I have attended a treaty of the Seneca Nation of Indians, held at Buffalo
Creek, in the county of Erie, in the State of New York, on the fifteenth
day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and
thirty-eight, when the within instrument was duly executed in my
presence, by the chiefs of the Seneca Nation, being fairly and properly
understood by them. I do therefore certify and approve the same.
R. H. GILLET, Commissioner.
At a treaty held under and by authority of the United States of America,
at Buffalo Creek, in the county of Erie, and State of New York, between
the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Tuscarora Nation of Indians, duly
assembled in council, and representing and voting for the said Nation, on
the one part, and Thomas Ludlow Ogden, of the city of New York, and
Joseph Fellows, of Geneva, in the county of Ontario, on the other part,
concerning the purchase of the rights and claim of the said Indians in
and to the lands within the State of New York remaining in their
occupation. Ransom H. Gillett, Esq., a commissioner appointed by the
President of the United States to attend and hold the said treaty, and
also Josiah Trowbridge, Esq., the superintendent on behalf of the
Commonwealth of Massachusetts, being severally present at the said
treaty, the said sachems, chiefs and warriors, on behalf of the said
Tuscarora Nation, did agree to sell and release to the said Thomas Ludlow
Ogden and Joseph Fellows, and they, the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and
Joseph Fellows, did agree to purchase all the right, title and claim of
the Tuscarora Nation of, in and to the tract, piece or parcel of land
mentioned and described in the instrument of writing next hereafter set
forth, and at the price or sum therein specified as the consideration or
purchase money for such sale and release; which instrument being read and
explained to the said parties, and mutually agreed to, was signed and
sealed by the contracting parties, and is in the words following:
This indenture, made this fifteenth day of January, in the year of our
Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, between the sachems,
chiefs and warriors of the Tuscarora Nation of Indians, duly assembled in
council, and acting for and on behalf of the said Tuscarora Nation, of
the first part, and Thomas Ludlow Ogden, of the city of New York, and
Joseph Fellows, of Geneva, in the county of Ontario, of the second part,
witnesseth:
That the said sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Tuscarora Nation, in
consideration of the sum of nine thousand six hundred dollars to them in
hand paid by the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, the receipt
whereof is hereby acknowledged, have granted, bargained, sold, released
and confirmed, and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell, release and
confirm to the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, and to their
heirs and assigns, all that tract or parcel of land situated, lying and
being in the county of Niagara, and State of New York, commonly called
and known by the name of the Tuscarora Reservation, or Seneca grant,
containing nineteen hundred and twenty acres, be the same more or less,
being thelands in their occupancy, and not included in the land conveyed
to them by Henry Dearborn, together with all and singular the rights,
privileges, hereditaments and appurtenances to the said tract or parcel
of land belonging or appertaining, and all the estate, right, title,
interest, claim and demand of the said party of the first part, and of
the said Tuscarora Nation of Indians of, in and to the same, and to every
part and parcel thereof; to have and to hold all and singular the above
described and released premises unto the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and
Joseph Fellows, and their heirs and assigns, to their proper use and
behalf forever, as joint tenants and not as tenants in common.
At the above-mentioned treaty, held in my presence as superintendent on
the part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and this day concluded, the
foregoing instrument was agreed to by the contracting parties therein
named, and was in my presence executed by them; and being approved by me,
I do hereby certify and declare such my approbation thereof.
Witness my hand and seal at Buffalo Creek, this 15th day of January, in
the year 1838,
J. TROWBRIDGE, Superintendent.
I have attended a treaty of the Tuscarora Nation of Indians, held at
Buffalo Creek, in the county of Erie, in the State of New York, on the
fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight
hundred and thirty-eight, when the within instrument was duly executed in
my presence by the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the said nation, being
fairly and properly understood and transacted by all the parties of
Indians concerned, and declared to be done to their full satisfaction. I
do therefore certify and approve the same.
R. H. GILLET, Commissioner.
SUPPLEMENTAL ARTICLE TO THE TREATY CONCLUDED AT BUFFALO CREEK, IN THE
STATE OF NEW YORK, ON THE 15TH DAY OF JANUARY, 1838, CONCLUDED BETWEEN
RANSOM H. GILLET, COMMISSIONER, ON THE PART OF THE UNITED STATES, AND
CHIEFS AND HEAD MEN OF THE ST. REGIS INDIANS, CONCLUDED ON THE 13TH OF
FEBRUARY, 1838.
