COLDEN'5 
 INDIANS
 
 THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES 
 
 Gift 
 
 From the Library of 
 Henry Goldman, Ph.D. 
 1886-1972
 
 THE HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Five Indian Nations 
 
 -* 
 
 OF CANADA 
 
 WHICH ARE DEPENDENT ON THE PROVINCE OF 
 
 NEW YORK, AND ARE A BARRIER BETWEEN 
 
 THE ENGLISH AND THE FRENCH IN 
 
 THAT PART OF THE WORLD 
 
 By 
 Hon. CADWALLADER COLDEN 
 
 WITH MAP 
 
 IN TWO VOLUMES 
 
 VOL. I. 
 
 George N. Morang & Company, Limited 
 
 TORONTO
 
 I NTRO DUCTION. 
 
 On the death of Lieutenant-Governor de 
 Lancy, in 1760, Cadwallader Golden, as 
 President of the Council, came to New York, 
 took up his residence 'at the Province House 
 in the fort, and administered the Govern- 
 ment until his appointment as Lieutenant- 
 Governor, which took place in August, 1761. 
 
 "Governor Golden, "says Verplanck, "was 
 a scholar of various and extensive attain- 
 ments, and of very great and unremitted 
 ardor and application in the acquisition of 
 knowledge. When it is considered how 
 large a portion of his life was spent in the 
 labors or the routine of public office and that, 
 however great might have been his original 
 stock of learning, he had in this country no 
 reading public to excite him by their ap- 
 plause, and few literary friends to assist or 
 to stimulate his inquiries, his zeal and suc- 
 cess in his scientific pursuits will appear de- 
 serving of the highest admiration. A great 
 
 mass of manuscripts on mathematical, botani- 
 iii
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cal, metaphysical, and theological learning, 
 in addition to the works published during 
 his life, affords ample proof of the extent and 
 variety of his knowledge, and the strength, 
 the acuteness and the versatility of his intel- 
 lect." 
 
 Cadwallader Golden was the son of the 
 Eev. Alexander Golden, minister of an ob- 
 scure parish in Scotland, but was born on the 
 17th of February, 1688, in Ireland. Young 
 Golden was destined by his father for the 
 ministry and was sent to the University of 
 Edinburgh, where he graduated in 1705. 
 Not caring for his father's profession, he re- 
 paired to London and began the study of 
 Medicine. Five years later he came to 
 America and practised his profession in 
 Pennsylvania for a considerable time. After 
 a brief visit to England, he came to New 
 York, where he formed the acquaintance of 
 Governor Hunter, who offered him the posi- 
 tion of Surveyor-General of the Colony. 
 Thereafter emoluments and honors came 
 upon him thick and fast. He was made a 
 Master in Chancery, though why, it is hard 
 to say. He was called to a seat in the Coun- 
 cil, a body of gentlemen elected by the Crown,
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and forming the upper legislative house in 
 the Colony. Governor Hunter stood his 
 friend, and it was owing to his support that 
 a grant of two thousand acres of land in what 
 is now the town of Montgomery, Orange 
 County, was bestowed upon him. He re- 
 ceived another grant of one thousand acres 
 which he called the Manor of Coldengham. 
 He was now one of the great land-owners of 
 the Colony. 
 
 Shea, in commenting upon his rapid ad- 
 vance in influence and wealth, states that 
 Golden " was unremitting and zealous in his 
 labor, adhering firmly to the royal Governors 
 while others fought only to mimic the 
 Capital in show and parade, Golden went to 
 work to study the climate, geography, na- 
 tive inhabitants, civic and political inter- 
 ests of the Colony." 
 
 Cadwallader Golden was regarded as the 
 best-informed man in the new world on the 
 affairs of the British-American Colonies. 
 Shea states that "he is spoken of as better 
 versed than any other in the geography of 
 the country, and his writings show that he 
 was an early and careful observer of the cli- 
 mate and its influence on health." That he 
 v
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 was highly regarded by the Indians may be 
 seen from the fact that he was adopted by 
 the Mohawks of Canajoharie. 
 
 This brings us to " The History of the Five 
 Indian Nations." Mr. Shea says it was writ- 
 ten " to lay more completely before the pub- 
 lic the importance of the Five Nations or 
 Iroquois to the Colony of New York, as a 
 barrier against the French and a means of 
 controlling the West." There is no doubt 
 that the book was written with a political 
 motive, and it may have been necessary to 
 teach the King and Council, Lords of Trade 
 and other ruling powers, the real position, 
 influence and power of the Iroquois Confed- 
 eracy. But Golden was too well informed a 
 man not to perceive that the day would come 
 when every scrap of authentic information in 
 regard to the Indians would be valuable. 
 He had access to sources of information by 
 reason of his official position not usually open 
 to writers, of which he made remarkable use. 
 
 Golden wrote many political pamphlets, 
 scientific studies, and other works besides his 
 " History of the Five Indian Nations," none 
 of which it will be necessary to allude to 
 here. He was a very busy and industrious
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 man, and he lived to the protracted age of 
 eighty-seven years. He died at Spring Hill, 
 near Flushing on Long Island, on the 21st of 
 September, 1776. His wife had predeceased 
 him several years, having died at Fort 
 George, in March 1762. 
 
 Mr. Shea calls attention to the remarkable 
 fact that no life of Cadwallader Golden has 
 been written. "It reflects little credit on 
 New York," he says, " that none of her sons 
 have endeavored to present to the million 
 readers of the State the life of Cadwallader 
 Golden, a man whose scientific and philosoph- 
 ical mind, insuring him fame in any field 
 of life that he might have selected, was de- 
 voted for nearly half a century to the devel- 
 opment, interests, and government of the 
 Colony of New York. But his labors are 
 almost forgotten, his learned works accessible 
 to few, his manuscripts, though safe in the 
 New York Historical Society, accessible to 
 still fewer, and except to antiquaries and col- 
 lectors his very existence almost a myth. 
 No public monument, no college nor semi- 
 nary of learning, recalls the memory of one 
 who in electricity and other branches of nat- 
 ural philosophy was the valued associate of
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Franklin, who corresponded with Linnaeus, 
 Groiiovius, and Bartram on Botany, with 
 eminent physicians in both hemispheres on 
 the science of medicine, with the Earl of 
 Macclesfield on Astronomy and Philosophy, 
 whose reports to Government stand out amid 
 the mass of tedious official documents by the 
 freshness, vigor, and originality of their 
 views, no less than by their scientific value 
 as treatises." EGBERT WAITE. 
 
 NEW YORK, July, 1902. 
 
 viii
 
 TO THE HONOURABLE 
 
 GENERAL 
 
 OGLETHO RPE 
 
 SIR, 
 
 The Indian Affairs have ever appeared to 
 your Judgment of such Importance to the 
 Welfare of our own People, that you have 
 ever carefully applied your Thoughts to 
 them ; and that with such Success, that not 
 only the present Generation will enjoy the 
 Benefit of your Care, but our latest Posterity 
 bless your Memory for that Happiness, the 
 Foundation of which was laid under your 
 Care, provided that the People here, whose 
 Duty and Interest is chiefly concerned, do on 
 their own Parts second your Endeavours, 
 towards securing the Peace, and advancing 
 the Prosperity of their Country. 
 
 The following Account of the Five Indian 
 Nations will shew what dangerous Neigh- 
 bours the Indians have once been; what 
 Pains a neighbouring Colony (whose Interest 
 ix
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 is opposite to ours) has taken to withdraw 
 their Affections from us ; and how much we 
 ought to be on our Guard. If we only con- 
 sider the Riches which our Enemies receive 
 from the Indian Trade (though we were un- 
 der no Apprehensions from the Indians them- 
 selves) it would be highly imprudent hi us to 
 suffer such People to grow Rich and Power- 
 ful, while it is in our Power to prevent it, 
 with much less Charge and Trouble, than it 
 is in theirs to accomplish their Designs. 
 
 These Considerations alone are sufficient to 
 make the Indian Affairs deserve the most se- 
 rious Thoughts of every Governor in America. 
 But I well know, besides ; that your Excel- 
 lency's Views are not confined to the Interest 
 of one Country only. 
 
 The Five Nations are a poor and, gener- 
 ally called, barbarous People, bred under the 
 darkest Ignorance ; and yet a bright and no- 
 ble Genius shines through these black 
 Clouds. None of the greatest Roman He- 
 roes have discovered a greater Love to their 
 Country, or a greater Contempt of Death, 
 than these People called Barbarians have 
 done, when Liberty came in Competition. 
 Indeed, I think our Indians have outdone 
 the Romans in this Particular; some of the 
 greatest of those have we know murdered 
 s
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 themselves to avoid Shaine or Torments ; but 
 our Indians have refused to die meanly, or 
 with but little Pain, when they thought their 
 Country's Honour would be at Stake by it*; 
 but have given their Bodies, willingly, to the 
 most cruel Torments of their Enemies, to 
 shew, as they said, that the Five Nations 
 consisted of Men, whose Courage and Reso- 
 lution could not be shaken. They greatly 
 sully, however, those noble Virtues, by that 
 cruel Passion, Revenge; this they think it 
 not only lawful, but honourable, to exert 
 without Mercy on their Country's Enemies, 
 and for this only it is that they can deserve 
 the Name of Barbarians. 
 
 But what, alas! Sir, have we Christians 
 done to make them better? We have indeed 
 Reason to be ashamed, that these Infidels, 
 by our Conversation and Neighbourhood, are 
 become worse than they were before they 
 knew us. Instead of Virtues we have only 
 taught them Vices, that they were intirely 
 free from before that Time. The narrow 
 Views of private Interest have occasioned 
 this, and will occasion greater, even publick 
 Mischiefs, if the Governors of the People do 
 not, like true Patriots, exert themselves, and 
 put a Stop to these growing Evils. If these 
 
 *This will appear by several Instances in the 
 Second Part of this History. 
 xi
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 Practices be winked at, instead of faithful 
 Friends, that have manfully fought our Bat- 
 tles for us, the Five Nations will become 
 faithless Thieves and Bobbers, and join with 
 every Enemy that can give them any Hopes 
 of Plunder. 
 
 If Care were taken to plant and cultivate 
 in them that general Benevolence to Man- 
 kind, which is the true first Principle of Vir- 
 tue, it would effectually eradicate those horrid 
 Vices, occasioned by their unbounded Re- 
 venge ; and then they would no longer deserve 
 the Name of Barbarians, but would become a 
 People, whose Friendship might add Honour 
 to the British Nation. 
 
 The Greeks and Romans, Sir, once as much 
 Barbarians as our Indians now are ? deified the 
 Heroes that first taught them those Virtues, 
 from whence the Grandeur of those renowned 
 Nations wholly proceeded ; a good Man, how- 
 ever, will feel more real Satisfaction and 
 Pleasure, from the Sense of having any Way 
 forwarded the Civilizing of a barbarous Na- 
 tion, or of having multiplied the Number of 
 good Men, than from the fondest Hopes of 
 such extravagant Honours. 
 
 These Considerations, I believe, will in- 
 duce you, Sir, to think a History of the Five 
 Nations not unworthy of your Patronage; 
 xil
 
 DEDICATION. 
 
 and on these only it is that I presume to 
 offer my best Endeavours in this, who am, 
 with the greatest Respect, 
 
 SIR, 
 Tour most obedient, 
 
 and most humble Servant, 
 CADWALLADER GOLDEN. 
 
 xiil
 
 THE 
 
 INTRODUCTION, 
 
 - 
 
 BEING 
 
 A Short View of the Form of Government of 
 the Five Nations, and of their Laws, Cus- 
 toms, etc. 
 
 It is necessary to know something of the 
 Form of Government of the People, whose 
 History one is about to know, and a few 
 Words will be sufficient to give the Reader a 
 Conception of that of the Five Nations, be- 
 cause it still remains under original Simplic- 
 ity, and free from those complicated Contri- 
 vances, which have become necessary to the 
 Nations, where Deceit and Cunning have in- 
 creased as much as their Knowledge and 
 Wisdom. 
 
 The Five Nations (as their Name denotes) 
 consist of so many Tribes or Nations, joined 
 together by a League or Confederacy, like the 
 United Provinces, and without any Superior- 
 ity of the one over the other. This Union 
 has continued so long, that the Christians
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 know nothing of the Original of it : The Peo- 
 ple in it are known by the English under the 
 Names of Mohawks, Oneydoes, Onondagas, 
 Cayugas, and Sennekas. 
 
 Each of these Nations is again divided into 
 three Tribes or Families, who distinguish 
 themselves by three different Arms or En- 
 signs, the Tortoise, the Bear, and the Wolf; 
 and the Sachems, or old Men of these Fami- 
 lies, put this Ensign, or Mark of their Family, 
 to every publick Paper, when they sign it. 
 
 Each of these Nations is an absolute Re- 
 publick by itself, and every Castle in each 
 Nation makes an independent Kepublick, and 
 is govern'd in all publick Affairs by its own 
 Sachems or old Men. The Authority of 
 these Kulers isgain'dby, and consists wholly 
 in the Opinion the rest of the Nation have of 
 their Wisdom and Integrity. They never 
 execute their Resolutions by Force upon any 
 of their People. Honour and Esteem are 
 their principal Rewards; as Shame, and 
 being despised, their Punishments. They 
 have certain Customs, which they observe in 
 their publick Transactions with other Na- 
 tions, and in their private Affairs among 
 themselves; which it is scandalous for any 
 one among them not to observe, and these 
 always draw after them either publick or pri- 
 vate Resentment, whenever they are broke. 
 
 Their Leaders and Captains, in like Man- 
 xvi
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 ner, obtain their Authority, by the general 
 Opinion of their Courage and Conduct, and 
 lose it by a failure in those Virtues. 
 
 Their great Men, both Sachems and Cap- 
 tains, are generally poorer than the common 
 People ; for they affect to give away and dis- 
 tribute all the Presents or Plunder they get 
 in their Treaties or in War, so as to leave 
 nothing to themselves. There is not a Man 
 in the Ministry of the Five Nations, who has 
 gain'd his Office, otherwise than by Merit; 
 there is not the least Salary, or any Sort of 
 Profit, annexed to any Office, to tempt the 
 Covetous or Sordid; but, on the contrary, 
 every unworthy Action is unavoidably at- 
 tended with the Forfeiture of their Commis- 
 sion ; for their Authority is only the Esteem 
 of the People, and ceases the Moment that 
 Esteem is lost. Here we see the natural 
 Origin of all Power and Authority among a 
 free People, and whatever artificial Power or 
 Sovereignty any Man may have acquired, by 
 the Laws and Constitution of a Country, his 
 real Power will be ever much greater or less, 
 in Proportion to the Esteem the People have 
 of him. 
 
 The Five Nations think themselves by Na- 
 ture superior to the rest of Mankind, and call 
 themselves Ongue-honwe ; that is, Men sur- 
 passing all others. This Opinion, which 
 they take Care to cultivate into their Chil- 
 xvii
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 dren, gives them that Courage, which has 
 been so terrible to all the Nations of North 
 America ; and they have taken such Care to 
 impress the same Opinion of their People on 
 all their Neighbours, that they, on all Occa- 
 sions, yield the most submissive Obedience 
 to them. I have been told by old Men in 
 New England, who remembred the Time 
 when the Mohawks made War on their In- 
 dians, that as soon as a single Mohawk was 
 discover' d in the Country, their Indians 
 raised a Cry from Hill to Hill, A Mohawk ! 
 A Mohawk! upon which they all fled like 
 Sheep before Wolves, without attempting to 
 make the least Resistance, whatever Odds 
 were on their Side. The poor New England 
 Indians immediately ran to the Christian 
 Houses, and the Mohawks often pursued 
 them so closely, that they entered along 
 with them, and knocked their Brains out in 
 the Presence of the People of the House; 
 but if the Family had Time to shut the Door, 
 they never attempted to force it, and on no 
 Occasion did any Injury to the Christians. 
 All the Nations round them have, for many 
 Years, intirely submitted to them, and pay a 
 yearly Tribute to them in Wampum * ; they 
 
 * Wampum is the Current Money among the In- 
 dians: It is of two Sorts, White and Purple; the 
 White is worked out of the Inside of the great 
 Conques into the Form of a Bead, and perforated, 
 xviii
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 dare neither make War nor Peace, without 
 the Consent of the Mohawks. Two old Men 
 commonly go about every Year or two, to re- 
 ceive this Tribute ; and I have often had Op- 
 portunity to observe what Anxiety the poor 
 Indians were under, while these two old Men 
 remained in that Part of the Country where I 
 was. An old Mohawk Sachem, in a poor 
 Blanket and a dirty Shirt, may be seen issu- 
 ing his Orders with as arbitrary an Author- 
 ity, as a Roman Dictator. It is not for the 
 Sake of Tribute however, that they make 
 War, but from the Notions of Glory, which 
 they have ever most strongly imprinted on 
 their Minds ; and the farther they go to seek 
 an Enemy, the greater Glory they think they 
 gain ; there cannot, I think, be a greater or 
 stronger Instance than this, how much the 
 Sentiments, impressed upon a People's mind, 
 conduce to their Grandeur, or one that more 
 verifies a Saying often to be met with, though 
 but too little minded, That it is in the Power 
 of the Rulers of a People to make them either 
 
 to string on Leather ; the Purpie is worked out of 
 the Inside of the Muscle Shell ; they are wove as 
 broad as one's Hand, and about two Feet long; 
 these they call Belts, and give and receive at their 
 Treaties as the Seals of Friendship ; for lesser Mat- 
 ters a single String is given. Every Bead is of a 
 known Value, and a Belt of a less Number, is made 
 to equal one of a greater, by so many as is wanting 
 fastened to the Belt by a String. 
 xix
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Great or Little ; for by inculcating only the 
 Notions of Honour and Virtue, or those of 
 Luxury and Riches, the People, in a little 
 Time, will become such as their Rulers de- 
 sire. The Five Nations, in their Love of 
 Liberty, and of their Country, in their Brav- 
 ery in Battle, and their Constancy in endur- 
 ing Torments, equal the Fortitude of the most 
 renowned Romans. I shall finish their gen- 
 eral Character by what an Enemy, a French- 
 man, says of them, Monsieur De la Poterie, 
 in his History of North America. 
 
 " When we speak (says he) of the Five Na- 
 tions in France, they are thought, by a com- 
 mon Mistake, to be mere Barbarians, always 
 thirsting after human Blood ; but their true 
 Character is very different. They are indeed 
 the fiercest and most formidable People in 
 North America, and, at the same Time, are 
 as politick and judicious, as well can be con- 
 ceived ; and this appears from the Manage- 
 ment of all the Affairs which they transact, 
 not only with the French and English, but 
 likewise with almost all the Indian Nations 
 of this vast Continent." 
 
 Their Matters of Consequence, which con- 
 cern all the Nations, are transacted in a gen- 
 eral Meeting of the Sachems of each Nation. 
 These Conventions are commonly held at 
 Onnondaga, which is nearly the Center of 
 their Country ; but they have fixed on Albany
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 for the Place of treating with the British 
 Colonies. 
 
 They strictly follow one Maxim, formerly 
 used by the Romans to increase their 
 Strength, that is, they encourage the People 
 of other Nations to incorporate with them ; 
 and when they have subdued any People, 
 after they have satiated their Revenge by 
 some cruel Examples, they adopt the rest of 
 their Captives; who, if they behave well, 
 become equally esteemed with their own Peo- 
 ple; so that some of their Captives have 
 afterwards become their greatest Sachems 
 and Captains. The Tuskaroras, after the 
 War they had with the People of Carolina, 
 fled to the Five Nations, and are now incor- 
 porated with them; so that they now pro- 
 perly indeed consist of six Nations, though 
 they still retain the old Name of the Five 
 Nations among the English. The Cowetas 
 also, or Creek-Indians, are in the same 
 Friendship with them. 
 
 The Tuskaroras, since they came under the 
 Province of New York, behave themselves 
 well, and remain peaceable and quiet; and 
 by this may be seen the Advantage of using 
 the Indians well, and I believe, if they were 
 still better used (as there is Room enough to 
 do it) they would be proportionably more 
 useful to us. 
 
 The Cruelty the Indians use in their Wars, 
 xxi
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 towards those that do not or cannot resist, 
 such as Women and Children, and to their 
 Prisoners, after they have them in their 
 Power, is deservedly indeed held in Abhor- 
 rence : But whoever reads the History of the 
 so famed ancient Heroes, will find them, I'm 
 afraid, not much better in this Respect. 
 Does Achilles's Behaviour to Hector's dead 
 Body, in Homer, appear less savage? This 
 Cruelty is also not peculiar to the Five Na- 
 tions, but equally practised by all other In- 
 dians. It is wonderful, how Custom and 
 Education are able to soften the most horrid 
 Actions, even among a polite and learned 
 People ; witness the Carthaginians and Phoe- 
 nicians burning their own Children alive in 
 Sacrifice ; and several Passages in the Jewish 
 History ; and witness, in later Times, the 
 Christians burning one another alive, for 
 God's Sake. 
 
 When any of the young Men of these Na- 
 tions have a Mind to signalize themselves, 
 and to gain a Reputation among their Coun- 
 trymen, by some notable Enterprize against 
 their Enemy, they at first communicate their 
 Design to two or three of their most intimate 
 Friends ; and if they come into it, an Invita- 
 tion is made, in their Names, to all the young 
 Men of the Castle, to feast on Dog's Flesh ; 
 but whether this be, because Dog's Flesh is 
 most agreeable to Indian Palates, or whether
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 it be as an Emblem of Fidelity, for which the 
 Dog is distinguished by all Nations, that it 
 is always used on this Occasion, I have not 
 sufficient Information to determine. When 
 the Company is met, the Promoters of the 
 Enterprise set forth the Undertaking in the 
 best Colours they can; they boast of what 
 they intend to do, and incite others to join, 
 from the Glory there is to be obtained; and 
 all who eat of the Dog's Flesh, thereby inlist 
 themselves. 
 
 The Night before they set out, they make 
 a grand Feast, to this all the noted Warriors 
 of the Nation are invited ; and here they have 
 their War Dance, to the Beat of a Kind of a 
 Kettle-drum. The Warriors are seated in 
 two Kows in the House, and each rises up in 
 his Turn, and sings the great Acts he has 
 himself performed, and the Deeds of his An- 
 cestors ; and this is always accompanied with 
 a Kind of a Dance, or rather Action, repre- 
 senting the Manner in which they were per- 
 formed ; and from Time to Time, all present 
 join in a Chorus, applauding every notable 
 Act. They exaggerate the Injuries they 
 have at any Time received from their Ene- 
 mies, and extol the Glory which any of their 
 Ancestors have gained by their Bravery and 
 Courage ; so that they work up their Spirits 
 to a high Degree of warlike Enthusiasm. I 
 have sometimes persuaded some of their 
 xxiii
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 young Indians to act these Dances, for our 
 Diversion, and to show us the Manner of 
 them; and even, on these Occasions, they 
 have work'd themselves up to such a Pitch, 
 that they have made all present uneasy. Is 
 it not probable, that such Designs as these 
 have given the first Eise to Tragedy? 
 
 They come to these Dances with their Faces 
 painted in a frightful Manner, as they always 
 are when they go to War, to make themselves 
 terrible to their Enemies ; and in this Manner 
 the Night is spent. Next Day they march 
 out with much Formality, dressed in their 
 finest Apparel, and, in their March, observe 
 a profound Silence. An Officer of the regu- 
 lar Troops told me, that while he was Com- 
 mandant of Fort-Hunter, the Mohawks, on 
 one of these Occasions, told him, that they 
 expected the usual Military Honours as they 
 passed the Garison. Accordingly he drew 
 out his Garison, the Men presented their 
 Pieces as the Indians passed, and the Drum 
 beat a March; and with less Respect, the 
 Officer said, they would have been dissatis- 
 fied. The Indians passed in a single Row, 
 one after another, with great gravity and 
 profound Silence ; and every one of them, as 
 he passed the Officer, took his Gun from his 
 Shoulder, and fired into the Ground near the 
 Officer's Foot : They marched in this Manner 
 three or four Miles from their Castle. The
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Women, on these Occasions, always follow 
 them with their old Clothes, and they send 
 back by them their Finery in which they 
 marched from the Castle. But before they 
 go from this Place, where they exchange 
 their Clothes, they always peel a large Piece 
 of the Bark from some great Tree ; they com- 
 monly chuse an Oak, as most lasting ; upon 
 the smooth Side of this Wood they, with 
 their red Paint, draw one or more Canoes, 
 going from Home, with the Number of Men 
 in them padling, which go upon the Expedi- 
 tion ; and some Animal, as a Deer or Fox, 
 an Emblem of the Nation against which the 
 Expedition is designed, is painted at the 
 Head of the Canoes ; for they always travel 
 in Canoes along the Rivers, which lead to the 
 Country against which the Expedition is de- 
 signed, as far as they can. 
 
 After the Expedition is over, they stop at 
 the same Place in their Return, and send to 
 their Castle, to inform their Friends of their 
 Arrival ; that they may be prepared to give 
 them a solemn Reception, suited to the Suc- 
 cess they have had. In the mean Time, they 
 represent on the same, or some Tree near it, 
 the Event of the Enterprize, and now the 
 Canoes are painted with their Heads turned 
 towards the Castle ; the Number of the En- 
 emy killed, is represented by Scalps painted 
 black, and the Number of Prisoners by as
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 many Withs, (in their Painting not unlike 
 Pot-hooks) with which they usually pinion 
 their Captives. These Trees are the Annals, 
 or rather Trophies of the Five Nations : I 
 have seen many of them; and by them, and 
 their War Songs, they preserve the History 
 of their great Achievements. The solemn 
 Reception of these Warriors, and the Accla- 
 mations of Applause, which they receive at 
 their Return, cannot but have in the Hearers 
 the same Effect, in raising an Emulation for 
 Glory, that a Triumph had on the old Romans. 
 After their Prisoners are secured, they 
 never offer them the least Male-treatment, 
 but, on the contrary, will rather starve them- 
 selves, than suffer them to want; and I have 
 been always assured, that there is not one In- 
 stance, of their offering the least Violence to 
 the Chastity of any Woman that was their 
 Captive. But notwithstanding this, the 
 poor Prisoners afterwards undergo severe 
 Punishments before they receive the last 
 Doom of Life or Death. The Warriors 
 think it for their Glory, to lead them 
 through all the Villages of the Nations sub- 
 ject to them, which lie near the Road; and 
 these, to shew their Affection to the Five Na- 
 tions, and their Abhorrence of their Enemies, 
 draw up in two Lines, through which the 
 poor Prisoners, stark naked, must run the 
 Gauntlet; and on this Occasion, it is always 
 xxvi
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 observed, the Women are much more cruel 
 than the Men. The Prisoners meet with the 
 same sad Reception when they reach their 
 Journey's End; and after this, they are pre- 
 sented to those that have lost any Relation in 
 that or any former Enterprize. If the Cap- 
 tives be accepted, there is an End to their 
 Sorrow from that Moment ; they are dressed 
 as fine as they can make them ; they are ab- 
 solutely free (except to return to their own 
 Country) and enjoy all the Privileges the Per- 
 son had, in whose Place they are accepted; 
 but if otherwise they die in Torments, to sa- 
 tiate the Revenge of those that refuse them. 
 
 If a young Man or Boy be received in Place 
 of a Husband that was killed, all the Children 
 of the Deceased call that Boy Father ; so that 
 one may sometimes hear a Man of thirty say, 
 that such a Boy of fifteen or twenty is his 
 Father. 
 
 Their Castles are generally a Square sur- 
 rounded with Palisadoes, without any Bas- 
 tions or Out- works; for, since the general 
 Peace, their Villages lie all open. 
 
 Their only Instruments of War are Mus- 
 quets, Hatchets, and long sharp pointed 
 Knives ; these they always carry about with 
 them : Their hatchet, in War-time, is stuck 
 in their Girdle behind them ; and besides what 
 Use they make of this Weapon in their Hand, 
 they have a dexterous Way of throwing it, 
 xxvii
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 which I have seen them often practise in 
 their "Exercise, by throwing it into a Tree at 
 a Distance : They have, in this, the Art of 
 directing and regulating the Motion, so that 
 though the Hatchet turns round as it flies, 
 the Edge always sticks in the Tree, and near 
 the Place at which they aim it. The Use of 
 Bows and Arrows are now intirely laid aside, 
 except among the Boys, who are still very 
 dexterous in killing Fowls and other Animals 
 with them. 
 
 They use neither Drum nor Trumpet, nor 
 any Kind of musical Instrument in their 
 Wars ; their Throats serve them on all Occa- 
 sions, where such are necessary. Many of 
 them have a surprising Faculty of raising 
 their Voice, not only in inarticulate Sounds, 
 but likewise to make their Words understood 
 at a great Distance; and we find the same 
 was practised by Homer's Heroes, 
 
 Thrice to its Pitch his lofty Voice he rears, 
 O Friend! Ulysses Shouts invade my Ears. 
 
 The Five Nations have such absolute No- 
 tions of Liberty, that they allow of no Kind 
 of Superiority of one over another, and ban- 
 ish all Servitude from their Territories. They 
 never make any Prisoner a Slave ; but it is 
 customary among them to make a Compli- 
 ment of Naturalization into the Five Nations; 
 and, considering how highly they value them-
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 selves above all others, this must be no small 
 Compliment. This is not done by any gen- 
 eral Act of the Nation, but every single Per- 
 son has a Right to it, by a Kind of Adoption. 
 The first Time I was among the Mohawks, I 
 had this Compliment from one of their old 
 Sachems, which he did, by giving me his own 
 Name, Cayenderongue. He had been a not- 
 able Warrior; and he told me, that now I 
 had a Right to assume to myself all the Acts 
 of Valour he had performed, and that now 
 my Name would echo from Hill to Hill all 
 over the Five Nations. As for my Part, I 
 thought no more of it at that Time, than as 
 an Artifice to draw a Belly full of strong Li- 
 quor from me, for himself and his Compan- 
 ions; but when about ten or twelve Years 
 afterwards, niy Business led me again among 
 them, I directed the Interpreter to say some- 
 thing from me to the Sachems ; he was for 
 some Time at a Loss to understand their An- 
 swer, till he had asked me whether I had any 
 Name among them : I then found that I was 
 really known to them by that Name, and that 
 the old Sachem, from the Time he had given 
 me his Name, had assumed another to him- 
 self. I was adopted, at that Time, into the 
 Tribe of the Bear, and, for that Reason, I 
 often afterwards had the kind Compliment of 
 Brother Bear. 
 
 The Hospitality of these Indians is no less
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 remarkable, than their other Virtues ; as soon 
 as any Stranger comes, they are sure to offer 
 him Victuals. If there be several in Com- 
 pany, and come from a-far, one of their best 
 Houses is cleaned and given up for their En- 
 tertainment. Their Complaisance, on these 
 Occasions, goes even farther than Christian 
 Civility allows of, as they have no other Rule 
 for it, than the furnishing their Guest with 
 every Thing they think will be agreeable to 
 him; for this Reason, some of their prettiest 
 Girls are always ordered to wash themselves, 
 and dress in their best Apparel, in Order to 
 be presented to the Stranger, for his Choice ; 
 and the young Lady, who has the Honour to 
 be preferred on these Occasions, performs all 
 the Duties of a fond Wife, during the Strang- 
 er's Stay: But this last Piece of Hospitality 
 is now either laid aside by the Mohawks, or, 
 at least, they never offer it to any Christian. 
 This Nation indeed has laid aside many of its 
 ancient Customs, and so likewise have the 
 other Nations, with whom we are best ac- 
 quainted ; and have adopted many of ours ; 
 so that it is not easy now to distinguish 
 their original and genuine Manners, from 
 those which they have lately acquired ; and for 
 this Reason it is, that they now seldom offer 
 Victuals to Persons of any Distinction, be- 
 cause they know, that their Food and Cook- 
 ery is not agreeable to our delicate Palates. 
 
 XXX
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Their Men value themselves, in having all 
 Kind of Food in equal Esteem. A Mohawk 
 Sachem told me with a Kind of Pride, That 
 a Man eats every Thing without Distinction, 
 Bears, Cats, Dogs, Snakes, Frogs, &c., inti- 
 mating, that it is Womanish, to have any 
 Delicacy in the Choice of Food. 
 
 I can however give two strong Instances of 
 the Hospitality of the Mohawks, which fell 
 under my own Observation ; and which shew, 
 that they have the very same Notion of Hos- 
 pitality, which we find in the ancient Poets. 
 When I was last in the Mohawks Country, the 
 Sachems told me, that they had an English- 
 man among their People, a Servant who had 
 run from his Master in New York. I imme- 
 diately told them, that they must deliver him 
 up. No, they answered, we never serve any 
 Man so, who puts himself under our Protec- 
 tion. On this I insisted on the Injury they 
 did thereby to his Master ; and they allowed 
 it might be an Injury, and replied, though 
 we never will deliver him up, we are willing 
 to pay the Value of the Servant to the Mas- 
 ter. Another Man made his Escape from the 
 Goal of Albany, where he was in Prison on 
 an Execution for Debt; the Mohawks re- 
 ceived him, and, as they protected him 
 against the Sheriff and his Officers, they not 
 only paid the Debt for him, but gave him 
 Land, over and above sufficient for a good 
 xxxi
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Farm, whereon he lived when I was last 
 there. To this it may be added, all then- 
 extraordinary Visits are accompanied with 
 giving and receiving Presents of some Value; 
 as we learn likewise from Homer was the 
 Practice in old Times. 
 
 Polygamy is not usual among them ; and 
 indeed, in any Nation, where all are on a 
 Par, as to Riches and Power, Plurality of 
 Wives cannot well be introduced. As all 
 Kind of Slavery is banished from the Coun- 
 tries of the Five Nations, so they keep them- 
 selves free also from the Bondage of Wed- 
 lock ; and when either of the Parties becomes 
 disgusted, they separate without Formality 
 or Ignominy to either, unless it be occasioned 
 by some scandalous Offence in one of them. 
 And in Case of Divorce, the Children, ac- 
 cording to the natural Course of all Animals, 
 follow the Mother. The Women here bring 
 forth their Children with as much Ease as 
 other Animals, and without the Help of a 
 Midwife, and, soon after their Delivery, re- 
 turn to their usual Employment. They alone 
 also perform all the Drudgery about their 
 Houses, they plant their Corn, and labour it, 
 in every Kespect, till it is brought to the 
 Table : They likewise cut all their Fire-wood, 
 and bring it Home on their Backs, and in 
 their Marches bear the Burdens. The Men 
 disdain all Kind of Labour, and employ
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 themselves alone in Hunting, as the only 
 proper Business for Soldiers. At Times, 
 when it is not proper to hunt, one finds the 
 old Men in Companies, in Conversation ; the 
 young Men at their Exercises, shooting at 
 Marks, throwing the Hatchet, Wrestling, or 
 Running, and the Women all busy at Labour 
 in the Fields. 
 
 On these Occasions, the State of Lacedee- 
 mon ever occurs to my Mind, which that of the 
 Five Nations, in many Respects, resembles; 
 their Laws, or Customs, being, in both, 
 form'd to render the Minds and Bodies of 
 the People fit for War. 
 
 Theft is very scandalous among them; and 
 it is necessary it should be so among all In- 
 dians, since they have no Locks, but those of 
 their Minds, to preserve their Goods. 
 
 There is one Vice which the Indians have 
 all fallen into, since their Acquaintance with 
 the Christians, and of which they could not 
 be guilty before that Time, that is, Drunken- 
 ness : It is strange, how all the Indian Na- 
 tions, and almost every Person among them, 
 Male and Female, are infatuated with the 
 Love of strong Drink ; they know no Bounds 
 to their Desire, while they can swallow it 
 down, and then indeed the greatest Man 
 among them scarcely deserves the Name of a 
 Brute. 
 
 They never have been taught to conquer
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 any Passion, but by some contrary Passion ; 
 and the Traders, with whom they chiefly 
 converse, are. so far from giving them any 
 Abhorrence of this Vice, that they encourage 
 it all they can, not only for the Profit of the 
 Liquor they sell, but that they may have an 
 Opportunity to impose upon them. And 
 this, as they chiefly drink Spirits, has de- 
 stroyed greater Numbers, than all their Wars 
 and Diseases put together. 
 
