INTRODUCTION
It is related by jEsop,
that a forester once meeting with a lion, they travelled together for a
time, and conversed amicably without much differing in opinion. At
length a dispute happening to arise upon the question of superiority
between their respective races, the former, in the absence of a better
argument, pointed to a monument, on which was sculptured, in marble, the
statue of a man striding over the body of a vanquished lion. “ If this,”
said the lion, “ is all you have to say, let us be the sculptors, and
you will see the lion striding over the vanquished man.”
The moral of this fable should ever be borne in mind when con-templating
the character of that brave and ill-used race of men, now melting away
before the Anglo-Saxons like the snow beneath a vertical sun—the
aboriginals of America. The Indians are no sculptors. No monuments of
their own art commend to future ages the events of the past. No Indian
pen traces the history of their tribes and nations, or records the deeds
of their warriors and chiefs—their prowess and their wrongs. Their
spoilers have been their historians; and although a reluctant assent has
been awarded to some of the nobler traits of their nature, yet, without
yielding a due allowance for the peculiarities of their situation, the
Indian character has been presented with singular uniformity as being
cold, cruel, morose, and revengeful; unrelieved by any of those varying
traits and characteristics, those lights and shadows, which are admitted
in respect to other people no less wild and uncivilized than they.
Without pausing to reflect that, even when most cruel, they have been
practising the trade of war—always dreadful—as much in conformity to
their own usages and laws, as have their more civilized antagonists, the
white historian has drawn them with the characteristics of demons.
Forgetting that the second of the Hebrew monarchs did not scruple to saw
his prisoners with saws, and harrow them with harrows of iron;
forgetful, likewise, of the scenes at Smithfield, under the direction of
our own British ancestors; the historians of the poor untutored Indians,
almost with one accord, have denounced them as monsters sui generis—of
unparalleled and unapproachable barbarity ; as though the summary
tomahawk were worse than the iron tortures of the harrow, and the torch
of the Mohawk hotter than the faggots of Queen Mary.
Nor does it seem to have occurred to the “ pale-faced ” writers, that
the identical cruelties, the records and descriptions of which enter so
largely into the composition of the earlier volumes of American history,
were not barbarities in the estimation of those who practised them. The
scalp-lock was an emblem of chivalry. Every warrior, in shaving his head
for battle, was careful to leave the lock of defiance upon his crown, as
for the bravado, “ Take it if you can.” The stake and the torture were
identified with their rude notions of the power of endurance. They were
inflicted upon captives of their own race, as well as upon the whites ;
and with their own braves these trials were courted, to enable the
sufferer to exhibit, the courage and fortitude with which they could be
borne—the proud scorn with which all the pain that a foe might inflict,
could be endured.
But they fell upon slumbering hamlets in the night, and massacred
defenceless women and children ! This, again, was their own mode of
warfare, as honourable in their estimation as the more courteous methods
of committing wholesale murder, laid down in the books.
But of one enormity they were ever innocent. Whatever degree of personal
hardship and suffering their female captives were compelled to endure,
their persons were never dishonoured by violence; a fact which can be
predicated, we apprehend, of no other victorious soldiery that ever
lived.
In regard, moreover, to the countless acts of cruelty alleged to have
been perpetrated by the savages, it must still be borne in mind that the
Indians have not been the sculptors—the Indians have had no writer to
relate their own side of the story. There has been none “ to weep for
Logan !” while his wrongs have been unrecorded. The annals of man,
probably, do not attest a more kindly reception of intruding foreigners,
than was given to the Pilgrims landing at Plymouth, by the faithful
Massassoit, and the tribes under his jurisdiction. Nor did the forest
kings take up arms until they but too clearly saw, that either their
visiters or themselves, must be driven from the soil which was their
own—the fee of which was derived from the Great Spirit. And the nation
is yet to be discovered that will not fight for their homes, the graves
of their fathers, and their family altars. Cruel they were, in the
prosecution of their contests ; but it would require the aggregate of a
large number of predatory incursions and isolated burnings, to balance
the awful scene of conflagration and blood, which at once extinguished
the power of Sas-sacus, and the brave and indomitable Narragansets over
whom he reigned. No ! until it is forgotten, that by some Christians in
infant Massachusetts it was held to be right to kill Indians as the
agents and familiars of Azazel; until the early records of even tolerant
Con. necticut, which disclose the fact that the Indians were seized by
the Puritans, transported to the British West Indies, and sold as
slaves, are lost; until the Amazon and La Plata shall have washed away
the bloody history of the Spanish American conquest; and until the fact
that Cortez stretched the unhappy Guatimozin naked upon a bed of burning
coals, is proved to be a fiction, let not the American Indian be
pronounced the most cruel of men !
If, then, the moral of the fable is thus applicable to aboriginal
history in general, it is equally so in regard to very many of their
chiefs, whose names have been forgotten, or only known to be detested.