The undersigned, chiefs and head men of the St. Regis Indians, residing
in the State of New York, having heard a copy of said treaty read by
Ransom H. Gillet, the commissioner who concluded that treaty on the part
of the United States, and be having fully and publicly explained the
same, and believing the conditions of the said treaty to be very liberal
on the part of the United States, and calculated to be highly beneficial
to the New York Indians, including the St. Regis, who are embraced in its
provision, do hereby assent to every part of the said treaty, and approve
the same. And it is further agreed that any of the St. Regis Indians who
wish to do so shall be at liberty to remove to the said country at any
time hereafter within the time specified in this treaty, but under it the
Government shall not compel them to remove.
The United States will, within one year after the ratification of this
treaty, pay over to the American party of said Indians one thousand
dollars, part of the sum of five thousand dollars mentioned in the
special provisions for the St. Regis Indians, anything in the article
contained to the contrary, notwithstanding.
Proclaimed April 4, 1840.
* * * * *
In the year 1846, on the 16th day of May, about forty of the Tuscaroras
emigrated from the reservation to their new homes in the Indian
Territory, and in one year about one-third of them died on account of the
sufferings they endured. They were destitute of everything, and the
Government was to have sustained them for one year, and to build houses
for them, and provide all the necessaries of life, but they failed in
fulfilling their promises on account of the misconduct of Dr. A.
Hogeboom, the moving agent of the emigration party.
By reference to official documents in the Indian department it appears
that a petition from a small party of discontented emigrationists at the
Tuscarora village, dated March 4th, 1845, was sent to the President of
the United States, expressing a desire to remove to the West. It also
further appears that a letter had been received by the department from a
certain D. G. Garnsey, dated May 8th, 1845, stating that a portion of the
Senecas, and others of the Six Nations in western New York, were now
ready to remove. The Government, justly fearing that there might be
persons so anxious to possess themselves of the moneys appropriated by
law for the removal and support of emigrating Indians, as to resort to
fraudulent means for the purpose, by letters warned the Indian agent at
Buffalo to be on his guard against such imposition. Afterwards, several
petitioners from small fragments of the Senecas and other tribes, were
prevailed on to sign memorials to the President, asking to be removed,
and begging appropriations for that purpose. To those well acquainted
with these movements, there was sufficient evidence that persons
interested in their removal were at the bottom of all this business.
Of the Six Nations, once the owners and lords of the soil within the
boundaries of the great Commonwealth of New York, there were many small
remnants scattered over the western part of this State in a condition of
wretched vagrancy; reduced by idleness and intemperance to poverty, and
ready, for a trifling compensation, to have their names attached to any
memorial, without regard to its objects, for a small sum of money they
would lend themselves to the service of any artful intriguer whose
designs were to defraud the Government.
By an act of Congress passed on the 3rd day of April, 1843, the sum of
twenty thousand four hundred and seventy-seven dollars and fifty cents
was appropriated for the removal of two hundred and fifty Indians to the
countries west and south of the Missouri river.
This appropriation was granted in consequence of repeated assurances made
to the Indian department that this number were anxious to emigrate. The
glittering prize thus hung up in the face of the noon-day sun was so
bright and alluring that a goodly number of hungry candidates were soon
seen entering the lists and struggling for the prize. But, alas! for the
conditions; unless two hundred and fifty Indians could be procured to
enrol themselves on the emigration engagement, and actually embark for
the West, the stakes could not be legally won. Here was the great
difficulty. And yet one would suppose that out of four thousand eight
hundred and eighty-five Indians, belonging to the following tribes, to
wit: the Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Oneidas, St. Regises,
Stockbridges, Munsees and Brothertowns, by taking up all the poor,
degraded individuals, and gathering together all the sincere
emigrationists, such a small proportion of the whole might easily be
procured; especially if these candidates for an agency had told the truth
when they asserted that _large bodies of the Indians were anxious to
remove_. By these movements the Government had been induced to believe
that there really was an emigration party sufficiently large to meet the
objects of the late appropriation, and to warrant the appointment of an
emigration agent. Under this impression, the Secretary of War, by a
letter dated Sept. 12, 1845, addressed to Dr. Abraham Hogeboom, appointed
him to that office, instructing him, however, that no movement was to be
made unless the full complement of emigrants should desire, in good
faith, to remove to the West, and Hogeboom was also explicitly informed
that "the Government would not undertake the emigration of these Indians
unless _two hundred and fifty_ of them, then residing in the State
of New York, exclusive of the Canada Indians, should muster themselves
and actually go with the agent."
