., .1.1.1,1. 
 
•i-m' 
 
 CORNELL 
 
 UNIVERSITY 
 
 LIBRARY 
 
 THE 
 ANNA ALLEN WRIGHT 
 
 LIBRARY ENDOWMENT FUND 
 
a 
 
 Cornell University 
 Library 
 
 The original of this book is in 
 the Cornell University Library. 
 
 There are no known copyright restrictions in 
 the United States on the use of the text. 
 
 http://www.archive.org/details/cu31924006012474 
 
_ Cornell University Library 
 
 E 99.S3S88 1866 
 
 The Life and times of Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, o 
 
 3 1924 006 012 474 
 
 oUn 
 
--^^ 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE AND TIMES 
 
 OP 
 
 SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA, OR RED JACKET, 
 
 BY THE LATE 
 
 WILLIAM L. STONE 
 
 WITH A 
 
 xl' 
 
 MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR, 
 
 BY HIS SON. 
 
 ALBANY, N Y.: 
 
 .vv^' 
 
 #\^^^' 
 
 J. MUNSELL, 78 STATE STREET. //'"/• ,r, 
 
 1866. ^ / 
 
 I * 
 
TO 
 
 THE MEMOEY 
 
 OF 
 
 M^ Mot\^cv, 
 
 THIS 
 
 MEMOIR 
 
 IS 
 
 Affectionately Inscribed. 
 
 ■^.^^v ■ V 
 
PREFACE. 
 
 The original design of the late William L. Stone, in 
 writing his Indian histories, contemplated a complete ac- 
 count of the great Iroquois Confederacy, from the discovery 
 to the present time. This history was to be embraced in 
 four distinct works: the Earlij History of the Iroquois 
 from the discovery to the year 1735 ; the Life of Sir William 
 Johnson, the Life of Brant, and the Life of Red Jacket. 
 Circumstances, which are explained in the Life of Brant, 
 induced the preparation of that work first: afterward, the 
 present work was written ; and shortly before his death the 
 Life and Times of Sir William Johnson was begun. 
 
 The design of the lives of Johnson and Brant was not 
 merely to embrace the biographies of the principal person- 
 ages themselves, but, under the shadow of their names, to 
 preserve the history of the Six Illations during their lives ; 
 and, also, to gather up and reduce to form, in the life of 
 the latter, the rich materials of the previously unwritten 
 border history of the American revolution. 
 
 The present volume, containing the life of the great 
 Seneca orator, was constructed upon the same plan. After 
 the death of Brant, Red Jacket became the man of greatest 
 distinction among the Six !N^ations; and, in writing his life, 
 
vi Peepace. 
 
 the author has used him as he did Eraut, as the principal 
 figure in iUustrating the history of the Six ISTations down 
 to the conckision of the treaty for the sale of the residue of 
 the Seneca lands, in the autumn of 1838. That treaty, 
 since carried into execution, extinguished the confederacy 
 of the A-QUA-NU-scHi-o-Ni, or United People, — a confede- 
 racy, the duration of which is lost in the shadowy ohscurity 
 of tradition for ages before the sound of the white wood- 
 man's axe rang upon the solemn stillness of the forest con- 
 tinent. The Life of Bed Jacket, therefore, may be consid- 
 ered as the continuation and conclusion of the History of 
 the Six Nations. While, however, the lives of Johnson, 
 Brant and Red Jacket, taken together, are intended as a 
 complete history of the Six Nations from the year 1735 to 
 1838, and, as such, have been printed uniformly, yet each 
 work of the series forms in itself a distinct narrative. 
 
 One division of the work meditated by the author re- 
 mains to be executed, viz : the yet earlier history of the 
 Iroquois Confederacy, from the discovery down to the year 
 1735, when Mr. Johnson first settled among the Mohawks 
 in the valley of their own beautiful river. This work it is 
 my hope to write as soon as circumstances will permit. 
 
 " In regard to the present volume," says Mr. Stone in his 
 preface to the first edition of this work, " the author can 
 only say that he has made it as full and perfect as the ma- 
 terials which he has been able to collect would allow. The 
 subject of the memoir, it must be remembered, could speak 
 but very httle Enghsh, and could not write at all. He 
 could therefore maintain no written correspondence, and 
 
Preface. vii 
 
 consequently left no letters, or other written memorials, to 
 aid Ms biographer. Such was not the fact in the case of 
 Brant, whose papers were of vast assistance. It must also 
 be kept in mind that Brant was a man of war, and Red 
 Jacket a man of peace. Hence in a memoir of the latter 
 a far smaller amount of stirring and bloody iDcident is to 
 be anticipated, than in one of the former. Indeed in this 
 respect the books are widely dissimilar. And yet it is 
 hoped that it will be found not altogether devoid of inter- 
 est. The name of E,ed Jacket, as the great orator of the 
 Six IsTations, is among those most famihar to the American 
 ear ; and this volume is the first complete record of his 
 forensic efforts that has ever appeared. JS^either diligence 
 nor expense has been spared to make the collection perfect 
 of all the chieftain's speeches, and notes of speeches, that 
 have been preserved. These have been arranged in the 
 text, according to the dates of their delivery, and in con- 
 nexion with the history of the occasions and events which 
 called them forth. The author is aware that to this feature 
 of his arrangement some may object that the text of the 
 narrative should not be thus interrupted, and that the 
 speeches might better have been thrown back into an ap- 
 pendix. But he thinks differently. Had they been thus 
 disposed of they would not have been read, such being 
 the usual destiny of speeches, letters and documents 
 crowded together at the end of almost every book of his- 
 tory. And certainly , when they ar^ read, they are likely 
 to be better understood and appreciated, if taken in their 
 proper historical connexion — illustrating the occasions or 
 
viii Preface. 
 
 events by wliieli they were elicited, and in turn receiving 
 such illustrations from the historian as seem to be required. 
 
 In several instances the narrative, notes and appendix 
 have been made fuller in the present edition than in the 
 former. This the editor has been enabled to do by the aid 
 of manuscripts collected by the author after the work had 
 passed through the press. 
 
 As the Life of Red Jacket was the last historical work 
 
 which Mr. Stone lived to complete, it has been deemed not 
 inappropriate to accompany the present volume by a sketch 
 of his life and writings. This has accordingly been writ- 
 ten by his son, who, with this explanation, now offers a new 
 edition of Red Jacket to the public. 
 
 William L. Stone. 
 Saratoga Springs^ January \st^ 1866. 
 
THE 
 
 LIFE AND WRITINGS 
 
 OF 
 
 WILLIAM LEETE STONE 
 
 The father of the subject of the present memoir was the Rev. 
 William Stone, a congregational clergyman, and a great grand-son 
 of Governor Leete of Connecticut, well known in connection with the 
 regicides, Groffe and Whalley. He was a native of Gruilford, and 
 was directly descended, on the side both of father and mother, from 
 two of the Puritan band of colonists, who, in 1639, planted that 
 town. Never was there a settlement formed of more rigid Puritans 
 than that of Guilford, and there is no town in New England where 
 the peculiarities of that noble race of men have been more faith- 
 fully transmitted from father to son than in that. In his habits of 
 thinking, his style of writing, and his undeviable principles of civil 
 and religious liberty, he belonged more to the age of the Pilgrims 
 than to his own. He was, moreover, a soldier of the revolution, as 
 well as of the church militant. In the earlier part of the war he 
 left his books and went into the army to relieve a brother who was 
 in ill health. The brother died, but patriotism, in those days, was 
 something more than a name, and the love of country induced him 
 to enlist for the additional term of three years, during which he saw 
 much service. He was at the battles of White Plains, Brandywine 
 and Monmouth; suffered with the American army during that 
 dreary winter at Valley Forge ; and was present at the execution of 
 Andre. " I shall ever remember your grand-father," said the late 
 General Wilcox of Killingworth to the writer, "for in the army he 
 
 9 
 
10 The Life and Writings of 
 
 always carried a Hebrew Bible and the whole works of Josepbus in 
 his knapsack." When peace was declared and the army disbanded, 
 he retired, like a great majority of the soldiers, poor in the goods 
 of this world, but rich in those noble sentiments which the revolu- 
 tion had inspired. He, however, completed his studies at Yale, 
 married, and accepted a parish in the then extensive town of New- 
 Paltz, Ulster county, New York — the Reverend Stanley Griswold 
 (afterward governor of Michigan under Mr. Jefferson) preaching 
 the ordination sermon. 
 
 While at New-Paltz, his son, the subject of the present sketch, 
 was born on the 20th of April, 1Y92 ; and shortly after he gave up 
 his parish, and, removing into the valley of the Susquehanna, 
 began clearing a piece of land which he had recently purchased. 
 The country was at that time a complete wilderness, full of savage 
 men and savage beasts ; and the adventures of young Stone, during 
 his early pioneer life, formed the material which was afterward 
 wrought up by him into stirring border tales. ^ During his boyhood 
 his days were passed in cultivating his father's farm, and his nights 
 in acquiring a knowledge of Latin and Greek under the supervision 
 of his father, who was a thorough master of the ancient languages. 
 When seventeen years of age, chancing to see in a newspaper an 
 advertisement for a printer's apprentice, he with difficulty obtained 
 permission of his parents — who could ill' spare him — to apply for 
 the situation. The sun was just sinking behind the hills, when, 
 with a single Mexican quarter in his pocket and a small bundle of 
 clothes in his hand, he set out on his journey through the woods to 
 Cooperstown, which he reached the next morning at sunrise, having 
 walked forty miles during the night. Colonel John H. Prentiss, the 
 
 1 In conBection with his early pioneer life Mr. Stone used to relate the following 
 amusing anecdote — various versions of which have been frequently given in school 
 reading books. One day, while eating his dinner in a saw-mill which he tended for his 
 father, he descried a bear coming down upon him full tilt. Having no weapon by him 
 he left his dinner on the saw-log, and forgetting to stop the saw, clambered up onto a 
 rafter. The bear came into the mill, and seating himself on the log began eating the 
 dinner. Presently the log carried the bear to the saw, which grazed the animal's back. 
 He gave a growl and moved a little. Again the saw scratched him, and again he moved. 
 At length, upon the saw repeating its familiarity the third time, he turned, hugged 
 the saw with a defiant growl, and, before he could extricate himself, was sawn half in 
 two. The meat furnished the family with food for seyer^l^yeeks. 
 
William Leete Stone. 11 
 
 editor of the Cooperstown Federalist, pleased with his energy, at 
 once gave him the situation on the condition that his parents should 
 clothe him for three years. The means, however, both of father and 
 son, must have been exceedingly limited, since in a letter, written by 
 the former at this time to his son, occurs the following passage : 
 " I would willingly procure you a good hat if I could but, at present 
 have no other way than buying at Burlington [N. Y.] and settling 
 for it out of the next proceeds of that farm. Could you get one in 
 that way, not exceeding five dollars in value, you have my liberty." 
 Long, however, before the articles of apprenticeship had expired, he 
 was transferred to a wider field. 
 
 Previous to the year 1811 the county of Herkimer had been one 
 of the strongest democratic counties in the state — a character which 
 it retained until within a recent period. A democratic newspaper 
 had for several years been published in the village of Herkimer, 
 and the prominent federalists of the county were anxious to have a 
 paper that would be published in accordance with their political 
 creed. With this view a subscription was started, and a sum, of 
 the moderate amount of about seven hundred dollars, was raised for 
 the purpose of establishing a federal newspaper. A press and types 
 were procured, and Colonel Prentiss came over to Herkimer to put 
 the materials in order and to publish the paper. In due time The 
 Herkimer American appeared, and was for a few weeks conducted 
 by Colonel Prentiss in person. Having fairly started the paper he 
 returned to Cooperstown, leaving it under the direction of his brother. 
 The latter, however, proved not a prudent manager, and after a time, 
 Mr. Stone, then a journeyman printer, was sent over as a laborer in 
 the office at Herkimer, and as an assistant to the nominal conductor 
 of the paper. It was not long, however, after his arrival at Herki- 
 mer, before the entire management of the paper was entrusted to 
 him; Mr. Thurlow Weed,^ then a journeyman printer, being sent 
 
 IMr. Weed was at this time a democrat. It happened that jnst before an election — 
 there being no democratic printing press within several miles — Mr. Weed asked of Mr. 
 Stone the privilege of using his press to strike off the democratic tickets. This was good 
 humoredly granted by the federalist editor ; and the entire night was spent by the demo- 
 cratic apprentice in striking off tickets and handbills. Mr. Weed was paid for his night's 
 work five dollars, which, he often remarks with pardonable pride, was the first five dol- 
 lars he ever earned. 
 
12 The Life and Whitings op 
 
 over from Cooperstown by Colonel Prentiss to assist in the labor of 
 tbe office. He remained in tlie paper as subordinate to Mr. Pren- 
 tiss for a year, when he was enabled, in 1813, to purchase from him 
 his entire interest in it, which was then published under his own 
 name as proprietor and editor. It was, however, at first, up hill 
 work. " As to your pecuniary embarrassments," his father wrote to 
 him, at this time, "I expected you must meet and do with them as 
 well as you can. This is always the case when people enter into 
 business without the requisite means or sufficient capital ; and to you 
 it must be but a poor consolation to be informed that I can affi^rd no 
 pecuniary aid whatever. However, you must faithfully husband all 
 the means you can attain to, and use strict economy, diligence and 
 attention to your business if you wish to succeed." That he did 
 succeed is evident from the fact that within a year after the above 
 was written, he was able to meet all his notes to Mr. Prentiss in full . 
 
 " Mr. Stone was at this time," writes the venerable Lauren Ford, 
 who knew him well, " a young man, unacquainted with mankind and 
 the ways of the world, but, at this early period, evincing the pos- 
 session of those qualities and characteristics which subsequently con- 
 ducted him to distinction among the prominent newspaper editors of 
 the country. A cheerful, buoyant, and social temper, a resolution 
 that courageously encountered and overcame difficulties that some- 
 times appeared insurmountable, an ardent desire to improve himself 
 by reading the best authors that were within his reach, and by asso- 
 ciating with persons of education and intelligence — accompanied by 
 a character for personal honesty and integrity that never in his after 
 life was called in question — these were the prominent characteristics 
 of the inexperienced young man of whom I am writing. His indus- 
 try, also, in whatever he undertook was remarkable. On entering 
 his printing office a visitor would find him with his coat off, his 
 sleeves rolled up above his elbows, either at the case distributing a 
 stick of types, or at the old fashioned Kamage press, at one time pull- 
 ing the devil's tail, and at another distributing ink upon the 
 form with the rolls — then the only method of performing this part 
 of a printer's business." 
 
 In his endeavors to fit himself for the profession which he had 
 chosen he was also greatly aided by his father. In their corre- 
 
William Leete Stone. 13 
 
 spondence at this time, passages often occur of which the following 
 are fair samples: "When you write, always be plain, precise, and 
 exact in your expressions, and labor after accuracy of thought, and 
 a neat arrangement of words. While a shortness of hand is really 
 important and useful, grammatical precision is highly interesting to 
 a young man in your business and employ. Two or three of your 
 papers have come to hand. They are, at least, as good as I expected, 
 if not better. Some little inaccuracies of spelling were discovered 
 (perhaps the fault of the compositors), but none of them of any real 
 importance, and such I have frequently found in the Spectator and 
 other city papers. I am very much pleased to hear of your good 
 usage and real contentment where you reside, and the entire confi- 
 dence which they place in yoti. Endeavor to merit and not abuse 
 that confidence in all your conduct, life, and actions ; and labor by a 
 discreet, friendly and upright behavior to command the esteem of 
 all good men.'' In another letter, also, from his father at this period 
 occurs the following passage: ''Permit me to observe in the 
 ^ obituary ' of the last American^ you say, ' accidentally terminated 
 his existence' — an epithet employed to convey an idea of chance in 
 respect to man's final end and cessation of being. Accident, mean- 
 ing strictly chance, can never be with Grod who pervadeth and dis- 
 poseth all things for his own glory according to his own pleasure. 
 To terminate, also, signifieth to bound, limit by a goal or end ; and 
 terminate existence can never be admitted with those who hold to the 
 immutability of man before Grod, and the immutability of the human 
 soul. The foregoing remarks have been ofiered to impress you with 
 the importance of extreme precission in the use of words and 
 phrases you may choose. No one but yourself will see these stric- 
 tures, and by them I intend you good."^ 
 
 Connected with his first assuming the responsibility of editorship 
 
 lln another letter his father writes — "I remarked in a late number of your paper a 
 piece extracted from the Halcyon Luminary^ published in New York. This little piece 
 of verse was very equivocal and faulty, being founded upon an ambiguous translation of 
 a period at or near the time of St. John. The critical scholar would fault the translation 
 as erroneous, and the sentiment of the verse as much more. Tou will do well to be cau- 
 tious how and what extracts you may make from this or any work, which, under the spe- 
 cial pleas of uncommon religious benevolence and spiritual penetration into the arcana 
 of revelation, is covertly undermining Christianity, and intentionally laboring to bring 
 into disrespect the whole Christian economy." 
 
14 The Life and Writings of 
 
 is an incident which is still remembered in the Mohawk valley. " I 
 have a distinct reccollection," writes Mr. Ford, " of the first specimen 
 of Mr. Stone's own composition that he ever published in his paper. 
 The occasion was as follows : The mails between Utica and Albany 
 were then carried in the old fashioned stage wagons of Jason Porter, 
 and two days were spent in making the trip between the two points. 
 A single bag of very moderate dimensions contained the mail for all 
 the intermediate post ofiices, and was opened at every office on the 
 road. The whole contents of the mail bag were emptied upon a table 
 or upon the floor of the office, and the package for the particular 
 office selected. The remaining packages were then returned to the 
 bag, which was sent forward to the next town in the stage wagon. 
 Great irregularities and carelessness were said to exist in the man- 
 agement of the post office at Utica — packages were missent or mis- 
 laid; the mail bag was sent ofi" without being locked, and other 
 grievances were also alleged. 
 
 "In regard to this state of things Mr. Stone wrote a brief article 
 occupying a few lines in the paper. Before it was published the 
 editor came to the office, in which I was then a student, to consult 
 me on two points, first, in regard to the literary execution of the 
 article, and secondly, respecting the matter which it contained. 
 The tone and manner of the piece were decidedly spicy and trench- 
 ant. Upon enquiry I was assured that every statement of fact 
 contained in it was substantially true, and could easily be proved to 
 be so. I therefore advised him to publish it, and the next num- 
 ber of the Herhimer American contained the important article. It 
 occupied a space of fifteen or twenty lines. Such was the humble 
 commencement of the literary and editorial career of Mr. Stone. 
 The sequel is worth mentioning. 
 
 " A few days aft^r this publication Mr. Stone received a letter 
 from a distinguished lawyer, written in behalf of the Utica post- 
 master, complaining, in very decided tones, of the libellous character 
 of the article, demanding a retraction of the charges, and an apology 
 for the publication ; and concluding with a threat of a prosecution 
 for the libel unless these demands were promptly complied with. 
 Here was a dilemma. The young editor was alarmed, and again 
 came to me for assistance. Upon making more particular enquiry 
 
William Leete Stone. 15 
 
 respecting the matters stated in the obnoxious article, I was again 
 assured by the editor that every matter of fact stated was strictly 
 true, and could be proved with ease beyond doubt or cavil. I 
 accordingly again advised Mr. Stone to prepare and publish a 
 second article, reiterating what had been stated in the first, and 
 challenging the Utica postmaster to commence his threatened pro- 
 secution without delay. According to this advice a second article 
 was published. Prudence prevailed in the councils at Utica, and 
 the threatened prosecution was never commenced." Perhaps it 
 was in reference to this incident that his father at this time 
 wrote him a friendly word of caution. " You write, my son, 
 with a pen dipped in vinegar. Whatever you propose to efiect 
 in this way cannot be very flattering to the cause of humanity or 
 advance social good in the conamunity. I think you must soften 
 down, if not entirely leave this sarcastic and satirical way of 
 writing." 
 
 Another incident, connected with his residence at Herkimer^ 
 deserves mention, as illustrating the difficulties encountered in those 
 early days, in obtaining news for the press. 
 
 During the last war with Great Britain the route of the present 
 Central rail road, through the state, was that through which intel- 
 ligence from the army and navy on the northern and western frontier 
 of the United States was transmitted to Albany and Washington, 
 A very great anxiety to learn the news pervaded all classes of citizens. 
 The transmission of intelligence was slow, and not unfrequently 
 a week would elapse after an event occurred at Buffiilo, before it 
 would be known in Albany. Mr. Stone was in the habit of watch- 
 ing the arrival, at Herkimer, of the stage from the west, and while 
 the driver was changing his horses the editor was busily employed 
 in obtaining from the passengers such information, respecting affairs 
 on the frontier, as appeared to be authentic. In a few hours a 
 Herkimer American Extra would appear, containing in a very few 
 lines all the intelligence that he had collected. These Extras were 
 very much sought after, and were freely distributed through the 
 post office and otherwise in the various parts of the country. The 
 arrival of the stage at Herkimer from the west was quite irregular 
 in point of time ; and the editor has been frequently known to spend 
 
 \^ 
 
16 The Life and Writings of 
 
 a great part of the night at the stage office, waiting for the arrival 
 of the stage, to obtain the desired information. 
 
 Mr. Stone continued the publication of the Herhimer American 
 until the year 1814, when he sold his interest in the establishment 
 to Mr. Edward P. Seymour, and removed to Hudson, having pur- 
 chased the Northern Whig in that city, of which he immediately 
 became the editor. 
 
 While residing at Hudson he married a daughter of Rev. Francis 
 Waylaud of Saratoga Springs, and sister of Rev. Dr. Wayland, late 
 president of Brown University — a lady highly gifted, and of culti- 
 vated understanding, whose tasted and sympathies were peculiarly in 
 harmony with his own. In all his literary labors she was his asso- 
 ciate, counselor and companion ; and it was a frequent remark of his, 
 that he never considered any work finished until it had received her 
 approving smile. She was also a woman of truly Christian prin- 
 ciples, and, in this respect, her influence over her husband and all 
 around her, was felt as the dew — watering, refreshing, and making 
 green the barren places of life. 
 
 After remaining in Hudson for two years he sold out and removed 
 to Albany, having purchased the Albany Daily Advertiser^ which was 
 united with the Albany Gazette^ published by Websters & Skinners. 
 While thus employed an incident occurred, which is thus related by 
 Hammond in his Political History of New York. "William L. 
 Stone was then the conductor of the Albany Daily Advertiser^ a 
 leading federal paper. It was known to us all, that Colonel Stone, 
 although a federalist, was a decided friend to Grovernor Clinton, and 
 was determined, when he could do so with effect, to devote his paper 
 to his support. There were at that time, as there had been before 
 and have since been, many persons in attendance on the legislature as 
 agents to procure charters for banking and other companies. Mr. 
 Sharpe, of New York, and several other Bucktail members, took it 
 into their heads to deliver several severe philippics against the lobby, 
 expressing their suspicions that these agents would attempt to cor- 
 rupt the members of the legislature. Mr. James 0. Morse, a respect- 
 able lawyer from Otsego county, since first judge of that county, a 
 keen, sarcastic writer, and who himself occasionally visited Albany 
 for the purpose of procuring a charter for the Central bank, wrote a 
 
William Leete Stone. 17 
 
 communication tending to ridicule Mr. Sharpe and others, on account 
 of the apprehensions they aifected to entertain of the danger of 
 bribery and corruption by the lobby. Mr. Morse, among other 
 things, proposed, in his communication, that a wall should be erected 
 around the Capitol, so strong and high as to secure Mr. Sharpe and 
 his friends from the apprehended danger of an attack from the lobby. 
 This article appeared in Colonel Stone's paper; the suggestion I 
 have mentioned being the most offensive part of it. Colonel Stone 
 usually attended the senate to report the proceedings of that body 
 for his own paper, i Mr. Hart was pleased to consider this good 
 natured paragraph intended to take off some of the leading Buck- 
 tails of the assembly, as a contempt of the senate, and forthwith 
 moved a resolution that William L. Stone be excluded from the bar 
 of the senate. Mr. Hart soon found that such a resolution would not 
 be approved by that body, and therefore requested that it might lay 
 on the table; but at the instance of Colonel Stone Mr. P. R. Liv- 
 ingston soon afterward, highly to his credit, called for the consid- 
 eration of the resolution, and Mr. Stone, though he declined dis- 
 closing the name of the author of this treasonable article, having 
 assured the president of the senate that he did not intend, by its 
 publication, to treat either branch of the legislature disrespectfully, 
 it was unanimously decided that no farther proceedings should be 
 had in the matter. Here was a causeless attack made upon a news- 
 paper editor; in principle wrong, because its tendency was to abridge 
 the liberty of the press, and also to convert a friend into an enemy, 
 with no other object than to gratify the personal pique of the man." 
 After working faithfully in Albany for two years Mr. Stone set- 
 tled with his employers, they turning over to him all their bad debts 
 for pay, amounting in all to six thousand dollars. In a few days he 
 found that the men whose notes he held had all failed. ^' Yesterday," 
 he wrote to his father, "I thought I was worth six thousand dollars, 
 to-day not a cent; but he who feeds the ravens when they cry will 
 certainly feed his children." Though rendered utterly destitute 
 by the dishonesty of his employers, he kept up good courage; and 
 it was not long before an opening appeared. In 1819 he removed to 
 
 1 Mr. Stone, it is believed, was the first reporter admitted by the courtesy of both 
 branches of the legislature within the bar, for the purpose of reporting t^heir proceedings. 
 
18 The Life and Writings op 
 
 Hartford, and succeeded Theodore Dwiglit in the editorship of the 
 Hartford Mirror — a newspaper distinguished, during the earlier 
 years of its existence, for its vigilant and spicy vindication of federal- 
 ism. At the time, however, that Mr. Stone assumed its manage- 
 ment, federalism had received its death blow. In the mind of the 
 masses it had become tainted with a tendency to monarchy and a 
 sympathy for England — suspicions which, it must be confessed, 
 appeared to have foundation in the conduct of some of its leaders, 
 especially John Adams. The latter, after becoming the candidate 
 of the federalists, went over to the opposition. The son, John 
 Quincy, followed the example of the father ; Burr had killed Hamilton 
 in a duel, and had subsequently sunk into contempt, besides proving 
 treacherous and unreliable — and in addition to all this, the election 
 of Oliver Wolcott in 1817 as democratic governor of Connecticut — 
 the strong hold of federalism — completed its overthrow. This being 
 the complexion of affairs, at the time of Mr. Stone's assuming the 
 editorial charge of the Mirror^ that paper became for a time — while 
 the scattered debris of the old parts were consolidating themselves 
 into a new one — more of a literary than a political organ. The two 
 years he spent in Hartford were, therefore, taken up in the quiet 
 pursuits of literature. Under his auspices a literary club was 
 formed, composed of J. M. Wainwright (the bishop), S. Gr. Good- 
 rich (Peter Parley), Isaac Toucey, S. H. Huntington and others — 
 each of whom took turns weekly in editing a magazine, called the 
 Knights of the Round Tabic. "Mr. Stone,'' writes the Hon. Isaac 
 Toucey, "was Sir Lancelot Longstaff, and the president of the club, 
 and was the life and soul of it." 
 
 In the spring of 1821 he succeeded Mr. Zachariah Lewis in the 
 editorship of the New York Commercial Advertiser^ becoming at 
 the same time one of its proprietors. During the earlier years of 
 connection with the Commercial, that paper was enriched with many 
 gems from the pens of Lucretia Davidson, Percival and Sands, with 
 the latter two of whom Mr. Stone was on terms of close intimacy, i 
 Indeed, the last finished composition of the lamented Sands was a 
 
 1 Percival, as is well known, was very eccentric, even if he was not at times deranged. 
 He was more free in communications to Mrs. Stone than to most, perhaps to any one. 
 He was subject to deep dejection; and when he was quite "in the depths," he would 
 come to her, usually spending several daj^s at the house ; buthe came and went suddenly. 
 
' William Leete Stone. 19 
 
 poem in the Commercial — The Dead o/1832. This appeared but 
 a few days before his death. " By a singular coincidence," says Mr. 
 Verplanck in his elegantly written sketch of the poet, ^'he chose for 
 his theme the Triumphs of Death and Time over the illustrious men 
 who had died in the year just closing — Groethe, Cuvier, Spurz- 
 heim, Bentham and Walter Scott; Champollion, 'who read the 
 mystic lore of the Pharaohs ;' Crabbe, the poet of poverty ; Adam 
 Clarke, the learned methodist — a goodly company, whom he him- 
 self was destined to join before the year had passed away." 
 
 Shortly after assuming the editorial chair of the Commercial his 
 sympathies were strongly elicited in behalf of the G-reeks in their 
 struggles for independence. He was among the first who drew the 
 attention of Americans to that people ; and, perhaps, did more than 
 any other man in New York state to awaken public sympathy in 
 their behalf, and make that sympathy yeally useful to them and their 
 
 One morning, upon coming down to breakfast, she found, instead of /iim, the following 
 piece of poetry. It was on her plate ; and he was not seen or heard of for some time 
 afterward. 
 
 Musings at the House op a Friend. 
 
 In the midst of my troubles and pain 
 
 I welcome this fav'rite retreat. 
 Unmolested I here can attain 
 
 A solitude quiet and sweet. 
 No troublesome visitor calls, 
 
 No modest enquirers perplex, 
 No insolent gazers appall, 
 
 No official civilities vex. 
 
 'Tisno place for repining or sighs. 
 
 No murmurings fall on the ear, 
 Duty teaches the blessing to prize, 
 
 Shed for others' misfortune the tear, 
 Love, peace, and benevolence meet 
 
 In union delightful and rare, < 
 
 While religion provides them a sweet 
 
 To mix in the cup of their care. 
 
 Yon may call this a fanciful dream 
 
 And say it exists not in life, 
 You may tell me mortality's stream 
 
 Is ever with concord at strife. 
 But God, as if willing to show 
 
 His blessing can quiet the stream, 
 Has here made it peacefully flow, 
 
 And experience has proved it no dream. 
 — ^ ." To Mrs. Stone : by Percival. 
 
20 The Life and Writings of v 
 
 cause. There was, however, no material aid in men or money sent to 
 Greece during the first two years of the war. This arose, probably, 
 from the fact that at this time the G-reeks were in no need of assist- 
 ance. Fighting with enthusiasm and upon their own soil, they had 
 beaten ofi" the Turkish hordes and cleared most of the country of 
 their oppressors. In 1824, however, affairs wore a different hue. 
 Byron had just died, and the dark days of the revolution had begun. 
 The Egyptian vizier had responded to the appeals of the sultan ; 
 and his son, Ibrahim Pasha, landing an organized and regular army 
 o^ the Peloponesus, swept everything before him. In less than 
 two years the Greeks were driven from the plains and all the open 
 country to the caves and recesses in the mountains, retaining only 
 here and there a fortress. As it was a war without quarter, every 
 one fled, for surrrender was death to every man and dishonor to every 
 freeman. Two seasons brought them to the point of starvation. 
 Their vines had been pulled up; their olive trees burned; their 
 fields desolated; their flocks slain and eaten; snails and sorrel were 
 their only food, and the only alternative left was starvation or sub- 
 mission, on the part of the Greeks; guerilla bands alone hovered 
 around the flanks and rear of the invading hosts. At this point 
 Dr. Samuel G. Howe, urged by a pure philanthropy, set out for 
 Greece. After experiencing many vicissitudes, and languishing 
 for several months in a Prussian dungeon, he at length landed 
 upon the Peloponesus alone, from an Austrian vessel going to 
 Smyrna. As there was, however, no organization among the Greeks, 
 he could do nothing, and accordingly returned to the United States 
 to get help. On his arrival at Boston he found that Greek com- 
 mittees, under the lead of Edward Everett, were already formed; 
 and after doing what he could to organize efforts for raising and 
 ' forwarding supplies, he came to New York at the solicitation of Mr. 
 Stone, with whom he had been for a long time in correspondence. 
 Mr. Stone now threw himself heartily into the good work. He roused 
 the public through the press ; issued stirring appeals for aid ; depicted 
 in vivid colors the sufferings of the Greeks; and got up private 
 meetings of wealthy men, at which large subscriptions were obtained. 
 After doing all that could be done in the city he accompanied 
 Dr. Howe upon a tour up the Hudson river, and through the western 
 
William Leete Stone. 21 
 
 towns of the state, preacliing a sort of crusade for the relief of 
 Greece. "He loved to talk/' writes Dr. Howe, ''in a good cause; 
 and he did talk most effectually on this tour. On the boats; in the 
 coaches; in the hotels; on the side-walks, he talked to everybody 
 about Greece, and interested them by his earnest and eloquent 
 pleadings. He was a man who cared little about manner, and there- 
 fore seemed at first hmsque and abrupt; but he had such a genial 
 smile, such a loving look, that everybody trusted him at sight, and 
 liked him upon acquaintance. We held public meetings at many 
 large towns, and here, as by the wayside, he pleaded earnestly for 
 the suffering Greeks." 
 
 The general results are well known. Large amounts of grain, 
 flour, clothing and money were obtained, forwarded and distributed 
 among the starving people of Greece, which, by the immediate relief 
 thus brought, and by the moral support thus given, at the most criti- 
 cal period of the Greek revolution, helped materially to aid the 
 cause. 
 
 The Commercial Advertiser, which had always been the organ of 
 the federalists, became, under the management of Mr. Stone, a 
 staunch advocate of the principles of the Clintonians. A strong per- 
 sonal friendship for Mr. Clinton, on the part of its editor, together 
 with a firm conviction of the necessity for a canal through the inte- 
 rior of New York state, led to the position thus assumed. The trials 
 and rebuffs experienced by Governor Clinton and his supporters in 
 pushing the canal project, and the energy which fought it through to 
 a successful termination, are matters of history. The Erie canal was 
 completed in the fall of 1825. At ten o'clock on the morning of the 
 twenty-sixth of October of the same year the first canal boat left 
 Buffalo, having on board Governor Clinton; and the booming of can- 
 non, placed at intervals of a few miles along the entire line of the 
 canal from Buffalo to Albany, and thence along the banks of the 
 Hudson to Sandy Hook, announced the successful termination of 
 the enterprise. In New York city, especially, this event was cele- 
 brated by extraordinary civic and military ceremonies; and the citi- 
 zens gave themselves up to the wildest demonstrations of joy. Mr- 
 Stone, as one of the most zealous champions of the canal, was appointed 
 to write the narrative of the Celebration; — receiving a silver 
 
22 The Life and Writings of 
 
 medal and box from the common council of New York city, together 
 with the thanks of that body. ^ 
 
 In connection with the Erie canal, and its influence in building 
 up the interior towns of the state, Mr. Stone was wont to relate the 
 following anecdote : In 1820 he visited Syracuse with Joshua For- 
 man, the founder of that city, and one of the earliest and most zeal- 
 ous friends of the Erie canal. "I lodged for the night,'' says Mr. 
 Stone, "at a miserable tavern, thronged by a company of salt-boilers 
 from Salina, forming a group of about as rough looking specimens of 
 humanity as I had ever seen. Their wild visages, beards thick and 
 long, and matted hair even now rise up in dark, distant and pic- 
 turesque effect before me. It was in October, and a flurry of snow 
 during the night had rendered the morning aspect of the country 
 more dreary than the evening before. The few houses I have 
 already described, standing upon low and almost marshy ground, and 
 surrounded by trees and entangled thickets, presented a very unin- 
 viting scene. 'Mr. Forman,' said I, '■do you call this a village? 
 It would make an owl weep to fly over it.' ' Never mind,' said he 
 in reply, ^you will live to see it a city yet.'" Mr. Stone did, indeed, 
 live to see it a city, when he wrote the above in 1840, with mayor 
 and aldermen, and a population of more than twelve thousand. 
 
 Nor was Syracuse the only town that vindicated the wisdom of 
 Clinton and Forman. In the fall of 1829 Mr. Stone made a tour 
 of the towns and villages in the central part of the state, partly for 
 recreation, but more especially for the purpose of observing for him- 
 self the great impetus given to internal improvement by the canal. 
 Familiar, however, as he had been for the last four years with the 
 progress which had been making, he was scarcely prepared for the 
 signs of growth and prosperity which met him on every side. His 
 amazement is pictured in a few extracts here given from the diary 
 kept by him on this journey. 
 
 " Between five and six o'clock we entered Utica, which, nine years 
 ago, the period of my last visit to it, ranked only as a flourishing 
 village. It had now grown as if by magic to the dimensions of a 
 large city; and it was with utter amazement that I beheld the Ion 
 
 to 
 
 IMr. Stone's narrative of the celebration was publislied by the common council under 
 the title of The Grand Erie Canal Celebration, accompanied by a memoir of the 
 great work by Cadwallader D. Colden. 
 
William Leete Stone. 23 
 
 streets and rows and blocks of large beautiful country seats, stores 
 and dwellings tbrougb whicb our coacb conveyed us in driving to 
 the lodgings I bad selected. I bad beard much of tbe march of 
 improvement in Utica, since the completion of tbe GtRAND Canal^ 
 but I had no idea of the reality. Rip Van Winkle himself, after 
 his thirty years' nap in a glen of the Katsbergs, was not more 
 amazed than I was at the present aspect and magnitude of this beau- 
 tiful place. Bagg's Hotel, to which I directed my driver, was in the 
 very heart of the village, and the centre of business at the period of my 
 last visit. Now it was quite in the suburbs. The houses were then 
 scattered though some were spacious and elegant; but now they are 
 closely built, lofty and spacious, and the length of some of the streets, 
 like New York, begin to look like a wilderness of bricks. After 
 dinner, sent my card to my old Hartford friend, Elizur Goodrich 
 Esq., now settled in this place, and we were soon honored with a call 
 from himself and wife. 
 
 '* Sunday^ Sept 20. A cold and cheerless day, during most of 
 which the rain descended in torrents. Attended the Eev. Mr. 
 Aikin's church in the morning, but heard the Rev. Mr. Frost, of 
 Whitesboro', on the Uhchangeableness of God. It would have been 
 a good sermon had the preacher stopped when he had done his best, 
 but its effect was killed by its length. The church itself is a new 
 and noble structure, finished with great taste and elegance, and 
 planned with the utmost convenience. A fine organ added its full 
 rich tones to the music of an excellent choir; and, considering the 
 inclemency of the weather, the audience was a far more numerous 
 and genteel one than could have been collected on a similar day in 
 the city of New York. The original settlers of this place began 
 right in laying the foundation of their society. They forgot not 
 because they were pioneers, that they were gentlemen. Hence a 
 cultivated society sprang up which continues to this day. 
 
 '-''Monday^ Sept. 21. Called upon a few friends. General Ostram, 
 R. R. Larking Esq., Ezekiel Bacon Esq., and some others, and 
 talked of politics and anti-masonry. Visited a new museum, con- 
 taining one or two dried alligators, a few worm-eaten snakes, and a 
 number of wretched daubs in the shape of portraits, &c. Poor John 
 Quincy Adams and Harry Clay ! Never have the wicked cannibal 
 
24 The Life and Writings of 
 
 Jackson men abused you half as mucli as the cold-blooded artist has 
 done! The other parts of the collection were miserable enough. 
 From the top of the building, however, I enjoyed a glorious view of 
 the whole village and the surrounding country for many miles. 
 What a beautiful country ! 
 
 " Taeaday, Sept. 22,d. Arrived at Syracuse at half past ten o'clock, 
 and had the unexpected pleasure of being greeted on landing by my 
 old and highly valued friend Seth Hunt, a gentleman of extensive 
 travel and vast general information. I looked about upon the vil- 
 lage as I stepped on shore with still more astonishment than at 
 Utica. Another enchanted city, I exclaimed, as I glanced upward 
 and around upon splendid hotels, and rows of massive buildings in 
 all directions — crowded, too, with people, all full of life and activity. 
 The prediction of my friend Joshua Forman, when I was here nine 
 years ago, is already realized. For if noble ranges of buildings, two 
 or three large and tasteful churches, busy wharves and streets, and all 
 the life and animation of a large commercial place will constitue a 
 city, then, most assuredly, Syracuse may be called by that name. 
 And as the county buildings, now erecting upon an extensive scale, 
 have been located midway between Salina and Syracuse, the two 
 towns will be soon united, as Greenwich now is to New York. 
 Within twenty years, therefore, Syracuse will equal the present size 
 of Albany. Salt of the best quality can here be produced, at the 
 cheapest rate, for the whole continent." 
 
 Leaving Syracuse Mr. Stone visited successively the pleasant vil- 
 lages of Marcellus, Skaneateles, Auburn and Lyons, the rapid 
 growth of which surprised him scarcely less than had Utica and 
 Syracuse. His enthusiasm for the canal, however, evidently was 
 confined more to its effects upon the country than to any special love 
 for it as a mode of conveyance. At least such is the inference from 
 the adventures of a night passed on the canal packet between Au- 
 burn and Lyons — thus humorously noted in his diary. "After 
 snatching a hasty supper we were compelled to crowd ourselves into 
 the narrow accommodations of a merchant's boat. We passed a 
 night uncomfortable enough for anybody, but of absolute wretched- 
 ness for poor S . The cabins were too small to turn round 
 
 in, the beds dirty, and the passengers very good for universal 
 
William Leete Stone. 25 
 
 suffrage folks — all Jackson men, as the color of their shirt collars 
 abundantly attested. Fleas and bed-bugs are as fond of us as they 
 are our utter aversion; and the moment we entered the cabin they 
 collected to feast upon our blood from every part of the boat. Poor 
 
 S , she suffered as much penance as the holiest Catholic father 
 
 could have imposed upon the veriest heretic in Christendom." Their 
 arrival, however, at Lyons the next morning soon dissipated all 
 unpleasant recollections. "This village, too," continues the diary, 
 "was all but a wilderness at the period of my last visit; now it has 
 grown into considerable importance. It is the shire town of Wayne 
 county, and in addition to a number of shops and stores and the 
 county buildings, it contains many respectable and some elegant 
 residences. Among the latter is the seat of Myron Holley Esq., 
 formerly one of the leading and most able and efficient of our canal 
 commissioners, whose names will be perpetuated as long as the lakes 
 and the ocean are connected by the golden commercial chain forged 
 under the direction of the great Clinton. Mr. Holley showed me 
 through his grounds ; and I was much surprised to find one of the 
 richest and most beautiful gardens that I had ever seen. It contains 
 something like six or eight acres, which was woodland, I presume, 
 at the time of my visit in 1820. Now it was elegantly laid out and 
 cultivated, and planted with fruit trees, plants, shrubs and vines in 
 rich variety and profusion. The size to which cherry, peach, pear 
 and plum trees, quince bushes, to say nothing of the beautiful shade 
 trees in the lawn, had attained since this land was appropriated to its 
 present purpose was truly wonderful. Cherry and apple trees, planted 
 eight years since, now measure ten and thirteen inches in diameter, 
 and every vegetable seems to flourish in this genial soil with the same 
 unequal vigor and thrift. * * * H. is a gentleman of 
 high intellectual powers, of fine education and extensive acquire- 
 ments. Latterly he has turned his attention to horticultural pursuits 
 for his amusement, and already his labors have been most fruitful. 
 Every thing upon his premises is disposed in the most admirable 
 order and according to the most correct principles of taste and beauty." 
 
 Rochester, however, seems to have completed his astonishment. 
 
 '-'- Friday^ Oct. 2d. And this is Rochester! The far famed city 
 of the west, which has sprung up like Jonah's gourd ! Rochester, 
 
26 The Life and Writings of 
 
 with its two thousand houses, its elegant ranges of stores, its nume- 
 rous churches and public buildings, its boats and bridges, its huge 
 mills of stone like so many castles, its lagoons, quays, manufactories, 
 arcades, museums, everything — all standing where stood a frowning 
 forest in 1812. Here I am, near the very spot, where, in a thick 
 wood, my namesake, Enos Stone, in the autumn of 1811, had a 
 remarkable fight with an old she bear, which, in anticipation of the 
 present doctrines of Tammany Hall, was carrying out the agrarian 
 principle by sharing his little patch of corn/' 
 
 Before leaving the Grenesee valley he tarried a few days at the 
 picturesque village of Geneseo. Here he found his old and highly 
 cherished friend, James Wadsworth, the father of the late lamented 
 Greneral Wadsworth. In the diary a glimpse is given of the old 
 patriarch and his home. 
 
 "This town was first settled by William and James Wadsworth, 
 who were, I believe, its principal proprietors. They removed hither 
 in the year 1790. Lands being cheap, and they, being gentlemen of 
 sagacity, who foresaw the rapid growth of the country in no distant 
 perspective, were enabled to accumulate splendid estates. The for- 
 mer, Greneral William Wadsworth, served with his militia command 
 upon the Niagara frontier during the last war with England, and 
 acquitted himself with gallantry. He died several years since. Mr. 
 James Wadsworth yet survives in a green old age, the patriarch of 
 the Genesee country. The whole valley of the Genesee was studded 
 with Indian towns when the white men made their advances thither, 
 and the country was full of Indians when he planted himself down 
 among them. His mansion — the abode of refinement and elegant hos- 
 pitality — is finely situated at the southern extremity of the principal 
 street of the village, embosomed in groves of ornamental trees, thickly 
 sprinkled among which are the elm, locust and willow, and looking 
 out upon a princely domain of his own, including a broad sweep of 
 the flats. Mr. Wadsworth is a gentleman of cultivated mind and 
 taste. He has traveled in Europe, where he selected a fine library, 
 and being a student as well as philosopher, he is spending the even- 
 ing of his days in elegant repose. Adjacent to his mansion is a large 
 garden rich with every description of fruit which the climate will 
 allow, and adorned with flowers of every variety and class of beauty. 
 
William Leete Stone. 27 
 
 Well was the beautiful situation of its estimable possessor chosen; 
 nor can memory revert back upon its charming position without 
 recalling also the lines of the poet, describing the rural seat of Pliny 
 in Switzerland : — 
 
 " This calm retirement virtuous Pliny chose ; 
 Within these groves he sought and found repose, 
 When, sickening with the vulgar toils of life, 
 The courtly homage, the forensic strife. 
 He left the world which triflers hold so dear. 
 And joyous sprang to feast on nature here." 
 
 While upon this journey he wrote a series of letters to the Com- 
 mercial over the signature of Hiram Doolittle Jr, Two of these 
 are introduced in this connection for the purpose, both of showing 
 the good humored raillery that he could adopt on occasion, and of 
 giving a glimpse of the political views of the writer, who, as the 
 reader may have already surmised from portions of the diary just 
 quoted, was a strong anti-Jackson man. Some of the allusions con- 
 tained in them may have faded from the minds of a younger genera- 
 tion, though doubtless many will still be remembered. The first 
 letter, which is here quoted, appeared in the Commercial of October 
 2d, 1829, prefaced by a paragraph from the playful pen of Sands, 
 who, during the absence of Mr. Stone, had charge of the paper. 
 
 "It is dangerous, in conducting a public journal, to take notice 
 of the productions of promising young writers. If you give them 
 an inch they will take an ell ; and if you could let them have their 
 own way they would fill your columns with nothing but their own 
 lucubrations. As an instance of this, we may mention the following 
 communication from Hiram Doolittle Jr., whose virgin effort, in 
 the printed way, we were unlucky enough to copy in our columns 
 some weeks since. We give him a place now, partly out of respect 
 to his awful impudence, and partly because his matter is good; 
 though his manner might be improved, by a sedulous atention to the 
 criticisms of our friend of the National Gazette. And, above all 
 other things, let him eschew politics. If he expects to rise in the 
 literary firmament let him avoid tying political crackers to the skirts 
 of his coat. We have a great regard for Duff Green and Amos 
 Kendall, and a property in them. They are not yet quite used up. 
 
28 The Life and Writings of 
 
 Amos has published another letter which we have looked for anxiously, 
 but have not found among our files. Hiram must not interfere with 
 our exclusive business.'' 
 
 Letters from Mr. Doolitile, 
 
 Western Eegion, Oct. 2, 1829. 
 Gentlemen Editors of the Commercial Advertiser and New York 
 Spectator — for I believe you hail from both the news-boats which 
 sail under these titles : As you have printed the hasty piece of 
 scribblement which I sent to the Cooperstown paper a few days ago, 
 for want of something better, and brains to make it, no doubt, I pre- 
 sume you will jump at the chance of having something original from 
 me, albeit " a young and inexperienced writer." Not that I exactly 
 relished your criticism about "style," and epithets, and all that sort 
 of thing, or that I can expect to be more of an editor than I am now, 
 as you predict I may be, when I get to writing as well as Queen 
 Anne did. But still there is so much about your paper that I like, 
 that I had determined to favor you with my correspondence for a 
 short time, before I saw how you had honored me. I like the manner 
 in which you support the present administration. Your defence of 
 Amos, from the calumnies of the coalition, is very beautiful; and 
 your occasional encomiastic allusions to Duff, absolutely killing. 
 These gentlemen are particular friends of mine. You will recollect, 
 if you ever read the Pioneers^ that my worthy father, the primitive 
 architect of Cooperstown, emigrated from thence westwardly — fol- 
 lowing the poet's "star of empire." In his progress he became the 
 principal architect of all the successive villages which sprung up 
 with the onward march of emigration; and he is now, in a ripe old 
 age, superintending the erection of a capitol at Indianapolis, the 
 seat of government of the state, which furnishes the first four syllables 
 of this name, at once so classical and beautiful. It was in the west, 
 therefore, that I became acquainted with the illustrious patriots named 
 above. I saw Amos at the time Mrs. Clay sent her carriage to take 
 him to her house, when he was sick, as she was in duty bound to do ; 
 but I must say, in candor, that I don't believe he had much money 
 about him then, although in his pathetic apostrophe to the stones 
 and trees of New Hampshire, he solemnly averred that he had seven- 
 
William Leete Stone. 29 
 
 teen dollars and fifty cents left, or something like that sum, after 
 paying for his new jacket and trowsers. I knew Duff, also, very 
 well. I saw him when he started for the Council Bluffs with that 
 drove of cattle, which some people have been wicked enough to 
 insinuate were sold by him to the Indians, and afterwards paid for 
 by the government, under the pretext that they were taken from him 
 by force. But that is neither here nor there. He hacked, and drew 
 a bee-line soon afterwards. But perhaps you don't know what this 
 last sentence means ? Indeed ! A pretty brace of critics you must 
 be, to talk about Queen Anne's writing and not know the pure Eng- 
 lish of your own country! To ^^hack and draw a bee-line" then, 
 means to turn round and clear out straight. For this act, however 
 perhaps Duff was not so much to blame, as there was no doubt " a 
 smart sprinkle of bears" in that region, and "a heap of Indians" 
 besides. And some of the latter might perhaps have " knocked out 
 the chunking, and let day light through him." At fault again ? 
 Well : I see you are not up to the march of mind after all your read- 
 ing about Queen Anne; — and so I will enlighten you a small matter. 
 Suppose, now, a -' Biproarer" of Kentuck should ride up to the door 
 of a " young earthquake," on the Red River — or, in other words, sup- 
 pose, before Amos and Duff came to Washington to administer the 
 government for General Jackson, that Amos should have called at 
 the shanty of Duff in Missouri for a night's lodging : — Do you think 
 there would have been any such palavering as — " Good evening, 
 Mr. General Green : I am very happy to see you." And : — '' Why, 
 how d'ye do my dear Mr. Kendall ?" Not at all. The dialogue, if 
 Duff felt in a hospitable mood, would have run thus : — Amos. 
 " Holloa, there ! Can I get to stay with you to-night ?" Duff, 
 " Well, I reckon." Amos. " Then boy, hang my horse." Duff. 
 " And give him a smart chance of roughness and toat in his plun- 
 der." ^ Amos. "A smart chunk of a boy, that." Duff. " Well, I 
 reckon; but here's the crack honeylove in the gum."^ Amos. "I 
 don't quite let on to that." Caetera desunt. But enough for our 
 lesson. In my next I will commence telling you where I have beeil, 
 
 1 i. e. —A large quantity of provender, and take in his baggage. 
 
 2 i. e. — Smartest child in the cradle, or properly, hollow tree, of which cradles arc 
 often made in the new countries. —Printer'* DevU. 
 
30 The Life and Writings op 
 
 and some things that I have seen, since I left Cooperstown. At 
 present, "I'm not in the humor on't/' The fact is, the Oswego 
 stage broke down with me last night ; and we had a fearsome time 
 on't, coming down the dug-way of the Irondequoit in the dark. I'd 
 rather whip my weight in wild cats than try the experiment again. 
 
 Your friend, 
 
 Hiram Doolittle, Jun. 
 
 The next letter opens with a reply to Mr. Sands's squib as follows : 
 
 Western Region, Oct, 12th, 1829. 
 
 I guess this is the last letter you will have the honor of receiving 
 from me, unless you mend your manners, or I change my mind. I 
 wrote you what I call a crack letter, and a good long one, the other 
 day, from the falls; but if I had then known how cavalierly you had 
 been treating me, a second time, in your paper of the sixth, I reckon 
 a good thing for once would have got into the Courier and Enquirer. 
 A little spot of verdure would have cheered the eye of the disconso- 
 late reader, as it glanced vacantly over that broad Lybian waste of 
 paper. Do you think I am severe upon your enormous neighbor ? 
 Ask the good public, which, out in this quarter, has been groaning 
 sine May day, for another Pope to indite another Dunciad. But I 
 am losing sight of your honorable selves, whom I had singled out on 
 this occasion for especial castigation. 
 
 ^^ A promising young writer," you say again. Pray, gentlemen, 
 have I ever promised you any thing that I have not performed ? If 
 you give these "young writers'' an "inch," they will take an "ell" 
 of your room ! You ought to be much obliged to me for it, although 
 your dreadful accident-maker may be confined to a more limited 
 space. By the way, the Journal of Commerce beats you all in the 
 manufacture of this species of literature. The people who read that 
 paper here, are alarmed when any of their folks go to York, think- 
 ing it a sure thing that they will be robbed, and murdered, and torn 
 to pieces at the Five Points. 
 
 As to the charge of "awful impudence," I scorn to reply. But 
 there are other parts of your paragraph of the sixth, that I can't dis- 
 pose of so readily. Not long since you recommended me to study 
 Queen Anne. But I have not been able to find a volume of her 
 
William Leete Stone. 31 
 
 writings in any of the village libraries, and folks looked so plaguy 
 queer at me whenever I ax'd for them, that I began to think I was 
 running against a snag. Last week, however, you directed my atten- 
 tion to the criticisms of your friend of the National Gazette^ and a 
 pretty kettle of fish you cooked for me. Supposing your advice was 
 friendly meant, as I may say, I went to the Athenaeum and looked 
 over all the National Gazette papers that I could find ; and, having 
 a pretty good memory, I committed all the fine words by heart, and 
 then looked them every one out in the dictionary. The next day I 
 had to go to a convention, to tell them whom Mr. Van Buren wished 
 sent to the legislature, and I thought I might, peradventure, make 
 such a sparkling sort of a speech as Harry Clay used to make before 
 we found out that he hadn't any talents. But as I didn't want to 
 get stuck, and make a fool of myself — the Doolittles have never 
 had a fool in the family yet, — I concluded to lubricate my way with 
 a little rill of eloquence, at the Half Way House. So glancing once 
 more at a number of the Gazette^ I rode up to the tavern, and 
 addressed the hostler thus: — "Tom,'' says I, "here, just be so good 
 as to refrigerate my quadruped, by circumambulating him two or 
 three times about this fountain ; then permit him to imbibe a moder- 
 ate quantity of aqueous particles ; after which, administer to him 
 proper vegetable nutriment, and inform me what will be considered 
 competent pecuniary satisfaction." The fellow rolled up the white 
 of his eyes and stared at me as though I had been a Sioux chief. 
 Then turning round to the landlord, who was making a gum tickler 
 for a young Virginian who had been to the falls to see Sam Patch 
 jump — "Here," says he, "Mr. Van Hosen, you came from Sopus, 
 and understand Dutch; see what this man wants." "Sir," says I, 
 "I invoke your interposition. Your hostler has manifested oppugna- 
 tion, and refused to put in practice desires categorically made. Now, 
 sir, I implore you to impart to this trusty steed quantum suff of 
 provender — and then immediately to provide me some alimentary 
 substance, to strengthen nature, cooked over vegetable fuel, as I 
 equally abhor the gaseous effluvium of bituminous carbon, and the 
 sulphureous tincture of anthracite. Remember, also, to furnish an 
 ewer for my lavations, and a copious libation of some grateful 
 stimulus." " Why, what the devil does the fellow mean ?" exclaimed 
 
32 The Life and "Writings of 
 
 the landlord. ''No Dutchman unless it was the Flying one, ever 
 talked in such nine cornered words. He must be the Yankee Turk 
 that we have read of in the papers." At this insinuation I drew a 
 bee line to the next tavern, where, after abusing you and your advice, 
 and the National Gazette into the bargain, I had no difficulty in 
 calling for two quarts of oats, some cold victuals, and a glass of 
 whiskey in the old way. And I made a good use of them, I tell you, 
 for I was powerful hungry. 
 
 Another of your kind cautions is, that I must keep clear from 
 politics, and also, that I must not meddle with Amos and Duff, 
 because, as you say, you have " a property in them.'' It is very 
 difficult and pretty impossible for a whole hog Jackson man, like I 
 be, to keep clear of politics, and I don't think it argufies much in 
 behalf of your modesty to tell me to do it. And then as to your 
 having 2i property in Duff and Amos, I can't well deny it, because 
 they have sold themselves several times before. But I had no idea 
 that they would sell out again so soon. Nor do I yet — pardon my 
 " awful impudence" — exactly believe it. If I did — if I were quite 
 sure that Old Nick has given his sanction to the transfer, and 
 assigned his quit-claim over to you, — I should then deal very can- 
 didly with you — and say at once, that if you havn't got taken in, 
 you are the first of their purchasers that has escaped. * * * 
 You will please to pardon this break, as I have been interrupted by 
 half a score of gentlemen who come to sue for recommendations to be 
 reformed into the post office department. And now that that sharp 
 sighted Bradley is out of the way I think I shall carry them all. I 
 made a grand reform the other day. It was at the post office in 
 the woods, between Lockport and the Indian village near Lewiston. 
 There were but three houses in the village, one of which was the 
 tavern, and another the post office. These were close together, and 
 the third stood forty or fifty rods off. It was quite a lonesome place, 
 and as the occupant was a "whole hog" man, and the other two 
 coalitionists (who would'nt coalesce in such a place?), I thought 
 it would cheer the poor fellow to reward him. No sooner said than 
 done ; and I had the pleasure of stopping there with the mail the 
 other day. I am sorry on the poor fellow's account, that there are 
 no fees derived from the office in this place, as no papers are taken 
 
"William Leete Stone. 33 
 
 there ; but there is a maiden lady at the town, who has been expect- 
 ing a letter from Barkhempstead every week for some time past. 
 One third of the postage, you know, will go to the new post master ; 
 and that will be something. 
 
 But as I was saying, about Amos and Duff. You must have been 
 joking when you said you had bought them. Another mail has 
 arrived since I have been hindered. By my letters I reckon I shall 
 be sent for to take hold of the Telegraphy as Duff is to be sent out as 
 an extraordinary minister to the court of our august ally, king Don 
 Miguel. It was to make a place for Duff, that they received Miguel's 
 minister the other day. I have not decided whether to accept the 
 station as editor yet, as I reckon there is some chance of political 
 preferment hereabouts. Both the masons and anti-masons have been 
 at me to go to the assembly. But they don't catch a weazle asleep 
 so easy. I go with the party or not at all. That's the only way to 
 do the thing that's right. There's no mistake. When Constantine 
 is crowned emperor of the new Babylonian kingdom at Constan- 
 tinople, Amos is to go minister there. 
 
 I am afraid that I shall be obliged to write you again; for I have 
 forgotten most of what I meant to say to you in this. 
 
 I am, &c., &c., 
 
 Hiram Doolittle, Jun. 
 
 On his return home, he stopped at Cooperstown to pay a visit to 
 his old friend and master. Colonel Prentiss. The emotions which 
 filled his mind upon revisiting for the first time the spot where he 
 had begun life, and the changes which had taken place, are thus 
 described in the diary before quoted. 
 
 " The village had undergone but little change since I had last 
 gazed upon it ; and the general aspect of the scenery was the same. 
 Many new and substantial houses had been erected upon the sites of 
 less commodious and elegant wooden ones; but the size of the town 
 had not materially increased. There lay the lake, bright, placid 
 and beautiful as ever; and there rose the crest of the lofty mountain, 
 its sides darkened by the tall evergreens as before ; and there ran 
 the rivulet which swells, as it advances, into the noble and impetuous 
 
 5 
 
34 The Life and Writings of 
 
 Susquehanna. In all directions I met witli objects dear to my 
 memory : 
 
 " Every copse deep tangled, 
 
 Each tree irregular, and bush 
 Were prodigal of harmony." 
 
 There stood the little Episcopal church in which I had first heard 
 the Episcopal form of worship from my venerable friend, and my 
 father's friend, the Rev. Daniel Nash. There, too, had I first seen 
 the rite of confirmation administered by the late venerable Bishop 
 Moore, of New York, whose blessing I had received a few days 
 before, on an introduction by Mr. Nash, And on that hill stood 
 the Presbyterian church, where the Rev. Dr. Isaac Lewis, and after 
 him the Rev. Dr. Neill, now of Philadelphia, had officiated, and in 
 which I had so often, twenty years before, listened with rapture to 
 the glowing and impassioned eloquence of my late lamented friend, 
 Dr. John Chester, of Albany, who is now tuning his golden harp to 
 the praise of that God in Heaven, whose faithful servant he was on 
 earth. may my latter end be like his ! 
 
 Among the people I found many of my old friends — many who 
 were really delighted to see me. Many others had fallen asleep. 
 Children, too, had grown up to manhood; and little girls and infants, 
 scarce from their nurses' arms, had grown up, married, and were 
 now settled in life, staid matrons, with as many children as they 
 could well attend to. Time's changes, when occurring daily around 
 us, are passed by almost unperceived. But how numerous and how 
 manifest do they become, on returning to a community from whom 
 you have long been absent for a few years only. 
 
 The changes most obvious in this place, however, were in the situ- 
 ation and prospects of the family of the late Judge Cooper, who had 
 been the first distinguished enterprising settler of this country, soon 
 after the close of the revolutionary war. Judge Cooper was the 
 original of the Judge Templeton in the novel of the Pioneers^ written 
 by the distinguished novelist, his youngest son. He was the founder 
 of the village, and of the country likewise. He died towards the 
 close of the year 1809 — -leaving five sons and one daughter, heirs 
 of handsome estates. All these were living and in affluent circum- 
 
William Leete Stone. 35 
 
 stances, wlien I was last in the village. Now four of the sons were 
 dead, and their families left all but destitute. One son (my friend 
 James F. Cooper), distinguished as an author, is now residing in 
 Florence (Italy). To him, the loss of property has probably been of 
 more real advantage, than the money ten times over would have 
 been. It has called forth the slumbering energies of his mind, and 
 given vigor and richness to his imagination, by the exertion of which 
 he has acquired a proud name among the distinguished writers of 
 the age, and added to the literary reputation of his country. 
 
 " Sunday J Oct. 13th. Attended the Episcopal church in the 
 morning, and heard a sensible discourse from the Rev. Mr. Tiffany, 
 a brother-in-law of my old friend, the Rev. Charles S. Stewart, for- 
 merly a missionary to the Sandwich islands, and now absent on a 
 missionary cruize in the Pacific ocean. I met Mr. Tiffany after- 
 wards in society, and was much pleased with him. In the afternoon 
 I attended divine services in the Presbyterian church — Sermon by 
 the Rev. Mr. Smith, the successor of Dr. Chester in 1810. 
 
 " Monday, Oct. \Ath. Took a ride in the morning to Hartwick, 
 with Colonel Prentiss. Occupied the remainder of the day in the 
 interchange of greetings with my old friends and acquaintances. 
 
 " Tuesday^ Oct. Ibth. Made a visit with my wife to Burlington, a 
 town ten miles west, in which my father once resided as the settled 
 minister. Several years of my childhood were passed in this town, 
 which was originally poor, and has held its own pretty well. Rode 
 in a gig, and took a circuitous route by way of the Tunnicliffs, the 
 family and settlement of which I have spoken in A Border Tale, 
 written for the Atlantic Souvenir. This plantation was settled long 
 before the war of the revolution, and within my recollection was a 
 handsome, flourishing place. But alas ! The old mansion was burnt 
 down twenty-five years ago — and a poor substitute was erected. 
 The family has run out, and the whole establishment looks ruinous 
 and neglected. 
 
 " At Burlington found but few evidences of improvement. Lodged 
 with my father's old friend and family physician, Dr. Richardson, 
 who with his wife, gave us a hearty welcome. In company with 
 Dr. R. walked a mile to the ancient premises of my father, and 
 strayed for an hour over the fields which I had assisted in clearing 
 
36 The Life and Writings op 
 
 and cultivating; and looked with mingled emotions of pleasure and 
 affection upon the mature and vigorous fruit trees which, many years 
 before, my own hands had planted. Dear are the days of youth ! 
 Age dwells fondly on their remembrance through the mists of time. 
 I visited the stump of the old oak, and the only one on the premises; 
 and again stopped beneath the shade of the only pine which, within 
 my recollection, had ever stood upon the farm. Every thing else 
 had changed, but that remained as in the bright and sunny hours of 
 childhood. May the woodman's axe never be raised against it ! 
 
 " Wednesday^ Oct. \^th. Returned to Cooperstown and found the 
 yeomanry — 'all furnished— all in arms' — that is, arms of some 
 sort. — ' Those gallant sons who shoulder guns and twice a year go 
 out a training/ But though it was a field day, and General Morell 
 was prancing about with a brilliantly arrayed staff, surely I never 
 saw so forlorn a regiment on duty. Some had sticks, and some 
 muskets, and some not even a cornstalk, while many were as "ragged 
 as Lazarus." ********* 
 
 " Thursday^ Oct. 17th. Eode with Colonel Prentiss, with Mrs. P. 
 and Mrs. S. along the eastern margin of the lake to Springfield, and 
 had an excellent external view of the magnificent seat and beautiful 
 grounds of George Clarke Esq., upon whom I had promised to call, 
 but who was now absent. 
 
 "In the evening attended a brilliant party, given in compliment to 
 Mrs. Stone, by Joseph Dottin Husbands Esq., of Hartwick. Mr. 
 Husbands is an English gentleman of education and fine talents. 
 He was formerly secretary of the colonial government at Barbadoes, 
 but has resided here for about twelve or fourteen years. His habits 
 are retired, and his manners those of a perfect gentleman — of a 
 gentleman born and bred. His wife is a very amiable woman. They 
 have a promising son in the study of the law, and two or three 
 charming daughters. The entertainment was sufficiently rich and 
 various, and served in excellent taste. The circle of ladies and gen- 
 tlemen was numerous and genteel. There was much beauty among 
 the ladies, and the circle of gentlemen embraced considerable learn- 
 ing and intellect. Among other literary gentleman was the Kev. 
 Dr. Hazelius, the learned and excellent principal of the Hartwick 
 Classical school. Mr. Husbands himself appears to excellent advan- 
 
William Leete Stone. 37 
 
 tage ia conversation upon every subject. The whole evening's 
 entertainment, intellectual and otherwise, was one of an elevated 
 order, and passed very pleasantly away. 
 
 ^^ Friday^ Oct. \%th. Spent the morning, at the request of Colonel 
 Prentiss, in writing an article for his paper — The Freeman's Journal. 
 Dashed off something in the shape of a letter respecting my visit to 
 the village, my reminiscences, &c., and signed it Hiram Doolittle Jr. 
 Lounged the afternoon away — for I can never read to advantage, or 
 write willingly or creditably to myself when out upon a visit. 
 
 "In the evening Colonel Prentiss and his wife gave an elegant 
 party in our honor, which was graced by a brilliant circle of ladies 
 and gentlemen. To my regret, Mr. D. Husbands, for whom I have 
 contracted a very strong partiality, was unable to come, though his 
 wife and family were present. The evening passed delightfully off, 
 and, as we were to renew our journey on the following morning, we 
 bade adieu to our friends who were collected on this occasion. 
 
 " Saturday, Oct. 19(h. Rose at five to take the mail coach for 
 Utica. Our friends, Colonel Prentiss and his wife, who had most 
 kindly and hospitably entertained us during the week, were up to bid 
 us a hearty farewell, and we parted with regret." 
 
 On his return to New York, Mr. Stone gave his readers the results 
 of this tour in a series of articles — the publication of which con- 
 firmed more strongly than ever in the public mind, the forecast and 
 wisdom of the originators and executors of the GtRAND Erie Canal. 
 
 With the completion of the Erie canal, the chief element of cohe- 
 sion which had held the Clintonians together was dissolved, and 
 the party, as a strong political organization, ceased to exist : — most 
 of its members, including Mr. Stone, becoming the warm supporters 
 of Mr. Adams in his contest with Jackson for the presidency in 1828. 
 The latter, as is well known, was elected ; but this result did not 
 diminish the CommerciaV s opposition, nor blunt the keenness of the 
 shafts that it leveled at the administration, unsparingly, till its close. 
 
 It was just at this period that the Morgan tragedy, enacted on the 
 north-westeril border of New York, tore asunder the threads of 
 domestic society, and gave birth to a new political party, composed 
 chiefly of the old Clintonians, and a considerable portion of the 
 
38 The Life and Writings of 
 
 Bucktails. At this point Mr. Stone, who was a ''high mason/' 
 stepped forth as a mediator, taking, in so doing, a laborious and diffi- 
 cult task. He accordingly addressed a series of letters on Masonry 
 and Anti-masonry to John Quincy Adams, who, in his retirement at 
 Quincy, had taken considerable interest in the Anti-masonic move- 
 ment — carrying, indeed, his antipathy to secret societies so far, as 
 to exert himself to procure the abolition of certain passwords which 
 formed a part of the ceremonies of the Phi Beta Kappa Society. 
 
 These letters to Mr. Adams were afterward collected and pub- 
 lished in 1832 under the title of Letters on Masonry and Anti- 
 Masonry. In this work — which, though perhaps too voluminous, 
 is nervously and elegantly written — the author took the ground 
 that the terrible mysteries of masonry were not such great secrets 
 after all; but so far as an obligation of secrecy had been taken not 
 to divulge the nature of conventional signs and symbols, he was true 
 to his solemn oaths. The conclusion arrived at by the author was, 
 that masonry should be abandoned, mainly because it had lost its 
 usefulness. " If that conclusion," says a masonic reviewer of the 
 work, " should be unfavorable to masonry in the eyes of many, the 
 order is, on the other hand, vindicated from many idle and gross 
 charges brought against it by those who have not understood its 
 nature, and have confounded its uses with its abuses.'^ Thus the 
 memory of many of the illustrious dead was rescued from the impu- 
 tation of having been connected with a bad and dangerous secret 
 society; and the character of many of the best men now living is 
 also cleared from reproach. In particular the writer, by incontesti- 
 ble facts, cleared away the mists of slander which malice had wreathed 
 around the name of Clinton. In all these objects Mr. Stone was 
 successful ; while by preserving strict impartiality, he secured that 
 credence which no ex parte argument could obtain, however ingen- 
 ious.^ "I shall always consider myself and the public,'' writes 
 
 1 " During the excitement which succeeded the outrage upon Morgan, Governor Clinton 
 was charged not only with having been privy to, hut, as Grand High Priest or Grand 
 Master, with having commanded it to he committed, or, which is the same thing, with 
 having directed that the publication of Morgan's book should be suppressed by any 
 means and at all hazards ! Even after the sudden and lamented death of Mr. Clinton, 
 some individuals were base and cruel enough to charge that his death was caused by the 
 goadings of a guilty conscience."— Hammond's Political History of New York. 
 
William Leete Stone. 39 
 
 John Quincy Adams, " indebted to you for the time and labor, and 
 far more for the moral firmness and courage devoted to the publica- 
 tion of your book. The propagation of strongly contested truth is 
 always slow, and there has been upon the question of masonry and 
 anti-masonry a singular apathy prevailing in the community." 2 Th© 
 book, however, did not have as extensive a circulation as it merited. 
 Its strict impartiality may not, perhaps, have suited the taste of 
 masons or anti-masons, and thus the very circumstances which gave 
 value to the work prevented its popularity. 
 
 Upon the removal of the depositee by Jackson^ in 1834, the 
 Adams party, which had assumed the name of National Republicans 
 became Whigs ; and henceforth, until the decease of its editor, the 
 Commercial gave an unqualified and a consistent support to the 
 measures of that party. It took an especially active part in the 
 great presidential campaign of 1840, a fact which was not unappre- 
 ciated by the successful candidate, who, upon assuming the duties of 
 office, tendered its editor, as a mark both of his political and personal 
 friendship, the appointment of minister to the Hague. While the 
 matter, however, was yet in abeyance Harrison died, and Tyler suc- 
 ceeding, the offer was, of course never repeated. Indeed the Com- 
 mercial was always regarded as a kind of political barometer, and its 
 signs were eagerly looked for alike by friend and foe. "I am svffer- 
 ing^^ writes Daniel Webster to Mr. Stone in one of the playful letters 
 that frequently passed between them, '' for want of the Commercial. 
 I am, as you know, a good deal given to wandering about, but always 
 hope the Commercial may hit me flying." 
 
 On the dissolution of the Whig party, in 1856, the Commercial 
 became a Republican organ, a position which it could not do other- 
 wise than assume if it would be consistent with its former principles. 
 Mr. Stone always advocated in its columns the abolition of slavery 
 by congresssional action as soon as practicable; and at the great 
 anti-slavery convention at Baltimore, in 1825, he originated and 
 drew up the able plan of slave emancipation at that time recom- 
 mended to congress for adoption. The position occupied by him on 
 the slavery question, which, even at that early day, had become an 
 important political element, will, however, best appear by the follow- 
 
 2 Manuscript letter, John Quincy Adams to William L. Stone, Oct. 21, 1832. 
 
40 Th;e Life and Writings of 
 
 ing letter written to him at this time by the Hon. Judge Jay. The 
 letter itself seems like a prophecy. 
 
 Bedford, Sept. 25th, 1826. 
 
 Dear Sir : I am persuaded that you will peruse and publish the 
 enclosed correspondence with no ordinary pleasure. The prompt- 
 ness and firmness with which Governor Clinton has interfered, is 
 highly honorable to him, and gives him new claims to the confidence 
 of his fellow citizens. 
 
 It must be a source of gratification to yourself, that you have been 
 so instrumental in calling the attention of the public to the iniqui- 
 tous transaction at Washington, and that you have prepared the way 
 for the repeal of a law, which is a disgrace to our country and an 
 outrage on humanity. We intend to forward a petition to congress 
 for the abolition of slavery in the District of Columbia. The aboli- 
 tion of slavery at the seat of government will, I apprehend, prove 
 more important in its consequences than would at first be supposed; 
 and will do more to remove the curse of slavery from our land, than 
 the Colonization Society will effect in ages. This measure is clearly 
 constitutional, and would interfere with no state rights, and the suc- 
 cess of the experiment in the District and the vast advantage which 
 would accrue from the exchange of slave for free labor, would have a 
 powerful influence in mitigating the prejudices to emancipation in 
 the neighboring states. I do not, however, entertain a hope of pre- 
 sent, nor a doubt of final success. We shall be defeated, frequently 
 defeated — but every confiict will add to our strength and weaken 
 our opponents. The slave holders dread discussion — it is our part 
 to court it. The attention of the public should be unremittingly 
 directed to this subject. The dictates of religion, the principles of 
 our government, the spirit of the age, and the safety of the republic, 
 all unite in the support of our cause, and affbrd a sure pledge of a 
 final and glorious triumph. The aid of the press is, however, indis- 
 pensable, and the friends of liberty and humanity have reason to 
 rejoice that that of ^ ours will not be withheld. 
 
 I have the honor, Sir, to be 
 
 Yours very respectfully, 
 
 William Jay. 
 Colonel Wm. L. Stone 
 
 Editor of the Commercial Advertiser. 
 
William Leete Stone. 41 
 
 The "enclosed correspondence,'^ to which allusion is made in this 
 letter, is the correspondence held by Governor Clinton with Pre- 
 sident Adams in reference to the case of Gilbert Horton, a colored 
 man and a free citizen of the state of New York, who, without 
 being charged with any crime, and without any evidence of the 
 falsity of his representations, was imprisoned in the District of 
 Columbia under an old and repealed law of Maryland referring to the 
 recapture of fugitive slaves. Immediately upon hearing of this 
 outrage Governor Clinton applied to President Adams for his release, 
 on the ground that his incarceration in the District of Columbia was 
 unconstitutional in its application to a citizen of New York. Before 
 however, this letter was received, the president, realizing the injus- 
 tice of the act, gave the negro his liberty. But the excitement 
 which this flagrant act of injustice produced in New York did not 
 so easily subside. Public meetings were held in many places, at 
 which the representatives of the state of New York were requested 
 to use their efforts for an immediate abolition of slavery in the Dis- 
 trict of Columbia. The course of the Commercial in this matter 
 appears in the following editorial, written by its editor a few days 
 after receiving Judge Jay's letter. Read in the light of recent 
 events, it is interesting as showing the temper of the southern mind 
 at this time. 
 
 As long a8 I have a voice to speak, this question shall never he at rest. — Fox. 
 
 Slaver ij in the District of Columbia. — We have often been taxed 
 with "all uncharitableness" toward our Southern brethren, because 
 we believe the professions of the great majority of the slave holders 
 of their anxiety to rid themselves of the evil, in the main to be 
 ''false and hollow.'' There are exceptions to this rule we know. 
 There are numbers of good men, who, if they could, we have no 
 doubt would wipe off the dark disgrace of personal slavery from our 
 national character. But these numbers are lamentably few. The 
 great majority of the slave holders cling to their slaves with the 
 tenacity that the drowning man clings to the spar thrown to his 
 relief; and they grasp for more with the same avidity with which 
 they grasp for political power. Else why the angry Missouri ques- 
 tion ? Why the passion evinced by the southern statesmen, when- 
 ever the subject is broached in congress, and of southern editors, 
 
 6 
 
42 The Life and Writings of 
 
 whenever the discussion is attempted in the northern papers ? Or 
 why else did the president of the Colonization Society, on a recent 
 occasion, sell some thirty of his spare slaves into the still more 
 dreadful slavery of Louisiana, instead of sending them to the favo- 
 rite colony on the western coast of Africa? The fact is, these pro- 
 fessions, if properly scrutinized, will in the main be found hypo- 
 critical, as a thousand facts might be cited to prove. We have 
 another, and a very precious piece of testimony of this sort now 
 before us. The case of Horton, the Westchester resolutions, the 
 tone of the northern press, the intended prosecution of the officers 
 of Washington, and the determination to bring the subject of slavery 
 in the District of Columbia before congress, has attracted their 
 attention. And what do they do ? Do they come forward and hail 
 the anticipated freedom of a portion of their fellow men as a measure 
 calculated to relieve themselves of what, when it suits their conven- 
 ience, they tell us is a curse? No, far from it — so far from it, 
 indeed, that the Alexandria Gazette is already discussing the ques- 
 tion of obtaining a recession of that part of the District of Columbia 
 back to Virginia — that they may enjoy the precious boon of slavery 
 unmolested! "The measure,'' says that journal [of abolishing sla_ 
 very in that district], "will certainly be agitated, and it is folly to 
 think of suppressing it with a protest, unless hacked hy something 
 stronger than mere ink and paper.'' What does the man mean ! 
 He surely forgets which party, in the event of an exertion of physical 
 strength, would wield the club of Hercules. But we will not reply 
 further to such language, as we hope it will be long ere such iniqui- 
 tous threats proceed from the north, and in the mean time we trust 
 the conductors of the southern papers will learn more prudence, if 
 they do not imbibe sounder and more patriotic principles." 
 
 Indeed the precipice toward which the north and south were fast 
 tending, and which finally presented itself in the great rebellion of 
 1860, was foreseen by the writer of the above, even previous to the 
 time that the great nullifier is generally supposed to have first 
 contemplated secession. This is evident by the following letter 
 written to him in 1829 by Chief Justice Spencer. The letter is 
 given here, as furnishing, in connection with the editorial just quoted, 
 additional historical evidence that principles inimical to the stability 
 of the Federal government were openly avowed at an early day. 
 
William Leete Stone. 43 
 
 Washington, Dec. 18^A, 1829. 
 
 My Bear Colonel : I have not been unmindful of my promise 
 to write you whenever any thing of an interesting nature arose, and 
 which the papers of the place did not convey to you. You could 
 not expect me to give you the bickerings and tittle-tattle of the 
 metropolis, and as yet I have been unable to learn any thing of a 
 private nature worth a letter. You will ask then why I write you 
 this? Simply to assure you that my engagements are unnumbered. 
 I have also, another motive, which I will briefly explain. Has it 
 not occurred to you that in all probability we shall have, three years 
 hence, a warm contest for the presidency, and that the battle is to 
 be between the slave and the non-slaveholding states ? That present 
 appearances indicate Mr. Calhoun as the candidate on the one side 
 and Mr. Yan Buren on the other? If we are driven to make our 
 selection between these gentlemen, I confess to you that my prefer- 
 ences, at present, are decidedly for the latter. Need I advert to the 
 many strong considerations which induce to this preference ? With 
 a man of your acumen this would be a waste of time, and I will, 
 therefore, until I learn your dissent from this view, refrain to urge 
 them. If this be so, will it be wise to keep up prejudices against 
 the man we may be compelled to support ? When I say compelled, 
 I mean that sort of political necessity which in fact scarcely leaves a 
 choice. 
 
 I hope you know me too well to believe that I will truckle to any 
 man from unworthy motives. If, therefore, I should endeavor by 
 my conduct to assuage prejudices against the Magician^ it would 
 be on public grounds, and with a perspective view to the state of 
 things in 1832. 
 
 You have demolished Mr. Eaton, and he deserved it. Your strict- 
 ures on the message are severe, but, I confess, just. How long the 
 cabinet will hold together it is impossible to say — at present there 
 are serious feuds. ******** 
 
 Mr. y. B., it is believed, enjoys the president's utmost confidence, 
 having no wife to come in collision with Mrs. E. 
 
 You shall hear from me whenever I have anything material to 
 
 communicate. 
 
 Yery sincerely your friend, 
 
 A. Spencer. 
 Col. Wm. L. Stone. 
 
44 The Life and Writings of 
 
 The political horoscope, thus cast by the writer, appeared a year 
 later even more nearly correct — since in a letter from the Hon. Judge 
 Story to Mr. Stone, under date of April 15th, 1830, occurs this 
 passage. " The friends of Van Buren and Callioun are exceedingly 
 hostile, and each party is playing a double and desperate game. It 
 is understood here that Mr. Calhoun means to put down both Van 
 Buren and the president — and that Mr. Van Buren is laboring to 
 put down Calhoun — and President Jackson too — provided there 
 shall be any chance of his own success. '' John Quincy Adams, also, 
 shared in this feeling of uncertainty. "The present aspect of the 
 approaching presidential election," he writes at this time to Mr. 
 Stone, " differs little from that which I had expected. I very sin- 
 cerely share in your anxiety for the free institutions, and the union 
 of this country. But the welfare of the people is in their own hands. 
 There seems to me to be, after all, but one very imminent danger im- 
 pending over us; and that is the issue of the conflict between slave 
 labor and free labor. The rottenness at the heart of our Union is 
 Slaveri/^ 
 
 As events, however, ultimately proved, two other candidates were 
 unexpectedly nominated ; and although Mr. Clay was defeated by 
 Mr. Jackson, yet both Mr. Stone and Mr. Spencer were saved from 
 the disagreeable alternative either of supporting a pro-slavery candi- 
 date, or of giving their votes to one whose political principles they 
 detested. 
 
 II 
 
 Though an acknowledged political leader, Mr. Stone's attention 
 was very far from being absorbed by the party contentions of the 
 day. He was an efficient member of historical and literary societies 
 both of Europe and America; and while at Hudson, besides his 
 political journal, he edited two literary periodicals, styled the Lounger ^ 
 and the Spirit of the Forum which were distinguished for sprightli- 
 ness and frequent sallies of wit. Subsequently, he furnished a num- 
 ber of tales to the Annuals, some of which, with additions, he repub- 
 lished in 1834, under the title of Tales and Sketches. Many of the 
 incidents in these, as before hinted, are his own pioneer adventures, 
 while others are founded on traditions respecting the early colonial 
 
William Leete Stone. 45 
 
 history of the United States. One of these tales, written in an 
 exquisitely chaste and beautiful style, is based upon a romantic his- 
 torical incident in the life of the accomplished and magnificent, but 
 unfortunate Margaret Moncrieffe. The facts were related to the 
 writer by Aaron Burr in one of the many and long conversations 
 held between them upon Revolutionary times. The sketch appears 
 in Miss Leslie's Gift for 1836, and is entitled 
 
 The Language of Flowers. 
 
 Philologists have for ages bewildered themselves in search of the 
 primitive language. As to its origin, the inquiry has long since been 
 given up. Theories have been accumulated upon theories, and sys- 
 tems formed upon systems, but all to no purpose. Like the hitherto 
 fruitless inquiries into the origin of evil^ ending in the single and 
 lamentable facts, — that no good ever came of it, — and that, being 
 in Paradise, Adam fell ; so in regard to language, being in Paradise, 
 Adam talked, and Eve, too, beyond a doubt, or her daughters are 
 very unlike her. And yet, even in this most enlightened of all ages, 
 past, present, or to come — notwithstanding the schoolmaster has 
 been abroad so long — the question as to which language is entitled 
 to the honor of primitive formation, is still open for discussion. 
 The Israelite will affirm it to have been the Hebrew, inasmuch as 
 that is the language of the holy writings. But the learned Brahmin 
 will contest the honor for the Sanscrit; while the literati of the 
 Celestial Empire will maintain, with equal pertinacity, that it was 
 spoken by Confucius; and both can fortify their positions with 
 earlier dates than the age of Moses, or even of Abraham. The small 
 cluster of real Iberians, yet retaining their distinctive character in 
 Spain, will declare that it was the Basque. General Valiancy, the 
 antiquarian, would assert, and prove by pages of argument, the 
 Graelic to have been the original language, derived by the Irish from 
 the Phoenicians. Zeisberger would probably claim the honor for 
 the Delaware ; while from his long residence among them, the excel- 
 lent Heckewelder may have adopted opinions in favor of the Mo- 
 hawk ; and last, though not least, the intelligent inhabitants of Com- 
 munipaw are understood unanimously to concur in the opinion of 
 Van Gorp, that Adam and Eve sung their morning and evening 
 hymns, and held their sweet colloquial intercourse in low Dutch ! 
 
 But I care not what was the language first spoken, — whether it 
 
46 The Life and Writings of 
 
 was either of those to which I have referred, or neither, — whether 
 it was the Coptic, or the Berber of Mount Atlas, or the Chickasaw. 
 It is quite evident to my mind, that neither men nor women could 
 have talked until they knew how. Meanwhile, and before they 
 could have invented the mechanical parts of language, or mastered 
 their grammars, some method must have existed by which they could 
 interchange ideas, communicate reciprocally their thoughts, and 
 make known to each other their feelings, their wants and their 
 desires. Hence the language of signs and symbols — the representa- 
 tives of objects and sounds — retained by the deaf and dumb to this 
 day. Thus we hear of the "language of the eyes/' expressed more 
 fully by the great English dramatist in Troilus and Cressida — 
 '* There's language in her eye, her cheek, her lip, nay, her foot 
 speaks.'' 
 
 Still the question recurs, what was the primitive language, whether 
 of signs or of emblems, since it could not well have been a language 
 of letters ? It must have been some process by which the eye ope- 
 rated upoD the mind, and, doubtless, very rapidly, or the primitive 
 couple would have made slow work in telling long stories. I cannot 
 admit the priority of the clumsy ideograpMc characters of the 
 Chinese, or the awkward hieroglyphics of the Egyptians. The 
 Mexican picture-writing answered a very good purpose among the 
 subjects of Montezuma; but it has not yet been proved that Para- 
 dise was one of the countries desecrated by Fernando Cortes. There 
 must, therefore, have been some method of communicating percep- 
 tions, and making ideas pass from mind to mind, since Jemmy 
 Thomson's conversion of silence into an expressive language will 
 only answer the purpose on special occasions, and among people 
 accustomed to make a good deal of noise. 
 
 After due consideration of the subject, therefore, and taking 
 Milton's description for my authority, as to what sort of a place the 
 garden of Eden was, I have arrived at the conclusion, that the first 
 understood language was that of the flowers. Time immemorial 
 in the east, the culture and appropriation of flowers, has entered into 
 all their pleasures, their pastimes, and their religion. The bride at 
 the altar, and the warrior in the triumphal procession, were crowned 
 with flowers. Wreaths were twined by the hand of beauty, to 
 grace victorious brows in their games; incense-breathing festoons 
 were hung upon the altars of their divinities; while the victims for 
 
William Leete Stone. 47 
 
 their sacrifices were decorated with chaplets and garlands. The 
 reign of beauty was emphatically that of flowers; and when the 
 most lovely pair in creation suddenly found themselves in the midst 
 of the most ample and luxuriant flower garden that ever bloomed 
 beneath the eye of man, or scattered its dewy odors upon the air, 
 what could have been more natural than that the happy and inno- 
 cent couple, who had been placed there "to till and dress it," in 
 waking the sweets, and calling forth the beauty of the countless 
 blossoms blushing around them, should have fancied some peculiar 
 expression in every flower, and bestowed upon each some definite 
 signification. 
 
 Flowers are the alphabet of angels — whereby 
 They write on hills and fields mysterious truths, 
 
 says the poet ; a fact which I cannot believe such bright and pure 
 intelligences as Adam and Eve were slow to discover. 
 
 I think it was the celebrated Bishop Berkley, who, in a very ingen- 
 ious treatise, has shown that colors are only a form of language, 
 suggesting ideas to our minds, from the habits and associations of 
 previous experience. If this be true, flowers must constitute- a lan- 
 guage, as well as the melting dyes of the rainbow, far more copious, 
 from their great variety; and equally beautiful, both from the rich- 
 ness and the delicacy of their hues. A language, too, particularly 
 adapted to the eye of a woman, of all others the most susceptible of 
 whatever is tender, beautiful and expressive. 
 
 But however sweet, and peaceful, and passionless in appearance, 
 flowers have not always been used as the language of innocence, or 
 of Cupid ; and Bellona herself has, in at least one instance, thrown 
 aside her torch, to use with treacherous intent, the beautiful emblems 
 which I have been aiming to illustrate. A little fragment of romantic 
 history will inform the reader how, and for what purpose, the sister 
 of Mars became a dissembler, by endeavoring to speak in a language 
 which none of her family have any right to appropriate. 
 
 It was in the spring of 1777 that the veteran Putnam — a brave, 
 bluff old soldier, who two years before had been transferred from 
 the tail of his plough to a high post in the continental army — was 
 first in command of the highland pass of the Hudson. That year 
 was one of signal importance in the annals of the American revolu- 
 tion. The mother country had determined upon a more vigorous 
 effort to subjugate her refractory colonies than had yet been put 
 
48 The Life and Writings of 
 
 forth since tte commencement of hostilities; and campaigns were 
 projected upon a broader scale of action than had before been deemed 
 necessary, in order to the ultimate and even speedy success of the 
 British arms. To this end a powerful blow was to be struck at the 
 north, by the army of the gallant and accomplished Burgoyne; the 
 most brilliant and formidable expedition that had taken the field in 
 America since the invasion of Canada by Sir Jeifrey Amherst. 
 Simultaneously with this movement from that direction, it was 
 resolved to detach Sir William Howe, with a large division of the 
 British army from New York, against Philadelphia, by way of the 
 Chesapeake, for the double purpose of seizing upon the commercial 
 capital of Pennsylvania, then the seat of the American congress, and 
 of diverting the attention of the American commander-in-chief from 
 the advance of Burgoyne — the vaunting soldier who had boasted 
 that he could march through the whole Union with an army of five 
 or ten thousand men. Not anticipating any serious impediment to 
 his descent upon Albany, another part of the design contemplated 
 the dislodgment of the Americans from their fortresses in the high- 
 lands, and the subjugation of all their works along the river, that 
 the navigation to Albany might be unobstructed; thus, either to 
 enable Sir Harry Clinton to meet the expected conqueror of the 
 north in the old Dutch capital, if the business upon his hands should 
 require a greater force in that quarter, or to allow Greneral Burgoyne 
 an undisputed and triumphant descent of the Hudson, as the case 
 might be. Such, in brief terms, were the leading features of the 
 British campaigns, as they were concerted for the summer of 1777 ; 
 and it may well be supposed that the treason of Arnold was not an 
 incident of the first attempt made by the British commanders in 
 New York to obtain information as to the localities and the strength 
 of West Point, and the other fortifications among the mountains of 
 that celebrated pass. 
 
 New York being in possession of the British, and the highlands of 
 the American troops, the intermediate portion of Westchester county 
 was known as " the neutral ground," being in actual possession of 
 neither party, and yet subject to the incursions of marauders from 
 both. Early in the month of June, while preparations for the 
 movements already indicated were actively making, the attention of 
 some of the lower outposts of the Americans in Westchester was 
 repeatedly arrested by the equestrian exercises of a lady '' from below/' 
 
William Leete Stone. 49 
 
 wlio rode witb tlie spirit of Zenobia, — the beautiful and brave cap- 
 tive queen of Palmyra, who, in chains of gold, was made to grace 
 one of the triumphs of Aurelian, — and the matchless grace of the 
 Maid of Orleans, a noble animal, elegantly caparisoned, carrying 
 herself with a gait as lofty as though she scorned the earth on which 
 she deigned to tread. Not, however, that the lady was alone, since 
 she was always attended, sometimes by one, but oftener by two or 
 three gay cavaliers, from their port and bearing evidently officers, 
 and all mounted upon chargers fleet as the wind. The little party 
 were often observed galloping over the hills and dales in different 
 neighborhoods; sometimes in Tarrytown, and at others in Rye and 
 Mamaroneck; and those of the inhabitants who occasionally saw 
 them pass along the highways and byways — their proud steeds now 
 " telling their steps with gentle majesty," and now bounding imperi- 
 ously, showing ''with glittering eye and nostrils drinking the air, 
 hot courage and high desire," — reported the lady to be young, and 
 of surpassing beauty. At times, as from their frequent expeditions 
 they became more intimately acquainted with the country, they grew 
 more familiar ; approaching by degrees, nearer to some of the Ameri- 
 can outposts, and lingering about the lines longer than they were 
 wont; until, at length some of the officers of the latter began to 
 think of making a pretty captive ; under the impression, no doubt, 
 that an officer or two of rank might perchance be captured with her. 
 But the horses of our officers were no match for the blooded coursers 
 of the mysterious equestrians, who approached, or galloped away 
 from the American lines, as best suited their convenience or their 
 caprice. 
 
 But good swimmers are drowned at last, says the proverb, and the 
 dashing strangers were also caught at last. Waxing, apparently, 
 bolder by their previous successes in flight, the fair reconnoiterer 
 with her gallants ultimately threw themselves into a position in one 
 of the glens of the Croton river, by reason of which a patrol of light- 
 horsemen were enabled to cut off their retreat, and succeeded as Pat 
 took the corporal's guard, in making them all prisoners, by sur- 
 rounding them. The heroine, though evidently young, bore the 
 reverse of fortune with commendable philosophy; and her two 
 squires in attendance being soldiers, could, of course, do no less. She 
 was indeed very beautiful ; but " the spoils" did not in all cases 
 " belong to the victors," in those 4ays pf unsophisticated patriotism; 
 
 7 
 
50 The Life and Whitings of 
 
 and as the lady entreated that she might be taken to head-quarters, to 
 " her dear friend General Putnam/' as she styled him, the captors could 
 not be so ungallant as to deny the request. Even republicans acknow- 
 ledge what Junius calls the divine right of beauty ; and a pretty woman 
 is a tyrant which no American soldier feels authorized to resist. 
 
 On her arrival at West Point it was found to be indeed true, that 
 the veteran commander of the fortress, the ruins of which yet bear 
 his own name, was the acquaintance and friend of the handsome 
 captive, who was no other than the celebrated Margaret Moncrieffe, 
 daughter of Major Moncrieffe, an accomplished officer in the British 
 service. Major Moncrieffe had been successively in the staff of 
 Generals Monckton and Gage, and also of Sir Jeffrey, afterwards 
 Lord Amherst. The heroine of my tale was the daughter of Mon- 
 crieffe's first wife, by whom she had been left an orphan in tender 
 infancy. Her father had married, as his second wife, a sister of 
 Governor Livingston, of New Jersey, but she had soon deceased; 
 and the major himself, having a third wife, was now attached to the 
 military family of Lord Percy, the late Duke of Northumberland, 
 whose timely assistance secured the retreat of the discomfited Britons 
 from Lexington. 
 
 The recognition was instantaneous and mutual ; and the veteran 
 general received her more like a long absent daughter than a cap- 
 tive. I have repeatedly spoken of her beauty. It was indeed 
 extraordinary. All eyes were riveted upon her, as she passed the 
 encampment on the plain of the Point, and ascended to the mountain 
 fortress, the citadel of the highlands ; and the young officers were 
 immediately up to their ears in love with the fair creature. She 
 was not twenty, and was in the full bloom of youth, health and 
 beauty; her step was elastic, and her form all symmetry and grace. 
 Her countenance beamed with intelligence and vivacity. Her fore- 
 head was fair, and her eyebrows resembled delicate pencilings upon 
 Parian marble. Her jet-black eyes rolled sparkling in liquid light. 
 Her cheeks, blushing like the rose, and possibly heightened in color 
 by the exertion of climbing the mountain to the garrison, vied with 
 the yet deeper tint of her lip, turned with the most delicate outline. 
 And then her dark, glossy hair, waving in clusters over her neck and 
 bosom. Her voice was music itself, and her bright and dimpled 
 smiles absolute witchery. In one word, as Dryden — "glorioup 
 John" — would have said. 
 
"William Leete Stone. 51 
 
 " Her eyes, her lips, her cheeks, her shape, her features, 
 Seemed drawn by love's own hand." 
 
 Such was the beautiful apparition at the fortress in the character 
 of a prisoner. It would be quite unnecessary to add, that every 
 possible attention, and every proper indulgence was extended to the 
 young lady, so suddenly and romantically introduced into their circle, 
 and whose presence was so welcome. But this was not all ; the offi- 
 cers of rank, and of the first families, were ambitious to study her 
 wishes, and make themselves slaves in contributing to her comfort, 
 while at the same time the beautiful girl was treated with as much 
 kindness by the little community of ladies on the station, as though 
 all ^heir own personal attractions had not been amazingly obscured, 
 if not totally eclipsed, in the brighter glow of her superlative charms. 
 Among the young officers who were admitted to her society were 
 the accomplished aids-de-camp of the commanding general, one of 
 whom was Colonel Burr, of New York, although he was absent from 
 the post at the time of her capture; Colonel Brooks, of Massachu- 
 setts, and Colonel Hamilton, than either of whom, none were more 
 gallant or accomplished, whether in the drawing room or the field. 
 Others, also, whose names, like those just cited, have subsequently 
 filled a large space in their country's history, strove to render them- 
 selves agreeable to the fascinating captive, among whom was the 
 illustrious Kosciusko, and with whom, to appear interesting to the 
 ladies, was a passion. 
 
 Several days intervened, perhaps a fortnight, after the capture of 
 Miss Moncriefi'e, before General Putnam had occasion to despatch a 
 flag to New York, and at the departure of the officer the young lady 
 afiected a strong desire to be allowed to accompany him. But the 
 general was too much of a Yankee to lose so fine a chance of driving 
 a bargain, and making something extra by the exchange of the offi- 
 cers taken in her attendance, for which reason she was yet detained. 
 Her request to write to her friends was also denied ; for although 
 not the slightest suspicion was harbored as to any improper motive 
 on the part of an artless, though accomplished, and manifestly well- 
 educated young woman, yet the watchfulness of military usage must 
 be observed with indiscriminate exactness. She yielded, therefore, 
 to the force of circumstances, with a much better grace than most 
 females would have done. As the officer was turning upon his heel 
 to depart, however, she begged of him to obtain the permission of Sir 
 
52 The Life and "Writings of 
 
 Harry Clinton to call at her father's house, and bring along her 
 guitar, and a box of water-colors, with her pencils; at the same time, 
 and as if by a sudden thought, pulling off one of her pretty slippers, 
 and telling the messenger playfully, that by exhibiting that token to 
 the family it would be recognized, and the articles desired sent in 
 return ; although the good general would not allow her to write for 
 them, lest treason might lurk in her crow-quill. It was not, of 
 course, suspected that a slip of paper might have been concealed 
 within the lining of a lady's slipper, taken thus accidentally from 
 such a beautifully turned foot, any more than it was imagined that 
 a reply might have been breathed back through the medium of a 
 guitar thus sent for; — suffice it to say, that the instrument and the 
 paints were both received by the return of the flag; and sweetly did 
 she play on the one, and mingle and spread the colors of the other. 
 
 But the exchange of the prisoners was not aS readily agreed upon 
 as might have been anticipated. Difficulties were interposed by the 
 British general, occasioning considerable delay; meanwhile the 
 charming captive was doomed to remain some two or three weeks 
 longer under the protection of American gallants. She was most 
 agreeably entertained, however, and her time pleasantly occupied, 
 either with her guitar, her pencil, or the company of the gay cava- 
 liers of the army. The old general, also, in his own plain, blunt 
 way, contributed all in his power to meliorate her captivity. His 
 language was quite unpolished, and a lisp in his utterance deprived 
 it, apparently, of much of the real eloquence and strength which it 
 possessed; but his conversations were marked by a vigorous under- 
 standing, and sound sense. 
 
 Miss Moncrieffe was fond of exercise, and with a firm and sure 
 foot she would climb the rocks and precipices like a mountain goat. 
 She had an eye for the picturesque, and in the rambles which she 
 took with little parties arranged for her pleasure, there was not a 
 summit in the neighborhood that she did not scale, nor a valley nor 
 glen that she did not explore. And both from the crest of the 
 Crow's Nest, and the yet loftier brow of the Fishkill mountain, she 
 had ample opportunities of gazing, to her heart's content, upon the 
 wild and magnificent scenery of that romantic region — mountain, 
 crag and glen — and the glorious Hudson rolling onward to the 
 ocean through the deep gulf below. Ever ready with her pencil, 
 but a moment was necessary to sketch a landscape from every point 
 
William Leete Stone. 63 
 
 where a new view was presented to her admiring vision. The fair 
 one was a botanist, too, gathering and studying every wild flower 
 she saw, and carefully preserving every new plant for the leaves of 
 an herbarium. 
 
 Thus the time passed pleasantly away, the beautiful captive con- 
 tributing her full proportion to the social enjoyments of the post — 
 now climbing a mountain like a chamois; now passing an hour in 
 the cool of the evening with a select circle in Kosciusko's garden, 
 fronting the grotto beneath the beetling brow of the Point; and now 
 dancing in a pleasure-boat, light as a Venetian gondola upon the 
 moon-lit bosom of the Hudson, joining the silver tones of her own 
 sweet voice in the song, or accompanying it on the guitar. Not a 
 few of her leisure hours, moreover, were spent in painting flowers; 
 an amusement of which she was not only particularly fond, but to 
 which she was assiduously devoted; and in the execution of which 
 she was a remarkable proficient. 
 
 The conversation having turned upon the subject of painting one 
 morning, and some one of the breakfast circle having complimented 
 her upon her uncommon industry with her pencil, the old general 
 expressed a desire to see some specimens of her skill in the divine 
 art, and of which he heard such warm commendations. Accordingly, 
 at the next visit she made to his apartment, she brought along a 
 variety of pieces, which he examined with unfeigned admiration. 
 After glancing from one to another for a moment, the veteran 
 broke out with his usual preliminary exclamation : 
 
 "Odds curses! Miss Moncrieflfe, you paint a-most equal to natur, 
 and indeed T don't know but yours are better than the ra-al flowers I" 
 "No, general, you flatter me. I succeed with single flowers some- 
 times, tolerably well ; but I don't get along in tying up boquets on 
 paper, to my liking. I have been trying my hand at grouping 
 flowers this morning, by disposing some clusters in various parts of 
 the landscape of the parade ground, which you saw me sketching 
 from the parapet the other day.'' 
 
 "Upon my word, but they are prodigious handsome though," 
 exclaimed the veteran. " Them pond-lilies and bull-flags look as 
 natural as in the swamps of Pomfret." 
 
 " Yes : I have always admired the white water-lily for its purity, 
 
54 The Life and Writings of 
 
 of which it is the emblem. The virgin was often painted by the old 
 masters, with one of these flowers in her hand. Indeed the whole 
 lily family are beautiful — yellow, orange-color and white, and even 
 the coarser tiger-lily is a splendid flower." 
 
 "Odds curses! but I should have liked the lily better, had it not 
 been for the blasted Frenchmen among the Indians up there on the 
 Canada line. While I was a prisoner at Montreal, before Amherst's 
 expedition, the French officers were always boasting about the lilies 
 of France, and the flower-de-lucy's, as I think they called them.'' 
 
 " The flower-de-luce, or fleur-de-lis, general, I presume you heard 
 the French speaking of. This, in heraldry, is the bearing represent- 
 ing the lily, the queen of flowers, and the emblem of majesty. It 
 belongs to the arms of France, and the lily has always been the 
 emblem of the Bourbons. These bull-flags, as you call them, I have 
 painted from a cluster gathered by us the other day, at the top of 
 the cove, above the Point, where they are erecting the quarters for 
 General Washington. It is more properly called the iris, than the 
 flower-de-luce, but I think it a pretty flower in all its varieties, 
 except the dull, forsaken blue." 
 
 " And what you have said. Miss, accounts for the lingo about 
 lilies, that I was speaking of, — but pray tell me what is that grand 
 looking streaked flower, standing like a little cup by itself, there?" 
 
 "That is a tulip, or rather what I intended for one; but it's 
 painted altogether from memory, as I have not seen one since I left 
 England." 
 
 " Odds curses ! but it's ra-al splendid!" 
 
 " I have always admired the tulip exceedingly. My father has 
 told me that within the last hundred years, such was the rage for 
 these flowers, that a choice root, bearing a single blossom would 
 bring two thousand dollars. The Turks and the Dutch have been 
 celebrated for their tulips, and I could almost love even a Dutchman 
 for his love of that flower." 
 
 " But are you really so fond of flowers as you tell for, Miss?" 
 
 "Indeed I am; I have heard it said that the stars are the flowers 
 of heaven, and why not call flowers the stars of earth. how I 
 should admire to visit the gardens of Holland, and of the Sultan's 
 harem, in the season of tulips! It is said that nothing can equal 
 
William Leete Stone. 55 
 
 the magnificence of those gardens, when covered with the innumera- 
 ble varieties of these flowers. I wish Dr. Darwin would make haste 
 with the poem which he is preparing to publish, on the loves of the 
 plants and flowers." 
 
 *'The loves of onions and turnips, as much! But there, Miss, I 
 see you have been painting some of them yaller flowers, which you 
 brought down from Butterhill the other day.^' 
 
 " That was the mountain ranunculus, general ; a very beautiful 
 flower, somewhat resembling in its form the anemone; a flower that 
 is much valued in England, and of which I have been told, my 
 mother was very fond. I think it is a lovely flower, though Pliny 
 was mistaken in saying that it never opens its petals, but when the 
 wind blows." 
 
 " Upon my word, you've given it a mighty fine name. I would 
 think no more of it than of a dandelion in the meadow." 
 
 " Which is a very pretty flower, too. But, general, how do you 
 like that passion flower ? How accurately the circles are delineated 
 upon the petals, and how prettily the stamens surround the pistils. 
 The calyx, you will perceive " 
 
 "It's all French and Mohawk to me. Miss Margery. I know 
 nothing about calyxes or pistols, except those in my holsters !" 
 
 "But have you never studied botany, my dear general? You 
 know not, then, how much pleasure you have " 
 
 " No, no, not I. But the gals get down their books now and then, 
 and talk T)ver their calyxes and other gibberish." 
 
 "Still, you are fond of flowers, though — I know you are. So 
 much kindness of " 
 
 " Yes : my old lady and her darters always insist upon having a 
 flower-bed in the garden at Pomfret, although there are rose-bushes 
 all along the fence, and on both sides of the door. Roses, pinks, 
 hollyhocks, marigolds, and sweet-williamses, poppies, and sun-flowers, 
 are all there : and they are all that I know, or care much about." 
 
 " But, in your rambles in the woods after the French and Indians, 
 in the last war, I suppose you must have met with many beautiful 
 wild-flowers ?" 
 
 "If I did, Miss Margery, Rogers and I had always too much busi- 
 ness on hand to allow us to stop and look after them. Them plaguey 
 
56 The Life and Writings op 
 
 Iroquois made sharp work of it for our rangers, I calculate; no time 
 for looking after thistle-blows and daisies, with them varmints at 
 your heels, making us jump every now and then with their war- 
 whoops/' 
 
 "Not very agreeable botanizing, I should think. How do you 
 like that single flower, general ? Isn't it odd V* 
 
 "I took it for a bell-lily; such as we have in the Connecticut 
 meadows." 
 
 "No: it's the amaryllis formosisshna^ and discloses one of the 
 most beautiful examples of art in the vegetable economy." 
 
 "And those pert, forward-looking white flowers, in that other 
 bunch — what sissimas are they?" 
 
 "That is the narcissus; named after the stupid fellow, who, as the 
 poets tell us, fell in love with his own pretty face, when he saw it 
 once in the water. I always hated the narcissus; it resembles so 
 much an impudent, conceited coxcomb. But look here, general; I 
 found a botanical treasure this morning, on the other side of the 
 river, in the Cold Spring woods." 
 
 "What; those ugly, spiked-looking blossoms!" 
 " Don't call them ugly, general. It is the vervain, which was 
 sacred among the Greeks and Romans, and the druids of Britain 
 also. All their temples and sacrifices were sanctified with it, and no , 
 incantation or lustration was perfect without it." 
 
 "Poh, poh, how you rattle on; but we've millions of them in the 
 woods, and if they will sanctify anything, I wish the skin of Joe 
 Brant and his Mohawks might be rubbed over with it. We've 
 heard that he is making bad work in the back settlements." 
 
 "And then, again, my dear general, the vervain was reckoned 
 good to charm away evil spirits. The druids used it for that. I 
 once heard an old woman in Scotland sing a ballad, how that when 
 once on a time the devil, in the shape of a handsome cavalier under- 
 took to seduce a beautiful girl, she discovered his cloven foot by 
 means of this sacred plant; and such was old Brimstone's repugnance 
 to it, that he cleared out into Ireland, forthwith." 
 
 " Then I guess. Miss Moncrieff'e, that you had best keep a sprig of 
 it by you, when that young aid of mine comes back to the post. 
 Odds curses! but he plays the mischief with the young wenches 
 
"William Leete Stone. 57 
 
 wherever lie goes. His eyes are as liglit as a black-snake's; and 
 he's the handsomest little piece of flesh and blood in the army. But 
 I forget. I believe you saw my spruce little colonel, at General 
 Mifflin's?" 
 
 "Yes, sir, — I had the pleasure of meeting him several times, 
 while we were out at Kingsbridge, and I do think him one of the 
 most elegant and fascinating young gentlemen whom I ever saw. 
 But did your daughters never study the language of flowers, general ? 
 I think both the girls and Mrs. Putnam would have liked such a 
 study better than making up soldiers' shirts and other garments, as 
 they were employed when I first had the happiness of an admittance 
 into your family circle in New York." 
 
 ''Ah, I see Miss Margery, you wish to turn the conversation from 
 my macaroni of an aid. About the soldiers' shirts and trowsers 
 though, you may see in that very circumstance, that your father, 
 the king. Lord North, and the devil, are fighting in vain. When the 
 women get their dander up, in this way, making soldiers' shirts and 
 trowsers with their own fingers, and stripping off their flannel petti- 
 coats to make cartridges, it's all up with those who oppose us. 
 There's no mistake in the matter now ; and if our Continental boys 
 should quit the field to-morrow, the women would take their places." 
 
 '' But, general, I'd much rather talk about flowers. I was telling 
 you of the amusement of studying their language " 
 
 "The language of flowers! That comes of going to a boarding- 
 school, and getting one's head turned with reading novels. Sharp 
 talk, I s'pose, between Canada thistles and blackberry briers. But 
 what is it ? " 
 
 " Why, it's just the sweetest language in the world. We use them 
 as symbols ; giving different significations to diff'erent flowers, and 
 combining them so as not only to express single ideas, but connected 
 thoughts. How sweetly Shakspeare introduces this beautiful lan- 
 guage of the imagination and of love ! " 
 
 "I never read any of your stage-plays. But pray tell me, how 
 could you manage to speak with flowers ?" 
 
 " Why, for instance, suppose the gallant colonel, of whom you 
 spoke just now, should make an honorable advance to one of your 
 daughters, and she took a f^»oy to hjm, — by handing him arose 
 
 8 
 
68 The Life and Writings of 
 
 without thorns, without speaking a word, slie would say to liim, 'you 
 may hope for every thing.' But suppose, on the other hand, that 
 she had plighted her love to Colonel Brooks, — by giving him a rose 
 vHthout leaves, it would be as much as to say, 'you hope for nothing.' 
 and may as well go drown yourself. — So you per " 
 
 " Odds curses, here he comes !" 
 
 At this moment, the somewhat protracted conversation between 
 the worthy general and his popular captive, was interrupted by the 
 entrance of the accomplished member of his military family, of 
 whom they had been speaking, and who had just returned from a 
 distant service. Having briefly reported himself to his commander, 
 he turned to the lady, who colored at his easy and elegant saluta- 
 tions and was silent. 
 
 " Look here, colonel,'^ said the veteran, after the ordinary inqui- 
 ries and compliments were over ; " see what a charming collection 
 of flowers Miss Moncrieff'e has been showing me, and of her own 
 painting, too.^^ 
 
 "They are indeed very beautiful," replied the colonel. " I de- 
 clare, Miss Moncrieff'e, I think you might have stood in the place of 
 the Queen of Sheba, when she so greatly puzzled Solomon with her 
 artificial roses, that he could only decide which were the real ones, 
 after letting the bees in at the window, and seeing upon which they 
 would alight." 
 
 "You are quite complimentary this morning, colonel. But I 
 must return to my apartment" — saying this, she began gathering 
 up her drawings to retire. 
 
 " One moment," replied the colonel, fixing his attention upon the 
 large sheet containing the flowery landscape heretofore spoken of; 
 "that is indeed a beautiful piece; the flowers are so exquisitely 
 drawn and finished, that they would have answered for the poetical 
 garland of the beautiful Julia d'Argennes — the lady who would 
 love none other than Gustavus of Sweden — presented to her after 
 the death of that monarch, by the Duke de Montausier, and which 
 was afterwards sold for fifteen thousand livres. I cannot pay so 
 much, Miss Moncrieff'e; but pray what are your terms for it? " 
 
 " Oh, Colonel Burr," she rejoined, with some slight agitation of 
 manner, which the general did not observe, — "it's a mere it's 
 
William Leete Stone. 59 
 
 only a hasty — a few groupings of flowers in a landscape, by way of 
 trying my skill.'' 
 
 "And you are very skillful, indeed, Miss Moncrieffe,'' replied the 
 colonel, as he cast a searching glance upon the lady. "There is 
 mystery, if not a madrigal, under every one of your sweet peonies 
 and roses; and although I do not want it for the Duke de Valiere's 
 library, yet I must have thosfe flowers at any price.'' Saying which, 
 though with less courtesy than usually marked his demeanor to the 
 fair, the colonel took the sheet — it was a large scroll of drawing 
 paper — and began rolling it up. 
 
 " Why, surely, sir,'' said the lady, in a tone of earnest remon- 
 strance — "surely you would not " 
 
 " Oh, colonel," interposed the general, " if the young lady don't 
 wish to part with them, you " 
 
 "Pardon me for one moment, general," said the now increasingly 
 earnest officer. " Will Miss Moncrieffie be so obliging as to name 
 her price for the flowers ?" 
 
 He spoke with decision. Their eyes met, and the look inter- 
 changed was sufficient. The beautiful and innocent captive saw at 
 a glance, that she was detected, and that the "language of flowers" 
 was understood by at least one officer on the post, if not by the com- 
 manding general. 
 
 " My price,'' she replied instantly, and with great self-possession, 
 
 " IS MY IMMEDIATE RELEASE, AND SAFE CONDUCT TO NeW YoRK !" 
 
 "It shall be paid, with the general's permission,'' replied the 
 gallant colonel, — and Miss Moncriefie retired. The old general 
 looked quite amazed at this closing scene of the interyiew ; and the 
 colonel promised him an explanation afterwards. The beautiful pri- 
 soner was speedily on her way homeward, under charge of more 
 watchful attendants than she had anticipated when she brushed the 
 poppies from her dark silken eyelashes in the morning. 
 
 The residue of my story is soon told. From the previous resi- 
 dence of Miss Moncriefie in the general's family, and their conse- 
 quent acquaintance, charmed with her agreeable conversation, her 
 sprightly manners, and her accomplishments, the veteran, since her 
 arrival at the fortress as a prisoner, had looked upon, and treated her 
 more like a daughter than a stranger, much less a captive. Nor had 
 
60 The Life and Writings of 
 
 a suspicion flitted across the minds of any, that she could have been 
 thrown among them by design, and for purposes of treason, until the 
 eagle-eyes of the general's favorite aid fell upon the flowery land- 
 scape, as just related. In a twinkling he saw its design, rendered 
 the more evident by a still closer scrutiny. It has been already 
 mentioned, that, schooled by her father. Miss Moncrieffe had been 
 instructed in the science of engineering, and was a proficient in 
 architectural drawing; and it now appeared, that under the guise 
 of vines and flowers, variously disposed in a landscape,she had drawn 
 with consummate art, a perfect map of the post, delineating the posi- 
 tion alike of the main fortress and its outworks ; and, indeed, afford- 
 ing all necessary information to an assaulting foe, of the defences of 
 this western Thermopylae, and the points of approach. 
 
 The after history of this celebrated woman — for she is no ficti- 
 tious personage — is equally melancholy and painful. She is believed 
 really and truly to have fallen deeply in love with the colonel in 
 General Putnam's staff*, so often mentioned in the course of the last 
 few pages ; and who was, even then, celebrated alike for the splen- 
 dor of his talents, the elegance of his person, and the grace of his 
 manners. The father of Miss Moncrieffe, however, from the love of 
 money, compelled her to marry, in the same year of which we have 
 been writing, an Irish officer by the name of Coghlan, whom from 
 the first she disliked, and soon most cordially hated. The marriage 
 ceremony was the last performed by Rev. Dr. Auchmuty, of Trinity 
 Church in New York. On returning to Europe with her husband, 
 by whom she was unkindly treated, she abandoned him, and became 
 a courtezan, celebrated for her licentiousness and her beauty, her 
 wit and her extravagance. She was successively the mistress of 
 several noblemen, among whom was the late Duke of York; but, in 
 the end, abandoned by all her paramours, she sunk into the most 
 pitiable condition of poverty and wretchedness. In her distress she 
 appealed, though in vain, to those who had courted her society in 
 the days of affluence, while her "sin" was "plated with gold." 
 And thus, when yet almost in the prime of life, she was left to illus- 
 trate the truth of the beautiful lines of Fredolfo: — 
 
 " Beauty hath no lustre, 
 Save when it gleameth through the crystal web 
 That pmlty's fine fingers weave for it." 
 
William Leete Stone. 61 
 
 At the close of the war of the revolution, Major Moncrieffe settled 
 in New York; but amidst all the scenes of dissipation and iniquity 
 which marked her profligate life, Mrs. Coghlan seems to have cher- 
 ished a strong attachment for her father, from whom, however, she 
 was of course estranged. In December, 1791, she dreamed of wit- 
 nessing her father's funeral procession, and that a bleeding heart 
 was placed upon the coffin. So strong was the impression upon her 
 mind that the vision was true, that she went into deep mourning 
 on the occasion, although her father was living in America — she 
 living in London. The coincidence will be deemed extraordinary, 
 but it is said to be no less true than strange, that her fatal apprehen- 
 sions were realized. Major Moncrieffe died in the city of New York, 
 on the 10th of December, 1791, from the bursting of a blood-vessel 
 of the heart." 
 
 The happy facility, also, with which Mr. Stone entered into the 
 time and circumstances of which he wrote, is illustrated in his account 
 of President Washington's inauguration ball, in 1789, part of which 
 appears in Griswold's elaborate Republican Court. The sketch, con- 
 taining the account of the ball, is entitled SeUing the Wheels in 
 Motion^ and comprises the only faithful historical record, political, 
 festive and fashionable, of the observances in the city of New York 
 on the occasion of the adoption of the federal constitution, the 
 organization of the government, the pageantry attending it, and 
 the demonstrations which followed that important epoch in our 
 national history. The particulars were collected with much care 
 and labor from such printed accounts as could be found in the scat- 
 tered remnants of the little dingy newspapers of that day, and, 
 also, such facts as were yet dimly floating in the recollections of 
 those few who were then surviving, and had been actors in the scenes 
 described. 
 
