Production Note Cornell University Library produced this volume to replace the irreparably deteriorated original. It was scanned using Xerox software and equipment at 600 dots per inch resolution and compressed prior to storage using CCITT Group 4 compression. The digital data were used to create Cornells replacement volume on paper that meets the ANSI Standard Z39.48-1984. The production of this volume was supported in part by the New York State Program for the Conservation and Preservation of Library Research Materials and the Xerox Corporation. Digital file copyright by Cornell University Library 1994.THE STORY OF CAPTAIN JASPER PARRISH, CAPTIVE, INTERPRETER AND UNITED STATES SUB- AGENT TO THE SIX NATIONS INDIANS.* Jasper Parrish with his father was captured on the 5th day of July, 1778, by a small party of Monsief Indians, and conducted by them up the Delaware River to a place called Cook House, where they arrived six days afterwards. TenJ * This narrative is here published from the original manuscript by kind permission of the owner, Mrs. William Gorham of Canandaigua, whose late husband was a grandson of Jasper Parrish. Regarding certain peculiarities of the narrative Mrs. Gorham writes: “We do not know who wrote it. . . . We know that Jasper Parrish dictated it; I have heard his daughter, my mother- in-law, say so many times.” The manuscript is not dated, but alludes to “the present time, 1822,” which fixes the year of its composition. There is in the possession of the Buffalo Historical Society a copy of an unpublished paper written by the Hon. Orlando Allen, about 1869. This paper includes a sketch of Parrish’s captivity, which, wrote Mr. Allen, “I copied from a paper lent me by his grand-daughter, Mrs. Carrie Draper, nie Cobb, of Canandaigua.” The biography thus incorporated bears the following heading: “A Sketch of the Captivity of the late Captain Jasper Parrish, Se-ne-at'-do-wa, Big Throat, as he was named by the Indians, prepared by his son Stephen Parrish, from short notes written by his father a few years before his death which occurred at Canandaigua, his place of residence, July 12, 1836, aged 69 years and 4 months.” The two narratives, that which we here print, and that written by Stephen Parrish, in the main relate the same incidents, but in different phraseology; both drawn from Jasper Parrish’s own notes, but written out either by dif- ferent persons or by Stephen Parrish at different times. We print the fuller document, with occasional reference to the Stephen Parrish narrative among the Orlando Allen papers. The latter begins with the following statement, not contained in the Gorham MS.: “My father was born in the year 1767, at Windham, Conn., and removed with his father’s family, at a very early day, to some point across the head waters of the Delaware River, in the State of New York.” fMunseys, a branch of the Delawares. t “Two days,” Stephen Parrish narrative. 527528 STORY OF JASPER PARRISH. days from their arrival at Cook House, the father was taken to the British at Fort Niagara, where he was surrendered to them, and two years thereafter was exchanged as a pris- oner of war and returned to his family. When captured, Jasper Parrish and his father were about six miles from home and had five horses with them. Cook House, where they were first conducted; was a small place where eight families of the Monsie tribe of Indians resided. While in this situation Jasper Parrish belonged to a captain or war chief of this tribe by the name of Cap- tain Mounsh. In a few days after reaching Cook House Captain Mounsh left his prisoner in the charge of an In- dian family and went off to the West. During this time the Indians offered no violence to young Parrish, who was then a boy only eleven years old. He was permitted to ride one of their horses, and in other respects was treated with much kindness. While with this family he was very ill with dysentery, owing to a change of diet and habits. The Indians tried to relieve him by administering some of their remedies, but he was so afraid that they would poison him that he refused. At length, however, he consented, and the medicine gave him immediate relief, so that in a few days he entirely re- covered. The medicine was a black syrup made from roots and herbs. The Indians generally appeared to be friendly and took good care of him; at the same time they said that by and by they would take the Yankee boy’s scalp, accompanied with motions and gestures of scalping. This conduct of the Indians kept him in continual apprehension, until his master, Capt. Mounsh, returned. On the ist of October, Capt. Mounsh set out with his prisoner for Chemung. The first settlement of Indians they came to was on the Big Bend on the Susquehanna River. They continued without delay until they reached Chemung, where they remained the following winter/ On their arrival at that place and before they entered the vil- lage, young Parrish’s master gave the Indian scalp halloo very loud, which is . a long drawn sound, the accent on theSTORY OF JASPER PARRISH. 