As if to leave no door open for misunderstanding, the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs at Washington addressed a letter to Hogeboom, dated Oct.
2nd, 1845, in which it was expressly declared that "two hundred and fifty
Indians is the smallest number that will be emigrated."
On the 27th of that month, Hogeboom wrote to the department giving it
information that two hundred and nine Indians had enrolled themselves,
and some of their chiefs had assured him that at Buffalo, Cattaraugus and
Alleghany there would be twenty more. Thus the utmost number that the
Doctor could dare to hope for was two hundred and twenty-nine. If that
letter was written in order to feel after the temper of the departmcnt,
and to ascertain how far it was disposed to relax its determination to
send no less away than two hundred and fifty, he was not long in
suspense, for by a letter dated Nov. 4th the Secretary of War again
reminded him that he, was "selected to act as emigrating agent only in
the event that two hundred and fifty would go." But on the 7th of that
month Hogeboom again writes to him, dating his letter from Buffalo,
saying he had ascertained that two hundred and sixty, Indians had
enrolled themselves, and had fixed on the 20th of that month as the time
for starting. This sudden and unexpected movement was not agreeable to
the Secretary on account of the advanced state of the season; but, hoping
they might get out before the lakes and rivers should be impassable on
account of the ice, he immediately ordered provisions for their
sustenance at their intended homes, to be procured and be in readiness at
the time of their arrival.
Notwithstanding all these assurances on the part of Hogeboom, when the
time for telling the truth came the whole scheme failed; a sufficient
number of Indians could not be persuaded to go. The emigration was
therefore indefinitely postponed.
It will be seen by the foregoing statement that on the 27th day of
October Hogeboom wrote to the department that only two hundred and nine
had enrolled themselves, and he then admitted that only twenty more could
be hoped for in addition; of course there was no prospect of emigrating
that season. Indeed the Doctor says in that letter, speaking of the
Indians, "they do not think they will be able to obtain the number of two
hundred and fifty to emigrate this fall." Up to this time nothing had
been done to induce the war department to advance any money to the agent.
So, not only had the emigration scheme failed, but, so far as the Doctor
had been moved by pecuniary motives, he had also failed. This was no
doubt a trying circumstance, but the trial did not long continue, for
only ten days after he had written to the war department that the Indians
did not think they could emigrate this fall, he wrote again to the
Secretary of War, under date of Nov. 7th, 1845, saying "I have
ascertained that two hundred and sixty Indians have enrolled themselves
for emigration, and have fixed the time for starting on the 20th inst."
The following is an extract from a letter from the department to
Hogeboom, dated Nov. 14th, in answer to his of the 7th. It was no doubt a
letter such as the Doctor much desired:
SIR;--I have received your letter of the 7th inst., informing the
department of the enrollment of two hundred and sixty New York Indians
for emigration to their western homes, and proceed, _now that there
appears to be no doubt of the movement taking place_, to give you some
instructions, &c. * * * A requisition for $10,000 has this day been
issued in your favor, with which you will be charged and held accountable
for, under the head of "removal, &c., of New York Indians," per act March
3rd, 1843.
(Signed)
W. MEDILL, Commissioner.
Thus the Doctor was put in possession of the sum of _ten thousand
Dollars_, and we hear no more about the two hundred and sixty Indians,
nor of any more trouble about Indian emigration during the remainder of
the year.
The proceedings of Dr. Hogeboom; and other persons interested in removing
the Senecas, necessarily produced great agitation, and a very unsettled
state among those who had no idea of emigrating. The chiefs on the
reservations of Alleghany and Cattaraugus, harassed and perplexed by this
vexatious state of things, at length determined to address the President
on the occasion. This application procured the appointment of the council
which was held at Cattaraugus on June 2d, 1846.
In the spring of 1846 Dr. Hogeboom, hearing that the Government had
called a council of the Senecas, for the express purpose of inquiring
officially whether there was an emigration party among them, and, if
there was one, what its number, made great exertions to push off his
emigrants. Regardless of the positive instructions of the Government, and
without its knowledge, he hastily collected as many of the Indians as he
could bring under his influence, and with them embarked in a steamboat at
Silver Creck, on Lake Eric, near Cattaraugus Reservation.