 It is well that the festivities attendant upon such a momentous 
 occasion should be embalmed for American generations yet unborn. 
 The adoption of the federal constitution — the instrument which 
 was to bind the almost disjointed members of the republic together 
 as one people — was the most important event that the citizens of 
 New York had ever been called upon to commemorate. The period 
 
62 The Life and "Writings of 
 
 intervening between tlie formation of the constitution by tbe con- 
 vention, and its adoption by the number of states requisite to give 
 it validity, was one of deep anxiety to the patriots of that day, not 
 unmingled with fears as to the jSnal result. A violent opposition 
 sprang up in various parts of the confederation, which was so suc- 
 cessfully fomented by demagogues, and by those who feared they 
 might lose weight in the national scale, should the new federal edi- 
 fice be erected, that the friends of the constitution, seeing nothing 
 better than civil tumult and anarchy in the perspective should that 
 instrument be rejected, entertained the most lively apprehensions 
 upon the subject. There were, likewise, among the opponents of 
 the proposed constitution some good men and real patriots, who 
 honestly believed, that in the event of its adoption, too much power 
 would pass from the states to the federal congress and the executive. 
 The ablest tongues and pens in the Union were brought into action, 
 and it was that contest which combined the united wisdom and 
 talents of Hamilton, Jay, and Madison in the Federalist^ the ablest 
 exposition of the constitution that ever has been, or, perhaps ever 
 will be written, i 
 
 The action, however, of the respective states was slow. The pro- 
 ceedings of their conventions were watched with absorbing interest, 
 and when it was found that the voice of New York would turn the 
 scale — the convention being in session in Toughkeepsie — all eyes 
 were eagerly turned toward that quarter. The contest, however, 
 was not long doubtful. Hamilton redoubled his wonderful efforts, 
 and Livingston put the whole energies of his capacious mind in 
 requisition, and the federalists triumphed. The news was received 
 in New York city with unbounded delight; the clubs celebrated 
 the event with dinners and great festivity, and the citizens gave 
 themselves up to the most unequivocal evidences of gratification. 
 But private manifestations of the public feeling were held not to be 
 worthy of the occasion, and no time was lost in concerting the nec- 
 essary measures for a public commemoration of the event, upon the 
 most extensive and splendid scale that the public means would allow. 
 Nor has the pageantry of any American celebration since that day — 
 not even excepting the Atlantic cable celebration of 1859 — excelled 
 
 1 stone's SettiJig Uie Wheels in Motion, 
 
William Leete Stone. 63 
 
 it in the ardor of its enthusiasm or in the splendor of its effect. In 
 describing the procession on this occasion, Mr. Stone says : 
 
 "After a brilliant military escort came Captain Moore, in the 
 character and ancient costume of Christopher Columbus preceded 
 and followed by a band of foresters, with axes, suitably appa- 
 relled. The next division consisted of a large number of farmers, 
 among whom were Nicholas Auger, driving a six-ox team, and the 
 venerable John Watts holding a plow. All the implements of hus- 
 bandry and gardening were borne in the procession, and the Baron 
 Poelnitz attended a threshing machine. Their horses were hand- 
 somely caparisoned, and led by boys in white uniforms. The tailors 
 made a very brilliant display of numbers, uniforms, and decorations, 
 of various descriptions. In the procession of the bakers were boys 
 in beautiful dresses, representing the several states, with roses in 
 their hands. There were likewise an equal number of journeymen 
 in appropriate uniforms, with the implements of their calling; and a 
 loaf of bread was borne in the procession, ten feet long and three 
 wide, on which were inscribed the names of the different states. 
 The display of the brewers was happily conceived and appropriate. 
 In addition to their banners, fluttering gaily in the air, they paraded 
 cars with hogsheads and tuns, decorated with festoons of hop-vines, 
 intertwined with handfuls of barley. Seated on the top of a tun 
 was a living Bacchus — a beautiful boy of eight years old — dressed 
 in a flesh-colored silk, fltted snugly to the limbs, and thus disclosing 
 all the fine symmetrical proportions of his body. In his hand he 
 held a silver goblet, with which he quaffed the nut-brown, and on 
 his head was a garland of hops and barley ears. The coopers 
 appeared in great numbers. Their emblem of the states was thir- 
 teen boys, each thirteen years of age, dressed in white, with green 
 ribbons at their ankles, a keg under their left arms, and a bough of 
 white oak in their right hands. Upon an immensely large car, 
 drawn by horses appropriately adorned, the coopers were at work. 
 They had a broken cask, representing the old confederacy, the staves 
 of which all their skill could not keep together. In despair at the 
 repeated nullification which their work experienced, they all at once 
 betook themselves to the construction of an entirely new piece of 
 work. Their success was complete ; and a fine, tight, iron-bound 
 
64 The Life and Writings of 
 
 keg arose from their hands, bearing the name of the New Constitu- 
 tion. The procession of butchers was long, and their appearance 
 highly respectable. Upon the car in their procession was a roasted 
 ox of a thousand pounds, which was given as a sweet morsel to the 
 hungry multitude at the close of the day. The car of the Sons of 
 St. Crispin was drawn by four milk-white steeds beautifully capari- 
 soned. The tanners, curriers, and peruke-makers followed next in 
 order, each with various banners and significant emblems. The 
 furriers, from the novelty of their display, attracted great attention. 
 It was truly picturesque. Their marshal was followed by an Indian 
 in his native costume and armor, as though coming wild from the 
 wilderness, laden with rare furs for the market. A procession of 
 journeyman furriers followed, each bearing some dressed or manu- 
 factured article. These were succeeded by a horse, bearing two 
 packs of furs, and a huge bear sitting upon each. The horse was 
 led by an Indian, in a beaver blanket, and black plumes waving 
 upon his head. In the rear came one of their principal men, dressed 
 in a superb scarlet blanket, wearing an elegant cap and plumes, and 
 smoking a tomahawk pipe. After these, in order, marched the 
 stone-masons, brick-layers, painters and glaziers, cabinet and chair- 
 makers, musical instrument-makers, and the upholsterers. The deco- 
 rations of the societies vied with each other in taste and variety, but 
 that of the upholsterers excelled. The federal chair of state was borne 
 upon a car superbly carpeted, and above which was a rich canopy, 
 nineteen feet high, overlaid with deep blue satin, hung with festoons 
 and fringes, and glittering in the sun as with " tarbaric pearl and 
 gold.'^ It was sufiiciently gorgeous to have filled the eye of a Per- 
 sian emperor, in the heighth of oriental splendor and magnificence. 
 Twelve subdivisions of various trades succeeded in the prescribed 
 order, after which came the most impressing part of the pageant. 
 
 This was the federal ship Hamilton, a perfectly constructed 
 frigate of thirty-two guns, twenty-seven feet keel, and ten feet beam, 
 with galleries and every thing complete and in proportion, both hull 
 and rigging. She was manned by thirty seamen and marines, with 
 officers, all in uniform, and commanded by that distinguished revolu- 
 tionary veteran, Commodore Nicholson. The ship was drawn by ten 
 horses; and in the progress of the procession went through every 
 
William Leete Stone. 6,5 
 
 preparation and movement for storms, calms, and squalls, and for the 
 sudden shifting of winds. In passing Liberty street, she made 
 signal for a pilot, and a boat came off and put one on board. On 
 arriving before Constable's house, ^ Mrs. Edgar came to the window, 
 and presented the ship with a suit of rich silk colors^ the yards 
 were instantly manned, and the sailors gave three hearty cheers. 
 When passing Old-slip a Spanish government ship gave her a salute 
 of thirteen guns, which was returned by the Hamilton with as much 
 promptness as though she had actually been a ship of war upon the 
 wide ocean. 
 
 Next after the ships came the pilots and the Marine society. To 
 these succeeded the printers, book-binders and stationers, led by 
 those veterans of the type and quill, Hugh Graine and Samuel Lou- 
 don. They had a car, upon which the printers were at work; the 
 press was plied briskly, and impressions of a patriotic ode distributed 
 as they were taken, among the multitude. Their banners were wor- 
 thy of their proud vocation. To these succeeded twenty-one sub- 
 divisions, of as many different trades, each moving under its own 
 banners ; after which followed the learned professions and the literary 
 societies. The lawyers were preceded by John Lawrence, supported 
 by John Cozine and Robert Troup. The Philological society, headed 
 by J. Ogden Hoffman, the president, was the next. One of the 
 founders of this society was Noah Webster, who was in the proces- 
 sion. The standard was borne by William Dunlap. The officers 
 and members of the university came next; and their successors 
 were the chamber of commerce and merchants, headed by John 
 Broome, president, William Maxwell, vice-president of the bank, 
 followed in a chariot, and William Laight, the secretary, was mounted 
 upon a noble steed. Physicians, strangers, and gentlemen who were 
 members of congress, then in session in New York, closed the civic 
 procession; and the whole was brought up by a detachment of 
 artillery. 
 
 The procession contained nearly five thousand people; and the 
 spectacle was more solemn and imposing, and more truly splendid, 
 
 1 No. 1, Broadway, now (1865) the Washington Hotel, and the head-quarters, for a 
 time, of Sir Harry Clinton, whije the British troops occupied t^Ue city, during the war of 
 the Revolution. 
 
 9 
 
QQ The Life and Writings of 
 
 than had ever before been presented to the eye of man on the Ameri- 
 can continent. It was, indeed, a pageant of indescribable interest, 
 and to most of double attraction ; the occasion being one in which 
 the deepest sympathies were enlisted, and it being also the first dis- 
 play of pomp and circumstance which they had ever witnessed. 
 The whole population of the city had given themselves up to the 
 enjoyment of the occasion, and gladness, in all its fulness, was de- 
 picted in every countenance, while a noble enthusiasm swelled every 
 bosom. The bond of union was complete j and every man felt as 
 though his country had been rescued, in the last hour, from the 
 most imminent peril. 
 
 When the procession reached the country seat of Nicholas Bayard, 
 a noble banquet was found already spread for the whole assemblage, 
 beneath a grand pavilion temple, covering a surface of eight by six 
 hundred feet with plates for six thousand people. This splendid 
 rural structure had been erected in the short space of four days. 
 The two principal sides of the building consisted of three large 
 pavilions, connected by a colonnade of one hundred and fifty feet 
 front, and forming two sides of an obtuse angle ; the middle pavilion 
 rising majestically above the whole, terminating with a dome, on the 
 top of which was Fame and her trumpet, proclaiming a new era, and 
 holding in her left hand the standard of the United States, and a 
 roll of parchment, on which was inscribed in large characters, the 
 three remarkable epochs of the war of the Revolution — The Declara. 
 TiON OF Independence, The Alliance with France, and The 
 Peace of 1783. At her side was the American eagle, with extended 
 wings, resting on a crown of laurel, gracing the top of the pedestal. 
 Over six of the principal pillars of this colonnade escutcheons were 
 placed, inscribed with the ciphers of the several powers in alliance with 
 the United States, viz : France, Spain, Sweden, Prussia, Holland, Mo- 
 rocco ; and over these were displayed the colors of those respective 
 nations, which added greatly to the brilliancy of the entablature, 
 already decorated with festoons and branches of laurels. The extre- 
 mities of this angle were joined by a table forming part of a circle, 
 and from this, ten more colonnades were extended, each four hundred 
 and forty feet in length, radiating like the rays of a circle; the 
 whole having one common centre, which was also the centre of the 
 
William Leete Stone. 67 
 
 middle pavilion, wliere sat tlie president of congress. At the extre- 
 mity of each colonnade was a pavilion, nearly similar to the three 
 before mentioned, having their outsides terminated in a pediment, 
 crowned with escutcheons, on which were inscribed the names of the 
 states now united. The whole of the colonnades were adorned with 
 curtains elegantly folded, and with wreaths and festoons of laurels 
 dispersed with beautiful and tasteful effect. The various bands of 
 music which had enlivened the march of the procession were con- 
 centrated in the area within the angle just described, during the 
 banquet, but so disposed as not to intercept the prospect from the seat 
 of the president, through the whole length of the ten colonnades. 
 The repast concluded, the procession was reorganized, marched again 
 into the city, and were dismissed at the Bowling Green, where the 
 Federal ship fired a closing salute. 
 
 Thus passed the 23d of July, 1789, in the city of New York — a 
 day which deserves to be remembered by the patriot, the politician, 
 and the philosopher, as that on which the people of the first city in 
 the western world gave simultaneously the strongest and most enthu- 
 siastic demonstration of their attachment to the great principles of 
 our Federal Union, as those principles were understood by the dis- 
 tinguished architects who formed the civil structure. On that 
 occasion all narrow and bigoted distinctions were lost, and absorbed 
 in that noblest of passions, the love of country, and the determina- 
 tion to secure and preserve the blessings of civil and religious liberty. 
 EsTO Perpetua. 
 
 In some of these tales his delineation of New England character 
 is peculiarly felicitous — the comical oddity, as well as the beautiful 
 self-denial of which, is aptly illustrated in two of his sketches, Uncle 
 Zinfi and Deacon Pettibone^ and Dick Moon^ the Pedlar^ both of 
 which appeared in the Atlantic Club Book in 1833. Another 
 of these sketches, Mercey Dhhorough^ a Tale of the Witches^ is based 
 upon a thrilling incident in the colonial history of Goff and Whalley. 
 For several months those two regicides remained hidden in a cave, 
 near Guildford ,Conn., daily supplied with provisions by Governor 
 Leete, who, as his majesty's governor of the colony, publicly mani- 
 fested a zealous interest in their discovery, at the same time that he 
 availed himself of the common belief in witchcraft to throw the pur- 
 
68 The Life and Writings of 
 
 suers off the scent. In another story, The Mysterious Bridal^ lie 
 draws the following life-like picture of a New England thanksgiving 
 in Colonial^times. In alluding to his sketch, in a letter to a friend ^ 
 Chancellor Kent says, "I think it is worthy of a place by the side of 
 Irving's picture of an English christmas, or of the festivities of our 
 Dutch predecessors." 
 
 "The manner of celebrating the New England thanksgiving, was 
 peculiar, and to this day it maintains a character sui generis, distinct 
 from all other festivals; although, it must be confessed, that within 
 the last thirty years, there has been a considerable falling off in the 
 due and ancient mode of its commemoration; and we regret occasionally 
 to observe symptoms of further degeneracy. The preparations com- 
 mence weeks before the arrival of the happy day. The finest of the 
 flour, the fattest of the poultry, and the choicest of the fruits, are 
 carefully reserved against the time of the feast. Turkeys and ducks 
 are the domestic birds specially designated for the thanksgiving 
 sacrifice. Why that intelligent but much abused bird, the goose, is 
 slighted on this occasion, is a paradox which we have never been 
 able to solve. Were we to venture a suggestion, however, it would 
 be, that the goose having once been instrumental in saving Rome, it 
 may possibly have been suspected of an inclination to popery. Suf- 
 fice it to say, no goose nor gosling can rightfully appear upon a 
 properly spread thanksgiving table, while, in addition to those mem- 
 bers of the feathered tribe already mentioned, chickens enough must 
 fall at every house for a well ordered pie of fair round proportions; 
 since there are certain dishes as essential to a legitimate thanks- 
 giving dinner, as a bishop's wig formerly to his dignity. It is 
 therefore no legal celebration of thanksgiving, without the dishes of 
 poultry, already indicated, roasted, boiled and baked, together with 
 baked meats proper. Then followed — we beg pardon, — the pud- 
 dings came first in those days, and do so yet in the old and primitive 
 towns on the sea coast, where the people continue most faithfully and 
 uprightly to conform to the manners, and walk in the paths of their 
 forefathers. These dishes were of two descriptions, the old English 
 plum, and the Indian baked pudding, highly spiced, sweetened, and 
 enriched with suet. The proper condiments for the baked meats 
 and poultry, were a sauce of apples and quince, stewed in sweet 
 
William Leete Stoke. 69 
 
 cider, together witli cranberry tarts. Pies of various descriptions 
 followed for the dessert; but above, and more abundant than all, was 
 and is to this day, the unsurpassed, and, to a Yankee palate, the 
 incomparable pumpkin-pie. Without an abundance of pumpkin- 
 pies, all other things being ready and smoking upon the table, the 
 thanksgiving dinner would be considered a sorry concern, if not a 
 positive failure. This purely American luxury was early invented 
 as a substitute for the more costly minced pies of the ancient church- 
 men, which were essential to Christmas dinners, and which for 
 upward of a century, were no more permitted to appear upon the 
 table of a Puritan, than swine's flesh upon the plate of a descendant 
 of Abraham. But alas for the degeneracy of the times ! The people 
 will not walk in the ways of their fathers as they ought, and the 
 minced-pies have been crowding in upon the more unsophisticated 
 luxuries of the feast, until, for nearly a quarter of a century, they 
 have become almost as common as the pumpkin. All wickedness, 
 however, is sure to be overtaken, at some time, by its appropriate 
 punishment; and the dyspepsia may have been sent by way of retri- 
 butive justice! 
 
 The immediate evidences of the return of thanksgiving, or rather 
 the "premonitory symptoms" of the festival, were first seen in the 
 melancholy slaughter of pigs and poultry. The piteous screams and 
 distressing wailings of the pigglings, simultaneously raised through 
 the towns and villages of Yankee land, made up a discordant concert 
 which it was lamentable to hear. And then the bustle of housewife 
 preparation! Such scourings — such bakings, and stewings, and 
 choked ovens, and turning of spits ! Let no young swain think of 
 looking in upon his mistress at such a season as this, or no hungry 
 husband hope to obtain a warm dinner, or a smile from his spouse. 
 Damon would find his Phyllis but an indifierent looking angel; — 
 and the husband — but the days of romance we may imagine to be 
 over and gone with him. The preparations completed, however, 
 and the day of happiness and joy arrived, the women-kind became 
 themselves again, and nothing could be more delightful than to look 
 upon the bright eyes and gladsome faces of these beautiful tyrants, 
 or fiends angelical, as the case might be. 
 
 The thanksgiving was emphatically 2, family celebration. Beneath 
 
70 The Life and Writings of 
 
 each patriarchal roof were gathered, from far and near, as many of 
 the sons and daughters, sons-in-law and daughters4n-law, children 
 and grand-children, as could he mustered; and those who had wan- 
 dered from the paternal domicile, far into the new settlements, often 
 returned to take their places in the family circle on this occasion, 
 at no little sacrifice of time and expense; — for all of which they 
 were amply compensated by the smiles of friends and kindred, and 
 the warm embraces of affection. 
 
 At ten o'clock in the morning, the people moved sedately to the 
 meeting-house, — all, excepting such portions of the women-kind in 
 the various families as were obliged to remain at home to superin- 
 tend and complete the culinary arrangements of the day. One hun- 
 dred years ago, the festival sermon was three hours long; but it has 
 gradually fallen off with the increasing laxity of discipline, until we 
 no longer hear the thirty-second division of the argument, and the 
 thirty-third of the improvement, and are compelled to leave our 
 seats with much shorter treatises upon matters and things in general , 
 and not half as learned, though perchance better digested. The 
 thanksgiving sermon, however, is a great relief to the clergyman, 
 since it is the only opportunity which the year affords him to dis- 
 course upon divers temporalities of various importance, wherein he 
 is privileged to mingle an occasional dash of politics — sparingly, 
 though, unless in times of high excitement. 
 
 The dinner was served at one o'clock. On other occasions, twelve 
 o'clock was the regular dining hour throughout all New England, 
 before the rage of innovation began. The parsons dined with the 
 squire, or with one of his deacons, or some other of the princes of 
 the people. But on these occasions, even the presence of the clergy- 
 man was no bar to the general hilarity, but his company rather con- 
 tributed to the stream of happiness. They were, indeed, delightful 
 repasts. All the members of the family, with their guests, were 
 allowed to surround the social board at the same time. From the 
 grandsire, with his snow-white locks, to the mischievous urchin who 
 code upon his ivory-headed cane, — from the grandmamma, in her 
 rustling brocade and high-crowned cap, to the little prattler, toddling 
 about with her spoon in one hand and her favorite kitten in the 
 other, — parents, brothers, sisters, uncles, aunts, cousins, and all — 
 
WILLLA.M LeETE StONE. 71 
 
 all were admitted to the banquet which spoke a prolific soil, culti- 
 vated by the free and unfettered hand of industry. 
 
 Bountiful, however, as were the provisions of the table, they did 
 not in those times sit the day out over their wine and walnuts, or 
 protract their evening's amusements until so late an hour as to ren- 
 der it odds with morning which was which. The guests departed 
 at a seasonable hour, to put their own domestic affairs in order before 
 night should come stealing along to unfold her sables. To the young, 
 nevertheless, those evenings were the most joyous in their lives. 
 How pleasant, even in the fading reflection of memory, are the 
 scenes of a thanksgiving evening forty years since, as in forms, 
 figures, objects, spirits, they dance before " me upon the mellowing 
 ^ ^7 of occasion !" And how bright then were the rainbow visions that 
 arched the undefined span of the future ! It is very true that these 
 latter visions have seldom been fulfilled. But the reminiscences of 
 those days are still so delightful, that we have often thought whether 
 it were not one of the wisest arrangements of Providence, that the 
 soothing and hallowed recollections of the past should so frequently 
 step in to supply the void occasioned by the endless chain of disap- 
 pointments attending the journey of human life ! 
 
 Those evenings formed such a striking exception to the general 
 rule in well-regulated families, that the young lads, and the lasses 
 just budding into bloom, were not compelled to retire to their beds 
 precisely as the clock with its iron tongue and brazen voice pro- 
 claimed the hour of nine. But it was a time of general visiting, as 
 well among the youngsters of both sexes, as with the young men 
 and maidens so much their seniors as to be waiting with anxious hope 
 for the flight of a few more months, or the revolution, perchance, of 
 another year, when the minister was to unite the hands of those 
 whose hearts were already fluttering responsively, or beating in 
 unison. The assemblages of the youth on these occasions were 
 marked with equal gayety and innocence. If, as was frequently the 
 case, they were collected in a patriarchal family of ajffluence, where the 
 mansion was sufficiently spacious, there was usually an ingathering 
 of the elder people of the neighborhood or parish, as well as of the 
 young. The parents and grandparents would sit by as spectators of 
 the lively recreations of their descendants, often as much amused 
 
72 The Life and Writings of 
 
 with tteir diversions as the delighted youth themselves. At eight 
 o'clock, — for the evenings were then allowed honestly to commence 
 as soon as night had spread her dragon wings, — at the hour of eight 
 came in the jovial can of flip, foaming and steaming from the effect 
 of the red-hot poker submerged therein, and redolent of old rum and 
 nutmegs. What a picture for a poet like Burns to describe, or a 
 painter like Wilkie to draw ! There was the grandsire, seated in 
 his great armchair, and perchance beside him his son and daughter- 
 in-law, gazing with delight upon the sparkling eyes and merry faces 
 of the joyous groups, the winds howling wildly, or sighing plain- 
 tively without, the flames of the bright wood fire roaring and crack- 
 ling up the chimney, while the merry jest, or the story of a troubled 
 spirit, or a tale of murder, the innocent game, the song, and the 
 exhilarating can went round, to add zest to the fleeting hours of 
 frolic-pleasure, and of domestic bliss. 
 
 With the hour of nine, unless too much absorbed in the sweet 
 song or legendary tale to take accurate note of time, the seniors 
 retired to another apartment, forming a separate circle for the resi- 
 due of the evening, charging the younger, as they withdrew, not to 
 allow their festive gambols to transcend the bounds of decency and 
 sobriety. Then came forth the old violin, played by an amateur, 
 and if cracked a little, or deficient in a string, it was not much 
 matter. Or, if the instrument of sin was not at hand, — for a fiddle 
 was in most places an abomination, and was tolerated on no other 
 occasion, — the residue of the permitted hours were devoted to a 
 variety of plays at forfeits, kisses being the severest penalties im- 
 posed by the lenient judges, or to the singing of plaintive and affect- 
 ing ballads that were worth listening to. In those days music was 
 a language of feeling. It caused the bosom to thrill, and the beads 
 of sorrow to swell like pearls in the eyes, and roll down upon the 
 cheek of beauty. The Rossinis, the Paganinis, and the Signers and 
 Signorinas Squallerinas, with the hosts of Italian music-monsters, 
 who have torn melody to tatters, transforming every grave minim 
 and crotchet into double demi-semi-quavers, were then unknown in 
 our happy land. A song was not a short flourish of three staves in 
 which the words were as a matter of course not to be heard; but 
 consisted of a good long metrical narrative, comprising a romance or 
 
William Leete Stone. 73 
 
 a tragedy within itself, such as would make the hair to stand on end, 
 the blood to run cold and curdling to the heart, and frightening the 
 sensitive damsels so much that they dared not for the world go 
 home alone, especially if the hour waxed late, and the way led by 
 the churchyard. 
 
 Thus passed the blithesome hours away in one apartment, while 
 in the other, the morning sermon was discussed, or the hardships of 
 early life in the new settlements recounted, and the bloody wars with 
 the French and Indians fought over again, until ten or eleven o'clock, 
 when the colloquies of the old, and the amusements of the young, 
 were brought to a close, and the honest people hied themselves to 
 their respective homes and their beds, as cheerful and happy as inno- 
 cence, and freedom, and plenty could render an orderly and moral 
 people." 
 
 In 1833 appeared his Mathias and his Impostures^ a curious pic- 
 ture of gross but remarkable delusions which occurred in the state 
 of New York. In 1836, he gave to the public Maria MonJc, and 
 the Nunnery of the Hotel Dieu^ a work which put an effectual qui- 
 etus upon that extraordinary mania into which divines and laymen 
 were led by the fictions of a silly, profligate woman. Preparatory to 
 writing this latter work, he visited the Hotel Dieu, in Montreal, for 
 the purpose of investigating for himself the alleged facts concerning 
 it. This visit furnished the pretext for a bitter assault upon him 
 by Mr. Laughton Osborne, in a satire entitled ^^7%e Vision of Ru- 
 heta, an Epic Story of the Island of Manhattan. This poem, though 
 grossly obscene, was cleverly written; but the intense personal 
 malignity shown by the writer toward Mr. Stone completely blunted 
 the point of the sarcasm, and notwithstanding its personalities, the 
 book met with but few readers, and soon dropped out of notice. 
 Border Wars of the American Revolution came next;i Letters on 
 Animal Magnetism followed; and soon after a volume entitled, Ups 
 and Downs in the Life of a Distressed (rew^^ema/ijpn tended as a 
 satire on the follies of the day, although the main facts occurred in 
 the life of an individual well known to the author^ 
 
 It has been stated that the parents of Colonel Stone, during his 
 
 1 This work was publislied in two volumes (l?mp) aB pt^rt of Harper's Family Library. 
 
 10 
 
74 The Life and Writings of 
 
 early childhood, removed into the valley of the Susquehanna. This 
 section of the country was at that time in fact, though not in name, 
 an Indian mission station, so that in his very boyhood their son 
 became well acquainted with the Indians of our forests, and his 
 kindness of manner and off-hand generosity won his way to their 
 favor. To this it may be owing, that at an early period of his life, 
 he formed the purpose of gathering up and preserving what remained 
 concerning the traits and character of the red men of America, 
 intending to connect with an account of these, an authentic history 
 of the life and times of the prominent individuals who figured imme- 
 diately before the Revolution, more especially of Sir William 
 Johnson. 
 
 The amount of labor thus bestowed, and the success with which 
 he found his way to dusty manuscripts, or gained knowledge of the 
 invaluable contents of old chests and rickety trunks stowed away as 
 lumber in garrets and almost forgotten by their owners, was remarka- 
 ble. Still more noteworthy was the happy facility with which he 
 would gain access to the hearts of hoary-headed men,i and bring 
 them to live over again their days of trial and hardship — gleaning 
 quickly and pleasantly desirable information from those who alone 
 could communicate what he wished to hear. The result was an 
 amount and a variety of material which could scarcely be estimated, 
 for he had the habit of systematizing the retentiveness of a power- 
 ful memory by a time-saving process of his own — the very 
 arrangement of his books and manuscripts assisting this process, so 
 that his library served him a double purpose. 
 
 While following out his main design, the materials collected 
 enabled him to give to the public several works on the general sub- 
 ject with which they were connected. The first of these was the 
 Life of Joseph Brant — Tha-yen-da-ne-gea. This work, which 
 includes sketches of the Indian campaigns of Generals Herkimer, St. 
 Clair and Wayne, abounds in varied and thrilling incidents. It 
 records many strong and peculiar traits of national and individual 
 character; while the laborious and persevering researches of the 
 
 1 From the late venerable Dr. Noah Stone of Guilford, Conn., father of Rev. A. L. Stone 
 of Boston and David M. Stone Esq., of the Journal of Commerce, Colonel Stone gleaned 
 most of those startling incidents which are woven into his tale — T'Ae Mysterious Bridal, 
 
William Leete Stone. 75 
 
 autbor brought together a mass of historical documents, personal 
 anecdotes, original letters and extracts from manuscript journals, 
 which, but for his ingenious labors, had, perhaps, never seen the 
 light. The work, accordingly, attracted immediate attention by its 
 evidences of patient investigation, and by the new light which it 
 threw upon the character of the great Mohawk. Indeed, until this 
 work appeared, it was universally believed that Brant and his Mo- 
 hawk warriors were engaged in the massacre of Wyoming. Gordon, 
 Ramsay, Thatcher, and Marshall assert the same thing; and Camp- 
 bell, misled by history, in his Gertrude of Wyoming^ makes the 
 Oneida say, 
 
 " This is no time to fill the joyous cup ; 
 
 The Mammoth comes — the foe — the monster Brant, 
 
 With all his howling, desolating band. 
 ********** 
 
 Scorning to wield the hatchet for his tribe, 
 
 'Gainst Brant himself I went to battle forth ; 
 Accursed Brant ! he left of all my tribe 
 Nor man, nor child, nor thing of living birth.'' 
 
 Brant always denied any participation in the invasion, but the 
 evidence of history was against him, and the verdict of the world 
 was, that he was the chief actor in the tragedy. From this asper- 
 sion Colonel Stone vindicated his character in his Life of Brant. 
 A reviewer, understood to be Caleb Cushing, disputed the point, 
 and insisted that the author had not made out a clear case for the 
 chief. Unwilling to remain deceived, Mr. Stone made a journey to 
 the Seneca country, where he found several warriors who were en- 
 gaged in that campaign. The celebrated chief, Kaoundoouand 
 (Captain Pollard), who was a young chief in the battle, gave Mr. 
 Stone a clear account of the action, and was positive in his declara- 
 tion that Brant and his Mohawks were not engaged in that cam- 
 paign. The Indians were principally Senecas, and were led by 
 Gi-en-qua-tah, a chief of that nation. 
 
 Upon his return, therefore, from the Seneca country, in the sum- 
 mer of 1841, he gave to the public the result of his researches in 
 his Poetry and Historij of Wyoming^ a work which, it is generally 
 admitted, affords a complete refutation of the strictures in the review 
 of Mr. Cushing, and dissipates, beyond the peradventure of a doubt 
 
76 The Life and Writings of 
 
 the aspersions under whicli tlie Mohawk for so long rested. Pre- 
 fixed to this work was a biography of the poet, Campbell, kindly 
 furnished to the author by his friend, Washington Irving. i 
 
 Nearly simultaneously with the History of Wyoming, appeared his 
 Lives of Red Jacket and Cornjplanter, the two chief orators of the 
 Seneca nation, works which contain much original and valuable 
 information respecting Indian treaties held by the late Colonel 
 Timothy Pickering.'^ In 1842, he was invited by the citizens of 
 Norwich, Connecticut, to deliver an address on the occasion of 
 the erection of the Uncas monument — an address which, with addi- 
 tions, was afterward issued under the title of The Life of Uncas and 
 Miantonomoh. He had, also, completed the collection of the mate- 
 rials for his more elaborate work, The Life and Times of Sir Wil- 
 liam Johnson, Bart., was ready to devote himself to its execution, 
 and had already written the first seven chapters, when he was called 
 to give up his earthly labor. This last work, however, completed 
 by his son, with the Lives of Brant and Red Jacket, gives a 
 connected history of the Six Nations and their relations with France 
 and Great Britain during the most important periods of American 
 history. 
 
 1 John Brant, a eon of Joseph, while in England in 1823, on a visit to the late Duke of 
 Northnmherland, who served as Lord Percy in the Revolution, opened a correspondence 
 with Mr. Campbell on the subject of the injustice which the latter had done his father in 
 his Gertrude of Wyoming. The result was a partial acknowledgment of his error by the 
 poet in a note to the next edition of the poem. He did not erase the objectionable wordsi 
 but simply referred to the use of Brant's name there, concluding as follows: ''His son 
 referred to documents, which completely satisfied me that the common accounts of 
 Brant's cruelties at Wyoming, which I had found in books of travels, and in Adolphus's 
 and other similar histories of England, were gross errors. * * * -phe name of 
 Brant, therefore, remains in my poem a pure and declared character of fiction." An 
 omission, however, after such a conviction of error, to blot out the name entirely from 
 the poem, is unworthy the character of an honest man, and the result is, that the Thay- 
 endanegea of history is still the "monster Brant," to thousands who derive all their 
 knowledge of him from the deathless Gertrude of Wyoming. In history, justice is justice 
 whether it be toward a Savage or a White / and it would be considered a very curious 
 piece of poetic license, if Longfellow, for example, should allude to Washington as 
 an actor in an atrocious piece of villainy simply to fill out a line in a poem. Nor 
 would it be considered by the public an excuse, for him to add in a note, that his name 
 was merely made use of as a " declared character of fiction '." 
 
 2 " The speeches of Red Jacket preserved in this volume," says William H. Sewnrd, in 
 his introduction to the liatural History of the State of New Tork^ " will for all time 
 become more interesting, as authentic exhibitions of the rhetorical art as it existed in a 
 barbarian community." 
 
William Leete Stone. 77 
 
 Nor were these labors unappreciated by the red men; for the 
 same day that brought the news of his election as an honorary mem- 
 ber of the Royal Society of Northern Antiquities of Copenhagen, 
 brought, also, a letter from the Senecas, informing him that he had 
 been elected, at a formal council, a chief of that nation. 
 
 When it is remembered that the investigations just referred to, 
 and the volumes which resulted, were accomplished at the same time 
 with the editorship of a leading daily paper in a great commercial 
 metropolis, and that he acted up to his own views of the power, influ- 
 ence, and responsibility of the press, it may safely be asserted that his 
 industry was untiring. " How, my dear Colonel," wrote Edward 
 Everett to him in one of his letters, " with your daily labors, you 
 can find time for such voluminous literary undertakings, passeth my 
 comprehension.'^ 
 
 Mr. Stone's editorial path, however, was not always free from 
 thorns. In 1840, an action for libel was brought against him in the 
 Supreme Court of New York by James Fenimore Cooper, founded 
 on a review in the Commercial of the latter's Home as Found^ and 
 the History of the Navy of the United States. The review in ques- 
 tion was not written by Mr. Stone, but by another better versed in 
 nautical afiairs than himself; but as he believed that great injustice 
 had been done the gallant Commodore Perry, he allowed the article 
 to be published, and of course assumed its responsibility. 
 
 As this case involved the question of the extent to which a 
 reviewer might lawfully go in literary criticism, and as it was a 
 case of " the first impression'' in the courts, it excited unusual public 
 interest. It was first argued at the August term, in 1840, at Utica; 
 and such was the interest felt in the subject and in the parties that, 
 in addition to the usual audience on such occasions, a large and bril- 
 liant assemblage of ladies attended to hear the argument. It was 
 tried by Marshall S. Bidwell, Charles P. Kirkland and William W. 
 Campbell for Mr. Stone, and for Mr. Cooper, by himself and his 
 nephew. The court gave judgment for Mr. Cooper — a decision 
 which gave rise to much animadversion, on the ground of its alleged 
 interference with the just liberty of the press in the matter of review- 
 ing and criticising literary works. After this decision the action 
 
78 The Life and Wbitings of 
 
 was withdrawn from court and submitted to arbitrators, who awarded 
 two hundred and fifty dollars to Mr. Cooper. To this decision, Mr. 
 Stone yielded with a good grace. " Of course," he writes in the Com- 
 mercialj '' the award is final and we must abide by it. The publica- 
 tion was made by us, entirely from good motives, and for a justifiable 
 end. Our desire was to vindicate, not only the true history, but the 
 fame of the illustrious dead. The process has cost us a good many 
 dollars, to say nothing of time and vexation. We have again to 
 thank the arbitrators for their kindness and liberality; and in con- 
 clusion have only to add that on a calm review of the whole case, 
 our views coincide substantially, though not in every particular, with 
 those which have been set forth with such clear ability in the dis- 
 senting opinion of Mr. Foote." 
 
 Here the matter rested for a time, until Mr. Stone, chafed at 
 some ungenerous remarks made by Mr. Cooper in reference to him- 
 self, unwisely, perhaps, responded in the Commercial as follows : 
 *' The money will be forthcoming on the day of the award, but we 
 are not disposed to allow him [Cooper] to put it into Wall street for, 
 shavinff purposes be/ore that period. No locksmith will be necessary to 
 get at the money." i Thereupon Mr. Cooper again sued Mr. Stone 
 for libel in the Supreme Court, and obtained from that body, a decis- 
 ion in his favor. Mr. Stone then removed the case by writ of error 
 to the Court for the Correction of Errors; and in 1845, a year after 
 his decease, that court reversed the judgment of the Supreme Court 
 and held that the words above quoted were not libelous, — Chancellor 
 Walworth and other eminent jurists pronouncing opinions decidedly 
 and very broadly in favor of a reversal, and the court deciding about 
 four to one. 2 
 
 Thus ended these famous libel suits. They caused Mr. Stone 
 and his widow much trouble and vexation as well as expense ; and 
 with a nature as sensitive as his, added not a little to the annoyance 
 incident to the editorship of a leading city newspaper. 
 
 1 Referring to the case of Mr. Barber, of the Otsego JRepublican, whose trunk was 
 opened by an officer and several hundred dollars taken therefrom in satisfaction of a 
 judgment rendered in Mr. Cooper's behalf in one of his libel-suits. 
 
 2 This case is reported at length in the M. Denio. For an exhaustive editorial discus- 
 sion of these libel suits, the reader is referred to the New York Tribune for the 27th of 
 5'ebruary, 1852. 
 
William Leete Stone. 79 
 
 Mr. Stone's love for historical investigation may not be dismissed 
 without a somewhat particular mention of his connection with the 
 New York State Historical Agency 1 of which project he was the 
 sole originator. 
 
 The readers of this memoir need not to be informed that for many 
 years Mr. Stone took no small degree of interest in elucidating the 
 early history of his native state. At an early period of his life, as 
 before hinted, he conceived the design of writing a series of histo- 
 rical works to embrace the history of the great Iroquois confederacy, 
 commonly called the Six Nations. His design was to have written, 
 first, the history of those nations, from the date of their earliest tra- 
 ditions down to the administration of Indian affairs by Sir William 
 Johnson; second, the life and times of Sir William Johnson, 
 embracing the colonial history of the French War of 1755-63, end- 
 ing in the conquest of Canada from the French; third, the life of 
 Brant and history of the Six Nations, as connected with the border 
 wars of the American revolution; and fourth, the life of Red 
 Jacket. 
 
 It was not, however, until about the year 1834, that he seriously 
 began the work of preparation for the undertaking; nor had he long 
 been thus engaged before he discovered a lamentable absence of au- 
 thentic historical materials, both in the archives of the New York 
 Historical Society, and of the state : and inasmuch as tradition avers 
 that when the last of the royal governors took his final departure 
 from the shores of New York, he carried away with him a "cart-load 
 of documents;'^ inasmuch, also, as the original correspondence of the 
 colonial governments during the period of a century and a half, 
 must of necessity be sought in the archives of the parent govern- 
 ments of England and Holland, the project of a historical mission 
 to those countries for the recovery of such papers and documents as 
 were essential to the historian, was suggested by himself. 
 
 The farther he advanced in his researches, and the longer he 
 meditated upon the subject, of the more importance did such a mis- 
 sion appear, and the more dear did it become to his heart. Being 
 at Albany, during the administration of Grovernor Marcy, he took 
 
 1 Since carried out by Mr. J. Romeyn Brodhead in his collection of the New York Co. 
 lonial Documents. 
 
80 The Life and WniTiNas of 
 
 occasion to counsel witli him upon the subject. He also conferred 
 with General Dix, the secretary of state, respecting it, and both those 
 gentlemen favored the project. These conferences were before the 
 Whigs had gained the ascendency, and before there seemed to be 
 any reasonable prospect of overthrowing the deep rooted power of 
 the old Albany regency. The measure was not of a political but a 
 literary character, and he thought not of politics in connection 
 with it. 
 
 Thus the matter stood until the close of the legislative session of 
 1838, when the subject, at his instance, was agitated in the New 
 York Historical Society — the Rev. Dr. Hawkes, Mr. George Folsom, 
 (who, although then but a recent resident of New York, had already 
 become an active and efficient member of the society), and several 
 others manifesting a deep interest in the project. A resolution was 
 moved, either by Dr. Hawkes or Mr. Folsom, directing a memorial 
 to be addressed to the legislature, praying for the institution of a 
 historical mission for the purposes already indicated. Dr. Hawkes 
 and Mr. Folsom spoke to the resolution, and Mr. Stone likewise 
 advocated its adoption with earnestness, and at length the resolution 
 was adopted, and a committee appointed to bring the subject before 
 the legislature. A memorial for that object was also prepared, and 
 Mr. Folsom, in behalf of the committee, proceeded to Albany forth- 
 with. No action, however, was had upon the subject by that 
 legislature. 
 
 In the autumn of the same year (1838) the subject was again 
 brought up in the Historical society. In a brief consultation among 
 a few of the members, before the society was called to order, Mr. 
 William Beach Lawrence undertook to move the resolution for 
 another application to the legislature ; and on his doing so, it was 
 seconded by Mr. Stone, who, at the same time, took occasion to illus- 
 trate, at considerable length, the importance of the measure, by 
 showing from his own knowledge, the absence of materials for writ- 
 ing an adequate history of the state. The resolution was adopted, 
 and Mr. Stone, P. G. Stuyvesant, W. B. Lawrence, George B. Folsom, 
 and John Stephens, were appointed a committee to carry it into 
 effect. The election came on soon afterward, and the Whigs swept 
 the state, electing William H. Seward governor over Mr. Marcy, 
 
William Leete Stone. 81 
 
 and carrying a large majority of the popular branch of the New 
 York legislature. 
 
 In December, as the time approached for the organization of the 
 Whig state administration, and when he supposed the new governor 
 to be engaged in preparing the annual message, having contributed 
 his full share towards his elevation, and been in friendly, if not inti- 
 mate correspondence with him for several years, he took the liberty 
 of writing to him, suggesting sundry topics for his consideration, as 
 worthy of recommendation in the message. Among other matters, 
 he apprised him of the defectiveness of the manuscript historical 
 records of the state, and of the action of the Historical society in 
 the premises ] stated to him that a memorial would be presented to 
 |.he legislature, and respectfully suggested whether it was not a sub- 
 ject of sufficient moment to warrant an executive recommendation in 
 the forthcoming message. When, however, the message appeared, he 
 observed that all the topics he had indicated were adverted to in 
 that document with the exception of the historical records. 
 
 Accordingly, at the close of the second week of the session he 
 repaired to Albany, and took an early opportunity to call the atten- 
 tion of Governor Seward to the subject of the historical records, 
 enquiring whether he had thought the matter unworthy of attention. 
 His excellency, entering readily into the views of the society replied, 
 '' Certainly not.'' He said that he considered the subject of too 
 much importance to be disposed of among the thousand topics neces- 
 sarily thrown together in the annual message ; and he had, therefore, 
 reserved it for a special message, with which it would afford him 
 pleasure to transmit their memorial to the legislature. Having thus 
 secured the favor of the executive, and paved the way for the favora- 
 ble action of the legislature, about three weeks afterward, Mr. Stone, 
 in company with Mr. Stephens, waited upon the governor imme- 
 diately, and presented the memorial, which his excellency soon after 
 transmitted to the legislature by special message. 
 
 The bill appropriating the sum of four thousand dollars was at 
 length passed, and on becoming a law, Governor Seward nominated 
 Mr. Stone to the senate for the agency. It must be here borne in 
 mind that the Whigs had not yet obtained the power in the senate — 
 that body then consisting of eighteen Van Buren men, and fourteen 
 
 11 
 
82 The Life and Writings of 
 
 Whigs. And thus far, during the whole session, the majority had 
 exerted its power by rejecting nearly every nomination put to them 
 by Grovernor Seward, i The fact that he was to be nominated was 
 communicated to him by Mr. James Bowen, on the morning of the 
 day on which it was to be made. Knowing the disposition of a ma- 
 jority of the senate to reject Mr. Seward's nominations, and knowing 
 that there were no public reasons why he should be made an object 
 of their special favor, he supposed, of course, that he would share the 
 common fate, unless he could have an opportunity of making such 
 explanations as might induce the majority to yield their party disci- 
 pline in regard to this particular subject, which, in truth, had no 
 connection with politics of any sort. He knew it to be the usual 
 practice of the senate, to refer all nominations to some proper com- 
 mittee, and to await its report before definite action. Presuming 
 that such would be the course adopted in relation to himself, he 
 hastened to Albany, and was met on the following morning by Sena- 
 tor Tallmadge, who informed him that his nomination had been 
 made, debated, and rejected by a strict party vote. The governor 
 had immediately, thereafter, nominated Mr. John P. Sargeant, the 
 assistant editor of the Courier^ for the station, which nomination 
 had, also, been summarily rejected. As this was no political alFair, 
 he had been furnished by Mr. Benjamin F. Butler, with whom — 
 although there was an impassable gulf between them in political 
 principles — there had, for more than twenty years, been a warm per- 
 sonal friendship, with letters to several of his political friends in the 
 senate. One of these letters was addressed to Mr. Edward P. Liv- 
 ingston, then of the senate, and a member of the Historical society. 
 After reading his letter, Mr. Livingston informed him that he had 
 misunderstood the history of the mission ) and such was the fact with 
 several of the members of the majority, whom he had reason to 
 number among his personal friends, notwithstanding they had voted 
 against him. Among these were Daniel S. Dickinson, Mr. Paige 
 and Mr. Wager. With these gentlemen and Mr. Livingston, Mr. 
 F. A. Tallmadge, then in the senate, held a consultation, the result 
 
 1 The Bomination of Mr, Glentworth was an exception. It is due to Governor Seward 
 to say, that he was averse to making that nomination, and was pushed into the measure 
 "by his friends. Both the Van Buren and Whig Avire-pullers were in favor of Glentworth. 
 Each party intended to cheat the other "by the operation, and both succeeded ! 
 
William Leete Stone. 83 
 
 of wliich. was, an agreement on their part, that if Governor Seward 
 would renominate, they would vote for him. Mr. Tallmadge con- 
 veyed the information to the governor, and he was at once again 
 nominated. 
 
 This was on Monday, the last day of the session but one — a joint 
 resolution having been passed for an adjournment sine die at twelve 
 o'clock at noon of the following day. There is, moreover, a rule of 
 the senate, requiring that every nomination shall lie upon the table 
 one day, if such course be insisted on by any one senator. Unex- 
 pectedly to both sides, the enforcement of this rule was demanded 
 by Mr. H. F. Jones, then a Van Buren senator from Queens ; and 
 as the president of the senate declared the rule to be imperative, the 
 nomination was carried over to the last morning of the session ; and 
 amid the general scramble upon the unfinished business, the senate 
 refused to go into executive session that morning before the hour of 
 twelve arrested business of every kind. by a final adjournment. 
 
 Thus the matter lingered along until January, 1841, when — other 
 influences being brought to bear upon the executive mind, and Mr. 
 Stone refusing to pay the price demanded as being contrary to his 
 sense of honor and self-respect — Mr. J. Komeyn Brodhead (then a 
 young man acting as secretary to Mr. Bleecker, the American charge 
 in Holland), was appointed; and thus, through political chicanery, 
 that, which one had sown, was reaped by another. i 
 
 III. 
 
 Although Colonel Stone's '- influence was widely extended through- 
 out the country, yet in New York city was it more particularly felt. 
 For many years he was identified with all her interests ; and she has 
 reason ever to hold his name in kindly remembrance. ^ The reli- 
 
 1 In this statement, it is not intended to cast the slightest reflection upon Mr. Brodhead, 
 who deserves all praise for the satisfactory and able manner in which his work was ac- 
 complished. Situated as he was, in Holland, at the time, he was probably entirely igno- 
 rant of the circumstances which preceded his appointment. Still, Mr. Stone's claim to 
 the mission as a right and an honor belonging to him as a simple matter of usage in simi- 
 lar cases, unless moral, intellectual or literary unfitness should have been made to appear, 
 will, perhaps, not be questioned. 
 
 2 Mr. Stone acquired the title of colonel from having held that position on Governor 
 
 Clinton's staff. 
 
 3 "Among the memorable editors of the Commercial Advertise)^ was the late Wm, 
 L. Stone, a devoted man to his responsible trust, of great fidelity in his political views. 
 The Commercial can boast of a succession of editors remarkable for their freedom from vio- 
 
84 The Life and Writings of 
 
 gious enterprises and benevolent associations of the day commanded 
 his earnest efforts in their behalf; and, at home, the Institution 
 FOR THE Deaf and Dumb, and the Society for the Reforma- 
 tion OF Juvenile Delinquents found in him a steadfast sup- 
 porter. He became a director in the former institution in 1833, 
 having been led to take an especial interest in the education of deaf 
 mutes, from the fact that among the relatives of his wife were three 
 deaf mute sisters, who have since become eminent examples of the 
 blessings conferred by education on this once forsaken class. 
 
 "Colonel Stone," writes Harvy P. Peet, the president of the New 
 York Deaf and Dumb Asylum, " entered with characteristic energy 
 into the effort to build up a superior institution for the deaf and 
 dumb in New York. To his influence is due, in large measure, my 
 selection for the position of principal : and I ascribe much of the suc- 
 cess which crowned my labors to his ready sympathy and encourage- 
 ment and his intelligent and zealous cooperation. From the time I 
 became principal of the institution in 1831 to his death in 1844, 
 he was the man of all others on whom I most relied for aid in 
 urging the claims of our institution on the people of our city and 
 state. He was constant in his attendance at our public exhibitions, 
 ever ready and felicitous in suggesting tests of the acquirements of the 
 pupils and ever prepared with appropriate anecdotes to be related by 
 signs and translated into written languages, so that it always seemed 
 much of the popular interest of those occasions was owing to him. 
 The editor of a journal of wide circulation and extensive influence, 
 especially among the more wealthy and benevolent classes, he was 
 eminently successful in his appeals to public benevolence, and that 
 because of the confidence generally felt both in his goodness of heart 
 and in his discrimination. The columns of his paper were ever 
 freely open for all statements in behalf of the institution and for full 
 reviews of its reports and other publications, so that it was regarded as 
 
 lent political aspersion, of extreme jealousy in behalf of moral and religious instruction, 
 and strong attachment to American institutions. Lewis, who succeeded Webster, had 
 been reared a divine, and was hardly adapted to encounter the antagonistic assaults of 
 the party press. Colonel Stone, equal to his predecessor in refinement of feeling and chari- 
 table impulse, with stronger devotion, and greater industry, filled the measure of his 
 renown by a perseverance in patriotism and benevolence that won the admiration of 
 numerous patrons." — Old New York^ an Anniversary Discourse^ delivered before the 
 New York Historical Society, Nov. 17, 1857, by the late John M. Francis, D.D., LL.D. 
 
William Leete Stone. 85 
 
 our appropriate organ of communication with the public. His 
 extensive personal and political influence was ever exerted to the 
 utmost to favor all our applications to the public or to the legislature 
 for the means of improving our system of instruction, or for exten- 
 sions, whether of the number of pupils provided for, or of the time 
 accorded to each. He held that the deaf and dumb should be raised 
 to the social and intellectual level of their brethren who are blessed 
 with hearing and speech, and that no expenditure should be be- 
 grudged necessary to secure the best teachers, the best apparatus, 
 and the best system of instruction to a class condemned to grapple 
 with difficulties so peculiarly great in their efforts to acquire lan- 
 guage and knowledge. 
 
 As a director of this institution, his quick intelligence and sound 
 judgment enabled him to appreciate the value of suggestions for 
 improvements, and his influence with the board could always be 
 relied on to secure their adoption, at the same time that his rare good 
 sense preserved him from the error of some men of undoubted phil- 
 anthropy, who, in a similar situation, have thought that theories 
 formed in the closet might be made to overrule a life-long profes- 
 sional experience. He was a liberal donor to the library of the 
 institution, and his newspaper was always sent free for the use of our 
 teachers and pupils. His example and influence, moreover, obtained 
 for it frequent donations of books and periodicals. The value of 
 such gifts to an institution like ours needs no comment." 
 
 As an illustration of the labors he performed on behalf of this 
 institution, may be instanced the Report on the Examination of the 
 Institution for the year 1837. This is a document of nearly thirty 
 printed pages, and is a monument both of his keenness of observa- 
 tion and of his acquaintance with the subject of deaf mute education. 
 Two other gentlemen, Walter Boune and Prosper M. Wetmore, were 
 by appointment of General John A. Dix — then the superintendent 
 of the schools of the state — associated with him in the investigation, 
 but the leading part in the examination, and the labor of writing 
 the report devolved upon him. 
 
 In this report, after a review of the condition and management of 
 the institution, and the acquirements of the several classes — interest- 
 ing from its fullness and faithfulness of detail — he made and ably 
 
86 The Life and "Writings op 
 
 advocated certain suggestions, the most important of which was the 
 one urging an extension of the term of instruction from five to 
 seven years. These suggestions were favorably acted on by the legis- 
 lature, and the desired extension was promptly granted. 
 
 Nor was it only in the instruction of the deaf and dumb that his 
 zeal in the cause of education showed itself. For many years he 
 was one of the school commissioners of New York city, and during 
 the years 1843-44 he was superintendent of the common schools, i 
 Many will yet remember his famous discussion with Archbishop 
 Hughes in relation to the use of the Bible in the schools — his last 
 letter to whom — occupying two columns of fine type in the Commer- 
 cial — was dictated on his death-bed, but two weeks previous to his 
 decease. Stripped of all extraneous matter the gist of the contro- 
 versy was as follows. By the provisions of an act passed by the 
 board of education on the eleventh of April, 1842, it was declared 
 that no school in which any religious or sectarian doctrine or tenet 
 was taught, should receive any portion of the school moneys to be 
 distributed by the act. Archbishop Hughes took the ground that 
 
 1 The difficulty wliich the author experienced in endeavoring to discover the year in 
 which Col. Stone was superintendent of common schools, deserves particular mention, 
 as showing the shiftless manner in which the public records are kept in the city of New 
 York. Wishing to ascertain the exact year in which Mr. Stone held the office, he went 
 to a gentleman (we will call him A), whom he knew to be engaged in the history of our 
 common schools and asked the question. The gentlemen was unable to tell him at the 
 moment, but referred him to the board of education as the place where, of course, the 
 desired information could be obtained. The author went there and asked an officer of 
 the board the question. He could not tell him, but referred him to a gentleman up stairs 
 who would know. The latter, however, was equally in the dark, but, in his turn, referred 
 his questioner to a gentleman down stairs in still another department, who, having been 
 connected with the board for a long term of years, would certainly know. Upon repeat- 
 ing the question to this one, he was informed that he did not know, as until within a few 
 years the school records had not been annually printed, and that the manuscript kept by 
 the different secretaries before that time was mislaid. He, however, was positive that If 
 
 he should go to Mr. , in Wall street, he would know, as he was one of the school 
 
 commissioners In the year designated. To him, therefore, the author went ; but his 
 astonishment may well be imagined when that person said he had entirely forgotten, but 
 stated that If he would go to such a one — mentioning the veritable Mr. A.— he could 
 undoubtedly tell him, as he was now engaged upon a history of the common schools ! 
 This, if not ''reasoning In a circle," certainly was questioning in a circle, the questioner 
 having brought up at the very point from which he started ! Finally, upon the author 
 making a second visit to the room of the board, an attache of the place, who had a dim 
 recollection of a record book being in the cellar, went down stairs, and after much search 
 exhumed the manuscript, from which, after patient search, the desired Information was 
 brought to light. Now if such difficulty exists in ascertaining — not an insignificant fact, 
 
William Leete Stone. 87 
 
 to allow the Bible to be read daily in the school was teaching a secta- 
 rian doctrine, and therefore demanded that the schools in which it 
 was read, should not be included in the distribution of the moneys. 
 In the discussion that followed the promulgation of this atrocious 
 sentiment between the Archbishop and Mr. Stone, the latter carried 
 the day; and at a meeting of the board of education, held Novem- 
 ber thirteenth, 1844, (two months after Mr. Stone's death) the act 
 was amended by a resolution to the effect "that the Bible without 
 note or comment is not a sectarian book, and that the reading of a 
 portion of the scriptures without note or comment, at the opening of 
 the schools, is not inculcating or practicing any religious, sectarian 
 doctrine or tenet of any particular Christian or other religious sect." 
 
 IV 
 
 In the early autumn of 1843, Mr. Stone began to experience 
 
 symptoms which indicated the necessity of repose and the vigilant 
 
 use of medical restoratives- The long and painful illness that foL 
 
 lowed was caused by excessive devotion to the toils of the study — 
 
 but one relating to the superintendent of common BcLools only twenty years since — what 
 Avould be the difficulty in finding the [history of events which occurred thirty, forty, or 
 fifty years ago ? 
 
 We have stated the above with no intention of throwing censure upon the officers of 
 the present board (1865). The fault lies not at their door. On the contrary, with great 
 courtesy, they endeavored to aid us to the extent of their ability, and realized in its fullest 
 extent the evils of the manner in which the records had in former times been kept. In- 
 deed, it is only justice to say that it has been through their exertions that the proceedings 
 have latterly been printed. 
 
 Another remarkable illustration of the subject existed a few years ago in the basement 
 of the City Hall under the county clerk's office. The ancient rolls of the colonial courts 
 were one grand pile of parchment, lying in mass, and great quantities were stolen and 
 sold to gold beaters. It would probably be impossible at the present time to find the 
 judgment roll in any cause tried prior to the year 1787, unless by chance. Possibly there 
 has been more care of late in the preservation of these records. Their value cannot be 
 
 over estimated. 
 
 Although there may be spasmodic attempts by individuals to bring about a reform in 
 this regard, yet we greatly fear that it will continue so long as the true cause of the diffi- 
 culty remains, to wit. that political maxim — the bane of American institutions— "to 
 the victors belong the spoils." New office holders care little for old records ; and, throw- 
 ing aside all sentiment in the matter, unless this thing is rectified it will, in time, embar- 
 rass the practical business relations of every-day life. More attention must be paid to 
 preserving records. It is not necessary to make enormous jobs, such as the atrocity which 
 was perpetrated in New York city in reference to the register's office. What is needed is, a, 
 general respect for the value of old records, and the adoption of preservative means. 
 Better paper to record on, better binding to keep ; and above all, fire-proof buildings for 
 all public records. 
 
88 The Life and Writings of 
 
 to unremitted labor of the mind — the effects of which were not 
 counteracted by sufficient exercise of the body. His employment in 
 the editorial room required as many hours of each day as should be 
 devoted to wearing mental occupation; but during the last four or 
 five years of his life it had been his practice to shut himself up in 
 his library, immediately after dinner, and there remain until a late 
 hour of the night in the preparation of his historical volumes. Nor 
 was this all. The important and laborious duties of his office, in 
 connection with the public schools, exacted from him much time and 
 mental exertion, and beyond all these, he was ever ready to meet the 
 frequent calls that were made on him in the service of benevolent 
 and literary institutions. Such a continuity of effort of such a kind 
 must needs have had a deleterious effect upon his health, never very 
 robust; but though the indications of serious derangement continued 
 through the winter, often interrupting his labors both at home and 
 at the office, his intervals of rest were commensurate only with the 
 positive inability which enjoined them.i Though rarely free from 
 pain or weakness, he persevered in hurtful devotion to his various 
 
 1 The following extract from a letter, written by Mrs. Stone during the winter of 1844 
 to a member of her family, gives a glimpse of the manner in which she was accustomed 
 to lighten her husband's labors, and, also, throws light upon the Andover Letters — 
 the axithorship of which was for a long time in doubt. 
 
 " My poor husband has had a relapse, which has confined him for the last ten days to 
 the house, and being unable to write himself, he employed me to write to Mr. Webster, 
 and Professor Stuart, who, by the way, wrote those admirable articles, you have seen in 
 the Commercials headed, "Mr. Webster and his Andover address.'" I knew you would be 
 interested to know the author. Is it not refreshing to meet with political articles, writ- 
 ten with the frankness and sincerity, and honest warmth of these — entirely free from 
 cant terms — the shibboleth of party, and all that mercenary daptrapism, so abundantly 
 used on such subjects in general. The professor says, he heard the statement, and wrote 
 from nothing else, but to relieve his feelings, and soothe his sense of justice. He was so 
 impressed by Mr, Webster's having sacrificed himself with his party for the sake of serv- 
 ing his country, that he could not suppress his desire to enlighten the minds of honest 
 enquirers, as hie own had been enlightened. The professor sent the manuscript on by 
 Mr, Webster, who handed it to Mr. Stone, and was so polite as to say he wished me to 
 read it and make any alterations which struck me as expedient, he having no time to read 
 it himself. Mr. Webster was very much afraid Professor Stuart would say too much in 
 his praise. He thinks every body will say, the picture owes its excellence to the talents 
 of the painter rather than its fidelity to the original. I should like to show you all the 
 letters from the professor and Mr. Webster upon the subject. How interesting to the 
 lovers of intellect to come at the mind of greatness in its undress — to have a peep at it 
 beneath the draperies of policy or conventional forms. Mr. Webster oftener reminds me 
 of dear brother Francis [The late President Wayland of Brown University, R. I.] than 
 any living contemporary." 
 
William Leete Stone. 89 
 
 employments, until at last, early in the spring, lie found himself 
 obliged to abstain from labor and give serious attention to the repair 
 of his broken constitution. He accordingly left the Commercial in 
 charge of Mr. John Inman, who had been his assistant for several 
 years, and repaired to Saratoga Springs in the expectation of deriving 
 benefit from the waters. At first it seemed as if he would rally and 
 recover; but the hopes of his physician and friends were delusive, 
 and on Wednesday, the 15th of August, 1844, he died in that village, 
 at the residence of his father-in-law, the Rev. Francis Wayland. 
 His funeral took place on Saturday morning, and was largely attended. 
 His companion in the editorial duties, Mr. John Inman, was present. 
 The pall bearers were twelve in number, and consisted, among others, 
 equally prominent, of Chancellor Walworth, Messrs. Hiram Ketchum 
 and Seth G-rosvenor, and his old master. Colonel Prentiss. The 
 remains were borne to the village cemetery and placed in the bosom 
 of a secluded grove, where the sun in his westward course casts a 
 parting beam. 
 
 " He suffered greatly," writes Mrs. Stone, " during his illness, phy- 
 sically and mentally. His mental depression was doubtless the result 
 of his disease. But the sense which he had of his unworthiness, 
 and the depth of his humility were most touching. He was con. 
 stantly praying that he might not be deceived — that there should 
 be no mistake. ' Oh,' he would say, in the midst of his mental dis- 
 tress, ' if it be my Heavenly Father^s discipline to fit me for heaven, 
 and I may have the very lowest place at his footstool I shall rejoice 
 in it all.' Although, as you know, he never allowed himself pleasure 
 or recreation, and was constantly endeavoring to help every good 
 cause, he seemed to feel as if he had done nothing, he judged himself 
 so severely." 
 
 ^' One day he said, ' I may go suddenly, and not be able to say any- 
 thing to bear testimony to my belief.' He then repeated in a very 
 audible and impressive manner the creed as it is in the Book of 
 Common Prayer, adding, ' should my opinion be realized, remember 
 this, my dying testimony — this I solemnly believe.' He had his 
 reason till the last, though he dropped away very suddenly and 
 unexpectedly to us all. But at the closing struggle, a beam of 
 heavenly light overspread his features, and the expression upon 
 
 12 
 
90 The Life and Writings of 
 
 his face was that of unalterable, unutterable happiness. There was 
 also an expression of holy triumph, which seemed to say, ' I have 
 escaped the tempter forever.' ''i 
 
 Indeed, it may be truly said, that to the cause of education he 
 gave his whole energies, and spared not even his decaying strength. 
 To the end he spoke with the kindest interest of his associates in 
 the Board of Education ; and wished very much to dictate a letter, 
 giving them his views on one or two topics which he thought import- 
 ant. " I entreated him," writes Mrs. Stone to Gerardus Clarke, 
 president at that time, of the Board of Education, "to spare himself. 
 Indeed, to the last, I hoped he might recover, and could not endure 
 that he should make the least effort for fear it should injure him. 
 
 1 Mrs. Stone survived her husband not quite eight years. A few days after her decease, 
 which occurred, also, at Saratoga Springs, the following just tribute appeared in the 
 Commercial, from the pen of one who knew her well in all the relations of life : 
 
 " Mrs. Susannah P. Stone was so long a resident of this city, that a notice somewhat 
 more particular than the simple announcement of her death wUl be grateful to those 
 friends who cherish her memory with aflfectionate interest. She was from youth remarkSr 
 ble. From her childhood she held rank with the very first of her associates, maintaining 
 her place as she grew up. She was every where recognized as a superior woman. Her 
 powers of conversation, whether in discussion, in sympathy, or in satire, were remarka- 
 ble. As a Christian, she was distinguished for her faith, and for her constancy in prayer. 
 This spirit seemed lo pervade her life, and continued through all those circumstances 
 which in other persons might have subdued it. Her affections were strong, and almost 
 unalterable ; they sometimes abides her strong judgment, and they, perhaps, were the only 
 medium through which her judgment could be biased. 
 
 When she employed her pen, which was often in the columns of this paper, she dis- 
 played rare excellence. Even when confined by sickness, her range of observation was 
 wide ; everything connected with the true progress of the human race awakened her 
 deepest interest. Her nice discrimination enabled (.her to form a just estimate of the 
 relative importance of passing events, and her animadversions on these topics were indi- 
 cative of a shrewd and sagacious mind. Deprived as she was for several years, by the 
 progress of disease, of many social enjoyments, her desire for the improvement and true 
 happiness of those about her, and especially the young, was apparent in all her arrange- 
 ments. Those who were privileged with this intercoiirse, will recall in after years the 
 Bible stories, and numberless lively narratives, which engaged the attention, while they 
 improved the heart ; and should her letters addressed to children and young persons ever 
 meet the public eye, they would be highly valued by many a Christian mother. 
 
 Days of pain, and wearisome nights, were appointed her, yet she repined not, nor for- 
 got the interests of others. Indeed her own sufterings seemed to quicken her sympa- 
 thies. If she could not " go about doing good" as she desired, her active mind was 
 always devising kindly acts. Many are the children of want and sorrow, who will not 
 know, till the great day of revealing, whence came the timely counsel and unlooked for 
 aid. The chamber of sickness was to her the school of Christ, and there it was that her 
 graces matured and her soul ripened for immortal life. Though so long laid aside from 
 actual duty in her Master's service, she was often comforted by the thought that— " They 
 also serve, who only stand and wait." 
 
William Leete Stone. 91 
 
 He two or three times spoke to my brother, Dr. Wayland of Brown 
 University, who was with us, to the same effect, and he, for the 
 same reason, declined being his amanuensis." 
 
 "In the decease of our associate,'^ said Mr. Clarke, in announcing 
 the fact to the Board of Education, at a special meeting called for 
 that purpose, ''not only have his family and immediate circle of 
 friends been visited by an overwhelming calamity, but this commu- 
 nity, and this board have sustained a loss, the severity of which will 
 be long severely felt and deplored. In truth, our departed friend 
 filled a space that cannot be easily supplied. Possessing talents of 
 a high order, a mind highly cultivated, an industry that never tired, 
 and a disposition to apply all his energies to promote the welfare and 
 happiness of his fellow-men, he was eminently qualified for being 
 (what he really was) a most valuable member of society ; and hence 
 it was that he had become identified with most of our literary and 
 benevolent institutions. When such a man is struck down in the 
 meridian of his life, in the maturity of his faculties, and in the full 
 career of his usefulness, the event is well calculated to excite the 
 most painful emotions, and to cause those who survive to pause for a 
 moment in their career, and stand appalled at the uncertainty of 
 human life, and the vanity of human pursuits. 
 
 As superintendent of common schools his loss is irreparable, and, 
 from any knowledge I possess of the qualifications of others, I fear 
 it will be long before his place will be fully supplied. His qualifi- 
 cations for that office were preeminent; and to his enthusiasm in 
 the cause of our common schools, and to the arduous duties he per- 
 formed during the last summer, I believe may be imputed in part 
 the commencement of that disease which terminated his valuable 
 life. Such, I know, were his own sad convictions." 
 
 V. 
 
 The character of Colonel Stone can not be fully presented without 
 mentioning his sympathy with those who were struggling in life, 
 and how readily a word of kindness was written or spoken, or his 
 purs6 opened for their assistance. The ingenuousness, transparency, 
 and freshness of character, which he always retained, shone forth 
 with great beauty amid scenes and in circumstances little likely to 
 
92 The Life and Writings of 
 
 elicit them. Unsparing as lie ever was in exposing error, and criti- 
 cising men and measures, lie was equally ready to retract or make 
 amends when convinced of having unwittingly committed injus- 
 tice, i Mixing largely and actively in the political struggles of his 
 time — ardent in every cause in which he engaged — and enlisted 
 in a profession of all others the most trying, it would be strange 
 indeed, if he made no enemies. Such, however, was the kindness 
 of his heart, and the natural evenness of his temper, that it is be- 
 lieved, no one ever continued his personal enemy after becoming 
 acquainted with him. "If,'^ writes Eufus Choate to William Pow- 
 ell, "there is a humane and an upright editor in the world, it is 
 Colonel Stone." 
 
 While possessing, also, great powers of logic and sarcasm — as 
 shown, among other instances, in his discussion with the arch- 
 bishop — he was equally ready with a playful ridicule, which was 
 
 1 William H. Harbison to William L. Stone. 
 
 Washington, 26^A, May, 1838. 
 Mt Dear Sir: I am miich gratified to find by your letter of the 24tli inst., that you are 
 willing to do me ample justice in relation to the puWication which appeared in your paper 
 some short time since. ************* 
 Your letter betrays the feelings of a man of honor ; and after having received this state- 
 ment and the extract from Commodore Perry's letter and 's remark, you will not, I 
 
 am sure, hesitate to say that your Washington correspondent, , has attempted a 
 
 base imposition upon yourself and the public. 
 
 I am, very respectfully, 
 
 Your himible servant. 
 Col. Wm. L. Stone. Wm. H. Harrison. 
 
 Edward Everett to William L. Stone. 
 
 Washington, 6th Feby., 1834. 
 
 My Dear Sir : Your friendly letter of the 2d is before me, and removes any disagreea- 
 ble impression produced by the article, in your paper, which was in truth unfair. The 
 use of certain words, such as exegetical, led me to trace it to a particular religious school, 
 and set it down to sectarian pique. Hence my remark. Nothing can be kinder than 
 your proposal relative to a regular analysis of the several numbers [The North American-^ 
 which you made to me orally in New York and now repeat. My brother will desire to 
 avail himself of your very kind offer. ** * + ****** 
 
 I read your paper with great pleasure and regard it as one of the ablest— perhaps the 
 very ablest — published. 
 
 I have taken no part this winter in debate, perhaps shall not. I am sick and weary of 
 
 the scene, and shall slip my neck out of the yoke, (it never, I trust, was in the collar), as 
 
 soon as possible. 
 
 Yours, dear Sir, 
 
 With great regard, 
 Col. Wm. L. Stone. E. Everett. 
 
William Leete Stone. 93 
 
 often quite as effective as the adoption of a more serious tone. 
 When vjomens' rights were first advocated by Fanny Wright he 
 brought the absurdity of many of her positions into a strong light 
 by assuming them for the time to be correct, and carrying them to 
 a legitimate conclusion. This he did by a series of letters in the 
 Commercial, supposed to have passed between a husband and wife, 
 while the latter was serving in congress. Two letters from this 
 imaginary correspondence are here given. 
 
 New York, April 27, 1849. 
 
 Honored Wife : I received your letter of the 15th, and have 
 attended to all your directions as well as I could. But I am sorry 
 to say that things do not go very well during your absence, partly, 
 no doubt, from my want of skill and experience. I unfortunately 
 spoiled most of your white dresses in the last wash, by rubbing them 
 too much in one place, so that they frayed into holes; and James 
 has ruined nine or ten of your best lace collars, by making his irons 
 too hot, so that they are quite scorched. I had to send out and 
 hire a man to finish the ironing, which has considerably increased the 
 week's expenses. I am afraid James heated the irons on purpose, 
 through dislike to the business, which does not seem to come natural 
 to him, having been brought up, you know, by his Uncle Glover, in 
 England, where the new system of female supremacy has not yet 
 been established. Also, I find that ^the cold corn-bread and water 
 plan don't agree with me very well ; perhaps because I don't mix 
 the dough properly. Charlotte is in danger of losing her election 
 to the legislature, I believe ; I don't know for certain, because she 
 don't of course tell me anything about public affairs; and she 
 sends the newspapers to you as soon as she has done reading them; 
 but I had a talk about it this morning with neighbor Bigelow, while 
 he and I were sweeping the street before the corporation cart came 
 along. I hope she will write to you about it, for old alderman Purdy 
 has just dropp'd in to say that while he was carrying up dinner yester- 
 day, he heard his wife telling Miss Morris, the Mayor's first mar- 
 shal, that Charlotte would certainly lose her election. But you 
 know Charlotte is full of confidence, and perhaps she may not think 
 it necessary to write. 
 
 I met Mr. Lenox yesterday, as I was coming home from the mar- 
 
94 The Life and Writings op 
 
 ket, and he told me that he believed Mrs. Lenox was thinking of 
 proposing a match to you, between her Maria and our William. 
 How he got his information I don't know, for of course Mrs. Lenox 
 would not speak to her husband about it ; but I should not wonder 
 if it was true for he is very clever in finding out things, you know ; 
 almost as clever as a woman. If I might venture an opinion, I should 
 think William with his fine voice, and his skill in music, might 
 make a better match, for he is accounted very handsome — and Mr. 
 Lenox's Maria is not likely to distinguish herself. What would you 
 think of Miss G-riswold, or Miss Olyphant, as a substitute for Maria ? 
 Miss Olyphant, it is whispered, is talked of as our next Minister to 
 China. 
 
 Should you meet the Hon. Mrs. Ely Moore, or the Hon. Mrs. 
 M'Keon at the Soire6 on Thursday evening, please say that their 
 husbands are less troublesome than they were, and are well. 
 
 I should be glad to know whether it is the Russian, or the French 
 mission you are expecting. If the former, as the climate is cold, I 
 was thinking that perhaps it might suit your pleasure for me to speak 
 to young Mr. Kamsay Cooks in season for a stock of furs. However, 
 you know your own business best. 
 
 I would be glad to know when we will set about cleaning house ; 
 also, whether you wish the carpets taken up in the bed-room, as well 
 as down stairs. Please also let me know whether I shall get any 
 more coal, or buy wood for the summer. 
 
 I shall have to trouble you for a little more money, as that you left 
 with me is nearly all gone. 
 
 Your very faithful husband, 
 
 Churchill C. Chickering. 
 The Hon. Mrs. Louisa Chickering. 
 
 P. S. What do you think ? Our old cook, Peg Snodgrass, is 
 preparing to start for Alderman, in opposition to Lee, in the Seven- 
 teenth ward ; and the Hon. Miss Sophronia Caroline Matilda Slamon, 
 after all her high notions, has taken the office of tobacco inspector! 
 
 Washington, May 2c?, 1849. 
 Mr. Chickering, Sir : I cannot spare you any money at present. 
 Send me what dresses and collars you have ready, the spoiled ones 
 
William Leete Stone. 95 
 
 and all, by mail. They will come free under my frank. The wash- 
 ing and ironing must not be attended with such stupid disasters 
 hereafter, or I shall hire a man to do it, and his wages will come 
 out of your allowance. I have written to Charlotte. You did right 
 to let me know what you had heard about the election. I will 
 take care of Mrs. Lenox and her matters. The match, or any of 
 those which you suggest, are not to be thought of. You spoke of 
 Mrs. Moore and Mrs. M^Keon. Pshaw ! Their husbands made better 
 members, when they were here. As to the session, you know very 
 well, Mr. Chickering, that I keep my own counsel. Buy furs when 
 you are told, and not before. There must be coal enough left to 
 last till I come home. Take up all the carpets. ^Tis as I expected 
 about Slamon. Peg will make as good an alderman as any of 
 them. The corporation has always been a board of grannies. And 
 besides, she don't want feeding. On second thoughts, let the house 
 
 cleaning alone till I come home. 
 
 Yours, &c. &c., 
 
 Louisa Chickering. 
 
 P. S. — That old difficulty with the Hon. Mrs. Calhoun has broken 
 out again. I see what it must come to. By some faithful hand^ 
 therefore, send me my new case of hair-trigger pistols. See that 
 the locks are in good order, and send along a few balls that are a 
 true fit. If our Julia would like a captaincy in the rifle corps better 
 than cornet of dragoons, tell her to write and let me know. 
 
 In temperament he was eminently genial. He overflowed with 
 humor ; and the public dinners of New York were often illumined 
 by the scintillations of his wit. He always had a pleasant word for 
 every one, no matter how busied he might be; and often by a timely 
 repartee he accomplished real good. An instance in point occurs to 
 the writer at this moment. The Colonel once called upon John 
 Jacob Astor to obtain a considerable amount for some charitable 
 object. To all his persuasions Astor turned a deaf ear, finally alleg- 
 ing that he himself was really quite poor. " Yes, Mr. Astor,'' replied 
 the Colonel, " every one is poor now-a-days but you and me.'' Astor 
 knew that the Colonel was, at that time, very much embarrassed, 
 having lost nearly all his property by endorsing ; and upon this reply, 
 
96 The Life and Writings or 
 
 so archly given, Astor joined in the laugt, and handed the Colonel 
 his check for considerably more than the sum asked for. 
 
 Another prominent trait in his character was his childlike trust 
 in Providence. From the day on which he left his father's roof, to 
 the one that witnessed his death, this reliance remained unshaken ; 
 and in many a dark hour of his early life struggles he owed his suc- 
 cessful extrication from the difficulties which beset him to the power 
 of that Being in whose special guardianship he always believed. 
 This trait is illustrated in the following entry in his private diary 
 made on the occasion of his visit to Cooperstown in 1829 — the first 
 one since his departure from that village to enter in earnest upon 
 his life-work : 
 
 "Cooperstown was the favorite spot of my boyhood. From child- 
 hood to youth, and even manhood, I grew up in the vicinity of this 
 delightful village, which, until I was of legal age to become my own 
 master, was the nearest approach to a city that T had seen. And 
 my present visit to a scene, consecrated by so many early recollec- 
 tions and endearing associations, is after an absence of fifteen years. 
 I had left it, a poor young man, without experience in the world, 
 with but little knowledge, without means, and without friends to aid 
 or influence my destiny, or to push me forward in the great world. 
 And through the blessing of a kind Providence, I now return, 
 accompanied by an intelligent, educated and accomplished wife, in 
 prosperous, if not in affluent circumstances, and known for ten years 
 as the editor of one of the oldest and most respectable daily papers 
 in our country. When I departed, it was with the det,ermination of 
 attaining success in the profession I had chosen. I have now 
 accomplished it : but if I know my own feelings, this pleasure is 
 unalloyed with pride or vanity. On the contrary, such are my 
 demerits and deficiencies, that I cannot but wonder at my own suc- 
 cess, and I am constrained to raise my heart in humble thanks to 
 that Grod who has thus prospered my earthly career." 
 
 The personal characteristics of the man, however, will best appear 
 in the following letter to the writer from one of Mr. Stone's contem- 
 poraries, the H.on. Horace Creely. 
 
William Leete Stone. 97 
 
 Office of the Tribune, | 
 
 New York City, Bee 26^A, 1865. j 
 
 My Dear Sir : You ask me for some personal reminiscences of 
 your departed father : and I very gladly furnish them. Short they 
 must be, but I hope not without interest. 
 
 I had become acquainted, in early boyhood, with the country edi- 
 tion of his journal, known to us as the New York Spectator; and 
 which I liked much the more, doubtless, that its politics exactly 
 suited me. When, in 1826, I became an apprentice in the office of 
 the Northern Spectator at Poultney, Vermont, its editorial conduct 
 was soon confided to your father's younger brother, Ebenezer Gr. 
 Stone, now so many years deceased; in whose family I lived some 
 two or three months. Hence, when I came to New York in 1831, 
 your father was no stranger to me, though I was utterly unheard of 
 by him, until having work in a little job-printing office at the corner 
 of Nassau and Liberty streets, not far from the office of the CoTn- 
 mercial Advertiser I was time and again called over to help on the 
 composition of that journal whenever there was a press of matter; 
 and thus I made the personal acquaintance of its chief editor. This 
 was in 1832-3, several years before your birth (which I remember 
 very well) ; but your father was then at least forty years old, and a 
 life of editorial labor and care had made their mark upon his face 
 and frame. But, absorbed in his duties as he habitually was when 
 T saw him, his was an eminently genial, kindly, companionable 
 nature, and we were soon on excellent terms. As I had recently 
 been employed likewise in the office of the Evening Post — then a 
 leading democratic journal — and had always there been made to 
 realize that there was a wide distance, if not an impassable barrier, 
 between an editor and a journeyman printer, I appreciated more 
 keenly the kind familiarity of the editor of the Commercial Adver- 
 tiser, especially since the contrast afforded confirmation to my 
 cherished theory that political democracy and social aristocracy were 
 opposite phases (or facts), of what was essentially the same thing. 
 At length, I received the offer of a regular situation as compositor 
 on the Commercial, one that I would have given all my real and 
 personal estate for a bare year earlier, but I had now involved myself 
 in businesss so that though grateful for the offer, I could not accept it. 
 
 13 
 
98 The Life and Wkitings of 
 
 Years passed — two, or perhaps three. I had started a weekly 
 paper of my own, {The ISFeio Yorker^ ^ and was struggling on with it, 
 (my chin just above water) when the Morris and Essex rail road 
 was just opened to Morristown, and many were invited to participate 
 in the opening trip; among them several editors. Your father and 
 I were of those who accepted that invitation; and we devoted the 
 time mainly to each other. I recollect few days spent more profita- 
 bly or pleasantly on my part. He had probably been twenty-five 
 years an editor, I some three or four; and his stores of experience 
 and wisdom were as freely imparted as they were gratefully received. 
 I trust we were friends before; I am sure we were ever afterward. 
 Though our meetings were infrequent — for time was precious to both 
 — they were always improved and enjoyed. 
 
 I think few editors were ever more generally respected as honest and 
 fearless of personal consequences than the late William. L. Stone. 
 Freely avowing unpopular opinions — conservative, not of slavery 
 and caste, but of the restraints of law and the deference due to 
 rightful authority — he was generally in a minority in the union 
 and state, and almost always so in the City; yet the greater number 
 of those who contrived to vote him down at the polls esteemed and 
 honored him as a proclaimer of wholesome though discredited truth. 
 In the councils of the National Republicans and thereafter of the 
 Whig party, he was heard and deferred to; and I remember his 
 addressing an enormous Whig Young Men's Convention at Syra- 
 cuse in 1840, when, frankly avowing himself an unchanged Federalist 
 of the school of Hamilton and Jay, he was vociferously cheered and 
 applauded — a tribute, not so much to the soundness of his views as 
 to his frankness in thus avowing them. 
 
 A few months before his decease he told me he had resolved to 
 retire from editorial responsibilities — a resolution which I pro- 
 foundly honor, and hope in time to imitate. He had done a man's 
 full work — he had fairly earned a few years of comparative rest and 
 freedom from incessant care; and though (as I have understood), he 
 had achieved but a moderate competence, he felt that he might 
 better devote his remaining years to the proper training of his only 
 child (yourself), than to be heaping up gold for that child's use (or 
 abuse), after he should be left as, in the course of nature, he would 
 
William Leete Stone. 09 
 
 inevitable be left — an orphan while yet in his minority. And 
 though I think your father had less need than most of us of delibe- 
 rate preparation for the great inevitable change, I rejoice that he was 
 not stricken down amid the din and bustle of a great city, but en- 
 joyed opportunity for solemn, though not painful meditation on life, 
 death, accountability, eternity, and was enabled to enjoy even in 
 this life, a foretaste of that serenity of peace and bliss to which his 
 many years of unstained Christian profession and practice enabled 
 him to look forward humbly but trustfully. Green be the sod above 
 his honored grave ! and may the virtues of the father be reflected 
 and illustrated in the character and career of the son ! 
 
 Yours, 
 
 Horace Gtreely. 
 
 Many tributes, both public and private, were paid to the memory 
 of Mr. Stone — one of which will close this sketch. '^ 
 
 1" Colonel Stone," writes the Hon. Thurlow Weed in a long editorial obituary upon 
 Ms decease, "was ardently devoted to Ms profession. He had taste and talent which 
 qualified him eminently, for the duties of that profession. He always published an ex- 
 cellent and interesting newspaper. He was, also, a most laborious student. He wrote 
 rapidly and with great mental ease. Besides conducting his newspaper, he sought and 
 reached the highest walks of literature. In his historical researches he was alike dDigent 
 and successful. His Life of Brant will endure, while letters last, as evidence of his re- 
 search, talent and genius. Our periodicals and annuals also bear testimony to the fertility 
 of his imagination, the purity of his taste, and the excellence of his heart. We very much 
 doubt whether, for the last twenty-five years, any other man among us has gone through 
 with an equal amount of editorial and literary labor. 
 
 " Colonel Stone, though an ardent and impulsive politician, was always guided by 
 convictions of duty. In differing with him, as we sometimes did, we knew him too well 
 to question the purity of his motives. He edited his paper, as he discharged every other 
 duty, with a conscientious conviction of the justice and rightfulness of his course. 
 
 " Our acquaintance with the deceased commenced in 1813. We presented ourself to him 
 at Herkimer, in February Of that year, a half-grown and half-learned itinerant printer, 
 without friends or money. He not only gave us employment, but became and remained 
 our friend ; and through all differences of opinion, we have never ceased to cherish for 
 him feelings of affection and gratitude — feelings which, in the hour of bereavement and 
 separation, bring back, with the freshness of youth, a long train of ' sweet and bitter 
 
 fancies.' " 
 
 The Hon. Joseph R. Chandler of Philadelphia, for many years the able editor of the 
 United States Gazette, writes, also, as follows: " Colonel Stone has passed away in the 
 midst of usefulness. I will not write his eulogy to you — yet you know how I feel his 
 loss, for you have witnessed our quiet communings — you have seen with what warmth 
 we dwelt upon sentiments and principles common to us both, and how we turned aside 
 from those on which we differed. We had learned to understand each other, and where 
 we could not walk together, there to separate — each resolving that there should ' be no 
 
100 The Life and Writings of 
 
 Allusion has been made to the friendship which existed in his 
 early life between himself and Sands. In later years a close friend- 
 ship sprung up between Mr. Schoolcraft and himself, which their 
 community of tastes rendered enduring until death. Both loved the 
 red man ; both used their best efforts freely in his behalf; and both 
 became the pioneers in hewing down the prejudices which had grown 
 up around his character. The affection existing between them is 
 beautifully illustrated by the following incident. A few days after 
 Colonel Stone's death, Mr. Schoolcraft visited Saratoga; and while 
 standing one afternoon, in the mellow sunset, among the evergreens 
 that hung over the grave of his friend, he composed the following 
 stanzas : 
 
 " They bore liim up by a winding road, 
 
 To a burial-ground in the wood, 
 Where the tall pines cast their shade around 
 
 To hallow the soUtude. 
 
 Away from the town and the waters bright, 
 
 Where fashion and beauty cling, 
 Remote from the thoughtless multitude 
 
 And the gayeties of the spring. 
 
 'Tis a new-made ground — a mile away — 
 
 And stumps and trees stand round, 
 As monuments of the forest rule 
 
 Upon that virgin ground.^ 
 
 strife between us, for we were brethren.' He was an accomplished editor, but he as- 
 pired, and successfully aspired to permanency of fame as a writer. I do not know that 
 it was a natural proclivity of his mind, or an acquired habit, but there was in him a ten- 
 dency towards the past for the benefit of the future, and he seemed to dive into the 
 midst of the undigested records of other times, as if it was his delight to bring order 
 from chaotic masses. We both loved the salient points of the times in which we lived — 
 he had time and determination to seize upon them, and the world judges of him more 
 by these efforts than by his constant exhibition of sound morals, and advocacy of correct, 
 social and political principles— his illustrations of domestic propriety and domestic 
 happiness. 
 
 " I loved the playfulness of his humor, and the promptness of his repartees, and it wa&a 
 source of pleasure to turn aside from the barrenness of some of the paths before me to 
 tread the track over which his wit and genius strewed flowers — and it was my pride as 
 an editor, that the profession had in him so powerful an advocate of the principles we 
 professed — so bright an example of the virtues that illustrate our nature. * * * 
 I know not the history of the last days of my friend — but he who stood constantly pre- 
 pared for a journey, could not be alarmed when the intimation was given that he mnst 
 depart." 
 
 1 The present picturesque Greenridge Cemetery, at Saratoga SpringB. Colonel Stone 
 was the first one whose remains were there interred. 
 
William Leete Stone. 101 
 
 And it is well ; it would never suit 
 
 The spirit that slumbers there, 
 To lie in the noise and hot pursuit 
 
 Of empty pride and care. 
 
 For though he took note of the world's advance, 
 
 And the heaving surges of life, 
 Its manners and poUtics, business and moil, 
 
 His was not a spirit of strife. 
 
 He looked upon morals and letters and men, 
 
 With a deeper and holier view, 
 And sought by his counsel, and aimed by his pen, 
 
 To show forth the good and the true. 
 
 To better mankind, by example and word, 
 
 Was still the firm aim of his life. 
 And there were but few, who succeeded as well, 
 
 Nay — Tiis was no spirit of strife. 
 
 In the long dark shades of the whispering pine, 
 
 In the winding forest recess, 
 It was tastefiil to find out a peaceftd spot, 
 
 A spot that the good may bless. 
 
 The ancient wood genii shall wake up to life. 
 
 And join with the white man to weep 
 O'er one who remembered the red sons of strife, 
 
 And scattered fresh bays where they sleep. 
 
 And oft shall the fair and the wise thither go, 
 
 Away from the cii'cles they trod, 
 To pay the fond tribute of heartfelt regret 
 
 To one who rejoiced in his God." 
 
..v" b>-^LJ.r,'.iiilutLh. 
 
 yu '^^-^M^' 
 
* SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA, OR RED JACKET, 
 
 CHAPTEE I. 
 
 € 
 
 Subject of the biography — His name — Preliminary glimpses of his cha- 
 racter — His nation — Incidental discussion concerning the Iroquois, or 
 Five Nations — Tradition of the origin of the Seneoas— Hill of Genun- 
 dewah — Romantic story — The Hurons — History of the Five Nations — 
 Chapter closes in doubt. 
 
 "I am an orator! — I was born an orator!" — were the 
 prompt exclamations of tlie subject of tbe present memoir^ 
 in reply to an inquiry, by an obtrusive wbite man, respect- 
 ing Ms deeds in arms. The evasion was alike spirited,, 
 quick-witted, and adroit. !N"o man, either savage or 
 civilized, probably, was ever more conscious of the strong 
 and the weak points of his own character than the cele- 
 brated Seneca chief, Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or He-keeps-them- 
 awake, — better known to the public under the less imposing 
 name of Red Jacket.^ His original Indian name was 
 
 1 The Indian name of Red Jacket, here given in the text, has been vari- 
 ously "spelt, by different authors. I have adopted the orthography of an 
 old manuscript record of the Seneca chiefs, invited by Colonel Timothy 
 Pickering to attend a council in Philadelphia, in 1792. The usual trans- 
 lation of the name, Sa-go-ye-wat-ha^ has been, The keeper-awake. It was 
 so rendered by De Witt Clinton, in his celebrated discourse before the New 
 York Historical Society, in 1811. But the translation is erroneous, as The 
 keeper-awake does not convey the idea intended. The ancient manuscript 
 referred to gives the true meaning, as adopted in the text — He-keeps -them- 
 awake. 
 
104 The Life and Times of 
 
 0-TE-Ti-ANi, in English, Always Ready. The other name 
 was conferred upon him, in after years, on his election to 
 the dignity of a sachem. 
 
 That he was an orator, in the most exalted sense of the 
 term, of great and commanding power, is the universal 
 testimony of all who enjoyed opportunities of forn^^ng a 
 just opinion upon the subject. And no other man was 
 more conscious of the fact than himself. That he was a 
 warrior he did not positively deny to his unwelcome cate- 
 chist, while he studiously avoided its acknowledgment. 
 
 It is well for his veracity that he did not, since nothing 
 is more certam than that the impartial testimony of his- 
 tory would have been invoked in vain to sustain the asser- 
 tion. Yet, notwithstanding the absence of that physical 
 quality, the lack of which is so rare among a people living 
 in the hunter state, and the possession of which is con- 
 sidered so indispensable among all barbarians, few men 
 have arrived at a greater degree of consideration among 
 his own people, or exerted a more commanding influence, 
 than Red Jacket. • He was upon the war-path during 
 both conflicts between the United States and Great Bri- 
 tain. In the former — the war of the revolution — he 
 served, with his nation, the cause of the crown. In the 
 war of 1812-1815 — the Senecas having changed their 
 quasi allegiance — he served under the colors of the 
 United States. But in neither contest did he win for him- 
 self the right to wear the eagle-plume. In the former he 
 was openly charged by his brother chiefs with cowardice 
 and treachery; while in the latter the impression made 
 upon the mind of the general, under whose immediate 
 eye he served, was by no means favorable in regard to his 
 courage.^ His entire character formed a bundle of con- 
 
 ^ General Peter B. Porter, late secretary of war, whose opinion will be 
 quoted hereafter. 
 
Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 105 
 
 '■? 
 
 tradictions. If he lacked firmness of nerves, he neverthe- 
 less possessed unbending firmness of purpose, and great 
 moral courage. His intellectual powers were unquestion- 
 ably of a very high order. He was a statesman of sagacity, 
 and an orator of even surpassing eloquence ; yet he was 
 capable of descending to the practice of the lowest cunning 
 of the demagogue. But he was still a patriot. He loved 
 his nation and his race ; and if, in the eyes of his people, 
 the deficiencies of his character were not lost in the blaze 
 of his genius, they were certainly more than counterbal- 
 anced by the .admiration with which was contemplated the 
 greatness of his mind. 
 
 The Seneca nation, whence Sa-go-ye-wat-ha sprang, and 
 whose principal chief he was for many years, was, even at 
 the time of the discovery by the Europeans, by far the most 
 powerful of the Aquanuschioni,^ or United People, known 
 originally as the Five l^ations, and afterward as the Six, by 
 the addition of the Tuscaroras to the confederacy, about the 
 year 1712. The reason of this addition to the number of 
 their communities has been variously given. It is well 
 known that the Five I^ations carried their arms as far south 
 as the country of theCherokees, with whom they waged a 
 bloody war, even within the last century.^ The Tuscaroras 
 
 1 Aquanuschioni is properly the same word which the early French mis- 
 sionaries among the Hurons wrote Hotinonchiendi, and which Bruyas, long a 
 missionary among the Mohawks wrote Hotinnonsionni, and Morgan adopting 
 the Seneca form, Hodenosaunee. Bruyas translates Hotinnonsionni, — They 
 
 form a cabin. The translation therefore given in the text, United People, 
 is a paraphrase of the literal meaning of the word. 
 
 2 A fierce battle continuing two days, was fought between the Cherokees, 
 Catawbas, and their associates, and the warriors of the Six Nations, at the 
 junction of the Cumberland and Red rivers, in Kentucky, near the present 
 line between the states of Kentucky and Tennessee, in the year 1731. The 
 leader of the Six Nations on that occasion was Hioatou,a celebrated Seneca 
 chief, who died in 1811, at the great age of 103. The slaughter was great 
 on both sides, but Higalitou was victorious. 
 
 14 
 
106 The Life and Times of 
 
 were natives of a territory now formingthe states of l^orth 
 Carolina. Bancroft speaks of them as "kindred with the 
 Five [N'ations," and refers to several villages in that region, of 
 the Huron-Iroquois, or Wyandot family. According to 
 some authorities, the Tuscaroras, having formed a deep and 
 general conspiracy to cut off the whites, were signally de- 
 feated, and driven from their country, under which circum- 
 stances they were adopted as a Sixth I^ation by the 
 Iroquois.^ It has been asserted by others that they were 
 conquered by the Iroquois, and by them removed to their 
 own country, where they were planted down, and reckoned 
 as an additional nation, but only upon the condition that, 
 like the Delawares, they were to be ranked as women, and 
 inhibited the use of arms in war. This is a most unlikely 
 tale of their removal — since they "were the most powerful 
 tribe in I^Torth Carolina," occupying, in 1708, fifteen towns 
 in the upper country, on the license and the Tar, and num- 
 bering twelve hundred warriors,^ as brave as the Mohawks.^ 
 Other authors have assigned a kindlier motive for the 
 transplantation, viz : the discovery, by the Five Illations, of 
 the marked similarity of the Tuscarora language to their 
 own — there being no labials in either. Hence they con- 
 cluded that the latter either were, or of right ought to have 
 been, members of their own great family. Hence, also, 
 probably, Bancroft speaks of the Mohawks as theu" brothers. 
 The Senecas were the fifth nation of the original con- 
 federacy — their duty being to keep the western door of 
 the long house, as the territory occupied by their 
 principal range of towns was called. The Mohawks 
 guarded the eastern door, at Ska'-neh-ta'-de.^ Whenever, 
 
 1 Smith's History of New-York^ sanctioned by the Historical discourse of 
 DeWitt Clinton. 
 
 ^Bancroft's United States, vol, iii, p. 245. 
 
 3 The present site of Albany. The meaning of the term, literally, is 
 Beyond-the-pine-plains." Morgan paraphrases it "beyond the open- 
 
Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 107 
 
 '> 
 
 at either door of the long house, other nations, or their 
 ambassadors, knocked npon business, the first duty of the 
 nation keeping the door was to ascertain its character and 
 importance. If not of great moment, the council of the 
 separate nation attended to it. But whenever the subject 
 matter presented from without was of interest to the whole 
 confederacy, or of sufficient weight to require the consid- 
 eration of the united council, the messengers charged with 
 it were sent forward to the Onondaga valley, where the 
 grand council fire was kindled, and it was discussed by the 
 national congress. The Mohawk nation was the first in 
 rank of the confederacy, and to it appertained the office of 
 principal war-chief. To the Onondagas, in like manner 
 — the nation whose peculiar province it was to guard the 
 council fire — appertained the office of principal civil chief, 
 or chief sachem. Still numerically considered, for a long 
 time past, and perhaps always, the Senecas were by far the 
 most powerful of the confederacy. 
 
 The questions as to the origin of the Seneca Indians, 
 the entire confederacy to which they belonged, and the 
 length of time they had been in the occupancy of" the 
 long house," when first visited by the white man, are all 
 involved in darkness, too deep, probably, for human pene- 
 tration. According to the early French historians and 
 tourists of America — among whom Charlevoix is probably 
 the best authority — the Iroquois were occupying the 
 country along the St. Lawrence, in the neighborhood of 
 Hochelaga, at the time of the discovery of Canada by 
 Jacques Cartier. When Carder went to Hochelaga, now 
 
 ings." These plains are those between Schenectady and Albany — 
 separating the Mohawk valley from that of the Hudson. By some mistake, 
 the name was erroneously bestowed by the whites upon the Indian town 
 of Con-nugh-harie-gugh-harie , literally A-great-multitude-collected-together. 
 Standing at their castles, and looking toward the east Ska^-neh-ta''-de, (now 
 Albany), was Beyond-the-pine-plains to the Mohawk. 
 
108 The Life and Times of 
 
 Montreal, in 1535, he discovered a town of the Huron-Iro- 
 quois, containing about fifty huts. Cartier landed about 
 six miles from the town, to which the way was well beaten 
 and frequented. It was situated in the midst of large 
 fields of Indian corn, and must even then have been a 
 considerable place, and the metropolis of the neighboring 
 country. It was encompassed by palisades, or trunks of 
 trees set in a triple row. The outer and inner ranges 
 inclined till they met and crossed near the summit, while 
 the upright row between them, aided by transverse braces, 
 gave to the whole an abundant strength. Within were 
 galleries for the defenders, rude ladders to mount them, 
 and magazines of stones to throw down on the heads of 
 the assailants."^ A single entrance was secured with piles 
 and stakes ; and every precaution adopted against sudden 
 attack or siege. The town consisted of about fifty oblong 
 houses, each Mty feet in length by twelve or fifteen in 
 breadth, built of wood and covered with bark, " well and 
 cunningly joined together." Each house contained small 
 chambers, built round an open court in the centre, in which 
 many fires were kindled. The inhabitants were devoted to 
 husbandry and fishing, and the lands of the island were 
 well cultivated to the base of the mountain, three miles 
 from the present city of Montreal.^ In a word, according 
 
 ^ Parkman. 
 
 2 The following graphic and picturesque description of Cartier's visit 
 to Montreal is taken from Parkman's charmingly told story, The Pioneers 
 of France in the New World, p. 98, 188. 
 
 *' Slowly gliding in their way, by walls of verdure, brightened in the 
 autumnal sun, they saw forests festooned with grape-vines, and waters 
 alive with wild fowl ; they heard the song of the black bird, the thrush, 
 and, as they fondly thought, the nightingale. The galleon grounded ; they 
 left her, and advancing with the boats alone, on the second of October, 
 neared the goal of their hopes, the mysterious Hochelaga. * * -x- 
 At dawn of day, marshaled and accoutered, they set forth for Hochelaga. 
 An Indian path led them through the forest which covered the site of Mont- 
 real. The morning air was chill and sharp, the leaves were changing hue, and 
 
Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 109 
 
 to the history of Cartier'e voyage, the Indians of Hochelaga 
 were more than usually civilized, for barbarians, and greatly 
 in advance of the Iroquois a century afterward. It has 
 also been held that the war in which the Iroquois were 
 engaged with the Adirondacks,^ a powerful division of the 
 Algonquins — at the time when Champlain ascended the 
 St. Lawrence, in 1603, was the same in which they con- 
 quered the territory of the Mohawk valley, and that 
 lying south of lake Ontario, in the possession of which 
 they were found by the Dutch and English. Such is, 
 moreover, the received opinion of various writers, Euro- 
 pean and American, who have glanced superficially at this 
 question. 
 
 But this supposition, though entertained by Governor 
 Golden, and afterwards by Governor Clinton, is beyond 
 doubt erroneous.^ At the time of Cartier's discovery the 
 five Huron nations occupied Stadacone, (Quebec) and 
 
 beneath tlie oaks the ground was thickly strewn with acorns. They soon 
 met an Indian chief with a party of tribesmen, or, as the old narrative has 
 it ' one of the principal lords of the said city,' attended with a numerous 
 retinue. Greeting them after the concise courtesy of the forest, he led 
 them to a fire kindled by the side of the path for their comfort and refresh- 
 ment, seated them on the earth, and made them a long harangue, receiv- 
 ing in requital of his eloquence, two hatchets, two knives, and a crucifix, 
 the last of which he was invited to kiss. This done, they resumed their 
 march, and presently issued forth upon open fields, covered far and near 
 with the ripened maize, its leaves rustling, its yellow grains gleaming 
 between the parting husks. Before them, wrapped in forests painted by the 
 early frosts, rose the ridgy back of the mountain of Montreal, and, below^ 
 encompassed with its cornfields lay the Indian town." 
 
 1 Several of the old French writers speak of the word Adirondack, signi- 
 fying Manjeurs d'Arbres, as a nickname given to the wandering portions of 
 the Algonquin family. — iV. T- Col. Boc, v, 791; also, Hist. Magazine, 
 V, 253. 
 
 2Colden's statements must generally be received with great caution. 
 Not only was his History of the Five Nations written to subserve a political 
 purpose, but he stole, and stole very carelessly, from La Pothbrie, who in 
 turn borrowed with little acknowledgment from Nicolas Perrot. 
 
110 The Life and Times of 
 
 the country of St. Lawrence and tlie Ottawa. A most 
 powerful clan of that people then lived, chiefly, upon the 
 Ottawa ; and it is more than probable that those were the 
 occupants of Hochelaga. Seventy years later no trace 
 remained of Stadacone, and the town at Hochelaga, de- 
 scribed by Cartier, had dwindled into insignificance at the 
 time of Champlain's visit, having probably been destroyed 
 by the Iroquois — a body of whom were met by Champlain 
 in 1609 while voyaging upon the lake, since bearing his 
 name, on their way against the Hurons and Adirondacks 
 with hostile intent. Champlain was accompanied during 
 this voyage by a war party of the latter, with whom he 
 fought in alliance against the Iroquois, who were struck 
 with amazement at the reports and the execution of the 
 fire-arms used against them — engines of death which they 
 had never seen before — and defeated, of course. Five 
 years later, moreover, in 1615, that redoubtable pioneer- 
 warrior attacked a town of the Senecas, the site of which 
 was near one of the lakes of central 'New York, perhaps 
 Canandaigua. This time, however, owing to the rashness 
 of his dusky allies, the Iroquois, fighting behind their pali- 
 saded work, were the victors; and Champlain, wounded 
 and crest fallen, was fain to make a hurried retreat into the 
 country of the Hurons.^ 
 
 But, in addition to these circumstances, all the principal 
 towns and cantons of the Five ISTations gave evidence, at 
 the period of the discovery, of a much longer occupancy 
 of the territory in question than most authors have con- 
 ceded ; while according to their own traditions, ajffording 
 yet better authority, they had been in the actual possession 
 of that fair region of country for a length of time whereof 
 
 ^In connection with this discussion compare Parkman's French Pioneers in 
 the New World, 189, note 2. Also, M. Faillon's Histoire dc la Colonic Fran- 
 caise en Canada, folio 1865, vol. I, note 18. 
 
Sa-go-ye-wat-Sa, or Red Jacket. Ill 
 
 the memory of man runneth, not to the contrary.^ It is 
 true that there is a dim and shadowy tradition among some 
 of the people of the Five Nations, that they originally 
 came from the north; but they date the period of their 
 migration a long number of centuries back. Cusick, the 
 Tuscarora author — and the only Indian who has written 
 upon that subject — dates the event more than twenty-five 
 hundred years before the discovery by Columbus — as 
 correct, probably, as the Chinese chronology.^ The tradi- 
 tion of the Senecas is, that the original people of their 
 nation broke forth from the earth, from the crest of a 
 mountain at the head of Canandaigua lake. The moun- 
 tain which gave them birth is called Ge-nun-de-wah-gauh, 
 or the Great hill. Hence the Senecas are called the Great 
 hill peopk, which was their original title. The base of the 
 Genundewah mountain, as it is usually called, they believe 
 to have been encircled, when their nation was in its infancy, 
 by a huge serpent, so vast in his proportions that he was 
 enabled to coil himself entirely around the mountain. The 
 head and tail of the monster united at the gateway of the 
 path leading to and from the steep ; and few who attempted 
 either ingress or egress escaped his voracious jaws. Thus 
 environed, the people remained a long time, as it were, in 
 a state of siege; the serpent rendering their condition 
 almost insupportable, not only by his war upon their lives, 
 but by reason of his foetid and poisonous breath. At length 
 their sufierings becoming severe beyond longer endurance, 
 the Indians determined to make a sally. Arming them- 
 selves, therefore, with such weapons as they had at hand, 
 they descended the hill, but in attempting to escape the 
 gate, were all seized and swallowed by the serpent, with 
 the exception of two children, who by some means over- 
 
 1 Charlevoix; Colden^B Six Nations; Moulton's iV^ew York. 
 
 2 This tract of Cusick's is a wretchedly puerile performance 
 
112 The Life and Times of 
 
 leaped this fearful line of circumvallation, and avoided the 
 terrible fate of the body of their infant tribe. Having 
 escaped, these children were reserved for a yet higher des- 
 tiny. They were informed, by an oracle, of means by 
 which they might rid the world of the great monster so 
 inimical to their race. They were directed to form a bow 
 of a particular kind of willow, and an arrow of the same, 
 the barb of which was to be dipped in poison, and shot in 
 a direction that would allow it to penetrate the skin beneath 
 the scales. The children obeyed the divine injunction, 
 and the result was the serpent's death. No sooner had 
 the arrow penetrated the skin than he was thrown into 
 violent convulsions. Uncoiling himself from around the 
 mountain, and writhing into the most frightful convolu- 
 tions, in his agony he threw up the heads of the people he 
 had devoured, which rolled down the steep into the lake. 
 With agonizing throes the serpent himself then rolled into 
 the lake, sweeping down the timber in his course. The 
 heads of the Indians, that had been disgorged, were petri- 
 fied by the transparent waters, and are to be seen at the 
 bottom of the lake, in the shape of large round stones, to 
 this day. From the two orphans, thus preserved, and who 
 thus vanquished their terrible enemy, sprang the new race 
 of Senecas. The tradition is equally absurd and puerile ; 
 but not more so than are the legends of the aboriginals of 
 other nations, or even of the so-called civilized nations of 
 India and China. But it is cited to show that the Senecas 
 themselves have no idea of a modern occupancy of their 
 territory. And that they were sincere in entertaining the 
 tradition, may be allowed from the circumstance that the 
 Genundewah has been held sacred, as being the place of 
 their birth. For a long time past, and down to a recent 
 period, it was a place of holding their councils. It was also 
 the hallowed place of their religious services, some of 
 which were instituted in commemoration of the death of 
 
Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 113 
 
 ,tlie serpent, whicli had thus threatened the extermination 
 of their race.^ This legend is less poetical, perhaps, but it 
 is not more absurd, than the classic fable of the hydra of 
 Lerna, or the monster which, according fco ^lian, was the 
 , terror of India in the time of Alexander. The monster of 
 Genundewah did not discharge volumes of flame and 
 smoke from his mouth, like another Typhon; but the 
 effluvium of his breath was even more destructive. The 
 creduUty of the wild Senecas was no greater than that of 
 ,the polished Greeks ; and they did not fall into the ab- 
 surdity of paying divine honors to their monster, as the 
 oriental Indians did the dragon-cotemporary of Alexander. 
 Connected with this sacred mount of Genundewah, and 
 a wild precipice in its vicinity, which hangs beetling over 
 the silver Canandaigua lake, called the Lover's leap, is an 
 interesting story of love to distraction, and courage to death, 
 on the part of a young Indian beauty, which may perhaps 
 warrant a digression for its recital — more especially as the 
 American aboriginals have generally been accounted, com- 
 paratively, strangers to la belle passion. The legend is of a 
 later day than that of the serpent, but, nevertheless, 
 descends from remote tradition. During the wars of the 
 Senecas and the Algonquins of the north, a chief of the 
 latter was captured and carried to Genundewah, whereon 
 a fortification, consisting of a square without bastions, and 
 surrounded by palisades, was situated. The captive, though 
 young in years, was famed for his prowess in the forest 
 conflict, and nature had been bountiful to his person in 
 those gifts of strength and symmetry which waken savage 
 
 ' This tradition was related to the author, in November, 1838, by a Seneca 
 chief, called The Blacksmith, a relative of Red Jacket, and to whom de- 
 scended the medal given to the latter by General Washington. It is also 
 given, in substance, by Mr. Seaver, author of the Life of Mary Jemison. 
 Mr. Seaver received it from the late Captain Horatio Jones, for several 
 years a prisoner among the Senecas, and long a government agent and 
 interpreter among them. 
 
 15 
 
114 The Life and Times of 
 
 admiration. After a short debate, he was condemned to 
 die on the following day, by the slow torture of impale- 
 ment. While he was lying in the cabin of death, a 
 lodge devoted to the reception of condemned prisoners, 
 the daughter of the sachem brought him food,^ and, struck- 
 with his manly form and heroic bearing, resolved to save 
 him or share his fate. Her bold enterprise was favored 
 by the uncertain light of the gray dawn, while the solitary 
 sentinel, weary with his night-watch, and forgetful of his 
 duty, was slumbering. Stealing with noiseless tread to 
 the side of the young captive, she cut the thongs where- 
 with his limbs were bound, and besought him in breathing 
 accents to follow her. The fugitives descended the hill 
 by a wooded path conducting to the lake ; but ere they 
 reached the water, an alarm-whoop, wild and shrill, was 
 heard issuing from the lips of the waking guard. They 
 tarried not, though thorny vines and fallen timber ob- 
 structed their way. At length they reached the smooth 
 beach, and leaping into a canoe, previously provided by 
 the brave and considerate damsel, they plied the paddle 
 vigorously, steering for the opposite shore. Vain were 
 their efforts. On the wind came cries of rage, and the 
 quick tramp of savage warriors, bounding over rock and 
 glen in fierce pursuit. The Algonquin with the reckless 
 daring of a young brave, sent back a yell of defiance ; and 
 soon after the plash of oars was heard, and a dozen war 
 canoes were cutting the billows in their rear. The unfor- 
 tunate lovers, on landing, took a trail leading in a western 
 direction over the hills. The Algonquin, weakened by 
 unhealed wounds, followed his active guide up the acclivity 
 with panting heart and flagging pace ; while his enemies, 
 vnth the grim old sachem at their head, drew nearer and 
 nearer. At length, finding farther attempts at flight use- 
 
 ^ The Indians always supply their prisoners with every comfort until the 
 time for their execution arrives. 
 
Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or P.ED Jacket. 115 
 
 less, slie diverged from the trail, and conducted lier lover 
 to a table-crested rock that projected over a ravine, or gulf^ 
 one hundred and fifty-feet in depth, the bottom of which 
 was strewn with huge misshapen rocks, scattered in rude 
 confusion. Vith hearts nerved to a high resolve, the hap- 
 less pair awaited the arrival of their yelling pursuers. Con- 
 spicuous by his eagle plume, towering form, and scowling 
 brow, the daughter soon descried her inexorable sire leaping 
 from crag to crag below her. He paused abruptly when his 
 fiery eye rested on the" objects of his pursuit. I^otching 
 an arrow on the string of his tried and unerring bow, he 
 raised his sinewy arms — but ere the missile was sent, 
 Wun-nut-hay, the Beautiful, interposed her form between 
 her father and his victim. In wild appealing tones she 
 entreated her sire to spare the young chieftain, assuring 
 him that they would leap together from the precipice 
 rather than be separated. The stern old man, deaf tp her 
 supphc^tion, and disregarding her menace, ordered his 
 followers tb seize the fugitive. Warrior after warrior 
 darted up the rock, but on reaching the platform, at the 
 moment when they were grasping to clutch the young 
 brave, the lovers, locked in fond embrace, fiung them- 
 selves 
 
 " From the steep rock and perished/' 
 
 The mangled bodies were buried in the bottom of the 
 glen, beneath the shade of overhanging rocks; and two 
 small hollows, resembling sunken graves, are to this day 
 pointed out to the curious traveler, as the burial place of 
 the lovers.^ 
 
 iThis interesting legend was derived many years ago from a Seneca 
 chief of some note, named Chequered Cap, and was communicated to me by 
 W. H. C. Hosmer, Esq., of Avon, of whom more hereafter. On the top of 
 Genundewah the remains of an Indian orchard are visible — a few moss- 
 grown and wind-bowed apple-trees still linger, sa^d, but fitting emblem,s of 
 the wasted race by whom they were planted. 
 
116 The Life and Times of 
 
 But to return from tlie alluring field of romance to the 
 graver details of historical inquiry. There is yet farther, 
 if not stronger evidence to sustain the position, that the 
 Five Nations had for ages been in the possession of their 
 Long house. For example, speaking of the mounds in 
 their country, which, like many others scattered between 
 the lakes and the coast of Florida, have occasioned so 
 much of speculation and curious inquiry, some of the 
 Senecas told Mr. Kirkland, the celebrated missionary to 
 the Lidians, " that those in their territory were raised by 
 their ancestors, in their wars with the western Indians, 
 three, four, or five hundred years ago."^ Lideed it was 
 the belief of that people " that they sprang and grew up, 
 in that very place, like the trees of the wilderness." ^ Still 
 it is and must ever remain a question of doubt how long 
 the Aquanuschioni had occupied the Long house. Their 
 traditions are confused, and not in harmony with each other. 
 De Witt Clinton inclined to the opinion that they first 
 inhabited the country on the north side of the great lakes, 
 whence they had been expelled by the Adirondacks — they 
 in turn driving from the country south of the lakes a now 
 lost nation, called the Satanas ; and this hypothesis is not 
 inconsistent with the subsequent claim of the Iroquois to 
 the country west of lake Ontario, and north of lake Erie, 
 as a conquest from the Hurons, at a later day. The Hurons 
 and Wyandots, without controversy, were then driven from 
 the country of the Georgian bay to the north west, beyond 
 lake Superior — "hiding themselves in the, dreary wastes 
 that divided the Chippewas from their western foes."^ 
 They were afterward driven back by the Sioux to Detroit, 
 
 ^ Clinton's Discourse. 
 
 ^Note in Drake's Book of the Indians. 
 
 3 Bancroft. Doctor Golden pronounced the Adirondaclcs " the most war- 
 like and polite nation of all the Indians in North America." He adds — 
 ** they were almost entirely destroyed by a people they at first despised." 
 
Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 117 
 
 and subsequently removed to the northern shore of lake 
 Erie. The Indians called Satanas by the English, the 
 Chaouonons of the French, resided farther west, upon the 
 Mississippi. Brant, in a letter to Colonel Timothy Picker- 
 ing, says the country south of Buffalo creek and lake Erie 
 " was obtained by the joint exertions of the Five Nations, 
 in a war with a powerful nation of Indians called Eries, 
 and another nation then living at Tioga point ; so that, by 
 our successes, all the country between that and the Missis- 
 sippi became the joint property of the Five !N'ations. All 
 other nations now inhabiting this great tract of country 
 were allowed to settle by the Five ligations." ^ 
 
 There is yet another tradition, that the Five Illations 
 came originally from the remote west. But, so far as is 
 known, there is no language in that vast region assimi- 
 lating to theirs, while the languages of the Indians east of 
 the Hudson river were evidently from the same root as the 
 different dialects of the great Delaware family, who are 
 allowed to have come from that direction. The tradition, 
 imputed by some writers to the Senecas, that they were 
 once occupants of the territory of the Creeks, at the south, 
 is not worthy of consideration. 
 
 While, however, the exact length of time in which they 
 had been in the occupancy of the Long house is wrap- 
 ped in the mists of uncertain tradition, yet it is believed 
 that the time and circumstances under which the league 
 itself was made, can be arrived at with more certainty. 
 The tradition of the old men of the Onondagas on the subject, 
 and in which they all agree with wonderful uniformity, is 
 as follows: The league was formed at a period about the 
 length of one man's life before the settlement of Quebec. 
 Previous to that time the Five ' iN'ations were bound to- 
 
 ^ Manuscript letter from Joseph Brant — Thayendanegea — to Colonel 
 Pickering, dated 30th December, 1794, in the author's possession. 
 
118 The Life and Times of 
 
 gether by no common tie, and althougli they were generally 
 on amicable terms, yet differences often arose, which termi- 
 nated in bloodshed. At this point an Onondaga warrior, 
 whose name was Da-ga-no-we'-da, observing that the Five 
 J^ations had radically the same language, and were probably 
 descended from a common origin, and, also, that in conse- 
 quence of contending singly against their enemies they were 
 often defeated, conceived the plan of a permanent union 
 among the several tribes, so as the more effectually to defend 
 themselves, and to wage offensive war. He, accordingly, 
 proposed his plan to the principal chief of the Onondagas, 
 a man of great influence and reputation as a warrior, but of 
 a jealous and imperious temper. The latter viewed the 
 communication with displeasure, and forbade Daganoweda 
 to speak or act further in the matter, as it was a subject 
 belonging to warriors more distinguished, and councillors 
 wiser than he. The young warrior was not, however, to 
 be deterred, and dissembling to avoid suspicion, bided his 
 time. The opportunity soon came, and under the pretext 
 of going on a hunting excursion, he went first to the Mo- 
 hawks and Senecas, and upon consultation with their prin- 
 cipal men found them favorably disposed. He then re- 
 turned home, and again under the same pretext, visited 
 the Oneidas and Cayugas, with the same result. Returning 
 home he once more sounded his chief upon the subject, and 
 wrought upon him by saying that if he would invite dele- 
 gates from the other tribes to confer together, and the plan 
 should be adopted, it would add greater luster than ever to 
 his reputation. The consequence of this last appeal was 
 that the chief gave the invitations, and the delegates met at 
 Onondaga. Each tribe had one delegate except the Senecas , 
 who had two, for the reason that they were the most nu- 
 merous tribe. The plan of the confederacy was settled at 
 this council, and was afterwards adopted by the several tribes 
 in council assembled. The spot which tradition has marked 
 
Sa-gO-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 119 
 
 as tlie place where the delegates assembled, is on the east 
 hank of the Onondaga creek, on the road to Syracuse, about 
 one hundred rods north of the old tilrnpike, running through 
 the village of Onondaga Hollow.^ The Onondagas, having 
 originated the league,, were called The' Fathers of the 
 Confederacy ; the Mohawks, having been consulted, and hav- 
 ing first given their consent, were called. The Eldest Bro- 
 ther ; while, for a similar reason, the Cayugas were 
 known as The Youngest Brother, having given their 
 assent last; the Senecas were The Watchmen, being located 
 nearest their most powerful enemies from the west — pro- 
 bably the Hurons ; and the Oneidas assumed the name of 
 The Heads, for a reason not quite cl ear.^ The great councils 
 were to be always held at Onondaga ; and then and there 
 was planted the great tree whose roots were supposed to 
 penetrate, and whose shade covered the whole country of 
 the confederates.^ "Wlien the league was first organized, 
 fifty sachemships were created^ each having a distinc*t name* 
 as an official designation. These titles, moreover, were 
 hereditary; and whenever a sachem died, his successor was 
 installed into office, and took the name of the deceased 
 delegates from at least one other tribe being required to 
 be present and assist at the ceremony.^ 
 
 1 The exact spot, so near as can be ascertained, is the site of the house 
 formerly occupied by Mathew M. Jackson — an old settler, and an old 
 house yet well remembered. 
 
 2 There is to be found a confirmation of this account of the origin of 
 the league in the speech of Farmer's Brother in 1792 to Colonel Pickens, in 
 which he speaks of "an elder Brother the Mohawk,''^ — also in the Life of 
 Brant at pages 402 and 408 where the Onondagas speak of their children, 
 the Oneidas, as the ^' heads of the confederacy.'' This tradition also corre- 
 sponds with what is now pretty clearly established as a fact, namely, that 
 the Onondagas, Mohawks and Senecas originally constituted the league 
 before the Oneidas and Cayugas were admitted. 
 