 The People of the Five Nations are much 
 given to Speech-making, ever the natural 
 Consequence of a perfect Republican Govern- 
 ment : Where no single Person has a Power 
 to compel, the Arts of Persuasion alone must 
 prevail. As their best Speakers distinguish 
 themselves in their publick Councils and 
 Treaties with other Nations, and thereby gain 
 the Esteem and Applause of their Country- 
 men, (the only Superiority which any one of 
 them has over the others) it is probable they 
 apply themselves to this Art, by some Kind 
 of Study and Exercise, in a great Measure. 
 It is impossible for me to judge how far they 
 excel, as I am ignorant of their Language ; 
 but the Speakers whom I have heard, had all 
 a great Fluency of Words, and much more 
 Grace in their Manner, than any Man could 
 expect, among a People intirely ignorant of 
 all the liberal Arts and Sciences. 
 
 I am inform 'd, that they are very nice in 
 xxxiv
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 the Turn of their Expressions, and that few 
 of themselves are so far Masters of their Lan- 
 guage, as never to offend the Ears of their 
 Indian Auditory, by an unpolite Expression. 
 They have, it seems, a certain Urbanitas, or 
 Atticism, in their language, of which the com- 
 mon Ears are ever sensible, though only their 
 great Speakers attain to it. They are so 
 much given to Speecn-making, that their 
 common Complements, to any Person they 
 respect, at meeting and parting, are made in 
 Harangues. 
 
 They have some Kind of Elegancy in vary- 
 ing and compounding their Words, to which, 
 not many of themselves attain, and this prin- 
 cipally distinguishes their best Speakers. I 
 have endeavoured to get some Account of 
 this, as a Thing that might be acceptable to 
 the Curious ; but, as I have not met with any 
 one Person who understands their Language, 
 and also knows any Thing of Grammar, or of 
 the learned Languages, I have not been able 
 to attain the least Satisfaction. Their pres- 
 ent Minister tells me, that their Verbs are 
 varied, but in a Manner so different from the 
 Greek or Latin, that he cannot discover by 
 what Kule it was done ; and even suspects, 
 that every Verb has a peculiar Mode : They 
 *have but few radical Words, but they com- 
 pound their Words without End; by this 
 their Language becomes sufficiently copious, 
 
 XXXV
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 and leaves Room for a good Deal of Art to 
 please a delicate Ear. Sometimes one "Word 
 among them, includes an entire Definition of 
 the Thing; for Example, they call Wine 
 Oneharadesehoengtseragherie, as mnch as to 
 say, a Liquor made of the Juice of the Grape. 
 The Words expressing Things lately come to 
 their Knowledge are all Compounds: They 
 have no Labeals in their Language, nor can 
 they pronounce perfectly any Word wherein 
 there is a Labeal ; and when one endeavours 
 to teach them to pronounce these Words, 
 they tell one, they think it ridiculous that 
 they must shut their Lips to speak. Their 
 Language abounds with Gutturals and strong 
 Aspirations, these make it very sonorous and 
 bold ; and their Speeches abound with Meta- 
 phors, after the Manner of the Eastern Na- 
 tions, as will best appear by the Speeches 
 that I have copied. 
 
 As to what religious Notions they have, it 
 is difficult to judge of them ; because the In- 
 dians, that speak any English, and live near 
 us, have learned many Things of us ; and it 
 is not easy to distinguish the Notions they 
 had originally among themselves, from those 
 they have learned of the Christians. It is 
 certain they have no Kind of publick Wor- 
 ship, and I am told that they have no radical 
 Word to express God, but use a compound 
 Word, signifying the Preserver, Sustainer,
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 or Master of the Universe ; neither could I 
 ever learn what Sentiments they have of a 
 future Existence. Their funeral Eites seem 
 to be formed upon a Notion of some Kind of 
 Existence after Death: They make a large 
 round Hole, in which the Body can be placed 
 upright, or upon its Haunches, which after 
 the Body is placed in it, is covered with Tim- 
 ber, to support the Earth which they lay 
 over, and thereby keep the Body free from 
 being pressed ; they then raise the Earth in 
 a round Hill over it. They always dress the 
 Corps in all its Finery, and put Wampum and 
 other Things into the Grave with it; and the 
 Eelations suffer not Grass or any Weed 
 to grow on the Grave, and frequently visit 
 it with Lamentations: But whether these 
 Things be done only as Marks of Eespect to 
 the Deceased, or from a Notion of some Kind 
 of Existence after Death, must be left to the 
 Judgment of the Eeader. 
 
 They are very superstitious in observing 
 Omens and Dreams; I have observed them 
 shew a superstitious Awe of the Owl, and be 
 highly displeased with some that mimicked 
 the Cry of that Bird in the Night. An Offi- 
 cer of the regular Troops has informed me 
 also, that while he had the Command of the 
 Garrison at Oswego, a Boy of one of the far 
 Westward Nations died there; the Parents 
 made a regular Pile of split Wood, laid the 
 xxx vii
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 Corps upon it, and burnt it ; while the Pile 
 was burning, they stood gravely looking on, 
 without any Lamentation, but when it was 
 burnt down, they gathered up the Bones 
 with many Tears, put them into a Box, and 
 carried them away with them ; and this In- 
 clination, which all ignorant People have to 
 Superstition and amusing Ceremonies, gives 
 the Popish Priests a great Advantage in rec- 
 ommending their Religion, beyond what the 
 Regularity of the Protestant Doctrine allows 
 of. 
 
 Queen Anne sent over a Missionary to re- 
 side among the Mohawks, and allowed him a 
 sufficient Subsistence from the privy Purse ; 
 she sent Furniture for a Chapel, and a val- 
 uable set of Plate for the Communion Table ; 
 and (if I am not mistaken) the like Furniture 
 and Plate for each of the other Nations, 
 though that of the Mohawks was only ap- 
 plied to the Use designed. The common 
 Prayer, or at least a considerable Part of it, 
 was translated also into their Language and 
 printed; some other Pieces were likewise 
 translated for the Minister's Use, viz. : An 
 Exposition of the Creed, Decalogue, Lord's 
 Prayer, and Church Catechism, and a Dis- 
 course on the Sacraments. But as that Min- 
 ister was never able to attain any tolerable 
 Knowledge of their Language, and was nat- 
 urally a heavy Man, he had but small Suc- 
 xxxviii
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 cess; and his Allowance failing, by the 
 Queen's Death, he left them. These Nations 
 had no Teacher, from that Time, till within 
 these few Years, that a young Gentleman, 
 out of pious Zeal, went voluntarily among 
 the Mohawks. He was at first intirely igno- 
 rant of their Language, and had no Interpre- 
 ter, except one of the Indians, who under- 
 stood a little English, and had, in the late 
 Missionary's Time, learn' d to read and write 
 in his own Language. He learned from him 
 how to pronounce the Words in the Transla- 
 tions, which had been made for the last Mis- 
 sionary's Use. He set up a School, to teach 
 their Children to read and write their own 
 Language; and they made surprizing Profi- 
 ciency, considering their Master did not un- 
 derstand their Language. I happened to be 
 in the Mohawk Country, and saw several of 
 their Performances ; I was present at their 
 Worship, where they went through some 
 Part of the Common Prayer with great De- 
 cency. I was likewise present, several 
 Times, at their private Devotions, which 
 some of them performed duly, Morning and 
 Evening. I had also many Opportunities of 
 observing the great Kegard they had for this 
 young Man ; so far, that the Fear of his leav- 
 ing them made the greatest Restraint on 
 them, with which he threatened them, after 
 they had been guilty of any Offence. Soon 
 xxxix
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 after that Time, this Gentleman went to 
 England, received Orders, and was sent by 
 the Society, Missionary to Albany, with Lib- 
 erty to spend some Part of his Time among 
 the Mohawks. 
 
 I had lately a Letter from him, dated the 
 seventh of December, 1641, in which he 
 writes as follows : " Drunkenness was so com- 
 mon among them, that I doubt, whether there 
 was one grown Person of either Sex free from 
 it; seldom a Day passed, without some, and 
 very often forty or fifty being drunk at a 
 Time. But I found they were very fond of 
 keeping me among them, and afraid I should 
 leave them, which I made Use .of to good 
 Purpose; daily threatning them with my 
 Departure, in Case they did not forsake that 
 Vice, and frequently requiring a particular 
 Promise from them singly ; by which Means 
 (through God's Blessing) there was a gradual 
 Reformation; and I know not that I have 
 seen above ten or twelve Persons drunk 
 among them this Summer. The Women are 
 almost all entirely reformed, and the Men 
 very much. They have intirely left off Di- 
 vorces, and are legally married. They are 
 very constant and devout at church and Fam- 
 ily Devotions. They have not been known to 
 exercise Cruelty to Prisoners, and have, in a 
 great Measure, left off going a fighting, which 
 I find the most difficult, of all Things, to dis- 
 xl
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 suade them from. They seem also persuaded 
 of the Truths of Christianity The greatest 
 Inconveniency I labour under, is the Want 
 of an Interpreter, which could I obtain, for 
 two or three Years, I should hope to be toler- 
 ably Master of their Language, and be able 
 to render it easier to my Successor." 
 
 This Gentleman's uncommon Zeal deserves, 
 I think, this publick Testimony, that it may 
 be a Means of his receiving such Encourage- 
 ment, as may enable him to pursue the pious 
 Purposes he has in View. 
 
 The Mohawks, were they civilized, may be 
 useful to us many Ways, and, on many Occa- 
 sions, more than any of our own People can 
 be ; and this well deserves to be considered. 
 
 There is one Custom their Men constantly 
 observe, which I must not forget to mention ; 
 That if they be sent with any Message, 
 though it demand the greatest Dispatch, or 
 though they bring Intelligence of any immi- 
 nent Danger, they never tell it at their first 
 Approach ; but sit down for a Minute or two, 
 at least, in Silence, to recollect themselves, 
 before they speak, that they may not shew 
 any Degree of Fear or Surprize, by an inde- 
 cent Expression. Every sudden Repartee, 
 in a publick Treaty, leaves with them an 
 Impression of a light inconsiderate Mind; 
 but, in private Conversation, they use, and 
 are delighted with brisk witty Answers, as 
 xli
 
 THE INTRODUCTION. 
 
 we can be. By this they shew the great Dif- 
 ference they place between the Conversations 
 of Man and Man, and of Nation and Nation ; 
 and in this, and a thousand other Things, 
 might well be an Example to the European 
 Nations. 
 
 xlii
 
 THE 
 
 CONTENTS. 
 
 Editor's Introduction, . . . page ix 
 
 The Introduction, being a short View of the 
 Form of Government of the Five Nations, 
 and of their Laws and Customs, . xv 
 
 PART I. CHAP. I. 
 
 Of the Wars of the Five Nations, with the 
 Adirondacks and Quatoghies, . . 1 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 The Wars and Treaties of Peace of the In- 
 dians of the Five Nations with the French, 
 from 1665 to 1683, and their Affairs with 
 New York in that time, . . .15 
 
 CHAP. IH. 
 
 Of the Transactions of the Indians of the 
 Five Nations with the neighbouring Eng- 
 lish Colonies, . . . .22 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Mons. Pe la Barres Expedition, and some re- 
 markable Transactions in 1684, . 54 
 xliii
 
 THE CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 The English attempt to trade in the Lakes, 
 and the French attack the Senekas, . 72 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Colonel Dongan's Advice to the Indians. 
 Adario's Enterprize, and Montreal sacked 
 by the Five Nations, . . .84 
 
 P A E T II. C H A P. I. 
 
 The State of Affairs in New- York and Canada 
 at the Time of the Revolution in Great- 
 Britain, 107 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 A Treaty between the Agents of Massachu- 
 sets-Bay, New-Plymouth, and Connecticut, 
 and the Sachems of the Five Nations at Al- 
 bany, in the Year 1689, .. . . 119 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 An Account of a general Council of the Five 
 Nations at Onondaga, to consider of the 
 Count De Frontenac's Message, . 127 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 The French surprize Schenectady. The Mo- 
 hawks Speech of Condolance on that Occa- 
 sion, 138 
 
 xliv
 
 THE CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 The Five Nations continue the War with the 
 French. The Mohawks encline to Peace. 
 Their Conferences with the Governor of 
 New- York, 149 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 The English attack Montreal by Land, in 
 Conjunction with the Indians, and Quebeck 
 by Sea, 157 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 The French, and the Five Nations, continue 
 the War all Winter with various Success. 
 The French burn a Captain of the Five Na- 
 tions alive, 164 
 
 CHAP. VIII. 
 
 The Five Nations treat with Captain Ingolds- 
 by, 173 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 The French surprize, and take three Mohawk 
 Castles, 179 
 
 CHAP. X. 
 
 The Treaties and Negotiations the Five Na- 
 tions had with the English and French in 
 the Years 1693, and 1694, . . 191 
 xlv
 
 THE CONTENTS. 
 
 CHAP. XL 
 
 The War continued. The French repossess 
 themselves of Cadarackui Fort; and find 
 means to break off the Treaty between the 
 Five Nations and Dionondadies, . 232 
 
 CHAP. XII. 
 
 The Count De Frontenac attacks Onondaga in 
 Person with the whole Force of Canada. 
 The Five Nations continue the War with 
 the French, and make Peace with the Dio- 
 nondadies, 242 
 
 CHAP. XIII. 
 
 The Conduct which the English and French 
 observed in regard to the Five Nations, im- 
 mediately after the Peace of Eyswick, 253 
 
 xlvi
 
 VOCABULARY 
 
 OF 
 
 Some Words and Names used by the French 
 Authors, who treat of the Indian Affairs, 
 which are different from the Names of the 
 same People or Places, used or understood 
 by the English, and may therefore be useful 
 to those who intend to read the French Ac- 
 counts, or compare them with the Accounts 
 now published. 
 
 Names used by 
 the French. 
 
 A 
 
 Benaguies. 
 
 Algoukins. 
 Amihouis. 
 
 Aniez. 
 
 The same are called by the 
 English, or by the Five 
 Nations. 
 
 OWenagungas, or New 
 England Indians, and 
 
 are sometimes called the 
 
 Eastern Indians. 
 Adirondacks. 
 Dionondadies, or Tuinonda- 
 
 deks, a Branch or Tribe 
 
 of the Quatoghies. 
 Mohawks, called likewise 
 
 Maquas. 
 
 xlvu
 
 A VOCABULARY, &c. 
 
 Names used by 
 the French. 
 
 Bay des Puans. 
 Chigagou. 
 Corlaer, or 
 Coiiard. 
 
 Detroit. 
 Hurons 
 Hinois. 
 Iroquois. 
 Lac Huron. 
 
 Loups. 
 Manhattan. 
 Mascoutecs. 
 Mourigan. 
 
 Miamies. 
 
 Missilirnakinak. 
 
 Missisakies. 
 
 Oneyouts. 
 
 Ontario lac. 
 
 Orange. 
 
 Outagamies. 
 
 The same are called by the 
 English, or by the Five 
 Nations. 
 
 Enitajiche. 
 
 Caneraghik. 
 
 Schenectady. But the Five 
 Nations commonly call 
 the Governor of New- 
 York by this Name, and 
 often the People of the 
 Province of New- York in 
 general. 
 
 Teuchsagrondie . 
 
 Quatoghie. 
 
 Chictaghicks. 
 
 The Five Nations. 
 
 Caniatare, or Quatoghe 
 lake. 
 
 Scahkook Indians. 
 
 New- York City. 
 
 Odislastagheks. 
 
 Mahikander, or Eiver In- 
 dians, living on Hudson's 
 River, below Albany. 
 
 Twightwies. 
 
 Teiodondoraghie. 
 
 Achsisaghecks. 
 
 Oneydoes. 
 
 Cadarackui Lake. 
 
 Albany. 
 
 Quacksies,-and Scunksiks.
 
 A VOCABULARY, &c. 
 
 Names used by 
 the French. 
 
 Outawas. 
 
 Renards. 
 
 Sauiteurs. 
 
 Shaouonons. 
 
 Tateras. 
 
 Terre rouge. 
 
 Tongorias. 
 
 Tsonontouans. 
 
 The same are called by the 
 English, or by the Five 
 Nations. 
 
 Utawawas, or Dewagunhas. 
 
 Quaksies. 
 
 Estiaghicks. 
 
 Satanas. 
 
 Toderiks. 
 
 Scunksik. 
 
 Erighecks. 
 
 Senekas. 
 
 xlix
 
 THE 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 FIRST PART 
 
 THOUGH every one that is in the least 
 acquainted with the Affairs of North- 
 America, knows of what Consequence the In- 
 dians, commonly known to the People of New- 
 York by the Name of the Five Nations, are, 
 both in Peace and War ; I know of no Accounts 
 of them, published in English, but what are 
 very imperfect, and indeed meer Translations 
 of French Authors, who themselves know lit- 
 tle of the Truth. This seems to throw some 
 Reflections on the Inhabitants of our Pro- 
 vince, as if we wanted Curiosity to enquire 
 into our own Affairs, and were willing to rest 
 satisfied with the Accounts the French give 
 us of our own Indians, notwithstanding that 
 the French in Canada are always in a differ- 
 ent Interest, and sometimes in open Hostility 
 with us. This Consideration, I hope, will 
 justify my attempting to write an History of 
 li
 
 THE PREFACE TO THE FIRST PART. 
 
 the Five Nations at this time; and having 
 had the Perusal of the Minutes of the Com- 
 missioners for Indian Affairs, I have been 
 enabled to collect many Materials for this 
 History, which are not to be found anywhere 
 else ; and cannot but think, that a History of 
 this Kind will be of great Use to all the Brit- 
 ish Colonies in North- America, since it may 
 enable them to learn Experience at the Ex- 
 pence of others: And if I can contribute any 
 Thing to so good a Purpose, I shall not think 
 my Labour lost. 
 
 It will be necessary for me here to say 
 something in Excuse of two Things in the 
 following Performance, which, I am afraid, 
 will naturally be found Fault with in it. 
 The first is, the filling up so great Part of 
 the Work with the Adventures of small Par- 
 ties, and sometimes with those of one single 
 Man: And the second is, the inserting so 
 many Speeches at length. 
 
 As to the first, the History of Indians 
 would be very lame, without an Account of 
 these private Adventures ; for their warlike 
 Expeditions are almost always carried on by 
 surprising each other, and their whole Art 
 of War consists in managing small Parties. 
 The whole Country being one continued For- 
 est, gives great Advantages to these skulking 
 Parties, and has obliged the Christians to 
 imitate the Indians in this Method of making 
 Hi
 
 THE PREFACE TO THE FIRST PART. 
 
 War among them. And some would, doubt- 
 less, be desirous to know the Manners and 
 Customs of the Indians, in their publick 
 Treaties especially, who could not be satis- 
 fied without taking Notice of several minute 
 Circumstances, and Things otherwise of no 
 Consequence. We are fond pf searching into 
 remote Antiquity, to know the Manners of 
 our earliest Progenitors; and, if I am not 
 mistaken, the Indians are living Images of 
 them. 
 
 My Design therefore in the second was, 
 that thereby the Genius of the Indians might 
 appear. An Historian may paint Mens Ac- 
 tions in lively Colours, or in faint Spaces, as 
 he likes best, and in both Cases preserve a 
 perfect Likeness; but it will be a difficult 
 Task to shew the Wit, Judgment, Art, Sim- 
 plicity, and Ignorance of the several Parties, 
 managing a Treaty, in other Words than 
 their own. As to my Part, I thought my- 
 self incapable of doing it, without depriving 
 the judicious Observer of the Opportunity 
 of discovering much of the Indian Genius, 
 by my contracting or paraphrasing their Ha- 
 rangues, and without committing often gross 
 Mistakes. For, on these Occasions, a skilful 
 Manager often talks confusedly, and ob- 
 scurely, with Design ; which if an Historian 
 should endeavour to amend, the Reader 
 would receive the History in a false Light. 
 liii
 
 THE PREFACE TO THE FIRST PART. 
 
 The Reader will find a great Difference be- 
 tween some of the Speeches here given of 
 those made at Albany, and those taken from 
 the French Authors. Ours are genuine and 
 truly related, as delivered by the sworn In- 
 terpreters, of whom Truth only is required; 
 a rough Stile, with Truth, is preferable to 
 Eloquence without it : This may be said in 
 Justification of the Indian Expression, 
 though I must own, that I suspect our Inter- 
 preters may not have done Justice to the In- 
 dian Eloquence. For the Indians having but 
 few Words, and few complex Ideas, use 
 many Metaphors in their Discourse, which 
 interpreted by an unskilful Tongue, may ap- 
 pear mean, and strike our Imagination faintly ; 
 but under the Pen of a skilful Eepresenter, 
 might strongly move our Passions by their 
 lively Images. I have heard an old Indian 
 Sachem speak with much Vivacity and Elo- 
 cution, so that the Speaker pleased and 
 moved the Auditors with the Manner of de- 
 livering his Discourse ; which however, as it 
 afterwards came from the Interpreter, disap- 
 pointed us in our Expectations. After the 
 Speaker had employed a considerable Time 
 in haranguing with much Elocution, the In- 
 terpreter often explained the whole by one 
 single Sentence. I believe the Speaker, in 
 that Time, embellished and adorned his Fig- 
 ures, that they might have their full Force 
 liv
 
 THE PREFACE TO THE FIRST PART. 
 
 on the Imagination, while the Interpreter 
 contented himself with the Sense, in as few 
 Words as it could be expressed. 
 
 He that first writes the History of Things, 
 which are not generally known, ought to 
 avoid, as much as possible, to make the Evi- 
 dence of the Truth depend intirely on his 
 own Veracity and Judgment; and for this 
 Reason I have related several Transactions in 
 the Words of the Registers, when this is once 
 done, he that shall write afterwards, need not 
 act with so much Caution. 
 
 The History of these Indians, I promise 
 myself, will give an agreeable Amusement to 
 many ; almost every one will find something 
 in it suited to his own Palate ; but every Line 
 will not please every Man ; on the contrary, 
 one will naturally approve what another con- 
 demns, as one desires to know what another 
 thinks not worth the Trouble of reading ; for 
 which Reason, I think, it is better to run the 
 Risque of being sometimes tedious to certain 
 Readers, than to omit any Thing that may 
 be useful to the World. 
 
 I have sometimes thought, that Histories 
 wrote with all the Delicacy of a fine Ro- 
 mance, are like French Dishes, more agree- 
 able to the Palate than the Stomach and less 
 wholesome than more common and coarser 
 Diet. 
 
 An Historian's Views must be curious and
 
 THE PREFACE TO THE FIRST PART. 
 
 extensive, and the History of different Peo- 
 ple and different Ages requires different 
 Rules, and often different Abilities to write 
 it; I hope therefore the Reader will, from 
 these Considerations, receive this first At- 
 tempt of this kind, with more than usual 
 Allowances. 
 
 The Inhabitants of New-York have been 
 much more concerned in the Transactions, 
 which followed the Year 1688, than in those 
 which preceded it. And as it requires un- 
 common Courage and Resolution to engage 
 willingly in the Wars against a cruel and 
 barbarous Enemy, I should be sorry to forget 
 any that might deserve to be remembered by 
 their Country, with Gratitude on that Occa- 
 sion. 
 
 Ivi
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, 
 
 DEPENDING 
 On the PROVINCE of NEW-YORK. 
 
 PAKT I. 
 
 The History of the Five Nations, from, the 
 Time the Christians first knew any Thing 
 of them, to that of the Revolution in Great- 
 Britain. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 Of the Wars of the Five Nations with the 
 Adirondacks and Quatoghies. 
 
 THE first Settlers of New-York having 
 been little curious in inquiring into 
 the Indian Affairs, further than what related 
 to Trade; or, at least, having neglected to 
 transmit their Discoveries to Posterity, it is 
 much more difficult to give a just History of 
 VOL. I. 1 1
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 these Nations before, than since the Timo of 
 their being under the Crown of England. 
 What we can learn of Certainty, however, is 
 this. The French settled at Canada in the 
 Year 1603, six Years before the Dutch pos- 
 sessed themselves of New-Netherlands, now 
 called New- York, and found the Five Nations 
 at War with the Adirondacks, which, they tell 
 us, was occasioned in the following Manner. 
 The Adirondacks formerly lived three-hun- 
 dred Miles above Trois Rivieres, where now 
 the Utawawas are situated ; at that Time they 
 employ'd themselves wholly in Hunting, and 
 the Five Nations made planting of Corn their 
 Business. By this Means they became use- 
 ful to each other, by exchanging Corn for 
 Venison. The Adirondacks, however, valued 
 themselves, as delighting in a more manly 
 Employment, and despised the Five Nations, 
 in following Business, which they thought 
 only fit for Women. But it once happened, 
 that the Game failed the Adirondacks, which 
 made them desire some of the young Men of 
 the Five Nations to assist them in Hunting. 
 These young Men soon became much more 
 expert in Hunting, and able to endure Fa- 
 tigues, than the Adirondacks expected or de- 
 sired; in short, they became jealous of them, 
 and, one Night, murdered all the young Men 
 they had with them. The Five Nations com- 
 plained to the Chiefs of the Adirondacks, of 
 2
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 the Inhumanity of this Action ; but they con- 
 tented themselves with blaming the Murder- 
 ers, and ordered them to make some small 
 Presents * to the Relations of the murdered 
 Persons, without being apprehensive of the 
 Resentment of the Five Nations; for they 
 looked upon them, as Men not capable of 
 taking any great Revenge. 
 
 This however provoked the Five Nations 
 to that Degree, that they soon resolved, by 
 some Means, to be revenged ; and the Adi- 
 rondacks being informed of their Designs, 
 thought to prevent them, by reducing them 
 with Force to their Obedience. 
 
 The Five Nations then lived near where 
 Mont Real now stands ; they defended them- 
 selves at first but faintly against the vigorous 
 Attacks of the Adirondacks, and were forced 
 to leave their own Country, and fly to the 
 Banks of the Lakes where they live now. As 
 they were hitherto Losers by the War, it 
 obliged them to apply themselves to the Ex- 
 ercise of Arms, in which they became daily 
 more and more expert. Their Sachems, in 
 order to raise their People's Spirits, turned 
 them against the Satanas,f a less warlike 
 
 *It is still a Custom among the Indians, to ex- 
 piate Murder by Presents to the Relations of the 
 Person killed. 
 
 f They are called Shaouonons, by the French, and 
 live now on one of the Banks of the Misissipi. 
 3
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Nation, who then lived on the Banks of the 
 Lakes ; for they found it was difficult to re- 
 move the Dread their People had of the 
 Valour of the Adirondacks. The Five Na- 
 tions soon subdued the Satanas, and drove 
 them out of their Country; and their Peo- 
 ple's Courage being thus elevated, they, from 
 this Time, not only defended themselves 
 bravely against the whole Force of the Adi- 
 rondacks, but often carried the War into the 
 Heart of the Adirondack's Country, and, at 
 last, forced them to leave it, and to fly into 
 that Part of the Country, where Quebeck is 
 now built. 
 
 There are more Instances than one in His- 
 tory, of poor dispirited Nations, that by some 
 signal Affront or Abuse have had their 
 Spirits so raised, that they have not only 
 performed notable Things on a sudden, but, 
 if they happened, at the same Time, to be 
 led and governed by wise Men, have so far 
 kept up, and improved that Spirit, that they 
 have become, in a Manner, a different People. 
 Let us examine History, and we shall find, 
 that the different Figure every Country has 
 made in the World, has been ever principally 
 owing to the Principles which were inculcated 
 into, and carefully cultivated in the People. 
 In this chiefly consists the Art of making a 
 Nation glorious, or the Crime of debasing 
 them into Servitude or Slavery. It was from 
 4
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 the Notions of Liberty, Honour, and Glory, 
 and such wise and generous Principles, which 
 the meanest Citizen among the old Romans 
 entertained, that they became so great and 
 powerful, and a Terror to all Nations; as 
 the sordid, timorous, cunning Artifices, and 
 the Love of Wealth and sensual Pleasures, 
 cultivated among the present Romans, has 
 debased them now into the meanest and least 
 feared Nation on the Earth. The History of 
 the Five Nations will readily shew, how far 
 the ancient Roman Principles have been cul- 
 tivated among them. 
 
 Soon after this Change of the People of 
 these Nations, the French arrived at Canada, 
 and settled at Quebeck; and they thinking it 
 adviseable to gain the Esteem and Friendship 
 of the Adirondacks, in whose Country they 
 settled, Monsieur Champlain, the first Gov- 
 ernor of Canada, joined the Adirondacks in 
 an Expedition against the Five Nations. 
 They met a Party of two-hundred Men of the 
 Five Nations in Coiiar's Lake, which the 
 French, on this Occasion called by Monsieur 
 Champlain' s Name, and both Sides went 
 ashore to prepare for Battle, which proved to 
 the Disadvantage of the Five Nations. The 
 French, in short, kept themselves un disco v- 
 er'd, till the Moment they began to join Bat- 
 tle; and their Fire-arms surprised the Five 
 Nations so much, that they were immediately 
 5
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 put into Confusion; for, before that Time, 
 they had never seen such Weapons. The 
 Trade with the French, soon after this, drew 
 most of the neighbouring Nations to Quebeck, 
 and they all joined in the War against the 
 Five Nations. 
 
 The Adirondacks having their Numbers 
 thus increased, and their Fire-arms giving 
 them new Confidence, proposed nothing less 
 to themselves, than the intire Destruction of 
 the Five Nations. Upon this, their young 
 Warriors became fierce and insolent, and 
 would not be kept under any Discipline 
 or Subjection to their Captains; but, upon 
 all Occasions, rashly attacked the Enemy, 
 who were obliged to keep themselves upon 
 the defensive; and to make up what they 
 wanted in Force, by Stratagems, and a skil- 
 ful Management of the War. The young 
 Men of the Five Nations soon perceived 
 the Advantages they gained by this Con- 
 duct, and every Day grew more submissive 
 to their Captains, and diligent in executing 
 any Enterprize. 
 
 The Five Nations sent out small Parties 
 only, who meeting with great Numbers of the 
 Adirondacks, retired before them with seem- 
 ing Terror, while the Adirondacks pusued 
 them with Fury, and without Thought, till 
 they were cunningly drawn into Ambuscades, 
 where most of their Men were killed or taken 
 6
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Prisoners, with little or no Loss to the Five 
 Nations. 
 
 The Adirondacks, by this Means, wasted 
 away, and their boldest Soldiers were almost 
 intirely destroy 'd, while the Number of the 
 Five Nations were increased, by the Addition 
 of the Prisoners, which they took from the 
 Satanas. 
 
 The wisest and best Soldiers of the Adi- 
 rondacks, when it was too late, now at length 
 discovered, that they must learn the Art of 
 War from those Enemies that they at first 
 despised ; and now five of their Captains en- 
 deavoured to perform by themselves singly, 
 with Art and by Stratagem, what they could 
 not do by Force at the Head of their Armies ; 
 they had however no longer any Hopes of 
 conquering, their Thoughts were only set on 
 Eevenge. 
 
 It is not improper to observe here, once 
 for all, that in writing the History of In- 
 dians, it is often necessary to give an Ac- 
 count of the Enterprises of single Persons, 
 otherwise the Indian Genius can never be 
 known, or their Manner of making War un- 
 derstood. An Indian named Piskaret was at 
 this Time one of the Captains of greatest 
 Fame among the Adirondacks : This bold 
 Man, with four other Captains, set out for 
 Trois-Bivieres in one Canoe, each of them 
 being provided with three Musquets, which 
 7
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 they loaded with two Bullets apiece, joined 
 with a small Chain ten Inches long ; they met 
 with five Canoes in Sorel River, each having 
 ten Men of the Five Nations on Board. Pis- 
 karet and his Captains, as soon as those of 
 the Five Nations drew near, pretended to 
 give themselves up for lost, and sung their 
 Death Song,* then suddenly fired upon the 
 Canoes, which they repeated with the Arms 
 that lay ready loaded, and tore those Birch 
 Vessels betwixt Wind and Water. The Men 
 of the Five Nations were so surprized, that 
 they tumbled out of their Canoes, and gave 
 Piskaret and his Companions the Opportunity 
 of knocking as many of them on the Head 
 as they pleased, and saving the others, to 
 feed their "Revenge, which they did, by burn- 
 ing them alive with the most cruel Torments. 
 This however was so far from glutting Piska- 
 ret' s Revenge, that it seemed rather to give a 
 keener Edge to it ; for he soon after under- 
 took another Enterprize, in which none of his 
 Countrymen durst accompany him : He was 
 well acquainted with the Country of the Five 
 Nations, and set out about the Time the Snow 
 began to melt, with the Precaution of putting 
 the hinder Part of his Snow Shoes forward, 
 
 * It is a Custom among the Indian Prisoners of 
 War, when led to Death, to sing an Account of their 
 own Exploits; and this they are hardy enough to 
 continue even in the midst of Tortures. 
 8
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 that if any should happen upon his Foot- 
 steps, they might think he was gone the con- 
 trary Way; and, for further Security, went 
 along the Ridges and high Grounds, where 
 the Snow was melted, that his Track might 
 be often lost; when he came near one of the 
 Villages of the Five Nations, he hid himself 
 till Night, and then entered a Cabin, while 
 every Body was fast asleep, murdered the 
 whole Family, and carried their Scalps into 
 his lurking Place. The next day the People 
 of the Village searched for the Murderer in 
 vain. The following Night he murdered all 
 he found in another Cabin. The Inhabitants 
 next Day searched likewise in vain for the 
 Murderer ; but the third Night a Watch was 
 kept in every House. Piskaret in the Night 
 bundled up the Scalps he had taken the two 
 former Nights, to carry, as the Proof of his 
 Victory, and then stole privately from House 
 to House, till at last he found an Indian nod- 
 ding, who was upon the Watch in one of the 
 Houses ; he knockt this Man on the Head ; 
 but as this alarmed the rest, he was forced 
 immediately to fly. He was however under 
 no great Concern from the Pursuit, being 
 more swift of Foot than any Indian then liv- 
 ing. He let his Pursuers come near him 
 from Time to Time, and then would dart 
 from them. This he did with Design to tire 
 them out with the Hopes of overtaking Him. 
 9
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 As it began to grow dark, he hid himself, and 
 his Pursuers stop'd to rest. They not being 
 apprehensive of any Danger from a single 
 Man, soon fell asleep, and the bold Piskaret 
 observing this, knock' d them all on the 
 Head, and carried away their Scalps with the 
 rest. Such Stories as these are told among 
 the Indians, as extraordinary Instances of the 
 Courage and Conduct of their Captains. The 
 Indians will often travel thus three or four 
 Hundred Miles singly, or two or three in 
 Company, and lurk about their Enemy's Bor- 
 ders for several Weeks, in Hopes to revenge 
 the Death of a near Relation or dear Friend. 
 Indeed they give themselves so very much 
 up to Revenge, that, this Passion seems to 
 gnaw their Souls, and gives them no Rest 
 till they satisfy it. It is this Delight in Re- 
 venge, that makes all barbarous Nations 
 cruel ; and the curbing such Passions is one 
 of the happy Effects of being civilized. 
 
 The Five Nations are so much delighted 
 with Stratagems in War, that no Superiority 
 of their Forces ever make them neglect them. 
 They amused the Adirondacks and their Al- 
 lies the Quatoghies (called by the French 
 Hurons) by sending to the French, and de- 
 siring Peace. The French desired them to 
 receive some Priests among them, in Hopes 
 that those prudent Fathers would, by some 
 Art, reconcile them to their Interest, and en- 
 10
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 gage their Affections. The Five Nations 
 readily accepted the Offer, and some Jesuits 
 went along with them : But after they had 
 the Jesuits in their Power, they used them 
 only as Hostages, and thereby obliged the 
 French to stand neuter, while they prepared 
 to attack the Adirondacks and Quatoghies, 
 and they defeated the Quatoghies in a dread- 
 ful Battle fought within two Leagues of Que- 
 beck. 
 
 The French own, That if the Five Nations 
 had known their Weakness at that Time, they 
 might have easily destroyed the whole Colony. 
 
 This Defeat, in Sight of the French Settle- 
 ments, struck Terror into all their Allies, who 
 were at that Time very numerous, because of 
 the Trade with the French, which furnished 
 them with many the most useful Convenien- 
 cies ; for before that Time the Indians had 
 no Iron Tool among them. 
 
