CHAPTER XVI.

The Seneca Chief, Red-Jacket--Circumstances under which he succeeded

Corn-Planter in his influence--Anecdotes of the latter--Red-Jacket's

earliest oratorical triumph--His speech at the Treaty of

Canandaigua--Account of Farmer's-Brother, and Brandt--Red-Jacket's

political and religious principles--Speech to Mr. Alexander, in

1811--Speech to Mr. Richardson--Remarks on the causes of his heathenism

in the conduct of the whites--His military career--Speech in favor of

declaring war against the British, in 1812--Seneca

Manifesto--Red-Jacket's interview with Washington--His interview with

Lafayette--His Memorial to the New-York Legislature--Speech to a

Missionary in 1825--His deposition and restoration in 1827--Visits to

the Atlantic cities--Death and funeral obsequies--Anecdotes.

The Indian orator of modern times, _par excellence,_ was the New-York

Chief, Saguoaha, or the Keeper-Awake, but by the whites commonly called

Red-Jacket;--a man who, with whatever propriety he might be entitled "the

Last of the Senecas," has at least transiently renewed, in these latter

days, the ancient glory of the Mingoes. "Thy name is princely,"--a popular

writer has said of him,--

. . . Though no poet's magic

Could make Red-Jacket grace an English rhyme,

Unless he had a genius for the tragic,

And introduced it in a pantomime;

Yet it is music in the language spoken

Of thine own land; and on her herald-roll,

As nobly fought for, and as proud a token

As Coeur-de-Lion's of a warrior's soul. [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] Talisman fox 1830.

This, by the way, is considerably nearer the truth than the statement in a

preceding stanza:

. . . Tradition's pages

Tell not the planting of thy parent tree;

But that the forest tribes have Dent for ages,

To thee and to thy sires the subject knee.

Better historical, if not poetical authority informs us, that the Seneca

literally "fought" for his rank, if not for his name; and that, like the

subject of our last notice, he owed nothing to the advantages of

illustrious birth. [FN] We should add, however, that the struggle was in

the council-house as well as in the field of battle. "A warrior!"--he once

(and probably more than once) had the modesty to say of himself, with a

smile of contempt, when some enquiries were made respecting the deeds of

blood which are sometimes supposed to constitute the character of an

Indian;--"A Warrior! I am an _Orator._ I was _born_ an Orator!"

* * * * *

[FN] Governor Clinton's Discourse before the New-York Historical Society;

1811.

The predecessor of Red-Jacket, in the respect of the Senecas, and of the

Confederacy at large, was a celebrated chief named by the English the

Corn-Planter, a personage also well known for his eloquence, and worthy on

that account to be distinctly commemorated, were there on record any

definite and well authenticated sketches of his efforts. Unfortunately,

there are not. The speeches commonly ascribed to him, are believed to have

been mostly composed by some of his civilized acquaintances, rather on the

principle of those effusions usually attributed to popular candidates for

the gallows. Still, there is less reason, we apprehend, for doubting his

real genius, than for disputing his nationality. He considered himself a

half-breed, [FN] his father being an Indian, according to his own account,

and his mother a white woman.

* * * * *

[FN] Appendix, III. and VI.

By a singular combination of circumstances, Red-Jacket was brought forward

into public life, and that to great advantage, mainly in consequence of

the same incident which destroyed the influence of Corn-Planter. This,

indeed, had been rather declining for some time, owing partly to his

agency in effecting a large cession of Seneca land to the American

Government, at the treaty of Fort Stanwix, in 1784. His loss of

popularity, in fine, bitterly chagrined him, and he resolved on a

desperate exertion to restore it. With this view, he undertook to practice

upon the never-failing superstition of his countrymen, by persuading his

brother to announce himself as a _Prophet,_--of course commissioned by the

Great Spirit "to redeem the fallen fortunes of his race,"--that is, his

own.

The savages listened to the new pretender with all the veracious credulity

which characterises the race. Among the Onondagas, previously the most

drunken and profligate of the Six Nations, he acquired such an ascendancy,

as to induce them to abandon the use of spirituous liquors entirely, and

to observe the common laws of morality and decency in some other respects,

wherein they had before been grievously deficient. Indeed, among the

Confederates generally, he obtained a supremacy equal to that of the same

character obtained by Elskwatawa among the western tribes, not far from

the same time. The Oneidas alone rejected him.

Like that notorious impostor, too, he soon availed himself, for evil

purposes, of the confidence gained by the preliminary manifestation of

good. A cry of "witchcraft" was raised, and a sort of examining committee

of conjurers was selected to designate the offenders. And that duty was

zealously discharged. The victims were actually sentenced, and would

doubtless have been executed, but for the interference of the magistrates

of Oneida and the officers of the garrison at Niagara.

But neither the Corn-Planter nor his pious coadjutor was yet discouraged.

Nothing but an accident had prevented success, and the failure only made

it the more imperatively necessary to try the experiment again. Red-Jacket

was publicly denounced. His accusers came forward at a great Indian

council held at Buffalo Creek. "At this crisis," says an eminent writer,

"he well knew that the future color of his life depended upon the powers

of his mind. He spoke in his defence for near three hours. The iron brow

of superstition relented under the magic of his eloquence; he declared the

Prophet an impostor and a cheat; he prevailed; the Indians divided, and a

small majority appeared in his favor. Perhaps the annals of history cannot

furnish a more conspicuous instance of the triumph and power of oratory,

in a barbarous nation, devoted to superstition, and looking up to the

accuser as a delegated minister of the Almighty." [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] Discourse of Governor Clinton.

If this anecdote be true,--and we are not aware of its having been

doubted,--the Orator, whatever be said of his genius as such, hardly

deserved the precise compliment which is paid him by his eulogist in

verse. "Is eloquence," he asks, "a monarch's merit?"

. . . Her spell is thine that reaches

The heart, and makes the wisest head its sport,

And there's one rare, strange virtue in thy speeches.

The secret of their mastery--_they are short._

But the Seneca's case, it must be allowed, was one of clear compulsion;

and he probably felt, on the occasion in question, very little of the

impatience which induced Horne Tooke to say, after a noble friend's plea

of eleven hours in his behalf before the Commons, that "he would rather be

hanged, another time, than defended."

Such was the Orator's first triumph. It was not, however, his first

effort; for many years before the transaction just referred to, as we

suppose, when Red-Jacket was probably about thirty years of age,--and at a

period when our relations with all the Indians are well known to have been

continually wavering,--a treaty was held with the Six Nations on the

beautiful acclivity which overlooks the Canandaigua Lake. Some

reminiscences of it, bearing a high interest, have reached us, on the

authenticity of which we do not hesitate to rely.

"Two days," says our authority, [FN] "had passed away in negotiation with

the Indians for a cession of their lands. The contract was supposed to be

nearly completed, when Red-Jacket arose. With the grace and dignity of a

Roman senator, he drew his blanket around him, and, with a piercing eye,

surveyed the multitude. All was hushed. Nothing interposed to break the

silence, save the gentle rustling of the tree-tops, under whose shade they

were gathered. After a long and solemn, but not unmeaning pause, he

commenced his speech in a low voice and a sententious style. Rising

gradually with his subject, he depicted the primitive simplicity and

happiness of his nation, and the wrongs they had sustained from the

usurpations of white men, with such a bold but faithful pencil, that every

auditor was soon roused to vengeance, or melted into tears."

* * * * *

[FN] The writer of a communication on "Indian Biography," for the

New-York American, about ten years since. We give him credit for his

statements of facts, though we cannot concur with him in charging

Red-Jacket with "cowardice." He adds, "It was _only_ at the

'Council-fire' he shone pre-eminent. There, indeed, he was great. The

belittling simplicity of his name did not seem to detract from the

splendors of his eloquence."

"The effect was inexpressible. But ere the emotions of admiration and

sympathy had subsided, the white men became alarmed. They were in the

heart of an Indian country, surrounded by more than ten times their

number, who were inflamed by the remembrance of their injuries, and

excited to indignation by the eloquence of a favorite chief. Appalled and

terrified, the white men cast a cheerless gaze upon the hordes around

them. A nod from the chiefs might be the onset of destruction. At that

portentous moment, Farmer's-Brother interposed. He replied not to his

brother chief; but, with a sagacity truly aboriginal, he caused a

cessation of the council, introduced good cheer, commended the eloquence

of Red-Jacket, and, before the meeting had re-assembled, with the aid of

other prudent chiefs, he had moderated the fury of his nation to a more

salutary review of the question before them."

The council came together again in cooler blood, and the treaty was

concluded. The Western District at this day, it is added, "owes no small

portion of its power and influence to the councils of a savage, in

comparison with whom for genius, heroism, virtue, or any other quality

that can adorn the bauble of a diadem, not only George the IV. and Louis

le Desire, but the German Emperor and the Czar of Muscovy, alike dwindle

into insignificance."

This somewhat warmly expressed compliment,--the extravagance of which in

an old friend of the subject, may be excused in its good feeling,--reminds

us of the consideration really due to a man distinguished not alone as a

competitor with our hero for savage glory.

