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"

THE

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY

PRESENTED BY

January 10,1931

A HISTORY OF
WILKES-BARRE

LUZERNE COUNTY, PENNSYLVANIA

FROM ITS FIRST BEGINNINGS TO THE PRESENT TIME; INCLUDING

CHAPTERS OF NEWLY- DISCOVERED

EARLY WYOMING VALIvEY HISTORY

TOGETHER WITH MANY BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES AND MUCH

GENEALOGICAL MATERIAL

OSCAR JEWELL HARVEY, A. M.

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

"A History of Irem Temple", Etc.

Illustrated ^ith Many Portraits, Maps, Facsimiles, Original
Drawings and Contemporary Views

» ' • - J t ■' >

» »

> ' » •' »

-• • •

»>• > .*
. • » I

1 » * • r

COMPLETE IN THREE VOLUMES

VOLUME I

WILKES-BARRE
1909

THE NEW YORK
PUBLIC LIBRARY

519030 A

ASTGH, LENOX AND

TlLDEN FOUNDATIONS

R 1931 L

! -•

Raeder Press,
Wilkes-Barre, Penna.

THESE ANNALS 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.

Contents of Volume I.

PAGE

A Note of Explanation 7

A Chronological Table of Important Occurrences 9

CHAPTER I.

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

CHAPTER II.

The North Branch of the Susquehanna River — The Valley of Wyoming —

Location and Description — Poetry and Legend 32

CHAPTER III.

The Amerind People — The Mound-builders — The Aboriginals of New

York and Pennsylvania 78

CHAPTER IV.

Early 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 169

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.

I'ACJE

Thk Closing Days of Pontiac's War — Indian Council and Treaty at Fort
Stanwix — Indian Sale of Lands to the Pennsylvania Proprietaries —
Surveys and Settlements at Wyoming Under the Proprietaries . . 4.H5

CHAPTER Vin.

The Settlement at Wyoming Renewed by The Susquehanna Company —
Major Durkee and the "vSons 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.

^W^'

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 !"

i / -«r.

A Chronological Table

OF SOME OF THE MOST INTERESTING AND IMPORTANT OCCURRENCES

MENTIONED IN THIS WORK.

1616 — Btienne 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 Fif-
teenth Ward of Wilkes-Barre.
— October. Count Zinzendorff 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 chieftanship 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 Wj'oming 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.
■ — July 18. "The Susquehanna Company" organized at Windham, Connecticut.
—October. Exploring and purchasing comtnittee 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-Barre.
— 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 chieftanship 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.
— 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.
— 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 b}- either whites or Indians.

1765— John Anderson, Capt. John Dick and Capt. Amos Ogden, Pennsylvania and New
Jersey men, locate in Wyoming 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-Yankee 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, Wilkes-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 " Directors " 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.

^uly. 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 county of Westmoreland,
of the State of Connecticut, by the General Assembh' of that State.
1777 — January 1. The "Wyoming Independent Companies" march from Wilkes-Barre
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 by 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 arm}', 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 31. The Sullivan Expedition sets out from Wilkes-Barr^ 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 — Febriiary 1 . First election in Luzerne County — for Representative to Assembly,
Councillor, Sheriff, Coroner, and Commissioners — held at the house of Col.
Zebulon Butler, Wilke.s-Barre.
— 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-Barr^.
— 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 Pennsj-lvania 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-Barre 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-

Barr^.
1812 — April 10. Launch of the river-boat. The Luzerne 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. Extraordinar)' hail-storm in W5'oming Valley.

1819 — February. First bridge across the Susquehanna at Wilkes-Barre — 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 CCodorusj 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. V\xs\. 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-Barre Law and Library Association organized.
1850 — First telegraph line running into Wilkes-Barre is in operation.

1852 — First daily newspaper published in Wilkes-Barr^.

.1856 — February 1. Gas manufactured by the Wilkes-Barr^ Gas Company turned on and
burned for the first time.
— June 24. First train comes into the valley from Scranton over the 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.
1858 — February. The Wyoming Historical and Geological Society is organized.
1860 — September 19. Water is turned on by the Wilkes-Barr^ 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-Barr^ and Kingston Railway) runs in Wilkes-
Barre.
— June 27. The Judges of the Supreme Court of Pennsylvania banqueted at Wilkes-
Barre 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-Barr^ 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. Nevp 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-Barre.
1901 — December. Unusual freshet in the Susquehanna.
1902 — March 1-3. Disastrous flood in the Susquehanna.

— November 27. Corner-stone of the Federal Post OflBce building, Wilkes-Barre,
laid with Masonic ceremonies.
1903 — June 30. The Pennsylvania 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
national 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.

r, ^

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 thy mighty acts." — Psalm CXL V : 4-

A modern philosopher has said : "Considering how many really
needfnl 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 fairly 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 ^^cacoethes scriboidi 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, or 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 from 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 Lord 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 remarkable 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 b}' 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 beautj'— qualities which, like the
chief characteristics of the diamond, are distinctive and attractive.

Within the past hundred and thirty years much has been pub-
lished concerning the history and traditions of Wyoming. F'irst, dur-
ing the time that the controversy over Wyoming land-titles raged
between the Pennsylvania and Connecticut 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 brought into action the pens of many writers.
The first extended and formal narrative of this disastrous event was
published in England early in 1780, in Dodsley'^s Ajinual Register for
1779, and is said on good authority to have been written by the famous
Edmund Burke. The exaggerations of this supposedly reliable nar-
rative* escaped into the continuation of Hume and Smollett's, Adolphus'
and other histories of England ; and somewhat similar unreliable
accounts appeared in various books of travels and in the American his-
tories of Gordon, Ramsay and Botta — all of which were either written
or published 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 Gleaner^ 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 tlie 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 thousands, 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.

settlers — the sufferings, the calamities and the persecutions that those
brave and hardy pioneers ^Yere 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 "Wj'oming ; 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 essays, 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
chieflv biographical in their character, while their historical portions
consist largelv 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 histor\- !" 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 Commonwealth, or
our splendid, much-admired countr}- — 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
carr}^ all our past histon.- 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 will 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 through
life ; and no kind of reading is so stimulative, expansive and enno-
blino-. 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 much 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 wars, 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 Mayflozver 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 carefully
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," VII : 68.

"Extraordinary efforts are being made at the present time to instruct the children
of our schools in lessons of patriotism. Nearly ever}- school-house in the land, like a
government post, is surmounted b}- 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 thej' now walk and lived
where thej- 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 botanj' ; the history of settlement ; the establishment of its churches and schools ;
its military 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
geography 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 enthu.siasm 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
live, is to know much of the reality 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
countr}- 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 Societv, 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 ordinary and the
commonplace, than that of this beautiful valley of Wyoming, where Ave 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 Wvoming Commemorative Association

July 3, 1901, President E. D. Warfield of Lafayette College said :

"What a wonderful story is the stor}' 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 — wdiile reflecting on those instances of ardent zeal and
chivalrous patriotism which distinguished their lives.

In an address delivered July 3, 1896, 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 wliole 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 mj- 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, however, 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 necessarily, 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 with 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 w-rite 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 ISOO 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, b.ut 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 pa-st 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, IMiner, 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 unthought of and
untraveled by investigators of Wyoming's past life ; and thence he
brought back, from long-undisturbed resting-places, much invaluable
historical data in the shape of letters, diaries, military and other reports,
public records, etc., relating to the life of Wilkes-Barre 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, w^ere 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 difflculties ; 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 Law of 1799t were at work
settling the land-title disj^utes.

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 Ihe 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. t 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 Towm of Westmore-
land," marked "Vol. I — paged from 1 to 622."
(v) One volume of original "Records of the Town of \\'estmore-

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, wdio were then
nearing the end of their labors.

By an Act of the Pennsylvania Legislature passed April 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. ]\Iarch
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. Lender 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 Januan' 19 and 2f!, and February (', ISO'-.

"When, a few years since, the office of the 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 (Wj-oming)' papers had been kept was required
for its use. Accordingly, these extremel}' valuable papers, 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 an}-
historical value or were of even the least importance. Without doubt
they were allowed to be kicked about from pillar to post during a
number of years. From 1813 to IS 16 the Hon. John B. Gibson was
President Judge of the Luzerne County courts, and resided in Wilkes-
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, 1819,* "a copy of the Susque-
hanna Company's survey,! 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,
vis.: 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 history 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 "abound volume containing
the old Westmoreland records" in possession of a resident of Wilkes-
Barre, "who had used the blank leaves" of the book.:}: 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 Wilkes 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 L,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.

g 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 Lackawanna Valley," in referring to the old Westmore-
land records, said (page 62) :

"These old records, which deser\-e 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 decaj'."

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
be found a few tnonths 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 W'ilkes-Barre, if not able or disposed to print, ought to be their custodian."

As earh' 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." IMr. Jenkins worked on
his histor\^ as he felt inclined, or as opportunity was offered, during a
period of many 3-ears, 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, .\imong
the original record-books then examined were those referred to on page
26 as "(v)" and "(vii)." These are now, presinnably, 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, !\Iiner, 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 Luzerne Countj- 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 vState Librarian of Connecticut and President of the Historical
Society, informed the writer that the books of the Susquehanna Com-
pany were sent by Mr. Herrick to IMr. 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. Finall)^ 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 entitled "Susquehannah Settlers, 1755-1796, 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.

(6) 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 Massa-
chusetts Historical Society. These papers — consisting of letters written
to and by 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 Wilkes-
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. f See Chapter XXIV.

(8) The "Peiin ^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 small 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 ]\Ir. 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 years 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 pseudonvm "Plain Truth," and published in the
vears 1801-5.

(t>) An extended acconnt of the battle of Wyomino- and occnr-
rences immediately following; written by Col. John Franklin, and pub-
lished in 1828 in the Toivanda 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 would fain make use of those words in ofTering
these results of his labors to the sons and daughters of Wilkes-Barre —
both at home and abroad in the world.

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, j^et not dull,
Strong without rage, without o'erflowing, full !"

— Denhani^s '^Cooper^s Hilly

"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 the)' 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 County, 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 following-
page (this map was first published in 1756 in The London 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 "Caneaderaga Lake" ; but on another map published in 1756, and
referred to by Mr. Halsey in "The Old New York Frontier" (page 124),
it appears as "Canadnrango." 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 1822 — and
without doubt earlier — the first-mentioned lake was sometimes referred
to as "Canadarque."* Inasmuch as it lay within the bounds of the

I- A K 1' () N T A K

I' -..''- \', ) '-'

patent obtained in 1 755 by David Schuyler it was for many years called
"Schuyler's Lake," and in some of the most modern cyclopsedias 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-
entering New York the river flows in a north-westerly 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-Barr^), 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

1*^

_"rr'2^3^L?'^=?i£'.«

-^fiUL/^fc'JTtlS^wsrwtWi^i*:

Tioga Point in 1900.

or Tyogat ; 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 Companv, 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 countj- it receives the waters of several creeks and small fivers, 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 Lewis
Evans' map of Pennsylvania, published in March, 1749 (see Chapter IV), this river is indicated as the
"Cayviga 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 17.56 (see Chapter V), "Cayuga Branch"
is shown, with the Tioga trib>:tary 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 Penns3'lvania.

fOn Evans' map of 1719 (see Chapter IV) the Indian town at that point is indicated as "Tohiccon."
Evans had vi.sited the locality in 1713.

"Tyoga" is said by some'writers to be derived from an Indian word "Teyaogen. meaning an inter\'al,
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 -18), says that the parent-word is Td-yd-ga. meaning "at the forks."

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

Lackawanna the Susquehanna turns sharply to the south-west, and
having- flowed about 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 valle^^, and then flows, generally in a
south-westerly direction, to Northumberland in eastern-central Pennsyl-
vania, where it is joined by the West Branch 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 winding 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 fortv and more vears 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 hav^-e 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 Lackawanna
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
eight miles lower down again overcomes it. It is difficult to account
for this singular and apparently useless freak of the otherwise dignified
and onward Susquehanna. It looks like the mere wantonness of
conscious strength — 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 unruffled 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. But 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
"JO 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 Xanticoke dam was erected in 1830,
in conjunction with the North Branch Canal.'''

On the drafts of some of the earliest surveys made in Wyoming
Valley, and on early manuscript and lithographed maps comprehending
north-eastern Pennsylvania (for example, the map by Reading Howell
mentioned in the note on page 34), "Wyoming Falls" are indicated at a
point in the river a short distance above the mouth of Mill Creek. t
Presumablv 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 A'alley Railroad.

On 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 days 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.

t See Chapter VII for a facsimile of a plot of the Manor of Stoke, made in December, 1768, -rt-hereop
these falls are noted, hut wilhout a name.

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ment, 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 gradually risen np 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 w^ater that
then passes Wilkes-Barre in the river's bed, from North Street bridge to
Toby's Eddv (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. As 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 you may see every-
where, however deep, the sands at the bottom and mark the fish as they glide by and
play around j-our 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

many 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 b}- 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, Alinquas,
Gandastogues or Andastes were a powerful tribe — "a brave, proud and
high-spirited nation" — of aboriginals who, at a very early da}-, inhabited,
principally, the western shore of Chesapeake Bay, near its head, within
what is now the State of Alaryland. 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 iVlgonkins 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 perticaruni — 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 Xanticoke, term,
and not the term that those
'g^-ants' applied to them-
selves. There is no subse-
quent evidence that they
called themselves by any
such name as Sasquesahan-
ocks, or that thev 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" (originally 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 Susquehannock 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 Larned's "History for Ready Reference," I : 105.
J See Egle's "Historical Register," I : 252-267.

^?i% li'EW YO?K
PUBLIC Llr^RARY

ASTOr '-

a hollow tone with a full enunciation," and who, "when fighting, never
fled, but stood like a wall as long 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 1008 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 says 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 Fall"
in the Susquehanna, at no great distance from the river's mouth.

Prior to 1600 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 1534, 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 — oil 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 scourge 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. !>2.

t See "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census (1890)," 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" :

"The}' 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 by a submissive and tributary acknowledg-
ment, being a people cast into the mould of a most large and warlike deportment, the
men 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 amies 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 Anarchy. 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
Marvland, 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. All 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
treatv 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 "]\Iinquas, 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.

t See "Pennsylvania— Colonial and Federal," 1 : 286.

sovereignty, and resist the encroachments of Europeans, the\- had ah'eady
diminished so mnch in population 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."*

They 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 disagreement between 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 Onas when
danger threatens from the deep and dark thicket. We have not for-
gotten 07tas ; 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 theh'- 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.

tSee 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 (Lenape) distinguish the river which we call Susquehanna, thus:
The North Branch they call AP chcvenwamisipn, or, to shorten it, 3Pchweuwonni7ik^ from
which we have called it Wyoming. The word implies : The river o?i which are exten-
sive, clear flats. The Six Nations, according to P3-ri3eus [a Moravian missionary], call it
Gahonta, which had the same meaning. The West Branch they call Oiienischachachgek-
hanne ; but to shorten it the\' say Ouenischachachki. 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, properh^ Sisqtiehaniie,
from Siska for mud and hanne a stream, was probabh- 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 ! Achsisquehanne,'' or 'Sisquehanna,' which is How
ttiuddy 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 prejndiced in their favor that he
could 'Delawareize' almost any word." Nevertheless, in 18<84 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 Snsquehanna was derived from '•'• A-theth-qMa-7iee''* in their language,
meaning "the roily river."t

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,"
originally published in 1845, describes the name Su.squehanna 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. ^I. Beauchamp, 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 langitages, cu.stoms,
etc., gives '•'Qiienischachschgek/iaiine 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 squarely athwart it, is an
island perhaps a mile long, that was formerly known as Palmer's Island, but later has

*JoHN G. B. Heckew'elder, born in England in 1743: died at Bethlehem. Pennsylvania, in 1823.
From 176-5 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,
■with whom belabored 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 I,enni Lenap6, or Delaware. Indians gave to Ri%-ers,
Streams and Localities within the States of Pennsylvania. New Jersey, Mar^•land and Virginia : with
their Significations."

+ See "Transactions of the Buflfalo (N. Y.) Historical Society" (1885), III : 102. 103.

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

Professor Guss, in his article previously referred to on page 38,
sa)'S that he knows "of no authority" for the meaning "long, crooked
river" applied to the word "Susquehannock" or "Susquehanna" ; and
that the word signifying "the river with rocks" is of vShawanese origin.
As will be shown in the chapter following this, the Shawane.se Indians
did not become occupants of the Susquehanna River region in north-
eastern and eastern-central Pennsylvania until about the years 1725-'28 ;
therefore it is hardly probable that prior to this period a name of Shaw-
anese origin would have been selected by the Susquehannock or any
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 Susquehannock
Indians derived their name from that of the river, and he holds that
this name means "brook-stream" or "spring-water-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
meaning, 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 ri.se 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 picturesque 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 Valley — "an island of beauty
in a sea of billowy mountains." It is .situated in Luzerne County, in
north-eastern 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 I,edge to
Nanticoke Falls.

end lies in latitude 41° 21' north, and in
Greenwich ; while its lower end is in latitude
longitude 76°

longitude
41°

75°

47' west from
13' north, and

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. x\ccording 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 W^ilkes-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 IVIountain ;
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 ]\Ioosic, and then, near the boundary-
line of the counties of Lackawanna and Wayne, Cobb's IMountain.

That part of Wyoming Mountain which lies in an easterly and a
south-easterly direction from WMlkes-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-Barr6 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 up 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 towaiships 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 commands a view of nearly the whole of
Wyoming Valley and a wide extent of territory 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 AUeghenies. The Wind Gap is distinctly and beautifully 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 Kait-tat-in-chunk^
signifying "main, or principal, mountain." 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 mountain 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
Blue 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 they overlook. The range keeps a nearly straight course south,
25° west, for 10-4 miles between the Delaware Gap and the gap at
Harrisburg.

Bevond Shawanese Mountain (the western and north-western
boundar}' 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-
easterly and south-w^esterly direction, and stretches westward and north-
westward to the bold and impressive North JNIountain range — 2,200 to
2,400 feet above sea-level — on the border-lines of the counties of
Luzerne, Sullivan and Wyoming.

To the early explorers and cartographers of north-eastern Pennsyl-
vania the mountains northward of Wyoming Valley w^ere denomi-
nated the "Endless Mountains," 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 Pennsylvania.
Twelve miles north-west from Wilkes-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
w^ater 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, Wilkes-Barre, in the Summer of 1809, was 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 same, 305 yards. Distance to the top of the mountain north-
west of the borough, 5,58.3 yards. [This was that portion of Shawanese Mountain lying
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
[o.74-j~ miles]. Average height of the mountains ^bove low-water mark, 275 yards, or
827} feet."

* .See map on page 33, maps of 1748 and 1749 in Chapter IV, and map of 17o6 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 cnltivated ever since ; but
Wilkes-Barre Monntain is still almost entirely covered with a natnral
growth of brnshwood, scrnbby thickets and small trees. Owing to the
ax of the strennons wood-chopper in earlier years, and the freqnent and
extensive forest-fires that have occnrred in recent years, as well as to
other canses, great changes have taken place with respect to the charac-
ter of the woodlands on these monntains. 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, thinh- intermixed
with Yellow, Pitch and White Pine, which grow short and scrubby, there being very
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 hickorv, lynn or linden, birch of three kinds, two kinds of maple, two of ash,
cherry and beech ; these being mixed, in ever}- part of the county where they are found,
with hemlock, a species of timber improperly called spruce in many parts of the State —
being the Pinus Canadensis of botanical writers."

Both ranges of the Wyoming Valley monntains 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 Moimtain, 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 valleys 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
1,364 feet above sea-level,
or some 840 feet above
the river's surface. This
ledge was formerl}' 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. Preciselv at noon-
Campbell's Ledge, tide this crescent receives

From the road near its base, September, 1!)08. OU a cloudlcSS day tllC full

rays of the sun. Thus the husbandman of earh' days, toiling either

on the broad flats 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 b}' 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 every
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 fom'ard 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 S4S.

Not far from the northern end of
Campbell's Ledge, alongside the
road leading up through the river

'narrows

11
1

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
vShawanese ^Mountain, at the point
where the Susquehanna breaks out
of the valley as described on pages
oo 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 Wvoming- Vallev of Shawanese ]\Iountain.
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 "\'iew
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

Falling Spring.

* .See "The Harvey Book," pages W and 660.

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and a smaller, nameless gap or hollow a short distance north-eastward.
Its highest elevation is 1,526 feet above sea-level, and it overlooks the
plain whereon was fonght the battle of Wyoming, Julv 3, 1778.*

On the north-westerly face of Wilkes-Barre IVIonntain near its crest,
1,800 feet above sea-level and 794 feet above the Snsqnehanna's low-
water level, is Prospect Rock. It is almost dne sonth-east from Pnblic
Sqnare, Wilkes-Barre, two and a-qnarter miles "as the crow flies," and
is a steep ledge — limited in extent and very irregnlar in its conforma-
tion — composed of light grey, almost white, conglomerate.

For years it has been
the favorite and most
accessible ]3oint from
which to obtain an al-
most complete view
of Wyoming Valley ;
being readily reached
by the road (formerly
the Easton and Wilkes-
Barre Tnrnpike) lead-
ing over the monntain
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 Campbell's
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. They
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."

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

fFor interesting and instructive papers on the geology and pal£eontalog\' of Wyoming Valley see
Johnson's "Historical Record," 1 : 205, and "Proceedings arid Collections of the Wyoming Historical and
Geological Society," II : 239-277 ; V : 153-204 ; VI : 27-36 ; VIII • 25 42 ^ &

Prospect Rock in 1903.

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 valley 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. Timothv Pickering- — concernino- whom
much of interest will be found in subsequent chapters — visited
Wyoming in August, 1780, 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-^vay 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 very slovenl}- 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 TV — lie on the left bank of
the river within the present limits of Plains Township. Nearly the
whole of Jacob's Plains la}- 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 Towai-
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 WVoming 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 vallev, 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 famih- 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

ASTC
TiLDEN

r. 1

■N '

distance north-west of the village of Plainsville in Plains Township.
By some local writers it has been called "Monocasy" Island ; which
name is, nndonbtedly, a corruption of Monocanock, just as the latter is
a corrupted or twisted form of the Indian name — '•'• Manaiighamuig^'' —
by which the island was known at least as early as the year 1771.* In
the minutes of the Compromise Commissioners referred to on page 25
(see also "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII : 486), this
island is mentioned as "Kingston Island."

Fish's Island — by some cartographers and local writers erroneously
denominated "Fish Island" — lies in the bed of the river at Wilkes-
Barre, nearly opposite the junction of Crescent Avenue and Old River
Road, one mile due west from Public Square. In the year 1776 or '77
this island was granted by vote of the town of Wilkes-Barre to the Rev.
Jacob Johnson, who possessed it until August, 1791, when he conve3^ed
it to Adam Mann. In March, 1796, the latter conveyed it to Putnam
Catlin, who continued in possession certainly until 1S03. During all
those years this island was known as "Wilkes-Barre Island," and was so
denominated in the surveys and records of that period. f About 1811
the island seems to have been called "Butler's Island," as is shown by
an original manuscript "Map of the Susquehanna Coal Company's
Property in Wyoming Valley" drawn in the year mentioned, and now
in possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society. |
Some years later the island became known as Fish's Island, and by this
name has continued to be called to the present time. It received this
name, undoubtedly, from Jabez Fish, an early settler in Wilkes-Barre,
who lived for many years on what is now West River Street, below
South Street, and owned a broad tract of land extending along the
river's margin from West River Street to Old River Road.

Until about twenty-five or thirty years ago this island was consider-
ably smaller than it is now, and at all times of the year (except during
the prevalence of river floods or freshets) its boundary and area were
completely defined. Owing, however, to alluvial deposits, the diminu-
tion of the river's body and to other causes (which are described in
Chapter XLVI) the island has in recent years spread out in all
directions — particularly towards the right or north bank of the river,
which it joins — and is a genuine island now only during times of high
water. The former contour of the island, and the results of the gradual
accretions of recent years, are well indicated by the various growths of
trees and shrubs (in almost concentric circles) which now nearly cover
the island. §

A few rods north-west of Fish's Island, where the river makes a
sharp turn to the south-west, there was formerly a large island adjacent
to the right or Plymouth bank of the river. On the plots of the orig-
inal surveys (made in 1768) of the manors of Stoke and Sunbur)'- —
reduced reproductions of which plots will be found in Chapter VII — this
island is indicated, but without a name. But on an original, carefully
drawn draft of a survey of Plymouth Township made about 1787, and

* See "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII: 514; also copies of original early surveys in
the collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.

t See "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII: 486; also the minutes of the Compromise
Commissioners referred to on page 25.

\ See Chapter 1,1 for a reduced photo-illustration of this map.

\ See illustrations facing pages 50 and 52.

now in possession of the present writer, this island is noted as "Toby's
Island." It is also shown, but 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 svi'eet and
beautiful spot. The railroad [Lackawanna and Bloomsburg] has utterly ruined its
beautiful unity. Its jagged, rocky 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 Eddy. 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 Valle}- 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 by 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
Su.squehanna at Forty Fort, about one and three-quarters miles below

«":-V--»'

=-SiOn, LEN'OX

;en foundation

Monocanock Island. In recent years the part of this creek that lies in
the valley has sometimes been called "Tuttle's Creek," from the fact
that from about 1798 to 1839 Henry Tuttle, followed by his son Joseph,
owned and operated a grist-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
County" (page 170),
says : "Toby's Creek
derives its name from
Tobyhanna, signifying
alder stream, from the
abundance of alders
o-rowing 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 connection with it either in name
or in any other respect.

Abraham's Creek,

Near the "stone-arched bridge," in 1878.

A GiviMPSE OF Toby's Creek.

The chief sources of Toby's Creek are in Dallas Township, previ-
ously 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
j\Iill Hollow (mentioned on page 47), and, flowing south-west, passes
through the boroughs of Kingston and Edwardsville into Plyn^outh
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 time the .source of this stream was unknown
but in 1781 it was discovered by j\Ir. Har\-ey 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. For mau}^ years Harvey's Creek was the most copious and
powerful stream of all the Susquehanna's W^'oming 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 contio-uous to it : "There is no other stream
of that bigness for many 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 Township previously nientioiied.

t See Chapter XXXVII.

I See "The Harvey Book," page 623.

-TOR, LE>?OX I

; FOUNDATION \

.)0

Harvey's Creek,

Near the base of Tillbury's Knob, in 1899.

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 borongh of Nan-
ticoke received their common name by reason of the fact that, prior to
the first settlements in Wyoming by white men, a band 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 borough of Sugar Notch, flowing into the valley through Warrior
Gap, and known in that locality as Warrior Run ; 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 earl 3^ 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 ^Ir. 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 citv 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
"]\Ioses' or Solomon's Creek." Why
the name "IMoses" was o-iven 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
visited 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 T/ie Poi-tfoHo of Philadelphia in the year 1809 — the one in the
November and the other in the December issue of the mag-azine. In
the latter issue there appears, also, the following description (in part)
of these falls — written without doubt bv ]\Ir. Cist :

Lower P'alls.

"Among the numerous 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 with 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 twenty-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." * * *

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rfO^!, LENOX

:n foundation

Sharp D. Lewis of Wilkes-Barre, writing of these falls in 1830,
said (see ChajMiuiii's "Wyoniino-," Appendix, page 186) :

"In Solomon's Creek, about midway up
the mountain and two miles from Wilkes-
harre, in what is called Solomon's Gap, is a
beautiful cascade, which has long been visited
as a great natural curiosity. Its wild and
romantic aspect, and the delightful natural
scener}' around it, have, within a few years,
been considerably injured b}' the erection of
a very superior merchant mill immediately
below the falls, bj- Gen. William Ross of
Wilkesbarre, who is the proprietor of this
valuable water-power."

A visitor of to-day to the locality
jiist described would find it difficult
to discover many remains or traces
of the "picturesque" and "delight-
ful" conditions mentioned as exist-
ing; there seventv and more vears
ago ; and which, in fact — as the
present writer remembers — con-
tinued in evidence, to a degree, up
to about thirty or thirty-fi\'e }-ears

Upper Falls.

ago.

Mill Creek — rising in Jenkins Township, Luzerne County, and
flowino- from two sources in two branches (one of . which is locallv
known as Gardner's Creek) into Plains Township, where, near the
village of Hudson, the branches unite. Flowing in a zig-zag course
through 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-easterlv
course between Wvo-
ming Mountain and
Wilkes-Barre Moun-
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. Mill
Creek was originally known as "Beaver Brook," but on the j)lot of the
Manor of Stoke reproduced in Chapter VII it is noted as Mill Creek.

Mill Creek near its Mouth,

October, 1903.

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

of Pennsylvania in'lTTl, in the region through which this creek runs,

it is designated "Beaver Brook — now ]\Iill 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 knowm 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. t
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 freshets ; 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 the

present Washington and Jackson

streets, Wilkes-Barre. 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

A Gi.iMPSE OF Laurki. Run,
August, 190:^.

Another \'ie\v of Laurel Run.

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

t It is a well-authenticated fact that in early times the Iroquois Nation once made war against the
Illinois Indians, and nearly destroyed that tribe, because they had violated 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.

2 n

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^ M
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w
n

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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 Square. Thence the brook meandered in a south-
westerly course down to a point a little below the corner of the present
Wood Street and South Main Street ; then turned to the north and
flowed to about the corner of the present Terrace and West River streets,
whence, changing its course 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 course (across the flats) of
this old-time, nameless brook is fairly well shown on the plot of the
Manor of Stoke reproduced in Chapter VII, and also on a "Map of the
Wyoming and Lackawanna Valleys" facing page 328 of T/ie American
Journal of Science and. Arts for July, 1830 (No. 2 of Vol. XVIII).
Henry B. Plumb, referring to this brook, says in his "History of
Hanover Township" (page 39) :

"It is entirel)' unknown to the present generation, the sources of it having been
cut off 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 just described.
According to Heckewelder (mentioned on page 42) the word Wyoming
is a corruption of Mangh-wau-zva-me^ the name given to the valley by the
Lenni Lenape or Delaware Indians ; which name being compounded of
the words maugh-wau^ meaning "large, or extensive," and wa-me^
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 Delawares pronounced the first
syllable of Mangh-waii-wa-me short, and the early Moravian mission-
aries, catching the sound as nearly as they could, "wrote the name
Afc/izven-iua-mi.'''' This form of the name, however, does not occur
anywhere in the records of the many 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 Meehayoniy [Wyoming]." In September, 1732, at a conference

* See Miner's "Wyoming," page 34.3.

t This ice-pond was situated on a small plot of ground in the territory now bounded by West Ross,
West River, Terrace and Sheldon streets.

X See Isaac A. Chapman's "A Sketch of the History of Wyoming," page 10 ; W. 1,. Stone's "Poetrj- and
History of Wyoming," page 80; Charles Miner's "History of Wj'oming," page xv ; Stewart Pearce's
"Annals of Luzerne County," page 159, 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 County] to MeeJiayomyy'^' 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 '•^ Meheahowming (Wyoming), by order of the Six
Nations."! These recorded forms, '■'Meehayomy^'' and '•''Meheahoivrning^\
resulted, without doubt, from the writers' attempts to spell the name
MaiigJi-wau-zva-mc^ or M" cJnveii-zva-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 Letter'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 between Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania and Conrad Weiser
(Indian Agent and Interpreter for the Province) during the years 1753-
'55 "Wyomink" was the form generally used by both men ; although
Weiser sometimes used the form "Wvomock." "Wvominor" 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, W^yoming was known to
many Indians (particularly the Iroquois) and some white men by
another name also — "•Skehantozvana''' or '-''SkaJicndozvanay In April,
1737, Conrad Weiser referred to a visit that he had made to ^'•Skehan-
dowana''' a short time previously when returning from a journey to Onon-
daga. In 1 742 Count Nicolaus Ludwig Zinzendorf (of whom much is
related in succeeding chapters) wrote in his "Narrative" a brief account
of his visit to ^^SkchaiidozuaiiayX In March, 1755, Conrad Weiser wrote
Governor Morris relative to the contemplated settlement of New England
men at '•^ Scahantozvana.'''' ^ In July, 1755, deputies of the Six Nations
in conference with Sir William Johnson said : "The land which reaches
down from Oswego to SchaJiandozvana^ 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 Shamokm to Scliandozijana or Wyomick" ;|| and in the same
month the Rev. Gideon Hawley, at Aughquagey [Oquaga, or Ocquaga] ,
New York, wrote to Sir William Johnson concerning a certain English-
man who, shortly before, had gone to '■'■Sra/iandozcana^ alias Wioming."^

* See W. C. Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Churcli," I : (19.

tSee Pearce's "Annals." page 24.

I See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church,'' I : (i9.

J See "Penn.sylvania Archives," First Series, II : 259.

I! See Reichel's "Memorials," I : ()9, TO.

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

Colonel Stone says in his "Poetry and History of Wyoming" (note,
page 81) : "I have two mannscript letters of Sir William Johnson dated
March 23 and 25, 17C)o, in both of which he writes KSkahandoivaua^ 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 Sgahoiitoivano ('the large flats')
given to the valley by the Six Nations, would indicate this ; gaJioiito
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 :

^"^ Skehantowana is Iroquois, variously spelled. Zeisberger (in his Onondaga Lexi-
con) gives GahiDita as 'a field' — Gahuntoivanna as 'flat country.' Although a notable
authority, I rarely depend on him. In Onondaga, Kahentah is now 'a field" ; in Mohawk,
Kaheanta; in Cayuga, Kaheantae. 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 Kivaiia^ lo and Goivah all mean
'great' ; so that Skehantozvana 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 Skwedoa, '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 Givanne, '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 7iot 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 !"

* See page 42, quotation from Heckewelder.

Charles Miner, 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 valley, itself, is diversified by 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
beaiit}- ; unsurpassed in luxuriant 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 especially, the black-walnut ; while hefe 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 gray 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 biitternut, while, 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 bvitternut 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 every 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. Griffin, a grandson of Col. Zebnlon Butler,
and at the time of his death in 1830 ^ 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 darkl)^
frowning wilderness beneath me ? Did a rushing, foaming cataract pour its streams
along ? No ! a scene more lovely 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 valle}' 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 Mahomet. Thy
groves might be the recesses of departed sages ; thy forests, those of the forgotten Druids
of antiquity ; thy cultiyated fields, the product of the amusement of those who during
life loved rural scenes and emplo3-ment ; 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 th}' houses, the dwellings of those who had formerly been dis-
creet housewives."

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

davs in W^yoming in the Spring of 1830, wrote as follows under date of

May 24, 1830 :

"It [the valley] is bounded by grand mountain barriers, and watered by 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 happj- 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 valle}' 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 that I have seen can vie with the valle}- of W^-oming. 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 down the narrower valley of the same name. A similar pass

* Prospect Rock, described on page 49.

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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 slopes away with broad, sweeping undulations in the surface, forming numerous
swelling hills of arable and grazing land ; and, as we recede from the hills, the fine flats
and meadows covered (as I saw them in May, 1880) with the richest grass and wheat,
complete the picture by features of the gentlest and most luxuriant beauty.

"An active and intelligent population fills the countr3^ Their buildings and farms
bear witness to their industry and skill. Several villages or clusters of houses give
variety to the scene, and Wilkesbarre, a regular and well-built borough having 1,000 or
1,200 inhabitants, with churches, ministers, academy, able 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 ; iuU 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 bj' 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 exten.sive meadows are unrivaled in fertility and beauty, and its undulating surface,
between the meadows and the mountains, is a fine region for grass and wheat."

In 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 Pennsylva7iia
Register, XIII : 209) :

* * * "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 maj' furnish emploj--
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 o"f
industry, therefore, may here not only be placed side by 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 1829 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 lot to 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 beauty by any
vale that I have ever seen.

" 'A valley from the river shore withdrawn ;

5^: ^ ^ ^ ;;;

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 367) :

"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 countrv, remote

from the great thoroughfares of travel, either for business or in the idle chase of pleasure,
and walled on every hand by niotintains 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 W^-oming.

'"The first glance into the far-famed valley of Wyoming, 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 surveyed at
a single view, forming one of the richest and most beautiful landscapes upon which the e^-e
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 dimU^ seen the borough
of Wilkesbarre — 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 remarkabh' 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 are thickly studded over the
valle%-, among which are not a few more ambitious dwellings, denoting by their air, and
the disposition of the grounds, both wealth and taste. ISIidway through the vallej' 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 ivy 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 valle}' from
the rest of the world, correspond well with the great poet's

'* * * * enclosure green,

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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 sjdvan 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 O.ssa 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, the}'
would prove their good taste and their love of the romantic and beautiful in these
modern days, b}- taking an occasional stroll among the cool shades and flowery paths of
Wyoming. ' '

Thomas Campbell, the Scottish poet, was the first writer of renown
to embalm Wvomino- in verse, which he did in his "Gertrnde of Wvo-
ming," given to the public early in 1809. The first two of the ninety-
two stanzas of this poem are as follows :

'On Susquehannah'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,

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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 Gertrude in her bowers of yore,
Whose beauty was the love of Pennsylvania's shore !

11.

'•Delightful Wyoming ! beneath thy skies
The happy shepherd swains had naught to do
But 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-way down
Would echo flageolet from some romantic town."

There is no great scope in the story 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 only imaginar)-. His Wyoming is not
the Wyoming of prosaic reality, 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 history,

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

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

And 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 Times, 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 unite 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 Autumn of 1803 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-
ing lines :

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

Hail, charming river ! pure, transparent flood !
Unstain'd by noxious swamps or choking mud,
Thundering through broken rocks in whirling foam,
Or pleased o'er beds of glittering sand to roam,
Green be thy banks, sweet forest-wandering stream.
Still may thy waves with finny treasures teem ;
The silvery shad and salmon crowd thy shores ;
Thy tall w'oods echoing to the sounding oars.
On th}' 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.

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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 Bryant,
by whom it was first published in 1827 in The 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. Wilson."

fBom in Guilford, Connecticut, July S, 175)0; died there November 1!>, ISIiT.

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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 Gertrtide^ s are.

IV.

"But where are 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.ENBACH,* who keeps the toll-bridge gate
And the town 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 seventy 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 Gerti-ude, 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 eyes, 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.
Who tells 3'ou where the foot of Battle stopped
Upon their day of massacre. She told

♦Reference is here made to Judge Matthias Hollenback of Wilkes-Barre. 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 company, and held this office in 1826 and '27. At that time Judge Jesse Fell was
Town Clerk of Wilkes-Barrg town and township.

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 yon orchard hill
Are marks where time-worn battlements have 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 noonda}- scene —
And where are now the twenty ? Passed away.
Has Death no triumph hours, save on the battle-da}- ?"

The following stanzas are from a poem entitled "Wyoming," com-
posed by a now unknown author whose pen-name was "Desmond."
The poem was originally published July 24, 1830, in Hazard's Register
of Pennsylvania (VI : 61), and in all probability has been read by few
persons of the present day.

"And is this WA^oming? O Wyoming !
Am I within thy fairy bowers ? Are these
The classic shades mine island bard dotli sing
So sweeth- ? 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 OntalissVs song around yon sunny shore ?

"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 fancy these wild shades among ;
And now I smile to see thee, though exiled.
Roll up, ye mists of morn 1 that I may view
If of those dewy bowers my childhood's dream be true.

"The same — j-et 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 thy side —
Here dashing o'er the rocks in crested pride,
There stealing silently the shades among ;
Here hiding thy bright ripples 'midst the trees.
There flashing to the sun and foaming to the breeze.

"Genius of Europe ! Look'st thou on the Rhine
With bold-swept lute and wildh' beaming eyes ?
Do Thames' bright waters in thy numbers shine
So oft, so brilliantly ? Awake! Arise!
The western world unveils its mysteries !
Come to these forests ! Turn that glance of thine
On these majestic waters as they gleam !
What is thy wildest flood to them ? A brook — a stream !

"One solitarj' lute has sung of thee,
Fair Susquehanna ! While by bright Garonne
A hundred bards awake their minstrelsy.
Praising its beauties at the set of sun.
Yet oh ! through yonder mists uprolling dun.
How grandly wave your forests to the .sky,
Fresh as when first chaotic glooms uncurl'd.
And show'd to angels' eyes the new-created world.

"And silent as that world these woods ! There wakes
No shout from far ; that early banqueter,
The bee, to his wild flowers amid the brakes.
Hums gaily past ; the wild birds also stir,
But still, in yon fair town, the villager
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 morning flow'rets peep from forth the maze
Of the wild woods 'round. But 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 my 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 !

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"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 ! And ever past be that fell scene !
Ah ! lovely bowers, 5'e 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."

In 1843 Mrs. Lydia Huntley Sigourney,* having visited W^'oming,
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 I^ackawanna.

"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, 1865. In 1822 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
many other poems and essays, and in 1840, having visited Europe, she wrote 'Pleasant Memories of
Pleasant I^ands."

"Methinks ye wed as the white man's son
And the child of the Indian king have done.
I saw the bride as she strove in vain
To cleanse her brow from the carbon stain ;
But she brings thee a dowry so rich and true
That thy love must not shrink from the tawnej' hue.

"Her birth was rude in a mountain cell,
And her infant freaks there are none to tell ;
Yet the path of her beauty was wnld 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 joy of thy blended tide,
Through the land where the blessed Miquon died ;
No red man's blood, with its guilty stain,
Hath cried unto God from that broad domain.
With the seeds of peace they have sown the soil —
Bring a harvest of wealth for their hour of toil.

"On, on throv;gh the vale where the brave ones sleep.
Where the waving foliage is rich and deep.
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 glor>' could see
So fair as the vale of Wyoming to me."

The following verses are from a poem by J. R. Barstow, of Phila-
delphia, which appeared originally in The Model American Courier^
and was reprinted in the Luzerne Democrat (Wilkes-Barre), February
21, 1849.

' ' Pennsylvania. ' '

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

A tribute to my glorious native land !
Oh ! would the muse but aid my feeble praise.

And nerve with honest pride my faltering hand !
The Keystone of this mighty arch, which holds

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 valleys many a gem

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

Lie shining green beneath the bending sky.
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, Wj'oming, by thy 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 svich a scene and such an hour,
Can lend imagination all it needs,
Filling the heart with Poesy's bright seeds.
And, but for Holy W^rit, might locate there
The garden of the lost, primeval pair,
As if creating Nature, sunk to rest.
Had laid her fairest offspring on her breast.
* * ^ *

Susquehanna, on the earth's green breast
No brighter river greets the morning ray ;

No sweeter river, flowing to its rest,

Adds its fresh tribute to the ocean's spray.

1 see in many a sorrow-fostered dream

The mountain-guarded home of other years.
Th)' shelving beach and rock-refiecting stream —
The)' stir once more the fountain of my tears."

Thomas Buchanan Read (born 1822; died 1872), 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 1855 "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 mountains rolling in the blue,
No lovelier landscape meets the traveler's eye.
There Labor sows and reaps his sure reward,
And Peace and Plenty walk amid the glow
And perfume of full garners. I have seen
In lands less free, less fair, but far more known,
The streams which flow through history 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 j^et
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 holy, and hynms 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 Wyoming.

"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 yet wander 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 piety needs not in anguish to pray.

For here there is heaven and beaut}- alway.
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 valle\' 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 Wj'oming."

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

"When Nature's God outspread the earth,
And gave to hills and vallej's birth.
What place was made of greatest worth ?
W3'oming I

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

' ' W^hen Summer's sun resumes his sway,
And beams intolerable day,
Then through thy vale cool breezes play,
Wyoming.

"Thy fields are spread with fairest flowers,
Thy air is cleared with freshest showers.
And Ceres plent}- 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 th}' sons were slain,
Wj-oming.

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

The following "Lines, written on revisiting the Susquehanna,"
were printed in the SusqiicJianna Democrat (Wilkes-Barre), Julv 24,
1829.

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"Still rolling on, resistless stream,

How clear and calm thy waters run !
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 finu}' race —

That in thy bosom plaj' their pranks,
Throw bright enchantment 'round tlie 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 day,
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 fiow'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 published in the Mount Carnicl
Register, were reprinted in the Record of the Times (Wilkes-Barre),
June 21, 1854.

"There's a rolling stream with a silvery 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 pla3'ed
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 by the crags was cleft —
And I loved that stream.

"And w-hen dread Winter's hoary chain.
By the breath of Spring was cleft in twain.
And the angry flood with hideous groan
Mocked the grow^ling 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 merry 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 rollest ever, but I decay,
And soon from hence shall pass awa}-.
Then gladh- 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 glory 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 dying,
Robed in rich tints that mock the artist's dreams.

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

"We trace the mountain road, each turn unfolding
A rarer beauty to the raptured e5'e ;
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 gladness 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 roseate 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 surge of gold ;
Now rising, now retreating, now expiring —
How should such scenes be fitly sung or told ?

"O fair vale of Wyoming ! O soft splendor
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 author of the follow-
ing pleasing verses — first published in T/te 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 sentr}-,

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 —
lyoiters 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
scenes 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 Williamsport, and a score of other cities and towns outside Wyo-
ming Valle}', there are streets and avenues bearing the name "Wyoming."

It must be borne in mind that ours is the original Wyoming.
And it is doubtful if the name of any towm 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 the Times (Wilkes-
Barre) printed the following paragraph in his paper in December, 1857 :

"A writer in the Scfantoii 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 valley 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 might 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 w^hich period there
were very few colored people in Wyoming \'alley) 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
w^as served they hung up a banner bearing this inscription : "Supper
by the Daughters of Wyoming !" It seems needless to state that, while
it is probable that the supper of the "Daughters of Wyoming" 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 ferr\^-boats to apartment-houses, in the city 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 1S30 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 JVyoming^ belonging to the line of
boats operated by 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 jVIarch, 1859, the Xavy Department
directed that one of the largest of these should be named lVyo))iuig.
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 Wyoming^
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 Shimonoseki, 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
Wyoming fired fifty-five rounds in seventy minutes, and came out of the
battle in good fighting trim, though hulled ten times and struck in ten
other places." In 1867 — still on the Asiatic Station — the Wyomiiig^ in
connection with the U. S. S. Ha^'tford^ performed important services at
the island of Formosa.

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 Navy attached to a steel-sheathed monitor 252 feet in length, of
3,214 tons displacement, with engines of 2,400 horse-power, and carr}--

ing six criins in her main battery. This lVyo7)inig^ although a new
vessel, belongs to a class of war-ships that is fast disappearing from the
navy lists of the powers. She is one of the last gronp 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 feature of the
semi-centennial celebration of California's admission into the Union.
Early in 1903 this latest-born Jjyouii/ig went into commission.

tef

CHAPTER III.

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

NEW YORK AND PENNSYLVANIA.

"Not many generations ago, where you now sit circled with all that exalts and
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 W^atling'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, American 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 neighboring regions ; holding that this word designated 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 "Amerind" was early adopted by the well-known explorer
and 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

modern manufacture go), born of a sufficiently ingenious effort to get
around and over a large but pardonable mistake made something over
400 years ago by certain men of more enterprise than information.
There are scientists, however — "Americanists," they style themselves —
who displa)- 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 with 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.

A Modern "Amerind"
OF THE United States.

* 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 to the aborigines of both Americas and their islands amount to many
thousands of volumes in many languages— Latin, Spanish, French. English, German, Dutch, Italian.
Portuguese, Swedish, Rus.sian and native Indian of manv varying dialects."

What shall be known of the prehistoric race, or races, of America
must 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 carefully 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.
A.ssuming 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 Tribes, 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 judgment 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; thej- offer their First Fruits; they have a kind of Feast of
Tabernacles ; they are said to lay their Altar upon Tivelve Stones; their Mourning a
Year, Customs of JVome/i, 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 countr}'."* 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 which this old theory has been strengthened. How-
ever, the "lost Ten Tribes of Israel" have been sought for in almost
every quarter of the globe, and their descendants have made their

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

appearance in various localities, according- to many investigators — 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
Lenape) 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 migrations eastward had occupied many
vears. 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 I\fa)iitta-\ raised Akanis/iionegyX 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. Manitta
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. Manitta 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 Summers more did he instruct them how to
live. In the meantime he had made for their use trees, plants and animals of various
kinds. Akanishionegy was covered with woods and filled with creatures.

"Then he assembled his children together and said : 'Ye are Five Nations, for j-e
sprang each from a different handful of the seed I sowed ; but ye 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 to smoke 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 they
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 counsels 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 Marshe, 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
"was 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, 17.50. (See "Con-
rad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania," pages 1(X), 206, 2.38 and 240.)

\ Manito. 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.

J The Iroquois called themselves the ''Ho-di-no-sau-nee" (the "People of the I,ong House"), and Mor-
gan says that "among themselves they never had any other name." " A kanisktoiiegy" given above, is a
corrupted or twisted form of ''Aquanuschioni,^' a name by which, says Stone ("Poetry and History of
Wyoming," page 92), "the Six Nations have been frequently called by modern writers." "Aquitioskioni,"
"AcwJnoskio?ii" and ^' A kquinaskioni" 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
''Hodenosaunee," made use of by interpreters and others ignorant of the true word.

S-2

always to give you 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, may 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 3-ou. Be just to all men,
and kind to strangers that con:e among you. So shall you be happy and be loved bv all,
and I myself will sometimes visit and assist you.'

"Saying 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
Akanishioiiegy, 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 Chnrch 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 w'as printed in the New 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 latelj^ come out of the country of the Six Nations of Indians, where
I resided some months as their instructor or minister, I had an opportunity to observe
their genius, customs, traditions, &c. I shall only take notice of one ancient tradition
they have among them, concerning the time and manner of their first coming into this
land, which they say was in the da5's of Joshua the Robber, before whose face they fled,
and kept on their way (as they were led j till they came to a high mountain from whence
they took a prospect and beheld a narrow sea. While they 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 company. Afterwards they were followed by a great man}-
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) manj-
things may be learned and remarks made, as : First. If the Indians came into this
country so long ago as the days of Joshua (the Captain of the Jewish hosts) 'tis no
W' onder the}' 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 Egyptian, and her son Ishmael, who dwelt in INIount Paran, the
road Israel came into the Holy Land — of which so much notice is taken in Holy 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 may be still nearer by
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 earnestly prayed, 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, under 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 by the Six Nations

concerning their origin w^as quite similar to the belief of the Algonkins

as to their ow-n beginning, but very different from the tradition of the

Six Nations as related by Cana.ssatego. As a probable explanation of

this it ma}- be stated that, wdien Mr. Johnson began his ministerial work

in New London Connt)-, what is now Montville in that county contained
within its limits certain "sequestered lands" occupied by a remnant of
the Mohegan tribe of Indians (of the Algonkin famil}-), with all their
native and seigniorial rights. Here, for many years, had been the seat
of the great 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 INIohegan 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 an)- 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 wdth 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 asimal life in the world

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

sav (see "Indians in the LTnited States at the Eleventh Census," page

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 the}' 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 sub.sequent chapter.

of portraits of individual Indians and pictures of their every-day life.
INIr. 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 me, 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 Rocky 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
mvsterious regulations of their medicine (mystery) 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 distincth- 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 was chiefly destro3-ed ; and the rocks of their countries
bear evidence yet more conclusive of the same calamities, which probably swept oflF 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 how
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 man}- people look upon the savages
of this vast country 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.
~ -:f * J never yet have been made to see the necessit}- of showing how these people
came here, or that they came here at all, which might easily 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 every part by savages, and so nearly
every island in the South Sea, at a distance of several thousand miles from either continent.
* * * The 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. * ^^ * j 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 (which 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 many 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) b}- 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 dispersed 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 b}- 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 Great 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 the}- are the favorite people of the
Great vSpirit, and they are certainly, like those ancient people, persecnted. * * * In
their marriages the Indians, as did the ancient Jews, uniformly buy their wives 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 ablutions, 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 shoidd 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 only, 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
amongst the various tribes there is a reigning similarity 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, ad
origijie, a variety of dilTerent 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 neighbors 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 very 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 1861 — twenty years after the first publication of his "Letters and
Notes," from which the foregoing paragraphs have been extracted —
Mr. Catlin published his "Life Amongst the Indians" ; and seven years
later (in 1868) 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 by extensive reading and association 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 immutable, national, physiological traits with which the Almight}'

stamps this and ever}' 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 froin 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 history, 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 but one great original family tj'pe, 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 yet 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
centnry, 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 American 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,t 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 w^as of the opinion that the Tartars in Siberia were

"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 ivigzvam. * *
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 there is such a uniformity of features (except the Chinese, the Jews and the
Negroes) as among the Asiatic Tartars. They 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, ;?50, etc.

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

I So, also, did the Lenfipf , or Delaware, tribe. See page 104.

"I find as yet nothing analogous to the Aniei'-
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 company. The form of the
pipe is universally the identical form of the
Chinese pipe. I expect to find it in America,
since the form of the pipe on the tomahacvk resembles it
"•-" * * 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 is
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 nvimerovis. The ivainpuni 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 class-
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 causes. * * 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 Tai'tar is of
the same family — the most ancient and numerous people on earth, and the most uni-
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 suspect 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 my
opinion, and do not now, to the Negroes."

Thomas Pennant, IX. 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 nsed as the symbol of peace
and hospitality by the Indians of North America. See pages 94 and 104.

with scalps pendant from the breast, fully illustrates the custom of the Scythian progen-
itors, as described by the Greek historian. This usage, as the Europeans knov>' by horrid
experience, is continued to this day in America. The ferocity of the Scythians to their
prisoners extended to the remotest part of Asia. The Kamtschadales, even at the time
of their discovery by the Russians, put their prisoners to death by the most lingering and
excruciating inventions — a practice in full force to this ver}- day among the aboriginal
Americans. A race of the Scythians were styled Anthropophagi, from their feeding on
human flesh. The people of Nootka 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 annual!}-, 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 the}' 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 obser\'ed 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 Bay to this day perform the operation exactly in the
same manner, and puncture the skin into various figures, as the natives of New Zealand
do at present, and as the ancient Britons did with the herb glastiiin, or woad, and the Vir-
ginians, on the first discovery of that country by 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 every 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 twent}' years ago,
at least, many noted and conservative anthropologists and archaeologists
entertained the belief that the earliest men in America came here from
Asia. Among those who thns 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 ?'' "\\'hen was
America peopled?" and "B}' what route did the first inhabitants come
here?" were three extensive and knott}- 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 Age ; that its fir.st .settlers probabh- came from Europe

* Chuckchee. See page 90.

t Daniel Garrison Brinton. born in Chester County, Pennsylvania. May 13. 1S37 ; graduated from
Yale College. 1858 ; received degree of M. D. from Jefferson Medical College in 1S60 ; from 1867-'87 Editor
of The Medical and Surgical Repoi lev : in 1886 became Profes.sor of American Linguistics and Archaeology
in the University of Pennsylvania — which chair he held until his death. July HI, 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 America." and many other book.s.
essays and lectures.

h\ wav of a land connection wliich once existed over the northern
Atlantic, and that their lono- and isolated residence in this continent
has molded them all into a singularly homogeneous race, which varies
but slightly anywhere on the continent, and has maintained its type
unimpaired for countless generations. Never at an)- time before
Columbus was it influenced in blood, language or culture by any
other race.'"

The following paragraphs are from an article entitled "The First
Americans," published in Harper'' s Magazine^ August, 1882, page 353 :

"When we speak of the discovery of America we alwaj's 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 Strait is but little wider than the English Channel, and it is as 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 geolog)' and botany
indicate that the separation between the two continents did not always exist. * * *

"The colonization of America from Asia was thus practicable, at any rate, and that
far more easily 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 History,
in the city 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
going 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 Morris K. Jesup of New York, President of the American
Museum of Natural Histor}-.

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 wa}- 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 archit-
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
emploj'ed 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 archgeology, for a study of the languages of the world leads to the conclusion that the)-
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 orgrammatic 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, Mongolian and
Caucasian types ; or possibly the grafting of other races upon an original American race.
Bancroft, in his 'History of the United States' (Vol. II), expresses his opinion on the

origin of the Indian. He discovers a striking resemblance between 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 antiquity, were spoken among the natives of Hindu-
stan, still live with unchanged meaning in the language which we daily utter. The
winged word cleaves its wa}- 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
189S were so important that general attention was drawn to them
throiig"hont the scientfic world, and the origin of the American aborig-
ines began to be discus.sed 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 mo.st 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 American 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
countrw

Early in 1900 ]Mr. 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, previoush- 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 previoush', 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, chiefl)- 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 surpasses anything of a like character elsewhere in the
world.

The explorers visited the Chuckchee tribe, t inhabiting the country
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 9fi. t See page 88.

points in common with those of the Indian. Farther inland, inhabiting
a tract of conntr}- almost as large as that of the Chnckchees, 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.
Thev 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
bv 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 closer 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 tw^o 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 only be obtained by a comparison of the
varied data collected. AI. Bogoras is of the opinion that he and the other
explorers found indisputable evidence of the connection between the
North x^merican 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 photographs — of Kalmuk girls in particular — are, seemingly, perfect representations
of modern North American Indian squaws.

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

t See quotation from Dr. Brinton, page 8S.

here and developed through stages which correspond in nian\- particu-
lars to the Homeric Age of Greece." But the history of the North
American Indian begins with the advent of the white people upon this
continent. Back of that time all is speculation and myth, 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. INIorgan
(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 ohlv an advanced and wonderfullv 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 by 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 found in New

York, Ohio, Tennessee and elsewhere
were erected for residence, defense
or burial-places. The earthworks
were generally built alongside
streauLs — often on high banks — and
were frequently in the vicinity of
rich alluvial soil, where corn and
other crops were easily raised ; the
streams supplying fish and mussels,
and the forests game in abimdance.
The accompanying plan is a reduced
reproduction of a ground-plan by
Professor Putnam of a fortified 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 observed 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 presumption being, of course,
that the tree had sprung into life after the earthwork was constructed.

t "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Censns, " page 4!i.

i):}

T'he first illustration
shown on tliis 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 vear
1859. In that year E. G.
Squier* thus referred to it
in his "Ancient Monu-
ments of the United
States" (see Harper'' s
Magazine, XX : 737) :

"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 182*.)]. They were, of course, almost entirely 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 //<7r/6^r'-y Magazine for August, 1882,
page 350), we find their
arrangement to be essen-
tiallv 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,

ifac:

^^iip

._„^_---^ -^=,^£f^Y^^

^!is— -<<\'-^ VC -,

* Ephraim George Squier (born al Bethlehem, New York, in 1821 ; died at Brooklyn in 1888) was
an indefatigable explorer, archseologist 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 archaeological explorations in.
those regions. For these researches he received a gold medal from the Geographical Society of France. -
He published numerous books, pamphlets and magazine articles relating to his explorations.

The accompanying- illustrations are reduced reproductions of draw-
ings made b}- George Catlin for his "Letters and Notes," mentioned on
page 84. The original pictures represented by these drawings were
painted by Mr. 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 (II.) is a bird's-
eye 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
b)^ the river, with a bank
forty feet high. The ii-

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. They were looked
upon as the best of the North American Indians
when Catlin first wrote about them. They were
industrious, well armed, good hunters and brave
warriors. In personal appearance they were not
surpassed by any 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 by 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 sovithern port, and afterwards
migrating to the upper Missouri. However, this
idea concerning Welsh Indians was not original
with Mr. Catlin. In the seventeenth centvin,' 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
retained ceremonies of Christian worship. Among
Capt. Abraham Chaplain of Kentucky, that his gar-

Ha-na-ta-nu-mauk

("Wolf Chief"). Head of the Mandan tribe
in 1832.

tribe that possessed manuscript, spoke Welsh and
•other information then published was the report of

The remains of many earthworks have been discovered, from time
to time, in New York State, and mnch has been written concerning
them. The latest pnblication on the subject is the Rev. Dr. W. M,
Beanchamp's "Aboricrinal Occupation of New York," issued in Feb-
ruary, 1900, as Bulletin No. 32, Vol. VII, of the New York State
Museum. The author says that nearly 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 migratory, moving their towns every ten or
twelve ^•ears. 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 cases a favorite place was on a
ridge between two deep ravines. * * * Shallow lakes and bays, 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 Mohawk [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 generall}-
elliptic or circular form', more or less irregular according to the nature
of the ground. Usually there is an outside ditch, and one or more gates.
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 generally of palisades
peculiarly arranged with upright and cross timbers. * * Galleries
ran along the intersecting tops of the pickets. These were reached by
ladders from within, and were useful in defense."

The accompanving
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 bv Champlain in
1615.

Squier, in his "Antiq-
uities of the State of New
York," published in 1851,
in discussing the question
as to the builders of these old-time earthworks and fortifications, says :

Tison, 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 ^ruseHm, Vol. VII, No. 32, page S8.

"The relics found were identical with those which mark the sites of towns and
forts known to have been occupied by the Indians within the historic period. The
potter}' taken from these sites, and from within the supposed ancient inclosiires, is alike
in all respects ; the pipes and ornaments are undistintruishable, and the indications of
aboriginal dwellings are precisely 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 vears, the lack of knowledge upon this point is the weakest cf 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 omi.ssion
mav be singular, but is not unaccountable. They all speak of the aboriginal defenses as
composed of palisades set in the ground. The .simple 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. '^ * *

"In respect of the antiquity of these works nothing positive can be affirmed. I\Iany
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 necessarih' 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,
however, in this circumstance, nor in any other bearing upon the subject, which 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 mo.st 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
Moiiiid-builders^ 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, Maj. J. \V. Powell (previously mentioned) said :

"Widely .scattered throughout the United States, from sea to sea, artificial mounds
are discovered which ma}- be enumerated by the thousands or hundreds of thousands.*
They vary greath- 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 furni.sli evidence of a race of
people older than the Indian tribes."

* It may be noted here that there were Mound-builders in Siberia at a very early day. Bell, in his
"Journey from Petersburg to Pekin," gives an account of mounds that he saw in the year 1720 (when
making a trans-.Siberian journey with a Russian emba.ssy to the Court of China), and which he considered
the tombs of ancient heroes. The author says (Vol. I, page 25.3) : "Many persons go from Tomsk [a city
in southern-central Siberia] and other parts every 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 these 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 to be of great atiiiguity."

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 1840) on tlie left bank of the Scioto
River, six miles south-east of Chillicothe, Ohio.

No other part of the
United States has proved
such a treasure-house of
relics of pre-historic man
and the Mound-builders —
"whose vast earthworks
are still, after a centurv of
study, the perplexity of
archceolog'ists" — as south-
ern Ohio ; and of this ter-
ritory the Scioto Valley
has been probably the
richest area. Manv archse-
ologists and anthropolo-
gists (including Dr. Brinton previously 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
Mandans, Onondagas and Oneidas, in their way of disposing and pro-
tecting their homes.

Some writers have claimed for the Mound-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 x\mericans 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 Foriun article of Maj. Powell :

"It is enough to say that the Mound-builders were the Indian tribes discovered by
white 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 Zuiii, 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, previously mentioned (on page 93), wrote as follows in
1860 concerning the Mound-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
Mound-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 Valley, nothing can
be affirmed with exactness. That many of them are very ancient, dating back by

* See page 100.

tSee "Ancient Monuments in the United States," Harper's Magazine, XXI : 177 (July, 1860).

thousands of ye&rs, seems to be fairh' deducible from a variety of circumstances. Not
onl}^ are they covered by primitive forests of trees, some of which have an antiquity of
from 600 to 800 years, 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 by 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 any 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 by the hundreds
of lens-shaped masses obser\'able in the larger mounds. The}- 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 the}- could have used wdthout
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. They 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."

Nearh- all the large mounds in Ohio have been carefully explored
by archceologists and others. The last one to be opened and leveled to
the ground was known as "the Great Adena ?^Iound,'' 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 }-ears ago by 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 Worthing-ton nor any 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 Societ^•.

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 beautifully

* See the Xew York Tribiiiie, December 'JO, 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 which 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 by 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 where 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 Mound Park, in Adams County,
on the southern border of Ohio. This park is owned and carefully con-
served by the Peabody Museum of Harvard University, Cambridge,
Massachusetts. Along the eastern bank of Brush Creek — the western
boundary of the park — a huge serpent, formed of yellow clay, stretches
in graceful folds. It measures 1,254 feet in length, from four to five
feet in height, with 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 twenty feet and its minor axis sixty feet in
length. The whole structure presents a strange and weird appearance
— fairly indicated by the accompanying illustration, reproduced from
The Four-Track Ncics (New York) of January, 1904, by courtesy of the
publisher.

s* ly*-^

V-"

.«(3-

'5*-

Nearly 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
harmony 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 "iVncient Monuments in the United States." ^

100

For a very full and interesting account (with many illustrations)
of the "Serpent Alound," 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 AUeghan, Allegewi 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 (Delawares) and the ^lengwes,
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 w^hole 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, betw^een 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-
1600) 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,
INIohicans or Mohegans ; on the Delaware, as Lenni Lenapes ; in ^lary-
land, as Nanticokes ; in Virginia, as Powhatans, while the most southern
representatives of this family, or stock, w^ere the Shawanoes, Shawanese
or Shawnees, w^ho once lived on the Tennessee River, and were closely
related to the Mahikans of New York.

♦Seepages 97 and 102; also, Heckewelder's "Tradition of the I,enape Migration," in "Pennsylvania-
Colonial and Federal," 1 : 27.

t Daniel G, Brinton, in "Tlie I.,enape and their Legends" (188t).

101

Most of the tribes mentioned were agricultural, 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 iu 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 ability, a
bravery and a sense of right on a par with the famed heroes of antiquity."
Schoolcraft 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
period 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
* * * and by 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 Algonkins 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 Algonkin 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 Algonkin family in New York, but who finally
(about 1630) retired over the Highlands east of them into the valley of
the Housatonict ; (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 1857), 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." — Brinton.

X Many families of this tribe chose to live by themselves, fixing their abodes iu 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 New Jersey Historical Society, Second Series, V : 81.

102

Bay and the Atlantic (Jcean 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).
They 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 ver}- 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 Alississippi, where
they fell in with the Alengwes (later known as the Iroquois), who
had likewise migrated from a distant region. It was then that the
Lenapes and ]\Iengwes 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-
ually, 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 connnon 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
Lenape tradition;}: sets forth that, man}- hundred years before white men
came to America, a treaty of friendship was made by the Lenapes with
other Indian nations, and in memor}- 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 acknowledged by

* See "Report on Indians in the United Statesat the Eleventh Census," page 297 : "Transactions of the
Buffalo (N Y.) Historical Society," III: 102, 103; ijchoolcraffs "History of the Indian Tribes of the
Vnited States," page 177.

tSee pages 42, 81 and 100, ante.

^See "Report on Indians in the United Statesat the Eleventh Census," page 298.

103

William Fenii, afterwards by various Ph'itish g-enerals, later by General
Washington, and from that time down to about the year 1841 by every
Indian tribe in the North and East. It was understood to be still in
existence as late as 1-858. In presenting this belt at a grand coimcil
the Len^pe chief would always hold it out and ask if any one could
detect any change in the heart. Thereupon it would be passed 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 heart 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 Amsterdam in 1659 they are represented as occupy-
ing the valley of the Delaware from its source to its mouth, extending
westward to the Minquas, or Susquehannocks,* and eastward, under the
names of various local and totemic clans or bands,t 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 Minsis 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 territory
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 affiuents of the Delaware,
near where the city of Wilmington now stands.

The Rev. John Campanius, in his "History of New Sweden, "J
writing of the Lenapes about the year 1645, says :

* See page 38. fSee foot-note, page 101.