 The Nipeceriniens, who then lived on the 
 Banks of St. Laurence River, fled upon this 
 to the Northward, believing that the extreme 
 Coldness of the Climate, and a barren Soil, 
 would be the securest Defence against the 
 Ambition of the Five Nations. The Re- 
 mainder of the Quatoghies fled with the Uta- 
 wawas South west war d ; and for the greater 
 Security, settled in an Island, which being 
 further than the Name of the Five Nations 
 had then reached, they trusted to the Dis- 
 11
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tance of the Place, and the Advantage of its 
 Situation. 
 
 Their last Expedition having succeeded so 
 well, the Five Nations gave out, that they 
 intended next Winter to visit Yonnendio, (the 
 Name they give to the Governor of Canada;) 
 these Visits are always made with much 
 Shew. Under this Pretence they gathered 
 together 1000 or 1200 Men. Their out Scouts 
 met with Piskaret near Niccolet River, and 
 still pretending a friendly Visit to the Gov- 
 ernor of Canada, as their only Design, he told 
 them, that the Adirondacks were divided into 
 two Bodies, one of which hunted on the 
 North Side of St. Laurence River at Wab- 
 make, three Leagues above Trois Rivieres, 
 and the other at Nicolet. As soon as they 
 had gained this Information, they killed him, 
 and returned with his Head to the Army. 
 The Five Nations divided likewise into two 
 Bodies ; they surprized the Adirondacks in 
 both Places, and in both cut them in pieces. 
 
 Thus the most warlike and polite Nation 
 of all the Indians in North America, was al- 
 most intirely destroyed by a People they at 
 first despised, and by a War which their 
 Pride and Injustice brought upon them ; and 
 we here see, that all the Advantages of 
 Numbers, Courage and Weapons, is not equal 
 to good discipline in an Army. 
 
 A very few Adirondacks only now remain 
 12
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 in some Villages near Quebeck, who still 
 waste away and decay, by their drinking 
 strong Waters, tho' when the French first 
 settled at Quebeck, 1500 fighting Men of them 
 lived between that Place and Sillerie, which 
 are only a league distant, besides those that 
 lived at Saquenay, Trois Rivieres, and some 
 other Places. And since this decisive Battle, 
 the Adirondacks have never been considered as 
 of any Consequence, either in Peace or War. 
 The Quatoghies and Atawawas now soon 
 began to be in Want of the European Com- 
 modities, which had made them considerable 
 among their new Friends. In order there- 
 fore to supply themselves anew, they re- 
 turned to Trade at Quebeck; and by this 
 Means the Place of their Retreat was discov- 
 ered to the Five Nations ; and they not hav- 
 ing their Revenge satiated, while the Quatog- 
 hies had a Being, soon convinced them, that 
 no Extent of Country could set bounds to 
 that Passion, when it rages in the Hearts of 
 the Five Nations, for they soon after attack' d 
 them in their new Settlement. The Quatog- 
 hies had the good Fortune to discover the 
 Five Nations Time enough to make their Es- 
 cape, and fled to the Putewatemies, who lived 
 a Day's Journey further, where they, and all 
 the Neighbouring Nations, secured them- 
 selves in a large Fort. The Five Nations fol- 
 lowed, but, being in Want of Provision, they 
 13
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 could not attempt a Siege, and therefore pro- 
 posed a Treaty with the Putewatemies, which 
 was accepted. The Putewatemies acknowl- 
 edged the Five Nations as Masters of all the 
 Nations round them, applauded their Valour, 
 and promised them their Friendship, and to 
 supply them with Provisions : they would not 
 however trust themselves out of their Fort, 
 but sent out a Supply ; and even this they 
 did, only with Design to do that by Treach- 
 ery, which they durst not attempt by Force ; 
 for the Provisions were poisoned. The 
 Treachery was discovered however to the 
 Five Nations, by an old Quatoghie, who had 
 a Son Prisoner among them; his Affection 
 for his Son overcoming even his Hatred to 
 his Country's Enemies. This Treachery 
 highly enraged the Five Nations against the 
 Putewatemies, and the neighbouring People ; 
 but Famine obliging them to retire at this 
 Time, they divided their Armies into Parties, 
 the better to provide for their Subsistence, by 
 Hunting ; one of these Parties in their Chace 
 fell in with a Village of the Chicktaghicks 
 (called by the French Hinois) and surprized 
 the old Men, Women and Children, when the 
 young Men were abroad hunting; but the 
 young Men, upon their Return, gathering 
 together all the rest of the Villages, pursued 
 this Party of the Five Nations, and recovered 
 the Prisoners. 
 
 14
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 This was the first Time that the Five Na- 
 tions had been seen in those Parts, but their 
 Name was become so terrible, that the Chig- 
 taghcicks, notwithstanding this Advantage, 
 left their Country, and fled to the Nations 
 that lived westward, till the General Peace 
 was settled by the French, and not till on 
 that Occasion returned to their own Country. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 The Wars and Treaties of Peace of the 
 Indians of the Five Nations with the 
 French, from 1665 to 1683, and their Af- 
 fairs with New- York in that Time. 
 
 IN June 1665 Monsieur De Trasi appointed 
 Vice-Eoy of America by the French 
 King, arrived at Quebeck, after he had vis- 
 ited the French Islands in the West Indies, 
 and brought with him four Companies of 
 Foot ; and in September of the same Year, 
 Mr. Coursel arrived Governor General of 
 Canada; he brought with him a Kegiment 
 and several Families, with all Things neces- 
 sary for establishing of a Colony. Their 
 Force being now thus considerably augmented, 
 the French Governor resolved to chastise the 
 Insolence of the Five Nations ; and for that 
 Purpose, in the Winter, sent out a Party 
 15
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 against the Mohawks, but these by the Cold, 
 and their not knowing the Use of Snow 
 Shoes, suffered very much, without doing any 
 Thing against the Enemy. 
 
 This Party however fell in with Skenec- 
 tady,* a small Town which Corlear (a con- 
 siderable Man among the Dutch) had then 
 newly settled. When they appeared near 
 Skenectady, they were almost dead with Cold 
 and Hunger; and the Indians, who were 
 then in that Village, had intirely destroyed 
 them, if Corlear, (in Compassion to his fellow 
 Christians) had not contriv'd their Escape. 
 He had a mighty Influence over the Indians ; 
 and it is from him, and in Remembrance of 
 his Merit, that all Governors of New-York 
 are called Corlear by the Indians to this Day, 
 tho' he himself was never Governor. He 
 persuaded the Indians, that this was a small 
 Party of the French Army come to amuse 
 them, that the great Body was gone directly 
 towards their Castles, and that it was neces- 
 sary for them immediately to go in Defence 
 of their Wives and Children. This they be- 
 lieved, and readily obeyed ; and as soon as 
 the Indians were gone, he sent to the French, 
 and supplied them with Provisions and other 
 Necessaries to carry them back. The French 
 
 *The French call this Town Corlear, from the 
 Person's Name who first settled there. It is situate 
 on the Mohawks River sixteen Miles from Albany. 
 10
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Governor, in Order to reward so signal a Ser- 
 vice, invited Corlear to Canada; but as lie 
 went through the great Lake, which lies to 
 the Northward of Albany, his Canoe was 
 overset, and he was drowned ; and from this 
 Accident that Lake has ever since been called 
 Corlear's Lake, by the People of New- York. 
 There is a Eock in this Lake, on which the 
 Waves dash and fly up to a great Height; 
 when the Wind blows hard, the Indians be- 
 lieve, that an old Indian lives under this 
 Rock, who has the Power of the Winds ; and 
 therefore, as they pass it in their Voyages 
 over, they always throw a Pipe, or some other 
 small Present to this old Indian, and pray a 
 favourable Wind. The English that pass 
 with them sometimes laugh at them, but they 
 are sure to be told of Corlear's Death. Your 
 great Countryman Corlear (say they) as he 
 passed by this Eock, jested at our Fathers 
 making Presents to this Old Indian, and in 
 Derision turned up his Backside, but this 
 Affront cost him his Life. 
 
 In the following Spring the Vice-Eoy and 
 the Governor of Canada, with twenty eight 
 Companies of Foot, and all the Militia of the 
 Colony, marched into the Country of the 
 Mohawks, with a Design to destroy this Na- 
 tion, which by their Wars not only prevented 
 their Commerce with the western Indians, 
 but likewise often put their Colony in Danger. 
 
 VOL. I. -3 17
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 It certainly was a bold Attempt, to march 
 above 700 Miles from Quebeck through vast 
 unknown Forests. The Mohawks however, 
 on their Approach, Men, Women, and Chil- 
 dren, retired into the Woods, and all that the 
 French were able to do, was to burn some 
 Villages, and to murder some old Sachems 
 that (like the old Eouian Senators,) chose 
 rather to dye than to desert their Houses. 
 
 The French were so conceited before, of 
 their Superiority over the Indians in their 
 Skill of War, and their Weapons, that they 
 thought they could not escape, but the little 
 Honour or Advantage they got by this Ex- 
 pedition lessened their Vanity, and made 
 them desirous of Peace ; and the Five Nations 
 remaining fearful of the French fire Arms, it 
 was without much Difficulty concluded in the 
 Year 1667. 
 
 The Five Nations however being naturally 
 very enterpriziug and haughty, one of their 
 Parties some Time after met with some 
 French in their hunting, and quarrelled with 
 them. The Indians had the Advantage, they 
 killed several of the French, and carried one 
 Prisoner into their own Country. Monsieur 
 de Coursel sent on this to threaten the Five 
 Nations with War, if they did not deliver up 
 these Murderers; and the Five Nations, to 
 shew their publick Displeasure at this Breach 
 of Peace, sent Agariata, the Captain of the 
 18
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Company that did the Mischief, with forty 
 others, to beg Pardon ; but Monsieur Coursel 
 was resolved to make an Example of Aga- 
 riata, and ordered him to be hanged in Sight 
 of his Countrymen; and the French think 
 that this Severity was a great Means of pre- 
 serving the Peace till the Year 1683. 
 
 The Dutch, who settled in the New Nether- 
 lands, now called New-York, in 1609, en- 
 tered into an Alliance with the Five Nations, 
 which continued without any Breach on 
 either Side, till the English gained this 
 Country. The Dutch gained the Hearts of 
 the Five Nations by their kind Usage, and 
 were frequently useful to the French, in sav- 
 ing those of them that were prisoners from 
 the Cruelty of the Indians. 
 
 In 1664, New-York being taken by the 
 English, they likewise immediately entered 
 into a Friendship with the Five Nations, 
 which has continued without the least Breach 
 to this Day; and History, I believe, cannot 
 give an Instance of the most Christian or 
 most Catholick Kings observing a Treaty so 
 strictly, and for so long a Time as these Bar- 
 barians, as they are called, have done. 
 
 The English and French (Peace being every 
 where settled) now endeavoured to extend 
 their Commerce and Alliances among the 
 Indian Nations, that live to the westward of 
 Hew-York. The French however, in their 
 19
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Measures, discovered always a Design of con- 
 quering and commanding ; for with this View 
 Mr. de Frontenac, who had succeeded in the 
 Government of Canada, in the Year 1672, per- 
 suaded the -Five Nations to allow him to build 
 a Fort on the north Side of Cadarackui Lake, 
 under Pretence of a Store for Merchandise, 
 and the Security of his Traders, and under the 
 same Pretence built several other Forts at 
 some other considerable Places far in the 
 Country. 
 
 The English and Dutch, on the contrary, 
 prosecuted their Measures only with the Arts 
 of Peace, by sending People among the In- 
 dians to gain their Affections, and to persuade 
 them to come to Albany to trade ; but the 
 War with the Dutch, which happened about 
 this Time, prevented even these honest De- 
 signs from having the Success they otherwise 
 might have had; for in the year 1673, New- 
 York being surprised by the Dutch, and re- 
 stored the next Year to the English, the Al- 
 terations of Government, and of Masters, 
 obstructed very much any Measures that could 
 have been taken for the publick Good. Their 
 Trade was likewise considerably hindered by 
 the War which the Five Nations had at that 
 Time with the River Indians,* which forced 
 
 *The Indians living on the Branches of Hudson's 
 River, within or near the English Settlements at that 
 Time.
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 many of those Indians to seek Shelter among 
 the Utawawas, who fell under the French 
 Government at last; however, the English, 
 Dutch and French having all made Peace in 
 Europe, and the Government of New- York 
 likewise having obtained a Peace between the 
 Five Nations and Mahikiudars or Kiver In- 
 dians, both the English and French were at 
 full Liberty to prosecute their Designs of ex- 
 tending their Commerce among the Indians, 
 which both did with very considerable Suc- 
 cess and Advantage to the Inhabitants of 
 their respective Colonies. 
 
 But this Justice must be done to the 
 French, that they far exceeded the English 
 in the daring Attempts of some of their In- 
 habitants, in travelling very far among un- 
 known Indians, discovering new Countries, 
 and every where spreading the Fame of the 
 French Name and Grandeur. The Sieur 
 Perot travelled in the Year 1667 as far as the 
 Fall St. Mary beyond Missilimakinak, and 
 having learned those Indians Language, 
 gained them over to his Country's Interest. 
 
 The Courage and Eesolution of many of 
 these Adventurers are deservedly recorded 
 by the French ; but the English give it an- 
 other Turn, and say it is the Barrenness and 
 Poverty of Canada that pushes the Men of 
 Spirit there, upon Enterprizes, that they 
 would not have attempted, if they had lived 
 31
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 in the Province of New- York. The chief 
 Reason, in my Opinion, however, of the 
 French having so far succeeded beyond the 
 English is, that the Indian Affairs are the 
 particular Care of the Governor and other 
 principal Officers in Canada, who have the 
 greatest Knowledge and Authority ; whereas 
 those Affairs in New-York are chiefly left to 
 the Management of a few Traders with the 
 Indians, who have no Care for, or Skill in 
 publick Affairs, and only mind their private 
 Interest. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 Of the Transactions of the Indians of the 
 Five Nations with the Neighbouring Eng- 
 lish Colonies. 
 
 THE Five Nations being now amply sup- 
 plied by the English with Fire-Arms 
 and Ammunition, give full Swing to their 
 warlike Genius, and soon resolved to revenge 
 the Affronts they had at any Time received 
 from the Indian Nations that lived at a 
 greater Distance from them. The nearest 
 Nations, as they were attack' d, commonly 
 fled to those that were further off, and the 
 Five Nations pursued them. This, together 
 with a Desire they had of conquering, or 
 22
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Ambition of making all the Nations round 
 them their Tributaries, or to acknowledge the 
 Five Nations to be so far their Masters, as to 
 be absolutely directed by them in all Affairs 
 of Peace and War with their Neighbours, 
 made them overrun great Part of North- 
 America. They carried their Arms as far 
 South as Carolina, to the Northward of New- 
 England, and as far West as the River Mis- 
 sissipi, over a vast Country, which extends 
 twelve hundred Miles in Length, from North 
 to South, and about six hundred Miles in 
 breadth ; where they intirely destroyed many 
 Nations, of whom there are now no Accounts 
 remaining among the English. 
 
 These warlike Expeditions often proved 
 troublesome to the Colonies of Virginia and 
 Maryland ; for not only the Indians that were 
 Friends to those Colonies became Victims to 
 the Fury of the Five Nations, but the Chris- 
 tian Inhabitants likewise were frequently in- 
 volved in the same Calamity. 
 
 The French having a long Time felt the 
 Inconveniencies and Dangers they were in 
 from this restless warlike Spirit of the Five 
 Nations, made use of this Time of Peace to 
 guard against it for the future, and were very 
 diligent in pursuing the most prudent Meas- 
 ures. They sent some of their wisest Priests 
 and Jesuits to reside among them, and the 
 Governors of New- York were ordered, by the 
 23
 
 Duke of York, to give these Priests all the 
 Incourageinent in their Power. The chief 
 View of these Priests was, to give the Indians 
 the highest Opinion of the French Power and 
 Wisdom, and to render the English as sus- 
 pected and as mean as possible in their Eyes. 
 They waited likewise for every Opportunity 
 to breed a Quarrel between the English and 
 the Indians, and to withdraw the Five Na- 
 tions from fighting with those Nations that 
 traded to Canada. For these Purposes these 
 Priests were instrumental in turning the Re- 
 sentment of the Five Nations against the 
 Indians, that were in Friendship with Vir- 
 ginia and Maryland. The Governor of Mary- 
 land, on the other Hand, to prevent the ill 
 Consequences, that might happen by Wars 
 between Nations that were in Friendship with 
 the English, and lived in their Neighbour- 
 hood, sent Colonel Coursey, in the Year 1677, 
 to Albany, to increase the Friendship between 
 Virginia and Maryland on the one Part, and 
 the Five Nations on the other ; and, accord- 
 ingly, both Sides gave mutual Promises at 
 Albany: But this good Understanding was 
 soon shaken by some Parties of the Oney- 
 does, Onondagas, and Senekas, who were out 
 when this Treaty was made, and were igno- 
 rant of it. One of them met with the Sus- 
 guehana Indians, who were in Friendship 
 with Maryland, and fell upon them ; they 
 24
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 killed four of the Susguehanas, and took six 
 Prisoners. Five of these Prisoners fell to 
 the Share of the Senekas, who, as soon as 
 they arrived in their own Country, sent them 
 back with Presents, to shew that they kept 
 their Promises with Maryland ; bat the Oney- 
 does detained the Prisoner they had. 
 
 Another Party, that Avent against the Cana- 
 gesse Indians (Friends of Virginia) were sur- 
 prised by a Troop of Horse, who killed one 
 Man, and took a Woman Prisoner: The In- 
 dians, in Revenge, killed four of the Inhabi- 
 tants, and carried away their Scalps, with six 
 Christian Prisoners. 
 
 The Mohawks, all this while, kept strictly 
 to their Words, and suffered none of their 
 Men to go towards Virginia and Maryland. 
 
 There is Eeason to think that the Dutch, 
 who lived about Albany at that Time, spirited 
 up the Indians against the English ; the na- 
 tional Differences, that were then recent, 
 bred a Rancour in their Spirits. Some Dutch- 
 men persuaded the Oneydoes, that the Eng- 
 lish at New- York were resolved to destroy 
 them, and put them into a terrible Disturb- 
 ance; for here the Dutch and the French 
 Priests joined in the same Measures. The 
 Commandant a_t Albany hearing of this, sent 
 two Interpreters of the Indian Language, to 
 persuade the Oneydoes to come to Albany, 
 in Order to be assured of the English Friend- 
 25
 
 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 ship, and to have their Jealousy removed ; 
 which being done, Swerise, one of the chief 
 Sachems of the Oneydoes, excused his Coun- 
 trymen at Albany the fifteenth of February 
 1679, by laying the Blame on the People of 
 Schenectady, who had informed not one, but 
 several of their People, and at several Times, 
 that the English designed to cut them all off ; 
 and said, had they not Reason to believe the 
 People of Schenectady, who are Friends and 
 Neighbours to the English? They brought 
 with them a Christian Woman and her Child, 
 that had been taken Prisoners, and restored 
 them, praying the Governor to use his Inter- 
 est to have their People restored, that had 
 been taken by the People of Virginia ; but 
 they kept another Christian Woman and her 
 two Children, which they said they did only 
 till such Time as their Prisoners should be 
 restored, or some Canastoga Indians given in 
 their Place. 
 
 When the Five Nations make Peace with 
 another Nation, that has taken some of the 
 Five Nations Prisoners, if these Prisoners be 
 dead, or cannot be restored, they usually de- 
 mand some Indians, in Friendship with the 
 Five Nations, in their stead; who either are 
 adopted in Place of their dead Friends, or 
 restored to their own Nation ; and sometimes 
 they desire some of their Enemies to be given 
 to them, and even those frequently are 
 26
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &e. 
 
 adopted by a Father in Place of a Son, or by 
 a Sister in Place of a Brother, and, most fre- 
 quently, by a Wife in Place of a Husband 
 lost in the Wars ; but if they chance not to 
 be agreeable to the Kelations, then they are 
 certainly made Sacrifices to their Eevenge. 
 
 Governor Andross, being acquainted by Let- 
 ter with this last Proposal of the Oneydoes, 
 required the immediate Delivery of the Chris- 
 tian Prisoners, and promised to write to Vir- 
 ginia to have the Indian Prisoners sav'd. 
 Some Presents being given to the Oneydoes, 
 and they promised to bring them in a Month's 
 Time. 
 
 They, at the same Time, informed the 
 Commandant at Albany, that eight of their 
 Men were then out against the People of Vir- 
 ginia; that they knew nothing of what was 
 now promised ; and therefore, in Case they 
 should do any Harm, they desired that it 
 might not be taken as a Breach of their 
 Promises they now made. They promised 
 likewise to inform the Governor of every 
 Thing these Parties shou'd happen to do. In 
 the last Place they said, we shall be very 
 sorry if any Thing should happen to the 
 Prisoners that we have promised to restore, 
 lest it should create some Jealousies of us, 
 we hope that you will consider that they are 
 mortal. Accordingly, in May following, the 
 Oneydoes brought the other three Prisoners 
 37
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to Albany, and, on the Twenty-fourth of that 
 Month, Swerise, when he delivered them to 
 the Commandant at Albany, and "the Com- 
 missioners for Indian Affairs, said, 
 " Brethren, 
 
 " We are come to this Place with much 
 Trouble, as we did last Winter, and renew 
 the Request we then made, that six Indians 
 be delivered to us in the Room of these six 
 Christians, in Case our People, who are Pris- 
 oners, be dead. Xone of us have gone out 
 against the Christians since we were last here ; 
 but we told you then that some were then 
 out, who knew nothing of the Governor's 
 Orders, and we desired, that if any Thing 
 happened it might not be taken ill. Kow 
 thirteen of our People, who went out against 
 our Indian Enemies, met eighteen Men on 
 Horseback, as far from any of the English 
 Plantations as Cahnuaga is from Albany, 
 they fired upon our People; our Men, being 
 Soldiers, returned their Fire, and killed two 
 Men and two Horses, and brought away their 
 Scalps. 
 
 " It would be convenient that the Governor 
 tell the People of Virginia, not to send their 
 Men so far from Home ; for if they should 
 meet our Parties in their Way against our 
 Enemies, the Cahnowas, whom the English 
 call Arogisti, we cannot answer for the Con- 
 sequences. 
 
 38
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 "We have now observed the Governor's 
 Orders, in bringing the three other Christian 
 Prisoners; and we trust the Affair of our 
 Prisoners wholly to the Governor. 
 
 " We have now performed our Promises : 
 But where are our Prisoners ; or, if they be 
 dead, the 'others in their Room; now when 
 it is so late in the Spring? However, we 
 will still trust this to the Governor. " 
 
 Then delivering the Prisoners one by one, 
 said, " We have, we say, now performed our 
 Promises, and are not ashamed. We hope 
 Corlaer, who governs the whole Country, will 
 likewise do that, of which he need not be 
 ashamed. 
 
 "Corlaer governs the whole Land, from 
 New-York to Albany, and from thence to 
 the Senekas Land ; we, who are his Inferiors, 
 shall faithfully keep the Chain : Let him per- 
 form his Promise, as we have ours, that the 
 Chain be not broken on his Side, who governs 
 the whole Country." 
 
 Then the Commissioners gave them Pre- 
 sents for their kind Usage of the Prisoners. 
 
 After which Swerise stood up again and 
 said; "Let Corlaer take Care, that the Indian 
 Woman, that is wanting, be restored, and, 
 for those that are killed, others in their 
 Room. If Corlaer will not give Ear to us in 
 this Affair, we will not hereafter give Ear to 
 him in any Thing." 
 
 29
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Hearing afterwards, that these last Words 
 were ill taken, Swerise, with two more of the 
 chief Oneydoe Sachems, excused it, saying; 
 " What we said, of not hearkening any more 
 to Corlaer, did not proceed from the Heart, 
 but was spoken by Way of Argument, to 
 make Corlaer more careful to release our 
 People that are Prisoners ; and you may be 
 convinced it was so, when you consider that 
 it was said after your Answer, and without 
 laying down either Bever, or any Belt or 
 Wampum, as we always do, when we make 
 Propositions;* therefore we desire, that, if 
 it be noted, it may be blotted out, and not 
 made known to Corlaer, for we hold firmly 
 to our Covenant, as we said in our Proposi- 
 tions." 
 
 They, at the same Time, told them, That 
 the Sinondowanst came to them with eight 
 Belts, desiring them no longer to prosecute 
 the War with the Virginia Indians, but to go 
 to War against the Dewagauas,J a Nation 
 lying to the North-westward ; and that the 
 Sennekas did desire them to set these Chris- 
 
 * The Word Proposition has been always used by 
 the Commissioners for Indian Affairs at Albany, to 
 signify Proposals or Articles in the Treaties or 
 Agreements made with the Indians. 
 
 f-A Castle of the Senuekas, from whence the 
 French call the Sennekas Tonontouan. 
 
 \ Comprehended under the general Name of Uta- 
 wawas. 
 
 30
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 tians at Liberty, and to carry them to Al- 
 bany ; all which we promised to do. 
 
 The Five Nations continuing however still 
 to be troublesome to Virginia, that Govern- 
 ment, in September following, sent Colonel 
 William Kendall, and Colonel Southley Lit- 
 tleton, to Albany, to renew and confirm the 
 Friendship between Virginia and the Five 
 Nations. Colonel Littleton died at Albany, 
 before the Indians arrived; and Colonel Ken- 
 dall spoke first to the Oneydoes, and told 
 them in a set Speech, "That their People had 
 taken away and destroyed their Goods and 
 People, and brought some of the Women and 
 Children of Virginia Captives into their Cas- 
 tles, contrary to that Faith and Promise, and 
 in Breach of the Peace made with Colonel 
 Coursey, without any the least Provocation, 
 or Injury done, by the People of Virginia. 
 However, through the great Respect Virginia 
 has to their Nations, and by the Persuasions 
 of the Governor of New- York, and the In- 
 formation he has given the Government of 
 Virginia, that they had quietly and peaceably 
 delivered to him the Prisoners taken from 
 Virginia, who were returned safely ; and their 
 excusing the same, and Inclination to live 
 peaceably, without injuring Virginia for the 
 future ; the Government of Virginia did for- 
 give all the Damages the Five Nations have 
 done to the People of Virginia, though very 
 31
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 great; provided that they, or any living 
 among them, for the future, do not offend, or 
 molest the People of Virginia, or Indians liv- 
 ing among them." 
 
 He spoke to the Mohawks and Sennekas, 
 separately from the Oneydoes, because they 
 had not done any Mischief, and promised 
 them kind and neighbourly Usage when they 
 came to Virginia, and gave them Presents ; 
 they returned the Compliment, with an As- 
 surance of their Friendship, and condoled 
 Colonel Littleton's Death, after the Indian 
 Manner, by a Present of a Belt of black 
 Wampum, besides the Belt given, on renewal 
 of the Friendship. 
 
 The Onnondagas did not come till Novem- 
 ber ; on the fifth of which Month the Virginia 
 Agent spoke to them, in the same Words he 
 did to the Oneydoes. It does not appear, by 
 the Register of Indian Affairs, what Answer 
 the Oneydoes and Onnondagas made, but it 
 is certain they did not observe Friendship 
 with Virginia, but molested them with reiter- 
 ated Incursions of their Parties. It is ob- 
 servable, however, that these two Nations, 
 and the (Jayugas, only had French Priests 
 among them at that Time, and that none of 
 the rest ever molested the English; for which 
 Reason, Colonel Dongan, notwithstanding the 
 Orders he had received from his Master, and 
 that he himself was a Papist, complained of 
 32
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 the ill Offices these Priests did to the English 
 Interest, and forbid the Five Nations to en- 
 tertain any of them ; though the English and 
 French Crowns, while he was Governor of 
 New-York, seemed to be more than ever in 
 strict Friendship. 
 
 The French had no Hopes of persuading 
 the Five Nations to break with New-York 
 directly, but they were in Hopes, that, by 
 the Indian Parties doing frequent Mischief in 
 Virginia, the Government of New- York would 
 be forsed to join, in resenting the Injury, and 
 thereby that Union, between the Government 
 of New-York and the Five Nations, would 
 be broke, which always obstructed, and often 
 defeated, the Design the French had, of sub- 
 jecting all North America to the Crown of 
 France. For this Reason, the Governors of 
 New- York have always, with the greatest 
 Caution, avoided a Breach with these Na- 
 tions, on Account of the little Differences 
 they had with the neighbouring Colonies. 
 These new Incursions of these two Nations 
 were so troublesome to the People of Vir- 
 ginia, that their Governor, the Lord Howard 
 of Effingham, thought it necessary, for their 
 Security, to undertake a -Journey to New- 
 York. 
 
 I shall give a particular Account of this 
 Affair, which was thought of such Conse- 
 quence, that a Peer of England left his Gov- 
 
 VOL. I. 3 33
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 eminent, and travelled four-hundred Miles, 
 to treat with the Five Nations; and shall 
 take this Opportunity of describing some 
 Ceremonies they use, in making Peace. 
 
 The Sachems of the Five Nations being 
 called to Albany, eight Mohawks, three Oney- 
 does, three Onnondagas, and three Cayuga 
 Sachems, met his Lordship there ; and, on 
 the thirteenth of July, 1684, he, accompanied 
 by two of the Council of Virginia, spoke to 
 the Sachems as follows, in the Presence of 
 Colonel Thomas Dongan, Governor of New- 
 York, and the Magistrates of Albany. The 
 Senekas being far off, were not then arrived. 
 
 Proposals made by the Right Honourable 
 Francis Lord Howard of Effingham, Gov- 
 ernor-general of his Majesty's Dominion 
 of Virginia, to the Mohawks, Oneydoes, 
 Onnondagas, and Cayugas. 
 
 " TT is now about seven Years, said he, 
 JL since you (unprovoked) came into Vir- 
 ginia, a Country belonging to the great King 
 of England, and committed several Murders 
 and Robberies, carrying away our Christian 
 Women and Children Prisoners into your 
 Castles. All which Injuries we designed to 
 have revenged on you, but at the Desire of 
 Sir Edmond Andross, then Governor-general 
 of this Country, we desisted from destroying 
 34
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 you, and sent our Agents, Colonel William 
 Kendal, and Colonel Southey Littleton, to 
 confirm and make sure the Peace, that Colo- 
 nel Coursey of Maryland included us in, when 
 he first treated with you. We find, that as 
 you quickly forgot what you promised Colo- 
 nel Coursey, so you have wilfully broke the 
 Covenant-chain which you promised our 
 Agent, Colonel Kendal, should be kept more 
 strong and bright, if we of Virginia would 
 bury, in the Pit of Oblivion, the Injury then 
 done us; which, upon Governor Andross's 
 Intercession, and your Submission, we were 
 willing to forget : But you not at all minding 
 the Covenant then made, have every Year 
 since, come into our Country in a war-like 
 Manner, under Pretence of fighting with 
 our Indians, our Friends and Neighbours, 
 which you ought not to have done, our Agent 
 having included them likewise in the Peace. 
 You not only destroyed, and took several of 
 them Prisoners, but you have also killed and 
 burnt our Christian People, destroying Corn 
 and Tobacco, more than you made Use of, 
 killed our Horses, Hogs, and Cattle ; not to 
 eat, but to let them lie in the Woods and 
 stink : This you did, when you were not de- 
 nied any Thing you said you wanted. 
 
 "I must also tell you, that, under the 
 Pretence of Friendship, you have come to 
 Houses at the Heads of our Rivers (when 
 86
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 they have been fortified) with a white Sheet 
 on a Pole, and have laid down your Guns be- 
 fore the Fort; upon which, our People taking 
 you for Friends, have admitted your great 
 Men into their Forts, and have given them 
 Meat and Drink, what they desired. After 
 the great Men had refreshed themselves, and 
 desiring to return, as they were let out of the 
 Fort-gates, the young Men commonly rushed 
 into the Fort, and plundered the Houses, 
 taking away, and destroying all the Corn, 
 Tobacco, and Bedding, and what else was in 
 the Houses. When they went away, they 
 generally also took several Sheep with them, 
 and killed several Cows big with Calf, and 
 left them behind them cut to Pieces, and 
 flung about, as if it were in Defiance of us, 
 and in Derision of our Friendship. These, 
 and many more Injuries that you have done 
 us, have caused me to raise Forces, to send 
 to the Heads of our Rivers, to defend our 
 People from these Outrages, till I came to 
 New- York, to Colonel Thomas Dongan, your 
 Governor-general, to desire him, as we are all 
 one King's Subjects, to assist me in warring 
 against you, to revenge the Christian Blood 
 that you have shed, and to make you give full 
 satisfaction for all the Goods that you have 
 destroyed : But by the Mediation of your 
 Governor, I am now come to Albany to speak 
 with you, and to know the Reason of your 
 36
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 breaking the Covenant-chain, not only with 
 us and our neighbour Indians, but with Mary- 
 land, who are great King Charles's Subjects ; 
 for our Indians have given King Charles their 
 Land ; therefore I, the Governor of Virginia, 
 will protect them, as your Governor, under 
 the great Duke of York and Albany, will 
 henceforth you, when the Chain of Friend- 
 ship is made between us all, 
 
 "Now I have let you know, that I am 
 sensible of all the Injuries you have done us, 
 and by the Desire of your Governor-general, 
 I am willing to make a new Chain with you 
 for Virginia, Maryland, and our Indians, that 
 may be more strong and lasting, even to the 
 Word's End; so that we maybe Brethren, 
 and great King Charles's Children. 
 
 " I propose to you, first, That you call out 
 of our Countries of Virginia and Maryland, 
 all your young Men or Soldiers that are now 
 there. 
 
 " Secondly, That you do not hinder or mo- 
 lest our friendly Indians from hunting in our 
 Mountains, it having been their Country, and 
 none of yours ; they never go into your Coun- 
 try to disturb any of you. 
 
 " Thirdly, Though the Damages you have 
 done our Country be very great, and would 
 require a great deal of Satisfaction, which 
 you are bound to give ; yet we assure you, 
 that only by the Persuasions of your Gov- 
 37
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ernor, who is at a vast deal of Trouble and 
 Charge for your Welfare, which you ever 
 ought to acknowledge, I have passed it by 
 and forgiven you ; upon this Condition, that 
 your People, nor any living among you, for 
 the future, ever commit any Incursions upon 
 our Christians or Indians living among us, or 
 in Maryland. 
 
 " For the better Confirmation of the same, 
 and that the Peace now concluded may be 
 lasting, I propose to have two Hatchets * 
 buried, as a final Determination of all Wars 
 and Jarrings between us ; one on behalf of 
 us and our Indians, and the other for all your 
 Nations united together, that ever did us any 
 Injury, or pretended to Avar against our In- 
 dian Friends, or those of Maryland. 
 
 " And that nothing may be wanting for 
 Confirmation thereof (if you desire it) we are 
 willing to send some of our Indian Sachems, 
 with an Agent, next Summer, about this 
 Time, that they may ratify the Covenant with 
 you here, in this prefixed House, where you 
 may see and speak together as Friends. 
 
 " That the Covenant now made between us, 
 in this prefixed House, in the Presence of 
 your Governor, may be firmly kept and per- 
 formed on your Parts, as it always has been 
 on ours ; and that you do not break any one 
 
 * All Indians make Use of a Hatchet or Axe, as 
 an Emblem to express War. 
 38
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Link of the Covenant-chain for the future, 
 by your People's coming near our Plantations ; 
 when you march to the Southward, keep to 
 the Feet of the Mountains, and do not come 
 nigh the Heads of our Rivers, there being no 
 Bever-hunting there; for we shall not for 
 the future, though you lay down your Arms 
 as Friends, ever trust you more, you have so 
 often deceived us." 
 
 The next Day the Mohawks answer' d first 
 by their Speaker, saying : 
 
 " We must, in the first Place, say some- 
 thing to the other three Nations, by Way of 
 Reproof, for their not keeping the former 
 Chain, as they ought; and therefore we desire 
 you, great Sachem of Virginia, and you Cor- 
 lear, and all here present to give Ear, for we 
 will conceal nothing of the Evil they have 
 done." [Then turning to the other Nations.] 
 " You have heard Yesterday all that has been 
 said; as for our Parts, we are free of the 
 Blame laid on us ; we have always been obe- 
 dient to Corlaer, and have steadily kept our 
 Chain with Virginia, Maryland, and Boston ; 
 but ye are stupid and brutish, and have no 
 Understanding, we must stamp Understand- 
 ing into you. Let the new Chain made Yes- 
 terday be carefully preserved for the future. 
 This we earnestly recommend to you, for we 
 are ready to cry for Shame of you ; let us be 
 39
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 no more ashamed on your Account, but be 
 obedient, and take this Belt, to keep what 
 we say in your Memory. 
 
