ELOQUENCE AMONG THE IROQUOIS—RED JACKET, OR SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA.
Bravery and every warlike trait, characterized all the Indian races,
but oratory was heard only among the Iroquois; and the Forum in the
palmy days of Rome, the Parliament-house of England, or the
Senate-chamber at Washington, never echoed more thrilling strains than
the sylvan temple in which were assembled the red children of the
wilderness, to listen to the eloquence of their most distinguished
Chief, Sa-go-ye-wat-ha,—or as his people were accustomed to call him,
the “Young Prince of the Wolf Clan,”—in the days when trials and bitter
wrongs stirred the deepest and the loftiest emotions in the bosom of
the untutored Indian.
The name which Red Jacket received in his infancy was O-te-tiana, and
signified Always ready. According to the custom of his people, when he
became chief he took another, Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, which means He keeps
them awake. The insignificant one which he always bore after his
acquaintance with white people, was given him on account of the red
jacket in which he was always seen, and which was presented him by a
British officer as a reward for some special service. It was richly
embroidered, and he took great pride in wearing it. When one was worn
out, another was presented him, so that it became a mark to distinguish
him, and acquired him the name.
As the government and whole construction of the Iroquois confederacy
was a pure democracy, few were born to titles. All honors must be
earned. Sometimes families gained a kind of distinction by their wisdom
in council, or their bravery in war, as did that of Brandt, the great
Mohawk chief; but Red Jacket had an humble origin, even in the
estimation of his own people.
His birth-place was Canoga, west of Cayuga Lake, in 1750. It has been
the universal testimony of books that he was a coward; and this
inference has been drawn very naturally, perhaps, from the fact that he
opposed war, and seldom wielded the tomahawk. But the old men of his
nation who knew him, and the motives from which he acted, deny the
charge. The Mohawk Chieftain held him in great contempt, and was in the
habit of repeating various anecdotes to bring his courage into disgrace
among his people. Among the old men now living who knew him, there are
many who assert that he was brave, and not at all lacking in the
qualities they admire in the warrior. They assign other reasons for his
persevering opposition to war, and maintain that his superior sagacity
led him to see the consequences of war to the Indian. In the
Revolutionary contest, the red men enlisted on the side of the British,
believing it to be for their interest. They could not understand any
thing of the real nature of the controversy between the two rival
powers, and were justifiable in studying their own interest alone. When
the war was over, they saw themselves deprived of their territory, and
obliged still to flee before their pursuers. The Mohawks removed to
Canada, and the remnants of the other nations fell back to Western New
York. Red Jacket saw that the Indians were only used as instruments for
promoting the interest of the white men. Why should they be torn
asunder and scattered to the four winds, in order to fight the battles
of their enemies? Their warriors fought and bled, but what was their
reward? To be driven from the land they defended. Let them alone, said
the wise man and the orator. Let us remain upon our lands and take care
of ourselves. So they called him coward; but when his prophecies had
been fulfilled, they saw the wisdom of his decrees. He saw the end from
the beginning, but with all his eloquence he could not stay the tide
which was swallowing them up. He was a Cayuga on his father’s side, and
the Cayugas claim to have been a thoughtful and far-seeing people. His
eloquence has never been disputed; and that he was an orator, was his
own peculiar pride and boast.
Cicero was accused of cowardice, and Cæsar was certainly timid, and
both were charged with treachery; but their voices have echoed through
the world. Red Jacket has been placed side by side with them on this
platform, and had he spoken a language which the learned could
understand and correctly translate, his fame might have equalled
theirs.
It is asserted by others that an orator must necessarily be a coward.
His is a moral courage alone; and the enthusiasm, emotion, and fine
feeling which are necessary to the orator, make physical courage and
strong nerves impossible. It is not necessary to ascribe every species
of greatness to one man, and Red Jacket had plenty of gifts without
those which constitute the warrior.
Of his childhood we, of course, know nothing; and like many another, he
owed his celebrity to the troublous times in which he lived. The powers
of the orator can only be exhibited on occasions of great interest; and
the mighty intellect of Red Jacket could not have exercised itself upon
theology, or law, or philosophy, for the Indian was a stranger to all
these things.
One of the first forensic efforts of the young Chief was in behalf of
the women of his people, who, as I have said, were permitted to exert
their influence in all public and important matters. In the year 1791,
when Washington wished to secure the neutrality of the Six Nations, a
deputation was sent to treat with them, but was not favorably received,
as many of the young Chiefs were for war and sided with the British.
