TOKYO University of California Berkeley LEGENDS, ' TRADITIONS AND LAWS, OF THE IROQUOIS.OIISIX NATIONS, AND OF THE TUSCARORA INDIANS. BY ELIAS JOHNSON, A NATIVE TUSCARORA CHIEF. LOCKPORT, N. Y.: UNION PRINTING AND PUBLISHING CO., (O. W. CUTLER, PRES'T.) 1881. iuteirkd according to Act of Congress, in the year 1881, by ELIAS JOHNSON, in the office of the Librarian of Congress, at Washington. INTRODUCTION, " A book about Indians !" who cares anything about them ? This will probably be the exclamation of many who glance on my little page. To those who know nothing concerning them, a whole book about Indians will seem a very prosy affair, to whom I can answer nothing, for they will not proceed as far as my Preface to see what reasons I can render for the seem- ing folly. But to those who are willing to listen, I can say that the In- dians are a very interesting people, whether I have made an interesting book about them or not. The Antiquarian, the Historian, and the Scholar, have been a long time studying Indian character, and have given plenty of informarion concerning the Indian, but it is all in ponder- ous volumes for State and College libraries, and quite inacces- sible to the multitude those who only take up such book as may be held in the hand, sitting by the fire, still remain very ignorant of the Children of Nature who inhabited the forests before the Saxon set his foot upon our shores. There is also a great deal of prejudice, the consequence of this ignorance, and the consequence of the representations of your forefathers who were brought into contact with the Indi- ans, under circumstances that made it impossible to judge im- partially and correctly. The Histories which are in the schools, and from which the first impressions are obtained, are still very deficient in what M123187 6 INTRODUCTION. they relate of Indian History, and most of them are still filling the minds of children and youth, with imperfect ideas. I have read many of the Histories, and have longed to see refuted the slanders, and blot out the dark pictures which the historians have wont to spread abroad concerning us. May I live to see the day when it may be done, for most deeply have I learned to blush for my people. I thought, at first, of only giving a series of Indian Biogra- phies, but without some knowledge of the government and re- ligion of the Iroquois, the character of the Indians could not be understood or appreciated. I enter upon the task with much distrust. It is a difficult task at all times to speak and to write in foreign language, and I fear I shall not succeed to the satisfaction of myself, or to my readers. My title will not be so attractive to the American ears, as if it related to any other unknown people. A tour in Arabia, or Spain, or in India, or some other foreign country, with far less important and interesting material, would secure a greater number of readers, as we are always more curious about things afar off. I might have covered many pages with " Indian Atrocities," but these have been detailed in other histories, till they are familiar to every ear, and I had neither room nor inclination for even a glance at war and its dark records. THE AUTHOR. PREFACE. To anim'ate a kinder feeling between the white people and the Indians, established by a truer knowledge of our civil and domestic life, and of our capabilities for future elevation, is the motive for which this work is founded. The present Tuscarora Indians, the once powerful and gifted nation, after their expulsion from the South, came North, and were initiated in the confederacy of the Iroquois, and who for- merly held under their jurisdiction the largest portion of the Eastern States, now dwell within your bounds, as dependent nations, subject to the guardianship and supervision of a peo- ple who displaced their forefathers. Our numbers, the cir- cumstances, of our past history and present condition, and more especially the relation in which we stand to the people of the State, suggest many important questions concerning our future destiny. Being born to an inauspicious fate, which makes us the inheritors of many wrongs, we have been unable, of ourselves, to escape from the complicated difficulties which accelerate our decline. To make worse these adverse influences, the pub- lic estimation of the Indian, resting, as it does, upon the im- perfect knowledge of their character, and infused, as it ever has been, with the prejudice, is universally unjust. The time has come in which it is no more than right to cast away all ancient antipathies, all inherited opinions, and to take a nearer view of our social life, condition and wants, and to learn anew your duty concerning the Indians. Nevertheless, 8 PREFACE. the embarrassments that have obstructed our progress, in the obscurity which we have lived, and the prevailing indifference to our welfare, we have gradually overcame many of the evils inherent in our social system, and raised ourselves to a degree of prosperity. Our present condition, if considered in connec- tion with the ordeal through which we have passed, shows that there is the presence of an element in our character which must eventually lead to important results. As I do not profess that this work is based upon authorities, a question might arise in the breast of some reader, where these materials were derived, or what reliance is to be placed upon its contents. The credibility of a witness is known to depend chiefly upon his means of knowledge. For this reason, I deem it important to state, that I was born and brought up by.Tuscarora Indian parents on their Reservation in the Town of Lewiston, N. Y. From my childhood up was naturally in- quisitive and delighted in thrilling stories, which led me to fre- quent the old people of my childhood's days, and solicited them to relate the old Legends and their Traditions, which they always delighted to do. I have sat by their fireside and heard them, and thus they were instilled upon my young mind. I also owe much of my information to our Chief, JOHN MT. PLEASANT. I have also read much of Indian history, and compared them with our LEGENDS and TRADITIONS. THE AUTHOR. THE IROQUOIS. NATIONAL TRAITS OF CHARACTER. In all the early histories of the American Colonies, in the rstories of Indian life and the delineations of Indian character, these children of nature are represented as savages and barba- rians, and in the mind of a large portion of the community the sentiment still prevails that they were blood-thirsty, revenge- ful, and merciless, justly a terror to both friends and foes. Children are impressed with the idea that an Indian is scarcely human, and as much to be feared as the most ferocious animal of the forest. Novelists have now and then clothed a few with a garb which excites your imagination, but seldom has one been in- vested with qualities which you would love, unless it were also said that through some captive taken in distant war, he inher- ited a whiter skin and a paler blood. But I am inclined to think that Indians are not alone in be- ing savage not alone barbarous, heartless, and merciless. It is said they were exterminating each other by aggressive and devastating wars, before the white people came among them. But wars, aggressive and exterminating wars, certainly, are not proofs of barbarity. The bravest warrior was the most honored, and this has been ever true of Christian nations, and those who call themselves Christians have not yet ceased to look upon him who could plan most successfully the wholesale 10 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS sfeu'gfofdr'of h'^fnafi Tieif-gs, as the most deserving his king's or his country's laurels. How long since the pean died away in praise of the Duke of Wellington ? What have been the wars in which all Europe, or of America, has been engaged, that there has been no records of her history ? For what are civi- lized and Christian nations drenching their fields with blood ? It is said the Indian was cruel to the captives, and inflicted unspeakable torture upon his enemy taken in battle. But from what we know of them, it is not to be inferred that Indi- an Chiefs were ever guilty of filling dungeons with innocent victims, or slaughtering hundreds and thousands of their own people, whose only sin was a quiet dissent from some religious dogma. Towards their enemies they were often relentless, and they had good reason to look upon the white man as their enemy. They slew them in battle, plotted against them se- cretly, and in a few instances comparatively, subjected individ- uals to torture, burned them at the stake, and, perhaps, flayed them alive. But who knows anything of the precepts and practices of the Roman Catholic Christendom, and quote these things as proofs of unmitigated barbarity. At the very time that the Indians were using the tomahawk and scalping-knife to avenge their wrongs, peaceful citizens in every country of Europe, where the Pope was the man of au- thority, were incarcerated for no crime whatever, and such re- finement of torture invented and practiced, as never entered in the heart of the fiercest Indian warrior that roamed the wil- derness to inflict upon man or beast. We know very little of the secrets of the inquisition, and this little chills our blood with horror. Yet these things were done in the name of Christ, the Savior of the World, the Prince of Peace, and not savage, but civilized. Christian men looked on, not coldly, but rejoicingly, while women and child- ren writhed in flames and weltered in blood. Were the atro- cities committed in the vale of Wyoming and Cherry Valley unprecedented among the Waldensian fastnesses and the OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 1 1 mountains of Aurvergne? Who has read Fox's book of Mar- tyrs, and found anything to parallel it in all the records of In- dian warfare ? The slaughter of St. Bartholomew's days, the destruction of the Jews in Spain, and the Scotch Covenanters, were in obedience to the mandates of Christian princes, aye, and some of them devised by Christian women who professed to be serving God, and to make the Bible the man of their counsel. It is said also that the Indians were treacherous, and more, no compliance with the conditions of any treaty, was ever to be trusted. But the Puritan fathers cannot be wholly exoner- ated from the charge of faithlessness ; and who does not blush to talk of Indian traitors when he remembers the Spanish in- vasion and the fall of the princely and magnanimous Monte- zuma? Indians believed in witches, and burned them, too. And did not the sainted Baxter, with the Bible in his hand, pro- nounce it right, and was not the Indian permitted to be pres- ent, when the quiet unoffending woman was cast into the fire, by the decree of a Puritan council? To come down to the more decidedly Christian times, it is not so very long since, in Protestant England, hanging was the punishment of a petty thief, long and hopeless imprisonment of a slight misdemeanor, when men were set up to be stoned and spit upon by those who claimed the exclusive right to be called humane and merciful. Again, it is said, the Indian mode of warfare is, without ex- ception, the most inhuman and revolting. But I do not know that those who die by the barbed and poisoned arrow linger in any more unendurable torment than those who are mangled with powder and lead balls, and the custom of scalping among Christian murderers would save thousands from groaning days, and perhaps weeks, among heaps that cover victorious fields and fill hospitals with the wounded and dying. But scalping is not an invention exclusively Indian. " It claims," says Pres- 12 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS cott, " high authority, or, at least, antiquity." And, further history, Herodotus, gives an account of it among the Scythi- ans, showing that they performed the operation, and swore the scalp of their enemies taken in battle, as trophies, in the same manner as the North American Indian. Traces of the custom are also found in the laws of the Visigaths, among the Franks, and even the Anglo Saxons. The Northern Indians did not scalp, but they had a system of slavery, of which there are no traces to be found among the customs, laws, or legends of the Iroquois. Again, it is said, " They carried away women and children captive, and in their, long journey through the wilderness, they were subjected to heartrending trials." The wars of Christian men throw hundreds and thousands of women and children helpless upon the cold world, to toil, to beg, and to starve. This is not so bright a picture as is 'usually given of people who have written laws and have stores of learning, but people cannot see in any place that the coloring is too dark ! There is no danger of painting Indians so they will become attractive to the civilized people. There is a bright and pleasing side to the Indian character, and thinking that there has been enough written of their wars and cruelties, of the hunter's and fisherman's life, I have sat down at their fireside, listened to their legends, and am ac- quainted with their domestic habits, understand their finer feelings and the truly noble traits of their character. It is so long now since they were the lords of this country, and formidable as your enemies, and they are so utterly wast- ed away and melted like snow under the meridian sun, and helpless, that you can sit down and afford to listen to the truth, and to believe that even your enemies had their virtues. Man was created in the image of God, and it cannot be that anything human is utterly vile and contemptible. Those who have thought of Indians as roaming about in the OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 13 forests hunting and fishing, or at war, will laugh, perhaps, at the idea of Indian homes, and domestic happiness. Yet there are no people of which we have any knowledge, among whom, in their primitive state, family ties and relationship were more distinctly defined, or more religiously respected than the Iro- quois. The treatment which they received from the white people, whom they always considered as intruders, aroused, and kept in exercise all their ferocious passions, so that none except those who associated with them as missionaries, or as captives, saw them in their true character, as they were to each other. Almost any portrait that we see of an Indian, he is repre- sented with tomahawk and scalping knife in hand, as if they possessed no other but a barbarous nature. Christian nations might with equal justice be always represented with cannon and balls, swords and pistols, as the emblems of their employ- ment and their prevailing tastes. The details of war are from far to great a portion of every History of civilized and barbarous nations, to conquer and to slay has been to long the glory of the Christian people ; he who has been most successful in subjugating and oppressing, in mowing down human beings, has too long wore the laural crown, been too long an object for the admiration of men and the love of women. It seems you might be weary of the pomp and circumstance of war, of princely banquets, and gay cavalcades. The time and space you bestow upon King and courts, and the homage you pay to empty titles, are unworthy your professed repub- lican spirit and preferences, let us turn aside from the war path, and sit down by the hearth-stone of peace. In the picture which I have given, I have confined myself principally to the Iroquois, or Six Nations, a people who no more deserve the term savage, than the whites do that of heathen, because they have still lingering among them heathen superstitions, and many opinions and practices which deserves no better name. 14 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS The cannibals of some of the west Indies Islands, and the Islands of the Pacific, may with justice be termed savage, but a people like the Iroquois who had a goverment, established offices, a system of religion eminently pure and Spiritual, a code of honor and laws of hospitality, excelling those of all other nations, should be considered something better than savage, or utterly barbarous. The terrible torture they inflicted upon their enemies, have made their name a terror, and yet there were not so many burnt, hung, and starved by them, as perished among Christian nations by these means. The miseries they inflicted were light, in comparison, with those they suffered. If individuals should have come among you to expose the barbarities of sav- age white men, the deeds they relate would quite equal any- thing known of Indian cruelty. The picture an Indian gives of civilized barbarism leaves the revolting custom of the wil- derness quite in the back-ground. You experienced their re- venge when you had put their souls and bodies at a stake, with your fire-water that maddened their brains. There was a pure and beautiful spirituality in their faith, and the-ir conduct was much more influenced by it, as are any people, Christian or Pagan. Is there anything more barbaric in the annals of Indian war- fare, than the narrative of the Pequod Indians? In one place we read of the surprise of an Indian fort by night, when the inmates were slumbering, unconscious of any danger. When they awoke they were wrapped in flames, and when they at- tempted to flee, were shot down like beasts. From village to village, from wigwam to wigwam, the murderers proceeded, " being resolved," as your historian piously remarks, " by God's assistance, to make a final destruction of them," until finally a small but gallant band took refuge in a swamp. Burning with indignation, and made sullen by dispair, with hearts bursting with grief at the destruction of their nation, and spirits galled and sore at the fancied ignominy of their defeat, they refused OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 15 to ask life at the hands of an insulting foe, and preferred death to submission. As the night drew on, they were surrounded in their dismal retreat, volleys of musketry poured into their midst, until nearly all were killed or buried in the mire. In the darkness of a thick fog which preceded the dawn of day, a few broke through the ranks of the beseigers and escaped to the woods. Again, the same historian tells us that the few that remain- ed, " stood like sullen dogs to be killed rather than to implore mercy, and the soldiers on entering the swamp, found many sitting together in groups, when they approached, and resting their guns on the boughs of trees, within a few yards of them, literally filled their bodies with bullets." But they were Indians, and it was pronounnced a pious work. But when the Gauls invaded Italy, and the Roman Senators, in their purple robes and chairs of State, sat unmoved in the presence of bar- barian conquerors, disdaining to flee, and equally disdaining to supplicate for mercy, it is applauded as noble, as dying like statesmen and philosophers. But the Indians with far more to lose and infinitely greater provocation, sits upon his mother earth upon the green mound, beneath the canopy of Heaven, and refuses to ask mercy of civilized fiends, he is stigmatized as dogs, spiritless, and sullen. What a different name has greatness, clothed in the garb of Christian princes and sitting beneath spacious domes, gorgeous with men's device, and the greatness, in the simple garb of nature, destitute and alone in the wilderness. There is nothing in the character of Alexander of Macedon who " conquored the world, and wept that he had no more to conquer," to compare with the noble qualities of king Philip of Mt. Hope, and among his warriors are a long list of brave rnen unrivalled in deeds of heroism, by any of ancient or mod- eofc^story. But in what country, and by whom were they hun- ted, tortured, and slain, and who was it that met together to rejoice and give thanks at every species of cruelty inflicted 1 6 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS upon those who were fighting for their wives, their children, their homes, their alters and their God. When it is recorded that " men, women and children, indiscriminately, were hewn down and lay in heaps upon the snow," it is spoken of as do- ing God's service, because they were nominally heathen. " Be- fore the fight was finished, the wigwams were set on fire, and into those, hundreds of innocent women and children had crowded themselves, and perished in the general conflagra- tion." And for those thanksgivings were sent up to heaven,, the head of Philip is strung upon a pole, and exposed to the public. But this was not done by savage warriors, and the crowd that huzzaed at the revolting spectacle, assembled on the Sabbath day, in a Puritan church, to listen to the Gospel that proclaims peace and love to all men. His body was liter- ally cut in slices to be distributed among the conquerors, and a Christian city rings with acclamation. In speaking of thrs bloody contest, one who is most eminent among the fathers, says : " Nor could they cease praying unto the Lord against Philip, until they had prayed the bullet through his heart." "Two and twenty Indian captives were slain, and brought down to hell in one day." " A bullet took him in the head, and sent his cursed soul in a moment amongst the devils and blasphemers in hell forever." Masasoit, the father of Philip, was the true friend to the English, and when he was about to die, took his two sons,. Alexander and Philip, and fondly commended them to the kindness of the new settlers, praying them the same peace and good will might be between them, that had existed between him and his white friends. Upon mere suspicion only a short time afterwards, the elder, who succeeded his father as ruler, among his people, was hunted in his forest home, and dragged before the court, the nature and object of which he could not understand. But the indignity which was offered him, and the treachery of those who insulted him, so chafed his proud spirit that a fever was the consequence, of which he died. And that OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. I/ is not all.' The son and wife of Philip were sold into slavery, (as were also about eight hundred persons of the Tuscaroras, and also many others of the Indians that were taken captive during the Colonial wars.) " Yes," says a distinguished orator, (Everett,) " they were sold into slavery, West Indian slavery. An Indian princess and her child, sold from the cold breezes of Mount Hope, from a wild freedom of New England forest, to drop under the lash, beneath the blazing sun of the tropics." Bitter as death, aye, bitter as hell ! Is there anything I do not think in the range of humanity is there any animal that would not struggle against this? Nor is this indeed alL A kinswoman of theirs, a Princess in her own right, Wetamore Pocasset, was pursued and harrassed till she fell exhausted in the wilderness, and died of cold and starvation. There she was found by men professing to be shocked at Indian barbar- ity, her head severed from her body, and carried bleeding upon a pole to be exposed in the public highways of the country, ruled by men who have been honored as saints and martyrs. " Let me die among my kindred," " Bury me with my fath- ers," is the prayer of every Indian's heart ; and the most deli- cate and reverential kindness in the treatment of the bodies of the dead, was considered a religious duty. There was nothing in all their customs that indicated a barbarism so gross and revolting as these acts, which are recorded by New England historians without a censure, while the Indian's protests in his grief, at seeing his kindred dishonored and his religion reviled, are stigmatized as savage and fiendish. If all, or even a few who ministered among them in ho,ly things, had been like Eliot, who is called " the Apostle to the, Indians," and deserved to be ranked with the Apostle of old, or Kirkland, who is endeared to the memory of every Iroquois who heard his name, it could not have become a proverb or a truth that civilization and Christianity wasted them away. They were, not by one, but many, unscrupulously called (2) 1 8 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS " dogs, wolves, bloodhounds, demons, devils incarnate, hell- hounds, fiends, monsters, beasts," always considering them in- ferior beings, and scarcely allowing them to be human, yet one, who was at that time a captive among them, represents them as " kind and loving and generous ;" and concerning this same monster Philip records nothing that should have condemned him in the eyes of those who believed in wars aggressive and defensive, and awarded honors to heroes and martyrs and con- querors. By the Governor of Jamestown a hand was severed from the arm of a peaceful, unoffending Indian, that he might be sent back a terror to his people ; and through the magnanimity of a daughter and king of that same people, that colony was saved from destruction. It was through their love and trust alone that Powhatan and Pocahontas lost their forest dominions. Hospitality was one of the Indians' distinguishing virtues, and there was no such thing among them as individual starva- tion or want. As long as there was a cup of soup, it was di- vided. If a friend or a stranger made a call he was welcome to all their wigwams would furnish, and to offer him food was not merely a custom, for it was a breach of politeness for him to refuse to eat however full he might be. Because their system not being like the white people's, it does not follow that it was not a system. You might have looked into the wigwam or lodge and thought everything in confusion, while to the occupants, there was a place for every- thing, and everything in its place ; each had a couch which answered for bed by night and seat by day. The ceremonies at their festivals were as regular as in the churches, their rules of war as well defined as those of christain nations, and in their games and athletic sports there was a code of honor which it was disgraceful to violate ; their marriage vows were as well understood, and courtesy as formally practiced at their Dances. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 10 The nature of the Indian is in all respects like the nature of any other nation ; placed in the same circumstances, he exhib- its the same passions and vices. But in his forest home there was not the same temptation to great crimes, or what is term- ed the lesser ones, that of slander, scandal, and gossip, as ex- ists among civilized nations. They knew nothing of the desire of gain, and therefore were not made selfish by the love of hoarding ; and there was no temptation to steal, where they had everything in common, and their reverence for truth and fidelity to promises, may well put all the nations of Christendom to shame. I have written in somewhat of the spirit which will charac- terize a History, by an Indian, yet it does not deserve to be called Indian partiality, but only justice and the spirit of human- ity ; or, if I may be allowed to say it, the spirit with which any Christian should be able to consider the character and deeds of his foe. I would not detract from the virtues of your fore- fathers. They were at that time unrivalled, but bigotry and superstition of the dark ages still lingered among them, and their own perils blinded them to the wickedness and cruelty of the means they took for defence. Four, and perhaps two centuries hence, I doubt not, some of your dogmas will seem unchristian, as the Indians seem to you, and I truly hope, ere then, all wars will seem as barbarous, and the fantastic dress of the soldiers as ridiculous, as you have been in the habit of representing the wars and the wild drap- ery of the Indians of the forest. How long were the Saxon and Celt in becoming a civilized and Christian people? How long since the helmet, the coat of mail, and the battle axe, were laid aside ? To make himself more terrific, the Briton of the days of Henry II drew the skin of a wild beast over his armor with the head and ears standing upright, and mounted his war-horse to go forth crying, "To arms! Death to the invader!" The 20 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS paint and the Eagle plume of the Indian warrior were scarcely a more barbarous invention, nor his war-cry more terrible. It is not just to compare the Indian of the fifteenth, with the Christian of the fifteenth century. But compare them with the barbarian of Britain, of Russia, of Lapland, and Tartary, and represent them as truly as these nations have been represented, and they will not suffer by the comparison. 'Ji CAPTIVE'S LIFE >MOt(G INDIANS. ILLUSTRATED BY THE LIFE OF THE " WHITE WOMAN To be taken captive by the Indians, was, among the early colonists, considered the most terrible of all calamities, and it was indeed a fearful thing to become the victim of their re- venge. But those who were enduring the actual sufferings of captivity, or suffering still more from terror of uncertain evils, thought little of the provocation given by the white people. The innocent suffered for the guilty, and however persevering I suppose the efforts of the government to be just in its infancy, in a wild unknown country it was impossible to con- trol unprincipled marauders. Some atrocious act was first committed by white men, which drove the Indian to retalia- tion, and thinking pale faces were all alike, he did not wait till the real offender fell into his hands. When the white men first came, the Indian looked upon OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 21 them as superior beings. They were ready to worship Colum- bus and his little party, and all others along the coast, until their simple trust was outraged beyond endurance, they wel- comed the strangers, gave them food when they were hungry, and sheltered them when they were cold. It was not till their encroachments became alarming, that the Indians asserted their rights, and if in all cases they had been as justly and kindly dealt with as by the Quakers of Pennsylvania, there would not have been so dark a record of sins, wrongs and tor- tures. If none but men of principle had made treaties with them, and all whose duty it was to observe them, had kept their faith, revenge had not come out so prominently in Indian character. But it was not in obedience to national policy that those who were taken in battle, were put to the torture, burned, and flayed. The Six Nations had never found it necessary to build prisons, and dig dungeons for their own people. If any man committed murder, they sometimes decided that he should die, and sometimes bade him flee far away where none who knew him could look upon his face. But crimes were so rare that they had no criminal code, and when they overcame their en- emies, they either adopted them and treated them as brethren, or put them immediately to death. White people have often put Indians to death, and oftener put them in dungeons to waste and starve, but it was not part of their practice to adopt them and call them brethren. Had they sometimes done this, or sent them freely back to their friends unharmed, they might have conciliated where they were only made more desperate. When families are bereaved, they sought to be revenged on those who had bereaved them, and when warriors returned from battle, the prisoners were given up to the friends of the afflicted. With them alone it remained to decide the fate of those who fell into their hands. If they chose, they adopt them in place of the husbands, or brothers, who were slain ; 22 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS and if they so decided they were put to death, and in any way they decreed. If the manner in which their friend had been killed was aggravating and greatly enraged them, they were very likely to decide upon torture, and inflicted it in a manner to produce the greatest suffering. But in such cases, they sometimes showed great magnanimity, and " returned good for evil." Children were often adopted, and by a solemn ceremony re- ceived into a particular tribe, and evermore treated as one of their own people. You have been in the habit of listening to heart-rending stories of cruelties to captives, but captives who were adopted were never cruelly treated. Those who were im- mediately put to death experienced great suffering for a few hours, and those who were preserved were subjected to hard- ships which seemed to them unspeakable, but they were such as are necessarily incident to Indian life. They left no written chronicles to tell to all future generations the wrongs and tor- tures to which they were subjected, but one who sits with them by their firesides, may have his blood frozen with horror at the recitals of civilized barbarity. And there was one species of wrong of which no captive wo- man of any nation had to complain when she was thrown upon the tender mercies of Indian warriors. Not among all the dark and terrible records which their enemies have delighted to magnify, is there a single instance of the outrage of that deli- cacy which a pure minded woman cherishes at the expense of life, and sacrifices not to any species of mere animal suffer- ing. Of what other nation can it?- thus be written, that their soldiers were not more terrible at the firesides of their enemies than on the battle-field, with all the fierce engines of war at their command. To whatever motive it is to be ascribed, let this at least stand out on the pages of Indian history as an ever enduring monument to their honor. A little book which professes to have been written for the sole purpose of recording and perpetuating Indian atrocities. OF THE IRO^UOiS, OR SIX NATIONS. 23 and dwells upon them with infinite delight, alludes to this re- deeming trait in Indian character, but attempts to ascribe it to the influence of superstition, as it were necessary to find some evil or deteriorating motive for everything noble, or pleasing in Indian character. Their treatment of captives from among Indian nations were the same. And I know not that there has been any satisfactory solution of a characteristic which has been found among only one other civilized Christian or barbar- ous nation. A wanderer among the Indian tribes once asked an Indian why they thus honored their women, and he said " The Great Spirit taught, and would punish us if we did not." Among the Germans I believed there existed the same respect for woman, till they became civilized. They may have been some superstitious fears mingled with a strong governing and controlling principle, but it is not on this account the less marvelous that whole nations, consisting of millions, should have been so trained, religiously or domestically, that degree of beauty or fascination placed under their care, though hund- reds of miles in the solitudes of the wilderness, should have tempted them from the strictest honor and the most delicate kindness. MARY JANISON was eighty years a resident among the Senecas, and in the early part of the time the forests had few clearings, and the comforts and the vices of white men prevailed but little among them. She was born on the ocean, with the billowy sea for her cradle, and the tempest for her lullaby. Her parents emigrated from England to this country in 1742, and settled in the unfortunate vale of Wyom- ing, where date her first remembrances, which were all the woes that fell upon her family, the wail of the sorrow-stricken and breaking of heart-strings.. The last meal they took together was a breakfast, after which the father and eldest three sons went into the field, and Mary with the other little children was playing not far from the house. They were suddenly startled by a shriek, and knew it must be from their mother. On running in they saw her in the hands of t\vo Indians, 24 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS who were holding her fast. A little boy ran to call his father, and found him also bound by another of the party, and his eldest brother lying dead upon the earth ; the other two fled to Virginia, where they had an uncle, as Mary afterward learned, and those who remained were made cap- tives and hurried into the woods. All day they were obliged to march in single file over the rough, cold soil. Night found them in the heart of the wilderness, surrounded by their strange captors, and all the horrors of Indian life or Indian death staring them in the face. They had no hope of mercy, whether permitted to live or condemned to die. The mother said to Mary, " My daughter, you, I think will be permitted to live, but they will deprive you of your father and mother, and perhaps of your brothers and sisters, so that you will be alone. But endeavor in all things to please the Indians, and they will be more kind to you. Do not forget your own language, and never fail to re"peat your catechism and the Lord's prayer eve- ry morning and evening while you live." This she promised to do, and having kissed her child, the mother was removed from her sight. Mary must at this time have been ten years of age. -She was afterwards told, when she could understand the Indian language, that they would not have killed her parents if the captors had not been pursued, and that a little boy, who was the son of a neighbor, and was also taken, was given to the French, two of whom were of the party. In the marches of the Indians it was the custom for one to linger behind, and poke up the grass with a stick after a party had passed along, to conceal all traces of their footsteps, so a pursuit was seldom successful. In deviating from a direct course in order not to get lost, they noticed the moss upon the trees, which always grows thickest upon the north side, as the south side being most exposed to the sun, became soonest dry. They also had some knowledge of the stars, and knew from the OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 2$ position of certain clusters that were to be seen at certain sea- sons, which was east and which west. Mary was adopted in place of two brothers who had fallen in battle, and for whom the lamentations had not died away. The ceremony of adoption is very solemn, requiring the delib- erations of a council and the formal bestowing of a name, as a sort of baptism, from which time the captive is not allowed to speak any other language but the Indian, and must in all things conform to Indian habits and tastes. It is customary among them to give children a name which corresponds with the sports and dependence of childhood, and when they arrive at maturity to change it for one that corres- ponds with the duties and employments of manhood and wom- anhood. The first name is given by the relatives and after- wards publicly announced in council. The second is bestowed in the same way ; and by this they are ever afterward called, except on becoming a Sachem, and, sometimes, on becoming a Chief or warrior another name is taken, and each denotes definitely the new position. Each clan, too, had its peculiar names, so that when a person's name was mentioned it was immediately known to what clan he belonged. A curious feature in the Indian code of etiquette is that it is exceedingly impolite to ask a person's name, or to speak it in his presence. In the social circle and all private conversa- tion the person spoken of is described if it is necessary to al- lude to him, as the person who sits there, or who lives in that house, or wears such a dress. If I ask a woman, whose hus- band is present if that is Mr. B she blushes, and stammers, and replies, " He is my child's father," in order to avoid speak- ing his name in his presence, which would offend him. On asking a man his name he remained silent, not understanding the reason the question was repeated, when he indignantly re- plied, " Do you think that I am an owl to go about hooting my name everywhere?" The name of the owl in Indian corres- ponding exactly to the note he utters. (3) 26 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS When Mary Jemmison had been formally named De-he- wa- mis, they called her daughter and sister, and treated her in all respects as if she had been born among them and the same blood flowed in her veins, or rather, they were accustomed to be more kind to captives than to their own children, because they had not been inured to the same hardships. There was no difference in the cares bestowed, no allusion was ever made to the child as if it belonged to a hated race, and it never felt the want of affection. Mary said her tasks were always light, and everything was done to win her love and make her happy. She now and then longed for the comforts of her cottage home, and wept at the thought of her mother's cruel death, but gradually learned to love the freedom of the forest, and to gambol freely and gaily with her Indian play-mates. When she was named they threw her dress away, and clothed her in deer skins and moccasins, and painted her face in true Indian style. She never spoke English in their presence, as they did not allow it, but when alone, did not forget her mother's injunction, and repeated her prayers and all the words she could remember, thus retain- ing enough of the language to enable her easily to recall it when she should again return to civilized society, as she con- stantly indulged the hope of doing, by an exchange of cap- tives. But when she was fourteen years of age, her mother select- ed for her a husband, to whom she was married according to Indian custom. His name \vas Sheningee, and though she was not acquainted with him previously, and of course had no af- fection for him, but proved not only an amiable and excellent man but a congenial companion, whom she loved devotedly. He had all the noble qualities of an Indian, being handsome and brave, and generous, and kind, and to her very gentle and affectionate. Now she became thoroughly reconciled to Indian life, her greatest sorrow being the necessary absence of her husband on OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 27 the war-path and hunting excursions. She followed the occu- pation of a woman, tilled the fields, dressed the meats and skins, and gathered the fuel for the winter's fire, and although this seems to the whites as unfeminine labor, it was performed at their leisure, and occupied very little of their time. When the hunters returned they were weary and passive, and seldom were guilty of fault-finding, and so well did an Indian woman know her duty/ that her husband was not obliged to make his wants known. Obedience was required in all re- spects, and where there was harmony and affection, cheerfully yielded, and knowing as they did that separation would be the consequence of neglect of duty and unkindness, there was really more self-control, and about little things, than those who are bound for life. They did not agree to live together through good and through evil reports, but only while they loved and confided in each other, and they were therefore careful not to throw lightly away this love and affection. The labor of the field was performed in so systematic a man- ner, and by so thorough and wisely divisioned labor, that there were none of the jealousies and enjoyings which exist among those who wish to hoard, and ambitious to excel in style and equipage. And before the fire-water came among them, dis- sentions of any kind were almost unknown. This has been the fruitful source of all their woes. It was not till Mary became a mother that she gave up all longing for civilized society, and relinquished all hope of again returning to the abodes of the white man. Now she had a tie to bind her which could not be broken. If she should find her white friends they would not recognize her Indian husband, or consider her lawfully married ; they would not care-to be connected by ties of blood to a people whom they despised ; her child would not be hap- py among those who looked upon her as inferior, and she her- self had no education to fit her for the companionship of the white people. She looked upon her little daughter and thought, it is Sheningee's it is dearer to me than all things else I 28 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LA\VS could not endure to see her treated with aversion or neglect. But only a little while was she permitted this happiness, her daughter died while yet an infant, and when Sheningee was away. Again the feeling of desolation came over her young spirit, but all around her ministered in every way to her com- fort, and became more than ever endeared to her heart. Af- ter a long absence. Sheningee returned. She afterwards had a son, and named him after her father, to which no objection was made by her Indian friends, and her love for her husband became idolatry. In her eyes he seemed everything noble and good ; she mourned his departure and longed for his return, for his affection prompted him to treat her with gentle and winning kindness which is the spirit of true love alone. But again the separation, and she must pass another winter alone. For hunting was the Indian's toil, and though they de- lighted in it, the pangs of parting from his wife and little one, made it a sacrifice, and spread a dark cloud over a long period of his life. And now it became dark indeed to Mary, for she waited long and Sheningee came not. She put everything in order in his little dwelling. She dressed new skins for his couch, and smoked venison to please his taste. She made the fire bright to welcome him, hoping every evening when she lay down with her baby upon her bosom, that ere the morning sun, the husband and father would gladden them by his smiles, but in vain ; winter had passed away, and the spring, and then came the sad tidings that he was dead, she became a widow and her child fatherless. Very long did she mourn Sheningee, for it seemed to her there was none like him. But again the sympathies of his people created a new link to bind her to them, and she said she could not have loved a mother or sisters more dearly than she did those who stood in this relationship to her, and sooth- ed her with their loving words. . Net for four years was sne again urged to marry, and during this time there was an exchange of prisoners and she had an OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 29 opportunity to return to her kindred ; she was left to do as she chose. They told her she might go, but if she preferred to remain she should still be their daughter and sister, and they would give her land for her own where she might always dwell. Again she thought of the prejudice she would everywhere meet, and that she could never patiently listen to reproaches concerning her husband's people. It would not be believed that he was noble, because he was an Indian ; and she would have no near relatives and those she had might reject her if she should seek them,, so she came to the final conclusion and never more sighed for the advantages or pleasures of civilized life. She came with the brothers of Sheningee to the banks of the Genesee, where she resided the remaining seventy-two years of her life. Her second husband Hiokatoo she never learned to love. He was a Chief and a warrior brave and fearless ; but though he was always kind to her, he was a man of blood. He de- lighted in deeds of cruelty and delighted to relate them. And now the fire water had become common, and the good were bad and the bad worse, so that dissensions arose in fami- lies and in neighborhoods, and the happiness which had been almost without alloy was no longer known among these sim- ple people. She adds her testimony to that of all travelers and historians concerning the purity of their lives, having never herself re- ceived the slightest insult from an Indian and scarcely know- ing an instance of infidelity or immorality. But when once they had tasted of the maddening draught the thirst was insa- tiable, and all they had would be given for a glass of something to destroy their reason. Now they were indeed converted in- to fiends and furies and sold themselves to swift destruction. Hiokatoo hesitated at no crime and took pleasure in every- thing dark and terrible, but this was a small trial compared to those which Mrs. Jemmisonwas called upon to endure frcm the intoxication and recklessness of her son. Her eldest, the 3O LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS son of Sheningee, was murdered by John, the son of Hiokatoo, who afterward murdered his own brother Jesse, and came to the same violent death himself at the hands of others. When they came to be in the midst of temptation there was no re- straining principle, and even after they grew up her house was the scene of quarrels and confusion in consequence of their in- temperance, and she knew no rest from fear of some calamity from the indulgence of their unbridled passions. The Chief of the Seneca nation, to which her second husband belonged, gave her a large tract of land, and when it became necessary that it should be secured to her by treaty, she plead her own case. The commissioners without inquiring particularly con- cerning the dimensions of her lots, allowed her to make her own boundaries, and when the document was signed and she was in firm possession it was found that she was the owner of nearly four thousand acres, of which only a deed in her own hand-writing could deprive her. But though she was rich she toiled not the less dilligently and forsook not the sphere of woman in attending to the ways of her household, and also, true to her Indian education, she planted and hoed and har- vested, retaining her Indian dress and habits till the day of her death. During the revolutionary war her house was made the rendevous and headquarters of British officers and Indian Chiefs, as her sympathies were entirely with her red brethren, and the cause they espoused was the one she preferred to aid. It was in her power to sympathize with many a lone captive, she always remembered her own anguish at the prospect of spending her life in the wilderness. The companion of In- dians, and though she had learned to love instead of fear- ing them, and knew they were, as a people, deserving of re- spect and the highest honor, she understood the feelings of those who knew them not. Her supplication procured the release of many from torture, and her generous kindness clothed the naked and fed the starving. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 31 Lot after lot, acre after acre the Indians sold their lands, and at length the beautiful valley of the Genesee fell into the hands of the white people, except the dominion of " the white woman," as she was always called, which couldn't be given up without her consent. She refused, at the time of the sale, to part with her portion, but after the Indians removed to Buffa- lo reservation and she was left alone, though a lady in the manor and surrounded by white people, she preferred to take her abode with those whom she now called her own people. Most emphatically did she adopt the language of Ruth in the days of old, " Entreat me not to leave thee, or return from following after thee, for whither thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge, thy people will be my people, and thy God my God, where thou diest will I die, and there will I be buried." She was as thoroughly pagan as the veriest Indian who had never heard of God, and she exclaimed with him that their religion was good enough and she desired no change. She \vas ninety years of age eighty years she had been an exile from the land of her birth. She had forgotten the prayer her mother taught her, and knew nothing of the worship of her father, when one morning she sent a messenger to tell the missionaries she wished to see them. She had ever before re- fused to listen to them if they came to her dwelling, but they hastened to obey the summons, glad to feel that they should be welcomed, though quite uncertain concerning the nature of the interview she proposed. She was literally withered away, her face was scarcely larger than an infant's and com- pletely checkered with fine wrinkles, her teeth were entirely gone and her mouth so sunken that her nose and chin almost met, her hair not silvery, but snowy white, except a little lock by each ear which still retained the sandy hue of childhood, her form which was always slender, was bent, and her limbs could not longer support her. She had revived the knowledge of her language since she had dw r elled among the white peo- 32 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS pie, but, " Oh, " said she, as the ladies entered, " I have forgot- ten how to pray ; my mother taught me and told me never to forget this, though I remembered nothing else;" and then she exclaimed, " Oh, God ! have mercy upon me." This expres- sion she had heard in her old age, and now uttered it in the fullness of her heart. There had come a gleam of light through all the darkness and superstitions of Paganism, and this spark was kindled at the fireside of that little cottage home, and fell upon her heart from a mother's lips, and now revived at the remembrance of a mother's love and her dying blessing. It was eighty years since she had seen that mother's face, as she breathed out her soul in anguish, bending over her in the silent depths of the wilderness ; eighty years since she listened to "Our Father who art in Heaven," from Christian lips, and now the still small voice which had so long been si- lent, spoke aloud, and startled her as if an angel called. She tried to stifle it, and for many days after it awoke in her bos- om, she heeded it not, but it gave her no rest. No earthly voice had since reminded her that her heart was sinful, and needed to be " washed in the blood of the lamb, that taketh away the sins of the world," in order to be clean. The seed which had been sown in it when she was a little child, had just sprung up ; the snows of eighty winters had not chilled it, the milde>v of nearly a century had not blighted it, and the heavy hand of hundreds of calamities had left it unharmed. She had not been in the midst of corruptions, therefore it had not been destroyed. The little germ was still alive, and proving that it had not been in vain. The aged woman sat pillowed up in bed with her children, and children's children of three generations around her, and lifting her withered hands and sunken eyes to Heaven, once more repeated, " Our Father, who art in Heaven," while a new- light, like a halo, overspread her face, the tears flowed in floods down her cheeks, and in the dark eyes of every listener there glistened tears of sympathy in her new found happiness. OF THE IROOUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 33 When she was asked if she regretted that she had not con- sented to be exchanged, she still said, " No. I love the Indi- ans ; I love them better than the white people. Because they had been kind to me, and provided generously for my youth and old age, and my children would inherit an abundance from the avails of the lands, and herds, and flocks." A few days after the new light dawned upon her spirit, in the year 1833, Mary was numbered with the dead. She had embraced the faith which makes no difference between those who come at the first or the eleventh hour, and those who were present at the dissolution of her soul and body, doubted not that Jesus had whispered to her the same consolation that fell upon the heart of the thief upon the Cross, " This day shalt thou be with me in Paradise ." Customs and Individual Traits of Character. The more you read, and the better you understand Indian history, the more you will be impressed with the injustice which has been done the Iroquois, not only in dispossessing them of their inheritance, but in the estimation which has been made of their character. They have been represented, as seen in the transition state, the most unfavorable possible for judging cor- rectly. In the chapter of National Traits of Character, I have in two or three instances quoted Washington Irving, and might again allow his opinions to relieve my own from the charge of (4) 34 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS partiality. He says, in speaking of this same subject, that " the current opinion of Indian character is too apt to be formed from the miserable hordes which infest the frontiers, and hang on the shirts of settlements. These are too commonly composed of degenerate beings, corrupted and enfeebled by the voice of society, without being benefited by its civilization." " The proud independence which formed the main pillar of motive virtue has been spoken down, and the whole moral fabric lies in ruins. The spirits are humiliated and debased by a sense of inferiority,. and their native courage cowed and daunted by the superior knowledge and power of their enlight- ened neighbors. Society has advanced upon them like one of those withering airs that will sometimes breed desolation over a whole region of fertility. It has enervated their strength, multiplied their diseases, and superinduced upon their original barbarity the law-vices of artificial life. It has given them a thousand superfluous wants, while it has diminished their means of mere existance. It has driven before it the animals of the chase, who fly from the sound of the axe and the smoke of the settlement, and seek refuge in the depths of remote forests, and yet untrodden wilds. Thus do we often find the Indians in the frontiers to be mere wrecks and remnants of once powerful tribes, who have lingered in the vicinity of settlements, and sunk ii\to precarious and vagabond existence. Poverty, repin- ing and hopeless poverty a canker on the mind before un- known to them corrodes their spirits, and blights every free and noble qualities of their nature. They loiter like vagrants about the settlements among spacious dwellings, replete with elaborate comforts, which only renders them more sensible of the comparative wretchedness of their own condition. Luxury spreads its ample board before their eyes, but they are exclud- ed from the banquet ; plenty revels over the fields, but they are starving in the midst of abundance. The whole wilderness blossomed into a garden, but they feel as reptiles that infest them. How different was their state vx'hilc undisputed lords of OF TI1K IROolJois, ok SIX RATIONS. 35 the soil ? Their wants were few, and true means of gratification within their reach, they saw every one among them sharing the same lot, enduring the same hardships, feeding on the same aliments, arrayed in the same rude garment. No roof then rose under whose sheltering wings, that was not ever open to the homeless stranger, no smoke curled among the trees, but he was welcome to sit down by its fire and join the hunter in his repast." In discussing Indian character, writers have been too prone to indulge in vulgar prejudice and passionate exaggeration, in- stead of the candid temper of the true philosopher. They have not sufficiently considered the peculiar circumstance in which the Indians have been placed, and the peculiar principles under which they having been educated. No being acts more rigidly from rule than the Indians, his whole conduct is regu- lated according to some general maxims early implanted in his mind. The moral laws which govern him are few, but he con- forms to them all. The white man abounds in laws and religion, morals, and manners, but how many of them does he violate. In their intercourse with the Indians the white people were continually trampling upon their religion and their sacred rights. They were expected to look merely on while the graves of their fathers were robbed of their treasures, and the bones of their fathers were left to bleach upon the fields. And when exasperated by the brutality of their conquerors, and driven to deeds of vengence, there was very little appreciation of the motives which influenced them, and no attempt was made to palliate their cruelties. It was their custom to bury the dead with their best cloth- ing, and the various implements they had been in the habit of using whilst living. If it w r as a warrior that they were prepar- ing for burial, they placed his tomahawk by his side and his knife in his shield ; with the hunter, his bow and arrows and implements for cooking his food ; with the woman, their kettles and cooking apparatus, and also food for all. Tobacco was 36 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS deposited in every grave ; for to smoke was an Indian's idea of felicity in the body and out of it, and in this there was not so much difference as one might wish, between them and gentle- men of a paler hue. Among the Iroquois, and many other Indian nations, it was the custom to place the dead upon scaffolds, built for the pur- pose, from tree to tree, or within a temporaiy inclosure, and underneath a fire was kept burning for several days. They had known instances of persons reviving after they were supposed to be dead, and this led to tfre conclusion that the spirit sometimes returned to animate the body after it had once fled. If there was no signs of life for ten days, the fire was extinguished and the body left unmolested until decompo- sition had begun to take place, when the remains were buried, or, as was often the case, kept in the lodge for many years. If they were obliged to desert the settlement where they had long resided, these skeletons were collected from all the families and buried in one common grave, with the same ceremonies as when a single individual was interred. They did not suppose the spirit was instantaneously trans- ferred from earth to Heaven, but that it wandered in ;erial re- gion for many moons. In later days they only allowed ten days for its flight. Their period for mourning continued only whilst the spirit is wandering, as soon as they believe it has en- tered Heaven they commenced rejoicing, saying, there is no longer cause for sorrow, because it is now \\here happiness dwells forever. Sometimes a piteous wailing \\ as kept up every night for a long time, but it was only their bereavement that thev beu ailed, as they did not fear about the fate of those who died. Not until they had heard of Purgatory from the Jesuits, or endless woe from Protestants, did they look upon death with terror, or life as anything but a blessing. They were sometimes in the habit of addressing the dead, as if they could hear. The following are the words of a mother as she bends over her only son to look for the last time upon OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS, 37 his beloved face : " My son, listen once more to the words of thy mother. Thou wast brought into life with her pains, thou wast nourished with her life. She has attempted to be faith- ful in raising you up. When you were young she loved you as her life. Thy presence has been a source of great joy to her. Upon thee she depended for support and comfort in her declining days. But thou hast outstripped her and gone be- fore. Our wise and great Creator has ordered it thus. By his will, 1 am left yet, to taste more of the miseries of this world. Thy relations and friends have gathered about thy body to look upon thee for the last time. They mourn, as with one mind, thy departure from among us. We, too, have but a feV days more and our journey will be ended. We part now, and you are conveyed out of our sight. But we shall soon meet again, and shall look upon each other, then we shall part no more. Our Maker has called thee home, and thither will we follow." After the adoption of the league of the Iroquois, and they dwelled in villages, this was one of the duties enjoined by their religious teacher at their festivals : " It is the will of the Great Spirit that you reverence the aged, even though they be helpless as infants." And also, " Kindness to the orphan, and hospitality to all." " If you tie up the clothes of an orphan "child, the Great Spirit will notice it, and reward you for it." " To adopt an orphan, and bring them up in virtuous ways, is pleasing to the Great Spirit." " If strangers wander about your abode, welcome him to your home, be hospitable towards him, speak to him with kind words, and forget not, always to make mention of the Great Spirit." The Indians' lamentations, on being driven far away from the graves of their fathers, have been the theme of all historians and travelers. It can be easily imagined how those who so loved their homes and revered their fathers' graves, would be- come fierce with indignation and rage, on seeing themselves treated as without human feeling;, and the sacred relics of the dead ploughed up and scattered as indifferently as the stones, 38 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS or the bones of the moose and the deer of the forest. It u as this feeling that often prompted them to acts of hostility, which those who experienced them, ascribed to wanton cruelty and barbarity. In many of the villages there was a strangers home, a house for strangers where they were placed, while the old men went about collecting skins for them to sleep upon, and food for them to eat, expecting no reward. They called it very rude for them to stare at them as they passed in the streets, and said that they had as much curiosity as the white people, but they did not gratify it by intruding upon them, by examining them. They would sometimes hide behind trees in order to look at strangers, but never stood openly and gaze at them. Their respective attention to missionaries was often the re- sult of their rules of politeness, as it is a part of the Indian's code. Their councils are eminent for decorum, and no person is interrupted during a speech. Some Indians, after respect- fully listening to a missionary, thought they would relate to him some of their legends, but the good man could not restrain his indignation, but pronounced them foolish fables, while what Jie told them was sacred truth. The Indian was, in his turn, offended, and said, we listened to your stories, why do you not listen to ours? you are not instructed in the common rules of civility. A hunter, in his wandering for game, fell among the back settlements of Virginia, and on account of the inclemency of the weather, sought refuge at the house of a planter, whom he met at the door. He was refused admission. Being both hungry and thirsty, he asked for a bit. of bread and a cup of cold water. But the answer to every appeal was, " You, sJiall have nothing here, get you gone you Indian dog /" Some months afterwards this same planter lost himself in the woods, and after a weary day of wandering, came to an In- dian cabin, into which he was welcomed. On inquiring the OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 39 way and distance to the settlement, and finding it was too far to think of going that night, he asked if he could remain. Very cordiaily the inmates replied, that he was at liberty to stay, and all they had was at his service. They gave him food, they made a bright fire to cheer and warm him, and supplied him with clean deer-skin for his couch, and promised to con- duct him the next day on his journey. In the morning the Indian hunter and the planter set out together through the forest, when they came in sight of the white man's dwelling, the hunter, about to leave, turned to his companion, and said, " Do you not know me ?" The white man was struck with horror, that he had been so long in the power of one whom he had so inhumanly treated, and expected now to experience his revenge. But on beginning to make excuses, the Indian in- terrupted him saying, " when you see a poor Indian fainting for a cup of cold water, don't say again, ' get you gone, you Indian dog,' " and turned back to his hunting grounds. Which best deserved the appellation of a Christian, and to which will it most likely be said, " Inasmuch as ye have done it unto the least of these, ye have done it unto me." 40 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS CREATION ORIGIN OF THE CONTINENT, THE ANIMAL, AND OF THE INDIAN, INTRODUCTION OF THE TWO PRINCIPLES OF GOOD AND EVIL INTO THE GOVERNMENT OF THE WORLD. The Tuscarora tradition opens with the notion that there were originally two worlds, or regions of space, that is an upper and lower world. The upper world was inhabited by beings resembling the human race. And the lower world by mon- sters, moving on the surface and in the waters, which is in darkness. When the human species were transferred below, and the lower sphere was about to be rendered fit for their residence, the act of their transference is by these ideas, that a female who began to descend into the lower world, which is a region of darkness, waters, and monsters, she was received on the back of a tortoise, where she gave birth to male twins, and there she expired. The shell of this tortoise expanded into a continent, which, in the English language, is called " island," and is named by the Tuscaroras, Yowahnook. One of the children was called Got-ti-gah-rah-quast, or good mind, the other, Got-ti-gah-rak-senh, or bad mind. These two antago- nistical principles were at perpetual variance, it being the law of one to counteract whatever the other did. They were not, however, men, but gods, or existences, through whom the Great Spirit, or " Holder of the Heavens," carried out his purposes. The first work of Got-ti-gah-rah-quast was to create the sun out of the head of his dead mother, and the moon and stars out OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS., 41 of the other parts of her body. The light these gave drove the monsters into the deep waters to hide themselves. He then prepared the surface of the continent and fitted it for human habitation, by making it into creeks, rivers, lakes and plains, and by filling them with the various kinds of animals and veg- etable kingdom. He then formed a man and a woman out of the earth, gave them life, and called them Ongwahonwd, that is to say, a real people. Meanwhile the bad mind created mountains, water-falls, and steeps, caves, reptiles, serpents, apes, and other objects sup- posed to be injurious to, or in mockery to mankind. He made an attempt also to conceal the land animals in the ground, so as to deprive men of the means of subsistance. This continued opposition, to the wishes of the Good Mind, who was perpetu- ally at work, in restoring the effects and displacements, of the wicked devices of the other, at length led to a personal combat, of which the time and instrument of battle were agreed on. They fought two days ; the Good Mind using the deer's horn, and the other using wild flag leafs, as arms. Got-ti-gah-rah- quast, or Good Mind, who had chosen the horn, finally pre- vailed. His antagonist sunk down into a region of darkness, and became the Evil Spirit of the world of dispair. Got-ti-gah-rah- quast, having obtained his triumph, retired from .the earth. The earliest tradition that we have of the Iroquois is as fol- lows : That a company of Ongwahonwa being encamped on the banks of the St. Lawrence River, where they were invaded by a nation few in number, buf were great giants, called " Ronongwaca." War after war was brought on by personal encounters and incidents, and carried on with perfidity and cruelty. They were delivered at length by the skill and courage of Yatontea, who, after retreating before them, raised a large body of men and defeated them, after which they were sup- posed to be extinct. And the next they suffered was from the malice, perfidity and lust of an extraordinary appearing person, who they called That-tea-ro-skeh, who was finally driven across (5) 42 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS the St. Lawrence, and come to a town south of the shores of Lake Ontario, where, however, he only disguised his intentions, to repeat his cruel and perfidious deeds. He assassinated many persons, and violated six virgins. They pointed to him as a fiend in human shape. In this age of monsters, the country was again invaded by another monster, which they called Oyahguaharh, supposed to be some great mammoth, who was furious against men, and destroyed the lives of many Indian hunters, but he was at length killed, after a long and severe contest. A great horned serpent also next appeared on Lake Ontario who, by means of his poisonous breath, caused disease, and caused the death of many. At length the old women congre- gated, with one accord, and prayed to the Great Spirit that he would send their grand-father, the Thunder, who would get to their relief in this, their sore time of trouble, and at the same time burning tobacco as burned offerings. So finally the mon- ster was compelled to retire in the deep's of the lake by thunder bolts. Before this calamity was forgotten another happened. A blazing star fell into their fort, situated on the banks of the St. Lawrence, and destroyed the people. Such a phenomenon caused a great panic and consternation and dread, which they regarded as ominious of their entire destruction. Not long after this prediction of the blazing star it was verified. These tribes, who were held together by feeble ties, fell into dispute and wars among themselves, which were pursued through a long period, until they had utterly destroyed each other, and so reduced their numbers that the lands were again over-run with wild beasts. At this period there were six families took refuge in a large cave in a mountain, where they dwelled for a long time. The men would come out occasionally to hunt for food. This mam- moth cave was situated at or near the falls of the Oswego River. Taryenya-wa-gon (Holder of the Heavens) extricated these six families from this subterraneous bowels and confines OF THE EROQtlOlSyOR SIX NATIONS. 43 of the mountain. They always looked to this divine messen- ger, who had power to assume various shapes, as emergency dictated, as the friend and patron of their nation. As soon as they were released he gave them instructions re- specting the mode of hunting, matrimony, worship and many other things. He warned them against the evil spirit, and jrave them corn, beans, squash, potatoes, tobacco, and do^s to hunt their game. He bid them go toward the rising of the sun, and he personally guided them, until they came to a river, which they named Yehnonanatche (that is going around a mountain,) now Mohawk, they went down the bank of the river and came to where it discharges into a great river, running towards the midway sun, they named it Skaw-nay-taw-ty (that is beyond the pineries) now Hudson, and went down the banks of the river and touched the bank of the great water. The company made an encampment at this place and remained for a while. The people was then of one language. Some of them went on the banks of the great waters, towards the midway sun, and never returned. But the company that remained at the camp returned as they came along the bank of the river, under the direction of Taryenyawagon (Holder of the Heavens). This company were a particular body, which called them- selves of one household. ' Of these there were six families, and they entered into an agreement to preserve the chain of alliance which should not be extinguished under any circumstance. The company advanced some distance up the river of Skaw- natawty (Hudson). The Holder of the Heavens directed the first family to make their residence near the bank of the river, and the family was named Tehawrogeh (that is, a speech di- vided) now Mohawk. Their language soon changed. The company then turned and went towards the sun-setting, and traveled about two days and a half, then came to a creek, which was named Kawnatawteruh (that is pineries). The second family was directed to 'make their resident near the creek ; and the family was named Nehawretahgo (that is big 44 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS tree) now Oneida. Their language was changed likewise. The company continued to proceed toward the sun-setting under the direction of the Holder of the Heavens. The third family was directed to make their residence on a mountain, named Onon- daga (now Onondaga), and the family was named Seuhnowhah- tah (that is, carrying the name.) Their language also changed. The rest of the company continued their journey towards the sun-setting. The fourth family was directed to make their residence near a large lake, named Goyogoh (that is a moun- tain rising from water) now Cayuga, and the family was named Sho-nea-na-we-to-wah (that is a great pipe). Their language was altered. The rest of the company kept their course to- wards the sun-setting. The fifth family was directed to make their residence near a high mountain, situated south of- Can- andaigua Lake, which was named Tehow-nea-nyo-hent (that is possessing a door) now Seneca. Their language was also changed. The sixth, and last family, went on their journey toward the sun-setting, until they touched the bank of the great lake, which was named Kan-ha-g\va-rah-ka (that is a Cape) now Erie, and then went toward, between the midway and sun-setting, and traveled a great distance, when they came to a large river, which was named O-nah-we-yo-ka (that is a prin- cipal stream) now Mississippi. The people discovered a grape- vine lying across the river, by which a part of the people went over, but while they were crossing the vine broke. They were divided, and became enemies to those that were over the river in consequence of which, they were obliged to abandon the journey. Those that went over the river were finally lost and forgotten from the memory of those that remained on the eastern banks. Ta-ren-ya-wa-go (the Holder of the Heavens), who was the patron of the five home bands, did not fail, in this crisis, to di- rect them their way also. He instructed those on the eastern bank the art of the bow and arrows, to f use for game and in time of danger. After giving them suitable instructions, he <>K THE 1ROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 45 guided their footsteps in their journeys, south and east, until they had crossed the Alleghany Mountains, and with some wanderings they finally reached the shores of the sea, on the coast which is now called the Carolinas. By this time their language was changed. They were directed to fix their resi- dence on the banks of the Gow-ta-no (that is, pine in the water) now Neuse River, in North Carolina. Here Ta-ren-ya-wa-gon left them to hunt, increase and prosper, whilst he returned to direct the other five nations to form their confederacy. Tarenyawagon united in one person the power of a God and a man, and gave him the expressive name of the Holder of the Heavens, and was capable of assuming any form or shape that he chosed, but appeared to them only in the form of a man, and taught them hunting, gardening, and the knowledge of the arts of war. He imparted to them the knowledge of the laws and government of the Great Spirit, and gave them di- rections and encouragement how to fulfill their duties and ob- ligations. He gave them corn, beans, and fruits of various kinds, with the knowledge of planting those fruits. He taught them how to kill and to cook the game. He made the forest free to all the tribes to hunt, and removed obstructions from the streams. He took his position, sometimes, on the top of high cliffs, springing, if needs be, over frightful chasms ; and he .flew, as it were, over great lakes in a wonderful canoe of immaculate whiteness and of magic power. Having finished his commission with the Tuscaroras at Cautanoh, in North Carolina, and the other five families, which were left at the north, he came down to closer terms and intimacy with the Onondagas. He resolved to lay aside his divine character and live among them, that he might exemplify the maxims which he had taught. And for this purpose he selected a handsome spot of ground on the southern banks of Cross Lake, New York. Here he built his cabin, and from the shores of this lake he went into the forest, like the rest of his companions, in quest of game and fish. He took a wife of the 46 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Onondagas, by whom he had an only daughter, whom he ten- derly loved, and most kindly and carefully treated and in- structed, so that she was known far and near as his favorite child, and was regarded almost as a goddess. The excellence of his character, and his great sagacity and good counsels, led the people to regard him with veneration, and they gave him, in his sublunary character, the name of Hi-a-wat-ha (a wise man). People came to him from all quarters, and his abode was thronged by all ages and conditions who came for advice. He became the first chief of all the land, and whomsoever he made his companions and friends were likewise clothed with the authority of chiefs in the tribe. In this manner all power came naturally into his hands, and the tribe rejoiced that they had so wise and good a man as their ruler. For in those days each tribe was independent of all others ; they had not yet formed a league, but fought and made war with each other. Nothing that belonged to Hiawatha, in his character of Ta- renyawagon, was more remarkable than his light and magic canoe, which shone with a supernatural lustre, and in which he had performed so many of his extraordinary feats. This canoe was laid aside when he came to fix his residence at Cross Lake, and never used it but for great and extraordinary purposes. When great councils were called, and he assembled the wise men to deliberate together, the sacred canoe was carefully lifted from the grand lodge ; and after these occasions were ended, it was carefully returned to the same receptacle, on the shoulders of men, who felt honored in being the bearers of such a precious burden. Thus passed away many years, and every year saw the people increasing in numbers, skill, arts and bravery. It was among the Onondagas that Tarenyawagon had located himself, although he regarded the other tribes as friends and brothers ; he had become indentified as an adopted member of this par- ticular tribe. Under his teaching and influence they became the first among all the original tribes, and rose to the highest OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 47 distinction in every art which was known to or prized by the Akonoshuni (Iroquois). They were the wisest counsellors, the best orators, the most expert hunters, and the bravest warriors. They also afforded the highest examples of obedience to the laws of the Great Spirit. If offences took place, Hiawatha re- dressed them, and his wisdom and moderation preserved the tribe from feuds. Hence, the Onondagas were early noted among all the tribes for their pre-eminence. He appeared to devote his chief attention to them, that he might afterwards make them examples to the others, in arts and wisdom. They were foremost in the overthrow of the Stonish Giants and the killing of the great Serpent. To be an Onondaga was the highest honor. While Hiawatha was thus living in domestic life quietly among the people of the hills, and administering their simple government with wisdom, they became alarmed by the sudden news of the approach of a furious and powerful enemy from north of the great lakes. As the enemy advanced, they made an indiscriminate slaughter of men, women and children. The people fled from their villages a short time before them, and there was no heart in the people to make a stand against such powerful and ruthless invaders. In this emergency, they fled to Hiawatha for his advice. He counseled them to call a gen- eral council of all the tribes from the east and west. " For," said he, " our strength is not in the war club and arrows alone, but in wise counsels." He appointed a place on the banks of Onondaga Lake for the meeting. It was a clear eminence from which there was a wide prospect. Runners were dis- patched in every direction, and the chiefs, warriors and head- men forthwith assembled in great numbers/ bringing with them, in the general alarm, their women and children. Fleets of canoes were seen on the bosom of the lake, and every inte- terior warpath was kept open by the foot-prints of the different tribes, hurrying to obey the summons of Hiawatha. All but the wise man himself had been there for three days, anxiously 48 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS awaiting the arrival of Hiawatha, when a messenger was dis- patched after him. They found him gloomy and depressed. Some great burden appeared to hang on his mind. He told them that evil lay on his path, and that he had fearful fore- bodings of ill-fortune. He felt that he was called to make some great sacrifice, but he did not know what it was, it seemed to be hid from him. Least of all did he think it was to be his daughter ; ever careful of her, he bade her kindly to accompany him. Nothing happened to hinder, or at all interrupt their voyage. The Talismanic canoe, which held them, gilded si- lently down the waters of the Seneca ; not a paddle was nec- essary to give it impetus,\vhile it pursued the downward course of the stream till they reached the point of the lake outlet. At this point Hiawatha took his paddle and gave it impetus against the current, until they entered on the bright and calm surface of the Onondaga, cradled, as this blue sheet of water is, among the lofty and far-swelling hills. When the white canoe of the venerable chief appeared, a shout of welcome rang among those hills. The day was calm and serene. No wind ruffled the lake, and scarcely a cloud floated in the sky above. But while the wise man was measuring his steps towards the place designated for the council, and \vhile ascending from the wa- ter's edge, a rumbling and low sound was heard, as if it were caused by the approach of a violent, rushing wind. Instantly all the eyes were turned upwards, where a small and compact mass of cloudy darkness appeared. It gathered in size and velocity as it approached, and appeared to be directed inevit- ably to fall in the midst of the assembly. Every one fled in consternation but Hiawatha and his daughter. He stood erect, with ornaments waving in his frontlet, and besought his daughter calmly to await the issue, 4i for it is impossible," said he, " to escape the power of the Great Spirit If he has deter- mined our destruction we cannot, by running, fly from him." She modestly assented and they stood together, while horror was depicted in the faces of the others. But the force of the OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 49 descending body was that of a sudden storm. They had hardly taken the resolution to halt when an immense bird, with long, extended wings, came down with swoop. This gigantic agent of the sky came with such force that the assem- bly felt the shock. The girl being in a nature, and embodied in the combination of the Terrestial and Celestial nature, was beautiful and fascinating in her looks and form, was borne away by this Celestial Bird to be seen no more upon the earth. But Hiawatha was inconsolable for his loss. He grieved sore- ly, day and night, and wore a desponding and dejected coun- tenance. But these were only faint indications of the feelings of his heart. He threw himself upon the ground, and refused to be comforted. He seemed dumb with melancholy, and the people were concerned of his life. He spoke nothing ; he made no answers to questions put to him, and laid still as if dead. After several days the council appointed a certain merry- hearted Chief to make him a visit, and to whisp'er a word of consolation in his ears to arouse him from his stupor. The result was successful. He approached with ceremonies and induced him to arise, and named the time when the council would convene. Yet haggard with grief, he called for refresh- ments and ate. He then adjusted his wardrobe and head-dress and went to the cpuncil. He drew his robe of wolf-skin grace- fully around him, and walked to his seat at the head of the assembled chiefs with a majestic step. Stiliness and the most profound attention reigned in the council while he presided, and the discussion opened and proceeded. The subject of the invasion was handled by several of the ablest counselors and the bravest warriors. Various plans were proposed to defeat the enemy. Hiawatha listened with silence until all had fin- ished speaking. His opinion was then asked. After a brief allusion of the calamity which had befallen him through the descent of the great bird by the Great Spirit, he spoke to the following effect : " I have listened to the words of the wise men and brave (6) 5O LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS chiefs, but it is not fitting that we should do a thing of so much importance in haste ; it is a subject demanding calm re- flection and mature deliberation. Let us postpone the decision for one day. During this time we will weigh well the words of the speakers who have already spoken. If they are good, I will then approve of them. If they are not, I will then open to you my plan. It is one which I have reflected on, and feel confident that it will insure safety." When another day had expired, the council again met. Hiawatha entered the assembly with even more than ordinary attention, and every eye was fixed upon him, when he began to address the council in the following words : " Friends and Brothers : You being members of many tribes, you have come from a great distance ; the voice of war has aroused you up ; you are afraid of your homes, your wives and your children ; you tremble for your safety. Believe me, I am with you. My heart beats with your hearts. We are one. We have one common object. We come to promote our common interest, and to determine how this can be best done. " To oppose those hordes of northern tribes, singly and alone, would prove certain destruction. We can make .no progress in that way. We must unite ourselves into one com- mon band of brothers. We must have but one voice. Many voices makes confusion. We must have one fire, one pipe and one war club. This will give us strength. If our warriors are united they can defeat the enemy and drive them from our land ; if we do this, we are safe. " Onondaga, you are the people sitting under the shadow of the Great Tree, whose branches spread far and wide, and whose roots sink deep into the earth. You shall be the first nation, because you are warlike and mighty. " Oneida, and you, the people who recline your bodies against the Everlasting Stone, that cannot be moved, shall be the second nation, because you always give good counsel. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 51 " Seneca, and you, the people who have your habitation at the foot of the Great Mountain, and are overshadowed by its crags, shall be the third nation, because you are all greatly gifted in speech. " Cayuga, you, whose dwelling is in the Dark Forest, and whose home is everywhere, shall be the fourth nation, because of your superior cunning in hunting. " Mohawk, and you, the people who live in the open coun- try, and possess much wisdom, shall be the fifth nation, because you understand better the art of raising corn and beans and making cabins. "You five great and powerful nations, with your tribes, must unite and have one common interest, and no foes shall disturb or subdue you. " And you of the different nations of the south, and you of the west, may place yourselves under our protection, and we will protect you. We earnestly desire the alliance and friend- ship of you all. " And from you, Squaw-ki-haws (being a remote branch of the Seneca Nation), being the people who are as the Feeble Bushes, shall be chosen a Virgin, who shall be the peace- maker for all the nations of the earth, and more particularly the favored Ako-no-shu-ne, which name this confederacy shall ever sustain. If we unite in one band the Great Spirit will smile upon us, and we shall be free, prosperous and happy ; but if we shall remain as we are we shall incur his displeasure. We shall be enslaved, and perhaps annihilated forever. " Brothers, these are the words of Hiawatha. Let them sink deep into your hearts. I have done." A deep and impressive silence followed the delivery of this speech. On the following day the council again assembled to act on it. High wisdom recommended this deliberation. The union of the tribes into one confederacy was discussed and unanimously adopted. To denote the character and inti- macy of the union they employed the figure of a single 52 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS council-house, or lodge, whose boundaries be co-extensive with their territories. Hence the name of Ako-no-shu-ne, who were called the Iroquois. The great. bird which visited them from heaven brought a precious gift to the warriors in the white plumes which she shed at the visit. Every warrior, as he approached the spot where they fell, picked up a feather of snowy white to adorn his crown ; and the celestial visitant thus became the means of furnishing the aspirants of military fame with an emblem which was held in the highest estimation. Succeeding genera- tions imbibed the custom from this incident to supply them- selves with a plumage approaching it as nearly as possible; they selected the plume of the white heron. At the formation of the confederacy Ato-ta-rho, being con- sidered next in wisdom and all other traits of character which constitutes the necessary qualifications of an honored Sachem, was ordained as the heacl Sachem of the confederacy, which office has been transmitted down to succeeding generations of the Onondaga Nation to the present time. Hiawatha, the guardian and founder of the league, having now accomplished the w r ill of the Great Spirit, and the with- drawal of his daughter having been regarded by him as a sign that his mission was ended, he immediately prepared to make his final departure. Before the great council, which had adopted his advice just before dispersing, he arose, with a dig- nified air, and addressed them in the following manner : " Friends and Brothers :~ I have now fulfilled my mission here below ; I have furnished you seeds and grains for your gardens ; I have removed obstructions from your waters, and made the forest habitable by teaching you how to expel its monsters ; I have given you fishing, places and hunting grounds ; I have instructed you in the making and using of war implements ; I have taught you how to cultivate corn, and many other arts and gifts. I have been allowed by the Great Spirit to communicate to you. Last of all, I have aided you OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 53 to form a league of friendship and union. If you preserve this, and admit no foreign element of power by the admission of other nations, you will always be free, numerous and happy. If other tribes and nations are admitted to your councils, they will sow the seed of jealousy and discord, and you will become few, feeble and enslaved. " Friends and brothers, these are the last words you will hear from the lips of Hiawatha. The Great Creator of our bodies calls me to go ; I have patiently awaited his summons ; I am ready to go. Farewell." As the voice of the wise man ceased, sweet strains of music from the air burst on the ears of the multitude. The whole sky appeared to be filled with melody ; and while all eyes were directed to catch glimpses of the sights, and enjoy strains of the celestial music that filled the sky, Hiawatha was seen, seated in his snow-white canoe, amid the air, rising, rising with every choral chant that burst out. As he rose the sound of the music became more soft and faint, until he vanished amid the summer clouds, and the melody ceased. Thus ter- minated the labors and cares of the long-cherished memory of Ta-ren-ya-wa-gon. I will now resume the history of the sixth and last family, the Tuscarora On-gwe-hon-wa, that were left at the Neuse river, or Gan-ta-no. Here they increased in numbers, valor and skill, and in all knowledge of the arts necessary in forest life. The country was wide and covered with dense wilder- ness, large rivers and lakes, which gave shelter to many fierce animals and monsters which beset their pathways and kept them in dread. Now the Evil Spirit also plagued them with monstrous visitations. They were often induced to change their locations ; sometimes from fear of enemies and sometimes from epidemics, or some strange visitations. 54 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS I will now relate a few of the monsters that plagued them : The first enemy that appeared to question their power or dis- turb their peace was the fearful phenomenon of Ko-nea-rah- yah-neh, or the flying heads. The heads were enveloped in beard and hair, flaming like fire ; they were of monstrous size, and shot through the air with the speed of meteors. Human power was not adequate to cope with them. The priests pro- nounced them a flowing power of some mysterious influence, and it remained with the priests alone to expel them by their magic power. FLYING HEAD AND WOMAN SITTING BY THE FIRE. Drum and rattle and enchantments were deemed more effective than arrows or clubs. One evening, after they had been plagued a long time with fearful visitations, the fly- ing head came to the door of a lodge occupied by a single female and her dog. She was sitting composedly before the fire roasting acorns, which, as they became cooked, she delib- erately took from the fire and ate. Amazement seized the flying head, who put out two huge black paws from under his streaming beard. Supposing the woman to be eating live coals he withdrew, and from that time he came no more among them. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 55 And they were also invaded by a still more fearful enemy, the Ot-nea-yar-heh, or Stonish Giants. They were a powerful tribe from the wilderness, tall, fierce and hostile, and resistance to them was vain. They defeated and overwhelmed an army which was sent out against them, and put the whole country in fear. These giants were not only of great strength, but they were cannibals, devouring men, women and children in their inroads. STOMSll ulANT CHASING INDIANS. It is said by the Shawnees that these giants were descended from a certain family which was journeying on the east side of the Mississippi. After some of them had crossed the river on a vine it broke, which left the main body on the east bank of the river. Those who were on the west side of the river went toward the northwest. Being abandoned in their wanderings, and being vagrants, without any knowledge of the arts of life, they forgot the rules of humanity. They at first began to eat their game in the raw flesh, which led them finally to become cannibals, and they practiced to roll themselves in the sand, which caused their bodies to be covered with a hard skin, so 56 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS that the arrows of the Tuscaroras only rattled against their rough bodies and fell at their feet. And the consequence was, that they were obliged to hide in caves and glens, and were brought into subjection by those fierce invaders for many win- ters. At length the Holder of the Heavens visited his people, and finding that they were in great distress, he determined to relieve them of these barbarous invaders. To accomplish this he changed himself as into one of those giants. As you will remember, it is said that he was able to change himself into any shape that he wished. He then joined himself with the invaders, and brandishing his heavy war-club, led them on un- der the pretence of finding the other five nations, which they were also in the habit of visiting. When they came near to the strong fort at Onondaga, they being weary of the long journey, and the night being dark, their leader bade them lie down at the foot of a mountain until the customary time to. make the attack, which was at the break of day. But during the night the Indian benefactor ascended the height and over- whelmed the slumberers below with a vast mass of rocks. At this catastrophe only one escaped to carry the news of their dreadful fate, and he fled toward the north. The Tuscaroras and the other five nations were so much troubled with giants and other monsters that they were obliged to build forts to protect themselves. The way they built them was always by selecting an eminence, or rocky cliff, and on the back part was dug a trench according to the plan of the fort. Then timbers were set in the trench upright, projecting above the ground several feet, and being adjusted together as close as possible, and the trench being filled in again. They had two gates, one way to get their water, the other for- a sally port. They were also molested by a terrific animal which they called Ro-qua-ho a variegated lizzard a swift runner and strikes very violent blows with its tail, which destroyed many hunters while lying in lurk for them. One day while a party OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 57 of hunters were on their journey to camp-out for the purpose of hunting, the party consisting of four, they came to a very large hollow tree where they noticed quite a number of great marks of claws on the bark of the tree. Supposing it to be the lodge of bears, they laid their bundles down and made ready for their game. One of them bounded on the tree and climbed it, and he struck the trunk of the tree several times. When the supposed bear appeared, to their consternation it was found to be the enemy they so much dreaded, the Ro- qua-ho. The person on the tree only stepped behind it and the other three ran away for their lives. The Ro-qua-ho came down and pursued them, and while yet in sight one was caught, killed and brought back, and he carried the body into the tree. Then- he went after the second which was brought in a short time, after which, he went for the third ; then the one on the tree came down and ran away also. While on his way he heard a voice calling him ; he stopped, and behold, a man of stately form, with long flowing hair stood and said, " Why run? I have seen the distress of my people, I have come to deliver them out of trouble; now confide in me and we will prevail. I am your benefactor, Tarenyawagon. Get behind me, the enemy is approaching." In the twinkling of an eye this Celestial being was changed, and assumed himself into a great white bear. When the Ro- quaho came a great struggle ensued, but with the help of the man the enemy was killed. They were again molested by an extraordinary and ferocious animal in various places a mammoth bear. One morning while a party of hunters were in their camp, they were alarm- ed by a great tumult breaking out from the forest. Upon going to ascertain the cause of this extraordinary noise, they saw the great monster on the bank pawing and rolling stones and logs in every direction, exhibiting the utmost rage. Another great animal of the cat kind appeared, and seized the bear and a dreadful fight ensued. In the end the bear got the (7) 58 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS worst of it and retired horribly mangled, and never was heard of afterwards. After a while a pestiferous and annoying creature of the insect kind appeared in the guise of the Ro-tay-yo (a huge mosquito). It first appeared among the Tuscaroras along the Neuse river. It flew about with vast wings, making a loud noise, with a long stinger ; and on whomsoever it lighted it sucked out all the blood and killed them. Many warriors were destroyed in this way, and all attempts made to subdue it were vain ; but at length it retired of itself. Next they heard that it appeared about the fort at Onondaga, where it also destroyed many lives, until Tarenyawagon made a visit to the ruler of the Onondagas. The great mosquito happened to come flying about the fort as usual at that time. Tarenya- wago immediately made his attack, but such was the rapidity of its flight, that he could scarcely keep in sight of it. He chased it around the borders of the great lakes, towards the sun-setting, and around the great country at large, east and west. At last he overtook it, and took his strong bow and sent an arrow which struck him through the heart and killed him, near Gen-an-do-a (the salt lake of Onondaga). From the blood flowing out on this occasion were the present species of small mosquito originated. I have now related a few of the tragedies of the dark recess- es of the forest, from the many that our tradition relates. There was also a little old man of singular appearance that frequented among them at their ball plays, and did not seem to be inclined to make acquaintance with any one, but kept by himself and appeared to be mild and humble. At length this man became very sick with putrefying sores from head to foot and was very loathesome. Nobody knew who he was or where he came from ; he had no home ; he gave his name as Qua-ra, or Rabbit ; he went from house to house of all the different clans or tribes in the nation, as for instance, the Eel, Snipe, Beaver, Turtle, Wolf, Deer. When he would approach OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 59 the house, seemingly to go in, they would loathe him to enter, and when he came to the doorstep he would seem to hear their thoughts and then return ; thus he was repulsed from all the houses of the above clans, he finally came to the house of the Bear clan. When the mistress of the house observed him coming, she had pity on him, and presently prepared a bed for him with the best deerskins she had ; when he came to the door he knew her hospitable heart and went in. She immedi- ately assured him of his welcome in her meanly hut, and that she was ready to do everything in her power to relieve his dis- tress, and appointed his lodge where he had laid himself near- ly exhausted. He then told her to go and get the root of a certain kind of plant, which she immediately did and prepared according to his direction, which he took and readily recovered. He then went through a series of diseases, directing her as before to get the different kind of medicines for the different diseases. Lastly, he became sick with that fatal disease, con- sumption. This he said was incurable, and he must die. He then told her he was a messenger from Tarenyawagon, to show them the diseases that they should be subjected to, and also the medicine to cure them. And also to tell them the predic- tions of their fate and dcom. Said he could not withhold the water from his eyes, or keep from quaking when he thought of their irrevocable doom to which they were destined, and said : " There is a habitation beyond these great waters to- wajds the sun-rising, which are inhabited by beings of very pale faces, and are looking only to themselves, have pity for nobody, and make their delight in doing mischief. They have killed Rah-wah-ne-yo (God) ; they mocked him and done all manner of bad things to him, and finally, they fastened him to a tree until he died. But death and the grave had not power to hold kirn. He arose and lives again, and he has gone to the world above, in those happy hunting grounds where all good O-qua-ho-wa (Indians), uill go when they die, and will see him as he is. 60 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS " Now this class of pale-faces will come across the great wa- ters and make their abode on this island, and will bring poison to give you to drink, which will poison the spirit and kill the body. They will kill your husbands, brothers and sons, and drive you away to the sun-setting, and will deprive the child- ren that are coming behind, off their domain. They will drive you until you are in the great salt water up to your waist. Oh, hostess, this is the final doom of your great nation. " And now as for you, Oh, mother, I have no words that I can utter, to express the sincere gratitude of my inmost soul. I have nothing to give to compensate you for all the tender- ness you have given me. But my blessings I will leave with you. I place in the midst of your clan, the Bear, a ma- jestic pine tree, which is ever green, and as the top reaches above all other trees, so will your clan be. Wherever the na- tion will be driven to, your clan will multiply aboVe all others, and be the ruler of the nation. This is all I have to deliver unto you. I now commend myself to that Great Spirit that has made us all, who ruleth above." Thus ended the last messenger of Tarenyawagon, who is now basking in the pleasures of that hunting ground in the world above. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 6l TUSCARORA. Before the discovery, by Columbus, the Tuscartfras consisted of six towns, and they were a powerful nation, numbering over twelve hundred warriors, which, at a ratio according to the rule of estimating, would bring them at about five or six thousand souls. The Tuscaroras had many years of enjoyment and peaceful possession of their domain, consisting of six towns on the Ro- anoke, Neuse, Taw and Pemlico rivers, in the State of North Carolina. And they were also confederated to six other nations, which were the Corees, Mattamuskeets, Notaways and the Bear River Indians ; the names of the other two nations I have been unable to obtain. My readers will readily see why some writers have it that they consisted in twelve towns, and other writers would have it that they consisted in six towns. The real Tuscaroras consisted in six towns ; but with the confederate nations, altogether, were known to be in twelve towns, and all these different nations which composed the confederacy went under the name of Tuscarora, the Tus- caroras being the most powerful of the several nations. The tradition of the Tuscaroras admits of having captured Lawson and his party, and executed some of them to death' on account of their encroachments upon their domain ; but con- cerning the massacre of Oct. 2d, 1711, the Tuscaroras emphat- ically deny having taken any part in the affair whatever, offic- 62 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS ially. The project was presented to them and in the council of the sachems, chiefs and warriors, they emphatically declined taking any part in such a movement, but said if the colonists made encroachments and trespass on their domain, it is no more than right and just that we defend our rights, and even cautioned their young men that they should not take any part whatever in the action; but, nevertheless, there were a few of the rash and reckless warriors that took part in the disorder. The Corees, Mattamuskeets, and Bear River Indians seemed to be the instigators of the project ; but there were several other nations that took part in the massacre. These three na- tions being considered Tuscaroras, on account of the confeder- acy, and the capture of Lawson and his party a little previous to this time by the Tuscaroras, led the colonists to conclude that it was the Tuscaroras who caused the disaster, and to them was directed the feud of the colonists. A little previous to these disorders, it seems that there were some white men, as our tradition states, with long coats and wide brimmed hats, visited several nations of the Indians in that neighborhood, and appeared to be very friendly toward them, wished them success in everything, and told them that those settlers who were on the borders of their lands and con- stantly encroaching and committing depredations upon the Indians, were not of the government, but were merely squat- ters, who settled there of their own accord, and if they were cut off, there would be none to avenge them, and were advised to do so. It has always been a question in my mind who those white men were, to give such rash advice. Were they Quakers ? But what motive had they in advising, from which so great a disaster was the result ? Or, were they men in disguise, from the county of Bath, in which the massacre was committed, to make the Indians believe that they were Quakers, as the two counties were in arms against each other at that time. OF THE 1ROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 63 To coroborate the tradition above, I would call your atten- tion to part of a letter from President Pollock to Lord Craven, in the year 1712, who attributes the calamity thus : 41 Our divisions," says he, " chiefly occasioned by the Quak- ers, and some other ill-disposed persons, have been the cause of all the troubles, for the Indians were informed by some of the traders that the people who lived here are only a few vag- abonds, who had run away from other governments and set- tled here of their own accord, without any authority, so that if they were cut off, there would be none to revenge them. This with their seeing our differences rise to such a heighth, that consisting of two counties only, were in arms one against the other, encouraged them to fall upon the county of Bath, ex- pecting it would have no assistance from this nor any other of the English plantations. This is the chief cause that moved the Indians to rise against us, as far as I understand." The Tuscaroras never had the inclination of cutting off the inhabitance of the pale faces. Nevertheless, they did not al- ways remain idle or unconcerned spectators of the feuds and dissensions that so long prevailed among the white people, to- ward the red men. The successive and regular encroachmants on their hunting grounds and plantations, which the increase of the European population occasioned, had not always been submitted to without murmur. Although they were pleased with the neighbors, from whom they had trade for their furs, and could procure spirituous liquors and other articles, which tended to the gratification of their real or imaginary wants. And they were required to sur- render larger and larger portions of their domain, and at last, the removal of families from the neighborhood of their long cherished memories of the graves of their ancestors, to the more distant and less valuable tracts of land. Other causes of animosity and ill-will were not wanting. Their hunters were shot down like so many beasts, at the edge of the settlement, killed in their wigwams, their young females' chastity violated, 64 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS and many other things might be related, which their tradition shows. But I have neither heart nor inclination to bring to a resurrection the long gone-by memories of our forefathers. I would that. all were cast into oblivion, where might not be found neither trace nor track; but rather that the chain of friendship which has existed for more than a century between the Tuscaroras and the United States Government may be made brighter and brighter as time rolls on. I have said that the Tuscaroras never had the inclination of cutting off the first colonies, and if that were their desire, how readily would they have excepted the advice of President Thomas Carey, through one of his counsel Edward Porter in the year 1710, of which you will find in Martin's History of 'North Carolina a difficulty between Gov. Hyde and the above, to-wit.: " Before any relief could be sent he attempted the landing of some of his men under fire of his brig, but they were repulsed by the militia of the neighborhood, which Gov. Hyde had time to collect. They returned on board, and their Chief sought a safe retreat in the swamps of the Tar river, where he raised his standard and endeavored to bring the Tus- carora Indians into an alliance. For this purpose he dispatched to them Edward Porter, one of his counsel, who endeavored by promises of great rewards to induce them to cut off all the inhabitants of that part of the province who adhered to Gov. Hyde. This was acceded to by some of his young warriors, but when the matter was debated in council the old men dis- suaded them from listening to Porter." Now, did not some of Carey's men go afterwards to some of the neighboring Indian nations and induced them, in the year 1710, to commit the massacre? I suppose to the critical reader, and to the people generally, my writing will appear to them fictitious, because of their first impression, which has been taught them by many historians. Historians generally have given only one side of the story, and have avoided, as much as possible, to give the history of OF Tl^E IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 65 the wrongs done to the Tuscaroras, but they are very scrupu- lous to preserve the history of the capture of Lawson, his execution and of the massacre, which they allege to have been committed by the Tuscaroras, and are styled by many as being inimical, haughty, jealous, warlike bloodhounds, bloodthirsty and scarcely to be human. These are the first impressions made by the historians upon the mind of the world. I suppose, for the purpose of getting a general verdict, that it was right ; that they were crushed as a nation, their domain snatched from them, driven into the cold world, and not a word has been written by historians, or the Tuscaroras themselves, to vindicate their cause. But with all the great tide of prejudiced feelings towards the Tuscaroras, I have ventured to write their history as I have received it, and think it to be true. After the massacre, and the Tuscaroras heard it reported that they were charged with being the author of the disaster, they immediately sent messengers and denied the charge of having officially taken any part in the disorder, but acknowl- edged that a few of the reckless and lawless warriors did take part against their admonitions, but they were willing to make all the restoration that was in their power to do, and would fight for them if necessary. At different times they petitioned, remonstrated and supplicated for peace, which was slighted and disregarded, and only produced more violence and insult. Notice what Governor Spotswood, of Virginia, said concern- ing the Tuscaroras, to-wit : " On the first of the disaster I sent a detachment' of the militia to the tributary Indians of this province to prevent them from joining in the war, and understanding that the In- dians in some of the Tuscarora towns had refused to march against the whites, sent a messenger to invite them, with the rest of the friendly tribes, to a conference at the Nottoway line, on the southern border of Virginia, where he met them on the /th of November." (8) 66 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND "LAWS " The Governor, after entering into some conversation with the Chiefs, had the pleasure of finding the report which his messengers had made, from their observations while in the Tuscarora towns, that they were very desirous of continuing in peace, and were greatly concerned that any of their nation should have joined in the massacre." The Chiefs, after accounting for the delay that occurred, ex- pressed the desire of the Indians of their towns to continue in strict friendship with the whites, and assist them in chastising the authors of the late disorder. " But now an unfortunate difference arose between the Gov- ernor and the burgesses, the latter insisting on the passage of a bill for raising an army in Virginia, without trusting to the sincerity of the profession of the Tuscarora Chiefs. The Governor refusing to accede to this proposition, and declin- ing to co-operate in their plans, the dispute ended by. a disso- lution of the assembly." There was at one time a treaty of peace concluded between the Sachems and Chiefs of the Tuscaroras and Governor Spots- wood, of Virginia, and one of the conditions of the treaty was to help in chastising the authors of the late massacre. In conformity with this pledge the Tuscaroras made an attack on the Mattamuskeets, where they obtained thirty scalps and presented them to the authorities of the whites, of which they pretended to be pleased. I don't doubt but that they were really pleased, but not with any good feelings towards the Tuscaroras. I suppose the object was to get .all the other In- dian nations alienated from them, so that in due time they might be easily conquered, because they were the nation that the whites seemed bent on destroying. The Tuscaroras had faith in the treaty, but only to disappoint them in the thought of having the dark cloud which hung so glowingly over them taken away. It is said by historians that the Tuscaroras dis- regarded the treaty and began hostilities. But I will relate a OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 67 tradition, handed down from generation to generation, which is as follows, to-wit : Some little time after the treaty concluded, several white men went into one of their towns and said that they were sent by the government to distribute among them an annuity of goods in token of friendship ; and also said, " In token of your sincerity to the treaty of peace, you will all repair to a place where there is a cord stretched out in a straight line, you must all take hold of the line with your right hand, and all those that refuse to take hold will be considered as hostile and will be omitted in the distribution of the goods." They all went to the place designated and found the cord strung out for nearly a mile ; at one end of it was a bundle covered with cloth, which, as they supposed, contained the goods ; so the unsuspecting Indians, women and children, with eager hearts, laid hold on the rope. When it was thought that they were in a proper position, the white men all at once uncovered the supposed goods, which was a large cannon, and being prepared to shoot in a line with the cord it was at once fired and roared like thunder. In a moment the ground along the cord was strewn with the meats of the Tuscaroras. This is one of the effects of the treaty at that time. I will copy a report of Governor Spotswood to the Lord's Commissioners of Trade, in the year 1711, to-wit : " Had they," said he, " really intended to carry on the war against the Indians, they could not have done it in a more frugal way than by the treaty I concluded with the Tuscarora chiefs. " Indeed, some of that house, since the dissolution, own more freely than they would do while sitting, that most of the irregularities of their proceedings are owing to some rash votes, passed without foresight, which they could not after- wards get over without breaking the rules of their house ; and so they chose, rather, to let the country suffer than to own in an error. 68 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS ' Some of the Tuscarora chiefs have lately been with Gov- ernor Spotswood, of Virginia, and pretend a great inclination to peace. " They are again to be with him on the 26th of this month ; we are to send two agents to meet them there Mr. Tobias Knight and Mayor Christophe Gale not with any expectation that the Governor will make any treaty for us, for that would be dishonorable- to your lordship and make us appear con- temptible in the eyes of the Indians, but with a view to hear what they have to propose." I might quote many more passages similar to those above, but let these few suffice to show how the Tuscaroras were treated. Now, finally, with a combination of causes, they were, in 1713, crushed and broken down as a nation, to satisfy the inclinations of the white people, persecutions being kept up by neighboring whites and southern Indians until June fol- lowing. The Oneida Indians, having heard of 'the disaster to the Tuscarora Nation, invited them to come and make their dwelling among them ; so, accordingly, they left Carolina and took their journey north to rejoin their sister nations. Methink I can'see them leaving their once cherished homes the aged, the helpless, the women and children, and the warriors faint and few the ashes are cold on their native hearth ; the smoke no more curls round their lowly cabin ; they move on with slow, unsteady steps ; they turn to take a last look upon their doomed village and cast a last glance upon the long cherished memories of their fathers' graves. They shed no tears ; they utter no cries ; they heave no groans ; they linger but a moment. They know and feel that there is for them still one more remove further, not distant nor unseen. One bright, sunny June morning, in the year Ij8^3> was one of the darkest days that the Tuscaroras ever witnessed, when most of the nation took their pace to the north until they came within the bounds of the Oneida domain, about two miles west of Tamaqua, in the state of Pennsylvania, where OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 69 they located and set out apple trees which can be seen to this day ; some of the trees will measure about two feet in diam- eter. Here they dwelled for about two years. In about the year 1815, the Iroquois, being the Mohawk, Onondaga, Seneca, Oneida and Cayuga nations, which were then called the five nations, had a general council where the Tuscarora made an application through their brothers the Oneida, to be admitted into the Iroquois and become the sixth nation, on the grounds of a common generic origin, which was granted them unanimously. Then the Seneca adopted the Tuscarora as their children. Ever since that time to the present, if a Seneca addresses the Tuscaroras, he will invariably salute them as " my sons," in social or in council ; and also the Tus- caroras in return will say " my fathers." The relation has always been kept up to the present. The Tuscaroras were then initiated without enlarging the frame-work of the confederacy and formation of the League, by allowing them their own Sachems and Chiefs, which they had as hereditary from their nation in the south, except on which they gave, as the Holder of the Tree, to sit and enjoy a nominal equality in the councils of the League, by the cour- tesy of the other five nations. They were not dependent, but were admitted to as full an equality as could be granted them without enlarging the frame-work of the confederacy. In the councils of the League they had no national designation. They were then assigned a portion of the Oneidas' territory, which is lying upon the Unadilla river on the east, the Chen- ango on the west, and the Susquehanna on the south, where they dwelled and enjoyed their peace again for about seventy years. In 1736 they numbered 200 warriors of fighting men. We again hear of the Tuscarora by history, concerning a massacre of the German Flats, N. Y., in November, 1757. A narrative communicated to the author of the Docu- mentary History of New York, vol. 2, page 520, viz: "A few days after this massacre and desolation had been perpetrated, 70 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Sir William Johnson dispatched Geo. Croghan, Esq., Deputy Agent, with Mr. Montour, the Indian interpreter, to the Ger- man Flats, where he understood several of the Oneida and Tuscarora Indians were assembled, in order to call upon them to explain why they had not given more timely notice to the Germans of the designs and approach of the enemy, it having been reported that no intelligence had been given by the In- dians until the same morning the attack -was made, and as these Indians might naturally be supposed, from their situation and other circumstances, to have had an earlier knowledge of the enemy's design and march. Before Mr. Croghan could get up to the German Flats the aforesaid Indians were on their road homewards, but he was informed that the Chief Sachem of the Upper Oneida town, with a Tuscarora Sachem (which is supposed to be Solomon Longboard) and another Oneida Indian, were still about four miles from Fort Harkeman, upon which he sent a messenger to acquaint them that he was at the said fort. The aforesaid Indians returned, and on the 3Oth of Novem- ber, at Fort Harkeman, Conaghquieson, the Oneida Sachem, made the following speech to Mr. Croghan, having first called in one Rudolph Shumaker, Hanjost Harkman and several other Germans who understood the Indian language, and desired them to sit down and hear what he had to say. Conaghquieson then proceeded and said : " Brothers : I can't help telling you that we were very much surprised to hear that our English brethren suspect and charge us with not giving them timely notice of the designs of the French, as it is well known we have not neglected to give them every piece of intelligence that came to our knowledge. " Brothers, about fifteen days before the affair happened we sent the Germans word that some Swegatchi Indians told us that the French were determined to destroy the German Flats, desired them to be on their guard. About six days after OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 71 that we had a further account from the Swegatchi Indians that the French were preparing to march. " 1 then came to the German Flats, and in a meeting with the Germans told them what we had heard, and desired to col- lect themselves together in a body at their fort, * and secure their women, children and effects, and to make the best defence they could. At the same time I told them to write what I had said to our brother, Warraghryagey (meaning Sir William John- son t), but they paid not the least regard to what I told them, and laughed at me, slapping their hands on their buttocks, say- ing they did not value the enemy, upon which I returned home and sent one of our people to the lake (meaning Oneida Lake) to find out whether the enemy were coming or not. After he had staid there two days the enemy arrived at the carrying- place, and sent word to the castle at the lake that they were there, and told them what they were going to do, but charged them not to let us at the upper castle know anything of their design. As soon as the man I sent there heard this he came on to us with the account that night; and as soon as we received it we sent a belt of wampum, to confirm the truth thereof, to the Flats, which came here the day before the enemy made their attack ; but the people would not give credit to the account even then, or they might have saved their lives. J This is the truth, and those Germans here present know it to be so. The aforesaid Germans did acknowledge it to be so, and that the}' had such intelligence. " GEORGE CROGHAN." The Oneida being the original owner of the tract of land assigned to the Tuscarora as aforesaid, were made party with * A stockaded work round the church, and a block-house, with a ditch, and a parapet thrown up by Sir William Johnson, a year ago, upon an alarm then given. f They never sent this intelligence to Sir William Johnson. J The Indians who brought the belt of wampum, rinding the Germans still in- credulous, the next morning, just before the attack began, laid hold on the German Minister, and in a manner forced him over to the other side of the river, by which means he and some who followed him escaped the fate of their brethren. 72 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS the Tuscarora to the treaty made at Fort Herkimer in the year 1785, by which it was ceded to the State, and the Oneida took all the avails of the treaty. The Tuscaroras were then again left without a home and were partially scattered among the other nations, although they continued to preserve their nationality. They had some settlements, at a later period, in Oneida Castle, called by them Gaunea-wahro-hare (signifying head on the pole), and one in the valley of the Genesee below Avon, called by them Ju-na-stre-yo (signifying the beautiful valley) ; another settlement at Con-na-so-ra-ga, on the line between Onondaga and Oneida; another in the fork of Chat- tenango Creek, which they called Ju-ta-nea-ga (signifying where the sun shines); and another on the Jordan Creek, which they called Kan-ha-to (signifying limb in water). These several places were settled at different periods, which I am not able to give. In the revolutionary war between the United States and Great Britain, the Tuscaroras then had their settlement at the place alotted them by the league in 1715, between the Unadilla river and the Chenango. They took an active part with the United States. Many a soldier and scout of the United States, in their fatigue and hunger, found a rest and a morsel in the rude homes of the Tuscaroras, which were ever hospitably open to them. When the other Indians which took part with the British knew that the Tuscaroras took part with the United States, they invaded their settlement, destroyed their property and burned down their houses to ashes, which scattered them for a while. There was a party that settled at Oyouwayea, or John- son's landing place, on lake Ontario, about four miles east of the mouth of Niagara River, which is at the mouth of the four- mile creek, for the purpose of getting out of the centre of the other Indians which were for the British. About the close of the war there were two families of the Tuscaroras hunting and fishing along the shores of lake Ontario, OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 73 and then up the east shore of Niagara River as far as Lewiston, and there left their canoe ; then traveled east and up the moun- tain as far as a place which they now call the Old Saw Mill (now on the Tuscarora Reservation), abbve the Ayers* farm, where they saw great quantities of butternuts and walnnts and and a nice stream of water flowing down the mountain ; there they took their rest, and after remaining several days they con- cluded to make their winter quarters at that place, which they did. After they were missing for a time from the settlement at Johnson's landing, they were hunted by their people and finally found at this place. A few years after this the Oneidas and Tuscaroras ceded the tract of land that was apportioned to the Tuscaroras ; then families after families came and locat- ed with those two families mentioned above. This is the be- ginning of the settlement of the present Tuscarora Reservation. The Tuscaroras, ever since the revolutionary war, have had their residence within the territory of the Seneca nation, they being considered the father of the Tuscarora by being adopted as such, at the time of their initiation into the confederacy, in the year 1715. I will here give the boundary of the Seneca Nation domain, according to the treaty entitled "A Treaty between the United States of America and .the Tribes of Indians called the Six Nations " : " The President of the United States having determined to hold a conference with the Six Nations of Indians, for the pur- pose of removing from their minds all causes of complaint, and establishing a firm and permanent friendship with them, and fimothy Pickering being appointed sole agent for that purpose, and the agent having met and conferred with the sachems, chiefs and warriors, of the Six Nations, in a general council, now, in order to accomplish the good design of the conference, the parties have agreed on the following articles, when ratified by the President, with the advice and consent of the Senate of (9) 74 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS the United States, shall be binding on them and the Six Na- tions. "Article I. Peace and friendship are hereby firmly establish- ed, and shall -be perpetual between the United States and the Six Nations. "Article 2. The United States acknowledge the lands re- served to the Oneida, Onondaga, and Cayuga Nations, in their respective treaties with the State of New York, and called their reservations, to be their property ; and the United States will never claim the same, nor disturb them or either of the Six Na- tions, nor their Indian friends residing thereon and united with them, in the free use and enjoyment thereof ; but the said res- ervations shall remain theirs until they choose to sell the same to the people of the United States, who have the right to purchase. "Article 3. The land of the Seneca Nation is bounded as fol- lows : Beginning on Lake Ontario at the northwest corner of the land they sold to Oliver Phelps, the line runs westerly along the lake as Far as O-yong-wong-yeh creek, at Johnson's landing place, about four miles eastward from the fort of Niag- ara ; then southerly up that creek to its main fork ; then straight to the main fork of Stedman's creek, which empties into the Niagara river above fort Schlosser ; and then onward from that fort, continuing the same straight course, to the river (this line from the mouth of O-yong-wong-yeh creek to the river Niagara above Fort Schlosser, being the eastern boundary of a strip of land extending from the same line to Niagara river, which the Seneca Nation ceded to the king of Great Britain at a treaty held about thirty years ago, with Sir William Johnson); then the line runs along the river Niagara to Lake Erie ; then along Lake Erie to the eastern corner of a triangle piece of land which the United States ceded to the state of Pennsylvania, as by the President's patent, dated the third day of March, 1792 ; then due south to the boundary of that state ; then due east to the southwest corner of the land sold by the Seneca Nation to OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATION-. 75 Oliver Phelps ; and then northerly along Phelps' line to the place of beginning, on Lake Ontario. Now, the United States acknowledge all the land within the aforementioned boundary to be the property of the Seneca Nation ; and the United States will never claim the same, nor disturb the Seneca Nation, nor their Indian friends residing thereon and united with them, in the free use and enjoyment thereof ; but it shall remain theirs until they choose to sell the same to the people of the United States, who have the right to purchase. "Article 4. The United States having thus described and ac- knowledged what lands belong to the Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas, and engaged never to claim the same, nor disturb them or any of the Six Nations, nor their Indian friends residing thereon and united with them, in the free use and enjoyment thereof, etc. Proclaimed January 21,1785." You will observe in the treaty above that the name of the Tuscarora Nation is not mentioned at all, and yet speaks of the Six Nations, which includes the Tuscarora Nation. The reason is this : In Article 2 you will observe that all the na- tions that have their lands on the east side of what is known as the Phelps line were named, and west of that line was the land of the Seneca Nation on which the Tuscaroras resided, and were considered as being merged into the Seneca Na- tion, and have the benefit of the laws enacted for them. There was also a contract entered into between the Seneca Nation of Indians of the first part, and Robert Morris, Esq., of the city of Philadelphia, of the second part. At a treaty held under the authority of the United States, at Genesee, in the county of Ontario, State of New York, on the fifteenth day of September, 1797, and on sundry days immediately prior there- to, by the Honorable Jeremiah Wadsworth, Esq., a commis- sioner appointed by the President of the United States to hold the same, when the Senecas ceded the country that included the now Tuscarora Reservation. The Tuscaroras then and there made their complaint by their chiefs, for the first since 76 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS they were initiated into the confederacy of the Iroquois ; in the presence of the commissioner and the others that are parties to the treaty ; that the Troquois had from time to time allotted them lands and had been ceded each time by the Iroquois, without giving them a farthing to remunerate them for their portion of the lands so ceded, or for the improvements that they had made, and asked if they were to be driven in this manner from place to place all the days of their existence, and if that is the way a father should use their children, or brothers should use their brothers, and to keep them living in disap- pointment ; they also alluded to a treaty concluded at Fort Stanwix three years before this, where the commissioners of the United States reserved to them land, which read as fol- lows : "Article 2. The Oneida and Tuscarora Nations shall be se- cured in the possession of the lands on which they are settled." The commissioner then inquired into the merits of the com- plaint of the Tuscaroras, which the Iroquois affirmed ; the commissioner then said to them, that it is not right to make a , contract, or to grant anything without faith ; it is only honor- able when you adhere to your stipulation. When Robert Morris knew that the Tuscaroras were desti- tute of land, he reserved and donated to them two square miles being 1280 acres ; the Senecasalso granted to them one square mile being 640 acres, which grant was made at the convention dated above. On the I3th day of March, 1808, the sachems, chiefs and head men of the Seneca Nation of Indians executed a written indenture of the grant or deed to the Tuscarora Na- tion, of the one square mile of land above mentioned, and was duly signed by the sachems, chiefs and head men of the afore- said Indians. On the 22d day of September, 1810, it was en- tered and put on file in the Niagara County Clerk's office, on page 56 ; and was again put on file in the Niagara County Clerk's Office, Lockport, in book of deeds 151, page 168, March 13, 1879. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 77 About the year 1800, Solomon Longbardand his brother held private council between themselves, consulting how they might obtain more land to make a permanent home for the Tuscaroras and their generation after them, -they concluded to repair to North Carolina and see if they could procure any means from that source, whereby they might obtain more land. In pursu- ance, the Tuscarora Chiefs in council appointed as delegates Solomon Longboard and Sacarrissa, being sachems of the na- tion in the year 1801, and in 1802 they effected a lease by the aid of the Legislature of North Carolina, from which accrued $13,722; and in the year 1804, General Dearborn, then Secre- tary of War, was authorized by Congress to buy land for the Tuscaroras with the said money, by which he bought 4,329 acres of the Holland Land Company, which is now on the south and east side of the three square miles mentioned above, which now constitutes the Tuscarora Reservation. The Tuscarora Nation was once more at peace and in pos- session of lands which they could eall their own. 78 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Tuscaroras at North Carolina. f oke In tracing the history of the Tuscaroras that migrated to the north and joined themselves with the Iroquois, we would not forget those few who remained with King James Blunt, a Tuscarora Chief, in North Carolina, who had a tract of land allotted to them on Pamplico river. The smallness of their number disabling them from resisting the attacks of the south- ern Indians, Governor Charles Eden, of North Carolina, and the council, on the 5th day of June, 1718, entered into a treaty, by which the land on Pamplico river was abandoned by Tuscaroras and another tract granted to them, on Roanol river, in the present county of Birtie, in consideration of which they relinquished all claims of any other land in the province, butted and bounded as follows, viz.: Beginning at the mouth of Quitsnoy swamp, running up the said swamp four hundred and 35 poles, to a scrubby oak near the head of the swamp, by a great spring ; then north ten degrees east, eight hundred and fifty poles, to a persimmon tree on Raquis swamp; then along the swamp and Pacosin main course north fifty-seven degrees west, two thousand six hundred and forty poles, to a hickory tree on the east side of the Falling Run, or Deep cre and also to hand over to him all such bonds as they may have taken from purchasers ; and it shall be the duty of the Secre- tary of State, upon a certificate from the Treasurer of pay. ment of the purchase money and a certificate from the com- missioners of the boundaries of the land so purchased, to grant a title of release from the State of North Carolina to such per- sons as may be reported purchasers by said commissioners under the act of Assembly. " IV. And be it further enacted, That it shall be the duty of the public Treasurer to collect the money on said lands when they shall become due and hold the same subject to the order of the Tuscarora tribe of Indians ; and whenever such order shall be presented, properly and duly authenticated, by said tribe or nation of Indians, it shall be his duty to pay the OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 95 same over accordingly ; Provided always that upon paying such monies, the Public Treasurer shall take from said Indians or agents, a full and complete release of all such claim, pretence of title, as they now make or ever may have to the aforesaid tract of lands. "V. And be it further enacted, That the commissioners shall be allowed each the sum of three dollars for every day that they shall necessarily be employed in examining said lands, or in attending the sale of same, to be paid out of the funds arising from the sale. " VI. Be it further enacted, That if it should appear at any time thereafter that the said Indians have parted with their claims, or contracted for the same, so that in fact the benefit of the sale shall, agreeable to the provisions of this act, re- vert to the State." Governor John Owen, Esq., appointed as commissioners, William R. Smith, of Halifax ; Simon J. Baker, of Martin ; and William Brittain, of Birtie ; to sell the Tuscarora lands in pur- suance to the lease effected by the help of the General Assem- bly, Nov. 17, 1823, of which they reported to William Roberts, Public Treasurer in bonds the sum of $2977.87, payable in installments of one and two years from the I7th day of March, 1829, which are on file in the Public Treasurer's Office. And on Nov. 21, 1831, William S. Mahon, the Public Treasarer, re- reported cash in bonds for sale of Tuscarora lands Principle $1400.27. Interest 3O-74- Total $1431.01. Another report of the same man January, 1832, that all has been collected, and remains in the treasury, subject to the or- der of the Indians. $3,220.71^. Paid on May 3 1st, 1831, and found on file. " For this amount paid Bates Cooke, being their agent to re- 96 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS ceive the same under the Act of Assembly of 1828, $3,- 220.71^." In about the year 1818, the New York Indians, (which in- cludes the Tuscaroras), were engaged in a stipulation, to buy a tract of land from the Menomonees and Winnebagoes, which was questioned in Congress about the validity of a contract on purchases of lands between Indian nations. But Congress did concur in the stipulation made between the New York Indians of the first part, and the Menomonees and Winnebagoes of the second part, for lands lying in Green Bay, Wisconsin, bought and paid for by the former according to the stipulation con- cluded in the year 1822. For the payment of the said land above, I can only speak * for the Tuscaroras. The precise amount paid I am unable to state. But a tax was made on the nation ; children paid twenty-five cents each, adults paid more according to their ability ; the amount obtained in this way I am unable to state. They also gave their annuities of two years, which they drew from the government, and also two hundred dollars in money which they loaned from the Oneida Indians (which they after- wards refunded). All those goods and moneys were paid to the Menomonees and Winnebagoes, as their part of the Green Bay lands. These facts I obtained of the widow of Jonathan Printup, an honora- ble chief of the Tuscarara nation, by whom was entrusted with the goods and money for the payment of said lands, which he faithfully performed, and was accompanied as delegates by Dr. John Patterson and James Cusick, who were appointed to the honorable office of purchasing a tract of land for a future home of their people. I am indebted to the widow of Dr. John Pat- terson, and also his brother Harry, for information which cor- roborates with that of the widow above mentioned, and also of other old people. In a short time afterwards, the Menomonees denied the con- OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 97 tract in various ways, they denied the efficiency of the Chiefs who signed the treaty, and also denied of having received any payment, and also denied the boundary of the land ceded. This naturally created difficulty and discord between them, and kept growing worse from year to year. But the Winebagoes never denied any of the denials of the Menomonees. In a treaty of the United States and the Menomonees and Winebagoes, of Feb. 6th, 1826, in Article 8th, it was acknowl- edged that there existed some uncertainty in consequence of the cession made by the tribes upon Fox River and Green Bay, to the New York Indians. Finally the Menomonees made their complaint before the President, concerning the New York Indians, which has reference to the case, in the treaty by the United States, with the several tribes of Green Bay on Feb. 23rd, 1829, in Article 2nd, which read as follows, viz: " Much difficulty having arising from the negotiations be- tween the Menomonees and Winebago tribes and the various tribes and portions of tribes of Indians of the State of New York, and the claims of the respective parties being much con- tested, as well with relation to the tenure and boundaries of the two tracts claimed by the New York Indians, west of Lake Michigan, as to the authority of the persons who signed the agreement on the part of the Monomonees, and the whole sub- ject having been fully examined at the council this day con- cluded, and the allegations, proofs, and statements of the re- spective parties having been entered upon the Journal of the commissioners, so that the same can be decided by the Presi- dent of the United States, it is agreed by the Monomonees and Wincbagoes, that so far as respects their interests in the premises, the whole matter shall be referred to the President of the United States, whose decision shall be final. And the President is authorized, on the parts, to establish such boun-* daries between them and the New York Indians as he may con- sider equitable and just." And also i-n the treaty of Feb. 8th, 1838, we find, in enumer- (12) 98 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS ating the several reasons for effecting a treaty at the above date, the following, commencing at line 20,928, in the Revision of Indian Treaties, viz : " as well as for the purpose of settling the long existing dispute between themselves, and the several tribes of the New York Indians, who claim to have purchased a portion of their lands, the undersigned, Chiefs and head men of the Menomenees tribe, stipulate and agree with the Uuited States as follows : ' First. The Menomonee tribe of Indians declare themselves the friend and allies of the United States, under whos parental care and protection they desire to continue ; and although al- ways protesting that they are under no obligation to recognize any claim of the New York Indians to any portions of their country ; that they neither sold nor received any value for the land claimed by these tribes ; yet at the solicitation of their Great Father, the President of the United States, and as an evidence of their great love and veneration for him, they agree that such a part of the land described, being within the follow- ing boundaries, as he may direct, may be set apart as homes for the several tribes of the New York Indians, who may re- move to and settle upon the same within three years from the date of this agreement. &c." Commencing at line 20,970, the President of the United States is hereby empowered to appor- tion the lands among the actual occupants at that time, so as not to assign to any tribe a greater number of acres than may be 'equal to one hundred for each soul actually settled upon the lands, and if, at any time of such apportionment any lands shall remain unoccupied by any tribes of the New York Indians, such portion as would have belonged to said Indians, had it l>r<'n occupied, shall revert to the United States. That ]> nt inn, if any, so reverting to be laid off by the President of the United States. It is destinctly understood that the lands hereby ceded to the United States for the New York Indians are to be held by those tri'bes, under such tenure as the Men- omonee Indians now hold their land?, subject to such regula- OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 99 tions and alternation of tenure as Congress and the President of the United States shall from time to time think proper to adopt. " Second.