The circumstances and manner of the embarkation throws much light on the
motives and conduct of this emigrating agent. The subject is graphically
related in a speech of Israel Jemison, as made in a council of 1846, and
addressed to the Commissioners of the United States, as follows, to wit:
"Brothers! The question relative to emigration being disposed of, I will
explain the manner in which this removal of the Indians to the West has
been effected. I believe it was irregularly conducted. Indeed, I may say,
of this I am convinced. The agent who came to execute it was duly
notified, that the Government had called the present council for the
consideration and investigation of this matter. As soon as it was known
that this had been determined on, _great efforts were made to hurry off
the emigrants and induce them to leave before the council would meet_.
I am satisfied that many were decoyed away by various contrivances and
gross misrepresentations on the part of the emigrating agent and his
emissaries. I myself remonstrated against these proceedings, and asked if
it could beproper to inveigle and deceive the Indians in this manner. In
reply I was desired to be silent, to which I rejoined that many of them
whom they had decoyed on board were then drunk, and in a state of
unconsciousness! These remonstrances availed nothing, and the whole were
hurried away. If anyshowed an unwillingness to go they were told they
might return if theychose, should they not like the place when they got
there."
The painful, and indeed the awful result of this inhuman conduct of Dr.
Hogeboom will be seen by reference to the memorial of the Seneca chiefs
to
the President of the United States, invoking the aid of the Government to
bring back the wretched surviving remnant of the poor duped people. It is
as follows:
_To His Excellency, James K. Polk, President of the United States_:
The memorial of the undersigned chiefs and warriors of the Seneca Nation
of Indians, residing in the State of New York, respectfully showeth,
That a party of the Seneca Nation, consisting, as your memorialists have
been informed, of sixty-two persons, together with a portion of the
Cayugas, Onondagas and Oneidas, residing with us, and a party of the
Tuscaroras, residing near Lewiston, in Niagara county, left the State of
New York last spring to settle in the country west of Missouri. That your
memorialists have been credibly informed by letters received from
individuals among them, and by the statements of such as have returned,
that great distress has, from their first arrival there, existed among
them, and does exist without mitigation, in consequence of the
insalubrity of the climate; that twenty persons of the sixty-two Senecas
were already dead some six weeks since, and about the same proportion of
our friends of the other tribes; that many others were sick; that three
of the leading Seneca chiefs, one of the Onondagas, one of the Oneidas,
and a leading man of the Tuscaroras, were dead; that the remnant of the
people, with very few exceptions, were very anxious to return, but were
destitute of the means of doing so; that many of them have sent earnest
requests to us for assistance to enable them to do so; but that only a
few families among us are able to furnish efficient relief to their
suffering friends. In view of all these facts, we would respectfully
request the Vice President to furnish the necessary assistance to bring
back the remnant of the party to their former homes, and to arrange for
the payment of the annuities belonging to them, so that in future they
may receive them here. Although they went out from us against our earnest
remonstrance and entreaty, and some of them mocking our expressions of
concern for them as we stood around the boat when they were going on
board, still we shall rejoice to have them home again amongst us, for
they are our brethren and their sufferings grieve us to the heart.
Thirteen of the Senecas have already returned, and three others, we have
heard, are on the way. This makes the condition of those unable to return
the more lonely and wretched. We hope the President will not say it was
their own fault that they went there, for even if they were to be blamed
for doing so, they had already suffered a fearful punishment. But we
think that if the President were acquainted with the circumstances he
would pity rather than blame them for going. Notice had been repeatedly
given from the War Department that unless a company of two hundred and
fifty emigrants could be organized, none would be removed. Such a company
having failed to be organized in the fall of 1845, we were told that the
Department had required the removing agent to refund the money he had
received for the purpose of removing them. In the spring of the present
year certain men were running from house to house among our people saying
that the agent still held the money in his hands, and would remove all
who wished to go, upon the opening of navigation. Directly after, notice
was received from the Government that commissionerswere appointed, and
that a Council would be held on a specified day to ascertain if the
requisite number wished to emigrate. When this became known it was
immediately reported that the removing agent (Dr. Hogeboom) had already
contracted for their passage--that the steamboat would take them in at
Cattarangus Creek on a certain day, and it was not necessary for them to
wait for the action of the Government. The agent soon after appeared,
accompanied by two individuals from Buffalo, who, as we were afterward
credibly informed, instigated him to practice this fraud upon the
Government, and endeavored, by representing the country west as a
paradise, to induce a large company to go on board their boat. Some of
our friends, who had not disposed of their effects, were told not to mind
their stuff, for the country to which they were going was so rich, and
they would prosper there so rapidly that they would never feel the loss
of it, and one family were hurried away from their table, leaving
everything upon it just as it was when they arose from their dinner. We
have reason to believe that the whole company, except a few leaders, most
of whom are now dead, were deluded by these flattering but fate
representations of those white men, and inasmuch as the removing Agent
appeared on the ground, with the money in his hand, these simple people
were made to discredit the orders received from the department, relative
to the council of the 2d of June. Justice would indeed seem to require
that these white men should repair the injury they have done to us, and
not to us alone, but also to the government.
