Full text of "A history of Wilkes-Barré, Luzerne County, Pennsylvania : from its first beginnings to the present time, including chapters of newly-discovered early Wyoming Valley history, together with many biographical sketches and much genealogical material"

A HISTORY OF
WILKES-BARRE

LUZERNE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

FROM iTvS FIRST BEGINNINGS TO THE PRESENT TIME; INCLUDING

CHAPTERS OF NEWLY- DIvSCOVERED

EARLY WYOMING VALI.EY HISTORY

TOGETHER WITH MANY BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND MUCH

GENEALOGICAL MATERIAL

OSCAR JEWELL HARVEY, A. M.

Author ok "A History of Lodgk No. 61, F. & A. M.", "The Harvey Book",

"A History OF Irem Temple", Etc.

Illustrated With Many Portraits, Maps, Facsimiles, Original
Drawings and Contemporary Views

y jTi'je

COMPLETE IN THREE VOLUMES

VOLUME I e.>>

WILKKS-BARRE
1909

JTM® HEW York]

Arrow, LENOX ANO
^^TILOEH POUNDATIOIM.

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Raeder Press,
Wilkes-Barre, Penna.

# ^^

THESE ANNAIvS OF MY NATIVE TOWN
ARE DEDICATED TO

THE WYOMING HISTORICAL AND GEOLOGICAL SOCIETY,

WILKES-BARRE,

IN ADMIRING RECOGNITION OF ITS AIMS AND THE IMPORTANT RESULTS
IT IS ACCOMPLISHING ; AS WELL AS IN GRATEFUL ACKNOWLEDGMENT
OF THE VALUABLE AID GIVEN ME BY MANY OF ITS MEMBERS, AND
THE LARGE AMOUNT OF IMPORTANT INFORMATION GLEANED BY ME
FROM ITS COLLECTIONS, DURING THE PROGRESS OF MY WORK.

t^t r^t^c

" Sires of old, your fame is writ in gold ;

Your heritage we treasure, and your mandates heed.
While Time shall last, no stain shall e'er be cast

To dim the light that shines above each patriot deed."

— Brinley Richards.

Errata— Volume I.

PAGE

170. Sixth line from bottom — "six " should be five.

216. Third paragraph of foot-note — "Volume II " in first line should be Volume I.

226. Second paragraph of foot-note — ninth and tenth lines should read : Col.
James Burd at Fort Augusta wrote to Capt. Joseph Shippcn at Lan-
caster, etc.

261. First paragraph of second foot-note— " the preceding page" in the next
to the last line should be this page.

278. Second paragraph— in third line from end "one son and two daughters"
should be two sons and two daughters ; William and Peter being the
names of the sons.

285. Last paragraph, sixth line — "Turbott" should be Turbutt.

443. Foot-note, first line — " left bank " should be tight bank.

468. Sixth paragraph — Asahel Buck was killed February 18, 1779.

480. Second paragraph of third foot-note— in third line : John Durkee was born

at Ipswich in 1665, the son of William Durkee (born in 1630), a mariner,
who came to Ipswich via the West Indies, and was married December
20, 1664, to Martha Cross of Ipswich.

481. Third paragraph, tenth line : Mehetabel Durkee was married February 14,

1750, at Canada Parish, Windham, to James Bidlack, Sr.
481. Third paragraph, twelfth line — Sarah Durkee was born in Canada Parish.

Windham.
483. Seventh paragraph, seventh line — "April " should be September.
491. Last line of foot-note— Turbutt Francis died in 1777. (See "Pennsylvania

Archives," 2nd Series, XVIII : 740.)
500. Last paragraph of foot-note, fifth line— strike out the words "and

youngest."
503. Last paragraph, eighth line— insert after " 1759 " ajid 1760.
517. First paragraph, tenth line— for "nearly twenty-nine" substitute about

twenty-three.
526. Eleventh line— for " I80I " substitute April 3, 1798.

Contents of Volume I.

PAGE

A NOTK OF KXPI.ANATION 7

A Chronologicai, Table of Important Occurrencfs 9

CHAPTER I.

Introduction — Reasons for Writing this History— Sources of Informa-
tion 17

CHAPTER II.

The North Branch of the Susquehanna River — The Vai,ley of Wyoming —
Location and Description — Poetry and Legend 32

CHAPTER III.

The Amerind Peopi^e — The Mound-buii^ders — The Aboriginai^s of New

York and Pennsyi^vania 78

CHAPTER IV.

Eari.y Indian Settlements in Wyoming— Earliest Visits of White Men-
Moravian Missionaries on the Susquehanna — Connecticut Land Com-
panies Organized — The "Wyoming Region" Purchased from the Six
Nations 1G9

CHAPTER V.

The Susquehanna Company Stirs up a Hornet's Nest — Sir William John-
son and the Six Nations — French and Indian War — Wyoming Tempo-
rarily Deserted by the Indians — Indian Congresses and Conferences
IN Pennsylvania — The Delaware Indians Established at Wyoming . 295

CHAPTER VI.

More Indian Conferences and Pow-wows — Attempts at Settlement in
Wyoming by the Whites Under The Susquehanna Company — Death
OF King Teedyuscung — First Massacre of the White Settlers — Wyo-
ming Forsaken by the Indians 384

6
CHAPTER VII.

PAGE

The C1.0SING Days of Pontiac's War— Indian Councii, and Treaty at Fort
Stanwix — Indian Sale of Lands to the Pennsylvania Proprietaries —
Surveys and Settlements at Wyoming Under the Proprietaries . . 435

CHAPTER VIII.

The Settlement at Wyoming Renewed by The Susquehanna Company —
Major Durkee and the "Sons of Liberty" — Fort Durkee Erected —
The Five "Settling-towns" — Wilkes-Barre Laid Out and Named —
Some Facts Relative to the Writing and Pronunciation of the Name
OF THE Town 462

CHAPTER IX.

The Right Hon. John Wilkes, Patriot, Statesman, and a Friend to

Liberty 525

CHAPTER X.

The Right Hon. Isaac Barre, Soldier, Orator, Statesman, and America's

Advocate and Champion 570

A Note of Explanation.

In gathering together material for this work I spent upwards of
three years before attempting to prepare for the printer a single page
of copy. At length, having effected what I then believed to be an
exhaustive search for interesting and authentic historical matter relat-
ing to Wilkes-Barre and Wyoming Valley, I began the task of putting
the same in shape for the printer ; and soon thereafter the actual work
of printing the following pages was begun.

But, while preparing copy, and reading proofs of the printer's work,
I sought in new directions for additional historical data, and met with
unusual and pronounced success. One find seemed to lead to another
find, and the large amount of theretofore unused and absolutely valu-
able material, which it was my good fortune to turn up, soon convinced
me that it would be necessary for me either to recast my plans and
enlarge the scope of my work, or else discard entirely my latest finds.
Meanwhile, I had been urged by competent and esteemed advisers to
devote as much space in my book as possible to an account of the vari-
ous clans and tribes of Indians which at one time or another had occu-
pied Wyoming Valley.

After careful consideration it seemed to me that, in the circum-
stances, the proper course for me to pursue was : to stop the work of
printing, and devote a considerable amount of time to further investiga-
tion and consideration of the subject matter in hand.

In the execution of this plan a large amount of time has been
necessarily expended, the printing of the work has gone on by slow
degrees, and, instead of appearing in one volume of about 700 pages (as
originally intended, and arranged for), the work comprises three royal
8vo volumes, aggregating over 1,800 pages. Two of these volumes are
published at this time, while the third and final volume (which will
contain a very complete and comprehensive index to the three volumes)
will appear about the close of the present year.

o. J. H.

May 19, 1909.

"Deal gently with us, ye who read!
Our largest hope is unfulfilled ;
The promise still outruns the deed ;

The tower, but not the spire, we build."

' Would I might borrow from the mines of morn
A little of their brimming store of gold !
Would I might filch from out the sunset's hold

Some of the rubies that its breast adorn ! ' '

A Chronological Table

OF SOME OF THE MOST INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT 0CCURRP:NCES

MENTIONED IN THIS WORK.

1G16 — Etienne Brule (Stephen Bruehle) descends the Susquehanna River, from the

head-waters of its North Branch to Chesapeake Bay.
1701 — A band of Shawanese Indians establish themselves in Wyoming Valley.
1723 — A large number of Palatines pass through Wyoming Valley en route from Scho-
harie Valley, New York, to Berks County, Pennsylvania.
1729— Conrad Weiser passes through Wyoming en route from Schoharie, New York, to

Berks County, Pennsylvania.
1737 — March. Conrad Weiser at Wyoming.

— April. Dutch traders from New York at Wyoming.'
1738 — Conrad Weiser and William Parsons visit Wyoming.

•1741 — The Rev. John Sergeant, accompanied by several Stockbridge Indians, comes from

Massachusetts to Wyoming to preach the gospel to the Indians located here.

1742 — July. Delaware Indians (of the Unami, or Wanamie, clan) ordered by the Six

Nations to remove to Wyoming.

— September. A band of Wanamies establish themselves in what is now the F"if-

teenth Ward of Wilkes-Barre.
— October. Count ZinzendorfT and his companions at Wyoming.
1744 — April. Moravian missionaries John M. Mack and Christian Frolich at Wyoming.
1746 — Spring. John M. Mack again visits Wyoming.
1747 — Autumn. Bishop Spangenberg (Moravian) visits Wyoming and preaches to the

Indians.
1748— June. Nanticoke Indians remove from the mouth of the Juniata to Wyoming
Valley — lower end.
— July. Missionaries Mack and Zeisberger at Wyoming.
— October. Baron de Watteville (a Moravian Bishop) and missionaries Cammer-

hoff, Mack and Zeisberger at Wyoming.
— October 7. The Sacrament of the Lord's Supper administered at Wyoming for
the first time.
1749 — April. A numerous band of Shawanese, under the chief tanship of Paxinosa,

locate in Wyoming.
1750— May. Missionaries Cammerhoff, Mack and Zeisberger, accompanied by Timothy

Horsfield and Gottlieb Bezold of Bethlehem, spend eight days at Wyoming.
1751 — November. Zeisberger at Wyoming.

1752 — June. Spangenberg, Zeisberger and the Rev. C. Seidel of Bethlehem at Wyoming.
— July. An embassy of Shawanese and Nanticoke Indians goes from Wyoming to
Gnadenhiitten.
1753— March. An embassy of Shawanese and Nanticoke Indians from Wyoming visits
Gnadenhiitten.

1753 — May. The Nanticoke Indians remove from Wyoming to New York.
— May. The Rev. Christian Seidel of Bethlehem visits Wyoming.
— May. Certain white traders at Wyoming.

— May. Memorial, relative to lands at Wyoming, presented by certain inhabitants
of Connecticut to the General Assembly of that Colony.
-j- — July 18. "The Susquehanna Company" organized at Windham, Connecticut.

— October. Exploring and purchasing committee of The Susquehanna Company
visits Wyoming.
1754 — April. Many Indians, under the leadership of Teedyuscung , remove from Gnaden-
hiitten to Wyoming and locate within the present limits of Wilkes-Barr^.
— July. Moravian missionaries B. A. Grube and C. G. Rundt from Gnadenhiitten
spend some days at Wyoming preaching to the Indians ; during which time
the sacrament of baptism is administered for the first time in this region.
^'^ — July 11. Deed from Six Nation Indians conveying the Wyoming region to The
Susquehanna Company is executed at Albany, New York.
— Autumn. Representatives of the abovementioned Company come to Wyoming to
look over the lands which have been purchased.
1755 — March. Christian Frederick Post, a Moravian missionary, establishes himself at
Wyoming to minister to the Indian converts here, and to entertain visiting
missionaries.
— July. Missionaries Zeisberger and Seidel at Wyoming.

— October. Zeisberger and Seidel are again at Wyoming preaching to the Indians.
1756 — Owing to the French and English War Wyoming is entirely forsaken by the

Indians.
1757 — October. The erection of houses at Wyoming, for the use of the Delaware Indians
under the chief tanship of Teedyuscung, is begun by the Pennsylvania
authorities.
1758 — May 22. Teedyuscung and his Delawares again settle down in Wyoming, and the
work of building houses for them is resumed by white workmen in the em-
ploy of the Pennsylvania Government.
— May 27. The first death of a white man — killed and scalped by inimical Indians —
occurs in Wyoming.
1762 — March. David Zeisberger goes on a mission to the Indians at Wyoming.

— May 19. The Susquehanna Company decides to effect a settlement upon their

lands at Wyoming.
— June. Important conference at Easton, Pennsylvania, between Governor Ham-
ilton of Pennsylvania, Sir Wm. Johnson, and Teedyuscung and other chiefs
of the Delaware Indians.
— August. Conference at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, between Governor Hamilton and
Six Nation, Delaware and Shawanese Indians.
"r — September. Under the auspices of The Susquehanna Company 119 settlers locate

near the mouth of Mill Creek, within the limits of what was later the town-
ship of Wilkes-Barre, and begin to build three small block-houses.
1763 — Deed to The Susquehanna Company — confirming the sale of Wyoming lands made
in July, 1754 — executed by Six Nation Indians.
— April 19. The Delaware King, Teedyuscung, burnt to death in his house, within
the present limits of Wilkes-Barre.
-V' — May. The settlement at Mill Creek is renewed by a large number of people under

The Susquehanna Company.
— May. David Zeisberger preaches twice to the Indians at Wyoming.
— June. John Woolman, the noted Quaker minister, preaches to the Wyoming

Indians.
— June. The red men's occupancy of Wyoming Valley comes to an end.
— October 15. Delaware Indians attack the settlers at Mill Creek, some of whom are
massacred, others are driven away from the valley, and the remainder are
carried off as prisoners.
1764 — Wyoming Valley uninhabited by either whites or Indians.

1705— John Anderson, Capt. John Dick and Capt. Amos Ogden, Pennsylvania and New
Jersey men, locate in Wyominj^ Valley as Indian traders, under authority
received from Sir William Johnson.

— Specimens of anthracite coal taken from Wyoming and sent to England.
1768— November. Indian treaty at Fort Stanwix, New York.

—December 8. The "Manor of Sunbury " surveyed at Wyoming for the Proprie-
taries of Pennsylvania.

—December 9. The " Manor of Stoke " (comprehending the present city and town-
ship of Wilkes-Barre) located and surveyed for the Proprietaries of Penn-
sylvania.

—December. Captain Ogden, John Anderson, Charles Stewart, Alexander Patter-
son, John Jennings, and several other Pennsylvanians and New Jerseymen,
with the intention of becoming lessees or purchasers of the Proprietary lands
at Wyoming, erect a small block-house at Mill Creek and establish them-
selves therein.

—December 28. The Susquehanna Company formally decides to retake possession
of its lands in Wyoming and settle the same.
1769_February 8. The " first forty " settlers under The Susquehanna Company arrive
at Wyoming.

— May 12. A large body of settlers, led by Maj. John Durkee, with authority from
The Susquehanna Company, arrives at Wyoming from Connecticut and New
York, and the erection of Fort Durkee is begun on the river bank near the
present Ross Street, Wilkes-Barre.

— June 22. Col. Turbutt Francis, in command of a small body of armed Pennsylva-
nians, comes to Wyoming from Fort Augusta (now Sunbury, Pennsylvania)
and orders the New Englanders to leave the valley.

— July. The town (township) of Wilkes-Barre located and named by Major Durkee.

—August 29. A large number of settlers under The Susquehanna Company, at
Wilkes-Barre, petition the General Assembly of Connecticut to erect the lands
at Wyoming into a county.

—September. The five "settling-towns" in Wyoming Valley surveyed under the
direction of Major Durkee.

—September. The First Pennamite-Y'ankee War is begun.

— November 14. Fort Durkee is surrendered to the Pennamites by the Yankees, and
the latter are driven from the valley.
1770— February 11. Capt. Lazarus Stewart and his " Paxtang Boys" come to Wilkes-
Barre to co-operate with the Yankees. They regain possession of Fort
Durkee.

— June. Wilkes-Barre town-plot is surveyed and plotted, and lots are drawn by the
proprietors of the township.

—June 28. Governor Penn of Pennsylvania issues a proclamation prohibiting any
person from settling at Wyoming without authority from the Proprietaries of
the Province.
1771 — January 18. The erection of Fort Wyoming is begun by the Pennamites on the
river bank near the present Northampton Street, W^ilkes-Barre.

— August 15. Fort Wyoming is surrendered by the Pennamites, after a siege of
twenty-six days by a force of Yankees under the command of Capt. Zebulon
Butler.
1772— March. Northumberland County (comprehending Wyoming Valley) is erected
by Act of the Pennsylvania Assembly.

— First grist-mill erected in Wyoming Valley— on Mill Creek.

— April. Survey of Wilkes-Barre township completed, and lots finally distributed.

— November. Forty Fort erected in Kingston Township.
1773— June 2. The Susquehanna Company adopts "Articles of Agreement, " or a code of
laws, for the government of the Wyoming settlements, and " Dii-ectors " in
and for the six Wyoming townships are appointed.

1774 — January. The Wyoming region is erected by the General Assembly of Connecticut
into the town of Westmoreland, and attached to Litchfield County, Connec-
ticut.

— March 1. The town of Westmoreland is formally organized by an election of offi-
cers, and the transaction of other business, at a "town-meeting" held in
Wilkes-Barre.
1775 — May. The 24th, or Westmoreland, Regiment of Connecticut Militia established,
with Zebulon Butler as Colonel.

— July. Conference of Indians from New York with Col. Zebulon Butler at Wilkes-
Barre.

— August 8. The inhabitants of Westmoreland, assembled in town-meeting at
Wilkes-Barre, resolve that they will " unanimously join " their " brethren in
America in the common cause of defending " their liberty.

— September 28. Pennamites attack Connecticut settlers on the West Branch of the
Susquehanna, wounding and killing some and taking others prisoners.

— November 4. Congress recommends that the Province of Pennsylvania should put
a stop to hostilities against the Yankees in the Wyoming region.

— December 25. The Plunket invasion and the battle of "Rampart Rocks." Termi-
nation of the First Pennamite-Yankee War.
1776 — March 6. Sixty-six men of Westmoreland organize themselves into a military
company and offer their services to the Continental Congress to " engage in
the common cause as soldiers in the defense of liberty."

— August 24. At a town-meeting held in Wilkes-Barre the inhabitants of Westmore-
land vote to erect suitable forts as a defense against the " common enemy."

— September 16. Conference of Indians from New York State with Col. Zebulon
Butler at Wilkes-Barre.

— September 17. The two " Wyoming, or Westmoreland, Independent Companies "
— enlisted a few weeks previously — are mustered into the Continental service
at Wilkes-Barre.

— October. The town of Westmoreland is erected into the count}^ of Westmoreland,
of the State of Connecticut, by the General Assembly of that State.
1777 — January 1. The "Wyoming Independent Companies" march from Wilkes-Barr^
to New Jersey, where they take part in the battle of Millstone River, Janu-
ary 20.

— January. A large party of Indians from New York, en route to Easton, Pennsyl-
vania, spend several days at Wilkes-Barre and hold an informal conference
with the local authorities.

— May 1. 'A conference is held at Wilkes-Barre between a delegation of Six Nation
Indians and a committee of Westmoreland inhabitants.
1778 — July 3. Battle and massacre of Wyoming.

— July 4. Capitulation of Forty Fort. Wilkes-Barre almost wholly destroyed bj' the
Indians.

— August 4. Continental soldiers and Westmoreland militia under the command of
Col. Zebulon Butler march into Wyoming Valley and establish ' ' Camp West-
moreland " at Wilkes-Barre.

— October 1-3. Colonel Hartley's military expedition at Wilkes-Barre on its return
march from the upper Susquehanna.

— October 28. The remains of the Westmorelanders who lost their lives in the battle
and massacre of July 3, 1778, are gathered up and interred.

— October. Fort Wyoming (the second work of defense to bear that name) is
erected on the: River Common near Northampton Street.

— November 2. Frances Slocum carried into captivity by Indians.
1779 — April 11. First troops for the Sullivan Expedition reach Wilkes-Barre.

— June 23. General Sullivan, with the main body of his army, arrives at Wilkes-
Barre.

— June 24. The first meeting of a Lodge of Free Masons to be held in North-eastern
Pennsylvania takes place at Wilkes-Barre.

1779 — July 1. First public execution by hanging in Wyoming Valley.

— July 5. An elaborate entertainment is held at Forty Fort "in celebration of the

anniversary of the Declaration of Independence."
— July 81. The Sullivan Expedition sets out from Wilkes-Barrd on its march up the

Susquehanna.
— October 7. The Sullivan Expedition returns to Wilkes-Barr^.
1780 — A Continental military garrison (the "Wyoming Post") is maintained at Wilkes-

Barre under the command of Col. Zebulon Butler.
1782 — May. Col. John Durkee, the founder of Wilkes-Barre, dies at Norwich, Connec-
ticut.
— December 30. The " Decree of Trenton " is rendered.
1783 — April. Pennsylvania troops garrison Fort Wyoming, and its name is changed to
Fort Dickinson.
— October. The Second Pennamite-Yankee War is begun.

— Alexander Patterson endeavors to change the name of Wilkes-Barre to " London-
derry."
1784 — March 15. The ice in the Susquehanna breaks up, and a very disastrous flood fol-
lows. Wilkes-Barre is inundated.
— May. The Pennamites drive the majority of the Connecticut settlers from the val-
ley by force.
— July 24. Many dwelling-houses in Wilkes-Barre are burnt to the ground by the

Pennamites.
— August 2. The fight at Locust Hill occurs.
— September 28. Fort Dickinson is besieged by the Yankees.

— November 30. Fort Dickinson having been evacuated by the Pennamites is demol-
ished by the Yankees, and the war is virtually ended.
1786 — March. A scheme is on foot to erect a new State ( " Westmoreland ") out of the
Wyoming region.
— April 27. Gen. Ethan Allen comes to Wilkes-Barre from Vermont, intent on the

" new State " project.
— September 25. An Act erecting the county of Luzerne out of a portion of the

Wyoming region is passed by the General Assembly of Pennsylvania.
— October. The great " pumpkin " flood occurs.

1787 — February 1. First election in Luzerne County — for Representative to Assembly,
Councillor, Sheriff, Coroner, and Commissioners — held at the house of Col.
Zebulon Butler, Wilkes-Barr^.
— March 28. The Confirming Law (relating to land titles in certain townships in

the Wyoming region) is enacted by the Pennsylvania Assembly.
— May 29. The first courts of Luzerne County are opened and held at the house of

Col. Zebulon Butler, Wilkes-Barre.
— October 2. Col. John Franklin is arrested in Wilkes-Barre and conveyed to Phila-
delphia.
1788 — May. The erection of the first Luzerne County Court House and Jail is begun
on the Public Square.
— June 26. Col. Timothy Pickering is abducted from his home on South Main
Street and carried away captive.
1790 — March 18. Jemima Wilkinson, "the Universal Friend," visits and preaches in
Wilkes-Barre.
— April 1. The Confirming Law, having been suspended March 29, 1788, is repealed
by the State Assembly.
1792 — March. A delegation of Oneida Indians, en route from New York State to a con-
ference with the Secretary of War at Philadelphia, is entertained in Wilkes-
Barre.
1794 — September. Capt. Samuel Bowman marches from Wilkes-Barre with his company
of Light Infantry, raised for the provisional military- force organized by the
State to put down the " Whisky Insurrection."
1795— July. A Post Office is established at Wilkes-Barre.

1796 — First newspaper, The Herald of the Times (weekly), published in Wilkes-Barre.
1797 — July. The Duke of Orleans (later Louis Philippe, King of France) and his broth-
ers, the Duke of Montpensier and the Count of Beaujolais, visit Wilkes-Barre.
— December 26. John Wilkes, one of the two men for whom Wilkes-Barre was
named, dies in England.
1799 — April 4. The Pennsylvania Legislature enacts the "Compromise Law," relating
to lands lying " in the seventeen townships, Luzerne County."
— July. Capt. Samuel Bowman, holding a commission in the " Provisional Army"
being organized by the United States for the anticipated war with France, is
raising a company of infantry at Wilkes-Barre. A detachment of thirty men
marches to Elizabeth town, New Jersey.
— December 27. Public exercises held in the Court House in memory of General
Washington, whose death occurred at Mt. Vernon December 14.
1800 — July. Erection begun on Public Square of a meeting-house — many years later

known as "Old Ship Zion."
1801 — Erection begun on Public Square of the second Luzerne County Court House.

— March 4. Democrats celebrate by a procession and barbecue the election and
inauguration of Thomas Jefferson as President of the United States.
1802 — Erection begun of stone jail on East Market Street.

— July 20. Isaac Barre, one of the two men for whom Wilkes-Barre was named, dies
in London.
1805 — Easton and Wilkes-Barre Turnpike in process of construction.
1806 — March 17. Borough of Wilkes-Barr^ incorporated by Act of Legislature.
— August 18. Wilkes-Barre Library Company organized.
— October 16. First elephant show in Wilkes-Barre.
1807 — First brick building in Wilkes-Barre erected.

— March. Wilkes-Barre Academy incorporated, and opened a few months later.
1808 — February 11. Jesse Fell burns anthracite coal in an open grate for the first time

in North-eastern Pennsylvania.
1810 — September. First bank ("Philadelphia Branch") begins operations in Wilkes-
Barre.
1812 — April 10. Launch of the river-boat, The Ltizerne of Wilkes-Barre.
1816 — June and August. Severe frosts in Wyoming Valley, and certain crops destroyed.
1817 — February 14. Thermometer at Wilkes-Barre registers 20° below 0.
1818— July 12. Extraordinary hail-storm in Wyoming Valley.

1819 — February. First bridge across the Susquehanna at Wilkes-Barrd — foot of Market
Street — opened to the public.
— November 1. Luzerne County Bible Society is organized.
— November 14. The river at Wilkes-Barre is frozen over.
1826 — April 12. First steamboat (Codoms) at Wilkes-Barre.
1831 — May. First canal-boat leaves Wilkes-Barre for Philadelphia, laden with flour, coal

and lumber.
1833 — July 3. The remains of those who fell in the battle and massacre of Wyoming are

re-interred, and the corner-stone of the Wyoming Monument is laid.
1834 — May. Ice, snow, cold weather, and seven-year locusts damage vegetation in Wyo-
ming Valley and cause much inconvenience.
— June 27. Wyoming Division, North Branch Canal, completed, and water let in.
1836 — March 26. Sleds cross the Susquehanna on the ice.

— October 5. Eleven inches of snow fall in Wyoming Valley.
1842 — June 18. First balloon ascension in Wilkes-Barre.

1843 — May 23. First train of passenger-cars run on a railroad in Wyoming Valley.
1846 — July 3. Wyoming Monument dedicated, in the presence of the Governor of the
Commonwealth and other distinguished visitors.
— December 7. The Wyoming Artillerists leave Wilkes-Barre for the seat of war.
(The War with Mexico.)
1849 — April 6. Wilkes-Barr^ Law and Library Association organized.
1850 — First telegraph line running into Wilkes-Barre is in operation.

1852 — First daily newspaper published in Wilkes-Barre.

185(3_pebruary 1. Gas manufactured by the Wilkes-Barre Gas Company turned on and
burned for the first time.
— June 24. First train comes into the valley from Scranton over tlie Lackawanna

and Bloomsburg Railroad.
— August 12. The corner-stone of the third Luzerne County Court House is laid
with Masonic ceremonies.
1857 — April 20. Two feet of snow fall in the valley.

— May 20. Ten inches of snow fall.
lg58_February. The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society is organized.
ISnO — September 19. Water is turned on l)y the Wilkes-Barre Water Company for the
first time.
— September 24. First steam fire-engine seen and operated in Wilkes-Barrd.
1861 — February 13. Destructive ice freshet in the Susquehanna.

— April 18. First company of Wilkes-Barre volunteers (Wyoming Artillerists) for
the defense of the Union leaves for Harrisburg, where it is mustered into the
United States service.
1863— June 18. Emergency-militia leave Wilkes-Barre for Harrisburg. (Pennsylvania

invaded by the Confederates. )
1865 — March 17. Greatest flood in the Susquehanna ever known.
1866— March 29. Wyoming Valley Hotel opened.

— March 31. First passenger train is run into Wilkes-Barre over the new (Wilkes-
Barre Mountain) track of the Lehigh and Susquehanna Railroad.
— June 13. Pennsylvania State Medical Society meets in Wilkes-Barre.
— June 25. First street-car (Wilkes-Barre and Kingston Railway) runs in Wilkes-
Barre.
— June 27. The Judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania banqueted at Wilkes-

Barr^ by members of the Bar of Luzerne County.
— September. First cobble-stone street-pavement laid in Wilkes-Barre (West Market
Street).
1867 — April 9. Great fire, destroying many buildings on West Market and North and
South Franklin Streets.
— May 29. First passenger train is run from White Haven over the Lehigh Valley
Railroad to Wilkes-Barre — to station below Northampton Street.
1868 — September 9. Corner-stone of the present Luzerne County Prison laid with

Masonic ceremonies.
1870 — October. The bounds of Wilkes-Barre Borough are extended in a small degree.
1871 — May 4. Wilkes-Barre Borough is incorporated into a city by an Act of the State

Legislature.
1872 — July 4. Celebration of the centennial anniversary of the founding and naming of
Wilkes-Barre.
— October. The Wilkes-Barre City Hospital is established and opened.
— December 26. Twelve inches of snow on the ground, and temperature 10° below 0.
Coldest weather in ten years.
1875 — March 17. Destructive ice freshet in the Susquehanna.
1877 — July. Railroad riots prevail, and United States troops are ultimately ordered to

Wyoming Valley.
1878 — July 3. Celebration of the centennial anniversary of the battle and massacre of
Wyoming. President Hayes, members of his Cabinet, and other distinguished
visitors present.
— November. First telephone line in Wilkes-Barre opened.
1879 — July 25. The 9th Regiment, N. G. P., organized and officers elected at Wilkes-
Barre.
1884 — May 30. Snow falls, covering the mountains near Wilkes-Barre.
1885 — October 4. New edifice of the First Methodist Episcopal Church dedicated.
1886 — April. First asphalt street-pavement laid in Wilkes-Barre (Franklin Street).

— September. Centennial anniversary of the erection of Luzerne County celebrated.

1886 — November 11. Wilkes-Barre warmed for the first time by steam heat.

— December 4. Corner-stone of the 9th Regiment Armory laid.
1887— May 10. Erection of North Street Bridge begun.

— July 11. Corner-stone of First Presbyterian Church laid.

— September 17. Centennial anniversary of the adoption of the Constitution of the

United States celebrated.
— October 26. Ninth Regiment Armory dedicated.
1888 — March 12. A violent blizzard rages.

— March 19. First electric street-car runs in Wilkes-Barre (North Main Street).
1889 — January 28. Osterhout Free Library opened to the public.

—April. Celebration of the centennial anniversary of the inauguration of George
Washington as the first President of the United States.
1890— April 9. Memorial Hall (G. A. R.) dedicated.

— July. The three public school districts of the city consolidated into one, under

the control of a board of six directors.
— August 19. Destructive cyclone strikes Wilkes-Barre.
1891— December 30. New Y. M. C. A. building opened.
1892 — October 21. Columbus Day celebration.
1893 — March 10. Greatest ice freshet in the Susquehanna since 1865.

— May 23. Fortieth annual conclave of the Grand Commandery of Knights Tem-
plar of Pennsylvania convenes in Wilkes-Barre.
1895 — September. New Board of Trade organized.

— October 14. First woman attorney admitted to the Bar of Luzerne County.
1897— October 29. Nesbitt Theater opened.

— November 25. New club-house of Wilkes-Barre Wheelmen opened.
— December 25. First service held in the new edifice of St. Stephen's Episcopal
Church.
1898 — March 7. Mercy Hospital opened to patients.

— April 27. Ninth Regiment, N. G. P., leaves for Mt. Gretna, Pennsylvania, in

response to the call for volunteers for the Spanish-American War.
— September 22. Wilkes-Barre becomes a "city of the Third Class."
1899 — April. First horseless carriage runs in Wilkes-Barre.

— July. The Pennsylvania State Bar Association holds its annual meeting and ban-
quet in Wilkes-Barre.
1900 — May 21. Forty-seventh annual conclave of the Grand Commandery of Knights
Templar of Pennsylvania convenes in Wilkes-Barre.
— June 26. The Pennsylvania State Editorial Association meets in Wilkes-Barr6.
1901 — December. Unusual freshet in the Susquehanna.
1902 — March 1-3. Disastrous flood in the Susquehanna.

— November 27. Corner-stone of the Federal Post Ofiice building, Wilkes-Barre,
laid with Masonic ceremonies.
1903 — June 30. The Pennsj'lvania State Educational Association holds its forty-eighth
annual session at Wilkes-Barre.
— December 14. First passenger car is run over the Laurel Line (3d-rail road) be-
tween Scranton and Wilkes-Barre.
1904 — March 9. Serious flood in the Susquehanna, causing much damage to property.
1905 — August 10. President Roosevelt, Cardinal Gibbons, and other distinguished visit-
ors in Wilkes-Barre as guests of the Catholic Total Abstinence Union at its
natiorial convention.
1906 — May 10-12. Centennial Jubilee of the erection of Wilkes-Barre into a borough.

— December 8. Wilkes-Barre Park Commission organized.
1907 — November 27. Corner-stone of Irem Temple, Ancient Arabic Order of Nobles of

the Mystic Shrine, laid at midnight with impressive ceremonies.
1908— December 15. Irem Temple dedicated.

CHAPTER I.

INTRODUCTION— REASONS FOR WRITING THIS HISTORY— SOURCES OF

INFORMATION.

Wyoming warrior sons of old,

And matrons worthy of your time,

Deep in our inmost hearts we hold
Your memories, sacred and sublime.

"One generation shall praise thy works to another,
and shall declare tli}' mighty acts." — Psalm CXLV : 4-

A modern philosopher has said : "Considering how many really
needful things there are to be done in these hustling and bustling days
— corn to be hoed, wood to be chopped, roads to be mended, rooms to be
swept, bread to be baked, buttons to be sewed on, cradles to be rocked —
.it is somewhat more than surprising that hundreds of fairl}- intelligent
men and women keep on writing books. Evidently many authors write
books for the same reason that hens lay eggs — to relieve themselves."

Another alleged philosopher has capped this statement by the
observation that '•''caco'ethes scribendi has long been known to be a fever
and sickness of feeble minds ; but never did it reach such proportions
as now, when the cheapness of print and paper all the world over, and
the ever critical condition of the public intelligence, give it scope for
development to an immeasurable degree. Everybody writes ; and from
the fashionable lady who cannot spell, to the tight-rope dancer who
dictates her 'Impressions from an Altitude', any one who possesses a
grain of vanity or has had a shred of adventure embodies his or her
ideas or recollections in an article for a periodical or a volume for the
circulating library. Whether a physician becomes illustrious through
a patient's death, oi a comic-opera singer has pleased a London or Paris
audience ; whether a general has won a battle, or a lady been distin-
guished in a divorce case ; whether a man has been tried for his life or
has served a term in prison, one and all of these will forthwith publish
something — article, monograph, playlet, essay, reminiscence or the
letters of somebody else — without the slightest regard to whether they
possess any literary capabilities for the work or not."

When one considers the width and depth of the flood — not only of
ambitious and elaborate works, but of productions of a modest and less

formal character — that annually bursts forth from the teeming presses
of our land, one must admit that there are some forcible, although
homely, truths contained in the foregoing statements and observations.
Nevertheless, the writer of this present book does not deem it necessary
to offer any excuse or apology relative to "the wherefore and the why"
of its genesis, inasmuch as he knows that in these present days many of
the intelligent and patriotic people of this land are earnestly engaged —
individually and in organized bodies — in rescuing froin oblivion and
preserving in some attainable form and place whatever material will
tend to throw light on the true history of past times in this country.

He would say, however, that he is one of those whose pleasure and
pride it is to have been born in Wilkes-Barre — the "Diamond City"*
on Susquehanna's side, in fair Wyoming's historic vale. In the days
of his youth he was told that "in six days the L,ord made heaven and
earth, the sea, and all that in them is, and rested the seventh day ; and
on the eighth He made — the valley of Wyoming !" We who are "to
the manner born" believe that there are few regions like unto our well-
beloved Wyoming. It seems to the writer that no mountains ever
clasped within their embrace so beautiful a valley — as if no valley ever
looked up to so beautiful mountains. He loves his birthplace — this
ancient town of unique name and notable life, with whose earliest
beginnings more than one of his ancestors were intimately and honor-
ably connected ; he cherishes its traditions and its history ; he holds in
high regard its upright and honorable citizens ; and as Paul the Apostle
claimed his birthright as a Roman citizen, so will the writer, wherever
he may be, always proudly claim his birthright as a Wilkes-Barrean.

Oh ! the last spark of feeling and life must depart,
Ere his love for Wilkes-Barre will fade from his heart.

No attempt previous to this, so far as the writer is aware, has ever
been made to write the history of Wilkes-Barre. And this fact appears
most reinarkable when one realizes, in the first place : that, with the
exception of Boston, New York, Philadelphia and a very few other old
towns of this country, there is no town in the United States whose
early history is so intensely interesting and has so many strikingly
dramatic events interwoven in it from its very beginning as that of this
"Diamond City" of ours ; and in the second place : that there is no
town in the United States — with the exception of the city of Washing-
ton — founded within the last one hundred and fifty years, that has had
so many well-known and eminent men identified or concerned in one
way or another with its birth and early history as this same town. A
cursory examination of the following pages will show the correctness
of these statements to even the most careless or indifferent seeker after
facts.

The history of Wilkes-Barre up to about the year 1800 is really, in
a wide sense, the history of Wyoming Valley for the same period.
And to-day the life of the town is in a large measure that of the valley,
because the various hamlets, boroughs and cities of the valley are
closely conjoined with Wilkes-Barre, not only by wagon-roads and
steam and electric railways, but by business and social connections.

♦Why "Diamond City" ? Because the Public Square in the center of the town is diamond-shaped

having been originally surveyed in that form. Because the town is entirely underlaid with a vast wealth
of black diamonds, and is overlaid with hospitality, cultivation and beauty— qualities which, like the
chief characteristics of the diamond, are distinctive and attractive.

Within the past hundred and thirt)- years mnch has been pnb-
lished conccrnino- the history and traditions of Wyoniinor. First, dnr-
ing the time that the controversy over Wyoniing land-titles raged
between the Pennsylvania and Connecticnt claimants, many pamphlets
and letters — some of them written by learned and well-known men —
came from the press. Then the massacre — so called, but in reality the
battle — of Wyoming- bronght into action the pens of many writers.
The first extended and formal narrative of this disastrons event was
pnblished in England early in 1780, in Dodsley''s An/iieal Register for
1779, and is said on good anthority to have been written by the famons
Edinund Bnrke. The exaggerations of this snpposedly reliable nar-
rative* escaped into the continnation of Hnme and Smollett's, Adolphns'
and other histories of England ; and somewliat similar nnreliable
acconnts appeared in various books of travels and in the American his-
tories of Gordon, Ramsay and Botta — all of which were either written
or pnblished prior to the year 1800. From that year to the present the
author of every published history of the United States or of the American
people has had something to say about the early settlement of Wyoming
Valley and the distressful experiences of its inhabitants in July, 1778.

The first history of Wyoming was written in 1818 by Isaac A.

Chapman, then a resident of Wilkes-Barre and editor and publisher of

The Gleane7% one of the three weekly newspapers of the town. This

history, an interesting and a valuable work so far as it extends (the

author died before he had completed it), was not published, however,

until 1830 ; and ten years later it was followed by William L. Stone's

"Poetry and History of Wyoming." Colonel Stone was a well-known

author and editor of New York City, and his writings were widely read.

Three editions of his "Wyoming" were published. He had made his

first visit to the valley in 1839, and the following brief paragraphs from

his book will give an idea of the impressions made upon him by his

experiences and observations upon that occasion.

' 'Wyoming is mentioned in almost every book of American history written since
the Revolution, as the scene of the massacre ; but for the most part, that is the only
occurrence spoken of ; the only fact that has been rescued from the rich mine of its
historic lore. The reader of poetry has probably dreamed of "Wyoming as an Elysian
field, among the groves of which the fair Gertrude was wont to stray while listening to
the music of the birds and gathering wild flowers ; and the superficial reader of every-
thing has regarded it as a place existing somewhere, in which the Indians once toma-
hawked a number of people. * * * There are tliousands, doubtless, who would be
surprised on being told that, independently of the event from which the poetf has woven
his thrilling tale of "Gertrude", Wyoming has been the theatre of more historical action,
and is invested with more historical interest, than any other inland district of the United
States of equal extent."

In 1845 there came from the press Charles Miner's "History of
Wyoming." It was the result of many months of indefatigable research
and conscientious painstaking, and is considered to-day, as it has been
ever since its publication, the most copious, complete and authentic
work on the subject — a subject that was dear to the heart of Mr. Miner,
who, having come to Pennsylvania in 1799, a settler under the "Con-
necticut claim," resided for fifty years in 'Wyoming Valley. This book
was based, in a measure, upon documentary evidence, but more largely
upon the testimony of living witnesses, and it contains little appertain-
ing to the poetry, the legends or the natural charms of the fair vale.
It treats of the stern realities that entered into the life of the early

* See Chapter XV. f Thomas Campbell, the Scottish poet.

- 20

settlers — the sufferings, the calamities and the persecutions that those
brave and hardy pioneers were compelled to undergo. The book has
long been out of print (but one edition was published), and only rarely
is a copy offered for sale. '^

In 1858 "Wyoming ; its History, Stirring Incidents and Romantic
Adventures," by the Rev. George Peck, D. D., was published. The
greater part of this book — which is an 8vo of 432 pages — is devoted to
tales of hazardous exploits and descriptions of "historic scenes,"
collected by the author during a long residence in Wyoming. Three
editions of the book have been issued. In 1860 appeared Stewart
Pearce's "Annals of Luzerne County ; a Record of Interesting Events,
Traditions and Anecdotes, from the first settlement in Wyoming to
1860." A second edition of this admirable compendium was issued in
1866 ; and since that year several histories and a great number of
interesting and valuable essa3'S, addresses, etc., treating of different
localities in the "Wyoming region," or dealing with various phases of
its history, have been published from time to time.*

Besides these there have been published two or three ponderous
books purporting to be histories of Luzerne County. These works are
chiefly biographical in their character, while their historical portions
consist largely of careless rehashes of material taken from the histories
hereinbefore mentioned. They are hurried "scrape-ups" of ill-arranged
facts and fictions, marked by glaring omissions and errors innumerable ;
and the expense of publishing them was borne in good measure by the
buncoed citizens who were honored (?) by being biographed and pictured
therein — although many copies of the books were unloaded at a stiff
price upon "unhonored and unsung" non-subscribers. These publica-
tions belong to the "gold-brick" class, with which a much-tolerating
public has been made quite familiar during recent years.

Some one professing to be a philosopher has said, "Happy is that
country which has no history !" It is doubtful if a genuine American
would ever give expression to such a sentiment. On the other hand,
how very few of us who claim to be interested in the history either of
our far-famed, storied valley, our populous, wealthy Commonw^ealth, or
our splendid, much-admired country — the birth-land of human freedom,
and the home of innumerable inestimable privileges enjoyed by all
within her borders — can exclaim, as did a noted writer and preacher
not long since concerning the Scottish people, of whom he is one, "We
carry all our past history in our hearts !"

Some may ask. What necessity is there for inquiring minutely into
the experiences of long-buried generations, or burdening our minds
with their failures and their successes? Since "their love, and their
hatred, and their envy, is now perished ; neither have they any more a
portion for ever in anything that is done under the sun," why not let
their histories as well as their names pass into oblivion ? To such we
would reply : The seeds of the present are to be found in the past.
The world — with all its circumstances, opinions, customs and laws
ruling our present condition and shaping our future destiny — is what it
is in consequence of the characters and actions of those who have gone
before us. We ourselves are what we are because of influences which

* In a subsequent chapter sketches of the lives, and more extended accounts of the histories, of Chap-
man, Miner, Peck and Pearce \vill be found.

have distilled upon us, like the silent dew, through the atmosphere
of a dozen generations.

The study of history is, beyond question, one of the most important
methods of education. It is one, too, that can be carried on all throuoh
life ; and no kind of reading is so stimulative, expansive and enno-
bling. It makes us at once familiar with the nobleness of mind, the
wisdom and the mistakes and follies of past generations ; and those
made familiar with that past it guards against narrowness and delivers
from nnich crude thought and wild speculation. The study of the
history of our own country ought more especially to engage the atten-
tion of the American student, and enlist his earnest pursuit. Too often
do we find the student familiar with the records of ancient times — of
their heroes, statesmen, poets and philosophers — while those of his own
country are comparatively unknown to him. He knows nearly by
heart all about the generals, battles and tactical operations of the Punic
and Mithridatic A^^ars, but is very hazy with regard to the battles of the
Revolutionary War ; while he knows still less concerning those of the
War of 1812 and of the Mexican War — not to speak of those of the
Civil War, which are "much too modern," or which he has "not yet
come to."

The majority of persons outside of asylums for the feeble-minded
know that there was once a great revolution in America. This, except
the fact that Christopher Columbus is believed to have discovered this
country, is the one anchor to which everybody makes fast when ques-
tioned as to knowledge of American history. There is everywhere a
shadowy tradition of Puritans, and the name Mayfloiver may sound
familiar ; but the siege of Louisbourg — the massacres of the French
and Indian wars — the taking of Quebec — the Stamp Tax — the attitude
of the British people in general towards the American Colonies — the
speeches of this country's stanch friends in the English Parliament
during the early days of the Revolution — all these things are utterly
unknown to the mass of the people.

Where, in the vast and diversified history of human actions, can
we find more stirring incidents, more godlike action, severer or deadlier
contests, more illustrious instances of firmness of purpose, of a self-
sacrificing spirit to the public good, of personal fortitude, of manly
boldness, of greatness of mind and vigor of thought, than in the history
of our own country ? When, therefore, American history offers so
much that is picturesque and inspiriting, it seems a pity that so little of
its charm should appeal to the popular mind.

To those who believe that the study of history should be carefullv
pursued in our schools and colleges, it is very gratifying to know that just
now in many localities in our land teachers' institutes, State superintend-
ents of education and boards of school-control are either advocating or
providing for the formation of local-history classes in the public schools,
on the ground that "the children ought to know the interesting and
instructive story of their own home." Relative to this matter the Rev.
Dr. Henry L. Jones, rector of St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, Wilkes-
Barre, and Vice President of the Wyoming Historical and Geological
Society, in an admirable address* recently delivered before that society
on the subject of its "educational value," said :

* See "Proceedings and Collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," VH : 68.

"Extraordinary efforts are being made at the present time to instruct the children
of our schools in lessons of patriotism. Nearly every school-house in the land, like a
government post, is surmounted by the stars and stripes. * * * Meantime, what
instruction is the rising generation receiving in relation to its own immediate surround-
ings ; as to the deeds of valor, the acts of statesmanship, or honors in the field of letters
or science, achieved by those who once walked the streets they now walk and lived
where they now live ?

"They are surely right who think that every city and town should have its history
written with some detail for use in its schools. Such a local text-book should contain a
clear statement of the location of the place ; something as to its topography, geology
and botany ; the history of settlement ; the establishment of its churches and schools ;
its militar}^ history ; its industries and railroads ; its charitable institutions ; something
of the noted men and women who were born or have lived or visited there.

"Such a study would awaken interest. A child loves to read and talk about places
with which he is familiar, as we older people are more interested in anything about
countries we have visited than about those we have never seen. The local history and
geography are the easiest for the child to grasp, and he will learn other history and the
geographj? of remote countries much more readily as a result of this study. * * * Teach
him of the self-denials and achievements of those who moulded the character of the life
with which he is in immediate contact ; get his enthusiasm aroused by the actors in scenes
that are comparatively near and familiar, and he will be ready for a broader outlook and
a wider vision. To know all that pertains to this little corner of creation in which we
livey is to know much of the realitj? and romance of life."

The valley of Wyoming is indeed classic ground. Its history is

full of interest, and many of its truthful tales, in the strangeness of their

circumstances, far exceed the fictions of romance. Colonel Stone, in

his "Poetry and History of Wyoming" previously mentioned, said :

"All that is fierce and brutal, selfish and unrelenting, bitter and vindictive, in the
passions of men embroiled in civil strife, has been displayed there [in Wyoming]. All
that is lofty in patriotism — all that is generous, noble and self-devoted in the cause of
country and liberty, has been proudly called into action there. All that is true, confiding,
self-denying, constant, heroic, virtuous and enduring in women, has been sweetly
illustrated there. "

Some years later another well-known writer asserted :

"There is no spot of ground within the limits of the old thirteen States, not except-
ing Lexington, Bunker Hill or Groton, that awakens such tender and deep emotions of
sympathy throughout the land as this bloodstained valley of Wyoming."

The Hon. Stanley Woodward, President of the Wyoming Historical
and Geological Society, in an address before that society February 11,
1896, said :

"Certain it is, that no portion of American history is richer in its lights and
shadows, its romantic adventures and its eccentric departures from the ordinar)^ and the
commonplace, than that of this beautiful valley of Wyoming, where we are so fortunate
as to live. * * * It is therefore wise to pause occasionally in the grand march of
present progress, and take a backward look."

In an address before the Wyoming Commemorative Association
July 3, 1901, President E. D. Warfield of Lafayette College said :

' 'What a wonderful story is the story of this valley ! The men and women who
came here had many vicissitudes. The region is singularly marked by the folly, the
meanness, the passion of men. * * * There are names of warning as well as cheer in
the thrilling story. But after ever}^ allowance is made, the impulse given here by the
pioneer is the impulse which has borne fruit in the wide farms, the populous cities, the
noble people of this beautiful region."

The story of this valley is, beyond all question, the record of end-
less feats of arms, and of victory and defeat in a ceaseless strife waged
against wild nature and wild man ; a record of men who greatly dared
and greatly did; a record of hardy, resolute men who, with incredible
risk and toil, laid deep the foundations of the civilization that we inherit.
Every incident connected with the early history of the valley, in which
the valor of our forefathers was so signally displayed, comes down to us
with all the interest of self-love, and all the freshness of romance. We
love to dwell, for reasons better felt than explained, on the deeds of our

sires and the times that tried their souls ; and there is something
hallowed in the associations which gather around us — a feeling almost
of devotion — while reflecting on tliose instances of ardent zeal and
chivalrous patriotism which distinguished their lives.

In an address delivered July 3, l.SOO, before the Wyoming Com-
memorative Association, Sidney G. Fisher, Esq., a member of the Bar
of Philadelphia, and well known as an author, said :

"You people of Wyoming are more interested in State history than all the other
people of our Commonwealth put together. You have studied the history of this valley
with a thoroughness of detail and described the events with a vividness of language which
have made it known to the whole English-speaking race. I know of no other episode in
the history of any of our States that has been done so completely and well. I am not,
therefore, obliged to begin by attempting to arouse your interest in history ; for it is
already as strong as my own. If all the people of Pennsylvania had been always in the
same degree interested in the State's history, we should, I think, have a more homo-
geneous and united Commonwealth and would stand first instead of second in the
Union.

"I have often wondered exactly why it was that the Connecticut people were able to
make this valley that they had discovered in Pennsylvania so celebrated in America and
England that the English poet Campbell should write of it his 'Gertrude of Wyoming,'
a most sympathetic work of genius, less than thirty years after the Revolution had
closed, and when we were on the eve of the War of 1812. It may have been that clear
cut power of expression which is common in New England, and is the result of New
England education or of the life, or climate, or something in that land. The New
Englanders have written the history of the whole country and forced their ideas on the
world,* while we modest Pennsylvanians, with equally good ideas and equally good
history, have remained unsung and unhonored because we were not nimble with our
tongues. I am inclined to think, however, that you Connecticut people, with your
instinctive mastery of the aptest language, had a comparatively easy task with Wyoming.
The story of Wyoming was in itself essentially interesting and fascinating. It was a
story — we naturally call it a story rather than a history— and whatever possesses the
essential elements of a story is sure to charm."

Yes, much has been written of Wyoming in both prose and verse ;
but "there are many historical periods and episodes which may be
reconsidered again and again, and always with interest, when they
pertain to places and things which concern ourselves." On the other
hand, our history has been investigated and written about by our own
people so much from the spread-eagle and glorification point of view^,
that one can find very few among us who can talk about it in any other
vein.

All history — which is made, like the sea, from many sources — is
necessarily a selection of facts ; and a writer who is animated by a
strong sympathy with one side of a question, or an earnest desire to
prove some special point, will be much tempted in his selection of facts
to give undue prominence to those that support his view. It has been
said that "history is read, not with our eyes but with our prejudices."
The development of the public mind, how^ever, has made acceptable and
necessary in these days new and unprejudiced methods of historical
research, in which the value of the author is to be judged by his editorial
skill and candor in arranging contemporaneous data which speak for
themselves. Modern history must necessaril}^, to a large degree, be
compilation ; but it is the duty of the compiler to examine well the
sources of his information, and to study critically and impartially the
information itself. When a writer, dealing with facts, is too careless to
acquaint himself wath the accessible and incontrovertible truth, but

* In this same strain Charles A. Hanna has written in his "The Scotch-Irish ; or, the .Scot in North
Britain, North Ireland and North America" (New York, 1902). He undertakes to show that American
history', written, as it has been, chiefly by New Englanders, is one-sided if not actually perverted in its
conclusions.

"splashes gaily along," trusting to his memory or calling upon his
imagination, it may be safely assumed that he has no ambition to be
esteemed first-rate, and that he will be taken at his own valuation.