- For the above cession the Unifed States for the benefit of the New York Indians, the United States consent to pay the Menomonee Indians twenty Thousand Dollars, &c. Also commencing at line 21,118, Article 6th, the Menom- onee Chiefs request that such part of it as relates to the New York Indians be immediately submmitted to the representa- tives of their tribes, and if they refuse to accept the provision made for their benefit and to remove upon the lands set apart for them, on the west side of Fox River, that they will direct their immediate removal from the Menomonee county ; but if they agree to accept the liberal offer made to them by parties of this compact, then the Menomonee tribe, as dutiful children of the Great Father, the President, will take them by the hand as brothers, and settle down with them in peace and friend- ship." SUPPLE M E X T A R V A RT Id. K S . First. It is agreed between the undersigned, commissioners on behalf of the United States and the chiefs and warriors representing the Menomonee tribe of Indians, that for the reasons above expressed, such part of the first Article of the agreement entered into between the parties hereto, on the 8th instant, as limits the removal and settlement of the New York Indians upon the lands therein provided for their future homes, three years, shall be altered and amended so as to read as fol- lows : That the President of the United States shall prescribe the time for the removal and settlement of the New York In- dians upon the lands thus provided for them ; and at the ex- piration of such reasonable time, he shall apportion the lands among the actual settlers in such manner as he shall deem equitable and just. And if, within such reasonable time as the President of the United States shall prescribe for that purpose, the New York Indians shall refuse to accept the provisions IOO LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS made for their benefit, or, having agreed, shall neglect or refuse to remove from New York, and settle on the said lands, within the time prescribed for that purpose, that then, and in cither of these events, the lands aforesaid shall be and remain in the property of the United States, according to the said first arti- cle, excepting so much thereof as the President shall deem justly due to such of the New York Indians as shall actually have removed to and settled on the said lands. " Second, It is further agreed that the part of the 'Sixth Ar- ticle of the agreement aforesaid, which requires the removal of those of the New York Indians who may not be settled on the lands at the end of three years, shall be so amended as to leave such removal discretionary with the President of the United States ; the Menomonee Indians having full confidence that in making his decision he will take into consideration the welfare and prosperity of their nation ; Provided, That for the pur- pose of establishing the rights of the New York Indians upon a permanent and just footing, the said treaty shall be ratified with the express understanding that two townships of land,"&c. which goes on and locates the different portion of lands to the several tribes or bands of the New York Indians which was proclaimed, July 9, 1832. " Whereas articles of agreement between the United States of America, and the Menomonee Indians, were made aud con- cluded at the city of Washington, on the 8th day of Februa- ry A. D. 1831, by John H, Eaton, and Samuel C.-Stambaugh, commissioners on the part of the United States, and certain Chiefs and headmen of the Menomonee nation., on the part of the said nation ; to which articles an addition or supplemental article was afterwards made, on the i^th day of February, in the same year, by which the said Menomonee nation agree to cede to the United States certain parts of their lands : and that a tract of country therein defined, shall be set apart for the New York Indians ; all which, with the many other stip- ulations therein contained, will more fully appear by reference OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX 'NATiOAS. IOi to the same. When said agreement thus forming a treaty, were laid before the Senate of the United States', during their then session, but were not at said session acted oh by that body. Whereupon a further agreement was on the fifteenth day of March, in the same year, entered into for the purpose of preserving the provisions of the treaty made as aforesaid ; by which it is stipulated that the said articles of agreement concluded as aforesaid, should be laid before the next Senate of the United States at their ensuing session, and if sanction- ed and confirmed by them, that each and every article threof should be as binding and obligatory upon the parties respect- ively as if they had been sanctioned at the previous session ; and whereas, The Senate of the United States, by their reso- lution of the twenty fifth day of June, 1832, did advise and consent to accept, ratify, and confirm the same, and every clause and article thereof, upon the conditions expressed in the proviso contained in their said resolution, which proviso is as follows : Provided, That for the purpose of establishing the right of the New York Indians on a permanent and just foot- ing, the said treaty shall be ratified, with the express under- standing that two townships of land, &c.," as in article second above. "Whereas, Before the treaty aforesaid, conditionally ratified, according to the proviso to the said resolution of the Senate, above recited, could be obligatory upon the said Menomomee nation, their assent to the same must be had and obtained." Which was clone after some modifications respecting the locr\- tion of the portion of land for the New York Indians. And as the modifications so made and desired, was acceded to also by the New York Indians, which was as follows: " To all to. whom these presents shall come, the undersigned chiefs and head men of the sundry tribes of the New York In- dians (as set forth in the specifications annexed* to their signa- tures), send greeting; " Whereas, a tedious, perplexing and harassing dispute and 102 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS controversy have long existed between the Menomonee Nation of Indians and the New York Indians, more particularly those known as the Stockbridge, Munsee and Brothertown tribes, the Six Nations and the St. Regis tribe. The treaty made be- tween the said Menomonee Nation and the United States, and the conditional ratification thereof by the Senatt of the .United States being stated and set forth in the within agree- ment, entered into between the chiefs and head men of the said Menomonee, and George B. Porter, Governor of Michigan, commissioners specially appointed, with instructions referred to in the said agreement. "And whereas, the undersigned are satisfied and believe that the best efforts of the said commissioners were directed and used to procure, if practicable, the unconditional assent of the said Menomonees to the change proposed by the Senate of the United States in the ratification of the said treaty, but without success. "And whereas, the undersigned, further believe that the terms stated in the within agreement are the best practicable terms short of those proposed by the Senate of the United States, which could be obtained from the said Menomonees ; and being asked to signify our acceptance of the modifications preposed, as aforesaid, by the Menomonees, we are compelled by a sense of duty and propriety to say that we do hereby ac- cept of the same. So far as the tribes to which we belong are concerned, we are perfectly satisfied that the treaty should be ratified on the terms proposed by the Menomonees. We fur- ther believe that the tract of land which the Menomonees in the within agreement are willing to cede, in exchange for an equal quantity on.the northeast side of the tract of five hun- dred thousand acres, contains a sufficient quantity of good land, favorably and advantageously situated, to answer all the wants of the New York Indians and St. Regis tribe. For the pur- pose, then, of putting an end to strife, and that we may sit down in peace and harmony, we thus signify by our acceptance OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 103 of the modifications proposed by the Menomonees ; and we most respectfully request that the treaty as now modified by the agreement this day entered into with the Menomonees, may be ratified and approved by the President and Senate of the United States. "Proclaimed March I3th, 1835." 104 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Treaties of New York Indians. Treaty with the New York Indians as amended by the Sen- ate, and assented to by the several Tribes 1838. Articles of a treaty made and concluded at Buffalo Creek, in the State of New York, the fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, by Ransom H. Gillett, a commissioner on the part or the Uni- ted States, and the chiefs, head men and warriors of the several tribes of the New York Indians, assembled in council ; witnes- seth; " Whereas, The Six Nations of New York Indians, not long after the close of the war of the Revolution, became convinced, from the rapid increase of the white settlers around, that the time was not far distant when their true interest must lead them to seek a new home among their brethren in the West ; and, ' Whereas, This subject was agitated in a general council of the Six Nations as early as 1810, and resulted in sending a me- morial to the President of the United States, inquiring wheth- er the Government would consent to their leaving their habi- tations, and removing into the neighborhood of their western brethren, and if they could procure a home there, by gift or purchase, whether the Government would acknowledge their title to the lands so obtained in the same manner it had ac- knowledged it in those from whom they might receive it ; and further, whether the existing treaties would in such a case re- main in full force, and their annuities be paid as heretofore ; and, OF. THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 10$ " Whereas, With the approbation of the President of the United States, purchases were made by the New York Indians from the Menomonees and Winnebago Indians of certain lands at Green Bay, in the Territory of Wisconsin, which, after much difficulty and contention with those Indians concerning the extent of the purchase, the whole subject was finally set- tled by a treaty between the United States and the Menomo- nee Indians, concluded in February, 1831, to which the New York Indians gave their assent on the seventeenth day of Oc- tober, 1832 ; and " Whereas, By a provision of that treaty, five hundred thou-, sand acres of land are secured to the New York Indians of the Six Nations and the St. Regis tribe, as a future home, on the condition that they all remove to the same within three years, or such reasonable time as the President shall prescribe ; and , " Whereas, The President is satisfied that various consider- ations have prevented those still residing in New York from removing to Green Bay, and among other reasons, that many who were in favor of emigration preferred to remove at once to the Indian Territory, which they were fully persuaded was the only permanent and peaceable home for all the Indians. And they therefore applied to take their Green Bay lands .and provide them a new home among their brethren in the Indian Territory ; and " Whereas, The President, being anxious to promote the peace, prosperity and happiness of his red children, and deter- mined to carry out the Jiumane policy of the Government in removing the Indians from the east to the 'west of the Missis- sippi, within the Indian Territory, by bringing them to see and feel, by his justice and liberality, that it is their true policy and for their interest to do so without delay ; " Therefore, Taking into consideration the foregoing premi- ses, the following articles of a treaty are entered into, between the United States of America and the several tribes of the New York Indians, the names of whose chiefs, head men and (13) 106 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS warriors are hereto subscribed, and those who may hereafter give their assent to this treaty in writing within such time as the President shall appoint." GENERAL PROVISIONS. "Article i. The several tribes of the New York Indians, the names of whose chiefs, head men, warriors and representatives are hereunto annexed, in consideration of the premises above recited, and the covenants hereinafter contained, to be perform- ed on the part of the United States, hereby cede and relinquish to the United States all their right, title and interest in the lands secured to them at Green Bay by the Menomonee treaty of 1831, except the following tract on which a part of the New York Indians now reside : Beginning at the southwesterly corner of the French grants at Green Bay, and running thence southwardly to a point and line to be run from the little Coca- lin, parallel to a line of the French grants, and six miles from Fox river ; from thence, on said parallel line, northwardly six miles ;. from thence eastwardly to a point on the northeast line of the Indian lands, and being a right angle to the same. "Article 2. In consideration of the above cession and relin- quishment on the part of the tribes of the New York Indians, and in order to manifest the deep interest of the United States in the future peace and prosperity of the New York Indians, the United States agree to set apart the following tract of country, situated directly west of the State of Missouri, as a permanent home for the New York Indians now residing in the State of New York, or in Wisconsin, or elsewhere in the United States, who have no permanent homes; which said country is described as follows: Beginning on the west line of the State of Missouri, at the northeast corner of the Cherokee tract, ami running thence north along the west line of the State of Mis- souri, twenty-seven miles to the southerly line of the Missouri lands ; thence west so far as shall be necessary, by runr.iiu; a line, at right an-le> and parallel to the west line ah-ioaid. to OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 107 the Osage lands ;' and thence easterly along the Osage and Cherokee lands to the place of beginning ; to include one mil- lion eight hundred and twenty-four thousand acres of land, be- ing three hundred and twenty acres for each soul of said Indians, as their numbers are at present computed. To have and hold the same, in fee simple, to the said tribes or nations of Indians, by patent from the President of the United States, issued in conformity with the third section of the act entitled, 'An act to provide for an exchange of lands with the Indians residing in any of the States or Territories, and for their remov- al west of the Mississippi/ approved on the 28.th day of May, 1830, with full power and authority in the said Indians to divide said lands among the different tribes, nations or bands in severalty, with the right to sell and convey to and from each other, under such laws and regulations as may be adopted by the respective tribes, acting by themselves or by a general council of the said New York Indians, acting for all the tribes collectively. It is understood and agreed that the above de- scribed country is intended as a future home for the following tribes, to-wit : The Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Oncidas, St. Regis, Stockbridges, Munsees and Brothertowns, residing in the State of New York ; and the same is to be di- vided equally among them according to their respective num- bers, as mentioned in a schedule hereunto annexed. " Article 3. It is further agreed that such of the tribes of the New York Indians as do not accept and agree to remove to the country set apart for their new homes, within five years, or such other time as the President may from time to time ap- point, shall forfeit all interest in the lands so set apart, to the United States. " Article 4. Perpetual peace and friendship shall exist be- tween the United States and the New York Indians.; and the United States hereby* guarantee to protect and defend them in the peaceable possession and enjoyment of their new home, and hereby secure to them, in said country, the right to estab- 108 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS lish their own form of government, appoint their own officers, and administer their own laws; subject, however, to the legis- lation of the United States, regulating trade and intercourse with the Indians. The lands secured to them by patent under this treaty shall .never be included in any state or territory of this Union. The said Indians shall also be entitled in all re- spects to the same political and civil rights and privileges that are granted and secured by the United States to any of the several tribes of emigrant Indians settled in the Indian Ter- ritory. "Article 5. The Oneidas are to have their lands in 'the In- dian Territory, in the tract set apart for the New York Indians, adjoining the Osage tract, and that hereinafter set apart for the Senecas ; and the same shall be so laid off as to secure them a sufficient quantity of timber for their use. Those tribes whose lands are not specially designated in this treaty are to have such as shall be set apart by the President. "Article 6. It is further agreed that the United States will pay to those who remove west, at their new homes, all such annuities as shall properly belong to them. The schedule hereunto annexed shall be deemed and taken as a part of this treaty. " Article 7. It is expressly understood and agreed that the treaty must be approved by the President and ratified and con- firmed by the Senate of the United States, before it shall be binding upon the parties to it. It is further expressly understood and agreed that the rejec- tion, by the President and Senate, of the provisions thereof, applicable to one tribe or distant branch of a tribe shall not be construed to invalidate as to others ; but as to them, it shall be binding and remain in full force and effect. Article 8. It is stipulated and agreed that the accounts of the commissioner and expenses incurred, by him in holding a council with the New York Indians, and concluding treaties at Green Bay and Duck Creek in Wisconsin, and in the State OF THE IROOUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. ICX) of New York in 1836, and those for the exploring party of the present treaty, shall be allowed and settled according to former precedents. SPECIAL PROVISIONS FOR THE ST. REGIS. "Article 9. It is agreed with the American party of the St. Regis Indians, that the United States will pay to the said tribe, on their removal west, or at such time as the President shall appoint, the sum of five thousand dollars, as a remunera- tion for moneys laid out by the said tribe and services render- ed by their chiefs and agents in securing the title to the Green Bay lands ; and in removal to the same, to be apportioned out to the several claimants by the chiefs of the said party, and a United States commissioner, as may be deemed by them equitable and just. It is further agreed that the following res- ervation of land sh'all be made to the Rev. Eleazar Williams of said tribe, which he claims in his own right and that of his wife, which he is to hold in fee simple by patent from the Pres- ident, with full power and authority to sell and dispose of the same, to-wit : Beginning at a point in the west bank of the Fox River, thirteen chains above the old mill-dam at the rap- ids of the little Kockalin ; thence north fifty-two degrees and thirty minutes west, two hundred and forty chains ; thence north thirty-seven degrees and thirty minutes east, two hun- dred chains ; thence south fifty-two degrees and thirty minutes cast, two hundred and forty chains to the bank of the Fox river ; thence up along the bank of 'the Fox river to the place of beginning. SPECIAL' PROVISION FOR THE SENEGAS. ''Article 10. It is agreed \vith the Senecas that they shall have for themselves and their friends the Cayugas and Onon- dagas residing among them, the easterly part of the tract set apart for the New York Indians, and to extend so far west as to include one-half section (three hundred and twenty acres) I 10 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS of land for each soul of the Senecas, Cayugas and Onondagas residing among them ; and if on removing west they find there is not sufficient timber on this tract for their use, then the President shall add thereto timber land sufficient for their ac- commodation ; and they agree to remove from the State of New York to their new homes within five years, and to con- tinue to reside there. And Whereas, At the making of this treaty, Thomas L. Ogden and Joseph Fellows, the assignees of the State of Massachusetts have purchased of the Seneca Na- tion of Indians, in the presence and with the approbation of the United States Commissioner, appointed by the United States to hold said treaty or convention, all the rights, title, interest and claim of the said Seneca Nation to certain lands by a deed of conveyance, a duplicate of which is hereunto an- nexed ; and whereas, the consideration money mentioned in said deed, amounting to two hundred and* two thousand dol- lars, belonging to the Seneca Nation, and the said nation agrees to receive the same, to be disposed of as follows , The sum of one hundred thousand dollars to be invested by the President of the United States in safe stock, for their use, the income of which is to be paid to them at their new homes annually, and the balance, being one hundred and two thousand dollars, is to be paid to the owners of the improvements on lands so deeded according to an appraisement of said improvements, and a dis- tribution and award of said sum of money among the owners of said improvement, to be made by appraisers hereafter to be appointed by the Seneca nation, in the presence of the United States' Commissioner hereafter to be appointed, to be paid by the United States to the individuals who are entitled to the same, according to said -appraisal and award, and their several- ly relinquishing their respective possessions to the said Ogden and Fellows." SPECIAL PROVISIONS FOR THE CAYUGAS. " Article II. The United States will not set apart for the OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. Ill Cayugas, on their removing to their new nomes at the west, two thousand dollars, and will invest the same in some safe stocks, the income of which shall be paid them annually at their new homes. The United States further agree to the said nation on their removal west, two thousand five hundred dol- lars, to be disposed of as the chiefs shall deem just and equi- table." SPECIAL PROVISION FOR THE ONONDAGAS ON THE SENECA RESERVATIONS. "Article 12. The United States agreed to set apart for the Onondagas residing on the Seneca Reservation, two thousand five hundred dollars, on their removing west, and to invest the same in safe stock, the income of which shall be paid to them annually, at their new homes. And the United States further agree to pay to the said Onondagas, on their removal to their new homes in the west, two thousand dollars, to be disposed of as the chiefs shall deem equitable and just." SPECIAL PROVISION'S H>R THE ONEIDAS RESIDING IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK.' . "Article 13. The United States will pay the sum of four thousand dollars, to be paid to Babtist Powlis, and the chiefs of the first Christian party residing at Oneida, and the sum of two thousand dollars shall be paid to "William Day, and the chiefs of the Orchard party residing there, for expenses i-ncurr- ed and services rendered in securing the Green Bay country, and the settlement of a portion thereof ; and they hereby agree- to remove to their -new homes in the Indian Territory as soon as they can make satisfactory arrangements with th_f on behalf of the said Seneca Nation, of the first part, and f homas Lud- Il6 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS low Ogden, of the city of New York, and Joseph Fellows, of Geneva, in the county of Ontario, of the second part, witness- eth: That the said chiefs and head men of the Seneca Nation of Indians, in consideration of the sum of two hundred and two thousand dollars to them in hand paid by the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowfcdged, have granted, bargained, solji, released and confirmed, and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell, release and confirm unto the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, and to their heirs and assigns, all that certain tract or parcel of land situate, lying and being in the county of Erie and State of New York, commonly called and known by the name of Buffalo Creek Reservation, containing by estima. tion forty-nine thousand nine hundred and twenty acres, be the contents thereof more or less. Also all that certain other tract or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the counties of Erie, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus, in said State, commonly called and known by the name of Cattaraugus Reservation, Containing by estimation twenty-one thousand six hundred and eighty acres, be the contents thereof more or less. Also all that certain other trac^ or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the said county of Cattaraugus, in said State, com- monly called and known by the name of the Alleghany Reser- vation, containing by estimation thirty thousand four hundred and sixty-nine acres, bt the contents more or less. And also all that certain other tract or parcel of land, situate, lying and being partly in said county of Erie and partly in the county of Genesee in said State, commonly called and known by name of the Tonawanda Reservation, and containing by esti- mation twelve thousand eight hundred acres, be the same more or less : As the said several tracts of land have been heretofore reserved/** nd are held and occupied by the Seneca Nation of Indians, cf 11 by individuals thereof, together with all and singu- lar the rights, privileges, hereditaments and appurtenances to OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 1 17 each and every of the said tracts or parcels of land belonging or appertaining ; and all the estate, right, title, interest, claim and demand of the said party of the first part, and of the said Seneca Nation of Indians, of, in and to the same, and to each and every parcel thereof ; to have and to hold all and singular the above described and released premises unto the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, their heirs and assigns, to their proper use and behalf forever, as joint tenants, and not as tenants in common. At the before-mentioned treaty, held in my presence, as superintendent on the part of the Commonwealth of Massa- chusetts, and this day concluded, the foregoing instrument of writing was agreed to by the contracting parties therein named, and was in my presence executed by them, and being approved by me, I do hereby certify and declare such my approbation thereof. Witness my hand and seal, at Buffalo Creek, this i5th day of January, in the year 1838. JOSIAH TROWBRIDGE. I have attended a treaty of the Seneca Nation of Indians, held at Buffalo Creek, in the county of Erie, in the State of New York, on the fiteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, when the within instrument was duly executed in my presence, by the chiefs of the Seneca Nation, being fairly and properly under- stood by them. I do therefore certify and approve the same. R. H. GILLET, Commissioner. At a treaty held under and by authority of the United States of America, at Buffalo Creek, in the county of Erie, and State of New York, between the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Tuscarora Nation of Indians, duly assembled in council, and representing and voting for the said Nation, on the one part, and Thomas Ludlow Ogden, of the city of New York, n8 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS and Joseph Fellows, of Geneva, in the county of Ontario, on the other part, concerning the purchase of the rights and claim of the said Indians in 'and to the lands within the State of New York remaining in their occupation. Ransom H. Gillett, Esq., a commissioner appointed by the President of the United States to attend and hold the said treaty, and also Josiah Trowbridge, Esq., the superintendent on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, being severally present at the said treaty, the said sachems, chiefs and warriors, on behalf of the said Tuscarora Nation, did agree to sell and release to the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, and they, the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, did agree to purchase all the right, title and claim of the Tuscarora Na- tion of, in and to the tract, piece or parcel of land mentioned and described in the instrument of writing next hereafter set forth, and at the price or sum therein specified as the considera- tion or purchase money for such sale and release ; which instru- ment being read and explained to the said parties, and mutu- ally agreed to, was signed and sealed by the contracting par- ties, and is in the words following : This indenture, made this fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, between the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Tuscarora Na- tion of Indians, duly assemblnd in council, and acting for and on behalf of the said Tuscarora Nation, of the first part, and Thomas Ludlow Ogden, of the city of New York, and Joseph Fellows, of Geneva, in the county [of Ontario, of the second part, witnesseth : That the said sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Tuscarora Nation, in consideration of the sum of nine thousand six hun- dred dollars to them in hand paid by the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have granted, bargained, sold, released and con- firmed, and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell, release and confirm to the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 1 19 Fellows, and to their heirs and assigns, all that tract or parcel of land situated, lying and being in the county of Niagara, and State of New York, conmonly called and known by the name of the Tuscarora Reservation, or Seneca grant, containing nine- teen hundred and twenty acres, be the same more or less, being the lands in their occupancy, and not included in the land con- veyed to them by Henry Dearborn, together with all and singular the rights, privileges, hereditaments and appurtenances to the said tract or parcel of land belonging or appertaining, and all the estate, right, title, interest, claim and demand of the said party of the first part, and of the said Tuscarora Nation of Indians of, in and to the same, and to every part and parcel thereof ; to have and to hold all and singular the above de- scribed and released premises unto the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, and their heirs and assigns, to their proper use and behoof forever, as joint tenants and not as tenants in common. At the above-mentiojied treaty, held in my presence as super- intendent on the part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and this day concluded, the foregoing instrument was agreed to by the contracting parties therein named, and was in my pres- ence executed by them ; and being approved by me, I do here- by certify and declare such my approbation thereof. Witness my hand and seal at Buffalo Creek, this i$th day of January, in the year 1838, J. TROWBRIDGE, Superintendent. I have attended a treaty of the Tuscarora Nation of Indians, held at Buffalo Creek, in the county of Erie, in the State of New York, on the fifteenth day of 7anuary, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, when the within instrument was duly executed in my. presence by the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the said nation, being fairly and properly understood and transacted by all the parties of Indians concerned, and declared to be done to their full satis- faction. I do therefore certify and approve the same. R. H. GILLET, Commissioner, 120 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS SUPPLEMENTAL ARTICLE TO THE TREATY CONCLUDED AT BUFFALO CREEK, IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK, ON THE I5TH DAY OF JANUARY, 1838, CONCLUDED BETWEEN RAN- SOM H. GILLET, COMMISSIONER, ON THE PART OF THE UNITED STATES, AND CHIEFS AND HEAD MEN OF THE ST. REGIS INDIANS, CONCLUDED ON THE I3TH OF FEBRUARY, 1838. The undersigned, chiefs and head men of the St, Regis In- dians, residing in the State of New York, having heard a copy of said treaty read by Ransom H. Gillet, the commissioner who concluded that treaty on the part of the United States, and he having fully and publicly explained the same, and believing the conditions of the said treaty to be very liberal on the part of the United States, and calculated to be highly beneficial to the New York Indians, including the St. Regis, who are em- braced in its provision, do hereby assent to every part of the said treaty, and approve the same. And it is further agreed that any of the St. Regis Indians who wish to do so shall be at liberty to remove to the said country at any time hereafter within the time specified in this treaty, but under it the Gov- ernment shall not compel them to. remove. The United States will, within one year after the ratification of this treaty, pay over to the American party of said Indians one thousand dollars, part of the sum of five thousand dollars mentioned in the special provisions for the St. Regis Indians, anything in the article contained to the contrary notwitlv standing. Proclaimed April 4, 1840. In the year 1846, on the i6th day of May, about forty of the Tuscaroras emigrated from the reservation to their new homes in the Indian Territory, and in one year about one-third of them died on account of the sufferings they endured. They were destitute of everything, and the Government was to have OF THE I&OQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 121 sustained them for one year, and to build houses for them, and provide all the necessaries of life, but they failed in fulfilling their promises on account of the misconduct of Dr. A. Hoge- boom, the moving agent of the emigration party. By reference to official documents in the Indian department it appears that a petition from a small party of discontented emigrationists at the Tuscarora village, dated March 4th, 1845, was sent to the President of the United States, expressing a desire to remove to the West. It also further appears that a letter had been received by the department from a certain D. G. Garnsey, dated May 8th, 1845, stating that a portion of the Senecas, and others of the Six Nations in western New York, were now ready to remove. The' Government, justly fearing that there might be persons so anxious to possess themselves of the moneys appropriated by law for the removal and sup- port of emigrating Indians, as to resort to fraudulent means for the purpose, by letters warned the Indian agent at Buffalo to be oh his guard against such imposition. Afterwards, several petitioners from small fragments of the Senecas and other tribes, were prevailed on to sign memorials to the President, asking to be removed, and begging appropriations for that purpose. To those well acquainted with these movements, there was sufficient evidence that persons interested in their removal were at the bottom of all this business. Of the Six Nations, once the owners and lords of the soil within the boundaries of the great Commonwealth of New York, there were many small remnants scattered over the western part of this State in a condition of wretched vagrancy ; reduced by idleness and intemperance to poverty, and ready, for a trifling compensation, to have their names attached to any memorial, without regard to its objects, for a small sum of money they would lend themselves to the service of any artful intriguer whose designs were to defraud the Government. By an act of Congress passed on the 3rd day of April, 1843, the sum of twenty thousand four hundred and seventy-seven 05) 122 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS dollars and fifty cents was appropriated for the removal of two hundred and fifty Indians to the countries west and south of the Missouri river. This appropriation was granted in consequence of repeated assurances made to the Indian department that this number were anxious to emigrate. The glittering prize thus hung up in the face of the noon-day sun was so bright and alluring that a goodly number of hungry candidates were soon seen entering the lists and struggling for the prize. But, alas ! for the condi- tions ; unless two hundred and fifty Indians could be procured to enrol themselves on the emigration* engagement, and actu- ally embark for the West, the stakes could not be legally won. Here was the great difficulty. And yet one would sup- pose that out of four thousand eight hundred and eighty-five Indians, belonging to the following tribes, to wit : the Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Oneidas, St. Regises, Stock- bridges, Munsees and Brothertowns, by taking up all the poor, degraded individuals, and gathering together all the sincere emigrationists, such a small proportion of the whole might easily be procured ; especially if these candidates for an agency had told the truth when they asserted that large bodies of the Indians were anxious to remove. By these movements the Government had been induced to believe that there really was an emigration party sufficiently large to meet the objects of the late appropriation, and to warrant the appointment of an emigration agent. Under this impression, the Secretary of War, by a letter dated Sept. 12, 1845, addressed to Dr. Abra- ham Hogeboom, appointed him to that office, instructing him, however, that no movement was to be made unless the full com- plement of emigrants should desire, in good faith, to remove to the West, and Hogeboom was also explicitly informed that " the Government would not undertake the emigration of these Indians unless two hundred and fifty of them, then residing in the State of New York, exclusive of the Canada Indians, should muster themselves and actually go with the agent." OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 123 As if to leave no door open for misunderstanding, the Commis- sioner of Indian Affairs at Washington addressed a letter to Hogeboom, dated Oct. 2nd, 1845, m which it was expressly declared that " two hundred and fifty Indians is the smallest number that will be emigrated." On the 2/th of that month, Hogeboom wrote to the depart- ment giving it information that two hundred and nine Indians had enrolled themselves, and some of their chiefs had assured him that at Buffalo, Cattaraugus and Alleghany there would be twenty more. Thus the utmost number that the Doctor could dare to hope for was two hundred and twenty-nine. If that letter was written in order to feel after the temper of the department, and to ascertain how far it was disposed to relax its determination to send no less away than two hundred and fifty, he was not long in suspense, for by a letter dated Nov. 4th the Secretary of War again reminded him that he was " selected to act as emigrating agent only in the event that two hundred and fifty would go." But on the /th of that month Hogeboom again writes to him, dating his letter from Buffalo, saying he had ascertained that two hundred and sixty Indians had enrolled themselves, and had fixed on the 2Oth of that month as the time for starting." This sudden and unex- pected movement was not agreeable to the Secretary on account of the advanced state of the season ; but, hoping they might get out before the lakes and rivers should be impassable on account of the ice, he immediately ordered provisions for their sustenance at their intended homes, to be procured and be in readiness at the time of their arrival. Notwithstanding all these assurances on the part of Hoge- boom, when the time for tellling the truth came the whole scheme failed ; a sufficient number of Indians could not be persuaded to go. The emigration was therefore indefinitely postponed. It will be seen by the foregoing statement that on the 2/th day of October Hogeboom wrote to the department that only 124 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LA\VS two hundred and nine had enrolled themselves, and he then admitted that only twenty more could be hoped for in addi- tion ; of course there was no prospect of emigrating that season. Indeed the Doctor says in that letter-, speaking of the Indians, "they do not think they will be able to obtain the number of two hundred and fifty to emigrate this fall." Up to this time nothing had been done to induce the war department to ad- vance any money to the agent. So,- not only had the emigra- tion scheme failed, but, so far as the Doctor had been moved by pecuniary motives, he had also failed. This was no doubt a trying circumstance, but the trial did not long continue, for only ten days after he had written to the war department that the Indians did not think they could emigrate this fall, he wrote again to the Secretary of War, under date of Nov. 7th, 1845, saying " I have ascertained that two hundred and sixty Indians have enrolled themselves for emigration, and have fixed the time for starting on the 2Oth inst." The following is an extract from a letter from the department to Hogeboom, dated Nov. I4th, in answer to his of the /th. It was no doubt a letter such as the Doctor much desired : SIR, I have received your letter of the /th inst., informing the department of the enrollment of two hundred and sixty New York Indians for emigration to their western homes, and proceed, now that there appears to be no doubt of tJie movement taking place, to give you some instructions, &c. * A requisition for $10,000 has this day been issued in your favor, with which you will be charged and held accountable for, under the head of "removal, &c., of New York Indians," per act March 3rd, 1843. (Signed) W. MEDILL, Commissioner. Thus the Doctor was put in possession of the sum of ten tlioiisaud dollars, and we hear no more about the two hundred and sixty Indians, nor of any more trouble about Indian emi- gration during the remainder of the year. The proceedings of Dr. Hogeboom, and other persons inter- OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 125 ested in removing the Senecas, necessarily produced great agi- tation, and a very unsettled state among those who had no idea of emigrating. The chiefs on the reservations of Alle- ghany and Cattaraugus, harassed and perplexed by this vexa- tious state of things, at length determined to address the President on the occasion. This application procured the ap- pointment of the council which was held at Cattaraugus on June 2d, 1846. In the spring of 1846 Dr. Hogeboom, hearing that the Gov- ernment had called a council of the Senecas, for the express purpose of inquiring officially whether there was an emigration party among them, and, if there was one, what its number, made great exertions to push off his emigrants. Regardless of the positive instructions of the Government, and without its knowledge, he hastily collected as many of the Indians as ne could bring under his influence, and with them embarked in a steamboat at Silver Creek, on Lake Erie, near Cattaraugus Reservation. The circmmstances and manner of the embarkation throws much light on the motives and conduct of this emigrating agent. The subject is graphically related in a speech of Israel Jemison, as made in a council of 1846, and addressed to the Commissioners of the United States, as follows, to wit : " Brothers ! The question relative to emigration being dis- posed of, I will explain the manner in which this removal of the Indians to the West has been effected. I believe it was irregularly conducted. Indeed, I may say, of this I am con- vinced. The agent who came to execute it was duly notified that the Government had called the present council for the con- sideration and investigation of this matter. As soon as it was known that this had been determined on, great efforts were made to Imrry off the emigrants and induce them to leave before the council would meet. I am satisfied that many were decoyed away by various contrivances and gross misrepresentations on LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS the part of the emigrating agent and his emissaries. I myself remonstrated against these proceedings, and asked if it could be proper to inveigle and deceive the Indians in this manner. In reply I was^ desired to be silent, to which I rejoined that many of them whom they had decoyed on board were then drunk, and in a state of unconsciousness ! These remonstrances availed nothing, and the whole were hurried away. If any showed an unwillingness to go they were told they might return if they^chose, should they not like the place when they got there." The painful, and indeed the awful result of this inhuman conduct of Dr. Hogeboom will be seen by reference to the memorial of the Seneca chiefs to the President of the United States, invoking the aid of the Government to bring back the wretched surviving remnant of the poor duped people. It is as follows : To His Excellency, James K* Polk, President of the United States : The memorial of the undersigned chiefs and warriors of the Seneca Nation of Indians, residing in the State of New York, respectfully showeth, That a party of the Seneca Nation, consisting, as your memorialists have been informed, of sixty-two persons, together with a portion of the Cayugas, Onondagas and Oneidas, resid- ing with us, and a party of the Tuscaroras, residing near Lew- iston, in Niagara county, left the State of New York last spring to settle in the country west of Missouri. That your memorialists have been credibly informed by letters received from individuals among them, and by the