Except as related to oratory, he was a competitor in the same course. The

name of Farmer's-Brother was merely arbitrary. He was a warrior in

principle and in practice, and he spurned agriculture and every other

civilized art, with the contempt of Red-Jacket himself. In the war between

France and England, which resulted in the conquest of Canada, he fought

against the latter, and probably under the remote command of the great

Ottawa "Emperor" of the north. One of his exploits in the contest is still

told to the traveler who passes a noted stream not very far from the

ancient Fort Niagara, in the vicinity of which it occurred. The

particulars come to us authenticated by one to whom they were furnished by

the Farmer himself on the site of the adventure.

There, with a party of Indians, he lay in ambush, patiently awaiting the

approach of a guard that accompanied the English teams employed between

the falls of Niagara and the garrison, which had there lately surrendered

to Sir William Johnston. The place selected for that purpose is now known

by the name of the Devil's Hole, and is three and a half miles below the

famous cataract upon the American side of the strait. The mind can

scarcely conceive a more dismal looking den. A large ravine, occasioned by

the falling in of the perpendicular bank, made dark by the spreading

branches of the birch and cedar, which had taken root below, and the low

murmuring of the rapids in the chasm, added to the solemn thunder of the

cataract itself, conspire to render the scene truly awful. The English

party were not aware of the dreadful fate that awaited them. Unconscious

of danger, the drivers were gaily whistling to their dull ox-teams.

Farmer's-Brother and his band, on their arrival at this spot, rushed from

the thicket that had concealed them, and commenced a horrid butchery. So

unexpected was such an event, and so completely were the English disarmed

of their presence of mind, that but a feeble resistance was made. The

guard, the teamsters, the oxen and the wagons, were precipitated into the

gulf. But two of them escaped; a Mr. Stedman, who lived at Schioper, above

the falls, being mounted on a fleet horse, made good his retreat; and one

of the soldiers, who was caught on the projecting root of a cedar, which

sustained him until assured, by the distant yell of the savages, that they

had quited the ground.--It is the rivulet, pouring itself down this

precipice, whose name is the only monument that records the massacre. It

is said to have been literally colored with the blood of the vanquished.

In the Revolutionary War, Farmer's-Brother evinced his hostility to the

Americans upon every occasion that presented itself; and, with the same

zeal, he engaged in the late war against his former friends, the English.

Another anecdote of this Chief will show, in more glowing colors, the real

savage. A short time before our army crossed the Niagara, Farmer's-Brother

chanced to observe an Indian, who had mingled with the Senecas, and whom

he instantly recognized as belonging to the Mohawks, a tribe living in

Canada, and then employed in the service of the enemy. He went up to him,

and addressed him in the Indian tongue--"I know you well--you belong to

the Mohawks--you are a spy--here is my rifle--my tomahawk--my

scalping-knife. I give you your choice which I shall use, but I am in

haste." The young warrior, finding resistance vain, chose to be put to

death with a rifle. He was ordered to lie down upon the grass, while, with

his left foot upon the breast of the victim, the Chief lodged the contents

of his rifle in his head.

With so much of the savage, Farmer's-Brother possessed some noble traits.

He was as firm a friend where he promised fidelity, as a bitter enemy to

those against whom he contended; and would lose the last drop of blood in

his veins sooner than betray the cause he had espoused. He was fond of

recounting his exploits, and dwelt with much satisfaction upon the number

of scalps he had taken in his skirmishes with the whites. In company with

several other chiefs, he once paid a visit to General Washington, who

presented him with a silver medal. This he constantly wore suspended from

his neck; and so precious did he esteem the gift, that he was often heard

to declare he would lose it only with his life.

Soon after the battles of Chippewa and Bridgewater, this veteran warrior

paid the debt of nature, aged more than eighty years, at the Seneca

village, where, as a mark of respect for his distinguished bravery, the

fifth regiment of United States Infantry interred him with military

honors. [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] See Village Register, American, and other New-York papers of about

1820.--Also, Appendix. V and VI.

Another elder contemporary of Red-Jacket was the Mohawk chief Brandt, "the

accursed Brandt" of _Gertrude of Wyoming,_ whom, however, we think it the

less necessary to notice at much length, from his being, like the

Corn-Planter, only a half-breed. In the French and English war, he

rendered some services to the former. In the Revolution, he was

commissioned Colonel in the English army, and distinguished himself in the

horrid massacre at Wyoming. His services were rewarded by the present of a

fine tract of land on the western shores of Lake Ontario. One of his sons,

an intelligent, high-minded man, quite civilized, and much esteemed by his

American acquaintances, a few years since laudably undertook the

vindication of his father's memory from the often repeated charges of

treachery and cruelty, but we apprehend with rather more zeal than

success. The father deceased in 1807; the son, only a month or two since.

To return to Red-Jacket After his first oratorical triumph, he rose as

rapidly as the Corn-Planter declined in the esteem of his countrymen. The

latter withdrew from the rivalry, [FN] but the ambition of his successor

was thoroughly aroused. He burned to be, and to be called, the Great

Speaker of his nation and his age; to renew that glorious era when the

white men trembled at the breath of Garangula; to feel and to make felt.

The monarch mind--the mystery of commanding--

The godlike power--the art Napoleon,

Of winning, fettering, moulding, wielding, banding

The hearts of millions, till they move like one.

* * * * *

[FN] The Prophet died in 1815.

And he succeeded as far perhaps as could be expected in the circumstances

of the modern Seneca, as compared with those of the orator who bearded the

Canadian lion in his den. More than a century had since elapsed, during

which the proud confederacy that had kept all other nations on the

continent at bay was reduced to a few lingering, scattered

settlements,--surrounded and crowded by civilization,--perhaps besotted in

vice,--where the very ground of their ancient council-halls scarcely was

sought for. With such discouragements in his way, the young Orator

deserves some credit for making the exertions he did, and his countrymen

for rewarding them as they were able. They elected him a chief; and then

upon all occasions obeyed him in peace, and followed him in war.

Red-Jacket justified their confidence by a strict adherence to principles

which on the whole are equally creditable to his heart and head, although

either the policy itself, or his singular pertinacity in maintaining it,

no doubt made him many adversaries and some enemies, even with his own

people. He had early reflected upon and felt deeply the impotent

insignificance to which the tribes were reduced;--and he resolved, if he

could not restore them to their primitive position, at least to stay the

progress of ruin. How should this be done,--was the great question,--by

receiving civilization, or by resisting it?

He determined on the latter alternative, and from that hour never in the

slightest degree swerved from his resolution to drive away and keep away

every innovation on the character, and every intrusion on the territory of

the nation. Traders, travelers, teachers, missionaries, speculators in

land, were regarded with the same jealousy. In a word, he labored against

circumstances whose force had now become inevitable and irresistible, to

maintain a system of complete Indian Independence, which few of his

countrymen understood, and still fewer were willing to practice.

And this is the trait which distinguishes his character from the majority

of those we have heretofore sketched. Some of the most eminent of the

number, like Pontiac and Little-Turtle, were anxious to avail themselves

of the arts of civilization at least, were it only for purposes of offence

and defence against the race whom they borrowed from; and scarcely any

were opposed, other than incidentally, to their introduction into Indian

use. But Red-Jacket was a Pagan in principle. He advocated as well as

acted Paganism on all occasions. He was prouder of his genuine

_Indianism,_ if possible, than he was of his oratory. His bitterest foe

could not deny him the merit of frankness.

One of his clearest manifestos, in explanation of his system, was

delivered as long ago as May, 1811, before a council of the Senecas, held

at Buffalo Creek, in the form of a speech to the Rev. Mr. Alexander, a

missionary from a Society in the city of New-York, whose commission the

address itself sufficiently explains.

"Brother!"--the Orator began, with a complaisance which never, under any

excitement, deserted him,-"Brother!--We listened to the talk you delivered

us from the Council of Black-Coats, [FN] in New-York. We have fully

considered your talk, and the offers you have made us. We now return our

answer, which we wish you also to understand. In making up our minds, we

have looked back to remember what has been done in our days, and what our

fathers have told us was done in old times."

* * * * *

[FN] His usual designation of Clergymen.

"Brother!--Great numbers of Black-Coats have been among the Indians. With

sweet voices and smiling faces, they offered to teach them the religion of

the white people. Our brethren in the East listened to them. They turned

from the religion of their fathers, and took up the religion of the white

people. What good has it done? Are they more friendly one to another than

we are? No, Brother! They are a divided people;--we are united. They

quarrel about religion;--we live in love and friendship. Besides, they

drink strong waters. And they have learned how to cheat, and how to

practice all the other vices of the white people, without imitating their

virtues. Brother!--If you wish us well, keep away; do not disturb us.

"Brother!--We do not worship the Great Spirit as the white people do, but

we believe that the forms of worship are indifferent to the Great Spirit.

It is the homage of sincere hearts that pleases him, and we worship him in

that manner.

"According to your religion, we must believe in a Father and Son, or we

shall not be happy hereafter. We have always believed in a Father, and we

worship him as our old men taught us. Your book says that the Son was sent

on earth by the Father. Did all the people who saw the Son believe him?

No! they did not. And if you have read the book, the consequence must be

known to you.

"Brother!--You wish us to change our religion for yours. We like our

religion, and do not want another. Our friends here, [pointing to Mr.