J "New Sweden," which comprehended certain parts of the present States of Delaware and Pennsyl-
vania, was the first permanent settlement bj' 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 sj-stematic 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 1648 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 yard
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 they 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 they 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. Thev can also tan
and prepare the skins of animals, which they 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 very well. With these they 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 very handsome and
strong mats of fine roots, which the}- 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
V)y 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. They 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.t They make them, other-
wise, of red, yellow 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
they 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 institittions, manners, etc., of the Lenapes, left among
his manuscripts a fragmentary "Essay upon Indian Affairs" — written
about 1763 — from which the following paragraphs have been taken :

"They [the Lenapes] 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. IMany 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.

* lyieut. Col. John Pri.vtz, Governor of New .Sweden from IftiS to 1653.
t See page 87. | See Chapter V, post.

Lenape Indian Famiia'.

From Campanius' "New Sweden.

105

"The only part of their bodies which they covered was from the waist half-way
down the thijjhs, and their feet they guarded with a kind of shoe made of the hide of
buffalo, or of deerskin, 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 b}- 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.
Soapstone 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
w^as the size of a squirrel's ear,' and raising also beans, pumpkins and a
few other vegetables."! 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.' They
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 wigwam^ 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. * * *

* It seems that the Sha-wanese Indians (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 Catiin, originally published in
his 'I^etters 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 Catiin 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.

Catiin 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 easily be
passed."

t "Pennsylvania — Colonial and Federal," I : 'J.

lor;

Lenape Palisaded Village.

From Canipanius' "New Sweden."

"One fact not yet con-
sidered inflnenced 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 creatnre —
no domestic animal. The
horse 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 exposure to sun
and w-eather. They 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 was not common."*

In the preceding pages (in particular, pages 39, 40, 81 and 100)
mention is frequently made of the JMengwes, Alingoes,"!' Iroquois or Five
— later the Six — Nations , and a brief account is given of the over-
throw and expulsion of the AUeghans 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 varioush-
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 gradually moved south-westward
along the shores of Lake Ontario and Lake Erie.

* "Pennsylvania — Colonial and Federal," I : 7, 11, 12.

f "The name 'Mingo.' or 'Mengwe,' by which the Iroquois were known to the Delawares and the
other southern Algonkins, is said to be a contraction of the Lendp6 word Mahonguii, meaning 'the
People of the Springs ' The Iroquois possessed the head-waters of the rivers which flowed through the
country of the Delawares." — H. Hale, in "The Iroquois Book of Rilesy

The Iroquois were also called at an early day "Maquas" and 'Massawomacs." (See "Report on
Indians at the Eleventh Census," pages .30 and 64'2 ; also, see foot-notes, pages 110 and 11'-', post.)

107

According to ^lorgaii/'' in his "Leagne of the Iroquois'' (edition of
1S51, page 4), the remote origin of the Mengvves, and their history
anterior to about the year IGOU (tlie era of the discoveries in this countr\-
b>- 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 St. 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 b}^ 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 thev formed onlv
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 Hnrons,t or Wyandots, including the
tribe called by the French '■'■Tiojwntates''' ("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, dw-elt
the Neutral Nation, so called from their neutrality in the war between
the Hurons and the Iroquois. They had their council-fires along the

* lyEWis H. Morgan was born at Aurora, N. 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
He often visited the New York Indians on their reservations, and was adopted by the Senecas. He ^
wrote many books on aboriginal life in America, but his "League of the Iroquois" is the best-known. "/^
This book was originally published in one volume at Rochester in 1851, and in spite of the fact that it
soon passed out of print, and that such competent critics as the late John Fiske pronounced it "the most
complete and trustworthy description of the civilization of the North American Indians that has yet
appeared," the work was never reprinted until 1902, when a very handsome edition in two volumes was
published in New York.

Francis W. Halsey (referred to on page 32, ante) 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 per\-ades every page
of it. Many other men have written about this ancient people, but none of the books approaches
Morgan's in originality of presentation, exhau.stive knowledge or intere.sting descriptions."

t See page 39.

^ Se^e. 'Ki'S •'At\ C-iC^rvtr :30C|(^T-^ l i^nl ^

108

Niagara River — principally on its western side. Far to the sonth of the
Iroqnois, on the Snsqnehanna River in Pennsylvania and Maryland,
were the Andastes or Snsqnehannocks,* and in X'irginia and North
Carolina, the Tnscarora 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
become 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-wc-dd)^'^ 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
o^rief the evils which aflflicted not onlv his own nation, but all the other
tribes about them, through the continual wars in which they were
enofasfed, and the misgovernment and miseries at home wdiich 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 effectuall}' to resist the pressure of conciguous 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 O-nun-da-ga-o-no ("People on
the Hills"), or Onondagas, the Niin-da-wa-o-7io ("Great Hill People"),
or Senecas, the 0-na-yote-ka-o-iio ("Granite People" ),| or Oneidas, and
the Gwe-ti-gweh-o-no ("People at the ]\Iucky 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 builditig 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 vipon earth in "the land of the Ojibways" 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 Iroquois 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 tricksj' Paupukkeewis."

\ "The People of the Stone," says Dr. Beauchamp.
g See note (t), page 81, ante.

109

The nations were at the time separate and hostile bands although of generic origin, and
were drawn together in council to deliberate upon the plan of a league. "■■' * * The-
traditions further inform us that the Confederacy as framed by this council, with its laws,
rules, inter-relationships of the people 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 which 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 b}' 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 'Great 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-ho'''\, 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 republic, 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
was a guaranty against despotism. " * ■'•' The mili-
tary organization of the League seems to have been not only 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 by the general name of "Mingoes"* —
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 system was a
universal spirit of aggression — a thirst for military glory and political

* In 1771>, 1782 and 1S32 certain Iroquois Indians — few in number — living on a branch of the Scioto-
River were officially denominated ".Mingoes.''

A-to-tar-ho.

110

aggrandizement, which made the old forests of America resound with
human 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 subjugated the Indians east of the
Connecticut River, however.

The Five Nations were, indeed, entitled to respect, not only
because of their fighting powers, but for their intelligence and long
start toward civilization. They were by far the most advanced of the
North American Indians. DeWitt Clinton denominated them "the
Romans of the Western World.''

"This empire of the Iroqtiois belongs not to remote antiquity, but is one of yester-
day. When we have gone back 400 j-ears everything beyond 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. The}- were master spirits, and the imperial nature
of their ambition quite rivals that of many white races. With 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. When 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 monarch}- 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 purely of the sword, or the bow and arrow and the tomahawk. It was purely
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 w-ere 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 highways 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 dusk}- warrior race
had marked out our territory as a land of empire. "+

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 ]\Iohawk River, a small part of the territory south of it
and nearly 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 iVmerican 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 ]\Iohawks, 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. Halsev, in The Nezu York Times Saturday Revie-i\ June 7, 1002.

t They were also called "Maquas." The ■<fio\A maqua has been translated as "bear" and as "nian-
■eater." See fnrther, fool-notes on pages lOti and 112.

West of the Oneidas the imperious Oiiondaoas, 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 Cayuga 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
Wayne, 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
■Sofiontozuanas^ or Mountaineers," says Hale).t Their territory extended
westward to the Genesee River, and was bounded on the north by Lake
Ontario, and on the south by the region occupied by the Gachoi, or
Gachoos. 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 Gwe-u-g7veth, "the Lake at the Mucky I^and."

fO. H. Marshall (in "Historical Writings," page 231) says : "The name 'Senecas' first appears on
a Dutch map of 1616. * * How this name originated is vexata quccstio among Indo-antiquariaus and
etymologists. The least plausible supposition is, that the name has any reference to the moralist Seneca.
Some have supposed it to be a corruption of the Dutch term for vermilion, or cinnabar, under the assump-
tion that the Senecas, being the mo.st 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 Koman 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, " Tsonontowans^ \
thatis, 'Rattlesnakes.' * * * The Senecas call themselves '7V!/«rfozt'a,' or 'People of the Hill,' from an
eminence at the head of Canandaigua I,ake, which is the locality of a popular allegory."

Dr. Keauchamp (previously mentioned), in an article on Indian names, published in the Syracuse
Journal in 1896, wrote : "The name of the Senecas is an old one (although not their own), first appear-
ing on the Dutch maps of 1614-1(5. 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 IVe-sin-ne, '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. Literally
they were devourers of their enemies."

.Says Heckewelder— quoting the Kev. C. Pyrljeus : "The Five Nations formerly did eat human flesh.
^Eio niacht ockquari,' said they, in devouring the whole body of a French soldier; which, being inter-
preted, is, 'human flesh tastes like bear's meat !' " — Hayden's '"The tf'yoming Massacre,^' page 33.

On the map on page 33, anie, and on the map of Penn.sylvania in Chapter V (l)oth of which were
published in 1756), it will be noticed that the territory at that time occupied by the Senecas is indicated
in these words : "Chenessies, Canasadages and Chena'ndoanes, called by the English Sexecas."

J Bulletin of tlie yeiv York State Museum, No. 32, page 12.5.

112

in the northern part of America." To insure their well-being in Canada
the French took the part of the Algonkins, and consequently 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, 1009, 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 the.se
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. Thus 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
i\Iissi.ssippi on the west. The Mohawk* war-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 mo\'ement 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 EleventJi Census^''
page 447.

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
fiercely. By 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 Ton pages lOti and UO) the Mohawks and the Iroquois were indiscriminately
called 'Maquas" by certain tribes of hostile Indians. This was no doubt due to the fact that the Mo-
hawks were for manv years more widely known as fierce and indomitable foes than any of the other
nations of the Iroquois Confederacy. In this respect they 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 page HI) : "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 "SV 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 e.xpressive of 'man-
eaters.' Roger Williams says that 'the Mauguaitogs, 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 early Algonkin names [Sinneke and Maqua], different in sound but similar in meaning, the Dutch
and English long designated all the Iroquois— the Maquas, 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, could not
have protected so wide a frontier without extraneous aid.

About the year 1670, after they had finally completed the dispersion
and subjugation of the Adirondacks and Hurons, the Five Nations
acquired possession of the whole country between the lakes Huron, Erie
and Ontario, and of the north bank of the St. Lawrence to the mouth 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 Eenapes, 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 returning to it again. While they labored in the fields
they were under perpetual apprehensions of being seized or killed or
carried to the Indian country, there to end their da}s in cruel torments.
They, 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 truly the men
whom a name they bore described, a word signifying men who surpassed all others.*
They 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 tributary-
States much after the manner of those which Rome conquered 2,000 years ago, or those
which England subdues in our da}-. In diplomacy the}- matched the white man from
Europe ; they had self-control, knowledge of human nature, tact and sagacity, and they
often became the arbiters in disputes between other peoples. * * Convinced that
they were born free, they bore themselves always with the pride which 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 essentially impregnable. An over-
whelming force alone could enter them ; artillery alone could destroy them. It was
virtually an empire that they reared, and this erripire 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 IF. Hahey.
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 Henry
VIII, or the rulers and
gospel-ministers of Salem
in later times.

"The 'medicine men'
and 'prophets' were as
acute deceivers, and as
despotic and alDsurd in
social life, as w-ere the
priests and oracles and
conjurers of the Civilized
Man in another hemi-
sphere. They tortured
Indians Torturing a Female Captive. their captive enemies, in

After a painting by Capt. s. Eastman, u. S. A. revenge for kindred slain ,

'(1856.) With almost as exquisite

* Schoolcraft, following Cadwallader Colden, saj-s the Iroquois "by a hyperbole 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 Ridle}' as unbelievers in
an utter absurdity." — Benson J. Lossing, in ''Our Barbariatt Brethreti,'' previously
mentioned.

At an early day there were located in what is now the south-eastern
part of the United States certain tribes who were believed to belong to the
Iroqnoian family of aboriginals. They 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 an}- 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
Meherrin (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-
wa3's 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 century
warriors. They do not appear to have
migrated from their orig-inal
seats in a body. In the year
1822 thev 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 land
there which had been at an
early date reserved for them.

The Tuscaroras, or Diis-ga-
o-iveh-o-no ("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 hy
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 hand.somelj' dressed for his picture. I had much conversation with him,
and became very much attached to him. He seemed to be 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 in 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/ //<? r<.'aj- a Chippeiuay." * *

The Chippewas, or Ojibways (of the Algonkian family), had migrated from the East to the banks of
the Mississippi Kiver late in the sixteenth "or early in the seventeenth centu^^^ I,ater they ranged over
the territorv' 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.

NoT-To-WAv ("The Thinker"),

a "Southern Iroquois" chief.f

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 noDiinal 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,"! but in the course of time they began to refer to themselves
as, and to be called by others, the "Six Nations."

"The uncertaintv 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 always 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.J' —
Thomas Donaldson^ in '-''Repoi^t on hidians at the Eleventli Census^
page U'y-

The ]\Iohawks, 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 "voung-er brothers" and were addressed as "children."
The historic center of the Confederacy was in what is now Onondaga
County, New York — although not always in the same locality, it being

* See "Documentan' History of the State of New York," I : 26; Morgan's "League of the Iroquois;"
L,arned's "History for Ready Reference," I : 92, and "Report on Indians at the Eleventh Census," page-JCl.

tin evidence of this see the Indian deed of Julj', 1754, in Chapter IV.

117

moved from place to place as necessity or convenience required. It was
known as Onondaga Castle, and from 175(3 to 1779, at least, was located
half a mile south of the present village 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 two corners, built in 1756 b}' 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 — one
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 powders 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
ud" and invested with his title bv 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.

tSee "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-River," "Falling-Day,"
"Dragging-His-Horns," "A-Man-with-the-Headache," "On-the-Watch" and "Wearing-a-Hatchet-in-His-
Belt."— "y?^/>o;-/ of the Smithsonian Institution for 1SS5," P. If, p. ISO.

lis

Colden • 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
stormy democracies of the Eastern Hemisphere. * * * The most remarkable differ-
ence existed between the Confederates and the other Indian nations with respect to
eloquence. You may 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 anj' 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 evidently 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 b}- making [presents of] useful or ornamental implements ; or
they 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 ? Who 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 ! ' * * * 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 wath Thomas Morris, and "Red
Jacket," with undue haste, had declared the council-fire covered up, the
women and the warriors interpcsed 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.:!;

"The Iroquois were universally lighter in complexion than any
other American Indians, and the iMohawks 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 aborigines.
A noted student of Indian life and character, Professor Donaldson,
explains it on purely physical grounds, which is doubtless the true view.
He says that for generations — even before the white man was known on
the.se shores — the Iroquois had lived in comfortable habitations, tilled
the soil, raised grain and fruits, and, generally speaking, had much

* See 'Xibran,' of American I,iterature," IV : 254.

+ "Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 188.5," 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 out' their complexions and endow
them with other physical advantages."*

"It would 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 diplomacy, the subtlest stratagems of war, and
all the arts of savage government, which they made subservient to the
gratification of an ambition as lofty and insatiable as that of the greatest
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 ordinary deed they frequentl}^ make use of a cross —
after the example of the illiterate amongst us — and sometimes their names. But in things
of much consequence they 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 'Canniah' and them-
selves 'Cainiiungaes.'W 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 numbers, and their political system much changed,
their intercourse with the more remote Indians is lessened, and their knowledge of
ancient usages decayed. They have in use as a symbol a tree, by which they would
express stability. But their true symbol is a stone, called 'Onoya' ; and they call them-
selves 'Onoyuts\

' 'The Onondagas, whose residences are forty miles farther, are somewdiat better
versed in the customs of their ancestors. They call themselves 'People of the Great
Mountain."! * * * The Cayugas have for their symbol a />z)!>^. The Senecas are the
most numerous and most distant of the Six Nations. They 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 they are saluted sachems. There are, however,
several exceptions, for some families have a kind of inheritance in the office, 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.

I See "Documentary History of the State of New York," IV : 270, 271.

II See page 110. If 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 ineuin and tuum ; and this from principle — holding theft in contempt, so
that they are rareh' 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 iinless 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 ver}' wordy, is extremely emphatical, and their stA'le
adorned with noble images and strong metaphors and equal in allegory to many of the
eastern nations. * * * It is curious to observe that they have various modes of speech
and phrases peculiar to each age and sex, which they strictly observe. For instance, a
man says, when 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, ^Caiitsoj-e,'' th.3i\.\s, 'I require spoon-meat.' * * *

' 'The figures which they affix 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 part}- 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 ]\Iohawks were the keepers of the eastern door of the " Long
House," and their business was to transmit mes.sages 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 hereditar}' sachem of the Mohawks who
"watched the door" was '•'•Dogaeoga?''

" 'A Mohawk ! a Mohawk I' was a cry of heart-withering terror ;
and when, in Queen Anne's reign, there aro.se a band of ruthless and
bloody ruffians in London, who seized and wantonly maimed their
victims, to designate them as supremelv savage they were called 'Mo-
hawks '!"t

♦See photo-illustration of deed in Chapter IV.

f See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," 1 : 120.

X Hayden's "The Massacre of Wyoming," page 32.

One of the "new inventions" of the L,ondon "Mohawks" was to roll persons down Snow Hill in a
tub ; another was to overturn coaches on rubbish heaps. A vivid picture of the misdoings in the streets
of London by these and other brawlers is given in The Spectator, No. 324. The following lines are from
"Plot Upon Plot," published in London 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 ago, when they had to
do with them ; and of these I have observed that their Christian
knowledge is nothing more than this, that the>- believe that our dear
Savior was born at Bethlehem in France, and that the English have
crucified him. Upon which account they are very much offended with
the English ; and one sees them make crosses, and such like ceremonies.
This is all I 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 IMohawks at
the eastern door. The title of the Seneca sachem whose particular duty
it was to watch the western door was Donehogaweh ("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 Gorham'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
ofcneral 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

North American Indians Generally.

The mattert thus prese;nted deals with conditions and describes
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
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
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, which, 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
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 227-230.

t Drawn largely from Lossing's "Our Barbarian Brethren," Catlin's "Letters and Notes" and "I<ast
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 188-5," and the "Annual Report of the United
States Commissioner of Indian Affairs, for 1902."

\ See pages 103 and 120.

123

were taken down easih- in a few minutes and readily transported
elsewhere by the Indian women, or squaws, whenever a change of
location was to be made.

The accompanying illustration is a reduced facsimile of a drawing
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 ]\Ir. Catlin, had been "some hundred years, perhaps, in
use." This wigwam w^as purchased from Indians in the West in 1832
by Mr. 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, wdth
upright walls covered
with bark. In peace
the nomadic villagre
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 were frequently
remote from each other, and in war 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 w^arrior set out to acquire new honors
or to meet death. To it he returned alive or his story 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 sometimes 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^^DonehogaweJi'''^^^' 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 militar}- 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 even.- 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 thev 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 very 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 youth 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 regular
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 saluta-
tions are courteously exchanged before the business of the council is
opened by the respective speakers. Whatexer jealousy or party .spirit
may exist in the tribe is carefully excluded from this dignified a.ssem-
blage, who.se 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 davs
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 harmony' 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
musical 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 with the numerous dances by which the Indians
amused themselves, celebrated some important event or performed
certain rites of worship or devotion. Some of these dances w^ere 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" w^as 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 ajDpeared 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, suddenly, 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 "Scaup Dance," as Seen in 18o2.

The foregoing illustration is a reduced facsimile of a drawing made
by George Catlin for his "Letters and Notes." It illustrates a "vScalp
Dance" witnessed by him in 1.S32 at the mouth of Teton River. The
following is Mr. 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 the}' do not actually join in the dance) by 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 every 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 night, under the glaring light of blazing flambeaux ; nor could all the years
allotted to mortal man in the least obliterate or deface the vivid impress that one scene of
this kind would leave upon his memory. " '

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 usually with the war-eagle's quills, but
often with the heads, tails and wings of beautifully plumaged birds.
Rogers, in his "Account of North America" (1706), 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 they 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 calumet 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 b}^ which the}' 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 treaty 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 styled savages,
had two inventions or usages which are ordinarily deemed the special
concomitants of an advanced civilization. The.se were a monetar}^ 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 Montreal in August,
1884, and was published in the Popular Science MontJily for January,
1886, I produced the evidence which seemed to me to show that the shell
money of North America was derived from the ancient tortoise-shell
money of China. This shell money preceded the metallic coins com-
monly known as casJi — 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 casJi 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."!

This shell money, known to lis as zuanipinn^ 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 highh' 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, verif3dng the words of the Book of
Proverbs — "the hand of the diligent maketh rich" — he who most assid-
uously sought 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 w-ampum 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.'''' iVdriaen
Van der Donck, in his "Description of the New Netherlands" (1653),
says that the species of sewant were black and wdiite ; "but the black is
w^orth more by one-half than the white. The black is made from conch-
shells which are to be taken from the sea, or wdiich 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 W'ith which any trafhc can be driven. ]\Iany thousand
strings are exchanged every year near the seashore, where the wampum
is only made, and where 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-
pum'' W'as 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 w-as barely possible for a man to produce wam-
pum having a money value equivalent to fifteen cents in present-day
money. Whether the work w^as done by the men or the women cannot
be knowm, 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 w^est 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 w^as coeval w-ith 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 English settlement in New England, he could not

*In "Wampum and Shell Articles," published iu 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 l,eague was organized by Hiawatha as
late as about the year 1600. See ut supra, pages 33S and 421 ; also, page 108, ante.

129

perhaps make better selection than their general eagerness to possess and display' large
quantities of wampum. It meant all to the Indian that money does to us, and infinitely
more. Not merely did it serve him as a medium of exchange and a standard of values,
but worn as an ornament it was his badge of wealth and position, in the hands of the
chiefs his record-book and ledger, and through the favor of the Great Spirit its possession
became in no small degree the passport to the happy hunting-grounds of the future world.
The use 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 use 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, but, as the Rhode
Island Colonial Records for 1662 say, "It is but 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 Ivong Island to obtain a stock of Indian money.

The use of wampum, 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 currenc}^ 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 — twenty stivers being equal to
one guilder, which 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 variet}^ 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 with 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, serv'ingas 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 affairs.
The chiefs of the villages are the depositories of them,
and communicate them to the young people, who thus
learn the history 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 b}- 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 early acquainted with all the affairs of the State,
and thus the contents of their documents are trans-
mitted to posterity, and cannot easih' be forgotten."

Strings of wampum served as credentials
for messengers and amba.ssadors 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-
times delivered and received in councils :

The "Pe-n'n" Belt.*

(By courtesy of the publishers
of "Pennsylvania— Colonial and
Federal.")

"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 cry of approbation. By this we were sure the speech was
well approved bj' the Indians. This cry is usually made on presenting wampum to the
Indians in a treaty, and is performed thvas : 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, 'rt'c/z ." dwelling some little while upon it, and keeping exact time with each

* A photo-illustration of the wampum belt delivered by the I^enni I,enape sachems to Williani Penn
at the "Great Treaty" of 1683, mentioned on pages 40 and 11.3. The original belt is now in possession of
The Historical Society of Penn.sylvania, at Philadelphia, to which it was presented in 18.37 by a great-
grandson of William Penn. It is a moderate-sized belt, composed of about 3,000 white and pvirple beads
arranged in eighteen rows.

131

other, and immediately, with a sharp noise and force, utter this sound — 'wtigh /' 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 wampum
belts were sometimes presented and rejected.

* * -X- i'li ^as aj^ 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 haughty
attitude, threw his eyes contemptuouslj^ over the commissioners 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 ; you can take which you
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 18.55 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 Rites" (1883), "Indian Migrations as Evidenced by Language" (1883), etc.

t George Rogers Clark was born in Albemarle County, Virginia, November 19, 1752, and died near
lyouisville, 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 l,ieutenant Colonel by the Governor of Virginia ; promoted Colonel December 14, 1778, and
promoted Brigadier General in 1781.' In November, 178'2, 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.

132

with a loud exclamation of astonishment, 'Hnghl' the Americans in expectation of a
hopeless conflict against overwhelming numbers. Every hand grasped a weapon.

"Clark alone was unawed. The expression of his countenance changed to a fero-
cious sternness and his eyes flashed, but otherwnse 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 they 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 w'eight 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 plainly 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 were 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 many battles, had shown
themselves to be men of true valor, quailed before the moral superiority which assumed the
vantage ground of a position the}- 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 (a £1, 5s., and 1,000 black (cv, £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.

Alorgan, 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
thous^hts communicated to one another as ours bv 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 wampinn, 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.' "

Eoskiel 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 they are meant to confirm. The brown or deep
violet, called black by the Indians, always means something of a severe
or doubtfnl import ; bnt 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 trnce or safe conduct in time of war. Even the
prisoner tied to the stake must be released to the person who should
thro\V 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 joint council could beheld. 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 contrary, they returned it, vengeance was
inevitable, and the victim willingly surrendered himself to his fate
—death."

*Mrs. Converse's grandfather was adopted by the Seneca Indians in 1792 and her father in 180i.
She was adopted by the family of the noted Seneca chief "Red Jacket" in 1S80, and in 1892 she was form-
allj^ elected a member of the Seneca tribe. She kept up her connection with the tribe— 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. Beanchamp — whose name is
so frequently mentioned in the preceding pages — we are able to present
the photo-reprodnctions of wampnm 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 wide, about thirty-five
inches long, contains over 12,000 beads and is the widest belt on record.
Concerning it Dr. Beanchamp writes : "Fanciful names have been
given it, which amount to nothing. It has been described as 'the second

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 dnst 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."

"11" in plate "A" is a companion belt to "I," made like it, but with
a different fisfure, and is the next widest belt known. It is thirteen and
one-half inches wide and contains forty-five rows of beads. Dr. Beau-
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-Jio. 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) statest 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 {^'•Donehogdweh'''') — "the last watcher of the west door of
the Confederacy of the Iroquois."J 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 an}- 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 Coimcil together, but they only proposed war.

"II" 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.

"HI" 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 beU was for many years in possession of
Mary Jameson, or Jemison, the celebrated white woman captive, and was
obtained from her descendants by Mrs. Converse.

"IV" is a fragment, seven inches long and two and three-fonrths
inches wide, of a pnrple belt without figures. The original belt was
given to Chief "Cornplanter" upon the occasion of the making of a
treatv 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 woman. 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 "/^ec^^," 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 by 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-

flowing river, the Indians wonld snpplement the paddle-propelling power
of their bark with a small sail, made of skins sewed together, or a
blanket, held up either by a sqnaw 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 along the sea-coasts and the large lakes and rivers
were abimdant 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 was set forth that
in those sections of the country where fish constituted an article of diet among the 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 family is about five."

138

-A ■>-.3-'^

Indian woman pounding corn with a stone
pestle suspended by a thong from the branch
of a tree.

(From an old engraving )

"In March and April she gathered the
year'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 followed. In every 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, Autumn and
earl)' 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-
gether until they 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 family 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 libertv.
Having reached the period of young-
womanhood the prettiest procurable cos-
tumes were given to her. Her moccasins
and leggings 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 physical 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

A typical Indian woman of
modern times.

red man.

]\Ianv writers hold that the Indian of earlier days was gifted

139

with a better and more symmetrical physique and greater "staying power"

than the white man. On this subject Catlin, writing in 1840, 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, "My 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 (1756-'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 City, 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
Roj'al Academy.

A number of West's most noted paintings are at present owned in this countrj-. 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. For a photo-illustration of this painting see Chapter X, post.

Thf, "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 world."

Of Indians who lived in this countr}- 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 will 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 o;irth — being- almost entirelv
free from corpulency or useless
flesh. Although generally nar-
row across the shoulders, and
less powerful with the arms than
well-developed white men, yet
they were by no means effemi-
nate or lacking in brachial
strength. Their bones were
lighter, their .skulls thinner and

' 'Little Wouxd."

An Oglala Sioux Chief. f

the

legs

and feet — than those of

their muscles less hard — excepting in
their civilized neighbors.

Catlin says : "Of muscular strength in the legs I have met
of the most extraordinary

^ - ^-^- many

instances in the Indian countrv that ever I

* Also, see Chapter XXV for a portrait of the famous Seneca chief "Red Jacket."

t At the Pan-.Araerican 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 visitors to their temporary village, enacted incidents and
scenes frorn Indian life. Several of the members of this "Congress" 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, 1890, there was an Indian uprising at Pine Ridge, due to excitement brought about by the
belief in the coming of an Indian Messiah, and owing to the suppression by 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 H.5 Indians were killed. Two daj'S afterwards the Sioux, under the
leadership of "Little W'ound,' " surrounded Col. J. W. Forsyth and a squadron of the 7th Cavalry in White
Claj- Canyon, and held them there until they were rescued by a squadron of the 9th Cavalry commanded
by Maj. Guy V. Henrj'.

"Little Wound." at the time of his sojourn in Buffalo, was a verj-aged man, and was called the "Patri-
arch of the Congress." Shortly before the close of the Exposition he died there. A full-length portrait
of "Little Wound," made in lSi)0, mav be seen in the "Report on Indians at the Eleventh Census," page
574-B.

141

"vSiTTiNG Bull."*

After a portrait painted by G. Gaul
in 1890.

have seen in my life, and I have watched
and studied such for hours together (with
utter surpri.se 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 downward
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, wath

* "Sitting Bull," for many years principal chief of the Dakota-Sioux, and "the most famous Indian
warrior of his time," was born about 1837. Having been driven from their reser\'ation 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 until 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 Resena-
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 1.5, 1890; but ahnost 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 Ston,' 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 We.stern 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 ofiicers in the annals of Indian warfare. From the present limits of Oklahoma almost to the
waters of the Pacific Ocean these Apaches, who had continually harassed the frontier settlers, were fol-
lowed, and only surrendered 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. t

By courtesy of the Editor of The
Melropoliian Magazine.

142

the want of expansion and apparent smallness of the Indians' eyes,
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
they 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 da}- 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 with 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 1844,4! 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 they
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 liead-

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. Geroninio is said to be ninety-three years old.

* See portraits of "little Wound" and "Sitting Bull."

+ See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 459 ; also, the last paragraph on page 104, ante.

\ See "Annual Report of the Smith.sonian Institution," 1885, Part II, page 147.

143

dress of the warrior. They boast of this mode of shaving their heads
to the part that is desired for the scalp-lock, saying 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 hunting 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* among 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 painted
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 Middle 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 enem^^'s country. In more recent times it has been noticed
that serious Indian outbreaks and uprisings have always been preceded
for mouths 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 "'Midewiwan^^'' or "Society of the Medeivin^^'' or "Grand
Medicine Society"! of the Ojibwa, or Chippewa, | Indians — a secret cult
bearing in some respects a very striking resemblance to Free Masonry —
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 '•'•Mideimwan''^ 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 with shells and dyed
porcupine quills, while 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.

f For some interesting references to this secret religious society see "Report on Indians at the
Eleventh Census," page 34t>.

t An Algonkian tribe, at one time very numerous and inhabiting the region along the shores of the
lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior. IMany of the tribe now reside In Minnesota and Canada.

§ See illustrations on pages 79 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 eaele 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 cha.se or in war w^ere 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, wdiich, 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 arrow^s w'ere carried in quivers, j. in form and
method not unlike tho.se 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 arrows-heads
have been found in the Wvomino- region — chieflv scattered over the
lowlands near the Susquehanna — wdiere they had lain undisturbed for
many years 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. X See page 104.

Group of arrow-heads,
or "points."

One -half the size of
the originals.

^ I — I

S3 -^

- C

n' >

2 50

C O

__ S :;

2 K

r < 5C

I —

2 Z

. . :\ I

■■

1 l,(.n _ ;_ _

)

145

out of the ground by the river at the time of a freshet, or at other times
are turned up by 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 every tribe there must
have been skillful workmen who were kept constantly employed in
supplying the large demand for these necessary implements. This
work was certainly not easy, and could not be done by 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
those 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 possibl}' 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 '\\.s 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 3'ielding 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 they 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 (mystery) 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 when the several tribes fought with

* For an interesting illustrated article relative to Indian arrow and spear-heads, their manufacture,
etc., see "The Stone Age" in "Proceedings and Collections of the Wyoming Historical Society," VIII : 93
— being a paper read before the Society by Christopher Wren, Esq., of Plymouth, 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 usually began his wars against the whites by the
murder of w^omen 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 wathin 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 murdered 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 — w^as 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 forty 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 cruelty, w^ere principles of war
grained in the very nature of the American savage. For 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 unsuspecting hamlet of peaceful settlers.
If compelled to fight with armed troops, it was not in pitched battle,
but rather by ambuscade and perhaps with feigned retreat. The more
ingenious the trick, the greater the glory. Piskaret, the Alonkin,
whose 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 night 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, when
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.f At other
times, when they 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-soimded note, on
a high key, given out with 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 allowed to be given among the Indians except in battle,
or in the war 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 who had been only
wounded or stunned, and who ultimatel}^ recovered from the effects 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 Wyoming Valley, 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 white 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 wdiich they found a fresh made grave in which lay an

* "Indian War in the Colonies." By Edward Eggleston, in The Century Magazine^ XXVI : 709 (Sep-
tember, 18.S3).

fSee "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 746.

148

Indian who had been shot. * * They disco\-ered him to be a French
]\Ioha\vk 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 by all the North American Indians —
which is done, when an eneni}' 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
off 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 only removes the skin without injuring the bone of the head ; and,
necessarily, to be a genuine scalp, must contain and show the crown or center of the head
— that part of the skin which lies directlj- over what phrenologists call the 'bump of self-
esteem,' where the hair divides and radiates from the center.

* * * "The scalp, then, is a patch of the skin taken from the head of an enemy
killed in battle, and preser\-ed 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 by the blow of a weapon or a gun-shot,
and the Indian, rushing over his bod}-, snatches off his scalp, supposing him to be dead.
* * The scalp must be from the head of an enemy also, or it subjects its pos.sessor 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 seams of his shirt and his lesjcrings."

"The Captive."

From a painting by W. P. Saiirwen.

When a war-party tnrned homeward from a successful expedition,
one of 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, pre^•iou.sly described, took
place.

When, in time of war, an Indian was tak(m 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 humiliated, tormented and deprived of his life in the
most public and cruel manner. There was continual exposure to suffer-
ing at the hands of enemies ; and so, from earliest childhood, the Indian
was tauofht — as were the ancient Romans — never to betrav weakness
before an enemy, 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* body, 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.| 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 way. Famine was a com-
mon attendant on these hurried marches. The Indians, when they
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 the cravings of the latter.

* Philip, otherwise "Melacum," chief sachem of the Wampanoag tribe of Indians in New England.
He was the son and successor of Massasoil, and is known in history as "King Philip — the most wily and
sagacious Indian of his time" (1675).

t "Indian War in the Colonies." By Edward Eggleston, in The Century Magazine, XXVI : 709.
X See "The Journal of Christian Fr. Post" (1758).

150

Added to all these circumstances were restless anxieties of mind ;
retrospections of past scenes of pleasure ; remembrances of dear and
distant friends ; bereavements experienced at the beginning or during
the progress of the captivity ; daily apprehensions of death either by
famine or savage captors, and the more obvious hardships of traveling
barefooted and half naked across pathless deserts, over craggy mountains
and through dismal swamps, exposed by day and night in Winter to
frost, snow or rain, and in Summer to various bodily discomforts.

Arriving at the Indian towm or encampment to which the war-
party belonged, each prisoner was required to run the gantlet. This
took place in the open, in the midst of the assembled members of the
tribe or band, each one of w^hom — even to the children — endeavored,
with a switch or club or something equally as effective, to smartly
strike the prisoner as he scurried through the narrow, living lane in
an effort to reach the shelter of one of the cabins or wigwams of the
village, where, for a time at least, he w^ould be entitled to protection
and permitted to receive necessary food and drink. Female prisoners
were never required to run the gantlet.

In the treatment of prisoners in many tribes they were in the habit
of inflicting the most appalling tortures. Hot stones w-ere applied to
the soles of the feet ; needles were run into the eyes (this cruelty being
generally performed by the women) ; arrows were shot into the body,
pulled out and then shot again — this usually by the children. These
tortures were continued for two or three days, provided the victim could
be kept alive so long. If a captive proved refractory, or w^as known to
have been instrumental to the death of an Indian, or was related to any
one who had been, he was tortured with a lingering punishment, gener-
ally at the stake, while the other captives looked on with fear and
trembling. Sometimes a fire would be kindled and a threatening given
out against one or more — though there was no intention to sacrifice
them, but only to make sport of their terrors. The young Indians often
took advantage of the absence of their elders to treat the captives in-
humanly, and when inquiry was made into the matter the sufferers
either remained silent, or treated the incident lightly, in order to pre-
vent worse treatment in the future.

If a captive should appear sad and dejected, he was sure to meet
with insult ; but if he could sing and dance and laugh with his captors
he was caressed as a brother. Some captives were given over to Indians
to be adopted into their familes, to take the places of members who had
died or been killed ; others w^ere hired out by their Indian captors and
owners to service, or were sold outright as slaves, among the Canadians.
A sale among the French in Canada was to a captive the most happy
event that could happen — next to his escape from captivity and safe
return home to family and friends.

"Among the customs, or, indeed, common laws, of the Indian tribes,
one of the most remarkable and interesting was the adoption of prisoners.
This right belonged more particularly to the females than to the war-
riors, and well was it for the prisoners that the election depended rather
upon the voice of the mother than on that of the father, as innumerable
lives were thus spared that otherwise would have been immolated by
the warriors." If an Indian had lost a relative a prisoner, bought for a
gun, a hatchet or a few skins, must supply the place of the deceased,

151

and be the father, Ijrother or son of the purchaser ; and the captive who
could accommodate himself to the new conditions — who assumed a
cheerful aspect, entered into the mode of life of the Indians, learned
their language and, in brief, acted as if he actually considered himself
adopted — was treated with the same kindness that would have been
shown the individual in whose place he was substituted, and all hard-
ships not incident to the Indian mode of life were removed. But, if this
change of relation operated as an amelioration of conditions in the life
of the prisoner, it rendered ransom extremely difficult in all cases, and
in some instances precluded it altogether.

It is a remarkable fact, well proved by many historical instances,
that, during the wars — particularly in the seventeenth and eighteenth
centuries — between the whites and the Indians, no woman held captive
by the latter was ever treated by them with immodesty or indecency.
Defenceless, helpless women — at their homes as well as in captivity —
were subjected by Indians to fiendish mental and physical tortures,
and sometimes were put to death and scalped ; but no instance is
known of a violation of the chastity of any of the women ever held as
captives by Indians. It was a happy circumstance for such captives that,
in the midst of all their distresses, thev had no reason to fear from a
savage foe the perpetration of a crime which has too frequently dis-
graced not only the personal but the national character of those who
make large pretences to civilization and humanity.

Charlevoix, in his early account of the Indians of Canada, wrote :
"There is no example that any have ever taken the least liberty with the
French women, even when they were their prisoners." Mary Rowland-
son, who was captured at Lancaster, Massachusetts, in 1675, has this
passage in her narrative : "I have been in the midst of these roaring-
lions and savage bears — that feared neither God nor man nor the devil
— by day and night, alone and in company, sleeping all sorts together, and
yet not one of them ever offered me the least abuse of unchastity in word
or action." Elizabeth Hanson, who was taken prisoner from Dover,
New Hampshire, in 1724, testifies in her narrative that "the Indians are
very civil toward their captive women, not offering any incivility by
any indecent carriage." William Fleming, who was taken prisoner in
Pennsylvania in 1755, said the Indians told him that "he need not be
afraid of their abusing his wife, for they would not do it for fear of
offending their god — for the man that affronts his god will surely be
killed when he goes to war." Fleming further said that "one of the
Indians gave his wife a shift and petticoat which he had among his
plunder, and though he was alone with her, yet he turned his back and
went to some distance while she put them on."

Dr. Charles A. Eastman, a genuine Sioux Indian, a graduate of
Dartmouth College and a gentleman of intelligence and culture, said not
long since that "the North American Indian is the most picturesque
and interesting uncivilized man who has ever lived." This is without
doubt a fact ; but furthermore '•'•Jie is an enigma''' — as was stated more
than a hundred years ago, in a report to U Acadhnie Francaisc written
by a competent and famous investigator. And, in the sense that what-
soever is puzzling and inexplicable is enigmatic, the Indian, an enigma
at first, is a much greater enigma the more his life and character are
examined. The truth of this statement will be made very apparent to

ir,2

any one who will dip into some of the numerons books and essays relat-
ing to North American Indians which are referred to in the forepart of
this chapter.

For a generation or more there has been a disposition among some
writers, and a very general tendency among professional soldiers and
"Indian-fighters," to reject the old traditions and beliefs regarding "the
noble red men of the forest" — that is, the red men more particnlarly
who dwelt on this continent in the seventeenth and eighteenth centnries ;
and in the meantime the people generally have become familiar with the
adage (originated, it is said, by a distinguished General in the United
States Army) that "the only good Indian is a dead Indian." We ought
to be reminded, however, that the bad Indian of to-day is in part the
creation of the white man, whose vices have degraded him and whose
greed has impoverished him. The white man early initiated the Indian
into the mystery of drunkenness, for it is nowhere recorded that the
latter had an intoxicant prior to the time the Europeans first met him.
Cursing and swearing were among the first things learned from the
white man, whose peculiarly vicious expressions were at the same time
adopted ; for, relying npon his own language, the Indian could not in-
dulge in the practice of profanity. Smallpox and certain other loath-
some diseases were also the white man's contribution to his red brother's
ills. Then, thirty-five or forty years ago, "the dirt, disease and dis-
honesty of the alcoholic civilization of the West" of that period did their
work, and so the reservation Indian of our time is in a transition stage.
He has lost, or is losing, his own virtues, and has not yet acquired those
of the white man. The old-fashioned, wild, pagan Indian, before he
was tamed, was far superior to the "blanket" Indian of to-day as a type
of the American aboriginal.

Palfrey maintains in his "History of New England" — and some sub-
sequent writers agree with him — that the Indians, being "a cowardly
lot," were paralyzed into comparative inactivity by the evident superi-
ority of the wdiites. This view of the case does not seem to be borne
out by the facts of recorded history, and the majority of those writers,
early and late, who had personal knowledge of the Indians did not look
at the matter in this light.

One of the distinguished national traits of the American Indian,
that stamped his character as so mentally snperior to that of the African
and some other races, was his inalienable and imcompromising tenacity
of unbounded freedom in all matters and nnder all circumstances. And
so it was that, inured from infancy to the severest vicissitudes, and
fortified by savage maxims from age to age, the Indian was not possessed
of very lively sensibilities, and acts of harshness, cruelty and injustice —
inroads and impositions upon his right of freedom — only served to in-
furiate and embitter him. "The Indian, of necessity, had to give way
to the progress of the age. His game preserves — the vast area of land
over which the buffalo roamed — began to feel the influence of a nation's
growth. Game became scarce, and then Indian food and clothing were
more difficult to obtain. The Indian, a wild man pure and simple — in-
genious, it is true, and, for his surroundings and conditions, more so
than most white men — could not (and does not) realize the necessity for
change. * * * jjg ^yas a good man until something he did not like
or understand occurred, and then the wild man became alive child of the

153

plains. He roamed as free as air, and withont restraint. The in-
closures of civilized life were the end of his old methods and customs,
and the smoke of the settler's cabin the doom of his freedom. He met
what to him was death, with bloody and fierce resistance." Bnt yet,
claims Catlin, the Indians were a people not only human by nature, but
Jmniaiic. and "thev evinced a deo-ree of submission and forbearance that
would be a virtue and an honor for an}- race."

At the beginning the)' were a hospitable and kindh- race, who
would have scorned to attack strangers. The leading authorities point
out that nearly all the European adventurers, who sailed along the
eastern coast of North America during the first century after Columbus,
reported the natives as peaceable and kind when not misused. Ponce
de Leon, on his first visit to Florida, was hospitably received by the red
men. It w^as only on his second visit, when the atrocious treatment of
the natives of Cuba by the Spaniards had become known on the neigh-
boring mainland, that he and his followers were set upon and driven
from the peninsula. It is well known that the French — who were more
just, sympathetic and politic in their attitude toward the aborigines than
were the English — had but little trouble with the red men in Canada ;
while, for more than seventy years after William Penn concluded his
"Great Treaty" with the Indians at Shackamaxon, not a war-whoop was
sounded in Pennsylvania. In a word, the animosity and cruelty ex-
hibited bv Indians toward white men durino- most of the last one
hundred and fifty years is the outcome of desperation, the natural, in-
evitable result of the faithless and cruel treatment received by them at
the hands of the greater part of the English colonists, and of their
descendants, the citizens of the United States.*

In the judgment of the present writer the most intelligent and best-
informed men and women — both of past and present times — who have
written honestly and with understanding and discernment about the
North American Indian, have concurred in the opinion that, before he
had come much in contact with the white man, he was brave, indus-
trious and strictly honest. Lying was so despised that habitual caution
in speech has always been the Indian's rule. He was faithful in friend-
ship and to family and tribal ties ; self-respecting, hospitable, light-
hearted and mirth-loving. Heckewelder (mentioned on page 42) viewed
the Indians in a very favorable light. He gives, in his various publica-
tions, instances of kindness so disinterested and of generosity so noble
and chivalrous, on the part of the uncorrupted Indians, as to excite our
admiration and win our applause. When we read his descriptions of the
sincerity and lasting nature of their friendship, their simple-hearted
hospitality and their commanding greatness of mind, we are compelled,
despite our horror at their cruelties and repugnance to their savage mode
of life, to deplore their hard fate and pity their misfortunes.

Turner, in his "Pioneer History of the Holland Purchase of West-
ern New York" (Buffalo, 1849), wrote :

"Nowhere in a long career of discovery, of enterprise and extension of empire,
have Europeans found natives of the soil with as many of the noblest attributes of
humanity — moral and phj^sical elements which, if they could not have been blended with
ours, could have maintained a separate existence and been fostered by the proximity of
civilization and the arts. Everywhere when first approached by our race, they welcomed

*I,ieut. Gen. W. T. Sherman, U.S. A., in an official communication made in August, 1868, said : "The
co-existence of two races such as ours and the Indian in the same district of country is a simple impos-
sibility, without a constant state of vnair:'-- Harper's Magazine, XL : 7S.'i.

154

us and made demonstrations of friendship and peace. Savage as thej- were usually called,
savage as they may have been in their assaults and wars upon each other, there is no act
of theirs recorded in the history of our early settlements and colonization of this new
world, of wrong or outrage, that was not provoked by assault, treachery or deception —
breaches of the hospitality which they had extended to us as strangers in a bare and
foreign land. Whatever of savage character the}' ma^- have possessed, so far as our race
was concerned, it was dormant until aroused to action by assault, or treachery of intruders
upon their soil, whom they had met and treated as friends. ' '

George Catlin, some years after his death, was charged b}- the
writer of a Government report* with having "permitted his s}'mpathy
for the Indian to warp his judgment." "^Ir. Catlin/' said the writer,
"saw but the man. He queried not at policies. His plea was humanity.
His creed never changed. =;=*=;= jvJq one has had the courage as
yet to publicl}- defend all the acts of the nation against the Indian. It
would be a bold act in any person to even attempt it. But Air. Catlin
took the sentimental side of the Indian question in the matter of state
policy until the day of his death. His creed was theory or opinion
deduced from a most delightful eight years with the Indians.''

Because of the length of time spent by !Mr. Catlin among the
Indians, carefully observing and endeavoring to understand their customs
of life and traits of character ; because he had come in contact with so
many Indians (forty-eight tribes, as previously mentioned) in almost all
parts of this continent ; because he was a native of, and spent several
years of his early manhood in, Wyoming Valley (where he learned well
the story of Indian customs and cruelties that had been practised in this
region in the lifetime of many of his friends and relatives, and upon the
persons of some of them), and because he was an intelligent, honorable.
God-fearing man, the present writer is firm in the belief that the
"creed," or "theory," or "opinion," of George Catlin — as well as the vast
amount of information obtained and recorded bv him — regfarding- the
North American Indians, was and is of value. Although we have
already quoted many paragraphs from the writings of Mr. Catlin, we
will here introduce a portion of his "Indian Creed" written in 18(38 :t

"I have had some unfriendly denunciations by the press, and by those critics I
have been reproachfully designated the 'Indian-loving Catlin.' What of this? What
have I to answer? Have I any apology to make for loving the Indians? The Indians
have always loved me, and why should I not love the Indians?

"I love the people who have always made me welcome to the best they had.

"I love a people who are honest without laws, who have no jails and no poor-
houses.

"I love a people who keep the Commandments without ever having read them or
heard them preached from the pulpit.

"I love a people wdio never swear, who never take the name of God in vain.

"I love a people who love their neighbors as they love themselves.

"I love a people who worship God without a Bible, for I believe that God loves
them also.

' 'I love the people whose religion is all the same, and who are free from religious
animosities.

"I love a people who have never raised a hand against me, or stolen my property,
where there was no law to punish them for either.

"I love the people who never have fought a battle with white men except on their
own ground.

"I love and don't fear mankind where God has made and left them, for they are
children.

"I love a people who live and keep what is their own without locks and ke3-s.

"I love all people who do the best they can — and, oh ! how I love a people who
don't live for the love of money.

* * * I was luckily born in time to see these people in their native dignity and
beauty and independence, and to be a living witness to the cruelties with which they have

* "Annual Report of the Board of Regents of the Smithsonian Institution, to July, 18.S5," II : 737-789.
t See his "I.ast Rambles," referred to on pages 84 and So, ante.

155

been treated worse than dogs, and now to be treated worse than wolves. And in my
former publications I have predicted just what is now taking place— that in their thrown
and hunted down condition the future 'gallopers' across the Plains and Rocky Mountains
would see here and there the scattered and starving and begging and haggard remnants
of these once proud and handsome people, [and would] represent them in their en-
tailed misery and wretchedness as 'the Sioux,' 'the Cheyennes, ' 'the Osages, ' etc., and
me, of course, as a liar." * * *

Catlin was not the only man of his time who wrote and spoke
enthusiastically and eulogistically of the Indian. Many other Amer-
icans of that period, and some of earlier as well as later times — and
nearly all of them men of knowledge and ability — raised their voices
and wielded their pens in behalf of the Indian. We would like to in-
troduce here a number of extracts from some of the eloquent tributes
and appeals referred to, but lack of space prohibits the insertion of more
than the two following — which are from addresses delivered in the year
preceding that in which Catlin began his work among the Indians. The
following is from an address entitled "Character and Fate of the Amer-
ican Indians," delivered by the Hon. Joseph Story* before the Essex
(Massachusetts) Historical Society, September 18, 1828.

"In the fate of the aborigines of our country — the American Indians — there is, my
friends, much to awaken our sympathy, and much to disturb the sobriety of our judg-
ments ; much which may be urged to excuse their own atrocities ; much in their charac-
ters which betrays vis into an involuntary admiration. What can be more melancholy
than their history ? Two centuries ago the smoke of their wigwams and the fires of their
councils rose in every valley from Hudson's Bay to the farthest Florida — from the ocean
to the Mississippi and the lakes. The shouts of victory and the war-dance rang through
the mountains and the glades. The thick arrows and the deadly tomahawk whistled
through the forests, and the hunter's trace and the dark encampment startled the wild
beasts in their lairs. The warriors stood forth in their glory. The young listened to the
songs of other days. The mothers played with their infants, and gazed on the scene with
warm hopes of the future. The aged sat down, but they wept not. They would soon be
at rest in fairer regions— where the Great Spirit dwelt — in a home prepared for the brave
beyond the western skies. Braver men never lived ; truer men never drew the bow.
They had courage and fortitude and sagacity and perseverance beyond most of the human
race. They shrank from no dangers, and they feared no hardships. If they had the
vices of savage life, they had the virtues also. They were true to their country, their
friends and their homes. If they forgave not injury, neither did they forget kindness.
If their vengeance was terrible, their fidelity and generosity were unconquerable also.
Their love, like their hate, stopped not on this side of the grave.

"But where are they? Where are the villages and warriors and youth? The
sachems and the tribes ? The hunters and their families ? They have perished ! They
are consumed ! The wasting pestilence has not alone done the mighty work. No ! nor
famine nor war ! There has been a mightier power, a moral canker, which hath eaten
into their heart-cores — a plague, which the touch of the white man communicated — a
poison, which betrayed them into a lingering ruin. The winds of the Atlantic fan not a
single region which they may now call their own. Already the last feeble remnants of
the race are preparing for their journey beyond the Mississippi. I see them leave their
miserable homes — the aged, the helpless, the women and the warriors— 'few and faint,
yet fearless still.' The ashes are cold on their native hearths. The smoke no longer
curls round their lowly cabins. They move on with a slow, unsteady step. The white
man is upon their heels, for terror or despatch ; but they heed him not. They turn to
take a last look of their deserted villages. They cast a last glance upon the graves of
their fathers. They shed no tears ; they utter no cries ; they heave no groans. There is
something in their hearts which passes speech. There is something in their looks — not
of vengeance or submission, but of hard necessity, which stifles both ; which chokes all
utterance ; which has no aim or method. It is courage absorbed in despair ! They
linger but for a moment. Their look is onward. They have passed the fatal stream.
* * They know and feel that there is for them still one remove farther — not distant nor
unseen. It is to the general burial-ground of their race."

♦JOSEPH Story was born at Marblehead, Massachusetts, September IS, 1779, and died September 10,
1845. He was graduated at Harvard University in 1798, and was admitted to the bar in 1801. From 1811
until his death he was an Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States. In 1829 he became
Professor of Law at Harvard. He was the author of "Commentaries on the Constitution of the United
States," "Equity Jurisprudence," "The Conflict of I^aws," and other important works.

156

The following paragraphs are from an address entitled "Aboriginals
of New England," delivered by the Rev. William B. Sprague, S. T. D.*

-s * * "Here the wigwam blaze beamed on the tender and helpless, the council-
fire glared on the wise and daring. Now they dipped their noble limbs in your sedgy
lakes, and now they paddled the light canoe along your rocky shores. Here they warred.
The echoing whoop, the bloody grapple, the def3-ing death-song — all were here ; and when
the tiger strife was over, here curled the smoke of peace. Here, too, they worshipped ;
and from many a dark bosom went up a pure prayer to the Great Spirit. He had not
written His laws for them on tables of stone, but He had traced them on the tables of
their hearts. The poor child of Nature knew not the God of Revelation, but the God of
the Universe he acknowledged in everything around. He beheld him in the star that
sank in beauty behind his lonely dwelling ; in the sacred orb that flamed on him from
his midday throne ; in the flower that snapped in the morning breeze ; in the lofty pine
that defied a thousand whirlwinds ; in the timid warbler that never left its native grove ;
in the fearless eagle whose untired pinion was wet in the clouds ; in the worm that
crawled at his foot, and in his own matchless form, glowing with a spark of that light
to whose mysterious source he bent in humble, though blind, adoration.

"And all this has passed away. Across the ocean came a pilgrim bark bearing the
seeds of life and death. The former were sown for you ; the latter sprang up in the path
of the simple native. Two hundred years have changed the character of a great con-
tinent, and blotted forever from its face a whole, peculiar people. Art has usurped the
bowers of Nature, and the anointed children of education have been too powerful for the
tribes of the ignorant. Here and there a stricken few remain, but how unlike their bold,
untamable progenitors ! The Indian of falcon glance and lion bearing, the theme of the
touching ballad, the hero of the pathetic tale, is gone ; and his degraded offspring crawl
upon the soil, where he walked in majesty, to remind us how miserable is man when the
foot of the conqueror is on his neck.

"As a race they have withered from the land. Their arrows are broken, their
springs are dried up, their cabins are in the dust. Their council-fire has long since gone
out on the shore, and their war-cry is fast d3'ing to the untrodden west. Slowly and
sadly they climb the distant mountains and read their doom in the setting sun. They
are shrinking before the mighty tide which is pressing them awa}- ; the}' must soon hear
the roar of the last wave which will settle over them forever. Ages hence the inquisitive
white man, as he stands by some growing city, will ponder on the structure of their
disturbed remains and wonder to what manner of persons the}' belonged. They will live
only in the songs and chronicles of their exterminators. Let these be faithful to their
rude virtues as men, and pay due tribute to their unhappy fate as a people."

When the Confederation of the American Colonies was formed in
September, 1774, the Indians of the country became a charge, and under
the control, of the Continental Congress ; and in June, 1775, three
departments of Indian affairs were created by the Congress. The first,
known as the Northern Department, embraced the Indians of the Six
Nations and all Indians northward of them ; the Southern Department
included the Cherokees (then and for a long time previously settled in
Georgia) and all Indians south of them, while the ^Middle Department
included all the Indian nations inhabiting the country lying between the
other two departments. The affairs of each department were attended to
by a board of commissioners, who were empowered to make treaties and
were supplied with money for the purchase of presents to be made and for
other expenses. This s^-stem was adopted and put into operation, not for
the purpose of ameliorating the condition of the Indians, but simply in
order that peace with them might be preserved during an anticipated
period of trouble between the Colonies and the mother country.

In March, 1778, the Continental Congress first authorized the em-
ployment of Indians in the army, "if General Washington thinks it
prudent and proper ; " and later in the same year the first formal treaty
was made between the United States and an Indian tribe — the Dela-
wares. The treaty system thus inaugurated — by and between the

* William B. Sprague was born in October, 1795. From 1S29 to 1869 he was pastor of the Second
Presbyterian Church, Albany, New York. In 1828 he received the degree of S. T. D. from Columbia
College. He was the author of more than one hundred published sermons, memoirs, addresses and
cs-says.

157

United States (b)' its coiiiinissioners) and the various Indian tribes as
separate and independent nations — continued until the year 1869,
resulting- in about 380 treaties and almost endless confusion. Then
Congress ordered that the making of such treaties should be stopped,
and thenceforward the Indians of the United States (with the exception
of those in Alaska) have been regarded and treated as "wards of the
Nation." Indirectly at first, and then directly, the affairs of the Indians
were under the supervision and management of the Department of War
from 1787 till 1849, wdien the Bureau of Indian Affairs was transferred
to the Department of the Interior, where it is now known as the "Office
of Indian Affairs," is presided over by a "Commissioner" (who is subor-
dinate to the Secretary of the Interior), and "has charge of the Indian
tribes of the United States (exclusive of Alaska), their lands, moneys,
schools, purchase of supplies, and general welfare."

Since the year 1794, by means of treaties, purchases and executive
orders made in pursuance of Acts of Congress, reservations in various
parts of the United States have been from time to Hme erected for the
use and occupancy of particular tribes or nations of Indians, and they
have been required to live thereon. These reservations, as they exist
now, are domains ranging in area from 350 to 9,442,240 acres within
the bounds of certain States and Territories. When occupied they are
under the absolute control of United States Indian Agents, who are
supervised and directed by the Commissioner of Indian Affairs. For a
good many years — particularly during the time that the Department of
War had the supervision of Indian affairs — many of the Indian Agents
were United States Army officers, drawn from the active as well as the
retired list of the Arm}-. But the reservation system — even with trained
military officers as Agents — did not, of course, put a stop to Indian out-
breaks, and whenever they occurred the strong militar)' arm of the
Government was used to quell them and to punish with severity the law-
less and refractory "wards of the Nation." Finally, in December, 1869,
President Grant, in his annual message to Congress, wrote :

"From the foundation of the Government to the present time the management of
the original inhabitants of this continent, the Indians, has been a subject of embarrass-
ment and expense, and has been attended with continuous robberies, murders and wars.
From my own experience, upon the frontier and in Indian countries, I do not hold either
legislation or the conduct of the wliites luho come most in contact with the Indians blafne-
less for these hostilities. * * * I have adopted a new policy towards these wards of
the Nation (they cannot be regarded in any other light than as wards), with fair results
so far as tried, and which I hope will be attended ultimately with great success."

The policy of President Grant became known as the "peace policy,"
and in it he was aided by the representatives of various religious denom-
inations. The entire Indian population was apportioned out, and a large
number of Indian Agents having been named by eleven different relig-
ious bodies were duly appointed by the President.

In January, 1882, Gen. W. T. Sherman wrote as follows to Col.
R. I. Dodge :

"In the treatment b}' the National Government of the Indians, the military and
civil officers of the Government have generally been diametrically opposed. The former
(the military) believing the Indians to be as children, needing counsel, advice and
example, coupled with a force which commands respect and obedience from a sense of
fear. The latter (the civilian), trusting mostly to moral suasion and religious instruction.
The absolute proof produced by you that the Indian has a strong religious bias, but is
absolutely devoid of a moral sense as connected with religion, more than ever convinces
me that the military authorities of the United States are better qnalified to guide the

158

steps of the Indian towards that conclusion which we all desire — self-support and peace-
ful relations with his neighbors — than the civilian agents, most of whom are members of
some one of our Christian Churches."*

Time demonstrated that the civilizing of the Indian is one thing,
the christianizing another, and that civilization and christianization did
not seem to work well when taught and enforced by the denominational
Agents. Therefore, after a few years of trial this polic}' was abandoned,
and since then Agents have been appointed by the President without
reeard to the recommendations of relis^ious bodies.

According to a decision of a Judge of the United States District
Court for Nebraska, rendered in 1879, the "Indian is a person within
the meaning of the laws of the United States • * * * and Indians
possess the inherent right of expatriation as well as the more fortunate
white race, and have the inalienable right to 'life, liberty and the pursuit
of happiness' so long as they obey the laws." This decision was never
reversed, but still by law and Government practice the Indian continued
to be looked upon as "a Avard of the Nation" and so treated. The
United States Courts early decided that the Indian was not the owner
of the soil he occupied, and that he was incompetent to transfer any
rights to that soil.

When the reservation system was first introduced, and for some years
thereafter, each of the reservations was for the exclusive use, in common^
of the members of the particular tribe or tribes assigned to it ; or, in
other words, definite areas of the lands comprising the reser\'ation were
not allotted to the Indians in severalty. P'rom time to time, however —
particularly in very recent years — millions of acres lying within the
bounds of various reservations have been allotted to the Indians occupy-
ing the same ; and when further allotments, for which arrangements are
now under way, shall have been made, about two-thirds of the Indians
in the United States (exclusive of Alaska) will have been provided for
in this manner.

Under the reservation system nothing on the reservation is the
subject of taxation, and the nonallotted Indians are not citizens ; but
Congress can at any time, by an Act, declare all Indians in the United
States citizens of the country. In 1891 the Indians who were not
citizens were the nonallotted reservation Indians, the Six Nations of New
York and the "Five Civilized Tribes" of Indian Territory — to whom
further reference will be made later. Since 1891 many of these Indians
have become citizens by operation of law, as previously noted. The
allotting of definite areas of reservation lands wipes out the reservation,
of course, and confers upon the Indian allottees citizenship in the par-
ticular State or Territory in which the lands lie.

Por many years rations and clothing were gratuitously and indis-
criminately issued by the Government at regular stated times to the
Indians on the reservations — with few exceptions ; but this system is
being gradually abolished. By those who have given attention to the
subject it has been realized for some years that, in the Indian's progress
towards self-support, the first, and perhaps the principal, obstacle has
been the prevailing ration system. It has been justly condemned as
encouraging idleness, with its attendant vices, and as foreign in its
results to the very purpose for which it was designed. At the same

* See "Report of the Smithsonian Institution for 1885," Part II, page 740.

ir,o

time, while an evil, it was admitted to be a necessary evil, bnt to be
endured only while the Indian was learning the art of self-support, or
was being put in a way where, by the exercise of ordinary industry, he
could support himself. The continuance of the practice of indiscrim-
inately issuing rations to all alike, without regard to their worldly condi-
tions, was earnestly opposed about four years ago, and it was then
determined by the Government authorities "that only the old and help-
less should be supported, while the able-bodied, if not already self-
supporting, should be given the opportunity to work and should then
be required to take care of themselves."

In 1894 an intelligent, educated. Christian Apache Indian of full-
blood delivered an address in Wilkes-Barre on the present-day Indians.
He argued that the reservation idea was all wrong. "Do not waste
time and money on reservations," he said, "which only multiply and
perpetuate pauperism. Give the Indian freely of your civilization, and
the problem is solved. The reservation idea is not common sense ; it
is a theory, and you cannot solve the Indian question on theory. The
Indian should not be treated as a different being from the white man,
but just like the white man and along side of him. The reservation is
a promoter of idleness, and it fosters beggary and ruin." Ten years later,
in March, 1904, the President of the United States received a delegation
of Oglala Sioux Indians, visiting Washington from their reservation in
South Dakota. The Indians on this reservation own about 40,000
ponies, and it is said that they are more addicted to horse-racing and
gambling than they are to agriculture. The President informed the
delegation that it is now the determined policy of the Government to
take care of the older Indians, but that the younger members of all the
tribes soon would have to look out for themselves, as other citizens of
the United States do. Idleness and laziness would not be tolerated,
and they must learn to cultivate industry and self-reliance. Tribal
relations are to be broken up and each Indian made independent in the
same way as white citizens.

In 1890 there were on various reservations 133,417 Indians actually
under the charge of the Indian Office ; and to 57,960 of these subsist-
ence was regularly issued by the Government. Rations are now drawn
regularly by probably 40,000 Indians — among them being a large
number who are too old or too feeble to work, and who have been
deserted b}' their young relatives. The reservation system and the
ration scheme are doomed !

From the first settlement of this country much zeal and dis-
interested philanthropy have been exercised in attempts to convert the
Indians to Christianity, and induce them to adopt the manners and
customs of civilized men. Also, at an early day, efforts were begun
here and there in the different Colonies to educate the Indians in
schools and colleges. The work, both of christianizing and educat-
ing the Indians, has been continued up to the present time, and has
gradually and constantly grown in extent and importance. It must
be admitted, however, that the results desired and expected in the
earlier days of this work by its supporters and laborers were not
reached, except in a small proportion of cases. Only here and there,
in the long line of Indians who received the benefits of religious and
scholastic training in those day^s, could be found one who — like Samp-

160

son Occum, for instance — made good use of his acquirements and was
of benefit to his fellow men.

Apaumet was a Mohegan, who was carefulh- educated at Princeton
College, where he was named John Calvin. He acquired a good
knowledge of the classics and of English literature, of which, as he had
a retentive memory, he was on occasions not a little vain. He returned to
his tribe on the Housatonic and accompanied them to the banks of the
Oneida in western New York, where, as he was neither a hunter nor a
fisherman, he became a schoolmaster. Being disappointed with civiliza-
tion and disheartened by the life he led, he attempted to drown his sor-
rows in the intoxicating bowl. Often, while inebriated, he would recite
some of the finest passages of Homer. He said that his knowledge was
useless to him because he had no letters to write and no accounts to keep ;
and that his study of history had taught him that his people were savages
and he himself a lettered .savage, alike unfit for Indian or civilized life.

In Jnly, 1787, John Ledyard* — then in far-off Siberia — wrote in his
journal as follows : "In the United States of America, as in Russia, we
have made an effort to convert our Tartars to think and act like us ;
but to what effect ? Among us Sampson Occum was pushed the farthest
within the pale of civilization. * * The Marquis de Lafayette had a
young American Tartar, of the Onondaga tribe, who came to see him,
and the Marquis at much expense equipped him in rich Indian dresses.
After staying .some time he fled, and sought his own elysium in the
bosom of his native forests. "When I was at .school at Mount Ida
[Dartmouth College] many Indians were there, most of whom gave
promise of being civilized, and some were sent forth to preach ; but as
far as I myself observed, and have been since informed, they all returned
to the homes and customs of their fathers, and followed the inclinations
which Nature had so deeply enstamped on their characters."