statements of such as have returned, that great distress has, from their first arrival there, existed among them, and does exist without mitigation, in consequence of the insalubrity of the climate ; that twenty persons of the sixty-two Senecas were already dead some six weeks since, and about the same proportion of our friends of the other tribes ; that many others were sick ; that three of OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 127 the leading Seneca chiefs, one of the Onondagas, one of the Oneidas, and a leading man of the Tuscaroras, were dead ; that the remnant of the* people, with very few exceptions, were very anxious to return, but were destitute of the means of doing so ; that many of them have sent earnest requests to us for assistance to enable them to do so ; but that only a few families among us are able to furnish efficient relief to their suffering friends. In view of all these facts, we would respect- fully request the President to furnish the necessary assistance to bring back the remnant of the party to their former homes, and to arrange for the payment of the annuities belonging to them, so that in future they may receive them here. Although they went out from us against our earnest remonstrance and en- treaty, and some of them mocking our expressions of concern for them as we stood around the boat when they were going on board, still we shall rejoice to have them home again amongst us, for they are our brethren and their sufferings grieve us to the heart. Thirteen of the Senecas have already returned, and three others, we have heard, are on the way. This makes the condition of those unable to return the more lonely and wretched. We hope the President will not say it was their own fault that they went there, for even if they were to be blamed for doing so, they have already suffered a fearful punishment. But we think that if the President were ac- quainted with the circumstances he would pity rather than blame them for going. Notice had been repeatedly given from the War Department that unless a company of two hundred and fifty emigrants could be organized, none would be re- moved. Such a company having failed to be organized in the fall of 1845, we were told that the Department had required the removing agent to refund the money he had received for the purpose of removing them. In the spring of the present year certain men were running from house to house among our people saying that the agent still held the money in his hands, and would remove all who wished to go, upon the opening of 128 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS navigation. Directly after, notice was received from the Gov- ernment that commissioners were appointed, and that a Coun- cil would-be 'held on a specified day, to ascertain if the requi- site number wished to emigrate. When this became known it was immediately reported that the removing agent (Dr. Hoge- boom) had already contracted for their passage that the steamboat would take them in at Cattaraugus Creek on a cer- tain day, and it was not necessary for them to wait for the action of the Government. The agent soon after appeared, accompanied by two individuals from Buffalo, who, as we were afterward credibly informed, instigated him to practice this fraud upon the Government, and endeavored, by representing the country west as a paradise, to induce a large company to go on board their boat. Some of our friends, who had not dis- posed of their effects, were told not to mind their stuff, for the country to which they w r ere going was so rich, and they would prosper there so rapidly that they would never feel the loss of it, and one family were hurried away from their table, leaving everything upon it just as it was when they arose from their dinner. We have reason to believe that the whole company, except a few leaders, most of whom are now dead, were de- luded by these flattering but false representations of those white men, and inasmuch as the removing Agent appeared on the ground, with the money in his hand, these simple people were made to discredit the orders received from the depart- ment, relative to the council of the 2d of June. Justice would indeed seem to require that these white men should repair the injury they have done to us, and not to us alone, but also to the government. But we have no power to compel them. Our only resource is to appeal to the government in behalf of our afflicted and desponding brethren, who are perishing under the accumula- ted pressure of disappointed expectations grief for the dead and the heavy hand of disease upon their own persons. We trust our appeal will not be disregarded. We think it is the OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 129 dictate of humanity, and we confidently believe that the voice of the whole country would approve the course of the Presi- dent if he would grant the needed relief. We would beg leave further to request the President to make known to us through our friend Philip E. Thomas, of Baltimore, who will present our memorial, the decision he may make in regard to it. And your memorialists, as in duty bound, will ever pray, &c. Cattaraugus Reservation, Dec. 16, 1846. (Signed) James X Shongo, Moses Stephenson, N. T. Strong, William X Jones, Robert X Gordon, Zachariah X L. Jimison, Daniel Two Guns, Samuel X Wilson, William X Johnson, John X Bolden, Benjamin Williams, George Lindsay, John Kennedy, Jr., George Greenblanket, David X Snow, John Huson, Solo- mon W. Lane, Jim X Junius, Henry Two Guns, Little X John, John Talor, John X Luke, Governor X Blacksnake, Israel X Jimison, William X Patterson, John X Greenblanket, S. M. Patterson, Moses X Pierce, James X Stephenson, Abraham X John, Jabez X Stephenson, Peter X White, Charles Graybeard. In reply to this memorial, the following answer was received from the Indian Bureau at Washington : WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, ) Feb. 23rd, 1847. ) SIR : The application for the removal of the Seneca Indians back to New York who emigrated West from there last sum- mer has been duly considered. With every disposition to gratify the wishes of the Society of Friends, and of the New York Indians, so far as it cquld properly be done, I have to in- form you that the Executive Department of the Government has neither the authority nor the means to justify a compliance with their desire. In this particular Congress only could authorize the measure and provide the requisite means for the expense it would invalue. Respectfully your ob't servant, W. MEDILL. To PHILIP E. THOMAS, Esq., Baltimore, Md. (16) 130 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS When the chiefs were made acquainted with the result of this application, they addressed the following communication to the joint committee of Friends : CATTARAUGUS RESERVATION, ) March 22nd, 1847, ) RESPECTED FRIEND, PHILIP E. THOMAS : Permit us to address you a few lines, and, through you, the committee of the four-yearly meetings of the Society of Friends, in reference to the condition of our suffering friends and brethren still re- maining in the country west of the Mississippi. We suppose the committee are already thoroughly acquainted with the means used to decoy those Indians off, in contravention of the instructions of the Government to the removing agent. They were flattered with prospects of almost unbounded prosperity. The country was described as a paradise ; and they were told that there friends here, who might now refuse to accompany them, would soon be compelled to follow, and that it would be better to go now and get well started in their improve- ments, &c., as soon as possible. But, when they reached that country, instead of being a paradise, they found it rather a land of desolation, disease and death, and a large proportion of them are now lying beneath the turf. The survivors are dis- couraged and broken-hearted, in addition to the sufferings from the disease which has swept off their companions, and they are anxious to return. Application has been made to the Gov- ernment in their behalf, without obtaining relief, and, from a recent letter from Dr. Wilson, we learn that a similar applica- tion to the Legislature of this State is likely to fail. We can- not make any appropriation from our national funds until the meeting of our national council, as a law has been passed which would forbid it ; but if we delay till that meeting it will expose our friends to the horrors of the sickly season once more, and doubtless many more of them will perish in conse- quence. Under these circumstances, we see no other resource but to l$ok a^ain to those kind-hearted friends who have done OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 131 in so much already to relieve us in our distresses. Our obligations are already very great, and we cherish deep feelings of gratitude for past favors. We would not willingly burden your kindness now were it not for the peculiarly difficult and perplexing con- dition of things just at the present time. But we feel that humanity towards our own people demands of us to make this application in their behalf, as well as of ourselves, for we will always cherish a lively remembrance of your kindness. Wishing you the reward of the benevolent in the great day, we subscribe ourselves your obliged and sincere friends, In presence of Aher Wright, HENRY TWO GUNS, WILLIAM KROUSE, GEORGE X BUTTON, JOHN X GREENBLANKET, ABRAHAM X JOHN, JAMES SPRING, DANIEL TWO GUNS. Notwithstanding the fact that these Indians were carried away without the knowledge or sanction of the Government, and consequently without the requisite preparation for their comfort and subsistence in the western country, yet the Com- missioner of Indian Affairs, as soon as he was apprised of the movements of Dr. Hogeboom, anxious to afford them all the relief in his power, promptly ordered arrangements for their reception at the place of their destination, as will be seen by the following documents in the War Department, to wit : WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE OF INDIAN AFFAIRS, ) June loth, 1846. ( SlR: Information has been receently received at this office that A. Hogeboom had started for St. Louis with a party of New York Indians, in number about two hundred. This act of starting with a less number than two hundred and fifty, in connection with the recent action of this office, looking to a 132 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS suspension of the emigration for a time, was wholly unauthor- ized, and of course unexpected, but as the party are without the reach of the Department, measures must be taken to sub- sist them. I have therefore to request that you will give direc- tions to the Osage sub.-agent to invite proposals as contem- plated in my instructions to you of the I4th November, 1845, to which you are referred. Respectfully, &c., W. MEDILL. To T. W. HARVEY, Esq., Supt. Indian Affairs, St. Louis, Mo. Notwithstanding this humane effort on f the part of the Com- missioner to make provision for the reception and accommo- dation of these emigrants, it appears that from the hardships and exposures to which they were subjected, and from the un- wholesome nature of the climate one-third of them perished within six months after their arrival at their intended residence. When their distressed situation was made known to the Depart- ment, the Commissioner immediately addressed a letter to the Indian Agent at St. Louis, calling his attention to their case, from which the following is extracted : WAR DEPARTMENT, OFFICE INDIAN AFFAIRS, ( October, 29, 1846. ) SIR : I transmit herewith a copy of a letter just received from James Cusick, one of the party of the New York Indians removed west last summer by Dr. Hogeboom, from which it appears that there has been much sickness and mortality among those Indians, and that they are in a distressed situation. Mr. Cusick's letter, supported by Capt. Burbanks, is calculated to excite much anxiety on account of these Indians. They were removed contrary to the instructions and expectations of the Department at the time, and their having gone west was not known until they were some distance on the route. There was, consequently, no opportunity for making the requisite preliminary arrangement for their comfort and welfare on their OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 133 arrival west. After giving you the instructions of June roth for their subsistance, such had to be left to the judgment and views of duty, under these circumstances, of yourself and the Osage Sub. Agent, under whose immediate supervision they came, in regard to what further required to be done for them. In my letter of the 3oth ultimo your attention was especially called to their situation, and no doubt is entertained, that your answers to that communication will show you have done, or caused to be done, all that could be done, under the circum- stances, for their relief. Should the amount now remitted not be sufficient to cover the expenses of what you have already done, or what it may be, in your judgment, further requisite to do for them in addition to their subsistance, for which there is a special appropriation, you will please report promptly ac- cordingly, and the necessary funds will be furnished. Funds will also be remitted on account of their subsistance when this office is informed that they are needed. Respectfully, W. MEDILL. THOMAS H. HARVEY, Esq., St. Louis, Mo. 134 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Missionary Work. A RECORD OF THE CONGREGATIONAL CHURCH IN THE TUSCA- RORA RESERVATION OBTAINED BY INQUIRY. The church in the Tuscarora Reservation was organized in the year 1805, embracing six members only, under the care of the New York Missionary Society. Rev. Elkanah Holmes, first missionary, from 1805 to 1808. Members of the Church Sacarissa, a Sachem, and his wife ; Nicholas Cusick, an interpreter, and his wife ; Apollas Jacobs and Mary Pempleton. Rev. Mr. Gray, second missionary, 'from 1808 to 1813. At first the Indians converted their Council House into one for public worship, and also for school operations, and in time they built a convenient chapel, which was painted red, and was des- tined to share the same fate as their dwelling houses at the hands of the British Indians in the war of 1812. It was on December 2Oth, 1813, when they were burned to the ground, in consequence of which the operations of the mission were suspended from 1813 to 1817, when Rev. James C. Crane took charge of the mission until the end of the year 1826. In the year 1821 this mission was transferred from the New York Missionary Society to the United Foreign Mission Society. Rev. Joseph B. Lane, the fourth missionary, took charge of the mission from January 3, 1827, to June 8, 1827. Rev. John Elliot, the fifth missionary, also labored among OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 135 these Indians from June 22, 1827, to May 7, 1833, when he left the mission by his'own request, being dismissed from the ser- vice of the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, to which this mission was transferred from the United Foreign Mission Society in the year 1826. Rev. Joel Wood also labored in this mission from October 15, 1833, to October, 1834. Rev. William Williams also labored among them from Octo- ber 26, 1834, to August 29, 1837. Mr. Gilbert Rockwood arrived and took charge of the station as teacher and overseer of the affairs of the church, and was afterwards ordained to the ministry. Before he was ordained he would summon to his aid in the discipline and ordinances of the Church, at different times, Brother Asher Wright, and Mr. Bliss, of Cattaraugus Reserva- tion, and Rev. J. Elliott, of Youngstown. Ordained at Tuscarora Mission, July 3rd, 1839, Rev. Gilbert Rockwood as a missionary of the American Board of Commis- sioners for Foreign Missions, to labor among the Tuscarora Indians. Invocation and reading of the Scriptures were per- formed by Rev. Lemuel Clark, of Lewiston ; first prayer by Rev. John Elliott, of Youngstown, and former missionary at Tuscarora ; sermon by Rev. E. Parmely, of Jamestown , con- secrating prayer by the Rev. Asher Wright, of the Seneca mission ; charge by Rev. Asher Bliss, of Cattaraugus mission ; right hand of fellowship by Rev. A. Wright ; address to the Church and people by Rev. John Elliott ; concluding prayer by Rev. Elisha B. Sherrod, of Wilson ; benediction by Rev. Gilbert Rockwood. The exercises were listened to by an attentive audience of Indians, who probably never witnessed anything of the kind before. The ceremonies were solemn and interesting to the people to the very close, although considerably protracted by passing through an interpreter. What added to the Interest of the occasion was the ordina- 136 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS tion of three native members as Deacons of the Church, at the close of the ordination. The Church has received a refreshing from on high during the last winter, which has added a num- ber of members, and is still in a peaceful and prosperous con- dition. Rev. G. Rockwood was a faithful missionary ; he went in and out among the Indians, visited in their homes, and talked with them in their inroads, and was a great advocate in the cause of Temperance. He was a powerful preacher, and at times had great revivals; for instance, in the year 1852, when I was first awakened to concern for my soul's welfare. It was then my soul was first filled with rejoicing in my newly found Saviour; it was then I first poured out my soul in fervent prayer. On the 7th day of March, 1852, was held a communion sea- son, and on that memorable day forty converts were admitted to the full communion of the Church. Old men of seventy winters and youths of fourteen bowed down together to receive the ordinance of baptism, of whom I was one of the number, at the age of fifteen. It was a scene that angels might rejoice to behold. The whole number admitted to the Church that winter were fifty converts. Rev. G. Rockwood finished his work among the Tuscarora Indians on the first day of January, 1861. Thus it is claimed that Rev. G. Rockwood spent the longest term of ministerial service at one installation in Niagara county but one, which was Rev. W, C. Wisner of the First Presbyterian church, Lock- port, N.Y. The American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Missions, when they withdrew Rev. Rockwood from this mission, also withdrew their supplies, when the Tuscaroras were thrown upon their own resources. In October following the church appointed as delegates Mr. John Mt. Pleasant, a Sachem ; Dea. Samuel Jacobs and Elias Johnson, interpreter, to attend a meeting of the Niagara Presbytery at Yates, to make an application that this mission might come under the care of that OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 137 body, which was granted them on October 29, 1861. The Presbytery appointed as Committee on Supplies, Rev. Joshua Cook, of Lewiston, and H. E. Niles. In January, 1862, Rev. Charles A. Keeler was sent to take charge of the mission, who labored among them until 1863, after which the preaching was supplied by some of the members of the church, and more particularly by Dea. S. Jacobs. Rev. George Ford supplied the Church with preaching every fourth Sabbath, and was succeeded by Rev. Wm. Hall, and he by Rev. W. P. Barker, who began his labors among us in Oct., 1877* and was formerly a missionary in India. A letter by James Cusick, concerning the Baptist mission at Tuscarora, to wit : " In 1836, a portion of the Tuscarora Nation thought it ex. pcdient to become Baptists, according to the dictates of their own conscience and free enjoyment of their religion in this Re- publican government. . Consequently a Baptist church was built and organized among the Tuscaroras, and they were called in council with several Baptist churches in this county. In 1838 they were admitted into the Niagara Baptist Association at Shalby. " In a ministerial council June I4th, 1838, Mr. James Cusick was examined touching his Christian experience, and called to preach the Gospel by Providence and the council. They de- cided on that question, and gave him ordination as a native preacher, deciding that he was well qualified by a knowledge of theology ; and now he has labored among several tribes of the Six Nations." The first Baptist Church at Tuscarora was broken up in the spring of 1846, on account of an emigration to the Indian Ter- ritory, under the influence of Rev. James Cusick, the party being composed mostly of the members of that Church, which caused its overthrow. The next year, after about one-third of the emigration party had died in the Indian Territory, the re- (17) 138 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS mainder came home among the Tuscaroras, but Rev. Mr. Cusick removed into Canada and labored among the Six Nations at Grand river. In the year 1860 Rev. James Cusick began his labors again among the Tuscaroras, in the town of Lewiston, having been invited here by James Johnson, with the view of reorganizing the former Baptist Church. On the fifteenth day of February, 1860, there was held a deliberative meeting at the house of James Johnson, Rev. James Cusick acting as moderator. There were present, Wil- liam Green, of Grand River ; James Johnson, Isaac N. Jack, Isaac Patterson, Joseph Williams, Adam Williams, Sr. The church was organized on March 21, 1860, at the house of James Johnson, Rev. James Cusick, Moderator, and Isaac N. Jack, Clerk. A council of delegates from Wilson and Ransomville was invited by the reorganized Baptist church to meet on the 26th day of April, 1860, for recognition, which duly met. Rev. Wil- liam Sawyer, Chairman ; James Bullock, Clerk. Introductory prayer by Rev. L. C. Pattengill ; hand of fellowship by Rev. Wm. Sawyer ; address by Rev. L. C. Pattengill, including prayer and benediction by Rev. Wm. Sawyer. The following delegates were present, to-wit : From Wilson Rev. L. C. Pattengill, Dea. R. Robinson, Dea. A. Chapin. From Ransomville Rev. Wm. Sawyer, Dea. G. Hopkins, Dea. J. Bullock. They were received into fellowship of the Niagara Baptist Association June 14, 1860, held at Akron, Erie county, N. Y. James Johnson, the first deacon, was chosen April 13, 1860. They finished an edifice of 30x40 feet, a convenient chapel, which was dedicated February 5, 1862. A sermon by Rev. L. C. Pattengill, prayer of dedication by Rev. Wm. Sawyer, report of building by J. C. Hopkins. Rev. James Cusick was to have been their first installed pas- OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 139 tor, but in the year 1861 death took him to his long rest. He was a powerful preacher, and we had great revivals under his ministrations. Rev. Thomas Green, a native, was baptized Jan. 9th, 1861, and on the third day of Oct., 1863, was licensed to preach the Gospel of Christ, a helper for Rev. Nicholas Smith, and on Sept. 25th, 1867, was ordained to the ministry, and succeeded Rev. N. Smith as pastor of that Church, which office he faith- fully filled, went in and out among them, with meek and hum- ble spirit, ever faithful to his trust. He had the gift of natural oratory, and we had some powerful revivals under his preach- ing. It would seem to us that he was called away too soon, but the Omniscient Being knows best. God called him from his labors and trials in this vale of tears to weal in the pleas- ures of his presence and of his only Son, Jesus, of whom he had preached, and fought, as did Paul, the good fight of faith, and finished his course on Jan. 12, 1877, and has seen the crown of life which was lad up for him in Heaven. Rev. Franklin P. Mt. Pleasant, a native, began to preach the Gospel in the spring of 1877, by the invitation of Rev. T. Green, and was licensed on the 23d day of October, 1879, has been their constant preacher. 140 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS School Operations. For the earlier part of the history of school operations among the Tuscarora Indians, I can do no better than to give the re- port of Rev. John Elliot to the Secretary of War, in the year 1832, viz.: " To the Secretary of War : " This will show the operations of the schools from their or- ganization in 1805, to September 30, 1832. " The first school among the Tuscaroras was taught by Rev. Mr. Homes, the first missionary. This, according to the best information, was in 1805. What amount has been expended, either from the fund of the society or by the Government, to sustain its operation, I am wholly unable to state. The In- dians converted their Council House into one for public worship, and also one for school operations, until 1828, when, with a little assistance from abroad, they completed a convenient chapel, 28x38 feet, for public worship. In 1831 they raised and finished a frame school-house 24 x 20 feet, at an expense probably of $200.' This sum, with the exception of $8, the Indians obtained by contributions among themselves. " We have but one teacher, whose whole time is engrossed in the concerns of the school .(Mrs. Elliot and myself are occa- sionally employed). Her name is Elizabeth Stone, and the compensation she receives is only the means of support, the same that we receive. Ninety scholars have,, to our certain knowledge, entered the school since its commencement. One of the number is the principal Chief and stated interpreter, OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 14! who can communicate in three languages. Eighty of this number have attended the school within the last six years. Sixty have left with the prospect, in most cases, of exerting a happy influence. This influence is the result of a belief in, and adherence to, the doctrines of the Gospel. Since they have embraced the principals of Christianity in full their pro- gress in industry and temperance has been strikingly visible and rapid. But few of the number now sip ardent spirits not more than one in twenty. " The young men are enterprising ; some have large, conve- nient barns and comfortable dwellings, fine fields of wheat, corn, oats, &c. ; others are beginning to plant orchards ; they now depend on the cultivation of their lands for a livelihood." The second teacher who taught the school among the Tus- caroras was the son of Rev. Mr. Gray, the second missionary, in the years from 1808 to 1813, and was then followed by a young man by the name of Mr. Youngs. These were the first three teachers who broke in and shed the light of education upon the dark minds of our forefathers. The schools were supported by the missionary societies in the same order as in the different transfers that were made concerning the support of the missionaries. In the year 1858 was the last transfer made from the American Board of Commissioners for Foreign Mission to the State of New York, by whom they are now sus- tained. There were many changes made in the teachers, all of whose names, with dates, in the order in which they came, I am not able to record ; but I will record such names as I have been able to obtain which came under the appointment of missionary teachers, to wit : Miss Elizabeth Stone, from 1831 to 1837. Miss Lucia G. Smith, 1836. * Miss Hannah T. Whitcomb, from Oct. 5, 1839, to Aug. 25, 1849. Miss Mary J. T. Thayer, from 1849 to l %54- Miss Cinderella Britto, from 1853 to 1854. 142 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS ? ' 'Miss Abigail Peck, from 1853 to 1858. Assistant teachers not having regular appointment. Miss Emily Parker, 1831. Burt, 1837. Nancy Wood, 1856. Maria Colton, 1857. " Eleanor B. Lyon, 1857. Under the New York State supervision ; Miss Abigail Peck, from 1858 to 1879. " Mary A. Smith, native. " Robinson. " Emily Chew, native, " Pomeroy. " Margaret Eddy. " Helen Gansvort, native. Mr. William Sage, seven winters. " Philip T. Johnson, native. In the year of 1850 there was another school house built by the natives under the proposition of Miss Mary J. F. Thayer. I have here a brief history of her labors among the Tuscaroras, from her own writings, which is very interesting, to wit : MISS M. j. F. THAYER'S LABORS AS A MISSIONARY TEACHER. At the invitation of Rev. G. Rockwood (then the ordained missionary at Tuscarora) Miss M. J. F, Thayer commenced her labors among the Tuscaroras as teacher on April 30, 1849, m the old school-house opposite Mr. Rockwood's house, receiving from the American Board one dollar and fifty cents per week, besides her board. There were but few scholars, and these were very irregular in their attendance. Miss T. visited the parents and tried to get them interested. She finally came to the con- clusion that time and money were thrown away on that little day school, and drew up a paper, which was read to the Tus- caroras at their New Year's feast, January i, 1850, in which she detailed her plans and wishes, asking their aid in executing OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 143 them. Their response was cordial and hearty. They resolved to build a new school-house ; the site was selected on a corner near Isaac Miller's, and the people, as one man, went to work with great alacrity, under the leadership of one of their chiefs, Wm. Mt. Pleasant, and had, before the next New Year's, a snug house, 18x24 feet, well finished, furnished with two stoves, and a large pile of wood prepared. Miss Thayer commenced teaching at the new station (which she was pleased to call Mt. Hope) Jan. 14, 1851, having forty scholars the first day. On Saturday, Jan. 12, before school began, a church meeting was held at the new station. There were thirty persons present, and they voted to hold prayer meetings there every Wednes- day evening. Feb. 20 Miss T. wrote ' Fifty is the average attendance at school. Scholars happy and bright and very eager to learn Nearly every one has bought a new spelling book. The prayer meetings are well attended ; Sabbath evenings there are fifty present, Wednesdays, thirty. They conduct these meet- ings without their pastor, usually. Christians are being revived ; there is an increasing spirit of prayer ; the women have begun to pray ; we had a precious meeting last Sabbath evening." In March there was a great deal of sickness (typhoid fever), of which several died. The school was interrupted for a few days. May 2, she wrote " My school flourishes. It is difficult to say which seem the happier, the children or their teacher. I have five little girls boarding with me. As the ' boarding school fund' is exhausted, I am obliged to meet all the expenses from my own allowance" It might be stated that Miss Thayer never received a " formal appointment" from the American Board, because her health was so poor, but she was employed and paid by them. After she went to the new schoolhou.se they paid her one hundred and fifty dollars a year, and she found everything. By " boarding school fund" is meant money received by Miss Thayer from friends of hers who were inter- 144 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS ested in her work and sent her, from time to time, small sums of money and sometimes articles of food and clothing for the children, deficiencies she met from her own allowance. Thus the work went on. Several children were anxious to become inmates of the teacher's family. Celia Green, Eliza- beth Cusick, Ann and Mary Henry, Susan Patterson and Sarah Mt. Pleasant were the favored ones. Sept. 10, 1851, Miss T. wrote ". My school is small now, owing to the prevalence of the measles. The little girls living with me being attacked, their mothers have taken them home," Under the same date adds " Two weeks ago I passed a sleep- less night, contemplating the deplorable condition of the young people here, agonizing and with tears wrestling in prayer for them. Last week I learned that three young women had de- cided to forsake there evil ways, repenting of their sins, and looking to Jesus for salvation. Two of them came forward at the church, meeting last Saturday, and 'offered themselves as candidates for admission to the church. One of the young women stayed with me last Sabbath night (this was Louisa Henry). She gives evidence of a change of heart. May many more be led to a saving knowledge of the truth." Writing again to her father, (these extracts are all from let- ters to her father), Dec. 8, 1851 " It would do your heart good to look in upon my little family my little ones so confiding, affectionate and happy. My heart has again been made glad by the conversion of one. of my older pupils, an interesting youth of seventeen. He and the two young women mention- ed in a former letter united with the Church at our last com- munion, I wept for joy at these tokens of the presence of a prayer-answering God." Jan. i, 1852 "Attended the New Years' feast to-day. Told the people of my plans for building an addition to the school- house, so that I might take more children into my family. They adjourned to the Council-house, and will talk over my propositions there this evening." OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 145 Jan. 3 " The church meeting to-day was very interesting. Five young women offered themselves to the church, were ex- amined and accepted. Most of them state that they found the Saviour last summer. As near as I can learn from their state- ments it was at the very time when I was so exercised in their behalf. For some time I agonized in prayer ; then I became calm, and felt assured that my prayer was heard and would be granted." Jan. 4, Sabbath " An interesting day. Never saw so many of the Tuscaroras present at a religious meeting. Some one who counted them stated that there were nearly one hundred and forty, and all seemed serious and attentive. Bro. B.'s dis- course in the forenoon was full of instruction to the young converts. In the afternoon the young women examined yes- terday were received into the Church. Eight children were baptized, and the sacrament administered. In the evening I repaired to the council house, where the sacrament was again administered, on account of an aged sister, nearly one hundred years old, too infirm to go to the meeting-house." Jan. 5 " Commenced school to-day with twenty-five schol- ars ; have seven girls f boarding with me ; my little house is too small, but I hope soon to enlarge it; as the Tuscaroras give en- couragement that they will take hold and help about building. They hold another council to-day to make necessary arrange- ments." Jan. 6 " A committee of chiefs called on me this rnt>rning, and advised me to accept the thirty dollars offered by Mr. E. S. Ely, of Checktowga ; it would be needed to purchase the fine lumber, which they can buy cheaper in Canada than in the States. To-morrow they will turn out with their teams and draw logs to mill for the coarse lumber, and next week they will go to Canada for the fine lumber, which Mr. Mt. Pleasant will prepare. -When all things are ready they will frame the building, enclose and shingle it." Jan. 12, 1852 " Louisa Henry, who seems to be in the last (18) 146 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS stages of consumption, has been with me since New Year's ; is failing fast ; told me when she came that she expected to die soon, and wished to spend her last days with me ; does not fear death ; takes great delight in prayer and reading the Bible ; the 23d Psalm is her favorite portion." Jan. 14 At an inquiry meeting this evening, as Bro. R. was absent, I conversed with those who came ; explained^the para- ble of ' The Prodigal Son/ making personal application ; three young persons requested prayers ; one was only ' almost per- suaded ;' the other two expressed their determination to begin a new life at once ; invited Elias Johnson and his brother James to^stop after school for a season of prayer ; they~were both rejoicing in their newly-found Savior, and poured out their souls in fervent prayer ; my soul is filled with joy." Jan. 19 " Feel quite worn out ; thought Louisa dying ; watched with her all night ; sent for her aunt, who will watch with her to-night." Jan. 21 " Bro. R. called; decided to send the little ones home ; close school for a few days, and take Louisa to the mission house." Jan. 25 " Louisa's aunt took her home at the instance of the Chiefs, who did not like to have the school interrupted." Jan. 26 " Louisa died to-day ; her sufferings are over ; her happy spirit is doubtless with the ransomed above." Jan. 27 " Attended L's funeral." Jar?. 28 " Returned to the school-house, where we had an inquiry meeting in the evening ; about fifty present, of whom one-half seem seriously inquiring the way to be saved ; I con- versed with the females ; found five indulging a hope ; others greatly distressed on account of their sins.^Within a few months there have been twenty^hopeful conversions." Jan. 31 " Met the sisters according to appointment ; there was some earnest wrestling with God ; had conversation with one who, for many years, has been a backslider, but thinks she has now returned to God," OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 147 Feb. 4 " At the inquiry meeting many were present ; sev- eral indulging a hope ; deep feeling, but no excitement." Feb. 7 " At the church meeting thirty-two candidates were examined for admission to the church/' Feb. 8 " Sabbath ; ninety Tuscaroras in attendance upon divine services ; a most solemn assembly." Feb. 12 "An interesting young converts' prayer-meeting." Feb. 13 " My children all have the whooping cough." Feb. 14 " Detained from church meeting by the sick child- ren." Feb. 15 "Sabbath; detained from church; though I am much confined by home duties, the work of the Lord prospers ; Bro. R. is very faithful, and the Lord crowns his labors with great success. He now numbers fifty new converts ; has united several couple in lawful marriage ; many drunkards seem to be reclaimed ; twelve of my Bible-class have found the Savior ; so have three of the little girls that have boarded with me and ten of my day scholars." Feb. 17 " I was afraid that 1 should have to stop teaching and devote myself to the care of my sick children, but their friends took them home last Saturday ; it seemed lonesome without them, but little Elizabeth, who seems to love me with all her little heart, cried so much to come back that they could not keep her at home ; she is with me now and seems quite happy. Have written to Secretary Treat, urging that Bro. Rockwaod be permitted to remain here ; none could be more active and efficient than he now is." Feb. 24 " So many children have the whooping-cough that but few attend school. I, also, have a most troublesome cough, and find it difficult to teach ; should have to give. up if my school was very large, as I have fits of coughing just like the whooping-cough." March 4 " My brother in Buffalo sent the sash and doors for my boarding-house ; the building is going forward. Miss Howe writes that she will come to my assistance if I need her." I4 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS March 7 "Communion season forty additions to the church. The old man of seventy and the youth of fourteen bowed together to receive the ordinance of baptism. A scene that angels might rejoice to behold." March 8 " Have written to Miss Howe to come on, my health being very poor. Have obtained leave of absence for a few weeks, or months, if I should find it expedient to go on to New York to Dr. Nichols' Medical Institute." March 1 1 " Several calls from my Tuscarora friends. They are very loth to have me leave, even for a short time, and it is a sore trial for me." March 13 "Arrived at my father's in Lancaster, N. Y." March 18 " Wrote in my journal, ' still at my father's,' but thinking continually of my dear Tuscarora children. May I soon be restored to them, invigorated both in body and mind." March 23 " Quite unwell ; cannot tell how long I shall have to stay away from my school." April 26 " Left Lancaster for Tuscarora," Mt. Hope, Tuscarora, April* 28, 1852 "Once more in my own sweet home, greeted by the sparkling eyes and smiling faces of my dear children. Found Miss Howe nearly worn out and glad to be relieved. There have been several deaths during my absence some among my scholars. Several calls this evening from my adopt- ed people, who seem so glad to see me." April 29 " Resumed my duties in the school-room." May I Sabbath " Rising early went on foot with my lit- tle girls, thoughj:he road was muddy, reached the meeting house before 9 A. M., in time for Sunday-school ; sacrament in the afternoon. Five received into the church three of them my scholars. So thankful to be once more with my be- loved Tuscaroras." May 1 8 " Have had to relinquish my school again to Miss Howe, I am too feeble for school duties." June 22 "A week ago yesterday almost the whole nation OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 149 turned out to help at the " raising." The excitement of the day was so great that I could sleep but little that night ; so happy ! The Lord be praised. How mountains of difficulties have vanished. The Tuscaroras are doing nobly ; but, besides their work, to finish and furnish all will require about four hun- dred dollars ; this will take all my funds, but when I need more, I know that the Lord will provide. Have already ex- pended nearly one hundred dollars, yet, I trust there will be no lack. Donations are coming in from various quarters." July 23 " How different my labors this summer from those of last winter. Unable to teach, have given my school to another ; nor, am I able to visit much among the people. Oc- cupy my time chiefly in taking care of my little girls, teaching them to sew, and preparing bedding for my contemplated boarding school ; thankful that I may do a little, though I long to do more." Sept. 3 " Being unable to teach, and thinking that I might do more good here, if ever, to study medicine, having consult- ed my friends and Mr. Treat, I shall go to Philadelphia to at- tend medical lectures. Have bade adieu to my humble home, not to return before next February." Miss Thayer returned from Philadelphia in February, 1853. Miss Mary Walker had taught the school during her absence. Shortly after her return to Mt. Hope, Miss Abigail Peck and Miss Cinderella Britto arrived, the former to teach school, the latter to assist in housework, Miss Thayer to have general su- pervision as matron of the boarding school. The American Board doubled their appropriation, so that each one of the la- dies were to receive one hundred dollars a year, and find their own board. Miss Thayer taking it upon herself to meet the other expenses of the school. Timely donations in money were received from Philadelphia, Brooklyn and New York, and various small sums ; also boxes of clothing and some provision from friends in neighboring towns. March 23 Miss Thayer writes : "Have received one hun- 150 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS dred dollars from the Sunday school in Mr. Barnes' church, for my building ; have hired two carpenters to do the inside work, it having been framed, shingled, enclosed, and most of the lathing done by the Tuscaroras. My health is failing again and my mind much racked with planning, as my associates each want a separate room for their own private use, I have been obliged to vary from my original plan so as to secure pleasant rooms for them with chimneys for stoves." May 7 " The building goes forward rather slowly, and my associates are becoming somewhat impatient on account of the delay ; yet we shall have a better finished and more commodi- ous house than I had at first planned. Though very much worn both in body and mind, I do not regret having undertak- en the work. Am more and more convinced that the only hope for the moral and physical well-being of the Tuscaroras> is to train up the children in the way they should go. The work is begun, and the Lord is able to carry it forward, either with or without me." Miss Thayer's health continued poor and she took a vacation of four weeks, in the summer, leaving her associates in charge. Then wrote to Mr. Treat that she should be obliged to give up the management of financial affairs, and asking them to assume the responsibility. To confer with him on the subject, Mr. Treat requested Mr. Rockwood, Miss Thayer and her associates to meet him in Buffalo, where he would stop on his way to the meeting of the American Board at Cincinnati. The result of the conference : The boarding school was transferred to the immediate care of the Board, with Mr. Rockwood as Superintendent ; the ladies to retain their respective positions teacher, house-keeper and matron. From this time Miss Thayer felt greatly fettered, and the impression grew upon her that her presence was not desired at Mt. Hope ; that her usefulness there was at an end. Long and prayerfully did she weigh the matter, and at last, though it nearly broke her heart, she asked to be- dismissed OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 151 from the field. Her request was granted, and Miss Thayer closed her labors at Mt. Hope, December 31, 1853, and longed to die. It was the saddest day of her life, the bitterest trial she ever experienced, this giving up all her hopes of useful- ness among her beloved Tuscaroras. She knew not whither to go ; could not tell the people what she had done. Samuel Jacobs was going to Cattaraugus, and Miss Thayer went with him, hoping the Lord would give her work to do there. Engaged temporarily in teaching, was there until the latter part of July, 1854; in August applied to the Pres- byterian Board for an appointment as missionary teacher for one of their schools among the Southwestern Indians, which was granted, and she was sent to the Chickasaws, in the Indian Territory ; arrived there in November, 1854 ; labored among the Chickasaws, Creeks and Choctaws until September, 1865, when again broken down in health, she reluctantly gave up the work of a missionary teacher, and returned to her father's house in Bristol, Wis., accompanied by her husband, (Theo- dore Jones), and her three young children (tw sons and a daughter). She has since resided in Bristol, Wis., on the farm given to her by her father and brothers, a quiet, pleasant home. Her children are growing up in the fear of the Lord, having all of them, five years ago, (in April, 1873), united with the Congregational church in Bristol. Although she has not the means to give them a liberal education, she hopes that they will be useful workers in the Lord's vineyard. Mrs. Jones often thinks of her beloved Tuscaroras, and would gladly visit them if it were not for the expense of such a journey. Mrs. Jones has culled the material for the foregoing pages from numerous letters written to her father, from Tuscarora, and also made extracts from her private journal, kept whilst at Tuscarora, and she gives Elias Johnson leave to embody such portions of it in his history of the Tuscaroras as shall best suit his purpose. She sends herewith Mr. Treat's reply to her 152 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS request to be released from the work at Mt. Hope; also a let- ter written by the Tuscarora chiefs, representing her departure from their people." "MRS. MARY J. F. JONES, February 22, 1878. Bristol, Wis." To ELIAS JOHNSON, Tuscarora, Temperance Society. About the year 1800, a new religion was introduced among the Six Nations, who alleged to have received a revelation from the Great Spirit, with a commission to preach to them the new doctrine in which he was instructed. This revelation was received in circumstances so remarkable and the precepts which he sought to inculcate, contained in themselves such evidences of wisdom and beneficence, that he was universally received among them, not only as a wise and good man, but as one commissioned by the Great Spirit to be- come their religious teacher, by the name of Ga-nc-o-di-yo, or " Handsomelake." This new religion, as it has ever since been called, with all the ancient and new doctrines, was also taught, strenuously, the doctrine of Temperance, which seemed to be the main and ultimate object of his mission, and upon which he chiefly used his influence and eloquence through the re- OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 153 mainder of his life. He went from village to village, among the several nations of the Iroquois, and continuing his visits from year to year, preaching the new doctrine with remarkable effect ; many abandoned their dissolute hctbits and became sober and moral men. The wholesome doctrine of sobriety was not preached in vain, even among the Tuscaroras ; nevertheless, they did not embrace the ancient and the new faith, nor its ceremonies, but the 'preaching of this singular person. The influ- ence of his eloquence, with which he enforced the doctrine of temperance, had the effect of forming a temperance society, which was kept up a number of years, by holding meetings and by lectures given by the leading men of the nation, until the year 1830, when a regular temperance society was organiz- ed, which was based on a written constitution ; and in the year 1832 there was a general temperance society formed at the Cattaraugus Reservation, embracing all the, then, different Seneca Reservations ; and in the year 1833 the Tuscaroras re- organized so as to be connected with the Seneca temperance society, organized at Cattaraugus. I found the following ar- ticles in the records of the Tuscarora temperance society, to-wit : " Temperance Society, formed among the Tuscaroras, Feb- ruary iQth, 1830, re-organized January 2/th, 1833. "PREAMBLE. " Whereas, Present and past occurrences clearly prove that