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 THE SIX NATIONS. 
 
 .\N ADDRESS DELIVERED BEFORE THE CHAUTAUQUA SOCIETY OF HISTORY AND 
 
 NATURAL SCIENCE AT ITS SEMI-ANNUAL MEETING HELD IN 
 
 JAMESTOWN, JANUARY 29, 1885. 
 
 JUDGE DANIEL SHERMAN. 
 
 /fi-/r 1 re 
 
 CLEVELAND: W. W. WILLIAMS. 
 
t ^i 
 
 
THE SIX NATIONS. 
 
 It is less than ninety years since the entire portion of western New 
 York, covering over six milHon acres of land in the present counties of 
 Chautauqua, Cattaraugus, Allegany, Steuben, Erie, Wyoming, Living- 
 ston, Ontario, Yates, Niagara, Genesee and Monroe, and the western 
 portions of Wayne, Schuyler and Chemung, were in the undisputed pos- 
 session and control of the Six Nations of New York. 
 
 Massachusetts claimed title to these lands by grant of King James I of 
 England to the Plymouth company, made in 1628, extending westward to 
 the Pacific ocean. 
 
 New York claimed title to the same territory by grant from Charles II 
 to the Duke of York and Albany, in 1663, the western boundary of which 
 grant was not specifically defined. 
 
 These conflicting claims between New York and Massachusetts were 
 settled by commissioners on the part of each state, at Hartford, Decem- 
 ber 16, 1786, by Massachusetts ceding to New York the "government, 
 sovereignty and jurisdiction" of such lands, and by New York ceding in 
 terms its "right of preemption of the soil of the native Indians and all 
 other estate (except of sovereignty and jurisdiction) to Massachusetts, its 
 grantees and assigns forever." 
 
 The tenth article of this compact provided that no purchase from the 
 native Indians should be valid unless made in the presence of and approved 
 by a commissioner appointed by Massachusetts and confirmed by it. In 
 1777 Oliver Phelps and Nathaniel Gorham contracted to purchase of Mass- 
 achusetts this entire tract of six million acres for one million dollars, pay- 
 able in a kind of scrip called "consolidated securities," then much below 
 par. The scrip soon after rising to par, prevented them from fulfilling 
 their agreement, although the purchase price of the land was less than 
 seventeen cents per acre. They, however, by treaty with the Six Nations, 
 held at Kanadesaga (now Geneva) in July, 1788, purchased of the Indians 
 their title to about two million two hundred and fifty thousand acres from 
 the eastern part of the tract, extending from the north line of Pennsyl- 
 vania to Lake Ontario, which Phelps and Gorham retained from their pur- 
 
4 THE SIX NATIONS. 
 
 chase of Massachusetts, and is called the "Phelps and Gorham Purchase." 
 The title to the balance of the tract, containing about three million seven 
 hundred and fifty thousand acres, reverted to Massachusetts, by reason of 
 Phelps and Gorham's failure to pay for it. 
 
 Massachusetts conveyed these lands to Robert Morris, of Revolutionary 
 memory (or in trust for him) by five deeds, dated May ii, 1791, subject to 
 the preemption right of the Senecas, who claimed to own the lands in 
 exclusion of the other five Indian tribes of New York. The considera- 
 tion paid by Robert Morris to Massachusetts for this tract was about 
 $225,000, or six and one-fifth cents per acre. 
 
 By the treaty at Big Tree, on Genesee river, September 15, 1797, 
 between Robert Morris and Red Jacket, Cornplanter, ^Governor Black- 
 snake, Little Beard, Captain Pollard, Hot Bread, Captain Bullet, Young 
 King, John Jemison, and thirty-seven other chiefs and sachems of the Sen- 
 eca nation, the Senecas sold to Morris all their lands in western New 
 York, containing 3,750,000 acres, for ^100,000, being at the rate of two 
 and one-half cents per acre (excepting certain reservations), which funds 
 are held in trust and invested by the treasurer of the United States, and 
 interest thereon paid annually in annuities by the United States Indian 
 agent to the heads of families of the Senecas. 
 
 The Senecas reserved in the treaty at Big Tree the following ten reser- 
 vations : Cattaraugus reservation, containing 26,880 acres in the counties 
 of Chautauqua and Erie; Allegany reservation in Cattaraugus county, con- 
 taining forty-two square miles; Buffalo Creek reservation in Erie county, 
 containing one hundred and thirty square miles ; Tonawanda reservation 
 in the counties of Erie, Genesee and Niagara, containing seventy-one 
 square miles ; Conawaugus reservation, containing two square miles ; Big 
 Tree reservation, containing two square miles ; Little Beard's reservation, 
 containing two square miles ; Squawky Hill reservation, containing two 
 square miles; Gordeau reservation, containing twenty-eight square miles; 
 Ka-own-a-de-au reservation, containing sixteen square miles; in all 337 
 square miles. 
 
 The Senecas intended to reserve also by the treaty at Big Tree the Oil 
 Spring reservation, one mile square, containing their famous oil spring, 
 three miles west of Cuba in the counties of Allegany and Cattaraugus. It 
 is a muddy, circular pool of water about thirty feet in diameter, on low, 
 marshy ground, without outlet, and apparently without bottom. The 
 Indians have gathered oil from it from time immemorial, called Seneca oil, 
 
THE SIX NATIONS. 5 
 
 which they have used for medicinal purposes. They have a tradition that 
 many centuries ago a very fat squaw fell into this pool and sank, nevei- to 
 rise, and ever since that event Seneca oil has risen to the surface of the 
 water in considerable quantities. It is without doubt the same oil spring 
 mentioned in the letter of instruction, dated Albany, September 3, 1700, 
 of Lord Belmont to Colonel Romer, his majesty's chief engineer in Amer- 
 ica, with respect to locating the British fort at Onondciga, in which letter 
 his lordship instructed Colonel Romer about locating the fort, and that he 
 was to visit the country of all of the Five Nations, and says: 
 
 You are to observe the country exactly as you go and come, the lakes, rivers, plains and hills, so you 
 may report and make a map thereof. You are to visit the Onondagas' country and the salt spring, and 
 taste the water, and give me vour opinion thereon. You are to encourage all the Indian nations as 
 much as you can by assuring them of the king's care for them and protection, and you are to magnify 
 the king's greatness and power to them, and to assure them that the frontier of this province shall 
 be well fortified in a short time, so that they shall not fear the French of Canada. You will do well to 
 assure them of my kindness, pro\ided they continue faithful to the king and keep no sort of correspond- 
 ence with the French in Canada, nor receive any of the priests or Jesuits among them. 
 
 You are to go and visit the well or spring which is eight miles beyond the Senecas' further castle, 
 which, it is said, blazes up into a flame when a lighted coal is put into it. 
 