 3 Compare Morgan's League of the Iroquois^ chapter iii. 
 
 4 This traditionary account of the origin of the league is derived from 
 Ephriam Webster — a person always considered perfectly truthful -and 
 
120 The Life and Times op 
 
 The question whicli now arises is, how much credit is to 
 he given to this story. To as much as most traditions are 
 entitled, — perhaps more. There is no douht but that it is 
 the tradition as handed down by the Onondagas, and proba- 
 bly conveys general iniih, although, perhaps, blended some- 
 what with fiction. It is not at all unreasonable in itself; for 
 the state of things described, is such as most naturally might 
 
 reliable — who related it to Asher Tyler Esq., by whom it was in turn 
 told to the author. That the reader may judge for himself as to how 
 much respect his testimony is entitled, a brief outline of his life is here 
 given. At the close of the revolutionary war, Mr. . Webster went 
 as a trader, first, among the Oneidas, remaining with them some little 
 time, until he had acquired a knowledge of their language. He then 
 removed into the country of the Onondagas and opened a trading establish- 
 ment on the spot where the village of Salina now stands. At this time 
 the Onondagas were yet smarting under the chastisement inflicted by Van 
 Schaick in his expedition against their villages ; and on one occasion he 
 narrowly escaped with his life from some Indians who insisted that they 
 had seen him among Van Schaick's troops at the time of his invasion. 
 He did not long remian a trader, but soon joined the Indians ; was form- 
 ally adopted into the tribe ; married an Indian wife ; and, for the time, 
 became an Indian in all his tastes, habits, and pursuits. He lived in this 
 way until the white settlers began to occupy the country, when he 
 returned to civilized life — the Indians upon his leaving them, making him 
 a present of a square mile of land in the Onondaga valley — a grant that 
 was subsequently confirmed by the legislature. Upon returning to civilized 
 society he married a white wife ; was always esteemed a highly reputa- 
 ble man ; and although of limited education, yet was observing, sensible 
 and sagacious. In the last war with England, he accompanied the Onon- 
 dagas to the frontier, and was in the battle of Chippewa — not holding 
 any command but acting as an interpreter. He continued to act as inter- 
 preter until his decease, which occurred in the year 1823, at Tonnewanta, 
 while on business with the Indians at that place. Webster was intimately 
 acquainted with many of the chiefs and warriors among the Six Nations 
 who were active during the French war, at a time when the confederacy 
 existed in full force, with all its forms and traditions undimmed. " I well 
 remember," writes Mr. Tyler to the author, "Webster's account of the 
 invasion by Frontenac in 1692, as derived from the Indians ; and on 
 reading Bancroft's account of the same event, I was forcibly struck with 
 their general agreement. This shows that in one case, at least, history and 
 tradition coincide.'' Mr. Tyler further adds, " Mr. Webster was a man 
 of strict integrity and veracity, and of sound judgment and understand- 
 ing." 
 
Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 121 
 
 and did exist, wMle the remedy that was applied was cer- 
 tainlyian obvious one. This incidental discussion, therefore, 
 respecting the origin of the confederacy, and the length of 
 time in which they had been in the occupancy of what they 
 figuratively called their Long house, has, so far as actual 
 certainty goes, necessarily left the question in as much 
 obscurity as it was before, save that it is believed to have 
 been pretty clearly shown, that they were by no means re- 
 cent occupants of their territory, at the time when the white 
 men first came among them. 
 
 16 
 
[122] 
 
 CHAPTER n. 
 
 Nativity of Sa-go-ye-wat-ha — Origin of the name, Red Jacket — Serves with 
 the Indians against the United States — Charges of treachery and cow- 
 ardice — Hatred of Brant — Called The Cow-Killer — Cornplanter — 
 Treaty of 1784, at Fort Stanwix — Views of Washington — Course of Red 
 Jacket and Cornplanter there — the former opposing the treaty, and the 
 latter effecting it — Dissatisfaction of the Indians at the result — Corn- 
 planter attempts to reconcile them — His failure — Appeals to General 
 Washington — Claims of Massachusetts to Western New York — Massa- 
 chusetts acquires the preemption title — Sells a part to Phelps and 
 Gorham — Stupendous scheme for dismembering New York — The plot 
 crushed by Governor George Clinton and the legislature — Inklings of 
 Red Jacket's duplicity — 1750-1788. 
 
 The Seneca chief, Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or He-keeps-them- 
 awake, has, by some writers upon Indian history, been 
 designated as The Last of the Senecas, and perhaps with 
 figurative justice. He had several able contemporaries, 
 names not unknown to fame, among whom were Farmer's 
 Brother and the Cornplanter. But these chiefs were older 
 than himself, and distinguished rather as warriors than as 
 orators; while Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, whose eloquence was the 
 glory of his people, has left no one behind who can fill his 
 place at the council-fire. The orator " owed nothing to 
 the advantages of illustrious descent."^ On the contrary, 
 his parentage was humble, even in the estimate of his owoi 
 people, among whom the democratic principle of positive 
 equality is as nearly approximated, perhaps, as in any 
 other country in the universe. He is believed to have 
 been born about the year 1750, at a place called Old Cas- 
 tle, three miles west of the present beautiful and flourishing 
 
 1 De Witt Clinton's Historical Discourse. 
 
1794. SA-ao-YE-wAT-HA, OR Red Jacket. 123 
 
 town of Greneva, at the foot of Seneca lake.^ Of his early- 
 history little is known beyond the fact asserted by tradi- 
 tion, that he was remarkably swift upon the chase, and 
 from his fleetness was often employed as a messenger, first 
 among his own people, and afterward, during the war of 
 the American revolution, as a runner for the British officers 
 engaged in the border service. His name of Red Jacket, by 
 which he was so long familiarly known among the white 
 people, is said to have been acquired in the following 
 manner : During the war just mentioned, his activity and 
 . intelligence attracted the attention of several officers in the 
 service of the British crown, and acquired for him their 
 friendship. One of them, either as a compliment, or for 
 services rendered, " presented him with a richly embroi- 
 dered scarlet jacket, which he took great pride in wearing. 
 When this was worn out, he was presented with another ; 
 and he continued to wear this peculiar dress until it became 
 a mark of distinction, and gave him the name by which 
 he was afterward best known." ^ At the treaty of 1794, 
 held at Canandaigua, Captain Parish, one of the inter- 
 preters in the service of the United States, gave him 
 another red jacket, " to perpetuate the name to which he 
 was so much attached." ^ 
 
 The most authentic information that has been obtained 
 respecting his earlier career presents him in the outset of his 
 slender military service, in a very unfavorable attitude. It 
 was while he was upon the war-path, during the invasion 
 of the Genesee country by General Sullivan, in 1779. 
 
 The author of the spirited sketch of his life just quoted 
 speaks of the " activity and intelligence " by which he dis- 
 tinguished himself in that war, " though he had scarcely 
 
 1 Sketch of Red Jacket, written by the Rev. John Breckenridge, D. B., 
 for M'Kenney's Indian Biography. 
 
 2 Idem. 
 ^ Idem. 
 
124 The Life and Times op 1779. 
 
 reached the age of manhood when he engaged in it." But 
 the writer, soon afterward, observes, with greater justice — 
 " in that contest he took little or no part as a warrior; and 
 it would appear that like his celebrated predecessors in 
 rhetorical fame, Demosthenes and Cicero, he better under- 
 stood how to rouse his countrymen to war than to lead thena 
 to victory."^ It is well known to those who are accurately 
 versed in the Indian history ofthe last half century, that the 
 celebrated Mohawk leader of the Six iN'ations, Thayen- 
 danegea, more commonly known as Joseph Brant, ever 
 regarded the Seneca orator with mingled feelings of hatred 
 and contempt. The Mohawk chief was wont to charge him 
 with conduct perfectly in keeping with the classical parallel 
 indicated by Dr. Breckenridge. According to the state- 
 ments of Brant and others — made, too, with inconvenient 
 directness in the presence of Eed Jacket himself — the lat- 
 ter had been known to exert his eloquence to enkindle a 
 war-spirit in the bosoms ofthe braves of his nation, and pro- 
 voke them to take up the hatchet, while he ingeniously 
 avoided the war-path, and availed himself of the absence of 
 the warriors, thus procured, to plunder the goods, and even 
 live stock, wherever he could — not caring to discriminate 
 between the property of an enemy and that ofthe absentees 
 of his own people. Hence the name of Cow-Killer, be- 
 stowed upon him by Joseph Brant, in a letter to the Duke 
 of ISTorthumberland, written in 1805.^ 
 
 ' Sketch by Rev. Dr. Breckenridge. Cicero, it is true, gave evidences of 
 irresolution, if not timidity, in the struggles between Caesar and the repub- 
 lic ; and Demosthenes was accused of having been corrupted by the presents 
 of Alexander. Thus far, between both the ancient orators and the Seneca, 
 it will appear that there is a seeming parallel. Of the former two, coward- 
 ice was predicated of the one, and treachery of the other. The Seneca, as 
 will be seen,has been charged with both. 
 
 2 Life of Brant, vol. ii. p. 417. " Red Jacket was, from the following cir- 
 cumstance, nick-named The Cow Killer : During the revolutionary war, he 
 had on some occasion exhorted his followers to behave with courage in an en- 
 
1779. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 125 
 
 But tlie origin of the Mohawk chieftain's enmity is to 
 be traced to a more remote and still more aggravated cause, 
 while, as will hereafter appear, there were transactions on 
 the part of E-ed Jacket of deep personal concern to Brant, 
 which added to the bitterness of his hatred. During the 
 campaign of General SulHvan, already referred to, in which 
 the Americans, like a stream of fire, swept through the 
 fine country then inhabited by the Cayugas and Senecas, and 
 now forming the western portion of the state of ISTew York, 
 the Mohawk chief was the leader, and the master-spirit, of 
 the Indian forces. The battle of N'ewtown, so disastrous 
 to the Indians, the tories, and other more regular troops in 
 the British service, left Captain Brant no choice but either 
 to abandon the whole country at once, or adopt the Fabian 
 system, and harass the American army by counter-marches 
 and ambuscades. But the Mohawk was not a man to fly 
 while a blow could be struck, and the latter alternative was 
 adopted ; with, at times, no inconsiderable degree of success. 
 Yet, on the whole, the campaign of Sullivan resulted in the 
 sad discomfiture of the Indians ; and it was in after life 
 urged by Brant, that the conduct of Red Jacket had not 
 only caused him much trouble and embarrassment during 
 that invasion, but had been the principal cause of the dis- 
 asters of his people. Sargo-ye-wat-ha was then twenty-nine 
 years old, and although it does not appear that he had yet 
 been created a chief, he nevertheless seems to have been al- 
 ready a man of influence. He was in the practice of holding 
 
 gagement expected to take place, promising that he would himself be found 
 in the hottest of the fight. But when the engagement came on, Red Jacket 
 was missing, and was found, during the battle, cutting up a cow, belonging 
 to an Indian, which he had killed. One day, when dining at my house 
 with Captain Brant, Cornplanter told the story as if the act had been com- 
 mitted by some other Indian. He and Brant laughed exceedingly at the 
 anecdote, and at Red Jacket's confusion. The latter attempted to join in 
 the laugh, but was evidently very much embarrassed." — Letter to the 
 author from Thomas Morris. 
 
126 The Life and Times of 1779. 
 
 private consultations with the young warriors, and some of 
 the younger and less resolute chiefs, for the pui'pose of fo- 
 menting discontents, and persuading them to sue for what 
 Brant considered ignominious terms of peace. On one oc- 
 casion, as Brant had alleged, Red Jacket had so far suc- 
 ceeded in his treachery as to induce some of the disaffected 
 chiefs to send a runner into Sulh van's camp, to make known 
 the dissentions he himself had awakened, and invite a flag of 
 truce, with propositions of peace to the Indians. But the 
 eagle eye of the Mohawk penetrated the conspiracy. Still 
 his own position was too precarious to allow the exercise of 
 force in crushing it. Watching every movement, therefore, 
 he despatched two confidential warriors to intercept the 
 American flag, possess themselves of the bearer's despatches, 
 and put him to death. This bloody but neccessary com- 
 mission was executed with true Indian adriotness, and the 
 purposes of Eed Jacket were for that time frustrated.^ 
 
 The charge of positive cowardice, during the same 
 campaign, rests upon the testimony of another — the brave 
 and war-like Cornplanter, a chief of the same nation. It 
 had been the intention of this chief to make a stand 
 against a detachment of General Sullivan's forces, on the 
 beach of the Canandaigua lake — the Indian village at 
 that place having been a rerj considerable town. But " on 
 the approach of the Americans, a small number of Indians, 
 among whom was Red Jacket, began to retreat. Corn- 
 planter exerted himself to rally them. He sprang in front 
 of Red Jacket, and endeavored to persuade him to fight, 
 but in vain. Whereupon the indignant chief, turning 
 to the young wife of the recreant warrior, exclaimed, 
 *^ Leave that man — he is a coward I"^ 
 
 The name of Red Jacket occurs not again in history, 
 
 1 Life of Brant, vol. ii, . 35. 
 
 2 Rev. Dr. John Breckenridgc. 
 
1783. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 127 
 
 written or unwritten, until in connexion with the great 
 Indian Treaty held at J'ort Stanwix, in the year 1784.^ 
 It redounds little to the credit of the British ministry of 
 1782-83, that in the treaty of peace with the United 
 States, by which the independence of the latter was con- 
 ceded to the fullest extent, no stipulation was inserted in 
 behalf of the red allies of the crown. Four of the Six 
 Nations, viz., the Mohawks, Onondagas, Cayugas, and 
 Senecas, had adhered to the royal cause with the utmost 
 constancy and with perfect fidelity. They had all poured 
 out their blood like water ; their country had been ravaged 
 by fire and sword, and the Mohawks had been entirely 
 driven from their own peculiar and beautiful region ; and 
 yet not the slightest provision was interposed in their 
 behalf by those whom they had served so bravely and so 
 long. 
 
 But although the hatchet was not formally buried, its 
 use was suspended by the treaty of 1783, and no farther 
 acts of hostility were perpetrated by the Six I^ations. 
 Still, smarting as were the borderers of J^ew York from 
 the cruelties of the Indians, the legislature of that state 
 began to agitate the question of an entire expulsion of the 
 race from beyond its remotest western confines, and the 
 confiscation of their lands. The humane feelings of 
 General "Washington revolted against so harsh a measure, 
 as also did those of General Schuyler. The best relations 
 had ever subsisted between the Dutch and the Six jNTations, 
 and likewise, for the most part, between the latter and the 
 
 * Fort Stanwix from its central position seems to have been a favorite 
 place for holding Indian treaties. In 1768, the celebrated treaty was held 
 there between the crown of Great Britain and the Six Nations, at which 
 time Sir William Johnson, on behalf of the crown, obtained by pur- 
 chase the title to Kentucky, Western Virginia, and Pennsylvania. For a 
 full account of this treaty see the Life mi Times of Sir William Johnson^ vol. i» 
 chapter 16, 
 
128 The Life and Times of 1784. 
 
 English colonists;^ and it was held "by Washington and 
 Schuyler, and others whose opinions were entitled to con- 
 sideration, that the Indians who had been deluded into the 
 service of the crown during the late struggle should be 
 conciliated, if not won back to the interests of the United 
 States, by humane and liberal treatment. In the opinion 
 of Washington, their expulsion by force would inevitably 
 involve the young republic in another general Indian war : 
 whereas, were they treated with that degree of kindness 
 and benevolence which the United States could then so 
 well afford to extend to them, and which would be so 
 creditable to the character of the confederation, their 
 country might from time to time be obtained by negotia- 
 tion as fast as it would be wanted for settlement by the 
 whites, and at much less cost than it could be acquired for 
 by conquest. Happily these principles prevailed, and a 
 grand council was held by the chiefs of the Six ISTations at 
 Fort Stanwix, in the autumn of 1784, which was attended 
 by Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, on 
 the part of the United States, and at which a treaty of 
 peace was negotiated. The journals of this council have 
 been lost, and nothing remains but the naked treaty, by 
 the provisions of which the Six iTations were received 
 under the protection of the United States, and secured in 
 the possession of all the tracts of country within the 
 boundaries of New York, of which they were then the 
 occupants. 
 
 This treaty was not signed by the chiefs in attendance 
 upon the council, as is the usual practice, but by the 
 names and arms of the nations represented, comprising 
 the whole six of the Iroquois confederacy. There is, there- 
 fore, no catalogue extant of the sachems and chiefs present 
 at the council ; but from other and subsequent passages of 
 
 Jjife and Times of Sir William Johnson 
 
1784. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 1.29 
 
 Indian history, it has been rendered certain that among 
 the more prominent of the Indian leaders on that occa- 
 sion — the most influential and the most eloquent — were 
 the Cornplanter and E-ed Jacket. At what time the latter 
 had been elevated to the dignity of chieftainship is not 
 known. The means employed to obtain the rank are less 
 uncertain. His conduct upon the war-path could not, by 
 possibility, have purchased for him the favor of his people, 
 for that conduct had been most emphatically stamped, both 
 with treachery and cowardice — the latter imperfection 
 being ever an unpardonable offence among warriors of all 
 nations, with whatever leniency the former may perhaps 
 be looked upon by Indians. But the Six J^ations, above 
 all others of the American aboriginals, were lovers of elo- 
 quence, and cultivators of the art.^ Red Jacket's intel- 
 lectual powers were of a high order, and he was an orator 
 by nature.^ He was, moreover, as artful and ambitious as 
 he was eloquent. Aspiring to the rank of a chief, he not 
 only wrought upon the minds of his people by the exertion 
 of that faculty which was ever with them a high standard 
 of merit, but he succeeded in availing himself of the super- 
 stitious constitution of his race, to effect his purpose. " His 
 first essay was to dream that he was, or should be, a chief, 
 and that the Great Spirit was angry that his nation had 
 not advanced him to that dignity. This dream, with the 
 
 1 *' The most remarkable difference existed between the confederates 
 [Six Nations,] and the other Indians, with respect to eloquence. You 
 may search in vain in the records and writings of the past, or in the events 
 of the present times, for a single model of eloquence among the Algonquins, 
 the Dela wares, the Shawanese, or any other nation of Indians, except the 
 Iroquois. The few scintillations of intellectual light, the faint glimmerings 
 of genius which are sometimes to be found in their speeches, are evidently 
 derivative, and borrowed from the confederates." — De Witt Clinton. 
 
 2 General Erastus Root once remarked to the author, that he considered 
 John Randolph and Red Jacket tUe two most perfect orators whom he had 
 ever heard. 
 
 17 
 
130 The Life and Times of 1786. 
 
 necessary variations, was repeated, until, fortunately for 
 him, the small-pox broke out among the Seneeas. He 
 then proclaimed the loathsome infliction a judgment sent 
 by the G-reat Spirit, to punish them for their ingratitude to 
 him. The consequence, ultimately, was, that by adminis- 
 tering flattery to some, working upon the superstitious 
 fears of others, and by awakening the admiration of all by 
 his eloquence, he reached the goal of his ambition.''^ 
 Hence his appearance in the council at Fort Stanwix, in 
 company with the same brave chief by whom he had been 
 so bitterly reproached for his cowardice, on the margin of 
 Canandaigua lake, -Qye years before. 
 
 Kor is it the least singular circumstance in this portion 
 of his history, that he was the sturdy opponent of Corn- 
 planter in the debates of the council, and although so 
 utterly unfitted, by the absence of physical courage, for 
 war himself, he was nevertheless opposed to peace — at 
 least on the basis upon which it was granted. It appears 
 from the proceedings of a great Indian council held at the 
 mouth of the Detroit river, in 1786, two years after the 
 treaty of Fort Stanwix, that the council at the latter 
 place — the chiefs especially, who, with their nations, had 
 been engaged on the side of Great Britain, in the struggle 
 then recent — were, for the most part, opposed to the con- 
 clusion of any treaty which did not include the Hurons, 
 Ottawas, Shawanese, Chippewas, Delawares, Pottawatta- 
 mies, and the "Wabash confederates, as well as the Six 
 ITations, and cover the entire question of boundaries for 
 the whole.^ They desired that these several nations might 
 be invited to join the council, that the pacification might 
 include all who had borne a part hostile to the United 
 States in the war. Red Jacket was strenuous upon this 
 point; contending, with great vehemence, that, unless it 
 
 1 Life of Brant. 
 
1786. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 131 
 
 were conceded — no matter for the withdrawal of G-reat 
 Britain from the contest — the Indians ought to make 
 common cause, and prosecute the war on their own ac- 
 count. His speech was characterized, by those who heard 
 it, as a masterpiece of oratory, and it has been declared 
 that every warrior present was carried away by his elo- 
 quence.^ But the commissioners would listen to no such 
 proposition; and the Cornplanter, who was an old and 
 wise man, though less eloquent than his junior associate, 
 ultimately succeeded in giving a favorable turn to the 
 negociation. Cornplanter was a warrior of unquestionable 
 bravery. His trail had been bloody ; and he therefore, at 
 that time, stood high in the confidence of his people, and 
 of course exerted a corresponding influence. He saw how 
 utterly hopeless must be a contest between the Indians, 
 single-handed, and the United States, and he ultimately 
 succeeded in effecting a pacification — surrendering, by 
 necessity, a large portion of the Indian territory within the 
 state of 'Hew York, but yet retaining ample ranges of the 
 forest for his own people. But although the result of the 
 negotiation was more favorable to the Six Nations than 
 they had any just right to expect, it nevertheless gave great 
 dissatisfaction to the Indians generally ; and several years 
 elapsed before the Senecas became reconciled to it. 
 
 After the conclusion of the treaty, the commissioners 
 engaged Cornplanter to make special endeavors to pacify 
 his people, the Senecas and others ; as a compensation for 
 which exertions a special grant of land was made to him 
 on the Alleghany river, within the state of Pennsylvania, 
 on which he resided until his death. But his people were 
 not easily reconciled ; and they were yet more exasperated 
 at the conduct of Cornplanter, when, ^ve years afterward, 
 
 1 General Lafayette, who was present at the treaty of Fort Stanwix. 
 Vide Levasseur's account of the general's interview with Red Jacket, at 
 Buffalo, in 1825. 
 
132 The Life and Times of 1786. 
 
 at the treaty of Fort Harmar, he gave up a still larger por- 
 tion of their territory. He was bitterly reproached for this 
 transaction; but, as in the treaty of Fort Stanwix, his 
 motives were beyond impeachment. His life was even 
 threatened^ — a circumstance to which he referred in the 
 pathetic speech delivered by him to "the Great Counsellor 
 of the Thirteen Fires," ^ at Philadelphia, in 1790 : 
 
 Father, we will not conceal from you that the Great Grod, and not 
 man, has preserved the Cornplanter from the hands of his own people. 
 
 The speech here cited is a long and moving appeal to 
 the Thirteen Fires, to reconsider their treaties and other 
 proceedings with the Indians, and especially for a redress 
 of alleged grievances, connected with the purchase of a 
 large portion of their lands in Western 'New York, by 
 Oliver Phelps and ISTathaniel Gorham. In regard to the. 
 treaty of Fort Stanwix, the history of which is eloquently 
 reviewed in the speech, the Cornplanter declares that its 
 concessions were yielded only to force. 
 
 You then told us that we were in your hand, and that by closing 
 it you could crush us to nothing, and you demanded from us a 
 a great country as the price of that peace you had offered us — as 
 if our want of strength had destroyed our rights. Our chiefs had 
 felt your power, and were unable to contend against you, and they 
 therefore gave up that country. There were but few chiefs pre- 
 sent, and they were compelled to give it up ; and it is not the Six 
 Nations only that reproach us for having given up that country. 
 The Chippewas, and all the nations which lived on those lands 
 westward, call to us, and ask us, " Brothers of our fathers ! Where 
 is the place which you have reserved for us to lie down upon ? " 
 What they agreed to has bound our nation , but your anger against 
 us must, by this time, be cooled, and though our strength has not 
 increased, nor your power become less, we ask you to consider 
 
 ^Drake's Book of the Indiana. 
 '-» Washington. 
 
1786. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 133 
 
 calmly, were tlie terms dictated to us by your commissioners rea- 
 sonable and just ? ^ 
 
 It is evident from the whole strain of this remarkable 
 speech, that Cornplanter was harassed by the murmurs 
 of his own people, and himself grieved at their condition. 
 And it will be seen in the sequel, that the crafty Sa^go-ye- 
 wat-ha afterward availed himself of the position he had 
 himself occupied at Fort Stanwix, to advance his own 
 ambitious views at the expense of his more ingenuous 
 superior.^ Still, it must in justice be conceded to the ora- 
 tor, that the treaty of peace having been concluded, he 
 ever after maintained it with the most unwavering fidelity. 
 
 The names of Oliver Phelps and JSTathaniel Grorham 
 have been incidentally mentioned a few sentences back, in 
 connection with the griefs which Cornplanter was pouring 
 into the ears of his Great Father, the Counsellors of the 
 Thirteen Fires ; and the name of E-ed Jacket appearing in 
 the same connexion, a few words of explanation seem to 
 be required. It is well known that in consequence of the 
 loose and indefinite manner in which patents had been 
 granted by the crown, in the earlier history of the colonies, 
 to vast tracts and regions of lands unknown, several diffi- 
 cult questions of land titles and jurisdiction arose between 
 'New York, Connecticut, Massachusetts, and Pennsylvania. 
 In the adjustment of these difficulties, Connecticut became 
 dispossessed of a tract in the Susquehanna country, called 
 The Gore, and, on the other hand, received that portion 
 of the state of Ohio, commonly known as New Connecti- 
 cut, or The Western Reserve. Pennsylvania obtained a 
 tract of land lying immediately beyond the western bound- 
 ary of New York, and northeast of her own, embracing 
 the harbor of Presque isle, upon lake Erie, familiarly 
 
 1 Public Documents — Indian Affairs, vol. i, pp. 206, 207. 
 
 2 Life of Brant, vol, ii, p. 245. 
 
134 The Life and Times of 1786. 
 
 known as The Triangle. This was an important acquisi- 
 tion to Pennsylvania, affording the only passage, upon her 
 own territory, to lake Erie. The difficulties between ISTew 
 York and Massachusetts were more serious, and of more 
 difficult adjustment, by reason of the claim of the latter to 
 a very large portion of Western IlTew York. But an 
 amicable arrangement was effected toward the close of 
 1786, by mutual concessions. Massachusetts relinquished 
 the jurisdiction which she had attempted to claim, and JN'ew 
 York relinquished to Massachusetts the preem7:>^zi;6 right 
 (or the right of purchasing the soil from the Indians), to a 
 tract of land embracing six millions of acres, comprehending 
 what is generally known as the Genesee country, and the 
 territory beyond to lake Erie and the Pennsylvania bor- 
 der. IS'ew York thus retained her sovereignty, but lost 
 the fee of one of the finest regions of country in the new 
 world. 
 
 Pending the adjustment of these difficulties, and em- 
 boldened, probably, by the success which crowned the 
 efforts of the G-reen Mountaineers in robbing ]^ew York 
 of the territory composing the state of Vermont, a daring 
 company of speculators, residing upon the banks of the 
 Hudson, had attempted to grasp the entire country re- 
 maining to the Six IS"ations after the treaty of 1784, with a 
 view, as it was believed, of ultimately dismembering ]^ew 
 York, and creating a separate state from its western terri- 
 tory.^ The laws of ^orw York, even at that early day, 
 prohibited the purchase of any Indian lands whatever, by 
 individuals, or by companies, within the state. But Colo- 
 nel Livingston and his associates attempted to escape the 
 legal difficulties by an evasion. Instead of making a 
 purchase, they negotiated with the chiefs of the Six I^ations, 
 
 ^The gentlemen concerned in this vast project were, Jolin Livingston, 
 Caleb Benton, Peter Ryckman, John Stephenson, Ezekiel Gilbert, and 
 their associates, ot'the county of Columbia, and state of New York. 
 
1788. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 135 
 
 in the autumn of 1787, for a lease of tlieir entire territory 
 within the state of New York, exclusive of certain reserva- 
 tions, for and during the period of nine hundred and ninety - 
 nine years^ at the nominal yearly rent of two thousand 
 Spanish milled dollars, to be paid annually on the 4th day 
 of July.^ A lease of such extended duration was equiva^ 
 lent to a purchase of the fee of the land, and was so con- 
 sidered by the lessees, whose object, as it was understood, 
 was to throw a large population as rapidly as possible into 
 that territory, to form the nucleus of another independent 
 state. But the government of the state, and the people, 
 took the alarm. Remonstrances were poured in upon the 
 legislature from Hudson, Poughkeepsie, and other towns, 
 expressing the surprise and anxiety with which the remon- 
 strants had observed the movements of the association, 
 and protesting against the application making by the latter 
 to obtain the sanction of their claim by the government. 
 George Clinton, then governor of the state, was strongly 
 opposed to the transaction, and called the attention of the 
 legislature specially to the subject. Finally the hopes of 
 the company were extinguished by the law of March, 1788, 
 proposed by Egbert Benson, then in the Senate, declaring 
 the preemptive right to the lands to be vested in the state, 
 and authorizing the strongest measures of force to be used * 
 by the Executive, in the removal of all intruders from the 
 lands. ^ 
 
 Before proceeding farther with these explanations, not 
 
 ^In the same spirit, Governor Livingston and his associates attempted to 
 obtain possession of the Canajoharie lands in 1763, a design which was 
 happily frustrated by Sir Wm. Johnson. — Vide Life of Sir Wm. Johnson^ 
 vol. ii,chap. 9. 
 
 2 In order that not even the color of injustice toward the lessees might 
 remain, the legislature, five years afterward, made a grant to them of a 
 district of country, ten miles square, in the northern part of the state, and 
 subsequently they received grants of several large tracfs in the Genesee 
 country, from Phelps and Gorham. 
 
136 The Life and Times op 1788. 
 
 as foreign to the purposes of this biography as they may 
 ^eem at the present stage of the narrative, it must be noted, 
 and the fact should be remembered, that Red Jacket was a 
 party to the transaction with Colonel Livingston and his 
 associates, as also was the Cornplanter. The importance 
 of keeping the name of E,ed Jacket in close connexion with 
 this subject will presently appear. 
 
 Meantime, another feature in the great land operations 
 now under consideration must be unfolded. It has just 
 been seen that, in the year 1786, Massachusetts acquired 
 from the state of I^ew York the preemptive right to a 
 large tract of the Indian lands, comprehended in the Seneca 
 country proper. This preemptive title to all the lands 
 claimed by, or accorded to Massachusetts, lying east of the 
 Genesee river, was sold by the legislature of that state, in 
 the following year, to Oliver Phelps and ISTathaniel G-orham, 
 for the sum of one million of dollars, payable in three an- 
 nual instalments. In the next subsequent year — that is, 
 in the summer of 1788 — Mr. Phelps led an expedition of 
 colonists into the newly purchased territory, and causing a 
 council of the Six E"ations to be convened at Buffalo creek, 
 in the month of July, succeeded in purchasing the fee of 
 the soil, for the small sum of ^ve thousand dollars in hand 
 paid, one half in cash, and the other in goods — subject to 
 an annual rent of five hundred dollars forever. The deed 
 to Phelps and Gorham was dated on the 8th of July, 1788, 
 and bears the signature of Sha-go-yagh-wat-ha,^ or Eed 
 Jacket. Joseph Brant was also a party to the deed. 
 
 As the lease of their whole territory, executed the pre- 
 ceding year by the Indians to Colonel Livingston and his 
 associates, had not yet been declared invalid by the govern- 
 ment of the state, the sale to Phelps and Gorham rendered 
 
 'Thus spelt by the person who wrote the name to which Red Jacket 
 placed his mark. 
 
1788. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 137 
 
 a farther arrangement with the former parties necessary. 
 Accordingly, in the course of the same season, a second 
 instrument was executed to Colonel Livingston and his 
 company, setting forth the sale to Phelps and Gorham, and 
 for that reason relinquishing to the former one half of the 
 annual rent of two thousand dollars per annum, for the 
 period of nine hundred and ninety-nine years. And here, 
 again, it is necessary to note the fact that Eed Jacket was 
 a party to this third document, connected with other papers 
 and transactions, equivalent to an entire sale of the territory 
 of his people within the state of l^ew York. 
 
 ^ / 
 
 18 
 
[138] 
 
 CHAPTER m. 
 
 Indian relations of the United States in 1790 — Bad feeling of the Senecas 
 
 — Council at Tioga Point — Red Jacket — Colonel Pickering — Hendrik 
 
 — Red Jacket revives the land controversy — His speech — Extraordi- 
 nary Indian ceremony — Visit of Cornplanter and Big Tree to Philadel- 
 phia — Appeal to General Washington — Duplicity of Cornplanter — The 
 probable motive — Kindness of Washington to the deputation — Mission 
 of Colonel Proctor — Council at Buffalo Creek — Salutatory speech of Red 
 Jacket — British interference — Attempt to remove the council to Niagara 
 
 — Resisted by Proctor — Farther difficulties — Intermeddling of the 
 British ofl&cers — Council broken up — Interposition of the women, and 
 proceedings resumed — Red Jacket's speech for the women — Proctor's 
 mission abruptly terminated by Colonel Gordon — Colonel Pickering 
 holds a council at Painted Post — Influence of the Indian women — 
 Favorable result of that council — Propositions for aiding the Indians 
 in the arts and manners of civilization — 1790-1791. 
 
 In the year 1790 the Indian relations of the United 
 States were in a most unhappy, if not unfavorable, condi- 
 tion. A savage war, fierce and bloody, was raging upon 
 the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania and Virginia ; and 
 the strong confederated Indian nations inhabiting the 
 country of the great lakes, even to the regions beyond the 
 Mississippi, acting under the advice of the officers of the 
 British Indian department, and encouraged in various 
 ways by the government of Canada, were gathering to the 
 contest with a determination that the Ohio river should 
 form the ultimate boundary between the United States 
 and the Indian country. All the sympathies of the Senecas, 
 who had never been quite satisfied with the provisions of 
 the treaty of Fort Stanwix, were with their brethren of the 
 west, as also were not a few of their warriors ; although 
 Cornplanter, their principal chief, remained unshaken in 
 his friendship for the United States. Still, the popular 
 
1790. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 139 
 
 feeling among his nation was ratlier hostile ; threatening, 
 in fact, open and general hostilities. Unluckily, just at 
 this inauspicious conjuncture, the Senecas found fresh 
 cause of exasperation in the murder of two of their people 
 by some of the white border-men of Pennsylvania. The 
 effect of this outrage had well nigh provoked an immedi- 
 ate outbreak, but the government of the United States lost 
 not a moment in disavowing the act, and in the adoption 
 of measures to bring the murderers to punishment, by the 
 offer of a large reward for their apprehension. A confer- 
 ence with the Six IsTations was also invited at Tioga point, 
 at which Colonel Timothy Pickering, who then resided at 
 Wyoming, was commissioned to attend on the part of the 
 United States. The council-fire was kindled on the 16th 
 of IlTovember, and was kept burning until the 23d. Among 
 the nations present, either collectively or by representation, 
 were the Senecas, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, a small 
 party of Chippewas, and also several of the Stockbridge 
 Indians, among whom was their veteran captain, and the 
 faithful friend of the United States, Hendrik Apamaut. 
 The Indians were in a high state of excitement on their 
 arrival, in regard to the outrage for the consideration of 
 which they had been convoked, and which was deeply felt. 
 The chiefs who took the most active part in the proceed- 
 ings of this council were Red Jacket, Farmer's Brother, 
 Little Billy, Hendrik, and Fish Carrier, a very old and 
 distinguished warrior of the Cayugas. Old Hendrik 
 made a very eloquent and pathetic address to the commis- 
 sioner, in the shape of an appeal in behalf of his people, 
 reminding him of their strong and uniform attachment to 
 the United States during the war of the revolution, of the 
 hardships they underwent, and the losses they had sus- 
 tained during that war, and complaining bitterly of the 
 neglect with which they had been treated since the peace, 
 in consequence, as he supposed, of the small number to 
 
140 The Life and Times of 1790. 
 
 which they had been reduced. In referring to their ser- 
 vices in the field, he used these expressions : 
 
 We fought by your side — our blood was mingled with yours — 
 and the bones of our warriors still remain on the field of battle, as 
 so many monuments of our attachment to the United States. ^ 
 
 Cornplanter was not present at this council, and the 
 principal speaker was Red Jacket, whose efibrts produced 
 a deep efiect upon his people. Still, by a wise and well- 
 adapted speech. Colonel Pickering succeeded in allaying 
 the excitement of the Indians — dried their tears, and 
 wiped out the blood that had been shed. 
 
 But no sooner had that important business been disposed 
 of than Red Jacket introduced the subject of their lands, 
 and the purchase of Phelps and Gorham. In a set speech 
 to Colonel Pickering he inveighed against the procedure, 
 (although, as has been seen, he had himself been a party 
 to it), and declared that the Indians had been defrauded. 
 It was not, he said, a sale which they had contemplated, or 
 which they had stipulated to make to those gentlemen, but 
 only a lease ; and the consideration, he declared, was to 
 have been ten thousand dollars, together with an annual 
 rent of one thousand dollars, instead of Rye thousand 
 dollars and a rent of ^Ye hundred, which only had been 
 paid to them. He declared that after the bargain was 
 concluded in council at Buffalo Creek, the Rev. Mr. 
 Xirkland,^ Colonel John Butler,^ and Captain Brant, 
 were designated by the Indians to draw up the papers. 
 The Indians supposed all to have been done correctly 
 until the year following, when they went to Canandaigua 
 
 1 The Stockbridge Indians suffered rery severely in the battle of White 
 plains. 
 
 2 The celebrated missionary to the Indians. 
 
 3 Of the British Indian Department — the invader of Wyoming, then 
 residing at Niagara. 
 
1790. Sa-go-yb-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 141 
 
 to receive their pay. Expecting to receive ten thou- 
 sand dollars, they were told that ^yq thousand only was 
 their due. 
 
 When we took the money and shared it, we had but about a 
 dollar a piece. " Mr. Street !"i said the chief, " you very well know 
 that all that our lands came to was but the price of a few hogsheads 
 of tobacco," " Gentlemen who stand by," (addressing the gentle- 
 men in attendance with Colonel Pickering), " do not think hard of 
 what has been said. At the time of the treaty, twenty brooches 
 would not buy half a loaf of bread, so that, when we returned home, 
 there was not a single spot of silver about us. Mr. Phelps did not 
 purchase, but he leased the land. We opened our ears, and under- 
 stood that the land was leased. This happened to us from our not 
 knowing papers. 
 
 The speech under immediate consideration, is the earliest 
 of Sa-go-ye-wat-ha's forensic efforts of which there is any 
 wi'itten memorial, nor does it promise much either for the 
 eloquence, genius, or talent of the orator. On the contrary, 
 it is remarkable for its tameness, rather than for spirit or 
 mental power — sinking indeed below the dead level of 
 mediocrity. But aside from the fact that his theme, for the 
 most part, was not inspiring — it being chiefly a dry reca- 
 pitulation of business transactions — there is reason to 
 believe that great injustice was done him by the interpreter. 
 A gentleman, now venerable in years, who was present at 
 the treaty,^ asserts that both in matter and manner, Eed 
 Jacket, during the sittings of the council, spoke with extra- 
 ordinary eloquence and power. Much depends upon the 
 interpreter in the preservation of Indian eloquence. If he 
 
 1 a gentleman then connected with the Indian department, who was 
 present at the treaty with Phelps and Gorham, and who was now with 
 Colonel Pickering. 
 
 2 Thomas Morris, Esq., who has favored the author with his written 
 recollections of that council. 
 
142 The Life and Times of 1790. 
 
 be a dull and prosaic man, without genius himself, and 
 incapable of appreciating the glowing thoughts, the burn- 
 ing words, and the briUiant metaphors of his principal, the 
 most eloquent and stirring passages — evidently such from 
 the impassioned manner of their delivery, and their kind- 
 ling effect upon those understanding the language to whom 
 they are addressed — will fall from the interpreter's lips as 
 insipid as it is possible to render language by the process 
 of dilution.^ Hence, from the acknowledged genius of Eed 
 Jacket, and the known powers of his eloquence upon his 
 auditors, this speech to Colonel Pickering is to be received 
 rather as a poor paraphrase by a bad interpreter, than as 
 the speech of the orator himself The following is the best 
 passage it contains. After recapitulating his own statement 
 of the negotiation with Phelps and Gorham, and asserting 
 the anxiety of his people to appeal to congress for a redress 
 of their grievances in this transaction, the orator proceeded : 
 
 Now, Brothers, the Thirteen States, you must open your ears. 
 You know what has happened respecting our lands. You told us, 
 from this time the chain of friendship should be brightened. Now, 
 brothers, we have begun to brighten the chain, and we will follow 
 the footsteps of our forefathers. We will take those steps, that we 
 may sit easy and choose where and how large our seats should be. 
 The reason we send this message is, that the President, who is over 
 all the Thirteen States, may make our seats easy. We do it that the 
 chain of friendship may be brightened with the Thirteen States, as 
 
 1 "I have heard an old Indian sachem speak with much vivacity and 
 elocution, so that the speaker pleased and moved his audience with the 
 manner of delivering his discourse, which, however as it afterwards came 
 from the interpreter, disappointed us in our expectations. After the 
 speaker had employed a considerable time in haranguing with much elocu- 
 tion, the interpreter often explained the whole by one single sentence. I 
 believe the speaker, in that time, embellished and advanced his figures, 
 that they might have their full force on their imagination, while the inter- 
 preter contented himself with the sense, in as few words as it it could be 
 expressed." — Colden's Six Nations. 
 
1790. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 143 
 
 well as with the British ; that we may pass from one to the other 
 unmolested. We wish to be under the protection of the Thirteen 
 States as well as of the British. 
 
 During the progress of the negotiations with Colonel 
 Pickering at this council, an episode was enacted, of which 
 some account may be excused in this place, as an illustra- 
 tion of Indian character and manners. It was in this year, 
 that Robert Morris, of Philadelphia — the great financier 
 of the revolution — purchased from the state of Massa- 
 chusetts the preemptive right to that portion of her 
 territory in Western 'New York, that had not been sold to 
 Phelps and G-orham, viz : the entire tract bounded on the 
 north by lake Ontario, on the south by the Pennsylvania 
 line, on the east by the Genesee river, and on the west by 
 the Niagara. Preparatory to the negotiations which Mr. 
 Morris well knew he should be obliged to hold with the 
 Indians, and for the general management of his concerns 
 in that country, his son Thomas had taken up his residence 
 at Canandaigua, and was diligently cultivating an ac- 
 quaintance with the Indians. In this he was successful, 
 and he soon became popular anipng them. He was in 
 attendance with Colonel Pickering at Tioga point, where 
 the Indians determined to adopt him into the Seneca 
 nation, and Red Jacket bestowed upon him the name he 
 himself had borne previous to his elevation to the dignity 
 of a sachem — Otetiani, always ready. The occasion of 
 which they availed themselves to perform the ceremony 
 of conferring upon young Morris his new name, was a 
 religious observance, when the whole sixteen hundred 
 Indians present at the treaty, united in an offering to the 
 moon, then being at her full. The ceremonies were per- 
 formed in the evening. It was a clear night, and the 
 moon shone with uncommon brilliancy. The host of In- 
 dians, and their neophyte, were all seated upon the ground 
 
144 The Life and Times of 1790. 
 
 in an extended circle, on one side of which a large fire 
 was kept burning. The aged Cayuga chieftain, Tish 
 Gamer, who was held in exalted veneration for his wis- 
 dom, and who had been greatly distinguished for his 
 braveiy from his youth up, officiated as the high priest 
 of the occasion — making a long speech to the luminary, 
 occasionally throwing tobacco into the fire as incense. On 
 the conclusion of the address, the whole assembly prostrated 
 themselves upon the bosom of their parent earth, and a 
 grunting sound of approbation was uttered from mouth to 
 mouth around the entire circle. At a short distance from 
 the fire a post had been planted in the earth ; intended to 
 represent the stake of torture to which captives are bound 
 for execution. After the ceremonies in favor of Madame 
 Luna had been ended, they commenced a war-dance 
 around the post, and the spectacle must have been as pic- 
 turesque as it was animating and wild. The young braves 
 engaged in the dance were naked excepting the breech- 
 clout about their loins. They were painted frightfully, 
 their backs being chalked white," with irregular streaks of 
 red, denoting the streaming of blood. Frequently would 
 they cease from dancing while one of their number ran to 
 the fire, snatching thence a blazing stick, placed there for 
 that purpose, which he would thrust at the post, as though 
 inflicting torture upon a prisoner. In the course of the 
 dance they sang their songs, and made the forests ring 
 with their wild screams and shouts, as they boasted of 
 their deeds of war and told the number of scalps they had 
 respectively taken, or which had been taken by their 
 nation. During the dance those engaged in it, as did 
 others also, partook freely of unmixed rum, and by conse- 
 quence of the natural excitement of the occasion, and the 
 artificial excitement of the liquor, the festival had well 
 nigh turned out a tragedy. It happened that among the 
 dancers was an Oneida warnor, who, in striking the post, 
 
1790. SA-ao-YE-WAT-HA, OR Red Jacket. 145 
 
 boasted of the number of scalps taken by his nation during 
 the war of the revolution. IS'ow the Oneidas, it will be 
 recollected, had sustained the cause of the colonies in that 
 contest, while the rest of the Iroquois confederacy had 
 espoused that of the crown. The boasting of the Oneida 
 warrior, therefore, was like striking a spark into a keg 
 of gunpowder. The ire of the Senecas was kindled in an 
 instant, and they in turn boasted of the number of scalps 
 taken by them from the Oneidas in that contest. They 
 moreover taunted the Oneidas as cowards. Quick as 
 lightning the hands of the latter were upon their weapons, 
 and in turn the knives and tomahawks of the Senecas 
 began to glitter in the moon-beams, as they were hastily 
 drawn forth. For an instant it was a scene of anxious and 
 almost breathless suspense, a death struggle seeming inevi- 
 table, when the storm was hushed by the interposition 
 of old Fish Carrier, who rushed forward, and striking the 
 post with violence, exclaimed : 
 
 You are all of you a parcel of boys : When you have attained 
 my age, and performed the warlike deeds that I have performed, 
 you may boast what you have done : not till then ! 
 
 Saying which he threw down the post, put an end to the 
 dance, and caused the assembly to retire.^ This scene, in 
 its reality, must have been one of absorbing and peculiar 
 interest. An assembly of nearly two thousand inhabitants 
 of the forest, grotesquely clad in skins and strouds, with 
 shining ornaments of silver, and their coarse raven hair 
 falling over their shoulders, and playing wildly in the 
 wind as it swept past, sighing mournfully among the giant 
 branches of the trees above — such a group, gathered in a 
 
 ^ Manuscript recollections of Thomas Morris. Mr. M. was known among 
 the Indians by the name conferred upon him on this occasion, for many 
 years. After his marriage, his wife vfO/^ called by them Qtetiani squaw, 
 and his children, Qtetiani pappooses, 
 
 19 
 
146 The Life and Times of 1790. 
 
 broad circle in an opening of the wilderness, tlie starry 
 canopy of heaven glittering above them, the moon casting 
 her silver mantle aronnd their dusky forms — and a large 
 fire blazing in the midst of them — before which they were 
 working their spells, and performing their savag^^tes — 
 must have presented a spectacle of long and vivid remem- 
 brance. 
 
 In December of the same year, a deputation of the 
 Senecas, consisting of the Cornplanter, Half Town and 
 Great Tree, visited Philadelphia, then the seat of the 
 federal government, for the purpose of again remonstrating 
 against the hardship of the treaty of fort Stanwix, and 
 of reclaiming, if possible, a portion of the territory ceded 
 away by that treaty. It was on the occasion of that visit 
 that Cornplanter delivered the speech to General Wash- 
 ington, then president of the United States, cited in the 
 preceding chapter. They wished, in particular, to obtain 
 a restoration of the territory, bordering upon Pennsylvania, 
 then occupied by Half Town and his people, who were, 
 and had been from the first, dissatisfied with the treaty. 
 
 In the course of his appeal, speaking in reference to Half 
 Town's clan, Cornplanter exclaimed with moving earnest- 
 ness: 
 
 They grew out of that land, and their fathers grew out of it, and 
 they cannot be persuaded to part with it. It is a very little 
 'piece. We therefore entreat you to restore to us this Httle piece 
 of land. 
 
 The appeal is as simple and touching as that of Lot 
 to be allowed to flee into Zoar. " J5 it not a little diyV 
 But such has not been the course of events. Vain 
 are the appeals of Indians to the pale faces, for a res- 
 toration of territory — no matter how it may have been 
 acquired. Yet, in the case under consideration, the In- 
 dians had less cause of complaint than usual, since the 
 
1790. Sa-go-ye-W4t-ha, or Reid Jacket. 147 
 
 treaty of fort Stanwix could »ot justly have foeen deemed 
 oppressive. 
 
 But the provisions of the fort Stanwix treaty did not 
 constitute the entire burden of Cornplanter's remonstrances. 
 He, *ob, complained of the conduct of Phelps and G-orham, 
 imputing the same frauds that had been charged by Bed 
 Jacket — and adding that Street was to receive from Phelps 
 a grant of land ten miles square, for his agency in the 
 deception practiced upon the Indians. This feature in the 
 conduct of Cornplanter, considering the general fairness 
 and integrity of his character, as exhibited in his inter- 
 course with the whites, subsequent to the revolutionary 
 war, is not of easy explication. He, like Eed Jacket, had 
 been a party to the sale of territory to Phelps and Gorham ; 
 and when the subject was afterward brought before con- 
 gress, the report of Mr. Butler, from the committee of 
 Indian affairs, supplied the most ample testimony, frorn 
 gentlemen of irreproachable veracity, that the said pux'- 
 chase had been made in the most fair and honorable man- 
 ner, and that the papers had been thoroughly and truly 
 explained to the Indians, by whom the terms were perfectly 
 understood. The charges of fraud, therefore, first pubhcly 
 made by Red Jacket in his speech to Colonel Pickering, 
 and afterward repeated, as has been seen, by Cornplanter, 
 fell to the ground. But how came these chiefs — the Corn- 
 planter being the head of his nation — to prefer the charges ? 
 May it not have been that Red Jacket w^s even then 
 plotting to supplant his principal in the affections of 
 his people, by inducing them to believe that he was more 
 their friend, and a better patriot, than his rival? And 
 may not the latter have taken up the false charge, and 
 repeated it to General "Washington, for the purpose only 
 of sustaining himself, and circumventing the crafty dem- 
 agogue, whose machinations were ultimately but too suc- 
 cessful ? 
 
148 The Life and Times of 1790. 
 
 The bearing of Washington toward these sons of the 
 forest was such as to allay the unpleasant feelings under 
 which they arrived in Philadelaphia, and to send them 
 away in good humor. Nay, the Cornplanter was engaged 
 to accompany Colonel Proctor on a friendly mission to the 
 country of the Miamis, for the purpose of bringing the hos- 
 tile Indians to reasonable terms of peace. This mission was 
 not undertaken until the following spring, when Colonel 
 Proctor proceeded into the Seneca country, to join Corn- 
 planter. Meeting with him at his own town, situated upon 
 Oil creek, one of the upper tributaries of the Alleghany 
 river, it was found necessary to convoke a grand council 
 of the Six ]S"ations at Buffalo creek, before they could 
 safely proceed to the country of the hostile nations. The 
 fact was, that the repulse of Greneral Harmar's expedition 
 in the preceding autumn had greatly emboldened the hos- 
 tile Indians, with whose cause those four of the Six Nations 
 which had been engaged in the war of the revolution on 
 the side of the crown, especially the Senecas, strongly 
 sympathized. Numbers of their young warriors, disre- 
 garding the restraints, feeble at best, of their own principal 
 chiefs, were in the ranks of the enemy, and it was only 
 with the greatest difficulty, during the whole of that border 
 conflict, that the greater part of the Six Nations were kept 
 from joining their brethren. Just about this time, also, 
 the Senecas had again been exasperated by the murder of 
 several of their people, who had given no offence, by some 
 of the Pennsylvania borderers living at Big Beaver creek, 
 in the neighborhood of Pittsburgh. Hence Cornplanter 
 and Colonel Proctor were obliged to proceed with the 
 utmost circumspection; and a grand council at Buffalo 
 being demanded before the nations would allow Cornplanter 
 to proceed to the west, the measure was acquiesced in, 
 though attended by great inconvenience, and necessarily 
 causing a long delay. 
 
1791. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 149 
 
 It has been necessary to glance at this mission of Colonel 
 Proctor and the Cornplanter, for the reason that the leading 
 personage of the present memoir, Red Jacket, figured con- 
 spicuously in the council at Bufialo creek, at which place 
 Cornplanter and Colonel Proctor arrived on the 27th of 
 April, 1791. The council-fire had been burning several 
 days, in anticipation of their presence, and many of the 
 principal chiefs were already there — among whom were 
 Parmer's Brother, Young King and Red Jacket — the 
 former two being dressed in the uniforms of British colo- 
 nels. Red Jacket was a much younger chief than the 
 others, but had now, it was evident, become a man of con- 
 sideration. Colonel Proctor, in his diary ,^ mentions him 
 as " the great speaker and prince of the Turtle tribe."^ 
 The colonel was received with unusual ceremony. The 
 Indians had mounted a two-pounder upon logs at the porch 
 of the council-house, heavily loaded, which they discharged 
 on the approach of their guests, but to the no small peril 
 of all who were near, since the explosion up-threw the gun 
 from its position, and sadly deranged its fixtures. Red 
 Jacket, or, as his people were then accustomed to call him, 
 the Young prince of the Wolf tribe, had been designated 
 by the council to receive the colonel and Cornplanter, and 
 as they entered the council-house, the orator rose and 
 welcomed the former in the following speech : — 
 
 Brother : Listen ! It is usual for us to speak ; and to you we 
 do it as to a brother that has been absent a long time. Now we all 
 speak to you, and to our bead warrior that left us last fall : — and 
 we thank the Great Spirit for bis and your safe arrival here, as you 
 are together, band in band, from Honandaganius,^ upon great 
 business. 
 
 iVide Proctor's Journal, Indian State Papers^ vol. i, p. 155. 
 
 2 An error. Red Jacket was of the Wolf tribe. 
 
 3 General Washington. 
 
160 The Life and Times op 1791. 
 
 You have traveled long, witli tears in your eyes, upon account 
 of the bad roads, and bad season of the year. Besides the disturb- 
 ances between the bad Indians and our brothers the white people, 
 every thing has been trying to prevent your coming, and to stop 
 your business, and make you lose your way. 
 
 Thus the big waters might have stopped your coming ; and the 
 wars might have stopped you; and sickness might have stopped 
 you ; for we cannot know what is to happen until it comes upon us. 
 So, therefore, we thank the Grreat Spirit who has preserved you from 
 such dangers that might have hindered us from hearing of the good 
 news which you and our head warrior have opened to us. But how 
 could it be that any thing bad could have happened to you, while 
 you have such important business to transact, as we understand you 
 have come on ? 
 
 You must now wipe away those tears occasioned by all the great 
 dangers you have come through. And now we set you upon a seat 
 where you can sit up straight — and a seat where you are secure 
 from the fears of your enemies ; — where you can look around and see 
 all your friends and brothers in peace. Besides, you have come 
 along with your heart and your throat stopped up, to secure all that 
 you had to say in your body. But now we open your heart with 
 your brothers' hands, and we run our fingers through to open vour 
 mouth, that you may speak clear, and not be molested. Your ears 
 also have been stopped by Honandaganius until you should see your 
 brothers at this place, being spared by the Great Spirit to arrive 
 safe. 
 
 Now, open your ears to hear what your brothers may say after 
 you have made your speech! This is, therefore^ the compliment of 
 the chiefs and head men of Buffalo creek, to you and our great 
 warrior, the Cornplanter, and you may each of you go on safely with 
 your business. 
 
 Cornplanter replied in behalf of Colonel Proctor and 
 Mmself, and at the close of his speech, intended merely as 
 an interchange of compliments, E,ed Jacket advanced and 
 presented the colonel with the belt which he held while 
 delivering his salutatory address. 
 
1791. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Ebd Jacket. 151 
 
 But notwithstanding tlie apparent fi^ankness and cordi- 
 ality of this speech of welcome, the conduct of Eed Jacket, 
 even during the first evening's conference, was marked by 
 extreme wariness, giving evidence of disingenuousness, if 
 not of dissimulation. "When Colonel Proctor stated " that 
 he had been commissioned by General Washington, the 
 " great chief of the Thirteen Fires," Red Jacket remarked 
 " that many persons had occasionally come into their country, 
 " who said they had also come from the authority of the 
 " Thirteen Fires, but of the truth of this they were not 
 " always convinced." But the colonel afterward ascertained 
 that Eed Jacket was only playing a 'pari in the expressiaa 
 of his doubts. The orator and the chiefs at the council 
 had been fally advised of the colonel's official character, 
 by the chiefs who had met him in the intermediate councils, 
 called in some of the Indian towns through which he had 
 passed on his way thither. It was also ascertained by Proc- 
 tor, on the first evening of his arrival, that Eed Jacket was 
 acting under the advice of Brant and Colonel John Butler, 
 in order to thwart the views of the government of the 
 United States, and if possible frustrate the intended visit of 
 Proctor and Cornplanter to the Miamis. Brant and Butler 
 had been at Bufialo creek some days before Proctor's 
 arrival, and after a conference, the former had departed 
 suddenly for the country of the belligerent Indians, leaving 
 Eed Jacket to receive the messengers as already stated, 
 and enact a part cast expressly for the occasion of their 
 arrival. According to certain intimations given by Cap- 
 tain Powell, an officer in the British Indian service who 
 had been despatched by the commandment of Fort Erie to 
 meet Colonel Proctor at the Buffalo council-house, this 
 sudden mission of Brant had been " directed from head- 
 quarters ;" but whether reference was had to Quebec, or 
 the fort at IsTiagara, does not appear. 
 
 The council was numerously attended on the two sue- 
 
152 The Life and Times of 1791. 
 
 ceeding days, during wMcli Colonel Proctor read his entire 
 instructions to the chiefs, as also the address with which 
 he was charged to the hostile Indians of the west. Having 
 concluded the interpretations of these papers, and informed 
 the Indians of the kindness exercised hy the Great Father 
 of the Thirteen Fires, as manifested by the liberal conces- 
 sions made to Cornplanter during his recent visit to Phila- 
 delphia, Colonel Proctor was surprised by a speech from 
 Red Jacket, declaring that the council-fire must be removed 
 to the British fortress of Niagara, to which place he said 
 the colonel must accompany them. As a reason for this 
 proposition, Hed Jacket spoke pf th^^bsence of several 
 chiefs of the Six JS'ations; adding, that in the discussion 
 of matters of sucTi grave importance he wished the presence 
 of the British officers. " Captain Powell," he said, " is 
 always true to us, and is with us at every treaty." 
 
 Conceiving it to be an unwarrantable request, sanctioned 
 neither by his principals nor his instructions, the colonel 
 peremptorily refused to comply with it — declaring, that 
 if the relations of the chiefe with the officers of the British 
 garrison were such that they could not act but upon their 
 counsel and advice, they must send for those officers to 
 join them at Buffalo creek. A marked silence pervaded 
 the council for some time upon the utterance of Colonel 
 Proctor's refusal; after which Red Jacket and Farmer's 
 Brother successively addressed the Indians, and in the end 
 a messenger was despatched to Niagara, with a request 
 that Colonel Butler would join their council without delay. 
 
 During the three days intervening before the return of 
 the messenger, Colonel Proctor was urging upon the chiefs 
 the importance of a more rapid despatch of business, that 
 he might resume his journey without farther let or hind- 
 rance. 
 
 The object of his visit to the Six Nations was two-fold — 
 first, to allay, if possible, the rising feeling of hostility 
 
1791. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 153 
 
 among the Senecas, and secure the neutrality of the entire 
 confederacy ; and, secondly, to induce a deputation of their 
 chiefs to accompany him and the Cornplanter into the hos- 
 tile country, to add their persuasions in favor of peace. 
 But Red Jacket and the leading chiefs were exceedingly 
 adverse, if not to the entire object of the colonel's mission, 
 at least to the sending of a deputation to accompany him. 
 At first they objected to the distance, pretending that it 
 was the design to take tliem away to the shores of the dis- 
 tant ocean — a journey so long that it would require twelve 
 months to reach the point of destination. This excuse 
 having been removed, the next objection interposed by 
 Eed Jacket was fear — a fear that they would all be 
 murdered by the Miamis and their confederates. Accord- 
 ingly, on the 3d day of May, in reply to the colonel, who 
 continued to press his business with urgency, Eed Jacket 
 dictated the following address : 
 
 Tell him, (said he to the interpreter), Tell Colonel Proctor 
 that some of his language is soft, but that other parts of it are too 
 strong. The danger before us is great. Our enemies are drunk, 
 and they will not hear what we say like a man that is sober ; and 
 we consider that, whatever number of the Six Nations accompany 
 him (Colonel Proctor), will be in the same danger with himself, 
 and it is likely that we shall not live long when the bad Indians 
 shall see us. Therefore, as it is a business of such great weight to 
 us, we must take counsel, in order to save ourselves, and him, from 
 falling by their hands. Moreover, the Indians are not like white 
 men, for they must think a great while. He (Colonel Proctor), 
 must therefore attend our councils, and look and hear what we shall 
 speak on his business. To-morrow our head men will meet together, 
 and try what can be done. 
 
 The plea of fear was one that Eed Jacket might very 
 possibly have interposed in all sincerity ; but on the part 
 of the brave old Farmer's Brother, Young King, and the 
 
 2Q 
 
 \ 
 
154 The Life and Times of 1791- 
 
 celebrated Cayuga chief, Fish Carrier, with whom 'Red 
 Jacket was acting in close consultation, it must have been 
 an artifice of dissimulation. Whatever might have been the 
 fact with the orator, the emotion of fear was a stranger to 
 the bosoms of the other three. Indeed the pretext was 
 transparent. Colonel Proctor had already seen that their 
 opinions and conduct were to be regulated by the British 
 agent and the British officers only. At least if he had not 
 actually seen as much, he was not long left in doubt as to the 
 fact ; since Red Jacket had scarcely finished the brief speech 
 recited above, before a messenger came from Colonel But- 
 ler, inviting the chiefs to meet him on the lake shore, at a 
 distance from the council-fire, and not to allow Colonel 
 Proctor to accompany them. From that hour forward, the 
 prospect of a favorable issue to the colonel's mission be- 
 came more and more dubious. It is true that Colonel 
 Butler subsequently met Colonel Proctor, and even enter- 
 tained him with courtesy; but the Indians were entirely 
 dissuaded from lending him any assistance, or cooperating 
 in furtherance of his views ; while in their conversations 
 with Colonel Proctor, the British officers assumed the 
 position that no peace would, or probably could, be nego- 
 tiated with the hostile Indians, excepting through their 
 mediation. In a word, it was insisted by his Britannic 
 majesty's officers that the adjustment of the entire contro- 
 versy, and the details of any treaty with the north-western 
 Indians, must be left to Captain Brant, the chiefs at 
 Buffalo, and certain officers of the British Indian depart- 
 ment at Detroit. And during the whole of these conver- 
 sations and proceedings, the course of Red Jacket was 
 manifestly directed by the officers of his Britannic majesty. 
 Under these untoward circumstances — ascertainins:, more- 
 over, that Brant had taken a considerable body of the 
 Mohawk Indians with him to the Miamis ; that the hostile 
 Indians were ^-epeiving large military supplies from the 
 
1791. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. . 155 
 
 British garrison at Detroit; that Colonel Gordon was 
 strengthening his defences at Niagara ; and that prepara- 
 tions were making for the construction of another fortifi- 
 cation on the northern shore, near the foot of lake Erie ; 
 and having also been explicitly told by Young King, on 
 the evening of the 14th of May, that they would not send 
 a deputation of their chiefs with him to the Miamis — 
 Colonel Proctor determined to end farther procrastination, 
 and his mission, at once. On the same evening, therefore, 
 he communicated this determination to the Indians, in a 
 few brief but energetic words, in the course of which he 
 forgot not to intimate that his report to the war-chief of 
 the Thirteen Fires ^ would not be very favorable, and pro- 
 bably would not tend greatly to their future advantage. 
 The coloneFs decisive manner made a deep impression 
 upon the Indians, especially the women, to whom his 
 words were reported, and through whose intei-position the 
 progress of the mission speedily assumed a different aspect, 
 promising, for the time, a favorable result. The story- 
 will be related chiefly as illustrative of Indian character, 
 though not disconnected with the life of Red Jacket. 
 
 Having heard the conversation between Colonel Proctor 
 and Young King, as just recited, on the following morn- 
 ing, being the 14th of May, the elders of the Indian 
 women repaired to Colonel Proctor's lodge, where a 
 number of chiefs were present, and addressed him in the 
 following manner : 
 
 Brother : The Great Spirit has spared us until a new day to 
 talk together : for, since you came here from Greneral Washington, 
 you, and our uncles the sachems, have been counselling together. 
 Moreover, your sisters, the women, have taken the same into great 
 consideration, because that you and our sachems have said so much 
 about it. Now, that is the reason why we have come to say something 
 
 1 General Knox was at that time secretary of war. 
 
166 The Life and Times of 1791. 
 
 to you, and to tell you that the Great Spirit hath preserved you, and 
 that you ought to hear and listen to what we, women, shall speak, as 
 well as to the sachems; for we are the owners of this land — and it 
 is our's. It is we that plant it for our and their use. Hear us, 
 therefore, for we speak of things that concern us and our children, 
 and you must not think hard of us while our men shall say more to 
 you; for we have told them. 
 
 This formal speech of the women being ended, Colonel 
 Proctor acceded to a request that he would meet their 
 sachems in council on the same day, and hear what would 
 be said by the speaker whom they had selected to repre- 
 sent them — 'Hhe Young Prince of the Turtle Tribe, Sa- 
 go-ye-wat-ha."^ At the given signal, the firing of a gun, 
 the council assembled, and on his arrival at the council-fire, 
 an unusual spectacle was presented to Colonel Proctor, 
 who found the elders of the women seated near their chiefs. 
 It appeared that the women, who, as is natural to the sex, 
 were the lovers of peace, had prevailed upon their lords, 
 including all the leading chiefs of the Six Nations, to alter 
 the determination avowed to Colonel Proctor on the pre- 
 
 ^ The women on this occasion spoke of Red Jacket as of the Turtle tribe, 
 and it has been thus written elsewhere. But he himself claimed to be of 
 the Wolf tribe, and thus I have designated him. My authority is the fol- 
 lowing anecdote, related to me by the venerable Mr. James Wadsworth, 
 of Geneseo, in the summer of 1840. Many years a^o, the Six Nations 
 held a treaty, by themselves, at a place about five miles east of Mr. Wads- 
 worth's residence. They continued in council until their provisions were 
 exhausted, and until, in fact, they became very hungry. On breaking up, 
 Red Jacket, who was well acquainted with Mr. Wadsworth, led some 
 thirty or forty of the leading chiefs to his house, and requested breakfast. 
 Mr. W. spread a table liberally, but such was the voracity of the Indians, 
 that the viands disappeared almost as fast as they could be set before them . 
 Steaks, cold hams, tongues, &c., vanished with prodigious rapidity. Red 
 Jacket lost not his full portion ; and reading Mr. Wadsworth's surprise at 
 their voracity in his countenance, the chief drily remarked that his enter- 
 tainer must excuse him, inasmuch as he belonged to the Wolf tribe — add- 
 ing, "and wolves, you know, are always fond of meat." 
 
1791. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 157 
 
 ceding evening by Young King. After a short silence, Eed 
 Jacket took up the speech of his clients as follows : 
 
 Brother from Pennsylvania : You that are sent from Gren- 
 eral Washington, and by the Thirteen Fires : you have been sitting 
 side by side with us every day, and the Great Spirit has appointed 
 us another pleasant day to meet again. 
 
 Now listen, Brother ! You know what we have been doing 
 so long, and what trouble we have been at; and you know that it 
 has been the request of our head warrior, i that we are left to answer 
 for our women, who are to conclude what ought to be done by both 
 sachems and warriors. So hear what is their conclusion. 
 
 Brother : The business you have come on is very troublesome, 
 and we have been a long time considering on it, ever since you came 
 here, and now the elders of our women, considering the greatness of 
 your business, have said that our sachems and warriors must help 
 *you over your difficulties, for the good of them and their children. 
 Moreover, you tell us, since the treaty of Tioga with us, the Ameri- 
 cans are strong for peace. 
 
 Now all that has been done for you has been done by our women ; 
 the rest will be a hard task for us ; for the people at the setting sun 
 are bad people, and you have come on in too much haste for such 
 great matters of importance. And now, Brother, you must look 
 when it is light in the morning until the setting sun, and you must 
 reach your neck over the land, and take all the light you can, to 
 show the danger. And these are the words of our women to you, 
 and the sachems and warriors who shall go with you. And now we 
 shall name them as they have first presented themselves in this full 
 council. 2 
 
 Now, Brother from Pennsylvania and from General Washington, 
 
 1 Cornplanter. 
 
 ' Here followed the names of the delegates, one of whom was Red Jacket 
 himself, and among whom was not Cornplanter, for a. reason presently 
 stated. The delegates were six in number, of whom were the four follow- 
 ing : Kuyscetta, Red Jacket, the Young Prince of the Turtle tribe, as he 
 was designated, Captain John, of the Onondagas, and the Grand Carrier, 
 Awangogathe, (The names of the two other deputies were lost by Colonel 
 Proctor). 
 
158 The Life and Times of 1791. 
 
 I have told you what has been directed. Let us, therefore throw all 
 care on the mercy of our Great Keeper, in hopes that he will assist 
 us. You now know that Colonel Butler of the British told us that 
 we must take our writings down to Colonel Gordon, as he is a very 
 wise man, and perhaps he may have something to say to us that may 
 be for our good. And we also want his assistance, as he is the man 
 that keeps all the vessels that are on the lake. 
 
 Therefore, my Brother, make your mind easy, for your request is 
 granted, and when we hear from our brothers the British, then we 
 shall know what time we can start. And you must not be uneasy 
 that our brother O'BeeU does not go with you, for he is very tired, 
 and must rest awhile, and take charge of our young warriors while 
 they are playing,- to keep them in peace for fear of danger. And 
 now, while we are speaking, more of our young warriors have given 
 their names to go with you.^ 
 
 If the true reason is here given why the Cornplanter was 
 not allowed to proceed upon the mission — if indeed lie had 
 not been kept from the deputation by a Eritish intrigue 
 through Red Jacket — there was probably another reason 
 lying still deeper in the minds of the women. Cornplanter 
 was not only the principal war-chief of the Senecas, but he 
 was a man of great bravery and sagacity, and withal a sin- 
 cere friend of peace. The times were critical, and the 
 Lidians at Buffalo creek and in the circumjacent country 
 were in frequent alarm. Even while Colonel Proctor was 
 with them, two fresh scalps had been brought in, one of 
 which was that of an Indian, accompanied by a story that the 
 white people were making war upon them. And although 
 Colonel Proctor succeeded in convincing them that the tale 
 
 iQ'Beel or O'Bail, was one of the names of Cornplanter, it being the 
 name of his father, who was a white man. 
 
 2 That is hunting — as explained by Colonel Proctor. 
 
 8 Here follow the names, very long, and very Indian, of nine warriors, 
 who volunteered to go upon the mission. It is needless to record them, as 
 none of them were ever otherwise distinguished. 
 
1791. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 159 
 
 was without foundation in truth, yet the Indians were not 
 without apprehensions of evil. It is, therefore, prohable 
 that the women had determined to retain Cornplanter as 
 the chief who could best restrain the warlike propensities 
 of their young braves, while they could repose greater con- 
 fidence both in his bravery and discretion, in the event of 
 actual danger, during the absence of the messenger, to the 
 Miamis, than in any other leader of their nation. But the 
 benevolent designs of the women were circumvented by 
 "the man that kept the vessels on the lake." Proctor had 
 previously applied to Colonel Gordon for permission to 
 charter a vessel for the proposed voyage upon lake Erie, 
 to which no answer had as yet been returned. The British 
 commander, probably, was reluctant to be known openly 
 as the agent in defeating the pacific mission of Colonel 
 Proctor, and he had, therefore, been intriguing to that efiect 
 through the Indians. But finding that through the inter- 
 position of the women, who were exercising a sounder dis- 
 cretion upon the subject than the men, the object could not 
 be thus frustrated, he at once threw aside his mask, and 
 brought the mission abruptly to an end, by refusing to 
 recognise Proctor in his official character, and by prohibiting 
 the passage of the Indian deputies to Sandusky in any ves- 
 sel upon the lake. Thus circumstanced, as the journey 
 could not with prudence be undertaken by land, and as the 
 Indians positively refused to attempt the passage of the 
 lake in canoes. Proctor was compelled most reluctantly to 
 abandon the enterprise, and return to the seat of govern- 
 ment. It was well for his personal safety that he did so ; 
 since by information received subsequently from a captive 
 who escaped from the Miamis, it was ascertained that the 
 noted Simon Girty , and other desperadoes, tories, who had 
 fled from the border settlements ofthe United States during 
 the war of the revolution, had determined upon the colonel's 
 
160 Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 1791. 
 
 assassination, should he come among them, even though 
 attended "by a hundred Senecas."^ 
 
 This council at Buffalo creek, in regard to the mission 
 of Colonel Proctor, had not been anticipated by the govern- 
 ment of the United States. But knowing the feverish 
 temperament of the Six IS'ations, and the recent provoca- 
 tions the Senecas in particular had received at the hands of 
 some of the Pennsylvania border men, the president was at 
 the same time engaged in another effort to divert their 
 attention from the wars of their western brethren, and to 
 cultivate with them the most amicable relations. To this 
 end, before the unfavorable result of Proctor's embassy 
 could have been known at Philadelphia, Colonel Pickering 
 had been commissioned to hold a treaty^ with the Six E'a- 
 tions at the Painted Post. This treaty was held in June, 
 and was attended by favorable results. Indeed, although 
 most of their principal chiefs were to a very unhappy extent 
 under the influence of the British military authorities in 
 Canada, yet, the greater proportion of their older men, on 
 the republican side of the boundary, were inclined to peace 
 — the young men of the Senecas, and a few of the Cayugas 
 only, being resolved upon war. The intervention of the 
 women, moreover, prior to the departure of Colonel Proctor, 
 had produced a happy effect, by soothing the irritated feel- 
 ings of their men, and directing their thoughts to the 
 blessings of peace. Very erroneous opinions are generally 
 entertained among civilized people, in regard to the con- 
 sideration in which their women are held by the Ameri- 
 can Indians, and the degree of influence they exercise 
 among them. True, as with all barbarians, the women are 
 in some respects the slaves of the men ; but those of the 
 American aboriginals are no farther slaves than they are 
 
 1 Deposition of Thomas Rhea. Indian State Papers, vol. i, pp. 196, 197. 
 2 Holding a council, in Indian parlance, is called holding "a treaty," if 
 there be two or more parties present. 
 
/ / 
 
 1791. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 161 
 
 rendered such, by the field-labor which is imposed upoa 
 them in addition to the ordinary cares of the household; 
 and in this respect the women of the peasantry of Europe 
 are in no better position than they. On the other hand, 
 although the respect with which they are treated by their 
 lords is not as refined and spiriiiialized as among the cava- 
 liers in the days of chivalry, still it may safely be averred 
 that in the adjustment of weighty and difiicult matters, no 
 other people are in the habit of treating the opinions of 
 their women with greater deference than the American 
 Indians. On the occasion now passing in review, that 
 influence, as already remarked, was most happily exerted^ 
 and the consequence was, that the council called under the 
 auspices of Colonel Pickering, at the Painted 'post^ wa& 
 well attended. Indeed, despite the efforts of the British, 
 officers in command of Upper Canada, the chiefs began ta 
 draw off in the direction of the Painted post, even before 
 the departure of Colonel Proctor from Buffalo creek. 
 
 The speeches interchanged between the chiefs and Colo- 
 nel Pickering at this council have not been preserved ; but 
 the result was favorable in yet farther diverting the atten- 
 tion of the Six ]^ations from the affairs of the western 
 Indians in actual hostility ; while by a liberal distribution 
 of presents, the young warriors were checked in their 
 propensity to start away upon the war-path whenever blood 
 W9.S snuffed in the tainted breeze. Yet another fortunate 
 
 ' The Painted post "vras a noted land-mark in the early settlement of 
 western New York, and in the history of Indian alBfairs, long before. It 
 was literally a post, of oak timber, planted in the ground upon the Conhoc- 
 ton creek, within the boundary of New York, but not far from the Penn- 
 sylvania line. It was painted in the Indian manner, and tradition avers 
 that it was a monument of great antiquity, erected to commemorate the 
 death of some celebrated war-chief, whose name has been lost i^ the lapse 
 of ages. The Indians, it is also related, were in the practice, from genera- 
 tion to generation, of erecting new ones on the decay of the old. The 
 Painted joos^has given the name to a township, now forming the south-east 
 corner of Steuben county. 
 
 21 
 
162 The Life and Times of 1791. 
 
 measure was accomplished by the employment of the 
 brave old Stockbridge chief, Hendrik Aupamut, upon a 
 pacific mission to the belligerent country of the Miamis — 
 an undertaking which Colonel Proctor and the Complanter 
 had failed to achieve. 
 
 More interesting than all to the philanthropist, it was at 
 this council that, in accordance with the benevolent views 
 of Washington, Colonel Pickering made a successful 
 demonstration toward winning the attention of the chiefs 
 to the policy so important to them, of commencing the 
 work of civilization among their people. This was a point 
 upon which Colonel Pickering had been particularly in- 
 structed by the president, and no suitable occasion was 
 neglected, during the three weeks' deliberations of the 
 council, to fulfil this part of the commission. At the close 
 of the council, the colonel regaled the chiefs with a sump- 
 tuous entertainment, provided strictly in accordance with 
 the usages of civilized life. The assemblage at the feast 
 was large, including several gentlemen from New York, 
 Boston and Philadelphia, in the train of the commissioner, 
 and numerous chiefs. 
 
 In the course of the entertainment, the commissioner 
 took occasion to renew his appeal to the chiefs, at least to 
 make an effort to introduce among their tribes the arts 
 and customs of civilization — closing an eloquent address 
 by pointing them to the taste and elegance of the banquet 
 before them. He told them that if they would comply 
 with the advice of the president, and adopt the principles 
 and practices of civilized life, within £.Ye years they might 
 spread such a table themselves — the products of their 
 overteeming soil; while by educating their young men, 
 they might be qualified to meet the whites even in the 
 great council of the Thirteen Fires — in which council 
 they might also be represented. 
 
 Red Jacket replied — rather doggedly — but yet with 
 
1791. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 163 
 
 some humor. There were suspicions afloat, that whatever 
 might be the temper of the head men toward each other, 
 upon both sides, the terms between the young white men 
 of the company and the pretty squaws had been sufficiently 
 amicable, of which circumstance the orator was not un- 
 mindful to avail himself in his response, which was sub- 
 stantially thus : 
 
 Brother : You have during this negotiation said a good deal on 
 civilization. No chief present can forget what you have told us. 
 They will bear it in mind if they should not follow your advice. 
 
 Brother : We thank you for your good counsel ; and, as an 
 additional inducement to its adoption, I am happy to perceive, 
 (casting his piercing eye around the table with an emphasis, look, 
 and tone, peculiarly but insidiously significant), that you have 
 introduced to our notice several young men who will doubtless feel 
 that patriotism which your oratory is calculated to inspire — proud 
 that they can give a practical illustration of its sincerity by inter- 
 marrying with our women. 1 
 
 The satire was as keen as well deserved. But notwith- 
 standing the indefiniteness of Red Jacket's reply, the 
 suggestions of Colonel Pickering had been listened to with 
 more than ordinary attention ; and an invitation to several 
 of the chiefs to visit Philadelphia at some convenient 
 season, to confer with their Great Father, the president, 
 farther upon the subject, was accepted.^ 
 
 1 Manuscript collections of Joseph W. Moulton, Esq. 
 'Message of President Washington to the senate of the United States, 
 March 26, 1792. 
 
j_164 J 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 El^FORTS of General Washington for improving the moral and social condi- 
 tion of the Indians — Mission of fifty chiefs to Philadelphia — Welcomed 
 by the Governor of Pennsylvania — Speech of Red Jacket in reply — 
 Address to the chiefs by President Washington — Speech of Red Jacket in 
 reply — Comments upon the speech — Proposition of the government for 
 the improvement of the Indians — Reply of Red Jacket — Speech of Colonel 
 Pickering to the chiefs — Troubles with the north-western Indians — 
 Reply of Farmer's Brother to Colonel Pickering — Reply of Red Jacket — 
 Parting address of Washington — Red Jacket and the military clothes 
 — Close of the conferences — Continuance of the war with the Indians 
 of the north-west— The Senecas to send a deputation of their chiefs 
 upon a message of peace — Irritation of the Six Nations — Interference 
 of the British — The Fish Carrier — The deputation returns — Their 
 mission unsuccessful — Close of the Indian war — 1792-1794, 
 
 On the thirteentli day of March, 1792, Red Jacket ar- 
 rived in Philadelphia, being one of a deputation of fifty 
 chiefs of his people, respectable for their character and 
 influence, invited thither by Colonel Pickering, as stated 
 in the preceding chapter. The brave and true hearted 
 Farmer's Brother was of the number ; and they had been 
 brought to what was at that time the federal city, under 
 the guidance of their faithful missionary, the, E.ev. Mr. 
 Kirkland. In addition to the design, dear to the heart of 
 "Wasliington, of persuading the Indians to exchange the 
 hunter state for that of civilized life, the visit of this depu- 
 tation had been strongly desired by the Executive, for the 
 purpose, if possible, of attaching them more closely to the 
 interests of the United States. In order to effect this 
 object, it was thought important, not only to impart to 
 them some just notions of the strength and power of the 
 United States, but to win their confidence by kindness — 
 by enlightening their understandings as to their own true 
 
1792. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 165 
 
 interests — and by convincing them of the eqtiitahle and 
 benevolent policy of the United States in regard to them.- 
 
 Nor was this the only object that rendered the visit of 
 this deputation particularly welcome in Philadelphia at 
 that time. Events had occurred in the prosecution of the 
 contest with the hostile Indians of the north-west, of a dis- 
 astrous character. The campaign against the Miami coun- 
 try, entrusted to the command of General St. Clair^ had 
 been brought to a bloody and disastrous termination on 
 the 4th of N^ovember, 1791. It was a bitter reverse to the 
 arms of the young republic. The immediate effect of their 
 victory was to elate the Indians beyond measure ; and the 
 government was seriously apprehensive that in the flush of 
 the signal triumph obtained by their brethren at the west, 
 ; the Senecas, and possibly the Cayugas also, might seize 
 their hatchets and fall upon the frontier settlements of 'New 
 York and Pennsylvania, in the vain expectation that they 
 might now be able at least to avertj if not to roll back, the 
 tide of white population which was so rapidly crowding 
 them from their seats. In addition to all which, it was the 
 earnest desire of the government to make one more effort 
 to induce them to send a deputation of their most influen- 
 tial chiefs to the hostile country, in the hope of persuading 
 them to reasonable terms of peace. By the defeat of St. 
 Clair, a measure of this character had become far more 
 important, and more urgent withal, than at the time of 
 Proctor's unsuccessful attempt of the preceding year. 
 Under these circumstances, several of which had not been 
 foreseen when the invitation was first extended to the Six , 
 ISTations by Colonel Pickering, the visit of Red Jacket and 
 his associates was timely and fortunate. 
 
 It is to be regretted that more ample materials for a 
 history of this Indian embassy to the seat of the federal 
 government have not been preserved. The effoii: was one 
 of the earliest put forth by the government of the young 
 
166 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 republic, for advancing the substantial happiness of the 
 red man, by persuading him to adopt the habits of civil- 
 ization. And inasmuch as the policy of the United States 
 towards the hapless race, whose doom it is to disappear 
 before the white man, will be a subject of grave considera- 
 tion with the future historian, it is important that the facts 
 should stand forth upon the record. The Anglo-Saxon 
 race will have enough to answer for, in regard to this 
 people, in any event. Let it, then, have credit for what it 
 has done, or attempted to do, in their behalf; and if it 
 shall appear that few and small were the advances made 
 by the Indians in the scale of civilization, during the first 
 fifty years of the independent existence of the United 
 States, it will at the same time appear that the government 
 of the latter was not altogether at fault. Certainly it was 
 not until after the administration of the sixth president 
 had terminated, in March, 1829, that the beneficent policy 
 of Washington toward the children of the forest was changed. 
 Until that period they had enjoyed the protection of the 
 federal government, in their ancient seats, so long as they 
 chose to remain in them ; and the efforts both of the govern- 
 ment and of various voluntary associations of a benevolent 
 character, for the improvement of their moral, religious, 
 and social condition, had been unintermitted ; and it may 
 be added, in sorrow, almost unavailing. 
 
 Viewed in the aspect here presented, the proceedings 
 attending the mission of Eed Jacket and his associates to 
 Philadelphia, now under consideration, assume more than 
 an ordinary degree of interest. And as Eed Jacket him- 
 self bore a prominent part in those proceedings, the narra- 
 tive will be given as much in detail as the materials that 
 have escaped the ravages of time will allow. The chiefs 
 were welcomed to Philadelphia by the governor of Penn- 
 sylvania, by whom they were addressed in the council 
 chamber of the city. After referring to the fact that every 
 
1792. SA-ao-YE-wAT-HA, OR Ked Jacket. 167 
 
 J 
 
 thing which it was supposed might conduce to the comfort 
 of the chiefs during their visit had been provided for them 
 the governor closed his speech as follows : 
 
 Brothers ! I know the kindness with which you treat the 
 strangers that visit your country; and it is my sincere wish that, 
 when you return to your families, you may be able to assure them 
 that the virtues of friendship and hospitality are also practiced by 
 the citizens of Pennsylvania. 
 
 This interview took place on the 28th of March. Five 
 days afterward — for in all matters of diplomacy and of 
 state the Indians proceed with unexceeded deliberation — 
 the governor met the chiefs in council again, when Eed 
 Jacket pronounced an answer to the speech of his excel- 
 lency, in the following terms : 
 
 Brother Onas^ G-overnor : Open unprejudiced ears to what 
 we have to say ! Some days since you addressed us, and what you 
 said gave us great pleasure. This day the G-reat Spirit has allowed 
 us to meet you again in this council chamber. We hope that your 
 not receiving our immediate answer to your address will make no 
 improper impression upon your mind. We mention this lest you 
 should suspect that your kind welcome and friendly address has not 
 had a proper effect upon our hearts. We assure you it is far other- 
 wise. In your address to us the other day, in this ancient council 
 chamber, where our forefathers have often conversed together, 
 several things struck our attention very forcibly. When you told 
 us this was the place in which our forefathers often met on peaceable 
 terms, it gave us sensible pleasure, and more joy than we could 
 express. Though we have no writings like you, yet we remember 
 often to have heard of the friendship that existed between our fathers 
 and yours. The picture- to which you drew our attention brought 
 
 ^ The name which the Indians conferred upon William Penn, and which 
 they continued to bestow upon every succeeding governor of Pennsylvania. 
 The word itself signifies a pen. 
 
 2 Picture of Penn's treaty with the Iqdians. — Drake, in whose Book of the 
 Indians the account of these interviews between the Indians and the gover- 
 nor of P^nnsylvi^nia is found. 
 
168 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 fresli to our minds the friendly conferences that used to be held 
 between the former governors of Pennsylvania and our tribes, and 
 showed the love which your fathers had of peace, and the friendly 
 disposition of our people. It is still our wish, as well as yours, to 
 preserve peace between our tribes and you, and it would be well if 
 the same spirit existed among the Indians at the westward, and 
 through every part of the United States. You particularly expressed 
 that you were well pleased to find that we difi'ered in disposition 
 from the Indians westward. Your disposition is that for which the 
 Onas governors were remarkable. As you love peace, so do we also ; 
 and we wish it could be extended to the most distant part of this great 
 country. We agreed in council, this morning, that the sentiments 
 I have expressed should be communicated to you before the delegates 
 of the Five Nations ; and to tell you that your cordial welcome to 
 this city, and the good sentiments contained in your address, have 
 made a deep impression on our hearts, and given us great joy, and 
 from the heart I tell you so. This is all I have to say. 
 
 The inference from this speech of Ked Jacket would 
 certainly be that, without diversity of opinion, the Indians 
 of the Six Nations were at length peaceably disposed. But 
 sach was not the fact. After Red Jacket had concluded. 
 Good Peter, another of the delegation, sometimes called 
 Dominie Peter,^ and a very worthy man, likewise addressed 
 a short speech to the governor, which is represented as 
 having been, for the most part, a repetition of the pacific sen- 
 timents expressed by Eed Jacket.^ But in the course of 
 it the following passage occurred : 
 
 What is there more desirable than that we, who live within heariuir 
 of each other, should unite for the common good ? This is my wish. 
 It is the wish of my nation, although I am sorry I can't say so of 
 every individual in it, for there are differences of opinion among i;s, 
 as well as among the white people. 
 
 1 For some account of Good Peter, see Clinton's Historical Discourse. 
 ? Drake's Book of the Indians. 
 
1792. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 169 
 
 ? 
 
 1 r 
 
 On their presentation to the ]3resiclent, General Wash- 
 ington, they were addressed by the latter in the following 
 terms of friendship and cordiality -} 
 
 Sachems and Warriors of the Five Nations : It affords 
 me great satisfaction to see so many of you, wlio are the respectable 
 chiefs and representatives of your several tribes, and I cordially bid 
 you welcome to the seat of the government of the United States. 
 
 You have been invited to this place by Colonel' Pickering, at my 
 special request, in order to remove all causes of discontent; to devise 
 and adopt plans to promote your welfare, and firmly to cement the 
 peace between the United States and you, so as that in future we 
 shall consider ourselves brothers indeed. 
 
 I assui'e you that I am desirous that a firm peace should exist, not 
 only between the United States and the Five Nations, but also 
 between the United States and all the nations of this land — and 
 that this peace should be founded upon the principles of justice and 
 humanity, as upon an immovable rock. 
 
 That you may partake of all the comforts of this earth, which can 
 be derived from civilized life, enriched by the possession of industry, 
 virtue and knowledge ; and I trust that such judicious measures will 
 now be concerted, to secure to you and your children these invaluable 
 objects, as will afford you cause for rejoicing while you live. 
 
 That these are the strong and sincere desires of my heart, I hope 
 time and circumstances will convince you. But in order that our 
 peace and friendship may for ever be unclouded, we must forget the 
 misunderstajidings of past times. Let us now look forward, and 
 devise measures to render our friendship perpetual. I am aware that 
 the existing hostilities with some of the western Indians have been 
 ascribed to an unjust possession of their lands by the United States. 
 But be assured that this is not the case. We require no lands but 
 those obtained by treaties, which we consider as fairly made, and 
 particularly confirmed by the treaty of Muskingum, in the year 1789. 
 
 1 This speech of President Washington has not been preserved by Sparks, 
 although that delivered by him eighteen months before, to Cornplanter, 
 appears in his correspondence. The author is indebted for it to Joseph 
 W. Moulton, Esq., who obtained a copy at Washington, many years ago. ' 
 
 22 
 
170 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 If the western Indians should entertain the opinion that we want 
 to wrest their lands from them, they are laboring under an error. 
 If this error could be corrected it would be for their happiness — 
 and nothing would give me more pleasure, because it would open to 
 both of us the door of peace. 
 
 I shall not enter into further particulars with you at present, but 
 refer you to General Knox, the secretary of war, and Colonel 
 Pickering, who will communicate with you upon the objects of your 
 journey, and inform me thereof. 
 
 As an evidence of the sincerity of the desires of the United States 
 for perfect peace and friendship with you, I deliver you this white 
 belt of wampum, which I request you will safely keep. 
 
 (Signed) Geo. Washington.^ 
 
 The president having thus deputed Colonel Pickering and 
 General Knox to conduct the subsequent conferences with 
 the chiefs, an interview was had with them in the city coun- 
 cil chamher, on the 31st of March, at which time Hed Jacket, 
 holding in his hands the white helt which had been deliv- 
 ered to him by General Washington, addressed Colonel 
 Pickering as follows : 
 
 I now request the attention of the president of the United States, 
 by his agent. Colonel Pickering, now present. A few days since, 
 when the American chief had spoken to us, he gave us to understand 
 that General Knox and Colonel Pickering should be the agents to 
 negotiate with us, on things which concern our welfare. Let me call 
 for your compassion, as you can put all down upon paper, while we 
 have to labor with our minds, to. retain and digest what is spoken, to 
 enable us to make an answer. 
 
 Brother — whose attention I have called as the representative 
 of the great chief of this island : — when, the other day, he welcomed 
 us to the great council-fire of the thirteen United States, he said it 
 
 1 The manuscript from which the preceding speech has been transcribed 
 bears the date of March 23d, 1792. Hence, in the order of time, it should 
 stand before the antecedent account of the interview between the chiefs and 
 the governor of Pennsylvania. But the date is believed to be erroneous ; 
 and if not, the transposition has been made for the sake of convenience. 
 
1792. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or E,ed Jacket. 171 
 
 was from his very heart. He said it gave him pleasure to look around 
 and see such numerous representatives of the Five Nations of Indians, 
 and that it was at his special request we had been invited to the seat 
 of the general government, to promote the happiness of our nation, in 
 a friendly connection with the United States. He then told us that 
 his love of peace did not terminate with the Five Nations, but ex- 
 tended to all the nations at the setting sun ; and that it was his 
 desire that universal peace might prevail in this island. 
 
 Brother Con-neh-sauty 'A I requested your compassion, on 
 account of our dififerent situations, by reason of which I should notice 
 only a few of the principal things in the president's speech, deliv- 
 ered to us the other day. Three things I have mentioned of the 
 introductory part of his speech. What other reply can we, your 
 brothers of the Five Nations, make to that introductory part of the 
 speech, than to thank him, and say that it has given a spring to 
 every passion of our souls ? 
 
 Brother : The president again observed to us that he wished 
 our minds might all be disposed to peace — that a happy peace 
 might be established between you and your brothers of the Five 
 Nations, so firmly that nothing might move it; that it might be 
 founded on a rock. This sentiment of your chief has given joy to 
 our hearts — to compare that peace to a rock which is immovable. 
 
 The president further observed to us that by our continuing to 
 walk in the path of peace, and hearkening to his counsel, we might 
 share with you in all the blessings of civilized life. This also meets 
 the approbation of our minds, and has the thanks of all your brotherg 
 of the Five Nations. 
 
 He again observed to us that if we attended to his counsel in this 
 matter, our children, and children's children, might partake in all 
 the blessings which should rise out of this earth. This has taken 
 hold of our minds, and even we who are grown up look forward and 
 anticipate its fulfilment. 
 
 The president again observed to us that what he had spoken was 
 in the sincerity of his heart, and that time and opportunities would 
 give further evidence that what he said was true. And we believed 
 
 1 The Indian name of Colonel Pickering. 
 
172 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 it, because we saw the words come from his own lips — and therefore 
 they were lodged deep in our mind. 
 
 The president of the Thirteen Fires, while continuing his speech, 
 made also this remark, " that in order to establish all his words for 
 the best good of your nation and our's, we must forget all the evils 
 that were past, and attend to what lies before us, and take such a 
 course as shall cement our peace, that we may be as one." 
 
 The president again observed that it had come to his ears that the 
 cause of the hosilities now prevailing with the Western Indians, 
 was their persuasion that the United States had unjustly taken away 
 their lands. But he assured us this was not the case. That it was 
 not the mind of any of his chiefs to take any land on the whole 
 island without agreeing for it. He then mentioned a treaty at Mus- 
 kingum, and he concluded that what land was given up at that treaty 
 was fairly obtained. 
 
 He also observed to us that it was his opinion that the hostile 
 Indians were in an error; that they had missed the true path; 
 whatever evil spirit, or whatever lies had turned them aside, he 
 wished they could be discovered, that they might be removed. He 
 expressed a strong wish that those obstacles to the extending of 
 peace to the westward might be discovered ; and he would use all 
 his exertions to remove them, that peace might be extended to the 
 whole island. — Toward the close of his speech the president informed 
 us that there were many things which concerned the future happi- 
 ness of the Five Nations, the concerting of which he should refer 
 to you^ here present, and the chief warrior of the United States. ^ 
 And at the close he observed that our professions of friendship and 
 regard were commonly witnessed by some token ; therefore, in the name 
 of the United States, he presented us with this white belt, which was to 
 be handed down from one generation to another, as a confirmation of his 
 words, and a witness of the friendly disposition of the United States, 
 towards the peace and happiness of the five confederated Nations. 
 
 Eed Jacket here laid aside the white belt received from 
 the president, and taking up a belt of their own, proceeded 
 as follows : 
 
 1 Pointing to Colonel Pickering. 
 
 2 General Knox, secretary at war. 
 
1792. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 173 
 
 Now let the president of tlie United States possess his mind in 
 peace. We have made but a short reply to his address to us the 
 other day, for the belt he gave us is deposited with us ; and we have 
 taken fast hold of it. What more can we say than to return our 
 united thanks for his address in welcoming us to the seat of the 
 great council, and for the advice he gave us? And our pleasure is 
 increased that you, Con-neh-sauty, are appointed to assist us in 
 devising the means to promote and secure the happiness of the Five 
 Nations. 
 
 Brother ! Now open your ears, as the representative of the 
 great council of the thirteen United States, in our present council. 
 Hear the words we may speak. And all here present, of the great 
 council,! and our brethren of the Five Nations hear ! — We consi- 
 der ourselves in the presence of the Great Spirit, the proprietor of 
 us all. 
 
 The president, in effect, observed to us that we of the Five 
 Nations were our own proprietors — were freemen, and might speak 
 with freedom. This has gladdened our hearts, and removed a 
 weight that was upon them. And therefore you will hear us 
 patiently while we speak. The president has, in effect, told us that 
 we were freemen ; the sole proprietors of the soil on which we live. 
 This is the source of the joy which we feel. How can two brothers 
 speak freely together, unless they feel that they are upon equal 
 ground ? 
 
 I observed to you, brother,'^ that our considering ourselves, by 
 your own acknowledgment, as freemen, has given this joy to our 
 hearts — that we might speak in character. Therefore, we join 
 with the president in his wish that all the evils which have hitherto 
 disturbed our peace may be buried in oblivion ; and this wish pro- 
 
 1 Some members of congress were present, of which the Indians had 
 been informed. 
 
 2 It should be borne in mind that the frequent use of the word brother is 
 the effect of the rules of Indian politeness, which enjoin, in all conversa- 
 tions, a constant remembrance of the relation subsisting between the par- 
 ties, especially where that relation implies any affection, or respect. It is 
 like the perpetual repetition, in civilized life, of «ir, or madam — or, in 
 England, your lordship. In the same manner the Indians, at every sen- 
 tence, repeat, my father, my uncle, my cousin, my brother, &c. 
 
174 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 ceeds from our hearts. Now we can speak our minds freely, as tliey 
 are free from pressure. 
 
 Now, brother, while you continue to hear in behalf of the United 
 States, let all here present also open their ears, while those of the 
 Five Nations here present speak with one voice. We wish to see 
 your words verified to our children, and children's children. You 
 enjoy all the blessings of this life; to you, therefore, we look to 
 make j^rovision that the same may be enjoyed by our children. 
 This wish comes from our heart ; but we add that our happiness 
 cannot be great if in the introduction of your ways we are put under 
 too much constraint. 
 
 Brother ! Appointed agent to converse with us upon the affairs 
 of our peace, continue to hear. We, your brothers of the Five 
 Nations, believe that the Great Spirit let this island drop down 
 from above. We also believe in his superintendency over this whole 
 island. It is he who gives peace and prosperity, and he also sends 
 evil. But j)rosperity has been yours. American brethren — all 
 the good which can spring out of this island you enjoy. We there- 
 fore wish that we and our children, and our children's children, 
 may partake with you in that enjoyment. 
 
 Brother ! I observed that the Great Spirit might smile upon 
 one people, and turn and frown upon another. This you have seen, 
 who are of one color and one blood. The king of England and 
 you Americans strove to advance your happiness by extending your 
 possessions upon this island, which produces so many good things. 
 And while you two great powers were thus contending for those 
 good things, by which the whole island was shaken and violently 
 agitated, is it strange that the peace of us, the Five Nations, was 
 shaken and overturned? 
 
 But, let me say no more of the trembling of our island. All is, 
 in a measure, now quieted. Peace is now restored. The peace of 
 us, the Five Nations, is now budding. But still there is some shak- 
 ing among the original Americans, at the setting sun ; and you the 
 Thirteen Fires, and the king of England, know what is our situa- 
 tion, and the causes of this disturbance. Now, here you have an 
 ambassador, 1 as we are informed, from the king of England. Let 
 
 ^Mr. Hammond was then the British envoy to the United States. 
 
1792. SA-ao-YE-wAT-HA, OR Eed Jacket. 175 
 
 him, in behalf of the king, and the Americans, adjust all their 
 matters, according to their agreement, at the making of peace — 
 and then you will soon see all things settled among the Indian 
 nations. Peace will be spread far and near. Let the president 
 and the ambassador use all their exertions to bring about this set- 
 tlement (according to the peace), and it will make us all glad, and 
 we shall consider both as our real friends. 
 
 Brother ! Continue to hear ! Be assured we have spoken from 
 our very hearts, and not from our lips only. Let us therefore 
 make this observation : That when you Americans and the king 
 made peace, he did not mention us, and showed us no compassion, 
 notwithstanding all he said to us, and all we had suffered This has 
 been the occasion of great sorrow and pain, and great loss to us, the 
 Five Nations. When you and he settled the peace between you 
 two great nations, he never asked us for a delegation to attend to 
 our interests. Had he done this, a settlement of peace among all 
 the western nations might have been effected. But the neglecting 
 of this, and passing us by unnoticed, has brought upon us great 
 pain and trouble. 
 
 Brother 1 It is evident that we of the Five Nations have suf- 
 fered much in consequence of the strife between you and the king 
 of England, who are of one color and one blood. Our chain of 
 peace has been broken. Peace and friendship have been chased 
 from us. But you Americans were determined not to treat us 
 in the same manner as we had been treated by the king of Eng- 
 land. You therefore desired us, at the reestablishment of peace, 
 . . to sit down at our ancient fire-places, and again enjoy our lands. 
 And had the peace between you and the king of England been 
 completely accomplished, ^ it would long before this time have ex- 
 tended far beyond the Five Nations. 
 
 Brother Con-neh-sauty : You are specially appointed with 
 G-eneral Knox to confer with us on our peace and happiness. We 
 have rejoiced in your appointment, and we hope that the great 
 warrior will remember that though a warrior^ he is to converse with 
 
 1 An allusion, probably, to the retention by Great Britain, of the north- 
 western posts, belonging to the United States, and to other diflficulties 
 under the first treaty. 
 
176 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 us ?ihont j^eace ; letting what concerns war sleep; and the counsel- 
 ling part of his mind, while acting with us, be of peace. 
 
 Brother ! Have patience, and continue to listen. The presi- 
 dent has assured us that he is not the cause of the hostilities now 
 existing at the westward, but laments it. Brother, we wish you to 
 point out to us of the Five Nations what you think is the real cause. 
 
 Brother ! Agent of the thirteen United States in the present 
 council : We now publicly return our thanks to the president and 
 all the counsellors of the thirteen United States, for the words 
 which he has spoken to us. They were good — without any mix- 
 ture. Shall we observe that he wished that if the errors of the 
 hostile Indians could be discovered, he would use his utmost exer- 
 tions to remove them ? 
 
 Brother ! You and the king of England are the two governing 
 powers of this island. What are we ? You both are important and 
 proud; and you cannot adjust your own affairs agreeably to your 
 declarations of peace. Therefore the western Indians are bewil- 
 dered. One says one thing to them, and one says another. Were 
 these things adjusted, it would be easy to diffuse peace every where. 
 
 In confirmation of our words, we give this belt, which we wish 
 the president to hold fast in remembrance of what we have now 
 spoken. 
 
 This speech was never hefore published.^ Its importance, 
 in several respects, requires a pause in the narrative for its 
 consideration. In the first place, if the orator was really 
 as desirous of peace and amity with the United States as 
 would appear from the language of the speech, the English 
 of&cers in Canada must have lost their hold upon his parti- 
 alities since the visit of Colonel Proctor to the frontier the 
 preceding year. In the second place, by bearing the 
 declarations of this speech in mind, the reader will here- 
 after perceive what an entire revolution was subsequently 
 wrought in the feelings of Eed Jacket, in regard to the 
 
 1 The author is indebted for the manuscript to Joseph W. Moulton, Esq., 
 who began writing a history of the state of New York some fifteen or 
 twenty years ago, but proceeded no farther than a single volume. 
 
1792. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 177 
 
 civilization of his people. But tlie most important portion 
 of the harangue refers to a prominent cause of the Indian 
 war then raging, which has thus far been but slightly con- 
 sidered, viz : The indifference with which the Indians had 
 been cut off, or passed over, by Great Britain, in the treaty 
 of peace. JTotwithstanding the loyalty of these untutored 
 sons of the forest, their constancy, and the prodigality with 
 which they had shed their blood in the cause of the crown, 
 when the ministers of that crown found it expedient to 
 negotiate for peace, no one condition or word was inter- 
 posed in behalf of allies thus faithful, and they were left 
 to shift for th emselves as best they might. In the impressive 
 language of Red Jacket, " the king showed them no com- 
 passion." They had been as dependent upon the crown as 
 children upon a parent; and being left to themselves, in a 
 state of war with the United States, although for a time 
 they desisted from actual hostilities, they knew not what 
 to do. In a word, to borrow another expressive phrase 
 from the Seneca orator, "they were bewildered." The 
 consequence was, that, distrusting the people with whom 
 they had so recently been at war, and neglected by those 
 in whom they had confided, and who ought to have stipu- 
 lated for an honorable peace for them, as well as for them- 
 selves, the poor Indians — children of ignorance, caprice, 
 and passion — were left to the resources of their own wild 
 natures, and the chances of fortune. [^Tor was this all : 
 When, from a variety of untoward circumstances, very 
 shortly after the conclusion of the treaty between the 
 United States and England, in 1783, the question of peace 
 or war again hung long and doubtfully in the scales, those 
 who ought to have been the best counsellors of the Indians 
 became their worst. They were encouraged again to 
 embark in a war, which, without the aid of England, even 
 the Indians themselves knew must be hopeless, and during 
 the continuance of that war, were " paltered with in ^ 
 
 23 
 
178 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 double sense ;" until, but for the humanity of those who, 
 though technically then their enemies, had from the first 
 been in reality their best friends, their race- would have 
 been annihilated.^ True indeed was the assertion of Ked 
 Jacket, that the Indians were the chief sufi*erers from the 
 " shaking of the island" by Great Britain and the United 
 States ; nor is it strange that in their forlorn situation, these 
 untutored and dependent tenants of the wood looked 
 anxiously to the united councils of the two white nations 
 with whom only they were acquainted, to adjust for them 
 the terms of peace. Red Jacket has told the story in the 
 preceding speech, with the simple and touching eloquence 
 of nature, and there it may be left. 
 
 On the 9th of April Colonel Pickering communicated 
 to the chiefs the propositions which had been matured by 
 the American government, as the basis of its labors in the 
 work of their civilization and social improvement. The 
 details of that project seem not to have been preserved. 
 The general scope of the plan may nevertheless be inferred 
 from the following stipulation, to which the president 
 asked the assent of the senate by a special message on the 
 23d of March : 
 
 The United States, in order to promote the happiness of the 
 Eive Nations of Indians, will cause to be expended, annually, the 
 amount of one thousand five hundred dollars, in purchasing for 
 them clothing, domestic animals, and implements of husbandry, and 
 for encouraging useful artificers to reside in their villages. 
 
 Perhaps a more accurate estimate of the propositions 
 submitted to the Indians may be formed by a perusal of 
 the annexed speech from Red Jacket, in which, while he 
 assents to the genex^al tenor of the overtures, he suggests 
 
 iFor an ample history of tbe matters here referred to, and documentary 
 proos of the truth of the positions here assumed, see Life of Brant, 
 vol. ii. 
 
1792. Sa-go-te-wat-ha, or Ebd Jacket. 179 
 
 J 
 
 some modifLcations and improvements. The Indians had 
 indeed been requested by Colonel Pickering to speak their 
 minds upon the propositions, and to propose for considera- 
 tion any alterations they should think proper. Accordingly, 
 at the next interview, which was on the 10th of April, 
 Red Jacket spoke the minds of the Senecas as follows : 
 
 Brother Con-neh-sauty : Yesterday, when you made your 
 proposals, tlie Oneidas accepted them, and thanked you. They 
 spoke for those Oneidas, Onondagas, and Tuscaroras who all lie 
 under one hlanketA We, the Senecas, have considered them, and 
 are now going to speak. 
 
 Yesterday, when you proposed four estabHshments, and that 
 there should be three men for each, you mentioned the rewards to 
 be given to a certain number who should learn quickest — of the 
 biggest nations, six — while those who could not learn fast must be 
 miserable. If you do right, you will give to all something to work 
 with as fast as they learn, so that all may be supplied ; otherwise a 
 strife will arise. But if all are to be supplied, all will be encour- 
 aged to learn. Another thing : a great many of our people are 
 poor women, who have no men in their families : now by supplying 
 others in the manner we have suggested, the fields of the poor may 
 be ploughed. This will rouse the minds of the whole nation to 
 learn what the white people know. 
 
 You told us if we liked what you said we should say so : If it 
 was deficient in any thing, we should tell what was wanting ; if 
 redundant, we should strike off. You mentioned the places for the 
 establishments — one was at Greneseo, and one at Oneida. We have 
 considered that at Oneida there are a great many people, Tuscaroras 
 and Oneidas, who can help one another ; and that at Greneseo there 
 are also Oneidas and Tuscaroras, who, being numerous, will want 
 one establishment for themselves. We wish you to use them as you 
 do the Senecas, that their minds may be easy. Perhaps they will 
 learn quicker, so as to desire two establishments at Greneseo. 
 
 You must not suppose that we slight any thing that you have 
 offered. We accept of all. It is all good. But we hope that 
 
 ^ Live in one neighborhood. 
 
180 The Life and Times op 1792. 
 
 you will not think of making establishments at Buffalo creek, or 
 Obeilstown,! at present. For there is some shaking^ at the extremity 
 of our house. 3 There may be some danger to the persons who might 
 be employed. 
 
 There is one thing which might be of great advantage to us, which 
 you have not mentioned : that is a saw-mill. This would help us 
 greatly. "We know the cause of Mr. Allen^s leaving our country.* 
 He told us the reason before he went away. And you and we all 
 know that his mill is over the line agreed upon last summer before 
 you, and he has gone away, he says, because he owns nothing. Allen 
 told us if General Washington would buy the mill, paying him just 
 what it cost, it might be ours, and be allowed to stand on our land. 
 And we should rejoice exceedingly if we could become the proprietors 
 of that mill. If General Washington would buy it and give it to 
 us, the superintendent might see to the appraisement of it. 
 
 You mentioned that this provision was for those of our nations 
 who live on this side of the lakes. But perhaps our brothers at 
 Grand river, when they see those things introduced among us, may 
 fall in love with them, and want to come and join us. We there- 
 fore wish that the plan may be so formed as to comprehend all. For 
 our peace is in a weak, languid condition, just expiring, and we 
 would avoid giving offence to any of our brothers. There are two 
 roads : perhaps they on the other side of the water^ may take our 
 road. Therefore we wish you to extend your invitation to the whole 
 
 1 O'Bail — the Cornplanter's town. 
 
 2 Trouble. 
 
 3 The border of their country. 
 
 ^Ebenezer Allen, a, tory, who fled from Pennsylvania and joined the 
 Senecas. He was a monster of iniquity, according to Mary Jemison, the 
 white woman, whose life contains a chapter devoted to him. After the 
 war he became a trader. He had several successive Indian wives, and 
 afterward married u white woman. He once drowned a Dutch trader, and 
 committed many other enormities. He built the first mill at the Genesee 
 falls, now Rochester, under the authority of Phelps and Gorham — they 
 having obtained a special grant of territory at that place, of the Indians, 
 twelve by twenty-four miles in extent, for "a mill-yard!" Allen ulti- 
 mately fled from the United States, and died at Grand river. 
 
 ^ Meaning the Indians at Grand river, in Upper Canada. 
 
1792* Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 181 
 
 Six Nations, and press tliem to join us when peace shall take place. 
 We shall desire the proposed establishments may be made at Buffalo 
 and Alleghany. 
 
 It was the custom of our fathers, when they had finished any par- 
 ticular business, to talk over affairs of general concern. Now we 
 wish congress to hasten to make peace with the hostile Indians 
 who are alongside of us. We both have our eyes to the place where 
 the trouble lies. This is all we have to say.i 
 
 This address has not been preserved because of its elo- 
 quence. It is a mere business recital, and claims no higher 
 character. But it forms a feature in the history of this 
 first effort to introduce the blessings of civilization among 
 the Six I'^ations, and it also serves to illustrate the views 
 entertained at that time by a notable chief, who subse- 
 quently became one of the most steady and implacable 
 opponents of that beneficent policy. It is therefore neither 
 a useless document, nor out of place in this connexion. 
 
 The speeches, or addresses, recited in the preceding 
 pages of the present chapter, had been interchanged before 
 the speech of Red Jacket in reply to that of the president 
 had been formally answered by Colonel Pickering, upon 
 whom the duty of making such answer had devolved. 
 The colonel discharged this duty at an interview, appointed 
 for the purpose, on the 17th day of April. Under ordinary 
 circumstances, involving matters of less importance, a 
 document of the length of Colonel Pickering's address, 
 instead of being inserted entire in the text, would have 
 been epitomized, or transferred to the appendix. But the 
 address is so closely interwoven with that benevolent fea- 
 ture of Washington's early Indian policy which contem- 
 plated their moral and social elevation, and passes in 
 review so many facts blended with the Indian relations 
 
 ' The author is indebted to the researches of Joseph W. Moulton, Esq., 
 for a copy of this speech. 
 
182 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 of the United States at the period under consideration, 
 that its insertion at length seems to be required. It serves 
 to elucidate, in language equally concise and clear, the 
 causes, and the merits, of the war then raging with the 
 north-western Indians, while it discloses, in refreshing 
 relief, the just and humane views of the president, and the 
 policy by which his administration was marked, in regard, 
 not only to the Six ISTations, but to the various tribes of the 
 aboriginal family within the confines of the republic. 
 
 The chiefs having assembled, and the council been opened 
 in due form on the day above stated. Colonel Pickering 
 addressed them as follows : 
 
 Brothers of the Five Nations : Some days ago you delivered 
 your answer to the president's speech. According to your custom, 
 you repeated the principal parts of it, and expressed your thanks 
 for the friendly sentiments it contained, which had made your hearts 
 glad. You rejoiced that the president considered you as freemen, 
 and desired you to speak with freedom; and then you joined with 
 the president in his wish that all the evils which had hitherto 
 disturbed our peace might be buried in oblivion. You declared 
 your belief that this island came from the Great Spirit, that you 
 considered yourselves as in his presence, and that he is the proprietor 
 of all. 
 
 Brothers ! We, your white brethren, have the same belief; as 
 He made^ so He governs the world. He has so disposed events that 
 we should meet at this place, to consult on those things which may 
 prove blessings to you and your posterity. We, your brethren of 
 the United States, rejoice that your hearts are thus inclined. Many 
 good men have wished to see such a day, when the knowledge pos- 
 sessed by the white people might be introduced among you, the 
 nations of this land. Such good men have long been searching, but 
 with small success, for a path by which this knowledge might be 
 carried amongst you. Now we think we have discovered the true 
 path ; and you begin to see it. But you must be very careful lest 
 you lose sight of it. Your nephews, the Stockbridge Indians, know 
 the path so well that they can now walk on boldly ) and the Oneidas 
 
1792. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 183 
 
 are following in their steps. By and by the path will be extended 
 through all your countries, and I hope to see it so plainly marked 
 that not one of all your nations shall miss it. 
 
 Brothers ! You not only see this path, but think it a good one ; 
 and therefore you express your wishes to see the president's words 
 verified to your children and children's children. You observed 
 that we enjoyed all the good things of this life, and that you looked 
 to us to make provision that the same might be enjoyed by your 
 children. But you desired that this might be done by degrees. 
 This is right. For you know when a traveler gets upon a new track 
 that he can but just discern, if he hurries along he will be in danger 
 of losing it altogether. 
 
 Brothers ! Some of you are grown old ; others are of my age } 
 and some are much younger. But even the oldest of you may see 
 many of your children walking in this new path. Look forward ten^ 
 fifteen, or twenty years; for many of us may live so long; and then 
 we may see our children meet together and speak with one tongue. 
 Or if i/our children are in i/our country, and om?'s are here, yet they 
 can then speak on paper, with the same ease and certainty as if they 
 stood face to face. 
 
 Brothers ! Does not this thought give you pleasure ? 
 
 Brothers ! You took notice of what the president said to you 
 relative to the war with the western Indians ; that he was not the 
 cause of it, but lamented it; and would be happy in the discovery 
 of the means by which peace could be restored. You then wished 
 me to point out to you what I thought was the real cause of the 
 war. 
 
 Brothers ! This perhaps would be a difficult task. We have 
 heard that the minds of the western Indians have been disturbed on 
 account of their lands, which at the treaty of peace with Great 
 Britain, fell within the boundary of the United States. But as it 
 has ever been our strong desire to establish peace, and to remove 
 every cause of jealousy and discontent — I now solemnly declare to 
 you that we claim none of those lands, except such of them as we 
 have purchased at treaties held with the Indians, who as owners, 
 undertook to sell them. All other lands of the Indians we renounce. 
 The president, with his own mouth, has made the same declaration ; 
 
184 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 and if you look into the. great parcliment wliich lie gave tlie Corn- 
 planter, you will see it under his hand. Let this be strongly im- 
 pressed on your mind. But I am informed that some of the western 
 Indians who joined with the British and took up the hatchet six- 
 teen years ago, have never laid it down to this day. Yet measures 
 were taken by congress for making peace with all the Indian nations, 
 — with those at the westward as well as with you : and runners were 
 sent at the same time to invite them to a treaty. The like invitation 
 has been several times renewed. But the Miami and Wabash. 
 Indians never would attend. The only nations at the westward who 
 have entered into treaties with us, are the Shawanese, about six years 
 ago, at a council fire at the mouth of the Miami, which runs into the 
 Ohio, and the Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, and Chippewas, who 
 attended the treaty at Fort Mcintosh, seven years ago, and ceded 
 part of their lands; and the Pottawattamies and Sacs, who, with the 
 Delawares, Wyandots, Ottawas, and Chippewas, attended the treaty 
 at Muskingum, about three years ago, when the treaty at Fort 
 Mcintosh was renewed and confirmed. About two years ago a fresh 
 messenger was sent to the hostile Indians, to invite them to a treaty 
 of peace : but they refused to come, and repeated their outrages with 
 increased violence. 
 
 Brothers ! It will surprise you to hear that these hostile Indians, 
 in their various incursions on our frontiers since we made peace with 
 the British, have killed upward of one thousand five hundred of our 
 •defenceless men, women and children ! I speak not of warriors; but 
 only of quiet, harmless people, who were following their peaceable 
 ^employments. Such is our information. After all these things could 
 we do otherwise than send armies into their country ? It is true we 
 have been unfortunate. But we are not discouraged, though we 
 desire to put an end to the war. For what good can arise from the 
 continuance of it ? We want nothing which belongs to the hostile 
 Indians. Why then should they continue their depredations ? If 
 any of them have made war on account of the lands purchased of 
 them since the peace made with the British, I can only say that the 
 great council of the United States appointed commissioners to treat 
 with them on that subject, and to give them a large quantity of 
 goods. A number of chiefs signed the deeds ; and from the reports 
 
1792. SA-ao-YE-WAT-HA, OR Eed Jacket. 185 
 
 of the commissioners it was supposed the lands were fairly obtained. 
 And in consequence thereof, large tracts have since been sold. Some 
 to the citizens of the United States, and some to the people of your 
 ancient father, the king of the French, who have gone and built 
 houses and planted corn in that country. Hence you see how difficult 
 it would be to restore that land to the Indians, even if those chiefs 
 who signed the deeds were not a complete representation of the na- 
 tions who owned the land. But there is one thing which the United 
 States, who desire nothing but what is just, will cheerfully do. 
 They will attentively hear the complaints of the western Indians ; 
 they will reexamine the treaties, and inquire into the manner in 
 which they were conducted ; and if the complaints of the western 
 Indians appear to be well founded, the United States will make 
 them ample compensation for their lands. They will do more. The 
 United States, so far from desiring to injure the western Indians, 
 would rather do them good; and cheerfully impart to them that 
 knowledge and those arts which you are now convinced will be so 
 beneficial to your nations, and which you have cordially agreed to 
 accept. 
 
 Brothers ! What are the obstacles to so much good ? Are they 
 not the jealousies and prejudices entertained by the western Indians 
 against the United States ? As though we wished for their destruc- 
 tion ; or if they had been wronged, that we were determined never to 
 do what was right. But these obstacles would vanish, if we could 
 persuade them to come near enough to hear our voice. For they 
 would soon find it to be the voice of justice, kindness, and peace. 
 
 Brothers ! You have a regard to the people of your own color, 
 and you are the friends of the United States. Perhaps as friends 
 to both parties, you may have it in your power, and be disposed to 
 speak to the western Indians, to convince them that war is not neces- 
 sary to enable them to obtain justice ; and that the United States 
 have no desire to revenge the injuries they have received. 
 
 Brothers ! Some of you were once our enemies : but now you 
 are our friends ; and you have strong proof of the kindness of our 
 hearts toward you. In like manner let peace take place with the 
 western Indians, and they will immediately find us equally kind to 
 them. 
 
186 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 Brothers ! Perhaps some of the western Indians liave never yet 
 distinctly heard our voice inviting them to peace. Possibly our 
 white runners did not go near enough to make them all hear } or 
 perhaps the noise of the guns prevented their hearing. But it may 
 be in your power to go among them and put your voice directly into 
 their ears. 
 
 Brothers ! I mention this matter to you, because it is important 
 to us, your friends, and to the people of your own color. If you please 
 you can consider of it. But you are perfectly free to speak and to 
 act according to your own judgment. 
 
 Brothers! You mentioned some other things in your speech, 
 which I have duly attended to ; but it would be tedious to repeat 
 them all. However, as you referred to the treaty of peace made 
 between us and the British, and gave your opinion, that if all the 
 articles of it were completely fulfilled, the difficulties with the western 
 Indians would cease 'A I will just observe, that although every thing 
 in that treaty is not accomplished, yet the peace between us and the 
 British is not thereby disturbed. "We constantly trade together, 
 and maintain a friendly intercourse with each other ; and all remain- 
 ing differences will doubtless be quietly settled. This being the 
 case, those must be bad people who make a handle of those differ- 
 ences to encourage the Indians to war. Such bad men, what- 
 ever may be their pretences, are equally enemies to the Indians and 
 to us. 
 