For a good deal of the information that Chapman, Stone, Miner
and Peck — previously mentioned — incorporated in their several histories
of our valley they were, in a measure, dependent upon the recollections
of the old people of Wyoming who were alive when these authors wrote.
(I have often thought how much it is to be regretted that those who
made history a century and more ago did not write it out. But it seems
that the people of that period rarely realized how common, everyday
events would become uncommon and valuable in the lapse of years.)
Owing to the lack of facilities for, as well as the expense of, gathering
information during the period from 1800 to 1850 ; ignorance at that
time as to the existence of many interesting and important letters,
diaries and official documents and records ; the proneness of early
chroniclers of historic events here to rely too much upon the oral testi-
mony of their contemporaries who had been present in our valley when,
many years previous to the giving of that testimony, the events then
related and recorded had taken place, our principal historians perpe-
trated, and their successors in the field have assisted in perpetuating,
some very inaccurate and misleading statements relative to the early
history not only of Wyoming, but of Wilkes-Barre. Although some of
these errors have been corrected and refuted over and over by later
writers, yet they continue to be propagated and palmed upon the reading
public, and seem to be imperishable. Then again, mention of many
important matters has been entirely omitted from the published histories,
either through design or lack of knowledge of facts ; while in several
instances statements concerning certain interesting facts are either
obscure or indefinite.

Believing that the history of Wyoming, as well as that of Wilkes-
Barre, had long waited for consecutive and full narration, in an ab-
solutely unbiased manner and with modern methods of historical
research and treatment applied to the subject, the writer of these pages
determined some four years since to attempt the task of preparing for
publication a history of Wilkes-Barre ; and during the time that has
intervened he has labored constantly and diligently to accomplish his
purpose. Further than this, it has been from the first his aim and
hope to produce a work worthy of publication — one that will be a
medium of authentic and authoritative information to those who read
books and wish to become better acquainted with the past life of this
interesting locality — a history that will be honorable to his native town
and a credit to himself, so that, departing, he may leave behind him
"footsteps on the sands of Time."

"Many books are but repetitions and many writers mere echoes; and
the greater part of literature is the pouring out of one bottle into
another," wrote a well-known librarian of this country not long ago.
The present writer begs to assert that, although there may be many
defects and shortcomings in the work now offered to the public, it is
not a compound or concoction of the Wyoming and Luzerne histories
hereinbefore referred to. In other words, this history has not been
brought into being by a simple pouring from the bottles of Chapman,
Stone, Miner, Peck, Pearce and other local historians into a little bottle

of the writer's own. He carefully went over the same ground traversed
by the historians mentioned — using freely of the stores of material
accumulated by them in their respective works. In addition, however,
he made various expeditions into territory previously unthonght of and
untraveled by investigators of Wyoming's past life ; and thence he
brought back, from long-undisturbed resting-places, nuich invaluable
historical data in the shape of letters, diaries, military and other reports,
public records, etc., relating to the life of Wilkes-Barr^ and Wyoming
prior to the year 1800. He gleaned widely and, he hopes, wisely and
well.

In preparing his material for publication the writer endeavored, so
far as possible, to refrain from glittering generalities, rhetorical rhap-
sodies and fulsome flatteries ; and, as the writing of the work was not
undertaken with a view either to asperse or to build up the reputation
and character of any person or family, an attempt was made to be par-
ticularly careful and accurate in preparing the numerous biographical
notes and sketches that are scattered throughout the following pages.
(Neither bouquets nor brickbats have been thrown at the subjects of
these little biographies — except in two or three well-deserved cases.)
Endeavors, also, were made to avoid the interjection of purely personal
opinion into the narrative, as well as the introduction of doubtful tales
based solely upon family traditions and tea-table tattle.

In seeking out material for a work of this kind, covering a period
of a century and a-half, it must be obvious to the reader that the task
was attended with many difficulties ; the chiefest of which arose from
the fact that many valuable public and private records that would not
only have greatly facilitated the task, but made the results more com-
plete and interesting, were a long time ago either lost or destroyed.
Nearly all the town and county records of Westmoreland (the name by
which the Wyoming region was entitled while it was under the juris-
diction of Connecticut),* the earliest town records of Wilkes-Barre, the
early Church records and the private papers and documents of families
generally were either utterly destroyed or widely dispersed at the time
of the British and Indian invasion in July, 1778. Later, during the
Pennamite-Yankee difficulties, other public and private records of the
New England settlers were destroyed by the Pennsylvania party. No
special — certainly no strenuous — effort was ever made in early days by
the people of Wyoming to gather up, renew or replace these dispersed
and lost records, except at the beginning of the last century, when the
commissioners under the Compromise Eaw of 1799t were at work
settling the land-title disputes.

Very full minutes of their proceedings were kept by these com-
missioners ; which minutes, contained in four large manuscript volumes
(the whereabouts of which cannot now be ascertained), the present
writer carefully examined some seven years ago. From them he learned
that in July, 1801, the following original records and documents were
produced by their then custodians before the commissioners, and, having
been duly identified and authenticated by various witnesses, their con-
tents were accepted by the commissioners as evidence in support of the
claims of Connecticut land-holders :

* See Chapters XI and XIII. j- See Chapter XXVI.

(i) A number of manuscript maps, original drafts of surveys and

lists of lot-holders.
(ii) One volume of "Westmoreland Probate Records" — containing
more than 100 pages of records, largely in the handwriting
of Obadiah Gore, Jr.
(iii) One volume, containing upwards of seventy pages, entitled

"Wilkesbarre Town Votes, No. 1."
(iv) One volume of original "Records of the Town of Westmore-
land," marked "Vol. I— paged from 1 to 622."
(v) One volume of original "Records of the Town of Westmore-
land," marked "Vol. II— paged from 623 to 1033."
(vi) One volume of . original "Records of the Town of Westmore-
land," marked "Vol. Ill (containing the earliest records) —
paged from 1034 to 1397."
(vii) One volume of original "Records of the Town of Westmore-
land," marked "Vol. IV (chiefly in the handwriting of
Obadiah Gore, Jr.) — paged from 1 to 170."
In addition to the foregoing there were filed with the commissioners,
during the progress of their work, hundreds of depositions of witnesses,
containing much important information relative to early Connecticut
settlers and settlements in the Wyoming region.

Of the records mentioned, "(iii)" was in the years 1801-5 in the
custody of Jesse Fell, Esq., the then Town Clerk of Wilkes-Barre —
having come into his hands in 1796 ; while "(iv)," "(v)" and "(vi)" were in
the custody of Lord Butler, Esq., with whom they had been deposited in
1792 by his father, Col. Zebulon Butler, in whose hands they had been
for many years. It appears that early in 1805 Messrs. Fell and Butler —
influenced probably by the desires of many landholders under the Con-
necticut title — declined* to deliver the record-books in their custody into
the hands of the commissioners, previously mentioned, who were then
nearing the end of their labors.

By an Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature passed iVpril 4, 1805,
the "Westmoreland records" were authorized to be deposited with the
Recorder of Deeds of Luzerne County, and certified copies of the same
were to be accepted as evidence as occasion might require. Whether
or not these records were ever deposited in the office of the Recorder of
Deeds cannot now be ascertained ; but it is certain that they are not
now there, nor have they been there during many years past. March
28, 1808, the Legislature passed an Act suspending all the powers of
the commissioners under the Act of April, 1799, and its supplements,
and requiring them to deposit their books, records, papers, etc., with
the Secretary of the Land Office of the Commonwealth. Under date of
March 28, 1896, the Secretary of the Department of Internal Affairs of
Pennsylvania (which department now comprehends the Land Office)
informed the writer hereof that the books, etc., referred to were not then
among the records of the department, and, so far as could be learned,
had never been deposited there. And yet, in the published "Report of
the Public Archives Commission, of the American Historical Asso-
ciation," made in 1900 (see page 285, Vol. II, of said report), we find
this paragraph :

* See The Luzerne Federalist of January 19 and 2^', and February P, 1805.

"When, a few years since, the office of tlie Bureau of Railroads was created and
attached to the Department of Internal Affairs, the room in which the 'Nicholson Land'
papers and 'The Seventeen Township (Wyoming)' papers had been kept was required
for its use. Accordingly, these extremely valuable ])apers, largely unpublished, were
boxed and stored in the cellar of the building, where they are of course inaccessible, and
exposed to destruction in event of serious accident to the water-pipes."

No one living in Wyoming during the first decade of the last
century seems to have then realized that the records and documents of
Westmoreland and of the Compromise Law commissioners had any
historical value or were of even the least importance. Without doubt
they were allowed to be kicked about from pillar to post during a
mnnber of years. From 1813 to 1816 the Hon. John B. Gibson was
President Judge of the Luzerne County courts, and resided in Wilkcs-
Barre. Later, for many years, he was Chief Justice of the Supreme
Court of the Commonwealth. He deposited with the American Philo-
sophical Society, Philadelphia, May 11, 181D,* "a copy of the Susque-
hanna Company's survey, f together with an ample collection of scarce
documents, made by Judge Cooper when one of the commissioners to
carry out the Compromise Law." Having recognized the value of these
documents, Judge Gibson had determined that they should be placed
where they would be preserved. Whether or not he had gathered them
up during his residence in Wilkes-Barre, or, later, had obtained them
from his friend Judge Cooper, is not now known ; but this fact is known,
viz.: that the documents in question remained hidden away in the vault
of the Philosophical Society, apparently unknown to, and certainly un-
seen by, a single writer of Wyoming histor)- until the year 1897, when
the present writer was permitted by the society to examine them and
make copies of such as he desired.

About 1832 or '3 Charles Miner found "a bound volume containing
the old Westmoreland records" in possession of a resident of Wilkes-
Barre, "who had used the blank leaves" of the book.j Mr. Miner
secured possession, and in his historical labors made use, of this book,
which, in the judgment of the present writer (in the absence of an identi-
fying description of the same by Mr. Miner), was either the record-book
"(iii)" or "(vi)" mentioned on page 26. If it was "(vi)," it may now be
seen in the collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological
Society, "tattered and torn and all forlorn" and bearing a title — "The
Town Book of W^ilkes Barre" — attached to it since the year 1802 by
some unknown scrivener. If, on the other hand, the book mentioned
by Mr. Miner was "(iii)," then the writer is unable to locate its present
resting-place.

In a communication from a local writer relative to certain historical
matters — printed in the Wilkes-Barre Advocate., November 27, 1850 —
the following paragraph appeared :

"There are in the possession of one who claims no right to them, the old West-
moreland records, worth their weight in gold, preserved and furnished by Mr. Joseph
Slocum ; and the valuable records of the old Susquehanna Company, obtained by a vote
of Assembly^ by Senator [Luther] Kidder and Mr. Speaker [Hendrick B.] Wright."

* See Sergeant and Rawle's Pennsylvania State Reports, VI : 99.

t It is a manuscript map, which was, unquestionably, made at some time between the years 1795 and
1800, and was used by the commissioners while executing the Compromise I,aw. A photo-illustration
and a full description of the map will be found in Chapter VIII.

X See Miner's "History of Wyoming," Introduction, page v.

§ This was in the year 1843, when strenuous efforts were being made to complete the erection of the
Wyoming Monument.

Dr. H. Hollister, in the first edition (published in 1857) of his
"History of the Ivackawanna Valley," in referring to the old Westmore-
land records, said (page 62) :

"These old records, which deserve a more honored place than the musty coop*
they occupy in Wilkes-Barre, are the records of the doings and laws of the colony at
Wyoming while the authority of Connecticut was acknowledged here. * * We know
of no other ancient manuscript whose publication would afford more interest and insight
of other days than the three or four written volumes of Westmoreland records which are
now so rapidly passing to decay."

In the second edition of his history, published in 1869, Doctor

Hollister said (page 114) concerning these volumes :

"These old records which once occupied a musty coop in Wilkes-Barre could not
befomid a few niotiths ago, when the writer sought for them through a clever and prom-
inent official. * * If they can be exhumed, they should be printed. The Historical
Society of Wilkes-Barre, if not able or disposed to print, ought to be their custodian."

As early as 1873 Steuben Jenkins, Esq., of the borough of Wyoming,
in the valley of Wyoming, was "industriously at work on a new history
of Wyoming, which, it was claimed, would contain many new facts in
relation to the early settlement of the valley." Mr. Jenkins worked on
his history as he felt inclined, or as opportunity was offered, during a
period of many years, and, in a careful, painstaking way, gathered
together a large amount of valuable material. But, before he was able
to put this material in shape for the printer, he died (May 29, 1890).
In 1885 Mr. Jenkins very kindly permitted the writer of this to examine
and make extracts from a few of the original records and documents,
and some of the other historical data, in the former's possession. Among
the original record-books then examined were those referred to on page
26 as "(v)" and "(vii)." These are now, presumably, in possession of
the representatives of the estate of Mr. Jenkins ; but since his death
permission to examine these public records has not been granted to
any one.

In the course of his labors the writer carefully examined and made
full extracts from the following described original, unpublished docu-
ments and records, in addition to those previously mentioned and others
to be referred to hereinafter. Without doubt none of these was ever
seen by Chapman, Miner, Stone, Peck or Pearce, inasmuch as when
they wrote this material was not known to be in existence ; or, if known,
was not accessible :

(1) Full and complete records of the transactions of the Connecti-
cut Susquehanna Company were kept by its officers from 1753 till 1802.
Col. John Franklin became Clerk of the company in 1786, and from
that time until his death in 1831 the records of the company were in
his possession. In 1801 he produced the minute-book — a book of 170
pages, covering the years 1753-86 — before the commissioners under
the Compromise Law, who made a copy of the same for their use.
Afterwards for many years the whereabouts of the original records of
the Susquehanna Company was not generally known (the reference to
them in the quoted paragraph on page 27 the writer is unable to ex-
plain) ; but in July, 1862, twelve manuscript volumes of them were
presented to The Connecticut Historical Society, at Hartford, by Edward
Herrick, Jr., Esq., of Athens, Pennsylvania, with the information that
they had been "found among the papers of the late Col. John Franklin."

* without doubt either the old I^uzerne County Court House or the "Fire-proof," that stood in the
Public Square and were torn down in 1858, is here referred to.

Some years before his death Dr. Charles J. Hoadly of Hartford, for many
years State Librarian of Connecticut and President of the Historical
Society, informed the writer that the books of the Susquehanna Com-
])any were sent by Mr. Herrick to Mr. C. Hosmer, Secretary and
Librarian of the Historical Society, who kept in Hartford "a sort of
general curiosity-shop (what you could not find anywhere else you
would usually find at Hosmer's shop)." Upon receiving these books
Mr. Hosmer laid them aside in his shop, and there, shortly afterwards.
Doctor Hoadly saw them. Some years later the latter, desiring to
examine the books, looked for them at the hall of the Historical Society,
but could not find them. Finally they were found in Hosmer's shop,
covered up with various articles. They were then removed to the hall
of the Society ; but, in time, Hosmer, who was then an aged man, for-
got where he had stored them. Doctor Hoadly again made a thorough
search for them, when they were found in various out-of-the-way corners,
littered over with newspapers, pamphlets, etc. They were then collected
and placed in the fire-proof vault of the Society, where they now are.

(2) The "Wolcott Papers," "Trumbull Papers," "Dr. Wm. Samuel
Johnson Papers" and other valuable manuscripts in the collections of
The Connecticut Historical Society.

(3) Some 200 original petitions, memorials, letters, certificates,
etc., either from or concerning the early settlers at Wyoming under the
Connecticut Susquehanna Company. These documents are arranged in
a volume entitlecl "Susquehannah Settlers, 1 755-1 79G, Vol. I," preserved
in the Connecticut State Library, Hartford.

(4) Two small volumes of 163 pages of original minutes of the
proceedings at Wilkes-Barre in the Summer of 1787 of the commis-
sioners (Col. Timothy Pickering, Stephen Balliett and William Mont-
gomery) under the Confirming Law.* These records are now in the
possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.

(5) A large number of letters, military reports, rough drafts of
minutes of town-meetings in Wyoming, lists of early settlers, etc., in
possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.

(0) A large collection of original manuscripts known as the
"Trumbull Papers," in possession of the Massachusetts Historical
Society, at Boston. These papers were derived from descendants of
the Hon. Jonathan Trumbull, for many years Governor of Connecticut,
and a shareholder in the Connecticut Susquehanna Company.

(7) The "Pickering Papers," also in the possession of the INIassa-
chusetts Historical Society. These papers — consisting of letters written
to and bv Col. Timothy Pickering,! diaries, military reports, etc. — are
comprised in fifty-eight folio volumes, and among them the writer of
this found over 1,000 manuscript pages containing much interesting
and valuable matter relating to the history of Wyoming and W^ilkes-
Barre prior to the year 1800. Colonel Pickering (who resided in
Wilkes-Barre from 1787 to 1791) was not only a remarkably able and
well-informed man, but a voluminous writer, and he seems to have kept
a copy or rough draft of every letter and document he ever wrote. We
of Wyoming owe him a debt of gratitude for having written and pre-
served so many interesting pages concerning the people and the happen-
ings in this valley.

* See Chapter XXV. t See Chapter XXIV.

(8) The "Penn Manuscripts," in possession of The Historical
Society of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia. In 1870 a large number of
original letters, manuscript documents, charters, grants, etc., relating to
William Penn and the Pennsylvania Proprietary family were offered for
sale in England. They were purchased, and in 1873 were presented to
The Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

(9) A large collection of miscellaneous legal and other public
documents, private correspondence, etc., relating to Wyoming, and
bearing dates earlier than 1805. In possession of The Historical Society
of Pennsylvania.

(10) A sniall but very interesting and valuable collection of
original letters, reports and other manuscripts relating to the Connecti-
cut Susquehanna Company and Wyoming affairs prior to 1790. In
possession of Mr. James Terry, a well-known archaeologist and collector
of New Haven, Connecticut.

(11) "Stevens' Facsimiles of Manuscripts," various manuscript
volumes entitled "American Loyalists" and a number of original, unpub-
lished documents owned by the New York Public Library (Lenox
Branch).

(12) Through the friendship and kindly interest of the Hon.
Whitelaw Reid, Special Ambassador from the United States to the Cor-
onation of King Edward VII in 1902, the writer was enabled to procure
from certain government archives in London complete copies of many
original, unpublished letters, military reports, etc., written by British
officers in New York and Canada during the vears 1777-'83 relative to
military and Indian affairs on the upper Susquehanna and at Fort
Niagara near Lake Ontario, also concerning the British and Indian
incursions upon Wyoming, as well as other important matters that
transpired during the years mentioned. The writer of this is confident
that no other American writer — early or recent — on the subject of the
warfare waged by the British and their Indian allies along the frontiers
of New York and Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary period, ever
utilized these interesting and valuable documents.

In addition to the various unprinted records and documents just
enumerated, the writer carefully examined, and extracted much valu-
able material from, the following-mentioned printed records — many of
which were published subsequently to the writing of Stone's and
Miner's histories of Wyoming :

(1) The "Pennsylvania Colonial Records" — sixteen volumes.

(2) The "Pennsylvania Archives" — seventy-five volumes in four
series.

(3) "American Archives" — nine volumes.

(4) "American State Papers" — thirty-eight volumes.

(5) "The Public Papers of George Clinton." In 1853 the Legis-
lature of New York purchased forty-eight folio volumes of original docu-
ments that had belonged to George Clinton, Governor of New York
1777-95 and 1 801-'4. These papers are being edited by Hugh Hastings,
State Historian, and thus far six 8vo volumes have been published.

(6) "The Journals of the Sullivan Expedition."

(7) A series of a dozen or more articles written by Col. John
Franklin over the pseudonym "Plain Truth," and published in Ahe
years 1801-'o.

(8) All extended account of the battle of Wyoming and occur-
rences immediately following ; written by Col. John Franklin, and pub-
lished in 1828 in the Toivaiida Republican.

(9) Over 15,000 pages of newspapers published in Boston, Massa-
chusetts ; Hartford, Norwich and New London, Connecticut ; New
York City ; Philadelphia, Wilkes-Barre and Kingston, Pennsylvania,
and covering the years from 1753 to 1875. Few things are less valued
than newspapers not of the current date — unless they happen to bear a
date that is very far from current. In that case they have a curious
interest and no little worth. But few people appreciate how much that
is of interest and value to the historian may be found in the columns of
old newspapers. "Apart even from their value to the historiographer
and the antiquary, few relics of the past are more suggestive or interest-
ing than the old newspaper. It is, in mercantile phrase, a book of
original entry, showing us the transactions of the time in the light in
which they were regarded by the parties engaged in them, and reflecting
the state of public sentiment on innumerable topics — moral, religious,
political, military and scientific." A year or two ago a writer in a
London periodical said : "One of the functions of a public library is
to take care of the printed records of the locality, and there is no better
conspectus of local history than a 'long set' of the chief newspaper.
Even the advertisements become of value in time. Research into the
history of towns, and even of villages, has become so popular of late
years that we cannot afford to neglect such valuable sources of infor-
mation."

On the ceiling of the dome over the reading-room in the splendid
National Library at Washington appears, among other inscriptions, this
from an unknown author : "We taste the spices of Arabia, yet never
feel the scorching sun which brings them forth." Those who are fond
of reading history, but are too ready to criticize unfavorably the work
of the historian, should bear in mind this anonymous saying. The
writing of history is not easy — for on more than a few points the
writer is likely "to displease many and content few ;" but harder yet is
the labor of gathering material for the work. Tom Moore, the poet,
once said that there was no fool's paradise so beautiful as the conceiving
of a poem, and no treadmill so laborious as the writing of it. It is a
pleasant thing to be an author — after one's book is printed !

Dr. Samuel Johnson, in the preface to his dictionary, said : "I look
with pleasure on my book, however defective, and deliver it to the
world with the spirit of a man that has endeavored well." The author
of this present book woitld fain make use of those words in offering
these results of his labors to the sons and daughters of Wilkes-Barre —
both at home and abroad in the world.

"^^^s"*^-.- rFi?T'

CHAPTER II.

THE NORTH BRANCH OF THE SUSQUEHANNA RIVER— THE VALLEY OF
WYOMING— LOCATION AND DESCRIPTION-
POETRY AND LEGEND.

'Oh ! could I flow like thee, and make thy stream
My great example as it is my theme ;
Though deep, yet clear, though gentle, yet not dull,
Strong without rage, without o'erflowing, full !"

—Denhavi's ''Cooper's Hill: '

"Oh ! beautiful vision of Summer delight !

Oh ! marvelous sweep of the circling hills !
Where sunshine and shadow contend on the height,
And a deeper green follows the paths of the rills
As they leap to the valley, whose gold and green
Add the finishing charm to the exquisite scene."

— Susan E. Dickinson.

In the northern part of Otsego Connty, in eastern-central New York,
lies Lake Otsego, which, although not so large* as some of the many
other lakes lying in that State, is nevertheless much larger than any
lake within the bounds of the adjoining State of Pennsylvania. Lake
Otsego was not known by this name to the Indians of early days. In
Governor Dongan's time they called it "the lake whence the Susque-
hannah takes its rise." Cadwallader Colden (sometime Surveyor
General of New York, and in 1760 and later years Lieutenant Governor)
in his "History of the Five Indian Nations," first published in 1727,
referred to it in similar terms. In 1745 the Mohawk chief Abraham
described to William Johnson certain lands as lying "at the head of Sus-
quehannah Lake." On the reduced reproductionf of a "Map of the
Eastern Part of the Province of New York" shown on the followino-
page (this map was first published in 1756 in The Londo7i Magazine)^
the lake in question is indicated, but without a name. "In letters
written from the lake in 1765 missionaries called it Otsego Lake, which
is perhaps the earliest use of the name on record," says Francis W.
Halsey in "The Old New York Frontier" (page 22).

In the same county of Otsego, six miles west of the northern end of
Lake Otsego, and 1,750 feet above sea-level, lies a smaller body of water,
now called Canadurango Lake. On the accompanying map it is noted

* It is nine miles in length, from north to south.

t Photographed from an original copy in possession of Dr. Charles S. Beck, Wilkes- Barr6.

as "Caiieaderaga Lake" ; but on another map published in 1750, and
referred to by Mr. Halsey in "The Old New York Frontier" (page 124),
it appears as "Canadurango." On a "Chorographical Map of the Prov-
ince of New York," compiled by order of Maj. Gen. William Tryon,
and first published in London January 1, 1779, "Caniaderaga Lake"
and "Otsega Lake" are thus indicated. About the year 1S22 — and
without doubt earlier — the first-mentioned lake was sometimes referred
to as "Canadarque."* Inasmuch as it lay within the bounds of the

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T.-.rti/trri/ii'/-j j/A- .

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patent obtained in 1 755 by David Schuyler it was for many years called
"Schuyler's Lake," and in some of the most modern cyclopaedias and
geographies is so named. Within recent years, however, its ancient
name of "Canadurango" has been restored to it.

The two lakes mentioned — whose outflows unite three miles south
of Cooperstown, lying at the southern end of Lake Otsego — are the
principal sources of the North, or Main, Branch of the Susquehanna
River, which, flowing generally in a south-westerly direction to the Penn-
sylvania State line, receives in its course in New York the Unadilla
River and several smaller tributaries. Crossing the Pennsylvania
boundary, near the extreme north-east corner of that State, the river
flows around the base of a spur of the Allegheny range of mountains, in
the townships of Harmony and Willingborough, Susquehanna (formerly
a part of Luzerne) County — forming, in this grand sweep, what for
many years has been called the Great Bend of the Susquehanna. Re-
enterino; New York the river flows in a north-westerlv direction to
Binghamton, whence — having received there the waters of the Chenango
River — its course is west by south till it again makes an entrance into
Pennsylvania in northern-central Bradford County. Then, running

* See The Susquehanna Democrat (Wilkes-Barr4), November 15, 1822.

about six and a-half miles in a south-westerly direction, it receives its
principal affluent, the Chemung, or Tioga, River.*

The peninsula lying between, or at the confluence of, the Susque-
hanna and the Tioga (it is a broad and nearly level plain, extending
northward to the State line) bore in early times the name of Diahoga

Tioga Point in 1900.

or Tyogaf ; but for more than a hundred years now the locality has
been known as Tioga Point. Near the southern end of this peninsula
stands the town of Athens, laid out in May, 1786, under the auspices of
the Connecticut Susquehanna Company, and incorporated as a borough
in March, 1831.

From Tioga Point the Susquehanna pursues, with many windings,
a mean south-easterly course in Pennsylvania as far as the city of Pittston
in the north-eastern corner of Luzerne County ; receiving on the way
numerous small tributaries. Just at the northern boundary of Pittston
— having entered Wyoming Valley through a precipitous gap — it is
joined by the Lackawanna River, once a limpid stream of considerable
volume and value, but now, for the most part, no more than a sluggish,
unsightly creek. Three-quarters of a mile below the mouth of the

* The Tioga River rises in the south-eastern part of Tioga County, Pennsylvania. Flowing north-
ward in this county it receives the waters of several creeks and small rivers, and then, crossing the New
York State line, it is joined by the Chemung River and flows south-easterly (for a considerable distance
in New York, where it is called the Chemung River) to the Susquehanna at Tioga Point. On I,ewis
Evans' map of Pennsylvania, published in March, 1749 (see Chapter IV), this river is indicated as the
"Cayuga Branch" of the Susquehanna — "near as large as Schuylkill [River]." On the map on page 33,
and on a "Map of the Province of Pensilvania" first published in 1756 (see Chapter V), "Caj'uga Branch"
is shown, with the Tioga tributary noted as "Tohiccon." On a map of Pennsylvania and part of New-
York by Reading Howell, published in 1791 (see Chapter XXIII), "Tyoga River" is thus indicated, both in
New York and Pennsylvania.

t On Evans' map of 1749 (see Chapter IV) the Indian town at that point is indicated as "Tohiccon."
Evans had visited the locality in 1743.

"Tyoga" is said by some writers to be derived from an Indian word '■^Teyaogen, meaning an interval,
or anything in the middle of two other things." Other writers have stated that the parent- word means
either "meeting-place" or "the meeting of the waters." Morgan, in his "League of the Iroquois" (edition
of 1851, page 48), says that the parent-word is Td-yo-ga, meaning "at the forks."

For further and more interesting details concerning Diahoga and Tioga Point see Chapter IV.

Lackawanna the Snsquelianna tnrns sharply to the sonth-west, and
having flowed abont seven miles reaches Wilkes-Barre. Continuing-
some nine miles farther, in a sinuous course, it rushes over the dam at
Nanticoke Falls and leaves the valley, and then flows, generally in a
south-westerly direction, to Northumberland in eastern-central Pennsyl-
vania, where it is joined by the West liranch of the Susquehanna (which
is more than 200 miles in length). From this point, increasing in width
and volume as it receives other affluents, the river flows south, and then
in a windino- course south-east, 153 miles to its mouth at the head of
Chesapeake Bay in Maryland.

F'rom Otsego Lake to Chesapeake Bay the Susquehanna flows a
distance of a little more than 400 miles, and in its course passes through
many wide-rolling, cultivated fields, tall, beetling cliffs, low-lying, rich
meadows, bold, craggy and picturesque mountains and beautiful, pro-
ductive valleys. From its source to its mouth the scenery along its
banks is unsurpassed for variety, charm and grandeur. The North
Branch is of no great width, although forty and more years ago it was
of much greater width and depth — particularly in north-eastern Penn-
sylvania — than it is now.* It is a shallow, meandering stream, "that
gladdens every eye that once has known it and then comes back to see
its face again."

Some distance below Tioga Point the ^precipitous hills — from 300
to 600 feet in height — which bound the river valley on each side,
approach so closely in several places that the river flats are quite narrow
and subject to overflow in the annual Spring freshets. Farther on the
river valley is broad, and the ancient flood plain is many feet higher
than any freshets have been in modern times ; then the shores of the
river become frequently rugged and mountainous, with only occasional
strips of alluvial land. Just above the mouth of the lyackawanna
the Susquehanna breaks through the mountain — as previously men-
tioned — that forms the north-western boundary of Wyoming Valley.
At Nanticoke Falls it breaks out through the same mountain, and about
eiofht miles lower down again overcomes it. It is difficult to account
for this singular and aj)parently useless freak of the otherwise dignified
and onward Susquehanna. It looks like the mere wantonness of
conscious strenofth — a sort of Sam Patch ambition to show that some
things may be done as well as others.

Many green islands stud the Susquehanna throughout its whole
length, while here and there gentle rapids, or riffles, and falls of no
great height diversify the otherwise imruffled current. The most con-
siderable falls in the North Branch of the river prior to the year 1830
were those at Nanticoke at the lower end of Wyoming Valley, where
the river breaks its way through the mountain, as just noted. Biit these
falls had nothing of a cataract character, and in times of high water
could easily be passed over by arks and rafts. On the plot of the
Manor of Sunbury (referred to on page 51), and on William Scull's
maps of Pennsylvania published in 1770 and 1775, these falls are noted

♦According to measurements carefully made in September, 1809, the channel of the river was 894 feet
in width from the top of the bank at the foot of Northampton Street, Wilkes-Barre, to the top of the
opposite bank. As it was then a time of low water, and the elevation of the bank at Northampton Street
was twenty-seven feet above the river's surface, it is probable that the stream at that time and place was
at least 800 feet in width.

In April, 1902, when the water was not at its lowest level, the width of the stream was measured at
the Market Street bridge by an employe of the United States Geological Survey, and was found to be
710 feet

as "Wyoming Falls" ; but their name was changed to Nanticoke Falls
after the New Englanders had become established in the valley. Along
the line of these natural falls the Nanticoke dam was erected in 1830,
in conjunction with the North Branch Canal.*

On the drafts of some of the earliest surveys made in Wyoming
Valle}^, and on early manuscript and lithographed maps comprehending
north-eastern Pennsylvania (for example, the map by Reading Howell
mentioned in the note on page 3-4), "Wyoming Falls" are indicated at a
point in the river a short distance above the mouth of Mill Creek. f
Presumably these falls were of a more extensive and formidable char-
acter a century and a-quarter ago than they are at this time. They are
now — particularly in times of low water — no more than ordinary riffles
or rapids, extending the full width of the stream and a short distance in
its course, and are caused by the many boulders and irregularly-shaped

Nanticoke Dam in 1899, from the West Shore of the River.

rocks which lie in the bed of the stream at that point, over which the
shallow water swirls and eddies. In times of high water the stream
flows much more swiftly there than elsewhere in the vicinity of Wilkes-
Barre, while the swirling noticeable at other times is then not so
apparent. The head of these riffles or rapids is situated less than half a
mile north of the city of Wilkes-Barre, nearly opposite the present
Prospect Colliery of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company, or about midway
between the bridge of the Wilkes-Barre and Eastern Railroad and that
of the Bowman's Creek Branch of the Lehigh Valle}* Railroad.
^■::.:^0n the Wilkes-Barre side of the river, just below where the Dor-
rance Colliery of the Lehigh Valley Coal Company now stands, there
were rapids of moderate extent some twenty-five years ago and more.
To the Wilkes-Barreans of those da5^s they were known as "The Riffles."
When, at this point, the construction of a fairway — intended to be of
material aid to river navigation — was attempted by the Federal Govern-

* See Chapter XI^VIII.

fSee Chapter VII for a facsimile of a plot of the Manor of Stoke, made in December, 1768, whereon
these falls are noted, but without a name.

iiient, by the erection of a line of timber cribs,* the character of "The
Riffles" was considerably changed ; and within recent years, beginning
near the foot of these rapids and extending almost to the North Street
bridge, qnite a sizable island has gradnally risen up from the gravelly
bottom of the river. In midsummer, or at other seasons when the stream
is unusually low, this island is united to the west, or Kingston, shore by
the dwindling away of the current on that side ; and all the water that
then passes Wilkes-Barre in the river's bed, from North Street bridge to
Toby's Kddy (see page 52), comes down through the narrow channel
on the Wilkes-Barre side, at ''The Riffles."

"Wyoming Falls," in Time of High Water, October, 1903.

The Susquehanna was noted in earlier days for the clearness and

purity of its waters. x\s late as February, 1860, in a communication

to the Record of the Times (Wilkes-Barre) relative to the North Branch

of the river, Charles Miner, the historian of Wyoming, wrote :

"Is there in the wide world — we make no. exception, not one, from Pison to
Euphrates — a river or stream purer than the Susquehanna, that flows right by our doors?
Is it not so limpid, so clear, that floating down in a skiff or canoe 3'ou may see every-
where, however deep, the sands at the bottom and mark the fish as they glide by and
play around your boat? Is there in all its extent of 200 miles to Otsego a single
stagnant pool ? On the contrary, is it not in its utmost length constituted by running
brooks — living springs leaping from the mountains, no where on the wide earth sur-
passed in salubrity?'-

In these present days, owing to the diminution of the stream from

various causes, the discharge into it not only of sewage matter from

manv towns, but of "the viscous oozes of the Lackawanna" and vast

quantities of turbid and polluted water pumped from the coal-mines and

coal-washeries located in and near Wyoming Valley, the North Branch

of the Susquehanna, from the head of Wyoming Valley southward for

some distance, is no longer the absolutely pure and limpid stream that

historians were wont to describe with delight and poets to rhapsodize.

*See Chapter XLVI.

When the Susquehanna River first became known to white men
they found that it was called by that name by the Indians who were
familiar with it. Ever since then it has been known by the same name
— slightly modified in its spelling, however, at different periods, as for
example: "Sasquehannock", "Saosquahanunk", "Susquehannock", "Sas-
quahanu", "Sasquahanough" and "Sisquehannah." The name is gener-
ally spelled "Susquehannah" on many drafts of surveys and maps, and in
official documents and other papers, executed or published between the
years 1730 and 1790.

According to Henry R. Schoolcraft* and others who have written
about the North American Indians, the Susquehannocks, Minquas,
Gandastogues or Andastes were a powerful tribe — "a brave, proud and
high-spirited nation" — of aboriginals who, at a very early day, inhabited,
principally, the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, near its head, within
what is now the State of Maryland. The first of the four names men-
tioned above was, apparently, an appellation given these Indians by the
Virginia tribes ; the second, that given them by the Algonkins on the
Delaware ; while Gandastogue as the French, or Conestoga as the
English, wrote it, was their own tribal name, meaning "cabin-pole men"
— natio perticarufn — from andasta^ "a cabin-pole."t On this point Prof.
A. L. Guss, author of "Early Indian History on the Susquehanna,"^

says : "We can rest assured
that 'Sasquesahanocks' [Sus-
quehannocks] is a Tock-
wock, or Nanticoke, term,
and not the term that those
'gyants' applied to them-
selves. There is no subse-
quent evidence that they
called themselves by any
such name as Sasquesahan-
ocks, or that they were so
called by any other Iroquois
tribe, unless it was after they
got it from the English."

Captain John Smith, who
visited and circumnavigated
Chesapeake Bay in 1608,
furnishes in his "Generall
Historic of Virginia, New
England and the Summer
Isles" (original!}^ published
in London in 1624) the first
account of these Indians.
He refers to them as the
" Sasquesahanocks," num-
bering 600 warriors (which
would denote a population
of about 3,000 souls), and being a "gyant like people" who "spoke in

A SUSOUEHANNOCK CHIEF.

From an original sketch by F. O. C. Darley,
in possession of the author.

* See his "History of the Indian Tribes of the United States," edition of 1857, pages 128, 131, 137 and 142.
fSee I^arned's "History for Ready Reference," I : 105.
JSeelEgle's "Historical Register," I : 252-267.

t/2

ilS

'f,

ffi

Cfi

K-*

a hollow tone with a full enunciation," and who, "when fio-hting, never
fled, but stood like a wall as lon^:;; as there was one [Indian] remain-
ing." Captain Smith was, without doubt, the first white man that met
Indians who resided within the present limits of Pennsylvania.

In 1()08 one of the towns of the Susquehannocks was exactly at
the mouth of the Susquehanna River, and other of their towns were
located at various points up the river for some distance. Professor
Guss savs that "the chief town of the Susquehannocks was at the time
of Smith's exploration probably near the mouth of Conestoga Creek,"
on the Susquehanna River, within the present limits of Lancaster
County, Pennsylvania. On a very early map of the Province of Penn-
sylvania* "Sasquahana Indian Fort" is indicated near the "Great P'all"
in the Susquehanna, at no great distance from the river's mouth.

Prior to IGOO the Susquehannocks and the Mohawks came into
collision, and the former nearly exterminated the latter in a war that
lasted ten years. In 1608 Captain Smith found them still contending
with each other, equally resolute and warlike ; the Susquehannocks
being impregnable in their palisaded towns, and ruling over all the
Algonkin tribes. About the year 1630 the Susquehannocks claimed
the exclusive right to the country lying between the Susquehanna and
Potomac rivers. This was their hunting-ground, and marked the
boundary-line between their jurisdiction and that of the Powhatanic
confederacy of Virginia. Whatever were the local names of the bands
occupying the banks of the several intermediate rivers, these bands
were merely subordinate to the reigning tribe, primarily located near
the mouth and along the shores of the Susquehanna.

It is very probable that the Susquehannocks, or Conestogas, had
occupied for many years not only the country about the lower Susque-
hanna, but that as late as 153-1, at least, their territory extended as far
north as the Gulf of St. Lawrence, and was contiguous to that of the
Iroquois, or Five Nations — later the Six Nations — on the north before
the Lenni Lenapes, or Delawares, began their westward movement. f

The Susquehannocks were, undoubtedly, a branch of the great
Huron-Iroquois family. From time immemorial they were friends and
allies of the Hurons (a segregated Iroquois tribe), and not over friendly
to the Five Nations. In 1647 the Susquehannocks, then able to place
in the field 1,300 warriors (who had been trained to the use of fire-arms
by three Swedish soldiers), despatched an embassy to Lake Huron with
an offer to espouse the quarrel of the Hurons with the Iroquois, and
a request that when the Hurons (who were then on the brink of ruin)
needed aid they would call on the Susquehannocks. This proposed
alliance failed, however.

In 1661 the Susquehannock towns were ravaged by small-pox, and
the loss resulting^ from this scouro^e was such as to weaken the tribe
greatly. In this same year, also, some of the tribe were cut off by the
Seneca Indians (one of the tribes of the Iroquois, or Five Nation, con-
federacy). In 1663 an army of 1,600 Senecas marched against the
Susquehannocks and laid siege to a little fort defended by 100 warriors
of that tribe, who, confident in their own bravery and of receiving
assistance from their brethren, held out manfully. At last, sallying out

* See Egle's "History of Pennsylvania," p. 92.

t See "Report on Indians in the TTnited States at the Eleventh Census (1S90)," page 277.

from the fort, they routed the Senecas, killing ten and recovering as
many of their own people who had been captured by the Senecas.

Concerning the Susquehannocks George Alsop wrote as follows in
1666, in his "Character of the Province of Maryland" :

' 'They are a people lookt upon by the Christian Inhabitants as the most Noble and
Heroic Nation of Indians that dwell upon the Confines of America. Also, are so allowed
and lookt upon by the rest of the Indians hj a submissive and tributary acknowledg-
ment, being a people cast into the mould of a most large and warlike deportment, the
mien being for the most part seven foot high in latitude, and in magnitude and bulk suit-
able to so high a pitch ; their voyce large and hollow, as ascending out of a Cave ; their
gate and behavior strait, stately and majestick, treading on the Earth with as much
pride, contempt and disdain to so sordid a Center as can be imagined from a creature
derived from the same mould and Earth.

"These Susquehannock Indians are for the most part great Warriors, and seldom
sleep one Summer in the quiet armes of a peaceable Rest, but keep, by their present
power as well as by their former conquest, the several Nations of Indians round about
them in a forceable obedience and subjection. Their government is an Anarch}'. He
that fights best carries it. * * * ""' They now and then feed on the carcasses of their
enemies. They intomb the mines of their deceased conquest in no other Sepulchre than
their unsanctified maws.

"They are situated a hundred and odd miles distant from the Christian Plantations
of Mary Land, at the head [mouth?] of a river that runs into the Bay of Chesapike,
called by their own name the Susquehannock River, where they remain and inhabit
most part of the Summer time, and seldom remove far from it, unless it be to subdue any
Forreign Rebellion. About November the best Hunters draw off to several remote
places of the Woods, where they know the Deer, Bear and Elk useth. There they build
several cottages, where they remain for the space of three months."

The Susquehannocks seem to have been in almost continuous war-
fare with the Iroquois from the year 1663 until 1675, when the former
were completely overthrown. In the year last mentioned a party of
about 100 Susquehannocks, having retreated from Pennsylvania into
Maryland, became involved there in a war with the colonists and were
well-nigh exterminated. The remaining members of the tribe sub-
mitted to the Iroquois, who removed some of them from their old
position near the mouth of the Susquehanna to one farther up the river
— perhaps to or near Tioga Point, previously mentioned. iVll the rest of
the Susquehannocks were forced to dwell at their old town of Conestoga.

At a council held with the Six Nation Indians at Philadelphia, in
October, 1736, at which the Hon. Thomas Penn, one of the Proprie-
taries of Pennsylvania, was present, the Indians were told :* "The
lands on Sasquehannah, we believe, belong to the Six Nations by the
conquest of the Indians of that river."

On the first arrival (in 1681) of the English in Pennsylvania
messengers from Conestoga came to welcome them with presents of
venison, corn and skins ; and in June, 1683, the whole tribe — together
with the Lenni Lenapes and other Indian nations — entered into a treaty
of friendship (the "Great Treaty") with the first Proprietary, William
Penn, under the ancient elm at Shackamaxon on the Delaware, which
treaty was "to last as long as the sun should shine or the waters run
into rivers."t In 1701 Canoodagtoh, styled "King of the Susque-
hannas," made a treaty at Philadelphia with William Penn, who was
preparing to return to England, and in the record of that treaty the
Indians are denominated "Minquas, Conestogas or Susquehannas."

"Jealous of their tribal sovereignty, the Susquehannocks added, by
intestine wars, to the natural deaths produced by decay and intemperance ;
and when, like the other tribes, they began to assert their rights and

*See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IV : 94.
tSee "Pennsylvania— Colonial and Federal," I : 286.

sovereignty, and resist the encroachments of Europeans, they had already
diminished so much in popuhition that they lacked the ability to main-
tain their ground. They were outwitted in diplomacy by a civilized
nation, and if they did not disappear before the steady progress of arts,
industry and genius among the colonists, they were enervated during
peace and conquered in war."*

Thev still continued to hunt on their old grounds in southern
Pennsylvania and in Maryland, and even ventured beyond the Potomac
into Virginia. This caused a distigreement betw^een them and the
southern Indians, and the loss of their king in a skirmish in the year
1719. In consequence they applied to Governor Keith of Pennsylvania
for protection, and in the Spring of 1721 the Governor went to Virginia
^ to consult with the Governor of that Colony as to the best plan for the
securit)' or common safety of the Indians. As a result of this interview
Governor Keith notified the Six Nations and the Susquehannocks, or
Conestogas as they were now generally called, that he would meet their
representatives in conference on July 5, 1721, at Conestoga. Thither
the Governor journeyed from Philadelphia, accompanied by seventy
well-mounted and armed horsemen. In the course of the conference,
which lasted several days, the Governor addressed the Conestogas as
his "children," and referred to the Six Nations as their "friends." He
reminded the former that their oppressor, Nathaniel Bacon of Virginia,
had fallen a victim to his passions in 1677 ; that the then Governor of
Virginia was their friend, and that he requested them not to cross the
Potomac in future — promising that his Indians should not disturb the
Conestogas in their hunting-grounds. "I have made this agreement,
which you must keep," said Governor Keith. "It is but a few years
since William Penn spoke to your nation in council, which your chiefs
must well remember. Onas'\ gave you good counsel, which you must
never forget." A Conestoga chief replying to Governor Keith said :
"The roots of the Tree of Friendship are planted deep ; the tree top is
high ; the branches spread in warm weather when the weary Indian
sleeps beneath its shade. So is the Indian protected by Oiias when
danger threatens from the deep and dark thicket. We have not for-
gotten Oiias\ he promised us protection at Shackamaxon."|

At a treaty held in 1742 the Conestogas appeared as a tribe, but
they were then dwindling away. In 1763 the feeble remnant of the
tribe was exterminated by the "Paxtang Boys."§

Various origins and meanings have been ascribed by historians and
etymologists to the name "Susquehannock." Some of the earliest
writers on the subject assumed that the Indians gave their name to the
river ; but this seems highly improbable, for the word "Susquehannock"
describes clearly and appositely the well-known peculiar characteristics
of the river upon whose banks this particular tribe of Indians had
its home. It was looked upon, and spoken of, as their river, and
naturally, therefore, to the Indians themselves the name of their river

♦Schoolcraft's "History of the Indian Tribes," page 135.

fAn Indian word signifying "feather" or "quill." By it William Penn, during his lifetime, was
usually designated by the Indians ; but later they used the word generally as their name for the Gov-
ernor of Pennsylvania.

JSee Hazard's Pennsylvania Register (February, 1835), XV : 138.

\ See "The Harvey Book," page 747.

came in time to be applied by other tribes or nations. Heckewelder*

states :

"The Indians (L,enape) distinguish the river which we call Susquehanna, thus :
The North Branch they call M'' chweuwamisipu, or, to shorten it, M'' chweuworviink , from
which we have called it Wyoming. The word implies : The river 07i which are exten-
sive, clear flats. The Six Nations, according to Pyriseus [a Moravian missionary], call it
Gahonta, which had the same meaning. The West Branch they call Quenischachachgek-
hanne ; but to shorten it they say Quenischachachki. This word implies : The river
which has the long reaches, or straight courses, in it. From the forks, where now the
town of Northumberland stands, downwards, the}' have a name (this word I have lost)
which implies the Great Bay River. The word Susquehanna, properly Sisquehanne,
from Siska for mud and hanne a stream, was probably at an early time of the settling of
this country overheard by some white person, while the Indians were at the time of a
flood or freshet remarking : '■Jah ! Achsisqnehanne,^ or 'Sisquehanna,^ which is How
muddy the stream is ! and therefore taken as the proper name of the river."

Professor Guss, however, declines to accept this theory and says
(see Egle's "Historical Register") : "Heckewelder was long a missionary
among the Delawares. He was so prejudiced in their favor that he
could 'Delawareize' almost any word." Nevertheless, in 1884 certain
Delaware chiefs who, in all probability, had never heard of Heckewelder
(who had then been dead for more than sixty years), stated that the
name Susquehanna was derived from ^"^ A-theth-qua-nee''' in their language,
meaning "the roily river, "f

Roberts Vaux, a Philadelphia Quaker, who, at an early date, was a
diligent inquirer into matters relating to the Indians, gave "Saosqua-
hanunk" as the original name of the Susquehanna ; its meaning being "a
long, crooked river." J. R. Simms, in his "Frontiersmen of New York,"
originall}^ published in 1845, describes the name Susquehanna as "an
aboriginal word said to signify crooked river " ; and J. Fenimore Cooper
(whose home was at the source of the Susquehanna) gives that meaning
to the river's name in his novel "The Pioneers." John Binns, familiar
for a period of many years (beginning in the latter part of the eighteenth
century) with the hydrography, history and traditions of the Susque-
hanna, states in his "Life" : "Susquehanna is the Indian name of the
river. The meaning of the word is said to be 'the river with the rocky
bottom.' Never was a river more correctly named."

The Rev. W. M. Beau champ, S. T. D., of Syracuse, New York,
who is recognized as one of the leading and most reliable authorities of
the present day on the Iroquois and other Indian languages, customs,
etc., gives ^'Qiienischachschgekhanne as a word from which Heckewelder
once thought Susquehanna might have been derived by corruption."
This word means "river with long reaches" — a fair equivalent for "long,
crooked river," and one giving a more accurate description of the river
than the word meaning "muddy stream."

F. W. Halsey says (page 19 of "The Old New York Frontier",

previously mentioned) :

"The Iroquois had another name for the Susquehanna, Ga-wa-no-wa-na-neh, which
means 'great island,' and to which Gehunda. the common word for river, was added to
get Great Island River. At the mouth of the stream, lying squarel}' athwart it, is an
island perhaps a mile long, that was formerly known as Palmer's Island, but later has

*JoHN G. B. Heckewelder, born in England in 1743; died at Bethlehem, Pennsj^lvania, in 182.3.
From 1765 to 1771 he was employed as a teacher at the Moravian missions at Friedenshiitten and Sheshe-
quin, in Pennsylvania. He then became an evangelist and was appointed assistant to David Zeisberger,
vpith whom he labored in Ohio. He studied carefully the language, manners and customs of the Indians —
particularly the Delawares. In 1810 he returned from Ohio to Bethlehem, where he engaged in literary
pursuits until his death. Among the various books concerning the Indians which he published was one
(in 1822) bearing this title : "Names which the Lenni Lenape, or Delaware, Indians gave to Rivers,
Streams and Localities within the States of Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia ; with
their Significations."

tSee "Transactions of the Buffalo (N. Y.) Historical Society" (1885), III : 102, 103.

been called Watson's Island. It lies exactly where lived the Susquehanna Indians. The
mainland oy)posite has been found to be very rich in weapons, domestic utensils, etc.,
many thousands of specimens havinj^ l)een found. * * '•■ The vSusquehanna is remark-
able elsewhere for the number and size of its islands, especially in Pennsylvania."

Professor Gnss, in his article previonsl}' referred to on pag-e 38,
says that he knows "of no anthority" for the meanin<; "lon^;, crooked
river" applied to the word "Snsquehannock" or "Su.sqnehanna" ; and
that the word si<Jiiifying "the river with rocks" is of Shawanese origin.
As will be shown in the chapter following this, the Shawanese Indians
did not become occnpants of the Snsqnchanna River region in north-
eastern and eastern-central Pennsylvania until about the years IT'^.^-'^iS ;
therefore it is hardly probable that prior to this period a name of Shaw-
anese origin would have been selected by the Snsquehannock or an}-
other Indian tribe for this important and well-known river. It was at
a still later period than this that the Shawanese, Delawares and other
Indians living on the upper branches of the river were referred to as
"the Susquehanna Indians."

Professor Guss entertains the opinion that the Snsquehannock
Indians derived their name from that of the river, and he holds that
this name means "brook-stream" or "spring-w^ater-stream" ; wherefore
the Indians living along, or at the mouth of, this stream were called by
other tribes "Susquehannocks, or brook-stream-land-ers, or spring-water-
stream-region-people." This may appear to some readers to be a fanciful
meaningf, but it is not more so than some of the other meanings given
to the word. It really accurately describes the character of the river,
for, from its source to its mouth, it is fed by a remarkably large number
of brooks, creeks and small rivers that have their rise in mountain
springs. This fact being generally known to the aboriginals, the tribe
or nation living along the shores of this river would, very probably, be
referred to by contemporary tribes as the people living in the region of
the river fed by spring-water brooks ; or, in the picturesc^ue language of
the Indians, as "brook-stream-land-ers."

In line, apparently, with the opinion of Professor Guss it is stated
in "Bulletin No. 197 of the United States Geological Survey" (page
248), published in 1902, that "Susquehanna is derived from an Indian
word, suckahanne^ meaning 'water'."

It may be that the true meaning of the word "Susquehannock,"
or "Susquehanna," has vanished, never to be recovered, just as the
nation that bore this name long ago disappeared ; but, whether this be
so or not, the name of that nation will be perpetuated by their noble
river, which is a more enduring memorial than the perishable monu-
ments erected by man.

Of the many valleys through which the Susquehanna courses its
way seaward the most noted in history, poetry and legend, the richest
in material wealth and, in the opinion of many, the most charming and
attractive in physical features is Wyoming Valle)^ — "an island of beauty
in a sea of billowy mountains." It is situated in Luzerne County, in
north-ea.stern Pennsylvania, and is formed by detached, outlying ranges
of the Allegheny mountain-system. Its shape is that of a long oval, or
elliptical, basin, a little more than sixteen miles in length from north-
east to south-west, with an average breadth of three miles.* Its upper

* See the maps and reports of the United States Geological Survey relating to Pennsylvania, pub-
lished in 1894. According to these it is 16.1 miles in a bee-line from the face of Campbell's l,edge to
Nanticoke Falls.

end lies in latitude 41° 21' north, and in longitude 75° 47' west from
Greenwich ; while its lower end is in latitude 41° 13' north, and in
longitude 76° 1' west.

