The place of rest where the red man unstrung his bow and slept two
hundred years ago, beneath the shades of an overgrown forest, where the
grandsires of that much-abused race planted their orchard, which bore
the gems of bright abundance in autumn's golden days to regale their
taste and satisfy their appetites, whilst they rested from the chase,
this Garden of Eden so much famed in Indian story, the red man's
resting-place, where he gathered in his stock of furs for his winter
clothing and dried his venison to sustain his own life and the life of
his family during the cold stormy winters of this latitude, around whose
fertile plain the towering hills stand as sentinels to guard the plain
below from furious winds and drifting storms, was highly esteemed by the
Indian tribes for the abundance of fish that inhabited the waters of the
Susquehanna and its tributaries.
There has long been a story of revolutionary days connected with this
renowned place. Sir William Johnson, a Major-General in the British
army, came to Johnstown and took up his residence in that place. Whilst
there he had some business to transact with the Indians, who frequently
came to that place to trade. He there became acquainted with a young
squaw, Holly Brant, the daughter of the famous war-chief of the Mohawk
Indians, and was so much enamored with her virtue, wit and beauty, that
he asked the chief's consent to give him the hand of his daughter in
marriage. After some hesitation the chief consented, and his daughter,
the Forest Queen, was sent for. She came dressed in simple Indian
costume, ornamented with wampum, wearing fawn-skin moccasins embroidered
with the quills of the porcupine; her long flowing dress was decked with
roses. Sir William had been a guest at the Royal Court of England, where
fair women flashed with diamonds and brave men whirled in the giddy
dance, but none seemed to him to possess that beauty and grace which
appeared in this young Forest Queen. In short, he admired her more than
he did all the fair daughters of Eastern climes.
Sir William was so much enamored with her artless grace that they were
soon united in marriage, and he took her to his mansion to grace its
stately halls as she had the cabin of the Indian chief, her father, who
was considered by the Indians equal in rank to Sir William Johnson.
Beauty's spell flowed from her eyes,
A radiant splendor wreathed her hair,
And fondly sweet perfection lingered there,
From which all human virtues gently flow.
In due time the chief came to visit Sir William and his daughter, and
was invited by them to tarry with them for a time. The invitation was
accepted by the chief. After viewing the stately halls hung with maps,
pictures and mirrors, he retired to rest. Not being accustomed to sleep
on beds of down, fenced in with lofty ceiling, his sleep was disturbed
with dreams. He dreamed of palaces beyond the sea, with high towering
domes and gilded halls, and warriors with golden epaulettes and flashing
sabres, and plumes that nodded as they marched to battle. All these
grand views formed within his breast a desire for military glory.
Finally he awoke with the first rays of the morning, with a pleasing
dream impressed upon his memory, and when he arose he related the dream
to Sir William and his wife. He said he had dreamed that Sir William
gave him his uniform, covered with gold lace of costly texture, with his
sword, epaulettes, pistols, and hat covered with plumes. Sir William,
not being unacquainted with the Indian custom, seemed at a loss what
answer to give the chief. His wife, seeing his embarrassment, took him
by the hand and led him to the hall and informed him that he had better
fulfill the dream of her father by giving him his war equipage, which
would give him an opportunity to dream in return.
"What can I dream," said the Major-General, "to compensate me for that
splendid war equipage?"
His wife, with a sly look, replied, "Leave that to me;[1] but give him
the uniform and other equipage."
[Footnote 1: The author of the History of Schoharie County and Border
Wars of New York, states that the lands dreamed for by Sir William
Johnson, with the famous Indian chief Hendrix, of the Mohawk tribe, were
situated in the Valley of the Mohawk, which statement is denied by the
first settlers of the Indian's place of rest in the Valley of the
Susquehanna, which lands were purchased of the heirs of Sir William
Johnson, who used to relate the story of the dream as they learned it of
their mother, whose maiden name was Molly Brant, and had been at the
Indian place of rest with the Indians in their fall hunt when an Indian
maiden.]
The Major-General then brought forward his beautiful uniform and
equipments, that had been manufactured with care in England to adorn men
of rank and high renown in the British service, and worn with honors.
The Indian chief looked with pride upon the dazzling prize, so easily
won from a British officer. He then took off his Indian dress and put on
the General's uniform, which he said was a very good fit for a chief to
wear in time of peace, but not well calculated for the battle fray. He
wore his uniform through the day while a guest at the house of Sir
William Johnson. When night came he took off his uniform and folded it
carefully and packed it in a suitable form to transport it to his own
village, situated many miles away in the forest. After the chief had
retired to rest for the night Mrs. Johnson informed the General he must
dream that the chief, her father, gave him one thousand acres of land
situated on each side of the Susquehanna, at their place of rest, where
they could remove after the war had ended and live in tranquil
loveliness upon the banks of the gently flowing Susquehanna.
There on the runway long and low,
Coursed the buck, the fawn and doe;
The finny tribes in lengthened shoals
Swarm through all the crystal stream;
There in the summer sunshine blaze
Will rise green rows of twinkling maze,
Where the sweet waters of the mountain rill
Will ever turn your grinding mill.
The glowing account of so lovely a valley, given by Sir William's wife,
caused him to dream that the Indian chief gave him one thousand acres of
land at the Indian's place of rest. The next morning when the Indian
chief and Sir William met, he related his dream. The Indian chief sat in
silent meditation for a few moments, and then replied that if he had
actually dreamed the dream that he had related he must have the one
thousand acres of land, but one thing was certain, he would never dream
with him again whilst he had that young fox at his elbow.
The one thousand acres of land were deeded to Sir William, according to
the tenor of his dream, and the land was sold to actual settlers by the
heirs and descendants of Sir William Johnson, years after the storm of
the Revolution had passed away, and the grant was confirmed in the
settlement of peace with the government of Great Britain.