Peculiar circumstances have given prominence, and fame of a cer-tain
description, to some few of the forest chieftains, as in the in-stances
of Powhatan in the south, the mighty Philip in the east, and the great
Pontiac of the north-west. But there have been many others, equal,
perhaps, in courage, and skill, and energy, to the dis-tinguished chiefs
just mentioned, whose names have been steeped in infamy in their
preservation, because “ the lions are no sculptors.” They have been
described as ruthless butchers of women and children, without one
redeeming quality save those of animal courage and in-difference to pain
; while it is not unlikely, that were the actual truth known, their
characters, for all the high qualities of the sol. dier, might sustain
an advantageous comparison with those of hah the warriors of equal rank
in Christendom. Of this class was a prominent subject of the present
volume, whose name was terrible in every American ear during the war of
Independence, and was long afterward associated with everything bloody,
ferocious, and hateful. It is even within our own day, that the name of
Brant 1 would chill the young blood by its very sound, and cause the
lisping child to cling closer to the knee of its mother. As the master
spirit of the Indians engaged in the British service during the war of
the 1 Revolution, not only were all the border massacres charged
directly upon him, but upon his head fell the public maledictions for
every individual act of atrocity which marked that sanguinary contest,
whether committed by Indians, or tories, or by the exasperated regular
soldiery of the foe. In many instances great injustice was done to him,
as in regard to the affair of Wyoming, in connexion with which his name
has been used by every preceding annalist who has written upon the
subject; while it has, moreover, for the same cause, been consigned to
infamy, deep and foul, in the deathless song of Campbell. In other eases
again, the Indians of the Six Nations, in common with their chief, were
loaded with execrations for atrocities of which all were alike
innocent—because the deeds recorded were never committed—it having been
the policy of the public writers, and those in authority, not only to
magnify actual occurrences, but sometimes, when these were wanting, to
draw upon their imaginations for accounts of such deeds of ferocity and
blood, as might best serve to keep alive the strongest feelings of
indigna-tion against the parent country, and likewise induce the people
to take the field for revenge, if not driven thither by the nobler
impulse of patriotism.*
Such deliberate fictions, for political purposes, as that by Dr.
Franklin, just referred to, were probably rare ; but the investigations
into which the author has been led, in the preparation of the present
work, have satisfied him, that from other causes, much of exaggeration
and falsehood has obtained a permanent footing in American history. Most
historians of that period, English and American, wrote too near the time
when the events they were describing occurred, for a dispassionate
investigation of truth ; and other writers who have succeeded, have too
often been content to follow in the beaten track, without incurring the
labour of diligent and calm in-(Jhiry. Reference has been made above to
the affair of Wyoming, concerning which, to this day, the world has been
abused with monstrous fictions—with tales of horrors never enacted. The
original causes of this historical inaccuracy are very obvious. As
already remarked, our histories were written at too early a day; when
the authors, or those supplying the materials, had, as it were, but just
emerged from the conflict. Their passions had not yet become cooled, and
they wrote under feelings and prejudices which could not but influence
minds governed even by the best intentions. The crude, verbal reports of
the day—tales of hear-say, coloured by fancy and aggravated by fear,—not
only found their way into the newspapers, but into the journals of
military officers. These, with
* See Appendix A—the well-known scalp-story of Dr. Franklin—long
believed, and recently revived and included in several works of
authentic history. all the disadvantages incident to flying rumors,
increasing in size and enormity with every repetition, were used too
often, it is apprehended, without farther examination, as authentic
materials for history. Of this class of works was the Military Journal
of Dr. James Thatcher, first published in 1823, and immediately
recognized as historical authority. Now, so far as the author speaks of
events occurring within his own knowledge, and under his own per. sonal
observation, the authority is good. None can be better. But the worthy
army surgeon did not by any means confine his diary to facts and
occurrences of that description. On the contrary, his journal is a
general record of incidents and transactions occurring in almost every
camp, and at every point of hostilities, as the reports floated from
mouth to mouth through the division of the army where the journalist
happened to be engaged, or as they reached him through the newspapers.
Hence the present author has found the Doctor’s journal a very unsafe
authority in regard to facts, of which the Doctor was not a spectator or
directly cognizant. Even the diligent care of Marshall did not prevent
his measurably falling into the same errors, in the first edition of his
Life of Washington, with regard to Wyoming; and it was not until more
than a quarter of a century afterward, when his late revised edition of
that great work was about to appear, that, by the assistance of Mr.
Charles Miner, an intelligent resident of Wilkesbarre, the readers of
that eminent historian were correctly informed touching the
revolutionary tragedy in that valley. Nor even then was the correction
entire, inasmuch as the name of Brant was still retained, as the leader
of the Indians on that fearful occasion. Nor were the exaggerations in
regard to the invasion of Wyoming greater than were those connected with
the irruption into, and destruction of, Cherry Valley, as the reader
will discover in the course of the ensuing pages. Indeed, the writer, in
the preparation of materials for this work, has encountered so much that
is false recorded in history as sober verity, that he has at times been
disposed almost to universal scepticism in regard to uninspired
narration.
