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The pDhuijIl^ill l}un and lU Indian Motto, 
 
 BY HORATIO HALE. 
 
 Reprinted from the American Antiquarian, January 1896 
 
 A- 
 
 ?8f**H 
 
 i^■fc 
 
THE SCHUYLKILL GUN AND ITS INDIAN MOTTO. 
 
 By Horatio Halk. 
 
 The earliest inscription in the language of any Indian people 
 north of Mexico is, I believe, that which appears onthe remark- 
 able piece of artillery belonging to "the State in Schuylkill." 
 This is the rather peculiar name which has long been familar 
 to Philadelphians as the usual title of what they believe to be 
 "the oldest social club in the world." That such a club should 
 have its existence in a city dedicated, by its name and its origin, 
 to fi-aternity, is not surprising. The chartered title of the club 
 is "The Schuylkill Fishing Company of the State in Schuyl- 
 kill." The history which explains this singular title, and re- 
 cords the still more singular fortunes of the gun connected 
 with it, is told in a large and well printed and illustrated octavo 
 volume, published in 1889. The volume is in part a reissue of 
 an older history of the association, written by William Morris, 
 Jr., and published in 1830. This history was revised, continued', 
 and republished nearly sixty years later by a committee of the 
 club, among whose most efficient members were "ex-Governor 
 William Camac," and the accomplished secretary, "Citizen 
 William Fisher Lewis." 
 
 From this authentic source we learn that the comi)any was 
 formed in 1732 by some of the original settlers of Philadelphia, 
 several of whom had accompanied William Penn as emigrants 
 from the old country, and all of whom, it is needless to say, 
 were devoted disciples and followers of "the venerable and 
 good Mr. Isaac Walton," as he is styled in the Introduction. 
 The company was organized under the name of "The Colony 
 in Schuylkill." Its first meetings for sport and social enjoy- 
 ment were held on the bank of the Schuylkill River, which 
 then flowed through a forest abounding in game. Here the first 
 club building was erected, a wooden edifice of some architec- 
 tural pretensions, with belfry and steeple, and known at differ- 
 ent periods as the Colonial Hall, the Court House, and finally 
 "the Castle." The company survived the troubles of the 
 colonial period and the vicissitudes of the Revolution. The 
 "Colony" then naturally became a "State;" and under the style 
 of "The State in Schuylkill" the club has continued to flourish 
 
4 THE SCHUYLKILL GUN AND ITS INDIAN MOTTO. 
 
 to tlic present day. In its incctiiiLjs for business, which arc 
 held twice a year, in ^L'lrch and October, and its ineetins^s for 
 fishin.i:^ and fowbni^s which are lieUl on everj' alternate Thurs- 
 day between the first of May and the October <,fatherin^ for 
 election of officers, constant ^ood-fellowship prevails ; and to 
 ensure this desirable result all tliscussion of politics or religion 
 is forbidden. The list of its active inenibers has comprised 
 some of the most noted names of IMiiladelphian celebrity, in- 
 cluding^ several mayors of the city; and amon<; its honorary 
 members and i^niests it is enough to say that Washington and 
 Lafayette were numbered. 
 
 Once oidy, under the influence of a great personal force, 
 which ranks with those two names in world-wide distinction, 
 the club deparred suddenly and widely from its rule against 
 politics. The h'rench war, which aroused all the colonies in the 
 middle of the last century, produced a singular turmoil in 
 Philadelphia, with much distraction of opinion and violent 
 political dissension between those who adhered to the Quaker 
 princi])le which forbade e\en tlefensive war, and those who 
 strongly maintained the righteousness of such war. At the 
 head of the latter was Jienjamin iM-anklin, whose vigorous 
 writings and strong personal influence carried the day. A 
 militarv association for defense was formed, and a fund was 
 raised for procuring cannons from England to form a battery. It 
 was doiic, and the "Associati tn Hattery," numbering finally fifty 
 pieces, was f rected. One of the pieces was contr buted by the 
 voluntary subscription of the .Schuylkill Colony. It was a 
 32-pounder, for which, as no cannons were cast in the colonies in 
 those days, the order was sent to England. .Singularly enough, 
 the records of the company, which are tolerably complete as 
 ren-ards the election of members and officers, give no account 
 of the proceedings relating to this gun. Its purchase may 
 have been considered a somewhat irregular and merely j^ersonal 
 proceeding of the members. But of its origin, which is re- 
 corded in Eranklin's Gazette of the time, there is no question. 
 