Nearly in the center of the valley, chiefly on an oblong plain
elevated from twenty-five to thirty-five feet above the surface of the river
at its lowest level, lies Wilkes-Barre, the latitude of whose Public
Square (almost centrally located in the town) is 41° 14' 40.4" north,
and its longitude 1° 10' 4.6" east from Washington, or 75° 49' 55.4"
west from Greenwich, as shown by the second geological survey of Penn-
sylvania, made in 1881. According to the United States survey previ-
ously referred to, however, the longitude of Public Square is 75° 52'
55" west. The elevation of Wilkes-Barre above mean sea-level ranges
from 531.5 feet at the base of the monument on the River Common
near Northampton Street, or 541 feet at the base of the geological
survey monument in Public Square, to 731 feet on the heights in the
eastern and south-eastern parts of the town. The low-water level of the
Susquehanna at Wilkes-Barre is 506 feet above mean sea-level.'*'

Wilkes-Barre lies south, 57° 50' west, 149.8 miles in a bee-line
(212 miles by railway) from Albany, New York ; north, 70° 34' west,
107.5 miles in a bee-line (176 miles by railway) from the city of New
York ; north, 25° 8' west, 97.9 miles in a bee-line (145 miles by railway)
from Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and north, 36° 59' east, 89.3 miles in
a bee-line (118 miles by railway) from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

The short mountain-range forming the north-eastern, eastern and
south-eastern boundary of Wyoming Valley is known as Wilkes-Barre
Mountain, and that forming the north-western, western and south-
western boundary is called Shawanese Mountain. The continuation of
the Wilkes-Barre range in a north-easterly direction from the head of
Wyoming Valley is known by the name of Lackawanna Mountain ;
while the continuation of Shawanese Mountain beyond and north-east-
wardly from the Susquehanna at the head of the valley is called
Capouse Mountain. That part of Wilkes-Barre Mountain lying between
Laurel Run and Solomon's Creek was called in 1809-'13 (and, perhaps,
before those years as well as later) "Bullock's Mountain" — evidently
from Nathan Bullock, who, with his family, was an early settler on the
mountain.

Paralleling the Wilkes-Barre-Lackawanna range on the south-east,
and lying near it, is a much longer and higher, although more broken
and irregular, range bearing different names in different localities. At
its south-west end, and thence for several miles north-easterly, it is
known as Penobscot Mountain ; next for some distance it has the name
Wyoming Mountain ;t then, farther on in a north-easterly direction, its
name is Bald, then Jacob's, then Moosic, and then, near the boundary-
line of the counties of Lackawanna and Wayne, Cobb's Mountain.

That part of Wyoming Mountain which lies in an easterly and a
south-easterly direction from Wilkes-Barre is, in a marked degree, a

* On the records of the Court of Quarter Sessions of Luzerne County an entry was made in 1865 setting
forth that at that period the low-water level of the Susquehanna at Wilkes-Barr^ was 512.9 feet above
tide-water. (See Pearce's "Annals of Luzerne County," Appendix, page 561.) It has since been shown,
however, that at the time mentioned the true low-water level was only 506.93 feet above tide-water. (See
"Collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," I : 23.)

t Locally this mountain was often called in earlier years "Five-Mile Mountain", for the reason that
its north-western face, near the summit, is, for a considerable stretch, five miles distant from the Sus-
quehanna.

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broad plateau or table-land, having an elevation ranging from 1,500 to
1,800 feet above sea-level, with here and there knobs and short ridges
rising np from 100 to 300 feet higher. One of the most elevated of the
knobs (2,100 feet above sea-level) is five and a-half miles, "as the crow
flies," in a south-easterly direction from the left bank of the river
opposite Richard's Island (mentioned on page 52), and about a mile
and a-quarter north of Crystal Lake in Bear Creek Township ; and at
this elevated point the boundary-lines of the borough of Laurel Run and
the townships of Hanover, Fairview and Bear Creek meet. South-west
of this about one and three-quarters miles is Penobscot Knob — with an
elevation of 2,140 feet — which connnands a view of nearly the whole of
Wyoming Vallev and a wide extent of territorv besides.

At some distance south-east of the Wyoming-Moosic range, and
nearly parallel with it, runs the lofty, desolate and irregular Pocono
range. The head-waters of the Lehigh River meander over its top,
where lakes, ponds and sphagnous marshes lie embosomed in dense
beech forests, and are fringed with laurel thickets, while here and there
are large open tracts of territory almost destitute of trees. The spread-
ing branches of Lackawaxen Creek, and the smaller Shohola, drain all
the eastern parts of the range into the Delaware River. Lying chiefly
in the counties of Carbon, Monroe and Pike, Pennsylvania, the Pocono
Mountains form links in the chain of mountains that stretches through
the Atlantic States from the Blue Ridge in North Carolina to the Cats-
kills in New York. Writing of the Pocono Mountains in 1839 William
L. Stone said ("Poetry and History of Wyoming," page 74) :

"When the summit of Pokono is attained, the traveler is upon the top of that wild
and desolate table of Pennsylvania, extending for upward of a hundred miles, between
and parallel with the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers, and from twenty to thirty-five
miles in breadth. Behind him is a noble landscape of wooded hills and cultivated
valleys, bounded eastward and south by the Blue Mountains, which form a branching
range of the Alleghenies. The Wind Gap is distinctly and beautiful!}' in sight. But
facing westwardly, and glancing toward the north and the south, the prospect is as
dreary as naked rocks and shrub oaks and stunted pines and a death-like solitude can
make it. The general surface is rough and broken, hills rising and valleys sinking by
fifties, if not by hundreds, over the whole broad mountain surface. In many places for
miles there is no human habitation in view, and no one bright or cheerful spot upon
which the eye can repose. The gloom, if not the grandeur, of a large portion of this in-
hospitable region is increased by the circumstance that it is almost a continuous morass,
across which the turnpike is formed by a causeway of logs insufficiently covered with
earth, and bearing the appropriate name of a corduroy road."

Parallel with the Pocono range, and from seven to ten miles distant
from it, runs the long, regular and well-defined range known as the
Kittatinny, or Blue, Mountains. The former name is derived from, or^
more probably, is a corruption of, the Indian word Kau-tat-in-chunk^
signifying "main, or principal, moitntain." About twenty miles north
of Easton, Pennsylvania, and forty-three miles in a bee-line (.seventy-six
miles by railway) south-east of Wilkes-Barre, the Delaware River breaks
through the Blue Mountains at the celebrated Delaware Water Gap ;
while some twenty-eight miles to the south-west of the Delaware the
Lehigh River breaks through the same mountain range at the Lehigh
Gap, Nearly midway between these two gaps is a remarkable depres-
sion in the moimtain called the Wind Gap — not because it abounds in
wind, but because it appears to have been made without the agency of
water. It is a deep notch — suddenly reducing the height of the moun-
tain by about two-thirds — towards which the leading roads on both sides

converge, and through which they pass in one great thoroughfare. The
Bhie Mountains at the Delaware Water Gap are about 1,600 feet high,
and the sharp, rocky crest of the range maintains itself in an almost
perfectly even, horizontal line at that elevation above tide-water for 180
miles across the State ; but the apparent height is diminished going
west by the gradual elevation of the country in front of the mountains,
which the}^ overlook. The range keeps a nearly straight course south,
25° west, for 104 miles between the Delaware Gap and the gap at
Harrisburg.

Beyond Shawanese Mountain (the western and north-western
boundary of Wyoming Valley as previously mentioned) lie, in confused
and jumbled order, high knobs, short ridges and irregular spurs of
mountains, ranging in height from 1,100 to 1,500 feet above sea-level,
and interspersed with rolling uplands of considerable extent now well
cleared and cultivated. This region extends many miles in a north-
easterl}^ and south-westerly direction, and stretches w^estward and north-
westward to the bold and impressive North Mountain range — 2,200 to
2,400 feet above sea-level — on the border-lines of the counties of
lyuzerne, Sullivan and Wyoming.

To the early explorers and cartographers of north-eastern Penns}^-
vania the mountains northward of W^^oming Valley w^ere denomi-
nated the "Endless JNIountains," while those lying in a north-westerly
direction were described as "inaccessible" — situated in a region contain-
ing "nothing but mountains which no one can pass."* In this region
lie some of the largest and most beautiful lakes in Pennsvlvania.
Twelve miles north-west from W^ilkes-Barre in a bee-line, at an elevation
of 1,226 feet above sea-level (according to the United States Geologi-
cal Survey), is Harvey's Lake, the largest lake within the limits of the
State. Fifteen miles due west from it, on North Mountain, 2,266 feet
above sea-level, is Lake Ganoga, formerly known, locally, as Long Pond,
but upon early maps of this region noted as "Shawanese Lake." Fifteen
miles north-west of Lake Ganoga lies Eagles Mere, a beautiful sheet of
water formerly called Lewis' Lake. It is larger than Ganoga, but not
so large as Harvey's Lake, and its elevation above sea-level is 2,001 feet.

The mountains that form the valley of Wyoming are quite regular
in their conformation and appearance, and are almost uniform in height
throughout their whole extent. The crest-line of Wilkes-Barre Moun-
tain varies from 1,200 to 1,400 feet above sea-level, while that of Shaw-
anese Mountain varies from 1,000 to 1,625 feet — its average height
being about 1,450 feet. The following interesting record of mountain-
measurements made from a station on the River Common at the foot of
Northampton Street, W^ilkes-Barre, in the Summer of 1809, w^as printed
in The Luzerne Federalist (Wilkes-Barre) of September 15, 1809, and
was reprinted in Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania (II : 128) September
6,1828:

"Distance to the top of the mountain south-east of the borough, 4,685 yards.
[This was the mountain then known as "Bullock's," and described on page 44.] Per-
pendicular height of the sam.e, 305 yards. Distance to the top of the mountain north-
west of the borough, 5,583 yards. [This was that portion of Shawanese Mountain Ij'ing
back of the present boroughs of Kingston and Edwardsville.] Perpendicular height of
the same, 227 yards. Distance from the top of one mountain to the other, 10,103 yards
[5.74-1- miles]. Average height of the mountains above low- water mark, 275 vards, or
827ifeet."

* See map on page 33, maps of 17-J8 and 1749 in Chapter IV, and map of 1756 in Chapter V.

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Large areas of Shawaiiese Mountain were cleared of timber many
years ago, and, in a general way, have been cultivated ever since ; but
Wilkes-Barre Mountain is still almost entirely covered with a natural
irrowth of brushwood, scrubbv thickets and small trees. Owing to the
ax of the strenuous wood-chopper in earlier years, and the frequent and
extensive forest-fires that have occurred in recent years, as well as to
other causes, great changes have taken place with respect to the charac-
ter of the woodlands on these mountains. In the year 1817 Isaac A.
Chapman wrote concerning them as follows (see Hazard's Register^
V: 34):

"On the mountains the prevailing timber is oak of various kinds, thinly intermixed
with Yellow, Pitch and White Pine, which grow short and scrubby, there being ver}^
little of it proper for any other purpose than fuel. On the smaller hills, where the soil is
better, the timber is larger and of a better quality, and consists also of a greater variety —
such as hickory, lynn or linden, birch of three kinds, two kinds of maple^ two of ash,
cherry and beech ; these being mixed, in every part of the county where the}^ are found,
with hemlock, a species of timber improperly called spruce in many parts of the State —
being the Finns Canadensis of botanical writers."

Both ranges of the Wyoming Valley mountains are indented by
several deep hollows or gaps. For example, in the south-eastern range,
or Wilkes-Barre Mountain, are Warrior Gap, Sugar Notch, Solomon's
Gap and Laurel Run Gap ; and in the north-western range, or Shaw-
anese Mountain, are Mill (formerly Hartsough's) Hollow and Car-
penter's (now Shoemaker's) Hollow. Here and there in both ranges
are bulging knobs, precipitous ledges and sheer cliffs — wholly or in part
barren of trees and undergrowth — from which extended and pleasing
prospects of the valle^■s of Wyoming and Lackawanna may be viewed.

At the head of Wyoming
Valley, forming the north-
eastern wall of the precip-
itous gap through which
the Susquehanna River
enters the valley (see
page 34), stands Camp-
bell's Ledge. It is the
south-western extremity
of Capouse Mountain,
mentioned on page 44, and
at its highest point is
1,3G4 feet above sea-level,
or some 840 feet above
the river's surface. This
ledge was formerly called
Dial Rock, from the fact
that on its face, near the
summit, there extends
directly north and south
a crescent of naked, green-
ish-grey stone, which can
be seen for a long distance
if the weather be favor-
able. Precisely at noon-
tide this crescent receives
on a cloudless dav the full

Campbell's Ledge,

From the road near its base, September,

1!I08.

rays of the sun. Thus the husbandman of early days,, toiling either

on the broad fiats lying near the base of the mountain and extending

south and west along the Susquehanna, or elsewhere within sight of the

rugged mountain's face, was enabled to determine, easily and cheaply,

by the illuminated rock-dial the hour of noonday rest and refreshment.

The name Campbell's Ledge is understood, and generally believed, to

have been given to this precipice many years ago in honor of the author

of "Gertrude of Wyoming" — mentioned hereinafter. There is current,

however, a legend that claims a different origin for the name.

"A man named Campbell was pursued by the Indians. He had taken refuge in
the ravines of this mountain, where are many fine living springs, and where the thick
foliage afforded a safe shelter. But the fierce Red Men are on his track. He is an old
enemy, and is singled out for special torture. He knows his fate if taken. He tries everj-
path that winds out into the deeper forest, but without success. He is hemmed in like
the roe by the relentless wolves. But he does not hesitate ; he springs forward to the
verge of the hanging rock. One glance behind him shows that escape is utterly hope-
less. The shouts of the savages are heard as they rush upon their prey. With a scream
of defiance he leaps into the friendly arms of death." — Peck^s " Wyoming,'''' page 348.

Not far from the northern end of
Campbell's Ledge, alongside the
road leading up through the river
"narrows," is a little stream that
for many years has been a well-
known and picturesque landmark
in this region, and is called Falling
Spring.

The south-western extremity of
Shawanese Mountain, at the point
where the Susquehanna breaks out
of the valley as described on pages
35 and 36, is a rugged, precipi-
tous ledge bulging out near its
summit in a knob-like form. This
ledge or cliff is somewhat similar
to Campbell's Ledge, but its eleva-
tion is only 1,000 feet above sea-
level. For many years it has been
known as Tillbury's Knob — hav-
ing received this name from Abra-
ham Tillbury, who dwelt within
its shadow a hundred years ago
and more,*

Diagonally across the river from Tillbury's Knob is Honey Pot
Mountain. This is the north-eastern extremity of Lee's Mountain, which
is the continuation below Wyoming Valley of Shawanese Mountain.
Honey Pot Mountain was so named about 1773 by Maj. Prince Alden,
who owned several hundred acres of land in that locality, and, on his
first entrance upon it, discovered a large quantity of the honey of wild
bees. In the illustration on page 36 the extreme north-eastern part of
Honey Pot is shown ; while nearly the whole of it is seen in the "View
from Tillbury's Knob" facing this page.

Mount Lookout is a dome-shaped section of Shawanese Mountain,
and its extent is well defined by Carpenter's, or Shoemaker's, Hollow

* See "The Harvej^ Book," pages 94 and 660.

FalI/Ing Spring.

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and a smaller, nameless gap or hollow a short distance north-eastward.
Its hi^i^hest elevation is 1,526 feet above sea-level, and it overlooks the
plain whereon was fought the battle of Wyoming, July 3, 1778.*

On the north-westerly face of Wilkes-Barre Mountain near its crest,
1,300 feet above sea-level and 794 feet above the Susquehanna's low-
water level, is Prospect Rock. It is almost due south-east from Public
Square, Wilkes-Barre, two and a-quarter miles "as the crow flies," and
is a steep ledge — limited in extent and very irregular in its conforma-
tion — composed of light grey, almost white, conglomerate.

For years it has been
the favorite and most
accessible point from
which to obtain an al-
most complete view
of Wyoming Valley;
being readily reached
by the road (formerly
the Easton and Wi.lkes-
Barre Turnpike) lead-
ing over the mountain
from the end of North-
ampton Street, Wilkes-
Barre. f

Through the whole
length of Wyoming
Valley the Susque-
hanna flows a serpen-
tine course of seventeen
and one-half miles —
nine and one-half miles
from Coxton, at the
base of CampbelTs
Ledge, to Market
Street, Wilkes-Barre,
and thence eight miles
to Nanticoke Falls.
On both sides of the river, for nearly this whole distance, lie rich and
fertile alluvial bottom-lands, forming plains or flats ;' at some points
narrow and restricted in breadth, but at others stretching out towards
the hills or mountains for at least a mile. In some parts of the valley
a large portion of the surface of the plain is elevated about ten feet
above the remaining portion, forming a sudden offset or declivity. As
you get farther away from the river these bottom-lands gradually undu-
late, until, at a distance of about a mile — in the middle of the valley,
particularly — they rise into the mountains bounding the valley. The)'-
contain several thousand acres, nearly all of which are well cultivated,
and have been for more than a hundred years. Isaac A. Chapman,
writing of them in 1817, said: "They [the flats] spontaneously produce
quantities of plums, grapes, many kinds of berries and a great variety
of wild flowers."

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Prospect Rock in lilUo.

* See ill Chapter XV reproductions of views of and from Mount Lookout.

t For interesting and instructive papers on the geology and palseontology of Wyoming Va
Johnson's "Historical Record," I ; 205. and "Proceedings arid Collections of the Wyoming Histor
Geological Society," II : 239-277 ; V : 153-204 ; VI ; 27-36; VIII : 25, 42.

llej- see
Historical and

These flats or plains are known by different names in different
localities. Abraham's Plains — originally so named for an Indian chief,
fuller mention of whom will be made in the succeeding chapter — lie
on the right bank of the river and extend from near the head of
the valle}^ to the bend in the river opposite Ross Street, Wilkes-Barre.
They are comprehended within the present limits of the townships of
Plymouth, Kingston and Exeter, and, for convenience, have been for a
number of years considered as three divisions, or sections, of land, com-
monly known, respectively, as Upper Kingston Flats, Lower Kingston
Flats and Upper Plymouth Flats. Lower Plymouth, or "Shawnee,"
Flats lie within the limits of the township of Plymouth on the right
bank of the river, and extend from a point opposite the central part of
the borough of Plymouth south-westward to within about one and a-half
miles of Nanticoke Falls. Col. Timothy Pickering — concerning whom
much of interest will be found in subsequent chapters — visited
Wyoming in August, 1786, and at the time wrote as follows relative
to the Plymouth and Kingston flats (see "Life of Timothy Pickering,"
II : 255) :

"Leaving Harvey's [the home of Benjamin Harvey, about half-way between
Harvey's Creek and the present Avondale] we entered on the Shawnee Plains, the most
beautiful tract of land my eyes ever beheld ! The soil appears to be inexhaustibly fertile,
and, though under ver}' slovenly husbandry, the crops were luxuriant, and the Indian-
corn and grass of the richest green. * * * Passing over some commons and rising
ground, we then came to another extensive plain [Abraham's], similar to the former, but,
on the whole, less beautiful. Neat and industrious husbandmen would make the whole a
garden."

Jacob's Plains — originally so named for an Indian chief, to whom
further reference will be made in Chapter IV — lie on the left bank of
the river within the present limits of Plains Township. Nearl}^ the
whole of Jacob's Plains lay within the bounds of the original town, or
township, of Wilkes-Barre, prior to the erection of Plains Township in
1851. Wilkes-Barre Flats lie within the limits of the city, below the
bend of the river, and extend about a mile to the line of Hanover Town-
ship ; whence they continue, under the name of Upper Hanover Flats,
over one and a-half miles to the mouth of Solomon's, or Buttonwood,
Creek. Beyond this, for about three-quarters of a mile, a spur of the
Hanover hills supervenes — ending at the river's margin in a low ledge
of rocks — and then the Lower Hanover Flats begin and extend to the
mouth of Nanticoke Creek.

Several islands, some of them of considerable extent, diversify the
Susquehanna within the borders of W5'oming Valley. These islands
are largely of the same alluvial and fertile character as the flats and
plains previously described, and nearly all of them have been cultivated
for many years. At the head of the valley, nearly abreast of the mouth
of Lackawanna River, lies Scovell's Island. It received its name from
Elisha and Jonathan Scovell (originally of Colchester, Connecticut),
who, as early as 1776, were landholders and settlers in Exeter Township,
to which this island is adjacent.

Wintermute Island, named for a family bearing that name — of
whom more will be said in a subsequent chapter — lies due south-east of
Mount Lookout (described on page 48), opposite the battlefield of
Wyoming.

Monocanock Island is a long, narrow island opposite the lower end
of the borough of Wyoming in Kingston Township, and a short

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now in possession of the present writer, this island is noted as "Toby's
Island." It is also shown, bnt without a name, on the manuscript map
of 1811 mentioned on page' 51. Pearce refers to it as "Park's Island"
in his "Annals of Luzerne County" (page 173), published in 1860 ; but
not long after that year the annexation of the island to the Plymouth
shore was begun and completed by the same causes that have been
gradually producing the changes in Fish's Island, and Toby's, or Park's,
Island has not appeared on any recent map. The river, at that partic-
ular elbow or corner, has long been known as Toby's Eddy. Sixty
years ago and more it was a picturesque locality, often resorted to in
Summer-time by swimming and picnic parties. Dr. Peck, writing of it
in 1858, said ("Wyoming," pages 425 and 426) :

"But alas ! progress and civilization have made sad ravages upon this sweet and
beautiful spot. The railroad [Lackawanna and Bloomsburg] has utterly ruined its
beautiful unity. Its jagged, rock}' embankment, running through the center of the
little natural paradise, has broken its ancient enchantments and dispelled the bewitching
associations which clustered around it. * * What is called Toby's Cave is found in
the hill-side west of the Edd}'. It is not deep or large, but might once have constituted
a place of retreat for old Toby, the Indian, whose haunts were once along the creek to
which his name has been given, and who planted corn upon the flats above."

What is, and probably has been for many years, the largest island
in Wyoming Valley, is the one whose upper end lies opposite the south-
west corner of Wilkes-Barre on the left bank, and the north-west end of
Plymouth Borough on the right bank of the river. This island is
shown, but without a name, on the plots of the original surveys of the
manors of Stoke and Sunbury previously referred to. On the draft of
the 1787 survey of Plymouth Township mentioned above this island is
called "Fuller's Island," and is noted as containing fifty acres and fifty-
seven perches ; but on the manuscript map of 1811 mentioned on page
51 it is called "Richard's Island," and under this name it has appeared
on recent maps. Further references to this island will be made in the
succeeding chapter.

In its course through Wyoming Valley the Susquehanna receives
the waters of a number of tributaries besides Lackawanna River. Not
one of these is now either as sizable or of as much importance as it was
even fifteen or twenty years ago. This is owing to one or more of a
variety of causes — as for example, the denuding of the hills and moun-
tains of their forests, the carrying on of coal-mining under or near the
beds of the streams, or the deflecting of the waters, in part, from their
channels for manufacturing, mining or other purposes. Chapman, in
writing of these streams in 1817, said : "All of them are sufficient for
mills and abound with fish." It is doubtful if there now flows in any
two of them combined — barring Lackawanna River — enough water to
run satisfactorily a single mill ; and as to fish, they are very few, very
small, of little value and only to be found in the head-waters of the
streams. Of those thus referred to the principal streams are :

Abraham's Creek — called for the same Indian whose name was
originally given, as previously mentioned, to the plains along the right
bank of the river. This creek, having its principal source in Dallas
Township, Luzerne County, and joined b)'' tributaries rising in the
townships of Franklin and Exeter, flows south-easterly into the valley
through Carpenter's, or Shoemaker's, Hollow, previously described, and
then winds its course nearly south-west across Abraham's Plains to the
Susquehanna at Forty Fort, about one and three-quarters miles below

Monocaiiock Island. In recent years the part of this creek that lies in
the valley has sometimes been called "Tattle's Creek," from the fact
that from abont 1798 to 1839 Henry Tnttle, followed by his son Joseph,
owned and operated a y^rist-mill which stood on the bank of the creek
just below what is now known as the "stone-arched bridge," almost on
the dividing line between the boroughs of Forty Fort and Wyoming.

Toby's Creek — named
for an Indian who
lived in the valley at
one time, and was well
known to the early
white settlers. Fur-
ther mention of him
is made in Chapters VII
and XIII. Pearce, in
his "Annals of Luzerne
Connty" (page 170),
says : "Toby's Creek
derives its name from
Tobyhanna, signifying
alder stream, from the
abnndance of alders
growing on its banks."
This is rather a far-
fetched derivation of
the name of the Wyo-
ming Valley stream.
There is in Monroe
County, Pennsylvania,
at some distance from
Wyoming Valley south-
eastward, a stream call-
ed Tobyhanna Creek —
and it may be an '•''alder
stream" ; but Toby's Creek has no cojinection with it either in name
or in any other respect.

Abraham's Creek,

Near the "stone-arched bridge," in 187.S.

;v' ■ ■ '•'-

^^^*'»-'*:^

A Glimpse of Toby's Creek.

The chief sources of Toby's Creek are in Dallas Township, previ-
ousl}' mentioned, and the main body of the stream flows south-east into
Kingston Township, where it is joined, among other branches, by one
formed by the overflow from what in early days was known as Beaver
Pond.* This pond, which lies in Lehman Township, Luzerne County,
was purchased some years ago by the Wilkes-Barre Water Company, a
dam was erected at its outlet, and the water from the reservoir thus
formed — since known as Huntsville Reservoir — is conveyed in pipes
to Wyoming Valley. f Rambling downward, here and there through
picturesque bits of country, Toby's Creek enters the valley by way of
Mill Hollow (mentioned on page 47), and, flowing south-west, passes
through the boroughs of Kingston and Edwardsville into Plymouth
Township. There, having been joined by a short branch that flows
across the Lower Kingston Flats (partly within the limits of Dorrance-
ton Borough) between Kingston Borough and Wilkes-Barre, the stream
runs about a quarter of a mile and empties into the Susquehanna at
Toby's Eddy, mentioned on page 52.

Harvey's Creek — so named nearly one hundred and thirty years
ago for Benjamin Harvey, an early Connecticut settler at Wilkes-Barre,
who, in 1773, erected a saw-mill and made other improvements upon a
large tract of land that had been granted to him along and near the
creek mentioned. At that tiiue the source of this stream was unknown
but in 1781 it was discovered by Mr. Harvey to be the large lake now
— and since the year 1795, at least — called Harvey's Lake (mentioned
on page 46). On the maps of 1748 and 1749 reproduced in Chapter IV
this stream is shown, but without a name ; on the plot of the Manor of
Sunbury referred to on page 51 the stream appears under the name of
"Head's Creek" ; on the draft of a survey made in May, 1775, by
Charles Stewart, Deputy Surveyor of Pennsylvania (an old copy of
which is now in possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological
Society), the same stream is noted as "Falls Creek or Harvey's Creek,"
and on the manuscript map mentioned on page 27 it is called "Harvey's
or Falls Creek." From Harvey's Lake this creek runs a zig-zag course
— receiving several small tributaries on the way — to a point some
twelve miles directly south, near the base of Tillbury's Knob (described
on page 48), where it enters the valley, flows a short distance through.
West Nanticoke and then empties into the Susquehanna at Nanticoke
Falls. F'or many years Harvey's Creek was the most copious and
powerful stream of all the Susquehanna's W^yoming Valley tributaries
except Lackawanna River. That this was its character at an early day
is shown by the following paragraph from a letter| to the Connecticut
Susquehanna Company written in 1774 by Obadiah Gore, Jr., relative
to this creek and the land contiguous to it : "There is no other stream
of that bigness for man}- miles distance except the river." But now, at
its mouth and for some distance up stream, the creek is so insignificant
that its very rocky bed is more in evidence than its water — particularly
during the Summer months. This is due to the fact that the stream,
two or three miles back from its mouth, has been dammed in order to
furnish the borough of Nanticoke with its water-supply.

* See original 1787 survey of Plymouth To-vvnship pieviously mentioned.

tSee Chapter XXXVII.

tSee "The Harvey Book," page 623.

.)0

Harvp:y's Creek,

Near the base of Tillbui-}''s Knob, in 189!).

Nanticoke Creek — in Hanover Township on the sonth or left side
of the river, into which the creek empties nearly a half mile east of
Nanticoke Falls. The falls, the creek and the nearby borong-h of Nan-
ticoke received their common name by reason of the fact that, prior to
the first settlements in Wvomino^ bv white men, aband of Nanticoke
Indians dwelt for a few years near this particular locality — as will be
more fully related in a subsequent chapter. Nanticoke Creek is formed
by two branches — one. the eastern branch, rising in the mountains back
of the borong'h of Sugar Notch, flowing into the valley through Warrior
Gap, and known in that locality as Warrior Rnn ; the other, the main
branch, having its source partly in Newport Township, and joined by
the eastern branch about one and a-half miles east of the borough of
Nanticoke. Near its mouth the creek is joined by Newport Creek,
which flows from the hills of Newport down between the borough of
Nanticoke and Honey Pot Mountain to the lowlands. On the plot of
the Manor of Stoke previously referred to Nanticoke Creek is set down
as "Muddy Run" ; but certainly as early as 1776 — as is shown by the

Westmoreland records — it had received its present name. On the manu-
script map referred to on page 27 Newport Creek is correctly shown,
but bearing the name "Nanticoke Creek."

Solomon's Creek — so called, says Pearce ("Annals," page 170),
"from a Mr. Solomon who settled near its confluence with the Susque-
hanna in 1774." This stream has its chief source in Wright Township,
Luzerne County, whence it flows through Solomon's Gap, previously
mentioned, into Hanover Township. It passes through the borough of
Ashley, receiving in its course two or three small tributaries, the prin-
cipal one of which rises in the uplands of Wilkes-Barre Township.
Crossing the Wilkes-Barre -Hanover boundary -line it flows a short
distance within the limits of the city of Wilkes-Barre, and then, flowing
back into Hanover, pursues a south-westerly course along the margin
of the Upper Hanover Flats to the river. From the Wilkes-Barre line
to the river the stream has been known for some years as Buttonwood
Creek, because there were at one time many buttonwood trees grow-
ing along its banks. This stream — from source to mouth — is desig-
nated as "Moses' Creek" on the plot
of the Manor of Stoke previously
mentioned ; and is indicated by the
same name on William Scull's maps
of Pennsylvania published in 1770
and 1775. On the manuscript map
mentioned on page 27 it is noted as
"INIoses' or Solomon's Creek." Why
the name "Moses" was given to it we
do not know ; but in all probability it
was named for some Indian chief who
dwelt hereabouts in early days, and
was known by the name of "Moses"
to the traders and surveyors who
\-isited the valley at that period.

The accompanying photo-illustra-
tions of the Lower and Upper Falls of
Solomon's Creek are reduced copies of
wood-engravings, after drawings by
Jacob Cist of Wilkes-Barre, published
in The Portfolio of Philadelphia in the year 1809 — the one in the
November and the other in the December issue of the maeazine. In
the latter issue there appears, also, the following description (in part)
of these falls — written without doubt bv Mr. Cist :

Lower Fai,ls.

'•.■\niong the mnnerous streams that rush from the mountain into the bosom of
the majestic Susquehanna, the beautiful cascade of Solomon's Falls is well calculated to
gratify the ardent admirer of the works of Nature. It is situated about three miles from
Wilkesbarre, the county-town of Luzerne, Pennsylvania. Surrounded with dark hem-
locks, the rocks stained willi moss and partially covered with laurel and other ever-
greens, it forms one of the finest scenes for the pencil of the painter. Dashing, foaming
and working its tempestuous way down the mountain's side, it here precipitates itself, in
the most romantic and picturesque manner, over a ledge of rocks between fift}' and sixty
feet high into a natural bason of about twentj'-five feet diameter ; from which, winding
beneath o'erhanging rocks, it passes through a narrow, perpendicular fissure and pours
into a second bason, forming the lower fall — from which latter it runs in a rapid and
winding course to the river." * * *

Sharp D. Lewis of Wilkes-Iiarre, writing of these falls in 1S30,
said (see Chapman's "Wyoming," Appendix, page 186) :

"In Solomon's Creek, about niidwa}' up
the mountain and two miles from Wilkes-
barre, in what is called Solomon's Gap, is a
l)eautiful cascade, which has lon,<; been visited
as a great natural curiosity. Its wild and
romantic aspect, and the delightful natural
scenery around it, have, within a few years,
been considerably injured by the erection of
a very superior merchant mill immediately
below the falls, by Gen. William Ro.ss of
Wilkesbarre, who is the projirietor of this
valuable water-power."

A visitor of to-day to the locality
jttst described would find it difficult
to discover manv remains or traces

'delight-

flowing

Upper Falls.

of the "picturesque" and
ful" conditions mentioned as exist-
ing there seventy and more years
ago ; and which, in fact — as the
present writer remembers — con-
tinued in evidence, to a degree, up
to about thirty or thirty-five }'ears
ago.
Mill Creek — rising in Jenkins Township, Lnzerne County, and
from two sources in two branches (one of which is locally
known as Gardner's Creek) into Plains Township, where, near the
village of Hudson, the branches unite. Flowing in a zig-zag cotirse
throtigh the latter township Mill Creek is joined by Laurel Run near the
northern boundary of
Wilkes-Barre, from
which point the
creek runs about
three-quarters of a
mile east to the river.
Laurel Run rises in
Bear Creek Town-
ship and flows into
Wilkes-Barre Town-
ship, whence, run-
ning a north-easterly
cotirse between Wyo-
ming Mountain and
Wilkes-Barre ]\Ioun-
tain, it enters Plains
Township, then runs
rapidly down into
the valley through
Laurel Run Gap pre-
viously mentioned. Both Mill Creek and Laurel Run were streams of
considerable size and importance up to about thirty years ago. IMill
Creek was originally known as "Beaver Brook," but on the plot of the
Manor of Stoke reproduced in Chapter VII it is noted as Mill Creek.

Mill Creek near its Mouth,

October, 1903.

A GiMMPSE OF IvAUREL RUN,
August, 190:i.

On drafts of surveys* made by Charles Stewart for the Proprietaries

of Pennsylvania in 1771, in the region through which this creek runs,

it is designated "Beaver Brook — now Mill Creek." On William Scull's

maps of Pennsylvania published in 1770 and 1775 it is noted as Mill

Creek. This name it has borne to
the present time without change.
The fact that this stream —
as well as the pond mentioned
on page 54 — once bore the name
"Beaver," would indicate that at
the time the name was applied it
was known that beavers lived and
worked in and about those partic-
ular bodies of water. The remark-
able animals known by this name
are now said to be very rare, even
in remote parts of the United States
and Canada ; and, until the year
1901, none had been seen in Penn-
sylvania — except in captivity — for
many years. But in the year men-
tioned it was discovered that several
beavers had settled themselves in a
swamp near Stroudsburg, in Mon-
roe County — which, by the way, is

almost on the south-eastern border of the old-time Wyoming region.

In consequence of this new "settlement" the Pennsylvania Legislature

at its last session passed a law for the protection of beavers, f
In addition to the streams just

described there were in Wyoming

Valley, in early days, several other

brooks and creeks tributary to the

Susquehanna. Of some of these the

beds still remain, and along them

rivulets run for a few days during

seasons of rains and fre.shets ; but of

the other streams and their chan-
nels every trace has disappeared.

Among the latter was a little brook

that had its source in .several springs

lying near the intersection of tlic

present "Washington and Jackson

streets, Wilkes- P>arre. Flowing

.south to a point a little way above

the present West Market Street,

between North Baltimore Street and

the tracks of the Lehigh Valley

Railroad, this brook was joined by Anothkr \-ih\v of Laurel Run.

* See early copies in possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.

tit is a well-authenticated fact that in early times the Iroquois Nation once made war against the
Illinois Indians, and nearly destroyed that trihe. because they had \-iolated one of the game-laws of the
hunting nations in not leaving a certain number of male and female beavers in each pond or stream
where thev had their habitat.

another little stream flowing- down from near the corner of the present
Scott and Bowman streets. At abont Market Street the brook flowed into
a "bog-pond" or marsh lying along the foot of the heights to the sonth-
east of Pnblic Sqnare. Thence the brook meandered in a sonth-
westerly conrse down to a point a little below the corner of the present
Wood Street and Sonth Main Street ; then tnrned to the north and
flowed to abont the corner of the present Terrace and West River streets,

' whence, changing its conrse slightly, it ran a short distance across the
flats and emptied into the river at its elbow, where the swirling waters
long bore the name of Fish's Eddy.* The conrse (across the flats) of
this old-time, nameless brook is fairly well shown on the plot of the
Manor of Stoke reprodnced in Chapter VII, and also on a "Map of the
Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys" facing page 328 of The American

Journal of Science and Arts for Jnly, 1830 '(No. 2 of Vol. XVIII).

Henry B. Plnmb, referring to this brook, says in his "History of

Hanover Township" (page 39) :

"It is entirely unknown to the present generation, the sources of it having been
cut oflF by the digging of the canal in 1833, and its bed having been filled in nearly all
the way from the canal to the river ; but, at and near the river, there is quite a depression
where the creek once ran and fell into the larger stream. This creek carried off the water
— the surface drainage — from the region now known as 'Moseytown,' and from all the
back part of ancient Wilkes-Barre Borough. This creek, or 'small stream,' emptied into
the river at the place where the ice-pondf now [1885] is, but its channel then was as
deep as the river bed, and passed along the upper side and partly through the present
ice-pond, and emptied into the river six or eight rods above the foot of Ross Street.
This is about midway between Market Street and the island [Fish's]."

It is impossible now to state with any certainty when the name
Wyoming — considered in any one of the various forms in which it has
appeared in the past — was first applied to the region jnst described.
According to Heckewelder (mentioned on page 42) the word W'yoming
is a corruption of MaugJi-ican-wa-uie^ the name given to the valley by the
Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians ; which name being compounded of
the words mangh-waii^ meaning "large, or extensive," and zva-ine^
signifying "plains, or meadows," may be translated "The Large Plains."
Chapman, Stone, Miner, Pearce and other authorities have adopted this
explanation of the origin and meaning of the name.|

Heckewelder says, further, that the Dela wares pronounced the first
syllable of Alangh-wau-zva-me short, and the early Moravian- mission-
aries, catching the sound as nearly as they could, "wrote the name
Af chzveii-zi'a-jniy This form of the name, however, does not occur
anvwhere in the records of the manv formal and informal transactions
that took place between the different Governors of Pennsylvania and the
Indians in early times. The first allusion to Wyoming in those records
— so far as can now be ascertained — is contained in the minutes of a
conference held by Governor Gordon with Indians from the Susque-
hanna "at the great meeting-house in Philadelphia" in June, 1728, on
which occasion Sassoonan, or Allummapees, King of the Delawares,
stated that the Monseys, or Minsis, lived "in the Forks of Susquehanna
above Meehayomy [W^•oming]." In September, 1732, at a conference

* See Miner's "Wyoming," page 343.

t 'I'hi.s ice-pond was situated on a small plot of ground in the territory now bounded by West Koss,
West River, Terrace and Sheldon streets.

I See I-saac A. Chapman's ".^ Sketch of the History of Wyoming," page 10 ; W. I^. Stone's "Poetn.- and
History of Wyoming," page 80; Charles Miner's "HLstory of Wyoming,'' page xv ; Stewart Pearce's
"Annals of Luzerne County," page 15S), and Bulletin of the United States Geological Survey. No. 197,
page 278.

in Philadelphia between the Governor and some Indians from Onondaga,
New York, the chief speaker in behalf of the latter requested that they
be helped on their "■journey homewards with horses, from Tulpehocken
[in Berks Count)-] to Meehayoiny.'''"^ In this same year Governor
Gordon received information from four Shawanese chiefs relative to
the removal in 1728 of certain Shawanese from Pechoquealin on the
Delaware River to ^'' McJieahozvming (Wyoming-), by order of the Six
Nations."! These recorded forms, '•'Meehayomy'^^ and ''''Meheahozvniing'^\
resulted, without doubt, from the writers' attempts to spell the name
AlaiigJi-waii-wa-me^ or A-f diweu-wa-mi^ according to their conception
of its pronunciation.

In later years other corruptions and pronunciations succeeded
those mentioned, and we find, in official and other authentic records,
"Weyomin," in the year 1742 ; "Woyumoth" and "Woyumok" used
at an Indian Council at Philadelphia in April, 1743 ; "Wyomic"
and "Wajomick" used at this same period by Moravian missionaries ;
"Wioming" on Lotter's map of 1748 and Evans' map of 1749, reproduced
in Chapter IV; "Wioming" on Kitchin's map of 1756 (reproduced in
Chapter V), on Scull's map of Pennsylvania published in 1759, and
even on a map of the United States published in London, England, as
late as December, 1783. In numerous official communications that
passed betw^een Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania and Conrad Weiser
(Indian Agent and Interpreter for the Province) during the 3'ears 1753-
''hh "Wyomink" was the form generally used by both men ; although
Weiser sometimes used the form "Wyomock." "Wyoming" is the
form used on Scull's maps of Pennsylvania published in 1770 and 1775,
by which time — or, in fact, a few years earlier — the spelling and pro-
nunciation of the name had become pretty generally well settled, and
have remained so to the present time.

But, for a period of thirty or more years, Wyoming was known to
many Indians (particularly the Iroquois) and some white men by
another name also — ^'' Skehaiitozvana''^ or '■'•Skahendozvana.'''' In April,
1737, Conrad Weiser referred to a visit that he had made to ^'■Skehan-
dozvana''' a short time previously when returning from a journey to Onon-
daga. In 1 742 Count Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf (of wdiom much is
related in succeeding chapters) wrote in his "Narrative" a brief account
of his visit to '•'•Skehandozvana.''''X In March, 1755, Conrad Weiser wrote
Governor Morris relative to the contemplated settlement of New England
men at '•'■ Scaha)ttozuana?'' % In July, 1755, deputies of the Six Nations
in conference with Sir William Johnson said : "The land which reaches
down from Oswego to Schahandozvaiia^ we beg may not be settled by
Christians." Conrad Weiser reported to Governor Morris in December,
1755, relative to certain Delaware Indians living at Nescopeck, "half
way from Shainokin to ScJiaudozvana or Wyomick" ;|| and in the same
month the Rev. Gideon Hawley, at Aughquagey [Oquaga, or Ocquaga],
New York, wrote to vSir W'illiam Johnson concerning a certain English-
man who, shortly before, had gone to ^'■Sca/iandozvaua^ alias Wioming. "T[

♦See \V. C. Reichel's "Memorials of tlie Moravian Cliiirch," I: 119.

tSee Pearce's "Annals." page 24.

JSee Reichel's ".Memorials of the Moravian Church," I : (iO.

g See "Tennsylvania Archives," Hirst Series, II : "Jo!'.

P See Reichel's "Memorials," 1 : 69, 70.

1[See "Documentary History of the Colony of New York," VII : 47.

Colonel Stone says in his "Poetry and History of W>-oniing" (note,
page 81) : "I have two mannscript letters of Sir William Johnson dated
March 2o and 25, 1763, in both of which he writes \Skaliaiidowana, or
Wyoming;'." Referring to this name, Chapman says : "The lower flats
of the valley — both Wilkesbarre and Plymouth — probably contained
no trees of any consequence. The name SgaJiontoivano ('the large flats')
given to the valley by the Six Nations, would indicate this ; gaJwnio
meaning in their language 'a large piece of ground without trees.' "*
Relative to this seldom-used and less-familiar name of Wyoming,
the Rev. Dr. Beauchamp, previously mentioned, has recently given the
writer this information :

'^Skehantoraana is Iroquois, variously spelled. Zeisberger (in his Onondaga Lexi-
con) gives Gahunta as 'a fy^Xd^ —Gahuntorvan iia as 'flat country.' Although a notable
authority, I rarely depend on him. In Onondaga, Kahentah is now 'a field' ; in Mohawk,
Kaheaiita; in Cayuga, Kalieantae. These differences disappear in combination, and
secretaries and interpreters did not always hear or spell alike. Of course there are some-
times several words to express the same thing. Thus Kzvana, lo and Goiuah all mean
'great' ; so that Skehaiiiowana and Skehandoiva are essentially the same. The con-
tracted prefix 's' is locative, and does not materially affect the meaning ; it is added or
dropped at pleasure. In combinations of nouns and adjectives there is often a contrac-
tion, and sometimes the original word is contracted. Thus the Senecas call Elmira
[New York] by contraction Skujedoa, 'Great Plain', from the longer form once applied
to Wyoming, and meaning the same. Among the Iroquois 'd' and 't,' also 'g' and 'k,'
are interchangeable.

"The definition of this word as now used in Onondaga would be 'great plain, or
field,' from Skahenta, or Kahentah, 'field,' and either Gowah, or Gzuaiiiie, 'great.' All
the other variations depended on the ears and hands of early writers ; and from my own
experience in taking down Indian words these variations are not surprising. Chapman's
explanation is good, but Gahonto is simply 'a field,' not a large field."

Reference is made in the preceding chapter to some of the many
histories of Wyoming that have been published. In all of them are to
be found passages, more or less interesting, describing some of the
natural beauties of the valley. But, in addition to the publications
mentioned, others issued from the press within the past century and
a-quarter have contained many contributions of prose and verse to the
collection of descriptive and legendary literature relating to Wyoming ;
and it is a fact, without much doubt, that up to about fifty years ago
poetry and legend had done more than anything else to immortalize the
name and the beauty of this valley — for strangers and pilgrims came to
it, visited its historic spots, wandered through its woods, floated on the
bosom of its river and climbed its mountains quoting Campbell, Halleck
and other writers not historians.

In the circumstances, therefore, it seems appropriate and desirable

to gather into this chapter at this point, and make readily accessible,

some extracts from a few of the most interesting poems and descriptive

passages referred to ; especially in view of the fact that within recent

years great changes have taken place in the physical as well as the

artificial features of the valley. Villages, towns and cities now crowd

upon each other throughout the whole length of the valley, where, less

than one hundred years ago, there were only a few hamlets sparsely

inhabited. But, although the Genius of Civilization has despoiled

Wyoming of many of its natural beauties and charms, still

"From the fair glory of her girdling hills.
To Flora's inmost fane, on fair Wyoming
Lingers a grace of outline fine, which fills
Brimful the sense of beauty I"

* See page 42, quotation from Heckewelder.

Charles INIiner, who had come to Wyoming in the year 1800, and
who lived here for the greater part of his life thereafter, wrote of the
valley in 1845 (see his "History of Wyoming," pages xiii and xiv) :

"The valle}', itself, is diversified b}- hill and dale, upland and intervale. Its
character of extreme richness is derived from the extensive flats, or river bottoms, which
in some places extend from one to two miles back from the stream, unrivalled in expansive
beauty ; unsurpassed in hixuriant fertility. Though now generally cleared and culti-
vated, to protect the soil from floods a fringe of trees is left along each bank of the river
— the sycamore, the elm and, more especialh^ the black-walnut ; while here and there,
scattered through the fields, a huge shellbark yields its Summer shade to the weary
laborer, and its Autumn fruit to the black and graj^ squirrel or the rival plough-boy.

"Pure streams of water come leaping from the mountains, imparting health and
pleasure in their course, and all of them abounding with the delicious trout. Along
those brooks and in the swales, scattered through the uplands, grow the wild-plum and
the butternut, Avhile, wherever the hand of the white man has spared it, the native grape
may be gathered in unlimited profusion. I have seen a grape-vine bending beneath its
purple clusters, one branch climbing a butternut tree, loaded with fruit, another branch
resting on a wild-plum tree, red with its delicious burden ; the while growing in their
shade the hazlenut was ripening its rounded kernel.

"Such were common scenes when the white people first came to Wyoming, which
seems to have been formed by Nature a perfect Indian paradise. Game of everv sort was
abundant. The quail whistled in the meadow ; the pheasant rustled in its leafy covert ;
the wild-duck reared her brood and bent the reed in every inlet ; the red-deer fed upon
the hills, while in the deep forests, within a few hours' walk, was found the stately elk.
( Several persons now living delight to relate their hunting prowess in bringing down
this noblest of our forest inhabitants. ) The river yielded at all seasons a supply of fish —
the yellow-perch, the pike, the cat-fish, the bass, the roach and, in the Spring season,
myriads of shad."

The Rev. Edmund D. Grifhn, a grandson of Col. Zebulon Butler,

and at the time of his death in 1830 a member of the faculty of

Columbia College, New York, wrote as follows in 1817 (when he was

only a youth) after a visit to Wyoming :

' 'When we had ascended the second mountain we went a short distance from the
road upon a ledge of rocks* — and what was it first struck my sight ? Was it a darkly
frowning wilderness beneath me ? Did a rushing, foaming cataract pour its streams
along ? No ! a scene more lovel)- than imagination ever painted presented itself to my
sight — so beautiful, so exquisitely beautiful, that even the magic verse of Campbell did
not do it justice. The valley extends far and wide, beautified with cultivated fields, and
interspersed with beautiful groves. The Susquehanna meanders through it, now disap-
pearing and losing itself among the trees, now again appearing to sight, till it is at last
entirely hidden among the mountains. * * *

"Farewell, Wyoming! perhaps farewell forever, thou that art beautiful enough
to be called the elysium of the ancients, or the promised paradise of JMahomet. Thy
groves might be the recesses of departed sages ; thy forests, those of the forgotten Druid's
of antiquity ; thy cultivated fields, the product of the amusement of those who during
life loved rural scenes and employment ; thy open areas, the places where the shades of
youth exercised themselves in warlike sports ; thy Susquehanna, the bathing-place of
nymphs and naiads, and thj' houses, the dwellings of those who had formerly been dis-
creet housewives."

Prof. Benjamin Silliman of Yale College, who spent a number of

days in Wvoming in the vSpring of 1830, wrote as follows under date of

May 24, 1830 :

"It [the valley] is bounded by grand mountain barriers, and watered b}^ a noble
river and its tributaries. The first glance of a stranger entering at either end, or crossing
the mountain ridges which divide it ( like the happy valley of Abyssinia) from the rest of
the world, fills him with the peculiar pleasure produced by a fine landscape, combining
richness, beauty, variety and grandeur. From Prospect Rock near the rocky summit of
the eastern barrier, and from Ross Hill on the west, the valley of Wyoming is seen in
one view as a charming whole, and its lofty and well-defined boundaries exclude more
distant objects from mingling in the prospect.

"Few landscapes tliat I liave seen can vie with the valley of Wyoming. Excepting
some rocky precipices and cliffs, the mountains are wooded from the summit to their
base ; natural sections furnish avenues for roads, and the rapid Susquehanna rolls its
powerful current through a mountain gap on the north-west and immediately receives the
Lackawanna, which flows flown the narrower valley of the same name. A similar pass

* Prospect Rock, described on page 49.

()3

between the mountains, on the south, gives the Susquehanna an exit, and at both places
a slight obliquity in the position of the observer presents to the eye a seeming lake in the
windings of the river, and a barrier of mountains, apparently impassable.

"From the foot of the steep mountain ridges, particularly on the east side, the
valley slojies away with broad, sweeping undulations in the surface, forming numerous
swelling hills of arable and grazing laiul ; and, as we recede from the hills, the fine flats
and meadows covered (as I saw them in May, 1830) with the richest grass and wheat,
complete the picture by features of the gentlest and most luxuriant beauty.

"An active and iiitelligent population fills the country. Their buildings and farms
bear witness to their industry and skill. Several villages or clusters of houses give
variety to the scene, and Wilkcsbarre, a regular and well-built borough having 1,000 or
1,200 inhabitants, with churches, ministers, academy, alile teachers and schools, and
with many enlightened, moral and cultivated people, furnishes an agreeable resting-place
to the traveler. In a word, splendid and beautiful in the scenery of its mountains, rivers,
fields and meadows ; rich in the most productive agriculture ; possessed by the still sur-
viving veterans and by the descendants of a high-minded race of men ; full of the most
interesting historical associations, and of scenes of warfare, where the precious blood of
fathers, husbands and sons so often moistened their own fields, the valley of Wyoming
will always remain one of the most attractive regions to every intelligent and patriotic
American.

"Mining districts are rarely rich in soil — the sterility of the surface being compen-
sated by the mineral treasures below. Seldom are both advantages combined ; we see it
occasionally in some of the coal districts of Britain. In this respect the valley of Wyo-
ming is particularly happy. It is rich in soil and in the best agricultural productions.
Its extensive meadows are unrivaled in fertility and beauty, and its undidating surface,
between the meadows and the mountains, is a fine region for grass and wheat."

Ill line with the idea set forth in the last paragraph is the follow-
ing, extracted from a "Report on the Coal Trade" made by a committee
of the Pennsylvania Senate March 4, 1834 (see Hazard's Pennsylvania
Register, XIII : 200) :

* * * "The beautiful and fertile valley of Wyoming, one of the most productive
and excellent agricultural districts in Pennsylvania. Alike rich in its agricultural pro-
ductions as abundant in its mineral treasures, the same acre of land may furnish employ-
ment for both the agriculturalist and the miner. While the farmer is occupied upon
the surface, at the handles of the plough, in preparing the rich soil for its seed ; or the
field, waving with rich luxuriance, bends before the sickle, the miner, like the antipodes
of another region, may be actively engaged in the interior, beneath his feet, in mining
and bringing forth the long-hidden treasures of the earth. The different branches of
industry, therefore, may here not only be placed side b}- side, but literally one on top of
the other."

