of your money, to buy cattle and other useful articles,
and that you seem determined to quit drinking whiskey, and not to allow
traders to sell it on your ground. Now brothers, this is a very wise
resolution, and we hope you will be sincere and keep to it. We hope
that some of you have got your eyes open, to see that whiskey and other
strong drink have been the cause of much evil and wickedness among you,
and that these pernicious things have taken much of your money, your
skins, and your furs, which the Great Spirit has favoured you with, and
with which you might buy clothing, and oxen, and axes, hoes, and other
useful articles to assist you in tilling the field, and we fear, in
time past, it has taken some of the corn your poor women have worked
hard at raising, with their hoes.
“Brothers, you know there are many white people who love money, and
they know that you love whiskey, and this is the way they take to get
your money and property from you. But if you keep to your resolution
not to drink it, then there will be no danger. You may then have oxen
and ploughs, with which you may plough your ground and raise a great
deal of corn, and you may also buy axes and hoes, and other useful
implements of husbandry to farm with. And then when your friends the
Quakers see that you are trying to help yourselves, and that you make
good use of your money, it will encourage them to help you more.
“Brothers, we desire you often to think upon the Great Spirit, and
pray to him in your hearts, and then he will show you what is good and
what is evil. And we want you to take up work like the white people,
for your land is very good, and would produce a great deal of grain if
properly managed--and if you get plenty of cattle and sheep, and swine,
they will afford you plenty of meat, and be much more certain than the
elk, the deer, and the bear. Then will your old men, your wives and
your children be happy, and enjoy the comforts of life, and you can
look on your flocks and your fields with contentment and pleasure.”
These Indians, in addition to the set of saw-mill irons before
promised, were furnished with some axes, hoes, and a set of plough
irons, to encourage them in farming.
A school was kept at Genesinguhta, this winter, by one of the Friends,
where a number of children attended, and made some progress in
learning--also a grown person who was debilitated in body, resided with
Friends throughout the winter, and being able to converse a little in
the English language, acquired so much learning as to enable him to
read and write, and afterwards to procure a living, by trading among
the Indians.
In the spring of 1800, the Indians appeared somewhat animated, and more
of them made preparation for farming, by scattering more from their
villages, fencing in lots and clearing land; but not yet having working
animals to plough their ground, Friends ploughed some small lots for
them, which operated as a stimulus to them; and one Indian took hold
of the plough, and began to manage it himself, which was viewed as a
matter of some surprise, and excited great curiosity in the beholders.
In the Fifth month, this spring, two of the Friends who had left the
Oneida settlement the preceding winter, as before stated, being willing
to spend some more time among the Indians, proceeded to Alleghany, to
unite with Friends there in promoting the welfare of the natives.
Soon after their arrival, the Indians at Cattaraugus requested Friends
at Alleghany to give them some advice and assistance, about planning
a saw-mill. Accordingly two Friends proceeded to that settlement,
and gave such advice on the occasion as seemed to be requisite; the
millwrights having already arrived, and commenced the building of a
saw-mill.
As these Indians will in the sequel constitute an interesting part of
the narrative of this concern, it seems proper in this place to give a
more particular account of their situation. The Senecas here possess a
reservation of forty-two square miles, part of it bounded by lake Erie.
It is generally composed of land of a superior quality. The bottoms
along the Cattaraugus river produce black and white walnut and sugar
maple of a superior size. The higher land, abounds with white oak,
white pine, bass, poplar, hickory, and other timber. There are, also,
exclusive of the Indians’ corn fields, large openings like natural
meadows, containing many hundred acres of excellent land, covered
with abundance of grass and herbage, affording abundance of food for
cattle. The Senecas at this place were said to be about one hundred and
sixty in number. Their houses were made in the usual Indian style, and
covered with bark, and their situation, in general, as to habits and
living, much similar to those at Alleghany, when Friends first settled
among them. About a mile from the Seneca village was a town of the
Delawares, (more frequently called Munsies) about one hundred and sixty
in number, who lived on sufferance on the Seneca Indians’ land.
These Indians, as well as the Senecas, had a considerable number of
cattle, some horses, and abundance of poultry and swine. They had small
enclosures round their villages, in which they kept their stock during
the corn season, and sometimes the poor animals had but a scanty supply
of fodder, notwithstanding the abundance of grass on their lands, from
which, for want of a little labour to fence off their corn lots, they
had little or no benefit during the summer.