 " Hear now, now is the Time to hearken ; 
 the Covenant-chain had very near slipt, by 
 your not keeping it firmly. Hold it fast now, 
 when all former Evils are buried in the Pit. 
 
 " You Oneydoes, I speak to you as Chil- 
 dren ; be no longer childish, or void of Un- 
 derstanding. 
 
 "You Onondagas, our Brethren, you are 
 like deaf People, that cannot hear, your 
 Senses are covered with Dirt and Filth. 
 
 " You Cayugas, do not return into your 
 former Ways. There are three Things we 
 must all observe. 
 
 " First, The Covenant with Corlear. Sec- 
 ondly, the Covenant with Virginia and Mary- 
 land. Thirdly, with Boston. We must 
 stamp Understanding into you, that you may 
 be obedient; and take this Belt for a Re- 
 membrancer. " 
 
 Then Cadianne, the same Mohawk Speaker, 
 turning to my Lord, said : 
 
 "We are very thankful to you, great 
 Sachem of Virginia, that you are persuaded 
 by Corlear, our Governor, to forgive all 
 former Faults. We are very glad to hear 
 you, and see your Heart softened. Take 
 these three Bevers as a Token. 
 40
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 " We thank the great Sachem of Virginia 
 for saying, that the Axe shall be thrown into 
 the Pit. Take these two Bevers, as a Token 
 of our Joy and Thankfulness. 
 
 " We are glad that Assarigoa * will bury 
 in the Pit what is past. Let the Earth be 
 trod hard over it; or rather, let a strong 
 Stream run under the Pit, to wash the Evil 
 away out of our Sight and Beinembrance, and 
 that it may never be digged up again. 
 
 " Assarigoa, you are a Man of Knowledge 
 and Understanding, thus to keep the Cover- 
 nant-chain bright as Silver ; and now again to 
 renew it, and make it stronger. (Then point- 
 ing to the three other Nations, said,) But 
 they are Chain-breakers. I lay down this as 
 a Token, that we Mohawks have preserved 
 the Chain intire on our Parts. Gives two 
 Bevers and a Racoon. 
 
 " The Covenant must be kept ; for the Fire 
 of Love of Virginia and Maryland burns in 
 this Place, as well as ours, and this House of 
 Peace must be kept clean. Gives two Bevers. 
 
 " We now plant a Tree,f whose Top will 
 reach the Sun, and its Branches spread far 
 abroad, so that it shall be seen afar off; and 
 we shall shelter ourselves under it, and live 
 
 *The Name the Five Nations always give the 
 Governor of Virginia. 
 
 f The Five Nations always express Peace by the 
 Metaphor of a Tree. 
 
 41
 
 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 in Peace without Molestation. Here he gave 
 two Bevers. 
 
 " You proposed Yesterday, that if we were 
 desirous to see the Indians of Virginia, you 
 are willing to send some of their Sachems 
 next Summer, about this Time, to this Place. 
 This Proposal pleases me very much, the 
 sooner they come the better, that we may 
 speak with them in this House, which is ap- 
 pointed for our speaking with our Friends ; 
 and give two Belts to confirm it. 
 
 " You have now heard what Exhortation 
 we have made to the other three Nations; 
 we have taken the Hatchet out of their 
 Hands; we now therefore pray, that both 
 your Hatchets may likewise be buried in a 
 deep Pit. Giving two Bevers. 
 
 " Assarigoa, some of us Mohawks are out 
 against our Enemies, that lie afar off, they 
 will do you no Harm, nor plunder, as the 
 others do. Be kind to them, if they shall 
 happen to come to any of your Plantations ; 
 give them some Tobacco and some Victuals ; 
 for they will neither rob nor steal, as the 
 Oneydoes, Onnondagas, and Cayugas have 
 done. 
 
 "The Oneydoes particularly thank you, 
 great Sachem of Virginia, for consenting to 
 lay down the Axe. The Hatchet is taken 
 out of all their hands. Gives a Belt. 
 
 "We again thank Assarigoa, that he has 
 42
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 made a new Chain. Let it be kept bright 
 and clean, and held fast on all Sides ; let not 
 any one pull his Arm from it. We include 
 all the four Nations, in giving this Belt. 
 
 "We again pray Assarigoa, to take the 
 Oneydoes into his Favour, and keep the Chain 
 strong with them ; for they are our Children. 
 Gives a Belt. 
 
 " The Oneydoes give twenty Bevers, as a 
 Satisfaction for what they promised the Lord 
 Baltimore, and desire that they may be dis- 
 charged of that Debt." 
 
 The two Governors told them, that they 
 would use their Endeavours with the Lord 
 Baltimore, to persuade him to forgive what 
 remained. 
 
 Then the Indians desired that the Hole 
 might be dug, to bury the Axes, viz. one in 
 Behalf of Virginia and their Indians, another 
 in Behalf of Maryland and theirs, and three 
 for the Onnondagas, Oneydoes, and Cayugas. 
 The Mohawks said, there was no Need of 
 burying any on their Account, for the first 
 Chain had never been broke by them. 
 
 Then the three Nations spoke by an On- 
 nondaga, called Thanohjanihta, who said: 
 
 " We thank the great Sachem of Virginia, 
 that he has so readily forgiven and forgot 
 the Injuries that have been done; and we, 
 for our Parts, gladly catch at, and lay hold 
 of the new Chain. Then each of them
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 delivered an Axe to be buried, and gave a 
 Belt. 
 
 " I speak in the Name of all three Nations, 
 and include them in this Chain, which we 
 desire may be kept clean and bright like 
 Silver. Gives a Belt. 
 
 " We desire that the Path may be open for 
 the Indians under Assarigoa's Protection, to 
 come safely and freely to this Place, in order 
 to confirm the Peace. Gives six Fathom of 
 Wampum." 
 
 Then the Axes were buried in the south- 
 east End of the Court-yard, and the Indians 
 threw the Earth upon them ; after which the 
 Lord Howard told them, since now a firm 
 Peace is concluded, we shall hereafter remain 
 Friends, and Virginia and Maryland will send 
 once in two or three Years to renew it, and 
 some of our Sachems shall come, according to 
 your Desire, to confirm it. 
 
 Last of all the Oneydoes, the Onnondagas, 
 and Cayugas, jointly sang the Peace-song, 
 with Demonstrations of much Joy ; and 
 thanked the Governor of New- York for his 
 effectual Mediation with the Governor of 
 Virginia in their Favour. 
 
 Colonel Dungan had gained the Affections 
 of the Five Nations, and they esteemed him 
 much. 
 
 They desired the Duke of York's Arms to 
 put upon their Castles, which, from the 
 44
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Sequel of their Story, we may suppose they 
 were told would save them from the French. 
 Colonel Dungan desired them to call Home 
 those of their Nations that had settled in 
 Canada.* To which they answered, Corlear 
 keeps a Correspondence and Friendship with 
 Canada, and therefore he can prevail more 
 than we can. Let Corlear use his Endeav- 
 ours to draw our Indians Home to their own 
 Country. 
 
 The Government of the Massachusets Bay 
 had appointed Colonel Stephanus Cortland, 
 one of the Council of New-York, their Agent 
 at this Time, to renew their Friendship like- 
 wise with the Five Nations, and to give them 
 some small Presents ; which was accordingly 
 done. 
 
 *The French Priests had, from Time to Time, 
 persuaded several of the Five Nations to leave their 
 own Country, and to settle near Montreal; where 
 the French are very industrious in encouraging 
 them. Their Numbers have been likewise increased 
 by the Prisoners the French have taken in War, and 
 by others that have run from their own Country ; 
 because of some Mischief that they had done, or 
 Debts which they owed the Christians. These In- 
 dians are all profess'd Papists, and for that Reason 
 are commonly called the praying Indians by their 
 Countrymen, and they are called Cahnuagas by the 
 People of Albany, from the Place where they live ; 
 the French value them on Account of the Intelli- 
 gence they give in Time of War, and their Knowl- 
 edge of the Countries. 
 
 45
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The Governor of New- York, Colonel Dun- 
 gan, concluded with this Advice to them: 
 Keep a good Understanding among your- 
 selves; if any Difference happen, acquaint 
 me with it, and I will compose it. Make no 
 Agreement with the French, or any other 
 Nation, without my Knowledge and Appro- 
 bation. Then he gave the Duke's Arms to 
 be put up at each of their Castles, in Hopes 
 it might deter the French from attacking 
 them, (as they were threatened from Canada) 
 by this so manifest a Declaration of their 
 being under the Protection of the Crown of 
 England, when the two Crowns were in the 
 strictest Friendship ; but it is probable the 
 French chose this very Time to attack them, 
 to bring them off from that Confidence they 
 seemed to have in the English. 
 
 It may be proper, before I proceed, to 
 insert here also a remarkable Speech made by 
 the Onnondagas and Cayugas to the two 
 Governors, on the second Day of August, viz. 
 
 " Brother Corlear, 
 
 " Your Sachem is a great Sachem, and we 
 are but a small People; but when the English 
 came first to Manhatan,* to Aragiske f and 
 to Yakokrana'gary, || they were then but a 
 small People, and we were great. Then, 
 because we found you a good People, we 
 
 * New York. f Virginia. |j Mary laud. 
 46
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 treated you kindly, and gave you Land; we 
 hope therefore, now that you are great, and 
 we small, you will protect us from the French. 
 If you do not, we shall lose all our Hunting 
 and Bevers: The French will get all the 
 Bevers. The Reason they are now angry 
 with us is, because we carry our Bever to our 
 Brethren. 
 
 "We have put our Lands and ourselves 
 under the Protection of the great Duke of 
 York, the Brother of your great Sachem, who 
 is likewise a great Sachem. 
 
 " We have annexed the Susquehana Eiver, 
 which we won with the Sword, to this Gov- 
 ernment ; and we desire it may be a Branch 
 of the great Tree that grows in this Place, 
 the Top of which reaches the Sun, and its 
 Branches shelter us from the French, and all 
 other Nations. Our Fire burns in your 
 Houses, and your Fire burns with us; we 
 desire it may be so always. But we will not 
 that any of the great Penn's People settle 
 upon the Susquehana River, for we have no 
 other Land to leave to our Children. 
 
 " Our young Men are Soldiers, and when 
 they are provoked, they are like Wolves in 
 the Woods, as you, Sachem of Virginia, very 
 well know. 
 
 " We have put ourselves under the great 
 Sachem Charles, that lives on the other Side 
 the great Lake. We give you these two 
 47
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 white dressed Deer- skins, to send to the great 
 Sachem, that he may write on them, and put 
 a great red Seal to them, to confirm what we 
 now do ; and put the Susquehana River above 
 the Falls, and all the rest of our Land under 
 the great Duke of York, and give that Land 
 to none else. Our Brethren, his People, have 
 been like Fathers to our Wives and Children, 
 and have given us Bread when we were in 
 Need of it; we will not therefore join our- 
 selves, or our Land, to any other Government 
 but this. We desire Corlear, our Governor, 
 may send this our Proposition to the great 
 Sachem Charles, who dwells on the other 
 Side the great Lake, with this Belt of Wam- 
 pum, and this other smaller Belt to the Duke 
 of York his Brother : And we give you, Cor- 
 lear, this Bever, that you may send over this 
 Proposition. 
 
 " You great Man of Virginia, we let you 
 know, that great Penn did speak to us here 
 in Corlear' s House by his Agents, and de- 
 sired to buy the Susquehana River of us, but 
 we would not hearken to him, for we had fast- 
 ened it to this Government. 
 
 " We desire you therefore to bear witness 
 of what we now do, and that we now confirm 
 what we have done before. Let your Friend, 
 that lives on the other Side the great Lake, 
 know this, that we being a free People, 
 though united to the English, may give our 
 48
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Lands, and be joined to the Sachem we like 
 best. We give this Bever to remember what 
 we say." 
 
 The Senekas arrived soon after, and, on 
 the fifth of August, spoke to the Lord Howard 
 in the following Manner : 
 
 " We have heard and understood what Mis- 
 chief hath been done in Virginia; we have it 
 as perfect as if it were upon our Fingers 
 Ends. Corlear ! we thank you for having 
 been our Intercessor, so that the Axe has not 
 fallen upon us. 
 
 " And you Assarigoa, great Sachem of Vir- 
 ginia, we thank you for burying all Evil in 
 the Pit. We are informed, that the Mo- 
 hawks, Oneydoes, Onnondagas, and Cayugas, 
 have buried the Axe already ; now we that 
 live remotest off, are come to do the same, 
 and to include in this Chain the Cahnawaas, 
 your Friends. We desire therefore, that an 
 Axe, on our Part, may be buried with one of 
 Assarigoa's. Corlear! Corlear! we thank 
 you for laying hold of one End of the Axe; 
 and we thank you, great Governor of Vir- 
 ginia, not only for throwing aside the Axe, 
 but more especially for your putting all Evil 
 from your Heart. Now we have a new 
 Chain, a strong and a straight Chain, that 
 cannot be broken. The Tree of Peace is 
 planted so firmly, that it cannot be moved, 
 let us on both Sides hold the Chain fast. 
 * I. 4 49
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " We understand what you said of the great 
 Sachem, that lives on the other Side the great 
 Water. 
 
 " You tell us, that the Cahnawaas will 
 come hither, to strengthen the Chain. Let 
 them not make any Excuse, that they are old 
 and feeble, or that their Feet are sore. If 
 the old Sachems cannot, let the young Men 
 come. We shall not fail to come hither, tho' 
 we live farthest off, and then the new Chain 
 will be stronger and brighter. 
 
 " We understand, that because of the Mis- 
 chief that has been done to the People and 
 Castles of Virginia and Maryland, we must 
 not come near the Heads of your Rivers, nor 
 near your Plantations, but keep at the Foot 
 of the Mountains ; for tho' we lay down our 
 Arms, as Friends, we shall not be trusted for 
 the future, but looked on as Robbers. We 
 agree however to this Proposition, and shall 
 wholly stay away from Virginia: And this 
 we do in Gratitude to Corlear, who has been 
 at so great Pains to persuade you, great Gov- 
 ernor of Virginia, to forget what is past. 
 You are wise in giving Ear to Corlear' s good 
 Advice, for we shall now go a Path which 
 was never trod before. 
 
 "We have now done speaking to Corlear, 
 and the Governor of Virginia ; let the Chain 
 be for ever kept clean and bright by him, 
 and we shall do the same. 
 50
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 "The other Nations from the Mohawks 
 Country to the Cayugas, have delivered 
 up the Susquehana Kiver, and all that 
 Country, to Corlear's Government. We 
 confirm what they have done by giving this 
 Belt." 
 
 Coll. Bird, one of the Council of Virginia, 
 and Edmond Jennings Esq; Attorney Gen- 
 eral of that Province, came with four Indian 
 Sachems, (according to the Lord Howard's 
 Promise) to renew and confirm the Peace, 
 and met the Five Nations at Albany in Sep- 
 tember 1685. 
 
 Coll. Bird accused them of having again 
 broke their Promise, by taking an Indian 
 Girl from an English Man's House, and four 
 Indian Boys Prisoners. 
 
 They excused this, by its being done by 
 the Parties that were out when the Peace was 
 concluded, who knew nothing of it; which 
 Accident they had provided against in their 
 Articles. They said, the four Boys were 
 given to the Relations of those Men that were 
 lost; and it would be difficult to obtain their 
 Restoration: But they at last promised to 
 deliver them up. 
 
 The Senakas and Mohawks declared them- 
 selves free of any Blame, and chid the other 
 Nations. 
 
 So that we may still observe the Influence 
 which the French Priests had obtained over 
 51
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 those other Nations, and to what Christian 
 like Purpose they used it. 
 
 The Mohawks Speaker said, " Where shall 
 I seek the Chain of Peace? Where shall I 
 find it but upon our Path?* And whither 
 doth our Path lead us, but into this House? 
 This is a House of Peace ; " after this he 
 sang all the Links of the Chain over. He 
 afterwards sang by Way of Admonition to 
 the Onondagas, Oneydoes, and Cayugas, and 
 concluded all with a Song to the Virginia 
 Indians. 
 
 The French Priests however still employed 
 their Influence over the Onnondagas, Cayu- 
 gas, and Oneydoes; and it was easy for them 
 to spirit up the Indians (naturally revenge- 
 ful) against their old Enemies. A Party of 
 the Oneydoes went out two Years after this 
 against the Wayanoak Indians, Friends of 
 Virginia, and killed some of the People of 
 Virginia, who assisted those Indians. They 
 took six Prisoners, but restored them at Al- 
 bany, with an Excuse, that they did not know 
 they were Friends of Virginia. But Coll. 
 Dungan on this Occasion told them, That he 
 only had kept all the English in North - 
 America from joining together to destroy 
 them ; that if ever he should hear of the like 
 Complaint, he would dig up the Hatchet, and 
 
 *The Mohawks Country is situated between the 
 other Nations and Albany. 
 52
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 join with the rest of the English to cut them 
 off Koot and Branch ; for there were many 
 Complaints made of him to the King by the 
 English, as well as by the Governor of Can- 
 ada, for his favouring of them. 
 
 We have now gone through the material 
 Transactions which the Five Nations had 
 with the English, in which we find the Eng- 
 lish pursuing nothing but peaceable and Chris- 
 tian-like Measures; and the Five Nations 
 (tho' Barbarians) living with the People of 
 New- York, like good Neighbours and faith- 
 ful Friends, and generally with all the Eng- 
 lish also, except when they were influenced 
 by the Jesuites ; at the same Time, one can- 
 not but admire the Zeal, Courage, and Reso- 
 lution of these Jesuites, that would adventure 
 to live among Indians at War with their Na- 
 tion ; and the better to carry their Purposes, 
 to comply with all the Humours and Man- 
 ners of such a wild People, so as not to be 
 distinguished by Strangers from meer Indians. 
 One of them, named Milet, remained with 
 the Oneydoes till after the Year 1694; he 
 was advanced to the Degree of a Sachem, and 
 had so great an Influence over them, that the 
 other Nations could not prevail with them to 
 part with him. While he lived with them, 
 the Oneydoes were frequently turned against 
 the Southern Indians (Friends of the English 
 southern Colonies) and were always wavering 
 OB
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 in their Eesolutions against the French at 
 Canada. 
 
 We shall now see what Effect the Policy 
 of the French had, who pursued very differ- 
 ent Measures from the English. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 Mr. De la Barrels Expedition and some re- 
 markable Transactions in 1684. 
 
 THE French, in the Time they were at 
 Peace with the Five Nations, built their 
 Forts at Taidoncleraghi and Missilimakinak, 
 and made a Settlement there. They carried 
 on their Commerce among the numerous Na- 
 tions that live on the Banks of the great 
 Lakes, and the Banks of the Mississipi ; they 
 not only prosecuted their Trade among these 
 Nations, but did all they could to secure 
 their Obedience, and to make them absolutely 
 subject to the Crown of France, by building 
 Forts at the considerable Passes, and placing 
 small Garisons in them. They took in short 
 all the Precautions in their Power, not only 
 to restrain the Indians by Force, but likewise 
 to gain their Affections, by sending Mission- 
 aries among them. The only Obstruction 
 they met with was from the Five Nations, 
 who introduced the English of New- York 
 54
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 into the Lakes to trade with the Indians that 
 lived round them. This gave the French 
 much Uneasiness, because they foresaw, that 
 the English would not only prove dangerous 
 Rivals, but that the Advantages which they 
 had in Trade, beyond what it was possible for 
 the Inhabitants of Canada to have, would 
 enable the People of New-York so far to un- 
 dersel them, that their Trade would soon be 
 ruined, and all the Interest lost which they 
 had gained with so much Labour and Ex- 
 pence. The Five Nations likewise continued 
 in War with many of the Nations, with the 
 Chictaghicks particularly, who yielded the 
 most profitable Trade to the French ; and as 
 often as they discovered any of the French 
 carrying Ammunition towards these Nations, 
 they fell upon them, and took all their 
 Powder, Lead and Arms from them. This 
 made the French Traders afraid of travelling, 
 and prevented their Indians from hunting, 
 and also lessened the Opinion they had of the 
 French Power, when they found that the 
 French were not able to protect them against 
 the Insults of the Five Nations. 
 
 The Senakas lie next to the Lakes, and 
 nearest to the Nations with whom the French 
 carried on the greatest Trade, these People 
 were so averse to that Nation, that they would 
 never receive any Priests among them, and 
 of Consequence were most firmly attach' d to 
 55
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the English Interest, who supplied them with 
 Arms and Powder (the Means to be revenged 
 of their Enemies.) For these Reasons Mr. 
 De la Barre (Governor of Canada) sent a 
 Messenger to Coll. Dungan, to complain of 
 the Injuries the Seuakas had done to the 
 French, and to shew the Necessity he was 
 under to bring the Five Nations to Reason by 
 Force of Arms. This Messenger happening 
 to arrive at the Time the Indians met the 
 Lord Howard at Albany, Coll. Dungan told 
 the Senakas the Complaints that the French 
 Governor made of them. To which they 
 gave him the following Answer, in Presence 
 of Mr. De la Barre' s Messenger, on the 5th 
 of August 1684. 
 
 " We were sent for, and are come, and have 
 heard what you have said to us, that Corlear 
 hath great Complaints of us, both from Vir- 
 ginia and Canada. What they complain of 
 from Canada may possibly be true, that some 
 of our young Men have taken some of their 
 Goods, but Yonnendio the Governor of Can- 
 ada, is the Cause of it. He not only permits 
 his People to carry Ammunition, Guns, Pow- 
 der, Lead, and Axes to the Tuihtuih-ronoons * 
 our Enemies, but sends them thither on pur- 
 
 *Ronoon signifies Nation or People, in the Lan- 
 guage of the Five Nations; they say Tuihtuih- 
 ronoon, Cliichighik-ronoon, Deonondadik - ronoon, 
 &c. 
 
 56
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 pose. These Guns which he sends knocks 
 our Bever Hunters on the Head, and our 
 Enemies carry the Bevers to Canada that we 
 would have brought to our Brethren. Our 
 Bever Hunters are Soldiers, and could bear 
 this no longer. They met some French in 
 their Way to our Enemies, and very near 
 them, carrying Ammunition, which our Men 
 took from them. This is agreeable to our 
 Customs in War ; and we may therefore openly 
 own it, tho' we know not whether it be prac- 
 tised by the Christians in such like Cases. 
 
 " When the Governor of Canada speaks to 
 us of the Chain, he calls us Children, and 
 saith, I am your Father, you must hold fast 
 the Cham, and I will do the same : I will 
 protect you as a Father doth his Children 
 Is this Protection, to speak thus with his 
 Lips, and at the same Time to knock us on 
 the Head, by assisting our Enemies with Am- 
 munition? 
 
 " He always says, I am your Father, and 
 you are my Children ; and yet he is angry 
 with his Children, for taking these Goods. 
 
 "But, Corlear! Assarigoa! we must 
 complain to you; you Corlear are a Lord, 
 and govern this Country ; is it just that our 
 Father is going to fight with us for these 
 Things, or is it well done? We rejoiced when 
 La Sal was sent over the great Water ; and 
 when Perot was removed, because they had 
 57
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 furnished our Enemies with Ammunition; 
 but we are disappointed in our Hopes, for we 
 find our Enemies are still supplied. Is this 
 well done? Yea, he often forbids us to make 
 War on any of the Nations with whom he 
 trades; and at the same Time furnishes them 
 with all Sorts of Ammunition, to enable them 
 to destroy us. 
 
 " Thus far in Answer to the Complaint the 
 Governor of Canada hath made of us to Cor- 
 lear. Coiiear said to us, that Satisfaction 
 must be made to the French for the Mischief 
 we have done them. This he said before he 
 heard our Answer. Now let him that hath 
 Inspection over all our Countries, on whom 
 our Eyes are fixed, let him, even Corlear, 
 judge and determine. If you say that it must 
 be paid, we shall pay it, but we cannot live 
 without free Bever Hunting. 
 
 " Corlear, hear what we say, we thank you 
 for the Duke's Arms, which you have given 
 us to be put in our Castles, as a Defence to 
 them. You command them. Have we wan- 
 dered out of the Way, as the Governor of 
 Canada says? We do not threaten him with 
 War, as he threatens us. What shall \ve do? 
 Shall we run away, or shall we sit still in our 
 Houses? What shall we do? we speak to 
 him that governs and commands us. 
 
 " Now Corlear, and Assarigoa, and all Peo- 
 ple here present, remember what we have an- 
 58
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 swered to the Complaints of the Governor of 
 Canada ; yea, we wish that what we here said 
 may come to his Ears." Then they gave a 
 Belt. 
 
 Monsieur De la Barre at this Time was 
 gone, with all the Force of Canada, to Cada- 
 rackui Fort, and ordered the three Vessels 
 to be repaired which the French had built on 
 Cadarackui Lake : His Design was to frighten 
 the Five Nations into his own Terms, by 
 the Appearance of the French Army, which 
 consisted of 600 Soldiers of the regular 
 Troops, 400 Indians, and 400 Men that car- 
 ried Provisions, besides 300 Men that he left 
 to secure Cadarackui Fort, and the western 
 Indians, that he expected would join him. 
 But while he was at this Fort, the Fatigue 
 of travelling in the Month of August, together 
 with the Unhealthiness of that Place (the 
 Country there about being very marshy), 
 where he tarried six Weeks, occasioned so 
 great sickness in his Army, that he found 
 himself unable to perform any Thing but by 
 Treaty ; and therefore sent Orders to Monsr. 
 Dulhut, who was come from Missilimakinak 
 with 600 Men, French and Indians, to stop. 
 Monsr. De la Barre passed across the Lake, 
 with as many Men as were able to travel, 
 and arrived at the River which the French 
 call La Famine, by the Indians called Kaiho- 
 hage, which falls into the South Side of Cad- 
 59
 
 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 arackui Lake, about thirty Miles from Onuon- 
 daga. There were two Villages of the Five 
 Nations on the North Side of the Lake, about 
 fifteen Miles from the French Fort, consist- 
 ing of those Indians that had the most Incli- 
 nation to the French: They provided the 
 French Army with Provisions, while they 
 remained at the Fort ; but it is probable, sent 
 an Account to their own Nations of every 
 Thing that happened ; and that this was the 
 Reason of the Usage they afterwards met 
 with from the French. 
 
 When Monsr. De la Barre sent to Coll. 
 Dungan, he was in Hopes, from the strict 
 Alliance that was then between the Crowns 
 of England and France, and from Coll. Dun- 
 gan' s being a Papist, that he would at least 
 sit still till he had reduced the Five Nations. 
 But none of these Reasons permitted that 
 Gentleman to be easy, while the French at- 
 tempted such Things, as in their Consequences 
 would be of the highest Degree prejudicial to 
 the English Interest, and might put all the 
 English Colonies in America in Danger. 
 Wherefore he dispatched the publick Inter- 
 preter, with Orders to do every Thing in his 
 Power to prevent the Five Nations going to 
 treat with Monsr. De la Barre. 
 
 The Interpreter succeeded in his Design 
 with the Mohawks, and with the Senakas, 
 who promised that they would not go near 
 60
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 the French Governor: But he had not the 
 like Success with the Onnondagas, Oneydoes, 
 and Cayugas, who had received the French 
 Priests, for they would not hear the Inter- 
 preter, but in Presence of the French Priests, 
 and Monsr. la Main, and three other French- 
 men that Monsr. De la Barre had sent to 
 persuade them to meet him. at Kaihohage ; 
 they gave the following Answer to the 
 Interpreter. 
 
 "Arie, you are Corlear's Messenger, Oh- 
 quesse * (Monsr. la Maine) is the Governor 
 of Canada's; and there f sits our Father; 
 Yonnondio acquainted us some Time ago, that 
 he would speak with us, before he would un- 
 dertake any Thing against the Senakas. Now 
 he hath sent for all the Nations to speak with 
 him in Friendship, and that at a Place not 
 far from Onnondaga, even at Kaihohage. 
 But our Brother Corlear tells us, that we must 
 not meet the Governor of Canada without 
 his Permission ; and that if Yonnondio have 
 any Thing to say to us, he must first send to 
 Corlear for Leave to speak with us. Yon- 
 nondio has sent long ago to us to speak with 
 him, and he has lately repeated that Desire 
 by Onnissantie the Brother of our Father 
 Twirhaersira J that sits there; he has not 
 
 * That is, the Partridge, 
 f Pointing to the Jesuite. 
 
 % The Indians commonly gave a new Name to any 
 61
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 only entreated us by our Father, but by two 
 praying Indians, one an Onnondaga, the other 
 the Son of an old Mohawk Sachem, Connon- 
 dowe. They brought five great Belts of 
 Wampum, not a Fathom or two only, as you 
 bring. Now Ohquesse has been sent with 
 three Frenchmen ; Yonnondio not being con- 
 tent with all this, has likewise sent Denne- 
 hoct, and two other Mohawks, to persuade us 
 to meet him, and to speak with him of good 
 Things. Should we not go to him after all 
 this Intreaty, when he is come so far, and so 
 near to us? Certainly if we do not, we shall 
 provoke his Wrath, and not deserve his 
 Goodness. You say we are Subjects to the 
 King of England and Duke of York, but 
 we say we are Brethren. We must take Care 
 of ourselves. Those Arms fixed upon the 
 Posts, without the Gate, cannot defend us 
 against the Arms of la Barre. Brother Cor- 
 lear, we tell you, that we shall bind a Cove- 
 nant Chain to our Arm, and to his, as thick 
 as that Post, (pointing to a Post of the House) 
 be not dissatisfied ; should we not embrace 
 this Happiness offered us, viz. Peace, in the 
 Place of War ; yea, we shall take the Evil 
 Doers, the Senekas, by the Hand, and la 
 Barre likewise, and their Ax and his Sword 
 
 Person they receive or adapt into their Nation. This 
 is the Jesuites Indian Name, the Interpretation 
 whereof I know not.
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 shall be thrown into a deep Water. We with 
 our Brother Corlear were present, but it seems 
 the Time will not permit of it." 
 
 Accordingly Garangula, one of the chief 
 Sachems of the Onondaga's, with thirty War- 
 riors, went with Mr. Le Maine, to meet the 
 Governor of Canada at Kaihohage. After he 
 had been two Days in the French Camp, 
 Monsr. la Barre spoke to him as follows, (the 
 French Officers making a Semi-circle on one 
 Side, while Garangula, with his Warriors, 
 compleated the Circle on the other. 
 
 Monsr. De la Barrels Speech to Garangula.* 
 
 "The King, my Master, being informed 
 that the Five Nations have often infringed 
 the Peace, has ordered me to come hither 
 with a Guard, and to send Ohguesse to the 
 Onondagas, to bring the chief Sachem to my 
 Camp. The Intention of the great King is, 
 that you and I may smoke the Calumet | of 
 
 * Voyages du Baron de la Hontan, Tomel. Letter 
 7. 
 
 fThe Calumet is a large smoaking Pipe made of 
 Marble, most commonly of a dark red, well polished, 
 shaped somewhat in the Form of a Hatchet, and 
 adorned with large Feathers of several Colours. It 
 is used in all the Indian Treaties with Strangers, 
 and as a Flag of Truce between contending Parties, 
 which all the Indians think a very high Crime to 
 violate. These Calumets are generally of nice 
 63
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Peace together, but on this Condition, that 
 you promise me, in the Name of the Senekas, 
 Cayugas, Onondagas, and Mohawks, to give 
 intire Satisfaction and Eeparation to his Sub- 
 jects; and for the future never to molest 
 them. 
 
 " The Senekas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oney- 
 does, and Mohawks have robbed and abused 
 all the Traders that were passing to the Illi- 
 nois and Umamies, and other Indian Nations, 
 the Children of my King. They have acted, 
 on these Occasions, contrary to the Treaty of 
 Peace with my Predecessor. I am ordered 
 therefore to demand Satisfaction, and to tell 
 them, that in case of Refusal, or their plun- 
 dering us any more, that I have express 
 Orders to declare War. This Belt confirms 
 my Words. The Warriors of the Five Na- 
 tions have conducted the English into the 
 Lakes, which belong to the King, my Master, 
 and brought the English among the Nations 
 that are his Children, to destroy the Trade 
 of his Subjects, and to withdraw these Na- 
 tions from him. They have carried the Eng- 
 lish thither, notwithstanding the Prohibition 
 of the late Governor of New- York, who fore- 
 Workmanship, and were in Use before the Indians 
 knew any Thing of the Christians; for which Rea- 
 son we are at a Loss to conceive by what Means 
 they pierced these Pipes, and shaped them s.o finely, 
 before they had the Use of Iron. 
 64
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 saw the Risque that both they and you would 
 run. I am willing to forget these Things, 
 but if ever the like shall happen for the 
 future, I have express Orders to declare War 
 against you. This Belt confirms my Words. 
 Your Warriors have made several barbarous 
 Incursions on the Illinois and Umamies ; they 
 have massacred Men, Women, and Children, 
 and have made many of these Nations Pris- 
 oners, who thought themselves safe in their 
 Villages in Time of Peace. These People, 
 who are my King's Children, must not be 
 your Slaves ; you must give them their Lib- 
 erty, and send them back into their own 
 Country. If the Five Nations shall refuse 
 to do this, I have express Orders to declare 
 War against them. This Belt confirms my 
 Words. 
 
 " This is what I have to say to Garangula, 
 that he may carry to the Senekas, Onondagas, 
 Oneydoes, Cayugas, and Mohawks the Decla- 
 ration which the King, my Master, has com- 
 manded me to make. He doth not wish them 
 to force him to send a great Army to Cada- 
 rackui Fort, to begin a War which must be 
 fatal to them. He would be sorry that this 
 Fort, that was the Work of Peace, should 
 become the Prison of your Warriors. We 
 must endeavour, on both Sides, to prevent 
 such Misfortunes. The French, who are the 
 Brethren and Friends of the Five Nations, 
 VOL. L 5 65
 
 will never trouble their Repose, provided 
 that the Satisfaction which I demand be 
 given, and that the Treaties of Peace be here- 
 after observed. I shall be extreamly grieved 
 if my Words do not produce the Effect which 
 I expect from them; for then I shall be 
 obliged to join with the Governor of Kew- 
 York, who is commanded by his Master to 
 assist me, and burn the Castles of the Five 
 Nations, and destroy you. This Belt con- 
 firms my "Words." 
 
 Garangala was very much surprised to find 
 the soft Words of the Jesuit, and of the Gover- 
 nor's Messengers, turned to such threatening 
 Language. This was designed to strike Ter- 
 ror into the Indians ; but Garangula having 
 good Information from those of the Five 
 Nations living near Cadarackui Fort, of all 
 the Sickness and other Misfortunes which 
 afflicted the French Army, it was far from 
 producing the designed Effect. All the 
 Time that Monsieur de la Barre spoke, Gar- 
 angula kept his Eyes fixed on the End of his 
 Pipe ; as soon as the Governor had done 
 speaking, he rose up, and having walked five 
 or six times round the Circle, he returned to 
 his Place, where he spoke standing, while 
 Monsieur de la Barre kept his Elbow-Chair. 
 
 66
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Garangula? s Answer. 
 
 J( Yonnondio, 
 
 " I honour you, and the Warriors that are 
 with me all likewise honour you. Your 
 Interpreter has finished your Speech ; I now 
 begin mine. My Words make haste to reach 
 your Ears, hearken to them. 
 
 " Yonnondio, you must have believed, when 
 you left Quebeck, that the Sun had burnt up 
 all the Forests which render our Country 
 inaccessible to the French, or that the Lakes 
 had so far overflown their Banks, that they 
 had surrounded our Castles, and that it was 
 impossible for us to get out of them. Yes, 
 Yonnondio, surely you must have dreamt so, 
 and the Curiosity of seeing so great a Wonder 
 has brought you so far. Now you are un- 
 deceived, since that I and the Warriors here 
 present are come to assure you, that the 
 Senekas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneydoes, 
 and Mohawks are yet alive. I thank you, 
 in their Name, for bringing back into their 
 Country the Calumet, which your Predecessor 
 received from their Hands. It was happy 
 for you, that you left Underground that mur- 
 dering Hatchet, that has been so often dyed 
 in the Blood of the French. Hear, Yon- 
 nondio, I do not sleep, I have my Eyes open, 
 and the Sun, which enlightens me, discovers 
 to me a great Captain at the Head of a Com- 
 67
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 pany of Soldiers, who speaks as if he were 
 dreaming. He says, that he only came to 
 the Lake to smoke 011 the great Calumet with 
 the Onondagas. But Garangula says, that he 
 sees the contrary, that it was to knock them 
 on the Head, if Sickness had not weakened 
 the Arms of the French. 
 