529 test a and pronounced like “quaqa.” At this the Indian men and boys came running from every part of the village to the center. This was a very noted place to make pris- oners run the gauntlet. As soon as they came to the center of the village, the Indians set up a horrid yell, and came running to Capt. Mounsh and his prisoner as they were riding, and getting hold of young Parrish bore him with great violence from his horse to the ground, and like so many tigers began to beat him with clubs, whips and handles of tomahawks. At length after he received a ter- rible beating, his master interfered, and spoke very loud to them in the Monsie language, and said, “It is enough.” At this they stopped beating him, and after a short time he was able to get up and was conducted to an Indian hut or cabin, where he remained until the next day, being completely cov- ered with bruises. In a few days he was sold to a Delaware Indian family who lived on the south side of the Tioga River. They paid the sum of twenty dollars for him. Immediately his former master left the place and went west to Fort Niagara, where, in a drunken frolic with another Indian, he was stabbed and killed. Young Parrish remained with the Delaware family on the Tioga River* during the winter and spring of 1779. During the winter he was very scantily clad, and his suffer- ing from both cold and hunger was great, the winter being long and severe. His food was the same as that of the In- dians and consisted of venison, wolf, dog, fox and muskrat, and some wild fowls. Very little corn was to be found at this time among,the Indians, and salt was not to be had as there were no white people short of Niagara to whom they could apply for relief. During the winter he was compelled with two Indian boys (the snow was very deep) to go down to the river, a distance of thirty rods, and then throw off their blankets and jump in the river through a hole cut in the ice, then put on their blankets and return to the cabin. This he was obliged to go through repeatedly in the coldest * “An Indian family of the Delaware tribe who resided near the village on the south side of the Tioga River.”—S. P.530 STORY OF JASPER PARRISH. weather, which was done, the Indians told him, to make him tough so he might stand the cold weather. When the Spring opened and the warm weather came on, he with the Indians was accustomed to go hunting, fishing and digging ground-nuts to procure something to support themselves. They continued this manner of living until the middle of the summer, when he and three Indians went up the Tioga to a place called Chemung Narrows on a hunting trip for a few days. While encamped here near the river the Indians killed several deer. In three or four days after they arrived, the Indians got out of lead, and one evening as they were sitting by the fire, one of them remarked that he would get some tomorrow. Parrish thought it very strange that he should be able to obtain lead in one day when there were no white people of whom they could pro- cure it nearer than Niagara. However, the next morning the three Indians took their guns and went off as usual, as he supposed hunting. In the afternoon the Indian who spoke of getting lead returned with about a peck of lead ore tied up in his blanket; dropped it before the fire, and di- rected Parrish to make up a large fire with dry wood, which he did. The Indian placed the ore on the top of the fire and scraped away the ashes under the fire so as to give a place for the lead to run into as it melted. Then with an iron ladle he dipped up the lead and poured it into pieces of bark as it melted, until the whole was separated from the dross. Parrish thought that he must have obtained from eight to ten pounds of pure lead. Three days after the Indians re- turned with him to Chemung. By this time Parrish had been a captive, with the Indians for about one year, during which time he had seldom heard the English language spoken. He had acquired enough of the Indian language to understand their conversation very well and could speak so as to be understood by them. He remained at this place with the Indian family that had bought him until the last of August, 1779, at which time Gen. Sullivan was marching with his army into the Indian country to chastise them for their many enormities. The Indians were collecting a large force at Newtown, near El- tSTORY OF JASPER PARRISH. 531 mira, to attack Gen. Sullivan, and selected a point about four miles below Newtown, where they intended to make the contemplated stand and surprise him, if possible while he was advancing. They had placed the baggage, squaws and provisions about one mile back from where they were lying in wait for Sullivan; had gathered together a large war party, among whom were some few whites, and they were very confident of success. Soon after the battle began the Indians found that they could not hold their position, as Sullivan was making an attempt to surround them, and they immediately dispatched a runner to the place where the squaws, baggage and provisions were left with directions for them to pack up and retreat up the river to Painted Post, which they immediately did. Parrish and a number of young Indians were among the party. The Indians being hard pressed soon retreated from the battleground and next day overtook them at Painted Post. The party of Indians who had charge of Parrish imme- diately took up their march westward by way of Bath, Gene- seo, Tonawanda and so on to Fort Niagara, then a British post. Here they remained till late in the Fall, furnished