In conclusion of this Introduction, a short history of the origin of the
present work may not be impertinent. It was the fortune of the author to
spend several of his early years, and commence his public life, in the
valley of the Mohawk—than which the country scarce affords a more
beautiful region. The lower section of this valley was entered by the
Dutch traders, and settlements were commenced, originally at
Schenectady, very soon after the first fort was built at Albany, then
called Fort Orange, by Henry Christiaens iit 1614. The Dutch gradually
pushed their settlements up the Mohawk on the rich bottom lands of the
river, as far as Caughnawaga. Beyond that line, and especially in the
upper section of the valley west of the Little Falls, and embracing the
broad and beautiful garden of the whole district known as the German
Flatts, the first white settlers introduced were Germans—being a
division of the Palatinates, who emigrated to America early in the
eighteenth century, under the patronage of Queen Anne. Three thousand
Germans came over at the time referred to, about the year 1709, a
portion of whom settled in Pennsylvania. The residue ascended the Hudson
to a place called East Camp, now in the county of Columbia. From thence
they found their way into the rich valley of the Scho-liarie-kill, about
the year 1713, and thence to the German Flatts, of which they were in
possession as early as 1720. The first colony, planting themselves in
Schoharie, consisted of between forty and fifty families. Some
disagreements soon after arising among them, twelve of these families
separated from their companions ; and, pushing farther westward beyond
the Little Falls, planted themselves down upon the rich alluvial flatts
at the confluence of the West Canada Creek and the Mohawk.
At the time of its discovery, that valley was occupied by the Mohawk
Indians, the head of the extended confederacy of the Five Nations—the
Iroquois of the French, and the Romans, as Doctor Colden has denominated
them, of the New World. Of this confederacy, the Mohawks were the head
or leading nation, as they were also the fiercest.2 The Five Nations
early attached themselves to the English, and were consequently often
engaged in hostilities with the French of Canada, and especially with
the Hurons and Adiron-dacks or Algonquins—powerful nations in alliance
with the Canadians. Another consequence was, that the Mohawk valley, and
indeed the whole country inhabited by the Five Nations, were the theatre
of successive wars, from the discovery down to the close of the war of
the American Revolution. There is, therefore, no section of the United
States so rich in historical incident, as the valley of the Mohawk and
the contiguous territory at the west.
At the time of the author’s residence in the Mohawk country, the
materials of that history, especially that portion of them connected
with events subsequent to the conquest of Canada by Great Britain, were
for the most part ungathered. The events of the war of the Revolution,
which nowhere else raged so furiously, and was nowhere else marked with
such bitter and entire desolation, were then fresh in the recollections
of the people ; and many a time and oft were the recitals listened to
with thrilling interest, and laid up in the store-house of memory, as
among the richest of its traditionary treasures. Nor was the interest of
these verbal narratives diminished by visiting the sites of the old
fortifications, strolling over the battle-fields, ahd noting the
shot-holes in the walls of such houses as had stood out the contest, and
the marks of cannon balls upon the trunks of trees yet remaining on
fields which had been scenes of bloody strife.
Several years afterward it occurred to the author to undertake a task
which he ought to have commenced years before, viz. the composition of a
historical memoir of the Mohawk Valley, which would embody those written
and unwritten materials of history, now fast disappearing by the death
of the actors in the scenes to be described, and the loss of papers and
manuscripts, of which such reckless destruction is allowed in this
country. In the progress of thought and investigation upon the subject,
it was soon determined to embrace in the proposed memoir some
biographical account of the Great Chief of the Six Nations, Joseph
Brant—Thayendanegea ; but there was yet another distinguished name,
whose history and fame were intimately connected with the Mohawks, and
whose character has neither been justly described nor well understood.
The reader will probably anticipate the name, Sir William Johnson. By
this time it was apparent that the work, if executed, must be more
extended than had originally been contemplated ; and a few slight
preparations were made for its commencement ten years ago.
It was some time in the year 1829 that the design was abandoned. Calling
upon his venerable friend Chancellor Kent, one morning, for the purpose
of borrowing a rare volume of a still rarer history ot the old French
war ofl755-’63, the author was informed that his design had been
anticipated by William W. Campbell, Esq., a young gentleman of promise
who was just coming to the bar—a native of the country to be occupied as
historic ground—and whose work was then nearly ready for the press.
Under these circumstances, the project of the author was at once
relinquished.
Mr. Campbell’s book—“ Annals of Tryon County,”—made its appearance in
1831; and was at once found valuable for its facts, and creditable alike
to the industry and talents of an author, who, although then so young,
possessed the enterprise to undertake the necessary labour, and the
ambition to inscribe his name upon the roll of American historians.
Still, the work was not a substitute for that which the author had
proposed ; its object was a more limited history, both of time and
territory, than had been entertained in respect of the present work. Mr.
Campbell’s Annals, with the exception of a very few brief and partial
sketches, embraced the history only of the war of the Revolution in that
particular section of country, and had little to do with biography. The
design of the author, enlarged by reflection and research, now began to
comprehend a history of the Six Nations, and their wars with the French,
Hurons, er Wyan-dots, and Adirondacks ; the settlement of the country by
the pale faces; a history of the French War, so far as that memorable
contest was connected with the Indians and colony of New-York ;
together, or rather blended, with the Lives of Sir William Johnson and
Joseph Brant. A work of this description seemed to be a desideratum in
American history ; and in the autumn of 1832, preparations for the
undertaking were resumed, with what success will in part be seen in the
sequel.
