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HISTORY 
 
 wta inks; 0{ iutott's 
 
 ORIGIN, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS; TRIBAL 
 
 AND SUB-TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS; 
 
 WARS, TREATIES, ETC., ETC. 
 
 .. 
 
 * 
 
 BY 
 fl 
 
 RUTTENBER, \6aS~- 
 
 ^x 
 
 Author of the History of Nevvburgh. 
 
 "I'lS GOOD TO MUSE ON NATIONS PASSED AWAY 
 
 FOREVER FROM THE LAND WE CALL OUR OWN ; 
 NATIONS AS PROUD AND MIGHTY IN THEIR DAY, 
 WHO DEEMED THAT EVERLASTING WAS THEIR THRONE." 
 
 Sands. 
 
 ALBANY, N. Y. : 
 J. MUNSELL, 82 STATE STREET. 
 
 1872. 
 
H7S 
 
 Entered according to Act of Congress in the year 1872, 
 
 By E. M. RUTTENBEB, 
 In the Office of the Librarian of Congress at Washington. 
 
353 \O 
 
 Bancroft Librao> 
 
 PREFACE. 
 
 HE pioneer in new fields of historic inquiry 
 encounters many obstacles from which those 
 who follow the more beaten paths of investi 
 gation are exempt, and especially so if the inquiry 
 involves conclusions differing materially from those 
 which have been generally accepted. The experience 
 of the author in prosecuting the investigations, the 
 results of which have been embodied in the work which 
 is now submitted to the public, have been no exception 
 to this rule. Not only had the history of the Indians 
 who occupied the valley of Hudson's river never been 
 written, but the incidental references to them, in the 
 histories of nations more prominent at a later period 
 treating them as mere fragmentary bands without 
 organization or political position among the aboriginal 
 nations being regarded as erroneous^ the inquiry 
 involved the rejection, to a very great extent, of the 
 conclusions of others, and the investigation and ana- 
 lyzation of original sources of information. To 
 extract the truth and embody it in consistent narrative, 
 has involved no little labor and research, and the 
 careful weighing of words ; and, although the results 
 1 
 
iv PREFACE. 
 
 may not be stated in the clearest terms or the most 
 flowing rhetoric, nor entirely without error, they are 
 nevertheless believed to fully sustain the conclusion 
 that the tribes in question have a history which enti 
 tles them to a high rank in the annals . of aboriginal 
 nations, and which assigns to them native abilities as 
 distinguished, eloquence as pure, bravery and prowess 
 as unquestionable, as was possessed by those who, pre 
 served for a greater time in their national integrity by 
 their remoteness from civilization, became of more 
 esteem in their relations to the government but less 
 noble in their purposes. 
 
 It has been the object of the author to trace the his 
 tory of the Indians from the earliest period; to show 
 their original position in the family of nations, and that 
 which they subsequently maintained ; the wrongs which 
 they suffered, and the triumphs which they won ; their 
 greatness and their decay. In the narrative, liberal use 
 has been made of current histories, so far as their state 
 ments were found to be in accordance with the facts. 
 Acknowledgment, it is believed, has been fully made, 
 and even to an extent which is not customary. Very 
 full notes have been introduced for the purpose of 
 explaining the text and enabling the reader to judge 
 of the correctness of the conclusions drawn therefrom. 
 As far as possible the narrative has been divested of 
 the recitation of events which do not pertain to it, 
 and though necessarily running beyond the limits of 
 the territory regarded as the valley of the Hudson, 
 has been as closely confined to it as possible, too 
 closely perhaps, as it is believed that the eastern 
 
PREFACE. v 
 
 Indians have the same claim to consideration as a con 
 federacy as the western. 
 
 The work is submitted to the judgment of the 
 public, with a desire that the author may be lost in the 
 theme which he has presented, and the truth of history 
 vindicated in behalf of a people that have left behind 
 no monuments to their memory save those erected by 
 their destroyers. 
 
 NEWBURGH, N. Y. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 HUDSON IN THE MAHICANITUK His INTERCOURSE WITH THE 
 INDIANS THEIR TRADITIONS CONCERNING HIS VISIT. 
 
 | AILING under the auspices of the Dutch West 
 India Company, HENRY HUDSON, an intrepid Eng 
 lish navigator, moored his vessel, the Half Moon, on 
 the morning of September 3d, 1609, in the waters 
 of the river which now bears his name. Lingering off Sandy 
 Hook a week, he passed through the Narrows, and anchored 
 in what is now Newark bay. On the I2th, he resumed his 
 voyage, and slowly drifting with the tide, anchored over night, 
 on the 1 3th, just above Yonkers, the great river stretching on 
 before him to the north and giving to his ardent mind the hope 
 that he had at last discovered the gateway to the Eastern seas. 
 On the 1 4th, he passed Tappan and Haverstraw bays, and 
 sailed through the majestic pass guarded by the frowning Don- 
 derberg, and anchored at night near West Point, in the midst 
 of the sublimest scenery of the mountains. On the morning of 
 the 1 5th, he entered Newburgh bay, and reached Katskill; on 
 the 1 6th, Athens; on the iyth, Castleton; on the 1 8th, Albany. 
 Here he remained several days, sending an exploring boat as far 
 as Waterford, and sadly learning that he had reached the head 
 of navigation, and that the Eastern passage was yet an unsolved 
 problem. His return voyage began on the 2$d ; on the 25th, 
 
8 
 
 HISTORT OF THE INDIAN 
 
 he anchored in Newburgh bay; reached Stony point on the 
 ist of October ; on the 4th, Sandy Hook, and sailed from thence 
 
 Newburgh Bay. 
 
 to Europe, bearing with him the information which he had col 
 lected, not the least of which in importance was that in relation 
 to the native lords whom he had met on the banks of the river 
 he had discovered, and who then broke the silvery surface of 
 its waters with their light canoes and awoke the echoes of its 
 mountain sides with their wild choruses, of whose power it was 
 an emblem, on the waters of which, as they faded away in the 
 north, was wafted their war shallops into tributaries that 
 stretched on to the lakes and the great river of Canada, bearing 
 with them the prestige of savage supremacy. 
 
 Hudson first met the Indians near the Narrows, where they 
 came on board his vessel " clothed in mantles of feathers and 
 robes of fur, the women, clothed in hemp, red copper tobacco 
 pipes, and other things of copper they did wear about their 
 necks;" of arms they brought none, their mission was peace; 
 but he "durst not trust them." Suspicion breeds suspicion, 
 and suspicion leads to violence. Sending an exploring boat up 
 the river the next day, it was attacked, on its return to the ship, 
 
TRIBES OF HUDSON'S RWER. 9 
 
 and one of the English sailors, John Coleman, was killed by an 
 arrow shot in the throat. 1 He was buried upon the adjacent 
 beach, the first European victim of an Indian weapon on the 
 Mahicanituk. The offense which had been committed by 
 himself and his companions is not stated, but may be inferred. 
 They were far from the ship, the night came on and a thick 
 cloud of rain and fog 'settled over them ; seeing their condition, 
 the Indians sprang to their boats to rescue them, fear seized 
 them, the savage was more dreaded then the tempest, a falcon 
 shot was hurled at the approaching canoes, the swift arrow re 
 plied, and "in the fight one man was slain and two more hurt." 
 Day after day the Indians came on board, brought tobacco and 
 Indian wheat, and oysters and beans, " making show of love," 
 but he " durst not trust them." They brought their women 
 and children with them, but he " durst not trust them." At 
 Yonkers they came on board in large numbers ; here he de 
 tained two of them, and dressed them in red coats, and though 
 they jumped from the ports and swam away, their detention 
 was not the less a violation of the laws of hospitality, so they 
 regarded it, for when they had reached the shore they called to 
 him " in scorn." 
 
 At Katskill he found a "very loving people and very old 
 men." They brought on board " Indian corn, pumpkins, and 
 tobacco," and used him well. At Castleton they were very 
 sociable, and the " master's mate went on land 2 with an old 
 savage, a governor of the country, who carried him to his house 
 and made him good cheere." " I sailed to the shore," he says, 
 " in one of their canoes, with an old man who was chief of a 
 tribe consisting of forty men and seventeen women. These I 
 saw there in a house well constructed of oak bark, and circular 
 in shape, so that it had the appearance of being built with an 
 
 1 Coleman's point is the monument to voyage, but is very precise in its state- 
 
 this occurrence. ments as to who visited the shore in this, 
 
 3 It has been assumed on the authority and in other instances. He does not give 
 
 of a quotation alleged by De Laet to have the latitude, but from the ship's log it 
 
 been made from a journal kept by Hud- would seem that the place was " six leagues 
 
 son, that the place of this visit was in higher," up the river than that fixed by 
 
 latitude 42, 18', or in the vicinity of the De Laet, and that it was at Schodac or 
 
 present city of Hudson. (N. T. Hist. Soc. Castleton. O'Callaghan, i, 37; Brod- 
 
 Coll.y I, 300). The journal kept by Juet heady I, 31 } Collections of the Nenv Tork 
 
 was not only the official record of the Historical Society, ad Ser. i, 326. 
 
- , 
 
 10 HIS10RT OF THE INDIAN 
 
 arched roof. It contained a large quantity of corn and beans 
 of last year's growth, and there lay near the house, for the pur 
 pose of drying, enough to load three ships, besides what was 
 growing in the fields. On our coming to the house two mats 
 were spread out to sit upon, and some food was immediately 
 served in well-made wooden bowls. Two men were also dis 
 patched at once, with bows and arrows, in quest of game, who 
 soon brought in a pair of pigeons which they had shot. They 
 likewise killed a fat dog, 1 and skinned it in great haste, with 
 shells which they had got out of the water. They supposed 
 that I would remain with them for the night ; " but when they 
 saw that he desired to return to the ship and that he would not 
 remain, they supposed he u was afraid of their bows and arrows, 
 and taking their arms they broke them in pieces and threw them 
 in the fire." 
 
 At Albany, Hudson repaid the old governor for his entertain 
 ment. The Indians flocked to visit his vessel, and he deter 
 mined to try some of their chief men to see " whether they had 
 any treachery in them." " So they took them down into the 
 cabin, and gave them so much wine and aqua vita that they 
 were all merry. In the end one of them was drunk, and they 
 could not tell how to take it." At night they all departed, ex 
 cept the old man who had taken the aqua vita ; " he slept all 
 night quietly." On the following day they came again, and 
 when they saw that their chief had recovered from his debauch 
 they were glad. They returned to their castle and " brought 
 tobacco and beads " and gave them to Hudson, " and made an 
 oration, and showed him all the country roundabout." u Then 
 they sent one of their company on land again, who presently 
 returned and brought a great platter full of venison, dressed by 
 themselves," and caused Hudson " to eat with them ; then they 
 made him reverence, and departed, all save the old man " who 
 had found the Indian's paradise with the white man's rum. 
 But he took his departure the next day, and two days after re 
 turned, bringing " another old man with him " from the place 
 where " the loving people " had first been met. He too brought 
 belts of wampum beads and gave them to Hudson, " and shewed 
 
 Probably a black bear. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 11 
 
 him all the country thereabout, as though it were at his com 
 mand. So he made the two old men dine with him, and the 
 old man's wife; for they brought two old women, and two 
 young maidens of the age of sixteen or seventeen years with 
 them, who behaved themselves very modestly." No doubt 
 more wine was served at this dinner, but the aqua vitee was evi 
 dently omitted, for the party took their departure at one o'clock. 
 On his return voyage " the loving people " met Hudson 
 again, and " would have him go on land and eat with them ; " but 
 the wind was fair, and he would not yield to their request. 
 Very sorrowfully the old man, who had made the request in 
 behalf of himself and his people, left the ship, although com 
 forted with presents and with the assurance that his new friends 
 would come again. Passing down through the Highlands, the 
 Half Moon was becalmed off Stony point, and " the people of 
 the mountains " came on board and wondered at the " ship and 
 weapons." One canoe kept " hanging under the stern," and its 
 occupant was soon detected in pilfering from the cabin windows. 
 When detected, he had secured a " pillow and two shirts, and 
 two bandeliers ; " but the " mate shot at him, and struck him 
 on the breast, and killed him." The Indians were frightened 
 and fled away, some in their canoes, others jumping into the 
 water. A boat was lowered to recover the articles which 
 they had taken, when one of them who was in the water seized 
 hold of it " thinking to overthrow it," but " the cook seized a 
 sword and cut off one of his hands and he was drowned." At 
 the head of Manhattan island the vessel was again attacked. 
 It was here that Hudson had attempted to kidnap two young 
 men, who, on their escape, had called to him " in scorn " at 
 their betrayal. One of these men, accompanied by his friends, 
 now came out to the ship in their canoes. They were not suf 
 fered to enter the vessel, and falling behind it, discharged their 
 arrows at it; "in recompense whereof " six muskets replied 
 "and killed two or three of them." The Indians retreated, 
 and from a point of land renewed the attack ; but " a falcon 
 shot " killed two of them, and " the rest fled into the woods ; " 
 "yet they manned off another canoe, with nine or ten 
 men," through which a falcon shot was sent, killing one of its 
 2 
 
12 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 occupants. Then the sailors discharged their muskets, and 
 " killed three or four more of them." " So they went their 
 way," and the Half Moon was hurried down into the bay, 
 "clear from all danger," carrying thence to Holland, in Hud 
 son's simple narrative, an epitome of the subsequent history of 
 the intercourse of the Indians with the Europeans ; the clash of 
 customs, the violence, the intoxicating cup. 
 
 To most of the Indians the advent of Hudson's ship was a 
 strange spectacle. For over an hundred years the white-winged 
 messengers of the old world had been wafted by them ; in the 
 further south, the white man was not a stranger, but not before 
 had his sails been folded on the breast of their waters, nor 
 the voice of trumpet and cannon reverberated through their 
 solitudes. All this was new and strange; the Great Spirit 
 had come to them ; the signals of a mighty change passed be 
 fore their vision. Their traditions repeat that almost with the 
 appearance of Hudson in the lower bay, they began to collect 
 on the shores and headlands, gazing in ' astonishment on the 
 strange sight ; that when they first saw the Half Moon they 
 " did not know what to make of it, and could not comprehend 
 whether it came down from heaven or from the devil." Some 
 of them " even imagined it to be a fish, or some monster of the 
 sea, and accordingly a strange report of it soon spread over the 
 land." It was at length agreed among them "that, as this 
 phenomenon moved towards the land, whether it was an animal 
 or not, or any thing that had life in it," would soon be apparent. 
 Runners from the shore went back and forth, and messengers 
 were sent to the chiefs of the country to send in their warriors. 
 As the ship approached they concluded it was " a large canoe 
 or house, in which the great Manitto himself was, and that he 
 was probably coming to visit them." Every thing was put in 
 order to entertain him ; " the best of victuals was prepared, and 
 plenty of meat for sacrifice procured, and idols or images 
 examined and put in order, to appease him in case he was 
 angry." Other runners soon arriving, declared it to be a 
 " large house of various colors, full of people, yet of quite a 
 different color from themselves, that they dressed in a different 
 manner, and that one, in particular, appeared altogether red, 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 13 
 
 which must be the Manitto himself." The crew of the Half 
 Moon soon hailed them with a loud shout, which so frightened 
 them that some were for running away, yet they feared to give 
 offense and remained. 
 
 Meanwhile Hudson kept on his course, and the Indians con 
 tinued to collect on the banks of the river, expressing their 
 curiosity in the strongest manner. Establishing intercourse 
 at last, they ventured on board the ship, where they were 
 saluted " in a friendly manner, and they returned the salute 
 after their manner." " They are lost in admiration both as to 
 the color of the skin of these whites, as also of their manner 
 of dress ; yet most as to the habit of him who wore the red 
 clothes, which shone with something they could not account 
 for. He must be the Great Manitto, but why should he have 
 a white skin ? " Then they sat down to eat with their strange 
 visitant, " a large and elegant hockback was brought forward by 
 one of the Manitto's servants, and something poured from it 
 into a small cup or glass, and handed to the Manitto. He 
 drank it, had the cup refilled, and had it handed to the chief 
 next to him to drink. The chief receives the glass, but only 
 smells at it, and passes it on to the next chief, who does the 
 same. The glass thus passes through the circle without the 
 contents being tasted by any one, and is on the point of being 
 returned again to the red-clothed man, when one of their num 
 ber, a spirited man and great warrior, jumps up, harangues the 
 assembly on the impropriety of returning the glass with the 
 contents in it ; that the same was handed them by the Manitto 
 in order that they should drink it, as he himself had done before 
 them ; that this would please him ; but to return what he had 
 given to them might provoke him, and be the cause of their 
 being destroyed by him. And that since he believed it for the 
 good of the nation that the contents offered them should be 
 drank, and as no one else was willing to drink it, he would, let 
 the consequence be what it might j that it was better for one 
 man to die than for a whole nation to be destroyed. He then 
 took the glass, and, bidding the assembly a farewell, drank it 
 off. Every eye was fixed on their resolute companion, to see 
 what an effect this would have upon him ; and he soon begin- 
 
14 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 ning to stagger about, and at last dropping to the ground, they 
 bemoan him. He falls into a sleep, and they view him as expiring. 
 He awakes again, jumps up, and declares that he never before 
 felt so happy as after he had drank of the cup. He wishes for 
 more. His wish is granted ; and the whole assembly soon join 
 him, and become intoxicated. Then the man with the red 
 clothes distributed presents to them of beads, axes, hoes, stock 
 ings, and other articles, and made them understand that he 
 would return home and come again to see them, bring them 
 more presents and stay with them awhile, but should want a 
 little land to sow some seeds, in order to raise herbs to put in 
 their broth." 
 
 But from their dream of trusting love they had a speedy 
 awakening. Their traditions state that the promise made by 
 Hudson to return again was fulfilled the following season, and 
 that they " rejoiced much at seeing each other again ; but the 
 whites laughed at them, seeing that they knew not the use of 
 the axes, hoes, etc., they had given them, they having had those 
 hanging to their breasts as ornaments, and the stockings they 
 had made use of as tobacco pouches. The whites now put 
 handles or helves in the former, and cut trees down before 
 their eyes, and dug the ground, and showed them the use of the 
 stockings. Here a general laughter ensued among the Indians, 
 that they had remained for so long a time ignorant of the use 
 of so valuable implements, and had borne with the weight of 
 such heavy metal hanging to their necks for such a length of 
 time. They took every white man they saw for a Manitto, 
 yet inferior and attendant to the supreme Manitto, to wit : to the 
 one which wore the red and laced clothes. 
 
 " Familiarity daily increasing between them and the whites, 
 the latter now proposed to stay with them, asking them only 
 for so much land as the hide of a bullock would cover or 
 encompass, which hide was brought forward and spread on the 
 ground before them. That they readily granted this request ; 
 whereupon the whites took a knife, and beginning at one place 
 on this hide, cut it up into a rope not thicker than the ringer of 
 a little child, so that by the time this hide was cut up, there 
 was a great heap ; that this rope was drawn out to a great dis- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 
 
 15 
 
 tance, and then brought round again, so that the ends might 
 meet ; that they carefully avoided its breaking, and that upon 
 the whole it encompassed a large piece of land ; that they were 
 surprised at the superior wit of the whites, but did not wish to 
 contend with them about a little land, as they had enough ; that 
 they and the whites lived for a long time contentedly together, 
 although the whites asked from time to time, more land of them 
 and proceeding higher up the Mahicanituk, 1 they believed they 
 would soon want all the country." 
 
 1 The Iroquois, it is said, called the river 
 the Cohatatea, while the Mahicans and the 
 Lenapes called it the Mahicanituk or " the 
 continually flowing waters." The Dutch 
 gave it the name of Mauritius river, as 
 early as 1611, in honor of their stadt- 
 holder, Prince Maurice, of Nassau. Hud 
 son called it the River of the mountains, 
 
 a name which the French adopted in Rio 
 de Montagne. The English first gave it 
 the name of Hudson's river by which, 
 and North river, the latter to distinguish 
 it from the Connecticut or East river, 
 and from the Delaware or South river, 
 it has since been known. 
 
 Henry Hudson. 
 
16 
 
 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 CHAPTER II. 
 
 ORIGIN, MANNERS AND CUSTOMS, ETC. 
 
 HE origin of the North American Indians, is a sub 
 ject which has engrossed the attention of learned 
 men for over two hundred years, and yet the 
 question, " By whom was America peopled ? " 
 remains without satisfactory answer. In 1637, Thomas 
 Morton wrote a book to prove that the Indians were of Latin 
 origin. John Joselyn held, in 1638, that they were of Tartar 
 descent. Cotton Mather inclined to the opinion that they 
 were Scythians. James Adair seems to have been fully con 
 vinced that they were descendants of the Israelites, the lost 
 tribes ; and, after thirty years residence among them, published 
 in 1775, an account of their manners and customs, from which 
 he deduced his conclusions. 1 Dr. Mitchill, after considerable 
 investigation, concluded " that the three races, Malays, Tartars 
 and Scandinavians, contributed to made up the great American 
 population, who were the authors of the various works and an 
 tiquities found on the continent." DeWitt Clinton held, that 
 " the probability is, that America was peopled from various 
 quarters of the old world, and that its predominant race is the 
 Scythian or Tartarian." Calmet, a distinguished author, brings 
 
 1 " Observations and arguments in proof 
 of the American Indians being descended 
 from the Jews: I. Their division into 
 tribes. 2. Their worship of Jehovah. 3. 
 Their notion of a theocracy. 4. Their 
 belief in the ministration of angels. 5. 
 Their language and dialects. 6. Their 
 manner of counting time. 7. Their pro 
 phets and high priests. 8. Their festi 
 vals, fasts and religious rites. 9. Their 
 daily sacrifice. 10. Their ablutions and 
 anointings. II. Their laws of unclean- 
 ness. 12. Their abstinence from unclean 
 things. 13. Their marriages, divorces, 
 and punishments of adultery. 14. Their 
 
 several punishments. 15. Their cities of 
 refuge. 16. Their purifications and cere 
 monies preparatory to war 17. Their 
 ornaments. 18. Their manner of curing 
 the sick. 19. Their burial of the dead. 
 20. Their mourning for the dead. 21. 
 Their raising seed to a departed brother. 
 22. Their choice of names adapted to 
 their circumstances and the times. 23. 
 Their own traditions, the accounts of our 
 English writers, and the testimony which 
 the Spanish and other authors have given 
 concerning the primitive inhabitants of 
 Peru and Mexico." Adair. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 17 
 
 forward the writings of Hornius, son of Theodosius the Great, 
 who affirms that " at or about the time of the commencement 
 of the Christian era, voyages from Africa and Spain into the 
 Atlantic ocean were both frequent and celebrated ; " and holds 
 that " there is strong probability that the Romans and Cartha- 
 genians, even 300 B. C., were well acquainted with the exist 
 ence of this country," adding that there are " tokens of the 
 presence of the Greeks, Romans, Persians, and Carthagenians, 
 in many parts of the continent." The story of Madoc's voyage 
 to America, in 1 1 70, has been repeated by every writer upon 
 the subject, and actual traces of Welsh colonization are affirmed 
 to have been discovered in the language and customs of a tribe 
 of Indians living on the Missouri. Then the fact is stated 
 that " America was visited by some Norwegians," who made 
 a settlement in Greenland, in the tenth century. Priest, in 
 his American Antiquities, states that his observations had led 
 him " to the conclusion that the two great continents, Asia and 
 America, were peopled by similar races of men." 
 
 It is not necessary to add to this catalogue. Men equally 
 learned with those whose opinions have been quoted, see no 
 obstacle in the way of an opinion that America received her 
 population as she did her peculiar trees, and plants, and animals, 
 and birds. The geologist examines the relics of the west, and 
 where imagination fashions artificial walls, he sees but crumbs of 
 decaying sandstone, clinging like the remains of mortar to blocks 
 of greenstone that rested on it ; discovers in parallel intrench- 
 ments a trough that subsiding waters have ploughed through the 
 centre of a ridge, and explains the tessellated pavement to be but 
 a layer of pebbles aptly joined by water ; and, examining the 
 mounds, finds them composed of different strata of earth, 
 arranged horizontally to the very edge, and ascribes their 
 creation to the power that shaped the globe into vales and 
 hillocks. 1 The mounds, it is true, may have been selected by 
 the aborigines as the site of their dwellings, fortifications, or 
 burial places ; but the mouldering bones, from hillocks which 
 are crowned by trees that have defied the storms of many cen 
 turies, the graves of earth from which they are dug, and the 
 
 1 Hitchcock. 
 
18 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 feeble fortifications that are sometimes found in their vicinity, 
 afford no special evidence of connection with other continents. 1 
 "Among the more ancient works" of the west, says another 
 writer, 2 " there is not a single edifice, nor any ruins which prove 
 the existence, in former ages, of a building composed of impe 
 rishable materials. No fragment of a column, nor a brick, 
 nor a single hewn stone large enough to have been incorpo 
 rated into a wall, has been discovered. The only relics which 
 remain to inflame the curiosity, are composed of earth." 
 
 To add force to this sweeping blow at the beautiful theories 
 that have been woven, the learned Agassis disputes the idea 
 of the unity of the races through Adam ; while other writers 
 pretty clearly demonstrate that the theory of the lost tribes of 
 Israel has no foundation in fact. Dr. Lawrence, in his Lec 
 tures on Physiology, Zoology, and the Natural History of Man, 
 sums up the whole argument by saying that, " in comparing the 
 barbarian nations of America with those of the eastern continent, 
 we perceive no points of resemblance between them, in their 
 moral institutions or in their habits, that are not apparently 
 founded in the necessities of human life." 
 
 This is apparently the reasonable conclusion of the whole 
 matter, for to pass intelligent judgment, the aborigines of 
 America must be taken as they were found, and not as they 
 may have appeared after years of association with Europeans, 
 an association necessarily producing a mingling of ancient cus 
 toms with those learned from missionaries, or copied under the 
 impulse of imitation. These early lessons were taught by men 
 of all nations, the Dutch, the French, the Spanish, and the 
 English, and, before their advent, by the Norwegians. It would 
 be strange indeed, under all the circumstances, if the aborigines 
 did not have grafted upon them some resembling features of all 
 nations. Sir William Johnson, than whom no man had better 
 opportunity to form a correct judgment, after considering the 
 whole matter, concluded that all theories were defective for 
 this reason ; saying, that the Indians residing next to the English 
 settlements had lost a great part of their traditions, and had so 
 
 1 Warren in DelaficlcTs Antiquities. a Drakis Picture of Cincinnati. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 19 
 
 blended their customs with those of the Europeans as to render 
 it " difficult if not impossible to trace their origin or discover 
 their explication," while those further removed had nevertheless 
 been visited by traders, and especially by French Jesuits, who 
 had " introduced some of their own inventions which the pre 
 sent generation confound with their ancient customs." 1 Until 
 many of the nations of the old world can satisfactorily explain 
 the origin of their own race, it is hardly worth while to endeavor 
 to make our aborigines any further kindred with them than that 
 the same Almighty Power called them into being and endowed 
 them with common instincts. 
 
 Verazzano, 2 who sailed along the coast of North America 
 in 1524, speaks of the natives whom he met in the harbor of 
 New York, as " not differing much," from those with whom 
 he had intercourse at other points, " being dressed out with the 
 feathers of birds of various colors." His description being the 
 earliest is of the most merit, for at that time they were untainted 
 by association with Europeans. In person, he says, they were 
 of good proportions, of middle stature, broad across the breast, 
 strong in the arms, and well-formed. Among those who came 
 on board his vessel were " two kings more beautiful in form 
 and stature than can possibly be described ; one was about forty 
 years old, the other about twenty-four." " They were dressed," 
 he continues, "in the following manner: The oldest had a 
 deer's skin around his body, artificially wrought in damask 
 figures, his head was without covering, his hair was tied back 
 in various knots ; around his neck he wore a large chain orna 
 mented with many stones of different colors. The young man 
 was similar in his general appearance." In size, he says : "they 
 exceed us," their complexion tawny, inclining to white, their 
 faces sharp, their hair long and black, their eyes black and sharp, 
 their expression mild and pleasant," " greatly resembling the 
 antique." The women, he says, were " of the same form and 
 beauty, very graceful, of fine countenances and pleasing appear 
 ance in manners and modesty." They wore no clothing 
 " except a deer skin ornamented like those of the men." Some 
 
 1 Documentary History of Neiv 7~ork } iv, 2 Collections of the Nciv York Historical 
 43 ! Society , ad Series, i, 45. 
 
20 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 had u very rich lynx skins upon their arms, and various ornaments 
 upon their heads, composed of braids of hair," which hung down 
 upon their breasts on each side. The older and the married 
 people, both men and women, " wore many ornaments in their 
 ears, hanging down in the oriental manner." In disposition they 
 were generous, " giving away " whatever they had ; of their 
 wives they were careful, always leaving them in their boats 
 when they came on ship-board, and their general deportment 
 was such that with them, he says, " we formed a great 
 friendship." J 
 
 Hudson's experience with them, in 1609, was somewhat 
 different, but his references to their personal appearance are 
 similar. "This day," he says, "many of the people came 
 aboard, some in mantles of feathers, and some in skins of divers 
 sorts of good furs. Some women also came to us with hemp. 
 They had red copper tobacco pipes, and other things of copper 
 they did wear about their necks." 
 
 The Dutch historians, Wassenaar, Van der Donck, and 
 others, agree that the natives were generally well-limbed, 
 slender around the waist, and broad-shouldered ; that they had 
 black hair and eyes, and snow white teeth, resembling ttye 
 Brazilians in color, or more especially " those people who 
 sometimes ramble through Netherland and are called Gipsies ; " 
 were very nimble and swift of pace, and well adapted to travel 
 on foot and to carry heavy burthens. " Generally," says one 
 writer, "the men have no beards, some even pluck it out. 
 They use very few words, which they previously well consider. 
 Naturally they are quite modest and without guile, but in their 
 way haughty enough, ready and quick witted to comprehend or 
 learn, be it good or bad. As soldiers, they are far from being 
 honorable, but perfidious and accomplish all their designs by 
 treachery ; they also use many stratagems to deceive their ene 
 mies, and execute by night almost all their plans that are in 
 any way hazardous. The thirst for revenge seems innate in 
 them ; they are very pertinacious in self-defense, when they 
 cannot escape ; which, under other circumstances, they like to do ; 
 and they make little of death, wheri it is inevitable, and despise 
 
 1 Collections of the New Tork Historical Society, zd Series, I, 46. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 21 
 
 all tortures that can be inflicted on them at the stake, exhibiting 
 no faint-heartedness, but generally singing until they are dead. 
 
 Their clothing is described as having been most sumptuous. 
 The women ornamented themselves more than the men. " All 
 wear around the waist a girdle made of the fin of the whale or 
 of sewant." The men originally wore a breech-cloth, made 
 of skins, but after the Dutch came those who could obtain it 
 wore " between their legs a lap of duffels cloth half an ell broad 
 and nine quarters long," which they girded around their waists, 
 and drew up in a fold "with a flap of each end hanging down 
 in front and rear." In addition to this they had mantles of 
 feathers, and at a later period decked themselves with " plaid 
 duffels cloth " in the form of a sash, which was worn over the 
 right shoulder, drawn in a knot around the body, with the ends 
 extending down below the knees. When the young men 
 wished to look 'especially attractive, they wore "a band about 
 their heads, manufactured and braided, of scarlet deer hair, 
 interwoven with soft shining red hair." " With this head 
 dress," says Van der Donck, " they appear like the delineations 
 and paintings of the Catholic saints," and, he adds, " when a 
 young Indian is dressed in this manner he would not say plum 
 for a bushel of plums. But this decoration is seldom worn 
 unless they have a young woman in view." 
 
 The dress of an Indian belle was more attractive than any 
 which civilized life has produced. Says the writer last quoted, 
 " The women wear a cloth around their bodies, fastened by a 
 girdle which extends below their knees, and is as much as an 
 under coat ; but next to the body, under this coat, they wear 
 a dressed deer skin coat, girt around the waist. The lower 
 body of this skirt they ornament with great art, and nestle the 
 same with strips which are tastefully decorated with wampum. 
 The wampum with which one of these skirts is ornamented is 
 frequently worth from one to three hundred guilders. They 
 bind their hair behind in a club of about a hand long, in the 
 form of a beaver's tail, over which they draw a square cap, 
 which is frequently ornamented with wampum. When they 
 desire to be fine they draw a headband around the forehead, 
 which is also ornamented with wampum, etc. This band con- 
 
22 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 fines the hair smooth, and is fastened behind, over the club, in 
 a beau's knot. Their head dress forms a handsome and lively 
 appearance. Around their necks they wear various ornaments, 
 which are also decorated with wampum. Those they esteem 
 as highly as our ladies do their pearl necklaces. They also 
 wear hand bands or bracelets, curiously wrought, and inter 
 woven with wampum. Their breasts appear about half covered 
 with an elegantly wrought dress. They wear beautiful girdles, 
 ornamented with their favorite wampum, and costly ornaments 
 in their ears. Here and there they lay upon their faces black 
 spots of paint. Elk hide moccasins they wore before the Dutch 
 came, and they too were most richly ornamented." Shoes 
 and stockings they obtained from the Dutch, and also bonnets. 
 
 Plurality of wives was, to some extent, in vogue among 
 them. " The natives," says Van der Donck, " generally marry 
 but one wife and no more, unless it be a chief who is great 
 and powerful j such frequently have two, three or four wives, 
 of the neatest and handsomest of women, and who live together 
 without variance." Minors did not marry except with the 
 advice of their parents or friends. Widowers and widows 
 followed their own inclinations. Their marriage ceremonies 
 were very simple. Young women were not debarred signify 
 ing their desire to enter matrimonial life. When one of them 
 wished to be married she covered her face with a veil and sat 
 covered as an indication of her desire. If she attracted a 
 suitor, negotiations were opened with parents or friends, pre 
 sents given and the bride taken. 
 
 Chastity was an established principle with married females. 
 To be unchaste during wedlock was held to be very disgraceful. 
 " Many of the women would prefer death, rather than submit 
 to be dishonored." No Indian would keep his wife, however 
 much he loved her, when he knew she was unchaste. Divorce 
 frequently came from disagreements, and was a simple form. 
 The wife was handed her share of the goods and put out of 
 doors by the husband, and was then free to marry another. In 
 cases of separation the children followed the mother, and were 
 frequently the cause of the parents coming together again. 
 The man who abandoned his wife without cause left her all 
 
OF HUDSON'S RI7ER. 23 
 
 her property, and in like manner the wife the husband's. Foul 
 and impertinent language was despised by them. All romping, 
 caressing and wanton behavior they spoke of with contempt, 
 as indirect alurements to unchastity, and reproved such conduct 
 in the Netherlanders. The Dutch made wives of many of 
 them and retained them, refusing to leave them for females of 
 their own country. 
 
 Most of the diseases incident to females of the present day 
 were unknown to them. Before confinement it was their 
 custom to retire to a secluded place near a brook, or stream of 
 water, and prepare a shelter for themselves with mats and 
 covering and food, and await delivery "without the company 
 or aid of any person." After their children were born, and 
 especially if they were males, they immersed them some time 
 in the water, no matter what the temperature, and then swathed 
 them in warm clothing and gave them great attention. Several 
 days after delivery they returned to their homes, but until the 
 child was weaned, had no commerce with their husbands, 
 holding it to be disgraceful and injurious to their offspring. 
 
 In sickness they were very faithful to each other, and when 
 death occurred the next of kin closed the eyes of the deceased. 
 The men made no noise over the dead, but the women made 
 frantic demonstrations of grief, striking their breasts, tearing their 
 faces, and calling the name of the deceased day and night. 
 Their loudest lamentations were on the death of their sons and 
 husbands. On such occasions they cut off their hair and 
 burned it on the grave in the presence of all their relatives, 
 painted their faces pitch black, and in a deer's skin jerkin 
 mourned the dead a full year. In burying their dead the body 
 was placed in a sitting posture, and beside it were placed a pot, 
 kettle, platter, spoon, money and provisions for use in the other 
 world. Wood was then placed around the body, and ,.the 
 whole covered with earth and stones, outside of which palisades 
 were erected, fastened in such a manner that the tomb re 
 sembled a little house. 1 To these tombs great respect was 
 paid, and to violate them was deemed an unpardonable provo 
 cation. 
 
 1 Documentary History of New York, iv, jay. 
 
24 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Their fare or food was poor and gross, " for," says one 
 Dutch writer, "they drink water, having no other beverage." 
 They eat the flesh of all sorts of game, " even badgers, dogs, 
 eagles, and similar trash which Christians in no way regard." 
 All sorts of fish were eaten, as well as " snakes, frogs and 
 such like." Their mode of cooking without removing the en 
 trails was not palatable to the Dutch. In addition to their 
 meats they made bread of Indian meal and baked it in hot 
 ashes, and make a "pap or porridge, called by some sapsis, by 
 others dundare (literally boiled bread), in which they mixed 
 beans of different color which they raised." The maize from 
 which their bread and sapsis were made was raised by them 
 selves, and was broken up or ground in rude mortars. They 
 observed no set time for meals. Whenever hunger demanded, 
 the repast was prepared. Beavers' tails, the brains offish, and 
 their sapsis, 1 ornamented with beans, were their state dishes, 
 and highest luxuries. They knew how to preserve meat and 
 fish by smoking, and when on a journey or while hunting, 
 carried with them corn roasted whole. At their meals they sat 
 on the ground. 
 
 Their occupations were hunting, fishing and war. When 
 not on the war path they repaired to the rivers and caught fish 
 or to the forests and hunted deer, fawns, hares and foxes, " and 
 all such," says the narrator who adds, " the country is full of 
 game ; hogs, bears, leopards, yea, lions, as appears by the 
 skins which were brought on board." The beaver was most 
 highly prized by them, not only for its food and fur, but for the 
 medicinal uses of the oil obtained. The women made cloth 
 ing of skins, prepared food, cultivated the fields of corn, beans 
 and squashes, made mats, etc., but the men never labored until 
 they became too old for the field, when they remained with 
 ''the^women and made mats, wooden bowls and spoons, traps, 
 nets, arrows, canoes, etc. 
 
 Their houses were for the most part built after one plan, 
 differing only in lengths. They were formed by long, slender 
 hickory saplings set in the ground, in a straight line of two 
 rows, as far asunder as they intended the width to be and con- 
 
 1 " The crushed corn is daily boiled to a pap which is called suppacn." 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 25 
 
 tinued the rows as far as they intended the length to be. The 
 poles were then bent towards each other in the form of an 
 arch and secured together, giving the appearance of a garden 
 arbor. Split poles were then lathed up the sides and roof, and 
 over this was bark, lapped on the ends and edges, which was 
 kept in its place by withes to the lathings. A hole was left in 
 the roof for smoke to escape, and a single door of entrance 
 was provided. Rarely exceeding twenty feet in width, 
 these houses were sometimes a hundred and eighty yards long. 
 " In those places," says Van der Donck, " they crowd a sur 
 prising number of persons, and it is surprising to see them out 
 in open day." From sixteen to eighteen families occupied one 
 house, according to its size. A single fire in the centre served 
 them all, although each family occupied at night its particular 
 division and mats. 
 
 Their castles were strong, firm works, and were usually 
 situated on the side of a steep, high hill, near a stream of water 
 with a level plain on the crown of the hill. This plain was 
 enclosed with a strong stockade, which was constructed by 
 laying on the ground large logs of wood for a foundation, on 
 both sides of which oak palisades were set in the ground, the 
 upper ends of which crossed each other and were joined together: 
 against the rude assaults of rude enemies , these castles were a 
 safe retreat. Inside of their walls they not unfrequently had 
 twenty or thirty houses, so that a clan or tribe could be provided 
 for in winter. Besides their strongholds, they had villages and 
 towns which were enclosed or stockaded. The latter usually 
 had woodland on one side and corn land on the other. Near 
 the water sides and at fishing places they not unfrequently 
 had huts for temporary occupancy ; but in the winter they 
 were found in their castles which were rarely, if ever, left 
 altogether. * 
 
 Their weapons of war were the spear, the bow and arrows, 
 the war club and the stone hatchet, and in combat they pro 
 tected themselves with a square shield made of tough leather. 
 A snake's skin tied around the head, from the centre of which 
 projected the tail of a bear or a wolf, and a face not recognizable 
 from the variety of colors in which it was painted, was their 
 
26 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 uniform. Their domestic implements were of very rude construc 
 tion. Fire answered them many purposes and gained for them 
 the name of Fireworkers. By it they not only cleared lands, but 
 shaped their log canoes and made their wooden bowls. Some 
 of their arrows were of elegant construction and tipped with 
 copper, and when shot with power would pass through the body 
 of a deer as certainly as the bullet from the rifle. The more 
 common arrows were tipped with flint, as well as their spears, 
 and required no little patience and skill in their construction. 
 When they came to obtain guns from the Dutch they were 
 remarkably expert with them. 
 
 Their money consisted of white and black zewant (wampum), 1 
 which was " nothing more nor less than the inside little pillars 
 of the conch shells " which the sea cast up twice a year. These 
 pillars they polished smooth, drilled a hole through the centre, 
 reduced them to a certain size, and strung them on threads. 
 Gold, silver or copper coins they had none. Their standards 
 of value were the hand or fathom of wampum, and the denotas 
 or bags which they made themselves for measuring and pre 
 serving corn. Such was their currency and such their only 
 commercial transactions. To obtain wampum they made war 
 and took captives for whom they demanded ransom, or made 
 the weaker tribes tributaries to the stronger. 
 
 1 There were two kinds of wampum in wampum, or six of "white, were equal to a 
 
 early use by the Indians, as a standard of stuyver among the Dutch, or a penny 
 
 value, the purple or black and the white, among the English. Some variations, 
 
 The purple was made from the interior por- however, existed in its value, according to 
 
 tions of the vcnus mercenaria, or common time and place. A single string of wam- 
 
 conch. The white was wrought out of the pum of one fathom, ruled at five shillings 
 
 pillar of the periwinkle. Each kind was in New England, and is known in New 
 
 converted into a kind of bead, by being Netherland to have reached as high as 
 
 rounded and perforated, so as to admit of four guilders, or one dollar and sixty-six 
 
 being strung on a fibre of deer's sinew, cents. The old wampum was made by 
 
 This was replaced after the discovery, by hand and was an exceedingly rude article, 
 
 linen thread. The article was highly prized After the discovery, the Dutch introduced 
 
 as an ornament, and as such constituted an the lathe in its manufacture, polished and 
 
 object of traffic between the sea coast and perforated it with exactness, and soon had 
 
 the interior tribes. It was worn around the the monopoly of the trade. The princi- 
 
 neck ; also as an edging for certain pieces pal place of its manufacture was at Hack- 
 
 of their garments; and when these strings ensak, in New Jersey. The principal 
 
 were united, they formed the broad deposit of sea-shells was Long Island, 
 
 wampum belts by which solemn public where the extensive shell banks left by 
 
 transactions were commemorated. As a the Indians, in which it is difficult to 
 
 substitute for gold and silver coin, its price find a whole shell, show the immense 
 
 was fixed by law. Three purple beads of quantities that were manufactured. 
 

 O^ HUDSON'S RWER. 27 
 
 They were not skilled in the practice of medicines, notwith 
 standing the general belief on that subject. They knew how 
 to cure wounds and hurts, and treated simple diseases success 
 fully. Their general health was due more to their habits than 
 to a knowledge of remedies. Their principal medical treat 
 ment was the sweating bath. These were literally earthen 
 ovens, into which the patient crept, and around which heated 
 stones were placed to raise the temperature. When the patient 
 had remained under perspiration for a certain time he was taken 
 out and immersed suddenly in cold water, a process which 
 served to cure or certainly cause death. The oil which they 
 obtained from beavers was used in many forms and for many 
 purposes ; among others for dizziness, for trembling, for the 
 rheumatism, for lameness," for apoplexy, for toothache, for 
 earache, for weak eyes, for gout, and for almost all ills. The 
 Dutch took to this remedy and attached to it great value. 
 
 As the term is generally understood, they had no religion, 
 but in its place a rude system in which they looked 
 " Through nature up to nature's God." 
 
 Good and evil spirits they recognized, and to them appealed in 
 sacrifice and fires. Their minister or priest was called kitzi- 
 naeka. It was his duty to visit the sick and exorcise the evil 
 spirits ; or, failing, to see the usual rites for the dead performed. 
 He had no home of his own, but lodged were it pleased him, 
 or where he last officiated ; was not permitted to eat any food 
 prepared by a married woman, but that only which was cooked 
 by a maiden or an old woman, and altogether lived " like a 
 Capuchin." x To the sun, moon and stars they paid particular 
 attention. The first moon following that at the end of Feb 
 ruary they greatly honored. They watched its coming and 
 greeted its advent with a festival, at which they collected from 
 all quarters and reveled " in their way with wild game or fish," 
 and drank clear river water to their fill. This was their new 
 year ; this moon the harbinger of spring. The harvest moon, 
 or the new moon in August, they also honored with a feast, in 
 
 1 Wassenaar, Documentary History of Neva York, HI, 28. 
 
 4 
 
28 
 
 THE INDUN TRIBES 
 
 acknowledgment of the product of their fields and their success 
 in the chase. 
 
 They fully recognized the existence of God, who dwelt 
 beyond the stars, and in a life immortal expected to renew the 
 associations of this life. 1 But to them God had less to do with 
 the world than did the devil, who was the principal subject of 
 their fears, and the source of their earthly hopes. No expedi 
 tions of hunting, fishing or war were undertaken unless the 
 devil was first consulted, and to him they offered the first fruits 
 of the chase, or of victory. " On such occasions," says one of 
 the early writers, " conjurors act a wonderful part. These 
 
 tumble, with strange 
 contortions, head over 
 heels, beat them 
 selves, leap, with a hi 
 deous noise, through 
 and around a large 
 fire. 2 Finally they set 
 up a tremendous cat 
 erwauling, when the 
 devil, as they say, ap 
 pears in the shape of a 
 ravenous or harmless 
 animal ; the first be 
 tokens somethingbad, 
 the other good ; both 
 give information re 
 specting coming 
 events, but obscurely, 
 which they attribute 
 to their own igno 
 rance, not understand 
 ing the devil's right meaning when matters turn out differ 
 ently." For the spiritual they cared nothing ; but directed 
 
 Devil Worship. 
 
 1 The belief of Maikans regarding the 
 separation of the soul, is, that it goes up 
 westward on leaving the body. There 
 it is met with great rejoicing by the others 
 who died previously; there they wear 
 
 black otter or bear skins, which among 
 them are signs of gladness. They have 
 no desire to be with them. Wassenaar. 
 
 2 This dance of the Indians was called 
 kintt-kaying. It was observed on the 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 29 
 
 their study principally to the physical, " closely observing the 
 seasons." Their women were the most experienced star- 
 gazeVs, scarce one of whom could not name them all, give the 
 time of their rising and setting, their position, etc., in language 
 of their own. Taurus they described as the horned head of a big 
 wild animal inhabiting the distant country, but not theirs ; that 
 when it rose in a certain part of the heavens, then it was the 
 season for planting. The firmament was to them an open 
 book wherein they read the laws for their physical well-being, 
 the dial plate by which they marked their years. 
 
 They were not without government and laws, although both 
 partook of the nomadic state. They had chief and subordinate 
 rulers, and general as well as local councils. Their sachem was 
 their local ruler and representative. Their general councils were 
 composed of the sachems of different families or clans. But 
 these councils assembled only in case of war, or other matters 
 requiring concerted action. In all other respects the tribes or 
 clans acted independently, and declared war and made peace 
 without reference to their neighbors, unless the contest was 
 such that assistance was desirable, in which case invitations to 
 alliance were sent out by messengers. All obligations acquired 
 their force from the acceptance of presents. In making agree 
 ments or sending messages they took as many little sticks as 
 there were conditions or parties in their proposals. 1 If the con 
 tracting parties agreed on all, each party, at the conclusion, 
 laid his presents at the feet of, the other. If the presents be 
 mutually accepted, the negotiation is firmly concluded, but if 
 not, no further proceedings were had unless the applicant 
 changed the conditions and the presents. On occasions of im 
 portance, a general assembly was held at the house of the chief 
 
 eve of engaging in expeditions of war or governor of New York, concerning the 
 hunting. When taken prisoners and belt and fifteen bloody sticks sent by the 
 about to suffer torture, they asked permis- Missiosagaes, the like is very common, 
 sion to dance the kintc-kaye. The and the Indians use sticks as well to ex- 
 first dance witnessed by the Europeans press the alliance of castles as the number 
 was by the savages assembled on the point of individuals in a party. These sticks 
 of land just above Newburgh, which still are generally about six inches in length 
 bears the name of Dans hammer^ or and very slender, and painted red if the 
 dance chamber. subject is war, but without any peculiarity 
 1 " As to the information which you as to shape. Documentary History of 
 observe I formerly transmitted to the Neiv York, iv, 437. 
 
30 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 sachem in order that a full explanation might be made. At 
 these assemblies the will of the sachem was supreme, for al 
 though permitting full debate, mutiny was punished by death. 
 
 Lands held by them were obtained by conceded original 
 occupation or by conquest. If conquered, original right ceased 
 and vested in the conquerors ; if reconquered, the title returned 
 to its original owners. This rule they applied also to the sale 
 of lands to the Dutch. As often as they sold to the latter and 
 subsequently drove off the settlers, so often was repurchase 
 necessary, and, if it was not made, cause of grievance and 
 future war remained. Some respect was paid to the rights of 
 property, and whenever it was stolen, it was ordered returned. 1 
 Although tne reputation attaches that they were a " thieving 
 set," yet the fact is that in almost every stated case the Dutch 
 were the aggressors, the Indians only making reprisals for that of 
 which they had been despoiled. 
 
 Rank was known among them ; nobles, who seldom married 
 below their rank, as well as a commonalty. 2 These conditions 
 were hereditary, for although one of the commonalty might 
 rise to prominence, the sachemship descended as long as any one 
 was found fit to rule, and regents frequently governed in the 
 name of a minor. The oldest or first of a household or family 
 represented it " with or unto the chief of the nation." Military 
 distinction was conferred by merit without regard to families or 
 birth. The lowest might become a chief, but the rank died 
 with its possessor, unless his posterity followed in his footsteps, 
 in which case his titles were transmitted. Those of hereditary 
 rank, however, were not esteemed, unless they were distin 
 guished for activity, bravery and understanding, and such they 
 honored greatly. 
 
 Their armies, or warriors, were composed of all their young 
 men, among whom were even boys of fifteen, and were not 
 without some of the forms of organization and discipline known 
 to civilized nations. Each clan or canton had its war chiefs, 
 
 1 " Notwithstanding misdemeanors are (stealing) too often, he is stripped bare of 
 
 not punished, wicked acts are of rare oc- his goods." Documentary History t iv, 
 
 currence. Stolen property, whenever dis- 129; Wasstnaar, Ib. y in, 44. 
 covered, is ordered by the chief to be 2 " Though this people do not make such 
 
 restored. If any one commit that offense a distinction between man and man as 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 31 
 
 or captains, as the Europeans called them, 1 who stood in rank 
 according to the services by which they had distinguished them 
 selves, the one highest in the qualifications of prudence, cunning, 
 resolution, bravery, and good fortune, had powers equivalent 
 to a commanding general. In times of war, the tribes were 
 under rigid martial law; nothing was done without the consent 
 of the war captains ; no warrior could leave the troop without 
 forfeiting his honor and the highly esteemed advantages of 
 promotion. 
 
 To begin a war was called "taking up the hatchet," and 
 could not be done without what were regarded as the most 
 just and important reasons. The death of a warrior at the 
 hands of a neighboring tribe, was not always a cause for war. 
 The murderer could be surrendered or the offense atoned by 
 presents ; but when a warrior was killed and scalped, or when, 
 as with the Mohawks, the hatchet was left sticking in the head of 
 the victim, it was regarded as a declaration 6*f war. In such 
 cases the war captains summoned their followers and addressed 
 them : " The bones of your murdered countrymen lie un 
 covered ; they demand revenge at our hands, and it is our 
 duty to obey them ; their spirits loudly call upon us, and we must 
 satisfy them ; still greater spirits watching over our honor, inspire 
 us with a resolution to go in pursuit of the murderers of our 
 brethren. Let us go and devour them ! Do not sit inactive ! 
 Follow the impulse of your hereditary valor ! Anoint your 
 hair ! Paint your faces ! Fill your quivers ! Make the woods 
 echo with your voices ! Comfort the spirits of the deceased, 
 and revenge their blood ! " The work of preparation for 
 the field was speedily performed ; the weapons of war were 
 collected, a pouch of parched corn and maple sugar prepared, 
 and the body painted black. Then came the war dance and 
 
 other nations, yet they have high and low proportion to the number of troops under 
 families; inferior and superior chiefs, his command. The rank of captain is 
 whose authority remains hereditary in the neither elective nor hereditary. The 
 houses. The military officers are dis- first occasion to this appointment is gene- 
 posed of only according to the valorous rally a dream, early in life, which a young 
 prowess of each person." Documentary man or his friends interpret as a destiny 
 History of New York, iv, 128. for the office of captain. Jig therefore 
 1 A captain among the Indians, is what endeavors to attain the necessary qualifi- 
 we should call a commander or general, cations for this dignity, and to prove his 
 He has several subordinate officers, in prowess by feats of valor. Loskiel. 
 
32 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 war song ; J and the paths of the forest received the avenging 
 horde, to return to peace only when compelled by necessity 
 or the intervention of mediators. 
 
 The ceremonies of war and peace were somewhat different 
 when the alliance of one tribe with another was called. In 
 such cases an embassy was dispatched bearing a piece of tobacco, 
 a belt of wampum, and a hatchet with a red handle. The 
 tobacco invited a friendly smoke and consideration, the belt 
 described by certain figures the tribe against whom alliance was 
 desired, and the hatchet determined the purpose. The princi 
 pal captain of the embassy made a speech, on delivering these 
 credentials of his authority. If the belt was accepted, nothing 
 more was said, that act being considered a solemn promise to 
 lend every assistance ; but if neither the hatchet was lifted up 
 nor the belt accepted, it was understood that the tribe would 
 remain neutral. The consideration of the matter was usually 
 circumspect and slow, and the decision regarded with no little 
 reverence. 
 
 The lives of prisoners taken in war were rarely spared, ex 
 cept those of women and children, who were treated leniently 
 and adopted by their conquerors to recruit their numbers. 
 Male prisoners were subjected to great torture, usually by fire, 
 and a savage cunning indeed was practiced in prolonging the 
 sufferings of the victims. The next of kin was an avenger 
 and might inflict death on a murderer, provided he was enabled 
 to do so within twenty-four hours. After the lapse of that 
 time the avenger himself was liable to death if death came by 
 
 1 Heckewelder gives the following as Prevent their mourning on my account ! 
 
 the war song of the Lenape warriors : Grant that I may be successful in this 
 
 ' O poor me ! attempt, 
 
 Who am going out to fight the enemy, That I may slay my enemy, 
 
 And know not whether I shall return And bring home the trophies of war 
 
 again, To my dear family and friends, 
 
 To enjoy the embraces of my children That we may rejoice together. 
 
 And my wife. O take pity on me ! 
 
 O poor creature ! Give me strength and courage to meet 
 
 Whose life is not in his own hands, my enemy. 
 
 Who has no power over his own body, Suffer me to return again to my children, 
 
 But tries to do his duty To my wife ! 
 
 For the welfare of his nation. And to my relations ! 
 
 O thou Great Spirit above ! Take pity on me and preserve my life, 
 
 Take pity on my children And I will make thee a sacrifice." 
 And on my wife ! 
 . 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 33 
 
 his hand. A murderer was seldom killed after the first twenty- 
 four hours were passed, but he was obliged to remain concealed ; 
 meantime his friends endeavored to reconcile the parties, and 
 offered a blood atonement of wampum. If peace was agreed 
 upon it was usually accompanied by the condition that the 
 nearest relatives of the murderer, whether men, women or child 
 ren, on meeting the relatives of the murdered person, must give 
 way to them. But an offense unatoned was unforgiven, and, 
 though years might elapse, vengeance was certain if opportunity 
 offered. 
 
 Great faults were charged against the Indians, and great 
 faults they doubtless possessed when judged from the stand 
 point of a different civilization. Were the line strictly drawn, 
 however, it might be shown that, as a whole, they compared 
 favorably with nations upon whom light had fallen for sixteen 
 hundred years. This at least appears to their credit, that 
 among them there were none who were cross-eyed, blind, 
 crippled, lame, hunch-backed or limping ; all were well-fash 
 ioned, strong in constitution of body, well-proportioned and 
 without blemish. Until touched and warped by wrong treat 
 ment, wherever they were met, whether on the Potomac, the 
 Delaware, the Hudson, or the Connecticut, they were liberal 
 and generous in their intercourse with the whites. More 
 sinned against than sinning, they left behind them evidences of 
 great wrongs suffered, their enemies being the witnesses. 
 