with salt provision by the British, which the Indians being unaccustomed to, occasioned a great deal of disease and death. A short time after the whole of the Six Nations of In- dians were encamped on the plain around the Fort. While thus encamped they had a general drunken frolic, which re- sulted in the death of one Indian. Upon this the Indian law of retaliation was resorted to by the friends of the dead Indian, and in less than an hour five Indians were lying dead, before the chiefs could restrain their warriors. While at Fort Niagara with the Delaware family, Par- rish learned that the British were offering a guinea bounty for every Yankee scalp that was taken and brought in by the Indians. He was afterwards told that they offered this bounty for the purpose of getting the Indians to disperse in small war parties on the frontier of the State as they were becoming very troublesome at Fort Niagara. Parrish was with them in camp at this place about six532 STORY OF JASPER PARRISH. weeks. At a certain time a number of the Indians belonging to the same family as his master got drunk in the evening. Two of the Indians were left alone with Parrish at the camp, and were sitting on the side of the fire opposite to him. They soon fell into conversation how they could procure some more rum. After a short time one of them observed to the other, they would kill the young Yankee and take his scalp to the Fort, and sell it and then they would be able to buy some more rum. The young Yankee understood all the conversation and put himself on his guard in case they should make an attempt against him. In a few minutes one of the Indians drew a long half-burned brand from the fire and hurled it at Parrish’s head, but he being on the alert dodged the brand, sprang up and ran out into the bushes which surrounded the encampment. The Indians attempted to follow him, but being drunk and the night very dark Parrish escaped them, keeping away until the next morning and the Indians became sober, when he returned again to the camp. While he was with the Indians near Niagara, five died out of his master’s family, including his wife. One day Parrish’s Indian master took him into Fort Ni- agara, where he offered to sell him to the white people, none of whom appeared willing to purchase him. At length his master met with a large, fine, portly-looking Mohawk In- dian by the name of Capt. David Hill, who bought him from his Delaware master for the sum of $20, without any hesi- tation. Capt. Hill was then living on the plain immediately below and adjoining the Fort. He led Parrish away and conducted him to his home or cabin, where having arrived Capt. Hill said to him in English, “This is your home; you must stay here.” His reflections were not very pleasant on his change pf masters, after becoming well acquainted with the Delaware language to be under the necessity of acquiring a new one; the Mohawk differing entirely from the Delaware. Then, to make new acquaintances and friends after becoming at- tached as he did to his Delaware master.* The change of masters, however, proved to be very fortunate and' happy. * “He had been very well treated by his Delaware protector/’—S. P.STORY OF JASPER PARRISH. 533 Parrish resided in Capt. Hill’s family five years and up- wards, during all of which time they furnished him with the necessary Indian clothing and an abundance of comfortable food. He passed all that time in traveling with the Indians and in hunting, fishing and working, but they never com- pelled him to do any hard work, or anything beyond his ability or endurance. In the month of November, 1780,* the chiefs of the Six Nations held a general council with the British at Fort Ni- agara. Capt. Hill took his prisoner into the midst of this council, and into the midst of the assembled chiefs, and in the most formal manner had him adopted into his family as a son. He placed a large belt of wampum around his neck, then an old chief took iiim by the hand and made a long speech such as is customary among the Indians on similar occasions. He spoke with much dignity and solemnity, often interrupted by the other chiefs with exclamations of “Ma-ho-e,” which is a mark of attention and approbation. After the speech was concluded the chiefs arose and came forward and shook hands with the adopted prisoner and the ceremony closed. His Indian father then came to him and asked him to return home. He remained here at Fort Niag- ara with him during the following winter. In May [1781] Capt. Hill and the Mohawk Indians re- moved to and made a settlement at a point higher up on the Niagara River at a place now known as Lewiston. Here Parrish lived among the Mohawks in the family of his In- dian father and mother until the close of the Revolutionary War. During this time he was frequently with Capt. Hill traveling among other tribes and nations of Indians, in- variably receiving from his adopted father’s family and other Indians among whom he sojourned, the greatest kind- ness; his wants were attended to, and many acts of kind- ness were shown him, as well as many favors during his captivity. In September, 1784, a treaty of peace between the United States and the six nations of Indians was held at Fort Stan- wix, now Rome, Oneida Co., at which the Indians promised * S. Parrish’s narrative