 As it happened, the Association Battery was not called into 
 service at the time or for many years after. The theatre of the 
 French war was transferred to Canada, and thirteen years later 
 it was closed by the conquest of that colony. Another like 
 period brought about an unexpected change in the destiny 
 of the gun. It is presumed to have been mounted with the 
 other guns of its battery to defend the city from the ships of 
 
THE SCHUYLKILL GUN AND ITS INDIAN MOTTO. 
 
 war sent ajrainst it by the mother-country, in which the guns 
 themselves had been cast. When the city was captured the 
 j,nms, of course, came into liritish hands, but only to be restored 
 to their former possessors when the independence of the 
 colonies was established. The Schuylkill gun might have been 
 confounded with the others, and thus lost to sight and memory, 
 but for a rather remarkable [)recaution taken by its purchasers 
 in placing an indelible mark upon it, in the unusual form of an 
 Indian motto. They had taken care to have the words "Kawania 
 CHK Kkkteku" cast upon it in conspicuous letters, surmounted 
 by a crown. By this inscription the gun was identihed when it 
 was discovered, nearly a century later,— in May, iS8o,~by the 
 council of the Pennsylvania Historical Society. They found 
 it lying in the mud of old Fort Mifflin, in a sadly dilapidated 
 state, a mere "useless piece of old iron," "its trunnions broken, 
 its cascabel gone, and upon the swell of the muzzle the 
 dent of a well-directed l^ritish shot." Proceedings were at 
 once taken to redeem the unfortunate torso from the forlorn 
 condition so unworthy of its origin and associations. The 
 General Government, being appealed to, promptly restored the 
 gun to the rei)resentatives of its first owners; and when, a few 
 years later, the lushing Company was obliged by the decline of 
 fishing in the Schuylkill to make its mournful hegira from that 
 river to the neighboring bank of the Delaware, taking with it 
 it.s name, its castle, its "navy" of fishing boats, and its various 
 other belongings, the venerable gun went with the rest to their 
 new home. Here it was "placed in position," in congenial 
 proximity with "the flag of the United States' steamship 
 Powhatan, carried at the battle of P^ort Usher," which was in 
 the same year (1885) presented to the club by Admiral Godon 
 as a memorial of one of the members of the club. Thus, by 
 an odd concatenation of events, it happened that the most 
 peaceful of all associations, dedicated to good fellowship, and 
 bound rigidly lo exclude all politics, has for its most highly 
 prized relics two memorials of great wars, waged with the 
 enthusiastic approval of its members, at periods more than a 
 century apart, and each in its day convulsing the politics of 
 two continents. 
 
 With the revived interest in the gun a natural desire arose to 
 learn the true meaning and origin of its mysterious motto. 
 Strange to say, the oblivion into which the gun had fallen 
 extended to the very language of its inscription. It was con- 
 
THE SCHUYLKILL GUN AND ITS INDIAN MOTTO. 
 
 jccturcd tt) be in the l;infj;ua.t;c of the Dcl.iware Indians, ami its 
 nicaninj^ was hehl to be "This is my rij^ht; I will maintain it.' 
 It appears that an uncertainty as to its source and meanings 
 and even as to its proper orthography, existed rather less than 
 twenty years after the ^un had been cast; for the Pennsylvania 
 Historical Society possesses a curious "pamphlet in verse" on 
 the I'^rench war, published in 1755 by an author bearing the 
 rather gruesome name of Nicholas Scull, who had taken for the 
 "second title" of his poem the motto ''Kaivanio chc kcctcrnJ' Of 
 this he says, "The words I have chosen at the head of my title 
 page, I am told by a gentleman skilled in the Indian languages, 
 is very expressive of a iikko relying on God to bless his endeav- 
 ors in protecting what lie has put under his care." To form 
 some idea of its signification," he added, "you may imagine a 
 man with his wife and children about him, and, with an air of 
 resolution, calling out to his enemy, "All these God has given 
 me, and I will defend them." 
 