The Rev. Nicholas Murray, D. D., was pastor of the Presbyterian

Church at Wilkes-Barre from 1S29 to 1833, and about that period he

wrote in the following terms relative to Wyoming Valley :

"As the traveler reaches the brow of the eastern mountain a scene of surpassing
loveliness spreads itself beneath him, and he feels that if peace has not utterly forsaken
our world, its residence must be there. The valley seems as if expressly made for the
home of the Indian ; and for moons beyond the power of his arithmetic to calculate, the
red man fished in that river and planted his corn in that rich bottom and sought his game
upon the mountains. And before he could be compelled to yield it, he made the white
man feel the power of his anger in many a dreadful surprise.

"It has been my lotto wander upon foreign shores. I have gazed upon Italian
skies and scenes ; I have wandered over the mountains and vales of Switzerland ; I have
traversed the Rhine, the Rhone, the Clyde ; I have gazed upon most of the beautiful
scenery of Britain, and yet I turn to Wyoming as unsurpassed in quiet beatity by any
vale that I have ever seen.

" 'A valley from the river shore withdrawn ;

:^ ^ ^ :{: ;1<

So sweet a spot on earth, you might, I ween.

Have guessed some congregation of the elves,

To sport by Summer moon, had shaped it for themselves.' "

William L. Stone — mentioned on page 19 — wrote as follows of
Wyoming after his visit here in 1839 (see his "Poetry and History of
Wyoming," pages iii, 77 and 307) :

"The 'Happy Valley' to which the illustrious author of 'Rasselas' introduces his
reader in the opening of that charming fiction, was not much more secluded from the
world than is the valley of Wyoming. Situated in the interior of the country, remote

from the great thoroughfares of travel, either for business or in the idle chase of pleasure,
and walled on every hand by mountains lofty and wild, and over which long and rugged
roads must be traveled to reach it, Wyoming is rarely visited, except from stern necessity.
And yet the imagination of Johnson has not pictured so lovely a spot in the vale of
Amhara as Wyoming.

''The iirst glance into the far-famed valley of W3^oming, traveling westwardly, is
from the brow of the Pokono mountain range, below which it lies at the depth of 1,000
feet, distinctly defined b}' the double barrier of nearly parallel mountains, between which
it is embosomed. There is a beetling precipice upon the verge of the eastern barrier,
called 'Prospect Rock,' from the top of which nearly the entire valley can be survej'ed at
a single view, forming one of the richest and most beautiful landscapes upon which the eye
of man ever rested. Through the center of the valley flows the Susquehanna, the wind-
ing course of which can be traced the whole distance. Several green islands slumber
sweetly in its embrace, while the sight revels amidst the garniture of fields and wood-
lands ; and to complete the picture, low in the distance may be dimly seen the borough
of ^^'ilkesbarre — especially the spires of its churches.

"The hotel at which the traveler rests in Wilkesbarre is upon the margin of the
river, the waters of which are remarkably transparent and pure excepting in the seasons
of the spring and autumnal floods. * * From the observatory of the hotel a full view
of the whole valley is obtained — or rather, in a clear atmosphere, the steep, wild moun-
tains by which the valley is completely shut in, rise on every hand with a distinctness
which accurately defines its dimensions ; while the valley itself,* especially on the
western, or opposite, side of the river presents a view of several small towns, or scattered
villages, planted along, but back from, the river at the distance of a few miles apart — ■
the whole intervening and contiguous territory being divided into farms and gardens,
with fruit and ornamental trees. Comfortable farm-houses ai'e thickly studded over the
valley, among which are not a few more ambitious dwellings, denoting by their air, and
the disposition of the grounds, both wealth and taste. Midwaj- through the valley winds
the river, its banks adorned with graceful and luxuriant foliage, and disclosing at every
turn some bright spot of beauty. On the eastern side, in the rear of the borough, and
for a few miles north, the dead level of the valley is rendered still more picturesque by
being broken into swelling elevations and lesser valleys, adorned in spots with groves
and clumps of trees, with the ivj' and other creeping parasites, as upon the river brink,
clinging to their branches and adding beauty to the graceful foliage. * * * [The
mountains] are in general yet as wild as when discovered, and are clothed with pines,
dwarf oaks and laurels, interspersed with other descriptions of woods, deciduous and
evergreen. * * *

"Wyoming is indeed a lovely spot, which, had Milton seen it before the composi-
tion of his immortal epic, might well have suggested some portions of his gorgeous
descriptions of Paradise. The lofty and verdant mountains, which shut the valley from
the rest of the world, correspond well with the great poet's

'* * * * enclosure green.

Of a steep wilderness ; whose hairy sides

With thicket overgrown, grotesque and wild,

Access denied ; while overhead up grew

Insuperable height of loftiest shade,

Cedar and pine and fir and branching palm,

A sylvan scene ; and as the ranks ascend,

Shade above shade, a woody theatre

Of stateliest view.'
"Wyoming is larger, by far, than the Thessalian vale which the poets of old so
often .sang, though not less beautiful. If its mountain-barriers are not honored by the
classic names of Ossa and Olympus, they are much more lofty. Instead of the Peneus, a
mightier river rolls its volume through its verdant meadows ; and if the gods of the
Greek Mythology were wont to honor Tempe with their presence in times of old, they
would prove their good taste and their love of the romantic and beautiful in these
modern days, by taking an occasional stroll among the cool shades and flowery paths of
Wyoming. ' '

Thoma.s Campbell, the vScotti.sh poet, was the first writer of renown
to embalm Wyominjr in verse, which he did in his "Gertrude of Wyo-
ming," given to the public early in 1809. The first two of the ninety-
two stanzas of this poem are as follows :

"On vSusquehannah's side, fair Wyoming !
Although the wild-flower on thy ruin'd wall,
And roofless homes, a .sad remembrance bring
Of what thy gentle people did befall.

()5

Yet thou wert once the loveliest land of all
That see the Atlantic wave their morn restore.
Sweet land ! may I thy lost delights recall,
And paint thy (icrtnidc in her bowers of yore,
. Whose beauty was the love of Pennsylvania's shore !

II.

'•Delightful Wyoming! beneath thy skies
The liapp}' shei)herd swains had naught to do
Rut feed their flocks on green declivities.
Or skim perchance thy lake with light canoe,
From morn till evening's sweeter pastime grew,
With timbrel, when beneath the forests brown
Thy lovely maidens would the dance renew ;
And aye those sunny mountains half-wa}' down
Woiild echo flageolet from some romantic town."

There is no great .scope in the stor)' of this poem, but it contains
passages of exquisite grace and tenderness, and others of spirit and
grandeur. The Wyoming of Campbell is, and always will be, a creation
lovely to the heart and imagination of mankind ; but the poet has given
to the world a creation that is onlv imao^inar^'. His Wvoming is not
the Wyoming of prosaic realit}', nor is the tale to which he has married
it in accordance with the facts of history. As Campbell had never been
in America, and his knowledge of Wyoming and its history was —
according to his own statements — derived from Adolphus' history,
Jefferson's "Notes on Virginia," and other books of a similar character,
the poem abounds in improbabilities, misdescriptions and anachronisms
that are very glaring to the reader familiar with the real Wyoming and
its histor}'.

"And yet, O W^'oming ! Campbell
Hath linked thy name with fancy's dreams,

And thrown a magic charm around
Thy purple hills and winding streams,

.\nd made thy valley classic ground."

In 1854 it was proposed by admirers of Campbell to erect a
memorial statue to the deceased poet in "Poets' Corner," Westminster
Abbey, London. The fee required to be paid to the authorities of the
Abbey for this privilege amounted to £200, and it was deemed proper to
appeal to the people of the United States to contribute this sum. Rela-
tive to this matter The Evening Post of New York printed the following
in September, 1854 :

"A marble obelisk, inscribed with the poet's name, on some spur of the woodland
mountain range which overlooks the vale of Wyoming (the scene of his poem), conspic-
uous from the banks of the river at a distance either way, would be a far more signal
testimony of the esteem in which his writings are held than an effigy in the 'Poets'
Corner' of the great monumental church of England."

The following brief paragraph by Charles Miner on this subject was
printed in the Record of the Tinies^ Wilkes-Barre, September 27, 1854 :

"Until the monument erected by the ladies of Wyoming, in memory of the heroes
who fell in the massacre, is completed and rendered an ornament instead of a dreadful
eyesore, it would do us no credit to aid in erecting a monument to Campbell. When one
is finished, let us vinite to honor the author of 'Gertrude' by placing on Prospect Rock a
marble obelisk inscribed with the poet's name."

Alexander Wilson, the celebrated ornithologist, was the next writer
of note following Campbell to praise in verse the valley of Wyoming
and its noble river. In the i\utumn of 180o he traveled on foot from
Philadelphia to Niagara Falls, and later he wrote a poem entitled "The

Foresters," which was descriptive of his journey, and was first published

in July, 1809, in The Portfolio (previously mentioned). The author

refers therein to his first impressions of our historic vale, in the follow-

iuQ- lines :

"And now Wiomi opens on our view,
And, far beyond, the Allegheny bine
Immensely stretch'd ; upon the plain below
The painted roofs with gaud}' colors glow,
And Susquehanna's glittering stream is seen
Winding in stately pomp through valleys green.

Hail, charming river ! pure, transparent flood !
Unstain'd b}' noxious swamps or choking mud.
Thundering through broken rocks in whirling foam,
Or pleased o'er beds of glittering sand to roam.
Green be th}^ banks, sweet forest-wandering stream.
Still may thy waves with finn}' treasures teem ;
The silver}- shad and salmon crowd thy shores ;
Thy tall woods echoing to the sounding oars.
On thy swol'n bosom floating piles appear,
Fill'd with the harvests of our rich frontier ;
Thy pine-crown'd cliffs, thy deep, romantic vales,
Where wolves now wander and the panther wails.
In future times (nor distant far the day)
Shall glow with crowded towns and villas gay.
Unnumber'd keels thy deepen'd course divide,
And airy arches pompously bestride ;
The domes of Science and Religion rise.
And millions swarm where now a forest lies.

^ ^: :|; ;;< :|; :J:

By Susquehanna's shores we journey on.
Hemmed in by mountains over mountains thrown,
Whose vast declivities rich scenes display
Of green pines mix'd with yellow foliage gay.
Each gradual winding opening to the sight
New towering heaps of more majestic height.
Grey with projecting rocks, along whose steeps
The sailing eagle* many a circle sweeps."

In 1826 or '27 Fitz Greene Halleck,t a poet of much geniality and
tender feeling, visited Wyoming, "led by his admiration of the poetry
of Campbell, the author of 'Gertrude.' " In memory of this visit
Halleck wrote his very spirited and entertaining poem "Wyoming,"
which he handed to his friend and fellow-poet William Cullen Br3^ant,
by whom it was first published in 1827 in TJie United States Review
(New York), at that time conducted by Mr. Bryant. Since then this
poem has appeared in all editions of the collected writings of Halleck,
and is as follows :

"Thou com'.st, in beauty, on my gaze at last,
'On Susquehanna's side, fair Wyoming !'
Image of many a dream, in hours long past.
When life was in its bud and blossoming,
And waters, gushing from the fountain-spring
Of pure enthusiast thought, dimmed my young eyes,
As by the poet borne, on unseen wing,
I breathed, in fancy, 'neath thy cloudless skies,
The Summer's air, and heard her echoed harmonies.

II.

"I then but dreamed ; thou art before me now
In life, a vision of the brain no more.
I've stood upon the wooded mountain's brow.
That beetles high thy lovely valley o'er ;

* "The white-headed, or bald, eagle. — A. li'ilsoii."

t Born in Guilford, Connecticut, July S. 171K1 : died there November lii, lS(i7.

And now, where winds thy river's greenest shore,
Within a bower of sycamores am laid ;
And winds, as soft and sweet as ever bore
The fragrance of wild flowers through sun and shade,
Are singing in the trees, whose low boughs press my head.

III.

"Nature hath made thee lovlier than the power
Even of Campbell's pen hath pictured ; he
Had woven, had he gazed one sunny hour
Upon thy smiling vale, its scenery
With more of truth, and made each rock and tree
Known like old friends, and greeted from afar.
And there are tales of sad reality.
In the dark legends of thy border war,
With woes of deeper tint than his own Gertrude'' s are.

IV.

"But where ai-e they, the beings of the mind,
The bard's creations, moulded not of clay,
Hearts to strange bliss and suffering assigned —
Young Gertrude, Albert, Waldegrave — where are they ?
We need not ask. The people of to-day
Appear good, honest, quiet men enough,
And hospitable too — for ready pay ;
With manners like their roads, a little rough.
And hands whose grasp is warm and welcoming, though tough.

"Judge HALI.ENB.A.CH,* who keeps the toll-bridge gate
And the towm records, is the Albert now
Of Wyoming ; like him, in Church and State,
Her Doric column. And upon his brow
The thin hairs, white with seventj- winters' snow.
Look patriarchal. Waldegrave 'twere in vain
To point out here, unless in yon -scare-crow
That stands full-uniform'd upon the plain.
To frighten crows and black-birds from the grain.

"For he would look particularly droll
In his 'Iberian boot' and 'Spanish plume,'
And be the wonder of each Christian soul
As of the birds that scare-crow and its broom.
But Gertrude, in her loveliness and bloom.
Hath many a model here ; for woman's eye.
In court or cottage, wheresoe'er her home,
Hath a heart-spell too holy and too high
To be o'erpraised even by her worshipper — Poesy.

VII.

"There's one in the next field — of sweet sixteen —
Singing and summoning thoughts of beauty born
In heaven — with her jacket of light green,
'Love-darting e)^es, and tresses like the morn,'
Without a shoe or stocking— hoeing corn.
Whether, like Gertrude, she oft wanders there,
With Shakespeare's volume in her bosom borne,
I think is doubtful. Of the poet-player
The maiden knows no more than of Cobbett or Voltaire.

VIII.

"There is a woman, widowed, gray and old,
W^ho tells you where the foot of Battle stopped
Upon their day of massacre. She told

♦Reference is here made to Judge M,a.tthias Hollenback of Wilkes-Barr^. He was never, how-
ever, either toll-collector at the Wilkes-Barre bridge or keeper of the town records. He was the first
President of the bridge companj-, and held this office in 1826 and '27. At that time Judge Jesse Fell was
Town Clerk of Wilkes-Barre town and towuship.

Its tale, and pointed to the spot, and wept,
Whereon her father and five brothers slept,
Shroudless, the bright-dreamed slumbers of the brave,
When all the land a funeral mourning kept.
And there, wild laurels planted on the grave
By Nature's hand, in air their pale-red blossoms wave.

IX.

"And on the margin of j-on orchard hill
Are marks where time-worn battlements h^ve been.
And in the tall grass traces linger still
Of 'arrowy frieze and wedged ravelin.'
Five hundred of her brave that valley green
Trod on the morn in soldier-spirit gay ;
But twenty lived to tell the noonday scene—
And where are now the twenty ? Passed away.
Has Death no triumph hours, save on the battle-da}^?"

i
The following stanzas are from a poem entitled "Wyoming," com- -j

posed by a now unknown author whose pen-name was "Desmond." i

The poem was originally published July 24, 1 830, in Hazard's Register

of Pennsylvania (VI : 61), and in all probability has been read by few

persons of the present da3\

"And is this Wyoming? O Wj-oming !
Am I within thy fairy bowers ? Are these |

The classic shades mine island bard doth sing ' I

So sweetl}- ? Was it 'neath those dark green trees '

That Henry woo'd his Gertrude ? Is this breeze, '

That fans my brow with its cool morning wing, ;

The same that 'mid the sweeping circle bore
Dark OutalissVs song around yon sunn}' shore ? 'i

"O vale of bliss ! Though bosomed in the wild,
Deep in the silent west, thou'rt not unsung.

How oft o'er yon blue sea, while yet a child, \

O'er tales of thee enraptured have I hung.
And roam'd in fancv these wild shades among- ■

And now I smile to see thee, though exiled. |

Roll up, ye mists of morn ! that I may view I

If of those dew}- bowers my childhood's dream be true.

"The same — yet no ! Not even the poet's song,
Or pencil's skill, can sketch thy waters wide,
Blue Susquehanna, as thou sweep'st along
Through those wild woods that wave upon thj- side —

Here dashing o'er the rocks in crested pride, i

There stealing silently the shades among ;

Here hiding thy bright ripples 'midst the trees, 1

There flashing to the sun and foaming to the breeze. '

"Genius of Europe ! Look'st thou on the Rhine i

With bold-swept lute and wildly beaming eyes? i

Do Thames' bright waters in thy numbers shine j

So oft, so brilliantly? Awake! Arise!
The western world unveils its mysteries !
Come to these fore.sts ! Turn that glance of thine

On these majestic waters as they gleam ! (

\\"hat is thy wildest flood to them ? A brook — a stream ! '

"One solitary lute lias sung of thee.

Fair Susquehanna ! While by bright Garonne \

A hundred bards awake their minstrelsy, i

Praising its beauties at the set of sun. (

Yet oh 1 through yonder mists uprolling dun, j

How grandly wave your forests to the sky, \
Fresh as when finst chaotic glooms uncurl'd,

And show'd to angels' eyes the new-created world. i

"And silent as that world these woods ! There wakes
No shout from far ; that early l)anqueter,
The bee, to his wild flowers amid the brakes,
Hums j^faily past ; the wild birds also stir,
But still, in yon fair town, the villajfer
Is wrapped in sleep ; abroad the wild deer takes
A quiet glance, for in his native woods
He hears no hunter's step stir on his solitudes.

"Dew-diamonds fall around me from the trees.
And mornint;^ flow'rets peep from forth the maze
Of the wild woods 'roimd. Ikit what are these?
I heed them not. With fix'd glance .still I gaze
On yon bright flood. Alas ! far fiercer blaze
Than now illumes thy wave m}' fancy sees.
Fair river ! though thus smilingly you flow,
As if on thy green banks ne'er woke the wail of woe.

"Rush o'er my soul the horrors of that night.
When on thy blood-stained wave pale look'd the moon !

* * * * * *

^ i%' ^ ^ ^ ^'

:}; * * ^' ^ *

"Not then, on smiling plains, fair Wyoming,
Awoke as now the glorious eye of morn ;
But pale forms on thy steep banks weltering —
Thy homes in ruin — thy green forests torn —
And here and there some bleeding swimmer borne
Down the deep stream, all madly buffeting
For life the wave, yet pausing oft to hear
If still the cry of blood rang on his tortur'd ear.
^ ^ * ^- >|: .

" 'Tis past ! x\nd ever past be that fell scene !
Ah ! lovely bowers, ye were not made for war !
Ne'er may your wave reflect a redder sheen
Than the mild twinkle of the morning star ;
Ne'er on this breeze may harsher music jar
Than hunters' merry shout from forest green,
The sheep-bell's distant tinkle on the gale.
Or, whistling wild at eve, the wish-ton-wish's wail.

"And here, at eve, let sylvan lovers roam,
Where once disturbed the woods the battle-cry ;
Borne down the wave let the soft flute-note come,
In sweet accordance with the lover's sigh ;
Or, let some exile lone go musing by
On the far beauties of his island home ;
Yet turning to find solace in the scene
For Albion's broomy bourns or Erin's hills of green."

Ill 1843 Mrs. Lydia Huntley Sigourney,* having visited Wyoming,
wrote and published the following poem, which was much admired at
the time and appeared in various publications.

"To THE Susquehanna,"

On its junction with the Lackawanna.

"Rush on, glad stream, in thy power and pride,
To claim the hand of thy promised bride,
For she hastes from the realm of the darkened mine
To mingle her murmured vows with thine.
Ye have met ! Ye have met ! and your shores prolong
The liquid tone of your nuptial song.

* A well-known American authoress, born at Norwich. Connecticut, September 1. 1791 ; died at Hart-
ford, Connecticut, June 10, 18t>5. In 1S22 she published a descriptive poem entitled "Traits of the Aborig-
ines of America," and in 1824 a ' Sketch of Connecticut Forty Years Since." These were followed by
manj- other poems and essays, and in 1810, having visited Europe, she wrote "Pleasant Memories of
Pleasant Lands."

70 i

"Methinks 3'e \ved as the white man's son I

And the child of the Indian king have done. !

I saw the bride as she strove in vain j

To cleanse her brow from the carbon stain ;

But she brings thee a dowry so rich and true ;

That th5^ love must not shrink from the tawnev hue. ,!

i
"Her birth was rude in a mountain cell,

And her infant freaks there are none to tell ;

Yet the path of her beaut)' was wild and free,

And in dell and forest she hid from thee ;

But the day of her fond caprice is o'er,

And she seeks to part from thy breast no more.

"Pass on, in the J03' of thy blended tide.
Through the land where the blessed Miquon died ;

No red man's blood, with its guilty stain, I

Hath cried unto God from that broad domain. I

With the seeds of peace they have sown the soil — I

'Bring a harvest of wealth for their hour of toil. i

"On, on through the vale where the brave ones sleep, !

Where the waving foliage is rich and deep. " 5

I have stood on the mountain, and roamed through the glen, ;

To the beautiful homes of the Western men ; ■

Yet naught in that region of glory could see !

So fair as the vale of Wyoming to me." I

The following verses are from a poem by J. R. Barstow, of Phila- |

delphia, which appeared originally in The Model American Courier^ I

and was reprinted in the Luzerne Democrat (Wilkes-Barre), February I

21, 1849. '

' ' Pennsylvani.^. ' '

"A song of home, a song of modern days, j

A tribute to my glorious native land ! I

Oh ! would the muse but aid my feeble praise, '

And nerve with honest pride my faltering hand ! i

The Keystone of this might}- arch, which holds I

A continent within its vast embrace ; '

Which to the waiting eye of Hope unfolds ;

Of Freedom and of Peace the resting place.
Far in her quiet vallej's many a gem I

Of rarest beaut}- greets the asking eye,
As emeralds of Nature's diadem j

Lie shining green beneath the bending skj'.
Fairest of these, and fairer far than all, '

Brightest of scenes whose beauties never pall,

Queen of the Keystone, on thy mountain throne {

Thou reign'st, Wyoming, b}' thj* grace alone !

The stranger pausing on the rocky brow ;

That far above absorbs the lingering glow
Of the fast setting sun, will feel the power

That oft, in such a scene and such an hour, ■

Can lend imagination all it needs, i

Filling the heart with Poesy's bright seeds, ;

.\nd, but for Holy Writ, might locate there
The garden of the lost, primeval pair.

As if creating Nature, sunk to rest, j

Had laid her fairest offspring on her breast.

Susquehanna, on the earth's green breast

No brighter river greets the morning ray ; J
No sweeter river, flowing to its rest.

Adds its fresh tribute to the ocean's spra}'. \

1 see in many a sorrow-fostered dream ]
The mountain-guarded home of other )-ears. ;

Thy shelving beach and rock-reflecting stream —
They stir once more the fountain of my tears."

:J: :|i :*: :j<

i
I

Thomas Buchanan Read (born 1822; died 1>S72), well known as
an artist, a sculptor and a poet, but chiefly Remembered as the author
of "Sheridan's Ride" — that spirited poem, "one of the literary hits
made during the American Civil War" — published in ]<S55 "The New
Pastoral," from which the following verses have been extracted :

"Fair Pennsylvania ! than thy midland vales,
Lying 'twixt hills of green, and bound afar
By billowy nionntains rolling in the l)lue,
No lovelier landscape meets the traveler's eye.
There Labor sows and reaps his snre reward,
And Peace and Plenty walk amid the glow
And perfiune of fnll garners. I have seen
In lands less free, less fair, bnt far more known.
The streams which flow through histoi-y and wash
The legendary shores, and cleave in twain
Old capitals and towns, dividing oft
Great empires and estates of petty kings
And princes, whose domains full many a field.
Rustling with maize along our native West,
Out-measures and might put to shame ! And yet
Nor Rhine, like Bacchus crowned, and reeling through
His hills — nor Danube, marred with tyranny.
His dull waves moaning on Hungarian shores.
Nor rapid Po, his opaque waters pouring
Athwart the fairest, fruitfulest and worst
Enslaved of European lands — nor Seine,
Winding uncertain through inconstant France,
Are half so fair as thy broad stream whose breast
Is gemmed with many isles, and whose proud name
Shall yet become among the names of rivers
A synonym of beauty — Susquehanna !"

The following poem was written in October, 1860, by George
Alfred Townsend, well known to readers of the present day as a
popular newspaper correspondent and writer of fiction over the pseu-
donym "Gath."

"Wyoming,"

From Prospect Rock.
(During the .State Agricultural Fair.)

"The dream of my childhood lies under my lashes ;

Wyoming looks up from her Autumn repose ;

I catch the sweet breath of the lingering rose,
And see in the vale where the rivulet flashes.
These meadows are rich with old altars and ashes ;

These bright skies are hoh', and hymns haunt these hills ;

Old tales tinkle up from these myriad rills.
And ghosts wander forth where the withered bough crashes ;

Stealthy eyes glare like fiends where the thickets are gloaming,

And the consecrate mountains are rumbling — 'Wyoming.'

"I kneel where the savage looked down in the olden
On glimpses of meadow and wilderness blue,
And swore that the prow of his birchen canoe

Should ripple again where the river was golden ;

That the beautiful vale where his fathers were moulding
The stranger should never forever profane.
Though the hatchet should reek with the blood of the slain,

And the stars close their lids the red carnage beholding.
The pale face survives, the red children are roaming.
And the smoke of sweet households curls over W^yoming.

"I see the lone pine where the 'Shawnee' ascended,

And mark the gray shaft where the martyrs are cherished ;
And see the grim ridge where the pioneer perished,
And gaze at the rock where the death-rite was ended.
The homes have been blighted which heroes defended,

But here do the sons of the forefathers dwell,
And Gertrudes 3-et Avander o'er meadow and dell.
All romance and song in this Aiden are blended !

These scenes like a dream on the pilgrim are gleaming,
And blessed be the eyes which thus worship Wyoming.

"In this stillness ambition its murmuring hushes,

And pietj' needs not in anguish to pray,

F'or here there is heaven and beauty alwaj-.
And the clouds, looking down, lose their sadness in flushes.
The glad Susquehanna sings ever and blushes.

And ever looks back with a gurgling regret,

And the tear-sparkling stars most reluctantly set ;
And the screams of the hawk are as soft as the thrush's ;

And the mountains, like caskets of azure are gloaming.

To shut from the world the jewel Wyoming.

"On the massacre-plain mounds of canvas appear.

And yeomen are clustering, armed for the battle ;

With the neigh of the steed comes the lowing of cattle.
And the plowshare flashes in lieu of the spear.
The valley Gertrudes know never a fear.

And the Indian Queen sleeps under the river ;

The arrow is rusting, and rotting the quiver.
The scalp of the crow and the blood of the deer

Alone are sought, in the cornfield roaming.

For the farmer has nestled in sweet Wyoming."

The following stanzas by an unknown author Avere printed in the
Luzerne Federalist (Wilkes-Barre), November 14, 1806.

"When Nature's God outspread the earth,
And gave to hills and valle5-s birth,
What place was made of greatest worth ?
Wyoming !

"When Boreas, roaring from the North,
With Winter arm'd, comes raging forth.
Thy mountains shield thee from his wroth,
W3-oming.

"When Summer's sun resumes his sway,
And beams intolerable da}-.
Then through thy vale cool breezes pla^-,
Wyoming.

"Th}^ fields are spread with fairest flowers,
Thy air is cleared with freshest showers.
And Ceres plenty on thee pours,
Wyoming.

"When the rude savage from afar
Pour'd on our land the scourge of war.
On thee was left the deepest fear,
Wyoming.

"To tell — it wrings my heart with pain —
How many heroes press'd the plain.
How many of thy sons were slain,
Wyoming.

"But now, thank God I we hear the sound
Of peace and industry resound ;
Thy plains with health and joy are crown'd,
Wyoming."

The following "Lines, written on revisiting the Susquehanna,"
were printed in the SusquchaiDia Democrat (Wilkes-Barre), Jul}^ 24,
1829.

"Still rolling on, resistless stream,

llovv clear and calm thy waters rnn !
Or how, when vex'd, thy billows gleam

And sparkle in the burning sun,
And through romantic scenery roam
While hastening to thy ocean home !

"The oaks that shade thy smiling face,

The cultured fields that grace thy banks.
The scaly brood — the finny race —

That in thy bosom play their pranks,
Throw bright enchantment 'round the scene.
And rouse the poet from his dream.

"And could thy rippling currents speak

A language audible to man.
From thy harsh tongue what strains would break,

Of deeds too deep for eyes to scan !
When War stalked forth in open dav.
And thousands sank beneath his sway.

"Of Indian pow-wows on thy shore,

Of battle brands and scalping-knives ;
Of fairest fields drenched with red gore,

In that wide waste of human lives
'Ere Freedom's angel from on high
Waved her white banner through the sky.

"Yes, on the fair and pleasant site

"Where Wilkesbarre's thriving village stands,

The red chief, in his hour of might.

Sent forth his stern and harsh commands

To fish, to fowl and beasts of prey,

And tribes of men as wild as they.

"Nations have risen, flourished and then died ;

Wooden nutmegs have had their day ;
And works of art, displayed with pride,

Have passed from splendor to decay.
Sweet river, thou still flow'st sublime,
Unmindful of the shifts of Time.

"Then still roll on, grand stream, and waft

To busy marts our choicest wealth ;
And send by the returning craft

That best material — save health —
The coin, for which man wastes his strength
And dies a beggar-wretch at length."

The following stanzas, originally pnblished in the Mount Cai'-mel
Register, were reprinted in the Record of the Times (Wilkes-Barre),

June 21, 1854.

"There's a rolling stream with a silver}' tide.
And a moss clad valley deep and wide,
And velvety banks with flowerets gay,
And rock crags crowned with pine and bay.
And laurel boughs, rich mantled o'er,
Where the red man trod in days of yore.
I love that stream !

"I've seen that stream in the moon's clear light.
When silver tipped each dizzy height.
And gauzy mists like fairies played
On the mountain's brow in the mellow shade ;
And the twinkling stars, with diamond gleam,
Gemmed the mirrored breast of that silver stream.
I loved that stream !

"I've seen that stream when the demon roar
Of the wild tornado swept its shore ;
When the lightning fell with forked tongue.
And- thunder-bolts like hail were flung ;
And the mountain pines from the rocks were reft,
And the billowy foam b)^ the crags was cleft —
And I loved that stream.

"And when dread Winter's hoarj- chain,
By the breath of Spring was cleft in twain,
And the angr}' flood with hideous groan
Mocked the growling ice-rift's thunder tone,
I've seen that river's giant tide
Spread desolation far and wide —

Yet I loved that stream.

"On its silvery breast, when the night was young,
With early friends I've floated and sung
To the mellow tones of the breathing flute,
And the ringing viol's thrilling note ;
While the merr}- jest and repartee
Gave fairy wings to the hours of glee —

And I loved that stream.

"Sweet river ! in memory's fading dream
I see thy bold, majestic stream.
Thy sparkling ripples and glittering spray.
Though I, alas ! am far away.
Thou roliest ever, but I decay,
And soon from hence shall pass away.
Then gladly I'd rest, when my toil is o'er,
'Neath the deep, cool shade on the pebbly shore.
For I love that stream."

The following poem, entitled "Wyoming," was written in 1872 by
Miss Susan E. Dickinson, who, at a later period, was for some years a
resident of Wyoming Valley and was quite widely known as a- news-
paper correspondent and a writer of verse.

"Storm has gone by ; the trailing clouds that linger.
Add glor}' to the October afternoon —
Touched by the artist sun with loving finger.
With gold and rose hues of a dawn of June.

"On the far hill-range purple mists are lying,

Struck through with golden light in wavering gleams ;
On nearer slopes the Autumn woods are dj'ing.
Robed in rich tints that mock the artist's dreams.

• 'The rare day woos us forth to gather treasure
Of unexpressed delight for heart and brain ;
Each moment brings us some new sense of pleasure,
Or takes away some touch of former pain.

"We trace the mountain road, each turn unfolding
A rarer beauty to the raptured eye ;
Each glen and stream and deep ravine is holding
Its own rich store of Autumn's pageantry.

"Our hearts spring up — the clear brook by us flowing
Voices our gla(ine.ss with its silver tone.
We find the keen, clear air new life bestowing,

More sweet than Summer's breath o'er roses blown.

"Fain would we linger ; but at last, regaining
The open vale, new joy each spirit thrills.
No Alpine ro.seate glow, the ice-peaks staining.
Outrivals that which crowns these eastern hills.

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"Above the western slopes the sun, retiring,
Sends ever and anon a siirj^e of ^ohl ;
Now rising, now retreating, now expiring —
How shouUl such scenes be fitly sung or told ?

"O fair vale of Wyoming ! O soft sjilendor

Of hill and stream and rare, autumnal skies !
One heart will thrill with recollections tender
Of all your beauty, until memory dies !"

Theron G. Osborne, a resident of Wyoming Valley, and an occasional
contributor of poetry to the periodical press, is the anthor of the follow-
ing- pleasing verses — first published in TJie Evening Leader (Wilkes-
Barre), August 19, 1895.

"Susquehanna. ' '

"Flashing love-light from her waters

To her streamlets every one.
Peerless Susquehanna loiters

On her pathway in the sun ;
'Mid her hills of darksome verdure.

And her meadows smiling green,
'Neath the cliffs that she has fashioned —

High, precipitous, serene —
Where the mountain-pine stands sentry,

Firm, though scant his foothold be.
Cleaving skyward, staunchly builded.

True to God and gravit}-.
'Round her bluffs of furrowed granite,

O'er her fields of pebbles spread —
With the quiet in her bosom

Of the azure overhead —
LfOiters on, her love-light flashing

To her streamlets every one.
As she dreams through pool and shallow

In the shimmer of the sun —
Bends and winds and stretches languid,

Like a serpent in the sun."

So much having been published respecting conditions picturesque
and matters romantic and fanciful in Wyoming, as well as concerning
its historic events, one may readily believe that the name and the fame
of the valley are wide-extended. And furthermore, that her name and
her fame will live "till time shall be no more" ; for the events, the
sceries and the legends of Wyoming will never be forgotten while the
grand old valley has a name, or as long as she has a descendant to keep
her in memory. Her name will certainly live, for, through either her
loving and loyal descendants or her admirers, it has been conferred upon
the next to the newest — but one of the most interesting — of the States
of the Union, upon three counties in three different States, upon four
townships in as many different States, upon thirteen villages and towns
in the same number of States, and upon one village in the Province of
Ontario, Canada ; while in the cities of Washington, St. Louis, Scranton
and W^illiamsport, and a score of other cities and towns outside W^yo-
ming Valley, there are streets and avenues bearing the name "W^yoming."

It must be borne in mind that ours is the original Wyoming.
And it is doubtful if the name of any town or locality in the United
States has been put to so many and such varied uses as has the name of
this valley. Relative to this the editor of the Record of tJie Times (Wilkes-
Barre) printed the following paragraph in his paper in December, 1857 :

"A writer in the Scranton Republican very properly protests against giving the
name 'Wyoming' to all the oyster-saloons, barber-shops and halls in Scranton. We are
glad to see this protest. A beautiful name belonging to this vallej^ has been 'run into
the ground' — to use a common expression — by attaching it to counties, hotels and post-
offices all over the countr}-."

The editor mio-ht have added "breweries," "brass-bands" and "canal-
boats" to his list, and yet have kept within bounds. Apropos of this,
the present writer well remembers that about 1863 (at which period there
were very few colored people in Wyoming Valley) a number of colored
women in Wilkes-Barre, banded together for some purpose or another,
in order to raise funds for their organization arranged to provide a
supper for the public's patronage. Outside the hall where the supper
was served they hung up a banner bearing this inscription : "Supper
bv the Dauehters of Wvomino- !" It seems needless to state that, while
it is probable that the slipper of the "Daughters of W3'oniing" did not
receive an overwhelming patronage, yet it is certain that their banner
was the subject of a large amount of curious comment.

Within recent years all sorts of things constructed by the hand of
man — from ferry-boats to apartment-houses, in the cit}^ of New York
and elsewhere — have been named "Wyoming" ; and quite lately a horse,
presented to the President of the United States by admiring friends in
the State of Wyoming, was given the same name. As early as 1830 a
merchant-vessel bearing the name Wyoming was sailing between Phila-
delphia and certain Mediterranean ports ; and in the Spring of 1846 a
handsome packet-ship christened Wyoming^ belonging to the line of
boats operated b}' the Messrs. Cope between Philadelphia and Liverpool,
made her first voyage to the latter port.

In 1858 eight "third-class steamers" were being constructed for the
United States Government, and in March, 1859, the Navy Department
directed that one of the largest of these should be named Wyoming.
She was built by Merrick and Company of Philadelphia, and was a
sloop-of-war of 726 tons, carrying four 32-pounder broadside guns, two
11-inch Dahlgren pivot guns and a complement of 160 officers and
men. Her sister-ship was the Kearsarge^ later to acquire success and
fame in naval affairs during the War for the Union. In 1863 there was
a rebellion in one of the provinces of Japan, and from their forts and
armed boats the rebels fired upon certain alien vessels — among them a
steamer bearing the United States flag. The little wooden Wyomi?ig^
then attached to the Asiatic Fleet, was hurried by her commander
(Captain McDougal) to the scene of trouble in Japanese waters, and
there, in the Straits of Shimonosdki, July 14, 1863, performed what has
been described as "the most gallant action of a single ship under a single
commander known in the annals of the United States Navy." "The
Jiyojning fired fifty-five rounds in seventy minutes, and came out of the
battle iu good fightiug trim, though hulled ten times and struck in ten
other places." In 1S(;7 — .still on the Asiatic Station — the Wyoming, in
connection with the U. vS. S. Hat'tford, performed important services at
the island of Formo.sa.

The active life of that old-fashioned war-vessel came to an end a
number of years ago, but her name once more appears in the Register
of the Navv attached to a steel-.sheathed monitor 252 feet in leneth, of
3,214 tons displacement, with engines of 2,400 horse-power, and carry-

ing SIX

guns

in her main battery. This lVyo7niiig^ although a new
vessel, belongs to a class of war-ships that is fast disappearing from the
navy lists of the j^owers. She is one of the last group of "harbor-defense
vessels" that is ever likely to be built. She was launched at San
Francisco September 8, 1900 — the event being made a featnre of the
semi-centennial celebration of California's admission into the Union.
Earl)- in li>0;> this latest-lK)rn Wyoiiiiifg went into commission.

CHAPTER III.

THE AMERIND PEOPLE— THE MOUND-BUILDERS— THE ABORIGINALS OF

NEW YORK AND PENNSYLVANIA.

"Not raanj^ generations ago, where you now sit circled with all that exalts aud
embellishes civilized life, the rank thistle nodded in the wind, and the wild fox dug his
hole unscared. Here lived and loved another race of beings. Beneath the same sun
that rolls over your heads, the Indian hunter pursued the panting deer ; gazing on the
same moon that smiles for you, the Indian lover wooed his dusky mate."

— Rev. William B. Sprague, S. T. D.

"Chieftains and their tribes have perished,
Like the thickets where they grew. ' '

When, in 1492, Christopher Columbus set forth on his voyage of
discovery, it was in pursuance of a design (conceived nearly twenty
years before) to seek out a new route to India — not a new continent.
When land was found (what is now called Watling's Island, in the
Bahamas, was probably the first land sighted by this venturesome
voyager) it was believed to be part of India, or, at least, islands adjacent
to India ; and, fourteen years later, Columbus died still "believing that
what he had found was in fact the eastern coasts of Asia." Because of
this belief Columbus and his followers called the native people whom
they encountered Indians ; and by this name — or, more commonly in
later years, i\merican Indians — have all the aboriginals of America
(both North and South) been called ever since.

Some five or six years ago, however, a world-famous lexicographer
compounded from the words "American" and "Indian" the word
"Amerind" — a sort of half-and-half concoction — to denote collectively
all the Indians who live or once lived in this hemisphere (including the
Eskimos and the Fuegians), as distinguished from the natives of India
and neiohboring: reg-ions ; holding- that this word desig-nated the aborig--
inals of the American Continent better than any word or combination
of words used, and that it was preferable to "American Indian," so
generally in use, because that term had come to designate to the
average man's mind the red man who inhabited North America alone.
This word "x'lmerind" was early adopted b}' the well-known explorer
aud anthropologist Maj. John W. Powell, founder and, until his death.
Director of the United States Bureau of Ethnology ; and other anthro-
pologists and ethnologists of note and various authors of standing have
since made use of the word, believing it to be "correct, convenient and
comprehensively expressive" — a pretty good word, in fact (as words of

modem manufacture go), born of a suflficiently ingenious effort to get
around and over a large but pardonal)le mistake made something over
400 vears ago by certain men of more enterprise than information.
There are scientists, however — "Americanists," they style themselves —
who display a fierce animosity against "Amerind," asserting that "it is
a hybrid, a mongrel and a monster, and should be abandoned," because
it was not coined from Latin or Greek words.

To any one familiar with only a
tithe of the present-day American
periodical literature, and the pub-
lishers' announcements of new works
of history, social science and fiction
in the English language, it is very
evident that interest in the Amerind
people — particularly the red men of
North America — seems to increase
(at least in this country) in the same
proportion that the members of the
race are diminishing. Signs, too,
are not lacking which reveal that
there is considerable interest shown
in England over certain books that
have appeared from time to time on
this side of the ocean dealing with
the North American Indian as he
was when the early English and
Dutch colonists were successfully
striving to establish homes in this
country — notably in central New
York. Such books have lately oc-
cupied much space in the review columns of London literary journals.
Archaeologists, anthropologists and "Americanists" are devoting
much time and patience to a comparative study of North American
Indian life, customs and products, particularly w^th regard to the theory
of the ethnic unity of the aboriginal tribes and their distinctive charac-
ter when compared with other nations. Relative to this interesting and
important work much has been published in this country within recent
years, not only by societies and individuals, but by our National and
State Governments.* This has been done largely with the hope that
it would arouse a deeper public interest in the collecting of information
concerning a people who not very long ago were masters on this conti-
nent, but now are fast disappearing ; and whose records and remains
will cease to exist with them if an immediate and a determined effort
is not made by white men to put the records into some lasting form and
to guard the remains against decay and destruction. The North Amer-
ican Indians have no written literature, but thev will have one when the
enormous number of their legends, myths, songs and ceremonial lore,
mnemonically recorded, shall have been written down by white men.

* In an address on "Rare Books Relating to the American Indians," read before the Anthropological
Society of the city of Washington in May, 1901, Ainsworth R. Spofford, of the Library of Congress, said
that "books and pamphlets relating tothe aboriginesof both Americas and theirislands amount to many
thousands of volumes in many languages — Latin, Spanish, French. English, German, Dutch, Italian.
Portuguese, Swedish, Russian and native Indian of many varying dialects."

A Modern "Amerind"
OF THE United States.

What shall be known of the prehistoric race, or races, of America
miist be learned largely by means of their remains. It is true that in
various parts of the country collections of these remains are being
formed ; they are carefully preserved, and all the circumstances in rela-
tion to them are as careful!}' ascertained and recorded. In the mean-
time associations of learned men in many places are devoting their time
and means, as previously hinted, in tracing through these objects the
story of the people, or peoples, who left no other records. In this way
the work in one locality supplements and advances the research in
another, and what seems an unsolvable problem in one instance becomes,
by reason of examination and comparison, a link in a chain of evidence
tending to the corroboration or disproval of some theory or belief. If,
therefore, there is any good in Amerian archaeology, these relics — the
means of its study and elucidation — are of value ; and the associations
and individuals who intelligently gather them, and render them avail-
able for reference and study, are doing a commendable work which is
sure to be appreciated and acknowledged. But much more than is now
being done along these lines could and should be done.

The time is not far distant when all that has been collected and
preserved concerning the aboriginals of North America will be deemed
not only interesting, but extremely valuable. Particularly will this be
so in Wyoming Valley, whose early history is so intimately connected
with the aboriginal inhabitant, whose literature commemorates so many
deeds of heroism, trial and adventure growing out of that relation, and
where have been found so many evidences of the Indian occupation.

Many and various have been the theories advanced by anthropolo-
gists and historians as to the origin of the red men of North America.
Assuming them to be non-indigenous, whence came they and how and
when? William Penn, the founder of Pennsylvania, in a letter to a
Friend, dated at Philadelphia, August 16, 1683, said on this subject :

"For their original, I am ready to believe them of the Jewish race ; I mean of the
stock of the Ten Ti'ibes, and that for the following reasons : First, they were to go to
a 'land not planted or known,' which, to be sure, Asia and Africa were, if not Europe ;
and He that intended that extraordinary jvidgment upon them might make the passage
not uneasy to them, as it is not impossible in itself, from the eastermost parts of Asia to
the westermost of America. In the next place, I find them of like countenance and their
children of so lively resemblance, that a man would think himself in Duke's-place or
Berry-street, in London, when he seeth them. But this is not all : they agree in Rites ;
they reckon by Moons ; they offer their First Fruits ; they have a kind of Feast of
Tabernacles ; they are said to lay their Altar u-\^oxv Twelve Stones; their 3Io7irning a
Year, Customs of Women, with many things that do not now occur."

Zinzendorf (mentioned on page 60), writing in 1742, stated that
the savages of North America "are thought to be partly mixed Scythians,
and partly Jews of the Ten Lost Tribes, which thro' ye great Tartarian
wilderness wandered hither by way of hunting, and so they came farther
and farther into ye country."* This theory of the Jewish origin of the
red men had been suggested by John Eliot, "the Apostle to the Indians,"
before Penn had ever seen an Indian and long- before Zinzendorf was
born ; and the same theory, or idea, was taken up later by many writers
in the early days of the American Colonies. In recent years, men who
have lived among the Apache Indians have noted social resemblances as
well as customs, by wliich this old theory has been strengthened. How-
ever, the "lost Ten Tribes of Israel" ha\-e been sought for in almost
every quarter of the globe, and their de.scendants have made their

*See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Churcli,' I : 18.

appearance in various localities, accordinj^;- to many iiucstioators — the
latest of whom has bestowed the honor upon the Hawaiian Islands.

The traditions of the Lenni Lenapes, as recorded by Heckewelder,
and, in fact, the traditions of all those related tribes (including the
Lenapd) whom we now know by the name of Algonkins, were to the
effect that their ancestors had come from the far West, beyond the
Mississippi, and that their mio^rations eastward had occupied many
years. On the other hand — according to the statements of many writers
— the sacred legends of the Iroquois, or Five, later the Six, Nations, were
the reverse. Their ancestors had sprung from the ground itself. In his
"History of Wyoming" Charles Miner prints the following '-Indian
tradition concerning the origin of the Five Nations," as given by
Canassatego* a noted Onondaga chief and orator, who, at the period of
Zinzendorf's sojourn in this country, was active and prominent in the
councils of the Six Nations.

"When our good Maniiiaf raised A ka?iis/noneg-yt out of the great waters, he said to
his brethren, how fine a country is this ! I will make Red men, the best of men, to enjoy
it. Then with five handfuls of red seeds, like the eggs of flies, did he strow the fertile
fields of Onondaga. Little worms came out of the seeds and penetrated the earth, when
the spirits who had never yet seen the light, entered into and united with them. Ma^iitta
watered the earth with his rain, the sun warmed it, the worms, with the spirits in them,
grew, putting forth little arms and legs, and moved the light earth that covered them.
After nine moons they came forth, perfect boys and girls. Maiiitta covered them with
his mantle of warm, purple cloud, and nourished them with milk from his fingers' ends.
Nine Summers did he nurse them, and nine Sunmiers more did he instruct them how to
live. In the meantime he had made for their use trees, plants and animals of various
kinds. Akaiiishionegy was covered with woods and filled with creatures.

"Then he assembled his children together and said : 'Ye are Five Nations, for ye
sprang each from a different handful of the seed I sowed ; but } e are all brethren, and' I
am your father, for I made ye all. I have nursed and brought you up. Mohocks, I have
made you bold and valiant ; and see, I give you corn for your food. Oneidas. I have
made you patient of pain and of hunger ; the nuts and fruits of the trees are yours.
Senekas, I have made you industrious and active ; beans do I give you for nourishment.
Cayugas, I have made you strong, friendly and generous ; ground-nuts and every root
shall refresh you. Onondagoes, I have made you wise, just and eloquent ; squashes and
grapes have I given you to eat, and tobacco tosmoke in Council. The beasts, birds and
fishes have I given to you all in common. As I have loved and taken care of you all, so
do you love and take care of one another. Communicate freely to each other the good
things I have given you, and learn to imitate each other's virtues. I have made you the
best people in the world, and I give you the best country. You will defend it from the
invasions of other nations, from the children of other Manittas, and keep possession of
it for yourselves, while the sun and moon give light and the waters run in the rivers.
This you shall do if you observe my words.

"Spirits, I am now about to leave you. The bodies I have given you will in time
grow old and wear out, so that you will be weary of them ; or from various accidents thev
may become unfit for your habitation, and you will leave them. I cannot remain here

* Canassatego (whose name appears again in subsequent pages) was not only famous but remark-
able as an Iroquois orator and counselor, and his covmsels and memory were cherished by the Indians of
the Six Nations for a long number of years. Schoolcraft says he was honored and admired by the
Indians as an orator, "and, indeed, by the whole world,'' for his "simple and eloquent mode of express-
ing aboriginal thought." According to the journal of Witham IMarshe, of Maryland, relating to an im-
portant Indian conference held at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, in 1744, Canassatego', who was an active par-
ticipant in the conference, was at that time "a tall, well-made man ; had a very full chest and brawny
limbs and a manly countenance, mixed with a good-natured smile ; was very active and strong and had
a surprising liveliness in his .speech." He was about .sixty years of age at that time.

For thirty years Canassatego was chief spokesman at many important treaties and conferences, and
"vpas the last of the great Iroquois diplomats who yielded not to the allurements of the white man's strong
drink ; who knew his people, and could hold the 'conflicting interests of the Six Nations in hand." He
died at Onondaga, the Iroquois capital (the present Syracuse, New York). September 6, 1750. (See "Con-
rad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania," pages 100, '-'Ort, 238 and 240.)

\ Munito, or Manitou, the name given among American Indians to a spirit, god or devil. Two spirits
are especially spoken of by these names— one, the spirit of good and life ; the other, the spirit of evil and
death.

X The Iroquois called themselves the " Ho-de-no-sau-nec" (the "People of the Long House"), and Mor-
gan says that "aniong themselves they never had any other name." "Akanishionegy." given above, is a
corrupted or twisted form of '\-\quanuschioni,'" a name by which, says Stone ("Poetry and History of
Wyoming," page 92), "the Six Nations have been frequently called by modern writers." ''Aquinoshioni,^'
''Acivinoshioni^' and " Akquinashioni" are three other such forms, used by Schoolcraft, who says that
this name, "under the figure of a long house, or council lodge, is indicative of their [the Iroquois, or Six
Nations] confederate character. " It is quite possible that all these forms are corruptions of the name
"Hodhiosaiinee," made use of by interpreters and others ignorant of the true word.

always to give j-ou new ones. I have great affairs to mind in distant places, and I can-
not again attend so long to the nursing of children. I have enabled you, therefore,
among yourselves to produce new bodies to supply the place of old ones, that every one
of you, when he parts with his old habitation, ma}' in due time find a new one, and never
wander longer than he choose under the earth deprived of the light of the sun. Nourish
and instruct your children, as I have nourished and instructed you. Be just to all men,
and kind to strangers that come among you. So shall 3^011 be happ}- and be loved b)- all,
and I myself will sometimes visit and assist you.'

"Sa5'ing this, he wrapped himself in a bright cloud and went like a swift arrow to
the sun, where his brethren rejoiced at his return. From thence he often looked at
Akanishionegy, and, pointing, showed with pleasure to his brothers the country he had
formed and the nations he had produced to inhabit it."

The Rev. Jacob Johnson, A. M., a graduate of Yale College, and
from 1749 to 1772 pastor of the Congregational Church at Groton, New
London County, Connecticut, and later, for a number of years, pastor of
the Church in Wilkes-Barre (for a sketch of his life see Chapter XXX),
spent considerable time as a missionary among certain of the Iroquois
tribes prior to the year 1770. The following communication written by
him was printed in the Nezv London Gazette^ Connecticut, October 20,
1769, and, so far as the present writer can learn, has never been repub-
lished until now.

"Of the Descent, Time and Manner of the Indians coming into America,
according to an old tradition of theirs.

"Having more lately come out of the country of the Six Nations of Indians, M^here
I resided some months as their instructor or minister, I had an opportunit}- to observe
their genius, customs, traditions, &c. I shall only take notice of one ancient tradition
the}^ have among them, concerning the time and manner of their first coming into this
land, which they say was in the days of Joshua the Robber, before whose face they fled,
and kept on their way (as they were led) till they came to a high mountain from whence
they took a prospect and beheld a narrow sea. While the}- were consulting which way
to go, and what to do, there was at length a voice spake unto them from the Great Spirit,
saying : 'Look over that narrow sea, and behold a countr}^ for you and your children !'
Whereupon they came down from the mountain and crossed the sea, and came into this
country. This was the first compan3^ Afterwards they were followed by a great many
more companies, who came in the same path, till they had filled the country.

"From this brief tradition (which carries the appearance of truth with it) many
things may be learned and remarks made, as : First. If the Indians came into this
country so long ago as the daj's of Joshua (the Captain of the Jewish hosts) 'tis no
wonder they have so little knowledge of their coming ; yea ! it is more to be wondered at
that they have any, since they have no writing, that we can learn, among them.