In the prosecution of the preliminary labour, efforts were made to
procure materials from the survivors of the family of Sir William
Johnson, residing in the Canadas. These efforts have thus far been
attended with but partial success. From one of the grandsons, however,
Mr. Archibald Johnson, a valuable manuscript volume has been procured,
containing the private diary of Sir William during the Niagara campaign
of 1759, in which General Prideaux fell, leaving the command of the army
to the baronet, whose efforts were crowned with brilliant success. From
among the papers of the late Lieut. Governor of New-York, John Taylor,
in possession of his daughter, Mrs. Cooper, the author has fortunately
obtained the manuscript of Sir William’s official diary for the years
1757, 1759, and a part of the year 1759, together with a small parcel of
other papers and letters. A few of the baronet’s letters and papers are
also yet extant, in the archives of the state at Albany. All these will
afford materials for his proposed biography, and for other historical
illustrations, of high value. Many of the baronet’s papers were
destroyed in the war of the Revolution ; and many others, it is
ascertained, are only to be found in England—to which country a special
visit will probably be necessary for their consulta tion.
It will readily be perceived, that the proposed work embraces two
epochs, between which there is a very natural, and even necessary,
division. The first embraces the early history referred to, with a
history of the French war, and the country, to the death of Sir William
Johnson. The second division embraces the life of Joseph Brant, and the
revolutionary, Indian, and Tory wars of the northern and western part of
the State of New-York ; and although anticipated, to a considerable
extent, by Mr. Campbell, still the author entered the field of
investigation with as much spirit as though it had not been historically
traversed before. In the course of his labours he has visited the Mohawk
Valley three several times with no other object. Ascertaining, moreover,
that the venerable Major Thomas Sammons, of Johnstown, himself, with his
father and two brothers, an efficient actor in the scenes of the
Revolution, had.for many years been collecting historical materials in
that region, the author applied to him ; and was so fortunate as not
only to procure his collections, but to induce the old gentleman to
re-enter the field of inquiry. By his assistance a large body of facts
and statements, taken down in writing during the last thirty years, from
the lips of surviving officers and soldiers, has been obtained for the
Jiresent work. These documents have added largely to the most xxii
authentic materials of history, enabling the author to bring out many
new and interesting facts, and to correct divers errors in the works of
preceding writers, who have superficially occupied the same ground. In
addition to these, the few remaining papers of the brave old General
Herkimer, who fell at Oriskany in 1777, have been placed at the disposal
of the author, by his nephew, John Herkimer, Esq. Still the work of Mr.
Campbell has been found of great use, and by consent has been liberally
drawn upon. In regard to some transactions, it was, indeed, almost the
only authority ; as in the cases of Cherry Valley, some of the
transactions in the Schoharie Valley, and the exploits of Colonel
Harper.
But this is not all. The author has visited Upper Canada, and Montreal
and Quebec, in search of materials. Most luckily for the cause of
historic truth, and the reputation of Joseph Brant, during his Canadian
researches he became apprised of the fact, that the old Mohawk chief,
himself a man of a pretty good English education, had left a large mass
of manuscripts, consisting of his own speeches, delivered on many and
various occasions, and a great number of letters addressed to him ;
together with copies of his own letters in reply, which he had preserved
with equal industry and care. These papers were in the keeping of his
youngest daughter, a lady of high respectability, aboriginal though she
be, and eligibly married to William Johnson Kerr, Esq. of Wellington
Square, Upper Ca. nada. It was obvious that those papers must prove a
rich mine for exploration; and an application from the author, through
his friend the Hon. Marshall S. Bidwell, of Toronto, was most readily
responded to by Mr. and Mrs. Kerr. The papers, it is true, were less
connected than had been hoped ; and by hundreds of references and
allusions contained therein, it is obvious that large /lumbers of
letters, journals, and speeches have been lost—past recovery. Still,
those which remain have proved of great assistance and rare value.
To the kindness of Charles A. Clinton, Esq. the author has been indebted
for access to the private papers of General James Clinton, his
grandfather. In the composition of one portion of the present volume,
these papers have been found of vast importance. General James Clinton
was the father of the late illustrious De Witt Clinton, and the brother
of Governor George Clinton. He was much in command in the northern
department, and it was under his conduct that the celebrated descent of
the Susquehanna was performed in 1779. His own letters, and those of his
correspondents, have been of material assistance, not only in relation
to that campaign, but upon various other points of history. It was among
these papers that the letters of Walter N. Butler, respecting the
affairs of Cherry Valley and Wyoming, were discovered.
In connexion with the history of the expedition of Sullivan and Clinton,
just referred to, the author has likewise been favoured with the
manuscript diary of the venerable Captain Theodosius Fowler of this
city, who was an active officer during the whole campaign. In addition
to the valuable memoranda contained in this diary, Capt. Fowler has
preserved a drawing of the order of march adopted in ascending the
Chemung, after the junction of the two armies, and also a plan of the
great battle fought at Newtown by Sullivan, against the Indians and
Tories commanded by Brant and Sir John Johnson ; both of which drawings
have been engraved, and will be found in the Appendix.