intemperance is a great and destructive evil ; therefore, Resolv- ed, That we, the chiefs and warriors of the Tuscarora Nation, will do all in our power to arrest its progress, both in this vil- lage and elsewhere." Experience has taught us that efforts to advance this good cause are not in vain, encouraged by what we have already ef- fected, we have concluded to re-organize our society, which shall be named and governed as follows : (19) 154 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS " CONSTITUTION. "Article i. This society shall be denominated the Temper- ance Society auxiliary to the general Temperance Society formed at Cattarftugus, March 1st, 1832, by our red brothers from five different Reservations. Article 2. It shall embrace individuals of both sexes of men, women and children. Article 3$ We who sign our names to this constitution, solemnly pledge ourselves to abstain entirely from the use of intoxicating liquors, and persuade others in an affectionate, faithful manner to do the same, not suffering it to be used in our families, nor purchasing it for those in our employ. Article 4. It shall be the duty of those who were appointed a committee by the general Temperance Society to visit the members of this Society individually, and enquire whether they adhere to or strictly obey the articles of the constitution, and converse with others on the subject of temperance, so far as practicable, and make a report of their doings to the Society. Article 5. The officers of this Society shall be a President, Vice-President, Secretary and Treasurer. The duty of the President shall be as follows, viz : To open the meetings by calling the assembly to order; to appoint the time for meet- ing ; to settle questions in any discussions made in the Society ; to appoint the speakers. The duty of the Secretary shall be to minute the proceedings of every meeting, and read the report at the close of every meeting, and to keep in record the names of the members of the Society. The Treasurer shall keep in charge the revenues of the contributions, and attend to the lights." Names of the first officers of this Society : President Nicholas Cusick. Vice-PresidentWilliam Mt. Pleasant. Secretary and Treasurer James N. Cusick. Names of Chiefs at that time : William Chew, William Printup, OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 155 Jonathan Printup, Mathew Jack, John Mt. Pleasant, John Johnson, John Fox, George Printup, Isaa Miller. This united Temperance Society held a yearly convention on the different Reservations, alternately, for a number of years, but the interest in the convention gradually declined, until the convention was entirely given up. Afterwards they somewhat remodeled the constitution to suit their circum- stances, and added the following article, viz : " In the temperance assemblies the following subjects are to be lectured on : Temperance, Industry, Education and Moral Reform." We have also a cornet band, which is connected with the temperance society, which enliven and cheer the meetings by the sweet strains of their music, and adds very much to the interest of each meeting. This band goes by the name of the " Tuscarora Temperance Cornet Band." It was organized in the year 1842, and has existed continually to the present time, in 1880. -On the nth day of November, 1844, there was a delegation sent here by the Tuscaroras, from Grand River, then Canada West, now Ontario, to connect themselves with our temper- ance society, which was granted them, and the following dele- gates were admitted, viz : William Green, a Sachem ; David Hill, Jacob Hill, Rev. Nicholas Smith and Thomas Thomas. This society was afterwards invited to hold a temperance meeting on the Tuscarora Reservation at Grand River, Ontario, with the view of organizing a temperance society in conjunc- tion to ours. The meeting was held according to the time designated. The meetings were opened and conducted with much interest, but dissolved without the formation of a society. There was a disagreement concerning the constitution of the society, respecting the subjects of discussion in the meetings of the society. The Canada Indians wished to have the three I$6 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND. LAWS other subjects, from that of temperance, to be stricken out, but the Tuscaroras of the States adhered to the forms of the constitution of their society, which includes Industry, Educa- tion and Moral Reform, as the subject of lecture of each meet- ing, which was adopted at an early period. In the autumn of 1862, the cornet band and a number of the members of the society made a visit to Grand River, Ontario, among their Indian brethren, and when they arrived there the Sons of Temperance had a social party, to which we were very cordially invited to participate of the sumptous feast, which was already prepared, and were two days devoted to temperance meetings. The time was taken up by lectures on temperance and music by the two cornet bands, which played their music alternately, and added very much to the interest of the meetings. The speeches were interspersed with the rehearsals of the different traditions of the causes of the declension of the Indian nations, and regretting the slow- ness of the progress of their civilization, and attribute to temper- ance^ to be the great cause of the retard of their advancement in industry and civilization. They were invited several times by these, our Canada red brothers, to their Sons of Temperance conventions at Grand River, of which they faithfully attended, and they were also invited at one of their conventions held at Monseetown, near London, Ontario, on the reservation of the Oneidas ; our cor- net band and quite a number of the members of our society complied to the invitation. The meetings were very interest- ing. There were many speeches made on the subject of tem- perance, and on various topics for the advancement of the respective Indian nations. A speech was also made by the author of this book, which began as follows, to-wit : " My dear friends and relatives, I Have been interested in the great and good cause of temperance for a number of years, and have attended many meetings and assemblies in the tem- perance cause, but this, our present gathering, is to me, unus- OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 157 ually interesting ; it brings my mind back for more than a cen- tury, when the Tuscaroras were broken down, as a nation, by the pale faces, arid expelled from their long-cherished homes, and driven from the graves of our noble ancestors, into the wild and cold-hearted world ; and when they were without a friend and without a home, and no one to pity them, in this, their time of trouble. You, the Oneidas, gave us the hand of friendship and brotherly love, and gave us peaceful homes within your wide extended domain, and whispered in our ears the words of consolation ; when, and how shall we ever forget or repay you for the unbounded kindness that your fathers ex- ercised towards ours ? We have ever given you a place near- est our hearts, with all its affections, here we give you our hands and our hearts in the great and good cause of temper- ance, and we wish you prosperity in every sense of the w'ord- .both temporally and morally." This convention was denominated the Six Nations Sons of Temperance Convention,. although we, from the States were not members of that order. It seems that they deemed it not derogatory to their dignity that we. should be present at their conventions, although ours is a common, open and free .temp- erance society. We, also, invited them to hold their convention on our res- ervation, which was acceded to and held in the fall of 1865, and there were delegates of several Oneidas, from-Monseetown, Ontario, and of the Tuscaroras, from Grand River, Ontario, and also a cornet band of .the Onondagas, from Onondaga, Cas- tle, N. Y., which favored us with the sweet strains of their music, alternately, with our cornet band. Every morning the assembly would meet at the school-house, Mt. Hope, at 10 o'clock, A. M., and there form in procession and march to the council-house, about one mile, to the place of meeting ; the two cornet bancls; played their music while the procession was moving, and our temperance banners \\cix floating in the air, as if to say, rally round the 'temperance banner. 158 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Our temperance banner was made in the year 1844, by our people, assisted by, then, our Missionery, Rev. G. Rockwood. It is illustrated by several animals illustrative of the several clans that are in the nation ; and also, six stars that are group- ed in the upper corner of the banner, next to the pole, indica- ative, as in the animals, of the several clans, that they, aught, also, group together and combine as in one, to work against the great monster, intemperance, which is also illustrated by a seven-headed serpent. As this monster is formidable, so aught we abstain from all intoxicating liquors. There is also, a great eagle soaring in the air, in the act of grasping the great seven- headed serpent. This illustrates that in our endeavers in the capacity of a society, to defeat the great monster intemper- ance we have a helper, which is the Legislature of the State of New York and the United States, in enacting laws to the effect of staying the great tide of intemperance among the In- dians, in which we should take courage. There was another convention held here in 1873, when there was quite a large delegation of the Oneidas, from Monseetown, Ontario, and also from Grand River, Ontario, among them was the Tuscarora cornet band of Grand River. The meetings were occupied by lectures on temperance and on other topics, which were thought to be the most needed for the advance- ment of the social and moral conditions of our red brethren. The Grand River cornet band, and ours, played, alternately, their angelic melodies, to cheer us in the great temperance cause. It was then the convention of the Sons of Temperance urged upon us to adopt their Order, but our people thought it not advisable to change the order of our society, as it has existed since the year 1830; the form maybe different, but the object is the same. We said we preferred to adhere to the old form of our society, open to all, and free to partake of the benefits of it ; we prayed them God's speed in their turning the great wheel of temperance, and we should lay hold on the same wheel and turn the same way. That same night the con- OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 1 59 vention closed. There was a great bonfire made in the street ; and then there was a general farewell, hand-shaking, and it closed with music from the bands in the dead of the night. The next convention was held at Grand River, Ontario, in October, 1874, in the Six Nation council-house. There was quite a large representation of the Six Nations. Speeches were made on the subject of temperance by all the different nations, to-wit : Mr. Josiah Hill, Sachem, of Grand River, Tuscarora. Mr. David Hill, " " Seneca. Mr. Levi Jonathan, " " Onondaga. Mr. Clinch, " " Mohawk. Mr. James Jemison, Cayuga. Mr. Eligah, of Monseetown, Oneida. Mr. William Patterson, Sachem, of Lewiston, Tuscarora. Dea. Samuel Jacobs, Mr. William Chew, Mr. Elias Johnson, " The winter after the meetings above, a communication was received by the Secretary of our society, Dea. Samuel Jacobs, from the Tuscaroras of Grand River, Ontario, wishing him to forward to them a copy of the constitution of our temperance society, and stating that they wish to form a society based upon the same, which was deferred by Dea. Jacobs until the June following, when Dea. Jacobs,Wm. Patterson, Rev. Thomas Green and Wm. Chew went to Grand River with the constitu- tion. After it was read in their meeting, the Canadian brothers adopted it and formed a society based on the same. It was then proposed and adopted that a convention should be held in the Six Nations council-house, at Grand River, Ontario, in October, 1875. Accordingly the convention duly met and continued three days. Our cornet band was present, with quite a number of the members of our society. The meetings were very pleasant and interesting. The officers were as fol- lows, to-wit : l6o LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS President Wm. Chew, of Lewiston. Vice-President John Hill, of Grand River. Secretary Josiah Hill, of Grand River. Before the convention closed it was decided that the next convention should be' at the Tuscorora Reservation, 'Lewis- ton, N. Y., on the i/th day of October, 1876, and the officers appointed were as follows, to-wit : President Josiah Hill, of Grand River. Vice-President 'Dea. Samuel Jacobs, of Lewiston. N. Y. SecretaryEllas Johnson, of Lewiston, N. Y. Just before the appointed time for the convention to meet, there was a communication received by Mr. John Mt. Pleas- ant, our head chief, from A. Sim Logan, of Cattaraugus Res- ervation, N. Y., being leader of the Seneca national cornet band, asking the privilege of attending the contemplated convention with 'his band. The letter was read at one of the temperance meetings, and was not only acceded to, but they were cordially invited to attend, and on the I7th day of October, 1876, the day appointed for the convention, they were on hand. A. Sims Logan, with his national cornet band, of Cattaraugus, and Levi Jonathan, with his Tuscasora cornet band, of .Grand River, and Solomon Cusick, with his temper- ance cornet band, of Lewiston, N. Y , were present, which com- prise the three leading bands of music of any nations of In- dians. The programme was substantially as follows : 1 The meeting was called to order by the president, Josiah Hill, of Grand River. A hymn was sung by the assembly, in the Indian language, words, " Oh, for a thousand tongues to sing my Redeemer's praise ;" tune, Dundee. ' Prayer by Dea. Samuel Jacobs, of Lewiston, N. Y. The following were chosen as committees of arrangement, to-wit : Mr. Wm. Chew, of Lewiston, N. Y. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. l6l Mr. Wm. Printup, of Lewiston, N. Y. Mr. Joseph Henry, of Grand River, Ont. Mr. George Beaver, of Grand River, Ont. Mr. Wm. Nephew, of Cattaraugus, N. Y. Mr. Wm. Printup made the congratulatory speech of the meeting, through an intrepreter, Joseph Henry. The speakers of the first session were as follows, to-wit : Mr. Levi Jonathan, of Grand River, Ont., on Temperance. Dea. Samuel Jacobs, of Lewiston, N.Y., on Moral Reform. Mr. Joseph Henry, of Grand River, Ont., on Industry. Mr. A. Sim Logan, of Cattaraugus, N. Y., on Education. The Tuscarora cornet band favored this session with music between the speeches. Adjourned at 2 o'clock P. M. and convened again at 5 oclock P. M. The assembly was called to order by the president. The following were the speakers, to-wit : Mr. Simon Carrier, of Grand River, Ont. Mr. Josiah Hill, of Grand River, Ont. Mr. William Anderson, of Grand River, Ont. Mr. Wm. Chew, of Lewiston, N. Y. Mr. John Mt. Pleasant, of Lewiston, N. Y. Mr. Elias Johnson, of Lewiston, N. Y. Mr. Wm. Nephew, of Cattaraugus, N. Y. Music was favored the second session by the Seneca national band, of Cattaraugus, N. Y. Adjourned at 8:30 o'clock P. M. to 10 o'clock A. M. to-mor- row, after singing the tune Greenville, words, " Savior, Visit Thy Plantation." Benediction by Rev. Thomas Green. Oct. 1 8. The assembly was called to order by the Vice- Prcsident, Dea. Samuel Jacobs, of Lewiston, at 10 o'clock A.M. Opened by singing an Indian hymn. Prayer by Rev. Thomas Green, of Lewiston, N. Y. The Jbrtt-owing were the speakers, to-wit : (20) 1 62 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Mr. Thomas Williams, of Grand River. Mr. George Beaver, " " " Mr. John C. Lay, " Cattaraugus. Adjourned at 1:30 o'clock P. M. to 4 P. M. The assembly was called to order at 4 o'clock P. M. by the President. The following were the speakers, to-wit : Mr. John John, of Grand River. Mr. Levi Jonathan, Dr. Bombry, " " President Josiah Hill, " Mr. Albert Cusick, of Onondaga Castle. Mr. Abram Hill, " Rev. Thomas Green, of Lewiston, N. Y. Mr. John Mt. Pleasant, Mr. William Patterson, " " Mr. Marvin Crows, of Cattaraugus, " This forenoon we were favored with music by our temper- ance cornet band between the speeches. lu the afternoon session we were favored with music by C. C. Lay's orchestra band, of Cattaraugus, N. Y. President Hill in the chair, business was resumed. Mr. John C. Lay moved that the next convention be held on the Cattaraugus Reservation, N. Y. This was followed by a motion of Levi Jonathan, that the next convention be held at Grand River, Ontario, who claimed that they had adopted the constitution, while the Senecas had not. After some dis- cussion, A. Sim Logan said, " If you will give us a copy of your constitution, we will accept of it and form a society based on the same." It was then put to vote and carried that the next conven- tion should be held at Cattaraugus, N. Y,, on the 25th day of September, 1877. The following officers were appointed, viz : Mr. Elias Johnson, Tuscarora, of Lewiston, N. Y., President. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 163 Mr. Josiah Hill, Tuscarora, of Grand River, Vice-President. Dr. Bombry, Cayuga, of Grand River, Secretary. On the evening of October 25th, as aforesaid, the conven- tion duly met, and was called to order by the President, E. Johnson ; opened by singing and prayer. Business was then resumed. The Secretary not being present, Prof. Chancy C. Jemison, of Cattaraugus, was appointed to fill the vacancy. The committee of arrangements was as follows, viz : Mr. John Canada, Seneca, of Cattaraugus. Mr. A. Sim Logan, Seneca, of Cattaraugus. Mr. Job King, Seneca, of Cattaraugus. Mr. Levi Jonathan, Onondaga, of Grand River. . Mr. James Jemison, Cayuga, of Grand River. Mr, Josiah Hill, Tuscarora, of Grand River. Mr. John Mt. Pleasant, Tuscarora, of Lewiston. Mr. Wm. Chew, Tuscarora, of Lewiston. Mr. Daniel La Fort, Onondaga, of Syracuse, N. Y. Mr. Abram Hill, Oneida, of Syracuse, N. Y. The convention continued three days. Many speeches were made by the leading men of the several nations that were represented. The meetings were unusually interesting. Every speaker seemed to be moved to the utmost of their enthu- siasm. The congregations were large, and every face seemed to glow with the interest that was awakened in the great cause of temperance. The order and decorum that prevailed throughout all the meetings was becoming to any community. There were also four cornet bands which favored the assem- blies with music, in their proper times, which added very much to the interest of the convention. The bands were as fol- lows, to-wit : Mr. A. Sim Logan's national cornet band, of Cattarau- gus, N. Y. Mr. Chester C. Lay's silver cornet band, of the same place. Mr. Levi Jonathan's Tuscarora cornet band, of Grand River, Ontario. 164 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Mr. Enos Johnson's temperance cornet band, e Tusca- rora, N. Y. On the morning of the last day of the convention before the services began, the four cornet bands consolidated in one, which made over fifty members, and played several tunes to- gether outsfde of the Presbyterian church, in which the con vention was held, and made a rousing band of music. The first article of the constitution, which reads thus : " This society shall be denominated the Temperance Society," was amended so as to read thus: " This society shall be denomi- nated the Six Nations Temperance Society of the United States and Canada." The assembly was then called to sign the temperance pledge of this society. There were upwards of two hundred that signed, most of whom resided on the reservation in which the convention was held ; but there were some from the Tona- wanda, Alleghany and Onondaga reservations, and also one Oneida, from Green Bay, Wis. The Onondagas and Tonawandas made application for a copy of the constitution to be sent to them, that they might form temperance societies on their respective reservations, which was granted them, and Mr. Josiah Hill was appointed to write the copy and send the same to them. The convention adjourned on the evening of the third clay. to meet again the next year at Grand River, Ontario. OFFICERS. Mr. John Canada, Seneca, of Cattaraugus, President- Mr. Wm. Patterson, Tuscarora, of Lewiston, N. Y., Vice- President. Mr. Josiah Hill, Tuscarora, of Grand River, Secretary. Mr. John Mt. Pleasant, Tuscarora, of Lewiston, N. Y., Treasurer. It will be seen by the above t that the Tuscaroras have not been altogether idle on the subject of temperance. The tempta- OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 165 tions of intemperance surrounding our reservation are great. We hope that the legislature will aid us in enacting more rigid laws, for the temptation is working even in cider, which seems to be more intoxicating now than in former times. Friendship of the Tuscaroras to the United States. The Tuscarora Indians have for more than a century been a firn) friend to the* United States. In the Revelutionary war they took an active part for the declaration of independence ; many took part, but few were enrolled, consequently, but few that drew pension from the United States. For instance, Nicholas Cusick, a Tuscarora Indian ; where shall you look for another instance of friendship, greater than his, towards the distinguished Marquis de Lafayette, or for christia"n principle more firm and true than he evinced concerning his pension. In the war of the Revolution he was under command of La- fayette. Many years after peace was concluded, as he was passing through Washington, he accidentally heard the name of his old commander spoken of in the office in which he stopped on business. The moment his ear caught the sound, his eyes brightened, and full of earnestness he asked, " Is he yet alive?" " Yes," was the reply, " he is alive and looking well and hearty." With decided emphasis, he said, " I am glad to hear it." " Then you knew Lafayette, Mr. Cusick ?" " Oh, yes ;" he answered, " I knew him well, and many a time in bat- 1 66 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS tie I threw myself between him and the bullets, for I loved him." On asking him if he had a commission, he said, " Yes ; General Washington gave me one, and he was Lieutenant." This suggested to his friends that he was entitled to a pension, and on looking over the records, the truth of what he said was confirmed, and he received one for several years. Afterwards, congress passed a law making it necessary that each recipient should swear that he could not live without the pension. When the old warrior was called upon to do this, he said, " Now, here is my little log cabin, and it is my own ; here is my patch of ground, where I raise my corn and beans, and there is lake Oneida, where I can catch fish ; with these I can make out to live without the pension, and to say that I could not, would be to lie to the Great Spirit." This is the honor of the Tuscarora hero. How many among those of the white people who receive a pension would have done likewise, for conscience sake. Cusick could speak the Eng- lish language very well, but when he made an audible prayer, or said grace at the table, he used his native Tuscarora lan- guage, " because," said he, " when I speak in English, I am of- ten at a loss for a word ; when, therefore, I speak to the Great Spirit, I do not like to be perplexed, or have my mind distract- ed to look after a word, when I use my own language, it is like my breath", I am composed." In this is exemplified that he fully understood the reverence which was due to the great Architect of the universe. Solomon Longboard, also a Tuscarora Sachem, took an ac- tive part in the Revolutionary war, with many others of his nation. In one of their scouting parties, he, with others, was taken captive by the British Indians and brought to fort Niag- ara, where they were kept for some time, and urged to take up arms and fight against the revolutionists. Finally, this cele- brated sachem, Longboard, held a secret council among the captives, and instructed them all to take arms and advance with the British Indians, and use their influence to lead them OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. l6/ to a place where they might be captured, and they with the rest, which they successfully effected, and were re-captured by the Americans. Instead of gaining honor and laurels to his crown, he was to be sentenced to be shot as a traitor, but through the entreaties of the Tuscarora chiefs, and the influ- ence of the feasibility of their story that was made on the ex- ecutives, he was released, but never drew pension as did Mr. Cusick. The Tuscaroras again evinced their friendship for the Unit- ed States in the war of 1812, when they were asked to guard the Niagara river at Lewiston and down the river, against the British crossing it. Here again we hear of the Tuscarora sachem, Solomon Long- board, with about thirty-five Tuscarora volunteers, stationed at Lewiston on guard. I have recorded some of the names of these volunteers, which I was able to obtain from some of the old people that were yet living in the year 1878, which are as follows, to-wit : The two sons of Solomon Longboard, Jacob Taylor, Joseph Cusick, John Cusick, David Cusick, John Black Nose and his brother, Samuel Thompson, John Obediah, Aaron Pempleton, James Pempleton, John Mt. Pleasant, Harry Pat- terson, John Green, Isaac Allen, Capt. Williams, Gau-ya-re-na- tea, Wm. Printup, better known as little Billy, Black Chief, John Printup, Isaac Green, Surgin Green, George Printup. There were but few of these that drew pension, as it was alleg- ed that they were not enrolled upon the army roll,* On the night of December iQth, 1813, the British army and British Indians crossed the Niagara River near Calvin Hotchkis' place, about two miles below Lewiston. They noticed at first there were lights going across the river during the night, and at the dawn of day were despatceed, Jacob Taylor (better known as Colonel Jacobs), and another Indian to accompany him both being Tuscaroras. On their return they reported that the British Indians had crossed the river in great numbers. The news was circulated in the village of 1 68 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Lewiston and the neighboring country, that they might evac- uate their places and go east, which they did, taking the Ridge road. The Tuscarora volunteers took the rear of the train as they moved eastward, commanded by their Sachem, Solomon Longboard. The British Indians went on the pursuit. After they had gone about two miles from the village of Lewiston, where the Tuscarora Indians branched off on a road leading to their reservation, known as the Indian hill, or Mountain road. As they had advanced part way up the mountain they observed a Canada Indian on horseback, who headed off some of the train, and among the rest was also Bates Cooke, of Lewiston. One of his legs had, a little previous to that time, been ampu- tated, and the main Canada force were about half a mile in the rear on pursuit. The commander of the Tuscarora force ordered that the Indian heading off the train be shot, which was done by John Obediah. The Indian tumbled off the horse and fell to the ground, and then got up and ran down the little hill into the wood, where it is said he died from the wound he received. When the report of the gun was heard by the Canadian force and they saw the effect it had on their comrade, they halted. Their commander, Mr. Longboard, of the Tuscaroras, which numbered at that time twenty-six, from them selected three men and instructed them to get upon and to go along the top of t^e mountain and to blow a horn occasionally, which they had in their possession, and to keep nearly opposite the Canada Indians. The object was to serve as a scare-crow, to make them believe that there was a force also on the moun- tain in the act of flanking them. But the remaining force of Mr. Longboard rushed down the monntain with their .war whoops as if legion were coming down, and pursued the Canada Indians, while the train of white people had gone on in their flight. The Canada Indians retreated about one mile and a half, near to where the main force were. Then one of OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 169 their men halted and aimed his gun at one of our men, John Obediah, and the latter also aimed to his opponent, while Sam- uel Thompson got behind a large elm tree. In the meantime, John Obediah spoke to the stranger in all the different six languages of the Iroquois, but did not get an answer. These were the only two men in pursuit at this time, as the rest of them had halted some ways back. Finally the British Indian retreated backwards, keeping aim as he went, and all at once gave a spring and ran off. The three men that were on the mountain kept occasionally blowing the horn as they went, as the road is parallel with the mountain. By this time the train of white people had gone quite a good Ways in their flight ; it is evident that the timely intervention of the Tuscarora Indians, saved great slaughter of men, women and children among the white people. The Tuscaroras then went back and kept in the rear of the white people in their flight. The British Indians perceiving that it was the Tuscarora Indians that killed one of their num- ber and repulsed them, made their way v to their reservation, (the nation had already deserted their homes), and began to burn their houses indiscriminately, and also a meeting-house which was built by them, except eight dollars, a convenient chapel where the early Christian Tuscaroras such as Sacaresa and Solomon Longboard, both sachems, with many others, de- lighted to worship the Almighty in the simplicity of their faith. And after they had finished their destruction they went down in pursuit of the fleeing train of white people on the ridge road ; by this time the Tuscaroras had stationed themselves at a log house, eight or ten miles from Lewiston, near Nathan Peterson's, which was used as an armory ; when the Tuscaroras first came, there were a few white men there breaking open the powder kegs in this log house, making it ready to set on fire but the chief, Mr. Longboard, remonstrated in having it burn_ ed, and was interpreted to them by Colonel Jacobs, so they consented not to destroy the powder. (31) I/O LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS When the British Indians came in sight, Mr. Longboard in- structed his men to keep moving back and forth from the log house or armory, to a thicket in the rear of the house, for the purpose of making the enemy believe that there was a large force stationed there ; the enemy halted and finally went back, and thus the armory was saved. The manouvre of the Tusca- rora Indians in these two cases above, was done with but very little sacrifice on their part, but the beneficence was great ; but then, who cares anything about that, it was nothing but an In- dian affair anyhow ; this will probably be the thought of those who peruse my little pages. When the Tuscaroras evacuated their reservation they went to Oneida Castle and remained there during the war. In about the last part of June, 1814, there was a company of volunteers composed of about thirty Tuscaroras and a number of Oneida Indians, that started from Oneida Castle to Sackett's Harbor, to join themselves to an army that was commanded by General Brown ; on their way there, when they arrived at Tonawanda, an officer came to them and asked where they were going ; they answered, " to Sackett's Harbor, to join General Brown's army." The officer said, " that is right ;" he then asked them if they lacked anything, and they said, " nothing more than being short of victuals, but we can get along with what game we can procure on the way." The officer then gave them one dollar each and told them to go and buy some bread. They then went on, and on the 3d or 4th of July they crossed the river from Sackett's Harbor, and on the 4th, they, with General Brown and his army approached an intrenchment of Gcn-eral Riall's, which was in a strong position. Brown told the Tuscaroras, that he with his army would attack the enemy direct, " but," said lie, " you must go around and attack the enemy on their flank." It is acceded by all American nations, that the characteristic of the Indians in their war battles, is to fi^ht in scouting and to attack by surprise ; consequently, it seems that General Ri- OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 1 71 all instructed the British Indians, which numbered several hun- dred, that when he was attacked, they the Indians, should move and attack their enemy also on the flank ; it seems that they moved in the shape of a V with the two points foremost. On the 5th occurred the battle of Chippewa ; the contest was obstinate and bloody ; the Tuscarora Indians in moving on the flank of Brown's army, they entered in the enemy's moving V of British Indians, and when they arrived at the fork, and not until then, did the Tuscaroras know where they were ; but, nevertheless, they all made the war-whoop, fired and. made a desperate charge at one point and broke through the ranks of the enemy. Strange as it may seem, there was but one wounded and that slightly on the cheek, and not one killed ; it was a very close contest, we getting away with the loss of bul? a few guns and coats, for when the enemy took hold of their coats they would only pull off and run. It was then that the enemy's V closed in on the rear of the Tuscaroras and the bloody scene began ; the enemy fired against themselves, and n0t until they had completely destroyed themselves did they discover in what frenzy they were ; but at length the Ameri- cans were victorious. These same Tuscaroras were present at the memorable battle at Bridgewater, near Niagara Falls, where a desperate engagement, it is said, ensued, commencing about sunset and lasting until midnight, where Generals Brown and Scott were wounded. In every instance when the United States were in trouble, the Tuscaroras were ever ready to sacrifice their blood upon the American altar, which they again fully evinced in the war of the rebellion, when twenty-three of the Tuscarora Indian warriors enlisted as volunteers in the United States army, some of whom died in the service of the country ; but some were spared by the good Providence, and were permitted yet to share the sweets of home ; some inherited diseases which they will probably carry down to their graves. In the year 1862 Cornelius C. Cusick, a grandson of Nicholas 1/2 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Cusick, the revolutionist, was commissioned to the office of Second Lieutenant. There were four other Tuscaroras mus- tered in with him in the 3d N. Y. Volunteers, I32d Reg't, Co. D, to-wit : Jeremiah Peters, John Peters, Hulett Jacobs, George Garlow, and there are others who enlisted afterwards at dif- ferent times during the war, to wit : Twelfth N. Y. Vol's, Cav., Co. M. Ozias Chew, John Pem- pleton, Charles Pempleton, Nichodemus Thompssn. Bat. K, ist N. Y. Light Art. Samuel Bearfoot (Ely Pat- terson), Wm. Joseph (Lewis Patterson), Alexander John (Davis Miller), Zhacariah Johnson (Elijah Johnson), Wm. Anderson (Samuel Jack). Clinton Mt. Pleasant, 3Oth, transferred to 3ist N. J. Vol's, Inv. colored brigade. . Wilson Jacobs, 1st N. Y., Vet. Cav., Co. M. Edward Spencer (Edward Anderson), Inv. sway, Co. A, i/th Corps. Alvis D. Hewett, isist N. Y. Vol's. Thomas Cornelius, Co. K, 2d N. Y. Mounted Rifles. Charles Green, I2oth N. Y. Vol's, Co. K. John Longboard, Samuel Mt. Pleasant, During the war, Cornelius C. Cusick was promoted to First Lieutenant, and at the close of the war he was promoted to Captain. He was some time afterwards commissioned into the regular army of the United States as First Lieutenant. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 173 Antique Rock Citadel of Kiemika ; OR, GAU-STRAU-YEA. There has been much said by different writers of aboriginal forts, and fort builders of western New York, in availing them- selves of steeps, gulfs, defiles, and other marked localities, in establishing works for security or defense. This trait is, how- ever, in no case more strikingly exemplified than in the curious antique work of Kienuka. The term " Kienuka," means the stronghold or fort ; but the original name of this fort is Gau- strau-yea, which means bark laid down ; this has a metaphori- cal meaning, in the similitude of a freshly peeled slippery elm bark, the size of the fort and laid at the bottom as a flooring, so that if any person or persons go in they must be circum- spect, and act according to the laws of the fort, or else they will slip and fall down to their own destruction. The citadel of Kienuka is situated about four miles east- ward of the inlet of Niagara gorge at Lewiston, on a natural escarpment of the ridge on the Tuscarora reservation, known at present by the name of the Old Saw Mill. There is quite an interesting tradition connected with the antique fort Gau-strau-yea. At the formation of the confed- eracy of the Iroquois, there was a virgin selected from a nation which was called Squawkihaws (a remote branch of the Sene- ca nation), and was ordained a Queen or Peacemaker, who was stationed at this fort to execute her office of peace, her official name was Ge-keah-saw-sa. 1/4 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS The fort was built by the Senecas aided by the Squawki- haws, on an eminence on the north side of a steep of perpen- dicular rocks, which was about eight or ten feet down ; and on the east, south and west sides they dug a trench four or five feet deep, and in this trench were placed timbers which were put up perpendicularly and jointed as close as possible, they projected above the ground ten or twelve feet, inclosing a place of about twenty by fifty rods. The house for the Queen was in the center of this inclosure or fort, and adjacent houses were built in two rows, with a trail or path between them di- recting towards the Queen's house ; on each end and inside of the fort, which ran lengthwise east and west, was an entrance corresponding with the trail prepared leading to the house of the Queen. Then a suitable number of warriors were selected from the Squawkihaws' nation, the ablest bodied, the swiftest runners and the most expert in the arts of war, which were stationed at this fort (and made their dwelling in the adjacent houses), to keep it in order and execute its regulations and laws ; they were to be supported with subsistance and all other necessaries of life, and furnished with suitable implements of war by the Iroquois. In order more fully to understand the laws and regulations of the fort or place of peace, it must be observed that at this period there were contentions, strife and wars between all the different known nations of the continent ; nation against na- tion, like fishes of the waters, the larger ones eating the smaller. The warrior who can report in his rehearsal in the war-dance of having obtained the greatest number of scalps from the enemy, was the most honored and had the most lau- rels in his crown ; consequently, they were constantly forming companies for an expedition to some nation in quest of honor and the applause of their nation. At this time the confederacy of the Iroquois was formed, and this place of peace was ordain- ed for the purpose, it may be, to alleviate the distress and com- motion of the nations of the forest. OF THE IROQUOIS,. OR SIX NATIONS. 1/5 The laws were that there shall be no nation or nations of the Iroquois make war against any nation or nations of the same league, under any circumstances ; and the Iroquois must not make war with 'any alien nation without the consent of the Queen. This fort must ever be held sacred, as it is a place of peace, by never allowing the shedding of blood within the inclosure. All executions decreed by the Queen should be made outside of the fort. And any person or persons, aside from the keepers of the fort, should, on entering, never go any faster than a walk. And the Queen must always have meals ready at every hour of the day and night allegorically speaking, it is called a kettle of hominy hanging, for all fugitives and pursuers from any nation on the continent to partake. All fugtiives, irrespective of their nationalities, flee- ing for life, from their enemy, when once their feet touch the threshold of the fort, their life is safe ; then the Queen con- ducts him or them into one end of her house, which is length- wise east and west, with a door at each end and a partition in the center of the room by a curtain made of deer skin, and when the pursuer comes, she also conducts him or them to the other end of the room. She then gives to each of these parties, which are enemies to each other, sustenance to eat ; .when this being done, she rolls away the curtain, so that each party can see the other ; when they have done eating they pass out and go home to their respective nations in peace. It is contrary to law after a fugitive arrives at this fort and has gone out, for the enemy to execute their death scheme without the consent of the Queen ; and if this be violated, then the Iroquois demand the trespasser from the nation to which he or they belong. If this is acceded to, 'tis well ; then the trespassers are executed, of which the penalty is death. But should the nation harbor the trespasser, then the nation must suffer the devastations of war at the hands of the Iroquois. I would here say a few words in relation to the question 176 LEGENBS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS often asked, "Who were the Squawkihows, Kah-Kwahs, and the Eries?" There has been much controversy on the ques- tion. These three named tribes were of one language and of one nation a remote branch of the Seneca nation and spoke the same language as the Senecas, varying but very little in a few words. These three tribes originally were called Squaw- kihows. In time they became very numerous and powerful. They had their settlement from the shores of Lake Ontario and along the Niagara River, and up Lake Erie as far as a place now called Erie, and as far east as to the Genesee river. This was their domain, within these limits. A settlement of this nation in the neighborhood of, now, North Evans, south of Buffalo, a place called by them Kah- kwah-ka, and the Squawkihows living in this vicinity were called Kah-kwahs ; and the Squawkihows living further on along the shores of Lake Erie were called cats or Eries, a name that originated from the name of the lake. By this explanation you will better understand my story. There was a time when the Kah-kwahs' branch of that nation made a challenge to the Seneca nation, another very powerful nation having their settlement on the east side of the Genesee river, to play a game of ball, which the Senecas readily accept- ed and a day was appointed ; accordingly, the combat ensued, and was a hotly contested game, but the Senecas finally came out victorious. The Kah-kwahs immediately made another challenge, that of having a foot race, which the Senecas also accepted. Each nation chose their swiftest runners, then the flyers went which and tucker for a ways, but the Senecas final- ly came out glorious. The Kah-kawhs being mortified by the defeat of the two contests made the third challenge, that of wrestling, with the understanding that an umpire must be chosen from each nation and both to have a war club in hand, and the one that is defeated should suffer death by having his head struck with the war club while down, by the umpire op- ponent to the one defeated, and should be best two in three. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 1 77 Even in this the Senecas accepted the challenge, and in this re- markable contest they were also victorious. With this the assemblage dispersed. The defeats of the Kah-kwahs considerably alieniated the Squawkihows from the Senecas ; the report, of course, reached the ears of the Queen, which also alienated her feelings from the Senecas, she being by birth a Squawkihow, but the office to which she was ordained was by the Iroquois. After this in one of the scouting tours of the Senecas across the Niagara river, among the Masassauka Indians, on their re- turn at night to the " place of peace " or Gau-strau-yea, they were pursued by a number of the Masassaukas ; when both parties had arrived and had their repast, they all lodged there to rest in peace for the night, as they were wont to do. But in the slumber and stillness of the midnight hour, was tested the treachery of the Queen, by the Masassaukas, in asking her consent to massacre the Senecas in their unsuspecting slum- ber ; her feelings having been previously somewhat alienated from the Senecas, she was induced to give her consent, where- upon they were massacred ; their number I have not been able to obtain. They were buried southwest from the Queen's house, the mound of which was perceptible until a few years ago, when it was cultivated. This breach of the law of that fort by the Queen giving consent in the shedding of blood in that sacred place, grated the conscience of the Squawkikows,and being alienated by the defeat they experienced a short time previous by the matches they had with the Senecas. This affair was kept secret for a while. At the same time the Squawkihows urged the consent of the Queen for them to exterminate the Seneca nation and to take them on surprise, for, they said, when they hear of the massacre, they will at once wage war against us. They finally prevailed on her, so she condemned the Seneca nation to be exterminated. At this time there was one warrior of the Senecas who had (22) 1/8 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS married into the Squawkihows' nation and lived among them. When he heard that the Queen had given up the Seneca nation into the hands of the Squawkihows, to be exterminated, he resolved to go to a place called Tah-nyh-yea, among the Sene- cas east side of Genesee river, on the Seneca river where dwelled the head Sachem of the Seneca nation, by the name of Onea-gah-re-tah-wa, and matte his report to that venerable Sachem, the decision of the Queen, which was final. To ac- complish this, without exciting the suspicion of his family and neighbors, he went under the pretense of going away to hunt on the lake shore of Ontario, and would not be expected home in two or three days. Early one fine morning this warrior started on his high mission from his house, which was located near the fort (Gau-strau-yea). He went northerly and touched Lake Ontario, where he had a canoe for the purpose of hunt- ing and fishing, in which he embarked and rowed eastward to the mouth of the Oswego river, and up the river as far as the Seneca river; then up that river to the settlement of the Senecas. He there left his canoe and made for Tah-nyh-yea, and went directly to the Sachem, (Onea-gah-re-tah-wa's) wigwam in the dead of night, and called him out doors. He there related to the Sachem the decree of the Queen, concerning the Seneca nation and the massacre, and requested him to keep secret the way he had received the message. The warrior im- mediately returned home in the same way that he came. In the morning the venerable Sachem went out early and gave the war cry, which denoted that they were massacred, that war was inevitable, and for the warriors to rally and prepare for war. The nation soon gathered. He then related the message he had received during the night, and said he had heard that some of their warriors were massacred at the fort (Gau-strau-yea), and that the Queen had decreed their exter- mination at the hand of the Squawkihows. He then appoint- ed four warriors of the best runners to go and spy the fort and the settlement if there was any indication of" preparation for OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 179 war, with instructions that with the very first indication of a preparation for war that they should at once dispatch one of their number home to make his report, and the others to go on and to observe the progress of the preparation and make their reports accordingly. The four gallant warriors now made their way to the settle- ment at Gau-strau-yea. When they arrived, they saw only the eldest people, from about upwards of sixty-five years of age, and the younger children, from about fourteen years of age and under. While they were traveling they saw two boys picking up sticks for firewood. One of them asked the smaller boy where his father was. The bright little fellow spoke promptly and said, "Gone to war." Before the older boy could divert his attention by touching him, the little fellow finished his answer. This they took to be news, and immedi- ately dispatched one of their number home to make the report. When this one made his report to Onea-gah-re-tah-wa, he at once dispatched runners to the other nations of the league to inform them of what had happened to their father, the Seneca nation, and the desecration of their fort. The three that were left after the one was dispatched home, went on to a settle- ment of the same nation at Gill Creek, above Niagara Falls, where they found the people the same as at Gau-straw-yea. The elders and the youngers only were at home. They also asked a boy there where his father was. He aswered : "At Kah-kwah-ka," which is south of Buffalo. These three spies took pains to get at Kah-kwah-ka in the night. When they got there they fouud a great multitude gathered, and engaged in the war dance. The spies went right among the multitude without being suspected, because their language was the same as the Squawkihows, and took part in the dances. They saw the warriors in their dance have a head of a bear, tossing it about and striking it with the war club, and at the same time exclaiming : "We will have the head of Onea-gah-re-tah-wa, (the Seneca Sachem) and strike it thus," at the same time 180 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS hitting it with their club. And the war chief said that they would start in the morning and on the third day they would have the head of Onea-gah-re-tah-wa strung up on a pole. With that the spies dispatched home the second one to make his report of what they saw and heard, and this one retired from the crowd privately some little time before daybreak. The two still remained with the crowd, talking and chatting with them as if they were one of their nation. In the morning the grand march took their place in the war path towards their intended destruction. The ablest warriors took the front rank; then came the older ones; after them the boys upwards of fourteen years of of age ; lastly came the able bodied females. Thus they marched until the next night, when they prepared ground for a dance, and went through the same performance as the night before. Now the third spy withdrew from the crowd just before daybreak to make his report and keep the Senecas posted in the advance of the enemy. On the second day the march was renewed, and pro- ceeded in the same order as on the first day. The next night was also spent as that of the last, in flattering themselves of the wonderful things that they were to accomplish. About two hours before daybreak the last spy also withdrew from the crowd and made for home, to inform them how far off they were from the Seneca settlement. After the last one had made his report, Onea-gah-re-tah-wa arose from his seat, with that majestic movement which only would become him as the head Sachem of the Seneca nation, and said : " To you, first, my most beloved comrades, the Chiefs and Sachems of our noble nation, I would bring to your minds the past in a few words, and it may be for the last time. How often have we sat to- gether around tke council fire of our nation. I congratulate you all in the good feeling that has always prevailed in our deliberations of various subjects in relation to the welfare and happiness of our nation, and more particularly our sisters and their offspring, and we have not been unmindful even of those OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. iSl that are not yet born, for in them have we hoped of the exist- ence of our nation. Have not the nations of the Iroquois re- spected and even honored your counsels around the great council fire of the league, and now is destruction awaiting your dawn? But if that is the will of the Great Spirit, by running we cannot flee from it. And to you, our sisters, have we not ever been mindful of you in our deliberations and ever wished you success ; and have we not, as it were, embraced you and your children in our arms to protect you ? We now commend you to the Great Spirit, who is our helper. And now to you, most noble warriors, in whom the council looks for the enforce- ment of their decrees. In bringing difficulties and contentions among yourselves, have we not brought back to you peace, by meting out to you justice ; and in your troubles have we not whispered in your ears words of consolation? And we have ever placed you close to our hearts. In you is the power of the nation, and in you we look for safety. You have under- stood it that our nation has been given into the hands of our enemy by the Queen, and we are now in jeopardy. As I have said, we cannot, by running, flee from the decree of the Great Spirit, but if He is for us we shall prevail. He will give strength to our bow, direct our arrows, give might to our arms and direct our blows, and put to flight our enemy, and we shall conquer. He is able to give us peace in this our time of trouble, if we all but trust in Him. It is he that made us and He is able to preserve us from our enemies. Now my dear relatives in the different ties of blood, it is not meet that we should have our blood spilt within our domain, nor to have the dead bodies of our enemies strewed within our settlement. We must now march and meet our foe. We must not turn our heel to them; but if we are to be exterminated, let the last drop of Seneca blood be spilt upon the bosom of our mother earth, and let the sun in the heavens be the witness that we die in the defence of our wives, children and homes, which is pleasing in the sight of the Great Spirit." 