"Again, if they fled before the face of Joshua it does not appear that they are of
the seed of the Jews (at least not by the whole blood), but rather descendants from
Abraham by Hagar, the Egj^ptian, and her son Ishmael, who dwelt in Mount Paran, the
road Israel came into the Holy Land — of which so much notice is taken in Hol}^ Writ.
See and compare Genesis, XXI : 21 ; Deuteronomy, XXXIII : 2 ; Habakkuk, III : 3.

"But again, if they fled from the face of Joshua and came hither, then there is a
way by land to come here (saving the narrow sea they speak of), lying betwixt the north-
eastern parts of Asia, or the north-western parts of Europe ; or it maj- be still nearer b}-
Hudson's Bay.

"Once again, if they came at different times no wonder they are of different tribes
and nations ; yea ! and languages, customs, &c., partly Jewish and partly Heathen. But
I pass over many things worthy remark, by which it would appear that the Indians are
the seed of Abraham by Ishmael, for whom that great father so earnesth' pra3-ed, and at
length received an answer. See Genesis, XVII : 20.

"Let us persevere in our prayers, and endeavors to propagate the gospel among
them, till the blessing descends from Heaven upon them, and all nations, both Jews and
Gentiles, imder the whole Heaven.

"The person, genius, life and whole character of the Indian, according to my obser-
vation, does most exactly agree to that of Ishmael's ; wherefore I must rather think they
are descendants from him than from any other nation on earth."

According to this statement the tradition held b}- the Six Nations

concerning their origin was quite similar to the belief of the Algonkins

as to their own beginning, but very different from the tradition of the

Six Nations as related by Canassatego. As a probable explanation of

this it ma}- be stated that, when >\Ir. Johnson began his ministerial work

on
OO

in New London County, what is now Montville in that county contained
within its limits certain "sequestered lands" occupied by a remnant of
the Moheo-an tribe of Indians (of the Algonkin family), with all their
native and seigniorial rio-hts. Here, for many }'ears, had been the seat
of the o-reat sachem Uncas, the faithful ally of the English colonists.
It is presumable, therefore, that Mr. Johnson was as familiar with many
of the traditions and myths of the Mohegan and allied tribes as he was
with those of the Iroquois, and that he chose to adopt the belief, or tradi-
tion, of the Algonkins concerning- their origin as one referring to the
origin of all the North American Indians, irrespective of tribe or nation.
Under any circumstances, however, the statement of Mr. Johnson given
on the preceding page is interesting.

The Rev. Cotton Mather, the noted Boston minister and writer
(1663-1728), who believed in witches, and seemed to have an intimate
acquaintance with Lucifer, did some guessing as to the advent of the
Indians on the American continent. He said — in one of the 382 books
and pamphlets that he published :

"And though we know not when or how the Indians first became inhabitants of
this mighty continent, yet we may guess that probably the Devil decoyed these miser-
able salvages hither, in hopes that the gospel of the Lord Jesus Christ would never come
here to destroy or disturb his absolute empire over them."

In regard to the creation of human and animal life in the world

the Arapaho Indians, who are now located in Oklahoma and Wyoming,

say (see "Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census," paore

628) : ■ "

' 'Long ago, before there were any animals, the earth was covered with water, with
the exception of one mountain : and seated on this mountain was an Arapaho, crying and
poor and in distress. The gods looked at him and pitied him, and they created three
ducks and sent them to him. The Arapaho told the ducks to dive down in the waters
and find some dirt. One went down in the deep waters and was gone a long time, but
failed. The second went down and was gone a still longer time, and he also came up,
having failed. The third then tried it ; he was gone a long time. The waters where he
went down had become still and quiet, and the Arapaho believed him to be dead, when
he arose to the surface and had a little dirt in his mouth. Suddenly the waters subsided
and disappeared, and left the Arapaho the sole possessor of the land. The water had
gone so far that it could not be seen from the highest mountains, but it still surrounded
the earth, and does so to this day.

"Then the Arapaho made the rivers and the woods, placing a great deal near the
streams. The whites were made beyond the ocean. They were then all different people,
the same as at the present day. Then the Arapaho created buffaloes, elks, deer, ante-
lopes, wolves, foxes, all the animals that are on the earth, all the birds of the air, all
the fishes in the streams, the grasses, fruit, trees, bushes, all that is grown by planting
seeds in the ground. This Arapaho was a god. He had a pipe, and he gave it to the
people. He showed them how to make bows and arrows, how to make fire by rubbing
two sticks, how to talk with their hands — in fact, how to live. His head and his heart
were good, and he told all the other people— all the surrounding tribes— to live at peace
with the Arapahoes. " * * *

Most American Indians have some faint tradition of the deluge — a
general deluge, by which the races of men were destroyed.* The event
itself is variously related by an Algonkin, an Iroquois, a Cherokee or a
Chickasaw. An Iowa tribe gives a most intelligible account of it, while
several Alaskan tribes say that the waters were hot. All coincide in the
statement that there was a general cataclysm, and that a few persons
were saved. George Catlin,t a native of Wilkes-Barre, spent many years
among North American Indians studying and writing about their habits
of life and their ancient beliefs and customs, and painting hundreds

* See Schoolcraft's "History of the Indian Tribes of the United States,'' page .571.
t See his portrait and biography in a subsequent chapter.

of portraits of individual Indians and pictures of their e very-day life.
jNIr. Catlin says in his "Last Rambles Amongst the Indians of the
Rocky Mountains and the Andes" (Chapter X) :

"Of 120 different tribes which I have visited in North, South and Central America,
every tribe has related to nie, more or less distinctly, their traditions of the deluge, in
which one, or three, or eight persons were saved above the waters, on the top of a high
mountain ; and also their peculiar and respective theories of the Creation. Some of these
tribes, living at the base of the Rockj' Mountains and in the plains of Venezuela and the
Pampa del Sacramento in South America, make annual pilgrimages to the fancied sum-
mits where the antediluvian species were saved in canoes or otherwise, and, under the
mysterious regulations of their medicine (mj-stery) men, tender their prayers and sacra-
fices to the Great Spirit, to insure their exemption from a similar catastrophe. One
thing is certain — the Indian traditions everywhere point distinctl)' at least to one such
event, and, amongst the Central and Southern tribes, they as distinctly point to two such
catastrophes in which their race w^as chiefly destroyed ; and the rocks of their countries
bear evidence yet more conclusive of the same calamities, which probably swept off the
populations in the plains and, as their traditions say, left scattered remnants on the sum-
mits of the Andes and the Rocky Mountains.

"Indian traditions are generally conflicting, and soon run into fable ; but hov^r
strong is the unanimous tradition of the aboriginal races of a whole continent of such an
event ! How strong a corroboration of the Mosaic account, and what an unanswerable
proof that the American Indian is an antediluvian race ! "

In 1841 Mr. Catlin first published his great work entitled "Letters
and Notes on the Manners, Customs and Condition of the North Amer-
ican Indians ; Written During Eight Years' (1832-'39) Travel among
the Wildest Tribes of Indians in North America." Of this book ten
editions were published — the last one in 1866 — and in it the author
says :

"As to the probable origin of the North American Indians, which is one of the first
questions that suggests itself to the inquiring mind, and will be perhaps the last to be
settled, I shall have little to say in this place, for the reason that so abstruse a subject,
and one so barren of positive proof, would require in its discussion too much circumstan-
tial evidence for my allowed limits. * * * Very many people look upon the savages
of this vast countrj' as an anomaly in nature, and their existence and origin and locality
things that needs must be at once accounted for. * * * It seems natural to inquire at
once who these people are and whence they came ; but this question is natural only
because we are out of nature. To an Indian such a question would seem absurd.
->:- -:r * I never yet have been made to see the necessity of showing how these people
came here, or that they came here at all, which might easil)- have been done by the way
of Behring's Strait from the north of Asia. * * "-

"For myself, I am quite satisfied with the fact — which is a thing certain and to be
relied on — that this continent was found peopled in ever)' part by savages, and so nearl}-
every island in the South Sea, at a distance of several thousand miles from either continent.
■r * * fi^Q North American Indians, and all the inhabitants of the South Sea Islands,
speaking some two or three hundred different languages, entirely dissimilar, may have
all sprung from one stock. * " ■■' I believe with many others, that the North Ameri-
can Indians are a mixed people ; that they have Jewish blood in their veins — though I
would not assert, as some have undertaken to prove, that they are Jews, or that they are
the lost Ten Tribes of Israel. From the character and conformation of their heads I am
compelled to look upon them as an amalgam race, but still savages ; and from many of
their customs (whicli seem to me to be peculiarly Jewish), as well as from the character of
their heads, I am forced to believe that some part of those ancient tribes who have been
dispersed by Christians, in so man}- ways and in so many different eras, have found their
way to this country, where they have entered amongst the native stock and have lived
and intermarried with the Indians until their identity has been swallowed up and lost in
the greater numbers of their new acquaintance. * * * I am compelled to believe that
the continent of America, and each of the other continents, have had their aboriginal
stocks, peculiar in color and in character, and that each of these native stocks has under-
gone repeated mutations (at periods of which history has kept no records) by erratic
colonies from abroad that have been engrafted upon them. By this process I believe that
the North American Indians, even where we find them in their wildest condition, are
several degrees removed from their original character, and that one of their principal
alloys has been a part of those di.spersed people, who have mingled their blood and their
customs with them. * * *

"The first and most striking fact amongst the North American Indians that refers
us to the Jews is that of their worshipping in all parts the Great Spirit, or Jehovah, as the
Hebrews were ordered to do by divine precept, instead of a plurality of gods, as ancient

pagans and heathens did, and their idols of their own formation. The North American
Indians are no where idolaters. They appeal at once to the Cireat Spirit, and know of no
mediator, either personal or symbolical. * * * As the Jews had, they have their high
priests and their prophets. Amongst the Indians, as amongst the ancient Hebrews, the
women are not allowed to worship with the men, and in all cases also they eat separately.
The Indians everywhere, like the Jews, believe that they are the favorite people of the
Great Spirit, and they are certainly, like those ancient people, persecnted. * * * In
their marriages the Indians, as did the ancient Jews, nniformly buy their wivefe by giving
presents. In their preparations for war, and in peace-making, they are strikingly similar.
In their treatment of the sick, burial of the dead and mourning they are also similar.
In their bathing and aI)lutions, at all seasons of the year, as a part of their religious
observances — having separate places for men and women to perform these immersions —
they resemble again. * * *

"Amongst the list of their customs, however, we meet a number which had their
origin, it would seem, in the Jewish ceremonial code, and which are so very peculiar in
their forms that it would seem quite improbable, and almost impossible, that two different
people should ever have hit upon them alike without some knowledge of each other.
These, I consider, go farther than anything else as evidence, and carry, in my mind, con-
clusive proof that these people are tinctured with Jewish blood, even though the Jewish
Sabbath has been lost and circumcision probably rejected ; and dog's flesh — which was
an abomination to the Jews — continued to be eaten at their feasts by all the tribes of
Indians, not because the Jews have been prevailed upon to use it, but because they have
survived onl}', as their blood was mixed with that of the Indians, and the Indians have
imposed on that mixed blood the same rules and regulations that governed the members
of the tribes in general.

"Many writers are of opinion that the natives of America are all from one stock,
and their languages from one root ; that that stock is exotic, and that that [parent]
language was introduced with it. And the reason assigned for this theory is, that
among,st the various tribes there is a reigning similaritj- in looks, and in their languages
a striking resemblance to each other. Now, if all the world were to argue in this way, I
should reason just in the other, and pronounce this, though evidence to a certain degree,
to be very far from conclusive ; inasmuch as it is far easier and more natural for distinct
tribes or languages, grouped and used together, to assimilate than to dissimilate — as the
pebbles on the sea-shore, that are washed about and jostled together, lose their angles,
and incline at last to one rounded and uniform shape. So that if there had been, ab
oj'igine, a variety of different stocks in America, with different complexions, with dif-
ferent characters and customs, and of different statures, and speaking entirely different
tongues ( where they have been for a series of centuries living neighljors to each other,
moving about and intermarrying), I think we might reasonably look for quite as great a
similarity in their personal appearance and languages as we now find. On the other
hand, if we are to suppose that they were all from one foreign stock, with but one
language, it is a difficult thing to conceive how or in what space of time, or for what
purpose, they could have formed so many tongues, and so widely different, as those
that are now spoken on the continent. " * *

"I do not believe, with some verj' learned and distinguished writers, that the
languages of the North American Indians can be traced to one root, or to three or four
or any number of distinct idioms ; nor do I believe all or any one of them will ever be
fairly traced to a foreign origin."

In 18G1 — twenty years after the first publication of his "Letters and
Notes," from which the foregoing paragraphs have been extracted —
Mr. Catlin published his "Life x^mongst the Indians" ; and seven years
later (in ISOS) he published the "Last Rambles" previously mentioned.
In these two books the author gives his final speculations in relation to
the origin of the North American Indians. Years of observation of the
red men, aided bv extensive readins^ and a.ssociation with men learned in
the various branches of science, in all parts of the world, had peculiarly
fitted Mr. Catlin for discussion as to the ethnology of the Indian. In his
earliest works he avoided ethnological discussion, and gave expression
to very few speculative theories. He was preeminently an observer and
a chronicler, not a discusser of theories. The following paragraphs are
from Chapters IX and X of "Last Rambles" :

"The reader has learned, by following me through these two little volumes, that
I have, during fourteen years of research — not amongst books and libraries, but in the
open air and wilderness — studied the looks and character of the American native races
in every latitude, from Behring's Strait to Terra del Fuego ; and here will be learned
that, from the imnuitable, national, physiological traits with which the Almighty

stamps this and every other race, I believe the native tribes of the American continent
are all integral parts of one great family, and that He who made man from dust created
these people from the dust of the country in which they live, and to which dust their
bodies are fast returning. I believe they were created on the ground on ivhich they have
been found, and that the date of their creation is the same as that of the human species
on other parts of the globe. I can find nothing in historv, sacred or profane, against
this. * *^ *

"The* American Indians are as distinct from all the other races of the earth as the
other races of the earth are distinct from each other, and, both in North and South and
Central America, exhibit bi:t one great original family type, with only the local changes
which difference of climate and different modes of life have wrought upon it. ^^ * *
Some of those writers who have endeavored to trace the American Indians to an Asiatic
or Egyptian origin, have advanced these traditions [relating to a deluge] as evidence in
support of their theories — which are as 3'et but unconfirmed hypotheses ; and as there is
not yet known to exist (as I have before said) either in the American languages, or
in the Mexican or Aztec or other monuments of these people, one single acceptable
proof of such an immigration, these traditions are strictly American — indigenous and
not exotic. If it were shown that inspired history of the deluge and of the Creation
restricted those events to one continent alone, then it might be that the American
races came from the Eastern Continent, bringing these traditions with them ; but until
that is proved the American traditions of the deluge are no evidence whatever of an
Eastern origin."

John Ledyard, the noted American traveler of the eighteenth
century, was (so far as the present writer can ascertain) the first investi-
gator and writer who, from personal knowledge of and experience with
both Siberian Tartars and iVmerican Indians, confidently and earnestly
declared that the two races were one and the same people.* This
declaration was made as early as the year 1787. Ledyard was born
in Groton, Connecticut, in 1751, f during the ministry there of the Rev.
Jacob Johnson (as mentioned on page 82), and it may be possible that
he derived his first ideas as to the eastern origin of the red men from the
Groton minister. Ledyard seems to have early made a study of the
characteristics and habits of the Mohegan Indians who dwelt in his
native county of New London, as well as of the Indians of the Mohegan
and other tribes who were his fellow-students in 1772 in the Rev.
Eleazer Wheelock's school (afterwards Dartmouth College).

In 1787 Ledyard journeyed from Irkutsk to Yakutsk in Siberia, a

distance of over 1,500 miles, and from the journal which he then kept

many interesting facts may be gleaned. At Irkutsk he met a French

exile who at one time had been an Adjutant at the City of Quebec,

Canada, and who was of the opinion that the Tartars in Siberia w^ere

"much inferior to the American Indians, both in their understanding

and persons." Ledyard wrote :

"Among the Kalmuks I observe the American moccasin, the common moccasin,
like the Finland moccasin. The houses of the Kalmuks have octagonal sides, with a
fire-place in the center and an aperture for smoke ; the true American wigivatn. * '-
The Tartars from time immemorial (I mean the Asiatic Tartars) have been a people of a
wandering disposition. Their converse has been more among beasts of the forest than
among men ; and when among men it has only been those of their own nation. They
have ever been savages, averse to civilization. * * * I know of no people among
whom thei'e is such a uniformity of features (except the Chinese, the Jews and the
Negroes) as among the Asiatic Tartars. The}^ are distinguished, indeed, by different
tribes ; but this is only nominal. Nature has not acknowledged the distinction, but,
on the contrary, marked them, wherever found, with the indisputable stamp of Tartars.
Whether in Nova Zembla, Mongolia, Greenland or on the banks of the Mississippi,
they are the same people, forming the most numerous and, if we must except the
Chinese, the most ancient nation of the globe. But I, for myself, do not except the
Chinese, because I have no doubt of their being of the same family. The Tongusians
[wandering Tartars living solely by the chase], the Kuriles and the Nova Zembleans
are tattooed. The Mohegan tribe of Indians in America practice tattooing. J

* See 'Life of John Ledyard" bj- Jared Sparks, pages .327, 859, etc.

t He died at Cairo, Egypt, in November, 1788, in the thirty-eighth year of his age.

t So, also, did the Lenapf , or Delaware, tribe. See page 104.

||ilI|lJI»»;iFfii||ii(i|

"T find as yet nothing analogous to the Amer-
ican calumet,''' except in the use of it. The Tar-
tars here when they smoke the pipe give it round
to every one in the compan}'. The form of the
pipe is universally the identical form of the
Chinese jnpe. I expect to find it in America,
since the form of the pipe on the tomahawk resembles it
■X- * * All the Asiatic Tartars, like the aborigines of
America, entertain the same general notions of theology,
namely, that there is one great and good God, and that He i.'^
so good that they have no occasion to address Him for the
bestowment of any favors ; and, being good, He will certainly
do them no injury. But they suffer many calamities ; so
they say there is another being, the source of evil, and that
he must be very powerful because the evils inflicted on them
are numerous. The Tcaiiipum so universally in use among
the Tartars, apparently as an ornament, I cannot but suspect
is used as a substitute for letters in representing their language,
by a kind of hieroglyphic record."

Such were some of the observations of this
traveler regarding the aboriginals of Siberian
Asia. In considering the Kalmuks, Tongnsians and Yakuti as descend-
ants of the Mongols he was in accord with other writers ; but in clas.s-
ifying all these races with the North American Indians, Greenlanders
and Chinese he advanced a novel and bold opinion — but one which now,
after the lapse of nearly a century and a-quarter, is firmly held by many
anthropologists. After his return from Siberia Ledyard wrote to
Thomas Jefferson, and others, on this subject as follows :

"The difference of color in the human species (the observation applies to all but
the Negroes, whom I have not visited) originates from natural caiises. * •' The Asiatic
Indians, called Tartars, and all the Tartars who formed the later armies of Genghis
Khan, together with the Chinese, are the same people ; and the American Tartar is of
the same famil}' — the most ancient and numerous people on earth, and the most wm.-
formly alike. * * I am certain that all the people you call red people on the conti-
nent of America, and on the continents of Europe and Asia as far south as the southern
parts of China, are all one people, by whatever names distinguished ; and that the best
general name would be Tartar. I susjject that all red people are of the same family. I
am satisfied that America was peopled from Asia, and had some, if not all, its animals
from thence."

On the subject of the difference of color in man Ledyard wrote, at
one time, that he considered it to be "not the effect of any design in
the Creator, but of causes simple in themselves, which perhaps will soon
be well ascertained." Sometime later he wrote : "I am now fully con-
vinced that the difference of color in man is solely the effect of natural
causes, and that a mixture by intermarriage and habits would in time
make the species in this respect uniform. I have never extended mv
opinion, and do not now, to the Negroes."

Thomas Pennant, LL. D,, F. R. S. (born 1726; died 1798), a cele-
brated Welsh traveler and writer — some of whose works extorted from
Dr. Johnson the remark, "He's the best traveler I ever read, he observes
more things than any one else does" — believed that the inhabitants of
the American continent were originally derived from eastern Asia.
About the time of the death of Ledyard, Pennant wrote as follows con-
cerning certain customs common to the inhabitants of both continents :

"The custom of scalping was a barbarism in use with the Scythians, who carried
about with them at all times this savage mark of triumph ; they cut a circle round the
neck, and stripped off the skin as they would that of an ox. A little image, found among
the Kalmuks, of a Tartarian deity, mounted on a horse, and sitting on a human skin,

* A pipe with a stone bowl and reed stem, adorned with feathers, and used as the symbol of peace
and hospitality by the Indians of North America. See pages 94 and 104.

with scalps pendant from the breast, fullv ilhistrates the custom of the Scythian progen-
itors, as described by the Greek historian. This usage, as the Europeans know b}- horrid
experience, is continued to this day in America. The ferocit}- of the Scythians to their
prisoners extended to the remotest part of Asia. The Kamtschadales, even at the time
of their discover}- by the Russians, put their prisoners to death bj' the most lingering and
excruciating inventions — a practice in full force to this very daj- among the aboriginal
Americans. A race of the Scythians were styled Anthropophagi, from their feeding on
human flesh. The people of 5s''ootka Sound still make a repast of their fellow creatures ;
but what is more wonderful, the savage allies of the British army have been known to
throw the mangled limbs of the French prisoners into the horrible cauldron, and devour
them with the same relish as those of a quadruped.

"The Scythians were said, for a certain time annually, to transform themselves into
wolves, and again to resume the human shape. The new discovered Americans about
Nootka Sound disguise themselves in dresses made of the skins of wolves and other wild
beasts, and wear even the heads fitted to their own. These habits they use in the chase
to circumvent the animals of the field. But would not ignorance or superstition ascribe
to a supernatural metamorphosis these temporary expedients to deceive the brute creation ?
* * * In their march the Kamtschadales never went abreast, but followed one another
in the same track. The same custom is exactly observed by the Americans.

"The Tungusi, the most numerous nation resident in Siberia, prick their faces with
small punctures, with a needle, in various shapes ; then rub charcoal into them, so that
the marks become indelible. This custom is still observed in several parts of America.
The Indians on the back of Hudson's Baj^ to this day perform the operation exact!}- in the
same manner, and piincture the skin into various figures, as the natives of New Zealand
do at present, and as the ancient Britons did with the herb glastum, or woad, and the Vir-
ginians, on the first discovery of that country \>y the English. Herodian delivers down
to us this custom of the Britons. He says that they painted their bodies with figures of
all sorts of animals, and wore no clothes lest they should hide what was probably intended
to render themselves more terrible to their enemies.

"The Tungusi use canoes made of birch bark, distended over ribs of wood and
nicely sewed together. The Canadian and many other American nations use no other
sort of boats. The paddles of the Tungusi are broad at each end ; those of the people
near Cook's River and Oonalaska are of the same form. In burying of the dead many of
the American nations place the corpse at full length, after preparing it according to their
customs ; others place it in a sitting posture, and lay by it the most valuable clothing,
wampum and other matters. The Tartars did the same, and both people agree in cover-
ing the whole with earth, so as to form a tumulus, barrow or carnedd.

"In respect to the features and form of the human body, almost ever}- tribe found
along the western coast has some similitude to the Tartar nations, and still retain the
little eyes, small noses, high cheeks and broad faces. They vary in size from the lusty
Kalmuks to the little Nogaians. The internal Americans, such as the Five Indian
Nations, who are tall of body, robust in make and of oblong faces, are derived from
a variety among the Tartars themselves. The fine race [tribe] of Tschutski* seem to be
the stock from which those Americans are derived. The Tschutski again from that fine
race of Tartars the Kabardinski, or inhabitants of Kabarda."

Coming down to more modern times we find that twenty years ago,
at least, many noted and con.servative anthropologists and archseologists
entertained the belief that the earliest men in America came here from
Asia. Among those who thus believed was Prof. Daniel G. Brinton,t
M. D., LL. D., of Philadelphia, one of the most eminent and authori-
tative ethnologists of his time. "Who are the Indians?" "When was
America peopled?" and "By what route did the first inhabitants come
here?" were three extensive and knotty questions which he discussed
in a course of lectures prior to 1890. In that year he stated in "Races
and Peoples : Lectures on the Science of Ethnography," that, in the
earlier lectures referred to, he had marshalled "sufficient arguments
to show satisfactorily that America was peopled during, if not before,
the great Ice x\ge ; that its first settlers probably came from Europe

* Chnckcliee. See page 90.

t Daniel Garrison Brinton, born in Chester County, rennsylvania, IMay 13, 1S37 ; graduated from
Yale College, 185S ; received degree of .M. I), from Jefferson Medical College in ISliO ; from 1S67-'S7 Editor
of The Medical and Su7g!cal Repoiter : in 1886 became Professor of American Linguistics and Archaiologj-
in the University of Pennsylvania— which chair he held until his death. July" 31, 1899. He was the
author of "The Myths of the New World: a Treatise on the Symbolism and Mythology of the Red
Race of America" ; "Essays of an Americanist" : "The American Race : a Linguistic Classification and
Ethnographic Description of the Native Tribes of North and South .-Vmerica." and many other books,
essays and lectures.

h\ \va^• of a land connection which once existed over the northern
Atlantic, and that their lono- and isolated residence in this continent
has molded them all into a singnlarly homooeneons race, which \-aries
bnt sliohtly anywhere on the continent, and has maintained its type
unimpaired for countless o-enerations. Never at any time Ijefore
Columbus was it influenced in hlood, lang-uage or culture b>- any
other race."

The following- parao-ra])hs are from an article entitled "The First
Americans," published in //arpcr's Magazine, August, 1882, page ooo :

"When we speak of the discovery of America we always mean the arrival of
Europeans, forgetting that there was probably a time when Europe itself was first dis-
covered by Asiatics, and that for those Asiatics it was almost as easy to discover America.
* * * Bering vStrait is but little wider than the English Channel, and it is aa easy to
make the passage from Asia to America as from France to England ; and indeed easier for
half the year, when Bering Strait is frozen. Besides all this, both geology and botany
indicate that the separation between the two continents did not always exi.st. * * *

"The colonization of America from Asia w-as thus practicable, at any rate, and that
far more easilv than any approach from the European side. The simple races on each
side of Bering Strait, which now communicate with each other freely, must have done
the same from very early times. They needed no consent of sovereigns to do it ;_ they
were not obliged to wait'humbly in the antechamber of some king, suing for permission
to discover for him another world."

The lack of scientific evidence to demonstrate the possible origin
of American races in Asia, led to the sending of an expedition to British
Columbia in 1897, under the leadership of Dr. Franz Boas, in charge of
the ethnological collections of the American Museum of Natural Histor)-,
in the cit^• of New York. A large number of articles, either taken
from Indian burial-places or obtained from people then living, was
brought back by this expedition ; and as a result two other expeditions
with similar objects in view were sent out in March, 1898, one of them
goino- to Bering Strait and the other to Mexico, and both of them — as
the expedition of the previous year had been — provided for by the
liberality of INIorris K. Jesup of New York, President of the American
Museum of Natural History.

About that time Maj. J. W. Powell, then at the head of the United
States Bureau of Ethnology, declared :

"Many attempts have been made to prove that aboriginal America was peopled ■
from Asia by way of Bering Strait, and a vague belief of this nature has spread widely ; but
little scientific evidence exists to sustain it. On the other hand, investigations in archae-
ology have now made it clear that man was distributed throughout the habitable earth at
some very remote time or times, in the very lowest stage of human culture, when men
employed stone tools and other agencies of industry of a like lowly character ; and that
from this rude condition men have advanced in culture everywhere, but some to a much
greater degree than others. The linguistic evidence comes in to sustain the conclusions
of archaeology, for a study of the languages of the world leads to the conclusion that they
were developed in a multiplying of centers ; that languages of distinct stocks increase in
number as tribes of lower culture are found, and that probably man was distributed
through the world anterior to the development of organized or grammatic .speech."

The following extract is from an article published in Self-Culture
about the time of the return of the first Jesup expedition :

"Though similarity in religious rites and ceremonies, relics of civilization and
numerous traditions would seem to indicate relationship with Asiatic peoples, still there
are features in Indian physiognomy and physiological structure, as well as mental and
moral characteristics, that essentially distinguish him from every other race.

"From the fact that in their physical character, in color, form and features, the
aborigines throughout the whole continent present remarkable uniformity, it seems to be
sufficient evidence that they had never intermingled with other varieties of the human
family. Some, indeed, think the Indian but a mixture of Polynesian, IMongolian and
Caucasian tvpes ; or possiblv the grafting of other races upon an original American race.
Bancroft, in his 'Historv of the United" States' (Vol. II), expresses his opinion on the

origin of the Indian. He discovers a striking resemblance bet^veen the Mongolian of
Asia and the native of North America, yet he says : 'Nothing is so indelible as speech ;
sounds that, in ages of unknown antiquit}-, were spoken among the natives of Hindu-
stan, still live with unchanged meaning in the language which we dailj- utter. The
winged word cleaves its way through time, as well as through space. If the Chinese
came to civilize, and came so recently, the shreds of their civilization would be still
clinging to their works and their words. '

"So we conclude that if the aborigines did really emigrate from the East, and if
there ever existed any vital connection between them and the people of Asia, it was-
certainly in the far-distant past, into which neither the memory, tradition nor history of
man can penetrate."

The results accomplished by the Jesup expeditions of 1897 and
1898 were so important that general attention was drawn to them
thronghont the scientfic world, and the origin of the American aborig-
ines began to be discussed with renewed interest and acuteness.
Obviously, scientists were forced to choose between two possibilities in
this field of speculation : Man either was developed on this continent
independently of the human race elsewhere, or he was an immigrant.
The latter view was adopted by the most up-to-date and wide-awake
ethnologists, and in the July, 1900, issue of Knowledge Lydekker, the
well-known English geologist and palaeontologist, ably expounded this
theory — holding that all the Indians of North and South America,
in spite of minor differences, are derived from one stock. He, like
many x^merican authorities, asserted his belief that the aborigines
of this continent came from Asia and are of Mongolian origin. They
were men — not apes — and Mongols when they first appeared in this
country.

Early in 1900 ]\Ir. Jesup again provided funds for sending out a
party of explorers, to be known as the North Pacific Expedition. This
was planned and directed by Dr. Franz Boas, previously mentioned, and
its main object was to study the little-known and obscure tribes of north-
eastern Asia, and compare their habits and culture with the Indian and
Eskimo inhabitants of the extreme north-western part of America.
]\Iessrs. Bogoras and Jochelson, members of the St. Petersburg Academy
of Sciences, were the leaders, or principals, of this expedition, which
spent about two years in the field exploring the Okhotsk Sea and Kam-
chatka regions, and northern-central Siberia as far as the Lena River —
the very territory that, one hundred and fourteen years previouslv, Led-
yard had set out to explore, but only a small part of which he was able
to visit and describe. The members of this North Pacific Expedition
traveled about 15,000 miles, chiefly over a frozen and trackless territory —
horses, dogs, reindeer, rafts and boats being used in their transportation.
They brought back a comprehensive and valuable collection of 15,000'
or more specimens of various kinds, man}- of which they obtained from
burial-mounds which they explored,''' or, by barter, from the different
tribes with whom they came in contact. This collection is now in New
York, and far surpa.sses anything of a like character elsewhere in the
world.

The explorers visited the Chuckchee tribe, t inhabiting the countr^■
nearest to the coast line occupied by the Asiatic Eskimos. Their terri-
tor)- is about as large as the German Empire, and the people resemble
the American Indian as to stature and general appearance. Their
legends and religion are not like those of the Eskimo, but have many

* See foot-note, page 90. t See page 88.

points in connnon with those of the Indian. Farther inland, inliabiting
a tract of country ahnost as large as that t^f the Clinckchees, are the
Koryaks and Kereks, with whom the Indian characteristics are still
more noticeable than with the people who live nearer to the Bering Sea.
They are bronze-colored, have straight noses, are tall and well formed,
and their legends, religion and customs are like those of the North
American Indian. The Chuvantzis are the farthest inland tribe reached
by the explorers. Unlike their neighbors they do not raise cattle or
reindeer, and they prefer to walk, no matter how great the distance may
be, rather than employ the reindeer. They are morose, brooding and
fierce, and exceedingly vindictive. Although they live thousands of
miles away from the coast, the explorers, who studied their habits and
characteristics, think that they bear a clo.ser resemblance to the Ameri-
can Indians than any of the other tribes.

From the mass of information gathered by these explorers — photo-
graphs* and measurements of some 1,500 Siberian natives; war imple-
ments, ceremonial objects and household utensils ; bones and fossils —
astounding similarities have been found as to mode of life and mythology,,
which go far to point to a common and kindred origin of all the tribes-
of north-eastern Asia and the Eskimo and Indian tribes of north-western
America, which had its rise possibly at a remote time during the land
connection between the two shores.

In view of the discoveries made Dr. Boas says it is certain that
the customs, traditions, manners and fundamental religious beliefs of
the Siberian natives so closely resemble those of the North American
Indian of the North Pacific slope as to warrant a conclusion that the
same "culture," as it is termed, exists in both peoples. But this "cul-
ture," while an important feature of the investigation, does not have
any bearing as a matter of scientific proof upon the more important ques-
tion whether the North American and the North Siberian natives are of
the same origin. That may onh- be obtained by a comparison of the
varied data collected. IM. Bogoras is of the opinion that he and the other
explorers found indisputable evidence of the connection between the
North American Indians and the Palseo-Asiatic races on the Bering
Sea coast. Concerning the peopling of America, he has formed the
hypothesis that this occurred at a period when the Malay archipelago,
the Philippines, Formosa and the Japanese Islands either formed a con-
tinental peninsula connected with Kamchatka or an unbroken series of
islands, and when Asia and Alaska were connected.

In concluding this branch of our subject it may be stated that many
anthropologists now believe that the cradle of the human race was south-
eastern Asia — that region being the focus from which the earliest streams
of emigration radiated.

Prof. F. W. Putnamt declares (and he is supported in his opinion
by the testimony of many other scientists) that "we have in this country
the conclusive evidence of the existence of man before the time of the
glaciers,]: and, from the primitive conditions of that time, he has lived

* Some of these pliotographs— of Kahnuk girls in particular — are, seemiiiglj', perfect representations
of modern North American Indian squaws.

t Curator of the Peabody Museum. Cambridge, Massachusetts, and Professor of American Archaeology
and Ethnology at Harvard" University. He is one of the leading explorers and writers in the line of
American archseology.

J See quotation from Dr. Brintou, page 88.

liere and developed through stages which correspond in many particu-
lars to the Homeric Age of Greece." But the Jiistory of the North
American Indian begins with the advent of the white people upon this
continent. Back of that time all is speculation and \\\y\\\^ and much
that has been written about the pre-Columbian, or pre-historic, period
is only a repetition of old legends and traditions. Lewis H. Morgan
(referred to on page 107), writing in 1876, stated his belief to be "that
there never was a pre-historic American civilization, properly so called,
but only an advanced and wonderfully skillful barbarism, or semi-civili-
zation at the utmost." The Europeans found the Indians self-sustain-
ing and self-reliant, with tribal governments, man}' forms of worship and
many superstitions ; with ample clothing of skins and furs, and food
fairly well supplied — all these conditions being characteristics of an
ancient people. But they were wild men and women, to whom the
restraints of a foreign control became as bonds of steel.

"It is in evidence that many Indian tribes have become extinct
from various causes, especially war, famine and disease, since the
European has been on the continent ; others were described b}- the
Indians as having become extinct long prior to the white man's arrival.
So that by observation and tradition, as well as their own statements,
the thought is forced that the Indian nations or tribes or bands were on
the decline at the date of the arrival of the whites under Columbus.
Still, with all this presumably large aboriginal population in what are
now the United States, not a vestige remains to tell of the so-called pre-
Columbian men and women except traditions and legends, and now and
then a mound, a fort, a pueblo or a grave."t

The earthworks or fortifications, stockades and mounds foimd in New^

York, Ohio, Tennessee and elsewhere
were erected for residence, defense
or burial-places. The earthworks
were generally built alongside
streams — often on high banks — and
were frequently in the vicinit)- of
rich alluvial soil, where corn and
other crops were easily raised ; the
streams supplying fish and mussels,
and the forests game in abundance.
The accompanying plan is a reduced
reproduction of a ground-j)lan by
Professor Putnam of afortified village
on Spring Creek, Tennessee, which
was published in 1882. This (as
well as the illustration following)
will, better than words, give the
reader a good idea as to the usual
shape of the earthworks referred to
and the character of the locations in which they were most frequently
established. It will be ob.served that in the Putnam plan an "Elm tree,
4 feet and 2 inches in diameter" (which would indicate a tree of great age),
is noted as growing in the embankment — the presumptionbeing, of course,
that the tree had sprung into life after the earthwork was constructed.

t "Report on Indians in the fnited States at the Eleventh Census," page -Ji).

!);]

T'he first illustration
shown on this page is a
reduced reproduction of a
view of an earth work in the
township of Oakfield, Gen-
esee County, New York, as
it appeared about the year
1859. In that year E. (j.
Squier"*' thus referred to it
in his "Ancient Monu-
ments of the United
States" (see Harper''s
Magazine^ XX : ToT) :

"It is remarkable as being one of the best preserved and most distinct of any in the
State. It is situated upon the western slope of one of the billowy hills which characterize
the rolling lands of the West, and between which the streams find their way to the rivers
and lakes. The banks of the little stream which washes the work upon the north are
steep, but not more than ten feet in height. Upon the brow of the bank, where the
stream approaches nearest the work, the intrenchment is interrupted, and the slope
toward the water is more gentle than elsewhere — indicating an artificial grade. The
embankments will now probably measure six feet in average height. "" * * At the
sides of the principal gateway leading into the inclosure from the east, according to the
statement of an intelligent aged gentleman who was among the earliest settlers in this
region, traces of oaken palisades were found, upon excavation, some thirty years ago
[circa 1829]. They were, of course, almost entireh' decayed. A part of the area is still
covered with the original forest, in which are trees of the largest dimensions. An oaken
stump which measures upward of two feet in diameter stands upon the embankment."

Some of the most elaborate series of works, as those at Marietta and
Circleville, Ohio, have yielded from their deepest recesses articles of
European manufacture, showing an origin not farther back than the
historic period. But we need not go so far as this to observe the analo-
gies of structure in the earthworks found in the different parts of this
country. If we look at Professor Putnam's ground-plan on the pre-
ceding page, and compare it with a similar plan of a modern Mandan
village (in what is now North Dakota) as given by Prince Maximilien
of Wied-Neuwied in his "Voyage in the Interior of North America,"
published at London in 1843 (see Harper''s Magazine for August, 1882,
page 350), we find their
arranoement to be essen-
tially the same. Each is
on a promontory, or high
bank, protected by the bed
of a stream ; each is sur-
rounded by an embank-
ment which was once, in
all probability, surmount-
ed by a palisade. Within
this embankment were the
houses, distributed irreg-
ularly in Putnam's plan,
as will be observed. I.

* Ephraim Ghorge Squier (born al Bethlehem, New York, in 1821 ; died at Brooklyn in 1888) was
an indefatigable explorer, archaeologist and author. For a number of years he was a successful news-
paper editor. In 1849 he was appointed United States charge d'affaires to the States of Central America,
and while occupying that position carried on extensive geographical and archjeological explorations in
those regions. For these researches he received a gold medal from the Geographical Society of France.
He published numerous books, pamphlets and magafeine articles relating to his explorations.

' r:\^

w^^

II.

The accompanying illustrations are reduced reproductions of draw-
ings made by George Catlin for his "Letters and Notes," mentioned on
page 84. The original pictures represented by these drawings were
painted by ]\Ir. Catlin in the Summer of 1832, during a stay of three
months in the principal town of the Mandans 1,800 miles above St.
Louis, on the west bank of the Missouri River, near the present
town of Mandan, North Dakota. The first picture (I.) gives a distant
view of the town, and shows the character of its location, while the
second (XL) is a bird's-
e3^e view of the same
town. In 1832 the Man-
dans numbered, accord-
ing to Mr. Catlin, 2,000
souls. They occupied
two permanent towns,
each of which was forti-
fied by a strong palisade
of pickets eighteen feet
high, and a surrounding
ditch. Each town was
further protected in front
by the river, with a bank
forty feet high. The
lodges, varying in size from forty to fift}' feet in diameter, were circular
in form and covered with mud, which had become so compact by long
use that men, women and children reclined and played upon the tops
-of the lodges in pleasant weather."^'

*'rhe Mandans, or Miahtanees, "People of
the Bank," now a feeble tribe of only 247 souls, the
remnant of a once powerful nation, have resided
on the upper Missouri for a long time. Catlin, in
his various works, describes their manners, cus-
toms and personal appearance. Thej' were looked
upon as the best of the North American Indians
when Catlin first wrote about them. Thej' were
industrious, well armed, good hunters and brave
warriors. In personal appearance they were not
surpassed bj? anj' nation in the North-west. The
men, who wore their hair banged, were tall and
well made, with regular features and a mild ex-
pression of countenance not usually seen among
Indians. Their complexion was a shade lighter
than that of other tribes, often approaching very
near to some European nations, as the Spaniards.
Another_ peculiarity was that some of them had
light hair, and some gray or blue eyes, which are
very rarely met with among other tribes. The
picture of the head-chief here shown is a reduced
copy of a drawing made bj"- Mr. Catlin after a
portrait painted by himself in 1832. Mr. Catlin
described this chief as "a haughty, austere, over-
bearing man, respected and feared by his people
rather than loved. * * The dress of this chief
was one of great extravagance and some beauty,
manufactured of skins ; and a great number of
quills of the raven forming his stylish head-dress.
He is represented holding two calumets or pipes of
peace."

Mr. Catlin had a theory of the Mandans being
Welsh, and of their ancestors coming from across
the Atlantic to a southern port, and afterwards
migrating to the upper :Missouri. However, this
idea concerning Welsh Indians was not original
with Mr. Catlin. In the seventeenth centurj- John
Josselyn, in his "Voyages to New England,'"' men-
tioned that the customs of the inhabitants re-
sembled those of ancient Britons ; and Sir Thomas
Herbert, another traveler of the same period, in
his "Travels" gave Welsh words in use among
these Indians. A centurj' later reports from several
traders and others were received of an Indian
tribe that possessed manuscript, spoke Welsh and retained ceremonies of Christian worship. Among
•other information then published was the report of Capt. Abraham Chaplain of Kentuckj-, that his gar-

Ha-n.^-t.-v-nu-mauk

("Wolf Chief")

Head of the Mandan tribe
in 1832.

The remains of iiiaii}' earthworks have been disco\ered, from time
to time, in New York State, and mnch has been written concerning-
them. The latest pnblication on the snbject is the Rev. Dr. W. 'SI.
Beanchamp\s "■Aboricrinal Occnpation of New^ York," i.ssned in Feb-
ruary, 11)00, as Bulletin No. 32, Vol. VII, of the New York State
Museum. The author sa)-s that nearl)- 250 "defensive earthworks and
mounds alone are now known" to have existed in New York. "The
location of aboriginal dwellings," says Dr. Beauchamp, "depended on a
variety of circumstances. In a certain way those nations termed seden-
tary and agricultural were migrator)-, moving their towns every ten or
twelve years. When the land was worn out, or wood was too far off,
the women gave the signal and the town went elsewhere. Sometimes
it was but a mile or two, often much more. * * * In times of war
defensive positions were chosen on the hills, and these were quite
retired if the nation was weak. In such ca.ses a favorite place was on a
ridge between two deep ravines. * * * Shallow lakes and ba^•s, or
their shallow parts, were preferred to deep water as usually affording
the best fishing-grounds, and the fords and rifts of rivers were chosen for
the same reason. * * * Ancient earthworks, of which but two or
three exist near the Alohaw^k [River], increase in frequency westward,
becoming numerous in the territory of the Onondagas, and of their
probable ancestors in Jefferson County, They are often of a generalh-
elliptic or circular form, more or less irregular according to the nature
of the ground. Usuallv there is an outside ditch, and one or more g-ates.
It has now been definitely ascertained that some of these banks, at least,
supported palisades. Of course there was no ditch at the gateways.
* * * In historic times defensive works were general Iv of palisades
peculiarly arranged with upright and cross timbers. * * Galleries
ran along the intersecting tops of the pickets. These were reached b}-
ladders from within, and were useful in defense."

The accompanying
illustration is a reduced
facsimile of an engraving
in the "Documentary
History of New York,"
representing an Oneidan
palisaded fort, or village,
which is believed* to have
stood on the shore of what
is now known as Nichols'
Pond, in Madison County,
New York, and which was
besieged b\- Champlain in
IGlo.

Squier, in his "Antiq-
uities of the State of New
Y^ork," published in ISol,
in discussing the question
as to the builders of these old-time earthworks and fortifications, savs :

rison, near the Missouri River, had been visited by Indians who conversed in Welsh with some Welshmen
in his company. Those Indians were thought to be descendants of a colony said to have been formed by
Madoc, son of Owen Gwynedd, on his discovery of America in 1170.

* See Bulletin of the New York State Museum, Vol. VII, No. 32, page SS.

"The relics found were identical Avith those which mark the sites of towns and
forts known to have been occupied by the Indians within the historic period. The
pottery taken from these sites, and from within the supposed ancient inclosiires, is alike
m all respects ; the pipes and ornaments are undistinguishable, and the indications of
aboriginal dwellings are precise!}- similar and, so far "as can be discovered, have equal
claim to antiquity. Near many of these works are found cemeteries in which well pre-
served skeletons are contained, and which, except in the absence of remains of European
art, differ in no respect from the cemeteries found in connection with the abandoned
modern towns and castles of the Indians. •• * ■• I am aware that the remnants of the
Indian stock, which still exist in the State, generally profess total ignorance of these
works. I do not, however, attach much importance to this circumstance. When we
consider the extreme likelihood of the forgetfulness of ancient practices, in the lapse of
300 years, the lack of knowledge upon this point is the weakest of all negative evidence,
not to be -weighed against the incontrovertible testimony of the works themselves."

In his "Ancient Monuments," previously referred to, Squiersays:

"It may be objected that if the Indians found in occupation of the Atlantic States-
constructed earthworks of this kind, the facts could not have escaped the notice of the
early explorers, and would have been made the subject of remark by them. The omission
may be singular, but is not unaccountable. They all speak of the aboriginal defenses as
composed of palisades set in the ground. The s'imple circumstance of the earth having
been heaped up around them to lend them greater firmness, may have been regarded as
so natural and simple an expedient as to be undeserving of a special mention. •■' * *

'Tn respect of the antiquity of these works nothing positive can be affirmed. Many
of them are now covered with heavy forests ; a circumstance upon which too much im-
portance has been laid, and which in itself may not necessarily be regarded as indicative
of great age, for we may plausibly suppose that it was not essential to the purposes of
the builders that the forests should be removed. It is not uncommon to find trees of
from one to three feet in diameter standing on the embankments and in the trenches,
which would certainly carry back the date of their construction several hundred years—
perhaps beyond the period of the Discovery in the fifteenth century. There is nothing,
X however, in this circumstance, nor in any other bearing upon the subject, Avhich would
necessarily imply that they were built by tribes anterior to those found in occupation of
the country by the whites. Indeed, the weight of evidence is decidedly in favor of the
conclusion that most of these works were erected by the Iroquois, or their western neigh-
bors, and do not go back to a very high antiquity."

Dr. Beauchamp — having, during a period of many years, personally
examined numerous earthworks and the relics found in and near them
— has recently declared that he is "fully in accord" with Squier on the
points mentioned hereinbefore ; "but," he adds, "the Iroquois, what-
ever their relations to them, were descendants neither of the so-called
Moiuid-biiilders^ nor of any of the earlier visitors in New York. A
study of their relics makes this evident."

In an article on "Pre-historic Man in America," published in The

Forum in January, 1890, ^laj. J. W. Powell (previously mentioned) said :

"Widely scattered throughout the United States, from sea to sea, artificial mounds
are discovered which may be enumerated by the thousands or hundreds of thousands.*
They vary greatly in size ; some are so small that a half-dozen laborers with shovels
might construct one of them in a day, while others cover acres and are scores of feet in
height. These mounds were observed by the earliest explorers and pioneers of the
country. t They did not attract great attention, however, until the science of archaeology
demanded their inve.stigation. Then they were assumed to furnish evidence of a race of
people older than the Indian tribes."

* It may be noted here that there were Mouiul-liuilders in Siberia at a very early day. Bell, in his
"Journey from Peter.sburgr to Pekin." gives an account of mounds that he saw in the year 1720 (when
making a trans-Siberian journey with a Russian embassy to the Court of China), and which he considered
the tombs of ancient heroes. The author says (Vol. I, page SA) : ".Many persons go from Tomsk fa city
in southern-central Siberia] and other parts even,- Summer to these graves, which they dig up, and find
among the ashes of the dead considerable quantities of gold, silver, brass and some precious stones • but
particularly hilts of swords and armor. They find, also, ornaments of saddles and bridles and other
trappings for horses; and even the bones of horses, and sometimes those of elephants Whence it
appears that, when any person or general of distinction was interred, all his arms, his favorite horse and
servant were buried with him in the same grave. This custom prevails to this day among the Kalmuks
and other Tartars, and seems lo be of great anliguily."

tThe Creek, Choctaw, Cherokee and other southern tribes of Indians, occupying what we now call
the "Gulf States," were first visited by Fernando de Soto in 1.540, on his famous expedition when he dis-
covered the Mississippi. The narratives of his explorations represent these Indians as cultivating
extensive fields of corn, living in well-fortified towns— their houses erected on artificial mounds and the
villages having defenses of embankments of earth. These statements are verified by existing remains

Group of Mounds {circa 1S40) on the left hank of the Scioto
River, six miles south-east of ChilHcothe, Ohio.

No other part of the
United States has proved
such a treasure-house of
relics of pre-historic man
and the Alouud-builders —
"whose vast earthworks
are still, after a ceutury of
study, the perplexity of
arclucolo<^ists" — as south-
ern Ohio ; and of this ter-
ritory the Scioto Valley
has been probabh' the
richest area. Manv archae-
ologists and anthropolo-
gists (including Dr. Brinton previoush mentioned) favor the theory that
the Mound-builders of Ohio were of the same race as the Choctaws,
Cherokees and other southern Indian tribes, and were probably their
ancestors. The existing remains of the southern tribes referred to
certainly compare favorably in size and construction with those left by
the mysterious Ohio race, or tribes.* It is clear, also, that the latter
had much in common with those well-known tribes of Indians, the
Alandans, Onondagas and Oneidas, in their way of disposing and pro-
tecting their homes.

Some writers have claimed for the Alound-builders of the Ohio and
Upper Mississippi valleys an existence dating fully one thousand years
ago ; while others have regarded them as a race so remote from the
present Indian tribes that there could be nothing in common between
them. Frederick S. Dellenbaugh, however, in his comparative study of
North American Indian life, published in 1901 under the title "The
North Americans of Yesterday,'' says that the Mound-builders "were
only Amerinds whose development took a form that was impressive and
lasting." And, to quote further from the Fonim article of Maj. Powell :

"It is enough to say that the Mound-builders were the Indian tribes discovered by
Avhite men. It may well be that some of the mounds were erected by tribes extinct when
Columbus first saw these shores, but they were kindred in culture to the peoples that still
existed. * * * No ruin has been discovered where evidences of a higher culture are
found then exists in modern times at Zuni, Oraibi or Laguna. The earliest may have
been built thousands of years ago, but they were built by the ancestors of existing tribes
and their congeners."

Squier, previoush' mentioned (on page 93), wrote as follows in
1860 concerning the Moinid-builders of Ohiof :

"They must have been a numerous, stationary and agricultural people; for a
nomadic population would never rear works so extensive, systematic and manifestly of
permanent intention ; and a population so large as to afford the labor for their construc-
tion could not subsist on the precarious and scanty returns of the chase. And if the
Moitnd-builders were a numerous, stationary and agricultural people, it follows almost
of necessity that their customs, laws and religion had assumed a fixed and well-defined
form. * * ••' In all these [mentioned] respects their works show them to have been
far in advance of the tribes found in occupation of the country at the time of the Dis-
covery. But there is no evidence that their condition was anything more than an
approximation to that attained by the ancient Mexicans, Central Americans and
Peruvians. "' * *

"As regards the antiquity of the works of the Mississippi \'alley, nothing can
be affirmed with exactness. That many of them are very ancient, dating back by

* See page 100.

fSee ".Ancient Monuments in the United States," Harper's .^Tagazine, XXI : ITV (July, 1S60).

thousands of years, seems to be fairly deducible from a variety of circumstances. Not
only are they covered b}- primitive forests of trees, some of which have an antiquit}' of
from 600 to 800 j'ears, but even these forests appear to stand on the debris of others
equally venerable, which preceded them, since the era of the mounds."

Gerard Fowke, of Chillicothe, Ohio, an archaeologist of experience
and standing, has recently said* :

"So far as has yet been discovered, the Mound-builders could not build a stone
wall that would stand up. In the absence of springs or streams they could procure water
only b}^ excavating a shallow pond ; they could not even wall up a spring when one was
convenient. They left not one stone used in building that shows an}' mark of a dressing
tool. Their mounds and embankments were built by bringing loads of earth, never
larger than one person could easily carry, in baskets or skins, as is proved b}- the hundreds
of lens-shaped masses observable in the larger mounds. They had not the slightest
knowledge of the economic use of metals — treating what little they had as a sort of
malleable stone ; even galena, which it seems impossible they could have used without
discovering its low melting point, was always worked, if worked at all, as a piece of slate
or other ornamental stone would be.