 To tliis mse and conciliatory speech, breathing through- 
 out a spirit of benevolence and justice, the two chiefs, 
 Farmer's Brother and Red Jacket, rejoined in succession, 
 and at the same interview — a circumstance rather remarka- 
 ble in Indian diplomacy. Farmer's Brother spoke as fol- 
 lows ; first to his own people : 
 
 Brothers or the Pive Nations, attend while I address my- 
 self in your presence to my Brother Con-neh-sauty, the representa- 
 tive on this occasion, of the thirteen United States. 
 
 iThis was the opinion of Fisher Ames. See his masterly speech upon 
 the question of ratifying Mr. Jay's treaty. 
 
1792. SA-ao-YE-WAT-HA, OR Eed Jacket. 187 
 
 Turning tTien to Colonel Pickering, be proceeded : 
 
 Brother ! You liave this day spoken to us. Your speech has 
 been long. As a part of it referred to what you had before commu- 
 nicated to us at large, we shall not now make any reply. But in 
 the close of your talk to us, you mentioned one subject of great 
 importance, which related to the state of the hostile Indians toward 
 the setting sun. You gave us your opinion of the causes of their 
 being in a hostile state; we shall now assign some reasons, as they 
 lie in our minds. 
 
 Brother ! You desired us to speak our minds freely upon this 
 subject, as we were a free and independent people. We thank you 
 for the declaration. We shall do it. Your brothers of the Five 
 Nations have been exceedingly distressed in their minds since your 
 peace with the British, that things at the westward were not settled 
 to your satisfaction. We shall now assign but a few of the princi- 
 pal reasons of the hostilities in that quarter; for there will be no 
 time to descend to all the particulars. 
 
 Brother ! Continue to hear us. It is true there was a treaty 
 held at Fort Mcintosh, where were a few deputies from several 
 nations composed of such as were hunting round in the bush ; and 
 not of the real chiefs, i About a year after this, a large delegation 
 of the Five Nations went into the Shawanese country, where a great 
 council was called, from all the nations in that quarter. After some 
 time spent in counselling, and it being difficult to continue longer in 
 so great a body, for want of provisions ; the warriors went out to 
 get something to season their broth, and to cover their feet. At 
 
 1 Tkis treaty was negotiated by Gen. St. Clair, in 1785. The Indians 
 ever afterward, as well the nations said to have been represented, as 
 the Six Nations, contended that it was not the result of a fair negotiation, 
 in other words, as Farmer's Brother maintained, they held that the 
 nations concerned were not properly represented, and they therefore con- 
 tended that the treaty was not binding. It had doubtless been the policy 
 of the Indians, both the Six Nations and those of the north-west, to act 
 together in one grand confederacy, but General St. Clair availed himself 
 of a moment of jealousy between them, and dexterously contrived to 
 institute separate negotiations. Still the great body of the Indians were 
 never satisfied with that procedure. See letter of Gen. St. Clair to the 
 president. — Indian State Papers, vol. i. p. 10-11, 
 
188 The Life and Times of 1792, 
 
 tlie same time some runners were sent out to call in distant nations. 
 And beliold ! at this juncture, the Big Knife came into their country 
 to the very town where they were assembled, and took and destroyed 
 the town, killed all the old chiefs, and extinguished the council-fire. 
 This happened but one season after the treaty held at Fort Mcin- 
 tosh. I say that this extinguished the council-fire, which was then 
 kindled for the purpose of a general peace. For, shocking to tell ! 
 the Big Knife killed the old chief who had then in his hands the 
 treaty of Fort Mcintosh, and the flag of the United States then 
 received. Hence we conceive that the Virginians themselves at that 
 time broke the peace. ^ 
 
 After this, we of the Five Nations, and Delawares, and others, 
 moved the council-fire to the place called the Standing Stone. And 
 we, your brothers of the Five Nations, endeavored to quiet their 
 disturbed minds, speaking to them of the disaster which had befallen 
 them. 
 
 Now at this removed council-fire, the 'V\''yandot and Delawares 
 replied to us of the Five Nations, in the following manner : 
 
 See, Brothers ! While you are kindling these council-fires in the 
 bushes, evil has come upon us. We expected it would be so ; and 
 we therefore must blame you, for having so much confidence in the 
 Big Knife. Moreover, we must thank you that you have come 
 
 1 It is dijB&cult to ascertain with certainty to what transaction the speaker 
 here refers. But it is most likely he was speaking of a friendly town of 
 Indians, called the Piankeshaws, liring upon the Wabash. In a report 
 upon the Indian relations of the country, by General Knox, secretary of 
 war, to the president, dated June 15, 1789, it is remarked that since the 
 conclusion of the revolutionary war, in 1783, the United States had formed 
 no treaties with the Indians of the Wabash country, and that hostilities 
 had almost constantly existed between the people of Kentucky and the 
 said Indians. " The injuries and murders," said the secretary, '^ have been 
 so reciprocal, that it would be a point of critical investigation to knoio on which 
 side they have been the greatest^ The secretary added, "Some of the 
 inhabitants of Kentucky, during the past year (1788), roused by recent 
 injuries, made an invasion into the Wabash country, and, possessing an 
 equal aversion to all bearing the name of Indians, they destroyed a 
 number of peacable Piankeshaws, who prided themselves on their attach- 
 ment to the United States." Is it cause of wonder, then, that the less 
 enlightened savages, who were liable to such treatment, should look upon 
 " all the whites with equal aversion?" 
 
1792. SA-ao-YE-WAT-HA, OR Hed Jacket. 189 
 
 so far into our country, and are now at the place where the ancient 
 oouncil-fire was kindled, the light of which reached to the clouds, and 
 was seen bj all the Five Nations. We are glad that you still talk 
 to us upon the subject of a general peace, and that we should still 
 use our endeavors to effect it among all the Indian nations in this 
 quarter. 
 
 Our elder brother, the Mohawk, then spoke, and gave them great 
 thanks, that they would still endeavor to establish peace, and pro- 
 mised to write the congress on the subject. 
 
 Brother ! The Five Nations were the cause of the attendance 
 on the treaty at the falls of Muskingum. Some of us went by fort 
 Pitt, to take all in that route. These first arrived at Muskingum. 
 Another party went by Detroit, to bring all from that quarter. At 
 length, when we had arrived at the place called the High hills, it 
 was determined that a runner should be sent to Muskingum to know 
 the business of the treaty. Accordingly, Captain David, of the 
 Mohawk nation, who is since dead, was chosen for this purpose. 
 
 When the runner went to the place (which was at the mouth of 
 the Muskingum) and was returning, he met the main body at the 
 falls (which was about half way), going on to the council fire. 
 Captain David brought back a large piece of writing. And when it 
 was read (as it was by Brant), all that it spoke was in regard to 
 their lands ; and they found that all the commissioner wanted was 
 to get their lands. This disturbed all their minds — when they 
 found all that was wanted was to get their lands — and it shocked 
 the minds of the Five Nations. 
 
 All the Indians then went back, except the Senecas, and one out 
 of each other of the Five Nations, and some of the Delawares and 
 Wyandots. These went on to the council fire of the commissioner, 
 because it had been burning all the season, waiting for them. Here 
 their minds were made uneasy, because the commissioner marked 
 out their lands as he saw fit, and just told them what he did, saying, 
 " I am going to have so much." The Five Nations tried to assist 
 those nations, but could not. For the commissioner said, I have 
 nothing to do with you, the Five Nations, but only with these other 
 nations who own the lands. Then our minds sank within us, and 
 we said no more. 
 
190 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 Then tlie commissioner marked off big pieces, describing tbem, 
 and said, so mncb I must have. The nations meant to have the line 
 run along the heads of l,he small creeks, running into the Alle- 
 ghany 3 but the commissioner said that was not enough, but that he 
 wanted the line to run so far back as to go upon the heads of the 
 waters running into lake Erie; and he extended it accordingly 
 toward the Mississippi. 
 
 Brother ! You said perhaps the voice of the runner of the United 
 States had not gone near enough to the western Indians for them to 
 hear it. This was the case. 
 
 Brother ! You desired us to speak our minds freely upon this 
 subject, to wit: the causes of the uneasiness among the western 
 Indians. We have now candidly related to you from step to step 
 these facts ; which from small beginnings have increased to an ex- 
 tensive breach of our peace. 
 
 Brother 1 Possess your mind in peace. This matter does not 
 immediately concern us — but you desired us to speak. 
 
 The Farmer's Brotlier having ended, Eed Jacket rose 
 and spoke as follows : 
 
 Brother Con-neh-sauty, who have been appointed by the 
 president to represent the United States in the business on which 
 we were invited, now attend ! 
 
 You spoke to us on our first arrival; and a few days since you 
 opened the whole business which respects our national happiness. 
 After this, you adverted to the troubled state of the nations at the 
 westward ; and mentioned what you supposed were the causes of 
 those troubles among the various nations in that quarter ; and you 
 desired us to speak our minds freely on this subject. 
 
 Brother : You have heard the two principal causes of those 
 troubles. Those two causes, as we apprehend, were these — the 
 destroying of the town by Big Knife, and killing the old man, while 
 the nations were met counselling for peace ; and the smallness of 
 the number who attended the treaty at Muskingum, and the affair 
 of the lands. For we, the Five Nations, had to give up our judg- 
 ments to what the commissioner dictated, and that was the reason 
 there were so many names to the writing. 
 
1792. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, oe Red Jacket. 191 
 
 Brother : You liave now heard tlie causes of the uneasiness, 
 among the western Indians ; you said you wished to know the causes 
 of those hostilities, that you might remove them. Here they are, 
 as we consider them. Now it is our wish that the president and 
 congress would exert themselves to remove them. You have mani- 
 fested a desire to put the burthen of bringing you and the western 
 Indians together, upon our shoulders ; but it is too heavy for us 
 to bear without your assistance. 
 
 Brother : Continue to hear ! We are not able to go forward with 
 this great business alone. Therefore, if you earnestly wish for the 
 restoration of peace as your words have expressed, let us have some 
 assistance. Let there be one voice between you and the British^ 
 who are by our fireside, to effect this object. True, you have drawn 
 a line between them and you; and the line comes near to us. Bufc 
 we think you are too proud to act together upon this business. And 
 unless you go to the western Indians, how will you convince them 
 that you mean to do them justice? 
 
 Brother : We of the Five Nations have not settled all the affairs 
 pertaining to our peace — and it will give great joy to our minds if 
 you can extend peace to the western nations. What we have pro- 
 posed, we think would be a healing medicine. Therefore, when we 
 have completed our business with you, we shall be glad to communi- 
 cate this to the people of our color to the westward. 
 
 Brother : While you are yet hearing, let us remind you of your 
 own words — " verily you must love those of your own color : and we 
 believe also that you are friends to us.^' 
 
 Brother: You have spoken truly: we do love both — we also 
 love our common peace. Therefore have we thus advised to this 
 healing medicine, which, alone, we think, will complete a cure of all 
 the wounds. 
 
 Brother : This is all we have now to say. You see that it is a 
 pleasant day; an emblem of the pleasure and joy now diffused 
 through all here present, for indeed it has been a counselling day — 
 a day of business. 
 
 The consultations being about to close, on the 25tb of 
 April the president transmitted to the chiefs the annexed 
 farewell address : 
 
192 The Life and Times op 1792. 
 
 My Children of the Five Nations ! You were invited here 
 at my request, in order that measures should be concerted with you, 
 to impart such of the blessings of civilization, as may at present suit 
 your condition, and give you further desires to improve your own 
 happiness. 
 
 Colonel Pickering has made the particular arrangements with you 
 to carry into execution these objects — all of which I hereby approve 
 and confirm. 
 
 And in order that the money necessary to defray the annual 
 expenses of the arrangements which have been made, should be 
 provided permanently, I now ratify an article which will secure the 
 yearly appropriation of the sum of one thousand five hundred dollars, 
 for the use and benefit of the Five Nations — the Stockbridge Indians 
 included. 
 
 The United States having received and provided for you as for a 
 part of themselves, will, I am persuaded, be strongly and gratefully 
 impressed on your minds, and those of all your tribes. 
 
 Let it be spread abroad among all your villages, and throughout 
 your land, that the United States are desirous not only of a general 
 peace with all the Indian tribes, but of being their friends and pro- 
 tectors. 
 
 It has been my direction, and I hope it has been executed to your 
 satisfaction, that during your residence here you should be well fed, 
 well lodged, and well clothed, and that presents should be furnished 
 to your wives and families. 
 
 I partake of your sorrow on account that it has pleased the Great 
 Spirit to take from you two of your number by death, since your resi- 
 dence in this city.i I have ordered that your tears should be wiped 
 away according to your custom, and that presents should be sent to 
 the relations of the deceased. 
 
 Our lives are all in the hands of our Maker, and we must part 
 
 iQne of the chiefs to -whose decease General Washington here referred 
 was Peter Jaquette, a leading sachem of the Oneidas, who died on the 19th 
 of March, soon after the deputation arrived in Philadelphia. Peter had 
 been taken to France by the Marquis de la Fayette (on that nobleman's 
 return home after the close of the revolutionary war), where he received 
 an education. The Pennsylvania Gazette of that day thus described the 
 funeral of the chief: "His funeral was attended from Oder's hotel to 
 
1792. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 193 
 
 witt tliem whenever lie shall demand them — and the survivors must 
 submit to events they cannot prevent. 
 
 Having happily settled all your business, and being about to 
 return to your own country, I wish you a pleasant journey, and that 
 you may safely return to your families, after so long a journey, and 
 find them in good health. 
 
 Given under my hand, at the city of Philadelphia, this twenty- 
 fifth day of April, 1792. 
 
 (Signed) Geo. Washington. 
 
 The conferences were j&nally closed on the 30th •of April, 
 to the mutual satisfaction of both parties. The chiefs 
 had not only agreed to try^ with their people, to become 
 civilized, but had likewise stipulated to send a strong 
 deputation to their brethren in the Miami country, for the 
 purpose of bringing them, if possible, into a more pacific 
 disposition. Colonel Pickering delivered a parting speech 
 to them, embracing their instructions as to their contem- 
 plated mission. The hostile Indians had imbibed the idea, 
 or rather it had been insinuated into their minds by the offi- 
 cers of the British Indian service in Upper Canada, that the 
 United States were claiming the fee of their whole domain 
 south of the great lakes, and east of the Mississippi. Of this 
 idea Ked Jacket and his associates were charged to disa- 
 buse them, and to show them by maps with which they 
 were provided, that the United States claimed no farther 
 nor other portions of the soil than were comprehended in 
 the several purchases actually made by treaty, including, of 
 course, the treaties of Fort Mcintosh and Fort Harmar, 
 
 the Presbyterian burying ground in Mulberry street. The corpse was 
 preceded by a detachment of the light infantry of the city, with arms 
 reversed, drums muffled, and the music playing a solemn dirge. The 
 corpse was followed by six of the chiefs as mourners, succeeded by all the 
 Tiarriors ; the reverend clergy of all denominations; secretary of war, and 
 the gentlemen of the war department ; officers of the federal army, and of 
 the militia; and a number of citizens." 
 
 25 
 
194 The Life and Times op 1792. 
 
 or Muskingum. But it should here be remembered that 
 the Indians invariably protested against the fairness and 
 validity of the two last mentioned treaties ; and were then 
 in arms to compel the United States to regard the Ohio as 
 their actual western boundary. ^Nevertheless, the chiefs 
 departed in good spirits, and great hopes were entertained 
 that their western mission would be attended by auspicious 
 results.^ 
 
 The members of this deputation arrived at Buffalo creek 
 early in June ; but * although returning with the most 
 amicable^feelings themselves, their people were found in a 
 very different condition of temper. Many of the young 
 Seneca warriors were among the hostile Indians ; but it 
 appeared that the commander of Fort Jefferson had suc- 
 ceeded in winning Some of them to the cause of the United 
 States, and a scout of the hostile Indians had been cut off 
 by their assistance. This affair had caused great uneasi- 
 ness among the Six Nations, and their resentment against 
 the commander of Fort Jefferson was kindled to exaspera- 
 
 ilt was during this visit to Philadelphia that General Washington pre- 
 sented Red Jacket with the large silver medal, bearing his likeness, which, 
 the chief always wore on state occasions until his decease. To the mind 
 of Red Jacket there was something symbolical in this medal. Its oostly 
 material was emblematical of the friendship which was ever to subsist be- 
 tween the United States and the Indians ; while its brightness indicated 
 the unsullied purity of the peace between his own people and the whites. 
 Its pure surface would show the slightest tarnish which might accidentally 
 come upon it; and both parties, the giver and receiver, could then set to 
 work to remove the stain. Upon his death, the medal fell into the hands 
 of James Johnson, his successor in the sachemship. Other medals are said 
 to be in existence, each purporting to be the genuine Red Jacket medal. 
 Possibly copies of it may have been made when it was at one time or another 
 in pawn in the hands of those to whom Red Jacket had pledged it for 
 whiskey. None of these copies, however, were ever owned by Red Jacket 
 himself. The original medal, from which the fac simile on the opposite 
 page was made, is now (1865) owned by Mr. E. S. Parker — an educated 
 Seneca Indian, and, at present, military secretary to Lieutenant General 
 Grant. 
 
o 
 
 
1792. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 197 
 
 tion, because, as they alleged, '^he had excited some of 
 their thoughtless young men to strike the tomahawk into 
 the heads of their brothers." Old Fish Carrier, the prin- 
 cipal chief of the Cayugas, and a man of great consideration 
 among his nation, was for a time after this occurrence 
 exceedingly disaffected ; as indeed were the whole Cayuga 
 and Seneca nations. Being advised of this critical state of 
 things. General Chapin, the ef&cient and influential agent 
 for the Six J^ations, whose residence was at Canandaigua, 
 hastened to Buffalo creek, and by much exertion succeeded 
 in allaying the anger of the Cayuga chief, and tranquilizing 
 the minds of the Indians. Such indeed was the change 
 wrought in the mind of the Fish Carrier, that he promised 
 to recall those of his warriors who had joined the hostiles.^ 
 He also acceded to the measure of sending the proposed 
 deputation of chiefs to the Miami country ; but owing to 
 the extreme deliberation of their movements, their frequent 
 counselling, and their dilatory manner of conducting busi- 
 ness, the messengers did not depart westward until the 
 
 Soon after the arrival of the chiefs, General Knox directed a military 
 suit of clothes to be delivered to each of them, including a cocked hat, &c., 
 as worn by the officers of the army. When Red Jacket's suit was tendered 
 to him, he requested the bearer to inform General Knox that he could not 
 consistently wear the dress, because he was a sachem — a civil officer — 
 and not a war-chief. He therefore requested that a different suit might be 
 given to him, more suitable to his station. Still he insisted on keeping the 
 military clothes until the other dress was provided for him. But when the 
 plain dress was brought, and the regimentals asked for in exchange, he 
 declined delivering them up — coolly remarking that although as a sachem 
 he could not wear a military uniform in time of peace, yet in the time of 
 war the sachems joined the warriors, and he would therefore keep it until 
 a war should break out, when he could assume it with entire propriety. — 
 Manuscripts of Thomas Morris. Red Jacket had two brothers upon this 
 deputation, viz: Sa-o-nish-shon-wa (a great breath), and Sos-son-do-e-wa 
 (a great darkness). — Old manuscript of Colonel Pickering. 
 
 1 Letter from General Israel Chapin to the secretary at war. — Indian State 
 Papers, p. 241. 
 
198 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 middle of September. Yet these delays arose from no 
 farther reluctance on the part of the Indians to enter upon 
 the mission. The deportment of the federal government 
 toward them, and the agreeable manner in which they 
 had passed their time in Philadelphia, had completely won 
 their friendship — even that of the dissembling Red Jacket, 
 who never afterward gave any good reason for doubting 
 his constancy upon that point. He was himself one of the 
 deputation which proceeded to the west, as also was the 
 Cornplanter. 
 
 Meantime, justly appreciating his great talents, and 
 reckoning much upon his influence among the north- 
 western tribes, the government of the United States, by 
 much exertion, had succeeded, after the departure of the 
 Seneca delegation, in persuading Joseph Brant, the Mo- 
 hawk chief, and the war-captain of the whole Iroquois 
 confederacy, to visit Philadelphia, for the purpose, if possi- 
 ble, of despatching him also to the Miami country as a 
 messenger of peace. Braiit did not leave Upper Canada, 
 to visit the seat of the American government, without 
 encountering much opposition from Sir John Johnson and 
 other officers in the British service. But he nevertheless 
 performed the journey, was respectfully received by the 
 federal authorities at Philadelphia, and was ultimately 
 induced to undertake the western mission. Taking Grand 
 river in the way on his return, he was prostrated by a fit of 
 sickness, and rendered unable, during that season, to fulfil 
 his engagement. 
 
 iSTor at that time, probably, would a visit, even from him, 
 have been attended by any particular benefit. The hostile 
 Indians were met in council by Eed Jacket and his associ- 
 ates at the Au Glaize, on the Miami river of lake Erie, 
 but were found in a most implacable humor. In his 
 anxiety for a pacification, the president had sent other 
 messengers of peace to traverse the Wabash country. 
 
1792. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 199 
 
 among whom were the Rev. Mr. Heckewelder, General 
 Rufus Putnam, Colonel Hardin, Major Trueman, and 
 another officer named Freeman. The last mentioned three 
 of these messengers had been intercepted and murdered. 
 The hostile council was large, and no white man was ad- 
 mitted to its deliberations, save the noted Simon Girty, 
 whom, at the expense of their own character, the Wyan- 
 dots considered as one of themselves. The Shawanese 
 were the only speakers on the side of the hostile chiefs, 
 and Red Jacket alone was permitted to open his lips 
 in behalf of the pacificators.^ The following passage 
 from the address of the Shawanese to the Six ^tsTations 
 sufficiently illustrates the temper by which they were then 
 governed : 
 
 Eldest Brothers ! You come to us with your opinion, and the 
 voice of the United States. It is your mind to put an end to all 
 hostilities. Brothers ! now we will relate what took place last fall 
 in our country. General Washington sent an army into our country, 
 which fell into our hands. Their orders were thus : to proceed into 
 our country as far as the Miami towns, to the Glaize; thence to 
 Detroit, but not to molest the king's people; and if the army should 
 meet any people that appeared friendly, to leave them behind their 
 backs without harm. 
 
 The president of the United States must well know why the blood 
 is so deep in our paths. We have been informed that he has sent 
 messengers of peace on these bloody roads, who fell on the way.2 
 And now, as he knows that road to be bloody, no communication 
 can take place through that bloody way, as there is a path through 
 the Six Nations' country, which is smooth and easy. If he wants 
 to send the voice of peace, it must come through that road. 
 
 Elder Brothers ! We have been informed the president of the 
 
 I Letter from the secrelq,ry at war to the president, Dec. 6, 1792. See 
 Indian State Papers^ p. 322. 
 
 =* Alluding to the murders of Hardin, Trueman, and Freeman, as just 
 mentioned in the text. 
 
200 The Life and Times of 1792. 
 
 United States thinks himself the greatest man on this island. We 
 had this country long in peace before we saw any person of a white 
 skin. We consider the people of the white skin the younger. 
 
 There were no stenographers present at that council, and 
 it is therefore impossible to report as to the manner in 
 which Eed Jacket acquitted himself. Eut as he was the 
 only speaker in the cause of peace, he doubtless partici- 
 pated in the debates often. The result was a stipulation 
 for an armistice during the winter, and for the holding of 
 a treaty with the United States at the Miami rapids in the 
 ensuing spring, " at any time after the leaves were out." 
 But as a basis of the negotiation they insisted sturdily upon 
 the status quo ante hellirn^ — contending that they had still a 
 claim upon a portion of the territory east of the Ohio, and 
 that under no circumstances would they consent to any 
 farther western boundary than the line of that river. Such 
 was the determination of which Red Jacket and his asso- 
 ciates were the bearers on their return. A report of the 
 whole procedure, drawn up in the Indian style, was for- 
 warded to the president, accompanied by an address from 
 the Six l^ations, praying the government of the United 
 States to commission messengers to treat upon the basis 
 proposed. They besought the president to send agents 
 "who were men of honesty, not proud land-jobbers, but 
 men who loved and desired peace." They also suggested 
 that the agents should be " attended by some friend or 
 quaker" — a proposition which, as will presently appear, 
 was adopted.^ 
 
 The deputation returned to Buffalo creek about the 
 
 1 The report of this deputation, as returned in form, and rendered into 
 English by Mr. Parish, the interpreter, is a curious document. See Appen- 
 dix, [A.] The council at the Glaize was very large, including representa- 
 tions from thirty-seven nations beyond the Canadian territory — as also, 
 chiefs from the Gora country, who were occupied the whole season in 
 travelling thither. 
 
1792. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, ob Eed Jacket. 201 
 
 middle of November, and the results of their mission were 
 forwarded to Philadelphia, by Mr. Jasper Parish, the inter- 
 preter. Red Jacket was desirous of visiting Philadelphia 
 as the bearer of despatches himself, but considerations of 
 economy induced General Chapin, the Indian agent, to 
 dissuade him from that purpose — a circumstance which 
 was regretted by the secretary at war.^ 
 
 The armistice for which the Miamis and Shawanese had 
 stipulated was not very rigidly observed. The paths were 
 not only made bloody by frequent murders, but at least 
 one sharp and considerable action was fought, late in the 
 fall, between an army of Indians and a detachment of 
 Kentucky volunteers, commanded by Major Adair, in 
 which the former were rather checked than defeated. 
 
 The reply of the president to this proposition of the hos- 
 tile Indians was by them considered evasive, and created 
 great dissatisfaction. They even charged the delegates 
 from the Six ISTations with not having advised the Ame- 
 rican government, in good faith, of their exact determina- 
 tion. The consequence was the convocation of another 
 council of the belligerent confederates, in which they 
 reiterated the conditions upon which only they would agree 
 to treat, in more positive language than before ; and they 
 admonished the president to send forward no commis- 
 sioners, unless prepared to negotiate upon the prescribed 
 basis. Commissioners were, nevertheless, appointed, who 
 proceeded by the way of Albany to Niagara, and thence to 
 Sandusky, to meet the Indians at Au Glaize. Moved by 
 the benevolence of their principles, the quakers, likewise, 
 of Pennsylvania, spontaneously, and before the desire to 
 that effect, of the Six Nations, was known to them, ap- 
 pointed a deputation from their pacific order, to proceed 
 to Detroit and exert their influence in the cause of peace. 
 
 1 Letter of General Knox to the president. 
 
 26 
 
202 The Life and Times of 1794. 
 
 Eoth commissions were alike inaffective.^ The Indians 
 gathered at the Au Glaize in great numbers, and in the 
 worst possible hnmor. And although the greatest chief- 
 tain of their race, in modern times, Joseph Brant, was 
 there, and exerted himself to the utmost to accomplish a 
 general pacification, the effort was unavailing. The Indians 
 would not relax one iota from their original determination 
 to make the Ohio the ultima ihule of white possession and 
 civihzation. The commissioners could of course entertain 
 no such proposition, and after nearly the entire year had 
 been consumed, they returned from their bootless errand. 
 Meantime, after the defeat of St. Clair, the command of the 
 army had been confided to General Wayne, who evinced 
 the utmost energy in its reorganization. He was already 
 in the Indian country, at the time when the negotiation 
 failed, and immediately thereafter preparations were made 
 for opening another campaign, on the return of spring, 
 (1794), with all the vigor the government could put forth. 
 That campaign was short and brilliant. After several 
 rather severe affairs in the early part of the summer, the 
 fierce battle fought by Wayne, at the rapids of the Miamis, 
 on the 20th of August, crowned by a signal victory, put an 
 end to hostilities. This battle was not fought against the 
 Indians alone. They were assisted by " a naixed multitude" 
 of tories and refugees from the United States ; half-breeds, 
 French and English fur-traders, and others, residing at 
 Detroit and in the wild regions beyond. The action was, 
 moreover, fought almost under the guns of a British fort, 
 which the assurance of G-overnor Sinclair had caused to be 
 erected thus far within the territory of the United States, 
 
 iThe commissioners appointed by the government were General Benja- 
 min Lincoln, Beverly Randolph, and Colonel Timothy Pickering. The 
 Quaker gentlemen deputed upon the mission were John Parish, William 
 Savary, and John Elliott, of Philadelphia ; Jacob Lindley, of Westchester 
 county ; and Joseph Moore and William Hartshorne, of New Jersey. 
 
1794. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 203 
 
 and between the commander of wMcli and General Wayne 
 a sharp correspondence ensued. The American general 
 was so greatly exasperated at the conduct of the British 
 officers and agents in that quarter, that he could scarcely 
 desist from laying siege to the fort itself. There were 
 several skirmishes between scouting parties, after the 
 battle — affording Wayne an excuse to lay waste the coun- 
 try of the Miamis, which was well cultivated for the distance 
 of 'Mty miles. Colonel M'Kee, an influential officer in the 
 British Indian department, had extensive possessions there, 
 which were ravaged and his buildings laid in ashes. Wayne 
 continued to occupy the country for a whole year after- 
 ward, at the close of which the definitive treaty of G-reen- 
 ville was concluded with the Indians, which was of a 
 character perfectly agreeable to the United States. 
 
[204] 
 
 CHAPTER y. 
 
 Farther difl&culties with the Six Nations, occasioned by Pennsylvania — 
 Great Council at Canandaigua — Troubles of the Oneidas — Description 
 of the Gathering — Opening of the Grand Council — Ceremonies of Con- 
 dolement — Visit of Jemima Wilkinson — Speeches in Council — Jemima 
 speaks — Speech of the women to Colonel Pickering — Presence of a 
 supposed spy — His dismissal — Correspondence concerning him — News 
 of Wayne's victory — Its effect upon the Indians — Difficulties and jeal- 
 ousies among the Indians themselves — Colonel Pickering determines to 
 bring them to a decision — Indians appeal to the Quakers — Speech of 
 Red Jacket to them, and also to Colonel Pickering in Council — Farther 
 proceedings — Difficulties with Cornplanter — Conclusion of the Treaty 
 — Dissolution of the Council — Excellent conduct of the Quakers — 1794. 
 
 The termination of the war between the United States 
 and the north-western Indians was mentioned at the close of 
 the preceding chapter, in anticipation of the regular his- 
 torical progress of these memoirs. But the name of the 
 Seneca orator, Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, does not occur in connec- 
 tion with that war, or with any other public event during 
 the year 1793. In February of the next year (1794), he 
 was present at a council convened at Buffalo creek, at the 
 instance of the federal government, for the purpose of yet 
 farther conciliating the good feelings of the Senecas and 
 Cayugas. The waywardness of the Indian character is 
 such, and the desire of their young men is always so strong 
 to be upon the war-path at every opportunity, that the 
 most assiduous and watchful exertions were constantly 
 necessary to keep the Senecas and Cayugas from joining 
 the belligerents en mcisse ; and these efforts were only 
 crowned with partial success at the best. The appliances 
 of the government, on this occasion, consisted of a liberal 
 distribution of presents — particularly of clothing. But 
 
1794. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Bed Jacket. 205 
 
 tlie eagle eyes of the Britisli officers in Canada were upon 
 every movement of tlie Six Nations, and such was the 
 lingering attachment of the Senecas for their ancient allies, 
 or such their actual and continued attachment to them, that 
 no council could be held upon that frontier without the 
 presence of one or more representatives of the crown. 
 Indeed, his Britannic majesty's officers were determined 
 that no peace should be concluded, unless they might be 
 the principal agents in effecting it. At about the time 
 now under consideration, the celebrated Colonel John 
 Butler, of Wyoming memory, declared that the only way 
 to make peace with the Indians was to apply to Lord Dor- 
 chester,^ governor general of the Canadas, and commander- 
 in-chief at Quebec, for the appointment of a commission 
 of British officers to designate the boundary between the 
 United States and the Indians, and assist in the negotiation 
 of a treaty, to be guarantied to the Indians by Great Bri- 
 tain.^ Propositions so arrogant on the one side, and an 
 acquiescence in which would have been so degrading on 
 the other, were of course spurned with indignation. Still, 
 the affairs of the war were discussed at the council ; but 
 Joseph Brant was the principal Indian speaker, while Red 
 Jacket enacted only a subordinate and unimportant part. 
 
 He came more prominently before the public in the fol- 
 lowing autumn, at the great and memorable council held 
 with the Six I^ations at Canandaigua. General Wayne 
 had not closed the war in the north-west when the prepar 
 rations for this council were commenced ; but aside from 
 the sympathies of the Six Nations in behalf of their belli- 
 gerent brethren, another difficulty had arisen, nearer home, 
 causing for a season great anxiety. A movement by 
 Pennsylvania, having in view an immediate extension of 
 
 ^ The Sir Guy Carlton of the revolutionary war. 
 "^ Massachusetts Historical Collections, vol. i, p. 287. 
 
206 The Life and Times of 1794. 
 
 her settlements to Presque isle, on the shore of lake Erie, 
 was a measure that greatly exasperated the Six Illations, 
 who claimed that territory as exclusively their own, and 
 immediate hostilities had well nigh been the consequence. 
 The governor of Pennsylvania claimed the disputed territory 
 by virtue of an alleged purchase from the Cornplanter ; 
 but the Six ISTations disavowed the transaction, and pre- 
 pared to defend their soil with the rifle and tomahawk. 
 The military arrangements were matured under the direc- 
 tion of Brant, or Thayendanegea, who was in readiness 
 once more to lead his braves to the onslaught. But the 
 timely interposition of President Washington deterred 
 Pennsylvania from any farther prosecution of her designs 
 in that quarter, at that time.^ Still, it was deemed proper, 
 on the part of the president, to endeavor to tranquilize the 
 Indians who had been thus disturbed, by pacific measures, 
 and a council was appointed, which, as already mentioned, 
 sat at Canandaigua, in October and November, 1794. 
 Colonel Pickering was again detailed as the commissioner 
 on the part of the United States, with instructions to hold 
 a free conference with the Indians of the Six Nations, upon 
 all the causes of discontent then existing between the two 
 peoples. The good friends of Pennsylvania and New Jer- 
 sey, under the conviction that the interposition of their 
 pacific offices was a religious duty, appointed a deputation 
 of great respectability to attend the council, and if possible, 
 by indirection at least, exercise some beneficial influence 
 in its proceedings.^ 
 
 This was the last general council held by the United 
 
 ^Life of Brant, vol. ii, pp. 377-381. A council of the Six Nations was 
 holden at Buffalo creek, in June of 1794, upon this subject, on which occa- 
 sion Cornplanter delivered a speech, to be forwarded to General Washington, 
 for which, see Appendix B. 
 
 2 The delegates were David Bacon, John Parish, William Savary, and 
 James Emlen. 
 
1794. SA-ao-YE-wAT-HA, OR Eed Jacket. 207 
 
 States with tlie Iroquois confederacy — and a vast amount 
 of important business was transacted thereat. Several per- 
 plexing questions of contested boundaries were settled, 
 and the relations between the United States and the con- 
 federacy were adjusted upon a basis that has not since been 
 disturbed. The results were of great importance, not only 
 to the federal government, but also in respect to the influ^ 
 ence which the adjustment of those questions had upon the 
 settlement of western l^ew York by the white people. But 
 a proper history of that council is yet a desideratum, which 
 there are no documents even in the archives of the govern- 
 ment adequate to supply — the naked treaty itself, which 
 is not of great length, being all that seems to have been 
 preserved. 
 
 The council was opened on the 11th of October, in the' 
 camp of the Oneidas, they only having yet arrived. But 
 as there were many minor difficulties presented for arrange- 
 ment by the arbitrament of the commission — difficulties 
 arising among several of the tribes themselves, and between 
 the Indians and grasping white men, which were not of 
 national concernment — it was not important that all the 
 nations should be present at the first moment of business. 
 Colonel Pickering opened the council by a conciliatory 
 speech, in which he stated that he had heard of difficulties 
 among them which he would gladly assist in healing. He 
 was addressed in reply by Captain John, and Grood Peter, 
 at great length. The first grievance presented, related to 
 a lease of about one third of the Oneida reservation to 
 Peter Smith, embracing a territory four miles in breadth, 
 by twenty-four in length, and containing sixty-one thou- 
 sand four hundred and forty acres of land. This tract, it 
 was alleged, had been leased to Mr. Smith for twenty-one 
 years, by the sachems, or civil magistrates, in opposition to 
 the voice of the warriors ; and the attempts to survey the 
 land had brought the two parties in array against each 
 
208 The Life and Times op 1794. 
 
 otlier, and almost into actual conilict. Great complaints 
 were made against tlie whites in general, for the artifices 
 practiced to deceive them and obtain their lands. Captain 
 John spoke in behalf of the sachems, and Grood Peter, the 
 head warrior, for the braves. Colonel Pickering replied 
 to them on the following day, and proposed a course of 
 conciliation and compromise — promising to visit the 
 Oneida castle on his return, and assist in the final adjust- 
 ment of the difficulty. 
 
 The Indians, as usual, gathered around the council fire 
 slowly. By the 14th the Onondagas and Cayugas had 
 arrived ; and on the same day the approach of Farmer's 
 Brother was announced, at the head of a large party of 
 Senecas. He had halted at the distance of four miles from 
 the village, to paint and dress, preparatory to a public 
 entrance into the grand camp. At 3 o'clock in the after- 
 noon he arrived with his train, the Oneidas, Onondagas 
 and Cayugas being drawn up in order, armed, painted and 
 plumed, to receive them. Marching up in front of the 
 Oneidas and their neighbors, the Senecas fired a salute of 
 three rounds of musketry, which was returned by the 
 others, making the woods ring long and loud by the rever- 
 berations. The Indian leaders then directed their dusky 
 legions to form a circle around Colonel Pickering and 
 G-eneral Chapin, the government agents, with their assist- 
 ants and attendants — whereupon the commissioner was 
 addressed by Parmer's Brother, who on closing returned 
 the belt by which he had been summoned to the council. 
 Two days afterward the Cornplanter arrived at the head of 
 four hundred, being the Alleghany clan of the Senecas. 
 The same ceremonies of reception and presentation were 
 observed as on the former day — the Indians being dressed 
 and painted with all the brilhancy and beauty of their wild 
 and fantastic tastes. The number of Indians then present 
 was sixteen hundred. 
 
1794. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 209 
 
 On tlie morning of the 18th Eed Jacket made his appear- 
 ance, and first visited the deputation from the friends, in 
 company with Cornplanter, Farmer's Brother, Little Beard, 
 and several other Seneca chiefs, upon private business.^ 
 In the afternoon the commissioner and the Friends, were 
 summoned by a son of Cornplanter to attend the formal 
 opening of the grand council. The officers and their inter- 
 preters were surrounded by a dark assemblage, the chiefs 
 appearing subdued and thoughtful, and the entire coup d'cdl 
 presenting a striking aspect. The first business was an 
 address of condolence to the Senecas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, 
 and Delawares, (a deputation of the latter being present), 
 by Captain John, of the Oneidas, on account of the loss of 
 many chiefs of the Six Nations since they had last met in 
 general council. The Oneidas, in behalf of themselves 
 and the Onondagas, wished, in their figurative language, 
 to wipe the tears from their brethren's eyes, brighten their 
 countenances and clear their throats, that they might speak 
 freely at the council fire. Eed Jacket returned a brotherly 
 salutation, handing the eastern nations of the confederacy 
 belts and strings of wampum, to unite each to the other, 
 and thus to open the council as with the heart of one man. 
 They then informed Colonel Pickering that the Six Na- 
 tions were duly opened as a council for the transaction of 
 business. The colonel made a congratulatory address in 
 reply, and informed them that, as it was then Saturday, on 
 Monday afternoon he would hold a council of condolence. 
 
 1 It appears that the Senecas had invited a private conference with the 
 Friends, respecting the descendants of some Indians who had formerly 
 resided at or near Hopewell, in Virginia. The Indians claimed that the 
 people of whom the Friends had purchased the lands at Hopewell had not 
 paid for them, and therefore had sold what was not their own. The Friends 
 desired that the heirs of the Indians who had been dispossessed at Hope- 
 well should be sought out, that a just compensation might be made 
 to them. Cornplanter now informed them that two of those heirs had been 
 found, residing at Conestoga. 
 
 27 
 
210 The Life and Times of 17^4. 
 
 to wipe away the tears from the eyes of the Delawares, 
 who had lost a young brother, murdered by a white man 
 at Yenango, a few months before. He would then take 
 the hatchet out of the head of the deceased, and bury it in 
 the earth, preparatory to the treaty. 
 
 Accordingly on the 20th, a very large council was held, 
 at which the colonel performed the promised ceremony of 
 condolement with the Delawares. By speech and gesture 
 he went through the process of burying the dead, and 
 covered the grave with leaves, so that they could see it no 
 more in passing. The hatchet which he had taken out of 
 the head of the victim was buried beneath a pine tree, 
 which, m words, was torn up for that purpose. Having 
 placed the hatchet in a deep hole, and covered it with 
 stones, the tree was replanted upon the top, so that the 
 instrument of death should never more be discovered. 
 The colonel then wiped the blood from their heads, and 
 the tears from their eyes, and opened the path of peace, 
 which the Indians were invited to keep clear at one end, 
 and the United States at the other, as long as the sun 
 shone. These and other ceremonies having been per- 
 formed, the council was adjourned, and the fire covered up 
 for the night. 
 
 On the i;iext day, the celebrated Jemima "Wilkinson, who, 
 with her followers, resided upon the western margin of the 
 Seneca lake, being at Canandaigua,, with several of her 
 disciples, was invited by Colonel Pickering to dine with 
 him, at the house of Mr. Thomas Morris. The invitation 
 was accepted by Jemima, and she was treated with great 
 attention by the colonel, glad of the opportunity to gratify 
 his curiosity respecting this remarkable woman, whom he 
 had never seen, before. The seat of honor was appropriated 
 to her, and she participated freely in the conversation. 
 
 At an early hour of the afternoon the commissioner was 
 summoned to the council, to which place he repaired with 
 
17D4. SA-GO-YB-WAi-lTAV Oil HeD Ja'CKET. 211 
 
 > 
 
 Mfe' friends ^^ Jeihima and' hei' retinue' following in the 
 train,' and taking seats with' the conimissioner and inter- 
 preters in the centre of the circle. The address of Colonel 
 Pickering, of the preceding day, was answered by the Fish 
 Carrier^ who' took occasion to' glance retrospectively at 
 the relations that had' existed between the Six l^ations and 
 the white men, since the landing of the latter "on this 
 island." When' the white people first came, the Indians 
 saw that they were men; and must have Something to sub- 
 sist upon! They, therefore, pitied theih, and gave them 
 som^'latid; and when thely complained that the land had 
 become too small for them, the Indians still pitied them, 
 and from time to time gave them ni ore. At length a great 
 council-fire was kindled at Albany, where a; silver chain 
 was made, which was kept bright for many years, until the 
 United States arid the great king over' the watfe'r dififered. 
 Then their brothers in Canada talked to the Indians, and 
 they let the chain fall out of their hands. Yet it was not 
 their fault^ but the white people's. The Fish Carrier then 
 recapitulated the history of the negotiations with the white 
 people after the close of the revolhtionary war, referring to 
 the treaties of Fort Stanwix, and complained of many 
 grievances which they had suffered — particularly in the* 
 curtailment of their territory. The Indians felt that at the 
 first treaty at Fort Stanwix, in 1784, the commissioners had^ 
 been too grasping — a position which Colonel Pickering 
 in ' his ' reply, labored rather to extenuate than to deny. 
 Having just come out victoriously from a bloody war with 
 them, the colonel told them that great allowances were to 
 be made, even if the commissioners had shown themselves 
 proud, and treated the^ somewhat harshly. But notwith- 
 standing their many causes of complaint, Fish Carrier, now 
 that they had taken hold of the chain with the fifteen fires,^ 
 pledged the Six ISTatiohs to hold on. 
 
 In the course of the sitting Colonel l^ickering formally* 
 
212 The Life and Times of 1794. 
 
 introduced the qnaker deputation, wlio liad been appointed 
 at their request, and with the approbation of the president. 
 The deputies thereupon presented the address from the 
 Friends to the Indians, which was read, and interpreted by 
 Jasper Parish, and received with lively approbation by the 
 Indians. The reading of the address having been com- 
 pleted, Jemima and her disciples dropped upon their knees, 
 and the mistress of the order uttered something in the form 
 of a prayer. The lady superior afterward desired liberty 
 to address the assembly, which being granted, she proceeded 
 to utter a rhapsody, consisting of disjointed texts of Scrip- 
 ture, mingled with confused and unmeaning sentences of 
 her own, forming together a medley without coherence, 
 relevancy, or point. The proceedings of the day were closed 
 on the part of the Indians, by the interchange of belts, the 
 design of which was to perpetuate the memories and virtues 
 of their departed chiefs, for whose loss they had been per- 
 forming the ceremonies of condolence. 
 
 The council was reopened on the 23d. When about to 
 proceed to business, a request was made by three Indian 
 women to be admitted to deliver their sentiments. The 
 request was granted, and the women were introduced by 
 Eed Jacket, who appears ever to have been a favorite with 
 the Indian ladies. Addressing himself to the sachems and 
 nvarriors, he asked their favor in behalf of the women, and 
 also that of the commissioner, craving that they might be 
 heard, especially as on the preceding day a lady of the pale 
 faces had been allowed the same indulgence. The assent 
 of the council having been given. Red Jacket was desig- 
 nated as the orator through whom they desired to speak. 
 The substance of his communication in their behalf was, 
 that they felt a deep interest in the affairs of their people ; 
 and having heard the opinions of their sachems, they fully 
 concurred in them, that the white people had been the 
 cause of all the Indians' distresses: The white people, 
 
1794. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 213 
 
 they said, had pressed and squeezed them together, until 
 it gave them great pain at their hearts, and they thought 
 the white people ought to give back all the lands they had 
 taken from them. One of the white women (Jemima, 
 meaning), had yesterday told the Indians to repent; and 
 they in turn now called on the white people to repent — 
 they having as much need of repentance as the Indians. 
 They therefore hoped the pale faces would repent and 
 wrong the Indians no more. 
 
 The commissioner thanked them for their speech, observ- 
 ing that it was far from his nature to think meanly of 
 women, and he should also be happy to hear from them 
 when they had any thing to say. But in regard to the 
 conduct of the white woman, on the preceding day, which 
 they had cited as a precedent, he remarked that she had 
 forced herself into the council, and had spoken without 
 his approbation.^ 
 
 An unpleasant incident occurred on the morning of the 
 
 1 Jemima Wilkinson was extensively known, by reputation, as a religious 
 impostor, in the western part of New York, thirty or forty years ago. She 
 was born in Rhode Island, in 1753, and was educated a quaker. She was. 
 artful, bold, and zealous. About 1773, on recovering from a j&t of sickness, 
 during which she had fallen into a syncope, so that she was apparently 
 dead, she announced that she had been raised from the dead, and had 
 received a divine commission as a religious teacher. Having made a few 
 proselytes, she removed with them into the western part of New York, and 
 settled between the Seneca and Crooked lakes, at the distance of about 
 eighteen miles from Geneva, calling her village New Jerusalem. In conse- 
 quence of the weakness and credulity of her followers, she was enabled to 
 live in very elegant style, having half a dozen beautiful damsels in attend- 
 ance upon her person. She inculcated poverty, but was careful to be the 
 owner of lands purchased in the name of her companion, Rachel Miller. 
 When she preached, she stood in the door of her bed chamber, wearing a 
 waistcoat, a stock, and a white silk cravat. She died in 1819. Joseph Brant 
 once very adroitly discomfited her. As she professed to be Christ in his 
 second appearing. Brant tested her by speaking in different Indian lan- 
 guages, none of which she understood. He then disclosed her imposture, 
 simply by declaring that Jesus Christ must of course understand all lan- 
 guages, one as well as another. 
 
214 The Life and'- Times ' of 
 
 25tli, which came near breaking up the council in a tem- 
 pest. It was the appearance in the assembly of a man 
 named Johnson, who came from fort Erie as a messenger 
 from Brant. He had indeed arrived two days before, and 
 on the day previous he held secret conference with several 
 of the chiefs, and delivered the message with which he had 
 been charged by the Mohawk. Assuming the character of 
 an- interpreter, he was now mingling in the council, and 
 appeared rather too intimate with the Indians to please 
 Colonel Pickering, who objected to his presence, and de- 
 nounced himi as a British spy. The Indians either were, 
 or affected to be, greatly surprised at the attitude assumed 
 by Colonel Pickering, in regard to this intrusion. Corn- 
 planter rose to vindicate Johnson and express his surprise 
 that, notwithstanding the conclusion of peace between the 
 United States and the Great King over the water, such an 
 antipathy existed between them that neither party could 
 bear to sit by the side of the other in treaties held with the 
 Indians. The messenger, Johnson, he said, had merely 
 come on a friendly errand from Captain Brant. The In- 
 dians, he said, had the year before resolved upon convening 
 a grand council of all their nations at Sandusky, in the 
 (now) following spring, and Brant had sent them a message 
 to remind them of the appointment. But unluckily for the 
 excuse he was making, Cornplanter disclosed too much. 
 " Captain Brant," said he, " sends his compliments to the 
 chiefs at Canandaigua, and says, ' you remember what we 
 agreed upon last year, and the line we marked out : If this 
 line is complied with, peace will take place;' and he desires 
 us to mention this at Canandaigua." The message also 
 contained an invitation for the chiefs to meet Brant at 
 Buffalo creek, at an early day. 
 
 Colonel Pickering replied with great indignation — to 
 account for which, two or three points must here be borne 
 in mind. In the first place, such was the tardiness of com- 
 
17#4. SA-GOrTE-WAT-H^, PB EED JaCKET. 215 
 
 lAunication tl^ougli the deep wilderjiesses of tlie west, tha/t 
 neither the colonel nor the liadians had yet heard of the 
 entire overthrow of the Miamis aind their confederates in 
 4.ugust, by General Wayne. In the second place, the 
 Indians at the present council were striving to reopen, for 
 fresh negotiation, the entire question of boundaries between 
 the Six J^ations and the United States, and not only that, 
 but they were now claiming westwardly, between lake 
 Erie ^^nd the Ohio, as far as the Muskingum — embracing, 
 of course, a large tract of territory for which the Miamis 
 and their confederates were fighting. Thirdly, although 
 Brant had been endeavoring to effect a peace, he had 
 always favored the Indian claim that the Ohio should be 
 recognized as the boundary between the white men and 
 the red. The Senecas, also, had ever avowed the same 
 opinion ; and lest they might be induced to swerve from that 
 position, Brant had now taken occasion, in the midst of a 
 treaty, to throw them a signal of remembrance. Hence the 
 exasperation of Colonel Pickering at the presence of John- 
 son. Accordingly, in reply to the excuses of Cornplanter, 
 he used language of great severity. He said he considered 
 the intrusion of Johnson as an act betraying great impu- 
 dence, and as affording fresh proof of British insolence. 
 Then reviewing the whole system of British interference 
 in the Indian relations of the United States, and the ill 
 treatment, in this respect, which his government had 
 received from England, for several years past, the colonel 
 concluded a long speech by the declaration that either the 
 messenger must be sent back,, or he would himself cover 
 up the council fire and depart. His instructions from 
 G-eneral Washington, he said, were explicit, that he should 
 suffer no British agents to be present at the treaty. 
 
 The Indians were amazed at the vehemence of the Col- 
 onel's manner, remarking, as he resumed his seat — "the 
 council-fire grows warm : the sparks fly about very thick." 
 
216 The Life and Times of 1794. 
 
 Jolinson himself appeared alarmed, and shrunk stealthily 
 away. The Indians then requested Colonel Pickering and 
 his party to withdraw for a short time, as they wished to 
 have a brief conference among themselves. In about half 
 an hour the doors of the council house were reopened, ond 
 Cornplanter again rose in vindication of Johnson, avowing 
 distinctly, that he came at their own solicitation, and was 
 consequently not to blame. If there were fault in the case, 
 it belonged to the white people, who had deceived the In- 
 dians when they were told at Fort Stanwix that the treaty of 
 peace between England and the United States had been 
 agreed upon in the presence of the Great Spirit : 
 
 "We now discover," said lie "that the commissioners there told 
 us what was a lie, when they said they had made the chain of friend- 
 ship bright : but I now find there has been an antipathy to each 
 other ever since. Now our sachems and warriors say, what shall we 
 do ? We will shove Johnson off. Yet this is not agreeable to my 
 mind, for if / had kindled a council-fire, I would suffer a very bad 
 man to sit in it, that he might be made better. But if the peace 
 you made had been a good peace, all animosities would have been 
 done away, and you could have sat side by side in council. I have 
 one request to make, which is, that you would furnish Johnson pro- 
 visions to carry him home." 
 
 There was altogether too much of refinement in the 
 diplomatic relations between the two white and civilized 
 nations, for the understandings of the unsophisticated bar- 
 barians. A quasi war between people professing the most 
 amicable relations with each other, was a state of things 
 quite beyond their comprehensions. With them, their 
 relations must be either one thing or the other — peace or 
 war — and in either attitude there would be nothing equi- 
 vocal. 
 
 After a sitting of five hours the storm passed away, and 
 
1794. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 217 
 
 the council adjonrned.^ Intlie evening fifteen of the prin- 
 cipal chiefs, among whom were Red Jacket, Cornplanter, 
 Farmer's Brother, Little Beard, Big Sky and the Fish 
 Carrier, dined with Colonel Pickering. Much good humor 
 prevailed on this occasion. The Indians laid aside their 
 stoicism, indulged in many repartees, and manifested the 
 keenest relish for wit and humor. Eed Jacket, in par- 
 ticular, was conspicuous for the readiness and brilliance 
 of his sallies. But there were clouds lowering in the sky 
 on the following day. At the opening of the council, the 
 first business was the presentation of a letter which they 
 had prepared, to be transmitted to Brant by the hand of 
 Johnson. In this letter the chiefs expressed their sorrow 
 that his messenger had not been permitted to remain with 
 them in the council ; and for the reasons of his dismissal, 
 the Mohawk captain was referred to Johnson's own rela- 
 tion. They farther assured Brant that they were deter- 
 mined to adhere to the boundary lines as they had been 
 agreed upon among the Indians the year before. In con- 
 clusion they expressed to their old war chief a feeling sense 
 of their present feeble condition. " They were," they said, 
 " a poor, despised, though still an independent people, 
 brought into sufiering between two white nations striving 
 
 ^ The proceedings against the supposed spy, Johnson, were harsh. By 
 a manuscript letter of Gen, Chapin's, in the author's possession, it appears 
 that the General had invited Joseph Brant to attend the council. But it not 
 being convenient for him to do so, at the request of the Indians, Johnson 
 had been sent to the council by Brant. On the 4th of November Gen. Chapin 
 wrote to Brant, attempting to soften down the apparent harshness of the 
 measure towards Johnson, In this letter Chapin said: "After Mr. John- 
 son arrived, some difficulties existed which made it inconvenient for him to 
 attend the treaty, not for any unfavorable regard to the gentleman, but 
 for certain reasons of which he will inform you." Colonel Pickering also 
 wrote to Brant upon the same subject. Brant replied to Gen. Chapin on 
 the 4th of December, and to Colonel Pickering on the 30th, in both of 
 which letters he avows that Johnson went at his request. [The manuscripts 
 of these letters are in the author's possession.] 
 
 28 
 
218 The Life and Times of 1794. 
 
 wMcli should be the greatest.'^ l^othing could have been 
 more true than this last remark. 
 
 This communication gave high displeasure to Colonel 
 Pickering, and there were again symptoms of an untoward 
 breaking up of the council. The Senecas were displeased 
 that the treaty had not been holden at their old council 
 fire at Bujffalo creek; words ran high, and their eyes at 
 times flashed with vengeful fire. It must have been at 
 this juncture that Red Jacket made the celebrated unre- 
 ported speech, a glowing account of which is contained in 
 several modern Indian works ^ — that is, if the speech was 
 ever delivered, a fact which there is some reason to doubt — 
 at least in the manner and form described. According to 
 the writer referred to, the treaty was held on a beautiful 
 acclivity that overlooks Canandaigua lake : 
 
 The witnesses of the scene will never forget the powers of native 
 oratory. Two days had passed away in negotiation with the Indians 
 for a cession of their lands. The contract was supposed to be nearly 
 completed when Red Jacket arose. With the grace and dignity of 
 a Roman senator he drew his blanket around him, and with a pierc- 
 ing eye surveyed the multitude. All was hushed. Nothing was 
 interposed to break the silence, save the gentle rustling of the tree- 
 tops under whose shade they were gathered. After a long and 
 
 ^ Copied into Drake's Book of the Indians^ and also Thatcher's Indian Bi- 
 ography, from a correspondent of the New York American, who wrote 
 some fifteen or twenty years ago. The writer averred that he was present; 
 but he speaks of "the gentle rustling of the tree tops, under whose shade 
 they were gathered," whereas it was now the closing week of October, and 
 according to Mr. Savary's journal, whence the materials for the present 
 history of the treaty are chiefly drawn, the ground was covered with snow 
 to the depth of several inches. The trees were then affording no shade, 
 and the weather was that of winter. Mr. Thomas Morris, moreover, who 
 was then a resident of Canandaigua, and in attendance upon the council, 
 recollects no such speech as that here imputed to Red Jacket — nor does 
 Mr. Savary refer to it. The account, therefore, is either an exaggeration, 
 or apocryphal. 
 
1794. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 219 
 
 solemn, but not unmeaning pause, lie commenced his speech, in a 
 low voice and sententious style. Rising gradually with his subject, 
 he delineated the primitive simplicity and happiness of his people, 
 and the wrongs they had sustained from the usurpations of white 
 men, with such a bold, but faithful pencil, that every auditor was 
 soon raised to vengeance, or melted into tears. The effect was in- 
 expressible. But ere the emotions of admiration and sympathy 
 had subsided, the white men became alarmed. They were in the 
 heart of the Indian country — surrounded by more than ten times 
 their number, who were inflamed by the remembrance of their 
 injuries, and excited to indignation by the eloquence of a favorite 
 chief. Apalled and terrified, the white men cast a cheerless gaze 
 upon the horde around them. A nod from the chiefs might be the 
 onset of destruction. At this portentous moment Farmer's Brother 
 interposed. He replied not to his brother chief, but, with a sagacity 
 truly aboriginal, he caused a cessation of the council, introduced 
 good cheer, commended the eloquence of Bed Jacket, and before 
 the meeting had reassembled, with the aid of other prudent chiefs, 
 he had moderated the fury of his nation to a more salutary review 
 of the question before them. 
 
 If the incident, as thus related, occurred at all, it must 
 have been at this stage of the proceedings, since there was 
 no other moment of excitement, during the sittings of this 
 protracted council, that could have awakened such a tem- 
 per. But the aspect of the negotiation was changed on 
 the following day, by the arrival of a Tuscarora runner, 
 despatched from Niagara by Colonel Butler, with tidings 
 of the signal defeat of Little Turtle and the Miamies, with 
 their confederates, by General Wayne, or Su-kach-gook,^ 
 as he was called by the savages. The news of this event 
 had an immediate and striking effect upon the deportment 
 of the Indians. The successive defeats of Harmar and St. 
 Clair, by the Indians, in the earlier part of that desultory 
 
 1 The Black Snake. 
 
220 The Life and Times op 1794. 
 
 yet bloody war, had inspired the whole race with the hope 
 that their fortunes were about taking a more favorable 
 turn, and that they might still be able to make a stand 
 against the farther advance of the whites, if indeed, by a 
 grand combination of the whole race of red men, they 
 might not one day succeed in driving them back across the 
 great water. In these hopes and aspirations the Six ]^a- 
 tions strongly sympathized ; and while the contest at the 
 West was undecided, since the arms of their brethren had 
 been twice crowned with success, the Six J^ations carried 
 themselves with a considerable degree of arrogance. They 
 were rude and saucy to the white settlers, would impu- 
 dently enter their houses, take the prepared food from the 
 tables without leave, and commit other offenses.^ Their 
 deportment was rather haughty at the council until the 
 advices of Wayne's complete success were received. In- 
 deed there is reason to believe that had the Black Snake 
 been defeated, neither persuasions nor treaties would have 
 kept the whole Seneca nation from rushing into the con- 
 test. But the complete overthrow of Little Turtle and his 
 forces at the Miamies awoke them from their dream, and 
 their demeanor was at once subdued into comparative 
 docility.^ 
 
 But farther embarrassments arose on the next day, in 
 consequence of the jealousies that had been infused into 
 the minds of the Indians, against the Cornplanter. His 
 frequent interviews with Colonel Pickering had been 
 marked, and were followed by feelings of distrust. Little 
 Billy took it upon himself to rebuke the warrior sharply, 
 telling him that he was taking too much upon himself — 
 
 ^ Manuscript letter to the author from George Hosmer, Esq., of Avon, 
 N. Y,, a resident of the Genesee valley at the period referred to. The 
 valley was then thinly peopled by the Senecas. 
 
 2 Letter from George Hosmer, Esq. Also conversations of the author 
 with Thomas Morris. 
 
1794. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 221 
 
 that lie seemed to forget that lie was but a war chief, and 
 was transcending the bounds of his proper department, by 
 partaking so largely in the conduct of civil aflairs. Corn- 
 planter replied that he had exerted himself many years for 
 the good of the nation, but that if they were displeased 
 with him, or had no farther need of his services, he would 
 return home. And such was his intention. He did not 
 appear in council on that day ; but after it was opened, 
 Colonel Pickering interposed in his behalf, and in regard 
 to the private interviews between the Cornplanter and 
 himself, assumed all the blame : Cornplanter had not vis- 
 ited him, except when specially sent for. This explanation 
 pacified the murmurers for the moment, but their suspi- 
 cions were reawakened within a few days thereafter ; par- 
 ties were formed against the warrior; and in a council 
 of the chiefs privately by themselves, which was continued 
 until near midnight, his position became exceedingly critical. 
 It is necessary to note the difficulties by which the Corn- 
 planter was here environed, because of their connection 
 with an event occurring at a subsequent period in the life 
 of Red Jacket. 
 
 The council having already been continued many days, 
 while yet the main business of the commissioner had scarcely 
 been touched. Colonel Pickering determined, on the 28th 
 of October, to bring the whole subject-matter with which 
 he was charged, directly before the chiefs, and to an issue. 
 The council numbered more chiefs and warriors, on that 
 day, than had met the commissioner on any former occa- 
 sion. In the opening of a very long speech, the colonel 
 reminded them that, notwithstanding they had been there 
 so many days, the chiefs had only called his attention to 
 two rusty spots in the chain of friendship. One of these he 
 had already brightened; but the rust of the other was 
 thought by their chief warrior to be so very deep that 
 it could not be rubbed offi This related to the great 
 
222 The Life and Times of 1794. 
 
 and always vexatious question of boundaries. Upon tMs 
 subject the commissioner took an extended review of all 
 tbe negotiations tbat had taken place between the whites 
 and themselves, during the administration of their affau^s 
 by Sir William Johnson, and since that period, proving to 
 them by successive treaties, and by maps, the justice of the 
 claims of the United States, and the unreasonableness of 
 their own complaints; insisting upon all the cessions of 
 territory that had been made — and recapitulating the pro- 
 visions of the treaty of fort Stanwix, which had been con- 
 firmed by the Six Nations themselves at the treaty of 
 Muskingum. IN'evertheless the commissioner now offered 
 to stipulate that the Indians should still enjoy the privilege 
 of hunting upon all the lands they had ceded, and that their 
 settlements thereon should remain undisturbed. He added 
 also that their annuity from the United States should be 
 increased from fifteen hundred to four thousand ^yq hun- 
 dred dollars — to say nothing often thousand dollars worth 
 of presents he had with him for distribution, on a favorable 
 issue of the council. In consequence of these liberal pro- 
 positions, the commissioner hoped the Indians would 
 cheerfully comply, and join him in digging a deep pit 
 wherein to bury all former differences, and take hold of 
 the chain of friendship so fast that nothing should ever 
 again force it out of their hands. 
 
 The Indians agreed to consider the proposals, and several 
 successive days were spent by them in private delibera- 
 tions. Hed Jacket had previously informed the quaker 
 deputation why the Indians had invited them to attend 
 upon this council. Believing the quakers to be an honest 
 people, and friends to them, they desired their presence 
 that they might see that the Indians were not deceived or 
 imposed upon. On the 31st of October, while yet deli- 
 berating upon the propositions of Colonel Pickering in 
 private, a deputation of the chiefs, consisting of Red Jacket, 
 
1794. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 223 
 
 Clear Sky, Sagareesa,^ and a cliief of the Cayugas, waited 
 npon the quaker deputies, for the purpose of holding a 
 confidential conversation. The white people, and others 
 having no business there, having been excluded, Eed Jacket 
 spoke nearly as follows : 
 
 Brothers : You see here four of us of the Six Nations, who are 
 assembled at this place, in the will of the Great Spirit, to transact 
 the business of the treaty. You have been waiting here a long time, 
 and often visited by our chiefs, and as yet no marks of respect have 
 been shown to you. 
 
 Brothers : We are deputed by the council of chiefs assembled, 
 to come and see you. We understand that you told Sagareesa that 
 you should not have come but at our request, and that you stood 
 ready to afford us any assistance within your power. 
 
 Brothers : We hope you will make your minds easy. We who 
 are now here are but children ; the ancients being deceased. We 
 know that your fathers and ours transacted business together, and 
 that you look up to the G-reat Spirit for his direction and assistance, 
 and take no part in war. We suppose you were all born on this 
 island, and consider you as brethren. Your ancestors came over the 
 great water, and ours were born here. This ought to be no impedi- 
 ment to our considering each other as brethren. 
 
 Brothers : You all know the proposals that have been made by 
 Con-neh-sauty,^ as well as the offers made by us to him. We are 
 all now in the presence of the Great Spirit, and we place more confi- 
 dence in you than in any other people. As you expressed your 
 desire for peace, we now desire your help and assistance. We hope 
 you will not deceive us, for if you should do so, we shall no more 
 place any confidence in mankind. 
 
 Brothers : We wish if you know the will of congress, or the 
 extent of the commissioner's powers, that you would candidly inform 
 
 us. 
 
 Brothers : We desire that what we are now about communicat- 
 
 1 A venerable Christian chief of the Tuscaroras, yet living, in 1841. 
 2 Colonel Pickering. 
 
224 The Life and Times of 1794. 
 
 ing may be kept secret, We are willing to give up the four mile 
 path from Johnson's landing place to the Cayuga creek, agreeably 
 to our compact with Sir William Johnson long ago. The other part 
 proposed by Con-neh-sauty to be relinquished by us, that is from 
 Cayuga to Buffalo creek, we wish to reserve on account of the fish- 
 eries, that our women and children may have the use of them. We 
 desire to know if you can inform us why the triangle on lake Erie 
 cannot be given up. 
 
 Brothers : Cornplanter and Captain Brant, who were only war 
 chiefs, were the persons who attended the treaty at fort Stanwix, ^ 
 and they were to have sent forward the proposals for our more gene- 
 ral consideration. At that time Old Smoke was alive, who was a 
 man of great understanding. But they were threatened into a com- 
 pliance, in consequence of which Captain Brant went off to Canada, 
 desiring Cornplanter to do the best he could. 
 
 The quaker deputies replied to the committee of the 
 chiefs on the next day, but the purport of their answer was 
 not preserved in William Savary's journal, although he 
 delivered their opinion. Red Jacket thanked them for 
 their advice, which he said "would afford them consi- 
 derable strength." The chiefs having determined upon 
 their answer, the commissioner met them in grand council 
 on Sunday, the 2d of ]^ovember. The business was opened 
 by Clear Sky, who apologized for the delay, which he said 
 had been required by the importance of the subject they 
 had been considering, and the necessity of preserving una- 
 nimity among themselves. Eed Jacket, being the princi- 
 pal speaker, then rose and said, first addressing the chiefs : 
 
 Brothers : We request that all the nations present will attend 
 to what we are about to deliver. We are now convened on one of 
 the days of the Great Spirit. 
 
 iRed Jacket must have referred in this passage to the second treaty of 
 fort Stanwix, viz. : that of Gov. George Clinton, held in 1789. Brant was 
 not at the treaty of 1784, held at that place, and Red Jacket himself was. 
 Brant attended the treaty of 1789. 
 
1794. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 225 
 
 Then addressing Colonel Pickering, lie proceeded : 
 
 Brother : You now represent tlie president of the United States, 
 and when you spoke to us, we considered it as the voice of the Fifteen 
 Fires. You desired that we would take the matter under our delibe- 
 rate consideration, and consult each other well, that when the chain 
 was rusty it might be brightened. We took G-eneral Washington 
 by the hand, and desired this council-fire, that all the lines of dis- 
 pute might be settled. 
 
 Brother : We told you before of the two rusty places on the 
 chain, which were also pointed out by the sachems. Instead of com- 
 plying with our request respecting the places where we told you the 
 chain was rusty, you offered to relinquish the land on lake Erie, east- 
 ward of the triangular piece sold by congress to Pennsylvania, and 
 to retain the four mile path between Cayuga and Buffalo creek, by 
 which you expect to brighten the chain. 
 
 Brother : We thought you had a sharp file to take off the rust, 
 but we believe it must have been dull, or else you let it slip out of 
 your hands. With respect to the four mile path, we are in want of 
 it on account of the fisheries. Although we are but children, we 
 are sharp-sighted, and we see that you want that strip of land for a 
 road, that when you have vessels on the lakes you may have harbors. 
 But we wish that in respect to that land, the treaty of fort Stanwix 
 may not be broken. You white people have increased very fast on 
 this island, which was given to us Indians by the G-reat Spirit. We 
 are now become a small people. You are cutting off our lands piece 
 after piece. You are a kind-hearted people — seeking your own 
 advantages. 
 
 Brother : We are tender-hearted, and desirous of peace. You 
 told us what you would give for our land, to brighten your end of 
 the chain. If you will relinquish the piece of land we have men- 
 tioned, our friendship will be strong. You say you are not proud. 
 Neither are we. Congress expects we are now settling the business 
 with regularity. We wish that both parties may have something 
 to say in settling peace. At the time we requested a conference, 
 we also requested that our friends, the quakers, should come for- 
 ward, as they are promoters of peace, and we wanted them to be 
 
 29 
 
226 The Life and Times of 1794. 
 
 witnesses of wliat took place. We wish to do nothing private. 
 We have told you of the rusty part, which the file passed over with- 
 out brightening, and we wish you to take up the file again, and rub 
 it very hard. You told us that if it would not do without, you 
 would apply oil. 
 
 Brother : We the sachems, warriors and others, all depend 
 upon you. Whatever is done we regard as final and permanent. 
 We wish you to take it into consideration, and give us an answer. 
 
 There was more of conciliation and concession mani- 
 fested in this speech, than had been anticipated. Colonel 
 Pickering replied in a like amicable tone, urging the rea- 
 sons why the United States must persist in obtaining the 
 pathway along the lake shore, and between the lakes. As 
 an equivalent for a concession of this on the part of the 
 Indians, the large increase of their annuity had been pro- 
 posed ; and he cheerfully offered to cede back to them all 
 the lands in their former grants, upon which their villages 
 stood, although he said that when he came from Phila- 
 delphia it was not expected he would relinquish a single 
 hand-breadth. In conclusion. Colonel Pickering said he 
 was becoming impatient, and he desired a speedy answer. 
 
 The proceedings of the day were closed by another fune- 
 ral ceremony. Red Jacket stated that it was a custom among 
 the Indians, after the decease of one of their brethren, to 
 return to the donor any present which he had received in 
 Ms life time as a mark of respect. In conformity with this 
 usage, he now returned to the commissioner a silver gorget, 
 belonging to one of their chiefs, recently dead, which had 
 been presented to him by the United States. Farmer's 
 Brother made a speech of condolence on the occasion, and 
 presented the customary strings of black wampum to the 
 family of the deceased. On the 4th the council-fire was 
 reopened, and the Friends, not being present, were sent 
 for, the Indians refusing to proceed unless they were in the 
 assembly. Red Jacket then addi^essed the commissioner : 
 
1794. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 227 
 
 Brother : We the sachems of the Six Nations will now tell you 
 
 our minds. The business of the treaty is to brighten the chain of 
 
 friendship between us and the Fifteen Fires. We told you the other 
 
 day it was but a very small piece that occasioned the rust on the 
 chain. 
 
 Brother : Now we are conversing together to make the chain 
 bright. When we told you what would give us satisfaction, you 
 proposed reserving the piece of land between Cayuga and Buffalo 
 creek J for building houses,^ &c. ; but we apprehend you would not 
 only build houses but towns. You told us these houses would be 
 for the accommodation of travelers in the winter, as they cannot go 
 by water in that season, and that travelers would want a staff to 
 help them along on the road. We have taken these matters into 
 serious consideration. 
 
 Brother : We conclude that we do not understand this as 
 the white people do. If we consent to your proposals, we know it 
 will injure us. If these houses should be built, they will tend to 
 scatter us, and make us fall in the street, by drinking to excess, 
 instead of benefitting us. You want land to raise provisions, hay, 
 &c. ; but as soon as the white people settle there, they would think 
 the land theirs — for this is the way of the white people. You 
 mentioned that when you got possession of the garrisons,2 you would 
 want landing-places, and fields to plant on. But we wish to be the 
 sole owners of these lands ourselves ; and when you settle with the 
 British, the Great Spirit has made a road for you. You can pass 
 and repass by water. What you want to reserve is entirely in your 
 own power. 
 
 Brother : You told us, when you left Philadelphia, it was not 
 expected by the president that you would relinquish a foot of land. 
 We thank him for having left you at liberty to give up what you 
 please. You have waited with patience at this council fire, kindled 
 by General Washington. It is but a very small thing that keeps 
 
 1 Colonel Pickering had told them in his speech respecting the land for a 
 
 road four miles wide — that the United States also wanted land to build 
 
 taverns upon, where the weary traveler might stop to rest. 
 
 2 The posts of Oswego, Niagara and Detroit, then yet held by England, 
 contrary to the stipulations of the treaty of peace of 1783. 
 
228 The Life and Times op 1794. 
 
 the chain from being brightened. If you will consent to give us 
 this small piece, and have no houses on it, the chain will be bright. 
 As to harbors, the waters are between you and the British. You 
 must talk to them. You are of the same color. I see there are 
 many of your people now here, watching with their mouth open, 
 to take up this land. If you are a friend to us, then disappoint 
 them. Our patience is spent. Comply with our request. Dismiss, 
 and we will go home. 
 
 Colonel Pickering rejoined, and there was considerable 
 farther discussion between the parties. The colonel abated 
 somewhat more of his demands, consenting, on the subject 
 of roads, to reduce his proposition to the liberty of con- 
 structing a road from fort Schlosser to Buffalo creek. 
 After a consultation among the sacbems, Red Jacket said : 
 
 We have a right understanding of your request, and have agreed 
 to grant you a road from fort Schlosser to Buffalo creek, but not 
 from Buffalo creek down this way at all. 
 
 The difficulties having thus, as it was supposed, all been 
 surmounted by reason of mutual concessions, in a very 
 liberal spirit of compromise on the part of Colonel Pickering, 
 nothing farther remained but to adjust the points, and pre- 
 pare duplicates of the treaty for signature. The whole 
 day of the 5th was occupied by Colonel Pickering and a 
 few of the leading chiefs upon this business. It was in- 
 tended that the documents should be executed on the 6th ; 
 but on their presentation to the council, fresh difficulties 
 broke out in regard to Presque isle. G-reat dissatisfaction 
 was manifested by several of the leading chiefs at tbe re- 
 linquishment of that point of territory. Having ascertained 
 that the Cornplanter and Little Billy had received two 
 thousand dollars worth of goods at Muskingum, and two 
 thousand more at Philadelphia, as the price of Presque 
 isle, the council was greatly disturbed, and broke up in 
 
1794. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Ked Jacket. 229 
 
 confiision. l^o business was transacted on the 7tli, the 
 incensed Indians not yet having had time to cool. On the 
 8th Colonel Pickering canvassed the several articles of the 
 treaty with some of the leading chiefs, and it was arranged 
 that it should be signed on the following day, for which 
 purpose the council assembled. But here, again, most un- 
 expectedly, a new obstacle was interposed from the hitherto 
 fast friend of the United States, the Cornplanter. The 
 moodiness of many of the Indians had been observed when 
 the parchments were unrolled. They held down their 
 heads and manifested their dissatisfaction by silence for 
 half an hour. At length Cornplanter rose and spoke as 
 follows : 
 
 Brothers : I request your attention, whilst I inform you of my 
 own mind as an individual. I consider the conduct of the United 
 States, since the war, to have been very bad. I conceive they do 
 not do justice. I will mention what took place at New York, at 
 one particular time.i After the treaty of fort Stanwix I went to 
 New York under an apprehension that the commissioners had not 
 done right ; and I laid before congress our grievances on account of 
 the loss of our lands at that treaty. But the Thirteen Fires approved 
 of what the commissioners had done, and in confirmation of it, they 
 held up the paper with a piece of silver hanging to it.2 Now, 
 Colonel Pickering, you have told us at this treaty that what was 
 given up by the British was only the land around the forts. I am 
 very much dissatisfied that this was not communicated to us before. 
 There has already been too much blood spilt. If this had been 
 known at the close of the war it would have prevented any blood 
 being shed. I have therefore told our warriors not to sign this 
 treaty. The Fifteen Fires have deceived us ; but we are under the 
 sachems, and will listen to what they do. Though we will not sign 
 it, yet we will abide by what they do as long as they do right. The 
 United States and the Six Nations are now making a firm peace, 
 
 1 At the time referred to New York was the seat of government. 
 
 2 The treaty with England. 
 
230 The Life and Times of 1794. 
 
 and we wish the Fifteen Fires may never deceive them, as they have 
 deceived us warriors. If they once deceive the sachems it will be 
 had. 
 
 He then took his seat, and after a short pause said : 
 
 I will put a patch upon what I have spoken. I hope you will 
 have no uneasiness at hearing the voice of the warriors. You know 
 it is very hard to be once deceived; so you must not make your 
 minds uneasy. 
 
 The Eel, an Onondaga chief, thereupon rose and made a 
 warm speech in reply to the Cornplanter, exhoiiing the 
 sachems to abide by the, decision to which they had arrived. 
 Colonel Pickering followed in an energetic address, insist- 
 ing that the treaty would be of little effect in securing 
 future tranquility if signed only by the sachems. The 
 warriors, he contended, must sign it also, or he would 
 have nothing to do with it. Two or three days were spent 
 in endeavoring to soothe the warriors and bring them to 
 terms. These efforts were ultimately successfal, and the 
 treaty was finally executed by both sachems and warriors 
 on the 11th of ISTovember, 1794. By the terms of the 
 treaty, the United States acknowledged the reservations 
 to the Oneidas, Onondagas and Cayugas, in their treaties 
 with ITew York; the boundaries of the Senecas were 
 established, and their title to all the lands within the same 
 acknowledged by the United States. The Six E'ations 
 engaged never to claim any other lands of the United 
 States ; the road was allowed from Schlosser to Buffalo 
 creek; a passage was granted to the United States through 
 their country, together with the use of all their harbors 
 and rivers. Other minor particulars need not be noted.^ 
 
 It has been judged advisable to give an extended account 
 
 1 For a letter from Colonel Pickering to Captain Brant, respecting this 
 treaty, and a sensible letter from Brant in reply, see appendix C. 
 
1794. SA-ao-YE-wAT-HA, OR Eed Jacket. 231 
 
 of tliis council, for several reasons. As has already been 
 said, it was one of the most important negotiations with the 
 Six ISTations ever effected by the United States, both as to 
 the magnitude of the council, and the results ; and yet less 
 has been known of its history than of almost any other. 
 The entire proceedings are moreover deemed to be interest- 
 ing, as affording farther illustrations of the character of the 
 people once forming that extended and daring confederacy, 
 the terror of almost half the continent, but which has now 
 dissolved into a few scattered fragments, each melting 
 rapidly away. There is one feature in the civil polity of 
 that confederacy, which is believed on no other occasion to 
 have been so fully disclosed, or so thoroughly illustrated, 
 as at this treaty — the jealousy of the Indians of the military 
 power, and the subordination in which it was held to the civil. It 
 has been seen that on several occasions the war-chiefs were 
 reminded, with great emphasis, of the superiority in all 
 civil affairs of the sachems or civil magistrates. This single 
 fact shows that the untutored Aquanuschioni had made no 
 inconsiderable advances in the science of free government, 
 ll^otwithstanding the untoward incidents which occasion- 
 ally " disturbed the minds " of the Indians, the council broke 
 up, and the parties separated, with the utmost good feeling. 
 The good men forming the quaker deputation ingratiated 
 themselves into the very hearts of the Indians. Their mis- 
 sion was one of love, nor did they confine their exertions 
 to labors for the temporal benefit of the sons of the forest 
 alone. As ministers of the Christian faith, they lost no fit- 
 ting opportunity of imparting to them a knowledge of the 
 "Unknown God" whom they "ignorantly worshipped." 
 Eeligious meetings were held by them on the return of 
 every Sabbath, and the fierce chieftains were sometimes 
 melted into tears by their discourses. Nor were the In- 
 dians alone the gratified party. The deputies studied their 
 social relations, and were often pleased with what they saw 
 
232 The Life and Times op 1794. 
 
 of their manners, their wild sports, and the unrestrained 
 gambols of their children, as may be seen by reference to 
 the valuable journal of William Savary, already referred 
 to.^ The different tribes or nations encamped by them- 
 selves, and the Senecas, by far the most numerous, occu- 
 pied several camps, under separate leaders. The following 
 account of Mr. Savary's visit to one of them is graphic and 
 picturesque : 
 
 Fifth day^ Oct. 30. After dinner, John Parish and myself rode 
 to view the Farmer's Brother's encampment, which contained about 
 five hundred Indians. They are located by the side of a brook, in 
 the woods ; having bi^ilt about seventy or eighty huts, by far the 
 most commodious and ingeniously made of any that I have seen. 
 The principal materials are bark, and boughs of trees, so nicely put 
 together as to keep the family dry and warm. The women as well 
 as the men appeared to be mostly employed. In this camp there 
 are a large number of pretty children, who, in all the activity and 
 buoyancy of health, were diverting themselves according to their 
 fancy. The vast number of deer they have killed, since coming 
 here, which they cut up, and hang round their huts inside and out, 
 to dry, together with the rations of beef which they draw daily, give 
 the appearance of plenty to supply the few wants to which they are 
 subjected.'^ The ease and cheerfulness of every countenance, and 
 the delightfulness of the afternoon, which these inhabitants of the 
 woods seemed to enjoy with a relish far superior to those who are 
 pent up in crowded and populous cities, all combined to make this 
 the most pleasant visit I have yet made to the Indians; and induced 
 me to believe that before they became acquainted with white people, 
 and were infected with their vices, they must have been as happy a 
 people as any in the world. In returning to our quarters we passed 
 by the Indian council, where Red Jacket was displaying his oratory 
 to his brother chiefs, on the subject of Colonel Pickering's proposals. 
 
 iSee Friends's Library, vol. i. pp. 332-370. 
 
 2 On another page of his journal, Mr. Savary says they sometimes killed 
 more than one hundred deers in a day — at Canandaigua, in 1794 ! 
 
1794. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 233 
 
 On another page Mr. Savary says of the orator : 
 
 Red Jacket visited us with his wife and five children, whom he 
 had brought to see us. They were exceedingly well clad, in their 
 manner, and the best behaved and prettiest Indian children I have 
 ever met with. 
 
 30 
 
[234] 
 
 CHAPTER YI. 
 
 Immediate results of the treaty — General Indian pacification — Death of 
 General Chapin — Red Jacket's speech of condolence — The treaty of Big 
 Tree, held between the Indians and Thomas Morris, for Robert Morris and 
 the Holland Land Company — Conduct of Red Jacket — The women and 
 warriors — Difficulties with regard to the reservations — The White 
 Woman — Indian ignorance of finance, and of numbers — Red Jacket's 
 hypocrisy and duplicity — Conclusion of the treaty — Visit of Red 
 Jacket to Connecticut — 1795-1797. 
 
 Notwithstanding the difficulties encountered by tlie 
 commissioner during tlie protracted negotiation at Canan- 
 daigua, and the apparent reluctance of the Indians to 
 accede to the terms demanded, the arrangements stipulated 
 in the treaty gave, on the whole, pretty general satisfaction 
 to both parties — not less to the Indians themselves than to 
 the United States. "This settlement," said one of the 
 chiefs to Colonel Pickering, " appears like a great light, to 
 us." "And to me," said Colonel Pickering, in a letter to 
 Thayendanegea, "it seems hke a new era."^ The com- 
 plaints, for the consideration of which the council was 
 called, were removed ; and so many of the individual chiefs 
 expressed their satisfaction wdth the treaty, in strong terms, 
 that, farther heart burnings and reproaches for past trans- 
 actions were not anticipated. The treaty of Greenville, 
 concluded by General Wayne in the following year, 
 crowned the work of Indian pacification. Henceforward, 
 therefore, fewer occasions arose requiring the national 
 action of the Iroquois confederacy, of whom Red Jacket 
 had now become the leading sachem, as he had long been 
 
 1 Appendix C. 
 
1795. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 235 
 
 the most popular orator. Eut although the relations of the 
 Six Nations were thus disentangled from those of the 
 United States, yet their own peculiar government remained 
 to be administered ; and what with the direction of their 
 own internal concerns, and the holding of occasional coun- 
 cils or treaties, connected with subsequent sales of portions 
 of their remaining lands, there was still business enough to 
 keep the chiefs from leading lives of unusual idleness. 
 Nevertheless the name of. Red Jacket appears on one occa^ 
 sion only, during the three years immediately succeeding 
 the treaty of Canandaigua. 
 
 General Israel Chapin, long the superintendent of Indian 
 affairs for the northern department, died early in the 
 spring of 1795. He had acquired the entire confidence of 
 the Six I^ations, and shared largely of their affection. In 
 consequence of his decease, a council was held at Canandai- 
 gua, in honor of his memory, on the 28th of April of that year. 
 Among the chiefs in attendance were the Farmer's Brother, 
 E,ed Jacket, Clear Sky, and others, representing the several 
 nations, excepting the Mohawks. The following speech of 
 condolence was delivered by E,ed Jacket to the son of the 
 deceased, Israel Chapin, Jr., who had served in the capacity 
 of deputy to his father for several years : 
 
 Brother : I wish you to pay attention to what I have to say. 
 You will recollect you forwarded a manuscript to us, informing us of 
 the loss of our good friend. The loss is great to us as well as to you. 
 Yet you will hear what we have to say, and I wish you to pay attention. 
 
 Brother : We consider that we have met with a great loss — we 
 of the Six Nations, as well as the United States — a person to whom 
 we looked as a father, and a person appointed to stand between the 
 Six Nations and the United States. It gives our minds a great deal 
 of uneasiness to think we have lost so valuable a friend, who has 
 taken so much pains to brighten the chain of friendship between the 
 Six Nations and the United States. We fear that agreeable friend- 
 ship will be broken up. Let us prevent its failing if we can. 
 
236 The Life and Times of 1795. 
 
 Brother : In conformity to tlie good old ancient customs of our 
 forefatters, we now level tlie grave of our friend. We gather leaves 
 and weeds, and strew them over the grave, and endeavor to banish 
 grief from our minds as much as we can. [Fourteen strings of 
 hlack and white wamjoum.] 
 
 Brothers : You of the Fifteen Fires : Listen again to the voice 
 of the Six Nations : The man whom you appointed for us to commu- 
 nicate our minds to has left us, and gone to another world. We are 
 now at a loss whom to open our minds to, should there be any thing 
 to communicate from one to another. We used to reveal it to him. 
 Brothers : You of the Fifteen Fires : We think that you feel 
 this great loss as well as we. While he had the conducting of busi- 
 ness, it appeared as though the United States sat close by our sides. 
 If we had any thing to communicate, he took it with care to the 
 great council fire. Now as we have lost our guide, it troubles our 
 minds to find out how to keep up the friendship that we have had 
 heretofore. 
 
 Brothers of the Fifteen Fires : You will allow us to speak our 
 sentiments. When you have before appointed a person to guide us 
 in our business, you have chosen one to give satisfaction to us, as we 
 believe he did to you. Sometimes there was more than he could 
 attend to. He then sent forward his son to act in his behalf. We 
 are well acquainted with this young man, as we have frequently 
 transacted business with him, and we find his mind to be good. 
 
 Brothers : He being well acquainted with our business, and all 
 the papers and belts of wampum being in his hands, we cannot con- 
 ceive of any other person so suitable to fill his father's seat. His 
 appointment would give us satisfaction. We ask you to grant us 
 the privilege of this our request. 
 
 Brothers : This is the second petition of the kind that we have 
 made. But our petition before was not taken into consideration. 
 We hope now you will notice it. We think the son will walk in the 
 steps of his father. 
 
 This speech having been transmitted to the seat of 
 government, General Washington, who was yet president, 
 immediately complied with the request, and Captain 
 
1797. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, ok Eed Jacket. 237 
 
 Israel Chapin was appointed to the agency made vacant by 
 the death of his father.^ 
 
 The next transaction which brought Eed Jacket con- 
 spicuously before the pubhc, was the treaty of Big 
 Tree/ held in the year 1797. The purchase from Massa- 
 chusetts of the preemptive right to the territory of IS'ew 
 York lying beyond the Grenesee river, by Robert Morris, 
 of Philadelphia, has been incidentally mentioned in a 
 preceding chapter. Massachusetts had contracted to sell 
 this said right of preemption to Samuel Ogden, his heirs 
 and assigns, by an agreement bearing date March 12, 
 1791, and on the 11th of May following, Ogden assigned 
 his interest in that agreement to Morris. The title to Morris 
 was confirmed on the same day by the commonwealth. 
 The tract embraced in the purchase contained about four 
 millions of acres of land, and the consideration paid by 
 Morris was one hundred thousand pounds Massachusetts 
 currency. In the year 1792 Robert Morris sold the greater 
 part of this purchase to a company of gentlemen in Hol- 
 land, since known as the Holland Land Company. 
 
 By the terms of his sale Mr. Morris had stipulated to 
 extinguish the Indian title, and survey the whole tract at 
 his own expense — the company retaining thirty-seven 
 thousand four hundred pounds sterling until the falfillment 
 of his part of the contract. It was therefore an object for 
 Mr. Morris to procure an extinguishment of the Indian 
 title without unnecessary delay. But it was not until the 
 summer of 1797 that the Senecas, to whom the territory 
 belonged, could be persuaded to negotiate upon the sub- 
 ject. The council was appointed for the 25th of August, 
 
 about the middle of which month the Indians began to 
 1 
 
 1 To John Grefgg, Esq., of Canandaigua, who married the daughter of the 
 younger Chapin, I have been indebted for several parcels of letters and 
 manuscripts which have been of important service in the present work. 
 
 2 The site of the present beautiful town of Geneseo. 
 
238 The Life and Times of 1797. 
 
 assemble in great numbers — not the Senecas exclusively, 
 but numerous groups from tbe other tribes came in to be 
 fed from the stores of the commissioners.^ Tbe agents of 
 Mr. Morris were tbe late Colonel Williamson (agent of tbe 
 estate of Sir William Pultney), and bis son, Thomas 
 Morris. Tbe avocations of Colonel Williamson not per- 
 mitting Mm to attend tbe council, tbe entire duty devolved 
 upon Mr. Tbomas Morris. Tbis was not a negotiation to 
 wbicb tbe United States were directly a party; but tbe 
 humane policy of the government has always prompted it 
 to appoint commissioners to attend all councils of the Six 
 ISTations held for the sale of their lands, subsequent to the 
 great treaty of Canandaigua, of 1794. Massachusetts, like- 
 wise, had reserved the right of sending an agent to such 
 councils, to watch over the interests of the Indians. Ac- 
 cordingly, at tbe treaty of Big Tree, Colonel Jeremiah 
 Wadsworth, of Connecticut, appeared as tbe commissioner 
 on the part of the United States, and G-eneral Shepherd in 
 behalf of tbe commonwealth of Massachusetts. The agent 
 on the part of the Holland Company was tbe late William 
 Bayard, of New York. 
 
 Tbe council having been duly opened, the commis- 
 sioners from tbe United States and Massachusetts pre- 
 sented their credentials, and addressed tbe assembly, de- 
 claring tbe object of their appointment, and assuring tbe 
 Indians of their desire to guard their interests, and see 
 that no injustice was done them. Mr. Morris then formally 
 opened the business for tbe consideration of which the 
 council bad been convened, explaining to them the desire 
 of his father to purchase their lands, or such a portion of 
 them as they might be willing to sell. He endeavored to 
 persuade them that an annual income, derived from the avails 
 
 1 So greatly hungered were the Indians when they came in, that they 
 were ravenous for food. Several of the oxen first killed for them, were 
 devoured raw, reeking in the blood. 
 
1797. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 239 
 
 of sueli portions of their territory as were not required for 
 their actual occupation, would be better for them than 
 the retaining of a large tract of country from which they 
 could derive no benefit, save from their use as hunting 
 grounds ; and as such he assured them they would be as 
 open to them after the sale, should they make it, as before. 
 In conclusion, he offered them the sum of one hundred 
 thousand dollars for the entire tract, allowing them to 
 retain such reservations as might be required for their 
 actual occupation. But should they insist upon reserva- 
 tions of unnecessary size, some deduction from the amount 
 of purchase money offered must be made. The proposition 
 having been submitted, the open council was adjourned, 
 and the Indians occupied several days in private dehbe- 
 ration. When at length they were ready to make answer, 
 the commissioners were notified and the council reassem- 
 bled. To Farmer's Brother, a chief justly enjoying their 
 confidence for his integrity, was confided the duty of re- 
 plying to the propositions. His speech was not character- 
 istic of the man, for it was not decided in its t6ne. He 
 started various objections to selling their lands, and yet 
 not absolutely declining to do so. To these objections Mr. 
 Morris replied at considerable length ; whereupon there was 
 a farther adjournment, that the Indians might have yet 
 another opportunity for a private consultation. 
 
 On the reopening of the council, Eed Jacket rose as 
 the organ to make known the determination of his people. 
 He said they were not yet convinced that it was their duty 
 to dispose of their lands at any price. Mr. Morris had 
 said, when speaking of the little value of their lands while 
 remaining in a wild and unproductive state, that the only 
 value they had to them while in that condition, arose from 
 the consciousness they felt that they owned them. The 
 truth of this remark was admitted by Eed Jacket, but, 
 said he : 
 
240 The Life and Times of 1797. 
 
 That knowledge is everything to us. It raises us in our own 
 estimation. It creates in our bosoms a proud feeling which elevates 
 us as a nation. Observe the difference between the estimation in 
 which a Seneca and an Oneida are held. We are courted, while 
 the Oneidas are considered a degraded people, fit only to make 
 brooms and baskets. Why this difference ? It is because the Sene- 
 cas are known as the proprietors of a broad domain, while the 
 Oneidas are cooped up in a narrow space. 
 
 In his rejoinder Mr. Morris attempted to take the con- 
 ceit out of the Seneca orator, by assuring him that the 
 consequence of his nation was much less than he supposed ; 
 in proof of which assertion he reminded him of the 
 little consideration awarded to a deputation of their chiefs, 
 during their pacific mission to the hostile Indians at the 
 Miamis a few years before. Notwithstanding the extent of 
 their territory, they were treated with so much neglect and 
 indifference that the chiefs returned from the mission 
 deeply mortified. E,ed Jacket replied that the statement 
 of Mr. Morris was true ; but, he continued, the reason why 
 they had been thus treated was to be found in the fact that 
 they were in bad company ! They had made that journey 
 to the west with the commissioners of the United States. 
 Had they gone alone, their chiefs would have been treated 
 as Senecas should be treated throughout the world.^ 
 
 A fortnight having been spent in this way, and little 
 progress made, the commissioners and Mr. Bayard became 
 impatient — urging Mr. Morris to assume a more peremp- 
 tory manner, and bring the Indians to an immediate 
 decision, one way or the other. It was in vain that Mr. 
 
 iThe reference here is to the mission of Colonel Pickering, Beverly 
 Randolph and General Lincoln, to the hostile Indians at the west, in 1793. 
 These commissioners were accompanied by a deputation of Seneca chiefs, 
 but as Red Jacket was not of their number, an account of that mission has 
 not been given in the text. Its full history may be found in the second 
 volume of the Life of Brant. 
 
1797. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket, , 241 
 
 Morris, who understood the Indian character far better than 
 they, assured them that the course they were proposing 
 would of all others he most likely to defeat their object. 
 The commissioners insisted upon decisive steps, and Mr. 
 Morris most reluctantly consented. In answer, therefore, 
 to a proposition from the Indians that was totally inadmis- 
 sible, Mr. Morris told them that such a proposal required 
 no time for consideration. He refused it at once — adding, 
 that unless the Indians were prepared to make some more 
 reasonable offer, it was of no use to keep the council fire 
 burning any longer. They might better rake it up, and 
 terminate all farther discussion. Upon this remark Hed 
 Jacket sprang upon his feet and exclaimed : 
 
 You have noW arrived at the point to which I wished to bring 
 you. You told us in your first address that even in the event of 
 our not agreeing to sell our lands, we would part friends. Here, 
 then, is my hand. I now cover up the council fire. 
 
 This decision of the chiefs was received with great 
 apparent satisfaction by their people. They indulged in 
 violent abuse of the commissioners, and of Mr. Morris in 
 particular, and made the surrounding forests ring with 
 their savage yells. Indeed, a person unaccustomed to their 
 character and manners would have trembled for his scalp. 
 Deep was the mortification of the commissioners, of Mr. 
 Bayard especially, at this unexpected issue of the experi- 
 ment. He had been the most importunate in urging the trial 
 upon Mr. Morris, and his principals, the Holland Land 
 Company, were the most deeply interested in the result. 
 From the prompt and decided manner in which the nego- 
 tiation had been broken off, moreover, he had little expecta- 
 tion that anything more favorable was at that time to be 
 anticipated. Yet he urged Mr. Morris very strenuously to 
 make another effort, and if possible to rekindle the fire. 
 To these solicitations that gentleman assented, upon con- 
 
 31 
 
242 The Life and Times of 1797. 
 
 dition tliat he should be allowed to take his own course 
 with the Indians, without interference on the part either of 
 the agent or commissioners. 
 
 On the succeeding day Farmer's Brother called upon 
 Mr. Morris, and expressed the hope that the failure of the 
 treaty might not cool his friendship for them. Certainly 
 not, replied Mr. Morris, adding that they had a perfect 
 right to refuse selling their lands. Still, he continued, he 
 was dissatisfied with the manner in which the council had 
 been broken up, and with the treatment he had received at 
 the hands of their warriors immediately after the fire had 
 been raked up. Such treatment he had not deserved at 
 their hands. He had been kind to them ever since their 
 acquaintance had begun. His house had always been open 
 when they came to visit him, and had been well supplied 
 with food and liquor, of which they had partaken whenever 
 they came ; and at the present treaty all their wants had 
 been supplied. All this Farmer's Brother admitted to be 
 true. He regretted that the feelings of Mr. Morris had 
 been wounded by the violent and indecorous speeches of a 
 few of their drunken young men, and lamented that the 
 council fire had been so suddenly put out, inasmuch as it 
 prevented another meeting of the council, in which their 
 difficulties might have been explained and smoothed over. 
 Mr. Morris in his reply farther remarked that the declara- 
 tion of Ked Jacket, extinguishing the fire, was another act 
 of injustice towards him, though perhaps not so intended. 
 By that procedure Eed Jacket had usurped a power which 
 he did not possess, and had departed from an established 
 custom of the Indians, by which he who lighted a council 
 fire alone had a right to put it out. This council fire had 
 been ht up by him, and he only could put it out. As he 
 had not done so, the fire was yet burning. To all this 
 Farmer's Brother assented, assuring Mr. Morris that he 
 was glad it was so, as they could meet yet in council and 
 
1797. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 243 
 
 smooth the difficulties over. It need not he added that Mr. 
 Morris assented to this suggestion. 
 
 Several days intervened hefore this meeting could be 
 convened. Meantime Mr. Morris caused all the chief 
 women of the nation to he assembled, whom he addressed 
 upon the subject of his mission. He stated to them the 
 offer he had made to the sachems, and discoursed eloquently 
 of the advantages which would accrue to themselves and 
 their famihes by the annuity which would be coming to 
 them, and the comforts they would be able to procure 
 during the absence of their warriors — who often flocked 
 to the white settlements to sell their skins, where they 
 were comfortably fed while their families were starving. 
 He then distributed among the women a liberal present of 
 beads, silver brooches, clothes, and a variety of other fancy 
 articles, for which their people have a great fondness, and 
 which were received with delight. These articles, Mr. 
 Morris informed them, were intended for distribution only 
 after the conclusion of a successful treaty. Still as the 
 women had had no agency in breaking off the negotiation, 
 he thought they ought not to suffer for the misconduct of 
 their sachems, and he had consequently determined that 
 they should have the presents he had intended for them. 
 
 It is one of the peculiar features of Indian polity that 
 their lands belong to the warriors who defend, and the 
 women who till them, and who, moreover, are the mothers 
 of the warriors. And although the sachems, as civil magis- 
 trates, have ordinarily the power of negotiating treaties, 
 yet whenever the question of a sale of land is the subject 
 of a negotiation, if both the warriors and women become 
 dissatisfied with the course the sachems are pursuing, 
 they have the right to interpose and take the subject out 
 of their hands. The politic course adopted toward the 
 women by Mr. Morris worked like a charm. In a few 
 days after his meeting with them, as just stated, he was 
 
244 The Life and Times of 1797. 
 
 informed that as the council fire was yet burning, the 
 negotiation would be resumed, not by the sachems, out of 
 whose hands the business had been taken, but by the 
 women and warriors, who had thrown themselves upon 
 their "reserved rights," and were prepared to "nullify'' 
 what the sachems had done. 
 
 On a subsequent day the council was reopened, and the 
 Cornplanter, being the principal war chief, opened the 
 proceedings. He said the women and warriors had seen 
 with regret the misconduct of their sachems, and he also 
 censured the conduct of Mr. Morris as having been too 
 hasty. Still, he proposed that the negotiation should be 
 renewed, and he hoped it would be conducted with better 
 temper on both sides. Mr. Morris made a few soothing 
 remarks, taking upon himself a share of the blame, and 
 Farmer's Brother, on the part of the sachems, stated that 
 these proceedings of the women and warriors were in per- 
 fect accordance with their customs. The negotiation was 
 thereupon resumed, and was prosecuted to a successful 
 issue without farther procrastination. The terms were as 
 at first proposed — one hundred thousand dollars for the 
 tract, with such reservations as the parties might be able 
 to agree upon. 
 
 Erom the moment the women and warriors took the 
 negotiations upon themselves, and Cornplanter became the 
 important speaker, E.ed Jacket withdrew — no longer at- 
 tending the council, but remaining drunk until the pro- 
 ceedings were ended. Yet although the main question 
 of this treaty had been decided, difficulties fresh and 
 formidable arose in the adjustment of the reservations 
 for the different clans. The consequence of a chief de- 
 pends much upon the number of warriors under his own 
 Immediate command. Hence the different clans, with their 
 chiefs, were anxious to procure as large reservations as they 
 could for themselves, and at the same time were willing to 
 
1797. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 245 
 
 > 
 
 see tlie territories of the others reduced to comparatively 
 narrow limits. The chief having the broadest domains 
 would naturally have the largest collection of his people 
 around him. His own importance would be consequently 
 increased, while the heads of the weaker communities 
 would be proportionately diminished. These jealousies of, 
 aggrandizement were the source of so much difficulty that 
 the adjustment of the reservations could not be accom- 
 plished in full council, and in the end was only effected by 
 a subcouncil, composed of a small number of chiefs 
 selected from the several clans. Another difficulty was 
 encountered in designating the boundaries of the reserva- 
 tions. The Indians insisted upon natural boundaries, such 
 as the rivers, hills and the courses of streams. But as 
 boundaries like these, with which they were familiar, gave 
 them all the advantages, Mr. Morris would not listen to the 
 proposition — insisting upon the allotment to each clan of 
 such number of square miles as might be agreed upon, 
 designating the same upon a map to the view of the chiefs. 
 In only one instance did Mr. Morris depart from this deter- 
 mination, and the result taught him what might have been 
 his fate had he allowed the principle in other cases. There 
 was a white woman named Mary Jemison, who occupied a 
 farm upon the Genesee river, at a place about twenty miles 
 southwest of Big Tree, for whom the chiefs were desirous 
 of making special provision. Mary was herself present at 
 the council, and pleaded her own case. She was truly a 
 remarkable woman. When a child, at the breaking out of 
 the French war in 1754, she had been taken prisoner by 
 the Indians in the neighborhood of Fort Du Quesne, with 
 her parents, two brothers, and other inmates of the family. 
 All were murdered except Mary. Her captors were Sene- 
 cas, and she was brought into the Genesee country. For a 
 season she was discontented with her new situation, and 
 devised various schemes of effecting her escape. These 
 
246 The Life and Times of 1797. 
 
 being frustrated, slie resigned herself to her fate, and in 
 progress of time became as thoroughly an Indian in all 
 her habits and feelings as Red Jacket himself. Although 
 she had been religiously instructed in her childhood, she 
 became a pagan, and in a word was thoroughly a squaw in 
 everything but her complexion. Her life was one of 
 vicissitude and wild adventure. Her first husband was a 
 Delaware chief, with whom she resided for years in the 
 Shawanese country. She afterwards married a Seneca 
 chief, with whom she lived until his death at the Gardow 
 flats — the place which the chiefs now prayed might be 
 reserved for her. Mr. Morris readily assented that a 
 moderate reservation should be made for her, provided 
 the number of acres were defined. But to this she ob- 
 jected, stating that she had various improved places, one 
 of which was a patch of corn, another of potatoes, another 
 of beans, &c. She then named certain boundaries, to 
 which Mr. Morris, in consequence of the impatience of 
 the commissioners, hastily assented, under the impression 
 that the grant would not exceed one hundred and fifty 
 acres. When afterward the survey came to be made, 
 Maiy's farm was found to contain thirty thousand acres of 
 land, of an excellent quality ! ^ 
 
 There were yet other difficulties to be removed before 
 the negotiation was actually completed. Among these was 
 
 1 During the war of the revolution, The White Woman's house — for 
 thus she was designated — became frequently the quarters of Brant and 
 Colonel John Butler when making their inroads upon the frontiers of the 
 colonies. She attended the treaty of the German Flatts, held by General 
 Schuyler in 1775. She would not throw aside her Indian costume, even 
 after the white population had surrounded her residence, but adhered to 
 her Indian habits and customs to the last. She became rich in herds and 
 flocks, as well as in lands. One of her grandsons was educated as a 
 physician. He obtained a commission as surgeon in the navy of the 
 United States, and died a few years ago on the Mediterranean station. 
 Mary died about the year 1825, at a very advanced age. 
 
1797. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 247 
 
 the arrival at the council of Young King, a descendant of 
 Old Smoke, a notable chief of the Senecas many years 
 before. Old Smoke was the most powerful, as he was 
 deemed the wisest sachem of his time. He was the princi- 
 pal sachem, or civil chief of the nation, and his word was 
 law. When he thought proper to convene a council, it 
 was only for the purpose of announcing his intentions, and 
 none said nay to his behests. His infallibility was never 
 questioned, and although he had been dead many years, 
 his memory was yet held in great reverence. Young Xing, 
 though literally a young man, and of talents far inferior to 
 Old Smoke, was nevertheless, by inheritance, the chief 
 sachem of the Seneca nation; and the usual deference 
 secured to him by virtue of his office, was greatly aug- 
 mented by reverence for his descent. As chief sachem, it 
 was necessary to the validity of the treaty that it should 
 receive his assent and signature. He was for a time utterly 
 opposed to the sale of their lands; and both the Corn- 
 planter and Farmer's Brother assured Mr. Morris, that 
 without his approbation the work was all at an end. Still, 
 by dint of great persuasion, he was ultimately induced to 
 sign the treaty.^ 
 
 Another obstacle was presented by the instructions of 
 the president, General Washington, to Colonel Wads- 
 worth, who was directed to withhold his assent from any 
 treaty that did not provide for the investment of the pur- 
 chase money in the stock of the bank of the United States, 
 in the name of the president and his successors in office, in 
 trust for the Seneca nation. It was found exceedingly diffi- 
 
 1 Young King died only some five or six years ago. He was engaged with 
 his warriors in alliance with the forces of the United States, during the war 
 with England of 1812-15, and fought bravely. By an act of congress 
 of 1816, a pension of two hundred dollars per annum was given him, "as a 
 compensation for his brave and meritorious services, and as a provision for 
 the wound and disability which he received in the performance of those 
 
 services." 
 
248 The Life and Times of 1797. 
 
 cult, and in fact impossible, to make the Indians understand 
 what a bank was, and how it happened that their annual 
 payments should not always be the same. They had no 
 conception of the character of bank dividends, or how they 
 were accumulated. Their idea seemed to be that the bank 
 was an extensive place in Philadelphia, where their money 
 was planted, and that in some years the crop would be bet- 
 ter than in others. Frequently, in after years, would they 
 inquire of Mr. Morris what kind of a crop they were likely 
 to have in a season like that. Connected with this subject 
 of finance, yet another difficulty was experienced from their 
 inability to comprehend the amount of the purchase money. 
 But few of them could count one hundred, while it was 
 necessary to make them comprehend the amount of one 
 hundred thousand dollars. The process by which only 
 this idea could be imparted, was to take a cask, and show 
 them how many dollars it would require to fill it, and then 
 show them how many casks of the same description it 
 would require to contain the whole amount. They were 
 also taught the number of horses it would require to draw 
 the weight.^ 
 
 It has been remarked that after the negotiation had been 
 resumed by the women and warriors, and Cornplanter took 
 the forum, Red Jacket absented himself from the council, 
 and remained in a state of intoxication. His object in 
 thus standing aloof from the council was to have the entire 
 responsibility of the treaty thrown upon Cornplanter. In 
 
 iTlie Indians of every tribe are rigidly equitable in the distribution of 
 the avails of all the lands they sell. Every member of a family, even the 
 smallest child, is entitled to, and receives, as much as the highest chief 
 When the division is made, the father of the family produces as many 
 sticks as there are persons in his household. Blankets are spread upon 
 the ground, and pieces of coin are laid by the side of each parcel of sticks, 
 corresponding with the number, until the whole amount of the money re- 
 ceived is fairly divided. At least such was the practice before the chiefs 
 of the Indians learned the art of being bribed from the pale faces. 
 
1797. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 249 
 
 his conversations with the other chiefs he uniformly spoke 
 against any sale of their lands, and he opposed the treaty 
 with great vehemence, eloquence and talent. Yet his 
 opposition was that of a demagogue, and he spoke, to use 
 an expressive metaphor of his own people, with a forked 
 tongue. In other words his opposition was insincere ; for 
 the fact is no less true than disgraceful, that after the 
 negotiation had been completed, he repaired to the lodge 
 of Mr. Morris by night, and told him that he had in 
 reality no objections to the sale of their lands, but yet he 
 must seem to oppose the measure, or he should lose his 
 popularity. That popularity had been acquired by oppos- 
 ing every land sale that had been made, and he must at 
 least affect to continue his opposition to the end. It has 
 been seen that the negotiation was successful. How could 
 it have well been otherwise, under the circumstances, when, 
 to those circumstances, already descrilt>6<i? is superadded 
 the fact that the very leader of the opposition was a traitor 
 to the cause he pretended to defend? But, as in other 
 popular communities, the people were the dupes. The 
 arts of the demagogue blinded their eyes to the sturdy 
 honesty of Farmer's Brother, and the at least comparative 
 integrity of the Cornplanter, while their treacherous flatterer 
 became their idol. In order to manifest his apparent 
 opposition to the treaty, he refused in council, after the 
 decision had been made, to sign it ; and yet, before any 
 signature had been made to the document, he arranged 
 with Mr. Morris to have a blank left for the insertion of 
 his name afterwards — desiring that the space might be 
 high up, among the first, that when General Washington 
 saw the treaty he might know that Sa-go-ye-wai>ha was 
 yet a man of consequence among the chiefs of his people.^ 
 It has been related of this extraordinary dissembler, that at 
 
 ^ I have derived the facts of this entire history of the treaty of Big Tree, 
 from the manuscripts of Thomas Morris, and from conversations with him. 
 
 32 
 
250 . . The Life and Times of 1797. 
 
 the treaty of Canaiidaigua, during one of his speeches, he 
 observed Colonel Pickering to be writing, as though taking 
 notes of what he was saying. He stopped, and drawing him- 
 self up, exclaimed with energetic dignity: "Look up from 
 the table, brother, and jGbs: your eyes upon my eyes — that 
 you may see that what Sa-go-ye-ioat-ha says is the truth, and no 
 lie!''^ Doubtless he would have enacted the part over 
 again with Thomas Morris, at the Big Tree, had there 
 been occasion for such a theatrical display. 
 
 It was probably about this year that Eed Jacket made 
 his visit to Hartford, in the state of Connecticut, at the 
 head of a small deputation of the chiefs of his nation. In 
 the several land compromises between some of the states, 
 Connecticut had acquired the preemptive title to the 
 section of the present state of Ohio, called E'ew Con- 
 necticut. This territory was at that time in the hands of 
 a large association of capitalists called the Connecticut 
 Land Company, and various negotiations were held for 
 the extinguishment of the Indian title — the Six Nations 
 claiming the territory by right of conquest. It was in 
 connection with this matter that Hed Jacket and his 
 associates visited Hartford, where a council was holden in 
 the state house. The documents connected with this council 
 seem to have been lost ; but tradition preserves a lively 
 remembrance of the visit of the Indians, and of a great 
 speech delivered by lied Jacket. An eminent member of 
 the Connecticut bar, afterwards distinguished in the na- 
 tional councils of the United States,^ himself a member of 
 the land company, was wont in after years to speak with 
 great enthusiasm of the appearance of Red Jacket on that 
 occasion, and of the speech which he delivered. "With a 
 
 1 O'Reilly's History of Rochester 
 
 2 Gideon Granger, postmaster-general during the administrations of 
 presidents Jefferson and Madison, and afterwards in the senate of New 
 York. He died at Canandaigua in 1822, aged 55 years. 
 
1797. Sa-go-ge-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 251 
 
 step measured, firm and dignified," as he was used to 
 relate — "a countenance erect, bold and discursive, lie 
 entered the vast assemblage without manifesting surprise, 
 fear or curiosity." Of the speech he then delivered, the 
 following passage was preserved in the memory of Mr. 
 Granger : 
 
 We stand a small island in the bosom of the great waters. 
 We are encircled — we are encompassed. The evil spirit rides upon 
 the blast, and the waters are disturbed. They rise, they press upon 
 us, and the waves once settled over us, we disappear forever. Who 
 then lives to mourn us ? None. What marks our extermination ? 
 Nothing. We are mingled with the common elements. ^ 
 
 The history of this mission of the orator is necessarily 
 very imperfect. Erant, who took an active interest in the 
 negotiations respecting the Sandusky country, was highly 
 displeased with the course of E,ed Jacket at Hartford, and 
 spoke of it with bitterness in a letter to the Duke of 
 l^orthumberland. Among other things he states that Red 
 Jacket vowed fidelity to the United States, and sealed his 
 promise by kissing the likeness of General Washington. 
 
 1 Manuscript collections of J. W. Moulton. [The author has enquired 
 diligently at Hartford for the records of this council, but without success.] 
 
[252] 
 
 CHAPTER Vn. 
 
 Conspiracy of Cornplanter against Red Jacket — Witchcraft — Cornplanter 
 defeated by Red Jacket's Eloquence — Farther outrages upon the Indians 
 — Mission of Red Jacket and others to the seat of Government — Speech 
 of Red Jacket to the Secretary of War — Murder of a white man by an 
 Indian — Meeting in consequence at Canandaigua — Speech of Red 
 Jacket — His conspiracy against Brant — Deposition of the latter — His 
 ultimate triumph and restoration — 1801-1805. 
 
 A MORE interesting incident, and of yet higher import- 
 ance as connected with the life, conduct, and subsequent 
 destiny of Red Jacket, is now approached in chronological 
 order. The unpopularity of the brave old Cornplanter, 
 for the part he had taken at several treaties for the preser- 
 vation of peace with the United States, even at the expense 
 of parting with large districts of the Indian territory, has 
 repeatedly been spoken of in the progress of the present 
 memoir. That unpopularity was increased by each suc- 
 cessive sale, until the chief discovered the unwelcome 
 truth that he had lost almost the entire confidence of his 
 people. ^Nor is it unlikely that the crafty orator of the 
 " forked tongue " was actively concerned in fomenting the 
 jealousies which lost him the popular favor. Indeed such 
 is believed to have been the fact, which Cornplanter himself 
 was too sagacious not to understand. At all events, in 
 order, as is supposed, to recover his former influence, the 
 warrior, knowing the credulity of his people, availed 
 himself of that characteristic, and concerted a plot by 
 which he designed to compass the destruction of his 
 enemies, Eed Jacket in particular. It was by playing 
 upon the popular credulity that Red Jacket had arrived 
 at the dignity of a sachem ; and the war chief may pos- 
 
1801. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 253 
 
 "^3 
 
 sibly have reasoned that as a victim of intrigue, injustice 
 and ingratitude, he had a right to avail himself of the 
 same means, for his own restoration to public favor, if not 
 to compass the overthrow of his rival. Having determined 
 upon his course, " he persuaded his brother to announce 
 himself as a prophet, or messenger from heaven, sent to 
 redeem the fallen fortunes of his race. The superstition 
 of the savages cherished the impostor ; and he acquired 
 such an ascendancy as to prevail upon the Onondagas, 
 formerly the most drunken and profligate of the Six Na- 
 tions, to abstain entirely from spirituous liquors, and to 
 observe the laws of morality in other respects. He obtained 
 the same ascendancy among the confederates, that another 
 impostor, the brother of the celebrated Tecumseh, subse- 
 quently acquired among the Shawanese and other western 
 Indians ; and, like him, he also employed his influence for 
 evil as well as for good purposes. The Indians universally 
 believe in witchcraft ; Cornplanter's brother, in his character 
 of prophet, inculcated this superstition, and proceeded, 
 through the instrumentality of conjurors selected by himself, 
 to designate the offending familiars of Satan, who were ac- 
 cordingly sentenced to death. And the unhappy objects 
 would have been actually executed, if the magistrates of 
 Oneida, and the oflicers of the garrison of Magara, had 
 not interfered. The prosecutions of Cornplanter had pro- 
 ceeded so far that it began to be considered an artful 
 expedient to render his enemies the objects of general 
 abhoiTcnce, if not the victims of an ignominious death. 
 Emboldened by his success, the prophet proceeded finally 
 to execute the views of his brother, and Eed Jacket was 
 publicly denounced at a great council held at Buffalo 
 creek, and was put upon his trial. At this crisis he well 
 knew that the future course of his life depended upon the 
 powers of his mind. He spoke in his defense nearly three 
 hours. The iron brow of superstition relented under the 
 
254 The Life and Times of 1801. 
 
 magic of his eloquence ; lie declared the prophet an im- 
 postor and a cheat; he prevailed; the Indians divided, 
 and a small majority appeared in his favor." " Perhaps," 
 it is added by the distinguished writer who has furnished 
 the account of this great and singular trial,^ "Perhaps 
 the annals of history cannot furnish a more conspicuous 
 instance of the triumph and power of oratory in a barbarous 
 nation devoted to superstition, and looking up to the 
 accuser as a delegated minister of the Almighty." And 
 yet it will appear in the sequel that the same orator who 
 triumphed thus over the believers in witchcraft, was a 
 believer himself, or an affected believer, in the same super- 
 stition, and caused the execution of at least one victim, as 
 a sacrifice to the delusion. 
 
 Red Jacket's success in this case inflicted a blow upon 
 the influence of Cornplanter, from the effects of which he 
 never entirely recovered, although he lived for more than 
 a third of a century afterward. These latter years of his 
 extended life were chiefly passed at his own village, on the 
 margin of the Alleghany river, a short distance without 
 the confines of the state of JSTew York, and within those 
 of Pennsylvania. He retained his friendship for the people 
 of the United States with unswerving fidelity; and es- 
 pousing the Chiistian religion, he labored zealously thence- 
 forward to bring the Alleghany clans of the Senecas, 
 among whom he resided, into a state of civilization.^ He 
 
 1 Clinton's Discourse before the New York Historical Society. 
 
 2 The name of Cornplanter's brother, the prophet, was Ga-nio-di-euh. 
 He began his labors in the cause of temperance in the Alleghany canton. 
 He removed thence to the Tonawanda reservation, and thence to Onon- 
 daga. After Eed Jacket became thoroughly pagan in his policy, Ga-nio- 
 di-euh, who was never a Christian, attached himself to the party of the 
 orator against his brother. Cornplanter, at one time, became a religious 
 zealot, and was in a, state of excitement bordering upon hallucination. 
 During that season he too was favored with visions and revelations. — 
 Statement of a chief of the Alleghany clan, to the author. 
 
1801-2. SA-ao-YE-wAT-HA, OR Hed Jacket. 255 
 
 ■■J 
 
 visited "Wasliington in the winter of 1801-1802, for the 
 purpose of conferring with President Jefferson upon this 
 and other subjects connected with the improvement of his 
 people, and was in correspondence with Mr. Jefferson in 
 relation to it, during the year following. His efforts were 
 particularly directed against the use of ardent spirits, the 
 thirst for which has ever been the bane of the Indians, and 
 a beautiful autograph letter from Mr. Jefferson to the chief 
 is yet extant.^ Pennsylvania had given him a reservation 
 of nine hundred acres of choice land, upon which he 
 became an agriculturist to a considerable extent, and re- 
 sided thereon till the day of his death.^ 
 
 A succession of outrages upon the Indians residing along 
 the Pennsylvania border, resulting at different times in the 
 murder of several of their people, induced the Senecas and 
 Tuscaroras in February, 1801, to send a deputation of 
 chiefs to the seat of the federal government, which since 
 the last Seneca embassage had been transferred from 
 Philadelphia to the city of Washington. Eed Jacket was 
 at the head of this deputation, which was received form- 
 ally, with an appropriate speech, by the acting secretary 
 at war, Samuel Dexter, on the 10th of February. On the 
 11th Red Jacket replied, setting forth the business of his 
 mission in the following speech : 
 
 Brother : We yesterday received your speech, which removed 
 all uneasiness from our minds. We then told you that should 
 it please the Great Spirit to permit us to rise in health this day, you 
 should hear what we have come to say. 
 
 Brother : The business on which we are now come, is to 
 restore the friendship that has existed between the United States 
 and the Six Nations, agreeably to the direction of the commissioner 
 
 iln the author's possession. 
 
 2 The Indian name of Cornplanter was Ga-an-iwa-ha, or Handsome Lake. 
 He died on the 7th of March, 1836, aged upward of one hundred years. 
 