 It is stated that Colonel Romer did as he was instructed, and that from 
 that time forward the Five Nations were entirely devoted and wedded to 
 the interests of the English. 
 
 The Oil Spring reservation not being reserved by the treaty at Big 
 Tree, the legal title to it passed from the Senecas to Robert Morris, with 
 the other lands of that purchase, and through him to the Holland land 
 company and its grantees by the regular chain of title to Benjamin Cham- 
 berlain, Staley N. Clark and William Ghalliger, land owners at Ellicott- 
 ville, who also owned the lands surrounding it. They, however, supposed 
 that it was an Indian reservation, and had treated it as such until after Mr. 
 Clark was sent to Congress as representative from this district, when, upon 
 examining his book of treaties in the congressional library, he first discov- 
 ered, to his great surprise, that the Oil Spring reservation was not men- 
 tioned as reserved to the Senecas in the treaty, and that the legal title to 
 it was in him and his two partners. They immediately took formal pos- 
 session of it and surveyed it into four equal parcels of one hundred and 
 sixty acres each ; one quarter of it was sold and conveyed to ex-governor 
 Horatio Seymour of Utica, but the quarter containing the oil spring they 
 conveyed to one Philonius Pattison, who cleared up and fenced about 
 eighty acres, erected a house and barn and set out an orchard. This was 
 in 1856, when I was attorney for the Senecas, by appointment of the gov- 
 
t<iWi*» 
 
 O THE SIX NATIONS. 
 
 ernor of the state. The Senecas, indignant at the action of the land 
 agents, in council directed their attorney to immediately bring an action 
 of ejectment to recover the possession of the oil spring, which they had 
 always claimed as their own, using the oil for medicinal purposes, and 
 selling timber from it, and using it every year for camping purposes in 
 going back and forth between their reservations on the Genesee river and 
 the Allegany reserve. 
 
 I immediately commenced investigation to find evidence of the title of 
 the Senecas to this reservation, particularly t'o find the first map of the 
 Holland company of their lands in western New York, made by Joseph 
 Ellicott about the year 1801. I made search for this map in the land 
 offices at EUicottville, Batavia and Mayville, but in vain ; I visited the 
 oldest chiefs and Indians on the reservations to find the map and learn of 
 them what they knew about the treaty at Big Tree in 1797. I found three 
 Indians who were present at the treaty ; one of these was Governor Black- 
 snake, then one hundred and thirteen years old, whose Indian name was 
 To-wa-a-ii, signifying "chain breaker." His English name. Governor 
 Blacksnake, was given to him by President ^Washington on the occasion 
 of the first visit of this famous war chief of the Senecas and Cornplanter 
 on business for their people to the then seat of government at Philadel- 
 phia. I found Blacksnake, on the occasion of my visit to him, at his res- 
 idence on the banks of the Allegheny river, two miles below Cold Spring, 
 confined to his bed from a fall, dislocating his hip, from which he never 
 recovered. I asked him through my interpreter, Harrison Halftown, what 
 he knew about the treaty at Big Tree. He said he was there and knew 
 all about it ; that it was agreed upon all around that the oil spring should 
 be reserved one mile square; that when the treaty was read over in pres- 
 ence of all the chiefs it was noticed and mentioned that the oil spring had 
 been left out of the treaty, and that then Thomas Morris, who was the 
 attorney for Robert Morris, drew up a paper which he described as about 
 three inches wide and twice as long, and handed it to Pleasant Lake, a 
 leading Seneca sachem, and stated to the chiefs that that paper contained 
 the oil springs. Blacksnake said he did not know what became of this 
 paper, that Pleasant Lake soon after went to Onondaga and died there. 
 
 I asked him if he had ever seen a map of the Seneca reservations. He 
 said he had one in his chest, under the bed, where he was lying. He told 
 Harrison Halftown, my interpreter, to pull out the chest, which he did, 
 and opening it, we found what I had long searched for, the first map of 
 
THE SIX NATIONS. 
 
 the Holland purchase, made in 1801 by Joseph Ellicott, the surveyor of 
 the Holland company and its first agent at Batavia, and who was present 
 at the Big Tree treaty and signed the treaty as a witness. I asked Gov- 
 ernor Blacksnake how he came by that map. He said that Joseph Ellicott 
 presented it to the Senecas in a general council of the chiefs and warriors 
 at the Tonawanda reservation about the year 1801, that Ellicott made a 
 speech to the Senecas, in which he stated that that map contained a correct 
 description of the eleven reservations reserved to the Senecas by the treaty 
 at Big Tree, four years previously ; that the eleven places marked in red 
 on the map belonged to the red men. Among the places so marked was 
 the Oil Spring reservation. ^Blacksnake said that this map was entrusted 
 to his care and keeping by the Seneca chiefs, and that he had had it in his 
 possession ever since, f This map is on file, with the testimony of Black- 
 snake taken on the trial of the action to recover the Oil Spring reserva- 
 tion, in the clerk's office of Cattaraugus county at Little Valley. On his 
 evidence, ajid of other Indians who were present at the treaty, corroborat- 
 ing Blacksnake, and particularly the testimony of Hon. Staley N. Clark, 
 who was called as a witness for the Indians, the Seneca nation recovered 
 a verdict. Clark testified that he had always regarded this tract as an 
 Indian reservation, and had treated it as such up to the time he went to 
 congress. The first trial was had before Judge Johnson and a jury, but 
 owing to an error in the judge's charge to the jury the judgment was 
 reversed by the general term of the supreme court and a new trial granted. 
 On the second trial, before Judge Richard P. Marvin and a jury, the Sen- 
 
 * There is some uncertainty about the exact age of Governor Blacksnake. He died September 29, 
 1859 Nathaniel T. Strong, a leading educated Seneca, a graduate of Union college, during many 
 years clerk and counsellor of the Seneca nation, and who delivered an able legturc'upon Red |ack . ef, b e^ 
 fore the Buffalo Historical society, a few years since, says in an article published over his signature m 
 the Netu York Sun in 1859, that Governor Blacksnake was born in 1737, and was 122 years old at his 
 death This is pretty good authority ; but Harrison Halftown, anotl^er leading educated Seneca, now 
 living and who was a near neighbor to and very intimate with Governor Blacksnake. says that he was 
 born in 1742, and that his opinion is formed from data of certain well-known events which Blacksnake 
 had often stated to him, and among others that he was 13 years old at the time of the capture of Fort 
 Duquesne in 1755, and was. therefore, of the age of 117 years at his death. I first saw Governor Black- 
 snake in 1852 He was then a tall, slim man, straight as an arrow, with very keen, piercing, black eyes, 
 of commanding presence, hair slightly gray, the deep ftirrows in his face indicating great age. I- our 
 years later, when confined to his bed by sickness, he was subjected to a rigid cross-examination as a wit- 
 ness in the Oil Spring suit, and exhibited great clearness of recollection and vigor of mind. 
 