Granger, the Indian Agent, and two other whites, {FN}] do us great good;

they counsel us in trouble; they teach us now to be comfortable at all

times. Our friends the Quakers do more. They give us ploughs, and teach us

how to use them. They tell us we are accountable beings. But they do not

tell us we must change our religion.--We are satisfied with what they do,

and with what they say."

* * * * *

[FN] An Indian Interpreter, and an Agent of the Society of Friends for

improving the condition of the Indians.

"Brother!--For these reasons we cannot receive your offers. We have other

things to do, and beg you to make your mind easy, without troubling us,

lest our heads should be too much loaded, and by and by burst."

At the same Council, the following reply was made by Red-Jacket, in behalf

of his tribe, to the application of a Mr. Richardson, to buy out their

right to the reservations lying in the territory commonly called the

Holland Purchase.

"Brother!--We opened our ears to the talk you lately delivered to us, at

our council-fire. In doing important business it is best not to tell long

stories, but to come to it in a few words. We therefore shall not repeat

your talk, which is fresh in our minds. We have well considered it, and

the advantages and disadvantages of your offers. We request your attention

to our answer, which is not from the speaker alone, but from all the

Sachems and Chiefs now around our council-fire.

"Brother!--We know that great men, as well as great nations, have

different interests and different minds, and do not see the same

light--but we hope our answer will be agreeable to you and your employers.

"Brother!--Your application for the purchase of our lands is to our minds

very extraordinary. It has been made in a crooked manner. You have not

walked in the straight path pointed out by the great Council of your

nation. You have no writings from your great Father, the President. In

making up our minds we have looked back, and remembered how the Yorkers

purchased our lands in former times. They bought them, piece after

piece,--for a little money paid to a few men in our nation, and not to all

our brethren,--until our planting and hunting-grounds have become very

small, and if we sell them, we know not where to spread our blankets.

"Brother!--You tell us your employers have purchased of the Council of

Yorkers, a right to buy our lands. We do not understand how this can be.

The lands do not belong to the Yorkers; they are ours, and were given to

us by the Great Spirit.

"Brother!--We think it strange that you should jump over the lands of our

brethren in the East, to come to our council-fire so far off to get our

lands. When we sold our lands in the East to the white people, we

determined never to sell those we kept, which are as small as we can

comfortably live on.

"Brother!--You want us to travel with you and look for new lands. If we

should sell our lands and move off into a distant country towards the

setting sun, we should be looked upon in the country to which we go, as

foreigners and strangers. We should be despised by the red, as well as the

white men, and we should soon be surrounded by the white people, who will

there also kill our game, and come upon our lands and try to get them from

us.

"Brother!--We are determined not to sell our lands, but to continue on

them. We like them. They are fruitful, and produce us corn in abundance

for the support of our women and children, and grass and herbs for our

cattle.

"Brother!--At the treaties held for the purchase of our lands, the white

men, with sweet voices and smiling faces, told us they loved us, and that

they would not cheat us, but that the king's children on the other side of

the lake would cheat us. When we go on the other side of the lake, the

king's children tell us your people will cheat us. These things puzzle our

heads, and we believe that the Indians must take care of themselves, and

not trust either in your people, or in the king's children.

"Brother!--At a late council we requested our agents to tell you that we

would not sell our lands, and we think you have not spoken to our agents,

or they would have told you so, and we should not have met you at our

council-fire at this time.

"Brother!--The white people buy and sell false rights to our lands, and

your employers have, you say, paid a great price for their rights. They

must have a plenty of money, to spend it in buying false rights to lands

belonging to Indians. The loss of it will not hurt them, but our lands are

of great value to us, and we wish you to go back with our talk to your

employers, and tell them and the Yorkers that they have no right to buy

and sell false rights to our lands.

"Brother!--We hope you clearly understand the Ideas we have offered. This

is all we have to say."

It is not surprising that Red-Jacket should misunderstand, or not

understand at all, the right to buy Indian land, which Richardson said his

employers had obtained of the "Council of Yorkers." It was the right of

preemption, in plain English--by which better read jurists than the Seneca

have been perplexed. He naturally enough mistook _the_ "right" of the

State for _a_ right, whereas it amounted to nothing but the privilege of

preventing all other parties from acquiring a right. It was a

prerogative--as against the _whites_ alone--the legal effect of which was

to incapacitate, not the Indians from selling, but themselves from buying.

There certainly can be no mistaking the shrewd independent reflection and

plausible reasoning in the address, however much the perversion of such

ability and spirit may give occasion for regret. Several of the arguments,

too, are clearly founded in reason, as several of the statements are

fortified by truth. In regard to the Indians being cheated by the whites,

particularly, the only error of Red-Jacket, and that a perfectly obvious

one, was in ascribing to the whites at large, and consequently to

Christianity, the credit which in fact belonged to a few unprincipled

traders and greedy speculators in land, who had indeed carried their

manoeuvres to an aggravated extent.

There is good reason to believe that Red-Jacket,--whose military career

it is time to allude to,--took his earnest lessons in the art of war

during the Revolution, in the ranks of those Senecas who so signally

distinguished themselves by their ravages on the frontiers of New-York,

Pennsylvania, New-Jersey and Virginia. [FN-1] The only reference, however,

which he ever himself made to that part of his history, so far as we know,

was latterly at Buffalo, when he was introduced to General Lafayette, then

on his tour through the country. He Reminded the latter of a Council at

Fort Stanwix in 1784, where both were present, and which had been called

with the view of negotiating a treaty with some of the Six Nations. "And

where," asked Lafayette, "is the Young Warrior who so eloquently opposed

the burying of the tomahawk?" "_He is before you,_" answered the chief.

"Ah!"--he added with a melancholy air, and stripping off a handkerchief

from his bald head,--"Time has made bad work with me. But you, I

perceive,"--and here he narrowly reconnoitered the General's wig--"_You_

have hair enough left yet!" [FN-2] At the date of this interview, seven

years since, he was at least sixty-five years of age, and therefore must

have been about twenty-five at the time of the treaty.

* * * * *

[FN-1] App. No. VII.

[FN-2] Levasseur's "Tour of Lafayette."

A few years subsequent to the negotiation referred to on this occasion,

Red-Jacket had an interview with General Washington, who gave him a silver

medal, which he wore ever afterwards, and is said to have named him "the

Flower of the Forest." But the Senecas were again hostile soon afterwards,

and it was only at the expense of an expedition which ravaged their

territory far and wide, that this haughty people were at length subdued

into any thing like a state of composure. Red-Jacket is believed to have

been second to none of his countrymen in his opposition to the American

interest down to that period; but a peace was granted upon liberal

terms--some complaints of the Indians were adjusted--a system of

protection was devised for their benefit--and thenceforth, both they and

he were quite friendly in most instances, and faithful to their

engagements in all.

As early at least as 1810, Red-Jacket gave information to the Indian Agent

of attempts made by Tecumseh, the Prophet and others, to draw his nation

into the great western combination; but the war of 1812 had scarcely

commenced, when they volunteered their services to their American

neighbors. For some time these were rejected, and every exertion was made

to induce them to remain neutral. They bore the restraint with an

ill-grace, but said nothing. At length, in the summer of 1812, the English

unadvisedly took possession of Grand Island, in the Niagara river, a

valuable territory of the Senecas. This was too much for the pride of such

men as Red-Jacket and Farmers-Brother. A council was called forthwith--the

American Agent was summoned to attend---and the orator rose and addressed

him.

"Brother!"--said he, after stating the information received,--"you have

told us we had nothing to do with the war between you and the British. But

the war has come to our doors. Our property is seized upon by the British

and their Indian friends. It is necessary for _us,_ then, to take up this

business. We must defend our property; we must drive the enemy from our

soil. If we sit still on our lands, and take no means of redress, the

British, following the customs of you white people, _will hold them by

conquest;_ and you, if you conquer Canada, will claim them, on the same

principles, as conquered _from the British._ Brother!--We wish to go with

our warriors, and drive off these bad people, and take possession of those

lands."

The effect of this reasonable declaration, and especially of the manner in

which it was made, was such as might be expected. A grand council of the

Six Nations came together, and a manifesto, of which the following is a

literal translation, issued against the British in Canada, and signed by

all the grand Councilors of the Confederation.

"We, the Chiefs and Councilors of the Six Nations of Indians, residing in

the State of New-York, do hereby proclaim to all the war-chiefs and

warriors of the Six Nations, that war is declared on our part against the

provinces of Upper and Lower Canada.

"Therefore, we do hereby command and advise all the war-chiefs to call

forth immediately the warriors under them, and put them in motion to

protect their rights and liberties, which our brethren, the Americans are

now defending." [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] Niles's Register, Vol. IV.

No speech of Red-Jacket at this memorable meeting of the tribes is

preserved, but from the address of one of the oldest warriors it appears

that they expected to raise as many as three thousand fighting-men. But

this must be an exaggeration. In 1817, there were supposed to be only

seven thousand Indians of all descriptions within the State of New-York,

on a liberal estimate, and the usual proportion of warriors would be in

that case about two thousand. It is improbable that more than half this

number were actually organized for service at any period during the

war.--Those who engaged, however, cannot be accused of want of zeal, for

although the Declaration was made quite late in 1812, we find a

considerable body of them taking a spirited part in an action near Fort

George, of which an official account was given by General Boyd, under date

of August 13th. The enemy were completely routed, and a number of British

Indians captured by our allies.