Previous to leaving them, the two Friends had an interview with a
number of their chiefs, and principal men and women, in which they were
encouraged to industry, and to put in practice their good resolutions.
Being informed by one of the Friends present, that he was shortly going
to leave their country and return to his friends, one of the chiefs
replied, “You may tell your old friends, the Quakers at Philadelphia,
when you go home, that we are exceedingly thankful for the kindness you
have shown us, and the assistance you have already given us. We are now
determined to follow your advice as far as we are able, and to spill
all the whiskey traders bring among us for sale. You must not think we
are offended at you for trying to make us sensible of our weaknesses;
for even our young men and young women rejoice to hear it, and are in
hopes their hands will grow stronger, that they may be able to overcome
their weaknesses. We are determined to try to help ourselves, and to
lay up money to purchase useful articles to go to farming with. We pity
our poor women, and see it is too hard for them to work in the hot
sun, and do all the labours of the field. And although we cannot ask
any more favours of you, yet one thing in particular we desire you to
remember; that is, that we are a poor, ignorant people, and for want of
learning, in the course of our dealings with the white people, we have
been greatly wronged, and lost much of our property--we want some of
our children instructed, that they may be able to do the business of
our nation.”
On the fourteenth of the Sixth month, Friends had a council with the
Indians at Alleghany, in which the two Friends lately came into their
country, were introduced to them, and also informed that one of the
Friends who had now been more than two years among them, was about to
return home to his friends. Several matters were opened to encourage
them to persevere in habits of industry, and to be strong in their
resolutions against the use of spirituous liquors, over which they had,
by this time, gained a great conquest.
A few days after this, Cornplanter and several other chiefs, called
to see the Friend who was leaving them set out on his journey, and
sent three of their people to accompany him on his way through the
wilderness.
In their parting conference, Cornplanter expressed many thanks for
the Friend’s services among them, and desired the Great Spirit might
conduct him safely home to his relations, and that on his arrival he
might inform his old friends, the Quakers in Philadelphia, that he
was very thankful for their kind endeavours to instruct his people in
a life of civilization, and he believed the Great Spirit above was
pleased with it.
During the summer of 1800, the Indians made some further improvements,
and seemed more disposed to relinquish their old habits. A yoke of
oxen, which they purchased, were found very useful in drawing their
firewood, and thereby relieving some of their women from heavy
burthens; several of them procured cows. By this time many of the
Indians had built themselves more comfortable houses, and began to
assist their women in their agricultural labours, so that a gradual
improvement was evident among them in the habits of civilized life.
In the following winter, Red Jacket, a Seneca chief, residing at
Buffalo creek, with several other chiefs of the Seneca nation, visited
Philadelphia, with whom Friends had a satisfactory interview. Suitable
presents were given them, among which, was a set of saw-mill irons,
which were particularly requested by Red Jacket.
In the spring of 1801, a greater spirit of industry seemed to manifest
itself among the Indians. Divers more of them fenced in lots, and
procured moreover, some working animals; their increasing attention to
raising cattle and hogs, afforded a pleasing prospect; and was a strung
inducement for them to scatter more from their villages, and realize
the advantages of settling on separate tracts of land.
Circumstances, however, occurred among the Indians, which claimed the
particular attention of the committee, and three Friends were deputed
to visit the settlement. They proceeded there in the Ninth month,
accompanied by a young Friend, a blacksmith, who offered his services
to instruct some of the Indians in his useful occupation.
Previous to giving a detail of this interview, it seems necessary
to observe, that some extraordinary ideas respecting witchcraft had
prevailed among the natives for sometime, which were principally
insinuated among them by an infirm old man named Connediu, a half
brother to Cornplanter, who had the appearance of a simple man, and had
been from his youth very intemperate. He had no influence in the nation
till about three years before, when, after a long time of sickness,
he was supposed by the Indians to be several times in a trance. After
he had recovered therefrom, he asserted that he had seen angels, who
communicated to him such things as the Great Spirit designed should
be imparted to the Indians--that they must all quit drinking whiskey
and other strong liquors--that they must revive the custom of their
forefathers in eating dog’s flesh, and have frequent dances--performing
their religious ceremonies, &c. This to a people naturally prone to
superstition, was like oracles delivered from the _Great Spirit_, and
to use their own language, “was the manner in which _He_ was revealing
his mind and will to the Indians.” Connediu had actually some of his
imaginary interviews with the inhabitants of the spiritual world
committed to writing, that they might keep it in remembrance, as the
will of the Great Spirit concerning them.