 +On this occasion Governor Blacksnake exhibited two silver medals which had been presented to him 
 at diff-erent times by President Washington. On one. dated 1796. there was engraved the picture of a 
 white man and Indian chief shaking hands. One. as he said, was his great father, George Washington, 
 and the other Governor Blacksnake. 1 
 
8 THE SIX NATIONS. 
 
 ecas again had judgment for recovery of the reservation. The defendants, 
 through their counsel, Hon. A. G. Rice, appealed to the general term, 
 which affirmed the judgment at the circuit. The case was appealed by 
 the defendants to the court of appeals, which affirmed the judgment of the 
 general term and circuit, fully establishing the title in the Indians. The 
 late Chauncey Tucker, of Buffalo, was associated with me as counsel on 
 these trials. 
 
 Soon after this the Senecas leased this reservation for oil purposes to a 
 corporation organized in Wall street, called the Seneca oil company, on 
 which lease the Indians received a bonus of $io,000. The company issued 
 a large amount of stock, which was at one time at par, and made a good 
 deal of money. It put down several wells on the reservation and obtained 
 a few barrels of heavy lubricating oil, but not in paying quantities. 
 
 I desire here to state to the credit of the late Staley N. Clark, whose 
 character for integrity was held in high repute by all who knew him, that 
 the action of his company in taking possession of this reservation from the 
 Indians and selling it was not approved by him. 
 
 By treaty held at Buffalo Creek reservation, August 31, 1826, the Sen- 
 ecas sold to the Ogden land company their six reservations on the Gen- 
 esee river, 33,409 acres of the Tonawanda reservation, 33,637 acres of Buf- 
 falo Creek reservation, in Erie county, one square mile in the town of 
 Hanover, Chautauqua county, the "mile strip" and "mile square," in Erie 
 county, of the Cattaraugus reservation — in all 87,526 acres, for ;^48, 216, 
 being at the rate of about 55 cents per acre. These lands were among 
 the richest and most valuable in western New York. The treaty was ex- 
 ecuted in the presence of Oliver Forward, commissioner on behalf of the 
 United States, Nathaniel Gorham, superintendent for the state of Massachu- 
 setts, and was witnessed by Jasper Parish, United States Indian agent, and 
 Horatio Jones, United States interpreter, and was signed by forty-seven 
 chiefs and sachems of the Seneca nation, among whom appear the names 
 of Red Jacket, Young King, Cornplanter, Governor Blacksnake, Captain 
 Strong, Tall Chief, Captain Pollard, Two Guns, Silverheels, Captain 
 Shongo, Halftown, Tall Peter, Twenty Canoes, Blue Eyes, Red Eyes, 
 Seneca White, Charles O. Beal, Son of Cornplanter, and other well-known 
 chiefs of the Senecas, all of whom are supposed to have long since de- 
 parted to the "happy hunting grounds." Forty-three thousand two hun- 
 dred and fifty dollars (;^43,25o) of the money paid to the Senecas for these 
 lands were invested in stock of the public debt of the United States, and 
 
THE SIX NATIONS. 9 
 
 transferred to the Ontario bank at Canandaigua, and afterwards to the 
 United States treasury in trust for the Senecas, upon which they 'have re- 
 ceived each year since 1826 annuity interest at 5 per cent., amounting an- 
 nually to $2, 162.50. 
 
 In 1878 the Honorable Secretary of the Interior, at the request of the 
 Seneca nation, appointed a civil engineer to resurvey the outer boundaries 
 of the Cattaraugus reservation in the counties of Erie, Chautauqua and Cat- 
 taraugus, the Senecas paying the engineer and surveyor ;^2,ooo for the job. 
 The engineer made his survey, and included in it the three tracts of land 
 which I have mentioned as the "mile strip" and "mile square," in Erie 
 county, and the "mile square, " in the county of Chautauqua, containing in 
 all 5,120 acres, which lands had been in the undisputed possession of 
 white men and their grantees, under deeds of purchase, in good faith, 
 from the Ogden land company, for over fifty years. As the survey in- 
 cluded these lands zuithin the outer boundaries of the reservation, it led the 
 Senecas to believe that they still owned the lands, and naturally produced 
 great uneasiness upon the parts of hundreds of white men who had pur- 
 chased the land in good faith from the Ogden land company, and had 
 cleared up farms and erected buildings thereon for permanent homes. It 
 is a well-known historical fact that the treaty at Buffalo Creek reservation, 
 of August 31, 1826, by which the Senecas sold to the Ogden company 
 about 210,380 acres of their most valuable land on Genesee river, at Buf- 
 falo Creek, Tonawanda, and Cattaraugus reservations, at a fraction over 55 
 cents per acre, was at that time very unpopular with the Seneca people 
 generally, so that many of them, aided by their staunch friends, the Quakers, 
 always vigilant in protecting their interests, strongly opposed the ratifica- 
 tion of the treaty by the United States senate. 
 
 The Senecas now claim title to all the lands covered by that treaty, now 
 thickly populated by thriving villages, especially those on the Genesee 
 river, and base their claim upon the assumed ground that the treaty was 
 never formally ratified by the United States senate; also on the ground of 
 inadequacy of the price paid for them ; that $4,966 of the purchase price 
 of the lands was never placed to their credit in the United States treasury 
 but was used, with other funds of the Ogden land company, in paying 
 from seven to ten of the leading Seneca chiefs who signed the treaty, each 
 a bonus for signing it in the form of an annuity of from $^0 to $120 per 
 year, from the date of the treaty, in 1826, during life. Soon after the sur- 
 vey mentioned had been completed, in 1879, the Seneca nation ^^'"^ ^ dele- 
 
lO THE SIX NATIONS. 
 
 gation to my office, at Forestville, to advise with me, I being then United 
 States Indian agent, relating to the legahty of their claim. I told them I 
 thought their claim was pretty stale, as they had received annuities from 
 the purchase price of these lands for over half a century. Not satisfied 
 with this advice, they sent delegates to Albany to consult the Hon. Martin 
 I. Townsend, United States attorney for the northern district of New 
 York. He gave them a hearing, and told them he would carefully investi- 
 gate the matter, and advise them by letter of his opinion. He did so, and 
 wrote to them in due time, giving an opinion adverse to the claim and his 
 reasons therefor. But this did not satisfy the Senecas. With a pertinac- 
 ity highly characteristic of them, they continued to agitate the subject, 
 and finally, by resolution adopted in council, employed General James G. 
 Strong, of Buffalo, as their attorney, to bring action to test the legality of 
 the treaty of 1826. General Strong's appointment as attorney for this 
 purpose has been approved, and authority given him by the Secretary of 
 the Interior to bring action as the attorney for the Seneca nation for such 
 purpose. The action had not been commenced a few days sinte, when 
 General Strong wrote me that he was getting things in good readiness to 
 commence one. 
 