In the winter of 1775—’76, an expedition was conducted from Albany into
Tryon County, for the purpose of disarming the Tories and arresting Sir
John Johnson, of the particulars of which very little has. hitherto been
known. On application to the family of General Schuyler, it was
ascertained that his letter books for that period were lost. After much
inquiry, the necessary documents were obtained from Peter Force, Esq. at
Washington.
The author has likewise been indebted to General Peter B. Porter, of
Black Roek, for some valuable information respecting the character and
some of the actions of Brant. General Porter was an early emigrant into
the western part of the State, as an agent for the great landholder,
Oliver Phelps ; and the execution of his duties brought him into
frequent intercourse with many of the chiefs and sachems of the Indians.
Among these he became intimately acquainted with the Mohawk chief,
between whom and himself a written correspondence was occasionally
maintained for several years. Unfortunately, however, that
correspondence, with other communications in his hand-writing, which
Gen. Porter had taken some pains to preserve, was destroyed by one of
the incursions of the enemy across the Niagara during the last war.
Still, the General has supplied the author with several important
reminiscences respecting the old chief, and one transaction of thrilling
interest, heretofore entirely unknown.
A friend of the author, a highly respectable and intelligent
octogenarian, Samuel Woodruff, Esq., of Windsor, Connecticut, made a
visit to Brant at the Grand River Settlement, in the summer of 1797, and
remained with him several days, in the enjoyment of frequent and full
conversations upon many subjects. Mr. Woodruff has obligingly furnished
a dozen pages or more of instructive notes
xxiv and memoranda of those conversations, which have been freely used.
The author is likewise under obligations to Professor Marsh of Bur
lington College, (Vt.) a connexion, by marriage, of the Wheelock family,
for several of Brant’s original letters ; and also to Tho-mas Morris,
Esq., of New-York, who knew the chief well, and was several years in
correspondence with him, for the same favour. Mr. Campbell has,
moreover, supplied several documents of value, obtained by him after the
publication of his own book.
Having, by the acquisition of these and other papers, procured all the
materials that appeared to remain, or, at least, all that were
accessible, while the documentary papers for the first division of the
work were yet very incomplete, the author, like Botta, in his promised
complete history of Italy, has been compelled to write the latter
portion of the work first. In the execution of this task, he had
supposed that the bulk of his labour would cease with the close of the
war of the Revolution, or at most, that some fifteen or twenty pages,
sketching rapidly the latter years of the life of Phayendanegea, would
be all that was necessary. Far otherwise was the fact. When the author
came to examine the papers of Brant, nearly all of which were connected
with his career subsequent to that contest, it was found that his life
and actions had been intimately associated with the Indian and Canadian
politics of more than twenty years after the treaty of peace ; that a
succession of Indian Congresses were held by the nations of the great
lakes, in all which he was one of the master spirits ; that he was
directly or indirectly engaged in the wars between the United States and
Indians from 1789 to 1795, during which the bloody campaigns of Harmar,
St. Clair, and Wayne, took place; and that he acted an important part in
the affair of the North-Western posts, so long retained by Great Britain
after the treaty of peace. This discovery compelled the writer to enter
upon a new and altogether unexpected field of research. Many
difficulties were encountered in the compo-sition of this branch of the
work, arising from various causes and circumstances. The conflicting
relations of the United States, the Indians, and the Canadians, together
with the peculiar and sometimes apparently equivocal position in which
the Mohawk chief—the subject of the biography—stood in regard to them
all; the more than diplomatic caution with which the British officers
managed the double game which it suited their policy to play so long ;
the broken character of the written materials obtained by the author;
and the necessity of supplying many links in the chain of events from
circum-stantial evidence and the unwritten records of Indian diplomacy ;
all combined to render the matters to be elucidated, exceedingly
complicated, intricate, and difficult of clear explanation. But tangled
as was the web, the author has endeavoured to unravel the materials, and
weave them into a narrative of consistency and truth. The result of
these labours is embodied in the second part of the present work ; and
unless the author has over-estimated both the interest and the
importance of this portion of American history, the contribution now
made will be most acceptable to the reader.
In addition to the matters here indicated, a pretty full account of the
life of Brant, after the close of the Indian wars, is given, by no means
barren either of incident or anecdote; and the whole is concluded by
some interesting particulars respecting the family of the chief, giving
their personal history down to the present day.