"They left nothing to indicate that any system of written language existed among
them, the few 'hieroglyphics' on the 'inscribed tablets' having no more significance than
the modern carving by a bo}' on the smooth bark of the beech, or else being deliberate
frauds — generally the latter in the case of the more elaborate specimens. The}' had not
a single beast of burden, unless we accept the 'proof offered by a New York author that
they harnessed up mastodons and worked them. Beyond peddling from tribe to tribe a
few ornaments or other small articles that a man could easily carry, or transport in a
canoe, they had no trade or commerce. "^ '^•" * "'■" Again it is stated that 'the great
magnitude of the works show a numerous population distributed over a wide area, but all
subject to one great central power, with kings and chiefs and high priests and laws and
established religious systems and despotic power and servile obedience.' If the assump-
tion upon which all this is based were correct — namely, that the various works scattered
through the Mississippi Valley were occupied at one time by one people — there would be
some probability of its truth ; but the little that is definitely known points the other way —
to distinct races of Mound-builders at widely separated periods of time."

Nearly all the large monnds in Ohio have been carefully explored
by archaeologists and others. The last one to be opened and leveled to
the ground was known as "the Great Adena Mound," and was situated
just north of Chillicothe. It was one of the largest known in Ohio,
being originally twenty-six feet in height and 175 feet in diameter, and
was located on the estate purchased over a hundred vears ago b}- Gov.
Thomas Worthington of Ohio. In 1809 Jacob Cist of Wilkes-Barre
visited this mound and made a drawing of its outlines, or ground-plan,
which, together with a brief description of the same written by Mr.
Cist, was published under the title, "Ruins of an Ancient Work on the
Scioto," in the November, 1809, number of T/ie Portfolio. Neither
Governor Worthington nor anv of his descendants would ever allow this
mound to be disturbed ; but a few years ago the property passed out of
the family's hands, and its exploration was at once arranged for by the
Ohio State Historical and Archaeological Society.

The work of removing the earth composing this mound occupied
a force of laborers for several weeks in the Summer of 1901 ; but the
operations were rich in results. Twenty-four skeletons were exhumed,
together with numberless implements and ornaments of rare workman-
ship. Perhaps the most interesting find in the entire mound was almost
at the exact center of the base. Here a carefully constructed mauso-
leum of logs was found, and in it the skeleton of an adult in a fine state
of preservation. It was evidently that of the chieftan in whose honor
the mound was begun, for with the skeleton were found a necklace
made of bears' claws, a number of awls and spear heads of slate and
horn, and a remarkable pipe eight inches in length and beautifulh'

* See the .^■c•^f )'ork '/'lihuiie, December 20, 190.'!.

carved. Two other large 'mausoleums had been constructed on the base
line a short distance from the center. In one of these was found the
body of a child, about twelve years old. About the loins had been
wrapped bands of cloth, much of wdiich was, when discovered, still in
fine condition ; and then, over all, was wound sheet after sheet of birch
bark, held in place by splints of wood. The third mausoleum was
V-shaped, and in this was found the skeleton of an adult that had on
its arms a number of bracelets of beaten copper. Lying on the arm
bones was a long, narrow gorget, held to the arm b}' one of the
bracelets. Over the head of the skeleton of a child was a curious head-
dress made of strips of mica about an inch in width, perforated at the
ends with small holes. The mica composing this is believed to have
been brought from North Carolina, as in that State is the nearest
known locality w'here the same grade of mica is found.

The most unique of the many remarkable Ohio mounds with which
archaeologists, early and recent, have been familiar, is the one known
everywhere as the "Serpent Mound." It is located in what for the past
sixteen years has been called Serpent jNIound Park, in Adams County,
on the southern border of Ohio. This park is owned and carefulh- con-
served by the Peabody ]\Iuseum of Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts. Along the eastern bank of Brush Creek — the western
boundary of the park — a huge serpent, formed of yellow cla}', stretches
in graceful folds. It measures 1,254 feet in length, from four to five
feet in height, wath an average width of twenty feet. In front of its
wide-extended jaws lies an oval mound, called "the egg,'' its major axis
being- one hundred and twentv feet and its minor axis sixtv feet in
length. The whole structure presents a strange and weird appearance
— fairly indicated b}' the accompanying illustration, reproduced from
The Foitr-Tyack A^cws (New York) of January, 1904, b)' courtesy of the
publisher.

•r.f ^^^^

'^if'-

N early fifty years ago E. G. Squier wrote* of this mound :

"It is unquestionably, in many respects, the most extraordinary and interesting
monument of antiquity yet discovered in the United States. * * "•■■ It cannot be
supposed to be the offspring of an idle fancy or a savage whim. In its position, and the
harnion}' and elaboration of structure, it bears the evidences of design ; and it seems to
have been begun and finished in accordance with a matured plan, and not to have been
the result of successive and unmeaning combinations. ' '

* In "Ancient Monuments in the United States.'

100

For a very full and interesting account (with many illustrations)
of the "Serpent Mound," and other pre-historic remains in the Ohio
Valley, the reader is referred to two articles by Prof. F. W. Putnam
(previously mentioned) in The Century Magazine^ XVII : 698, 871
(March and April, 1890).

The oldest tribe or nation of Indians within the present limits of
the United States (excluding Alaska and the Island possessions), of
which there is a distinct tradition, was the Alleghan, x^llegewi or Tal-
ligewi. Its name is perpetuated in that of the principal mountain-
chain or system traversing the country — the Allegheny. This "semi-
civilized" tribe, or, perhaps, confederacy, had the seat of its power, at a
very early period, in the valley of the Ohio River and its confluent
streams, and there are evidences that the ancient Alleghans and their
allies and confederates lived in fixed towns, cultivated the soil and,
without much doubt, were the Mound-builders. According to Indian
tradition the Alleghans, driven from their ancient seats by a combina-
tion against them of the Lenni Lenapes (Dela wares) and the Mengwes,
or Mingoes (Iroquois), fled southward.*

"About the period 1500-1600 those related tribes whom we now
know by the name of Algonkins [or Algonquins] occupied the Atlantic
coast from the Savannah River on the south to the Strait of Belle Isle
on the north. The whole of Newfoundland was in their possession ;
in Labrador they were neighbors to the Eskimos ; their northernmost
branch dwelt along the southern shores of Hudson Bay, and followed
the streams which flow into it from the west. * * * East of the
Alleghenies, in the valleys of the Delaware, the Potomac and the Hud-
son, over the barren hills of New England and Nova Scotia, and
throughout the swamps and forests of Virginia and the Carolinas, their
osier cabins and palisadoed strongholds, their maize fields and workshops
of stone implements were numerously located."t

There has been some difficulty in properly locating the tribe from
which the Algonkin family has taken its name, but it is generally
believed that it had its seat somewhere in Canada, between the St.
Lawrence River and Hudson Bay. Tradition points to that region, and
there the language of the Algonkin stock is found in its purest and
most archaic form. The majority of the members of this original tribe
apparently divided at a very early day into two branches, the one follow-
ing the Atlantic coast southward, and the other the St. Lawrence and
the Great Lakes westward At the period previously mentioned (1500-
1600j the Algonkins composed the largest family of North American
Indians, and the area occupied by them was more extensive than that of
any other linguistic stock. In New England they were known as
Abnakis, Pequots, Narragansetts, etc.; on the Hudson, as Mahikans,
Mohicans or ^lohegans ; on the Delaware, as Lenni Lenapes ; in Mary-
land, as Nanticokes ; in \'irginia, as Powhatans, while the most southern
representatives of this family, or stock, were the Shawanoes, Shawanese
or Shawnees, who once lived on the Tennessee River, and were closely
related to the IMahikans of New York.

* See pages 97 and 102 ; also, Heckewelder's "Tradition of the I,enape Migration," in "Pennsylvania —
Colonial and Federal," 1 : 27.

t Daniel G. Brinton, in "The Lenape and their Legends" (18S5).

101

Most of the tribes mentioned were acrricultural, raising maize,
beans, squashes and tobacco ; but they were nomadic — shifting from
place to place as the hunting and fishing, upon which they chiefly
depended, required — although during the greater part of the year they
occupied fixed residences in villages or towns. "They were," says
Brinton, "skillful in chipping and polishing stone, and they had a
definite, even rigid, social organization. Their mythology was extensive,
and its legends, as well as the history of their ancestors, were retained
in memory by a system of ideographic writing, of which a number of
specimens have been preserved. Their intellectual capacities were
strong, and the distinguished characters that arose among them displayed
in their dealings of war or peace with the Europeans an abilit)-, a
bravery and a sense of right on a par with the famed heroes of antiquity."
vSchoolcraft says* : "The Algonquin language has been more culti-
vated than any of the North American tongues. Containing no sounds
of difficult utterance, capable of an easy and clear expression, and with
a copious vocabulary, it has been the favorite medium of communica-
tion on the frontiers from the earliest times. The French at an early
jDeriod made themselves masters of it ; and, from its general use, it has
been sometimes called the court language of the Indian. In its various
ethnological forms, as spoken by the Delaware, Mohican, Shawnee
=i= * * ^j^(;} y^y many other tribes, it has been familiar to the English
colonists from the respective eras of the settlement of Virginia, New
York and New England." Etymologists tell us that there are 131 words
of Algonkin derivation in the English language — incorporated therein
before the x'llgonkins were compelled to "move on" from their ancient
territory towards the setting sun. Some of these words are : "Chip-
munk," "hickory," "hominy," "menhaden," "moccasin," "moose," "mug-
wump," "musquash," "pemmican," "persimmon," "pappoose," "pone,"
"porgy," "'possum," "powwow," "raccoon," "samp," "skunk," "squash,"
"squaw," "succotash," "Tammany," "tautog," "terrapin," "toboggan,"
"tomahawk," "totem," "wigwam," "woodchuck."

All the x\lgonkin tribes who dwelt north of the Potomac, on the
eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay, and in the basins of the Delaware and
Hudson rivers, claimed near kinship and an identical origin, and were
at times united into a loose, defensive confederacy. The members of
this confederacy were: (1) the Mahikans, or Mohegans (sometimes
called "River Indians"), of the Hudson, who occupied the valley of that
river to the falls above the present city of Albany, and were the most
northern tribe of the x\lgonkin familv in New York, but who finallv
(about 1630) retired over the Highlands east of them into the valley of
the Housatonicf ; (2) the various New Jersey tribes — Sankhikans, Rari-
tans, Hackinsacks, Navisinks and others, some of whom were branches,
clans or sub-tribes of the great Lenape tribe :{: ; (3) the Lenapes proper, or
Lenni Lenapes, or Delawares, on the Delaware River and its branches ;
(4) the Nanticokes, occupying all the territory between Chesapeake

♦"History of the Indian Tribes of the United States" (edition of 1*57), page 673.

t "Evidently, most of the tribes of Massachusetts and Connecticut were comparatively recent offshoots
of the parent stem on the Hudson — supposing the course of migration had been eastward." — Brinlou.

X Many families of this tribe chose to live by themselves, fixing their abodes in villages and taking a
name from their location. Each of these bands had a chief, who, however, was in a measure subordinate
to the chief of one of the sub-tribes or to the head-chief of the tribe. See page 103, post ; also. Proceedings
of the Nezv Jersey Historical Society, Second Series, V : 81.

102

Bay and the Atlantic Ocean except the southern extremity, which
appears to have been under the control of the Powhatan tribe of Vir-
ginia ; (5) the small tribe called the Conoys, Kanawhas or Ganaweses,
whose towns were on the tributaries of the Potomac and Patuxent
rivers.

Of all the Algonkin stock the Delawares were for many genera-
ations the most numerous and powerful. The proper tribal name of
these Indians was and is Lenape ("a" as in far, "e" as "a" in mate).
Thev called themselves Lenni Lenape, meaning "true, or manly, men."*
Heckewelder,t in one of his books, states that he well remembers "when
they thought the whites had given them the name of 'Delawares' in
derision ; but they were reconciled to it on being told that it was the
name of a great white chief, Lord de La Warre. As they are fond of
being named after distinguished men, they were rather pleased, consider-
ing it as a compliment." According to their tradition, as preserved in
the writings of Heckewelder, they resided at a very early day in a far
western part of the American continent. Having determined to migrate
eastward, they set forth in a body on a journey that lasted several years.
In due time they came to the river now known as the Mississippi, where
they fell in with the Mengwes (later known as the Iroquois), who
had likewise migrated from a distant region. It was then that the
Lenapes and Mengwes combined to make war, successfully, on the
Alleghans — as previously mentioned. This war lasted many years,
during which the Lenapes lost a great number of their warriors. Event-
ualh', the conquerors divided the country between themselves — the
]Mengwes making choice of the lands in the vicinity of the great lakes,
and on their tributary streams, and the Lenapes taking possession of
the country to the south. The two nations resided peaceably in this
country for a long period of time, when some of the most enterprising
huntsmen and warriors of the Lenapes journeyed to and crossed the
swamps and mountains far to the eastward, and continued to advance
until they had come to the shore of the ocean. Then they discovered
the great rivers, many years later named the Delaware, Hudson, Susque-
hanna and Potomac. After a long absence these explorers returned to
their nation and reported what they had seen ; whereupon the Lenapes
began to emigrate to the new territory, but at first only in small bands.
They settled along the rivers mentioned, making the Delaware the
center of their possessions.

At a much later date, according to the traditions common to all the
Algonkin tribes, special dignity and authority were assigned the
Lenapes. Forty tribes, it is said, looked up to them with respect, and
they took first place as the "grandfathers" of the family, while the other
tribes were called "children," "nephews" and "grandchildren." A
Lendpe tradition^ sets forth that, many hundred years before white men
came to America, a treaty of friendship was made by the Lenapes with
other Indian nations, and in memory of this event there was presented
to the chief of the Lenapes a wampum belt with a copper heart in the
center of it. This remarkable belt was seen and acknowledsfed bv

*See "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census," page 297 : "Transactions of the
Buffalo (N Y.) Historical Society," III: 102, 103; Schoolcraft's "History of the Indian Tribes of the
United States," page 177.

tSee pages 42, 81 and 100, ante.

J See "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census," page 29S.

103

William Peiin, afterwards by various British generals, later by General
Washington, and from that time down to abont the year 1S41 by every
Indian tribe in the North and East. It was nnderstood to be still in
existence as late as 1858, In presenting this belt at a grand conncil
the Lenape chief would always hold it out and ask if any one could
detect any change in the heart. Thereupon it would be pas.sed from
one chief to another and from one brave to another, and then returned,
and each chief would respond that the heart had remained unchange-
able and true ; although the sinews that held the wampum might have
become rotten from age and had to be replaced with new ones, and
although a wampum might have fallen off — whereby a figure in the belt
was changed — the Jicart was always just the same. After exhorting for
a time on the subject they would renew their bonds of friendship, smoke
the pipe of peace and depart.

When first discovered by the whites the Lenapes were living on the
banks of the Delaware in detached bands under separate sachems. On
a map published at iVmsterdam in 1659 they are represented as occupy-
ing the valley of the Delaware from its source to its mouth, extending
westward to the IMinquas, or vSusquehannocks,* and eastward, under the
names of various local and totemic clans or bands, f across the entire
area of New Jersey to the Hudson. The nation was divided into three
sub-tribes or clans, as follows: (1) The Minsi, Munsee, Mousey or
Minisink, "the People of the Stony Lands," whose totemic device was
the Wolf ; (2) the Unami, Wonamey or Wanamie, "the Down-river
People," whose totemic device was the Turtle, or Tortoise ; (3) the
Unalachtigo, "the Tide-water People," whose totemic device was the
Turkey.

The iNIinsis lived in the mountainous region at the head-waters of
the Delaware, above the "Forks," or junction of the Lehigh River.
"That they were the most vigorous and war-like of the Lenape is indi-
cated by many evidences ; and they were probably the strongest in
numbers. From their holds in the mountains they reached north-east-
ward to the banks of the Hudson, and on that river joined hands with
the Mohegans, another tribe of the Algonkin family."- The territorv
of the Unamis lay on the right bank of the Delaware, and extended
from the Lehigh Valley southward. To this, the "Turtle" clan, the
Lenapes ascribed the greatest dignity, "for they shared with peoples of
the Old World the myth that a great tortoise, first of all created beings,
bore the earth upon its back. Thus, by their totem, the Unamis had
precedence, and in time of peace their sachem or chief, wearing a
diamond-marked wampum belt, was chief of the whole tribe." The
Unalachtigos had their principal seat on the afiluents of the Delaware,
near where the city of Wilmington now stands.

The Rev. John Campanius, in his "History of New Sweden, ";{:
writing of the Lenapes about the year 1645, says :

* See page 38. fSee foot-note, page 101.

I "New Sweden." which comprehended certain parts of the present States of Delaware and Pennsyl-
vania, was the first permanent settlement by white men on the Delaware Bay and River on either side.
This Swedish colony had a lifetime of but seventeen years— 1638 to 1655 ; "yet it was of large importance,
because it was the actual and systematic beginning of the life of white people on the west bank of the
Delaware. Out of it came the first planting of Pennsylvania. A year before William Penn was born the
Swedes had already begun the settlement of the State which was to bear his name."

Campanius, the author mentioned above, was minister of the Church in New Sweden from 1643 to
1648, when he returned to Sweden. September 4, 1646, at what is now Tinicum, Delaware County, he
dedicated the fir.st house for Christian worship erected within the present limits of Pennsylvania.

104

"They make their bows with the limb of a tree, of about a man's length, and their
bow-strings out of the sinews of animals ; they make their arrows out of a reed, a j^ard
and a-half long, and at one end they fix in a piece of hard wood of about a quarter's
length, at the end of which the}- make a hole to fix in the head of the arrow, which
is made of black flint-stone, or of hard bone or horn, or the teeth of large fishes
or animals, which thej' fasten in with fish glue in such a manner that the water can-
not penetrate ; at the other end of the arrow the}- put feathers. They can also tan
and prepare the skins of animals, which the}- paint afterwards in their own way.
They make much use of painted feathers, with which they adorn their skins and
bed-covers, binding them with a kind of network, which is very handsome, and
fastens the feathers ver}- well. With these thej' make light and warm clothing
for themselves ; with the leaves of Indian corn and reeds they make purses, mats and
baskets, and everything else that they want. * * -" They make ver}- handsome and
strong mats of fine roots, which they paint with all kinds of figures ; they hang their
walls with these mats, and make excellent bed-clothes out of them. The women spin

thread and yarn out of nettles, hemp and

^^ . ^ .- >- = ^ some plants unknown to us. Governor

'" Printz* had a complete set of clothes,

with coat, breeches and belt, made
by these barbarians with their wam-
pum, which was curiously wrought with
figures of all kinds of animals. "- * *
"They make tobacco-pipes out of
reeds about a man's length ; the bowl
is made of horn, and to contain a great
quantity of tobacco. The}^ generally
present these pipes to their good friends
when they come to visit them at their
houses and wish them to stay some time
longer ; then the friends cannot go
away without having first smoked out
of the pipe.f They make them, other-
wise, of red, j-ellow and blue clay, of
which there is a great quantity in the
country ; also of white, gray, green,
brown, black and blue stones, which are
so soft that they can be cut with a knife.
* * * Their boats are made of the
bark of cedar and birch trees, bound to-
gether and lashed very strongly. They
carry them along wherever they go,
and when they come to some creek that
the}' want to get over they launch them
and go whither they please. They also
used to make boats out of cedar trees,
which they burnt inside and then scrap-
ed off the coals [charred wood] with
sharp stones, bones or mussel-shells."

Charles Thomson (for fifteen years Secretary of the Colonial Con-
gress), who, about the years 1756-'60, had unusual opportunities^ for
studying the institutions, manners, etc., of the Lenapes, left among
his manuscripts a fragmentary "Essay upon Indian Ajffairs" — written
about 1763 — from which the following paragraphs have been taken :

"They [the Lenap^s] were perfect strangers to the use of iron. The instruments
with which they dug up the ground were of wood, or a stone fastened to a handle of
wood. Their hatchets for cutting were of stone, sharpened to an edge by rubbing, and
fastened to a wooden handle. Their arrows were pointed with flint or bones. What
clothing they wore was of the skins of animals took in hunting, and their ornaments
were principally of feathers. They all painted or daubed their faces with red. The men
suffered only a tuft of hair to grow on the crown of the head ; the rest, whether on the
head or face, they prevented from growing by constantly plucking it out by the roots, so
that they always appeared as if they were bald and beardless. INIany were in the practice
of marking their faces, arms and breasts by pricking the skin with thorns and rubbing
the parts with a fine powder made of coal [charcoal], which, penetrating the punctures,
left an indelible stain or mark, which remained as long as they lived. The punctures
were made in figures, according to their several fancies.

* Lieut. Col. John- Printz, Governor of New Sweden from 1643 to 1653.
t vSee page ST. X See Chapter V, post.

Lenape Indian Family.

From Campanius' "New Sweden.

105

"The only part of their bodies which they covered was from the waist half-way
down the thighs, and their feet they guarded with a kind of shoe made of the hide of
buffalo, or of (leerskin, laced tight over the instep and up to the ankles with thongs. It
was and still continues to be a common practice among the men to slit their ears, putting
something into the hole to prevent its closing, and then by hanging weights to the lower
part, to stretch it out so that it hangs down the cheek like a large ring.* They had no
knowledge of the use of silver or gold, though .some of these metals were found among
the southern Indians."

The tools of the Lenapes were rude and poor — .strictly those of the
stone age (for they had no knowledge of any metal save a little copper
for ornament), yet they handled their tools with great skill and neat-
ness. They were adepts in dressing the skins of animals, especially the
deer. "They made earthenware vessels, baking them hard and black.
Soap.stone they hollowed out for pots and pans, while other household
vessels were made of wood. The large wild gourd, the calabash — one
of the few contributions to the use of the white people — served them as
bucket and dipper. * * * Near their villages, in the alluvial bottom
lands, or in spaces in the woods cleared by fire, the women raised the
family crops, planting the maize, our 'Indian corn,' when 'the oak leaf
was the size of a squirrel's ear,' and raising also beans, pumpkins and a
few other vegetables."t Thomson says they raised "the very prolific
and nutritious sweet potato, which might be kept during winter in kilns
dug under the lodge fire-place." Zeisberger describes the women as
going into the woods in February to boil the maple sap and make
sugar, and this process is declared by some writers to be an Indian
discovery.

"The Lenape could not have been a large tribe. Within the limits
of Pennsylvania they numbered perhaps 2,000 people. It cannot now
be said with confidence that they had any central or fixed 'town.' The}-
had places to which they resorted, such as rivers and creeks in which
they fished ; mountains where they hunted, or cleared spaces where they
planted ; but they had no buildings more substantial than the simple
hut, or lodge, commonly known to the whites as the ivigivaiii^ in which
they sheltered themselves. Its frame was formed of sapling trees, and
was covered by the bark of larger ones. Each hut was for a single
family, differing in this respect from the houses of the Iroquois. Some-
times the Lenape huts might be placed in groups, forming a village,
and surrounded by a palisade of driven stakes, for defense against
enemies, but all such frail structures decayed and disappeared almost
as soon as their occupants quitted them. * * *

Liii

s-x.

* It .seems that the Shawanese Iiidiaii.s (concerning whom much
is related in subsequent chapters) also, at one time, practised this
custom of ear slitting. The accompanying illustration is a reduced
facsimile of a drawing by George Catliii, originally published in
his 'Xetters and Notes" mentioned on page 84. The Indian here
represented was I,ay-law-she-kaw ("He Who Goes up the River"),
a Shawanese chief, whose portrait was painted by Catlin in 1831.
The chief was then an aged man, with white hair, and was the
head of his tribe, at that time settled on the Kansas River.

Catlin refers to this chief and his elongated ears in the follow-
ing wards : "A very aged but extraordinary man, with a fine and
intelligent head, and his ears slit and stretched down to his
shoulders — a cu.stom highly valued in this tribe— which is done by
severing the rim of the ear with a knife, and stretching it down by
wearing a heavy weight attached to it at times, to elongate it as
much as possible, making a large orifice, through which, on parades,
etc., they often pass a bunch of arrows or quills and wear them as
ornaments. In this instance (which was not an unusual one) the
rims of the ears were so extended that they touched the shoulders,
making a ring through which the whole hand could easilj' be
passed."

t "Pennsylvania — Colonial and Federal," I : 9.

106

Lenape Palisaded Village.

From Canipanius' "New Sweden."

"One fact not vet con-
sidered influenced the life
of the Indians of Pennsyl-
vania to a degree which we
can understand only with
an effort. They had, with
the sole exception of the
dog — a half-wild creature —
no domestic animal. The
hors.e they had never seen —
nor the cow. They had not
the llama of South America,
the camel, the elephant or
any other of the beasts of
burden so useful in the Old
World. They had, there-
fore, no means of movement or transportation but those which their own
bodily vigor supplied. On land they walked or ran, on the water they
paddled their canoes. By their marches on the chase or in war they had
worn paths, or 'trails,' which may yet be traced here and there, over hill
and mountain ; but it is most probable that, living near many streams of
water, they made large use of these as highways of travel. * * *

"The Lenape were straight, of middle height, their color a reddish
brown. Penn speaks of them as 'generally tall, straight, well built and
of singular proportion ; they tread strong and clever, and mostly walk
with a lofty chin.' Their complexion he called 'black,' but said it was
artificially produced by the free use of bear-grease, and exposiire to sun
and weather. The}^ married young, the men, he says, usually at seven-
teen, the women at thirteen or fourteen ; but their families were seldom
large, and the increase of the tribe must have been slow. Polygamy
existed, but w^as not common."*

In the preceding pages (in particular, pages 39, 40, 81 and 100)
mention is frequently made of the Mengwes, ]\Iingoes,t Iroquois or Five
— later the Six — Nations , and a brief account is given of the over-
throw and expulsion of the Alleghans by the Mengwes and Lenni
Lenapes. With reference to the time of the occurrence of this event
Horatio Hale says in "The Iroquois Book of Rites" that it is variously
estimated ; but "the most probable conjecture places it at a period about
1,000 years before the present day" — and it was the termination of a
desperate warfare that had "lasted about one hundred years."

It was apparently soon after this that the Mengwes and Lenni
Lenapes scattered themselves over the wide region south and south-east
of the Great Lakes, thus left open to their occupancy. A tradition of
the former nation points to the vicinity of Montreal, on the north bank
of the St. Lawrence River, as their early, or perhaps first, home in this
newly acquired territory, whence they gradualh- moved south-westward
alongf the shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

o
* "Pennsylvania— Colonial and Federal," I : 7, 11, 12.

t "The name 'Mingo,' or 'Mengwe,' by which the Iroquois were known to the Delawares and the
other sonthern Algonkins, is said to be a contraction of the Lenape word Mahongwi, meaning 'the
People of the Springs ' The Iroquois possessed the head-waters of the rivers which flowed through the
country of the Delawares."—//. Hale, in 'The Iroquois Book of Rites."

The Iroquois were also called at an early day "Maquas" and 'Massawomacs." (See "Report on
Indians at the Eleventh Census,'" pages .30 and 04'2 ; also, see foot-notes, pages 110 and ll'i. post.)

107

According- to Morgan,* in liis ''Leao-ue of the Iroquois" (edition of
1S51, page 4), the remote origin of the Mengvves, and their history
anterior to about the year IGO'J (the era of the discoveries in this country
by the Dutch), "are both enshrouded with obscurity. Tradition inter-
poses its feeble light to extricate, from a confusion which Time has
wrought, some of the leading events which preceded and marked their
political organization. It informs us that prior to their occupation of
New York they resided * upon the north bank of the vSt. Law-

rence, where they lived in subjection to the Adirondacks, a branch of
the Algonkin race, then in possession of the whole country north of
that river. * '■'• ''' Having been in a struggle for independence with
the Adirondacks, they were overpowered and vanquished by the latter
and compelled to retire from the country to escape extermination.''
Their first settlements in the territory now comprehended within the
limits of the State of New York are believed to have been on the Seneca
River in northern-central New York. At that time they formed only
one body or nation and were but few in number. Subsequently they
divided into bands — each of which assumed or acquired a distinctive
name — and spread abroad to found new villages.

They had become the acknowledged masters of the country east of
the Mississippi at the time of the European discovery of this continent,
and were then known as the Iroquois. As to the origin and proper
meaning of the word Iroquois, Hale says ("Book of Rites") that "accord-
ing to Bruyas the word garokwa meant 'a pipe,' and also 'a piece of
tobacco' — and, in its verbal form, 'to smoke.' * * In the indeterminate
form the verb becomes ierokwa^ which is certainly very near to Iroquois.
It might be rendered 'they who smoke,' or 'they who use tobacco,' or
briefly, 'the Tobacco People.' The Iroquois were well known for their
cultivation of this plant, of which they had a choice variety."

The Iroquois — "an island in the great ocean of the Algonkin tribes"
— first appear in history as occupying a portion of the area of the present
State of New York — the same territory, between the Hudson and the
Genesee rivers, upon which they continued to reside until near the close
of the eighteenth century. To the north-west, in the adjoining part of
Canada, were their kinsmen the Hurons,t or Wyandots, including the
tribe called by the French '•'•Tionontates'^ ("Tobacco Nation"), noted
like the Iroquois for the excellent tobacco wdiich they raised and sold.
To the south-west, along the south-eastern shore of Lake Erie, were the
Eries, or "Cat Nation" (as they were denominated by the early Jesuits),
also kinsmen of the Iroquois ; and westward, along the south-western
shore of Lake Ontario and the north-eastern shore of Lake Erie, dwelt '

the Neutral Nation, so called from their neutrality in the war between
the Hurons and the Iroquois. They had tlieir council-fires along the

*I,Ewis H. Morgan was born at Aurora, ><*. Y., in 1818, and died at Rochester, N. Y., in 1881. He was
graduated at Union College, became a lawyer, and served several terms in the New York Legislature. ^/- i>^. ^^
He often visited the New York Indians on their reservations, and was adopted by the Senecas. He] ^^"'^ rjoi'*'**,
wrote many books on aboriginal life in America, but his "League of the Iroquois" is the best-known.<^''[^l/4'^, jTJv • "
This book was originally published in one volume at Rochester in 1851, and in spite of the fact that itl c. ^-■^-^'''^ In^
soon passed out of print, and that such competent critics as the late John Fiske pronounced it "the most v -'*'-i) ^■^^^^'^
complete and trustworthy description of the civilization of the North American Indians that has yet C • . y ' c-*-'
appeared," the work was never reprinted until 11102, when a very handsome edition in two volumes was — C V^''^
published in New York.

Francis "W. Halsey (referred to on page 32, anle) said of this book on its republication : "It treats of a
large subject in our history in a way that is final, and the charm of its author's style pervades every page
of It. Many other men have written about this ancient people, but none of the books approaches
Morgan'.s in originality of pre.sentation, exhaustive knowledge or interesting descriptions."

t See page 39.

108

Niagara River — principally on its western side. Far to the south of the
Iroquois, on the Susquehanna River in Pennsylvania and Maryland,
were the Andastes or Susquehannocks,* and in Virginia and North
Carolina, the Tuscarora and other tribes.

Subsequently to their establishment in New York, but many years
prior to the era of the Dutch discoveries, the five nations (Mohawk,
■Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida and Cayuga) into which the Iroquois had
hecome subdivided were united in a league. Morgan states that "the
epoch of its establishment cannot now be decisively ascertained ; " but
he thinks that, without doubt, the formation took place at least a cen-
tury before the Dutch discovery. To-day the majority of writers on this
subject hold the opinion that the Iroquois League, or Confederacy, was
organized about the middle of the fifteenth century — not many years
before the discovery of this country by Columbus, and between 500 and
600 vears after the overthrow of the Alleghans, as previously described.

According to the traditions of the Iroquois the founder of their
League was Hi-a-wat-ha {Da-ga-no-we-da)^'\ the hero of Iroquois legend.
He was an Onondagan chief — "the incarnation of Wisdom, whose
power was equal to his intelligence" — and he had long beheld with
grief the evils which afflicted not only his own nation, but all the other
tribes about them, through the continual wars in which they were
eneag-ed, and the misg-overnment and miseries at home which these
wars produced. With much meditation he had elaborated in his mind
the scheme of a vast confederation which would ensure universal peace.

"The project of a league," says Morgan, "originated with the Onon-
dagas, among whom it was first suggested as a means to enable them
more effectually to resist the pressure of contiguous nations." Tradi-
tions all refer to the northern shore of Onondaga Lake as the place
where the first council-fire was kindled, around which the chiefs and
wise men of the five nations assembled in general congress to agree upon
the terms and principles of the compact by which their future destinies
were to be linked together, and where, after a debate of many days, the
establishment of the Iroquois Confederacy was effected. The nations
who constituted the Confederacy were the Ga-ne-a-ga-o-no ("People Pos-
sessors of the Flint"), or Mohawks, the 0-nun-da-ga-o-no ("People on
the Hills"), or Onondagas, the Nun-da-wa-o-no ("Great Hill People"),
or Senecas, the 0-iia-yote-ka-o-no ("Granite People"), | or Oneidas, and
the Gwe-u-gweh-o-no ("People at the Mucky Land"), or Cayugas.

Morgan says, ("League of the Iroquois") :

"After the formation of the League the Iroquois called themselves Ho-de-no-sau-
nee,''/. which signifies 'the People of the Long House.' It grew out of the circumstance
that they likened their Confederacy to a long house — having partitions and separate fires,
after their ancient methods of building houses — within which the several nations were
sheltered under a common roof. * * * Upon an extended examination of their insti-
tutions it will become apparent that the League was established upon the principles, and
was designed to be but an elaboration, of the family relationship. * * *

"The system under which they confederated was not of gradual construction, under
the suggestions of necessity, but was the result of one protracted effort of legislation.

* See pages 38 and 39.

t Longfellow's famous and charming poem, "The Song of Hiawatha," was based on a distortion of
the legend of Hi-a-wat-ha, as transposed from the original Iroquois tale. The poet placed the scene of
Hi-a-wat-ha's sojourn upon earth in "the land of the Ojibwaj's'' and "the land of the Dacotahs," among
the "great lakes of the Northland,'' instead of in northern-central New York; and thus a genuine per-
sonality — "a grave Iroq^uois lawgiver and reformer of the fifteenth century— has become, in modern liter-
ature, an Ojibway demigod, son of the West Wind and companion of the tricksy Paupukkeewis.'

X "The People of'the Stone," says Dr. Beauchamp.

g See note (X), page 81, ante.

lOi)

The nations were at the time separate and hostile bands altht)ngh of j^eneric origin, and
were drawn together in council to deliberate upon the ])lan of a league. ■•■' '■'' * The
traditions further inform us that the Confederacy as framed by this council, with its laws,
rules, inter-relationships of the jieople and mode of administration, has come down
through many generations to the present age, with scarcely a change — except the addition
of an inferior class of rulers (called chiefs in contradistinction to the sachems), and a
modification of the law in relation to marriage."

Hale says ("Book of Rites") :

"In the mere plan of a confederation there was nothing new. There are probably-
few, if any, Indian tribes which have not, at one time or another, been members of a
league or confederacy. It may almost be said to be their normal condition. But the
plan W'hich Hiawatha had evolved differed from all others in two particulars. The sj'stem
which he devised was to be not a loose and transitory league, but a permanent govern-
ment. While each nation was to retain its own council and its management of local
affairs, the general control was to be lodged in a federal senate, composed of representa-
tives elected by each nation, holding office during good behavior, and acknowledged as
ruling chiefs throughout the whole confederacy.

"Still further, and more remarkably, the confederation was not to be a limited one.
It was to be indefinitely expansible. The avowed design of its proposer was to abolish
war altogether. He wished the federation to extend until the tribes of men should be
included in it, and peace should everywhere reign. Such is the positive testimony of
the Iroquois themselves ; and their statement, as will be seen, is supported by historical
evidence. * * * His conceptions were beyond his time, and beyond ours ; but their
effect, within a limited sphere, was very great. For more than three centuries the bond
which he devised held together the Iroquois nations in perfect amity. It proved, more-
over, as he intended, elastic. The territory of the Iroquois constantly extending as their
united strength made itself felt, became the 'Grkat Asylum' of the Indian tribes."

Benson J. Lossing, the American historian, in an article entitled

"Our Barbarian Brethren" (see Harper's Magazine^ XL: 804), says:

"The Iroquois Confederacy was a marvel, all things considered. * * It was
composed of five large families bearing the dignity of nations. These were subdivided
into tribes or smaller families, each having its totem or heraldic insignia. * " * By
common consent A-to-tar-ho {"' To-do-da-lio''^, a chief of
the Onondagas, who was eminent for his wisdom and
valor, was chosen to be its first President. He was then
living in grim seclusion in a swamp. He was an object
of veneration and awe, and when a delegation of Mo-
hawks went to offer him the symbol of supreme power,
they found him seated in the deep shadows smoking his
pipe, but unapproachable, because he was entirely clothed
with hissing serpents ! Here is the old story of Medusa's
snaky tresses, invented in the forests of the new-found
world, and forming a part of the traditionary history of
the Iroquois Confederacy.

' 'The chief features of this remarkable League were
the principles of tribal union through the totemic system,
military glory and domination, and a practical example
of an almost pure democracy most remarkably developed.
Each canton or nation was a distinct rcDublic, entirely
independent of the others in what may be termed the
domestic concerns of the State ; but each was bound to
the others of the League by ties of honor and general
interest. Each had an equal voice in the General Coun-
cil, or Congress, and possessed a sort of veto power which A-to-tar-ho.
was a guaranty against despotism. "' * -' The mili-
tary organization of the League seems to have been not onh- independent of the civil
authority, but dominant of it. The military leaders were called chiefs. They derived
their authority from the people, who recognized and rewarded their ability as warriors. ' '

In the early days of the Iroquois Confederacy its members were

commonly known to other Indians bv the o;eneral name of "MiuQ-oes"* —

regardless of their tribal names and distinctions — and their Confederacy

soon came to be called the "Five Nations." They rose rapidly in power

and influence. One of the first results of their federal svstem was a

universal spirit of aggression — a thirst for military glory and political

* 111 I77!i. 1782 and 1S32 certain Iroquois Indians— few in number— living on a branch of the Scioto
River were officially denominated ".Mingoes."

110

aggrandizement, which made the old forests of America resonnd with
Tinman conflicts from New England to the ^Mississippi, and from the
northern confines of the Great Lakes to the Tennessee and the hills of
Carolina. The Five Nations never snbjugated the Indians east of the
Connecticut River, however.

The Five Nations were, indeed, entitled to respect, not only
hecanse of their fighting powers, but for their intelligence and long
start toward civilization. They were b}^ far the most advanced of the
North American Indians. DeWitt Clinton denominated them "the
Romans of the Western World."

"This empire of the Iroquois belongs not to remote antiquity, but is one of yester-
day. When we have gone back 400 5^ears ever3'thing bej'ond is shrouded in the dim
twilight of Indian legend and scattered lore. In the centuries before our Revolutionary
War this people had made a great deal of forgotten history on our continent. Among
Indian races they had been supreme. They were master spirits, and the imperial nature
•of their ambition quite rivals that of many white races. W^ith their seat of authority
established in central New York they were masters of a domain which now forms many
States. The territory over which they exercised their sway might well have been
called an empire. Indeed, there was nothing boastful or unwarranted in their assump-
tion of imperial rank for the chief man whom they chose to preside over them.

"The war-cry of this people was heard on the shores of the Mississippi and in
Mexico. They went south as far as Georgia. W^hen Capt. John Smith met some of the
Mohawks paddling about Chesapeake Bay, other Indians told him that the Mohawks
made war on all the world.* North of the Aztec monarchy no people ever built up on
this continent so powerful a political organization. It is believed that the conquests of
the Iroquois reached to further limits than those of Greece, and that Rome herself did
not much surpass them territorially.

"Theirs was not an Empire of the mind like Greece, of law and gold like Rome,
but one pureh* of the sword, or the bow and arrow and the tomahawk. It was purel}^
because of their genius for war that the Iroquois were able to raise themselves to their
-proud eminence. That genius acted in a land which had been built for empire. Morgan
well pointed out that a great source of their strength lay in the lands which were their
home, which were the highest on the continent, between the Atlantic and the Mississippi.
There, in central New York, were the headwaters of great rivers — the Hudson, the St.
Lawrence, the Susquehanna, the Ohio — which marked the highway's along which they
•could descend to the conquest of inferior races far to the south and west. Long before
"the white man had made New York State a seat of civilization this dusky warrior race
had marked out our territory as a land of empire, "f

About the year 1600 the five nations of the Iroquois Confederacy
were distributed throughout northern New York as follows : The Mo-
hawks (or Caniengas^ as Hale says "they should properly be called")!
possessed the Mohawk River, a small part of the territory south of it
and nearlv all the region in the north-east corner of the State to the St.
Lawrence River — including what is now known as the Adirondack
region. "They covered Lake George and Lake Champlain with their
flotillas of large canoes, managed with the boldness and skill which,
hereditary in their descendants, make them still the best boatmen of
the North American rivers." Lake Otsego and Canadurango Lake
(mentioned on page 32) lay within the Mohawk territory.

At this time the Mahikans, or Mohegans (referred to on page 101),
were located south of the Mohawks, while west of them the Oneidas
held a strip of territory, about thirty miles in width, extending from the
present northern boundaries of the counties of Delaware and Broome
north to the St. Lawrence — including the Chenango River and the small
river and part of the lake which now bear the name Oneida.

* See pages 38 and .39.

t Francis W. Halsey, in The Ne.iu York Times Saturday Review, June 7, lii02.

I They were also called ""Maquas." The ■vioxA maqua has been translated as "bear" and as "man-
«ater." See further, fool-notes on pages lOfi and 112.

West of the Oneidas the imperious Onondao^as, the central and, in
•some respects, the ruling- nation of the League, possessed the region ex-
tending from the present counties of Tioga and Broome northward to
the south-eastern and eastern shores of Lake Ontario and a short stretch
■of the St. Lawrence River. The territory of the Onondagas was smaller
in extent than that of the Oneidas, and included within its limits the
three lakes Skaneateles, Onondaga and Otisco and part of Oneida Lake.

Still proceeding westward, the lines of trail and river led to the
long and winding reaches of Ca)uga Lake, about which were clustered
the towns of the people who gave their name to the lake.* The small-
est of the five territories was that possessed by the Cayugas. It compre-
hended parts of the present counties of Tompkins, Seneca, Cayuga and
Wavne, and was bounded on the north by Lake Ontario. The Cayugas
had several names when first known.

Beyond the Cayugan territory, over the wide expanse of hills and
•dales surrounding the lakes Seneca, Keuka and Canandaigua, were
scattered the populous villages of the Senecas ("more correctly called
Scviontowauas, or Mountaineers," says Hale).t Their territory extended
w^estward to the Genesee River, and w^as bounded on the north by Lake
Ontario, and on the south by the region occupied by the Gachoi, or
Oachoos. West of the Senecas at this period were the Neutrals, and
south-west were the Eries, mentioned on page 107. "When first known
the Senecas lived entirely in what is now^ known as Ontario County and
in a small part of Monroe County, occupying several villages and having
two conspicuous divisions. Tradition points to Yates County for their
•origin, and it is probable that forts in that direction may have been
■occupied by part of the nation.";]:

Jeffries says in his work on the human race that "the Five Nations,
.at the landing of the Pilgrims, constituted a rising power in America ;
and had not New England been settled by Europeans it is most likely
that the Iroquois would have exterminated the inferior tribes of red men."

"To this Indian league," writes Morgan, "France must chiefly
ascribe the final overthrow of her magnificent schemes of colonization

* The Indian name for this lake was G-we-u-gicetli, "the Lake at the Mucky I<and."

t O. H. Marshall (in "Historical Writings, " page 231) says ; "The name 'Senecas' first appears on
a Dutch map of Ifilfi. * * Ho-vv this name originated is vex'ata qiiccstio among Indo-antiquarians and
■etymologists. The least plausible supposition is, that the name has any reference to the moralist Seneca.
Some have suppcsed it to be a corruption of the Dutch term for vermilion, or cinnabar, under the assump-
tion that the Senecas, being the most warlike of the Five Nations, used that pigment more than others,
and thus gave origin to the name. This hypothesis is .supported by no authority."

Schoolcraft (in his 'History of the Indian Tribes," page 326) says: "The word .Seneka, or Seneca,
has been a puzzle to inquirers. How a Roman proper name should have become the distinctive cogno-
men for a tribe of American Indians, it is not easy to say. The French, who first encountered them in
western New York, termed them, agreeably to their system of bestowing nicknames, ' Tsononto-wans'' :
that i.s, 'Rattlesnakes.' * * * The Senecas call them.selves '7V«?irfo?i'a,' or 'People of the Hill,' from an
eminence at the head of Canandaigua L,ake, which is the locality of a popular allegory."

Dr. Beauchamp (previously mentioned), in an article on Indian names, published in the Syracuse
lournal in 189(5, wrote : "The name of the Senecas is an old one (although not their own), first appear-
"ing on the Dutch maps of 16U-16, and having been given them by the Algonkin tribes near the coast.
These spoke a radically different language. In their tongue Sin-ne meant 'to eat,' and the form is still
found in the Ojibwa— as in We-sin-yie, 'we eat.' It was variously spelled by the Dutch, the most common
form being 'Sinneke,' or 'Sinneque,' and the spelling hardly suggests to the eye the Latin form so easily
derived from it by the ear.

"Mr. Hale says that Sinako means 'stone snakes' in the Delaware, and that Mr. Squier was told that,
as applied to this nation, their enemies, it meant 'mountain snakes.' This does not seem as well sup-
ported as the other, and the more reasonable interpretation is thought to be 'the devourers, or eaters, of
men,' actually or figuratively. All the early Iroquois had a terrible reputation in this way. I,iterally
they were devourers of their enemies."

Says Heckewelder— quoting the Kev. C. Pyrlfeus : "The Five Nations formerly did eat hunian flesh.
"Eto niaclit ochquari,' said they, in devouring the whole body of a French soldier: which, being inter-
preted, is, 'human flesh tastes like bear's meat I' " — Havden's "The Wyoming Massacre " page J.i.

On the map on page 3o, anle, and on the map of Pennsylvania in Chapter V (both of which were
published in 17.i(i), it will be noticed that the territory at that time occupied by the Senecas is indicated
in these words : "Chenessies, Canasadages and Chenandoanes, called by the English Sexecas."

X Btdletin of the Xeiv York State Museum, No. 32, page 1'2.5.

■ 112

in the northern part of America." To insure their well-being in Canada
the French took the part of the Algonkins, and consequentl}^ were led
into conflict with the Five Nations. It was thus that came about the
first recorded battle of whites and Indians, on the site of Ticonderoga,
at the lower end of Lake Champlain, in New York, a description of
which we owe to Champlain. It took place July 30, 1609, more than
eleven years before the Pilgrims landed at Plymouth Rock."

The introduction of gunpowder into America revolutionized the
entire Indian mode of life. Learning the importance and use of fire-
arms — cumbrous arquebuses and matchlocks — from the Dutch and in
the hands of Champlain's followers, the Five Nations seized upon these
new weapons as rapidly as they could acquire them from the Dutch,
with whom they had made an important treaty near Fort Orange — later,
Albany — about 1614. With the possession of fire-arms began not only
the rapid elevation, but absolute supremacy, of the Five Nations over
other Indian nations. Thiis rendered formidable they fearlessly extended
the range of their triumphs. Within little more than fifty years all
western New York, northern Ohio and much of Pennsylvania and
Canada were theirs. They had changed the map.

"They made war or peace with equal facility, holding with a
death grasp to their old ideas and traditions, conquering and absorb-
ing tribes, and getting the control and government of the country
from the Carolinas on the south to the lakes on the north and the
iMississippi on the west. The Mohawk* w^ar-whoop was the terror of
aboriginal life, and the signal-fires of the Iroquois League, illumi-
nating the hills and valleys of the Atlantic coast, meant danger
to the outlying tribes. Their phenomenal fighting capacity, coupled
with the rapidity of movement and power of concentration of their
fighting men, gave the impression of a vast number of warriors." —
Thomas Donaldson, in ^''Report on Indians at the Eleventh Census^''
page U7.

In 1643 the Five Nations expelled the Neuter Nation from the
Niagara peninsula, and established a permanent settlement at the mouth
of that river. In 1654 they nearly exterminated the Fries — adopting
into their Confederacy man}' of the survivors of the disrupted tribe.
Ambition now stimulated every canton, or nation, of the Confederacy,
and when, in 1664, New Netherland was surrendered by the Dutch to
the Duke of York, and became the Province of New York, the council-
fire of the Iroquois League, at Onondaga, burned still brighter and more
fiercelv. Bv the terms of this surrender the good ' will of the Five
Nations was secured to the English. Unaided by this influence New

* As previously noted (on pages 106 and UO) the Mohawks and the Iroquois were indiscriminately
called "Maquas" by certain tribes of hostile Indians. This was no donbt due to the fact that the Mo-
hawks were for many years more widely known as fierce and indomitable foes than any of the other
nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. In this respect thej' were predominant ; and therefore it naturally
followed that, by those far removed from the seat of power of the Confederacy, the name of a well-
known section, or nation, of the latter should be applied to the entire body.

Dr. Beauchamp stated (in the article mentioned in the note on pagelU) : "The early Dutch and
English traders and colonists took the names of the interior tribes from the Algonkins, whom they first
met along the coast. Thus the Mohawks were called by names which they themselves could not pro-
nounce, their being no 'M' or other labial sound in the Iroquois dialects. The Dutch thus termed them
'Maguas,' or 'Maquas' ('Bears'), and this was gradually modified into Mohawks — also expressive of 'man-
eaters.' Roger Williams says that 'the Maitguanogs, or man-eaters, that live two or three hundred miles
west from us, make a delicious monstrous dish of the heads and brains of their enemies.' * * By the
two earlv Algonkin names [Sinneke and Maqua], different in sound but similar in meaning, the Dutch
and English long designated all the Iroquois— the IMaquas, or Mohawks, being one part, and the Sinnekes-
comprising all the rest."

Schoolcraft says ("History of the Indian Tribes," page 209) : "The warlike Mohawks were the most
prominent tribe in the Confederacy at the time of the discovery of the Hudson."

113

York, as well as the northern and central English colonies, con Id not
have protected so wide a frontier withont extraneons aid.

Abont the year 1G70, after they had finally completed the dispersion
and subjngation of the Adirondacks and Hnrons, the Five Nations
acqnired possession of the whole country between the lakes Huron, Erie
and Ontario, and of the north bank of the St. Lawrence to the month of
the Ottawa River near Montreal. They also, about this time, became
the terror of the New England tribes, who had been practically sub-
jugated by the English. As to the warfare successfully carried on by
the Five Nations against the Susquehannocks for several years prior to
1675, reference has already been made (on pages 39 and 40). In 1680
the Senecas, with 600 warriors, invaded the country of the Illinois
Indians, upon the borders of the Mississippi, while La Salle was pre-
paring to descend that river to the sea. At various times, both before
and after this period, the Five Nations turned their warfare against
the Cherokees upon the Tennessee River, and the Catawbas in South
Carolina.

About the time William Penn landed in Pennsylvania (October,
1682), the once proud and powerful Lenni Lenapes, who had then come
to be called the Delawares, had been subjugated and "made women" by
the Five Nations. It is well known that, according to this Indian form
of expression, the Delawares were thenceforth prohibited from making
war, and were placed under the sovereignty of their conquerors, who did
not even allow sales of land — although the land might have been for
some time in the actual possession of the Delawares — to be valid with-
out their (the Five Nations) approbation. William Penn and his
descendants, accordingly, always purchased the right of possession from
the Delawares, and that of sovereignty from the Five Nations. It was
with the Unami and the Unalachtigo clans of the Delaware nation that
Penn held in 1683 his "Great Treaty" (referred to on page 40), which,
says Voltaire, "was the only treaty ever made without an oath, and the
only one kept inviolate."*

From the foregoing it will be observed that for nearly a hundred
years prior to 1700 the Five Nations were involved in an almost unin-
terrupted warfare. At the close of that period they had subdued and
were holding in nominal subjection all the principal Indian nations
occupying the territories which are now embraced in the States of New
York, Delaware, Maryland, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, the northern and
western parts of Virginia, Ohio, Kentucky, northern Tennessee, Illinois,
Indiana, Michigan, a portion of the New England States and the prin-
cipal part of Upper Canada. "Over these nations the haughty and im-
perious Iroquois exercised a constant supervision. If any of them became
involved in domestic difficulties, a delegation of chiefs went among them
and restored tranquillity, prescribing at the same time their future
conduct." Upon the Algonkins the Five Nations looked down "with
the most inveterate contempt."

During King William's War (which was waged for several years
in a desultory manner between the English Colonies in America and
the Five Nations on one side, and the French and Indians of Canada
on the other, and which was ended by the treaty of peace at Ryswick
in the Autumn of 1697) the French had found themselves so severely

* See on page 130 a photo-illustration of a wampum belt used at that treaty.

114

taxed to resist the Five Nations, that the conclusion of the treaty of
peace was most welcome news. Cadwallader Colden, in his "History of
the Five Indian Nations" — previously mentioned, on page 32 — says
(page 202) : "Nothing could be more terrible to Canada than the last
war with the Five Nations. While this war lasted the inhabitants ate
their bread with fear and trembling. No man was sure, when out of his
house, of ever returnino- to it ao;ain. While thev labored in the fields
they were under perpetual apprehensions of being seized or killed or
carried to the Indian country, there to end their days in cruel torments.
The}^, many times, were forced to neglect both seed-time and harvest.
In short, all trade and business was often at an entire stand, while fear,
despair and misery appeared on the faces of the poor inhabitants."