Only a few weeks before Ledyard wrote the foregoing lines, the
following stanzas were printed in The Pennsylvania Packet^ a Phila-
delphia newspaper. So far as the present writer is aware, they have
never been republished until now.

"The Ixdiax Student ; or, Force of Nature."

"From Susquehanna's utmost springs

(Where savao^e tribes pursue their game),
His blanket tied with yellow strings,
A shepherd of the forest came.

"From long debate the Council rose.

And, viewing Shalum's tricks with joy.
To Harvard's Hall — o'er wastes of snows —
The}' sent the tawn}-colored boy.

"Awhile he writ, awhile he read.

Awhile he learned their grammar rule.s —
An Indian savage, so well bred,

Great credit promis'd to the schools.

"Some thought he would in law excel,
Some said in ph^-sic he would shine,
And one, that knew him passing well,
Beheld in him a sound divine.

"The tedious hours of study spent,
The heavy-moulded lecture done,
He to the woods a-hunting went.
But sighed to see the setting sun.

* See page 86.

1()1

" 'And why,' he cried, 'did I forsake
My native wood for gloomy walls ;
The silver stream, the limpid lake.
For musty books and college halls !'

" 'Where Nature's ancient forests grow,
And mingled laurel never fades,
]\Iy heart is fixed, and I must go
To die among my native shades.'

■' He spoke, and to the western springs

(His gown discharg'd, his money spent,
His blanket tied with yellow strings )
The shepherd of the forest went ! "

In 1775 the Continental Congress made a spasmodic effort in the
direction of the education of Indian children. Treaty agreements with
the various Indian tribes, relative to the education of their children,
began to be made as early as 1794, and continued to be made down to
only a few years ago. The actual work of Indian education, however,
was practicall}' in the hands of various religious denominations until
July, 1870, when Congress appropriated $100,000. for Indian schools.
Since then the work of education has been conducted by means of
schools located on and off the various Indian reservations, and known
as (1) nonreservation boarding-schools, (2) reservation boarding-schools
and (3) day-schools. The first class, not being on the reservations, are
usually located near the centers of civilization, and are, as a rule, large
institutions. Reservation boarding-schools are the home schools of the
Indians, in which their children are collected from the reservations.
Day-schools are near the camps of the Indians, and within easy reach of
their homes. Various Churches also maintain in the Indian country
denominational schools whose educational methods are valuable aids to
the work done by the Government.

Prior to 1878, when a contract was made with Hampton Institute,
Virginia, for the education of certain Indian pupils, all the efforts of the
Government were directed to the education of Indians on their reserva-
tions. In 1879 the old United States Army barracks at Carlisle, Penn-
sylvania, were turned over for Indian school purposes, and the first non-
reservation school was established. There are now twenty-five of these
schools, the one at Carlisle being the largest. The latter is admirably
equipped, and from 1,000 to 1,200 boys and girls, representing more
than eighty Indian tribes, are enrolled in the school and receive practical
instruction in farming, gardening, dairying and the everyday affairs of
life (by means of the outing system), in addition to instruction in the
school-room and shops. At Hampton the average number of Indian
youth enrolled as students is from 140 to 150, representing more than
twenty tribes. The literary training and the industrial work at this
school are well correlated, and both are of the most practical and
effective character. Of the second class of schools — reservation board-
ing-schools — there are ninety now^ being conducted, only five of which
were in operation prior to 1870. The number of day-schools now in
operation is 134 — making the total number of Indian schools in the
country 249, with an average enrolment of 24,757 pupils. The cost of
maintaining these schools for the year ended June 30, 1902, was
13,437,785.

While many of the students who return from the schools to their
homes seemingly relapse into their old wa\'s, the majority profit by the

162

training they have received. There are some Indian Agents, however,
who seem to be of the opinion that all "Indian education is a failure."
Representative of those who thus believe is the Agent of Ponca Agencv
in Oklahoma, who, in his annual report for 1902 to the Commissioner of
Indian Affairs, said :

"Under the rules governing the management of Indian schools we are compelled
to send many of the children to the higher or uonreservation schools, which is, in my
opinion, in most cases useless, as very few Indians possess the necessary- receptive facul-
ties to be benefited by higher education. The children should and can receive sufficient
education, both literary and industrial, at the reservation boarding-school to serve them
for all practical purposes. To continue the education further is, in about nine cases out
of every ten, a waste of effort and money. I have yet to see a single Indian educated for
any profession or trade who is able to compete with white people in his line. As he can-
not compete, he must of necessity return to his reservation on completion of his school
life ; and as his education has tended rather to unfit than to fit him for making a living
on his allotment, he must inevitably become an idler and so degenerate.

* * "Hardl}' any of the 3'oung Indians — those who have graduated from the non-
reservation schools, as well as those who have attended for a number of years — do any
work at all. It can be set down as a perfectly safe rule that, as a class, the young edu-
cated Indians are the most worthless ones in the whole tribe. Nearly all of the work done
by these tribes [at the Ponca Agency] is that performed b}- the middle-aged, able-bodied
ones, who cannot write or speak English. When an edvicated Indian, after coming from
the schools, is urged to strike out for himself and work his own land, he usually gives
the excuse that he has nothing with which to work — neither money, implements nor
stock of any kind, and therefore cannot accomplish anything."

The Commissioner of Indian Affairs, in an official letter to Indian

Agents early in 1902, wrote :

"The returned male student far too frequently goes back to the reservation and falls
into the old custom of letting his hair grow long. He also paints profusely- and adopts
all the old habits and customs which his education in our industrial schools has tried to
eradicate. The fault does not lie so much with the schools as with the conditions found
on the reservations. * * * On manj- of the reservations the Indians of both sexes
paint, claiming that it keeps the skin warm in Winter and cool in Summer, but instead
this paint melts when the Indian perspires and runs down into the eyes. The use of this
paint leads to many diseases of the eyes among those Indians who paint. * * * You
are therefore directed to induce your male Indians to cut their hair, and both sexes to
stop painting. * * The wearing of citizens' clothing, instead of the Indian costume
and blanket, should be encouraged. Indian dances and so-called Indian feasts should be
prohibited. In many cases these dances and fea.'^ts are simply subterfuges to cover
degrading acts and to disguise immoral purposes. " '

In February, 1902, in a letter to the Secretary of the Interior, the
Commissioner of Indian Affairs wrote :

"Dances that are degrading and so-called religious rites that are immoral, though
gradually disappearing, still prevail. It is these and similar practices, and the customs
that are incident to them, that the Indian must relinquish if he is to succeed. * * *
The Indian must work out his own salvation. To do that he must learn to labor. He
must put aside all savage ways that are inimical to that. He must adapt himself to the
ways of the civilization around him, and cease to be a mere curiosity and a show. * *
It is not that long hair, paint, blankets, etc., are objectionable in themselves — that is
largely a question of taste — but that they are a badge of servitude to savage ways and
traditions which are effectual barriers to the uplifting of the race. * * * It is a
familiar saying that error lies at two extremes and truth in the middle, and a striking
illustration of the truth of this is found in the Indian question. At one extreme there is
a cold brutality which recognizes the dead Indian as the only good Indian, and at the
other a sickly sentimentalism that crowns the Indian with a halo and looks up to him as a
persecuted saint. Between the two will be found the true friends of the Indian, who, look-
ing upon him as he really is and recognizing his inevitable absorption b}- a stronger race,
are endeavoring in a practical way to fit him under new conditions for the struggle of life. ' '

In October, 1680, a great comet appeared in the heavens, and a
sachem of one of the New Jersey tribes of Indians, who was obser^'^ed to
be looking with solemn attention at the wonderful object, was asked
what he thought it portended. He gravely answered : "It signifies that
we Indians shall melt away like the snow in Spring, and this country
be inhabited by another people."

163

111 the judgment of the best authorities* "it is not probable that the
present [1890] area of the United States since the white man came has
contained at one time more than 500,000 Indians. High estimates were
made in early days, but the average even then was about 1,000,000,"
In the Summer of 1774 Governor Hutchinson of Massachusetts, who
was supposed to be well informed as to the condition of affairs in the
American Colonies, was in London, where, in an audience with the
Kingf, he stated that it looked "as if in a few vears the Indians would be
extinct in all parts of the Continent — owing in part to their being
dispirited at their low, despicable condition among the Europeans, who
have taken possession of their country and treat them as an inferior race of
beings; but [owing] more to their immoderate use of spirituous liquors."

In June, 1822, the Rev. Jedediah Morse, Special Indian Commis-
sioner of the United States, made a detailed report relative to the
Indians then within the limits of the United States together with what
is now the State of Texas. The report gives the names of 230 tribes,
with a total population of 471,417. The censuses prior to 1850 did not
include Indians, and they were not stated in the total of population.
In 1853, under the Seventh Census (1850), it was reported that there
were 400,764 Indians in the country — but accuracy was not claimed by
the framers of this report, as, confessedly, there were a good many
"estimates" included in the report. The census of 1870 showed a total
of 313,712 civilized and uncivilized Indians, exclusive of those in
Alaska; and that of 1890 a total of 248,253. Both of these totals in-
cluded the "Five Civilized Tribes" of Indian Territory — the Cherokees,
Chickasaws, Choctaws, Creeks and Seminoles, numbering 50,055 souls
in 1890.

The Indians of the "Five Civilized Tribes," or Nations, are not taxed
and are not under the control of the Indian Office. They are fairly indus-
trious, entirely self-supporting, and a law-abiding people, living on pat-
ented lands, with a large surplus of cash each year from payments made
by the United States Government, and the results from an almost primi-
tive system of agriculture. They have large herds of cattle, horses and
some sheep. They have several large towns and villages, composed of
substantially-built brick, frame and log houses. No liquor is allow^ed
to be sold in the Territory. Ninety per cent, of the "Five Tribes" prac-
tise the white man's ways and have his customs. They wear citizens'
clothing. Now and then a man can be found with an Indian pipe,
and sometimes one wears moccasins, and shawls as well as blankets are
worn. Some individuals of the tribes are still classed as "old-time'"'
Indians and maintain a sturdy adherence to the old Indian faith.
Medicine men are still to be found among them. The number of
Church communicants among the "Five Tribes" is large, although
there are still some pagans remaining. As a whole their condition is
not the civilization of the Anglo-Saxon. A large number of each
Nation are quarter and half-breeds — in fact, are white men in features —
and the majority of them still use the Indian language. Each Nation
is governed by a "Principal Chief," and has an elective legislature,
elective courts, officers and police.

According to the Eleventh Census (1890) there were then in the
State of New York 726 civilized and self-supporting Indians of various

♦See "Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census," page 57.

164

tribes, living off reservations, taxed, and counted in the general census;
also, 5,309 Indians of the Six Nations occupying seven reservations,
comprehending 87,327 acres of the lands they originally occupied. In
1902 these last-mentioned Indians numbered 5,272. Manv of them are
pagans — that is, they hold to the beliefs of their fathers and are opposed
to the white man and his methods. They are self-sustaining and much
farther advanced in civilization than any other reservation Indians in the
United States, and as much as an average number of white people in
many localities. On all their reservations crimes are few, and quarrel-
ing, resulting in personal assault, is infrequent.

At the Eleventh Census there were living in various parts of
Pennsylvania 983 civilized, self-supporting and taxed Indians (not
including the pupils in the Carlisle school or in Lincoln Institution,
Philadelphia, who were enumerated with the populations of the respect-
ive reservations to which they belonged); also, eleven Onondaga
Indians and eighty-seven Senecas — representing twenty-four families —
residing on the Cornplanter Reservation in Warren County. This
reser\'ation is the property of the heirs of Chief "Cornplanter'''* (referred

* John O'Bail, or Gy-ant-wa-hia ("The Cornplanter"), the half-breed son of an old Indian trader
named Abiel, or O'Bail, and a woman of the Seneca tribe, was born in Xew York about the year 1733.
Before the age of nineteen or twenty he began to evince superior sagacity and unusual bravery, and in
17.53 was selected by Sir William Johnson to serve as his orderly. In the Summer of 1760. in the cam-
paign against the French, resulting in the surrender of Montreal. Sir William Johnson commanded a
"brigade'' of Indians. The "western regiment" of this "brigade" was composed of 700 Iroquois — mainly
Senecas and Cayugas — led by the redoubtable chief of the Senecas, Hi-o-ka-to. aided by Capt. Jean
Montour and the young "Cornplanter. " In 17t>5 "•Cornplanter," already acknowledged to be a "great
war-chief," dwelt at Old Castle Town, at the foot of Seneca I,ake. near the present site of Geneva, New
York. Ezra Buell, a surveyor, visited this town in 176-5, and in his "Narrative" (see Buell's "Sir William
Johnson," page 239) thus refers to the Seneca chief: "Cornplanter's wife is a white woman, young and
neat. He does not allow her to work, but keeps two or three squaws to be servants for her. He is a fine,
stalwart fellow, verj' sensible ; keeps open house for his friends, and is true to the King as steel."

During the Revolutionary War "Cornplanter" was in league with and fought on the side of the
British. Immediately on the close of hostilities, being deserted by his British allies, he became con-
vinced that he had been on the wrong side in the contest, and that the true policy for his tribe and race
was to accept the situation and make Iriends with the victors. In October, 1784, "Cornplanter," then chief
of the Senecas located on the Allegheny River, was present at the treaty held at Fort Stanwix, between
the United States commissioners and the Six Nations, and it was mainly through "Cornplanter's" efforts
that the Indians were induced to sign the agreement by which the Six Nations were to relinquish a large
part of the territory they claimed to own ; to restore' all prisoners in their possession, and to perform
other obligations. In December, 1790, a delegation of Senecas headed by "Cornplanter" — who was then
the head-chief of his nation — visited Philadelphia for the purpose of laying .some grievances before
Congress and asking for aid in introducing agriculture and the arts of civilized life among the Senecas.
The Rev. Samuel Kirkland, who, as their adviser and counsellor, was with this delegation during their
stay of several weeks at the capital, was instrumental during that time in converting the chief to the
Christian faith. In his journal Mr. Kirkland wrote (see Sparks' "American Biography," XV: 303):
"I think I never enjoyed more agreeable society with any Indian than Captain Abiel ["Cornplanter"]
has afforded me. He seems raised up by Providence for the good of his nation. He exhibits uncommon
genius, possesses a very strong and distinguishing mind and will bear the most mental application of
any Indian I was ever acquainted with. * * * He is an exception in regard to sobriety and temperance
to the generality of Indians, never having been once intoxicated during the whole course of his life."

During the troubles with the Indians in the years 1790-94 "Cornplanter" maintained his allegiance
to the United States most faithfully, and rendered valuable assistance to the General Government and in
the protection of the western frontiers of Pennsylvania. For these ser\-ices he received permission from
the authorities of this State to select from its unappropriated territory 1..500 acres of land for himself and
his posterity. For his own occupancy he selected a tract of land two miles long and one-half mile wide
on the west bank of the Allegheny River (and including two islands in the river), in the north-east
corner of what is now Warren County. The remainder of the lands selected by him lay in what is now
Venango County, Pennsylvania, and included the site of the present Oil City. All these lands were
patented to "Cornplanter" by the Commonwealth in March, 1796. Upon the smaller of the two tracts
(the one first mentioned, and now known as the Cornplanter Reservation) the famous chief located with
his family in 1797, and here he lived until his death in 1836, at the age of about one hundred and
three years.

In April, 1822, "Cornplanter" addressed a letter to the Governor of Pennsylvania, in which he com-
plained that the whites had broken the treaty of Fort Stanwix bj^ destroying all the wolves, by stealing
his melons and vines, by destroying the pine trees and by bringing among the Indians great quantities
of whisky, by which his people became drunken. He also protested against being compelled by the
authorities of Warren County to pay taxes on his land, and in conclusion requested that a commissioner
might be sent to the Allegheny to inquire into his situation and "to instruct the white people how they
should conduct themselves towards the Indians."

"Cornplanter" was a half-brother of "Handsome I,ake,'' mentioned on page 122. For a number of
years "Cornplanter" and the famous Seneca chief and orator, "Red Jacket," were strong rivals. It is
stated in "Chambers' Encyclopedia" (edition of 1897. I : 225) that " 'Cornplanter' * * is said to have
been the earliest temperance lecturer in America." In 1866 the Legislature of Pennsylvania authorized
the erection of a monument to the memorj* of the old chieftan, which was done at a cost of S5o0., "and
now marks the grave of one of the bravest, noblest and truest specimens of the aboriginal race."

In 1903 Prof. Frederick Starr (see page 166) originated "The Cornplanter Medal," a silver medal —
named in honor of the great Seneca chief — to be annually presented to that person in the United States
who during the year shall have most distinguished himself in research work among the American Indians.

165

to on page 135), and consequently is not mentioned b)- the Commis-
sioner of Indian Affairs in his annual reports. The conditions of the
Indians on this reservation are similar to those of the Six Nations who
occupy the Allegany Reservation in Cattaraugus County, New York
(immediately adjoining Warren County, Pennsylvania), and they are
duly considered and treated of in the official reports relative to that
reservation. The "Cornplanter" Senecas belong to the Seneca nation,
voting with them for officers annually, and having a representative in
the nation's council. They own a common interest in all the Seneca
lands in New York, and share in the annuities that are paid. They
have been admitted to the privileges of citizenship in Pennsylvania.

It is a common belief, among those who have not given the sub-
ject any special attention, that there are now very few Indians — particu-
larly uncivilized ones — existing in this country; and that the few who
are here are either cooped up on reservations or traveling with "Wild
West" shows or taking a college course. The report of the Commis-
sioner of Indian Affairs for the year ended June 30, 1902 (the latest
report now available), shows that there were then 270,238 untaxed
Indians in the United States exclusive of Alaska and the Cornplanter
Reservation in Pennsylvania. Of this number 84,500 were members of
the "Five Civilized Tribes" (including some 21,000 persons of negro
descent), and 5,272 of the Six Nations, as previously noted. These
270,238 "wards of the Nation" were located in twenty-seven different
States and Territories, and all of them, with the exception of 21,673,
occupied reservations. Twenty-seven of these reservations were "allot-
ted," and 132 of them (comprehending 75,148,643 acres of land) were
wholly or in part "unallotted." Of the 185,738 Indians exclusive of
the "Five Civilized Tribes" there were 102,300 who wore citizens' dress
wholly, and 41,844 who wore it in part; and there were 47,081 who could
read, and 62,616 who could use English enough for ordinary purposes.

When we call to mind the ravages of disease, exposure, starvation
and the white man, and then consider the number of Indians now here,
in comparison with the number at the advent of the European on this
continent, the Indian would seem to be a startling example of the sur-
vival of the fittest. It must be noted, however, that of those who are
now classified in the reports and censuses of the Government as Indians
the majority are unquestionably not full-bloods. The increasing value
of the reservations, the distribution by the National Government of
great sums of money to certain tribes, the development of excellent
educational institutions for the exclusive benefit of Indian children —
these, as well as other advantages, have had the effect to draw into
tribal relationship thousands whose claims to such relationship depend
upon very small strains of Indian blood.

In several of the "Five Civilized Tribes" the title Indian includes
Indians by blood, Indians by intermarriage and freedmen. The "Five
Tribes," except the Seminole, all owned slaves prior to and during the
Civil War. In 1860 the total number of slaves thus held was 7,369.
These were freed by the Proclamation of Emancipation, which, how-
ever, was not enforced and confirmed among the "Five Tribes" until the
adoption of the treaty of 1866, and then only after much protest.
These freedmen were then admitted to full citizenship in some of
the tribes — particularly in the Creek Nation — and are entitled to share

166

in the distribution of the lands and moneys of those tribes. Since the
war there has been a very large increase in the negro population
of Indian Territory by immigration from the old slave States adjacent.
The negroes — both the new-comers and the natives of the Terri-
tory — have intermarried with the members of all the tribes except the
Choctaw — in which tribe any Indian who marries a negro is punished
by death. In some parts of Indian Territory occupied by the "Five
Tribes" the negroes predominate, the whites come next, and the red
men are often pointed out as exceptions — rarities, one might almost say.
And yet legally and technically a large proportion of these white men
and negroes are Indians, and are called such. Some years ago a
prominent lawyer of Missouri went down into Indian Territory to
transact some business with one of the tribes. When he returned
home, after having driven a hard bargain for his clients, he commented
on the people he had dealt with in these words: "Indians! Those fellows
are not Indians. They are mighty smart Yankees, tanned a little."

In many other tribes throughout the countr\' the intermarriage of
Indians with whites and negroes has been going on for a long time, and
in this wav the Indian race is graduallv losing its identitv. When the
reservation system shall have been abolished, and tribal relations
brought to an end, the red men will begin to scatter, and the effect will
be a general and rapid mixing up of the races. There are some scien-
tists, however, who believe that the different white races of the United
States are slowly converging to the type of the North American Indian,
and that the Indians, as a race, will never become extinct, but will
increase in ninnbers and be once more dominant when the physical
forces now in operation shall have changed the white man into
the Indian.

The notion that Caucasian settlers will be gradually Indianized in
America and Africanized in Africa is an old one, and has been activeh'
discussed at various times. Some seven years ago Prof. Frederick Starr
of Chicago University, who is well known as a student of anthropology,
made some careful investig:ations among the Pennsvlvania Germans
and summarized the results of his work in the statement that these
people "are steadily approaching the physical type of the American
Indian." Professor Starr measured the heads, heights, finger reaches
and lengths of legs and arms of hundreds of school-children in Allen-
town, Pennsylvania. Then he went to Kutztown — the heart of Penn-
sylvania "Dutchdom" — and at the county fair collected photographs of
great numbers of the "Pennsylvania Dutch" country people. Comparing
these with the prevailing types of the German Palatinate of to-day he
found that the "Pennsylvania Dutch" head had grown larger, the cheek
bones higher and the eyes and hair darker, as a result of the American
environment. A number of the photographs showed a striking sim-
ilarity to the dominant features of the Indian face. Furthermore, he
found that the "Dutch" of Pennsylvania have grown in stature over their
compatriots in Europe, and they have a distinct tendency towards the
strong, bony lankness of the American Indian. The American environ-
ment is what has produced the physical unity of appearance among the
Indians, says Professor Starr, and if it is capable of producing a com-
mon type from the different peoples who first came to the countr}- many
hundreds of years ago, why may it not work a similar change in people

167

of different nationalities who came after them and in the wake of
Columbus ?

Many people, other than the Indians themselves, sincerely regret
that the American aboriginals are surely although slowly becoming
extinct, either by amalgamation with other races or by death. They
apprehend that the Amerind people having built no temples, reared no
monuments of stone, iron or bronze and having no literature will be
forgotten. In their opinion, "such has been the Indian's life, such the
result, that if the entire remaining Indians were instantly and com-
pletely wiped from the face of the earth they would leave no monu-
ments, no buildings, no written language save one, no literature, no
inventions, nothing in the arts or sciences, and absolutely nothing for
the benefit of mankind." But, if the theories and deductions of Pro-
fessor Starr are to be relied upon, the Amerind people will not only
continue to exist and be remembered, but will be increased and strength-
ened bv laro-e numbers of the Indianized Americans of modern times —
particularly the "Pennsylvania Dutch" ! In any event, how can the red
man be forgotten ? He will be remembered in the coming centuries
from the fact that he has impressed himself upon the laws of this
country, and has indelibly stamped by characteristic names — either of his
own giving or drawn from his vocabulary by the whites — so many of
our States, Territories and towns, bays, lakes and rivers.

Fifty-one years ago, in reply to a generally expressed opinion that
the red man was rapidly disappearing and would soon be forgotten,
Mrs. Sigourney (mentioned on page 69) wrote the following stanzas :

"Ye say that all have pass'd away —

That noble race and brave —
That their light canoes have vanish'd

From off the crested wave ;
That, mid the forest where they roam'd,

There rings no hunter's shout.
But their name is on your waters —

Ye may not wash it out !

'"Tis where Ontario's billow

Like ocean's surge is curl'd,
Where strong Niagara's thunders wake

The echo of the world ;
Where red Missouri bringeth

Rich tribute from the west,
And Rappahannock sweetly sleeps

On green Virginia's breast.

"Ye say their cone-like cabins,

That cluster'd o'er the vale,
Have disappeared as wither'd leaves

Before the Autuinn's gale.
But their memor}^ liveth on your hills,

Their baptism on your shore,
Your everlasting rivers speak

Their dialect of yore.

"Old Massachusetts wears it

Within her lordly crown,
And broad Ohio bears it

Amid her young renown ;
Connecticut hath wreath'd it

Where her quiet foliage waves,
And bold Kentucky breathes it hoarse

Through all her ancient caves.

168

'Wachusetts hides its lingering voice

Within his rockv heart,
And Allegheny graves its tone

Throughout his lofty chart ;
Monadnock, on his forehead hoar,

Doth seal the sacred trust — •
Your mountains build their monument,

Though ye destroy their dust."

CHAPTER IV.

EARLY INDIAN SETTLEMENTvS IN WYOMING— EARLIEST VISITS OF WHITE
MEN— MORAVIAN MISSIONARIES ON THE SUSQUEHANNA—
CONNECTICUT LAND COMPANIES ORGANIZED—
THE "WYOMING REGION" PUR-
CHASED FROM THE
SIX NATIONS.

■'Here let me rest, by fair Wyoming's side,
Where Susquehanna's placid waters glide ;
W^hile sparkling streams, 'mid meadows rolling free,
Pay willing tribute to the distant sea."

— Rev. Joshua Peterkin, D. D.

Chapman states in his "Sketch of the History of Wyoming"* that
Count Zinzendorf, who visited the valley in 1742, "is believed to have
been the first white person that ever visited Wyoming." Stone and
Miner, writing years later than Chapman, adopted and gave expression
to this view in their respective histories. At a still later date Pearce
wrote that "the impression that the Count Zinzendorf was the first white
man who ever visited the Wyoming Valley" was probably a mistake,
and suggested that Conrad Weiser, the Indian agent and interpreter,
had visited the valley some years previously to the coming of Zinzen-
dorf. It is now known that Weiser was here more than once prior to
1742 — as will be more fully shown hereinafter.

"In the year when Elizabeth of England died (1603) no white man, it
is safe to say, had ever seen the region which we call Pennsylvania. * *
Neither John Smith nor Henry Hudson entered Pennsylvania. They
approached or reached the open doorway, but did not come inside. The
actual visit of a white man was not made for six years after Hudson's
call at the Capes. Apparently the first of white pioneers in Pennsyl-
vania was a Frenchman, who came from Canada, ]fetienne Brule [Stephen
Bruehle] , a follower of Champlain, the first Governor of New France.
He was Champlain's interpreter and guide — 'the dauntless woodsman,
pioneer of pioneers,' Parkman calls him."t

In September, 1615, when Champlain was preparing to join with
the Hurons in the expedition against the palisaded village pictured on
page 95, Brule set out with a party of twelve Hurons from Upper
Canada for the towns of the Carantouanis, to secure their co-operation
against the common enemy. These people were allies of the Hurons

*See page 19, ante.

t "Pennsylvania— Colonial and Federal," I : 1, 35.
169

170

and are mentioned in the description of Champlain's map as "a nation to
the sonth of the Antoiihonorons in a very beantifnl and rich conntry,
where they are strongly lodged and are friends with all the other nations
except the Antoiihonorons, from whom they are only three days distant."
The Antouhonorons, says Dr. Beauchamp, were the Upper Iroquois, or,
perhaps more strictly, the Senecas ; although the Dutch, at the time of
their discoveries, called all the Upper Iroquois Senecas. On the maps
of 1H14 and 1616 the Carantouanis appear as the Gachoi, or Gachoos,
mentioned on page 111, and they occupied the territory now compre-
hended in the counties of Chemung and Tioga, New York. Immedi-
ately to the south of these at the period mentioned were the Capitanasses,
within the present limits of Pennsylvania.

Brule, with his little band of Hurons, crossed from Lake Ontario
to the Susquehanna, defeated on the way a small war-party of Iroquois
and entered in triumph Carantouan, the chief town of the Carantouanis.
This town was palisaded, and could send out when necessary 800 war-
riors — which would indicate a total population of about 4,000 souls.
Brule secured here a force of 500 Carantouanis, and they set out to join
Champlain and the Hurons ; but as they marched slowly they reached
the Iroquoian town only to find that Champlain had attacked it with
his force, had failed, had himself been wounded and had retreated to
Canada. Brule and the allies therefore returned to Carantouan. and
here the former remained the rest of the Autumn and all Winter "for
lack of company and escort home."

While thus waiting Brule explored the country and visited the
tribes adjacent to that region, and early in the Spring of 1616 descended
the Susquehanna River to at least the present Pennsylvania-Maryland
boundary. Thence he returned through the same region (the valley of
the Susquehanna), if not precisely by the same route, to Carantouan,
and later rejoined Champlain — in whose "Voyages" Brule's adventures
on the Susquehanna were subsequent!}' recorded. It may be well to
note here the ultimate fate — as recorded by Sagard in his "History of
Canada" — of this the first known white inan to visit the valley of
Wyoming. In 1623 he was living in Quebec, leading a very dissolute
life among the Indians. Later he went over to the English, and in
1629 was sent bv them with a messao;-e to the Hurons. The latter
provoked at his conduct, put him to death and devoured him !

The Rev. David Craft, D. D., formerly of Wyalusing, Pennsylvania,
and now of Angelica, New York, and Gen. John vS. Clark of Auburn,
New York, who have given a great deal of time to the study of aborig-
inal remains in the valley of the upper Susquehanna, and elsewhere,
are positive that the Carantouan of Brule was situated on a high hill, in
the shape of a sugar-loaf, near the present village of Waverly, New
York. This hill, which is level on top and has an area of eleven acres,
is crossed by the New York-Penns}-lvania boundary-line, and is now
popularly known as "Spanish Hill." Evidences of a palisade, an em-
bankment and a ditch were apparent here in 1795 — as noted by the
Duke de la Rochefoucault in his "Travels Through the United States in
1795-'97." There was an Indian burial-ground at the foot of the hill.
"Spanish Hill," or Carantouan, is situated about six miles north of
Tioga Point, mentioned on page 34, and 101 miles north-west of Wilkes-
Barre — following the windings of the river.

171

Dr. Beauchainp states {Bulletin of the Neiv York State Museum^
No, 32, pages 12 and 15) that at about the year 1600 "the Susquehanna
River was held in Pennsylvania by the Iroquois family. Of these the
Gachoi, or Gachoos, alone had land in New York, nor did they live
there long. Their Iroquois foes gave them scant room in New York,
but they were in close alliance with others of the family in Pennsyl-
vania. Below them were the Capitanasses and the IMinquas ; the latter
being the Andastes. Collectively and later, all these were known to
the English as Susquehannas or Conestogas.'"^

Dr. Craft holds that from time immemorial until they were over-
thrown by the Iroquois (in 1675, as noted on page 40) the Huron-Iro-
quois Andastes were in possession of the valley of the Susquehanna in
what is now Pennsylvania. P\irther, that the nation was composed of
ten tribes, living in forty palisaded villages, of which the uppermost,
the most populous and the strongest fortified was what Brule and
Champlain called Carantouan. Their second town was Oscului (mean-
ing "The Fierce"), which stood on a bluff at the upper side of Sugar
Creek, just where it empties into the Susquehanna, near the present
borough of Towanda, in Bradford County. Here the path, or trail, lead-
ing from the West Branch of the Susquehanna, joined the great Warrior
Path which ran along the North Branch of the river. Their third town
was Gahontoto (signifying "where there is an island," or "The Island
Town"), and was situated on a bluff on the north side of Wyalusing
Creek (in what is now Bradford County) at its junction with the Sus-
quehanna. The site of this town lies north-west of Wilkes-Barre, thirty-
six miles in a bee-line, or, following the windings of the river, 58 miles.
The fourth town of this nation, so far as known, was Onachsae (signify-
ing "A Cave"), situated south-east of Gahontoto, twelve miles in a bee-
line, on a bluff on the north side of Meshoppen Creek at its junction
with the river, in what is now Wyoming County.

Nothing is known concerning these towns, and others inhabited by
the Susquehanna Indians, except what has been learned from tradition
(and that is not much), from the meager information communicated by
Brule to Champlain and recorded by the latter in his "Voyages," and
from a careful examination (made at an earlier day than the present) of
the determined sites of these towns, and a study of the relics found there.
All these towns had long been deserted by their original occupants
when the white men — the recorders of history — began their settlements
in the Wyoming region ; and neither the Indians then dwelling in, nor
those from time to time frequenting, this region knew anything definite
concerning the earlier inhabitants. Chapman, speaking of them gener-
ally in his "W^yoming" (page 0), refers to them as aboriginals "of whom
very little- is now [1818] known, but of whom relics have been found
indicating a people of more importance than those tribes who subse-
quently occupied the country."

Almost up to the time (IMarch 4, 1681) of the granting by King
Charles II to William Penn of the territory described in the charter as
the "Province of Pennsilvania," that territorv was whollv the Indians'
land. "W^hile they did not occupy it, in a strict sense of the word, they
enjoyed its complete possession in the manner suited to their way of life.

*In this connection see pages 38 and 39, anie^ relative to the Susquehannas or Andastes as Huron-
Iroquois.

172

* * How many there were of them is wholly left to conjecture. It
is agreed that they were few." Oldmixon states in his "British Empire
in America," pnblished in 1701, that three years after the Penn grant
was made "there were as many as ten nations of Indians in the Province
of Pennsilvania, comprising 6,000 in nnmber."

When the first settlers nnder the Connecticnt Susquehanna Com-
pany came to Wyoming Valley they found here the remains — well-
defined and easily discernible — of two ancient fortifications or enclosures,
respecting the origin and uses of which the Indians then here could
give no information. One of these earthworks was situated within the
present limits of the borough of Dorranceton, Kingston Township, and
the other was located. in what was at one time a part of the township of
Wilkes-Barre, but is now the township of Plains. Neither the early
Wvoming settlers nor their immediate descendants were given to anv
sentiment with regard to the preservation of Indian remains or relics or,
for that matter, of the Indians themseh^es. They had come here from
New England, through an almost trackless wilderness, for the purpose
of building new homes and wresting a living from the then untilled soil
and unbroken forest. And so Indian earthworks were ploughed over,
relics were ploughed under and other evidences of an earlier occupation
were destroyed and soon forgotten. Fortunately, before all this destruc-
tion was completed, there came into the valley as citizens thereof a
few men possessing intelligence and some sentiment who foresaw that
the time would arrive when the later descendants of the first settlers
would be greatly interested in learning all that could be learned con-
cerning the aboriginal inhabitants of Wyoming. Foremost among these
few foresighted men was Isaac A. Chapman, previously mentioned,
whose portrait and a sketch of whose life will be found in a subsequent
chapter. He had come to the Susquehanna region in 1798 at the age
of eleven years, and in 1809 had located at Wilkes-Barre as a surveyor
and draftsman. The following paragraphs are from Air. Chapman's
"A Sketch of the History of Wyoming" (page 8), mentioned on page
19, ante :

"In the valley of Wyoming there exist some remains of ancient fortifications which
appear to have been constructed b}- a race of people very different in their habits from
those who occupied the place when first discovered by the whites. Most of these ruins
have been so much obliterated by the operations of agriculture that their forms cannot
now [1818] be distinctly ascertained. That which remains the most entire was examined
by the writer during the Summer of 1817, and its dimensions carefully ascertained,
although from frequent ploughing its form had become almost destroyed. It is situated
in the township of Kingston, upon a level plain on the north side of Toby's Creek, about
one hundred and iifty feet from its bank, and about half a mile from its confluence with
the Susquehanna.*

"It is of an oval, or elliptical, form, having its longest diameter from the north-
west to the south-east, at right angles to the creek, 337 feet ; and its shortest diameter
from the north-east to the south-west 272 feet. On the south-west side appears to have
been a gate-way about twelve feet wide, opening towards the great eddy [Toby's] of the
river into which the creek falls. From present appearances it consisted probably of only
one mound or rampart, which, in height and thickness, appears to have been the same on
all sides, and was constructed of earth — the plain on which it stands not abounding in
stone. On the outside of the rampart is an entrenchment or ditch, formed probably by
removing the earth of M-hich it [the rampart] is composed, and which appears never to
have been walled. The creek on which it stands is bounded by a high, steep bank on
that side, and at ordinary times is sufficiently deep to admit canoes to ascend from the
river to the fortification.

"When the first settlers came to W}-oming this plain was covered with its native
forest, consisting principally of oak and yellow pine ; and the trees which grew in the
rampart and in the entrenchment are said to have been as large as those in any other
* It is about three-quarters of a mile from Toby's Eddy, mentioned on page h\.

173

part of the valle}'. One large oak, particularly, on being cut down was ascertained to be
700 years old ! The Indians had no traditions concerning these fortifications ; neither
did they appear to have any knowledge of the purposes for which they had been con-
structed. They were, perhaps, erected about the same time with those upon the waters
of the Ohio, and probably by a similar people and for similar purposes."

Ill a letter relative to this Kingston earthwork written by Air.
Chapman in 1817, and published in Hazard''s Pennsylvania Register^
V : 35, he stated that he had been assured by old Mr. Peirce and many
others that the timber which had been found growing "on the ramjDart,
or parapet, was as large as any of the adjoining forest ; and there were
also old logs found upon these mounds, indicating that a former growth
of timber had preceded that which was then standing."

From time to time during many years, after the occupation of the
valley by white- men had been begun, various Indian relics were picked
tip on the site of this earthwork. Among other implements found
more than fift}' years ago, and now in the collections of the Wyoming
Historical and Geological Society, was a rudely wrought spear-head of
copper, five inches in length by one inch in its broadest part.

This particular site being located on the very fertile Lower Kingston
Flats (described on page 50), which have been regularly cultivated now
for considerably more than a hundred years, all traces of the old earth-
work and, without doubt, all relics of the aboriginal occupiers of it,
have long since disappeared. However, about the time Mr. Chapman
wrote his description of the remains of this earthwork he drew a map*
of a part of the Lower Kingston Flats, and upon it he noted the site of
the old earthwork — indicating its exact location by a reference to the
determined and easily ascertained boundaries of certain official surveys.
By the aid of a draft of these surveys and Mr. Chapman's map and
printed description of the locality in question, the present writer was
enabled recently to locate, beyond doubt, the site of the old-time Indian
earthwork ; and he made a photograph of the same, reproduced on the
next page. This site is on land which, a hundred years ago, was the
property of Ezekiel Peirce, a well-known citizen of Kingston Township.
It has been owned for some time now by Lawrence Myers of Wilkes-
Barre. It is located about 300 feet south-west of Peirce Street, running
from the North Street bridge to the borough of Kingston, and is distant
about 150 feet from the north bank of the "short branch" of Toby's
Creek mentioned on page 54. The row of trees growing on this bank,
and seen in the middle-distance of the picture, indicates the course of
the creek. The location of the site, with reference both to Wilkes-
Barre and Kingston, may be readily seen by an inspection of the map
in Chapter XXVIII entitled "Map of Wilkes-Barre and its Suburbs in
1872." In the matter of location, certain features of construction,
natural surroundings, etc., there were remarkable resemblances between
the Kingston earthwork, as described, and the works mentioned and
pictured on pages 92 and 93. f

As to the remains of the earthwork found on Jacob's Plains^ in
what was formerly a part of the township of Wilkes-Barre, Charles

*Now in possession of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society.

t Since the above was put in type the writer has been informed by George H. Butler, Esq., a descend-
ant of Ezekiel Peirce, that he remembers very well that in 1864 a small section of the embankment of
this old earthwork was still distinguishable ; and at the nearest point to it on the bank of the creek was
a fine bubbling, or live, spring.

The great flood of 1865 washed away all traces both of the spring and the earthTsrork.

X See page 50.

174

Miner gives the following account in his "History of Wyoming" (men-
tioned on page 19, aiite\ written in 1S43 or '44.

"Its situation is the highest part of the low grounds, so that only in extraordinary
floods is the spot covered with water. Looking over the flats in ordinarily high freshes
the site of the fort presents to the eye an island in the vast sea of waters. The eastern
extremity is near the line dividing the farms of I\Ir. John Searle and Mr. James Hancock,
where, from its safety from inundation, a fence has long since been placed ; and to this
circumstance is to be attributed the preservation of the embankment and ditch. In the
open field, so entirely is the work leveled, that the eye cannot trace it ; but the extent
west is known, 'for it reached through the meadow lot of Captain Gore,' said Cornelius
Courtright, Esq., to me when visiting the ground several years ago, 'and came on to my
lot one or two rods.' The lot of Captain Gore was seventeen perches in width. Taking,
then, these 280 feet, add the distance it extended eastwardly on the Searle lot, and the
extension westerly on the lot of Esquire Courtright, we have the length of that measured
by INIr. Chapman, so very nearly, as to render the inference almost certain that both were
of the same size and dimensions.

"Huge trees were growing out of the embankment when the white people began to
clear the flats for cultivation. This, too, in Wilkesbarre, is oval, as is still manifest from
the segment exhibited on the upper part, formed by the remaining rampart and fosse —
the chord of the arc being the division fence. A circle is easily made ; the elliptical form

Site of Old Indian Earthwork in Dorranceton.

From a photograph bj* the author in October, 1903.

much more difficult for an untutored mind to trace. Trifling as these circumstances may
appear, the exact coincidence in size and shape, and that shape difficult to form, the\'
appeared to me worthy of a distinct notice. The Wilkesbarre fortification is about eighty
rods from the river, towards which a gate opened, and the ancient people concur in stat-
ing that a well existed in the interior, near the southern line.

"On the bank of the river there is an Indian burying-place ; not a barrow or hill,
such as is described by Mr. Jefferson, but where graves have been dug and the deceased
laid horizontally in regular rows. In excavating the canal [about the year 1833], cutting
through the bank that Vjorders the flats — perhaps thirty rods south from the fort — another
burying-place was disclosed, evidently more ancient, for the bones almost immediately
crumbled to dust on exposure to the air, and the deposits were far more numerous than
in that near the river. By the representation of James Stark, Esq., the skeletons were
countless, and the deceased had been buried in a .sitting posture. In this place of deposit
no beads were found, while thev were common in that near the river.

THE. i. . ■
\ .PUBLIC Llr'.-ARY

-I r-T *'

1 / ->

"In 1815 I visited this fortification in conipan}' with the present Chief Justice Gibson
and Jacob Cist, Esq.* The whole line, although it had been ploughed for more than
thirty years, was then distinctly traceable by the eye. Fortune was unexpectedly pro-
pitious to our search, for we found a medal bearing on one side the impress of King
George I, dated 1714 (the year he commenced his reign) ; on the other, an Indian chief.f
It was awarded to Mr. Cist, and by him was deposited with the Philadelphia Historical
Society."'

In 1842 the Hon. Eli K. Price of West Chester, Pennsylvania,
visited the site of the earthwork on Jacob's Plains and wrote concern-
ing it : "Sitnated on an elevated and beautiful plain, it commands an
excellent prospect up and down the river, and must have been admirably
adapted for its purpose. Few traces are left of its existence — a few
heaps of stone and rubbish, and a moat that surrounded it, which is yet
distinctly visible." What the early settlers supposed to have been a
well — as noted b^^ Mr. Miner — was without doubt a pit, or cache, used
for the storage of corn or other provisions. Mr. Charles M. Williams
of Plainsville has informed the writer that when he was farming "the
meadow lot of Captain Gore" — previously mentioned in the extract
from Miner's "Wyoming" — he ploughed up great quantities of mussel
shells, and some fragments of Indian pottery. This was in 1858.

All traces of this earthwork have long since disappeared, and within
the last thirty years such very marked changes have been made along
the flats in Plains Township — by the filling in of the canal-bed, the
building of railways, the erection of coal-breakers and the dumping on
the flats of thousands of tons of culm — that it is now impossible to pro-
cure a satisfactory picture of the old site. It lies north-east of the
Dorranceton site previously described — two and a-half miles in a bee-
line — and is almost directly opposite the mouth of Abraham's Creek (see
page 52) on the opposite bank of the river. In the illustration facing
this page the Henry (now the Horton) coal-breaker dimly seen in the
middle-distance, near the left side of the picture, stands a few rods south-
west, or to the right, of the site of the old earthwork.

In the year 1710 Col. Peter Schuyler of New York conducted a
deputation of five Indian "kings" to England, where marked interest
was shown them. They became the lions of social and public life, and
at Court were received with unusual distinction. Steele wrote an
account of their visit for the Tattler of May 13, 1710, and Addison one
for the Spectator. In all the early printed accounts of this visit two of
the "kings" or chiefs were referred to as "River Indians." Mr. Miner
gives his reasons at length ("History of Wyoming," pages 28 and 29)
for inclining "strongly to the opinion" that the earthworks on Jacob's
Plains and in Dorranceton had been occupied respectively by Seneca
and Oneida Indians ; and that the two "kings" of the "River Indians"
who were in London in 1710 had at that time, or later, their respective
headquarters at the Wyoming Valley earthworks or fortifications, where
they were chiefs of the tribes mentioned.

For this opinion there is no substantial foundation, for it is now
well ascertained that the only tribe referred to or known as "River

* See page 98.

i" There are now in existence, in various nuniismatical collections in this country, several medals
which either exactly or very nearly resemble the one here described. Not one of them, however, bears
a date, and Mr. Miner erred, without doubt, in stating that the medal found on Jacob's Plains, and now
in the collections of The Historical Society of Pennsylvania, bore a date. Relative to some of these
medals see "Proceedings and Collections of'the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," II : 217.

A copper medal, similar to the one described above, was found on the Upper Kingston Flats, near
Forty Fort, in 1859, and passed into the possession of Squire Woodhouse. See The Record of the Times,
(Wilkes-Barr6), April 25, 1860.

176

Indians" at the period mentioned was the Mahikan, or Mohegan (men-
tioned on page 101), and it is known that two "kings" of the delegation
of five were Mohegans. Further, there is nothing in tradition or history
to show that any of the Five Nations established their habitations in the
valley of the Susquehanna — at least within the present limits of Penn-
sylvania — after they had dispossessed the Andastes or Susquehannocks,
as previously described. Over all this territory the Five Nations exer-
cised jurisdiction — claiming proprietorship by right of conquest — and
they came here to hunt, but never to reside. Pearce (see page 20),
writing some years later than Miner, fell into the same error as the
latter in assuming that the two chiefs of the "River Indians" who
visited London were from Wyoming, Commenting further upon Miner's
statements Pearce says ("Annals," pages 19 and 3(34) :

"The one [chief], he [Miner] supposes, occupied the fortification at Kingston, and
the other that on the Jacob Plains. But this conclusion is most probably incorrect. The
indications are decidedly in favor of the supposition that these fortifications were once
occupied by a people very different from the Indians. The growth of large trees on the
ramparts and within the enclosure show that they must have been abandoned hundreds
of years before the period when the deputation from the Five Nations visited England.
The two populous graveyards, the different modes of burial, a large copper spear-head
recently found on the site of the fortification at Kingston, point to two distinct peoples,
who at different periods occupied these lands. The Indians never dug wells, erected
forts or used any other implements of warfare or husbandry than stone, wood and clay,
until after they became known to the whites."

Squier (see pages 93 and 96), writing about the year 1848 and later
of the earthworks of New York, held that the weight of evidence was in
favor of the conclusion that those earthworks had been erected by the
Iroquois, or their western neighbors^ and did not go back to a very high
antiquity. He also observed that "above Wilkes-Barre, still farther to
the northwest, near the borders of New York and forming an unbroken
chain with the works of that State, are found other remains." He
leaves the reader to presume that he considers these "other remains"
to be of the same character, and to have been erected by the same people,
as the New York earthworks. The western, as well as the southern,
neighbors of the Iroquois belonged to the Huron-Iroquois family, as we
have previously shown. We have also noted (on page 96) Dr. Beau-
champ's agreement with Squier's opinion as to the age and the probable
builders of the New York earthworks. In a letter to the present writer,
written in 1897, Dr. Beauchamp stated that "the old work at Jacob's
Plains was of the Huron-Iroquois family type of defence." Taking this
testimony into consideration in connection with that adduced on page
39, and that of Dr. Craft on page 171, the conclusion is inevitable that
the Wyoming Valley earthworks, or fortifications, which we have
described were erected, or at least occupied, by the Susquehannock, or
Andaste, Indians, who were without doubt the original inhabitants of
the valley of the Susquehanna. In the occupancy of these fortifica-
tions they continued until about the year 1675, when they were com-
j^letely overthrown by the Iroquois and required to confine themselves
to two villages on the Susquehanna, as mentioned on page 40. It is
quite probable that thenceforward for a number of years W}'oming
Valley remained uninhabited, and was only visited or traversed from
time to time by Iroquois hunters from New York in pursuit of game,
or warriors from the same tribes and region who were going to or
returning from their battles with the different southern tribes.

177

Halsey says ("Old New York Frontier," page 34) that in 1683
commissioners at Albany obtained for Governor Dongan of New York
an account of the valley of the Susquehanna River and its relations to
the Indian settlements — their information coming from white men as
well as from Indians. "The commissioners recommended that regular
traders be sent out to form camps or settlements along the valley. It
was argued that these places would be much nearer the Indians than
Albany was, 'and consequently the Indians more inclinable to go there.'
The recommendation in part sprang from a desire to thwart certain
efforts made by Penn to increase his trade, and in part from a desire to
accede to the requests of Indians, but in the main Penn's ambition was
the moving cause." In 1686 Dongan requested the Indians to see that
"neither French nor English go and live at the Susquehanna River, nor
hunt nor trade amongst the brethren without my [his] pass and seal."
In the following year the Governor desired to secure royal authority for
erecting "a campagne fort" upon the Susquehanna, "where his Majesty
shall think fit Mr. Penn's bounds shall terminate." As to this point, the
Governor favored Wyalusing, mentioned on page 171. (Mr. Halsey
says that according to Dr. Beauchamp the meaning of the name Wya-
lusing is "Home of the Old Warrior.") The "campagne fort" desired
by Governor Dongan was evidently not erected — at least at Wyalusing.

In 1701 or '02 a small band of Shawanese Indians established
themselves in Wyoming Valley by invitation of the Five Nations. The
Shawanese, or Sha-wa-noes (the Chaouanons of the French), now the
Shawnees, were an erratic tribe of bold, roving and adventurous spirit.
"Their eccentric wanderings, their sudden appearances and disappear-
ances, perplex the antiquar}^ and defy research," says Parkman. "There
is not a tribe on the continent," wrote Catlin, "whose history is more
interesting than that of the Shawanoes, nor any that has produced more
extraordinary men." Gen. Lewis Cass,* in his work on the history and
languages of the Indians in the United States (published in 1823) states
relative to the Shawanese :

"Their history is involved in much obscuritj-. Their language is Algonquin, and
closely allied to the Kickapoo and other dialects spoken by tribes vv^ho have lived for
ages north of the Ohio. But they are known to have recentl}' emigrated from the
South, where they were surrounded by a family of tribes — Creeks, Choctaws, Cherokees,
etc. — with whose language their own had no affinity. Their traditions assign to them a
foreign origin, and a wild story has come down to them of a solemn procession, in the
midst of the ocean, and of a miraculous passage through the great deep. That they were
closely connected with the Kickapoos, the actual identity of language furnishes irrefrag-
able proof, and the incidents of the separation yet live in the oral history of each tribe.

"We are strongly inclined to believe that, not long before the arrival of the French
upon these great lakes, the Shawanese and Kickapoos composed the tribe known as the
Erie — living on the eastern shore of the lake to which they have given their name. It is
said that this tribe was exterminatedf by the victorious Iroquois ; but it is more probable
that a series of disasters divided them into two parties, one of which, under the name of
Kickapoos, sought refuge from their enemies in the immense prairies between the Illinois
and Mississippi, and the other, under the name of Shawanese, fled into the Cherokee
country, and thence farther south. Father Segard, in 1632, called the Fries the 'Nation
du Chat,'' or the 'Raccoon,' on account of the magnitude of these animals in their country ;
and that is the soubriquet which, to this day, is applied by the Canadians to the
Shawanese."

M. F. Force, in "Some Early Notices of the Indians of Ohio"
(published in 1879), states that among the conjectures as to the early

*I,Ewis Cass (born in New Hampshire in 1782, and died in Michigan in 1866) served in the United
States Army during the second war with Great Britain and rose to the rank of General. For eighteen
years following the close of the war he served as Governor of the Territory of Michigan. From 1831 to
1836 he was Secretary of War, and from 1836 to 1842 United States Minister to France.

tSee pages 107 and 112, ante.

178

history of the Shawanese "the greatest probabilit)' lies for the present
with the earliest account — the account given by Perrot, and apparently
obtained by him from the Shawanoes themselves about the year 1(380 —
that they formerly lived by the lower lakes, and were driven thence by
the Five Nations." Other writers of more recent date than those here
quoted from have assumed that the Shawanese were identical with the
Eries, or "Cat Nation;" their habitat extending within the north-western
corner of Pennsylvania.

W. C. Bryant, a recent writer and an authority on the aboriginals of

New York, writes :

''Along the south-eastern shores of Lake Erie, and stretching as far east as the
Genesee River, lay the country of the Eries, or, as they were denominated by the Jesuits,
'Za Nation Chat,' or 'Cat Nation,' who were also a member of the Huron-Iroquois family.
The name of the beautiful lake on whose margin our city [Buffalo] was cradled, is their
most enduring monument, as Lake Huron is that of the generic stock. They were called
the 'Cat Nation' either because that interesting but mischievous animal, the raccoon —
which the hoi}- fathers erroneously classed in the feline gens — was the totem of their
leading clan, or sept, or in consequence of the abundance of that mammal within their
territor}-."

It will be noticed that General Cass refers to the Shawanese (or
Eries) as of the Algonkian family, while Mr. Bryant places the Eries in
the Huron-Iroquoian family. Authorities seem to differ with regard to
this matter, but by the majority of them the Eries are classed as a
branch of the Huron-Iroquois. Therefore, in referring on page 107 to
the Eries as "kinsmen of the Iroquois," we have followed in the steps
of the majorit}'. Dr. Brinton, and I think most other writers on the
subject, regard the Shawanese as certainly Algonkian.

According to some authorities the Eries were a large tribe, "were
fierce warriors, who used poisoned arrows, and were long a terror to the
neighboring Iroquois." Having been overthrown by the latter in 1654,
as previously mentioned, those of the nation who were not adopted into
the Iroquois Confederacy "became noted for a kind of gipsy life, and
roamed in fragmentary bands over the greater part of the country, dot-
ting the land with the names of Shawanese towns and rivers." Manv
of these wanderers emigrated southward and, according to Force (previ-
ously mentioned), are first found "in actual histoiy about the year 1660,
and living along the Cumberland River, or the Cumberland and Tennes-
see." It is quite certain that about this time some of the Shawanese
tribe separated from the main body in Tennessee and pushed their way
down to the Savannah River in South Carolina, where, known as
"Savannahs," they carried on in a manner true to their native instincts
destructive wars with the tribes claiming that territory.* A band, or
more, of these "Savannah" Shawanese pushed their way into Florida,
then in possession of the Spaniards.

About 1681 or '82 a band of Shawanese from either the Cumber-
land or the Tennessee migrrated northward — Brinton savs, bv invitation
of their "friends and relatives" the INIohegans. If so, it seems strange
that they did not take up their residence with the latter, who were then
settled in iNIassachusetts and Connecticut, mainly in the valley of the
Housatonic — as mentioned on page 101. Instead, these Shawanese located
in Pennsylvania among the Delawares on the Delaware River, at a place
then or later known as Pechoquealin, in Bucks County, near where
the Durham Iron Works were subsequently erected. The Delawares

♦See L,arned"s "Historj- for Readj' Reference," 1 : 78, Itti.

179

received the Shawanese kindly and, as they expressed it, "in their
arms." Schoolcraft relates* that according to the account of Metoxon,
a IMohegan chief, the Shawanese were originally connected with the
Delawares, but, being a restless and quarrelsome people, had involved
themselves in inextricable troubles while in the South and had, in the
chief's language, "returned to sit again between the feet of their grand-
fathers." Dr. Egle states ("History of Pennsylvania," page 23) that at
the celebrated "Great Treaty" of 1683 these "Shawanese were a party to
that covenant ; and they must have been considered a very prominent
band, from the fact of their having preserved the treaty in their own
possession or keeping, as we are informed that, at a conference held
man}' years after, that nation produced this treaty to the Governor of
the Province."

In 1C)98 some sixty or seventy families of the "Savannah" Shaw-
anese, having been expelled from South Carolina and Florida by the
Spaniards, made their way to Pennsylvania under the leadership of their
principal chief Opessah, or Wo-path-tha. They applied to the Susque-
hannocks, or Conestogas, for permission to settle among them, which
was granted, with the approval of the Five Nations and the knowledge
and consent of the Proprietary Government — the latter holding the
Conestogas responsible for the good behavior of their southern brethren.
These latter facts are mainly established by the following records : In
July, 1739, a council, or conference, was held at Philadelphia by the
Pennsylvania authorities with certain Shawanese chiefs from the Ohio.
The Hon. James Logan, f then President of the Provincial Council of
Pennsylvania, was present and said to these chiefs : "Some of your
older men may remember that about forty ^^ears ago a considerable
number of families of your nation thought fit to remove from the great
river [the Savannah] that bears your name. * * And they then
applied to the Indians of Sasquehannah to be admitted to settle among
them ; who consenting thereto," etc. In February, 1751, the Hon.
James Hamilton, Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, wrote to the
Board of Trade, London : "The Shawanese in olden times lived near
the Spaniards, and were always at war with them ; and having from an
uneasiness in their situation signified their desire to remove and live
under the protection of the English and the Five Nations, were b}-
treaty received into this Province and placed on the Susquehanna."!

The Shawanese thus referred to belonged to the Piqua, or Pikoweu,
band or clan of the tribe, and they made their settlement in 1698 on the
banks of a stream in what is now Lancaster County, and to which their
name (changed in its spelling) became in time attached — Pequea Creek.
In the course of a short time these were joined by other families of the
clan, whereupon some of them removed to Paxtang and others to Cono-
dogwinet Creek, in what is now Cumberland County.

April 23, 1701, William Penn, Proprietary of the Province, held a
conference at Philadelphia with "Canoodagtoh, king of the Indians in-
habiting upon and about the River Sasquehannah, in said Province,"
and "Wo-path-tha, King, and Lemoytungh and Pemoyajoongh, chiefs, of

* "History of the Indian Tribes of the United States." Part VI, page 277.

t James Logan was born in Ireland, of Scottish parents, in 1674, and died at his country seat near
Philadelphia in 1751. He came to Philadelphia in December, 1699, as William Penn's secretary. He was
an able, scholarlj' man, and held various important offices — including that of Chief Justice — in the
Province.

t See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IV: 337; "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, I: 228, and
ibid., II : 61.

180

the nations of the Shaivamtah Indians," together with certain other
Indians, named, "inhabiting in and about the north part of the River
Potomac." Canoodagtoh was chief of the Conestogas, and resided at
Conestoga. At this conference "articles of agreement" were signed,
whereby, among other matters, it was stipulated "That the said kings
and chiefs and their successors and people shall not suffer any strange
nation of Indians to settle or plant on the further side of Sasquehannah
or about Potomock River, but such as are there already seated."*

It was not long after the signing of this treat}' that the small band
of Shawanese removed from Pequehant to Wyoming Valley, as previ-
ously noted (on page 177), being invited thither, says Reichel in his
"Memorials of the INIoravian Church" (page 104), by the Five Nations,
"who were confident that they could place no custodians more reliable
than the ferocious Shawanese in charge of that lovely valley among the
hills, which they designed to keep for themselves and their children for-
ever." Loskiel, in speaking of the visit of Count Zinzendorf to Wyo-
ming Valley in 1742, saysj: : "This place was then inhabited by the
Shawanose, a very depraved and cruel people, always at enmity with
the Europeans, and invited thither by the Iroquois with a view to pro-
tect the silver mines said to be in the neighborhood, from the white
people."!

These Shawanese established their village on the right, or north,
bank of the river, at the sharp bend about a mile and a quarter west of
the lower extremity of Richards Island, mentioned on page 52. This
location was at the eastern or upper end of the "Large, Level Bottom-
Land" indicated on the facsimile of "A Plot of the Manor of Sunbury"
shown in Chapter VII. At that point there was then, and for many
years later, quite a knoll which was known subsequently to 1775 or '6
as "Garrison Hill," from the fact that there the early white inhabitants
of Plymouth erected and occupied a wooden stockade or fort. With
respect to present-day landmarks the site of this first Shawanese Indian
village in Wj'oming Valley may be described as lying within the present
limits of the borough of Plymouth, near the junction of Coal Street and
the "Old Plats Road," at the eastern end of "Shawnee" Flats. Ran-
som's Creek — at one time quite a sizable stream — flows down from
Shawanese Mountain, crosses the easternmost extremity of the Flats and
empties into the river. Formerly (before its course was deflected by

* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IV : 338.

t Their town on Pequea Creek, some five or six miles from Conestoga.

X "Historj' of the Mission of the United Brethren Among the Indians in North America," Livonia, 1788.

\ Relative to the Shawanese who remained behind at Pequehan the following interesting items may
be appropriately introduced here.

In June, ITOt, Governor Evans of Pennsylvania, attended by interpreters and others, paid a visit to
Pequehan and held a conference with the Shawanese and some "Mingoes," or Five Nation Indians,
belonging to a Mingo town not far from Conestoga. Opessah, or Wo-path-tha, King of the Shawanese,
speaking in behalf of the youth of Pequehan, said ; "We are happy to live in a countr^• at peace, and
not as in tho.se parts where we formerly lived ; for then, upon our return from hunting, we found our
town surprised and our women and children taken prisoners by our enemies."

During Governor Evans' stay at Pequehan several Shawanese "from the southward" came to settle
there under Opessah, with the Governor's consent; and at the same time "an Indian from a Shanois
[Shawanese] town near Carolina came in and gave an account that 450 of the fflatt-headed Indians had
beseiged them, and that in all probability- the same was taken." It seems that some of the Shawanese of
Carolina — presumably South Carolina — had killed several "Christians'' (white people), whereupon the
Provincial authorities raised a force of whites and "Flat-head" Indians and beseiged the principal town
of the Shawanese.

In October, 1714. the Pro\-incial Council of Pennsylvania was notified that "Opessah. the late King of
the Shawanois. having absented himself from his people for about three years— living in the woods at
a considerable distance from the tribe : and. upon divers messages sent to him, still refused to return to
them, they have at length thought it necessary to appoint another in his stead, and presented the person
chosen to the Board as the new elected King of the Shawanois — desiring the approbation of the Govern-
ment." In June, 1715, Opessah, the "late King, " attended a Council at Philadelphia with certain Dela-
■ware Indians from the .Schuylkill. In 1719 "Savannah" was chief, or King, of the Shawanese in the
locality of Conestoga. (See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records, " II ; 388, 389 and 574, and III : 149.

AKX

181

coal-mining operations) this creek ran very near to Garrison Hill and
then flowed dne sonth clear across the Flats, parallel with their eastern
margin, to the river.

Col. H. B. Wright, in his "Historical Sketches of Ph'mouth," writ-
ten in 1872, states (on page 90) with reference to "Garrison Hill" :

"This spot is at the turn of the 'Flat' road, and some seventy rods from the main
traveled road through the town, and not far from the location of the old 'swing gate.'
It was years ago, and within my recollection, the field where we went in search of Indian
curiosities — arrow-heads, pipes, stone hatchets, pots, etc., and sometimes we would find
leaden bullets and pieces of broken muskets."

Notwithstanding the fact that the "Shawnee" Flats have been
diligently cultivated for the past century and a quarter, and that during
this period they have been overflowed by the waters of the Susque-
hanna at least once, but oftener twice, in each year, in times of freshets,
yet, by the practised eye of the archaeologist, many evidences of early
Indian occupation may still be seen on and near the site of the old Shaw-
anese village. After the big freshet of 1902 (which, at different points
in the locality mentioned, stripped off the topmost stratum of soil) quite
a number of interesting "finds" were made by Mr. Christopher Wren
of Plymouth, who has a greater practical understanding of the early
Indian remains discovered in Wyoming Valley, and has made a larger
and more varied collection of them, than any other man now living.

For twenty odd years following the coming of the Shawanese to
Wyoming little or nothing that is reliable is known with respect to
affairs or conditions in the valley. Then occurred the second recorded
visit of the white man to the valley. In the Spring of 1723 thirty
families of Palatines from Schoharie Count}', New York, passed down
the North Branch of the Susquehanna on their way as emigrants to the
valley of the Tulpehocken, in what is now Berks County, Pennsylvania.
It is more than probable that these voyagers stopped, for one reason or
another, at some or all of the few Indian villages that lay in their long
and lonely course ; and as, at that time, the Shawanese village was the
only settlement of human beings in Wyoming Valley — so far as now
known — it may be presumed that the Palatines tarried there, if only for
a few hours.

These Palatines — natives of the Palatinate of the Rhine, or the
Pfalz, in Germany— had been settled since 1714 at what is now Middle-
burg, Schoharie County. After years of patient toil they had become
involved in trouble about the lands which they were occupying and
cultivating. Lieutenant Governor Keith of Pennsylvania learned of
their unhappy situation while he was in Albany on a visit, and he
offered them a home in Pennsylvania. "The people got news of lands
on the Swatara and Tulpehocken ; " the tidings proved attractive and a
migration was begun. The Rev. Sanford H. Cobb, in "The Story of
the Palatines" (page 282), says :

"The leader of the first company was Hartman Vinedecker [or Windecker], * *
whom almost his entire village followed into Pennsylvania. The emigrants ascended the
Schoharie for a few miles, and then, under the conduct of an Indian guide, crossed the
mountains southwestwardly to the upper waters of the Susquehanna. On the bank of
this river they constructed canoes for the carriage of the most of their number, with the
women, children and furniture. In these canoes, while some of the men drove the horses
and cattle on the land, the majority of the party floated down the Susquehanna so far as
to the mouth of the Swatara. Turning into this stream they followed its upward course,
until in the region of hills and vales and fertile meadow-lands, in which both the Swatara
and Tulpehocken* have their rise, they found at last the object of their journey and a
* See maps on pages 188 and 191.

182

place of permanent habitation. To their first settlement they gave the name of Heidel-
berg, and thence sent back word to their friends at Schoharie of the prosperous issue of
the journey."

In the Summer of 1725 fifty other Palatine families from Schoharie
passed through Wyoming on their way to the valley of the Tulpehocken ;
and in the Spring of 1729 a third — and probably the smallest — company
of Palatines passed down the Susquehanna to join their countrymen in
the new Deiitschland. Prominent among those who composed this
company was Conrad Weiser,* who said concerning it : "There was
Avant of leadership — each man did as he pleased." Not satisfied with
being themselves removed from New York, these happily-settled Penn-
sylvania Palatines "wrote to their friends and relatives, if ever they in-
tended to come to America not to go to New York. This advice had
such influence that the Germans, w^ho afterwards went in such numbers
to America, constantly avoided New York and went to Pennsylvania.
It sometimes happened that they were forced to take ships bound for
New York, but they were scarce got on shore when they hastened to
Pennsylvania, in sight of all the inhabitants of New York."t

The great influx of Germans into Pennsylvania, which had begun
some years before the first company of Schoharie Palatines journeyed
down the Susquehanna, was very disquieting to some of the officials of
the Province. As early as 1717 James Logan (previously mentioned),
then Secretary of the Province, wrote :

"We have of late great numbers of Palatines poured in among us, without recom-
mendation or notice, which gives the country some uneasiness, for foreigners do not so
well among us as our own English people. ' '

* Conrad Weiser, the son of John Conrad "Weiser, was born near Wiirteniberg, Germanj', November
2, 1696, and in 1710 accompanied his parents to America with a colony of Palatines, who settled on
Livingston Manor in Columbia County, New York. In 1714 the Weisers removed to Schoharie, which
was in the Mohawk Indian country-. 'When Conrad was seventeen years old he spent, at his father's
request, eight months in the famiU' of a prominent Mohawk chief. Returning home he did good service
as interpreter between "the high-mettled Dutch and the tawny nation. There was plenty of business and
no pay." L,ater he left his father's home, and during the greater part of the time for a period of fifteen
years lived among the Mohawk Indians ; in this manner becoming familiar -with their habits, customs
and language, and fitting himself to render the invaluable services which he afterwards performed for
the Government of Pennsj-lvania. His father was one of the leaders of his countrymen in resisting the
encroachments of the Albanj' landholders, who eventually forced the Palatines to vacate their farms and
emigrate to Pennsylvania, as described above.