"Those," adds the General, "who participated in this contest, particularly

the Indians, conducted with great bravery and activity. General Porter

volunteered in the affair, and Major Chapin evinced his accustomed zeal

and courage. The regulars under Major Cummings, as far as they were

engaged, conducted well. The principal chiefs who led the warriors this

day, were Farmers-Brother, Red-Jacket, Little-Billey, Pollard,

Black-Snake, Johnson, Silver-Heels, Captain Halftown, Major Henry O. Ball,

(Corn-planter's son,) and Captain Cold, who was wounded. In a council

which was held with them yesterday, they covenanted not to scalp or

murder; and I am happy to say that they treated the prisoners with

humanity, and committed no wanton cruelties on the dead."

Of the chiefs here mentioned, we believe all were Senecas, except Captain

Cold. The General repeats, in his next bulletin,--"The bravery and

humanity of the Indians were equally conspicuous;" and another authority

says,--"They behaved with great gallantry and betrayed no disposition to

violate the restrictions which Boyd has imposed." [FN] These

restrictions,--it should be observed in justice to Red-Jacket and his

brave comrades,--had been previously agreed upon at the Grand Council, and

the former probably felt no humiliation in departing in this particular

from the usual savagery on which he prided himself. We have met with no

authentic charges against him, either of cruelty or cowardice, and it is

well known that he took part in a number of sharply contested engagements.

* * * * *

[FN] Niles's Register.

After the conclusion of peace, he resumed, with his accustomed energy, the

superintendence of the civil interests of the Senecas. The division of the

tribe into parties,--the Christian and Anti-Christian,--was now completely

distinct; the former being headed by Little-Billey, Captain Pollard, and

other noted chiefs; and the latter by Red-Jacket, with young Corn-planter

and several more spirited assistants, whose names are appended to the

following memorial to the Governor of New-York. This was the composition

of Red-Jacket It had been preceded by a private letter from himself to the

Governor, which had probably produced little or no effect.

"To the Chief of the Council-fire at Albany.

"Brother!

"About three years ago, our friends of the great council-fire at Albany,

wrote down in their book that the priests of white people should no longer

reside on our lands, and told their officers to move them off whenever we

complained. This was to us good news, and made our hearts glad. These

priests had a long time troubled us, and made us bad friends and bad

neighbors. After much difficulty we removed them from our lands; and for a

short time have been quiet and our minds easy. But we are now told that

the priests have asked liberty to return; and that our friends of the

great council-fire are about to blot from their book the law which they

made, and leave their poor red brethren once more a prey to hungry

priests.

"Brother!--Listen to what we say. These men do us no good. They deceive

every body. They deny the Great Spirit, which we, and our fathers before

us, have looked upon as our Creator. They disturb us in our worship. They

tell our children they must not believe like our fathers and mothers, and

tell us many things that we do not understand and cannot believe. They

tell us we must be like white people--but they are lazy and won't work,

nor do they teach our young men to do so. The habits of our women are

worse than they were before these men came amongst us, and our young men

drink more whiskey. We are willing to be taught to read, and write, and

work, but not by people who have done us so much injury. Brother!--we wish

you to lay before the council-fire the wishes of your red brethren. We ask

our brothers not to blot out the law which has made us peaceable and

happy, and not to force a strange religion upon us. We ask to be let

alone, and, like the white people, to worship the Great Spirit as we think

it best. We shall then be happy in filling the little space in life which

is left us, and shall go down to our fathers in peace." [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] Niles's Register, Vol. XXVIII; 1828.

This unique document was subscribed with the mark of Red-Jacket first, and

then followed those of Corn-Planter, Green-Blanket, Big-Kettle, Robert

Bob, Twenty-Canoes, senior and junior, Two-Guns, Fish-Hook, Hot-Bread,

Bare-Foot, and many other staunch advocates of the same principles. It was

presented to the Assembly, but we have not learned that any efficient

order was taken upon it. About the same time, Red-Jacket made an earnest

appeal to his Quaker neighbors,--a people always beloved by the

Indians,--with the same design. He told them that those whites who

pretended to instruct and preach to his people, stole their horses and

drove off their cattle, while such of the Senecas as they nominally

converted from heathenism to Christianity, only disgraced themselves by

paltry attempts to cover the profligacy of the one with the hypocrisy of

the other.

The Pagans were generally opposed to the cession of land, but foreign

influence, united with that of their antagonists at home, sometimes proved

too strong for them. At a treaty held with the tribe in 1826, eighty-two

thousand acres of fine territory were given up. Red-Jacket opposed the

measure in an eloquent appeal to the Indian feelings of his countrymen,

but the effort gained him but few votes.

The speech which has perhaps added most to his reputation was a thoroughly

Pagan one, delivered not long previous to the affair just mentioned to a

council at Buffalo, convened at the request of a missionary from

Massachusetts, with the view of introducing and recommending himself to

them in his religious capacity. The Missionary made a speech to the

Indians, explaining the objects for which he had called them together. It

was by no means, he said, to get away their lands or money. There was but

one religion, and without that they could not prosper. They had lived all

their lives in gross darkness. Finally he wished to hear their objections,

if any could be made; and the sooner, the better, inasmuch as some other

Indians whom he had visited, had resolved to reply to him in accordance

with _their_ decision.

At the close of this address, the Senecas spent several hours in private

conference, and then Red-Jacket came forward as speaker.

"Friend and Brother!"--he began--"It was the will of the Great Spirit that

we should meet together this day. He orders all things, and he 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. Our eyes are opened

that we see clearly. Our ears are unstopped that we have been able to hear

distinctly the words you have spoken. For all these favors we thank the

Great Spirit, 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 attention 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 all speak to you

as one man. Our minds are agreed.

"Brother!--You say you want an answer to your talk before you leave this

place. It is right you should have one, as you are a great distance from

home, and we do not wish to detain you. But we will first look back a

little, and tell you what our fathers have told us, and what we have heard

from the white people.

"Brother!--Listen to what we say. There was a time when our forefathers

owned this great island." [FN-1] 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 made the

bear and the beaver, and 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 any disputes about

hunting-grounds, they were generally settled without the shedding of much

blood. But an evil day came upon us. Your forefathers crossed the great

waters, and landed on this island. Their numbers were small. They found

friends and not enemies. They told us they had fled from their own country

for fear of wicked men, and 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

[FN-2] in return. The white people 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

liquors among us. It was strong and powerful, and has slain thousands.

* * * * *

[FN-1] Meaning the Continent--a common belief and expression among the

Indians.

[FN-2] Spirituous liquor.

"Brother!--Our seats were once large, and yours were very 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 to 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 for you, why has not the Great Spirit given

it to us; and not only to us, but why did he not give 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 that way. It

teaches us to be thankful for all the favors we receive, to love each

other, and to be united. We never quarrel about religion.

"Brother!--The Great Spirit has made us all. But he has made a great

difference between his white and red children. He has given us a different

complexion and different customs. To you he has given the arts; to these

he has not opened our eyes. We know these things to be true. Since he has

made so great a difference between us in other things, why may we not

conclude that he has given us a different religion, according to our

understanding? The Great Spirit does right. He knows what is best for his

children. We are satisfied.

"Brother!--We do not wish to destroy your religion, or take it from you.

We only want to enjoy our own.

"Brother!--You say you have not come to get our land or our money, but to

enlighten our minds. I will now tell you that I have been at your meetings

and saw you collecting money from the meeting. I cannot tell what this

money was intended for, but suppose it was for your minister; and if we

should conform to your way of thinking, perhaps you may want some from us.

"Brother!--We are told that you have been preaching to 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 and makes them honest and less disposed

to cheat Indians, we will then consider again what you have said.

"Brother!--You have now heard our answer to your 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."

The speech being finished, Red-Jacket and several others, intending to

suit the action to the word, came forward to exchange a farewell greeting

with their visitor. This however he declined, and the Indians quietly

withdrew.

The civility of the old orator was in somewhat singular contrast with his

obstinacy on many other occasions. A young clergyman once made a strong

effort to enlighten him, through the medium of an Indian interpreter named

Jack Berry [FN]--for Red-Jacket spoke very little of the English language.

The result was discouraging. "Brother!"--said Jack, at length, for the

Chief,--"If you white people murdered 'the Saviour,' make it up

yourselves. We had nothing to do with it. If he had come among us we

should have treated him better." This was gross heathenism, truly, but it

was not aggravated by insolence. The Chieftain made a sincere

acknowledgment of the clergyman's kindness, and paid him some deserved

compliments upon other scores.

* * * * *

[FN] Jack called himself a chief, too, though his importance was owing

mainly to his speaking bad English, and to a bustling shrewdness which

enabled him to play the _factotum_ to some advantage. Jack made himself

first marshal at the funeral of Farmer's-Brother.

During the last war with England, a gallant officer of the American Army,

[FN] stationed on the Niagara frontier, shewed some peculiarly gratifying

attentions to Red-Jacket. The former being soon afterwards ordered to

Governor's Island, the Chief came to bid him farewell. "Brother,"--said

he, "I hear you are going to a place called Governor's Island. I hope you

will be a Governor yourself. I am told you whites consider children a

blessing. I hope you will have one thousand at least. Above all, wherever

you go, I hope you will never find whiskey more than two shillings a

quart."