The women, as is usual, preferred peace, and argued that the land was
theirs, for they cultivated and took care of it, and, therefore, had a
right to speak concerning the use that should be made of its products.
They demanded to be heard on this occasion, and addressed the
deputation first themselves in the following words: “Brother:—The Great
Ruler has spared us until a new day to talk together; for since you
came here from General Washington, you and our uncles the Sachems have
been counselling together. Moreover, your sisters, the women, have
taken the same into great consideration, because you and our Sachems
have said so much about it. Now, that is the reason we have come to say
something to you, and to tell you that the Great Ruler hath preserved
you, and that you ought to hear and listen to what we, women, shall
speak, as well as the Sachems; for we are the owners of this land, AND
IT IS OURS! It is we that plant it for our and their use. Hear us,
therefore, for we speak things that concern us and our children; and
you must not think hard of us while our men shall say more to you, for
we have told them.”
They then designated Red Jacket as their speaker, and he took up the
speech of his clients as follows:
“Brothers from Pennsylvania:—You that are sent from General Washington,
and by the thirteen fires; you have been sitting side by side with us
every day, and the Great Ruler has appointed us another pleasant day to
meet again.
“Now listen, Brothers:—You know it has been the request of our head
warriors, that we are left to answer for our women, who are to conclude
what ought to be done by both Sachems and warriors. So hear what is
their conclusion. The business you come on is very troublesome, and we
have been a long time considering it; and now the elders of our women
have said that our Sachems and warriors must help you, for the good of
them and their children, and you tell us the Americans are strong for
peace.
“Now, all that has been done for you, has been done by our women; the
rest will be a hard task for us; for the people at the setting sun are
bad people, and you have come in too much haste for such great matters
of importance. And now, Brothers, you must look when it is light in the
morning, until the setting sun, and you must reach your neck over the
land to take in all the light you can to show the danger. And these are
the words of our women to you, and the Sachems and warriors who shall
go with you.
“Now, Brother from Pennsylvania and from General Washington, I have
told you all I was directed. Make your minds easy, and let us throw all
care on the mercy of the Great Keeper, in hopes that he will assist
us.”
So there was peace instead of war, as there would often be if the voice
of woman could be heard! and though the Senecas, in revising their laws
and customs, have in a measure acceded to the civilized barbarism of
treating the opinions of women with contempt, where their interest is
equal, they still cannot sign a treaty without the consent of two
thirds of the mothers!
On another occasion the women sent a message, which Red Jacket
delivered for them, saying that they fully concurred in the opinion of
their Sachems, that the white people had been the cause of all the
Indians’ distresses. The white people had pressed and squeezed them
together, until it gave them great pain at their hearts. One of the
white women had told the Indians to repent; and they now, in turn,
called on the white people to repent—they having as much need of
repentance as the Indians. They, therefore, hoped the pale-faces would
repent and wrong the Indians no more.
At the termination of hostilities between the United States and Great
Britain, the Indians, who were the allies of the English, were left to
take care of themselves as best they could. Though they had fought
desperately in their own way, and inflicted every species of suffering
upon our people, Washington extended to them the hand of friendship and
offered them protection. His kindness won him the gratitude of the
Indian, and procured for him a boon they have bestowed upon no other
white man, except William Penn. He is permitted to enter paradise,
though not within the sacred inclosure where the red man dwells. Near
the entrance to Heaven is fitted up a beautiful garden, where bloom the
most beautiful flowers, and the grandest trees of the forest wave their
boughs. In this glorious Eden, Washington is the only inhabitant, and
walks to and fro in the flowery paths, dressed in his soldier’s
uniform, and perfectly happy, though no word ever passes his lips. The
Indian, on his way to his own Heaven, is permitted to look upon the man
whom the Great Spirit has thus honored, but no sign of recognition is
made, as nothing must disturb his meditations, or mar the perfect
felicity which he is to enjoy through eternity in his celestial
residence.
Though we hope he has gone to a happier and more delightful abode than
this, the Indian has conferred upon him the greatest honor it was in
his imagination to conceive, and the highest proof of his confidence in
his goodness and belief in his benevolence; and it is gratifying to us
to record this of our beloved Washington, among all the wrongs which
this simple people have to relate concerning those in whose power it
was to awaken similar emotions, and who preferred to fill them with
indignation and revenge.