Conrad Weiser settled near Womelsdorf, in Heidelberg Township, not far from Tulpehocken Creek
and about fourteen miles west of the present city of Reading. Here he lived until within a few years
before his death, when he removed to Reading. In 17.32, by special request of certain deputies of the Six
Nations, he was appointed by Lieutenant Governor Gordon of Pennsylvania Interpreter for the Iroquois
Confederacy. From this time until his death he was identified with the history of the Province in all its
relations with the Indians. He was referred to by chiefs of the Six Nations as a "Councillor'" of their
Confederacy. His Indian name was "T/tarachiacvagou." His popularity and his influence were great
among the Indians of all nations with whom he had dealings. In 1734 he was appointed a Ju.stice of the
Peace by the Pennsylvania Government, and in the old French War was commissioned Colonel and
appointed to the cotnmand of all forces raised west of the Susquehanna. The Provincial Council testified
in 1736 "that they had found Conrad faithful and honest, that he is a true, good man and had spoke their
[the Indians'] words and our words, and not his own."

At an important council held by the Provincial Government with a large number of Six Nation
Indians at Philadelphia in July, 1742,' the chief speaker of the Six Nations said concerning Weiser : "The
business the Five Nations transact with you is of great consequence, and requires a skillful and honest
person to go between us — one in whom both you and we can place confidence. We esteem our present
Interpreter to be such a person, equally faithful in the interpretation of whatever is said to him by either
of us — equally allied to both. He is of our nation and a member of our Council as well as of yours.
When we adopted him we divided him into two equal parts — one we kept for ourselves, and one we left
for j-ou. He has had a great deal of trouble with us, -wore out his shoes in our messages, and dirtied his
clothes by being amongst us, so that he is as nasty as an Indian. In return for these services we recom-
mend him to your generosity, and on our own behalf we give him five skins to buy him clothes and
shoes with." (See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IV : .581.)

"Weiser's Iroquois alliances, his skill in preventing Maryland and Virginia from becoming invoU-ed
in an Indian war, his ability in securing the friendshipof the Six Nation allies on the Maumee and Wabash,
stimulated the fur trade m Pennsylvania. The exports of peltries from Philadelphia at this time
exceeded those of New York and Baltimore. The protection offered by Weiser's Logstown treaty of 1748
revealed to Virginia the wealth of trade in territory which she had always claimed. The Ohio Land
Company was formed, and the Virginia traders pushed rapidly into this Eldorado. * * * After the
death of Weiser, Pennsylvania figured no longer in Indian affairs."

Weiser died July 13,'l760, while on a visit to his farm near Womelsdorf. and was buried there. It is
said that W'ashington. standing at the grave of Weiser in 1794, remarked that the services of the latter to
the Government had been of great importance and had been rendered in a difficult period and posterity
would not forget him.

t Pennsylvania Historical Magazine, X : 388.

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183

This "uneasiness" concerning the German immigration into Penn-
sylvania continued for a number of years, and at one time Secretary
Logan expressed a "fear lest the Colony be lost to the Crown" by reason
of these immigrants. In January, 1742, Lieutenant Governor Thomas,
in a message to the Pennsylvania Assembly, said* :

"I am not insensible that some look with jealous eyes upon the yearly concourse of
Germans to this Province, but the Parliament of Great Britain see it in a different light,
and have therefore given great encouragement by a late Act to all such foreign Protestants
as shall settle in his Majesty's dominions. And indeed every man who well considers
this matter must allow that every industrious laborer from Europe is a real addition to
the wealth of this Province ; and that the labor of every foreigner in particular is almost
so much clear gain to our mother country. ' '

Nearly 200,000 Palatines came to America previously to the Revo-
lutionary War, and their descendants — among whom to-day are some of
the most solid and eminent men of the country — number now not far
from four or five millions. Cobb states that so large was the Palatine
element — particularly after the year 1710 — in the immigrations into
Pennsylvania, that "all the natives of other German States coming with
them were called by the same name. Thus, though the Palatinate
covered but a small portion of the Germian Empire, yet for forty years
in Pennsylvania nomenclature all Germans were Palatines." Mainly,
if not wholly, from those Palatines who settled in Pennsylvania in
Colonial times are descended the "Pennsylvania Dutchmen" of to-day.
The Palatine immigrants were generally taken to be of the same country
as the Hollanders, or Dutch, who played an important part among the
earliest settlers on the iVtlantic coast, and accordingly the former were
called "Dutch," or "Dutchmen." Two centuries and more have hardly
been sufficient to teach the difference between the two nationalities.

The first German settlements on this continent were made in Penn-
sylvania — the first colonists arriving in the Province in October, 1683,
Their leader was Francis Daniel Pastorious, probably the most widely
learned man in America in the seventeenth century, and one of the first
who raised a written protest against slavery. These Germans, from the
Palatinate and elsewhere — these "Pennsylvania Dutchmen" — made the
forests of Penn blossom like gardens, and in later Colonial times formed,
as their descendants form now, the brain, sinew and muscle of several
Pennsylvania counties. The Bible was printed three times and the
Testament seven times in German in this country before it came forth
in English from an American press. The greatest publication of
Colonial times was the "Martyr Book," which came from the press at
Ephrata, Pennsylvania, in 1748. About half the books published by
Benjamin Franklin were in German for the Germans. The first paper-
mill in America was erected by a "Pennsylvania Dutchman." The
first type-founder in the country was a "Pennsylvania Dutchman," as
was also the American to first attain eminence as an astronomer and
measure for the first time the distance from the earth to the sun.

Retracing our steps, now, to Wyoming, we will continue the story
of the valley with the events of 1728 — the year preceding Conrad
Weiser's removal from New York to Pennsylvania.

The exodus of the Schoharie Palatines to Tulpehocken Valley
seems to have first opened the eyes of the Six Nation Indians to the
important value of their land claims in Pennsylvania, says Waltonf ;

* "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IV : 508.

fin "Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania," pages U and 16.

184

and after that time they denied to the Delaware Indians the privilege to
sell any territory in that Province, and pressed their own claims and
rights with diplomatic skill. As previously noted (on page 113) the
Iroquois claimed sovereignty over the Delawares and other Pennsylvania
Indians, but they had not insisted on exercising the sole right to dis-
pose of lands lying in Pennsylvania. The Delawares, in particular, had
been selling the lands occupied by themselves to William Penn and his
sons, his successors, at various times, apparently without any objections
being raised by the Six Nations. However, early in 1728 the "Great
Council" of the Six Nations at Onondaga Castle sent Shikellimy,* an
Oneida sachem, to Pennsylvania to guard the interests of the Six
Nations in that Province. He took up his residence at the mouth of
Sinking Run, on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, about three
miles north of the present borough of Lewisburg, Union County, and in
June, 1728, attended a council at Philadelphia for the first time in his
official capacity. In the following October he attended a second council
held at the same place.

Shikellimy had general oversight of the Shawanese, Conestoga and
Delaware Indians in Pennsvlvania. "These tribes were soon o-iven
to understand that in their future dealings with the Proprietary Govern-
ment it would be necessary to consult him ; that all their business
would be done in the future in the same manner as the affairs of the
Six Nations were accomplished." The grounds upon which were based
the claims of the Six Nations to the "lands along the Susquehanna,"
at this time as well as in later years, were forcibly set forth by Canas-
satego (mentioned on page 81) in a speech made at a council held by the
Provincial authorities with certain Six Nation Indians at Philadelphia

* Shikellimy was the name given this sachem by the Shawanese. His Iroquois name was Sawatane.
He was of the Oneida nation, of the Bear clan, and was born about 1680, presumably in New York. Having
located on the West Branch of the Susquehanna, he continued at the place mentioned above for a number
of years. The locality was called for a long time "Shikellimy's Town" and then "Shikellimy's Old
Town," and the stream there was known as "Shikellimy's Run." Between 1738 and 1742 Shikellimy
removed to Shamokin (now Sunbury), near the confluence of the West Branch with the North Branch of
the Susquehanna, as that place was recognized as a more central and accessible spot. (See maps on pages
188 and 191.) That he was living at Shamokin as early as 1742 is proved by statements in Zinzendorf's
"is^arrative," in Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," page 84, et seq.

On account of its commanding position — being the converging point of the great trails north and
south — Shamokin was the most populous and important Indian town in the Province at this time.
When first visited by the whites in 1727 it contained upwards of 300 Indians, occupying about fifty lodges
scattered over considerable territory. Here the Iroquois warriors, on their returri from predatory expe-
ditions against the southern tribes, would tarry for awhile and indulge in a final carouse before returning
to their homes. Martin Mack, the missionary, described the town in 1745 as "the very seat of the Prince
of Darkness" ; and another missionary, David Brainerd, who was there in the same year, wrote of it :
"The Indians of this place are accounted the most drunken, mischievous and ruffian-like fellows of anj-
in these parts, and Satan seems to have his seat in this town in an eminent manner. About one-half are
Delawares, the others Senecas and Tuteloes." .Shamokin lay south-west of Wyoming Valley, distant
from its center (the present site of Wilkes-Barre) fifty-seven miles in a bee-line, or sixty-five miles follow-
ing the course of the river.

As Shikellimy was virtuous, sober, shrewd and possessed of marked executive ability, he was recog-
nized by the Six Nations as a man of much more than ordinarj^ mind and character, and about 174-5 was
promoted by the Confederacy to the dignity of vicegerent, and was invested with unusual authority. He
was wide-awake and earnest in his efforts to promote the interests of his people, "and was well aware
that up to this time there had been little or no intercourse between the Government of Pennsylvania and
the Six Nations." On account of his high standing and excellent judgment his influence was courted by
the Provincial authorities, and he and Conrad Weiser became warm friends. Scarcely a treaty or a con-
ference took place between the j-ears 1728 and 1748 (and there were many treaties and conferences respect-
ing the purchase of lands) but Shikellimy was present, and bj' his moderate counsels aided in an amicable
solution of the intricate questions with which these events were concerned. Of all the Indians— of whom
we have anj^ account— who ever lived in Pennsylvania, Shikellimy was, in some respects, one of the most
remarkable.

In 1747, while on a visit to Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Shikellimy was converted to Christianity. He
died at Shamokin — probably of fever and ague, then prevailing in that locality — December 17, 1748, in the
presence of members of his family and David Zeisberger, the Moravian missionary. A coffin was made,
the Indians painted the corpse in gay colors and decked it with the choicest ornaments that had belonged
to Shikellimy in life. Various implements were also placed with the corpse in the coffin, and interment
was then made in the Indian burial-ground on the outskirts of Shamokin. In 18o8 various Indian graves,
including that of Shikellimy, in this old graveyard were opened, and of the relics then exhumed an
interesting account will be found in Johnson's "Historical Record" (Wilkes-Barr6), II : 179.

The wife of .Shikellimy was a Cayuga, and she bore him four sons and one daughter, who were,
according to the Indian law relating to pedigrees, Cayugas. The eldest of the sons was Tachnechdorus,
or Tachnechtoris ("The Wide-spreading Oak"), who was commonly known as "John Shikellimy." He

185

in July, 1742. The Onoiidagan orator said, among- other things* :
"That country belongs to us in right of conquest. We have bought it
with our blood, and taken it from our enemies in fair war, and we
expect as owners of that land to receive such consideration for it as the
land is worth."

The ancient Delawares are now about to appear upon the scene
again — this time at Wyoming ; but before they are introduced it is
important that we should look backward for a space, and view briefly
their status from the time of their subjugation by the Five Nations — as
mentioned on page 113.

The Delawares were loath to admit to their white friends that thev
were held in subjection by the Iroquois, and Heckewelder and the other
Moravian missionaries were, in general, inclined to believe the tales
told them by the Delawares and to repeat some of those tales in the
letters, reports and diaries which they wrote. Loskiel, whose "History
of the Mission of the United Brethren Among the Indians in North
America" (written in Livonia in 1787 and '88) was based on the written
reports and records of the Moravian missionaries — for he himself was
never in this country — prints in his "History" the following interesting
details concerning the Delawares.

"The Delawares lived formerly iu the country about Philadelphia, extending to-
wards the ocean, in the Jerseys, about Trenton, Brunswick, Amboj^ and other places.
According to their own account they made continual inroads into the towns of the Cher-
okees, who then lived on the banks of the Ohio and its branches. The wars betw'een the
Delawares and the Iroquois were more violent and of more ancient standing. According
to the account of the Delawares they were always too powerful for the Iroquois, so that
the latter were at length convinced that if they continued the war their total extirpation
•would be inevitable. They therefore sent the following message to the Delawares :

" 'It is not profitable that all the nations should be at war with each other, for this
will at length be the ruin of the whole Indian race. We have, therefore, considered a
remedy, by which this evil may be prevented — one nation shall be the woman ! We will
place her in the midst, and the other nations who make war shall be the men. and live
around the woman. No one shall touch or hurt the woman, and if any one does it we
will immediately say to him, 'Why do you beat the woman ? ' Then all the men shall
fall upon him who has beaten her. The woman shall not go to war, but endeavor to
keep peace with all. Therefore, if the men that surround her beat each other, and the
war be carried on with violence, the woman shall have the right of addressing them :

succeeded his father as vicegerent, and continued to reside at Shamokin ; but, as he did not possess the
executive ability and the virtues of his father, he failed to command the respect of the Indians.

The third son of Shikellimj; was Tahgayuta, or James t,ogan, especially distinguished in American
annals as "I,ogan, the Mingo chief." (Relative to the use of the term "Mingo," generally, see page 106.)
I<ogan was born at Shikellimy's Town, previously mentioned, probably about 1728 or '29, and as his father
entertained a high regard for the Hon. James lyOgan — mentioned on page 179 — the son was named for
him. Young I,ogan removed with his father's family to Shamokin, where, later, he married a wife from
the Shawanese tribe. Some time afterwards he settled near a large spring, now bearing his na:ne, in the
Kishicoquillas Valley, six miles from I,ewistown, Pennsylvania. There he resided until 1771, when he
removed to the West and located on the Ohio River, at the mouth of Yellow Creek, about thirty miles
above the present city of Wheeling. Here he was joined by his relatives and some Cayugas from the
locality of Shamokin, who recognized him as chief. The Iroquois on the Ohio, then and later, were
known as Mingoes.

In the Spring of 1774, just prior to what is known in history as Cresap's War, carried on against Shaw-
anese, Delawares and Mingoes on the Ohio, the whole of I,ogan's family — his wife, his children and his
sister — were inurdered in cold blood in I<ogan's cabin during his absence on a hunting expedition.
This cowardly deed was done, without provocation, by some miscreants who had stolen away from
Cresap's camp. Naturally the vengeance of L,ogan was provoked, and in the war which soon ensued he
fought fiercely as a leader and took many scalps. In the Autumn of 1774 a severe and stubbornly con-
tested battle was fought with the Indians on the Scioto River, resulting in large losses on both sides.
But the Indians were defeated and sued for peace, and shortly afterwards many representatives from
among the Shawanese and Delawares were gathered together in I,ord Dunmore's camp, and a treaty of
amity was concluded.

The Mingoes, influenced by Logan, refused to attend or take part in any way in this conference.
lyOrd Dunmore sent as an envoy to I<ogan John Gibson — afterwards a General in the Revolutionary War
— who had been a prisoner among the Indians and knew their language. He met Logan, who sent back
an answer to Lord Dunmore. Upon his return to Camp Charlotte Gibson wrote out this answer, or speech,
for Lord Dunmore, and later in the year it was published in certain newspapers, and attracted much
comment ; but remarkable popularity was secured for it by Thomas Jefferson, when, some years later, he
published it with notes and comments in his "Notes on Virginia," as illustrating Indian character and
genius. This speech has probably been translated into almost every language of the civilized world. Its
opening sentence is as follows : "I appeal to any white man if he ever entered Logan's cabin hungry, and
he gave him not to eat ; if he ever came cold and naked, and he clothed him not." For the remainder of
the speech see Stone's "Poetry and History of Wyoming," page 382.

*See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IV : 570.

186

'Ye men ! what are ye about ? Why do ye beat each other ? We are almost afraid.
Consider that your wives and children must perish unless ye desist.' The men shall then
obey the woman.'

"The Delawares add that, not immediately perceiving the intention of the Iroquois,
they had submitted to be the woman. The Iroquois then appointed a great feast and
invited the Delaware nation to it, when, in consequence of the authority given them, they
made a solemn speech containing three capital points. The Jirsi was. that they declared
the Delaware nation to be the woman in the following words : 'We dress you in a
woman's long habit, reaching down to your feet, and adorn you with ear-rings' — meaning
that they should no more take up arms. The second point was thus expressed : 'We
hang a calabash filled with oil and medicines upon j-our arm. With the oil you shall
cleanse the ears of the other nations, that they may attend to good and not to bad words ;
and with the medicine you shall heal those who are walking in foolish ways, that they
may return to their senses and incline their hearts to peace.' The third point, by which
the Delawares were exhorted to make agriculture their future emplo}- and means of sub-
sistence, was thus w^orded : 'We deliver into your hands a plant of Indian corn, and a
hoe.' Each of these points was confirmed by delivering a belt of wampum, and these
belts have been carefully laid up, and their meaning frequently repeated.

"Ever since this singular treaty of peace the Iroquois have called the Delawares
their cousins. * * * The Iroquois, on the contrar}-, assert that they conquered the
Delawares, and that the latter were forced to adopt the defenceless state and appellation
of a woman to avoid total ruin."

In 1712 the Delawares had long been tributary to the Five Nations,
as is shown by the following incident.* In ]\Iay of the year mentioned
certain Delawares, including Skalitchi, their King, Sassoonan, and other
chiefs, being on their way to Onondaga, called on the Governor of Penn-
sylvania and showed what they bore. ''They thereupon laid upon the
floor thirty-two belts of wampum of various figures, and a long Indian
pipe called the calumet, with a stone head, a wooden or cane shaft and
feathers fixed to it like wings, with other ornaments. This pipe, they
said, upon making their submission to the Five Nations (who had sub-
dued them and obliged them to be their tributaries) those Nations had
given to the Delawares to be kept by them, that at all times thereafter,
upon showing this pipe wherever they came they might be known to be
friends and subjects of the Five Nations, and be received by them when
the}' came amongst them." They then declared that "many years ago"
they had been "made tributaries to the ]\Iingoes, or Five Nations," and
following this statement they proceeded to open out the belts lying on
the floor and to explain the meaning and purpose of each. "These last
twenty-four," they said, "were all sent by the women^ the Indians
reckoning the paying of tribute becomes none but women and children."

In June, 1728, the Penn.sylvania authorities held an important con-
ference in the "Great Meeting-house" at Philadelphia with Indians from
the Susquehanna and Delaware regions. Shikellimy was among those
who attended, as was also Sassoonan, or Allummapees,t King of the
Delawares. The latter gave notice during the conference "that the
]\Iinnisinks live in the Forks of Susquehanna, above Meehayomy [Wyo-
ming], and that their King's name is Kindassoiva.''^ ("Pennsylvania
Colonial Records," III : 326.) The formal announcement of this fact on
that important occasion may be understood as indicating that the "]\Iin-
nisinks" had removed to the locality mentioned only a short time previ-
ously. At any rate, this is the earliest recorded reference (known to the
writer) to that particular locality, and is the first recorded mention
made of a Delaware Indian settlement in Wyoming Valley.

* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," II : 546, 548.

t .-VLLrMMAPEES was, apparently, the name of this sachem in the Delaware tongue, and Sassoonan
in the Iroquois. The meaning of the name in English is "One who is well wrapped up." Prior to
his accession to the kingship oi the Delawares Allummapees had been chief of the Unami, or Wanamie,
clan of the tribe. (See "Pennsvlvania Colonial Records," VII: 726.) As early as 1715 he had become

187

The "]\Iinnisinks" were the Delawares of the Alinsi, or INIonsey,
clan, as mentioned on page 103 ; and by "the Forks of Snsqnehanna"
Allummapees referred to the confluence of the Lackawanna River witli
the Snsqnehanna, as described on page 34. The site of the village in
question was on the left bank of the Snsqnehanna between Campbell's
Ledge and the mouth of the Lackawanna, and opposite Scovell's Island.*
This village was known during a number of years as '•''Asseriighney^^'' or
'•''Assarockncy^^'' and also as '■'■Adjoiiqiia''' ; but it is noted as ^'■Solocka'''' on
the map on page 33, as well as on the "Map of the Province of Pensil-
vania" (originally published in 1756) to be found in Chapter V.

The original name of the Lackawanna was, in the Delaware tongue,
^'•Gachaiiai^''^ and in the Maqua, or Iroquois, '■''Hasirok^^'' as is shown by
entries in two original, unpublished diariest relating to journeys made
along the upper waters of the North Branch of the Susquehanna — the
one by the Moravian Bishop Cammerhoff in 1750, and the other by the
Moravian misssionary David Zeisberger in 1753. Dr. Beauchamp has
informed the writer that " ^Solocka' looks like an Oneida word, but is
probably either Delaware or Shawanese — most likely the former, the
termination '•ocka^^ or '■ohki\'' meaning 'land' or 'place.' The word is not
Iroquois. Names are so often corrupted or abbreviated, however, that
definitions must often be conjectured. In general, any Pennsylvania
name containing labials may be safely called Delaware, although the
absence of these does not determine it to be Iroquois. You will observe
that '•Hazirok) is a creek, not a village, although any houses there
would be 'at Hazirok^^ according to Indian usage. If any place near
the '•Hasirok'' was large enough to be called a village, it would naturally
be at or very near the mouth of the creek. Dropping the final syllable
of '•Asseriighney^ or '•Assarockney^ as is often done, would give you a
good identification : ^ Assarock'' ^=-'' Hazirok^^ which is much closer than
many forms of Indian names."

Pearce states ("Annals of Luzerne County," pages 29 and 218) that
the village of i\sserughney was at the mouth of Gardner's Creek, about

King, upon the death of Skalitchi. In 1718 he headed the deputation of Delaware chieftans who at
Philadelphia signed an absolute release to the Proprietaries for certain lands between the Delaware and
Susquehanna, previously granted to William Penn.

Shortly after the conference held at Philadelphia in June, 1728, Allummapees and a number of his
Indians removed from the Delaware River to Shamokin — presumably by direction, or desire, of the Six
Nations. In August, 1731, I,ieutenant Governor Gordon reported to the Provincial Assembly that King
Allummapees had, "in a fit of drunkenness, killed his cousin Shackatawlin.*' Sam Shackatawlin, who
occasionally acted as interpreter at Philadelphia — where he was looked upon by some as an oracle — was
the presumptive successor of Allummapees, being his yiephnu. (The words "cousin" and "nephew"
were used interchangeably by the Indians, just as they were used by Shakspeare, and by civilized people
generally at a later period.) Allummapees was jealous of his nephew, and stabbed him'to the heart with
a knife. In a deed of 1732 Allummapees is described as "Sachem of the Schuylkill Indians."

In June, 1717, Conrad Weiser wrote that the Delaware Indians at Shamokin had intended to visit
Philadelphia in 1716, but had been prevented by the sickness of Allummapees, who was still alive but
unable to stir. "He has no successor among his relatives," wrote Weiser, "and he will hear of none so long
as he is alive ; and none of the Indians care to meddle in the affair. vShikellimy advises that the Govern-
ment should name Allummapees' successor, and set him up by their authority, that at this critical time
there might be a man to apply to, since Allummapees has lost his senses and is incapable of doing any-
thing." I,ater Weiser wrote to Richard Peters that the King "would have resigned his crown before
now ; but as he has the keeping of the public treasure (that is to say, of the Council-bag) consisting of
belts of wampum, with which he buys liquor and has been drunk for this two or three years almost
constantlj", it is thought he won't die so long as there is a single wampum left in the bag."

AUunimapees having, evidently, disposed of the last wampum in the Council-bag, died at Shamokin
in October, 1717. His death was due chiefly to fever and ague, then prevailing to an alarming extent in
the locality of Shamokin, and it is said that the old king "actually shook himself to death with the ague."
In announcing to the Government the death of Allummapees Weiser said : "I^apaghuitton is allowed to
be fittest to succeed him, but he declines. He is afraid he will be envied, and consequently bewitched by
some of the Indians." In April, 1718, the Onondaga Council notified Shikelliniy that they would send
some of their old men to Philadelphia to treat about "a proper person to succeed King Allummapees.''
In September, 1718, Weiser being at Logstown, on the Ohio River in Western Pennsylvania, condoled
with Delaware Indians from Beaver Creek (eight miles distant) over the loss of their "good king and our
good friend and brother Olomipies."

* See pages 17 and 50.

t Translations (likewise unpublished) of these diaries are in possession of the Rev. W. M. Beauchamp,
S. T. D., of Syracuse, New York, who has kindly furnished the present writer with various extracts
therefrom.

188

Part of a Map of Pennsylvania, New Jersey and New York.

By Tob. Conr. Lotter.

Reduced photo-engraving made for this historj' from a copy of the original map (in the Library

of Congress) published in the latter part of 1748 or early in 1749.

The Lotter family were book publishers in Augsburg, Bavaria, 1710-'85.

four miles up the river from the mouth of the Lackawanna, in what
is now Ransom Township. This is undoubtedly an error. Some years
later there was an Indian village on that spot, but it was not Asserugh-
ney. It was named ^'■Candowsa^'''' and is noted on the map in Chapter V.
This is a Delaware word, and mav have been derived from the name
of the "king" of Asserughney. Hollister says ("History of the Lacka-
wanna Valley," fifth edition, page 25) : "This village [Asserughney]
stood between the bold precipice famed as Campbell's Ledge and the
mouth of the Lackawanna River. While Asserughney was the Indian
name of the town '•Adjouqua' was applied to the lower portion of the
Lackawanna Valley." In February, 1756, Tachnechdorus, "Chief of
Shamokin" (see foot-note, page 184), informed the Lieutenant Governor
of Pennsylvania that certain Delawares had fled to ^'•Assarockney^^'' hav-
ing there "a big hill on one side and the Sasquehannah on the other
side of the present town."* At a conference held in June, 1756, t by
Colonel Clapham of the Provincial forces with a chief of the Six
Nations, the latter stated that the Iroquois "agree to your building a
fort at Shamokin, but are desirous that you should also build a fort three
days journey in a canoe higher up the North Branch in their country, at
a place called Adjoiiquay, * * * where there is a good situation
and fine soil at the entrance of a deep creek, on a level plain five miles
extending and clear of woods. Adjouqiia is fourteen miles above Wyo-

* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VI : 66 and VII : 52.

tSee ibid., VII : 157-159.

189

ming, and old women may carry a heavy pack of skins from thence to
the ]\Iinisink,* and retnrn to Adjoiiqua in two nights."

Although the name "Wyoming" had been, undoubtedly, originally
applied by the Indians to the valley still thus entitled, yet in 1728, and
during a number of years later, the name was restricted to the Shaw-
anese town on the right bank of the river, within the present limits of
Plymouth. Not only is this evident from the words quoted in the pre-
ceding paragraph and from the language used by Allummapees in refer-
ring to the Monsey town at the "Forks," but the fact is also indicated
on the several early maps reproduced on the preceding page, on page
191 and in Chapter V.

Asserughney was not "fourteen miles above" the town of Wyoming,
however, but was only about nine and a-half miles in a bee-line, or about
eleven miles by way of the river. It was spoken of by different Indians,
upon various occasions, as being ten, twelve and fourteen miles above
Wyoming. The town was well placed. The summit of Campbell's
Ledge, towering above, afforded an uninterrupted lookout over the
valley below, and was used by the Indians not only in watching over
their wigwams nestled along the river, but as a place whereon to kindle
their beacon or signal fires. The great Warrior Path from the North,
and the trail down the Lackawanna from the Minisink homes on the
Delaware, passed through it.

At a Council held in Philadelphia May 20, 1728, the Governor
reported that two traders "from Pechoquealin, near Durham Iron Works"
(see page 178) had just delivered to him a verbal message "from Ka-kow-
watchy, the Chief of the Shawanese there, to this effect : That he hav-
ing heard that the Flat-head Indians (so called) were come into this
Province with a design to make war upon our Indians, he had sent
eleven of his men armed to inquire into the truth of it, with orders to
assist our Indians. That their provisions failed them and they were
obliged to get from the inhabitants ; but they offered no rudeness till
our people [the whites] used them ill and fired upon them." Having
made inquiry into this matter the Governor reported to the Council some
days later that about the loth of May "some Shawanese came from
Pechoquealin armed with guns, pistols and sw^ords and painted for war ;
they fell in amongst some of our inhabitants and behaved themselves
foolishly. Our people thought them strange Indians and enemies, and,
believing there were much greater numbers behind in the woods, met
together with arms to defend themselves." In the skirmish that fol-
lowed several Indians and white men were wounded. f

In the latter part of August, 1728, the Six Nations, through Shikel-
limy, directed the Shawanese at the town of Wyoming to remove to the

* "The Minisink" and "the Minisinks" were terms derived from the name of the I^enni Lenap^ clan
—the Minsi, or Monsey— who, as stated on page 103, dwelt along the Delaware from the "Forks" of the
river northward. The flats along both sides of the Delaware, extending northward from the Water Gap
(mentioned on page 45) a distance of forty miles and more, were at an early dav referred to indiscrimi-
nately as lying "at the Minisink," or as being "the Minisink flats" or "the Minisinks." When, in 1730,
Nicholas Scull and John Lukens visited that region thev found settlers— descendants of the early Dutch
emigrants from Holland— scattered along the flats for a long distance, and they could not tell when the
first settlers had arrived there. Apple trees were growing, larger than any about Philadelphia, and it
was Scull's opinion that the settlement ante-dated the granting of Penn's charter. (See Egle's "History
of Pennsylvania," pages 947, 1050 and 1148.) For the location of the "Indian Orchard," see "Map of
lyuzerne County" in Chapter XXIII.

At a later period (say 1774-'79) the country lying along the rivers Delaware and Neversink, in the
vicinity of what is now Port Jervis, Orange County, New York, was indiscriminately called "the Mini-
sink region" and "the Minisinks," and at Port Jervis was a village named "Minisink." On the Map of
Luzerne County, in Chapter XXIII, what is now Neversink River is noted as "Mahock Creek," and on the
map in Chapter V it is "Mahocaraac." The town of Matamoras, in Pike County, Pennsylvania, shown on
the map in Chapter XI, lies on the opposite side of the Delaware from Port Jervis.

tSee "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," III : 309, 317.

190

Ohio, and the Shawanese at Pechoquealin to remove to Wyoming. The
latter, under their chief Kackawatcheky, obeyed this order with such
promptness that they departed for Wyoming without gathering their
green corn, which was ready to be plucked. This unexpected and
erratic exodus was very puzzling to the Provincial authorities, and it
was not until four years later that Governor Gordon was able to obtain
from the Shawanese any kind of an explanation as to the reason for the
sudden departure from Pechoquealin. The explanation came from cer-
tain chiefs on the Ohio, and was in these words* :

"About 1728 the Five Nations told the Delawares and us — 'Since you have not
hearkened to us nor regarded what we have said, now we will put petticoats on you, and
look upon }'ou as women for the future, and not as men. Therefore, a-ou Shawanese,
look back towards Ohioh, ihe place from whence yon cainci and return thitherward, for
now we shall take pity on the English and let them have all this land [Pechoquealin].'
And they further said : 'Now, since you are become women, I'll take Peahohquelloman
and put it on Meheahoaming [Wyoming], and I'll take Meheahoaniing and put it on
Ohioh, and Ohioh I'll put on Woabach [Wabash], and that shall be the warrior's road
for the future. '

"The Delaware Indians some time ago bid us depart, for the}- was dry and wanted
to drink \q land away ; whereupon we told them, 'since some of ^-ou are gone to Ohioh
we will go there also. We hope you will not drink that awa\-, too.' "

In formulating this message it is quite probable that the chiefs drew
on their imaginations ; for there is no doubt but that the Shawanese
were ordered from Pechoquealin to the solitudes of Wyoming because
of the doings of the war-party sent out to "inquire" about the "Flat-
heads," as previously mentioned. There is no evidence an}' where —
except in this message — that the Iroquois looked upon the Shawanese
at this time in the same light in which they regarded the Delawares ;
who, very shortly after the occurrences mentioned, were again publicly
reminded — as noted hereinafter — that "petticoats" had been put on them
by the Iroquois

When Kackawatcheky and his followers arrived at Wyoming they
erected their lodges on the village-site in Plymouth vacated by the
Shawanese who had removed to the Ohio. Some four years later (in
October, 1732) "Quassenungh, son of old King Kakowatchy," having
gone from Wyoming to Philadelphia to attend an Indian conference,
was taken ill with small-pox. He recovered from this in due time, but
while convalescing was attacked bv some other disease. He was at-
tended during all his illness by Dr. Thomas Graeme, a well-known resi-
dent of Philadelphia. Quassenungh languished till January 16, 1733,
when he died, and "was the next day buried in a handsome manner."
Subsequently Governor Gordon condoled with the old King on the loss
of his son.t

In October, 1728, an important conference with certain Delaware
and other Indians was held at Philadelphia by the Provincial authorities,
in the course of which King Allummapees said§ : "The Five Nations
have often told us that we were as women only, and desired us to plant
corn and mind our own private business, for that they would take care
of what related to peace and war." About this time the Six Nations in
New York and the various tribes along the Ohio River and its tribu-

* See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, 1 : 329.

t The Allegheny River, which rises in New York south-east of Lake Erie — in the one-time territory of
the "Cat Nation'' — is one of the confluents of the Ohio River, and during many years in the eighteenth
centurv' was often called the Ohio River. The statement in the above-quoted message — that the Shaw-
anese had come from the Ohio — is corroborative of the theor>% or belief, noted on pages 177 and 178, that
the Shawanese were originally members of the "Cat Nation."

X "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," III : 4(>3. 5 See "Pennsylvania Colouial Records," III : 3-34.

191

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Part of a Map of Penns\xvania.

Reduced photo-engraving made for this work from a copy of the original map (in the
I,ibrary of Congress) published March 25, 17-19, by lyCwis Evans.*

taries were more or less under the influence of the French ; while the
tribes in eastern Pennsylvania and in New Jersey espoused the cause of
the English.

In August, 1732, the Provincial Government held an important
conference at Philadelphia with certain authorized deputies of the Six
Nations attended, by a large number of chiefs and other Indians, all of
whom journeyed from Onondaga Castle and back by way of Wyoming.
When about to set out from Philadelphia — on September 2d — on their
homeward journey, they requested that they should be furnished with
horses "from Tulpehocken to Meehayomyy It is quite probable that
these Indians had come down the river as far as Wyoming in canoes,
which, having been left there, they purposed using in making their
return voyage.

Four years later (in the latter part of September, 1736) these same
chiefs, authorized by a "Great Council" that had been held at Onondaga
a short time previously, came down the Susquehanna to Wyoming,
accompanied by many other Indians, on their way to Philadelphia to

*The map here shown was constructed largely from data gathered bv Evans during an exploring
tour made in 1743— as noted on the map. He went as far to the north as Oswego, New York, going up
the West Branch of the Susquehanna from Shamokin to French Town ( then the home of "Madame" Mon-
tour) at the mouth of Ostwagu (now L,oyalsock) Creek; thence to the head-waters of Tiadaxton (now
Lycoming) Creek ; thence to the head-waters of Tynandaung (now Towanda) Creek ; then along this
creek to the North Branch of the Susquehanna, and then northward into New York. In 174S Evans
issued "proposals" for the publication of this map.

In the Spring of 1750 Evans was directed by the Proprietary' Government to obtain at public expense
and "minute down any intelligence 3'ou [he] can procure of metals or minerals in this or the neighboring
Colonies. * * Observe also, with proper caution, what mines of iron, copper, lead and coal have been
found ; what quarries of millstones, grindstones and limestones lye convenient for anv future settle-
ment." (See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 47.) About 1754 or '5 Evans published another
map, upon which was printed a good deal of the information he had gathered in pursuance of the
directions mentioned above.

192

take part in a great treaty. The records tell us that "there were never
before at any time so many Indians met in this Province," as upon the
occasion of this conference and treaty. Each tribe of the Six Nations
except the Alohawk was represented by its leading sachems — the Tns-
carora deputies appearing for the INIohawk as well as their own tribe.
This conference had been called mainly for the purpose of quieting the
clamors of the Delawares, who had been for some time grumbling and
complaining because their ancient lands at the "Forks"* of the Delaw^are,
and thence northward to and including the Minisinks, had been settled
upon here and there by whites. Various ineffectual attempts having
been made by the then Proprietaries of Pennsylvania — John, Thomas
and Richard Penn (William Penn, the original Proprietary, having died
in 171S) — to compose and satisfy the Delawares, the former complained
of the latter to the Six Nations. As a result, the conference of 1736
took place, and upon the eleventh day of October twenty-three chiefs of
the Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida, Cayuga and Tuscarora tribes executed
to the Proprietaries a deed granting them the right and claim of the
Six Nations to the "River Susquehanna, with the lands lying on both
sides thereof * * northward, up the same [river] to the hills or
mountains called * * b}- the Delaware Indians the Kekachtanamin
[Kittatinny-i-] Hills."

On their way back to Onondaga — via Wyoming — the chiefs who
had executed the conveyance just mentioned staid several days with
Conrad W^eiser at Tulpehocken, and there, under date of October 25,
1736, executed a second deed in favor of the Proprietaries. This deed
recited in general terms the deed of October 11th, and then declared that
the grantors' "true intent and meaning by the said writing was and is
to release * * to the said Proprietors, &c., all the lands lying within
the bounds and limits of the Government of Pennsylvania — beginning
eastward on the river Delaware — as far northward as the said ridge or
chain of Endless Mountains^ as they cross the country of Pennsylvania
from the eastward to the west ; and the}' further engage never to sell
any of their lands to any but the Proprietors^ or children of William
PennrX

By referring to the maps on pages 33 and 188 and to the one on
the preceding page it will be seen that the Kittatinny, or Blue, Moun-
tains, described in the aforementioned deed as the "Endless Mountains,"
formed in fact only the south-eastern bulwark, or rampart, of what was,
at about the period of which we now write, an almost unknown wilder-
ness — denominated in one part "St. Anthony's Wilderness," in another
part ^''Monies InaccessV or "The Impenetrable Mountains," and else-
where "The Endless Mountains." The only part of the Province of
Pennsylvania (as granted by King Charles) north-west of the Kittatinny
Mountains that was reallv known at that time — and then not verv

^ -

thoroughly — to explorers and cartographers, was the valley of the Sus-
quehanna.

The north-western boundary of the territory' purchased by the Pro-
prietaries from the Six Nations, as defined in the two deeds of 1736 just

* "The 'Forks of the Delaware' was the name long given to that triangular tract of country' included
between the Delaware and its West Branch, the Lehigh, on the east, south and west, and the Blue, or
Kittatinny, Mountains on the north ; including, therefore, all of present Xorthampton County (except-
ing the townships of Saucon and Williams) and Hanover Township in Lehigh County. In a more restricted
application, the site of Easton and its immediate N-icinity were designated as the 'Forks.' " — EgWs "Penn-
sylvania.^' page 9C7.

+ See page 45. J See Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, XIII : 306.

193

ineiitioned, is indicated in part on the map on page 101. It is shown
also, in part, on the map on page 188. Nearly all the territory described
and granted in these two Six Nation deeds had previonsly, at one time
and another, been purchased by the Proprietaries from the Delaware
and Conestoga Indians, and had been paid for.

Late in February, 1737, at the urgent request of the Governor of Vir-
ginia, Conrad Weiser was selected by the Pennsylvania Government to
go on an important mission to the Six Nations relative to Indian
affairs in Virginia.* He immediately started on foot for Onondaga,
taking the route mentioned in the foot-note on page 191. Arriving at
"Diaogo" (Tioga Point, mentioned on page 34) he found the Indians
there on the verge of starvation. All the able-bodied men were away,
vainly searching for game, while the old men, squaws and children had
been living for weeks upon maple-sap and sugar. With all his trinkets
Weiser could buy no corn-meal. On his homeward journey Weiser
went down the North Branch of the Susquehanna, arriving in Wyoming
Valley April 26, 1737. Under this date he wrote in his journalf : "We
reached Skehandowana [see page 60, anfe] , where a number of Indians
live — Shawanos and Mahickanders.| Found there two traders from
New York, and three men from the Maqua [Mohawk] country who

* See "Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsj'lvania," page 34 ei ieq.
t See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," page 69.

JMohegans, mentioned on pages 101 and 17S. At the time (1609) Henry Hudson first ascended the
waters of the river to which he gave his name the country along both banks of the river, from what is
now Albany to a point below the Catskills, and along the upper waters of the river "for two days' journey
west," was inhabited by an aboriginal tribe of Algonkian lineage. Saratoga, and the region thereabout,
had formerly been in the territory of this tribe, but had been wrested from them by the Mohawks. The
tribe referred to became known "to the English colonists by the generic name of Mohican or Mohegan
('"Mo-hee-con-neti, 'the good canoe-men'," according to Catlin). The Dutch, however, generally called
the Mohegans Alahikans, or Mahickaiiders.

As previously mentioned, these Indians removed to the valley of the Housatonic about the year 1630,
and, about 1673 or '74, of the five principal tribes of New England the Mohegans and the Pequots— -the two
being considered really as one nation, however— were tribes of considerable influence and strength of
numbers, claiming authority over all the Indians of the vallej's of the Housatonic and the Connecticut.
In 1637 the Pequots were considered the most warlike as well as the most numerous of the Indians in
New England, and it was by members of this tribe, to the number of 700, that the Indian fort at Groton,
Connecticut, was occupied when, in May, 1637, it was attacked by the forces under command of Capt.
John Mason and all the occupants of the fort save fourteen were ruthlessly slain by the whites.

The Rev. Jonathan Edwards stated that the language of the Mohegans was spoken throughout New
England. Nearly every tribe had a different dialect, but the language was radically the same. Eliot's
translation of the Bible is in a particular dialect of the Mohegan tongue. Prior to 1700 the Mohegans in-
habiting the Housatonic Valley had come to be known as the Housatonic tribe, and about 1730 the
majority of the tribe were located in what are now the townships of Great Barrington and Stockbridge.
Berkshire County, Massachusetts.

In 1734 the Kev. Samuel Hopkins of West Springfield, Massachusetts, became interested in the relig-
ious condition of the fast-disappearing Housatonic tribe, and proposed to gather these Indians together

Society in Scotland for Propagating the Gospel" took up I
matter of establishing the mission and the school, and in July, 1735, the work was begun at Great Barring-
ton under the personal direction and management of the Rev. John Sergeant. In this same year the
Legislature of Massachusetts granted for the use and benefit of the mission and school a township six
miles square. To this township Sergeant removed his establishment in the Spring of 1736, and here the
Indians scattered along the Housatonic River in Massachusetts were colonized. In 1739 the township was
incorporated under the name of Stockbridge. The colony at Stockbridge was gradually increased by
additions from northern Connecticut and western New York until it numbered, in 1748, about 400 souls.

(For further references to the Stockbridge mission and school see the foot-note on page 195 relating
to the Rev. John Sergeant, and, farther on, the paragraphs relating to Timothy Woodbridge.)

In due time the Indians settled at Stockbridge became generally known as the "Stockbridge Indians,"
or "Stockbridges." About 1785 several hundred Stockbridges removed from Massachusetts to a tract of
land in the counties of Madison and Oneida, New York, granted to them by the Oneida nation. The
name of New Stockbridge was given to this settlement, and here the Stockbridges remained until 1821,
when, having sold their lands in New York to the State, they removed with the "Brothertown" Indians
(who were also Mohegans) to a tract of land on the rivers Wisconsin and Fox in Wisconsin. Here, hav-
ing good lands, they rapidly developed fine farms and were becoming worthj^ of citizenship, when they
were removed in 1857 to a reservation near Green Bay, Wisconsin. Here they now live in conjunction
with a remnant of the Monsey clan of the Delaware tribe— the two bands numbering 538 souls in 1902.

In July, 1902, the United States Indian Agent at Green Bay Agency wrote : "The Stockbridge Indians
are an intelligent and industrious tribe, and the Department [of the Interior] has long since been satis-
fied that they have reached the stage where they should pass out of existence as a tribe and become
citizens. However, the tribe consists of numerous factions, each one of which wants the whole of the
tribal property, so that up to the present time it has been impossible to effect any settlement with them."

The Stockbridge Indians are in verv' truth "the last of the Mohicans" ! Of their former occupancy
of Stockbridge, Massachusetts, about the only evidence now to be found there is in the old Indian burial-
ground of the town, where lies the dust of many red men. Upon a rough granite boulder are carved
these words : "The ancient burial-place of the Stockbridge Indians— the friends of our fathers."

104

were hunting land. Their names are Lndwig Rasselman, !Martin Dillen-
bach and Piet de Niger. Here there is a large body of land, the like
of which is not to be found on the river."

Weiser makes no mention in his journal of the Mousey Indians at
Asserughney, although, without doubt, some of the clan were still
there. His reference to the IMohegan Indians, however, conveys the
first information we have relative to the presence at Wyoming of mem-
bers of that tribe. Whence and at what time they had come to Wyo-
ming, and wdio was their leader or chief, it is impossible now to state
with any degree of certaint}-. The}' were, without doubt, few in
number, and it is quite probable that they had removed to Wyoming
from the Housatonic \'alley in 1735 or '36. about the time the Stock-
bridge mission was being organized there. It is possible that they may
have been urged to settle at Wyoming by their "relatives," the Shaw-
anese, already well and satisfactorily established here. We have already
alluded (on page 178) to the supposed relationship of the ]\Iohegans and
Shawanese, and in this connection it may be stated that in the opinion
of Dr. Briuton "the Shawanese dialect was more akin to the INIohegan
than to the Delaware."

The Mohegans made their settlement here on the Upper Kingston
Flats (see page 50), at some distance back from the river, on the left
bank of the stream later known as Abraham's Creek. Pearce states
("Annals of Luzerne County," page 2S) : "They [the Mohegans] came
to Wyoming with the Delawares in 1742, and under their chief Abram
built a village above Forty Fort, on the plain known as Abram's
Plains." Other writers, following Pearce, have repeated this statement —
which, however, is erroneous in two particulars : (1) There were
INIohegans settled here at least five years earlier than 1742, and (2) Chief
Abraham did not remove to W3-oming until a number of years later, as
will be shown hereinafter.

In September, 1737, occurred the so-called "Walking Purchase," a
well-known event in Pennsylvania history,* by which there passed from
the hands of the original holders (the Delaware Indians) into those of
the Proprietaries — past all claim forever on the part of the Delawares —
the upper portion of Bucks County, fully nine-tenths of the present
Northampton County, a large slice of Carbon County, and of ^Monroe
and Pike, one-fourth each ; containing in the aggregate, at the lowest
estimate, an area of 1,200 square miles. The "walk'' upon which this
purchase was based, and which caused great dissatisfaction among the
Delawares, extended, it is said, about thirty miles beyond the Lehigh
Hills, through the Blue Mountains at the Lehigh Gap, and included
the best lands at the "Forks" of the Delaware and at the ]\Iinisinks.
The matter of the "Walking Purchase" having come to the knowledge of
the Six Nations, certain authorized chiefs of the Confederacy addressed
a letter to the Pennsylvania Proprietaries, which, together with the
"deed of release and quit-claim" upon which the purchase was based,
was read at a meeting of the Provincial Council ]\Iarch 26, 1741. The
letter of the chiefs declared that "their cousins the Delawares have
[had] no lands to dispose of," and prayed the Proprietaries "not to buy
or accept of any grant of lands from them."

*See Egle"s "History of Pennsylvania, " pages 443 and 966.

195

In 1738 Wyoming was visited again by Conrad Weiser, who was
accompanied by William Parsons — of whom further mention is made
hereinafter.

In June, 1741, the Rev. John Sergeant,* accompanied by several
Stockbridge Indians, came from JNIassachusetts to Wyoming to preach
the gospel to the ^Nlohegans and Shawanese residing here. This mi.s-
sionary band was kindly received, but the Indians refused to embrace
Christianity. Mr. Sergeant preached only one brief sermon, in which
he alluded to "the brothers who had seen so many mornings at AlukJi-
haiv-waii-muk [Wyoming]." He then offered to instruct the Wyoming
Indians further in the Christian religion, "but they rejected his offer
with disdain. They reproached Christianity. They told him the
traders would lie, cheat, and debauch their young women, and even
their wives if their husbands were not at home. They said further
that the Senecas had given them their country, but charged them
withal never to receive Christianity from the English, "f After a very
short sojourn INIr. Sergeant departed from Wyoming, discouraged,
pitying the ignorance of the Indians and praying God to open their
eyes. In a letter dated June 23, 1741, he wrote : "I am just returned
from Susquahannah, where, according to my design, I have been in
order to open the way for the propagation of the gosj)el among the
Shawanoos."

In the last days of September, 1741, two of the principal chiefs of
the Cayuga nation accompanied by several other Cayugas arrived at
Wyoming, where they spent several days awaiting the coming of certain
chiefs from each of the other nations of the Confederacy. It had been
agreed that all should meet here and proceed hence to Philadelphia,
"to see Onas [Penn, or the Proprietaries] and receive payment for
certain lands." The representatives of the other nations not putting in
an appearance, the Cayugas proceeded alone to Philadelphia. At this
time the lands at the "Forks" of the Delaware and at the Minisinks
were still in the occupancy of the Delawares ; and notwithstanding the
fact that their chief men had executed the "deed of release" previouslv
mentioned, and the tribe had been informed of the letter received from
the Six Nations by the Proprietaries, they refused to give up possession

*JoHN Sergeant, son of Jonathan Sergeant, Jr., originally of Branford, Connecticut, but later of
Newark, New Jersey, was born at Newark in 1710. He was graduated at Vale College in 1729, and in
September, 1731, having been elected a tutor in the college, he entered upon his duties — meanwhile pur-
suing his theological studies, "As a tutor he was one of the most successful holders of that office in the
early history of the college." He continued in this work, and in his theological studies, until the Autumn
of 1734, when, having stated "that he had rather be employed as a missionary to the natives, if a door
should open for it, than accept a call any English parish might give him," he was appointed to the posi-
tion of preacher an'd director at the Indian mission and school about to be established at Great Barring-
ton, Massachusetts. (vSee foot-note on page 193, and references hereinafter to Tiraothj- Woodbridge.)

In July, 1735, Mr. .Sergeant settled in his new field, and in the following month was ordained to the
ministry at Deerfield, Massachusetts. He changed his residence from Great Barrington to Stockbridge
when the mission was removed to the latter place in the Spring of 173(5. In the Summer of 1737 he began
to use the Indian language in his preaching. His general success in winning the regard of the Indians
and in christianizing and civilizing them was very gratifying. "He was posse.ssed of a bright and strong
mind, of a catholic temper ; was calm and serious, but never melancholy, and was surprisingly laborious
and faithful." In 1743 he published a pamphlet entitled "A Proposal of a Jlethod for the Education of
Indian Children." He translated into the Mohegan tongue Dr. Watts' "Shorter Catechism" and several
prayers, which were published.

Mr. Sergeant was married in August, 1739, to a daughter of Col. Ephraim Williams, who had removed
to Stockbridge from Newton, Massachusetts, in 1737. The founder of Williams College, Massachusetts,
was a son of Colonel Williams. Mr. Sergeant had two sons— one of whom, the Rev. John Sergeant, Jr.,
became the missionary at Stockbridge quite a number of years after the death of his father, and sub-
sequently accompanied the Stockbridges to New York as their preacher and spiritual guide. A daughter
of the Rev. Mr. Sergeant, Sr., was married to Col. Mark Hopkins, and became the grandmother of Slark
Hopkins, President of Williams College. The Rev. John Sergeant, Sr., died at Stockbridge July 27, 1749,
and two years later the Rev. Jonathan Edwards was appointed to the position left vacant by Sergeant.
Edwards continued at Stockbridge, doing "effective work among the Indians," until January, 1758, when
he was chosen President of Princeton College.

tSee Munsell's "Historv of I^izerne, Lackawanna and Wyoming Counties," page 32, and "Early
Western Travels," II : b7.

196

of the lands at the "Forks" to the whites who had gone there to
take np those lands and make a settlement. Xntimns, or Notmnaes^ the
chief of the "Forks" Indians (who were principally of the Wanamie clan),
although he was one of those who had executed the "deed of release,"
was particularly strenuous in expressing dissatisfaction with the state
of affairs, and loudly declared that he and his followers would main-
tain possession of their lands by force of arms. Therefore, in October,
1741, when the Cayuga deputation returned to their country from
Philadelphia, they bore with them to the "Long House" of the Six
Nations a message from the Lieutenant Governor of Pennsvlvania ure-
ing the Six Nations "to come down and force the Delawares to quit
the 'Forks.' "

In response to this appeal some 230 Indians of the Six Nations,
including a number of their principal chiefs and sachems, came down
from New York in June, 1742 — the majority of them via Wyoming —
bound for Philadelphia, to take part in a conference that had been
arranged for. They arrived at Philadelphia on the oOth of June, and
found awaiting them a number of Pennsylvania Indians, including Shi-
kellimy, the vicegerent of the Six Nations ; Allummapees, King of the
Delawares, accompanied by a number of his nation from Shamokin,
representing the different clans ; Nutimus, chief of the "Forks" Indians
(Wanamies of the Delaware nation), accompanied by a number of his
followers ; several Nanticoke Indians and certain chiefs and tribesmen
of the Shawanese. All the tribes of the Six Nations were represented
except the ]\Iohawk ; of the Senecas, however, only two or three chiefs
were present, their other deputies having been detained on account of
sickness and a famine that had prevailed in their country.

In a message to the Provincial Assembly Lieutenant Governor
Thomas stated that the coming down of the deputies of the Six Nations
at this time was "not only necessary for the present peace of the Province,
in regard to some Indians who had threatened to maintain by force
their possession of lands which had been long ago purchased of them,
and since conveyed by the Proprietaries to some of our own inhabitants ;
but for its [the Province's] future security, likewise, in case of a
rupture with the French, who will leave no methods unessayed to cor-
rupt their [the Six Nations'] fidelity and to persuade them to turn their
arms against us."* At this time there was almost daily expectation of
news that war between England and P" ranee had been declared.

The conference, between the Lieutenant Governor and the Council
of the Province on the one side, and the various Indian representatives
on the other, was opened on the 2d of July and lasted till the 12th, in
which time seven or eight sessions were held. The conference convened
first at the house of the Hon. James Logan (mentioned on page 179) ;
subsequently at "the ]\Ieeting-house," and then at "the Great Meeting-
house," where the final meeting was held in the presence of "a great
number of the inhabitants of Philadelphia," As interpreters, Conrad
Weiser represented the Government and the Six Nations, and Cornelius
Spring and Nicholas Scull appeared for the Delawares.

In opening the conference the Lieutenant Governor referred to the
fact that the Six Nations, at the time they had released their claim to
all lands on both sides of the Susquehanna as far north as the Kittatinny

* Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, XIII : 307.

19:

Mountains, had declined to take their pay for the lands on the west

side of the river — preferring to receive the
same at some future time. He then an-
nounced that the goods to be given in
payment for those lands were ready for
delivery to the Indians. In reph-ing to
the Lieutenant Governor Canassatego,*
chief of the Onondagas and principal
speaker of the Indians at the conference,
said, among other thingsf :

"The Six Nations have obli.tjed themselves to
sell none of the land that falls within the Province
of Pennsylvania to any but our Brother Onus, and
that to sell lands to any other is an high breach of
the league of friendship."

Ki another time during the conference

Canassatego said :

' 'We know our lands are now become more valu-
able. The white people think we don't know their
value, but we are sensible that the land is everlasting, and the few goods we receive for
it are soon worn out and gone. For the future we will sell no lands but when Brother
Onus is in the country, and we will know beforehand the quantity of goods we are to
receive."

In response to this the Lieutenant Governor said :

"You have taken this matter perfectly right. All bargaining for land within this
Province is, to be sure, a manifest breach of your contract with the Proprietaries, and
what we know you will not countenance. We have hitherto found the Six Nations faith-
ful to their engagements, and this is a fresh instance of their punctuality. We desire you
will, on your return home, give public notice to ail your warriors not to bargain for any
land, or if they do that you will not confirm such bargains."

On the seventh day of the conference the Lieutenant Governor
referred to the trouble with the "Forks" Indians, and informed the depu-
ties of the Six Nations that the former had continued to grumble and
make disturbances, and had "had the insolence to write letters to some
of the magistrates of this Government, wherein they had abused the
worthy Proprietaries and treated them with the utmost rudeness and ill-
manners." Various deeds, letters, and drafts of surveys relating to the
lands in dispute were then exhibited, and the Lieutenant Governor
stated that he expected the Six Nations would "cause these Indians to
remove from the lands in the Forks of the Delaware, and not give any
further disturbance to the persons in possession." Canassatego replied
that the deputies would take the matter into consideration and give an
answer in a few days. Three days later, at the largely-attended gather-
ing in "the Great Meeting-house" previously referred to, Canassatego
arose and said| :

"The other day you informed us of the misbehavior of our Cousins the Delawares,
with respect to their continuing to claim and refusing to remove from some land on the
Delaware, notwithstanding their ancestors had sold it by deed upwards of fifty years ago,
and notwithstanding they themselves had about five years ago ratified that deed and
given a fresh one. * * * \Ve have examined these papers and several writings and
see that they have been an unruly people. We have concluded to remove them and
oblige them to go over the river Delaware and to quit all claim to any lands on this side
for the future, since they have received pay for them and it has gone through their guts
long ago."

Then, turning towards the Delawares, and holding a belt of wam-
pum in his hand, Canassatego spoke as follows :

*,See foot-note, page 81. fSee "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IV :

I See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," IV : 579.

559 et seg.

198

■'Cousins — Let this belt of wampum serve to chastise you. You ought to be taken
b}- the hair of the head and shak'd severely till j-ou recover your senses and become
sober. You don't know what ground you stand on, nor what you are doing. Our Brother
0?ias' case is very just and plain, and his intentions [are] to preserve friendship. On
the other hand your cause is bad, your heart free from being upright, and you are
maliciously bent to break the Chain of Friendship with our Brother Onas. We have
seen with our eyes a deed signed by nine of your ancestors above fifty years ago for this
very land, and a release signed not many years since by some of yourselves and chiefs
now living to the number of fifteen or upwards.

"But how came y oil to take upon j^ou to sell land at all ? We conquered }-ou ! We
made women of 3^ou I You know }-ou are women, and can no more sell land than women.
Nor is it fit you should have the power of selling lands, since 3-ou would abuse it. This
land that you claim, has gone through your guts. You have been furnished with clothes
and meat and drink by the goods paid you for it, and now you want it again like children,
as A'ou are. But what makes ^-ou sell land in the dark ? Did you ever tell us that you
had sold this land ? Did we ever receive any part — even the value of a pipe-shank — from
}-ou for it? You have told us a blind story that you sent a messenger to us to inform us
of the sale ; but he never came amongst us, and we never heard anything about it. This
is acting in the dark, and very different from the conduct our Six Nations observe in their
sales of lands. On such occasions the}- give public notice, and invite all the Indians of
their United Nations and give them a share of the present they receive for their lands.
This is the beha^•ior of the wise United Nations, but we find you none of our blood. You
act a dishonest part, not only in this but in other matters. Your ears are ever open to
slanderous reports about our brethren. You receive them with as much greediness as
lewd women receive the embraces of bad men. And for all these reasons zve charge yon
to remove instantly!

"We don't give you the liberty to think about it. You are women ! Take the
advice of a wise man and remove immediately. You may return to the other side of the
Delaware where 3-ou came from, but we don't know w-hether — considering how- you have
demeaned yourselves — 3-ou w-ill be permitted to live there, or whether 3-ou have not
swallow-ed that land down 3-our throats as well as the land on this side. We therefore
assign 3-ou tw-o places to go — either to Wyouiin or Shamokin. You ma}- go to either of
these places, and then we shall have 3-ou more under our e3-e, and shall see how- 3-ou
behave. Don't deliberate, but remove awa}- and take this belt of wampum !"

This speech having been interpreted into English by Conrad

Weiser, and into the Delaware language by Cornelius Spring, Canas-

satego, taking a string of wampum in his hand, stood up and said :

"You are now to take notice — this string of w-ampum serves to forbid 3-ou, 3-our
children and grandchildren to the latest posterit3-, ever meddling in land affairs.
Neither 3-ou nor an3- w-ho shall descend from 3'ou are ever hereafter to presume to sell
any land ; for w-hich purpose 3-ou are to preserve this string in memor3- of what 3-our
Uncles have this da3- given 3-ou in charge. We have some other business to transact with
our brethren, and therefore [3-ou] depart from the council and consider what has been
said to 3-0U."

"There was no diplomatic mincing of words in the speech of the
Onondaga chief. He spoke not only with the bluntness of unsophisti-
cated honesty, but with the air of one having authority." Walton says
(in "Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania,"
pages 66 and 68) that the statements of Canassatego, "which sound as
if they had been inspired by the Governor's Council, seem to have
wholly overlooked the fact that when John and Thomas Penn were
persuading the chiefs of the Delaware Indians to confirm the deeds
which covered the 'Walking Purchase,'* they promised that said papers
would not cause the removal of any Indians then living on the ]\Iini-
sink lands, t Whoever furnished the material for Canassatego's speech
was careful that he should not be aware of this promise. •* * * j\
careful examination of Canassatego's address on this matter suggests
that he drew most of his facts from the Governor's representatives.
Whether Conrad Weiser assisted in inspiring this rebuke or not is un-
known, yet he with the others permitted it and thus scattered seed
which in time caused more bloodshed in peaceful Pennsylvania than
the 'Walking Purchase' ever did."

♦Seepage 19J, ante. + See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, I : 541.

199

John Watson of Bncks County, father of John Watson, compiler of
the "Annals of Philadelphia," writing in 1815 an account of the con-
ference of 1742, stated with reference to the speech of Canassatego :

"When this terrible sentence was ended, it is said that the unfeeling political phi-
losopher [Canassatego] walked forward, and, taking strong hold of the long hair of the
King of the Delawares [Nutimus], led him to the door and forcibly sent him out of the
room, and stood there while all the trembling inferiors followed him. He then walked
back again to his place like another Cato, and calmly proceeded to another subject as if
nothing had happened. The poor fellows [Nutimus and his companj'], in great and
silent grief, went directly home, collected their families and goods, and, burning their
cabins to signify the}' were never to return, marched reluctantly to their new homes."*

The deputies of the Six Nations were well cared for during their
stay in the Quaker City. We learn from contemporary records that
"handsome dinners were provided for them, and the healths of King
George, the Proprietaries, the Lieutenant Governor and others were
drunk in high good humor." Near the close of the conference the
deputies complained of their treatment at the hands of traders and their
agents, and begged for more "fire-water." "We have been stinted in
the article of rum in town," they pathetically observed, "and we desire
you will open the rum bottle and give it to us in greater abundance on
the road." Again, they said : "We hope, as you have given us plenty
of good provision whilst in town, that you will continue your goodness
so far as to supply us with a little more to serve us on the road." The
first, at least, of these requests seems to have been complied with, for
the Council voted them twenty gallons of rum — in addition to the
twenty-five gallons previously bestowed — "to comfort them on the road."

The chiefs of the Six Nations and their followers departed in an
amiable mood, although, from the valedictory address made them by the
Lieutenant Governor, we might perhaps infer that they had found reason
to contrast the hospitality of civilization with that shown in the savage
state, to the disadvantage of the former, "We wish," said the Lieu-
tenant Governor, "there had been more room and better houses provided
for your entertainment, but not expecting so many of you we did the
best we could. 'Tis true there are a great many houses in town, but as
they are the property of other people who have their own families to
take care of, it is difficult to procure lodgings for a large number of
people, especially if they come unexpectedly."! Watson says ("Annals,"
II : 160) that during the sojourn of these Indians in the city a fire
occurred which consumed eight houses, and in subduing the flames the
red men "gave great assistance."

In the latter part of the year 1756 a committee was appointed by
the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania to draw up a report relative to
the alleged and supposed reasons for the depredations and massacres
which the Indians had been committing for some time in eastern Penn-
sylvania. In the report! subsequently submitted to the Council the
committee stated relative to the Philadelphia conference of July, 1742 :

"Accordingly we find the Delawares (acquiescing and satisfied with their Uncles'
judgment and determination of their differences with the Proprietaries about said land)
did in obedience thereto settle on the River Susquehanna at IVyojitink, Shamokin and
other places thereabouts, taking with them several Jersey and Minisink Indians ; and
continued ever since (till their late ravages on our borders) to live in harmony with the
Six Nations, and a kind and friendly intercourse and good agreement with the people of
this Province."

*See Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, VI : 210, 2n (October, 1830).

t See //award's Register of Pennsylvania, VI : 210, and The American Magazine and Historical Chron-
icle (Boston), October and November, 1743.

X See Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, VI : 311 (November, 1830).

200

Stone, writing in 1840, states in his "Poetry and Histor}- of Wyo-
ming" (page 97) :

"The removal of the Delawares from the 'Forks' to Wj'oming was as speedy as the
order to that end had been peremptory. * * The Delawares selected as the site of the
town they were to build the beautiful plain on the eastern side [of the Susquehanna],
nearly or quite opposite the Shawanese town, a short distance only below the present
borough of Wilkesbarre.* Here was built the town of Maugh-ivau-zva-'ine — the original
of Wyoming."

Pearce, in his "Annals of Luzerne County" (edition of 1866, page
27), states :

"Leaving their wigwams on the banks of their favorite 3Iakeerikkitton (Delaware),
the once powerful Lenni Lenapd commenced their march westward. A portion went to
Shamokin, * * * a few settled on the Juniata, near Lewistown, but the greater
number of them, under their chief Tadame, went to Wyoming, where they built a village
(1742) on the flats below the present town of Wilkesbarre."

From a careful stud}' of the most authentic and reliable records and
documents of early days now accessible, it is evident that in each of
the three foregoing statements there are errors relative to the exodus of
the Delawares from the "Forks" of their river, as well as to their settle-
ment in the Susquehanna region — more particularly in Wyoming Val-
ley. These errors have been repeated by other writers, from time to
time, and thus, in a measure, have been perpetuated. The following
are the real facts respecting these matters, as nearly as they may be
ascertained at this time.