"The Iroquois, in their best days, were the noblest and most interesting of all
Indians who have lived on this continent north of Mexico. They were trulj' the men
whom a name the}^ bore described, a word signifying men who surpassed all others.'^
The}' alone founded political institutions and gained political supremacy. With European
civilization unknown to them, they had given birth to self-government in America. They
founded independence ; effected a union of States ; carried their arms far beyond their
own borders ; made their conquests permanent ; conquered peoples becoming tributar}-
States much after the manner of those which Rome conquered 2,000 years ago, or those
which England subdues in our day. In diplomacy they matched the white man from
Europe ; they had self-control, knowledge of human nature, tact and sagacit}-, and they
often became the arbiters in disputes between other peoples. * * Convinced that
they were born free, they bore themselves alwaj-s with the pride M^hich sprang from that
consciousness. ^ * In war genius they have been equalled by no race of red men.
The forts which they erected around their villages were essential!}- impregnable. An over-
whelming force alone could enter them ; artillery alone could destroy them. It was
virtually an empire that they reared, and this empire of the sword, like the Empire of
Rome, meant peace within its borders. Before the Europeans came there had, unques-
tionably, for some generations, been peace among them. It was an ideal and an idyllic
state of aboriginal life, all of which was to be overthrown by the white man when he
arrived, bearing in one hand fire-arms, and in the other fire-water." — Francis W. Halsey,
in '^The Old New York Frontier,'' page 11.

"As in old Rome the soldiers were honored above all other men, so they were
among the Iroquois ; and the warriors, under their chiefs, were all-powerful in public
affairs. * * The Iroquois was only a barbarian more advanced toward civilization than
the rest of his dusky brethren on the continent. He was superstitious and cruel. So

were" the men and women
of all the other American
nations. They all believ-
ed in witches, as firmly as
did Cotton Mather and a
majority of civilized men
and women in his day, in
the light of Christianity ;
and they punished them
in human form as fiercely
and piously as did the
magistrates of Henrj-
VIII, or the rulers and
gospel-ministers of Salem
in later times.

"The 'inedicine men'
and 'prophets' were as
acute deceivers, and as
despotic and absurd in
social life, as were the
priests and oracles and
conjurers of the Civilized
Man in another hemi-
sphere.* Thev tortured
IxXDi.^NS Torturing a Ekm.^lk Captive. their captive enemies, in

After a paintin? bv Capt. S. Eastman, r. S. A. revenge for kindred slain ,

■(1856.) With almost as exquisite

* Schoolcraft, following Cadwallader Colden, says the Iroquois "bj- a hj-perbole are also called Ongwi
Honwi, 'a people surpassing others.' "

115

a refinement of cruelty as did the ministers of the Holy Inquisition of Civilized Man the
enemies of their opinions ; and they lighted fires around their more eminent prisoners of
war, in token of their power, as bright and hot as those kindled by enlightened English-
men around Joan of Arc as a sorceress, or Bishops Latimer and Ridley as unbelievers in
an utter absurdity." — Benson J. Lossiiig, in "Our Barbarian Brethreti," previously
mentioned.

At an early da}' there were located in what is now the sonth-eastern
part of the United States certain tril^es who were believed to belong to the
Iroqnoian family of aboriginals. The}- are known in history as the
"Iroquois tribes of the South," or "Southern Iroquois," and they occupied,
principally, the territory along the Chowan River and its tributary streams
in Virginia and North Carolina. So far as known these tribes — with the
one exception hereinafter noted — had no connection at any time with
the Iroquois Confederac}-. One, and perhaps more, of these tribes was

known, particularly in Virginia, under the name
of Monacan. Other tribes were the Chowan, the
IVIeherrin (now said to have been identified with
the Susquehannocks), the Nottoway, the Tutelo
now understood to have been a Siouan tribe)
and the Tuscarora.

In 1708 the Chowans, Tuteloes and Notto-
ways had together ninety-five warriors in North
Carolina ; but the Tuteloes and Nottoways were
principally seated in Virginia. The last-named
had preserved their independence and their num-
bers in Virginia later, even, than the one-time
powerful Powhatans (referred to on pages 39 and
100), and at the end of the seventeenth centuryi
had 130 warriors. They do not appear to have
mig-rated from their oriofinal

NoT-To-WAY ("The Thinker"),

a "Southern Iroquois" chief.f

seats in a body. In the year
1822 they are said to have been
reduced to twenty-seven souls
in Southampton County, Vir-
ginia,* and were still in pos-
session of 7,000 acres of laild
there which had been at an
early date reserved for them.

The Tuscaroras, or Dus-ga-
o-zveh-O'iio ("Shirt-wearing Peo-
ple"), were by far the most
powerful nation in North Caro-
lina in historic times prior to 1700. Their principal seats in 1708 were
on the rivers Neuse and Taw, or Tar, and they had about 1,200 warriors
in fifteen towns. In 1711 the Tuscaroras attacked the English colonists,

*See "Report on Indians at the Eleventh Census," pages 7 and 14.

t This is a reduced facsimile of an outline drawing made bv George Catlin from a portrait painted bv
himself ator near Fort Snelling, Minnesota, in 1831. Relative to Not-to-way Mr. Catlin wrote: "A temper-
ate and an excellent man, and was handsomely dressed for his picture. I had much conversation with him,
and became very much attached to him. He seemed to he quite ignorant of the early history of his tribe,
as well as of the position and condition of its few .scattered remnants who are yet iii existence. He told
me * * * that, though he was an Iroquois— which he was proud to acknowledge to me, as I was to
'make him live after he was dead'— he wished it to be generally thought ///a/ /;<? k«.j a Chippeivay" * *

The Chippewas, or Ojibways (of the Algonkian family), had migrated from the East to the banks of
the Mississippi River late in the sixteenth or early in the seventeenth century'. Later thev ranged over
the territory now comprehended in the States of "Michigan, Wisconsin and Minnesota, and became very
numerous and powerful. At various periods remnants of other tribes merged into the Chippewa tribe,
and it is very probable that some of Chief Not-to-way's ancestors had belonged to the disrupted and dis-
persed Nottoway tribe of Virginia and North Carolina.

116

massacring 130 in a single day, and a fierce war ensued. In the Autumn
of 1712 all the white inhabitants south and south-west of Chowan River
were obliged to live in forts. In their warfare the Tuscaroras expected
assistance from the Five Nations ; but this could not have been given
without involving the Confederacy in a war with the English — and so
the Tuscaroras were left to their own resources. A force, consisting
chiefly of "Southern" Indians, was sent by the Government of South
Carolina to assist in the overthrow of the Tuscaroras, which was effect-
ually accomplished. More than 600 Tuscarora prisoners were taken, who
were given into the hands of the "Southern" Indians, carried to South
Carolina and sold as slaves. The eastern Tuscaroras — dwelling chiefly
along the Taw — immediately sued for peace, and about the year 1714
the great body of the Tuscarora nation who were free removed to the
territory of the Five Nations in the Province of New York. There,
having been granted by the Oneidas land and the right of settlement
within the bounds of the Oneida canton, they were admitted about the
year 1715* into the Iroquois Confederacy, as the sixth nation.

They were admitted on the ground of a common generic origin ;
retaining their own hereditary chiefs, but without enlarging the original
framework of the Confederacy. They were never received into an equal
alliance with the other nations, although they had authority to be rep-
resented and enjoy nominal equality in the Council of Sachems of the
Confederacy. "The accession of the Tuscaroras," wrote Schoolcraft,
"however it might have pleased the cantonal government, could have
added but little to the efficiency of a people who had, from the earliest
times, been the terror of the Indian tribes."

For some years following the admission of the Tuscaroras to their
League the Iroquois continued to be commonly called the "Five
Nations,"t but in the course of time they began to refer to themselves
as, and to be called by others, the "Six Nations."

"The uncertainty and doubt surrounding most North American
Indian history are partially removed from the Six Nations. They, of
all American Indians, have best preserved their traditions. Besides,
their system was so complete, and their government so unique and so
well fitted to the people, that from the earliest European arrival they
have been constantly written about. Their small numbers, compared
with the enormous country they occupied and the government they
originated, with their deeds of daring, will alwa^^s excite surprise.
Their League, tribal and individual characteristics and personal strength
of will, together with their great courage and prowess, account for their
success in war and the methods which brought comfort and peace." —
Thomas Donaldson^ in '•'•Report on Indians at the Eleventh Census,''''
page U'^.

The Mohawks, Onondagas and Senecas were looked upon by the
Six Nations as the "elder brothers" of their Confederacy, and were
addressed as "fathers" by the Oneidas, Cayugas and Tuscaroras, who
were stvled the "vounger brothers" and were addressed as "children."
The liistoric center of the Confederacy was in what is now Onondaga
County, New York — although not always in the same locality, it being

* See "Docunieiitarj' History of the State of New York," I : 26; Morgan's "League of the Iroquois;"
Larned's "History for Ready Reference," I: 9:i, and "Report on Indians at the Eleventh Census," page 461.

fin evidence of this see the Indian deed of July, 1754, in Chapter IV.

117

moved from place to place as necessity or convenience reqnired. It was
known as Onondaga Castle, and from 1750 to 177U, at least, was located
half a mile south of the present villa<>-e of Onondaga Valley, distant only
a few miles from the present city of Syracuse, and six miles south of
Onondaga Lake. This particular Onondaga Castle was a stockade, 150
feet square, with block-houses on tw^o corners, built in 1756 by Sir
William Johnson for the Onondagas. It was destroyed in April, 1779,
by a force of American soldiers under command of Colonel Van Schaick
— the Indians occupying it having first been killed or put to flight.

Highways running south, east and west led from Onondaga — on€
of the principal ones leading south to Tioga Point (see page 34). Also,
upon the banks of the Susquehanna and its branches in New York, and
upon the banks of the Chemung and its tributaries, which have their
sources near the Genesee, were trails which converged upon Tioga Point.
There all these became gathered into one trail, which, descending the
North Branch of the Susquehanna for a short distance, branched into two
great trails which led southward through Pennsylvania into Maryland
and Virginia. "For centuries upon centuries," says Morgan, "and by race
after race, these old and deeply worn trails had been trod by the red man."

At Onondaga was located the Council-house, "Long House"* or
what might be called the "Federal Capitol" of the Six Nations. In
1764 the "Long House" was a building nearly eighty feet long, and
contained four fire-places. f Here the "Great Council-fire" burned, and
here general congresses were held and the policy of the Confederacy was
agreed upon. According to Morgan ("League of the Iroquois") when the
League was instituted fifty permanent, or hereditary, sachemships were
created, with appropriate names, or titles. | In the sachems who held
these titles were vested the supreme powers of the Confederacy ; and,
united, these sachems formed the Great Council of the League, the ruling
body, in which resided the legislative, executive and judicial authority.
As a safeguard against contention and fraud, each sachem was "raised
up" and invested with his title by the Great Council, with suitable forms
and ceremonies. Nine of the sachemships were assigned to the Mohawk
nation, nine to the Oneida, fourteen to the Onondaga, ten to the Cayuga
and eight to the Seneca. This same system and form of government
still prevails in the League of the Six Nations as it exists to-day, the
Tuscaroras never having been granted any sachemships.

The union in one council of the cantons, or nations, each possess-
ing equal powers, was the cause of their triumph over hostile tribes,
who acknowledged no government but that of opinion, and followed no
policy but that actuated by revenge or undefinable impulse. All the
weighty concerns of the Six Nations were the subject of full delibera-
tion, in open council ; and their diplomatic negotiations were managed
with consummate skill. When the question of peace or war was decided,
the councillors united in chanting hymns of praise, or warlike choruses,
which gave expression to the public feeling and, at the same time, im-
parted a kind of natural sanctity to the act.

* See note (I) page 81 ; also page 108.

t See "I,ife of Samuel Kirkland," in Sparks' "American Biography," XV : 163.

X Some of the whimsical names which the founders of the Confederacy bestowed upon the sachem-
ships were (translated into English) : "War-Club-on-the-Ground," "At-the-Great-Rivcr," "Falling-Day,"
"Dragging-His-Horns," "A-Man-with-the-Headache," "On-the-Watch" and "Wearing-a-Hatchet-in-His-
Belt."— "Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1SS5," P. II, p. ISO.

118

Coldeii wrote that he was at a loss which most to admire in the
Iroquois, "their military ardor, their political policy or their eloquence
in council.'" DeWitt Clinton, in an address on the "Eloquence of the
Six Nations," delivered before the New York Historical Society in
1811,=^ said :

"The Confederates [Six Nations] were as celebrated for their eloquence as for their
military skill and political wisdom, * * * and there is little doubt but that oratory
was studied with as much care and application among the Confederates as it was in the
storni}^ democracies of the Eastern Hemisphere. '^ * -^ The most remarkable differ-
ence existed between the Confederates and the other Indian nations with respect to
eloquence. You ma}' search in vain in the records and writings of the past, or in events
of the present times, for a single model of eloquence among the Algonkins, the Abenaquis,
the Delawares, the Shawanese or any other nation of Indians except the Iroquois. The
few scintillations of intellectual light — the faint glimmerings of genius — which are some-
times to be found in their speeches, are evidenth* derivative, and borrowed from the
Confederates. Considering the interpreters who have undertaken to give the meaning of
Indian speeches, it is not a little surprising that some of them should approach so near
perfection. The major part of the interpreters were illiterate persons, sent among them
to conciliate their favor by making [presents of] useful or ornamental implements ; or
the}- were prisoners who learned the Indian language during their captivity."

The Six Nations appreciated the worth of their women, and the
matrons were given a high place in their councils and possessed a sub-
stantial veto as to peace or war. In 1789, at Albany, "Good Peter," in his
speech for the Cayugas and Senecas to the Governor of New^ York and
the Commissioners of Indian Affairs, said :t "Our ancestors considered
it a great transgression to reject the counsel of their women, particularly
of the governesses. Our ancestors considered them mistresses of the
soil. Our ancestors said : 'Who bring us forth ? Who cultivate our
lands ? W^ho kindle our fires and boil our pots but the women ? '
* * * The women say : 'Let not the traditions of the fathers with
respect to women be disregarded ; let them not be despised ; God is
their maker p * * * The governesses beg leave to speak with that
freedom allowable to woman and agreeable to the spirit of our ancestors.
They exhort the great chief to put forth his strength and preserve their
peace, for they are the life of the nation." When the Senecas at Big
Tree, in 1797, refused to negotiate with Thomas ^Morris, and "Red
Jacket," with undue haste, had declared the council-fire covered up, the
women and the warriors interposed and consummated a treaty.

In the military department chiefs were elected for special causes,
nor did they hesitate in extreme cases to depose the civil sachem to give
greater force to battle action. The military service was not conscriptive,
but voluntary, although every man was subject to military duty, and to
shirk it brought disgrace, t

"The Iroquois were universally lighter in complexion than any
other American Indians, and the [Mohawks and Oneidas were the
lightest of all. So marked was this peculiarity, taken together with
their superior civilization, that some of the early writers — mainly Jesuit
Fathers — considered them a different race from the common aborigfines.
A noted student of Indian life and character, Professor Donaldson,
explains it on purely physical grounds, which is doubtless the true view.
He savs that for o-enerations — even before the white man was known on
these shores — the Iroquois had lived in comfortable habitations, tilled
the soil, raised grain and fruits, and, generally speaking, had much

*See "Library of American Literature," IV : 2.54.

t "Report of the Smithsonian Institution for IS'^5," Part II, page 190.

X "Report on Indians at the Eleventh Census," page 463.

119

better shelter, better cookery, better sanitary arrangements, and alto-
gether more of the good things of life than any other Indians. This
mode of living had tended to 'bleach ont' their complexions and endow
them with other physical advantages.'"''

"It wonld be a gross error to suppose the Six Nations — who had
conquered, and held in vassalage, so extensive an empire — were a rude
rabble of ignorant Indians. Letters and the arts of civilized life they
had not ; nor had Attila or Ghengis Khan. But they were profoundly
versed in all the wiles of diplomac}-, the subtlest stratagems of war, and
all the arts of savage government, which they made subservient to the
g-ratification of an ambition as loftv and insatiable as that of the g-reatest
conquerors, civilized or barbarian, we read of in story."t

The following paragraphs — relating more particularly to the Six
Nations — are from a letter written in February, 1771, by Sir William
Johnson! to Dr. Arthur Lee of Virginia, "on the customs, manners and
languages of the Indians." §

* * "The Mohocks [Mohawks], who have long lived within our settlements,
* * though greatly reduced in number are still the acknowledged Head of that alliance
[the "Confederacy of the Six Nations"] ; but in their present state they have less inter-
course with the Indians and more with us than formerly — besides which they are at present
members of the Church of England. Most of them read, and several write, very well.
When, therefore, they subscribe an ordinar}^ deed they frequently make use of a cross —
after the example of the illiterate amongst us — and sometimes their names. But in things
of much consequence thej- usually delineate a steel, such as is used to strike fire out of
flint ; which, being the symbol of their nation, this steel they call 'Ca>miah' and them-
selves 'Ca}niiiingaes.'\\ But from hence little can be deduced, as they had not the use of
any instrument in that form before their commerce with the whites.

"The Oneidas inhabit the country a little beyond the settlements. * * Some
efforts have been made to civilize and Christianize them — but a great part are still in the
primitive way. Being also reduced in niimbers, and their political system much changed,
their intercourse with the more remote Indians is lessened, and their knowledge of
ancient usages decayed. The}' have in use as a symbol a tree, by which they would
express stability. But their true symbol is a stone, calle.d 'Onoya' ; and they call them-
selves 'Onoytits'.

"The Onondagas, whose residences are forty miles farther, are somewhat better
versed in the customs of their ancestors. They call themselves 'People of the Great
Mountain. 'I ^ * * The Cayugas have for their symbol a /!>z)!)^. The Senecas are the
most numerous and most distant of the Six Nations. Thej- have several towns and sym-
bols, from which, however, little can be understood. * * *

"There is in every nation a sachem, or chief, who appears to have some authority
over the rest ; and it is greatest among the most distant nations. But in most of those
bordering on our settlements his authority is scarcely discernible — he seldom assuming any
power before his people. And indeed this humility is judged the best policy, for, want-
ing coercive power, their commands would perhaps occasion assassination, which some-
times happens. The sachems of each tribe are usually chosen in a public assembly of the
chiefs and warriors, whenever a vacancy happens by death or otherwise. They are
generally chosen for their sense and bravery, from among the oldest warriors, and are
approved of by all the tribe — on which the}- are saluted sachems. There are, however,
several exceptions, for some families have a kind of inheritance in the oflfice, and are
called to this station in their infancy.

' 'The Chief Sachem — by some called the King — is so either by inheritance or by a
kind of tacit consent, the consequence of his superior abilities and influence. The dura-
tion of his authority depends much on his own wisdom, the number and consequence of
his relations, and the strength of his particular tribe. ^Military services are the chief
recommendations to this rank. It appears pretty clearly that heretofore the chief of a
nation had, in some small degree, the authority of a sovereign. This is now the fact
among the most remote Indians. But as, since the introduction of fire-arms, they no
longer fight in close bodies, but every man is his own general, I am inclined to think this
has lessened the power of a chief. The chief of a whole nation has the custody of the

* Augustus C. Buell's "Sir William Johnson," page 50.
t Miner's "History of Wyoming," page 35.
X See Chapter IV for portrait and sketch of his life,
g See "Documentary History of the State of New York," IV : 270, 271.
See page 110. H See page 108.

120

belts of wampum, &c., which are as records of public transactions. He prompts the
speakers at all treaties, and proposes affairs of consequence. * * *

"All their deliberations are conducted with extraordinary regularity and decorum.
They never interrupt him who is speaking, nor use harsh language — whatever may be
their thoughts. '•'■ * * On their hunts, as on all other occasions, they are strict
observers of meuin and fuinn ; and this from principle — holding theft in contempt, so
that they are rarely guilty of it, though tempted by articles of much value. Neither do
the strong attempt to seize the prey of the weak. And I must do them the justice to sa}'
that unless heated by liquor, or influenced by revenge, their ideas of right and wrong,
and their practices in consequence of them, would, if more known, do them much honor.
It is true that, having been often deceived by us in the purchase of lands, in trade and
other transactions, many of them begin now to act the same part. But this reflects most
on those who set them the example. * * *

"Their language, though not very wordy, is extremely emphatical, and their style
adorned with noble images and strong metaphors and equal in allegory to many of the
eastern nations. * * * It is curious to observe that thej^ have various modes of speech
and phrases peculiar to each age and sex, which they strictly observe. For instance, a
man says, w^hen he is hungry, "Cadagcariax,^ which is expressive both of his want and
of the animal food he requires to supply it ; whilst a child says, in the same circum-
stances, '0?7^2^5cr(?, ' that is, 'I require spoon-meat.' * * *

"The figures which they aiJ6x to deeds* have led some to imagine that they had
characters or an alphabet. The case is this : Every nation is divided into a certain
number of tribes, of which some have three, as the Turtle, Bear and Wolf ; to which
others add the Snake, Deer, &c. Each of these tribes forms a little community within
the nation, and as the nation has its peculiar symbol, so each tribe has the peculiar badge
from whence it is denominated ; and a sachem of each tribe being a necessary party to a
fair conveyance, such sachem affixes the mark of the tribe thereto — which is not that of
a particular family (unless the whole tribe is so deemed), but rather as the public seal of
a corporation."

Concerning the Mohawks Zinzendorf wrote as follows, in his
"Account of his Experience among the Indians", in 1742t : "The
Maquas are most part of them Christians so called, having been con-
verted by the English missionaries, and have lost all their credit with
the others because they have guzzled away all their land to the Christ-
ians. And with this nation we have not hitherto so much as spoken,
since we fear nothing so much as when such sort of people do endeavor
to belong to us. And we have esteemed it a very great Grace of our
Savior that, although these are as it were the next neighbors of the
heathen to our congregations [at Shecomeco, New York, and its
dependencies], yet we have had no manner of fellowship with them."

The Mohawks were the keepers of the eastern door of the " Long
House," and their business was to transmit messages from without to
the Grand Council of the League, and also to guard against the encroach-
ments and invasions of enemies along the eastern bounds of the Con-
federacy. The title of the hereditary sachem of the Mohawks who
"watched the door" was ^'•Dogaeogay

" 'A Mohawk ! a Mohawk !' was a cry of heart-withering terror ;
and when, in Queen Anne's reign, there arose a band of ruthless and
bloody ruffians in London, who seized and wantonly maimed their
victims, to designate them as supremely savage they were called 'Mo-
hawks'!"!

♦See photo-illustration of deed in Chapter IV.

t See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," I : 120.

\ Hayden's "The Massacre of Wyoming," page 32.

One of the "new inventions" of the London ".Mohawks" was to roll persons down Snow Hill in a
tub ; another was to overturn coaches on rubbish heaps. .\ vivid picture of the misdoings in the streets
of Ivondon by these and other brawlers is given in The Spectator, No. 324. The following lines are from
"Plot Upon Plot," published in I,ondon about 1713.

"You sent your Mohocks next abroad,

With razors armed, and knives ;

Who on night-walkers made inroad,

And scared our maids and wives ;

They scared the watch, and windows broke."

« * * » *

121

Relative to the Senecas Zinzendorf stated, in his "Account" pre-
viously referred to : "The third nation are the Senekas, who have been
converted by the French missionaries some time ag-o, when they had to
do with them ; and of these 1 have observed that their Christian
knowledge is nothing- more than this, that they believe that our dear
Savior was born at Bethlehem in France, and that the English have
crucified liim. Upon which account they are very much offended with
tlie English ; and one sees them make crosses, and such like ceremonies.
This is all 1 could find among them ; and when any of them comes to
Philadelphia, they go to the Popish Chapel to Mass."

"The very name of Seneca had a terror with Indians of other
nations. At the South and West, and among the nations of Canada,
the Seneca war-whoop would almost conquer of itself. Even as late as
the War of 1812 the Indians of Canada were struck with terror when
they learned that they must encounter the Senecas in battle. * * *
The Senecas were a very martial and warlike nation. They were
sternly independent, and sometimes took up arms when the other tribes
sat smoking in quiet on their mats. The Senecas adhered with dogged
obstinacy to the French in the rapid decline of their ascendancy on this
continent."*

The Senecas were the keepers of the western door of the " Long
House," and they performed duties similar to those of the Mohawks at
the eastern door. The title of the Seneca sachem whose particular duty
it was to watch the western door was Doiiehogdweh ("Open Door").t

In 1763 the Senecas, alone of the Six Nations, were in alliance with
Pontiac, and played a conspicuous part with the great Ottawa in his
plan of surprising a cordon of posts in the Lake country, and extirpa-
ting "the dogs in red clothing" that guarded them. Gen. Sir Jeffrey
Amherst was bitterly incensed at this conduct of the Senecas, and pro-
posed to take a large force of regular and Provincial troops and "wipe
forever from the face of the earth that faithless, cruel tribe, who have
[had] already too long debauched the good name of the Iroquois Con-
federacy by pretending to belong to it." General Amherst objected to
any further negotiation with the Senecas. "They were, he said, desti-
tute of honor, faithless, treacherous, and a race of natural-born criminals
and murderers. They cumbered the ground. He could make no use of
them but exterminate them as a warning example to all other Indians.

* * * No male Seneca capable of bearing arms should be spared. * *
The women and children should be taken prisoners and afterwards dis-
tributed among other tribes. The Seneca nation as an organized tribe
must disappear."

Sir William Johnson vigorously opposed this policy. "The Senecas,
on their part, hearing of General Amherst's project, sued in the most
abject manner for peace, * * Upon this, Amherst relented. They
gave up to him nineteen of the 'instigators,' and after hanging two of
the worst of them at Onondaga Castle, by way of an 'object-lesson^' the
General abandoned his declared intention of 'exterminating the tribe.'

* * * The hanging of the two sub-chiefs of the Senecas by General
Amherst was the first exhibition the Indians had seen of the Anglo-
Saxon mode of punishing murderers. In order to make the spectacle

♦Turner's "History of Phelps and Gorhani's Purchase" (Rochester, 1852).
t See pages 123 and 135.

122

more impressive, the General ordered the bodies of the culprits to be
sunk in Onondaga Lake with stones tied about their necks, as food for
the fishes. And he forbade any mourning or funeral rites for them in
the tribe."*

"The Second Nation" [of the Confederacy], wrote Zinzendorf in
1742, "and which properly governs the rest, is the nation of the Onon-
dagoes. Those are Philosophers, and such as among us are called
Deists. They are brave, honest people who keep their word ; and their
o-eneral weakness is that thev delight in Heroick Deeds. * * *
Their government is very equitable and fatherlike, but whoever will not
stoop to them they are ready to root out. On the other hand, they carry
themselves very civil and orderly towards the Europeans." In the latter
part of the eighteenth century the Onondagas had become, according to
a statement made by DeWitt Clinton in 1811, "the most drunken and
profligate of the Six Nations" ; but early in the next century, through
the efforts of " Handsome Lake," the Seneca "prophet," they had been
led "to abstain entirely from spirituous liquors, and to observe the laws
of morality in other respects."

In order that many matters merely touched on in some of the suc-
ceeding chapters may be more clearly and completely understood by the |
reader, it is deemed advisable to conclude this chapter with a brief '
descriptive review of the characteristics, customs and habits of j

North American Indians Generally. I

The matterf thus presented deals with conditions and describes j
usages which prevailed, more particularly, among the Indians of New
York and Pennsylvania during the period of time comprehending the |
beginning, and the progress towards permanency, of the early settle- ]
ments by white people in Wyoming Valley ; to which is added a brief ' ;
account of the present-day Indians in the United States.

The North American Indians with whom European settlers first :
came in contact were divided into families or tribes, each distinguished i
by an armorial bearing called a totem^ which was a representation of '
some animal or bird, as a deer, a bear, a tortoise, an eagle or a snipe. |
The village (or "town," as it was called by some tribes) was (and is) the !
unit of organization in almost all the tribes. With the sedentary j
Indians the village was of a permanent character. Lodges, wigwams or \
tepees composed the village of the nomadic Indians — together with their :
live-stock and other property. A wigwam was constructed of twenty or
thirty poles, each about twenty-five feet in length, wdiicli, being erected |
with their butts arranged in circular or other form and their tops united, '

were covered with bark, skins sewed together after having been dressed, \
or by any other material available. There was an aperture, closed with a i
flap, in the side of the wigwam for the ingress and egress of the occupants,
and another aperture at the top, or apex, through which smoke from the '
open fire in the center of the wigwam could escape. The wigwams ;

* Buell's "Sir William Johnson," pages 227-2.30. j

t Drawn largely from Lossing's "Our Barbarian Brethren," Catlin's "Letters and Notes" and "I,ast J

Rambles," "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census," Stone's "Poetry and History '■

of Wyoming," "Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1885, ' and the "Annual Report of the United \

State's Commissioner of Indian .'Affairs, for 1902." '

X See pages 103 and 120. i

123

were taken down easih- in a few minntes and readily transported
elsewhere by the Indian women, or sqnaws, whenever a chano;e of
location was to be made.

The accompanying illustration is a reduced facsimile of a drawino-
made by George Catlin, showing a wigwam made of twenty-five dressed
buffalo skins elaborately garnished and painted. The poles supporting
it were of pine, thirty in number, each twenty-five feet long, and,
according to j\Ir. Catlin, had been "some hundred years, perhaps, in
use." This wigwam was purchased from Indians in the West in 1832
by IVIr. Catlin, and taken by him to Europe for exhibition. It was
brought back to this country some years later, and is now^ in the
National Museum at Washington.

The Algonkins lived
in wigwams, and they
moved frequently. The
Iroquois lived in cabins,
well constructed, with
upright walls covered
with bark. In peace
the nomadic village
was placed in a favorite
retreat, and here the
Indians remained until
war or the seasons
forced them to remove.
As a rule, the bands of
a tribe had their well-
defined camping grounds, which were sacred to them. A tribe seldom,
if ever, camped or lived in a compact mass. The villages w^ere frequently
remote from each other, and in w^ar were signaled by fires or alarmed by
runners. The individual Indian was (and is) merged in the village.
From the camp or the village the warrior set out to acquire new honors
or to meet death. To it he returned alive or his storv came with the
survivors. This Indian village life, the growth of centuries, is at this
day partially perpetuated on the Indian reservations in this country,
for the love of it is one of the chief causes of the Indian's resistance to
the white man's customs. The Indian does not like to live isolated.

With the exception of the Iroquois Confederacy there was no
semblance of a national government among the Indians. A mixture of
the patriarchal and despotic appeared everywhere. All political power
was vested in the civil head of a family or tribe as executive, and it was
absolute in his hands while he exercised it. He was sometim&s an
hereditary leader, but more often owed his elevation to his prowess in
war, or his merits as an orator or statesman. Public opinion alone sus-
tained him. It elevated him, and it might depose him. He was called
Inca, Sagamore, Sachem, or whatever else, in various languages, denoted
his official dignity — like that of King, Emperor, Tsar, Shah, or Sultan.
Gen. Ely S. Parker i^'- Donehogawe}i'''\^ well known in his lifetime as an
intelligent, well-informed Seneca Indian and a sachem of the Six Nations,
wrote in 1884 : "The words 'sachem,' 'sagamore,' 'chief,' 'king,' 'queen,'
'princess,' &c., have been promiscuously and interchangeably used by

* See pages 121 and 135.

124

every writer on Indians ever since their discovery, * * The use
of the term 'sagamore' is confined almost wholly to New England, and it
has been applied promiscuously to heads of bands, large and small, and
sometimes to mere heads of families. To use other terms, such as 'king,'
'prince' or 'princess,' is preposterous and presumptuous, considering the
total absence among these people of paraphernalia, belongings and dig-
nity of royalty."

The head-chief or sachem of a tribe, or nation, was at the head of
a sort of republican government, and was only the executive of the
people's will as determined in council or congress ; yet in those councils
he was umpire, and from his decision there was no appeal. While a
sachem or chief was in power the tribe or nation confided in his wisdom,
and there was seldom any transgression of the laws promulgated by him.
He had absolute control of all military expeditions, and withersoever
the chief or leader of the warriors was sent by him, the fighting men
followed.

In the public assemblies the greatest decorum prevailed, and, con-
trary to the habit of civilized Parliaments and Congresses, every speaker
was always listened to with the most respectful attention. Reference
has already been made (on page 118) to the remarkable oratorical powers
of the Iroquois. Eloquence in public speaking was a talent which the
more intelligent Indians in every tribe generally earnestly cultivated ;
and for the display of this eloquence many opportunities were afforded
at the conferences, councils, congresses and treaties held by the Indians
among themselves and with the white people. The sachems and chiefs
prepared themselves for oratory, by previous reflection and arrangement
of topics and method of expression, as carefully as ever did the most
polished speaker in the Senate or Council of a civilized people. Their
scope of thought was as boundless as the land over which they roamed,
and their expressions were as free and lofty as those of any civilized
men. Their language being too limited to allow a wealth of diction,
they made up in ideas — in the shape of metaphors furnished by all
nature around them — what they lacked in words. Pierre Francois
Charlevoix, the French Jesuit traveler and writer (1682-1761), said in
his "Journal of a Voyage to North America" :

"The beauty of their [the Indians] imagination equals its vivacity, which appears
in all their discourses. They are ver}' quick at repartee, and their harangues are full of
shining passages which would have been applauded at Rome or Athens. Their eloquence
has a strength, nature and pathos which no art can give, and which the Greeks admired
in the barbarians."

"An Indian council is one of the most imposing spectacles in savage
life," wrote Horatio Hale about 1845. "It is one of the few occasions
in which the warrior exercises his right of suffrage, his influence and his
talents in a civil capacity, and the meeting is conducted with all the
gravity and all the ceremonies and ostentation with which it is possible
to invest it. The matters to be considered, as well as all the details,
are well digested beforehand, so that the utmost decorum must prevail,
and the decision be unanimous. The chiefs and sages — the leaders and
orators — occupy the most conspicuous seats ; behind them are arranged
the younger braves, and still farther in the rear appear the women and
the }^outh as spectators. All are equally attentive. A dead silence
reigns throughout the assemblage. The great pipe, gaudily adorned
with paint and feathers, is lighted and passed from mouth to mouth.

125

commencing with the chief highest in rank, and proceeding by regnlar
gradation to the inferior order of braves. If two or three nations be
represented, the pipe is passed from one party to the other, and salnta-
tions are conrteonsly exchanged before the bnsiness of the council is
opened by the respective speakers. Whatever jealousy or party spirit
may exist in the tribe is carefully excluded from this dignified assem-
blage, whose orderly conduct and close attention to the proper subject
before them might be imitated with profit by some of the most enlight-
ened bodies in Christendom.''

It is a curious fact that while the American Indian of earlier days
possessed oratorical gifts in a large measure, his musical talents were
meager — at least from the white man's point of view. The so-called
musical instruments of the Indians were (and are) of the crudest and
most primitive form — the principal one being the tambour, or drum.
This was formerly rudely made by straining a piece of raw hide over
a hoop, or over the head of a sort of keg, generally made by cutting
away all the inner portion of a section of a log of wood, leaving only a
shell. Besides the drum they used several kinds of whistles and rattles
— the latter being usually made of tortoise shells dried and beautifully
polished, and containing several small pebbles.

We, are told by well-informed writers on the subject that the music
of the Indians is solely and simply vocal. They know no other way of
expressing emotion in melodic form. Their songs are compositions
which have in them nothing borrowed from instruments and nothing of
artificial instigation ; while a large proportion of them are entirely with-
out words — syllables being used to carry the tones. There are, of course,
songs which have fragments of words ; but these are quite distinct from
the syllables which are used solely for musical purposes. Catlin says,
in his "Letters and Notes" previously mentioned :

"It has been said by some travelers that the Indian has neither harmon}' nor
melody in his music, but I am unwilling to subscribe to such an assertion, although I
grant that for the most part of their vocal exercises there is a total absence of what the
nmsical world would call melody ; their songs being made up chiefly of a sort of violent
chant of harsh and jarring gutturals, of yelps and barks and screams, which are given out
in perfect time, not only with 'method (but with harmony) in their madness.' "

"But there are times * * when the Indian lies down by his fireside, with his
drum in his hand, which he lightly and almost imperceptibly touches over, as he accom-
panies it with his stifled voice of dulcet sounds that might come from the most tender and
delicate female. These quiet and tender songs are very different from those which are
sung at their dances, in full chorus and with violent gesticulations, and many of them
seem to be quite rich in plaintive expression and melody, though barren of change and
variety."

Both songs and the musical instruments previously mentioned were
used in connection wath the numerous dances by which the Indians
amused themselves, celebrated some important event or performed
certain rites of w^orship or devotion. Some of these dances were the
"Welcome Dance," the "Calumet Dance," the "Buffalo Dance," the
"Bear Dance," the "Ghost Dance," the "Green Corn Dance," the "Snake
Dance" the "Feather Dance," the "War Dance" and the "Scalp Dance."

The "War Dance" was one of the most exciting and spirited of the
dances, and was performed by the warriors, or braves, before starting
out on the war-path, and quite often after their return, when they boasted
how they had met the enemy, taken their scalps, etc. This dance, as
performed by the Delawares, was often given in time of peace, and was
considered very beautiful. It always took place in the daytime, and the

126

warriors all appeared in full war-outfit with paint, feathers and weapons,
and some with animals' horns fastened to their heads. In time of war
a scalp would be fastened to a pole, and the dance would take place
around the pole. The musicians, standing on the outside of the circle
of warriors, would beat quicker time than for other dances, and would
sing their war-songs, which would be answered by the braves with cries
of approval and war-whoops. The dancers seemed to move with great
caution and care, with very wild expressions in their eyes, and looking
and watching as if expecting an approach of the enemy at any moment.
Then they would make sudden springs to the right or left, or backward
or forward, strike at an invisible foe or dodge an imaginary blow, and
then, suddenh", as if the foe were conquered, resume a slow and cautious
march, all the while going around the pole. The action of the dancers
was guided, or governed, by the war-song, for they acted out what was
sung. In time of peace, instead of a pole with a scalp on it a fire would
be built in the center of the ring ; but in other respects the dance would
be the same.*

.^■-A^ — ^-

A "SCAI.P Dance," as Seen in 1832.

The foregoing illustration is a reduced facsimile of a drawing made

by George Catlin for his "Letters and Notes." It illustrates a "Scalp

Dance" witnes.sed by him in 1S32 at the mouth of Teton River. The

following is I\Ir. Catlin's description of the dance :

' 'This barbarous and exciting scene is the Indian mode of celebrating a victor}', and
is given fifteen nights in succession when a war-party returns from battle bringing home
with them the scalps from the heads of their enemies. This dance is danced at a late
hour in the night, by the light of torches, and a number of young women are selected to
aid (though they do not actually join in the dance ) bj- stepping into the center of the ring
and holding up the scalps that have recently been taken, whilst the warriors dance (or
rather jump) around in a circle, brandishing their weapons, vaunting forth the most
extravagant boasts of their wonderful prowess in war, and barking and yelping in the most
frightful manner — all jumping on both feet at the same time, with a simultaneous stamp
and blow and thrust of their weapons as if they were actually cutting and carving each
other to pieces. During these frantic leaps and yelps and thrusts ever}- man distorts his
face to the utmost of his muscles, darting his glaring eye-balls about and snapping his
teeth as if he were in the heat of battle. No description that can be written could ever
convey more than a feeble outline of the frightful effects of these scenes enacted in the

* "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census," page 300.

127

dead of nij(hl, under the glaring light of l)lazing flambeaux ; nor could all the years
allotted to mortal man in the least ol)literate or deface the vivid impress that one scene of
this kind would leave upon his memor}-."

Brief mention is made earlier in this chapter* of the Indian calu-
met, or pipe, and later, of the "Calumet Dance." The calumet was
sometimes looked upon as a sacred object. Its stem was painted in
different colors and decorated usualh' with the war-eag^le's quills, but
often with the heads, tails and wings of beautifulh' plumaged birds.
Rogers, in his "Account of North America" (1766), says :

"The use of the calumet is to smoke either tobacco, or some bark, leaf or herb
which they [the Indians] often use instead of it, when the}' enter into an alliance, or
any serious occasion, or solemn engagements — this being among them the most sacred
oath that can be taken ; the violation of which is esteemed most infamous, and deserv-
ing of severe punishment from Heaven. When they treat of war the whole pipe and
all its ornaments are red ; sometimes it is only red on one side, and by the disposition of
the feathers, &c., one acquainted with their customs will know at first sight what the
nation who presents it intends or desires. Smoking the cahmiet is also a religious cere-
mony on some occasions, and in all treaties is considered as a witness between the parties,
or rather as an instrument by which they invoke the sun and moon to witness their
sincerity, and to be, as it were, a guarantee of the treaty between them."

Catlin says that the "Calumet Dance," or "Pipe of Peace Dance,"
was given at the conclusion of a treat)- of peace, after smoking through
the sacred stem of the special pipe. The dance was also often given out
of regard for a brave, and was looked upon as the highest compliment
that could be paid to his courage and bravery.

"It is a notable fact that the Indian tribes of north-eastern America,
belonging to the Iroquoian and Algonkian families, who, at the first
coming of the white colonists occupied the eastern portions of what are
now the United States and Canada, and who are often st)-led savages,
had two inventions or usages which are ordinarily deemed the special
concomitants of an advanced civilization. These were a monetary cur-
rency and the use of a form of script for conveying intelligence and
recording facts. * * * In a paper which was read before the British
Association for the Advancement of Science, at IMontreal in August,
1884, and was published in the Popular Science Moiithly for January,
1886, I produced the evidence which seemed to me to show that the shell
money of North iVmerica was derived from the ancient tortoise-shell
money of China. This shell money preceded the metallic coins com-
monly known as casli — which are circular discs of copper, perforated in
the center, and usually strung on a string. These came into use more
than 2,000 years before the Christian era. The shell money which
preceded the copper cash has been traced eastwardly * * to the
coasts of California and Oregon, where it is in use among the Indians to
this day, and whence it has apparently made its way across the conti-
nent to the eastern coast, "f

This shell money, known to us as zuampiim^ consisted of a certain
kind of beads, some made of the white and some of the black or colored
parts of marine shells. They were formed in the shape of cylinders,
each about one-fourth of an inch long and one-eighth of an inch in
diameter, were highly polished and were perforated lengthwise with a
small hole through which the Indians strung them together with strips
of deerskin, or thread made from filaments of slippery-elm bark or flax.
As the fabrication of wampum was free to all persons, every one was

* See pages 94 and 104.

t Horatio Hale, in Popular Science Monthly, L : 4S1 (1897).

128

director of his own mint, and, verifying the words of the Book of
Proverbs — "the hand of the dilioent maketh rich" — he who most assid-
nously songht the simple bullion from which wampum was coined was
in the way of becoming the wealthiest of his race. But, although any
one was entirely free to manufacture for himself as much wampum as
he pleased, the difhculties of the process seem to have prevented men
from thus becoming rich by their own handiwork. The rich men were
those who accumulated wampum through trade and war, so that gener-
ally the possession of an unusual quantity of it betokened some real
ability or bravery.

Wampum was called by the Dutch settlers ^'^ sew ant. '''^ Adriaen
Van der Donck, in his "Description of the New Netherlands" (1653),
says that the species of sewant were black and white ; "but the black is
worth more by one-half than the white. The black is made from conch-
shells which are to be taken from the sea, or which are cast ashore from
the sea twice a year. They strike off the thin parts of these shells and
preserve the pillars or standards, which they grind smooth and even,
and reduce the same according to their thickness, and drill a hole
through every piece, and string the same on strings, and afterwards sell
their strings in that manner. This is the only moneyed medium among
the natives with which any trafhc can be driven. Many thousand
strings are exchanged every year near the seashore, where the wampum
is only made, and w^here the peltries are brought for sale." In Smith's
"History of New Jersey" (1876) we are told that the white wampum was
fabricated from the inside lining or layer of the great conchs, and the
black or purple from the inside portion of the shell of the clam or
mussel — "from the Indian name of which last shell-fish the term '■wam-
ptwi' was derived."

The beads were bored by means of a flint awl, many of which are
still to be found in the shell heaps along the New England coast. After
the coming of the English iron awls were substituted, but even then the
process of manufacture must have been extremely tedious. It is said that
by a day's hard labor it was barely possible for a man to produce wam-
pum having a money value equivalent to fifteen cents in present-day
money. Whether the work was done by the men or the women cannot
be known, but it may well have been shared by both.

Dr. Beauchamp says* that "while shell beads were probably of
early manufacture along the seashore — being made and used by the
Algonkins — they were very little known in the interior and west of the
Hudson before the seventeenth century. ^Accordingly we find few tra-
ditions of their origin among the river and shore Indians, while their
use among the Iroquois was so sudden and conspicuous an event as to
make a great and lasting impression. According to them the origin of
wampum was coeval with that of their League. Hiawatha decreed and
regulated its use."t

In The New England Magazine for February, 1903, Frederic A.

Ogg says :

"If one wished to indicate the most obvious characteristic of the Indians of the
Atlantic seaboard, at the time of the EngHsh settlement in New England, he could not

*In "Wampum and Shell Articles," published in Bulletin No. 41, Vol. 8 (March, 1901), of the New
York State Museum.

t Dr. Beauchamp is one of those who hold that the Iroquois League was organized by Hiawatha as
late as about the year IfiOO. See ul sit/»a, pages 33S and 121 ; also, page lOS, aule.

129

perliaps make better selection than their general eagerness to possess and display large
([iiantities of wanipnni. It meant all to the Indian that money does to us, and infinitely
more. Not merely did it serve liim as a medium of exchange and a standard of values,
but worn as an ornament it was his badge of wealth and ])osition, in the hands of the
chiefs his record-book and ledger, and througli the favor of the Great Spirit its possession
became in no small degree the passport to the liap])y hunting-grounds of the future world.
The u.se of wampum constituted a bond of union among the Indians such as was scarcely
supplied by language, religion or racial customs."

The colonists never came to regard wampum as anything more
than a convenience for the prosecution of trade with the Indians. Never-
theless they were forced sometimes to u.se it in their dealings with each
other, and even in the payment of their taxes. When so employed,
however, it was not regarded as any form of money, bnt, as the Rhode
Island Colonial Records for 1662 say, "It is bnt a commodity, and it is
unreasonable that it should be forced upon any man." In 1627 Isaac
De Razier, Secretary of the New Netherlands, while in command of a
trading vessel took £50 worth of wampum from New Amsterdam to
Plymouth ; and in 1630 the maiden voyage of the Blessing of the Bay
— the first ship built in New England, by Winthrop — was despatched
to the Dutch on Long Island to obtain a stock of Indian money.

The use of wampinn, as money, among the settlers in the northern
Colonies was at its height about 1640. At that time, despite the suspi-
cions of many with regard to wampum and their reluctance to accept it,
it was by far the nearest approach to a universal currency that the
colonists had. In 1648 Massachusetts ordered that wampum, if good,
should be legal tender to the amount of forty shillings. In 1658 the
Sheriff of New Netherlands, acting as commissary, was selling goods in
small quantities for wampum. In 1666 Connecticut made a grant of
"fifty fathoms of wompom." Rhode Island recognized it officially as
late as 1670. By proclamation of the Governor and Council of the New
Netherlands in 1673 the value of this Indian money was fixed at the
rate of six white or three black (instead of eight white or four black,
which had been the rate) to one stiver — tw^enty stivers being equal to
one guilder, wdrich at that time was worth six pence currency, or four
pence sterling. As late as the beginning of the eighteenth century
wampum was used in the payment of ferriage between the city of New
York and Brooklyn. It was used in southern Connecticut as late as
1704, and in the backwoods regions of the northern and middle Colonies
well down into the eighteenth century.

It is the belief of Dr. Beauchamp and other investigators that the
ancient, or primitive, wampum always consisted of strings of beads, but
that about the beginning of the Dutch settlement and trade in this
country wampum belts of different widths and lengths, and wrought in
a variety of designs, began to make their appearance. In the language
of an early writer some of these belts, "by a proper arrangement of the
beads of different colors, were figured like carpeting with different
figures, according to the various uses for which they were designed.
They were made use of by the Indians in their treaties and intercourse
with each other, and served to assist their memory and preserve the
remembrance of transactions. When different tribes or nations made
peace or alliance wath each other they exchanged belts of one sort ;
when they excited each other to war they used another sort. Hence
the belts were distinguished by the names of 'peace-belts' and 'war-
belts.' Every message sent from one tribe to another was accompanied

130

by a string or strings or a belt of wampum,

and the string or belt was smaller or greater

according to the importance of the subject."

The original purpose of wampum belts

was probably exclusively mnemonic. In an

account of a conference at Montreal in 1756

it is said in a note :

"These belts and strings of wampum are the uni-
versal agent among Indians, serving as money, jewelr)^
ornaments, annals and for registers. 'Tis the bond of
nations and individuals — an inviolable and sacred
pledge which guarantees messages, promises and treat-
ies. As writing is not in use among them, they make
a local memoir by means of these belts, each of which
signifies a particular affair or a circumstance of alTairs.
The chiefs of the villages are the depositories of them,
and communicate them to the 3'oung people, who thus
learn the histor}^ and engagements of their nation."

George Henry Loskiel, in his "History

of the Mission of the United Brethren Among

the Indians in North America" (Livonia,

1788), says :

"At certain seasons they [the chiefs] meet to
study their [belts of wampum] meaning, and to renew
the ideas of which they were an emblem or confirma-
tion. On such occasions they sit down around the
chest, take out one string or belt after the other, hand-
ing it about to every person present ; and, that they
may all comprehend its meaning, repeat the words
pronounced on its delivery in their whole convention.
By these means they are enabled to remember the prom-
ises reciprocally made by the different parties. And it
is their custom to admit even the young boys, who are
related to their chiefs, to their assemblies. They be-
come earl}' acquainted with all the affairs of the State,
and thus the contents of their documents are trans-
mitted to posterity, and cannot easily be forgotten."

Strings of wampum served as credentials
for messengers and ambassadors to and from
Indians. They were looked upon as letters of
introduction — certificates of authority — and,
armed with such credentials, the bearer would
be listened to by any chief or council. Then,
too, it was considered that with all important
speeches delivered at councils presents should
be given. The following paragraph, from
the journal of Witham Marshe — mentioned
in the foot-note on page 81 — describes the
manner in which belts and strings were some-
limes delivered and received in councils :

"Whilst Mr. Jenings delivered his speech, he gave the interpreter a string and two
belts of wampum, which were by him presented to the Sachem Canassatego ; and the
Indians thereupon gave the crj- of approbation. By this we were sure the speech was
well approved by the Indians. This cry is usuall}- made on presenting wampum to the
Indians in a treaty, and is performed thus : The grand chief and speaker amongst them
pronounces the word '■jo-hah /' with a loud voice, singly ; then all the others join in this
sound, 'luoh !' dwelling some little while upon it, and keeping exact time with each

* A photo-illustration of the wampum belt delivered by the Lenni Lenap6 sachems to William Peun
at the "Great Treatj" of IftSS, mentioned on pajjes JO and 113. The original belt is now in possession of
The Historical .Society of Pennsylvania, at Philadelphia, to which it was presented in 1857 b5' a great-
grandson of William Penn. It is a moderate-sized l)elt, composed of about 3,000 white and purple beads
arranged in eighteen rows.

pi: - - ' ' T ^^B

|i|=8

^^B^' %' =

^H^Hb" - ~

■ nJi

^^I^Bl

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^^^^^B ~: ^ - ; ; .. L

--^i^ii

Hi^yite^

^^^^^^Hli

LjL3tE.»-l^ - ~

:i.

HHI'-^ '^'~ 'v -^--

tfliiwiif ''T^ "1 " ~

^^I^HI\ 3 ~ '^ "^ '

- ■

^pIS^

■ "1^4^ -

:: 1

J^^li:

- ' ^m ^

^^p|E; = i

^^H^^ :: : =

zl: ' ' , - I :

^KIIH

=::::-:.

;;

^^|S : : :^ ^

-::-:;:-

-X-

: Sjijif

X-

nL s , .„ -^.

IHHiv - ~ ~ - : 3

^S ■ 1 « 4p

HI^R?: - % +

:t _ -^^

« -

Hp^^^r

irJ • S

■WIM'

HipMH

lilliia

^^^w^.- ; _ ^4

^^^^^^^^K^S^^S^^Ib[^I

The "Penn" Belt.*

( By courtesy of the publishers
of "Pennsylvania— Colonial and
Federal.")

i:Jl

other, and innnediately, with a sharp noise and force, ntter this sound — 'zviii^/i f This
is performed in great order, and with the utmost ceremony and decorum, and with the
Indians is like our English 'huzza !' "

Dr. Beauchamp says this sound may still be recognized in meetings
of Six Nation Indians in New York.

The following, written by Horatio Hale* and published in 1846 in
his book entitled "The Wilderness and the War Path," is an interesting
description of a council held at North Bend, Ohio, by and between Brig.
Gen. George Rogers Clarkf and others (commissioners in behalf of the
United States) and the Shawanese Indians. It sets forth how wampnm
belts were sometimes presented and 7-ejected.

* * * "It was an alarming evidence of the temper now prevailing among them,
and of the brooding storm that filled their minds, that no propriety of demeanor marked
the entrance of the savages into the council-room. The usual formalities were for-
gotten, or purposely dispensed with, and an insulting levity substituted in its place.
The chiefs and braves stalked in, with an appearance of light regard, and seated
themselves promiscuously on the floor in front of the commissioners. An air of insolence
marked all their movements, and showed an intention to dictate terms, or to fix a quarrel
upon the Americans. A dead silence rested over the group ; it was the silence of dread,
distrust and watchfulness, not of respect. The eyes of the savage band gloated upon the
banquet of blood that seemed already spread out before them ; the pillage of the fort and
the bleeding scalps of the Americans were almost within their grasp ; while that gallant
little band saw the portentous nature of the crisis, and stood ready to sell their lives as
dearly as possible.