Red Jacket was one of fifty Chiefs who went to confer with Washington
at the seat of government, where they were treated with great
attention, and professed to be satisfied with the provisions made for
their people, and to be convinced that peace and civilization were now
their only hope.
When they were about to leave, Washington presented Red Jacket with a
large silver medal, bearing his own likeness, which he wore till his
death, and of which he was very proud. During this visit, General Knox
presented each of the Chiefs with a military suit of clothes, with a
cocked hat as worn by the officers. When Red Jacket’s suit was offered
him, he said, as he was not a war Chief he could not consistently wear
such a dress, and requested that a different suit might be given him,
more suitable to his station. But when the plain dress was brought, he
declined giving up the regimentals, coolly remarking, that though as a
Sachem he could not wear a military uniform in time of peace, yet in
time of war the Sachems joined the warriors, and he would, therefore,
keep it till war broke out, when he could assume a military dress with
propriety.
Once on being invited, with several of his people, to dine at the house
of an officer, he ate very voraciously of many kinds of meat; and
seeing the surprise of the host, he remarked that he belonged to the
Wolf Clan, and “wolves were always fond of meat.”
“I am an orator; I was born an orator,” was all the boast Red Jacket
could make with the certainty of being at that time appreciated; and to
all future generations his name will descend, enrolled on the list with
Demosthenes and Cicero in ancient, and Pitt and Randolph and Webster in
modern times; and though a Pagan, and belonging to a rude, uncultivated
race, his vices were no greater than those of men who lived all their
lives under Christian influences, and professed to be believers in the
pure gospel of the Redeemer, and to govern their lives by His holy will
and example.
He strenuously opposed every effort to introduce Christianity among his
people, for he could not understand how it could be so valuable or
necessary, when he saw how little it influenced the conduct of white
men, and the wrongs they inflicted in the name of their God upon the
red man. He could not make the distinction between those who possessed
religion and those who professed it; and as he came in contact with
very few who walked uprightly, he naturally concluded that a religion
which did no more for its followers was not worth adopting. He believed
that the Great Spirit had formed the red and white man distinct; that
they could no more be of one creed than one color; and when the wars
were over and there was nothing more for them to do, he wished to be
separated entirely from white men, and return as much as possible to
their old customs.
He saw his people wasting away before the pale-faces, as he once said
in a speech before a great assemblage:
“We stand a small island in the bosom of the great waters. We are
encircled,—we are encompassed. The Evil Spirit rides upon the blast,
and the waters are disturbed. They rise, they press upon us, and the
waves once settled over us, we disappear for ever. Who, then, lives to
mourn us? None! What marks our extermination? Nothing! We are mingled
with the common elements.”
If historians have rightly judged, the first missionaries sent among
the Senecas were not very judicious, and did not take the wisest course
to make their religion acceptable to any people, and especially to a
wronged and outraged race.
In 1805, a young missionary was sent into the country of the Six
Nations, by the name of Cram. A council was called to consider whether
to receive him, and after he had made an introductory speech, Red
Jacket made the following reply:
“Friend and Brother:—It was the will of the Great Spirit that we should
meet together this day. He orders all things, and has given us a fine
day for our council. He has taken his garment from before the sun, and
caused it to shine with brightness upon us. For all these things we
thank the Great Ruler, and Him only!
“Brother:—This council-fire was kindled by you. It was at your request
that we came together at this time. We have listened with joy to what
you have said. You requested us to speak our minds freely. This gives
us great joy, for we now consider that we stand upright before you and
can speak what we think. All have heard your voice, and can speak to
you as one man. Our minds are agreed.
“Brother:—Listen to what we say. There was a time when our forefathers
owned this great island. Their seats extended from the rising to the
setting sun. The Great Spirit had made it for the use of Indians. He
had created the buffalo, the deer, and other animals for food. He had
made the bear and the beaver. Their skins served us for clothing. He
had scattered them over the country, and taught us how to take them. He
had caused the earth to produce corn for bread. All this He had done
for His red children, because He loved them. If we had some disputes
about our hunting-ground, they were generally settled without the
shedding of much blood. But an evil day came upon us. Your forefathers
crossed the great water, and landed upon this island. Their numbers
were small. They found friends, and not enemies. They told us they had
fled from their own country on account of wicked men, and had come here
to enjoy their religion. They asked for a small seat. We took pity on
them, granted their request, and they sat down amongst us. We gave them
corn and meat; they gave us poison (rum) in return.