256 The Life and Times of 1802. 
 
 from the Fifteen Fires of the United States. He assured us that 
 whensoever, by any grievances, the chain of friendship should 
 become rusty, we might have it brightened by calling on you. We 
 dispense with the usual formality of having your speech again read, 
 as we fully comprehended it yesterday, and it would therefore be 
 useless to waste time in a repetition of it. 
 
 Brother : Yesterday you wiped the tears from our eyes, that 
 we might see clearly ; you unstopped our ears that we might hear ; 
 and removed the obstructions from our throats that we might speak 
 distinctly. You offered to join with us in tearing up the largest 
 pine tree in our forests, and under it to bury the tomahawk. We 
 gladly join with you, brother, in this work, and let us heap rocks 
 and stones on the root of this tree, that the tomahawk may never 
 again be found. 
 
 BROTHER : Your apology for not having wampum is sufficient, 
 and we agree to accept of your speeches on paper, to evince our 
 sincerity in wishing the tomahawk forever buried, We accompany a 
 repetition of our assurances with these strings. {^Strings o/wampum.] 
 
 Brother : We always desire, on similar melancholy occasions, 
 to go through our customary forms of condolence, and have been 
 happy to find the officers of the government of the United States 
 willing in this manner to make our minds easy. 
 
 Brother : We observe that the men now in office are new 
 men, and, we fear, not fully informed of all that has befallen us. 
 In 1791 a treaty was held by the commissioners of congress with us 
 at Tioga point, on a similar occasion. We have lost seven of our 
 warriors, murdered in cold blood by white men, since the conclusion 
 of the war. We are tired of this mighty grievance, and wish some 
 general arrangement to prevent it in future. The first of these was 
 murdered on the banks of the Ohio, near fort Pitt. Shortly after, 
 two men, belonging to our first families, were murdered at Pine 
 creek; then one at fort Franklin; another at Tioga point; and 
 now the two that occasion this visit, on the Big Beaver. These last 
 two had families. The one was a Seneca ; the other a Tuscarora. 
 Their families are now destitute of support ; and we think that the 
 United States should do something toward their support, as it is to 
 the United States they owe the loss of their heads. 
 
1802. Sa-go-te-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 257 
 
 Brother : These offenses are always committed in one place 
 on tlie frontier of Pennsylvania. In the Glenesee country we live 
 happy, and no one molests us. I must therefore beg that the pre- 
 sident will exert all his influence with all officers, civil and military, 
 in that quarter, to remedy this grievance, and trust that he will thus 
 prevent a repetition of it, and save our blood from being spilled in 
 future. [J. Belt.'] 
 
 Brother : Let me call to mind the treaty between the United 
 States and the Six Nations, concluded at Canandaigua. At that 
 treaty Colonel Pickering, who was commissioner on behalf of the 
 United States, agreed that the United States should pay to the Six 
 Nations four thousand five hundred dollars per annum^ and that this 
 should pass through the hands of the superintendent of the United 
 States, to be appointed for that purpose. This treaty was made in the 
 name of the president of the United States, who was then General 
 Washington; and as he is now no more, perhaps the present presi- 
 dent would wish to renew the treaty. But if he should think the 
 old one valid, and is willing to let it remain in force, we are also 
 willing. The sum above mentioned we wish to have part of in 
 money, to expend in more agricultural tools and in purchasing a 
 team, as we have some horses that will do for the purpose. We 
 also wish to build a saw mill on the Buffalo creek. If the president, 
 however, thinks proper to have it continue as heretofore, we shall 
 not be very uneasy. Whatever he may do we agree to ; we only 
 suggest this for his consideration. [J. Belt.'] 
 
 Brother : I hand you the above mentioned treaty, made by 
 Colonel Pickering in the name of General Washington, and the belt 
 that accompanied it; as he is now dead, we know not if it is still 
 valid. If not, we wish it renewed — if it is, we wish it copied on 
 clean parchment. Our money got loose in our trunk and tore it. 
 We also show you the belt which is the path of peace between our 
 Six Nations and the United States. \^Treaty and two Belts.] 
 
 Brother : A request was forwarded by us from the Onondaga 
 nation to the governor of New York, that he should appoint a com- 
 missioner to hold a treaty with them. They have a reservation sur- 
 rounded by white men which they wish to sell. The Cayugas, also, 
 have a reservation so surrounded that they have been forced to leave 
 
 33 
 
268 The Life and Times of 1803. 
 
 it, and they hope that the president's commissioner, whom they ex- 
 pect he will not hesitate to appoint, will be instructed to attend to 
 this business. We also have some business with New York, which 
 we would wish him to attend to. 
 
 Brother : The business that has caused this our long journey 
 was occasioned by some of your bad men ; the expense of it has been 
 heavy on us. We beg that as so great a breach has been made on 
 your part, the president will judge it proper that the United States 
 should bear our expenses to and from home, and whilst here. 
 
 Brother : Three horses belonging to the Tuscarora nation were 
 killed by some men under the command of Major E-ivardi, on the 
 plains of Niagara. They have made application to the superintend- 
 ent and to Major B., but get no redress. You make us pay for our 
 breaches of the peace, why should you not pay also ? A white man 
 has told us the horses were killed by Major B.'s orders, who said 
 they should not be permitted to come there, although it was an open 
 common on which they were killed. Mr. Chapin has the papers re- 
 specting these horses, which we request you to take into consideration. 
 
 Mr. Dexter answered the deputation on the IGth, and 
 in the name of the president (the elder Adams), promised 
 a thorough investigation into the circumstances of the mur- 
 ders complained of, a compliance with their wishes touch- 
 ing an exchange of certain lands, and payment for the 
 horses killed at ISTiagara. The expenses of their mission 
 were also directed to be paid. 
 
 In the year following, a white man named John Hewitt 
 was murdered at Buffalo creek by a drunken Indian, and 
 his surrender demanded by the civil authorities of the state. 
 This demand was resisted by the Indians, and no small 
 degree of excitement among them was the consequence. 
 In their own rude jurisprudence, the fact of drunkenness 
 on the part of the offender, when the deed was perpetrated, 
 could be pleaded in extenuation of the crime ; whereas by 
 the laws of the white men, such a plea would be held only 
 as an aggravation of the offense. The Indians, moreover, 
 
1803. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 259 
 
 insisted that they were an independent nation, and as sucli 
 had a right to the entire jurisdiction of the case. Or if not, 
 as they did not exactly understand the divided and nicely 
 balanced relations existing between the United States and 
 the state governments respectively, they supposed they 
 could appeal to their great father the president. Bufi'alo 
 was at that period within the county of Ontario, Canandai- 
 gua being the seat of justice. At length, after several 
 meetings between the Indians and the citizens, in which 
 the latter had vainly attempted to persuade the former to 
 surrender the culprit, a council of the principal chiefs of 
 the Senecas, Cayugas and Onondagas, was convened at 
 Canandaigua, to give the question a more solemn considera- 
 tion. A conference having been arranged between the 
 council and the principal inhabitants, Red Jacket, arguing 
 against the surrender upon the principles already indicated, 
 delivered the following speech, addressed particularly to 
 the white portion of his audience : ^ 
 
 Brothers : Open your ears, and give your attention. This 
 day is appointed by the Great Spirit to meet our friends at this 
 place. During the many years that we have lived together in this 
 country, good will and harmony have subsisted among us. 
 
 Brothers : We have now come forward on an unhappy 
 occasion. We cannot find words to express our feelings upon it. 
 One of our people has murdered one of your people. So it has 
 been ordered by the Grreat Spirit, who controls all events. This 
 has been done : we cannot now help it. At first view it would seem 
 to have the effect of putting an end to our friendship ; but let us 
 reflect, and put our minds together. Can^t we point out measures 
 whereby our peace and harmony may still be preserved ? We have 
 come forward to this place, where we have always had a superin- 
 tendent and friend to receive us, and to make known to him such 
 grievances as lay upon our minds ; but now we have none ; and we 
 
 1 For a copy of this speech the author is indebted to James D. Bemis, 
 Esq. (for thirty years the editor of a newspaper in Canandaigua), by whom 
 it was first published. 
 
260 The Life and Times of 1803. 
 
 have no guardian — no protector — no one is now authorized to 
 receive us. 
 
 Brothers : We therefore now call upon you to take our speech 
 in writing, and forward our ideas to the president of the United 
 States. 
 
 Brothers : Let us look back to our former situation. While 
 you were under the government of Grreat Britain, Sir William 
 Johnson was our superintendent, appointed by the king. He had 
 power to settle offenses of this kind among all the Indian nations, 
 without adverting to the laws. But under the British government 
 you were uneasy — you wanted to change it for a better. Greneral 
 Washington went forward as your leader. From his exertions you 
 gained your independence. Immediately afterward a treaty was 
 made between the United States and the Six Nations, whereby a 
 method was pointed out of redressing such an accident as the 
 present. Several such accidents did happen, where we were the 
 sufferers. We now crave the same privilege in making restitution 
 to you, that you adopted toward us in a similar situation. 
 
 Brothers : At the close of our treaty at Philadelphia, General 
 Washington told us that we had formed a chain of friendship which 
 was bright : he hoped it would continue so on our part : that the 
 United States would be equally willing to brighten it, if rusted by 
 any means. A number of murders have been committed on our 
 people — we shall only mention the last of them. About two years 
 ago, a few of our warriors were amusing themselves in the woods, to 
 the westward of fort Pitt; two white men coolly and deliberately 
 took their rifles, traveled nearly three miles to our encampment, 
 fired upon the Indians, killed two men and wounded two children. 
 We then were the party injured. What did we do ? We flew to 
 the treaty, and thereby obtained redress, perfectly satisfactory to us, 
 and we hope agreeable to you. This was done a short time before 
 President Adams went out of office : complete peace and harmony 
 was restored. We now want the same method of redress to be 
 pursued. 
 
 Brothers : How did the present accident take place ? Did our 
 warriors go from home cool and sober, and commit murder on you ? 
 No. Our brother was in liquor, and a quarrel ensued, in which the 
 
1803. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 261 
 
 unhappy accident happened. We would not excuse "him on account 
 of his being in liquor ; but such a thing was far from his intention 
 in his sober moments. We are all extremely grieved at it, and are 
 willing to come forward and have it settled, as crimes of the same 
 nature have heretofore been. 
 
 Brothers : Since this accident has taken place, we have been 
 informed that by the laws of this state, if a murder is committed 
 within it, the murderer must be tried by the laws of the state, and 
 punished with death. 
 
 Brothers : When were such laws explained to us ? Bid we 
 ever make a treaty with the state of New York, and agree to con- 
 form to its laws ? No. We are independent of the state of New 
 York. It was the will of the Great Spirit to create us different in 
 color : we have different laws, habits and customs, from the white 
 people. We shall never consent that the government of this state 
 shall try our brother. We appeal to the government of the United 
 States. 
 
 Brothers : Under the customs and habits of our forefathers we 
 were a happy people ; we had laws of our own ; they were dear to 
 us. The whites came among us and introduced their customs ; they 
 introduced liquor among us, which our forefathers always told us 
 would prove our ruin. 
 
 Brothers : In consequence of the introduction of liquor among 
 us, numbers of our people were killed. A council was held to con- 
 sider of a remedy, at which it was agreed by us that no private 
 revenge should take place for any such murder — that it was decreed 
 by the Great Spirit, and that a council should be called to consider 
 of redress to the friends of the deceased. 
 
 Brothers : The president of the United States is called a great 
 man, possessing great power. He may do what he pleases — he 
 may turn men out of office — men who held their offices long before 
 he held his. If he can do these things, can he not even control 
 the laws of this state ? Can he not appoint a commissioner to 
 come forward to our country and settle the present difference, as we, 
 on our part, have heretofore often done to him, upon a similar occa- 
 sion? 
 
 We now call upon you, brothers, to represent these things to 
 
262 The Life and Times of 180S. 
 
 the president, and we trust that lie will not refuse our request of 
 sending a commissioner to us, with powers to settle the present dif- 
 ference. The consequence of a refusal may be serious. We are 
 determined that our brother shall not be tried by the laws of the 
 state of New York. Their laws make no difference between a crime 
 committed in liquor, and one committed coolly and deliberately. 
 Our laws are different, as we have before stated. If tried here, our 
 brother must be hanged. We cannot submit to that — has a mur- 
 der been committed upon our people, when was it punished with 
 death ? 
 
 Brothers: We have now finished what we had to say on the 
 subject of the murder. We wish to address you upon another, and 
 to have our ideas communicated to the president upon it also. 
 
 Brothers : It was understood at the treaty concluded by Colonel 
 Pickering, that our superintendent should reside in the town of 
 Canandaigua, and for very good reasons : that situation is the most 
 central to the Six Nations ; and by subsequent treaties between the 
 state of New York and the Indians, there are still stronger reasons 
 why he should reside here, principally on account of the annuities 
 being stipulated to be paid to our superintendent at this place. 
 These treaties are sacred. If their superintendent resides else- 
 where, the state may object to sending their money to him at a 
 greater distance. We would therefore wish our superintendent to 
 reside here at all events. 
 
 Brothers : With regard to the appointment of our present su- 
 perintendent, we look upon ourselves as much neglected and injured. 
 When General Chapin and Captain Chapin were appointed, our 
 wishes were consulted upon the occasion, and we most cordially 
 agreed to the appointments. Captain Chapin has been turned out, 
 however, within these few days.i We do not understand that any 
 neglect of duty has been alleged against him. We are told it is 
 because he differs from the president in his sentiments on govern- 
 
 1 Captain Chapin was removed by President Jefferson, as here stated. 
 Shortly afterward he wrote to his friend Brant, the Mohawk chief, an- 
 nouncing the fact, and received a reply from the latter, which, for the 
 intelligence it evinces, and its philosophy, deserves preservation. See 
 appendix D. 
 
1803. Sa-go-te-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 263 
 
 ment matters. He lias also been perfectly satisfactory to us ; and 
 had we known of the intention, we should most cordially have 
 united in a petition to the president to continue him in office. We 
 feel ourselves injured — we have nobody to look to — nobody to 
 listen to our complaints — none to reconcile any differences among 
 us. We are like a young family without a father. 
 
 Brothers : We understand that the president has appointed a 
 superintendent who is altogether unknown to us, and who is unac- 
 quainted with Indian affairs. We know him not in our country. 
 Had we been consulted upon the subject, we might have named 
 some one residing in this country, who was well known to us. 
 Perhaps we might have agreed upon Mr. Oliver Phelps, whose 
 politics, coinciding with those of the president, might have recom- 
 mended him to the office. 
 
 Brothers : We cannot conclude without again urging you to 
 make known all these our sentiments to the president. 
 
 But the eloquent pleadings of the Indians were una- 
 vailing. They were compelled to surrender the offender 
 to the inexorable law of the white man, though it was 
 done with great reluctance. His name was Stiff-armed 
 George. He was tried and convicted at the oyer and 
 terminer of Ontario county, on the 23d of February, 1803 — 
 Brockholst Livingston, one of the justices of the supreme 
 court, presiding; but as the murder was without pre- 
 existing malice, and was moreover attended by various 
 mitigating circumstances, the court, the attorney-general, 
 the grand jury that indicted him, together with many of 
 the people of Canandaigua, united in a petition to the 
 governor, George Clinton, for his pardon. Judge Living- 
 ston, in a letter to the governor upon the subject, after 
 stating the case, and referring to the interpositions of the 
 people in his behalf, observed: 
 
 It is not for me to urge considerations of policy in favor of a par- 
 don ; if any exist they will occur, and be properly appreciated by 
 those with whom this prerogative resides. It may not, however, be 
 
264 The Life and Times of 1803. 
 
 impertinent to mention that the convict is well connected ; is much 
 beloved by his countrymen, and that his situation has excited an 
 uncommon interest and solicitude in the sachems and warriors of 
 his nation ; several of them attended the trial, and behaved with 
 great decorum. Red Jacket, one of their sachems, addressed the 
 jury at some length ; he dwelt on the hardship of making an un- 
 lettered savage amenable to laws, of which, from his habits and want 
 of education, he must ever remain ignorant. He complained of the 
 impunity with which white men had, in various instances, committed 
 murders on the Indians, and particularly of the outrages to which 
 those in the neighborhood of Buffalo creek were constantly exposed. 
 He also insisted that in this affray our citizens were the aggressors. 
 It is proper to add that Judge Hosmer, Judge Atwater, and the 
 attorney-general, concur with me in recommending the Indian as 
 a fit object of mercy. i 
 
 The subject was presented to the consideration of the 
 legislature by a special message from the governor, and 
 Stiff-armed George was not executed. 
 
 The next act in the public life of Red Jacket presents 
 him in the character of a conspirator.^ Flushed with his 
 victory over Cornplanter, the principal war chief of his own 
 nation, the orator meditated an insidious blow at a higher 
 object, and sought to gratify his hate by crushing the mili- 
 tary chieftain of the whole confederacy — the renowned 
 Thayendanegea himself. Between Brant and Red Jacket 
 no friendship had existed since the exhibitions of cowardice 
 and treachery by the latter, during Sullivan's invasion of 
 
 1 See Journals of the New York Legislature for 1803. 
 
 2 The application to Red Jacket, by Brant, of the insulting soubriquet 
 The Cow Killee, has been noted in the second chapter of the present 
 work, together with the reason therefor. The name, moreover, must have 
 obtained some currency. Among the manuscripts of General Chapin are 
 the proceedings of one of the Seneca councils, in which The Cow Killer is 
 three times reported as having spoken at as many different stages of the 
 proceedings. But in each of these places the words Coio Killer were crossed 
 by a stroke of the pen and Red Jacket inserted. 
 
1803. Sa-go-te-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 265 
 
 the Indian country, in 1779, as heretofore related. They 
 had frequently met in councils, for the transaction of the 
 business appertaining to their government, and the internal 
 relations of their own people, as also in their negotiations 
 with the United States. Eut the lion hearted Mohawk 
 despised him in his heart, and could never meet him with 
 cordiality, taking no pains to conceal his feehngs. 
 
 Brant, it must he borne in mind, was a resident in 
 Canada, whither he had led his Mohawks after the disas- 
 trous termination of the war of the revolution. But the 
 fact of his residence, and that of his own particular nation, 
 within the jurisdiction of another government, did not dis- 
 solve the confederacy, or change its unwritten constitution. 
 Brant had indeed offered to receive the whole Six Illations 
 in his newly acquired territory upon Grand river, and 
 many from each of the nations joined him there. Still, a 
 large majority of all the nations, excepting the Mohawks, 
 preferred remaining in their "old seats," in their own 
 beautiful country of western 'New York. But the league 
 was not affected, and Thayendanegea remained the war 
 captain of the whole. 
 
 At the time now under consideration, Brant was involved 
 in harassing perplexities with the oj9B.cers of the British 
 colonial government. The Grand river territory had been 
 granted to him as a place of retreat for the Mohawks by 
 Sir Frederick Haldemand, in the name and under the 
 authority of the crown, in fee simple. But as years 
 elapsed, and the lands in that region were continu- 
 ally rising in value, by reason of the tide of emigra- 
 tion that now began to roll against and around them, 
 the colonial authorities chose not so to understand the 
 grant. They held that Sir Frederick had only conveyed 
 to the Indians the right of occupancy, and that the right 
 of preemption was still vested in the crown. Brant resisted 
 this construction to the utmost of his power, and appeals 
 
 34 
 
266 The Life and Times of 1805. 
 
 were carried up to the parent government for justice. 
 Tlie ministers uniformly favored tlie construction claimed 
 by tlie Indians, but the colonial authorities as uniformly 
 contrived to circumvent their intentions ; so that to this 
 day the Mohawks have been excluded from the full enjoy- 
 ment of their undoubted right to the soil in question. 
 These disputes, and the exertions of Brant in behalf of 
 his people, involved him in a series of troubles that con- 
 tinued until his death. Having attempted to lease portions 
 of the land to white settlers, the colonial authorities, and 
 the officers of the British Indian department, interposed, 
 and caused him much difficulty. Disaffection was also 
 stirred up against him, even among the Mohawks, by 
 designing white men ; and a plot for his deposition and 
 degradation from office was matured, and attempted to be 
 carried into execution. In order to this, the Senecas, and 
 others of the Six !N"ations, were induced to claim a right to 
 interfere in the disposition of the Grand river lands, and 
 also in the domestic relations of the Mohawks — a right 
 with which the laws and usages of the confederacy did not 
 invest them. Brant was likewise charged with peculation, 
 in the management of the revenues of his people — a charge 
 which he triumphantly repelled. But no matter : it served 
 the purpose of Brant's white opponents in Canada, who 
 were eager to destroy him, and the arch demagogue Eed 
 Jacket became a ready instrument in their hands. In fur- 
 therance of this design, a council was privately convened 
 at Buffalo creek, early in the year 1805, under the direction 
 of E,ed Jacket himself, and a few other Seneca chiefs in his 
 immediate interest, or subject to his influence. ISTeither 
 chiefs nor sachems of the Mohawks had knowledge of this 
 council, although a pretended representation of that nation 
 was present, selected merely for the sake of form, from the 
 discontents, and the personal enemies of Brant, who were 
 the lowest of the people. The result of this council, clan- 
 
1806. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 267 
 
 "•r 
 
 destinely called and illegally constitnted, was the formal 
 deposition of Brant from office, and also the removal from 
 office of all the Mohawk chiefs and sachems who were his 
 friends. There was yet another motive for the instigation 
 of this measure of proscriptive violence by the Canadians, 
 who, with Red Jacket, were at the bottom of the conspiracy. 
 The celebrated Norton, a Mohawk chief, and the confi- 
 dential friend of Brant, was then in England, charged by 
 the latter with a mission to the parent government, con- 
 nected with the long pending controversy respecting the 
 title to their lands. Information had been received that 
 the application was likely to be crowned with success ; and 
 those who were hostile to the claim of the Indians sought 
 to defeat the measure of justice by prostrating their noblest 
 champion and most distinguished friend. With this view, 
 having effected his removal, a paper was drawn up for 
 transmission to the parent government, disavowing the 
 mission of Norton, and all the claims and proceedings of 
 Brant. And to complete the plot, the proceedings were 
 signed by the common Indians who had been convened for 
 the occasion, in the character of chiefs — each of them 
 being promised a commission from the English government, 
 for their participation in the fraud.^ 
 
 But the triumph of the orator over the proud Mohawk 
 was of short duration. Although all the charges that had 
 been brought against the latter at this illegal council had 
 been fully investigated and refuted but a few months before, 
 yet the veteran chief was not disposed to sit in silence 
 under the renewal of them, or to acquiesce in his own 
 ostracism. Convening a full council of the Mohawks, 
 including his enemies who had taken a seat in the Buffalo 
 council against him, he made a defense which overwhelmed 
 
 1 Letter of Brant to the Duke of Northumberland. Life of Brant, vol. 
 ii, p. 419* 
 
268 The Life and Times of 1805. 
 
 his enemies. Shortly afterward a full council of the con- 
 federacy was summoned, at which, after mature delibera- 
 tion, the proceedings of the spurious council were revoked, 
 and the chief was restored to his rank by acclamation. 
 
 -h( 
 
[269 ] 
 
 CHAPTER Vin. 
 
 Paganism of K^d Jacket — Failure of plans for Indian civilization — Hos- 
 tility of Red Jacket to Christianity — Mission of the Rev. Mr. Cram — 
 Council to meet him — Speech of Mr. Cram — Red Jacket's speech in 
 reply — Rejection of the missionary — Errors of missionaries — Dif&culty 
 of making themselves understood — Interesting anecdotes in illustration 
 — Another attempt to purchase the remaining lands of the Seneoas — 
 Speech of Red Jacket to Mr. Richardson — Causes of their hostility to 
 the missionaries — Another speech of Red Jacket — Drunkenness among 
 the Indians — Tradition of their first taste of the fire-waters — Reflections. 
 —1805. 
 
 The life and conduct of Red Jacket are now to be con- 
 templated in a different aspect. It has been seen tbat at 
 an earlier period of bis career by twelve or thirteen years, 
 he was at Philadelphia, listening with apparent approbation 
 to the counsels of Washington for the civilization of his 
 people, and concerting measures with Colonel Pickering to 
 that end. It may indeed be doubted whether he was 
 altogether sincere at that time; for such was the habitual 
 deceitfalness of his character, that his professions were at 
 all times but an uncertain index to the resolves of his mind. 
 But it is of little importance whether he was sincere at the 
 time referred to, or not — nothing is more certain than that 
 if he was not a dissembler then, an entire revolution must 
 have been wrought in his views previous to the year 1805, 
 at which time, even if it had ever been otherwise, he had 
 become thoroughly pagan. From that year forward, had 
 it been in his power, he would have entirely cut off from 
 his people all knowledge of the Christian religion, and all 
 communication with the Anglo-Saxon race. His language 
 now was, that the Great Spirit had formed the red and 
 
270 The Life and Times of 1805. 
 
 wMte men distinct — tliat there was no more reason why 
 
 the two races should profess the same religious creed, than 
 
 that they should he of the same color. The Indians, he 
 
 • 
 
 held, could not he civilized; and he had now become 
 anxious not only to resist all farther innovations upon their 
 manners, but that their ancient customs should be restored.^ 
 It is not unlikely that the ill success atteijding the ex- 
 periments made under the auspices of Washington and 
 Pickering, aided by the persevering ejfforts of the quakers, 
 might have induced the orator to abandon the project of 
 civilization in despair.^ And not without show of reason, 
 since the fact is equally indisputable and lamentable, that 
 from the day on which the Pilgrims landed upon Plymouth 
 rock to the present, the intercourse between the Indians 
 and the white people has resulted in little more than the 
 acquisition by the former of the vices of the latter. Ked 
 Jacket had seen this result, and he doubtless mourned over 
 it. He had seen his people melting away before the pale 
 faces, with a rapidity foreboding their early extinction. 
 He had learned the failure of every antecedent effort to 
 convert them, as a people, to Christianity; and he had 
 seen that every attempt thus far made to introduce even 
 
 1 Manuscript collections of Joseph W. Moulton, Esq. 
 
 2 The care with which the Friends watched over the interests of the Six 
 Nations on various occasions, particularly at the treaty of Canandaigua, 
 has been repeatedly mentioned in the foregoing pages. But their efforts 
 did not end here. In 1796 several families of Friends were located upon 
 the Oneida reservation, to teach the Indians the art of husbandry, and 
 some of the indispensable mechanic arts. Their women, also, it was 
 sought to teach the skill of household duties, spinning, sewing, knitting, 
 &c. In 1798, the Senecas, who had observed the improvement of the 
 Oneidas, requested the Friends to aid them in the same way, and three 
 families accordingly planted themselves down in the canton of the Alle- 
 ghany. Their presence, their instruction, and their example, were of 
 great benefit to that canton, although the progress of Indian improvement 
 has been slow. The late Thomas Eddy, of New York, devoted himself 
 actively to this cause for several years. 
 
1805. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 271 
 
 the primary arts and customs of civilization among them, 
 had been equally abortive. He had therefore become 
 utterly averse to any farther intercourse or association with 
 the whites — having arrived at the conclusion that the 
 only means of preserving his race, even for a few brief 
 lustres, would be the erection of a wall of separation, 
 strong and high between them. Thenceforward he ever 
 acted rigidly upon that principle. He was opposed to any 
 farther sales of their lands. He was opposed to blending 
 the races by intermarriage — not unfrequently murmuring, 
 that whereas before the approach of the white men the eyes 
 of their children were all black, now they were becoming 
 blue. He was opposed to the introduction of the arts of 
 civilized life. He was opposed to the acquisition by his 
 people of the English language. Above all, he was opposed 
 to the introduction among them of Christianity. l!^or in- 
 deed, speaking after the manner of men, was he greatly 
 blameable for his hostility to this new religion, judging, as 
 both he and his people in their simplicity naturally would 
 do, of the character of that religion from such of its fruits 
 as were most perceptible to them. The irregular and 
 reckless border men, pressing them closely upon all sides, 
 and setting every bad example possible before them, called 
 themselves Christians. Those who were coutinually per- 
 suading the Indians to drunkenness, in order to cheat or 
 plunder them before they were sober, were called Christians. 
 And the rapacious land jobbers, who were seeking every 
 opportunity of stripping them of their territory, and who 
 were held in special abhorrence by Red Jacket and the more 
 considerate of the chiefs, were likewise known to the Indians 
 as Christians. The orator had pondered all these things ; 
 and being unable to discriminate between the nominal and 
 the real Christian — or rather not understanding enough of 
 the nature of Christianity to know that it was a religion of 
 the heart, and that, no matter by what names they were 
 
272 The Life and Times of 1805. 
 
 called, those only were Christians who endeavored to live up 
 to its principles — lie could perceive nothing good in the 
 system. So far as he could judge from such lights, and 
 such examples, he saw nothing better in Christianity than 
 in his own paganism. Hence the tone of the speech now 
 to be introduced, which has been regarded as the ablest 
 and most ingenious of his rude forensic efforts. 
 
 The occasion was this : In the summer of 1805, a young 
 missionary named Cram was sent into the country of the 
 Six l^ations by the Evangelical Missionary Society of 
 Massachusetts. His design was to plant a missionary sta- 
 tion among the Senecas, and a council of their chiefs was 
 convoked at Buffalo creek to hear his propositions. The 
 agent of the United States for Indian affairs attended the 
 council, and the government interpreter was also present. 
 The proceedings were opened by the agent, who thus intro- 
 duced the missionary : 
 
 Brothers of the Six Nations : I rejoice to meet you at this 
 time, and thank the Great Spirit that he has preserved you in health, 
 and given me another opportunity of taking you by the hand. 
 
 Brothers : The person who sits by me is a friend who has come 
 a great distance to hold a talk with you. He will inform you what 
 his business is, and it is my request that you would listen with at- 
 tention to his words. 
 
 The missionary thereupon opened his business in the 
 following terms : 
 
 My Friends : I am thankful for the opportunity afforded us of 
 uniting together at this time. I had a great desire to see you, and 
 inquire into your state and welfare. For this purpose I have tra- 
 veled a great distance, being sent by your old friends, the Boston 
 Missionary Society. You will recollect they formerly sent missiona- 
 ries among you, to instruct you in religion, and labor for your good. 
 Although they have not heard from you for a long time, yet they 
 have not forgotten their brothers, the Six Nations, and are still 
 anxious to do you good. 
 
1805. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 273 
 
 Brothers : I have not come to get your lands or your money, 
 but to enlighten your minds, and to instruct you how to worship 
 the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind and will, and to preach to 
 you the gospel of his son Jesus Christ. There is but one religion, 
 and but one way to serve God, and if you do not embrace the right 
 way you cannot be happy hereafter. You have never worshipped 
 the Great Spirit in a manner acceptable to him ; but have all your 
 lives been in great errors and darkness. To endeavor to remove 
 these errors, and open your eyes, so that you might see clearly, is my 
 business with you. 
 
 Brothers : I wish to talk with you as one friend talks with 
 another; and if you have any objections, to receive the religion 
 which I preach, I wish you to state them ; and I will endeavor to 
 satisfy your minds and remove the objections. 
 
 Brothers : I want you to speak your minds freely : for I wish to 
 reason with you on the subject, and, if possible, remove all doubts, 
 if there be any on your minds. The subject is an important one, 
 and it is of consequence that you give it an early attention while 
 the offer is made you. Your friends the Boston Missionary Society 
 will continue to send you good and faithful ministers, to instruct 
 and strengthen you in religion, if, on your part, you are willing to 
 receive them. 
 
 Brothers : Since I have been in this part of the country, I have 
 visited some of your small villages, and talked with your people. 
 They appear willing to receive instruction, but as they look up to 
 you as their older brothers in council, they want first to know your 
 opinion on the subject. You have now heard what I have to pro- 
 pose at present. I hope you will take it into consideration, and 
 give me an answer before we part. 
 
 After about two hours consultation among themselves, 
 Eed Jacket rose and spoke as follows : 
 
 Friend and Brother : It was the will of the Great Spirit that 
 we should meet together this day. He orders all things, and has 
 given us a fine day for our council. He has taken his garment from 
 before the sun, and caused it to shine with brightness upon us. Our 
 eyes are opened, that we see clearly; our ears are unstopped, that we 
 
 35 
 
274 The Life and Times of 1805. 
 
 have been able to bear distinctly tbe words you bave spoken. For 
 all tbese favors we tbank tbe Grreat Spirit ; and bim only. 
 
 Brother : Tbis council fire was kindled by you. It was at your 
 request tbat we came together at tbis time. We bave listened witb 
 attention to wbat you bave said. You requested us to speak our 
 minds freely. Tbis gives us great joy ; for we now consider tbat we 
 stand upright before you, and can speak wbat we think. All have 
 beard your voice, and all speak to you now as one man. Our minds 
 are agreed. 
 
 Brother : You say you want an answer to your talk before you 
 leave tbis place. It is right you should have one, as you are a 
 great distance from home, and we do not wish to detain you. But 
 we will first look back a little, and tell you what our fathers have 
 told us, and wbat we bave beard from tbe white people. 
 
 Brother : Listen to wbat we say. There was a time when our 
 forefathers owned tbis great island. Their seats extended from tbe 
 rising to the setting sun. The Great Spirit bad made it for tbe use 
 of Indians. He bad created tbe buffalo, tbe deer, and other ani- 
 mals for food. He had made the bear and the beaver. Their skins 
 served us for clothing. He bad scattered them over tbe country, 
 and taught us bow to take them. He bad caused tbe earth to 
 produce corn for bread. All tbis he had done for bis red children, 
 because be loved them. If we had some disputes about our hunting 
 ground, they were generally settled without tbe shedding of much 
 blood. But an evil day came upon us. Your forefathers crossed 
 the great water and landed on tbis island. Their numbers were 
 small. They found friends and not enemies. They told us they 
 bad fled from their own country for fear of wicked men, and bad 
 come here to enjoy their religion. They asked for a small seat. 
 We took pity on them, granted their request ; and they sat down 
 amongst us. We gave them corn and meat; they gave us poisoni 
 in return. 
 
 Tbe white people, brother, bad now found our country. Tidings 
 were carried back, and more came amongst us. Yet we did not fear 
 them. We took them to be friends. They called us brothers. We 
 
1805. Sa-go-yb-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 275 
 
 believed them, and gave them a larger seat. At length their 
 numbers had greatly increased. They wanted more land; they 
 wanted our country. Our eyes were opened, and our minds be- 
 came uneasy. Wars took place. Indians were hired to fight 
 against Indians, and many of our people were destroyed. They 
 also brought strong liquor amongst us. It was strong and powerful, 
 and has slain thousands. 
 
 Brother : Our seats were once large and yours were small. You 
 have now become a great people, and we have scarcely a place left to 
 spread our blankets. You have got our country, but are not satis- 
 fied; you want to force your religion upon us. 
 
 Brother : Continue to listen. You say that you are sent to 
 instruct us how to worship the Great Spirit agreeably to his mind, 
 and, if we do not take hold of the religion which you white people 
 teach, we shall be unhappy hereafter. You say that you are right 
 and we are lost. How do we know this to be true ? We under- 
 stand that your religion is written in a book. If it was intended for 
 us as well as you, why has not the Great Spirit given to us, and not 
 only to us, but why did he not give to our forefathers, the knowledge 
 of that book, with the means of understanding it rightly ? We only 
 know what you tell us about it. How shall we know when to 
 believe, being so often deceived by the white people ? 
 
 Brother : You say there is but one way to worship and serve 
 the Great Spirit. If there is but one religion, why do you white 
 people difier so much about it ? Why not all agreed, as you can all 
 read the book ? 
 
 Brother : We do not understand these things. We are told 
 that your religion was given to your forefathers, and has been handed 
 down from father to son. We also have a religion, which was given 
 to our forefathers, and has been handed down to us their children. 
 We worship in that way. It teaches us to be thankful for all the 
 favors we receive ; to love each other, and to be united. We never 
 quarrel about religion. 
 
 Brother : The Great Spirit has made us all, but he has made a 
 great difference between his white and red children. He has given 
 us different complexions and different customs. To you he has 
 given the arts. To these he has not opened our eyes. We know 
 
276 The Life and Times of 1805. 
 
 these things to be true. Since lie has made so great a difference 
 between us in other things, why may we not conclude that he has 
 given us a different religion according to our understanding ? The 
 Great Spirit does right. He knows what is best for his children ; 
 we are satisfied. 
 
 Brother : We do not wish to destroy your religion, or take it 
 from you. We only want to enjoy our own. 
 
 Brother : You say you have not come to get our land or our 
 money, but to enlighten our minds. I will now tell you that I have 
 been at your meetings, and saw you collect money from the meeting. 
 I cannot tell what this money was intended for, but suppose that 
 it was for your minister, and if we should conform to your way of 
 thinking, perhaps you may want some from us.i 
 
 Brother : We are told that you have been preaching to the 
 white people in this place. These people are our neighbors. We 
 are acquainted with them. We will wait a little while, and see 
 what effect your preaching has upon them. If we find it does them 
 good, makes them honest and less disposed to cheat Indians, we will 
 then consider again of what you have said. 
 
 Brother : You have now heard our answer to your talk, and 
 this is all we have to say at present. As we are going to part, we 
 will come and take you by the hand, and hope the Great Spirit will 
 protect you on your journey, and return you safe to your friends. 
 
 It lias been asserted that, when preparing for this inter- 
 view, Eed Jacket supposed that possibly be might be drawn 
 into a regular argumentative discussion with the missionary. 
 Like a wary gladiator, therefore, on entering upon the 
 arena be felt disposed to measure the force of bis antagonist, 
 and by a searching scrutiny of bis countenance, ascertain 
 bis intellectual calibre. For this purpose, be approached 
 very near the person of the missionary, and by a rapid but 
 penetrating scrutiny soon satisfied himself whether it was 
 
 ^This paragraph is not contained in the first edition of the speech, as 
 published by James D. Bemis, in 1811 ; but I find it in the speech as given 
 by Drake, in his Book of the IndianSy and also in Thatcher's Indian Biogra- 
 phy. Still, it appears to me to be an interpolation. 
 
1805. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 277 
 
 a great man, like Con-neh-santy,^ with whom he was to 
 draw the bow of Achilles, or wield the shield of Ajax. 
 His mind was quickly at ease, and his apprehensions, if he 
 had entertained any, were dissipated at a glance. With 
 a mingled and indescribable expression of countenance, 
 smiling in scornful composure, he turned away, and joined 
 the dusky circle of his own people.^ Be this as it may, 
 his reply is ingenious and able. Some of its figures are 
 beautiful — some of its passages eloquent. It was received 
 by the missionary, probably, with disappointment, and 
 with manifest displeasure — a displeasure which a wiser 
 man, even if he had felt it, would have concealed. Agreeably 
 to the suggestion at the close of Eed Jacket's speech, as 
 the council was breaking up the Indians moved toward 
 the missionary for the purpose of extending the parting 
 hand of friendship; but Mr. Cram rose hastily from his 
 seat, and rephed that he could not take them by the 
 hand, " there being," he added, " no fellowship between 
 the religion of God and the devil." These words were 
 interpreted to the Indians, but they nevertheless smiled, 
 and retired in a peaceable manner. Subsequently, on 
 being advised of the indiscretion of his remark, Mr. Cram 
 observed in explanation, that he supposed the ceremony of 
 shaking hands would have been received by the Indians 
 as a token that he assented to what had been said. Being 
 more correctly informed, he expressed his regret at what 
 had so unadvisedly fallen from his lips. Still it cannot be 
 denied that the Indians exhibited better breeding, and more 
 knowledge of human nature, than the missionary. Indeed 
 it is quite probable that Mr. Cram's ill success arose in part 
 from his own repulsiveness of manner, and the want of 
 tact, or, in other words, the power of adaptation, bo essential 
 
 1 Colonel Pickering. 
 
 2 Manuscript collections of Joseph W. Moulton. 
 
278 The Life and Times op 1805. 
 
 in the composition of a successful missionary. It must 
 be stated in fairness to the Indians, to borrow the lan- 
 guage of another/ " that the missionaries are not always 
 men fitted for their work. Many of them have been des- 
 titute of the talents and information requisite in so arduous 
 an enterprise ; some have been bigotted and over zealous, 
 and others have wanted temper and patience. Ignorant 
 of the aboriginal languages, and obliged to rely upon inter- 
 preters to whom religion was an occult science, they 
 doubtless often conveyed very different impressions from 
 those which they intended;" and the worthy and well mean- 
 ing man who called forth the preceding pagan speech of 
 Red Jacket, probably deserved to be classed in this cate- 
 gory. The reader will have observed, from an intimation 
 in the speech itself, that the orator had been at several of 
 the missionary's meetings, and it has been asserted of Mr. 
 Cram that his first, or at least an early sermon to the 
 Indians, was exactly such as a wise man would never have 
 preached to such a congregation. Instead of being a sim- 
 ple discourse, brought down to the level of their ignorant, 
 and, upon such a subject, child like minds, presenting to 
 them the elementary principles of Christianity in their 
 simplest and most winning forms, the missionary, accord- 
 ing to tradition, gave them a long argumentative sermon 
 upon the doctrine of divine decrees, and the deep myste- 
 ries of foreknowledge and predestination.^ A more re- 
 pulsive theme, even for many enlightened congregations 
 reared in the bosom of the chiirch, could hardly have been 
 selected ; but that it was chosen as the ground work of an 
 introductory discourse to these simple children of the 
 forest, argues a want of common sense almost too great 
 
 iRev. Jolm Breckenridge, D.D. 
 
 2 The author's informant is a distinguished gentleman, of high character 
 and intelligence, then a resident of the Seneca country. 
 
1805. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 279 
 
 for human credulity.^ Another circumstance, however, 
 was added, which favors its truth. Eed Jacket is reported 
 to have been indignant at the attempt to force doctrines 
 upon him which were entirely beyond his comprehension ; 
 and in the expression of that indignation, according to 
 unwritten history, he perpetrated the only pun that is 
 recorded of him. "Not content," he said, "with the 
 wrongs the white men had done to his people, they were 
 now seeking to Cram their doctrines down their throats,'' 
 &c. And yet the remark will bear repetition, that much 
 of the difficulty in this, and other similar cases, may very 
 naturally have arisen from the ignorance of -the parties 
 respectively of the language and modes of thinking of each 
 other. In regard to the American Indians, in particular, 
 the greatest difficulty has always existed in conveying any 
 new ideas to their minds, from the barrenness of their 
 language ; and in many instances it has been found impos- 
 sible to convey to them the sentiments attempted.^ In 
 illustration of this very difficulty, an anecdote is related 
 by Sir William Johnson in his Review of Indian Helaiions 
 referred to in a preceding note. Good interpreters it was 
 exceedingly difficult to find, and he was, therefore, often 
 under the necessity of acting as such himself. It so hap- 
 pened that a Boston divine, having expressed a desire to 
 preach to the Indians in the vicinity of Johnson hall, chose 
 
 ^Of a precisely similar character was the experience of Sir William 
 Johnson in his efiForts to christianize the Indians in his day. In an able 
 Review of Indian Relations, drawn up by him in 1767 for the perusal of the 
 Lords of trade, he says : " Religious instruction among them [the Indian 
 tribes] has hitherto made little or no progress. It is true that some of the 
 dissenters haye occasionally sent missionaries to the Oneidas and Senecas, 
 but most of those who have been sent having just taken orders, give their 
 hearers long discojurses upon the distinction of creeds, so' that the Indians have 
 profited little by their instructions." — Life and Times of Sir Wm. Johnson, 
 vol. ii, p. 292. 
 
 2 General Lincoln's Observations on the North American Indians, in a 
 letter to Dr. Ramsay. 
 
280 The Life ai^d Times of 1805. 
 
 for his text, " for Grod is no respecter of persons." The 
 interpreter in explaining this sentiment told the Indians 
 " that God had no love for such persons as they." Sir 
 William immediately interpreted, and not only corrected 
 the error, but interpreted the remainder of the discourse to 
 prevent farther blunders. " Had I not been present," he 
 writes, " the error must have passed, and many more 
 might have been committed in the course of the sermon." 
 " What have you said to them ? " inquired a missionary 
 more recently, of the interpreter who had been expound- 
 ing his sermon. " I told them you have a message to 
 them from the Great Spirit," was the reply. " I said no 
 such thing," cried the missionary. " Tell them I have 
 come to S]oeak to them of the only living and true God, 
 and of the life that is to be hereafter. Well, what have 
 you said ? " " That you will tell them about Manito, and 
 the land of spirits." '^ Worse and worse," exclaimed the 
 embarrassed preacher;^ and such is doubtless the history of 
 
 1 M'Kenney's Lives and Portraits of the Indians. "The Iroquois have 
 few radical words, but they compound them without end. Sometimes one 
 word among them includes an entire definition of the thing ; for example, 
 they call wine, OneharadeseJioengtseragherie, as much as to say, a liquor 
 made of the juice of the grape. [Colden's Six Nations.'] "The Indian 
 language requires many more^words to express the meaning of the speaker 
 than ours, as they are obliged to describe objects which a single English 
 word sufi&ces to explain. This will be the more readily understood by the 
 following statement: When Red Jacket, Farmer's Brother, and several 
 hundred Indians arrived at Tioga point to attend the treaty of 1790, 
 Farmer's Brother, after thanking the Great Spirit for having permitted 
 them to travel there in safety, narrated all the particulars attending their 
 journey. Wishing among other circumstances to describe their having 
 made a halt at a log hut, where a kind of tavern was kept, the tavern was 
 described as a house put together with parts of trees piled on each other, and 
 to which a pole was attached to which a hoard was tied, on which was written 
 ^^ Rum is sold Here.'''' The difficulty of expressing in a few words matters 
 which in their own language required a roundabout description, demanded 
 a considerable time for them, in their public discussions, to say that which 
 the interpreter would render into a few words of English.'' — Letter to the 
 author from, Thomas Morris. 
 
1805. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 281 
 
 many sermons that have been delivered to the bewildered 
 heathen. The fact is, Red Jacket did not understand the 
 system of the Christian religion, nor did he wish to under- 
 stand it. It was his belief, and it is that of the Indians 
 generally, that they form a race entirely distinct from the 
 pale faces. They repudiate the idea of a common origin 
 of the human family ; and as to the mission of Christ, and 
 his crucifixion, they cannot perceive that they are inte- 
 rested in the one, or have any participation in the guilt of 
 the other. In a conversation with a distinguished clergy- 
 man, who was endeavoring to instruct him upon the 
 subject of the Christian religion, not many years before his 
 death, Red Jacket said : 
 
 Brother : If you white men murdered the Son of the G-reat 
 Spirit, we Indians had nothing to do with it, and it is none of our 
 affair. If he had come among us, we would not have killed him ; 
 we would have treated him well ; and the white people who killed 
 him ought to be damned for doing it. You must make amends for 
 that crime yourselves. i 
 
 After the adjustment of the great controversy between 
 the Indians and the United States, at Canandaigua, in 
 1794, the councils of the Six Nations became of less public 
 importance. With the exception of a few reservations, of 
 a comparatively limited extent, their broad and beautiful 
 domains in the state of 'New York had fallen within the 
 greedy and remorseless grasp of the white men, even before 
 
 1 Conversations between Dr. Breckenridge and the author. A far diffe- 
 rent spirit was shown by Skenando, the head chief of the Oneidas, in a 
 speech delivered by him about 1816, on discovering that their lands and 
 improvements at the castle had been sold to the state by the intrigue 
 (as he asserted) of certain white men. The attention of the reader is par- 
 ticularly directed to this speech (which is published under appendix Cf,), 
 not only for its exquisite pathos, but as showing that the efforts of our 
 missionaries among the Indians in inculcating the cardinal truths of Chris- 
 tianity have not always been in vain. The author is indebted for this speech 
 to Henry O'Reilly, Esq. 
 
 36 
 
282 The Life and Times of 1805. 
 
 the dawn of the present century. From that day to the 
 present, the efforts of those who have become possessed of 
 the ]3reemptive title to those reservations have been directed 
 to the acquisition of the fee from the Indians; and so 
 strong and persevering have been the appliances to that 
 end, that slice after slice has been taken away, until but a 
 comparatively few thousand acres now remain to the 
 Indians — the scattered and disheartened fragments of the 
 once proud lords of the continent.^ But after the last 
 great sale to Robert Morris, in 1797, and after the delibe- 
 rate resolution of Hed Jacket, as already stated, to repel 
 the advances of the whites, and, as the only means of avert- 
 ing the progressive ruin of his people, to reenvelope them 
 in the darkness of paganism, and restore their wildest 
 barbarity, he continued inflexible in his purposes. From 
 the hour of arriving at that determination he never in the 
 slightest degree swerved from his resolution, to drive away, 
 and keep away, every innovation upon the character, and 
 every intrusion upon the territory then remaining to his 
 nation. In the spring of 1811 an attempt was made by 
 the New York Company holding the preemptive title to 
 the reservations within the Morris or Holland purchase, 
 to divest the Indians of their rights by negotiation and 
 purchase. The agent employed by the company was a 
 Mr. Richardson. He met the chiefs in council at Buffalo 
 creek, in May, and after opening his business, awaited 
 their reply, which was made by Red Jacket, a few days 
 afterward, in the following speech : 
 
 1 These reservations are as follows: 
 Tonawanda reservation, near Niagara river, containing about 13,000 acres. 
 Buffalo reservation, near the city of Buffalo, " " 53,000 '^ 
 
 Cattaraugus reservation, near Cattaraugus creek, <' "• 22,000 *' 
 
 Alleghany reservation, near the Alleghany river, '' " 31,000 " 
 
 119,000 ** 
 Much of this land is among the most fertile and valuable in the state of 
 New York. 
 
1805. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 283 
 
 Brother : "We opened our ears to the talk you lately delivered 
 to uSj at our council fire. In doing important business it is best 
 not to tell long stories, but to come to it in a few words. We there- 
 fore shall not repeat your talk, which is fresh in our minds. We 
 have well considered it, and the advantages and disadvantages of 
 your offers. We request your attention to our answer, which is not 
 from the speaker alone, but from all the sachems and chiefs now 
 around our council fire. 
 
 Brother : We know that great men as well as great nations, 
 having different interests have different minds, and do not see the 
 same subject in the same light — but we hope our answer will be 
 agreeable to you and to your employers. 
 
 Brother : Your application for the purchase of our lands is to 
 our minds very extraordinary. It has been made in a crooked man- 
 ner — you have not walked in the straight path pointed out by the 
 great council of your nation. You have no writings from our great 
 father the president. 
 
 Brother : In making up our minds we have looked back, and 
 remembered how the Yorkers purchased our lands in former times. 
 They bought them piece after piece for a little money paid to a few 
 men in our nation, and not to all our brethren; our planting and 
 hunting grounds have become very small, and if we sell these we 
 know not where to spread our blankets. 
 
 Brother : You tell us your employers have purchased of the 
 council of Yorkers a right to buy our lands — we do not under- 
 stand how this can be — the lands do not belong to the Yorkers ; 
 they are ours, and were given to us by the Grreat Spirit. 
 
 Brother : We think it strange that you should jump over the 
 lands of our brethren in the east, to come to our council fire so far 
 off, to get our lands. When we sold our lands in the east to the 
 white people, we determined never to sell those we kept, which are 
 as small as we can live comfortably on. 
 
 Brother : You want us to travel with you, and look for other 
 lands. If we should sell our lands and move off into a distant 
 country, towards the setting sun, we should be looked upon in the 
 country to which we go as foreigners, and strangers, and be despised 
 by the red as well as the white men, and we should soon be sur- 
 
284 The Life and Times of 1805. 
 
 rounded by the white men, who will there also kill our game, come 
 upon our lands, and try to get them from us. 
 
 Brother : We are determined not to sell our lands, but to con- 
 tinue on them — we like them — they are fruitful and produce us 
 corn in abundance, for the support of our women and children, and 
 grass and herbs for our cattle. 
 
 Brother : At the treaties held for the purchase of our lands, 
 the white men with sweet voices and smiling faces told us they loved 
 us, and that they would not cheat us, but that the king's children 
 on the other side the lake would cheat us. When we go on the 
 other side the lake the king's children tell us your people will cheat 
 us, but with sweet voices and smiling faces assure us of their love 
 and that they will not cheat us. These things puzzle our heads, 
 and we believe that the Indians must take care of themselves, and 
 not trust either in your people or in the king's children. 
 
 Brother : At a late council we requested our agents to tell you 
 that we would not sell our lands, and we think you have not spoken 
 to our agents, or they would have informed you so, and we should 
 not have met you at our council fire at this time. 
 
 Brother : The white people buy and sell false rights to our 
 lands ; your employers have, you say, paid a great price for their 
 right ; they must have plenty of money, to spend it in buying false 
 rights to lands belonging to Indians ; the loss of it will not hurt 
 them, but our lands are of great value to us, and we wish you to go 
 back with your talk to your employers, and to tell them and the 
 Yorkers that they have no right to buy and sell false rights to our 
 lands. 
 
 Brother : We hope you clearly understand the words we have 
 spoken. This is all we have to say. 
 
 Thus, as in the great majority of their speeches, the 
 Indians were still endeavoring to brace themselves against 
 what they considered to be the inordinate rapacity of the 
 whites, in the acquisition of their lands. This disposition 
 of the white man to grasp at all their property, with a view, 
 as it appeared, of driving them from the face of the earth, 
 was then, as it is now, and probably ever will be until the 
 
1805. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 285 
 
 race becomes extinct, tlie source of their jealousy, and the 
 burden of their complaint. ^Notwithstanding the rapid 
 diminution of their numbers, and their increasingly- 
 depressed condition, they still felt that they were inde- 
 pendent nations, and they were tenacious of that character. 
 They believed that they had been placed on "this island" 
 by the Great Spirit, and that he had created it for their 
 sole benefit, and they held that nobody could have a right 
 to dispossess them. Hence nothing could have been more 
 inopportune than an effort made at this very council, by a 
 missionary society in the city of E'ew York, to establish a 
 Christian mission among them.^ The former attempts had 
 left no favorable impression upon the mind of Red Jacket, 
 now their principal civil chief. On the contrary, he had 
 imbibed a fixed and deep rooted hatred to the system, 
 countenancing, as he supposed, a course of policy on the 
 part of its professors that would eventually sap the founda- 
 tions of the happiness, and work the ruin of his people.^ 
 Least of all was it an auspicious moment to strive farther 
 to persuade them to change their religion, at the very time 
 when those who called themselves Christians were renewing 
 their efforts to dispossess them of their few remaining roods 
 of ground. Hence the following reply, by E,ed Jacket, to 
 the advances of the Rev. Mr. Alexander, the agent of the 
 Missionary Society on that occasion : 
 
 Brother : We listened to the talk you delivered to us from the 
 council of black coats ^ in New York. We have fully considered 
 your talk, and the o£fers you have made us; we perfectly understand 
 
 1 " In discourse they spoke about preaching, and said, Hhey wished many 
 times to hear the word of God ; but they were always afraid that the 
 English would take that opportunity to bring them into bondage.' " — Jour- 
 nal of Christian Frederick Po8% to the Delawares of the Ohio. Proud's Penn- 
 sylvania, vol. ii. 
 
 2 General Lincoln. 
 
 3 So Red Jacket was wont to call the clergy. 
 
286 The Life and Times of 1805. 
 
 them, and we return an answer wliicli we wisli you also to under- 
 stand. In making up our minds we liave looked back and remem- 
 bered what has been done in our days, and what our fathers have 
 told us was done in old times. 
 
 Brother : Great numbers of black coats have been amongst the 
 Indians, and with sweet voices, and smiling faces, have offered to 
 teach them the religion of the white people. Our brethren in the 
 east listened to the black coats — turned from the religion of their 
 fathers, and took up the religion of the white people. What good 
 has it done them ? Are they more happy and more friendly one to 
 another than we are ? No, brother, they are a divided people — we 
 are united; they quarrel about religion — we live in love and friend- 
 ship; they drink strong water — have learned how to cheat — and 
 to practice all the vices of the white men, which disgrace Indians, 
 without imitating the virtues of the white men. Brother, if you are 
 our well wisher, keep away and do not disturb us. 
 
 Brother : We do not worship the Great Spirit as the white men 
 do, but we believe that forms of worship are indifferent to the Great 
 Spirit — it is the offering of a sincere heart that pleases him, and 
 we worship him in this manner. According to your religion we 
 must believe in a Father and a Son, or we shall not be happy here- 
 after. We have always believed in a Father, and we worship him, 
 as we were taught by our fathers. Your book says the Son was sent 
 on earth by the Father — did all the people who saw the Son believe 
 in him ? No, they did not, and the consequences must be known to 
 you, if you have read the book. 
 
 Brother: You wish us to change our religion for yours — we 
 like our religion and do not want another. Our friends ^ do us 
 great good — they counsel us in our troubles, and instruct us how 
 to make ourselves comfortable. Our friends the quakers do more 
 than this — they give us ploughs, and show us how to use them. 
 They tell us we are accountable beings, but do not say we must 
 change our religion. We are satisfied with what they do. 
 
 1 Pointing to Mr. Granger, the agent of tlie United States for Indian 
 affairs, who was present — Mr. Parish, the Indian interpreter, and Mr. 
 Taylor, the agent of the Society of Friends for improving the condition 
 of the Indians, residing near the Alleghany settlement, but also present at 
 the council. 
 
1805. SA-ao-YE-wAT-HA, OR Eed Jacket. 287 
 
 Brother : For these reasons we cannot receive your offers — we 
 have other things to do, and beg you to make your mind easy, and 
 not trouble us, lest our heads should be too much loaded, and by 
 and by burst. 
 
 It is a fact that cannot be sufficiently deplored, that 
 men boasting of their civilization, and calling themselves 
 Christians, not only in this but in other lands, have by 
 their own vicious examples interposed the greatest obstacles 
 to the efforts of those who are earnestly laboring for the 
 moral, social and religious improvement of the heathen. 
 The missionaries have found such to be the fact in the 
 Sandwich islands. And so upon the coasts of Africa, and 
 at the missionary stations in the China seas, and in India, 
 the counteracting and contaminating influences of the 
 seamen and others, belonging to Christian nations, cause 
 the severest trials which the missionaries are obliged to en- 
 counter. The natives know them all alike as Christians — 
 not understanding the difference between those who are 
 really and truly governed by Christian principle — who, in 
 a word, are Christians at heart — and those who are called 
 Christians because they belong to nations known as such, 
 albeit as individuals knowing nothing of, and caring 
 nothing about, religion of any sort. Most emphatically has 
 such been the fact in respect to the American aboriginals. 
 To borrow a brief passage, without essential variation, 
 from the sainted Milne, the faithful colaborer of Morrison 
 in China, the meagre specimens of Christianity which they 
 but too often see among the so called civilized men who 
 first settled around them, have not tended to produce 
 reverence for the system. The total neglect of all religion 
 prevailing too generally in frontier settlements, even among 
 many who have at some time professed to be the followers 
 of Christ — the public and bare faced profanation of the 
 sabbath — the avarice, lying and cozening which charac- 
 terize their dealings sometimes with each other, and most 
 
288 The Life and Times of 1805. 
 
 shamefully often in their commerce with the Indians — the 
 drunkenness, loose morals, and hardness of heart, in daily 
 illustration all around them, have in hut too many instances 
 steeled the Indian's soul against Christianity. However 
 earnestly the missionaries may he preaching to him the 
 excellencies of Christianity and civilization, he douhts if 
 they have any of the former, and scoffs at the latter. He 
 cannot think well of a system, the professed adherents of 
 which pay so little regard to God, to truth, and to duty.-^ 
 Hence the tone of Red Jacket's speeches to Mr. Cram and 
 Mr. Alexander ; hence also the kindred character of the 
 following outline of another of the Seneca orator's philippics 
 against Christianity, delivered on a similar occasion, at 
 ahout the same period of his life with his last mentioned 
 address : ^ 
 
 Brother : I rise to return you the thanks of this nation, and to 
 return them back to our ancient friends — if any such we have — 
 for their good wishes toward us in attempting to teach us your re- 
 Hgion. Inform them we will look well into this matter. We have 
 well weighed your exertions, and find your success not to answer 
 our expectations. But instead of producing that happy efibct which 
 you so long promised us, its introduction so far has rendered us un- 
 comfortable and miserable. You have taken a number of our young 
 men to your schools. You have educated them and taught them 
 your religion. They have returned to their kindred and color, 
 neither white men nor Indians. The arts they have learned are 
 incompatible with the chase, and ill adapted to our customs. They 
 have been taught that which is useless to us. They have been 
 made to feel artificial wants, which never entered the minds of their 
 brothers. They have imbibed, in your great towns, the seeds of 
 vices which were unknown in the forest. They become discouraged 
 
 '^Life of Dr. Milne, by Robert Philip, page 146. 
 
 2 The precise time when this speech was delivered, or the particular 
 occasion that called it forth, is not known. The manuscript, from the 
 interpretation of the old Indian linguist, Captain Parish, was obtained by 
 Judge Moulton, from the late Dr. Cyrenus Chapin, of Buffalo. 
 
1805. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 289 
 
 and dissipated — despised by the Indians, neglected by the whites, 
 and without value to either — less honest than the former, and 
 perhaps more knavish than the latter. 
 
 Brother : We were told that the failure of these first attempts 
 was attributable to miscalculation, and we were invited to try again, 
 by sending others of our young men to difi"erent schools, to be 
 taught by different instructors. Brother, the result has been inva- 
 riably the same. We believe it wrong for you to attempt further to 
 promote your religion among us, or to introduce your arts, manners, 
 habits and feelings. We believe that it is wrong for us to encourage 
 you in so doing. We believe that the Great Spirit made the whites 
 and the Indians, but for different purposes. ^ 
 
 Brother : In attempting to pattern your example, the Great 
 Spirit is angry — for you see he does not bless or crown your exer- 
 tions. 
 
 Here according to the manuscript, Red Jacket painted 
 in the most glowing and descriptive colors the curse that 
 seemed to have descended upon all those Indians who had 
 been made the objects of pious but mistaken missions — 
 how imbecile, poor, effeminate, contemptible, drunken, 
 lying, thieving, cheating, malicious, meddlesome, backbit- 
 ing, quarrelsome, degraded and despised, the poor victims 
 of civilized instruction had become — having lost all the 
 noble qualities of the savage, and acquired all the ignoble 
 vices of the whites — without one solitary exception where 
 the Indian had been bettered. He then proceeded: 
 
 But, brother, on the other hand we know that the Great Spirit is 
 pleased that we follow the traditions and customs of our forefathers — 
 for in so doing we receive his blessing — we have received strength 
 and vigor for the chase. The Great Spirit has provided abundance — 
 when we are hungry we find the forest filled with game — when 
 thirsty, we slake our tliirst at the pure streams and springs that 
 spread around us. When weary, the leaves of the trees are our bed — 
 
 A According to a parenthetical note in the manuscript, Red Jacket here 
 went into a train of reasoning from analogy. 
 
 37 
 
290 The Life and Times op 1805. 
 
 — we retire with contentment to rest — we rise with gratitude to the 
 G-reat Preserver. Renovated strength in our limbs, and bounding 
 joy in our hearts, we feel blessed and happy. No luxuries, no vices, 
 no disputed titles, no avaricious desires, shake the foundations of our 
 society, or disturb our peace and happiness. We know the Great 
 Spirit is better pleased with his red children, than with his white, 
 when he bestows upon us a hundred fold more blessings than upon 
 you. 
 
 Perhaps, brother, you are right in your religion : it may be 
 peculiarly adapted to your condition. You say that you destroyed 
 the Son of the Great Spirit. Perhaps this is the merited cause of 
 all your troubles and misfortunes. But, brother, bear in mind that 
 we had no participation in this murder. We disclaim it — we love 
 the Great Spirit — and as we never had any agency in so unjust, so 
 merciless an outrage, he therefore continues to smile upon us, and to 
 give us peace, joy and plenty. 
 
 Brother: We pity you — we wish you to bear to our good 
 friends our best wishes. Inform them that in compassion towards 
 them, we are willing to send them missionaries to teach them our 
 religion, habits and customs. We would be willing they should be 
 as happy as we are, and assure them that if they should follow our 
 example, they would be more, far more happy than they are now. 
 We cannot embrace your religion. It renders us divided and un- 
 happy — but by your embracing ours, we believe that you would be 
 more happy and more acceptable to the Great Spirit. Here (point- 
 ing his finger to several whites present who had been captured when 
 children, and been brought up among them), here brother (with an 
 animation and exulting triumph which cannot be described), here is 
 the living evidence before you. Those young men have been brought 
 up with us. They are contented and happy. Nothing would be an 
 inducement with them to abandon their enjoyments and adopt yours — 
 for they are too well aware of the blessings of our society, and the 
 evils of yours. But as you have our good will, we would gladly 
 know that you have relinquished your religion, productive of so 
 much disagreement and inquietude among yourselves, and instead 
 thereof that you should follow ours. 
 
 Accept of this advice, brother, and take it back to your friends, 
 as the best pledge of our wishes for your welfare. Perhaps you 
 
1805. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 291 
 
 think we are ignorant and uninformed. Go, then, and teach the 
 whites. Select, for example, the people of Buffalo. We will be 
 spectators, and remain silent. Improve their morals and refine their 
 habits — make them less disposed to cheat Indians. Make the whites 
 generally less inclined to make Indians drunk, and to take from them 
 their lands. Let us know the tree by the blossoms, and the blossoms 
 by the fruit. When this shall be made clear to our minds we may 
 be more willing to listen to you. But until then we must be allowed 
 to follow the religion of our ancestors. 
 Brother : Farewell ! 
 
 A bitter satire ! Humanity weeps that the conduct of 
 civilized men puts arguments like these into the mouths of 
 the heathen, against their own best good. It is a striking 
 coincidence that the Iroquois Indians were first unhappily- 
 made acquainted with their two greatest enemies, Rum and 
 Gunpowder, by the rival discoverers, Hudson and Cham- 
 plain, during the same week of the same year, 1609. 
 Wbile Henry Hudson was cautiously feeling his way, as he 
 supposed, into the northern ocean, through the channel of 
 the river which bears his name, Champlain was accompa- 
 nying a war party of the Hurons against the Iroquois, upon 
 the lake receiving its name from him. Hudson discovered 
 a company of the Iroquois upon the bank of the river, 
 whom he regaled with rum. Champlain discovered a 
 body of Iroquois warriors upon the lake, near the spot 
 afterward selected for the site of Ticonderoga, and there 
 first taught them the fatal power of gunpowder. The tra- 
 dition of the savages, as to their first knowledge of the 
 former, is substantially this: Many years ago, before a 
 white skin had ever been seen, some of their people who 
 were fishing where the sea widens, descried a huge object, 
 with white wings, moving up the water. They hurried 
 ashore, and called their friends to view the phenomenon. 
 None of them could divine what it was. Some of them 
 supposed it must be a huge fish, and others a monster of 
 
292 The Life and Times op 1805. 
 
 anotlier sort. Onward it came, growing larger as it ap- 
 proached. The natives were terrified, and despatched 
 runners in all directions to collect their warriors. By and 
 by living objects were seen moving upon the back of the 
 monster. As it came nearer, they saw that it was a float- 
 ing house or castle, and that the living objects on board 
 had the figures of men, but clothed in a very different 
 manner from themselves. One of them was in red. They 
 now concluded that it was the Manitto, or Great Spirit, 
 coming to make them a visit. Their sensations were, 
 therefore, changed from fear to adoration. Instantly they 
 set themselves at the work of preparation to receive their 
 celestial visitor with divine honors. The men prepared a 
 sacrifice, and the women a feast. They had no apprehen- 
 sion that the Manitto was coming to them in anger, for 
 they worshipped him in sincerity. They descried from the 
 distance various animals in their Manitto's water pavilion, 
 and thought that perhaps he was coming to bring them 
 some new species of game. While the preparations for 
 the festival were in progress, the house upon the water 
 stopped. The medicine men were busy with their charms, 
 to divine the import of the extraordinary visitation, and 
 the women and children looked on with awe. At length 
 a voice sounded frona the vessel, speaking words in a lan- 
 guage they could not understand. They replied by a shout 
 peculiarly their own. A small canoe then left the large 
 vessel with several persons therein, one of whom was the 
 being in red. It was certainly the Manitto ! The sachems 
 and warriors formed a circle to receive him with solemn 
 respect. As the canoe touched the land, the figure in red, 
 with two attendants, stepped on shore, and approached 
 them with a friendly countenance. The figure in red sa- 
 luted them with a smile, and they returned his salute. A 
 passage was opened for him into the circle, and his gor- 
 geous red dress, and ornaments glittering in the bright 
 
1805. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, oe Eed Jacket. 293 
 
 ? 
 
 sun, were viewed with delight. Surely it must be the 
 Manitto. But why should he have a white skin? The 
 thought was perplexing; but he was, nevertheless, re- 
 garded with mingled feelings of amazement and adoration. 
 After friendly salutations had been interchanged, the 
 Manitto beckoned to one of his attendants at the canoe, 
 who brought him a bockhack,^ clear as the new ice upon 
 the surface of a lake. He also had a little cup which was 
 also transparent. The Manitto then poured a liquid from 
 the bockhack into the cup, which he drank. Then filling 
 the cup again, he handed it to the chief standing near him. 
 The chief smelled it, and passed it to the next, who did the 
 same, and in this manner it went around the circle, without 
 the liquor having been tasted by either. As the last man 
 of the circle was about returning the cup to the Manitto, 
 the first chief interposed and arrested the movement. The 
 cup, he said, had been given to them to drink, as the giver 
 had done himself, and it would be offending their Great 
 Benefactor to return it to him untasted. To drink it 
 would please him — to refase might provoke his wrath. 
 Be the consequences, therefore, what they might, he would 
 drink the cup. It would be better for him to encounter 
 even a poisoned draught, than for the Great Spirit to be- 
 come angry with their whole nation. Saying which, the 
 patriotic chief bade his people adieu, and quaffed the cup 
 to its bottom. All eyes were now directed to the chief in 
 watching the effects. There was no sudden change ; but 
 no long time had elapsed before his joints became relaxed — 
 his movements grew flexible, and ere long his limbs re- 
 fused to perform their ofiice. His eyes closed lustreless, 
 and he rolled heavy and helpless upon the ground. The 
 dusky group stood around him in solemn thought, and the 
 wailings of the women rose upon the gale. He became 
 
 ^ A gourd. The reference is to a glass decanter. 
 
294 The Life and Times of 1805. 
 
 motionless, and they supposed him dead. But perceiving 
 afterward, from the heaving of his chest, that he yet 
 breathed, their grief was abated, and they watched anx- 
 iously the result — not daring, of course, to breathe a 
 murmur against the Great Spirit, whatever that result 
 might be. After a long time, their chief began to revive. 
 He rose upon his seat, rubbed his eyes, and at length 
 sprang joyously upon his feet. He declared that he had 
 experienced the most delightful sensations while in the 
 trance. He had seen visions, and had never been more 
 happy. He requested another draught; and encouraged 
 by his example, the liquor was poured out for them all. 
 They all partook of the ravishing cup — and all became 
 intoxicated.^ 
 
 Fatal indeed was that cup ! From the hour when they 
 first tasted the maddening poison to the present, their 
 thirst for it has not abated. In vain have their best advi- 
 sers and teachers admonished them against it. In vain 
 have humane legislatures endeavored to prohibit its intro- 
 duction among them. In vain have their own councils, 
 when sober, passed decrees against it. And equally vain 
 have been the most eloquent and pathetic appeals of their 
 women against it — whenever and wherever they can lay 
 their hands upon the fire-water, they are sure to drink it. 
 Two hundred years ago, the clergy, and all good men, 
 deplored the evil as deeply as their successors do at this 
 day. With equal vehemence did they then, as now, inveigh 
 against the conduct of the white men, who, knowing their 
 infirmity, supply them^with the poison. ''Those," says 
 Charlevoix, writing in 1721, ''who perhaps have greatest 
 reason to reproach themselves with the horrors of Indian 
 intoxication, are the first to ask whether they are Christians. 
 One might answer them, yes, they are Christians, and new 
 
 ^ Manuscript in the New York Historical Society. Heckewelder, vol. i. 
 Philadelphia Philosophical Transactions. 
 
1805. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or E-ed Jacket. 295 
 
 converts, knowing not wliat they do; but those who, in 
 cold blood, and with a perfect knowledge of what they are 
 about, reduce, from sordid motives of avarice, these simple 
 people to this condition, can they be imagined to have any 
 religion at all ? "We certainly know that an Indian will 
 give all he is worth for one glass of brandy. This is strong 
 temptation to dealers, against which neither the exclama- 
 tions of their pastors, nor the zeal and authority of the 
 magistrate, nor respect for the laws, nor the severity of 
 divine justice, nor the dread of the judgments of the 
 Almighty, nor the thoughts of a hell hereafter, of which 
 these barbarians exhibit a very striking picture, have been 
 able to avail. "^ 
 
 ^ Charlevoix — Voyage to North America. Letter viii. 
 
[296] 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 Movements of Tecumseh and tlie Prophet, Elskawatwa, among the western 
 nations — The young Senecas eager to join them — The government of 
 the United States admonished by Red Jacket — His speech to the Secre- 
 tary of War — Battle of Tippecanoe — Conduct of the Prophet — War of 
 1812 with England — Council of the Six Nations at Buffalo — Speech of 
 Granger, the agent — Red Jacket's reply — Senecas declare themselves 
 neutral — Active hostilities — The Senecas declare war — General Alex- 
 ander Smyth — General Lewis invites the Senecas to join him — Their 
 arrival at Fort Niagara — Murder of Lieutenant Eldridge — Invasion of 
 Black Rock by the enemy under Colonel Bishop — Repulsed by General 
 Porter's volunteers and Indians — Death of Colonel Bishop — ^ Smart 
 affair of the Indians and volunteers near Fort George — 1811-1813. 
 
 The reader will probably be surprised to discover the 
 name of Red Jacket in connection with the Indian war 
 between the United States and the Shawanese, and other 
 powerful tribes of the west, under the celebrated Tecumseh, 
 in the year 1811. Like the great Pomatecom, the Wampa- 
 noag,^ of the eastern Indians, and Pontiac the Ottawa, and 
 Brant the Mohawk, Tecumseh, with the aid of his brother, 
 Elskawatwa,^ had for years been laboring to form a vast 
 league of the western and southwestern Indians, in the vain 
 expectation that they might be able to arrest the farther 
 advances of the white population. Those Indians were 
 then, as they ever had been since the conquest of Canada 
 from the Prench, more under the influence of the British 
 
 1 Philip of Pokanoket, commonly called King Philip, 
 
 2 This name, according to Schoolcraft, signifies A-fire-that-movcs-from- 
 place-iO'place. The orthography of Elskawatwa's name has been variously 
 changed by recent writers. Cushing, in his Life of Harrison^ writes it 01- 
 li-wa-chi-ca, upon what authority I know not. In the absence of a reason 
 for the change, the primitive name is preferred. 
 
1810. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 297 
 
 officers in the northwest, and of the British fur companies 
 and traders, than under that of the Americans. Notwith- 
 standing all the friendly advances of the Americans toward 
 them, prior and subsequent to the war of 1789-1795, ended 
 by General "Wayne at the battle of the Miamis and the 
 treaty of Greenville — their attachment to England was 
 much stronger than to the United States, and the move- 
 ments of Tecumseh were evidently not looked upon with 
 an unfavorable eye by the British provincial authorities in 
 the remote interior, inasmuch as the relations between the 
 United States and Great Britain were at that time critical, 
 and evidently verging toward a war. The prophet had 
 begun to collect his warriors as early as 1808, and in 1810 
 Tecumseh assumed a semi-hostile attitude toward General 
 Harrison, in a council held at Yincennes. The elements 
 of the succeeding storm thenceforward gathered rapidly ; 
 and although the United States had vastly increased in 
 numbers and strength since the Indians were overwhelmed 
 at the Miamis, yet the white settlements immediately upon 
 the borders were in as great peril as were the borderers 
 twenty years before. For many months, therefore, during 
 these movements of Tecumseh and his brother, the homes 
 of the frontier settlers were those of peril. They were in 
 daily apprehension that their paths would be ambushed. 
 At every rustling leaf the mother pressed her infant more 
 closely to her bosom. The yells of savage vengeance and 
 the shrieks of torture seemed again in fancy to sigh upon 
 the west winds, and mingle with every echo from the 
 mountains. Families retired to rest, not knowing but that 
 the war whoop should wake the sleep of the cradle, or that 
 the darkness of midnight might not glitter with the blaze 
 of their own dwellings.^ 
 
 It has been seen in the glances heretofore given of the 
 
 1 Speech of Fisher Ames on the British treaty. 
 
 38 
 
298 The Life and Times of 1810. 
 
 former Indian wars, ended by General Wayne, that not- 
 withstanding the friendship of most of the Seneca chiefs 
 for the United States, many of their warriors, especially 
 their young men, would steal away and join themselves to 
 the forces of the Little Turtle and his allies ; and although 
 sixteen years of peace had intervened since the treaty of 
 Greenville, and the Senecas had been living in close prox- 
 imity, and upon cordial terms, with the white settlers of 
 l^ew York, by whom they were now completely sur- 
 rounded, yet no sooner did they scent blood upon the 
 western gales than numbers of their warriors again stole 
 away and joined themselves to the forces of Tecumseh and 
 the Prophet.^ The fact of this intercommunication between 
 the Senecas and the warriors of Tecumseh could not of 
 course be kept from the knowledge of the chiefs of the 
 former, and it is due to Ked Jacket to place the fact upon 
 record, that he was true to the United States in regard to 
 those transactions, and that as early as 1809 he gave informa- 
 tion to the Indian agent of the gatherings of the western 
 tribes, and the organization of another extensive league, for 
 the avowed purpose, in their own councils, of war. Yery 
 early in the year 1810, Red Jacket visited the city of 
 Washington at the head of a delegation of his people, 
 attended by Erastus Granger the agent, and Captain Parish 
 the interpreter. During this visit, viz., on the 13th of 
 February, Ked Jacket delivered a speech to the secretary 
 of war, of which the following passage has been preserved 
 in the archives of the department : 
 
 Brother : At the time we were making bright the chain of 
 friendsliip at Canandaigua, the commissioner on your part told us 
 tliat the time might come when your enemies would endeavor to 
 disturb our minds, and do away the friendship we had there formed 
 with you. That time, brother, has already arrived. Since you 
 
 1 Manuscript letter of George Hosmer to Henry O'Reilly, Esq,, author of 
 History of Rochester. 
 
1810. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 299 
 
 have had some disputes witli tlie British government, their agents 
 in Canada have not only endeavored to make the Indians at the 
 westward your enemies, but they have sent a war belt among our 
 warriors, to poison their minds, and make them break their faith 
 with you. This belt we exhibited to your agents in council, and 
 then sent it to the place whence it came, never more to be seen 
 among us. At the same time we had information that the British 
 had circulated war belts among the western Indians, and within 
 your territory. We rested not, but called a general council of the 
 Six Nations, and resolved to let our voice be heard among our 
 western brethren, and destroy the effects of the poison scattered 
 among them. We have twice sent large deputations to their council 
 fire, for the purpose of making their minds strong in their friendship 
 with your nation ; and, in the event of a war between the white 
 people, to sit still on their seats, and take no part on either side. 
 So far as our voice has been heard, they have agreed to hearken 
 unto our council, and remain at peace with your nation. 
 
 Brother : If a war should take place, we hope you will inform 
 us of it through your agents, and we will continue to exert our 
 influence with all the Indians with whom we are acquainted, that 
 they will sit still upon their seats, and cultivate friendship with your 
 people. 
 
 Of these two councils to which Red Jacket referred in 
 this speech, they having been probably composed exclu- 
 sively of Indians, no written memorials have been pre- 
 served. Yet it is stated that at about that period there was 
 held at Detroit, or in its vicinity, perhaps the largest Indian 
 council that had been known in many years, at which were 
 assembled deputations from all the tribes and nations of 
 the upper lakes, and to which the Senecas sent a strong 
 representation with Red Jacket at its head. The first day 
 of the council there arose a question of the right of pre- 
 cedence in debate — a point of honor most tenaciously 
 regarded. It was claimed by the "Wyandots, and supported 
 by their ablest chiefs, to whom Red Jacket replied, dis- 
 playing a knowledge of the history of the several tribes, 
 
300 The Life and Times op 1811. 
 
 and powers of oratory, particularly of invective, wliicli 
 according to an eye witness, who understood the language 
 perfectly, were truly wonderful. At least his speech was 
 so overpowering that no one attempted a reply, and the 
 rank of the Senecas was yielded to them without farther 
 contention.^ 
 
 This may very likely have been one of the councils to 
 which Red Jacket referred in his speech to the secretary of 
 war, in which the Seneca chiefs endeavored to dissuade 
 Tecumseh from a farther prosecution of his designs. But 
 those pacific counsels were of no avail. The storm of 
 war broke out in 1811,^ but was summarily ended, for that 
 year at least, by General William Henry Harrison, then 
 governor of Indiana, at the head of a division of United 
 States troops, and several corps of western volunteers, on 
 
 1 Letter to the author from Hon. Albert H. Tracy. 
 
 ^ The battle of Tippecanoe was fought on the Wabash, near the Prophet's 
 town, on the 7th of November, 1811. The forces of Governor Harrison 
 consisted of a body of Kentucky and Indiana militia, and the 4th U. S. 
 regiment under Colonel Boyd. The straggling Indians whom they saw on 
 the march toward the town had behaved in a very threatening manner — 
 so much so that it was the strong desire of Colonel Daviess and the ofi&cers 
 generally, that Harrison should proceed and attack the town, on the after- 
 noon of the 6th ; but the governor's orders were peremptory not to fight, if 
 hostilities could possibly be avoided, and as he was met near the town by 
 several chiefs, disclaiming all hostile designs, and making offers of peace 
 and submission, the governor, after carefully reconnoitering the country, 
 selected an advantageous position, and encamped for the night. At four in 
 the morning, just after the governor had risen and dressed, while engaged 
 in conversation with his military family, the attack was commenced — the 
 Indians, to the number of from six to eight hundred, having crept stealthily 
 up to his very outposts. The camp was furiously assailed on all sides, and 
 a bloody and doubtful contest ensued. It was not until after sunrise that 
 the Indians were finally repulsed, with the loss, on the part of the Ameri- 
 cans, of sixty-two killed and one hundred and thirty-six wounded, and a 
 still greater loss on the side of the Indians. Col. Daviess, a distinguished 
 lawyer, a volunteer from Kentucky, Colonel White, and several other valua- 
 ble ofi&cers, fell on this occasion. Governor Harrison, having destroyed 
 the Prophet's town, and thrown up some fortifications, returned to Vin- 
 cennes. 
 
1811. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 301 
 
 the bloody field of Tippecanoe. The action was fierce, and 
 many of the noblest spirits of the west fell. But the vic- 
 tory was decisive. Tecumseh was not himself in this battle, 
 having been absent on a visit to the Creeks, whom he was 
 endeavoring to persuade to take up the hatchet. The 
 Indians were commanded by White Loon, Stone Eater, 
 and Winemac, a Potawatamie chief who had been with 
 General Harrison on his march, and at Fort Harrison, 
 making great professions of friendship.^ Their master- 
 spirit was the prophet himself, Elskawatwa. IsTot that he 
 was actually in the battle, since " he kept himself secure 
 
 1 Dawson's Life of General William Henry Harrison. The Prophet was 
 frequently engaged in practising incantations and infernal rites and con- 
 jurations. There is no better method of working upon the feelings of the 
 Indians than an appeal to their superstition. Tecumseh and the Prophet 
 had conceived the idea of combining all the Indians in a league, and making 
 war upon the United States as early as 1806. The first account of the pre- 
 tended divine mission of the Prophet is contained in a talk which was cir- 
 culated widely among the Indian nations, in 1807. This talk was delivered 
 at the entrance of lake Michigan, by the Indian chief Le Maiquois, or The 
 Trout, on the 4th of May, of that year, as coming from "the first man 
 whom God created," and was addressed to all the Indian tribes. The fol- 
 lowing is an extract from the talk referred to, and is a curiosity : 
 
 " I am the father of the English, of the French, of the Spaniards, and 
 
 of the Indians. I created the first man, who was the common father of all 
 
 these people, as well as yourselves; and it is through him, whom I have 
 
 awakened from his long sleep, that I now address you. But the Americans 
 
 I did not make. They are not my children, but the children of the evil spirit. 
 
 They grew from the scum of the great water, when it was troubled by the 
 
 evil spirit, and the froth was driven into the woods by a strong east wind. 
 
 They are numerous, but I hate them. My children, you must not speak of 
 
 this talk to the whites. It must be hidden from them. I am now on the 
 
 earth, sent by the Great Spirit to instruct you. Each village must send 
 
 me two or more principal chiefs to represent you, that you may be taught. 
 
 The bearer of this talk will point out to you the path to my wigwam. I 
 
 could not come myself to Abre Croch6, because the world is changed from 
 
 what it was. It is broken, and leans down, and as it declines, the Chip- 
 
 pewas and all beyond will fall off and die. Therefore, you must come to 
 
 see me, and be instructed. Those villages which do not listen to this talk, 
 
 and send me two deputies, will be cut off from the face of the earth." 
 
 This great Manltou, or Indian second Adam, was Elskawatwa. 
 
302 The Life and Times of 1812. 
 
 on an adjacent eminence, singing a war song. He had told 
 his followers that the Great Spirit would render the army 
 of the Americans unavailing, and that their bullets would 
 not hurt the Indians, who would have light while their 
 enemies would be involved in thick darkness. Soon after 
 the battle commenced he was informed that his braves 
 were falling. He told them to fight on, assuring them that 
 it would be as he had predicted, and then began to sing in 
 louder tones." l!Tumbers of the young Seneca warriors 
 were engaged in this battle. 
 
 From the evidence collected by the government of the 
 United States at the time, no doubt can exist that Tecum- 
 seh and his followers had been moved to their hostile 
 course by the officers of the British Indian department in 
 the upper lake country, and by the British fur traders. 
 The relations between the United States and Great Britain 
 had again assumed an unfriendly character, threatening 
 war ; and as in former years, the agents of the latter were 
 active in their exertions again to secure the Indians as their 
 allies, in anticipation of a rupture.^ 
 
 The act of the congress of the United States, declaring 
 war against England, was approved by President Madison 
 on the 18th of June, 1812, and the proclamation of the pre- 
 sident, announcing the fact to the world, was issued on the 
 19th. The news had no sooner reached the province of 
 Upper Canada, than measures were adopted by the officers 
 of the crown to induce the Mohawks and all other Indians, 
 who could be controlled by their influence, to take up the 
 hatchet. The Shawanese, and Miamis, and their confede- 
 rates, who had been so recently and severely chastised by 
 General Harrison, were of course eager for the onslaught. 
 The Mohawks, moreover, residing upon the Grand river, 
 about sixty miles from Niagara, were no less ready to take 
 
 ) 
 
 1 Vide American State papers — Indian Affairs, pp. 796-804. 
 
1812. SA-ao-YE-WAT-HA, OR Eed Jacket. 303 
 
 part in the war, and their emissaries were early among the 
 Senecas, for the purpose of influencing them to embark in 
 the contest, upon the same side. In this effort they were 
 not successful, as the Senecas, and all others of the Six 
 Nations remaining within the state of New York, were 
 disposed to peace, save some hundreds of the younger war- 
 riors, who seemed impatient to bear a part, though, for 
 once, not against the United States. But the older chiefs 
 preferred repose, and they more than once despatched mes- 
 sengers of peace among their brethren the Mohawks, to 
 dissuade them from their bloody purposes. Farthermore 
 the American government, in conformity with the humane 
 policy which had prompted a similar course at the begin- 
 ning of the revolutionary war, lost not a moment in its 
 endeavors to prevent the Senecas and others of the Six 
 Nations residing in the state of New York, from engaging 
 at all in the contest. To this end a council of those nations 
 was convened at Buffalo, on the 6th and 8th days of July, 
 by Mr. Erastus Granger, the Indian agent, with the view 
 of spreading the whole matter before them, and consulting 
 with their chiefs as to the course it would be most wise 
 to adopt. The proceedings of the council were opened 
 by 'Red Jacket, who addressed himself to Mr. Granger 
 thus: 
 
 Brother : "We are glad of having an opportunity once more of 
 meeting you in council. We thank the Great Spirit that has again 
 brought us together. This is a full meeting. All our head men are 
 present. Every village is represented in this council. We are 
 pleased to find our interpreter, Mr. Parish, is present. He has at- 
 tended all our councils since the last war, and is well acquainted 
 with all the treaties we have made with the United States. The 
 voice of war has reached our ears, and made our minds gloomy. We 
 now wish you to communicate to us every thing which your govern- 
 ment has charged you to tell us concerning this war. We shall 
 listen with attention to wliat you have to say. 
 
304 The Life and Times of 1812. 
 
 Mr. Granger thereupon addressed the council at length, 
 in the following words : 
 
 Brothers of the Six Nations : I am happy to behold so 
 many of you assembled together at tbis time. I observe that the 
 chiefs of tbe Seneca, Onondaga, Cayuga and Tuscarora nations, and 
 some of tbe Delawares, are present. Tbe Mohawks, who live in 
 Canada, are not represented, and tbe Oneidas, living at a distance, 
 could not attend. 
 
 Brothers : You will now listen to what I say : 
 
 At tbe close of tbe revolutionary war the United States beld a 
 treaty with tbe Six Nations at fort Stanwix. Tbey restored to you 
 the country of land whicb tbey bad conquered from you and tbe 
 Britisb, and set you down once more on your old seats. Several 
 treaties bave since been made witb you ; but tbat which particularly 
 binds us togetber, was made at Canandaigua about eighteen years 
 since. 
 
 Tbe cbain of friendship tben formed bas been kept brigbt until 
 tbis time. In tbis great lengtb of time nothing material bas bap- 
 pened to disturb tbe peace and barmony subsisting between us. 
 Any momentary interruptions of peace wbich bave taken place, have 
 been bappily settled witbout injury to eitber party. Our friendship 
 bas remained unbroken. 
 
 Brothers : Tbe prosperity and happiness of tbe Six Nations 
 bave always been objects wbicb tbe United States bave bad in view. 
 
 You bave enjoyed witb us all tbe blessings wbicb tbe country 
 afforded, consistent witb your mode and babits of living. We bave 
 grown up togetber on tbis island. Tbe United States are strong 
 and powerful ; you are few in numbers and weak ; but as our 
 friends, we consider you, and your women and children, under our 
 protection. 
 
 Brothers : You bave heretofore been told tbat tbe conduct of 
 Great Britain towards us, migbt eventually lead to war. Tbat event 
 has at lengtb taken place. War now exists between tbe United 
 States and tbe Britisb nation. Tbe injuries we bave received from 
 tbe Britisb, bave at lengtb forced us into a war. 
 
 I will now proceed to state to you tbe reasons why we bave been 
 compelled to take up arms. 
 
1812. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 305 
 
 For a number of years past the Britisli and French, who live on 
 the other side of the great waters, have beea at war with each other, 
 shedding each other's blood. These nations wished as to take a 
 part in their war. France wanted us to fight against Grreat Britain. 
 G-reat Britain wanted us to join against France. But the United 
 States did not wish to take any part in their quarrels. Our object 
 was to live in peace, and trade with both nations. Notwithstanding 
 our endeavors to maintain friendship with them, both France and 
 Great Britain have broken their treaties with us. They have taken 
 our vessels and property, and refused to restore them or make com- 
 pensation for the losses we sustained. 
 
 But the British have done us the greatest injury. They have 
 taken out of our vessels at least six thousand of our own people, put 
 them on board their ships of war, and compelled them to fight their 
 battles. In this situation our friends and connections are confined, 
 obliged to fight for the British. 
 
 Brothers : If you consider the situation in which we are placed, 
 you cannot blame us for going to war. I will ask you a question. 
 Suppose that the Mohawk nation, who live in Canada, were at war 
 with a nation of Indians at the westward. Both these nations being 
 your friends, you were determined to take no part in their disputes, 
 but to be at peace with both — to visit them, and trade with them 
 as usual. In consequence of this determination, you should send 
 messengers with speeches to inform them of the system you had 
 adopted. But the Mohawks not satisfied in seeing you in prosperity, 
 enjoying the blessings of peace, visiting and trading with their 
 enemy — determine to make you feel the evils of war, unless you 
 agree to give up all intercourse with those they are at war with. 
 This you cannot consent to : you want the privilege of selling your 
 furs and skins where you can find the best market. The Mohawks 
 still continue to flatter you — say they are your friends — put on 
 smiling faces and speak good words. But in the mean time, while 
 professing friendship towards you, they fall upon your hunting and 
 trading parties, as they travel back and forth — strip them of their 
 property — leave them naked in the world, and refuse to make 
 satisfaction. Not only this, but they come near your villages, and 
 there murder your people — others they take, when found from 
 home, bind them fast and compel them to go and fight their battles. 
 
 39 
 
306 The Life and Times op 1812. 
 
 Brothers : Could you for a moment submit to such treatment ? 
 Would you not all as one rise from your seats, and let the enemy 
 feel your vengeance ? If you are warriors, if you are brave men, 
 you certainly would. What I have stated is exactly our case. The 
 British have done us all these injuries, and still continue to do us 
 wrong without a cause. The United States have risen from their 
 seats — they have raised their strong arm, and will cause it to be 
 felt. 
 
 Brothers : I feel it my duty at this present time, to point out 
 to you the straight path in which you ought to walk. You well 
 recollect the advice given you by the people of the United States, 
 at the commencement of the revolutionary war against G-reat 
 Britain. You were then requested to stay at home — to sit upon 
 your seats at your own council fires, and to take no part in the war. 
 
 It would have been happy for you had you followed this good 
 advice. But the presents and fair speeches of the British poisoned 
 your minds. You took up the hatchet against us, and became our 
 enemies. At the close of the war with Britain (the event you well 
 know), the United States had it in their power to cut you off as a 
 people, but they took pity on you, and let you return to your former 
 seats. 
 
 Your great father, the president of the Seventeen Fires, now 
 gives his red children the same advice that was given you at the 
 beginning of the last war : that is — That you take no part in the 
 quarrels of the white people. He stands in no need of your assist- 
 ance. His warriors are numerous, like the sand on the shores of 
 the great lakes, which cannot be counted. He is able to fight his 
 own battles, and requests you to stay at home, cultivate your fields 
 and take care of your property. If you have any regard for your 
 women and children — if you have any respect for the country in 
 whose soil repose the bones of your fathers — you will listen to his 
 advice, and keep bright the chain of friendship between us. 
 
 You have been invited to join the British in this war. Keflect 
 for a moment on the consequences of complying with their request. 
 You will lose your property in the United States. We shall soon 
 take possession of Canada. They will have no land to sit you 
 down upon. You will have nothing to expect from our mercy. 
 
1812. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eeb Jacket. 307 
 
 You will deservedly, as a people, be cut off from tlie face of tlie 
 earth. 
 
 The late delegation which you sent to Canada, was told that they 
 ought not to put any confidence in the United States — that if you 
 did we should deceive you — that the United States kept no pro- 
 mises made to Indians. 
 
 Brothers : I now ask, in what have the United States deceived 
 you ? Have they not punctually paid your annuities as they became 
 due ? Have not the Senecas received annually the interest of their 
 money in the public fund ? Has not the state of New York honestly 
 fulfilled her engagements with the Oneidas, Onondagas and Cayugas ? 
 Have not the Tuscaroras been assisted in the sale of their property 
 in North Carolina, and in obtaining a pleasant seat, purchased of the 
 Holland Land Company ? I again ask, have not the United States 
 observed good faith toward you ? Have they deceived you in any 
 one thing ? I answer, they have not. 
 
 Knowing, as you do, that we are your friends, will you act like 
 children, and suffer yourselves to be imposed upon at this time by 
 our enemies ? 
 
 Brothers : It was our wish that the Six Nations should all be 
 agreed as one man, but the Mohawks and some few others living on 
 the British side, have been so foolish as to declare in favor of war. 
 The good advice you lately gave them, has not been attended to. They 
 are now at Newark in arms against the United States. I am sorry 
 they have not listened to good counsel. You, however, have done 
 your duty, and you are not to blame for their folly. They will soon 
 find they have done wrong, and must suffer the consequence. 
 
 Brothers : Continue to listen. 
 
 You have been frequently told, that in case we went to war we 
 did not want your assistance. The same thing has this day been 
 repeated. But I find some of your young men are restless and 
 uneasy. They wish to be with our warriors, and I am sensible the 
 chiefs have not power to control them. As I observed before, we 
 want not their aid, but we believe it better for them to be our friends 
 than our enemies. 
 
 If they will not be contented to stay at home, but must see some- 
 thing of a war, perhaps 150 or 200 will be permitted to stand by 
 
308 The Life and Times of 1812. 
 
 the side of our warriors, and receive tlie same pay and provisions 
 wliicli our soldiers receive. 
 
 If they should be permitted to join our troops, they must con- 
 form to our regulations. Your mode of carrying on a war is 
 different from ours. We never attack and make war upon women 
 and children, nor on those who are peaceably inclined and have 
 nothing to defend themselves with. Such conduct we consider as 
 cowardly, and not becoming a warrior. 
 
 Brothers : If you have not sufficient time this evening to delibe- 
 rate on what I have said, I will meet you to morrow, or next day, 
 and receive your answer. 
 
 The agent of the United States having concluded his 
 speech, the council was adjourned until the 28th. when Red 
 Jacket delivered the following reply : 
 
 Brother : We are now prepared to give an answer to the speech 
 you delivered to us in council the other day. We are happy to find 
 so many of the loMte people present. We are not accustomed to 
 transact important business in the DARK ! We are willing that the 
 light should shine upon whatever we do. When we speak, we do it 
 with sincerity, and in a manner that cannot be misunderstood. 
 
 You have been appointed by the United States an agent for the 
 Six Nations. We have been requested to make you acquainted with 
 the sentiments of those nations we represent. None of the Mohawks 
 or Oneidas, it is well known, are present. The number of treaties 
 that have passed between the Six Nations and the United States, 
 appears to be fresh in your memory. We shall only mention to you 
 some things that were agreed upon in the treaty made at Canandaigua. 
 
 We were a long time in forming that treaty, but we at length 
 made up our minds and spoke freely. Mr. Pickering, who was then 
 agent for the United States, declared to us that no breach should 
 ever be made in that treaty. We replied to him, if it should ever 
 be broken, you will be the first to do it. We are weak. You are 
 strong. You are a great people. You can, if you are so disposed, 
 place yourselves under it and overturn it — or, by getting upon it, 
 you can crush it with your weight ! Mr. Pickering again declared, 
 
1812. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 309 
 
 that this treaty would ever remain firm and unshaken, that it would 
 be as durable as the largest rock to be found in our country. 
 
 This treaty was afterward shown to General Washington. He 
 said that he was satisfied and pleased with what the agent had done. 
 He told us that no treaty could be formed that would be more bind- 
 ing. He then presented us with a chain, which he assured us would 
 never rust, but always remain bright. Upon this belt of wampum, i 
 he placed a silver seal. 2 This belt we always have and always wish 
 to look upon as sacred. 
 
 In the treaty, it was agreed that the Six Nations should receive a 
 small annuity, to show the intention of the United States to continue 
 friendly with them. This has been complied with. It was also 
 agreed that if any injury or damage should be done on either side, 
 satisfaction should be made to the party injured. We were a long 
 time in conference before we could make up our minds upon one 
 article of the treaty — what punishment should be inflicted for the 
 crime of murder ? Mr. Pickering said it should be hanging. We 
 told him that would never do ; that if a white man killed an Indian, 
 the Indians would not be permitted to hang the white man^ — the 
 sacrifice would be considered too great for killing an Indian ! We 
 at length agreed that conciliatory measures should be resorted to, 
 such as would give satisfaction to all parties. 
 
 In cases of theftj as in stealing horses, cattle, &c., it was agreed 
 that restitution should be made. In this article, the whites have 
 transgressed twice, where the Indians have once. As often as you 
 will mention one instance in which we have wronged you, we will 
 tell you of two in which you have defrauded us ! 
 
 I have related these articles of the treaty to show you that it still 
 remains clear in our recollection, and we now declare to you in pre- 
 sence of all here assembled, that we will continue to hold fast the 
 chain which connects us together. Some who first took hold of it 
 are gone ! but others will supply their place. 
 
 We regret extremely, that any disturbance should have taken 
 place among the white people. Mischief has commenced. We are 
 
 1 Holding up a belt of wampum curiously wrought. 
 
 2 Upon which an eagle was engraved, representing the United States. 
 
310» The Life and Times op 1812. 
 
 now told that war has been declared against Great Britain. The 
 reasons for it are unknown to us. The Six Nations are placed in 
 an unpleasant situation. A part of them are in Canada, and the 
 remainder in the United States. 
 
 Whilst we were endeavoring to persuade those who live in Canada 
 to remain peaceable and quiet, the noise of war suddenly sounded in 
 our ears. We were told that all communication between us and them 
 would be prevented. We have since heard that they have taken up 
 arms. We are very sorry to hear of this. They are our brothers 
 and relations, and we do not wish that their blood should be spilt, 
 when there is so little occasion for it. We hope that the passage is 
 not so closely stopped but that a small door may still be open by 
 which we may again have an opportunity of seeing our brothers, and 
 of persuading them to take no part in a war in which they have 
 nothing to gain. 
 
 We know the feelings of the greater portion of them. We there- 
 fore believe, that if we have another opportunity, we can persuade 
 them to have nothing to do with this war. Our minds are fully 
 made up on this subject, and we repeat, that it is our wish to see 
 them once more, and to give them our advice about the path they 
 ought to travel. 
 
 You (Mr. Parish), are going to the eastward; you will visit the 
 Oneidas. Relate to them faithfully what has taken place in this 
 council ; tell them all we have said, and request that a deputation of 
 their chiefs may be sent to attend our council here. We wish that 
 you would return with them. 
 
 [The orator then brought forward the belt which he had 
 before held up in his hand, and requested Mr. Granger 
 and the others present to look at it and observe whether it 
 was not the one that had been presented to the Six Nations 
 by General "Washington. He likewise held up another 
 belt, much larger, of different colors, which appeared to be 
 very ancient, and then continued :] 
 
 Brother : I will now state to you the meaning of this belt. A 
 long time ago the Six Nations had formed an union. They had no 
 means of writing their treaties on paper, and of preserving them in 
 
1812. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eeb Jacket. 311 
 
 the manner the white people do. We therefore made this helt, 
 which shows that the Six Nations have bound themselves firmly to- 
 gether; that it is their determination to remain united; that they 
 will never do any thing contrary to the interests of the whole ; but 
 that they will always act towards each other like brothers. 
 
 Whenever, for the future, you see a small number of our people 
 meeting together to consult about any matter of trifling account, we 
 desire that you pay no attention to it. It may give you uneasiness, 
 when we have no intention to injure you. This happened but a few 
 days ago : It seems that a white man and two or three Indians, liv- 
 ing on the same creek, had a small conversation, which the mis- 
 chievous talked about until the whole country was in an uproar, and 
 many families left their country and homes in consequence. 
 
 The council held some time since at Batavia, was unauthorized by 
 us, and we now declare to you that none have a right to hold council 
 any where except at this place, around the great council fire of the 
 Six Nations. 1 
 
 We hope that you will not accept of any of our warriors, unless 
 they are permitted by our great council to ofier themselves to you. 
 And we should be sorry indeed if any of the whites should entice 
 our young warriors to take up arms. We mention these things to 
 show you that we wish to guard against every thing that may interrupt 
 our good understanding. 
 
 Brother : We hope that what has been said will be generally 
 known to the white people. Let every one recollect and give a faith- 
 ful account of it. We wish them to know that we are peaceably dis- 
 posed towards the United States, and that we are determined to keep 
 bright the chain of friendship that we formed with them at Canan- 
 daigua. 
 
 Brother: We have one thing more to which we would wish to 
 call your attention. We present you the papers which 2 secure to us 
 our annuities from the United States. We would be glad to know 
 if this war would affect our interests in that quarter. We also desire 
 that you would inform us whether the moneys we have deposited in 
 
 1 There are no records, that I am aware of, connected with the council 
 here referred to. 
 
 2 Handing the agent a small bundle of papers. 
 
312 The Life and Times op 1812. 
 
 the [late] bank of tlie United States will be less secure, than if this 
 war had not taken place. 
 
 To which Mr. G-ranger, after thanking them for their 
 general and punctual attendance, thus rejoined : 
 
 Brothers : You have this day brought forward the large white 
 belt, given you at Canandaigua. Your speaker has explained the 
 leading particulars of the treaty made at that time. I am much 
 pleased to find your minds so deeply impressed with them. I now 
 repeat to you that the United States will, on their part, hold fast of 
 the treaty; they wish you to do the same. Should it be broken on 
 your part, the United States will no longer consider themselves 
 bound by it. 
 
 Brothers : It appears that you are still desirous of sending to 
 Grand river, to endeavor to prevail on your brethren in that quarter 
 to remain at peace. An undertaking of this kind will be of little 
 use. They will only fill your heads with idle talk, and poison your 
 minds against the United States. Perhaps after crossing Niagara 
 river, you will not be permitted to go any farther. Still, should 
 you insist upon it, permission will be granted to four or five of your 
 chiefs to go over, with such instructions as you shall think proper 
 to give them. 
 
 But should your young men cross over and join our enemies, they 
 must never expect to be allowed to set their feet on our shores again 
 as friends. Best assured they will be severely punished for it. 
 
 With respect to the property you have placed in the hands of 
 the United States you have nothing to fear, it will be fully as secure 
 as if this war had not happened. Your annuities will be paid you 
 as formerly, and your bank stock be as productive as usual. 
 
 I now return you my thanks for the good attendance you have 
 given at this council. I feel pleased that you have again come 
 forward and renewed the covenant of friendship, that you have once 
 more declared your steady attachment to the United States. 
 
 Your friend, Mr. Parish, will soon go to the eastward, where he 
 will see such of your brethren as were not present at this council. 
 In a short time he will return, and remain here, if he should be 
 wanted, through the summer. 
 
1812. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 313 
 
 The earnestness with which the council, through the 
 mouth of their speaker, had urged their request for leave 
 to send yet another peaceable message to their brothers, 
 the Mohawks, induced the agent to grant the desired per- 
 mission ; although he had not the least confidence in the 
 measure. He was right in his conjectures. A deputation 
 of ^ye chiefs proceeded to Lewiston, and application was 
 made to General Brock, then in command of the British 
 forces on the opposite shore of the Niagara, that they might 
 be allowed to land in his majesty's dominions. After 
 deliberating two days upon the request, the deputation was 
 permitted to cross over and hold a consultation with some 
 of the Mohawk chiefs. They did so ; but the conference 
 was brief, and the object was not accomplished. The Mo- 
 hawks had taken up the hatchet, and were resolved not to 
 bury it ; and the friendly messengers of the Senecas were 
 ordered to return. 
 
 But the Senecas did not long succeed in maintaining 
 their neutrality. The young men, as already intimated, 
 were restless from the moment of the declaration of war; 
 and the soul stirring music, the glittering panoply and 
 pomp of war, speedily wrought so powerfully upon the feel- 
 ings, and indeed the natural propensities of the older chiefs, 
 that they rather sought occasion to declare hostilities on 
 their own behalf — considering themselves still an inde- 
 pendent nation. That occasion was fast approaching. 
 N'ot long after the commencement of hostilities, it was 
 rumored at Buffalo, and among the Senecas, that the 
 enemy had taken possession of Grand island, appertain- 
 ing to the United States, and then owned by the Senecas. 
 Red Jacket immediately convoked a council of his people, 
 and invited Mr. Granger to attend there for consultation. 
 After stating the case to the latter, the orator avowed the 
 purpose of the Senecas in the following brief but energetic 
 speech : 
 
 40 
 
314 The Life and Times of 1812. 
 
 Brother : You have told us that we have nothing to do with the 
 war that has taken place hetween you and the British. But we find 
 that the war has come to our doors. Our property is taken possession 
 of by the British and their Indian friends. It is necessary now for 
 us to take up the business, defend our property, and drive the enemy 
 from it. If we sit still upon our seats, and take no means of redress, 
 the British, according to the customs of you white people, will hold 
 it by conquest. And should you conquer the Canadas, you will 
 claim it upon the same principles, as though you had conquered it 
 from the British. We therefore request permission to go with our 
 warriors, and drive off those bad people, and take possession of our 
 Jands. 
 
 The request was granted, and at a subsequent meeting of 
 the council, strengthened by a larger attendance, a formal 
 declaration of war was issued in the following terms : 
 
 We, the chiefs and counselors of the Six Nations of Indians, 
 residing in the state of New York, do hereby proclaim to all the 
 war chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations, that war is declared on 
 our part against the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. There- 
 fore, we hereby command and advise all the war chiefs and warriors 
 of the Six Nations to call forth immediately the warriors under 
 them, and put them in motion to protect their rights and liberties, 
 which our brethren, the Americans, are now defending. 
 
 1 
 
 N'o speech of Red Jacket delivered at this council bas 
 been preserved, but from the address of one of tbe oldest 
 warriors present, it would appear that it was tbeir expecta- 
 tion to put as many as three thousand braves upon the 
 war path.^ But there surely must have been some mistake 
 in this computation, since the whole Iroquois confederacy 
 was never able to call forth so large a number of warriors, 
 even in the palmy days of Sir William Johnson ; and at 
 the time under consideration, the number of warriors within 
 
 1 Drake and Thatcher. 
 
 2 Ibid. 
 
1812. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 315 
 
 the confines of the state of New York — Senecas, Oneidas, 
 Onondagas, Cayugas and Tuscaroras, all included — could 
 not have exceeded two thousand fighting men. Kot more 
 than a fourth of that number ever took the field at any one 
 time during the war of 1812. Still the friendship of the 
 nation was unwavering, and considerable bodies of their 
 warriors were occasionally in the service of the United 
 States upon that frontier, until near the close of the contest. 
 The Mohawks and the other red allies of England, it is 
 true, endeavored to poison their minds with disaffection, 
 for which purpose emissaries were occasionally discovered 
 amongst them, but without effect. 
 
 Yet, notwithstanding their preparations, and their formal 
 declaration of hostilities — the first Indian declaration of 
 the kind, it is believed, ever issued in writing — they seem 
 not actually to have entered the field as the allies of the 
 Americans during that year — at least such is the pre- 
 sumption from the following circumstances : After the 
 brilliant, though in the end, disastrous affair of Queenston, 
 and after the relinquishment of the command of that frontier 
 by General Van Hensselaer, General Alexander Smyth 
 succeeded to the station. He made preparations to 
 retrieve the fortunes lost at Queenston, but his demonstra- 
 tions were failures, and the results proved him to be a man 
 of words rather than of deeds. His name is only here 
 introduced because of the declaration contained in one of 
 his inflated proclamations, illustrating the fact just asserted, 
 that the Senecas were not in actual service in that year. In 
 the proclamation referred to, General Smyth, in order to 
 stimulate the militia into the field, told them that " even 
 the Indians of the friendly Six N^ations had offered their 
 services, but that, through regard to the cause of humanity, 
 he had refused to follow a disgraceful example by letting loose 
 these barbarous warriors upon the inhabitants of Canada."^ 
 
 H. M. Breckenridge's History of the War, 
 
316 The Life and Times oe 1812. 
 
 1^0 corresponding feelings had deterred the enemy from 
 employing Indians, and using them at every opportunity. 
 It was, therefore, at length thought advisable by the go- 
 vernment of the United States to bring the same descrip- 
 tion of warriors into the field, though not into battle, if 
 that alternative could be avoided. The spring of 1813 
 found Major General Lewis in command of the American 
 fortress of Niagara; and it occurred to that officer, that 
 inasmuch as the relationship between the Mohawks, and 
 others of the Six I^ations who had joined their settlement 
 upon the Grand river, and the Senecas, Cayugas and On- 
 ondagas upon the American side, were near and intimate, 
 they might feel reluctant to come into conflict, brother 
 against brother. The idea was accordingly suggested, that 
 the actual employment of the Senecas might possibly in- 
 duce the Mohawks to retire — in which case the Senecas 
 were forthwith to have been dismissed. With this object 
 the Seneca warriors were invited to meet General Lewis 
 at l^iagara, and they responded to the invitation, to the 
 number of from three to four hundred, armed, painted, 
 and with distended nostrils breathing eagerly for the con- 
 test. They were led by Farmer's Brother, the most noble 
 Indian in form and mould, in carriage and in soul, of that 
 generation of his race.^ The forest warriors were received 
 by General Lewis, and addressed in accordance with the 
 views already indicated. But very great was the disap- 
 pointment of the Indians. They had supposed themselves 
 invited to a feast of blood in earnest, and their dissatisfac- 
 tion at the suggestions of the general, who intended to use 
 them rather to prevent than to participate in fighting, was 
 
 1 The opinion and nearly the same language of Colonel William J. Worth, 
 of the army, who at the time was in the staff of General Lewis, and from 
 whose conversations the facts concerning the Indian service upon the 
 Niagara frontier in the campaigns of 1813-1814, have in part been 
 drawn. 
 
1812. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 317 
 
 but ill concealed, if indeed concealment was intended. Their 
 countenances fell ; their murmurs were deep and strong ; 
 and they left the fort with a degree of displeasure border- 
 ing upon indignation. Red Jacket was among them on 
 this occasion, and was as usual their orator ; but he ap- 
 peared not in the character of a war chief, being now the 
 head sachem or civil magistrate of his nation.^ 
 
 But fastidiousness in regard to the employment of this 
 description of force by the Americans soon ceased to be a 
 virtue. The campaign of that year against Upper Canada 
 was auspiciously commenced by the capture of York, on 
 the 27th of April. The plan of this brilhant exploit was 
 conceived by General Pike, whose blood was a dear pur- 
 chase of the triumph. This achievement was followed, a 
 month afterward, by the conquest of forts George and Erie. 
 Still, these successes not being followed up with corres- 
 ponding vigor, a war of outposts succeeded in that quarter, 
 continuing through the season, unattended by any import- 
 ant results. " On the 8th of July a severe skirmish was 
 brought on, in which nearly the whole force on each side 
 was engaged, without any thing of moment resulting from 
 it. An incident, nevertheless, occurred which exasperated 
 the Americans to a greater degree than any thing that had 
 previously transpired in that quarter during the war. Lieu- 
 tenant Eldridge, a gallant and accomplished youth, with 
 about forty men, was drawn by his impetuosity too far, and 
 was surrounded by British troops and Indians. The greater 
 part resisted until they were killed ; but Lieutenant Eld- 
 ridge and ten others were taken prisoners, and never after- 
 ward heard of. The bodies of the slain were treated in the 
 most shocking manner by the Lidians. Their heads were 
 
 1 In the account of the great treaty at Canandaigua, it has been seen 
 how jealous the Indians were of the power of their war chiefs. But that 
 was a time of peace. In peace the voice of the chief sachem is potential. 
 In war he is but a counselor, while the war chief becomes the dictator. 
 
318 The Life and Times of 1813: 
 
 split open, and their hearts torn from their bodies. Gene- 
 ral Boyd, considering the forbearance hitherto practised in 
 declining the aid of Indian allies as no longer justifiable, 
 and by way of preventing a recurrence of such barbarities, 
 accepted the services of four hundred Senecas, under Henry 
 O'Bail, the Young Cornplanter.^ But it was positively 
 stipulated that the unresisting and defenseless should not 
 be hurt, and that no scalps should be taken.^ " 
 
 The first aflair in which these auxiliaries took an active 
 part in the contest, was the defense of Black Rock and 
 BufiTalo against an attack by the British troops, in July, 
 1813; and, although in proportion to the numbers engaged, 
 it was, both in its style of execution and its issue, one of 
 the most brilliant and useful achievements of the war, it was 
 but little noticed either in the army despatches, or in the 
 public journals, by reason of its having occurred at a time 
 when there was a sort of interregnum, or shifting of com- 
 mands, between Generals Dearborn, Lewis and Boyd ; and 
 the public attention, as well as that of the army, was 
 engrossed with the scenes, far from creditable to the Ame- 
 rican arms, which were enacting at the Beaver dams. Cross 
 roads, and other places in the immediate vicinity of head 
 quarters.^ 
 
 After the capture of fort George, in May, General Dear- 
 born withdrew nearly the whole of his forces from the 
 upper parts of the Niagara river, to the support of his posi- 
 tion at fort Niagara ; leaving the provisions, naval stores 
 and equipments, collected for the squadron with which 
 
 iThis youug chief had been partially educated in Philadelphia ; but not 
 liking the restraints of civilization, he had again resumed the blanket. 
 
 2Breckenridge's History of the War. 
 
 'The aflFairs here referred to were the discomfiture and captivity of Gene- 
 rals Winder and Chandler, on the morning of June 4th, 1813, and the sad 
 and humiliating defeat of Colonel Boerstler, at the Beaver dams, on the 23d 
 of June, by a small party of British troops and a few hundred Mohawks. 
 
1813. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 319 
 
 Commodore Perry, soon after, did such signal execution, 
 in the warehouses at Black Rock ; and also a large supply 
 of provisions and quarter-master's stores for the army, at 
 Buffalo — wholly unprotected. 
 
 On being strongly urged by those who were more con- 
 versant with the affairs of the frontier, and the probable 
 views of the enemy, than himself. General Dearborn 
 ordered a guard of eight or ten artillerists to take charge 
 of the block house at Black Rock, and made a call for ^ve 
 hundred of the neighboring militia — about one hundred 
 and fifty or two hundred of whom arrived early in July, 
 and were stationed near the warehouses at Black Rock, 
 under command of Major P. Adams, who was furnished 
 with two or three pieces of artillery. For Buffalo he 
 ordered about ninety or one hundred regular troops, being 
 a body of infantry and dragoon recruits on their march 
 from the south to headquarters, under Captain (now Colo- 
 nel) Cummings. Besides which, Mr. Granger, the Indian 
 agent, was directed to engage as many Seneca warriors as 
 would consent to remain in camp. At the same time 
 requesting General Peter B. Porter, who was then residing 
 at his house in Black Rock, to take command of the whole, 
 in case of an emergency. 
 
 l^otwithstanding this show of force, an expedition was 
 fitted out against these places, at the British headquarters 
 on Lundy's lane, and placed under the command of Lieu- 
 tenant Colonel Bishop, of the forty-first regiment, compris- 
 ing three hundred regulars of his own regiment, and a body 
 of provincials and volunteers, under Colonel T. Clark ; and 
 making in the whole a force estimated at four hundred. 
 
 This detachment embarked in boats at Chippewa, early 
 in the evening of the 10th of July; and, passing up the 
 Magara, landed in the course of the night on the American 
 shore, two or three miles below Black Rock ; and soon 
 after dayhght on the 11th, surprised the encampment of 
 
320 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 Major Adams, wlio fled to Buffalo with his militia, leaving 
 his artillery with its ammunition on the ground, without 
 taking the precaution to disable it. 
 
 The enemy, after setting fire to the marine and military 
 barracks and block house, and ordering breakfast at G-e- 
 neral Porter's house for their principal officers, (little antici- 
 pating that a less palatable one was preparing for them in 
 the field), proceeded to the plunder of the inhabitants as 
 well as of the public stores, assisted by constant reinforce- 
 ments of men and boats from the British shore. 
 
 General Porter, after a narrow escape from his own 
 house, and an unsuccessful attempt to reach Major Adams's 
 camp, retired on foot toward Buffalo ; but before reaching 
 there was met by Captain Cummings, who, having heard 
 the alarm, was promptly advancing with his command to 
 the support of Black Pock. After directing the captain 
 to proceed to an open ground between the two villages, 
 and there to halt until a sufficient force could be collected 
 to justify an attack on the enemy; and after supplying him- 
 self with a horse and equipments taken from one of the 
 captain's dragoons, the general left him for Buffalo ; and, in 
 the course of an hour and a half, rejoined him with about 
 ninety or a hundred of Major Adams's militia, who had 
 retreated by the lake route, and been kept together by their 
 officers, and about fifty volunteer citizens of Buffalo, who 
 were found in the streets making preparations to abandon 
 the town with their effects. 
 
 Captain Cummings having, in the meantime, ascertained 
 by his videttes that the enemy — that is to say, their three 
 hundred regular troops, their volunteers being engaged in 
 plundering — were in possession of the commanding posi- 
 tion left by Major Adams, and prepared for defense, Ge- 
 neral Porter determined to divide his force into three parts, 
 and by a simultaneous attack from three different points, 
 throw the enemy into confusion, and prevent the effective 
 
1813. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 321 
 
 use of their artillery. The smallest of these divisions con- 
 sisted of but twenty resolute volunteers, who were directed 
 to associate themselves with a body of Indian warriors, 
 understood to be gathering in the woods a short distance 
 in advance — provided the Indians would consent to join 
 them — and take a position, unobserved, in a deep ravine 
 close upon the enemy's left, remain concealed until the 
 action commenced, and then raise the war whoop and rush 
 forward. These Indians, numbering between thirty and 
 forty, did join, behaving throughout in the most admirable 
 manner. 
 
 By a bold and united attack with these forces, the enemy 
 at 8 o'clock in the morning, after a spirited resistance of a 
 few minutes, were beaten, routed and driven in great con- 
 fusion to the neighborhood of their boats. Here they again 
 rallied with their entire force, and with the apparent inten- 
 tion of renewing the fight. But being again attacked by 
 the united and organized force of the assailants, fled with 
 precipitation into their boats, taking with them most of 
 their wounded, and leaving eight or ten dead on the field, 
 and sixteen or eighteen prisoners, among whom was Cap- 
 tain Saunders of the forty-first, badly wounded. 
 
 But their principal loss was after they had entered their 
 boats, particularly the last, which, besides some sixty men, 
 contained most of their officers. The pursuit was so close 
 that some of the American warriors actually plunged into 
 the water, seized upon the gunwales of the boat, and would 
 have brought it to shore but for the fire from the rear, 
 which obliged them to desist. The occupants of the boat 
 made great efibrts at first to gain an offing in the river, 
 but the firing from the shore became so intense that they 
 dropped their oars and hoisted signals for surrender; in 
 consequence of which, the firing in a few minutes ceased. 
 Taking advantage of this interval, they dropped down the 
 river with the current, followed jpari "passu by the troops on 
 
 41 
 
322 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 shore, making in the meantime some slight movements 
 with their oars, as if to return to shore, and proclaiming 
 their inability to do more by reason of their disabled state, 
 until they reached the upper point of Squaw island, when, 
 by a sudden and vigorous effort, they sheered their boat to 
 the outside of the island, and soon escaped under its pro- 
 tection ; but not without again suffering from a renewal of 
 the fire. The apology afterwards given for this act of bad 
 faith was, that the soldiers in the boat declared that they 
 had seen Captain Saunders tomahawked and scalped by 
 the Indians, after he had surrendered ; and that they could 
 have expected no better fate if they had done the same. 
 