 The Cattaraugus reservation, as reserved by the treaty at Big Tree, in 
 1797, embraced a strip of land about one mile wide, extending westerly 
 form Eighteen-mile creek, or Kough-gauw-gie creek (distant about four- 
 teen miles southwesterly from Buffalo) along the south shore of lake Erie, 
 through the towns of North Evans and Brant, in Erie county, and the 
 towns of Hanover, Sheridan, and Dunkirk, in this county, to a point one 
 mile east of Con-non-dua-we-ga (Canadavvay) creek; thence up said creek 
 one mile paralel thereto; thence on a direct line to said creek; thence 
 down the same to lake Erie ; thence along the lake to the mouth of 
 Eighteen-mile creek. It also embraced a strip of land adjoining the above 
 lands, one mile wide, on the north bank of Cattaraugus creek, between 
 present villages of Irving and Gowanda. This reservation, therefore, orig- 
 inally covered the sites of the present villages of Angolola, Farnham, in 
 Erie county, and of Irving, Silver Creek, Fredonia, and the city of Dun- 
 kirk, in Chautauqua county, and contained about fifty square miles. 
 
 By the treaty at Buffalo creek, on June 30, 1802, the Senecas exchanged 
 the above lands with the Holland land company, for the present Catta- 
 raugus reservation, including the "mile strip" and the "mile square," in 
 Erie, and the "mile square," in Chautauqua (since sold as above stated), 
 
THE SIX NATIONS. II 
 
 in all about forty-two square miles, situated in above named counties, upon 
 both sides of Cattaraugus creek, of very rich and fertile land. The pre- 
 emption right was reserved in the treaty, and is now owned by the Ogden 
 land company. 
 
 This exchange of land was a good one for the Senecas, in securing a 
 reservation in compact form, of far superior quality of land than the other, 
 although about three-fourths of the size of the original reserve. It was 
 an especially fortunate exchange for the people of Chautauqua county, 
 in giving them a frontage on lake Erie, and free access to the then impor- 
 tant harbors at Irving, Silver Creek, and Dunkirk. 
 
 The Cattaraugus reservation has an Indian population of 1,640, of whom 
 1,418 are Senecas, 156 Cayugas,48 Onondagas,4 Tuscaroras, and 14 Tona- 
 wanda Senecas, being an increase in population since the state census of 
 1865 of 293. 
 
 The Senecas of Allegany, Cattaraugus, and Cornplanter reservations, 
 numbering 2,311, own the Allegany and Cattaraugus reservations, sub- 
 ject to whatever rights of occupancy the 314 Onondagas and Cayugas re- 
 siding with them may have therein. This preemption right is derived 
 from the prior discovery of the territory by civilized man, and in this 
 instance restricts the Senecas from selling to others than the Ogden land 
 company and its grantees. The Ogden land company claim that this 
 right of preemption embraces the fee of the land, and that the Indians 
 have the right of occupancy only so long as their tribal relation continues. 
 The Senecas claim the absolute ownership of the Allegany and Cattraugus 
 reservations in fee, subject only to the right of the Ogden land company 
 to purchase whenever they shall elect to sell. 
 
 This preemption right of the Ogden land company is a source of great 
 uneasiness to the Indians of Cattaraugus and Allegany reservations, rest- 
 ing as a cloud upon the title of their lands. It stifles industry by with- 
 holding the best incentives to it, the natural desire of man to acquire 
 property, and the attachments of home and family. The Senecas have 
 heretofore resisted every effort made by the state of New York to induce 
 them to allot their lands in severalty, under the apprehension that such 
 allotment might result in breaking up their tribal relations, and so forfeit 
 their reservations to the Ogden land company. 
 
 Notwithstanding that the Indians of Cattaraugus reservation have held 
 their land in common, and have not possessed the usual incentives to in- 
 dustry of other people, they have made good progress in civilization dur- 
 
12 THE SIX NATIONS. 
 
 ing the past twenty-five years. In education, increase in population, intel- 
 ligence, wealth and substantial comforts of life, their progress has been 
 quite remarkable. 
 
 The Thomas asylum for the orphan and destitute Indian children of the 
 Six Nations of New York, on the Cattaraugus reservation, was incorpo- 
 rated by an act of our state legislature in 185 s, with Rev. Asher Wright, 
 Eber M. Petit, and three other white men and five Indians as trustees, 
 and has been since then in successful operation. It received its name 
 from Philip E. Thomas, of Baltimore, Maryland, a member of the Society 
 of Friends, who contributed funds for its establishment. It is open to all 
 the orphan and destitute Indian children of the Six Nations, and has been 
 from the first under excellent management, and is one of the most benef- 
 icent institutions of public charity in the state. The number of children, 
 of both sexes, has averaged about one hundred. The girls have been 
 taught to labor in household work, and the boys in manual labor upon the 
 farm and in the shops connected with the asylum. About thirty acres of 
 broom corn have been raised annually upon the farm, which the Indian 
 boys in the winter have manufactured into brooms, bringing quite an in- 
 come to the institution. The state appropriates annually about ^10,000 
 for its support. 
 
 There are ten Indian day schools on this reservation, taught thirty-two 
 weeks each year, and mostly supported by annual appropriations from the 
 state. 
 
 Among the actions of local interest prosecuted by the Seneca nation 
 was one to establish the western boundary of the Cattaraugus reservation, 
 adjoining the town of Hanover, in this county. The action was com- 
 menced in 1850, and continued through the official lives of three succes- 
 sive attorneys for the Senecas and a part of the fourth. Harris L. Knight, 
 of Irving, had a dam across the Cattaraugus creek at Irving, and a valu- 
 able saw mill on its north bank. He claimed that his dam and mill were 
 on his own land, and that the west bounds of the reservation were on the 
 north bank of the creek ; and the Senecas claimed the boundary line was 
 down the centre of the creek. The action was tried five times at the 
 Erie circuit, and the Seneca nation beaten on each trial, the circuit judges, 
 and among them Judge Harris, of Albany, each holding that the true 
 boundary line was on the north bank of the stream. 
 
 The legal question involved grew out of the construction to be given 
 to the words in the last boundary line of the reservation, as men- 
 
THE SIX NATIONS. 13 
 
 tioned in the treaty concluded at Buffalo Creek reservation, June 30, 
 1802, which defined its boundary as commencing at a stake standing on 
 the north bank of Cattaraugus creek, on the south shore of Lake Erie ; 
 thence by various courses around the reservation to its southwest corner ; 
 thence north (crossing the. creek) to a stake on the north bank of the Cat- 
 taraugus creek; thence doivn the saiiie, and along the several meanders 
 thereof to the place of beginning, being to the other stake named as stand- 
 ing on the north bank. 
 