 This learning, it woukl seem, passed muster in 1755; but in 
 1888 the ske[)ticism of science hatl invaded even the quiet State 
 in Schuylkill. The authority of Mr. Scull's anonymous "gen- 
 tleman skilletl in Indian languages," with the affecting and 
 sublime picture presented by his words, did not satisf)- them. 
 They had recourse to an authority about whose skill in Indian 
 lore there could be no question. Dr. Brinton, Professor of Amer- 
 ican Archa-ology and Linguistics in the University of Penn- 
 sylvania, on being applied to, at once informed the committee 
 that the inscription was not in the Lenape or Delaware language, 
 antl advised that it should be submitted to a student who had 
 facilities for investigating the Iroquois tongue. When, in com- 
 pliance with this recommendation of my distinguished friend, 
 the inscription was sent to me, it was at once apparent that the 
 sentence was in the Iroquois language and that its meaning had 
 been widely misconceived. Mr. Scull's pious and patriotic 
 hero vanished, and in his place appeared a lordly war-chief. The 
 sentence ''Kaivatiio die keetcru," or, as the words would now be 
 more accurately written in the modern missionary orthography^ 
 ''Ketvenniio tsi kitcron^' means simply, "I am master wherever I 
 am." This must be admitted to be a by no means ill-invented 
 Indian motto for a "big gun," however far it might be from 
 representing the sentiments of the worthy contributors for whom 
 the gun was cast. 
 
 The reason why the "Colony in Schuylkill" preferred to get 
 
 I 
 
 4 
 
4 
 
 i 
 
 THE SCHUYLKILL GUN AND ITS INDIAN MOTTO. 7 
 
 the inscription for their ^un from their Irocjuois visitors and 
 allies, rather than from their nearer Delaware neij^^libors, may be 
 readily conjectured. At the time when tlie j^un was cast, the 
 Delawares, who had once been noted fiirhters, and at a later 
 period aj^ain became such, had ceased to be a warlike people, 
 luther as a result ot tlefeat in war, or, as they themselves 
 affirmed, by their own voluntary act, they had renounced their 
 independence, and had passed under the protection and control 
 of the powerful Irocpiois League. The tribes of this renowned 
 confederacy, then knt)wn as the "Six Nations" — the Tuscaroras 
 having been admitted into their league— were at that time in 
 intimate and friendl)' communication with the government and 
 people of Pennsylvania. In June, 1744, a lar^jje delej^ation of 
 the confederates, headed by the famous chief Canasatego, came 
 to Lancaster to treat with the jrovernor of the colony, in con- 
 junction with commissioners from Maryland and Virginia, on 
 the subject of the French war. which had just commenced. 
 On this occasion the noted Indian agent, Conrad VVeiser, of 
 I'hiladelphia, was interpreter. He must have been well known 
 to the members of the .Schuylkill Company; and when thev 
 desired to have their war-gift for the public defense signalized 
 by some appropriate motto of unmistakable origin, it was 
 natural that they should seek this inscription in the language 
 of their warlike allies, esi)ecially as they had at hand a capable 
 interpreter, well qualified to furnish it. The spelling shows 
 plainly that it was not written by a missionary, but by a person 
 of some cultivation, accustomed, apparently, to both the English 
 and the German orthography. 
 
 In the light of these facts the .Schuylkill gun becomes exalted 
 from a mere useless piece of metal to a relic and monument of 
 much historical importance. The confederate tribes, whose 
 friendship and capacity were thus strikingly acknowledged, 
 were then at the height of that reputation for valor and [lolicy 
 which had been growing for more than a century. When we 
 bear in mind that during the entire period from the first settle- 
 ment of the English colonies to the conquest of Canada they 
 held the balance of power in North America, and by their action 
 mainh' decided that the whole continent north of Mexico 
 should be British, Protestant, and free, ami not a French 
 Catholic despotism, the debt which the cause of liberty and 
 good government owes to these aboriginal federal republicans 
 will be better appreciated. Viewed in connection with the 
 momentous events which signalized its earlier existence, and of 
 which it was at once a product and a memorial, the Schuylkill 
 gun may be fairly deemed a symbol of free thought. For a 
 symbol representing this all-powerful force its motto would 
 seem to be no idle boast, but to aflirm a strictly philosophical 
 truth, — "I am master wherever 1 am."