In 1742 the Indians who were inhabiting the region at and about
the "Forks" of the Delaware were members of the Minsi, or Mousey,
and the Unami, or Wanamie, clanst — chiefly the latter — of the Dela-
ware tribe. i\t that time AUummapees^ was the so-called "King" of
the tribe and resided at Shamokin, where, and in the neighborhood of
which, there were several small bands of Delawares settled. Nutimus,
or Notamaes^ was one of the chief sachems of the Delawares, and,
judging by his totemic device (a tortoise), must have belonged to the
Wanamie clan. For a number of years he had resided at the "Forks."
All the Indians located there had been for some time commonly called
the "Forks Indians," regardless of tribe or clan. Nearly, if not quite,
all the Indians then inhabiting New Jersey along the Delaware River
belonged to the Delaware tribe. §

The Indians, therefore, who migrated westward from the "Forks"
of the Delaware in 1742 were Monseys and Wanamies ; and it is quite
probable that they did not burn their cabins and "march reluctantly to
their new homes" until some time in October or November — after they
had harvested their corn. This probability is based mainly upon the
fact that in October, 1742, when Zinzendorf, Weiser and others were at
Wyoming (see page 208 et seg.) the only Indian settlements in the valley
below the village of Asserughney were the IMohegan and Shawanese
towns in what is now Plymouth Borough. Moreover, in view of the
following paragraph which appears in Count Zinzendorf 's "Narrative," ||
it is very possible that the exodus from the "Forks" did not take place
until early in the Spring of 1743. Writing at Shamokin, under date of
September 29, 1742, the Count refers to the Philadelphia conference
of the previous July, and to the orders given by the Six Nations to the
Delawares, and then states :

* In 1840 the lower or south-western boundary of the borough was at South Street,
t See page 103. % See page 18(3. g See pages 101 and 103.

II See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," I : 74.

201

''The Delawares thereupon asked time for consideration, and a few weeks a,<^o an
ambassador from them arrived here and brought the following reply. 'Uncles, you spoke
the truth when you said that we were children, devoid of understanding, and unable to
govern ourselves. We confess that we do not know what to do, and what not to do, and
that we need fathers and guardians to watch over and counsel us. We thank you for your
reproof, and ne^rt Spri)ig ive ivill come here and occupy the lands you promised to
give us.' "

Some of the Delawares in this enforced migration of 1742-'3 went
to the Ohio River in western Pennsylvania ; others went to Shamokin
on the Susquehanna and the region nearby, while Niitimns and a small
band settled on the south, or left, bank of the Susquehanna near the
mouth of Nescopeck Creek, south-west of Wilkes-Barre twenty-two and
a-half miles in a bee-line, or twenty-six and a-half miles following the
windings of the river.* By far the largest body of the emigrants
journeyed from the Delaware up the Lehigh, or West Branch of the
Delaware, for some distance, and then crossed over the mountains to
Wyoming Valley. Here they settled on the elevated portion of the flats
not far from the right bank of Solomon's Creek, in the locality of what
is now known as the "Firwood" tract, within the limits of the Fifteenth
(formerly a part of the Twelfth) Ward of Wilkes-Barre. Upon or near
that spot there had stood many years previously, without doubt, a village
of the Andaste, or Susquehannock, Indians, as at this time "a respectable
orchard of apple trees" was flourishing there. f The site of this Dela-
ware town is noted on the "Map of Wilkes-Barre and its Suburbs" in
Chapter XXVIII ; while, with reference to the illustration facing the
next page, the site lies about one-quarter of a mile due west, or beyond
and slightly to the left, of the large house at the extreme left of the
picture ; and in the illustration facing page 56 it lies in the middle-
distance at the extreme left.

The Delawares who settled here belonged to the Unami, or Wan-
amie, clan. Who their chief was cannot now be stated, but his name was
not Tadame, as has been asserted by various writers — some of whom
have even confounded Tadame with the famous "Great Sachem" Tam-
anend, or Tammany. | Tiindy Tad-a-me^ or Tatemy, was a Delaware of
the Wanamie clan, originally from New Jersey, who in the Summer of
1742 was farming in a small way on a tract of 300 acres of land in the
"Forks" of the Delaware (near what is now Stockertown, in Forks
Township, Northampton County). This land lay along what was for
some time called Tatemy's Creek, but is now the Bushkill, and had
been granted by the agents of the Proprietaries to Tadame in considera-

* See Map of Luzerne County in Chapter XXIII. f See page 224.

I Heckewelder (see page 42), writing about 1820, said : "The nameof Tanianend is heldin the highest
veneration among the Indians. Of all the chiefs and great men whom the Lenape nation ever had, he
stands foremost on the list. But although many fabulous stories are circulated about him among the
whites, but little of his real history is known. * * All we know, therefore, of Tamanend is that he was
an ancient Delaware chief who never had his equal."

The first authentic account we have of him is in a deed to William Penn, dated June 23, 1683, for land
lying between Neshaminy and Pennypack Creeks. As late as July, 1697, Tamanend executed what was,
so far as known, his last deed. In this he was denominated the "Great Sachem." His death occurred
probably about 1700, and he is said to have been buried near Doylestown, in Bucks County, Pennsylvania.

When, in 1789, there was organized in New York a society having for its objects "resistance to the
centralization of power, and to connect in indissoluble bonds of friendship American brethren of known
attachment to the political rights of human nature and the liberties of the country," its founders gave it
the name of "The Tammany Society, or Columbian Order." The name "Tammany" was derived from
the great I,enni Len^p^ sachem, and Tamanend was dubbed the patron saint of the Order. In time
branches of this Order were established in different States, but to-day all that is left of the Order is the
famous political organization of New York City (still bearing its original name) whose stamping-ground
is Tammany Hall.

At a Fourth of July celebration held at Wilkes-Barre in 1822 the following was one of the toasts pro-
posed : "The memory, of Tamanend — the true titular saint of America. May our Tammany societies
imitate his virtues and practice fewer of the savage customs of his countrymen."

For an interesting sketch of "Tamanend, or St. Tammany," by the Rev. J. G. B. Heckewelder (previ-
ously mentioned) see The Wyoming Herald (Wilkes-Barre), February 9, 1821. Also, for a later and
fuller sketch by a recent writer, see The Pennsylvania Magazine of History, XXV : 434 (1902).

202

tion of services rendered by him as interpreter and messenger to the
Indians. He was a chief, and had formerly been the active leader of
his clan, but on account of increasing years had retired in favor of a
younger man. In November, following the conference of July, 1742,
Tadame went to Philadelphia and presented a petition to the Lieutenant
Governor of the Province in which he set forth that he was an old man,
had embraced the Christian religion "and grown into considerable knowl-
edge thereof," and was in lawful and peaceful possession of a grant of (
300 acres of land — as we have previously noted. In the circumstances,
Tadame desired permission to live on this land in peace and friendship
with the English. He was informed that he might remain provided he
could obtain the consent of the chiefs of the Six Nations. This was
obtained, evidently, for Tadame continued to reside at the "Forks," at
least for several years.* Heckewelder states that in the fore part of 1754
he was "murdered in the Forks settlement by a foolish young white man."
This, however, is undoubtedly an error. In the Summer of 1757 young
"Bill" Tatemy was murdered near Bethlehem by a white boy. "Bill's"
father was "^'kloses Tatemy" — evidently Moses F'onda Tatemy, men-
tioned in the note below — who was then, and had been for some time,
active as an assistant interpreter in connection with various Indian con-
ferences. In February, 1758, he was registered as a "IMountain" Indian
— that is, a Minsi, or from the INIinisink country. If Tadame was alive
in 1757 and '58 he must have been a very old man, inasmuch as he was
referred to as "an old man" in 1742.

What name was given to this first Delaware village within the
present limits of Wilkes-Barre, either by the villagers themselves or by
other Indians, cannot now be ascertained. It was not "Wyoming" (in
any of its modified forms), however, nor was the village the "original
Wyoming" — as so many writers have stated — for we have already shown
that the original toivii^ or village^ called "Wyoming" within the historic
period was the old Shawanese town on the Plymouth flats.

Between the years 1734 and 1741 the Brethren of the old Bohemian
Protestant Church of the Moravians, or Herrnhuters^ had established
several missions in this country. Early in the Spring of 1741 David
Zeisberger, Sr., David Zeisberger, Jr., John IMartin ]Mack and some four
or five more of these Brethren began a new missionary settlement in the
"Forks" of the Delaware, on land derived from William Allen, Esq., of
Philadelphia, and lying at the confluence of the Lehigh River (or West
Branch of the Delaware) and Monacasy Creek, in Bucks (now North-
ampton) County. (See maps on pages 188 and 191.) On Christmas-
eve of the same year this settlement received the name of "Bethlehem"
from Count Zinzendorf,t who had arrived there a few days previousl}-.
Ever since then Bethlehem has been the headquarters in this country of
the Moravian Church (now known as the "Church of the United Breth-
ren in the United States of America").

* David Brainerd, the well-known missionar>', began his labors among the Indians at the "Forks"
of the Delaware in May, 1744, and continued them until February, l"4fi. During this time his interpreter
was Moses Tatemy, a son of old Tadame, and he was baptized "'Moses Fonda Tatemy" by Brainerd in
July, 1745. For further references to Tadame see Reichel's "Memorials of the Mora\nan Church," I :
26, 27, 219, 278 and 338 : Walton's "Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania," pp. 73
and 75, and Rupp's "History of Northampton, L,ehigh and Carbon Counties" (18451, page "477.

t NicoLACS LuDwiG, Count von Zinzendorf, was born at Dresden, Saxony, May 26, 1700. In
August, 1727, on his estate at Herrnhut ("The I^ord's Keeping") in Saxony, he organized some 300 per-
sons (emigrants from Moravia and Bohemia) settled there into a religious organization known indiscrim-
inately as "The Church of the Brethren," "The Unity of the Brethren" and "Herrnhuters''—\.he fore-
runner of the United Brethren, or Moravian Church,' in America. In 1733 this Societj' had become a

. . - TV i

203

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iili!i'':!f'

® eMiiSlfcr , jai' to k Vdnt '^Jmc n^

ill... I'

Plllliliilllilliiilliliilllll

iijillfii. ,cp«>3v|;jii&,;;lii^ea ,

IMlMIUlMlJllllllJliil

mim

Count Zinzendorf.

From "Pennsylvania— Colonial and Federal," by courtesy of the publishers.

distinct Church, and in 1737 Zinzendorf was consecrated Bishop, and was the "Advocate" of the Church
until his death.

The members of the Herrnhut Community were divided into "bands," which met to exchange exper-
iences, to study the Bible, to .sing and to pray ; and there was a special division into "choirs," which con-
sisted respectively of unmarried men, unmarried women, married couples, widowers, widows, boys and
girls. Every morning the Brethren and Sisters were supplied with a text from the Bible as a "watch-
word." Love-feasts were introduced by Zinzendorf, and are still held, though the practice of feet-wash-
ing before the communion has been abandoned. As Zinzendorf taught that death was a joyous journey
home, the departure of a Brother or Sister was announced by blowing a trombone, or other species of
trumpet — each "choir" having its own peculiar air.

December 2, 1741, Count Zinzendorf landed at New York on a visit to this country to inspect the
Moravian establishments in general here, and, especially, to acquaint himself with the fruits of the
Brethren's labors among the Indians. December 31 he appeared for the first time in an American pulpit,
preaching to a large congregation in the German Reformed Church at Germantown, near Philadelphia.
A few months later the Hon. James Logan (see page 179) wrote to a friend concerning Zinzendorf as
follows : "He speaks Latin and French, is aged I suppose between forty and fifty years, wears his own
hair and is in all other respects very plain as making the propagation of the Gospel his whole purpose
and business."

Zinzendorf 's stay in this country was a period of varied and strenuous activity. Few men could have
accomplished in the same time what he did. Dr. Gill, in his "Life of Zinzendorf," says that the Count
gave the Indians — among whom he went on his several missionary tours — "a practicable insight into the
religion he came to teach, by simply leading a Chri.stian life among them : and when favorable impres-
sions had thus been made and inquiry was excited, he preached the leading truths of the Gospel — taking
care not to put more things into their heads than their hearts could lay hold of. His mode of approach-
ing them was carefully adapted to their distinctive peculiarities."

January 20, 17-13, Zinzendorf set sail from New York for Dover, England, and never returned to this
country. He died at Herrnhut May 9, 1760. He was the author of many sermons, hymns and catechisms
and a number of controversial and devotional works.

204

The members of the Bethlehem community ao^reed to work for the
Church, and the Church gave each one a support ; at the same time,
however, each person retained his or her own private property. For a
number of years the settlement, or community, was known as "The
Bethlehem CEconomy," and it was described as "a certain religious
Society intended for the furtherance of the Gospel, as well among the
heathen as the Christians."* The system of community of labor, or
"economy" as it was called, was abolished in 1762, but Bethlehem con-
tinued to be practically a Moravian town until 1843, when the exclusive
methods were abrogated bv the voluntarv act of the Church.

From Bethlehem and other Moravian mission-stations the Brethren

went out among the Indians, making converts and establishing new

missions. The Indian wars had hardened the hearts of the New England

Puritans against the aborigines, and it was left to the iMoravians to

preach a gentler creed and a sweeter faith to the Indians. Charles

Miner, writing about 1842, said :

"The Moravians who had established themselves at Bethlehem were indefatigable
in their labor of love to christianize the Indians. Neither the heats of Summer, Winter's
storms, the dangers of the entangled forests nor the toil in ascending precipitous moun-
tains could check the holy enthusiasm of the missionaries. Eight or ten made themselves
masters of the Indian languages, with their kindred dialects, that they might be under-
stood. * '■' * So that in W\-oming the earliest European accents that were heard were
accents of peace and love, breathing of grace and redolent of mercy. It is now [1842]
about an hundred years since these pious missionaries penetrated to this then remote
valley and, for thirt}' years afterward, iincultivated wilderness."

"To follow in the footsteps of the Moravian missionaries as they
went to or through Wyoming, is more than a mere local study. It is
a part of the thrilling history of the American Colonies, with the French
and Indian wars as a central idea" — says Dr. F. C. Johnson in "Count
Zinzendorf and. the ]\Ioravian and Indian Occupancy of the Wyoming
Valley," an admirable paper read by him before the Wyoming Historical
and Geological Society Ma}- 19, 1894, and published in Volume VIII
of the Society's proceedings.

August 3, 1742, Count Zinzendorf visited Conrad Weiser at his
home in Tulpehocken, and there met the chief deputies of the Six
Nations and some other Indians who had been at the Philadelphia con-
ference and on their way home were paying Wei.ser a visit. Among
them were Canassatego and Shikellimy. With these chiefs the Count
ratified a covenant of friendship in behalf of the Brethren, stipulating
for permission for the latter to pass to and from, and sojourn within, the
domains of the Iroquois Confederacy ; not as strangers, but as friends
and wuthout suspicion, until such time as they should have "mutually
learned each other's peculiarities." In reply to the speech made by
Zinzendorf Canassatego said : "Brother, you have journeyed a long
way from beyond the sea, in order to preach to the white people and
the Indians. You did not know that we were here [at Tulpehocken] ;
we had no knowledge of your coming. The Great Spirit has brought us
together. Come to our people, you shall be welcome. Take this fathom
of wampum, it is a token that our words are true."t This "fathom,"
or string, of w^ampum was composed of 186 white beads. It was pre-
served by the Brethren for a long time, and was often used in conferences
with Indians.

* See "Pennsylvania .\rchives," First Series, III : 70.

tSee Reicliel's "Memorials of the Jloravian Church," I: ^2, 6.5 and 123; and Walton's "Conrad Weiser
and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania," page 53.

205

^_^^ Early in September, 1742, Zinzendorf determined (as he wrote in
(^his^ "Narrative") to make a journey to "Skehandowana [Wyoming],
theVseat of the nation of the Shawanese, who are confederates of the
Iroquois, and a people wholly ignorant of and adverse to Christians and
Christianity. Here there are .also villages inhabited exclusively by
Mohicans, besides a mixed population of Indians."* Zinzendorf j^ur-
posed remaining at Wyoming "about three weeks," his object being "to
see and learn the condition of the Indians there, and to try what could
be done" for them without exposing himself rashly to dangers. Desir-
ing to have Conrad Weiser go with him, he journeyed to Weiser's home
in Tulpehocken, and thence the two set out on horseback for Shamokin,
accompanied by Anna Nitschmann (one of the Moravian "Sisters," a
native of Moravia and at that time aged twenty-seven years).

The little company spent a couple of days with Shikellimy at
Shamokin, and then proceeded along the West Branch of the Susque-
hanna to Oststomvakiu^ or French Town (now Montoursville), at the
mouth of Ostwagii (now Loyalsock) Creek, f which they reached October
2d. Weiser then returned to Shamokin, and on October 5th the mission-
ary John IMartin ]\Iack (mentioned on page 202) accompanied by his
wife Jeannette;!; (to whom he had been married only about two weeks
previously) arrived at French Town from Shamokin, escorted by Shikel-
limy and one of his grandsons. Zinzendorf states in his "Narrative"
that he found at French Town "a promiscuous population of French
Indians, who yet are under the protection of the English." The chief
personage among them at this time was the well-known "Madame"
Montour, § who burst into a flood of tears when she saw Zinzendorf, and

♦These references are to the village of Asserughney and to the Mohegan village, referred to on
pages 187, 193 and 194.

tSee map on page 191 ; also "Map of a Part of Pennsylvania," in Chapter XI.i

\ .She was a native of "The Oblong," New York, and possessed a good knowledge of the Mohawk and
Delaware languages.

g As to the ancestry and antecedents of "Madame" Montour there is some mystery and considerable
uncertainty. That she was of French descent, and that her Christian name was Catharine, there can be
very little doubt. In official Pennsylvania records of April, 1728 (see Colonial Records, III : 296), she is
referred to as "Mrs. Montour, a french woman," then living on the Susquehanna River in southern
Pennsylvania. Conrad Weiser — who knew her well and often came in contact with her at her home and
elsewhere — writing in his journal in 1737, described her as "a French woman by birth, of good family,
but now in mode of life a complete Indian." Zinzendorf, writing in September, 1742 (see Reichel's
"Memorials of the Moravian Church," 1 : 08), referred to her as "an Indianized French woman from
Quebec."

Augustus C. Euell, in his "Sir William Johnson" (page 68), published in 1903, says that "Catharine
Montour was a daughter of the Count de Frontenac by a Huron woman. She was born at Fort Frontenac
about 1692, and her name figures in a curious old document called 'Accusation against L,ouis de Buade,
Comte de Frontenac,' in which, among other things, he is charged with 'debasing the morals of the
Colony by propagating more than sixty half-breeds.' " Catharine Montour must have been born earlier
than 1092, however, because she wascon.siderably more than fifty years of age in 1742. Besides, if she was
the daughter of Governor de Frontenac it is probable that her birth occurred prior to 1683 — say 1681 or '82
— as he was recalled to France in 1082, and did not again return to Canada until 1689, when he was sixty-
nine years of age.

W. Max Reid, in his "The Mohawk Valley— Its I^egends and Its History" (published in 1901), states
('page 214) : "Catharine Montour, the elder, is an interesting character in Indian history. According to
tradition and her own story, her father was a Governor of Canada, probably Frontenac, and her mother
a Huron woman. Until about ten years of age she had been carefully reared and educated. During the
war between the Six Nations and the French and Hurons she was captured and adopted by the Senecas."
Mr. Reid then goes on to state that under date of August 20, 1708, Lord Cornbury, in a communication to
the Board of Trade, I,ondon, wrote : "There is come to Albany [New York] one Montour, who is a son
of a French gentleman who came about forty years ago to settle in Canada. He had to do with an Indian
woman, by whom he had a son and two daughters. The man I mention [as having come to Albany] is
the son. He had lived all along like an Indian. Some time ago the elder Montour had left the French,
and had lived among the far Indians (Senecas), and it is chieflj' by his means that I have prevailed with
those far nations to come to Albany."

It is very probable that ''Madame" Montour was one of the "two daughters" referred to in Lord
Cornbury's letter, and that, by reason of the fact that her father lived among the Senecas, she was con-
sidered a member of the tribe' ; or, it is possible that she may have been formally adopted into the tribe.
Whatever may have been the reason for it, it is a fact that she was regarded and treated as a Seneca.

James I,e Tort, an Indian trader "from Chenastry, on the upper parts of the Susquehanna," informed
the Provincial Council at Philadelphia in April, 17'28, that, intending in the previous Autumn "to take a
journey as far as the Miami Indians, or Twightwees, called also the Naked Indians, settled at the western
end of I,ake Erie within the French claims, to trade with them, he had consulted Mrs. Montour, a French
woman, wife to Carandowana, about his journey thither ; who, having lived amongst and having a sister

206

married to one of that nation, he believed might be a proper person to advise him." * * ("Pennsylvania
Colonial Records," III : 295.)

As early as 1702 Catharine Montour had been married to an Oneida chief, Cat andowana, or "Robert
Hunter" (a" name derived from that of an early Governor of New York), and prior to 1727 they had settled
at or near Otstonwakin on the Susquehanna. In the year last mentioned she acted as interpreter for the
Province at a conference held with Six Nation Indians in Philadelphia : and in October, 1728, she per-
formed similar services at the conference mentioned on page lilO — for which services the Board "agreed
that £6 in Bills of Credit should be given to Mistress Montour and her husband." As earl3' as 1711 she
had served as interpreter at a conference held in Albany, New York. In April, 1728, Governor Gordon of
Pennsylvania instructed James Le Tort, previously mentioned, to deliver a stroud (a piece of coarse, warm
cloth made for the Indian trade) to "Madame" Montour, and "give my service to her and tell her that I
desire her on the faith of a Christian, and the profession of fidelity to this Government which she made
to me, to be industrious in procuring all the certain intelligence she can of all affairs transacted amongst
the Indians that relate to ye peace of this Province." In the following September the Governor sent a
messenger to the Indians on the West Branch, and among other directions gave him this : "Give my love
also to Carandowana and his wife. I,et him know I expect of him, as he is a great Captain, he will take
care that all the people about him .shall show themselves good men and true-hearted, as he is him.self."

In April, 1729, certain South Carolina Indians made a raid on the upper Potomac River region, and
Carandowana, with a baud of forty warriors from Conestoga and other Susquehanna River towns, joined
in inirsuit of the raiders. Carandowana was captured by the latter and taken back to their country, where
he was put to death. August 18, 172!l, Governor Gordon wrote to Shikellimy : "Our souls are afflicted for
the loss of our dear, good friend Carandowana. We loved Carandowana as our own brother." (See
"Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, I : 211, 228, 239-241.) In 1734, while attending an Indian con-
ference in Philadelphia, the Proprietaries — John and Thomas Penn — condoled publicly with "Madame"
Montour over the loss of her husband. "We had great esteem," said the Proprietaries to the Indians
present, "for our good friend your chief, Carandowana, and %vere much grieved to hear of his death."
Under date of October 15, 1734, a minute of the Provincial Council, after censuring "Madame" Montour
for duplicity at the last treaty, states that "her old age only protects her from being punished for such
falsehoods." Stone, in his "Life of Sir William Johnson," refers to "Madame" IMontour, and describes
her as she appeared at an important Indian conference held at Lancaster, Pennsjdvania, in 1744.

Madame Catharine Montour died at French Town, or Otstonwakin, in 1752, and it is said that before
her death she had become blind and very decrepit. She was the mother of four sons and one daughter,
at least ; and, according to the Indian law relating to pedigrees, family names, etc.. these children all
belonged to their mother's clan and bore her family name, and, as she was a Seneca, all were likewise
i^enecas. It is said that she carefully educated all her children. These children were : iXi Margaret, (II)
Jean, (III) Andre, (IV) Henry and {\') Lewis.

(I) Margaret Montour, commonly known as "French Margaret," was married before 1733 to Kata-
rioniecha. or "Peter Quebec," of the Mohawk tribe. In the year mentioned thej' are referred to in the
Provincial records as living near Shamokin. A jear or two later they removed to the Ohio River in
western Pennsylvania, where they remained until 1745 and then returned to Shamokin. Shortly after-
wards they settled on the West Branch of the Susquehanna at the :nouth of Lycoming Creek, and on
Scull's map of 1759 their village is noted as "French Margaret's Town." The site of this village is within
the present limits of the Seventh Ward of the city of Williamsport. From this village, inlhe Winter
of 1752, one of the sons and one of the son.s-in-law of French Margaret went with a war-party to fight
the southern tribe of Creeks, and both were killed. At this same village the Moravian missionaries
Mack and Grube were visitors in the Summer of 1753, and the former recorded in his journal (see
Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church." I : 330, and Meginness' "Histon,- of the West Branch
Valley," 1 : 135) that Margaret's brother Andrew wasthen "absent, to bring Margaret's relatives, who live
in French Ca7iada. to h.cr." Mack wrote further : "She gave us a refreshing draught of milk, * * and
speaking of her husband Peter Quebec said he had not drunk rum within .six years. She has prohibited
its use in her town, and ynt, althovigh she has initiated other reformatori.' measures within her little
realm, she enjoys the respect and confidence of her subjects. Margaret's children understand French,
but are averse to speaking it."

"In July, 1754,'' says Reichel, "French Margaret and her Mohawk husband and two grand-children,
traveling in semi-barbaric state, with an Irish groom and six relay and pack-horses, halted a few days at
Bethlehem on their way to New York [State, presumably via Wyoming]. During her stay she attended
divine wor.ship, and expressed much gratification at the music and singing." In May, 1755, shortly after
war had been declared against France by England, and matters among the Indians in Pennsylvania were
very unsettled, Conrad Weiser wrote to Secretary Richard Peters of Pennsylvania : "French Margaret,
with some of her familj', is gone to the English camp in Virginia, and her son Niklaus is gone to Ohio,
to the French Fort. I suppose they want to join the strongest party, and are gone for information."
Later in this year, when numerous depredations were about to be committed in south-eastern Penn-
sylvania by the Indians, Margaret and some of her family removed up to Tioga Point (seepage 34). They
were still there in 1757, when, in August, Margaret attended a treaty at Easton, Pennsylvania. In 1760
Margaret, her daughter Catharine and others of her family were living at "Margaret Town" in New
York. (See "Penns\dvania Colonial Records," VIII : 499.) Thiswas, without doubt, the village that some
years later— saj' after the death of Margaret — was known as "Catharine's Town." [See (i) Catharine,
'post.'\ The children of "French Margaret" were : (i) Catharine, (ii) Nicholas, (iii) son, name unknown,
(iv) Esther and (v) Mary, or Molly. All were Senecas, and all bore the surname "Montour."

(II) Jean, ox John, Montour, second child of "Madame" Montour, was born about 1715, according to
Colonel Buell. He spent all, or nearly all, his life in New Y'ork, and according to Buell was "conspic-
uous in the old French War, in Pontiac's Rebellion and in the Revolution," and was a good warrior and
a hard fighter. Prior to 1751 he had married a wife from the Onondaga nation. He was at that time a
chief of the Seneca nation, was generally known as "Captain" Montour, had great influence with the
Six Nation Indians and was a warm friend of Sir William Johnson. In a speech made at Albany in 1751
Captain Montour referred to himself as being "a French half-breed." (See Buell's "Sir William John-
son," pages 78 and 79.) In the campaign of 1759, ending in the capture of Fort Niagara by the forces
under Sir William Johnson, the whole contingent of Senecas and Cayvigas, some 400 strong, was under
the command of Hi-o-ka-to and Captain Montour. Relative to the services of the latter in 1700, see page
104, ante. In 1763 and '64 Captain Montour, at the head of a company of Seneca warriors, was actively
engaged under the orders of Sir William Johnson in subduing the recalcitrant Senecas (see page 121) and
pursuing the warring Shawanese and other Indians.

(III) Andre, or Andrew, Montour, whose Indian name was "■Sattelihu," was born according to Buell
about 1720. His services in behalf of the English were considerable. He was an expert interpreter,
speaking the languages of the various Ohio Indians, as well as the Mohawk tongue. In April, 1743, he
served as interpreter for the Delawares at a conference with the Provincial authorities, and from that time
until the treaty at Fort Stanwix in 1768 he assisted at nearly all the important Indian treaties and con-
ferences. In 1745 he was living on an island in the Susquehanna near .Shamokin. In 1752 Lieutenant
Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania authorized him to take up his residence in what is now Cumberland
County, "to prevent others from settling there or from trading with the Indians." In 1755 he was still
residing on this grant (ten miles north-west of Carlisle) and was Captain of a company of Indians in the
English servnce. He rose to the rank of Major. J. M. Mack, the missionary previously mentioned, wrote
in his journal in the Summer of 1753 concerning Andrew Montour : "He is now interpreter for Virginia
and receives a salary,' of £300 and has been twice this .Summer to Onondaga. The Governor of Virginia
has also appointed him a Colonel. The French have set lilOOon his head. The Six Nations have expressed

PUBLIC LI-RARY

ASTOR,. -LENOX
TILDEN FOUNJSATION

207

learned that he had come to preach the gospel, the iruths of which she

had almost forgotten. Zinzendorf wrote* of "Madame" Montonr and

her half-breed son Andrew Montonr, or SatteicU :

"Andrew's cast of countenance is decidedl}- European, and had not his face been
encircled with a broad band of paint, applied with bear's fat, I would certainly have taken
him for one. He wore a brown broadcloth coat, a scarlet daniasken lappel-waistcoat,
breeches over which his shirt hunj?, a black Cordovan neckerchief decked with silver
bugles, shoes and stockings and a hat. His ears were hung with pendants of brass and
other wires plaited together like the handle of a basket. He was very cordial, but on
addressing him in French he, to my surprise, replied in English. * * * 'Madame'
Montour brought two children to me and asked me to baptize them. * * * She was
very confidential with Anna [Nitschmann] and told her, among other things, that she
was weary of Indian life. * * i was surprised at the woman's ignorance, considering
she had been born and brought up a Christian."

The Connt and his companions remained in their camp ac ^rcnch
Town until October 9th, and during this time held two or three religious
services which were attended by the Montours and some of the Indians.
Zinzendorf thought he "observed signs of grace in Andrew." It was
expected that Shikellimy would guide the missionary party through
the wilderness to Wyoming, but for some reason it was finally decided
that Andrew Montour — who was "proficient in various Indian lan-
guages" — should go instead ; therefore, under his guidance, the mis-
sionaries (Zinzendorf, Anna Nitschmann, John Martin Mack and Jean-
nette, his wife) began their journey to what Zinzendorf described, later,

themselves to this effect, that whatever nation should kill him, they would at once begin war — he is held
in such high esteem among them." He was with Washington at the surrender of Fort Necessity in 1754.
In 1756 he acted as interpreter for the Indian Commissioners in New York, and sang war-songs before Sir
William Johnson at Fort Johnson. Several times he warned the settlements of impending raid.s — among
other services bringing word of Pontiac's ovitbreak. In March, 1761, he commanded an expedition of
Indians and white men sent out by Sir William Johnson against the recalcitrant Delawares on the upper
Susquehanna. Captain Montour's party destroj^ed several Indian villages— among them, Canisteo, on a
branch of the Chemung River (see page 34), some forty or fifty miles north-west of Tioga Point, in what
is now Steuben Count3% New York. This village consisted of sixty houses, and from it Montour's party
took away horses, corn and implements. (See Halsey's "Old New York Frontier," page 75.^ At the
close of this short campaign Montour presented to Sir William Johnson at Johnson Hall a number of
Indian scalps.

(IV) Heniy Montour, or "jE'w7'.yA.?Aera," known about 1770 as "Captain" Henry Montour, or "Moun-
tare," described himself in the year mentioned as one of the deputies of the Six Nations. In Februan,- of
that year he joined in executing to one Garrett Pendergrass, Sr., of Bedford, Pennsylvania, a deed for the
land upon which Allegheny City, Pennsylvania, now stands.

' (V) Lezvis Montour went to the Ohio River region probably about the time his sister "French Margaret"
removed thither. He was there until 1753, in which year, as messenger of the Shawanese on the Ohio, he
bore to the I,ieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania a document containing an offer from those Indians to
resign all their right to land east of the Ohio in liquidation of their debts to the traders. Montour, how-
ever, was reported to be a spy in the French interest. Nevertheless in 1754 he settled near Aughwick (now
Shirleysburg, Huntingdon County, Pennsylvania). There were then living there, under the superintend-
ence of George Croghan, quite a number of Indians who had left the Ohio and put themselves under the
protection of the Pennsylvania Government. Not long after Montour had taken up his abode at this
place Conrad Weiser complained to the Government that "L,ewis Montour, Andrew's brother, disturbs
them [the Indians at Aughwick] often by bringing strong liquor to them. They cannot help buying and
drinking it, when it is so near, and L,ewis sells it very dear to them and pretends that his wife, who is an
ugly Indian squaw, does it." In January, 1757, I,ewis was sent by George Croghan (then Deputy Indian
Agent under Sir William Johnson) to bear a message to certain Indians in New York.

(i) Catltari}ie Montour, daughter of "French Margaret," became the wife of Thomas Hutson, or
Hudson, called by the Indians "Telenemut." He was a Seneca, and his brother John was head-chief of
Caneadea. a Seneca village on the Genesee River, in what is now Alleganj^ County, New York. Thomas
Hudson died early— certainly prior to 1760. (He may have been the son-in-law of "French Margaret"
whose death occurred in 17.52, as previously noted.) He left to survive him his wife Catharine and three
children, viz.: (1) Roland, (2) John and (3) Belle. Some years later — say about 1760 or '(il— the widow
Catharine was married to an Englishman who was then, or had been, an Indian trader, with headquarters
at Niagara, and had been married to a Seneca squaw, who, having born him several children, died. (See
"Transactions of the Buffalo Historical Society," 1884, Vol. III.) One of these children was named
Kaoundowana ("Big Tree"), who, when he had grown up, was noted asa Seneca warrior under the name
of "Captain Pollard." (See Chapters XV and XXV for further references to him.)

For many years Catharine Montour was known as "Queen Catharine," and during the Indian depre-
dations in 1755-'56 several white prisoners taken by the Indians were sold to her at her home in New
York. She was then living at Cani.steo, previously mentioned, but sometime before its destruction by
her brother Andrew she removed to a village on a beautiful flat near the present town of Havana, New
York, about three miles from the southern extremity of Seneca Lake. The Indian name of this village
was "Sheoqjiaga" but it soon became known as "Catharine's Town." (See reference to it under "French
Margaret," ante.) In 1779, when it was destroyed by General Sullivan's army (see Chapter XV'III), it was
a village of fifty log houses, "in general, very good, and the country near'it excellent." Having been
driven from this locality, Catharine Montour and her family and followers removed to the vicinity of
Fort Niagara, where the}^ continued to live for some years. Subsequently to 1788 — probably in 1790 or '92
— "Queen Catharine" visited Philadelphia with a delegation of Indian chiefs from New York State. She
is said to have been a woman of considerable ability and intelligence and some refinement.

For interesting details concerning other members of the Montour family mentioned in this note-
viz, (iv) Esther, (v) Molly, (1) Roland And {2) John — see Chapter XV, post.

* See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," I : 95.

208

"as the great Desarts of Skehantowanno, where no Christians either
come or dare to come."

They traveled, without doubt, over the "Warrior Path" running
along the north, or left, bank of the river to the mouth of Canaswragu
(now ]\Iuncyj Creek, and thence in a straight course, almost due south,
to the confluence of Warrior Run and the Susquehanna (in w'hat is
now Northumberland County). Here a lesser path branched off in a
south-easterly direction through the wilderness, striking the North
Branch of the Susquehanna at the mouth of Fishing Creek, near the
present borough of Bloomsburg, in Columbia County, and running
thence along the right bank of the river to the town of Wyoming.
At that period, however, there was another Indian path, or trail (only
the beginning of it is shown on Evans' map reproduced on page 191),
which left the West Branch of the Susquehanna at the mouth of Muncy
Creek and, running an easterly course, crossed the North ^fountain
range, then passed through the present township of Huntington and, at
the confluence of the North Branch of the Susquehanna and Shick-
shinny Creek, joined the previously-mentioned trail to Wyoming.* It
was over one of these two trails that Andrew Montour guided the
adventurous Moravian evangelists through the primeval forests to the
little Shawanese village of Wvoming at the eastern end of "Shawnee"
Flats.

In his "Recollections,"t written some twenty years later than the
events recorded, missionary ]\Iack states :

"Leaving Otstonwakin, our waj' lay through the forest, over rocks and frightful
mountains, and across streams swollen by the recent heavy rains. This was a fatiguing
and dangerous journey, and on several occasions we imperiled our lives in fording the
creeks, which ran with impetuous current. On the fifth day [Sundaj', October 13, 1742]
we reached Wyoming, and pitched our tent not far from the Shawanese town. The Dis-
ciple's [Zinzendorf] reception by the savages was unfriendly, although from the first their
visits were frequent. Painted with red and black, each with a large knife in his hand,
they came in crowds about the tent, again and again. He lost no time, therefore, in in-
forming the Shawanese chief, through Andrew Montour, of the object of his mission.
This the wily savage affected to regard as a mystery, and replied that such matters con-
cerned the white man, and not the Indian. Our stock of provisions was by this time
almost exhausted, and yet the Disciple [Zinzendorf] shared with the Indians what little
was left. The very clothes on his own back were not spared. One shirt button after
another was given away, until all were gone, and likewise his shoe-buckles, so that we
were obliged to fasten his underclothes and tie his shoes with strings. For ten days we
lived on boiled beans, of which we partook sparingly three times a day, as the supply
was scanty."

Within a few days after their arrival in Wyoming the missionary
party removed their tent from the place where they had first pitched it
to a spot within the limits of the Shawanese village. Mack recorded
(in his journal of 1744) that at this time (October, 1742) this village
consisted of "thirty or forty cabins all full of Indians, whose great noise
one could hear two or three miles off." The Alohegans, who had origi-
nally settled farther up the river (see page 194), were, at the time of
Zinzendorf's visit, located on the right, or north, bank of the river,
about halfway between a point nearly opposite the lower or western
extremity of Richard's Island (mentioned on page 52) and a small
stream (later known as Brown's Brook) which flowed for some distance
almost due south and emptied into the river. Of this brook only the
name and the channel now remain. The stream having disappeared

* With reference to the country traversed by these paths, or trails, see the maps in Chapters XI
and XXIII.

tSee Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," 1 : 100.

:i:.ii r'u'J:: ''aTION

•209

long since, the channel (built over and concealed from view for a con-
siderable distance) is now used chiefly as a sewer. The location of this
village, which was midway between the head and the foot of the valley,
is designated by the words "Old Shawnese T[own]" on the reduced
facsimile of "A Plot of the Manor of Sunbury" shown in Chapter VII.
With respect to present-day landmarks the site of this Indian village
mav be described as Ivino- in the Second Ward of the boroug^h of Plv-
mouth, at a point about midway between the river-bank and the junc-
tion of Cherry Street and Main Street, and about the same distance
between Eno Avenue, extended riverward, and Ferry Street. The site
is now almost entirely covered with piles of culm from the collieries of
the Plymouth Coal Company.

The Mohegans were then few in number, and evidently there were
some Shawanese and other Indians living with them in their village,
which was known as the "upper town" ; the older and larger village at
the head of the big flats, occupied by the Shawanese, being known as
the "lower town." The two villages were about a mile and a-quarter
apart. j\Iack continuing his "Recollections," says :

"The suspicious manner which the Shawanese manifested at our first arrival
remained unchanged, and at times their deportment was such as to lead us to infer that
it would be their greatest delight to make way with us. Notwithstanding this the Dis-
ciple remained in the town, and made repeated efforts to have the object of his visit
brought before the consideration of the chiefs. They, however, evaded every approach,
and in their disappointment at not receiving large presents gave unmistakable evidence
of displeasure, so that we felt that the sooner we left the better it would be for us."

Thereupon the missionaries removed their tent to a slight emi-
nence* farther up the river, less than a quarter of a mile east of the
"upper town." About that time Jeannette Mack, returning one day
from a visit to the "upper towm," informed Zinzendorf that she had met
there an old Mohegan woman who spoke to her of the Savior. This
woman, who, according to a statement made by Zinzendorf (Reichel,
page 133), was related to the Shawanese king, then became the pro-
vider of the missionaries, furnishing them with beans and corn-bread,
until they were able to procure other supplies. The missionaries also
found living in the "upper town" a Chickasaw! Indian named Chikasi^
who, some years previously, had been brought a prisoner to Wyoming
and left there (evidently in the custody or under the supervision of the
Shawanese) by a war-party of the Six Nations on their return from a
marauding expedition against their southern foes.

Turning again to ]\Iack's "Recollections" J we find the following :

"One day, having convened the Indians in the upper town, he [Zinzendorf] laid
before them his object in coming to \V}-oming, and expressed the desire to send people
among them that would tell them words spoken by their Creator. INIost of these were
Mohicans, and not as obdurately perverse as the Shawanese. Although they signified no
decided opposition , they stated their inability to entertain any proposals without the con-
sent of the latter, according to zvhose decision they were compelled to shape their oiun.
Should these assent, they said they would not object, but be satisfied. My Jeannette
acted as interpreter of what passed during this meeting. * * '■-'

*This hill, many years later, became known as "Bead" Hill, by reason of the fact that when excava-
tions were made there in laying out streets and erecting houses many Indian bones and other relics were
found, including, particularly, a large number of beads. The location of this hill— or what remains of it
— is on the bank of the river just below the north end of the toll-bridge erected by the Plymouth Bridge
Company in 1894. The exposed ledge of rocks Ij'ing along the margin of the river there, and known for
many years as "Plymouth Rock,'' forms the base of the hill.

t Reichel, in a note to Mack's "Recollections" (page 105 of "Memorials of the Moravian Church"),
says that Chikasi was a "Catawba." This is undoubtedly an error, for Zinzendorf, in his "Account of
his Experiences," written in 1743 (see Reichel, page 133), refers to this Indian as "a Schikasi [Chickasaw]
from Florida." Farther on in the present Chapter there are other references to the same Indian which
prove conclusively that he was a Chickasaw.

\ See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," I : 105.

210

"I have the following in mind to relate. The tent was pitched on an eminence.
One fine sunny day the Disciple [Zinzendorf] sat on the ground within, looking over his
papers that lay scattered around him, and, as the rest of us were oiitside, I observed two
blowers* basking at the edge of the tent. Fearing that they might crawl in, I moved
toward them, intending to dispatch them. They were, however, too quick for me,
slipped into the tent, and, gliding over the Disciple's thigh, disappeared among his
papers. On examination, we ascertained that he had been seated near the mouth of their
den. vSubsequently the Indians informed me that our tent was pitched on the site of an
old buiying-groundi in which hundreds of Indians lay buried. They also told us that
there was a deposit of silver ore in the hill, and that we were charged b}- the Shawanese
with having come for silver and nothing else. * * * We subsequently learned that
the height on which our tent had been pitched was not the locality of the precious ore."t

This episode of the "adders" has been treated of by nearly every
writer of earlv Wyoming; history, and in the course of time has taken
on a variety of picturesque forms.

On or about the 22d of October there arrived at Zinzendorf's camp
three Moravian Brethren from Bethlehem, who had been expected for
some days — David Nitschmann,§ Anton Seyffert and Jacob Kohn.
The last-named had recently arrived from Europe with letters for Zin-
zendorf. These Brethren had journeyed to Shamokin, and thence to
Wyoming over the Indian path running along the right bank of the
North Branch of the Susquehanna. This path is shown in part on the
map on page 191, and on the "Plot of the Manor of Sunbury" repro-
duced in Chapter VII. On the day following the arrival of these
Brethren at Wyoming the whole party moved up the river and en-
camped near the present village of Forty Fort. There, a few days
later, they were unexpectedly joined by Conrad Weiser, who had come
up from Shamokin for a two-fold purpose. It seems that when Shikel-
limy had visited Wyoming a few weeks previously King|| Kacka-
watcheky was quite ill, and, believing that his end was near, desired
Shikellimy to inform Weiser that he wished to see him once more
before he died. Weiser, troubled by the long absence of Zinzendorf
and his companions at Wyoming, and fearful that their lives might be
endangered, decided to proceed to the valley — thus responding to the
wish of the King, and at the same time putting himself in a position to

* A "blower" was a harmless, hissing snake of ash-gray color, locally miscalled "blowing adder" or
"swelling adder." When provoked, it would bloru or distend its neck to two or three times its ii.sual
circumference.

t See note (*), page 209.

t A few rods east of "Bead" Hill is "Lance's" Hill, at the base of which, near the present No. 11 Breaker
of the Lehigh and Wilkes-Barre Coal Company, there was a very pronounced out-crop of coal in early
days. This may have been considered the "deposit of silver ore" referred to. In the early days of mining,
coal was taken from this exposed vein; and in time a tunnel was opened into the hill.

§ The father of Anna Nitschmann of Zinzendorf's party, and then sixty-six years of age. He was
generally called "Father" Nitschmann, and is popularly known as the founder of Bethlehem, Penn-
sylvania.

Ij It seems that at this period uot only the Shawanese themselves, but other Indians and white men
as well, generally referred to the head, or principal, chief of the .Shawanese tribe, and of each sub-tribe
or clan, as "King.'' On pages 119 and 123 we have printed some statements relative to the titles of prin-
cipal, or ruling, chiefs, and in this connection we will quote from two other writers.

The first extract, from Zinzendorf's "Narrative," written in 1742 (see Keichel, page 92), is as follows :
"They [the Iroquois] have no kings in our acceptation of the term ; but they are governed by sachems,
judges or old men. The word king conveys to their minds an erroneous idea of a king's authority and
power, as they invariably associate with it the idea of a usurper, such as occasionally wields their Parlia-
ment at his pleasure, in virtue of his prowess, which no one is willing to conte.st. And yet, when speak-
ing of the King of England at treaties and conferences they always style him Sachem : whence I infer
that the two terms are probablj; synonymous in their minds. The" Delawares have a hereditary monarch
who is called King by the English, and the Shawanese style their chief 'King'; but whether the latter is
hereditary, I am unable to say. The Delawares are subjects, the Shawanese confederates, of the Six
Nations."

The following extract is from "Sayeuqueraghta, King of the Senecas," a pamphlet written and pub-
lished by George S. Conover ("Hy-zue-sajis") of Geneva, New York, in 1885 : "The title of King was first
applied by the white people to those chiefs or sachems who were prominent in authority, and in time the
title became accepted and used by the Indians themselves. The title is interchangeable with that of
"head chief and 'chief sachem,' and it cannot be found in the history of any tribe or clan that the appel-
lation of 'King' was applied to any individual who was not a sachem or the head of the tribe or of the
detached clan. The title of 'King' "was constantly used among the dependent tribes of Pennsylvania and
Ohio, in all cases as the head of the particular clan and clans of the Delawares, Shawanese, Mohicans
and others, for the time being."

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211

render protection to the missionaries should it be needed. Mack says
that Weiser manifested decided impatience at the prolonged stay of the
party and told them that their lives were not secure, for the Shawanese
were plotting mischief. Under Weiser's direction the party removed
their encampment to the spot they had previously occupied in the Shaw-
anese village, and there, says Mack, the Count "formally laid his propo-
sition" before King Kackawatcheky, who, it seems, had recovered his
health. The latter, however, turned a deaf ear, and grew vehement.
Upon this Zinzendorf produced the string of wampum that the sachems
of the Six Nations had given him at Conrad Weiser's house (see page
204), but even it failed to influence the Shawanese. From this time on
the missionaries had no rest. By day and by night the savages hung
around their tent. Finally, on the 30th of October, Mack and his wife,
David Nitschmann and Andrew Montour set out for Bethlehem via the
Great Swamp and Dansbur}- (now Stroudsburg) — reaching their destina-
tion after three days of hard traveling. Zinzendorf having spent twent\-
days in the valley, set out for Bethlehem via Shamokin on November
1st, accompanied by Conrad Weiser, Anna Nitschmann, Seyffert and
Kohn. The weather was cold and rainy and the path was rough and
difficult and the travelers did not arrive at Bethlehem until November 8th.

Zinzendorf's experiences with the Shawanese at Wyoming were
such as to cause him to look upon them as a very savage and soulless
people. The Moravian Bishop Spangenberg has recorded that in June,
1753, Zinzendorf communicated to him "that the Lord had intimated to
him to let them [the Shawanese] alone ; that they were a perfidious
race and desired no knowledge of God and the Savior. * * As to
those of the tribe who were residing at Skehandowana [Wyoming] at
the time of his sojourn there, he stated that the Savior had told him it
would be useless for us to attempt to effect anything with them, as they
were treacherous and cruel and totally averse to the reception of Chris-
tianitv. As to the rest of the tribe, he stated that from an intimation
the Savior had given him at the time of his stay at Wyoming, he was
inclined to believe that they would become an admirable people on their
conversion, and that our efforts in their behalf would not be in vain.''

The following paragraphs relating to Zinzendorf's visit to Wyo-
ming are from Loskiel's "History" (II : 32) referred to on page 185.

"The Brethren encamped in the midst of this savage tribe and staid twenty daA-s
with them. The Shawanose thought that, as Europeans, they came either to trade or to
buy land, and, though the Count endeavored to explain the true aim of his coming, yet
some suspicion remained. However, he did not omit anj- opportunity to speak both
with the chiefs and the people concerning the way to salvation ; but upon the whole
their hearts seemed shut against the truth, and the principal chief, or king, betrayed a
particular enmity on all occasions.

"Yet the abode of the Brethren in this place led to a better acquaintance with the
Indians, and the more the Count saw their great blindness and depravity, the more
fervently he offered up prayers in their behalf. Whenever he withdrew into his own
tent for this purpose he only fastened the entrance with a pin, and not one of the savages
ventured to enter. It appeared afterwards that the savages had conspired to nuirder him
and his whole company. But God in His mercy prevented it, for Conrad Weiser, who
could not possibly know anything of their design, * * became so luieas}' that he
hastened to Wajomick and arrived just in time to discover and prevent the execution of
this murderous plot."

During his stay at Wyoming Zinzendorf was engaged in revising
certain Supplements to the "Collection of German Hymns" at that time
in use among the Moravians; and he also, in order to commemorate his
experience among the Indians, composed two hymns to be added to this

212

Collection — one of twenty-one and the other of three stanzas, and each
entitled "Wayomik Ini November 1742." This literary work was,
without doubt, the first ever performed by any person in Wyoming
Valley, and therefore Count Zinzendorf stands at the head of a long line
of literary laborers in this locality — some of more and others of less
account — extending through sixteen decades and beyond. The Count's
poetry is not of a very high order of merit, but perhaps it will stand
comparison with some of that turned out in Wyoming b\- more modern
versifiers.

April 9, 1743, an Indian Council was held at Shamokin, which
was attended by Conrad W^eiser in behalf of the Provincial Government.
Shikellimy the vicegerent had just returned from Onondaga, bringing
messages, or "speeches," from the Six Nations to the Governor* of Penn-
sylvania and to the Delawares and Shawanese within the jurisdiction of
the vicegerent. These "speeches" were formally communicated by Shi-
kellimy in open Council. In that addressed to the Delawares occurred
this passage :

"Cousins, we [the Six Nations] are informed j-ou can talk a little English, by
which you pretend to have heard man}' things amongst white people, and j^ou frequently
bring lies amongst the Indians, and you have ver}- little regard for treaties of friendship.
You give your tongues too much liberty."

The message delivered by Shikellimy to the Shawanese on this
occasion contained references to "Cachawatsiky [Kackawatcheky] the
Shawanese chief at Wyomink," and the following pithy and pertinent
passage t :

"Brethren the vShawanese, you believe too many lies, and are too froward in action.
We \the Six Nations\ are the chief of all the Indians ! Let your ears and eyes be open
towards us, and order your warriors to stay at home."

At this time trouble was brewing between the English and the
French, and the latter were endeavoring to seduce to their support
various Indian tribes — particularly the Shawanese and the Delaware.

Kackawatcheky was not in attendance at this Council, but Sachsi-
dowa, a chief who had accompanied Shikellimy to Onondaga, arose and
spoke in behalf of the Shawanese King, saying, among other things :
"The place wdiere I live has been overshadowed of late by a very dark
cloud." The "cloud" referred to was an epidemic — called "dysenten,-"
by the ^Moravian diarists — which was then prevailing in Wyoming
Valley. The Wanamies, at their village within the present limits of
Wilkes-Barre (see page 201), were particularly affected by the disease,
and a large number of the clan died. J In consequence, the survivors,
later in the year, removed entirely from that particular locality to a

*The Province of Pennsylvania under the proprietorship of the Penns (who were usuallj- referred to
as the "Proprietaries") had its affairs administered by a Governor, a Council and a Legislature. The
Proprietaries were the hereditary Governors of the Province, as was stated in an official report made
about 1753 (see "Pennsj'lvania Colonial Records,' vn : 452), and "they have a noble support [income] in
the quit-rents. They ought, therefore, to govern the Province in person, bvit they live in England, make
private estate of the quit-rents, and send Deputies to govern in their stead ; but the Deputy is so restrained
that he cannot use his own judgment." The Deputy, or "Governor" as he was called for convenience,
was appointed and commissioned by the Proprietaries— which appointment was "allowed and approved"
by the King and his Privy Covmcil. The full and legal title of the Deputy was "Lieutenant Governor
and Commander-in-chief of the Province of Pennsylvania and the Counties of New Castle, Kent and Sus-
sex on Delaware," and he held office during the pleasure of the Proprietaries.

The Council, known as the Provincial Council,- was composed of ten members (personal friends and
supporters of the Proprietaries), four of whom made a quorum. They were appointed by the Proprie-
taries, and were empowered "to consult and assist, with the best of their advice, the Proprietarj', or Pro-
prietaries, or their Deputies, in all public affairsand matters relating to the Government." The members
of the Council were removable at the wdll of the Proprietaries, who might increase their number at
pleasure.

The Legislature, called the "Assembly," or the "House," was the law-making body, and was com-
posed of a certain number of Representatives from each of the several Counties, elected by the freeholders.

t See "Pennsj'lvania Colonial Records," IV : (US. X See page 224.

213

point some six miles farther up and on the same side of the Susque-
hanna, in the region later known as Jacob's Plains."^ The spot chosen
for their settlement was not far from the site of the ancient earthwork
described on page 174, and was on the bank of a little creek which
flowed for some distance through the plain in a south-westerly direction,
and emptied into the river about a mile north of the mouth of Mill Creek.
The course of this stream is shown on some of the ISIS, maps of the
region drawn about 1771-'75, but the stream itself has long since dis-
apjDcared.

Here they established a new village, which then, or a few years
latcr^ received the name ^'■Afatchasating^'' — as noted on the map of 1756
reproduced in Chapter V. Dr. Beauchamp has informed the writer that
this name is without doubt a Delaware word. "The first part of the
word," he writes, "may have been ';«zV///,' or '-mecheek^^ meaning 'great' ;
but as a word, '-Majaiichsozvoagan^'' or 'union,' comes nearest it of any
I know. Zeisberger gives '^Mejaiichsiii' as 'united,' and this name
might mean w^here different nations were united in living." It is very
probable that, while the majority of the Delawares in this village
belonged to the Wanamie clan, yet there were some of the Mousey clan
among them — as we have before intimated. Hence the propriety of
naming this a "union" village, or a village of "united" clans.

To some it may appear strange that this village is not noted on the
maps of 1748 and 1749, reproduced on pages 188 and 191. In explana-
tion we would say that the former map was drawn from data chiefly
obtained a number of years prior to the publication of the map, and
derived then not from surveyors and explorers, but from missionaries
and traders ; and therefore neither complete nor accurate. The second
map (Evans') was based, as previously explained, on data gathered in
the Summer of 1743. The tour which Evans then made — and in which
he was accompanied by Conrad Weiser and the famous botanist John
Bartram of Philadelphia — did not take in the valley of Wyoming. The
"path to Wioming" is indicated on the map, but the route traveled by
Evans and his companions (also indicated on the map) lay in a different
direction. Therefore, Evans' knowledge of the Wyoming region at that
time was derived from Weiser and others who had been there.

Early in 1744 the public affairs of France and England had been
brought to such a pass that a rupture between the two nations was im-
minent. P^'inally, on March 29th, war was formally declared by Eng-
land. About that time King Kackawatcheky and his followers — with
probably a very few exceptions — abandoned their Wyoming village (in
what is now Plymouth Borough) and set out for western Pennsylvania.
A few months later, at a Council held by the Government in Philadel-
phia, Shikellimy stated that "the Shawanese on the Ohio had invited
Cacawichiky and the Shawanese Indians at his town to Ohio, and that
they had removed thither." These emigrants from Plymouth settled at
Logstown, which stood on a high bluff on the right bank of the Ohio
River, near where the present town of Economy is located, and about
fourteen miles north-west of Pittsburg. It is noted on the Pennsylvania
map of 1750 in Chapter V — the site of Pittsburg being indicated by
"Ft. DuOuesne." At that time Logstown was the most important
Indian trading village in western Pennsylvania. Its population was

* See pages 50 and 234.

214

composed chiefly of Mohegans, Sliawanese, and Six Nation Indians of
several different tribes.*

April 6, 1744, John Martin ^Nlack (who had been with Zinzendorf at
Wyoming in 1742) and Christian Frohlich, another Moravian Brother,
set out on foot from Bethlehem for Wyoming. The weather was very
unseasonable, and the travelers had some unusual and uncomfortable
experiences, all of which are detailed in a very full and interesting man-
ner in the diary written by Mack at the time. A number of extracts
from this diary appear for the first time in print in Dr. F. C. Johnson's
entertaining and valuable paper mentioned on page 204, and from them
we learn that the missionaries traveled up along the left bank of the
Lehigh to and through Lehigh Gap (mentioned on page 45), a few miles
beyond which they forded the river. Thence, traveling in a north-
w^esterly direction, they crossed over the mountains to the Susquehanna.
Having described their experiences in crossing the Lehigh, IMack states :

"When we had gone about twelve miles we made a little fire, but could not make
it burn because it snowed so hard. The cold pierced us a little because we were through
and through wet. We cut wood all night long to prevent our being frozen to death. It
snowed all night. April 8th — The snow lay on the ground a foot and a-half deep, and
before us we had great rocks and mountains to climb. * * After dinner we came to an
old hut where some Indians were, who were going to Wyoming. We lodged with them.
* * We spent our time in making fire and trying to keep warm. 9th — We and the
Indians set out together. * -^ We were obliged to wade two creeks. They were
extremely cold. Brother Christian carried me through one because it was deep and I
was not ver}- well. I felt the cold in my limbs much. * * *

"10th— Early in the morning we set forward and came to Hallobanck [Wapwal-
lopen].t We went into the King's house, but he was not very friendly. Nevertheless

he would not bid us becjone.

* We were soon visited bv ten Indians, who were all

°~r-t^^^fe.^^

painted but were very friendly towards us, and some of them gave us their hands.

* In August, 1739, King Kackawatcheky visited Philadelphia, and,
with certain Shawanese chiefs, "for themselves and the whole body of
said nation on the Susquehanna River and the Allegheny or Ohio River,"
confirmed and renewed the treaty of April 23, 1701. (See page 179, ante;
also "Pennsvlvania Colonial Records," IV: 340.) In September. 1748,
Conrad Weiser was at Logstown on official business for the Province, and
he wrote in his journal : "This day [10th] I made a present to the old
Shawonese chief Cackawatcheky of a stroud, a blanket, a match-coat, a
shirt, a pair of .stockings and a large twist of tobacco, and told him that
the President and Council at Philadelphia remembered their love to him

as to their old and true friend, and would
clothe his body once more, and wished he
might wear them out so as to give them an
opportunity to clothe him again. Catchawat-
chekv returned thanks, and some of the Six
Nations did the same, and expressed their
satisfaction to see a true man taken notice
of, although he was now grown childish."

In May, 1751, Col. George Croghan, in
the service of the Province, attended a con-
ference held with Six Nation, Delaware and
Shawanese Indians at Logstown, pre\aously
mentioned. In his journal he made this
entry : "I paid Cochawitchake the old Shaw-
onese king a visit, as he was rendered incap-
able of attending the council by his great
age, and let him know that his Brother the
Governor of Pennsylvania was glad to hear
that he was still alive and retained his senses,
and had ordered me to clothe him and to
acquaint him that he had not forgot his
.strict attachment to the English interest."
In August, 1758, the Moravian missionary
Christian Frederick Post was at Logstown.
where he met four .Shawanese who had lived
at Wyoming during his sojourn there some vears previously. They received him kindly and granted
him certain privileges. (See "Early Western Travels," I : 31, 60, 193, 201.)

t This was near the mouth of Wapwallopen Creek, five miles east of Nescopeck, mentioned on page
201. The Indian village here had been established .sometime in 1743 bv Delawares from either Shamokm
or the "Forks" of the Delaware. On October 5, 1744, six months after the visit of Mack and Frohlich,
the missionary David Brainerd visited this \-illage. He wrote : "We reached the Susquehanna River at
a place called Opeholhaupung, and found there twelve Indian houses. After I had saluted the King in
a friendlv manner I told him mv business, and that my desire was to teach them Christianity." Brainerd
preached' to these Indians three times, and on the 9th of October set out on his return journey to the
"Forks" of the Delaware.

Pearce, writing in 1800, says (see "Annals," page 201) that "numerous aboriginal graves have been
found" near the mouth of Wapwallopen Creek.

A Conference with Indians on the Ohio.

•215

The Indians with whom we traveled and left behind this morning, came about two hours
after us and bnnight three kegs of rum. They soon began to prepare for dancing and
drinking. There came also an old Indian with a keg in the cabin where we were. The
Indian with whom we had been a little acquainted on the way came to us and said there
would be nothing but drinking and revelry all night in the cabin, and we should be dis-
turbed by it. If'we wished, we might lodge in his hut, about half a mile from thence.
We accepted with many thanks. His wife is a clever woman, and has a love for us also.
]lth — We were visited in the cabin by the drunken Indians, who looked very dangerous,
and endeavored by many ways to trouble us. Our Indian host, though drunk himself,
would not permit them to injure us. There was a great noise and disturbance among us
all night long, and they would take no rest until they had drunk all the rum which had
been brought over the mountain.

"r2th — Towards morning they all laid themselves down to sleep away their drunken-
ness, but we prepared for setting forward to Wayomick. Our hostess had baked a few
cakes for us to take on our way. * * * Came in good time opposite to Wayomick,*
but could not cross the Susquehanna that night because there was no canoe there. 13th
— Early we crossed over to Waj'omick. We were received in a very friendly manner.
We inimediately found the Chickasaw Indian, Chikasi, with whom we had been ac-
quainted two years before. f * * He was very friendly toward us, and gave us some-
thing to eat. * * We lodged with his cousin, who received us in much love and friend-
ship and gave us of the best he had. We found very feiv Indians there, and those who
remained' there looked much dejected. They were in number only seven men. There
has been a surprising change in Wayomick since two years ago. * * About six or
seven cabins are left ; the others are all pulled to pieces. How often did I call to mind
how Brother Lewis [Zinzendorf] said at that time : 'The Shawanese Indians will all
remove in a short time, and our Savior will bring another people here who shall be
acquainted with His wounds, and they shall build a City of Grace here to the honor of
the Lamb.' * * *

"We stayed there four days. The Indians loved us. * * They could heartily
believe and realize that we had not come amongst them for our own advantage. * * I
asked the Indians with whom we were acquainted if they would like a Brother whom
they loved much to come and live amongst them. * * They answered yes, they should
be very glad, but they themselves could not decide it, because the land belonged to the
Five Nations, and they only lived thereon by permission. The Indians who are still here
are, as it were, prisoners. J They dare not go faraway. * * * 16th — We prepared
for returning. The woman made us again some little cakes to take with us on the wa5^
Our host prayed that if ever we should come this way again we should certainly lodge
with him, saying he was an excellent huntsman and shot many deer and bears, and he
would give us meat enough to eat. We took leave, and one of them set us over the river.
After dinner we came again to Hallobanck and went to our old hosts again. Our hostess
set victuals immediately before us, and we were hungry.

"17th — We visited all the Indians. They were very cool and shy towards us.
* * * 18th — We visited them again. We visited the king also, thinking we might
have opportunity to speak something with him concerning the end of our coming to him ;
but we found he had no ears, and therefore desisted. 19th — * * We took leave of them
and set forward. The woods were on fire all around us, so that in many places it looked
very terrible, and many times we scarce knew how to get through. - * After dinner
we came between two great mountains, and the fire burnt all around us and made a pro-
digious crackling. * * * 20th — * * In the evening we reached Bethlehem, where
the Brethren and Sisters were met together."

In July, 1740, Christian Henry Ranch, a IMoravian Brother who
had then recently arrived from Europe, met on the streets of New York a
company of drunken Indians, who invited the missionary to accompany
them to their village, Shekomeko. This was located in the north-
eastern corner of Dutchess County, New York (at what is now Pine
Plains), not far from the New York-Connecticut boundary and less than
twenty miles west of the valley of the Housatonic previously mentioned.
The Indians dwelling there seem to have been a heterogeneous collec-
tion, but chiefly Mohegans. Thither missionary Rauch went and spent
some time in preaching the gospel. He soon met with considerable
success, and some converts were baptized. By 1742 Shekomeko had
become one of the regular mission-stations of the Moravians — in fact, it
was "the seat of the first Moravian Indian mission in this country."

* By this is meant the old Shawanese town on Plymouth, or "Shawnee," Flats. t see page 209.

\ Unquestionably these were not Shawanese. See page 209.

216

Zinzeiidorf spent eight days there in August, 1742, and concerning
the INIohegans of the village he wrote : "They are Mohicans, a confess-
edly worthless tribe of Indians. Although naturally fierce and vindic-
tive and given to excessive drinking, they are tender-hearted and sus-
ceptible of good impressions. When our pale-faced Brother Rauch
first came among them, the}' regarded him as a fool, and threatened his
life." A year later Zinzendorf wrote (see Reichel, page 128) : "Among
these ]\Iahikans — a desperate and furious people — our Savior has given
us a whole congregation within the space of two years. Our Brother
Rauch has been the instrument in this work, who spent the greatest
part of the first year among them in manifest danger of his life, for they
are the most savage people among all the Indians ; who not only have
been excessive drunkards, but have been exceedingly given to fighting
and murder." Conrad Weiser, who visited Shekomeko in May, 1743,
"expressed himself in terms of unqualified astonishment at the change
wrought in this ferocious people through the instrumentality of the
Brethren." He wrote : "As I saw their old men seated on rude
benches and on the ground listening with decorous gravity and rapt
attention to Post,* I fancied I saw before me a congregation of primitive
Christians."

The work at Shekomeko spread to neighboring Indian villages in
Connecticut, and missionary Post — mentioned above — was assigned to
labor in some of those villages. In 1743 he was married to a converted
Indian woman, and endeared himself to all the Indians. "But perse-
cutions began to assail the humble Brethren and their converts ; they
were accused of being papists, arrested and haled before local magistrates,
bv whom they were no sooner released than a mob of those whose gain
in pampering to Indian vices was endangered by ]\Ioravian success, set
upon them and rendered their lives and those of their new converts intol-
erable. Post, who had been on a journey to the Iroquois country (1745),
was arrested at Albany and sent to New York, where he was imprisoned
for seven weeks on a trumped-up charge of abetting Indian raids, "t

About this time the ^loravians decided to make an endeavor to
remove the Christian Indians and the Indian mission at Shekomeko to
some place outside the Province of New York. Loskiel says that "the
plan was, first, to place them in the neighborhood of Bethlehem, and
then to remove them to IVajomick on the Susquehanna, where they
might have enjoyed perfect liberty of conscience, and been less exposed

♦ Christian Frederick Post, who has been denominated "the great Moravian peace-maker," was
a simple, uneducated missionar>- of the Moravian Church. He was born in Polish Prussia in 1710, and at
an early age came under the influence of the Moravians. He immigrated to this countrj- as a member of
the "Sea Congregation'' (see Reichel, pages 185 and 187), which arrived on the Catharine at New London,
Connecticut, May 30, 1742. Post, ^^^th the other members of this company, joined the Congregation at
Bethlehem, Pennsj-lvania, three weeks later.