34 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 CHAPTER III. 
 
 * 
 
 NATIONAL AND TRIBAL ORGANIZATIONS, TOTEMIC CLASSI 
 FICATIONS, POLITICAL RELATIONS, ETC. 
 
 HE names and location of the Indian tribes were not 
 ascertained with clearness by the early Dutch 
 writers. Wassenaar states that at the time of 
 the discovery, and for some years after occupation 
 by the Dutch, the Maikans or Mabicans, held twenty-five * 
 miles on both sides of the river in the vicinity of Fort Orange ; 
 that the Maquas, or Mohawks, resided in the interior ; that ' 
 Fort Orange was erected on the lands of the Mahicans, whose 
 castle was on the opposite (east) side of the river. De Laet 
 writes in 1625, that the Maquas held the west shore, and 
 Wassenaar concludes with a similar statement ; but if it is 
 considered that the history of the latter was written at different 
 periods extending from 1621 to 1632, his account will be 
 found entirely consistent with itself as well as with De fact's. 
 South of Fort Orange the classifications of these writers is 
 almost wholly by chieftaincies or cantons. Van der Donck, 
 writing twenty years later, does not appear to have obtained 
 more definite knowledge than his predecessors. 
 
 From information subsequently obtained, however, and es 
 pecially that furnished by treaties and other documentary papers, 
 it would appear that at the time of the discovery the Mahicans 
 held possession, under sub-tribal organizations, of the east bank 
 of the river from an undefined point north of Albany to the sea, 
 including Long Island ; that their dominion extended e^st to 
 the Connecticut, where they joined kindred tribes ; that on the 
 west bank of the Hudson they ran down as far as Catskill, and 
 west to Schenectady ; that they were met on the west by the 
 territory of the Mohawks^ and on the south by chieftaincies 
 
 1 Seventy-five English miles. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 35 
 
 acknowledging the supremacy of the Mlnsls, a totemic tribe of 
 the Lenni Lenapes, and that the territory of the latter extended 
 thence to the sea, and west to and beyond the Delaware 'river. 
 
 Pending the early operations of the Dutch traders, this ori 
 ginal classification was somewhat changed. The Mahlcans 
 sold a considerable portion of their lands on the west side of 
 the river to Van Rensselaer, retaining only a castle at Cohoes 
 falls and one at Katskill, and admitted the Mohawks to territorial 
 sovereignty north of the Mohawk river. Although the latter 
 were not in possession by castles and villages, it may be ad 
 mitted tha:, practically, as early as 1630, three great divisions 
 or nations were represented on the Hudson : The iROQyois, 1 
 the MAHICANS, and the LENNI LENAPES, or Delawares as they 
 were more modernly known. The first of these nations,- the 
 IROQUOIS, was represented by a tribe called by themselves 
 Kayingehaga ; by their enemies, the Mahicans, the Maquas ; by 
 the Dutch, Makwaes; by the English, Mohawks, and by the 
 French Agniers. The IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY 2 was, at this 
 time, composed of five tribes under the modern names of 
 Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, and Senecas and bore the 
 title of Aquinoshioni or Konoshiont, that is, Cabin-makers, or 
 People of the Long House, as applied to their territorial posses 
 sions and national organization. That " long house " subse 
 quently reached from the banks of the Hudson to the shores of 
 Lake Erie, and from the Katskill range to the St. Lawrence 
 the Eastern door guarded by the Mohawks and the western by 
 the Senecas. 
 
 The traditions held by the Iroquois respecting their origin 
 and confederate organization^ are that, like the Athenian, they 
 sprung from the earth itself. In remote ages they had been 
 confined under a mountain near the falls of the Osh-wah-kee, 
 
 1 The appellation, Iroquois, was first a Co/den's History of the Six Nations ; 
 applied to them by the French, because Schooler affs Notes on the Iroquois; Dun- 
 they usually began and finished their dis- lap's Hist. Neiv York fates & Monitor? s 
 courses or palaver with the word hiro, History New York; O'Callaghan's Neiv 
 which means either "I say," or "I have Netherlands BrodheacTs Neiv York, etc. 
 said," combined as an affix with the word 3 The Iroquois tribes are classed by 
 kong, an exclamation expressing joy or Gallatin in three divisions : eastern, 
 sorrow according as it was pronounced western, and southern. The eastern con- 
 long or short." Garncaus History of sisted of the confederation known as the 
 Canada. Five Nations, the western of the Wy- 
 
36 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 1 
 or Oswego river, whence they were released by Tharonhyjagon^ 
 
 the Holder of the Heavens. Bidding them go forth to the 
 east, he guided them to the valley of the Mohawk, and follow 
 ing its stream they reached the Hudson, which some of them 
 descended to the sea. Retracing their steps towards the west, 
 they originated, in their order and position, the Mohawks^ 
 Oneidas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Senecas, and Tuscaroras, six nations ; 
 but the Tuscaroras wandered away to the south and settled on 
 the Cautano, or Neuse river, in North Carolina, reducing the 
 number to five nations. 
 
 Each of the tribes thus originated was independent of the 
 others, and warred with each other, as well as with the sur 
 rounding tribes. Tharonhyjagon still remained with the tribes ; 
 gave them seeds of various kinds, with the proper knowledge 
 for planting them ; taught them how to kill and roast game ; 
 made the forests free to all the tribes to hunt, and removed 
 obstructions from the streams. After this he laid aside his 
 divine character and resolved to live with the Onondagas, that 
 he might exemplify the maxims he had taught. For this pur 
 pose he selected a handsome spot of ground on the southern 
 banks of the lake called Teonto, being the sheet of water now 
 known as Cross lake. 1 Here he built a cabin, and took a wife 
 of the Onondagas, by whom he had an only daughter, whom he 
 tenderly loved, and most kindly and carefully treated and in 
 structed. The excellence of his character, and his great saga 
 city and good counsels, led the people to view him with venera 
 tion, and they gave him the name of Hi-a-wat-ha, signifying a 
 very wise man. From all quarters people came to him for 
 advice, and in this manner all power came naturally into his 
 hands, and he was regarded as the first chief in all the land. 
 Under his teachings the Onondagas became the first among all 
 the original clans. They were the wisest counselors, the best 
 orators, the most expert hunters, and the bravest warriors. 
 
 andots, or Hurons, and the Attiouanda- The Tuscaroras and Tutelos removed to the 
 
 rons, or neutral nation, north, and the north, the former in 1714 and the latter 
 
 Erigas and Andastes, or Guandastogues in 1758, and were incorporated in the 
 
 (Guyandots), south of Lake Erie ; the Five Nations, the former becoming the 
 
 southern, of the Tuscaroras, the Tutelos, sixth member of the confederacy, 
 and the Nottowas, of North Carolina. l Schooler af is Notes on the Iroquois, 273. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 37 
 
 t Hence the Onondagas were early noted among all the tribes for 
 "heir preeminence. 
 
 While Hiawatha was thus living in quiet among the " people 
 of the hills," the tribes were attacked by a furious and powerful 
 enemy from the north of the great lakes. This enemy ad 
 vanced into the country and laid waste the villages, and 
 slaughtered men, women and children, until the people had no 
 heart to oppose the invaders. In this emergency they fled to 
 Hiawatha for advice, who counseled them to call together all 
 the tribes from the east, and the west, " for," said he, " our 
 safety is not alone in the club and dart, but in wise counsels." 
 He appointed a place on the banks of the^ Onondaga lake for 
 the meeting, and thither the chiefs, warriors, and head men 
 forthwith assembled in large numbers, bringing with them their 
 worrien and children. 
 
 41 The council had been waiting for three days, but as yet 
 Hiawatha was absent. Messengers were dispatched to hasten 
 his attendance, but they found him gloomy and depressed. He 
 told them that evil lay in his path, and felt that he should 
 be called to make some great sacrifice ; nevertheless he would 
 attend the council. The talismanic white canoe, in which he 
 always made his voyages, and which the people had learned to 
 reverence, was got out and Hiawatha and his daughter took 
 their seats. Gliding silently down the deep waters of the 
 Seneca, the canoe reached the outlet and entered on the placid 
 Onondaga. As the canoe of the venerated chief appeared, he 
 was welcomed with loud shouts ; but while he was measuring 
 his steps towards the council ground, a long and low sound was 
 heard, and instantly all eyes were turned upward, where a com 
 pact mass of cloudy darkness appeared, which gathered size and 
 velocity as it approached, and appeared to be directed inevitably 
 to fall in the midst of the assembly. Every one fled but 
 Hiawatha and his daughter, who calmly awaited the issue. 
 The force of the descending body was like that of a sudden 
 storm ; and hardly had Hiawqtha paused, when an immense 
 bkd, with long distended wings, came down, with a swoop, and 
 crushed the daughter to the earth. The very semblance of a 
 human being was destroyed in tne remains of the girl, and the 
 
38 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 head and neck of the bird were buried in the ground from the* 
 force of the fall. 
 
 Hiawatha was inconsolable for several days ; but at length 
 took his place in the council and the deliberations opened. The 
 subject of the invasion was discussed by several of the ablest 
 counselors, and various plans proposed to foil the enemy. Hia 
 watha listened to the debate, and at its conclusion bade the 
 warriors depart until the next day when he would unfold his 
 plan, which he felt' confident would ensure safety. 
 
 The council again met ; and with even more than ordinary 
 attention the people listened to the words of their great chief. 
 Hiawatha counseled them, that " to oppose these hordes of 
 northern tribes singly and alone, would prove certain destruc 
 tion ; " that to oppose them successfully, the tribes must unite 
 in ".one common band of brothers," must have one voice, 
 one fire, one pipe, and one war club. In the confederacy which 
 he proposed should be formed, the several tribes were assigned 
 the position they were to thereafter occupy ; and, in conclusion, 
 he urged them to weigh well his words ; that if they should 
 unite in the bond he had proposed, the Great Spirit would smile 
 upon them, and they would be free, prosperous and happy ; but 
 if they rejected it, they would be " enslaved, ruined, perhaps 
 annihilated forever." 
 
 The tribes received the address in solemn silence ; and the 
 council closed to deliberate on the plan recommended. As 
 sembling the next day, the union of the tribes into one con 
 federacy was discussed and unanimously adopted. Pending this 
 result, Hiawatha, warned by the death of his daughter that his 
 mission was accomplished, prepared to make his final departure 
 from earth. Before the council dispersed, he recounted the 
 services he had rendered to his people, and urged them to pre 
 serve the union they had formed. " If you preserve this," said 
 he, u and admit no foreign element of power, by the admission 
 of other nations, you will always be free, numerous and happy. 
 If other tribes and nations are admitted to your councils, they 
 will sow the seeds of jealousy and discord, and you will become 
 few, feeble and enslaved. Remember these words, they are 
 the last you will hear from the lips of Hiawatha. The Great 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 39 
 
 Master of breath calls me to go. I have patiently waited his 
 summons. I am ready to go. Farewell." As his voice 
 ceased, sweet sounds, from the air, burst on the ears of the 
 multitude ; and while all attention was engrossed in the celestial 
 melody, Hiawatha was seen, seated in his white canoe, in the 
 mid-air, rising with every choral chant that burst out, till the 
 clouds shut out the sight and the melody ceased. Every war 
 rior now plucked a feather from the great bird as a memorial, 
 and took their departure. 1 
 
 The precise date of the formation of the confederacy cannot, 
 of course, be ascertained. Pyrlaus, a missionary among the 
 Mohawks, states as the result of his investigations, that the 
 alliance took place " one age, or the length of a man's life, 
 before the white people came into the country." Another 
 writer fixes the date at 1414 ; while a third confirms the state 
 ment of Pyrlaus. 2 Whatever may have been its date, it was a 
 practical and effective alliance by which the democratic principle, 
 which was the basis of the government of the cantons, was 
 extended to the expression of the national will. The general 
 head had few powers, but the determination of the tribes, in 
 regard to matters in which they had a common interest, when 
 announced from the general council at Onondaga, carried with 
 it the united voice of an empire. The active government was 
 confined to the tribes or cantons, which were independent states. 
 Each had its own chiefs, civil and military, and its own council, 
 and was represented in general councils by sachems exercising 
 the power of delegates. These delegates, however, spoke the 
 popular will of the tribes they represented, and to determine 
 their action they were not permitted to approve any measure 
 which the tribe had not endorsed by an unanimous vote. 
 Indeed, the unanimous principle was the ruling one of the 
 confederacy. Tribes might declare war and conclude peace, 
 and exercise all powers of sovereignty on their own account, 
 
 1 Schoolcraffs Notes, 278, etc. pelled to join it. Those two tribes were 
 
 "* Schooler affs Notes, 1 1 8, 1 20, etc. the younger, and the three others the older 
 
 "The time when the confederacy was members of the confederacy." Galla- 
 
 formed is not known, but it was presumed tin. "The Oneidas^ and Cayugas are 
 
 to be of a recent date, and the Oneidas their children." Zinxcndorf. 
 and Cayugas are said to have been com- 
 
40 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 but national or confederated action required the concurrence of 
 all the tribes, and hence, when a decision was made, it was 
 clothed with all the power of the most full popular will. 1 There 
 was no female suffrage among them, and yet females had the 
 power, by adoption, to rescue prisoners from death, and to com 
 mand a cessation of war. When so determined by the matrons, 
 the braves returned from the conflict without compromiting the 
 character of the tribe for bravery. But this feature in their 
 customs was common to all the Indian nations. It remains to 
 be shown that they had any forms of government peculiar 
 to themselves. Their power was in their confederation, 
 and in this they apparently differed from other nations only 
 in the number of tribes and in the perpetuity of the organiza 
 tion, other nations securing the same results, in case of war, 
 by temporary alliances. 
 
 A view of their national council is furnished by Loskiel, who 
 says that in 1745, Spangenberg, one of the Moravian bishops, 
 spent several weeks at Onondaga, and frequently attended its 
 sessions. -" The council-house was built of bark. On each 
 side six seats were placed, each containing six persons. No one 
 was admitted besides the members of the council, except a few, 
 who were particularly honored. If one arose to speak, all the 
 rest sat in profound silence, smoking their pipes. The speaker 
 uttered his words in a singing tone, always rising a few notes at 
 the close of each sentence. Whatever was pleasing to the 
 council was confirmed by all with the word nee, or yes. And 
 at the end of each speech, the whole company joined in ap 
 plauding the speaker by calling hobo. At noon, two men 
 entered, bearing a large kettle filled with meat upon a pole 
 across their shoulders, which was first presented to the guests. 
 A large wooden ladle as broad and deep as a common bowl, 
 hung with a hook to the side of the kettle, with which every 
 one might at once help himself to as much as he could eat. 
 
 1 The difference between confederated feated. In 1763, Johnson did not class 
 
 and tribal action has many illustrations the Senecas among the " friendly tribes," 
 
 in the history of the times in which they and in 1775 ^e English were compelled 
 
 took a conspicuous part. It became to resort to tribal alliances, in view of the 
 
 very difficult indeed to secure unity of determination of the council in favor of 
 
 action in favor of the English at different neutrality, 
 times, and in 1755 it was entirely de- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 41 
 
 The whole was conducted in a very decent and quiet manner. 
 Indeed, now and then one or the other would lie flat upon his 
 back and rest himself, and sometimes they would stop, joke and 
 laugh heartily." 
 
 The second of the national divisions was the MAHICANS, 
 called by the Dutch, Maikans, and, by the French missionaries, 
 " the nine nations of Mankingansf gathered between Manhattan 
 and the environs of Quebec." The several nations composing 
 the confederacy have never been designated, although certain 
 general divisions appear under the titles of the Mabicans, the 
 Soquatucks, the Horicons, the Pennacooks, the Nipmufks, the 
 Abenaquis, the Nawaas, the Sequins, and the Wappingers, which, 
 in confederated action, may be classed under the generic name 
 of Abenaqui, or Wapanackki, that is, Men of the East. The 
 representative. nation of the confederacy on the Hudson, the 
 Mabican, appears to have taken original position there, and to 
 have sent out subduing colonies .to the south and east, originat 
 ing other national combinations. To the noble stream upon 
 which they were found by the Dutch they gave their name, the 
 Mahicanituck ; and kindled their ancient council-fire at Scho- 
 dac, opposite the site of the present city of Albany. To trace 
 their movements prior to the discovery, tradition and theory 
 must be blended. It may be presumed that in the course of 
 the ages they seized the head waters of the Connecticut, the 
 Housatonic, and the Hudson, and from their inland position 
 rolled a savage horde upon the sea-coast, giving birth to the 
 Pequots and the Narragansetts, 2 and from thence overrunning 
 the tribes on the southern part of the peninsula of New York 
 and the adjacent islands, and reuniting with the parent stock as 
 one independent tribe in the position in which they were found 
 
 1 Muhhekaneeiv is the orthography of planted by the English," that they, 
 the original name as given by Dr. Ed- " being a more fierce, cruel, and warlike 
 wards, for many years among them, people than the rest of the Indians, came 
 The Dutch called them Mahikanders ; down out of the inland parts of the con- 
 the French knew them as the Mouri- tinent, and by force seized upon the 
 gans and Manhingans 5 the English as goodliest places near the sea, and became 
 the Mohiccons, Mohegans, Muhheeck- a terror to all their neighbors." Indian 
 anew, etc. Wars, 14. The relationship between 
 
 2 Hubbard, referring to the Pequots, the Mahicans and Pequots is so conclu- 
 says that it was " commonly reported, sively shown that one must have appa- 
 about the time when New England was rently originated the other. 
 
42 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 by the Dutch under the names of Wappingers, Montauks and 
 Mahicans. 
 
 The tradition which the Mahicans give of their origin states : 
 " The country formerly owned by the Muhheakunnuk nation, 
 was situated partly in Massachusetts, and partly in the states of 
 Vermont and New York. The inhabitants dwelt chiefly in 
 little towns and villages. Their chief seat *was on Hudson's 
 river, now it is called Albany, which was called Pempotowwut- 
 hut-Muhhecanneuw, or the fire-place of the Muhheakunnuk 
 nation, where their allies used to come on any business whether 
 relative to the covenants of their friendship or other matters. 
 The etymology of the word Muhheakunnuk, according to 
 original signification, is great waters or sea, which are constantly 
 in motion, either ebbing or flowing. Our forefathers asserted 
 that they were emigrants from west-by-north of another country ; 
 that they passed over great waters, where this and the other 
 country are nearly connected, called Ukhkokpeck ; it signifies 
 snake water or water where snakes are abundant ; and that they 
 lived by side of a great water or sea, from whence they derive 
 the name of Muhheakunnuk nation. Muhheakunneuw signifies 
 a man of Muhheakunnuk tribe. Muhheakunneyuk is a plural 
 number. As they were coming from the west they found many 
 great waters, but none of them flowing and ebbing like Muh 
 heakunnuk until they came to Hudson's river ; then they said 
 one to another, this is like Muhheakunnuk our nativity. And 
 when they found grain was very plenty in that country, they 
 agreed to kindle a fire there and hang a kettle, whereof they 
 and their children after them might dip out their daily refresh 
 ment. That before they began to decay, our forefathers in 
 formed us that the Muhheakunnuk nation could then raise about 
 one thousand warriors who could turn out at any emergency." 1 
 
 The government of the Mahicans was a democracy. They 
 had a chief sachem, chosen by the nation, upon whom they 
 looked as conductor and promoter of the general welfare. 
 This office was hereditary by the lineage of the wife of the 
 sachem ; that is, the selection of a successor, on the death of a 
 
 1 Massachusetts Historical Society Collec- tradition bears the impress of the theories 
 tionsy ix, 101. In some of its parts this entertained by the early missionaries. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 43 
 
 sachem, was confined to the female branch of the family. The 
 sachem was assisted by counselors, and also by one hero, one 
 owl, and one runner ; the rest of the nation were called 
 young men or warriors. The sachem, or more properly king, 
 remained at all times with his tribe and consulted their welfare ; 
 he had charge of the mnoti, or bag of peace, which contained 
 the belts and strings used to establish peace and friendship with 
 different nations, and concluded all treaties on behalf of his 
 people. The counselors were elected, and were called chiefs. 
 Their business was to consult with their sacrtem in promoting 
 the peace and happiness of their people. The title of hero 
 was gotten only by courage and prudence in war. When a 
 war-alliance was asked, or cause for war existed with another 
 tribe, the sachem and the counselors consulted, and if they 
 concluded to take up the hatchet, the matter was put in the 
 hands of the heroes for execution. When peace was proposed, 
 the heroes put the negotiations in the hands of the sachem 
 and counselors. The office of owl was also one of merit. 
 He must have a strong memory, and must be a good speaker. 
 His business was to sit beside his sachem,- and proclaim his 
 orders to the people with a loud voice ; and also to get up every 
 morning as soon as day-light and arouse the .people, and order 
 them to their daily duties. The business of runner was to 
 carry messages, and to convene councils. 1 
 
 Precisely what relation the Mahlcans of the Hudson sustained 
 to the Mohegans under Uncas, is not known. Uncas, it will 
 be remembered, was a Pequot chief, and as such occupied a 
 district of country between the Thames and the Connecticut, 
 called Mohegoneak. 2 After an unsuccessful conflict with the 
 tribe to which he belonged, he fled, with some fifty of his 
 
 1 Stockbridge, Past and Present. of New London, Groton and Stonington. 
 
 2 The Pequot and Mohegan country All the tract above this, as far north and 
 lay to the south and east of the Nehan- east as has been described, was the Mo- 
 ticks (in Lyme), from Connecticut river hegan country ; and most, if not all, the 
 to the eastern boundary line of the co- towns held their deeds from Uncas or his 
 lony, and north-east or north of its north- successors. Dr. Trumbull, in his History 
 ern boundary line. This tract was of Connecticut, expresses the opinion, 
 thirty miles square, and included the that the Pequots and Mohegans were one 
 counties of New London, Windham, tribe and took their names " from the 
 and the principal parts of the county of place of their situation." Massachusetts 
 Tolland. The Pequot country proper Historical Society Collections, ix, 79. 
 
 was principally within jthe three towns 
 
 6 
 
44 
 
 THE INDUN TRIBES 
 
 followers, to Hartford, where he formed an alliance with the 
 English in 1638. In the subsequent wars between the English 
 and the Pequots, he remained faithful to the former, and, when 
 the Pequots were blotted out as a nation, 1 received a portion of 
 its survivors as his reward. He subsequently became one of 
 the most powerful chiefs of the country, and the petted favorite 
 of the English of Connecticut. Originally of the same stock ; 2 
 controlled by the same traditionary hostility to the Mohawks ; 
 influenced by the conflict for jurisdiction between the Dutch 
 and the English "to the Connecticut, it is not at all improbable 
 that he was frequently found sustaining his brethren on the 
 Hfudson, and that they in turn recruited his numbers to some 
 extent. 3 The organization under Uncas, however, was clearly 
 distinct from that of the Hudson confederacy. 4 The latter 
 were powerful in themselves, and in their recognized confede 
 rated allies, and successfully disputed the prowess of their 
 Mohawk rivals. 
 
 The third of the great divisions or confederations represented 
 on the Hudson was the LENNI LENAPES, a name which they 
 applied to themselves, and which has had various interpretations, 
 among others, that of original people, and unmixed people. 
 They were also called by [the generic name of Wapanachki, 
 
 1 By the terms of peace which closed 
 the Pequot war, that nation were not to 
 live in their ancient country, nor be called 
 by their ancient name, but to become 
 Narragansetts and Mohegans. The 
 name of their ancient river was changed to 
 Thames, and their territory was to be con- 
 sidered the property of the English. Rhode 
 Island Historical Society Collections, m, 177. 
 
 2 "And the identity of name between 
 the Makicans of the Hudson and the 
 Mobegans of East Connecticut, induces 
 the belief that all those tribes belonged 
 to the same stock." Gallatin, n, 34. 
 " The Pequots and Mohegans were appa 
 rently originally of the same race with 
 the Mohicans, Mohegans, or Mohican- 
 ders, who lived on the banks of the 
 Hudson." De Forest's History of the In 
 dians of Connecticut. 
 
 3 " Some Mahicanders are at Hertford 
 in consultation with others the rivers and 
 Northern Indians." Col. Nichols, June 
 25, 1666; Colonial History , in, 117. 
 
 4 This fact cannot be too distinctly 
 recognized. The Mobegans were an 
 exclusively Eastern Connecticut tribe and 
 in alliance with the government of that 
 province ; the Mahicans of New York 
 differed from them in their dialect, in the 
 territory which they occupied, and in 
 their alliances ; having in the latter re 
 spect a nominal representation with the 
 authorities of New York and a positive 
 one with Massachusetts. The Mohegans 
 of Connecticut were one of the very few 
 tribes whose organization and subsequent 
 history is a matter of record 5 the Ma- 
 bicans of the Hudson ante-date all human 
 knowledge. 
 
 6 " The term Lenape" says Schoolcraft, 
 " appears to carry the same meaning as 
 inaba, a male, and the word was proba 
 bly used nationally, and with emphasis 
 in the sense of men." " I have called 
 them simply Lenapc, as they do them 
 selves in most instances." Hcckeiuelder. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 
 
 45 
 
 or Men of the East. 1 Their territory extended from the 
 KatskiK mountains south to the Potomac, occupying the region 
 watered by the Hudson, the Delaware, 2 the Susquehanna and 
 the Potomac. The site of their ancient council-fire was at 
 what is now Philadelphia, on the bank of the Lenapewihituk, 
 or Delaware river ; Lenape, the term given to themselves, and 
 ituk a geographical equivalent for the English word domain or 
 territory. 3 
 
 According to tradition 4 handed down from their ancestors, 
 the Lennl Lenapes resided for many centuries in a very distant 
 country, in the western part of the American continent. Hav 
 ing resolved to move eastward, they set out in a body in search 
 of a new home ; and after a long journey and many nights 
 encampment, (i. e., halts of one year at a place), they reached 
 the Namaesl Sipee (Mississippi), where they fell in with another 
 nation, the Mengwe, or Iroquois, who had also emigrated from 
 a distant country for the same purpose. The region east of 
 the Mississippi was occupied by the Allegewi (Alleghany), a 
 powerful and partially civilized people, having numerous large 
 towns defended by Regular fortifications and entrenchments. 5 
 
 1 " These people are known and called 
 by all the western, northern and some of 
 the southern nations by the name of 
 Wappanachki, which the Europeans 
 have corrupted into Apenaki, Openagi, 
 Abenaquis, and Abenakis. All these 
 names, however differently written, and 
 improperly understood by authors, point 
 to one and the same people, the Lenape, 
 who are by this compound word called 
 People at the rising of the Sun, or as 
 we would say Eastlanders ; and are 
 acknowledged by near forty tribes, whom 
 we call nations. All these nations, de 
 rived from the same stock, recognize 
 each other as Wappanachki, which 
 among them is a generic name." Hecke- 
 iu elder. 
 
 2 Their territorial possessions on the 
 Hudson are clearly defined. Onderis 
 Hocque, one of their chiefs, declared to 
 the Esopus clans, at the treaty of 1660 : 
 " Ye must not renew this quarrel. This 
 is not your land ; it is our land. There 
 fore repeat not this, but throw down the 
 hatchet. Tread it so deeply in the earth 
 that it shall never be taken up again." 
 
 In the controversy in reference to the 
 Hardenbergh tract, in 1769, one Dr. 
 Shuckburgh stated that he was present at 
 a conference in 1734, in which the chiefs 
 of Schoharie, Seth and Hance, " told the 
 Esopus or Delawares that if they ever 
 attempted to sell lands west of the Kats- 
 kill hills, they would kill them." An 
 Oneida Indian, whose father was chief 
 sachem of Oneida, " and their oracle in 
 all matters of antiquity," heard his 
 " father often say that the lands on the 
 east of the Delaware was the property of 
 the River Indians or Delawares." John 
 son Manuscripts, xvn, 159. 
 
 3 The capital of the nation was subse 
 quently removed to Shamokin, and from 
 thence to Wyoming. 
 
 4 No value whatever attaches to these 
 traditions. That which is here recited 
 gives to them a western origin, in face of 
 their eastern name. 
 
 5 " It is generally believed that the 
 Allcgcwi, or AlleghanS) were of Welsh 
 origin. This belief rests on the supposed 
 voyage of Madoc to this continent in the 
 twelfth century. The Welsh tradition is, 
 
46 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 In this country the Lenape, on their arrival, asked to settle. 
 This request was denied by the Allegewi, but permission was 
 granted to pass through the territory, and seek a settlement 
 further eastward. No sooner had they commenced to cross 
 the Mississippi, however, than the Allegekui, perceiving the vast 
 numbers of the Lenape, furiously attacked them. The result of 
 this treachery was a long and bloody war between the Lenape 
 and their allies the Mengwe, on the one side, and the Allegewi 
 on the other. The latter, after protracted contest, rinding them 
 selves unable to make head against the formidable alliance, and 
 that their very existence, as a distinct tribe, was threatened, 
 abandoned their ancient seats and fled down the Mississippi, 
 from whence they never again returned. Of course, their 
 lands were divided by the conquerors. 
 
 For a long period some say for several centuries the 
 Mengwe and Lenape dwelt in peace together, and both nations 
 rapidly increased in numbers. At length some of the more 
 enterprising of the Lenape huntsmen and warriors crossed the 
 mountains, pursued their travels near to the great salt-water lake 
 (Atlantic), and discovered the great river (Delaware). Going 
 on still further eastward through the Sheyickbi country, they 
 came to another great stream (the Hudson). On their return 
 home they gave so flattering an account of the excellence and 
 richness of the regions thus discovered, as to induce the general 
 belief that this was the land which the Great Spirit designed for 
 
 that Madoc's company landed on some occupy the foreground of our remote 
 part of New England or Virginia, and in aboriginal history, were a valiant, noble 
 process of time spread over a great part of and populous race, who were advanced in 
 America. The investigations showing arts and the policy of government and 
 the existence of 'white people in the valley raised fortifications for their defense, 
 of the Mississippi, and that they were of which are extended over the entire Mis- 
 Welsh origin, are very interesting. This sissippi valley, as high as latitude 43, 
 people spoke the Welsh language to a and the lake country, reaching from Lake 
 considerable extent, and claimed Welsh St. Clair to the south shore of Lake On- 
 origin. For more than a century and a tario, and the country of the Onondagas 
 half, the existence of this people in the and Oneidas." Schooler aft. Priest traces 
 interior of our country, has been traced." the Allegeivi from the lake country to 
 TTatcs and Moulton. " They occupied a the " vale of Mexico, where they finally 
 large portion of the western area of the and permanently rested," and where they 
 State of New York, comprising the valley assumed the name of Aztecas, or people 
 of the Alleghany river to its utmost source, of the lakes. The course of migration 
 and extending eastwardly an undefined is marked by the mounds where they 
 distance. Our authorities do not leave " rested," or dwelt temporarily on their 
 us in doubt, that this ancient people, who journey. American Antiquities. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 47 
 
 / 
 
 their permanent abode. Though emigrating at first in small 
 numbers, the great body of the nation at last settled on the four 
 great rivers, Delaware, Hudson, Susquehanna and Potomac, and 
 kindled their council-fire in the centre of their possessions. 
 Here they became so numerous that their descendants were 
 compelled to separate from them in branches, so that nearly 
 forty tribes honored them with the title of grandfather -, 1 a title 
 which some of them continue to apply to the present day. 2 
 
 In the government of the Lenapes the perfect liberty of the 
 people was the fundamental law, and absolute unanimity the 
 only recognized expression of the popular will. A more per 
 fect system of checks and balances the wisdom of civilized 
 nations has not devised; They were divided in three tribes, the 
 Unami, the Unalachto, and the Minsi, or the Turtle, the Turkey, 
 and the Wolf. Each tribe had its chief and each chief his 
 counselors, the latter composed either of experienced warriors 
 or aged and respectable fathers of families. In times of peace 
 nothing could be done without the consent of the council 
 unanimously expressed. The chiefs were required to keep 
 good order, and to decide in all quarrels and disputes ; but they 
 had no power to command, compel, or punish ; their only mode 
 of government was persuasion and exhortation, and in departing 
 from that mode they were deposed by the simple form of for 
 saking them. The constant restraint which they were under 
 made them, in general, the most courteous, affable and hospita 
 ble of men. Their legislative hall was usually in a building 
 provided for that purpose ; the counselors were called together 
 by a servant ; in the centre of the room a large fire was kindled, 
 and tobacco, pipes, and provisions provided, and the matter 
 under consideration disposed of after alternate smoking, eating 
 and deliberation, but with the utmost gravity. 
 
 In national matters the chief of the Unami was first in rank 
 and constituted- the head or king. For this reason, while he 
 must be a member of that tribe, the selection of his successor, 
 in case of his death, was made by the ruling chiefs of the other 
 
 1 The tribes acknowledging this relation appellation of Noochivissak or my grand- 
 
 addressed the Lenni Lenapes with the children. Yates and Moulton. 
 title of Mochomes, that is to say, their 2 Schoolcraft admits that there is some 
 
 grandfather, and were received with the reason to acquiesce, " to a certain extent," 
 
48 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 tribes. He was required to maintain the peace and covenants 
 with other nations, and to that end to carry on a kind of corre 
 spondence with them that he might always be acquainted with 
 their disposition towards his people. He also sent out embassies, 
 with the advice and consent of the other chiefs. He was liable 
 to removal in case of neglect of duty, or for suffering any of 
 his people to commit offenses which might involve the nation in 
 war. If, after being admonished of his duty he was still neg 
 lectful of it, he was forsaken and his power was at an end. 
 National councils were a duplication of tribal councils, except 
 that they were composed of representatives selected by the 
 chiefs and counselors of the tribes and their assemblage held at 
 the capital. In times of war the powers of the civil government 
 were suspended. A chief could not declare war without the 
 consent of his captains', nor could he accept a war-belt except 
 to transmit it to them, and finally, the captains could not declare 
 war unless by unanimous assent. When war was formally 
 declared, the care of the people passed into the hands of the 
 captains. When terms of peace were proposed, civil govern 
 ment was resumed ; the chief again took his place ; the captains 
 placed the proposals in his hands, and he had power to accept 
 or reject them. If he accepted the proposals, he took the 
 hatchet from the hands of the chief captain, and desired him 
 to sit down. This constituted a truce, and was followed by the 
 appointment of embassadors to conclude a treaty. All the 
 proceedings were accompanied by the gravest demeanor, and 
 the most impressive dignity. " No stranger could visit their 
 councils without a sensation of respec x t." 
 
 Law and justice, as civilized nations understand those terms, 
 were to them unknown, yet both they had in a degree suited to 
 their necessities. Assaults, murders, and other acts regarded 
 as criminal offenses by all nations, were so regarded by them, 
 but the execution of punishment was vested- in the injured 
 family, who were constituted judges as well as executioners, 
 
 in both the claim to antiquity and their none of the existing tribes in the north 
 
 ancient position, in the great Algonquin and west, who are known to us personally, 
 
 family of the Lenapcs. He says : " It who do not acknowledge the ancient Le- 
 
 is believed that there are no members of napes under the title of grandfather." 
 this generic family of tribes, certainly 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 49 
 
 and who could grant pardons or accept atonements. The rights 
 of property they understood and respected ; and half their wars 
 were retaliatory for the taking of their territory without making 
 just and proper compensation. There was not a man among 
 them that did not know the bounds of his own land as accu 
 rately as though defined by a surveyor's chain. Their customs 
 were their unwritten laws, more effective than those which fill 
 the tomes of civilized governments, because taught to the people 
 from infancy and woven into every condition and necessity of 
 their being. Their chiefs were poor and without revenue, yet 
 the treasury of the nation was never exhausted. A more perfect 
 democracy will never exist among the nations of the earth, and 
 in this respect it was distinguished from the government of the 
 Iroquois, the latter more nearly resembling a republic from the 
 greater number of tribes represented in national councils, but in 
 other respects scarcely presenting a single contrasting feature. 
 
 The names given to the Lenape tribes were from their totems. 
 Each Indian nation was not only divided into tribes and chief 
 taincies or family clans, but had peculiar totemic classifications. 
 Totems were rude but distinct devices or family symbols, denot 
 ing original consanguinity, and were universally respected. 
 They were painted upon the person of the Indian, and again 
 on the gable end of his cabin, " some in black, others in red." 
 The wandering savage appealed to his totem, and was entitled to 
 the hospitality of the wigwam which bore the corresponding em 
 blem. They had other and various uses, but the most important 
 was the representation which they made of the tribe or family 
 to which they belonged or were made the emblems. The 
 Iroquois had nine, forming two divisions, one of four tribes 
 and the other of five. Of the first division the emblems were 
 the Tortoise, the Wolf, the Bear, and the Beaver. The 
 second division, and subordinate to the first, were the Deer, the 
 Potatoe, the Great Plover, the Little Plover, and the Eagle. 
 The Mohawks were represented by the totem of the Bear. 1 
 The Lenni Lenapes had three totemic tribes : the Turtle, or 
 
 1 The Mohawk sachems who presented bear you know never yields while one 
 
 their condolence at Albany, in 1690, on drop of blood is left. We must all be 
 
 the taking of Schenectady, said : " We bears." Schoolcraft. 
 are all of the race of the bear, and the 
 
50 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Unami ; * the Turkey, or Unalachto, and the Wolf, or Minsi. 
 The totems of the Mabicans were the Bear, 2 the Wolf, and the 
 Turtle. The Turkey and Turtle tribes occupied the sea- 
 coast and the south-western shore of the Hudson, while the 
 Wolf or Minsi, being much the most warlike of the three, 
 served as a sort of shield to their more peaceful brethren, and 
 watched the movements of the Mengwe or Iroquois. Their 
 territory extended from the Katskill mountains to the head 
 waters of the Delaware and Susquehanna rivers, and was 
 bounded on the east by the Hudson ; their council-fire was 
 lighted at Minisink. 3 The Turkey tribe joined the Mlnsi on 
 the south somewhere about Stony point. On the west bank 
 of the river, therefore, there were but two totemic Lenape tribes. 
 Above the Minsi came the Mabican totem of the Wolf, and on 
 the east bank the Bear of that nation. Below the Mohicans 
 from Roeloff Jansen's kill to the sea, the Wolf again appeared 
 as the totem of the Wappingers ; while the Montauks bore the 
 emblem of the Turtle. 4 The prevailing totem of all the 
 Hudson river cantons was the Wolf, borne alike by Minsis, 
 Wappingers and Mahicans^ leading the French to call them all 
 Loups or wolves, and affording Mr. Schoolcraft the basis for his 
 
 1 " The Turtle tribe, among the Len- their protection, watching the motions of 
 
 apes, claims^ a superiority and ascendancy the Meng<we, and being at hand to afford 
 
 over the others because of their relation their aid in case of rupture with them. 
 
 to the great tortoise, a fabled monster, The Minsi were considered the most 
 
 the Atlas of their mythology, who bears, warlike and active branch of the Lenape. 
 
 according to their traditions, this great They extended their settlements from 
 
 island, as they term the world, on his the Minisink, a place named after them, 
 
 back} and also superior because he is where they had their council seat and 
 
 amphibious." fates and Moultons His- fire, quite up to the Hudson 5 and to the 
 
 tory. Politically the Turtle and Turkey west, or southwest, far^beyond the Susque- 
 
 tribes were associated in the same govern- hanna 5 their northern boundaries were 
 
 ment, while the Minsis had a distinct supposed originally to be the heads of 
 
 organization. the great rivers Susquehanna and Dela- 
 
 2 "The Bear tribe was considered the ware, and their southern .boundaries that 
 leading totem and entitled to the office ridge of hills known in New Jersey by 
 of chief sachem." Mahican Tradition, the name of Muskanecum, and in Penn- 
 They appear to have been in occupation sylvania, by those of Lehigh, Coghnewago, 
 in the vicinity of Albany. etc." Hcckeiuelder. 
 
 3 The location was about ten miles 4 The classification is not positive, 
 south of Maghackemek, in the present There were other than the Turtle totem 
 state of New Jersey. " The third tribe, on the island. 
 
 the Wolf, commonly called the Minsi, 6 " Mohcgan is a word, the meaning of 
 which we have corrupted into Monscys, which is not explained by the early writ- 
 had chosen to live back of the two other ers ; but if we may trust the deductions 
 tribes, and formed a kind of bulwark for of philology, it needs create little uncer- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 51 
 
 9 
 
 argument that the name of the Mahican confederacy was from 
 its prevailing totemic emblem. 
 
 For dividing the territory of the Mahlcans at RoelofF Jansen's 
 kill, and again at Long Island, there is other than totemic au 
 thority. In regard to the former, the affidavit of King Nim- 
 ham is on record, under date of October 13, 1730, in which it 
 is stated that the deponent was "a River Indian of the tribe of 
 the Wappinots, which tribe was the ancient inhabitants of the 
 eastern shore of Hudson's river, from the city of New York to 
 about the middle of Beekman's patent," in the northern part of 
 the present county of Dutchess ; " that another tribe of River 
 Indians called the Mayhiccondas were the ancient inhabitants 
 of the remaining eastern shore of said river ; that these two 
 tribes constituted one nation." The testimony in regard to the 
 Montauks is not so clear and positive, but is sufficiently so to 
 indicate their status at the time of the discovery, whatever may 
 have been their subsequent political relations. On the earliest 
 maps the island is assigned to the Mahicans. DeRasieres, 
 writing in 1626, states that its occupation was then by the "old 
 Manhattans," and intimates that they were conquered "by the 
 Wappenos." While all the eastern Indians were called Wap- 
 penos, x or Wapenacki, the reference, in this instance, is 
 clearly specific, not general, and evidently refers to the Wappinoo 
 or Wappinger branch of the Mahicans, who, whatever may have 
 
 tainly. In the Mohegan, as spoken at wolf, or a wolf of supernatural power, 
 
 the present time by their lineal descend- This was the badge of arms of the tribe, 
 
 ants, the Stockbridges of Wisconsin, rather than the name of the tribe it- 
 
 Maihtshoiv is the name of the common self." Schooler aft. Compare with the 
 
 wolf. It is called, in the cognate dialects statement of Capt. Hendrick, quoted 
 
 of the Algonquin, Myegan by the Kenis- ante, p. 42. 
 
 tenos, and Myeengun by the Chippewas, 1 Their various tongues may be classed 
 etc. In the old Algonquin, as given by into four distinct languages, namely, Man- 
 La Hontan, it is Mahingan, and we per- hattan, Minqua, Savanoo and Wappanoos. 
 ceive that this was the term adopted by With the Manhattans we include those 
 the early French writers for the Mohe- who live in the neighboring places along 
 gans. The term itself, it is to be under- the North river, on Long Island, and at 
 stood, by which the tribe is known to us, the Neversink ; with the Minquas, we 
 is not the true Indian, but has been include the Senecas, the Maquas, and 
 shorn of a part of its true sound by the other inland tribes. The Savanoos are 
 early French, Dutch and English writers, '^the southern nations and the Wappanoos 
 The modern tribe of the Mohegans, to the eastern. Van der Donck, N. T. Hist. 
 whom allusion' has been made, called Soc. Coll., ad Series, i, zo6; Wassenaar, 
 themselves Muhhekanleiv . * * Mohcgan Doc. Hist., in, 46. 
 was a phrase to denote an enchanted 
 
52 THE INDUN TRIBES 
 
 * 
 
 been their origin, seized the southern part of the peninsula and 
 adjacent islands, and established themselves in the Highlands. 
 Long anterior to Nimham's affidavit, however, the Montauks 
 were severed from the Mahicans, and became tributaries to the 
 Dutch and to the English. 
 
 The original supremacy of the IROQUOIS CONFEDERACY is 
 assumed by almost every writer of Indian history. "From 
 their ancient fortresses," says one of their ardent but not alto 
 gether truthful admirers, "war parties continually went forth ; 
 their war-cry sounded from the lakes to the far west, and rolled 
 along the banks of the Mississippi and over the far-off fields of 
 the south. They defeated the Hurons under the very walls of 
 Quebec, put out the council-fires of the Gakkwas and the 
 Eries* eradicated the Susquehannocks 2 and placed the Lenapes, 
 under tribute. The terror of their name went wherever their 
 war canoes paddled, and nations trembled when they heard the 
 name of Konoshioni." Another asserts that "long before 
 European discovery, the question of savage supremacy had been 
 settled on the waters of the Cahohatatea ; " that the " invinci 
 ble arms " of the Iroquois " humbled every native foe." In 
 view of the undeniable fact that there is not a single well- 
 attested case of subjugation by the Iroquois until nearly half a 
 century after " European discovery," these fulsome panegyrics 
 may very properly be subjected to analysis. 
 
 While conceding to the Iroquois, and to their immediate 
 representative on'the Hudson, the Mohawks, much of the credit 
 which has been claimed for them, justice to other nations will 
 compel the acknowledgment that the former were aided in their 
 conquests and preserved in their integrity to a very great extent 
 by their early alliances with the Europeans, and especially by 
 their constitution, by the English of New York, as an armed 
 police over the unarmed tribes ; and further, that there is scarce 
 a recorded conquest by them that is not tinged by the unmis- 
 
 1 The Eries were seated on the southern been the same with the Erics ; by others 
 shores of the lake which still bears their f that they were subsequently known as 
 
 name. We only know that they were the Hurons. Schoolcraft. 
 an Iroquois tribe, and that they were de- a The Susquehannocks were seated on 
 
 stroyed in 1655. Gallatin. The Gab- the Susquehanna river and Chesapeake 
 
 favas, or Kakkwahs, were also an Iroquois bay. They were defeated, in conflict 
 
 tribe, and are supposed by some to have with the English, at their fort near Co- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 53 
 
 takeable fact that the subjugated tribe was contending against 
 civilized as well as savage foes. In their early wars the Dutch 
 took no part, except to exchange for their furs the munitions of 
 war which they wanted, and to cultivate with them, for the pur 
 poses of trade, peace and friendship. To both, this friendly inter 
 course was desirable, and to both a necessity. When* the 
 English came in possession of the province, the wars in which 
 the Indians had taken part and were then engaged, the alliances 
 which they had formed with the French, and the positions which 
 they respectively occupied, made an alliance with the Iroquois 
 but the perfection of a condition of things which had had the 
 growth of over half a century, and which were destined to still 
 further development. 
 
 This fact appears more clearly in connection with contempo 
 raneous events. The settlement of Canada was commenced 
 in 1604, under a patent granted by Henry IV to Pierre du Gast. 
 In 1609, the year in which Hudson ascended the Mahicanituck, 
 Champlain discovered the lake which now bears his name. At 
 this time the Mohawks were at war with the northern tribes, 
 and by the mere force of the circumstances under which he 
 was placed, he formed an alliance with the latter, even agree 
 ing to assist them against their enemies. The first result of 
 this alliance was at a meeting of war parties of the Mohawks 
 and Hurons on Lake Champlain at which the former were 
 defeated, mainly perhaps by the power of the French arque 
 buses. 1 From that period the tide of Algonquin success rolled 
 
 lumbia, with the loss of several hundred out into the lake from the west side." 
 warriors, and in this weakened state were By agreement, hostilities were suspended 
 conquered by the Oneidas and incorpo- until the next morning, when the Hurons 
 rated with that tribe. When they had led the attack. Running to within two 
 forgotten their language they were sent hundred feet in front of their enemy, 
 back to the Susquehanna and became they stopped and divided into bands on 
 known as the Conestogas. Gallatin. the right and left, leaving Champlain and 
 x This battle was fought on the morn- his men in the centre. The sudden ap 
 ing of the 30th July, 1609. Champlain pearance of the Frenchmen, and the 
 with four of his men, and accompanied peculiarity of their arms, produced extreme 
 by some aoo Hurons, were engaged in astonishment in the Mohawk ranks ; but 
 exploring Lake Champlain, when a party what was their dismay when the first 
 of hostile Mohawks appeared. As the In- . report of the arquebuses fell upon their 
 dian practice was against fighting on the ears, and they beheld two of their chiefs 
 water, both parties hurried to the shore, fall dead and a third dangerously wounded, 
 where they pitched for battle. The Mo- The contest was of short duration. The 
 hawks hastily entrenched themselves with Mohaiuks broke and fled. Many were 
 trees " at the point of a cape which runs killed, and some taken prisoners. Not 
 
54 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 along the northern frontiers of the Iroquots, and carried terror 
 into the ranks of the Onondagas* Obtaining arms and powder 
 from the Dutch, the confederacy recovered its position, and in 
 turn harassed the French and their Indians in wars which were 
 yet open when the jurisdiction of the Dutch was exchanged for 
 that 6f the English. 
 
 That the Dutch were neutrals is evident from their treaties 
 with the Indians. Their first settlement was among the Mahi- 
 cans at what is now Albany, and their intercourse was mainly, 
 if not entirely, with that nation until 1623, when it is stated, the 
 Mahicans, Mohawks^ Oneidas, Onondagas^ Cayugas^ and Senecas, 
 as well as the " far off Ottawa Indians," came " and made cove 
 nants of friendship " with them, bringing to commander Joris 
 " great presents of beaver and other peltry, and desired that they 
 might come and have constant free trade with them, which was 
 concluded upon." 2 It is not to be presumed that the nations 
 named were present at one time, for they were not at peace 
 with each other ; there is no mention made by the Dutch histo 
 rians of any acknowledgment of subjugation by any of the tribes, 
 so minutely described in one of the early histories of New York, 3 
 and accepted apparently without examination by subsequent 
 writers. The deducible fact is that none of the tribes were 
 granted special privileges, and that there was not the slightest 
 distinction made between them in the terms of the compact. 
 
 During the difficulties with the Indians in the vicinity of 
 Fort Amsterdam in 1645, it is said that Director Kieft visited 
 Fort Orange and made a treaty with the Mohawks and Mahi- 
 cans by which their friendship was secured. Although O'Cal- 
 laghan 4 magnifies J:he consequence of the Mohawks in this trans 
 action, and assumes that their "name alone, inspired terror 
 among all the tribes west of the Connecticut ; over whom they 
 claimed to be sovereign, and from whom they exacted tribute," 
 
 one of the Hurons was killed ; and they so graphically described in the story of 
 
 celebrated their victory on the field of Hiawatha. 
 
 battle in dancing and singing. Yates and . 2 Ifassenaar, vn, 1 1 } Doc. Hist., in, 
 
 Moulton. 35, 51. 
 
 1 The incursions of the French explor- * Yates and Moulton's Hist. Ne-w York, 
 
 ing parties may have been the very 346, 347. 
 
 "northern hordes," to resist whom the * Hist. Neio JNetherland t i, 355. 
 confederation was formed in the manner 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 55 
 
 his statements are defeated by the association of the Mahicans 
 in the treaty, by the facts which he subsequently quotes, and by 
 the whole tenor of contemporaneous history. In 1659, the 
 Mohawks visited Fort Orange for the first time to ask special 
 favors, and the first visit to them, in an official capacity, was 
 made by the Dutch soon after. There is nothing in the pro 
 ceedings of either conference which establishes any other fact 
 than that the Mohawks desired an accommodation which the 
 Dutch were willing to grant only to an extent that should 
 prevent the alliance of the former with the tribes then 
 threatening hostilities. In 1660, they were included in the 
 peace at Esopus, but neither in its negotiation nor its terms 
 was there distinction made between the parties to that treaty. 
 Three years later Stuyvesant distinctly refused to employ them. 
 The advantage to the Iroquois from their treaty of free trade 
 was great, but it was made so only by the bar which their proxi 
 mity to Fort Orange interposed to the supplying of other nations 
 with whom they were at war. 
 
 The treaty between Nicolls, on the part of the English, and 
 the Iroquois, was one of necessity. With the Mahicans the 
 English were already in treaty ; with the Iroquois alone they 
 had none. Nothing was changed by it, but the change which 
 subsequently came was due to other causes, and those causes 
 precisely what they were a hundred years later. It required 
 more than half a century to develop the result of the opposing 
 French and English Indian alliances, even admitting that the 
 result was practically determined on this continent. The war 
 between the French Indians and the Iroquois at the north was 
 one of alternate successes and reverses, with positive advantages 
 undetermined ; but at the south, where the French alliance was 
 without power, the Lenapes, Minsis, Susquehannas, dndastesj 
 and other tribes became tributary to their ancient enemies. 
 With the progress of the French in the west, and the gathering 
 * 
 
 1 Note 3, ante p. 35. Raffeix, the Brodhcad, n, 193. The wars of the five 
 
 French missionary, writes, in 1672: nations against their own kindred, as in 
 
 " God preserve the Andastcs, who have the case of the Andastes, Eries y etc., are 
 
 only three hundred warriors, and bless one of the unexplained passages in their 
 
 their arms to humiliate the Iroquois and history, 
 preserve to us peace and our missions." 
 
56 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 thither of tribes retreating before the civilization which was 
 rolling upon them, the condition of even the subjugated tribes 
 improved, while the integrity of the Iroquois was compromised. 
 What the French lacked in position they made up in zeal, and 
 pushed their priests and their fire-arms together. Their success 
 was far greater than the English could wish. The Mohawks 
 were shorn of an entire canton of converts ; the flower of the 
 Mohicans became the trophies of the priests ; the Senecas, who 
 could call out more warriors than their four associate tribes 
 combined, were detached almost entirely, two small villages only 
 retaining their allegiance to the English. A hundred years of 
 war and diplomacy gave the French a very strong position, and 
 correspondingly elevated the tribes with which they were in 
 alliance. The English were compelled to dictate the removal 
 of the petticoat from the Lenapes^ while the Mohawks were 
 reduced to numbers comparatively insignificant, notwithstanding 
 the efforts made to recruit them. How the contest would have 
 ended had the French remained in possession of Canada 
 and the west, cannot be assumed ; but the presumption is not' 
 unreasonable, that, while the English may not have been 
 swept out of possession, the prowess of the Algonquins would 
 have been chanted where now the notes of applause embalm 
 the memory of the Iroquois. 
 
 The inquiry has its specific form in the alleged subjugation 
 of the Mahicans and in the period assigned to the subjugation 
 of the Lenapes as having been anterior to the advent of the 
 Europeans. The Mahicans were the most formidable com 
 petitors of the Iroquois. Equal in courage, equal in numbers, 
 equal in the advantages of obtaining fire-arms from the Dutch 
 and in their subsequent alliance with the English, they marched 
 unsubdued by the boasted conquerors of America. When 
 the Dutch first met them they were in conflict with the Mohawks, 
 and that conflict was maintained for nearly three-quarters of a 
 century, and until the English, who were in aWiance with both, 
 were able to effect a permanent settlement. Gallatin, writing 
 upon this subject, says : " Judge Smith, in his History of 
 New Tork, published in 1756, says, that 'When the Dutch 
 began the settlement of this country, all the Indians on Long 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 57 
 
 Island and the northern shore of the sound, on the banks of 
 Connecticut, Hudson's, Delaware, and Susquehanna rivers, 
 were in subjection to the Five Nations, and, within the memory 
 of persons now living, acknowledged it by the payment of an 
 annual tribute : " He gives no authority for the early date he 
 assigns to that event. The subsequent protracted wars of the 
 Dutch with the Manhattan and the Long Island Indians, and 
 the continued warfare of the Mohawks against the Connecticut 
 Indians, are inconsistent with that account, which is clearly 
 incorrect with respect to the Mohikander River Indians, or 
 Mahicans. These are mentioned by De Laet as the mortal 
 enemies of the Maquas. It was undoubtedly the interest of 
 the Dutch to promote any arrangement, which, by compelling 
 the Mahicans to remain at peace, would secure their own trade. 
 If they succeeded at any time, the peace was but temporary. 
 We learn from the Relations of the French missionaries, that 
 war existed in 1656, between the Manhingans and the Mohawks, 
 and that these experienced a severe check in 1663, in an attack 
 upon a Manhingan fortified village, and Golden admits that the 
 contest was not at an end until 1673. 'The trade of New 
 York,' he says, ' was hindered by the war which the Five 
 Nations had at that time with the River Indians j ' and he adds 
 that the governor of New York l obtained a peace between 
 the Five Nations and the Mahikanders or River Indians.' x It 
 is also certain that those Mohikander or River Indians were 
 not reduced to the same state in which the Delawares were 
 placed. It is proved by the concurring accounts of the French 
 and English writers, that, subsequently to the peace of 1673, 
 they were repeatedly, indeed uniformly, employed as auxiliaries 
 in the wars of the Five Nations and the British against the 
 French." 2 
 
 This conclusion is not only abundantly sustained by the 
 records referred to, but by an analysis of the testimony which 
 has been relied upon as indicating an opposite result. The 
 latter is confined, first, to traditionary reverses sustained by the 
 Mahicans on Wanton island, near Katskill, and at Red Hook, 
 in Dutchess county, the bones of the slain at the latter place 
 
 1 Golden' 's Six Nations, chap, ii, 35? * Gallatin*s Indian Tribes, u, 43, 44. 
 
58 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 being, it is said, in monumental record when the Dutch first set 
 tled there ; and second, to the statements by Mfcchaelius and 
 Wassenaar. The traditionary evidence is entirely worthless as 
 to the results involved, and at best can only be accepted as 
 proof of sanguinary conflicts ; while the statements by Michael- 
 ius and Wassenaar, based as they were on information received 
 from others, are almost wholly at variance with positive records. 
 The former writer states that in the war of 1626, the Mohawks 
 were successful and that the Mabicans fled and left their lands 
 unoccupied ; x the latter affirms that " war broke out " again in 
 1628, " between the Maikens, near Fort Orange, and the Mak- 
 waes" and that the former were beaten and driven off. 2 Ad 
 mitting that both writers refer to the same occurrence, and that 
 there is no conflict in date, the retirement spoken of could only 
 have included a single canton or chieftaincy. That the Mahi- 
 cans^ as a nation, did not leave their lands unoccupied nor sur 
 render their possession, appears from the title deeds which they 
 gave to Van Rensselaer in 1630, the validity of which was 
 never questioned ; from the treaty made with them by Kieft, 
 and from their participation in the wars with the Dutch at Fort 
 Amsterdam. To these facts it may be added that deeds from 
 King Aepjin show that his council-fire was kept burning at 
 Schodac 3 as late as 1664 ; that one of the castles of the nation, 
 that at Cohoes, was in occupation by them as late as 1660, and 
 that the records of the commissioners of Indian affairs show an 
 organization, distinct from that which was recognized by Mas 
 sachusetts but clearly subordinate to it, for> over half a century 
 after the English succeeded the Dutch in the government. 
 