 Colonel Bishop and several of his officers were slain in 
 their boats, the former having received a severe but not 
 mortal wound while on horseback in the field, and four or 
 ^ve others after he had embarked, of which he died in 
 the course of the day. 
 
 The Indians throughout this affair displayed the most 
 admirable tact and gallantry, and evinced no disposition to 
 commit acts of barbarity on the prisoners or the slain — 
 other than to take the scalps of the latter, had they been 
 permitted, according to their usages in war. When passing 
 Captain Saunders, they divested him, in the gentlest man- 
 ner, of his cap, epaulettes, sword and belt, but offered him 
 no personal insult. He was wounded by a rifie ball 
 passing through his chest and lungs, which it was not 
 supposed he could survive ; and a musket shot shattering 
 his wrist ; but he had no cut or mark of the knife or the 
 tomahawk. 
 
 He was carried, after the action, by the Indians, in 
 blankets to General Porter's house, where he was suffered 
 to remain, under the kindest treatment — accompanied by 
 his wife, who was written for at his anxious request — for 
 two or three weeks, when he was sent to the depot at Wil- 
 liamsville, and is now a British pensioner. 
 
1813. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 323 
 
 The whole loss of the British — whose numerical force 
 exceeded that of the Americans, in that expedition — was 
 estimated at one hundred, inclusive of killed, wounded 
 and prisoners ; while the American loss was only one ser- 
 geant and three or four privates of the militia, killed, and 
 as many more wounded ; and Young King, the leader of 
 the Indians, and one of his warriors badly wounded. The 
 disproportionate loss of the militia, compared with the 
 regulars and Buffalo volunteers, was the consequence of 
 their having been permitted to retrieve the reputation 
 they had lost by the retreat, by taking the advance in the 
 charge on the British line, which they executed most gal- 
 lantly. Major Adams being in too bad health to permit 
 him to take an active part, his battalion was led by his 
 adjutant, now G-eneral Phinehas Staunton, of Genesee 
 county, who had kept them together on their retreat, and 
 who distinguished himself in that as well as many subse- 
 quent occasions on the Magara. Captain Cummings was 
 joined by Colonel King of the army, on their march from 
 Buffalo to the Eock, and both of them took efficient parts 
 in the operations of the morning.^ 
 
 1 For this accountof the invasion of Black Rock by Colonel Bishop, and 
 his defeat, I am indebted to General Peter B. Porter. I had written an 
 account myself, from such material as could be obtained ; but finding that 
 the publications of the day, and the books subsequently written, gave but 
 a very unsatisfactory idea of the gallant affair, I gave my manuscript to 
 General Porter, who not only corrected, but rewrote the narrative. This, 
 therefore, is the first correct account that has appeared of that brilliant 
 exploit. General Porter adds, in a note, that in writing this account more 
 details have been indulged than was otherwise necessary, for the purpose 
 of correcting the misrepresentations contained in General Armstrong's book 
 lately published, and intended as a repository of historical truth for 
 posterity, entitled Notices of the War of 1812. In this book (vol. Ist, 
 pages 147 - 8 and 9), the general attempts to depreciate and ridicule the 
 militia of the state, by representing them as having run away on the first 
 sight of the enemy, but giving them no credit for their prompt return and 
 subsequent good conduct ; and ascribing the gallant attack and defeat of 
 the British, on that occasion, to about one hundred and fifty United States 
 
324 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 The next affair in wMcb. tlie Indians were engaged, 
 occurred in tlie neighborhood of fort George, on the 17th 
 of July. A body of volunteers and Indians, under Major 
 Cyrenius Chapin, having crossed over to the fort, and being 
 somewhat impatient to see the enemy, a plan was concerted 
 to cut off his pickets. The forces of Major Chapin, Indians 
 and militia, consisted of about three hundred. To these 
 was added a detachment of two hundred regulars, under 
 Major Cummings, and the command of the whole entrusted 
 to General Porter. The British and Indian encampment 
 was surprised at daylight, seventy-five of their number 
 killed, and sixteen taken prisoner. It has been stated that 
 the success of the expedition was almost entirely owing to 
 
 infantry and a few Indians, wliom he represents as having casually assem- 
 bled at BuflFalo. 
 
 It is true as asserted by General Armstrong, and admitted in the preced- 
 ing account, that the militia stationed at Black Rock did flee most 
 ignominiously on the first appearance of the British troops, and without 
 firing a gun ; but it is equally true, that these same militia u, short time 
 afterward nobly returned to their duty, and fought and achieved the only 
 severe battle of that morning, unaided by the regular troops from 
 BuflFalo — who, by the by, amounted — not to one hundred and fifty men, 
 as represented by General Armstrong — but to only about one half that 
 number, and they too, with the exception of the ofiBcers, raw recruits, nine- 
 tenths of whom had never seen a battle or a camp. 
 
 The attacking force was on that morning divided by the commanding 
 oflBcer into three columns, which were to advance by different routes, and 
 make a simultaneous assault on the British position, which was on high, 
 open and commanding ground. The militia and Indians arrived in season 
 and commenced the attack ; but the column composed of the regular 
 infantry and the volunteer citizens attached to it, being commanded at the 
 time the order for the attack was given by Captain Cummings of the army, 
 but who was superseded at the critical moment when the troops were ad- 
 vancing, by another officer of the army of higher rank, who happened to 
 arrive and to insist on his right to command the column, lost the favorable 
 moment for rendering eflficient service. Misapprehending the precise 
 orders under which they were acting, the officer who thus assumed the 
 command over Captain Cummings, made an awkward, although but 
 momentary diversion, which prevented him from reaching the ground until 
 the battle had been fought, and the enemy had fled in the direction of their 
 boats. 
 
1813. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 325 
 
 a stratagem of the Indians, who, when they had formed 
 their plan of attack, succeeded in decoying the opposing 
 Indians into an ambuscade, so artfully disposed that when 
 they raised the war whoop their dusky opponents mistook 
 it for a signal of a party of their own friends.^ An official 
 account of this affair was given by General Boyd, then 
 commanding the post of fort George, in which he says : 
 
 Those who participated in this contest, particularly the Indians, 
 conducted with great bravery and activity. General Porter volun- 
 teered in the aflfair, and Major Chapin evinced his accustomed zeal 
 and courage. The principal chiefs who led the warriors this day 
 were Farmer's Brother, Red Jacket, Little Billy, Pollard, Black 
 Smoke, Johnson, Silver Heels, Captain Half Town, Major Henry 
 
 Subsequently, when the enemy had rallied and again presented a line of 
 battle in the vicinity of their boats, the regular infantry from Buffalo, be- 
 ing now incorporated with the other troops, advanced to the charge with 
 all the zeal and spirit that distinguished their associates ; but the British, 
 abashed by the vigor and resolution manifested by their assailants, made 
 and received but one or two fires, when they took to their boats and hurried 
 to the opposite shore of the Niagara. 
 
 This explanation is made in no feeling of unkindness toward the regular 
 troops; but it is richly due to the gallant little band of militia, who, it is 
 believed, set the first example during the late war — but afterward so often 
 and so gloriously repeated on the Niagara frontier — of a body of raw 
 militia advancing and meeting, in open field and regular order, an equal, 
 or as in this case, even a superior number of disciplined British troops, and 
 dispersing them at the point of the bayonet. For the conflict on this 
 occasion was closer and more desperate than happens in nine out of ten 
 battles said to be fought by British troops at the bayonet's point. 
 
 There are other misrepresentations in General Armstrong's account of 
 this aflfair — such as materially underrating the number of combatants, 
 and the numbers slain and made prisoners; and in his assertion that the 
 British had accomplished, before they were driven back, most of the 
 important objects of the expedition, in burning barracks and blockhouses, 
 and carrying away the whole of the plunder that invited it — when in fact 
 they did not carry away or destroy more than one third of the valuable 
 naval stores prepared at Black Rock for Commodore Perry, nor touch a 
 particle of the military stores in depot at Buffalo for the use of the army. 
 But these are errors of minor consideration, and would not have been 
 noticed but for the cruel attack upon the militia of the Niagara frontier. 
 
 1 Drake's Book of the Indians. 
 
326 The Life and Times op Eed Jacket. 1813. 
 
 O'Bail, and Captain Cold, who was wounded. In a council which 
 was held with them yesterday, they covenanted not to scalp or 
 murder ; and I am happy to say that they treated the prisoners with 
 humanity, and committed no wanton cruelties on the dead. 
 
 The chiefs named in this despatch were all Senecas 
 excepting Captain Cold. In a subsequent bulletin G-eneral 
 Boyd spoke a second time of the good conduct of the In- 
 dians in this brisk affair, thus : " The bravery and humanity 
 of the Indians were equally conspicuous;" and another 
 authority^ says: "They behaved with great gallantry, and 
 betrayed no disposition to violate the restrictions imposed 
 upon them by Grcneral Boyd." The despatch of General 
 Boyd, just quoted, contains the first official information 
 extant, of Hed Jacket's personal service in the field during 
 that contest. 
 
 1 Article in Niles's Weekly Register. 
 
[ 327 J 
 
 CHAPTEE X. 
 
 Disastrous close of the Niagara campaign in 1813 — Military operations 
 of the following year — Red Jacket rouses the Indians upon the war- 
 path — Invasion of Canada by General Brown — The field of Chippewa 
 described — Capture effort Erie — March to Chippewa — The battle — Its 
 efifects — Remarks thereon — Conduct of the Indians — Subsequent ope- 
 rations on that frontier — The Indians of both armies, on a proposition 
 from Red Jacket, mutually withdraw from the service — Conduct and 
 views of the Indians in war — Red Jacket in battle — Captain Worth and 
 Farmer's Brother — Startling incident at Buffalo — Colonel Worth's 
 opinion of Red Jacket — 1813. 
 
 IsToTWiTHSTANDiNG the brilliant successes with which it 
 had been opened, the Niagara campaign of 1813 closed 
 disastrously to the American arms. Forts Erie and George 
 were successively evacuated by the forces of the United 
 States — the latter withdrawing to the republican side of 
 the river, while their pathway was lighted by the confla- 
 gration of the beautiful town of iN'ewark, wantonly laid in 
 ashes by General M'Clure, under a misapprehension of his 
 instructions from the secretary of war. This event, the 
 remembrance of which is painful to every American of 
 just feehngs, occurred on the 10th of December. But the 
 vandal act was not allowed to pass unavenged. On the 
 night of the 18th, the enemy crossed the river in force, and 
 the fortress of Magara was carried by surprise. Pursuing 
 his success, the enemy swept rapidly along the frontier 
 from Ontario to Erie, carrying the works at Lewiston, 
 Manchester, Black Eock and Buffalo, laying those fair 
 villages in ruins, and ravaging the adjacent country with 
 fire and sword. It is true that this frontier had been left 
 comparatively defenseless, by the withdrawal of the regu- 
 
328 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 , lar troops for the memorable descent of the St. Lawrence, 
 with a view to the capture of Montreal — an enterprise 
 which signally failed. Still, the fall of Il'Tiagara was inglo- 
 rious, while but few laurels were won in defense of either 
 of the posts, successively and immediately thereafter falling 
 into the hands of the invaders. Among the villages de- 
 stroyed in this retaliatory invasion was that of the Tusca- 
 roras ; but the Indians themselves appear to have borne no 
 part even in the feeble defense interposed by the militia, 
 and the handful of regulars stationed among them. 
 
 But the contest was renewed in that quarter in the fol- 
 lowing year, more vigorously than ever, and the Senecas, 
 with their confederates upon the American side, roused by 
 the stirring eloquence of Hed Jacket, were upon the war 
 path as early at least as the American troops were prepared 
 to resume offensive operations. 
 
 On the 1st of July, 1814, General Brown found himself 
 in Buffalo, at the head of a military force so strong as in 
 his judgment to authorize the invasion of Canada, for 
 which movement the country at large as well as his own 
 troops appeared to be impatient. His army consisted of 
 two brigades of infantry, commanded respectively by Gene- 
 rals Scott and Ripley, to each of which was attached an 
 efficient train of field artillery, under Colonel Towson and 
 Major Hindman, and a small squadron of cavalry under 
 Captain Harris — the whole in the highest state of disci- 
 pline and equipment. To these was added a brigade of 
 miscellaneous troops, comprising a regiment of Pennsylva- 
 nia volunteers about -^ve hundred strong, a corps of six hun- 
 dred ^ew York volunteers, one hundred of them mounted 
 — then on their march from Batavia — and five hundred 
 and fifty to six hundred Lidian warriors, embracing nearly 
 the whole military force of the Six ITations — all under 
 the immediate command of General Peter B. Porter, as the 
 quarter-master general of the militia of ^ew York ; who. 
 
1813. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 329 
 
 without intending to adopt permanently the military pro- 
 fession, was induced to accept this heterogeneous com- 
 mand, under a belief that his local knowledge of the 
 country, at least, might enable him to be useful in the pro- 
 secution of a war which, in another situation, he had been 
 instrumental in recommending, but which thus far had 
 been attended with so little success.^ 
 
 General Brown proposed to open the campaign by the 
 capture of fort Erie ; and thence, proceeding rapidly down 
 the Niagara river, reduce in succession the British posts of 
 Chippewa, Queenston heights, forts Mississaugua and 
 Magara; anticipating the cooperation of Commodore 
 Chauncey's squadron on lake Ontario, in the achievement 
 of the two last objects. 
 
 Fort Erie, situated at the foot of lake Erie, was garri- 
 soned by one hundred and seventy men, and commanded 
 by Major Burke of the British army. Chippewa, eighteen 
 miles below, and then the head quarters of the British 
 forces, was occupied by General E,eal, with an army — 
 inclusive of troops at available distances in his rear — of 
 about the same numerical force, and of the same composi- 
 tion with that of General Brown, save that the number of 
 his Indian allies was somewhat less. 
 
 In order to form any just estimate of the merits of the 
 battle of Chippewa — no just or adequate account of which 
 has yet appeared in history — a correct and minute know- 
 ledge of the positions of the two armies and their surround- 
 ing localities, at the time of the engagement, is indispensa- 
 bly necessary. The Chippewa or Welland river, the north 
 or left bank of which, near its mouth, was occupied by the 
 British army and their defenses, consisting of two block 
 houses connected and flanked by a parapet, is a considera- 
 ble stream, about one hundred yards wide and from twelve 
 
 1 General Porter, as a member of coDgress, had been a strong and elo- 
 quent advocate for the declaration of war. 
 
 42 
 
330 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 to twenty feet deep, coming from tlie west and entering 
 the Kagara at a right angle. Street's creek, the mouth 
 of which was selected by the American commanders as a 
 suitable position before the battle, is a small sluggish 
 stream parallel to the Chippewa, and entering the IN'iagara 
 two miles above, or to the south of it. The Chippewa is 
 bordered on the south by a flat, open plain, about three- 
 fourths of a mile wide and terminating in the rear in a 
 dense forest of primitive growth; so wet, and so much 
 obstructed by fallen timber, as to be impracticable for 
 carriages or horses. The west bank of the Magara is pre- 
 cisely similar to the south bank of the Chippewa — with 
 this difference only, that about midway between the Chip- 
 pewa and Street's creek there is, or was at that time, a 
 strip or tongue of woodland which had never been cleared, 
 about one-fourth of a mile in width, extending from, or 
 being a continuation of, the forest in the rear to a narrow 
 clearing of one hundred yards width, on the bank of the 
 river, used as the public highway — thus forming a mask 
 between the two positions of Chippewa and Street's creek, 
 by which the occupants of each were excluded from all 
 knowledge or observation of what was passing at the 
 other. 
 
 On the 2d of July Greneral Brown, with Generals Scott 
 and Porter, made a reconnoissance of fort Erie and the 
 upper parts of the Magara, and concerted a plan for the 
 attack of the fort on the following morning. By this plan 
 General Eipley, with part of his brigade, was to embark in 
 boats at Buffalo in the course of the night, and passing up 
 and across the lake, land at daylight on the British shore, 
 a mile above fort Erie ; and General Scott with his brigade 
 to cross the Magara river, through a difficult pass in the 
 Black Rock rapids, and make a simultaneous landing, a 
 mile below the fort ; when the two brigades, closing and 
 surrounding the fort, would prevent the escape of the gar- 
 
1813. Sa-go-te-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 331 
 
 rison until artillery could be brought from Buffalo to 
 reduce it. G-eneral Eipley, although punctual in his 
 departure, did not reach the point of debarkation until 
 some hours after the appointed time, in consequence of a 
 heavy fog by which his pilots were misled. But Gleneral 
 Scott, with his accustomed promptitude, made good his 
 landing at the hour indicated, and was able, with the 
 assistance of a few Indians and volunteers who accompanied 
 him to invest the fort in such a manner as to secure its 
 garrison. 
 
 The rising sun disclosed to the British commandant and 
 his officers, who were deliberately viewing the scene with 
 their glasses from the top of their works not only their fort 
 already surrounded, but the hurried transit of boats at the 
 ferry below freighted with Indians, artillery and other 
 means for their destruction. Whether influenced most by 
 the forpaidable appearance of the artillery or of the Indians, 
 who are held even in greater terror by European than by 
 American soldiers, the commanding officer, soon after mid- 
 day, and too soon perhaps to satisfy the claims of military 
 etiquette, surrendered the fort and garrison to the demand 
 of Greneral Brown, without firing a gun. 
 
 On the same evening Greneral Scott, with his brigade and 
 Towson's artillery, proceeded down the Magara, and on 
 the morning of the 4th, having driven in on his march 
 some advanced posts of the enemy, established his camp in 
 the open field on the south side of Street's creek, near its 
 mouth and two miles from Chippewa. On the evening of 
 the same dsLy (4th) he was joined by General Brown, with 
 General Hipley's brigade, which took post in the same field 
 in rear of General Scott. In the course of the night of the 
 4th, General Porter crossed the Magara at Black Rock, 
 with the Pennsylvania volunteers and Indians ; and at sun- 
 rise on the morning of the 5th, marched for the camp, where 
 they arrived at twelve o'clock. On their way down they 
 
332 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 were met about ^ve miles above Chippewa by General 
 Erown, who on joining and returning with them gave 
 General Porter to understand that the position of the 
 Anierican army, although probably the best that could 
 have been selected, was a most uncomfortable one on 
 account of its contracted limits — there being but about 
 three-fourths of a mile distance between the river and an 
 almost impenetrable forest, infested by a band of Indians 
 and militia, conversant with its haunts and sent out from 
 the British camp to annoy and assail his pickets ; that he 
 had that morning been under the necessity of making an 
 example of a valuable officer for suffering his guard to be 
 driven in, and the army thus exposed to the direct fire of 
 these troublesome visitants — that it was absolutely neces- 
 sary for the quiet and safety of the camp that these intruders 
 should be dispersed ; and, as regular troops were ill quali- 
 fied for such service, proposed to General Porter that he 
 should with his corps of Indian warriors, aided if necessary 
 by the volunteers, scour the adjoining woods and drive the 
 enemy across the Chippewa, handling them in such a 
 manner as would prevent a renewal of this kind of war- 
 fare — assuring him in the most confident terms that there was 
 not and would not be in the course of that day a single 
 British regular soldier on the south side of the Chippewa. 
 But still, to be prepared for such improbable contingency, 
 that he would du-ect General Scott's brigade to cross 
 Street's creek and occupy the plain on the north side of 
 it (which afterward became the principal battle ground), 
 and be in readiness to sustain him. The proposition was 
 of course acceded to by General Porter, and when after- 
 ward communicated to his brigade, received by them with 
 enthusiasm. 
 
 By three o'clock in the afternoon, the men having been 
 refreshed from the fatigues of the preceding twenty-four 
 hours — the plan of march and attack settled, and the war- 
 
1813. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Hed Jacket. 333 
 
 riors duly arrayed in their battle dress^ — General Porter's 
 command — with the exception of two hundred Pennsylva- 
 nians who were left on parade, subject to future orders — 
 was formed about half a mile in rear of the main camp, 
 into a single or Indian file, with Indians on the left; and 
 thence marching into the woods in the same order, in a 
 line at right angles to the river, until the whole Indian 
 force was immerged in the forest, leaving the white troops 
 in the open field — they had only to halt and face to the 
 right, when the whole were formed in hne of battle, three- 
 fourths of a mile long and one man deejp, looking in the 
 direction of Chippewa. Red Jacket was placed at the 
 extreme left of the line, and General Porter took his station 
 on the margin of the woods between the white and red 
 troops, accompanied by Captain Pollard — a Seneca chief, 
 who was considered as the first in command among the 
 Indians^ — Colonel Flemming, the quarter-master of the 
 
 1 It was the uniform practice of our Indian warriors, when going into 
 action, to divest their persons of all covering excepting moccasins, perhaps 
 leggings, a breech-cloth, a large tuft of white feathers fastened to the hair 
 on the crown of the head, and a small strong plaited line or belt, three or 
 four yards long (called a matunip line), girt about their waist, to secure 
 the tomahawk, knife, powderhorn, &c., and used if necessary to bind their 
 prisoners. Their naked bodies and faces were then painted with bold and 
 gaudy colors, without uniformity, and generally, though not always, with- 
 out much taste or design. 
 
 2 The selection of their leader for this battle, or perhaps for the campaign, 
 was made in council but a short time before the action took place. The 
 chief who expected the distinction was an Onondaga, named Ka-was-kwant, 
 or the Spring-trap, commonly known as Captain John. He was an aged 
 warrior, who had shown his bravery at Wyoming, Cherry valley,' and New- 
 town, and in short at almost every place where fighting was to be done 
 during the war of the revolution. He was now seventy-five years old ; but 
 hearing that his people were about to go again upon the war path, the fire 
 of heroism rekindled in his bosom, and he hastened to the frontier, confi- 
 dent, that from his well known character of old, he should be chosen the 
 leader on the present occasion. But he was not even named in council, 
 the choice falling with great unanimity upon Pollard. Captain John was 
 greatly affected by this neglect, and the tears rolled down his cheek as he 
 
334 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 Indian corps, Lieutenant (now Major) Donald Eraser, Ms 
 aid, Henry Johnson, his interpreter.^ He was also accom- 
 panied by Major (now Adjutant-general) Jones, and Major 
 -Wood of the engineers, who afterward fell in the sortie from 
 fort Erie, as volunteers ; and supported by a company of 
 regular infantry, marching in column in the rear as a 
 reserve. The Indians were commanded by their war chiefs 
 who were indulged in their own mode of conducting the 
 attack, marching about twenty yards in advance of the 
 warriors of their respective tribes. Greneral Porter having 
 sent out scouts to reconnoitre the enemy, the march was 
 commenced by signal, and proceeded at first with great 
 stillness and caution. The chiefs have signals, by which, 
 on the discovery of any circumstance requiring consultation 
 or a change of route or action, they convey notice through 
 their ranks with great celerity, on which the whole line of 
 warriors drop instantly to the ground, and remain there 
 until farther orders. Two manoeuvres of this kind occurred 
 on the march — the first ,of little moment, but the second 
 communicating, through the scouts, the exact position of 
 the enemy, who, apprised of their assailants' approach, lay 
 concealed in a thicket of bushes along the margin of Street's 
 creek. A consultation was thereupon held and new orders 
 given, the purport of which was to change the hne of 
 march so as to meet the enemy to more advantage, to 
 
 related the circumstances to Mr. Tyler, the author's informant. "They 
 think me too old, and that I am good for nothing," said the veteran chief, 
 in the bitterness of his heart ; and with a countenance saddened with dis- 
 appointment he left the warriors, and retraced his steps to Onondaga. As 
 they did not want his services, he would not trouble them with his presence. 
 ^ Henry Johnson (called Cattaraugus Hank), was a white man by birth ; 
 but having been made a prisoner in infancy, was in all his associations, 
 habits and dispositions, a thorough Indian. He was honest and possessed 
 a handsome property, was endowed with great physical power and enter- 
 prise, and being withal an admirable hunter, there was, probably, not an 
 Indian or a white man on the Niagara, who could boast of having slain 
 the number of foes that fell by his unerring rifle. 
 
1813. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 335 
 
 increase the speed as mucli as was consistent with the pre- 
 servation of order, to receive their first fire, but not to 
 return it except singly and when it could be done with cer- 
 tain efiect, and then to raise the war whoop, pursue, cap- 
 ture and slay as many as practicable, until they should 
 reach the open ground in front of Chippewa, and thence 
 return to camp. 
 
 The march was accordingly resumed, the fire of the 
 enemy received, and a rush accompanied with savage yells 
 made upon them and continued for more than a mile, 
 through scenes of frightful havoc and slaughter, few only 
 of the fugitives offering to surrender as prisoners, while 
 others, believing that no quarters would be given, suffered 
 themselves to be cut down by the tomahawk, or turning 
 back upon their pursuers, fought hand to hand to the last. 
 On reaching the open field in front of Chippewa, the 
 assailants were met by a tremendous discharge of mus- 
 ketry, by which the warriors, who were principally in 
 front, were thrown back upon the volunteers and reserve, 
 who for want of equal speed were a short distance in the 
 rear. Presuming that the fire had come from the enemy 
 he had been pursuing, and who had rallied on reaching 
 the open ground. General Porter made an effort, not 
 without success, to reform his line with the volunteers, 
 reserve, and a portion of the warriors ; but on again ad- 
 vancing to the margin of the woods found himself within a 
 few yards of the whole British regular army formed in line 
 of battle, and presenting within a given space at least three 
 men fresh from their camp, to a single one in his own 
 attenuated and exhausted line. After receiving and return- 
 ing two or three fii-es, the enemy rushed forward with 
 charged bayonets, when, hearing nothing from General 
 Scott, he gave the order to retreat, saiive qui pent, and form 
 again on the left of General Scott's brigade, wherever it 
 should be found. 
 
336 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 It appears that the British commander had resolved on 
 making a general attack that day on the American camp ; 
 and in execution of this purpose had marched his whole 
 force across the Chippewa a short time hefore General 
 Porter entered the woods with the Indians ; and having 
 sent forward his Indians and militia — which was the 
 British force met in the woods — to commence his attack 
 on the left flank of the Americans, formed in the meantime 
 his battalions of regulars on the plain, under cover of the 
 strip of wood land which divided the two camps, with his 
 artillery on his left, near the gorge occupied by the road 
 along the bank of the river ; ready to act the moment the 
 effect of the flank attack should be developed. 
 
 The repulse of General Porter's command was thus 
 effected by the main body of the British army, while 
 General Scott's brigade was more than a mile in the rear, 
 and had not yet crossed the bridge over Street's creek. 
 The error, therefore, of General Porter — if he committed 
 one — consisted in remaining as long as he did under so 
 unequal a ^e ; or perhaps in attempting to rally at all 
 against so superior a force ; and if the Indians were more 
 censured for cowardice than the volunteers, in consequence 
 of being foremost in the flight, they owe their degradation 
 to their greater speed and bottom, for every fugitive, 
 whether white or red man, exerted his utmost power of 
 locomotion to escape, restrained by no other consideration 
 than a passing regard to the safety of his immediate com- 
 panions in flight.^ In a retreat of a mile in a diagonal 
 
 1 Colonel Worth, of the United Spates army, has given me in conversations 
 some amusing reminiscences of this retreat of the Indians, The colonel 
 was a young officer at that time, attached to the military family of General 
 Scott. Some of the Indians, it seems, had taken their sons, lads of twelve 
 to fourteen, into the battle, to teach them early in the trade of war. As 
 the Indians came rushing along in a diagonal direction, some of them ran 
 up in front of Scott's brigade, which opened a passage through for their 
 retreat. Among them Colonel Worth observed one stalwart Indian, with 
 his son upon his shoulder, bounding forward with the utmost expedition. 
 
1813. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 337 
 
 J 
 
 direction to the right, so as to uncover the enemy to the 
 fire of the American line, then just beginning to form, they 
 gained but little distance on the British columns who were 
 in hot pursuit. When General Porter and his staff arrived 
 at Street's creek, they were met by Major (now General) 
 Jesup's battalion, then in the act of taking its position, 
 which was on the left, and a short distance from the 
 remainder of General Scott's brigade ; and the volunteers, 
 fatigued as they were, aided Major Jesup's evolutions, 
 which were executed with great order and celerity, by 
 breaking down the fences to enable him to pass from the 
 road bordering on Street's creek, to his position in the 
 field. I^othing could exceed the coolness and order with 
 which General Scott's brigade crossed the bridge and 
 formed its line, under the galling fire of the enemy's 
 artillery, and the headlong approach of his infantry, who, 
 when only fifty yards distant, were received by a tremen- 
 dous discharge of musketry from the American line, 
 which forced them to fall back for a considerable distance. 
 But they speedily rallied and advanced again, when they 
 were met in the same gallant manner, which proved deci- 
 sive of the battle ; and they thereupon fled the field with 
 as much precipitation as they had entered it — not halting 
 until they had recrossed the Chippewa and destroyed their 
 bridge. General Scott pursued them around the point of 
 woods, beyond which he could only advance in face of 
 their batteries, and these he could not reach by reason of 
 the intervening river. He therefore deployed to the left, 
 
 Just as he was passing near the position of the general and staff, a shell of 
 the enemy's exploded apparently over his head. With the usual exclama- 
 tion of '* Ugh ! " the Indian bounded nearly ten feet high, and as he came 
 down, his son, who was about fourteen years old, tumbled sprawling upon 
 the ground — the father continuing his speed, and the young brave 
 picking himself up and scampering after him as fast as possible. The 
 scene was so ludicrous as to create merriment among the young officers, 
 even on so grave an occasion — calling forth a rebuke from General Scott. 
 W. L. S. 
 
 43 
 
338 The Life and Times of 18i3. 
 
 and forming a line in tlie open field in front of Chippewa, 
 directed his men to lie down with their heads toward the 
 batteries, the better to avoid the effect of their fire. 
 
 The battle between the regular troops was but of a few 
 minutes duration, with the exception of the artillery, which, 
 on both sides, was earliest and longest engaged, and served 
 with the most destructive effect — Colonel Towson occupy^ 
 ing the right of the American line, on Street's creek, and 
 the British artillery the left of theirs, at the point of the 
 woods, and both commencing with the first movements of 
 the regular troops. 
 
 Immediately after the two lines had encountered on 
 Street's creek, a magnificent charger completely capari- 
 soned, but without a rider, was seen prancing and curvet- 
 ing in the centre of the battle field, and endeavoring to 
 make his escape through the American line to the rear. 
 Presuming that he had belonged to some ofiicer who had 
 fallen, he was forthwith secured by the servant of General 
 Porter, and immediately mounted by the general, to whom 
 he was a most acceptable acquisition after the labors of the 
 day which he had performed on foot.^ 
 
 Riding up to Ceneral Brown, who was also in the midst 
 of the action. General Porter received his orders to march 
 with the two hundred Pennsylvanians who had been left in 
 camp, to the support of General Scott ; which orders were 
 promptly executed by following General Scott's brigade 
 around the point of woods, receiving the fire of the British 
 batteries, and taking post on his left with the men in the 
 
 iThis powerful steed was the property of Major M'Neal, who commanded 
 one of General Scott's battalions, and never having before been in action, 
 
 « 
 
 was so much alarmed by the sudden and tremendous discharge of mus- 
 ketry and artillery in every direction, as to be, for a few moments, wholly 
 unmanageable; and the major was obliged to dismount and abandon him. 
 He, nevertheless, soon became familiarized, as his owner had been long 
 before, to the dangers of his new profession, and was the next morning 
 restored to the major. 
 
1813. SA-ao-YE-WAT-HA, OR Eed Jacket. 339 
 
 same recumbent position. Here they awaited the arrival 
 of General Ripley^s brigade, which, on the first discovery 
 that the whole British army was in the field, had been 
 ordered to make a detour through the woods, and attack 
 the enemy's right. They soon came up, in the same muddy 
 plight with the volunteers and Indians who had previously 
 traversed the same ground; when the whole army at about 
 sundown quietly retired to their camp on the south side of 
 Street's creek. And thus ended the battle of Chippewa, 
 which probably produced more important results in favor 
 of the American arms than any other engagement by land 
 in the course of that war ; although there were several 
 battles fought on the ]^iagara, if not elsewhere, during the 
 same campaign, exhibiting a greater number of combatants 
 engaged, a larger number slain, and a result equally credit- 
 able to the gallantry and good conduct of the American 
 soldiers. 
 
 The first advantage gained was in driving from the British 
 army those troublesome enemies, their Indian allies, who 
 had been the terror of our troops in the west, during all 
 the preceding stages of the war, and had kept the camps 
 of General Dearborn, General Lewis and General Boyd, in 
 a perpetual panic during the campaign of 1813. Terrified 
 and disheartened by the reception they met with at Chip- 
 pewa, they fled from the battle field to the head of lake 
 Ontario, a distance of thirty miles, without halting, and 
 never again during the remainder of the war appeared in 
 the British camp — thus giving a practical and decisive 
 proof that they held the prowess of their red American foes 
 in much higher estimation than some of the allies of the 
 latter were disposed to accord to them. 
 
 Another immediate efiect of this battle was to give the 
 American people confidence in the courage and efficiency 
 of their army, and to the latter, confidence in themselves. 
 A great blunder had been committed at the commencement 
 
340 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 of tlie war, in the appointment of incompetent and unworthy 
 men, taken perhaps from the gambling table or the race 
 course, as officers of the army, owing their places to the 
 importunities of influential friends, who sought this mode 
 of providing for those who were useless in civil life. 
 
 It is a well known fact, and it is fortunate for the pur- 
 poses of war that it is so, that the tone, temper and spirit 
 of the common soldier will, in most instances, and especially 
 on occasions of great peril, conform to and identify them- 
 selves with those of his commanding officers ; so that if an 
 officer prove recreant in battle, his example will poison and 
 make cowards of the whole corps to which he belongs ; and 
 it was to this circumstance that the Americans were indebted 
 for most of their early discomfitures. 
 
 In 1814, this difficulty had in a great measure been over- 
 come by the resignation or dismissal of undeserving incum- 
 bents, and the army of Niagara entered the field under a 
 complement of as gallant officers as could be found in any 
 army or country. 
 
 The victory of Chippewa and those which followed it 
 were achieved by men three-fourths of whom — including 
 the regular troops as well as the volunteers and Indians — 
 had never before been in action — thus establishing the 
 important fact, which should not be lost sight of in the 
 future organization of our army and militia, that the effi- 
 ciency of a military force depends more on the judicious 
 selection and arrangement of the original material of which 
 it is composed, than on prolonged discipline ; and that a 
 farmer fresh from the plough may, by a drill of six weeks, 
 under py^oper officers, be rendered as efficient in all the duties 
 of the field, as a soldier of ten years standing, although he 
 may not within this short space become enured to the 
 habits of the camp. 
 
 The eclat of these victories created such an enthusiasm 
 throughout the country^ that not gnly the youth, but men 
 
1813. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, oe Red Jacket. 341 
 
 of every age and condition in life, were pressing for oppor- 
 tunities to enter the service ; and had the war continued, 
 the campaign of 1815 would have opened with an army of 
 any desired extent, selected from the choicest materials of 
 the country. But these same events, so brilliant on our 
 part, had a corresponding influence in depressing the hopes 
 and expectations of our enemy, and led to the peace of 
 December, 1814, so honorable to both parties, and which, 
 it is to be hoped, will not soon be again disturbed. 
 
 On reviewing the several incidents connected with the 
 battle of Chippewa, it is evident that, had General Scott's 
 brigade been at hand to support the volunteers and Indians 
 when first met by the regular columns of the British army, 
 the contest as a whole would have presented quite a diflfe- 
 rent aspect from the one it actually assumed ; but that the 
 result would have been equally auspicious to the American 
 arms is not to be doubted. Why they were not there has 
 never been satisfactorily explained to those who were most 
 interested in the movement. There can be no question 
 that General Scott was as full a believer as General Brown, 
 in the proposition and prophecy so confidently advanced by 
 the latter in the morning, " that there was not and would 
 not be, in the course of that day, a single regular British 
 soldier on the south side of the Chippewa," and that Gene- 
 ral Porter's force was amply sufficient to dispose of the 
 Indians and militia. But whether the tardy execution, or 
 rather non-execution, of the promised order for his support, 
 proceeded from delay in the issuing, or in the performance 
 of it, is a question which seems not to have been settled. 
 
 Still, the successive mistakes committed by the two 
 armies on that day, by reason of their mutual ignorance of 
 each other's positions, plans and movements, were proba- 
 bly quite as injurious in their consequences to the British 
 as to the Americans. The first error, in throwing the 
 volunteers and Indians, in their exhausted c.ondition, into 
 
342 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 the power of the British battalions, without support, was 
 immediately followed by an equal one on the part of the 
 latter, who, on seeing the sudden check and rapid retreat 
 they had given to their assailants, and elated too, as they 
 evidently were, with the idea that victory was already 
 achieved, pursued them for a mile vdth a precipitation 
 which at once exhausted their strength, and threw them 
 into a degree of confusion, which was so much increased 
 by the astounding reception they met with from G-eneral 
 Scott's line, that they could never afterward restore that 
 order which was necessary to enable them to cope with the 
 cool and compact ranks of the Americans. And these 
 mutual blunders probably hastened the termination of the 
 battle, and rendered it less sanguinary than it would have 
 been had the parties met more deliberately, and with a 
 better knowledge of each other's views and comparative 
 strength.^ 
 
 The rumor which was industriously spread, that the 
 whole of the American Indians, immediately on their repulse 
 at Chippewa, fled to Buffalo, and were never seen again in 
 the American camp, was destitute of foundation. The 
 Indians never coerce their warriors into battle or compel 
 them to remain there, and it is true that a considerable num- 
 ber of them fled from sheer cowardice and fright, on the 
 first fire ; but the number of fugitives was much exagge- 
 rated for want of a knowledge of Indian customs. When 
 they take a prisoner, the captor, with surprising dexterity 
 and dispatch, binds his hands behind his back with his 
 maturnip line and leads him off to the rear, like a horse by 
 a halter, on a trot; and the frequent appearance of these 
 parties gliding along the skirts of the woods at the com- 
 mencement of the action — the guard generally outnum- 
 
 ^ General Riall bad seventeen hundred men engaged in this battle, while 
 the American troops actually brought into the battle did not exceed thir- 
 teen hundred. 
 
1813. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 343 
 
 bering the prisoners — led the other troops by whom they 
 were observed to believe that they were all fugitives. But 
 that the great body of warriors as well as volunteers, engaged 
 in the opening attack, fought with a boldness, not to say 
 desperation, unsurpassed by any other troops until they 
 were placed — and that not by their own fault — in a situa- 
 tion where it would have been madness not to retreat, was 
 fully attested by their officers; and, was, moreover, proved 
 by the fact that the loss of the British Indians and militia 
 in the woods, inclusive of killed, wounded and prisoners, 
 was not less than that of their regular troops in the subse- 
 quent engagement in the field. 
 
 Most of the warriors remained in camp for some fifteen 
 days longer, and until the eve of the battle of Bridgewater, 
 when, for reasons which were plausible, if not satisfactory, 
 they retired from the army to their respective villages. 
 
 On the morning of the 6th of July, General Porter was 
 waited on at his tent by about twenty chiefs, each accom- 
 panied by a warrior bearing the scalps which his tribe had 
 taken during the preceding day. They had, it seems, been 
 informed that they were to receive a bounty for every scalp 
 taken in battle. But on being apprised of their mistake, 
 these unseemly trophies were immediately buried or thrown 
 into the river. Still they were allowed a premium for the 
 prisoners they had taken, amounting to sixteen or eigh- 
 teen — among whom were two or three chiefs — propor- 
 tioned to the rank they held. 
 
 At their request General Porter gave them permission 
 to visit the battle ground, for the purpose of bringing off 
 the bodies of their friends who had fallen, which in the 
 hurry of the preceding day they had not been able to do — 
 it being understood that Colonel Flemming should accom- 
 pany them. 
 
 After an absence of a few hours they returned, bringing 
 in the bodies of fifteen warriors, among whom were three 
 
344 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 chiefs, all of which were buried in the course of the evening 
 with the honors of war.^ They reported also that among 
 the numerous bodies of their enemies strewed along the 
 woods, they had discovered three who, although mortally 
 wounded, were still living. Two of these they despatched 
 by cutting their throats, but recognizing in the third a late 
 member of one of their own villages, who was burning 
 with fever and thirst, Johnson had filled his own canteen 
 with water at a neighboring creek and given it to him, to 
 die by himself. On being reproached with the savage pro- 
 ceeding of taking the life of an unresisting foe, the only 
 answer given by Johnson, with marks of evident contri- 
 tion, was — "That it did seem hard to take the lives of 
 these men, but that we ought to recollect that these were 
 very hard times." 
 
 Two days after the battle a passage was forced across 
 the Chippewa at a point three miles above its mouth, by 
 Major Hindman's corps of artillery, supported by General 
 Ripley's brigade and the 'New York volunteers, just ar- 
 rived. After a short and gallant resistance by the enemy 
 at the cannon's mouth, they fled in great haste and confu- 
 sion — destroying their works at Chippewa and Queenston 
 heights — to fort Mississagua, at the mouth of the Magara 
 river. 
 
 On the march of the army to Queenston, the Indians, 
 whose roving habits it was impossible to restrain, com- 
 mitted some depredations upon the neighboring farmers, 
 besides capturing some fifty to one hundred barrels of 
 wine, brandy, and other stores belonging to the British 
 
 1 Among the slain chiefs was Captain Le Fort, an Onondaga, of courage 
 and reputation. His son, Abraham Le Fort, yet resides at Onondaga. He 
 has procured a good education, adopted the costume of the whites, and his 
 children are inmates of the English common school in his neighborhood. 
 He was a lad of fourteen at the time of the battle of Chippewa, and accom- 
 panied his father in that campaign. "W. L. S. 
 
1813. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 345 
 
 J 
 
 army, wMch. they found concealed in tlie woods. This 
 property was taken from them hy the United States 
 quarter-master, in virtue of an order issued hy Greneral 
 Brown on entering the province, and as regarded the pub- 
 lic stores, much to their dissatisfaction. 
 
 About this time, on the suggestion of E,ed Jacket, ap- 
 proved by G-eneral Brown, two young chiefs distinguished 
 for their bravery, prudence and address, were despatched 
 to the camp of the British Indians at the head of the lake, 
 with secret 'propositions for the mutual withdrawal of the 
 whole Indian forces from both armies. After three days 
 absence they returned, and reported that they were kindly 
 received by the few chiefs with whom they dared to com- 
 municate or to be made known to; and that measures 
 would be immediately taken by them to carry the proposi- 
 tion into effect. This embassy — which E,ed Jacket was 
 disposed to turn to the best advantage — resulted in the 
 retirement of all the American warriors to their respective 
 villages, with a positive engagement, nevertheless, that 
 they would immediately return if the British Indians 
 should again appear in the field. But they did not appear ; 
 still, some forty or fifty American Indians, among whom 
 was Johnson, lured by the love of war and by the exciting 
 scenes through which they had already passed, returned to 
 the army and were useful auxiliaries during the remainder 
 of the campaign — having been in fort Erie at the time of 
 its investment, and performed a conspicuous part in the 
 sortie of the 17th September, on which occasion they were 
 among the first to scale the enemy's works. 
 
 The writer^ of the preceding account has relied almost 
 wholly on his memory — having had recourse to scarcely a 
 
 1 General Porter is himself the author of this account of the crossing of 
 the Niagara by the American army; the capture of fort Erie; and the 
 battle of Chippewa. I had written as good an account of these events as 
 all the materials I could obtain enabled me to collate. But not being satis- 
 
 44 
 
346 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 single written document, except to ascertain dates — for the 
 facts it contains. His principal object lias been to vindi- 
 cate the men of the Six I^ations, who have no historian to 
 chronicle their good or bad deeds, against the charges both 
 of bad faith and cowardice preferred against them during 
 their brief connection with the army. He will close it with 
 a few remarks on their character, and more especially that 
 of E-ed Jacket, as warriors. 
 
 Although these people are unable, for want of the neces- 
 sary science, materials, and machinery, to wage a systematic 
 and independent war, they are nevertheless most valuable 
 auxiliaries to an army in this country. Indeed, a corps of 
 Indian warriors, bearing a due proportion to the size of the 
 army with which they act, may be considered as worth at 
 least double their numbers in any other description of 
 troops. Equal, at least, to white men in physical strength, 
 intelligence, and military ambition, the athletic habits in 
 which they are educated, their familiarity with the woods 
 and fields, and their abstemious modes of living, confer on 
 them an activity and fleetness and a power of endurance 
 far beyond what white men possess; while the lightness of 
 their arms and dress, and the scanty means required for their 
 subsistence and sleeping, relieve an army from a vast amount 
 of the lumber and material of war. The prevailing impres- 
 sion that they are more cowardly than white men — which is 
 an inference from their well known repugnance and refusal 
 to fight hand to hand in the open field — is known to be 
 unjust by those intimately acquainted with their character 
 and customs. It should be recollected that the sentiment 
 of true valor, which is as much respected and cherished by 
 the Indians as by white men, is not less the offspring of 
 
 fied with it myself, I placed the manuscript in the hands of General Porter, 
 who kindly favored me with a far more correct, extended and impartial ac- 
 count of that portion of the campaign of 1814, than I could obtain the means 
 of composing. See letter from General Porter to the author, appendix E. 
 
1813. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 347 
 
 education than of instinct. Among the qualifications of a 
 great war chief, prudence, sagacity and skill in circumvent- 
 ing and prostrating an enemy with the least possible loss to 
 his own people, are not less regarded and venerated than 
 his prowess in the field. They are taught from their infancy 
 to hold in detestation that sort of blind chivalry which 
 induces two men, or two equal bodies of men, to march 
 into a field, and deliberately hack each other down. Yet 
 many of om* Indians were repeatedly seen, not only 
 charging with the other troops in the field, but performing — 
 when acting by themselves — feats of open, bold, and 
 daring bravery, from the execution of which few even of 
 our best troops would not have recoiled. But when they 
 do indulge in such feats it must be when the chances of 
 success are strongly in their favor, and in prospect of a boon 
 commensurate with the hazard they run. 
 
 As to Red Jacket he was considered by his own friends 
 as well as by his enemies, constitutionally a coward — that 
 is to say, as formed with nerves more sensitive to danger 
 than those of most other men ; and yet so powerfully was 
 he influenced by the feelings of pride, and the necessity of 
 sustaining in every situation the reputation of a great chief, 
 that he was said by those who were near him to have 
 behaved exceedingly well in the battle of Chippewa. But 
 he took care to keep himself out of all minor engagements 
 and skirmishes, where, if the hazard would have been less, 
 so also was the object to be achieved. During the whole 
 period of the war, the powers of his great eloquence were 
 constantly exerted both on the government and on the 
 chiefs and warriors ; first, to keep them from joining in the 
 war, and after they had become engaged to withdraw them 
 from it ; and in this his counsels were those of a wise man 
 and a provident father of his people. His principal argu- 
 ments were — that the Indians had no interest in the quarrel 
 between the two parties, and nothing to gain or lose in the 
 
348 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 result — that they had no voice in the declaration of war, 
 nor could they have in its conduct and termination — and 
 above all, that the Six ]^ations had but few young men, 
 who, if permitted to be drawn into the contest and em- 
 ployed in such enterprises as the white officers by whom 
 they would be commanded should direct, and their own 
 ambition court, would be very soon exterminated, and 
 leave the remainder of their nation poor and powerless. 
 
 Eour days after the battle of Chippewa, the army re- 
 sumed its march down the Niagara, for the investment of 
 fort George, the passage of the Chippewa being but feebly 
 opposed, and General Eiall falling back upon Twelve Mile 
 creek, and throwing a portion of his troops into the last 
 mentioned fortress. 
 
 In the hard fought battle of Lundy's lane, on the 25th of 
 July, among the wounded were the Commander-in-chief 
 Major-General Brown, General Scott, and his favorite aid- 
 de-camp Captain "Worth. The latter officer was carried 
 back to Buffalo to be healed of his wounds. "While lying 
 there, an incident occurred connected with the Indian de- 
 partment of history, which is worthy of record. Captain 
 Worth had become quite a favorite with the Indians in 
 that and the preceding campaign, and during the several 
 weeks of his confinement, they were wont to hang around 
 his quarters in considerable numbers, watching him with 
 great solicitude. Farmer's Brother, in particular, was in 
 the habit of attending his bedside several hours almost 
 every day. On one occasion, a Chippewa Indian crossed 
 over from the Canada shore, and joined a large party of 
 Indians near Captain Worth's quarters, in the character of 
 a deserter. According to his story, he had left the British 
 camp below the falls, swum the Chippewa, and finding 
 means of crossing the Magara, he had now come over to 
 join the Americans. Desertion is not an Indian vice, 
 being peculiar to the more elevated race of the whites. 
 
1813. SA-ao-YE-WAT-HA, OR Eed Jacket. 349 
 
 His statement was therefore received with distrust. ITever- 
 theless, for a short time he mingled among the Senecas 
 undetected. But his true character could not be long con- 
 cealed. The Indians having indulged rather more freely 
 than common in drink one afternoon, and consequently 
 waxing valiant, began vauntingly to recount their exploits — 
 each one relating how many of the British red coats and 
 Indians he had killed. The spirit of the Chippewa kindled 
 at the recital ; and forgetting for the moment his assumed 
 character, he held up his fingers and boasted of the num- 
 ber of Yankees and Senecas whom he had slain. "Words 
 ran high, and ere many minutes had elapsed the Chippewa 
 stood in the midst of a circle of some twenty warriors, self- 
 convicted, not only as an enemy, but a spy. The veteran 
 Farmer's Brother happened at the time to be sitting with 
 Captain Worth, and the noise of the excitement called him 
 into the street. The weather was extremely hot, and the 
 windows of the Captain's apartments were open, so that he 
 was enabled to see from his couch all that was passing 
 without. After a few words to the old chief, apparently 
 of explanation, but which Captain Worth could not under- 
 stand. Farmer's Brother stepped up to the Chippewa, who 
 drew his blanket over his head, and fell from a blow in- 
 flicted by the veteran's war club. He was stunned, and for 
 a few seconds lay motionless — when, springing suddenly 
 upon his feet, he leaped through the circle, and ran swiftly 
 away to the distance of several rods. Recovering from the 
 momentary surprise into which they had been thrown by 
 this unlooked for action, the Senecas called after the fleeing 
 Chippewa, and taunted him for his cowardice in refusing 
 to die like a brave man. The retreating spy, stung by the 
 reproach, stopped short in his flight, wheeled about, and 
 deliberately retraced his steps to the fatal circle. Having 
 resumed his place, he once more drew his blanket over 
 his head, and laying himself quietly down, received the 
 
350 The Life and Times of 1813. 
 
 contents of Farmer's Brother's rifle in his breast and ex- 
 pired — atoning for his crime with as much calmness and 
 resignation as Socrates displayed in drinking the deadly 
 hemlock.^ 
 
 From the preceding narrative it mnst be apparent that 
 Eed Jacket bore no very prominent part among his people 
 while upon the war path. Yet, in other respects, while 
 with the army, his influence upon his people was great. 
 Their councils were frequent during the campaign, and 
 Red Jacket was uniformly their principal orator. His 
 manner was graceful and imposing in the eye of every 
 beholder, and his voice music — especially to the ears of 
 his own people. He had the power of wielding them at 
 will, and the soul stirring trumpet could not produce a 
 more kindling effect in the bosoms of a disciplined army, 
 than would his appeals upon the warriors of his race. 
 Still, they were all aware of his infirmity, and sometimes 
 when he was speaking of the war path, those who were 
 waggishly inclined would exchange significant glances at 
 his expense.^ And yet they were strongly attached to 
 him, from their admiration of his talents, their love of his 
 eloquence, and their confidence in his patriotism. He had 
 years before this period become addicted to that almost 
 universal vice of his race, intemperance, and was now 
 indeed almost a confirmed drunkard. But he always 
 abstained from the fire water for a season before a council, 
 
 1 Notes of the author's conversations with Colonel afterwards General 
 Worth. 
 
 2 An anecdote in point has been related lo the author by a western 
 gentleman who knew Red Jacket well. He says that the Indians were 
 often in the habit of jeering him for his cowardice, notwithstanding their 
 strong aflFection for him. On one occasion this gentleman heard a conver- 
 sation between the orator and two Indians, who were walking with him. 
 They were reminding him of the circumstance of their having once in 
 compassion given him a scalp that he might take it home as a trophy, but 
 they said that he was afraid to carry it ! 
 
1813. Sa-go-te-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 351 
 
 and made due preparations for any intellectual eiffort he 
 might be expected to put forth. " Often have I known 
 him to make a great speech, rich in eloquence — and in 
 an hour afterward seen him drunk upon the ground." ^ 
 ^In the course of the campaign sketched in the present 
 chapter, E.ed Jacket is said to have formed a strong friend- 
 ship for Colonel Snelling, of the army, who had shown 
 him some particular attentions. The colonel having been 
 ordered to the command of Governor's island, in the 
 harbor of New York, the orator waited upon him to bid 
 him farewell. His parting speech was thus reported : 
 
 Brother : I hear you are going to a place called Governor's 
 island. I hope you will be a governor yourself. I understand that 
 you white people think children a blessing. I hope you may have 
 a thousand. And above all, I hope, wherever you go, you may 
 never find whisky above two shillings a quart.2 
 
 ^ Remark of Colonel Wortli to the author. 
 
 2 Published in the New England Galaxy, by William J. Snelling. 
 
[352 ] 
 
 CHAPTER XI. 
 
 Another land company — The Senecas begin to look for a new home at 
 the west — Council at Sandusky — An incident of travel — Red Jacket's 
 speech at the council — Speeches of others in reply — Nothing effected — 
 Attempted treaty between the Ogden Land Company and the Senecas, at 
 Buffalo, in 1819, Morris S. Miller, commissioner — Opening of the coun- 
 cil — Speech of Red Jacket — Treaty broken off without success — Cap- 
 tain Pollard's apology for the rudeness of Red Jacket — Subsequent 
 negotiations — 1816 - 1840. 
 
 In process of time, subsequent to the negotiation of Thomas 
 Morris with the Indians in behalf of the Holland Land 
 Company, this association disposed of its preemptive right 
 to the several reservations yet held by the Senecas, to Colo- 
 nel Aaron Ogden and others, since know in connection with 
 this subject as The Ogden Company. Thenceforward it 
 of course became the interest of this last mentioned associa- 
 tion to induce the Indians to relinquish those reservations, 
 and seek a new home in a more distant territory. Nego- 
 tiations to this end have often been instituted since, attended, 
 from time to time, by partial success. It appears, moreover, 
 that the Senecas themselves began to think of " removing 
 their seats," at an early day after the peace of 1816. There 
 is some reason also to suppose that connected with this 
 projected removal was the revival, by Red Jacket and his 
 fellow chiefs, of the scheme so ardently prosecuted by 
 Brant twenty-five or thirty years before, of forming a great 
 confederacy of the northwestern nations, at the head of 
 which the Senecas would have claimed their position. 
 Such, at all events, is the inference, irresistible, to be drawn 
 from the proceedings of a grand Indian council held at the 
 upper rapids of the Sandusky, in the autumn of 1816. 
 
1816. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 353 
 
 Among tlie northwestern nations represented in this coun- 
 cil were the Wyandots, Shawanese, Delawares, Ottawas, 
 Monseys, Piankishaws, and several others. A deputation 
 of the chiefs of the Six !N^ations were likewise in attendance, 
 at the head of which was Eed Jacket, accompanied by 
 Jasper Parish, the interpreter, and likewise by George 
 Hosmer, Esq., a resident of the Genesee valley, who had 
 been a warm friend of the Seneca chiefs from his youth up, 
 and who made this journey with them at their express soli- 
 citation.^ 
 
 Among Mr. Hosmer's memoranda of his journey to San- 
 dusky on this occasion, he has recorded an agreeable inci- 
 dent, illustrating the fact that notwithstanding the scorn 
 with which he looked upon the laws and usages of civiliza- 
 tion, Eed Jacket was not an entire stranger to the rules of 
 propriety and delicacy in the social circle. In traveling up 
 the shore of lake Erie, when in the neighborhood of Cleve- 
 land, they were overtaken by a heavy storm of rain, which 
 thoroughly drenched the party and their baggage. Stop- 
 ping for the night at a comfortable log tavern, after having 
 partaken of some refreshments, the whole party were seated 
 in a large circle around a cheerful fire, drying their bag- 
 gage and clothes. The chiefs, with the exception of Eed 
 Jacket, were earnestly and with much animation and glee 
 engaged in a jocular conversation with Captain Parish, and 
 by the keenness of their wit, and the readiness and brisk- 
 ness of their sallies, greatly annoyed him, as was evident 
 from his exertions to sustain himself During all this time 
 Eed Jacket sat opposite to Mr. Hosmer, calmly smoking 
 his pipe, and apparently taking little interest in the con- 
 versation farther than occasionally to cast toward Mr. H. 
 a gratified expression of his sparkling eye. Mr. Hosmer 
 
 1 1 am indebted exclusively to Mr. Georeje Hosmer for the accompanying 
 account of this council, and the sketches of the speeches delivered, which 
 were reported by him. 
 
 45 
 
354 The Life and Times of 1816. 
 
 was ignorant of the Seneca language — a circumstance 
 wMch Red Jacket very well knew — and the idea crossed 
 his mind that his friend might possibly suppose that their 
 sport was at his expense, which, situated as he was, would 
 have been inexcusable rudeness. After their mirth had 
 been indulged for some time, Red Jacket interposed a 
 word to Mr. Parish, and instantly all were silent. He then 
 addressed a few sentences to Mr. Parish, which he desired 
 him to interpret to Mr. Hosmer. It was done in the fol- 
 lowing words : 
 
 We have been made uncomfortable by the storm ; we are now 
 warm and comfortable ; it has caused us to feel cheerful and merry. 
 But I hope our friend who is traveling with us will not be hurt at 
 this merriment, or suppose that we are taking advantage of his igno- 
 rance of our language, to make him in any manner the subject of 
 our mirth. 
 
 To which Mr. Hosmer replied, that knowing himself to 
 be in company with brave and honorable men, he could 
 not allow himself to entertain any such impression. After 
 which they resumed their merriment, and Red Jacket his 
 gravity. 
 
 Arriving at the council fire, and the council having been 
 organized for business, on the 7th of November, Red Jacket , 
 delivered the following speech : 
 
 Brothers of the Council — Listen ! You must recollect that 
 a few years since some delegates from your elder brethren, the Six 
 Nations, came to you. That council fire was kindled at Browns- 
 town, by the mutual consent of the Six Nations ; but we then 
 requested that all important business should thereafter be transacted 
 at this place. A few years after this, another delegation came to 
 this council fire from your elder brethren, the Six Nations. We 
 then thought appearances looked squally. We thought the United 
 States and Great Britain were looking with jealous eyes at each 
 other. It appeared to us a tremendous and destructive storm was 
 
1816. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Kbd Jacket. 355 
 
 approachingj bearing blood and carnage upon its wings. We then 
 told you that if we were not on our guard we should feel that storm. 
 We also told you that it was the policy of the red coats ^ to request 
 at such times the aid of the Indians. We admonished you to take 
 warning from the past, and told you to recollect the calamities 
 which have befallen our nations in the wars of the pale faces. We 
 then, therefore, solemnly requested you to be neutral in that contest. 
 We advised you not to listen to their requests, but to sit still on 
 your seats. 
 
 At length the tremendous storm burst, and first in this quarter 
 you were disturbed by the Virginians. Others of our brothers who 
 listened to the voice from the other side of the water, and some of 
 your warriors, united with the Virginians. Those warriors you took 
 without consulting your elder brethren, the Six Nations. The con- 
 sequence was, your whole land, and the place of your council fire, 
 was smeared with blood. Our ancient records were dispersed, and 
 many were wholly lost. Thus are we situated. There is now a 
 delegation present from the Indians at large. A great council fire 
 is kindled, whose smoke shall ascend to the heavens ; and we now 
 appoint this the place for kindling a great council fire, where all 
 important business shall be transacted. In token we give you a 
 large belt of wampum, brown and white, intermixed with strings. 
 
 Brothers : When we received your message to attend at this 
 time and place, you requested a full representation should arise from 
 their seats, for the purpose of making some general arrangement for 
 the benefit of the Indians. We have attended agreeably to your 
 request — and shall now make some communications to remind you 
 of former transactions. Whenever the two white nations are about 
 falling into difficulties, we discover different languages are held out 
 by the British that we must adhere to them, and when the storm is 
 near by, they will present you with a sharp iron. This has always 
 been the course of the red coats. 
 
 Brothers : You must be sensible that this continent was the 
 gift of the Great Spirit. But in consequence of the wars that have 
 taken place, we have been the perpetual sufferers. In all wars 
 
 The English. 
 
356 The Life and Times of 1816. 
 
 within my memory, we tave lost territory by taking up the hatchet. 
 The British have sold our country to buy peace. By the experience 
 of the past let us learn wisdom, and close our ears to British counsel. 
 War may again happen ; and when it does you will be invited to 
 mate with the British. If we continue to listen to their counsel, we 
 shall soon be exterminated. Let us guard against this by forming 
 a permanent union which shall protect us in future. To decoy you 
 into their measures, the British allure you with many fanciful 
 trinkets. But these are trifles when compared with our general and 
 individual happiness. We now earnestly request you will exert 
 yourselves to extend the sound of our voices to our brethren who 
 are absent from this council. 
 
 Warriors, Listen ! You recollect that we have now established 
 at this place a council fire, to be under the care of the Wyandots. 
 I request you to submit to the direction of the sachems, and not 
 through pride to attempt to control them. It is planted in the 
 centre of your country. Do not be flattered away by any white 
 people who may wish to purchase your land. To command respect 
 you must possess extensive territory. Keep your seats sufficiently 
 large that you may not be crowded on any side by the whites. And 
 do not ever attempt to transact any business except at this place, 
 and then in the presence of the sachems. I hope that you will aid 
 and assist the sachems in bringing back from the other side of the 
 water i those of our brothers who have gone astray to the British. 
 Take them by the hand in friendship, and forget their errors. 
 They will add to your strength. 
 
 My younger Brethren of the Shawanese : I now address 
 myself to you. When we were created by the Grreat Spirit, we were 
 all of one color. But it was his pleasure that we should speak 
 different languages, and be placed in different countries. You must 
 be sensible that you are foreigners. A number of years since you 
 came to this country, and were taken under the protection of our 
 brethren the Wyandots, who gave you a pleasant seat, where you 
 enjoyed a delightful country, and shared in common with them the 
 game of the forest. These proceedings came to the knowledge of 
 
 iNot the ocean, but the great lakes meaning. The same phrase, in the 
 same sense, occurs frequently in the course of this speech. 
 
1816. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 357 
 
 the Six Nations. You had not resided here long before you became 
 uneasy, and you have been first to produce disturbances, and been 
 forward to effect the sale of lands wbicb did not belong to your 
 nation. You have been the authors of other difficulties between the 
 red and white people. You have been forward in the late difficulties, 
 by listening to the voice from across the waters. Where is now your 
 head sachem ? Where a part of your people ? They lent an ear to 
 the red coats, and are now in exile beyond the waters. We admonish 
 you to recall them — unite them with their brethren — form a band 
 of union with the Wyandots. Settled on the seats of the Wyan- 
 dots, your friends, listen to their counsel. It will be good. Listen 
 also to the counsels of the Six Nations, your elder brethren. Do not 
 attempt to transact important business, involving the rights of others, 
 unless at the great council fire, and with the approbation of the 
 Wyandots. 
 
 Sachems of the Munsee and Delaware Indians : You are 
 sensible that you are not the original proprietors of the country you 
 now enjoy. You came from the east. We know the country you 
 came from. You wasted away your inheritance and became wanderers. 
 We gave you a seat on White river, where is plenty of game and pure 
 water. And notwithstanding this, your nation is dispersed. Some of 
 your people have taken up the hatchet, united with the red coats, and 
 are now across the water. We request you will collect yourselves 
 in one body, and settle yourselves on your lands at White river. 
 Do this, and we will then unite ourselves together under one con- 
 federacy. We shall then have strength and be respected as well by 
 the whites as by the more western nations. 
 
 [The speaker next proceeded to address the dispersed 
 members of the Six Nations, residing on the lands of the 
 Wyandots, admonishing them as he had admonished others, 
 and counseling them to act in union and harmony, and to 
 follow the advice of the Wyandots. He then addressed 
 himself to Mr. Parish, and another officer in the Indian 
 department, named Johnston :] 
 
 Brothers : We are happy to meet you both at our council. We 
 of the Six Nations transact all our business openly, and not under 
 
358 The Life and Times of 1816. 
 
 the curtain. I liave observed with what attention you have listened 
 to me. I hope you will be willing to unite with us in bringing back 
 our friends from beyond the water, and making us one band. Then 
 we shall become one great family of children, under our great father, 
 the president. We ask your assistance. Let the communication 
 with the other side of the water be opened, and then we shall be 
 able to bring back our friends from across the water. Our great 
 father we hope will not forget his red children; and as he now pos- 
 sesses much of our finest land, we hope he will be more liberal of 
 presents than he has been. You must now be sensible that we are 
 well pleased with presents. You may know this by the influence of 
 British presents. They have won to the British cause many brave 
 warriors. I hope that you will take much pains, now that we are 
 at peace, in uniting all. Treat us well. We in common with you 
 possess this soil. We have frequently heard your voice, when it 
 was for our interest and happiness to listen to it. It would conduce 
 much to our happiness to listen to the voice of the United States, 
 and not be poisoned by the language of the red coats. To make us 
 happy do not crowd our seats. When you purchase lands still leave 
 us some to move upon. This you will make known to our father 
 the president, and solicit his aid in opening our passage across the 
 water to our friends. 
 
 Brothers of the Delawares : We received a message from 
 you a number of years since, offering us a seat of land in your 
 country. You said you had not forgot the favors heretofc«-e received 
 from the Six Nations, who took you under their care, until at length 
 you traveled west to the country of White river. As you say you 
 have not forgot past favors, are you now willing to offer the Six 
 Nations, or any part of them, a seat in your country ? This invita- 
 tion has been often repeated. We now come forward to accept the 
 offer. We request you will designate its extent, situation and 
 boundary. We have applied to our father the president for leave to 
 move into that country, and to be assured that he will confirm your 
 grant. We find it is necessary by his answer, that when you shall 
 make such a grant, it must be done on paper, so that such convey- 
 ance may be confirmed. We should be unwilling to leave our 
 present seats without a secure and permanent grant, securing a seat 
 for us, our children, and children's children, to the remotest genera- 
 
1816. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 359 
 
 tion. We request ttat if you are not authorized of yourselves 
 to make such location, you will communicate our wishes to the 
 neighboring nations, proprietors of the land, that they may 
 make such location. This seat we shall expect to receive not 
 as our exclusive property, but to be held in common for the 
 benefit, as well of such of the Six Nations who may wish to settle 
 upon it, as of any other Indians who may choose to take their seats 
 there with us. 
 
 Such is tlie only report preserved of Eed Jacket's speech 
 at this great council, the apparent design of which was 
 entirely of a pacific character, intended hy the Indians to 
 heal the wounds among each other inflicted during the 
 then recent war between the United States and England, 
 in which they had indiscreetly taken a part, and likewise 
 to improve their social condition, by means of a more ex- 
 tensive and perfect union among themselves. The speech 
 has lost much of its Indian character in the process of trans- 
 lation, or else Eed Jacket's language and course of think- 
 ing had become somewhat assimilated to those of the white 
 man. Still, the character of the speech was well adapted 
 to the occasion, and its counsels were those of wisdom. It 
 is, moreover, worthy of preservation, not only as appertain- 
 ing to the life of Eed Jacket, but as forming a fragment of 
 Indian history. Mr. Hosmer, who took down the speech 
 from the lips of the interpreter, notes that the orator con- 
 cluded by a general address to the council, recommending 
 the cultivation of friendly intercourse among themselves — 
 and at the close gave them a string of wampum which he 
 called " the path of peace." He again admonished them 
 to avoid the British and their shores, and to hold their 
 communications on the south side of the lakes. 
 
 On the day following the speakers of the several nations 
 addressed by Eed Jacket made their replies. The Wyan- 
 dots spoke first, by Tear-unk-to-yor-on, or Between-the- 
 Logs, as follows : 
 
360 The Life and Times of 1816. 
 
 Brothers of the Six Nations : You say that at Brownstown 
 was a great council fire, wtose smoke ascended to tlie heavens. I 
 must remind you of an omission. At that fire was a large tree. A 
 strong root ran to the east. At its foot lay a stafi" and a broom. 
 The root moving eastward was to represent the Six Nations. The 
 stafl" was for the support of the aged, who sought shelter there. The 
 broom to brush away any destructive worm, or other thing that might 
 endanger the tree. 
 
 [The orator next proceeded to rehearse tlie speech of 
 Red Jacket, as the Indian manner is, in order to show that 
 all had been understood. He then said :] 
 
 Brother : This has been your conversation as I have rehearsed 
 it. You have appointed this place for the council fire of the Six 
 Nations. As it is your choice we accept it as a friendly act towards 
 us. Brothers, we return you many thanks, warriors and women all. 
 You may expect due attention paid to it. 
 
 Brother : We are happy to hear that you have not forgot the 
 customs of our forefathers. By these strings — do not think them 
 too small — you will return to your respective nations, and say their 
 wishes are accepted of. As to your request that we use our in- 
 fluence in getting back our brothers beyond the water, we will do 
 so. We will use our best endeavors to win them back by gentle 
 means. You may expect that our younger brethren, the Shawanese, 
 and our nephews, the Delawares, will unite with us in recalling the 
 dispersed of our tribes. And now, brothers, I enjoin that you do 
 the same thing on your part. You are similarly situated. This 
 winter will pass and the next summer will come, before we shall 
 hear from you again on this subject. I am not certain whether we 
 shall come to you, or you to us. We will take care to suppress our 
 pride, and lest I should be thought to possess it, I will say but little. 
 It is easy to say all that is necessary. 
 
 Brothers : As to your speech yesterday, relative to our assisting 
 our sachems, depend upon it we will take due care ; if we see any- 
 thing go amiss, we will put it right. Do you the same. It has 
 often been an injury that the counsels of the war chiefs have not 
 been heard. We have now closed our reply to your speech. You 
 will now open your ears to the reply of the Shawanese. 
 
1816. Sa-go-te-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 361 
 
 The Shawanese cMef, Cutte-we-ga-saw, commonly called 
 Black Foot, then spoke to the following effect : 
 
 Brothers of the Six Nations : We heard you yesterday. 
 You shall soon hear our reply. We are pleased that the council fire 
 is established at this place by our friends the Wyandots, and that our 
 brothers, the Six Nations, have agreed to unite with us. 
 
 Brother : I remember what you said relative to our people 
 being dispersed. Some of them are scattered, it is true, and I shall 
 do all in my power to collect them. What you say relative to our 
 making difficulties I admit is truth. The way it happened was this : 
 A man came among us who pretended he had communication with 
 the G-reat Spirit, i and that if we followed him we could regain our 
 lands. The whites were crowding upon us. He said they would 
 eat land, and that they would soon eat all our land up. I was 
 deceived and led away by him, and many of my nation. We took 
 him for the Great Spirit. But we soon found him to be a devil, 
 and forsook him. This great man, who pretended to be the Great 
 Spirit, has not only intermeddled with us, but he has been among you,2 
 and has misled many of all nations. I am not surprised that you 
 should bring this charge against us. This prophet exerted such 
 influence over us that we were no longer governed by our ancient 
 customs, but were entirely led by him. You, my elder brother, are 
 of the same people who flocked to him, and listened to him, expect- 
 ing he would carry his point. I disbelieved it. You, when you 
 went there, were shown a great map, and on it the prophet traced 
 out a great tract of land for you on the Wabash, which was promised 
 you. There was a battle there, and some of your men were in it; 
 and there were others on the way who did not arrive in season. The 
 next place where we found the prophet was at Maiden, with some of 
 the Senecas as his followers. And this man was the cause of the 
 destruction of our council fire at Brownstown, This prophet was 
 driven back into Canada. He again attempted to strengthen him- 
 self. He promised to your people the land on the Wabash. We 
 
 ^Elskawatwa, the brother of Tecumseh. 
 
 2 Alluding to the fact that some of the warriors of the Six Nations were 
 in the battle of Tippecanoe. 
 
 46 
 
362 The Life and Times op 1816. 
 
 heard it. Of all our people wlio followed the prophetj only eight 
 families remain with him. His power is broken. He is nothing. 
 
 The council was next addressed by a chief called Colonel 
 Lewis, but his nation is not designated in Mr. Hosnier's 
 manuscript. He expressed his concurrence in the views 
 presented by Hed Jacket, and exhorted the Indians to be 
 of one mind, and as Americans all, to be faithful and true. 
 He was succeeded by Black Hoof (of what nation is not 
 stated), who said : 
 
 Brothers of the Wyandots : You have invited me to this 
 council, and you see me standing before you. I address myself to 
 all present. I have heard all that has been said, and am well 
 pleased with it. I agree with my brothers the Wyandots, in all 
 they have said. 
 
 Brothers of the Six Nations : You were the first to make 
 away with your lands, on which you ought to have reared your 
 women and children. You advise us to take good care of our lands. 
 We thank you for that counsel, and are very sorry you did not take 
 better care of yours. We now give the same advice to you. Take 
 care of your land. We shall take good care of ours. We have not 
 much left. But what we have we mean to keep, and we recommend 
 the same counsel to our brothers the Wyandots. We have made 
 peace with the United States, and I shall keep it. To my brothers 
 the Wyandots I recommend that great care should be taken of their 
 lands. Let the rights of all be established and carefully guarded. 
 
 My Brothers of the Delawares : I understand you have 
 promised a seat to the Senecas. I invite your attention to this 
 subject. I have frequently talked with the president. He has sent 
 Mr. Johnson as our agent, through whom we may communicate 
 with him. If you have any thing to do in transferring your land, 
 consult him. 
 
 Brother Senegas: I wish to remind you of one thing. I 
 understand our brothers, the Delawares, have invited you to settle at 
 White river. They own no land, and were only permitted to settle 
 there and hunt. But they have been there so long that they pre- 
 tend a claim, and have in two instances made sales of land. 
 
1816. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 363 
 
 Tlie Delawares, their chiefs being absent, declined say- 
 ing any thing in reply to the imputation of having sold 
 what was not their own ; neither did Red Jacket respond 
 to the sharp rebuke directed to the Six Nations, for having 
 been among the first after the war of the revolution to 
 dispose of their domains. No further information in 
 regard to this council has been obtained from the manu- 
 scripts of Mr. Hosmer, or from any other source. As it 
 was a meeting in which the United States had no concern, 
 the archives of the Indian bureau contain nothing respect- 
 ing it ; and the council seems to have broken up without 
 the adoption of definite measures of any description, for the 
 benefit of any of the parties concerned therein. 
 
 But in the summer of 1819, the Ogden Company deter- 
 mined to open negotiations directly with the Seneca chiefs, 
 for the purpose either of securing their removal from all 
 the reservations yet held by them, or of inducing them to 
 concentrate the several fragments of their nation upon a 
 single one of these reservations. Arrangements having 
 been made for holding a treaty with them at Eufialo, the 
 Hon. Morris S. Miller was appointed a commissioner to 
 conduct the proceedings by the United States.^ The Hon. 
 Nathaniel Gorham, of Canandaigua, was designated by 
 Massachusetts, as agent to attend the negotiation.^ The 
 council was opened on the 5th of July — Colonel Ogden 
 and his associates being present, with Captain Parish, the 
 interpreter. Major Joseph Delafield, at that time an agent 
 of the United States for the adjustment of boundaries 
 under the sixth article of the treaty of Ghent, happening 
 to be in the village of Bufialo, and having a few days of 
 
 ^ Mr. Miller is since deceased. He was a resident of Oneida county, and 
 was for several years an able member of congress from Oneida, 
 
 2 From her former interest in the Indian country of western New York, 
 Massachusetts has ever appointed an agent to attend these land negotia- 
 tions with the Senecas, for the purpose of guarding them from wrong. 
 
364 The Life and Times of 1816. 
 
 leisure on Ms hands, complied with the request from Judge 
 Miller to act as secretary. 
 
 It was well known that Eed Jacket was to appear in the 
 character of principal speaker in opposition to the ohjects 
 of the land company, and the deep and general interest felt 
 in the result of the negotiation drew together a large con- 
 course of people — pale faces and red. ^o suhsequent 
 assemhlage of Indians within the state of 'New York has 
 presented so numerous and imposing an array, nor is it 
 likely that so many of them will ever again meet upon the 
 soil of their fathers. 
 
 The council having been opened for business. Captain 
 Pollard, the brave Seneca chief who had signalized himself 
 upon the war path in the Magara campaign of 1814, rose 
 to welcome the commissioner and the other officers, agents, 
 and parties in attendance upon the council — a duty which 
 he performed with much courtesy. The credentials of the 
 commissioner on the part of the United States having been 
 read and interpreted, Judge Miller proceeded to explain 
 the objects of his mission. 
 
 He stated that their great father the president had deputed him 
 to meet them at their council fire ; that he came to give them his 
 good advice, and the assurance of their great father, who protected 
 both the red and the white men, that it was his wish to extend 
 to them security and the useful arts. That, situated as they now 
 were, his wishes would not be so well efi'ected as if the Indians were 
 more closely concentrated. He explained to them the tenures by 
 which they held their reservations ; the rights of the preemptioners, 
 and the guardianship of the United States. He then submitted to 
 them these several propositions : Firsts that they should all concen- 
 trate on the Alleghany reservation, the title to which should be 
 ceded to them in fee, as white men hold their lands. Second^ if 
 they preferred to join their red brothers at Sandusky, or to settle in 
 the territories of the United States, upon other lands to be given to 
 them, they were at liberty to do so. In case they chose the latter 
 proposition, the offer made by their great father was not to impair 
 
1816. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 365 
 
 the price they were to receive from the preemptioners, nor in any 
 manner to influence the bargains to be made. It was meant as a 
 free gift, and for the mutual benefit of the red and white men. 
 Judge Miller proceeded with much eloquence to describe the present 
 situation of the Six Nations, more particularly that of the Senecas, 
 and predicted the time when they must be overwhelmed by the force 
 of the white population, if they continued in their little villages so 
 closely surrounded. He cautioned them against the antipathies of 
 bad men, and against the hasty adoption of the advice of good white 
 men, and concluded by admonishing them that they must reflect 
 more for themselves, and take time to deliberate in council. 
 
 An adjournment was then proposed by Governor Ogden, 
 to give time to consider these propositions, whereupon 
 Captain Pollard spoke as follows : 
 
 Brothers : We have listened attentively to what the commis_ 
 sioner has said to us : as well to the authority by which he meets us 
 at this council as also to the views our great father the president 
 entertains, relative to the affairs of his red children here. In doing 
 this, brother, you have addressed yourself principally to the Senecas. 
 The Six Nations are present. They are our confederates. For 
 myself, I am gratified that they are present, and that they, too, have 
 heard what you have said to us. You have told us, that the propo- 
 sitions which we now hear from our great father have not been made 
 by him in haste ; that he has deliberated a long time, and taken a 
 full view of the interests of his white and red children. In doing 
 this, he has sometimes addressed the Senecas, sometimes the Six 
 Nations. He has considered fully, you tell us, the situation of his 
 red children, and he knows their wants, their poverty, and their 
 troubles. You have told us, too, of his solicitude for the red men, 
 and also of the solicitude of his great council, as expressed during 
 the last year. You are not now to expect that we will reply to these 
 subjects. We think it proper now to make but a short talk; to 
 thank you for what we have heard, and to thank the president for 
 what he has said to us through you, to which we have listened 
 attentively. We rejoice that this council has been made so public. 
 We are pleased that so many white men have attended. We rejoice 
 
366 The Life and Times of 1816. 
 
 that your squaws have come with you, and we thank you that they 
 are present. 
 
 Then turning to Colonel Ogden, lie proceeded : 
 
 The commissioner has not spoken solely to the red men. You are 
 also interested in what our great father has said, and the result of 
 this council will also interest you as well as us. After our brother's 
 talk you told us this, and that you wanted time to reflect upon the 
 propositions, which are serious and important. We too, brother, 
 have had a short consultation upon your proposal to meet the day 
 after tomorrow. We wish to give you time, and to have time our- 
 selves to hold our councils, and to reflect. We will meet you again 
 the day after to-morrow. Knowing that our proceedings are slow 
 and dilatory, and not like yours, we propose to meet you at 10 
 o'clock on that day. 
 
 The commissioner then explained that he had addressed 
 the Senecas more particularly, because his commission 
 appointed him to treat with that nation ; but as the Six 
 Nations were assembled, he had also addressed them 
 jointly ; and again advising them to a full and calm deHbe- 
 ration, the council was adjourned. 
 
 The council fire was rekindled by Red Jacket on the 
 7th of July, who spoke as follows : 
 
 Brothers : We have been preserved in health, strength and 
 spirit, to meet you again at our council fire. The Great Spirit has 
 protected us, and we are thankful again to meet you. You will 
 recollect, brothers, that we listened with attention to what the com- 
 missioner said, and to the words of our great father through his 
 mouth. As this council was called by the voice of our great father, 
 you barely told us of his care for his red children. You further 
 promised us that the Yorkers (meaning the preemptioners), had 
 communications for us. We now welcome you all to this council, 
 and are ready to hear what you have to say. We see here our bro- 
 ther from Massachusetts. He, too, is welcome, and we are ready to 
 hear from him. 
 
1816. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 367 
 
 Brothers : We wish you to open your minds to us. Let us hear 
 frankly all tliat you have to communicate, that we may be ready to 
 answer. 
 
 Having tlius spoken, Red Jacket resumed Ms seat, and 
 judge Grorham addressed the council, approving of the 
 propositions in behalf of the company, from the president. 
 Mr. David A. Ogden succeeded him, and discussed at 
 greater length the views of the preemption ers — explain- 
 ing the nature and extent of their rights, and the relations 
 subsisting respectively between the Indians and the United 
 States, the state of Massachusetts, and the company. In 
 conclusion, he offered in behalf of the company to accede 
 to the propositions that had been submitted by the com- 
 missioner at the first meeting. Red Jacket then addressed 
 the council and said : 
 
 We have now heard our great father and Mr. Ogden. We must 
 take time to deliberate upon these propositions and agreements. 
 When we are ready we will send you word. We are slow, and the 
 subjects are important. We have nothing farther to decide at this 
 council fire. 
 
 The council convened again on the 9th of July, when 
 Red Jacket, first addressing the commissioner, spoke at 
 large as follows : 
 
 Brother : We understand that you have been appointed by our 
 great father the president to make these communications to us. 
 We thank the G-reat Spirit for this pleasant day given us for our 
 reply, and we beg you to listen. 
 
 Brother : Previous to your arrival at this council fire, we were 
 told that our great father had appointed a commissioner to meet us. 
 You have produced your commission, and it has been read and ex- 
 plained to us. You have also explained the object of your mission, 
 and the wishes of the president in sending you to the council fire of 
 the Six Nations. We do not doubt that the sealed document you 
 produced contained the words of the president, our great father. 
 
368 The Life and Times of 1816. 
 
 Wten first informed of your appointment, we supposed that you 
 were coming to meet us on a very different subject. Since tlie war 
 of the revolution we have held various councils with our white 
 brothers, and in this same manner. We have made various speeches 
 and entered into several treaties, and these things are well known 
 to our great father ; they are lodged with him. We, too, perfectly 
 imderstand them all. The same interpreters were then present as 
 now. In consequence of what took place during the late war, we 
 made it known to our great father, through our interpreter, that we 
 wished to have a talk. Our application was not complied with. 
 We sent a messenger to brighten the chain of friendship with our 
 great father, but he would not meet around the council fire, and we 
 were disappointed. We had supposed that the commissioner he has 
 now sent came forward to brighten the chain of friendship, to renew 
 former engagements. When we made a treaty at Canandaigua with 
 Colonel Pickering, in 1794, we were told and thought that it was 
 to be permanent, and to be lasting between us and the United 
 States forever. After several treaties had been entered into under 
 our great father, G-eneral Washington, large delegations from the 
 Six Nations were invited to meet him. We went and met him in 
 Philadelphia. We kindled a council fire. A treaty was then made, 
 and Greneral Washington then declared that it should be permanent 
 between the red and white brothers : that it should be spread out 
 on the largest and strongest rocks that nothing could undermine or 
 break ; that it should be exposed to the view of all. 
 
 Brother : We shall now see what has been done by the United 
 States. After this treaty had been formed, I then said that I did 
 not doubt but that the United States would faithfully perform their 
 engagements. But I told our white brothers at that time, that I 
 feared eventually they would wish to disturb those contracts. You 
 white brothers have the faculty to burst the stoutest rocks. On our 
 part we would not have disturbed those treaties. Shortly after our 
 interview with our great father. General Washington, at Philadel- 
 phia, a treaty was made at Canandaigua, by which we widened our 
 former engagements with our white brothers, and made some new 
 ones. The commissioner — Colonel Pickering — then told us that 
 this treaty should be binding and should last without alteration for 
 
1816. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 369 
 
 two lives. We wished to make it extend mucli farther, and the Six 
 Nations then wished to establish a lasting chain of friendship. On 
 our part, we wished the treaty to last as long as trees grow and 
 waters run. Our brother told us that he would agree to it. 
 
 Brother : I have reminded you what had taken place between 
 our confederates, the Six Nations, and our white brothers, down to 
 the treaty of Canandaigua. At the close of that treaty it was 
 agreed — it being as strong and binding as by my former compari- 
 sons I have explained — that if any difficulty should occur, if any 
 monster should cross the chain of friendship, that we would unite 
 to remove those difficulties, to drive away the monster ; that we 
 would go hand in hand and prolong the chain. So it was agreed. 
 
 Brother : Many years ago we discovered a cloud rising that 
 darkened the prospect of our peace and happiness. We heard 
 eventful things from different quarters, from different persons, and 
 at different times, and foresaw that the period was not very distant, 
 when this threatening cloud would burst upon us. 
 
 Brother : During the late war we intended to take no part. 
 Yet residing within the limits of the United States, and with the 
 advice of Greneral Porter, we agreed around our council fire that it 
 was right, and we took a part. We thought it would help to pro- 
 mote our friendship with our white brothers, to aid the arms of the 
 United States, and to make our present seats still stronger. These 
 were our reasons. What were the results ? We lost many of our 
 warriors. We spilled our blood in a cause between you and a 
 people not of our color. 
 
 Brother: These things may be new to you, but they are not 
 new to your government. Records of these things are with our 
 great father the president. You have come, therefore, for a very 
 different purpose from the one we expected. You come to tell us of 
 our situation, of our reservations, of the opinions of the president 
 that we must change our old customs for new ones ; that we must 
 concentrate in order to enjoy the fair means you offer of civilization 
 and improvement in the arts of agriculture. 
 
 Brother : At the treaty of Canandaigua we were promised that 
 different kinds of mechanics — blacksmiths and carpenters — should 
 be sent among us; and farmers with their families, that our women 
 
 47 
 
370 The Life and Times op 1816. 
 
 miglit learn to spin. We agreed to receive them. We even applied 
 for these benefits. We were told that our children were too young 
 to be taught. Neither farmers nor mechanics were sent. 
 
 Brother : We had thought that the promises made by one 
 president were handed down to the next. We do not change our 
 chiefs as you do. Since these treaties were made you have had 
 several presidents. We do not understand why the treaty made by 
 one is not binding on the other. On our part, we expect to comply 
 with our engagements. 
 
 Brother : You told us when the country was surrounded by 
 whites, and in possession of Indians-, that it was unproductive, not 
 being liable to taxes, nor to make roads and improvements, it was 
 time to change. As for the taxing of Indians, this is extraordinary ; 
 and was never heard of since the settlement of America. The land 
 is ours by the gift of the Great Spirit. How can you tax it ? We 
 can make such roads as we want, and did so when the land was all 
 ours. We are improving in our condition. See these large stocks 
 of cattle, and those fences. We are surrounded by the whites, from 
 whom we can procure cattle and whatever is necessary for our im- 
 provement. Now that we are confined to narrow limits, we can 
 easily make our roads and improve our lands. Look back to the 
 first settlement by the whites, and then look at our present con- 
 dition. Formerly, we continued to grow in numbers and in strength . 
 What has become of the Indians who extended to the salt waters ? 
 They have been driven back and became few, while you have been 
 growing numerous and powerful. This land is ours from the God 
 of heaven. It was given to us. We cannot make land. Driven 
 back and reduced as we are, you wish to cramp us more and more. 
 You tell us of a preemptive right. Such men, you say, own one 
 reservation, and such another. But they are all ours — ours from 
 the top to the bottom. If Mr. Ogden had come from heaven, with 
 flesh on his bones, as we now see him, and said that the heavenly 
 father had given him a title^ we might then believe him. 
 
 Brother : You say that the president has sent us word that it is 
 for our interest to dispose of our lands. You tell us that there is a 
 good tract of land at Alleghany. This, too, is very extraordinary. 
 Our feet have covered every inch of that reservation. A communi- 
 
1816. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 371 
 
 cation like this lias never been made to us at any of our councils. 
 Tlie president must have been disordered in mind, when he offered 
 to lead us off by the arms to the Alleghany reservation. I have 
 told you of the treaty we made with the United States. Here is 
 the belt of wampum that confirmed that treaty. Here, too, is the 
 parchment. You know its contents. I will not open it. Now the 
 tree of friendship is decaying ; its limbs are fast falling off. You 
 are at fault. 
 
 Formerly, we called the British brothers. Now we call the 
 president our father. Probably among you are persons with families 
 of children. We consider ourselves the children of the president. 
 What would be your feelings were you told that your children were 
 to be cast upon a naked rock, there to protect themselves. The 
 different claims you tell us of on our lands, I cannot understand. 
 We are placed here by the Great Spirit for purposes known to him. 
 You have no right to interfere. You told us that we had large and 
 unproductive tracts of land. We do not view it so. Our seats, we 
 consider small ; and if we are left here long by the Grreat Spirit we 
 shall stand in need of them. We shall be in want of timber. Land 
 after many years' use wears out ; our fields must be renewed, and 
 new ones improved, so that we have no more land in our reservations 
 than we want. Look at the white people around us and back. You 
 are not cramped for lands. They are large. Look at that man.i 
 If you want to buy apply to him. He has lands enough to sell. 
 We have none to part with. You laugh, but do not think I trifle. 
 I am sincere. Do not/think we are hasty in making up our minds. 
 We have had many councils, and thought for a long time upon this 
 subject. We will not part with any — not with one of our reserva- 
 tions. 
 
 We recollect that Mr. Ogden addressed his speech to you, there- 
 fore I have spoken to you. Now I will speak to Mr. Ogden. 
 
 Brother : You recollect when you first came to this ground that 
 you told us you had bought the preemptive right — a right to pur- 
 chase, given you by the government. Remember my reply. I told 
 you, you had been unfortunate in buying. You said you would not 
 
 ^ Mr. EUicott, the agent of the Holland Land Company. 
 
372 The Life and Times op 1816. 
 
 disturb us. I tten told you as long as I lived, you must not come 
 forward to explain tliat riglit. You have come. See me before 
 you. You have beard our reply to the commissioner sent by the 
 president. I again repeat that, one and all, chiefs and warriors, we 
 are of the same mind. We will not part with any of our reservations. 
 Do not make your application anew, nor in any other shape. Let us 
 hear no more of it. Let us part as we met — in friendship. You 
 discover white people on our reservations. It is my wish, and the 
 wish of all of us, to remove every white man. We can educate our 
 children. Our reservation is small. The white people are near. 
 Such as wish can send their children to the white people's schools. 
 The school master and the preacher must withdraw. The distance 
 is short for those who wish to go after them. We wish to get rid 
 of all the whites. They make disturbances. We wish our reserva- 
 tions clear of them. 
 
 Colonel Ogden and Judge Miller both made replies to 
 Red Jacket, correcting Mm in several particulars wherein he 
 had misunderstood them, as well as the views of the presi- 
 dent, Mr. Monroe. It is but just, moreover, to say, that 
 these replies were made with a degree of feeling and 
 frankness carrying with it the conviction of a sincere 
 desire that the Indians should be dealt with justly and 
 generously. But their breath was expended to no good 
 purpose. The counsels of Red Jacket prevailed, and the 
 treaty was broken off without even an approach to success. 
 
 The speech of Red Jacket, it will have been observed, 
 in some respects bordered upon rudeness, and in one in- 
 stance upon irreverence to heaven. Great pains had been 
 taken by his people that he should be well prepared for 
 this council, and that he should appear in his best condi- 
 tion. The consequence was, that whatever excesses might 
 have marked his conduct before or after the council, there 
 was on this occasion no evidence of intemperance. On 
 the contrary, his personal conduct was marked throughout 
 by the utmost propriety, and his manner was calm, delibe- 
 
1816. SA-ao-YE-WAT-HA, OR Red Jackbt. 373 
 
 rate and decided. Still, there had been intemperate ex- 
 pressions in his speech, which gave pain to some of the 
 most considerate and respectable of the chiefs, and which 
 they feared would be sources of unpleasant reflection, if 
 uot of irritation, to the commissioner and the other white 
 gentlemen of his company. It must be here remarked that 
 the Senecas had, some time before the holding of this 
 treaty, become divided into two bodies — the pagan and 
 Christian parties. At the head of the former was Eed 
 Jacket, of the latter, that fine old chief Captain Pollard.^ 
 It was this latter party, of course, that felt chagrined at 
 some of Eed Jacket's remarks and they determined that 
 an apology or explanation ought to be tendered to the 
 commissioner. On the day after the adjournment of the 
 council, therefore, the commissioner received a message 
 from Captain Pollard, informing him that thirteen of their 
 chiefs were then in council deliberating upon the occur- 
 rences of yesterday, and that they wished to make a com- 
 munication to him. In the afternoon a deputation of chiefs 
 presented themselves, consisting of Young King, Pollard, 
 Destroy Town, Jim Mckerson, White Seneca and Captain 
 Johnson, when Pollard, addressing the commissioner, said : 
 
 Brother : You recollect what took place in council yesterday. 
 The speaker first made a reply to you, and then to the proprietors. 
 You must have discovered some things in that reply that were not 
 correct, and some that were improper. You must also have ob- 
 served from our different meetings that there was a division among 
 ourselves. This is true. It has been so for a long time. We, 
 although a minority, have been reflecting, for a long time, how we 
 
 1 Captain Pollard, or Ka-o-un-do-wand, is yet living (1841), a venerable 
 looking old man — with a finely developed head which would form a noble 
 subject of study for Dr. Combe. The author visited him in the autumn of 
 1838, to make certain historical inquiries connected with the invasion of 
 Wyoming. Pollard was a young chief in that bloody expedition. He de- 
 clares that neither Brant nor the Mohawks were there. 
 
374 The Life and Times of 1816. 
 
 could adopt the advice of good white men, and how it could be pos- 
 sible that you would have told us any thing that did not come from 
 the president our great father, when you said it came from him. 
 An intimation of this kind, you might have perceived, was given. 
 The speaker yesterday acknowledged your authority, and that your 
 commission contained the president's words ; but he did not admit 
 that your subsequent words came from our great father. One ex- 
 pression grieved us. He said that the president, our great father, 
 must have been disordered in mind to offer to lead us off to the 
 Alleghany. This remark made us very unhappy. Another expres- 
 sion of his was very extraordinary — one that we are not accustomed 
 to. He said that if Mr. Ogden should come from heaven with life 
 and with flesh on his bones, and tell us he had a title to these lands, 
 then we might believe him. This we, as Christians, think very 
 wrong ; and it gave us much pain. After the council dispersed, 
 the followers of the speaker collected around him, and took him to 
 task for these things. They proposed that an apology should be 
 made for him. But he said no ; it has gone forth, let it stand. 
 This gives us an opportunity to come forward. He told you also of 
 many treaties down to Pickering's. Speaking of that, he exhibited 
 the wampum in confirmation, with the parchment. He would not 
 open the parchment, saying that you had a copy at Washington, 
 and had misrepresented it. This we consider improper, rude and 
 indecorous. He spoke, too, of our great father the president — 
 calling him president. We call him and consider him as father, 
 friend and protector. The speaker has attempted to explain what 
 he meant by the disordered mind of the president, but as we think, 
 he has made the matter worse — because he casts aspersions upon 
 the quakers, and others who have been long praying for our good. 
 We view the commissioner as coming from a father to his children. 
 Your advice to concentrate and improve in our mode of agriculture 
 we approve of. We see that the time has come when we should 
 change our condition and improve our husbandry. But we all agree 
 in what he said about parting with our lands ; and we all agree that 
 his harsh and rude language was improper. 
 
 Another motive for asking this interview is, to make you ac- 
 quainted with our peculiar views and feelings. We, the Senecas, 
 
1816. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, ok Red Jacket. 375 
 
 are divided. The Tuscaroras are all united and wish, to receive instruc- 
 tion and civilization. The Alleghanies are divided, but are principally 
 with our party — wishing to receive instruction from the whites. 
 
 When I look back among our forefathers, I see nothing to admire, 
 nothing I should follow, nothing to induce me to live as they did. 
 On the contrary, to enjoy life I find we must change our condition. 
 We who are present have families and children ; we wish them to 
 be instructed and enlightened — if we have not been — that their 
 eyes may be opened to see the light, if our's have not been. We 
 are getting old and cannot receive the instruction we wish our child- 
 ren to have. We wish them to know how to manage their afiairs. 
 After we are dead and gone — are covered with the dust — they will 
 bless us for giving them instruction that our fathers had not given 
 us. The Tuscaroras have for a long time received instruction, and 
 they continue to improve. They see and know the advantage of it, 
 and their children will enjoy it. We wish our great father the pre- 
 sident to know of this interview and our explanations. Hereafter 
 when he makes communications to the Senecas, we wish to have 
 them made to us, the Christian party. This we think would do 
 good, and be a lesson to our children. We wish to adopt his advice 
 in improving our condition, because we see that by following Indian 
 habits we must decay and sink to nothing. We are sensible that 
 we cannot remain independent, and would therefore wish to undergo 
 a gradual change. In cases of crimes committed we are not inde- 
 pendent now. We are punished, and this is right. 
 
 One cause of division among us is,i that one party will school their 
 
 iThe author is indebted entirely to the kindness of Major Joseph Dela- 
 field for the speeches at this council, by whom they were taken down from 
 the lips of the interpreter. Major Delafield remarks in a note at the close 
 of his report, which has never before met the public eye, that the speeches 
 were taken down as nearly in the language of the interpreter as was possi- 
 ble — such corrections as were obviously necessary having been made at the 
 time. The only liberty taken in transcribing them, has been to omit the 
 repetitions for which both Red Jacket's and Pollard's speeches were 
 remarkable. The interpreter stated that he could not translate some of 
 Red Jacket's figurative flights — they were too wild and difficult to appear 
 in English — and he did not attempt it. Should his speech be improved by 
 omitting its tautology, it has no doubt lost much of its most characteristic 
 beauty and interest from the acknowledged omissions of the interpreter. 
 
376 The Life and Times of 1820. 
 
 children — the other will not. Another cause is, the placing of 
 white men on our lands as tenants. I did so, because advised by a 
 white friend, and because I wished to show our people how the 
 white men farmed the land. 
 
 The hopes of the preemptioners were thus again de- 
 ferred; but they ceased not in their efforts to accomplish 
 their purposes by proposing treaties, and using such ap- 
 pliances as were within their power. Indeed such were 
 their perseverance and pertinacity in pushing their de- 
 signs, that the Indians, in their ignorance, were at times 
 apprehensive that means would be found to dispossess 
 them of their lands without their own free consent. A 
 strong and eloquent address from the Senecas to the 
 president of the United States, upon this subject, was 
 transmitted to Washington in January, previous to the 
 council held by Judge Miller, and two years afterward 
 another appeal was made to the executive of the state 
 of 'New York — Governor De Witt Clinton. In his reply to 
 their memorial, dated February 9, 1820, Governor Clinton 
 said: 
 
 All the right that Ogden and his company have, [to your reserva- 
 tions] is the right of purchasing them when you think it expedient 
 to sell them — that is, they can buy your lands, but no other person 
 can. You may retain them as long as you please, and you may sell 
 them to Ogden as soon as you please. You are the owners of these 
 lands in the same way that your brethren, the Oneidas, are of their 
 reservations. They are all that is left of what the G-reat Spirit gave 
 to your ancestors. No man shall deprive you of them without your 
 consent. The state will protect you in the full enjoyment of your 
 property. We are strong, and wilHng to shield you from oppres- 
 sion. The Grreat Spirit looks down on the conduct of mankind, 
 and will punish us if we permit the remnant of the Indian nations 
 which is with us to be injured. We feel for you, brethren : we 
 shall watch over your interests. We know that in a future world 
 
1822-23. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 377 
 
 we shall be called upon to answer for our conduct to our fellow 
 creatures. 1 
 
 But the Anglo Saxon race is seldom diverted from its 
 purpose, especially if that purpose be the acquisition of 
 territory. Treaty after treaty succeeded the abortive coun- 
 cil held by Judge Miller ; and although at all these treaties, 
 so long as he lived, Eed Jacket exerted himself to the 
 utmost to prevent the sale of another rood of ground, yet 
 the arts and apphances of the Ogden Company and its 
 agents, by degrees prevailed over the patriotism of the 
 Indians, and the chief, already stricken in years, lived yet 
 long enough to mourn the loss, by piecemeal, of almost 
 the entire of that beautiful region which he loved so well, 
 and over which he had been wont to roam, free as the air 
 he breathed, with so much delight. 
 
 A distinguished gentleman, long a resident of Buffalo, 
 has supplied a few notes of one of the treaties just referred 
 to, between the Senecas and the Ogden Company, and of 
 the part borne thereat by Red Jacket, which is both spirited 
 and interesting. According to the memoranda of that 
 gentleman,^ this treaty, or council, was holden at the 
 Seneca village near Buffalo, in 1822 or 1823. The council 
 having been addressed by the commissioner, and also by 
 Governor Ogden, Red Jacket, in a single speech replied to 
 both. After a concise and appropriate exordium, address- 
 ing himself to the commissioner, and repeating in form the 
 speech in which the desire of the United States had been 
 communicated, that the Senecas should sell their lands, he 
 gave a succinct but connected history of the transactions 
 between the Indians and the whites, from the first settle- 
 
 1 Manuscript answer of Governor Clinton, to a speech from the Senecas. 
 Would that the elevated morality of that great philanthropist had governed 
 every American negotiation with the children of the forest. 
 
 2 The Hon. Albert H. Tracy. 
 
 48 
 
378 The Life and Times of 1822-23. 
 
 ment of the country, down to tliat day. Some of Ms figu- 
 rative illustrations were very happy. 
 
 We first knew you, said lie, a feeble plant which wanted a 
 little earth whereon to grow. We gave it you — and afterward, 
 when we could have trod you under our feet, we watered and pro- 
 tected you — and now you have grown to be a mighty tree, whose 
 top reaches the clouds, and whose branches overspread the whole 
 land; whilst we, who were then the tall pine of the forest, have 
 become the feeble plant, and need your protection. 
 
 Again, enforcing the same idea, he said : 
 
 When you first came here, you clung around our knee, and called 
 us father. We took you by the hand and called you brothers. 
 You have grown greater than we, so that we no longer can reach up 
 to your hand. But we wish to cling around your knee and be 
 called YOUR children. 
 
 deferring to their services in the then recent war with 
 England, he said : 
 
 Not long ago you raised the war club against him who was once 
 our great father over the waters. You asked us to go with you to 
 the war. It was not our quarrel. We knew not that you were 
 right. We asked not : we cared not : it was enough for us that you 
 were our brothers. We went with you to the battle. We fought 
 and bled for you — and now, said he with great feeling, pointing to 
 some Indians who had been wounded in the contest, dare you pre- 
 tend to us that our father the president, while he sees our blood 
 running yet fresh from the wounds received while fighting his 
 battles, has sent you with a message to persuade us to relinquish the 
 poor remains of our once boundless possessions — to sell the birth 
 place of our children, and the graves of our fathers. No ! Sooner 
 than believe that he gave you this message, we will believe that you 
 have stolen your commission, and are a cheat and a liar. 
 
 In reply to an explanation as to the nature of the pre- 
 emptive claim of the company to their lands, and an 
 
1822-23. SA-ao-YE-WAT-HA, OR Red Jacket. 379 
 
 assurance tliat the object was not to wrong them in the 
 purchase, but to pay the full value, he referred to the dif- 
 ferent treaties — the great cessions the Indians had made — 
 the small equivalents they had received — and the repeated 
 solemn assurances given by the government that they 
 should not be importuned to relinquish the reservations 
 remaining to them. 
 
 You tell us, said he, of your claim to our land, and that you have 
 purchased it from your state. We know nothing of your claim, and 
 we care nothing for it. Even the whites have a law, by which they 
 cannot sell what they do not own. How, then, has your state, which 
 never owned our land, sold it to you ? We have a title to it, and 
 we know that our title is good ; for it came direct from the G-reat 
 Spirit, who gave it to us, his red children. When you can ascend 
 to where he is — pointing toward the skies — and will get his deed, 
 and show it to us, then, and never till then, will we acknowledge 
 your title. You say that you came not to cheat us of our lands, but 
 to buy them. Who told you that we have lands to sell ? You 
 never heard it from us. 
 
 Then drawing up, and giving Mr. Ogden a look of earn- 
 estness, if not of indignation, he said : 
 
 Did I not tell you, the last time we met, that whilst Red Jacket 
 lived you would get, no more lands of the Indians? How, then, 
 while you see him ' alive and strong (striking his hand violently on 
 his breast), do you think to make him a liar ?i 
 
 Red Jacket was doubtless sincere, at this time, and 
 during the latter years of his life, in his opposition to any 
 farther disposition of their already contracted territory, 
 
 1 Speaking in reference to the real eloquence of Rod Jacket, the gentle- 
 man referred to in the. last note remarks : It is evident that the best trans- 
 lations of the Indian speeches must fail to express the beauty and sublimity 
 of the originals — especially of such an original as Red Jacket. It has 
 been my good fortune to hear him a few times, but only of late years, 
 and when his powers were enfeebled by age, and still more by intern- 
 
380 The Life and Times of 1826. 
 
 although, as has been seen at an earlier stage of his life, 
 he could speak with a forked tongue upon the subject — 
 declaring eloquently in open council against the selling of 
 an acre, and meeting the agent of the purchase by night to 
 facilitate his operations. But however sincere at the last 
 mentioned and at subsequent councils, in his opposition to 
 the views of the preemption company, their persuasives 
 were stronger than his — less eloquent, but far more effect- 
 ive. It is believed that no sales of land were made at 
 either of the two councils last mentioned ; but shoi^tly after- 
 ward, viz., in the summer of 1826, another negotiation was 
 opened, which was attended by better success for the com- 
 pany. The commissioner on the part of the United States 
 was the Hon. Oliver Forward, of Buffalo. The agent 
 for the commonwealth of Massachusetts was the Hon. 
 IsTathaniel Gorham. The agent of the company was John 
 Greig, Esq., of Canandaigua, who succeeded in extinguish- 
 ing the Indian title to about eighty thousand acres of their 
 smaller reservations along the course of the Genesee river, 
 of which there were several. 'Red Jacket participated 
 largely in the proceedings of the council, and opposed 
 every cession step by step. Yet his eloquence, though 
 earnest as ever, was exerted to but little purpose; the 
 Indians acceded to the terms proposed to them. After the 
 treaty was concluded, and its terms were reduced to writ- 
 ing, Mr. Greig remarked to Eed Jacket that as he had 
 opposed the sales he need not sign the paper. But the 
 
 perance. But I shall never forget the impression made on me the first 
 time that I saw him in council : 
 
 Deep on his front engraven, 
 
 Deliberation sate, and public care, 
 
 And princely counsel in his face yet shone. 
 
 Majestic, though in ruin. 
 I can give no adequate idea of the strong impression it made upon my 
 mind, though conveyed to it through the medium of an illiterate interpre- 
 ter. Even in this mangled form, I saw the disjecta membra of a regular and 
 splendid oration. 
 
1828-39. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 381 
 
 chief would listen to no sucli proposition. He was prond 
 of having his name appear upon every document connected 
 with the fortunes of his people, whether he approved of 
 them or not, and insisted on signing the instrument, which 
 he accordingly did.^ Still, although this negotiation was 
 conducted with the utmost fairness in respect to the In- 
 dians, loud complaints were made against it by Red Jacket 
 and the noncontents, and a commission was subsequently 
 instituted by President Adams, to inquire into the true 
 character of the transaction. This duty was confided to 
 Richard Montgomery Livingston, of Saratoga. A power- 
 ful effort was made by Red Jacket to cause the treaty to be 
 set aside as fraudulent, but without success, and it was 
 allowed to be carried into effect.^ 
 
 Another negotiation was instituted in the year 1828, and 
 others still have followed, until, yielding to the pertinacity 
 of the company, in the autumn of 1839 the Indians so far 
 relinquished the contest that a treaty was concluded, by 
 virtue of which all the remaining territory of the Senecas 
 in the state of New York was conveyed to the company 
 that had so long and intently been striving to grasp the 
 p rize. This treaty was ratified by the senate of the United 
 
 1 Conversations of the author with Mr. Greig. 
 
 ' The treaty here referred to was concluded on the 31st of August, 1 826. 
 By it the Seneca nation of Indians sold to the proprietors of the preemp- 
 tive right 87,526 acres of their reservations, being 33,637 from the Buffalo, 
 33,409 from the Tonnewanta, 5,120 from the Cattaraugus, all of the Canea- 
 dea (10,240), and all of the Gardow, Squacky hill, Big Tree and Canawa- 
 gus reservations, containing 1,280 acres each. The last four were situated 
 in the county of Livingston, and contain each a portion of the Genesee river 
 flats. The papers connected with this treaty were once partially examined 
 by the author, at the house of the late Mr. Livingston, but they were sub- 
 sequently burnt with his office building. Red Jacket was again active and 
 eloquent in opposition to the views of the company ; but he was out- voted 
 in council, and compelled to yield to the overpowering numbers of demo- 
 cracy — savage and wild, literally — as Governor Morris once pronounced 
 it in another place. 
 
382 The Life and Times or Eed Jacket. 1840. 
 
 States in March, 1840 ; ^ but althongh yet unexecuted, and 
 doomed, perhaps, to encounter opposition in regard to the 
 appropriations necessary for its fulfillment, still it requires 
 no special gift of prophecy to foretell that the remains of 
 the once proud and powerful Senecas, comprising now but 
 a few scattered and dissolving bands, must soon turn their 
 backs upon the fair region which they have possessed for 
 centuries, to seek out a new home toward the setting sun. 
 Lost amid the boundless regions beyond the Mississippi, 
 and mingled with nations of their own race more numerous 
 than themselves, not many years will elapse before the 
 Senecas will be numbered as among the nations that were. 
 
 1 There remaified to the Senecas after the treaty of 1826, at Buffalo 
 49,920 acres, at Tonnewanta 12,800, at Allegany 30,469, at Cattaraugus 
 21,760, and at Tuscarora 1,920 — in all 116,869 acres, all of excellent 
 quality. With the exception of the Tuscarora reservation, which is small, 
 all have now been sold by the Indians. For an account of the provisions 
 of the last mentioned treaty, and a history of the arts and management by 
 which it was obtained, see appendix F. 
 
[383] 
 
 CHAPTER Xn. 
 
 Witchcraft — The case of Tommy Jemmy indicted for murder — Red 
 Jacket takes part in the trial — His attention to the government of his 
 people — Missionary enterprise among the Senecas — Red Jacket's oppo- 
 sition and hatred of Christianity — His letter to Captain Parish, appeal- 
 ing to Governor Clinton against the black coats — Legislative action, 
 unwittingly, against the missionaries — Rev. Mr. Harris and his labors — 
 Their success — Conversion of 0-qui-ye-sou, or Captain StrCng — The 
 schools — Mr. Harris driven away under the law — Conduct of the white 
 pagans — Application to the legislature in behalf of the missionaries — 
 Letter of Red Jacket to Governor Clinton — The missionaries and teachers 
 sustained — Beneficent labors of the Quakers — Remarkable interview 
 between Red Jacket and Rev. Dr. Breckinridge, as detailed in a letter 
 from the latter — Outlines of another anti-christian speech — His elo- 
 quence — 1821-1824. 
 
 Il^EiTHER civilized nor savage wars occurring again in the 
 neighborliood of tlie Seneca country during the residue 
 of Red Jacket's life, few pubhc events with which his name 
 is associated remain to be discussed. The most conside- 
 rable exception to this remark is to be found in the cele- 
 brated case of Tommy Jemmy, a chief of the Senecas, who, 
 in the year 1821, was tried for murder at Buffalo. The 
 case was substantially this : In the spring of the year just 
 mentioned, a Seneca Indian fell into a state of languish- 
 ment, and died. The character and course of the disease 
 were such that the Indian medicine men did not under- 
 stand it; and from a variety of strange circumstances 
 attending the sick man's decline and death, it was sagely 
 concluded that he had been destroyed by sorcery, l^ay 
 more, the woman who had nursed him, and anxiously 
 watched him at the bed side, was fixed upon as the beldam 
 who, by the aid of an evil spirit, had compassed his death. 
 
384 The Life and Times of 1821. 
 
 The woman fled the territory and crossed into Canada, but 
 was followed thither by the sachems and others, arrested, 
 and tried by a council, in due form, according to the imme- 
 morial usages of her people in such cases made and pro- 
 vided. She was proved guilty, and sentenced to death. 
 But the Indians were too well informed, and too wary, to 
 carry the execution into efl:ect beyond the confines of their 
 own territory, either in Canada or the United States. The 
 poor culprit was therefore artfully inveigled back to the 
 American side of the Magara, and thence within the 
 bounds of their own jurisdiction, where it was determined 
 she should meet her doom. Still the Indian who had been 
 designated as the executioner faltered in his duty. Either 
 his heart or his hand failed, or his conscience smote him, 
 and he declined the fulfillment of his bloody commission. 
 In this emergency, a chief named So-on-on-gise, but who 
 was usually called Tommy Jemmy, seized a knife, and 
 despatched the sorceress by cutting her throat. The white 
 inhabitants of the neighborhood were shocked at the deed; 
 and forgetting that, to a certain extent at least, the Indians 
 constituted an independent community. Tommy Jemmy 
 was arrested by the civil authorities of Buffalo, and thrown 
 into prison. In due time he was indicted for the capital 
 crime of murder, and arraigned at the bar of the oyer and 
 terminer to take his trial. This trial, interesting in itself, 
 became in its progress both curious and instructive ; and 
 before the close of all the proceedings had in connection 
 therewith, attracted very general attention throughout the 
 state, especially with the legal profession. The death of 
 the woman, by the hand of the accused, of course was not 
 denied. But the prisoner, by his counsel, pleaded to the 
 jurisdiction of the court, that the Seneca Indians were a 
 sovereign and independent nation, exercising exclusive 
 jurisdiction of all off'enses committed by any of its members 
 within their own territory, and that the prisoner, as well 
 
1821. SA-ao-YE-WAT-HA, OE Eed Jacket. 385 
 
 as the person killed, was a member of the Seneca nation, 
 and the offense, if any, was committed within their own 
 territory. The woman, it was held, had been judicially 
 executed, according to their own laws and usages, and it 
 was therefore insisted that it was a matter of which the tri- 
 bunals of the state of New York could take no cognizance. 
 To this plea a replication was filed by the public prose- 
 cutor,^ denying the allegations, and an issue to the country 
 tendered. In this issue the prisoner joined, and a jury was 
 sworn to try the same. Among the witnesses introduced 
 to support the plea of the accused was Red Jacket, who 
 was examined at large touching the laws and usages of his 
 people. The eminent counsel who conducted the prose- 
 cution wished to exclude his testimony, and to that end 
 inquired whether he believed in the existence of a Grod. 
 "More truly than one can who could ask me such a ques- 
 tion," with an indignant look, was the instant reply.^ 
 
 Afterward, on his crgss-examination, the chief was asked 
 by one of the counsel, what rank he held in his nation : to 
 which he answered with a contemptuous sneer ^ — "Look at 
 the papers which the white people keep the most care- 
 fully" (meaning the treaties ceding their lands) "they will 
 tell you what I am ! " ^ 
 
 The testimony of the orator, as also did that of the other 
 Indian witnesses, went to show that in the apprehension of 
 the Indians the woman was clearly a witch, and that she 
 had been tried by a properly constituted council, and exe- 
 cuted, in pursuance of their laws, which had been established 
 for a time whereof the memory of the white people, at least, 
 ran not to the contrary, inasmuch as these laws were in 
 force long before the English came to this island. In the 
 
 iThe Hon. John C. Spencer now (1841) secretary of the state of New- 
 York. 
 2 Letter to the author from the Hon. Albert H. Tracy, 
 s Drake's Book of the Indians. 
 
 49 
 
386 The Life and Times of 1821. 
 
 course of his examination, perceiving that their superstition 
 on the subject of witchcraft was the theme of ridicule, as 
 well with the legal gentlemen as among the bystanders, 
 Red Jacket found an opportunity to break forth as follows : 
 
 What ! Do you denounce us as fools and bigots, because we still 
 believe that which you yourselves believed two centuries ago ? 
 Your black coats thundered this doctrine from the pulpit, your 
 judges pronounced it from the bench, and sanctioned it with the 
 formalities of law; and you would now punish our unfortunate 
 brother for adhering to the faith of his fathers and of yours ! Go 
 to Salem ! Look at the records of your own government, and you 
 will find that hundreds have been executed for the very crime which 
 has called forth the sentence of condemnation against this woman, 
 and drawn down upon her the arm of vengeance. What have our 
 brothers done more than the rulers of your people have done ? And 
 what crime has this man committed, by executing, in a summary 
 way, the laws of his country, and the command of the Great Spirit ? i 
 
 The appearance of Red Jacket, when delivering this 
 sarcastic philippic, was noted as remarkable, even for him. 
 When fired with indignation, or burning for revenge, the 
 expression of his eye was terrible, and when he chose to 
 display his powers of irony, which were rarely excelled, the 
 aspect of his keen sarcastic glance was irresistible.^ The 
 result of the trial was a verdict that the allegaiioiis con- 
 tained in the prisoner's plea were true. The court 
 suspended giving judgment, and the proceedings were 
 removed by certiorari into the supreme court. At the 
 August term of that tribunal, in the same year, a motion 
 was made by the attorney-general for judgment that the 
 prisoner answer farther, notwithstanding the verdict of the 
 
 "^ Albany Argus, 1821 —one of the editors of which paper, at that day, 
 was present at the trial, 
 
 2 William J. Snelling, who was also present at the trial Vide Drake's 
 Book of the Indians. 
 
1815. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 387 
 
 jury. The argument was opened, in behalf of the people, 
 by Mr. Spencer, who was followed by Mr. Oakley,^ in 
 behalf of the prisoner. Mr. Samuel A. Talcott, attor- 
 ney-general, closed the argument, which was sustained 
 throughout, on both sides, with great ability. The dis- 
 cussion produced a very thorough examination of all the 
 laws, treaties, documents, and public history relating to the 
 Indians, from the time of the discovery ; and the court, inti- 
 mating that there was considerable difficulty in the question, 
 took time for mature consideration. The conclusion of the 
 whole matter was the discharge of the prisoner by consent. 
 The court, not liking to make a decision recognizing the 
 independent jurisdiction of the Indians in such cases, and 
 yet being unable to deny to them the existence of a quali- 
 fied sovereignty — perceiving, moreover, very clearly, that 
 the case was not one of murder, as the Indians " understood 
 it " — took the middle course, and allowed the liberation of 
 the prisoner. 
 
 After the close of the war between the United States and 
 Great Britain, in 1815, the whole attention of Eed Jacket 
 was devoted to the government of his people, and the ad- 
 vancement of what he doubtless honestly conceived to be 
 their true interests. The leading feature of his policy was 
 to exclude the white people from mingling with his nation, 
 and to prevent Christian missionaries and schoolmasters 
 from coming amongst them; in furtherance of which 
 design, all his influence, and all that remained of his 
 power, were exerted to the utmost. In a word, he labored 
 with all his energies to shut out every thing like moral 
 and social improvement, and to preserve his people in 
 their primitive Indian character. But his arm was too 
 feeble to check the advances of the Anglo Saxon race, and 
 
 1 Thomas J. Oakley, formerly attorney-general, and now (1841) one of 
 the judges of the supreme court of the city of New York. 
 
388 The Life and Times of 1820. 
 
 the residue of the Six ISTations at length found themselves 
 hemmed closely within the comparatively narrow reserva- 
 tions yet remaining to them. Both schoolmasters and 
 missionaries, also, the objects of the chieftain's peculiar 
 hate, were still insinuating themselves among them; for 
 the 'New York Missionary Society, nothing daunted by the 
 repulse of Mr. Alexander, in 1811, had succeeded in estab- 
 lishing several missionary stations. Indeed, the Tuscarora 
 Indians had received the missionaries as early as the year 
 1805, and the consequence had been a rapid improvement 
 of their moral and social condition. A missionary house 
 had likewise been opened at the Seneca village, about ^ye 
 miles from Buffalo, and another upon the Cattaraugus reser- 
 vation.^ These humble efforts in the cause of Christian 
 civilization were crowned with very considerable success, 
 so that previous to the year 1820 the Senecas had become 
 divided into two distinct parties. Christian and pagan — as 
 mentioned incidentally in a preceding chapter. The former 
 was headed by the veteran Captain Pollard, or Ka-oun- 
 doo-wand, Gishkaka, commonly called Little Billy, and 
 several other chiefs of note, and the latter by Red Jacket 
 and the Young Cornplanter, who, notwithstanding the con- 
 version of his father to the Christian faith, and his own 
 education in Philadelphia, adhered still to the heathenism 
 of his ancestors. There were likewise other pagan chiefs 
 acting in concert with Red Jacket, who, with their fol- 
 lowers, probably at that period composed considerably 
 more than half the nation. The hostility of this pagan 
 party to these inroads of civilization was uncompromising, 
 and at the close of the year 1819, or early in 1820, an 
 appeal was made to Governor Clinton for protection against 
 the black coats. This appeal was embodied in a letter, 
 dictated by Red Jacket, and addressed to Mr. Parish, their 
 
 ^ Reports from the missionary, in the Missionary/ Herald. 
 