 "I see Yonnondio raving in a Camp of sick 
 Men, whose Lives the great Spirit has saved, 
 by inflicting this Sickness on them. Hear, 
 Yonnondio, our Women had taken their 
 Clubs, our Children and old Men had carried 
 their Bows and Arrows into the Heart of your 
 Camp, if our Warriors had not disarmed 
 them, and kept them back, when your Mes- 
 senger, Ohguesse, came to our Castles. It is 
 done, and I have said it. Hear, Yonnondio, 
 we plundered none of the French, but those 
 that carried Guns, Powder, and Ball to the 
 Iwikties and Chictaghicks, because those 
 Arms might have cost us our Lives. Herein 
 we follow the Example of the Jesuits, who 
 stave all the Caggs of Rum brought to our 
 Castles, lest the drunken Indians should 
 knock them on the Head. Our Warriors 
 have not Bevers enough to pay for all these 
 Arms, that they have taken, and our old Men 
 are not afraid of the War. This Belt pre- 
 serves my Words. 
 
 " We carried the English into our Lakes, 
 to trade there with the Utawawas and Quatog-
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 hies, as the Adirondacks brought the French 
 to our Castles, to carry on a Trade which the 
 English say is theirs. We are born free, 
 we neither depend on Yonnondio nor Corlear. 
 
 " We may go where we please, and carry 
 with us whom we please, and buy and sell 
 what we please : If your Allies be your 
 Slaves, use them as such, command them to 
 receive no other but your People. This Belt 
 preserves my Words. 
 
 " We knock' d the Twihtwies and Chictag- 
 hicks on the Head, because they had cut 
 down the Trees of Peace, which were the 
 Limits of our Country. They have hunted 
 Bevers on our Lands : They have acted con- 
 trary to the Customs of all Indians ; for they 
 left none of the Bevers alive, they killed both 
 Male and Female. They brought the Satanas * 
 into their Country, to take Part with them, 
 after they had concerted ill Designs against 
 us. We have done less than either the Eng- 
 lish or French, that have usurped the Lands 
 of so many Indian Nations, and chased them 
 from their own Country. This Belt preserves 
 my Words. Hear, Yonnondio, what I say is 
 the Voice of all the Five Nations ; hear what 
 they answer, open your Ears to what they 
 speak: The Senekas, Cayugas, Onondagas, 
 Oneydoes, and Mohawks say, that when they 
 buried the Hatchet at Cadarackui (in the 
 
 * Called Sawanons by the French. 
 69
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Presence of your Predecessor) in the Middle 
 of the Fort, they planted the Tree of Peace 
 in the same Place, to be there carefully pre- 
 served, that, in Place of a Retreat for Sol- 
 diers, that Fort might be a Rendezvous for 
 Merchants ; that, in Place of Arms and Am- 
 munition of War, Bevers and Merchandise 
 should only enter there. 
 
 "Hear, Yonnondio, take Care for the 
 future, that so great a Number of Soldiers, 
 as appear there, do not choak the Tree of 
 Peace planted in so small a Fort. It will be 
 a great Loss, if after it had so easily taken 
 Root, you should stop its Growth, and pre- 
 vent its covering your Country and ours with 
 its Branches. I assure you, in the Name of 
 the Five Nations, that our Warriors shall 
 dance to the Calumet of Peace under its 
 Leaves, and shall remain quiet on their Matts, 
 and shall never dig up the Hatchet, till their 
 Brethren, Yonnondi or Corlear, shall either 
 jointly or separately endeavour to attack the 
 Country, which the great Spirit has given to 
 our Ancestors. This Belt preserves my 
 Words, and this other, the Authority which 
 the Five Nations has given me." 
 
 Then Garangula addressing himself to Mon- 
 sieur le Maine, said : 
 
 " Take Courage, Ohguesse, you have Spirit, 
 speak, explain my Words, forget nothing, tell 
 all that your Brethren and Friends say to 
 70
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Yonnondio, your Governor, by the Mouth of 
 Garangula, who loves you, and desires you 
 to accept of this Present of Bever, and take 
 Part with me in my Feast, to which I invite 
 you. This Present of Bever is sent to Yon- 
 nondio on the Part of the Five Nations." 
 
 When Garangula' s Harangue was explained 
 to Monsieur de la Barre, he returned to his 
 Tent, much inraged at what he had heard. 
 
 Garangula feasted the French Officers, and 
 then, went Home, and Monsieur de la Barre 
 set out in his Way towards Monreal ; and as 
 soon as the General was imbarked, with the 
 few Soldiers that remained in Health, the 
 Militia made the best of their Way to their 
 own Habitations, without any Order or Dis- 
 cipline. 
 
 Thus a very chargeable and fatiguing Ex- 
 pedition (which was to strike the Terror of 
 the French Name into the stubborn Hearts 
 of the Five Nations) ended in a Scold be- 
 tween the French General and an old Indian. 
 
 71
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 The English attempt to trade in the Lakes, 
 and the French attack the Senakas. 
 
 THE Marquis cle Nonville having now suc- 
 ceeded Monsieur de la Barre, in the 
 Year 1685, and having brought a considerable 
 Keinforcenient of Soldiers with him, resolved 
 to recover the Honour the French had lost in 
 the last Expedition, and revenge the Slaugh- 
 ter the Five Nations continued to make of the 
 Twihtwies and Chictaghicks, who had put 
 themselves under the French Protection ; for 
 the Five Nations having intirely .subdued the 
 Chictaghicks,* after a six Years War, they 
 resolved next to fall upon the Twihtwies, and 
 to call them to an Account for the Disturb- 
 ance they had give some of their People in 
 their Bever Hunting. The Five Nations 
 have few or no Bever in their own Country, 
 and for that Reason are obliged to hunt at a 
 great Distance, which often occasions Dis- 
 putes with their Neighbours about the Prop- 
 erty of the Bever. The Bever is the most 
 valuable Branch of the Indian Trade, and 
 as the Twihtwies carried their Bevers to the 
 
 * Called Illinois by the French. 
 72
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 French, the English encouraged the Five 
 Nations in these Expeditions, and particu- 
 larly, in the Begining of the Year 1687, made 
 the Five Nations a Present of a Barrel of 
 Powder, when their whole Force was pre- 
 paring to go against the Twihtwies. The 
 English were the better pleased with this 
 War, because they thought that it would di- 
 vert the Five Nations from the Virginia In- 
 dians : But the French were resolved to sup- 
 port their Friends more effectually by a 
 powerful Diversion, and to change the Seat 
 of the War. 
 
 For this Purpose Mr. de Nonville sent, in 
 May 1687, great Quantities of Provision to 
 Cadarackui Fort, and gathered the whole 
 Force of Canada to Montreal. His Army 
 consisted of fifteen hundred French of the 
 regular Troops and Militia, and five hundred 
 Indians that lived near Montreal and Que- 
 beck. He sent likewise Orders to the Com- 
 mandant at Missilirnakinak to assemble all 
 the Nations living round him, and to march 
 them to Oniagara, in order to join the Forces 
 of Canada designed against the Senekas, and 
 the other Officers posted among the Indians 
 Westward had the like Orders. 
 
 The Twihtwies received the Hatchet with 
 
 Joy from the Hands of the French Officer. 
 
 The Outagamies, Kikabous, and Maskuticks, 
 
 who were not used to Canoes, were at first 
 
 73
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 persuaded to join the Twihtwies, who were 
 to inarch by Land to Teuchsagrondie, where 
 there was a French Fort, at which they were 
 to be supplied with Ammunition. But after 
 the French Officer left them, the Utagamies 
 and Maskuticks were dissuaded by some of 
 the Mahikander Indians, who happened to be 
 with a neighbouring Nation at that Time. 
 
 The Putewatemies, Malhominies, and 
 Puans offered themselves willingly, and went 
 to the Kendezvous at Missilimakinak ; where 
 they were received by the Utawawas with all 
 the Marks of Honour usually paid to Sol- 
 diers. Though the Utawawas had no Inclina- 
 tion to the present Enterprize; they could 
 not tell however how to appear against it, 
 otherwise than by inventing what Delays they 
 could, to prevent their March. 
 
 In the mean while a Canoe arrived, which 
 was sent by Mr. de Nonville, with his Orders 
 to the Officers. This Canoe, in her Passage, 
 discovered some English, commanded by 
 Major Mac Gergory, in their Way to Teiodon- 
 deraghie. The English thought (after they 
 had an Account of the new Alliance their 
 King had entered into with the French) that 
 the French would not disturb them in prose- 
 cuting a Trade with the Indians every where, 
 and that the Trade would be equally free and 
 open to both Nations. With these Hopes a 
 considerable Number of Adventurers went 
 74
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 out, under the Conduct of Major Mac Gerg- 
 ory, to trade with the Indians that lived on 
 the Banks of the Lakes ; and that they might 
 be the more welcome, persuaded the Five 
 Nations to set all the Dionondadie Prisoners 
 at Liberty, who went along with the Eng- 
 lish, and conducted them towards Missili- 
 makinak, or Teiodonderaghie ; but the Eng- 
 lish found themselves mistaken, for the 
 French Commandant at Teiodonderaghie, as 
 soon as he had Notice of this, sent three- 
 hundred French to intercept the English. 
 
 The Utawawas * and Dionondadies having 
 likewise an Account of the English, designed 
 to support their own Independency, and to 
 incourage the English Trade. The return 
 of the Dionondadie Prisoners made that Na- 
 tion very hearty in favouring the English, 
 they therefore marched immediately off, with 
 Design to join Major Mac Gergory ; but the 
 Utawawas were divided in their Inclinations, 
 their Chief, with about thirty more, joined 
 the French, the rest remained in suspence, 
 and stood neuter. 
 
 The Utawawas thus wavering, disconcerted 
 the Measures of the Dionondadies, for they 
 began to suspect the Utawawas, and therefore 
 immediately returned to secure their Wives 
 and Children that they had left near the 
 
 * History de la Amerique Septentrionale, par Mr. 
 de la Poterie, Tome ii. Cap. 16. 
 75
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 French Fort with the Utawawas. The Eng- 
 lish and their Effects were seized without any 
 Opposition, and were carried to the French 
 Fort at Teiodonderaghie. 
 
 The English brought great Quantities of 
 Rum with them, (which the Indians love 
 more than their Lives) and the French being 
 afraid, that if the Indians took to Drinking, 
 they would grown ungovernable, did what 
 they could to keep them from it. They were 
 most concerned that the Putewateuiies (who 
 had no Knowledge of the English, or of that 
 bewitching Liquor, and were firmly attached 
 to the French) should not taste it. 
 
 The Utawawas still contrived Delays to the 
 March, and having got some of the Pute- 
 watemies privately by themselves, they of- 
 fered them a Gag of Rum, and said : " We 
 are all Brethren, we ought to make one Body, 
 and to have one Soul. The French invite us 
 to war against the Five Nations, with Design 
 to make us Slaves, and that we should make 
 ourselves the Tools to effect it. As soon as 
 they shall have destroyed the Five Nations, 
 they will no longer observe any Measures 
 with us, but use us like those Beasts they tie 
 to their Ploughs. Let us leave them to them- 
 selves, and they will never be able to 
 accomplish any Thing against the Five 
 Nations." 
 
 But the Putewaternies had entertained such 
 76
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, fcc. 
 
 Notions of the French, as made them deaf to 
 the Politicks of the Utawawas. 
 
 The French however grew jealous of these 
 Caballings, and therefore resolved to delay 
 their March no longer, and would not stay 
 one Day more for the Utawawas, who desired 
 only so much Time to pitch their Canoes, and 
 went away without them. 
 
 Mr. Tonti, Commandant among the Chic- 
 taghicks, met with another Party of the Eng- 
 lish of about thirty Men, in Lake Erie, as he 
 marched with the Chicktaghicks and Twiht- 
 wies, and other neighbouring Nations, to the 
 general Kendezvous. He fell upon the Eng- 
 lish, plundered them, and took them Prison- 
 ers. The French divided all the Merchan- 
 dize among the Indians, but kept the Rum to 
 themselves, and got all drunk. The Deonon- 
 dadie Prisoners, that conducted the English, 
 joined with the Mihikander Indians that were 
 among Mr. Tonti' s Indians (who had pri- 
 vately dissuaded about twenty of the neigh- 
 bouring Nations from going with Tonti) and 
 endeavoured to persuade all the Indians to 
 fall upon the French, while they were drunk, 
 and destroy them ; saying, the French are a 
 proud, imperious, covetous People, that sell 
 their Goods at an extravagant Price; the 
 English are a good natured honest People, 
 and will furnish you with every Thing at 
 reasonable Kates. But these Arguments 
 77
 
 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 were to no Purpose, for these far Indians had 
 entertained an extraordinary Opinion of the 
 French Power, and knew nothing of the Eng- 
 lish. 
 
 The French and Putewatemies being gone 
 from Teiodonderaghie, the Utawawas began 
 to be afraid of the French Resentment, and 
 therefore, the better to keep up the Colour 
 they had put on their Delays, marched over 
 Land, with all possible Expedition, to the 
 general Rendezvous near Oniagara, where 
 all the French Force, both Christians and 
 Indians, was to meet. 
 
 The Five Nations being informed of the 
 French Preparations, laid aside their Design 
 against the Twihtwies, and prepared to give 
 the French a warm Reception. Upon this the 
 Priest at Onondaga left them, but the Priest 
 at Oneydo had the Courage to stay. The 
 Senekas came to Albany to provide Ammuni- 
 tion, and the Commissioners made them a 
 Present of a considerable Quantity of Powder 
 and Lead, besides what they purchased. 
 They were under a great deal of Concern 
 when they took Leave of the Commissioners, 
 and said, " Since we are to expect no other 
 Assistance from our Brethren, we must rec- 
 ommend our Wives and Children to you, 
 who will fly to you, if any Misfortune shall 
 happen to us. It may be we shall never see 
 you again ; for we are resolved to behave so, 
 78
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 as our Brethren shall have no Reason to be 
 ashamed of us." 
 
 We must now return to Monsieur de Non- 
 ville's Army. 
 
 Monsieur Campagnie marched eight or ten 
 Days before the rest of the Army, with be- 
 tween two and three hundred Cannadians. 
 As soon as they arrived at Cadarackui, they 
 surprised two Villages of the Five Nations, 
 that were settled about eight Leagues from 
 that Place, to prevent their giving any Intel- 
 ligence to their own Nation of the French 
 Preparations, or of the State of their Army, 
 as it was supposed they did in the last Expe- 
 dition under Monsieur de la Barre. These 
 People were surprised when they least ex- 
 pected it, and by them from whom they feared 
 no Harm, because they had settled there at 
 the Invitation, and on the Faith of the 
 French. They were carried in cold Blood to 
 the Fort, and tied to Stakes, to be tormented 
 by the French Indians, (Christians, as they 
 call them) while they continued singing in 
 their country Manner, and upbraiding the 
 French with their Perfidy and Ingratitude. 
 
 While Monsieur de Nonville was at Cada- 
 rackui Fort, he had an Account, that the 
 Chicktaghicks and Twihtwies waited for the 
 Quatoghies and Utawawas at Lake St. Clair,* 
 
 * In the Straights between Lake Erie and Quatog- 
 hie Lake. 
 
 79
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 with whom they designed to march to the 
 general Rendezvous, at the Mouth of the 
 Senekas River. For this Expedition was 
 chiefly designed against the Senekas, who 
 had absolutely refused to meet Monsieur de 
 la Barre, and were most firmly attached to the 
 English. The Senekas, for this Reason, were 
 designed to be made Examples of the French 
 Resentment to all the other Nations of In- 
 dians. 
 
 The Messenger having assured the Gen- 
 eral, that it was Time to depart, in order to 
 meet with the western Indians, that came to 
 his Assistance, he set out the twenty-third of 
 June, and sent one Part of his Army in 
 Canoes, along the North Shore of the Lake, 
 while he, with the other Part, passed along 
 the South, that no Accidents of Wind might 
 prevent the one or the other reaching, within 
 the Time appointed, at the Place the Indians 
 were to meet him. It happened, by reason 
 of the good Weather, that both arrived on 
 the same Day, and joined the western In- 
 dians at Trondequat. As soon as the Men 
 were put on Shore, they hawled up the 
 Canoes, and began a Fort, where four hun- 
 dred Men were left to guard the Canoes, and 
 the Baggage. Here a young Cannadian was 
 shot to Death, as a Deserter, for conducting 
 the English into the Lakes, though the two 
 Nations were not only at Peace, but their 
 80
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Kings in stricter Friendship than usual. But 
 this Piece of Severity is not to be wondered 
 at, when this War was undertaken, chiefly to 
 put a Stop to the English Trade, which now 
 began to extend itself far into the Continent, 
 and would in its Consequence ruin theirs. 
 The next Day the Army began to march 
 towards the chief Village of the Senekas, 
 which was only seven Leagues distant, every 
 Man carrying ten Biskets for his Provision. 
 The Indian Traders made the Van with Part 
 of the Indians, the other Part marched in the 
 Bear, while the regular Troops and Militia 
 composed the main Body. The Army marched 
 four Leagues the first Day without discover- 
 ing any Thing ; the next Day the Scouts ad- 
 vanced before the Army, as far as the Corn 
 of the Villages without seeing any Body, 
 though they passed within Pistol-shot of five 
 hundred Senekas, that lay on their Bellies, 
 and let them pass and repass without disturb- 
 ing them. 
 
 On the Report which they made, the French 
 hastened their March, in hopes to overtake 
 the Women, Children, and old Men ; for they 
 no longer doubted of all being fled. But as 
 soon as the French reached the Foot of a 
 Hill, about a Quarter of a League from the 
 Village, the Senekas suddenly raised the War- 
 shout, with a Discharge of their Fire-arms. 
 This put the regular Troops, as well as the 
 I. 6 81
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Militia, into such a Fright, as they marched 
 through the Woods, that the Battalions im- 
 mediately divided, and run to the Eight and 
 Left, and, in the Confusion, fired upon one 
 another. When the Senekas perceived their 
 Disorder, they fell in among them pell-mell, 
 till the French Indians, more used to such 
 Way of fighting, gathered together and re- 
 pulsed the Senekas. There were (according 
 to the French Accounts) a hundred French- 
 men, ten French Indians, and about fourscore 
 Senekas killed, in this Rencounter. 
 
 Monsieur de Nonville was so dispirited with 
 the Fright that his Men had been put into, 
 that his Indians could not persuade him to 
 pursue. He halted the remainder of that 
 Day. The next Day he marched on with 
 Design to burn the Village, but when he came 
 there, he found that the Senekas had saved 
 him the Trouble; for they had laid all in 
 Ashes before they retired. Two old Men 
 only were found in the Castle, who were cut 
 into Pieces and boiled to make Soup for the 
 French Allies. The French staid five or six 
 Days to destroy their Corn, and then marched 
 to two other Villages, at two or three Leagues 
 distance. After they had performed the like 
 Exploits in those Places, they returned to the 
 Banks of the Lake. 
 
 Before the French left the Lakes, they 
 built a Fort of four Bastions at Ouiagara, on 
 
 es
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 the South-side of the Straights, between Lake 
 Erie and Cadarackui Lake, and left a hundred 
 Men, with eight Months Provisions in it. 
 But this Garison was so closely blocked up 
 by the Five Nations, that they all died of 
 Hunger, except seven or eight, who were ac- 
 cidentaly relieved by a Party of French In- 
 dians. 
 
 The western Indians, when they parted 
 from the French General, made their Haran- 
 gues, as usual, in which they told him, with 
 what Pleasure they saw a Fort so well placed 
 to favour their Designs against the Five Na- 
 tions, and that they relied on his never fin- 
 ishing the War, but with the Destruction of 
 the Five Nations, or forcing them to abandon 
 their Country. He assured them, that he 
 would act with such Vigour, that they would 
 soon see the Five Nations driven into the 
 Sea. 
 
 He sent a Detachment of Soldiers to Teio- 
 douderaghie, and in his Return to Canada, 
 which was by the North Side of the Lake, he 
 left a sufficient Number of Men, and a Quan- 
 tity of Provisions, at Cadarackui Fort. 
 
 The French having got nothing but dry 
 Blows by this Expedition, sent thirteen of 
 the Indians, that they surprised at Cada- 
 rackui, to France, as Trophies of their Vic- 
 tory, where they were put into the Galleys, 
 as Rebels to their King.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 Colonel Dongan's Advice to the Indians. 
 Adario 's Enterprise, and Montreal sacked by 
 the Five Nations. 
 
 COLONEL DONGAN, who had the In- 
 dian Affairs very much at Heart, met 
 the Five Nations at Albany as soon as possi- 
 ble after the French Expedition, and spoke 
 to them on the fifth of August, in the follow- 
 ing Words, viz. 
 
 " Brethren, 
 
 " I am very glad to see you here in this 
 House, and am heartily glad that you have 
 sustained no greater Loss by the French, 
 though I believe it was their Intention to 
 destroy you all, if they could have surprised 
 you in your Castles. 
 
 " As soon as I heard their Design to war 
 with you, I gave you Notice, and came up 
 hither myself, that I might be ready to give 
 all the Assistance and Advice that so short a 
 Time would allow me. 
 
 " I am now about sending a Gentleman to 
 England, to the King, my Master, to let him 
 know, that the French have invaded his Ter- 
 ritories on this Side of the great Lake, and 
 84
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 warred upon the Brethren his Subjects. I 
 therefore would willingly know, whether the 
 Brethren have given the Governor of Canada 
 any Provocation or not ; and if they have, 
 how, and in what Manner; because I ain 
 obliged to give a true Account of this Matter. 
 This Business may cause a War between the 
 King of England and the French King, both 
 in Europe and here, and therefore I must 
 know the Truth. 
 
 " I know the Governor of Canada dare not 
 enter into the King of England's Territories, 
 in a hostile Manner, without Provocation, if 
 he thought the Brethren were the King of 
 England's Subjects; but you have, two or 
 three Years ago, made a Covenant-chain with 
 the French, contrary to my Command, (which 
 I knew could not hold long) being void of 
 itself among the Christians ; for as much as 
 Subjects (as you are) ought not to treat with 
 any foreign Nation, it not lying in your 
 Power, you have brought this Trouble on 
 yourselves, and, as I believe, this is the only 
 Reason of their falling on you at this Time. 
 
 "Brethren, I took it very ill, that after 
 you had put yourselves into the Number of 
 the great King of England's Subjects, you 
 should ever offer to make Peace or War with- 
 out my Consent. You know that we can live 
 without you, but you cannot live without us. 
 You never found that I told you a Lye, and 
 85
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 I offered you the Assistance you wanted, pro- 
 vided that you would be advised by me ; for 
 I know the French better than any of you do. 
 
 " Now since there is a War begun upon you 
 by the Governor of Canada, I hope without 
 any Provocation by you given, I desire and 
 command you, that you hearken to no Treaty 
 but by my Advice ; which if you follow, you 
 shall have the Benefit of the great Chain of 
 Friendship between the great King of Eng- 
 land and the King of France, which came 
 out of England the other Day, and which I 
 have sent to Canada by Anthony le Junard. 
 In the mean Time, I will give you such Ad- 
 vice as will be for your good ; and will sup- 
 ply you with such Necessaries as you will 
 have Need of. 
 
 " First, My Advice is, as to what Prison- 
 ers of the French you shall take, that you 
 draw not their Blood, but bring them Home, 
 and keep them to exchange for your People, 
 which they have Prisoners already, or may 
 take hereafter. 
 
 " 2dly, That if it be possible, that you can 
 order it so, I would have you take one or two 
 of your wisest Sachems, and one or two of 
 your chief Captains, of each Nation, to be a 
 Council to manage all Affairs of the War. 
 They to give Orders to the rest of the Officers 
 what they are to do, that your Designs may 
 be kept private ; for after it conies among so 
 86
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 many People, it is blazed abroad, and your 
 Designs are often frustrated ; and those chief 
 Men should keep a Correspondence with me 
 by a trusty Messenger. 
 
 " 3dly, The great Matter under Considera- 
 tion with the Brethren is, how to strengthen 
 themselves, and weaken their Enemy. My 
 Opinion is, that the Brethren should send 
 Messengers to the Utawawas, Twihtwies, and 
 the farther Indians, and to send back like- 
 wise some of the Prisoners of these Nations, 
 if you have any left, to bury the Hatchet, 
 and to make a Covenant-chain, that they may 
 put away all the French that are among them, 
 and that you will open a Path for them this 
 Way, they being the King of England's Sub- 
 jects likewise, tho' the French have been ad- 
 mitted to trade with them ; for all that the 
 French have in Canada, they had it of the 
 great King of England; that by that Means 
 they may come hither freely, where they may 
 have every Thing cheaper than among the 
 French : That you and they may join together 
 against the French, and make so firm a 
 League, that whoever is an Enemy to one, 
 must be to both. 
 
 " kthly, Another Thing of Concern is, that 
 you ought to do what you can to open a Path 
 for all the North Indians and Mahikanders, 
 that are among the Utawawas and further 
 Nations : I will endeavour to do the same to 
 87
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 bring them Home ; for, they are not daring 
 to return Home your Way, the French keep 
 them there on purpose to join with the other 
 Nations against you, for your Destruction ; 
 for you know that one of them is worse than 
 six of the others ; therefore all Means must 
 be used to bring them Home, and use them 
 kindly as they pass through your Country. 
 
 " 5t/i?y, My Advice further is, that Messen- 
 gers go, in behalf of all the Five Nations, to 
 the Christian Indians at Canada, to persuade 
 them to come Home to their native Country. 
 This will be another great Means to weaken 
 your Enemy ; but if they will not be advised, 
 you know what to do with them. 
 
 " Qt/ili/, I think it very necessary, for the 
 Brethren's Security and Assistance, and to 
 the en damaging the French, to build a Fort 
 upon the Lake, where I may keep Stores and 
 Provisions, in Case of Necessity; and there- 
 fore I would have the Brethren let me know 
 what Place will be most convenient for it. 
 
 " Ithly, I would not have the Brethren 
 keep their Corn in their Castles, as I hear 
 the Onondagas do, but bury it a great Way 
 in the Woods, where few People may know 
 where it is, for fear of such an Accident as 
 has happened to the Senekas. 
 
 " &thly, I have given my Advice in your 
 General Assembly by Mr. Dirk Wessels, and 
 Akus the Interpreter, how you are to manage 
 88
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 your Parties, and how necessary it is to get 
 Prisoners, to exchange for your own Men 
 that are Prisoners with the French ; and I am 
 glad to hear that the Brethren are so united, 
 as Mr. Dirk Wessels tells rne you are, and 
 that there are no rotten Members nor French 
 Spies among you. 
 
 "Sthly, The Brethren may remember my 
 Advice, which I sent you this Spring, not to 
 go to Cadarackui; if you had, they would 
 have served you as they did your People that 
 came from hunting thither; for I told you 
 then, that I knew the French better than you 
 did. 
 
 "Wthly, There was no Advice or Proposi- 
 tion that I made to the Brethren, all the 
 Time that the Priest lived at Onondaga, but 
 what he wrote to Canada, as I found by one 
 of his Letters, which he gave to an Indian to 
 carry to Canada, but which was brought 
 hither ; therefore I desire the Brethren not to 
 receive him or any French Priest any more, 
 having sent for English Priests, with whom 
 you may be supplied to your Content. 
 
 " llthly, I would have the Brethren look 
 out sharp, for Fear of being surprized. I be- 
 lieve all the Strength of the French will be 
 at their Frontier Places, viz., at Cadarackui 
 and Oniagara, where they have built a Fort 
 now, and at Troies Rivieres, Montreal, and 
 Chambly.
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 " ~L2thly, Let me put you in Mind again, 
 not to make any Treaties without my Means, 
 which will be more advantageous for you, 
 than your doing it by yourselves, for then 
 you will be looked upon as the King of Eng- 
 land's Subjects, and let me know, from Time 
 to Time, every Thing that is done. 
 
 " Thus far I have spoken to you relating to 
 the War." 
 
 Then he chid them for their Breach of 
 Faith with Virginia. He told them, that he 
 was informed, that last Spring they had 
 killed a fine Gentleman, with some others; 
 and that a Party of the Oneydoes was now 
 there at the Head of James River, with In- 
 tention to destroy all the Indians thereabout. 
 They had taken six Prisoners, whom he or- 
 dered them to bring to him, to be restored ; 
 and that for the future they should desist 
 from doing any Injury to the People of Vir- 
 ginia, or their Indians, otherwise all the Eng- 
 lish would unite to destroy them. But at 
 the same time he freed the Senekas from any 
 Blame, and commended them as a brave and 
 honest People, who never had done any 
 Thing contrary to his Orders, except in mak- 
 ing that unlucky Peace with the French, 
 three Years ago. 
 
 Lastly, He recommended to them, not to 
 suffer their People to be drunk during the 
 War: A Soldier thereby (he said) loses his 
 90
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Reputation, because of the Advantages it will 
 give the Enemy over him. 
 
 This honest Gentleman earnestly pursued 
 the Interest of his Country ; but it seems his 
 Measures were not agreeable to those his 
 Master had taken with the French King ; for 
 he had Orders to procure a Peace for the 
 French on their own Terms, and was soon 
 after this removed from his Government. 
 Indeed such an active, as well as prudent 
 Governor of New-York, could not be accep- 
 table to the French, who had the universal 
 Monarchy in View, in America as well as in 
 Europe. 
 
 The great Dispute between Coll. Dungan 
 and the French was in this, that Coll. Dun- 
 gan would force the French to apply to him, 
 in all Affairs relating to the Five Nations, 
 and the French would treat with them inde- 
 pendently of the English. For this Eeason 
 Coll. Dungan refused any Assistance to the 
 French, till they, by such Application, should 
 acknowledge the Dependance of the Five Na- 
 tions on the Crown of England. But King 
 James ordered him to give up this Point ; and 
 that he should persuade the Five Nations to 
 send to Canada, to receive Proposals from 
 the French Governor ; and for this Purpose, 
 forced them to agree to a Cessation of Arms, 
 till their Deputies should go and return from 
 Canada ; and that they should, in the mean 
 91
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Time, deliver up all 'the Prisoners they had 
 taken from the French ; and that no Accident 
 might prevent this, and blast so favourable 
 an Opportunity of making Peace to the best 
 Advantage, Monsr. De Nonville sent his Or- 
 ders to all his Officers in the Indian Countries, 
 to observe a Cessation of Arms, till the Am- 
 bassador of the Five Nations should meet 
 him at Montreal, as they had given him Rea- 
 son to expect they would in a little Time, to 
 conclude the Peace in the usual Form. 
 
 In the mean Time, Adario, the Chief of 
 the Deonondadies, finding that his Nation 
 was become suspected by the French, since 
 the Time they had shewn so much Inclination 
 to the English, when they attempted to trade 
 at Missilimakinak, resolved, by some notable 
 Action against the Five Nations, to recover 
 the good Graces of the French. 
 
 For this Purpose, he marched from Missil- 
 imakinak, at the Head of a Hundred Men ; 
 and that he might act with the more Security, 
 he took Cadarackui Fort in his Way for Intel- 
 ligence: The Commandant informed him, 
 that Monsr. De Nonville was in Hopes of con- 
 cluding a Peace with the Five Nations, and 
 expected their Ambassadors in eight or ten 
 Days at Montreal for that Purpose, and there- 
 fore desired him to return to Missilimakinak, 
 without attempting any Thing that might ob- 
 struct so good a Design. 
 92
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 The Indian being surprised with this News, 
 was under great Concern for his Nation, 
 which he was afraid would be sacrificed to 
 the French Interest, but dissembled his Con- 
 cern before the French Officer. He went 
 from Cadarackui, not to return home as the 
 Commandant thought, but to wait for the 
 Ambassadors of the Five Nations, near one 
 of the Falls of Cadarackui Elver, by which 
 he knew they must pass. He did not lurk 
 there above four or five Days, before the 
 Deputies came guarded by forty young Sol- 
 diers, who were all surprised, and killed or 
 taken Prisoners. As soon as the Prisoners 
 were all secured, the cunning Deonondadi 
 told them, " That he having been informed, 
 by the Governor of Canada, that fifty War- 
 riors of their Nation were to pass this Way 
 about this Time, he had secured this Pass, 
 not c'oubting of intercepting them." 
 
 The Ambassadors being much surprised at 
 the French Perfidy, told Adario the Design 
 of their Journey, who, the better to play his 
 Part, seemed to grow mad and furious, de- 
 claring against Monsr. DeNonville, and said 
 he would, some time or other, be revenged of 
 him, for making a Tool of him, to commit 
 such horrid Treachery. Then looking sted- 
 fastly on the Prisoners (among whom Deka- 
 nef ora was the principal Ambassador) Adario 
 said to them, Go, my Brethren, I unty your 
 93
 
 THE HISTOKY OF THE 
 
 Bonds, and send you home again, tho' our 
 Nations be at War: The French Governor 
 has made me commit so black an Action, that 
 I shall never be easy after it, till the Five 
 Nations shall have taken full Revenge. 
 
 This was sufficient to persuade the Ambas- 
 sadors of the Truth of what he said, who 
 assured him, that he and his Nation might 
 make their Peace when they pleased. Adario 
 lost only one Man on this Occasion, and 
 would keep a Satana Prisoner (adopted into 
 the Five Nations) to fill up his Place. Then 
 he gave Arms, Powder and Ball to the rest of 
 the Prisoners, to enable them to return. 
 
 The Ambassadors were chiefly, if not all, 
 Onondagas, and Oneydoes, who had been 
 long under the Influence of the French 
 Priests, and still retained an Affection to 
 them ; but this Adventure thoroughly changed 
 their Thoughts, and irritated them so heartily 
 against the French, that all the Five Nations 
 prosecuted the War unanimously. 
 
 Adario delivered the Slave (his Prisoner) 
 to the French at Missilimakinak, who to keep 
 up the Enmity between the Deonondadies 
 and the Five Nations, ordered him to be shot 
 to Death. Adario called one of the Five 
 Nations, who had been long a Prisoner, to 
 be an Eye Witness of his Countryman's 
 Death, then bid him make his Escape to his 
 own Country, to give an Account of the 
 94
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 French Cruelty, from which it was not in his 
 Power to save a Prisoner, he himself had 
 taken. 
 
 This heightned the Rage of the Five Na- 
 tions so, that Monsr. De Nonville's sending 
 to disown Adario in this Action, had no 
 Effect upon them ; their Breasts admitted of 
 no Thoughts but that of Revenge. It was 
 not long before the French felt the bloody 
 Effects of this cruel Passion, for 1200 Men 
 of the Five Nations invaded the Island of 
 Montreal, when the French had no Suspicion 
 of any such Attempt, while Monsr. De Non- 
 ville and his Lady were in that Town. They 
 landed on the South Side of the Island, at 
 La Chine, on the 26th of July 1688, where 
 they burnt and sacked all the Plantations, 
 and made a terrible Massacre of Men, Wom- 
 en, and Children. The French were under 
 Apprehension of the Town's being attack' d, 
 for which Keason, they durst not send out 
 any considerable Party to the Relief of the 
 Country, only once, when the Indians had 
 blocked up two Forts, Monsr. De Nonville 
 sent out a hundred Soldiers, and fifty In- 
 dians, to try to bring off the Men in those 
 Forts. The French of this Party were all 
 either taken or cut to Pieces, except one Sol- 
 dier, and the commanding Officer, who, after 
 he had his Thighs broke, was carried off 
 by twelve Indians that made their Escape. 
 95
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 There were above a Thousand of the French 
 killed at this Time, and twenty-six were car- 
 ried away Prisoners, the greatest Part of 
 which were burnt alive. The Five Nations 
 only lost three Men on this Expedition, that 
 got drunk and were left behind. This, how- 
 ever, did not satiate their Thirst after Blood, 
 for, in October following, they destroyed 
 likewise all the lower Part of the Island, and 
 carried away many Prisoners. 
 