 It only remains to harmonize these facts with the statements 
 referred to. That, as already intimated, a canton or chieftaincy 
 
 1 " The business of furs is dull on ac- but these beat and captured the Maikans 
 count of a new war of the Maechibacys and drove off the remainder, who have 
 (Mohawks) against the Maikans at the retired towards the north by the Fresh 
 upper end of this river. There have river, so called, where they begin to 
 occurred cruel murders on both sides, cultivate the soil ; and thus the war 
 The Maikans have fled and their lands terminated." Wassenaar, Documentary 
 are unoccupied, and they are very fertile History, in, 48. 
 
 and pleasant." Michaelius, Colonial His- 8 It is not certain that Schodac was the 
 
 tory, n, 769. original capital of the nation. The pro- 
 
 2 " In the beginning of this year (1628) babilities are that it was, and that it was 
 war broke out between the Maikans, subsequently removed to Westenhuck, in 
 near Fort Orange, and the Mohawks, the valley of the Housatonic. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RI7ER. 59 
 
 of the nati^i retired from the west bank of the river at or about 
 the time spBben of by Michaelius and Wassenaar, is not only 
 probable, but its movements can apparently be traced and the 
 territory which it " left unoccupied " very nearly defined. The 
 explanation is found in the title deeds which were subsequently 
 given by the tribes who were parties to the conflict. Their 
 examination shows that the Mohawks only claimed the right of 
 conquest over lands north of the Mohawk river and in part par 
 ticularly embraced in the Kayaderossera patent. South of the 
 Mohawk river they never either claimed or sold lands on the 
 Hudson, and even north of that point their claim, although tra 
 ditionally conceded, was subsequently disputed. 1 Whatever 
 may have been the extent of the territory which they claimed, 
 however, it is apparent that it was limited and that it did not 
 include or extend to the east side of the river, nor involve the 
 subjugation of the nation. The retiring canton was an advanced 
 post on the frontiers, pushed forward, it may be reasonably 
 supposed, by superior prowess, and maintained until peculiarly 
 exposed. The point to which it removed is not positively 
 stated ; 2 but the evidence is sufficient to indicate pretty cer 
 tainly that- it was known as the Soquatucks or Socoquts^ in the 
 alliances of 1664, and in the subsequent history of the nation. 
 
 If there is no evidence of prior subjugation, there is certainly 
 none establishing that condition after the advent of the English. 
 The nation was almost continually in conflict with the Mohawks, 
 and in its last war with them maintained itself with success. A 
 more extended reference to this war and its results may be pro 
 per. The eastern Indians were involved in the contest as well 
 
 *It is asserted that the Mahicans ad- Col. Hist., ix, 475), does not correspond 
 
 mitted the conquest of the lands west of with their assignment " towards Lake 
 
 the Hudson embraced in the Saratoga Champlain," (/., 795), or with the very 
 
 (Schuylerville) tract ; yet from the John- plain statement by Talon : " Two Indian 
 
 son Manuscripts it appears that they tribes, one called the Loups (Mahicans) 
 
 claimed them in 1767, to "the prejudice," and the other the Socoquis, inhabit the 
 
 as Johnson says, "of Mohawk rights." country adjoining the English, and live, 
 
 Johnson Manuscripts, iv, 170, 173. in some respect, under their laws, in the 
 
 2 Wassenaar says, " towards the north same manner as the Algonquin* and 
 near the Fresh river." Hurons do under those of his majesty. 
 
 3 Brodheatfs Hist., i, 732; Col. Hist., I perceive in these two tribes, by nature 
 ix, 66. Probably called Soquatucks from arrant and declared enemies of the Iro- 
 Soquans, or Suckquans, their chief sachem, quois, a great inclination to reside among 
 Their classification as Saco Indians (note the French." ' After King Philip's 
 
 8 
 
60 THE INDUN TRIBES 
 
 as the Mabicam* In 1662, Director Stuyvesant^ucceeded in 
 establishing peace between the contestants, but iPen the Mo 
 hawks carried presents to the English fort at Penobscot to 
 confirm the same, they were attacked and slain. 2 The con 
 nection of the Hudson river chieftaincies with the war which 
 followed cannot be distinctly traced, but there is some data 
 upon the subject. In Kregier's Journal of the Second Esopus 
 War, it is said that residents at Bethlehem, in the present 
 county of Albany, were warned, in the fall of 1663, by a 
 friendly Indian, to remove to a place of security ; that " five 
 Indian nations had assembled together, namely the Mahikan- 
 ders, the Kats kills , the Wappingers, those of Esopus, besides 
 another tribe of Indians that dwell half-way between Fort 
 Orange and Hartford ; " that their " place of meeting was 
 on the east side of Fort Orange river, about three (nine) miles 
 inland from Claverack," 3 and that they were "about five 
 hundred strong." Again : " Hans the Norman 4 arrived at 
 the redoubt with his yacht from Fort Orange ; reports that full 
 seven thousand Indians had assembled at Claverack, on the 
 east side, about three (nine) miles inland, but he knows not with 
 what intent." 5 The intent soon became apparent. JJnder date 
 of June 21, 1664, Brodhead writes: "War now broke out 
 again. The Mahicans attacked the Mohawks, destroyed cattle 
 at Greenbush, burned the house of Abraham Staats at Clave 
 rack, and ravaged the whole country on the east side of the 
 North river." The operations of the Jesuit missionaries were 
 seriously hindered ; prisoners taken on either side were burned 
 or eaten ; the Mohawks were weakened and their pride humbled. 
 Such were the results of the war at the close of i668. 6 
 
 In the spring of 1669, a Mohawk embassy visited Quebec, 
 and asked that their nation might be " protected from the Mahi- 
 
 war, a portion of them appear to have Mohegans, who had been joined by the 
 
 returned to the Hudson, where they were Abcnaqui nations. Shea's Charle-voix, m, 
 
 incorporated with the Mahicans at Scha- 45 ; Drake 's Book of the Indians. 
 ticook. The greater portion, however, 2 Brodkead's Ne t w York, i, 732. 
 ultimately found their way to Canada, 3 The village of Claverack was five 
 
 where, with fragments of other tribes, miles from the Hudson. It was known 
 
 they were known as the St. Francis by the Indian name of Potkoke. 
 ' Indians. Doc. Hist., i, 27 j Col. Hist., 4 Norman's kill, in Albany, takes its 
 
 in, 482, 562; iv, 684, 715. name from this person. 
 
 *On the other hand, war was raging 5 Documentary History, iv, 83, 85. 
 furiously between the Mohawks and the Brodhead, n, 99, 146. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 61 
 
 cans by the king of France, to whom their country now 
 belonged by'the force of arms." In this they were successful 
 so far at least as to secure the cooperation of the Jesuit mission 
 aries in resisting an attack by the Mahicans on the palisaded 
 village of Caghnawaga. This attack was made on the eighteenth 
 of August, 1669. The Mahicans retired after two hours 
 fighting; and the Mohawks, descending the river in canoes, hid 
 themselves below them in an ambuscade which commanded the 
 road to Schenectady, at a place called Kinaquariones, where a con 
 flict ensued in which, although at first successful, the Mohawks 
 were put to flight. 1 The Mohawks then induced the Oneidas, 
 Onondagas and Cayugas to make common cause with them ; and 
 four hundred confederate warriors went to surprise a Mahlcan fort 
 " situated near Manhattan." But this enterprise failed, and the 
 Iroquols returned home with two wounded. 2 In April, 1670, 
 Governor Lovelace visited Albany, charged, among other things, 
 with the duty of making peace between the Mohawks and Ma 
 hicans j but it was not until August of the succeeding year that 
 the negotiations were consummated. 3 What the terms of peace 
 were is not stated, and can only be inferred from the subsequent 
 treatment of the tribes who were parties to it, who are described 
 as being " linked together in interest," and who were uniformly 
 treated as equals even in the selection of representative chiefs 
 to visit England. At no stage of their history are they repre 
 sented as the dependents of the Five Nations. This will more 
 fully appear from their connection with the wars with the Dutch, 
 
 1 Drake states that the Mahicans and chosen leader. This was a severe stroke, 
 
 their allies marched into the Mohawk and although the war continued, it was 
 
 country, led by the principal sachem of not with that spirit in which it had been 
 
 Massachusetts (Pennacooks ? ) named commenced." 
 
 Josiah, alias Chekatabut, a wise man, z Brodhead's Neiu Tfork f n t 161. 
 and stout man of middle stature. After 3 Assize Record, 11, 732; Brodhead's 
 
 a "journey of two hundred miles," they New York, n, 181. Colden says that 
 
 arrived at the Mohawk fort, " when, upon peace was not established until 1673. 
 
 besieging it some time, and having some The following entry is made in Assize 
 
 of their men killed and sundry others Record, iv, 116: " March 7, 1671. 
 
 sick, they gave up the siege and retreated. Mendowasse, sagamore from Hackinsack, 
 
 The Mohaiuks pursued them, got in their Anmanhose from Haverstroo, Meggen- 
 
 front, and from an ambush, attacked maiker, sagamore of Tappan, in behalf 
 
 them and a great fight ensued. The of themselves and Neversincks, having 
 
 Mohawks were finally put to flight by understood that peace had been made 
 
 the extraordinary bravery and prowess of between the Maquas and Mahikanders, 
 
 Chekatabut and his captains ; but victory asked permission to visit, etc." 
 was purchased by the death of their 
 
62 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 their treaties with the English and their official relations with 
 the governments of New York and Massachusetts. 
 
 That the Mahicans experienced great changes is unquestioned. 
 To a considerable extent their position involved this. Though 
 spared on the north and east, they were exposed to the incom 
 ing civilization on the west and south. The Wapplngers suffered 
 terribly in their wars with the Dutch : from the rapacity of the 
 traders at Fort Orange they recoiled. If their national council- 
 fire was originally at Schodac, it was subsequently removed to 
 the valley of the Housatonic, 1 where, under the name of 
 W-nahk-ta-kook, it was known to the authorities of Massa 
 chusetts and to the English missionaries ; under that of Wes- 
 tenhuck, to the Moravians, and under that of Stockbridge, 
 preserved the line of kings and linked the past with the present 
 history of the nation. 2 To. the English of New York, however, 
 this council-fire was little known. Cut off by the boundary 
 line of Massachusetts it was officially recognized by that province, 
 while the authorities of New York maintained their official 
 relations with an organization which is represented as existing 
 "above and below Albany," and known as the Mahicander 
 or River Indians. This organization was strengthened by the 
 results of King Philip's war. In that war the Pennacooks 3 had 
 taken part, and at the close of the campaign of 1675, found 
 winter quarters among their kindred " near 'Albany." After 
 the disastrous conflict of August 12th, of the succeeding year, 
 in which Philip was killed, they again retreated " towards 
 Albany," some two hundred and fifty in number, but were pur 
 sued and attacked by the English, near the Housatonic river, 
 and a number of them killed. The main body of them, how 
 ever, made good their retreat to the Hudson, where a portion of 
 
 1 The Housatonic was originally known to the merciless cruelty of the French 
 
 as the Westenhook river, south of Wes- and their Indians." -Colonial History, vi, 
 
 tenhuck. (SautAier's Map). It was 371. 
 
 the boundary line of the neutrality which 2 Stockbridge, Past and Present, 395 
 
 was established by the Iroquois and the History of Missions of United Brethren, 
 
 Mahicans with the French Indians in n, 56, 115, 130; Memorials Moravian 
 
 the war of 1704. ** The inhabitants of Church, i, etc. 
 
 this Province who lived on the west side 8 The Pennacooks, Schoolcraft says, 
 
 of that river followed all their occupa- " occupied the Coos country, extending 
 
 tions in husbandry as in times of peace, from Haverhill to the sources of the 
 
 while at the same time the inhabitants of Connecticut." The French classed them 
 
 New England were in their sight exposed among the Mahican tribes, and such they 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 63 
 
 them remained near the Dutch village of Claverack, and the 
 remainder, some two hundred in number, passed over to Potick, 
 an old Mahican village at Katskill. 1 The French immediately 
 made overtures to them, through their associates who had found 
 refuge in Canada, and Connecticut invited them to homes within 
 her borders. Governor Andros, with equal promptness and 
 from a similar motive, 2 invited them to settle at Schaticook, in 
 the present county of Rensselaer, near the confluence of the 
 Hoosic with the Hudson, in company with the Mahicans who 
 were established there. This offer was accepted and a flourish 
 ing colony soon came into existence, which was patronizingly 
 called by the Mohawks, our children. 
 
 The historical narrative need not be further anticipated. In 
 passing, however, it may be remarked that it cannot be admitted 
 that while " the Pequots and Mohegans claimed some authority 
 over the Indians of the Connecticut, those extending west- 
 wardly to the Hudson appear to have been divided into small 
 and independent tribes, united, since they were known to the 
 Europeans, by no common government," as stated by Gallatin. 
 That conclusion was based upon information less perfect than 
 that which has since been obtained, and not only so but is in 
 conflict with the previous findings of that author. There was 
 nothing in their action inconsistent with the clearly understood 
 powers of chieftaincies ; but much that implies obligation to 
 national authority. The entire peninsula south of the Highlands 
 was under the sovereignty of the Wappingers, as a tribal division 
 of the Mahicans, and the offenses of the Dutch were resented 
 by the nation and the tribe. As early as 1622, the imprison 
 ment of the chief of the Sequins aroused the Mahicans to that 
 extent that the offending agent of the Dutch was compelled to 
 leave the country; in the' war of 1643, the Dutch were sur 
 prised to fine! their boats attacked above the Highlands, by 
 Indians with whom they were ignorant of ever having had any 
 
 appear to have been from the statements 1 Hubbard's Indian Wars^ 94, 98, 
 
 of Gov, Moore and others pending the 188 ; Colonial History, jv, 902, etc. ; 
 
 efforts to secure their removal to the Brodheatfs New York, 11, 294. 
 
 Hudson river after their disastrous defeat 2 The Indians began to have a value 
 
 in the war under King Philip. At the in the hands of the French as well as the 
 
 time of the discovery they were a powerful English. To both parties they were the 
 
 tribe. Schoolcraffs Ind. Nat., v, 222, etc. most effective soldiers that could be pro- 
 
64 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 difficulty, and subsequently the Indian fortresses of the High 
 lands became the receptable of Dutch prisoners. The Dutch 
 knew very little of tribal organizations or tribal laws. To each 
 village they gave the dignity of a tribe, and undertook to hold 
 with them separate covenants. The Makicans made a very 
 wide distinction between the Dutch at Fort Orange and those 
 at Fort Amsterdam, and it was not until Kieft made his treaty 
 with them in 1645, that he had peace. With the subsequent 
 crumbling up of the clans more exposed to European influences, 
 and the debris which remained after the retirement of their 
 more active members, the result was the same in all parts of the 
 country, whether Mahicans, Lenapes, or Mohawks. 
 
 In considering the political relations of the LENAPES they 
 should be regarded as the most formidable of the Indian con 
 federacies at the time of the discovery of America, and as hav 
 ing maintained for many years the position which subsequently 
 fell to the Iroquois, rather than as having been subjugated by the 
 latter anterior to the advent of the Europeans. Their tradition 
 that they were " the head of the Algonquin x nations, 2 and held 
 the Mengwe in subjection," is not without confirmation. The 
 precise time at which the latter condition was reversed, cannot 
 be stated ; but the causes leading thereto are now pretty cor 
 rectly ascertained. Their long house was invaded alike 
 by the Europeans and the Ir&quois, with special advantages to 
 the latter in position, and in the facility with which they could 
 obtain arms. 3 The tradition which they gave of their subjuga- 
 
 cured. The great error of Massachusetts 2 " The Delawares were the head of all 
 
 was the war which she made upon them, nations. All nations except the Mingoes 
 
 as she subsequently learned. and their accomplices, were united with 
 
 1 " The primitive language which was them and had free access to them 5 or in 
 
 the most widely diffused, and the most their own words, according to their figu- 
 
 fertile in dialects, received from the rative manner of expressing themselves, 
 
 French the name of Algonquin. It was the united nations had one house, one fire, 
 
 the mother tongue of those who greeted and one canoe.'"'' Hcckeiu elder. 
 
 the colonists of Raleigh at Roanoke, of 3 " Clean across this extent of country 
 
 those who welcomed the Pilgrims at Ply- (namely from Albany to the Potomac), 
 
 mouth. It was heard from the Bay of our grandfather had a long house, with a 
 
 Gaspe to the valley of the Des Moines, door at each end, which doors were always 
 
 from Cape Fear, and, it may be, from open to all the nations united with them. 
 
 the Savannah, to the land of the Esqui- To this house the nations from ever so 
 
 maux } from the Cumberland river of far off used to resort, and smoke the pipe 
 
 Kentucky to the southern bank of the of peace with their grandfather. The 
 
 Mississippi." Bancroft, HI, 237. white people coming from over the great 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 65 
 
 tion is that the Iroquois, finding the contest in which they were 
 engaged, too great for them, as they had to cope on the 'one 
 hand with the French, and on the other with native prowess, 
 resorted to a master stroke of intrigue. They sent an embassy 
 to the Lenapes with a message in substance as follows : That 
 it was not well for the Indians to be fighting among themselves 
 at a time when the whites, in even larger numbers, were press 
 ing into their country j that the original possessors of the soil 
 must be preserved from total extirpation ; that the only way to 
 effect this was a voluntary assuming, on the part of some mag 
 nanimous nation, of the position of the women or umpire; 
 that a weak people in such a position would have no influence, 
 but a power like the Lenapes, celebrated for its bravery and 
 above all suspicion of pusillanimity, might properly take the 
 step ; that, therefore, the Aquinoshioni besought them to lay 
 aside their arms, devote themselves to pacific employments, and 
 act as mediators among the tribes, thus putting a stop forever to 
 the fratricidal wars of the Indians. 
 
 To this proposition the Lenapes listened cheerfully, and trust 
 fully consented ; for they believed it to be dictated by exalted 
 patriotism, and to constitute the language of genuine sincerity. 
 They were, moreover, themselves very anxious to preserve the 
 Indian race. At a great feast, prepared for the representatives 
 of the two nations, and amid many ceremonies, they were accord 
 ingly made women, and a broad belt of peace entrusted to their 
 keeping. The Dutch, so the tradition continues, were present 
 on this occasion, and had instigated the plot. That it was de 
 signed to break the strength of the Lenapes soon became evident. 
 They woke up from their magnanimous dream, to find them 
 selves in the power of the Iroquois. From that time they were 
 the cousins of the Iroquois, and these were their uncle. 1 
 
 While this tradition bears the impress of theory upon a sub 
 ject in regard to which little was known, and while it is much 
 
 water, unfortunately landed at each end powerful, assisted the common enemy, 
 
 of this long house of our grandfathers, the Maquas, in erecting a strong house 
 
 and it was not long before they began to on the ruins of our grandfathers." Rela- 
 
 pull the same down at both ends. Our tion by an aged Mahican, given by Hecke- 
 
 grandfather still kept repairing the same, 'welder. 
 
 though obliged to make it from time to 1 Life and Times of David Zeisberrer 
 
 time shorter ; until at length the white 45, 46. 
 
 people, who had by this time grown very 
 
66 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 less clear than that already quoted, as from a Mahican, it is not 
 wholly unsupported. The Lenapes did, to a very considerable 
 extent, act in the capacity of mediators, and the Dutch traders 
 did no doubt have part in terminating the hostilities between 
 them and the Iroquois. It is a singular fact, too, that of all the 
 nations subjugated by the Iroquois, the Lenapes alone bore the 
 name of women. While the council-fires of other nations 
 were " put out," and their survivors merged in the confederacy, 
 that of the Lenapes was kept burning, and their civil govern 
 ment remained undisturbed. The proposition, however, is that 
 both of the results stated were in accordance with the terms 
 of the peace which the English government negotiated, and not 
 of prior Iroquois diplomacy. 
 
 The historic causes leading to the subjugation of the Lenapes 
 is to be found in the circumstances and position of the nation, 
 as compared with the Iroquois ; the one with territory invaded by 
 Europeans at different points, the other assailed only on one 
 border by the French, against whom they were sustained by 
 " free trade "' with the Dutch and by subsequent more positive 
 alliance with the English. To the establishment of the lord 
 ship and manor of Rensselaerswyck, and its village of Beaver- 
 wyck, % the Iroquois were primarily indebted for their subsequent 
 position in the family of Indian nations. That manor was 
 organized under an independent charter with powers not delegated 
 to the West India Company at Fort Amsterdam, especially in 
 the matter of the sale of fire-arms to the Indians. At its trad 
 ing-houses arms could be had for furs ; there the doors were 
 open to the Mohawks and the Makicans, who guarded well the 
 special advantages which they enjoyed. These advantages were 
 great ; the former were enabled by them to push their conquests, 
 the latter to maintain independence. This is clearly deducible 
 from the records which were made by the Dutch, in connection 
 with the wars at Fort Amsterdam in 1643,* in which it is said 
 that the traders from Rensselaerswyck, " perceiving that the Mo 
 hawks were craving for guns, which some of them had already re 
 ceived, paying for each as many as twenty beavers, and for a pound 
 of powder as many as ten or twelve guilders, came down to Fort 
 
 1 Journal of Ne t w Netherland y Doc. Hist., iv, I, etc. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 67 
 
 Amsterdam, in greater numbers than usual, where guns were 
 plenty, purchasing them at a fair price, realizing in this way 
 considerable profit. This extraordinary gain was not long kept 
 secret. The traders coming from Holland soon got scent of it, 
 and from time to time, brought over great quantities, so that 
 the Mohawks, in a short time, were seen with fire locks and 
 powder and lead in proportion." The record continues : " Four 
 hundred armed men knew how to make use of their advantage, 
 especially against their enemies, dwelling along the river of 
 Canada, against whom they have now achieved many profitable 
 forays where before they had but little advantage. This caused 
 them also to be respected by the surrounding Indians even as far 
 as the sea-coast, who must generally pay them tribute ; whereas, 
 on the contrary, they were formerly obliged to contribute to these. 
 On this account the Indians, in the vicinity of Fort Amsterdam, 
 and as the record elsewhere shows, especially the Minsis of 
 New Jersey and the Delaware, " endeavored no less to procure 
 guns, and through the familiarity which existed between them 
 and the people " at New Amsterdam, " began to solicit the 
 latter for guns and powder, but as such was forbidden on pain 
 of death, and could not remain long concealed in consequence 
 of the general conversation, they could not be obtained. This 
 greatly augmented the hatred which stimulated them to con 
 spire against us, beginning first with insults which they every 
 where indiscreetly uttered, railing at us as materiotty, that is to 
 say cowards." 
 
 In regard to the time at which the subjugation of the Lenapes 
 took place or was acknowledged, there is wide divergence in 
 statement. Smith's assertion that it was prior to European 
 occupation, is generally denied j while Brodhead's assumption 
 that it was in 1617,' is without foundation in contemporaneous 
 or subsequent facts. Nor could subjugation have been as early 
 as 1643 or 1645, when Kieft made his treaty with the Mohawks 
 and Mahicans, for the Swedes were then supplying the Minsis 
 with arms. In 1660, the latter, through their chief, could 
 declaim to their dependents at Esopus, in the presence of the 
 Mohawk embassador, " this is not your land ; it is our land,- 
 9 
 
68 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 therefore repeat not this," x and no Mohawk chief ever made 
 utterance with more authority. A terrific contest was then 
 raging between the Senecas and the Minsis^ and the former came 
 to Fort Orange and demanded, by virtue of the treaty of Esopus 
 (1660), a higher price for their furs. " We require, said they, 
 sixty handsful of powder for one beaver. We have a vast deal 
 of trouble collecting beavers through the enemy's country. 
 We ask to be furnished with powder and ball. If our ene 
 mies conquer us, where will ye then obtain beavers ? " Direc 
 tor Stuyvesant, so the record says, replied by giving them a keg 
 of powder, but entreated them to make peace with the Minsis 
 so that the Dutch might " use the road to them in safety." 
 Three years later the Dutch were in terrible alarm. A body 
 of six hundred Senecas attacked the fort of the Minsis on the 
 Delaware, and were put to flight and pursued northward for 
 two days. Unable to cope with them single-handed, the Sene 
 cas solicited the aid of the Mohawks^ and with them continued 
 the struggle. The transition of the province from the Dutch 
 to the English found the contest undecided, and not only so 
 but the Mohawks expressly asking the English to make peace 
 " for the Indian princes with the nations down the river," 2 as 
 they had pleaded with the governor of Canada for protection 
 against the Mabicans. In a letter from Governor Lovelace, 
 February 24, 1665, it is said that negotiations for peace were 
 then pending between the Esopus Indians, the South Indians, 
 and the Novisans, on the one part, and the Senecas and Mohawks 
 on the other, and that the magistrates of Ulster were directed to 
 encourage the same; and under date of August 13, 1669, the 
 same officer writes that " Perewyn lately made sachem of 
 Hackinsack, Tappen, and Staten Island," had visited him " to 
 renew and acknowledge the peace between them and the Christ 
 ians ; also, between them and the Maquas and Sinnecas, the 
 which they say they are resolved to keep inviolable." He 
 ordered that the matter be " put on record to be a testimony 
 against those that shall make the first breach." 3 It was about 
 this time that tradition gives the story of a great battle between 
 
 1 O'Callaghan's New Netherland y n, 2 Colonial History, in, 67, 
 417. 3 Assize Reeordsy n, 408. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 69 
 
 the contestants in the Minnisink country, and the probabilities 
 are that the peace spoken of was its result. But whatever the 
 date, the Minnisinks, a north-western family of the Minsis, as 
 well as the Tappans, were under the obligations of subjugation 
 in 1680, for Paxinosa or Paxowan as he was sometimes called, 
 sachem of the former, was required to furnish forty men to join 
 the Mohawks in an expedition against the French. 1 In 1693-4, 
 these tribes paid tribute to the Senecas* The inference is that 
 if the peace which was made with the Minsis 3 was not made 
 until after the English came in possession of the province, that 
 the subjugation of the Lenapes did not take place at an earlier 
 period. 
 
 And this conclusion agrees with the almost infallible test of 
 title to lands. The Iroquois never questioned the sales made by 
 the Lenapes or Mimis east of the Delaware river, but only 
 asserted the rights acquired by conquest in accepting, in 1743, 
 the clearly false boundaries which the proprietaries of Pennsyl 
 vania had given to lands which had been purchased from the 
 Lenapes in 1686. Whatever title the Iroquois had could not 
 have been acquired when this sale was made. The findings of 
 Gallatin in this particular are confirmed by all the title deeds 
 in New York and New Jersey. In New Jersey the M'msis 
 were paid for lands which they held prior to subjugatio'n long 
 after actual subjugation had taken place and possession ceased, 
 for the simple reason that they were not conquered lands. In 
 whatever aspect the question is considered, the same result is 
 reached. 
 
 That the subjugation of the Lenapes was complete, there is 
 no denial. The famous speech of Canassatiego, at Philadelphia, 
 in 1742 : "We conquered you, we made women of you ; you 
 know you are women ; we charge you to remove instantly j 
 we don't give you liberty to think about it," is not more conclu 
 sive than the admission of Tedyuscung : " I was styled by my 
 uncles, the Six Nations, a wom^n, in former years, and had no 
 
 1 Council Minutes , Aug. 7. were the same persons who appeared at 
 
 2 Colonial History, iv, 98. Esopus in 1 660. The treaty which was 
 
 3 The terms Minquas, Minsis, Monseys, concluded by the one was concluded by 
 and Munsies are convertible. The Min- the other. - 
 
 quas who sold lands on the Delaware 
 
70 
 
 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 natchet in my hand but a pestle or a hominy pounder." But 
 through the thick gloom which shrouds the history of their sub 
 jugation, through all the degradation and reproach which was 
 heaped upon them as " a nation of women," there runs a thread 
 of light revealing their former greatness, pleading the causes of 
 their decay, promising that their dead shall live again. Not in 
 the eternal darkness which shuts in the Eries is that light lost, 
 but from its prison house breaks in brilliancy, redeeming the 
 past, and wringing from their ancient subjugators, shivering 
 under adverse fortune, the greeting BROTHERS. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 71 
 
 CHAPTER IV. 
 
 ANALYSIS OF TRIBES AND CHIEFTAINCIES. 
 
 ASSENAAR and De Laet supply the earliest account 
 of the subtribal divisions, or chieftaincies of In 
 dians occupying the valley of the Hudson. The 
 former writes : " Below the Maikans are situate 
 these tribes : Mechkentowoon and Tappents, on the west side ; 
 Wickagjock and Wyeck, on the east side. Two nations lie there 
 lower down at Klinkersberg. 1 At the Fisher's Hook 2 are the 
 Pacbany, Warenecker, Warrawannankoncks. In one place, 
 Esopus, are two or three tribes. The Manhates are situated at 
 the mouth." The latter corrects the geography of his prede 
 cessor and gives the location of what he calls tribes 3 more 
 accurately. Commencing at New York, he says : " On the 
 east side, on the main land, dwell the Manhattans, a bad race 
 of savages, who have always been very obstinate and unfriendly 
 towards our people. On the west side are the Sanhickans, who 
 are the deadly enemies of the Manhattans, and a much better 
 people. They dwell along the bay, and in the interior. The 
 course of the river is north-east and north-north-west according 
 as the reaches extend. Within the first reach, on the west bank 
 of the river, where the land is low, dwell the Tappans. The 
 second reach of the river extends upwards to a narrow part 
 named by our people Haverstroo ; then comes the Seylmaker's- 
 reach, as they call it, and next a crooked reach, in the form of 
 a crescent, called KockVreach. Next is Hoge-reach ; and 
 then comes Vossen-reach, which extends to Klinkersberg. 
 This is succeeded by Fisher's-reach, where on the east side of 
 the river, dwell a nation of savages named Pachami. This 
 reach extends to another narrow pass, where on the west, is a 
 
 1 The first title given to Butter Hill. of the Matteawan creek. 
 
 2 The bend in the river opposite New- 3 A tribe was an union of families, but 
 burgh, forming a hook by the confluence as- here used designated families. 
 
72 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 point of land that juts out * covered with sand, opposite a bend 
 in the river, on which another nation of savages, the Waora- 
 necks, have their abode at a place called Esopus. A little be 
 yond on the west side, where there is a creek and the river 
 becomes more shallow, the Warranawankongs dwell. Next 
 comes another reach called Klaverack ; then comes Backerack, 
 John Playsier's-rack, and Vaste-rack as far as Hinnenhock. 
 Finally the Huntenrack succeeds as far as Kinderhook; further 
 onareSturgeon's-hookand Fisher's-hook, over against which, on 
 the east side dwell the Mahicans." 
 
 Van der Donck, who wrote thirty years later, places the 
 Manhattans on the island, and above them Indian villages which 
 he names Saeckkill, Wickquaskeck, Alipkonck, Sin-Sing, Kestau- 
 buinck, Keskistkonck, Pasquuasheck, and Noch-Peem, south of and 
 in the highlands. On the south side of Wappinger's kill he 
 locates three villages under the general name of Waoranecks, 
 and |ibove them and occupying both sides of the river south of 
 the " Groote Esopus R.," he places the Wappingers. On the 
 west side he locates the Neve-Sincks opposite Staten Island, 
 then the Raritans ; opposite Manhattan Island, Haverstroo ; 
 below Verdrietigehoeck, the Tappans ; between Murderer's 
 creek and the Dans-Kammer, the Waranwankongs '; then the 
 Wappingers, and west of the Esopus, the general title of " Min- 
 nessinck of te 1'Landt von Bacham." 
 
 Were the question of location left to these writers and to the 
 early maps, the inquiry might well be abandoned as hopeless. 
 Fortunately, however, Indian treaties and title deeds supply 
 information which, though still imperfect, 2 enables a division of 
 territory and location of subtribes to be made with tolerable 
 accuracy. From these sources the following classifications are 
 mainly derived : 
 
 I. The chieftaincies of the MONTAUKS were : 
 
 ist. The Carnarsees, who claimed the lands now included in 
 the county of Kings, and a part of the town of Jamaica. 
 
 1 Dans-Kammer point. water, etc., which were and still are 
 
 2 "There being no previous survey to the known to very few Christians. Some- 
 grants, their boundaries are expressed with times the grant is of the land that be- 
 much uncertainty, by the Indian names longed to such an Indian by name, or is 
 of brooks, rivulets, hills, ponds, falls of bounded by such an Indian's land, but to 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 73 
 
 Their principal village was about the site of the village of Flat- 
 lands, where there is a place which still retains the name of 
 Canarsee, and was, perhaps, the residence of the sachem. This 
 chieftaincy was pf considerable power in 1643, when it stood 
 at the head of the Long Island tribes who were engaged in the 
 war with the Dutch. Penhawitz was the first sachem known 
 to the Dutch, by whom he was styled the Great Sachem of 
 Canarsee. The names of the chiefs in 1670, as given in a 
 deed for the site of the present city of Brooklyn, were Peter, 
 Elmohar, Job, Makagiquas, and Shamese. 
 
 2d. The Rockaways^ who were scattered over the southern 
 part of the town of Hempstead, which, with a part of Jamaica 
 and the whole of Newtown, constituted the bounds of their 
 claim. Their main settlement was at Near Rockaway. The 
 first sachem known to the Dutch was Chegonoe. Eskmoppas 
 appears to have been sachem in 1670, and Parnau in 1685. 
 
 3d. The Merrlcks, Merokes, or Merikokes, as they have been 
 denominated, who claimed all the territory south of the middle 
 of the island, from Near Rockaway to the west line of Oyster 
 bay. Their principal village was the site of the present village 
 of Mer'ick. Their sachem in 1647, was Wantagh. 
 
 4th. The Marsapequas or Marsapeagues, who had their settle 
 ment at a place called Fort Neck, and thence eastward to the 
 bounds of Islip and north to the middle of the island. At 
 Fort Neck the remains of two Indian forts were recently still 
 visible. One was upon the most southerly point of land ad 
 joining the salt meadow, nearly of quadrangular form and about 
 thirty yards in extent on each side. The other was on the 
 southernmost point of the salt meadow adjoining the bay, and 
 consisted of palisades set in the meadow. The place is now 
 covered with water. The chieftaincy was prominent in the 
 war of 1643 and suffered severely. After this they appear to 
 have been on friendly terms with the Dutch ; and in the Esopus 
 war of 1663, contributed forty-six men to Kregier's forces. 1 
 
 prove that any particular spot belonged to be proved with positive accuracy. In 
 
 any particular Indian, I believe is beyond hundreds of old surveys the hills, streams, 
 
 human skill, so as to make it evident to etc., by which the tracts were bounded 
 
 any indifferent man." Golden, Document- are as clear as the marks of modern sur- 
 
 ary History, i, 383, 384. Nevertheless veyors. 
 many such localities have been and can 1 (fCallaghan, n, 482. 
 
74 THE INDUN TRIBES 
 
 Tackapousha, sachem in 1656, was also chief sachem of the 
 western chieftaincies on the island. 
 
 5th. The Matinecocks^ who claimed jurisdiction of the lands 
 east of Newtown as far as the west line of Smithtown, and 
 probably to the west side of Nesaquake river. They were 
 numerous and had large villages at Flushing, Glen Cove, 
 Cold Spring, Huntington and Cow Harbor. 1 A portion of the 
 chieftaincy took part in the war of 1643 under Gonwarrowe ; 
 but the sachem at that time remained friendly to the Dutch, 
 and through his diplomacy succeeded in establishing peace. 
 Whiteneymen (one-eyed) was sachem in 1643, and Assiapam 
 in 1653. 
 
 6th. The Nesaquakes or Missaquogues possessed the country 
 east of the river of that name to Stony brook and from the sound 
 to the middle of the island. The principal settlement of the 
 tribe was on the site of the present village of Nesaquake where 
 the sachem probably resided. Coginiquant was sachem in 1656. 
 
 yth. The Seatalcats or Setaukets, whose territory extended 
 from Stony brook to Wading river. Their village was upon 
 Little Neck. They are said to have been a numerous family. 
 Warrawakin sachem, 1655 ; Gil, in 1675. 
 
 8th. The Corchattgs owned the remainder of the territory 
 from Wading river to Oyster ponds, and were spread upon 
 the north shore of Peconic bay, and upon the necks adjoining 
 the sound. From the many local advantages which their situa 
 tion afforded, there is reason to suppose that they were, as re 
 gards numbers and military power, a respectable clan. Mo- 
 mometon sachem in 1648. 
 
 9th. The Manhassets, who occupied Shelter island, Hog 
 island, and Ram island. Their principal settlement was on 
 Shelter island ; and the residence of their sachem on what is 
 now known as Sachem's Neck. Tradition affirms that they 
 could once bring "into the field more than five hundred fighting 
 men. From their exposed situation they were, like other clans 
 on this part of the island, made tributary to the Pequots, Nar- 
 ragansetts and Mahlcans alternately. Poygratasuck, a brother to 
 
 1 Thompson" i Long Island. Van Tien- thirty families in 1650. 
 hoven represents them to consist of only 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 75 
 
 Wyandance, was sachem in 1648, and is spoken of as possessed 
 of capacity and courage. Yokee, or Youghco, sachem in 1651. 
 
 i Oth. The Secatogues, who joined the Marsapequas on the 
 west and claimed the country as far east as Patchogue. The 
 farm owned by the Willett family, at Islip, is supposed to have 
 been the site of their village. The bounds of their tract were 
 from Connectquut river on the east to the line of Oyster bay 
 on the west, and from the South bay to the middle of the island. 
 They were so much reduced by wars and disease that when 
 settlements were made among thdfci their lands were compara 
 tively deserted. Winnequaheagh was sachem in 1683. 
 
 nth. The Patchogues^ or Onchechaugs. Their jurisdiction ex 
 tended from Patchogue east to West Hampton, and their villages 
 at Patchogue, Fire Place, Mastic, Moriches and West Hampton. 
 Tobaccus sachem in 1666. 
 
 1 2th. The SkinecockS) who claimed the territory from West 
 Hampton to East Hampton, including Sag harbor, and the 
 whole south shore of Peconic bay. Nowedonah was sachem 
 in 1648, and Quaquasho, or The Hunter, in 1691. 
 
 1 3th. The Montauks* This chieftaincy was acknowledged 
 both by the Indians and the Europeans, as the ruling family 
 of the island. They were indeed, the head of the tribe of Mon- 
 tauks, the other divisions named being simply clans or groups, 
 as in the case of other tribes. DeRasieres and Van der 
 Donck class them as " old Manhattans." They were consi 
 derable in numbers ; distinguished for the hosp^plity which 
 they extended to the Dutch traders and early settlers, and no 
 less so for their subsequent hostility. Holding in their posses 
 sion the treasure chest of all the Indian nations, they were 
 especially exposed to invasion by the more powerful tribes bor 
 dering on the sound. At the time of the discovery they were 
 a part of or under tribute to the Mahlcans. Wyandance, their 
 sachem, was also the grand sachem of Paumanacke, or Sewan- 
 hackey, as the island was called. Nearly all the deeds for lands 
 were confirmed by him. His younger brothers, Nowedonah 
 and Poygratasuck, were respectively sachems of the Sbinecocks 
 and the Mankassets. His residence was upon Montauk, and 
 
 1 Metowacks, Brodhead ; Matuwacks, fates & M.oulton ; Montauks, Thompson. 
 
 10 
 
76 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 the body of his followers lay in the immediate vicinity. Dur 
 ing the wars of the Mahicans, the Montauks were subjugated by 
 or compelled to pay tribute to the Pequots. After the destruc 
 tion of the latter nation in 1637, the Mahicans again asserted 
 their authority, but about that time the Montauks accepted the pro 
 tection of the English and paid tribute to the governor of New 
 Haven. In 1653, they were engaged in war with the Narra- 
 gansetts, or rather the latter attacked them "as the friends and 
 tributaries of the English." 1 A considerable number of the 
 Montauks perished in this wlr. 
 
 On the division of the island in 1650, between the English 
 and the Dutch, the English taking the eastern, and the Dutch 
 the western part, the jurisdiction of Wyandance was nominally 
 divided, Tackapousha being elected sachem of the chieftaincies 
 in possession of the Dutch, viz : Marsapequas, Merikokes, 
 Carnarsees, Secatogues, Rockaways, and Matinecocks. In 
 the winter of 1658, the small pox destroyed more than half the 
 clan, while Wyandance lost his life by poison secretly adminis 
 tered. The remainder, both to escape the fatal malady, 
 and the danger of invasion in their weakened state, fled in a 
 body to their white neighbors, who received and entertained 
 them for a considerable period. Wycombone succeeded his 
 father, Wyandance, and being a minor, divided the government 
 with his mother, who was styled the Squa-sachem. Lion 
 Gardiner and his son David acted as guardians to the young 
 chief, by r^uest of his father made just before his death. At 
 Fort Pond, called by the Indians Konk-hong-anok, are the remains 
 
 Thompson ascribes the cause of this King Philip's war, (1675), and punished 
 war to the refusal of the Montauk mon- them severely. The engagement took 
 arch to join in the plan for exterminating place on Block Island, whither the Mon- 
 the Europeans. Roger Williams writes tauks went in their canoes, and upon land- 
 to the governor of Massachusetts in 1654 : ing, fell into an ambuscade. He says : 
 " The cause of the war is the pride of the " The Montauk Indians were nearly all 
 barbarians, Ascassascotick, the Long Is- killed j a few were protected by the Eng 
 land sachem, and Ninigret, of the Narra- lish and brought away. The sachem 
 gansetts. The former is proud and fool- was taken and carried to Narragansett, 
 ish j the latter proud and fierce." he was made to walk on a large flat rock 
 Thompsons Hist. Long Island ' Drake's that was heated by building fires on it, 
 Book of the Indiana and walked several times over it singing 
 
 Lion Gardiner, in his Notes on East his death song, but his feet being burned 
 
 Hampton, relates, that the Block Island to the bones, he fell and they finished the 
 
 Indians, acting as the allies of the Narra- tragical scene as is usual for savages." 
 
 gansetts attacked the Montauks, during N. f. Hist. Soc.-Coll. y 1849, 258. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 
 
 77 
 
 of the burial ground of the chieftaincy, and here once stood the 
 citadel of the monarch, Wyandance. 1 
 
 II. The chieftaincies of the WAPPINGERS were : 
 1st. The Reckgawawancs. 2 This chieftaincy has been gene 
 rally known by the generic name of Manhattans^ and is so 
 designated by Brodhead and other historians. The site of their 
 principal village is now occupied by that of Yonkers, and was 
 called Nappeckamak. This village, says Bolton, 4 was situated 
 at the mouth of the Neperah, or Saw Mill creek. On Berrien's 
 Neck, on the north shore of the Spuyten Duyvel creek, was 
 situated their castle or fort, called Nipinichsen. This fort was 
 carefully protected by a strong stockade and commanded the 
 romantic scenery of the Papirinimen, or Spuyten Duyvel, and 
 the Mahicanituk, the junction of which two streams was called 
 Shorackappock. It was at this castle that the fight occurred 
 between Hudson and the Indians on his return voyage, 5 and 
 
 formerly many people have dwelt, but 
 who for the most part have died or have 
 been driven away by the Wappenos." 
 Again, referring to Long Island, he says : 
 " It is inhabited by the old Manhattans 
 (Manhatesen) ; they are about two 
 hundred or three hundred strong, women 
 
 1 Thompson 's History of Long Island. 
 
 3 Bolton gives them the name of Nap- 
 peckamaks, but that title does not appear 
 in the records except as the name of their 
 village at Yonkers. 
 
 3 Custom would, perhaps, warrant the 
 continuance of the name as designating 
 a chieftaincy, but the evidence is conclu 
 sive that it was not used by the Indians 
 in any such connection, but was a generic 
 term designating not only the occupants 
 of the island now called Manhattan, but 
 of Long Island, and the mainland north 
 of Manhattan Island. The term Man 
 hattan indicates this, being apparently 
 from Menohhunnet, which in Eliot's 
 Bible, is given as the equivalent of islands, 
 or as applied to the people, " the people 
 of the islands." (Historical Magazine, 
 i, 89). The statements of the Dutch 
 historians confirm this interpretation. 
 Van der Donck and Wassenaar agree 
 that there were four languages spoken by 
 the natives, namely, the Manhattan, 
 Minqua, Savanoo, and Wappinoo. " With 
 'the Manhattan," says Van der Donck, 
 "weinclude those who live in the neigh 
 boring places along the North river on 
 Long Island and at the Neversink." De 
 Rasieres, writing in 1628, as a personal 
 witness, says : " Up the river the east 
 side is high, full of trees, and in some 
 places there is a little good land, where 
 
 they call sackimes (sachems)." De Laet 
 says : " On the east side on the main 
 land, dwell the Manhattans." Block, 
 whose vessel was burned in the lower 
 bay in 1614, and who there built another, 
 was fed and protected by the Manhattans, 
 not on Manhattan Island, but, as appears 
 by the statements of the Long Island 
 Indians, this care and protection was in 
 the territory and on the island of the 
 latter. Under this explanation there is 
 no contradiction in the statements of 
 Hudson, De Laet and other writers, as 
 compared with the Albany Records, that 
 the name Manhattan, is *' from or after 
 the tribe of savages among whom the 
 Dutch made their first settlement ; " nor 
 with that contained in a paper describing 
 New Netherland (Documentary History, 
 iv, 115): "So called from the people 
 which inhabited the main land on the 
 east side of the river." 
 
 * History of Westchester County. 
 
 5 " Whereupon two canoes full of men, 
 with their bowes and arrowes shot at us 
 
78 THE INDI4N TRIBES 
 
 it was also at this point that he first dropped anchor on his as 
 cending vpyage. They held occupation of Manhattan island 
 and had there villages which were occupied while on hunting 
 and fishing excursions. In Breeden Raedt their name is given 
 as the Reckewackes, and in the treaty of 1643, it is said that 
 Oritany, sachem of the Hackinsacks, " declared he was dele 
 gated by and for those of Tappaen, Reckgawawanc, Kickta- 
 wanc, and Sintsinck." 
 
 The tract occupied by the Reckgawawancs on the main land 
 was called Kekesick, and is described as " lying over against 
 the flats of the island of Manhates." It extended north includ 
 ing the site of the present village of Yonkers, and east to the 
 Broncks river. Their chiefs were Rechgawac, after whom they 
 appear to have been called, Fecquesmeck, and Peckauniens. 
 Their first sachem known to the Dutch, was Tackarew, in 
 1639. In 1682, the names of Goharis, Teattanqueer and 
 Wearaquaeghier appear as the grantors of lands to Frederick 
 Phillipse. Tackarew's descendants are said to have been resi 
 dents of Yonkers as late as 1701. The last point occupied by 
 the chieftaincy was Wild Boar hill, to which place its members 
 had gathered together as the Europeans encroached upon them. 
 Traces of two burial grounds have been discovered on their 
 lands. 
 
 ad. The Weckquaesgeeks? As early as 1644, this chieftaincy 
 is known to have had three entrenched castles, 2 one of which 
 remained as late as 1663, and was then garrisoned by eighty 
 warriors. Their principal village was on the site of Dobb's 
 Ferry ; it is said that its outlines can still be traced by numerous 
 shell beds. It was called Weckquaskeck, and was located at 
 the mouth of Wicker's creek, which was called by the Indians 
 Wysquaqua. Their second village was called Alipconck. Its 
 
 after our sterne ; in recompense whereof killed one of them. Then our men 
 
 we discharged six muskets, and killed with their muskets, killed three or four 
 
 two or three of them. Then above an more of them. So they went their 
 
 hundred of them came to a point of land way." Hudson's Journal. 
 
 to shoot at us. There I shot a falcon at 1 This name appears to be local, al- 
 
 them, and killed two of them ; where- though there is some reason for regarding 
 
 upon the rest fled into the woods. Yet it as generic. 
 
 they manned off another canoe with nine a " Journal of New Netherland," Docu- 
 
 or ten men, which came to meet us. So mentary History , iv, 15. 
 
 I shot a falcon, and shot it through, and 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 79 
 
 site is now occupied by the village of Tarrytown. Their terri 
 tory appears to have extended from Norwalk on the Sound, to 
 the Hudson, and to have embraced considerable portions of the 
 towns of Mount Pleasant, Greenburgh, White Plains, and Rye ; 
 it was very largely included in the Manor of Phillipsborough. 
 Their sachem, in 1649, was Ponupahowhelbshelen ; in 1660, 
 Ackhough ; in 1663, Souwenaro ; in 1680, Weskora, or Wes- 
 komen, and Goharius his brother ; in 1681, Wessickenaiuw and 
 Conarhanded his brother. Their chiefs are largely represented 
 in the list of grantors of lands. 
 
 3d. The Sint-Smks. This chieftaincy does not appear to 
 have been very numerous. Their name is perpetuated in the 
 present village of Sing-Sing, which was called Ossing-Sing, 
 where they had a village. Another village was located between 
 the Sing-Sing creek and the Kitchawonck, or Croton river, and 
 was called Kestaubuinck. Their lands are described in a deed 
 to Frederick Phillipse, August 24, 1685, and were included in 
 his manor. The grantors were Weskenane, Crawman, Wap- 
 pus, Mamaunare and Weremenhore, who may or may not have 
 been chiefs. 
 
 4th. The Kitchawongs^ or Kicktawancs. The territory of 
 this chieftaincy appears to have extended from Croton river 
 north to Anthony's Nose. Their principal village, Kitcha 
 wonck, was at the mouth of the river which bears their name. 
 They also had a village at Peekskill, which they called Sackhoes. 
 Their castle or fort, which stood at the mouth of the Croton, 
 is represented as one of the most formidable and ancient of the 
 Indian fortresses south of the Highlands. Its precise location 
 was at the entrance or neck of Teller's point (called Senasqua), 
 and west of the cemetery of the Van Cortlandt family. Their 
 burial ground was a short distance east of the castle ; a roman 
 tic and beautiful locality. The traditionary sachem of the 
 chieftaincy was Croton. Metzewakes appears as sachem in 
 1641 ; Weskheun in 1685, and, in 1699, Sakama Wicker. 
 There was apparently a division of the chieftaincy at one time, 
 Kitchawong appearing as sachem of the village and castle on 
 the Croton, and Sachus of the village of Sackhoes or Peekskill. 
 Sirham was sachem of the latter in 1684. Their lands were 
 
80 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 principally included in the manor of Cortlandt, from which was 
 subsequently erected the towns of Cortlandt, Yorktown, Somers, 
 North Salem and Lewisborough. 
 
 5th. The Tankitekes^ The lands occupied by this chieftaincy 
 are now embraced in the towns of Darien, Stamford, and New 
 Canaan, in Connecticut, and Poundridge, Bedford, and Green- 
 bush, in Westchester county. They were purchased by Na 
 thaniel Turner, in behalf of the people of New Haven, in 1641, 
 and are described in the deed as the tracts called Toquams and 
 Shipham. Ponus was sachem of the former and Wasenssne of 
 the latter. Ponus reserved a portion of Toquams for the use 
 of himself and his associates, but with this exception their entire 
 possessions appear to have passed under a deed without metes 
 or bounds. The chieftaincy occupies a prominent place in 
 Dutch history through the action of Pacham, "a crafty man," 
 who not only performed discreditable service for Director Kieft, 
 but was also very largely instrumental in bringing on the war of 
 1645. 
 
 6th. The Nockpeems. This chieftaincy occupied the high 
 lands north of Anthony's Nose. 2 Van der Donck assigns to 
 them three villages : Keskistkonck, Pasquasheck and Nochpeem 
 on the Hudson. Their principal village, however, appears to 
 have been called Canopus from the name of their sachem. It 
 was situated in what is now known as Canopus hollow, one of 
 the most fertile sections of Putnam county. The residence of 
 Canopus is said to have been on a hill in the south-east part of 
 
 1 Brodhead locates this chieftaincy at a Wassenaar locates here the Pachany j 
 Haverstraw, but his authorities are not at and Brodhead, on authorities which ap- 
 all clear. For example, it is said that an pear to him sufficient, follows him under 
 offending member of the Hackinsacks, the name of Pachimis. In Breeden 
 had gone " two days' journey off among Raedt they are called Hogelanders, while 
 the Tankitekes 5 "Pacham, the subtle in the treaty of 1644 ( 0' Callaghan, i, 
 chief of the Tankitekes near Haver- 302), they are called Nochpeems, a title 
 straw." Haverstraw was not two days' which corresponds with the name of one 
 journey from Hackinsack, certainly. His of their villages on Van der Donck's 
 location is also defeated in the person and map. It is not impossible that the Tan- 
 history of Pacham, whose name he pre- kitekes extended into the highlands on 
 viously gives to a chieftaincy in the the east, and that their chief Pacham 
 highlands. O'Callaghan locates them held sway there, and hence the name j 
 on the east side of Tappan bay, and but the treaty record of 1 644 appears to 
 Bolton in the eastern part of Westchester be a sufficient answer to this theory. It 
 from the deeds which they gave to their is certainly safe to designate them by a 
 lands. The latter is clearly correct. title by which they were officially known. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 81 
 
 the town of Putnam Valley, and was included in the deeds for 
 the manor of Cortlandt. The remainder of their lands passed 
 into the hands of Adolph Phillipse, under a title which was the 
 subject of controversy for years, and in reference to which a 
 delegation of chiefs visited England accompanied by king Nim- 
 ham. Those who have regarded these chieftaincies as " inde 
 pendent tribes, united, since they were known to the Europeans, 
 by no common government," may examine this controversy 
 with profit. The grantors of the deed were Angnehanage, 
 Rauntaye, Wassawawigh, Meanakahorint, Meahem, Wrawerm- 
 neuw, and Awangrawryk, and was for a tract from Anthony's 
 Nose to the Matteawan creek, and from the Hudson three 
 miles into the country. The latter line Phillipse stretched to 
 twenty miles. 1 
 
 yth. The Siwanoys ; also known as " one of the seven tribes 
 of the sea-coast." This chieftaincy was one of the largest of 
 the W^applnger subdivisions. They occupied the northern shore 
 of the sound, " from Norwalk twenty-four miles to the neighbor 
 hood of Hell-gate." How far they claimed inland is uncertain, 
 but their deeds covered the manor lands of Morrisania, Scarsdall 
 and Pelham, from which were erected the towns of Pelham, New 
 Rochelle, East and West Chester, North and New Castle, 
 Mamaroneck, Scarsdall, and parts of White Plains and West 
 Farms ; other portions are included in the towns of Rye and 
 Harrison, as well as in Stamford. There is also some reason 
 for supposing that the tract known as Toquams and assigned to 
 the Tankitekes, was a part of their dominions. A very large 
 village of the chieftaincy was situated on Rye Pond in the town 
 of Rye. In the southern angle of that town, on a beautiful 
 hill now known as Mount Misery, 2 stood one of their castles. 
 Another village was situated on Davenport's Neck. Near the 
 entrance to Pelham's Neck was one of their burial grounds. 
 Two large mounds are pointed out as the sepulchres of the 
 sachems Ann-Hoock and Nimham. In the town of West 
 
 1 Land Papers, xvin, lay, etc. . Rochelle, in retaliation for a descent upon 
 
 * This hill is said to have acquired its their place. If such a battle took place 
 
 present name from the fact that a large it has no official record. The story is 
 
 body of Indians were there surprised and mythical. 
 
 cut to pieces by the Huguenots of New 
 
82 THE INDUN TRIBES 
 
 Chester they had a castle upon what is still known as Castle 
 Hill neck, and a village about Bear swamp, of which they 
 remained in possession as late as 1689. Their ruling sachem, 
 in 1640, was Ponus, whose jurisdiction was over tracts called 
 Rippowams and Toquams, and the place of whose residence 
 was called Poningoe. He left issue three sons, Omenoke, 
 Taphance and Onox j the latter had a son called Powhag. In 
 1 66 1, Shanasockerell, or Shanorocke, was sachem in the same 
 district, and, in 1680, Katonah and his son Paping appear as 
 such. Of another district Maramaking, commonly known as 
 Lame Will, was sachem in 1681. His successor was Patt- 
 hunck, who was succeeded by his son, Waptoe Patthunck. 
 The names of several of their chiefs occur in Dutch history as 
 well as in the early deeds. Among them are Ann-Hoock, 
 'alias Wampage, already noticed, who was probably the murderer 
 of Ann Hutchinson, 1 and Mayane, spoken of in 1644 as "a 
 fierce Indian, who, alone, dared to attack, with bow and arrows, 
 three Christians armed with guns, one of whom he shot dead ; 
 and, whilst engaged with the other, was killed by the third," 
 and his head conveyed to Fort Amsterdam. The occurrence 
 served to convince the Dutch that in offending against the chiefs 
 in their immediate vicinity, they were also offending those of 
 whose existence they had no previous knowledge. 2 Shanasock- 
 well is represented as " an independent chieftain of the Siwanoys" 
 of the island called Manussing. 
 