1820. Sa-go-yb-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 389 
 
 'J 
 
 favorite interpreter, then on a visit to the seat of the state 
 government, upon business appertaining to the Indians : 
 
 RED JACKET TO CAPTAIN PARISH. 
 
 Brother Parish : I address myself to you, and through you to 
 the governor. The chiefs of Onondaga have accompanied you 
 to Albany, to do business with the governor ; I, also, was to have 
 been with you, but I am sorry to say that bad health has put it out 
 of my power. For this you must not think hard of me. I am not 
 to blame for it. It is the will of the Great Spirit that it should be 
 so. The object of the Onondagas is to purchase our lands at Ton- 
 newanta. This and other business that they may have to do < at 
 Albany, must be transacted in the presence of the governor. He 
 will see that the bargain is fairly made, so that all parties may have 
 reason to be satisfied with what is done ; and when our sanction shall 
 be wanted to the transaction, it will be freely given. I much regret 
 that, at this time, the state of my health should prevent me from 
 accompanying you to Albany, as it was the wish of the nation that I 
 should state to the governor some circumstances which show that the 
 chain of friendship between us and the white people is wearing out, 
 and wants brightening. But I will proceed now to lay them before 
 you by letter, that you may mention them to the governor, and 
 solicit redress. He is appointed to do justice to all, and the Indians 
 fully confide that he will not suffbr them to be wronged with im- 
 punity. 
 
 The first subject to which we would call the attention of the 
 governor, is the depredations that are daily committed by the white 
 people upon the most valuable timber of our reservations. This has 
 been a subject of complaint with us for many years; but now, and 
 particularly at this season of the year, it has become an alarming 
 evil, and calls for the immediate interposition of the governor in our 
 behalf. Our next subject of complaint is, the frequent thefts of our 
 horses and cattle by the white people ; and their habit of taking and 
 using them whenever they please, and without our leave. These are 
 evils which seem to increase upon us with the increase of our white 
 neighbors, and they call loudly for redress. 
 
 Another evil arising from the pressure of the whites upon us, and 
 
390 The Life and Times of 1820. 
 
 our unavoidable communication with them, is the frequency with 
 which our chiefs and warriors, and Indians, are thrown into jail, and 
 that, too, for the most trifling causes. This is very galling to our 
 feelings, and ought not to be permitted to the extent to which — to 
 gratify their bad passions — our white neighbors now carry this 
 practice. 
 
 In our hunting and fishing, too, we are greatly interrupted by the 
 whites. Our venison is stolen from the trees where we have hung 
 it to be reclaimed after the chase. Our hunting camps have been 
 fired into, and we have been warned that we shall no longer be 
 permitted to pursue the deer in those forests which were so lately all 
 our own. The fish, which, in the Buffalo and Tonnewanta creeks, 
 used to supply us with food, are now, by the dams and other obstruc- 
 tions of the white people, prevented from multiplying, and we are 
 almost entirely deprived of that accustomed sustenance. Our great 
 father the president has recommended to our young men to be 
 industrious — to plough and to sow. This we have done, and we are 
 thankful for the advice, and for the means he has aff'orded us of 
 carrying it into eff'ect. We are happier in consequence of it. 
 
 But another thing recommended to us has created great confusion 
 among us, and is making us a quarrelsome and divided people ; and 
 that is, the introduction of preachers into our nation. These black 
 coats contrive to get the consent of some of the Indians to preach 
 among us, and wherever this is the case, confusion and disorder are 
 sure to follow : and the encroachments of the whites upon our lands 
 are the invariable consequence. The governor must not think hard 
 of me for speaking thus of the preachers. I have observed their 
 progress, and when I look back to see what has taken place of old, 
 I perceive that whenever they came among the Indians, they were 
 the forerunners of their dispersion ; that they always excited enmi- 
 ties and quarrels among them ; that they introduced the white peo- 
 ple on their lands, by whom they were robbed and plundered of 
 their property ; and that the Indians were sure to dwindle and 
 decrease and be driven back, in proportion to the number of 
 preachers that came among them. Each nation has its own customs 
 and its own religion. The Indians have theirs — given to them by 
 the Grreat Spirit — under which they were happy. It was not 
 
1821. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 391 
 
 intended that they should embrace the religion of the whites, and 
 be destroyed by the attempt to make them think differently on that 
 subject from their fathers. 
 
 It is true, these preachers have got the consent of some of the 
 chiefs to stay and preach among us, but I and my friends know this 
 to be wrong, and that they ought to be removed ; besides we have 
 been threatened by Mr. Hyde — who came among us as a schoolmaster 
 and a teacher of our children, but has now become a black coat, and 
 refused to teach them anymore — that unless we listen to his 
 preaching and become Christians, we will be turned off our lands. 
 We wish to know from the governor if this is to be so ; and if he 
 has no right to say so, we think he ought to be turned off our lands, 
 and not allowed to plague us any more. We shall never be at peace 
 while he is among us. Let them be removed, and we will be happy 
 and contented among ourselves. We now cry to the governor for 
 help, and hope that he will attend to our complaints, and speedily 
 give us redress. 
 
 SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA, or Red Jacket.^ 
 
 In consequence of this representation, and others of cor- 
 responding import, an act was passed by the legislature of 
 IlSTew York, during , the session of 1821, for the more 
 effectual prevention of encroachments upon the lands of 
 the Senecas. The enactments of this law were peremp- 
 tory — requiring the district attorney and sheriff of the 
 county, on complaint being made, to remove from the 
 reservation "all persons other than Indians." Resistance 
 to the mandate for such removal was punishable by im- 
 prisonment. It is not supposed that in the enactment of 
 this law the legislature intended to molest the missionaries, 
 or to interfere with their schools. The design was to afford 
 
 ^ This letter was dictated by Red Jacket, and interpreted by Henry 
 O'Bail, in the presence of the following Indians: Red .Jacket's son, Corn- 
 planter, John Cobb, Peter, Young King's Brother, Tom the Infant 
 (Onnonggaiheko), Blue Sky (Towyocauna), John Sky, Jemmy Johnson, 
 Marcus, Big Fire, Captain Jemmy. 
 
392 The Life and Times of 1821. 
 
 more efficient protection to the Indians against intruders in 
 general, who were crowding upon them in considerable 
 numbers, destroying their timber, and endamaging them 
 in other respects. Against such it was occasionally en- 
 forced ; but in regard to the missionaries its energies were 
 allowed to slumber for two or three years. Meantime the 
 New York Missionary Society had transferred its stations 
 to the care of the American Board of Foreign Missions, by 
 which latter association the Seneca missions had been 
 reorganized upon a more efficient and commanding basis. 
 In 1821, the Rev. ThomjDson S. Harris, with an augmented 
 mission family, had been stationed at the Seneca village, 
 with a commission as superintendent of the stations in the 
 several cantons. A church was soon afterward organized, 
 and schools, male and female, were opened. In the year 
 1822, the Rev. Mr. Thayer, with his family and suitable 
 teachers for schools, were stationed at the Cattaraugus 
 reservation. The labors of both of these families — mis- 
 sionaries and teachers — were greatly blessed; and Red 
 Jacket and his pagan adherents were doomed to the 
 mortification of beholding a rapid increase of the Christian 
 party at the expense of their own. The children were 
 flocking to the schools, and the adults almost daily re- 
 nouncing their heathen rites and superstitions, and avowing 
 themselves Christians. Among the notables of the tribe 
 who came out from among the pagans, was the principal 
 chief of the Cattaraugus clan, 0-qui-ye-sou, well known in 
 English as Captain Strong. He was a chief of talent and 
 great influence among his people — a sober, deep thinking 
 man, who for judgment and penetration surpassed most 
 others of his nation. His family was connected with that 
 of Red Jacket by ties of consanguinity, and, with all the 
 members of that family, he remained a pagan until 1823. 
 Red Jacket himself had not been more decided in his 
 opposition to the missionaries than Captain Strong, down 
 
 r f 
 
1824. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 393 
 
 to the period just mentioned. But observing the salutary 
 influences which the missionaries and their schools were 
 exerting upon his people, he was brought to reflect seri- 
 ously upon the subject. His pagan friends became alarmed 
 at the symptoms they discovered of a change in his views, 
 and a council was convened, at which the most strenuous 
 efforts were put in requisition to prevent his defection. 
 But their efforts were vain. To the disappointment and 
 grief of the pagans, after they had exhausted their stock 
 of dissuasives, 0-qui-ye-sou rose and in a manly speech 
 abjured his pagan creed, and avowed himself a member of 
 the Christian party — to which he has steadfastly adhered 
 until this day. Alarmed at the loss of such a chief as 
 Captain Strong, and at the rapid diminution of his adhe- 
 rents, foreshadowing his own loss of influence and power, 
 the project of a forcible ejectment of the missionaries and 
 school teachers, under the act of 1821, was conceived by 
 Red Jacket, and by the aid of several white pagans in 
 Buffalo, who were ever on the qui vive to facilitate his anti- 
 christian purposes, carried into prompt execution. Com- 
 plaints having been duly entered against Mr. Harris and 
 his teachers at the Seneca village, the district attorney and 
 sheriff*, having no discretion in the premises, were com- 
 pelled to proceed against them, and the mission at the 
 Seneca village was broken up in March, 1824. There were 
 forty-three children in the school at the time, who, with 
 their teachers and assistants, were removed to the Catta- 
 raugus station. Mr. Harris and his family retired to 
 Buffalo, to watch the course of events, and render such 
 offices to the Indians of his spiritual charge as might yet 
 be in his power. This was a sad disappointment to the 
 mission family, and was deeply lamented by the Christian 
 Indians, upon whom the happiest influences had been 
 exerted. A lively concern had been awakened in their 
 bosoms for the salvation of their souls, and they were in 
 
 50 
 
394 The Life and Times oe 1824, 
 
 tlie habit of resorting to the woods for their private de- 
 votions. They, therefore, felt deeply the loss of their 
 minister, to whom they owed so much, not only for his 
 instructions in religion, but for his labors in the improve- 
 ment of their social condition. The American Board had 
 no sooner heard of these transactions, than an appeal was 
 made to the legislature for such a modification of the law 
 of 1821 as would allow the missionaries to resume their 
 labors. The people of Buffalo, also, with the exception of 
 a small knot of unbelievers in alliance upon this subject 
 with Red Jacket, sustained the application. Judge Wil- 
 kinson, then a senator from Buffalo, made a strong speech 
 in favor of the proposed modification of the law, and bore 
 powerful testimony to the advantages that had resulted to 
 the Indians from the labors of the missionaries. In this 
 posture of affairs, while the question was yet pending, Hed 
 Jacket addressed the following letter to Governor Clinton : 
 
 TO THE CHIEF OF THE COUNCIL FIRE AT ALBANY. 
 
 Brother : About three years ago, our friends of the great 
 council fire at Albany wrote down in their book that the priests of 
 white people should no longer reside on our lands, and told their 
 officers to move them off whenever we complained. This was to us 
 good news, and made our hearts glad. These priests had a long 
 time troubled us, and made us bad friends and bad neighbors. 
 After much difficulty we removed them from our lands ; and for a 
 short time we have been quiet, and our minds easy. But we are 
 now told that the priests have asked liberty to return • and that our 
 friends of the great council fire are about to blot from their book the 
 law which they made, and leave their poor red brethren once more 
 a prey to hungry priests. 
 
 Brother, : Listen to what we say. These men do us no good. 
 They deceive every body. They deny the Great Spirit, which we, 
 and our fathers before us, have looked upon aS our creator. They 
 disturb us in our worship. They tell our children! they must not 
 
 1 Several of Red Jacket's children bad-joined the Christian party. 
 
1824. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 395 
 
 believe like our fathers and mothers, and tell us many things we 
 do not understand and cannot believe. They tell us we must be like 
 white people — but they are lazy and won't work, nor do they teach 
 our young men to do so. The habits of our women are worse than 
 they were before these men came amongst us, and our young men 
 drink more whisky. We are willing to be taught to read, and 
 write, and work, but not by people who have done us so much in- 
 jury. 
 
 Brother : We wish you to lay before the council fire the wishes 
 of your red brethren. We ask our brothers not to blot out the law 
 which has made us peaceable and happy ; and not to force a strange 
 religion upon us. We ask to be let alone, and, like the white 
 perople, to worship the Great Spirit as we think best. We shall 
 then be happy in fulfilling the little share in life which is left us, 
 and shall go down to our fathers in peace. 
 
 SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA.i 
 
 In one of the parables of the great author of Christianity, 
 it is said that on a certain occasion, when a husbandman 
 had been scattering good seed in his field, "an enemy" 
 came afterward and sowed tares. It was even so at the vil- 
 lage of the Senecas. There were a few individual white 
 men in the vicinity of the reservation, unbelievers in the 
 Christian religion — of whose number was a man of some 
 political notoriety in Buffalo — who labored with a zeal 
 worthy of a better cause, to thwart the efforts of the mis- 
 sionary and teachers at the Seneca village. By these men 
 the prejudices of Eed Jacket and his pagan adherents were 
 fomented, and their hands strengthened. 'No man labored 
 with greater industry in sowing the good seed than Mr. 
 Harris, l^one could have labored with greater assiduity 
 in sowing tares in the same field than the persons referred 
 
 1 The original of this document is in the office of the secretary of state, 
 at Albany. It was subscribed with the mark of Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Hed 
 Jacket, first, and then follow those of the Young Cornplanter, Green Blan- 
 ket, Big Kettle, Robert Bob, Twenty Canoes, senior and junior, Two Guns, 
 Fish Hook, Hot Bread, Bare Foot, and several others of the pagan party. 
 
396 The Life and Times of 1824. 
 
 to. And these men were doubtless the counselors of 'Red 
 Jacket, as thej had been on other similar occasions, in the 
 composition of the foregoing letter to Grovernor Clinton. 
 It was a grievous libel upon the character and conduct of 
 the missionaries, and probably was not without its influence 
 for temporary evil, inasmuch as the application in their 
 behalf was not at that time sustained by the legislature. 
 But at a period not long subsequent, the rigors of the law 
 were meliorated, and both missionaries and teachers were 
 allowed to resume and continue their labors without 
 farther molestation. 
 
 There is indeed, in one passage of the letter under con- 
 sideration, an apparent qualification of the old chieftain^s 
 hostility to the introduction of the arts of reading and 
 writing among the Indians ; but he was nevertheless averse 
 to the acquisition of those accomplishments from Mr. Har- 
 ris and his assistants. But towards the quakers, who had 
 exercised a watchful guardianship over the Alleghany 
 clan of the Senecas, by means of boards of visitors and 
 resident agents, almost from the hour of their laying down 
 the hatchet in 1783, Red Jacket was much better disposed. 
 He made an earnest appeal to them, at about the same 
 time, for assistance, or for the exertion of their influence 
 in keeping the missionaries at a distance. In his commu- 
 nications with the quakers upon this subject, he was more 
 grievously libelous against the missionaries even than in 
 the letter to Governor Clinton, charging them with steal- 
 ing the horses of the Indians, driving away their cattle, 
 and with other grave ofienses. Charges like these, against 
 men holding the commissions of the American Board of 
 Foreign Missions, stationed, as it were, under the very eye 
 of the board itself, carried their own contradiction upon 
 their face. Still it may be possible — barely possible — 
 that miscreants may have assumed the missionary garb in 
 order to accomplish some sinister purpose against this much 
 
1821. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 397 
 
 abused race. And when the orator told the quakers, as it 
 is alleged he did by at least one authority, that such of the 
 Senecas as were nominally converted from heathenism to 
 Christianity by those pretended teachers, only disgraced 
 themselves by paltry attempts to cover the profligacy of 
 the one with the hypocrisy of the other ,^ he must either 
 have adverted to some isolated instance of imposture and 
 affected conversion, or coined the libel with malignant 
 intent. y 
 
 But his hostility to Christianity and its teachers was 
 implacable, and broke forth on every possible occasion. 
 About the year 1824, a gentleman who had much official 
 and personal intercourse with the Senecas, and with Red 
 Jacket in particular, while in conversation with him in 
 company with the late Colonel Chapin, asked the question 
 why he was so much opposed to the missionaries. The 
 inquiry awakened feelings of real or affected surprise in 
 the bosom of the chief, and after a brief pause as though 
 for reflection, he replied with a sarcastic smile, and an 
 emphasis peculiar to himself: 
 
 Because they do us no good. If they are not useful to the white 
 people, why do they send them among the Indians ? If they are 
 useful to the white people, and do them good, why do they not keep 
 them at home ? They are surely bad enough to need the labor of 
 every one who can make them better. These men know we do not 
 understand their religion. We cannot read their book — they tell 
 us different stories about what it contains, and we believe they make 
 the book talk to suit themselves. If we had no money, no land, and 
 no country to be cheated out of, these black coats would not trouble 
 themselves about our good hereafter. The Great Spirit will not 
 punish us for what we do not know. He will do justice to his red 
 children. These black coats talk 'to the Great Spirit, and ask for 
 light, that we may see as they do, when they are blind themselves, 
 
 Thatcher's Indian Biography. 
 
398 The Life and Times of 1824. 
 
 and quarrel about tlie light wliicli guides them. These things we 
 do not understand, and the light they give us makes the straight 
 and plain path trod by our fathers dark and dreary. The black 
 coats tell us to work and raise corn : they do nothing themselves, 
 and would starve to death if somebody did not feed them. All they 
 do is to pray to the Great Spirit; but that will not make corn or 
 potatoes grow ; if it will why do they beg from us and from the 
 white people ? The red men knew nothing of trouble until it came 
 from the white men ; as soon as they crossed the great waters they 
 wanted our country, and in return have always been ready to teach 
 us to quarrel about their religion. Red Jacket can never be the 
 friend of such men. The Indians can never be civilized — they are 
 not like white men. If they were raised among the white people, 
 and learned to work, and to read, as they do, it would only make 
 their situation worse. They would be treated no better than negroes. 
 We are few and weak, but may for a long time be happy if we hold 
 fast to our country and the religion of our fathers ! i 
 
 It need scarcely be added tliat this outpouring of invec- 
 tive against tlie missionaries was no more bitter than unjust ; 
 and were it not for the close resemblance it bears to the 
 preceding letter to GTovernor Clinton, it would be charita- 
 ble to hope that the reporter imparted to the language of 
 the speaker a tone of severity beyond his design. No doubt 
 can exist that his feelings of hatred to Christianity were at 
 that time settled and deep; but, as has been previously 
 intimated, there were white pagans in the Seneca neigh- 
 borhood, who, with a vigilance that never slumbered, were 
 watching for opportunities to infuse into the bosom of Eed 
 Jacket a portion of the poison rankling in their own. Such 
 may have been the fact in regard both to the last mentioned 
 speech and the letter. Perhaps, therefore, a more just con- 
 ception of the old chieftain's general views upon this 
 important subject — his manner of reasoning respecting 
 
 1 Colonel M'Keuney's Indian Biography. 
 
1824. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 399 
 
 it — and the position in wMcli lie supposed the Indians 
 stood in regard to it — may be formed by a perusal of the 
 notes of a protracted colloquy between him and a young 
 candidate for clerical orders — now an eminent divine ^ — 
 which occurred at about the period of his life now under 
 consideration. These notes, or more properly sketches, in 
 addition to their dramatic interest, will serve as vivid illus- 
 trations of the manners of the orator in his old age, and 
 the character of his mind — while the missionaries are at 
 the same time vindicated. 
 
 REV. DR. BRECKINRIDGE TO THE AUTHOR. 
 
 " The first opportunity I ever enjoyed of seeing that 
 deservedly celebrated Indian chief Eed Jacket, was in the 
 year 1821, at the residence of General Peter B. Porter, 
 Black Eock, 'New York. Being on a visit to the general 
 and his family, it seemed a peculiarly fit occasion to become 
 acquainted with the great Seneca orator, whose tribe resided 
 within a few miles of Black Eock. General Porter em- 
 braced the Indian warriors who fought with us on that 
 line, during the late war with Great Britain, in his com- 
 mand. From this cause; from his high character; his 
 intimate acquaintance with the chiefs; and his known 
 attachment to these interesting people, he had great influ- 
 ence over them; and his lamented lady, who it is not 
 indelicate for me to say was my sister, had by her kindness 
 won the rugged hearts of all their leading men. So that 
 their united influence, and my near relationship to them, 
 secured to me at once access to the chiefs, and their entire 
 confidence. 
 
 " I had not only a great desire to see Eed Jacket, but 
 also to use this important opportunity to correct some of 
 his false impressions in regard to Christianity and the mis- 
 
 The Rev. Jolin Breckinridge, D.D. 
 
400 The Life and Times of 1821. 
 
 sionaries established in his tribe. To this end it was agreed 
 to invite Red Jacket and the other chiefs of the Senecas, 
 to visit Co-na-shns-tah/ and meet his brother at his house. 
 The invitation was accordingly given, and very promptly 
 and respectfully accepted. 
 
 " On the appointed day they made their appearance in 
 due form, headed by Red Jacket, to the number of perhaps 
 eight or ten, besides himself Red Jacket was dressed with 
 much taste, in the Indian costume throughout. He wore 
 a blue dress, the upper garment cut after the fashion of a 
 hunting-shirt, with blue leggings, very neat moccasins, a 
 red jacket, and a girdle of red about his waist. I have sel- 
 dom seen a more dignified or noble looking body of men 
 than the entire group. It seems — though no such impres- 
 sion was designed to be made by the terms of the invita- 
 tion — that some indefinite expectation had been excited in 
 their minds of meeting an official agent on important busi- 
 ness. And they have been so unworthily tampered with, 
 and so badly treated by us, as a people, and many of their 
 most important treaties have been so much the result of 
 private and corrupting appeals, that they very naturally 
 look for some evil design in every approach to them — 
 however open and simple it may be. So it was on this 
 occasion. As soon as the ceremonies of introduction had 
 passed, with the civilities growing out of it, the old orator 
 seated himself in the midst of the circle of chiefs, and after 
 a word with them, followed by a general assent, he pro- 
 ceeded in a very serious and commanding manner — always 
 speaking in his own nervous tongue, through an interpreter, 
 to address me in substance as follows : 
 
 We liave had a call from our good friends (pointing to the general 
 and his lady) to come down to Black Rock to meet their brother. 
 We are glad to break bread and to drink the cup of friendship with 
 
 ' The name given to General Porter by Red Jacket. 
 
182^1. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 401 
 
 them. They are great friends to our people, and we love them much. 
 Co-na-shus-tah is a great man. His woman has none like her. We 
 often come to their house. We thank them for telling us to come 
 to-day. But as all the chiefs were asked we expected some impor- 
 tant talk. Now, here we are — what is your business ? 
 
 " TMs, as may be readily supposed, was an embarrassing 
 position to a young man just out of college. I paused. 
 Every countenance was fixed upon me, while E,ed Jacket 
 in particular seemed to search me with his arrowy eye, and 
 to feel that the private and informal nature of the meeting, 
 and the extreme youth of the man, were hardly in keeping 
 with the character and number of guests invited — and his 
 whole manner implied, ' that but for the sake of the general 
 and his good viands, I should have waited for you to come 
 to us.' With these impressions of his feelings, I proceeded 
 " to say in reply : 
 
 That I should have thought it very presumptuous in me to send 
 for him alone — and still more for all the chiefs of his tribe — to 
 come so far to see me — that my intention had been to visit him and 
 the other chiefs at his town — but the general and his lady could 
 not go with me to introduce me. Nor were we at all certain that 
 we should find him and the other chiefs at .home ; and at any rate 
 the general's house was more convenient. He intended, when he 
 asked them, to keep them as long as they could stay, and to invite 
 them to break his bread, and drink his cup, and smoke his pipe — 
 that his woman, and he as well as I, desired to see them at their 
 house — that as to myself, I was a young man, and had no business 
 with them, except that I had heard a great deal of Red Jacket, and 
 wished to see him and hear him talk — and also that I had some 
 things to say to him when we were better acquainted, which, though 
 not business, were important to his people — and I thought it would 
 be interesting to him, as I knew he loved his people much — and 
 finally that I would return his visit, and show him that it was not 
 out of disrespect, but out of great regard for him, and great desire 
 to see him, that we had sent for him — this being the way that white 
 men honor one another. 
 
 51 
 
402 The Life and Times oe 1821. 
 
 " Mrs. Porter immediately confirmed what I had said, 
 and gave special point to the hospitality of the house, and 
 the great desire I had to see Hed Jacket. Her appeal, 
 added to the reply, relaxed the rigor of his manner and 
 that of the other chiefs, while it relieved our interview of 
 all painfal feelings. 
 
 " After this general letting down of the scene, Red 
 Jacket turned to me familiarly and asked : ' What are 
 you? You say you are not a government agent — are you 
 a gambler ? ^ or a black coat ? or what are you ? ' I 
 answered : * I am yet too young a man to engage in any 
 profession ; but I hope some of these days to be a black 
 coat.' He lifted up his hands accompanied by his eyes, in 
 a most expressive way, and though not a word was uttered, 
 every one fully understood that he very distinctly expressed 
 the sentiment — ' What a fool ! ' I had too often been called 
 to bear from those reputed great and wise among white 
 men, the shame of the cross, to be surprised by his man- 
 ner ; and I was too anxious to conciliate his good feelings 
 to attempt any retort — so that I commanded my counte- 
 nance, and seeming not to have observed him, I proceeded 
 to tell him something of our colleges, &c., &c. That 
 gradually led his mind away from the ideas with which it 
 was filled and excited when he arrived. 
 
 " A good deal of general conversation ensued — ad- 
 dressed to one and another of the chiefs — and we were 
 just arriving at the hour of dinner, when our conference 
 was suddenly broken up by the arrival of a breathless mes- 
 senger, saying that an old chief, whose name I forget, had 
 just died, and the other chiefs were immediately needed, 
 to attend his burial. One of the chiefs shed tears at the 
 
 I By the term gambler, Red Jacket meant a land speculator, and by 
 the -way not a bad definition — especially of those base men who have so 
 long conspired to cheat the poor Indians out of their little remaining 
 lands. 
 
1821. Sa-go-yb-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 403 
 
 "•J 
 
 news — all seemed serious; but the others suppressed their 
 feelings and spent a few moments in a very earnest conver- 
 sation, the result of which Red Jacket announced to us. 
 They had determined to return at once to their village ; 
 but consented to leave Red Jacket and his interpreter. In 
 vain were they urged to wait until after dinner, or to re- 
 fresh themselves with something eaten by the way. With 
 hurried farewell and quick steps they left the house, and 
 by the nearest foot path returned home. 
 
 " This occurrence relieved me of one difficulty. It ena- 
 bled me to see Red Jacket at leisure, and alone. It seemed 
 also to soften his feelings, and make him more affable and 
 kind. 
 
 " Soon after the departure of the chiefs, we were ushered 
 to dinner. Red Jacket behaved with gre^t propriety, in 
 all respects ; his interpreter, Major Berry, though half a 
 white man and perhaps a chief, like a true savage. After 
 a few awkward attempts at the knife and fork, he found 
 himself falling behind, and repeating the old adage which 
 is often quoted to cover the same style among our white 
 urchins of picking a chicken bone, ' that fingers ivere made 
 before knives and forks,^ he proceeded with real gusto, and 
 much good humor, to make up his lost time upon all parts 
 of the dinner. It being over, I invited Red Jacket into 
 the general's office, where we had for four hours a most 
 interesting conversation on a variety of topics, but chiefly 
 connected with Christianity; the government of the United 
 States ; the missionaries ; and his loved lands. 
 
 " So great a length of time has passed since that inter- 
 view that there must be supposed to be a failure in the 
 attempt perfectly to report what was said. I am well as- 
 sured I cannot do justice to his language, even as diluted by 
 the ignorant interpreter; and his manner cannot be de- 
 scribed. But it was so impressive a conversation, and I 
 have so often been called on to repeat it, that the substance 
 
404 The Life and Times of 1821. 
 
 of Ms remarks lias been faitlifully retained by my memory. 
 It is only attempted here to recite a small part of wbat was 
 then said, and that with particular reference to the illustra- 
 tion of his character, mind and opinions. 
 
 " It has already been mentioned and is largely known, 
 that Eed Jacket cherished the most violent antipathy 
 toward the American missionaries who had been located 
 among his people. This led to very strenuous resistance 
 of their influence, and to hatred of their religion, but of 
 the true character of which he was totally ignorant. His 
 deep attachment to his people, and his great principle that 
 their national glory and even existence depended upon 
 keeping themselves distinct j&^om white men, lay at the 
 foundation of his aversion to Christianity. Though a 
 pagan, yet his opposition was political, and he cared very 
 little for any religion except so far as it seemed to advance 
 or endanger the glory and safety of the tribe. 
 
 " He had unfortunately been led by designing and cor- 
 rupt white men, who were interested in the result, falsely to 
 associate the labors of the missionaries with designs against 
 his nation; and those who wished the Senecas removed 
 from their lands that they might profit by the purchase — 
 and who saw in the success of the mission the chief danger 
 to their plans, artfully enlisted the pagan party, of which 
 Ked Jacket was the leader, to oppose the missionaries — 
 and thus effectually led to the final frustration of Eed 
 Jacket's policy — in and by the defeat of the missionary 
 enterprise. But as this question is discussed in the sequel, 
 I will not anticipate. Thus much it was necessary to pre- 
 mise, in order to explain the nature and ends of my inter- 
 view with Eed Jacket. My object was to explain the true 
 state of the case to him, and after this to recommend the 
 doctrine of Christ to his understanding and heart. My 
 first step, therefore, was to ask him why he so strongly op- 
 posed the settlement and labors of the missionaries ? He 
 
4 
 
 ! 
 
 1821. . Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 405 
 
 replied, because they are the enemies of the Indians, and 
 under the cloak of doing them good are trying to cheat 
 them out of their lands. I asked him what proof he had 
 of this. He said he had been told so by some of his wise 
 and good friends among the white men, and he observed 
 that the missionaries were constantly wanting more land — 
 and that by little and little, for themselves, or those who 
 hired them to do it, they would take away all their lands, 
 and drive them ofi'. 
 
 " I asked him if he knew that there was a body of white 
 men who had already bought the exclusive right to ,buy 
 their lands from the government of !New York, and that there- 
 fore the missionaries could not hold the lands given or sold 
 them by the Indians a moment after the latter left the lands 
 ■ and went away. He seemed to be startled by the sta):ement, 
 but said nothing. I proceeded to tell him that the true 
 effect of the missionary influence on the tribe was to secure 
 to them the possession of their lands, by civilizing them and 
 making them quit the chase for the cultivation of the soil, 
 building good houses, educating their children, and making 
 them permanent citizens and good men. This was what 
 the speculators did not wish. Therefore they hated the 
 missionaries. He acknowledged that the Christian party 
 among the Indians did as I said ; but that was not the way 
 for an Indian to do. Hunting, war and manly pursuits, 
 were best fitted to them. But, said I, your reservation of 
 land is too little for that purpose. It is surrounded by the 
 white people like a small island by the sea ; the deer, the 
 buffalo and bear, have all gone. This won't do. If you 
 intend to live so much longer, you will have to go to the 
 great western wilderness where there is plenty of game, 
 and no white men to trouble you. But he said, we wish 
 to keep our lands, and to be buried by our fathers. I know 
 it — and therefore I say that the missionaries are your best 
 friends ; for if you follow the ways they teach you can still 
 
406 The Life and Times of 1821. 
 
 hold your lands — tliougli yon cannot have hunting 
 grounds ; and therefore you must either do like white men, 
 or remove from your lands — very soon. Your plan of 
 keeping the Indians distinct from the white people is begun 
 too late. If you would do it and have large grounds, and 
 would let the missionaries teach you Christianity far from 
 the had habits and big farms of the white people, it would 
 then be well : it would keep your people from being cor- 
 rupted and swallowed up by our people who grow so fast 
 around you, and many of whom are very bad. Eut it is 
 too late to do it here, and you must choose between keep- 
 ing the missionaries and being like white men, and going 
 to a far country : as it is, I continued, Red Jacket is doing 
 more than any body else to break up and drive away his 
 people., 
 
 " This conversation had much effect on him. He grasped 
 my hand and said if that were the case it was new to him. 
 He also said he would lay it up in his mind [putting his 
 hand to his noble forehead,] and talk of it to the chiefs and 
 the people. 
 
 " It is a very striking fact, that the disgraceful scenes now 
 passing before the public eye over the grave of Red Jacket, 
 so early and so sadly fulfill these predictions; and I cannot 
 here forbear to add that the thanks of the nation are due 
 to our present chief magistrate,^ for the firmness with which 
 he has resisted the recent efforts to force a fraudulent treaty 
 on the remnant of this injured people; and drive them 
 against their will, and against law and treaties sacredly 
 made, away from their lands, to satisfy the rapacity of 
 unprincipled men. 
 
 " It may be proper here to say likewise, that I do by no 
 means intend to justify all that may possibly have been 
 done by the missionaries to the Senecas. It is probable the 
 
 1 This letter was written in January, 1841, and the president alluded to 
 is Mr. Van Buren. W. L. S. 
 
1821. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 407 
 
 > 
 
 earliest efforts were badly conducted ; and men of more 
 ability ought to have been sent to that peculiar and diffi- 
 cult station. But it is not for a moment to be admitted, 
 nor is it credible that the authors of the charges themselves 
 believe it, that the worthy men who at every sacrifice went 
 to the mission among the Senecas, had any other than the 
 purest purposes. I visited the station, and intimately knew 
 the chief missionary, I marked carefully their plan and 
 progress, and do not doubt their usefulness any more than 
 their uprightness; and beyond all doubt it was owing 
 chiefly to malignant influence exerted by white men, that 
 they finally failed in their benevolent designs. But my 
 business is to narrate, not to discuss. 
 
 "My next object was to talk with Red Jacket about 
 Christianity itself. He was prompt in his replies, and 
 exercised and encouraged frankness with a spirit becoming 
 a great man. 
 
 " He admitted both its truth and excellence, as adapted 
 to white men. He said some keenly sarcastic things about 
 the treatment that so good a man as Jesus had received from 
 white men. The white men, he said, ought all to be sent 
 to hell for killing him; but as the Indians had no hand in 
 that transaction, they were in that matter innocent. Jesus 
 Christ was not sent to them ; the atonement was not made 
 for them ; nor the bible given to them ; and therefore the 
 Christian religion was not meant for them. If the Great 
 Spirit had intended that the Indians should be Christians, 
 he would have made his revelation to them as well as to 
 the white men. ]^ot having done so, it was clearly his will 
 that they should continue in the faith of their fathers. He 
 said that the red man was of a totally different race — and 
 needed an entirely different religion — and that it was idle 
 as well as unkind, to try to alter their religion and give 
 them ours. I asked him to point oiit the difference of the 
 races, contending ' that they were one, and needed but one 
 
408 The Life and Times of 1821. 
 
 religion, and that Christianity was that religion which 
 Christ had intended for, and ordered to be preached to, all 
 men. He had no distinct views of the nature of Chris- 
 tianity as a method of salvation, and denied the need of it. 
 As to the unity of the races, I asked if he ever knew two 
 distinct races, even of the lower animals, to propagate their 
 seed from generation to generation. But do not Indians 
 and white men do so? He allowed it; but denied that it 
 proved the matter in hand. I pressed the points of resem- 
 blance in everything but color — and that in the case of the 
 Christian Indians there was a common mind on religion. 
 He finally waived this part of the debate by saying " that 
 one thing was certain whatever else was not — that white 
 men had a great love for Indian women, and left their 
 traces behind them wherever they could." ^ 
 
 " On the point of needing pardon, from being wicked, 
 he said the Indians were good till the white man corrupted 
 them. 'But did not the Indians have some wickedness 
 before that?' ' Not so much,' ^ How was thai regarded by 
 the Great Spirit ? Would he forgive it ? ' He hoped so — 
 'did not know.' 'Jesus' I rejoined, 'came to tell us he 
 would, and to get that pardon for us.' 
 
 " As to suffering and death among the Indians, did not 
 they prove that the Great Spirit was angry with them, as 
 well as with white men ? Would he thus treat men that 
 were good f He said they were not wicked before white 
 men came to their country and taught them to be so. But 
 they died before that ? And why did they die, if the Great 
 Spirit was not angry, and they wicked ? He could not say, and 
 in reply to my explanation of the gospel doctrine of the en- 
 trance of death by sin, he again turned the subject by saying 
 he was a great doctor, and could cure any thing but death. 
 
 ^ In another conversation upon this subject, I believe with Dr. Brecken- 
 ridge, Red Jacket expressed this idea more pungently, as may be seen by 
 referring back to page 186. W. L. S. 
 
1821. Sa-go-yb-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 409 
 
 "The interpreter liad incidentally mentioned tliat tlie 
 reason the chiefs had to go home so soon, was that they 
 always sacrificed a white dog on the death of a great man. I 
 turned this fact to the account of the argument, and endea- 
 vored to connect it with, and explain by it, the doctrine of 
 atonement^ by the blood of Christ, and also pressed him on 
 the questions, how can this please the Great Spirit, on your 
 plan ? Why do you offer such a sacrifice^ for so it is con- 
 sidered? And where they got such a rite from? He 
 attempted no definite reply. 
 
 " Many other topics were talked over. But these speci- 
 mens suffice to illustrate his views, and mode of thinking. 
 
 " At the close of the conversation he proposed to give me 
 a namCy that henceforth I might be numbered among his 
 friends, and admitted to the intercourse and regards of the 
 nation. Supposing this not amiss, I consented. But before 
 he proceeded he called for some whisky. He was at this 
 time an intemperate man — and though perfectly sober on 
 that occasion, evidently displayed toward the close af the 
 interview the need of stimulus, which it is hardly necessary 
 to say we carefully kept from him. But he insisted now, 
 and after some time a small portion was sent to him at the 
 bottom of a decanter. He looked at it — shook it — and 
 with a sneer said — 'Why, here is not whisky enough for 
 a name to float in.' But no movement being made to get 
 more, he drank it off, and proceeded with a sort of pagan 
 orgies, to give me a name. It seemed a semicivil, semi- 
 religious ceremony. He walked around me again and 
 again, muttering sounds which the interpreter did not 
 venture to explain ; and laying his hand on me pronounced 
 me ' Con-go-gu-wah,' and instantly, with great apparent de- 
 light, took me by the hand as a brother. I felt badly during 
 the scene, but it was beyond recall — and supposing that it 
 might be useful in a future day, submitted to the initiation. 
 
 " Ked Jacket was in appearance nearly sixty years old at 
 
 52 
 
410 The Life and Times of 1821. 
 
 this time. He had a weather beaten look ; age had done 
 something to produce this — probably intemperance more. 
 But still his general appearance was striking, and his face 
 noble. His lofty and capacious forehead, his piercing black 
 eye, his gently curved lips, fine cheek, and slightly aquiline 
 nose, all marked a great man, and as sustained and expressed 
 by his dignified air, made a deep impression on every one 
 that saw him. All these features became doubly expressive 
 when his mind and body were set in motion by the efibrt 
 of speaking — if effort that may be called which flowed like 
 a free full stream from his lips. I saw him in the wane of 
 life, and I heard him only in private, and through a stupid 
 and ca,reless interpreter. Yet notwithstanding these dis- 
 advantages, he was one of the greatest men and most elo- 
 quent orators I ever knew. His cadence was measured and 
 yet very musical. In ordinary utterance it amounted to 
 a sort of musical monotony. But when excited he would 
 spring to his feet, elevate his head, expand his arms, and 
 utter with indescribable effect of manner and tone, some of 
 his noblest thoughts. 
 
 " After this interesting conference had closed, the old 
 chief with his interpreter bade us a very civil and kind 
 farewell, and set forth on foot for his own wigwam. 
 
 " It was four years after this before I had the pleasure of 
 again seeing my old friend. I was then on a flying visit to 
 Black Eock. At an early day I repaired to his village, but 
 he was not at home. Ten days after, as we were just 
 leaving the shore in the steamboat to go up the lake, he 
 suddenly presented himself It was unhappily too late to 
 return. He hailed me by name, and pointed with much 
 animation to such parts of his person as were decorated 
 with some red cloth which I had at parting presented to 
 him, and which, though not worn as 2, jacket, was with much 
 taste otherwise distributed over his person. These he 
 exhibited as proofs of his friendly recollection. 
 
1821. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 411 
 
 " The last time I ever saw Mm, was at the close of Mr. 
 Adams's administration. He, with a neio interpreter (Major 
 Berry having been removed by death), had been on a visit 
 to his old friend Co-na-shus-tah — then secretary of war. 
 After spending some time at the capital, where I often met 
 him, and had the horror to see his ' dignity often laid in the 
 dust,' by excessive drunkenness, he paid me by invitation 
 a final visit at Baltimore, on his way home. He took only 
 time enough to dine. He looked dejected and forlorn. He 
 and his interpreter had each a suit of common infantry 
 uniform, and a sword as common, which he said had been 
 presented to him at the war department. He was evidently 
 ashamed of them. I confess I was too. But I forbear. 
 He was then sober, and serious. He drank hard cider, 
 which was the strongest drink I could conscientiously offer 
 him — so I told him. He said it was enough. I said but 
 little to him of religion — urged him to prepare to meet the 
 Great Spirit, and recommended him to go to Jesus for all 
 he needed. He took it kindly — said he should see me no 
 more — and was going to his people to die. So it was — 
 not long after this, he was called to his last account. 
 
 " JOHN BEECKEKRIDaE." 
 
 On another occasion, at no great distance of time from 
 his first interview with Doctor Breckenridge, the superior 
 benefits of husbandry, education, the enjoyments and re- 
 finements of civilized life, and the blessings of Christianity 
 having been urged upon him by a benevolent gentleman 
 with great earnestness, Eed Jacket replied in the following 
 strain : 
 
 As to civilization, among white people, I believe it is a good 
 thing, and that it was so ordered that they should get their living 
 in that manner. I believe in a God, and that it was ordered by him 
 that we, the red people, should get our living in a different way, 
 viz. : from the wild game of the woods and the fishes of the waters, 
 
412 The Life and Times oe 1821. 
 
 I believe in the Great Spirit who created the heavens and the earth- 
 He peopled the forests, and the air and the waters. He then cre- 
 ated man, and placed him as the superior animal of this creation, 
 and designed him as governor over all other created beings on earth. 
 He created man differing from all other animals. He created the 
 red man, the white, the black, and yellow. All these he created 
 for wise, but inscrutable purposes, &c.i 
 
 To prove this "he reasoned from analogy, from the vari- 
 eties in the same species, and from the different species 
 under a common genus in all other animals, whether 
 quadruped, fowl, or fish — pointed out their different 
 modes of living, and showed that they each had a distinct 
 designation assigned to them in the grand arrangement of 
 the animal economy by the Great Spirit. He proceeded : 
 
 This bping so, what proof have we that he did not make a similar 
 arrangement with the human species, when we find so vast, so vari- 
 ous, and so irreconcileable a variety among them, causing them to 
 live differently, and to pursue different occupations. As to religion, 
 we all ought to have it. We should adore and worship our Creator 
 for his great favors in placing us over all his works. If we cannot 
 with the same fluency of speech, and in the same flowing language, 
 worship as you do, we have our mode of adoring, which we do with 
 a sincere heart — then can you say that our prayers and thanks- 
 givings, proceeding from grateful hearts and sincere minds, are less 
 acceptable to the great Grod of the heavens and the earth, though 
 manifested either by speaking, dancing, or feasting, than yours, 
 uttered in your own manner and style ? 2 
 
 1 Manuscript collection of Joseph W. Moulton. 
 
 2 In their mode of worship, the Six Nations addressed the Great Spirit 
 with thanks and prayer by particular speakers. They then feasted, or 
 celebrated a thanksgiving, closing with dancing and other amusements 
 and recreations. Their great religious festivals, when the convocations 
 were general, were semiannual, and continued from three to six days. 
 While prayer is offered, the dust of tobacco is sprinkled on live coals of 
 fire, that the incense may ascend with their supplications. Thanks are 
 returned for all their temporal mercies — their lives, health, crops, game, 
 and in a word for all the bounties received from the Great Spirit. 
 
1821. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 413 
 
 Doctor Breckenridge lamentSj in the preceding letter, 
 Ms inability to make even an approach to justice as to the 
 language and figures in which Red Jacket clothed his 
 thoughts, and by which he illustrated and enforced them, 
 Tl^e same confession has been uniformly elicited from 
 every writer who enjoyed opportunities of listening to the 
 chief or conversing with him. General Porter, than whom 
 no one knew him better, speaks of him as a man " endowed 
 with great intellectual powers, and who, as an orator, was 
 not only unsurpassed, but unequalled, longo iniervallo, by 
 any of his cotemporaries. Although those who were igno- 
 rant of his language could not fully appreciate the force 
 and beauty of his speeches, when received through the me- 
 dium of an interpretation — generally coarse and clumsy — 
 yet such was the peculiar gracefulness of his person, atti- 
 tudes and action, and the mellow tones of his Seneca 
 dialect, and such the astonishing effects produced on that 
 part of the auditory who did fully understand him, and 
 whose souls appeared to be engrossed and borne away with 
 the orator, that he was listened to by all with perfect de- 
 light." ^ He drew his arguments from the natural rela^ 
 tions and fitness of things. His mind glanced through the 
 visible creation, and from analogy he reasoned in a way 
 that often baffled and defied refutation. His figures were 
 from the same inexhaustible fountain, and were frequently 
 so sublime, so apposite, and so beautiful, that the interpre- 
 ters often said the English language was not rich enough 
 to allow of doing him justice. Such, at least, have been 
 the representations of those who knew him well, and who 
 have had the best opportunities of arriving at correct con- 
 clusions. N^evertheless, the character of nearly all his 
 speeches that have been preserved, as they have been pre- 
 served, bears evidence rather of the enthusiasm of his 
 admirers, than of their judgment. 
 
 Manuscript letter to the author from General Porter. 
 
[414] 
 
 CHAPTER Xin. 
 
 Red Jacket's domestic relations — Loss of his children by consumption — 
 His second wife becomes a Christian — Separation from her, and union 
 with another — His youngest daughter visits him — Returns to his law- 
 ful wife — Is received and lives in harmony — Red Jacket and Lafayette — 
 Red Jacket and the French Count — Scornful behavior to a visitor from 
 Albany — Anecdotes of Red Jacket and Colonel Pickering — His vanity — 
 Launch of a sloop bearing his name — His tact — Anecdote of a dinner 
 party — Red Jacket at a trial at Batavia — His notions of law, and his 
 humor — Anecdote of Red Jacket and Captain Jones — Red Jacket and 
 the execution of the Thayers — Anecdote of Hot Bread — Opinion of 
 Thomas Morris of his character and oratory — Paintings of Red Jacket — 
 His love of the woods — 1826. 
 
 The domestic relations of Eed Jacket have tlius far 
 scarcely been adverted to. Indeed, the materials for his 
 family history are very slender. The orator had two wives. 
 The first, after having borne him a large family of children, 
 he forsook, for an alleged breach of conjugal fidelity, and 
 never received her to his favor again. In William Savary's 
 journal of the treaty of Canandaigua, in 1794, that excellent 
 friend gave an account of a visit to Red Jacket's lodge, and 
 spoke of his children, in regard to their appearance and 
 manners, in terms of gratified commendation. But a large 
 number of his children by the first wife died of consump- 
 tion while yet " in the dew of their youth." In a conver- 
 sation with that eminent medical practitioner. Dr. John 
 W. Francis, of IN'ew York, a few years before the chieftain's 
 death, on the subject of the diseases incident to the Indians, 
 Red Jacket refuted the popular notion that they were not 
 equally obnoxious with others to pulmonary complaints. 
 In support of his position he instanced the case of his own 
 
1826. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 415 
 
 family, of wHcli he said seventeen had died of consumption 
 ten or eleven of whom were his children. He felt the 
 bereavement deeply, and sometimes evinced strong emotion 
 when conversing upon the subject. On one occasion, when 
 visiting an aged lady of his acquaintance at Avon, who had 
 known him almost from his youth,^ and who was aware of 
 his domestic afflictions, she enquired whether any of his 
 children were living. He fixed his eyes upon her with a 
 sorrowful expression of countenance and replied : 
 
 Red Jacket was once a great man, and in favor with the G-reat 
 Spirit. He was a lofty pine among the smaller trees of the forest. 
 But after years of glory he degraded himself by drinking the fire 
 water of the white man. The Great Spirit has looked upon him in 
 anger, and his lightning has stripped the pine of its branches ! 
 
 For his second wife Hed Jacket married the widow of 
 a deceased chief, whose English name was Two Gruns. 
 She was one of the most amiable and respectable women 
 of her tribe. Her mind was of a superior order, and the 
 dignity of her manners and fine personal appearance ren- 
 dered her a very suitable counterpart to the noble form and 
 bearing of her husband. It is an interesting, if not remark- 
 able fact, that notwithstanding the inveterate hostility of 
 Red Jacket to the missionaries, and his confirmed pagan- 
 ism, his wife became a Christian, and several of his chil- 
 dren were believed to have died in the same faith. 
 
 It was in the year 1826 that his wife first became inte- 
 rested in the subject of religion. She was frequently seen 
 in the Christian assembly, an attentive listener to the truths 
 of the gospel, as presented from sabbath to sabbath in the 
 
 ^The late Mrs. Berry, of the Genesee valley, wife of Gilbert R. Berry, 
 one of the earliest settlers of western New York, and a trader at the Indian 
 town, once standing near the place where the turnpike crosses the Genesee 
 river at Avon. Mrs. Berry was the mother of Mrs. George Hosmer, from 
 whom I received this touching incident. Mrs. B. was a great friend of the 
 Senecas, and spoke their language (as does Mrs. Hosmer) fluently. 
 
416 The Life and Times of 1826. 
 
 plain familiar address of the missionary. She at length 
 abandoned her pagan worship altogether, became a constant 
 attendant at the mission chapel, and in the following year 
 proposed connecting herself with the little church then 
 under the pastoral charge of the Rev. Mr. Harris. This 
 proposal was strongly resisted on the part of Red Jacket. 
 He represented to her " that they had hitherto ever lived 
 in peace and harmony, and had been prosperous and happy; 
 and now if she was going to leave him , and go over and 
 join herself to the company of his political and personal 
 opponents, one thing was certain, that he should leave her 
 forever; he should never come to see her again." Soon 
 after this somewhat arbitrary communication, she went one 
 day to the house of Mr. Harris, apparently in much dis- 
 tress, to ask counsel as to the course she ought to pursue. 
 The advice can readily be anticipated. She was told that 
 God required her to be a Christian under all possible cir- 
 cumstances — that it was best to follow the dictates of her 
 conscience and the commands of Jesus Christ — and that 
 if she would humbly look to the Saviour for grace, he 
 would strengthen and comfort her under this trial, and 
 cause it '^ to work for her good." Still, althougli holding 
 the course thus indicated to be the path of duty, the mis- 
 sionary very properly observed to her that she must be 
 governed in her decision by the voice of conscience, and 
 the dictates of her own judgment. 
 
 Her resolution was soon taken to abjure the dark and 
 senseless superstitions of her people ; and in a short time 
 thereafter she was received on the profession of her faith into 
 the fellowship of the Christian church. True to his threat. 
 Red Jacket left her ; and retiring to the Tonnewanta res- 
 ervation, connected himself with a woman of that nation. 
 JSTo one questioned the sincerity or the strength of the 
 attachment of the woman thus abandoned for her husband, 
 yet she followed not after him, nor made any efforts to 
 
1826. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 417 
 
 induce Lis return. The injury was borne with a meek and 
 submissive spirit — so much so as to endear her greatly to 
 the members of the mission family, to whom she became 
 much attached, and with whom she was wont to spend 
 several hours almost every week, in Christian conversation 
 and prayer. 
 
 Red Jacket, however, was not happy while separated 
 from his loved ones at home. He was particularly fond of 
 his youngest daughter. She was accustomed to nestle upon 
 his knees, and amuse the old chieftain with her innocent 
 prattle while her little hands were entwined in his silver 
 locks. When he left his family she mourned for him, and 
 gave her mother no rest until she had consented to take her 
 to where her father lived. Mother and daughter accord- 
 ingly visited Tonnewanta; but the former with true femi- 
 nine delicacy refused either to see him or enter the house 
 where he lodged. So far as she could gratify her children 
 and cultivate their affection for their father she was willing 
 to go, but self respect forbade her to seek him. " The 
 little girl, who is now a Christian woman, threw her arms 
 around her parent's neck and kissed him. He, in turn, em- 
 braced her warmly, and told her he was coming home ; that 
 he was sorry he had left her mother, and did not think her 
 religion had done her any harm. He said, further, that 
 he had bought her some broadcloth and beads, and would 
 bring them when he came. When she left him he went 
 with her to the door of the house where her mother lodged, 
 but did not enter, and with many sobs and tears she bade 
 him adieu and returned home." 
 
 Red Jacket continued absent, in his new alliance, for six 
 or seven months, by which time he repented of his folly 
 and returned to his lawful wife, whom he urgently solicited 
 to receive him back. She did receive him, with the same 
 meek and forgiving spirit that marked her character and 
 conduct during her desertion. But it was with the con- 
 
 53 
 
418 The Life and Times oe 1825. 
 
 dition tliat she should be -unmolested in regard to her 
 religious opinions, and the discharge of her Christian 
 duties — a condition to which Red Jacket not only willingly 
 acceded, but, on assenting, said that "he knew she was a 
 better woman than before she became a Christian, and he 
 would never again molest her.'^ This promise was faith- 
 fully kept. Indeed, it would seem as if the feelings of the 
 haughty Seneca had become very much softened by his 
 voluntary exile. It is related that often on a sabbath morn- 
 ing, after his return, " the old chief would rise early and 
 awake the daughters, saying, ' Come, it is Sunday, you 
 know; get up and have the work all done, so as to go to 
 meeting with your mother; always go with your mother.' 
 Eefore he left her, his wife was obliged to steal away when 
 he did not know it. She would have her house in order, 
 and her blanket ready somewhere outside the dwelling, and 
 when the bell rang, would go quietly out, take her blanket, 
 and run. But now, when the bell rang for sabbath, or eve- 
 ning meeting, he said, ' G-o,' and though he disliked to be 
 left alone, he murmured not, and made himself as comfoii>- 
 able as he could till she returned." Their conjugal rela- 
 tions having been thus reestablished, the chieftain and his 
 wife continued to live together with their usual harmony, 
 until a divorce was pronounced by a summons from another 
 world.^ 
 
 "When, in the year 1825, General Lafayette, as the guest 
 
 ^The facts of this relation respecting Red Jacket and his second wife 
 haye been derived from the missionary, Mr. Harris, and also from Miss John- 
 son (sister of B. P. Johnson, of the New York Agricultural society), who, 
 haying lived among the Senecas for some time in the family of the Rev. Mr. 
 Wright, the missionary at the Cattaraugus reservation, has had excellent 
 opportunities for arriving at the truth. Miss Johnson is the authoress of 
 a little volume entitled the Iroquois. The work is written under her nom de 
 plume "Minnie Myrtle"— a circumstance which we cannot but think 
 unfortunate— since it gives the impression that the work (which really 
 contains valuable information), is of a light and trivial character. 
 
1825. ' Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 419 
 
 of tlie nation, was making his memorable tour of the United 
 States, being at Buffalo, Eed Jacket was among the visitors 
 who in throngs paid their respects to the veteran. Having 
 been presented to the general, the orator inquired whether 
 he remembered being at the treaty of peace with the Six 
 Nations, at Fort Stanwix, in 1784. Lafayette answered 
 that he had not forgotten that great council, and asked his 
 interrogator if he knew what had become of the young chief 
 who, on that occasion, opposed with so much eloquence 
 " the burying of the tomahawk." "ITe is before you,'' was 
 the instant reply. The general remarked to him that time 
 had wrought great changes upon both since that memora- 
 ble meeting. " Ah," rejoined Eed Jacket, " time has not 
 been so severe upon you as it has upon me. It has left you 
 a fresh countenance, and hair to cover your head ; while to 
 
 me behold ! " and taking a handkerchief from 
 
 his head, with an air of much feeling, he disclosed the fact 
 that he was nearly bald. It is added by M. Lavasseur, the 
 secretary of General Lafayette, and the French historian of 
 his tour, that the people in attendance could not help 
 laughing at the simplicity of the Indian, who appeared to 
 be ignorant how to repair the ravages of age in this respect. 
 But his simplicity was presently enlightened by the disclo- 
 sure of the fact that the general was furnished with a wig — 
 whereupon the chief, confounding a wig with a scalp, con- 
 ceived the idea of regamishing his own head by an opera- 
 tion truly Indian, at the expense of some one of his neigh- 
 bors. But this was a suggestion of pleasantry. M. Lavas- 
 seur remarked of the appearance of Eed Jacket at that 
 time — " This extraordinary man, although much worn down 
 by time and intemperance, preserves yet, in a surprising 
 degree, the exercise of all his faculties. He obstinately 
 refuses to speak any language but that of his own people, 
 a!nd affects a great dislike to all others, although it is easy 
 to discern that he perfectly understands the English. He 
 
420 The Life and Times of 1820. 
 
 refused, nevertheless, to reply to the general before his 
 interpreter had translated his questions into the Seneca lan- 
 guage."^ 
 
 Ked Jacket was ever gratified with the attentions of dis- 
 tinguished men, with whom, no matter for the height of 
 their elevation, he felt himself upon a footing of perfect 
 equality. It is related that about the year 1820, a young 
 French nobleman, who was making the tour of the United 
 States, visited the town of Buffalo. Hearing of the fame 
 of Red Jacket, and learning that his residence was but 
 seven miles distant, he sent him word that he was desirous 
 to see him, adding a request that the chief would visit him 
 in Buffalo the next day. Red Jacket received the message 
 with much contempt, and replied : " Tell the young man 
 that if he wishes to visit the old chief, he may find him with 
 his nation, where other strangers pay their respects to him ; 
 and Red Jacket will be glad to see him." The count sent 
 back his messenger, to say that he was fatigued with his 
 journey, and couM not go to the Seneca village ; that he 
 had come all the way from France to see the great orator 
 of the Senecas, and after having put himself to so much 
 trouble to see so distinguished a man, the latter could not 
 refuse to meet him at Buffalo. " Tell him," said the sar- 
 castic chief, " that it is very strange he should come so far 
 to see me, and then stop short within seven miles of my 
 lodge." The retort was richly merited. The count visited 
 him at his wigwam, and then Red Jacket accepted an invi- 
 tation to dine with him at his lodgings in Buffalo." The 
 young nobleman was greatly pleased with him, declaring 
 that he considered him a greater wonder than the falls of 
 Magara. This remark was the more striking, as it was 
 
 iLavasseur — Drake — B. B. Thatcher. M. Lavasseur was perfectly cor- 
 rect in this last suggestion. Red Jacket understood the English language 
 very well, as the author had occasion to ascertain. But he could not speak 
 it well. 
 
1820. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 421 
 
 made witMn view of the great cataract. " But," adds the 
 relator/ " it was just. He who made the world, and filled 
 it with wonders, has declared man to be the crowning work 
 of the whole creation." 
 
 But the chieftain did not always stand so sternly upon 
 his dignity, and in the case just related, it is quite possible 
 that he was more particular because of the rank of the 
 stranger, and because he was a stranger to the country. 
 On one occasion, not many years before his death, a gentle- 
 man from Albany on a visit to Buffalo, being desirous of 
 seeing the chief, sent a message to that effect. The gentle- 
 man was affluent in money, and in words, the latter flowing 
 forth with great rapidity, and in an inverse ratio to his 
 ideas. He had also a habit of approaching very near to 
 any person with whom he was conversing, and chattering 
 with almost unapproachable volubility. On receiving the 
 message, Red Jacket dressed himself with the utmost care, 
 designing, as he ever did when sober, to make the most 
 imposing impression, and came over to the village. Being 
 introduced to the stranger, he soon measured his intellectual 
 capacity, and made no effort to suppress his disappointment, 
 which indeed was suJficiently disclosed in his features. 
 After listening for a few moments to the chatter of the 
 gentleman, Red Jacket, with a look of mingled chagrin 
 and contempt, approached close to him and exclaimed — 
 " cha, cha, cha ! " as rapidly as utterance would allow. Then 
 drawing himself to his full height, he turned proudly upon his 
 heel, and walked away in the direction of his own domicile, 
 " as straight as an Indian," nor deigned to look behind while 
 in sight of the tavern. The gentleman with more money 
 than brains was for once lost in astonishment, and stood 
 longer motionless and silent than he had ever done before.^ 
 
 ^Rev. Dr. Breckenridge — vide M'Kenney's Indian Sketches. 
 * This incident was related to the author by the Hon. Mr. Moseley, of 
 Buffalo. 
 
422 The Life and Times of 1820. 
 
 A prominent trait in the Indian character is vanity. 
 The Indians are vain of their dress, of their achievements, 
 and of their talents, whenever marked by superiority ; and 
 it cannot have escaped the observation of the reader, that 
 this weakness was prominent in the disposition of Ked 
 Jacket. The organ of self esteem, according to the classifi- 
 cation of the phrenologists, was beyond doubt strongly de- 
 veloped upon his head. A few illustrations of this feature 
 in his character may not be amiss. 
 
 In the earlier years of his public life, as the reader is 
 well aware, Eed Jacket was frequently engaged in negotia- 
 tions with Timothy Pickering, of whose vigorous intel- 
 lectual powers there is no occasion to speak in this con- 
 nection. Some time after the diplomatic intercourse 
 between the colonel and himself had ceased, the former 
 was called to the state department of the federal govern- 
 ment.^ On meeting Red Jacket soon afterward, the fact 
 of this appointment was mentioned to him by his friend 
 Thomas Morris. "Yes," observed the chief : "we began 
 our public career about the same time. He knew how to 
 i^ead and write, but I did not, and therefore he has got 
 ahead of me. But had I possessed those advantages I 
 should have been ahead of him."^ 
 
 At the treaties held by him, Colonel Pickering was in 
 the practice of taking down the speeches of the Indians, 
 from the lips of the interjDreter, in writing, and in order to 
 expedite business, he would sometimes write while the 
 orator in chief was himself speaking. On one occasion, 
 when Red Jacket occupied the forum, observing that the 
 colonel continued writing, he abruptly came to a pause. 
 The colonel desired him to proceed. "ISTo," said the 
 
 1 The last treaty between the United States and the Six Nations was held 
 at Canandaigua, in 1794. Colonel Pickering was appointed secretary of 
 state by Washington, in December, 1795. 
 
 2 Letter of Thomas Morris to the author. 
 
1820. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 423 
 
 > 
 
 orator — " not while you hold down your head." " Why," 
 inquired the commissioner, " can you not go on while I 
 write ? " " Because," replied the chief, " if you look me 
 in the eye you will then perceive whether I tell you the 
 truth or not."^ 
 
 On another occasion. Colonel Pickering turned to speak 
 to a third person while Hed Jacket was addressing him. 
 The chief instantly rebuked him for his inattention with 
 great hauteur, observing, with emphasis, "When a Seneca 
 speaks he ought to be listened to with attention from one 
 extremity of this great island to the other. "^ 
 
 On returning from his visits to the seat of the federal 
 government, where, at different periods, he had several 
 interviews with General Washington, he would magnify 
 to the other Indians the importance of his reception by the 
 great chief. " I remember having seen him on one of 
 those occasions, when, after having seated the Indians 
 around him in a semicircle, taking the cocked-hat that 
 had been presented to him by General Knox, then secretary 
 of war, in his hand, he went round bowing to the Indians, 
 as though they were the company at the president's house, 
 and himself the president. He would then repeat to one 
 and another all the compliments which he chose to suppose 
 the president had bestowed upon him, and which his audi- 
 tors and admiring people supposed had been thus be- 
 stowed." ^ 
 
 Toward the close of his life he was present by invitation 
 at the launching of a schooner at Black Rock, bearing his 
 name. He made a short address on the occasion, showing 
 the estimation in which he held his own high merit. In 
 the course of this speech, addressing himself directly to 
 the vessel, he said : 
 
 1 Letter of Thomas Morris to the author. 
 
 2 Idem. 
 
 3 Letter from Thomas Morris. 
 
424 The Life and Times of 1820. 
 
 You have had a great name given to you — strive to deserve it. 
 Be brave and daring. Go boldly into the great lakes, and fear 
 neither the swift winds nor the strong waves. Be not frightened 
 nor overcome by them, for it is by resisting storms and tempests 
 that I, whose name you bear, obtained my renown. Let my great 
 example inspire you to courage and lead you to glory. ^ 
 
 He was not deficient in tact, and with true Indian cir- 
 cumspection, and his own characteristic cunning, was care- 
 ful to conceal his ignorance as to the usages of society in 
 the better circles into which he was occasionally thrown. 
 " He once, on his return from Philadelphia, told me that 
 when there he perceived many things the meaning of which 
 he did not understand, but he would not make inquiry 
 concerning them there, because they would be imputed to 
 his ignorance. He therefore had determined on his return 
 to ask me. He said that when he dined at General "Wash- 
 ington's, a man stood all the time behind his chair, and 
 would every now and then run off with his plate, and knife 
 and fork, which he would immediately replace by others. 
 
 * Now,' said Red Jacket, ' what was this for ? ' I replied to 
 him, that he must have observed, on the president's table a 
 variety of dishes, that each dish was cooked in a different 
 manner, and that plates, and the knives and forks of the 
 guests, were changed as often as they were helped from a 
 different dish. * Ah,' said he, after musing a moment, * is 
 that it? ' I replied in the affirmative. *You must then 
 suppose,' he continued, ^ that the plates, and knives and 
 forks, retain the taste of the cookery ? ' Yes, I replied. 
 
 * Have you then,' he added, ' any method by which you 
 can change your palates every time you change your 
 plates ; for I should suppose that the • taste would remain 
 on the palate longer than on the plate ? ' I replied that 
 we were in the habit of washing that away by drinking 
 
 1 Letter from the Hon. Albert H. Tracy to the author. 
 
1820. SA-ao-YE-WAT-HA, OR Red Jacket. 425 
 
 wine. * Ah,' said he, ' I now understand it. I was per- 
 suaded that so general a custom among you must be 
 founded in reason, and I only regret that when I was in 
 Philadelphia I did not understand it — when dining with 
 General Washington and your father. The moment the 
 man went off with my plate, I would have drunk wine 
 until he brought me another ; for although I am fond of 
 eating, I am more so of drinking.' "^ 
 
 Red Jacket could never become reconciled to the crimi- 
 nal law of the white men, the operation of which, in many 
 respects, he thought unequal, and consequently unjust. It 
 has been seen in a former chapter, on the trial of Stiff- 
 armed George, indicted for murder, that the Indians sup- 
 posed that drunkenness might with propriety be pleaded 
 in mitigation of a crime, whereas the white men hold it to 
 be but one crime superadded to another, and therefore 
 aggravating the offense. In like manner, he could not 
 understand the justice of the law that would punish an of- 
 fender by as long an imprisonment for stealing a trifling 
 artiele as for a larger one. An incident in point occurred 
 in the county of Genesee, about twenty years ago, which 
 will at once illustrate his views upon this subject, and his 
 humor. It happened that an Indian was indicted at Bata- 
 via, for burglary, in breaking and entering the house of 
 Mr. Ellicott, agent of the Holland Land Company, and 
 stealing some trifling article of small value, the punish- 
 ment for which was imprisonment in the state prison for 
 life — the crime of petit larceny merging itself in the 
 greater offense. Eed Jacket, with other chiefs, attended 
 the trial for the purpose of rendering all the aid and ob- 
 taining all the favor in their power for their brother in 
 bonds. The proof was clear, and a verdict of guilty fol- 
 lowed without hesitation. When the prisoner was ar- 
 
 1 Manuscript letter of Thomas Morris to the author. 
 
 54 
 
426 The Life and Times of 1820. 
 
 raigned for sentence, and tlie usual question propounded, 
 why the sentence of the law should not be pronounced, 
 Red Jacket, who had been watching the proceedings with 
 intense interest, asked permission to speak in his behalf. 
 The request being granted, he rose with his usual dignity, 
 and boldly questioned the jurisdiction of the court, and 
 asserted the independence of his nation. He contended 
 that the Senecas were the allies, not the subjects of the 
 whites — that his nation had laws for the punishment of 
 theft — and that the offender in the present case ought to 
 be delivered up to them, to be tried according to the 
 usages, and suffer according to the laws of his own people 
 — assuring the court that, in the event of his surrender, the 
 culprit should be thus tried and punished. His manner 
 on the occasion was particularly fine, even for him. But 
 his argument was not sufficiently powerful to avert the 
 sentence, which was pronounced in due form. The orator 
 was dissatisfied at the result. Estimating the measure of 
 delinquency by the pecuniary loss, he could not perceive 
 the justice of incarcerating a man for life, who had only 
 stolen a few spoons of small value, when another offender, 
 who had stolen a horse, was sentenced to but a few years 
 imprisonment. After the proceedings were over, in pas- 
 sing from the court house to the inn, in company with a 
 group of lawyers, Eed Jacket discerned upon the sign of a 
 printing office the arms of the state, with the emblematical 
 representation of Liberty and Justice, emblazoned in large 
 figures and characters.^ The chieftain stopped, and point- 
 ing to the figure of Liberty, asked in broken English — 
 " What — him — calW He was answered, "Liberty." 
 " Ugh ! " was the significant and truly aboriginal response. 
 Then pointing to the other figure, he inquired — " What — 
 Aim — calif He was answered, " Justice," — to which 
 
 1 Related to the author by George Hosmer, Esq., of Avon, who was pre- 
 sent at the scene in the court house, and also in the street. 
 
1820. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 427 
 
 witLi a kindling eye he instantly replied, by asking — 
 " Where — Mm — live — now ? " 
 
 Captain Jones, who was so long connected with the 
 Indians as a resident of their country, and an interpreter, 
 had been adopted by Red Jacket as a son, according to the 
 customs of that people. On a certain occasion, owing to 
 the slanderous imputations of some mischief makers of his 
 nation, Red Jacket entertained a suspicion that Jones was 
 actuated by motives of self interest, and did not regard the 
 welfare of the Indians. Shortly after his mind was thus 
 poisoned in reference to his friend, he met the captain at 
 the hotel of Timothy Hosmer, in Avon, Jones advanced 
 to greet the chief with his accustomed cordiality of manner, 
 but was received with haughty distrust and coldness. 
 After the lapse of a few minutes, during which time the 
 questions of Jones were answered in monosyllables, the 
 captain asked an explanation of Red Jacket for his con- 
 duct. Fixing his searching glance upon him as if reading 
 the secrets of his soul. Red Jacket told him of the rumor 
 circulated in reference to his fidelity to the Indians, and 
 concluded by saying with a saddened expression — ^' And 
 have you at last deserted us ? " The look, the tone, the 
 attitude of the orator, were so touching, so despairing, 
 that Jones, though made of stern materials, wept like a 
 child, at the same time refuting the calumny in the most 
 energetic terms.^ Convinced that Jones was still true, the 
 chief, forgetful of the stoicism of his race, mingled his tears 
 with his, and embracing him vrith the cordiality of old, the 
 reconciled parties renewed old friendships over a social glass.^ 
 
 iThis incident, and the touching and almost pathetic inquiry of Red 
 Jacket, remind one of the dying words which the dramatists have put into 
 the mouth of Caesar, when he discovered Brutus among the conspirators — 
 " Et tu Brute ? Wilt thou stab Caesar too ? " Or in the words of another 
 author — *' And Brutus thou my sonne, whom erst I loved best." 
 
 2 Related to the author by W. H. C. Hosmer, of Avon, 
 
428 The Life and Times of 1821. 
 
 Eed Jacket did not relish being trifled witli, even in 
 playfulness. At one of his visits to the house of Captain 
 Jones, on taking his seat at the breakfast table with the 
 family, Mrs. Jones, knowing his extreme fondness for 
 sugar, mischievously prepared his coffee without the addi- 
 tion of that luxury. On discovering the cheat, the chief 
 looked at the captain with an offended expression, and 
 thus rebuked him: "My son!" — stirring his cup with 
 energy — " do you allow your squaw thus to trifle with your 
 father ? " Perceiving at the same time by the giggling of 
 the children, that they had entered into the joke, he con- 
 tinued — " And do you allow your children to make sport 
 of their chief? " Jones and his wife thereupon apologized, 
 and the latter made the amende honorable by handing him 
 the sugar bowl, which he took, and with half angry sarcasm 
 filled his cup to the brim with sugar. The liquid not hold- 
 ing so large a quantity in solution, he ate the whole with a 
 spoon.^ 
 
 Red Jacket was not gratified with scenes of human suf- 
 fering. Some four or ^YOi years before his death, there was 
 an execution of three brothers at Buffalo, named Thayer. 
 They had been convicted of murdering a man several years 
 before, named Lane, the discovery of whose remains caused 
 much excitement, and altogether the extraordinary circum-^ 
 stances with which the case was invested, caused a great 
 sensation in Western ]^ew York. On the day when the 
 unhappy brothers were executed, while the whole civilized 
 population of that region, of both sexes, was crowding the 
 roads to Buffalo to behold the exit of three of their fellow 
 beings upon the scaffold, Eed Jacket was met by Judge 
 Walden, of Buffalo, wending his way from the town to his 
 own home. The judge inquired where he was going, at 
 the same time expressing his astonishment that he did not 
 
 1 Related to Mr. Hosmer by Mrs. Jones, in May, 1840. 
 
1821. SA-ao-TE-wAT-HA, OR Eed Jacket. 429 
 
 join tlie multitude wIlo were pressing the other way to see 
 the execution. The answer of the chief was brief: " Fools 
 
 enough there already Battle is the place to see men 
 
 die." This reply was a severe rebuke, as just as senten- 
 tious, of that strange and discreditable curiosity unac- 
 countably prevailing among both sexes of all nations, to 
 witness the awful spectacles of public executions.^ 
 
 Although fond of the pleasures of the table himself, yet 
 no man had a more thorough contempt for the mere sensu- 
 alist or gormand than Red Jacket. Many years ago, 
 before the Indian towns were broken up along the valley 
 of the Genesee, a clan of the Senecas resided at Connawau- 
 gus, in the vicinity of the present town of Avon. The 
 chief of this clan was a good easy man named Hoi Bread, 
 He was a hereditary sachem, not having risen by merit — 
 was weak and inefficient, and of gluttonous habits. On a 
 certain occasion, when Mr. Hosmer was accompanying 
 Red Jacket to an Indian council, in the course of general 
 conversation he enquired the chiefs opinion of Hot Bread.' 
 " Waugh ! " exclaimed Eed Jacket: " He has a little place 
 at Connawaugus — big enough for him. Big man here," 
 (laying his left hand upon his abdomen), " but very small 
 here," bringing the palm of his right hand with significant 
 emphasis upon his forehead. 
 
 As to the general manners- of Red Jacket, his intellectual 
 character, his personal appearance, and the power and 
 studied graces of his oratory, a gentleman who knew him 
 intimately for almost half a century has written thus: 
 "When I first knew Red Jacket he was in his prime, 
 being probably about thirty-six years of age. He was 
 decidedly the most eloquent man amongst the Six JSTations, 
 His stature was rather above than below the middle size. 
 He was well made. His eyes were fine, and expressive of 
 
 Related to the author by the lady of George Hosmer. 
 
430 The Life and Times op 1821. 
 
 the intellect of wMcli he possessed an uncommon portion. 
 His address, particularly when he spoke in council, was 
 very fine, and almost majestic. He was decidedly the most 
 graceful public speaker I ever heard. He was fluent, with- 
 out being too rapid. You could always tell when he meant 
 to speak, from the pains he would take before he arose to 
 arrange the silver ornaments on his arms, and the graceful 
 fold that he would give to his blanket. On rising he 
 would first turn toward the Indians, and bespeak their 
 attention to what he meant to say in their behalf to the com- 
 missioner of the United States. He would then turn toward 
 the commissioner, and bending toward him with a slight but 
 dignified inclination of the head, proceed. There is much 
 more decorum in the Indian councils than in any of our 
 public bodies. When any chief thinks that the speaker 
 has omitted or forgotten any thing that ought to be dwelt 
 upon, he places himself quite near to the speaker, and in 
 the most delicate and quiet manner, his voice not louder 
 than a whisper, prompts him, while the whole assembly in 
 their peculiar manner encourage by cheering the orator."^ 
 Deprived as were the Indians of the unspeakable advan- 
 tages of a written language, and depending altogether upon 
 tradition for the preservation of both their official and 
 unofficial history, the cultivation of the rnemory was an 
 object of the first importance among them.^ The provi- 
 
 1 Letter to the author from Thomas Morris. 
 
 2 There is reason to believe that the orators of the Six Nations were as 
 carefal in the study of their speeches — -those especially which were to be 
 delivered on great occasions — as were the orators of Greece and Rome. 
 The author has been informed by that veteran legislator, General Erastus 
 Root, that he was a member of the senate of New York when the celebrated 
 letter, or speech, of Farmer's Brother, containing the passage which has 
 been so much admired — '* The Great Spirit spake to the whirlwind audit wan 
 still," was presented to that body. The general says that it struck him so 
 forcibly at the time, that he called for a second reading, which was had. 
 Soon afterward, in a conversation with Mr. Parish, so long the interpreter 
 
1821. Sa-go-te-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 431 
 
 sions of their treaties, it is well known, were preserved 
 with great accuracy, and for generations, by means of belts, 
 with strings of wampum — each string, being different, was 
 in fact a record of some particular article or provision of a 
 treaty. These belts were deposited in their council lodges 
 with great care, and the signification of each particular 
 string was carefully repeated from father to son, or from 
 chief to chief in the succession, until thoroughly fixed in 
 the memory. By this process, the stipulations of every 
 treaty were so deeply impressed upon the mind, that by 
 the aid of the belt they were at any time, when occasion 
 required, brought to fresh remembrance. This cultivation 
 of the art of mnemonics would necessarily be carried to its 
 greatest perfection by a chief of Red Jacket's intellectual 
 powers and ambition, and the following incident has been 
 preserved as an illustration of his accuracy : " In a council 
 which was held with the Senecas by G-overnor Tompkins, 
 of 'New York, a contest arose between that gentleman and 
 Ked Jacket, as to a fact connected with a treaty of many 
 years' standing. The American agent stated one thing 
 and the Indian chief corrected him — insisting that the 
 reverse of his assertion was true. But it was rejoined — 
 ^ You have forgotten. We have it wiitten down on paper.' 
 ' The paper then tells a lie,' was the confident answer ; ^ I 
 have it written down here,' he added, placing his hand with 
 
 of the Senecas, the general inquired of him whether it was not the habit of 
 the interpreters to embellish the speeches of the Indian orators. His reply 
 was an exclamation of surprise at the suggestion. So far from it, Mr. Parish 
 averred that it was altogether impossible for him to impart to the transla- 
 tions any thing like the force and beauty of the originals. He also stated 
 that on great occasions, the Indian orators, Red Jacket and Farmer's Bro- 
 ther in particular, not only studied their speeches, and conned them well, 
 but would send to him for rehearsals, in order that they might be assured 
 that he understood them fully, and could translate them with accuracy. 
 They were alike vain and ambitious of appearing well in the reports of 
 their speeches. 
 
432 The Life and Times op 1828. 
 
 great dignity upon his brow. ' You Yankees are born with 
 a feather between your fingers, but your paper does not 
 speak the truth. The Indian keeps his knowledge here — 
 this is the book the Great Spirit gave them ; it does not 
 lie.^ A reference was immediately made to the treaty in 
 question, when to the astonishment of all present, and the 
 triumph of the unlettered statesman, the document con- 
 firmed every word he had uttered."^ 
 
 There are no portraits of Red Jacket extant, taken in 
 early life, or even when in the prime of his manhood, 
 although many efibrts were made by the artists of 'New 
 York and Philadelphia, and also by other gentlemen, dur- 
 ing his visits to those cities, to induce him to sit. His re- 
 ply to all importunities upon the subject, for many years, 
 was, that when Eed Jacket died, all that appertained to 
 him should die with him. He wished nothing to remain. 
 But this purpose was changed in the autumn of 1820, 
 through the interposition of the blacksmith of the tribe, 
 and he was induced to sit to Mr. Mathies, a self taught 
 artist, residing at Rochester. Indeed, his reluctance was 
 readily overcome by an appeal to his vanity — Mr. Mathies 
 having assured him that his only motive was to obtain a 
 likeness to be placed by the side of the portraits of other 
 great men of the United States. He sat three times to 
 Mathies, and the picture is said to be very good. The 
 rubicon having been passed, there was less dijBBLculty in 
 prevailing upon him to favor other artists, among whom 
 was the distinguished delineator of Indians, Mr. George 
 Catlin, who painted him twice. Henry Inman also made 
 a sketch of him — a head only — which is thought very 
 spirited. But the picture by Mr. Robert W. "Weir, taken 
 in 1828, at the request of Doctor John W. Francis, of ]S"ew 
 York, is of far the highest order of merit, and has become 
 
 M'Kenney's Indian Biography. 
 
1828. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 433 
 
 the standard likeness of " the last of the Seneca orators." 
 An acquaintance of several years, and the reception of 
 some trifling presents from Doctor Francis, had enabled 
 the latter to induce a promise from the old chief to sit, on 
 his next visit to ISTew York. This happened in the year 
 last mentioned ; when, with his interpreter, Jemison, he 
 very promptly repaired to the painting room of Mr. Weir. 
 " For this purpose he dressed himself in the costume 
 which he deemed most appropriate to his character, deco- 
 rated with his brilliant overcovering and belt, his toma- 
 hawk and Washington medal. For the whole period of 
 nearly two hours, on four or ^ye successive days, he was 
 as punctual to the arrangements of the artist as any indi- 
 vidual could be. He chose a large arm chair for his con- 
 venience, while his interpreter, as well as himself, was 
 occupied, for the most part, in surveying the various 
 objects which decorated the artist's room. He had a party 
 of several Senecas with him, who, adopting the horizontal 
 position, in different parts of the room, regaled themselves 
 with the fames of tobacco to their utmost gratification. 
 Red Jacket occasionally united in this relaxation ; but was 
 so deeply absorbed in attention to the work of the painter 
 as to think, perhaps, of no other subject. At times he 
 manifested extreme pleasure, as the outlines of the picture 
 were filled up. The drawing of his costume, which he 
 seemed to prize, as peculiarly appropriate, and the distant 
 view of the falls of Niagara — scenery at no great distance 
 from his residence at the reservation — forced him to an 
 indistinct utterance of his satisfaction. When his medal 
 appeared complete in the picture, he addressed his in- 
 terpreter, accompanied by striking gestures ; and when 
 his noble front was finished, he sprang upon his feet 
 with great alacrity, and seizing the artist by the hand, 
 exclaimed, with great energy, ^ Good ! good ! ' The paint- 
 ing being finished, he parted with Mr. Weir with a satis- 
 
 55 
 
434 The Life and Times of 1828. 
 
 faction apparently equal to that wMcli he doubtless, on 
 some occasions, had felt, on effecting an Indian treaty. 
 Red Jacket must have been beyond his seventieth year 
 when the painting was made. He exlaibited in his counte- 
 nance somewhat of the traces of time and trial on his 
 constitution. ISTevertheless he was of a tall and erect form, 
 and walked with a firm gait. His characteristics are pre- 
 served by the artist to admiration ; and his majestic front 
 exhibits an attitude surpassing every other that I have 
 ever seen of the human skull. As a specimen for the 
 craniologist, Red Jacket need not yield his pretensions to 
 those of the most astute philosopher. He will long live by 
 the painting of Weir, the poetry of Halleck, and the fame 
 of his own deeds. "^ 
 
 Red Jacket loved his native forests, and no music was 
 to him so sad as the sounds of approaching civilization, 
 before which they were destined to fall. Every blow of 
 the woodman's axe sent a pang to his heart. The crash 
 of a falling tree sounded more painfully upon his ears 
 than the jar of an earthquake. An anecdote, illustrative 
 of his feelings upon this subject, will complete the present 
 chapter. In the days of his youth he was wont to join the 
 hunters in the beautiful valley of the Genesee with great 
 enthusiasm. Game was then plenty, and those were in- 
 deed the finest hunting grounds he could traverse. Toward 
 the close of his life he went thither to indulge once more 
 in the chase, where a forest, apparently of considerable 
 extent, yet remained. He entered it, recognizing some of 
 his ancient friends among the more venerable of the trees, 
 
 1 Letter from Doctor J. W. Francis to William Dunlap, vide Dunlap's 
 History of the American Arts of Design. Doctor Francis held many conver- 
 sations with Red Jacket, some of which were upon the subject of the dis- 
 eases to which the Indians were subject. He was quite descriptive in his 
 statements, and seemed sufficiently qualified to make a number of very fnir 
 distinctions in relation to the subject. — Conversations of Dr. Francis with 
 the author. 
 
1828. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 435 
 
 and hopmg yet to find abundant game. But lie had not 
 proceeded far before be approached an opening, and his 
 course was presently impeded by a fence, within the en- 
 closure of which one of the pale faces was engaged in 
 guiding the plough. With a heavy heart he turned in 
 another direction, the forest seeming yet to be deep, and 
 where he hoped to find a deer, as in the days when he was 
 young. But he had not traveled long before another 
 opening broke upon his view, another fence impeded his 
 course, and another cultivated field appeared within. He 
 sat down and wept.^ 
 
 1 Related to the author by a Seneca chief. 
 
[ 436 ] 
 
 CHAPTER XIV. 
 
 Disquietude of Red Jacket's latter days — Successes of the missionaries — 
 Disaffection of his tribe — Formally deposed — His chagrin and journey 
 to Washington — Interview with Colonel M'Kenney — Returns tb the 
 reservation, prepared to make concessions — Rouses himself to energetic 
 action — A great council — Another speech — His restoration to his 
 former rank — Sinks into mental imbecility — Visits Washington, New 
 York, Boston and Albany — Exhibits himself at the museums — Speech 
 at Albany, contrasting the characters of Washington and Jackson — His 
 consciousness of approaching death, and preparations therefor — Relent- 
 ings towards the missionary — The last council convoked by Red Jacket 
 for purposes of conciliation — Last sickness, death and funeral — Conduct 
 of the neighboring infidels — Speculations and reflections on the fate of 
 the Indians — Lord Erskine — Opinions of Dr. Ramsay and General Ben- 
 jamin Lincoln — Conclusion of Red Jacket — Tablet to his memory — 
 1827-1830. 
 
 The last three years of Eed Jacket's life afforded Mm no 
 season of repose. For a long period after he obtained the 
 ascendency over the Cornplanter, and especially after the 
 death of Farmer's Brother, which event occurred shortly 
 after the close of the last war between England and the 
 United States, E,ed Jacket had borne almost undisputed 
 sway over his people — those of them, especially, whom he 
 could so far control as to keep in a measure from what he 
 conceived to be the contaminating influences of Christianity 
 and civilization. But notwithstanding his vigilance, his 
 inflexibility and his energy, those influences were too power- 
 ful for him to resist. A dense white population had by 
 this time surrounded each of their several reservations. 
 The missionaries and schoolmasters were indefatigable in 
 their efforts, and his people, on every hand, were at length 
 in daily and necessary communication and association with 
 the whites. Those who yet adhered to their paganism were 
 
1827-1830. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 437 
 
 nevertheless neglecting to celebrate their feasts by the usual 
 rites, and were in fact abandoning their grosser ceremonies 
 and superstitions.^ It may readily be conceived that, to a 
 mind like Red Jacket's, at once vigorous and clear, these 
 superstitions, or at least the uncouth observances by which 
 they were attended, had no intrinsic value ; but he looked 
 upon them as conservative in their operation — as potent 
 and effectual barriers against the tide of innovation which 
 he could not but perceive, would in the end prove fatal to 
 his own authority, and from which he apprehended the 
 most disastrous consequences to his people. He was deeply 
 impressed with the conviction that the white and red races 
 could not exist together ; and it was his anxious policy and 
 wish to keep up between them every wall of separation 
 afforded by difference of habits, language, costume and 
 religion. Therefore he deprecated and resisted to his utmost 
 ability every attempt at departure from the ancient nation- 
 ality of his race. The arts of civilization were gradually 
 advancing among them, though in their simplest state; 
 and the indomitable Indian, who looked with scorn upon 
 these things, and beheld their advance with vexation, was 
 doomed to see the ranks of his pagan followers almost 
 daily thinned by the desertion both of chiefs and people to 
 the Christian party.^ By this latter party he had for years 
 been looked upon with no eye of friendship, much as they 
 
 1 Yet incredible as the statement may appear, in the year 1830 there was 
 an infidel white man in a neighboring town, who went among the Indians 
 at Cattaraugus, convened a meeting of them, and endeavored to persuade 
 them against Christianity. He even went so far as to endeavor to induce 
 them to renew their pagan dances, and other cast off abominations of 
 heathenism. But the Indians scouted his proposals, and one of them 
 denounced him, not inaptly, as the Devil's minister. — Vide Missionary 
 Herald for 1830. 
 
 2 The Rev. Mr, Harris, whose own particular station was at the Seneca 
 
 village Red Jacket's town — was likewise the general superintendent of 
 
 the several missions among the Six Nations, and his labors for the nine 
 years of his residence there were equally unwearied and effective. In the 
 
438 The Life and Times of Red Jacket. 1827-1830. 
 
 admired Ms talents. Those who had truly imbibed the 
 principles of Christianity could not longer repose confidence 
 of any kind in the great champion of paganism ; and those 
 who had begun to taste the comforts of civilization, having 
 incurred the hostility of the orator, by showing a dis- 
 
 year 1826 the school at the Seneca village had become so forward as to be 
 an object of curiosity for strangers to visit. The children had indeed made 
 a remarkable degree of proficiency. At the same date the Cattaraugus 
 mission had made very encouraging progress. Not only v^ere the children 
 taught in the schools, but under the impulse given by the missionaries, the 
 people were making rapid advances in the arts of husbandry-^ in the 
 fencing and general cultivation of their farms. They had, also, voluntarily, 
 and at their own cost, built a church. In the year 1827 the Sunday school 
 of the Seneca village was attended numerously, and with great interest. 
 In addition to the children, about eighty adults were in attendance upon 
 these schools, receiving instruction from their own children, and in some 
 instances from their grand children. It was in this year that Red Jacket's 
 wife began to manifest an interest in Christianity, as stated in the preceding 
 chapter ; visiting Mr. Harris and acknowledging the struggles of her 
 conscience in conforming to heathen rites. In the year 1828 the Indians of 
 the Seneca village built a comfoi'table church, contributing one thousand 
 dollars in money, and supplying the lumber from their own saw mill. 
 There were at that time twenty-one members of the church. In 1830 the 
 church at Seneca village contained forty -nine members ; at Tuscarora? 
 fourteen ; at Cattaraugus twenty-three. The Seneca school had then fifty 
 children ; the Cattaraugus thirty-five ; the Tuscarora twenty. Temperance 
 societies had also been formed, and the use of ardent spirits totally aban- 
 doned by the members. A white farmer among them having brought a 
 barrel of whisky upon the reservation, for his harvest, the Indians took 
 possession thereof, and poured it upon the ground. Mr. Harris had trans- 
 lated the gospel of Luke into the Seneca language, and also a small collec- 
 tion of prayers, and a spelling book, all of which had been printed. In 
 cases of church discipline, there were instances in which oflfending members, 
 their feelings softened, and their savage natures changed by the spirit of 
 the gospel, instead of showing the implacable and revengeful dispositions 
 characteristic of their race, submitted to the church authorities with the 
 docility and quietness inculcated by the principles of the new religion they 
 had professed. In consequence of the improvement of their moral and 
 social condition their numbers, instead of longer diminishing, began to 
 increase. On the three reservations of Seneca, Cattaraugus, and Alleghany, 
 by a census taken by order of the secretary of war, in 1830, there had been 
 an increase to the number of 294 in three years. There was also a corres- 
 ponding increase of flocks and herds, and an augmentation of the means 
 of domestic comfort. Consult the Missionary Herald, from 1821 to 1831. 
 
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 1827. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 441 
 
 position to throw off tlie savage state, could not of necessity 
 ^remain upon terms of cordiality with. him. On the con- 
 trary, hy his continued opposition to their moral and social 
 / / improvement, they came to regard him as an enemy — or 
 at least a foe to their best interests. Meantime his habits 
 had become so extremely dissipated, that by all the better 
 portion of his people he was considered as in every respect 
 morally worthless. Under these circumstances, the Chris- 
 tian party determined upon his deposition — a measure of 
 exceedingly rare occurrence among the Indians. The 
 council for this purpose was held in September, 1827, and 
 the following act of deposition^ was drawn up, adopted, 
 
 1 This remarkable document was signed by the following chiefs, among 
 whom it will be observed, were Young King, Captain Pollard, Little Billy, 
 Twenty Canoes, Doxtater, Two Guns, Barefoot, and others who had been 
 partizans of Red Jacket in his better days. 
 
 Ga-yan-quia-ton, or Young King, X ^'^^ mark. 
 Ha-lon-to-wa-nen, or Captain Pollard, X ^i^ mark. 
 Jish-ja-ga, or Little Billy, X ^^^ mark. 
 Ya-on-yau-go, or Seneca White, X ^is mark. 
 Is-nish-har-de, or James Stevenson, X ^^^ mark. 
 Go-non-da-gie, or Destroy Town, X ^^^ mark. 
 Ho-no-ja-cya, or Tall Peter, X ^^^ mark. 
 Yut-wau-nou-ha, or Little Johnson, X ^is mark. 
 
 White Chief, X ^^s mark. 
 Ha-sen-nia-wall, or White Seneca, X ^is mark. 
 Yen-nau-qua, or Doxtater, X ^^^ mark. 
 Ha-ja-on-quist, or Henry Two Guns, X ^^is mark. 
 Ska-ta-ga-onyes, or Twenty Canoes, X ^is mark. 
 Ha-squi-sau-on, or James Stevenson, jun., X tis mark. 
 0-qui-ye-sou, or Captain Strong, X ^^^ mark. 
 Ya-yout-ga-ah, or Captain Thompson, X ^^^ mark. 
 
 George Silverheels, X ^is mark. 
 William Jones, X ^is mark. 
 James Robinson, X ^is mark. 
 Blue-eyes, 'X his mark. 
 John Pierce, X liis mark. 
 Sa-he-o-qui-au-don-qui, or Little Beard, X liis mark. 
 
 Barefoot, X t^is mark. 
 Lewis Rainy, x liis mark. 
 Captain Jones, X his mark. 
 
 56 
 
442 The Life and Times of 1827. 
 
 and signed by the chiefs. It was written in the Seneca 
 tongue, but translated into English for publication, by Dr. 
 Jemison, himself a half breed, retaining his connection 
 with the Indians : 
 
 We, the chiefs of the Seneca tribe, of the Six Nations, say to 
 you, Sa-go-ye-wat-ha (or Red Jacket), that you have a long time 
 disturbed our councils; that you have procured some white men to 
 assist you in sending a great number of false stories to our father 
 the president of the United States, and induced our people to sign 
 those falsehoods at Tonnawanta as chiefs of our tribe, when you 
 knew they were not chiefs ; that you have opposed the improvement 
 of our nation, and made divisions and disturbances among our 
 people ; that you have abused and insulted our great father the presi- 
 dent 'y that you have not regarded the rules which make the Great 
 Spirit love us, and which make his red children do good to each 
 other ', that you have a bad heart, because in a time of great distress, 
 when our people were starving, you took and hid the body of a 
 deer you had killed, when your starving brothers should have 
 shared their proportions of it with you; that the last time our 
 father the president was fighting against the king across the great 
 waters, you divided us — you acted against our father the president, 
 and his officers, and advised with those who were not friends; 
 that you have prevented, and always discouraged our children from 
 going to school, where they could learn, and abused and lied 
 about our people who were willing to learn, and about those who 
 were offering to instruct them how to worship the Great Spirit in 
 the manner Christians do; that you have always placed yourself 
 before them who would be instructed, and have done all you could to 
 prevent their going to schools ; that you have taken goods to your 
 own use, which were received as annuities, and which belonged to 
 orphan children, and to old people; that for the last ten years you 
 have often said the communications of our great father to his red 
 children were forgeries made up at New York by those who wanted 
 to buy our lands ; that you left your wife, because she joined the 
 Christians, and worshiped the Great Spirit as they do, knowing that 
 she was a good woman ; that we have waited for nearly ten years for 
 
1827. SA-ao-YE-WAT-HA, OR Red Jacket. 443 
 
 you to reform and do better; but are now discouraged, as you 
 declare you never will receive instructions from those who wish to 
 do us good, as our great father advises, and induced others to 
 hold the same language. 
 
 We might say a great many other things, which make you an 
 enemy to the G-reat Spirit, and also to your own brothers, but we 
 have said enough, and now renounce you as a chief, and from this 
 time you are forbid to act as such — all of our nation will here- 
 after regard you as a private man, and we say to them all, that 
 every one, who shall do as you have done, if a chief, will in like 
 manner be disowned, and set back where he started from by his 
 brethren. 
 
 Declared at the council house of the Seneca 
 nation, Sept. 15, 1827. 
 
 A melanclioly picture of fallen greatness ! ISTor can it 
 be denied that in many of its lineaments it was drawn 
 with but too much fidelity. Still, the artist may have 
 been moved to darken the portraiture by personal ani- 
 mosity or political hate. The charges may have been 
 multiplied in the heat of party asperity, and magnified 
 by the bitterness of religious dissension; while it may 
 well be questioned whether one of the most heinous items 
 in the declaration was not positively untrue. Certainly 
 there is no evidence, of antecedent date, whereon to found 
 a charge of treachery to the cause of the United States, 
 by Red Jacket, during the last war with England. On 
 the contrary, although not often personally valiant in fight, 
 yet, almost from the day of the declaration of that war by 
 the United States, until its close, Red Jacket was active 
 and eloquent in their behalf. He was no more suspected 
 of treachery than he was of courage, by the American 
 officers in the service, and his character should be relieved 
 from thut imputation. Yet there were charges enough 
 specified in the declaration, that were true, to warrant the 
 procedure. 
 
444 The Life and Times of 1827-1830. 
 
 But the orator was not prepared to submit to his official 
 degradation without an effort to regain his position ; nor 
 had the energy of his mind been so far impaired by his 
 intemperance as to render him incapable of exertion. 
 Perhaps he yet felt, occasionally, both the consciousness 
 of his power and the sting of his shame.^ Be it so or not, 
 he "was greatly affected by this decision, and made a 
 journey to Washington to lay his griefs before his great 
 father the president. His first call, on arriving at the 
 seat of government, was upon Colonel M'Kenney, the 
 commissioner then in charge of the Indian bureau. That 
 officer had previously been informed of all that had occurred 
 upon the subject among the Senecas, and of the decision 
 of the council, and the cause of it. After the customary 
 shaking of hands, the old Seneca thus opened his message : 
 ' I have a taljk: for my father.' ' Tell him,' answered Colo- 
 nel M'Kenney to the interpreter, — ^ I have one for him. 
 I will make it first, and will then listen to him.' The chief 
 of the Indian bureau then proceeded to narrate all that 
 had passed between the two parties, taking care not to 
 omit even the minute incidents that had combined to pro- 
 duce the rupture between the Christian and pagan parties, 
 and the deposition of the chief of the latter. He sought 
 to convince Red Jacket that a spirit of forbearance on his 
 part, and the yielding to the Christian party of the right, 
 which he claimed for himself, to believe as he pleased on 
 the subject of the Christian religion, would have prevented 
 the mortifying result of his expulsion from office and 
 power. At the conclusion of this talk, during which Eed 
 Jacket never took his eye from the speaker, the chief 
 turned to the interpreter, saying, with his finger pointing 
 in the direction of his people, — ' Our Eather has got a 
 long eye ! ' He then proceeded to vindicate himself and 
 
 ^ Thatcher's Indian Biography. 
 
1827-1830. Sa-go-te-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 445 
 
 his cause, and to pour out upon the black coats the vials 
 of his wrath. The result of the conference was an arrange- 
 ment between the Indian commissioner and the chief, that 
 the latter should return home, and there, in a council to 
 be convened for that purpose, express his willingness to 
 bury the hatchet, and leave it to those who might choose 
 to be Christians, to adopt the ceremonies and creed of that 
 religion ; whilst for himself, and those who thought like 
 him, he claimed the privilege to follow the faith of his 
 fathers.^" 
 
 On his return to the reservation, Red Jacket entered 
 upon the work of retrieving his character, and wiping off 
 the disgrace, by regaining his position, in earnest, and with 
 an energy becoming the meridian of his manhood. " It 
 shall not be said of me," thought the venerable orator, 
 with the gleam of a fiery soul in his eye, " it shall not be 
 "^said that Sa-go-ye-wat-ha lived in insignificance and died 
 in dishonor. Am I too feeble to revenge myself of my 
 enemies ? Am not I as I have been ? " ^ In a word he 
 aroused himself to a great effort, and pains were taken 
 to procure a full attendance at a grand council, to be 
 composed of all that could be gathered from the remaining 
 of the whole Six JS'ations. The council was hold en at the 
 upper council house of the principal reservation, in the 
 neighborhood of Buffalo. The business for which it was 
 assembled having been stated, and the act of deposition^ by 
 the Christian party read. Half Town, a chief from the 
 
 1 The authority for this interview is Colonel M'Kenney himself, whose 
 language has in part been adopted. 
 
 2 Thatcher's Indian Biography. ■^ 
 
 3 Such is the statement of Thatcher, the only authority the author has 
 discovered for the account of this council. But the statement of Half 
 Town must certainly have been exaggerated, inasmuch as O-qui-ye-sou, or 
 Captain Strong, always a chief of consideration among the Cattaraugus 
 Indians, was one of the signers of the act of deposition. 
 
446 The Life and Times oe 1827-1830. 
 
 Cattaraugus reservation, rose and declared tliat there was 
 but one voice in his section of the nation, and that of 
 general indignation at the contumely cast on so great a 
 man as Red Jacket. Several other chiefs addressed the 
 council to the same effect. After these declarations, and 
 a farther interchange of views, the condemned orator rose 
 slowly as if grieved and humiliated, and after a solemn 
 pause, but with somewhat of his ancient dignity and 
 grandeur of manner, spoke as follows : 
 
 My Brothers ! You have this day been correctly informed of 
 an attempt to make me sit down and throw off the authority of a 
 chief, by twenty-six misguided chiefs of my nation. You have 
 heard the statements of my associates in council and their explana- 
 tions of the foolish charges brought against me. I have taken the 
 legal and proper way to meet those charges. It is the only way in 
 which I could notice them. They are charges which I despise, and 
 which nothing could induce me to notice, but the concern -v^hich 
 many respected chiefs of my nation feel in the character of their 
 aged comrade. Were it otherwise I should not be before you. I 
 would fold my arms, and sit quietly under these ridiculous slanders. 
 The Christian party have not even proceeded legally, according to 
 our usages, to put me down. Ah ! It grieves my heart when I 
 look around me and see the situation of my people — in old times 
 united and powerful — now divided and feeble. I feel sorry for my 
 nation. When I am gone to the other world — when the Great 
 Spirit calls me away — who among my people can take my place ? 
 Many years have I guided the nation. 
 
 * * * * * Hi * 
 
 In the report of these proceedings the connected speech 
 ends thus abruptly. But it is added that the chief pro- 
 ceeded in an artful manner to rehearse the history of what 
 some have called his persecution, and to repel the various 
 attacks that had been made against him. Eecurring again 
 to the subject with which his heart was always fall, viz. : 
 the evils befalling his people, by reason of the countenance 
 
1829. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Ebd Jacket. 447 
 
 they were giving to Cliristianity, and the disgrace which 
 should attach to them for their abandonment of the faith 
 of their fathers — he proceeded once more to denounce, 
 with his wonted vehemence, the black coats. He said that 
 in a conference with Mr. Calhoun, four years before,^ he 
 had been told that the Indians might treat these black 
 coats just as they thought proper, and the government 
 would not interfere. " I will not consent,'' he concluded — 
 sagaciously identifying his disgrace with his opposition 
 to Christianity — " I will not consent silently to be trampled 
 under foot. As long as I can raise my voice I will oppose 
 the black coats. As long as I can stand in my moccasins 
 I will do all I can for my nation." 
 
 The result of the council corresponded with the promises 
 made to him at Washington, and he was restored to his 
 former rank by a unanimous vote. But the excitement of 
 the occasion b«ing over, the orator sank rapidly into a 
 state of comparative imbecility — a condition, both of 
 body and mind, prematurely superinduced by strong 
 drink. Indeed, the energies he had put forth in these 
 proceedings resembled rather the unnatural mental and 
 bodily vigor often exhibited by dying people, arousing 
 from stupor and exhaustion just before the hour of dissolu- 
 tion, than the healthful intellectual action which character- 
 ized his better days. 
 
 He nevertheless visited the Atlantic cities once or twice 
 after his restoration. His last journey to the city of 
 "Washington was made in the spring of 1829, soon after 
 the accession of General Jackson to the office of president. 
 On his return, he traveled eastward as far as Boston, 
 having become so lost to the pride of character, as to 
 allow the keepers of the museums in Boston and Albany 
 
 1 Mr. Calhoun was, at the time referred to, vice president of the United 
 States. He had been secretary of war, in which capacity he probably 
 became acquainted with Red Jacket. 
 
448 The Life and Times of 1829. 
 
 to exhibit Mm for money. At Albany great pains were 
 taken to collect a political audience to meet him at the 
 museum, and listen to a speech which he was advertised to 
 deliver. The legislature was in session, a large majority of 
 which body was composed of the political friends of the 
 new president. It was noised abroad that the orator would 
 speak of his visit to the president, and the impression 
 somehow obtained currency, that the savage orator, having 
 been struck with great admiration of the character and 
 bearing of the hero of ISTew Orleans, would pronounce a 
 panegyric upon his character and services; the loftiest 
 strains of forest eloquence were anticipated. The audi- 
 ence was large, and the majority consisted of the most 
 ardent friends of the president, hurrying with impatience 
 to hear him extolled from the lips of an orator so renowned 
 as the great Seneca. But he had not completed half a 
 dozen sentences of his speech, before their kindling im- 
 patience was changed into disappointment, which was in 
 turn succeeded by chagrin ; for instead of eulogizing the 
 man who was at that time the popular idol of the nation, 
 he spoke of his former visit to General "Washington, drew 
 an outline of Az5 character, and then instituted a comparison 
 between it and that of General Jackson, greatly to the disad- 
 vantage of the latter. The applause with which tMe orator 
 was greeted on his first appearance, was changed into rude 
 manifestations of displeasure, and the audience rapidly 
 grew thin by the departure of those who had been the 
 most eager to come.^ Justice, moreover, requires the ac- 
 knowledgment that the speech was feeble and puerile in 
 itself, and delivered without energy or grace. There was 
 
 iThe author speaks not at random. He was present on the occasion re- 
 ferred to, and well remembers the whole scene — not forgetting the 
 disappointment which sat on the countenances of those who had been 
 anticipating a rich display of Indian eloquence in behalf of their favorite 
 president. 
 
1829. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 449 
 
 not even enough of the orator left to show that he had ever 
 had any valid pretensions to that character. 
 
 But his career was now drawing rapidly to a close, and 
 he lived not to hehold the opening flowers of another 
 spring. The circumstances of his decease were striking. 
 " For some months previous to his death, time had made 
 such fearful ravages on his constitution as to render him 
 fully sensible of his approaching dissolution. To that 
 event he often adverted, and always in the language of 
 philosophical calmness. He visited successively all his 
 most intimate friends at their cabins, and conversed with 
 them upon the condition of their nation, in the most im- 
 pressive and affecting manner. He told them that he 
 was passing away, and his counsels would be heard no 
 more. He ran over the history of his people from the 
 most remote period to which his knowledge extended, and 
 pointed out, as few could, the wrongs, the privations, and 
 the loss of character, which almost of themselves consti- 
 tuted that history. 'I am about to leave jou,' he said, 
 ' and when I am gone, and my warnings shall be no longer 
 heard or regarded, the craft and avarice of the white man 
 will prevail. Many winters have I breasted the storm, but 
 I am an aged tree, and can stand no longer. My leaves 
 are fallen, my branches are withered, and I am shaken by 
 every breeze. Soon my aged trunk will be prostrate, and 
 the foot of the exulting foe of the Indian may be placed 
 upon it in safety; for I have none who will be able to 
 avenge such an indignity. Think not I mourn for myself. 
 I go to join the spirits of my fathers, where age cannot 
 come ; but my heart fails when I think of my people, who 
 are so soon to be scattered and forgo tteu.' These several 
 interviews were all concluded with particular instructions 
 respecting his domestic affairs, and his funeral. 'Eury 
 me,' said he, ' by the side of my former wife; and let my 
 funeral be according to the customs of our nation. Let me 
 
 57 
 
450 The Life and Times oe Eed Jacket. 1829. 
 
 be dressed and equipped as my fathers were, that their 
 spirits may rejoice at my coming. Be sure that my grave 
 be not made by a white man; let them not pursue me 
 there.' " ^ 
 
 But notwithstanding these brave resolutions in anticipa- 
 tion of the time of his departure, to die as he had lived 
 and to be buried a pagan, there is reason to believe that he 
 relented not a little in the bitterness of his hostility toward 
 the missionary and the religion he taught. The conduct of 
 his wife toward him after her conversion to Christianity, 
 during the troubles of his latter years, notwithstanding his 
 temporary desertion of her, had afforded a beautiful illus- 
 tration of the spirit of her new religion ; and this circum- 
 stance may have softened and won upon his feelings. 
 
 While the lamp of life was flickering in its socket, he 
 convened a general council of the nation, embracing both 
 the Christian and pagan parties, for the express purpose of 
 exerting his influence to cause a better understanding 
 between them. I^ot that he spoke, or made any direct 
 movements, in favor of Christianity, but his desire was to 
 bring both parties to a resolution to quarrel no more 
 respecting their religion, leaving every man to choose for 
 himself, without let or hindrance, and to have his children 
 taught in whatever school he might prefer.^ He was taken 
 mortally sick of cholera morbus during the sittings of this 
 council, but he yet lived long enough to see his recommend- 
 ation adopted by mutual resolution, and he spoke of the 
 act with great satisfaction, a little previous to his departure. 
 Two days before his last sickness, moreover, he sent a 
 friendly message to the chief missionary, the Rev. Mr. 
 Harris, desiring him to come and talk with him. But 
 
 1 Sketches of Red Jacket in M'Kenney's Indian Biography. 
 
 '-'At this time the pagans were sending their children to a quaker school, 
 while the Christian party sent theirs to the schools under the supervision 
 of Mr. Harris. 
 
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1830. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, oh Red Jacket. 453 
 
 , in 
 
 there was an ecclesiastical council sittins; at the time, i 
 which Mr. Harris was engaged ; and in the multiplicity and 
 confusion of business, the message was not received until 
 after his decease. The object of the request was, therefore, 
 not positively known ; but his wife believed his desire was 
 to express more friendly feelings toward the religious cha- 
 racter of the missionary than he had previously manifested. 
 He remarked "that the minister knew that he had always 
 been his opposer, and now, as by the resolution of the 
 council there was a prospect of seeing his people more 
 united than they had been for years, he desired to have 
 some talk with him." 
 
 When his last attack of illness came upon him, he said 
 he should not survive, and refused all medical assistance. 
 His request of his wife was, that at the moment of his 
 departure she should place in his hand a certain vial of 
 water, possessing, as he supposed, a charm sufficiently 
 potent to keep away the devil, should the latter attempt, as 
 he was not without apprehension might be the fact, to take 
 away his soul. That vial, he believed, would be all sufficient 
 to secure his spirit an unobstructed flight to the fair hunt- 
 ing grounds. He died on the 20th of January, 1830, at his 
 residence, near the church and mission house at the Seneca 
 village.^ The management of his funeral was committed 
 by himself to his wife's son-in-law, William Jones. He 
 
 ^Tbe women among the Indians regulate the household afiFairs alto- 
 gether prescribing the locations of their cabins, or houses, as the case 
 
 may be, and dictating removals at their own pleasure. By virtue of this 
 authority, after the wife of Red Jacket embraced Christianity, she removed 
 the residence of her lord to the vicinity of the church and the house of the 
 missionary, for the convenience of public worship, and of conversations 
 with her spiritual guide. Here was the mission school, in which her grand- 
 children were receiving gratuitous instruction-in the elementary principles 
 of knowledge. Here was the chapel, to which, since the change in her 
 religious views, she had become very much attached ; and here were the 
 missionary and his family, whose instruction and counsels she had for some 
 time been accustomed to regard as those of friends to her people. 
 
454 The Life and Times of 1830. 
 
 himself had not a near Idnsman in the world. His friends 
 of the wolf clan, to which he belonged, determined that 
 his remains should be carried to the church in which they 
 worshiped, and buried in the ground belonging to the 
 Christian party. The funeral was numerously attended, 
 not only by his own race, but by the white people who 
 gathered in from the adjacent country. Among the latter 
 were some of the leaders of the infidel white men who had 
 acted in concert with the deceased in his opposition to 
 Christianity. These latter came with high expectations of 
 beholding a splendid pagan funeral, accompanied by the 
 bowlings of women, and all the barbarous rites and cere- 
 monies incident to savage funerals in the days when dark- 
 ness brooded over the wilds of the continent. Great, 
 therefore, was their disappointment on finding themselves 
 in the train of a Christian faneral, attended only by its 
 simple and solemn observances.^ Thus died the renowned 
 Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, whose great talents, and matchless gifts of 
 oratory, had so long exerted such a powerful influence over 
 the councils of his nation. 
 
 1 My authority for the preceding account of the last days of Red Jacket's 
 life, including the last council summoned by him, and his funeral, is the 
 Rev. Mr. Harris, with whom I have had repeated and full conversations 
 upon the subject, and whose report, written at the time, and published in 
 the Missionary Herald, vol. xxvi, I have consulted. Very grievous misre- 
 presentations in regard to the conduct of this gentleman at the death and 
 funeral of the chief were sent abroad by the disappointed white pagans, 
 referred to in the text, some of which unfortunately found their way into 
 the sketch published in the Indian Biography of Colonel M'Kenney. I 
 quote a few passages: " There had long been a missionary among the Sene- 
 cas, who was sustained by the party among the natives who had procured 
 the deposition and disgrace of Red Jacket. This gentleman of 'the dark 
 dress ' was of course looked upon with high disfavor by Red Jacket, who 
 considered him one of the agents by whom his nation had been distracted." 
 Now it has been seen by the statements in the text, that the chief was 
 desirous of dying in peace with the missionary. Again it is recorded in 
 the same work, and has thus gone upon the records of history, that, " The 
 neighboring missionary, with a disregard for the feelings of the bereaved, 
 and the injunctions of the dead, for which it is difficult to account, assem- 
 
1830. Sa-go-te-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 455 
 
 Some of the speeches of I^ed Jacket, as noted down in 
 the closing conversations of his life, were prophetic, and 
 have ah-eady been fulfilled. " The craft and avarice of 
 the white man will prevail," said he. And they have pre- 
 vailed. Less than nine years had elapsed after his decease, 
 when every remaining foot of the ancient inheritance of 
 the Senecas was ceded to the white man, in exchange for 
 a tract of country west of the Missouri, to which the rem- 
 nant of their people and the Tuscaroras are to remove. 
 When this removal takes place, it may be considered the 
 final dispersion, if not the extinguishment, of the once 
 mighty confederacy of the Five JSTations. 
 
 This confederacy was never, perhaps — certainly not 
 within the knowledge of the white man — so great in its 
 numerical strength as has been supposed, or as might be 
 inferred from their deeds, and the extent of their domi- 
 nion. And yet, within that period, from their superior 
 organization, their discipline, and their prowess, their 
 name was terrible over a large section of the American 
 continent. It is within the knowledge of the white man 
 
 bled his party, took possession of the body, and conveyed it to their meeting 
 house. The immediate friends of Red Jacket, amazed at the transaction, 
 abandoned the preparations they were making for the funeral rites, and 
 followed the body in silence to the place of worship, where a service was 
 performed, which, considering the opinions of the deceased, was as idle as 
 it was indecorous. They were then told from the sacred desk, that if they 
 had any thing to say they had now an opportunity. Incredulity and 
 scorn were pictured on the faces of the Indians, and no reply was made, 
 except by a chief called General Blanket, who briefly remarked — '< This 
 house was built for the white man ; the friends of Red Jacket cannot be 
 heard in it." Notwithstanding this touching appeal, and the dying in- 
 junctions of the Seneca chief, his remains were taken to the grave prepared 
 by the whites, and interred. Some of the Indians followed the corpse, 
 but the more immediate friends of the deceased took u, last view of 
 their lifeless chief, in the sanctuary of that religion which he had always 
 opposed, and hastened from a scene which overwhelmed them with 
 humiliation and sorrow." Now all this is very well told, and with good 
 dramatic effect. But, like most other dramatic compositions, it is an entire 
 fiction. 
 
456 The Life and Times of 1830. 
 
 that tlie cry of Mohawk ! would cause the Indian to fly in 
 terror.^ The Delawares were conquered and made tribu- 
 taries hy them. They drove the Algonquins and the 
 French before them, sacking Montreal, and raising their 
 war whoop almost before the gates of Quebec, while at the 
 west and south their arms were extended to the mouth of 
 the Ohio, and the confines of Florida. For upward of a 
 century they formed a living barrier between the English 
 colonies and the French ; and for more than two centuries 
 have they been struggling against the gradual encroachments 
 of the white men, striving but in vain to bear up against 
 a hundred successive storms of adversity, and maintain an 
 independent existence. During this period, nation after 
 nation of their hapless race has melted away and disap- 
 peared from the face of the earth. Fate in her stern be- 
 hests has at length decreed that the Five ligations are like- 
 wise to be numbered among nations lost on earth. 
 
 The fate of this people is a subject for deep and anxious 
 reflection. "What is the destiny of those who yet remain ? 
 Are they — any considerable portion of them, at least — 
 eventually to yield to the influences and usages of civiliza- 
 tion, and thus to be rescued from extinction ? Or is it 
 among the inscrutable designs of Providence that the whole 
 race shall disappear before the all conquering Anglo 
 Saxons ? Their destiny has been the subject of the gravest 
 and most interesting contemplation, almost from the day 
 of the discovery to the present. Philanthropists, for more 
 than two hundred years, have been endeavoring to guide 
 them into the paths of civilization, and Christians to win 
 them from the gloom of paganism to the brighter hopes 
 and promises of the gospel. But the eflforts of both have 
 been exerted to very little purpose. Small numbers, at 
 various periods, have been prevailed upon to yield a faint 
 
 1 Colden's Six Nations. 
 
1830. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 457 
 
 assent to Christianity, but sound conversions, illustrated 
 by subsequent lives of virtue and temperance, pureness of 
 living, and truth, have been rare, while even among sup- 
 posed converts the opinion has often been expressed by 
 themselves, that Christianity was a better religion for the 
 white people than for them ; and their reformation, in but 
 too many instances, has only been attended by the loss of 
 many of their savage virtues, in exchange for which they 
 have contracted the vices peculiar to civilized society.^ 
 Upon civilization the unsophisticated Indians have looked 
 with contempt. But as they have been brought into close 
 contact with civilized life, many of them have been con- 
 strained to acknowledge the superior dignity and happi- 
 ness of such a state, and to wish that their children might 
 participate in its benefits, as the only means of saving them 
 from extinction. " If they sometimes reflect on us for 
 being cowardly, efieminate, and tame spirited, they do it not 
 so much from a real contempt of us, as to relieve that un- 
 easy sense of inferiority which mortifies and oppresses 
 them. Still, when they have acknowledged the impoii> 
 ance of industry and the arts to their happiness, respecta- 
 bility, and even existence, they will add, 'Indians can't 
 work.' They feel fast bound by the power of their savage 
 habits, and do not summon resolution to practise according 
 
 to their conviction."^ 
 
 But Eed Jacket, as the reader has observed in the 
 progress of the present work, during the latter thirty years 
 of his life, would make no concessions in favor, either of 
 Christianity or civilization ; and for the same reasons that 
 operated upon his mind, the larger number of his race 
 have entertained the same opinions. These reasons have 
 already been adverted to more than once or twice. They 
 were slow to comprehend the principles of Christianity, 
 
 1 President Kirkland — Massachusetts Historical Collections^ vol. iv. 
 ziMd. 
 
 58 
 
458 The Life and Times or 1830. 
 
 and could not well discriminate between tlie real and 
 nominal Christian. Among the border-men, with whom 
 they were first and most frequently brought into commu- 
 nication and contact, they were sure to find more of the 
 latter class than of the former. Nor did it commend the 
 new religion to their untutored minds, that they constantly 
 saw these professors of that religion practising every little 
 art, and watching every opportunity to overreach them, 
 and deprive them of their property, especially of their lands. 
 They were early alarmed at the rapacity of the whites to 
 obtain their lands, to which, always when sober, they clung 
 with great tenacity. " I have heard a naked savage," says 
 the eloquent Lord Erskine, " in the indignant character ot 
 a prince surrounded by his subjects, addressing the gover- 
 nor of a British colony, holding a bundle of sticks in his 
 hand, as the notes of his unlettered eloquence, demand, 
 being encroached upon by the restless foot of English 
 adventurers — * Who is it that causes this river to rise in 
 the high mountains, and to empty itself into the ocean ? 
 Who is it that causes to blow the loud winds of winter, 
 and that calms them again in summer ? Who is it that 
 rears up the shade of those lofty forests, and blasts them 
 with the quick lightning at his pleasure ? The same being 
 who gave to you a country on the other side of the waters, 
 gave ours to us : and by this title we will defend it,' said 
 the warrior, throwing his tomahawk upon the ground, and 
 raising the war sound of his nation. These are the feelings 
 of subjugated man all over the globe." ^ Especially have 
 they ever been the feelings of the American Indians ; and 
 having for two centuries seen the " knavery and strength 
 of civilization" exerted " by alternate stratagem and force," 
 to dispossess them of their proud inheritance, thus derived. 
 
 ^ Speech of Lord Erskine, in the great libel case of Stockdale. Lord E, 
 had served in America, in early life, in the British army, and was present 
 at an Indian council. 
 
1830. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 459 
 
 is it a subject of wonder that they alike spurned the reli- 
 gion and civilization from whose advances they had so 
 much to apprehend ? 
 