It may possibly be objected by some—those especially who are apt to form
opinions without much reflection—that the author has indulged rather
liberally, not only in the use of public speeches and documents, but
also in the tianscription of private letters. To this he would reply,
that in his view, his course in that respect adds essentially to the
value of the work; and had it not been for the un. expected size to
which the volumeshaveattained, those quotations would have been made
with still greater freedom. For instance, in regard to the interesting
proceedings at the last Grand Council of the Six Nations held in Albany,
it was the original intention of the author, long as they are, to insert
them in the text; and so the matter was at first arranged. The ancient
Council Fire of the Six Nations was always kept burning at Onondaga, the
central nation of the confederacy. But from the time of the alliance
between the Six Nations and the English, the fires of the united
councils of the two powers were kindled at Albany. There, according to
the Indian figure of speech, the big tree was planted, to which the
chain of friendship was made fast. But with the close of the Great
Council held there in the summer of 1775, that fire, which had so long
been burning, was extinguished. It was the last Indian congress ever
held at the ancient Dutch capital. It took place at a most important
crisis, and its proceedings were both of an important and an interesting
character. • Nor, until now, have those proceedings ever been published
entire. Indeed, it is believed that no part of them was ever in print,
until very recently a portion of the manuscript was discovered, and
inserted in that invaluable collection, the papers of the Massachusetts
Historical Society. That manuscript, however, was very defective and
incomplete, and chance alone has enabled the author to supply the
deficiency. It happened, during one of his visits to the office of the
Secretary of State last year, in search of documents, that he
discovered, among some ancient, loose, and neglected papers, several
sheets of Indian treaty proceedings, which were of themselves very
imperfect. Supposing, however, that they might possibly be of use at
some time, he caused them to be transcribed. Most luckily, on examining
them in connexion with the publication of the Massachusetts collection,
they were found exactly to supply the deficiencies of the latter. The
result is, that the papers appear now for the first time entire ; a
portion of them, however, from their great length, having been
transferred to the Appendix.
In regard to the use of speeches and letters, moreover, the author,
after much consideration, has adopted the plan, as far as possible, of
allowing the actors in the scenes described to tell their own stories.
This is a method of historical, and especially of biographical, writing,
which is coming more into favour than formerly. Marshall adopts it to a
considerable extent, and very effectively, in the Life of Washington.
The instructive and admirable life of that noblest of England’s naval
warriors, Lord Collingwood, was constructed upon this plan. So, also,
with Moore’s Life of Byron. Taylor’s Life of Cowper, one of the most
useful as well as interesting lives that have been written of that most
melancholy and yet most delightful of English bards, is composed almost
entirely from the poet’s own correspondence. Lockhart’s captivating
Memoirs of the peerless Scott, now in course of publication, have been
constructed upon the basis of the mighty minstrel’s own letters. And it
is upon the same principle that the author has quoted so largely from
the letters and speeches of Joseph Brant, and several of his
distinguished correspondents ; among whom, the reader who has only heard
of “ the monster Brant” as a savage once leading the Mohawks abroad upon
scalping parties, will probably be surprised to learn, were numbered
many gentlemen of rank and standing in Church and State, both in England
and America.
An able English writer * has recently opened a very interesting
discussion, upon the great advantages of thus using letters and
manuscripts in the composition of history. Speaking of the maxim that “
history is philosophy teaching by example,” he remarks :—“ In morals,
all depends upon circumstances. An example, whether real or fictitious,
can teach us nothing, if it contains only dry facts. The mischief of a
great many histories, and those of no mean account, is, that they are
quite contented with giving an agreeable
* London Quarterly Review, No. cxvi.—Art. on Upcott’s Collection of
Original Letters, Manuscripts, and State Papers.
narration of naked facts, from which we can gather nothing beyond the
facts themselves. To the chronicler, the murder of Thomas A’ Becket is
the murder of Becket, and it is nothing more. To what quarter, then, are
we to look for the magic by which we may make the dry bones live again 1
We answer, unhesitatingly, to the letters of the day, if there be any.
We say so, not because they will contain any elaborate description of
the feelings, or expos# of the views, of the age to which they belong,
but because they must be written, to a great extent, in the spirit of
the age in which their writers lived. The events of the day—the writers’
feelings toward their neighbours, and their neighbours’ feelings toward
them—their comments on the ordinary course of things around them ; these
are precious records for all who wish to study mankind and morals in
history ; for these things, and these alone, can enable us fully to
appreciate the temper and spirit in which the acts commemorated in
history were done. * * * * It is very true that some historians profess
to use letters, and that some have actually used them in a small degree;
but, considering their great value, they have never been used as they
deserved ; and, in very many cases, their existence seems to be hardly
known to historians themselves.” It is in accordance with these views,
that letters and speeches have been so copiously used in the present
work ; although it is not supposed that the correspondence of a burly
chieftain of the forest, or the bluff partisan officers of a wilderness
border, can in any respect be compared with Cowper’s polished models of
epistolary writing, or with those of Scott or Byron, or those of Lady
Mary Wortley Montague, of Peter of Blois or John of Salisbury. They are
nevertheless valuable in themselves, both as historical records and as
illustrations of character. Of the speeches, and sketches of speeches,
embodied in this work, together with the narratives given of the
occasions which called them forth, it may be added that they are all
memorials of a people,—once a noble race—numerous and powerful—now fast
disappearing from the face of the earth—a beautiful portion of the
earth—once their own ! These memorials it was one of the chief purposes
of the author to gather up and preserve.