1 82 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS They now made their~march, and after they had advanced a number of miles they met the enemy. It was now sometime in the afternoon. A desperate battle ensued. The storm of the arrows headed with flint, and also the creased poisoned arrows was kept up until evening, when a peculiar war cry was given, which indicated rest, at which in an instant the storm of arrows ceased, when the Sachems of the two parties came near together and deliberated on the conditions of rest during the night, that each party should retreat a ways and rest with- out either molesting the other during the night, but in the morning they should come together and resume the battle. In the morning the battle was renewed, even with more vigor than the day before, until nearly noon, when the war cry of rest was again given. The fight was again suspended for the purpose of taking refreshments. At this time Onea-gah-re-tah-wa said to the Chiefs of the Squawkihows, " While we are resting let us have a recreation by having a wrestling between the two parties, and each one should have a war club in his belt, and the one that is de- feated should die at the hands of his victor with the war club." The Squawkihows accepted the challenge. Then the wrest- ling was continued to several contests, in which the Senecas were victorious. There were several of the very ablest war- riors of the Squawkihows killed in this simple contest of wrest- ling. They again resumed the battle. At this time the Senecas reserved quite a number of their smartest warriors, with each of them a bunch of bark prepared for the purpose of tying prisoners. They were in the rear and laid low. The battle was still more deeperate. They finally came in hand-in-hand. Then they made use of their war clubs. At this time the Squawkihows summoned to their aid their reserved company, which they kept in the rear. The young women came on the flank of the Senecas' ranks, and beat them with clubs, which made the Senecas falter for a while. Finally they called on OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 183 their reserved warriors, who made a desperate charge on the enemy and made them retreat. The Senecas began taking prisoners. They tied their hands behind them to trees. In this way they took a great many prisoners, particularly the females. The warriors rallied and fought as they retreated. After a while a company suddenly broke off from their ranks and ran away. In a moment they had disappeared in the forest. Those that remained rallied again and fought as they were retreating until evening, when all at once the whole com- pany wheeled right around, gave a spring, and off they went. The Senecas made their pursuit, every now and then taking a prisoner until dark, when they rested and camped for the night. The next morning they selected the best runners, the ablest bodied and the most skilled in the arts of war, who were sent out to exterminate the nation, to begin at the settlement of fort Gau-strau-yea, and so on south to the other settlements of the nation. When the Seneca invaders came at the fort (Gau-strau-yea), they found it was evacuated and all the settlement had fled. The trail they left behind pointed southward plainly. The invaders followed to the next settlement at Gill Creek, above Niagara Falls, which they found vacated. They still followed on, bent on retaliation. They then came to the settlement of Kah-kwas, which they also found evacuated. They kept on the pursuit until they came to the settlement of the Eries, and also found it evacuated as the others. Still they kept on their pursuit, and when they came to the Alleghany river they saw pieces floating, which indicated the making of canoes. They immediately ascended the river. After they had gone some ways they found where the enemies had been encamped, and saw indications where they had built several canoes. The fires indicated that they must have just embarked that morning and rowed down the river. They then went down the river some distance, and finally gave up the chase. The 1 84 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS invaders returned to their settlement the Seneca nation. A glorious victory crowned their severe trial and labor. A grand council was called of the Seneca nation for the just returned warriors to make their report of the glory they had won, and the complete overthrow of the enemy. After they had finished making their report a great feast was made, and after that they were again permitted to smoke the calumet of peace, and once more settle down as heretofore, as one of the bright stars of heaven, among the several nations of the Iroquois. At night they had a general dance, both young and old, irre- spective of sex, to celebrate the great victory they had won. The Squawkihows have never been heard of since, as a nation, to the present time. It is supposed that they must have gone in the far west and changed their name; but this is merely a supposition. Those that the Senecas took captives are still among the different settlements of the Seneca nation, more particularly among the Cattaraugus reservation. That is the way the Senecas came in possession of so large a dominion. They held their domain east of the Genesee river, and also took possession of the dominion of the Squawkihows, which run from Lake Ontario and along Niagara river and Lake Erie to the Pennsylvania line. The office of the Queen Ge-keah-sau-sa, of fort Gau-strau-yea, for several hundred years (it is said by the Senecas about six hundred years ago she evacuated the fort), the Iroquois did not reordain, for the reason, as it is alleged by them, that the female is the weaker sex of humanity. Physically, it must fol- low that they are weaker also mentally, as it is evinced by the treachery of the Queen in her easily being decoyed in making her rash decision concerning the massacre in the fort, and also in the giving up of the Seneca nation in the hands of their enemy. They considered it not prudent to vest so much authority in the weaker sex. And as no one has been con- sidered capable or worthy of the high honor that Ge-keah-sau-wa once reigned, until about twenty-five years ago, from the year OF THE IROQUOlS, OR SIX NATIONS. 185 1878, there was a Virgin selected from among the Tonawanda band of the Seneca nation by the name of Caroline Parker, sister to Eli Parker, once in General Grant's staff, and Com- missioner of Indian Affairs, who was ordained to the high office of Queen, or Ge-keah-sau-sa. She is now the wife of a noted Sachem of the Tuscarora nation, Mr. John Mount Pleasant, of no common wealth. She is located about two miles southwest of the antique fort Gah-strau-yea, or Kienuka, on the Tuscarora reservation, where she ever held open her hospitable house, not only to the Iroquois, but of every nation, including the pale faces. Allegorical speaking, she has ever had a kettle of hominy hanging over her fire-place, ready to appease the hunger of those who trod her threshold. The New Religion. About the year 1800 a new religion was introduced among the Six Nations, the exponent of which alleged to have receiv- ed a revelation from the Great Spirit, with a commission to preach to them the new doctrine in which he was instructed. This revelation was received in circumstances so remarkable, and the precepts he sought to inculcate contained in themselves such evidences of wisdom and beneficence that he was univers- ally received among them, not only as a wise and good man, byt as one commissioned by the Great Spirit to become their (23) 1 86 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS religious teacher. The new religion, as it has ever since been called, embodied all the precepts of the ancient faith, recog- nized the ancient mode of worship giving it a new sanction of the Great Spirit, and also comprehend such new doctrines as came in aptly, to lengthen out and enlarge the original system without impairing it. Charges of imposture and deception were at first preferred against him, but disbelief of his divine mission gradually subsided, until at the time of his death the whole unchristianized portion of the Six Nations had become firm believers in the new religion, which to the present day- has continued to some extent as a prevailing faith. This singular person who was destined to obtain such a spir- itual sway over the descendants of the ancient Iroquois was Ga-ne-o-di-yo, or " Handsomelake," a Seneca sachem of the highest class ; he was born at the Indian village of Ga-no-wau- ges, near Avon, about the year 1735, and .died at Onondaga in 1815, where he happened to be on one of his pastoral visits. By birth he was a Seneca of the Turtle clan, and a half broth- er to the celebrated Corn Planter by a common father. The most part of his life was spent in idleness and dissipation, dur- ing which time, although a sachem and ruler among the Sene- cas for many years, and through the most perilous time of their history, he acquired no particular reputation. Reforming late in life, in his future career he showed himself to be pos- sessed of superior talents and to be animated by a sincere and ardent desire for the welfare of his race. At this period and for about a century preceding, the pre- vailing habit of intemperance among the Iroquois was the fruitful source of their domestic troubles ; this in connection with their political disasters seemed to threaten the speedy extinction of their race. A temperance reformation, universal and radical, was the main and ultimate object of the mission which he assumed, and upon which he chiefly used his influence and eloquence through the remainder of his life. To secnre a more speedy reception of his admonitions, he clothed them OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 1 87 with divine sanction, to strengthen their moral principles, he enforced anew the precepts of the ancient faith ; and to insure obedience to his teachings, he held over the wicked the terrors of eternal punishment. Going from village to village among the several nations of the league, with the exception of the christainized Oneidas and Tuscaroras, continuing his visits from year to year, preaching the new doctrine with remarkable effect. Many abandoned their dissolute habits and became sober and moral men ; discord and contentions gave place to harmony and order, and vagrancy and sloth to ambition and industry. The origin of this project has at times been ascribed to Cornplanter, as a means to increase his own influence, but this is not only improbable but is expressly denied. The mo- tives by which Handsomelake claimed to be actuated were entirely of a religious and benevolent character, and in pursu- ance of the injunctions of his spiritual guides. At the time of his supernatural visitation, about the year 1800, Handsomelake resided at the village of Cornplanter, on the Alleghany river in the State of Pennsylvania. As he ex- plained the case to his brethren, having lain ill for a long time he had given up all hope of recovery and resigned himself to die. When in the hourly expectation of death, three spiritual beings in the form of men, sent by the Great Spirit appeared before him, each carried in his hand a shrub bearing different kinds of berries, which, having been given him to eat, he was by their miraculous virtue immediately restored to health. They afterward revealed to him the will of the Great Spirit upon a variety of subjects, and particularly in relation to the prevailing intemperance, commissioning him to promulgate these doctrines among the league, causing him to see realities of the evil-minded, and to behold with his mortal eyes the pun- ishment inflicted upon the' wicked, that he might with more propriety warn his people of their impending destiny. He was also permitted to behold the realm and felicities of the Heav- enly residence of the virtuous. With his mind thus prepared, 1 88 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAAVS and stored with divine precepts, and with his zeal enkindled by the dignity of his mission, Handsomelake at once commenced his labors. After his death, Sase-ha-wa, (Johnson) of Tonawanda, was appointed his successor. The first and only person ever " rais- ed up" by the Iroquois, and invested with the office of a su- preme religious instructor : a sincere believer in the verity of Handsomelake's mission, and an eminently pure and virtuous man Sase-ha-wa (Johnson) has devoted himself with zeal and fidelity to the duties of his office, as a spiritual guide and teacher of the Iroquois. He was a grand-son of Handsomlake, a nephew of Red Jacket, and was born at the Indian village of Ga-no-wan-ges, near Avon, about the year 1774. At the condolence and religious councils of the Iroquois, which are still held at intervals of a few years, among the scat- tered descendants of the long house, it has long been custom- ary to set apart portions of two or three days to listen to .a discourse from Johnson upon -the new religion. On these oc- casions he explains minutely the circumstance attending the supernatural visitation of Handsomelake, and delivers the in- structions, word for word, which he had been accustomed to give during his own ministration. Handsomelake professed to repeat the messages which were given to him from time to time by the celestial visitants, with whom he alleged to be in fre- quent communication, and whom he addressed as his spiritual guardian, thus enforcing his precepts as the direct command of the Great Spirit. At their councils and religious festivals, it was customary for the chiefs and keepers of the faith to express their confidence in the new religion, and to exhort others to strengthen their belief. The late Abraham La Fort, an educated Onondaga Sachem, thus expressed himself upon this subject at a condol- ence council of the league, held at Tonawanda as late as October, 1847. "Let us observe the operations of nat ' lie } car is di- OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 189 vided into seasons, and every season has its fruits. The birds of the air, though clothed in the same dress of feathers, arc divided into many classes, and one class is never seen to asso- ciate or intermingle with any but its own kind. So with the beasts of the field and woods. Each and every class and spe- cie have their own separate rules by which they seem to be governed, and by which their actions are regulated. These distinctions, classes and colors the Great Spirit has seen fit to make. But the rule does not stop here. It is universal. It embraces man also. The human race was created and divided into different classes, which were placed separate from each other having different customs, manners, laws and religions. To the Indians it seems that no more religion had originally been than was to be found in the operations of nature, which taught him that there was a Supreme Being, all powerful and all wise ; and on this account, as well as on account of his great goodness, they learned to love and reverence Him. But these later times, when the restless and ambitious spirit of the whiteskinncd race had crossed the boundary line and made in- roads upon the manners, customs and primitive religion of the Indian, the Great Spirit determined to and through His servant, Handsomelake, did reveal his will to the Indians. The sub- stance of that will was no more than to confirm their ancient belief that they were entitled to a different religion a religion adapted to their customs, manners and ways of thinking." As the discourses delivered by Johnson from time to time contains a very full exposition of their ancient beliefs and mode of worship, together with the recent views introduced by Handsomelake, mingled up in one collection, presenting probably a better idea of their ethical and religious system than could be conveyed in any other manner, it is given entire, and will explain itself as delivered, thus: " The Mohawks, the Onondagas, the Senecas, and our chil- dren, the Oneidas, Cayugas and Tuscaroras, have assembled here to-day to listen to the repetition of the will of the Great I QO LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Spirit, as communicated to us from heaven through His servant, Handsomelake. " Chiefs, warriors, women and children, we give you a cordial welcome. The sun has advanced far in its path, and I am warned that my time to instruct you is limited to the meridian sun. I must hasten to perform my duty. Turn you minds to the Great Spirit, and listen with strict attention. Think seriously upon what I am about to speak. Reflect upon it well, that it may benefit you and your children. I thank the Great Spirit that He has spared the lives of so many of you to be present on this occasion. I return thanks to Him that my life is yet spared. The Great Spirit looked down from heaven upon the suffering and the wanderings of the red children. He saw that they had greatly decreased and degenerated. He saw the ravages of the firewater among them. He therefore raised up for them a sacred inspiration, who, having lived and traveled among them for sixteen years, was called from his labors to enjoy eternal felicity with the Great Spirit in Heaven. Be patient while I speak. I cannot at all times arrange and prepare my thoughts with precision. But I will relate what my memory bears. " It was in the month of June when Handsomelake was yet sick. He had been ill for years. He was accustomed to tell us that he had resigned himself to the will of the Great Spirit. 1 1 nightly returned my thanks to the Great Spirit,' said he, 1 as my eyes were gladdened at evening by the sight of the stars of heaven. I viewed the ornamental heaven at evening through the opening in the roof of my lodge, with grateful feelings to my Creator. I had no assurance that I should at the next evening contemplate His works. For this reason my acknowledgment to Him was more fervent and sincere. When night was gone, and the sun again shed its light upon the earth, I saw and acknowledged in the return of day His continued goodness to me and to all mankind. At length, I began to have an inward conviction that my end was near. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 191 I resolved once more to exchange friendly words with my peo- ple, and I sent my daughter to summon my brothers Corn- planter and Blacksnake.' She hastened to do his bidding, but before she returned he had fallen into insensibility and apparent death. Blacksnake, upon returning to the lodge, hastened to his brother's couch and discovered that portions of his body were yet warm. This happened at early day be- fore the morning dew had dried. When the sun had advanced half way to the meridian his heart began to beat, and he opened his eyes. Blacksnake asked him if he was in his right mind, but he answered not. At meridian he again opened his eyes, and the same question was repeated. He then answered and said, 'A man spoke from without and some one might come forth. I looked and saw some men standing without. I rose", and as I attempted to step over the threshold of my door I stumbled, and should have fallen had they not caught me. They were three holy men who looked alike and were dressed alike. The paint they wore seemed but a day old. Each held in his hand a shrub bearing different kinds of fruits. One of them addressing me said, 'We have cme to comfort and relieve you ; take of these berries and eat ; they will restore you to health ; we have been witnesses of your lengthy illness ; we have seen with what resignation you have given yourself up to the Great Spirit ; we have heard your daily return of thanks ; He has heard them all ; His ear has ever been open to hear; you was thankful for the return of night, when you could contemplate the beauties of heaven ; you was accus- tomed to look upon the moon as it coursed in its mighty paths ; when there were no hopes to you that you would- again behold these things, you willingly resigned yourself to the mind of the Great Spirit ; this is right ; since the Great Spirit made the earth and put man upon it, we have been His constant servants to guard anck^rotect His works; there are four of us ; some other time you will be permitted to see the other ; the Great Spirit is pleased to know your patient resignation to 192 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS His will ; as a reward for your devotion He has cured your sickness ; tell your people to assemble to-morrow, and at morn go in and speak to them.' After they had further revealed their intentions concerning him they departed. "At the time appointed Handsomelake appeared at the council and thus addressed the people upon the revelations which had been made to him : ' I have a message to deliver to you. The servant of the Great Spirit has told me that I should yet live upon the earth to become an instructor to my people. Since the creation of man the Great Spirit has often raised up men to teach his children what they should do to please him; but they have been unfaithful to their trust. I hope I shall profit by their example. Your Creator has seen that you have transgressed greatly against His laws. He made men pure and good.* He did not intend that he should sin. You create a great sin in taking the firewater. The Great Spirit say's you must abandon this enticing habit. Your ancestors have brought great misery upon you. They first took the firewater of the white man, and entailed upon you its consequences. None of them have gone to heaven. The firewater does not belong to you. It was made by the white man beyond the great waters. For the white man it is a medicine; but they, too, have violated the will of their Maker. The Great Spirit says drunkenness is a great crime, and He forbids you to indulge in this evil habit. His command is to the old and young. The abandonment of its use will relieve much of your sufferings, and greatly increase the comforts and happiness of your children. The Great Spirit is grieved that so much crime and wickedness should de- file the earth. There are many evils which He never intended should exist among His red children. The Great Spirit has for many wise reasons withheld from man the number of his days, but He has not left him without *i guide, for He has pointed out to him the path in which he may safely tread the journey of life. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 1 93 " When the Great Spirit made man He also made woman. He instituted marriage, and enjoined upon them to love each other and be faithful. It is pleasing to Him to see men and women obey His will. Your Creator abhors a deceiver and a hypocrite. By obeying His commands you will die an easy and happy death. When the Great Spirit instituted marriage He ordained to bless those who were faithful with children. Some women are unfaithful and others become so by misfor- tune. Such have great opportunities to do much good. There are many orphans and poor children whom they can adopt as their own. If you tie up the clothes of an orphan child the Great Spirit will notice it and reward you for it. Should an orphan ever cross your path be kind to him and treat him with tenderness, for this is right. Parents must constantly teach their children morality and reverence for their Creator. Parents must also guard their children against improper mar- riages. They, having much experience, should select a suitable match for their child. When the parents of both parties have agreed, then bring the' young, pair together and let them know what good their parents have designed for them. If in time they so far disagree that they cannot possibly live contented and happy with each other they may separate in mutual good feeling, and in this it is no wrong. ' \Vhen a child is born to a husband and wife they must give great thanks to the Great Spirit, for it is His gift and an evi- dence of His kindness. Let parents instruct their children in their duty to the Great Spirit, to their parents and to their fellowmen. Children should obey their parents and guardians, and submit to them in all things. Disobedient children occa- sion great pain and misery. They wound their parents' feelings and often drive them to desperation, cause them great distress and final admission into the place of evil spirit. The marriage obligations should generate good to all who have assumed them. Let the married be faithful to each other, that when they die it may be in peace. Children should never permit (24) IQ4 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS their parents to suffer in their old age. Be kind to them, and support them. The Great Spirit requires all children to love, revere and obey their parents. To do this is highly pleasing to Him. The happiness of parents is greatly increased by the affection and the attention of their children. To abandon a wife or children is a great wrong, and produces many evils. It is wrong for a father or mother-in-law to vex a son or daughter-in-law, but they should use them as if they were their own children. It often happens that parents hold angry disputes over their infant child. This is also a great sin. The infant hears and comprehends the angry words of its parents. It feels bad and lonely. It can see for itself no happiness in prospect. It concludes to return to its Maker. It wants a happy home, and dies. The parents then weep because their child has left them. You must put this evil practice from among you if you would live happy. 'The Great Spirit when He made the earth never intended that it should be made merchandise, but His will is that all His creatures should enjoy it equally.' Your chiefs have vio- lated and betrayed their trust by selling lands. Nothing is now left of our once large possessions save a few small reser- vations. Chiefs and aged men, you, as men, have no lands to sell. You occupy and possess tract in trust for your children. You should hold that trust sacred, lest your children are driven from their homes by your unsafe conduct. Whoever sells land offends the Great Spirit, and must expect a great punish- ment after death." Johnson here suspended the naration of the discourse of Handsomelake's, and thus addressed the council : " Chiefs, keepers of the faith, warriors, women and children- You all know that our religion teaches that the early day is dedicated to the Great Spirit, and that the late day is granted to the spirits of the dead. It is now meridian, and 1 must close. Preserve in your minds that which has been said. Accept my thanks for your kind and patient attention. It is OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 1 95 meet that I should also return my thanks to the Great Spirit that he has assisted me thus far in my feeble frame to instruct you. We ask you all to come up again to-morrow at early day, to hear what further may be said. I have done," The next morning, after the council had been opened in the usual manner, Johnson thus continued : " Relatives, uncover now your heads and listen. The clay has thus far advanced, and again gathered around the council- fire I see around me the several nations of the long house. This gives me great joy. I see also seated around me my counselors (keepers of the faith), who have been regularly appointed, as is the custom of our religion. Greetings have- been exchanged with each other. Thanks have been returned to Handsomelake. Thanks also have been returned to our Creator by the council now assembled. At this moment the Great Spirit is looking upon this assembly. He hears our words, knows our thoughts, and is always pleased to see us gathered together of good. The sun is now high, and soon it will reach the middle heavens. I must therefore make haste. Listen attentively, and consider well what you shall hear. I return thanks to our Creator, that He has spared your lives through the dangers of. the darkness. I salute and return my thanks to the four Celestial Beings who have communicated what I am about to say to you. I return thanks to my grand- father (Handsomelake), from whom you first heard what I am about to speak. We all feel his loss. We miss him at our councils. I now occupy his place before you, but I am con- scious that I have not the power which he possessed. " Counselors, warriors, mother sand children Listen to good instruction. Consider it well. Lay it up in your hearts, and forget it not. Our Creator when He made us designed that we should live by hunting. It sometimes happens that a man goes out for to hunt, leaving his wife with his friends. After a long absence he returns and finds tli.it his wife has taken another husband. The Great Spirit says this is a great sin, and must be put from among us. 196 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS " The four messengers further said that it was wrong for a mother to punish a child with a rod. It is not right to punish much, and our Creator never intended that children should be punished with a whip or be used with much violence. In pun- ishing a refractory child water .only is necessary, and it is suffi- cient. Plunge them under. This is not wrong. Whenever a child promises to do better the punishment must cease. It is wrong to continue it after promises of amendment are made. Thus they said. " It is right and proper always to look upon the dead. Let your face be brought near to theirs, and address them. Let the dead know that their absence is regretted by their friends, and that they grieve for their death. Let the dead know, too, how their surviving friends intend to live. Let them know whether they will so conduct themselves that they will meet them again in the future w r orld. The dead will hear and remember. Thus they said. " Continue to listen whiie I proceed to relate what further they said. Our Creator made the earth. Upon it He placed man, and gave him certain rules of conduct. It pleased Him also to give them many kinds of amusement. He also ordered that the earth should produce all that is good for man. So long as he remains, it will not cease to yield. Upon the sur- face of the ground berries of various kinds are produced. It is the will of the Great Spirit that when they ripen we should return our thanks to Him, and have a public rejoicing for the continuance of these blessings. He made everything which we live upon, and requires us to be thankful at all times for the continuance of His favors. When our life (corn, &c.), has again appeared, it is the will of the Great Spirit that we assemble for a general thanksgiving. It is His will also that II is children be brought and to participate in the feather dance. Your feast must consist of the new production. It is proper at these times, should any present not have their names published, or any changes have been made, to announce them OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 197 then. The festival must last four days. Thus they said. Upon the first day must be performed the feather dance. This ceremony must take place in the early day, and cease at the middle day. In the same manner, upon the second day, is to be performed the Thanksgiving dance. On the third, the Thanksgiving concert. Ah-do-weh is to be introduced. The fourth day is set apart for the peach-stone game. All these ceremonies instituted by our Creator must be commenced at early day, and cease at the middle day. At all these times we are required to return thanks to our Grandfather Heno (Thunder) and his assistants. To them is assigned the duty of watch- ing over the earth and all its produces for our good. The great Feather and Thanksgiving dances are the appropriate ceremonies of Thanksgiving to the Ruler and Maker of all things. The Thanksgiving concert belongs appropriately to our grandfathers. In it we return thanks to them. During the performance of this ceremony we are required also to give them the smoke of tobacco. Again we must at this time re- turn thanks to our mother the earth for she is our relative. We must also return thanks to our life and its sister. All these things are required to be done by the light of the sun. It must not be protracted unt-il the sun has hid its face and darkness surrounds all things. " Continue to listen. We have a change of season. We have a season of cold. This is the hunting season. It is also one in which the people can amuse themselves. Upon the fifth day of the new moon Nis-go-wuk-na (about February 1st), we are required to commence the annual jubilee of thanksgiv- ing to our Creator. At this festival all can give evidence of their devotion to the will of the Great Spirit, by participating in all of its ceremonies. thanks to the OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 3O3 Great Spirit by means of tobacco, for it is by His goodness that he is made well. He blesses the medicine, and the medi- cine man must receive as a reward whatever the gratitude of the restored may tender. This is right and proper. There are many that are unfortunate and cannot pay for attendance. It is sufficient for such to return thanks to the medicine man upon recovery. The remembrance that he has saved the life of a relative will be a sufficient reward. " Listen further to what the Great Spirit has been pleased to communicate to us. He has made us, as a race, separate and distinct from the pale faces. It is a great sin to intermarry and intermingle the blood of the two races. Let none be guilty of this transgression. "At one time the four messengers said to Handsomelake, 'Lest the people should disbelieve you and not repent and forsake their evil ways, we will now disclose to you the house of tor- ment, the dwelling place of the evil-minded.' Handsomelake was particular in describing to us all that he witnessed and the course which departed spirits were accustomed to take on leaving the earth. There was a road which led upward ; at a certain point it branched ; one branch led straight forward to the house of the Great Spirit, and the other turned aside to the house of torment ; at the place where the roads separated were stationed two keepers, one representing the good and the other the evil spirit ; when a person reached the fork, if wicked, by a motion of the evil keeper, he turned instinctively upon the road which led to the abode of the evil-minded ; but if virtuous and good, the other keeper directed him upon the straight road ; the latter was not much traveled, while the former was so frequently trodden that no grass could grow in the pathway. It sometimes happens that the keepers have great difficulty in deciding which path the person should take, when the good and bad actions of the individual were nearly balanced. Those sent to the house of torment sometimes re- main one day, (which is one year with us); some for a longer 204 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS period. After they have atoned for their sins they pass to heaven ; but when they have committed either of the great sins, (witchcraft, murder, or infantcide), they never pass to heaven, but are tormented forever. Having conducted Hand- somelake to this place, he saw a large dark-colored mansion, covered with soot, and beside it stood a lesser one. One of the four then held out his rod, and the top of the house moved up until they could look down upon all that was within. He saw many rooms. The first object which met his eyes was a haggard-looking man, his sunken eyes cast upon the ground, and his form half consumed by the torments he had undergone. This man was a drunkard. The evil-minded then appeared and called him by name. As the man obeyed his call, he dipped from a caldron a quantity of red-hot liquid and com- manded him to drink it, as it was an article he loved. The man did as he was commanded, and immediately from his mouth issued a stream of blaze. He cried in vain for help. The tormentor then requested him to sing and make himself merry as he had done while on earth, after drinking the firewater. Let drunkards take warning from this. Others were then sum- moned. There came before him two persons who appeared to be husband and wife. He told them to exercise the privilege they w r ere so fond of while on earth. They immediately com- menced a quarrel of words. They raged at each other with such violence that their tongues and eyes ran out so far they could neither see nor speak. This, said they, is the punish- ment of quarrelsome and disputing husbands and wives. Let such also take warning, and live together in peace and harmony. Next he called up a woman who had been a witch. First he plunged her into a caldron of boiling liquid. In her cries of distress she begged the evil-minded to give her some cooler place. He then immersed her into one containing liquid at the point of freezing. Her cries were then that she was too cold. This woman, said the four messengers, shall always be tormented in this manner. He proceeded to mention the pun- OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 2O$ ishment which awaits all those who cruelly ill-treat their wives. The evil-minded next called up a man who had been accus- tomed to beat his wife. Having led him up to a red-hot statue of a woman, he directed him to do that which he was fond of while upon earth. He obeyed, and struck the figure. The sparks flew in every direction, and by the contact his arm was consumed. Such is the punishment, they said, awaiting those who ill-treat their wives. From this take seasonable warning. He looked again and saw a woman, whose arms and hands were nothing but bones. She had sold firewater to the Indians, and the flesh was eaten from her hands and arms. This, they said, would be the fate of rum-sellers. Again he looked, and in one apartment saw and recognized Ho-ne-ya-wus (farmer's brother), his former friend. He was engaged in removing a heap of sand, grain by grain, and although he labored con- tinually, yet the heap was not diminished. This, they said, was the punishment of those who sold land. Adjacent to the house of torment was a field of corn filled with weeds. He saw a woman in the act of cutting them down, but as fast as this was done they grew up again. This, they said, was the punishment of lazy women. It would be proper and right, had we time, to tell more of this place of punishment, but my time is limited and must pass to other things. "The Creator made men dependent upon each other. He made them sociable beings ; therefore, when your neighbors visit you, set food before them. If it be your next door neigh- bor, you must give him to eat. He will partake and thank you. "Again they said, 'You must not steal.' Should you want for anything necessary, you have only to tell your wants and they will be supplied. This is right. Let none ever steal any- thing. Children are often tempted to take things home which do not belong to them. Let parents instruct their children in this rule. " Many of our people live to a very old age. Your Creator 206 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS says that your deportment toward them must be that of rever- ence and affection. They have seen and felt much of the miseries and pains of earth. Be always kind to them when old and helpless. Wash their hands and face and nurse them with care. This is the will of the Great Spirit. " It has been the custom among us to mourn for the dead one year. This custom is wrong. As it causes the death of many children, it must be abandoned. Ten days mourn for the dead, and not longer. When one dies, it is right and proper to make an address over the body, telling how much you loved the deceased. Great respect for the dead must be observed among us. "At another time the four messengers said to Handsomelake that they would show him the ' destroyer of villages ' (Wash- ington), of whom you have so often heard. Upon the road leading to heaven he could see a light,-far away in the distance; moving to and fro. Its brightness far exceeded the brilliancy of the noonday sun. They told him the journey was as follows : First they came to a cold spring, which was a resting place ; from this point they proceeded into pleasant fairy grounds, which spread away in every direction ; soon they reached heaven ; the light was dazzling ; berries of every description grew in vast abundance ; the size and quality were such that a single berry was more than sufficient to appease the appetite; a sweet fragrance perfumed the air; fruits of every kind met the eye. The inmates of this celestial abode spent their time in amusement and repose. No evil could enter there. None in heaven ever transgress again ; families are reunited and dwell together in harmony ; they possessed a bodily form, the senses and the remembrance of earthly life; but no white man ever enters heaven. Thus they said. He looked and saw an inclosure upon a plain, just without the entrance of heaven. Within it was a fort. Here he saw the 'destroyer f villages/ walking to and fro within the inclosure. His countenance in- dicated a great and good man. They said to Handsomelake, OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 2OJ ' The man you see is the only pale face that ever left the earth ; he was kind to you, when on the settlement of the great diffi- culty between the Americans and the Great Crown (Great Riitain), you were abandoned to the mercy of your enemies. The Crown told the great American that as for his allies, the Indians, he might kill them if he liked. The great American judged that this would be cruel and unjust; he believed they were made by the Great Spirit, and were entitled to the enjoy- ments of life ; he was kind to you and extended over you his protection ; for this reason he has been allowed to leave the earth. But he is never permitted to go into the presence of the Great Spirit. Although alone, he is perfectly happy. All faithful Indians pass by him as they go to heaven. They see him and recognize him, but pass on in silence. No words ever pass his lips. " Friends and relatives, it was by the influence of this great man that we w r ere spared as a people, and yet live. Had he not granted us his protection, where would we have been ? Perished all perished. "The four messengers further said to Handsomelake that they were fearful that unless the people repent and obey his commands, the forbearance and patience of the Creator would be exhausted ; that He would grow angry with them and cause their increase to cease. " Our Creator made light and darkness ; He made the sun to heat and shine over the world ; He made the moon, also, to shine by night and to cool the world, if the sun make it too hot by day. The keeper of the clouds, by direction of the Great Spirit, will then cease to act. The keeper of the springs and running brooks will cease to rule them for the good of man. The sun will cease to fulfil its office. Total darkness will then cover the earth. A great smoke will rise and spread over the face of the earth. Then will come out of it all mon- sters and poisonous animals created by the evil-minded, and they, with the wicked upon the earth, will perish together. 