says “November, 1779;” 1780 is right.534 STORY OF JASPER PARRISH. to give up all prisoners captured and detained among them, belonging to or captured in the United States. There were at this time among the Six Nations ninety-three white pris- oners, Parrish among the number. On November 29, 1784, he left Lewiston accompanied by the Indians to be sur- rendered at Fort Stanwix. Immediately afterwards he set out on his return to his own family and friends, whom he had not heard from, or of, during his long captivity, but whom he at length found at Goshen, Orange Co., N. Y. He had heard the English language so rarely, and had been so totally unaccustomed to speak it himself that he could with difficulty make himself understood. He was destitute of education and was able to devote but very little time to school on his return home, receiving only nine months' schooling.* With this exception he was wholly self-taught and educated from his after-reading and intercourse with the world. In November, 1790, lie was requested by Timothy Picker- ing, commissioner on the part of Congress to act as inter- preter between the Seneca Indians and the Government at a treaty held at that time at Tioga Point. He was called upon again by the same commissioner to act as interpreter at an- other treaty at Newtown Point (near Elmira), in July, 1791. This treaty was held with the Six Nations of In- dians. Here he gained a good deal of commendation and applause from the commissioner and the Indians for the very accurate and faithful manner in which he rendered the Indian language. In April, 1792, he was appointed by President Washington as a standing interpreter for the Six Nations of Indians, and was instructed to reside at Canan- darque under the direction and instruction of Gen. Israel Chapin, then agent to the Six Nations.f In November, 1794, another treaty was held with the Six Nations at Canandaigua, the Hon. Timothy Pickering pre- siding as commissioner on the part of the United States, where again he was the principal interpreter. This treaty * “About a year.”—S. P. tHis salary was $200 per year. (Letter, Pickering to Parrish.)STORY OF JASPER PARRISH. 53 o now remains as the governing treaty between the Six Na- tions and the United States to the present time, 1822. After serving as interpreter thirteen years, he was ap- pointed sub-agent and interpreter by the President of the United States, on the 15th of February, 1803.* These two appointments he held through all the successive administra- tions down to the second term of Gen. Jackson, transacting all kinds of business between the United States and the Six Nations, and also between the State of New York and the Indians. He also officiated as interpreter and was present at very many other treaties during his term of office. He was very anxious to civilize the Indians by inculcating among them habits of industry and instructing them how to culti- vate their lands and endeavoring to impress them with the use of property and the value of time. In his endeavors to effect this object, he has found a friendly disposition among the Oneidas and Tuscarora tribes, and among the Senecas residing at the Buffalo Reservation, except Red Jacket, to welcome missionaries and schoolmasters, and all instruction calculated to ameliorate their condition. Teachers and mis- sionaries meet with considerable encouragement among them, and the children of the above-named tribes are receiv- ing from schools very great benefit. Much good has already been accomplished and greater advancement been made in six years in husbandry than have been made in forty years before. They are tilling their land much better, making good fences and building more comfortable dwellings for themselves. The means that are placed in the hands of the agents by the Government enable them to furnish each tribe annually with all necessary farming utensils, and all implements of * The following is copied from the War Department records: To Jasper Parrish Esquire. v Sir: You are hereby with the approbation of the President of the United States, appointed a Sub-Agent, to the Six Nations of Indians, residing within the territories of the said United States, now under the general superintend- ence of Callender Irvine Esquire. For your government in discharging the various duties of this appointment, you will from time to time, -be furnished with general instructions, and particular directions, as circumstances may call for, or render necessary. Your compensation will be a salary of Four hun- dred & fifty dollars, per annum, payable quarter Yearly. Given under my hand at the War Office of the United States this 15th day of February 1803. (L. S.) H. Dearborn.536 STORY OF JASPER PARRISH. husbandry to enable them properly to till the land, and they are instructed how to use them. They are thus able to raise a considerable surplus of grain-beyond what is needed for their own consumption, instead of being dependent upon the precarious results of the chase. During the time I* was prisoner among them for six years and eight months, and for many years subsequent to the Revolutionary War, the use of the plough was entirely unknown to them, but they are now familiar with almost every essential farming implement. Notwithstanding this great advance toward improvement, and all the