* * * * *

[FN] Colonel Snelling. For several of the anecdotes in the text we are

under obligations to the author of "Tales of the North-West." He was

present at the interview when Berry acted as Interpreter.

The last of these benevolent aspirations was perhaps the highest possible

evidence which Red-Jacket could give of his good will, for we are under

the mortifying necessity of placing this talented Chieftain in the same

class, as relates to his personal habits, with Uncas, Logan, and Pipe. In

a word, he gradually became, in his latter days, a confirmed drunkard.

Temptation and association proved too strong for him, and the pride of the

Confederates made himself but too frequently a laughing-stock for the

blackguards of Buffalo.

Unfortunately for his political as well as personal interests, he indulged

his weakness to such an extent as not unfrequently to incapacitate him for

the discharge of his public duties. This was an advantage which his

opponents shrewdly considered, and, in 1827, they took a favorable

opportunity to deprive him of his civil rank. The document issued from the

Seneca council-house on this singular occasion, under date of September

15th, is too extraordinary to be omitted. The following is a literal

translation, made by an intelligent American who was present.

"We, the Chiefs [FN-1] of the Seneca tribe, of the Six Nations, say to

you, Yaugoyawathaw, [FN-2] that you have a long time disturbed our

councils; that you have procured some white men to assist you in sending a

great number of false stories to our father the President of the United

States, and induced our people to sign those falsehoods at Tonnawanta as

Chiefs of our tribe, when you knew that they were not Chiefs; that you

have apposed the improvement of our nation, and made divisions and

disturbances among our people; that you have abused and insulted our great

father the President; that you have not regarded the rules which make the

Great Spirit love us, and which make his red children do good to each

other; that you have a bad heart, because, in a time of great distress,

when our people were starving, you took and hid the body of a deer you had

killed, when your starving brothers should have shared their proportion of

it with you; that the last time our father the President was fighting

against the king, across the great waters, you divided us, you acted

against our father the President and his officers, and advised with those

who were no friends; that you have always prevented and discouraged our

children from going to school, where they could learn, and abused and lied

about our people who were willing to learn, and about those who were

offering to instruct them how to worship the Great Spirit in the manner

Christians do; that you have always placed yourself before those who would

be instructed, and have done all you could to prevent their going to

schools; that you have taken goods to your own use, which were received as

annuities, and which belonged to orphan children and to old people; that

for the last ten years you have often said the communications of our great

father to his red children were forgeries, made up at New-York by those

who wanted to buy our lands; that you left your wife, because she joined

the Christians and worshiped the Great Spirit as they do, knowing that she

was a good woman; that we have waited for nearly ten years for you to

reform, and do better; but are now discouraged, as you declare you never

will receive instruction from those who wish to do us good, as our great

father advises, and induce others to hold the same language."

* * * * *

[FN] Several of them were _soi-disant_ functionaries.

[FN] A variation of Saguoaha, which is the orthography adopted by

Governor Clinton.

"We might say a great many other things, which make you an enemy to the

Great Spirit, and also to your own brothers,--but we have said enough, and

now renounce you as a chief, and from this time you are forbid to act as

such. All of our nation will hereafter regard you as a private man; and we

say to them all, that every one who shall do as you have done, if a chief

will, in like manner be disowned, and set back where he started from by

his brethren." [FN]

* * * * *

[FN] Buffalo Emporium.

Several of these charges, it is fair to presume, were dictated by party

spirit, and those who subscribed the deposition cared but little about

proving them, could they but prostrate their great antagonist. The

signatures are twenty-six, and most of them are well-known Anti-Pagans;

though with Young-King, Pollard, and Little-Billey, who led the

subscription, we also find the names of Twenty-Canoes, Doxtateri,

Two-Guns, Barefoot, and some other partizans of the fallen orator in his

better days.

But Red-Jacket was not yet prepared to submit patiently to his

degradation, especially when he knew so well the true motives of those who

effected it. Nor was he by any means so much under the control of his bad

habits as not to feel occasionally, perhaps generally, both the

consciousness of his power and the sting of his shame. "It shall not be

said of me,"--thought the old Orator, with the gleam of a fiery soul in

his eye,--"It shall not be said that Saguoaha lived in insignificance and

died in dishonor. Am I too feeble to revenge myself of my enemies? Am I

not as I have been?" In fine, he roused himself to a great effort.

Representations were made to the neighboring tribes,--for he knew too well

the hopelessness of a movement confined to his own,--and only a month had

elapsed since his deposition, when a Grand Council of the chiefs of the

Six Nations assembled together at the upper council-house of the

Seneca-village reservation.

The document of the Christian party was read, and then Half-Town rose,

and, in behalf of the Catteraugus (Seneca) Indians, said there was but one

voice in his nation, and that was of general indignation at the contumely

cast on so great a man as Red-Jacket. Several other chiefs addressed the

council to the same effect. The condemned orator rose slowly, as if

grieved and humiliated, but yet with his ancient air of command.

"My Brothers!"--he said, after a solemn pause,--You have this day been

correctly informed of an attempt to make me sit down and throw off the

authority of a chief, by twenty-six misguided chiefs of my nation. You

have heard the statements of my associates in council, and their

explanations of the foolish charges brought against me. I have taken the

legal and proper way to meet these charges. It is the only way in which I

could notice them, charges which I despise, and which nothing would

_induce_ me to notice but the concern which many respected Chiefs of my

nation feel in the character of their aged comrade. Were it otherwise, I

should not be before you. I would fold my arms, and sit quietly under

these ridiculous slanders.

"The Christian party have not even proceeded legally, according to our

usages, to put me down. Ah! it grieves my heart, when I look around me and

see the situation of my people,--in old times united and powerful, now

divided and feeble. I feel sorry for my nation. When I am gone to the

other world,--when the Great Spirit calls me away,--who among my people

can take my place? Many years have I guided the nation."

Here he introduced some artful observations on the origin of the attack

made upon him. He then alluded to the course taken by the Christians, as

ruinous and disgraceful, especially in their abandonment of the religion

of their fathers, and their sacrifices, for paltry considerations, of the

lands given them by the Great Spirit. As for the "_Black-Coats,_" Mr.

Calhoun had told him at Washington, four years before, that the Indians

must treat with them as they thought proper; the Government would not

interfere. "I will not consent,"--he concluded, sagaciously identifying

his disgrace with his opposition to the Christians,--"I will not consent

silently to be trampled under foot. As long as I can raise my voice, I

will oppose such measures. As long as I can stand in my moccasins, I will

do all that I can for my nation." It is scarcely necessary to add, that

the result of the conference was the triumphant restoration of the Orator

to his former rank.

Red-Jacket visited the Atlantic cities repeatedly and for the last time,

as late as the spring of 1829. He was, oh these occasions, and especially

on the latter, the object of no little curiosity and attention. [FN] He

enjoyed both, and was particularly careful to demean himself in a manner

suited to the dignity of his rank and reputation. His poetical friend does

him but justice in thus alluding to his Washington medal, his forest

costume, and the fine carriage which the Chieftain still gallantly

sustained.

* * * * *

[FN] Of more indeed than he was probably aware. Witness the following

advertisement in the Boston papers:--

"Red-Jacket.--This celebrated Indian Chief, who has recently attracted

so much attention at New-York and the Southern cities, has arrived in

this city, and has accepted an invitation of the Superintendent to visit

the New-England Museum, this evening, March 21, in his full Indian

costume, attended by Captain Johnson, his interpreter, by whom those who

wish it can be introduced and hold conversation with him."

Thy garb--though Austria's bosom-star would frighten

That medal pale, as diamonds, the dark mine,

And George the Fourth wore, in the dance at Brighton,

A more becoming evening dress than thine;

Yet 'tis a brave one, scorning wind and weather,

And fitted for thy couch on field and flood,

As Rob Roy's tartans for the highland heather,

Or forest green for England's Robin Hood.

Is strength a monarch's merit?--like a whaler's--

Thou art as tall, as sinewy, and as strong

As earth's first kings--the Argo's gallant sailors--

Heroes in history, and gods in song.

Those strictly personal attractions which most subserved his forensic

success, are not unfairly delineated by the same elegant observer. And

this is not the only civilized authority to the same effect, for one of

the most distinguished public men of the State in which the Chieftain

resided, was wont to say that the latter reminded him strongly of the

celebrated orator of Roanoke, in his best estate, and that they two were

the only orators of nature he had ever heard or seen. "Who will

believe?"---asks the poet--

. . . that, with a smile whose blessing

Would, like the patriarch's, sooth a dying hour

With voice as low, as gentle, and caressing,

As e'er won maiden's lip in moonlight bower;

With look, like patient Job's, eschewing evil;

With motions, graceful as a bird's in air;

Thou art, in sober truth, the veriest devil

That e'er clenched fingers in a captive's hair!

That in thy veins there springs a poison fountain,

Deadlier than that which bathes the Upas tree;

And in thy wrath a nursing cat o'mountain

Is calm as her babe's sleep, compared with thee?

And underneath that face, like summer's ocean's--

Its lip as moveless, and its cheek as clear,--

Slumbers a whirlwind of the heart's emotions,

Love, hatred, pride, hope, sorrow--all, save fear.