 8th. The Sequins. This was a large chieftaincy ; its princi 
 pal seat was on the west bank of the Connecticut river and 
 its jurisdiction over all the south-western Connecticut clans, 
 including those designated by Van der Donck as the 0$uirepeys, 
 the Weeks , the Makimanes, and the Conittekooks, and classified 
 by De Forest 3 as the Mahackenos, Unkowas, Paugussetts, Wepa- 
 waugs, ^umnipiacs^ Monteweses, Sicaoggs, Tunxis, etc. Their 
 lands on the Connecticut were included in a purchase made by 
 the West India Company, June 8, 1633, and on them was 
 erected the Dutch trading post and fort known as " Good Hope." 
 
 1 Nothing was more common among 2 Documentary History, iv, 14. 
 the Indians than to give to a warrior the 3 De Forests History Indians of Connec- 
 name of his victim. ticut. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 
 
 83 
 
 The tract is said to have been sixty miles in extent. 1 Subse 
 quently (1643), Sequin, from whom the chieftaincy took its 
 name, covered his deed to the Dutch by one to the English, in 
 which he included "the whole country to the Mohawks 
 country." 2 By the fortunes of war, the Pequots compelled the 
 Sequins, the Siwanoys, and a portion of the Montauks, to pay 
 them tribute, 3 but this condition was only temporary. In the 
 subsequent war between the English and their allies and the 
 Pequots, the national existence of the latter was destroyed. 
 There are many reasons for presuming that the Sequins were an 
 enlarged family of Wappingers, perhaps the original head of the 
 tribe from whence its conquests were pushed over the southern 
 part of the peninsula. 4 
 
 9th. The Wappingers. North of the Highlands was the 
 chieftaincy historically known as the Wappingersf and acknow 
 ledged as the head of the chieftaincies of the tribal organization 
 of that name occupying the territory from Roeloff Jansen's kill 
 
 *The deed recites the agreement be 
 tween Van Curler, on the part of the 
 company, " and the sachem named Wapy- 
 quart or Tatteopan, chief of Sickenames 
 river, and owner of the Fresh river of 
 New Netherland, called in their tongue 
 Connetticuck," for the purchase and sale 
 of the lands named, " on condition that 
 all tribes might freely, and without fear 
 or danger," resort thither for purposes of 
 trade. 0"Callaghan,i, 150. The Sicke 
 names, from whom the title was obtained, 
 are described as " living between the 
 Brownists (the Puritans) and the Hol 
 landers," and that " all the tribes on the 
 northern coast were tributary to them." 
 Sequin denied the validity of their deed 
 and sold to the English. The Dutch 
 quarreled with the Sickenames (Pequots), 
 and the latter invited the English to settle 
 at New Haven ; subsequently quarreled 
 with them also, and were destroyed. 
 O'Callaghan, i, 157; De Forest's Indians 
 of Connecticut. 
 
 a Farmington Town Records, De Forest. 
 
 * The tradition is recited by O'Callaghan 
 that the Sequins had original jurisdiction, 
 but lost it after three pitched battles with 
 the Pequots. There is a strange mixing 
 up of tribes in the story, and especially in 
 that of the original sale, in which the 
 
 11 
 
 transaction is made to appear " with the 
 knowledge of Magaritiune," the Wappi- 
 noo chief of Sloop's bay. O'Callaghan, 
 i, 149, 150, 157. " After the overthrow 
 of Sequin, the Pequots advanced along 
 the coast and obliged several tribes to pay 
 tribute, and sailed across the sound and 
 extorted tribute from the eastern inhabit 
 ants of Sewan-Hackey. De Forests 
 History Indians of Connecticut, 61. 
 
 4 Ante, p. 41. 
 
 6 Ante, p. 41. The chieftaincy must 
 have borne some other name, but what 
 is not known. Among the Moravians 
 they were known as the Wequehachkes, 
 or the people of the hill country. 
 Governor Lovelace, in a letter to Go 
 vernor Winthrop of Massachusetts, Dec. 
 29, 1869 (New Tork Assize Record], 
 writes : u I believe I can resolve your 
 doubt concerning what is meant by the 
 Highland Indians amongst us. The 
 Wappingers and TVickeskeck, etc., have 
 always been reckoned so." It is entirely 
 possible that the tribal name was Weque- 
 hachke, or Wickeskeck, or PPeckquaesgeek, 
 and tkat Wappingcrs is local. In all 
 their official relations, however, and in 
 the recognition of Nimham, they were 
 known as the Wappingers. 
 
84 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 on the north to Manhattan island on the south. What their 
 family clans were on the north is not known, nor where their 
 capital. On Van der Donck's map three of their villages or 
 castles are located on the south side of the Mawenawasigh, 01 
 Great Wappinger's kill, which now bears their name. North 
 of that stream they appear to have been known as the Indians 
 of the Long Reach, and on the south as the Highland In 
 dians. Among their chiefs Goethals and Tseessaghgaw are 
 named, while of their sachems the names of Megriesken and 
 Nimham 1 alone survive. Of their possessions on the Hudson 
 there is but one perfect transfer title on record, that being for 
 the lands which were included in the Rombout patent, in which 
 u Sackeraghkigh, for himself and in the name of Megriesken, 
 sachem of the Wappinger Indians," and other Indians therein 
 named as grantors, conveyed the tract beginning on the south 
 side of the Matteawan creek and running along the Hudson 
 north to a point five hundred rods beyond " the Great Wapping's 
 kill, called by the Indians Mawenawasigh," thence east, keeping 
 five hundred rods north of said creek, " four hours' going into 
 the woods," thence south to the south side of Matteawan creek, 
 and thence west " four hours' going " to the place of beginning 
 a district now embraced in the towns of Fishkill, East Fishkill, 
 etc., in Dutchess county. 
 
 Although it is so stated on Van der Donck's map of New 
 Netherland, and assumed by Gallatin as a fact, there is no evi 
 dence that the Wappingers extended west of the Hudson, but, 
 on the contrary, the conclusion is certain that they did not. 
 The record of the Esopus wars and the sales of lands show 
 what and who the latter were. The error of Van der Donck's 
 informants was in confusing totemic emblems, and similarity of 
 dialect, with tribal jurisdiction. The totem of the Wappingers 
 as well as that of the Esopus clans, was the Wolf, as already 
 stated, while below the Highlands came the Turkey of the 
 
 1 " Daniel Nimham, a native Indian have always had a sachem or king whom 
 
 and acknowledged sachem or king of a they have acknowledged to be the head 
 
 certain tribe of Indians known and called of the tribe, and that, by a regular line of 
 
 by the name of Wappingtrs, represents succession the government of the tribe 
 
 that the tribe formerly were numerous, descended to the said present sachem." 
 
 at present consists of about two hundred New York Land Papers, xvm, 127. 
 and twenty-seven persons j that they 
 
O.P HUDSON'S RIPER. 85 
 
 Lenapes, constituting a clear distinction from their neighbors on 
 the opposite shore. Gallatin strengthens the error by introduc 
 ing the fact that the Wappingers were a party to the treaty of 
 Easton, but was evidently without knowledge that they were 
 recent emigrants from New York. 1 
 
 III. The MAHICANS. 
 
 The territory of the Mablcans joined the Wappingers and 
 Sequins on the south, and stretched thence north, embracing the 
 head waters of the Hudson, the Housatonic and the Connecti 
 cut, and the water-shed of lakes George and Champlain. The 
 chieftaincies of the tribe have a very imperfect preservation, but its 
 general divisions are indicated by the terms : I. The Mahicans, 
 as applied to that portion occupying the valley of the Hudson and 
 the Housatonic ; 2. The Soquatucks, as applied to those east of 
 the Green Mountains ; 3. The Pennacooks, as applied to those 
 occupying the territory u from Haverhill to the sources of the 
 Connecticut ; " 4. The Horikans, who occupied the Lake 
 George district, and 5. The Nawaas immediately north of the 
 Sequins on the Connecticut. The first of these general divisions 
 was again divided into at least five parts, as known to the au 
 thorities of New York, viz : I. The Mahicans, occupying the 
 country in the vicinity of Albany ; 2. The Wiekagjwks, described 
 by Wassenaar as "next below the Maikens ;" 3. The Mech- 
 kentowoons lying above Katskill and on Beeren or Mahican 
 Island ; 4. The Wawyachtonocks* who apparently resided in the 
 western parts of Dutchess and Columbia counties, and 5. The 
 Westenhucks, who held the capital of the confederacy. At the 
 time of the discovery those embraced in the first subdivision 
 had a castle on what is now known as Haver island, called by 
 them Cohoes, on the west side of the river, just below Cohoes 
 falls, under the name of Monemius' castle, and another on the 
 east bank and south of the first, called Unuwat's castle. 3 At 
 
 1 Johnson Manuscript, iv, 54. name of Wayaughtanock." In the pro- 
 
 2 The name is local, and is applied, in ceedings of a convention held at Albany 
 a petition by William Caldwell and others in 1689, the name is applied to the 
 in 1702, to a " tract of unappropriated Indians who are called the Wawyachteioks 
 lands in ye hands of ye Indians, lying or Wawijachtenocks. 
 
 in Dutchess county to ye westward of 3 Mapof Rensselaerswyck,0'CW/<2g-fo's 
 Westenholks creek, and to ye eastward NCIU Netherlfind Wassenaar, Document- 
 of Poghkeepsie, called by ye Indians by ye ary History, in, 43. 
 
86 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 or near Schodac was Aepjtn's castle. 1 Nine miles east of 
 Claverack was one of the castles of the Wiekagjocks, and on 
 Van der Donck's map two of their villages, without name, are 
 located inland north of RoelofF Jansen's kill. Potik and Beeren 
 island 2 were for many years in the possession of the Wechken- 
 towoons. The villages of the Wawyachtonocks are without 
 designation, but it is probable that Shekomeko, 3 about two miles 
 south of the village of Pine Plains, in Dutchess county, was 
 classed as one of them, as well as that of Wechquadnach or 
 Wukhquautenauk, described as " twenty-eight miles below 
 Stockbridge." Kaunaumeek, where the missionary, Brainerd, 
 labored, and which he describes as " near twenty miles from 
 Stockbridge, and near about twenty miles distant from Albany 
 eastward ; " 4 Potatik, located by the Moravians on the Housa- 
 tonic " seventy miles inland," and Westenhuck or Wnahkta- 
 kook, the capital of the confederacy, were villages of the Wes- 
 tenbucks, subsequently known as the Stockbridges. 5 That their 
 villages and chieftaincies were even more numerous than those of 
 the Montauks and Wappingers there is every reason to suppose, but 
 causes the very opposite of those which led to the preservation 
 of the location of the latter, permitted the former to go down 
 with so many unrecorded facts relating to the tribe, as well as to 
 their neighbors, the Mohawks, whose four castles only appear on 
 record instead of seven & affirmed by the Jesuit missionaries. 6 
 
 But these subdivisions are of no practical importance. In 
 tribal action they were as unknown as the merest hamlet in 
 
 1 Brodbead, i, 77 ; Albany County is marked by a pine tree growing up from 
 Records ; Stockbridge Tradition. the centre of what was once his only 
 
 2 Literally Bear's island, so called no room, and the bridge near by is called 
 doubt from the totem of its occupants. Brainerd's Bridge. Stockbridgc, Past and 
 
 3 " Shacomico, a place in the remotest Present, 69. 
 
 part of that county (Dutchess) inhabited 5 Westenhuck and Stockbridge were 
 chiefly by Indians, where also live three two distinct places. The former was 
 Moravian priests with their families in a among the hills south of Stockbridge. 
 blockhouse, and sixteen Indian wigwams Sauthier's Map. After the establishment 
 round about it." Documentary History , of the reservation and mission at Stock- 
 in, 1014. bridge the Indian village was mainly, if 
 
 4 "The place as to its situation, was not entirely, deserted. Many of the tribe 
 sufficiently unpleasant, being encompassed removed to Pennsylvania, and others 
 with mountains and woods." Brainerd's united with the mission. 
 
 Diary. The Indians removed from this 6 Local research would, it is believed, 
 village to Stockbridge, in* 1744. The develop forty villages in the territory of 
 site of the hut which Brainerd occupied the Mahicans. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 87 
 
 the voice of a civilized state ; in other respects, as free as the 
 most perfect democracy. Had the lands upon which they were 
 located been sold in small tracts and opened to settlement at an 
 early period, they would not have escaped observation and record -, 
 but the wilderness was a sealed book for many years, and there 
 are those who still write that it was without Indian habitations. 
 Such, too, was the dream in regard to the^lands of the Iroquois, 
 until Sullivan's blazing torch lighted the hills and valleys with 
 the crackling flames of forty burning villages. 
 
 On the 8th of .-ipril, 1680, the Mahicans sold their land, on 
 the west side of the Hudson, to Van Rensselaer, or at least so 
 much thereof as was " called Sanckhagag," a tract described as 
 extending from Beeren island up to Smack's island, and in 
 breadth two days' journey." The grantors were Paep-Sikene- 
 komtas, Manconttanshal and Sickoussen. On the 2yth of 
 July, following, the same gentleman bought from Cattomack, 
 Nawanemit, Abantzene, Sagisquwa and Kanamoack, the lands 
 lying south and north of Fort Orange, and extending to within 
 a short distance of Monemius' castle, and from Nawanemit, 
 one of the last named chiefs, his grounds, " called Samesseeck," 
 stretching on the east side of the river, from opposite Castle 
 island to a point facing Fort Orange, and thence from Poetan- 
 oek, the mill creek, north to Negagonse. Seven years later 
 he purchased an intervening district " called Papsickenekas," 
 lying on the east bank of the river, extending from opposite 
 Castle island south to a point opposite Smack's island, includ 
 ing the adjacent islands, and all the lands back into the interior, 
 belonging to the Indian grantors, and, with his previous pur 
 chases, became the proprietor of a tract of country twenty-four 
 miles long, and forty-eight miles broad, containing, by estima 
 tion, over seven hundred Thousand acres, now comprising the 
 counties of Albany, Rensselaer, and part of Columbia. 1 
 
 Deeds of a later period for lands in the same vicinity are re 
 corded in Albany county records. One is given " in the pre 
 sence of Aepjen and Nietamozit, being among the chiefs of the 
 
 1 G 1 Callaghan" s New Net her land, i, 9165 Map of Rensselaersiuyck, CfCal- 
 122, 123, 1245 Map of Manor of Rens- lagharfs New Netherland, i, 204. 
 sclacrsvuyck, Documentary History, in, 
 
88 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Mohikanders ;" another defines the tract conveyed, as " the 
 fast bank where the house of Machacnotas stood," and another 
 conveys an island called " Schotack or Aepjen's island." Two 
 immense tracts were sold to Robert Livingston, July I2th, 
 1683, and August loth, 1685, and subsequently included in a 
 patent to him for the manor of Livingston. The grantors were 
 the following " Mahican Indian owners :" Ottonowaw, a crip 
 ple Indian ; Tataemshaet, Oothoot, Maneetpoo, and two In 
 dian women named Tamaranchquae and Wawanitsaw, and 
 others in the deed named. 1 The lands between Livingston and 
 Van Rensselaer were taken up in small parcels, some of them 
 without purchase. Sales east of the Taghkanick mountains, in the 
 state of Connecticut, are recorded, and among others that of a 
 tract to Johannes Diksman and Lawrence Knickerbacker, now 
 in the town of Salisbury, the grantors being Konaguin, Sakow- 
 anahook and others " all of the nation of Mohokandas." Al 
 most touching the shore of the southern extremity of Lake 
 Champlain, " Mahican Abraham" asserted his proprietorship, 
 indicating tribal possession seventy miles north of Albany. In 
 view of these records there is no difficulty in determining the 
 value of the assertion that the Mahuans were driven back to the 
 Housatonic " by their implacable enemies, the Mohawks." The 
 more important proposition is, how came the former west of 
 the Hudson, if the prowess of their rivals was so supreme ? 
 
 Reference has already been made to the capital or council-fire 
 of the nation as having been at Westenhuck. That the ori 
 ginal capital was at Schodac is affirmed by the Dutch records and 
 by the traditions of the tribe, and accords with the interpretation 
 of the name itself. Like other tribes, they recoiled before the 
 incoming civilization, and sometime between 1664 and 1734, 
 removed their national seat to Westenhuck where it was known 
 to the authorities of Massachusetts, 2 as well as to the Moravian 
 missionaries. "In February, 1744," says Loskiel, 3 "some 
 Indian deputies arrived at Shekomeko from Westenhuck, to 
 inquire whether the believing Indians would live in friendship 
 
 1 Documentary History, in, 612, 617. * History of the Moravian Missions. 
 
 2 Stockbridpe Past and Present. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 89 
 
 with the new chief." In 1751, he writes at Gnadenhutten, 
 in Pennsylvania : " Two deputies were likewise sent to the great 
 council of the Mahikan nation at Westenhuck, with which 
 they appeared much pleased, and as a proof of their satisfac 
 tion made Abraham, an assistant at Gnadenhutten, a captain." 1 
 Again : u The unbelieving Indians at Westenhuck, made 
 several attempts to draw the Christian Indians in Shekomeko 
 into their party." "Brother David Bruce," it. is added, "paid 
 visits to Westenhuck, by invitation of the head chief of the 
 Mahican nation," of whom it is said : " the above mentioned 
 chief of Westenhuck, who had long been acquainted with the 
 brethren, departed this life." This chief was Konapot, whose 
 name has been preserved in the records of the Stockbridge 
 mission, and who is described by Hopkins as " the principal 
 man among the Muhhekaneok of Massachusetts." By the 
 records of Massachusetts, it appears that, in 1736, the Wes 
 tenhuck sachem visited Boston, accompanied by the chiefs 
 from Hudson's river, as one people, while the former, when 
 known as the Stockbridges, came to Albany in 1756, and were 
 received as the actual representatives of the Mahicam, instead 
 of those known as such to the authorities of New York. Tl\e 
 fact that Westenhuck was the point selected for missionary labor, 
 by the Societyfor the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 
 is additional proof of its importance, though the extremities of 
 the nation withered under the adverse influences by which they 
 were surrounded, the heart remained in vigor long after that of 
 its rivals had been consumed. 
 
 IV. The chieftaincies of the UNAMIS were : 
 
 ist. The Navisinks or Neversincks. This chieftaincy in 
 habited the Highlands south of Sandy Hook. It was with them 
 that Hudson had intercourse after entering the bay of New 
 York. He describes them as civil in their deportment, and 
 disposed to exchange such products of the country as they had 
 for knives, beads and articles of clothing. It was at their hands, 
 also, that John Coleman, one of Hudson's crew, lost his life 
 
 1 Abraham, whose Indian name was Pennsylvania, from whence he returned 
 
 Schabash, was one of the chiefs of She- as stated. He subsequently became the 
 
 komeko. He was converted by the head of the Mahicans of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Moravians and removed with them to Mem. Morav. Chnrch. 
 
90 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 on the 6th of September, 1609. Passachquon was sachem in 
 1663. 
 
 2d. The Raritans, who occupied the valley and river which 
 still bears their name. They were first called Sanhikans, or 
 Fire-workers. They were divided, it is said, in two sachemdoms 
 and about twenty chieftaincies. From their title deeds it would 
 appear that the two sachems were Appamanskoch and Mat- 
 tano or Mattenon. 1 Their territory on the Hudson included 
 the valley of the Raritan, and from thence to the sea. 2 The 
 Dutch had some difficulties with .them in 1641, but soon after 
 that year they removed to the Kittateny mountains, and were 
 subsequently known in Dutch history only through the deeds 
 which they gave to their lands. They were not a warlike race, 
 but peaceable in disposition, as became the traditional totem 
 which they bore. Their treatment under the English of New 
 Jersey, was liberal and just. No bloodshed or violence was 
 permitted, nor occupation of their lands without purchase. 
 Their possessions finally dwindled down to about three thousand 
 acres in the township of Eversham, Burlington county, on 
 which a church was erected. This land they obtained permis 
 sion to sell, in 1802, when the remnant of the clan removed 
 to Oneida lake, N. Y., and from thence, in 1824, to a tract 
 on Lake Michigan, where they united with the Brothertons. 
 
 3d. The Hackinsacks. The territory occupied by this chief 
 taincy was called Ack-kin-kas-hacky, and embraced the valley 
 of the Hackinsack and Passaic rivers. Their number, in 1643, 
 is stated at a thousand souls, of whom about three hundred were 
 warriors. Their council-fire was kindled at Gamoenapa, the 
 aboriginal for Communipau. They took prominent part in 
 
 1 Deed for Raritan meadows, 1651; Southern Indians, they migrated further 
 
 Deed to Denton and others, 1664. inland 5 the second, because this country 
 
 3 " The district inhabited by a nation was flooded every spring." Documentary 
 
 called Raritangs, is situated on a fresh History, iv, 29. Some of our historians, 
 
 water river, that flows through the cen- with characteristic zeal for the Mohawks, 
 
 tre of the low lands which the Indians ascribe the removal of the Raritans to 
 
 cultivate. This vacant territory lies the incursions of the former. It is not 
 
 between two high mountains, far distant possible to determine who the " Southern 
 
 the one from the other. This district Indians" named in the text were, but it 
 
 was abandoned by the natives for two is not an improbable supposition that they 
 
 reasons ; the first and principal is, that were Shawanoes. 
 finding themselves unable to resist the 
 
O.P HUDSON'S RWER. 91 
 
 events of 1643-44, but subsequently appear only as mediators 
 in the person of their sachem Oritany, 1 who enjoyed to a rare 
 old age the confidence of his people and of the surrounding 
 chieftaincies, as well as that of the Europeans. He is spoken 
 of in 1687, as very aged, and as delegating his authority in a 
 measure to Perro. The lands of the chieftaincy embraced 
 Jersey City, Hoboken, a part of Staten island, 2 Wehawken, 
 Newark, Passaic, etc. 
 
 4th. The Aquackanonks. Their sachem, in 1676, was Cap- 
 tahem or Captamin. Their territory, or at least a portion of it, 
 was called Haquequenunck or Acquackanonk, and included the 
 site of the present city of Paterson. 3 They are also described 
 as occupying a considerable portion of the centre of New Jersey. 
 
 5th. The Tappans. The relations existing between this 
 chieftaincy and the Hackinsacks were very intimate, so much so 
 as to lead some to suppose that they were a part of Oritany's 
 sachemdom. Their separate authority and jurisdiction, how 
 ever, is clearly established. Their territory extended from the 
 vicinity of Hackinsack river to the Highlands. 4 De Vries pur 
 chased lands from them in 1640, which he describes as "a 
 beautiful valley under the mountains, of about five hundred 
 acres, within an hour's walk of Gamoenapa," the principal 
 village of the Hackinsacks. On some of the early maps their 
 village is located some miles back from the river, but in the 
 attempt, on the part of the Dutch governor, to collect tribute 
 from them, in 1640, it appears that access could be had 
 to them by sending up a sloop, indicating that in the summer at 
 least they had a representative position on the Hudson. In the 
 treaty of 1745, Sessekemick represented them and appears to 
 have acted under the counsel of Oritany. In the sale of Staten 
 island, Taghkospemo appeared as their sachem, and there is 
 
 1 '* I, Oratum, am sagamore, and sole der Cappellen, 1659. 
 
 proprietor of Hackingsack, lying and be- 3 Deed to Hans Diderick and others, 
 
 ing on the main land over against the March 25, 1676. Oritany, who was 
 
 Isle of Manhattans." Deed to Edward then living, had no part in this deed. 
 Cove, Oct. 5, 1664. 4 " Within the first reach, on the west- 
 
 2 Staten island, by the Indians called ern bank of the river, where the land is 
 
 Eghquaous, appears to have been owned low, there dwells a nation of savages, 
 
 in partnership by the Raritans, the Hack- named Tappans." De Laet y Nc<w York 
 
 insacks and the Tappans. Deed to Van Hist. Soc. Co//., idseries,!, 298. 
 
 12 
 
92 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 evidence that his sachemship had much earlier date. Their 
 name survives in Tappan bay, which probably bounded their 
 possessions on the Hudson. 
 
 6th. The Haverstraw s. North of the Tappans and inhabiting 
 a territory, the westward boundaries of which are not clearly 
 defined, were the Haverstraws, so called by the Dutch, 1 but 
 whose aboriginal name appears to have been lost. 2 They 
 took some part in the early wars, but would seem to have been 
 absorbed by the Tappans after the supremacy of the English. 
 Stony point was the northern limit of their territory, as indi 
 cated by the deed to Governor Dongan subsequently embraced 
 in the Evans patent. In a deed to Balthazar De Hart, July 
 31, 1666, confirmed to him by letters patent from Cateret, and 
 Council of New Jersey, April 10, 1671, and subsequently by 
 patent from the Governor of New York, the tract conveyed is 
 described as " all the land lying on the west side of Hudson's 
 river, called Haverstraw, on the north side of the hills called 
 Verdrietinge hook, on the south side of the highlands, on the 
 east of the mountains, so that the same is bounded by Hudson's 
 river and round about by the high mountains." 3 This descrip 
 tion embraces precisely the western boundary of Haverstraw 
 bay. The deed was executed by Sackewaghgyn, Roansameck, 
 Kewegham, and Kackeros. By deed to Stephen Van Cort- 
 landt in 1683, it would appear that they had either moved fur 
 ther north or had more northern territory, the tract conveyed 
 being described as lying opposite Anthony's nose, from the 
 u south side of a creek called Senkapogh, west to the head 
 thereof, then northerly along the high hills as the river runneth 
 to another creek called Assinapink, thence along the same to 
 Hudson's river." The deed was executed by " Sackagkemeck, 
 sachem of Haverstraw, Werekepes, and Kaghtsikoos." Don- 
 
 1 Named by our people Haverstroo." 3 This purchase covered what were sub- 
 De Laet. sequently called " the Christian Patented 
 
 2 O'Callaghan gives the name of " Ses- lands of Haverstraw," and by that title 
 segehout, chief of Reiucghnomc, of Hav- formed the boundary in part of several 
 erstroo," but it is not clear that that was patents. The original grant from Cater- 
 the name of the chieftaincy, although the et was predicated on the supposition that 
 presumption is strongly in its favor. the tract was within the limits of New Jer- 
 G 1 Callaghan s New Net her land, n, 509, sey. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 93 
 
 gan's purchase in 1685 covered this tract, and had as one of its 
 grantors Werekepes, who was also a grantor to Van Cort- 
 landt. From Verdrietig hook to Stony point may be assumed 
 as the territory of the Haverstraws. 
 
 V. The chieftaincies of the MINSIS were : 
 
 ist. The Waoranecks. This chieftaincy has been variously 
 located. Van der Donck places them in the Highlands on the 
 east side of the river and south of Matteawan creek, and 
 De Laet on the west side as occupants of the Esopus country. 1 
 Wassenaar agrees with De Laet in locating them in the Fisher's 
 hook. 2 The territory which was inhabited by them on the Hudson 
 may be regarded as described with sufficient accuracy in what 
 is known as Governor Dongan's two purchases (i684~'85), the 
 first of which extended from the Paltz tract to the Dans- 
 kammer, and the second from Dans-kammer to Stony point. 
 In the first, the limits of the Esopus Indians, or Warranawon- 
 kongs^ are defined as terminating at the Dans-kammer, and in 
 , the second the jurisdiction of what are therein called " the 
 Murderer's kill Indians," is admitted as from the Dans-kammer 
 to Stony point. Their western boundary cannot be so satis 
 factorily defined. From the fact that the same names, in art, 
 appear as grantors of the Dongan tract, of the Cheesecock tract, 
 and of a tract to Sir John Ashhurst, 3 the latter covering sixteen 
 miles square, commencing at a point eight miles from the 
 Hudson on the south side of "the Murderer's kill," it may be 
 inferred that that boundary terminated with the natural water 
 shed of the Hudson. Were not De Laet's location sufficiently 
 clear, there are other reasons for assuming that the " Murderer's 
 
 1 " This reach (the Fisher's) extends and the subsequent signatures classed as 
 to another narrow pass, where, on the " inferior owners." Thus in the Haver- 
 west side of the river, there is a point of straw purchase, Sa'ckagkemeck appears 
 land that juts out covered with sand, as sachem or principal, and Werepekes 
 opposite a bend in the river, on which as an " inferior owner." In the Dongan 
 another nation of savages, the Waorantch, purchase, Werepekes signed as sachem, 
 have their abode." DeLaet. and Sackagkemeck as an inferior. In 
 
 3 At Fisher's hook are Packany, Ware- the Cheesecock and Ashhurst deeds 
 
 nockcr, Warraiuannankonckx. Documen- Moringamaghan, or Moringamack, is 
 
 tary History, in, 28. the principal, while in the Dongan deed 
 
 3 The duplication of signatures indi- he appears in a subordinate position, 
 
 cates what may be called overlapping These overlapping boundaries entered very 
 
 boundaries. The grantors, who were largely into consideration in fixing the 
 
 principal owners, are generally so stated, limits of the Dongan purchase. 
 
94 
 
 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 kill Indians" of 1685, were the Waoranecks of 1625. 
 name by which they were last designated was that of the creek 
 now called " Murderer's ; " their first name disappears from 
 the early records almost simultaneously with the appearance 
 of the latter, 1 and with the general classification of " Eso- 
 pus Indians," while the territory assigned to them had no 
 other known occupants, rich though it was in all the ele 
 ments of favorite hunting grounds. The Waoranecks parti 
 cipated in the Esopus wars, if not in the wars at Fort Am 
 sterdam, and at the Dans-kammer celebrated those frightful 
 
 orgies called kinte-kay- 
 ing, regarded by the 
 Dutch as devil worship. 
 Their relations with 
 the Esopus Indians 2 
 were such that there 
 can be no hazard in 
 classing them as one 
 of the "five tribes," 
 so called, of the Eso 
 pus country. Their 
 sachem in 1685, was 
 Werekepes, or Were- 
 pekes, and Moringa- 
 maghan 3 and Awesse- 
 wa principal chiefs. 
 
 2d. The WarranawonkongsS This was the most numerous 
 of the Esopus chieftaincies. Their territory extended from the 
 
 house where John McLean now (1756), 
 dwells, near the said kill." He subse 
 quently removed to what is called a 
 " wigwam," which stood " on the north 
 bank of Murderer's creek, where Col. 
 Matthews lives." The location is in 
 Hamptonburgh, on the point of land 
 formed by the junction of the Otter kill 
 and the Grey Court creek, by which 
 Murderer's creek is formed, and which 
 takes its name at that point, as though 
 some dark memory was associated with 
 the name of its owner. 
 
 4 " A little beyond, on the west side, 
 
 Maringoman's Castle. 
 
 1 This creek is first called Murderer's 
 on Van der Donck's map, 1656, and was 
 so called doubtless from events occurring 
 during the first Esopus war. 
 
 3 Esopus is supposed to be derived from 
 Seepus, a river. Reichel says : " A Sopus 
 Indian, or a lonvlander" 
 
 8 Maringoman's " castle" and Maringo 
 man's " wigwam" are spoken of in dif 
 ferent deeds. The first was on the north 
 end of the Schunamunck mountain on 
 the south side of Murderer's creek, in the 
 present town of Bloominggrove, and is par 
 ticularly described as being " opposite the 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 95 
 
 Dans-kammer to the Katskill mountains, or more properly 
 perhaps to the Saugerties, and embraced the waters of the Sha- 
 waugunk, the Wallkill and the Esopus rivers. Their principal 
 castle was in the Shawangunk country, although a very consi 
 derable one was on the Esopus river, known as Wiltmeet. The 
 " oldest and best of their chiefs," Preummaker, was killed in 
 the war of 1663, as was also Papequanaehen. In their treaty 
 with Stuyvesant, in 1664, they were represented by Sewacke- 
 namo, sachem, and Onackatin and Powsawagh, chiefs. In 
 the 'subsequent treaty of 1669, the five sachemdoms of the 
 Esopus country were represented in the persons of Onackatin, 
 Napashequiqua, Sewackenamo, Shewotin, and Calcop. In 
 the Dongan purchase of 1684, Pemerawaghin appears as 
 chief sachem. 
 
 3d. The Mamekotings. The district inhabited by the Mame- 
 kotings was west of the Shawangunk mountains and is still 
 known as the Mamakating valley. Their history is so intimately 
 blended with that of the Esopus Indians that identification is 
 impossible further than by title. They were evidently one of 
 the " five tribes," and may be designated as the third. 
 
 4th. The W aw ar sinks* The fourth of the Esopus chieftain 
 cies, the TVawarsinks, inhabited the district of country which 
 still bears their name. Separate from the Esopus Indians they 
 have no history. 
 
 5th. The Katskills. The fifth and last of the Esopus chief 
 taincies J inhabited the territory north of Saugerties, forming 
 the eastern water-shed of the Katskill mountains, 2 including the 
 Sager's creek, the Kader's creek, and the Kats kill, from which 
 latter they took their name. 3 They were the " loving people " 
 described by Hudson ; a neutral and not very courageous peo- 
 
 where there is a creek, and the river be- the Katskill Indians ; the waters flowing 
 
 comes more shallow, the Warrana<won- west to the Schoharie creek being the 
 
 kongs reside." De Laet. property of the Mohawks. History of 
 
 "These following Esopus Indians." New Nether/and, i, 435. 
 Deed to Wm. Lo-veridge. 3 Brodhead locates here some families 
 
 2 In giving the boundaries of the Coey- of Nanticokes, and it is possible that when 
 
 man's purchase, O'Callaghan states that that nation " disappeared without glory," 
 
 the line followed Coxackie creek to its some of its members were induced thither 
 
 head ; then ran west until it struck the either as recruits of the Minsis or the 
 
 head of the waters falling into the Hud- Mohaiuks, but their more considerable 
 
 son, all the land on which belonged to emigration was to Pennsylvania. 
 
* 
 
 96 THE INDUN'TRIBES 
 
 pie, as may be inferred from Kregier's account of them. 1 Their 
 chief, in 1663, was known as Long Jacob. Mahak Niminaw 
 sachem in i682. 2 Above the Katskills came the Mechkento- 
 woons of the Mahicans, but with boundary undefined. 
 
 6th. The Minnisinks. West of the Esopus country, and in 
 habiting the Delaware and its tributaries were the Minsis proper 
 of whom a clan more generally known as the Minnisinks held 
 the south-western parts of the present counties of Orange and 
 Ulster, and north-western New Jersey. Van der Donck de 
 scribes their district as " Minnessinck of 'tLandt van Bacham," 
 and gives them three villages : Schepinaikonck, Meochkonck, and 
 Macharienkonck, the latter in the bend of the Delaware oppo 
 site Port Jervis, and preserved perhaps in the name Mahacke- 
 meck. 3 On Sauthier's map, Minnisink, the capital of the clan, 
 is located some ten miles south of Mahackemeck, in New Jer 
 sey. Very little is known of the history of the clan as distin 
 guished from the tribe of which they were part, although the au 
 thorities of New York had communication with them, and the 
 missionary, Brainerd, visited them. Tradition gives to them 
 the honor of holding the capital of the tribe in years anterior to 
 the advent of the Europeans. Defrauded and maltreated, they 
 subsequently exacted a terrible compensation for their wrongs. 
 
 VI. The IROQUOIS. 
 
 ist. The Mohawks. The territory occupied by the Mohawks 
 has already been sufficiently described, as well as that of their 
 associate tribes of the Iroquois confederacy. The Mohawks 
 had no villages immediately upon the Hudson, although they 
 
 1 " Examined the Squaw prisoner and graves covering an area of six acres, 
 
 inquired if she were not acquainted with Skeletons have been unearthed, and 
 
 some Esopus Indians who abode about found invariably in a sitting posture, sur- 
 
 here ? She answered that some Katskill rounded by tomahawks, arrow-heads, 
 
 Indians lay on the other side near the etc. In one grave was found a sheet iron 
 
 Sager's kill, but they would not fight tobacco box containing a hankerchief 
 
 against the Dutch." Documentary His- covered with devices, employed doubtless 
 
 /cry, jv, 48. to preserve the record of its owner's ser- 
 
 2 " Mahak Niminaw shall have, as vices. Not far from the grounds is the 
 
 being sachem of Katskill, two fathoms Willehoosa, a cavern in the rocks on the 
 
 of duffels and an anker of rum when he side of the Shawangunk mountain. It 
 
 comes home." Deed to Wm. Loveridge. contains three apartments, each about the 
 
 3 On the cast bank of the Neversink size of an ordinary room. Indian im- 
 
 river, three miles above Point Jervis, on plements of various kinds have been 
 
 the farm now or late of Mr. Levi Van found there. 
 Etten, exists an Indian burial ground, the 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 97 
 
 claimed title to the lands north of the Mohawk river. Their 
 principal villages or castles, in 1677, were on the north side of 
 the Mohawk, in the present counties of Montgomery and Her- 
 kimer, and were : I. Cahaniaga, or Gandaougue, by the Dutch 
 called Kaghnewage, and more modernly known as Caghnawaga ; 
 2. Gandagaro, or Kanagaro ; 3. Canajorha, or Canajoharie, 
 and 4. Tionondogue or Tionnontoguen. The first contained 
 twenty-four houses ; the second, sixteen ; the third, sixteen, 
 and the fourth thirty. 1 Tionondogue was the capital of the tribe. 
 It was destroyed by the French in 1667, and rebuilt about one 
 mile further west. It was again destroyed by the French in 
 1693, but does not appear to have been rebuilt, as soon after 
 that time Canajoharie is spoken of as the " upper Mohawk 
 castle." 2 It was at the latter that Hendrick and his brother 
 Abraham resided, as well as Joseph Brant. The house occu 
 pied by the former, and also by the latter, was situated near 
 what is now known as u Indian castle church," in Danube, 
 Herkimer county. Caghnawaga was the scene of early conflict 
 between the Mohawks and the Mahlcans ; it was destroyed by the 
 French in 1693, an ^ subsequently by the Americans. It was 
 long known as the " lower Mohawk castle," and occupied the 
 site of the present village of Fonda, Montgomery county. 
 Gandagaro passed out of existence with the second French in 
 vasion, or at least is lost to the records after 1693. In 1690, a 
 new castle was erected at the mouth of Schoharie creek and 
 called Tiononderoge, after the name of the ancient capital 
 of the tribe, but was more generally known as " the castle of 
 the praying Maquas." It was situated on the site of what was 
 subsequently known as Fort Hunter. Its occupants were 
 called the Schoharie Indians. It was among them that several 
 families of Esopus Indians were settlers in 1756. After the 
 revolution the Mohawks had neither castles nor villages in their 
 ancient territory. 
 
 2d. The Qneldfls, etc. The Oneidas had, in 1677, one 
 town, " the old Oneida castle," as it was called, containing one 
 
 1 Colonial History, in, 250 ; Brodhead's seven Mohawk villages, but they 
 New York, 11, 129. Pierron, the Jesuit located, 
 missionary, it is said, visited every week 2 Colonial History, vi, 850. 
 
 are not 
 
98 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 hundred houses ; the Onondagas, a palisaded town of one hun 
 dred and forty houses, and a village of twenty-four houses ; x the 
 Cayugas three towns, and the Senecas four. 2 
 
 The capital of the confederacy was the village of Onondaga, 
 on the lake of that name, the principal settlement of the Onon- 
 dagas. Bishop Cammerhof, who visited it in 1751, says, 
 " Onondaga, the chief town of the six nations, situated in 
 a very pleasant and fruitful country, and consisting of five 
 small towns and villages, through which the river Zinochsaa 
 runs." In the Relations of the Jesuit missionaries it is said : 
 " The word Onnota^ which signifies in the Iroquois tongue, a 
 mountain, has given the name to the village called Onnontae, 
 or as others call it, Onnontague, because it is on a mountain ; 
 and the people who inhabit it consequently style themselves 
 Onnontae-ronnons, or Onnontague-ronnons." 
 
 1 The great villages of the Onnonta- the number then known. It is subse- 
 gues consists of one hundred cabins. quently stated that forty towns existed in 
 Colonial History, ix, 375. the three western cantons. Journal of 
 
 2 Colonial History, in, 250. This was Sullivan s Expedition. 
 
 Indian Fort. 
 
 ONONDAGA, THE CAPITAL OF THE FIVE 
 NATIONS 1609. 
 
O.F HUDSON'S RIVER. 99 
 
 CHAPTER V. 
 
 THE INDIANS UNDER THE DUTCH THE MANHATTAN 
 WARS FROM THE DISCOVERY TO THE PEACE OF 1645. 
 
 
 
 ROM the first hour of Hudson's appearance in the 
 waters of the Mahicanituk, to the last of the domina 
 tion of Holland, there was an antagonism between 
 the Dutch and the Indians with whom they came in 
 contact in the vicinity of Manhattan island, and a conflict which 
 was apparently irrepressible. While in the territory of the Ma- 
 hicans proper Hudson met " loving men," 'in that of the Wap- 
 pingers and the Minsis, he dyed the waters of the river which 
 he had discovered with the blood of those who were encouraged 
 by his overtures to a violation of laws to which they were 
 strangers, and his exit was amid the terrifying war-cries of a 
 people enraged by the slaughter of kindred, and clouds darkened 
 by their quivering arrows. 1 
 
 Subsequent events in no degree mitigated the hostility which 
 was then awakened. When the traders followed Hudson they 
 paused not until they had reached the jurisdiction of those with 
 whom his intercourse had been friendly. There they main 
 tained kindly relations with the Indians, and around their trading 
 posts, Fort Nassau, and subsequently Fort Orange, 2 hed neu 
 tral ground between the contending Mahicans and Mohawks* 
 But this alliance of friendship did not relieve the Dutch from 
 apprehended attacks on the part of those whom Hudson had 
 
 1 Hudson's Journal; ante, p. n. unfortunate, in consequence of the ex- 
 
 * The first, or Fort Nassau, was erected posure to the spring freshets, and in 1618 
 
 on what was called Castle island, now it was removed to the banks of the 
 
 known as Boyd's island, a short dis- Tawalsontha creek, now called the Nor- 
 
 tance below the Albany ferry. It was man's kill, from whence it was soon after 
 
 a building twenty-six feet wide and removed further north and located in the 
 
 thirty-six feet long, enclosed by a stock- vicinity of what is now South Broad- 
 
 ade fifty-eight feet square, and the whole way, Albany, and called Fort Orange, 
 
 surrounded by a moat eighteen feet wide, by which name, and that of Beaverwyck, 
 
 Its armament consisted of two large guns the small settlement which gathered 
 
 and eleven swivels, and the garrison of around it, it was known until 1664. 
 ten or twelve men. The location proved 3 Ante^ p. 54. 
 
 13 
 
100 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 offended, and it was deemed prudent to erect a fort on what 
 was then known as Prince's island, and to garrison it with six 
 teen men for the defense of the river below." 1 
 
 Contemporaneous circumstances contributed to keep alive 
 this feeling. One Jacob Eelkins, 2 who had been in superintend 
 ence of the trade at Fort Nassau, in the summer of 1622 
 ascended the Connecticut to traffic, and while there treacher 
 ously imprisoned the chief of the Sequins on board his yacht, 
 and would not release him until a ransom of one hundred and 
 forty fathoms of wampum had been exacted. The offense was 
 resented by all the tribes, and by none more so than by the 
 Mai? icons. To appease them, Eelkins was discharged, and 
 apparently in further overture to them, Krieckbeck, the Dutch 
 commander at Fort Orange, in 1626, joined them, with six men, 
 on a hostile expedition against the Mohawks.* 
 
 Other causes of grievance were not wanting. The sale of 
 fire-arms to the Mahlcans and Mohawks at Fort Orange and 
 the refusal to sell to the chieftaincies in the vicinity of Fort Am 
 sterdam 4 was a constant irritation, to allay which the Dutch 
 traders treated the Indians at the latter place with great fami 
 liarity, invited them to their houses, admitted them to their 
 tables, and gave them wine, until they came to regard such 
 civilities as their due and to resent their absence. Then the 
 cattle of the Dutch roamed at large, " without a herdsman," 
 and " frequently came into the corn of the Indians, which was 
 unfenced on all sides, committing great damage there. This 
 led to complaints on their part and finally to revenge on the 
 
 1 Wassenaar, Documentary History , in, observe strict neutrality in the future. 
 35. The location of this fort has never 4 Precisely to what extent the Indians 
 been positively ascertained. in the vicinity o*f Fort Amsterdam were 
 
 2 Wassenaar, Documentary History t m, supplied with arms in 1643, does not 
 45 j Brodhead, i, 146, 1 68. appear. It is said by the Eight Men, 
 
 3 Brodhcad, i, 168. The expedition in October of that year : " These Indians 
 was not successful. Krieckbeck and are, on the contrary, strong and mighty ; 
 three of his men were killed, and the have, one with the other, made alliances 
 Mahicans put to flight. The Mohawks with seven different tribes, well supplied 
 did not resent the alliance further than with guns, powder and ball." (Colonial 
 to roast and eat one of the Dutch soldiers, History , i, 190) ; yet there is not a single 
 a man named Tyman Bouwensen ; but case of the use of fire arms by the In- 
 Minuit deemed it prudent, during the dians recorded. Even in their most 
 continuance of hostilities, to remove the desperate defenses bows and arrows are 
 Dutch families to Fort Amsterdam, and alone spoken of as their weapons. 
 
 to direct the garrison at Fort Orange to 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 101 
 
 cattle, without sparing even the horses." In 1626, a Weck- 
 quaesgeek Indian, accompanied by his nephew, who was a 
 " small boy," and another savage, while on their way to the 
 fort to trade, were met and robbed by men in the employ of 
 Minuit, the Dutch director, and in the melee the Weckquaes- 
 geek was killed. The act was unknown to the Dutch at the 
 time, but the boy treasured a revenge which he forgot not to 
 exact in manhood. 
 
 As the Dutch settlers took up lands on Long Island and the 
 New Jersey shore, they made frequent complaints that their 
 cattle were stolen by the Indians. Regarding the latter as the 
 aggressors in all cases, Director Kieft, who had in the mean 
 time succeeded Minuit, determined, in 1639, to demand from 
 them tribute, not only as compensation, but to aid in establishing 
 his government over them, and for that purpose sent an armed 
 sloop to the Tappans to exact contributions of corn and wam 
 pum. The Indians expressed their astonishment at this pro 
 ceeding, and denounced " the sakema of the fort " for daring 
 to attempt such exactions. Sneers and reproaches followed. 
 " The sakema," they said, " must be a mean fellow ; he had 
 not invited them to come and live here, that he should now 
 take away their corn." A formal conference was held with 
 the Indians, but the latter refused to yield the contributions 
 asked. 
 
 An open rupture soon followed. Some pigs were stolen from 
 De Vries's plantation on Staten island, as it subsequently appeared 
 " by the servants of the company, then (1640) going to the 
 South river to trade, and who landed on the island to take in 
 wood and water ; " but, as Kieft professed to believe, by the 
 Indians. He accused the Raritans of the offense, and, on the 
 sixteenth of July, commissioned Secretary Van Tienhoven to 
 proceed, with one hundred men, to their territory and demand 
 satisfaction. The Raritans denied the commission of the offense, 
 and satisfied the secretary ; but the troops under him were bent 
 on mischief, and scarcely had he left them when they made an 
 attack, killed several of the Indians, took one of their chiefs 
 
 1 De Fries, New York Historial Society Racdt, Documentary History y iv, 101, 102. 
 Collections, ad series, i, 263 j Breeden 
 
102 7HE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 captive, and mangled the body of another. The Raritans 
 retaliated by attacking De Vries's plantation, killed four of his 
 planters and burned his dwelling and tobacco house. Kieft 
 followed with a proclamation announcing the policy of exter 
 mination, and offering a bounty of ten fathoms of wampum for 
 the head of every Raritan which should be brought to him. 
 Holding their own grievances in abeyance, some of the Long 
 Island warriors took up the hatchet against the Raritans, and 
 brought in at least one head for the director's gratification, but 
 the great body of the Indians refused the tempting offer. 
 
 Meanwhile the Weckquaesgeek boy had grown to manhood, 
 and determined to exact his long meditated atonement for 
 the death of his uncle. Taking with him some beaver skins to 
 barter, he stopped at the house of one Claes Smit, " a harm 
 less Dutchman," and while he was stooping over a chest in 
 which he kept his goods, the savage seized an axe and killed 
 him by a blow on the neck ; then quickly plundering his 
 abode, escaped to the woods. Kieft demanded satisfaction, but 
 the Weckquaesgeeks refused to deliver up the murderer. He 
 then summoned all the heads of families of Manhattan to a 
 meeting and. laid the matter before them, especially -asking if it 
 was not just that the murder should be avenged, and if in case the 
 Weckquaesgeeks would not surrender the murderer, it would not 
 be "just to destroy the whole village" to which he belonged ; 
 and if so, in what manner, when, and by whom such chastise 
 ment should be inflicted. The meeting referred the pro 
 position to " twelve select men," who, with greater discernment 
 of the consequences of an open rupture with the Indians than 
 the director, reported that while the murder should be avenged 
 they thought " God and the opportunity should be taken into 
 consideration," and that in the meantime the director should 
 make suitable arrangements for sustaining an attempt at inflicting 
 punishment. In case hostilities should be inaugurated, they 
 thought the director should " lead the van," while the commu 
 nity should " follow his steps and obey his commands." They 
 advised, however, as an offset to this quiet bit of sarcasm, that 
 before anything else was done the director should send up a shallop 
 to the Weckquaesgeeks to demand of them " once, twic e, yea for 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 103 
 
 a third time," the surrender of the murderer in a " friendly 
 manner." 
 
 Offended and bent on war, Kieft " would not listen." Re 
 maining inactive until November, he consulted each of the 
 " twelve" separately on the question of immediate hostilities ; but 
 the latter remained firmly opposed. In the winter he repeated 
 this consultation, and urged that the Indians were absent from 
 their village on hunting expeditions, and that arrangements 
 should be made at once to destroy them. The "twelve" con 
 sented, unwillingly, and on assurances that an attack should 
 only be made after repeated solicitations had failed to secure 
 the surrender of the murderer. Kieft did not long delay an 
 attempt to execute his atrocious design. In March (1642), 
 he dispatched a company of eighty men, under command of 
 Ensign Hendrick Van Dyck, with instructions to fall upon the 
 Weckaquaesgeeks, " who lay in their village suspecting nothing," 
 and punish them with fire and sword. Fortunately the guide 
 missed his way, and the expedition was compelled to' return to 
 Fort Amsterdam " in all the mortification of failure." The re 
 sult, however, was that the Indians, on discovering the trail 
 of Kieft's men, and detecting his intention, became alarmed 
 and asked that peace might be maintained. Kieft consented 
 on condition that the murderer of Smit was delivered up, and 
 on this basis a treaty, as it was called, was concluded with them. 
 But it was not fulfilled by either of the contracting parties ; the 
 arrest of an Indian, whose action had been in strict accordance 
 with the laws and customs of his tribe, was a process of very 
 difficult accomplishment. 
 
 Soon after this occurrence the Dutch were terribly frightened. 
 Miantonomo, the " principal sachem " of the Narragansetts^ 
 having a controversy pending with Uncas, visited the Manhat 
 tans with an hundred men, and passed through all the Mablcan 
 villages to secure their alliance for'the destruction of his rival. 
 The Dutch, however, gave to him a different mission. From a 
 whispered suspicion it grew to public clamor, that the embassy 
 had no less an object than to secure the union of all the Indians 
 in a " general war against both the English and the Dutch." 
 The story spread to New England, where its falsity was demon- 
 
104 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 strated ; x but in the meanwhile the inhabitants at New Amster 
 dam saw the hand of hostile Indians in every thing ; believed 
 that they had attempted to destroy the settlement by setting fire 
 to its powder-magazine, and the director by poisoning him " or 
 enchanting him by their deviltry." 2 
 
 The storm passed over only to be succeeded by another. The 
 Hackinsacks and Tappans had hitherto escaped special irritating 
 collisions with the Dutch. True, the Tappans had resisted the 
 attempt to place them under tribute, but this attempt appears to 
 have been abandoned. De Vries 3 had settled among the latter, 
 after the disaster which befel him on Staten island, and by 
 kindly treatment had won their confidence. Circumstances, 
 however, forced them to take up the hatchet. Contrary to the 
 advice of the director, and in .opposition to the wishes of a ma 
 jority of the Hackinsacks^ one Myndert Van der Horst 4 pur 
 chased a tract near Communipaw and made settlement thereon. 
 While visiting this settlement a Hackinsack warrior became in 
 toxicated, and was robbed of his beaver-skin coat. When the 
 stupor passed off and he became conscious of the imposition 
 which had been practiced upon him, he vowed he would go 
 home for his bow and arrows and shoot the " roguish Swanne- 
 kin " (as the Dutch were called), who had taken his things, and 
 faithfully did he keep his vow. Watching his opportunity, he 
 shot one of the colonists, Garret Jansen Van Voorst, as he was 
 thatching the roof of one of Van der Horst's houses. The 
 chiefs of his tribe, anxious to keep unbroken friendly relations 
 with the Dutch, hastened to De Vries to secure his counsel and 
 intercession. They dared not go to Fort Amsterdam for fear 
 Kieft would keep them prisoners, but they were willing to make 
 the " blood atonement of money " customary among the tribes, 
 and offered two hundred fathoms of wampum* to the family of 
 
 1 HubbarcTs Indian JVars^ 44. 4 Myndert Myndertsen Van der Horst 
 
 2 The superstitious fears of the Dutch purchased and located on a tract " within 
 and the English were alike strongly an hour's walk of Vricsendael." His 
 worked upon by the skill of the Indians plantation extended from Archer Cul 
 in jugglery. bay north towards Tappan, and included 
 
 3 De Vries purchased from the Tappans the valley of the Hackinsack river. The 
 
 a tract of about five hundred acres in head quarters of the settlement were 
 
 April, 1 640 ; made settlement thereon about five or six hundred paces from the 
 
 the subsequent year, and gave to it the principal village of the Hackinsacks. 
 name of Vriesendael. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 105 
 
 the murdered man as the price of peace. Persuaded by De 
 Vries, who became answerable for their safe return, the chiefs 
 visited the fort with him, and there repeated their offer. 
 Kieft refused to accept the wampum, and demanded the mur 
 derer. The chiefs could not comply ; the murderer had sought 
 refuge among the Tankitekes, and besides he was the son of a 
 chief and could not be surrendered. They then renewed their 
 expiatory offer, but it was again refused, and they returned to 
 their homes hopeless of effecting reconciliation. 
 