efforts made by the Government and citizens to Christianize the Six Na- tions, the noted Red Jacket has been and still is violently opposed to all innovations upon their old customs, and all changes iti their condition. He says they were created In- dians, and Indians they should remain, and that he will hever relinquish their ancient pagan customs and habits. Further Data on Jasper Parrish. The foregoing narrative, written fourteen years before the death of Jasper Parrish, is of course without allusion to his later years. His services as inter- preter merit a fuller record than the present editor can here make. It has been shown in preceding pages of this volume how often he was associated with Horatio Jones, at treaties and councils; and he shared with his fellow-interpreter the favor of the Senecas, marked by their gift to him of the mile square on the Niagara now known as the Parrish tract. Jasper Parrish bore a prominent part in the negotiations which culminated in the treaty held at Albany, August 20, 1802, at which the Senecas sold to the State the tract a mile wide, extending from Buffalo Creek along, the Niagara River to “Sted- man’s farm,” at Fort Schlosser. They received for this land $200 down, $5300 to be paid later, and $500 worth of calico for their women; also the right to go upon the Mile Strip to fish in the river, to cross the Niagara ferry free of charge, and to be exempt from tolls on roads and bridges. Embodied in this treaty were the grants to Jasper Parrish and Horatio Jones of a mile square, heretofore described. Jones does not appear to have attended this treaty at Albany. Parrish was the interpreter, and the next day (August 21st) appeared before Justice James Kent to certify to the genuine- * The original MS. here changes from the third person to the first; evi- dently the writer concluded the narrative in Jasper Parrish’s own words.STORY OF JASPER PARRISH. 537 ness of the Indian consents. March 14, 1803, Parrish, Farmer's Brother, Young King and Benjamin DeWitt certified that the Senecas had received the full amount stipulated in the treaty. Prior to this time Parrish had interpreted an address made by Saccaressa, chief of the Tuscaroras, to the acting Secretary of War; in which, speaking for the remnant of his people, the Tuscarora statesman (such he truly was) begged that the Tuscarora claim to lands on the Roanoke in North Carolina might be recognized, that they might be sold and the proceeds applied to the purchase of a tract in the neighborhood of their present residence near Lewiston.* A less important but characteristic service rendered to his Indian friends by Jasper Parrish is indicated by the following, copied ver- batim from the original :f Canandaigua, June 16th, 1803. Sir, The Bearer one of the Cattaraugus Chiefs, is wishing to receive a map of their reservation, agreeable to a promis from Joseph Ellicott Esqr, as he says, thay was to have a map of their reservation given to them. I am sir, your friend and humble servent , Jasper Parrish. Benjamin Eeli'cott Esqr. The letter is worth noting chiefly because it illustrates the atti- tude of helpfulness and friendliness which Jasper Parrish main- tained towards the Indians throughout his life. By a treaty entered into at Buffalo, September 12, 1815, the Senecas sold to the State all the islands in the Niagara River, within the jurisdiction of the United States, reserving to themselves hunt- ing and fishing privileges. For these islands the treaty stipulated that the Senecas should receive $1000 down, and an annuity of $500 in perpetuity. The name of Red Jacket is the first appended to this agreement. Among others in the long list of Senecas and whites are those of Pollard, Little Billy and Young King, Captain Shongo, Horatio Jones’s old friend Sharp Shins, Governor Daniel D. Tomp- kins, Gen. Peter B. Porter, Horatio Jones and Jasper Parrish. For fourteen years the Indians went to Canandaigua every June for their money; this proving expensive and troublesome an agreement was entered into by which they received their money annually in a draft payable at Buffalo. This agreement is called the Albany treaty of March 6, 1830. Jasper Parrish attended a council of the Six Nations chiefs at Buffalo, in December, 1823, regarding their purchase of lands from the Menomonees at Green Bay, Wis. The Indians decided to send a delegation the next spring to examine the country. Jasper Parrish * War Dept. Records, February 11, 1801. t Among the Holland Land Co.’s papers, in the possession of the Buffalo Historical Society.538 STORY OF JASPER PARRISH. conducted their correspondence in the matter; his letters to the Hon. John C. Calhoun, Secretary of War, are preserved in that de- partment. Jasper Parrish married in early life a daughter of General Ed- ward Paine of Aurora, N. Y., who in the early period of the settle- ment of Ohio, located and gave name to the village of Painesville. He died at Canandaigua, July 12, 1836, aged 69 years and 4 months. He left a family of six children, three sons and three daughters. The eldest of the daughters married Ebenezer S. Cobb, who was lost on the steamboat Erie, which burned near Dunkirk in 1841. The second daughter married William W. Gorham of Canandaigua, son of Nathaniel Gorham.* * Stephen Parrish narrative in Orlando Allen’s MS.