Post was not only emploj-ed for several years as a Moravian missionary, but later performed import-
ant services for the Province of Pennsvlvariia in its dealings with the Indians In 1761 he proceeded to
the Muskingum and built the first white man's house within the present limits of Ohio. Prior to that
time he had journeved several times to the Ohio countrj' and succeeded in persuading the Shawanese and
the Delawares to "bui-y the hatchet " and desert the Fre'nch. "He did this with a heavy reward upon his
scalp, and while his every foot-step was surrounded with danger."

Some of the journals of Post (for the years 17.58-'o9) have recently been republished in Volume II of
"Early Western Travels," and the editor of the publication has written as follows concerning the mis-
sionary and mediator: "Antiquarians and historians have alike admired the sublime courage of the
man, and the heroic patriotism which made him capable of advancing into the heart of a hostile territory,
into the very hands of a cruel and treacherous foe. But aside from Post's supreme religious faith, he had
a shrewd knowledge of Indian customs, and knew that in the character of an ambassador requested by
the western tribes, his mission would be a source of protection. Therefore, even under the very walls of
Fort Duquesne, he trusted not in vain to Indian good faith."

In 1762 Heckewelder (mentioned on page 42) was an assistant to Post for awhile. Toward the close
of his life Post retired from the Moravian sect and entered the Protestant Episcopal Church. He died at
Germantown, Pennsylvania, in 1785.

tSee "Early Western Travels," I : 178.

217

to the seductions of the white people. But, that no difficulty might be
made on the part of the Iroquois to whom this countr}- belonged, the
Brethren resolved to send an embassy to the Great Council at Onondaga."
Therefore, in the latter part of May, 1745, Conrad Weiser, Bishop Span-
genberg,* David Zeisberger, Jr., John Joseph Bull (a Moravian Brother
whom the Indians called Shebosh^ or "Running Water"), Shikellimy,
his son Tachnechdorus and Andrew Montour set out on their journey up
the Susquehanna, to the "Long House" of the Six Nations. They
suffered many hardships by the way. At Tioga Point a messenger was
sent ahead to apprise the red men of the coming of this "mixed com-
mission."

It appears that just at this time there was a general stir among the
natives at Onondaga, inasmuch as they were arranging to meet at
Oswego and go to Canada to hold a treaty with the French Governor.
Indians from all the Six Nations except the Mohawk assembled to hear
what the ambassadors from Pennsylvania had to say. In a general
conference of the latter with the Great Council the situation of affairs
with reference to the Indians and the French was fully discussed ; also
the acts of hostility which had been committed some time previously by
the Six Nations against the Catawba nation in South Carolina. The
proposal of the Brethren to remove the mission and the congregation
of believing Indians at Shekomeko to Wyoming was well received by
the Confederac}', and the covenant made in 1742 between Count Zinzen-
dorf and the Six Nations (see page 204) was renewed with great cere-
mony. Spangenberg, Zeisberger and Bull were adopted into the Iro-
quois Confederacy, says Loskiel, "each receiving a peculiar name."
The chief Iroquois speaker at this council was an Indian known as the
"Black Prince of Onondaga." (In 1742 Zinzendorf referred to him as
"a terrible savage.") After the council was over the "Black Prince"
invited all the deputies and chiefs at Onondaga and the embassy from
Pennsylvania to a dinner. Weiser wrote afterwards : "We all went
directly to his house. He entertained us plentifully with hominy, dried
venison and fish, and after dinner we were served with a dram around."!

From Onondaga the Pennsylvania party went to Shekomeko, but,
contrary to all expectation, the Indians there refused to entertain the
proposition of removal. The most vigorous opposer of the project
was a Mohegan of Shekomeko named Schabash^ or "Abraham," who
was one of Ranch's earliest converts and had been taken by the latter
(with two other converts) in February, 1742, to Ole}^ Pennsylvania,
where he was baptized "i\braham" — being the first Indian to have the
rite of baptism administered to him by the Moravians. | "Abraham,"

* August Gottlieb Spangenberg arrived with other Moravian Brethren from over the ocean at
Savannah, Georgia, in March, 1735. In April, 173(3, he removed to Philadelphia County, Pennsylvania,
and began his labors among the Schwenkfelders who were settled in that locality. For many years
Spangenberg was a Bishop of the Moravian Church. He wrote a "I,ife of Count Zinzendorf," which was
first published in 1772.

t "Taghananty, the 'Black Prince,' perished in the jail at Montreal" in the Spring of 1748, having been
taken prisoner by the French during their war with the English. — "Pennsylvania Colonial Recorcla,'^ I':J91.

X On their way from Shekomeko to Oley Schabash and his companions called on the Hon. James
I,ogan (see note, page 179), who alluded to the visit in a letter to Governor Clarke of New York, in these
words : "Some weeks ago two Moravians [Christian H. Ranch and Gottlieb Biittner] called on me, by
the Count's direction, with three of ye Mohican Indians in their company. One of the latter speaking
good English served for an interpreter. All three were proselytes, exceedingly grave but with free and
not ill countenances. Though the young Germans drank one glass of wine apiece with us, the others
would taste nothing but water."

Upon his return to Shekomeko Abraham was appointed to the ofiBce of Elder in the mission. In
August, 1742, Zinzendorf visited Shekomeko, and in his account of the visit, written at the time, he re-
ferred to Abraham and three other converts as follows : "The four are in all respects incomparable
Indians and men of God. When met in conference on affairs of the mission, they deliberated in a man-
ner which astonished us."

•218

says Loskiel, "represented that Wajomick lay in the road of the warriors
to the Catawbas, and in a country abounding with savages ; that the
women were so wanton that they seduced all the men, and consequently
their acquaintance might prove very hurtful to the young people."
The Pennsylvania embassy returned home without having accomplished
much.

The persecutions at Shekomeko continuing, the situation became
such as to make retreat necessary. Early in 1746, therefore, the matter
of removing the Christian Indians "to IVajomick^ in the free Indian ter-
ritorv," again agitated the Brethren at Bethlehem, and in March John
Martin Mack was sent from Bethlehem to Wyoming in order to learn
accurately the situation of the country and affairs there. Loskiel says
that "he traveled in company with two Delawares of great respectability,
who had visited Bethlehem. They showed the tenderest concern for his
safety on the road, carr^'ing him through brooks and rivers on their
shoulders." All these labors were in vain, for the Shekomekoites would
not remove to Wyoming. Ks a last resort, therefore, the Brethren
invited them to Bethlehem, and, late in the Spring of 1746, the Sheko-
meko and Connecticut Moravian settlements were broken up and the
Christian Indians with their missionaries departed for Bethlehem in
detachments.

The first detachment, consisting of ten families of forty-four per-
sons, reached Bethlehem in April, and these people, together with those
who came a few weeks later, were permitted to build temporary cabins
and plant corn on a plot of ground near Bethlehem — which settlement
received the name of '-'•Fi-iedenshi'itteii''' ("Huts of Peace"). July 24,
1746, these Indian emigrants were organized into a Christian congrega-
tion, and shortly afterwards were removed to '-'' Gnadenhiitteii''' ("Huts
of Grace"), a village and plantation occupying 197 acres of land on the
right bank of the Lehigh, at the mouth of IMahoning Creek, a few miles
above Lehigh Gap (see map on page 101). The site is now occupied in
part by the town of Lehighton, Carbon County. The land for this site
had been purchased in the Spring of 1746 by the Brethren at Beth-
lehem, expressly for the use of their Indian converts and proteges,
and the erection of buildings for their occupanc}- and that of their
preachers and teachers had been hurried along as rapidly as possible.
The farm-buildings stood near the creek at the foot of the hill ; on the
first ascent of the hill were the huts of the Indians, arranged in the form
of a crescent ; behind these was an orchard, and on the summit of the
hill lay the grave-yard. By the next year a blacksmith-shop, a grist
and a saw-mill had been erected on the bank of the creek, and in the
valley a small church. A path, or trail, from Bethlehem to the Sus-
quehanna ran through the village — probably the path traveled by Mack
and Frohlich in 1744. The settlement rapidly increased in size, and
soon became "a regular and pleasant town." Between this new Christian
Indian town and Wyoming a constant intercourse was soon established.
"Hungry savages, in times of scarcity, flocked to Gnadenhutten, pro-
fessing Christianty and filling themselves at the tables of the pious
missionaries. * * Some, however, were sincere in their professions
and died in the faith."

Towards the close of the year 1747 Bishop Spangenberg and other
Brethren paid a visit to the Indians at Wyoming, by whom, says Los-

219

kiel, "they were received as angels sent from God ; and their words
were heard with uncommon eagerness."

In June, 1748, the population of Wyoming Valley w^as increased
by the arrival of a band of Nanticoke Indians, ''' under their chief
Ulhinckquani ("Robert White"). They numbered eighty persons, and
in ten canoes had come up the Susquehanna from the mouth of the
Juniata Riverf where they had been living — perhaps on Duncan's
Island — since 1742. That this is so, and that they did not come
directly to Wyoming from Maryland (as has been stated by other

*The Nanticokes atid Conors or Ganaweses Cmentioned on pages 101 and lOl.') were originally, with-
out doubt, clans or sub-tribes of the same nation, known about ItiOO — and perhaps later — as the Tockwock,
of the Algonkin family. For many years the Delawares always referred to the Nanticokes as "Tawack-
^iiih/os." while the Five Nationsare said to have called them ^'Skaiiiaiaratigroni" (''Tide-water People").
Some writers have claimed, however, that "Nanticoke" and "Conoy" were simply synonymous terms for
the same people.

Originally, or very early, the Nanticokes were located along the eastern shore of Chesapeake Bay in
what is now Maryland, where their tribal name is perpetuated by having been given many years ago to a
river, and later to a post-village. The Iroquois, having conquered the Su.squehannocks or Andastes, and
driven them from their towns along the Susquehanna, as previously related, turned their attention to the
Tockwocks. and, by the year 1080, had coxnpletely subjugated them. The time of their final overthrow is
fixed by the statements of certain Nanticoke and Conoy sachems made to Governor Evans of Pennsyl-
vania in 1707, to the effect that their tribes had then "been at peace with the Five Nations for twenty-
seven years " (See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," II : 386.) From all that can be learned it appears
that the Nanticokes always lived at peace with the whites. In a council held at Fort Augusta (Shamokin)
in 1769 "Last Night," the Conoy King from Chenango. New York, addressing Colonel Francis, command-
ing the fort, said : "The nations to which 1 belong— the Nanticokes and Conoys — never yet since the
beginning of the world pulled one .scalp, nor even one hair, from your heads ; and this, I say, gives us a
right to call ourselves your brothers." (See "Penn.sjdvauia Colonial Records," IX : 617.)

About 1701, owing to troubles in Maryland, a number of the Ganawese Indians— then called Piscata-
ways — fled to Pennsylvania with the intention of settling there. Accompanied by certain Conestogas and
Shawanese they went to Philadelphia and obtained permission to locate along the Susquehanna near the
Conestogas and Shawanese— the representatives of these two tribes agreeing to hold themselves respon-
sible to the Government for "the peaceable deportment and behavior" of the Ganaweses or Piscataways.
In June, 1706, it was reported to the Provincial Council that there was great uneasiness among the Indians
"by reason of the Ganaweses who had fled from Maryland." The Secretary of the Council then reported
that he and others had made a journey among the Ganaweses, settled at a place called Connejaghera,
some miles above the Conestoga fort on the Su.squehanna, and that these Indians since their settlement
there had behaved themselves according to their agreement. It was then (June, 1706) reported to the
Council that the Five Nations were "expected shortly to come down to receive the Nanticoke's tribute";
and the chief of the Conestogas, who was present, "laid before the Governor a large wampum belt of
twenty-one rows, with three hands wrought in it in black (the rest being white), which was a pledge of
peace formerly delivered by the Onondaga Indians to the Nanticokes when they made the said Nanti-
cokes tributaries."

In June, 1707, Governor Evans and a number of attendants journeyed from Philadelphia toPequehan,
the Shawanese town near Cone-stoga, and, being met by King Opessah and other chiefs, were conducted
into the town and received by a volley of small arms. Later they went to Dekanoagah, on the Susque-
hanna, nine miles from Pequehan, where a conference was held with Seneca. Shawanese, Conoy and
Nanticoke Indians. These Nanticokes were from seven different villages in Maryland, and were on their
way to the "Long House" of the Five Nations with twenty belts and several strings of wampum "as
tribute, and in order to renew their league." Desiring to see the Governor of Pennsylvania at this time,
they had sent for him, and for ten days awaited his arrival at Dekanoagah. At this conference the inter-
preter, by order of the Conestoga sachems, spoke in English to the Nanticokes — who all understood thai
language— 2iS ioWoviS : "You are going to the Onondagas. Be sure you keep on your way. * * * You
will find the King of the Five Nations a very great one, and as good a king as any among the Indians."
(See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," II : 244, 246, 386, 387.)

In 1719 there was a Ganawese town in the neighborhood of Conestoga, Pennsylvania, and Winjack
was its chief. In June, 1722, Governor Keith of Pennsylvania wrote to " Tvinjack, King of the Ganawese
Indians on Sasquehanna : * * I have heard that your friends the Nanticokes are now at your town
upon their journey to the Five Nations. I know they are a peaceable people, that live cjuietly amongst the
English in Maryland, and therefore I shall be glad to see them, and will be ready to do them any kind-
ness in my power."

In August, 1749, an iinportant conference was held at Philadelphia between the Provincial Govern-
ment and Pennsylvania Indians— comprising 280 Senecas, Mohegans, Delawares, Tuteloes and Nanti-
cokes. Canassatego was present, with some attendants, to represent the Six Nations, and he was the prin-
cipal speaker on the part of the Indians. It seems that certain white people had been settling along the
Juniata River, which at that time was outside the bounds of the Proprietaries' pvirchases from the Indians
—as we have shown on page 192. With regard to this territorv' Canassatego said : "This is the hunting-
ground of our cousins the Nanticokes, and other Indians living on the waters of the Juniata. * * * We
now speak in behalf of our cousins the Nanticokes. You know that on some differences between the
people of Maryland and them we [the Six Nations] sent for them and placed them at the mouth of the
Juniata, where they now live. They came to us while on our journey [hither] and told us that there are
three settlements of their tribe left behind in Maryland, who want to come away, but the Mar3'landers
keep them in fence and will not let them go. We desire, therefore (being urged thereto by our cousins
the Nanticokes), that you would write to the Governor of Maryland and use your utmost interest that the
fence in which they are confined may be taken away * * * that they riiay be allowed to come and
settle where the other Nanticokes are, and live with them amongst us." (See "Pennsylvania Colo-
nial Records," V: 401.)

Late in 1749, or early in 1750, the remaining Nanticokes in Maryland departed from their ancient
homes to join their tribesmen on the Juniata, on the lower Susquehanna and in Wyoming Valley ; while
some pushed on up the Susquehanna into New York and .settled at Chenango, or Otsiningo, on the Che-
nango River, about four miles above the present city of Binghamton. The Nanticokes had a peculiar vener-
ation for their deceased ancestors and other relatives, and upon removing from one place to another it is
said that they disinterred the remains of their dead, carried them to the new place of settlement and
reinterred them. When the last of the Nanticokes removed northward from Marjdand the bodies of
some of their people who had only recently died were in a putrid state, but the Indians removed the
flesh from, and scraped, the bones of these bodies in order that the .same might be carried away.

tSee map on page 191.

220

writers), is proved by the following. In Augnst, 1751, at a meeting of
the Provincial Council in Philadelphia there were present four N anti-
coke Indians from Wyoming, who said : "We passed about nine years
ago [1742] by your door. We came from iMaryland, and asked your
leave to go and settle among our brethren the Delawares, and you gave
us leave. We did for some time live at the mouth of the Juniata, but
are now settled at Wyomen."*

These Nanticokes erected their wigwams on the left, or south,
bank of the Susquehanna, on the Lower Hanover Flats mentioned on
page 50. The site of their village is indicated on the facsimile of
"A Plot of the ^lanor of Stoke" shown in Chapter VII, it being a short
distance south-west of the mouth of Sugar Notch Creek (not shown on
this plot), not far from the old "Dundee" mine-shaft, and almost oppo-
site the Avondale mine in Plymouth Township. "Moses' Creek," noted
on the j\Ianor of Stoke plot, is now called Buttonwood Creek, and
"Muddy Run" is one of the branches of Nanticoke Creek. Sugar
Notch Creek — whose waters form the pond in Hanover Park — has been
named "Warrior Run" on some maps published within recent years,
and on others, "Warrior Creek." Both of these names have been erro-
neously used, "Warrior Run" being, in fact, the name of a branch of
Nanticoke Creek, as shown on page 55.

In July, 1748, the Moravian missionaries j\Iack (previously men-
tioned) and David Zeisbergerf came from Shamokin to Wyoming, fol-

* See "Penns3'lvania Colonial Records," V: 544.

t David Zeisberger, Jr., who has been denominated the "Western Pioneer and Apostle of the
Indians" and the "Hero of the American Black Forest." was born at Zauchtenthal in Moravia, Austria,
in 1721. At the age of five years he removed with his parents to Saxony, where the family remained ten
years. L,ate in the year 1735 the parents— iiavid and Rosina Zeisberger— set sail for America with a
company of Moravians on the ship Siinonds, arri\-ing at Savannah, Georgia, February l(j, 1736. They
formed part of a company of 300 immigrants to the Colony of Georgia, then in the third year of its life ;
which company had been gathered together and was headed by James Edward Olethorpe, the founder
and Governor of Georgia, and included the well-known missionaries and evangelists John and Charles
Wesley. In Augu.st, 1737, young David Zeisberger — then in his sixteenth j^ear— joined his parents at
Savannah. Here the family of three lived until April, 1740, when, with a number of other Moravians (in-
cluding John Martin Mack, previously mentioned), they sailed from Savannah for Philadelphia as mem-
bers of the little company gathered together and headed by George Whitefield, the famous evangelist and
one of the founders of Methodism.

Whitefield, having purchased 5,000 acres of land in the "Forks of the Delaware," founded the present
town of Nazareth, in Northampton County — the first buildings being erected by the Brethren who had
accompanied the evangelist from Savannah. In the Spring of 1741 the three Zeisbergers, Mack and
others "went out into the forest from Nazareth and began to build Bethlehem," as mentioned on page 202.
(See Reichel's "Memorials of the Moravian Church," 1 : 167.) Young Zeisberger about that time became
interested in the studj' of the language of the Delawares, and soon showed great proficiency in the work.
He then took up the studj- of the Mohawk tongue —the Mohawk dialect of the Iroquois language being
the one which was commonlj^ used at that time and later in intercourse with the Six Nations.

In 1744, only a short time before the outbreak of the Old French War, Zeisberger accompanied Chris-
tian Frederick Post, previously mentioned, to the country of the Iroquois. There, early in 1745, being
suspected as spies from the French, the two men were arrested by the New York authorities and thrown
into prison, where they were kept six weeks. Following his release Zeisberger was engaged for ten
years, or until 1755, in active missionary service in New York and in Penn.sylvania. and in perfecting him-
self in a knowledge of various Indian languages. In 1745 he was adopted itito the Turtle clan of the Onon-
daga nation. In 1747 and '48 he was an assistant to John Martin Mack in the mission at Shamokin, and
while there he began the preparation of an Iroquois dictionary, being aided by Shikellimy. Zeisbergers
success was very great, particularly among the Six Nations. "Perhaps in all" the history of this famous
people," says Archer Butler Hulbert (in The Chautauquan, XXXVIII : 259), "there was no other man,
with the exception of .Sir William Johnson, whom the people trusted as much as they did David Zeisber-
ger ; * * and it is vastly more than a wordy compliment suggesting friendship to record that in his
mission-house of Onondaga they placed the entire archives of the nation, comprising the most valuable
collection of treaties and letters 'from colonial governors ever made by an Indian nation on this continent. '

But, the war of the English against the French having been begun in May, 1755, Zeisberger was com-
pelled to leave the country of the Six Nations and return to Pennsj'lvania, where, for the ensuing ten
j-ears, he was constantly employed in general missionary work among the Indians and often as an inter-
mediarjj between the latter and the Provincial authorities. In April, 1765, he led from Bethlehem to
Wj'alusing, on the North Branch of the Susquehanna (in what is now Bradford County), a company of
Christian Indians consisting of eighty adults and upwards of ninetj' children. After a tedious journey of
thirty-six days through an unbroken wilderness they reached their destination, and tliere, about two
miles south-east of the mouth of Wyalusing Creek, thej- founded the Moravian Indian town of "Friedetis-
hutten," named for the village which had formerly stood near Bethlehem. Here Zeisberger labored
zealously as preacher and teacher until October, 1766. During this time he once wrote : "It often hap-
pens, while I preach, that the power of the gospel takes such hold of the savages that they tremble with
emotion and shake with fear, until consciousness is nearly gone and they seem to be on the point of
fainting."

"About 1765 some bands of Monsey Indians from Wyalusing and Tioga Point migrated to what is now
Forest County, in north-western Pennsylvania, and on the eastern bank of the Allegheny River estab-
lished the village of "Goschgoschuiik"; and later, at or near the mouth of Oil Creek, in what is Venango

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221

lowing the trail running along the right bank of the North l>ranch of
the Susquehanna. At Wyoming they found a famine prevailing. The
diary of this journey was printed in the Pennsylvania Magazine of
History for January, 1893 (page 430), and from it the following extracts
have been made.

"July 23.— ^ * * * By evening reached Nescopeck, and were taken over the river
in a canoe. Found few at home, but were taken into a hut where we dried ourselves
and, supperless, retired to rest.

"July 124. — Our host cooked us some wild beans. We gave the old man in turn of
our bread. He informed us that the people had gone among the whites to obtain food.

"July 25. — Resumed our journey and came to Wapwallopen. Found only one
famil)' at home, who boiled the bark of trees for food. All the others had been driven by
famine to the white settlements. At night we camped at the lower end of the fiats* of
Wyomick .

"July 26. — Arose early and proceeded up the flats People decrepit and scarcely
able to move, and in danger of starvation. Lodged in one of the huts.

"July 27. — Crossed the river and visited the Nanticokes who moved here last Spring
from Chesapeake Baj-.f and found tbem clever, modest people. Thej- too complained of
the famine, and told us that their young people had been gone several weeks to the settle-
ments to procure food. In the evening the Nanticokes set us over the river Visited
some old people ; also an old man who fetched some wood to make a fire in his hut. He
was so weak as to be compelled to crawl on his hands and knees. Mack made the fire,
much to the gratitude of the aged invalid.

County, thev established '■'Lawmiakhannek." To the former of these villages Zeisberger went in the
Autumn of 1767, being, without doubt, the first white man to enter the wilds of Forest County. He had
been warned by the Senecas not to attempt this visit— probably because the reputation of the Indians at
these two villages was bad — but he went, nevertheless, accompanied by two Christian Indians, and in the
evening following his arrival s.t. Goschgosc/ii'ink held a religious service. The wildest of the Indians were
there — sorcerers and murderers, and some who had been but a short time before engaged in a massacre.
It was a rough crowd, even for Zeisberger, to address by the flickering light of a dull fire. Writing of the
incident afterwards he said : "Never yet did I see so clearly depicted in the faces of the Indians both the
darkness of hell and the world-subduing power of the gospel." The apostle soon saw that he was in a
den of paganism, and after a stay of only seven days he returned to eastern Pennsj'lvania. But the next
year the Jlonseys sent for him to come back to them. He went, and, finding that many of the worst
Indians had left that locality, continued as a missionary there during 1768. '69 and part of '70, first at
Goschgoschiink and then at La-iVunakhaniiek. Then the Senecas claimed the land thereabout, and in-
sisted that the Monseys should leave. (The land at and near this particular place was subsequently
granted to the Seneca chief "Cornplanter," as related on page 164.)

April 17, 1770. Zeisberger and his followers left their village on Oil Creek in fifteen canoes. In three
days they reached Fort Pitt (now Pittsburg). Proceeding thence down the Ohio, past Logstown to the
mouth of the Beaver, they a.scended that river. Some fifteen miles up the stream, on its left, or east,
bank, near the present town of Newport in Lawrence Count}', the emigrants found an Indian village
inhabited by a community of women, all single and pledged never to marr^'. (On the 17.56 map of Penn-
sylvania reproduced in Chapter V there is an Indian town named "Kis'hkaskies'' noted at about that
point.) A mile north of this\-illage of misogamists Zeisberger's company landed and erected their cabins.
Some time later, however, they removed to a better site on the opposite side of the river, where they built
their town, to which Zeisberger gave the name •'FriedensstadV ("City of Peace" ). On the 14th of the fol-
lowing July Zeisberger was formalh- adopted into the Mouse}' clan, with all the ceremonies usual on
such occasions. . "

This new village grew steadily in size and population and many Indians were converted to Christian-
ity. When the village was fourteen months old the membership of the Church had increased to 100, and
a house of worship was dedicated. Through Zeisberger's agency Moravian missions were soon established
in the "Black Forest" region on the upper Muskingum, in what is now the State of Ohio. In the Spring
of 1773 the Christian Indians of Fiiedensstadl left there in a body and accompanied Zeisberger into the
"Black Forest," where, in the valley of the Tuscarawas, in what is now Tuscarawas County, they founded
three villages — "GnadenhiUten.'" •'Schdnbrtiini" and. " Lic/itenaji." Zeisberger was assisted in his work
here by Heckewelder (mentioned on page 42) and other Moravian Brethren, and they formed the first
settlement of whites in the present State of Ohio — excepting such French as had lived in the lake region.
"The settlements were governed by a complete set of published laws, and in many respects the experi-
ment was an ideality fully achieved. The good influetice of the orderly and devout colony spread through
the Central West at a time when every influence was bad and growing rapidly worse,"

During the latter part of the Revolutionary War the inhabitants of these three "Black Forest" villages
were driven from their homes. Some months later ninety' of them having returned to Gnadenhiitlen
were murdered in cold blood by a party of Americans. The remnant of this body of Christian Indians
was led by the now aged Zeisberger from one place to another during the next sixteen years, until finallj',
in 1798, they were able to return to Tuscarawas Valley, where the United States had given to the Moravian
Church some 12,000 acres of land, embracing the .sites of the three villages which had been established
there in 1773. For fully ten j-ears more the old missionary' continued to labor among the "brown breth-
ren" whom he had loved and led for so long, and then, at the age of eighty-seven years he died, and, in
pursuance of his dying request, was buried at Gnadenhutteu near the mound covering the remains of the
ninety massacred Indians. To their memory a handsome monument has been erected, while only a little
slab marks the hallowed grave of the missionary. "And j'et," writes Hulbert, previously quoted, "no
monument can be raised to the memory of David "Zeisberger so valuable or so significant as' the little pile
of his own manuscripts collected by Edward Everett and deposited by him under lock and key, in a
special case in the library of Harvard University. Here are fourteen manuscripts, including a Delaware
Indian dictionary, a hymn book, a harmony of the Gospels, a volume of litanies and liturgies and a volume
of sermons to children."

♦Plymouth, or "Shawnee," Flats.

t Mack and Zeisberger were at Shamokin in Maj', 1748, when the Nanticokes passed by that place in
their canoes, en route from the mouth of the Juniata to Wj'oming. They were known to be Chesapeake
Bay Indians, and that they had just come from there it was natural for the missionaries to presume.

222

"Ji-^ly -^- — Found our host this morning busy painting himself. He painted his
face all red, and striped his shirt and moccasins with the same color. -^ * * Set out
on our return journey. Passed Wapwallopen, and thence over the country, across AVolf
Mountain to Gnaden'hiitten, which we reached July 30."

Zeisberger records that at this time the Indians at Wyoming shot
two seals in the Susqnehanna — "these strange animals attracting mnch
attention. They were believed to be sent by God, and were accordingly
eaten.''

"In October, 1748," says Dr. Johnson in his paper previously
referred to (see page 204), "Baron John de Watteville, a bishop of the
Moravian Church, and son-in-law and principal assistant of Count
Zinzendorf, arrived from Europe on an official visit, and one of the first
things he undertook was a visit to the Indian country. He was accom-
panied by Cammerhoff, ]\Iack and Zeisberger, the latter as interpreter.
Having visited Gnadenhiitten [from Bethlehem] , they proceeded along
the great trail to Wyoming, which they reached four days later." At
that period the path usually traveled from the Lehigh to V/yoming
crossed over the intervening mountains to the little valley of the Wap-
wallopen, down this to the mouth of the creek and thence along the
Susquehanna (on the right bank) to Wyoming. De Watteville and his
companions, however, took a somewhat different route. Having reached
the valley of the Wapwallopen they evidently turned northward, passed
by or near Triangle Pond (now Lake Nuangola) and entered Wyoming
Valley through either Espy's or Lueder's Gap in the south-eastern sec-
tion of Wilkes-Barre jMountain (mentioned on pages 44 and 47).

The following interesting paragraphs relating to this journey are
from a translation of De Watteville's journal, published in part in John-
son's Historical Record (Wilkes-Barre), II : 77, and in Dr. Johnson's
paper previously mentioned.

"October 6, 1748. — From the top of a high mountain we had our first view of the
beautiful and extensive flats of Wyoming, and the Susquehanna winding through them.
It was the most charming prospect my eyes had ever seen. Beyond them stretched a
line of blue mountains- high up, back of which passes the road to Onondagat through
the savage wilderness towards Tioga. We viewed the scene for several minutes in silent
admiration, then descended the precipitous mountain side, past a spring, tintil we got
into the valley. Up this we pursued our way and came to the first Indian huts of Wyo-
ming, where formerh- lived one Nicholas, a famous Indian conjurer and medicine-man.
Since his death the huts stand empty. INIoving on we crossed a creek i and soon came to
the Susquehanna, up which we went a mile to a point where we forded the stream to an
island,^ and crossed to the west bank. The river was low, and all got through without
difficulty. Came to some cabins inhabited by Tuscaroras (whose squaws only were at
home), and thence into the great fiats, strikingthe path*' which Zinzendorf had followed.

* Shawanese Mountain, described on pages 44, 46 and 48.

t This was the old and much-traveled Indian trail running from the mouth of Fishing Creek (below
the present town of Blooinsburg, Columbia County, Pennsylvania) in a northerly direction to Tioga
Point, the southern door to the "Long House" atOnondaga. (See page 117.) As to the territorj- in
north-eastern Pennsj^lvania through which this trail ran, see the ";Map of Luzerne County' in Chapter
XXIII. in connection with the map on page lid. The course of the trail was up along the main branch
of Fishing Creek, by Orangeville. to a point at or near Lake Ganoga (see page 4t'p), one of the sources of
Fishing Creek ; thence continuing across the North Mountain range, through Sullivan County and a part
of Bradford Countj', to the head-waters of Towanda Creek, where it joined the path running along that
stream to a junction with the great Warrior Path which lay along the North Branch of the .Susquehanna.
The course of this last-mentioned path through a part of Wyoming Valley is shown on the "Plot of the
Manor of Sunbury" (reproduced in Chapter Vll) by the dotted line marked "Path from Shamokin" and
"Path to Wj'alusing."

X A branch of Nanticoke Creek.

g The small island adjacent to the lower, or western, end of "Shawnee" Flats, near Grand Tunnel.
Colonel Wright, in his "Historical Sketches of Plymouth" published in 1873, says that this island was
originallj- known to the residents of Plymouth as 'Fish Island," bj' reason of the fact that for many years
a very successful shad-fishery was located there Later, he states, it became known as "Park's Island,"
from an "herb doctor" who lived in a cabin on it. It is quite probable that Pearce was in error in refer-
ring to "Toby's Island" as "Park's Island" (see page 52), and that the true "Park's Island" is the one at
the lower end of "Shawnee" Flats. Colonel Wright states that "before the erection of the [Nanticoke]
dam immediately below, this island was much larger than it is now [1S72] ; the back flow of the water has
submerged probably two-thirds of the original surface."

^ Shown on the "Plot of the Manor of SunV)urj'' mentioned above.

223

"Cammerhoff and myself kept in our saddles, the 1)etter to get a view of the flats.
lUit the grass was so high at times as to overtop us,-" though mounted, and I never beheld
such a beautiful expanse of land. We next came to the place where the old Shawanese
King dwelt, which at that time (1742) was a large town.f Now there is only one cabin
in which Shawanese reside. Farther on we came to ten huts, j where the present Captain,
who is a Chickasaw Indian,;^ lives. He was not at home, but was recently gone to war

* In these days and in this country the word "grass," as commonly and generally used, refers to
prairie, lawn, orchard, timothy or some one of the other grasses which grow wild or are cultivated in
lawns, meadows and pasture fields for forage and hay-making purposes or in order to beautify the land-
scape. The average unscientific person knows of no other grasses. Botanists, however, inform us that
there are "fully SOO species and varieties of grasses within the limits of the United States"; and under their
clas.sification rice, rye, wheat, oats, maize or Indian-corn and sugar-cane are grasses. Without doubt He
Watteville used the'word "grass" in his journal, as above, in its generic sense, and by it referred to a tall,
reed-like growth— a woody perennial— known to botanists as "A>a aquatica" and which in some parts
of the country is common along the margins of rivers and lakes. The present writer remembers very
well that when he was a boy this "grass" — which, however, no one hereabout ever called "grass" — grew
in great profusion on the uncultivated parts of the Lower Kingston and Upper Plymouth Flats, particu-
larly on the margins of the river and the "pond-holes." It often attained a height of eight or ten feet.
None of the other kinds of grasses mentioned in this note— excepting Indian-corn and .sugar-cane— ever
attains such a height.

t At the upper, or eastern, end of "Shawnee" Flats, near Garrison Hill. •

I This refers to the village in Plymouth which in 1742 was called by Mack the "upper town," and
which stood near the river between Brown's Brook and Bead Hill, as described on page 209.

I According to tradition the Chickasaws and Choctaws were one people many centuries ago. The
word Chickasaw ("Chikas/ia") in the Choctaw tongue signifies "rebel," the latter tribe giving its rebel-
lious offshoot that name, which the Chickasaws evidently accepted as their distinctive tribal name. When
(in 15-K)) De Soto explored the Mississippi region he found that the Choctaws occupied a large part of
what is now Alabama and the southern half of Mississippi, while the Chickasaws occupied the territory
to the north— comprising northern Mi.ssissippi and a part of western Tennessee. The Chickasaws then
had a tradition to the effect that, long before that time, they and the Choctaws— then one nation— being
driven from their country by ferocious northern Indians, journeyed toward the sunrise under the
guardianship of a sacred dog, led onward by a magic pole, which they planted in the ground every night,
and in the morning traveled toward the direction the pole leaned. At last, after crossing vast deserts,
boundless forests and dismal swamps, leaving thousands of their dead along the way, they reached the
great "Father of Waters." While crossing the Mississippi the sacred dog was drowned ; but the nation
continued its march eastward to the banks of the Alabama River, where the pole, after being unsettled
for several days, pointed distinctly south-west. They then proceeded in that direction to the southern
portion of Mississippi, where the pole planted itself firmly in a perpendicular position. This was the
omen for a permanent settlement, and here the combined nation dwelt.

These Indians— of Muskhogean stock— were, in a measure, civilized at the time of De Soto. They
had their rude arts, laws, customs and religion, inferior but somewhat similar to those of the Aztecs
and Incas, which leads to the belief that the "magic pole" tradition had its origin in an exodus of these
tribes from Mexico. The theory that the Chickasaws and Choctaws were an offsh9ot of the civilized
Aztecs has some foundation. They were not primarily a warlike race. Their disposition was not fero-
cious, although they were capable of waging long and bloody wars when driven to such an extremity. In
a treaty with the United States in 1834 the Chickasaws made the boast "that they have ever been faithful
and friendly to the people of this country ; that they have never raised the tomahawk to shed the blood
of an American." ("Report on Indians in the United States at the Eleventh Census," page 279.)

It is said that at one time the Chickasaws could send out on the war-path 10,000 braves. In 1763 they
could muster only 250 warriors ; in 17G4 they had increased to 750, and in 1768 they were reduced to 500
warriors. They were then located in western Georgia. In 1780 they were to be found between the head
branches of Mobile River in western Alabama. In the War of 1812 and in the war with the Creeks the
Chickasaws did valiant service for the United States. As early as 1800 the encroachments of the whites
filled these people with a desire to emigrate beyond the Mississippi, and about 1820 many Chickasaws
joined the Choctaw emigration to the country west of Arkansas, now Indian Territory. In 1822 there
were 3,625 of the tribe remaining in Mississippi— in the northern part of the State. In 1835 Chickasaws to
the number of 5,600 agreed to emigrate, and did emigrate, from Mississippi to Indian Territory, where
they now form one of the "Five Civilized Tribes." (See pages 163 and 165.) Tishomingo is the capital of
the Chickasaw Nation, and Ardraore, the large.st town in the Nation, is the metropolis of the "Five
Tribes." According to the census of 1890 the population of the Chickasaw Nation numbered 57,329, of which
number, however, only 3,129 were pure-blood Chickasaws.

George Catlin, writing about the year 1832 (see his "Let-
ters and Notes" mentioned on page 84) relative to the Chin-
nook Indians who lived along the Columbia River, in what is
now the State of Washington, stated that these Indians were
a small tribe (they then numbered only 400, in twenty-eight
lodges, according to Samuel J. Drake), and "correctly come
under the name of Flat-heads, as they are almost the only
people who strictly adhere to the custom of squeezing and
flattening the head. * * * This mode of flattening the head
is certainly one of the most unaccountable as well as vmmean-
ing customs found amongst the North American Indians.
* * It is a curious fact, and one that should be mentioned
here, that these people have not been alone in this strange
custom ; bvit that it existed and was practised precisely the
same, until recently, amungsl the Choctaws and Chickasaws.
who occupied a large part of the States of Mississippi and
Alabama, where they have laid their bones and hundreds of
their skulls have been procured, bearing incontrovertible evi-
dence of a similar treatment with similar results. The Choc-
taws who are now [1832] living do not flatten the head. * *
Whilst among the Choctaws I could learn little more from the
people about such a custom than that 'their old men recollect-
ed to have heard it spoken of — which is nmch less satisfactory
evidence than inquisitive white people get bj' referring to the
grave, which the Indian never meddles with."

Noting the fact that the Chinnooks and Chickasaws lived
over 2,000 miles apart, and that there were no intervening

tribes who practised head-flattening, Mr. Catlin came to the conclusion that "either the Chinnooks emi-
grated from the Atlantic, or the Choctaws and Chickasaws came from the west side of the Rocky
Mountains." The accompanj'ing illustration is a reduced facsimile of a drawing made by Mr. Catlin of

224

against the Catawbas, with six other warriors. His wife, who is a Shawanese, remem-
bered the Count [Zinzendorf], and would have ns take lodgings with her. Becaiise of
our horses we were compelled to decline her kind offer. We pitched our tents on the
spot where Chikasi (in whom the Count had been so interested in 1742) lived.* He, too,
remembered the Count, and was very friendly. Chikasi is at present living with the
Nanticokes across the river. Our hostess sent for him, as he spoke English. He came
without delay. * * Meanwhile all Wyoming on our side of the river had congregated
— some sixteen persons, large and small. Chickasaws and Shawanese. They manifested
great interest in our advent, and sincere friendship for us.

"October 7. — Rode to the spot which the Count had selected for the site of a Mora-
vian Indian town,t and then crossed the creek on which the proposed mill for the Mora-
vian town was to be built. Next we came to the spot where the tent was pitched the
third time.i Here, in the bark of a tree, we found the initial 'J' (for Johanan, or Zin-
zendorf), and 'C (for Conrad Weiser). I cut an 'A' for Anna Nitschmann, and also
'17-42' and '1748.' Fording the river we found a Mohican cabin at the end of an island,^
bvit no one excepting children were at home. Rode over the flats|| until we came to some
Tuscarora** huts. Recrossing to our camp we found Zeisberger had been called on bj-
many Indians. They said [that] some months ago a trader had wished to settle in Wyo-
ming, and had planted corn, but the Indians finding him thievish had expelled him — the
Nanticokes having bought his improvements. Not far from the Count's third camping-
place** we were pointed out the burial-placett of, an ancient and wholly exterminated
nation of Indians ; and on the south side of the Susquehanna stood a respectable orchard
of apple trees, near which some seventy or eighty Indians, who were swept off a few years
ago by epidemic dysentery, lay buried. |i

a picture painted by himself in 1832— showing a woman with a flattened head, and also the process by
which the head of "a child was gradiiallj' forced into a similar shape.

During many years the Iroquois carried on a fierce warfare against the Chickasaws, Cherokees, Cataw-
bas and other southern tribes, and there is no doubt but that the Chickasaws who were located in Wyo-
ming Valley in 17-18— some of whom had then been here at least six years — had been brought here as
prisoners of war by Six Nation warriors on their return from a marauding expedition against the Chick-
asaws. It is probable, too, that Chikasi. "the Count's Chickasaw," referred to in the diaries of :Mack
and De Watteville, was not the only flat- headed Chickasaw who was here in the valley, for, upon two or
three occasions within the past thirty or fortj' years, Indian skulls have been exhumed here which ap-
peared to have had the forehead flattened in life. One such was dug up only a few years ago, in Plains
Township, not far from the site of the Delaware town Matchasaung, mentioned on page 213, and is now
in possession of Jlr. Charles M. Williams, Plainsville.

The "Flat-heads" referred to on pages 180 and 189 were, of course, either Choctaws or Chickasaws,
and not the Chinnook "Flat-heads" of Columbia River, whose descendants, by the way, are now known as
"Flat-heads" and occupy certain reservations in Montana.

* This was somewhere between Brown's Brook and Bead Hill.

f The Jloravian Indian town referred to, which Zinzendorf planned to have built in the ' 'great Desarts
of vSkehantowanno" (Wyoming), was tobe named "Cnarffwrfarf/ " ("City of Grace") : and the site selected
for it was, undoubtedly,"on the plateau— originally having an area of several acres^at the south-western
extremity of Boston Hill. It is now occupied in part by Shupp's Grave-yard. Boston Hill (which received
its name' from the Boston Mine coal-breaker which stood there a nuniber of years ago) is in reality the
south-western section of Ross Hill, and it lies opposite the upper end of Richard's Island. The hill at one
time extended farther in a south-westerly direction, but has been cut away to make room for railways,
etc. Along the line of the former base of the hill flows .Shupp's Creek, emptying into the river opposite
the island — as shown on the "Plot of the Manor of Sunbury" in Chapter VII. This stream was, at one
time, the principal creek in Plj-mouth, and, unquestionably, it was the one upon which the Moravian
mill was to have been built.

Upon the plateau of Boston Hill may be found even at this day many evidences of early Indian occu-
pation — piles of mussel-shells, arrow-points, chips of flint produced in making arrow-points, etc. With-
out doubt there was at one time not only an Indian village, but an Indian burial-place there, as has
been indicated by discoveries made fromtime to time in past years. (See "Proceedings of Wyoming
Historical and Geological Society." VIII : 107. ) From this plateau, before the days of coal-mining opera-
tions, the flats on both sides of the river, and the river it-self for a considerable distance in a south-westerly
direction, could be clearly viewed ; therefore it was an admirable site for a village, and may have been
occupied as such at the same time that the earthworks in Dorranceton and on Jacob's Plains were occu-
pied, and by a band of the same tribe that occupied those places.

X Bead Hill, described on page 20fi. \ Richard's Island.

ij Either the Upper Hanover or the Lower Wilkes-Barre Flats.

If These Tuscaroras, as well as those encamped at the lower end of the valley, and previously referred
to by De Watteville (see page 222), probably composed a band of that tribe of the .Six Nations who had
come down to the valley from New York to hunt. It is possible, however, that the Indians thus men-
tioned by DeWatteville were not Tuscaroras but Tnieloes. There were at that time and a few years later
a small number of Tuteloes located in the valley of the North Branch of the Susquehanna, at different
points. (See map of 175tJ and page 234.) The Tuteloes of that period constituted the remnant of a pre-
Columbian tribe of the Siouan family, that had occupied a portion of eastern Virginia and the country
east of Chesapeake Bay. By 1782 the Tuteloes had either been absorbed by other tribes or had died off, as
the name of the tribe does not appear in the "List of Indian Tribes Within the Limits of the United
States" prepared by Thomas JeiTerson in the year mentioned ; nor has the name of the tribe appeared in
any published list of existing tribes since that' year.

** Bead Hill, previously mentioned.

■fi Without doubt on Boston Hill ; and for a long time now the site has been occupied by Shupp's Grave-
yard, as explained in a previous note.

XX These were the Delaware Indians who died in 1713. as mentioned on page 212. In 1895 the "Fir-
wood" tract of land, and a tract adjoining it on the south-west — both lying near the site of the Delaware
Indian village of 1743 (see "Map of Wilkes-Barre" in Chapter XXVlfl)— were divided up into building
lots by their owners, and in opening and grading new streets and excavating cellars, a large amount of
soil was removed that had not been disturbed for many 3-ears. In the course of this work numerous
Indian skeletons, various trinkets, etc., were unearthed by the workmen. The following paragraphs.

2-2.")

"Captain's wife gave us four loaves of bread and two large watermelons. We gave
them in return a pair of silver buckles. In the afternoon visited the Chickasaw town*
and saw a newly carved god elevated on a pole. ^ Visited from hut to hut and found an
aged Shawanese couple who were almost centenarians six years ago. We next visited the
Nanticokes who live on the island.:}: Unable to get a canoe, we got our horses and forded
the stream without saddle or bridle. Left our horses in care of a sick Chickasaw, who
understood some English, and then visited the Count's Chickasaw [Chikasi], ivhose fore-
head is flattened backiuards like a Catawba's. He was gathering his little crop of tobacco,
and had little interest in religious matters. Gave him a knife as a token. </ Came to the
Nanticoke town of ten huts. INIost of the men were on the hunt. One of the old men
was very friendly. Gave him a pipe tube. Some of the Nanticokes asked if we w<^re
traders, and wanted to barter. The Nanticokes appear to be more industrious than other
Indians. * * * They are settled here right comfortably. They expect others of their
people. * * Recrossed the river to our tent, and closed the day with the celebration
of the Lord's Supper.

"October i). — Made preparations for return by the path that keeps along the upper
[or right] side of the Susquehanna down to Wamphallobank [Wapwallopen] and thence to
Shamokin. October 8. — Passed through the Chickasaw townjj and bade adieu to all our
friends. Presented some of the women with needles and thread. They gave us pumpkins
baked in the ashes. Moved down the beautiful flats. October 10. — Came to the falls at
Nescopeck, where we had Zei.sberger take the horses and with them follow the river on its
north side. Cammerhoff, Mack and I went down the hill to the Susquehanna and
shouted for a canoe. Hereupon Pantes, the third son of Notatnaes*] (the Governor of
Nescopeck), tastily painted and decked with feathers, came and set us over the river
We gave him a silver buckle for his trovible. On entering the town we went to the

relating to these "finds," are from The IVilkcs-Barre Record oi September 9, October 24 and November
25, 1895.

"A few weeks ago a number of Indian bones were dug up, but a few days ago contractor W. G. Downs'
workmen came across three or four skeletons close together. The bones were in a good state of preser-
vation, and the fact that thej' were those of Indians was shown by the general formation of the skulls
and the prominent cheek bones. One of the skeletons was that of a woman. The frames were not lying
horizontally, but were in a sitting posture, the skulls being about four feet from the .surface, and the feet
about ten [?] feet. This was the Indian custom of burial. [See page 174, ante?\ Near one of the skele-
tons was a pipe. It is made of stone, the bowl being perforated and worked around with rings. * * *
Maj. Jacob Roberts, Jr., is discovering many traces of the 'vanishing race' in grading the plot of ground
he recently purchased on Carey Avenue near Division Street. A few feet below the surface the jaw-bone
of an Indian was unearthed ; also a lot of blue beads, rings and arrow-heads. * * A couple of skeletons
are also being unearthed. * * *

"An interesting relic was unearthed the other day on the tract of land at the lower end of the city now
being laid out into lots by Major Roberts. It is a crucifix, and was found in an Indian grave by William
G. Downs, who sold it to Col. William J. Harvey. In the same grave with it were perhaps a quart of
beads. The crucifix is of brass, nearly two inches long. On one side is Christ on the cross ; below is a
skull and cross-bones. On the other side the Virgin Mary is represented. * * * The land on which
the crucifix was found was an extensive burying-ground, and many relics have been found thereabout.
*■ * It is said that all the skeletons lie with their heads towards the west, and some have been found in
a sitting posture. One skeleton was gigantic in size. * * Major Roberts found a fine string of blue
beads, said to be made of Scotch stone." The crucifix mentioned above was subsequently presented by
Colonel Harvey to the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society, and may now be seen in its collec-
tions. Several duplicates of this crucifix have been found at various times within recent years on the sites
of former Indian settlements along the Susquehanna, and one of them, found near Great Island, on the
West Branch of the river, is pictured and described in "Pennsylvania — Colonial and Federal," II : 31o.

* Between Brown's Brook and Bead Hill, Plymouth.

t See page 223 for a reference to the Chickasaw tradition concerning "« magic pole. ''''

X Park's Island near Grand Tunnel, at the lower end of ".Shawnee" Flats.

\ In August, 1753, John Martin Mack, the missionary, visited a small Shawanese village below Muncy
Creek (in what is now Lycoming County, Pennsylvania), which had been established a few years previ-
ously by some families fronr Wyoming. Here Mack found old Chikasi living, he having been there
since the previous Spring. Mack states in his diary, relative to this visit: "He [Chikasi] saluted us as
brothers. We also visited John Shikellimy Y Tachnechdorxis.^ mentioned on page 184], who lives here and
has a Shawanese wife He furnished us with a choice piece of bear's meat. Shikellimy's family have
mostly left Shamokin, as they find it very difficult to live there, owing to the large number of Indians pas.s-
ing through the town, who have to be fed. Our Brethren make the same complaint. They have fed as
high as 100 Indians per annum."

il Between Bead Hill and Brown's Brook, Plymouth.

'\IVolamaes, or "King Nutimus" as he was commonly known, ^vas the Delaware chief who is referred
toon pages 196, 199 and 200. According to Watson ("Annals of Philadelphia," II : 181) there were two
brothers of this name (which signifies "a spear with which to strike fish"), who were well known to
Heckewelder the Moravian missionary, previously mentioned. The one, Isaac — the subject of this brief
sketch — "the other, Pontius {^Pantes (?)], an excellent man, was born where Philadelphia now stands.
He lived to 100 years of age, and died at Muskingum, Ohio, in 1780, after thirty years' residence there."
Secretary James L,ogan, in a letter written in August, 1733, to Thomas Penn, Esq., states that Nutimus—
/jflac— has lands in the Forks of the Delaware and L,ehigh, above Durham ; and in a letter written a few
weeks later he refers to an expected visit from Nutimus and his company, with a present, and closes by
saying, "they left a bag of bullets last year." Nutimus was one of the Delaware sachems who executed
August 25, 1737, the "deed of release and quit-claim" upon which was based the "Walking Purchase"
referred to on page 194.

Nutimus and his followers left the "Forks" of the Delaware late in the year 1742 or early in 1743 (see
page 200), and went to Shamokin. Later, in 1743, they removed to the mouth of Nescopeck Creek (men-
tioned on page 201). They erected their cabins on the south or left bank of the river, opposite Nescopeck
Falls, about half a mile above the mouth of the creek, within the present limits of the borough of Nesco-
peck. During the next few years Nutimus spent a good deal of time at -Shamokin, where he learned to
work with tools and at blacksmithing. Heckewelder states : '"Isaac and Pantes were both amiable men
and respected by the whites. Isaac having a mechanical turn of mind snon learned the use of tools, and
became a pretty good blacksmith, a trade which he followed wherever he moved to. and during his life-

226

Governor's house — more spacious than any I have yet seen among the Indians — in which
he and his five sons with their wives and children live together. We found, however, no
one but Pantes, his brother Joe and the women at home. Seated around the fire we con-
versed with them some time.

"On taking leave we kept on down the Susquehanna to call upon the Governor and
his other sons at their plantation, one and a-half miles lower down. We were soon met
by one of their cousins with a negro, for the Governor of Nescopeck has five slaves — a
negress and four children. Negroes are regarded by the Indians as despicable creatures.*
On coming to Nescopeck Creek — which is about half as wide as the Lehigh at Bethlehem
— and having neither horses nor canoe we were compelled to wade it. The water was
rapid and leg deep. It was running high in its channel b}' reason of the late rains. It
was the first time in my life that I waded in water. Having crossed the stream we met
Isaac, one of the sons, and a short distance farther the old Governor himself, who greeted
us cordially. I presented him with a pair of scarlet causches. To all that was said he
would indicate his assent with the word 'Kehella .''t Going farther we came to the plan-
tation, where we visited in four huts. In one was a stranger Indian (not a member of
the family), in one were children, and in the third an old squaw. The fourth hut
belonged to Ben, old Notamaes' fourth son. He had just returned from the hunt, and
welcomed us very cordially. We sat with him a short time, and I took a great liking to
a child of his. INIack gave him a pipe-tube, and then he set us over the river in a canoe,
where we met David Zeisberger with the horses. After we had partaken of our noonday
meal Ben came over to us and gave us a fine deer-roast, w^hen we presented him with a silver
buckle and needles and thread for his Avife."

De Watteville and his companions proceeded onward to Sliamokin,
where the former delivered to Shikellimy (then tottering on the brink
of the grave) a costly present that had been sent to him by Count Zin-
zendorf.

About 1745 many of the Shawanese on the Ohio, who had long
shown symptoms of disaffection to the English and subservience to the
French cause, openly assumed a hostile character. They were seduced
chiefly by the efforts of Peter Chartier, a noted French trader and an
inhabitant of Penn.sylvania at the beginning of the war with France.
By his persuasions many of the Shawanese, under the leadership of
Neiiclieconno^ a shrewd and wih' chieftan of the tribe, removed from
their towns on the Ohio in order to be nearer the French settlements on
the Mississippi. Kackawatcheky, however, seems to have remained true
to the English. At all events he and his followers remained on the Ohio.

In April, 1748, a cessation of hostilities between the French and
English took place, and a preliminary treaty of peace was entered into.
Shortly before this became known in Pennsylvania the Provincial

time delighted in nothing more than a handsome com-hoe, tomahawk and other instruments made out
of iron and steel by his own hands. He generally settled himself a short distance from the town, where
he would have his cornfield at hand and under good fence, with some fruit trees planted in it next to his
house."

During the Indian depredations in Pennsylvania in the years 1755-57 — to be referred to more at length
hereinafter — Nescopeck became the rendezvous of those Indians — particularly from different parts of the
country' — who were plotting and warring against the English. At the beginning, or at least sometime dur-
ing the continuance, of these Indian hostilities Nutimusand his family removed from Nescopeck to Tioga
Point. In the j'ear 1757 the old King visited Shamokin, where he complained to Capt. Jacob Arndt (of
the "Forks" of the Delaware), then on military ser\-ice at Fort Augusta, that the soldiers at the fort had
debauched his (Nutimus') wife and daughter on a previous visit by secretly giving them whisky ; and he
declared that if such things were allowed it would not be safe for a man to bring his wife and daughters
to the fort. Under date of January 20, 1758, Col. Joseph Shippen at Fort Augusta (Shamokin) wrote to
Maj. James Burd at I,ancaster as follows (.see the "Shippen Papers," page 106) : "Since January 1st
.several small parties of Delaware Indians have arrived here with skins to trade, at the store ; among the
rest came old King Nutimus, Joseph [his son] and all their family, and we have now fortj'-three present,
including women and children."

Under date of June 14, 1759, Timothy Horsfield, Esq., at Bethlehem, wrote to Governor Denny of
Pennsylvania (see "Colonial Records," VIII : 353) that "Isaac Nutimus, a son of old King Nutimus who
for many years past lived at Nescopeck, but since the war has moved up the river to Diahoga [Tioga
Point], came yesterday to Bethlehem." During the Indian hostilities of 17lio (which will be referred to
more fully hereinafter) Nutimus and some of his family were living on or near Great Island, in the West
Branch of the Susquehanna near the present town of I^ock Haven, as is evidenced by the following
extract from an autograph letter (now in possession of the American Philosophical Society, Philadel-
phia) written by Governor Hamilton of Penn.sylvania to Timothy Horsfield, under date of September
1, 1763. "I am very much afraid the old man Nutimus, who seems to have acted a friendly part by us,
will fall a sacrifice to the unbridled and undistinguishing rage of the people of Cumberland in their
expedition to the Great Island." At about the time of the ending of the Indian troubles in 1704 Nutimus
removed to the Ohio region, where he continued to live until his death at Muskirgum, "near his brother,
in 1780"— according to Watson, previously quoted.

* See pages 149 and 165. t A Delaware ejaculation of approval or pleasure.

227

Council decided to send Conrad Weiser on a mission to the Ohio "to
make particular inquiry into the behavior of the Shawanese since the
commencement of the war, and in relation to the countenance they gave
Peter Chartier." Weiser was informed by the Council that the Shaw-
anese had "relented, and made acknowledgments to the Government of
their error in being seduced b)- Chartier, and prayed that they might be
permitted to return to their old towns and taken again as sincere peni-
tents into the favor of the Government." They had not yet, however,
sent deputies to Philadelphia to formally acknowledge their fault and
ask for restoration to favor.* But before Weiser was ready to set out on
his mission news came that certain Indian deputies from the West had
arrived at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, and desired to treat with the Gov-
ernment. Among these deputies were some chiefs of the Twightwees
(mentioned in the note on page 205), "lately in the interest of the
French, and now desiring to enter into an alliance with the English."

Commissioners were appointed by the Government to proceed im-
mediately to Lancaster to treat with these Indians, and they were
directed to be careful that the Shawanese, by their representatives at
the treaty, "acknowledge their fault in plain terms, and promise never
to be guilty of any behavior again that may give us reason to suspect
their fidelity." The work of the treaty was begun at Lancaster July
19, 1748, fifty-five Indians being present, including Six Nations, Shaw-
anese, Delawares, Nanticokes and Twightwees. Of the Indians in at-
tendance only eighteen had come from the Ohio, however, the remainder
being from Conestoga and other nearby villages on the Susquehanna.
Of the Nanticoke Indians at the treaty Conrad Weiser wrote subse-
quently to Secretary Petersf : "The Nontikook Indians have been very
troublesome to us. They were like so many wolves, and I had no
influence on them."

Andrew Montour acted as interpreter for the Shawanese and Twight-
wees. The principal Shawanese chiefs of the Ohio were not present in
person. Led by Neucheconno they had met in council at one of their
villages and had prepared a message addressed "to their Grandfathers
and Brethren — the Delawares and Six Nations on the Ohio," which was
conveyed to Lancaster by Scarooyady, an Oneida chief residing at or
near Logstown who had great influence with the Indians on the Ohio
and was a firm friend of the English. This "message," or petition,
delivered at the Lancaster conference by Scarooyady in behalf of the
Shawanese, was couched, in part, in the following words | :

"We the Shawanese have been misled, and have carried on a private correspond-
ence with the French without letting you or our brethren the English know of it. We
traveled secretly through the bushes to Canada, and the French promised us great things,
but we find ourselves deceived. We are sorry that we had anything to do with them.
We now find that we could not see, although the sun did shine. We earnestly desire you
would intercede with our brethren the English for us who are left on the Ohio, that we
may be permitted to be restored to the Chain of Friendship."

Addressing themselves to Scarooyady, the speaker, and the Six

Nation and Delaware chiefs who accompanied him, the Commissioners

said :

*'Your intercession for the Shawanese puts us under difficulties. It is at least two
years since the Governor of Pennsylvania wrote to Kackawatcheky a letter, wherein he con-
descended out of regard to him and a few other Shawanese who preserved their fidelity, to

*See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," V : 290.
tSee "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 11.
JSee "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," V : 311.

228

offer those who broke the Chain a pardon, on their submission on their return to the
towns they had deserted, and on their coming down to Philadelphia to evidence in per-
son the sincerit}' of their repentance. This they should have immediate!}' complied with,
but did not. * * * Some of them, it may be allowed, are weak people, who were
perverted from their duty by the persuasions of others ; but this cannot be thought to be
the case of Neucheconno and a few more. As, therefore, you have taken upon your-
selves the office of intercessors, take this string of wampum and therewith chastise Neu-
checonno and his party in such terms of severity as shall be proper for them ; and then
tell the delinquent Shawanese that we will forget what is past and expect a more punc-
tual regard to their engagements hereafter.

" 'Tis but justice to distinguish the good from the bad. Kackawatcheky and his
friends, who had virtue enough to resist the many fine promises made by the emissaries of
the French, will ever be remembered with gratitude and challenge our best services. To
testify our regard for these we present them with this belt of wampum, and have ordered
our Interpreter [Weiser], who is going to the Ohio, to give them a present of goods."*

''Taming Buck," one of the Shawanese present, then stood up and

spoke as follows :

"Brethren — We the Shawanese, sensible of our ungrateful returns for the many
favors we have been all along receiving from our brethren the English ever since we first
made the Chain of Friendship, came along the road with our e3-es looking down to the
earth, and have not taken them from thence till this morning, when you were pleased to
chastise us and then pardon us. We have been a foolish people and acted wrong, though
the sun shone bright and showed us clearly what was our duty. We are sorrj* for what
we have done, and promise better behavior for the future. We produce to you a certifi-
cate of the renewal of our friendship in the 3'ear 1739 by the Proprietaries and Governor. t
Be pleased to sign it afresh, that it ma}- appear to the world we are now admitted into
your friendship, and all former crimes are buried and entirely forgot."

The Commissioners took the certificate but refused to grant "Tam-
ing Buck's" request, stating that it was sufficient for the Shawanese to
know that they had been forgiven, on condition of future good behavior.
Presents were then distributed to all the Indians at the treaty excepting
the Shawanese, who merely had their guns and hatchets mended. Upon
closing the conference the Commissioners publicly announced that news
had just arrived that there was '"a cessation of arms between England
and France," and there was ''likely to be a peace."

In view of the treatment accorded the Shawanese at Lancaster, as

just related, it will be interesting to read Governor Hamilton's opinion

of the same Indians expressed a few years later. In February, 1751, in

a letter to the Board of Trade (London) relative to land titles, Indian

affairs, etc., in Pennsylvania, he wrote J :

"What right the Shawanese in these circumstances may have to the soil must be
left to be settled between themselves and the Five Nations ; but from the time they were
admitted to live in this Province they have been his Majesty's faithful allies, and behaved
as such without any instance to the contrary."

One year later, replying to a message received from certain Shaw-
anese chiefs. Governor Hamilton wrote :

"I for my part shall ever retain an affectionate tenderness for the Shawanese, and
at all times be read}- to relieve their wants and do them my best offices."

At the very time that the Lancaster Indian conference was in pro-
gress there was being held in Albany, New^ York, a "Grand Council,"
which has been described by historians as "one of the most picturesque
events in the history of the Colonies." There were present the Gov-
ernors of the New England Colonies, New York, Pennsylvania, New
Jersev and Virginia, with the chiefs of the Indians friendly to the
English and the colonists, or who were willing to be friendly in the
future. Thirtv Indian chiefs of high rank, each attended by several

* In .August and September, 1748, Weiser performed his mission to the Ohio, this being the first official
embassv undertaken at the instance of the English Colonies to the Indians who lived beyond the Alle-
ghenies. It was then that Weiser met Kackawatcheky and presented him with the gift sent bj' the Gov-
ernor, as mentioned in the note on page 214.

t See note, page 214. 1 See "Pennsylvania Archives," Fir.st Series, II : 61.

22i>

warriors of his tribe — and many of the chiefs and warriors accompanied
by their wives and children — were there, representing the Six Nations,
the Delaware, Shawanese, Mohegan, Wyandot and other tribes. "Per-
haps," says Bnell,* "the most interesting fignre in this assemblage was
the great war-chief of the Genesee Senecas, Hiokato,t who for years
had vowed that he would never speak one word with an Englishman.
:■-, * * /pj^g results of this council were more satisfactory and on a
larger scale than any previously held. The Iroquois renewed all their
ancient covenants with the King. The Senecas * ■*' gave in their
complete adhesion through Hiokato and Capt. Jean Montour^ — both of
whom had hitherto been opposed to English influence."

The well-known Canassatego — whose name appears so frequenth'
in the preceding pages of this book — was present at this council as
chief speaker of the Onondagas, and in one of his speeches accused the
English of neglecting the Western Iroquois, thereby leaving the hearts
of the latter open to the blandishments of the French emissaries. This
speech provoked a reply from Abraham, a leading chief of the Mohawk
tribe — concerning- whom we shall have some further matters of interest

• • •

to relate hereinafter. Abraham was present as the representative of his

brother, old "King" Hendrick, the senior chief of the Mohawks, who

was detained at home by an "attack of inflammatory gouf ! Chief

Abraham spoke in English, and said in part§ :

"You complain that the English, the colonists, do not trust you. How can they,
when you do not trust them ? There can be no confidence between two unless both share it
alike. There can never be faith on one side and doubt on the other without distrust on
both sides. And wherever there is distrust no real friendship can exist. You Western
Iroquois listen to the silver tongues of French priests and emissaries, whose only object
is to lure you to ruin that their cause may profit by it. The}- do not love you. They
would not give you a gourdful of succotash if you were starving. But when have the
English and the: colonists failed to help you in distress ? Put away the French ! Send
them across the Lake ! Tell them to practise their bows and scrapes and grimaces upon
the stupid Indians of Canada — not upon the noble Iroquois !"

The results of the Albany and Lancaster treaties, as well as the
news that hostilities between France and England had been suspended,
soon became generally known throughout the Indian tribes east of the
Mississippi, and with few exceptions those who had forsaken the English,
or had been inclined to forsake them, or were wavering in their allegiance,
hastened to assume more friendlv relations with the authorities of the
various English Colonies. October 7, 1748, a definitive treaty of peace
and friendship between France and England was concluded at Aix La
Chapelle, which fact became known in this country about the close
of the year.

We have shown by the extracts from the diaries of Mack and De
Watteville that, from the time of the departure of King Kackawatcheky
and his band from Wyoming in the Spring of 1744 (see page 213), until
the Autumn of 1748, the Shawanese at Wyoming numbered but very
few. It is quite probable that those few continued here because they
were either too old and feeble to make the long and tedious journey to
the Ohio, or they were Shawanese women who were married to Chick-
asaw or Mohegan husbands. However, late in April or early in May,
1749, a numerous band of Shawanese immigrated to the valley — presum-
ably from the region of the Ohio River — and erected their wigwams in

*In "Sir William Johnson," f See foot-note, page 164.

X See foot-note, page 206. g See Augustus C. Buell's "Sir William Johnson," page 66.

230

the "upper town'' (described on page 209) in Plymouth. About this
time, or very shortly afterwards, the "lower town,'' on "Shawnee" Flats,
seems to have been abandoned by the Indians as a place of abode.