 These collisions and causes of grievance culminated in the 
 winter of 1643, when Director Kieft threw off all disguise and 
 disgraced even savage modes of warfare by a blackening hypo 
 crisy and a massacre more terrible than any of which their 
 annals bear record. In February of that year a party of eighty 
 Mahicans, " each with a musket on his shoulder," made a descent 
 on some of the old Manhattan chieftaincies, for the purpose of 
 collecting tribute which had been withheld. 1 Surprised, and 
 wholly unable from inferiority in arms to cope with their adver 
 saries, the assailed Indians fled to Fort Amsterdam for protec 
 tion, leaving seventeen of their number dead and a considerable 
 portion of their women and children prisoners in the hands of 
 their enemies. The Dutch kindly cared for the fugitives and 
 supported them for fourteen days ; but, again alarmed for their 
 safety, they scattered themselves among the Hackinsacks and 
 Tappans, while others fled to Vriesendael to beg assistance and 
 protection. De Vries promised to do all in his power for them, 
 and accordingly went, in a canoe, through the floating ice, to 
 Fort Amsterdam, to ask Kieft to assist him with some soldiers. 
 The director, however, claimed that he had none to spare ; 
 and the next day the Indians left Vriesendael, some going to 
 
 1 Brodhead and others assert that this sis that the Mahicans would not attack 
 foray was by Mohawks. The document- those regarded as their own people, and 
 ary proof, however, is that it was made .that the Mohawks alone were armed, 
 by the Mahicans. " The Mahican In- The fact distinctly appears, however, that 
 dians, who, surprising, slew full seventy not only were the Mahicans armed, but 
 of them" Colonial History, i, 151. that the " old Manhattans " had neglected 
 *' The Mahicanders dwelling below Fort to pay them the tribute due from con- 
 Orange, who slew," etc. Ibld.^ 184. quered tribes. That no other chieftaincies 
 " The Indians, the Mayekandcrs, who than those of the Weckquaesgeek district 
 came from Fort Orange " De Vries. were visited, is additional proof that it 
 The conclusion that it was by the Mo- was by the Mahicans. 
 ha*wks is apparently based on the hypothe- 
 
106 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Pavonia J among the Hacklnsacks, who were " full a thousand 
 strong," and others to Rechtauck (now Corlear's hook) where 
 they occupied some cabins which had been erected by the 
 Reckawancks. 
 
 Made acquainted with these facts, the people of New Amster 
 dam were divided in opinion as" to the proper policy to be pur 
 sued. The majority, under the lead of De Vries, counseled 
 patience, humanity and kindness, such as had been extended 
 to the fugitives when they first fled thither for protection. 
 Another party, headed by Van Tienhoven, provincial secretary, 
 masking their action under professions of indignation at the 
 shedding of innocent Christian blood, clamored for the extermi 
 nation of the Indians. A petition was circulated by the latter, 
 and obtained some signatures, reminding the director that God 
 had now supplied the " opportunity " which the " twelve " 
 had suggested should be awaited, and asking permission to 
 " attack and destroy the enemy which had been delivered into" 
 their hands, and " that one party, composed of freemen, and 
 another of soldiers, be dispatched to different places against 
 them." 2 The petition was resisted by De Vries and others, 
 who warned the director against so gross a breach of Indian 
 and civilized laws of hospitality; but Keift, who had long 
 before taken his position on the subject, readily complied with 
 the request of the petitioners, and issued an order that the 
 Indians should be attacked by two divisions, one at Pavonia and 
 the other at Corlear's hook, the former to be by the soldiers 
 under the command of Sergeant Rodolf, and the latter by the 
 burghers headed by Maryn Andriaensen. 3 
 
 1 Michael Pauw purchased from the and the time and opportunity shall permit. 
 
 Indians the tract now included in Hobo- Sergeant Rodolf is commanded and au- 
 
 ken and Jersey City, and established there thorized to take under his command a 
 
 a colony to which he gave the name of troop of soldiers and lead them to Pa- 
 
 Pavonia. Brodbcad, i, 203. vonia, and drive away and destroy the 
 
 3 Colonial History, in, 1465 0' Callaghan, savages being behind Jan Evertsen's, but 
 
 i, 266 ; Brodbead, i, 349. The Narra- to spare, as much as possible, their wives 
 
 tive is principally by De Vries. and children, and to take the savages 
 
 " 3 We, therefore, hereby authorize prisoners.* * The exploit to be exe- 
 
 Maryn Adriansen, at his request, with cuted at night, with the greatest caution 
 
 his associates, to attack a party of sa- and prudence. Our God may bless the 
 
 vages skulking behind Corlear's hook, or expedition. Done Feb. 24th, 1643." 
 
 plantation, and act with them in every O'Callaghan, i, 267, 268. 
 such manner as they shall deem proper 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 107 
 
 The plan was executed on the night of the 25th of February. 
 The Indians had gathered behind Pauw's settlement at Pavonia, 
 unsuspicious of attack from those to whose shelter they had fled, 
 and were sleeping in conscious security when the work of death 
 commenced. Loud shrieks first announced to DeVries, who 
 was watching at Fort Amsterdam, that the slaughter had begun, 
 but these shrieks were succeeded by the stolid indifference with 
 which the red man always met his fate, and nothing was heard 
 but the report of fire-arms. Neither age nor sex were spared. 
 Warrior and squaw, sachem and chief, mother and babe, were 
 alike massacred. DeVries describes the terrible tragedy in 
 pointed language. Children were taken from the arms of their 
 mothers and butchered in the presence of their parents, and 
 their mangled limbs thrown into the fire or the water. " Other 
 sucklings had been fastened to little boards, and in this position 
 they were cut to pieces. Some were thrown in the river, and 
 when the parents rushed in to save them, the soldiers prevented 
 their landing and let parents and children drown." The next 
 morning some of the Indians, who had escaped the midnight 
 slaughter, came to the fort begging for shelter, but instead of 
 receiving it, were killed in cold blood or thrown into the river. 1 
 Continues DeVries, " some came running to us from the coun 
 try, having their hands cut off; some lost both arms and legs ; 
 some were supporting their entrails with their hands, while others 
 were mangled in other horrid ways, to.o horrid to be conceived. 
 And these miserable wretches, as well as many of the Dutch, 
 were all the time under the impression that the attack had pro 
 ceeded from their Indian enemies " were unwilling to believe 
 that men professing the Christian name could be guilty of so 
 gross a violation of Christian principles. 
 
 With an aching heart, DeVries returned to his home, and 
 had scarcely arrived when some of the fugitives gathered around 
 him. " The Fort Orange Indians have fallen upon us," said 
 they, " and we have come to hide ourselves in your fort." u It 
 is no time to hide yourselves in the fort; no Indians have done 
 
 1 " I am told for a fact that a certain lyn, towards morning the poor child, 
 
 skipper, Isaac Abrahamsen, having saved overcome with cold and hunger, made 
 
 a boy, and hidden him under the sails, in some noise, and was heard by the soldiers, 
 
 order to give him to one Cornelius Me- eighteen Dutch tigers dragged (him) from 
 
 14 
 
108 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 this deed ; it is the work of the Swannekens," answered De 
 Vries, and he led the fugitives to the gate, " where stood no 
 sentinel," and bade them seek shelter in the forest depths. 
 Meanwhile the victorious expeditions returned to Fort Amster 
 dam and reported, as the result of their work, that eighty Indians 
 had been slaughtered at Pavonia and thirty at Corlear's hook, 
 while with them were thirty prisoners. Kieft received his free 
 booters and soldiers with thanks, rewards and congratulations j 
 while Van Tienhoven's mother, forgetful of the finer feelings 
 which do honor to her sex, amused herself, it is stated, by 
 kicking about the heads of the dead men which had been brought 
 in as trophies of the midnight slaughter. 1 
 
 The first notes of triumph had barely faded from the air, 
 however, ere the hand of revenge was made red with the blood 
 of the Dutch. Kieft, in the exultation of the moment, sent out 
 foraging expeditions to collect corn. One of these expeditions 
 seized two wagon loads from the Long Island Indians, who lost 
 three of their number in endeavoring to save their property. 
 In retaliation, the Montauk and the Hackimack and Tappan 
 chieftaincies made common cause with the Weckquaesgeeks* 
 who had suffered i-n the February attack, and who had learned 
 fully that the Dutch, and not the Mahicans, had been the 
 principals in the massacre of their kindred, and the toma 
 hawk, the scalping knife and the firebrand executed the work of 
 vengeance. " From swamps and thickets the mysterious enemy 
 made his sudden onset. The farmer was murdered in the open 
 field ; women and children, granted their lives, were swept off 
 into long captivity ; houses and bouweries, hay-stacks and grain, 
 cattle and crops, were all destroyed." 3 Even Vriesendael did 
 
 under the sails, in spite of the endeavors only three remained on the Manhattes, 
 
 of the skipper, cut (him) in two and and two on Staten island, and the greater 
 
 threw (him) overboard." Breeden Raedt. part of the cattle were destroyed. What- 
 
 1 Callaghan, i, 269. " It is a scandal ever remained of these had to be kept in 
 for our nation," says the author of Brtc- a very small enclosure, except in Rensse- 
 den Raedt, " and if silence would have laer's colonie, lying on the North river, 
 remedied it, I should never have men- in the neighborhood of Fort Orange, 
 tioned it." which experienced no trouble and enjoyed 
 
 2 The narrative speaks of the Week- peace, because they continued to sell fire- 
 quaesgeeks, the Sint-Sings, and the Klckta- arms and powder to the Indians even 
 wanes in different places. during the war against our people." 
 
 3 BrodAead,i, 354. "Almost all the Report, etc., Colon ial History, i, 151. 
 bouweries were also destroyed, so that 
 
O.P HUDSON'S RIVER. . 109 
 
 not escape the general calamity. The outhouses, and crops 
 and cattle were destroyed. DeVries and his colonists, however, 
 escaped into the manor house or fort, which had been constructed 
 with loop-holes for musketry, and were standing on their defense, 
 when an Indian whom DeVries had" sheltered on the morning 
 of the massacre came up to the besiegers, related the occurrence 
 and told them DeVries was "a good chief." The Indians at 
 once raised the siege, and expressed their regret that they had 
 destroyed the cattle ; they would let the little brewery of their 
 Dutch friends stand, although they longed for the copper kettle 
 to make barbs for their arrows. 1 
 
 The Dutch were thrown into great consternation and fled to 
 Fort Amsterdam for protection, with bitter upbraidings on their 
 lips against the director. He met them defiantly at first, and 
 professed to have been controlled by the wishes of Andriaensen ; 
 but the latter denied the assertion, and carried his determination 
 to escape the popular condemnation into an attempt upon the life 
 of the director. 2 But the accumulating evidences of desolation 
 brought ruler and people to repentance. For that mercy which 
 he had refused to extend to the helpless Indians, Kieft besought 
 the people to ask of the Most High, and to that end appointed 
 a day of fasting and prayer, in his proclamation confessing that 
 the calamities which had overtaken them was doubtless owing 
 to the sins which he and his people had committed. While 
 the latter humbled themselves before God, they had little charity 
 in their hearts for the direct author of their calamities, and asked 
 one another, u Did ever the Huke of Alba do more evil in the 
 Netherlands ? " 
 
 Matters assumed a more favorable aspect in the spring. The 
 Long Island Indians, although previously rejecting the overtures 
 made by the director for peace, and denouncing him as a " corn 
 thief," became more tractable when the planting season came 
 on, and sent from the wigwams of Penhawitz, " their great 
 chief," three delegates to Fort Amsterdam, desiring that nego 
 tiations might be opened. De Vries and Alferton were at once 
 
 1 De Fries, 269 ; New York Historical ing of me ? but by the promptness of the 
 Society Collection, ad series, i, 269 ; bystanders the shot was prevented, and 
 Brodhead, i, 255. he was arrested." Colonial History, i, 
 
 2 " What devilish lies art thou report- 184. 
 
110 . THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 appointed to accompany them, and setting out on the 4th of 
 March, came to Rechquaakie or Rockaway, where they found 
 Penhawitz, surrounded by nearly three hundred warriors and 
 a village of thirty wigwams. The next day they were 
 conducted into the woods about four hundred yards off, where 
 they found sixteen chiefs of the Montauks, with whom the con 
 ference was conducted in the Indian form. 1 " De Vries invited 
 the chiefs to accompany him to Fort Amsterdam, under the 
 assurance of presents and peace. The latter embraced the 
 offer, and, to the number of eighteen, embarked in a large canoe 
 and reached the fort in the evening. After some days spent 
 in negotiation a treaty was concluded on the 25th, and the chiefs 
 dismissed with presents and solicited to bring to the fort the 
 chiefs of the river families " who had lost so many " of their 
 number. The Long Island sachem accordingly went to Hack- 
 insack and Tappan, but weeks elapsed before negotiations were 
 concluded. Oritany, sachem of the Hackinsacks, after consulta 
 tion with his allies, finally appeared at Fort Amsterdam, clothed 
 with authority to conclude a peace both for his own and the 
 neighboring chieftaincies. The opportunity was embraced by 
 the director and the following treaty agreed to : 
 
 " This day, the twenty-second of April, 1643, between Wil 
 liam Kieft, director general and the council of New Netherland, 
 on the one side, and Oratatum, sachem of the savages residing 
 at Ack-kinkashacky, who declared that he was delegated by 
 and for those of Tappaen, Reckawawanc, Kitchawanc, and Sint- 
 Sinck^ on the other side, is a peace concluded in the following 
 
 1 " We were awakened and led by one one point of accusation. The men whom 
 
 of the Indians in the woods upwards of in your first trips you left here to barter 
 
 400 paces from the house, where we your goods till your return, these men 
 
 found sixteen chiefs from Long Island, have been treated by us as we would have 
 
 who placed themselves in a circle around done by our eye-balls. We gave them 
 
 us. One of them had a bundle of small our daughters for wives, by whom they 
 
 sticks. He was the best speaker, and had children. There are now several 
 
 commenced his speech. He related that Indians, who came from the blood of the 
 
 when we first arrived on their shores, we Swannekins and that of Indians ; and 
 
 were sometimes in want of food ; they these their own blood were now murdered 
 
 gave us their beans and corn, and let us in such villainous manner. He laid down 
 
 eat oysters and fish ; and now for recom- another stick." De Vries, New York 
 
 pense we murdered their people. He Historical Society Collections, ad series, i, 
 
 here laid down one little stick j this was 271. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. ' HI 
 
 " All injustices committed by the said natives against the 
 Netherlander, or by the Netherlanders against said natives, 
 shall be forgiven and forgotten forever, reciprocally promising, 
 one the other, to cause no trouble, the one to the other ; but 
 whenever the savages understand that any nation not mentioned 
 in this treaty, may be plotting mischief against the Christians, 
 then they will give to them a timely warning, and not admit 
 such a nation within their own limits." 1 
 
 This peace was one of necessity on the part of the Indians. 
 The Hackinsack sachem received his presents, but complained 
 of their insufficiency, saying that his young men would only 
 regard them as a trifling atonement ; and such they not onjy 
 were, but they were received as the sachem had indicated. At 
 midsummer the sachem visited Vriesendael and stated that the 
 young men of his people were urging war ; that some had lost 
 fathers and mothers in the February massacre, and all were 
 mourning over the memory of friends ; that the presents which 
 had been given to them were not worth the touch, and that 
 they could be no longer pacified. At the request of De Vries, 
 the sachem accompanied him to Fort Amsterdam, where, on 
 repeating his complaint, Kieft replied that he should cause his 
 young Indians who wanted war, to be shot. Kieft then offered 
 him two hundred fathoms of wampum, but the sachem spurned 
 the bribe, and, after promising to do his best to pacify his people, 
 went his way. 
 
 With the renewal of difficulties in New England, in Septem 
 ber (1643), war again broke out at New Amsterdam. " Pachem, 
 a crafty man, ran through all the villages, urging the Indians to 
 a general massacre." The first aggressive act was by the 
 Wappingersf who seized a boat coming from Fort Orange, 
 killed two men and took four hundred beaver skins. Others 
 followed this example, " so that they seized two boats more," 
 but were driven off, with the loss of six of their number, in 
 
 1 O'Callaghan i, 277. De Pries, Col- surprised at the attack by the W af fingers, 
 lections New York Historical Society, ad and protested that they had never had any 
 series, I, 270. It will be observed that trouble with them. In this they were 
 neither the Ffeckquaesgeeks or Manhattans mistaken, as the testimony shows that 
 are mentioned in the treaty, a fact which nearly all their troubles were with that 
 indicates the local character of both titles, tribe. 
 
 2 Doc. Hist., iv, i z. The Dutch were 
 
112 ' THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 attacking the fourth boat. " Nine Christians, including two 
 women," were killed in these captured boats, one woman and 
 two children remaining prisoners. " The other Indians," con 
 tinues the narrative, " so soon as their maize was ripe, followed 
 this example, and through semblance of selling beavers, killed 
 an old man and woman, leaving another man with five wounds , 
 who, however, fled in a boat with a little child on his arm, who, 
 in the first outbreak had lost father and mother, and now grand 
 father and grandmother, being thus twice rescued from the 
 hands of the Indians, first when he was two years old." Nor 
 was this all. Under the pretense of warning from approaching 
 danger, the Indians visited dwellings and killed the inmates, 
 and applied the brand to factories and outbuildings. The few 
 families who had settled in the Esopus country abandoned their 
 farms in alarm, and universal fear pervaded the province. 
 
 Kieft now called his people together again, and a committee 
 of "eight men "was appointed to consult with him for the 
 defense of the colony. Before any arrangement had been made, 
 however, the Weckquaesgeeks attacked the plantation of Ann 
 Hutchinson, 1 killed that extraordinary woman and her married 
 daughter and son-in-law, and carried off captive her youngest 
 daughter. 2 
 
 Throgmorton's settlement 3 was next attacked and the build 
 ings burned, the inhabitants escaping in their boats. Eighteen 
 victims, however, were added to the revenges of the Indians. 
 Pavonia was attacked and four bouweries burned under the 
 very guns of " two ships of war and a privateer." From the 
 
 1 The history of Ann Hutchinson is rest that belonged unto her, but I am 
 
 pretty generally known. With Roger not able to affirm by what kind of death 
 
 Williams, she was banished from Massa- they slew her." Wild's Rise, Reign and 
 
 chusetts, as "unfit for the society" of Ruin of the Antinomiani. "The daugh- 
 
 her fellow-citizens. She followed Wil- ter of Ann Hutchinson remained a pri- 
 
 liams to Rhode Island, but fearing the soner four years, when she was delivered 
 
 power of Massachusetts would reach her to the Dutch governor at Fort Amsterdam, 
 
 there, removed, in 1642, to Manhattan who restored her to her friends. She 
 
 and settled on a point now known as had forgotten her'native tongue, and was 
 
 Pelham's neck. unwilling to be taken from the In- 
 
 3 "The Indians set upon them and dians." O^Callaghan. 
 slew her and all her children, save one 3 Throgmorton was another refugee 
 
 that escaped (her own husband having from Massachusetts. His settlement was 
 
 died before), a dreadful blow ! Some a few miles west from that of Ann 
 
 write that the Indians did burn her to Hutchinson, and included the point now 
 
 death with fire, her home and all the known as Throg's neck. 
 
O^ HUDSON'S RIPER. 113 
 
 highlands of the Hudson to the highlands of the sea, the war- 
 whoop was reechoed, and at a single blow " from the Never- 
 sincks to the valley of the Tappans, the whole of New Jersey 
 was once more in the possession of its aboriginal lords." 1 
 Fort Amsterdam afforded the only place of shelter, and thither 
 the colonists fled. " There women and children lay concealed 
 in straw huts, while their husbands and fathers mounted guard 
 on the ramparts above." The whole force of the Dutch was 
 scarce two hundred and fifty men, while the Indians were repre 
 sented by fifteen hundred of their most expert warriors, includ 
 ing the Wappingers of the Connecticut river, under the lead of 
 Mayane, with whom the Dutch claimed they had never had any 
 difficulty, but who then learned " for the first time that he and his 
 Indians had done" them " much injury." 2 The position of the 
 Dutch was perilous in the extreme. The Indians literally hung 
 upon their necks with " fire and sword." 3 Had they known their 
 own strength, the last refuge of the colonists would have fallen 
 before them, but judging from their own modes of warfare, 
 they feared to attack the fort and contented themselves with 
 sweeping off the exposed plantations and with the terror which 
 their presence inspired. 4 
 
 Director Kieft now solicited aid from New England, offering 
 " twenty-five thousand guilders " for one hundred and fifty.men, 
 and as a further consideration that New Netherland should be 
 mortgaged to the English for the payment of the sum offered. 
 Relief was also solicited from Holland ; but these applications 
 were attended with only partial success, and the Dutch were 
 thrown on their own resources, aided by a few English volun 
 teers under the command of Captain John Underbill. 5 Two 
 
 1 The prowess of the Iroquois is affirmed without a strong escort. Col. Hist.,i, 
 
 in that they once placed Quebec in siege, 206, 211. 
 
 yet Fort Amsterdam, more formidable 6 This Underhill wa$ a terrible scourge 
 than Quebec, was twice laid waste by the to the Indians. Engaged in New Eng- 
 Indians in its vicinity. land wars, he spared neither the aged nor 
 * Documentary History, iv, 14. the young. " He could justify putting 
 3 Colonial History, i, 182. the weak and defenceless to death, for 
 4 " They rove in parties continually says he, ' the Scripture declareth women 
 around day and night on the island of and children must perish with their pa- 
 Manhattans, slaying our folks not a thou- rents ' ' we had sufficient light from the 
 sand paces from the fort, and 'tis now word of God for our proceedings.'" 
 arrived at such a pass, that no one dare Trumbull. 
 move a foot to fetch a stick of fire wood 
 
114 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 companies were soon organized, one of sixty-five and one of 
 seventy-five men, and the work of retaliation commenced. 
 The second company was composed of forty burghers under 
 Captain Pietersen, and thirty-five Englishmen under Lieutenant 
 Baxter j Councillor La Montagne acting as general. This 
 company passed over to Staten island ; but found that the Indians, 
 who had fallen back from the vicinity of the fort some time 
 previously, had also abandoned their houses. Five or six 
 hundred skepels of corn rewarded the invaders, but nothing was 
 accomplished beyond its removal. Returning to the fort, the 
 company was increased to one hundred and twenty men and 
 sent to the Weckquaesgeek country. Landing at Greenwich 
 in the evening, from three yachts, they marched the entire night, 
 but found nothing. Retreating through Stamford, they were 
 told by the English that there were Indians in that vicinity. 
 Scouts were sent out who returned with the location of an In 
 dian village. Twenty-five men were at once dispatched thither, 
 and succeeded in killing a number and in capturing an old man, 
 two women and some children. One of the captives offered 
 to lead the expedition to the castles of the Weckquaesgeeks. 
 Sixty-five men were sent with him and three castles found, but 
 they had no tenants. Two of them were burned, and, after 
 marching some thirty miles, the expedition returned, " having 
 killed only one or two Indians, taken some women and children 
 prisoners, and burnt some corn." 
 
 Meanwhile Underbill, 1 with a company of Dutch and English, 
 had passed over to Long Island to attack the Canarsees under 
 Penhawitz. After landing, the force was divided; Underhill 
 and fourteen Englishmen were to attack a small village at 
 Hempstead, and Captain Pieter Cock, and General La Mon 
 tagne, with eighty men, were to reduce the more considerable 
 village of Me%path. Both were successful; one hundred and 
 twenty Indians were reported as having been killed, with a loss 
 to the attacking forces of one man killed and three wounded. 2 
 Seven prisoners were turned over to Underhill by the English 
 minister, Fordam, at Hempstead. They had been arrested for 
 stealing pigs and had been confined in Fordam's cellar. Under- 
 
 *He held the rank of sergeant-major. 3 Documentary History, iv, 16. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 115 
 
 hill killed three of the seven in the cellar ; two were towed in 
 the water until they were drowned, and two were taken to Fort 
 Amsterdam, where, after a short time, they were turned over 
 to the soldiers " to do as they pleased with," and by whom they 
 were dispatched in the most brutal manner. 1 
 
 The third and last expedition was now organized. Underbill 
 having visited Stamford and learned that a large number of In 
 dians had assembled in one of their villages in that vicinity, a 
 force of one hundred and thirty men was dispatched under his 
 command to destroy them. Passing up the sound in .three 
 yachts, he landed at Greenwich, where he was compelled to 
 remain over night, in consequence of a severe snow storm. 
 Piloted by an Indian, he marched in the morning to the north 
 west " up over stony hills over which some must creep," and 
 arrived in the evening about three miles from the village^ Halt 
 ing until ten o'clock, the march was resumed, and the village 
 reached about midnight. Says the narrator : " The order was 
 given as to the mode to be observed in attacking the Indians ; 
 they then marched forward towards the houses, being three 
 rows set up street fashion, each eighty paces long, in a low 
 recess of the mountain, affording complete shelter from the 
 north-west wind. The moon was then at the full, and threw 
 a strong light against the mountain so that many winter days 
 were not brighter than it then was. On arriving there the In 
 dians were wide awake, and on their guard ; so that ours deter 
 mined to charge and surround the houses sword in hand. They 
 demeaned themselves as soldiers and deployed in small bands, 
 
 1 " The first of these savages having the fort, and the soldiers bringing him to 
 received a frightful wound, desired them the beaver's path (he dancing the kinte- 
 to permit him to dance what is called kaye all the time), threw him down, cut 
 the kinte-kaye, a religious use observed off his partes genitales, thrust them into 
 among them before death j he received, his mouth while still alive, and at last, 
 however, so many wounds, that he placing him on a millstone, cut off his 
 dropped down dead. The soldiers then cut head. * * There stood at the 
 strips from the other's body, beginning at same time some twenty-four or twenty- 
 the calves, up the back, over the shoul- five female savages, who had been taken 
 ders and down to the knees. While this prisoners, and when they saw this bloody 
 was going forward Director Kieft and spectacle, they held up their arms, struck 
 his councillor, Jan De la Montagne, a their mouths, and in their language ex- 
 Frenchman, stood laughing heartily at claimed : * For shame ! For shame ! 
 the fun, and rubbing his right arm, so such unheard of cruelty was never known 
 much delight he took in such scenes, among us.' " Documentary History t iv, 
 He then ordered him to be taken out of 105. 
 
 15 
 
116 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 so that we got in a short time twelve dead and one wounded. 
 They were so hard pressed that it was impossible for one to 
 escape. In a brief space of time there were counted one hun 
 dred and eighty dead outside the houses. Presently none durst 
 come forth, keeping within the houses, discharging arrows 
 through the holes. The general (Montagne) remarked that 
 nothing else was to be done, and resolved, with Sergeant Major 
 Underbill, to set the huts on fire, whereupon the Indians tried 
 every means to escape, not succeeding in which they returned 
 back to the flames, preferring to perish by the fire than to die by 
 
 Massacre of the Weckquaesgeeks. 
 
 our hands. What was most wonderful is, that among this vast 
 collection of men, women and children, not one was heard to 
 cry or to scream. According to the report of the Indians them 
 selves the number then destroyed exceeded five hundred j some 
 say full seven hundred, among whom there were also twenty- 
 five IVappingers, our God having collected together the're the 
 greater part of our enemies to celebrate one of their festivals, 1 
 from which escaped no more than eight men in all, of whom 
 even those were severely wounded." The work of sword and 
 
 J The Indians had doubtless assembled following that at the end of February. 
 for their annual festival of the first moon Antc t p. 27. 
 
O^ HUDSON'S RIPER. 117 
 
 of fire having been completed in a manner so satisfactory to the 
 humane and Christian Underhill and the equally pious Mon- 
 tagne, the expedition returned to Stamford bearing with them 
 fifteen wounded. Two days after, the force reached Fort 
 Amsterdam, where joy bells rang their welcome. 1 
 
 The Indians now solicited peace, and a treaty was brought 
 about through the intervention of Underhill. Mamaranack, 
 chief of the Sint-Sings^ Mongockonone of the Weckquaesgeeks, 
 Pappenoharrow from the Nochpeems, and the Wappingers from 
 Stamford, presented themselves at Fort Amsterdam, in the early 
 part of April, 1644, and having pledged themselves that they 
 would not henceforth commit any injury whatever on the in 
 habitants of New Netherland, their cattle and houses, nor show 
 themselves, except in a canoe, before Fort Amsterdam, should 
 the Dutch be at war with any other chieftaincies ; and having 
 further promised to deliver up Pacham, the chief of the Tanki- 
 tekes, peace was concluded, the Dutch promising, on their part, 
 not to molest the Indians in any way. 
 
 The Long Island chieftaincies were not included in this aN 
 rangement, and the Dutch determined to employ some of the 
 friendly Indians there against those who were hostile. White- 
 neymen, sachem of the Matinecocks, with forty-seven of his 
 warriors, was secured and dispatched with a commission to do 
 all in his power " to beat and destroy the hostile tribes." The 
 sachem's diplomacy, however, was better than his commission, 
 and he returned to Fort Amsterdam in a few days empowered 
 by the Long Island chiefs to negotiate a treaty of peace, which 
 was at once concluded and pledges exchanged of eternal amity. 
 Gonwarrowe, a chief of the Matinecocks, who was present, 
 became surety for the Hackinsacks and Tappans, for whom he 
 solicited peace, 2 which was granted, on the condition that neither 
 canton should harm the Dutch, and that they should not afford 
 shelter to hostile Indians. 
 
 Director Kieft then visited Fort Orange and solicited the 
 negotiation and mediation of the Mohawhand Mabicans to secure 
 
 a<< A thanksgiving was proclaimed on to be patched up last spring, by a foreigner 
 
 their arrival." Neiv York Documentary with one or two tribes of savages to the 
 
 History, iv, 17. north. Col. Hist, i, ziOj ' Callaghari 's 
 
 2 A semblance of peace was attempted New Netbcrland, i, 302. 
 
118 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 peace with the remaining insurgents, and on their advice the 
 latter agreed to conclude a treaty of which the record is in these 
 words : 
 
 " Aug. 30, 1645. This day, being the 3Oth August, appeared 
 at Fort Amsterdam before the director and council in the 
 presence of the whole commonalty, the sachems in their own 
 behalf, and for sachems in their own neighborhood, viz : Ora- 
 tany, chief of Ackkinkeshacky, Sesekennick and Willem, chiefs of 
 Tappaans and Reckgawawank, Pokam and Pennekeck, who 
 were here yesterday, and did give their power of attorney to the 
 former, and took upon them the responsibility for those of 
 Ouany and its vicinity, viz : those of Majauwetumemln, those of 
 Marecbhourtck, Nyeck and their neighbors, and Aepjen, who 
 personally appeared, speaking in behalf of the Wappinex, 
 Wiquaeshex, Sint-Slngs and Kitcbtawangbs. 
 
 " i. They conclude with us a solid and durable peace, 
 which they promise to keep sincerely, as we oblige ourselves 
 to do in the same manner. 
 
 * c 2. And if (which God in his mercy avert), there should 
 arise any difficulty between us and them, war shall not be re 
 newed, but they shall complain to our governor, and we to 
 their sachems ; and if any person should be murdered or killed, 
 justice shall be directly administered on the murderer, and 
 henceforth we shall live together in amity and peace. 
 
 "3. They may not come on the island Manhattan with their 
 arms in the neighborhood of Christian dwellings ; neither will 
 we approach their villages with our guns, except we are con 
 ducted thither by a savage to give them warning. 
 
 "4. And whereas there is yet among them an English girl, 1 
 whom they promise to conduct to the English at Stamfort, 
 which they yet engage to do ; and if she is not conducted there, 
 she shall be guided here in safety, while we promise to pay 
 them the ransom which has been promised by the English. 
 
 " All which we promise to keep religiously throughout all 
 New Netherlands. Done in Fort Amsterdam, in the open air, 
 by the director and council in New Netherlands, and the whole 
 commonalty, called together for this purpose ; in the presence 
 
 1 Supposed to have been the daughter of Ann Hutchinson. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 119 
 
 * 
 of the Maquas ambassadors, who were solicited to assist in this 
 
 negotiation, as arbitrators, and Cornelius Anthonisson, their in 
 terpreter and arbitrator with them in this solemn affair. Done 
 as above." 
 
 The original was signed with the mark of Sisindogo, the mark 
 of Claes Norman, the mark of Oratany, the mark of Auronge, 
 the mark of Sesechemis, the mark of Willem of Tappan, the 
 mark of Aepjen, sachem of the Mahicans, and William Kieft, 
 La Montagne, and other Dutch officials and witnesses. 1 
 
 Thus terminated a war which had been waged for over five years. 
 Both parties had suffered severely. Sixteen hundred Indians, it 
 is said, perished, while the Dutch pointed to " piles of ashes from 
 the burnt houses, barns, barracks and other buildings, and the 
 bones of the cattle," and exclaimed: " Our fields lie fallow and 
 waste ; our dwellings and other buildings are burnt ; not a 
 handful can be planted or sown this fall on all the abandoned 
 places. All this through a foolish hankering after war ; for it 
 is known to all right thinking men here, that these Indians 
 have lived as lambs among us until a few years ago, injuring no 
 one, and affording every assistance to our nation." 2 
 
 1 Collections of the New York Historical 2 Colonial History y i, 210. 
 Society, ad series, I, 275 . Col. Hist, i, 21 o. 
 
 The mark *mm^g**r of Aepjen 
 sachem of the Mahicans. 
 
120 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 CHAPTER VI. 
 
 THE ESOPUS WARS. FROM THE PEACE OF 1645 TO THE 
 PEACE OF 1664. 
 
 |CARCELY had the peace of 1645 been concluded 
 before the Dutch resumed their former intercourse 
 with the Indians, as well as their former modes of 
 promoting trade. The town of New Amsterdam 
 was largely given up to the sale of brandy, tobacco and beer, 
 and Indians were daily seen u running about drunk," through 
 the streets. Every advantage was taken by the Dutch. The 
 Indians were employed as servants, and defrauded of their wages ; 
 they were induced to drink, and while intoxicated were robbed 
 of their furs or of the goods which they had purchased ; they 
 had standing complaint in regard to the sale of arms at Beaver- 
 wyck, and found cause of grievance in the value which the 
 Dutch attached to the lands which they had sold, which led 
 them to believe that they had not been paid a sufficient price 
 for them. The Minsis were especially aggrieved, and when 
 the Swedes made their appearance on the South river and offered 
 them arms and ammunition in exchange for their furs, their con 
 tempt for the Dutch was openly expressed. 
 
 The Dutch, on the other hand, protested their innocence of 
 the causes of complaint charged against them, and made up 
 quite a formidable bill of grievances in their own justification. 
 The Indians " without any cause," so far as they knew, had 
 " not only slain and killed many animals, such as cows, horses 
 and hogs," to the immigrants belonging, but had " cruelly mur 
 dered ten persons," one in the second year after the peace had 
 been concluded, one in the year 1651, four in the year 1652, 
 three in the year 1653, and one in the year 1654. The mur 
 derers had been demanded under the treaty of 1645, but the 
 Indians had refused to give them up, and the government, " for 
 the sake of peace and out of consideration for the good and ad- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 121 
 
 vantage of the country and its people," had not attempted to 
 enforce redress. 1 Granting that the offenses recited had been 
 committed, they only prove that they were in retaliation for 
 outrages inflicted on the Indians, for the testimony in all simi 
 lar cases is that the latter were not wanton murderers. 2 The 
 wrongs which they suffered found no fitting record at the 
 hands of the Dutch, but their acts of retaliation were detailed 
 with horror, and were exceeded, when opportunity offered, in 
 the cold-blooded vengeance which was inflicted upon them. 
 
 Hostilities were not long delayed. A squaw, detected in 
 stealing peaches from the garden of Hendrick Van Dyck, at 
 New Amsterdam, had been killed by him, and her family deter 
 mined to avenge her death. Availing themselves of the or 
 ganization of a war party of Wappingers, then about to make 
 descent upon some neighboring tribe, they prevailed upon them 
 to storf at New Amsterdam, and aid them in enforcing the 
 "blood atonement," which their laws demanded. On the 
 morning of the fifteenth of September, 1655, " sixty-four canoes 
 full of Indians," were beached on the shore, and, " before 
 scarcely any one had yet risen," their occupants, " five hundred 
 men, all armed," 3 scattered themselves throughout the town, 
 and, "under the pretense of looking for northern Indians," 
 entered dwellings by force and " searched the premises" with 
 more than the zeal of modern officers in quest of fugitives. 
 They offered no personal violence, however, and their sachems 
 readily attended a conference, called by the authorities, and 
 promised to take their departure in the evening. But they 
 failed to do so. The object for which they came was not ac 
 complished. In the evening they were joined " by two hun- 
 
 1 Petition of October, 1655, Dutch would complain directly to him. He 
 Manuscripts^ vol. iv, office of secretary accepted their gifts and made them pre- 
 of state, Albany, as translated by Dr. sents in return, and they departed " very 
 O'Callaghan in Indian War of 1655. much satisfied." 
 
 2 The Indians promptly confessed their 3 Brodhead says the Indians were sup- 
 wrong in the first of the cases recited, posed to number nineteen hundred men, 
 and sent a deputation to the director to of whom from five to eight hundred were 
 solicit forgiveness and renew their cove- armed. The text of the Dutch manu- 
 nant of peace. They wished to live in script, however, is " five hundred," and 
 friendship, but were sorely provoked by even that number was a large comple- 
 their Dutch neighbors. The director ment for sixty-four canoes. Councillor 
 promised that he would surely punish La Montagne, upon whose " opinion," 
 offenders against them if the Indians Brodhead evidently bases his statement, 
 
122 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 dred armed Indians," and with them renewed the search. 
 About eight o'clock, they detected Van Dyck, and an arrow 
 was almost instantly winged to his breast. One Leendertsen, 
 in attempting to protect him, was " threatened with an axe." x 
 The cry of murder was raised by the Dutch, and the burgher 
 guard rushed from the fort, " without any orders, some through 
 the gate, others over the walls, so that they came into conflict 
 with the Indians." The latter were "lying about the shore," 
 evidently preparing to take their departure as they had promised. 
 In the attack upon them two of the guard were killed and three 
 wounded, while of their own number three were left dead. 2 
 Meanwhile they had embarked in their canoes, and, " taking 
 their course across the river, landed on the western side ; and 
 commenced the work of retaliation for the attack which had 
 been made upon them and for the loss which they had suffered. 
 A house at Hoboken was soon in flames, and those at<lPavonia 
 speedily followed. Every family, with the exception of one, 
 was destroyed ; every man killed, " together with all his cattle," 
 and a large number of women and children taken into captivity. 
 Staten island was next visited, and its ninety colonists and 
 flourishing bouweries shared the fate of those at Pavonia. For 
 three days the carnage continued, and at its close " full fifty" 
 of the Dutch had been " murdered and put to death ; over one 
 hundred, mostly women and children," were in captivity ; 
 " twenty bouweries and a number of plantations" had been 
 burned with " full twelve to fifteen hundred "skepels of grain," 
 and five or six hundred head of cattle either killed or driven ofF. 
 In addition to those killed and captured, three hundred colonists 
 were ruined in estate, and the aggregated damages were com 
 puted at two hundred thousand guilders or eighty thousand 
 dollars. 
 
 At the time of this occurrence, Director Stuyvesant, who 
 had succeeded Kieft, was absent with his soldiers on an expedi 
 tion to South river, and a messenger was immediately sent for 
 his return. Meanwhile, as the tidings of the disaster spread, the 
 
 disagrees with all of his contemporaries, 1 Neither Van Dyck nor Leendertsen 
 
 and was apparently determined to give appear to have been killed, 
 
 good reason for the great fright which he 2 Opinion of Fiscal Van Tienhoven, 
 
 suffered. (fCallaghans Indian War of 1655, 40. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 123 
 
 inhabitants fled in terror to the fort as to a city of refuge. The 
 English villages on Long Island sent word that the Indians had 
 threatened to kill the Dutch who resided there, and that the 
 English themselves would share the same fate if they offered 
 any assistance to the Manhattans, even to the extent of sending 
 them food. Lady Moody's house at Gravesend was again at 
 tacked. The settlers at Esopus abandoned their farms, lest they 
 should be cut off. Even New Amsterdam was not secure ; 
 bands of Indians wandered over the island, destroying all who 
 came in their way. Ten Frenchmen were enrolled to guard 
 the house and family of the absent director, while the Dutch 
 themselves kept within the fort. 
 
 In the midst of the terror which prevailed, Stuyvesant and his 
 soldiers returned, and the confidence of the colonists was soon 
 restored. Soldiers were sent to the out settlements, an embargo 
 was laid on vessels about to sail, and passengers able to bear 
 arms were ordered not to depart " until it should please God to 
 change the aspect of affairs." A plank curtain was thrown up, 
 to prevent the Indians scaling the city walls, and no persons, on 
 any account, were to go into the country without permission, 
 nor unless in numbers sufficient to ensure their safety. 
 
 The fury of the Indians, however, had spent its force and 
 they retreated, after dividing their prisoners, a portion of whom 
 were taken to the highlands, and the remainder retained with the 
 Hackinsacks. The latter, finding them an incumbrance, sent 
 Captain Pos, who had been taken at Staten island, with propo 
 sals for their ransom. Not returning as soon as was expected, 
 the Indians sent another messenger with word that all the pri 
 soners should be brought to Paulus hook in two days. Pos 
 returned, and in a few days brought from the chief of the Hack 
 insacks fourteen prisoners, u men, women and children," as a 
 token of his good will, " in return for which he requested some 
 powder and ball. Stuyvesant sent him a Wappinger and an 
 Esopus Indian in exchange, and also some ammunition, of which 
 he promised a further supply when other prisoners should be 
 brought in. Pos, accompanied by two influential citizens, con 
 veyed this message, and soon returned with twenty-eight of the 
 captives and another message that from twenty to twenty-four 
 16 
 
124 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 others would be restored on the receipt of a proper quantity of 
 friezes, guns, wampum and ammunition, but they would not 
 exchange the prisoners for Indians, ransom was the order of 
 their laws. Stuyvesant then asked the ransom price " for all 
 the prisoners en masse, or for each individually," and received 
 the answer, " seventy-eight pounds of powder and forty staves 
 of lead, for twenty-eight persons." This offer was accepted, 
 and thirty-five pounds of powder and ten staves of lead addi 
 tional sent, but no more prisoners were returned, the highland 
 chieftaincies having determined to retain them as hostages. No 
 measures were taken to punish the Indians. The Dutch were 
 clearly at fault, in the opinion of Stuyvesant, 1 and he turned a 
 deaf ear to those who clamored for war, and who in return 
 charged him with winking " at this infraction of the peace." 
 The settlers gradually returned to their avocations, but under 
 restraints which were more conducive to personal safety, and 
 comparative quiet prevailed. 
 
 The Long Island tribes under Tackapousha, who had been 
 assigned to the jurisdiction of the Dutch under the treaty with 
 the English at Hartford in 1650, came forward and repudiated 
 all connection with the outbreak which had occurred. Not 
 only were they innocent of participation in it, but since they 
 had withheld tribute from the Wappingers, they had been repeat 
 edly attacked by them. Said their speaker : " Our chief has 
 been twelve years at war with those who have injured you, and 
 though you may consider him no bigger than your fist, he would 
 
 fyet prove himself strong enough. He has hitherto sat, his head 
 drooping on his breast, yet he still hoped he should be able to 
 show what he could achieve." Henceforth the western Montauk 
 chieftaincies were the friends of the Dutch, and soon after 
 renewed with them their treaty of alliance. 2 
 
 lu We concur in the general opinion their purpose] and been the cause of the 
 
 that the Indians had, on their first arrival, dreadful consequences and enormous 
 
 no other intention than to wage war losses." O'Callagbans Indian War of 
 
 against the savages on the east end of 1655. 
 
 Long Island. We have come to this 2 The following is the treaty referred to : 
 
 conclusion from various reasons too long " Articles of agreement betwixt the 
 
 to be detailed here j and that a culpa- governor of New Netherland, and Tacka- 
 
 ble want of vigilance, and a too hasty pausha, March ye 12, 1656 : 
 
 rashness on the part of a few hot-headed " i. That all injuries formerly passed 
 
 spirits, had diverted the Indians [from in the time of the governor's predecessors, 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 
 
 125 
 
 But there was no general peace. The conflict was remem 
 bered, and the Indians, as well as the Dutch, stood on guard. 
 The scene of combat, however, was changed. The settlers at 
 Esopus, 1 who had returned after the panic of 1655, continued 
 for some time unmolested ; but, as in other places, they soon 
 devoted the largest portion of their time and means to the pur 
 poses of trade. The examples of th^traders at New Amster 
 dam were readily copied. Familiarity, brandy and other liquors, 
 were called to their aid, and with results similar to those which 
 had already disgraced the Dutch character. The Indians suf 
 fered wrongfully, and in retaliation (1657) "one of the settlers 
 was killed, the house and out buildings of another were burned, 
 and the settlers were forced, by threats of arson and murder, to 
 plow up the patches of land where the savages planted their 
 maize." 2 The white population consisted, at that time, of 
 between sixty and seventy persons, who were in no condition 
 for defense. They wrote at once to Stuyvesant, imploring him 
 to send " forty or fifty soldiers to save the Esopus." The 
 
 shall be forgiven and forgotten, since ye 
 sd year 1645. 
 
 " z.^That Tackapausha being chosen 
 ye chief sachem by all the Indian sachems 
 from Mersapege, Maskahnong, Secatong, 
 Meracock, Rockaway and Canorise, with 
 ye rest, both sachems and natives, doth 
 take ye governor of ye New Netherland 
 to be his and his people's protector, and 
 in consideration of that to put under ye 
 sd protection, on thiere lands and terri- 
 toryes upon Long Island, so far as ye 
 Dutch line doth runn, according to the 
 agreement made att Hartforde. 
 
 " 3. The governor doth promise to 
 make noe peace with the Indians that 
 did the spoile at ye Manhattans the I5th 
 September last, likewise to include the 
 sachem in ic. 
 
 " 4. That Tackapausha shall make no 
 peace wh ye sd Indians, without ye con 
 sent and knowledge of the governor, and 
 sd sachem doth promise for himself and his 
 people to give no dwelling place, enter 
 tainment nor lodging to any of ye govern 
 or's, or thiere owne enemies. 
 
 "5. The governor doth promise, be 
 tween this date and six months, to build 
 a house or forte upon such place as they 
 shall show upon the north side, and the 
 
 house or forte to be furnished with Indian 
 trade and commodities. 
 
 " 6. The inhabitants of Hempsteede 
 according to their patent, shall enjoy their 
 purchase without molestation from ye 
 sachem or his people, either of person or 
 estate j and the sachem will live in peace 
 with all ye English and Dutch within 
 this jurisdiction. And the governor doth 
 promise for himself and all his people to 
 live in peace with the sd sachem and all 
 his people. 
 
 " 7. That in case an Indian doe wrong 
 to a Christian in his person or estate, and 
 complaint be made to the sachem, hee 
 shall make full satisfaction ; likewise if 
 a Dutchman or Englishman shall wrong 
 an Indian the governor shall make satis 
 faction according to Equity." 
 
 1 The precise time at which settlement 
 was made at Atkarkarton, now Kingston, 
 is not known, although it is assumed that 
 a fort or trading post was erected there as 
 early as 1614. The reference in the text 
 is to the first known European settlers 
 who removed thither, in company with 
 Capt. Thomas Chambers, from Panhoosic, 
 now Troy, in 1652. 
 ' 2 Documentary History, iv. 
 
126 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 governor responded by immediately visiting the scene of dis 
 turbance with a company of soldiers, where he arrived on the 
 3Oth of May. The following day, being Ascension Thursday, 
 the settlers assembled at the house of Jacob Jansen Stol for 
 religious service. The governor met them there and- explained 
 to them the difficulties under which they were placed, by their 
 isolated positions, and recommended that they should unite at 
 once in a village, which could be easily defended from the 
 attacks of the Indians. To this they objected on the ground 
 of want of time to give care to their crops and to remove their 
 dwellings and erect palisades ; and asked that the soldiers be 
 permitted to remain until after harvest. This request Stuyve- 
 sant refused ; but promised that if they would agree to palisade 
 at once the ground to be selected for a village, he would remain 
 with them until the work was completed. 
 
 While these proceedings were being held, some twelve or 
 fifteen Indians, accompanied by two of their chiefs, arrived at 
 the house of Stol, where the director was staying, with word 
 that other sachems were deterred from coming to the conference 
 which he had invited through fear of the soldiers. Stuyvesant 
 gave his assurance that no harm should befall them, when about 
 fifty additional Indians, with a few women and children, made 
 their appearance, and seated themselves beneath an aged tree 
 which stood without the fence, " about a stone's throw from 
 the house." Accompanied only by an interpreter and two of 
 his followers, Stuyvesant went out and seated himself in the 
 midst of the Indians, when one of, the chiefs arose, " and made 
 a long harangue," detailing the events of the war waged in 
 Kieft's time (1645), and how many of their tribe the Dutch 
 had then slain, adding, however, that they had obliterated all 
 these things from their hearts and forgotten them. 1 
 
 Stuyvesant replied to this address, that those things had oc 
 curred before his time, and that the recollection of them had 
 been u all thrown away" by the subsequent peace. He asked 
 them, however, if any injury had been done them, in person or 
 property, since he had come into the country. The Indians 
 remained silent. Stuyvesant then proceeded to enumerate the 
 
 1 G 'Callagbari 's New Ncthtrland, n, 358. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 127 
 
 various offenses which the Indians had committed on the Dutch. 
 " Your overbearing insolence at Esopus," said he, " is known. 
 I come to investigate this matter, and not to make war, pro 
 vided the murderer be surrendered and all damage repaid. The 
 Dutch never solicited your sachems for leave to come here. 
 Your sachems have requested us, over and over again, to make 
 a settlement among you. We have not had a foot of your land 
 without paying you for it, nor do we desire to have any more 
 without making full compensation therefor. Why then have 
 you committed this murder ? Why have you burned our houses, 
 killed our cattle, and continue to threaten our people ?" 
 
 To this harangue the sachems made no reply, but " looked on 
 the ground." At length one of them arose and responded : 
 " You Swannekins have sold our children the botsson" It is 
 you who have given them brandy and made them cachens^ 
 intoxicated and mad, and caused them to commit all this mis 
 chief. The sachems cannot then control the young Indians nor 
 prevent them fighting. This murder has not been committed 
 by any of our tribe, but by a Minnisink, who now skulks among 
 the Haverstraws. It was he who fired the two houses and then 
 fled. For ourselves we can truly say, we did not commit the 
 act. We know no malice, neither are we inclined to fight, but 
 we cannot control our young men." 
 
 Stuyvesant immediately arose, and hurled defiance at the 
 young braves. " If any of your young people desire to fight, let 
 them now step forth. I will place man against man. Nay, I 
 will place twenty against thirty or forty of your hot heads. 
 Now, then, is your time. But it is not manly to threaten far 
 mers, and women and children who are not warriors. If this 
 be not stopped, I shall be compelled to retaliate on old and 
 young, on women and children. This I can now do by killing 
 you all, taking your wives and little ones captive and destroying 
 your maize lands ; but I will not do it. I expect you will repair 
 all damages, seize the murderer if he come among you, and do 
 no further mischief." u The Dutch," he continued, " are now 
 going to live together in one spot. It is desirable that you 
 should sell us the whole of the Esopus land, as you have often 
 proposed, and remove farther into the interior ; for it is not 
 
128 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 good for you to reside so near the Swannekins, whose cattle 
 might eat your maize and thus cause fresh disturbances." 
 
 The sachems promised to take the matter into consideration, 
 and departed with their followers. While they were absent the 
 settlers agreed that it would be for the best to adopt the counsel 
 of the director, arid left the selection of the site of the village 
 to him. He " accordingly chose a spot at the bend of the kill, 
 where a water front might be had on three sides ; and a part 
 of the plain, about two hundred and ten yards in circumfer 
 ence, was staked out." * The erection of a stockade was 
 immediately commenced, the Dutch, in this particular, adopt 
 ing the mode of the Indians and drawing from them lessons in 
 defensive warfare. 
 
 On the ist of June, the sachems returned and solicited peace, 
 expressing sorrow for what had passed. They felt deeply the 
 shame that Stuyvesant had challenged their young men, and they 
 had not dared to accept the wager, and hoped trie fact would 
 not be spread abroad. Presents were distributed to them in 
 exchange for the wampum with which they had accompanied 
 their proposals for peace ; but they were told a second time that 
 they must surrender the murderer, and make good the damages 
 they had committed. To these requirements they demurred ; 
 and it was finally agreed that they should make compensation 
 for damages, and sell the land for the projected village. They 
 then retired, but returned again on the 4th with a final reply, 
 which was that they would give the director the land he asked, 
 u to grease his feet with, as he had taken so long a journey to 
 visit them." They then renewed the assurance that they had 
 thrown away all malice, and that hereafter none among them 
 would injure a Dutchman. The director responded with like 
 assurances ; and the Indians departed. The work at the village 
 now went forward rapidly. After three weeks' labor, the lines 
 of palisades were completed ; all the buildings removed ; a 
 guard-house, sixteen feet by twenty-three, built in the north-east 
 corner ; a bridge thrown over the kill, and barracks erected for 
 
 1 Brodhcad, i, 6495 'Callaghan , u, ton, at a bend in the Esopus creek near 
 
 361. The village located by Stuyvesant the residence now, or late, of Benjamin 
 
 was about three miles north-west from Smith. The Indians were probably resi- 
 
 the centre of the present village of Kings- dents of the castle of Wiltmeet! 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 129 
 
 the soldiers, of whom Stuyvesant detailed twenty-four to guard 
 the infant settlement, and then returned to Fort Amsterdam. 
 
 Stuyvesant visited Esopus again in the fall of 1658, in order 
 to obtain from the Indians a transfer of the remainder of their 
 lands. Calling the chiefs together, he thus addressed them : 
 " A year and a half ago you killed two horses belonging to 
 Madame de Hulter, and attacked Jacob Adriaensen in his own 
 house with an axe, knocked out his eye, mortally wounded his 
 infant child, and not satisfied with this, burnt his house last 
 spring. You, moreover, robbed him of his property, and killed 
 a Dutchman in one of his sloops. You compelled our farmers 
 to plow your land ; threatened, at the same time, to fire their 
 Bouses, and repeatedly extorted money from the settlers, who 
 have already paid you for their farms. You have added threats 
 and insults, and finally forced the colonists, at much expense, 
 to break up their establishments and concentrate their dwellings. 
 Various other injuries you have committed since that time, not 
 withstanding your promises. For all this we demand compen 
 sation ; to enforce which, efficient measures will be taken, unless 
 the terms we now propose be acceded to." 
 
 The demand was a bold attempt at extortion ; the terms of 
 peace not less so. The Indians were required to make a free 
 surrender of all the Esopus lands so far as they had been ex 
 plored by the Dutch, as indemnity for the expenses which the 
 settlers had incurred in removing their dwellings and fortifying 
 their village ; the relinquishment of all claims held by the In 
 dians against the settlers for labor or furs, and the payment to 
 the latter of several hundred fathoms of wampum for damages. 
 The Indians regarded the terms as hard, and stated that they 
 had already been deprived of many of their maize fields without 
 compensation. Such a demand was unexpected, and as many 
 of their sachems were absent, they asked time for consultation. 
 Stuyvesant generously agreed to allow them one night to con 
 sider what course they would pursue. 
 
 The next day (Oct. 16), the council again assembled, and 
 the sachems expressed a willingness to make reasonable com 
 pensation for injuries. They would relinquish part of their 
 claims against the settlers, and give some lands to those who had 
 
130 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 been injured ; but they were poor and had no wampum. Then 
 throwing down a beaver skin, the principal sachem reminded 
 the director that he could well afford to be generous from the 
 prospect of largely increased trade with the Senecas. Offering 
 a wampum belt, he concluded : " A horse belonging to Jacob 
 Jansen Stol broke into our corn-fields and destroyed two of 
 our plantations. One of our boys shot it, for which we gave 
 Stol seventy guilders in wampum. But this belt we now pre 
 sent, so that the soldiers may let us go in peace, and not beat 
 us when we visit this place." 
 
 Stuyvesant's proposition in relation to land was left untouched 
 by the sachem, and the director asked : " What do you intend 
 to propose about the land ? " The sachem replied, that " it 
 belonged to the chiefs who were not here to-day, and we can 
 not, therefore, come to any conclusion on it." He 'promised, 
 however, that they would return the next day and give their 
 answer. The morrow came, but the chiefs did not return. 
 Stuyvesant dispatched messengers to their wigwams to inquire 
 their intentions, who returned with the answer that " the chiefs 
 had made fools of them." Stuyvesant had overreached him 
 self by his extravagant demand, and, chagrined and disappointed, 
 departed for Fort Amsterdam, leaving Ensign Dirck Smith with 
 fifty soldiers under instructions to guard the village properly, 
 and not allow any Indians within the palisades ; to act purely 
 on the defensive, and to detail, from day to day, a proper guard 
 to protect the husbandmen. A ronduit, or small fort, was also 
 projected at the mouth of the Walkill, and the work of its con 
 struction commenced. Several chiefs came in, shortly after 
 Stuyvesant's departure, and made a present to Stol as further 
 indemnity for the injuries he had sustained. The offering was 
 accompanied by a renewal of their request for the removal of 
 the soldiers, and an exchange of presents. The former was 
 declined, and in response to the latter the settlers had " nothing 
 to grease the Indian's breasts. So the meeting was a dry one." 
 