Love--for thy land, as if she were thy daughter;

Her pipes in peace, her tomahawk in wars;

Hatred--of missionaries and cold water;

Pride--in thy rifle-trophies and thy scars;

Hope--that thy wrongs will be by the Great Spirit

Remembered and revenged, when thou art gone;

Sorrow--that none are left thee to inherit

Thy name, thy fame, thy passions, and thy throne.

In the last of these stanzas is an allusion to the melancholy domestic

circumstances of the subject of them. He had been the father of thirteen

children, during his life-time, and had buried them all.

Red-Jacket is said to have understood English quite well, although he

would never converse in it. We have often heard it from a gentleman well

acquainted with him, that he once met him hastening _out_ of Buffalo when

all the neighboring country was eagerly rushing in to witness the

execution of three culprits; and that the Chieftain recognized him, and

made him understand by signs, that he was hurrying away from the horrid

spectacle which so many thousand had already assembled to enjoy.

Levasseur states, that, in his conference with Lafayette, he evidently

comprehended every thing uttered in his presence, while he would speak

only Indian; and that his former high opinion of the General seemed to be

much increased by a few chance-medley Seneca words, which the latter had

the good fortune to remember, and the courtesy to repeat. We also have

been informed that, many years since, when the notorious Jemima Wilkinson

compassed the country in the business of making proselytes to her

doctrines, she invited some of the Senecas to a conference. Red-Jacket

attended, and listened patiently to the end of a long address. Most of it

he probably understood, but instead of replying to the argument in detail,

he laid the axe at the root of her authority. Having risen very gravely,

and spoken a few words in Seneca, he observed his adversary to enquire

what he was talking about? "Ha!"--he exclaimed, with an arch look,--"She

inspired,--she Jesus Christ,--and not know _Indian?_" The solidity of her

pretensions was at once decided in the minds of at least the heathen part

of her audience.

At the date of his last-mentioned visit to the Atlantic cities, the

Chieftain was more than seventy years of age, and though then habitually

temperate, excess had already hastened the work of time. He died in

January, 1830, at the Seneca village, near Buffalo, where his funeral took

place on the 21st of the month. It was attended by all parties of his own

tribe, and by many Americans, drawn together by a curiosity to witness the

obsequies. His body was removed from his cabin into the mission-house,

where religious services were performed. In these the Pagans took but

little interest. Wrapped in profound and solemn thought, they however

patiently awaited their termination. Some of them then arose, and

successively addressed their countrymen in their own language. They

recounted the exploits and the virtues of him whose remains they were now

about to bear to his last home. They remembered his own prophetic

appeal--"Who shall take my place among my people?" They thought of the

ancient glory of their nation, and they looked around them on its

miserable remnant. The impression was irresistible. Tears trickled down

the cheeks of the grave comrades of the dead.

Well might they weep! He that lay before them was indeed the "Last of the

Senecas." The strong warrior's arm was mouldering into dust, and the eye

of the orator was cold and motionless forever.

APPENDIX.

* * * * *

NO. I.

Uncas.--The author is indebted to the Committee of the Historical Society

of Massachusetts for an opportunity to examine a valuable document

recently forwarded to them by Mr. Williams, of Lebanon, Connecticut, and

originally, we believe, a part of the Trumbull collection.

According to this account, which purports to have been "made by Uncas"

himself, that Chieftain was wholly of the royal blood of the Pequots.

Tatobam was another name for Sassacus, and Uncas married the daughter of

that Sachem (from whom he afterwards revolted,) about ten years before the

Pequot War. The Pequots and "Moheags," as they are here called, jointly

agreed to this match in a grand Indian Council, for the purpose of keeping

their land entire. "_Upon this his right to the Pequot Country was good and

unquestionable._" . . . "Quinebauge [New-Haven] Indians and Nipmugs [in

Worcester County, Massachusetts] not allowed to marry in the Royal

Blood--agreed to keep the Royal blood within the Realm of ye Mohegan and

Pequots."

In this genealogy, which is regularly derived, as accurately as possible,

from remote ancestors on both sides, Uncas himself is styled the Sachem of

Mohegan, and Mohegan is said to have been the Sepulchre or Burial-Place of

both the Pequot and Mohegan Sachems.

The father of Tatobam was the Sachem Wopegwosit. The father of Uncas was

Oweneco; _his_ father, Wopequand, a Pequot Sachem. His mother and

grandmother were both named Mukkunump; and the latter was daughter of

Weroum, a great _Narragansett_ Sachem, and of a Squaw of the royal Pequot

Blood named Kiskhechoowatmakunck. One of his great-grandfathers,

Nuckquuntdowaus, was Chief-Sachem of the Pequots; and one of his

great-grandmothers, Au-comp-pa-hang-sug-ga-muck, (as nearly as we are

able to decipher it,) was "a Great Queen, and lived at Moheage."

The son of Uncas, (mentioned in the text,) was Oweneco. Several of his

other descendants who inherited the Sachemdom were named Ben Uncas,--one

of them Major Ben. The last of the Sachems (also mentioned in the text,)

was Isaiah,--a grandson of Oweneco or Oneco. (He was a pupil in Dr.

Wheelock's Charity School,--"a fat fellow, of dull intellectual

parts."--Mass. His. Coll.)

The document before us gives an account of the cession of the Pequot

Country from Uncas by deed, dated Sept. 28, 1740. The following remarkable

passage ought not to be omitted, as it adds new confirmation to the

estimate of the Sachem's character which the author has given in the text.

"Afterwards sufficient planting ground was provided for him, _being

friendly to the English, though only to serve his own purposes._"

* * * * *

NO. II.

_Correspondence between General_ Wayne _and Major_ Campbell.

(I)

Miamis River, Aug. 21, 1794.

Sir,

An army of the United States of America, said to be under your command,

having taken post on the banks of the Miamis, for upwards of the last

twenty-four hours, almost within the reach of the guns of this fort,

being a post belonging to His Majesty the King of Great Britain, occupied

by His Majesty's troops, and which I have the honor to command, it

becomes me to inform myself, as speedily as possible, in what light I am

to view your making such near approaches to this garrison.

I have no hesitation on my part to say that I know of no war existing

between Great Britain and America.

I have the honor to be, &c.

WILLIAM CAMPBELL,

Major 24th Reg't commanding a British post on

the banks of the Miamis.

To Major General Wayne, &c. &c.

(II)

Camp on the Banks of the Miamis, }

21st August, 1794. }

Sir,

I have received your letter of this date, requiring from me the motives

which have moved the army under my command to the position they at present

occupy, far within the acknowledged jurisdiction of the United States of

America.

Without questioning the authority, or the propriety, sir, of your

interrogatory, I think I may, without breach of decorum, observe to you,

that were you intitled to an answer, the most full and satisfactory one

was announced to you from the muzzles of my small arms yesterday morning

in the action against hordes of savages in the vicinity of your post,

which terminated gloriously to the American arms. But had it continued

until the Indians, &c. were driven under the influence of the post and

guns you mention, they would not have much impeded the progress of the

victorious army under my command; as no such post was established at the

commencement of the present war between the Indians and the United States.

I have the honor to be, sir, &c.

(Signed) ANTHONY WAYNE,

Major General and Commander in Chief of the

Federal army.

To Major Wm. Campbell, &c.

(III)

Fort Miamis, Aug. 22, 1791.

Sir,

Although your letter of yesterday's date fully authorizes me to any act of

hostility against the army of the United States of America in this

neighborhood under your command, yet, still anxious to prevent that

dreadful decision, which perhaps is not intended to be appealed to by

either of our countries, I have forborne for these two days past to resent

those insults which you have offered to the British flag flying at this

fort, by approaching it within pistol-shot of my works, not only singly,

but in numbers, with arms in their hands.

Neither is it my wish to wage war with individuals. But should you after

this continue to approach my post in the threatening manner you are at

this moment doing, my indispensable duty to my King and Country, and the

honor of my profession, will oblige me to have recourse to those measures

which thousands of either nation may hereafter have cause to regret, and

which I solemnly appeal to God I have used my utmost endeavors to arrest.

I have the honor to be, sir, &c.

(Signed) WM. CAMPBELL.

To Major General Wayne, &c.

[No other notice was taken of this letter than what is expressed in the

following letter. The fort and works were however reconnoitered in every

direction, at some points possibly within pistol-shot. It was found to be

a regular, strong work, the front covered by a wide river, with four guns

mounted in that face. The rear, which was the most susceptible of

approach, had two regular bastions furnished with eight pieces of

artillery, the whole surrounded with a wide deep ditch. From the bottom of

the ditch to the top of the parapet was about twenty feet perpendicular.

The works were also surrounded by an abbatis, and furnished with a strong

garrison.]

(IV)

Sir,

In your letter of the 21st inst. you declare, "I have no hesitation on my

part to say that I know of no war, existing between Great Britain and

America."

I, on my part, declare the same; and the only cause I have to entertain a

contrary idea at present is, the hostile act you are now in commission

of,--that is, recently taking post far within the well known and

acknowledged limits of the United States, and erecting a fortification in

the heart of the settlements of the Indian tribes now at war with the

United States.