 The Consequence of these Expeditions 
 were very dismal to the French, for they 
 were forced to burn their two Barks, which 
 they had on Cadarackui Lake, and to abandon 
 their Fort there; they designed to have 
 blown up their Works, when they left that 
 Place ; and for that End left a lighted Match 
 where the Powder lay, but were in such a 
 Fright, that they durst not stay to see what 
 Effect it had. They went down Cadarackui 
 River in seven Birch Canoes; and for greater 
 Security, travelled in the Night. One of the 
 Canoes, with all the Men in it, were lost, by 
 their Precipitation, as they passed one of the 
 Falls in that River. The Five Nations hear- 
 ing the French had deserted Cadarackui Fort, 
 fifty Indians went and took Possession of it, 
 who found the Match the French had left, 
 which had gone out, and twenty eight Bar- 
 rels of Powder in the same Place, together 
 with several other Stores. 
 96
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 The News of the Success the Five Nations 
 had over the French soon spread itself among 
 all the Indians, and put the French Affairs 
 every where into the greatest Disorder. 
 
 The Utawawas had always shewn an Incli- 
 nation to the English, and they therefore im- 
 mediately sent openly four Sachems, with 
 three Prisoners of the Senekas, which they 
 had, to assure them, that they would for ever 
 renounce all Friendship with the French, and 
 promised to restore the rest of the Prisoners. 
 They also included seven Nations, that lived 
 near Missilirnakinak, in this Peace. 
 
 This put the French Commandant there 
 under the greatest Difficulty to maintain his 
 Post; but there was no Choice, he must 
 stand his Ground, for the Five Nations had 
 cut off all Hopes of retiring. 
 
 The Nepairinians and Kikabous, of all 
 their numerous Allies, only remained firm to 
 the French; every one of the others endeav- 
 oured to gain the Friendship of the Five Na- 
 tions ; and would certainly have done it, by 
 murdering all the French among them, had 
 not the Sieur Perot, with wonderful Sagacity 
 and eminent Hazard to his own Person, di- 
 verted them. 
 
 Canada was now in a most miserable Con- 
 dition, for while the greatest Number of their 
 Men had been employed in the Expedition 
 against the Five Nations, and in trading 
 VOL. J. 7 97
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 among the far Nations, and making new Dis- 
 coveries and Settlements, Tillage and Hus- 
 bandry had been neglected; and they lost 
 several Thousands of their Inhabitants, by 
 the continual Incursions of small Parties, so 
 that none durst hazard themselves out of f or- 
 tified Places; indeed, it is hard to conceive 
 what Distress the French were then under, for 
 tho' they were every where almost starving, 
 they could not plant nor sow, or go from one 
 Village to another for Relief, but with immi- 
 nent Danger of having their Scalps carried 
 away by the sculking Indians; at last the 
 whole Country being laid waste, Famine be- 
 gan to rage, and was like to have put a mis- 
 erable End to that Colony. 
 
 If the Indians had understood the Method 
 of attacking Forts, nothing could have pre- 
 served the French from an entire Destruction 
 at this Time ; for whoever considers the State 
 of the Indian Affairs during this Period, how 
 the Five Nations were divided in their Senti- 
 ments and Measures; that the Onondagas, 
 Cayugas, and Oneydoes, under the Influence 
 of the French Jesuites, were diverted from 
 prosecuting the War against Canada, by the 
 Jesuites cunningly spiriting up those three 
 Nations against the Virginia Indians, and 
 persuading them to send out their Parties that 
 Way: That the Senekas had a War at the 
 same Time upon their Hands with three nu- 
 98
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 merous Indian Nations, the Utawawas, 
 Chicktaghicks, and Twihtwies ; and that the 
 Measures the English observed all King 
 James's Reign, gave the Indians rather 
 Grounds of Jealousy than Assistance : I say, 
 whoever considers all these Things, and what 
 the Five Nations did actually perform, under 
 all these Disadvantages against the French, 
 will hardly doubt, that the Five Nations by 
 themselves were at that Time an Overmatch 
 for the French of Canada.
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 OF THE 
 
 FIVE Indian NATIONS 
 
 DEPENDENT 
 On the Province of NEW-YORK. 
 
 PART II. 
 
 101
 
 THE 
 
 PREFACE 
 
 To THE SECOND PART. 
 
 THE former Part of this History was writ- 
 ten at New- York in the Year 1727, on 
 Occasion of a Dispute which then happened, 
 between the Government of New- York and 
 some Merchants. The French of Canada had 
 the whole Fur Trade with the Western In- 
 dians in their Hands, and were supplied with 
 their woollen Goods from New-York. Mr. 
 Burnet, who took more Pains to be informed 
 of the Interest of the People he was set over, 
 and of making them useful to their Mother 
 Country, than Plantation Governors usually 
 do, took the Trouble of perusing all the Reg- 
 isters of the Indian Affairs on this Occasion. 
 He from thence conceived of what Conse- 
 quence the Fur Trade with the Western In- 
 dians was of to Great-Britain; that as the 
 English had the Fur Trade to Hudson's Bay 
 given up to them, by the Treaty of Utrecht, 
 so, by the Advantages which the Province of 
 New- York has in its Situation, they might 
 be able to draw the whole Fur Trade in the 
 other Parts of America to themselves, and 
 103
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 thereby the English engross that Trade, and 
 the Manufactories depending on it. 
 
 For this Purpose he thought it necessary 
 to put a Stop to the Trade between New- 
 York and Canada, by which the French sup- 
 plied themselves with the most valuable and 
 necessary Commodities for the Indian Mar- 
 ket, and to set the Inhabitants of this Prov- 
 ince on trading directly with the Indians. 
 Besides the Consideration of Profit and Gain, 
 he considered what Influence this Trade had 
 on the numerous Nations of Indians living on 
 the vast Continent of North- America, and 
 who surround the British Colonies ; of what 
 Advantage it might be of, if they were influ- 
 enced by the English in Case of a War with 
 France; and how prejudicial, on the other 
 Hand, if they were directed by French Coun- 
 sels. 
 
 The Legislature of New- York was soon 
 convinced of the Justness of his Reasoning, 
 and passed an Act, prohibiting the Trade to 
 Canada, and for encouraging the Trade di- 
 rectly with the Indians. They were likewise 
 at the Charge of building a fortified trading 
 House at Oswego, on Cadarackui Lake, and 
 have ever since maintained a Garison there. 
 As this Act did in its Consequence take a large 
 Profit from one or two considerable Mer- 
 chants, who had the Trade to Canada intirely 
 in their Hands, they endeavoured to raise a 
 104
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 Clamour against it in the Province, and pre- 
 sented likewise Petitions to the King, in Or- 
 der to get the Act repealed. Upon this Oc- 
 casion Mr. Burnet gave me the Perusal of the 
 Publick Register of Indian Affairs, and it 
 was thought the Publication of the History 
 of the Five Nations might be of Use at that 
 Time. 
 
 I shall only add, that Mr. Burnet' s Scheme 
 has had its desired Effect : The English have 
 gained the Trade which the French, before 
 that, had with the Indians to the Westward 
 of New- York; and whereas, before that 
 Time, a very inconsiderable Number of Men 
 were employed in the Indian Trade Abroad, 
 now above three hundred Men are employed 
 at the Trading House at Oswego alone ; and 
 the Indian Trade has since that Time yearly 
 increased so far, that several Indian Nations 
 come now every Summer to trade there, 
 whose Names were not so much as known by 
 the English before. 
 
 This History, from New- York, soon went 
 to England, and I have been informed, that 
 a Publication, with a Continuance of that 
 Work, would be acceptable there. I have the 
 more chearfully complied with this Notice, 
 because of the War threatened from France, 
 believing that a Publication of this Kind may 
 be useful, whether the present Inquietudes 
 between the two Nations end in a War or in 
 105
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 a Treaty. The French have encouraged sev- 
 eral Publications of this Sort at Paris, and 
 certainly such may be more useful in a Brit- 
 ish Government, where the People have so 
 great a Share in it, than it can be in a French 
 Government, intirely directed by the Will of 
 their Prince. 
 
 I now continue this History to the Peace of 
 Reswick, and if I find this acceptable, and 
 that a farther Continuation of it be desired, 
 I shall, if my Life and Health be preserved, 
 carry it down farther; but as I have too 
 much Reason to doubt my own Ability, to 
 give that Pleasure and Satisfaction which the 
 Publick may expect in Things thus submitted 
 to their View, I think it not justifiable to 
 trouble them with too much at once. 
 
 106
 
 THE 
 
 HISTORY 
 
 O F THE 
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, 
 
 DEPENDING 
 On the PROVINCE of NEW-YORK. 
 
 P AET II. 
 
 The History of the Five Indian Nations of 
 Canada, from the time of the Revolution to 
 the Peace of Reswick. 
 
 CHAP. I. 
 
 The State of Affairs in New- York and Can- 
 ada, at the time of the Revolution in Great- 
 Britain. 
 
 WE left the Five Nations triumphing 
 over the French in Canada, and they 
 almost reduced to Despair The Revolution, 
 which happened at this Time in England, 
 seemed to be a favourable Conjunction for 
 the Five Nations; the English Colonies, by 
 107
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the War at that Time declared against 
 France, becoming Parties in their Quarrel: 
 For one will be ready to think, that the Five 
 Nations being by themselves too powerful 
 for the French, as appears by the preceding 
 Chapter, when these were assisted by the 
 Utawawas, Quatoghies, Twihtwies, Chictag- 
 hicks, Putewatemies, and all the Western 
 Indian Nations, and when the English stood 
 neuter ; now certainly, when not only all 
 these Indian Nations had made Peace with 
 the Five Nations, but the English joined with 
 them in the War, the French would not be 
 able to stand one Campaign. 
 
 But we shall find what a Turn Affairs took, 
 contrary to all reasonable Expectations, from 
 the general Appearance of Things, and of 
 what Importance a resolute wise Governor 
 is to the well-being of a People, and how 
 prejudicial Divisions and Parties are. For 
 this Reason, it will be necessary to take a 
 View of the Publick Affairs in the Province 
 of New- York, and in Canada, at that Time, 
 in order to understand the true Causes of the 
 Alterations, which afterwards happened in 
 Favour of the French. 
 
 The Revolution occasioned as great Divi- 
 sions and Parties in the Province of New- 
 York, in Proportion to the Number of Peo- 
 ple, as it did in Britain, if not greater. The 
 Governor and all the Officers either fled or 
 108
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 absconded; the Gentlemen of the King's 
 Council, and some of the most considerable 
 or richest People, either out of Love, or what 
 they thought Duty, to King James, or rather 
 from an Opinion they had that the Prince of 
 Orange could not succeed, refused to join in 
 the declaration the People made in favour of 
 that Prince, and suffered the Administration 
 to fall into different Hands, who were more 
 zealous for the Protestant Interest, and who 
 were joined by the far greatest Number of 
 the Inhabitants. After the Revolution was 
 established, they that had appeared so warmly 
 for it, thought that they deserved best of the 
 Government;, and expected to be continued in 
 the Publick Offices ; the others were zealous 
 to recover the Authority they had lost, and 
 used the most persuasive Means with the 
 Governors for that Purpose, while the former 
 trusted to their Merit. This begat great 
 Animosities, which continued many Years. 
 Each Party, as they were at different Times 
 favoured by several Governors, opposed all 
 the Measures taken by the other, while each 
 of them were by Turns in Credit with the 
 People or the Governor, and sometimes even 
 prosecuted each other to Death. The pub- 
 lick Measures were by these Means perpetu- 
 ally fluctuating, and often one Day contradic- 
 tory to what they were the Day before. The 
 succeeding Governors, finding their private 
 109
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Account in favouring sometimes the one 
 Party, and at other Times the other, kept up 
 the Animosities all King William's Reign, 
 though very much to the publick Prejudice ; 
 for each Party was this while so eager in 
 resenting private Injuries, that they intirely 
 neglected the publick Good. 
 
 The Constitution of Government in the 
 English Plantations, where the Governors 
 have no Salary, but what they can attain 
 with the Consent of the Assemblies or Repre- 
 sentatives of the People, gave Occasion to 
 imprudent Governors to fall upon these Expe- 
 dients, as they sometimes call them, for get- 
 ting of Money. And a prevailing Faction, 
 knowing for what Purpose the Governments 
 in America were chiefly desired by the Eng- 
 lish Gentlemen, used this great Privilege to 
 tempt a Governor to be the Head of a Party, 
 when he ought to have been the Head of the 
 Government. Indeed New-York has had the 
 Misfortune, too frequently, to be under such 
 as could not keep their Passion for Money se- 
 cret, though none found it so profitable a 
 Government, as they did who followed strictly 
 the true Maxims of governing, without mak- 
 ing Money the only Rule of their Actions. 
 
 The frequent Changes of Governors were 
 
 likewise prejudicial to the publick Affairs. 
 
 Colonel Slaughter, the first Governor after 
 
 the Revolution, happened to die soon after 
 
 110
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 his Arrival, when steady, as well as resolute 
 Measures, were most necessary. But some 
 think, that the Occasion of all the Misfor- 
 tunes lay in the Want of Care in the Choice 
 of Governors when the Affairs of America 
 wanted able Hands to manage them; they 
 think that the Ministry had the saving of 
 Money chiefly in View, when, to gratify some 
 small Services, they gave Employments in 
 America to those that were not capable of 
 much meaner Offices at Home. The Opinion 
 the People had of Colonel Slaughter's Capa- 
 city gave ground to these Surmises; but, if 
 it was so, it happened to be very ill saved 
 Money; for the Mismanagements in this 
 Country occasioned far greater Expence to 
 the Crown afterwards, than would have 
 bought such Gentlemen handsome Estates, 
 besides the great Losses they occasioned to 
 the Subjects. 
 
 The greatest Number of the Inhabitants of 
 the Province of New-York being Dutch, still 
 retained an Affection to their Mother Coun- 
 try, and by their Aversion to the English 
 weakened the Administration. The common 
 People of Albany, who are all Dutch, could 
 not forbear giving the Indians some ill Im- 
 pressions of the English ; for the Mohawks, 
 in one of their publick Speeches, expressed 
 themselves thus : " We hear a Dutch Prince 
 reigns now in England, why do you suffer the 
 111
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 English Soldiers to remain in the Fort? put 
 all the English out of the Town. When the 
 Dutch held this Country long ago, we lay in 
 their Houses ; but the English have always 
 made us lie without Doors." It is true, that 
 the Plantations were first settled by the 
 meanest People of every Nation, and such as 
 had the least Sense of any Honour. The 
 Dutch first Settlers, many of them I may 
 say, had none of the Virtues of their Coun- 
 trymen, except their Industry in getting 
 Money, and they sacrificed every Thing, oth- 
 er People think honourable or most sacred, 
 to their Gain : But I do not think it proper 
 to give particular Instances of this. 
 
 The People of New-England were en- 
 gaged in a bloody War at this Time with the 
 Owenagungas, Ouragies, and Ponacoks, the 
 Indians that lie between them and the French 
 Settlements. The Scahkooks were originally 
 Part of these Indians. They left their Coun- 
 try about the Year 1672, and settled above 
 Albany, on the Branch of Hudson's River 
 that runs towards Canada. The People of 
 New-England were jealous of the Scahkook 
 Indians, that they remembering the old Differ- 
 ence they had with the People of New-Eng- 
 land, and the Relation they bore to the East- 
 ern Indians, did countenance and assist these 
 Indians in the War against New England. 
 They had Reason for these Jealousies, for the 
 112
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Scahkook Indians received privately some 
 Owenagunga Messengers, and kept their com- 
 ing among them secret from the People of 
 Albany ; and some Scahkooks had gone pri- 
 vately to the Owenagungas. They were 
 afraid likewise, that the Mohawks might 
 have some Inclination to favour those In- 
 dians, because some of the Eastern Indians 
 had fled to the Mohawks, and were kindly 
 received by them, and lived among them. 
 
 Notwithstanding all these Failures of good 
 Policy, in the Government of New-York, the 
 French had not gained so great Advantages, 
 if they had not carefully observed a different 
 Conduct, which it is now necessary to con- 
 sider. 
 
 Canada was at this Time in a very dis- 
 tressed Condition, the Country and out Plan- 
 tations burnt and destroyed, * their Trade 
 intirely at a stand, great Numbers of their 
 People slain, and the remainder in danger of 
 perishing by Famine, as well as by the Sword 
 of inveterate cruel Enemies. When such 
 Misfortunes happen to a Country, under any 
 Administration, though in Truth the Conduct 
 of Affairs be not to be blamed, it is often pru- 
 dent to change the Ministers ; for the com- 
 mon People never fail to blame them, not- 
 withstanding their having acted with the 
 greatest Wisdom, and therefore cannot so 
 soon recover their Spirits, that are sunk by 
 VOL. I. 8 113
 
 THE HISTORY OP THE 
 
 Misfortunes, as by putting their Affairs into 
 different Hands. 
 
 For these Reasons, it is probable, the 
 French King recalled Mr. de Nonville, but 
 rewarded him for his Services, by an honour- 
 able Employment in the Houshold. The 
 Count de Frontenac was sent in his Place. 
 This Gentleman had been formerly Governor 
 of that Country, and was perfectly acquainted 
 with its Interest ; of a Temper of Mind fitted 
 to such desperate Times, of undaunted Cour- 
 age, and indefatigable, though in the sixty- 
 eighth Year of his Age. The Count de Fron- 
 tenac arrived the second of October 1689. 
 The Country immediately received new Life 
 by the Arrival of a Person, of whose Courage 
 and Conduct every one had entertained a high 
 Opinion. Care was taken to increase this 
 Impression on the Minds of the People, by 
 making publick Rejoicings with as much 
 Noise as possible. He wisely improved this 
 new Life, by immediately entering upon Ac- 
 tion, without suffering their Hopes to grow 
 cold. He staid no longer at Quebeck, than 
 was necessary to be informed of the present 
 State of Affairs, and in four or five Days af- 
 ter his Arrival set out in a Canoe for Mon- 
 treal, where his Presence was most necessary ; 
 and the Winter was already so far advanced, 
 that the Ice made it impracticable to go in a 
 larger Vessel. By this the old Gentleman 
 114
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 increased the Opinion and Hopes the People 
 entertained of him, that, without staying to 
 refresh himself after a fatiguing Sea-Voyage, 
 he would immediately undertake another, that 
 required all the Vigour and Heat of Youth to 
 withstand the Inclemencies of the Climate 
 and Season, and the Difficulty of such a Pas- 
 sage. 
 
 When the Count de Frontenac came to 
 Montreal, he increased the Admiration the 
 People had of his Vigour and Zeal, by pre- 
 tending to go to visit Cadarackui Fort, now 
 abandoned, which he had built in the Time 
 he was formerly Governor. The Clergy and 
 People of Montreal came jointly with 
 stretched out Arms, representing the Danger 
 of such an Attempt, and the Difficulties and 
 Hardships that would necessarily attend it, 
 praying him not to expose a Life that was so 
 necessary for their Safety. He, with seem- 
 ing Reluctance, yielded to their Intreaties; I 
 say with seeming Keluctance, for it was in- 
 consistent with his Prudence really to have 
 such a Design. This Shew of the Governor's 
 offering to go in Person, animated some of the 
 Gentlemen of the Country, who voluntarily 
 went in the Winter, with one Hundred In- 
 dian Traders, to visit that Fort ; and finding 
 it in better Condition than they expected, by 
 the Report of those who had abandoned it, 
 they staid there, and made some small Repa- 
 115
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 rations in the Walls, which the Indians had 
 thrown down. 
 
 The Count de Frontenac brought back 
 with him Tawerahet, a Capiga Sachem, one 
 of the thirteen Prisoners that Mr. de Nonville 
 took at Cadarackui, and sent to France. He 
 was in Hopes this Indian would be useful in 
 procuring a Treaty of Peace with the Five 
 Nations, for they had an extraordinary Opin- 
 ion of Tawerahet ; and the French had found, 
 by sad Experience, that they could not be 
 Gainers by continuing the War : For this 
 Purpose the Count used Tawerahet with 
 much Kindness, during his Voyage, and, 
 after he arrived at Quebeck, lodged him in 
 the Castle under his own Roof, and took 
 such Pains with this Sachem, that he forgot 
 all the ill Usage he had formerly received. 
 
 The French had the more Reason to desire 
 a Peace with the Five Nations, because they 
 knew, that they would now certainly have 
 the English Colonies likewise upon them ; and 
 if the Five Nations had been able to do so 
 much Mischief by themselves alone, they 
 were much more to be feared, when they 
 would be assisted, in all Probability, with the 
 Force and Interest of the English Colonies. 
 
 Four Indians of less Note, who were 
 
 brought back along with Tawerahet, were 
 
 immediately dispatched, in this Sachem's 
 
 Name, to the Five Nations, to inform them 
 
 116
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 of his Return, and of the kind Usage they 
 had received from the Count de Frontenac; 
 and to press them to send some to visit their 
 old Friend, who had been so kind to them 
 when he was formerly Governor of Canada, 
 and who still retained an Affection to the 
 Five Nations ; as appeared by the Kindness 
 Tawerahet and they had received from him. 
 This was the only Method left to the French 
 of making Proposals of Peace, which it was 
 their Interest by all Means to procure. 
 
 The Governor of Canada, as I said, con- 
 ceived that there was no Way so proper to 
 keep up the Spirits of the People, who had 
 got new Life by his Arrival, as by putting 
 them upon Action ; and indeed their present 
 miserable Condition made them forward 
 enough, to undertake the most desperate En- 
 terprize, when the frequent Incursions of the 
 Indians made it as dangerous to be at Home, 
 as to attack the Enemy Abroad. 
 
 For this Purpose he sent out three Parties 
 in the Winter; one was designed against 
 New-York, the other against Connecticut, and 
 the last against New-England. 
 
 The Five Nations followed Colonel Dun- 
 gan's Advice, in endeavouring to bring off the 
 Western Indians from the French, and had 
 all the Success that could be expected, before 
 Mr. de Frontenac arrived. 
 
 They were overjoyed when they heard, that 
 117
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the English had entered into War with the 
 French, and came several Times to Albany to 
 know the Certainty of it, while it was only 
 rumoured about. The People of Albany de- 
 sired them to secure any of the praying In- 
 dians that should come from Canada, if they 
 found that they were still ruled by the 
 Priests ; but to encourage them, if they came 
 with a Design to return to their own Country. 
 
 The Senekas, Cayugas, Onondagas, and 
 Oneydoes, the twenty seventh of June 1689, 
 before any Governor arrived, renewed the old 
 Covenant (as they said) which was first made 
 many Years ago with one Tagues, who came 
 with a Ship into their Kiver. 
 
 " Then we first became Brethren, said they, 
 and continued so till last fall, that Sir Ed- 
 mond Andross came and made a new Chain, 
 by calling us Children ; but let us stick to the 
 old Chain, which has continued from the 
 first Time it was made, by which we became 
 Brethren, and have ever since always behaved 
 as such. Virginia, Maryland, and New- 
 England, have been taken into this silver 
 Chain, with which our Friendship is locked 
 fast. We are now come to make the Chain 
 clear and bright. Here they gave two Be- 
 vers." 
 
 King James, a little before his Abdication, 
 sent over Sir Edrnond Andross with arbitrary 
 Powers, and he, in Imitation of the French, 
 118
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 changed the Stile of speaking to the Indians, 
 of which they were very sensible. 
 
 They discovered a great Concern for their 
 People that were carried to Canada ; they long 
 hoped (they said) that the King of England 
 would have been powerful enough to deliver 
 them, but now they began to lose all Hopes 
 of them. 
 
 CHAP. II. 
 
 A Treaty between the Agents of Massachusetts 
 Bay, New-Plymouth, and Connecticut, and 
 the Sachems of the Five Nations, at Albany, 
 in the Year 1689. 
 
 ABOUT the Beginning of September 1689, 
 Colonel John Pynchon, Major John 
 Savage, and Captain Jonathan Bull, Agents 
 for the Colonies of Massachuset's Bay, New- 
 Plymouth, and Connecticut, arrived at Al- 
 bany, to renew the Friendship with the Five 
 Nations, and to engage them against the 
 Eastern Indians, who made War on the Eng- 
 lish of those Colonies, and were supported by 
 the French. 
 
 The Five Nations had received four Mes- 
 sengers from the Eastern Indians, which 
 gave the People of New-England some Appre- 
 hensions, and they were therefore desirous 
 119
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to know what Reception these Messengers had 
 met with. 
 
 The Five Nations answered by Tahajado- 
 ris, a Mohawk Sachem, on the twenty fourth 
 of September. He made a long Oration, re- 
 peating all that theAgent from New-England 
 had said, the Day before, and desired them 
 to be attentive to the Answer now to be made 
 to them. They commonly repeat over all that 
 has been said to them, before they return 
 any Answer, and one may be surprized at the 
 Exactness of these Eepetitions. They take 
 the following Method to assist their Memo- 
 ries: The Sachem, who presides at these 
 Conferences, has a Bundle of small Sticks in 
 his Hand ; as soon as the Speaker has finished 
 any one Article of his Speech, this Sachem 
 gives a Stick to another Sachem, who is par- 
 ticularly to remember that Article; and so 
 when another Article is finished, he gives a 
 Stick to another to take Care of that other, 
 and so on. In like Manner when the Speaker 
 answers, each of these has the particular Care 
 of the Answer resolved on to each Article, 
 and prompts the Orator, when his Memory 
 fails him, in the Article committed to his 
 Charge. Tahajadoris addressing himself to 
 the Agents, said : 
 
 " Brethren, 
 
 " You are welcome to this House, which is 
 120
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 appointed for our Treaties and publick Busi- 
 ness with the Christians ; we thank you for 
 renewing the Covenant-chain. It is now no 
 longer of Iron and subject to Rust, as for- 
 merly, but of pure Silver, and includes in it 
 all the King's Subjects, from the Senekas 
 Country eastward, as far as any of the great 
 King's Subjects live, and southward, from 
 New-England to Virginia. Here he gave a 
 Bever. 
 
 " We are glad to hear of the good Success 
 our great King has had over the French by 
 Sea, in taking and sinking so many of their 
 Men of War. You tell us in your Proposals 
 that we are one People, let us then go Hand 
 in Hand together, to ruin and destroy the 
 French our common Enemy. Gives a Bever. 
 
 " The Covenant-chain between us is ancient 
 (as you tell us) and of long standing, and it 
 has been kept inviolably by us. ^ When you 
 had Wars some time ago with the Indians, 
 you desired us to help you ; we did it readily, 
 and to the Purpose; for we pursued them 
 closely, by which we prevented the Effusion 
 of much of your Blood. This was a certain 
 Sign that we loved truly and sincerely, and 
 from our Hearts. Gives a Belt. 
 
 " You advise us to pursue our Enemies, the 
 French, vigorously; this we assure you we 
 are resolved to do to the utmost of our Pow- 
 er : But since the French are your Enemies 
 121
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 likewise, we desire our Brethren of the three 
 Colonies to send us an hundred Men for the 
 Security of this Place, which is ill provided, 
 hi Case of an Attack from the French ; the 
 Christians have Victuals enough for their En- 
 tertainment. Gives one Belt. 
 
 " We patiently bore many Injuries from 
 the French, from one Year to another, before 
 we took up the Axe against them. Our Pa- 
 tience made the Governor of Canada think, 
 that we were afraid of him, and durst not re- 
 sent the Injuries we had so long suffered; 
 but now he is undeceived. We assure you, 
 that we are resolved never to drop the Axe, 
 the French never shall see our Faces in Peace, 
 we shall never be reconciled as long as one 
 Frenchman is alive. We shall never make 
 Peace, though our Nation should be ruined 
 by it, and every one of us cut in Pieces. Our 
 Brethren of the three Colonies may depend on 
 this. Gives a Bever. 
 
 " As to what you told us of the Owenagun- 
 gas and Uragees, we answer : That we were 
 never so proud and haughty, as to begin a 
 War without just Provocation. You tell us 
 that they are treacherous Kogues, we believe 
 it, and that they will undoubtedly assist the 
 French. If they shall do this, or shall join 
 with any of our Enemies, either French or 
 Indians, then we will kill and destroy them. 
 Gives a Bever." 
 
 122
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Then the Mohawks offered five of their 
 Men, to guard the Agents Home against any 
 of their Indian Enemies, who they were 
 afraid might be laying in wait for the Agents, 
 and gave a Belt. 
 
 Afterwards the Speaker continued his 
 Speech, and said : " We have spoke what we 
 had to say of the War, we now come to the 
 Affairs of Peace : We promise to preserve the 
 Chain inviolably, and wish that the Sun may 
 always shine in Peace over all our Heads that 
 are comprehended in this Chain. We give 
 two Belts, one for the Sun, the other for its 
 Beams. 
 
 " We make fast the Roots of the Tree of 
 Peace and Tranquillity, which is planted in 
 this Place. Its Roots extend as far as the 
 utmost of your Colonies ; if the French should 
 come to shake this Tree, we would feel it by 
 the Motion of its Roots, which extend into 
 our Country : But we trust it will not be in 
 the Governor of Canada's Power to shake 
 this Tree, which has been so firmly and so 
 long planted with us. Gives two Bevers." 
 
 Lastly, He desired the Magistrates of Al- 
 bany to remember what he had said, and gave 
 them a Bever. 
 
 But the Agents perceiving, that they had 
 not answered any Thing about the Owena- 
 gunga Messengers, and had answered indis- 
 tinctly about the War with the Eastern In- 
 123
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 dians, desired them to explain themselves 
 fully on these two Points, about which the 
 Agents were chiefly concerned. 
 
 The Five Nations answered : 
 
 " We cannot declare War against the East- 
 ern Indians, for they have done us no Harm : 
 Nevertheless our Brethren of New-England 
 may be assured, that we will live and die in 
 friendship with them. When we took up the 
 Axe against the French and their Confede- 
 rates, we did it to revenge the Injuries they 
 had done us; we did not make War with 
 them at the Persuasions of our Brethren here ; 
 for we did not so much as acquaint them with 
 our Intention, till fourteen Days after our 
 Army had begun their March." 
 
 After the Company had separated, the 
 Sachems sent to the New-England Agents, 
 desiring to speak with them in private ; which 
 being granted, the Speaker said, we have 
 something to tell you, which was not proper 
 to be spoken openly, for some of our People 
 have an Affection to the Owenagungas ; and 
 we were afraid, that they would discover or 
 hinder our Designs. 
 
 Now Ave assure our Brethren, that we are 
 resolved to look on your Enemies as ours, and 
 that we will first fall on the Owaragees;* 
 and then on the Owenagungas, and lastly on 
 
 * Called by the People of New England Panocok 
 Indians. 
 
 134
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 the French ; and that you may be convinced 
 of our Intention, we design to send five of 
 our young Men along with our Brethren to 
 New-England, to guard them, who have Or- 
 ders to view the Country of the Owaragees, 
 to discover in what Manner it can be attacked 
 with the most Advantage. This we always 
 do before we make an Attempt on our Ene- 
 mies. In a Word, Brethren, your War is our 
 War, for we will live and dye with you. 
 
 But it is to be observed, that they con- 
 firmed nothing relating to these Indians, by 
 giving Belts. 
 
 It is probable, that the Sachems acted with 
 some Art on this Occasion, for they really 
 had favourable Inclinations towards the 
 Owenagungas ; and they had Reason not to 
 increase the Number of their Enemies, by 
 making War on the Eastern Indians, who 
 avoided doing them any Injury. The People 
 of Albany likewise have always been averse 
 to engage our Indians in a War with the 
 Eastern Indians, lest it should change the 
 Seat of the War, and bring it to their own 
 Doors. 
 
 On the 25th the Magistrates of Albany had 
 a private Conference with the Sachems of the 
 Five Nations, and desired to know their 
 Resolutions as to the War with Canada, and 
 the Measures they resolved to follow. In 
 this Conference the Indians saw that the Peo- 
 126
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 pie of Albany were so much afraid of the 
 French, that their Spirits were sunk under 
 the Apprehensions of the approaching War ; 
 and for this Reason made the following An- 
 swer. 
 
 " We have a hundred and forty Men out- 
 skulking about Canada; it is impossible for 
 the French to attempt any Thing, without 
 being discovered and harassed by these Par- 
 ties : If the French shall attempt any Thing 
 this Way, all the Five Nations will come to 
 your Assistance, for our Brethren and we are 
 but one, and we will live and dye together. 
 We have desired a hundred Men of our 
 Brethren of Boston to assist us here, because 
 this Place is most exposed ; but if the Gov- 
 ernor of Canada is so strong, as to overcome 
 us all united together, then he must be our 
 Master, and is not to be resisted; but we 
 have Confidence in a good and just Cause; 
 for the great God of Heaven knows how de- 
 ceitfully the French have dealt with us, their 
 Arms can have no Success. The Great God 
 hath sent us Signs in the Sky to confirm this. 
 We have heard uncommon Noise in the 
 Heavens, and have seen Heads fall down 
 upon Earth, which we look upon as a certain 
 Presage of the Destruction of the French : 
 Take Courage ! On this they all immediately 
 joined in singing and crying out, Courage! 
 Courage ! " 
 
 126
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 CHAP. III. 
 
 An Amount of a general Council of the five 
 Nations at Onondaga, to consider the Count 
 De Frontenac's Message.. 
 
 ON the 27th of December 1689, two In- 
 dians came to Albany, being sent by 
 the Onondaga and Oneydo Sachems, with 
 seven Hands of Wampum from each Nation, 
 to tell their Brethren in New- York and New- 
 England, that three of their old Friends, who 
 had been carried Prisoners to France, were 
 come with Proposals from Canada ; that there 
 was a Council of the Sachems appointed to 
 meet at Onondaga, and that they therefore 
 desired the Mayor of Albany, Peter Scheyler, 
 and some others of their Brethren, to come 
 thither, to be present and to advise on an 
 Affair of so great Consequence ; for they were 
 resolved to do nothing without the Knowl- 
 edge and Consent of all those that were in- 
 cluded in the Chain with them. 
 
 The same Messenger told them, that some 
 Letters were sent to the Jesuit at Oneydo ; 
 and that they would neither burn, nor suffer 
 those Letters to be opened, till the Brethren 
 should first see them. 
 
 All that the Magistrates of Albany did on 
 this important Occasion, was to send three 
 127
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Indians with Instructions in their Name, to 
 dissuade the Five Nations from entertaining 
 any Thoughts of Peace, or yielding to a Ces- 
 sation of Arms. 
 
 On the 4th of January one of the chief 
 Mohawk Sachems. came to Albany, to tell the 
 Magistrates, that he was to go to Onondaga, 
 and desired the Brethren's Advice how to 
 behave there ; on which the Magistrates 
 thought it necessary to send likewise the pub- 
 lick Interpreter, and another Person to assist 
 at the general Meeting, with written Instruc- 
 tions ; but no Person of Note, that had any 
 Influence on the Indians, went. 
 
 When the Messengers arrived at Oneydo, 
 they discoursed privately with one of the 
 Prisoners that had returned from France, and 
 found that he had no Love for the French ; 
 but it is impossible but that Indians, who had 
 seen the French Court, and many of their 
 Troops, must be surprised at their Grandeur : 
 he complained however of the ill Usage he 
 had met with. The French chose, on this 
 Occasion, to send first to Oneydo, because of 
 the Assistance they expected the Jesuit, that 
 resided there, would give to their Negotiation. 
 
 I believe it will not be tedious to the 
 Reader, that desires to know the Indian 
 Genius, if I give a circumstantial Account of 
 this general Council or Parliament of the 
 Five Nations, that he may see in what Man- 
 128
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 ner a People that we call Savages behave on 
 such important Occasions. 
 
 On the 22d of January the general Council 
 was opened at Onondaga, consisting of eighty 
 Sachems ; in the first Place Sadekanaghtie, an 
 Onondaga Sachem, rising up, addressed him- 
 self to the Messenger of Albany, saying, 
 
 Four Messengers are come from the Gov- 
 ernor of Canada, viz. three who had been 
 carried Prisoners to France, and a Sachem of 
 the Praying Indians that live at Montreal. 
 
