Account of the Five Nations, or Mohawk Indians—Building of the
Fort at Albany—John and Philip Schuyler.
ON the Mohawk River, about forty miles distant from Albany, there
subsisted a confederacy of Indian tribes, of a very different character
from those mentioned in the preceding chapter; too sagacious to be
deceived, and too powerful to be eradicated. These were the once
renowned five nations, whom any one, who remembers them while they were
a people, will hesitate to call savages. Were they savages who had fixed
habitations; who cultivated rich fields; who built castles, (for so they
called their not incommodious wooden houses, surrounded with
palisadoes;) who planted maize and beans, and showed considerable
ingenuity in constructing and adorning their canoes, arms, and clothing?
They who had wise though unwritten laws, and conducted their wars,
treaties, and alliances with deep and sound policy; they whose eloquence
was bold, nervous, and animated; whose language was sonorous, musical,
and expressive; who possessed generous and elevated sentiments, heroic
fortitude, and unstained probity? Were these indeed savages? The
difference
“Of scent the headlong lioness between
And hound sagacious, on the tainted green,”
is not greater than that of the Mohawks in point of civility and
capacity, from other American tribes, among whom, indeed, existed a far
greater diversity of character, language, &c. than Europeans seem to be
aware of. This little tribute to the memory of a people who have been,
while it soothes the pensive recollections of the writer, is not so
foreign to the subject as it may at first appear. So much of the peace
and safety of this infant community depended on the friendship and
alliance of these generous tribes; and to conciliate and retain their
affections so much address was necessary, that common characters were
unequal to the task. Minds liberal and upright, like those I am about to
describe, could alone excite that esteem, and preserve that confidence,
which were essential towards retaining the friendship of those valuable
allies.
From the time of the great rebellion, so many English refugees
frequented Holland, that the language and manners of our country became
familiar at the Hague, particularly among the Stadtholder’s party. When
the province of New-York fell under the British dominion, it became
necessary that every body should learn our language, as all public
business was carried on in the English tongue, which they did the more
willingly, as, after the revolution, the accession of the Stadholder to
the English crown very much reconciled them to our government. Still,
however, the English was a kind of court language; little spoken, and
imperfectly understood in the interior. Those who brought with them the
French and English languages soon acquired a sway over their less
enlightened fellow settlers. Of this number were the Schuylers and
Cuylers, two families among whom intellect of the superior kind seemed
an inheritance, and whose intelligence and liberality of mind, fortified
by well-grounded principle, carried them far beyond the petty and narrow
views of the rest. Habituated at home to centre all wisdom and all
happiness in commercial advantages, they would have been very ill
calculated to lay the foundation of an infant state in a country that
afforded plenty and content, as the reward of industry, but where the
very nature of the territory, as well as the state of society, precluded
great pecuniary acquisitions. Their object here was taming savage
nature, and making the boundless wild subservient to agricultural
purposes. Commercial pursuits were a distant prospect; and before they
became of consequence, rural habits had greatly changed the character of
these republicans. But the commercial spirit, inherent in all true
Batavians, only slept to wake again, when the avidity of gain was called
forth by the temptation of bartering for any lucrative commodity. The
furs of the Indians gave this occasion, and were too soon made the
object of the avidity of petty traders. To the infant settlement at
Albany the consequences of this short-sighted policy might have proved
fatal, had not these patriotic leaders, by their example and influence,
checked for a while such illiberal and dangerous practices. It is a fact
singular and worth attending to, from the lesson it exhibits, that in
all our distant colonies there is no other instance where a considerable
town and prosperous settlement has arisen and flourished, in peace and
safety, in the midst of nations disposed and often provoked to
hostility; at a distance from the protection of ships, and from the only
fortified city, which, always weakly garrisoned, was little fitted to
awe and protect the whole province. Let it be remembered that the
distance from New-York to Albany is 170 miles; and that in the
intermediate space, at the period of which I speak, there was not one
town or fortified place. The shadow of a palisadoed fort[1], which then
existed at Albany, was occupied by a single independent company, who did
duty, but were dispersed through the town, working at various trades: so
scarce indeed were artisans in this community, that a tradesman might in
those days ask any wages he chose.
Footnote 1:
It may be worth noting, that Captain Massey, who commanded this
non-effective company for many years, was the father of Mrs. Lennox,
an estimable character, well known for her literary productions, and
for being the friend and protégée of Dr. Johnson.
To return to this settlement, which evidently owed its security to the
wisdom of its leaders, who always acted on the simple maxim that honesty
is the best policy: several miles north from Albany a considerable
possession, called the Flats, was inhabited by Colonel Philip Schuyler,
one of the most enlightened men in the province. This being a frontier,
he would have found it a very dangerous situation had he not been a
person of singular worth, fortitude, and wisdom. Were I not afraid of
tiring my reader with a detail of occurrences which, taking place before
the birth of my friend, might seem irrelevant to the present purpose, I
could relate many instances almost incredible, of the power of mind
displayed by this gentleman in governing the uninstructed without
coercion or legal right. He possessed this species of power in no common
degree; his influence, with that of his brother John Schuyler, was
exerted to conciliate the wandering tribes of Indians; and by fair
traffic, for he too was a trader, and by fair liberal dealing they
attained their object. They also strengthened the league already formed
with the five Mohawk nations, by procuring for them some assistance
against their enemies, the Onondagoes of the Lakes.
Queen Ann had by this time succeeded to the Stadholder. The gigantic
ambition of Lewis the Fourteenth actuated the remotest parts of his
extensive dominions; and the encroaching spirit of this restless nation
began to discover itself in hostilities to the infant colony. A motive
for which could scarce be discovered, possessing, as they did, already,
much more territory then they were able to occupy, the limits of which
were undefined. But the province of New-York was a frontier; and, as
such, a kind of barrier to the southern colonies. It began also to
compete for a share of the fur trade, then very considerable, before the
beavers were driven back from their original haunts. In short, the
province daily rose in importance; and being in a great measure
protected by the Mohawk tribes, the policy of courting their alliance,
and impressing their minds with an exalted idea of the power and
grandeur of the British empire, became obvious. I cannot recollect the
name of the governor at this time; but whoever he was, he, as well as
the succeeding ones, visited the settlement at Albany, to observe its
wise regulations, and growing prosperity, and to learn maxims of sound
policy from those whose interests and happiness were daily promoted by
the practice of it.
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