 The defendant stoutly contested the right of the Indians to recover, 
 in each successive trial at the circuit, and the Indians being beaten, 
 appealed from each trial at the circut, to the general term of the supreme 
 court. At the general term the defendant purposely failing to appear, a 
 new trial was granted by default. 
 
 The action revolved in circle in the manner mentioned during ten years, 
 with no prospect of its ever terminating. The defendant was in the mean- 
 time using the mill, which was largely supplied with black walnut, white 
 wood, and ash logs from the reservation, doubtless hoping that the Sen- 
 ecas would, in time, get tired out, and abandon the fight. After the case 
 had been so long in court the general term was asked by the plaintiff's 
 attorney to take the papers, and, if they deemed proper, to deny the 
 plaintiff's motion for a new trial, so as to enable the Senecas to carry the 
 case to the court of appeals, and obtain its decision upon the disputed 
 boundary. The case was duly appealed, and a special act of the legislature 
 passed, giving this action and the Oil Spring reservation suit preference 
 on the calendar, Major Hiram Smith, then member of the assembly from 
 this assembly district, having charge of the bill. The case was soon after 
 argued and submitted. The court of appeals decided that the true bound- 
 ary was in the center of the creek, and granted a new trial, and the case 
 was again tried at the circuit, and the nation secured a verdict establishing 
 the boundary in the center of the creek, as claimed by them. I have 
 been thus particular in giving a history of this important suit from its 
 local interest in part, and to show the characteristic persistence of the Sen- 
 ecas in a course of action once entered upon, leading them, even in a law- 
 suit, to never surrender short of the judgment of the court of last resort. 
 
 The Allegany reservation, located on both sides of the Allegany river, 
 in Cattaraugus county, is almost thirty-five miles long, and contains forty- 
 two square miles, varying in width from one to two and one-half miles. 
 The laro-er portion of it, immediately adjoining the river, is level and fer- 
 
THE SIX NATIONS, I4 
 
 tile ; the balance broken and hilly. It was formerly covered with heavy 
 pine timber, and until recently the lumbering business, which was exten- 
 sively carried on there, tended greatly to demoralize the Indians by divert- 
 ing their attention from farming, and bringing them in contact with 
 demoralizing influences. It is also traversed by a number of railroads, 
 and has a large white population, composed largely of railroad employes, 
 in the villages of Salamanca, West Salamanca, Vandalia, Carrolton, Great 
 Valley, and Red House, which were surveyed and established by commis- 
 sioners appointed for the purpose, under the act of congress passed Feb- 
 ruary 19, 1875. Its present Indian population is 929, being an increase 
 of 175 since the census was taken by the state in 1855. There are six 
 Indian day schools on this reservation supported by the state. The most 
 of the Indians resided on the southwest part of the reserve, towards the 
 state line, which is more isolated than the rest from railroad towns, and 
 this portion of them are making fair progress in civilization. The Society 
 of Friends at Philadelphia have, during about twenty-five years past, 
 maintained, in connection with a large farm, a manual labor school adjoin- 
 ing this part of the reservation, at an annual expense of about ;^3,ooo. 
 This school has been under most excellent discipline and management, 
 and has had an annual attendance of about thirty Indian children, mostly 
 boys. In this school the Indian pupils have been boarded, clothed, and 
 educated, and taught to work, the school being wholly supported 
 through the benevolent and generous contributions of the Quakers at 
 Philadelphia, who have always been the steadfast friends of the Senecas, 
 protecting their interests in treaties with white people, and in all their 
 public affairs. 
 / The Senecas of Allegany and Cattaraugus reservations were incorpor- 
 ated by act of our legislature in 1845, under the name of the Seneca nation 
 of Indians, with right to bring actions in the courts of this state in all cases 
 relating to their common property, by an attorney appointed by the gov- 
 ernor. They have maintained during thirty-five years a republican form 
 of government, with a president, council, treasurer, and clerk, elected 
 annually by ballot, also a peace-maker's court on each reservation, hav- 
 ing jurisdiction in actions between Indians, and authority to administer 
 upon estates of deceased persons. 
 
 The Cornplanter reservation, on the Allegany river, in Warren county, 
 Pennsylvania, three miles below the Allegany reserve, contains 761 acres 
 of choice lands on the river bottoms. The commonwealth of Pennsyl- 
 
THE SIX NATIONS. 1$ 
 
 vania granted this reservation in fee to the famous war chief and wisest 
 counsellor of the Six Nations, Gy-Jiant-wa-Jiia, or Cornplanter, March 
 i6, 1796, for his many valuable services to the white people, especially 
 that most important one in preventing the Six Nations of New York in 
 joining the confederacy of western Indians, in 1790 and 1791, in the war 
 which terminated in the victory of General Wayne, in 1794. The state 
 of Pennsylvania has erected a fine monument to the memory of Corn- 
 planter on this reservation. His descendants and other Senecas, number- 
 ing ninety-three, reside on the reservation, which was allotted to them in 
 1871, by commissioners appointed by the state of Pennsylvania, with 
 power to sell only to descendants of Cornplanter and other Seneca 
 Indians. 
 
 These Cornplanter Indians are recognized by the Senecas of Allegany 
 and Cattaraugus reservations as owning equal rights with them in those 
 reservations, and share with them in the annuities payable under the 
 treaties with the United States. They are a temperate, thrifty people, are 
 good farmers, and are increasing yearly in population. The allotment of 
 their lands in severalty and in fee has greatly contributed to their pros- 
 perity and civilization by affording a new incentive to industry. 
 
 The Tonawanda reservation, in the counties of Erie, Genesee, and 
 Niagara, now contains seven thousand five hundred and fifty acres, the 
 title of which is held in trust by the comptroller of this state "for 
 the exclusive use, occupation, and enjoyment of the Senecas of the Tona- 
 wanda band," who reside upon the reservation, and number 630, being 
 an increase of 29 since the state census taken in 1865. It is governed 
 by chiefs. This reservation is very fertile and is well adapted to the 
 raising of fruits, wheat, and other grains. 
 
 The Senecas of this band, with those of the Allegany, Cattaraugus, and 
 Cornplanter reservations, receive an annuity of $11,902.50 from the 
 United States. The Tonawanda Senecas also receive in addition trust 
 fund interest at five per cent, on $86,950 annually as annuity, amounting 
 to $4,347.50, under their treaty with the United States dated November 
 5, 1857. This band receives larger money annuities than any of the 
 Indians in New York, and owns in fee one of the most fertile reservations, 
 yet its progress in civilization has been less rapid than the other tribes, 
 owing, doubtless, in part, to the unsettled condition of the the title of 
 their reservation, and excitement, and almost constant litigation respecting 
 same during twenty-one years immediately preceding the treaty of 
 
l6 THE SIX NATIONS. 
 