 It was the opinion of Dr. Ramsay, the historian, expressed 
 in a letter to the Massachusetts Historical Society, so long 
 ago as the year 1795, that the American Indians are a 
 people who cannot be civilized. The doctor had once 
 regarded the belief as unphilosophical ; but reflection and 
 experience had brought him to the opinion that to tame 
 wolves would be no more impracticable than to civilize the 
 Indians. Hence he had almost adopted the melancholy 
 belief that they would ere long cease to be a people. He 
 gave nevertheless but few reasons in support of his gloomy 
 anticipations of their destiny ; and the subject was followed 
 by a more extended discussion, in the autumn of the same 
 year, by General Benjamin Lincoln, who had enjoyed large 
 opportunities of studying the Indian character. General 
 Lincoln concurred ^fally in the opinion of the doctor, that 
 they would never be civiHzed ; but he did not anticipate 
 their entire extinction. Among the causes of their decrease 
 of numbers, he enumerated the change in their habits of 
 dressing, by substituting linens and calicos in the place of 
 their natural and ancient covering, the fiirs, retaining, in 
 other respects, their partiality for the savage life, and 
 exposed to all the sufferings from the inclement seasons, 
 and rigorous winters of the high northern latitudes under 
 which they live. A knowledge of fire arms has led them 
 to measures producing the worst effects, and serving to 
 diminish their numbers. The game upon which they pre- 
 viously subsisted, and the skins of which served them for 
 clothes, was afterward wantonly destroyed; while the pos- 
 session of fire arms, and other implements of war composed 
 of metal, fired their ambition, and enkindled a hope in 
 their breasts, that with these weapons they would be ena- 
 bled to avenge all their wrongs and recover their country. 
 
460 The Life and Times of 1830. 
 
 Stimulated by these delusive hopes, they have rushed heed- 
 lessly into wars which have greatly reduced their numbers. 
 Another cause of this diminution of their numbers is found 
 in the reluctance of their women to bear children, prompting 
 them to employ means to prevent an increase of maternal 
 responsibilities. Indian mothers have been greatly affected 
 by the loss of their sons in their frequent wars, until, to quote 
 their own expressive words, " they have become tired of bearing 
 children to be slain in war," Other causes of the decrease of 
 this people are adduced by G-eneral Lincoln, and he ac- 
 counts for their reluctance to become either civilized or 
 christianized, upon the principles already explained.^ 
 
 On the question of the ultimate destiny of the race, the 
 communication referred to concludes as follows : " Should 
 the Indian nations in general never become civilized, 
 we may, I think, point to the consequences. Nature 
 forbids civilized and uncivilized people possessing the 
 same territory; for the means pursued by the civilized 
 to obtain a support counteract the wishes and designs of 
 the savage. "While the former are busily employed in 
 removing from the earth its natural growth, as necessary 
 to the establishing themselves as husbandmen, the latter 
 are wishing to increase that natural shelter and hiding 
 place for the beasts of the forest ; for without a covering 
 they cannot be retained, but will seek new feeding grounds. 
 Consequently the savage must retire to those lands where 
 he can with more ease obtain a supply. Yet their new 
 position cannot long avail them ; for civilization and cul- 
 tivation will make rapid strides, and advance fast toward 
 them ; and they must necessarily make way for such 
 approaches, by following the game, which takes the first 
 alarm, or leave their present pursuits and modes of living, 
 and oppose the cultivator by cultivation. The savage arm 
 is too feeble, in any other way, to counteract the progress 
 of their civilized neighbors ; but it is hardly to be expected, 
 
 1 Letter to Dr. Ramsay — Massachusetts Historical Collections, 
 
1830. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Eed Jacket. 461 
 
 considering their attaclinients and prejudices, that they 
 will see the importance of this measure in time for self 
 preservation ; but will continue retiring before the enlight- 
 ened husbandman, until they shall meet those regions of 
 the north into which he cannot pursue them. There, 
 probably, they will be set down and left, in the undis- 
 turbed possession of a country unenvied by any ; as the 
 last resort of a people, who, having sacrificed every thing 
 to their love of ease, were at length compelled, by the 
 effects of their obstinacy and disobedience, to give up all 
 hope of ever regaining those hospitable tracts of country 
 from which they had retired, and which they had sur- 
 rendered to others ; while nature had furnished them with 
 the power of having forever participated in the enjoyment 
 of them. Being thus shut up in a country where subsist- 
 ence can only be obtained by the chase, they will probably 
 continue as a people until time shall be no more." 
 
 Such, with but a trifling change of phraseology, were 
 the conclusions to which a gentleman of intelligence, sound 
 judgment, and deep study of the Indian character, arrived 
 more than forty-five years ago. Experience has in a great 
 measure tested the correctness of his views, although as yet 
 there have been no indications of a tendency on the part of 
 the Indians to escape contact with the white man by seek- 
 ing a refuge in the hyperborean regions. They could, 
 doubtless, live there, as do the Esquimaux; but their 
 attachment to the places of their birth, and their desire to 
 linger around the graves of their ancestors, induce them to 
 cling to their native soil with death like tenacity. And 
 although a close proximity to the whites has almost invari- 
 ably caused a rapid diminution of their numbers, yet 
 nation after nation of this extraordinary and in many 
 respects noble people has melted away, and disappeared, 
 or been reduced to a few degenerate relics, who at last 
 relinquish their distinctive character by mingling with the 
 
462 The Life and Times of 1839. 
 
 fragments of other nations also in a rapid decline, but per- 
 haps not quite so near positive extinction as themselves. 
 This is a melancholy subject of contemplation, but it seems 
 thus to have been decreed by an inscrutable Providence ; 
 and the flight of the feeble and broken remnant of the once 
 proud and haughty Aquanuschioni before the march of civil- 
 ization, is but another and yet stronger illustration of the 
 sad conclusion, that their destiny is to be — extinction! 
 
 The orator, whose life has been traced in the preceding 
 pages, and who, with all his faults, was a man of great 
 talents and sagacity, foresaw the event almost with a pro- 
 phet's vision, and labored for many years with all the 
 energies of his soul to avert, or at least to put off the evil 
 day. It was kindly ordered that he should not, with his 
 natural vision, behold the extirpation of his people from 
 the beautiful country so long their own, and he was gath- 
 ered to his fathers in peace. For nine years after his 
 decease, neither a stone nor other memorial marked his 
 resting place. But during the summer of 1839, while on 
 a visit to Buffalo, Henry Placide, Esq., a gentleman of 
 the histrionic profession, determined that the place of his 
 sepulture should no longer remain undistinguished. A 
 subscription was set on foot under his auspices, and the 
 result was the erection over his grave of a handsome 
 marble slab, bearing the following inscription : 
 
 SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA, 
 
 (he-kbeps-them- awake) , 
 
 :RE!nD-o-.A.c:K:ET, 
 
 CHIEF OF THE 
 
 WOLF TRIBE OF THE SEISTECAS, 
 
 STije ffmnXt auK 3|rotcctor of t)i» 3^top\t, 
 
 Died Jan'y 20, 1830, 
 
 Aged 78 years. 
 
1830. Sa-go-ye-wat-ha, or Red Jacket. 463 
 
 The grave is surrounded by a neat picket fence ; and it 
 was noted as an interesting coincidence, that during the visit 
 of the gentlemen to superintend the erection of the tablet, 
 a funeral feast, as is the custom of the Indians, was in pro- 
 gress, at an adjoining wigwam, in commemoration of the 
 death of Red Jacket's daughter, which occurred five months 
 before, and during the ceremony his aged widow was dis- 
 tributing the moccasins, clothes, trinkets, .etc., of the 
 deceased.^ 
 
 Charlevoix and Golden, among the earlier Indian histo- 
 rians, and De Witt Clinton among the modern, have insti- 
 tuted comparisons between the ancient league of the Five 
 !N'ations and the Romans. The coincidence was in some 
 respects remarkable, especially in their foreign policy. 
 The counselors of the Five l!Tations had never heard of the 
 Romans ; and yet their ambition of foreign conquests, and 
 their policy of planting military colonies in the countries 
 they had subjugated, were the same. Other resemblances 
 might be indicated were it necessary to the present pur- 
 pose. With as much justice as Rienzi has been styled the 
 last of the Romans, may Red Jacket be denominated the 
 last of the Senecas. Though in the main the characters 
 were widely dissimilar, and- the one acted in great matters 
 and the other in comparatively small, yet there is in one 
 respect a striking coincidence : " Rienzi was more energetic 
 in speech and council than in action, and failed in courage 
 and presence of mind in great emergencies." 
 
 ^ Since the above was written, a few friends of Red Jacket, wishing to 
 remove his remains to the new cemetery at BuflFalo, caused them to be dis- 
 interred and placed in a lead cofl&n preparatory to removal. The family 
 hearing of it, however, and considering it sacrilege, demanded and obtained 
 the remains ; but having removed from the Buffalo to the Cattaraugus reser- 
 vation, preferred not to rebury him in the mission church yard. They 
 accordingly brought the remains of the illustrious orator to their own 
 dwelling, where up to the present time (1866) they are still unburied. 
 
[ 465 ] 
 
 APPENDIX. 
 
 A. 
 
 The deputation sent from tlie Six Nations as messengers of peace, 
 to ttie hostile Indians at the Miami of the IqJceSj in the autumn of 
 1792, returned in November. Greneral Chapin, the agent of the 
 Six Nations, was absent at the seat of government when they 
 returned, and the council to receive their report was called by his 
 son, Israel Chapin, Jun. It was held at Buffalo creek, on the 16th 
 of November, and was attended by Major Littlehales in behalf of 
 Governor Simcoe, then commanding in Upper Canada. The follow- 
 ing is the report of the deputation, as rendered into English by Mr. 
 Parish, the interpreter. 
 
 Buffalo Creek, November 16, 1792. 
 
 Brothers : people of the United States, and king's 
 PEOPLE, take notice I — Last winter the president took us by the hand, 
 and led us to the council fire, at Philadelphia; there they made 
 known to us their friendship, and requested us to proceed to the 
 westward, and to use our influence to make peace with the hostile 
 Indians. We went accordingly, and made known to them our agree- 
 ment. 
 
 When we returned from Philadelphia to Buffalo creek, the chiefs 
 that remained at home on their seats, were well pleased with what 
 we had done at Philadelphia; and after we had determined to pro- 
 ceed on our journey, some of our chiefs were detained on account 
 of sickness. 
 
 Brothers, people of the United States and king's peo- 
 ple : After we arrived at the westward, we met with an agreeable 
 reception; they informed us we were their oldest brothers, and 
 
 59 
 
466 Appendix. 
 
 appeared as the sun risen on them, as they always looked to them for 
 advice. 
 
 It is now four years since we have heard your voices, and should 
 be happy now to hear what you have to relate to us. 
 
 The Six Nations then requested of the western Indians what they 
 had to relate to them, as they kindled the council fire. 
 
 The Western Indians replied : About four years since, your 
 voices came to us, desiring us to combine ourselves together, as we 
 were the oldest people of this island, and all of one color, that our 
 minds may be one. 
 
 This, they informed us, they had attended to, and exhibited a 
 large bunch of wampum, to prove the same, from each nation. 
 
 To confirm it still further, they informed us we sent them a pipe, 
 which passed through all the nations at the west and southward; all 
 smoked out of it, both women and children ; and as this pipe has 
 been through the nations, and all smoked out of it, they returned it 
 to us, and bid us to smoke out of it ourselves. 
 
 Brothers : Listen once to your eldest brothers. Our forefathers 
 have handed down to us, that we are one people, of one color, on this 
 island, and ought to be of one mind, and had made our minds strong, 
 and had become as one people in peace and friendship. 
 
 This being done, our chiefs agreed to hand it down to future pos- 
 terity, and the same combination to continue down to them. 
 
 The nation called the Unions, took a brand from our fire and 
 kindled it, and became a people with us ; then we considered our- 
 selves as one people, combined together. 
 
 And now there is a white people on this island, who are watching 
 our conduct ; but let us attend to our own concerns, and brighten 
 the chain of friendship with our nations ; and as our minds are one, 
 let us consider future posterity and not consider those young warriors 
 who are in the prime of life, and so much engaged in the pursuit of 
 land, &c., which is the cause of so much difficulty at present. 
 
 Brothers : Consider your country, which is good, and conduct 
 yourselves in such a manner as to keep it to yourselves and posterity. 
 
 Now, Brothers : You present us the pipe — you say your eldest 
 brothers sent you ; you say your head chiefs all smoked out of it, 
 and returning it to us again, all took it and smoked out ^f it our- 
 
Appendix. 467 
 
 selves, in friendship. Now, as we are thus combined together, we 
 are able to lift a heavy burden. 
 
 The Shawanee Nation said : Our eldest brothers : We 
 have heard what you have related — we have heard it with atten- 
 tion ; we consider it as if you delivered it from the outside of your 
 lips ; although you consider us your younger brothers, your seats are 
 not at such a distance but what we can see your conduct plainly ; 
 these are the reasons why we consider you to speak from the outside 
 of your lips ; for whenever you hear the voice of the United States, 
 you immediately take your packs and attend our councils. 
 
 We see plainly folded under your arm the voice of the United 
 States' — wish you to unfold it to us, that we may see it freely and 
 consult on it. [Speaking on a string of wampum of three strings, 
 throwing it across the fire t.o us, instead of handing it in a friendly 
 manner.] 
 
 [Then we proceeded to relate the instructions of congress, which 
 is too tedious to relate, and which they already know; but when we 
 first related it we failed for interpreters, so that they had not a proper 
 idea of it ; they appeared to be very much ruffled in their minds, 
 and adjourned the council to the next day; then it was interpreted 
 properly to them, and they appeared easy in their minds.J 
 
 Eldest brothers : Yqu desire us to consider our country and 
 property ; we will accept of your advice, and proceed accordingly. 
 
 The Six Nations said : Let us look back to the time of white 
 people coming into this country ; they very soon began to trafl&c for 
 land. Soon after, Sir William Johnson was sent as an agent from the 
 king, and he began to purchase at the treaty at Fort Stanwix, and 
 purchased all east of the river Ohio. 
 
 A few years after this purchase, the people of the states and the 
 king's people broke apart, and we being persuaded to take the king's 
 part, became very bad for us. After a few years, the king was beat ; 
 then the states took possession of all the land the English formerly 
 took from the French. 
 
 You tell us, we come with the voice of the United States; we do, 
 together with the advice of the king. He tells us not to throw our 
 minds on either side, but to listen to reason, &c., and remain a people 
 confederated. 
 
468 Appendix. 
 
 The Shawanee Nation — Now eldest brothers: You come 
 to us with your opinion, and tlie voice of the United States. It is 
 your mind to put an end to all hostilities. Brothers : now, we will 
 relate what took place last fall in our country. Greneral Washington 
 sent an army into our country, which fell into our hands ; their 
 orders were thus — to proceed into our country as far as the Miami 
 towns, to the Glaize ; thence to Detroit, but not to molest the king's 
 people, and if the army should meet any people that appeared friendly, 
 to leave them behind their backs, without harm. 
 
 The president of the United States must well know why the blood 
 is so deep in our paths. We have been informed he has sent mes- 
 sengers of peace on these bloody roads, who fell on the way. And 
 now, as he knows that road to be bloody, no communication can take 
 place through that bloody way, as there is a path through the Six 
 Nations' country, which is smooth and easy. If he wants to send 
 the voice of peace, it must pass through this road. 
 
 Eldest brothers : We have been informed the president of the 
 United States thinks himself the greatest man on this island. We 
 had this country long in peace before we saw any person of a white 
 skin; we consider the people of a white skin the younger. 
 
 Brothers : You inform us it is the wish of the white people to 
 hold council with us, Greneral Washington being the head man ; we 
 will consent to treat with them ; we desire you, our older brothers, 
 to inform General Washington we will treat with him, at the 
 rapids of Miami, next spring, or at the time when the leaves are 
 fully out. 
 
 We consider ourselves still the proper owners of some land on the 
 east side of the Ohio. 
 
 But we will deliver up that, for money that has been paid to some 
 individuals, for land on the west side of the river Ohio. 
 
 Brothers : You have given us a dish, and one spoon, desiring 
 the whole combination to eat with them ; we accept of them, and 
 shall do accordingly. 
 
 We are now about to complete the business you came on. When 
 you return you will make known to the president what we have 
 done ; it may be he will not consent to what we have proposed ; and 
 if he will not, we must call on you to assist in the heavy burden that 
 
Appendix. 469 
 
 will lie on us. We have opened a path, and pointed out away, and, 
 if he will not walk in it, we must have your assistance. 
 
 Now, OUR ELDEST BROTHERS : When the president came to you, 
 he took you aside to hear what he had to say. He desired you to 
 come to us and deliver the messages j you have delivered them, and 
 we desire you to deliver the messages we have given you to deliver 
 to him, and desire him to send a message back what he will do con- 
 cerning what we have done and concluded on ; to forward it to you, 
 and you to us. We will lay the bloody tomahawk aside until we 
 hear from the president of the United States, and when this message 
 comes to us, we will send it to all the different nations. [Speaking 
 on three strings of wampum. J 
 
 Speech from the Six Nations to the President. 
 
 You sent us on the westward with a message of peace to the hos- 
 tile Indians. 
 
 We proceeded accordingly to your directions, and was protected, 
 going and coming, by the Great Spirit. We give thanks to the Grreat 
 Spirit that we have all returned safe to our seats. 
 
 While we were at the westward we exerted ourselves to bring 
 about peace. The fatigues we underwent are not small. Now, it is 
 our desire for your people on the Ohio to lay down their arms, or 
 otherwise it is all in vain what we have done. 
 
 Now, if you wish for peace, you must make every exertion, and 
 proceed through this path we have directed for you. If peace does 
 not take place the fault must arise from your people. 
 
 We now desire you, brothers, to send forward agents, who are men 
 of honesty, not proud land jobbers, but men who love and desire 
 peace. Also, desire they may be accompanied by some Friend or 
 quaker to attend the council. 
 
 We wish you to exert yourselves to forward the message to the 
 western Indians as soon as possible ; and we are taken by the hand, 
 and have agreed, next spring, to attend the council at the rapids of 
 Miaipi, when we shall hear all that takes place there. 
 
 Hostile Indians to Governor Simcoe. 
 Brother : We have been informed the late governor is a good 
 man ; we desire that you will take the governor by the hand and 
 
470 Appendix. 
 
 lead him to tlie council next spring. Exert yourselves to get him 
 up, that he may not be backward ; that he may sit side and side with 
 the Americans at the time of the council. And when you take him 
 by the hand, desire him to furnish us with provisions necessary for 
 the treaty. 
 
 Six Nations to the Governor. 
 
 Brother: Now, we have laid all our proceedings before you, 
 which took place at the westward. You have heard the request of 
 your western brothers, therefore wish you to exert yourself to grant 
 their requests. 
 
 You informed us to listen to the voice of peace, wherever we might 
 hear it. Now we hear the voice of peace j we call on you for assist- 
 ance, that we may obtain peace through this island. 
 
 Brother : We now sit here together ; you are the man who 
 represents the United States -, we have discerned that too great a 
 degree of pride has subsisted between the two governments ; we 
 desire that it may be laid aside. 
 
 When the agents from the United States come forward to the coun- 
 cil, we desire they may bring forward all the records, plans, maps, 
 and documents, that any way respect the lands purchased from the 
 Indians. 
 
 Fish Carrier^s Speech. 
 
 Desiring this degree of pride, which has heretofore existed, may 
 be done away, and that each government may mutually consent and 
 agree on terms of peace. 
 
 Cornplanters Speech. 
 
 He informs, that he has always attended treaties that have been 
 held, and has always wished for peace, and has done all in his power 
 for peace ; that he has not advised any hostilities to commence on 
 either side, and now wishes each government to lay aside all pride 
 and prejudice and to use their endeavors for peace. 
 
 After the council was over. Major Littlehales, who represented 
 Grovernor Simcoe on that occasion, answered the Indians as follows : 
 
 Brothers : I shall lay before the governor your requests ; and 
 respecting his furnishing you with provisions, &c,, I doubt not but 
 
Appendix. 471 
 
 lie will do it agreeable to your wishes. And also to procure all 
 records, plans and documents, whicli sliall be thought necessary, and 
 to do every thing in his power to bring about a peace, so interesting 
 to the United States, as well as to the British government. 
 
 B. 
 
 THE PRESQUE ISLE QUESTION. 
 
 At a council of the Six Nations, held at Buffalo creek, on the 18th 
 of June, 1794, Captain O'Bail (Cornplanter) spoke as follows in 
 behalf of the Indians : 
 
 Brother : We are thankful that you have attended to the call of 
 the Six Nations, and that you have been preserved by the Great 
 Spirit, &c. 
 
 Brother : (addressed to the president) I have for a long time 
 aimed at the good of both parties — I have paid you different com- 
 pliments, as that of brother and father, and now I call you friend. 
 We were pleased when we heard that you were appointed to have 
 the chief command of the United States. 
 
 Brother : The Great Spirit has so ordered, that every nation 
 shall have some one to be at their head — you are to look over your 
 people, and settle all difficulties — and we, the Six Nations, expect 
 that you will not be unmindful of us, but see that we have justice 
 done us, as well as your own people. 
 
 Brother : We, the Six Nations, now call upon you ; we pay no 
 attention to what has heretofore been done by congress ; their pro- 
 ceedings we consider as unjust. We wish for nothing but justice, 
 and hope that will take place. 
 
 Brother: You know our demands — we ask but for a small 
 piece of land, and we trust as you are a great man, you can easily 
 grant our request. 
 
 Brother : You wish to be a free people in this country, who have 
 come from the other side of the water, and why should not we, 
 whose forefathers have lived and died here, and always had posses- 
 sion of the country. 
 
472 Appendix. 
 
 Brother : We, the Six Nations, have determined on the boun- 
 dary we want established, and it is the warriors who now speak. 
 
 Brother : You have the map on which the boundaries are marked 
 out which we want established. 
 
 Brother : We want room for our children. It will be hard for 
 them not to have a country to live in after that we are gone. 
 
 Brother : It is not because that we are afraid of dying that we 
 have been so long trying to bring about a peace. We now call upon 
 you for an answer, as congress and their commissioners have often- 
 times deceived us, and if these difficulties are not removed, the con- 
 sequences will be bad. 
 
 This speech was delivered with eight strings of black and white 
 wampum. 
 
 Brother : We have opened this fire upon two different kinds of 
 business — we wish you to listen to them with attention. 
 
 Brother : We are in distress — a number of our warriors are 
 missing, and we know not what has become of them, but suppose 
 that they have been killed by the Americans. 
 
 Brother : Last fall an Indian chief by the name of Big Tree, 
 left this country and went to the American army in a friendly man- 
 ner, and we have since been informed that he was killed by them. 
 
 Brother : The other day a very unfortunate circumstance hap- 
 pened. One of our nephews (of the Delaware nation), was killed at 
 Venango, by a party of warriors who were going to Presque isle, 
 without giving us any notice whatever. 
 
 Brother : You are sensible this must be very hard, to have a 
 man killed in time of peace — one who was sitting easy and peace- 
 able on his seat — you certainly would complain if we were to treat 
 your people in the same manner. 
 
 Brother : It has been customary, when one person has killed 
 another, that those who have done the injury go to the injured party 
 and make satisfaction. 
 
 Brother : We told you that we had two pieces of business to 
 attend to — we hope that you will pay attention to them both. 
 
 Brother : The establishing a garrison at Presque isle may occa- 
 sion many accidents, as the southern Indians may do injury, and we 
 may be blamed without a cause. 
 
 This speech was delivered with ten strings of black wampum. 
 
Appendix. 473 
 
 Captain O'Bail then addressed himself to Captain Chapin : 
 
 Brother : When we sent for you, it was because we placed great 
 dependence upon you — we hoped that you would not fail of doing 
 every thing in your power to assist us. 
 
 Brother : We now expect that you will exert yourself in removing 
 those people off of our lands. We know very well what they have 
 come on for, and we wish them pushed back. 
 
 Brother : We now wish that you and Mr. Johnson would go 
 together and remove those people back over the line which we have 
 marked out upon the map. 
 
 Brother : If these people remove off immediately we shall con- 
 sider them as our friends — if not, we shall consider them as no 
 friends. 
 
 Brother : We expect that you and Mr. Johnson will go together 
 on this business, and we shall send ten warriors to attend you ; and 
 we shall expect that you will bring us word when you return. 
 
 This speech was delivered with six strings of black and white 
 wampum. 
 
 General Chapin's answer to the speech delivered by Captain 
 O'Bail : 
 
 Brothers : I have heard the speeches which you have delivered 
 with great attention, and have thought seriously on what you have 
 communicated to me. You have requested me to go to Presque 
 isle — as I wish to do every thing in my power, both for the United 
 States and the Indians, I shall comply with your request. 
 
 Brothers : I can do no more to those people than to give them 
 my advice. It is not in my power to drive them off. 
 
 Brothers : You must be sensible that I am obliged to look to 
 the interests both of the United States and the Indians, and con- 
 sider myself accountable to both for whatever I do ; and you may 
 depend that when I return, I will give you a just account of what- 
 ever takes place. 
 
 Brothers : This business is of a serious nature, and is really a 
 matter of importance to both parties. You may rest assured that 
 the president is your friend, and that he will pay attention to the 
 business which you have laid before him. 
 
 60 
 
474 Appendix. 
 
 Brothers : You observed that you would send ten warriors to 
 attend me. I must also request that you would send two of your 
 chiefs. 
 
 Brothers : The business which you desire me to do, is what I 
 had little thought of. I am unprepared for the journey; however, 
 as I have informed you that I would go, I shall set out immediately. 
 
 Brothers : The speeches which you have delivered for the 
 president, shall be sent on as soon as is convenient, and you may 
 shortly expect to receive an answer. 
 
 Greneral Chapin to the secretary of war : 
 
 Canandaigua, July 10, 1794. 
 
 Dear Sir : The evening before I returned my son arrived in 
 this place. He brought letters from the secretary of war, which 
 mention nothing to counteract any of our proceedings while I was 
 at the westward ; but rather in favor than otherwise. 
 
 I sent Parish immediately to Philadelphia with dispatches, after 
 my return, including the wliole of our proceedings while at Buffalo 
 creek, and Presque isle, c:c. ; and from every information by my 
 son I am in hopes and believe the dispositions of the president and 
 of Greneral Knox are such as will render satisfaction to the Six 
 Nations. 
 
 It is a fact that the president was not concerned in the business 
 of ordering this party to Presque isle, but so far from it (that after 
 the governor of PennsylvLinia had ordered the party to march to 
 Presque isle), for fear of ill consequences, the president sent them 
 counter orders to stop and remain at Le Boeuf. Matters appeared 
 more favorable with regard to war between Grreat Britain and 
 America. They have ceased in some measure to take our vessels 
 in the West Indies, and it is to be hoped that the present negotia- 
 tion with Mr. Jay, will be tlie means of settling the difficulties sub- 
 sisting between both parties. 
 
 As soon as Parish returns I shall communicate the answer — as 
 soon as possible. Yours, &c., 
 
 ISRAEL CHAPIN. 
 
Appendix. 475 
 
 C. 
 THE CAi^ANDAiaUA TREATY. 
 
 COLONEL PICKERING TO CAPTAIN BRANT. 
 
 Canandaigua, November 20^A, 1794. 
 
 Sir : When I wrote you on the 17th, I had not time to express 
 any opinion relative to the Mohawk nation, as implicated in the 
 present treaty. As one of the Six Nations, I did not think it pro- 
 per to name it as not included in the treaty ; nor to omit it by 
 enumerating the other five. For general concerns, I consider the 
 whole six as forming one confederate nation. 
 
 The great object of this treaty (like almost all other Indian 
 treaties) was to remove complaints respecting lands. The particular 
 tract in question I supposed especially concerned the Senecas j but 
 it was natural that an object so important to one, should interest 
 the whole. By the terms of the present treaty, the complaints 
 which were the immediate occasion of it have been removed -, and, 
 as I observed in my former letter, all appeared to be satisfied ; and 
 many individual chiefs, in strong terms, expressed their satisfaction. 
 So, I trust, no heart burnings for past transactions will be felt, nor 
 reproaches used, in future. 
 
 It is the nature of the present settlement which has led me to 
 contemplate the case of the Mohawk nation. 
 
 " This settlement," said one of the chiefs to me, " appears like a 
 great light to us." And to me it seems like a new era. With 
 much pleasure, therefore, I should see presented to that nation, a 
 token for participating in the general satisfaction which this treaty 
 has produced. The goods in my power to dispose of have been 
 distributed ; and to convey a share of them to your people would 
 have been impracticable ; and therefore I abandoned the idea of it ; 
 but if it should not meet your approbation, I persuade myself that 
 an equivalent in money would cheerfully be presented. On this 
 subject I shall be happy to see your mind expressed in a letter to 
 General Chapin (whom I have consulted on this occasion), or to me. 
 
476 Appendix. 
 
 In fche meantime a copy of this letter will be given to the secretary 
 of war, for the president's information. 
 
 The Onondagas and Cayugas, residing at Grand river, who were 
 not present to receive a part of the goods given at this treaty, may 
 doubtless be also comprehended in providing a gratuity on the 
 present general settlement with the Six Nations. Before I closed 
 my letter of the 7th, I intended to give you a sketch of the terms of 
 the treaty ; but a throng being about me, and your nephew waiting, 
 it was omitted. By former treaties the Six Nations relinquished all 
 their lands west of a line running due south from the mouth of 
 Buffalo creek. Now I have given up the claim of the United States 
 to a large tract of land lying between this due south line and the 
 meridian which makes the eastern boundary of the triangular piece 
 of land which the United States sold to Pennsylvania. The tract 
 now relinquished probably contains four times as much land as that 
 triangle, and was peculiarly important to the Seneca nation, as 
 several hundred of their nation were dwelling on it. 
 
 I have also relinquished the United States' claim to the strip of 
 land four miles wide, including the carrying path from lake Ontario 
 to lake Erie, along the Niagara strait, except that part of it which, 
 in a treaty held thirty years ago with Sir William Johnson, the 
 Seneca nation ceded to the King of Great Britain, to whose right 
 therein I considered the United States as succeeding. Or, as the 
 chiefs expressed it, " that piece became ours (the United States) by 
 the right of war." Its eastern boundary is a line from Johnson's 
 landing to Stedman's creek, and thence to Niagara straits, and the 
 strait itself bounds it on ihe west and southwest. Besides these 
 relinquishments, I have stipulated a perpetual annuity of four thou- 
 sand five hundred dollars, to be applied to the benefit of those of the 
 Six Nations, and their Indian friends and associates, residing among 
 and united with them, who do or shall reside within the boundaries 
 of the United States ; for the United States do not mean to inter- 
 fere, by any permanent arrangements, with nations elsewhere resi- 
 dent. The terms I have stipulated, will, I trust, be approved by the 
 president and senate, and then the treaty will be obligatory on both 
 sides. I am, sir, &c., 
 
 TIMO. PICKEEING. 
 
Appendix. 477 
 
 P. S. My letter of the 7tli was delivered to tlie care of Henry 
 Young Brant, who I understood was your nephew. In that I en- 
 closed a copy of my speech relative to the appearance of a British 
 agent at a council fire kindled by the United States. 
 
 Capt. Jos. Brant. 
 
 CAPTAIN BRANT TO COLONEL PICKERINa. 
 
 Niagara, 30th December, 1794. 
 
 Sir : Your letters of the 17th and 20th November, '94, from 
 Kanandaigua, I have now before me, and I have to say, that at all 
 our meetings during the whole of last summer, our thoughts were 
 solely bent on fixing a boundary line between the confederate Indians 
 and the United States, so as that peace might be established on a 
 solid basis, for which reason we pointed out the line we did, well 
 knowing the justness of it and that it would be ratified by the whole 
 Indian confederacy. 
 
 As an individual I much regret to find that the boundary so 
 pointed out has now been abandoned, the establishment of which, I 
 am well convinced, would have been the means of bringing about a 
 lasting and permanent peace. This object, so earnestly to be desired, 
 has ever made me exert every nerve, wishing for nothing more than 
 mutual justice. This line, you will recollect, was ofiered to Gover- 
 nor St. Clair at Muskingum, and notwithstanding the two successful 
 campaigns of the Indians, after this I still adhered to the same, and 
 still do. This, I hope, will satisfy you that my wish ever was for 
 peace. The offer was rejected by Mr. St. Clair, and what the con- 
 sequences have been you well know. I should be sorry if your 
 endeavors would be crowned with no better success, as your exer- 
 tions I hope are not influenced by similar motives with his. You 
 must also recollect that I differed even with my friends respecting 
 this boundary, and to the last two messages you then received, my 
 name was to neither of them, because I thought them too unreasona- 
 ble. This made me take more pains and trouble to bring the Indians 
 and you to an understanding, than I was under any obligations to 
 do, otherwise than humanity dictated to me, having nothing but our 
 mutual interests in view, and as to politics I study them not. My 
 principle is founded on justice, and justice is all I wish for, and 
 
478 Appendix. 
 
 never sliall I exert myself in behalf of auy nation or nations, let 
 their opinion of me be what it will, unless I plainly see they are just 
 and sincere in their pursuits, doing what in every respect to justice 
 may belong. When I perceive such are the sentiments of a people, 
 no endeavors shall be wanting on my part to bring neighbors to a 
 good understanding. 
 
 I must again repeat that I am extremely sorry this boundary, so 
 long since pointed out, should have been abandoned — it being an 
 object of such magnitude, and which much depends on the whole 
 Indian confederacy being interested. I should therefore have sup- 
 posed it would have been more for mutual interests and would have 
 had a better effect, to have dealt upon a larger scale that within the 
 small compass of the Five Nations, the meeting being intended solely 
 to talk over the business of the boundary, and then to have ac- 
 quainted the whole confederacy with what had passed, so that some- 
 thing final could have been determined on, as all that part of the 
 country is a common to the whole of us. 
 
 You say on your part every thing has been openly and fairly ex- 
 plained, and that you shall be disappointed if the chiefs do not 
 acknowledge your candor. I can, for my own part, form no opinion, 
 whether it is so or not, being perfectly ignorant of what has passed, 
 but ever look upon it that business fairly transacted should be ad- 
 hered to as sacred. 
 
 And that you are still ready to make peace with the western 
 nations — this has made me say much about the boundary line, in 
 order that peace and friendship might be established between you. 
 This obliges me to say they ought to have been included in this 
 treaty, and to have been consulted with, as well as those who were 
 there, they being equally interested with the Six Nations in this 
 line As to the British^ ^lisy are an independent nation^ as well as 
 the United States and the Indian nations, and of course they act for 
 themselves^ as well as other white nations do. 
 
 My mentioning in my letter to you, that I was sorry Mr. Johnson 
 was looked upon as a spy, was because I knew the Five Nations so 
 often erred in their transactions with the white people — it being 
 myself in person, from the wish of the Indians, that requested Mr. 
 Johnson should go to the treaty — in consequence of which request 
 
Appendix. 479 
 
 he was permitted. I was well aware at the same time of the recep- 
 tion he would meet with, as we are an independent people. I ever 
 thought our councils should be private; but must at the same time 
 say, we have an undoubted right to admit at our councils whom we 
 please. Of course the United States have it optional whether they 
 will treat or not with any nation or nations, where foreign agents 
 are present. 
 
 You seem to think, in your letter of the 20th, that the Senecas 
 are the nation most concerned in the tracts in question, agreeable 
 to the lines you point out. At the different treaties held since the 
 year '83, I allow, the Senecas from their proceedings seemed to be 
 the only nation concerned in that country, although the whole Five 
 Nations have an equal right one with the other, the country having 
 been obtained by their joint exertions in war with a powerful nation, 
 formerly living southward of Buffalo creek, called Eries, and another 
 nation then living at Tioga point, so that by our successes all the 
 country between that and the Mississippi, became the joint property 
 of the Five Nations — all other nations now inhabiting this great 
 tract of country were allowed to settle by the Five Nations. 
 
 This I hope will convince you that the Mohawks have an equal 
 claim, and right to receive in proportion, with the others of the 
 Five Nations. But as I am ignorant of the transaction — knowing 
 nothing of what has passed, and what was the result of the treaty — 
 must, therefore, defer saying any thing farther on the subject until 
 I know the particulars, which I hope will be ere long. As to the 
 others of the Five Nations residing on the Grand river, they must 
 answer for themselves. I am not so particular in that as I migljit 
 be, seeing no great necessity for it — as I hope to see General Cha- 
 
 pin ere long. 
 
 In reading the speech you have sent me, I perceive that you say 
 we requested you might be sent to kindle the council fire, &c. This 
 I knew to be a mistake. In our speech to General Chapin, we 
 wished the president of the United States to send a commissioner to 
 our fireplace at Buffalo creek (your name being mentioned), not 
 that you was to come and kindle a council fire elsewhere — and that 
 you requested our assistance to bring about a peace, &c. You did, 
 and every thing has been done by us faithfully and sincerely, by 
 
480 Appendix. 
 
 pointing out the medicine that would accomplish it, your relinquish- 
 ing part of your claims in the Indian country. 
 
 You also say that I told Greneral Chapin at Winny's that it was 
 the British prevented the treaty taking place. I said so then, and 
 still do. What enabled me to say so, was the gentleman belonging 
 to the Indian department in that quarter, interfering in the busi- 
 ness. Had the line, as pointed out by us been accepted of by the 
 United States, their interference could not have prevented peace 
 then taking place, as the Five Nations had pledged themselves to see 
 it ratified. 
 
 As to the business of the white nations, I perceive it at present 
 to be a lottery — which will be uppermost cannot be known until 
 drawn — the most powerful no doubt will succeed ; but let who will 
 be successful, our situation is the same, as we still have whites to 
 deal with whose aims are generally similar. 
 
 You mention the people of France took the Indian method, all 
 their warriors turning out. The Indian warriors are always ready 
 to turn out in defense of their just rights — but Indian warriors 
 would not be ready to butcher in an inhuman^ shocking manner, 
 their hing^ queen, nobles and others. This is acting worse than 
 what is called savage. The Indians are not entirely destitute of 
 humanity — but from every appearance it has fled from France. I 
 must therefore say the French have not acted as Indians do. 
 
 You likewise mention that you told the deputies from the west- 
 ward who met you at this place, that though you were willing to 
 run a new line, yet it was impossible to make the Ohio the boundary. 
 This, I believe is a mistake, as the word Ohio was never mentioned 
 at that time. 
 
 You may now perceive that I do not swerve from any expressions 
 I have made use of. I know the necessity for being candid, especi- 
 ally at this critical juncture, and still earnestly hope that peace may 
 be established without further bloodshed, and that friendship may 
 reign between the people of the United States and the Indian 
 nations. This, be assured, is the sincere wish of, sir, 
 
 Your most obedient humble servant, 
 
 JOS. BRANT. 
 Timothy Pickering, Esq. 
 
Appendix. 481 
 
 D. 
 
 CAPTAIN BRANT TO CAPTAIN CHAPIN. 
 
 Niagara, 21st of May, 1803. 
 
 Dear Sir : Your friendly letter by Aaron, I have the felicity of 
 acknowledging, and ought to have answered it long ere this. But I 
 trust you'll excuse me for this neglect — particularly so, when I 
 assure you of my high esteem for you. I trust you'll continue your 
 friendly correspondence, as the love I bear you is sincere, and as 
 there was a degree of confidence and friendship that subsisted be- 
 tween your worthy and much to be lamented father and myself. 
 This I look upon (exclusive of our personal friendship and acquaint- 
 ance), to be a sufficient reason for continuing our mutual friendship 
 toward each other. Be assured nothing on my part shall be want- 
 ing to keep this flame of friendship alive. 
 
 I certainly regretted to hear of your removal from office, but trust 
 it will not be long before you again fill it — an office in which you 
 have certainly done credit to yourself, and justice to those Indians 
 over whom you presided. To you did they look up as their friend 
 and patron. Your removal is one of the natural changes incidental 
 to republican governments. When a person is elevated to a high 
 office, it is expected from him, and it is but natural to suppose that 
 he will provide for his friends, at the expense of others — perhaps 
 more honorable than the favorite to be provided for. I am happy 
 that you bear your dismissal with manly, virtuous, and patriotic 
 fortitude. This surely must redound to your honor, and raise you 
 even in the estimation of the person who dismissed you. 
 
 I hope before long to have the pleasure of seeing you personally, 
 and condoling with you for your loss, if you look upon it as such. 
 In all revolutions, some changes for political reasons will take place — 
 perhaps through whim, caprice, or prejudice. 
 
 I will thank you to pay attention to your friend Oghgwage- Joseph, 
 who is the bearer of this, and am, dear sir, 
 
 Your friend and well wisher, 
 
 JOSEPH BRANT. 
 
 Captain Israel Chapin. 
 
 61 
 
482 Appendix. 
 
 E. 
 GENERAL PORTEE TO THE AUTHOR. 
 
 Niagara Falls Oct. 25, 1840. 
 
 Dear Sir : I have received your favor of the 9th ultimo, enclos- 
 ing a number of the manuscript sheets of your intended biography 
 of Red Jacket, containing a notice of the repulse of a detachment of 
 British troops under the command of Colonel Bishop, at Black Rock, 
 in July, 1813 — being the first occasion on which our Indians were 
 engaged in battle as auxiliaries of the Americans ) and embracing also 
 an account of the march and operations of the American army under 
 General Brown, from the time of their entering Canada, on the 3d 
 of July, 1814, until shortly after the battle of Chippewa, when the 
 Indians took leave of us for their respective homes; and asking for 
 such additions, corrections and remarks as the subject may suggest. 
 
 While I will cheerfully comply with your request as regards the 
 affair at Black Rock, I will not disguise the satisfaction which the 
 receipt of your communication has given me, in so far as it aff'ords 
 me an opportunity of doing an act of justice, too long withheld from 
 the Indians and volunteers engaged in the battle of Chippewa ; by 
 presenting, with your permission, and in a shape and connection 
 where it will be sure to meet extensively the public eye, a minute 
 account (so far at least as the Indians and volunteers were con- 
 cerned), of the various movements and incidents of that day; and 
 thus rescuing their characters from the charge of cowardice, pre- 
 ferred against them for their conduct on that occasion. 
 
 It is to be regretted that we have no fair, intelligent and connected 
 history of the interesting campaign of 1814, on the Niagara frontier, 
 prepared by some one whose knowledge of the views and plans of 
 those who conducted it, as well as of its incidents, gives him a right 
 to be heard. But of those best qualified to perform the task, many 
 have doubtless been deterred by considerations of delicacy in the 
 narration of events in which they had a deep personal interest or 
 agency; and thus involving the necessity either of becoming their 
 own panegyrists, or of suppressing important facts — the preserva- 
 tion of which is due to the integrity and truth of history. 
 
Appendix. 483 
 
 Many, if not most of these, have already left the stage of life, and 
 the only hope of preserving the recollection of many interesting 
 events of that period, rests upon the occasional and voluntary contri- 
 butions of those who remain. I observe with much satisfaction, that 
 our friend, Major Douglass, has been employed in delivering, in your 
 city, a course of lectures on the subject of the Niagara campaign. 
 He was, if I mistake not, personally engaged in several of the prin- 
 cipal battles of that year ; and, although then young, and fresh from 
 West Point, he was an intelligent and active officer, and will doubtless 
 gratify the public expectations with manyinteresting reminiscences. 
 
 Will it, then, my dear sir, be presuming too much to offer for 
 your acceptance the accompanying narrative of the operations of the 
 army during the few days to which it extends, and embracing the 
 battle of Chippewa, as a substitute for the sheets you sent me ? In 
 exchange for the loss of style and spirit in its composition, I can 
 only promise a more minute detail, and probably somewhat greater 
 accuracy in the relation of facts. If the story should appear to be a 
 long one, I hope that this defect will not be ascribed wholly to the 
 proverbial garrulity of an old soldier, but to the impossibility of doing 
 justice to the several parties engaged in that severe conflict, without 
 a full knowledge of its complicated incidents. The whole history of 
 this battle, as it has appeared in most of our publications on the sub- 
 ject, may be comprehended in two simple propositions: the one, 
 that our volunteers and Indians, when met and attacked on that 
 day, by the regular columns of the British army, retreated and were 
 pursued with great precipitation. The other, that these same British 
 columns were, immediately thereafter, met and beaten by our regular 
 troops, and obliged in their turn, to retreat with equal precipitation. 
 
 Now both these propositions are literally true : but whether the 
 inferences that have been drawn from them are just, can only be 
 decided by reference to the whole operations of the day, and these it 
 has been my purpose to detail. I have however introduced some 
 circumstances that were not strictly necessary to an exposition of the 
 merits of the battle, merely because I thought they would be inte- 
 resting to readers of the present day. 
 
 I remain, dear sir, very truly and respectfully, yours, 
 
 William L. Stone, Esq. P- B. PORTER. 
 
484 Appendix. 
 
 F. 
 THE INDIAN TREATIES. 
 
 Tte following are the leading provisions of tliese treaties as agreed 
 upon in council on the Indian reservation, January, 1838. We pre- 
 sume they have been ratified essentially as they were originally 
 made. The government gives the New York Indians 1,824,000 
 acres of land, west of Missouri, being 320 acres for each person, to 
 be held in fee simple by patent from the president, which is never 
 to be included in any state. Th^ Indians are to have the right of 
 holding in severalty, under such regulations as they may prescribe, 
 and are to enjoy their own form of government, subject only to the 
 laws of congress. They are to be secured in their new possessions, 
 and if aggressions are committed upon them, and redress cannot be 
 obtained of the aggressor, then the government is to make good the 
 loss. It is to remove them and subsist them for one year. It is also 
 to erect for them council houses, churches, school houses, a saw and 
 grist mill, gunsmiths^ and blacksmiths' shops; find coal, iron and 
 steel ; and pay teachers, millers, blacksmiths and a gunsmith for ten 
 years, and as much longer as the president may deem proper. 
 
 Fifty thousand dollars are set apart to be invested to support a 
 high school, or college, the teachers of which are to be Indians, if 
 those of suitable qualifications can be found. Twenty thousand dol- 
 lars are set apart to make erections and enclosures for poor people, 
 after their arrival west. 
 
 Ten thousand dollars a year, for five years, are to be paid them in 
 domestic animals, farming utensils, spinning wheels and looms, and 
 to support persons to teach them the use of the same. 
 
 It is farther provided, that those who wish to remove in their own 
 conveyances, can do so, and be paid what it costs the government to 
 remove others, and a physician is to accompany each party of emi- 
 grants, if they desire it. 
 
 The only cession of land to the government, is of the Green bay 
 tract, from which is expected a reservation now occupied by the 
 Oneidas. Those who do not remove to the new country in five 
 years, or such time as the president may appoint, forfeit their right 
 
Appendix. 485 
 
 to the country set apart for them. The Senecas, Cayugas, Tuscaro- 
 ras, and the Onondagas, residing on the Seneca reservations, agree 
 to remove in five years, and a portion of the Oueidas are to do so, as 
 soon as the governor of New York will purchase their lands. 
 
 Several sums of money are to be paid to several nations and indi- 
 viduals, to remunerate them for losses and services, which it is 
 supposed the United States ought to pay. There are also several 
 separate provisions for each tribe, and distinct branches of a tribe. 
 
 A separate treaty was also made in January, 1836, with the Sene- 
 cas and Tuscaroras, for the purchase of their lands (except one 
 reservation conveyed by the latter to the United States in trust), by 
 the representatives of the state of Massachusetts with the assent of 
 a superintendent from that state. The consideration money for the 
 sale of the Seneca reservation is to be paid to the United States, and 
 be held in trust for the nation. One hundred thousand dollars of 
 which is to be invested for the use of the nation ; and the balance 
 ($102,000) is to be distributed among the owners of the improve- 
 ments on the reservation. 
 
 The government agrees to have one of its agents reside among 
 the Indians at their new homes, and to pay them their annuities 
 there. 
 
 These are the leading provisions. 
 
 13y this treaty the Tuscaroras cede to the Ogden Company, who 
 have purchased the preemptive right, 1,920 acres ; to the United 
 States about 5,000 acres, of which the Indians owned the fee, and 
 which is to be sold by the United States, and the net proceeds paid 
 
 to the Indians. 
 
 The Senecas cede to the preemptive owners about 115,000 acres, 
 all lying in the western part of this state — upwards of 50,000 of 
 which is the reservation near this city. 
 
 The other reservations are, one at Tonnawanda, one at Cattaraugus, 
 and one at Alleghany. 
 
 The tract which the Indians obtain, lies directly west of, and 
 adjoining the state of Missouri, being 27 miles wide and about 106 
 deep. It is watered by the little Osage, Marmaton, Neosho, and 
 branches of the two Verdigris and Turkey-foot rivers. These are 
 all clear rapid streams, abounding in fish. The country is healthy 
 
486 Appendix. 
 
 and fertile, with sufficient timber along the borders of the rivers for 
 all practical uses. Besides this, on the tract are found coal, fine 
 stone quarries, and, in the immediate vicinity, salt in abundance. 
 
 Such was an outline of the treaty as at first concluded in 1838. 
 While under discussion in the senate of the United States^ it was 
 amended as follows : The special provisions for the erection of 
 houses, churches, mills, shops, providing various utensils, coal, iron, 
 steel, &c., &c., it was thought might open the door to fraud and 
 speculation, and dn lieu thereof, after a careful estimate of the fair 
 probable cost of all these things, the senate struck them all out, and 
 inserted instead the specific sum of $400,000, which is to be ex- 
 pended under the direction of a superintendent in providing every 
 thing promised by the treaty, which it was believed would cover the 
 whole expense. 
 
 [The following article, copied from the New York Journal of 
 Commerce of December 30, 1840, affords a history of the negotia- 
 tions with the Senecas which resulted in the treaty so called, that 
 has been concluded. The article is a review of two important pub- 
 lications, which the nefarious transactions here unveiled, have called 
 forth.] 
 
 Report on the memorials of the Seneca Indians and others. 
 Accepted, November 21, 1840, in the council of Massachusetts. 
 Boston : Dutton & Wentworth, state printers, 1840, p. 28. 
 
 The Case of the Seneca Indians in the state of New York, illus- 
 trated by facts. Printed for the information of the Society of 
 Friends, by direction of the Joint Committee on Indian Affairs, 
 of the Four yearly Meetings of Friends, of G-enesee, New York, 
 Philadelphia, and Baltimore. Philadelphia : Merihew & Thomp- 
 son, 1840, p. 254. 
 
 To all who can sympathize with the Indians in the afflictions 
 which are consuming them from the face of the earth, these are 
 deeply interesting publications ; and the character of the sources 
 from which they emanate, must command respectful attention to 
 their contents. Nor can the truth of their statements be questioned ; 
 for all the important facts are sustained by authentic documents, 
 
Appendix. 487 
 
 given at full length. A brief abstract of their contents seems the 
 more desirable, as the Senecas aver that a powerful influence, exerted 
 over the press in their vicinity, has hitherto prevented them from 
 laying the story of their wrongs fully before the public. 
 
 The present number of the Senecas is said to be 2,449. They 
 claim four reservations in the state of New York, viz : the Ton- 
 nawanda, 13,000 acres; the Buffalo, 53,000 acres; the Cattaraugus, 
 22,000; and the Alleghany, 31,000; in all, about 119,000 acres. 
 Much of this land is among the most fertile and valuable in the 
 state, and the whole is supposed to be worth at least two millions of 
 dollars. At the close of the war of the revolution, Massachusetts 
 claimed an interest in this and other land belonging to the Six 
 Nations. By articles of agreement, dated at Hartford, December 
 16, 1786, Massachusetts ceded to New York the sovereignty and 
 jurisdiction over those lands, and New York ceded to Massachusetts, 
 its grantees, their heirs and assigns, the right of preemption to the 
 lands themselves. It was " provided, however, that no purchase 
 ' from the native Indians by any such grantee or grantees should be 
 valid, unless the same should be made in the presence of, and ap- 
 proved by, a superintendent, to be appointed for such purpose by 
 the commonwealth of Massachusetts, and having no interest in such 
 purchase ; and unless such purchase shall be confirmed by the com- 
 monwealth of Massachusetts/' This agreement was sanctioned by 
 Congress in 1787. 
 
 By an agreement, dated March 12, 1791, the commonwealth con- 
 tracted to sell its preemptive right to Samuel Ogden, his heirs and 
 assigns ; and by several transfers, that title has come into the hands 
 of a company, now known as the Ogden Land Company. Under 
 this title, several purchases have been made of the Indians, and 
 confirmed by the commonwealth. 
 
 The United States had made three treaties with the Six Nations, 
 previous to the negotiations which have given occasion to these pub- 
 lications. The first was a treaty of peace and boundaries, in 1784. 
 The second, in 1789, was little more than a confirmation of the first. 
 The third which continued to be the rule of intercourse between the 
 parties for more than forty years, was made in 1794. It contained 
 two important provisions, bearing on the questions which have lately 
 
488 Appendix. 
 
 arisen. First, it acknowledged and guaranteed the right of each of 
 the Six Nations, to its own reservations ; so that the Six Nations 
 could not, thenceforth, dispose of any of the land of any one tribe 
 of the confederacy against its will. Secondly, while other Indians 
 are restrained from selling their land except to the United States, 
 this treaty conferred on each of the Six Nations, separately, the 
 right to sell any or all of its lands to citizens of the United States, 
 whenever and however they might choose. The Indians agreed 
 never to set up any claim to any other land within the United States. 
 Under these arrangements with the United States and Massachu- 
 setts, the Indians frequently sold land to companies and individuals, 
 and conveyed it, not by treaties, but by ordinary deeds of conveyance. 
 
 It would seem that the United States had now no further connec- 
 tion with this business. It was, however, for the interest of the 
 Ogden Land Company, that the United States government should 
 be involved in some train of measures for removing the New York 
 Indians. For this purpose — as it was stated by Mr. Sevier, chair- 
 man of the committee on Indian affairs, in his speech in the United 
 States senate, March 17, 1840 — the company induced two small 
 bands to apply to President Monroe, in 1818, for permission to pur- 
 chase, with their own means and on their own account, the title of 
 the Menomonies, to certain lands near G-reen bay. Mr. Sevier 
 asserts, that evidence of the company^s influence in this movement 
 is on file in the war department. Mr. Monroe gave his assent. 
 The agents of the " two small bands," as they assert, purchased the 
 land and paid $12,000 for it, and the bands began to remove. The 
 Menomonies denied the purchase. A controversy arose, and the 
 United States Grovernment was called upon to make peace. The 
 government made peace in 1832, by purchasing the land of the 
 Menomonies, paying back to the ''two small bands" the $12,000 
 which they professed to have paid for it, and paying $35,000 to the 
 Oneidas and $5,000 to the St. Kegis Indians, as a remuneration to 
 them for purchasing and removing to the Green bay lands, under 
 Mr. Monroe's permission. 
 
 This treaty of 1832 was made with the Menomonies; and neither 
 the Senecas, nor any other Indians residing in New York, were pre- 
 sent, or had any thing to do in making it. Yet by this treaty the 
 
Appendix. 489 
 
 United States purchased, for $20,000, of the Menomonies, 500,000 
 acres of land, as a home for all the New York Indians j and it was 
 stipulated that the New York Indians should remove to it within 
 three years, or their right to it should be forfeited, and revert to 
 the United States. This, it was hoped, would induce them to sell 
 their reservations in New York to the Ogden Company on easy terms. 
 The Senecas, however, paid no attention to the treaty. They were 
 satisfied with their old homes, and cared nothing for the forfeiture 
 of lands which they had not purchased and did not want. In the 
 hope that they might he brought to change their minds, a supple- 
 mentary article was procured, by which the time for their removal 
 was left to the discretion of the president. 
 
 So matters remained till 1837. About this time, certain new 
 agents appeared, acting for the Land Company. It does not appear 
 from the documents before us, but has been currently reported at 
 and around Bufialo, and is understood to be acknowledged by the 
 gentlemen themselves, that five men agreed to obtain a treaty for 
 the removal of the Senecas within a specified time ; for which some 
 of them were to receive $25,000 each, and some of them $20,000 
 and certain profitable agencies. These agents took hold of tlfeir 
 work in good earnest. Mr. Sevier, in his speech already quoted, 
 read a contract between one of these agents, on behalf of the Ogden 
 Land Company, and a Seneca chief, in which the said chief agreed 
 to " use the best of his exertions and endeavors" to procure such a 
 treaty as the company desired, by "the active application of his 
 whole infiuence at councils, and in confidential interviews,'' and in 
 such other ways as he should be advised; for which, and for his 
 "improvements," he was to receive two thousand dollars within 
 three months after the ratification of the treaty, and a lease, at a 
 nominal rent, during occupancy, of the farm on which he lived. 
 By the treaty, if made, he would of course be paid for his " improve- 
 ments" a second time. Mr. Sevier read another contract, by which 
 the same agent agreed to pay another chief, for similar services, five 
 thousand dollars. How many such contracts were made, is not 
 known. Mr. Sevier mentioned six others. By these eight, the 
 Company were bound to pay $21,600 to eight chiefs for such services 
 as have been described, besides leases for years, or for life, or grants 
 
 62 
 
490 Appendix. 
 
 in fee simple, of the lands they then occupied. By this arrange- 
 ment, he remarked, " the emigrating party were to stay at home 
 upon their leases, and the non emigrating party were to be trans- 
 ported beyond the Mississippi." 
 
 To accomplish the object, the intervention of the United States 
 was necessary, and was obtained. A commissioner was appointed, 
 to purchase of the Senecas their right in the Green bay lands, which 
 they always had refused to accept as a gift. A council was called. 
 Two instruments were laid before the council. One was a treaty, 
 by which the United States were to give 1,800,000 acres of land, 
 west of the state of Missouri, and $400,000 in cash, for the Grreen 
 bay lands. The other was a deed, conveying the Seneca reserva- 
 tions in New York to the Ogden Land Company, for $202,000, the 
 receipt of which was acknowledged — though the treaty provides 
 that it " shall be paid" to the United States, to be used as stipulated 
 for the benefit of the Senecas — and though the Senecas have never 
 yet received any part, either of the principal or income. To this 
 treaty forty-five signatures, purporting to be those of chiefs or head 
 men, were obtained. The effect of these bargains would be, that 
 the United States would remove the Senecas at an expense of 
 1,800,000 acres of land, and $400,000 in cashj and the Ogden 
 Land Company would purchase $2,000,000 worth of land for 
 $202,000. 
 
 The party among the Senecas who were opposed to emigration, 
 asserted that this treaty had been obtained by fraud and corruption ; 
 but they do not seem to have had, at that time, the means of proving 
 their assertion. The contracts referred to by Mr. Sevier, had not 
 then come to light. The sale was approved by the government to 
 Massachusetts ; but the United States senate found its provisions so 
 enormously liberal that they refused to ratify it. They amended it 
 so as to make it almost a new treaty ; either wholly annulling, or 
 commuting for others which the Senecas might think less valuable, 
 six important inducements to sell their lands and remove. They 
 sent the amended treaty back to the Senecas, with a resolution, that 
 it " shall have no force or effect whatever, nor shall it be understood 
 that the senate have assented to any of the contracts connected with 
 it," till it should have been explained by the United States commis- 
 
Appendix. 491 
 
 sioners in open councilj and received the assent of a majority of tlie 
 chiefs. This provision was added, to prevent such frauds in obtain- 
 ing signatures as the Senecas had complained of. 
 
 The commissioner returned, called a council, explained the amended 
 treaty, and urged the Senecas to assent to it. Among other things, 
 he told them that the head of the Indian bureau at Washington 
 thought the sale to the Land Company valid, whether the treaty 
 was ratified or not ; so that they must assent to it, or be left without 
 a home. General Dearborn, who attended as superintendent on the 
 part of Massachusetts, told them that the governor of Massachusetts 
 thought otherwise — that if the treaty was not ratified, the contract 
 was void. The commissioner called for signatures. One of the 
 chiefs proposed that those opposed to the treaty should sign a remon- 
 strance ; but the commissioner refused to authenticate it. One was 
 drawn up, and authenticated by Greneral Dearborn. The treaty was 
 signed by 16 chiefs, and the remonstrance by 63. The commissioner 
 then invited the chiefs to sign the treaty singly and secretly, at his 
 private lodgings, in a tavern at Bufi"alo. Runners were sent out, 
 chiefs were brought in, paid various sums of money for their signa- 
 tures, made drunk and induced to sign, or their assent was procured 
 at their own houses. In various ways, 15 more signatures were 
 procured, making 31 in all. The treaty was sent to Washington, 
 and five more signatures were sent after it; but they were rejected 
 by the department of war. The commissioner continued his labors^ 
 and obtained ten more signatures, including three who had been 
 made chiefs illegally, for the purpose of signing the treaty, and 
 making 41 in all. The whole number of undisputed chiefs is 75. 
 Of these 29 appear to have signed the amended treaty. The whole 
 number who are claimed to be chiefs by both parties, is 97, of whom 
 41 appear as signers. Six of those whose names are attached to it, 
 solemnly swear that they never signed it, knowing what they did, 
 nor in any way authorized others to sign it on their behalf The 
 Friends in one of the works mentioned at the head of this article, 
 gave at full length the bribery contracts, as they call them, and one 
 affidavit, testifying that twenty-five dollars was offered to a certain 
 Seneca, if he would forge the name of a chief to the power of attorney 
 for signing the treaty, and then swear that the signature was genuine. 
 
492 Appendix. 
 
 The treaty went again to the senate, who advised the president to 
 make proclamation of it and carry it into effect, whenever he should 
 he satisfied that it had received the assent of the Senecas, according 
 to the true intent and meaning of the senate's former resolution. In 
 August, 1839, the secretary of war and General Dearborn met the 
 Senecas in council. Of the result, the president says : " No advance 
 toward obtaining the assent of the Senecas to the amended treaty, in 
 council, was made ; nor can a majority of them in council now be 
 obtained ; '' and again : " That improper means have been employed 
 to obtain the assent of the Seneca chiefs, there is every reason 
 to believe.^' It was referred, in the senate, to the committee 
 on Indian affairs, who reported a resolution for rejecting it. 
 The senate, however, March 25, 1840, passed a contrary resolu- 
 tion, it is said, by the casting vote of its presiding officer; and 
 the president, April 4, proclaimed it as a part of the law of the 
 land. The ratification of a treaty requires the assent of two-thirds 
 of the senators present. Whether this vote was a ratification, and 
 therefore void for want of the constitutional majority, is a disputed 
 question. 
 
 The Senecas then applied to the government of Massachusetts, as 
 their ancient protector; and the Priends, of the four Yearly Meet- 
 ings, sent on their memorial. These papers were referred by the 
 governor and council, to a committee, of which John R. Adan, Esq., 
 was chairman. The report was accepted by the council and ap- 
 proved by the governor, November 21, 1840. It is brief, but able. 
 It concludes that the assent of the commonwealth to the sale of 
 reservations, though made in ignorance of important facts, which, if 
 known, would have prevented it, cannot be retracted. It sets forth 
 several strong arguments against the validity of that sale ; but these 
 only raise a " legal question — a question of title to the lands, which 
 must be determined by a judicial tribunal, and cannot be determined 
 by the executive department of Massachusetts." " Considering the 
 nature of the objections to the Ogden Company's title, we think the 
 character of that company, and of those who conduct its affairs, as 
 well as the interest of both parties, require that those objections 
 should be fairly met and judicially settled without delay. Until 
 that shall be done, the Senecas will probably remain at their old 
 
Appendix. 493 
 
 homes — and the Ogden Company may not find it easy to sell them, 
 or any part of them, to any prudent purchaser/' 
 
 Such is the present situation of this affair. Those who wish to 
 examine in detail the long and sickening series of astounding frauds 
 by which it has been brought into this situation, may consult the 
 publications from which this abstract has been made. 
 
 Thus far the Journal of Commerce. It should be stated, in order 
 that his name may be held in everlasting remembrance — for good 
 if he has done good, and for evil if evil — that the name of the 
 United States commissioner, under whose conduct such proceedings 
 have been had, is Gillett, recently a member of congress from the 
 county of St. Lawrence, N. Y. His duty, in theory, was to watch 
 over the interests of the Indians, and shield them from the rapacity 
 and fraud of the white man. How far, and with what degree of 
 fidelity he has performed that duty, is a question which the public 
 must decide. 
 
 On the 20th of May, 1842, another treaty was concluded between 
 the United States and the Seneca nation which recited the treaty, 
 and the agreement with Ogden and Fellows in 1838 and modified 
 their provisions. By this treaty a new agreement with Ogden and 
 Fellows, made the day of its date, was affirmed, by which they re- 
 leased to the Seneca nation the Cattaraugus and Alleghany reserva- 
 tions, and the Senecas, on their part, released to them, their heirs 
 and assigns, in joint tenancy, the whole of the Buffalo creek and 
 Tonnawanda reservations. By the conditions of this agreement the 
 Indians were to be paid the consideration for that grant as follows : 
 One hundred thousand dollars should be regarded as the value of 
 their title to the whole four tracts, and one hundred and two thou- 
 sand dollars as the value of the improvements on the same four 
 tracts ; and so much of those sums should be paid by Ogden and 
 Fellows as the value of the title and improvements on the Buffalo 
 and Tonnawanda tracts should bear to the title and improvements 
 on all the tracts — such amount to be chosen by arbitrators, to be 
 chosen as therein mentioned. This indenture was accordingly in- 
 corporated into, and formed part of the above mentioned treaty of 
 
494 Appendix. 
 
 1842 between the Federal government and the chiefs and headmen 
 of the Seneca nation. 
 
 Arbitrators were afterwards appointed agreeably to the terms of 
 the treaty and indenture, who executed their duty as to all the four 
 tracts, except the Tonnawanda. They awarded that seventy-five 
 thousand dollars was the proportion which the value of the two tracts 
 conveyed bore to the whole four tracts ; and that fifty-eight thousand 
 seven hundred and sixty-eight dollars and ninety-six cents was the 
 proportion which the value of the improvements in those two tracts 
 bore to the improvements on all the tracts. They were, however, 
 unable to decide upon the amount to be paid to each individual for 
 his improvements on the Tonnawanda tract, for the reason that that 
 portion of the Seneca nation which was in possession of that tract 
 refused to allow them to perform their duty in this respect, and 
 removed them by force from the tract when they went there, as they 
 did twice, for the purpose of making their examinations and award. 
 Such award has never yet been made. At the end of two years, 
 however, after filing the report in the war-office and upon the pay- 
 ment to the president of the United States of the aggregate sum 
 awarded by the arbitrators, Fellows, as the survivor of his joint- 
 tenant Ogden, entered, in 1846, by force and ejected Blacksmith, a 
 Seneca Indian, from the improvements possessed by him. These 
 improvements consisted of a dam and saw-mill, and had been built 
 by himself and seven other Indians twenty years previous. Black- 
 smith accordingly brought an action for assault and battery and 
 breach of plaintiff''s close against Fellows, and succeeded in his case — 
 obtaining from the jury damages to the amount of eight hundred 
 and twenty dollars. The defendant thereupon carried the case up 
 to the court of appeals in 1852, and was again beaten, the judgment 
 of the lower court being affirmed, i 
 
 1 For this case, in which a very able opinion was given by Judge Edmonds, soe Black- 
 smith against Fellows, in the third volume of Selden's Reports. 
 
Appendix. 495 
 
 a. 
 
 SPEECH OF JOHN SKENANDO, 
 
 Hecad chief of the Oneidas, on discovering, that their land and 
 improvements at the Castle were sold to the state by the intrigue 
 (as he asserted) of certain white men. The speech was written by the 
 Eev. Mr Jenkins, a missionary at the time (about 1816) among the 
 Oneidas, as the words fell from the lips of the venerable chief. The 
 tears, says Mr. Jenkins, ran copiously from his eyes, and from the 
 eyesof many who heard him, while the aged chieftain spoke as 
 follows : 
 
 My warriors and my children ! hear I It is cruel ! it is very 
 cruel ! A heavy burden lies on my heart — it is very sick I This 
 is a dark day. The clouds are black and heavy over the Oneida 
 nation ; a strong arm is heavy upon us, and our hearts groan under 
 it. Our fires are put out, and our beds are removed from under us. 
 The groves of our fathers are destroyed, and their children are 
 driven away. The Almighty is angry with us, for we have been 
 very wicked — therefore his arm does not keep us. Where are the 
 chiefs of the Rising Sun ? White chiefs now kindle their ancient 
 fires. There no Indian sleeps, but those that are sleeping in their 
 graves. My house will soon be like theirs ! Soon will a white 
 chief here kindle this fire. Your Skenando will soon be no more, 
 and his village no more a village of Indians. ^ The news that came 
 last night by our men from Albany made this a sick day in Oneida. 
 All our children's hearts are sick, and our eyes rain like the black 
 clouds that roar on the tops of the trees of the wilderness. Long 
 did the strong voice of Sconando cry " children, take care ! be wise — 
 be straight!" His feet were then like the deer's, and his arm like 
 the bear's ! He can now only mourn out a few words, and then be 
 silent; and his voice will soon be heard no more in Oneida. But 
 surely he will long be in the hearts of his children — in the white 
 
 1 The Indians (Oneidas) were at this time driven to their unimproved lands. The old 
 chief himself, th,en aged about one hundred and six years, lived in the woods three miles 
 distant from the meeting house, which, together with the missionary house, were in pos- 
 session of the state. Men were then laying out extensive improvements in village lots. 
 and comparatively few of the tribe kindled their Jires vfithin the whole reservation — 
 while the missionary station there was on the point of being broken up. 
 
496 Appendix. 
 
 man's land Sconando's name has gone far, and will not die. He has 
 spoken many words to make his children straight. Long has he 
 said, drink no strong water, for it makes you mice for white men, 
 who are cats. Many a meal have they eaten of you. Their mouth 
 is a snare, and their way like the fox. Their lips are sweet, but 
 their heart is wicked. Yet there are good whites and good Indians. 
 I love all good men; and Jesus, whom I love, sees all. His great 
 day is coming — he will make all straight; he will say to cheating 
 whites and drinking Indians : Begone ye — begone ye — GO, GO, GO ! 
 Certainly, my children, he will drive them away. In that day I 
 will rejoice. But oh ! great sorrow is in my heart, that many of my 
 children mourn. The great Jesus has looked on all the while the 
 whites were cheating us, and it will remain in his mind. He will 
 make all straight again. Long have I believed his words, and as 
 long as I live I will pray to him. He is my good Savior — my blind 
 eyes he will open.i j shall see him. Children, his way is a good 
 way. Hearken, my children, when this news sounds in the council 
 house towards the setting sun,'-^ and the chiefs of the Six Nations 
 hearken, and they send to the council by the great lake near the 
 setting sun, and they cry, make bows and arrows — sharpen the 
 tomahawk — put the chain of friendship with the whites into the 
 ground — Warriors, kill ! kill ! The great chief at the setting sun 
 won't kill any of the Six Nations that go into his land, because 
 they have a chain of friendship with the whites ; and he says the 
 whites have made us wicked like themselves, and that we have sold 
 them our lands. We have not sold it — lue have been cheated; and 
 my messengers shall speak true words in the great council towards 
 the setting sun ; and say yet, bury the tomahawk — Oneidas must 
 be children of peace. Children ! some have said your chiefs signed 
 papers of white men, who sold our fires. Your chiefs signed no 
 papers — sooner would they let the tomahawk lay them low. We 
 know one of our men was hired by the white men to tell our men 
 this, and he himself will now tell you so. Papers are wicked things ! 
 Take care — sign none of them, but such as our minister reads to us. 
 
 1 Sconando was blind at this advanced age (106 years). 
 
 2 Near Buffalo and lake Erie. 
 
Appendix. 497 
 
 He is straiglit — you now see his tears running like ours. Father ! 
 you are our minister — dry up your tears. We know, if your arm 
 could, it would help us. We know wicked men spoke ill of you, for 
 our sakes. You suffered with us; but you are Jesus's servant, and he 
 will love you no less for loving Indians. 
 
 Children ! Our two messengers will run and carry your sorrows 
 to the great council fire towards the setting sun. Run, my children ! 
 and tell our words. Give health to all the chiefs assembled around 
 the great fire. And may Jesus, the great Savior, bring you back 
 safe. (Two men then set off immediately for Buffalo). 
 
 H. 
 
 WRITINGS OF WILLIAM L. STONE. 
 
 I. History of the Great Albany Convention of 1821, 8vo. 
 II. History of the Grand Erie Canal Celebration, 8vo. 
 HI. Letters on Masonry and Anti-Masonry, addressed to John 
 
 Quincy Adams, 8vo. 
 IV Mathias and his Impostures, 12mo. 
 y. Ups and Downs in the Life of a Distressed Gentleman. 
 12mo, p. 225, 1836, New York: Leavitt, Lord & Co. 
 Boston : Crocker & Brewster. 
 VI. Tales and Sketches, 2 vols., 12mo, 1834, Harper & Bros., p. 
 vol. 1st, 258; vol. 2d, 290. 
 VII. Maria Monk and the Hotel Dieu, 18mo. 
 VIII. The Mysterious Bridal, 18mo. 
 
 IX. Mercy Disborough — A Tale of the Witches, 18mo. 
 
 X. Letters on Animal Magnetism, 12mo. 
 XL Lectures and Addresses on Social and Literary Topics, 8vo. 
 XII. Life of Brant — Thayendanegea, 2 vols., 8vo. 
 XIIL Poetry and History of Wyoming, 12mo. 
 XIV. Life of Red Jacket — Sa-go-ye-wat-ha ; including Sketches 
 
 of Cornplanter and Farmer's Brother, 8vo. 
 XV. Border Wars of the American Revolution, 2 vols., 12mo. 
 Harper & Brothers. 
 ■XVI. Life of Uncas and Miantonomoh, 18mo. 
 XVII. Life and Times of Sir Wm. Johnson. First seven chapters, 
 2 vols. 8vo, 1865. J. Munsell, p. vol. i, 555, vol. ii, 630. 
 
 63 
 
[ 499 ] 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Ai 
 
 .DAIR, Major, defeats a body of 
 
 Shawanese and Miamis, 201. 
 Adams, John, 18. 
 
 Adams, John Quincy , 18,23,37, 38, 44. 
 Adams, Major P., 319. 
 Adams's party, 39. 
 Adirondacks, 109. 
 Africa, 42. 
 Aikin, Rev. Mr., 23. 
 Albany, city of, 15, 16, 21, 34. 
 Albany Daily Advertiser, 16. 
 Albany Gazette, 16- 
 Alexander, Rev. Mr., 285. 
 Alexandria Gazette, 42. 
 Algonquins, 109. 
 Allen, Ebenezer, 180. 
 Amherst, Major General, 48. 
 Andover Letters, 88. 
 Andre, Major, 9. 
 Animal Magnetism, letters on, by 
 
 Col. Stone, 73. 
 Anne, Queen, 28, 30. 
 A-qna-nus-chi-o-ni, or United People 
 
 (Five Nations), 105. 
 Arnold, General, 48. - 
 Astor, John Jacob, anecdote of, 95. 
 Atlantic Cable celebration, 62. 
 Atlantic Club Book, 67. 
 Atlantic Souvenir, 35. 
 Atwater, Judge, 264. 
 Auburn, IST. Y., 24. 
 Auchmuty, Rev. Dr., 60. 
 Auger, Nicholas, drives a six ox 
 
 team, 63. 
 Au Glaize, on the Miami river of 
 
 Lake Erie, 198. 
 
 IjACON, Ezekiel, 23. 
 Baggs' hotel, Utica, 23. 
 Baltimore, Anti-Slavery Convention 
 at, 39. 
 
 Bancroft, Hon. George, 106. 
 
 Barber, Mr., editor Otsego Repub- 
 lican, 78. 
 
 Bayard, Nicholas, 66. 
 
 Bayard, WilUam, holds a council at 
 Big Tree, 238. 
 
 Beaver dams, 318. 
 
 Bemis, James D., 276. 
 
 Benson, Egbert, 135. 
 
 Bentham, Jeremy, 19. 
 
 Benton, Caleb, 134. 
 
 Berkley, Bishop, 47. 
 
 Between-the-Trees(Tear-unk-to-yor- 
 on), a Wyandot chief, speech 
 of, 359. 
 
 Bible, use of, in common schools, 86. 
 
 Bidwell, Marshall S., 77. 
 
 Big Beaver creek, 148. 
 
 Big Fire, 391. 
 
 Big Knife, 188. 
 
 Big Sky, 217. 
 
 Big Tree (site of Geneseo), council 
 at, 237. 
 
 Black Foot (Cut-te-we-ga-saw), a 
 Shawanese chief, speech of, 361. 
 
 Black Hoof, speech of, 362. 
 
 Black Rock, invasion of, 319 ; de- 
 stroyed, 327. 
 
 Blacksmith, a Seneca chief, 113. 
 
 Black Smoke, 325. 
 
 Bleecker, Mr., 83. 
 
 Blue Sky (Tow-yo-cau-na), 391. 
 
 Board of Education, 86, 90. 
 
 Boerstler, Col., humiliating defeat 
 of, 318. 
 
 Border Wars of American Revolu- 
 tion, by Col. Stone, 73. 
 
 Bourne, Hon. Walter, 85. 
 
 Bowen, James, 82. 
 
 Brandywine, battle of, 9. 
 
 Brant, John, 76. 
 
 Brant, Joseph (Thayendanegea), 56 ; 
 life written by Col. Stone, 74, 
 
500 
 
 Index. 
 
 Brant Joseph, life, 99, 117, 134, 
 136, 140; visits Philadelphia, 
 198; is taken sick at Grand 
 river on his return home, 
 198 ; his exertions at Au Glaize, 
 203, 305; discloses the impos- 
 tures of Jemima Wilkinson, 313 ; 
 becomes involved in difficulties 
 with the colonial authorities of 
 Canada, 366 ; letter to Colonel 
 Pickering from, 477 ; letter to 
 Captain Chapin from, 481. 
 
 Breckenridge, Rev. Dr., 134; inter- 
 view between him and the 
 author, 381 ; letter to the author 
 from, 399. 
 
 Brock, General, 313. 
 
 Brodhead, J. Romeyn, 79, 83. 
 
 Brooks, Col., 57. 
 
 Brown, General, 338. 
 
 Brown University, 16, 88. 
 
 Buffalo, city of, 15, 31 ; burned, 
 337. 
 
 Buffalo creek, 140 ; council at, 151, 
 194. 
 
 Burgoyne, General, 48. 
 
 Burlington (N. Y.), 11, 35. 
 
 Burns, 73. 
 
 Burr, Aaron, 18, 45, 51, 58. 
 
 Butler, Benjamin F., 83. 
 
 Butler, Capt. Thomas, 140. 
 
 Butler, Col. John, 305, 346. 
 
 Butler, Richard, 138. 
 
 C. 
 
 'ALHOUN, Hon. John C, 43. 
 
 Calhoun, Mrs. John C, 94. 
 Campbell, 75. 
 Campbell, Wm. W., 77. 
 Canandaigua, 110 ; council at, 305 ; 
 
 three hundred deer killed at, in 
 
 one day in 1794, 333 ; protracted 
 
 negotiations at, 339. 
 Canandaigua lake. 111. 
 Cartier, Jacques, 107. 
 Catawbas, 105. 
 Cayugas, 118 ; efforts to keep them 
 
 loyal, 304. 
 Chapin, Dr. Cyreneus, 388. 
 Chapin, Capt. Joseph, succeeds his 
 
 father as agent, 337; removed 
 
 by Jefferson, 363. 
 Chapin, Gen. Israel, agent for Six 
 
 Nations, 137, 208, 335. 
 Champlain, Samuel de, 110, 391. 
 Champollion, 19. 
 Chandler, General, 318. 
 Chandler, Hon. Joseph R., 99. 
 Charlevoix, 107, 394. 
 
 Cherokees, 105, 
 
 Chester, Rev. Dr. John, 34. 
 
 Chippewas, 116. 
 
 Chippewa, battle of, 339 ; review of, 
 341. 
 
 Choate, Hon. Rufus, 93. 
 
 Clark, Adam, 19. 
 
 Clark, George, 36. 
 
 Clark, Gerardus, President of New 
 York Board of Education, 90. 
 
 Clay, Hon. Heniy, 33, 44. 
 
 Clay, Mrs. Henry, 38. 
 
 Clear Sky (Sa-ga-ree-sa), a Cayuga 
 chief, 333. 
 
 Clinton, Gov. De Witt, 16, 31, 33, 
 38,40,103,109, 116,376. 
 
 Clinton, Gov. George, 155, 334. 
 
 Chnton, Sir Harry, 48, 65. 
 
 Clintonian party, 31, 37. 
 
 Coghlan, officer, 60. 
 
 Cold, Capt., a chief, 336. 
 
 Colden, Cadwallader, 109, 116. 
 
 Colden, Cadwallader D., 33. 
 
 Colonization Society, 43. 
 
 Columbia, District of, 40. 
 
 Columbus, Christopher, 63. 
 
 Commercial Advertiser, N. Y., 18, 19, 
 31, 38, 37, 39, 78, 83, 97. 
 
 Common Schools of New York 
 city, Bible in, 86. 
 
 Confucius, 45. 
 
 Connecticut Land Co., 350. 
 
 Constable's house (No. 1 Broadway, 
 N. Y.), 65. 
 
 Constantine, 33. 
 
 Constantinople, 33. 
 
 Cooper, J. Fenimore, 35, 77. 
 
 Cooper, Judge, the original Judge 
 Templeton in the Pioneers, 34, 
 
 Cooperstown, 10, 13, 38, 30, 33,96. 
 
 Cooperstown Federahst, 11. 
 
 Cooperstown lake, 33. 
 
 Copenhagen, Royal Soc. of Northern 
 Antiquities, 77. 
 
 Cornplanter, (Gaan-tu-a-ha, Hand- 
 some lake), 76,136, 139, 131, 136 
 his friendship for the Ameri 
 cans remains unshaken, 138 
 visits Philadelphia, 146, 308 
 dines with Col. Pickering, 317 
 speech of, 339; duty confided 
 to, 339; unpopularity of, 353 
 announces himself a prophet 
 and denounces Red Jacket, 353 
 labors to inculcate the Christian 
 religion among his people, 354 
 death of, 355. 
 
 Cortez, Hernando, 46. 
 
 Courier and Enquii-er, N. Y., 30, 83. 
 
Index. 
 
 501 
 
 Cow Killer, nick name of Red 
 
 Jacket, 124. 
 Cozine, John, 65. 
 Crabbe, 19. 
 Cram, Rev. Mr., sent as a missionary 
 
 to the Senecas. His interview 
 
 with Red Jacket, and ill success 
 
 of his mission, 272. 
 Cross roads, 318. 
 Croton river, 49. 
 Gushing, Hon. Caleb B., reviews the 
 
 life of Brant, 75. 
 Cusick, a Tuscarora author, 111. 
 Cuvier, 19. 
 
 D 
 
 'A-GA-NO-WE-DA, an Onon- 
 daga warrior, 118. 
 
 David, Capt., 189. 
 
 Davison, Lucretia, 18. 
 
 Deaf and Dumb Institution, 84. 
 
 Dearborn, General, 318. 
 
 D'Argennes, Julia, 58. 
 
 Delafield, Maj. Joseph, 363, 375. 
 
 Delawares, 188; chiefs decline 
 speaking at Sandusky, 363. 
 
 Denio, law reports of, 78. 
 
 Destroy Town, a Seneca chief, 373. 
 
 Detroit, city of, 201. 
 
 Dexter, Samuel, sec'y of war, 255. 
 
 Dickinson, Hon. Daniel S., 82. 
 
 Dix, Maj. Gen. J. A., 80, 85. 
 
 DooUttle, Hiram, Jr., worn deplume 
 of Col. Stone, letters of, 27, 37. 
 
 Dorchester, Gov. Gen. of Canada 
 (Sir Guy Carleton), 205. 
 
 Dunlap, William, 65. 
 
 D wight, Theodore, 18. 
 
 E. 
 
 /ATOISr, Major, 43. 
 
 Eaton, Mrs. Major, 43. 
 
 Edgar, Mrs., 65. 
 
 Eel, an Onondaga chief, replies to 
 Cornplanter, 230. 
 
 Eldridge, Lieut., 317. 
 
 Elliott, John, 202. 
 
 Elskawatwa (the prophet), 301. 
 
 England, war of 1812, 26. 
 
 Erie canal, celebration of, 21, 37. 
 
 Evening Post, N. Y., 97. 
 
 Everett, Hon, Edward. His exer- 
 tions in behalf of the Greeks, 
 20 ; letters to Col. Stone from, 
 77, 92. 
 
 F 
 
 ARMER'S Brother, 119, 139; 
 speech of, to Col. Pickering, 186 ; 
 
 Farmer's Brother, present at treaty 
 ofBigTree, 242, 325. 
 
 Federahst, the, 62. 
 
 Fish Carrier, a Cayuga chief, 139 ; 
 quells a storm, 145, 197 ; answers 
 Col. Pickering, 211 ; dines with 
 Col. Pickering, 217. 
 
 Five Nations, history of, 109. 
 
 Florence (Italy), 35. 
 
 Flying Dutchman, 32. 
 
 Folsom, George B., 80. 
 
 Ford, Lauren, his reminiscences of 
 Col. Stone, 12. 
 
 Forman, Joshua, the pioneer of the 
 Erie canal, 22, 24. 
 
 Fort, Le, Abraham, son of the pre- 
 ceding, 344. 
 
 Fort, Le, Captain, slain, 344. 
 
 Francis, Dr. John W., his opinion 
 of Col. Stone, 84 ; sends presents 
 to Red Jacket, 433; letter to 
 William Dunlap from, 434. 
 
 Freeman, officer, 199. 
 
 Freeman's Journal (Cooperstown, 
 K Y.), 37. 
 
 Frost, Rev. Mr., 23. 
 
 G 
 
 AINE, Hugh, 65. 
 
 Ga-nio-di-euh (brother of Corn- 
 planter), 254. 
 
 Genesee river, 136. 
 
 Genesee valley, 26. 
 
 Geneseo, N. Y., 26. 
 
 Geneva, N. Y., 123. 
 
 Ge-nun-de-nu-wah mountain, tra- 
 dition of. 111 ; romantic story 
 connected with, 113. 
 
 Georgian bay, 116. 
 
 German Flatts, treaty at, 246. 
 
 Gertrude of Wyoming, 75. 
 
 Ghent, treaty of, 363. 
 
 Gilbert, Ezekiel, 134. 
 
 Gillett, XJ. S. commissioner, dis- 
 honorable conduct of, 493. 
 
 Girty, Simon, 159. 
 
 Goethe, 19. 
 
 Goffe (the regicide), 9, 67. 
 
 Good Peter, an Oneida, 207. 
 
 Goodrich, S. G. (Peter Parley), 
 18. 
 
 Goodrich, EHzur, 23. 
 
 Gordon (the historian), 75. 
 
 Gordon, Col., 155. 
 
 Gorham, Nathaniel, 133, 363. 
 
 Grand island, taken possession of 
 by the British, 313. 
 
 Grand river, given to Brant for the 
 Mohawks, 265. 
 
502 
 
 Index. 
 
 Granger, Erastus, 298 ; urges neu- 
 trality upon the Six Nations, 
 304. 
 
 Granger, Gideon, 250. 
 
 Grant, General U. S., 194. 
 
 Great Tree, visits Philadelphia, 145. 
 
 Greece, 20. 
 
 Greeks, their struggle for independ- 
 ence, 19. 
 
 Greeley, Hon. Horace, his remin- 
 iscences of Col. Stone, 97. 
 
 Green, Hon. Duff, 27, 32. 
 
 Green mountain boys, 134. 
 
 Greenridge cemetery (Saratoga 
 Springs), 100. 
 
 Greenville, treaty at, 234. 
 
 Greenwich, N. Y., 24. 
 
 Griswold, Rev. Stanley, 10. 
 
 Grosvenor, Seth, 89. 
 
 Guildford (Conn.), 9, 67. 
 
 Gustavus of Sweden, 58. 
 
 H 
 
 .AGUE, The, Col. Stone ten- 
 dered the mission to, 39. 
 
 Hamilton, Gen. Alexander, 18, 51, 
 62, 98. 
 
 Hamilton, federal ship, carried in 
 procession through the streets 
 of New York, 64. 
 
 Hammond's Political History of 
 New York, 38. 
 
 Halcyon Luminary, 13. 
 
 Half Town, Captain, visits Phila- 
 delphia, 146, 325. 
 
 Hardin, Col., 199. 
 
 Harmar, Fort, treaty of, 132, 193. 
 
 Harpers' Family Library, 73. 
 
 Harris, Capt., 328. 
 
 Harris, Rev. Mr., his exertions 
 among the Senecas, 395. 
 
 Harrison, President, 39; letter to 
 Col. Stone from, 92 ; defeats Te- 
 cumseh, 300. 
 
 Hartford (Conn.), 18. 
 
 Hartford Mirror, 18. 
 
 Hartshorne,Mr., 202. 
 
 Hartwick, town of (N. Y.), 35, 36. 
 
 Hawks, Rev. Dr., 80. 
 
 Hazelius, Rev. Dr., 36. 
 
 Heckewelder, Rev. Mr., 45, 199. 
 
 Hendrik, Apamaut, captain of the 
 Stockbridge Indians and a 
 faithful fi'iend of the United 
 States, 139. 
 
 Herkimer American (N. Y.), 11, 13, 
 16. 
 
 Herkimer, General, 74. 
 
 Herkimer (N. Y.), 11, 15, 99. 
 
 Hewitt, John, murdered at Buffalo 
 by a drunken Indian, 258. 
 
 Hiaotou, a celebrated Seneca chief, 
 105. 
 
 Hindman, Major, 328. 
 
 Historical Agency of New York, 
 history of, 79. 
 
 Historical Society of New York, 80. 
 
 Hochelaga (Montreal), 108. 
 
 Hoffman, J. Ogden, 65. 
 
 Holland Land Co., 238, 282. 
 
 Holley, Myron, 25. 
 
 Honandaganius (Washington's In- 
 dian name), 149. 
 
 Horton, Gilbert (colored man), case 
 of, 41. 
 
 Hosmer, Judge, 264. 
 
 Hosmer, Mrs. George, her recollec- 
 tions of Red Jacketj 429. 
 
 Hosen, Mr. Van, 31. 
 
 Hosmer, W. H. C, 115. 
 
 Hot Bread, a Seneca, 422. 
 
 Hotel Dieu, Col. Stone visits, 73. 
 
 Howe, Dr. Samuel, 20. 
 
 Howe, Sir William, 48. 
 
 Hudson, Henry, 291. 
 
 Hudson, city of (N. Y.), 16, 44. 
 
 Hudson river, 21, 47. 
 
 Hughes, Archbishop, his discussion 
 with Col. Stone, 86. 
 
 Huntington, S. H., 18. 
 
 Hunt, Seth, 24. 
 
 Huron Iroquois, 108, 116. 
 
 Husbands, J. Dottin, 36. 
 
 Indianapolis, 28. 
 
 Indians, speculations and reflections 
 upon the ultimate fate of, 456. 
 
 Indian Treaties, 484. 
 
 Inman, Henry, makes a sketch of 
 Red Jacket, 432. 
 
 Inman, John, takes charge of the 
 Commercial in Col. Stone's ab- 
 sence, 89. 
 
 Irondequoit, 30. 
 
 Irving, Washington, 76. 
 
 ACKSON, Matthew M, 119. 
 Jackson men, 24. 
 Jackson, President, 29, 37, 39, 44. 
 Jaquette, Peter, 192. 
 Jay, Hon. John, 62, 98. 
 Jay, Hon. William, letter to Col. 
 
 Stone from, 40. 
 Jefferson, President, 10. 
 Jemison, Mary (the white woman), 
 sketch ofj 245. 
 
Index. 
 
 503 
 
 Jemmy, Tommy, a Seneca chief, 
 tried for murder in Buffalo, 383. 
 
 Jenkins, Rev. Mr., missionary to 
 the Oneidas, 495. 
 
 John, Captain, an Oneida, 207. 
 
 Johnson, B. P., sec'y N. Y. Agri- 
 cultural Society, 418. 
 
 Johnson, Miss (Minnie Myrtle), 418. 
 
 Johnson, Sir John, 198. 
 
 Johnson, Sir WiUiam, 79, 127, 222, 
 279, 476. 
 
 Jones, H. F., 83. 
 
 Josephus, works of, 10. 
 
 Journal of Commerce (N.Y.), 30, 486. 
 
 Juvenile Delinquents, Society for 
 Reformation of, 84. 
 
 K 
 
 .ATSBERGS, 23. 
 Kendall, Hon. Amos, 27, 32. 
 Kent, Chancellor, 68. 
 Ketchum, Hon. Hiram, 89. 
 Kingsbridge (N. Y.), 57. 
 Ku-kland, Hon. Charles P., 77. 
 Kirkland, Rev. Mi'., missionary to 
 
 the Mohawks, 116, 140. 
 Knox, General, war chief of the 
 
 Thu'teen Fires, 155, 188. 
 
 L 
 
 /AFAYETTE, General, 131, 192 ; 
 
 interview with Red Jacket, 419. 
 Laight, William, 65. 
 Langstaff, Sir Launcelot, Twm de 
 
 plume of Colonel Stone, 18. 
 Larkin, R. R., 23. 
 Lawrence, John, 65. 
 Lawrence, William Beach, 80. 
 League of the Lroquois (Morgan), 
 
 119. 
 Lee, Arthur, 128. 
 Leete, Governor, 9, 67. 
 Lenox, James, 93. 
 Leslie, Miss, edits the Gift, 45. 
 Levasseur, M., sec'y to Lafayette, 
 
 has a pleasant interview with 
 
 Red Jacket, 419. 
 Lewis, Col., an Indian, speech of, 362. 
 Lewis, Major General, 316. 
 Lewis, Rev- Dr. Isaac, 34. 
 Lewiston, town of, 32 ; visited by a 
 
 deputation of chiefs, 313. 
 Lewis, Zachariah, sells out his inte- 
 rest in the Commercial to Col. 
 
 Stone, 18, 84. 
 Lincoln, Gen. Benj., 292, 279. 
 Lindley, Jacob, 202. 
 Little Beard, 217. 
 Little Billy, 220, 325. 
 
 Little Turtle, defeated by General 
 
 Wayne, 219, 298. 
 Livingston, Colonel, 134, 137. 
 Livingston, Edward P., 82. 
 Livingston, Governor, 50, 62, 135. 
 Livingston, John, 134. 
 Livingston, Judge, urges the pardon 
 
 of StiflF-armed Joe, 263. 
 Livingston, Philip R., 17. 
 Livingston, Richard Montgomery, 
 
 381,. 
 Lockport, K Y., 32. 
 Longfellow, 76. 
 Long House of the Five Nations, 
 
 116. 
 Lord, Nathaniel, 57. 
 Loudon, Samuel, 65. 
 Louisiana, slavery in, 42. 
 Lounger, The, edit^ed by Col. Stone 
 
 at Hudson, N. Y., 44. 
 Lundy's Lane, battle of, 348. 
 Lyons, N. Y., Col. Stone visits, 24. 
 
 M, 
 
 cCLURE, General, 327. 
 Mcintosh, treaty of, 187, 193. 
 McKee, Col., his buildings burned, 
 
 203. 
 McKenny, Colonel, 123. 
 Madison, President, 62 ; approves of 
 
 the act of congress declaring 
 
 war against England, 302. 
 Marcellus (N. Y.), 24. 
 Marcy, Governor, 79. 
 Maria Monk, exposed by Col 
 
 Stone, 73. 
 Marine Society, 65. 
 Marshall (the historian), 75. 
 Masonry and Anti-Masomy, Letters 
 
 on, by Col. Stone, 38. 
 Mathias and his Impostures, Col. 
 
 Stone writes, 73. 
 Maxwell, William, 65. 
 Medal, Red Jacket, description and 
 
 engraving of, 194. 
 Menomonies, treaty with, 488. 
 Mexican picture writing, 46. 
 Miamis, campaign against, by St. 
 
 Clair, 165. 
 Miantonomoh, Col. Stone writes his 
 
 Life, 49. 
 Miguel, Don, 33. 
 Miller, Hon. Morris S., appointed 
 
 Indian commissioner, 363. 
 Milton, 46. 
 
 Missouri question, 41. 
 Mohawks, 56, 106, 118. 
 Moncrieffe, Major, 50. » 
 Moncrieffe, Margaret, 45. 
 
504 
 
 Index. 
 
 Monmoutli, battle of, 9. 
 
 Montausier, Duke cle, 58. 
 
 Montezuma, 46. 
 
 Montreal, 108. 
 
 Moon, Dick, the Pecller, by Col. 
 
 Stone, 67. 
 Moore, Captain, 63. 
 Moore, Josepli, 202. 
 Morell, General, 36. 
 Morgan tragedy, 87. 
 Morris, Robert, 141. 
 Morris, Thomas, adopted into the 
 
 Seneca nation, 141 ; attends a 
 
 council at Big Tree, 238. 
 Morse, James O., 16. 
 Moulton, Joseph W., 163, 251. 
 Muskingum Falls, treaty held at, 189. 
 Mysterious Bridal, The, Col. Stone 
 
 writes, 68. 
 
 K 
 
 ASH, Rev. Dr., 34. 
 
 National Gazette, D. C, 27, 31, 32. 
 
 National republicans, 39, 98. 
 
 Navy of the United States, History 
 of, 77. 
 
 Neill, Rev. Dr., 34. 
 
 New England character, description 
 of, 68. 
 
 New Hampshire, apostrophe to the 
 stones and trees of, 28. 
 
 New Paltz (N. Y.), birth place of 
 Col. Stone, 10. 
 
 New York, Natural History of, 76. 
 
 New York Spectator, 97. 
 
 New Yorker, The, Horace Greeley 
 edits, 98. 
 
 Niagara campaign, disastrous close 
 of, 327. 
 
 Niagara frontier, 26. 
 
 Nicholson, Commodore, 64. 
 
 Nickerson, Jim, an Indian, 373. 
 
 North American Review, 92. 
 
 Northern Spectator (Vt.), Horace 
 Greeley an apprentice in, 97. 
 
 Northern Whig, edited by Col. Stone 
 at Hudson, N. Y., 16. 
 
 Norton, a Mohawk chief, 267. 
 
 Norwich (Conn.), Col. Stone deli- 
 vers an address at, on the occa- 
 sion of the erection of the monu- 
 ment to Uncas, 76. 
 
 O 
 
 'AKLEY, Thomas J., 387. 
 O'Bail, Ma,] or Henry, (Young Corn- 
 planar), 318, 325; speech of, 
 471. 
 
 Ogden and Fellows, agreement be- 
 tween them and the Senecas, 
 493. 
 
 Ogden, Col. Aaron, 352. 
 
 Ogden, Governor, 365. 
 
 Ogden Land Co., open negotiations 
 with the Senecas, 363; treaty 
 concluded between, 377. 
 
 Old Castle, birth place of Red Jacket, 
 122. 
 
 Old New York, a discourse by Dr. 
 Francis, 84. 
 
 Old Slip, 65. 
 
 Old Smoke, a Seneca, 247, 
 
 Oneidas, 118. 
 
 Onondaga hollow, N. Y., 119. 
 
 Onondaga valley, 107. 
 
 Ontario lake, 109. 
 
 O'Reilly, Henry, 281. 
 
 Osborne, Laughton, 73. 
 
 Ostram, General, 23. 
 
 Ote-ti-a-ni, original Indian name of 
 Red Jacket, 104. 
 
 Otsego county, 16. 
 
 Otsego Republican, 78. 
 
 Ottawa, country of the, 110. 
 
 A.INTED Post, 161. 
 
 Parish, Capt., an inteipreter, 123, 
 200, 298. 
 
 Parish, John, 202; visits and de- 
 scribes Farmer's Brother's en- 
 campment, 232. 
 
 Parker, Col. E. S., 194. 
 
 Parkman, Francis, 108. 
 
 Pasha, Ibrahim, 20. 
 
 Peet, Dr. Harvey P., 84. 
 
 Percival, James Gates, interesting 
 incident of, 18. 
 
 Percy, Lord (Duke of Northumber- 
 land in the revolution), 50, 76, 
 251. 
 
 Perrot, Nicholas, 109. 
 
 Perry, Commodore, 77, 319. 
 
 Phelps and Gorham, purchase of, 
 130. 
 
 Phelps, Oliver, 133. 
 
 Phi Beta Kappa Society, John 
 Quincy Adams opposed to, 38. 
 
 Philadelphia, 34. 
 
 Piankeshaws, a tribe living on the 
 Wabash river, 188. 
 
 Pickering, Colonel Timothy, Indian 
 Treaties held by, 76; invites 
 Seneca chiefs to attend a coun- 
 cil in Philadelphia, 103 ; letter 
 from Joseph Brant to, quoted 
 as authority, 117. 
 
Index. 
 
 505 
 
 Pickering, Col. Timothy, holds a con- 
 ference with the Six Nations, 
 139; gives the Chippewas a 
 feast, 162 ; communicates to the 
 Six Nations certain propositions 
 from the United States Govern- 
 ment, 178 ; acts as a commis- 
 sioner, 202 ; speech of, 208 ; 
 rebukes Cornplanter, 215 ; let- 
 ter to Joseph Brant from, 475 ; 
 letter from Joseph Brant to, 
 477. 
 
 Pike, General, 317. 
 
 Pioneers (Cooper's), 28, 34. 
 
 Pliny, 27. 
 
 Poelnitz, Baron. 63. 
 
 Pollard, Captain (Kaoundoonand), a 
 distinguished Seneca chief, 75, 
 325, 364. 
 
 Pomfret, swamps of, 53. 
 
 Porter, General Peter B., 104, 319 ; 
 repulse of, 336 ; letter to the 
 author from, 482. 
 
 Potherie, La, 109. 
 
 Poughkeepsie, 62. 
 
 Poultney (Vt.), 97. 
 
 Powell, Captain, 152. 
 
 Powell, WiUiam, 92. 
 
 Prentiss, Colonel John H., 10, 11, 
 33, 36; acts as pall-bearer to 
 his old apprentice Col. Stone, 
 89. 
 
 Presque Isle, diflaculties at, 228. 
 
 Proctor, Colonel, mission of, 148; 
 deputation of Indians make an 
 address to, 155. 
 
 Pultney, Sir WUliam, 238. 
 
 Purdy, Alderman, 93. 
 
 Putnam, General Israel, 47, 57. 
 
 Putnam, General Rufus, 199. 
 
 Quebec, 109. 
 
 Queenstown, disastrous affair at, 
 315, 
 
 rt AMAGE Press, 12. 
 
 Ramsay (the historian), 75. 
 
 Randolph, Beverly, 202. 
 
 Randolph, Hon. John, companson 
 between his oratory and that of 
 Red Jacket, 129. 
 
 Red Jacket (Sa-go-ye-wat-ha), ori- 
 ginal Indian name of, 104 ; birth 
 place of, 122 ; becomes a party 
 to the sale of the territory of his 
 people within the state of New 
 York, 137. 
 
 64 
 
 Red Jacket (Sa-go-ye-wat-ha), takes 
 part in a council in 1790, 139 ; 
 speech of, 141 ; receives Colonel 
 Proctor and Cornplanter, 149 ; 
 speaks at council at Buffalo 
 creek, 152 ; speech of, 157, 172, 
 179, 223, 255 ; keen satire of, 163; 
 arrives in Philadelphia as chief 
 of deputation, 164; visits Phila- 
 delphia, 194 ; meets deputation 
 of hostile Indians at Au Glaize, 
 198 ; dissuaded from visiting 
 Philadelphia by General Cha- 
 pin, 201 ; meets deputation of 
 Quakers, 210 ; a favorite with 
 the ladies, 212 ; dines with Col. 
 Pickering, 217 ; visits Wm. 
 Savary, 233 ; delivers a speech 
 of condolence on the death of 
 General Chapin, 235 ; takes 
 part in the treaty of Big Tree, 
 242 ; visits Hartford, 250 ; vows 
 fidelity to the United States and 
 kisses the hkeness of Washing- 
 ton, 251 ; makes a powerful 
 defense against the efforts of 
 Cornplanter, 253 ; argues against 
 the surrender of the murderer 
 of Hewitt, 259; receives from 
 Brant the soubriquet of " The 
 Cow Killer," 264; seeks to 
 crush Brant, 264 ; his triumph 
 over Brant of short duration, 
 267 ; averse to intercourse with 
 the whites and to the introduc- 
 tion of the Christian religion, 
 271 ; interview with and sar- 
 casm upon the missionaiy 
 Cram, 272; his speech against 
 the efforts of the N. Y, Land 
 Co. to divest the Indians ot 
 their lands, 283 ; delivers a 
 speech to the secretary of war 
 in relation to the war between 
 the United States and Tecum- 
 seh, 298 ; addresses a council in 
 relation to the neutrality of the 
 Six Nations in the war with 
 England, 303 ; leads the Indians 
 at the battle of Fort George, 
 325 ; his place in the battle of 
 Chippewa, 333; his character 
 as a warrior, 346 ; anecdote of, 
 350 ; takes farewell of Col. 
 Snelling, 351 ; wishes to form 
 a great confederacy of the 
 northwestern nations, 352 ; 
 speech at the council at San- 
 dusky, 353. 
 
506 
 
 Index. 
 
 Red Jacket (Sa-go-ye-wat-ha), speech 
 at Buffalo, 867 ; speech to Gov. 
 Ogden, 378 ; delivers a sarcastic 
 phillipic, 386 ; letter to Captain 
 Parish, 389 ; letter to Governor 
 Clinton, 894 ; renews his oppo- 
 sition to Christianity — his con- 
 versation with Colonel Chapin, 
 397 ; remarkable interview be- 
 tween himself and Rev. Dr. 
 Breckenridge, 400; his views 
 of civilization, 411 ; his domestic 
 relations, 414 ; interview with 
 Lafayette, 419; anecdotes of, 
 illustrating different traits of 
 character, 430 ; not deficient in 
 tact, 424; not gratified with 
 scenes of human suffering, 428 ; 
 personal appearance, the power 
 and studied -gracefulness of his 
 oratory, &c., 429; portraits of, 
 432; disquietude of his latter 
 days, 486 ; is formally deposed, 
 441 ; interview with Colonel 
 McKenney, 444; his speech 
 upon being deposed, 446 ; is 
 restored to his former rank, 
 447; sinks into mental imbe- 
 cility, 447 ; last sickness, death 
 and funeral, 449 ; tablet to his 
 memory, 462 ; his remains still 
 (1866) unburied, 463. 
 
 Republican Court (Griswold's), 61. 
 
 Reservations, Indian, Tonawand'a, 
 Buffalo, Cattaraugus, Allegany, 
 283-382. 
 
 Rhea, Thomas, deposition of, 160. 
 
 Riall, General, 342. 
 
 Richardson, Dr., 35. 
 
 Ripley, General, 328. 
 
 Rip Van Winkle, 23. 
 
 Rivardi, Major, his men kill horses 
 belonging to the Tuscaroras, 
 258. 
 
 Rochester, Col. Stone visits, 25. 
 
 Root, General Erastus, 129, 430. 
 
 Round Table, Knights of the, edited 
 by Col. Stone at Hartford, Ct.,18. 
 
 Ryckman, Peter, 134. 
 
 Sa-go-ye-wat-ha (see Red 
 
 Jacket). 
 
 St. Clair, General, 74, 165, 187 ; de- 
 feat of, 202, 477. 
 
 St. John, 13. 
 
 St. Lawrence, country of, 110 ; de- 
 scent of, 328. 
 
 Salina (N. Y.), 22, 24. 
 
 Sands, Robert C, warm friendship 
 and intimacy between Col. 
 Stone and himself, 18 ; takes 
 charge of the Commercial in 
 Col. Stone's absence, 18, 100. 
 
 Sandusky, 157 ; negotiations at, 251 ; 
 council at, 353. 
 
 Sandy Hook, 21. 
 
 Sa-o-nish-shon-wa (a Great Breath), 
 a Seneca, 197. 
 
 Saratoga Springs, 16, 89, 100. 
 
 Sargeant, John P., 82. 
 
 Satanas (a lost nation), 116. 
 
 Savary, William, 202, 224. 
 
 Schoolcraft, Henry R., composes a 
 poetical tribute to Col. Stone 
 while standing over his grave 
 at Saratoga Springs, N. Y., 100. 
 
 Schuyler, General Phihp, 127, 246. 
 
 Scott, General Winfield, 328, 329; 
 wounded, 348. 
 
 Scott, Walter, 19. 
 
 Senecas, Col. Stone created a chief 
 of their nation, 77, 112, 118; 
 exasperation of, 139 ; efforts to 
 keep them loyal, 204; displea- 
 sure of, 218 ; send deputation to 
 Washington, 255; address the 
 president of the United States, 
 376.. 
 
 Seneca lake, 123. 
 
 Seneca mission, 392. 
 
 Setting the Wheels in Motion ; being 
 a full account by Col. Stone of 
 the ceremonies in New York 
 _city, attending the adoption 
 of the federal constitution in 
 1789, 61. 
 
 Seward, Hon. Wm. H., 76, 80, 82. 
 
 Seymour, Edward P., 16, 
 
 Sharpe, member of assembly, 16. 
 
 Shawanese, addi'ess of, to the Six 
 Nations, 199. 
 
 Shepherd, General, 238. 
 
 Silver Heels, 325. 
 
 Simcoe, Governor, 469. 
 
 Sioux, 116. 
 
 Six Nations, history of, 76, 79 ; cha- 
 racter vindicated, 346; com- 
 parison between their ancient 
 league and the Romans, 463. 
 
 Skaneateles (N. Y.), 24. 
 
 Skenando, John (head chief of the 
 Oneidas), affecting speech of, 
 495. 
 
 Sknehtade (Mohawk for Albany), 
 106. ^^' 
 
 Sky, John, 391. 
 
 Smith, Peter, an Oneida, 207. 
 
Index. 
 
 507 
 
 Smith, Rev. Mr., 35. 
 
 Smythe, General Alexander, 815. 
 
 Sos-son-do-e-wa (a Great Darkness), 
 a Seneca, 197. 
 
 Spectator, 1^1". Y., 13, 28. 
 
 Spencer, Chief Justice Ambrose, 
 letter to Colonel Stone from, 
 43. 
 
 Spirit of the Forum, Col. Stone edits, 
 44. 
 
 Springfield, N. Y., 36. 
 
 Spring Trap, (Ka-was-kwant), an 
 Onondaga, 833. 
 
 Spurzheim, 19. 
 
 Stadacone (Quebec), 109. 
 
 Standing Stone, Council Fire kin- 
 dled at, 188. 
 
 Stanton, General Phinehas, 333. 
 
 Stanwix, Fort, treaty of, 127, 211. 
 
 Stephens, John, 80. 
 
 Stephenson, John, 134. 
 
 Stewart, Rev. Charles S., missionary 
 to Sandwich Islands, 35. 
 
 Stiff-armed George, pardoned by 
 Clinton for the murder of 
 Hewitt, 264. 
 
 Stone, William Leete, birth and 
 boyhood, 10; enters the office 
 of the Cooperstown Federalist, 
 becomes the editor of the Her- 
 kimer American, 11 ; receives 
 advice from his father, 12 ; inci- 
 dents in his hfe while at Herki- 
 mer, 13 ; removes to Hudson 
 and purchases the ZSTorthern 
 Whig, marries and takes charge 
 of the Albany Daily Advertiser, 
 16 ; anecdote of, 17 ; succeeds 
 Theodore Dwight in the editor- 
 ship of the Hartford Min-or, 
 becomes the editor and one of 
 the proprietors of the New York 
 Commercial Advertiser, 18 ; his 
 sympathies strongly enlisted in 
 the cause of the Greeks, preaches 
 a crusade in their behalf, 19 ; 
 The Commercial Advertiser be- 
 comes, under his guidance, an 
 organ of the Clintonians, writes 
 the narrative of the Grand Erie 
 ' Canal celebration, 21 ;^ visits the 
 western towns in the interior of 
 New York state, extracts from 
 his diary kept on this journey, 
 22 ; writes to the Commercial 
 over the signature of Hu-am 
 Doolittle, Jr., 27 ; visits Coopers- 
 town, the home of his youth, 
 33. 
 
 Stone, Wm. Leete, becomes a warm 
 supporter of John Q. Adams in 
 his contest with Jackson for the 
 presidency, 37 ; addresses to J. 
 Q. Adams a series of letters on 
 masonry and anti-masonry, 38 ; 
 is tendered by President Harri- 
 son the appointment of minister 
 to the Hague, draws up an able 
 plan of slave emancipation at 
 the great anti-slavery conven- 
 tion in Baltimore, 39 ; letter to 
 him from Hon. WilUam Jay, 40 ; 
 his position on the slavery 
 question, 41 ; letters to him from 
 Ambrose Spencer, Judge Stoiy 
 and John Quincy Adams, 43"^; 
 saved from the disagreeable 
 alternative of supporting Van 
 Buren for the presidency, 44 ; 
 his literary career, writes the 
 Language of Flowers, 45; writes 
 an account of Washington's in- 
 auguration ball, extracts from 
 it, 61 ; Mercy Disborough : A 
 Tale of the Witches, and other 
 sketches, 67; his picture of a 
 New England thanksgiving, 68 ; 
 enumeration of and criticisms 
 upon his literary and historical 
 works, 73 ; is elected a chief of 
 the Seneca nation, 77 ; is elected 
 a member of the Royal Society 
 of Northern Antiquities of Co- 
 penhagen, 77; history of the 
 famous Ubel suits between J. 
 Fenimore Cooper and himself, 
 77 ; history of the New York 
 Historical Agency, originated 
 by himself, 79 ; J. Romeyn Brod- 
 head is appointed in his place 
 bv the political chicanery of 
 Governor Seward, 83 ; is iden- 
 tified with New York city and 
 her religious and benevolent 
 institutions, 83 ; discussion with 
 Archbishop Hughes upon the 
 use of the Bible in the common 
 schools, 87 ; his health fails, 88 ; 
 leaves the Commercial m the 
 charge of John Inman and visits 
 Saratoga, death and funeral, 89 ; 
 account of his last hours by his 
 wife, 89 ; his death hastened by 
 his labors in the Board of Edu- 
 cation, 91; his character, 91 ; let- 
 ters to him from President Har- 
 rison and Edward Everett,Rufus 
 Choate's opinion of him, 92. 
 
508 
 
 Index. 
 
 Stone, "Wm. Leete, exposes the ab- 
 surdity of Fauny Wright's posi- 
 tions by a series of letters sup- 
 posed to be written between a 
 husband and wife while the 
 latter was in congress, 93 ; 
 extracts from his private diary, 
 96 ; his traits of character por- 
 trayed in a letter from Horace 
 Greeley to the author, 97; tributes 
 to his memory from Henry R. 
 Schoolcraft, Thurlow Weed and 
 Hon. Joseph R. Chandler, 99 ; 
 list of his works, next to ap- 
 pendix, 497. 
 
 Stone, Mrs. Wm. L., 19, 36 ; letter 
 from, giving the name of the 
 author of the Andover Letters, 
 and describing the personal ap- 
 pearance of Daniel Webster, 
 88 ; death and character, 90. 
 
 Stone, David M., 74. 
 
 Stone, Dr. Noah, 74. 
 
 Stone Eater, an Ottawa, 301. 
 
 Stone, Ebenezer, Horace Greeley 
 works in the oflSce of, 97. 
 
 Stone, Enos, 26. 
 
 Stone, Rev. A. L., 74. 
 
 Stone, Rev. William, 9, 11, 12, 15. 
 
 Story, Hon. Judge, letter to Col. 
 Stone from, 44. 
 
 Street, Mr., 141,146. 
 
 Strong, Captain (0-qui-ye-sou), ab- 
 jures paganism, and adopts 
 Christianity, 398. 
 
 Stuart, Professor Moses, of Andover, 
 the author of the Andover Let- 
 ters, 88. 
 
 Stuyvesant, P. G., 80. 
 
 Sullivan, General, 123, 125. 
 
 Syracuse, visited by Colonel Stone, 
 22, 24; he speaks there at a 
 Young Men's Whig Convention, 
 98. 
 
 T 
 
 ALCOTT, Samuel A., 387. 
 Tales and Sketches, Col. Stone 
 
 writes, 44. 
 Tallmadge, F. A., 82. 
 Tammany Hall, 26. 
 Tariytown, N. Y., 49. 
 Taylor, Mr., agent for the Quakers, 
 
 286. 
 Telegraph, The, 33. 
 Templeton, Judge, 34. 
 Thatcher (the historian), 75. 
 Thayer, Rev. Mr., labors among the 
 
 Senecas, 392. 
 
 Thirteen Fires, the (the United 
 
 States), 132. 
 Ticonderoga, 291. 
 Tiffany, Rev. Mr., 35. 
 Tioga Point, 117 ; Indians arrive at, 
 
 280. 
 Tippecanoe, battle of, 300. 
 Tompkins, Governor, holds a council 
 
 with the Seneca Nation, 431. 
 Toucey, Hon. Isaac, 18. 
 Towson, Colonel, 328. 
 Tribune, the New York, 78, 97. 
 Troup, Robert, 65. 
 Trueman, Major, 199. 
 Tunnicliffs, 35. 
 Tuscaroras, 105 ; send deputation 
 
 to Washington, 255. 
 Tyler, President, 39. 
 
 U 
 
 N C A S and Miantonomoh, 
 speech delivered at Norwich, 
 Ct., by Col. Stone, upon, 76. 
 
 Uncle Zim and Deacon Pettibone, by 
 Col. Stone, 67. 
 
 Ups and Downs in the Life of a 
 Gentleman, by Col. Stone, 73. 
 
 Utica, N. Y., Col. Stone visits, 22, 
 24. 
 
 Utica, postmaster at, incident con- 
 nected with, 14. 
 
 V. 
 
 ALLANCY, General, 45. 
 Yalley Forge, sufferings at, 9. 
 Van Buren, President, 31, 43. 
 Van Rensselaer, General, 315. 
 Verplanck, Gulian C, 19. 
 Vision of Rubeta : Sathe upon Col. 
 
 Stone, 73. 
 
 W. 
 
 ADSWORTH, Colonel Jere- 
 miah, 238, 247. 
 
 Wadsworth, General William, 26. 
 
 Wadsworth, Mr. James, 26, 156. 
 
 Wager, Mr., 82. 
 
 Wainwright, Bishop J. M., 18. 
 
 Walworth, Chancellor, 78, 89. 
 
 Washington, city of, 15, 40. 
 
 Washington, General George, 468; 
 description of his inauguration 
 ball by Col. Stone 61, 76, 127 ; 
 speech of, to the Six Nations, 
 169 ; speech of, to Red Jacket 
 and Farmer's Brother, 192; 
 prevents the interference of 
 Pennsylvania, 206. 
 
Index. 
 
 509 
 
 Watts, John (the old Recorder), 63. 
 "Wayland, President Francis, 88, 91. 
 Wayland, Rev. Francis, 16, 89. 
 Wayne, General, 74, 203, 305. 
 Webster, Dr. Noah, 65. 
 Webster, Ephraim, 119. 
 Webster, Hon. Daniel, writes to 
 
 Col. Stone, 39, 88. 
 Websters & Skinners, firm of, 16. 
 Weed, Hon. Thurlow, 11, 99. 
 Westchester Co., 48 ; resolutions on 
 
 the case of Gilbert Horton, 42. 
 Western reserve, 133. 
 Wetniore, Hon. Prosper M., 85. 
 Whalley (the regicide), 9, 67. 
 Whigs, 98. 
 
 Whig party, dissolution of, 39. 
 White Loon, an Ottawa, 301. 
 White Plains, battle of, 9. 
 Whitesborough, near Utica, 33. 
 White Seneca, 373. 
 Wier, Robert W., paints the portrait 
 
 of Red Jacket at the request of 
 
 Dr. Jolin W. Francis, 433. 
 Wilcox, General, 9. 
 Wilkie (the painter), 73. 
 
 Wilkinson, Jemima, dines with 
 Colonel Pickering, 310 ; sketch 
 of, 313. 
 
 Williamson, Colonel, 338. 
 
 Winder, General, 318. 
 
 Winemac, a Pottawatamy chief, 
 301. J' > 
 
 Wolcott, OHver, 18, 128. 
 
 Worth, Col. Wm. J. (General), 316. 
 
 Wright, Fanny, Col. Stone brings 
 
 her position into ridicule, 93. 
 Wyandots, 188. 
 Wyoming, Poetry^ and History of, 
 
 Col; Stone writes, 75. 
 
 X ALE College, 10. 
 York, Duke of, 60. 
 Young King, a Seneca, 155, 347, 333, 
 
 373. 
 Young Prince of the Turtle Tribe 
 
 (Sa-go-ye-wat-ha),addresse8 Col. 
 
 Proctor, 156. 
 
 <EISBERGER, 45. 
 
 APPE]^DIX. 
 
 A. 
 
 Repoi-t from the Six Nations as 
 messengers of peace, to the 
 hostile Indians at the Miami of 
 the Lakes, in the autumn of 
 1793, 465-471. 
 
 B. 
 
 The Presque Isle Question, the 
 speech of Cornplanter on, 471- 
 474. 
 
 C. 
 
 The Canandaigua Treaty. Letter 
 from Colonel Pickering to 
 Captain Brant, and reply, 
 475-480. 
 
 D. 
 
 Captain Brant to Captain Chapin, 
 Letter from, 481. 
 
 E. 
 
 Letter from General Peter B. Porter 
 to the author, 483-483. 
 
 F. 
 The Indian Treaties, 484-494. 
 
 G. 
 
 Speech of John Skenando, 495-497. 
 
 H. 
 
 List of the works of Wm. L. Stone, 
 497. 
 
ERKATA. 
 
 Page 11, 18tli line from the top, for "of," read "reaching." 
 
 Page 17, 7th line from bottom, leave out "all." 
 
 Page 18, 18th line from top, for "parts," read "parties." 
 
 Page 20, 15th line from top, for " freeman," read " woman." 
 
 Page 42, 12th line from top, for "has," read " have." 
 
 Page 48, 12th line from bottom, for "incidents," read " instance." 
 
 Page 72, 13th line from bottom, for " were," read " was." 
 
 Page 7*4, 16th line from top, for " was," read " were." 
 
 Page 77, 6th line from bottom, for '' tried," read " argued." 
 
 Page 80, 3d line from top, for " were," read " occurred." 
 
 Page 81, 8th line from bottom, for " immediately " read " in person." 
 
 Page 85, 8th line from top, for " be judged," read "judged." 
 
 Page 86, 3d line of note, for "shiftless,'^ read " careless.^' 
 
 Page 87, 7th line from top, for " two," read " three." 
 
 Page 89, Ist line, after the word " Spring," insert " of 1844." 
 
 Page 90, line 13 ot note for " abides,^' read " biased." 
 
 Page 90, line two of note from bottom, for " actual," read " active." 
 
 Page 280, 4th line from top, for "interpreted," read "interrupted him." 
 
 Page 495, 3d line of note, lor "were," read " was."