The chief of these new-comers was Pack-sha-nos^ or Paxinosa, a
man concerning whom, prior to this time, we can learn but little. He
said he was born on "the Ohio" ; in 1755 he called himself "an old
man" ; in 1757 his eve-sight was so defective — either on account of old
age or disease — that he wore spectacles ! He is the only Indian who
lived in the valley at that period who is known to have worn spectacles.
Others may have worn them, but the information has not been preserved
— as in this instance. Paxinosa was married, had a son named Kola-
peeka^ or "Samuel," and a daughter who was married.

In May, 1749, shortly after Paxinosa and his people arrived at
Plymouth, a message was sent from Wyoming to Gnadenhiitten on the
Lehigh to this effect* :

"That a conjurer who was dying in Wajomick had disappeared in the night, and
two days after returned from Heaven, where God had told him that He had appointed
sacrifices for the Indians, to atone for their sins ; but had given the Bible to the white
people onh', and though it contained many excellent things A'et He considered it an
abomination that the Indians should walk in the same way. He added that the white
people were wise and cunning, and if the Indians meddled with them they would all be
devoured, especially their children. The messenger added that the man who had been
with God had summoned all the Indians to meet on theriver Susquehannah tohear him."

Early in April, 1749, at a meeting of the Grand Council of the Six
Nations held at Onondaga Castle, it was decided to send deputies from
each of the nations to Philadelphia, to shake hands with the new Gov-
ernor of Pennsylvania (the Hon. James Hamilton, t who had assumed
office in the previous November), to answer a proposal for peace with
the southern Catawbas (made by the former Governor of Pennsylvania)
and to consider other matters. It was agreed that all the deputies
should meet together at W)oming, and proceed thence in a body to
Philadelphia. About the middle of May the deputies of the Senecas,
four in number, accompanied by other members of their nation, arrived
at Wyoming. Here they waited a month for the arrival of the deputies
from the other nations, who, however, failed to appear. The Senecas
thereupon continued their journey to Philadelphia, where they arrived
June 26th accompanied by some "Tuteloes and others, Nanticokes and
Conoys."i These Indians were received by the Governor and Council
on July 1st, when Ogashtash, the Seneca speaker, stated that the Grand
Council at Onondaga had heard that the white people had begun to
settle on the Indians' side of the Blue Mountains. Continuing, Ogash-
tash said§ :

"We, the deputies of the Senecas, staying so long at AVyomen, had an opportunity
of inquiring into the truth of this information, and to our surprise found the story con-
firmed, with this addition, that even this Spring, since the Governor's arrival, numbers
of families were beginning to make settlements. As our boundaries are so well known,
and so remarkably distinguished by a range of high mountains, we could not suppose
this could be done by mistake ; but either it must be done wickedly by bad people, with-
out the knowledge of the Governor, or that the new Governor has brought some instruc-
tions from the King, or the Proprietaries, relating to this affair, whereby we are like to
be much hurt. The Governor will be pleased to tell us whether he has brought any
orders from the King or the Proprietaries for these people to settle on our lands ; and if
not, we earnestly desire they may be made to remove instanth' with all their effects, to
prevent the sad consequetices which will otherwise ensue.' ^

* See Loskiel's "History of the Mission of the United Brethren."
tFor portrait, and sketch of his life, see Chapter VI.
J See Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, IV : 205 (September, 1829}.
I See ibid., XIII : 308 (November, 1833).

231

Governor Hamilton informed the Senecas tliat the settling- of the
white squatters along the Juniata was contrary to the terms of the
treaties made by the Government with the Indians, and that a procla-
mation would be issued commanding- all the white people who had set-
tled [north] west of the Blue Mountains to remove by November 1,
1749. Strouds, duffels, half-thicks, gunpowder, lead, shot, vermilion,
shirts, guns, brass kettles, hatchets, knives, flints, looking-glasses, gar-
ters, ribbons, scissors, bed-lace, ear-rings, rings, Morris-bells, thimbles,
beads, jews-harps, handkerchiefs, tobacco and pipes to the value of £100
were distributed on the 4th of July to the Indians, and a day or two
later Conrad Weiser conducted them out of the city and journeyed with
them as far as his home in Heidelberg Township. Here the Indians
concluded to remain for a few days to visit with their old friend and
brother Weiser, and without invitation they camped out near his house
and made themselves at home. The Tuteloes, it seems, made them-
selves very much at home, and injured and destroyed a large amount
of Weiser's movable property and damaged his plantation generally.
Weiser expostulated and tried to influence them to proceed on their
journey, but without avail. Finally, after an experience of a week or
ten days with these unruly visitors, Weiser induced the Senecas to take
their departure, and, by their aid, the Tuteloes were forced to go along.*

These Indians dawdled along the way to the Susquehanna, and
thence up the river past Shamokin and Nescopeck to Wyoming, where
they — or at least the Senecas^arrived about the 1st of August. They
had been here two or three days when, unexpectedly, a large fleet of
canoes came down the river bearing the belated deputies of the Onon-
daga, Mohawk, Oneida, Cayuga and Tuscarora nations together with
other representatives — chiefs, warriors, squaws and children — of these
several nations, and Indians of some other tribes or bands. This large
company remained at Wyoming for a day, and then proceeded on down
the river accompanied by the Seneca deputies and their party who had
just returned from Philadelphia, by Chief Paxinosa and a number of his
Shawanese from their new home in what is now Plymouth, and by a
number of Delawares, Nanticokes and Mohegans from the different
villages in the valley. At Nescopeck they were joined by Nutimus and
a number of his people, and then, without delay, floated onward to
Shamokin. Arriving there a messenger was sent in haste over the
mountains to Conrad Weiser to announce the coming of the deputies.
The news was forwarded by express to the Governor, who immediately
directed Weiser "to try all ways to divert the Indians from coming to
Philadelphia." This the Interpreter did, but his efforts were resented
by the Indians with so much spirit that he was obliged "to turn his
protests into invitations and make the best of circumstances." There-
fore, on came the tawny host, their numbers increased at Shamokin by
Tachnechdorus, the vicegerent of the Six Nations, f and several chiefs
from Shamokin and thereabout.

Accompanied by Weiser from Tulpehocken they reached Philadel-
phia August 14th, and according to official records they numbered 280
in all — Six Nations, Delawares, Nanticokes, Shawanese, Mohegans and
Tuteloes. Whether or not the last-mentioned Indians were from Wyo-

*See Walton's "Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Pennsylvania," page 200.
t See foot-nole. page 18i.

232

ming Valley it is now impossible to determine. They were, however,
from some locality on the Susqnehanna above Shamokin. Governor
Hamilton paid a ceremonious visit to the Indians, and appointed August
16th as the date for a conference with them. Several davs were con-
sumed at this conference in discussing the matters which had brought
the Indians to Philadelphia ; but as a result the Proprietaries obtained
for £500 a deed from the Indians for a strip of land north-west of and
contiguous to the Blue ]\Iountains, and extending from the Susquehanna
to the Delaware River — the north-west boundary of this strip being a
straight line running in a north-easterly direction from the north side of
of the mouth of "Cantaguy or Maghonioy Creek" ("]\Ioxuna)-'" on the
maps reproduced on pages 188 and 101, and now known as '']\Iahanoy"
Creek) to "the north side of the mouth of the creek called Lechawach-
sein" (now Lackawaxen).* This new purchase included parts of the
present counties of Dauphin, Northumberland, Columbia, Lebanon,
Schuylkill (nearly the whole of it), Carbon (nearly the whole of it),
Monroe, Pike, Wayne and Luzerne — the north-western boundary-line of
the purchase passing through the last-named county at Glen Summit,
high up on an outlying ridge of Wyoming Mountain, south by east from
Wilkes-Barre seven miles in a bee-line.

The deed for this purchase was executed August 22, 1749, and the
first signature attached to it was that of Canassatego, the head sachem
of the Onondagas, who had been the principal speaker on the part of
the Indians at the treaty. This was the last treaty or conference he
attended in Pennsylvania, as he died about a year later. f In addition
to the various chiefs, or deputies, representing the several tribes of the
Six Nations who signed this deed, Tachnechdorus, Nutimus and Paxi-
nosa also signed it — this being the first appearance of the name of the
last-mentioned chief in the official records of Pennsylvania, so far as the
present writer can learn.

Relative to the Indian conferences which were held in Philadelphia
about this period, and concerning the one just referred to, as well as the
visits of Indians in general to the city, Watson states the following in
his "Annals of Philadelphia," II : 163^

"From a very earh- period it was the practice of Indian companies occasionally to
visit the cit}- — not for any public business, but meiely to buy and sell and look on. On
such occasions thej' usiially found their shelter, for the two or three weeks w'hich they
remained, about the State House yard. There was a shed constructed for them along the
western wftll. * * * Here the}- would make up baskets from the ash strips which they
brought with them, and sell them to the visitors. Before the Revolution such visits were
frequent, but after that time the}- much diminished, so that now they are deemed a rarity.
Such of the Indians as came to the city on public service were always provided for in the
east wing of the State House, up stairs, and at the same time their necessary support
there w-as provided for by the Government. Old people have told me that the visits of
Indians were so frequent as to excite but little surprise. Their squaws and children
generally accompanied them, and on siich occasions thej- went abroad much in the streets
and would anywhere stop to shoot at marks of small coins set on the tops of posts.

"On the 16th of 6th month [August], 1749, there was at the State House an
assemblage of 280 Indians of eleven different tribes, assembled there with the Governor
to make a treaty. The place was extremeh- crowded, and Caiiaswetigo, a chief, made a
long speech. There were other Indians about the city at the same time, making together
probably 400 to 500 Indians. The same Indians remained several days at [Hon. James]
Logan's place, in his beech woods."

Canassatego and the other deputies of the Six Nations left Phila-
delphia about the 24th or 2oth of 'August, and returned to their respec-
tive tribes by way of Wyoming, being accompanied as far as the valle\'

* See "Map of a Part of Pennsj-lvania," in Chapter XI. f See foot-note, page 81.

233

by Paxinosa and the other Wyoming Indians who had attended the
conference.

In the Spring of 1750 the exigencies of the Moravian mission work
among the Indians made it necessary for Bishop Cammerhoff to visit the
Great Conncil of the Six Nations at Onondaga. It was arranged that
David Zeisberger, who was then at Shamokin, should join the Bishop
at Wyoming and accompany him on this journey. Having obtained a
passport from Governor Hamilton Cammerhoff set out from Bethlehem
on the 14th of May, accompanied by John Martin Mack (who had
visited Wyoming several times previously, as hereinbefore noted), Tim-
othy Horsfield,^'^ and Gottlieb Bezold.f They journeyed on foot, and
their route was up the Lehigh to Gnadenhiitten, and thence over the
mountains to Wyoming — the same route, without doubt, that had been
traveled by Cammerhoff and Mack in October, 1748, in company with
De Watteville, as described on page 222.

Cammerhoff kept a diary of the journey (^it is referred to in one of
the foot-notes on page 187, ante\ and from it we learn that the travelers
reached Wyoming Valley Wednesday, May 20, 1750, "and at once went
to the Nanticoke town" mentioned on page 220. "We were very kindly
welcomed/' wrote Cammerhoff, "but as our David [Zeisberger] had not
come yet, and we had received no tidings of him, we walked down to
the Susquehanna and encamped on a hill| opposite the great plain" —
the "Shawnee" Flats. The next dav Zeisberger arrived from Shamokin
in a canoe. He had expected to be accompanied by a Cayugan chief
who was down the river on a trading expedition, and who, it had been
arranged, was to guide Cammerhoff and Zeisberger to their destination
in New York. But as the chief was not quite ready to set out from
Shamokin, Zeisberger came up to Wyoming alone. For a week the
Brethren awaited at their encampment on the "Hill of Peace" (which
name they gave the place) the coming of the Cayuga. Cammerhoff
states that during their stay they were cordially treated by the N anti-
cokes ; and Loskiel says that "they made an agreeable acquaintance
Vk'ith the chiefs of the Nanticoke tribe, one of whom, eighty-seven years
of age, was a remarkably intelligent man." Cammerhoff preached to
the assembled Nanticokes two or three times.

At length the Cayugan chief arrived, accompanied by his wife, his
son aged fourteen and his daughter aged four years. The}- had been six

* Timothy Horsfield, born in I,iverpool, England, in 170.S, immigrated to America in 1725 and
settled on I,ong Island. He was converted under Whitefield's preaching, and in 1741 identified himself
with the Moravian Brethren ; but he did not remove to Bethlehem until 1749— less than a year before
accompanying Cammerhoff to Wyoming. He built the first private house in Bethlehem— the old stone
house on Market vStreet, opposite the Moravian burial-ground. With William Parsons he laid out the
first road between Easton and Bethlehem. He took an important part in protecting the settlements
against the Indians during the years 1755-'5S. In May, 1752, he was commissioned a Justice of the Peace
for the newly-erected county of Northampton, and held this office until December. 1704. July 11, 1703,
during Pontiac's War, he was commissioned a lyieutenant Colonel by the Governor of Pennsylvania, with
directions to raise— in conjunction with John Armstrong of Cumberland County, the Rev. John Elder of
Lancaster County and Jonas .Seely of Berks County— volunteers to the number of 700, to be divided into
fourteen companies, each officered by one Captain, one Lieutenant, one Ensign, etc., "to protect the
frontiers duringthe time of harvest." These volunteers were to be enlisted for three months or upwards,
as might be found necessary.

Timothy Horsfield was a man of considerable prominence and influence in Northampton County for
a number of years, and was held in high esteem by the Provincial authorities. He died at Bethlehem
March 9, 1773. An unpublished collection of his papers — letters, commissions, etc., known as "The
Horsfield Papers" — is possessed by the American Philosophical Societ3', Philadelphia.

t He was a member of the "Sea Congregation" of Moravian Brethren that arrived in this country in
May, 1742, as mentioned on page 216.

1 This is the spur of the Hanover hills mentioned on page 50. It has its beginning north of Hanover
Park, and ends abruptly in a rocky ledge near the river's margin. Hanover Green Church and Cemetery
are located near the southern end of this hill, while at the north-western angle of it — 1,400 yards north-
east of the mouth of Sugar Notch Creek — rests the southern abutment of the Delaware, Lackawanna
and Western Railroad Company's bridge, which spans the river at that point.

234

davs making: the vovao;e from Shamokin. Earlv in the morning- of
Thursday, 'Slay 2Sth, ]\Iack, Bezold and Horsfield set out on their home-
ward journey, and Cammerhoff accompanied them "from the 'Hill of
Peace' as far as the Nanticoke town" ; and thence went "with them for
about half a mile to a hill on their way to Wambhallobank" (Wapwal-
lopen). Bidding the travelers adieu Cammerhoff returned to the "Hill
of Peace," where he, Zeisberger and the Indians loaded their canoes.
"About two o'clock in the afternoon," wrote Cammerhoff, "we left our
beautiful 'Hill of Peace.' David and I, wnth the boy and girl, set out in
our canoe, and the Gajuka [Cayuga] and his wife in their hunting-skiff.
* * We sailed by several islands* on the west side of the Susque-
hanna. In the evening we reached some dangerous falls, t and were
obliged to drag the canoes up over the rocks, and then encamped just
above them." They named their camping-place — which was on Jacob's
Plains, on the left bank of the river — "the Gajuka's Post House." Here
thev found an abundance of walnut trees growing. In referring to the
passage of the voyagers through Wyoming the diarist wrote : "The
countrv is verv beautiful."

They continued their journey the next morning (Friday, May 29th),
and under that date the following entry appears in Cammerhoff's diary :
"On the opposite bank of the Susquehanna there is a large plain, t at
the end of which we met a few Tuteloes. >j After we had gone some
distance we again saw three Indian huts inhabited by Delawares."|| At
noon the travelers landed on the left bank, where thev were detained
some time by a storm.

"On the heights*^ on this side of the Susquehanna," wrote Cammer-
hoff, "clo.se to the shore, pas.ses the Great Path** to Tioga. We started
again and cro.ssed the large creek which the Delawares call '•Gacha-
naV'^'\ ; it is generally considered as the boundary-line of the plain Ske-
liantowa.XX We landed at the point where it empties into the Susque-
hanna and visited two Delaware huts. Finding only women and chil-
dren we soon left. §§ Opposite there is a very large island|||| in the Sus-
quehanna, on which we saw several huts. We then went on and pushed
into the mountains which here hedge the Susquehanna very closely.
We called the one on this side the 'Mountain of Joy.'Tl The other,***
on the opposite shore of the river, rises back of the great plain. As
evening had come on we encamped on this side of the water, at the foot
of the high mountains, \^'e named this spot the 'Skehantowa Pass.'

* Richard's, Toby's and Fish's, described on pages 51 and 52.
t Wj-oming Falls, or Rapids, described on pages 36 and 37.
X Abraham's Plains, described on page 50.

',, These Tuteloes were, undoubtedly, occupying the village- or campsite near the mouth of Abraham's
Creek vipon which, some years before, the Moliegan village mentioned on page 194 had stood for a time.
Cammerhoff evidently considered Abraham's Creek as the south-western boundary- of the plain, inas-
much as he refers to this locality as being "at the end" of the plain. For other references to the Tute-
loes -see pages 115, 'il!), 2'24 and 231.

Evidently some of the Wanamie or Monsey clan, whose "union" village, ''MaUhasaung," was
located thereabout. See page 213.

*■ The hills extending from a short distance above Plainsville to the lower end of the city of Pittstou.

**The great "Warrior Path" mentioned on pages 117 and 171.

ft Lackawanna River. See page 187.

XXSkehantOivana, the Iroquois name for Wyoming. See page 60.

^1 The Monsey village, Asserughuey, mentioned on page 1S7.

•[ !■ Scovell's Island, mentioned on page 50. On the plots of some of the earliest Wyoming survey.s — ci) ca
1771 — this is called "I.ahawannock Island." (See "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII : 51-1.)

•"•" This was Campbell's Ledge, or Dial Rock, described on page 47.

***The north-eastern extremity of .Shawanese Mountain (described on page 44), along the base of
which, for several miles from the head of the valley, stretch Abraham's Plains.

•235

The Susquehanna, from this place to where it flows into the mountains,
we called 'David's Strait,' because David [Zeisberger] is the first Mora-
vian Brother who has steered his little bark through it." The next
morning, proceeding onward, the voyagers passed up "David's Strait"
through "a dismal looking region very dreadful to behold, because of
the high rocks which towered above us [them] like a wall."

On the 6th of July Cammerhoff and his party passed Wyalusing
Falls, which the diarist describes as "a dangerous cataract extending
across the whole Susquehanna. The water falls down as from a moun-
tain, and makes the current very rapid. * * On proceeding we came
to a place called GaJiontoto"^ by the Indians. It is said to be the site of
an ancient Indian city, where a peculiar nation lived. The inhabitants
were neither Delawares nor Aquanoschioni,t but had a language of their
own and were called Telwtitachsc. We could still notice a few traces of
this place in the old ruined corn-fields near. The Five Nations went to
war against them, and finally completely extirpated them. * * The
Cayugas told us that these things had taken place before the Indians
had any guns, and still went to war with bows and arrows."

Passing on up the Susquehanna and into the Tioga, or Chemung,
River, the voyagers disembarked at Ganatscherat^ a Cayuga village near
Waverly, New York. Thence they went overland by way of Cayuga to
Onondaga. On their arrival at the latter place June 21st was fixed as
the day for the convening of the Council, but there was delay because a
majority of the Indians got drunk.

When it became apparent to Cammerhoff and Zeisberger that the
Indians would continue their carousing for some time, the former decided
to pay a visit to the Senecas, at their large western town beyond Canan-
daigua. While returning from this visit several days later they were
told by a friendly Indian one day, when resting in the shade of an
Indian hut at Canandaigua, that there was "a chief living at Ganechs-
tage by the name of GajiyiquecJito^'' whose house was large, and they
could put up there. On the next day, wrote Cammerhoff. "we arrived
at Ganechstage [some five miles south-west of the present Geneva] , and
repaired to the house of the chief Gajinqiiechto. He and his wife were
not at home, but came up after we had been there a short time and
received us very kindly, at once offering us venison. We made inquiry
concerning the route we were to take, and the sachem's wife went with
us and pointed it out ; and so we journeyed on." The chief here referred
to as ^'•Gajiuquechto''' was Sayenqtteraghia^X some fourteen years later
to become the principal chief or "king" of the Senecas, and, in that
ca|)acity, to be identified very prominenth' with some important events
in Wyoming Valley.

P'inally the Council met at Onondaga, and then the design of the
proposed negotiations had to be explained by the visitors — it being
charged that they were emissaries of France, endeavoring to entice the
Six Nations from their compact with the English. During the course
of the conference Cammerhoff presented to the Council a petition from
the Nanticoke Indians at Wyoming, to the effect that they might have
a blacksmith shop, under Moravian auspices, set up at their village.
Tliis request was denied by the Council, and the Nanticokes were in-

* See page 171. t See note, page SI.

X See "Sayenqueraghta, King of the Seneca?," bj' George S. Conover. Geneva, New York, 1885.

230

formed that the}- could avail themselves of the services of the black-
smith at Shamokin.

Their business at Onondaga being finished Cammerhoff and Zeis-
berger journeyed overland to the Susquehanna, where the}- embarked in
a canoe and floated down the river as far as the village of the Nanticokes,
which they reached Sunday, August 2, 1750. They had started early
in the morning of this day from their previous night's camping-place.
"After going through David's Strait,'' wrote Cammerhoff, "we passed
by Hazirok [Asserughney] , the boundary of Wajomik. We greeted it
by firing several salutes. It was with peculiar feelings that we again
entered Wajomik, and our hearts were filled with gratitude. We paddled
on rapidly, and with difficulty, the water being very low. Passed over
the upper falls of Wajomik. * * We came to the Shawanese town,*
but saw no one, and about five o'clock we reached the town of the Nan-
ticokes and were welcomed by the chief." The next day the two
Brethren proceeded onward, by canoe, to Shamokin, which they reached
August 6th, having traveled over GOO miles on horse-back, on foot and
in canoes.

Loskiel says that in October, or November, 1751, David Zeisberger
and Gottlieb Bezold, previoush' mentioned, visited the Nanticokes and
Shawanese in Wyoming.

By the beginning of the year 1752 the population of the [Moravian
Indian town Gnadenhiitten(see page 218) had increased to about 500 souls.
In the Spring of that year some of the Indians at Gnadenhiitten who
were serving as assistant missionaries and teachers came to Wyoming to
preach the gospel to the Indians here ; and in consequence, states Los-
kiel, "the head-chief of the Nanticokes sent two deputies to the Breth-
ren at Gnadenhiitten and Bethlehem with a fathom of wampum to
solicit further acquaintance." Therefore, in June, 1752, Bishop Span-
genberg, David Zeisberger and the Rev. Christian Seidel of Bethlehem
went to Shamokin and came thence to Wyoming. In the course of this
tour fifty bushels of wheat were distributed.

"In return for this visit," wrote Loskiel, "a large embas.sy was sent
by the Nanticokes and Shawanose to Gnadenhiitten, to establish a cov-
enant with the Brethren. The deputies, with their attendants of women
and children, were in all 107 persons. Their transactions were per-
formed with due Indian solemnity. July 14th the two deputies arrived
from Wajomick to announce the arrival of the embassy on the following
day. On the 15th a messenger arrived, having been sent ten miles for-
ward, with two strings of wampum. He addressed the Brethren thus :
'We are now coming to you. Gnadenhiitten is a place which delights
us. We first thought to go to Bethlehem, but being fatigued and hav-
ing nothing to eat we will rest with you at present. The heat was
great, and we subsisted on nothing but bilberries.'! The Indian Breth-
ren having sent them four large loaves, they appeared some time after
slowly moving toward the place in Indian file — the leader singing a song
till they came to the first house, where they halted. Abraham;]: went
to meet them, and, giving his hand to the leader, conducted them
to the inn." The arrival of Bishop Spangenberg and other Brethren

* Paxinosa's town, in Plymouth, between Bead Hill and Brown's Brook.

t Blueberries or huckleberries, great quantities of which still grow on the mountains traversed by the
old path from Wyoming to Gnadenhiitten.

I The Mohegan chief, "Sc/iabas/i,'' mentioned on pages 217 and 23S.

237

from Bethlehem on the following- day was followed by preaching, con-
ferences, and the giving of gifts to the visiting Indians. Having spent
nine days at Gnadenhiitten and been well entertained, and having
established "a covenant of everlasting friendship," the Wyoming In-
dians returned to their homes.

The frequent intercourse, that had its beginning about this time,
between the Indians at Gnadenhiitten and those residing in the several
villages in Wyoming Valley, led to the selecting of a new route of
travel to and from the valley. This trail became known in time as the
"Warrior Path," and it led from Wyoming to Gnadenhiitten (later Fort
Allen) and thence down along the Lehigh River to Bethlehem. It was
laid down on the old maps and surveys made subsequently to 1760, and
as late as 1830 or '40 a portion of it was still a well-beaten path, used
by people in crossing the mountain from Hanover. It started at or near
the village of the Nanticokes in what is now Hanover Township, and
ran almost due south over the foot-hills of Hanover to and through
Warrior Gap in Wilkes-Barre Mountain (mentioned on page 47).*
Thence the trail lay directly over Penobscot Mountain (see page 44)
into the present Wright Township, and then ran almost due south
(passing near "Three-cornered Pond," later "Triangle Pond" and now
Nuangola Lake) to a point one mile west of the present village of
Drums, in Butler Township. Here the trail joined the one running
from the mouth of Nescopeck Creek, which proceeded in a south-easterly
direction through the present townships of Butler and Foster in Luzerne
County, passed "Indian Spring" on the borders of the counties of
Luzerne and Carbon, crossed Broad Mountain in Carbon County to a
point on the Lehigh River near the present Mauch Chunk, and con-
tinued down along the river a few miles to Gnadenhiitten. The dis-
tance from the Nanticoke village to Gnadenhiitten by the path described
was fortv miles.

In the Spring of 1787 a road was laid out by Evan Owen, by
authority of the State, which followed, very nearly, the course of the
old Indian path from Nescopeck to Gnadenhiitten. This road is shown
on the map of Luzerne County reproduced in Chapter XXIII — the
present town of Mauch Chunk being situated at or near "Turnhole,"
noted on the map.

In the Autumn of 1752 there was a scarcity of food in Wyoming,
owing to the small crops which had been harvested by the Indians, and
the Nanticokes applied to the Moravian Brethren for relief. Sixty
bushels of flour were given them, which they carried to their village
from the mill at Gnadenhiitten.

In March, 1753, an embassy of twenty-two Nanticokes and Shaw-
anese arrived at Bethlehem, having gone from Wyoming by way of
Gnadenhiitten. Miner says ("History of Wyoming," page 43) that this
embassy from Wyoming was headed by Paxinosa, "a Shawanese chief,
or king, of some distinction." "Among the retinue," states Loskiel,
"were three Iroquois Indians with whom Zeisberger had lodged. One
part of their commission was to thank the Brethren, in the name of the
two tribes [Nanticokes and Shawanese] for their liberality to them dur-
ing the famine last Autumn ; declaring that they must all have perished

*'rhe view of Wilkes-Barr6 Mountain facing the next page — showing Warrior Gap in the back-
ground near the center of the picture — was taken from Hanover Green Cemetery, at the southern end
of the "Hill of Peace," mentioned on page 23.3.

238

for want had not the Brethren of Bethlehem sent them timely relief.
They also said that at the desire of the Iroquois the Xanticokes would
retire farther inland ; but they would not forsake the friendship of the
Brethren. They also made a proposal in the name of the Iroquois that
the Indians at Gnadenhiitten should remove to Wyoming- ; observing,
however, that in case of removal tJie land should not become theii' prop-
erty^ but remain in the possession of the Iroquois. They earnestly
besought the Brethren not to suspect any evil motives, but rather to
believe the reverse. * * The honesty of this proposal was mistrusted,
for the Brethren could not conceive why the Iroquois should propose
the transplanting of the converted Indians from Gnadenhiitten without
alleging a plausible reason, and that not immediately, but through the
interference of the Nanticokes and Shawanese."

Loskiel states that this embassy spent a week in Bethlehem, return-
ing to W^'oming via Gnadenhiitten towards the end of ]\Iarch. He also
states : "It appeared that these visits did more harm than good to the
inhabitants of Gnadenhiitten. The Brethren at Bethlehem had long
wished that the converted Itldians might withdraw to Wyoming and
make a settlement ; but it gradually became evident that the savages
were secreth' determined to join the French and commence hostilities
ag-ainst the English. Thev first wished to furnish a safe retreat for
their countrymen, the Indians of Gnadenhiitten, that they might the
more easily fall upon the white people in those parts. In this view the
Iroquois had called the Nanticokes from Wyoming into their neighbor-
hood, to make room for the Christian Indians. They supposed this step
would not be disagreeable to the Brethren at Bethlehem, the believing
Indians at Shekomeko having nine years before obtained leave from the
Great Council at Onondaga to move to Wyoming. Thus their plot
appeared upon the whole well contrived, and the pressing invitation
sent to the converted Indians to go to Wyoming, was part of the scheme.
* * But the inhabitants of Gnadenhiitten were averse to quit their
pleasant settlement, more especially after they discovered the true mo-
tives of the Iroquois."

However, when Paxinosa and his retinue departed homeward from
Gnadenhiitten in the last days of March, they were accompanied thence
by the old Mohegan chief Abraham {SchabashY' and his family and
two or three other Mohegans, who, upon their arrival at Wyoming, took
up their abode in Paxinosa's village, in what is now Plymouth.

April 22, 1753, David Zeisberger set out from Bethlehem for Onon-
daga. Arriving at Shamokin he heard of the invasion of the Ohio
region by the French, but this did not discourage him from proceeding
on his journey. Accompanied by Henry Frey, a Moravian Brother, he
proceeded up the North Branch of the Susquehanna in a canoe. Before
reaching Wyoming the voyagers learned that the Nanticokes were pre-
paring to depart from Wyoming to settle at Chenango.t Under date of
May 7, 1753, Zeisberger noted in his diary that he and Frey "learned
that the Nanticokes had not yet started. In the afternoon, passing
safely the Wajomick Falls, + we reached the Nanticoke settlement and
found all glad to see us. * * Most of them were ready to start, as
their canoes stood prepared. They only awaited some of their people,

* See page 2.36. t See last paragraph of foot-note on page 219.

I Nanticoke Falls, described on page 35.

I — 1 .' ■ -.

' ":v/ yovx

PL._..^

T-RARY

■ -:• X

til;..-

■- -.TION

239

whom they expected daily from Shamokin."* The Nanticokes urged
the missionaries to join them in their journey northward, but the latter
declined, and, having spent the night with the Nanticokes, paddled on
up the river alone. They "soon reached Hazirokf in the morning,
where there is [was] a town of Minising Indians" — according to Zeis-
berger's diary.

Upon their return journey the missionaries reached the head of
Wyoming Valley Wednesday, October 31, 1753. "In the afternoon,"
wrote Zeisberger, "we reached Hazirok, where we halted, but found
scarcely any one at home. November 1st. — In the morning we reached
the Shawanos town;}: in Wajomik. We entered, but found only a few
women at home. They gave us to eat and we went on."

About two weeks after the Nanticokes had departed from W)'oming
the Rev. Christian Seidel of Bethlehem visited the valley. From his
diary we learn that on May 21st he "dined not far from the old Nanti-
coke town, in the lower part of the valley, on the east side of the Sus-
quehanna. Found a canoe, in which we crossed to the Shawanese town.
INIet our convert, old IMohican Abraham, who has his hut here.§ Were
cordially welcomed and shown to a hut, but were annoyed by some
tradersW who came and lodged with us. Abraham and his wife Sarah
told us that a great council would be held here in a few days, to which
Indians from all parts of the Susquehanna were expected. Hence we
resolved to eo down to Shamokin and return after the council. Paxi-
nosa, the Shawanese King, and his wife Elizabeth called on us."

At this point in our story we must needs turn aside from Wyoming
Valley for awhile, and, directing our attention to a distant and altogether
different section of country, consider certain events which occurred in the
Colony of Connecticut during 1753 and '54 and earlier years — events
which turned the tide of affairs in Wyoming and affected its subsequent
history in a very striking manner.

November 3, 1620, a little more than a month before the landing
of the Pilgrims at Plymouth, in New England, King James I of Eng-

* with the departure of these Nanticokes from Wyoming the name of the tribe disappears from the
annals of the valley, for. so far as we are able to learn, no Nanticokes were ever afterwards settled here.
The removal of the Wyoming band of the tribe to Chenango was formally announced to the Pennsyl-
vania authorities by Conrad Weiser in May, 1754, when he reported that they had "gone up the river to
live at Olsenencky, a branch of Susquehanna, where formerly some Onondagoes and Shawanese lived."
There, together with a number of Conoys, the Nanticokes continued to live for some years.

In May, 1757, an important treaty was held at Lancaster, Pennsylvania, between the Government of
Pennsylvania and Six- Nation and other Indians. Among the latter were a number of Nanticokes from
Chenango. During the progress of the treaty small-pox broke out among the Indians in attendance, and
a number of them, including several of the Nanticokes, soon died of the disease. In the latter part of the
following July three Nanticokes from Chenango passed through Wyoming on their way to Eastou, where
a treaty was to be held. Arriving there they desired that the Governor of Pennsylvania would grant them
an escort to Lancaster, stating that they had come to remove to their own town for burial the bones of
their tribesmen who had died at Lancaster during the treaty of May. On the 23rd of August these Nan-
ticokes reached Bethlehem, en route from Lancaster to Chenango, with the bones they had gone after.

In an original, unpublished letter from Heckewelder (mentioned on page A'i) to Isaac A. Chapman of
Wilkes-Barr6, written at Bethlehem. January 12, 1818, and now in possession of the Wyoming Historical
and Geological Society, the writer states with reference to the Nanticokes : "They have in earlier years
been known to go all the way from Wyoming and Shenango to fetch the bones of their deceased friends
from the ea.stern shore of Ma'ryland, * * * and I well remember to have seen them between the j^ears
1750 and 1760 loaded with such bones, which being /rei/;, caused a disagreeable stench as they passed
through this place [BethlehemJ."

In 1768, according to statistics, there were about 100 Nanticokes and .SO Conoys living together at Otsin-
ingo, Chaghtnet [Chugnutts, in what is now Broome County] and Owego in New York ; in 1780 there were
about 80 Nanticokes and 40 Conoys in the same localities, and in 1816 all the Nanticokes in the country
who were known as such were living among "the Delawares, Munseesand Moheakunnuks" on White
River in Indiana. Bv 1822, their lands having been sold, these Indians were scattered, "none can tell
where"— as reported" by the Rev. Jedidiah Morse, Special Indian Commissioner for the United States.
Schoolcraft states that a few of the Nanticokes, who lingered within the precincts of New York, probably
became absortjed in the "Brothertown" Indians, mentioned in the note on page 193, anle. For many
years now the Nanticokes have not figured byname in the Indian censuses and reports of the United
States.

t Asserughney, mentioned on page 187. % Paxinosa's village in Plymouth.

§ See page 238. || White men who, in all likelihood, had come down the river from New York.

240

land granted to "The Council established at Plymouth, in the county of
Devon [England],"* all that part of America extending in one direction
from the fortieth to the forty-eighth parallel of north latitude, and in
the other direction '•'•from sea to sea'^ — that is, from the Atlantic to the
Pacific Ocean ! Further, the King directed, in his Letters Patent, that
the territory thus granted should thenceforth "be nominated, termed and
called by the name of New England in A?nertca^ and by that name
have continuance forever" ; and the grantees — the Council at Plymouth
— and their successors were dulv authorized to convev and assign, under
their common seal, "such particular proportions of lands, tenements and
hereditaments" as were granted under the said Letters Patent.

March 19, 1631, Robert, Earl of Warwick, President of the "Coun-
cil at Plymouth," granted to Lord Say and Sele, Lord Brooke, Sir
Richard Saltonstall and others — from the territory held by the Council
under the Letters Patent previously mentioned — a section of countr\-
described many years later by President Clap of Yale College as "all
that part of New England which lies west from Narragansett Rivert
120 miles on the sea-coast, and from thence in latitude and breadth
aforesaid to the South Sea.^ This grant extends from Point Judith to
New York, and from thence a west line to the South Sea ; and if we
take Narragansett River in its wdiole length, this tract wull extend as
far north as Worcester [Massachusetts]. It comprehends the w^hole
Colony of Connecticut, and much more." This has been called the
"Old Patent" of Connecticut.

"The English sense and mother-wit, sharpened on the Dutch grind-
stone, laid the foundation for the future Yankee shrewdness, so proverb-
ial in all New England, and particularly so in the 'Land of Steady
Habits.' § This'land, 'excellently watered and liberal to the husband-
man,' was, up to 1632, chiefly conspicuous for its hemp, beaver, and
petty Indian tribes. It lay, almost unknown, fairly between the settle-
ments of the Dutch at New Amsterdam and Fort Orange [Albany] , and
of the English at Plymouth and Massachusetts Bay, and offered a tempt-
ing field for the first quarrel between the kindred nations." i|

Lord Say and Sele and his associates entered upon their grants and
appointed John Winthrop their agent, who, in 1635, at the mouth of the
river called by the Indians Quonehtaai^\ ("The Long River"), planted
a town which, in honor of two of his patrons, Winthrop named "Say-
brook." But, nearly twenty-one years before this time, the Dutch had
purchased of the Pequot Indians land where the city of Hartford now
stands and erected a small trading fort which they called "The House
of Good Hope." Also, in October, 1634, a little party of dissatisfied
men from Plymouth Colony had established themselves in a fort on the
present site of W^indsor, Connecticut, some distance up the river. Some-
what later a company of emigrants from Watertown, in the vicinity of
Boston, established themselves on the site of the present Wethersfield,
while at the same time a party from Dorchester, Massachusetts, joined
the Plymouth emigrants previously mentioned, and gave to their new

* A corporation that had been in existence for some time "for the planting, ruling, ordering and gov-
erning of New England in America. "

t Comprehending what are now known as Providence River and Narragansett Bay.

\ The Pacific Ocean. \ A descriptive title early applied to Connecticut.

II Charles M. Andrews, in "The River Towns of Connecticut" (1S89).

!1 Corrupted by the early white settlers first into "Conectecotte", and then into the present form of
the name.

241

settleiiieiit the name of "Dorchester." Still later (in June, 1(336) a
company from Newtown, IMassachnsetts, located on the gronnd occupied
by the "House of Good Hope" — the Dutch having previously been
driven thence. The settlers paid little attention to the Dutch, but took
possession of the land by right of superior force.'

"The most desirable places in Massachusetts were now (1636) set-
tled ; and what is strange to tell (if any of the obliquities of human
nature can be accounted strange), they who professed to have settled a
wilderness for liberty of conscience, in the short space of sixteen [sic]
years forgetting their own principles, refused liberty to others and
began to fine, banish and disfranchise those who dissented from, or
questioned any of, their established modes and doctrines. Those who
thought themselves persecuted withdrew chiefly to Rhode Island, to be
wdiolly out of the IMassachnsetts jurisdiction. Others, who only wanted
lands, and some who disliked the immediate scene of those religious
confusions, went to Connecticut River, about Hartford, etc., which they
at first believed to be within, rather than without, the Massachusetts
jurisdiction."*

The truth of the matter is, that a profound dissatisfaction had
grown up in the Massachusetts Bay Colony over the general manage-
ment of its affairs. Many of the colonists had failed to find in it that field
of activity and usefulness they had longed for when they sundered family
and social ties in the Old World and sought a new home in America.
Probably the real trouble was that there were too many master minds,
too many who wanted to govern in Church and in State, and too few^ who
were willing to be governed. The Government was in no sense a democ-
racy, but was in the hands of a favored few. This bred discontent and
restlessness, and the only remedy was a revolution or an emigration.
The latter alternative was chosen, and the Connecticut River region
was selected for the new settlements.

In 1636 every effort was made by the Massachusetts Bay Govern-
ment either to check the flow of emigration to the Connecticut River
region, or to turn its current into more adjacent channels ; but the bent
of the emigrants' spirit was towards the Connecticut, and for the time
being the Colonial Government was helpless to prevent it. In the year
last mentioned "a desire for a more democratic form of government
caused a considerable exodus from the mother Colony," and all three of
the settlements previously referred to received their chief bodies of im-
migrants. In February, 1637, the names of these three settlements, or
"plantations," were changed from "Dorchester," "Watertown" and "New-
town" to "Windsor," "Wethersfield" and "Hartford," respectively. By
the following May the population of the three towns had increased to
800, and a union of the towns into a sort of Commonwealth was then
agreed upon and consummated.

January 14, 1639, this little Commonwealth, under the name of the
"Colony of Connecticut," adopted for its government a code of "Funda-
mental Orders." "This was the first written constitution known to
history, with the possible exception of the 'Union of Utrecht,' under
which the Netherlanders were then living and which it is permissible to
call a constitution ; and it was absolutely the 'first in America to em-

*From "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series, XVIII : 132, and supposed to have been written by
the Rev. William Smith, D. D., of whom further mention is made hereinafter.

242

body the democratic idea.' * * * Herein, at Hartford, was laid
down the germinal idea of political liberty for the individnal — the begin-
ning of democracy and the corner-stone, at least, of that foundation on
which the firm fabric of the American Commonwealth was slowl}' up-
reared. Herein was the first practical assertion of the right of the people
not only to choose, but to limit the powers of, their rulers."*

In 1638 a company of well-to-do immigrants from London, Eng-
land, formed a settlement at '•'■Quinapiack^^'' on Long Island Sound, and
in the following year, by the action of the whole body of settlers there,
the "Colony of New Haven'' was erected and a "Fundamental Agree-
ment," or constitution, for its government was adopted.

About that time the Colony of Connecticut purchased of Lord Say
and Sele and his associates, for £16,000, their right and title under the
deed from Earl Warwick, previously mentioned. In the meantime the
"Council at Plymouth" had come to an end and made a final resigna-
tion of its patent of incorporation to the Crown, in order to enable the
King to make grants of the "powers of government" to those holding
the "right of soil." The only lasting effect of the "Council" was to
create confusion by the reckless way in which it had granted the same
lands over and over again to different occupants.

In 1661 the Colony of Connecticut sent its Governor, John Win-
throp, Jr., to England with a loyal address to King Charles II and a peti-
tion for a "Charter of Government," such as the Colony had adopted,
with powers equal to those conferred on IMassachusetts, or on "the Lords
and Gentlemen whose jurisdiction rights had been purchased" by Con-
necticut ; and to confirm the Colony's grant or title. Winthrop was
successful, and under date of April 20, 1662, Letters Patent were issued
incorporating John Winthrop and others into a body politic by the name
of "The Governor and Company of the English Colony of Connecticut,
in New England, in America," and granting and confirming to them all
that part of the King's dominions "in New England, in America,
bounded on the east by Narragansett River, commonly called Narragan-
sett Bay, where the said river falleth into the sea ; and on the north by
the line of the IMassachusetts Colony, running from east to west — that
is to sa}', from the said Narragansett Bay in the east to the South Seaf
on the west party

Under the terms of this royal Charter the regranted, or recreated.
Colony of Connecticut embraced within its bounds the rival Colony
of New Haven. The people of the latter Colony had been especially
zealous in shielding the fugitive regicide judges Goffe and Whalley ;
while the Rev. John Davenport, the leading minister of the Colony,
"had not only harbored them in his own house, but on the Sunday
before their expected arrival he had preached a ver}- bold sermon, openly
advising his people to aid and comfort them as far as possible. The
Colony, moreover, did not officially recognize the restoration of Charles
II to the throne until that event had been commonly known in New
England for more than a 5'ear. For these reasons the wrath of the
King was specially roused against New Haven, when circumstances
combined to enable him at once to punish this disloyal Colony and deal
a blow at the Confederacy, "t

* From "Connecticut Character and Achievement,"' an address delivered before the Wyoming Com-
memorative Association July 3, 1902, by Alfred Mathews.

tThe Pacific Ocean. J; John Fiske's "The Beginnings of New England,'' page 2'i"2.

243

"The courtiers of King Charles, who themselves had an eye to
possessions in America, suggested no limitations [to the Charter] ; and
perhaps it was believed that Connecticut would serve to balance the
power of Massachusetts. * * * The Charter, disregarding the hesi-
tancy of New Haven, the rights of the Colony of New Belgium and
the claims of Spain on the Pacific, connected New Haven with Hart-
ford in one Colony, of which the limits were extended from the Narra-
gansett River to the Pacific Ocean. How strange is the connection of
events ! Winthrop not only secured to his State a peaceful century of
colonial existence, but prepared the claim for western lands. * * *
With regard to powers of government the Charter was still more extra-
ordinary. It conferred on the colonists uncjualified power to govern
themselves. * * * Connecticut was independent except in name.
Charles II and Clarendon thought they had created a close corporation,
and they had really sanctioned a democracy." *

Never was a Charter so favorable granted to any Colony by an
English monarch, and when the Revolutionary War subsequently oc-
curred the people of Connecticut were not under the necessity of expel-
ling a royal Governor who had been appointed by the Crown and of
improvising a system of government. They had a government already
provided, together with a patriotic Governorf of their own choice. The
Charter was democratic in all but name. The Constitution that had
been formed by the little Commonwealth at Hartford in January, 1639,
as previously mentioned, was not essentially altered by the Charter of
1662 — which was practically a royal confirmation of the Constitution ;
and it was not until 1818 that the Charter — that is, the Constitution of
1639 — was superseded by the present Constitution of Connecticut.
"Connecticut was as absolutely a State in 1639 as in 1776."

The Connecticut Charter of 1662, just as the Warwick grant of
1631 (mentioned on page 240), covered a strip of territory stretching
across the continent from sea to sea. The northern boundary-line of
this grant or claim was nearly coincident with the forty-second parallel
of north latitude, while the southern boundary was the forty-first par-
allel of north latitude, and thus the Charter took in, as it extended west-
ward, not only almost the entire northern half of what is now Pennsyl-
vania, but parts of the present States of New York, New Jersey, Ohio,
Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, Nebraska, Wyoming, Idaho, Nevada, Utah,
Oregon and California ! Connecticut construed her Charter as authoriz-
ing her io pass over New Netherland, later New York, and East Jersey,
afterwards New Jersey, which were then in possession of Christian
princes.

"There were very few other people in the world that had such a
strange domain as this, which might have been given by the fairies in-
stead of by a king. For hundreds of miles it was a green ocean of
tree tops as it rose and fell over the mountains and valleys of what we
now call Pennsylvania, and touched the shores of Lake Erie, a great in-
land sea. Still onward and westward it went, and soon open spaces and
meadows appeared after 500 miles of tree tops, and the buffalo and elk
fed in the sunshine and no longer in the shadows of the woods. Soon
the meadows became larger, and presently the woods were gone and the
vast prairies of Indiana and Illinois appeared with their knee-deep grass

* Bancroft's "History of the United States," V : 51-55. t Jonathan Trumbull.

244

waving to the horizon. The Mississippi is crossed, the long grass is
gone and the short, stunted buffalo-grass of the plains spreads to the
brim of the sky and the land is drier and the millions of buffaloes raise
the dust in clouds as they press towards the passes of the Rocky ]\Ioun-
tains. But those mighty peaks and ranges with their endless snow and
their countless herds of game were still Connecticut, which was pressing
on and on across the sage-brush plains of Utah, through the Great Salt
Lake and the brown deserts of Nevada up again into the peaks of the
Sierras in California, until that Yankee empire ended at last as it had
begun, by the breakers of the sea.

"What a wonderland Connecticut was ! And as it forged its way
through forest and mountain and prairie and plain and dusty desert into
mountains again, a narrow band of 3,000 miles from sea to sea, how
typical of the restless energies of the handful of English who began life
upon its eastern extremity, outnumbered by the animals and the red
men I"*

Such was the ignorance of the Europeans respecting the geography
of America, says the Rev. Jedidiah ]\Iorse (mentioned on page 239) in
his "American Geography" — edition of 1796 — that their patents ex-
tended they knew not where. Many of them were of doubtful construc-
tion, and very often covered each other in part, and thus produced in-
numerable disputes and mischiefs in the Colonies. "Almost every State
upon the seaboard had had at the first a grant from the Crown which
read as if it had been meant to set no boundaries at the west at all except
the boundaries of the continent itself, * * and each [Colon}-] laid
confident claim to its own long western strip of the continent. "t

But, for nearly a century after the granting of the Charter of 1662,
Connecticut neglected not only to claim but to explore those lands, sup-
posed to form a part of her domain, which lay westward and southward
of New York. Meanwhile, on the 4th day of ]\Iarch, 1681, the same
"Charles II, by the Grace of God King of England, Scotland, France
and Ireland," who, nineteen years previously, had set his hand and seal
to the Connecticut Charter, granted a Charter to one William Penn of
London, England. This lengthy and important document^ contained
the following paragraphs, among many others :

Know Yee, therefore, that wee, favouring the petition and good purpose of the
said William Pexn, and haveing regard to the memorie and meritts of his late father,
in divers services, and perticulerly to his conduct, courage and discretion under our
dearest brother, James, Duke of Yorke, in that signall battell and victorie, fought and
obteyned against the Dutch fleete * * in the yeare One thousand six hundred sixtie-
five, * * Have Given and Granted, and b}^ this our present Charter, for us, our heirs,
and successors, Doe give and grant unto the said Willia:\i Pexx, his heirs and assignes,
all that tract or parte of land in America, with all the Islands therein conteyned, as the
same is bounded on the East by Delaware River, from twelve miles distance Xorthwarde
of New Castle Towne unto the three and fortieth degree of Northern latitude — if the said
River doth extend soe farre Northwards ;

"But if the said River shall not extend so farre Northw^ard, then by the said River
soe farr as it doth extend, and from the head of the said River the Easterne bounds are
to bee determined by a meridian line to bee drawn from the head of the said River unto
the said three and fortieth degree, the said lands to extend Westwards, five degrees in
longitude, to bee computed from the said Eastern Bounds, and the said lands to bee
bounded on the North by the beginning of the three and fortieth degree of Northern lat-
itude, and on the South by a circle drawn at twelve miles distance from New Castle
Northwards, and Westwards unto the beginning of the fortieth degree of Northern Lati-

* From an address by Sj'dney G. Fisher before the Wyoming Commemorative Association, July 3, 1896.
+ Woodrow Wilson's "A History of the American People," III : 46.
\ See "Pennsylvania— Colonial and Federal," 1 : 223.

245

tude ; and then by a straight line Westwards to the limit of Longitude above mentioned.

" Yeeldiiis; and payi)ig therfore to ns, our heirs and Successors, two Beaver Skins
to bee delivered att our said Castle of Windsor, on the first day of January-, in every yeare ;
and also the fifth parte of all Gold and silver Oare which shall from time to time happen
to be found within the Limitts aforesaid, cleare of ail charges.

"And of our further grace, certaine knowledge and meere motion wee have thought
fitt to Erect, and wee doe hereby Erect, the aforesaid Countr}- and Islands into a province
and Seigniorie, and doe call itt Pensilvani.\ ; and soe from henceforth wee will have
itt called."

It may be noted here that the granting of this Charter wa.s opposed
by the Privy Council, by the Council for Plantations, by the Proprietors
of New York and the Proprietors of IVIaryland.

It will be noticed that the bounds of the "Pensilvania" grant not
only overlapped the Connecticut grant but interfered with the claims of
New York — the rights to which Province had been granted in l(j()4
by King Charles to his brother the Duke of York, who, in the same
year, wrested the government of the Province from the hands of the
Dutch.* The New York-Pennsylvania boundary-line remained undeter-
mined and in dispute for many years, as may be perceived by a reference
to "Pennsylvania Archives," II : 60 ; to the Map of New York on page
33, ante^ and the Map of Pennsylvania in Chapter V, whereon the sup-
posed boundary-line is shown, together with the information that "the
Northern Boundary of Pensilvania is not yet Settled."

Having been invested by his Charter with "all the powers and pre-
eminences necessary for government," William Penn issued a procla-
mation to the people already settled upon a portion of his grant. It
was, in part, as follows :

"I wish you all happiness here and hereafter. * * i hope you will not be troubled
at your chainge and the King's choice ; for you are now fixt at the mercy of no Governour
that comes to make his fortune. You shall be governed by lazvs of your own making,
and live a free and, if you will, a sober and industrious People. I shall not usurp the
rights of anj' or oppress his person. God has furnished me with a better resolution, and
has given me His grace to keep it. In short, whatever sober and free men can reason-
abl}' desire for the security and improvement of their own happiness, I shall heartil}'
comply with." * * *

"Such," says Bancroft ("History of the United States," II : 364),
"were the pledges of the Quaker Sovereign on assuming the govern-
ment. It is the duty of history to state that, during his long reign,
these pledges were redeemed. He never refused the free men of Penn-
sylvania a reasonable desire."

Ever since Adam and Eve were forced to migrate from the Garden
of Eden, man has sought to better himself and improve upon his sur-
roundings by migration and emigration. One of the most notable illus-
trations of this fact, in the history of man's progress from the gate of
Eden towards better and greater things, is to be found in the chapter
relating to the settlement of the North American Continent by the
Anglo Saxon race. Our Pilgrim and Puritan forefathers set forth for
this New World beyond the sea with the hope that it would redress the
wrongs of the Old. They were not guided in their choice of territory
b}^ thirst of gain. They wanted to found a Nation — to begin again
(breaking with the traditions of the past) in a place where neither Eng-

* By the grant of the King to the Duke of York the tract of country called New York was bounded on
the east by Connecticut River, thus conflicting with the express letter of the Massachusetts and Connec-
ticut Charters, which extended those Colonies westward to the South Sea, or Pacific Ocean. As late as
178.3 New York claimed as hers all the territory' of the present Vermont, while Massachu.setts claimed
nearly all the territory within the present limits of New York lying, in one direction, between the 75° of
west longitude and the south-eastern shore of I,ake Erie, and in the other direction between the 42° of
north latitude and the southern shore of I^ake Ontario. (See Woodrow Wilson's "A History of the
American People," III : 47-49.)

246

lish law and go\'ernment nor the English Church, as directed by Arch-
bishop Land and operated through the Star Chamber, could follow them.
The process of settlement in New England was slow, but it was
sure ; and within only a little more than a century and a-third after the
arrival of the Mayjiozver in Cape Cod Harbor we find that in the Colony
of Connecticut alone there were about 127,000 white inhabitants* —

* 4f * I 'a stirring, hard}- race,
Keen, careful, daring, ready to embrace
Peril for profit — in each form, or all
The forms encountered by the Apostle Paul."

The spirit of emigration — that restless, roving spirit inherited from
European ancestors in whom the migratory instinct was most power-
fully developed — that same Anglo Saxon temperament which brought
our ancestors into Xew England, and which constantly pushes forward
to the trial of unknown fortune — began its manifestations in Connecti-
cut about the middle of the eighteenth centur}', and sought its gratifica-
tion first in what is now Vermont, and then here in Pennsylvania. "It
is true,'' says Edward Everett Hale,t "that the passion for emigration is
in the blood of the people of all the different Colonies. Perhaps the
students of heredity will yet prove to us that this desire to make a new
home is one of the desires which most often transmits itself to men's
posterity."

"Nothing," says Bancroft, | "could restrain the Americans from
peopling the wilderness. To be a freeholder was the ruling passion of
the New EuQ^land man. Marriag-es were earlv and fruitful. The sons,
as they grew up, skilled in the use of the ax and the rifle, would, one
after another, move from the old homestead, and, with a wife, a yoke of
oxen, a cow and a few husbandn,- tools, build a small hut in some new
plantation ; and, by tasking every faculty of the mind and body, win for
themselves plenty and independence. Such were they who began to
dwell among the untenanted forests that rose between the Penobscot
and the Sainte Croix, or in the New Hampshire grants on each side of
the Green [Mountains, or in the exquisitely beautiful valley of Wyoming,
where, on the banks of the Susquehanna, the wide and rich meadows,
shut in by walls of wooded mountains, attracted emigrants from Con-
necticut, though their claim of right under the Charter of their native
Colony was in conflict with the territorial jurisdiction of the Proprie-
taries of Pennsvlvania."

"A passion for occupying new territories and forming new .settle-
ments rose to an amazing height in New Hampshire and in every other
quarter of New England ; and the gratification of this taste fostered a

* In 1749 it was computed that there were 70,000 whites and 1,000 negroes within the bounds of Connec-
ticut. Xo estimate of the number of Indians was made. It was in 1756, however, that the first formal
census was taken, with the following showing :

Counties — Hartford. New Haven. New Loxdox. F.\irfield. Wixdh.^m. Litchfield. Totals.
Uhites, .3-5,714 17,!t5.') Zi.Olo 19,(^9 19,670 11,773 126,976

Negroes, 854 226 829 711 345 54 3.019

Indians, ... ... 617 ... ... ... 617

Aggregate, ... ... ... ... ... ... 130.612

The principal towns, or townships, of Windham County, with their respective populations, were :
Windham (2,406 whites and 40 negroes), Plainfield (1,7.51 whites and 49 negroes), Canterbury (1,240 whites
and 20 negroes) and Voluntown (1,029 whites and 19 negroes). In the town of Lyme, New London County,
there were 2,762 whites, 100 negroes and 94 Indians. Governor Fitch of Connecticut, in a report to the
Board of Trade, London (under date of July 6, 1756), based on the census then recently completed, stated :
"By the best computation our inhabitantshave doubled in twenty-four j-ears, which we attribute to an
industrious, temperate life and earh' marriage. * * * Near one-half of the Indians dwell in English
families, and the other half in many small clans in various parts of the Colony, and are most of them
peaceably inclined." (See "Colonial Records of Connecticut, ' X : 622.)

t In "Domestic and Social Life of the Colonists." (1892.)
: In "History of the United States," V : 1&5.

247

stubborn resolution and habits of daring and hardy enterprise congenial
to the prevalent sentiments of independence, and propitious to the efforts
wliich these sentiments portended. * * * Among other new settle-
ments created b}' the exuberant vigor of New England, at this period,
was one whose primitive manners and happiness, as well as the miser-
able desolation which it subsequently underwent in the Revolutionary
War, have been rescued from ne£rlect and oblivion bv the jrenius of a
poet of Scotland* — the settlement of Wyoming on the banks of the
river Susquehanna."!

To many of the inhabitants of rocky and unfertile eastern Connec-
ticut, about the year 1750, the marvellous richness and beauty of this
valley of Wyoming had become known through the enthusiastic reports
carried back from here, from time to time, by a few adventurous
traders and explorers. On the rocky hill-sides of Connecticut, where
farming was the chief occupation, the population, which had doubled in
less than a generation — as reported by Governor Fitch — "was beginning
to seem redundant, and was already looking for some outlet. Connecti-
cut, it was thought, had about reached the limit of its self-supporting
capacity. The farming lands were all taken up, and there was no
longer the same chance for the young men who were poor to achieve
prosperity, as there had been for their fathers. The time had evidently
arrived to begin the settlement of that vast tract beyond the Delaware
River which belonged to the Colony by its Charter. * * *

"It was a land flowing with milk and honey, waiting to be occupied
by the chosen people. True, the savage Canaanite. inhabited the land
— the Indian tribes who, under French influence, in case of war might
be objectionable neighbors. There were suspicions, too, that the heirs
of William Penn, Proprietors on the southern border of the tract, * *
might be unfavorable to its occupation as a part of Connecticut. But
these considerations were easily disposed of. As to the Indians, the
land would be purchased from them in a fair trade, j: Still less was
serious trouble to be expected from the peace-loving, non-resistant in-
habitants of the 'City of Brotherly Love.' Were they not all mild and
harmless Quakers — too fair-minded to question the indisputable title of

* Thomas Campbell. See page G4.

t From Graham's "History of the United States," IV : 128.

I Prior to May 9, 1717, it was legal for any freeman of Connecticut to purcha.se of the Indians their
title to unlocated lands within the Colony ; and this was a sufficient title. But this method of proceeding
being attended with difficulty, it was enacted by the General Assembly of the Colony— after premising
that difficulties arose "by reason of so many purchases of lands made of the Indians without the preced-
ing allowance or subseqiient approbation of the General Assembly"— that "all lands in this Government
are holden of the King of Great Britain as Lord of the fee ; and that no title to any lands in this Colony
can accrue, by any purchase made of the Indians on pretense of their being native proprietors thereof,
without the allowance or approbation of this Assembly."

At that day the Colony did not pretend to sell its lands, but portioned them out among its citizens by
suffering them, under the di.scretion and control of the Government, to become purchasers of the Indians.
Whenever the Assembly judged that the public good required an extension of settlements, they permitted
individuals or companies to acquire lands of the natives for that purpose. A previous permission or sub-
sequent approbation was all that was necessary to render the tran.saction valid. Settlement and popu-
lation, rather than speculation and gain, were the objects of this policy.

The Rev. Dr. Timothy Dwight (1752-1817), in his "Travels in New England and New York," states :
"The annals of the world cannot furnish a single instance in which a nation or any other body politic
has treated its allies or its subjects either with more justice or more humanity than the New Kngland
colonists treated these people [the Indians] . Exclusively of the country of the Pequots, the inhabitants of
Connecticut bought of its native proprietors— unless I am deceived — everv inch of ground contained in
that Colony. The people of Rhode Island, Plymouth, Mas.sachusetts and New Hampshire proceeded
wholly in this equitable manner. Until Philip'.s War, in 1675, not a single foot of ground in New England
was claimed or occupied by the colonists on any other score but that of fair purchase."

"I^and grabbing," wrote Joel Eno in The Connecticut Magazine (VII : Numbers 3 and 4) in 1902, "has
never been practised in Connecticut; neither was it in any of the other early New England Colonies.
State what you will about the austerity and sternness of the Puritanic character, it was at least just in its
treatment of its predecessors. The Norwich tract, which included the present towns of Norwich, Kozrah,
Franklin and I^isbon. was purchased of Uncas in 1650 for supplies which enabled him to raise the siege
of the Narragansetts, and .£70 in money. Plainfield, with Canterbury, was purchased from the Ouinebaug
Indians in 1659, and about 400 of them continued to live amicably with the new owners. Windham * *

248

Connecticut and too peaceable to make trouble for inoffensive neigh-
bors who minded their own business and kept within their rights?"*

In 1753 — and for many years thereafter — the legislative power of
Connecticut was vested by its "Constitution," or royal Charter, in a
General Assembly, which was composed "of the Governor of the Colon}-
(or in his absence the Deputy Governor) and twelve Assistants (called
the Upper House), and Representatives not exceeding two from each
town,t chosen by the freemen of the respective towns they represent
(called the Lower House)."! This Assembly was in session at Hart-
ford from May 10th to June 2d in 1753, and at some time during this
period the following memorial § was presented to it and read :

"To THE Honorable Assembly to be holden at Hartford, second Thursday of
Ma}- next, the memorial of the subscribers, inhabitants of Farmington, Windham, Canter-
bury, Plainfield, Voluntown, and in several other towns, all of Connecticut Colony,
humbly showeth: That, whereas, there is a large quantity of land lying upon a river
called Susquehanna, and also at a place called Oiiizoauniuck ; ; and that there is no Eng-
lish inhabitant that lives on said land, nor near thereunto ; and the same lies about
seventh' miles west of Dielewey [Delaware] River, and, as we suppose, within the charter ~
of the Colony of Connecticut*"; and that there is a number of Indians that live on or near
the piece of land aforesaid, who lay claim to the same. And we, the subscribers, to the
number of one hundred persons**, are ver\- desirous to go and inhabit the aforesaid land,
and at the place aforesaid (provided that we can obtain a quiet or quit-claim of the Hon-
orable Assembly, of a tract of land lying at the place aforesaid, and to contain a quantity
sixteen miles square, to lie on both sides Susquehanna River); and as the Indians laj'
claim to the same we propose to purchase of them their right, so as to be at peace with
them.

"Whereupon we humbly pr.ay, that the Honorable Assembly would grant to
us a quit-claim of the aforesaid tract, or so much as the Honorable Assembly shall think
best, upon such terms as your Honors shall think reasonable, and in such a way and
manner that in case ive cannot hold and enjoy the same by virtue of said grant, yet, not-
withstanding, the same not to be hurtful or prejudicial on any account to this Colony;
and in case we can hold and possess .said land, then to be always under the government
and subject to the laws and discipline of this Colony — and provided that we, the said
subscribers, shall within three j-ears next coming lay the same out in equal proportion,

was bequeathed by the will of a son of Uncas to his friends. John Mason and others, in 1675. * * Had-
dam, with East Haddam, was secured from the Indians by the payment of thirty coats worth SIOO. Say-
brook [including Lvme], with Old Savbrook. Esse.x and Chester, was granted by treaty with the Indians
in 1636. * * The 'interesting record.? are replete with such entries. * * It is clearly e\-ident that the
charges of purloining Indian properly are without foundation. * * While Connecticut was not the
entire countrs- at that time, it was a large portion of it and wielded a strong influence. * * The Puritan,
however narrow and rigid, was sympathetic and humane with the keenest sense of honor and justice.
Even in his religious ardor he was no more the bigot than is our present political enthusiast."

* From "Wvoming ; or Connecticuts Ea.st India Company." By Henrj- T. Blake of New Haven, Con-
necticut. (Fairfield County Historical Society— Reports and Papers, 1897.)

t According to the Connecticut system, which has prevailed for many j-ears, a '"town" is a municipal
district equivalent in many respects to what is known as a township in Pennsylvania and manj- other
States, W'ithin the bounds of the Connecticut "town" there may be, and usually are. several hamlets,
post-villages or cities, all, of cour.se, bearing different names. As for instance : The town of Lyme, in
New London Countj', contained about seven or eight miles square of territon,', or more, seventy years ago,
and within its limits were the hamlets and villages of Lvme ( sometimes called "Lyme Street," and again
"Old Lyme ' ), North Lyme, South Lyme. East Lyme. Black Hall and Hamburg ; while the town of Wind-
ham, in Windham County, now contains within its limits the post-villages of Windham, North "Wind-
ham and South Wiiadhani (and perhaps others) and the cit3- of Willimantic.

+ "Colonial Records of Connecticut." X : 624.

\ In reprinting this document neither the spelling (except in two or three instances) nor the punctua-
tion'in the bodv of the original has been adhered to." The spelling of the names of the memorialists has
been followed, 'however: but for the sake of convenience the names have been arranged alphabetically.

[ Wyoming. See pages 59 and 60.

^ As to the beliefs of some others, about this time, relative to the bounds of Connecticut, it may be
noted : (1) In 17:i0 Governor Talcott of Connecticut, in an official communication in answer to certain
queries bv the Board of Trade, London, concerning the Province, stated that its '•reputed and ktioicn
boundaries" were Massachu.setts on the north, Rhode Island Colony on the east, Lonf: Island on the south
and New York Province on the west. (2) In July, 1756, and again in 1761, Governor Fitch of Connecti-
cut, in replj- to queries of a like character from the same source, made a statement similar to the fore-
going — except that he bounded the Province "southerly on the .sea or .sound." (3) In :May, 1774, the Rev.
Richard Peters, at Philadelphia, wrote to the Proprietaries' solicitor in London, as follows (see "Pennsvl-
vania Colonial Records," X : 177): "In the year 1741 the Proprietary Thomas Penn went from here for
England, and from that time to this I have been well acquainted with all sorts of Indian negotiations,
and have had a great share in the management of them— either as the Proprietar>-'s Secretarj-, or as a
Member of Council, or as Provincial Secretarv, so that I can speak from the best gro'unds of even.- matter
relating to Indians for above thirty years ; arid I can with truth declare that before the j-ear 17.5i I never,
that I can remember, heard of anv claim set up by the Government or any of the inhabitants of the Colony-
of Connecticut to any lands within this Province."