 November 5, 1857. The state supports three day schools on this reserve 
 during- thirty-two weeks in each year. This band has within a few years 
 appropriated $6, 100 from their annuity interest for the establshment of 
 a manual labor school on the reservation. 
 1/ General Ely S. Parker, a full blooded Seneca Indian, now residing in 
 
 the city of New York, is a chief of this band. He received a good edu- 
 cation, studied law with Hon. William Pitt Angell, at Ellicottville, N. Y. , 
 but adopted the profession of a civil engineer. He was commissioned 
 captain and adjutant-general of United States volunteers in May, 1863, 
 while at his home in western New York, joined General Grant's army at 
 Vicksburg on the eighth of July following, and was attached to General 
 John E. Smith's brigade in General McPherson's corps. In September 
 following he was detailed to General Grant's staff, and participated wtth 
 him in all the battles he was engaged in subsequent to that time, and was 
 present at Lee's surrender at Appomattox, having had the honor of en- 
 grosing the articles of surrender which were handed to Lee. He was 
 made a brigadier-general during the war, and resigned his commission in 
 the regular army in 1869. Soon after this he was appointed by President 
 Grant to the important and very responsible office of commissioner of 
 Indian affairs, in which he served several years. 
 
 General Parker was present on the occasion of the re-interment of the 
 famous Seneca chief, Red Jacket, at Forest Lawn cemetery, Buffalo, a few 
 months since, where he attracted general attention by his gentlemanly ad- 
 dress, fine physique, and strongly marked Indian features, and made a very 
 sensible and appropriate speech. 
 
 There are on the New York reservations about 493 Onondagas, of whom 
 317 reside on the Onondaga reservation in Onondaga county, 96 at Alle- 
 gany reserve, 42 at Cattaraugus, 36 at Tuscarora, and 2 at Tonawanda. 
 reservation. They receive in annuities from the state of New York 
 ^2,430 and one hundred and fifty bushels of salt. Prior to 1793 
 the Onondaga reservation contained one hunred square miles, and cov- 
 ered the site of the city of Syracuse, and of several towns in that local- 
 ity. By treaty of March 11, 1793, they sold to New York over three- 
 fourths of their lands for ;^638 and a perpetual annuity of ;^4io. 
 
 By treaty of July 28, 1795, they sold to this state the Salt lake at Syra- 
 cuse and lands around it for an annuity of ^$700 and lOO bushels of salt, 
 payable annually and forever. By treaty of February 25, 18 17, they sold 
 to New York state 4,320 acres more of their reserve for ;^ 1,000 paid down, 
 
THE SIX NATIONS. 1/ 
 
 and a perpetual annuity of $430 and 50 bushels of salt, payable each year. 
 On February 11, 1822, they sold to this state 800 acres more of their 
 reserve for $1,700 paid down. The present reservation contains 6,100 
 acres of fertile land, seven miles from the city of Syracuse, and is mostly 
 leased to white men. This practice of leasing, instead of working their 
 lands, has no doubt been a positive injury to them. They are governed 
 by chiefs ; their increase in population since 1865 has been 34. 
 
 The Methodists have a mission house on the reservation, and a resident 
 missionary. The Episcopalians also have a commodious church building, 
 in which religious services are held weekly, and a day school maintained 
 by them. There is also another day school supported by the state. Both 
 schools are well attended and are taught about eight months in the year. 
 The chiefs, who are mostly pagans, now advise their people to send their 
 children to school, and to work their lands, instead of leasing them to 
 white people. The few who cultivate their own lands are generally tem- 
 perate and thrifty as compared with those who lease them and live in 
 idleness. 
 
 There are 250 Oneidas on the New York reservations, 66 with the 
 Onondagas at Onondaga reserve, ii at Tonawanda, and 173 on Oneida 
 reservation in Oneida and Madison counties, an increase of 16 since the 
 state census of 1845. They are mostly good farmers and prosperous. 
 They have been admitted to citizenship and have voted as citizens of the 
 United States for several years. They have held their lands in severalty 
 and in fee since 1843, each having the lawful right to sell his land to any 
 white man by consent of a majority of the chiefs and a superintendent ap- 
 pointed by the state. But few sales have been made under the state law 
 of 1843 giving such authority. They are mostly Methodists, and have a 
 good church building on the reserve, in which Thomas Cornelius, a worthy 
 and highly respected Oneida Indian, officiated as their minister for many 
 years. 
 
 The Cayugas by treaty of February 25, 1789, sold to this state nearly' 
 all their extensive territory, reserving one hundred square miles around 
 Cayuga lake, a few acres at Seneca river, and one square mile at Cayuga 
 ferry, for $2,125, and an annuity of $500. On July 27, 1795, they sold 
 their remaining lands to the state for $1,800 paid down, and an annuity of 
 ;^i,8oo. They now own no lands in this state. One hundred and eighty- 
 four Cayugas reside with the Senecas, nearly all on the Cattaraugus reser- 
 vation, and receive about $1,400 annuity from the state. A large portion 
 
lo THE SIX NATIONS. 
 
 of this tribe have moved from this state to the Indian territory. They 
 also receive annuity goods from the United States under its treaty with 
 the Six Nations of November ii, 1794, amounting in value to about 
 ninety cents per capita, as do also the other six tribes in New York, ex- 
 cept the St. Regis. 
 
 The St. Regis Indians are descendants of the Mohawks, of New, York, 
 whose language they speak. Under the influence of Catholic missionaries 
 their ancestors migrated from the valley of the Mohawk river in 1677, and 
 settled at CayJi-ne-wa-ga, near Montreal, in Canada. A colony from the 
 latter place in 1760, migrated to St. Regis, on the St, Lawrence. They 
 are named from Jean Francis Saint Regis, a French ecclesiastic, who died 
 in 1690. They are mostly Roman Catholics. There are 1,922 St. Regis 
 Indians, of whom 790 are denominated American Indians, and 1,132 Brit- 
 ish Indians. The American portion of the tribe are paid ;^2, 131.60 annu- 
 ity by the state of New York for land sold; the British portion $1,911 
 by Canada or Great Britain. Twenty-four thousand two hundred and fifty 
 acres of their reservation are in Canada, including the township of Dun- 
 dee and fourteen thousand and thirty acres adjoining the Canada line in 
 Franklin county, in this state. The boundary line between the United 
 States and Canada divides the Indian village of St. Regis, whch contains 
 about one hundred houses, mostly constructed of hewn logs. The St. 
 Regis Indians engaged in the war of the revolution, part with the British 
 and part with the Americans. One of their number, Lewis Cook, held 
 a colonel's commission. They were divided again into two parties, 
 British and American, in the war of 18 12. Such division still continues, 
 the lines being kept distinct, following in hereditary descent by the fath- 
 er's side. With the other tribes in this state the line of hereditary de- 
 scent and of tribal relation is by the mother's side. The increase of the 
 American portion of this tribe since the state census of 1865 has been 
 325. The increase on the Canada side of the line has been quite as 
 marked. The St. Regis Indians receive no annuities from the United 
 States in either money or goods. 
 