“The white people, Brother, had now found our country. Tidings were
carried back, and more came amongst us. Yet we did not fear them. We
took them to be friends. They called us brothers; we believed them, and
gave them a larger seat. At length their numbers had greatly increased.
They wanted more land; they wanted our country. Our eyes were opened,
and our minds became uneasy. Wars took place. Indians were hired to
fight against Indians, and many of our people were destroyed. They also
brought strong liquor amongst us. It was strong and powerful, and has
slain thousands.
“Brother:—Our seats were once large, and yours were small. You have now
become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to spread our
blankets. You have got our country, but are not satisfied; you want to
force your religion upon us.
“Brother:—Continue to listen. You say that you are sent to instruct us
how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind; and if we do not
take hold of the religion which you white people teach, we shall be
unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right, and we are lost. How do
we know this to be true? We understand that your religion is written in
a book. If it was intended for us as well as you, why has not the Great
Spirit given to us—and not only to us, but to our forefathers—the
knowledge of that book, with the means of understanding it rightly? We
only know what you tell us about it. How shall we know when to believe,
being so often deceived by the white people?
“Brother:—You say there is but one way to worship and serve the Great
Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white people differ so
much about it? Why not all agree, as you can all read the book?
“Brother:—We do not understand these things. We are told that your
religion was given to your forefathers, and has been handed down from
father to son. We, also, have a religion which was given to our
forefathers, and has been handed down to us, their children. We worship
in that way. It teaches us to be thankful for all the favors we
receive; to love each other, and be united. We never quarrel about
religion.
“Brother:—We do not wish to destroy your religion or take it from you;
we only want to enjoy our own.
“Brother:—We have been told that you have been preaching to the white
people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We are acquainted
with them. We will wait a little while, and see what effect your
preaching has upon them. If we find it does them good, makes them
honest, and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will then consider again
of what you have said.
“Brother:—You have now heard our talk, and this is all we have to say
at present. As we are going to part, we will come and take you by the
hand, and hope the Great Spirit will protect you on your journey, and
return you safe to your friends.”
According to the suggestion of their orator, the Indians moved forward
to shake hands with the missionary; but he refused, saying, “There was
no fellowship between the religion of God and the Devil.” Yet the
Indians smiled and retired peacefully.
At another time Red Jacket said, “The white people were not content
with the wrongs they had done his people, but wanted to Cram their
doctrines down their throats.”
In a conversation with a distinguished clergyman, who was endeavoring
to instruct him on the subject of the Christian religion, not many
years before his death, Red Jacket said:
“Brother:—If you white men murdered the Son of the Great Spirit, we
Indians had nothing to do with it, and it is none of our affair. If he
had come among us, we would not have killed him; we would have treated
him well; and the white people who killed him, ought to be damned for
doing it. You must make amends for that crime yourselves.”
On being invited to see the bridge across Niagara after it was
finished, he walked across it and examined every part, evidently struck
with admiration at the skill and science displayed in the building; and
when he was about to depart, gazed for a moment with an expression no
language can convey, and slowly uttered these two words: “D——d Yankee!”
Another attempt was made, several years after the first, to introduce
missionaries among his people; but no argument or persuasion could
induce him to look upon Christianity with favor.
In another eloquent speech, he painted in glowing colors the curse that
seemed to have descended upon all those Indians who had been made the
object of pious but mistaken missions. “How imbecile, poor, effeminate,
contemptible, drunken, lying, thieving, cheating, malicious,
meddlesome, backbiting, quarrelsome, degraded and despised, the victims
of civilized instruction had become; having lost all the noble
qualities of the Indian, and acquired all the ignoble vices of the
white people;” and then adds:
“Brother:—On the other hand, we know that the Great Spirit is pleased
that we follow the traditions of our fathers; for in so doing we
receive his blessing. The Great Spirit has provided abundance. When we
are hungry, we find the forest filled with game; when thirsty, we slake
our thirst at the pure streams and springs that spread around us; when
weary, the leaves of the trees are our bed—we retire with contentment
to rest—we rise with gratitude to the great Preserver. No luxuries, no
vices, no disputed titles, no avaricious desires shake the foundations
of our society, or disturb our peace and happiness.
“Brother:—We pity you. We wish you to bear to our good friends our best
wishes. Inform them, that in compassion to them we are willing to send
them missionaries to teach them our religion, our habits, and our
customs. We would be willing they should be as happy as we, and assure
them if they will follow our example, they would be far more happy than
they are now.