This, sir, appears to be an act of the highest aggression, and destructive

to the peace and interest of the Union. Hence, it becomes my duty to

desire, and I do hereby desire and demand, in the name of the President of

the United States, that you immediately desist from any further act of

hostility or aggression, by forbearing to fortify, and by withdrawing the

troops, artillery, and stores under your orders and direction, forthwith,

and removing to the nearest post occupied by His Britannic Majesty's

troops at the peace of 1783--and which you will be permitted to do

unmolested by the troops under my command.

I am, with very great respect, &c.

(Signed) ANTHONY WAYNE.

To Major Wm. Campbell, &c.

(V)

Fort Miamis, 22d Aug. 1794.

Sir,

I have this moment the honor to acknowledge the receipt of your letter of

this date. In answer to which I have only to say, that being placed here

in the command of a British post, and acting in, a military capacity only,

I cannot enter into any discussion either on the right or impropriety of

my occupying my present position. Those are matters that I conceive will

be best left to the ambassadors of our different nations.

Having said this much, permit me to inform you, that I certainly will not

abandon this post at the summons of any power whatever, until I receive

orders from those I have the honor to serve under, or the fortune of war

should oblige me.

I must still adhere, sir, to the purport of my letter this morning, to

desire that your army, or individuals belonging to it, will not approach

within reach of my cannon without expecting the consequences attending it.

Although I have said in the former part or my letter, that my situation

here is totally military, yet let me add, sir, that I am much deceived if

His Majesty the King of Great Britain had not a post on this river at and

prior to the period you mention.

I have the honor to be, &c.

(Signed) WM. CAMPBELL.

Major of the 24th Regiment, commanding at

Fort Miamis.

To Major General Wayne, &c

[The only notice taken of this letter was in immediately setting fire to

and destroying every thing within view of the fort, and even under the

muzzles of the guns.]

_Boston Chronicle, October_ 13, 1774.

* * * * *

NO. III.

Corn-Planter's Letter to the Governor of Pennsylvania, dated "Allegheny

river, 2d mo. 2d, 1822," and probably written by his interpreter. From

Buchanan's Sketches.

"I feel it my duty to send a speech to the governor of Pennsylvania at

this time, and inform him the place where I was from--which was

Conewaugus, on the Genesee river.

"When I was a child, I played with the butterfly, the grasshopper and the

frogs. As I grew up, I began to pay some attention and play with the

Indian boys in the neighborhood, and they took notice of my skin being a

different color from theirs, and spoke about it. I enquired of my mother

the cause, and she told me that my father was a residenter in Albany. I

eat still my victuals out of a bark dish--I grew up to be a young man, and

married me a wife, but I had no kettle or gun. I then knew where my

father lived, and went to see him, and found he was a white man, and spoke

the English language. He gave me victuals while I was at his house, but

when I started to return home, he gave me no provision to eat on the way.

He gave me neither kettle nor gun, neither did he tell me that the United

States were about to rebel against the government of England.

"I will now tell you, brothers, who are in session of the legislature of

Pennsylvania, that the Great Spirit has made known to me that I have been

wicked; and the cause thereof was the revolutionary war in America. The

cause of Indians having been led into sin, at that time, was that many of

them were in the practice of drinking and getting intoxicated. Great

Britain requested us to join with them in the conflict against the

Americans, and promised the Indians land and liquor. I, myself, was

opposed to joining in the conflict, as I had nothing to do with the

difficulty that existed between the two parties. I have now informed you

how it happened that the Indians took a part in the Revolution, and will

relate to you some circumstances that occurred after the close of the war.

Gen. Putnam, who was then at Philadelphia, told me there was to be a

council at fort Stanwix, and the Indians requested me to attend on behalf

of the Six Nations, which I did, and there met with three commissioners,

who had been appointed to hold the council. They told me they would inform

me of the cause of the revolution, which I requested them to do minutely.

They then said that it had originated on account of the heavy taxes that

had been imposed upon them by the British government, which had been for

fifty years increasing upon them; that the Americans had grown weary

thereof, and refused to pay, which affronted the king. There had likewise

a difficulty taken place about some tea, which they wished me not to use,

as it had been one of the causes that many people had lost their lives.

And the British government now being affronted, the war commenced, and the

cannons began to roar in our country. General Putnam then told me at the

council at fort Stanwix, that by the late war the Americans had gained two

objects: they had established themselves an independent nation, and had

obtained some land from Great Britain to live upon, the division line of

which ran through the lakes. I then spoke, and said that I wanted some

land for the Indians to live on, and General Putnam said that it should be

granted, and I should have land in the state of New York, for the Indians.

Gen. Putnam then encouraged me to use my endeavors to pacify the Indians

generally; and as he considered it an arduous task to perform, wished to

know what I wanted to pay therefor? I replied to him, that I would use my

endeavors to do as he had requested with the Indians, and for pay thereof,

I would take land. I told him not to pay me money or dry goods, but land.

And for having attended thereto I received the tract of land on which I

now live, which was presented to me by governor Mifflin. I told general

Putnam, that I wished the Indians to have the exclusive privilege of the

deer and wild game, which he assented to.

"The treaty that was made at the aforementioned council has been broken by

some of the white people, which I how intend acquainting the governor

with. Some white people are not willing that Indians should hunt any more,

whilst others are satisfied therewith; and those white people who reside

near our reservation, tell us that the woods are theirs, and they have

obtained them from the governor. The treaty has been also broken by the

white people using their endeavors to destroy all the wolves, which was

not spoken about in the council at fort Stanwix, by General Putnam, but

has originated lately.

"It has been broken, again, which is of recent origin. White people wish

to get credit from Indians, and do not pay them honestly, according to

their agreement.

"In another respect it has also been broken by white people, who reside

near my dwelling; for when I plant melons and vines in my field, they take

them as their own. It has been broken again by white people using their

endeavors to obtain our pine trees from us. We have very few pine trees on

our land, in the state of New York; and white people and Indians often get

into dispute respecting them. There is also a great quantity of whiskey

brought near our reservation by white people, and the Indians obtain it

and become drunken.

"Another circumstance has taken place which is very trying to me, and I

wish the interference of the Governor. The white people who live at

Warren, called upon me sometime ago, to pay taxes for my land, which I

objected to, as I had never been called upon for that purpose before; and

having refused to pay, the white people became irritated, called upon me

frequently, and at length brought four guns with them and seized our

cattle. I still refused to pay, and was not willing to let the cattle go.

Afler a long dispute, they returned home and I understood the militia was

ordered out to enforce the collection of the tax. I went to Warren, and,

to avert the impending difficulty, was obliged give my note for the tax,

the amount of which was forty-three dollars and seventy-nine cents. It is

my desire that the governor will exempt me from paying taxes for my land

to white people; and also cause that the money I am now obliged to pay,

may be refunded to me, as I am very poor. The governor is the person who

attends to the situation of the people, and I wish him to send a person to

Allegheny, that I may inform him of the particulars of our situation, and

he be authorised to instruct the white people in what manner to conduct

themselves towards the Indians.

"The governor has told us that when any difficulties arose between the

Indians and white people, he would attend to having them removed. We are

now in a trying situation, and I wish the governor to send a person,

authorised to attend thereto, the fore part of the next summer, about the

time that grass has grown big enough for pasture.

"The governor formerly requested me to pay attention to the Indians, and

take care of them. We are now arrived at a situation that I believe

Indians cannot exist, unless the governor should comply with my request,

and send a person authorised to treat between us and the white people, the

approaching summer. I have now no more to speak."

* * * * *

NO. IV.

Corn-Planter's Speech at the Court-House at Warren, (N. Y.) June 4th,

1822, after an explanation, by two state Commissioners, of a law

exonerating him from the payment of certain taxes. From the Venango

Herald.

"Brothers!--Yesterday was appointed for us all to meet here. The talk

which the Governor sent us pleased us very much. I think that the Great

Spirit is very much pleased that the white people have been induced so to

assist the Indians as they have done, and that he is pleased also to see

the great men of this State and of the United States so friendly to us. We

are much pleased with what has been done.

"The Great Spirit first made the world and next the flying animals, and

found all things good and prosperous. He is immortal and everlasting.

After finishing the flying animals, he came down on earth and there stood.

Then he made different kinds of trees, and weeds of all sorts, and people

of every kind. He made the spring and other seasons, and the weather

suitable for planting. These he did make. But stills, to make whiskey to

be given to Indians, he did not make. The Great Spirit bids me tell the

white people not to give Indians this kind of liquor. When the Great

Spirit had made the earth and its animals, he went into the great lakes,

where he breathed as easily as any where else, and then made all the

different kinds of fish. The Great Spirit looked back on all that he had

made. The different kinds he made to be separate, and not to mix with and

disturb each other. But the white people have broken his command by mixing

their color with the Indians. The Indians have done better by not doing

so.--The Great Spirit wishes that all wars and fightings should cease.

"He next told us that there were three things for people to attend to.

First, we ought to take care of our wives and children. Secondly, the

white people ought to attend to their farms and cattle. Thirdly, the

Great Spirit has given the bears and deers to the Indians. He is the cause

of all things that exist, and it is very wicked to go against his will.