** There are ninety-two names appended to this memorial.

249

and settle upon the same, as also purchase the ri.i^ht of the natives as aforesaid. Or, in
some other way, grant us the land aforesaid, as your Honors shall think best— and we, in

duty bound, shall ever pray, &c.

Peter Ayers,

Ephras Andrus,

William Andrews,

Nath. Babcock,

Noah Briggs,

Benjamin Crary,

Christopher Crary,

George Crary,

Oliver Crary,

Thomas Cole,

William Cady,

William Church,

Josiah Curtis,

Jedidiah Darbe.

Thomas Douglas,

Robert Dixson, 8d,

John Dorrance,

Lemuel Deane,

David Downing,

Patrick Fay,

Jabez Fitch,

Elijah Francis,

Isaac Gallup,

William Gallup,

George Gordon,

Robert Gordon,

Samuel Gordon,

Phinehas Green,

Henry Hart,

Robert Hunter,

Robert Jameson

John Kinne,
Jeremiah Kinne,
Moses Kinne,
Gideon Keeney,
Nathan Keeney,
Stephen Keeney,
Thomas Keenej-,
Samuel Kasson,
Adam Kasson,
Archibald Kasson,
John Keigwin,
James Keigwin,
Hugh Kennedy, Jr ,
Stephen Kellogg,
Henrv Linkon,
Peter' Miller,
James Montgomery,
Timothy More,
Matthew Patrick, Sr.
Matthew Patrick, Jr.,
Jacob Patrick,
Ezekiel Peirce,
John Pellet,
Joseph Parks,
Nathan Parke,
Robert Parke,
Thomas Parke, Sr.,
Thomas Parke, Jr.,
Joseph Parke,
Benjamin Parke,

March 29, 175.i.
Nehemiah Parke,
John Parke,
William Parke,
John Pike,
Jonathan Pettibone,
Josiah Rus.sell,
Stephen Rhodes,
Cyprian Stevens,
David Stevens,
John Stevens,
Samuel Smith,
P'rancis Smith, 3d,
John Smith, Jr.,
John Smith, 2d,
Benjamin vSniith,
Ebenezer Smith, Jr.,
Stephen Stoyell,
Jonas Shepard,
Ezra Spalding,
John Spalding,
Eleazer Spalding,
Amos Spalding,
Solomon Stoddard,
Thomas Stewart,
Phinehas Tracy,
Samuel Thomas,
David Waters,
Eliphalet Whiting,
Ichabod Welles,
Joshua Whitney.

Asa Parke,

Just when and where the project for the purchase and settlement of
the Wyoming lands b}^ inhabitants of Connecticut had its inception it
is impossible now to state, but, judging by the fact that a large number
of the memorialists hereinbefore named were residents of the county of
Windham, and that some of them were men of more than local promi-
nence, it is quite probable that Windham County was the birth-place of
the movement, and that the work preliminary to the signing of the
memorial and its presentation to the Assembly was done in the town of
Windham — the shire-town, the center of whose business and social life
was at "Windham Green," near the center of the town and about two
miles south-east of the present city of Willimantic.

"The occasional traveler who strolls along the silent streets of the
venerable town of Windham, meeting no inhabitant except perhaps a
straggling cow, and hearing no sound but the hum of a drowsy insect,
or the feeble croak of a town-born frog, receives little impression of its
activity and importance as a political and business center before the
Revolution. Then it was one of the wealthiest, most bustling and
thriving towns of the Colony ; gay with elegant social life and the home
of influential leaders in Connecticut affairs. Within its limits were in-
cluded as parishes several of the now adjoining towns. It had four
well-trained military companies, four meeting-houses, a court-house and
jail and numerous stores. It furnished nineteen Captains and more than
sixty other officers and soldiers to the old French War. Its appearance
was far more attractive than at the present time. At the head of its
capacious public square stood the Congregational Church, elegantly
painted in a brilliant yellow, and around the square stood public build-
ings and stores and the handsome dwellings of the aristocracy. * * *

250

'The prosperity of Windham has departed, its glory has faded
away, the ancient chnrch and other public edifices have disappeared,
and solitude and silence have taken possession of the streets."* The
population of the town of Windham was probably between 2,200 and
2,300 in 1753. For its population and that of Windham County three
years later, see page 246.

The published records of the Colony of Connecticut do not give any
information as to what disposition was made by the General Assembly
of the memorial presented to it at its session in ^lay, 1753 ; but we learn
from those records that four of the memorialists — Capt. Jabez Fitch,
Capt, Isaac Gallup, Ezekiel Peirce and Joseph Parke — were members of
the Assembly at that time. Evidently the project proposed in the
memorial was looked upon generally with favor in the Assembly, for
we find that within a very short time after the matter had been presented
to that body the Hon. Hezekiah Huntington, Col. (later Maj. Gen.)
Phineas Lyman, Maj. (later Col.) Eliphalet Dyer, William Williams
(in 1776 a signer of the Declaration of Independence), Capt. Stephen
Lee, Isaac and Elisha Tracy and other gentlemen of prominence who
had been Representatives at the ]\Iay session, together with George
W^-llys, Secretary of the Colony, and Roger Wolcott, Jr., son of the
then Governor of Connecticut, became participators in the movement
on foot.

In the meantime the projectors of this movement were busy in dif-
ferent quarters of Connecticut soliciting their neighbors and friends to
join them in the "Susquehanna affair" — as it w^as commonly called at
the time. At length, on the 18th of the ensuing July, some 250 of the
men who had become interested in the "affair" met at Windham and
organized "The Susquehanna Company." "Articles of Agreement"
were drawn up and recorded at length in the record- or minute-book of
the Company, referred to on page 28, ante ; it being intended, evidently,
that each person who might become a member of the Company should
sign these "Articles." This intention was never carried out, however ;
but the names of all shareholders and members were duly entered in
the books of the Company by the Secretary. A reduced photo-repro-
duction of a portion of the original "Articles of Agreement," as recorded
on the first page of the "minute-book" mentioned above, will be found
facing this page ; while the following is a copy of the document in full
— except that the punctuation, capitalization and spelling (save in two
or three instances) of the original have not been followed.

' 'Articles of Agreement made and settled between us the subscribers, inhabit-
ants of His Majestj-'s English Colony of Connecticut in New England, being memorial-
ists to the General Assembly of said Colony at their sessions in Ma}' last for the title of
said Colony to a certain tract of land lying on Susquehanna River at or near a place called
CHiWAUMUCKf, an island% in said river — and other subscribers hereunto — isas foUoweth,
viz. :

"That Whereas we being desirous to enlarge His Majesty's English settlements
in North America, and further to spread Christianity, as also to promote our own temporal
interest, do hereb}- each of i;s covenant and engage — for oiirselves and for those we any
of us represent by signing for them — each of us to pay to Mr. Joseph Skinner, Jabez

* From "Wyoming ; or Connecticut's East India Company," mentioned on page 2-18.

+ Wyoming. See pages 59, 60 and 2-18.

\ Richard's Island, described on page 5'-'. Miner "presumed" ("History of Wyoming," page xi) that
the island referred to was "Monocasy" (Monocanock) Island, mentioned on page ol, ante. This is not at
all probable, inasmuch as Richard's Island is, and has been from the time of the white man's earliest knowl-
edge of 'Wyoming Valley, the largest island within the limits of the valley. Besides, the earliest Indian
settlement known as ''Wyoming" to the people living in 17oo, was within a very short distance of this
island, as we have previously shown.

\y)/.:. , j^:^- . //Jy. /><::. . ..^.^ <^S^ . Ml 0^^"^^ ;

Photo-reproduction of a portion of the first page of the minute-book of
The Susquehanna Company.

,aRY

TlLliKN FOUNSATION

251

Fitch, Esq.,* Eliphalet Dyer, Esq.,t Johx Smith, Esq.,; Ezekiel Peirce, Esq.,?
Mr. Lemuel Smith ij and Capt. Robert Dixsox*^ (a committee by us nominated to

* J.\i!EZ Fitch was born in New London County, Connecticut, in 1702, the eighth child of Maj. James
Fitch and his second wife Mrs. .Alice {Bradford) Adams, and grandson of the Rev. James Fitch of Nor-
wich, New London County, Connecticut. James Fitch, the last mentioned, was born at Bocking, in the
county of Essex, England' Decemlier 24, liiL"J, and came to .America in H>>S with his widowed mother
and his four brothers. In 1()4() he was ordained pastor of the Church at Saybrook, New London County,
Connecticut. There he remained until IWiO. when, though urgently desired to continue as pastor, he
decided to go with the majority of his Church members to found the town of Norwich, in New London
County. Here he served as pastor thirty- four years. Mr. Fitch took a deep interest in the Indians, learn-
ed their language, preached to them and especially befriended those who were rendered homeless by the
Narragan.sett War. He was considered a man of great learning, and was called by the Rev. Cotton
Mather (mentioned on page S.", fl«/'*'l "the holy, acute and learned Mr. Fitch." He was twice married,
the fir.st time, in KJiS. to Abigail, daughter of the Rev Henry Whitfield of Guilford, Connecticut, bhe
died in lii.59, leaving two sons and four daughters Five years later :Mr. Fitch was married to Priscilla
Mason, daughter oV Maj. John Mason, mentioned in the note on page 193. The Rev. James Fitch died at
Lebanon, Connecticut, in 1702.

Maj. James Fitch, the eldest child of the Rev. James and .Abigail (Whitfield i Fitch, was born at Say-
brook in 1619 and accompanied his father's family to Norwich. After he had grown to manhood he took
a leading part in all the town affairs of Norwich, 'and served as Land-surveyor, Registrar, Commissioner
of Boundaries and Captain of the Train-band. He was appointed Captain in the militia in ItiSO and
Sergeant Major of New London County in 16(16. A few years later he removed to Plainfield (see foot-
note I below), then in the County of ' New London, but now in Windham. In 1703 that portion of
Plainfield in which Major Fitch resided was erected into the town of Canterbury, and there he continued to
live until his death in 1727. Miss Earned, in her "Historj' of 'Windham County, " says; "Maj. James Fitch
was unquestionably the leading citizen of Canterbury for manj- years, though his pretensions and exac-
tions involved him "in frequent quarrels with his fellow-townsme'n. * * * With all his faults he was an
ardent patriot and a firm friend of popular liberty. He was a friend of progress, ready to initiate and
carrj' on public improvements; a friend of education — endowing Yale College in 1701 with over 600 acres
of land in what was afterwards Killin^ly [Windham County], and furnishing glass and nails for the first
college edifice in New Haven." Major Fitch was twice "married: first, in 1676, to Elizabeth Mason (a
younger sister of his father's second wife), who died in 16S1. and second, in 16.S7, to Alice (Bradford)
Adams, widow of the Rev. William Adams of Dedham, Massachusetts, and daughter of the Hon. William
Bradford, Lieutenant Governor of Plymouth Colony. By these two wives sixteen children were born,
eleven of whom grew to maturity.

Tabez Fitch, son of Maj. James Fitch by his second wife, as previously mentioned, spent nearly all his
life "in what is now the town of Canterbury, Windham County. In :May'i 1734, he first represented this
town as Deputy in the General Court, or Assembly, of Connecticut,' and from that time until 1775 he
served, by election, thirty-two years altogether in the office mentioned— being a member of the Assembly
when the Connecticut Susquehanna Company was organized. In May, 1749. he was appointed by the
General Court a Justice of the Peace in and for Windham County, and by successive appointments held
this office until 175o, when he was appointed Justice of the Peace and Quorum of the County. This office
he held by succes.sive appointments until 1779. In Maj', 1759, he was appointed Probate Judge of the
Plainfield District, and the duties of this office he performed for a period of twenty years. In October,
1740. he was "established and confirmed" by the General Court "Captain of the Troop in the Eleventh
Regiment of the Colony, " and in May, 1771, he was commi.ssioned Lieutenant Colonel of this regiment.

Jabez Fitch was married three times— first. May 29, 1722, to Lydia Gale of Canterbury. A son by this
marriage— Dr. Jabez Fitch. Js.— was a Surgeon's Mate in the Connecticut forces engaged in the expedition
against Crown Point in 1756. In 1759 he was commissioned Captain of the 10th Company in the 3d Regi-
ment of the Colony.

Col. Jabez Fitch died at Canterbury in 1784.

t Eliphalet Dyer of Windham, Windham County, Connecticut: lawyer, legislator and soldier. For
his portrait and a sketch of his life, see Chapter V.

X John Smith of Yoluntown, Windham County, Connecticut. See Chapter VI for a sketch of his life.

\ EzEKiEL Peirce of Plainfield, Windham County, Connecticut. See a sketch of his life in a subse-
quent chapter. He was a brother-in-law of the abovementioned John Smith.

II Lemuel Smith, j-ounger brother of John Smith, abovementioned, was born at Plainfield, New
London (now Windham) County, Connecticut, in 1710, the sixth child of John Smith, Jr., and his wife
Susanna Hall. John Smith, Jr., was the son of John Smith, Sr., and the grandson of Francis Smith, an
early settler at Taunton, Massachusetts. About 1690 or '91 John Smith, Jr., removed to what was known
as the "Quinebaug Plantation" on the Quinebaug River, in eastern Connecticut, adjoining the town, or
township, of Windham. This "Plantation" had been granted to Gov. John Winthrop of New London,
and was being settled by emigrants from Massachusetts. In October, 1697, "Quinebaug Plantation" was
annexed to New London County, and out of this territory the town of Plainfield was erected early in
1699.

In 1704 John Smith was Constable of Plainfield, and also a member of a committee appointed to lay
out certain lands. In 1709 he was one of the two Representatives, or Deputies, elected from Plainfield to
the General Court of Connectici'.t, and was re-elected to the same office in 1710, '11, '12, '13, '14, J15 and '16.
In 1717 he removed with his family from Plainfield to a locality in the same county that in 1719 was an-
nexed to the town of Yoluntown, of which he was already one of the proprietors. In 1721 he was granted
"liberty to keep a house of entertainment at the crossingof Moosup River". In 1722 and '23 he was active
in helping to organize the Yoluntown Church and to secure the ser\-ices as minister of the Rev. Samuel
Dorrance. a .Scot.s-Irish Presbyterian (concerning whom fuller mention is made in a subsequent chapter).
April S, 1740, John Smith was admitted as a freeman. As one of the two elected Deputies f roTU Yoluntown
he attended the sessions of the General Court of Connecticut in 1*48, '50 and '51. He died at Yoluntown
in the Summer of 1752.

He had been married at Plainfield June 25. 1699, to Susanna, daughter of Stephen Hall, an early settler
in the "Quinebaug Plantation", one of the original proprietors of Plainfield and the holder of various
offices in that town. The fourth child of John'^ and Susanna (Hall) Smith was Elizabeth (born July 30,
1706), who was married August 1, 1726, to the Rev. Samuel Dorrance, previously mentioned, as his first
wife.

Lemuel Smith, son of John and Susanna, and who died at Yoluntown in 1760, was the father of Benja-
min (born August 30, 1738), Lemuel, Jr. (who was at Wyoming in 1769), and probablj- other children.

•" Robert Dixson was born in the North of Ireland in 1701, eldest child of John and Agnes Dixson
and great-grandson of the Rev. David Dickson, D. D. (born in Glasgow, Scotland, in 1-583), sometime
Professor of Divinity- in the University of Glasgow, and later in the University of Edinburgh. Doctor
Dickson was Moderator of the General Assembly in 1653 when it was broken up by order of Cromwell,
and its members were dispersed and ordered not to re-convene.

In the Summer of 1726, or perhaps earlier, Robert Dixson immigrated to America and proceeded to
Londonderry, New Hampshire, where there was a newly-settled colony of Scots-Irish and North of
Ireland Protestants. Later he removed to the North Parish" of New Londo"n, Connecticut : but in Decem-
ber, 1728. he was admitted an inhabitant of Yoluntown, Windham (now New London) County, and there

252

repair to said place at Susquehanna, in order to view said tract of land and to purchase
of the natives there inhabiting their title and interest to said tract of land; and to survey,
lay out, and receive proper deeds or conveyances of said land to and for each of us in
equal proportion), each one of us Two Spanish Milled Dollars,* before said com-
mittee's going and setting out on said business.

"And on their return, upon said committee's rendering their account of their rea-
sonable charges, trouble, expenses and transactions in said affair, and of whatever may
b}' them be expended in purchasing the same, we each of us oblige ourselves, our heirs,
&c., to pay each one his equal proportion thereof, of what the same shall surmount the
sum before paid ; and if the sum advanced as aforesaid shall exceed what may reasonably
be expended in said business and affair, said committee to be accountable to and refund
back to each subscriber, that shall pay as aforesaid, his equal proportion of what shall re-
main not expended as aforesaid.

".■\XD Further, we do each of us instruct and order said committee to set forth
on said affair and business on or before the first day of September next, and use their
utmost endeavors to purchase, survey, take and receive proper conveyances of a tract of
land at or near said place called Chizvauiuuck, at Susquehanna aforesaid — or some said
place in that country not heretofore granted, patented or conveyed to an}- person or per-
sons, corporation or corporations, in opposition to or alien from the title of this Colon}-;
and that the extent thereof be not less than about twent}- miles one wa}- and ten the
other, and the money by them expended not to exceed £1,000 lawful vwney'r.

"And in order for the true performance of the above written, we have hereunto set
and affixed our names ; excluding all right or pretence of right to anj- benefit or privilege
to an}- thing that may be obtained or procured, if we fail or omit to pay the two dollars
to said committee before their setting out as aforesaid, but the same to be void as to us as
if our names were not subscribed."

At the same meeting at which the foregoing "Article.s" were adopt-
ed the Company voted that Capt. John Fitch, Jedidiah Elderkin, Esq.,t

he continued to reside for fifty-four years. Upon the date of his admission to the town he was elected
Lister for the ensuing year, and thenceforward for many j'ears he was continually in some public office,
either by election or appointment. In April. 1740, he was elected the first Deputy, or Representative,
from Voluntown to the General Assembly of Connecticut. From Jlay, 1742. to Maj-. 1771. inclusive, he
attended fifty-six sessions of the General Assembly as one of the two duly elected Deputies from Volun-
town. (See "The Connecticut Colonial Records".)

At every annual town-jneeting. except eight, held in Voluntown from December, 1740, to December.
1767. Robert Dixson presided as Moderator, and during the same period he served, by successive elections,
in the oflice of Townsman, or Selectman, for twenty-one years. In May. 1731, he was "established and
confirmed" by the Assembly Ensign of the Voluntown train-band, and in October. 1742. was promoted
Captain of the North Company of Voluntown. attached to the Eleventh Regiment of Connecticut, com-
manded by Col. Timothy Peirce. In JIay. 1754, Captain Dixson was appointed bj- the General Assembly
a Justice of the Peace in and for the county of Windham, and by successive annual re-appointments
held the office until 1778. when he was succeeded by his son John. Captain Dixson was by profession a
surve\-or, and in October. 1770. was appointed by the General Assembly "Surveyor of Lands in and for
the county of Windham." This office he held for several years.

Captain Dixson was twice married, and was the father of two children— a daughter, Agnes (born
1723 1, by his first wife, and a son, John (born 1733), by his second wife. In 17S2 Captain Dixson removed
to Plaiiifield, previously mentioned, where, six years' later, he died. He was interred in the Oneco burial-
ground, where a grave-stone, erected shortly afier his death, still stands, bearing this inscription: "In
Memorj' of Robert Dixox, who departed this life August 10th, 178S, in the 88th year of his age. He
served his State in Sundrv' important offices with Fidelity."

Agnes Dixson, elder child of Captain Dixson. became the wife of Robert Jameson of Voluntown and
the mother of several children, some of whom in later life became prominently identified with the
early history of Wyoming, and are referred to hereinafter. For the pedigree of Capt. Robert Dixson and
a fuller account ofhis life, see "The Harvey Book" (Wilkes-Barre, 1899).

* Previous to the establishment of the United States Mint in 1792 much perplexity arose in this
country- from the use of no less than four different currencies, or rates, at which one species of coin was
received in different parts of the land. The real money then in use here was in the form of English.
French, Spanish and Portuguese gold and silver coins, and various copper coins of foreign and domestic
production. The noiniiia/rnoney was paper, reckoned in pounds, shillings and pence (according to the
English system), of different values in the different Colonies and Provinces when compared with real
money. "The close connection the Colonies held with the traders of the Spanish Indies, and the near-
ness of the Spanish possessions at the mouth of the Mississippi and along the Gulf of Mexico, had made
Americans familiar with all denominations of Spanish coins. They had long circulated freely among
all classes of buyers and sellers. One of them, the Spanish viilled dollar, had become as much a unit ol
value as the pound. ' In 1753 many hammered silver coins were still in circulation, and it took repeated
acts of legislation in the following years to put an end to them.

The Spanish milled dollar (sometimes called a "Piece of Eight") was a silver coin of seventeen and
a-half pennyweights, aod, as indicated by its name, was not a hammered coin. In 1753 — and for many
years later-^its value in this country- was 4sh. and (Jd.. sterling; or. in .American money of to-day. §1.09.
.At the period mentioned its value was 8 shillings in New Vork money; in Pennsylvania, New Jersey,
Delaware and Maryland currencies its value was 7sh. and (id., and in the currency, or "lawful money,"
of New England it was valued at i) shillings. In 1753. and for a number of years follow-ing. the Spanish
milled dollar was equivalent to £3 and lOsh. in "money of the old tenor" of" the New England Colonies:
but in 1777 it was equivalent to £2 and osh. of that species of money. ■.

TMay 3, 1805. all foreign coins, excepting Spanish dollars and parts of dollars, ceased to be a legal tender
for the "payment of debts in the United States, as the .Act of Congress making French, Spanish and Portu-
guese ^o/rf coins and French crowns (silver) a tender expired on that day. In 1830 it was stated in Haz-
ard's Pennsylvania Register (V: 109): "The foreign coins which are now legal tender [in the United
States] are the Spanish dollar and its parts. * * * Probably one-half the Spanish coins now in use
here were made before 1792. when our Mint was established. * "* The coins of all kinds now in the
United States are estimated at S2:?.000.000. [in value], of which S5.000.000. are of Spanish coinage."

t Equivalent to 3,3:33^3 Spanish milled dollars, or to §3,633.33 in American money of to-day. See the
preceding note. J For his portrait and a sketch of his life, see Chapter V.

253

and Samuel Gray, Esq.,''' be a committee to receive the money that should
be paid in by the members of the Company ; to settle and pay the
accounts that should be rendered by the committee appointed to "view"
and secure the land at Wyoming (the "Journeying Committee'' it was
called), and to do other things mentioned — in fact, to act as an execu-
tive and auditing committee. Having accomplished thus much the
Company adjourned to meet at the call of its Executive Committee.
\'igorous efforts were immediately begun to increase the membership of
the Company, so that sufficient money could be procured prior to Sep-
tember 1st to provide for the expenses of the "Journeying Committee"
in viewing the Wyoming lands and securing a proper conveyance of
the same.

September 1st arrived, but, as only about 350 members! had then
been enrolled in the Company, the "Journeying Committee" did not set
out for the Susquehanna as they had been directed to do by a clause in
the "Articles of Agreement." On the 6th of September a largely-
attended meeting of the Company was held at Canterbury, Windham
County, when it was voted that the "Journeying Committee" be "al-
lowed until the beginning of October next to set out on their journey,
and that they have liberty to take in siibscribei's on the Journey.'''' It
was also resolved that no minor should "have any benefit" by signing
the "Articles."

The minutes of this meeting of the Company show, also, that on
the 28th of the previous month a number of people had met at Col-
chester, New London County, Connecticut, and "entered into an agree-
ment to purchase the native right to a certain quantity of land lying at
or near the Susquehanna, or the Forks of the Delaware River" — Capt.
William Whitney and Isaac Woodworth being appointed a committee
to act for the association. These facts having been brought before the
Susquehanna Company the latter "voted that the company aforesaid be
and they are hereby incorporated with us as one entire body, for the
purposes aforesaid, with all the privileges and advantages that we and
each of us have, * * * provided said company do come into and
pass" certain resolutions referred to, and appoint a committee to join
with the Susquehanna Company's committee in "repairing to said Sus-
quehanna River on or before October 1st." It was further voted, that,
in case the Colchester association should enter into the agreement pro-
posed and appoint a committee, then "but three of our said committee
shall oro on said affair." There is no further reference among the
records of the Susquehanna Company to the Colchester association, and
therefore it is impossible to state whether or not the latter was formally
merged in the former. It is quite probable, however, that the younger
company came to an early and uneventful end, and that some of its for-
mer members individually connected themselves with the Susquehanna
Company.

Early in October Stephen Gardner^ and Stephen Gardner, Jr., of
the town of Colchester were admitted to membership in the Susque-

* For a sketch of his life see post^ in this Chapter.

t The names of manv, if not all, of these men are printed in "Pennsylvania Archives," Second Series,
XVIII : 4-12.

X Stephex Gardner was among the early settlers in New London Connty, and was probably a
descendant of the Rhode Island family of Gardner or Gardiner. He purchased la"nd near "Great Pond,"
now known as Gardner's Lake, lying partly in the towns of Bozrah, Montville and Salem, New London
County. On this land he settled (iii what was then the town of Colchester) and reared a large family
of children. He was married about 1700 to Amy Sherman (born October 25, 1681), daughter of Benjamin

254

liaiina Company ; and when, a week or two later, as the "Journey-
ing Committee" was about to set out for the Susquehanna and it was
found that Capt. Robert Dixson, a member of the Committee, was un-
able to go along, Stephen Gardner was selected to go in his stead. This
fact leads to the belief that ]\Ir. Gardner had been a member of the
Colchester association.

The members of the "Journeying Committee" who, about the mid-
dle of October, 1753, started from eastern Connecticut for Wyoming,
were Stephen Gardner, John Smith and Ezekiel Peirce. What route
they took through Connecticut and New York on their outward journev
we do not know ; but having reached the Delaware River, probably in
the locality of the present Port Jer\'is, they followed the stream down to
Delaware Water Gap, mentioned on page 45. There, leaving the river,
they traveled in a north-westerly direction through the present ^Monroe
County, crossing first over the Pocono ^Mountains, then the Wyoming-
Moosic range and finally the Wilkes-Barre-Lackawanna range. That
this was the course they traveled we are quite certain, for the following
reasons : (1) This committee secured at that time subscriptions from,
and enrolled as members of the Company, the following-named men*
who then resided along or near the Delaware River in what are now the
counties of Pike and INIonroe : Daniel Shoemiaker, Benjamin Shoe-
maker (at that time one of the Commissioners of the new county of
Northampton), Abram Van Camp, John Panather, Solomon Jennings,
John Atkins, James Hyndshaw, Joseph vSkinner and Samuel and Aaron
De Pui, or Depew. (2) Capt. William Parsonst of Easton, Pennsylvania,
in a letter to Governor Hamilton of Pennsylvania relative to certain

and Hannah (J/ozf rv) Sherman of Kingston, Rhode Island, and had twelve children, five of whom were
sons, as follows :

(III) Stephen, h. Februar\- 24, 1704; (lY) Benjamix, b. April IS, 1706; (V) Peregrine, b. Januars-
24, 1707; (VI) Daniel, b. December 14, 1709; (XI) David, b. January,' 28, 1720, and md. to Jemima Gustin.

(Ill) Stephen Gardner was born at Kingston, Rhode Island, and was md. in 1722 to Frances, daughter
of Benjamin Congdon. They had ten children, some of whom were : (i) Amy, b. February 17, 1725, and
md. to Capt. Stephen Harding l^'. v.) ; (ii) Lydia. b. March 20, 1727, and md. to John Jenkins {q. v.) ; liii)
Sarah, b. February 10, 1731, and md. to Thomas Jenkins: fiv) Stephen, b. March zJ. 173o, and md. (1)
to Frances Brown, (2) to Alice {Fuller), widow ot John Abbott, (iv) Stephen Gardner died in August,
1811, and his widow Alice died in June, 1810, in the 7(jth year of her age. Their remains lie in the old
grave-yard near the river in Plains Township, between Port Bowkley and Plainsville, L,uzerne County.
(Ill) Stephen G.^rdner died in 1770.

(V) Peregrine Gardner was md. in April, 1731, to Susanna Robinson (b. in 17111, and they had eight
children. Some of them were (1) Stephen, b. August 1. 1734 ; (2) Mary. b. March 14, 1736 ; C.^) John. b. Mav
9, 1737 ; (4) Peregrine, b. March 12, 1739.

(Z) John Gardner was md. to Elizabeth Mumford (b. Febmar},- 29, 1743). and they had five children,
two of whom were : (a) Richard, b. Februar>-8, 1767 ; (b) John. b. January 9, 1773, and d. March 30, 1836, in
Ransom Township, Luzerne (now Lackawanna! County, Pennsylvania. {S)John Gardner was captured
in Exeter Township by the Indians in July, 1778 (see Chapter XV, /cs/), and, being carried away from
Wyoming, died in captivity. His widow died at Ran.som, mentioned above, Avigu.st24. 1834. (4) Pereg>ine
Gardner was a Sergeant in Capt. Simon Spalding's Wyoming company in the Continental service, 1777-"81.
(See "Collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," VII : 110.)

(a) Richard Gardner was twice md., his finst wife being Lydia (b. 1767; d. May 23, 1828.) He

located in Ransom Township, where he established and maintained for many years Gardner's Ferry. He
had eleven children, several of whom lived to a great age. (a) Richard Gardner died at Ransom July 4,
1859. For an interesting account of him see Peck's "Wyoming," page 351.

* See the names of the grantees in the "Indian Deed" printed in this Chapter.

t William Par.son.s, who had been a shoemaker in early life, resided in Philadelphia between the
years 1734 and 1746, for a portion of which period he was Librarian of the City Libran.-. In 1743 he was
appointed .Surveyor General of the Province, which office he held until June. 1748, when, on account of ill
health, he resigned. In 1749 he was a Ju.stice of the Peace in Lancaster County.

The present city of Easton made its first appearance in 1750. Previous to that Thomas Penn, one of
the Proprietaries of" Pennsylvania, had written to Dr. Grceme and Secretary Richard Peters at Philadel-
phia to lay out the ground at the "Forks of the Delaware," in Bucks (now Northampton! County, for a
town, and he desired "the new town to be called Easton, from my Lord Pomfret's home" — Penn having
married Lord Pomfret's daughter. The site for the proposed town, which was owned by Thomas Penn,
■n-as covered with trees and laushes. The town-plot of about 100 acres was sur\-eyed by Nicholas Scull,
assi-sted by William Parsons, and occupied ten days from May 9, 1750. Thenceforth, until his death in
December, 17-57, William Parsons resided at Easton.

In 1753 he held the rank of Captain in the militia of the Province, and in December, 1755, he was
promoted Major and appointed to command all the troops to be raised in Northampton County for the
defense of the frontier during the Indian hostilities. His immediate command, however, was a "Town
Guard " of twenty-four men stationed in Easton. In October, 17.53, Captain Parsons was elected a mem-
ber of Assembly from Northampton Count\\ He also held, at different times, the offices of Prothono-
tar\', Clerk of the Courts, Recorder of Deeds and Justice of the Peace in and for Northampton County.
This County was erected out of Bucks County March 11, 1752, and took in nearly the whole of north-

255

matters that had occurred in the north-eastern part of the Province dur-
ing the Autumn of 1753, wrote, among other things, the following* :

"Having heard that some persons under pretense of an authority from the Govern-
ment of Connecticut had passed V)y Daniel Brodhead'sf in their way to Wyomink upon
vSusquehanna River, in order to view the land in those parts, * * * I went up to Mr.
Brodhead's to speak with him. * * Mr. Brodhead told me that some of his near
neighbors had accompanied three gentlemen-like men to Wyomink, who produced a
writing under a large seal, which they said was the public seal of the Governor of Con-
necticut, empowering them to treat," etc.

Captain Parsons stated further, that, inasmuch as the men from
Connecticut "gave out that those lands were included within the bound-
aries of the royal Charter to that Colony," he (Parsons) thought he
would be wanting in his duty if he did not give the Governor this infor-
mation. A few days later Daniel Brodhead, Sr., wrote the Governor
on the same subject, and stated that he "was at a loss how to act," lest
he should "do the thing not just," and asked for advice in the matter.

The "Journeying Committee" remained at Wyoming a number of
days, making rough drafts of the country in general and gathering con-
siderable data upon which to base a report to the Susquehanna Company.
Soon after their arrival in the valley they learned from the Indians here
that the Six Nations claimed and exercised ownership and jurisdiction
of this region. Therefore the committee made no attempt to dicker
with the local Indians for the land they desired to secure.

On their homeward journey the committee having entered the
Province of New York, and crossed Hudson River at or near Fishkill,
proceeded northward through the present Dutchess County to "Little
Nine Partners," lying at the upper end of the County and traversed by
the "Great Road" running from the Hudson to and through New Eng-
land. On the 14th of November the committee were at "Great Nine
Partners" (near the center of Dutchess County), and five days later they
had reached Canaan, in the north-western corner of Connecticut. At
both these places they disposed of shares, or "rights," in the Susque-
hanna Company, as is evidenced by original, authentic records now in
existence. The following is a copy of one of the receipts given at that
time by this committee to subscribers for shares — the original receipt
having been duly recorded between 1771 and 1774 by the Town Clerk
of Wilkes-Barre on page 1,157 of "The Town Book of Wilkes Barre,"
described on page 27, aitteX :

''Canaan, November 19, 1753 — then received of Joseph Dean, Jr., of Canaan, in
ye county of Litchfield, ye sum of two Spanish milled dollars in ye Susquehanna Affair.
Received by us ye subscribers, a Committee appointed for that Business.

"Stephen Gardner, ]
[Signed] "John Smith, > Committee."

"EZEKIEL Peirce, )

The visit of the Connecticut men to Wyoming was not only dis-
quieting to certain Pennsylvanians in Northampton County, Philadel-
phia and other quarters who heard of it, but also caused considerable
dissatisfaction among the Indians dwelling along the Susquehanna.

eastern Pennsylvania as it then existed. The County had at its heginninjj nine organized townships,
with a population of 4,500, in addition to several hundred inhabitants in the "Forks of the Delaware," not
included in any township, and 800 in the upper parts of what is now I^ehigh County. In Sniithfield Town-
ship were some 300 Hollanders, descendants of the early Dutch settlers at the Minisink. Sniithfield was
the only township north of the Blue Mountains.

* See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," V : 736.

tDan.sbury, now East Stroudshurg, Monroe County, Pennsylvania. For a sketch of Daniel Brodhead,
see note, page '2.58.

t See Book "B," page 244, of the records of the Susquehanna Company mentioned on page 28, ante.
for the recorded copy of a receipt given by the same committee to "William Buck of Great Nine Part-
ners," under date of November l4, 1753.

256

Under date of December 5, 1753, at Easton, Captain Parsons wrote

to the Rev. Richard Peters at Philadelphia, Secretary of the Province,

as follows* :

"I do not know what to think of the New England men ; but from their own ac-
count there is reason to expect them again in the Spring. And if they should come we
have but too many malcontents amongst us who would cheerfully embrace so favorable
an opportunity. You too well know the disposition of the people in general towards the
Honorable the Proprietaries. * -s- * i am informed that some persons over the moun-
tainsf have really entered into an agreement with the New England men for part of the
lands at Wyomink. If I were to advise, I should think it would not be amiss for you to
write to every one of the Justices — especially those over the mountains — to apprehend
them if they should come again in the Spring, as they sa}' they will with many more, in
order to settle there. But perhaps it will be the best wa}- for the Governor to issue a
proclamation, or for the Chief Justice to issue a Provincial writ for taking them up as
Disturbers of the publick Peace."

About the time Captain Parsons wrote this letter to Secretary
Peters William Craig, Sheriff of Northampton Connty, came thence to
Wyoming and spent several days heret — presnmably to learn what he
could concerning the doings and sayings of the recent visitors from
Connecticut. Some time later Conrad Weiser wrote § Governor Hamil-
ton that ''in the Fall of 1753 the Indians on Sasquehanna saw some of
the New England men that came as spies to Wayomock ; and they saw
them making drafts of the land and rivers, and are much offended about
it." Weiser stated, further, that the Indians asked him about these
men, and he told them (the Indians) that "we had heard so much as
that, and we had intelligence from New England that they came against
the advice of their superiors, as a parcel of headstrong men and dis-
turbers of the peace. The Indians said they were glad to hear that
neither their Brother Onas nor their [the New Englanders'] own chief
men had sent them." Secretary Peters, writing to the solicitor of the
Proprietaries relative to this affair, said|l : "Mr. Hamilton and several
others were alarmed at this wicked attempt, and Conrad Weiser, the
Indian Interpreter, was ordered to give the Six Nation Indians an ac-
count of this intelligence and to put them upon their guard."

The members of the "Journeying Committee" having reached their
respective homes and reported the results of their mission to Wyoming
to the Executive Committee of the Susquehanna Company, a meeting
of the Company was called for the 9th of January, 1754. Upon that
day there was a large attendance of old members, and the names of
enough new members were enrolled to make the total membership of
the Company upwards of 400. Stephen Gardner, John Smith, Ezekiel
Peirce, Capt. Robert Dixson and Jedidiah Elderkin, Esq., were appointed
a committee "to enquire and judge what persons ought to be admitted
into the said Company, with all the privileges already accrued," etc.;
and it was voted that those thereafter admitted should pay four dollars
per share, or two dollars for a half-share.

It was also voted that "Air. Timothy Woodbridge^ of Stockbridge

* See original letter in the collections of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.

t The Kittatinnj-, or Blue, Mountains, described on page \h.

X See "Collections of the Wyoming Historical and Geological Society," VIII : 90.

§ See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," VI : 35.

II See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," X : 177.

^Timothy Woodbridge was born in 1709 at West Springfield, ;Massachi:setts. He was the son of
the Rev. John Woodbridge, Jr. (b. 1678 ; d. June 10, 1718), a native of Killingworth, Connecticut ; gradu-
ated at Harvard College in Ifi9-J, and constituted the first pastor of the Church at West Springfield in
1698. His wife (the mother of Timothy) was Jemima Eliot, granddaughter of the Rev. John Eliot, "the
Apostle to the Indians," referred to on page 80.

In the Autumn of 1745 Timothy Woodbridge became a teacher in the Indian mission-school at Great
Barrington (mentioned in the note on page 193); and when the establishment was removed to Stock-

257

[Massachusetts] be incorporated into this Company and entitled to one
whole share in the purchase of this land as a free donation from this
Company" ; and that he be "an agent of the Company to order, act and
transact the whole affair of said purchase with the chiefs of the Indians
that are the native proprietors of the land proposed by said Company to
be purchased." It was also resolved that '4f 'Deacon' Woodbridge desires
Captain Stevens* to go with him to the sachems in order to help and
assist him, he shall go'' ; and it was ordered that Majj. Eliphalet Dyer
and some other member of the Company, to be selected by the Execu-
tive Committee, should be commissioned to repair to Stockbridge and
make satisfactory* arrangements with ''Deacon" Woodbridge for the
transacting of the business. The Executive Committee named Jedidiah
Elderkin, Esq., of Windham, as the second member of this commission.
Messrs. Dyer and Elderkin were "desired by the Executive Com-
mittee to wait on the Hon. Roger Wolcott, then Governor of the Colony,
and ask his opinion (in the name of the Susquehanna Company) rela-
tive to their proceeding. They waited on the Governor and informed
him of the designs of the Company ; and in answer Governor Wolcott
wrote and signed a certain writing. "t Colonel Elderkin made a copy

bridge he acxmnpanied it thither, where he remained as a teacher for manv Teais — being soooeeded by
the Rev. John Sergeant. Jr.. mentioned on page 1S5. David D. Field, in his "Historv of StocMKid^e,"
states that in \roodbridgie's school "the body of the TndiaTi diildicn were instnidted. aiMl ptofaaldy
obtained as good an education as English cjul&en at that period geneiaUr did in the omnmon sdiools 4^
Xew England." In l<oI the mi^on contained 2iB TTwfemg of whom 1:^ had been baptized and -12 were
commnmcants.

In February. 1732. Gideon Hawley— later, for many yeais, a missaonaiy among the TjuKaiy; — faec:ame
a co-worter of Woodbridge in the StodLbiidge school : and, in an antobiogiapfaical letter written in I<91
and pabUshed in the "Documentary History of Xew York." (m : fiST), stales that he "was instmctor of a
fe^r families of Iroquois w^ho came doim from their ooontry for the sa!ke of the Christian knowledge and
the schooling of their children. These families consisted of Mohawks. Oneidas and Tnscaroias fsaoL
Cana joharie and Oghwaga, [Xew Yoik] . I [Ha-wley] was their schoolmaster, and preached to them oa
Lord"s-day. [The Re\-.] "ilr. Edwards -visited the school, catediised the scjiolars and frequently preadied
to the parents. Many Indians who wintered at Stockbridge, in the Spring and Sommer wait off and
were about Schoharie' beyond Albany."

In 3ilay. 1.^. Mr. Hawley went from Stockbridge to Ogiiwaga. previonsly mentioned, for the purpose
of en^agit^ in mi^onary labors among the Indians— chiefly Oneidas — in that locality, wfaidi was "aboot
100 nules beyond any settlement of Christian people." "It was agreed." wrote Haw^ley in 17^ "that
'Deacon' Woodbridge, beinga man long acquainted with the business and a gentleman of alnlities. sboold
accompany me into their country and introduce me to the Ttidiawg with wiiose manners and language I
had gained some acquaintance."' Messrs, Hawley and Woodbridge set out on their jonmer on Max Sd.
accompanied In- Benjamin Ashley, an English "Seiaiatist,'" and his wife Rebecca (JTeilogg-i Ashley, ■"an
extraordinarv interpreter in the Iroquois language." (An interesting aooo un t of their joomev isgrren
in Halsey's "Old Xew York Frontier." page 38, «< iflj.l On May 30th the traTdeis arrived at Teaamaemdi-
lotigh. on the Susquehanna River, not many miles from its source. (See map on page ^ and mag of
Pennsylvaiua and part of Xew York in Chapter V.) Here there were three w%wams ioA thirty Indians.
"We were impatient," wrote Hawley. "to see the famoos Sosqnehanna. and as soon as we came Wood-
bridge and I walked down to the b^iks. Dis ap p o inted at the smallne^ of the stream Woodbrii^e ex-
claimed. 'Is this the Susquehanna?' " Bv- means of canoes the travelers reached their destinatiiMithree
days later.

Oghwaga. or Oquago, now Windsor, near the north-eastern angle of the "Great Bend" of the Sosqtie-
hanna . fourteen miles from l^nghamton. Broome County, Xew York, is distinguislied as having 'been the
ancient dwelling-place of Indians for a long series of years. It appears to have been a half-traT resting-
place for the Sis Xations as they passed southward to' Wyoming or its ne^:hborbood ; or for the inhfiiaTik
at \ryoming as they passed northward. Their path over Oquago Moontam, and also over the mountain
nearer Binghamton. was wt>m very deep, and was plainly visible manv vears after the TinWang had left
that oountry.

Spending only a few days at Oghwaga 'Woodbridge turned his steps homeward, bearing a belt of
wampum and a message to Sir Wilfiam Johnson from the Tndjang at Oghwaga, to the ^iect that tbev
desired to have no more rum brought to their tovm by traders. "

For some years after Timothv Woodbridge had quit teaching he was agent and sup e rin tendent of
Indian affairs at Stockbridge. He was the fiost Deaom in the Chnrdi at Stockbrid^ and was also the
first magistrate in the town. He was a Justice of the Peace in and for Berkshire Conntv until neS at
least. From 1T61 until his death he was a Jndge of the Court of Common Pleas of Berkshire County. Xot
lop^ beforehis death he was appointed a member of the Governor's Council, by mandamus frmn the
King, but did not accept the appointment. "He was." wrote David D. Field manv vears ago, "^ man of
superior abilities and acquisitions." Gideon Hawley wrote of him in \79i. : "He rose to 'be the first man
in the county of Berkshire ; was always esteemed 'for his sense, * * and sostained his station with
reputation." "

"Deacon " Woodbridge died May 11, 1T74. His wife was Alagail Dav. of W^es - _ SeML, and their
eighth child and youi^est son was Enoch Woodbridge, who wa^ bom at iSock'V - ^ , rmber 25. 1'^SOL

He was graduated at Yale College in 1TT4. At the aege of Boston, ITTo-Td. he vf ,i- .^_ ..lant of Colimel
Preston's regiment. He was also in service later dnruig the Revolutionary War. In "I'TSO he settled in
Vermont as a lawver. He was the first Mavor of Vergennes, Vermont, and' was a Tud^ of the Snweme
Court of that Stale. ITTM-ISW, Ijeing Chief Justice during the last three vears of the period. He died at
Vergennes April 25. 1;*B.

* Vriah Stevexs, of Ijtchfield County, an early and a very active prraoioter of the Company.
t The foregoing quotation is from an orUnnal memorandum in the handwriting of Jedidiah Elderkin,
found by the present writer among the "Pi<ieTing Papers." referred to on page 29. amit.

258

of this "writing," which he retained, delivering the original document
into the hands of "Deacon" Woodbridge. Colonel Elderkin's copy is
now among the "Pickering Papers" (see note t, page 257), and is herewith
printed — for the first time, so far as the present writer can learn.*

"Windsor, January, 1754.

"Being well informed that a number of His Majesty's liege subjects in the Colon}-
of Connecticut have confederated together to purchase of the Indians a tract of waste land
near Susquehannah River, and to remove there with their famiUes to settle a new Planta-
tion, and they have desired to know my opinion of their design —

"I am of opinion that ye settling a new Plantation or Plantations at ye place
designed will be much for His Majesty's service, as it will enlarge the English possessions
of the country and advance our frontiers into it ; and being settled with good and orderly
people, will much strengthen and encourage ye English in North America against ye
encroachments of ye French, who are continually erecting their forts nearer and nearer
to us, and thereby driving ye Indians from His Majest3''s alliance. And that it will be a
benefit to ye Six Nations of Indians who have been alwaj-s in strict alliance with ye
English, as it will better secure them from the incroachments of ye French and strengthen
them in time of Warr against j^e force of the enemy. I therefore wish them good success
in their undertaking, and that they ma}' never want encouragement from the Throne."

[vSigned] "R: WoLCOTT."

Under date of February 21, 1754, Daniel Brodhead, Sr.,t who was

then a Justice of the Peace in and for Northampton County, wrote as

follows! to the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania :

"There is great disquietude amongst the people of these parts, occasioned by some
New England gentlemen, to such a degree that a majority of them are going to quit and
sell their land for trifles ; and many of them have advanced money in order that they
might secure 'rights' from the New England Proprietaries — which 'rights' I suppose are
intended to be on Sasquehannah, at a place called Wyomink."

The matter appeared to the Council to be of importance, and they
recommended that the Governor of Pennsylvania should write to both
the Governor and the Deputy Governor of Connecticut, praying for the
interposition of that Government "to prevent the departure of their
people on such a dangcrmis enterprise''' ; otherwise the Colonies "should
have the additional affliction of seeing a civil war commence in the
bowels of two of their most prosperous Provinces." Therefore, under
date of March 4, 1754, Governor Hamilton wrote to Governor Wolcott

* An incomplete copv of this document was printed in The Ln~erne Federalist fWilkes-Barre) of Ma^-
25, 1801, in an article written by Col. John Franklin over the pseudonym "Plain Truth." See page 30, ante.

'tDAXiEL Brodhead, Sr., was born at Marbletown, Ulster County, New York, in 1693. He was a
grandson of Daniel Brodhead (a Captain of grenadiers in the army of Charles II), who came to this country
in 1664 in the expedition, commanded by Col. Richard Nicolls, "to capture New Amsterdam and make
New Netherland once for all an English province." (.See page 245.) .\bout 1735 Daniel Brodhead, first
abovementioned, emigrated from New York with his family and settled near the junction of Analomink
(now Brodhead's) and Mc:\Iichaers Creeks, in what later became Northampton, and is now :Monroe,
County, Pennsylvania. He called his settlement "Dansburs'," after his own name, but later it became
known as "Brodhead's :Manor. " and now, upon a portion of it, stands the village of East .Stroudsburg.
He became acquainted with the Moravian Brethren soon after they settled in the "Forks of the Dela-
ware." and at his house thev often lodged as thev traveled to and from their missions in New York and
Connecticut ; and at Dansblirv thev preached between 1743 and 174tl. Bishop Camuierhoff, previously
mentioned, referred to DanierBrodhead in 1747 as "an Indian trader," and stated that he was a regular
attendant at the Brethren's synods. He died in July, 17.>5. at Bethlehem, while there for surgical treat-
ment. He was sur\-ived bv five sons — Charles, Garrett, Daniel, John and Luke.

Daniel Brodhead, Jr., was born about 172.5, probably at Albany, New York, and came to Pennsylvania
with the other members of his father's family. "The" younger Daniel grew up among the rude experi-
ences of a frontier settlement, and, probably", had his "first "experience of actual war when the Indians,
after ravaging all the country- between the fivers Lehigh and Delaware, north of the Blue Mountains,
attacked the Brodhead house at Dansbur%-. which had been hastily fortified, on the Uth of December. 1755 "

In 1771 Daniel Brodhead. Jr., settled "at Reading. Pennsylvania, having removed some time previously
from Lower Smithfield Township (within the limits of which "Brodhead's Manor" lay). Shortly after-
wards he was appointed Deputy Surveyor under John Lukens, who was then .Surveyor General of Penn-
sylvania. In July, 1775. he was' appointed a delegate from Berks County to the Provincial Convention at
Philadelphia. Diiring the Revolutionary AVar he was Lieutenant Colonel of the Pennsylvania Rifle Reg-
iment from March to October. 1776 ; Lieutenant Colonel of the Fourth Pennsylvania Regiment in the
Continental Line from October, 1776, to March, 1777 ; Colonel of the Eighth Pennsylvania Regiment, Con-
tinental Line, March, 1777. to January, 1781, and then Colonel of the First Pennsylvania. At a later date
he was, it seems, promoted to the rank of Brigadier General. (See "Pennsylyan'ia in the Revolution," I :
646.) After the war he served in the General Assembly of Pennsylvania, aiid in 1789 was appointed .Sur-
veyor General of the State. This office he held eleven"years. He" was twice married, his first wife being
Elizabeth De Pui of Northampton County, who bore him one son (Daniel) and one daughter. His second
wife was the widow of Gen. Thomas :Mifiiin, bv whom he had no children.

Gen. Daniel Brodhead died at Milford, Pike County, Pennsylvania. November 15, 1809.

X See "Pennsylvania Colonial Records," V : 757.

259

informing him that a party of Connecticut people had passed into Penn-
sylvania some time previously on their way to Wyoming. Continuing,
the Governor stated* :

"They gave out that they had made a purchase of these lands from the INIohawk
Indians, and they had your authority to come and settle them — being within the bound-
aries of the Connecticut Charter — and offered their titles to anj' who were disposed to
purchase ; and this, though I have disregarded it as an idle story, is now confirmed by
persons of character who have been in Connecticut, and assure me that a large number
of your inhabitants * - * were actually preparing to remove in the Spring and settle
some of the Pennsylvania lands on Sasquehannah. * * * If they make the attempt
they will involve this Province in an endless scene of trouble and confusion, and as they
must expect opposition, it may prove prejudicial to the cause of the Colonies. If, as it
is very probable, we shall be engaged in a tear to repel the French (who have actual!}-
invaded this Province, and are now erecting forts and driving away our traders within its
limits), and a number of strangers should come amongst us and forcibly take possession
of our lands, what can His INIajesty or the other Colonies think but that they are enemies
to their country, and design to hinder this Government from exerting its force against
the common enemy, by raising a civil war within its bowels.

"I beseech your Honor further to consider, that the Six Nations will be highly
offended if these lands on Sasquehannah be overrun with white people, for they are their
favorite lands and reserved for their hunting ; and many of them live there, and they
have the faith of this Government — solemnly and repeatedly plighted — that no white
people shall settle there. * * * I cannot conceive how the inhabitants of Connecticut,
whose laws as well as ours prohibit and render invalid all private contracts with the
natives,! could go in so clandestine a manner to treat with the Mohawks about these
lands. Surely they are worthy of much censure on man)- accounts." * * *

A letter of like tenor addressed to Lieutenant Governor Thomas
Fitch was written at the same time by Governor Hamilton — both letters
being delivered into the hands of John Armstrong, Esq., who was in-
structed to carry them to Connecticut and fetch back the answers of
Messrs. Wolcott and Fitch as quickly as possible. Armstrong was a
resident of Citmberland County, Pennsylvania, and a firm adherent of
the Proprietary Government, being at that time one of its Surveyors of
Lands as well as a member of the Provincial Assembl}'.^

He set off on his errand without delay, and on the 13th of March
delivered to Governor Wolcott at Windsor, Connecticut, the letter ad-
dressed to him, to which the Governor immediately replied at consider-
able length. He digressed, somewhat, from the subject under discus-
sion to enter into details of the siege of Louisbourg§ (which had occurred
nearly nine years previously) — stating the number of the French troops
engaged, the strength of their fortifications, the width of the walls, the
depth of the trenches, the number of cannon-balls fired by the enemy,
the quantity of land ploughed up by the shot, etc. Then the Governor
expatiated on the military prowess of his countrymen, the New Eng- ■
landers, who, although the enemy was superior in number, took the
"Gibralter of America" after a siege of forty-nine days. He imputed
the success of his countrymen to the fact that they were freeholders and
the sons of freeholders, and intimated that the Pennsylvanians might be
glad to have such people settle among them, for they would be handy
in time of war. In response to the particular matters mentioned by
Governor Hamilton Governor Wolcott wrote as follows |i :

* See "Pennsylvania Archives," First Series, II : 120.

t See page 247 as to the laws and cnstoms of Connecticut on this subject. By an Act passed by the
Pennsylvania Assembly February 7, 170o, it was declared : "That if any person presume to buy any land
of the natives, within the limits of this Province and Territories, without leave from the Proprietary
thereof, every such bargain or purchase shall be void and of no effect."

I For a brief sketch of his life see Chapter XXI.

§ W-hen, in 1745. Connecticut furnished 500 troops for the famous expedition against Louisbourg,
Roger Wolcott (then sixty-six j'ears of age) was placed in command of them, with the rank of Major
General. During the siege he was second in command to Sir William Pepperell.

II See folio Zc, of the "Penn Manuscripts," mentioned on page 30, a>ite.

260

"There being now no unimproved lands with us, some of our inhabitants hearing
of this land at Susquehannah, and that it was north of the grant made to I\Ir. Penn, are
upon a design of making a purchase of the Indians, and hope to obtain a grant of it from
the Crown. This appearing to be a design to promote His Majesty's interest and render
the countr}- more defensible, we were all well-wishers to it. But ]Mr. Armstrong [the
messenger] informs me that this land is certainly within Mr. Penn's grant. If so, I
don't suppose that our people had any purpose to quarrel with Pennsylvania. Indeed, I
don't know the mind of every private man, but I never heard our leading men express
themselves so inclined."

Under the same date, at Hartford, Lieutenant Governor Fitch wrote,

in part, as follows* :

"I do well approve of the notice j-ou take of the attempt some of the people of this
Colon}- are making, and the concern you manifest for the general peace of the British in-
terests and His Majest^-'s service. I know nothing of anj-ttyng done by this Government
to countenance such a procedure as you intimate and I conclude is going on among some
of our people, and am inclined to believe this wild scheme of our people will come to
naught — though I certainlv can't sav. "

Having received these communications from the Connecticut offi-
cials Governor Hamilton based upon them and the previous letters of
Justices Parsons and Brodhead a case stated, which he submitted for an
opinion to the Hon. Tench Francis, Attorney General of the Province.
Two of the paragraphs of the Governor's document were as follows :

' 'This [the "Wyoming] tract of land has not }-et been purchased of the Six Nation
Indians, but lias hitherto been reserved and is noiu used by them for their hunting-ground.
The Government of Pennsylvania, b}' their treaties with those Indians, stands engaged
not to permit any persons to settle upon lands within the bounds of the Province that
have not been purchased from them. Hence, it is apprehended, those Indians may inter-
pret such a settlement a violation of our treaties, and may be indviced to commit hostili-
ties that would be attended with consequences most dangerous at this juncture. * * *

"If any persons give out in speeches that they are going to possess themselves of
this tract of land, and persuade others to go with them, and are making preparations to
go ; or, if the}' shall presume to go and settle there — is it lawful for the Justices of the
Peace to cause such persons to be apprehended and imprisoned?"'

This question the Attorney General answered in the affirmative. f
At this time Governor Hamilton had "standing instructions from
the Proprietaries to take all opportunities of making another purchase
of lands from the Six Nations.'' Therefore, in view of the declared
objects of the formidable Susquehanna Company — the purchase and
settling of a large body of land within the supposed limits of Pennsyl-
vania — Governor Hamilton deemed it needful to try at once, by all
means, to steal a march on this Company by making a purchase from
the Indians — "and the larger the better." To facilitate this necessary
work he despatched "John Shikellimy" [Tachnechdoriis, mentioned on
page 184) early in the Spring of 1754 with a message to the Six Nations,
informing them of "the necessit)- of another purchase, by reason of the
increase of the inhabitants.^'''' ancl desiring that they would enter into a
treaty with IMessrs. John Penn and Richard Peters, who were to "be at
Albany in the Summer, and would have full powers for that purpose."^
In the Autumn of 1753, onlv a few months before the French
actually established themselves in fortified posts at Niagara, at Le Boeuf
and at Venango, and Contrecoeur drove a colonial officer out of the post
which he had held for a short time at the "Forks" of the Ohio, and
Fort Duquesne arose on the ruins of an English stockade — in short, just
before the French marched into and erected forts upon the known
domain of Pennsylvania, and, in addition, redoubled their efforts to
withdraw the friendship of the Indians from the English colonists — the

* See folio 35 of the "Penn Manuscripts," mentioned on page 30, ante. f See ibid.

X "Pennsj-lvania Archives," First Series, II ; 167.

261

British Lords of Trade directed James De Laiicey, the new Lieutenant
Governor of New York, to hold at Albany an "interview" with the Six
Nations, for the purpose of conciliating them and "securing more effect-
ually their affections to His Majesty and the British interests" by hear-
ing and redressing their complaints, by delivering presents to them, by
"burying the hatchet" and by renewing the Covenant Chain.

It was arranged by De Lancey that this proposed "interview" with
the Indians should take place at a conference, or congress, of commis-
sioners from the different Colonies and Provinces, called to meet at
Albau}^ in June, 1754. In this year there was no security to the Eng-
lish colonists either on the frontiers from the Carolinas to Pennsylvania
or in the whole of western New York. The year was characterized by
alarms, apprehensions and murders, the formation of plans and their
failure. On the 17th of April, in what is now western Pennsylvania,
were begun the actual hostilities in the French and Indian War, or
in what became known in Europe as the "Seven Years' War" — the
final struggle of the French and English for supremacy in America.

By the middle of May there were in the field, beyond the Alleghe-
nies, about 1,000 troops from Virginia, Maryland, New York and North
and South Carolina — among them the young Virginian, Col. George
W^ashington. Near the close of May, when, one day, Washington
"found a party of French lurking at his front in a thicketed glade, he
did not hesitate to lead an attacking party of forty against them. The
young commander of the French scouts [de Jumonville] was killed in
the sharp encounter, and his thirty men were made prisoners. Men on
both sides of the sea knew, when they heard that news, that war had
begun. Young Washington had forced the hands of the statesmen in
London and Paris, and all Europe presently took fire from the flame he
had kindled."* Then followed Washington's advance to Great Meadows
(in what is now Fayette County, Pennsylvania) and the building of
"Fort Necessity," only to be followed by an honorable capitulation a
few days afterwards — on the 3d of July — to a force of about 700 French
and Indians. The next day the French commander. Captain de Villiers,
let Washington "go untouched, men and arms, with such stores as he
could carry."

On the last day of July Governor Dinwiddle of Virginia wrote to

the Governor of Pennsylvania :

"Mr. Washington had many of the Indians with him, but I observe these people
remain inactive till they see how affairs go, and, generally speaking, side with the con-
querors. Little dependence is to be put in them. The 'Half King'f and several other
Indians are now among the back settlements of this or your Government."

* Woodrow Wilson's "A History of the American People," II : 82.

fTANACHARissoN, known as the "Half King," was a Seneca chief who, as early as 1748, at least, resided
at I<ogstown, mentioned on page 214. Schoolcraft says ("History of the Indian Tribes of the United
States," page 213): ^^Tanacharisson, who was the head sachem of the Mingo-Iroquois of the Ohio
Valley, was the presiding chief in the first council, or consultation, in which Washington took part.
In fact, he was well known among the tribes, and performed at the place of his residence the duties of a
charge d'affaires in modern diplomacy." He was faithful to the English interests, and, accompanying
Washington on his expedition in 1754, was present at the skirmish mentioned on the preceding page,
and claimed to have killed de Jumonville with his own hand.

Just before the fight at Great Meadows the "Half King," Scarooyady (mentioned on page 227) and
several other Indians who were with Washington, withdrew from the latter's command and with their
wives and children retired over the mountains into Virginia ; but before the middle of August they re-
moved thence to Aughwick (on the site of which Shirleysburg now stands, in Huntingdon Count}-, Penn-
sylvania). At this place then lived George Croghan, an Indian trader, who for some years had tieen em-
ployed by the Provincial avithorities in making treaties and assisting in various negotiations with the
Indians. "Next to Sir William Johnson, George Croghan was the most prominent figure among British
Indian agents during the period of the later French wars." In the Autumn of 1754 Croghan was in charge
at Aughwick of certain Six Nation and other Indians who had left the Ohio region and put themselves
under the protection of the Pennsylvania Government.

Under date of .September 3, 1754, Conrad Weiser made the following report to the Provincial Council
relative to the "Half King" (see Hazard's Register of Pennsylvania, IV : 320) : ''Tanacharisson, otherwise

262

While the "men of war" west of the AUeghenies were busy during
the Spring and Summer of 1754, the "men of peace" east of the moun-
tains were also busy, but in a different manner. On the 30th of ]\Iay
Governor Hamilton issued a commission to John Penn,* Richard Peters,!
Isaac NorrisI and Benjamin Franklin,! naming them as delegates (the
first two to represent the Proprietaries, the Lieutenant Governor and the
Council, and the latter two to represent the House, or Assembly) to the
Congress called to convene at Albany. "This being deemed a proper
time to get a purchase from the Indians of more land," wrote Mr. Peters
in 1774,11 "and which was become absolutely necessary by the numbers
of people that had come into the Province, and could not be kept witliin
the bounds of the purchased lands^ ]\Ir. John Penn and myself were
instructed and empowered to make as extensive a purchase as the In-
dians could be prevailed upon to make." Agreeably to the desire of
Lieutenant Governor De Lancey Conrad Weiser was sent with the Penn-
sylvania Commissioners, to serve as one of the Indian interpreters at
the Congress. Weiser objected, however, to acting in the capacity of
interpreter-in-chief.

called the 'Half King," complained very much of the behavior of Colonel Washington to him— though in
a verj- moderate way, saying the Colonel was a good natured man, but had no experience — saying that he
took upon him to command the Indians as his slaves, and that he would by no means take advice from
the Indians. That he made no fortifications at all, but that little thing upon the Jleadows, when he
thought the French would come up to him in the open field. That had he [Washington] taken the 'Half
King's' advice and made such fortifications as the 'Half King' advised, he would certainly have beaten off
the French. That the French had acted as great cowards and the English as fools, and that he, the 'Half
King,' had carried off his wife and children (so had other Indians) before the battle began, because Colonel
Washington would never listen to them, but was always driving them on to fight by his directions." .

Earfy in October, 1754, the "Half King," Scarooyady and about eighteen other Indians from Aughwick,
were at the house of John Harris, an Indian trader at Paxtang, Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, where,
on the 4th of the month, the "Half King" died after a very brief illness. Concerning hisi death John Har-
ris wrote to Governor Hamilton : "Those Indians that were here blame the French for his death, by
bewitching him, as they had a conjurer to inquire into the cause a few days before he died, and it is his
opinion, together with his relations, that the French have been the cause of their great man's death, by
reason of his striking them lately. * * All the Indians that are here are in great trouble."

Scarooj-ady, or .Scaronage, alias Monecatootha, succeeded Tanacharisson as "Half King." He was an
Oneida chieftan who had resided for a number of years on the Ohio. At Aughwick he exercised for the
Six Nations a general jurisdiction over the western tribes similar to that performed by Shikellimy at
Shamokin. In the Spring of 175.5 he accompanied General Braddock on his campaign, at the head of a
force of 150 Senecas and Delawares. Before the middle of August following Scarooyady and a number of
other Indians who had sur\-ived the disasters of that campaign proceeded to Philadelphia in charge of
Conrad Weiser. On the 15th of Augu.st, at a meeting of the Council in Philadelphia, Lieutenant Governor
Hunter — who had succeeded Hamilton — addressing by name Scarooyady, Kahiktoton, and other Six
Nation Indians who were present, said : "Vou that are now here, * * * yovi fought under General
Braddock and behaved with spirit and valor during the engagement.''

* JOHX Penx, the eldest child of Richard and Hannah (Lardncr) Penn, and grand.son of William Penn,
the founder of Pennsylvania, was born in Philadelphia in 1728. His life, from 1752 to his death in Feb-
ruary, 1795, was mosti5- spent in Pennsylvania. He served as a member of the Provincial Council from
1753 to 1755, when he went to England. In the Autumn of 17b3 he returned to this country as Lieutenant
Governor of Pennsylvania for his father and uncle (Thomas), the then sole Proprietaries of the Province.
His arrival at Philadelphia, October 30, 1763, was thus chronicled by a writer of the period : "Our new
Governor, John Penn, arrived here on the 30th ult. and landed at the wharf with little previous notice :
and his introduction among us was attended with no ceremony, though a remarkable event happened
about two hours after [viz. 4:20 o'clock P. M.] * * * our city being shaken by an earthquake, which
broke up most of ye places of worship." Ciovernor Penn held his office until April, 1771, when he was
succeeded by the Hon. James Hamilton, previously mentioned, whom he had succeeded in November, 17(i3.
From September, 1773, to September, 177(5, John Penn was again Lieutenant Governor — having the dis-
tinction of being the last Proprietary Governor of Penn.sylvania. He continued in this country- during
the Revolutionar},' War.

fRiCH.-^RD Peters (who is also mentioned on page 256) was born in Liverpool, England, in 1711, and
was educated at Wadham College, Oxford. About 1735 or '36 he came to this country- with his brotlier
William and settled in Philadelphia, where, about 1741, he became Rector of Christ Church. In 1770, being
then Rector of this Church and St. Peter's, Philadelphia, the degree of D. D. was conferred upon him bv
Oxford University. In 1741 he became Secretary of the Provincial Council, and this office he held until
1762, when he was succeeded by Col. Joseph Shippen. He died at "Belmont Hill, "Philadelphia, July 10,
1776. The Rev. Richard Peters was nev