But we have no power to compel them. Our only resource is to appeal to
the government in behalf of our afflicted and desponding brethren, who
are perishing under the accumulated pressure of disappointed expectations
--grief for the dead and the heavy hand of disease upon their own persons.
We trust our appeal will not be disregarded. We think it is the dictate
of humanity, and we confidently believe that the voice of the whole
country would approve the course of the President if he would grant the
needed relief. We would beg leave further to request the President to
make known to us through our friend Philip E. Thomas, of Baltimore, who
will present our memorial, the decision he may make in regard to it.
And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c.
Cattaraugus Reservation, Dec. 16, 1846.
(Signed)
James X Shongo, Moses Stephenson, N. T. Strong, William X Jones, Robert X
Gordon, Zachariah X L. Jimison, Daniel Two Guns, Samuel X Wilson, William
X Johnson, John X Bolden, Benjamin Williams, George Lindsay, John
Kennedy, Jr., George Greenblanket, David X Snow, John Huson, Solomon W.
Lane, Jim X Junius, Henry Two Guns, Little X John, John Talor, John X
Luke, Governor X Blacksnake, Israel X Jimison, William X Patterson, John
X Greenblanket, S. M. Patterson, Moses X Pierce, James X Stephenson,
Abraham X John, Jabez X Stephenson, Peter X White, Charles Graybeard.
In reply to this memorial, the following answer was received from the
Indian Bureau at Washington:
WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, Feb. 23rd, 1847.
SIR:--The application for the removal of the Seneca Indians back to New
York who emigrated West from there last summer has been duly considered.
With every disposition to gratify the wishes of the Society of Friends,
and of the New York Indians, so far as it could properly be done, I have
to inform you that the Executive Department of the Government has neither
the authority nor the means to justify a compliance with their desire. In
this particular Congress only could authorize the measure and provide the
requisite means for the expense it would invalue.
Respectfully your ob't servant, W. MEDILL.
To PHILIP E. THOMAS, Esq., Baltimore, Md.
When the chiefs were made acquainted with the result of this application,
they addressed the following communication to the joint committee of
Friends:
CATTARAUGUS RESERVATION, March 22nd, 1847.
RESPECTED FRIEND, PHILIP E. THOMAS:--Permit us to address you a few
lines, and, through you, the committee of the four-yearly meetings of the
Society of Friends, in reference to the condition of our suffering
friends and brethren still remaining in the country west of the
Mississippi. We suppose the committee are already thoroughly acquainted
with the means used to decoy those Indians off, in contravention of the
instructions of the Government to the removing agent. They were flattered
with prospects of almost unbounded prosperity. The country was described
as a paradise; and they were told that there friends here, who might now
refuse to accompany them, would soon be compelled to follow, and that it
would be better to go now and get well started in their improvements,
&c., as soon as possible. But, when they reached that country, instead of
being a paradise, they found it rather a land of desolation, disease and
death, and a large proportion of them are now lying beneath the turf. The
survivors are discouraged and broken-hearted, in addition to the
sufferings from the disease which has swept off their companions, and
they are anxious to return. Application has been made to the Government
in their behalf, without obtaining relief, and, from a recent letter from
Dr. Wilson, we learn that a similar application to the Legislature of
this State is likely to fail. We cannot make any appropriation from our
national funds until the meeting of our national council, as a law has
been passed which would forbid it, but if we delay till that meeting it
will expose our friends to the horrors of the sickly season once more,
and doubtless many more of them will perish in consequence. Under these
circumstances we see no other resource but to look again to those kind-
hearted friends who have done somuch already to relieve us in our
distresses. Our obligations are already very great, and we cherish deep
feelings of gratitude for past favors. We would not willingly burden your
kindness now were it not for the peculiarly difficult and perplexing
condition of things just at the present time. But we feel that humanity
towards our own people demands of us to make this application in their
behalf, as well as of ourselves, for we will always cherish a lively
remembrance of your kindness.
Wishing you the reward of the benevolent in the great day, we subscribe
ourselves your obliged and sincere friends,
In presence of Asher Wright,