 The Governor of Canada notifies his Arri- 
 val to us, that he is the Count de Frontenac, 
 who had been formerly Governor there ; that 
 he had brought back with him Tawerahet a 
 Cayuga Sachem, and twelve Prisoners, that 
 had been carried to France ; then taking the 
 Belt of Wampum in his Hand, and holding 
 it by the Middle, he added, what I have said 
 relates only to one Half of the Belt, the oth- 
 er Half is to let us know, that he intends to 
 kindle again his Fire at Cadarackui next 
 Spring, and therefore invites his Children, 
 and Dekanasora an Onondaga Captain in par- 
 ticular, to treat there with him about the old 
 Chain. Then Adarahta the chief Sachem of 
 the praying Indians stood up, and said, with 
 three Belts in his Hand, I advise you to meet 
 the Governor of Canada as he desires ; agree 
 to this, if you would live, and gives one Belt 
 of Wampum. 
 
 VOL, L 9 129
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Tawerahet sends you this other Belt, to in- 
 form you of the Miseries, that he and the rest 
 of your Countrymen have suffered in their 
 Captivity ; and to advise you to hearken to 
 Yonoudio, if you desire to live. 
 
 This third Belt is from * Thurensera, 
 f Ohguesse, and J Ertel, who say by it, to 
 their Brethren : We have interceded for you 
 with Yonondio, and therefore advise you to 
 meet him at Cadarackui in the Spring, be- 
 cause it will be for your Advantage. 
 
 When this Sachem had done speaking, the 
 Mohawk Messenger sent from Albany deliv- 
 ered his Message Word for Word, as he had 
 received it, without omitting the least Arti- 
 cle. The Interpreter, while the Indian was 
 speaking, read over a Paper, on which the 
 Message was set down, lest any Thing should 
 have been forgot. 
 
 After this Cannehoot a Seneka Sachem 
 stood up, and gave the general Council a par- 
 ticular Account of a Treaty made last Sum- 
 mer, between the Senekas and the Wagunha 
 Messengers, (one of the Utawawa Nations) 
 
 * Thurensera signifies the Dawning of the Day, 
 and was the Name given by the Indians to the 
 Jesuit Lamberville, who had formerly resided at 
 Onondaga. 
 
 f Monsr. le Morne, the Word signifies a Partridge. 
 
 $ Ertel signifies a Rose, the Name of some other 
 French Gentleman, for whom the Indians had an 
 Esteem. 
 
 130
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 who had concluded a Peace for themselves, 
 and seven other Nations, to which the othei 
 four Nations were desired to agree, and their 
 Brethren of New- York to be included in it. 
 He said the Proposals made in several Propo- 
 sitions were as follow. 
 
 1. We are come to join two Bodies into 
 one. Delivering up at the same Time two 
 Prisoners. 
 
 2. We are come to learn Wisdom of you 
 Senekas, and of the other Five Nations, and 
 of your Brethren of New- York. Giving a 
 Belt. 
 
 3. We by this Belt wipe away the Tears 
 from the Eyes of your Friends, whose Rela- 
 tions have been killed in the War, and like- 
 wise * the Paint from your Soldiers Faces. 
 Giving another Belt. 
 
 4. We now throw aside the Ax, which 
 Yonondio put into our Hands, by this third 
 Belt. 
 
 5. Let the Sun, as long as he shall endure, 
 always shine upon us in Friendship. Here 
 he gave a red Marble Sun as large as a Plate. 
 
 6. Let the Rain of Heaven wash away all 
 Hatred, that we may again smoke together 
 in Peace, giving a large Pipe of red Marble. 
 
 * The Indians always paint their Faces when they 
 
 go to War, to make themselves look more terrible to 
 
 the Enemy. A Soldier in the Indian Language is 
 
 expressed by a Word, which signifies a Fair-fighter. 
 
 131
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 7. Yonondio is drunk, but we wash our 
 Hands clean from all his Actions. Giving a 
 fourth Belt. 
 
 8. Now we are clean washed by the Water 
 of Heaven, neither of us must defile our- 
 selves by hearkening to Yonondio. 
 
 9. We have twelve of your Nation Prison- 
 ers, who shall be brought home in the 
 Spring ; there he gave a Belt, to confirm the 
 Promise. 
 
 10. We will bring your Prisoners when 
 the Strawberries shall be in blossom, *at 
 which Time we intend to visit Corlear, and 
 see the Place where the Wampum is made. 
 (New- York.) 
 
 The Speaker added, we will also tell our 
 Friends the other Utawawa Nations, and the 
 Dionondadies, who have eleven of your Peo- 
 ple Prisoners, what we have now done, and 
 invite them to make Peace with you. 
 
 He said further, we have sent three Mes- 
 sengers back with the Wagunhas, in order to 
 confirm this Peace with their Nation. 
 
 After the Seneka Speaker had done, the 
 Wagunha Presents were hung up in the 
 House, in the Sight of the whole Assembly, 
 and afterwards distributed among the several 
 Nations, and their Acceptance was a Ratifi- 
 
 * The Indians in this Manner distinguish the Sea- 
 sons of the Year, as the Time of planting Corn, or 
 when it is ripe, when the Chesnuts blossom, &c. 
 132
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 cation of the Treaty. A large Belt was given 
 also to the Albany Messengers as their 
 Share. 
 
 The Belt of Wampum sent from Albany 
 was in like Manner hanged up, and after- 
 wards divided. 
 
 New-England, which the Indians call Kin- 
 shon (that is a Fish) sent likewise the Model 
 of a Fish, as a token of their adhering to the 
 general Covenant. This Fish was handed 
 round among the Sachems, and then laid 
 aside to be put up. 
 
 After these Ceremonies were over, Sadeka- 
 nahtie, an Onondaga Speaker, stood up, and 
 said, Brethren, we must stick to our Brother 
 Quider, and look on Yonondio as our Enemy, 
 for he is a Cheat: By Quider they meant 
 Peter Schyler the Mayor of Albany, who had 
 gained a considerable Esteem among them ; 
 as they have no Labeals in their Language, 
 they pronounce Peter by the Sound Quider. 
 
 The Messenger from Canada had brought 
 Letters, and some medicinal Powder, for the 
 Jesuit Milet, who resided at Oneydo. These 
 Letters and the Powder were delivered to the 
 Interpreter from Albany to be carried thither, 
 that the Contents of them might be made 
 known to the Sachems of the several Nations. 
 The Jesuit was present all this While in their 
 Council. 
 
 Then the Interpreter was desired to speak 
 133
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 what he had to say from their Brethren at 
 Albany. He told them, that a new Gover- 
 nor was arrived, who had brought a great 
 many Soldiers from England. That the 
 King of England had declared War against 
 France, and that the People of New-England 
 were fitting out Ships against Canada. He 
 advised them, that they should not hearken 
 to the French, for when they talk of Peace, 
 said he, War is in their Heart, and desired 
 them to enter into no Treaty but at Albany, 
 for the French, he said, would mind no 
 Agreement made any where else. 
 
 After this they had Consultations for some 
 Time together, and then gave the following 
 Answer by their Speaker. 
 
 Brethren, our Fire burns at Albany. We 
 will not send Dekaiiasora to Cadarackui. 
 We adhere to our old Chain Avith Corlear ; 
 we will prosecute the War with Yonondio, 
 and will follow your Advice in drawing off 
 our Men from Cadarackui. Brethren, we are 
 glad to hear the News you tell us, but tell us 
 no Lies. 
 
 Brother Kinshon, we hear you design to 
 send Soldiers to the eastward against the In- 
 dians there ; but we advise you, now so many 
 are united against the French, to fall imme- 
 diately on them. Strike at the Root, when 
 the Trunk shall be cut down, the Branches 
 fall of Course. 
 
 134
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Corlear and Kinshon, Courage ! Courage ! 
 In the Spring to Quebeck, take that Place, 
 and you'll have your Feet on the Necks of 
 the French, and all their Friends in America. 
 
 After this they agreed to the following An- 
 swer to be sent to the Governor of Canada. 
 
 1. Yonondio, you have notified your Ke- 
 turn to us, and that you have brought back 
 13 of our People that were carried to France, 
 we are glad of it. You desire us to meet you 
 at Cadarackui next Spring, to treat of the old 
 Chain ; but Yonondio, how can we trust you, 
 after you have acted deceitfully so often? 
 Witness what was done at Cadarackui ; the 
 Usage our Messengers met with at Utawawa, 
 and what was done to the Senekas at Utawa- 
 wa. This was their Answer ; however, they 
 sent a Belt with this, which always shews a 
 Disposition to treat. 
 
 2. Therhansera, Oghuesse and Ertel, do 
 you observe Friendship with us, if you have 
 not, how come you to advise us to renew 
 Friendship with Yonondio, they sent them 
 likewise a Belt? 
 
 3. Tawerahet, the whole Council is glad to 
 hear, that you are returned with the other 
 twelve. Yonondio, you must send home 
 Tawerahet and the others this very Winter, 
 before Spring, and we will save all the 
 French that we have Prisoners till that Time. 
 
 4. Yonondio, you desire to speak with us 
 
 135
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 at Cadarackui : Doii't you know that your 
 Fire there is extinguished? It is extin- 
 guished with Blood, you must send home the 
 Prisoners in the first Place. 
 
 5. We let you know that we have made 
 Peace with the Wagunhas. 
 
 6. You are not to think, that we have laid 
 down the Axe, because we return an An- 
 swer; we intend no such Thing: Our Far- 
 fighters shall continue the War till our Coun- 
 trymen return. 
 
 7. When our Brother Tawerahet is re- 
 turned, then will we speak to you of Peace. 
 
 As soon as the Council broke up, their Res- 
 olutions were made publick to all their Peo- 
 ple, by the Sachems of their several Nations. 
 
 Two Sachems were sent to Albany, by 
 their general Council, to inform their Breth- 
 ren there of their Resolutions, and to bring 
 back the Contents of the Letters sent from 
 Canada to the Jesuit. 
 
 As soon as they arrived, one of the Mo- 
 hawks, that had been sent from Albany to 
 the Council, delivered the Wagunha Belt, and 
 repeated over distinctly all the Articles 
 agreed to with that Nation, and referred to 
 the Onondaga Speaker, being one of thoso 
 sent by the Council of Albany, to recite tin; 
 Answer to the Governor of Canada. He ris- 
 ing up, repeated over the whole as before set 
 down, and added; The French are full of 
 136
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Deceit ; but I call God to witness, we have 
 hitherto used no Deceit with them, but how 
 we shall act for the future, Time only can 
 discover. Then he assured the Brethren, that 
 the Five Nations were resolved to prosecute 
 the War, in Token whereof he presented 
 * Quider with a Belt, in which three Axes 
 were represented. Perhaps by this Repre- 
 sentation only three Nations joined in send- 
 ing it, the Cayugas and Oneydoes being more 
 under the Influence of the Jesuit Milet, who 
 lived among them intirely, according to their 
 Manner of Life, and was adopted by the 
 Oneydoes, and made one of their Sachems. 
 The Letters from Canada to him were read, 
 they contained nothing but common News 
 and Compliments. 
 
 The Mohawk Messengers, that had been 
 sent from Albany, had carried with them 
 Goods to sell at the general Council. This 
 was taken Notice of at the general Council, 
 and gave the Indians a mean Opinion of the 
 People of Albany, and particularly of Peter 
 Schyler; for it is exceedingly scandalous 
 among the Indians, to employ a Merchant in 
 publick Affairs ; Merchants, (I mean the Tra- 
 ders with the Indians) are looked upon by 
 them as Liars, and People not to be trusted, 
 and of no Credit, who by their Thoughts be- 
 ing continually turned upon Profit and Loss, 
 * Peter Schyler, Mayor of Albany. 
 137
 
 THE H18TOKY OF THE 
 
 consider every Thing with that private View. 
 As this made a Noise at Albany, by its giving 
 the Jesuit an Opportunity of setting the Mes- 
 sengers from Albany in an ill Light, Peter 
 Scheyler cleared himself by Oath, of his hav- 
 ing any Interest directly or indirectly in 
 those Goods, and sent a Belt back with his 
 publick Justification. The Mohawk Messen- 
 gers had refused to take the Goods, as being 
 scandalous to the Business they went on ; but 
 were persuaded, by being told that the Goods 
 belonged to Quider. 
 
 The Magistrates of Albany advised the 
 Sachems, to send the Jesuit Prisoner to Al- 
 bany, where he might be kept securely, Avith- 
 out having it in his Power to do Mischief, 
 but they could not prevail. The Indians 
 were resolved to keep all the Means of mak- 
 ing Peace in their own Hands. 
 
 CHAP. IV. 
 
 The French surprise Schenectady. The 
 Mohaivks Speech of Condoleance on that 
 Occasion. 
 
 THE Count De Frontenac being desirous, 
 as before observed, to raise the droop- 
 ing Spirits of the French in Canada, by keep- 
 ing them in Action, and engaging the most 
 138
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 daring of them, in Enterprizes that might 
 give Courage to the rest, had sent out three 
 Parties against the English Colonies, in 
 Hopes thereby to lessen the Confidence which 
 the Five Nations had in the English Assis- 
 tance, now that England had declared War 
 against France. The Party sent against 
 New-York was commanded by Monsr. De 
 Herville, and Avas ordered to attempt the 
 surprising of Schenectady, the nearest Vil- 
 lage to the Mohawks; It consised of 150 
 French Bush-lopers or Indian Traders, and 
 of as many Indians, the most of them French 
 Converts from the Mohawks, commonly called 
 the Praying Indians, settled at a Place near 
 Montreal, called Cahnuaga. They were well 
 acquainted with all that Part of the Country 
 round Schenectady ; and came in Sight of the 
 Place the 8th of February 1689-90. 
 
 The People of Schenectady were at that 
 Time in the greatest Security, notwithstand- 
 ing that they had Information from the In- 
 dians, of a Party of French, and French In- 
 dians being upon their March that Way. 
 They did not think it practicable, in that Sea- 
 son of the Year, while it was extremely cold, 
 and the whole Country covered with Snow. 
 Indeed Europeans will hardly think it possi- 
 ble, that Men could make such a March 
 through the Wilderness in the severest Frosts, 
 without any Covering from the Heavens, or 
 139
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 any Provision, except what they carried on 
 their Backs. 
 
 Tho' the People of Schenectady were in- 
 formed in the Evening before the Place was 
 surprised, that several sculking Indians were 
 seen near the Place, they concluded, that 
 they could be only some of the neighbouring 
 Indians; and as they had no Officer of any 
 Esteem, among them, not a single Man could 
 be persuaded to watch in such severe Weath- 
 er, tho', as the French owned afterwards, if 
 they had found the least Guard or Watch, 
 they would not have attempted the Place, but 
 have surrendered themselves Prisoners : They 
 were so exceedingly distressed with the 
 Length of their March, and with Cold, and 
 Hunger, but finding the Place in fatal Secu- 
 rity, they marched into the Heart of the Vil- 
 lage, without being discovered by any one 
 Person ; then they raised their War Shout, 
 entered the Houses, murdered every Person 
 they met, Men, Women, and Children, naked 
 and in cold Blood ; and at the same Time set 
 Fire to the Houses. A very few escaped, by 
 running out naked into the Woods in this 
 terrible Weather: And several hid them- 
 selves, till the first Fury of the Attack was 
 over; but these were soon driven from their 
 lurking Places by the Fire, and were all made 
 Prisoners. 
 
 Captain Alexander Glen, at this Time, 
 140
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 lived at a Distance by himself, on the other 
 Side of the River, and was the most noted 
 Man in the Place. He had at several Times 
 been kind to the French, who had been taken 
 Prisoners by the Mohawks, and had saved 
 several of them from the Fire. The French 
 were sensible what Horror this cruel sacking 
 of a defenceless Place, and murdering Peo- 
 ple in cold Blood, must raise in Mens Minds; 
 and to lessen this, they resolved to shew their 
 Gratitude to Captain Glen. They had passed 
 his House in the Night, and observing that 
 he stood on his Defence the next Morning, 
 some of them went to the River Side, and 
 calling to him, assured him, that they de- 
 signed him no Injury. They persuaded him 
 to come to the French Officer, who restored 
 to him all his Relations that were Prisoners. 
 
 Some Mohawks being also found in the 
 Village, the French dismissed them, with 
 Assurance, that they designed them no Hurt. 
 
 This Conduct was not only necessary to 
 promote the Peace which the Count De Fron- 
 tenac with so much Earnestness desired, but 
 likewise to secure their Retreat, by making 
 the Mohawks less eager to pursue them. 
 
 The French marched back, without reaping 
 any visible Advantage from this barbarous 
 Enterprize, besides the murdering six^y-three 
 innocent Persons in cold Blood, and carrying 
 twenty-seven of them away Prisoner? 
 141
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The Care the French took to sooth the Mo- 
 hawks had not in tire ly it's Effect, for as soon 
 as they heard of this Action, a hundred of 
 their readiest young Men pursued the French, 
 fell upon their Rear, and killed and took 
 twenty -five of them. 
 
 This Action frightened the Inhabitants in 
 and about Albany so much, that many re- 
 solved to desert the Place, and retire to New- 
 York. They were packing up and preparing 
 for this Purpose, when the Mohawk Sachems 
 came to Albany to condole, according to their 
 Custom, with their Friends, when any Mis- 
 fortune befals them. I shall give their 
 Speech on this Occasion, as it will be of Use 
 to the Reader, in order to his forming a true 
 Notion of the Indian Genius. They spoke 
 the twenty-fifth of March as follows. 
 
 "Brethren, the Murder of our Brethren at 
 Schenectady by the French grieves us as 
 much, as if it had been done to our selves, for 
 we are in the same Chain ; and no Doubt our 
 Brethren of New-England will be likewise 
 sadly affected with this cruel Action of the 
 French. The French on this Occasion have 
 not acted like brave Men, but like Thieves 
 and Robbers. Be not therefore discouraged. 
 We give this Belt to wipe away your Tears. 
 
 "Brethren, we lament the Death of so 
 many of our Brethren, whose Blood has been 
 shed at Schenectady. We don't think that 
 142
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 what the French have done can be called a 
 Victory, it is only a farther Proof of their 
 cruel Deceit. The Governor of Canada sends 
 to Onondaga, and talks to us of Peace with 
 our whole House, but War was in his Heart, 
 as you now see by woful Experience. He 
 did the same formerly at Cadarackui, and in 
 the Senekas Country. This is the third Time 
 he has acted so deceitfully. He has broken 
 open our House at both Ends, formerly in 
 the Senekas Country, and now here. We 
 hope however to be revenged of them. One 
 Hundred of our bravest young Men are in 
 Pursuit of them, they are brisk Fellows, and 
 they will follow the French to their Doors. 
 We will beset them so closely, that not a Man 
 in Canada shall dare to step out of Doors 
 to cut a Stick of Wood ; But now we gather 
 up our Dead, to bury them, by this second 
 Belt. 
 
 " Brethren, we came from our Castles with 
 Tears in our Eyes, to bemoan the Bloodshed 
 at Schenectady by the Perfidious French. 
 While we bury our Dead murdered at Sche- 
 nectady, we know not what may have befal- 
 len our own People, that are in Pursuit of 
 the Enemy, they may be dead ; what has be- 
 fallen you may happen to us ; and therefore 
 we come to bury our Brethren at Schenectady 
 with this third Belt. 
 
 " Great and sudden is the Mischief, as if it 
 143
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 had fallen from Heaven upon us. Our Fore- 
 fathers taught us to go with all Speed to be- 
 moan and lament with our Brethren, when 
 any Disaster or Misfortune happens to any in 
 our Chain. Take this Bill of Vigilance, that 
 you may be more watchful for the future. 
 We give our Brethren Eye- Water to make 
 them sharp sighted, giving a fourth Belt. 
 
 " We are now come to the House where we 
 usually renew the Chain; but alas! we find 
 the House polluted, polluted with Blood. 
 All the Five Nations have heard of this, and 
 we are come to wipe away the Blood, and 
 clean the House. We come to invite Corlear, 
 and every one of you, and Quider (calling to 
 every one of the principal Men present by 
 their Names) to be revenged of the Enemy, 
 by this fifth Belt. 
 
 " Brethren, be not discouraged, we are 
 strong enough. This is the Beginning of 
 your War, and the whole House have their 
 Eyes fixed upon you at this Time, to observe 
 your Behaviour. They wait your Motion, 
 and are ready to join in any resolute Meas- 
 ures. 
 
 " Our Chain is a strong Chain, it is a Sil- 
 ver Chain, it can neither rust nor be broken. 
 We, as to our Parts, are resolute to continue 
 the War. 
 
 " We will never desist, so long as a Man of 
 us remains. Take Heart, do not pack up 
 144
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 and go away, * this will give Heart to a das- 
 tardly Enemy. We are of the Eace of the 
 Bear, and a Bear you know never yields, 
 while one Drop of Blood is left. We must 
 all be Bears ; giving a sixth Belt. 
 
 "Brethren be patient, this Disaster is an 
 Affliction which has fallen from Heaven upon 
 us. The Sun, which hath been cloudy, and 
 sent this Disaster, will shine again with its 
 pleasant Beams. Take Courage, said he, 
 Courage, repeating the Word several Times 
 as they gave a seventh Belt." 
 
 (To the English.) 
 
 Brethren, three Years ago we were en- 
 gaged in a bloody War with the French, and 
 you encouraged us to proceed in it. Our Suc- 
 cess answered our Expectation ; but we were 
 not well begun, when Corlear stopt us from 
 going on. Had you permitted us to go on, the 
 French would not now have been able to do 
 the Mischief, they have done, we would have 
 prevented their sowing, planting or reaping. 
 
 We would have humbled them effectually, 
 but now we dye. The Obstructions you then 
 made now ruin us. Let us after this be 
 steady, and take no such false Measures for 
 the future, but prosecute the War vigorously. 
 Giving a Bever Skin. 
 
 * This was spoke to the English, who were about 
 removing from Albany. 
 VOL. I. 10 145
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 The Brethren must keep good Watch, and 
 if the Enemy come again, send more speedily 
 to us. Don't desert Schenectady. The Ene- 
 my will glory in seeing it desolate. It will 
 give them Courage that had none before, 
 fortify the Place, it is not well fortified now : 
 The Stockadoes are too short, the Indians 
 can jump over them. Gave a Bever Skin. 
 
 Brethren, The Mischief done at Schenec- 
 tady cannot be helped now ; but for the fu- 
 ture, when the Enemy appears any where, let 
 nothing hinder your sending to us by Ex- 
 presses, and fire great Guns, that all may be 
 alarmed. We advise you to bring all the 
 River Indians under your Subjection to live 
 near Albany, to be ready on all Occasions. 
 
 Send to New-England, tell them what has 
 happened to you. They will undoubtedly 
 awake and lend us their helping Hand. It 
 is their Interest, as much as ours, to push the 
 War to a speedy Conclusion. Be not dis- 
 couraged, the French are not so numerous as 
 some People talk. If we but heartily unite 
 to push on the War, and mind our Business, 
 the French will soon be subdued. 
 
 The Magistrates having returned an An- 
 swer on the twenty seventh, to the Satisfac- 
 tion of the Indians, they repeated it all over, 
 Word by Word, to let the Magistrates see 
 how carefully they minded it, and then 
 added, 
 
 146
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Brethren, we are glad to find you are not 
 discouraged. The best and wisest Men some- 
 times make Mistakes. Let us now pursue 
 the War vigorously. We have a hundred 
 Men out, they are good Scouts. We expect 
 to meet all the Sachems of the other Nations, 
 as they come to condole with you. You need 
 not fear our being ready, at the first Notice. 
 Our Ax is always in our Hands, but take 
 Care that you be timely ready. Your Ships, 
 that must do the principal Work, are long a 
 fitting out. We do not design to go out with 
 a small Company, or in sculking Parties ; but 
 as soon as the Nations can meet, we shall be 
 ready with our whole Force. If you would 
 bring this War to a happy Issue, you must 
 begin soon, before the French can recover the 
 Losses they have received from us, and get 
 new Vigour and Life, therefore send in all 
 Haste to New-England. Neither you nor we 
 can continue long in the Condition we are 
 now in, we must order Matters so, that the 
 French be kept in continual Fear and Alarm 
 at home ; for this is the only Way to be se- 
 cure, and in Peace here. 
 
 The Scahkok Indians, in our Opinion, are 
 well placed where they are (to the Northward 
 of Albany) ; they are a good Out-guard ; they 
 are our Children, and we shall take Care that 
 they do their Duty : But you must take Care 
 of the Indians below the Town, place them 
 147
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 nearer the Town, so as they may be of most 
 Service to you. 
 
 Here we see the Mohawks acting like hearty 
 Friends, and if the Value of the Beits given 
 at that Time be considered, together with 
 what they said on that Occasion, they gave 
 the strongest Proofs of their Sincerity. Each 
 of these Belts amount to a large Sum in the 
 Indian Account. 
 
 The English of New- York and the French 
 of Canada were now entering into a War, in 
 which the Part the Five Nations are to take 
 is of the greatest Consequence to both ; the 
 very Being of the French Colony depended on 
 it, as well as the Safety of the English. The 
 Indians at this Time had the greatest 
 Aversion to the French, and they desired 
 nothing so much, as that the English might 
 join heartily in this War. We shall see by 
 the Sequel how a publick Spirit, directed by 
 wise Counsels, can overcome all Difficulties, 
 while a selfish Spirit loses all, even natural 
 Advantages. In the present Case, the Turn 
 Things took seems to have been entirely ow- 
 ing to one Thing. The French in making the 
 Count de Frontenac Governor of Canada, 
 chose the Man every Way the best qualified 
 for this Service : The English seemed to have 
 little Regard to the Qualification of the Per- 
 son they sent, but to gratify a Relation or a 
 Friend, by giving him an Opportunity to 
 J48
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c 
 
 make a Fortune ; and as he knew that he was 
 recommended with this View, his Counsels 
 were chiefly employed for this Purpose. 
 
 By this Means an English Governor gener- 
 ally wants the Esteem of the People ; while 
 they think that a Governor has not the Good 
 of the People in View, but his own, they on 
 all Occasions are jealous of him ; so that even 
 a good Governor, with more Difficulty, pur- 
 sues generous Purposes and publick Benefits, 
 because the People suspect them to be mere 
 Pretences to cover a private Design. It is 
 for this Reason, that any Man, opposing a 
 Governor, is sure to meet with the Favour of 
 the People, almost in every Case. On the 
 other Hand, the Opinion the French had of 
 the Count de Frontenac's publick Spirit, and 
 of his Wisdom and Diligence, made them 
 enter into all his Measures without hesitating, 
 and chearfully obey all his Commands. 
 
 CHAP. V. 
 
 The Five Nations continue the War with the 
 French ; the Mohaivks incline to Peace ; 
 their Conferences with the Governor oj~ 
 New- York. 
 
 THE Governor of Canada received Hopes 
 that the Five Nations inclined to Peace, 
 by their returning an Answer to Therawaet's 
 149
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Message, and thought he might now venture 
 to send some French to them with further 
 Proposals. The Chevalier D'O, with an 
 Interpreter called Collin, and some others, 
 went ; but they had a much warmer Recep- 
 tion than they expected, being forced to run 
 the Gauntlet through a long Lane of Indians, 
 as they entered their Castle, and were after- 
 wards delivered up Prisoners to the English. 
 The Five Nations kept out at this Time 
 small Parties, that continually harassed the 
 French. The Count de Frontenac sent Cap- 
 tain Louvigni to Missilimakinak, to relieve 
 the Garison, and he had Orders, by all 
 Means, to prevent the Peace which the Uta- 
 wawas and Quatoghies were upon the Point 
 of concluding with the Five Nations. He 
 carried with him one hundred forty three 
 French, and six Indians, and was likewise 
 accompanied with a Lieutenant and thirty 
 Men, till he got one hundred twenty Miles 
 from Montreal. They were met in Cada- 
 rackui River, at a Place called the Cats, by a 
 Party of the Five Nations, who fell vigor- 
 ously on their Canoes, killed several of the 
 French, and made them give Way ; but Lou- 
 vigni, by putting his Men ashore, at last got 
 the better, after a smart Engagement, in 
 which the Indians had several Men killed, 
 and two Men, and as many Women, taken 
 Prisoners. I am obliged to rely on the 
 150
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 French Account of these Skirmishes ; they do 
 not mention the Number of the Indians in 
 this Rencounter, but I suspect them to have 
 been much fewer than the French ; for when 
 the Enemy are equal in Number, or greater, 
 they seldom forget to tell it. One of the In- 
 dian Prisoners was carried by them to Missili- 
 rnackinak, to confirm this Victory, and was 
 delivered to the Utawawas, who eat him. 
 The Lieutenant carried the other back with 
 him. He was given to Therawaet. 
 
 To revenge this Loss, the Five Nations 
 sent a Party against the Island of Montreal, 
 who fell on that Part called the Trembling 
 Point ; and though they were discovered be- 
 fore they gave their Blow, they attacked a 
 Party of regular Troops, and killed the com- 
 manding Officer, and twelve of his Men : An- 
 other Party carried off fifteen or sixteen Pris- 
 oners from Eiviere Puante, over against Trois 
 Rivieres. This Party was pursued, and find- 
 ing that they were like to be overpowered, 
 murdered their Prisoners and made their Es- 
 cape. These Incursions kept all the River, 
 from Montreal to Quebeck, in continual 
 Alarm, and obliged the Governor to send all 
 the Soldiers to guard the south Side of the 
 River. Notwithstanding this, five Persons 
 were carried away in Sight of Sorel Fort, by 
 a small skulking Party, but they were soon 
 afterwards recovered by the Soldiers. About 
 151
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the same Time another Party burnt the Plan- 
 tations at St. Ours. 
 
 The Five Nations had conceived great 
 Hopes from the Assistance of the English, as 
 the Magistrates of Albany had promised the 
 Mohawks, when they came to condole, after 
 the surprising of Schenectady ; but the Eng- 
 lish were so far from performing these Prom- 
 ises, that many of the Inhabitants retired 
 from Albany to New- York; and they who 
 had the Administration of Affairs, were so 
 intent on their party Quarrels, that they in- 
 tirely neglected the Indian Affairs. Indeed 
 the People of New- York have too often made 
 large Promises, and have thereby put the In- 
 dians upon bold Enterprizes, when no Meas- 
 ures were concerted for supporting them. 
 This made the Indians think, that the Eng- 
 lish were lavish of Indian Lives and too care- 
 ful of their own. The Mohawks, who lived 
 nearest the English, were most sensible of 
 these Things, and soon entertained Notions 
 prejudicial to the Opinion they ought to have 
 had of the English Prudence and Conduct; 
 it is even probable, these Indians began to 
 entertain a mean Opinion of both the English 
 Courage and Integrity. It is not strange 
 then, that the Mohawks at last gave Ear to 
 the assiduous Application of their Country- 
 men, the praying Indians, who, with French 
 Arguments, persuaded them to make Peace as 
 152
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 soon as possible, without trusting longer to 
 the English, who had so often disappointed 
 or deceived them. 
 
 The Mohawks sent one of their Sachems, 
 Odigacege, to the praying Indians, who intro- 
 duced him to the Count de Frontenac. The 
 Count made him welcome, and told him, that 
 he was sorry for the Injuries his Predecessors 
 had done them ; but that he would treat them 
 like Friends, if their future Conduct did not 
 prevent him, and gave him a Belt, with Pro- 
 posals of Peace to his Nation. 
 
 Colonel Slaughter, who was then Governor 
 of New- York, being informed that the Five 
 Nations were like to make Peace with the 
 French, by their having lost much of their 
 Confidence in the English Assistance, found 
 it necessary to meet them, which he did in 
 the End of May 1691. There were present 
 at that Time six Oneydo, eleven Onondaga, 
 four Cayuga, and ten Seneka Sachems. He 
 renewed the Covenant with them, and gave 
 them Presents. The Mohawks having en- 
 tered into a Treaty with the French, did not 
 join with the other four Nations in their An- 
 swer. 
 
 On the second of June the Speaker, in 
 Name of the other four Nations, told him, 
 they were glad to see a Governor again in this 
 Place ; that they had learned from their An- 
 cestors, that the first Ship which arrived in 
 153
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 this Country surprized them exceedingly; 
 that they were curious to know what was in 
 its huge Belly. They found Christians in it, 
 and among them one Jacques, with whom 
 they made a Chain of Friendship, which has 
 been preserved to this Day. By that Chain 
 it was agreed, that whatever Injury was done 
 to the one, should be deemed, by both Sides, 
 as likewise done to the other. Then they 
 mentioned the Confusion that had lately been 
 in the Government of New- York, which had 
 like to have confounded all their Affairs, but 
 hoped all would be reduced to their wonted 
 Order and Quiet. They complained of sev- 
 eral of the Brethren leaving Albany in Time 
 of Danger, and praised those by Name who 
 staid, and then said: Our Tree of Peace, 
 which grows in this Place, has of late been 
 much shaken, we must now secure and fasten 
 its Roots ; we must frequently manure and 
 dress it, that its Roots may spread far 
 
 They assured the Governor, that they were 
 resolved to prosecute the War against the 
 French as long as they lived, and that they 
 would never speak of Peace, but with the 
 common Consent. They abhor those that do 
 othenvise, and desired that the Brethren 
 might not keep a Correspondence with Can- 
 ada by Letters. You need not (said they) 
 press us to mind the War, we mind it above 
 all Things ; do you but your Parts, lay aside 
 154
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 all other Thoughts but that of the War, for 
 it is the only Thing we have at Heart. They 
 gave Bevers at the End of every distinct 
 Part of their Answer. 
 
 On the fourth the Mohawks spoke to the 
 Governor, in Presence of the other four Na- 
 tions : They confessed the Negotiations they 
 had with the Praying Indians, and with the 
 Governor of Canada, and that they had re- 
 ceived a Belt from him. Then they restored 
 one of the Prisoners taken at Schenectady, as 
 the Fruit of that Negotiation. They desired 
 the Governor's Advice, and the Advice of the 
 whole House, what Answer to return to the 
 Governor of Canada ; and lastly, desired the 
 Senekas to release the Prisoners they had 
 taken from the Praying Indians. 
 
 Colonel Slaughter check' d the Mohawks 
 for entering into a separate Treaty with the 
 Enemy, and said he could admit of no Pro- 
 posals of Peace. He told them, that the 
 Prisoners taken from the Praying Indians 
 must not be restored ; putting them in mind, 
 that some of them having been formerly re- 
 leased, soon after returned and murdered sev- 
 eral People, and burnt several Houses. 
 
 He assured them of his Assistance, and 
 then added, You must keep the Enemy in 
 perpetual Alarm. The Mohawks thanked 
 him for his Assurance of Assistance ; but took 
 Notice of his saying, You must keep the Ene- 
 155
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 iny in perpetual Alarm. Why don't you say, 
 they replied, We will keep the Enemy in per- 
 petual Alarm. In the last Place, the Mo- 
 hawks renewed their League with all the Eng- 
 lish Colonies ; adding, Though an angry Dog 
 has endeavoured to bite the Chain in Pieces, 
 we are resolved to keep it firm, both in Peace 
 and in War: We now renew the old Chain, 
 that so the Tree of Peace and Prosperity may 
 flourish, and spread its Koots through all the 
 Country. 
 
 In the last Place, the four Nations an- 
 swered the Mohawks. 
 
 "Mohawks, our Brethren, in answer to 
 your Proposals from the Governor of Canada, 
 we must put you in Mind of his Deceit and 
 Treachery ; we need only give one recent In- 
 stance, how he lately sent to the Senekas to 
 treat of Peace, and at the same Time fell 
 upon Schenectady, and cut that Place off. 
 We tell you, that the Belt sent by the 
 French Governor is Poison ; we spew it out of 
 our Mouths, we absolutely reject it, and are 
 resolved to prosecute the War as long as we 
 live." Then they left the Belt lying on the 
 Ground. 
 
 156
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 CHAP. VI. 
 
 The English attack Montreal by Land, in 
 Conjunction with the Indians, and Quebeck 
 by Sea. 
 