Connediu frequently asserted that these heavenly messengers continued
to favour him with frequent interviews, and he succeeded in propagating
a belief among the natives, that most of their bodily afflictions
and disorders arose from witchcraft, and undertook to point out the
individuals who had the power of inflicting these evils. He was said
to have wholly declined the practice of drinking to excess, and by an
artful exercise of his pretended knowledge, he acquired considerable
influence in the nation, so as to be appointed high priest and chief
Sachem in things civil and religious.
Some of Cornplanter’s family being in a declining state of health,
Connediu, (whom they now esteemed a great doctor, as well as a
prophet,) was applied to for counsel. In his wild reveries he alleged
that some of the Delaware Indians who lived at Cattaraugus possessed
the power of witchcraft, and were the cause of their illness.
This brought on a quarrel between the two tribes, and some of the
Delawares were taken prisoners, and threatened with death if they did
not remove the disorder.
During the contention, Cornplanter wrote to the governor of
Pennsylvania on the occasion, and the committee on Indian affairs
being made acquainted with the circumstances, letters both from the
committee and government were addressed to both tribes of Indians on
the subject. A council was called between the contending parties,
and Friends, with some other well disposed people on the frontier
settlements, used their influence to have an amicable adjustment, and
endeavoured to obliterate from the Indians’ minds, those superstitious
ideas of witchcraft which appeared to have been the ground of their
uneasiness. The result was, that the Delawares were acquitted, and
all disputes buried between them and the Senecas. Cornplanter told
them “that he had swept their beds clean, that they might lie down
in peace--that he had swept their houses clean, that they might live
comfortably in them--that he had swept clean before their doors, that
they might go out and in, without molestation.”
About the time that Friends of the committee arrived at Genesinghuta,
the Indians generally were met in council, about these matters; and
although Connediu had advised them to quit drinking whiskey, he was
otherwise endeavouring to propagate notions very inimical to the
concern in which Friends were engaged, by recommending them to follow
their old customs, and not allow their children to learn to read and
write; that they might farm a little, and build houses, but must not
sell any thing which they raised on their land, but give it away to one
another, and especially to their old people; and, in short, enjoy all
things in common.
With this doctrine several of the young chiefs and others were not
satisfied; and one of them judiciously observed, “they had better
hold councils about fencing in fields, and clearing land, than about
witchcraft, and other strange notions of Connediu.”
The committee, who now visited the settlement, were pleased, on passing
down the river, with the view of fences, where not long before there
were none to be seen; and instead of the bark cabins, that formerly
stood in clusters along its banks, there were now good houses, with
shingled roofs; and the tinkling of cow bells, which they heard in
various directions, denoted an increase of cattle, and had a cheering
effect on their minds. It was in the spring of 1801, that the Indians
first began to use the plough for themselves. They took a very cautious
method of determining whether it was likely to be an advantageous
change to them or not. Several parts of a large field were ploughed,
and the intermediate spaces prepared by their women with the hoe,
according to former custom. It was all planted with corn; and the
parts ploughed, (besides the great saving of labour,) produced much
the heaviest crop; the stalks being more than a foot higher, and
proportionably stouter than those on the hoed ground. The corn was now
gathered in, and as their stock of cattle had much increased, instead
of leaving their corn fodder to perish, as formerly, they preserved
it for their cattle in winter--and several had mown grass, and made
small stacks of hay. They had made a fence, about two miles long, which
enclosed the lower town, and a large body of adjacent land fronting on
the river, and several other fences were made within it, to separate
the corn from the pasture ground.
With the exception of houses and fences, the improvements at the
lower town, (Jenuchshadaga) did not bear a comparison with the upper
settlement, where the Indians lived more detached from each other.
Their thus separating, was evidently more to their advantage, than
crowding together in villages. A chief, who was not ashamed to be seen
at work by the women of his own family, would probably have been much
mortified when discovered by a number of other females, who on such
occasions do not always refrain from ridicule. Yet this false shame on
the part of the men, and ridicule of the women, gradually wore away as
they became familiarized to each others’ assistance, in their little
agricultural labours.