The Great Spirit wishes me to inform the people that they should quit

drinking intoxicating drink, as being the cause of diseases and death. He

told us not to sell any more of our lands, for he never sold lands to any

one. Some of us now keep the seventh day; but I wish to quit it, for the

Great Spirit made it for others, but not for the Indians, who ought every

day to attend to their business. He has ordered me to quit drinking any

intoxicating drink, and not to lust after women but my own, and informed

me that by doing so I should live the longer. He made known to me that it

is very wicked to tell lies. Let no one suppose this I have said now is

not true.

"I have now to thank the Governor for what he has done. I have informed

him what the Great Spirit has ordered me to cease from, and I wish the

Governor to inform others of what I have communicated. This all I have at

present to say."

* * * * *

NO. V.

Mr. Brandt, whose death has been recently announced, was the son of the

celebrated Indian chief of that name, and distinguished himself as a

lieutenant in our service during the late war. Some years ago he visited

England, and under the patronage of the Duke of Northumberland, was

introduced to the Duke of Wellington, Lord Teignmouth, and other

influential personages, and from his peculiar urbanity of manners and

highly cultivated acquirements, speedily became known and esteemed. His

exertions, upon that occasion, in vindicating the humanity of his father's

character from the unjust aspersions cast upon it by the author of

"Gertrude of Wyoming," were acknowledged by the accomplished poet, and the

next edition of that work rectified the error Mr. Campbell had

acknowledged. As a gentleman of strict honor and morality, Mr. Brandt has

left but few equals; and as head-chief and superintendent of the Six

Nations, his loss will be seriously felt by the numerous tribes to whose

civilization and moral improvement he had devoted his time and

talents.--_Kingston, U. C. Chronicle._

* * * * *

NO. VI.

Letter of Farmer's-Brother, and others, to the Hon. W. Eustis, Secretary

of War. Niles' Register, Vol. II.

"Brother!--The sachems and chief warriors of the Seneca nation of Indians,

understanding you are the person appointed by the great council of your

nation to manage and conduct the affairs of the several nations of Indians

with whom you are at peace and on terms of friendship, come at this time,

as children to a father, to lay before you the trouble which we have on

our minds.

"Brother!--We do not think best to multiply words. We will therefore tell

you what our complaint is.

"Brother!--Listen to what we say. Some years since we held a treaty at

Big-tree, near the Genesee river. This treaty was called by our great

father, the President of the United States. He sent an agent, Colonel

Wadsworth, to attend this treaty, for the purpose of advising us in the

business, and seeing that we had justice done us. At this treaty we sold

to Robert Morris the greatest part of our country. The sum he gave us was

one hundred thousand dollars.

"Brother!--The Commissioner who was appointed on your part, advised us to

place this money in the hands of our great father, the President of the

United States. He told us our father loved his red children, and would

take care of our money, and plant it in a field where it would bear seed

forever, as long as trees grow or waters run. Our money has heretofore

been of great service to us. It has helped us to support our old people,

and our women and children. But we are told the field where our money was

planted is become barren.

"Brother!--We do not understand your way of doing business. This thing is

heavy on our minds. We mean to hold our white brethren of the United

States by the hand. But this weight lies heavy. We hope you will remove

it.

"Brother!--We have heard of the bad conduct of our brothers towards the

setting sun. We are sorry for what they have done. But you must not blame

us. We have had no hand in this bad business. They have had bad people

among them. It is your enemies have done this.

"We have persuaded our agent to take this talk to your great council. He

knows our situations, and will speak our minds.

"Farmer's-Brother, his mark X Wheel-Barrow, his mark X

Little Billy do X Jack Berry do X

Young King do X Twenty Canoes do X

Pollard do X Big Kettle do X

Chief Warrior do X Half-Town do X

Two Guns do X Keyandeande do X

John Sky do X Captain Cold do X

Parrot-Nose do X Esq. Blinkey do X

John Pierce do X Captain Johnson do X

Strong do X

"N. B. The foregoing speech was delivered in Council by Farmer's-Brother,

at Buffalo Creek, December 19, 1811, and subscribed in my presence, by the

Chiefs whose names are annexed.

"(Signed) ERASTUS GRANGER."

* * * * *

NO. VII.

Extracted from the American Remembrancer (an impartial and authentic

collection of facts, published in London during the Revolutionary War)

for the year 1782, vol. 14, p. 185.

Boston, March 12.

_Extract of a letter from Captain Gerrish, of the

New-England Militia, dated Albany, March 7._

"The peltry taken in the expedition, will, you see, amount to a good deal

of money. The possession of this booty at first gave us pleasure; but we

were struck with horror to find among the packages, eight large ones

containing scalps of our unfortunate country folks, taken in the three

last years by the Seneca Indians from the inhabitants of the frontiers of

New-York, New-Jersey, Pennsylvania, and Virginia, and sent by them as a

present to Colonel Haldimand, Governor of Canada, in order to be by him

transmitted to England. They were accompanied by the following curious

letter to that gentleman.

"_Tioga, January_ 3d, 1787.

"May it please your Excellency,

"At the request of the Seneca Chiefs, I herewith send to your Excellency,

under the care of James Hoyd, eight packages of scalps, cured, dried,

hooped, and painted with all the triumphal marks, of which the following

is the invoice and explanation.

"No. 1. Containing forty-three scalps of Congress soldiers, killed in

different skirmishes. These are stretched on black hoops, four inch

diameter--the inside of the skin painted red with a small black spot, to

note their being killed with bullets. Also, sixty-two of farmers killed

in their houses; the hoops painted red--the skin painted brown and marked

with a hoe--a black circle all round, to denote their being surprised in

the night--and a black hatchet in the middle, signifying their being

killed with that weapon.

"No. 2. Containing ninety-eight of farmers, killed in their houses, hoops

red--figure of a hoe, to mark their profession--great white circle and

sun, to shew they were surprised in the day-time--a little red foot, to

shew they stood upon their defence, and died fighting for their lives and

families.

"No. 3. Containing ninety-seven of farmers. Hoops green, to shew they were

killed in the fields--a large white circle with a little round mark on it

for the sun, to show it was in the day time--black bullet-mark on some, a

hatchet on others.

"No. 4. Containing one hundred and two of farmers, mixture of several of

the marks above, only eighteen marked with a little yellow flame, to

denote their being of prisoners burnt alive, after being scalped--their

nails pulled out by the roots, and other torments. One of these latter

supposed to be of an American clergyman, his band being fixed to the hoop

of his scalp. Most of the farmers appear, by the hair, to have been young

or middle-aged men, there being but sixty-seven very grey heads among them

all, which makes the service more essential.

"No. 5. Containing eighty-eight scalps of women, hair long, braided in the

Indian fashion, to shew they were mothers--hoops blue--skin yellow ground,

with little red tadpoles, to represent, by way of triumph, the tears of

grief occasioned to their relations--a black scalping-knife or hatchet at

the bottom, to mark their being killed by those instruments. Seventeen

others, hair very grey--black hoops--plain brown color--no marks but the

short club or casse-tete, to show they were knocked down dead, or had

their brains beat out.

"No. 6. Containing one hundred and ninety-three boy's scalps, of various

ages. Small green hoops--whitish ground on the skin, with red tears in the

middle and black marks--knife, hatchet or club, as their death happened.

"No. 7. Containing two hundred and eleven girl's scalps, big and

little--small yellow hoops, white ground--tears, hatchet, club,

scalping-knife, &c.

"No. 8. This package is a mixture of all the varieties above mentioned, to

the number of one hundred and twenty-two, with a box of birch bark

containing twenty-nine little infants' scalps, of various sizes--small

white hoops, white ground--no tears, and only a little black knife in the

middle, to shew they were ripped out of their mothers' bellies.

"With these packs the chiefs send to your excellency the following speech,

delivered by Conicogatchie in council, interpreted by the elder Moore, the

trader, and taken down by me in writing.

"Father!--We send you herewith many scalps, that you may see we are not

idle friends.

"_A blue belt._

"Father!--We wish you to send these scalps over the water to the great

king, that he may regard them and be refreshed, and that he may see our

faithfulness in destroying his enemies, and be convinced that his

presents have not been made to an ungrateful people.

"_A blue and white belt with red tassels._

"Father!---Attend to what I am now going to say. It is a matter of much

weight. The great King's enemies are many, and they grow fast in number.

They were formerly like young panthers. They could neither bite nor

scratch. We could play with them safely. We feared nothing they could do

to us. But now their bodies have become as big as the elk, and strong as

the buffalo. They have also great and sharp claws. They have driven us

out of our country for taking part in your quarrel. We expect the great

King will give us another country, that our children may live after us,

and be his friends and children as we are. Say this for us to our great

King. To enforce it, give this belt.

"_A great white belt with blue tassels._

"Father!--We have only to say further, that your traders exact more than

ever for their goods; and our hunting is lessened by the war, so that we

have fewer skins to give for them. This ruins us. Think of some remedy. We

are poor, and you have plenty of every thing. We know you will send us

powder and guns, and knives and hatchets. But we also want shirts and

blankets.

"_A little white belt._

"I do not doubt but that your Excellency will think it proper to give

some further encouragement to these honest people. The high prices they

complain of are the necessary effect of the war. Whatever presents may be

sent for them through my hands, shall be distributed with prudence and

fidelity.

"I have the honor of being your Excellency's most obedient and most humble

servant,

"JAMES CRAWFORD."

THE END.

End of Project Gutenberg's Indian Biography; Vol II (of 2), by B. B. Thatcher