"The commissioners, without noticing the disorderly conduct of the other party, or
appearing to have discovered their meditated treachery, opened the council in due form.
They lighted the peace-pipe, and after drawing a few whiffs, passed it to the chiefs, who
received it. Colonel Clark then rose to explain the purpose for which the treaty was
ordered. With an unembarrassed air, with the tone of one accustomed to command and
the easy assurance of perfect security and self-possession, he stated that the commis-
sioners had been sent to offer peace to the Shawanese, and that the President had no wish
to continue the war ; he had no resentment to gratify, and if the red men desired peace
they could have it on liberal terms. 'If such be the will of the Shawanese,' he concluded,
'let some of the wise men speak. '

"A chief arose, drew up his tall person to its full height, and assuming a haughtj-
attitude, threw his eyes contemptuously over the connnissioners and their small retinue
as if to measure their insignificance in comparison with his own numerous train ; and
then, stalking to the table, threw upon it two belts of wampum of different colors — the
war and peace belts. 'We come,' he exclaimed, 'to offer you two pieces of wampum.
They are of two different colors ; you know what they mean ; 5'ou can take which 3-ou
like !' And turning upon his heel, resumed his seat. The chiefs drew themselves up in
the consciousness of having hurled defiance in the teeth of the white men. They had
offered an insult to the renowned leader of the 'Long Knives,' to which they knew it
would be hard for him to submit, while they did not suppose he would dare to resent it.
The council-pipe was laid aside. Those fierce, wild men gazed intently at Clark. The
Americans saw that the crisis had arrived ; they could no longer doubt that the Indians
understood the advantage they possessed, and were disposed to use it, and a common
sense of danger caused each eye to turn on the leading commissioner. He sat undis-
turbed and apparently careless until the chief who had thrown the belts upon the
table had taken his seat ; then, with a small cane which he held in his hand, he reached,
as if playfully, toward the war-belt, entangled the end of the stick in it, drew it toward
him, and then, with a twitch of the cane, threw the belt into the midst of the chiefs. The
effect was electric. Every man in council, of each party, sprang to his feet ; the savages

* Horatio Hale, whose name is frequently mentioned in the preceding pages, was born at New-
port, New Hampshire, May 3, 1817, and died at Clinton, Ontario, December 28, 1896. He was graduated at
Harvard University in 1837. In 1846 he published, under the title "Ethnology and Philology," what is
described as "the greatest mass of philological data ever accumulated by a single individual." From 1846
to 1855 he pursued important ethnological studies in Europe, and in 1856 located in Canada West, where
he practised law and continued his scientific researches until his death. He was elected a member of
many scientific and historical societies in America and Europe. He was the author of "The Iroquois
Book of Kites" (1883), "Indian Migrations as Evidenced by Language" (1883), etc.

t George Rogers Clark was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, November 19, 17o"-', and died near
Louisville, Kentucky, February 13, 1818. His name is prominently and permanently identified with the
conquest of the country north-west of the Ohio River (1778-1783). In Januarj', 1777, he was appointed and
commissioned Lieutenant Colonel by the Governor of Virginia ; promoted Colonel December 14, 1778, and
promoted Brigadier General in 1781. In November, 1782, at the head of 1,000 men he marched against the
Indians on the Miami River and completely subdued them. In 1785 he was appointed a commissioner to
treat with certain Indian tribes, and in 1786 he acted as one of the United States Commissioners to nego-
tiate a treaty with the Shawanese. In later years he performed other public services in connection with
Indian affairs in the West.

with a loud exclamation of astonishment, 'Hugh !' the Americans in expectation of a
hopeless conflict against overwhelming numbers. Ever}- hand grasped a weapon.

"Clark alone was unawed. The expression of his countenance changed to a fero-
cious sternness and his eyes flashed, but otherwise he was unmoved. A bitter smile was
slightly perceptible on his compressed lips as he gazed upon that savage band, whose
hundred eyes were bent fiercely in horrid exultation upon him as the}' stood like a pack
of wolves at bay, thirsting for blood and ready to rush upon him whenever one bolder
than the rest should commence the attack. It was one of those moments of indecision,
when the slightest weight thrown into either scale will make it preponderate ; a moment
in which a bold man, conversant with the secret springs of human action, may seize upon
the minds of all around him, and sway them at his will. Such a man was the intrepid
Virginian. He spoke, and there was no man bold enough to gainsay him. Raising his
arm, and waiving his hand toward the door, he exclaimed : 'Dogs, you may go !' The
Indians hesitated for a moment, and then rushed tumultuously out of the council-room.

"The decision of Clark on that occasion saved himself and comrades from massacre.
The plan of the savages had been artfully laid ; he had read it in their features and con-
duct as plainh' as if it had been written on a scroll before him. He met it in a manner
unexpected. He confounded the Indians, and before the broken thread of their scheme of
treachery could be reunited they were panic-stricken. The cool contempt with which their
first insult was thrown back into their teeth surprised them, and they w-ere foiled by the self-
possession of one man. They had no Tecumseh among them, no master spirit to change
their plan so as to adopt a new exigency, and those braves who, in manj^ battles, had shown
themselves to be men of true valor, quailed before the moral superiority which assumed the
vantage ground of a position they could not comprehend and therefore feared to assail."

For use in their intercourse with the Indians the Moravian mission-
aries were generally well provided with wampum. In March, 1749, one of
the Brethren wrote from New York to another : "Brother Boemper will
bring the wampum you wrote for, along. I have procured of the wam-
pum-maker 1,000 white @ £1, 5s., and 1,000 black («] £2, 5s." In a
letter to Sir William Johnson in August, 1756, Lieutenant Governor
Denny of Pennsylvania wrote : "Indian business has increased so much
of late that the Secretary [of the Supreme Executive Council of the
Province] tells me he has no wampum ; which obliges me to request
you to furnish the belts and strings necessary in this present business
[a conference with the Indians to be held at Easton, Pennsylvania]."
Belts and strings of wampum continued to be given and exchanged at
Indian treaties and conferences for some time after the beginning of the
nineteenth century.

Morgan, in his "Ancient Society," says : "They dye the wampum
of various colors and shades, and mix and dispose them with great
ingenuity and order, so as to be significant among themselves of almost
everything they please ; so that by these their words are kept and their
thoughts communicated to one another as ours by writing. * * *
A strand of wampum consisting of purple and white shells, or a belt
woven with figures formed by beads of different colors, operated on the
principle of associating a particular fact with a particular string or
figure, thus giving a serial arrangement to the fact, as well as fidelity to
the memory." "The color of belts and strings of wampum," writes Dr.
Beauchamp, "was of importance. White was generally an emblem of
something good, and black of affairs of a more serious nature — but this
was not invariable. Black wampum, being double the value of the
white, was often used to signify affairs of great importance. Several
writers of the eighteenth century speak of the practice of coloring belts
red when the affair concerned war. This was not the only tint employed.
In 1757 at a council in Pittsburg a Wyandot 'spoke again upon a belt
of black and white wampum, the white painted green.' "

Loskiel says : "Neither the color nor the other qualities of wam-
pum are a matter of indifference, but have an immediate reference to

133

those things which the)' are meant to confirm. The brown or deep
violet, called l^lack by the Indians, always means something of a severe
or doubtful import ; but the white is the color of peace." According to
Mrs. Harriet Maxwell Converse* a string of white beads served its
bearer as a flag of truce or safe conduct in time of war. Even the
prisoner tied to the stake must be released to the person who should
throw a string of white wampum around his neck.

"When tipped with a red feather such a string became a formal
request for an armistice, and the combatant who kept it bound himself
thereby to suspend hostilities until a .i()int council could be held. If the

messenger conveyed a string of the black wampum painted in red dots,
it threatened war ; if he were intrusted with black beads covered with
white clay, he bore notice of the death of a chief. Five strings a foot
long, of black and white alternating, constituted a petition for forgive-
ness in case of murder, and were sent to the relatives of a murdered
man, upon whom it was incumbent to revenge his death unless given
satisfaction. If they 'held' the wampum it implied forgiveness for
the 'blood lost' ; if, on

the contrarv, thev returned it, vengeance was

inevitable, and
—death."

the victim

willingly

surrendered himself to his fate

*Mrs. Converse's grandfather was adopted by the Seneca Indians in 1792 and her father in 1S04.
She was adopted by the family of the noted Seneca chief "Red Jacket'' in 1880, and in 1892 she was form-
ally elected a member of the Seneca tribe. She kept up her connection with the triVie— annually visiting
their reservation in New York State — until her death at her home in the city of New York in November,
1903. During the last years of her life she was known as "The Great White Mother" of the Six Nations.
She had some reputation as a writer, but a more extended and distinctive one as an authority upon
matters pertaining to the Iroquois Indians.

134

Through the kindness of the Rev. Dr. Beauchamp — whose name is
so frequently mentioned in the preceding pages — we are able to present
the photo-reproductions of wampum belts and strings shown in plates
"A" and "B" on this and the preceding page.

In plate "A" "I" is the remnant of an Onondaga belt of fifty rows
of beads. It is fourteen and three-fourths inches w4de, about thirty-five
inches long, contains over 12,000 beads and is the widest belt on record.
Concerning it Dr. Beauchamp writes : "Fanciful names have been
given it, which amount to nothing. It has been described as 'the second

3r. ZZt,

belt used by the principal chief of the Six Nations — very old.' The
fact is that it is of white man's beads, and the principal chief rarely if
ever saw it. The pattern is decidedly modern, as well as the material.
It is made on very small buckskin thongs, with a hard, red thread of
two strands, apparently flax. It seems to represent an alliance actual or
proposed, and to be of the variety termed 'chain' belts." Mr. Donald-

135

son (mentioned on page 112) calls this belt the "wing- or dust fan of the
Presidentia of the Six Nations" ; also, "the wing mat used by the head-
man to shield him from the dust while presiding at the council."

"II" in plate "A" is a companion belt to "I," made like it, but with
a different fiirnre, and is the next widest belt known. It is thirteen and
one-half inches wide and contains forty-five rows of beads. Dr. l^eau-
champ further describes it as having "a series of dark points inclosing
open white diamonds, signifying nations or towns. It is properly a
'chain' belt showing a completed covenant." Mr. Donaldson describes
this as belonging to "the Presidentia of the Iroquois, about 1540" ; also,
as "the mat of the To-do-da-hoy'" In 1898 certain Onondaga Indians
described this belt as "representing a superior man — To-do-da-ho. That
is a carpet for him to sit [upon] . You clean the carpet for him to sit
and nothing evil can fall on the carpet."

In plate "B" "I" is a belt of purple beads, two inches wide, thirty-
eight inches long exclusive of the fringes of buckskin thongs, and con-
tains 370 beads in seven rows. There are three rows of five white beads
each at the ends of the belt, and five open hexagons of white beads at
equal intervals in the body of the belt. These hexagons represent the
Five Nations. Some of the beads bear traces of red paint, which is
evidence that the belt was once used as a "war-belt," and might have
been sent to or by the Five Nations. In the latter case the proposal of
war was rejected, and the belt was returned. Mr. Donaldson (previously
mentioned) statesf that it is claimed that this belt bears "date about
1608, when Champlain joined the Algonkins against the Iroquois."
The belt was for many years prior to his death in the custody of Gen.
Ely S. Parker {^'■Doiiehogdic'c/i'''') — "the last watcher of the west door of
the Confederacy of the Iroquois.".}: From his heirs Mrs. Converse (previ-
ously mentioned) obtained it for the New York State Museum, and she
described it as a "Five council-fires, or death belt, of the Five Iroquois
Nations. It signified death or war against some other nation. It was
always held by the keeper of the west door. When it was sent to the
east door, the Hudson River, it was held in the council of war of each
of the nations — Cayugas, Oneidas, Onondagas, Senecas and Mohawks, till
returned by the latter, which signal was that the war must begin at once."

Dr. Beauchamp writes that a belt recently held by the Onondagas
is almost the exact counterpart of this. In both the hexagons represent
the nations, and the belts could be transformed into war-belts by the use
of red paint. It was customary for any of the Five Nations to propose
war by a belt, or even to carry on a war alone, but a general war could
be decided on only by the Grand Council at Onondaga. War-belts
might call this Council together, but they only proposed war.

"11" in plate "B" is a "condolence belt" which at one time belonged
to the celebrated half-breed Seneca war-chief "Cornplanter." It is of
purple beads, is about thirty-six inches long, less than two inches wide
and contains 328 beads in seven rows.

"Ill" is a mutilated Five Nation belt. It was originally two feet
long, nearly two inches wide, and made of purple beads — with five open
diamonds in white beads — on fine buckskin thongs. The portion shown

* See page 109, ante.

t "Report on Indians at the Eleventh Census," p. 472.

X See pages 121 and 123.

136

is 16.63 inches long. This belt was for many years in possession of
Mary Jameson, or Jemison, the celebrated white woman captive, and was
obtained from her descendants b}^ Mrs. Converse.

"IV" is a fragment, seven inches long and two and three-fourths
inches wide, of a purple belt without figures. The original belt was
given to Chief "Cornplanter" upon the occasion of the making of a
treaty with him. When the Chief died in 1836 the belt was cut into
pieces and divided among his heirs.

"V" is a portion of an "alliance belt" in possession of Dr. Beau-
champ and obtained by him from an Indian w^oman. It is three inches
wide and sixty-five beads long, and has seven rows of white and two
rows of darker colored beads.

"VI" is a bunch of strings of white wampum used for a religious
council, and is owned by Dr. Beauchamp. Each string is two feet long
and contains 110 beads.

"VIII" represents three small strings of purple beads united at one
end. Used in announcing the death of a member of the "Grand Coun-
cil." It was the custom among the Five Nations, when a principal
chief or a war-chief of one of the nations died, to send a runner with the
proper wampum to the other nations. The runner went through each
village calling "^e£.'^," three times at intervals if the dead man had been
a principal chief, once if he had been a war-chief.

"IX" is a string having the ends tied to form a circle. This was used
in announcing the death of a war-chief — in the manner above described.
"XII" is a string of fine purple and white beads, used either for
council purposes or ornament.

In "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VIII : 97, there is an interest-
ing description of certain wampum belts which were sent in April,
1758, to Delaware, Shawanese and other Indians on the Ohio River by
Teedyuscung, "King" of the Delawares, who was then temporarily
located near Bethlehem, Pennsylvania.

The Spaniards brought the modern horse to America. Some of
the horses escaped in the southwest and ran wild in bands or herds, and
in time the Indians captured and made use of many of them. In the
course of years horses came into general use among Indians in all parts
of the country. Prior to this time, however, whenever the Indian had
occasion to go from one place to another he was compelled to travel
afoot, unless a stream or other body of water lay in his course, when he
made use of the bark canoe or dugout. As a rule the Indian was a skill-
ful canoeman ; but Catlin wrote that "in the Indian country [meaning

the then western territory
of the United States] the
squaws are much superior
to the men in paddling
canoes." Often a canoe
would be managed b}' two
women, who would manipu-
late the paddles with great
dexterity and power. Some-
times, when a long canoe
journey was to be made on
a lake or a large, freely-

flowino- river, the Indians would snpjjlenient the paddle-propelling power
of their bark with a small sail, made of skins sewed together, or a
blanket, held up either by a squaw or by a rudely contrived mast.

That the North American Indians were seafaring men prior to the
advent of the Europeans there is no evidence. They were not met
with at sea or at any distance from the coast by the Europeans. They
were land-lovers, and held to the earth. The forests and plains had
more charms for them than the roar of breakers and the crash of waves.
Nor were they a pastoral people. They never tamed either the bison,
or buffalo, or the stately elk for labor or for food ; nor did they shear a
fleece from the great-horned sheep of the Rocky Mountains. The cow,
the ass, the goat, the common sheep and swine — as well as the horse —
were all unknown to the Indians of pre-Columbian days. From the
warm South, where clothing was unnecessary and as such was never
worn, to the cold North where the skins of fur-bearing animals kept
him warm in Winter, the Indian everywhere, like Primitive Man, was
a hunter and fisher and depended chiefly upon the precarious winnings
of the chase, or the hook and line or spear, for subsistence. Nearly all
the Indians living^ alono- the sea-coasts and the larg-e lakes and rivers
were abundant users of fish.*

The cultivation of corn, pumpkins and beans, the gathering of
potatoes, the curing of the tobacco-plant (in the region of Virginia and
the Carolinas) and the grinding of grain into flour were labors despised

Indian Woman Spearing Fish from a Canoe.

by the men as forming a sort of degrading slavery. In this they were
as proud as the old Roman citizens whose business was war. These
toils were laid by the Indians upon their women, who were also beasts
of burden in marches, carrying on their backs their domestic utensils,
and their babies {'•'■papooses'''') strapped in cases hanging from their
shoulders. Parkman, in describing the Huron Indian woman, wrote :

* In official reports prepared by Government statisticians in 1822, and published, it
1 those sections of the country where fish constituted an article of diet among the In

t was set forth that

^— „^^.iuiis oi Liie eouiiLry Avnere usn coiisiiiiueti an article oi uict among iiie Indians, the number

of persons in each family was about six ; while "in other tribes, where this article is wanting, the average
number in a familj- is about five."

138

Indian woman pounding corn ■with a stone
pestle suspended hj a thong from the branch
of a tree.

(From an old engraving )

"In INIarch and April she gathered the
rear's supply of firewood. Then came sowing,
tilling and harvesting, curing fish, dressing
skins, making cordage and clothing, prepar-
ing food. On the march it was she who bore
the burden, for, in the words of Champlain,
'their women were their mules.' The natural
effect folloAved. In ever}' town were shriveled
hags, hideous and despised, who in vindictive-
ness, ferocity and cruelty far exceeded the
men. To the men fell the task of building the
houses and making weapons, pipes and canoes.
For the rest, their home-life was a life of leisure
and amusement. The Summer, Atttumn and
early Winter were their seasons of serious em-
ployment — of war, hunting (in which they
were aided by a wolfish breed of dogs unable
to bark), fishing and trade."

Boys and girls played alike to-
Q;ether until tliev had attained the age
of about ten years, when there was
a separation. Then the girls romped
about the tepees, or were instructed
to some extent by their mothers in
the simple methods of cooking and
taking care of their homes practised
by them ; while the boys gathered on
the banks of a neighboring stream and
sported in the water or threw spears and shot arrows at a mark. At the
age of fifteen a girl had considerable to say in famih^ affairs, and was
permitted to vote upon questions of importance She was not compelled

to work unless the task met with her ap-
proval. Indeed, until her marriage, the
maiden had almost unlimited liberty.
Having reached the period of young-
womanhood the prettiest procurable cos-
tumes were given to her. Her moccasins
and leo-CTino-s of deerskin were sometimes
marvels of workmanship. Her hair, part-
ed in the middle, was combed straight
back, and the part was painted — at least
among certain tribes — invariably a bright
yellow. At one time the women wore
necklaces of bears' teeth and claws and
elks' teeth, which were much esteemed ;
but later, beads of European manufacture
took their place.

In the general appearance and habits
of the North American Indian — in his
physiognomy, his mental characteristics
and his ph}-sical make-up — there is much
to indicate the wide differences that exist between him and the white
man. His high cheek-bones and broad face ; his heavy, dark eyes ; his
jet-black hair, lank and incapable of curling because of its peculiar
structure; his taciturnity in society, and his stoicism in all emergencies
of mental excitement and physical suffering — all these are peculiar to the
red man. Many writers hold that the Indian of earlier days was gifted

A typical Indian woman of
modern times.

139

with a better and more syniiiietrical plnsiqne and greater "staying- power"

than the white man. On this subject Catlin, writing in 1S40, said :

"Although the Indians of North America, where dissipation and disease have not
got amongst them, undoubtedly are a longer lived and healthier race, and capable of
enduring far more bodily privation and pain than civilized people can endure, yet I
do not believe that the differences are constitutional, or anything more than the results
of different circumstances and a different education. As an evidence in support of
this assertion I will allude to the hundreds of men whom I have seen and traveled
with who have been for several years together in the Rocky Mountains, in the employ-
ment of the fur companies, where they have lived exactly upon the Indian system—
continually exposed to the open air and the weather and to all the disappointments
and privations peculiar to that mode of life ; and I am bound to say that I never saw
a more hardy and healthy race of men in my life, whilst they remain in the country,
nor any who fall to pieces quicker when they get back to a confined and dissipated
life — which they easily fall into when they return to their own country."

When the eminent American
painter Benjamin West* visited Rome
in 1760, and there gazed for the first
time on the famous "Apollo Belve-
dere" — an ancient work of art "in
which are combined the highest intel-
lect with the most consummate phys-
ical beauty" — the then young artist
exclaimed, "]\Iy God ! how like a
young Mohawk Indian ! " When,
many years later, George Catlin first
saw this same statue, he, captivated
by the grace, dignity and apparent
vitality displayed in it, was startled
into making an exclamation quite
.similar to the one West had made.
Catlin was an avowed lover of the
American Indian, and, as previously
mentioned, had visited various tribes
and come in contact with many
Indians — good, bad and indifferent.

West, also, during his life in Philadelphia (r756-'57), saw many Six
Nation, Delaware and other Indians, who came there frequently to
attend conferences and for other purposes.

"Art may mourn when these people are swept from the earth,"
wrote Catlin in 1868, "and the artists of future ages may look in vain
for another race so picturesque in their costumes, their weapons, their
colors, their manly games and their chase, and so well adapted to that
talent which alone is able to throw^ a speaking charm into marble or to
spread it upon canvas. The native grace, simplicity and dignity of
these natural people so much resemble the ancient marbles that one is
irresistibly led to believe that the Grecian sculptors had similar models

♦Benjamin West was born near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, October 10, 1738, of Quaker parentage.
At the age of seven years he surprised his family and friends by his skill in drawing. At the age of six-
teen he began to paint portraits in his native village, and at eighteen he opened a .studio in Philadelphia.
Later he went to New York Citj', where, in 1760, he was aided by some generous friends to go abroad. At
Rome, as the first American artist ever seen in Italy, he attracted much attention. During a sojourn_of
three years in Italy he was elected a member of the Academies of Florence, Bologna and Parma. In 1763,
at the age of twenty-five years, he left Italy for England, intending to return to America ; but he was
induced to remain in London, and there he lived and painted until his death, March 11, 1820. He attained
very great contemporary fame, and in 1792 succeeded Sir Joshua Reynolds as President of the British
Royal Academy.

A number of West's most noted paintings are at present owned in this country. His "Death of General
Wolfe" (now in the British Museum, London), painted in the costume of the period, against the advice of
nearly all the most distinguished painters then living, effected a revolution in the historic art of Great
Britain. P*or a photo-illustration of this painting see Chapter X, posi.

The "Apollo Belvedere.'

140

to study from. And their costumes and weapons — the toga, the tunic
and manteau (of skins), the bow, the shield and the lance, so precisely
similar to those of ancient times — convince us that a second (and last)
strictly classic era is passing from the Avorld."

Of Indians who lived in this country during the eighteenth century,
authentic portraits are now very scarce, and of the few in existence
it is almost impossible to procure photo-reproductions for publication.
Therefore, in order to give the reader as good an idea as possible of the
typical red man of earlier times — of the days of West and of Catlin, for
example — we have procured reproductions of genuine portraits of three

noted Indians of the nineteenth
century. They wall be found on
this and the following page,*
and may be compared with the
picture of the "Apollo Belve-
dere" herewith shown.

In stature the members of
some Indian tribes (prior to the
days of their decadence) were con-
siderably above the ordinary
height of man, while in other
tribes the height — particularly
of the men — averaged or fell
below that of civilized men.
They were lighter in their limbs
than white men, as well as less
in girth — being almost entirely
free from corpulency or useless
flesh. Althouo;h o^enerallv nar-
row across the shoulders, and
less powerful with the arms than
well-developed w^iite men, yet
they were by no means effemi-
nate or lacking in brachial
strength. Their bones were
lighter, their skulls thinner and
the leofs and feet — than those of

i^r

"LiTTI.E WOUXD."
An Oglala Sioux Chief.-

excepting in

their muscles less hard—
their civilized neighbors.

Catlin savs : "Of muscular streneth in

the legs I have met many

of the most extraordinary instances in the Indian country that ever I

* Also, see Chapter XXV for a portrait of the famous Seneca chief "Red Jacket."

t At the Pan-.American Exposition held in Buffalo, New York, in 1901, one of the most interesting and
instructive exhibits was the "Indian Congress," comprising a large number of genuine, full-blooded
Indians gathered together from their various reservations. They were dressed in their native costumes,
lived in wigwams, and, for the entertainment of vi.sitors to their temporary village, enacted incidents and
scenes from Indian life. Several of the members of this "Congre.ss" were chiefs who in times past had
been prominent as leaders in Indian wars and outbreaks on the frontiers of this country. Two of these
chiefs were "Red Cloud" and "Little Wound" (pictured above). Both were Oglala .Sioux, and were
brought to Buffalo from Pine Ridge Reservation, South Dakota.

In December, 1S90, there was an Indian uprisingat Pine Ridge, due to excitement brought about by the
belief in the coming of an Indian Messiah, and owing to the suppression hy United States troops of the
"Ghost Dance." A few days later came the battle of Wounded Knee, in which two officers and thirty-
five men of the regular army and 1-15 Indians were killed. Two days afterwards the Sioux, under the
leadership of "I.ittle Wound," surrounded Col. J. W. Forsyth and a squadron of the 7th Cavalry in White
Clay Canyon, and held them tliere until tliey were rescueci by a squadron of the 9th Cavalry commanded
bj' Maj. Guy V. Henry.

"Little Wound," at the time of hissojovirn in Buffalo, was a verj'aged man, and was called the "Patri-
arch of the Congress." Shortly before the clo.se of the Exposition he died there. A full-length portrait
of "Little Wound," made in 1K90, may be seen in the "Report on Indians at the Eleventh Census," page
574- B.

141

"Sitting Bull."*

After a portrait painted by G. Gavil
in 1S90.

have seen in iii)- life, and I have watched
and stndied snch for hours toj^ether (with
ntter surprise and admiration) in the
violent exertions of their dances, where
they leap and jump with every nerve
strung and every muscle swelled, till their
legs will often look like bundles of ropes
rather than masses of human flesh. * * *
He who would see the Indian in a condi-
tion to judge of his muscles must see him
in motion ;
and he who
would get
a perfect
study for a
Hercules or
an Atlas
should take a stone-mason for the upper
part of the figure, and a Comanche or a
Blackfoot Indian from the waist dowmward
to the feet."

There are general and striking char-
acteristics in the facial outlines of the full-
blooded North American Indian. His
nose is usually prominent and aquiline,
and the whole face, if divested of paint
and copper-color, would seem to approach
in appearance and character the European
cast. Catlin wrote that many travelers
thought the eyes of the Indians were
smaller than those of Europeans. "I my-
self have been struck," said he, "as most travelers no doubt have, with

* "Sitting Bull," for many years principal chief of the Dakota-Sioux, and "the most famous Indian
warrior of his time," was born about 1887. Having been driven from their reservation in the Black Hills
by gold-miners in 1876, "Sitting Bull" and his followers refused to be transported to Indian Territory, and
took up arms against the whites and friendly Indians. June 25, 1876. they defeated and slaughtered on
the banks of the Little Big Horn River, in Montana, Gen. George A. Custer and 203 men of the 7th U. S.
Cavalry (forming the entire command), who were the advance party of the force under Gen. A. H. Terry
then in pursuit of the hostile Indians. "Sitting Bull," with part of his band, made his escape into British
territory, where he remained vintil 1880, when, on promise of a pardon, he surrendered himself to the
United States authorities. Subsequently he was required to make his home on Standing Rock Reserva-
tion in South Dakota.

In July and August, 1888, when Government commissioners were attempting to induce the Sioux to
sell their lands in South Dakota, in order that the same might be opened up to settlement, "Sitting Bull"
influenced his tribe to refuse to relinquish the lands which they occupied. In 1890. when the "Messiah"
craze (referred to in the note on the preceding page) broke out, "Sitting Bull" proclaimed himself "High
Priest." He had always exerted a baneful influence over his followers, and they now fell easy victims to
his subtlety — believing blindly in the absurdities he preached regarding the Indian millennium General
Ruger, U. S. A., commanding the Department of Dakota, having ordered the arrest of "Sitting Bull," it
was accomplished by several Indian policemen December 15, 1890 ; but almost immediately afterwards,
while refusing to go with his captors and calling upon his followers to rescue him, "Sitting Bull" was
shot dead in front of his house by one of the policemen, who, at almost the same moment, fell mortally
wounded by a shot from one of the followers of the dead chief. (For the "True Story of the Death of
Sitting Bull," see The Cosmopolitan Magazine, XX : 493.)

t Geronimo, an Apache chief, has been for some years a prisoner of war on the Fort Sill Military
Reservation, Oklahoma Territory. For a long time he led a band of Apaches — "the worst for lawlessness
that ever infested the Western country"— in many raids upon white settlements. He and his followers
were chased for many months by troopers of the regular army under the command of some of the most
noted officers in the annals of Indian warfare. P'rom the present limits of Oklahoma almost to the
waters of the Pacific f)cean these Apaches, who had continually harassed the frontier settlers, were fol-
lowed, and only surrendeied when worn out from lack of food and the terrible privations of such a
chase. Geronimo's captor was Capt. Henry W. Lawton, 4th U. S. Cavalry, who lost his life in the Philip-
pines in December, 1899— being then a Brigadier General, U. S. V.

The Apaches have for a long time been considered "the most blood-thirsty, relentless and murderous
Indians in the United States :" and it is stated that "in war their women are as cruel as the men."

Geronimo was a member of the "Indian Congress" mentioned in the note on page 140. With his
seamed and scarred "baked apple" face, and only one eye (the other having been destroyed in battle) he
presented a most forbidding appearance— in no wise resembling the "Apollo Belvedere" ! In 1903 he

Geronimo in 1901.1

By courtesy of the Editor of The
Meliopolitan Magaziiie.

142

the want of expansion and apparent smallness of the Indians' ej^es,
which I have found upon examination to be principally the effect of
continual exposure to the rays of the sun and to the wind, without the
shields that are used by the civilized world ; and also when indoors being
subjected generally to the smoke that almost continually hangs about
their wigwams."

To quote further from Catlin (referring to the period 1829-'38) :
''The teeth of the Indians are generally regular and sound, and wonder-
fully preserved to old age — owing, no doubt, to the fact that they live
without the spices of life, without saccharine and without salt. Their
teeth although sound are not white, having a yellowish cast. Beards
the}^ generally have not, esteeming them great vulgarities and using
every possible means to eradicate them whenever they are so unfortunate
as to be annoyed with them. From the best information that I could
obtain amongst forty-eight tribes that I have visited, I feel authorized
to say that amongst the wild tribes — where they have made no efforts to
imitate white men — the proportion at least of eighteen out of twenty
[men] are by nature entirely without the appearance of a beard ; and
of the very few who have beards by nature, nineteen out of twenty
eradicate them by plucking them out several times in succession, pre-
cisely at the age of puberty, whereby the growth is successfully arrested.
Occasionally an Indian may be seen who omitted to destroy his beard
in early manhood, and he subjects his chin to the repeated pains of
extracting his beard, which he is performing with a pair of clam-shells
or other tweezers nearly every day of his life. * * Wherever there
is a cross of the blood with the European or African — which is frequently
the case along the frontier — a proportionate beard is the result, and it is
allowed to grow, or is plucked out w4th much toil and with great pain."
The eyebrows were also sometimes removed, although in certain cases a
fine, delicate, sharply defined line was left, which was formed by pulling
the hairs from the upper and lower edges, leaving the center.

The hair of the head — unless removed in the manner hereinafter
described — was usually parted in the middle, and was always worn long,
either covering the shoulders or done up in two braids which were drawn
forward and allowed to hang on the breast.* The ends of these braids
were wrapped in deer skin, otter skin or cloth, and occasionally single
feathers, or ornaments made by combining feathers of different colors
and sizes, were braided in. As late, at least, as the middle of the
eighteenth century several North American tribes — among them the
"French Mohawks" and the Lenapes — pulled out all the hairs of the
head except a tuft on the crown. t Catlin, writing in 1844, t said :
"The loways, like three other tribes in America, observe a mode of
dressing the head which renders their appearance peculiarly pleasing
and effective. They shave the hair from the whole head, except a small
patch left on the top of the head, called the scalp-lock^ to which thev
attach a beautiful red crest, made of the hair of the deer's tail dyed red
and horse hair ; and rising out of this crest, which has much the appear-
ance of a Grecian helmet, the war-eagle's quill completing the head-

claimed to have "got religion," and was publicly baptized in Medicine Creek near Fort Sill and sub-
sequently was received into the Reformed Church. A few weeks ago his fifth and last wife died at Fort
Sill. Ge'roninio is said to be ninety-three years old.

*See portraits of "Little Wound" and "Sitting Bull."

tSee "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 459 ; also, the last paragraph on page 104, ante.

\ See "Annual Report of the Smithsonian Institution," 1885, Part II, page 147.

143

dress of the warrior. Thev boast of this mode of shavin»- their heads
to the part that is desired for the scalp-lock, sayin<^ that they point out
to their enemies (who may kill them in battle) where to cut with the
scalping-knife, that they may not lose time in huntino;- out the scalp-
lock ! That part of the head which is shaved is generally rouged to
an extravagant degree."

The various designs and colors used in face and body painting and
marking* amono- the North American Indians varied from tribe to tribe.
Red, black, green and white were the colors most in vogue. Ethnol-
ogists have discovered that contrary to the old view, the Indian jDainted
or tattooed his face or body, not through a savage love of bright colors,
but because each and every design and color had a meaning and signifi-
cance in certain respects similar to the heraldry of the ]\Iiddle Ages.
Certain colors denoted hatred, revenge, and contempt of death. A tribe
having declared war against a neighboring tribe, the fighting men began
their warlike preparations by painting their faces. One brave would
paint twelve red spots and eight black lines on his face to show that he
had, in former engagements, been wounded twelve times and that he
knew no fear. Another would daub red over his forehead, signifying
that he proposed to create a scene of blood whenever the war-party should
reach the enemy's country. In more recent times it has been noticed
that serious Indian outbreaks and uprisings have always been preceded
for months by an epidemic of face-painting among the turbulent tribes-
men. Sometimes, when a tribe has been powerless to make war, the
members of it have vented their resentment by painting their faces in
flaming colors and striking designs, indicating their true feelings to-
wards those whom they hated but were too weak to oppose.

In the "'Midewiwaii^'''^ or "Society of the Afedhvin^'''' or "Grand
Medicine Society" f of the Ojibwa, or Chippewa, | Indians — a secret cult
bearing in some respects a very striking resemblance to Free INIasonry —
face painting plays an important and conspicuous part. Each degree in
this society has its proper and distinct set of facial designs and colors,
which it is unlawful for any to wear save those who have taken the degree
in question. These designs and colors have a secret and mystical signifi-
cance and purport, as entirely unknown to the squaws and Indians who
are not members of the '"'^Midczchvan''^ as they are to the white people.

The head-dresses — particularly the "war-bonnets" — of Indian men
were generally highly ornamented. The head-
band was often trimmed wath shells and dyed
porcupine quills, wdiile the bulk of the "bonnet"
was made of the plumage of birds. § The Iro-
quois warrior, however, generally wore only a
single feather from the wing of a white heron.
Of the skin of the deer, dressed and smoked, they
made soft moccasins, or shoes, which they some-
times highly ornamented with pigments or the
stained quills of the porcupine. "In illustration
of Indian tenacity in holding to old customs, an

* See last paragraph on page 86 and also on page 104.

t For some interesting references to this secret religious society see "Report on Indians at the
Eleventh Census," page 34t).

J An Algonkian tribe, at one time very numerous and inhabiting the region along the shores of the
lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior. Many of the tribe now reside in Minnesota and Canada.
g See illustrations on pages 7'J and 94.

144

Indian and his moccasins are yet almost inseperable companions. He
seems born in them ; he walks and sleeps in them, and he is buried in
them. An Indian may be habited in a dress suit, but the chances are
that his feet are covered with moccasins. In the army he dresses in
uniform, but almost always insists on the moccasins. At the training
and industrial schools it is with difficulty that he can be induced to dis-
card them."* Another part of the costume consisted of "leather stock-
ings," or leggings, of dressed deerskin, which were ornamented generally
by fringes of the same material. The man's leggings were made the
length of his legs ; the woman's reached only to her knees, below which
they were fastened by garters. In both cases the leggings covered the
tops of the moccasins. In Winter the men wore war-shirts or mantles
made of the skins of beasts, such as the bear, the wolf and the panther.
These were sometimes ornamented with the feathers of the eagle or the
claws of the bear. Necklaces of bears' claws were also worn bv the

warriors, t

Before the middle of the seventeenth century the weapons and
accoutrements used by the Indian in the chase or in war were few and
simple. A hatchet of hard stone ; a knife of the same material, or of
bone, for taking off the scalp of an enemy, and for various other
purposes ; a spear, formed of a short, slender pole of tough wood, either
burned at the end and sharpened, or having a flint point or head attached
to it ; a bow and arrows and a huge and sometimes fancifully wrought
war-club made up the list. The last-mentioned weapon was made of a
piece of hard wood, at the end of which an oval-shaped stone or pebble
of good size was fastened with wet raw-hide, which, drying and shrink-
ing, held the stone firmly in place. The handle of the club was also

sometimes covered with raw-hide. The arrow was
the Indian's chief weapon, and in its use he was
very expert. The shaft was made of light, tough
wood and was headed with flint, which, as necessities
required, was wrought into a variety of forms — as
shown by the accompanying illustration. The butt
of the shaft was fledged with small birds' feathers.
The arrows were carried in quivers, J in form and
method not unlike those used by the barbarians of
the Old World — the ancestors of civilized nations.
So important a character was the professional arrow-
maker among the Indians that he was exempted
from all public duty and the toils of the chase. In
showing this sort of consideration for their arrow-
makers the Indians did exactly what was done by all
Europeans, who, from earliest known times down to
the invention of fire-arms, treated their bowyers and fletchers, or arrow-
smiths, as persons of importance.

During the past one hundred years thousands of Indian arrow-heads
have been found in the Wyoming region — chiefly scattered over the
lowlands near the Susquehanna — where they had lain undisturbed for
many 3'ears from the time they were shot away by the Indians in war
and in the chase. Even at this late day fine specimens are often washed

* "Report on Indians at the Eleventh Census," page 53.
t See illustration on page 38. \ See page 104.

Group of arrow-heads,
or "points."

One-half the size of
the originals.

_■ w-

--' *J3

' o

X ± >■

< -^ 1

Z = J".

A 4; --

Z. ^ >^

■ r c. J".

z £ §

^ — ■->

a :;

7. 2

i' A

145

out of the ground by the river at the time of a freshet, or at other times
are turned up !)>' the farmer's plough. When one realizes — from a
knowledge of the number of these flint implements now in existence,
and from a consideration of other matters — how undoubtedly great was
the whole number of arrow-heads in use during, say, a period of fifty
years immediately preceding the introduction of fire-arms among the
Indians, the conclusion is irresistible that in ever)- tribe there must
have been skillful workmen who were kept constantl)' employed in
supplving the large demand for these necessary implements. This
work was certainly not easy, and could not be done b}- men selected at
random, for it required time, patience, skill and considerable intelligence.
Catlin, in his "Last Rambles," previously referred to, gives the follow-
ing interesting account of the manufacture of flint arrow-heads as he saw
it carried on in 1855 by Apache Indians west of the Rocky Mountains.

"Their flint arrow and spear-heads, as well as their bows of bone and sinew, are
equal, if not superior, to the manufactures of any of the tribes existing. * * Like most
of the tribes west of and in the Rocky Mountains, they manufacture the blades of their
spears and points for their arrows of flints, and also of obsidian, which is scattered over
tliose volcanic regions west of the mountains ; and, like the other tribes, they guard as a
profound secret the mode by which the flints and obsidian are broken into the shapes
they require. Their mode is very simple, and evidently the only mode by which those
delicate fractures and peculiar shapes can possibly be produced ; for civilized artisans
have tried in various parts of the world, and with the best of tools, without success in
copying them.

"Every tribe has its factory in which these arrow-heads are made, and in those only
certain adepts are able or allowed to make them for the use of the tribe. Erratic
bowlders of flint are collected (and sometimes brought an immense distance), and broken
with a sort of sledge-hammer made of a rounded pebble of horn-stone, set in a twisted
withe holding the stone and forming a handle. The flint, at the indiscriminate blows of
the sledge, is broken into a hundred pieces, and such flakes are selected as, from the
angles of their fractures and their thicknesses, will answer as the basis of an arrow-head ;
and in the hands of the artisan they are shaped into the beautiful forms and proportions
which are desired, and which are now to be seen in most of our museums.

"The master workman, seated on the ground, lays one of these flakes on the palm
of his left hand, holding it firmly down with two or more fingers of the same hand, and with
his right hand places his chisel (or punch) — held between the thumb and two forefingers
— on the point that is to be broken off ; and a co-operator (a striker) sitting in front of
him, with a mallet of very hard wood, strikes the chisel on the upper end, flaking the
flint off on the under side below each projecting point that is struck. The flint is then
turned and chipped in the same manner from the opposite side, and so turned and chipped
until the required shape and dimensions are obtained — all the fractures being made upon
the palm of the hand. * * * The yielding elasticity of the hand enables the chips to
come off without breaking the body of the flint, which would be the case if it were broken
on a hard substance.

"These people have no metallic instruments to work with, and the instruments
which the)- use * * I found to be made of the incisors of the sperm-whale or the sea-
lion, which are often stranded on the coast of the Pacific. The chisel or punch is about
six or seven inches in length and one inch in diameter, with one rounded side and two
plane sides. * * The operation [of flaking the flint] is very curious, both the holder
and the striker singing, and the strokes of the mallet being given exactly in time with
the music, and with a sharp and rebounding blow — in which, the Indians tell us, is the
great medicine (m3-ster3') of the operation."*

From statements made to the first white men with whom the North
American Indians came in contact, the normal condition of those Indians
prior to the advent of the Europeans was war, cruel and bloody. War
fitted the nature of the Indian, was his occupation by design and gave
him fame. His heroes were warriors, and so tradition and fact en-
couraged him to follow war as a profession as well as a recreation. The
early Indian wars were generally for encroachments on fish and game
preserves, or "hunting-grounds" ; and wdien the several tribes fought with

* For an interesting illustrated article relative to Indian arrow and spear-heads, their maiuifacture,
etc., see "The Stone Age" in "Proceedings and Collections of the W'yoniing Historical Society," VIII : 93
— being a paper read before the Society by Christopher Wren, Esq., of Plj-month. Pa.

146

each other they fought to exterminate — using with savage cunning and
brutality the rude but effective weapons with which they were provided.
The bad side of the old-time Indian was that he was undoubtedly hor-
ribly cruel in warfare. He was cowardly, too, because he fought behind
rocks and bushes, and usualh' began his wars against the whites by the
murder of women and children. He was at all times treacherous, and
fought like a wild animal, stealthily creeping and crawling up to his
prey ; but when cornered, fighting like a devil incarnate. Indians who
were brutally brave in battle were at other times arrant cowards. The
Europeans initiated the Indians in the use of fire-arms, and taught them
by example the use and value of cunning and deceit in transactions
with men ; but they did not find it necessary either to demonstrate to
the Indians that there is such an art as War, or to instruct them in the
brutalities of that art.

"Still, along the Indian trail to oblivion, the white man, in many
cases, has been as brutal and fiendish as the Indian, and with less excuse,
for one is civilized and the other wild and untutored. There has been
up to within a few years past but little humanity, charity or justice in
much of the white man's treatment of the American Indian. No apol-
ogy can be offered for it ; no excuse, save the domination for a time of
the brute in our superior white race and the attempt to out-Herod Herod
— for at times Indians have been wantonly inurdered or used like beasts."

"From the very first settlement on the Atlantic coast," wrote Catlin
in "Last Rambles," "there has been a continued series of Indian wars.
In every war the whites have been victorious, and every war has ended
in 'surrender of Indian territory.' Every battle which the whites have
lost has been a 'massacre,' and every battle by the Indians lost a 'glorious
victory.' And yet, to their immortal honor, * * * they never fought
a battle with civilized men excepting on their own ground."

War by one tribe of Indians against another — particularly among
the Algonkian tribes — was declared by the people, usually at the insti-
gation of their "war-captains" — "valorous braves," says Dr. Brinton, "of
any birth or family, who had distinguished themselves by personal
prowess." In early times the Indians went out on the "war-path"
generally in parties of fort}' or fifty warriors or "braves." Sometimes a
dozen went forth, like knights-errant, to seek renown in combat. They
were skillful in stratagem and, as previously stated, seldom met an
enemy in open fight. Ambush and secret attacks were their favorite
methods of gaining an advantage.

"To win by crafty device, by sudden surprise and by unlooked-for
perfidy, and to strike terror by ferocious cruelt}^, were principles of war
grained in the very nature of the American savage. P'or the most part,
Indian war was an ingenious system of assassination. A company of
braves painted, as the first Dutch parson at Albany expressed it, to 'look
like the Devil himself,' and carrying no rations but a slender supply of
meal of parched maize, would creep for days through swamps and
thickets, stepping each in the track of his predecessor, to surprise and
put to fire and hatchet some imsuspecting hamlet of peaceful settlers.
If compelled to fight with armed troops, it was not in pitched battle,
but rather b}^ ambuscade and perhaps with feigned retreat. The more
ingenious the trick, the greater the glory. Piskaret, the Alonkin,
Avhose very name was a terror to the Five Nations, approached alone a

147

village of the Iroquois, with his snow-shoes reversed, and then, hiding
in a wood-pile, entered the cabins night after niglit and killed some of
the enemy, returning each time to his place of concealment in the midst
of enraged foes who sent runners out to find him."*

Often the members of a tribe journeyed, either on land or on water,
hundreds of miles for the purpose of engaging an enemy in battle. "An
Indian considers a hundred miles but a short distance to march, wdien
the purpose he has in view is to glut his vengeance," wrote Schoolcraft
fifty years ago. When they went out formally to make war upon
another tribe the Indians marched abreast, or side by side.t At other
times, when the}- had no unfriendly or hostile intentions, or when they
were out to prey upon the white settlers, it was their custom always to
march in single file, as previously mentioned.

Reference has already been made (on page 125) to the war-dances
and war-songs that were generally danced and sung by the braves pre-
viously to setting forth on the war-path or engaging in battle. At the
instant of rushing into battle the warriors always sounded their fright-
ful war-whoop, as the signal of attack. It was a shrill-sounded note, on
a high key, given out wnth a gradual swell, and shaken by a rapid vibra-
tion of the four fingers of the right hand over the mouth. This yell, or
whoop, was not allow^ed to be given among the Indians except in battle,
or in the w^ar or other dances. Its sound always inspired terror in the
white people who heard it, not because of anything especially terrifying
in the yell itself, but because of associations connected with it.

If an Indian met with death while away from his camp or village on
an expedition, or in battle, the surviving members of his band always
took steps as soon as possible to bury his body on or near the spot where
he had died, and then to conceal the place of burial as completely as
circumstances would permit.

When an Indian had killed an enemy, whether from an ambush or
in open battle, his first effort was to secure his victim's scalp. Some-
times scalps were taken from the heads of persons wdio had been onlv
wounded or stunned, and who ultimately recovered from the eiTects of
the wound or blow as well as the scalping. Again, Indians have been
known to take the scalp from the body of a former foe accidentally
found dead and buried. An account of an instance of this character,
that occurred in Pennsylvania in 1755 during the French and English
War, will be found in the "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II :
459. Paxinos, a Shawanese chief living in W^yoming Valle}-, and
friendly to the English, was in the neighborhood of Shamokin on the
Susquehanna with several of his tribe. While there a fight occurred
some six miles farther down the river, between w^hite settlers and cer-
tain "French" Indians from New York who were out on the war-path.
The next day Paxinos and other Indians went to the scene of the fight,
where they found the dead bodies of several white men. "Following
the tracks of the Indians into the woods Paxinos discovered a sapling
cut down, and near by a grub [root ?] twisted. These marks betokened
something, and upon search they found a parcel of leaves raked together ;
upon removing which they found a fresh made grave in which lay an

* "Indian War in the Colonies." Bv Edward Efifgleston. in The Century Magazine, XXVI : TOi) (Sep-
tember, 1883). ■ J s > V F-

t See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 74(1.

148

Indian who had been shot. ^'- * The}- discovered him to be a French
Mohawk Indian, and they stripped and scalped him."

The following paragraphs referring to scalping and scalps are from
Catlin's "Letters and Notes" (I : 238).

"The taking of the scalp is a custom practised b}- all the North American Indians —
which is done, when an enemy is killed in battle, by thrusting the left hand into the
hair on the crown of the head and passing the knife around it through the skin, tearing
oflF a piece of the skin with the hair as large as the palm of the hand, or larger, which is
dried and often curiously ornamented, and preserved and valued as a trophy. The most
usual way of preparing and dressing the scalp is that of stretching it on a little hoop at
the end of a stick two or three feet long. Scalping is an operation not calculated of itself
to take life, as it onlj- removes the skin without injuring the bone of the head ; and,
necessaril}-, to be a genuine scalp, must contain and show the crown or center of the head
— that part of the skin which lies directly over what phrenologists call the 'bump of self-
esteem,' where the hair divides and radiates from the center.

-k ^ % "The scalp, then, is a patch of the skin taken from the head of an enemy
killed in battle, and preserved and highly appreciated as the record of a death produced
b)' the hand of the individual who possesses it. * * It will be easily seen that the
Indian has no business or inclination to take it from the head of the living — which I
venture to say is never done in North America unless it be, as it sometimes has happened,
where a man falls in the heat of battle, stunned b\' the blow of a weapon or a gun-shot,
and the Indian, rushing over his body, snatches off his scalp, supposing him to be dead.
* -:■- The scalp must be from the head of an enemy also, or it subjects its possessor to
disgrace and infamy. There may be many instances where an Indian is justified, in
the estimation of his tribe, in taking the life of one of his own people, and their laws are
such as oftentimes make it his imperative duty ; and yet no circumstance, however aggra-
vating, will justify him in, or release him from the disgrace of, taking the scalp. * * *

* * * "Besides taking the scalp the victor, generally, if he has time to do it
without endangering his own scalp, cuts off and brings home the rest of the [victim's]
hair, which his wife will divide into a great many small locks, "and with them fringe off
the seains of his shirt and his leggings."

"The Captive."

From a painting by W. P. Saurvveii.

When a war-party tnrned homeward from a successful expedition,
one df their number was selected to bear a pole upon which were
suspended the .scalps taken from the enemy. Having reached home
either the War Dance or the Scalp Dance, previously described, took
place.

When, in time of war, an Indian was taken prisoner by a hostile
tribe, he was usually tortured and then put to death on the spot. Some-

149

times, but not often, his captors carried him back with them to their
village, there to be hnmiliated, tormented and deprived of his life in the
most pnblic and cruel manner. There was continual exposure to suffer-
ing at the hands of enemies ; and so, from earliest childhood, the Indian
Avas taught — as were the ancient Romans — never to betray weakness
before an eneni}', and never to utter a word or exhibit any emotion in
public when enduring the sharpest suffering. His muscles were steeled
against pain, and made absolutely the slaves of his will. It was con-
sidered a mark of weakness or cowardice for an Indian to allow his
countenance to be changed by surprise or suffering. This was an
accepted maxim from Patagonia to the Arctic seas. Stoicism, or im-
perturbability, was a necessary habit of the barbarian life.

"Not only men, but sometimes women, and in rarer instances, even children, were
subjected to long-drawn deviltries of torment that cause the wildest imaginings of
mediaeval theologians and poets to seem tame. The Indian warrior deemed cruelty a
virtue, and sometimes trained himself in boyhood for a warrior's career by exercising his
inhumanity on the animals captured in the chase. On his own part, the brave was pre-
pared to suffer the most extreme torments with the sublimest fortitude, provoking his
enemies and inflicting on himself additional torture by way of ostentation. The women
evinced as much fortitude in suffering and as much ferocity in inflicting pain as the
men. This superfluous diabolism of savage nature vented itself on the dead by ghastly
and grotesque mutilations. The frequent cannibalism in the northern tribes arose, no
doubt, from a fondness for punishing an enemy after death, though it had a religious
significance in some tribes, and was often a resort to satisfy hunger in war time. A Mohe-
gan is said to have broiled and eaten a piece of Philip's* bod}', probably with some notion
of increasing his own strength. Acts of cruelty to the living and outrages on the dead
were meant, like the painting of the warrior's face, to excite the enemy's fear, and
consequently may be said to have had a legitimate place in Indian warfare."!

The Indians had a strong aversion to negroes, and generally killed
them as soon as they fell into their hands. When white people were
taken prisoners by the Indians they were almost invariably pinioned
and compelled to march off with their captors, and were required to
carry any plunder that might have been gathered up by the latter.
When the party encamped over night the prisoners were usually tied to
two poles or posts stuck into the ground and often painted red. J On
'the march — which was always a hurried one — the cruelty of the Indians
towards their captives was chiefly exercised upon the children and such
aged, infirm and corpulent persons as could not bear the hardships of a
journey through the wilderness. An infant, when it became trouble-
some, had its brains dashed out against the next tree or stone. Some-
times, to torment the wretched mother, they would whip and beat the
child till almost dead, or hold it under water till its breath was about
gone, and then throw it to her to be comforted and quieted. If the mother
could not readily still the child's weeping, a tomahawk was buried in
its skull. An adult captive, almost worn-out with the burden laid upon
his shoulders, would be disposed of in the same w^ay. Famine was a com-
mon attendant on these hurried marches. The Indians, when thev
killed any game, devoured it all at one sitting, and then, girding them-
selves tightly around the waist, traveled without .sustenance until chance
threw more in their way. The captives, unused to such anaconda-like
repasts and abstinences, could not well support either the surfeits of the
former or th