 Notwithstanding the threatening aspect of Indian affairs, the 
 settlement continued prosperous, and its occupants, increased 
 in numbers and enjoying the protection of an armed force, 
 became more and more disregardful of the rights of the red men. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RI7ER. 131 
 
 During the summer of 1659, mutual distrust and suspicion pre 
 vailed. The settlers were disturbed by reports that the Indians 
 intended a general massacre when the work of harvest should 
 begin ; while the Indians regarded the presence of the soldiers 
 as a menace, doubted the director's desire for peace, and feared 
 that it was his intention to attack and destroy them, as he had 
 not yet sent the presents he had promised them. A conference 
 was held with the chiefs Aug. 17, but they denied that they 
 had any hostile intentions. " We patiently submit," said they, 
 " to the blows which have been inflicted on us ; yet the Dutch 
 still plunder our corn." Laying down seventeen small sticks, 
 the sachem added : " so many times have the Swannekins struck 
 and assaulted us in divers places. We are willing to live in 
 peace, but we expect your chief sachem will make us some pre- 
 .sents. Otherwise he cannot be sincere." The conference was 
 broken up without removing the feeling which existed between 
 the parties ; and fresh rumors disturbed the settlers that the 
 Indians were preparing bows and arrows and concentrating 
 their strength for an attack. Familiar as the Dutch were with 
 the customs of the Indians and the periods of their annual return 
 from their hunting expeditions, and their almost constant pre 
 paration of the implements of the chase, they nevertheless now 
 saw in them nothing but impending destruction. 
 
 Nor were the general relations existing between the Indians 
 and the Dutch more favorable. Two soldiers, who had de 
 serted from Fort Orange, were murdered by the Mahicam, and 
 some of the Rarltans had destroyed a family of four persons, 
 at Mespath kil, in order to obtain possession of a small roll of 
 wampum which, in an unguarded moment, had been exhibited 
 to them, and excited their cupidity. The Mohawks, suffering 
 under the blows of the French, had complaint against the Dutch, 
 and sent a delegation to Fort Orange, where, on the sixth of 
 September, 1659, the second official conference was held with 
 them. The Mohawk speaker charged that the Dutch called 
 his people brothers, and asserted that they were bound to them 
 by a chain, but that this continued only so long as they had 
 beavers, after which they were no longer thought of. They 
 had favors to ask, however, and were not disposed to quarrel. 
 17 
 
132 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 They were engaged in war with the French, and, finding them 
 selves crippled by the liquor which the Dutch sold to their war 
 riors, asked that the sale be stopped, the liquor kegs plugged 
 up 'find the dealers punished. The gunsmiths refused to repair 
 their arms when they had no wampum ; this was not generous, 
 nor was it generous to deny to them powder and lead. The 
 French treated their Indians more liberally, and their example 
 should be considered. Their principal request, however, was 
 for thirty men with horses, to cut and draw timber for the forts 
 which they were building. 
 
 The commandant at Fort Orange could give no reply, but 
 would submit the requests which had been made to the director, 
 whose arrival was daily expected. But Stuyvesant did not ar 
 rive, and, after waiting several days, the authorities at Fort 
 Orange, now thoroughly alarmed, resolved to send embassadors 
 to the Mohawks to reply to their requests. At Caughnawaga, 
 on the twenty-fourth, was held the first formal council with the 
 Iroquois in their own country. The professions of friendship 
 on the part of the Dutch were warm, and no doubt sincere, in 
 view of their relations with other tribes. They would remain 
 the brothers of the Mohawks for all time, and would neither 
 fight against them nor leave them in distress when they could 
 help them ; but they could not force their smiths to repair 
 their " brothers' fire arms without pay, for they must earn food 
 for their wives and little ones." The sale of brandy could not 
 be stopped so long as the Indians would buy it.* The director 
 was angry that such sale was made, and had forbidden it ; let 
 the chiefs also forbid their people. u Will ye," they asked, " that 
 we take from your people their brandy and their kegs ? Say so 
 before all those here present." Aid to build the Mohawk forts 
 could not be given ; the Dutch were all sick, and the hills were 
 so steep their horses could not draw the timber. But to aid 
 them in their work they gave them fifteen new axes ; and to 
 assist them in their wars, seventy pounds of powder and a hun 
 dred weight of lead were added to their stores. 1 
 
 J It was at this conference that the has already been made to this treaty. It 
 Dutch speaker asserted that it was " now will also be observed that the Minsis were 
 sixteen years" since an alliance had been not subjugated at that time but were in con 
 formed with the Mohawks. Reference dition to ask the alliance of the Mohawks. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 133 
 
 The ambassadors made no efforts to control the Mohawks in 
 their wars, nor cared with whom they fought so long as the 
 Dutch escaped ; while the Mohawks cared as little for their 
 white neighbors, their sole object being to obtain the munitions 
 of war to continue their conflict with the French and their 
 Indians. The request of the embassadors for the release of the 
 French prisoners, the Mohawks would not grant ; but they would 
 refer the matter to their castles. They had little faith in the 
 French, however, for they made treaties and did not observe 
 them ; and when hunting parties of the Mohawks were abroad, 
 they were attacked by the French Indians, among whom a 
 number of Frenchmen were always skulking to knock them on 
 the head. In their request that the Mohawks would not aid 
 the Esopus clans in an attack upon the Dutch, the embassadors 
 were more successful, the chiefs promising that they would re 
 fuse their belts and have nothing to do with them. 1 
 
 In the meantime hostilities had broken out in the Esopus 
 country. Chambers 2 had employed a number of Indians to husk 
 corn, and, on the night of the termination of their labor, they 
 had asked for and obtained some brandy. A carouse followed, 
 in the course of which another bottle of brandy was procured. 
 When the debauch was at its height, one of them discharged 
 his gun, loaded only with powder, which had the effect to alarm 
 the village. One of them, more wise than his associates, de 
 plored the act of his companion, and proposed that they should 
 
 1 (yCallaghan, n, 389, etc. courts and to appoint a steward to try 
 * Thomas Chambers was of English causes arising between the vassals. Not 
 birth. He settled at Panhoosic, now satisfied with these honors, he determined 
 Troy, in the jurisdiction of Rensselaers- to perpetuate his name in another form, 
 wyck, in 1651, and from thence re- and accordingly passed his estate to his 
 moved to the Esopus country in 1652, heirs by the most intricate entail. The 
 where he took part in the early Indian manor and title was to be held only by 
 wars, became a captain in the Dutch heirs bearing the name of Chambers. To 
 service, and was elected delegate to the this end, his first wife having died with- 
 provincial assembly in 1664. His re- out issue, he married a widow Van Gaas- 
 sidence was near the confluence of the beck and adopted her children. He died 
 Walkill with the Hudson, and was built in 1698, and was buried in his vault on 
 for the double purpose of a house and a the site of the residence now or late of 
 fort, being square and loop-holed for Jansen Hasbrouck, at Rondout. His re- 
 musketry. By commercial and other mains, with those of the Van Gaasbeck 
 speculations, he acquired a considerable family, were removed in 1854. The 
 tract of land, which was erected, by Gov. name of the manor and its owner only 
 Lovelace, in 1672, into the manor of live in history. 
 Foxhall, with power to hold certain 
 
134 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 at once leave the place, urging that u he felt a sensation in his 
 body that they would all be killed." His companions, however, 
 laughed at his alarm. They had never harmed the Dutch 
 " Why should they kill us ?" But the speaker still cherished 
 his fears, and replied : u My heart feels heavy within me ;" and 
 again he entreated his companions to depart, but they refused, 
 and, in conscious security, lay down upon their blankets to sleep. 
 
 Meanwhile Ensign Smith had yielded to the request of the 
 villagers by dispatching Sergeant Stol to reconnoitre and report the 
 cause of the disturbance. Stol, on his return, stated the facts, 
 when Smith gave orders that the Indians should not be molested. 
 Notwithstanding this order, Stol went among the villagers and 
 invited them to unite in a sortie against the Indian encamp 
 ment. Enlisting some ten or eleven persons T in the enterprise, 
 he left the village and stealthily appro'ached the sleeping Indians, 
 who were aroused from their slumbers by a volley fired among 
 them. Jumping up to escape, one was knocked on the head with 
 an axe, a second was taken prisoner, a third fled, and a fourth, 
 too deeply intoxicated to awake, " was hewn on the head with 
 a cutlass," which roused him to consciousness and he made ofF. 
 Stol and his valorous associates then returned to the village 
 and recounted their deeds of noble daring, justifying their pro 
 ceedings by the assertion that the Indians first attacked them, 
 an assertion subsequently proved to be without foundation. 
 
 Ensign Smith, finding his orders disobeyed, and hostilities 
 actually commenced by a people whose movements he could 
 not control, determined to leave the settlers to their fate by 
 returning with his command to Fort Amsterdam. Learning 
 his intention, the settlers frustrated his design by chartering, on 
 their own account, all the sailing vessels that lay at the shore in 
 which he and his men intended to embark. The only alterna 
 tive that remained to him was to send an express to the director, 
 detailing the state of affairs and requesting his presence. With 
 this purpose in view he sent an armed party, eighteen or nine- 
 
 1 His associates were Jacob Jansen Van gban, n, 396. 
 
 Stoutenberg, Thomas Higgins, Gysbert a A full investigation into this affair by 
 
 Phillipsen Van Velthuysen, Evert Pels, the proper authorities attached the blame 
 
 Jan Arentsen,BarentHarmaensen, Martin entirely upon the men engaged in the 
 
 Hoffman, Gilles de Wecker, Abel Dirck- foray, 
 sen, and James the mason. O'Calla- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 135 
 
 teen in number, to the shore to forward dispatches. In the 
 meantime, the Indians had gathered in considerable numbers, 
 determined to avenge the attack which had t>een made upon 
 their kindred. Observing the party which had been sent out 
 by Smith, an ambuscade was formed, into which, on their re 
 turn, the company fell and were immediately surrounded by the 
 Indians, to whom thirteen of the party, including the officer in 
 command and six soldiers, surrendered without any resistance, 
 and were borne off -into captivity. 
 
 Open war was now declared. The Indians, justly incensed 
 against their Dutch neighbors, burned all the houses, barns, and 
 harvests within their reach, and killed all the horses and cattle 
 that fell in their way. Four or five hundred Indians invested 
 the village, and, after vainly attempting to set it on fire, avenged 
 themselves by burning at the stake eight or ten of the prisoners 
 in their hands, among whom was Stoutenberg who had taken 
 part in the attack on the sleeping Indians. It was a horrid cere 
 mony. The victims were fastened naked to stakes, placed at 
 some distance from each other encircling a large fire ; their 
 heads ornamented; their bodies painted. The dance of death 
 was then held, and the work of torture commenced. The nails 
 of the victims were pulled out, their fingers bitten off or 
 crushed between stones, their skin scorched with fire-brands 
 or torches, pieces of flesh cut from their bodies, and every 
 kind of slow torture that savage ingenuity could suggest, in 
 flicted ; and, as one by one they were released by death, their 
 bodies were cast into the blazing fire and consumed. Terror 
 folded her wings in the hearts of the people who beheld the 
 spectacle which they could not prevent j fathers gathered upon 
 the ramparts, and mothers pressed their children to their arms, 
 not knowing how soon the frail palisades might yield, and them- 
 se Ives be exposed to the pitiless mercy of the frenzied children 
 of the forest. 
 
 For three weeks the village was held in siege, the little stock 
 ade fort on the brow of the hill resisting the skill of Indian war 
 fare. Relief at length came. The express to Stuy vesant reached 
 Fort Amsterdam on the 23d of September ; but everything there 
 was in the greatest consternation. The settlements on Long 
 
136 7HE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 island were being ravaged, and another general Indian war was 
 feared. Considerable time was lost in enlisting a company to 
 proceed to the assistance of the Esopus settlers, and it was not 
 until the loth of October, that Stuyvesant set sail. He arrived 
 at Esopus on the nth, with a force of nearly two hundred men. 
 Indian runners had preceded him and apprised their friends of 
 his approach, and, a few hours previous to his arrival, the siege 
 was raised and the beleaguering forces melted into the forests. 
 Thither they could not be pursued, heavy rains having swollen 
 the streams and made the trails impassible, and, having no em 
 ployment for his force, Stuyvesant directed their return to Fort 
 Amsterdam. 
 
 The authorities at Fort Orange now interested themselves 
 in the matter, and obtained the cooperation of some Mohawk 
 and Mahlcan chiefs, who visited the settlement, and succeeded 
 in securing an armistice and the surrender of two prisoners held 
 by the Indians. On the 28th of November, Stuyvesant came 
 up, with the hope of making a permanent treaty, but the sa 
 chems refused to meet him. A conference was finally held on 
 the 1 8th of December, and the Indians persuaded to bring in 
 some supplies in exchange for powder ; but they refused to make 
 peace, denounced the truce which had been made as without 
 binding authority, and retained their young prisoners, having 
 killed all the others. 
 
 In the spring of 1660, peace having been concluded with the 
 Wappingers, Stuyvesant determined upon active hostilities 
 against the Esopus cantons ; but the latter, shorn to a large 
 extent of their allies, were not disposed to continue the contest, 
 and accordingly secured the intercession of Goethals, the chief 
 sachem of the Wappingers, that they might be included in the 
 treaty which had been made . with that tribe. Stuyvesant 
 doubted their sincerity, and Goethals replied : " The Indians 
 say the same of the Dutch." He assured Stuyvesant that 
 Kaelcop, Pemmyraweck, and other Esopus sachems were anx 
 ious for peace, and that it was only the kalebackers x who were 
 not inclined to treat, but that the chiefs would make them 
 
 1 Indians who possessed guns were most idle and vicious of the Indian peo- 
 called kalebackers y and were generally the pie. De Lact. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 137 
 
 come in. " What security can there be for peace, if the kale- 
 backers desire war ?" asked the director, but Goethals could not 
 reply. Stuyvesant then told him that the Esopus chiefs must 
 visit him at Fort Amsterdam, if they desired peace. " They 
 are too much frightened and dare not come," was the reply. 
 Believing this to be true, Stuyvesant consented to visit Esopus 
 and hold a conference with the Indians. 
 
 While these negotiations were in progress, Ensign Smith was 
 engaged in active service against the offending Indians. On 
 the i yth of March he advanced, with forty men, nine miles 
 into the interior, and attacked the Indian fort Wiltmeet, which 
 was defended by some sixty Indians who fled at the first fire, 
 leaving four of their number dead and twelve others prisoners. 
 A large quantity of maize, peas, and bearskins, fell into the 
 hands of the Dutch, and the fort was destroyed. 
 
 Stuyvesant arrived at Esopus on the i8th, but soon saw that 
 all hope of negotiating a peace was at an end. He therefore 
 sent the prisoners and plunder to Fort Amsterdam, and directed 
 a vigorous prosecution of the war by a formal declaration (March 
 25th) against the Esopus Indians " and all their adherents." 
 Smith now followed up the advantage he had gained by posting 
 (April 4th) forty-three men in ambuscade, " over the creek 
 among the rocks," but the Indians discovered the snare, and a 
 general fight ensued in which three Indians were killed, two 
 severely wounded, and one taken prisoner. This disaster pro 
 duced a material change in the deportment of the Indians, who 
 now most earnestly entreated for peace, and again obtained the 
 intercession of neighboring chiefs in their behalf. On the 24th 
 of May, three Mabican chiefs visited Fort Amsterdam, and de 
 clared that the Esopus Indians were willing to leave that country 
 and transfer their land to the Dutch, in indemnity for the mur 
 der of the settlers, on condition that their friends in captivity 
 should be surrendered and peace concluded. Security was de 
 manded that the kalebackers also united in the request. Laying 
 down four belts of wampum, " these," said Aepjin, the Mahlcan 
 chief sachem, u are a guaranty that the kalebackers desire peace, 
 and that we are authorized to treat in their behalf." Stuyvesant 
 accepted the belts, but told the chiefs that peace would be con- 
 
138 THE INDIAN^TRIBEB 
 
 eluded only when the Esopus chiefs would present themselves 
 at Fort Amsterdam for that purpose. The director was then 
 requested to liberate the captive Indians ; but he declined, and 
 in reply to the question : " What are your intentions as regards 
 these men ? " answered, " What have been done with the Christ 
 ian prisoners ? " Aepjin then requested that if the war was con 
 tinued it might be confined to the Esopus country, and the director 
 assured him that so long as his people observed peace, the Dutch 
 would treat them as friends. The conference was concluded 
 by the presentation of a blanket, a piece of frieze, an axe, a 
 knife, a pair of stockings, and two small kettles, to each of the 
 chiefs, who departed content. The next day, Stuyvesant issued 
 an order banishing the Esopus prisoners to Curacoa " to be em 
 ployed there, or at Buenaire, with the negroes in the company's 
 service." Two or three of the prisoners only were retained at 
 Fort Amsterdam, to be punished " as it should be thought 
 proper." i 
 
 Meanwhile Ensign Smith pushed hostilities with vigor. On 
 the 30th of May, guided by one of his prisoners, a force under 
 his command discovered, " at the second fall of Kit Davit's 
 kil," x about twelve miles west from the Hudson, a few Indians 
 planting corn on the opposite' bank. The stream being swollen, 
 it was found impossible to cross, so he returned to the village, 
 where he learned that the Indians had concentrated their force 
 at an almost inaccessible spot about twenty-seven miles " up the 
 river, beyond the above-mentioned fall, where it was pretty easy 
 to ford " the kil. Thither Smith directed his force, but the 
 Indians received notice of his approach by the barking of their 
 dogs, and fled, leaving behind them Preummaker, " the oldest 
 and best of their chiefs." 2 The aged sachem met his foes 
 with the haughty demand, u What do ye here, ye dogs ? " aiming 
 an arrow at them as he spoke. He was easily disarmed, and a 
 ^consultation held as to how he should be disposed of. u As it 
 
 1 Sager's kil, now called the Esopus 2 O'Callaghan^ n, 411. " Preum- 
 
 creek. " The second fall " was the small maker's land," lying upon Esopus kil, 
 
 stream entering the Esopus creek from within the limits of Hurley, was laid out 
 
 the west, south of the old village. "Kit for Venike Rosen, April 15, 1685. 
 
 Davit's farm was about nine miles from Land Papers, n, 169. 
 Hudson's river." O'Callaghan, n, 44. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 139 
 
 was considerable distance to carry him," writes the ensign, " we 
 struck him down with his own axe." 
 
 While Smith was thus carrying war into the heart of the 
 Indian country, several of the sachems were seeking the media 
 tion of the neighboring chiefs to secure a permanent peace. 
 Sewackenamo called his warriors together to know their wishes. 
 " We will fight no more," was the brief reply. The chief 
 next assembled the squaws, and inquired " what seemed to them 
 best?" These answered, " That we plant our fields in peace 
 and live in quiet." He then assembled the young men, who 
 urged him to make peace with the Dutch, and declared that 
 " they would not kill either hog or fowl any more." The 
 sachem then proceeded to Gamoenapa to secure the assistance 
 of the sachems of the Hackinsacks and Tappans in procuring a 
 cessation of hostilities. While there a runner brought to him 
 the intelligence of the death of Preummaker, which so unmanned 
 him that cc he knew not what to do." Leaving his Hackinsack 
 friends to negotiate for him, he returned to his people with a 
 heavy heart. 
 
 Oritarty, of the Hackinsacks, bore the peace belts which were 
 committed to him to Fort Amsterdam, and presented them to 
 the director on the 2d of June. Stuyvesant assured him tfyat 
 the Dutch were disposed for friendship. " It is very strange, 
 then," said the old sachem, whose notions of warfare differed 
 somewhat from his hearers, " that your people were so recently 
 engaged against the Indians, and have slain their aged chief." 
 Stuyvesant replied, that it was customary among white men to 
 exert all their strength until they had conquered a peace. Ori- 
 tany then requested a suspension of hostilities while negotiations 
 for peace were in progress. To this Stuyvesant consented with 
 the proviso that the sachem should go at once to Esopus, ac 
 companied by a Dutch interpreter, and learn for himself the 
 wishes of the Indians. Oritany accepted the proposition, and 
 took his leave saying, "Now I shall see for myself if the Esopus 
 people contemplate any good." His mission was entirely suc 
 cessful, and he returned to Fort Amsterdam with a request to 
 the director to visit Esopus and arrange a treaty. 
 18 
 
140 WE IN DUN TRIBES 
 
 On the yth of July, Stuyvesant arrived at Esopus, accom 
 panied by Captain Martin Kregier and Burgomaster Van 
 Cortland, and sent messengers to acquaint the sachems of his 
 arrival. Three days elapsed and no response came from the 
 Indians. Summoning the chiefs of the Mohawks, Makicans, 
 JVapplngers, Minsls ana Hackinsacks, who had been invited to 
 assist in the negotiations, 1 he addressed them as follows : 
 
 u Brothers : Ye all know well that we have not caused this 
 war. After the Esopus savages burned three of our houses 
 and murdered one of our men, a year ago, we forgave them 
 and renewed the chain of friendship with them, promising the 
 one to the other, that we should not thenceforth again wage 
 war though a man was killed, but that the murderer should be 
 surrendered and punished. Notwithstanding all this, the Esopus 
 savages took some of our people prisoners, now ten moons 
 since, 2 burnt several houses ; besieged and stormed Esopus, 
 though they pretended, during the siege, to be inclined to peace. 
 They then consented to receive a ransom for the prisoners, 
 but when the ransom was brought out to the gate, they carried 
 it away by force, retained our prisoners, and murdered eight or 
 nine of them afterwards in an infamous manner. Brothers : this 
 it was that compelled us to take the hatchet. 
 
 " Brothers : On the earnest entreaties of Indian friends, who 
 solicited peace on behalf of the Esopus savages, and on the in 
 tercession of the Maquas, the Makicans, those of the Highlands, 
 the Minsis, the Kat skills, and other tribes, we concluded a truce 
 with our enemies, who seemed much rejoiced, and solicited us 
 to come in person and conclude a treaty. We came with our 
 friends, yet those of Esopus hang back. They come not to us, 
 nor speak one word of peace. Ye see clearly that it is not our 
 fault. Brothers : The Esopus savages play the fool with you, 
 as well as with us. 
 
 " Brothers : Our station will not permit us to remain here 
 in uncertainty, any longer. Even ye are tired with waiting, 
 
 x The chiefs present on this occasion Wisachganio ; Hackinsacks, Oritany, Cars- 
 were : Mohawks, Adogbegnewalquo, Re- tanghj Staten island, Warehan. 'Calla- 
 quesecade, Ogknekeltj Mahicans, Aepjin, ghan, n, 419. 
 
 Aupamut; ATfltt^7/,Kefe-weig,Machack- 2 Stuyvesant carefully avoided allusion 
 
 nemenu; Minsis, Onderis Hocque, Kas- to the immediate cause of the war, which 
 
 kongeritschage 5 Wappingcrs, Isseschahya, had already been fixed against the Dutch. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 141 
 
 and are as willing to depart as we. We request you to remem 
 ber these our words. Comrminicate them to all the other sa- 
 chems^our brothers, and to all the Indians our friends, and tell 
 them, as we have done before, that they must not meddle with 
 the Esopus savages, nor suffer them to live among them. And 
 now tell the Esopus savages we will yet wait till evening. 
 
 c< Brothers : When yonder sun goes down, we depart if they be 
 not here." 
 
 The sachems received this address with alarm, and imme 
 diately sent out messengers to the Esopus chiefs, urging them to 
 attend the council. Towards evening Kaelcop, Sewackenamo, 
 Nasbabowan, and Pemmyraweck appeared before the gate of 
 the village. Immediately on their arrival, a grand council of 
 all the inhabitants of Esopus, both Christians and Indians, was 
 held. The Esopus sachems and the sachems of the tribes in 
 attendance, and the villagers, being seated " under the blue sky 
 of heaven," Stuyvesant signified that he was ready to hear the 
 Esopus chiefs. Whereupon Onderis Hocque, of the Minsis, 
 arose and thus addressed the assembly : 
 
 " The Indians of Esopus complained to us that they were 
 involved in a heavy war with the Dutch. We answered them, 
 c Why did ye begin it ? It is all your own fault, we cannot, there 
 fore, help you in your necessity ; but we shall intercede in your 
 behalf, and do all in our power to obtain for you peace.' We 
 have now brought a present, in return for that with which they 
 solicited our assistance for a peace, which we now request in 
 their behalf. If they cannot obtain it now, those of Esopus 
 must return home weeping." 
 
 Stuyvesant replied : " Out of respect for the intercession of 
 all our friends here present, we consent to a peace, if the Mo 
 hawks and Minsis, and all the other chiefs will be security that 
 it shall be faithfully observed." 
 
 The Mohawk chief, Adogbegnewalquo, then addressed the 
 Esopus chiefs : " The whole country is now convened in be 
 half of you, who began this quarrel, to procure you peace. 1 If 
 
 1 At a later period the Mohawks con- us," the Dutch, and this was also the ver- 
 
 sidered the causes of the Esopus war, and diet of the Katskill Indians. O'Calla- 
 
 reported that "all their zaakemaakers ^20,11,396. 
 (sachems) lay the cause of the war on 
 
142 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 this be once concluded, break it not again. If ye do break it 
 and treat us with contempt, we sljall never again intercede for 
 you." * 
 
 The Minsi sachem, Onderis Hocque, then addressed the 
 Esopus sachems : " Ye must not renew this quarrel ; neither 
 kill horse nor cow, nor steal any property. Whatever ye want, 
 ye must purchase or earn. Live with the Dutch as brothers. 
 Ye cause us and the Mohawks great losses. This is not your 
 land. It is our land. Therefore repeat not this, 1 but throw 
 down the hatchet. Tread it so deep into the earth that it shall 
 never be taken up again." He then presented them with a 
 white belt, and, turning to the Dutch, he warned them not to 
 renew this trouble, nor to beat the Esopus Indians in the face 
 and then laugh at them. Then taking an axe from the Esopus 
 sachem, he cast it on the ground, and trampled it in the earth 
 saying, " Now they will never commence this quarrel anew." 
 
 Sewackenamo, the Esopus sachem, then arose and addressed 
 the assembly : " The hatchet have we permitted to be taken 
 from our hands ; and to be trodden in the ground. We will 
 never take it up again." 
 
 At the conclusion of these ceremonies, Stuyvesant submitted 
 the following as the conditions of the treaty : 
 
 " i. All hostilities shall cease on both sides, and all injuries 
 shall be mutually forgiven and forgotten. 
 
 u 2. The Esopus Indians, in compensation of damages, 
 promise to transfer to the director-general all the lands of Esopus, 
 and to directly depart thence without being permitted to return 
 thither to plant 
 
 "3. Further, the director-general promises to pay for the 
 ransom of the captive Christians eight hundred schepels of maize, 
 the half next harvest when the maize is ripe, the other half, or 
 its value, in the harvest of the following year. 
 
 "4. The Esopus Indians promise that they will keep this 
 peace inviolate, and will not kill any more of our horses, cattle 
 or hogs. Should such occurrence happen, then the chiefs oblige 
 themselves to pay for it, or by refusal, that one of them shall 
 remain arrested until the killed animal shall be paid for or made 
 
 1 Ante, p. 67. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 143 
 
 good ; while the director-general, on his side, promises that the 
 Dutch shall not do them any harm. 
 
 " 5. If the Dutch kill an Indian, or an Indian kill a Dutch 
 man, war shall not be commenced on that account. Complaint 
 thereof shall first be made, and he who committed the murder, 
 shall be delivered to be punished as he deserves. 
 
 " 6. The Esopus Indians shall not approach the Dutch plant 
 ations, houses, or dwellings, armed ; but may go and trade, 
 unarmed as before. 
 
 " 7. Whereas the last war owes its origin to drinking, no 
 Indians shall be permitted to drink brandy or any spirituous 
 liquors, in or near any Dutch plantations, houses, or concentra 
 tions, but shall do it in their country or deep in the woods, at a 
 great distance. 
 
 " 8. In this peace shall be included, not only the aforesaid 
 tribes, but all others who are in friendship with the director- 
 general, and among others, by the chiefs of Long island, Tapan- 
 saugh, with all, their Indians ; and if any act of hostility be 
 committed against them, then the director-general engages him 
 self to assist them. 1 
 
 " 9. The aforesaid chiefs (the Mohawks, Minsis and others 
 already named) as mediators and advocates of the Esopus nation, 
 remain securities, and engage themselves that it shall be kept 
 inviolate ; and if any infraction be committed by the Esopus 
 Indians, they engage themselves to assist the Dutch to subdue 
 them. 
 
 " Thus done and concluded, near the concentration of Eso 
 pus, under the blue sky of heaven, in the presence of the Hon. 
 Martin Kregier, burgomaster of the city of Amsterdam in New 
 Netherland ; OlofF Stevensen van Cortland, old burgomaster ; 
 Arent van Curler, commissary of the colonie of Rensselaers- 
 wyck, and all the inhabitants of Esopus, both Christians and 
 Indians, on the I5th of July, 1660." 
 
 The day was far spent before the negotiations opened, and 
 the shades of twilight had deepened into the night ere the cere 
 monies were concluded. The proposals submitted by Stuyve- 
 sant were accepted, the sachem, Sewackenamo, declaring, in 
 
 1 Ante, p. 68. 
 
144 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 the customary language of his people, that their friendship with 
 the Dutch should last as long as the sun and moon gave light ; 
 as long as the stars should shine in the firmament, and the 
 rivers flow with water. But before this conclusion, he had 
 asked the director for the return of his kindred. Stuyvesant, 
 who had already disposed of the prisoners in his hands, replied 
 that they must be considered " as dead." The answer deeply 
 grieved the sachem, the memory of their banished brethren was 
 graven on the hearts of his people. But though sufferers by the war, 
 their losses were not without some compensation. Among the pri 
 soners held by them was the son of Evert Pels, one of the men who 
 had led the midnight foray upon them. Just as he was being 
 bound to the. stake of torture, the incident which gave to 
 American history the name of Pocahontas had its counterpart. 
 The daughter of a chief stepped forward, in accordance with the 
 customs of her people, and adopted the trembling captive as her 
 own. In the depths of the forest he became her husband, and 
 when the delivery of prisoners came, she was " unwilling to part 
 with him or he with her." Adopted by the tribe, he returned 
 with them to the wilderness, content to share their fortunes and 
 their freedom. 
 
 Meanwhile affairs at Fort Orange wore a threatening aspect. 
 In their greedy grasping for furs, a class of what were called 
 runners had sprung up, who penetrated the woods to meet 
 the Indians before they reached the town and secure their pel 
 tries. Their remuneration depended on the amount of property 
 they secured for their principals, and to increase their gains they 
 often had recourse to violence, wresting from the Indians their 
 property against their will, after inflicting on them, in addition, 
 personal injuries. The evil continued, despite the efforts of the 
 authorities to correct it, until the Mohawks made complaint and 
 threatened to break their treaty and leave altogether, adding, that 
 unless the practice was discontinued, " perhaps matters might 
 terminate as at Esopus." Stuyvesant, finding that no enforce 
 ment of law could be secured at the hands of the Beaverwyck 
 traders, sent La Montagne thither with an armed force to pa 
 trol the woods and prosecute offenders. On the 22d of July, 
 he went thither himself to meet a delegation of Seneca chiefs. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 145 
 
 The proceedings of the conference T illustrate the nature of 
 the alliance which at that time existed between the confederacy 
 and the Dutch, as well as the relations of the former with the 
 Esopus clans and the Mabicans. The Seneca speaker made a 
 long harangue, in which he stated his complaint against the runners 
 and the difficulty experienced by the Indians in negotiating the sale 
 of their beavers without restraint, and demanded their ancient 
 freedom of trade. They would no longer submit to being locked 
 up by the Dutch, or kicked by those who wished to have their 
 beavers, untij "we know not where our eyes are." Several 
 years ago, they had visited the Manhattans, and though they had 
 offered presents, they received no answer ; " no, not even one 
 pipe of tobacco ; " and they felt now as if they were about " to 
 run against a stone." Still, they would make a few requests. 
 They were involved in a heavy war with the French Indians and 
 the Minsis, and could not obtain either powder or ball without 
 beavers. u A brave warrior ought to have these for nothing." 
 
 " You are," continued the orator, " the chiefs of the whole 
 country. We all look to you. We ask a piece of cloth for a 
 beaver, and that it may be understood and henceforward be a 
 rule, that we shall receive thirty yards of black and sixty yards 
 of white zeawan for one beaver. Ye have been sleeping hith 
 erto. With these three beavers we now open your eyes. We 
 require sixty handsful of powder for one beaver. We have a 
 vast deal of trouble collecting beavers through the enemy's 
 country. We ask to be furnished with powder and ball. If 
 our enemies conquer us, where will ye then obtain beavers ? 
 
 " Ye have included us and the Mohawks, and the Mabicans in 
 the peace of Esopus. Set now at liberty the Indians ye have 
 taken prisoners there. We are sometimes obliged to pass by 
 that path. It is good that brothers live together in peace. The 
 French Indians meet the Mabicans near the Cohoes. This we 
 regret. Brothers : We are united by a chain ; ye too ought 
 to mourn. This our speech is designed merely to rouse you 
 from your slumbers. We shall return next spring to receive 
 your conclusions. Warn the Dutch not to beat the Indians ; 
 otherwise they will say, ' We know nothing of this.' ' 
 
 1 O* Callaghan^ n, 421, etc. 
 
146 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Stuyvesant replied, that when the chiefs were, " for the first 
 time at the Manhattans, some two or three years ago," the 
 tobacco was forgotten, but a roll would now be given to them 
 to make them remember their agreement when they returned 
 to their own country ; that he had " made peace with the In 
 dians at Esopus, at the solicitation of the Mohawks, the Mabi- 
 cans, and other friends," so that they might use in safety the 
 rivers and the roads ; that as they had thanked hirn for making 
 that peace, he solicited that they should " make peace 
 with the Minsis and cultivate it," that the Dutch " might use 
 the road to them in safety ;" that he would now give them a 
 whole keg full of powder, but that it " ought not to be used 
 against the Minsis," but against the distant enemies from whom 
 they captured the beaver ; that he had forbidden the Dutch to 
 maltreat any of the Indians, and that if the latter caught them 
 doing so, they were at liberty " to beat them on the head until 
 it could no longer be seen where their eyes stood." The price 
 of cloth, however, he could not regulate, as it was brought from 
 " beyond the great lake." With these assurances the chiefs 
 departed to renew their conflict with their savage foes. 
 
 Three years of tranquillity succeeded the peace of 1660, 
 during which the settlement at Esopus continued to increase in 
 population. A new village was organized on the north-eastern 
 portion of the " great plot," and the ronduit, 1 at the mouth of 
 the Walkill completed. The Indians, however, were far from 
 being satisfied with their Dutch neighbors. The new village 
 was on land which they had not given to the Dutch ; the new 
 fort boded them no good, and the sting inflicted, by sending 
 their brethren to exile and slavery, rankled in their breasts, and 
 threats of vengeance were again heard. To quiet them Stuy 
 vesant instructed the magistrates to announce that he would 
 soon visit Esopus, give them presents and renew the peace ; 
 but this promise he failed to fulfill with that promptness that was 
 necessary to satisfy the Indians of his sincerity. On the 5th 
 of June, the promise was renewed, but the Indians still doubted, 
 and replied that " if peace was to be renewed with them, the 
 
 1 The location of this fort is supposed aboriginal name of Ponckokie. 
 to have been at the place still bearing the 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 147 
 
 honorable herr director-general should, with some unarmed 
 persons, sit with them in the open field, without the gate, as it 
 was their custom to meet unarmed when renewing peace or con 
 ducting other negotiations. 1 
 
 Without waiting for a reply to this condition, the Indians 
 attacked the settlement, on the jth of June, and, with tomahawk 
 and fire-brand, executed the work of death. On the morning 
 of that day, the settlers went forth to their fields as usual. About 
 noon, bands of Indians entered the gates of both villages, and 
 scattered themselves among the" houses, ostensibly fc>r the pur 
 poses of trade. Suddenly they attacked the inhabitants -of the 
 new village, and destroyed the .buildings. " Some people on 
 horseback" escaped and reached the old village, " crying out, 
 * The Indians have destroyed the new village ! ' " This was the 
 signal to the Indians to attack the old village ; the war whoop 
 rang out, and the people were murdered " in their houses with 
 axes and tomahawks, and by firing on them with guns and pis 
 tols." Women and children were seized and carried ofF pri 
 soners ; houses were plundered, and men, rushing to the defense 
 of their families, were shot down by Indians concealed in their own 
 dwellings. To aid in the work of destruction, the Indians set 
 fire to the village on the windward side. The flames spread 
 rapidly ; but when at their height, the wind suddenly changed 
 to the west and prevented further devastation. A rally of the 
 inhabitants was now effected by the energy of Domine Bloom. 
 The gun at the mill-gate was cleared and discharged with effect, 
 and the settlers coming in from the fields, soon drove the In 
 dians out. By evening all was still again, and the bereaved in 
 habitants kept mournful watch, during the night, along the bas 
 tions and curtains. Twenty-one lives were lost, nine persons 
 were wounded, and forty-five carried ofF captives. The new 
 village was " entirely destroyed, except a new uncovered barn^ 
 one rick, and a little stack of seed," and in the old village of 
 Wiltwyck twelve houses were burned. 2 Writes Bloom, 3 of the 
 scene after the Indians had retreated : " There lay the burnt and 
 slaughtered bodies, together with those wounded by bullets and 
 
 1 Documentary History, iv, 39. s Documentary History, in, 962. 
 
 3 Documentary History, iv, 42, 44. 
 
 19 
 
148 TH E INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 axes. The last agonies and the moans and lamentations of 
 many were dreadful to hear. I have been in their midst, and 
 have gone into their houses and along the roads, to speak a word 
 in season, and that not without danger of being shot by the In 
 dians. The burnt bodies were most frightful to behold. A 
 woman lay burnt, with her child at her side, as if she were just 
 delivered, of which I was a living witness. Other women lay 
 burnt also in their houses. The houses were converted into 
 heaps of stones, so that I might say with Micah, c We are made 
 desolate ;' Mid with Jeremiah, ' A piteous wail may go forth in his 
 distress.' The Indians have slain in all twenty-four souls in our 
 place and taken forty-five prisoners." 
 
 The official record conveys in simple language a picture 
 which leaves to the imagination but little office. Killed " in 
 front of his house," " in his house," " on the farm," " burnt 
 with her lost fruit," " burnt in her house," are but repeated in 
 forms of detail until the blackened villages are again presented 
 in the presence of the pitiless massacre, and the wails of the 
 dying- and the cries of the captives fade away in the wilderness. 
 It was a terrible massacre ; but was it not terribly provoked ? 
 
 The fate of the redoubt was not known. On the morning 
 of the loth, ten soldiers were commanded to ride down and 
 ascertain its condition. They returned with the statement 
 that the Indians had not been seen there ; that fugitives from the 
 new village had reached there, but the soldiers had not dared to 
 venture to the assistance of the settlers. On the 1 6th, a troop of 
 soldiers was sent to the redoubt to bring up ammunition and to 
 convey letters to be dispatched to Fort Amsterdam for assist 
 ance. This company was attacked, on its return, at the first 
 hill, and the skirmishing continued until after passing the second 
 hill. One of the soldiers was killed and six were wounded ; 
 the remainder reached Wiltwyck with their wagons and am 
 munition. 
 
 Immediately on the receipt of the dispatches which had been 
 sent to him, Stuyvesant sent a commission to Fort Orange, 
 to raise a loan, engage volunteers, and invite from the Mabicans, 
 the Mohawks and the Semcas, the assistance which they had 
 promised, under the treaty of 1660, in case of a revolt. The 
 
O^ HUDSON'S RIVER. 149 
 
 commissioner, however, found that the Mahicans and the Mo 
 hawks were at war, and that the Senecas had taken the field 
 against the Minsis. From them no concerted action could be 
 expected, while the people of Beaverwyck were in alarm lest 
 the assistance which they had rendered to the Senecas should 
 recoil upon their own heads. u The farmers fled to the patroon's 
 new fort, Cralo, at Greenbush ; the plank fence which in 
 closed Beaverwyck, and the three guns mounted on the church, 
 were put in order ; and Fort Orange, with its nine pieces of 
 artillery, was prepared against an attack." x 
 
 Meanwhile a reenforcement of forty-two men, under com 
 mand of Ensign Niessen, was sent from Fort Amsterdam to 
 Wiltwyck, and measures taken to enlist a more considerable 
 force. On the 26th, Burgomaster Martin Kregier, with addi 
 tional men and a force of forty-six Long island Indians, was sent 
 forward, and on the 4th of July, assembled at Wiltwyck in a 
 general council of war. A few days after, five Mohawk and 
 Mahican chiefs arrived from Fort Orange, on whose mediation 
 a portion of the Dutch captives were restored ; but to proposals 
 for peace the Indians would not listen unless they were paid 
 " for the land, named the Great Plot," and rewarded with pre 
 sents at their Shawangunk castle within ten days. Scouting parties 
 were then sent out by the Dutch, who succeeded in bringing in 
 a few prisoners, from whom it was ascertained that the Indians 
 had fallen back to their castle ; that this castle was " defended 
 by three rows of palisades, and the houses in the fort encircled 
 by thick cleft palisades with port holes in them and covered 
 with the bark of trees ; " that in form it was quadrangular, but 
 that the angles were " constructed between the first and second 
 rows of palisades," the third row of palisades standing " full 
 eight feet off from the others towards the interior ; " and that 
 the whole stood " on the brow of a hill " surrounded by table 
 land. 2 
 
 An expedition for the reduction of this castle was at once 
 organized, consisting of " ninety-one men of Kregier's company ; 
 thirty men of Lieutenant Stillwell's company ; Lieutenant Cou- 
 wenhoven with forty-one Long island Indians," acting under 
 
 1 Ante, p. 60; Brodhcad, i, 711. * Documentary History, iv, 49. Appendix. 
 
150 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 their treaty of 1656 ; six Manhattan Indians ; thirty-five vo 
 lunteers from the settlers, "and seven of the Honorable Com 
 pany's negroes," with " two pieces of artillery and two wagons." 
 The expedition started on the night of the 26th of July, under 
 the guidance of Rachel la Montagne, who had been taken pri 
 soner on the yth and escaped ; but she soon lost the trail, and the 
 force was compelled to bivouac " until day-break," when the 
 right road was found, and the march resumed. The pro 
 gress was slow, however ; " much stony land and hills " inter 
 vened ; long swamps and frequent kils compelled halts and the 
 construction of bridges, and mountain passes obliged the hauling 
 of u wagons and cannon up and down with ropes." When 
 about six miles from the castle, the expedition halted and one 
 hundred and sixteen men were sent forward to surprise it. 
 This force soon captured a squaw in a corn-field, who told them 
 that the Indians had deserted the fort two days before. About 
 six o'clock the entire expedition reached its destination, but 
 found no foe to contest possession. 
 
 On the morning of the 28th, the captive squaw having in 
 formed them that the Indians had fallen back into the moun 
 tains with their^risoners, a company of one hundred and fifteen 
 men started in search of them. The place where they were 
 supposed to be was that from which Rachel Montagne had 
 escaped, but when it was reached it was found that " they had 
 left that place also." The Indian squaw could not tell them 
 where her people had gone, but pointed out a mountain some 
 miles distant where she thought they might be found, but the 
 march thither was also fruitless. The squaw then pointed out 
 another mountain, but as the Dutch had had quite enough of 
 marching, and as it had become apparent that the Indians were 
 fully advised of their movements, they returned to the castle. 
 In the afternoon the corn-fields were cut down, and the maize 
 and beans, which had been preserved in pits, were destroyed. 
 Three days were spent in ravaging the country. " Nearly one 
 hundred morgens (two hundred and fifteen acres) of maize " 
 were cut down, and " above a hundred pits of corn and beans" 
 burned. On the morning of the 3ist, the castle and all the 
 houses were set on fire, " and while they were in full blaze," 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 151 
 
 the Dutch marched out in good order, and returned to Wilt- 
 wyck. 
 
 The settlers now engaged in harvesting their grain, and the 
 soldiers guarded them while at work, which was prosecuted day 
 and night. Rumors of another attack were rife. One Davids 
 arrived from Manhattan, with a letter from Couwenhoven, who 
 had been sent down to the Dans-kammer in a sloop to nego 
 tiate with the Indians, and who wrote that four hundred men 
 were preparing to attack the fort ; that the Indians " who lay 
 there about on the river side made a great uproar every night, 
 firing guns and kinte-kaying, so that the woods rang again." 
 Davids himself had been on shore and slept one night with the 
 Indians, who had four captives with them, one of whom, a 
 female, informed him that the Indians were in force watching 
 the reapers on the Great plot, and waiting opportunity to attack 
 them. 
 
 Couwenhoven continued his negotiations, and on the aoth of 
 August, brought up a woman and a boy whom he had redeemed. 
 His sloop was furnished with supplies and returned to the Dans- 
 kammer, and instructions issued to him to continue his efforts 
 for the release of the captives ; that failing in this, he should 
 seize as many Indians as possible, u either on land, or by in 
 ducing them, with fair words," to trust themselves on his vessel. 
 If he could do no better, if the Indians came thither with their 
 captives, he was instructed to " endeavor to detain them on 
 shore " tc by means of intoxicating liquors," or by such other 
 mode as he should deem expedient, until word could be con 
 veyed to the fort, and arrangements made to surprise and seize 
 them." The mission was not successful. The Indians took 
 all the powder and brandy which were offered them, and called 
 for more ; but, beyond two children, no prisoners were released 
 by them. To aid him, Couwenhoven employed a Wappinger 
 sachem to visit them, " but when he had been two or three 
 days with them in their new fort, two Mohawks and one Minst 
 came there with sewan and a long message, which rendered them 
 so ill disposed towards him that they caused him to depart." 
 
 Kregier now determined to resume the offensive. On the 
 3Oth a council of war was called, at which it was " resolved 
 
152 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 and concluded to attack, with one hundred and twenty men, 
 the Indians who reside in their new fort, about four hours far 
 ther than their first fort." The expedition started on the after 
 noon of September 3d, a young J^applnger prisoner acting as 
 guide, under a promise of freedom, and Davids as interpreter. 
 Considerable difficulty was experienced in the march, the streams 
 being swollen and heavy rains prevailing. On the 5th, about 
 noon, the first maize field was reached, and two squaws and a 
 Dutch woman discovered gathering corn. Passing these with 
 out alarming them, the fort was discovered about two o'clock, 
 " situate on a lofty plain." The force was divided for the pur 
 pose of surprise, but discovery was made by a squaw, " who 
 sent forth a terrible scream, which was heard by the Indians," 
 who rushed from the fort, on which they were at work, to their 
 houses to secure their arms. From thence they sprang into 
 their corn-fields which bordered the kil, and in almost a mo 
 ment of time were on the opposite bank of the stream, where 
 they courageously returned the Dutch fire. They soon retreated 
 however, having lost their chief, Papequanaehen, and fourteen 
 warriors, four women and three children killed ; and thirteen 
 prisoners, " men and women, besides an old man," who, after 
 accompanying his captors about half an hour, would go no 
 further, and who was then taken aside and given " his last meal." 
 Twenty Dutch prisoners were recovered, among whom was 
 Mrs. DuBois and her children, around whose captivity tradition 
 has thrown the story that at the time of the attack preparation 
 was being made for her sacrifice at the stake, which was only 
 delayed by the pleasure with which the Indians listened to the 
 death-song which she chanted. 1 Unfortunately for the tradition, 
 the Indians, at the time of the attack, were not constructing 
 sacrificial fires or listening to death songs, but were completing 
 their fort, which is described as " a perfect square with one row 
 of palisades set all around, being about fifteen feet above and 
 three feet below ground," with angles " of stout palisades, all 
 of them almost as thick as a man's body, having two rows of 
 port-holes, one above the other." Two of these angles were 
 
 1 Record of the family of Louis Du cal Society, vol. i, part i, 44. 
 Bois, 1 5 j Collections of the Ulster Hhtori- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 153 
 
 finished, and, when surprised, the Indians " were busy at the 
 third angle." The Dutch found plunder in abundance, such as 
 bear skins, deer skins, blankets, elk hides, etc., sufficient indeed 
 to have well filled a sloop. Twenty-five guns were found, 
 about twenty pounds of powder, thirty-one belts and strings of 
 wampum, and indeed, all the movable wealth of the fugitives. 
 Everything was destroyed except the ripening maize, and laden 
 with spoil, and cheered by the gladness of the rescued captives, 
 the expedition started for Wiltwyck. On the march one of 
 the Indian children died, and its body was thrown into the creek ; 
 Indians were seen hovering around, but no attack was made, 
 and on the yth, about noon, the fort was reached. 
 
 The Indians, meanwhile, retreated to the Minnisink country. 
 The loss which they had suffered was severe indeed, but it had 
 fallen upon a single chieftaincy, of whom it is said u not more 
 than twenty-seven or twenty-eight warriors, fifteen or sixteen 
 women and a few children survived," and that these were 
 " without houses or huts." * The confederated chieftaincies, 
 however, " showed no signs of submission," and a new expedi 
 tion was sent out against them. This expedition consisted of 
 a force of one hundred and two soldiers, forty- six Marsapequas 
 antl six freemen. Leaving Wiltwyck on the ist of October, 
 it arrived at the castle destroyed on the 2d. The Indians had, * 
 meanwhile, returned to it and thrown the bodies of their dead 
 comrades into five pits, from which u the wolves had rooted up 
 and devoured some of them. Lower down on the kil four 
 other pits were found containing bodies ; and further on, three In 
 dians with a squaw and child that lay unburied and almost wholly 
 devoured by the ravens and the wolves." A terrible picture 
 of desolation was spread out on either hand, where but a month 
 before the Indian lords had exulted in their strength. The 
 Dutch completed the work of destruction. The remains of 
 the castle were pulled down, the wigwams burned, and all the 
 
 1 O'Callaghan says the Indians were " their numbers were estimated at about 
 
 virtually destroyed, but the facts do not two hundred." Their losses subsequently 
 
 warrant the conclusion. In the attack could not have reduced them to the sixty 
 
 of 1 659, "the savages, estimated at four stated. The Dutch had no confidence 
 
 or five hundred warriors, harassed the in such a state of facts, for they relaxed 
 
 Dutch day and night j" in that of 1663, none of their vigilance. 
 
154 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 maize which had been left was cut up and cast into the kil. 
 Thence marching down the kil, " several large wigwams" were 
 found, as well as " divers maize plantations," which were also 
 destroyed. The expedition then returned to Wiltwyck. 
 
 Negotiations for the release of the captives still remaining in 
 the hands of the Indians were again opened. On the 5th of 
 November, one of the chiefs agreed to return them in ten days, 
 for which purpose a truce was granted by Couwenhoven, whose 
 sloop remained at the Dans-kammer. On the yth, two children 
 were brought in by a Wappinger chief, who accompanied them 
 as a friend and' who promised to bring in a captive woman 
 whom he had purchased. This woman he brought in on the 
 1 3th, and received in exchange a Wapplnger, called Splitnose, 
 and one of the captive squaws and her child. On the 2Qth, 
 the Wappinger again appeared and after satisfying himself that ' 
 of the Indians in the hands of the Dutch none had died, said 
 that six of the captives held by the Indians were then at the 
 river side ; that the* seventh had been sent for, and that all 
 would be restored in three days ; but he was unable to redeem 
 his promise. On the ad of December he brought up two 
 children, and stated that of the remaining five, three were in 
 the hunting grounds and he could not find them, while the other 
 two were detained by a sick squaw. He would, however, 
 return them as soon he could obtain them, for which purpose 
 he had already purchased Albert Heyman's oldest daughter. 
 Whether the promise was fulfilled or not does not appear. 
 
 In this condition matters remained until the spring of 1664, 
 when the Amsterdam chamber instructed Stuyvesant to con 
 tinue the war until the Indians were exterminated. But Stuy 
 vesant had on his hands a contfoversy with the English towns 
 on Long island, in which was involved the jurisdiction of the 
 West India Company, and was under the necessity of hus 
 banding his strength for emergencies in which he might possibly 
 be placed. Besides, wars were pending between the Mohawks 
 and the Mahicam on the east, and the Senecas and the Minsis 
 on the south, destroying trade and threatening to involve the 
 Dutch settlements in the common destruction. Under the 
 
 1 Documentary History , iv, 80, 8 1. 
 
07? HUDSON'S RIVER. 155 
 
 circumstances he deemed it prudent to entertain the solicitations 
 of the neighboring chiefs for the establishment of peace with the 
 Esopus cantons, especially as it was rumored that the English 
 were encouraging the Wappingers and other tribes to unite in 
 the general revolt. 
 
 Sending an invitation to the Esopus sachems and their friends 
 to meet him in council at Fort Amsterdam, a large delegation 
 assembled there, and the customary preliminaries being disposed 
 of, Sewackenamo, sachem of the Warranawonkongs, arose, and 
 calling several times in a loud voice on his God, BACHTAMO, 
 prayed unto him to conclude something good with the Dutch, 
 and that the treaty about to be formed, in the presence of the 
 sachems assembled, 1 should be like the stick he grasped in his 
 hand, firmly united, the one end to the other. Sigpekenano, 
 a Long island chief, expressed his joy that peace was about to 
 be concluded, and that the clan he represented was to share in 
 its provisions. He hoped it would be a peace as firm and as 
 compact as his arms, which he folded together; and then, pre 
 senting his right hand to the director, added : " What I say is 
 from the fullness of my heart ; such is my desire and that of all 
 my people." 
 
 The next day (May 16) Stuyvesant submitted the treaty. 
 By its terms all that had passed was to be forever forgotten and 
 forgiven. The land already given to the Dutch as an indemnity, 
 and now again " conquered by the sword," including the two 
 Shawangunk castles, became the property of the Dutch ; nor were 
 the Indians to return thither to plant, nor to visit the village of 
 Wiltwyck, nor any remote settlement, with or without arms. 
 They were permitted, however, to plant near their new castle, 
 and for the then present year only by their old castle, where 
 they had already planted some seed. To prevent collisions in 
 the future no Indian was to approach places where the Dutch 
 farmers were pursuing agricultural labor, nor visit the village or 
 the residences of the settlers. They might, however, trade at 
 
 -1 The chiefs in attendance were : Esopus, Oritany j Staten Island, Matheno 5 Mar- 
 
 Sewackenamo, Onackatin, Powsawag ; scpeqau, and Reckhciucck, Siegpekenano, 
 
 PfappingeryTsees-sagh-gzw; Kitchaiuan, brother of Tackapousha, with twenty 
 
 Megetsewacks ; Haver straw, Sessegehout ; others of different chieftaincies acting in 
 
 Wtckquaesgetks Sawanacoque ; Hackinsach, the capacity of embassadors. 
 
 20 ^ 
 
156 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 the redoubt, in parties of three canoes at a time, by sending a 
 flag of truce beforehand to give notice of their approach. For 
 their accommodation on such occasions, a house was to be 
 built beyond the creek, where they could leave their arms. 
 Should a Dutchman kill an Indian, or an Indian a Dutchman, 
 war was not to be declared ; but a complaint was to be lodged 
 against the murderer, who should be hanged in the presence of 
 both the contracting parties. All damages by the killing of 
 cattle, or injury of crops, were to be paid for, and the treaty 
 annually ratified by the. exchange of presents. For the faithful 
 observance of the treaty the Hackinsack and Staten island 
 sachems became sureties on the part of -the Esopus sachems, 
 and were bound to copperate against either party who should 
 violate its terms. 
 
 The signing of the treaty was announced by a salute from 
 Fort Amsterdam, and caused universal satisfaction. In special 
 commemoration of the event, Stuyvesant proclaimed a day of 
 general thanksgiving, to be held throughout the province on the 
 3 1st of May. To still further strengthen the position of the 
 Dutch, he sent a commission to the Soquatucks * to negotiate a 
 peace between them and the Mohawks, for which purpose a 
 conference was held at Narrington and a treaty concluded on 
 the 24th. The day of thanksgiving was a day of peace through 
 out the settlements of New Netherland. 
 