The plan of the work, especially of the first and larger portion of it,
may perhaps in some respects disappoint the reader, though, it is hoped,
not unfavourably. It has been the object of the author to ren-der it not
only a local, but, to a certain extent, a brief general history of the
War of the Revolution. Thus, while it is a particular history, ample in
its details, of the belligerent events occurring at the west of Albany,
the author has from lime to time introduced brief sketches of
contemporaneous events occurring in other parts of the country. By this
means, bird’s-eye glimpses have been presented, for the most part in the
proper order of time, of all the principal military operations of the
whole contest. In order, moreover, to the better understanding of the
incipient revolutionary movements in the Mohawk country, (then Tryon
County,) a rapid view is given of the same description of movements
elsewhere. The proceedings of that county were, of course, connected
with, and dependent upon, those of New England, especially of Boston—the
head, and heart, and soul of the rebellion, in its origin and its
earlier stages. Hence a summary review of the measures directly, though
by degrees, leading to the revolt of the Colonies, has not been deemed
out of place, in its proper chronological position. And as all the
Indian history of the Revolutionary war at the north, the west, and the
south, has been written out in full, by the incidental sketches of other
events and campaigns marking the contest, the work may be considered in
the three-fold view of local, general, and biographical; the whole
somewhat relieved, from time to time, if not enlivened, by individual
narratives—tales of captivity and suffering-—of daring adventures and
bold exploits.
Several weeks after the preceding pages had been stereotyped, but before
any considerable progress had been made in printing the body of the
work, the author was so fortunate as to obtain a large accession of
valuable materials from General Peter Gansevoort, of Albany, embracing
the extensive correspondence of his father, the late General Gansevoort,
better known in history as “ the hero of Fort Stanwix.” These papers,
embracing those captured by him from the British General St. Leger, have
been found of great im- |
portance in the progress of the work, and will add materially to its
completeness and its value.
A few words respecting the embellishments of these volumes. The
frontispiece of each volume presents an elegantly engraved portrait of
the brave and wary Mohawk, who forms the principal biographical figure
of the work, taken at different periods of his life. The Chief sat for
his picture several times in England; once, at the request of Boswell,
in 1776, but to what artist is not mentioned. He likewise sat, during
the same visit, to the celebrated portrait and historical painter,
George Romney, for the Earl of Warwick. He was again painted in England,
in 1786, for the Duke of Northumberland ; and a fourth time, during the
same visit, in order to present his likeness in miniature to his eldest
daughter. His last sitting was to the late Mr. Ezra Ames of Albany, at
the request of the late John Caldwell, Esq. of that city. This was about
the year 1805, and the likeness is pronounced the best ever taken of
Captain Brant. The author’s valued friend Catlin has made a very
faithful copy of this portrait, which has been beautifully engraved by
Mr. A. Dick, a well-known and skilful artist of New-York. This picture,
as latest in the order of time, will be found at the head of the second
volume. The inscription of this plate is a fac simile of the old chief’s
signature, from a letter written by him to the Duke of Northumberland
not long before his death. The au thor has another picture of the elder
Brant, of which he may be pardoned for giving some account. Being at
Catskill, in the Summer of 1833, the author discovered, in the
possession of his friend, Mr. Van Bergen, some odd volumes of the London
Magazine of 1776, in one of which he accidentally found an engraving of
Brant, from the portrait taken for Boswell, in the gala costume of the
Chief as he appeared at Court. The countenance of this picture, however,
was dull, and comparatively unmeaning. On his visit to Upper Canada, in
September, 1836, the chieftain’s daughter, Mrs. Kerr, showed him a head
of her father in a gold locket, which was full of character and
energy—with an eye like the eagle’s. Having procured this locket, and
placed it, together with the engraving referred to, in the hands of Mr.
N. Rogers, that eminent artist has produced a very spirited and
beautiful picture, which was painted expressly to be engraved for this
work. Before it was placed in the hands of the artist, however, Mr.
Chapman, an artist of New-York, returning from a visit to England,
brought with him a superb print of Brant, taken from the Earl of
Warwick’s picture by Romney. As this print not only presents more of the
figure of the chief than either of the others, and possesses withal more
character and spirit, it has been adopted for the work in lieu of that
painted by Mr. Rogers. The engraving has also been well executed by
Dick, and stands in front of the first volume. The picture by Catlin is
the war-chief of the forest in the full maturity of years. The other is
the Indian courtier in London. This first volume also contains a finely
engraved portrait of General Gansevoort, by Prudhomme, from a portrait
by Stuart. It is a fine specimen of the gentleman of the Revolutionary
era.
But these are not all the pictorial illustrations. In the completion of
the life of Brant, it has been deemed proper to add some account of his
family subsequent to his decease. The law of official inheritance among
the Six Nations will be found peculiar to that people, the descent being
through the female line. Joseph Brant was himself the principal
War-chief of the Six Nations ; and his third wife, who at his decease
was left a young widow, was, in her own right, the representative of the
sovereignty of the Confederacy, in whom alone was vested the power of
naming, from among her own children, or, in default of a child of her
own, from the next of kin, a principal civil and military chief. On the
death of her husband, therefore, she selected as his successor her
youngest son, John Brant, then a lad of seven years old. He grew up a
noble fellow, both in courage and character, as the reader will
ascertain before he closes the second volume. During the author’s visit
to the Brant House in Upper Canada, he saw a portrait of the young
chief, then recently deceased, which, though painted by a country
artist, and, as a whole, a very bad picture, was nevertheless pronounced
by Mr. and Mrs. Kerr to be very correct, so far as the figure and
likeness were concerned. Obtaining this portrait from Canada last
Autumn, it was placed in the hands of Mr. Hoxie, who has produced the
excellent picture which has been well engraved by Mr. Parker, and will
be found in the second volume. As the young chief went first upon the
war-path in the Niagara campaigns of 1812—15, the idea of embodying a
section of the great cataract in the back-ground of the picture was
exceedingly appropriate.