2O8 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS " But before this dreadful time shall come, the Great Spirit will take home to Himself all the good and faithful. They will lay themselves down to sleep, and from this sleep of death they will arise and go home to their Creator. Thus they said. " I have done. I close thus, that you may remember and understand the fate which awaits the earth, the unfaithful and the unbelieving. Our Creator looks down upon us. The four Beings from above see us. They witness with pleasure this assemblage, and rejoice at the object for which it is gathered. It is now forty-eight years since we first began to listen to the renewed will of our Creator. I have been unable, during the time alloted to me, to rehearse all the sayings of Ga-ne-o-di-yo (Handsomelake); I regret very much that you cannot hear them all. "Counselors, warriors, women and children, I have done. I thank you all for your attendance, and for your kind and patient attention. May the Great Spirit, who rules all things, watch over and protect you from every harm and danger while Vbu travel the journey of life. May the Great Spirit bless all, and bestow upon you life, health, peace and prosperity ; and may you in turn appreciate His great goodness. This is all." OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 209 Sketches of an Iroquois Council, or Condolence. In giving the description of the condolence, I have chosen the following writings of Mr. G. S. Riley, of Rochester, to-wit : A grand council of the confederate Iroquois was held Octo- ber I, 1845, at the Indian councilhouse, on the Tonawanda reservation, in the county of Genesee. Its proceedings occu- pied three days. It embraced representatives from all the six nations the Mohawk, the Onondaga, the Seneca, the Oneida, the Cayuga, and the Tuscarora. It is the only one of the kind which has been held for a number of years, and is probably the last which will ever be assembled with a full representation of the confederate nations. The Indians from abroad arrived at the council-grounds, or the immediate vicinity, two days previous, and one of the most interesting spectacles of the occasion was the entry of the different nations upon the domain and hospitality of the Senecas, on whose grounds the council was to be held. The representation of the Mohawks, coming as they did from Can- ada, was necessarily small. The Onondagas, with acting Todo- tahhoh, of the confederacy, and his two counselors, made an exceedingly creditable appearance. Nor was the array of the Tuscaroras, in point of numbers, at least, deficient in attractive and improving features. We called upon and were presented to Black Smith, the most in- fluential and authoritative of the Seneca sachems. He is about sixty years old, is somewhat portly, is easy enough in his man- (26) 210 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS ncrs, and is well disposed, and even kindly towards all who convinced him that they have no sinister designs in coming among his people. Jemmy Johnson is the great high priest of the confederacy. Though now sixty-nine years old, he is yet an erect, fine-look- ing and energetic Indian, and is hospitable and intelligent. He is in possession of the medal presented by Washington to Red Jacket in 1792, which, among other things of interest, he showed us. It would be imcompatible with the present purpose to de- scribe all the interesting men who were assembled, among whom were Captain Frost, Messrs. Le Fort, Hill, John Jacket, Dr. Wilson and others. We spent much of the time during the week in conversation with the chiefs and most intelligent Indians of the different nations, and gleaned from them much information of the highest interest, in relation to the organiza- tion, government, laws, religion and customs of the people and characteristics of the great men of the old and once powerful confederacy. It is a singular fact, that the peculiar govern- ment and national characteristics of the Iroquois is a most in- teresting field of research and inquiry, which has never been very thoroughly, if at all, investigated, although the historic events which marked the proud career of the confederacy hate been perseveringly sought and treasured up in the writings of Stone, Schoolcraft, Hosmer, Yates and others. Many of the Indians speak English readily, but with the aid and interpretations of Mr. Ely S. Parker, a young Seneca of no ordinary degree of attainment in both scholarship and general inteligence, and who, with Le Fort, the Ononciaga, is well versed in old Iroquois matters, we had no difficulty in convers- ing with any and all \ve chose to. About midday on Wednesday, October i. ilu- rncnced. The ceremonies with which it was opened and con- ducted were certainly unique -almost indescribable; and as its proceedings were in the Seneca tongue, they were in a great OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 211 measure unintelligible, and in fact, profoundly mysterious to the pale faces. One of the chief objects for which the council had been con- voked, was to fill two vacancies in the Sachems of the Senecas, which had been made by the death of the former incumbents; and preceding the installation of the candidates for the succes- sion there was a general and dolorous lament for the deceased Sachems, the utterance of which, together with the repetition of the laws of the confederacy, the installation of the new Sachems, the impeachment and disposition of three unfaithful Sachems, the elevation of others in their stead, and the per- formance of the various ceremonies attendant upon these pro- ceedings, consumed the principal part of the afternoon. At the setting of the sun a bountiful repast, consisting of an innumerable number of rather formidable looking chunks of boiled fresh beef, and abundance of bread and succotash, was brought into the council house. The manner of saying grace on this occasion was indeed peculiar. A kettle being brought, hot and smoking from the fire, and placed in the cen- ter of the council house, there proceeded from a single person, in a high shrill key, a prolonged and monotonous sound, re- sembling that of the syllable wah or yah. This was immedi- ately followed by a responsive but protracted tone, the syllable iv he or sivc, and this concluded grace. It was impossible not to be somewhat mirthfully affected at the first hearing of grace said in this novel manner. It is, however, pleasurable to re- flect that the Indians recognize the duty of rendering thanks to the Divine Being in some formal way for the bounties and enjoyments which He bestows; and, were an Indian to attend a public feast among his pace faced brethren, he would be affect- ed perhaps to a greater degree of marvel at witnessing a total neglect of this ceremony than we were at his singular way of performing it. After supper commenced the dances. All day Tuesday and on Wednesday, up to the time that the places of the deceased 212 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Sachems had been filled, everything like undue joyfulness had been restrained. This was required by the respect customarily due to the distinguished dead. But now the bereaved Sachems being again filled, all were to give utterance of gladness and joy. A short speech by Capt Frost, introductory to the en- joyments of the evening, was received with acclamatory appro- bation, and soon eighty or ninety of these sons and daughters of the forest the old men and the young, the maidens and the matrons were engaged in the dance. It was indeed a rare sight. Only two varieties of dancing were introduced the first even- ing, the trotting dance and the fish dance. The figures of either are exceedingly simple, and but slightly different from each other. In the first named, the dancers all move round a circle in a single file, keeping time in a sort of trotting step to an Indian song of yo-ho-ha, or yo-ho-ha-ha-ho, as sung by the leader, or occasionally by all conjoined. In the other, there is the same movement in single file round a circle, but every two persons, a man and a woman, or two men, face each other, the one moving forward, the other backward, and all keeping step to the music of the singers, who are now, however, aided by a a couple of tortoise or turtle shell rattlers, or an aboriginal drum. At regular intervals there is a sort of cadence in the music, during which a change of position by all the couples takes place, the one who had been moving backward taking the place of the one moving forward, when all again move onward, one-half of the whole, of course, being obliged to fol- low on by dancing backwards. One peculiarity in Indian dancing would probably strongly commend itself to that class among pale faced beau and belles denominated bashful; though, perhaps, it would not suit others as well. The men, or a number of them, usually begin the dance alone, and the women, or each of them, select- ing the one with whom she would like to dance, presents her- self at his side as he approaches and is immediately received OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 213 into the circle. Consequently, the young Indian beau knows nothing of the tact required to handsomely invite and gallantly lead a lady to the dance ; and the young Indian maiden, un- annoyed by obnoxious offers, at her own convenience, grace- fully presents her personage to the one she designs to favor, and thus quietly engages herself in the dance. And more- over, while an Indian beau is not necessarily obliged to ex- hibit any gallantry as towards a belle till she has herself mani- fested her own good pleasure in the matter; so, therefore, the belle cannot indulge herself in vascilant flirtations with any considerable number of beaux without being at once detected. On Thursday the religious ceremonies commenced, and the council from the time it assembled, which was about 11 o'clock A. M., till 3 or 4 o'clock p. M., gave the most serious attention to the preaching of Jimmy Johnson, the great high priest, and the second in the succession under the new revelation. Though there are some evangelical believers among the In- dians, the greater portion of them cherish the religion of their fathers. This, as they say, has been somewhat changed by the new revelation, which the Great Spirit made to one of their prophets about forty-seven years ago, and which, as they also believe, was approved by Washington. The profound regard and veneration which the Indiaus have ever retained towards the name and memory of Washington is most interesting evidence of his universally appreciated worth, and the fact that the red men regard him not merely as one of the best, but as the very best man that ever has ex- isted, or that will ever exist, is beautifully illustrated in a sin- gular credence which they maintain even to this day, namely, that Washington is the .only white man who has ever entered heaven and is the only one who will enter there till the end of the world. Among the Senecas public religious exercises takes place but once a year. At these times Jimmy Johnson preaches hour after hour for three days, and then rests from any public dis 214 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS charge of ecclesiastical offices the remaining three hundred and sixty-two days of the year. On this, an unusual occasion, he restricted himself to a few hours in each of the last two days of the' council. . We were told by young Parker, who took notes of his preaching, that his subject matter on Thursday abounded in good teachings, enforced by appropriate and happy illustrations and striking imagery. After he had fin- ished the council took a short respite. Soon, however, a com- pany of warriors, ready and eager to engage in the celebrated corn dance, made their appearance. They were differently attired. While some were completely enveloped in a closely- fitting and gaudy-colored garb, others, though perhaps without intending it, had made wonderfully close approaches to an imi- tation of the costume said to have been so fashionable in many parts of the State of Georgia during the last hot summer, and which is also said to have consisted simply of a shirt collar and a pair of spurs. But, in truth, these warriors, with shoulders and limbs in a state of nudity, with faces bestreaked with paints, with jingling trinkets dangling to their kees, and with feathered war caps waving above them, presented a truly pic- turesque and romantic appearance. When the center of the council house had been cleared and the musicians with the shell rattlers had taken their places, the dance commenced, and for an hour and a half perhaps two hours it proceeded with surprising spirit and energy. Almost eveiy posture of which the human frame is susceptible, without absolutely mak- ing the feet uppermost and the head for once to assume the place of the feet, was exhibited. Some of the attitudes of the dancers were really imposing, and the dance as a whole, could be got up and conducted only by Indians. The women, in the performance of the corn dance are quite by themselves, keep- ing time to the beat of the shells and gliding along sideways, without scarcely lifting their feet from the floor. It would probably be well if the Indian everywhere could be inclined to refrain at least from the more grotesque and OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 21 5 boisterous peculiarities of the dance. The influence of these cannot be productive of any good, and it is questionable whether it will be possible, so long as they are retained, to assimilate them to any greater degree of civilization, or to more refined methods of living and enjoyment than they now possess. The same may be said of certain characteristics of the still more Vandalic war dance. This, however, was not in- troduced at the council. A part of the proceedings of Friday, the last day of the council, bore resemblance to those of the preceding day. Jimmy Johnson resumed his preaching, at the close of which the corn dance was again performed, though with far more spirit and enthusiasm than at the first. Double the numbers that then appeared, all hardy and sinewy men, atttired in orig- inal and fantastic style, among whom was one of the chiefs of the confederacy, together with forty or fifty women of the different nations, now engaged, and for more than t\vo hours persevered in the performance of the various complicated and fatigueing movement of this dance. The appearance of the dusty throng, with its increased numbers, and of course pro- portionably increased resources for the production of shrill whoops and noisy stamping, and for the exhibition of striking attitudes and rampant motions, \vas altogether strange, won- derful and seemingly superhuman. After the dance had ceased r another kind of sport a well contested foot race claimed attention. In the evening, after another supper in the council house, the more social dances the troting, the fish, and one in which the women alone partic- ipated were resumed. The fish dance seemed to be the favorite, and being invited to join in by one of the chiefs, \\ e at once accepted the invitation, and followed in mirthful chase of pleasure with a hundred forest children. Occasionally the dances are characterized with ebulitions of merriment and flashes of real fun, but generally a singular sobriety and decorum observed. Frequently, when gazing at a throng of sixty a re 2l6 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS or perhaps one hundred dancers, we have been scarcely able to decide which was the most remarkable, the staid and im- perturable gravity of the old men and women, or the complete absence of levity and frolicsomeness in the young. The social dances of the evening, with occasional speeches from the sachems and chiefs, were the final and concluding ceremonies of this singular but interesting affair. Saturday morning witnessed the separation of the various nations and the departure of each to their respective homes. The writer would liked to have said a word or two or rela- tion to the present condition and prospects' of the Indians, but the original design in regard to both the topics and brevity of this writing having been already greatly transcended, it must be deferred. The once powerful confederacy of the Six Nations, occupying in its palmy days the greater portion of New York State, now number only a little over 3,000. Even this remnant will soon be gone. In view of this, as well as of the known fact that the Indian race is everywhere gradually diminishing in numbers, the writer cannot close without invok- ing for this unfortunate people renewed kindliness, sympathy and benevolent attention. It is true, that with some few ex- ceptions, they possess habits and characteristics which render them difficult to approach ; but still, they are only what the creator of us all has made them. And let it be remembered, it must be a large measure of kindliness and benevolence that will repay the injustice and wrongs that have been inflicted upon them. OF THE IKOQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 21 / ATOTARHO. Atotarho, who by tradition was an Onondaga, is the great embodiment of the Iroquois courage, wisdom and heroism, and he is invested with allegoric traits which exalt him to a kind of superhuman character. Unequalled in war and arts his fame spread abroad, and exalted the Onondaga nation in the highest scale. He was placed at the head of the confed- eracy, and his name was used after his death as an examplar of glory and honor. While like that of Caesar, it became per- petuated as the official title of the presiding Sachem of the confederacy. He was a man of energy and renown. And such was the estimation in which he was held in his life time, and the popular veneration for his character after death, that, as above denoted, his name became the distincfive title for the office, and is not yet extinct, although the tribes have no longer war to prosecute or foreign embassadors to reply to. Iroquois Laws of Descent. At the establishment of the confederacy, fifty sachems were founded and a name assigned to each, by which they are still known, and these names are kept as hereditary from the begin- ning to the present time. There were also fifty sub-sachems, or war chiefs that is, to every sachem \vas given a war chief, (27) 218 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS to stand behind him to do his biddings. These sachemships were, and are still confined to the five nations ; the Tuscaroras were admitted into the confederacy without enlarging the framework of the league, by allowing them their own sachems and sub-sachems, or war chiefs, as they inherited from their original nation of North Carolina. But how, it may be asked, is a government so purely popular, and so simple and essentially advisory in its character, to be reconciled with the laws of hereditary descent, fixed by the establishment of heraldic devices and bringing its proportion of weak and incompetent minds into office, and with the actual power it exercised and the fame it acquired. To answer this question, and to show how the aristocratic and democratic principles were made to harmonize in the Iroquois govern- ment, it will be necessary to go back and examine the laws of descent among the tribes, together with the curious and intric- ate principles of the clans or tribal bonds. Nothing is more fully under the cognizance of observers of the manners and customs of the Indians, than the fact of the entire nation or tribe being separated into distinct clans, each of them distinguished by the name and device of some quad- ruped, bird, or other object in the animal kingdom. This de- vice is called by the Tuscaroras Or-reak-sa. (clan). The Iroquois have turned it to account by assuming it as the very basis of their political and tribal bond. A government wholly verbal must be conceded to have re- quired this proximity and nearness of access. The original- five nations of the Iroquois were, theoretically, separated into eight clans or original families of kindreds, who are distinguish- ed respectively by the clans of the wolf, bear, turtle, deer, beav- er, falcon, crane and the plover. I find that there is a little difference in the clans of the Tuscaroras, which are the bear, wolf, turtle, beaver, deer, eel and snipe. It is contrary to the usage of the Indians that near kindred should intermarry, and the ancient rule interdicts all intermarriage between persons of OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 2IQ the same clan. They must marry into a clan which is different from their own. A Bear or Wolf male cannot marry a Bear or Wolf female. By this custom the purity of blood is preserved, while the ties of relationship between the clans themselves is strengthened or enlarged. The line of descent is limited exclusively in the female's children. Owing to this arrangement, a chieftain's son cannot succeed him in office, but in case of his death, the right of de- scent being in his mother, he would be succeeded, not by one of his male children, but by his brother ; or failing in this, then by the son of his sister, or by some direct, however re- mote, descendent of a maternal line. It will be noticed that the children are not of the same clan as their father, but are the same as their mother. Thus, he might be succeeded by his own grandson, by the son marrying in his father's clan, and not by his daughter. It is in this way that the chieftainship is continually kept in a family dynasties in the female line. While the law of descent is fully recognized, the free will of the female to choose a husband from any of the clans, exclud- ing only her own, is made to govern and determine the distri- bution of political power, and to fix the political character of the tribe. Another peculiarity may be here stated. In choos- ing a candidate to fill a vacancy of the chieftainship, made either by death or misconduct, the power is lodged in the old- er women of the clan to choose the candidate, and then to be submitted for the recognition of the chiefs and sachems in council, for the whole nation. If approved, a day is appointed for the recognition also of the Six Nations, and he is formally installed into office. Incapacity is always, however, without exception, recognized as a valid objection to the approval of the council. 220 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS LEGENDARY. On long winter evenings the Indian hunters gatherd around their fireside, to listen to the historical traditions, legends of war and hunting, and fairy tales which had been handed down through their fathers and father's fathers, with scarcely any va- riation for centuries, kindling the enthusiasm of, the warrior and inspiring the little child some day to realize similar dreams, and hand his name down to posterity as the author of similar exploits. They have superstitious fears of relating fables in summer ; not until after snow comes will they relate of snakes, lest they should creep into their beds, or of evil genii, lest they in some way be revenged. It is very difficult for a stranger to rightly understand the morals of their stories, though it is said by those who know them best, that to them the story was always an illustration of some moral or principle. To strangers they offer all the rites of hospitality, but do not open their hearts. If you ask them they will tell you a story, but it will not be such a story as they tell when alone. They will fear your ridicule and suppress their humor and pathos ; so thoroughly have they learned to distrust pale faces, that when they know that he who is present is a friend, they will still shrink from admitting him within the secret portals of their heart. And when you have learned all that language can convey, there are still a thousand images, suggestions and associations recurring to the Indian, which can strike no chord in your heart. The myriad voices of nature are dumb to you, but to them they are full of life and power. OF THE IROOUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 221 NO. I. THE IITNTKR AND MEDICINE LKCKNI). There once lived a man who was a great hunter. His gen- erosity was the theme of praise in all the country, for he not only supplied his own family with food, but distributed game among his friends and neighbors, and even called the birds and animals of the forest to partake of his abundance. For this reason he received the appellation of " Protector of Birds and Animals." He lived a hunter's life till war broke out between his own and some distant nation, and then he took the war path. Pie was as brave a warrior as he was a skillful hunter, and slew a great multitude of the enemy, till all were lying dead around him, except one, who was a mighty man of valor, and in an un- guarded moment the hunter received a blow from his toma- hawk on the head, which felled him to the earth ; his enemy then took his scalp and fled. Some of his own party saw what befell him, and supposing him dead left him on the field of battle ; but a fox who had wandered this way immediately recognized his benefactor. Sorrowful, indeed, was he to find him thus slain, and began to revolve in his mind some means of restoring him to life. " Perhaps," said he, u some of my friends may know of a med- icine by which his wounds may be healed, and he may live again." So saying, he ran into the forest and uttered the il death lament," which was the signal for all the animals to congregate. From far and near they came, till hundreds and thousands of every kind had assembled around the body of the hunter, eagerly inquiring what had happened. The fox explained he had accidentally came that way and found their friend stretched lifeless upon the earth. The animals drew near and examined him more closely, to be sure that life was extinct ; they rolled him over and over on the ground and were satisfied that he was dead, there was not a single sign of life. Then they held a grand council of which the bear was the 222 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS speaker. When all were ready to listen, he asked if any one present was acquainted with any medicine which would restore the dead man to life. With great alacrity each one examined his medicine box, but finds nothing adapted to this purpose. Being defeated in their noble object. of restoring their friend, all join in a mournful howl a requiem for the dead. This at- tracted a singing bird, the oriole, who came quietly to learn the cause of the assembling of the great concourse and their profound lamentation. The bear made known the calamity which had befallen them, and as the birds would feel them- selves equally afflicted, he requested the oriole to flyaway and invite all the feathered tribes to come to the council and see if their united wisdom cannot devise a remedy that will restore their friend to life. Soon were assembled all the birds of the air, even the great eagle of the Iroquois, which was seldom induced to appear up- on the earth, hastens to pay her respects to the remains of the renowned and benevolent hunter. All being satisfied that he was really dead, the united council of birds and animals, which remained convened, decided that his scalp must be recovered, saying that any bird or animal who pleased might volunteer to go on this mission. The fox was the first to offer his services and departed full of hope that his zeal would be crowned with success. But after many days he returned, saying he could find no trace of man's footsteps, not a chick or child belonged to any settlement. The great love which they bore their friend prompted several others to go upon the same mission, and to the animals belonged the first right as they had first found him ; but at length the birds were anxious to show their devo- tion and the pigeon hawk begged leave to make the first flight, as he was more swift of wing than any other and could visit the whole world in the shortest space of time. They had scarcely missed him when he returned ; he said he had been over the entire earth and found it not. They did not consider his voyage satisfactory, as he had flown so swiftly that it was impossible for him to see anything distinct!}' by the way. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 223 Next the white heron proposed that he be sent, because of being so slow of wing he could see every object as he passed. On his aerial voyage he discovered a plain covered with the vines of the wild bean, laden with the delicious fruit ; it was too great a temptation for him to resist, and he descended to enjoy a feast. So gluttonously did he partake that he could not rise again from the earth, and the council after many days of anxious waiting, called for a substitute. Here the crow came forward and acknowledged his fitness for such an office, as he was also slow of wing and was accustomed to hov- er settlements and discern them afar off, he would not be sus- pected of any particular design should he linger near the one that contained the scalp. The warrior who possessed the coveted treasure knew the birds and animals were holding council on the field of battle- to devise means to recover it, but when the crow drew near he was not alarmed. The smoke of the wigwams indicated a set- tlement, and as the crow sailed lazily through the air at a great height above the roofs of the cabins, he espied the scalp which he knew must be the one he sought, stretched out to dry. After various unsuccessful strategems, he was able to seize it, and flew away to exhibit his trophy to the council. Now, they attempted to fit it to his head, but, being dry, it was impossible ; so search was made to find something with which to moisten it, but in vain. Then slowly moved forward the great eagle, and bids them listen to his words. " My wings are never furled ; night and day, for years and hundreds of years, the dews of heaven have been collected up- on my back, as I sat in my nest above the clouds. Perhaps these waters may have a virtue no earthly fountain can pos- \ve will see." Then she plucked a feather from her wing and dipped it in the dewey elixir, which was then applied to the shriveled scalp, and lo ! it became pliable and fresh as if just removed. Now it would fit, but there must be a healing power to cau.^c the flesh to unite, and again to awaken life. 224 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS All were anxious to do something in the great work, there- fore all went forth to bring rare leaves, flowers, barks, the flesh of animals and the brain of birds, to form a healing mixture, When they returned it was prepared, and having been moist- ed with the dew, was applied to the scalp, and instantly ad- hered to it and became firm. This caused the hunter to sit up; he looked around in astonishment upon his numerous friends, unable to divine the meaning of so strange an assemblage. Then they bade him stand upon his feet and told him how he was found dead upon the plain and how great was the lamen- tation of all those who had so long experienced his kindness, and the efforts they had made to restore him to life. They then gave him the compound which had been the means of restoring him to life, saying, " it was the gift of the Great Spir- it to man. He alone had directed them in the affairs of the council, had brought the eagle to furnish the heavenly moist- ure, and gave them wisdom in making the preparation, that they might furnish to man a medicine which should be effect- ual for every wound." When they had finished the animals departed to their for- est haunts, the eagle soared again to his eyrie, and the birds of the air flew away to their nests in the tall trees, all happy and rejoicing that they had accomplished this great good. The hunter returned to his home and spread abroad the news of the miracle and the knowledge of the wonderful medi- cine, which is used to this day among the Iroquois by those who are the favorites of the Great Spirit. An Indian hunter went forth to hunt, and as he wandered through the forest he heard a strain of beautiful music far off among the trees. He listened, but could not tell whence it came ; he knew it could not be by any human \oice, or from any instrument he had ever heard. As it came near it ceased. The next evening he 1 went forth again, but he heard no music, and again, but in van. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 225 Then came the Great Spirit to him in a dream and told him to fast, wash himself till he was purified, then he might go forth and would hear again the music. So he purified himself and went again among the dark trees of the forest, and soon his ear caught the sweet strains, as he drew near they became more beautiful ; he listened till he learned them and could make the same sweet sound, then he knew that it was a plant with a tall green stem and long tapering leaves. He took his knife and cut the stalk, but ere he had scarcely finished, it healed and was the same as before ; he cut it again, and again it healed. Then he knew it would heal diseases, he took it home, dried it by the fire, pulverized it, and applied a few particles of it to a dangerous wound ; no sooner had it touched the wound than it was healed. Thus the Great Spirit taught the Indian the nature of medicinal plants, and directed him where they were to be feund, when and how used. MEDICINE LEGENDS. The two above are the legends concerning the principal medicines used among the Iroquois. The ancient manner of administering them, was to take a small wooden goblet and go to a rurming stream, dipping toward the way which the stream ran, fill the goblet and return, place it near the fire with some tobacco near it ; a prayer is offered while tobacco is thrown upon the fire, that the words may ascend upon the smoke. The medicine is placed on a piece of skin near the goblet, being very finely pulverized, is taken up with a wooden spoon and dusted upon the water in three spots, in the form of a trian- gle, thus #% The medicine man then looks at it critically, if it spreads over the surface of the water and whirls about, it is a sign that the invalid will be healed ; if it sinks directly in the places where it was put, there is no hope, the sick person must die and the whole is thrown away. Once in six months there is a great feast made, at the hunt- ing season in fall and spring. On thenfght of the feast as soon (28) 226 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS as it is dark, all who are present assemble in one room, where no light or fire is allowed to burn, and placing the medicine near the covered embers, the tobacco by its ssde, they com- mence singing, which proclaims that the crows are coming to their feast, and also many other birds and various animals, the brains of whose species form part of their medicine. At the end of the song some one imitates the caw of a crow, the songs of the birds, the howls of the wolf, etc., as if the animals were present. Three times in the course of the night they offer a prayer, while throwing tobacco on the smothered flames, asking that the people may be protected from all harm, and if they re- ceive wounds that the medicine may be effectual in healing them. At the commencement of the ceremonies the doors are lock- ed, and no one is allowed to enter or leave the house while they continue; neither is any one allowed; to sleep, as that would spoil the medicine. The feast begins just before the dawn of day. The master of ceremonies first takes a deer's 'head, bites off a piece, imitates the cry of a crow and passes the head of the animal to another, who does the same, till all have tasted and imitated the peculiar note of some bird or 1 animal. As soon as it begins to be light the presiding officer takes a duck's bill, and dipping it full of the medicine, gives it to each one present, who puts it in a bit of skin and wraps it in several coverings, keeps it carefully until the next semi-annual feast. The skin of a panther is preferred for the first envelope if it can be obtained. Those who take part in the ceremonies are medicine men. Chiefs are allowed to be present ; also, any who have been cured of any disease by the medicine. Without the building tin: \ouvu; j><"]>h- gathei tor merri- ment, and the fragments of the feast are given to them when it is finished. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 22/ When the medicine described in the second legend is used, the tune is sung which was heard at its discovery, both at the ceremonies of the feast and the time of administering it. They seem to think the ceremonies effectual in making the medicinal qualities of the compound imperishable. Each med- icine man has a large quantity which he keeps in a bag, and in order not to exhaust the whole, now and then, adds pulver- ized corn roots, squash vines, etc., and whenever it is adminis- tered several persons assemble and sing. Both kinds are con- sidered especially useful in healing wounds received in war. In reading the first legend there will be seen very humorous allusions to the habits of the pigeon, heron and crow, and there is a curious invention inspiring faith in the means used in heal- ing, I have seen many who affirmed that they had tested the wonderful powers of each. CIVILIZATION. Whatever may be the theories on the subject of Indian civ- ilization, I think it must be evident that the present posi- tion of the Tuscarora nation on their reservation, is extremely favorable for the attainment of that object. They can no longer live by the chase. It is not now with them as it was with the In- dians on the Delaware, when \Villiam Penn said, " their pleas- ures feed them hunting, fishing and fowling." Surrounded by the white settlements, placed in the vicinity of cities and towns, they are obliged to apply to agriculture and other modes of labor, for the means of subsistence. They are now building good houses, planting orchards of various kinds of 228 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS fruit, raising stock, etc.; they have horses and carriages. Ar- tificial wants the very pillars of civilization are increasing upon them. These require exertion, call into action their men- tal faculties, force them to provide for coming exigencies, grad- ually tames down their wild nature, and prepares them for that subdued, but improved state, in which alone is to be found the highest point of cultivation, as well as the highest enjoyment intended for man in this probationary world. If this experiment fails, we may, with melancholy, certainly look forward to a period when this futile branch of the human family shall be swept into oblivion, when the fine sounding names of the lofty mountains, the noble rivers, the splendid cataracts, the great inland seas and the silvery lakes will be the sole memorials of a race, that, only two or three centuries ago, covered the face of this vast continent. On the other hand, if this experiment should succeed, it will open a door of hope for the preservation, or if we may use the term, physical salvation of this apparently doomed race. It may encourage the philanthropist to stretch forth his hand for the protection of the yet remaining tribes beyond the Mis- sissippi ; and the child may already be born, who will live to behold that vast wilderness thickly dotted over with Indian communities, with towns, villages, farms and manufacturing hamlets. They may live to see the hoe and the spade take the place of the bow and the tomahawk ; the lion and the lamb feeding together ; the sword beaten into a plowshare, and the spear into a pruning hook. OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 22$ DOMESTIC In the first place, to women, in every well regulated society, should be committed the management of the families and the business connected with the household concerns, and they should be qualified to exercise a salutary influence within their appropriate sphere. Secondly, as mothers they are responsible for the nursing and rearing of their children and for the proper sustenance of them in. early life. They are also responsible for the habits of their children, including cleanliness and general propriety of behavior. A sensible, judicious mother can greatly control her children in these matters ; she can make them modest or impertinent, ingenuous or deceitful, fearful or intrepid. The germ of all these traits of character exist in childhood, and a mother can repress or strengthen them. Thirdly, a mother is responsible for the principles her chil- dren may entertain in early life, and it is for her to say wheth- er they shall be imbued with sentiments of honesty, industry and morality, or with those of a contrary character fraud, idleness and dishonesty. She is, to a very considerable extent responsible for the tem- per and disposition of her children. Constitutionally he may- be irritable or revengeful, but she may correct or repress these passions and in their places instil better feelings. Lastly, and above all, she is responsible for the religious ed- ucation of her children. The beginning of wisdom is a rever- 230 LEGENDS, TRADITIO NS AND LAWS ence for our creator, and obedienc e to his requirings ; and this is within the power of every good mother to inculcate and cherish in the hearts of her children ; at the same time it is the most important duty she owes them, and their usefulness and character throughout life may depend upon her correct and faithful discharge of it. If these be the appropriate duties and obligations of a moth- er, will it not be vain to expect that the Indian warrior will be qualified for that station, or that they will be in a condition to give a proper education to their children, or train them up in habits or principles that will render them intelligent and good citizens, whilst they themselves are left in ignorance, and while, instead of devoting their time and attention to his discharge of these high moral duties, they are held in a state of servile degradation and compelled to perform all the menial drudger- ies of life ? Women are created by Providence equal to men in every- thing except mere physical strength. Generally, they have much more discretion, and certainly are far more virtuous. They were designed to exercise a conservative influence in so- ciety and should be placed in a position which would enable them to fulfill this most important office ; for history confirms the deeply interesting fact, that no people ever yet were ele- vated to the rank of civilization, while their females were held in a servile condition, and we are also admonished by experi- ence, that no community can be virtuous and happy, which is not chastened by the controlling example of female delicacy and refinement. These views are submitted to the consideration of the Tus- caroras, in the hope that they will receive their serious atten- tion, and lead to the adoption of an improved and proper di- vision of the employments, both of the men and women of the nation ; especially to the extension of more care towards the suitable education of their females, and the consequent eleva- tion of the Tuscarora women to their appropriate station and, 'OQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. J^I dignity, as the wives and rational companions of intelligent and educated husbands. In my communications, I have not felt it my duty to call your attention to any particular forms or observances in rela- tion to your religious obligations. I believe that God is a spirit, and true worship to Him can only be performed in spirit and in truth. I also believe that however diversified the hu- man family may be in regard to the circumstances in which they may be placed, all stand equally before their creator, as objects of His care and personal regard ; in His great mercy He visits us with remorse and sadness, when we have wilfully done what we know to be wrong, and which, if persisted in, might lead us to destruction ; and it is He who fills our hearts with peace and consolation when we do that which we believe to be right. His goodness is not limited to any people or place, nor is that adoration which is due to Him confined within tem- ples built with human hands, or restricted to any particular form ; He is everywhere present and in every place ; the in- cense of a pious, devoted heart, may acceptably be offered to Him in the rude homes of the red man. The plants of the earth are not more directly under the in- fluences of the natural light and warmth by which they are nourished, than is the immortal soul or spirit of man under the immediate care and sustaining support of the divine presence, which is ajways near and round about us ; for it is in* Him we and move, and have our existence. Deeply impressed with the certainty of these truths, and ful- ly believing He will never fail to lead in the paths of safety and peace, those who sincerely look to Him for instruction and faithfully follow His counsel, I recommend you, with myself, carefully to attend to His manifestations of light and truth upon our minds, which will never deceive nor mslead, but, if obeyed, wisely conduct us through the dangers of this life, and finally will prepare us for a happy admission into the realms ternal rest. LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS Osteological Remains. " In the town of Cambria, six miles west of Lockport, a Mr. Hammon, who was employed with his boy in hoeing corn, in 1824, observed some bones of a child, exhumed. No farther thought was bestowed upon the subject for a time, for the plain of the Ridge was supposed to have been the site of an Indian village, and this was supposed to be the remains of some child who had been recently buried there. Eli Bruce, hearing of the circumstance, proposed to Mr. H. that they should repair to the spot, with suitable instruments, and en- deavor to find some relics. The soil was a light loam, which would be dry and preserve bones for centuries without decay. A search enabled them to come to a pit but a slight distance from the surface. The top of the pit was covered with small slabs of the Medina sandstone, and was twenty-four feet square, four and a half feet deep, planes agreeing with the four cardi- nal points. It was filled with human bones of both sexes and ages. T&ey dug down at one extremity and found the same layers to" extend to the bottom, which was the dry loam, and from their calculations, they deduced that at least four thous- and souls had perished in one great massacre. In one skull two flint arrow-heads were found, and many had the appear- ance of having been fractured and cleft open by a sudden blow. They were piled in regular layers, but with no regard to size or sex. Pieces of pottery were picked up in the pit, and had also been plowed up in the field adjacent. Traces of council house were plainly discernable. For, in an ol square, the soil was pdbr, as if it had been cultivated, till the OF THE IROQUOIS, OR SIX NATIONS. 233 whites broke it up, and where the logs of the house had de- cayed, was a strip of rich mould. A maple tree, over the pit, being cut down, two hundred and fifty concentric circles were counted, making the mound to be A. D. 1574. It has been supposed by the villagers that the bones were deposited there before the discovery of America, but the finding of some metal tools with a French stamp, placed the date within our period. One hundred and fifty persons a day visited this spot the first season, and carried' off portions of the bones. They are now nearly all gone and the pit plowed over. Will any antiquarian inform us, if possible, why these bones were placed here ? To what tribe do they belong? When did such a massacre occur ?" The above is taken from the writings of Mr. Schoolscraft. On account of the questions above, I propose to give a tradi- tion, (which the Tuscaroras have preserved,) to give the anti- quarians and critics a question to solve. Was the great massa- cre above made in the circumstance of the tradition below, to wit : There was a settlement or Indian nation where appeared several white men under the cloak of missionaries, (the reason I use the term cloak is by the way it terminated), and preached to them the gospel of Jesus Christ, and the great love evinced by the Father in sending his only son to suffer and die on the cross to redeem the red children of nature, as well as the pale faces, from their degredation, shame and woe, to that of end- less felicity beyond the shores of time. And that they wished to erect a house of worship in their midst, in which they might do their oblation to the Great Spirit, and that if they embraced the gospel they would have annuities from the government, to all of which the simple people of the forest made their assent. They immediately went to work, dug for tne cellar, and erect- ed the building on abutments of wood, and alleged that they would finish the cellar afterwards. When the chapel was fin- ished the Indians began to worship in it. Now the time of the annuity arrived. The Indians were told to all congregate and 234 LEGENDS, TRADITIONS AND LAWS get into the church, men, women and children, and all those who refused to enter, should be omitted in the distribution of the annuity. Consequently the building was entered by them and filled jammed full. But there were two suspecting Indians who kept a proper distance away, ambushed, to see the result. After it was thought all had entered, there was a company of soldiers with guns and burning faggots, surrounded the build- ing and set it on fire on all sides, after they had fastened the door. In this condition they all perished within the flames. I will not make any attempt to give a sketch or in any way write in words the horrors and heart-rendings cries and moans of the dying children of nature in the flames, through a dis- guise of sheep's clothing, but will leave it to the conjecture of the reader. After the flames had subsided, these two ludians repaired to the doomed spot, and found a heap of bones hob-nob, and they observed that some of the skulls and bones of the different parts of the body were fractured and broke open, supposed to have been, done by the falling timbers of the burning house. It is said, "in one skull, two flint arrow-heads were found." How easy for the artifice of the white men that accomplished the massacre in the manner they did, to have sunk these two flint arrows into one of those skulls, to leave the conjecture in after times to have been done by an Indian war. Mr. C. P. Turner, with an honorable age of 72 years, in 1878, told me that he visited the deposit of these bones, the next day after they were uncovered, saw the skull with the two flint arrows in it, and saw the great deposit of bones in this mound, and also said the pile was in hap-hazard, and not " in regular layers," as stated above. He also saw bones which indicated being those of a child about 20 inches in height. The Tuscaroras who preserve this tradition are located in the vicinity in which this mound of bones were found. All histo- rians are very cautious to leave out or omit from the pages of their history, any circumstance in the nature of the above tra- dition. 27 ''MmM^*, )ESK FROM WHICH BORROWED CIRCULATION DE This book is due on the last date stamped below, or on the date to which renewed. Renewed books are subject to immediate recall. REC'D CIRC DEPT MAY 1 l'?434 fj ! ;> ' REC. C1R. JAM 5 76 OT REC. CIR.APR 27 "7 ? AilG 2-1380 LD 21-32nir-3,'74 (R7057slO)476 A-32 General Library University of California Rorkelev YC 27835 M123187 THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY -X I