 IT was now evident that the Indians could 
 no longer be amused with Words, and 
 that, unless the English entered soon upon 
 Action, the French would carry their Design 
 of making Peace with the Five Nations, and 
 the English be left to carry on the War in 
 America by themselves. Certainly a more 
 proper Opportunity of doing it with Success 
 could not be expected, than at present, while 
 the French in Canada had neither recovered 
 their Spirits, nor the Strength they had lost, 
 by the terrible Incursions of the Five Nations. 
 A joint Invasion on Canada was concerted 
 with New-England, they were to attack Que- 
 beck by Sea, while New-York attacked 
 Montreal by Land. The Governor therefore 
 proposed to the Indians to join with him in 
 attacking Canada, for which Purpose he told 
 them, that he designed to send a considerable 
 Force this Summer. They desired Time to 
 consult on it at their general Meeting, which 
 was soon to be held at Onondaga, and to 
 know what Number of Christians he designed 
 to send, that they might join a suitable Num- 
 157
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 ber of their Men. To this the Governor an- 
 swered, that he must not communicate the 
 Particulars of his Design to so many, be- 
 cause they could not then be kept secret from 
 the Enemy ; as he found by the Discoveries 
 that were last Year made to the French by 
 tli at Means. 
 
 It was at last agreed, that the Mohawks 
 should join with the Christians that were to 
 march from New-York directly against Mon- 
 treal, and that the other four Nations should 
 send a considerable Party down Cadarackui 
 Lake, and join them before Montreal. 
 
 Major Peter Schuyler, the same whom the 
 Indians call Quider, commanded the Party 
 sent from New-York, which consisted of three 
 hundred Men, one half Christians, the other 
 Mohawks and Scahkook Indians. He set out 
 from Albany about Midsummer. As he was 
 preparing his Canoes to pass Corlear's Lake, 
 he was discovered by the French Indians, 
 who immediately returned to Montreal, to 
 give Information of what they had seen. 
 The Chevalier Clermont was sent out to 
 make further Discoveries : He found the 
 English above Chamblie, and went immedi- 
 ately back with the Intelligence he there 
 gained. In the mean while Mr. de Callieres, 
 Governor of Montreal, did all in his Power to 
 give Major Schuyler a proper Reception, by 
 drawing the Militia and regular Troops to- 
 158
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 gether for the Defence of the Place. There 
 happened to be a very considerable Number 
 of Utawawas trading at that Time at Mon- 
 treal, Mr. de Colliere, in Order to engage 
 them to join him, made a great Feast for 
 them, went among them, and, after the In- 
 dian Manner, began the war Song, leading up 
 the Dance with his Axe in his Hand, and 
 shouting and hollowing in the same wild 
 Manner the Indians do. This done, he car- 
 ried his whole Force, which consisted of 
 twelve hundred Men, cross the River, and 
 encamped on the south Side, at la Prairie de 
 la Magdeleine, together with a great Number 
 of Utawawas, the Praying Indians, and other 
 French Indians. The famous Therawaet be- 
 ing now entirely gained by the Caresses of 
 the Count de Frontenac, made one of the 
 Number. They encamped round the Fort, 
 which stood on a steep rising Ground between 
 two Meadows. 
 
 Major Schuyler having left forty of his 
 Men to guard his Canoes, which had carried 
 him cross the Lake, marched on without 
 stopping. He got into a Hollow, which led 
 into the Meadow, without being discovered ; 
 and marching under that Cover, he fell sud- 
 denly upon the Militia, who were soon put 
 into Confusion, and many of them, and of 
 the Utawawas, Avho were posted with them, 
 were killed. He pursued them as they fled 
 159
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 to the Fort, which he attacked briskly, but 
 was obliged to leave it, by the Approach of 
 the regular Troops who came to relieve it. 
 He received them however bravely, and, after 
 they had lost several Officers and many Men, 
 they retired. Major Schuyler finding the 
 Number of the Enemy much greater than was 
 expected, and being informed that a consid- 
 erable Part of the Enemy had marched South- 
 ward, he began to apprehend, that this Party 
 was sent to cut off his Retreat, by destroying 
 his Canoes. It was resolved therefore imme- 
 diately to follow this Party; he overtook 
 them, and they covering themselves behind 
 some large fallen Trees, he attacked them, 
 and made his Way through them, but with 
 considerable Loss. 
 
 In this Attack the Mohawks signalized 
 themselves, but the Scahkook Indians did not 
 behave themselves well. The Mohawks, 
 upon no Occasion, yielded an Inch of Ground, 
 till the English first gave Way. The Frencli, 
 by their own Accounts, lost, in the several 
 Attacks made by Schuyler, two Captains, six 
 Lieutenants, and five Ensigns, and, in all, 
 three hundred Men, so that their Slain were 
 in Number more than Major Schuyler had 
 with him. The Mohawks suffered much, 
 having seventeen Men killed, and eleven 
 wounded. They returned to Albany the elev- 
 enth of August. 
 
 160
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 After the English under Major Schuyler 
 had retired, an Owenagunga Indian cauie from 
 New-England, with an Account of the Prepa- 
 rations made there against Canada, and that 
 they had actually sailed. 
 
 This Fleet, which was commanded by Sir 
 William Phips, was discovered in St. Laurence 
 Bay, while the Count de Frontenac remained 
 at Montreal ; and thereupon he made all pos- 
 sible Haste to Quebeck, and carried three 
 hundred Men with him. 
 
 The Fleet, which consisted of thirty Sail, 
 did not reach Quebeck till the seventh of Oc- 
 tober. Sir William spent three Days in noth- 
 ing but Consultation, while the French made 
 all possible Preparation for a Defence, and, 
 by this Means, suffered them to get over the 
 Fright and'Consternation, into which the first 
 Appearance of the Fleet had thrown them ; 
 for the Place was not in any Posture of De- 
 fence. It gave them Time likewise to draw 
 all the Country round them into the Town. 
 And on the fourth Day Sir William summoned 
 the Count to surrender, who returned him 
 such an Answer as his Conduct deserved. 
 
 The English landed four Miles below the 
 Town, and had thick Woods to march 
 through, before they could come at it, in 
 which Ambuscades of French and Indians 
 were made at proper Distances, by whom the 
 English were repulsed with considerable Loss. 
 
 VOL. I.-U 161
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 They attempted the Wood again the next Day 
 with no better Success. 
 
 The French, in their Account of this Ac- 
 tion, say, that the Men, though they ap- 
 peared to be as little disciplined as Men could 
 be, behaved with great Bravery, but that Sir 
 William's Conduct was such, that, if he had 
 been in Concert with them, he could not have 
 done more to rain the Enterprize ; yet his Fi- 
 delity was never suspected. In short, this 
 Descent was so ill managed, that the English 
 got on Board again in the Night, with the 
 Loss of all the Cannon and Baggage which 
 they had landed. 
 
 The French thought themselves in such 
 great Danger at that Time, that they attrib- 
 uted their Deliverance to the most immediate 
 Protection of Heaven, in confounding the De- 
 vices of their Enemy, and by depriving them 
 of common Sense ; and for this Reason the 
 People of Quebeck make an annual Proces- 
 sion, in Commemoration of this Deliverance. 
 
 Sir William cannonaded the Town for some 
 Time with little Execution, and then returned 
 in Hast, Winter approaching; indeed that 
 Season was already so far advanced, that he 
 lost eight Vessels in his Return. 
 
 The Five Nations continued their Incur- 
 sions all along St. Laurence River, from Mon- 
 treal to Quebeck, and carried away many 
 Scalps. At one Time a French Officer, with 
 162
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 thirty eight Men, surprised some of the Five 
 Nations in a Cabin, which they had built near 
 Lake St. Piere. Some of them escaped and 
 informed two other Cabins, which the French 
 had not discovered, and they returned with 
 their Companions, and killed the Captain and 
 Lieutenant, and one half of the Men. 
 
 Notwithstanding that the French preserved 
 their Country, these warlike Expeditions, 
 and the Necessity they were under of being 
 on their Guard, prevented their cultivating 
 the Ground, or of reaping the Fruit of what 
 they had sowed or planted. This occasioned 
 a Famine in Canada, and, to increase the Mis- 
 ery of the poor Inhabitants, they were forced 
 to feed the Soldiers gratis, while their own 
 Children wanted Bread. 
 
 In October the Onondagas, Cayugas, and 
 Oneydoes came to Albany, to condole with 
 the English, for the Men lost in the Expedi- 
 tion against Montreal, as they had already 
 done with the Mohawks. They said it was 
 ever their Custom to condole with their 
 Friends when they lost any Number of Men 
 in Battle, though they had the Victory. They 
 at the same Time, as they had often done be- 
 fore, complained of the Dearness of Powder : 
 Why, say they, do you call us your King's 
 Soldiers, when you will not sell us Powder at 
 the usual and reasonable Rates? 
 
 And in answer to a Complaint, of there not 
 163
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 being a sufficient dumber of English sent 
 against Montreal, the People of Albany up- 
 braided them with a Breach of Pi'omise, in 
 not sending that Party down Cadarackui 
 River which they promised, which they said 
 was the chief Reason of the want of Success 
 in that Expedition. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 The French and the Five Nations Continue 
 the War all Winter witJi 'various Success. 
 The French burn a Captain of the Five 
 Nations alive. 
 
 THE old French Governor kept up his 
 Vigour and Spirits wonderfully, no Fa- 
 tigue made him ever think of Rest. He 
 knew of what Use it would be to convince the 
 Five Nations, that the joint Attack of the 
 English and Indians had neither weakened 
 him, nor frightened him from carrying on the 
 War with as much Vigour as before. It was 
 absolutely necessary that the Utawawas and 
 other Western Indians, who came to Montreal 
 to trade, should return safe to their own 
 Country, otherwise there would be an End to 
 the French Trade with those Nations, upon 
 which the Being of Canada depends; for it is 
 only by the Fur-trade with these Nations 
 164
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 that they make Keturns to Europe ; and if 
 these Nations did not return in Time, all the 
 Western Indians would look on the French 
 as lost, and consequently would make Peace 
 with the Five Nations, and perhaps join in 
 the Destruction of Canada. 
 
 Captain la Forest, with one hundred and 
 ten Men, was sent to conduct the Utawawas 
 Home; he carried with him considerable 
 Presents sent by the King of France, to con- 
 firm these Nations in the French Interest. 
 
 Two Indian Prisoners, taken at la Prairie, 
 were given to the Utawawas, and carried with 
 them, to confirm the Stories they were to tell 
 of their Successes against the English and 
 Five Nations. These poor Men were there 
 burnt alive ; and if I should add, that it was 
 done by French Instigation, what I shall re- 
 late by and by will clear me of the want of 
 Charity. I believe it was so, in Order to rivet 
 the Hatred between these People and the 
 Five Nations. 
 
 The Five Nations continued their Incur- 
 sions all Winter on Canada. Forty of the 
 Mohawks fell upon Fort Vercheres, and car- 
 ried off twenty of the Inhabitants; but the 
 Alarm reaching Montreal, Mr. de Crizaei, 
 with one hundred Men of the regular Troops, 
 was sent in pursuit of them, who recovered 
 most of the Prisoners. 
 
 The Count de Frontenac being informed, 
 165
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 that a considerable Party of the Five Nations 
 hunted Bever on the Neck of Land between 
 Cadarackui Lake and Lake Erie, with great 
 Security, resolved to give them a better 
 Opinion of the Strength and Courage of the 
 French.. For this Purpose he sent three hun- 
 dred and twelve Men to surprise them, under 
 the Command of Mr. Beaucour, a young Gen- 
 tleman. The Praying Indians of Montreal 
 were of the Party. This Expedition being in 
 the Winter, they were obliged to undergo 
 cruel Fatigues, while they marched on the 
 Snow with snow Shoes, and carried all their 
 Provision on their Backs. Several of the 
 French had their Feet frozen, which obliged 
 fifteen to return, with some old Indians, that 
 could not bear the Fatigue ; and it was with 
 much Difficulty that Beaucour could persuade 
 the rest to continue their March. After a 
 March to a surprizing Distance, at that Sea- 
 son of the Year, they surprised eighty of the 
 Five Nations, who notwithstanding made a 
 brave Defence, and did not run before they 
 left most of their Men dead on the Spot. 
 Three Women were made Prisoners, with 
 whom the French immediately turned back 
 to Montreal. Some stragling Parties went 
 towards Albany, but did no more Mischief 
 than killing two or three stragling Persons, 
 and alarming the Country. 
 
 The Trade to Missilimakinak being still in- 
 166
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 tirely stopt, by the Parties of the Five Na- 
 tions investing Cadarackui River, by which, 
 and Cadarackui Lake, the Passage in Canoes 
 is made to the Western Indians, Captain la 
 Noue, with a Command of the regular Troops, 
 was ordered early in the Spring to guard the 
 Traders through that Passage ; but when he 
 reached the Falls de Caluniette, he discovered 
 the Enemy, and returned faster than he went. 
 
 La Noue had Orders a second Time to at- 
 tempt this Passage, and went as far as the 
 Kiver du Lievre (thirty Leagues from Mon- 
 treal) without any Obstruction; but there 
 discovering several Canoes of the Five Na- 
 tions, he went back as fast as before. 
 
 The Quatoghies and the Bullheads* having 
 informed the French of another smaller Riv- 
 er, which falls into Cadarackui River, and 
 runs to the Northward of it, by which a Pas- 
 sage might be made to the Lakes, it was re- 
 solved to attempt this Passage, though it 
 were much farther round, and more danger- 
 ous, there being many more rapid Falls in 
 that Kiver. Three Officers, with thirty Sol- 
 diers, were sent with the Traders for this 
 Purpose, but a Party of the Five Nations 
 meeting with them in the long Fall, before 
 they reached this River, they were all killed 
 or taken, except four that escaped back to 
 Montreal. 
 
 * The Bullheads are said to be cowardly People. 
 167
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 A considerable Party of the Five Nations, 
 under the Command of Blackkettle, a famous 
 Hero, continued a long Time on Cadarackui 
 River, in hopes of meeting with other French 
 Parties, in their Passage towards Missili- 
 makinak ; but rinding that no Attempts were 
 made that Way, he resolved to make an Ir- 
 ruption into the Country round Montreal. 
 The French say he had six hundred Men with 
 him ; but they usually increase the Numb'er 
 of their Enemies, in the Relation they give of 
 these Transactions, either to excuse their 
 Fears, or to increase their Glory. 
 
 Blackkettle overrun the Country (to use the 
 French Expression) as a Torrent does the 
 Low-lands, when it overflows its Banks, and 
 there is no withstanding it. The Soldiers 
 had Orders to stand upon the defensive with- 
 in their Forts. Mr. deVaudreu.il pursued this 
 Party (after they had burnt and ravaged the 
 whole Country) at the Head of four hundred 
 Men; he overtook them and surprised them. 
 The Five Nations fought desperately, though 
 the same Author, at this Place, makes them 
 no more than two hundred Men. After they 
 had lost twenty Men on the Spot, they broke 
 through the French, and marched off. The 
 French lost four Officers and many common 
 Soldiers, and they took five Men, nine Wom- 
 en, and five Children Prisoners. 
 
 The Five Nations in a few Days had how- 
 168
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 ever some Revenge; a Captain having had 
 Orders to guard the Vessels from Montreal 
 to Quebeck, a Party of the Five Nations 
 attacked him in his Return, as he passed 
 through the Islands in Lake St. Pierre. He 
 himself was killed, and the whole Party in- 
 tirely routed. 
 
 The French all this Summer were obliged 
 to keep upon the defensive within their Forts, 
 while the Five Nations, in small Parties, rav- 
 aged the whole Country, so that no Man 
 stirred the least Distance from a Fort, but he 
 was in danger of losing his Scalp. 
 
 The Count de Frontenac was pierced to the 
 Heart, when he found that he could not re- 
 venge these terrible Incursions of the Five 
 Nations ; and his Anguish made him guilty 
 of such a Piece of monstrous Cruelty, in burn- 
 ing a Prisoner alive after the Indian Manner, 
 as though I have frequently mentioned to 
 have been done by the Indians, yet I forbore 
 giving the Particulars of such barbarous Acts, 
 suspecting it might be too offensive to Chris- 
 tian Ears, even in the History of Savages. 
 Here however I think it useful to give a cir- 
 cumstantial Account of this horrid Act, to 
 shew on one Hand, what Courage and Reso- 
 lution, Virtue, the Love of Glory, and the 
 Love of one's Country can instill into Mens 
 Minds, even where the Knowledge of true 
 Religion is wanting ; and on the other Hand, 
 169
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 how far a false Policy, under a corrupt Reli- 
 gion, can debase even great Minds. 
 
 The Count de Frontenac, I say, condemned 
 two Prisoners of the Five Nations to be burnt 
 publickly alive. The Intendant's Lady in- 
 treated him to moderate the Sentence, and 
 the Jesuits, it is said, used their Endeavours 
 for the same Purpose. But the Count de 
 Frontenac said, there is a Necessity of mak- 
 ing such an Example, to frighten the Five 
 Nations from approaching the Plantations, 
 since the Indulgence, that had hitherto been 
 shewn, had incouraged them to advance with 
 the greatest Boldness to the very Gates of 
 their Towns ; while they thought they run no 
 other Risque, but of being made Prisoners, 
 where they live better than at Home. He 
 added, that the Five Nations having burnt so 
 many French, justified this Method of mak- 
 ing Reprizals. But with Submission to the 
 Politeness of the French Nation, may I not 
 ask, whether every (or any) horrid Action of 
 a barbarous Enemy, can justify a civilized 
 Nation in doing the like? 
 
 When the Governor could not be moved, 
 the Jesuits went to the Prison, to instruct 
 the Prisoners in "the Mysteries of our Holy 
 Religion, viz. of the Trinity, the Incarnation 
 of our Saviour, the Joys of Paradise, and the 
 Punishments of Hell, to fit their Souls for 
 Heaven by Baptism, while their Bodies were 
 170
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, <fcc. 
 
 condemned to Torments. But the Indians, 
 after they had heard their Sentence, refused 
 to hear the Jesuits speak, and began to pre- 
 pare for Death in their own Country Manner, 
 by singing their Death Song. 
 
 Some charitable Person threw a Knife into 
 the Prison, with which one of them dispatched 
 himself: The other was carried out to the 
 Place of Execution by the Christian Indians 
 of Loretto, to which he walked, seemingly, 
 with as much Indifference as ever Martyr did 
 to the Stake. While they were torturing him 
 he continued singing, that he was a Warrior 
 brave and without Fear ; that the most cruel 
 Death could not shake his Courage ; that the 
 most cruel Torment should not draw an inde- 
 cent Expression from him ; that his Comrade 
 was a Coward, a Scandal to the Five Nations, 
 who had killed himself for fear of Pain ; that 
 he had the Comfort to reflect, that he had 
 made many Frenchmen suffer as he did now. 
 He fully verified his Words, for the most vio- 
 lent Torment could not force the least Com- 
 plaint from him, though his Executioners 
 tried their utmost Skill to do it. They first 
 broiled his Feet between two red hot Stones; 
 then they put his Fingers into red hot Pipes, 
 and though lie had his Arms at Liberty, he 
 would not pull his Fingers out ; they cut his 
 Joints, and taking hold of the Sinews, twisted 
 them round small Bars of Iron. All this 
 171
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 while he kept singing and recounting his own 
 brave Actions against the French. At last 
 they flead his Scalp from his Skull, and 
 poured scalding hot Sand upon it ; at which 
 Time the Intendant's Lady obtained Leave 
 of the Governor to have the Coup-de-grace 
 given, and I believe she thereby likewise ob- 
 tained a Favour to every Reader, in deliver- 
 ing him from a further continuance of this 
 Account of French Cruelty. 
 
 Notwithstanding this Cruelty, which the 
 French Governor manifested towards the Five 
 Nations, and thereby his Hatred of them, he 
 found Peace with them so necessary to Cana- 
 da, that he still pursued it by all the Means 
 in his Power. For this Purpose the Praying 
 Indians (who, as I observed before, are Mo- 
 hawks, and have always kept a Correspond- 
 ence with their own Nation) were employed 
 to bring it about, and to endeavour a Cessa- 
 tion of Arms, that the Governor might have 
 an Opportunity of shewing what kind Things 
 he had in his Heart towards the Five Nations, 
 but without Success. 
 
 172
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 CHAP. VII. 
 
 The Five Nations treat with Captain 
 Ingoldsby. 
 
 THE Governor of New- York, Colonel 
 Slaughter's Death, soon after his Arri- 
 val, was very prejudicial to the Affairs of 
 New- York ; for Captain Ingoldsby, who had 
 no other Commission but that of Captain of 
 one of the Independent Companies of Foot, 
 took upon himself the Government of the 
 Province, without any Authority; and he 
 having likewise highly offended a great Num- 
 ber of the People, by the Share he took in 
 the late Party Quarrels, it was not easy 
 for him to prosecute any vigorous Measures. 
 He was reckoned to be much more a Soldier 
 than a Statesman. 
 
 Captain Ingoldsby met the Five Nations at 
 Albany, the sixth of June 1692. In his 
 Speech, he told them of his vigorous Resolu- 
 tions to prosecute the War, and then blamed 
 them for not sending (according to their 
 Promise) a Party down Cadarackui River, to 
 join them that went from Albany against 
 Montreal, and for their Carelessness in suf- 
 fering themselves to be surprised last Winter 
 in their Hunting. He desired them to keep 
 173
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 the Enemy in perpetual Alarm, by the Incur- 
 sions of their Parties into the Enemy's Coun- 
 try, and to give him timely Notice of all their 
 Motions. He told them in the next Place, 
 that he heard the French were still using 
 their wonted Artifice, of amusing them with 
 Offers of Peace ; but the former Proceedings 
 of the French sufficiently demonstrates, said 
 he to the Brethren, that while Peace is in 
 their Mouths, War is in their Hearts, and the 
 late horrid Murder of the Brethren, after 
 Quarter given, sufficiently shews the Perfidy 
 and Rancour of their Hearts. It is in vain, 
 said he, to think of any Cessation of Arms, 
 much less of a Peace, while the two Kings 
 are at War at Home. He added, Virginia is 
 ready to assist us, and only waits the King's 
 Orders, which are daily expected, and then 
 renewed the Chain for Virginia. In the last 
 Place he told them, that he heard the Dion- 
 ondadas had sent two Prisoners Home, with 
 a View thereby to procure Peace ; and advised 
 them by all Means to make Peace with that 
 Nation. 
 
 The Five Nations answered by Cheda, an 
 Oneydo Sachem: 
 
 "Brother Corlear, 
 
 The Sachems of the Five Nations have 
 with great Attention heard Corlear speak ; we 
 shall make a short Recital, to shew you with 
 174
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 what Care we have hearkened. After the 
 Recital he continued. 
 
 We heartily thank Corlear, for his coming 
 to this Place to view the Strength thereof, for 
 his bringing Forces with him, and for his Res- 
 olution of putting Garisons into the Frontier 
 Places. Giving five Bevers and a Belt. 
 
 Brother Corlear, as to what you blame us 
 for, let us not reproach one another, such 
 Words do not savour well among Friends. 
 They gave nothing with this Article. 
 
 Brother Corlear, be patient under the Loss 
 of your Men, as we are of the Mohawks our 
 Brethren, that were killed at the same Time. 
 You take no Notice of the great Losses we 
 have suffered. We designed to have come to 
 this Place to have condoled with you in your 
 Loss, but the War took up all our Time, and 
 employed all Hands. They gave five Bevers, 
 four Otters, and one Belt, as a Gift of Con- 
 dolence. 
 
 Brother Corlearj we are all Subjects of one 
 great King and Queen, we have one Head, 
 one Heart, one Interest, and are all ingaged 
 in the same War. You tell us, that we must 
 expect no Peace while the Kings are at War 
 on the other Side the great Water. We 
 thank you for being so plain with us. We 
 assure you we have no Thoughts of Peace. 
 We are resolved to carry on the War, though 
 we know we only are in danger of being 
 175
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Losers. Pray do you prosecute the War with 
 the same Resolution. You are strong and 
 have many People. You have a great King, 
 who is able to hold out long. We are but a 
 small People, and decline daily, by the Men 
 we lose in this War, we do our utmost to de- 
 stroy the Enemy; but how strange does it 
 seem to us ! How unaccountable that while 
 our great King is so inveterate against the 
 French, and you are so earnest with us to 
 carry on the War, that Powder is now sold 
 dearer to us than ever? We are poor, and 
 not able to buy while we neglect hunting; 
 and we cannot hunt and carry on the War at 
 the same Time : We expect, that this Evil we 
 so justly complain of be immediately reme- 
 died. Giving nine JBevers. 
 
 Brother Corlear, you desire us to keep the 
 Enemy in perpetual Alarm, that they may 
 have no Rest, till they are in their Graves ; 
 Is it not to secure your own Frontiers? Why 
 then not one Word of your People that are 
 to join us? We assure you we shall continue 
 to carry on the War into the Heart of the 
 Enemies Country. Giving eight Bevers. 
 
 We the Five Nations, Mohawks, Oneydoes, 
 Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senekas, renew the 
 Silver Chain whereby we are linked fast 
 with our Brethren of Assarigoa (Virginia) and 
 we promise to preserve it as long as the Sun 
 shall shine in the Heavens. Giving ten Bevers. 
 176
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 But Brother Corlear, How comes it, that 
 none of our Brethren fastened in the same 
 Chain with us, offer their helping Hand in 
 this general War, in which our great King is 
 engaged against the French? Pray Corlear, 
 how come Maryland, Delaware River, and 
 New-England, to be disengaged from this 
 War? You have always told us, that they 
 are our Brethren, Subjects of the same great 
 King. Has our King sold them? Or do 
 they fail in their Obedience? Or do they 
 draw their Arms out of our Chain? Or has 
 the great King commanded, that the few 
 Subjects he has in this Place, should make 
 War against the French alone? Pray make 
 plain to us this Mystery? How can they and 
 we be Brethren, and make different Families? 
 How can they and we be Subjects of the same 
 great King, and not be engaged in the same 
 War? How can they and we have the same 
 Heart, the same Head, and the same Interest, 
 as you tell us, and not have the same 
 Thoughts? How comes it, that the Enemy 
 burns and destroys the Towns in New-Eng- 
 land, and they make no Eesistance? How 
 comes our great King to make War, and not 
 to destroy his Enemies? When, if he would 
 only command his Subjects on this Side the 
 great Lake to joyn, the Destruction of the 
 Enemy would not make one Summer's Work. 
 
 You need not warn us of the Deceit and 
 VOL. I 13 177
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 Treachery of the French, who would probably 
 insinuate Thoughts of Peace ; but Brethren, 
 you need not fear us, we will never hearken 
 to them : Tho' at the same Time, we must 
 own, that we have not been without Thoughts 
 of your being inclined to Peace, by Reason of 
 the Brethrens Backwardness in pushing on 
 the War. The French spread Eeports among 
 us to this Purpose, and say, that they had in 
 a Manner concluded the Matter with you. 
 We rejoice to be now assured of this Fals- 
 hood. We shall never desist fighting the 
 French as long as we shall live. And gave a 
 Belt of Wampum. 
 
 We now renew the old Chain, and here 
 plant the Tree of Prosperity and Peace. May 
 it grow and thrive, and spread its Roots even 
 beyond Canada. Giving a Belt. 
 
 We make the House clean, where all our 
 Affairs of Importance are transacted with 
 these five Otters. 
 
 We return you Thanks for the Powder and 
 Lead given us ; but what shall we do with 
 them without Guns, shall we throw them at 
 the Enemy? We doubt they will not hurt 
 them so. Before this we always had Guns 
 given us. It is no Wonder the Governor of 
 Canada gains upon us, for he supplies his 
 Indians with Guns as well as Powder; he 
 supplies them plentifully with every Thing 
 that can hurt us. Giving five Otters. 
 178
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 As to the Dionondadas setting two of our 
 Nation at Liberty, we must tell you , that it 
 was not the Act of that Nation, but the pri- 
 vate Act of one Person : We are desirous to 
 make Peace with that Nation as soon as we 
 can, upon honourable Terms. And gave a 
 Belt. 
 
 The Mohawks, before they left the Place, 
 desired a private Conference with the Gover- 
 nor, and told him, that they were all exceed- 
 ingly dissatisfied, that the other English Col- 
 onies gave no Assistance, and that it might 
 prove of ill Consequence. Captain Ingoldsby 
 promised to write to them, and hoped it 
 would have a good Effect. 
 
 CHAP. IX. 
 
 The French surprise and take three Mohawk 
 Castles. 
 
 THE Praying Indians promised their En- 
 deavours to reconcile their Brethren 
 the Mohawks to the French, on whom the 
 French expected they would have much In- 
 fluence ; but their Endeavours proving ineffec- 
 tual, their Correspondence began to be sus- 
 pected. The French thought they did more 
 Hurt than Good, by the Intelligence the Ene- 
 179
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 my by their Means received. The French in 
 Canada began to lose their Spirits, by being 
 obliged to remain so long upon the defensive, 
 as the Five Nations gained more Courage by 
 it. The Count de Frontenac thought it there- 
 fore absolutely necessary to undertake some 
 bold Enterprize, to shew the Five Nations, 
 that they had to do with an Enemy still able 
 to act offensively: An Attack on the Mo- 
 hawks he thought would be most effectual for 
 this Purpose, because it would shew, at the 
 same Time, that the English would not pro- 
 tect their nearest Neighboiirs. As this was 
 designed to be done by Surprize, the Winter 
 Season was chosen for this Purpose, as least 
 to be suspected at such a Time ; and when the 
 Enemy could not, without great Hardship, 
 keep Scouts abroad, to discover them or the 
 English give any Assistance. 
 
 The Body of the French designed for this 
 Expedition was put under three Captains of 
 the regular Troops, and thirty Subalterns, and 
 consisted of picked Men of the regular Troops 
 of the common Militia of the Country of the 
 Praying Indians, the Quatoghies of Loretto, 
 Adirondacks, and Sohokies, who live to the 
 eastward of Boston, making in all about six 
 or seven hundred Men, so that a great Part 
 of the Force of Canada was employed in it. 
 They were well supplied with all Sorts of 
 Ammunition, Provision, Snow-Shoes, and 
 180
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 such Conveniencies for Carriage, as were 
 practicable upon the Snow, and through such 
 great Forests as they had to pass. The 
 French at Canada have a Kind of light 
 Sledges made with Skins, and are drawn by 
 large Dogs on the frozen Snow. 
 
 They set out from la Prairie de Magdaleine 
 the 15th of January 1692-3, after having 
 endured what might have been thought unsur- 
 mountable Hardships ; they passed by Sche- 
 nectady at some Distance from it, on the 8th 
 of February, at which Time one that had 
 been taken Prisoner, when that Place was 
 sacked, made his Escape from them, and gave 
 the People of Schenectady Intelligence of the 
 French, who by an Express, immediately in- 
 formed the Commandant of Albany. The 
 Militia was expeditiously raised, and a Lieu- 
 tenant with fifty five Horse was immediately 
 dispatched to Schenectady ; but no Care was 
 taken to give the Mohawks Notice, which 
 might have been done without much Danger, 
 by sending up the South Side of the River, 
 whilst the French marched on the North. 
 The French, on the 8th at Night, reached the 
 first Mohawk Castle, where there were only 
 five Men, and some Women and Children in 
 great Security, their other Men being all 
 abroad, these were all taken without Opposi- 
 tion. The next Fort not far from it was in 
 like Manner surprized, without any Opposi- 
 181
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 tion, both of them were very small, and be- 
 ing next the English, not fortified. 
 
 Scheuectady being the nearest English Set- 
 tlement to the Mohawks, and but a little 
 Way from their nearest Castle, many of them 
 are always there. The Mohawks then in the 
 Town were exceedingly enraged, that none 
 went out to assist their Nation ; some were 
 sent therefore out the next Day, to gain In- 
 formation of the Enemy, and to give the 
 Mohawks Notice ; but they returned without 
 doing their Duty. 
 
 The French went on to the next Mohawk 
 Fort, which was the largest ; and coming to 
 that in the Night, they heard some Noise, 
 and suspected they were discovered: But 
 this Noise was only occasioned by a Wai- 
 Dance, forty of the Indians designing to go 
 next Day upon some Enterprize. The French 
 approached the Castle silently, and finding 
 the Indians no way on their Guard, opened 
 the Gate, and entered before they were dis- 
 covered; but notwithstanding this, and the 
 Confusion the Indians must be in, this Con- 
 quest was not without Loss of Blood, the 
 French having lost thirty Men, before the In- 
 dians entirely submitted: The French de- 
 signed to have put them all to the Sword, but 
 their own Indians would not suffer it, and 
 gave Quarter : They took three hundred Pris- 
 oners, of whom one hundred were fighting 
 182
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Men. I have no Account of the Number of 
 Mohawks killed, but no Doubt it was very 
 considerable. 
 
 When the Account came to Albany, how 
 much the Mohawks, who were at Schenectady, 
 were enraged, that no Assistance was sent to 
 their Countrymen; Peter Schuyler a Major 
 of the Militia offered himself to go with what 
 Force could be got ready for their Assistance. 
 He went himself immediately to Schenectady, 
 and sent out to discover the Enemy: His 
 Scouts brought him Intelligence, first, that the 
 French were in Possession of the two small- 
 est Forts, afterwards, that they had heard 
 great Firing at the largest Fort ; and at last, 
 that it was taken. Having received 200 
 Men, partly regular Troops, but most of the 
 Militia, he began his March on the 12th in 
 Quest of the Enemy ; but hearing soon after, 
 that six hundred Men of the upper Castles 
 were on their March, 'tis probable he did not 
 endeavor to be up with the French so soon as 
 he might ; for I find by his Journal, that he 
 was nearer them on the fourteenth, than he 
 was two Days after. He had not sufficient 
 Force to fight them : He sent therefore to the 
 upper Indians, to hasten their March. On 
 the 15th he was joined by these Indians, in 
 all two hundred and ninety Men and Boys, 
 very ill armed. His Body then consisted of 
 two hundred and fifty Christians, and two 
 183
 
 THE HISTORY OF THE 
 
 hundred and ninety Indians, armed fighting 
 Men. They had no other Provision but some 
 Biscuit every Man had in his Pocket. On 
 the 16th he was informed by an Indian, who 
 pretended to be a Deserter, that the French 
 had built a Fort, where they designed to wait 
 for him, and fight him ; whereupon he sent 
 an Express to Coll. Ingoldesby, then Com- 
 mandant at Albany, to hasten more Men to 
 join him, with sufficient Provision for the 
 whole. He found afterwards, that this In- 
 dian was sent by the French, on purpose to 
 persuade the Indians to give over the Pursuit. 
 Major Schuyler came up to the Enemy on the 
 17th ; when he came near them he did not go 
 on streight towards them, for Fear of Am- 
 buscades, but marched round. As soon as he 
 came in Sight, he was saluted with three loud 
 Shouts, which were answered with as much 
 Noise. The Indians began in their Manner 
 to secure themselves, by felling the Trees be- 
 tween them, and the Enemy sallied out to 
 prevent them, but were soon beat back. The 
 Indians fell to Work again, and desired the 
 Christians to assist them, which was done, 
 but in such confusion, that they themselves 
 were in Danger from the falling Trees. The 
 French sallied a second Time with all their 
 Force, crying out, They run, we'll cut them 
 off, and get their Provisions ; but they were 
 warmly received, and beat back into their 
 184
 
 FIVE INDIAN NATIONS, &c. 
 
 Fort. They sallied a third Time, and were 
 beat back with considerable Loss, the Indians 
 bringing in several Heads and Scalps. As 
 soon as the Skirmishing was over, the Major 
 sent .back an Express, to hasten the Men that 
 were to reinforce him, and were to bring Pro- 
 vision, some of the Men having had no Pro- 
 vision for two Days. The Major then secured 
 himself, under the Cover of the fallen Trees, 
 and kept out Watches to observe the French. 
 The 18th proving a cold stormy Day, with 
 Snow, he was informed, by a Deserter, that 
 the French were upon their March, it not 
 being easy to follow their Tracks, or to dis- 
 cover them in such Weather. The Officers 
 were commanded to pursue and retard their 
 March, till the Reinforcement should come 
 up, but the Men refused to march without 
 Provision. The Officers, with about 60 Men, 
 and a Body of Indians, followed the Enemy 
 till Night, when they began to secure them- 
 selves, by fortifying their Camp. The Offi- 
 cers wanting a sufficient Number to secure 
 themselves in like Manner, or to fight the 
 Enemy, returned, leaving about forty Chris- 
 tians, and one hundred Indians, to observe 
 them. On the 19th the Provisions, with 
 about 80 Men, arrived, under the Command 
 of Captain Sims of the regular Troops. 
 Every Man, as he was served with Provisions, 
 marched towards the Enemy. The Van was 
 185