“Accept this advice, Brother, and take it back to your friends as the
best pledge of our wishes for your welfare. Perhaps you think we are
ignorant and uninformed. Go, then, and teach the white people. Select,
for example, the people of Buffalo. Improve their morals and refine
their habits. Make them less disposed to cheat Indians. Make the white
people generally less disposed to make Indians drunk, and to take from
them their lands. Let us know the tree by the blossoms, and the
blossoms by the fruit. When this shall be made clear to our minds, we
may be more willing to listen to you.
“Brother:—Farewell.”
“A terrible and bitter satire!” and though entirely unjust as far as
true religion is concerned, it is quite unanswerable to a heathen mind,
and is a stumbling-block in the way of many in enlightened communities.
It was pagan white people who poisoned the mind of the great Chief, and
prejudiced him against the missionaries and their religion. He thought
them the enemies of his people; and those whose interest it was to
deceive him, so thoroughly blinded and bewildered him, that he came
very near being the destroyer, rather than the saviour, of the little
remnant of his race. They, knowing that the missionaries were the true
friends of the Indian, and understood their own evil machinations,
wished to banish them from the lands. A law was passed that no white
people should settle upon the Reservations, to which the Indians had
been removed, and which had been secured to them by law and treaty; and
though it was no part of the design that missionaries and teachers
should be excluded, the companies who wished to obtain the lands and
drive the Indians beyond the Mississippi, took advantage of the law,
and urged the pagan Chiefs to insist upon their departure. In order to
obey the strict letter of the law, they were obliged to go. As soon as
the law could be revised, they returned again; and there are few now,
among Chiefs or people, who do not recognize them as their best
friends, and acknowledge their influence to be for their true interest,
temporal as well as spiritual; and they are fast becoming so
enlightened by the Gospel and by universal education, through their
untiring zeal, as to be in no future danger from designing and
unprincipled speculators.
Before he died, Red Jacket began to discriminate truly between his
friends and foes, and to understand the disinterested friendship of the
missionaries.
He had always great confidence in the Quakers; owing, we presume, to
the fact that no land-shark ever belonged to this sect. In their early
intercourse with the Indians, they were, fortunately, more judicious in
the measures they took towards advancing them in all the arts of
cultivated life. As the great Chief once said: “They give us ploughs,
and show us how to use them; they counsel us in our troubles, and
instruct us how to make ourselves comfortable; they do us great good—we
are satisfied with what they do.”
Witchcraft was punishable with death by the laws of the Six Nations,
and it often happened that persons were accused of exercising the
powers of sorcery upon individuals, when sickness could be accounted
for in no other way, and their arts produced no effect in healing. A
case of this kind was the occasion of one of Red Jacket’s most
sarcastic speeches.
A woman was accused of causing the death of an Indian, whose lingering
illness they could not understand, and by their laws condemned to die.
He who was appointed to be her executioner, faltered in the hour of
trial, and another, who was more bold, stepped forward and drew the
knife across her throat. The Indians were not subject to the laws of
the United States as far as their own internal affairs were concerned,
and had the right to administer justice as they pleased; but some of
their neighbors, being shocked at these summary proceedings, arrested
the murderer and put him in prison. A trial was had, and every effort
made to procure the condemnation, and of course the hanging, of the
accused, whose name was Tommy Jemmy; but the Indians insisted that the
woman had been as judicially condemned and executed as Tommy Jemmy
would be if he was given up to them, and if it was murder in the one
case, it would be murder in the other.
Red Jacket, seeing that their belief in witches was the theme of
ridicule, answered in these words:
“What! do you denounce us as fools and bigots, because we still believe
what you yourselves believed only two centuries ago? Your black-coats
thundered this doctrine from the pulpit; your judges pronounced it from
the bench, and sanctioned it with the formalities of law, and you would
now punish our unfortunate brother for adhering to the faith of his
fathers and of yours! Go to Salem! Look at the records of your own
government, and you will find that hundreds have been executed for the
very crime which has called forth the sentence of condemnation against
this woman, and drawn down upon her the arm of vengeance. What have our
brothers done more than the rulers of your people have done? And what
crime has this man committed, by executing in a summary way the laws of
his country and the command of the Great Spirit?”
It is said his looks were far more terrible than his words; and his
eye, when aroused by indignation, was fearful in its blaze. He gained
his cause, and the prisoner was liberated.