 But the brooding clouds of war were not dispelled. While 
 yet the Esopus conflict was pending, the Mahicans had been sum 
 moning their clans ; the peace of Narrington was broken by 
 the AbenaquiSy who murdered the Mohawk embassadors, "insti 
 gated thereto, it is alleged, by the English ; " the war was 
 renewed j the Mahicans overran the country, killed a number 
 of cattle at Greenbush, and " fired a house at Claverack, be 
 longing to Abraham Staats, in which they burnt his wife and 
 two children" (July n). "Proceeding, next, in a body one 
 hundred strong, against the Mohawks, they gave them battle, 
 but the latter being more numerous, routed their assailants. 
 The Mohawks, elated by success, pursued their foe, with whom 
 
 1 The record says, "between the Ma- Indians." O'Callaghan^ n, 519, note, 
 quaas and the Mahicans and Northern 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 
 
 157 
 
 they renewed the fight the next morning at break of day, but were 
 repelled with great loss." Filled with alarm, the colonists at 
 Fort Orange sent in hot haste to request the presence and ad 
 vice of the director ; but he had other duties to perform the 
 guns of the English fleet were echoing over the waters of the 
 bay a more formidable enemy was knocking at the doors of 
 New Amsterdam. 
 
 Indian Inscription on 
 Rocks at Esopus. 
 
158 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE INDIANS UNDER THE ENGLISH. TREATIES WITH THE 
 FIVE NATIONS, THE MAHICANS AND THE ESOPUS INDIANS. 
 THE JESUITS AND THE WAR OF 1689. 
 
 HE English, under Richard Nicolls, took possession 
 of Fort Amsterdam on Monday, September 6th, 
 1664, and immediately changed its name to Fort 
 James. Nicolls was proclaimed deputy governor for 
 the Duke of York, in compliment to whom he directed that the 
 city of New Amsterdam should thenceforth be known as New 
 York. Fort Orange surrendered on the loth, and its name was 
 changed to Fort Albany, after the second title of the Duke of 
 York. Following this change came a conference with chiefs 
 of the Mohawks and Senecas, representing the Five Nations, and 
 the conclusion with them, and with the Mabicans of New York, 
 of a treaty of peace and alliance, similar to that which had 
 existed with the Dutch. By the terms of this treaty the inde 
 pendence and equality of the nations parties to it, was recognized, 
 while the tribes not in alliance with them, but " under the pro 
 tection " of, or in treaty with, the English were to be regarded 
 as subjects of the crown, and to sustain, in that relation, the 
 position of citizens for their protection and redress. These facts 
 more clearly appear from its text, which is as follows : 
 
 " Articles made and agreed upon the 24th day of September, 
 1664, in Fort Albany, between Ohgehando, Shanarage, Soac- 
 hoenighta, Sachamackas of ye Maquaes ; Anaweed, Conkee- 
 herat, Tewasserang, Aschanoondah, Sachamas of the Synicks 
 on the one part, and Col. George Cartwright, in the behalf of 
 Col. Nicolls, governor under his royal highnesse, the Duke of 
 Yorke of all his territories in America, on the other part, as 
 followeth, viz : 
 
 "i. Imprimis. It is agreed that the Indian princes above 
 named and their subjects, shall have all such wares and com- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 159 
 
 modifies from the English for the future, as heretofore they had 
 from the Dutch. 
 
 " 2. That if any English, Dutch or Indian (under the pro 
 tection of the English) do any wrong, injury or violence to any 
 of ye said Princes or their subjects in any sort whatever, if they 
 complain to the Governor at New Yorke, or to the officer in 
 chief at Albany, if the person so offending can be discovered, 
 that person shall receive condign punishment and all due satis 
 faction shall be given ; and the like shall be done for all other 
 English Plantations. 
 
 " 3. That if any Indian belonging to any of the Sachims 
 aforesaid do any wrong, injury or damage to the English, Dutch 
 or Indians under the protection of the English, if complaint be 
 made to ye Sachims and the persons be discovered who did the 
 injury, then the person so offending shall be punished and all 
 just satisfaction shall be given to any of His Majesties subjects 
 in any colony or other English plantation in America. 
 
 "4. The Indians at Wamping and Espachomy and all 
 below the Manhattans, as also all those that have submitted 
 themselves under the protection of His Majesty, are included in 
 these articles of agreement and Peace. 
 
 " In confirmation whereof the parties above mentioned have 
 hereunto sett their hands the day and year above written. 
 Signed," etc." 
 
 To the Five Nations proper some special concessions were made, 
 which were included in the following supplemental articles, viz. : 
 
 " These articles following were likewise proposed by the 
 same Indian Princes and consented to by Col. Cartwright in 
 behalfe of Col. Nicolls, the 25th September, 1664. 
 
 " i. That the English do not assist the three nations of the 
 Ondiakes (Abenaquis), Pinnekooks, and Pacamtekookes, who 
 murdered one of the Princes of the Maquaes, when he brought 
 ransomes and presents to them upon a treaty of peace. 1 
 
 " 2. That the English do make peace for the Indian Princes 
 with the Nations down the River. 2 
 
 " 3. That they may have free trade, as formerly. 
 
 1 The Abenequis, or Eastern Indians. 2 The Minquas, Esopus and Navison 
 
 clans of JLenapes. 
 
160 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 " 4. That they may be lodged in houses, as formerly. 
 
 "5. "That if they be beaten by the three nations above 
 mentioned they may receive accommodation from ye English." x 
 
 This treaty, to be correctly interpreted, must be considered 
 in connection with the former relations of the Indians to the 
 governments of New Amsterdam and New England. The 
 Afakieans proper were under treaty with both the English and 
 the Dutch, but representative cantons immediately on the 
 Hudson held a recognized intercourse with the latter. These 
 were included in the treaty under the terms, " the Indians of 
 Wamping and Espachomy, precisely as were those of Long 
 island, who had recognized treaties, and who were specified " as 
 below the Manhattans ;" but the Massachusetts Mabicans 
 required no such recognition, the change in the government not 
 having affected the treaty which existed between them and the 
 English. The fact that the treaty was made with representa 
 tives of the Five Nations has no significance other than that with 
 them the English had no previous treaty. Whatever special 
 terms there were in its provisions with them were included in 
 the supplemental articles, and these related only to the ques 
 tions of war and peace pending with tribes with whom the 
 English were under treaty, and in reference to which negotia 
 tions were at once opened. 2 The new treaty made no other 
 change in relation to the position of the representative tribes 
 than was necessarily involved in the change of government. 
 This clearly appears from the subsequent records of the com 
 missioners of Indian affairs, in which the Mabicans uniformly 
 appear as having not only formed a treaty with the Dutch in 
 1609, and to have renewed that treaty with the English, but as 
 being " linked together in interest with the Five Nations," and 
 consulted with and treated as allies of the government in the 
 capacity of an independent nation. 3 
 
 1 Colonial History, m, 67. to Governor Winthrop, in 1669: "If 
 
 3 The war which was pending at the all my letters arrived in your hands 
 
 time this treaty was made was instigated by you will find them all of one tenor, 
 
 the English. 0'Ca//agAan,u, 519. The viz: the earnest desire of the Maquas to 
 
 governor of New York and the governor conclude firm peace with the Mohi- 
 
 of Massachusetts were the parties to the cands." New Tork Assize Record. 
 treaty between the Mohawks and the 8 Colonial History, iv, 744, 902, etc. In 
 
 Mahicans. Governor Lovelace writes an address to the Massachusetts commis- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 161 
 
 But English possession brought with it additional changes in 
 the connection of the Indians with provincial authorities. To 
 the boundary lines of territorial governments, which haa already 
 passed through and subdivided the Mahicans and the Lf napes, 
 court districts and county lines were added. Indians of the 
 same tribal families, who had hitherto been held responsible to 
 and had their treaty relations with different governments and 
 provinces, while consolidated in some respects, were further 
 separated by special assignment to the charge of different court 
 districts. Thus the Wappingers and those residing south of the 
 highlands and Long island, had their treaty intercourse with the 
 governor and authorities at New York ; those north of the high 
 lands on the east, and north of the highlands and south of the 
 Katskills on the west, including principally the Esopus clans, 
 were placed under the justices at Kingston, and the Mahicans on 
 the east and those on Beeren island and north of the Katskills on 
 the west, came directly under the authorities at Albany, at 
 which place the general council-fire was lighted and inter 
 course held with the Five Nations and the Mahicans. While 
 these divisions were the result in part of the established centres 
 of population and treaty intercourse under the Dutch, they sub 
 sequently added materially to the disintegration of the river 
 tribes, and gave to them much of that character of independent 
 cantons which has been assumed as representing their political 
 status. From this disintegration the Five Nations escaped, with 
 results to their consolidated recognition which cannot be too 
 highly estimated. That they would have been similar sufferers 
 had they been similarly situated, the records of the negotiations 
 with them after the war of the revolution, are a sufficient indi 
 cation. Considered only as a whole and treated as a whole, 
 they were a power ; but treated with as independent tribes they 
 were shorn of their strength. With them the. history of the 
 Mahicans and the Lenapes repeated itself with fearful emphasis. 
 
 The policy adopted by the English was liberal and reasonable, 
 and contributed at least to the temporary improvement of the 
 
 sioners in 1744, the chiefs used the covenant, and this is the belt which is 
 following language: "We are -united the token of that covenant." 
 with the Six Nations in one common 
 
162 THE INDUN TRIBES 
 
 condition of the Indjans. The frictions which had prevailed 
 during the Dutch administration were very largely removed by 
 a law declaring that "no purchase of lands from the Indians, 
 after the first day of March, 1665," should be " esteemed a 
 good title without leave first had and obtained from the governor 
 and after leave so obtained ; " that purchasers should bring be 
 fore the governor " the sachem or right owner " of lands which 
 were purchased u to acknowledge satisfaction and payment " for 
 the same, when all the proceedings were to be entered on record 
 and constitute a valid title. u All injuries done to the Indians 
 of what nature soever," were made punishable on complaint 
 and proof in any court, without cost to the complainant, " in as 
 full and ample a manner as if the case had been between 
 Christian and Christian." The contraband trade in fire-arms 
 was broken up, and only those who were licensed were permitted 
 " to sell guns, powder, bullets, lead, shot, or any vessel of 
 burthen or row boat (canoes excepted)." The sale or gift to 
 the Indians of " rum, strong waters, wine and brandy," without 
 license, was forbidden under penalty of " forty shillings for each 
 pint so sold or disposed of." To prevent difficulties arising 
 from cattle straying upon the unfenced lands of the Indians, and 
 to encourage the latter to fence their fields, the colonists were 
 directed to assist them in " felling trees, riving and sharpening 
 rails " and setting posts, allowing " one Englishman to three or 
 more Indians." These reforms were eminently satisfactory to 
 the Indians, although many abuses were subsequently perpetrated 
 by those who were licensed under them. Not less so was the 
 treaty stipulation that the privileges of trade were to be uniform, 
 in all English plantations, to Indians in alliance with the govern 
 ment, and the fact that such alliance secured the friendship of 
 the "great sachem." Tranquillity was soon established, and 
 although the Mohawks and the Mahicans and Abenaquis, at the 
 east, and the Senecas and Minsis, at the south, continued their 
 struggle, the conflict was not around the centres of civilization. 
 Gradually the Minsis, more immediately represented on the 
 Hudson, yielded to the superior advantages possessed by their 
 enemies, or to the inducements which the English offered ; while 
 those more remote made common cause with the French. 
 
O.P HUDSON'S RIPER. 163 
 
 The annual renewal of the treaty with the Esopus Indians, 
 required by its terms, was delayed until October, 1665, when, 
 as their intercourse in the future was to be with the English, the 
 treaty was rewritten in the English language, with such changes 
 in its terms as the change in government required, 1 as appears 
 from its text : 
 
 " An agreement made between Richard Nichols, Esq., Go 
 vernor, under his Royall Highness the duke of York, and the 
 Sachems and People called the Sopes Indians : 
 
 " That no act of hostility shall at any time bee committed 
 on either part, or if any damage shall happen to be done by 
 either party to the Corn, Cattle, Horses,. Hoggs, Houses, or any 
 other goods whatever of the other party, from the goods of the 
 other party shall return be given upon demand for the same. 
 
 " 2. That if any Christian shall wilfully kill an Indyan, or 
 any Indyan a Christian, hee shall bee put to death. And the 
 said Sachems do promise on their part, to bring any such Indyan 
 to the officer in chiefe at the Sopes to receive his punishment 
 there. 
 
 " 3. That a convenient House shall bee built where the said 
 Indyans may at any time lodge, without the Forts of the said 
 Town, in which House the Indians are to leave their armes, 
 and may come without molestation to sell or buy what they 
 please from the Christians. 
 
 "4. That in case any Christian should kill an Indyan, or any 
 Indyan a Christian, the peace shall not be broaken, or any Revenge 
 taken before satisfaction is demanded by the one party and 
 refused by the other, allowing a competent time for the appre 
 hending of the offender, in which case the Indyans are to give 
 Hostage, till the offender is brought to punishment, the said 
 Hostage to be kindly treated and shall receive no other punish 
 ment but imprisonment. 
 
 1 Com pare with synopsis of treaty of The original manuscript of the treaty, 
 
 1664. The statement that Nicolls made and the wampum belt which the Indians 
 
 the treaty the occasion for the purchase gave in accepting it, are preserved in 
 
 of additional lands, apparently indicated the office of the clerk of Ulster county, 
 
 by the fifth section, appears to have been It was renewed at different periods until 
 
 the expression in definite terms of the the Indians ceased to exist or had entirely 
 
 general language of the treaty of 1664, removed to the west. 
 " the lands now conquered by the sword." 
 
 21 
 
164 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 " 5. That the said Sachems and their subjects now present 
 do, and in the names of themselves, and their heirs forever, 
 give, grant, alienate and confirm all their right and interest, 
 claim or demand to a certain Parcell of Land, lying and being to 
 the west and south west of a certain creek or River, called by the 
 name of Kahanksen, and so up to the head thereof, where the 
 old Fort was ; And so with a direct line from thence through 
 the woods and crosse the Meadows to the Great Hill, lying 
 and being to the west or south west thereof, which Great Hill 
 is to be the true west or south west Bounds of the said Lands. 
 And the said creek called Kahanksen, the north or north east 
 Bounds of the said Lands, herein mentioned, to be given, granted, 
 and confirmed unto the said Richard Nicolls, governor under 
 his Royal Highness, the Duke of York, or his assigns, by the 
 said Sachems, and their subjects, forever, and to hold and enjoy 
 the same as his free land, and Possession against any claim here 
 after to bee madee by the said Sachems or their subjects, or any 
 their heirs and successors. 
 
 " In token of the aforesaid Agreement, the aforesaid Sachems 
 do deliver two small sticks, and in confirmation thereof, do deliver 
 two more small sticks, to the said Richard Nicholls. And 
 in the name of the Indyans their subjects, one of the subjects do 
 deliver two other round small sticks, in token of their assent to 
 the said agreement. And the said Richard Nicholls does deliver 
 as a present to their Sachems three laced redd coates. 
 
 " 6. The said Sachems doth engage to come once every 
 year, and bring some of their young People, to Acknowledge 
 every .part of this agreement in the Sopes, to the end that it may 
 be kept in perpetual memory. 
 
 " 7. That all past Injury es are buried and forgotten on -both 
 sides. 
 
 " 8. That the young Sachem called Ningeerinoe hath Liberty 
 for three years to plant upon a small neck of land, over against 
 a small creek called Choughkanakanoe, unless the said young 
 Sachem be warned off by order to remove; and give place to 
 such Christians as shall have Order from the said Richard 
 Nicolls, or his assignees, to plant there, at which time the said 
 young Sachem is to receive a Blankett, by way of Curtesie, and 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 165 
 
 to remove to the other side of the Creek, without delay, or 
 claiming any future interest thereupon. 
 
 " 9. In consideration of the premises, the said Richard 
 Nicolls doth farther give and pay to the said Sachems and their 
 subjects, forty blanketts, twenty Pounds of Powder, twenty 
 knives, six Kettles, Twelve Barrs of Lead, which payment we 
 acknowledge to have received, in full satisfaction, for the pre 
 mises, and do bind ourselves, our heirs and successors forever, 
 to perform every part of this agreement, without any fraud or 
 reservation of mind ; and further, that we will maintain and 
 justify the said Richard Nicolls, or his assigns, in the full and 
 peaceable Possession of the said Tract of Land, Royaltyes and 
 Privileges for ever, against any Nation of Indyans whatsoever, 
 pretending right to the same. 
 
 u In testimony whereof we have sett our markes to two 
 several writings, the one to remaine in the hands of the Sopes 
 Sachems, the other upon record, this 7th day of October, 1665." 
 
 The parties to the treaty on behalf of the Indians were sa 
 chems Onackatin, 1 Naposhequiqua, Senakonama (Sewakanamo), 
 and Shewotin. The signature of Nicolls and of the sachems 
 was witnessed by " Jeremias Van Rensleiar, Philip Pieterson 
 Schuyler, Robert Nedham, S. Salisbury and Edw. Sackville," 
 and by the following " Esopus young men " : Pepankhais, Robin 
 Cinnaman "a Pekoct sachem," Ermawamen, and Rywackurs. 
 One of the chieftaincies was apparently without a sachem ; the 
 full number was completed in 1670, when, on the nth of 
 April, " a new made sachem of the Esopus Indians, named 
 Calcop," appeared before the justices of Ulster and confirmed 
 the agreement. 
 
 The Mimis proper maintained hostilities until 1675, when they 
 yielded to what Dr Golden denominates " the full play of the 
 warlike genius" of their enemies, but more properly, as already 
 intimated, to the fearful disadvantages under which they were 
 placed by the refusal of the English to supply them with fire 
 arms and powder, in accordance with the treaty with the Senecas 
 and Mohawks, and were made tributary to the Senecas. In the 
 east the contest still raged. Peace was made in 1675, but it 
 
 1 Oghgotacton ; his lands were near the present village of Walden. See appendix. 
 
166 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 was one of accommodation on the part of the Abenaquis and their 
 allies, many of whom sympathized with King Philip and eagerly 
 shared his fate. Nor were they disheartened when, on the I2th 
 of August, 1676, that great leader gave up his life. In that re 
 markable struggle for the restoration of the Indians to independ 
 ence, one of the branches of the formidable alliance, the Pen- 
 nacooks, was crushed and its fugitives, bleeding and torn, sought 
 refuge in the friendly villages of their kindred on the Hudson. 
 Reference has already been made to the immediate subsequent 
 history and organization of these fugitives as the Sckaticooks* 
 After their settlement, the authorities made no little effort to in 
 crease their number by inducing those who had found refuge 
 elsewhere to remove to the lands assigned, and in this were par 
 tially successful. At the close of the French war of 1698, and 
 subsequently, these efforts were renewed; 2 meanwhile a very 
 considerable number of them had reached Canada, and were 
 encouraged by the French to invite their brethren of New York, 
 as well as their old Mahican allies, to unite with them. The 
 result of these efforts was the organization of what was known 
 as the St. Francis Indians. 
 
 Meanwhile an element other than that of war had been 
 introduced to divide the Indian tribes. With the French, reli 
 gious zeal and commercial ambition walked hand in hand, and 
 the banner of the cross became the pioneer of that of France. 
 No sooner had Champlain discovered the territory of the St. 
 
 1 Ante, p, 62. The ' date of this the fugitives from that conflict are de- 
 organization, as well as the original clas- scribed by Hubbard as having fled towards 
 sification of the elements of which the Albany, the conclusion is that the Schati- 
 Schaticooks were composed, is distinctly cooks were no other than the Indians de- 
 stated by Earl Bellomont, the governor, scribed by him. There was another 
 in 1 698 : " Our Skackoor or river Indians organization of Schaticooks, composed of 
 and which river Indians having been New England and Hudson river Indians, 
 formerly driven out of those eastern They were located on Ten Mile river, 
 parts by the people of New England." so called, in the present county of Dutch- 
 Colonial History, iv, 380, 715. Col- ess. This organization is particularly 
 den fixes the date of their settlement described by De Forest (History Indians 
 as 1672, while one of their chiefs, speak- of Connecticut, 407), as having been com 
 ing in 1700, states the occurrence as menced by one Gideon Manwehu, a 
 happening "six and twenty years ago," Pequot, sometime about 1735, and who 
 or in 1674. Colonial History, iv, 744. succeeded in calling about him a hun- 
 As there was no war against the New dred warriors. 
 
 England Indians by which an exodus of 2 Colonial History, iv, 380, 715, 744 
 
 this kind would be made necessary prior 902. 
 to the downfall of Philip in 1676, and as 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 167 
 
 Lawrence than he was found declaring, that while the aggrand 
 izement of France was earnestly to be desired, yet " the salvation 
 of a soul was worth more than the conquest of an empire." 
 At his instance, La Carnon, an ambitious Franciscan priest, 
 entered the field as a missionary, and in 1616, penetrated the 
 Mohawk country, passed to the north into the territory of the 
 Wyandots and reached the river of Lake Huron. In 1633, 
 the Society of Jesus succeeded the Franciscans with fifteen 
 missionaries, the history of whose labors is connected with the 
 origin of every established town in the annals of French Ame 
 rica ; " not a cape was turned, nor a river entered, but a Jesuit 
 led the way." x The converts of these missionaries were at first 
 from among the enemies of the Five Nations ; the latter regarded 
 them as foes, and in their incursions upon the Hurons, spared 
 them not. The fate of the missionary village of St. Joseph and 
 of Fathers Daniel, Lallemand and Brebeuf, and the captivity of 
 Father Jogues, are but types of the toil and sacrifice which 
 attended their labors, and of the heroism with which they met 
 death. The fruit of their efforts was the possession by France 
 not only of New France and Acadia, Hudson's bay and New 
 foundland, but a claim to a moiety of Maine, of Vermont, and 
 to more than a moiety of New York, to the whole valley of 
 the Mississippi, and to Texas even, as far as the Rio Bravo del 
 Norte, whither the flag of France followed their footsteps and 
 reared colonies. 
 
 The Dutch gave very little attention to the movements of 
 the missionaries, or to the extension of the dominion of France. 
 Intent upon trade and having no ambition to extend their pos 
 sessions beyond the three rivers which they claimed, the 
 conversion of the Indians scarcely received from them a thought. 2 
 The missionaries improved their ad vantage, and in 1654, appeared 
 in the territory of the Onondagas, where they found many Huron 
 captives who had formerly received their instruction. Missions 
 
 1 Bancroft, in, 122. attended his preaching at Albany, but 
 
 2 Domine Megapolensis, who came without understanding a word that he 
 over in 1643, under an agreement with said. The claim that he was -the pre- 
 Van Rensselaer, made some effort to decessor of Eliot, has very little founda- 
 learn the Mohawk language, with a tion, and none whatever in the aid which 
 view to preach to them in their castles, but the government extended to him. Brod- 
 without much success. A few Indians head, i, 375, 376. 
 
168 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 to the Oneldas and Senecas speedily followed ; chapels sprang 
 into existence, and long before the English obtained possession 
 of New Amsterdam, the solemn services of the Roman church 
 were chanted in the heart of their future province. The pos 
 session of these privileges, however, was not destined to be 
 permanent. The Oneidas murdered three Frenchmen (1657), 
 and the French retaliated by seizing Iroquois. Two years 
 later the missionaries had abandoned the country, and the French 
 and the Five Nations were again at war. Finding success hope 
 less without stronger military support, the aid of the king of 
 France was invited, and scarcely had the English succeeded in 
 planting the flag of St. George on the walls of Fort Orange, 
 ere the colony of New France was protected by a royal regi 
 ment, and Courcelles, a veteran French soldier, established as 
 its governor. The missionaries now renewed their work, and 
 reestablished themselves in the territory of the Senecas and 
 Onondagas, and converted one of the villages of the Mohawks* 
 The progress of the French soon became more formidable. 
 Serious inroads were made on the territory claimed by the Eng 
 lish, and the Iroquois were gradually yielding to the efforts of 
 the Jesuits. Except in the valor and good faith of the Indians 
 more immediately under English influence, the province had 
 no protection. The Jesuit fathers became spies, and, in 1682, 
 were enabled to advise the governor of Canada, that circum 
 stances had materially changed ; that they were now accustomed 
 to the woods, were acquainted with all the roads through them, 
 and that the French could, from Fort Frontenac, fall on the 
 Senecas in forty hours and crush them by an unexpected blow. 2 
 When Colonel Dongan came over, in 1683, as governor of 
 New York, matters wore a threatening aspect indeed. He was 
 under instructions to preserve friendly relations with the French, 
 and besides this, was himself an earnest Catholic ; but he was 
 not blind to the danger which menaced the province, or slow 
 to use his power to avert it. Wherever the French priests 
 traveled they set up the arms of France in token of French 
 
 1 Although the priests had no little or castle of Caghnawaga. 
 difficulty with the Mohawks, they ulti- * Documentary History Neiv Tork, i, 
 mately succeeded in converting the village 97. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 169 
 
 possession ; Dongan gave to his Iroquols allies medals showing 
 that they were British subjects, and caused the arms of the 
 Duke of York to be erected in all their castles. The French 
 invited their converts to Canada ; Dongan solicited them to 
 remain, and obtained a promise from those who had already 
 gone to return. He would give them lands and priests and 
 built them a church. In the fall of 1686, he sent fifty citizens 
 of Albany and New York to winter with the Senecas^ and used 
 his influence with the Mabicans to join the Iroquois in an alli 
 ance for mutual defense. 
 
 Meanwhile the Duke of York (1685), under the title of 
 James II, had succeeded the sensual Charles II, as king of 
 England. The duke was an intense Catholic, and his eleva 
 tion gave courage to the Jesuit fathers, who could now ask, 
 with additional force, his aid in extending their work. Dongan 
 appealed to him and endeavored to arouse him to the necessity 
 of protecting the province and of maintaining the alliance with 
 the Iroquois. " The Five Nations," said he, " are a bulwark 
 between us and the French and all other Indians. This go 
 vernment has always been, and still is, at a great expense to 
 keep them peaceable and annexed to this government, which is 
 of that moment that upon any occasion I can have three or four 
 thousand of their men upon call." The interests of trade also 
 required this alliance, in his opinion, not less than the security 
 of the English. To this end he asked for Catholic priests in 
 the interests of the English, in order to oblige the French 
 priests to retire to Canada and the " country be divested of the 
 pretense for their presence." But James had already bound 
 himself to Louis XIV in a treaty of neutrality ; to that treaty 
 his attention had been called by Louis, on complaint from La 
 Barre, the governor of Canada, and if he had the disposition to 
 aid Dongan, he was under obligations to avoid a rupture with 
 France. 
 
 La Barre's administration was not a success. The Senecas 
 attacked some French trading canoes, and after organizing a 
 considerable force to proceed against them, he had fallen back 
 without conflict, terrified at the rumor that Dongan had promised 
 them the aid of u four hundred horse and four hundred foot " if 
 
170 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 they were attacked. The only fruit of his expedition was a 
 treaty which he concluded with the Onondagas, Oneidas and 
 Cayugas, the force of which may be inferred from the fact that 
 only six hours were spent in its negotiation. His subordinates 
 were disgusted at his proceedings, and refused to restrain their 
 " sovereign contempt for the general's person." " His design," 
 says Demeneles, " was to attack the Senecas^ but instead of show 
 ing him any civility, they did not even condescend to come and 
 meet him, and gave an insolent answer to those who proposed 
 it to them. If people had anything to say to them, let them 
 take the trouble to come and meet them." De Lamberville, 
 the Jesuit missionary at Onondaga, alone sustained him. The 
 difficulties of prosecuting war against the Senecas were not, in 
 his opinion, properly estimated. The Indians would not be 
 found in their villages or forts, but would prowl everywhere, 
 " killing without if possible being killed." For the conflict they 
 were ready ; nay, had received " with joy " the intelligence that 
 they were to be attacked, confident that in such an event they 
 would be able to strip, roast and eat the French. The result 
 of the affair was the removal of La Barre, the appointment of 
 De Denonville as his successor, and the receipt by Dongan of 
 instructions to observe strict neutrality. 
 
 The French were fully determined to attempt the destruction 
 of the power of the Iroquois. Louis himself was convinced 
 that such a step was necessary. De Denonville had examined 
 the situation thoroughly, and had informed his royal master that 
 the reputation of the French had been " absolutely destroyed " 
 among the Indians, whether friends or enemies, by La Barre's 
 conduct, and that unless this was arrested, nothing could avert 
 a general rebellion, the ruin of trade and the extirpation of the 
 French. , War was necessary, too, u for the establishment of 
 religion," which could not otherwise be successfully prosecuted. 
 " Merit in the eyes of God," and the " possession of an em 
 pire of more than a thousand leagues in extent," from which 
 " great commercial advantages" would eventually be derived, 
 demanded the effort and the expense which it involved. The 
 king responded with an addition to the French Torce ; gave his 
 entire approval to the war, and, in addition to the means to be 
 
OF HUDSON'S RI7ER. 171 
 
 employed, advised that prisoners be taken and sent to him for 
 service as galley-slaves. 
 
 The work entrusted to Denonville was not long delayed. 
 Treachery was resorted to, to secure prisoners. De Lamberville 
 succeeded in decoying a considerable number of Iroquois chiefs into 
 Fort Frontenac, on Lake Ontario, from whence they were re 
 moved in irons to Quebec and hurried to France j x Indian allies 
 were called in, and arrangements for an aggressive movement 
 consummated. He had no contemptible foe to encounter. 
 " The Iroquois force," by his own authority, consisted of " two 
 thousand brave, active men, more skillful in the use of the gun 
 than the Europeans, and all well armed ; besides twelve hun 
 dred Mahicans (Loups), another tribe in alliance with them as 
 brave as they," 2 to say nothing of the English whom he expected 
 to assist them. 
 
 In July, 1687, he marched into the territory of the Senecas, and 
 took formal possession " in the name of the king." On his 
 way he was attacked by the Senecas with such vigor that he was 
 obliged to bivouac on the field, and witness, without being able 
 to prevent, the tortures which the Senecas inflicted on the pri 
 soners who had fallen into their hands. In the morning the 
 Senecas retreated, and on reaching their village it was found that 
 they had destroyed it and abandoned their fort. The French 
 cut up the growing corn without molestation, and successfully 
 completed the construction of Fort Niagara. The campaign 
 cost the lives of one hundred Frenchmen, ten French or 
 Catholic Indians, and eighty Senecas. The latter appealed to 
 Dongan, who supplied them with powder, lead and arms, and 
 
 1 The number taken was twenty-seven, indicative of their importance. The alli- 
 of whom " Taweeratt, the chief warrior ance referred to in the text, is spoken of 
 of Cayouge," was one. Colonial History , as having existed for some time. In 
 in, 560, 579. Father Millett was charged 1674, the Mahicans were at war with the 
 with being a party to their capture. Ib. Ottawas, and the Senecas became arbitra- 
 621. The French account is that forty tors to establish peace. In 1684, it is 
 chiefs were taken prisoners, one of whom said " six or seven hundred Mohegans 
 is called Orehaoue, " one of the most were preparing to go to the assistance of 
 considerable chiefs of their nation." the Iroquois, as the Ottaivas were aiding 
 Colonial History, ix, 464. " The general the French." The number of their 
 in chief of the entire Iroquois nation." warriors stated in the text is no d<Wbt 
 Ibid., 465. exaggerated, but there is no question that 
 
 2 The cooperation of the Mahicans they could at any time bring more war- 
 with the Iroquois is frequently referred to riors to the field than the Mohaiuks. 
 in the French records, and in language Colonial History , ix, 259, 460, 466, etc. 
 
 22 
 
172 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 called upon their allies to unite together to defend the territory 
 which France had invaded. In addition to this a special meet 
 ing of the council was held at Fort James, and a bill passed 
 for levying a tax of a " penny in the pound out of the estates of 
 the freeholders," to aid in defraying expenses. Palisades were 
 ordered for fortifying Albany and Schenectady, and the Five 
 Nations were requested to send down " their wives, children and 
 old men, lest the French fall upon them in winter ; that they 
 who come be settled, some at Katskill, and along the river," 
 where they would be in security and in readiness to assist in the 
 common defense should it be necessary. Every tenth man of 
 the militia was ordered to Albany, and other measures taken 
 for defensive war. " I will do what is possible for me to save 
 the government from the French," said Dongan to De Denon- 
 ville, " until I hear from the king, my master ;" and " advise 
 Monsieur Denonville to send home all the Christians and In 
 dian prisoners, the king of England's subjects, you unjustly do 
 detain." 
 
 Meanwhile the Senecas remained on the war path. Dongan 
 had offered his mediation for peace on condition that the captive 
 chiefs should be restored, the fort in the Seneca country razed, and 
 the spoils taken from that nation restored. To these proposi 
 tions De Denonville would not listen. In July, 1688, the 
 Iroquois advanced to dictate the terms. Haaskouaun, their chief, 
 with five hundred warriors sat down before Quebec. Twelve 
 hundred warriors remained within call. If in four days the French 
 would concede to Dongan's terms, the place would be spared ; 
 if not, it 'would be overwhelmed. The French governor 
 yielded, and on the sixth of September following abandoned Fort 
 Niagara and the possession of the country south of the great 
 lakes. The imprisoned chiefs, however, he did not restore. 
 
 In this situation matters remained until January, 1689, when 
 James was driven from the throne of England by William, the 
 Prince of Orange. France espoused the cause of the deposed 
 l^ng, and declared war against England, and on both continents 
 the conflict was opened. Before the formal declaration came, 
 however, the Iroquois had resumed hostilities. Visiting Albany 
 in July, they acquainted the magistrates that the French had 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 173 
 
 not returned their chiefs, and that they were resolved to be 
 revenged. 1 From thence they proceeded to Canada, and on 
 the twenty-fifth of August, fifteen hundred in number, they landed 
 on the south side of the island of Montreal, burned the houses, 
 sacked the plantations, and put to the sword all the men, 
 women and children without the fortifications. " In less than 
 an hour, two hundred people met death under forms too hor 
 rible for description. Approaching the town of Montreal, they 
 made an equal number of prisoners, and after a severe skirmish 
 became masters of the fort, and of the whole island, of which 
 they remained in possession until the middle of October. In 
 the moment of consternation, De Denonville ordered Fort 
 Frontenac, on Lake Ontario, to be evacuated and razed. From 
 Three Rivers to Mackinaw, there remained not one French 
 town, and hardly even a post." 2 
 
 Anticipating an aggressive movement on the part of the Eng 
 lish and their allies, representation had already been made to 
 Louis. Governor Andros, who had succeeded Dongan, 3 
 promptly declared his determination to regard his Indian allies 
 as " subjects of the' crown of England," and the French gave 
 up all hope of detaching them even through the influence of 
 their priests. To retain possession of the territory was their 
 only expectation, coupled with a determination to inflict such 
 injury as they could. Under these instructions Count de Fronte 
 nac was appointed governor-general, and with a considerable 
 force landed at Quebec within forty days after the attack of the 
 Iroquois on Montreal, and the first news he met, on entering 
 the St. Lawrence, was an account of it. He determined to 
 retaliate, not by marching against the Iroquois^ but against their 
 English allies who had furnished them with arms and were 
 their supporters. 4 To carry out this determination an ex 
 pedition was organized to be conducted in three divisions, the 
 first to rendezous at Montreal and proceed towards Fort Or 
 ange ; the second, at the Three Rivers and make a descent on 
 
 1 Colonial History, in, 599. 4 Frontenac brought with him, as a 
 * Bancroft, in, 179. Colonial History, peace offering to the Iroquois, the chiefs 
 in, 621. who had been treacherously betrayed and 
 3 New York was annexed to New Eng- taken to France. They were subsequent- 
 land, under the government of Sir Ed- ly restored to their people, 
 mund Andros, in 1688. 
 
174 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 New England, and the third, to proceed by water for the re 
 duction of Fort James. Count de Frontenac was to conduct 
 the land expedition against Fort James, where he was to be 
 met by the fleet under the command of Caffiniere, while the 
 governor, De Callieres, was to conduct the expedition against 
 Albany. The latter expedition left Montreal at the commence 
 ment of February, 1690. The point of attack was concealed 
 from the Indian allies, by whom it was accompanied, until the 
 place of destination was nearly reached, when a council was 
 held and the destination announced. The Indians objected, 
 and the conclusion was finally taken to attack Schenectady in 
 stead of Albany. Thither the invaders directed their steps, 
 and on the morning of Sunday, February loth, repeated the 
 massacre by the Senecas and their allies at Montreal. The at 
 tacking force separated in two divisions, and entered the gates 
 in two directions. At the point of junction, the shrill whoop 
 of the savage burst upon the air, and the implements of death 
 and the blazing torch completed the work of destruction. No 
 house were spared in the town, except one belonging to Major 
 Condre (Sanders), the commandant, who, with his men, sur 
 rendered to the French division on the promise of quarter, and 
 that of a widow and her six children, in whose care the French 
 commander, who had been wounded, was placed. The lives 
 of between fifty and sixty persons, old men, women and child 
 ren, who escaped the fury of the first attack, were spared. 
 Upwards of eighty well built and well furnished houses were 
 destroyed. Sixty men, women and children were killed, and 
 twenty-seven carried away prisoners. A few succeeded in es 
 caping and fled through the snow to Albany, a distance of 
 twenty miles, and gave the alarm. Before the local forces 
 could be rallied and the Mohawks and their allies called in, 
 however, the French were far on the retreat. They were pur 
 sued by the Mohawks, who fell upon their rear and harassed 
 them until they reached Montreal. The second expedition 
 reached Salmon Falls, in New Hampshire, which place was 
 burned ; but the attack on New York was abandoned. 
 
 The people of New York were divided in sentiment in regard 
 to the claims of William and James. Immediately following 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 175 
 
 * 
 
 the announcement of the accession of William, Jacob Leisler, 
 a captain of the militia, at the instigation of the friends of the 
 Protestant king, took forcible possession of Fort James, in the 
 name of William and Mary, while Nicholson, who had been 
 appointed governor, fled to Europe. It was in the midst of 
 these civil commotions that the atrocities at Schenectady terri 
 fied the people and calmed the domestic factions. New York, 
 Massachusetts, and Connecticut united for the reduction of 
 Montreal and Quebec. An expedition by land and water 
 was agreed upon. Sir William Phipps was placed in command 
 of the fleet, and the land forces assigned to the command 
 of General Winthrop of Connecticut. The fleet arrived 
 before Quebec about the middle of October, 1690, but the 
 land forces only penetrated as far as Wood creek, in the pre 
 sent county of Washington, when sickness, want of provisions 
 and dissensions among the officers, compelled a return. In 
 the meantime, Quebec had been strengthened by the French, 
 and bade defiance to the English fleet, which soon returned 
 to Boston. 
 
 In 1691, Colonel Sloughter was appointed governor of the 
 province, and, immediately on his arrival, Governor Leisler and 
 his son-in-law Milborne, were arrested and executed for treason. 
 This, with the renewing of the covenant chain with the Iro- 
 quois^ was the only act of his administration, death having sud 
 denly ended his career. His successor was Benjamin Fletcher, 
 under whom, in the succeeding year, the English, with their 
 Indian allies, carried on the war against the French, Capt. John 
 Schuyler making a successful attack on the French settlements 
 beyond Lake Champlain. In February, 1693, Frontenac in 
 vaded the Mohawk territory, surprised and burned their castles, 
 killed ma.ny and took three hundred prisoners. The invasion 
 cost the invaders thirty men, but the Mohawks were completely 
 dispersed. The forces at Albany, accompanied by such Mahi- 
 cans as could be rallied, hastened to their relief, pursued the 
 retreating enemy and recovered most of the prisoners. Go 
 vernor Fletcher reached Albany soon after, and so pleased were 
 the stricken chiefs at the celerity of his movements that they 
 gave to him the flattering title of Lord of the Great Swift 
 
176 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 V 
 
 Arrow. 1 The tide of war then rolled along the frontiers of 
 New England, and the settlements at Oyster river in New 
 Hampshire, and Haverhill in Massachusetts, were destroyed, 
 Hatfield and Deerfield, on the Connecticut, shared the same fate. 
 In 1696, Frontenac invaded the territory of the Onondagas, but 
 without much success, 2 while Indians in detached bands warred 
 for the respective powers with which they were in alliance! In 
 the year following the war terminated in September, by the peace 
 of Ryswick, and the principal combatants withdrew. Colli 
 sions and acts of hostility continued between the Iroquois and 
 the allies of the French, however, until two years later. Go 
 vernor Bellomont was exceedingly anxious to so order the ter 
 mination of these hostilities that the Iroquois should be placed in 
 acknowledged supremacy over their foes, and the French go 
 vernor was not less mindful of his own and the interests of his 
 allies. The latter triumphed, and both parties laid down the 
 hatchet at his feet on terms of equality. Through a feeling 
 springing in part from this result, and in part from the antago 
 nisms which had been engendered by the part which they had 
 taken in the war, the assembly of New York, in 1700, made a 
 law for hanging every Catholic priest that should come voluntarily 
 into the province. 
 
 The part which the Makicans and Minsis of the Hudson took 
 in this war, is only incidentally stated. The alliance between 
 the Iroquois and the former, was of no little magnitude in the 
 opinion of the French, as has already been stated. That alli 
 ance appears to have been suggested by the Mohawks.* In 
 reference to the more detached bands, the Mohawk speaker in 
 the conference of 1683, advised : " The Schahook Indians, in our 
 opinion, are well placed where they are they are a good guard ; 
 
 1 These castles were three in number, ondaga, Feb. 18, 1694-5, brought this 
 and were destroyed on the yth and 8th message : The whole Five Nations send 
 of February. Colonial History y iv, 16, seven hands of wampum to inform the 
 20, 22. The MoAawks never forgot Mahikandcrs, or River Indians, that the 
 their punishment, but in after years re- Count Frontenac would fall upon the 
 peated that they knew what it was " to Onondagas in the spring. They desired 
 be whipped and scourged by the French." the assistance of three hundred Christians, 
 
 2 Bancroft, in, 170. with as many River Indians and Mahi- 
 8 At a subsequent period the aid of the kanders as can be got together." Colonial 
 
 Mahicans was asked by the council at History, iv, 123. 
 Onondaga. " Arnout Vielle, from On- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 177 
 
 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 
 so that they may be of more service to you. We advise you 
 to bring all the river Indians to be under your subjection at 
 Albany to be ready on all occasions." A portion of the Minsis, 
 who had settled among the OttawasJ- had joined the French 
 alliance. Governor Dongan asked the aid of the Iroquois to 
 bring them home. " One of them," said he, " is worse than 
 six of the others, therefore all means must be used to bring 
 them home." The confederates accepted the mission, and in 
 duced a considerable number to return. 2 Governor Andros was 
 not less positive in his personal overtures to them. When he 
 visited the province in May, 1688, he invited their aid, and 
 promised to give lands to those who might desire to locate their 
 families. 3 At a meeting of the council, September 17^,1689, 
 it was ordered that Robert Sanders use his endeavors to procure 
 the " Indians of the Long Reach, Wawyachtenok and Esopus to 
 come up here (Albany) to lie out as scouts upon the borders of 
 this county," and that the " Justices of the Peace of Ulster 
 county assist him in persuading the Indians." On the 22d of 
 February, 1690, it was ordered by the same body, " that the 
 Indians living at Beere island and Katskill be persuaded to go 
 and live at Katskill, 4 and be ready on all occasions to be em 
 ployed as scouts or otherwise." In April following, the Tappans 
 
 a The Ottaiuas occupied the southwest- 2 Colonial History, m, 808. 
 ern part of Canada at this time. They 3 " Several Indians living on both sides 
 were almost constantly at war with the Hudson's river came to His Excellency, 
 Five Nations, and also with the Mahicans. some at Albany, and others at a town 
 Their relations with the Esopus Minsis nigh the river called Kingstone ; he corn- 
 were intimate and friendly, and many of manded them to demean themselves 
 them came thither to trade with the quietly towards the Christians their neigh- 
 English at Kingston. In 1691, a corn- bors, invited such as were gone elsewhere 
 pany of them, while visiting the Esopus to return with their families, and that if 
 country, fell victims to the small-pox. they wanted land it should be laid out for 
 Colonial History, m, 776, 778. In the them in convenient places." Colonial 
 Land Papers, official record is made that History, m, 568. 
 
 Punganis, whose land was near Walden, * On a map accompanying Freud's 
 
 in Orange county, pledged the same to History of Pennsylvania, Katsban is ap- 
 
 Robert Sanders as security for the payment plied to a village immediately north of 
 
 of 70, that he had then (1689) been Saugerties creek, and Katskill to a vil- 
 
 absent with the Ottaivas for ten years, and lage at the junction of the Kader's and 
 
 that his brother " intending to go to the the Katskill creek, west of the present 
 
 wars," wished Sanders to keep the land village of Katskill. These two villages 
 
 " till his brother pays him for it." Land perhaps explain the text. 
 Papers, in, 22. 
 
178 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 reported that they had sent twelve men to the Senecas, and 
 should send more," and the Kicktawancs and other Westchester 
 families stated that they had sent six of their number. 1 
 
 The Schattcook Indians were actively employed. In addition 
 to their services as scouts, a large number of them joined in the 
 pursuit of the French after the destruction of Schenectady, and 
 also in the several expeditions against Canada. When the ex 
 pedition under Winthrop returned, Captain John Schuyler 
 voluntarily embarked, at Wood creek, with a company Consist 
 ing of " twenty-nine English soldiers, one hundred and twenty 
 Mohawk and Scahook Indians, 2 to go to Canada and fight the 
 enemy." This force made the successful attack on the French 
 beyond Lake Champlain, already .noticed, and returned to Al 
 bany with nineteen prisoners and six scalps. The Wappingers, 
 or " Indians of the Long Reach," as they were called, accepted 
 the invitation to unite in the war, and with their head sachem 
 and " all the males of the tribe able to bear arms," went to 
 Albany, 3 and from thence to the field. A portion of them, 
 however, appear as the allies of the French, and as such to have 
 destroyed Hatfield and Deerfield, under the lead of Ashpelon, 
 one of their chiefs. 4 While those who were allies of the Eng 
 lish were absent, a large portion of their lands, embracing the 
 present county of Putnam, were fraudulently entered by Adolph 
 Phillipse, and after their return a fifty years' controversy was 
 opened in regard thereto. The Minnisinks hesitated at first to 
 embark in the war, and sent Paxinos, their chief, to New 
 York to consult with Governor Dongan in regard to the 
 
 1 April 5, 1690. The Indian Sachems Mohawks were frequently swelled in this 
 
 of Kightoiuan, Wossccamcr, Pfescavvanus, manner. 
 
 did promise to send six men to go against 3 Colonial History, vn, 868. 
 the French." Documentary History, 11, * HubbarcTs History of Neiv England. 
 
 237. An Indian called Quaetseitts, " who for- 
 
 " April 19, 1690. The sachems of merly lived on Hudson's river," is also 
 Tappan, called Mendoassyn, and a captain mentioned as one of those who had 
 called Wigworakum, said that they had " lately done mischief in Connecticut." 
 sent, fifteen days ago, twelve men to ye Colonial History, in, 562, 563. The 
 Maquase and Sinnekas, and when returne governor of Canada, in 1 698^99, de- 
 shall send more, being strong, in all sixty manded of the Five Nations, among other 
 young men." Ibid. conditions, the return of " a Mahikander 
 
 3 " Mohawks, 92 ; River Indians, 66 ; Indian who is at Onondaga, a prisoner." 
 
 the latter under Estewapo, Estowacamo, Ib., iv, 498. These Indians had joined 
 
 Wannesackes and Magataw." Colonial the French prior to or during the war. 
 History, in, 800, 802. The ranks of the 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 
 
 179 
 
 matter. 1 They subsequently contributed their quota, however, 
 and rendered important service. 2 
 
 The losses sustained by the Iroquois and their allies aggregated 
 nearly one-half of the number engaged. The Mohawk?^ Oneidas 
 and Senecas lost over one-half of their warriors, the latter being 
 reduced from thirteen hundred to six hundred. The river In 
 dians, however, were the greatest sufferers, having lost nearly 
 two-thirds of the force which they contributed to the war. 3 
 Fifteen hundred Indians fell victims to the interests of the Eng 
 lish, while the loss sustained by the allies of the French proba 
 bly equalled that number. In addition to those lost in conflict, 
 the Iroquois suffered the permanent detachment of the Praying 
 Indians, who took up permanent residence <c about four leagues 
 above Montreal," and laid the foundation of that " formidable 
 and fatal reduction " subsequently known as the Caghnawaga 
 nation, 4 and more modernly as the St. Regis Indians. Assimi 
 lating with the French in faith, they soon did so in politics. 
 They went off in small bodies, secretly, and after they had be 
 come located, drew to them considerable numbers of Schatl- 
 
 1 Paxinos has been classed as a Shawa- 
 noe chief, but such was not the case at 
 this time, whatever he may have been 
 subsequently. 
 
 a " Ordered, that a message be sent to 
 Minnisinks to order them to send up their 
 young men to Albany to join with the 
 Five Nations against the French." 
 Council Minutes, May 6, 1688. 
 
 "This includes only those residing in 
 the then county of Albany. The fol 
 lowing return made to Gov. Fletcher in 
 1698, gives the strength and losses of the 
 several tribes : 
 
 Strength, In 1689. In 1698. 
 
 Mohawks, 
 
 Oneidas, 
 
 Onondagas, 
 
 Cayugas, 
 
 Senecas, 
 
 River Indians, 
 
 270 
 1 80 
 500 
 320 
 
 IJOO 
 
 ZJO 
 
 no 
 
 70 
 2,50 
 
 zoo 
 
 600 
 90 
 
 Loss. 
 160 
 no 
 250 
 
 120 
 700 
 
 160 
 
 Total, 2820 1 320 1500 
 
 Colonial History, iv, 337- 
 
 4 " The French debauched many of our 
 Five Nations to their Religion and Inter 
 est, actually drew several off to go and 
 live in Canada, and laid the foundation 
 of that formidable and fatal reductiog 
 which now forms the Cagnawaga na- 
 
 23 
 
 tion." " Four hundred of our best In 
 dians." Colonial History, of the State 
 of New York, m, 836. " In the time of 
 the last war the clandestine trade to Mon 
 treal began to be carried on by Indians from 
 Albany to Montreal. This gave rise to the 
 Konuaga or Praying Indians, who are en 
 tirely made up of deserters from the Mo 
 hawks and river Indians, and were either 
 enticed by the French Priests or by our mer 
 chants in order to carry goods from Albany 
 to Montreal, or run away from some mis 
 chief done here. These Indians now 
 consist of about eighty fighting men and 
 live about four leagues above Montreal. 
 They neither plant nor hunt, but depend 
 chiefly upon this private trade for their 
 subsistence. These Indians in time of 
 war gave the, French intelligence of all 
 designs here against them." Golden, Co 
 lonial History, v, 732. " They became a 
 thorn to the frontier towns and settle 
 ments of New England during the whole 
 of the French war, and of the American 
 Revolution." Schoolcraft. They num 
 bered, in 1745, two hundred and thirty 
 fighting men. 
 
180 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 cooks as well as of Mohawks and Oneidas* The Mohawks felt 
 the loss deeply, and exhausted every effort to reclaim the wan 
 derers, but without avail. 
 
 Not only was foundation laid for the subsequent weakness of 
 the Iroquois by the defection of the Praying Indians, but by the 
 settlement among the Lenapes of the Shawanoes of Maryland and 
 Virginia. At the outbreak of the war the Shawanoes were con 
 testing the advance of the Iroquois in the south, and were also 
 engaged in war with the Cherokees. In the latter they suffered 
 severely, and but for the timely aid of the Mahicans, would 
 have been destroyed. The Lenapes invited them to remove to 
 their country ; the invitation being accepted, the Minsis brought 
 the matter to the attention of the government of New York, 
 in September, 1692, on an application to permit their settlement 
 in the Minnisink country. The council gave its assent on con 
 dition that they should first make peace with the Five 
 Nations. 2 This was soon effected, and the messengers de 
 parted, accompanied by Arnout Vielle, an interpreter, and three 
 Christians, to visit the country of the Shawanoes and consum 
 mate the transfer. 3 On the 6th of February (1694), Major 
 Peter Schuyler announced to the Five Nations, in conference 
 at Albany, that " one of the Christians " had returned with the 
 intelligence that seven nations or chieftaincies, " in all a thou 
 sand souls," were on their way. 4 Confirmation came also from 
 
 1 The leader of the Caghnaivagas was sion to that end. Council directed that 
 
 known to the French by the name of the Shawanoes, must first make peace 
 
 Kryn. A party led By him was promi- with the Five Nations. Council Minutes, 
 
 ment in the attack on Schenectady, and Sept. 14, 1692. 
 
 also on Salmon Falls. On their return 3 " We are glad that the Shawanoes, 
 
 from the latter expedition they were who were our enemies, did make their 
 
 attacked by a party of Algonquin* and application to you last fall for protection, 
 
 Abenaquis, who, mistaking them for En- and that you sent them hither to endea- 
 
 glish Mohawks, killed two and wounded vor a peace with us 5 also, that you have 
 
 ten. " Among the slain was Kryn, the been pleased to send Christians along with 
 
 * great Mohawk ;' whose death was the them to their country to conduct them 
 
 more deplored, because Frontenac and back again. We wish they were come 
 
 the Jesuits hoped that through his influ- to assist us against the common enemy." 
 
 ence all the New York Mohawks would Answer of Five Nations, July 4, 1693, 
 
 eventually be drawn to Canada." B^od- Colonial History, iv, 43. 
 
 head, n, 618 ; Colonial History, ix, 467. 4 " It seems the heavens are propitious 
 
 3 River Indians returned from a resi- unto us, for this day we have the fore- 
 
 dence with the Shawanoes, brought with runners of the Shawanoes Farr Indians 
 
 them some Shawanoes who intended to come to town with one of our Christians 
 
 settle with the Minnisinks, asking permis- that was sent thither, who gives us an 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 
 
 181 
 
 another quarter. Captain Arent Schuyler visited the Minnisinks 
 in February, and there learned that the Shawanoes were expected 
 early in the ensuing summer. 1 This expectation was realized, 
 and the Minns of the Hudson as well as those of the Delaware 
 received to their embrace "the second son of their grand 
 father," after having given their pledge " to be faithful subjects 
 of the king." 2 
 
 At the time of the incorporation of the Shawanoes with the 
 Minsis, the latter were at the lowest point in their history. 
 Broken by their long wars with the Senecas and Mohawks, and 
 scourged by the small pox, 3 they were but a remnant indeed of 
 that proud people who had once successfully disputed the sove 
 reignty of the continent. Their warriors hunted in fear ; their 
 chiefs trembled at the anger of the Senecas.* The Shawanoes 
 were proud, warlike and cruel to an extent sufficient to draw 
 
 account that they are .coming with seven 
 nations of Indians, with women and 
 children, in all a thousand souls, and are 
 upon their way hither with Arnout, the 
 interpreter." Colonial History, iv, 90. 
 u In the intrim that they were treating 
 with them (the Five Nations), Gerret 
 Luykasse, with two of the Far Indians 
 called Shawanoes arrives who brings news 
 that Arnout, the interpreter, with a con 
 siderable number of those heathen, will 
 be here next summer." Schuyler, Colo 
 nial History, iv, 97. 
 
 1 " Enquiring after news, they told me 
 that six days ago three Christians and two 
 Shawans Indians, who went about fifteen 
 months ago, with Arnout Vielle, into 
 the Shawans country, were passed by the 
 Mennissincks going for Albany to fetch 
 powder for Arnout and his company : 
 and further told them that said Arnout 
 intended to be there with seven hundred 
 of the said Shawans Indians, loaden with 
 beaver and pelteries, at the time the Indian 
 corn is about one foot high, which may 
 be in the month of June." Colonial 
 History, iv, 98. 
 
 2 Council Minutes, 1 694. 
 
 8 This malady was not confined to 
 any district of country. Charlevoix says 
 that in 1 690 not less than fifteen hundred 
 Indians perished in the Canada wilder 
 ness ; and Ledwick writes in 1692, that 
 of those residing in the vicinity of New 
 
 Amsterdam : " The small pox took many 
 of them away lately." Loskiel says that 
 the Indians discovered a remedy in what 
 he calls "fossil oil" (petroleum). He 
 adds, " an old Indian in the small pox 
 lay down in a morass to cool himself, 
 and soon recovered. This led to the dis 
 covery of an oil spring in the morass, and 
 since that time many others have been 
 found, both in the country of the Dela- 
 wares and the Iroquois." About the 
 time spoken of by Loskiel, the epidemic 
 was severe in the Esopus country. An 
 entire company of Ottaivas visiting there 
 were among its victims. Garneau's His 
 tory of Canada, I, 228 , New York His 
 torical Collections, 2d series, n, 249; 
 Los/Kiel's Moravian Miss. 1 1 7. 
 