The Indians now became very sober, generally refraining from the use of
strong liquor, both at home and when abroad among the white people. One
of them observed to Friends, “no more bark cabins, but good houses--no
more get drunk here, now, this two year.”
The blacksmith was introduced to the Indians with a request that two
of their young men would learn his business, so as to be qualified to
do their own work; as it was not very likely he should stay long. But
before they would agree to this proposition, they queried with Friends,
“whether they would at any future time want land or money for the
services which they had done, and were doing for them? They wished to
know very clearly in writing about it. Also, whether they would leave
the tools for the young men, who might learn the blacksmiths’ trade,
when the smith left them, or whether they would take them away?” To
which the following answer was given in writing:--
“Brothers, we tell you now, plainly, as we told you before, that your
brothers, the Quakers, do not want any of your land, or any of your
money, or any of your skins, for any thing they have done for you; and
they never will bring a charge against you, for any of these things.
And we give you this writing, to keep forever, to make your minds
perfectly easy on this account. About the smiths’ tools we cannot say
much; but think we shall leave them with you, if some of your young men
will learn the trade.”
At a subsequent interview, Cornplanter made a reply to Friends, in
which he stated, “We understand the writing which you gave us very
well, and our minds are now quite easy. Two of our young men will learn
the smiths’ trade; one from the lower town, and one from the upper.”
Friends again opened the business respecting the schooling of their
children, which had for sometime past been impeded by the system of
Connediu. The chiefs were particularly desired to take this subject
under consideration, and let Friends know when they were ready.
It was supposed that the quantity of corn raised this year by the
natives, was nearly tenfold what it was when the settlement was first
formed, and a few of the Indians made the first attempts to raise
wheat; but those who did something at farming, occasionally went out a
hunting; and many of the men still adhered to their ancient customs,
and left the women of their families to cultivate with the hoe, what
corn and vegetables were necessary for their sustenance.
As one of the young men, who had been there from the time of first
opening the settlement, was about to return home with the committee,
Cornplanter expressed the great regard he had for him; saying, “that,
although he had been so long amongst them, not one of them was able to
say a word against him, ever since he had been there--that his words
and his conduct had been altogether good, and agreeable to them; and
he hoped the Good Spirit would preserve him on his way home to his
friends.”
The committee, also, on this visit, had an interview with the Indians
of Cattaraugus. They arrived at a time when the Indians were performing
their religious ceremonies--concerning which, the chief warrior,
Waun-dun-guh-ta, made the following remark to Friends.
“Brothers, you have come at a time which has by us been set apart for
performing worship to the Good Spirit, after our ancient customs. It is
our way of worship, and, to us, solemn and serious, and not to be made
light of, however different it may be from your mode. It is the manner
our forefathers have taught us. We hope you will excuse us for not
being so attentive to you as we should, had we not been thus engaged.”
They had now their saw-mill completed, and one of the Friends from
Alleghany remained sometime with them, instructing some of the Indians
in the sawing business.
The spring of 1802, furnished greater marks of improvement, than had
heretofore been discovered among the natives. Eighteen or twenty
thousand rails were split, and put up into fences by the Indians, and
thirteen or fourteen new lots enclosed, most of which were cleared
this spring. Several families who had not any when this settlement was
first formed, had got six or seven head of cattle, and other useful
animals. Whiskey was not knowingly suffered to be brought into the
settlement; and if any were found out to have been intoxicated, when
they were out in the white settlements, they were sharply reproved by
the chiefs on their return, which had nearly the same effect among
Indians, as committing a man to the workhouse among white people. The
Indians opened a good road for about five miles up the river from
Friends’ settlement, where before it was very difficult to travel,
even on horseback. Several of them sowed spring wheat--and a gradual
improvement was apparent during this season.
The benefits derived by the Senecas at Alleghany, from their attention
to agriculture, encouraged other branches of the nation to apply for
assistance. The chief of the Tonewanta village, about one hundred
miles distant from Friends’ settlement at the Alleghany, in a pathetic
speech, applied to Friends to assist them with saw-mill irons, farming
utensils, &c. which request was granted, with the addition of a yoke of
oxen, and chains.
The young man who went out as a blacksmith, returned home this fall;
two of the Indians having acquired such knowledge of his business as to
answer their necessities.