As the name of the celebrated Red Jacket appears frequently in the
second volume, a likeness of him has been added, from a painting by
Weir, beautifully engraved by Hatch. In addition to all which is the
finely engraved title-page, designed, engraved, and presented to the
author, by his estimable friend Mr. A. Rawdon.
In addition to these illustrations, another has been added, the
character of which is striking and its history curious. It is the sketch
of a scene at a conference with the Indians at Buffalo Creek, in the
year 1793, held by Beverley Randolph, General Benjamin Lincoln, and
Colonel Timothy Pickering, in the presence of a num-her of the British
officers then stationed upon that frontier. Messrs. Randolph, Lincoln,
and Pickering were on a pacific mission, accompanied, at the request of
the Indians, by a number of Quakers. The sketch of that conference was
drawn by a British officer, Col. Pilkington, and taken to Europe. In
1819 it was presented to an American gentleman of the name of Henry, at
Gibraltar, and by him given to the Massachusetts Historical Society. The
sketch is drawn with the taste and science of a master of the art; the
grouping is fine, and the likenesses are excellent. As the history of
the mission of those gentleman forms an interesting chapter in the
present work, this sketch has been deemed an appropriate accompa niment.
In addition to the acknowledgments already made in the preceding pages,
the author is under obligations, to a greater or less extent, to many
other individuals, for hints, suggestions, and the collection of
materials. Among these he takes pleasure in naming the Hon. Lewis Cass,
late Secretary of War, and now Envoy Extraor dinary and Minister
Plenipotentiary near the Court of St. Cloud ; General Dix, Secretary of
the State of New-York, and Mr. Archibald Campbell, his deputy; General
Morgan Lewis ; Major James Cochran, of Oswego, and also his Lady, who
was the youngest daughter of General Schuyler; Major William Popham, who
was an aid-de-camp to General James Clinton ; Samuel S. Lush, Esq., and
S. De Witt Bloodgood, Esq. of Albany; James D. Bemis, Esq. of
Canandaigua; Lauren Ford and George H. Feeter, Esquires, of Little
Falls; Giles F. Yates, Esq. of Schenectady ; William Forsyth, Esq. of
Quebec; and the Rev. Mr. Lape, formerly of Johnstown, and now of Athens,
N. Y.
With these preliminary explanations, the work is committed to the
public, in the belief that, although it might, of course, have been
better executed by an abler hand with a mind less distracted by other
pressing and important duties, it will, nevertheless, be found a
substantial addition to the stock of American history.
WILLIAM L. STONE.
New-York, March, 1838.
“I have been told by old men in New England, who remembered the time
when the Mohawks made war on their Indians (the Mohicans), that as soon
as a single Mohawk was discovered in their country, their Indians raised
a cry from hill to hill, Ji Mohawk! A Mohawk! upon which they all fled,
like sheep before wolves, without attempting to make the least
resistance or defence on their side ; and that the poor New England
Indians immediately ran to the Christian houses, and the Mohawks often
pursued them so closely, that they entered along with them, and knocked
their brains out in the presence of the people of the house.” [Colden’s
Six Nations.] The excellent Heckew elder, in his paramount affection for
the Lenni Lenape, enters into a long argument to disprove Colden upon
this point; maintaining that the Mohawks were never of more terrific
fame than the Delawares. The authorities, however, are against the good
Moravian missionary, to which the writer may add the weight of the
following incident, of comparatively recent occurrence:—Some ten or
twelve years ago, a wandering Mohawk had straggled away from the ancient
home of his tribe, as far as the State of Maine, and presented himself,
one day, in the streets of a small town not far from the Penobscot
river. Indian forms and faces were not stangers in this little
community, there being a remnant of tire Penobscots yet existing in the
neighbourhood, who were in the habit of visiting the place, four or five
times a year, for the purchase of such necessaries as their means could
command. It happened that a party of them had come in on the very day of
the Mohawk’s arrival; and as he was lounging through the street, he came
suddenly upon them in turning a corner. The recognition, on their part,
was instantaneous, and was evidently accompanied by emotions of alarm
and distrust. “Mohawk, Mohawk,” was muttered by one and another, and so
long as he remained in sight, their eyes were fixed upon him with an
evident expression of uneasiness. As for the Mohawk, he condescended
only to give them a passing glance, and went on his way with the same
lounging, indifferent step that he had exhibited from the first. He was
a superb-looking fellow, of about 25, full six feet in height, and could
easily have demolished three or four of the dwarfish and effeminate
Penobscots.
Volume 1 |
Volume 2 |