 Prior to the formation of the confederacy of the Iroquois, or Five Na- 
 tions of New York, and about the fifteenth century, a considerable num- 
 ber of the New York Indians migrated to the head waters of the Neuse 
 and Tar rivers in North Carolina and took possession of the country under 
 the name of Tuscaroras. Whether their visit to North Carolina was for 
 the purpose of conquest or otherwise does not appear. Their numbers 
 
THE SIX NATIONS. I9 
 
 increased rapidly, and in 1708 they had fifteen towns and 1,200 warriors. 
 Being a warlike tribe, jealous of their rights, they bravely resisted the 
 efforts of the white people to drive them from their lands, and in the battle 
 at their fort, Na-ha-sji-kc, on the Neuse, against the combined forces of 
 North and South Carolina, the Cherokees, Creeks, Catawbas, Yamansees 
 and Ashley Indians, 300 of their warriors were slain and 800 taken pris- 
 oners and sold into slavery. Their power being broken by this severe 
 defeat, they entered into a treaty of peace with the governor of North 
 Carolina, who granted them lands on the Roanoke in the present county 
 of Bertie, to which the remnant of the tribe removed. Owing to the 
 continued encroachments of the white settlers upon their territory, they 
 soon after migrated to the vicinity of Oneida lake, and formally united 
 with their ancient kinsmen, the powerful confederacy of the Iroquois, 
 the Mohawks, Cayugas, Oneidas, Onondagas and Senecas, then number- 
 ing 2,000 warriors, who had by their consummate strategy and prowess in 
 war held alike the English and French at bay for two hundred years, and 
 successfully carried their conquests against other tribes from the western 
 bounds of New England to the Mississippi and from Hudson's bay to 
 the Alieghanies and sources of the Delaware and Susquehanna. 
 
 The Tuscaroras removed from Oneida and camped in 1780 on the site 
 of an old Indian fort and mound, on an elevated plateau of fertile lands, 
 seven miles from suspension bridge, overlooking Lake Ontario, and about 
 the same distance therefrom in the present town of Lewiston, Niagara 
 county. Here they planted corn and made a permanent settlement. The 
 Senecas gave them at this place one square mile of land called the Seneca 
 grant. This, it is said, was reserved in the treaty at Big Tree in 1797, 
 but I do not find it mentioned in the treaty. The Holland company, 
 grantees of Morris, however, recognized and confirmed the grant, and gen- 
 erously donated to them two other square miles adjoining. 
 
 The Tuscaroras about the year 1804 sent a delegation of chiefs to North 
 Carolina, who sold their lands in that state for about $15,000, and with 
 ;^ 1 3,722 realized from this sale they purchased of the Holland land com- 
 pany 4,329 acres adjoining their other lands, making their present tract 
 6,249 acres, which they own by absolute title in fee simple, which has 
 been practically allotted to them in severalty, except their timber lands 
 are held in common, and the chiefs take commendable care in protecting 
 their timber from waste. The Tuscaroras on this reserve number 412, and 
 43 Onondagas reside with them, making the total Indian population of the 
 
20 THE SIX NATIONS. 
 
 reserve 455, being an increase in population since the state census of 1865 
 of 139. The Presbyterian board of missions commenced missionary labors 
 among them in 1800, and the first mission house was erected, and school 
 opened in 1805. As a tribe they early abandoned pagan customs and 
 adopted Christianity and the better customs of civilized life. The chiefs 
 erected the first frame school house on the reserve in 1831, and with the 
 aid of their missionary, John Elliott, organized a temperance society of 
 one hundred members. Circumstances have contributed to make the 
 Tuscaroras more self-reliant and prosperous than most of the other 
 tribes in New York. Unlike the Senecas, they own their lands in fee, 
 and unlike all other tribes in this state, they have received no money an- 
 nuities from any source. They are a temperate, industrious, and thrifty 
 community, and in their farms, farm products, buildings, and agricultural 
 implements compare favorably with their white neighbors. 
 
 There were on these nine reservations in 1883 thirty-one Indian schools, 
 of which twenty-nine were day schools, and two boarding and manual la- 
 bor schools. The average daily attendance of Indian pupils was eleven 
 hundred and nine, as reported by the teachers. The state of New York in 
 that year paid towards their support $8,282, Pennsylvania ;^3 10 for the 
 school at Cornplanter, and the Quakers for support of their boarding 
 school at Allegany reserve ;^4,454. The annual expense paid for the sup- 
 port of these schools has been about the same as here stated for many 
 years. In addition to these there has been during about ten years an in- 
 dustrial school at Cattaraugus reservation, under the sole charge of Mrs. 
 Laura M. Wright, widow of the late Reverend Asher Wright, for the in- 
 struction of the Indian women of Cattaraugus reservation in needle work, 
 and for the manufacture of clothing for their families and for destitute In- 
 dian children from cloth donated mostly by benevolent persons in Boston 
 and New York city, and by other benevolent persons. The United States 
 has appropriated a few hundred dollars for the same purpose. Mrs. 
 Wright's services have been gratuitous from the first, who, now over sev- 
 enty-five years of age, has been doing efficient missionary work for the 
 Senecas during over half a century. It was mainly through her self-sacri- 
 ficing and persevering efforts that this important industrial school for In- 
 dian women and orphan and destitute Indian children was established and 
 has since been successfully maintained, and she is still apparently as active 
 and untiring as ever in her good work. Her reward will come, if not 
 
THE SIX NATIONS. 21 
 
 in this life, in that better land, which in faith of Christian and pagan 
 alike, lies beyond life's setting sun. 
 
 No close student ot the early history of this country can have 
 failed to observe that the Six Nations of New York wielded 
 a powerful, if not controlling influence, in shaping its destiny, es- 
 pecially in the long and bloody wars between France and England for 
 supremacy upon this continent. By the treaty of Utrecht, concluded 
 March 31, 171 3, Great Britain obtained sovereignty as against France over 
 nearly the entire country of the Six Nations. In the war terminating in 
 that treaty the Six Nations, as allies of Great Britain, bore an important 
 part. But the French, in addition to their Canadian possessions, still 
 claimed dominion over all the vast country watered by the tributaries of 
 the Mississippi, including the valleys of the Alleghany, Conewango, 
 Cassidaga, and Chatauqua lake, and extending westward to the father 
 of waters, which country they called Louisiana. Over sixty French forts 
 bristled along the frontiers of this disputed territory. French emissaries 
 and Jesuits were busy in seducing the Indians to unite their fortunes 
 with the Gallic race against the Anglo-Saxon, giving the contest the sem- 
 blance of a war between Protestant and Romanist, yet the Six Nations 
 remained loyal to the English. A considerable number of their war- 
 riors fought under General Wolf, in scaling the heights of Abraham and 
 capture of Quebec, although the larger part of them took no active part 
 in the war. By the treaty of peace of 1763 France ceded Canada, with 
 all her possessions east of the Mississippi and north of Iberville river in 
 the present state of Louisiana, to England. 
 
 The British, in taking forcible possession of Grand Island, a valuable 
 property of the Senecas, in the early part of the war of 18 12, greatly in- 
 censed the Senecas, who immediately thereafter called a grand counsel of 
 the Six Nations, at Buffalo Creek reservation, and issued the following 
 declaration of war: 
 
 We, the chiefs and counsellors of the Six Nations of Indians, residing in the State of New York, do 
 hereby proclaim to the war chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations that war is declared on our part 
 against the provinces of Upper and Lower Canada. Therefore we do command and advise all the war 
 chiefs to call forth immediately the warriors under them to protect our rights and liberties, which our 
 brethren, the Americans, are now defending. 
 
 They also covenanted not to scalp or murder captives taken in war, 
 which pledge, to their great credit be it said, they sacredly kept. Over 
 1,200 Indian warriors answered to this call, and were organized in ten 
 or more companies, under their own captains, Farmers Brother, Black- 
 
22 THE SIX NATIONS. 
 
 snake, Red Jacket, Little Billy, Pollard, Johnson, Cold, La Forte, Silver 
 Heels, Strong, Halftown and Maj. Henry O'Bail, son of Cornplanter. 
 They crossed the Niagara river with the American troops, and fought 
 with great bravery at Lundy's Lane, under General Scott, and at Chip- 
 pewa, and in other engagements on the frontier, as all accounts show. 
 They fought not as soldiers of the United States, but in their own style 
 of warfare, under their own captains, as allies of the United States. 
 Their names, therefore, were not put on the muster rolls of our army, 
 or upon its pay rolls, which fact afterwards occasioned difficulty in obtain- 
 ing land warrants and pensions for their services. 
 
 The confederacy of the Iroquois is one of the most remarkable in history, 
 ancient or modern. Their government was partially hereditary, but prac- 
 tically democratic, the chiefs being chosen from the clans, as the Wolf, Bear, 
 Beaver, Turtle and Tortoise, for wisdom in council and bravery in battle, 
 and held their offices during good behavior. These clans permeated the 
 entire people of the Six Nations, and linked and bound them together into 
 one common brotherhood and compact nationality. Persons of the same 
 clan were not allowed to intermarry, because they could not bear a blood 
 relationship to each other. The line of clanship descended from the side 
 of the mother and not the father, the children taking the name of their 
 mother. Hence Cornplanter's children took the name of O'Bail. being 
 that of the mother. 
 
 Gov. DeWitt Clinton, of whom few had better means of observation, 
 and who had studied closely the history of the Six Nations, says of them 
 in a lecture before a historical society in i8ii : 
 
 Their exterior relations, general interests and national affairs were conducted and superintended by a 
 grand council, assembled annually at Onondaga, the central canton, composed of the chiefs of each re- 
 public, and eighty sachems were frequently convened at its national assembly. It took cognizance of the 
 great question's of war and peace, of affairs of tributary nations and their negotiations with the French 
 and English colonies ; all their proceedings were conducted with great deliberation, and were distin- 
 guished "for order, decorum and solemnity. In eloquence, in dignity and in all the characteristics of per- 
 sonal policy, they surpassed an assemblage of feudal barons, and were not, perhaps, tar inferior to the 
 great Amphyctionic council of Greece. Whatever inferiority of force the Iroquois might have, they never 
 neglected the use of stratagems ; they employed all the crafty ideas of the Carthagenians. The cunning 
 of the fox, the ferocity of the tiger, the power of the lion, were united in their conduct. They 
 preferred to vanquish their enemy by takmg him off his guard, by involving him in an ambuscade, 
 but when emergencies rendered it necessary for them to face him in the open field of battle, they exhib- 
 ited a courage Ind contempt of death which have never been surpassed. Destruction followed their foot- 
 steps, and whole nations exterminated, or merged in their conquerors, declare the superiority and terror 
 of their arms. 
 
 President Dwight says of them : 
 
 Their conquests, if we consider their numbers and their circumstances, were little inferior to Rome it- 
 
 BD 1.48 /'"'b 
 
THE SIX NATIONS. 23 
 
 self. In their liarmony, in the unity of their operations, the energy of their character, the rastness, suc- 
 cess and vigor of their enterprises, and the strength and subHmity of their eloquence, they might be 
 fairly compared with the Greeks. 
 
 There i.s a public sentiment in this country that the Indian tribes are 
 fast dying out. However this may be with other Indian tribes, it is not true 
 as to the original Six Nations of New York. In the last hundred years 
 thousands of them have migrated from this state to Canada and the west. 
 Nine hundred and forty-five (Mohawks are at the bay of Ouintc ; 3, 230 are 
 on Grand river, just across on the south shore of Lake Erie ; i, 132 north 
 of the Canada line at St. Regis; 1,485 of Caughnawaga ; 770 Oneidas 
 on the Thames, making a grand total in Canada of 7,582. Add 
 to these 1,510 Oneidas at Green Bay, Wisconsin; 410 Senecas and 
 Cayguas in the Indian Territory, and the 5,119 of the Six Nations in this 
 state, and we have a grand total of 14,621 — a larger number of the Six 
 Nations of New York, and their descendants now living in this state, in 
 Canada and the west, than can be shown by any authentic account of 
 their numbers in the last hundred and fifty years. Their actual increase 
 in this state since 1845, is 1,239, and the report of the interior department 
 of the province of Canada, shows that the Iroquois in that province are 
 •not only increasing in population, but making very good progress in civili- 
 zation, more so than the other numerous Indian tribes in Canada. 
 
 The .statistics showing the present number of the Six Nations in Can- 
 ada, are taken from the official reports of the interior department at Otta- 
 wa, and are reliable. Those of their number in this state and the west, 
 are from our Indian bureau at Washington, and form the basis for annuity 
 payments. They show a vitality in this people, emerging from barbarism 
 to civilization, that is, under all the adverse circumstances surrounding 
 them, remarkable indeed, if not unprecedented. 
 

 
 
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