 4 The Mennissinck sachems further said 
 that one of their sachems and other In 
 dians were gone to fetch beavor and 
 pelteries which they had hunted, and 
 having heard no news of them are afraid 
 that the Sinneques have killed them for 
 the lucar of the beavor, or because the 
 Mennissincks have not been with the 
 Sinneques as usual to pay their duty ; and 
 therefore desire that your excellency will 
 be pleased to order that the Sinneques 
 may be told not to molest or hurt the 
 Mennissincks, they being willing to con 
 tinue in amity with them Schuyler, 
 Feb. 1693, Colonial History, iv, 98. 
 
182 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 from their enemies the name of Satans. On terms of peace 
 with, but unsubdued by the Iroquois, their presence inspired the 
 Minsis, and opened up to them a future in which their united 
 war cry challenged the best efforts of their English and Indian 
 foes. Half a century later they could say to their former rulers, 
 the Senecas : " We have once been women and ashamed to look 
 down at our petticoats, but as you have taken them off and 
 encouraged us to begin a quarrel with the English, we are 
 determined never to submit again to that ignominious state 
 while there is one of us alive," J while a thousand warriors, 
 
 " Quivered and plumed, and lithe and tall, 
 And seamed with glorious scars/' 
 
 responded with rude but earnest approval. 
 
 1 Johnson Manuscripts, iv, 131. 
 
O.P HUDSON'S RI7ER. 183 
 
 CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 THE MAHICANS IN COUNCIL QUEEN ANNE'S WAR MI 
 GRATIONS MISSIONARY LABORS THE WAR OF 1746. 
 
 )EACE, such as had not fallen upon the wildernesses 
 of the New World since the Europeans added their 
 conflicting interests to the field of savage contests, 
 prevailed at the opening of the eighteenth century. 
 The contending tribes had buried the hatchet at Montreal, and 
 Senecas and Hurons, Onondagas and Ottawas, Mohawks and 
 Ahenaquis* through their representatives smoked together the 
 pipe of peace. Beside their ancient river the Mabican warriors 
 hunted the deer, and their hand-maidens cultivated the fields, 
 wove wampum in the woods, and chanted their maternal songs. 
 Large numbers of them gathered around the " tree of welfare" 
 which had been planted for them, and their dispersed New 
 England relatives, at Schaticook, and in the councils with the 
 tribes lifted up the voice of thanksgiving and proclaimed signifi 
 cant history. " We are glad to see you and your lady," said So- 
 quans, the Mahican speaker, to Governor Bellomont at a confer 
 ence at Albany, August 3 ist, 1 700 ; " 'Tis now about two years 
 ago since we first saw you. The sun of peace shined then and 
 so it does still. In the times of old there were not any Christians 
 on this river, and the first Christians that came settled upon 
 Rensselaer's land, whom we loved as soon as we saw them, and 
 with whom we made a strict alliance and a covenant chain 
 which has been kept inviolable ever since. This chain we are 
 now come to renew. We are resolved to live and die here in 
 this government, and do pray that our father will support and 
 protect us." " I thank you for your kind expressions," replied 
 Bellomont ; " and you may be sure I will do every thing to 
 maintain the covenant chain firm and steadfast. I should be 
 
 1 Peace was established between the 1700. Colonial History, iv, 758. 
 Abenaquis and the Five Nations, Oct. 7, 
 
184 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 very glad if you would invite your friends the Pennacokes and 
 eastern Indians to come and settle with you. Since the Five 
 Nations and you are linked together in interest, it would be an 
 advantage to engage those other Indians in the same interest." 1 
 At a conference held July 18, 1701, Soquans again appeared 
 with joyful heart. " We are now two hundred fighting men 
 belonging to this county of Albany 2 from Katskill to Skachkook," 
 said he, "and hope to increase in a year's time to three hundred. 
 Our neighbors, the Maquas, have not been so fortunate, for 
 their tree was burnt. We have been so happy and fortunate 
 that our number is increased to that degree that we cannot all 
 be shaded by one tree, and therefore desire that another tree, 
 besides that at Skachkook, may be planted for us, for we are 
 in hopes that our number will daily increase from other parts. 
 It is now ninety years ago since the Christians first came here, 
 when there was a covenant chain made between them and the 
 Mahikanders, the first inhabitants of this river, and the chain 
 has been kept inviolable ever since. We have been so happy 
 as never to have had the least flaw or crack in the chain. There 
 have been breaches round about us, and great differences, but 
 that chain, wherein the Maquas and we are linked, has been 
 kept inviolate, and we pray that our father will keep the same 
 so forever." " We will plant you another tree," responded 
 Lieutenant Governor Nanfan, "which shall be so large and 
 flourishing that the branches will shade and cherish as many of 
 your friends as will be persuaded to come and live with you. 
 You know now by the experience of ninety years that we have 
 the best laws and government in the world.,. You may depend ( 
 upon it that I will do every thing to maintain the covenant chain 
 firm and inviolate." 3 
 
 Similar were the addresses delivered at a conference held by 
 Governor Cornbury, on his first visit to Albany after his appoint 
 ment : " You desired," said Soquans, " to know the number and 
 strength of our people, which we now acquaint you with, viz : 
 one hundred and ten Indians at Skachkook, and eighty-seven 
 
 1 Colonial History, iv, 744. on the east, and north of the Katskill 
 
 2 The county of Albany then embraced mountains on the west. 
 
 the entire country west of the Connecticut 8 Colonial History, ix, 902, etc. 
 river, and north of Roelof's Jansen's kill 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 185 
 
 below the town (i. e., below Albany), in all one hundred and 
 ninety-seven fighting men. You renewed the covenant chain two 
 days ago (July 18, 1702), and we come now and ratify the same 
 and make the chain stronger, which has been kept inviolable, 
 between us and the Christians of this province, these ninety 
 years. About, twenty-six years ago, Sir Edmund Andros, then 
 governor of this province, planted a tree of welfare at Skachkook, 
 and invited us to come and live there, which we very luckily 
 complied with, and we have had the good fortune ever since, 
 that we have increased that tree, and the very leaves thereof 
 have grown hard and strong ; the tree is grown so thick of 
 leaves and boughs that the sun can scarce shine through it, yea 
 the fire itself cannot consume it ; and we now desire, that our 
 father may strengthen that tree and cause the leaves to grow so 
 thick that no sun at all may shine through it." 
 
 The Pennacooks who had found refuge in Canada, 1 sent re 
 peated invitations to their kindred at Schaticook to join them, 
 promising them " houses, land and provisions," in the name of 
 the French governor. These invitations were rejected, and 
 Paasquin and Ackkonepak, two young Pennacook sachems, 
 accompanied Soquans to Albany to acquaint the governor of 
 their action. They were kindly received and their determina 
 tion commended. " Tell your kindred," said Governor Corn- 
 bury, " to come and live with you. They shall not only have 
 land assigned them gratis, but a fort shall be built of stockadoes 
 to secure you and them from any sudden attempts of the enemy ; 
 your land is tough and hard, I will order next spring a plow to 
 break up the ground for them to plant in, and they shall be pro 
 tected and secured as well as any other Indians under the queen 
 of England's protection. If they are inclined to be instructed 
 in the Christian religion, the minister here shall teach them." 
 And the Pennacooks accepted the mission, and went out after 
 their 'brethren. 
 
 The relations existing between the government and the Ma- 
 hicans under the treaty of 1664, had further illustration at this 
 time. In August, 1702, Minichque, one of their sachems, 
 while visiting Albany, was mortally wounded by a party of four 
 
 1 Ante, p. 63. 
 
186 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 negroes. The authorities took immediate charge of him, nursed 
 him tenderly, and arrested the offenders and brought them to 
 trial. Minichque and his brethren were satisfied, and the former, 
 although lamenting that his death should have been caused by 
 those who had " no courage nor heart," charged Soquans to 
 make intercession for his murderers. " Upon his death-bed," 
 said Soquans, in performing this mission, " our great sachem 
 desired that no revenge should be taken, saying that he forgave 
 the offenders, and prayed that they might be reprieved." " Since 
 blood was shed, blood must be shed again," replied Cornbury, 
 and on the iQth of August the principal offender was executed 
 in atonement for the wrong which he had committed. 
 
 Through all these conferences 1 and proceedings, two princi 
 pal facts are conspicuous : the equality of the Mahicans in all 
 treaties with the authorities, from the earliest Dutch adventurers 
 at Fort Orange to the more powerful occupation by the English, 
 and the duality of the organization called the Schaticooks^ in 
 which the principals appear as Mahicans and the New England 
 fugitives as Pennacooks. Had equal fullness in record been made 
 at earlier periods, the first point would not have so long been in 
 obscurity. That it finally appears is due to the wisdom of Go 
 vernor Bellomont and to the selection of Colonel Peter Schuyler 
 than whom the Mahicans had no more sincere friend as secre 
 tary to the commissioners of Indian affairs, under instructions, 
 " upon any message from any or all of the Five Nations of 
 Indians, or from the nation of Schakook or river Indians," to 
 immediately call the commissioners together, and " to keep a 
 record of all proceedings in reference thereto." The faithful 
 ness of this record preserves the truth of history, and places the 
 Mahicans in the position which they justly occupied, but which 
 had perhaps been clouded by the destructive wars through 
 which they had passed, and the demoralization which had fallen 
 upon them incident to their proximity to the marts of European 
 
 1 Conferences with the Indians were not I ever endured in my whole life. I was 
 
 the most pleasant affairs. They were shut up in a close chamber with fifty 
 
 almost invariably held in the old Albany sachems, who besides the stink of bear's 
 
 Court House. Gov. Bellomont writes of grease, with which they plentifully daub'd 
 
 one which he held with the Five Nations themselves, were continually either smok- 
 
 in October, 1700 :" My conference lasted ing or drinking." Colonial History, iv, 
 
 seven days and was the greatest fatigue 714. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 187 
 
 traffic. Yet judged by this standard, their ancient rivals, the 
 Mohawks, were not their peers. Zinzendorf writes of the lat 
 ter that their passion for strong drink, by making them hope 
 lessly indolent, had rendered them unworthy of their position 
 as head of the Six Nations ; that though chiefest in dignity, they 
 were " despised because of their levity and paid off with the 
 title," while the Onondagas were the actual " Judahs among 
 their brethren." Years of intimate association with the Euro 
 peans had made the one " prophets without honor in their own 
 country," while the absence of such association had magnified 
 the dignity and prowess of the others. 
 
 The peace of 1698 was of short duration. James II, the 
 dethroned king of England, died in exile in France in Septem 
 ber, 1701, and Louis acknowledged the son of James as the 
 successor to the throne. The death of King William followed 
 in March, 1702, and Anne was declared his successor. The 
 war which followed, and which was known in Europe as 
 the war of the Spanish succession, was called in America, 
 Queen Anne's war. It continued until the peace at Utrecht, 
 April n, 1713. New York scarce knew of its existence, 
 although the province was put in condition for defense. The 
 Indians, who had hitherto been the principal contestants and 
 principal sufferers in these wars, were at peace. The Five 
 Nations refused to break their treaties by attacking the Abenaquls 
 who had espoused the cause of France, while the Abenaquis in 
 turn refused to make war upon the Five Nations. But while 
 New York escaped, New England was ravaged with ruthless 
 hand. Casco, Wells, Deerfield, and Haverhill, were given to 
 fiame and sword ; the aged and those of tender years shared the 
 fate of the vigorous and manly ; death hung on the frontiers ; 
 the prowling Indian seemed near every farm house. " There 
 is," says Bancroft, " no tale to tell of battles like those of 
 Blenheim, or Ramillies, but only one sad narrative of rural 
 dangers and sorrows. The Indians stealthily approached towns 
 in the heart of Massachusetts, as well as along the coast, and 
 on the southern and western frontiers. Children, as they 
 gamboled on the beach ; reapers, as they gathered the harvest ; 
 24 
 
188 THE INDUN TRIBES 
 
 .mowers, as they rested from using the scythe ; mothers, as they 
 busied themselves about the household, were victims to an 
 enemy who disappeared the moment a blow was struck. Such 
 were the sorrows of that generation." J 
 
 Special efforts were made, early in 1710, to induce the Five 
 Nations and the Mahicans to violate their neutrality and embark 
 in the conflict. The success of the French, in establishing 
 themselves among the northern and western Indians, annoyed 
 the English of New York, who saw in embroiling the peaceful 
 tribes in war the only mode of arresting more formidable al 
 liances. Nicholson, who had been appointed governor in 1688, 
 and who had fled to England during the Leisler revolution, had 
 met with some successes on the northern coast, and was anxious 
 to have the Indians in the field as part of an expedition for the 
 reduction of Quebec, which he had planned and in which he 
 hoped to win unfading laurels. To promote the ends of both, 
 and at the same time contribute to the relief of New England, 
 he sailed for Europe, taking with him Colonel Peter Schuyler and 
 representative chiefs of the Mohawks and Mahicans. On their 
 arrival in England this delegation was received with marked 
 distinction. 2 "Clothed like tragedy kings, by tailors of the 
 theatre, taken in the coaches of state, they were waited upon 
 by Sir Charles Cottrell, and, on the iQth of April, introduced 
 to her majesty by the Duke of Shrewsbury. They were en 
 tertained by many noble persons, particularly the Duke of 
 Ormond, who favored them with a review of the life-guards. 
 Their portraits were taken and are now preserved in the British 
 Museum, together with their names." 3 So much attention, so 
 
 1 Bancroft, in, 216. chiefs of the six nations, which lie between 
 
 3 Bancroft, in, 209. New England and New France or Canada, 
 
 8 The best and most methodical account who lately came over with the West In- 
 
 of the visit of these chiefs was published dia fleet, and were clothed and entertained 
 
 in the great annual history by Mr. Bo- at the Queen's expense, had a public au- 
 
 yer, entitled " The Annals of ^ueen dience of Her Majesty at the palace of 
 
 Anne's Reign, for 1 710," from which the St James. They made a speech by their 
 
 following is an extract : "On the 1 9th interpreter, which Major Pidgeon, who 
 
 of April, Te-Gee-Ncen-Ho-Ga-Proiv and was one of the officers came with them, 
 
 Sa-Ga-Yeau-Qua-Prah-Ton (King Hen- read in English to Her Majesty." Sir 
 
 drik, Colonial History, v, 358), of the Richard Steele, in the Tatler of May 
 
 Maquas ; Elonu-Oh-Kaom and Oh-Yeath- 13, 1710, gives an account of the visit. 
 
 Ton-No-Proiv, of the river sachems, and Miner, in his History of Wyoming, 
 
 the Ganajohhore sachem, five kings or endeavors to locate one of the visiting 
 
, ' OF HUDSON'S RWER. 189 
 
 great a display of the power and glory of England, had its effect ; 
 the chiefs readily promised to return and rally their clans to the field; 
 were hurried home with this promise fresh on their lips, and 
 started on their mission of war. 
 
 Events moved slowly in the wilderness at that time, and a 
 full year elapsed before the response came. On the iyth of 
 August, 171 1, the chiefs met Governor Hunter, with their war 
 riors. The sachem of Schaticook brought thirty-eight men ; the 
 Mabicans, fifty-eight under Wampasa, whom they had chosen as 
 their captain ; the Shawanoes, twenty-six ; the Mohawks one hun 
 dred and forty, and the remaining tribes of the Five Nations, 
 about five hundred. Each delegation was separately received, 
 that of the Five Nations, on account of its numbers, being 
 especially honored by a salute of five guns as they passed in review 
 before Fort Albany. The conference opened on the 24th 
 when, " each nation seated on the ground by themselves," Go 
 vernor Hunter thanked them for their response to the queen's com 
 mands, and informed them that they would be expected to join 
 General Nicholson in the expedition against Canada, which 
 had been organized. 1 This expedition had already sailed from 
 Boston, with seven veteran regiments, and was to be met by the 
 colonial forces of New York, New Jersey and Connecticut, 
 with their Indian allies, under the walls of Quebec. 2 Roasted 
 oxen, barrels of beer, the firing of cannon, and some " private 
 presents" to the proper chiefs, completed the work, and all pro 
 fessed their readiness to march at the queen's command. 
 
 The French were not idle spectators of these preparations, 
 and in their efforts to defeat them brought out in strong colors 
 the power and influence which they had established over their 
 Indian allies through their priests. A great war festival was 
 held at Montreal, and the war song chanted by seven or eight 
 hundred warriors, many of whom were the flower of the Iro- 
 quois and Mahican nations, whom the priests had drawn thither. 
 
 chiefs among the Delawares, but is not chems of ye Five Nations and river In- 
 sustained by the record. The Canajo- dians, particularly those lately come from 
 harie chief, whose name is not given, Great Britain, waited upon His Excel- 
 died in England soon after his arrival, lency, Gov. Hunter," &c. Colonial 
 The first conference after their return History, v, 217. 
 was held at Albany, Aug. 10, 1711, of 1 Colonial History, v, 267, etc. 
 which the record says : "Some of ye sa- a Bancroft, in, 221, etc. 
 
190 THE INDIAN TRIBES * 
 
 From the far west the response was even more enthusiastic. 
 Tribe after tribe, even the Osages and Missouri*, sprang to the 
 relief of the French. " Father," said they to Vaudreuil, " be 
 hold thy children compass thee round. We will, if need be, 
 gladly die for our father only take care of our wives and our 
 children, and spread a little grass over our dead bodies to pro 
 tect them against the flies." 
 
 Circumstances prevented actual collision. The fleet sailed 
 from Boston, after many delays, only to be invested by heavy 
 fogs, and to meet with the wreck of eight of the vessels of 
 which it was composed and the loss of eight hundred and eighty- 
 four men drowned. 1 The land forces were moved to the sup 
 port of the fleet. " On the 2Qth of August," says Governor 
 Hunter, " I left them all upon their march beyond Albany 
 towards the lakes, completely armed, clothed, accoutred and 
 victualled, to be followed next day by eight hundred Indians 
 of the Five Nations and their allies from Albany." How 
 far the march extended does not appear ; it was arrested by 
 the disaster to the fleet, and became a successful and unmo 
 lested retreat. 
 
 The Tuscaroras, of North Carolina, one of the southern 
 tribes of Iroquois, did not escape from the war so fortunately. 
 Resisting the encroachments of the proprietaries of Carolina, 
 who had assigned their lands to the German Palatines, they 
 were almoy destroyed in their fort on the river Taw, on the 
 26th of March, 1713, having lost eight hundred in prisoners, 
 who were sold as slaves to the allies of the English. The 
 largest portion of the survivors of this disaster, "unwilling to 
 submit and unable to contend," removed to the north, joined 
 the confederated tribes of New York, and were accepted and 
 established as the sixth nation, or " children," of the Iroquois* 
 They were located immediately west of, and in juxtaposition to, 
 
 1 Colonial History, v, 2771 promise to live peaceably among us, and 
 
 3 At a conference at Albany, Sept. 25, since there is peace every where, we have 
 
 1714, the Five Nations, in their address to received them. We desire you to look 
 
 Governor Hunter, said : "We acquaint you upon the Tuscarores that are come to live 
 
 that the Tuscarore Indians are come to among us as our children who shall obey 
 
 shelter themselves among the Five Na- our commands and live peaceably and 
 
 tions. They were of us and went from orderly." Colonial Hhtory, v, 387. 
 us long ago and are now returned, and 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 191 
 
 the OneidasJ and as they increased in strength became useful 
 to their associates. 2 
 
 Peace and intimate association with their European neighbors, 
 which had proved so disastrous to the Mahicam in former times, 
 did not improve their condition. They came regularly to the 
 conferences, but in smaller numbers and in a condition,, betoken 
 ing great indulgence in intoxicating liquors. At the conference 
 of 1720, the commissioners specially commended their faithful 
 ness to their covenant, as distinguished from the Five Nations, 
 who had " suffered themselves to be deluded by the French and 
 their emissaries," but did not hesitate to ascribe the poverty of 
 which they complained to " drinking and laziness," and to ad 
 vise them to " be sober and active in hunting and planting" in 
 the future. 3 In 1722, Governor Burnet, in renewing the an 
 cient covenant with them, remarked : " I need not tell you 
 how destructive your intemperance has proved, and how much 
 your people are diminished by your excessive drinking of rum, 
 the women as well as the men being guilty of being often drunk. 
 Let me advise you to be more sober in the future, and not to 
 spend what you get by hunting in strong drink, and above all 
 not squander your Indian corn for rum." But was it the fault of 
 the Indians that the assertions of the governor were but too well 
 founded ? Said the Mahicans in their answer, through Ampamit 4 
 their speaker : " We are sensible that you are much in the 
 right, that rum does a great deal of harm. We approve of all 
 that you said on that point, but the matter is this, when our 
 people come from hunting to the town or plantations and ac 
 quaint the traders and people that we want powder and shot and 
 clothing, they first give us a large cup of rum, and after we get 
 the taste of it we crave for more, so that in fine all the beaver 
 and peltry we have hunted goes for drink, and we are left de 
 stitute either of clothing or ammunition. Therefore, we desire 
 our father to order the tap or crane to be shut, and to prohibit 
 the selling of rum, for as long as the Christians will sell rum 
 
 lu The Oneidas, the proprietors of that a Schooler of t\ Notes on the Iroyuots, 104, 
 country, gave you a settlement then out etc. Gallatin, 82, 83. 
 of kindness." Johnson to Seth, chief of 3 Colonial History, v, 563. 
 the Tuscaroras at Oghkivaga. 4 Said to have been chief of an island 
 
 in the Hudson. 
 
192 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 our people will drink it. We acknowledge that our father 
 is very much in the right to tell us that we squander away 
 our Indian corn, but one great cause of it is that many of 
 our people are obliged to hire land of the Christians at a very 
 dear rate, and to give half the corn for rent, and the other half 
 they are tempted by rum to sell, and so the corn goes, and the 
 poor women and children are left to shift as well as they can." 
 And he might have added, that the land which they called their 
 own was not unfrequently mortgaged to those who had furnished 
 them corn, after defrauding them of that which they had 
 produced, and the mortgages very promptly foreclosed. With 
 out this addition, however, Governor Burnet felt the force of 
 the argument of this aboriginal prohibitionist, and took the 
 point from his rebuke by remarking, in reply, that they " looked 
 better " and were " better clothed " " than the other Indians, 
 who do not live among the Christians," and that therefore they 
 would do well " to stay among them." No promise did he give, 
 however, that he appreciated and ^would enforce the divine 
 command, " Lead us not into temptation," by preventing the 
 sale of rum and the consequent plunder by which the Christian 
 name was reproached. Commanding them to distribute their 
 presents equally between those living above Albany and those 
 living below Albany, he dismissed them. 
 
 The New England provinces maintained war with the east 
 ern Indians for some years after peace had been established with 
 France. The doctrine that the Indians had no rights which 
 Christians were bound to respect, was firmly held by the suc 
 cessors of Underbill and Church, who hesitated not to provoke 
 and continue hostilities when peace was within their reach. But 
 the war grew tedious as well as disastrous, and the authorities 
 there appealed to the Iroquois to take up the hatchet in their 
 behalf. 1 The latter made loud protestations of what they would 
 do, but contented themselves with hiding the hatchet in their 
 bosoms and sending messengers to the Abtnaquit. A year later 
 (1724), the New England commissioners remonstrated with them, 
 
 1 This overture was not to the Five were there entertained with a feast and 
 
 Nations alone, but embraced the Mahl- presents, as was customary in such nego- 
 
 cans and Schaticooks. Delegates from the., tiations. Niks' History, Massachusetts 
 
 tribes named were invited to Boston, and Historical Collections^ v, 347. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 193 
 
 and charged that they had not only laid the hatchet by their 
 side, but had accomplished nothing by negotiation. The reply 
 was pointed : " The matter of peace rests with you," said their 
 speaker ; " whenever you will give up the lands which you have 
 wrongfully taken, and restore the hostages which you have 
 retained without cause," peace can be secured. They had made 
 full inquiry and were satisfied that the eastern Indians were not 
 the aggressors, and they knew that should they attempt to force 
 them to peace, a general war would ensue. " Though the 
 hatchet lies by our side," continued their speaker, " yet the way 
 is open between this place and Canada, and trade te free both 
 going and coming, and so the way is open between this place 
 and Albany and the Six Nations, and if a war should break out 
 and we should use the hatchet that lays by our side, those paths 
 which are now open would be stopped ; and if we should make 
 war it would not end in a few days as yours doth, but it must 
 last till one nation or the other is destroyed. We have been 
 three times with the eastward Indians and could not prevail, and 
 we know what whipping and scourging is from the governor of 
 Canada. The eastern Indians seem to be inclined to peace, and 
 inasmuch as we have tried three times and could not effect it, 
 we would have you try them yourselves." 1 The Iroquois 
 were in no humor to attack so formidable a foe as the Abenaquis. 
 Their last conflict had been at. least a drawn battle, and having 
 formed a peace with them as well as with the governor of Canada, 
 whose allies they were, they declined, as they did in 1704, to 
 reopen a conflict which might involve their own existence. 
 The name of Mohawk ! if it once had terror 2 for the fugitive 
 Pequot, upon whose head a price was set, had none for those 
 who boasted that they received the first kiss of the morning sun 
 the tribute which they paid was not to the Iroquois. 
 
 The record of the years immediately subsequent is but a 
 disconnected detail of migrations and reorganizations among the 
 Indian tribes. In 1 726, two of the sachems of the Pennacooks, at 
 Schaticook, being dead, Governor Burnet appointed Wawiachech 
 in their place. Instead of increasing in numbers^as^they had 
 
 1 Colonial History, v, 723, 725. 2 This is one of the fables of history, 
 
 which is quoted by almost "every writer. 
 
194 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 anticipated, they steadily decreased by desertions to Canada. 
 These desertions were explained, by those who remained, as 
 being caused by debts which they had incurred and were unable 
 to pay, or the payment of which they wished to escape. 1 While 
 this explanation was not without some truth, the overtures made 
 by the French, and the entreaties of their relatives, were pro 
 bably the predominant impelling motives. Houses, lands, pro 
 tection, and a more complete recognition by the government, 
 were temptations that these wanderers, who, like Esau, had 
 parted with their birthright for a mess of pottage, could not 
 resist. 
 
 Nor were their MMcan neighbors fully satisfied with their 
 condition. A considerable number of the better classes among 
 them felt keerrly the devouring curses to which they were 
 exposed by their proximity to the established centre of trade, 
 and fled from their devouring touch to the friendly embrace 
 of their " grandfathers," the Lenapes, and settled beside the 
 Minsis and Sbawanoes in the valley of Wyoming at the forks 
 of the Susquehanna. 2 Among the first of these emigrants was 
 Keeperdo, or Mohekin Abraham, who, in 1730, left his lands 
 at the mouth of Wood creek unoccupied. Whether he was the 
 founder of the Pennsylvania organization or not does not appear ; 
 but the organization itself maintained a separate and recognized 
 existence in all the changes of the Lenapes and their confede 
 rates. In those changes Keeperdo shared accepted, with his 
 associates, the reproach of " women," joined in the ceremonies 
 of its removal, and, in 1771, was found in the Ohio country. 3 
 
 1 Colonial History, v, 798, 799. well known by many old people about 
 3 " We reached Skehandowa (April 23, Albany, and in conclusion says : " It may 
 1737), where a number of Indians live, be reported that I am dead, as it is forty 
 Shawanos and Mahicanders." Memorials years since I left that country." Signed, 
 Moravian Church, i, 69. " Mohekin Abraham, or Keeperdo." 
 3 In the Manuscripts of Sir William The tract was covered by a patent to 
 Johnson, in the State Library (vol. ai, Philip Skene, and embraced what was 
 p. 40), is a letter endorsed : " Letter from known as Skenesborough, now White- 
 Ohio concerning land rec'd it Oct. 1 6th, hall, in the present county of Washington . 
 1771." This letter was from Mohekin Skene located thirty families on it in 1761, 
 Abraham, who writes : " I understand The Mahicans at Stockbridge claimed 
 the Mohikans at; Stockbridge are wanting the ownership, but it does not appear that 
 to sell a certain tract of land lying above the tract was ever paid for. The letter 
 Albany, from the mouth of Wood creek of Keeperdo is important as defining more 
 upwards." This sale he requested to have clearly the extent of the Mahican country, 
 stopped as he was the owner, that he was 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. ^ 195 
 
 As this band retreated towards the west, another appeared 
 from the east in the territory of the Mabicans. Gideon x Mau 
 wehu, a Pequot chief, originally of some prominence in that 
 unfortunate nation, and whose natural abilities were of no 
 ordinary stamp, with a few of his followers found a home in 
 the present town of Dover, on Ten Mile river, in the county 
 of Dutchess. Here he had lived but a short time, when, on 
 one of his hunting excursions, he came to the summit of a 
 mountain in the present county of Kent, Connecticut. Look 
 ing down from this eminence he saw the Housatonic winding 
 through a narrow but fertile valley, shut in by wooded hills.- 
 Delighted with the scene, he returned to his wigwam, packed 
 up his property, and journeyed with his family and followers 
 to this new found land of quiet and plenty. From here he 
 issued invitations to his old friends and to the Mabicans of the 
 Hudson. Immigrants flocked in, and in ten years from the 
 time of settlement, it was thought a hundred warriors had 
 collected around him. 2 To his village he gave the name of 
 Pishgachtigok, which had already been applied to that of the 
 fugitive Pennacooks on the Hudson, and which there as well as 
 on the Hudson, 3 was corrupted into Schaticook, by which it was 
 known to the authorities of Connecticut, who subsequently 
 established there a reservation on, which the name of Mauwehu 
 was represented for five generations. 4 What relation this 
 organization sustained to the Mabicans does not appear, although 
 the authority of the latter was no doubt recognized, so far as 
 recognition was customary under tribal laws. With the authori 
 ties of New York, Mauwehu had no direct connection. 
 
 Almost simultaneously with the appearance of Mauwehu in 
 the valley of the Housatonic, the axe of the pioneer was heard 
 in its ancient forests. In 1722, Joseph Parsons and others 
 purchased from the Mabicans there a tract of land embracing 
 territory sufficient for two townships, and prepared to locate a 
 
 1 A name given to him by the Mora- s The situations were similar and the 
 
 vian missionary, Mack, by whom he was name, Pisgachtigok, or the confluence 
 
 baptized in 1743. Latrobis Missions, n, of two streams, was applied to both. 
 43, 44, etc. 4 Eunice, the last of royal line, died on 
 
 3 De Forests History Indians of Connecti- the reservation in 1860. 
 cut, 407, etc. 
 
 25 * 
 
196 * THE INDIAN ITtlBES 
 
 settlement. That which the people of New England then 
 regarded as an absolute essential in such enterprises a reserva 
 tion for the use and support of a minister was included in their 
 charter. Subsequent investigation having proved that the loca 
 tion of a minister among them could be greatly promoted by 
 availing themselves of the aid of the Society for the Propaga 
 tion of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, and that the prospect of 
 improving the condition of the Mahicans by direct association 
 was better than through the intercourse had with them at the 
 forts, where missionaries had been stationed, it was determined 
 to make application to that society for a missionary. The 
 application was granted, but on condition that the consent of 
 the Mahicans should be first obtained. A committee accord 
 ingly visited them at Westenhuck in July, 1734. The relations 
 existing between the Mahicans and the Massachusetts govern 
 ment being intimate and friendly Konapot, the Mahican chief, 
 having been commissioned captain, by Governor Belcher, and 
 Umpachenee, his subordinate, made a lieutenant, in the colonial 
 service this consent was readily obtained. In September fol 
 lowing, the Rev. John Sergeant was appointed to the mission 
 and entered upon its duties in October. In 1735, the mission 
 was definitely located on the W-nahk-ta-kook, or the Great 
 Meadow, the great council chamber of the nation, where a 
 township six miles square was laid out by the legislature as a 
 reservation under the name of Stockbridge, by which name the 
 Mahicans who were then located there, as well as those who 
 subsequently removed thither, were known to the authorities of 
 Massachusetts and New York. 1 
 
 Following closely upon the establishment of the Stockbridge 
 mission, the Moravians began their labors in the Mahican coun 
 try. With a zeal remarkable for its voluntarily assumed sacri 
 fices, and more pure than that which characterized the labors of 
 other organizations, because without political interests to serve, 
 they had pushed their way into the territory of the Creeks and 
 
 1 Stockbridge, Past and Present. Twenty in his labors, by a young Mahican, John 
 
 miles distant, at a village called Kau- Wauwaumpequnnaunt, and met with so 
 
 naumeek y David Brainerd, a licentiate muchsuccess thathewas enabled to induce 
 
 acting under similar authority, esta- his people to remove to Stockbridge. 
 Wished a mission in 1743. He was aided 
 * 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 197 
 
 Cherokees of Georgia, in 1735. Driven thence by the political 
 troubles with the Spaniards, they established a colony at Bethle 
 hem, on the Delaware, and, in 1740, founded a mission in the 
 present county of Dutchess. The pioneer in the latter field was 
 Christian Henry Rauch, who arrived in New York, in July of 
 that year, seeking missionary labor, and where he soon after met 
 a company of Mahicans who were there to renew their covenant 
 with the government. Ascertaining that he could converse with 
 them in the Dutch language, he visited them repeatedly at their 
 encampment, but found them almost invariably in a state of 
 beastly intoxication on the liquor which the government had 
 given them, ferocious in appearance and but little disposed to 
 extend the encouragement which he sought. Finding them 
 sober at last, he addressed two of their chiefs, TSchoop and Sha- 
 bash, and obtained their consent to accompany them to their 
 village as a teacher. Led by them he reached Shekomeko, in the 
 district now known as Pine plains, on the i6th of August, and 
 immediately commenced a work which was not without en 
 couraging reward. Tschoop, 1 known as " the greatest drunkard 
 among his followers," was converted ; Schabash joined him soon 
 after. At the end of two years thirty-one baptized Indians 
 attended his ministrations, " all of the Mabikander tribe," and 
 in 1743, the number had reached sixty-three. 
 
 Rauch's labors were not confined to Shekomeko alone. At 
 Pisgachtigok, Mauwehu and his brother were among his con 
 verts, while at Wechquadnach, 2 or Pachquadnach, Totatik, 3 
 Westenhuck, and Wehtak, 4 he was not without sincere followers. 
 At Shekomeko, Wechquadnach and Pisgachtigok, mission 
 
 1 Schweinitz, in his Life and Times of Loskiel, n, 93, 94. Schabash received in 
 
 David Zeisberger, says the name of this baptism the name of Abraham. He was 
 
 chief was Wasarnapah ; his English name subsequently elected chief or king of the 
 
 prior to his baptism, Job ; and ijhe name Mahicans on the Delaware, and died at 
 
 he received in baptism, John j that he Wyoming in December, 1762. Memo- 
 
 never bore the name of Tschoop among rials Moravian Church^ i, 147. 
 
 his people, but that it originated among 2 Now North-east Centre, Connecticut, 
 
 the Moravians in consequence of their The name is preserved in Wachquadnach 
 
 German mode of pronouncing Job. Wa- lake or Indian pond, 
 
 sarnapah was the ruling chief at Sheko- 3 On the east side of the Housatonic 
 
 meko. He was a man of remarkable opposite the mouth of Poughtatuck creek, 
 
 powers of mind, and in whose mien "was 4 Or Wyatiack, near Salisbury, Litch- 
 
 the majesty of a Luther." He died of field Co., Conn. 
 small pox at Bethlehem, Aug. 2,7, 1746. 
 
198 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 houses were established, the success at the latter being greater 
 than that at Shekomeko. In this field Rauch, Gotleib, Butt- 
 ner and Samuel Mack labored for twenty years, and until driven 
 out by persecutions which their success provoked. In the war 
 of 1755, they were accused of being emissaries of the French j 
 subsequently they were "arrested under the law of 1700, forbid 
 ding the presence of priests in the province without a license from 
 the government ; the traders, whose traffic in rum was mate 
 rially abridged by their teachings, lost no opportunity to misre 
 present them and accuse them falsely ; finally, they were ejected 
 from the lands at Shekomeko under a claim that they belonged 
 to the white people and not to the Indians. After a temporary 
 rest at Wechquadnach and Pisgachtigok, they removed, with 
 many of their followers, to Pennsylvania, where they formed a 
 colony to which they gave the name of Freidenshutten, (tents 
 of peace). Their stay here was short. Gnadenhutten (tents 
 of grace) received them for a time, and from thence they shared 
 the roving fortunes of the Moravians, followed in all their wander 
 ings by their faithful Mahican converts. 1 
 
 Meanwhile the commissioners of the society in Scotland for 
 Propagating the Gospel had entered upon the work of diffusing 
 Christian knowledge among the Indians, and had commissioned 
 the Rev. David Brainerd to labor among the Delawares. 
 Having transferred his mission among the Mahicans to the Rev. 
 Mr. Sergeant, Brainerd visited the Delaware country in the 
 spring of 1744. At Minnisink he encountered the opposition 
 of the Indians, 2 but established himself at the Forks of the Dela- 
 
 1 Hccke*welder*s Narrative; Life and and after some discourse, and attempts to 
 Times of David Zeisberger ; LoskiePs His- contract a friendship with him, I told 
 tory of the Mission of the United Brethren ; him I had a desire (for his benefit and 
 Memorials of the Moravian Church ; The happiness) to instruct them in Christianity. 
 Moravians in Neiv York and Connecticut ; At which he laughed and turned his 
 Documentary History of Nc<w York; Stone's back upon me and went away. I then 
 Life of Brant, etc. addressed another principal man in the 
 
 2 "I then set out on my journey toward same manner, who sa;d he was willing to 
 Delaware; and on May loth, (1744), hear me. After some time, I followed 
 met with a number of Indians in a place the king into his house, and renewed 
 called Minnissinks, about a hundred and my discourse to him : but he declined 
 forty miles from Kaunaumeek (the place talking, and left the affair to another, 
 where I spent the last year), and directly who appeared to be a rational man. He 
 in my way to Delaware river. With began and talked very warmly near a 
 these Indians I spent sometime, and first quarter of an hour together; he enquired 
 addressed their king in a friendly manner, why I desired the Indians to become 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 199 
 
 ware, at which place, and at Crossweeksung, " in New Jersey, 
 towards the sea," he met with considerable success. 1 His 
 brother, John Brainerd, about the same time, established a 
 mission at Bethel, New Jersey, where he drew together a per 
 manent congregation. 
 
 But the changes of this period were not confined to the 
 Mabicans and Lenapes. It is said that in 1748, a band of 
 fugitive Nanticokes^ under their chief sachem, White, put them 
 selves under the protection of the Six Nations at Conestoga 
 on the Delaware. 2 If the Moravian missionaries were correctly 
 informed, their presence was a source of weakness rather than 
 of strength to their allies. Loskiel states that they " instructed 
 the Delawares and Iroquois in preparing a peculiar kind of 
 poison," which was capable of infecting whole townships and 
 tribes with "disorders as pernicious as the plague," and that they 
 " nearly destroyed their own nation by it." Their history, 
 until their final disappearance in the west, was not particularly 
 distinguished, perhaps for the reason stated by Loskiel. 
 
 A more important acquisition at least temporarily by the 
 Iroquois at this time, was that of the Mississagies as the seventh 
 nation of the confederacy. The Mississagies were a northern 
 Alqonquln nation whose place of residence was on the waters of 
 
 Christians, seeing the Christians were so come and see them again. He replied, 
 much worse than the Indians. It was he should be willing to see me again, as a 
 they first taught the Indians to be drunk, friend, if I would not desire them to 
 and. they stole from one another, to that become Christians. I then bid them fare- 
 degree, that their rulers were obliged to well, and prosecuted my journey towards 
 hang them for it, and that was not suffi- Delaware." BrainercTs Mission. 
 cient to deter others from the like prac- 1 He died in 1747, of consumption, a 
 tice. But the Indians, he added, were martyr to the work which he had un- 
 none or them ever hanged for stealing, dertaken. 
 
 and yet they did not steal half so much 5 2 The Nanticokes, or tide water peo- 
 
 and he supposed that if the Indians should pie, had their seats, when the Eu- 
 
 become Christians, they would then be as ropeans first met them, on the eastern 
 
 bad as those, and hereupon he said, they shore of Maryland. At the time of the 
 
 would live as their fathers lived, and go removal referred to in the text they were 
 
 where their fathers were when they died, not considerable in numbers. Gallatin 
 
 I then freely owned, lamented, and joined says they were the allies of the Six 
 
 with him in condemning the ill conduct Nations. Their lands in Maryland were 
 
 of some who are called Christians; told sold, through the agency of Sir William 
 
 him these were not Christians at heart, Johnson, in 1760, and the money paid to 
 
 that I hated such wicked practices, and the chiefs. Colonial History, vin, 117. 
 
 did not desire the Indians to become such They were repeatedly represented in the 
 
 as these, and when he appeared calmer, conferences with the Delawares and the 
 
 I asked him if he was willing that I should Shawanoes. 
 
200 
 
 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 a river which enters the north shores of Lake Huron, between 
 Point Tessalon and La Cloche. In pushing the policy which 
 the government of New York had established, of promoting 
 trade by securing the alliance of Indian tribes with the Six Na 
 tions, the latter had been induced to open negotiations with 
 many of their former enemies. 1 As one of the fruits of this 
 policy, the Necariages, a remnant of the once powerful Hurons, 
 or Wyandots, had been induced to visit Albany, in 1723, and to 
 ask to be received as the seventh nation. The commissioners of 
 Indian affairs accepted them as such, 2 but the confederates never 
 acknowledged them. When the Mississagies tendered a similar 
 alliance, however, they were received by the confederates, and at 
 a conference, held at Albany on the 23d of August, 1746, were 
 publicly acknowledged by them as the seventh nation. 3 The al 
 liance did not long continue. When the war of 1 755 broke out, it 
 WS found that the Six Nations were at war with their new allies. 
 A more permanent acquisition was that of the Ochtayhquana- 
 wicroonsf a Tuscarora clan, 5 who appeared on the Susquehanna 
 river, in the present county of Broome, ih 1 722, arM around whom 
 subsequently gathered several Mahican families who had previ 
 ously found homes with the Mohawks, but who had become " dis 
 satisfied with the ruling politics 6 of that tribe ; " Skaniadaradigk- 
 
 *In 1740, George Clark, then acting 
 as governor, secured the assent of the 
 Six Nations to the proposition to " take 
 into the covenant chain all the nations 
 of Indians lying to the westward and 
 southward as far as the Mississippi," as 
 the " most likely way to establish an uni 
 versal peace among all the Indians and 
 to make it lasting." 
 
 2 Colonial History , v, 695. Schoolcraft 
 classes the Necariages as the seventh 
 nation, but admits that they were never 
 so received. The fact appears to be that 
 no nation was ever received into the con 
 federate compact j even the Tuscaroras 
 had no such relation. In all their na 
 tional action but five tribes were repre 
 sented. 
 
 3 " We, the Six Nations, are now assem 
 bled together as one man, and we take 
 in the Mississagies as the Seventh Nation j 
 and what is now spoken by one mouth, 
 are the joint and sincere thoughts of 
 
 every heart." Colonial History, vi, 321. 
 The Mississagies numbered at that time 
 eight hundred warriors. They were at 
 treaty conference for the last time in 
 1755. Colonial History, vn, 259. 
 
 4 Colonial History, v, 675. They were 
 subsequently called the Onoghquageys, 
 Oghquagas, Aughquages, Ochquaquas, 
 Onenhoghkwages, Auquaguas, Onehoh- 
 quages, etc. Index Colonial History ; Pro 
 ceedings of the Provincial Convention of 
 New York, n, 340, 419, 423, etc. 
 
 6 Dr. O'Callaghan says they were chiefly 
 Mohawks (note, Colonial History, v, 675), 
 but a different conclusion is clearly dedu- 
 cible from the conference minutes of Feb. 
 2, 1756, in which the name "Augh 
 quages, as distinguishing the original or 
 ganization, is immediately followed by 
 that of Tuscaroras in brackets. Colonial 
 History, vn, 51. It is quite probable there 
 were Mohawks residing among them. 
 
 6 Colonial History, vn, 278. "A party 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 
 
 201 
 
 roonas, from Maryland, 1 a portion of the Cbugnuts* a Susque- 
 hanna family, and several clans of the Minsis or Esopus Indians 
 living upon the east branch of the Delaware river ; 3 They were 
 not without favorable record in the wars of 1745 and I755, 4 
 but derive their historic interest mainly from the distinguished 
 services of their chief, Thomas King, 5 and from the fact that 
 through them the history of the Esopus clans is linked with the 
 war of the Revolution. 6 
 
 At a later period, and apparently about 1746, the Oneidas 
 sent off a colony from their principal castle, to a point about 
 twelve miles from Oneida lake, where they established a settle 
 ment which they called Canowaroghere or Onawaraghharee, 7 and 
 which was subsequently recognized as u the second Oneida 
 castle." Several families of the Long island clans, dispossessed 
 of their lands and surrounded by European settlers, were subse 
 quently added to the colony, 8 giving to it influence in point of 
 numbers. 
 
 Meanwhile the Esopus clans who had not followed the for 
 tunes of their kindred, the Minsis, maintained their succession of 
 sachems and held annual conferences with the justices at Kings 
 ton. 9 Thither came Ankerop, chief sachem, in 1722, and 
 complained that a tc white man had offered violence to an Indian 
 
 of Aughquages and Mahicanders under 
 Thomas, an Aughquage chief. Ibid, 
 187. The Mahicans here spoken of were 
 entirely distinct from those who settled at 
 an early period among the Lenapes, or 
 those who were subsequently located at 
 Otsiningo. Ibid., 104. 
 
 1 Colonial History, vi, 983. Supposed 
 to be a remnant of the Powhattan con 
 federacy, who were removed under the 
 treaty with Virginia in 1722, and called 
 by Gallatin Sachdagughroonas. The date 
 of their settlement at the north corre 
 sponds with that of the treaty with Vir 
 ginia. Gallatin, 58, 59. 
 
 3 Their village was on the south bank 
 of the Susquehanna, opposite Bingham- 
 ton. 
 
 3 " The Delaware Indians, who live on 
 the east branch of the Delaware river, 
 near the head of it, have given us the 
 strongest assurances that they will live 
 and die with us." Colonial History, vu, 
 50. 
 
 4 " I assure your excellency I never saw 
 a people better inclined to assist us than 
 they are." Colonial History, vi, 361. 
 
 5 This chief was actively employed as 
 the principal deputy of the Five Nations 
 in the treaties with the Lenapes and Sha- 
 wanoes. He died at Charleston, South 
 Carolina, after attending the congress of 
 Indian nations atScioto, in 1771. John 
 son speaks of him as a man of "superior 
 capacity and fidelity." Colonial History, 
 vni, 290, 300, etc. 
 
 6 Proceedings of the Provincial Conven 
 tion of Neiu York, i, 339, 808; ii, 340, 
 419, 423, etc. 
 
 1 Colonial History, vn, 512, 6n, etc. 
 
 8 Ib., vni, 476. 
 
 9 The records of these conferences are 
 scattered, some being found at Kingston, 
 others in the Clinton and Johnson papers 
 in the State Library, and others in the 
 office of the secretary of state. 
 
202 1HE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 whom he had met carrying rum," and the justices promised the 
 punishment of the offender. The justices, on their part, charged 
 that the Indians " had hired negroes to fight against the Christ 
 ians/' which the sachem denied. Not a conference passed 
 without a claim for lands taken from the Indians without com 
 pensation, many of them entirely unfounded, according to the 
 English interpretation of boundaries, but doubtless well founded 
 in the absolute knowledge of the claimants, who, in their sales, 
 had designated hills and not intervening valleys. The principal 
 purpose of the conferences, however, appears to have been to 
 dismiss the Indians with assurances of friendship, a few blankets 
 and considerable rum. If they rapidly became a " contemptible 
 people," it was in consequence of the influences by which they 
 were surrounded. In their wanderings a few of them came un 
 der the teachings of the Moravians, and united with the Mahican 
 converts in Pennsylvania, but to them as an organization no 
 missionary work was undertaken. The people - of Kingston 
 cared little for their own improvement, much less for that of the 
 Indians, and preferred rather to earn for themselves the sobri 
 quet of " the Sodom of New York," 1 than to perform those 
 acts of charity and mercy which spring from a proper apprecia 
 tion of the Christian character. Had they followed the exter 
 minating policy of the Puritans it would have been more to their 
 credit. 
 
 The Wappingers, too, maintained an organization on the 
 Hudson amid all the changes which surrounded and attended 
 them. Many of them had been drawn off to new homes ; a 
 few appeared among the Moravians and at Stockbridge, but the 
 seat of the tribe remained in the highlands. 2 Nimham, who 
 was made chief sachem in 1740, gave them prominence by ser 
 vice in the field and by his persistent efforts to recover lands of 
 which they had been defrauded. 
 
 The result of these and other changes was, that at the close 
 of the half century the Lenapes had an active, vigorous organ 
 ization of five tribes j the Iroquois^ one of seven tribes, and the 
 
 1 Memorials of the Moravian Church, sions with the addition of the Shawanoes 
 
 i, 58. and Mafricans. There were also several 
 
 1 Colonial History, vn, 869. detached clans of minor importance asso- 
 
 8 Including the- original Lenape divi- elated with them. 
 
O.F HUDSON'S RIPER. 203 
 
 Mohicans, although divided by provincial lines, one that could 
 still call its followers from Quebec to Manhattan. Although 
 the changes which had produced these new combinations were 
 in a great degree the result alike of the selfish efforts of the 
 European nations who were contesting the supremacy of the 
 continent, and of the pressure of an incoming civilization, they 
 were not less the work of aboriginal diplomats who had pur 
 poses of their own to serve. The lessons which Philip had 
 taught his people and his allies were deeply impressed. Fugi 
 tives from the fields on which he had met disaster, bore them to 
 congenial soil among the Lenapes and Skawanoes ; to the north, 
 among the Abenaquis, sharpening their desire for revenges which 
 were unatoned ; on the prairies of the west and amid the wilder 
 nesses of Canada, they were the theme of thought and prepara 
 tion. The English saw the gathering storm and sought shelter 
 behind their allies, the Iroquois ; the French welded its gathering 
 folds, and bade the avengers -onward. 
 
 The war of 1744, while without positive results to the prin 
 cipal contestants, was the turning point in the supremacy of the 
 Iroquois, as well as in the ardor of their attachment to the Eng 
 lish. At the opening of the war a conference was held with 
 them at Albany, in which Governor Clinton informed them of the 
 condition of affairs, and asked their cooperation in promoting the 
 mutual safety and defense of the English and themselves, " and 
 the annoyance of the common enemy." The chiefs hesitated. 
 " We cannot answer to every particular concerning the war," 
 said they, " but do promise that we will keep all our people at 
 home and there await orders. We are inclined to peace, till 
 the enemy attack some of his majesty's subjects, and then we 
 will join together to defend ourselves against them. 1 
 
 The conference with them in October of the following year 
 was not more successful. The chiefs thanked the governor 
 for the information which he had given them concerning the 
 war, but the hatchet which they accepted they would keep in 
 their bosoms. " We are," said they, " in alliance with a great 
 many nations, and if we should suddenly lift the hatchet with 
 out acquainting them, they would perhaps .take offense at it. 
 
 1 Colonial History, vi, 265. 
 
 26 
 
204 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 We will, therefore, before we make use of the hatchet, send 
 four of our people to Canada, to demand satisfaction for the 
 wrongs they have done, and if they refuse, then we shall be 
 ready." 
 
 In a word, they had determined to remain neutral, and to 
 that end had had consultation with their allies as well as with 
 the French. The general character of these consultations may 
 be inferred from that which they held with the Mahicans at 
 Stockbridge, in 1744, when, Mr. Sergeant states, the embassa- 
 dors were met in the most cordial manner. " Uncle," said the 
 Mahican chief, " I ask you a question. I hear you have agreed 
 with the French Mohawks to sit still, in case of war between 
 their friei.ds and ours. You well know how that matter is. I 
 desire you to tell me what we are to do in that affair. If you 
 say we must sit still, we will sit still. If we are to see those 
 Indians help their friends, we must help ours." " Cousin," 
 replied the Mohawk, " the information you have received of our 
 engaging with the French Mohawks to stand neuter in case of 
 war between the French and English, is very true. Those 
 Indians have promised us that they would not meddle with the 
 war, but sit still in peace, and let the white people determine 
 the dispute themselves. We have promised them the same, 
 and desire you to join with us in the same peaceable disposition." 
 
 Neutrality was maintained until 1746, when the French and 
 their Indians became the aggressors. Meanwhile the New 
 England authorities had erected a chain of stockades and block 
 houses along the frontier from Maine to the Connecticut river, 
 and from thence across the Hoosic mountains to the territory 
 of New York. Upon the Hoosic river, within the bounds of 
 what is now the town of Adams, one of these blockhouses, 
 known as Fort Massachusetts, was attacked in August, 1746, 
 by a force under Vaudreuil, consisting of French troops and 
 Indians numbering nine hundred and sixty-five men. The fort 
 had but eleven effective defenders, who were compelled to sur 
 render after a few hours' active resistance. The significance 
 of this result was not in the loss of the fort, but in the fact that 
 the enemy had crossed the Westenhuck and invaded neutral 
 territory. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 205 
 
 At the time of this occurrence a conference was being held 
 at Albany, with the Six Nations, who as yet had given no evi 
 dence of intention to lift the hatchet. Governor Clinton had 
 exhausted persuasive appeal ; had told them that the king 
 expected and ordered them to join with their whole force in the 
 contest, thereby giving them " a glorious opportunity of establish 
 ing their fame and renown over all the Indian nations in America,' 
 by the conquest of their cc inveterate enemies, the French, "who, 
 however much they might " dissemble and profess friendship," 
 would never forget the slaughter which the Five Nations had 
 inflicted upon them in former years, and who, for the purpose 
 of their destruction, were "caressing the nations" who had 
 been their " most inhuman enemies," and who desired " nothing 
 so much as to see the name of the Six Nations become decayed 
 and forgot forever." The issue, as it was understood by the 
 French and the Indians, was fairly stated, but it awoke no 
 response. 
 
 When the news came that Hoosic had been attacked, the 
 aspect of affairs was immediately changed. Three days after 
 the governor's last appeal (August 23d), the chiefs replied : 
 "Last year you gave us the hatchet to be made use of against 
 your enemies. We accepted it and promised to make use of 
 it if they should commit further hostilities, which they have now 
 done by destroying Saraghtoga 1 and shedding a great deal of 
 blood. Hitherto we have made no use of the hatchet, but as 
 you now call upon us we are ready, and do declare, from the 
 bottom of our hearts, that we will from this day make use of it 
 against the French and their children." To this determination 
 the Mabicans and the Schaticooks gave their assent. 
 
 But nothing more than a petty warfare followed. In New 
 England the English suffered some disasters, but in New York 
 they escaped, with the exception of an engagement near Sche- 
 nectady, July 2ist, 1748, the account of which is much con 
 fused, and the destruction, about the same time, of the residence 
 of Mr. Keith, near Schaticook, and the slaughter of several of 
 the members of his family, by a company of St. Francis In- 
 
 1 A settlement on the Hudson in the lerville, from which the present name of 
 vicinity of the present village of Schuy- Saratoga is derived. 
 
206 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 dians. 1 On the part of the English, the Mobawhand Mah Jeans 
 appear to have taken the field in some numbers, and to have 
 lost warriors by death and captivity. At the Cedars they made 
 a successful attack in the summer of 1 747, but at the Cascades 
 they were defeated with loss. 
 
 Pending formidable aggressive movements against the French, 
 the war was closed by the treaty of peace at Aix la Chapelle. 
 The news of the conclusion of this treaty reached Governor 
 Clinton on the eve of the assemblage at Albany of a grand con 
 ference, with the Six Nations and their allies. Great effort had 
 been made for the success of this conference, and in point of 
 numbers these efforts were rewarded. If the Six Nations 
 could do nothing else, they could always rally a host at a dis 
 tribution of presents ; the flow of rum was an attraction which 
 they could not resist. Albany never saw such a gathering of 
 painted warriors ; a larger number never, perhaps, assembled 
 in one place, or one in which there were more tribes represented. 
 The enmities of years seemed to be forgotten ; Mabicans 
 and Minsis joined hands with the Senecas ; the descendants of 
 Miantonimo smoked the pipe with the Mississagies. Except 
 in numbers, however, the conference was a failure. The 
 " covenant chain " was brightened in ancient form, but instead 
 of the command, " Onto Canada ! " which Clinton had expected 
 to issue, " Peace ! " was the injunction which fell upon the ears 
 of the assembled chiefs. 
 
 The Mohawk's, and Mahicans, the representative tribes ad 
 dressed, were disappointed. While the other tribes in the English 
 alliance had, with the exception of a few of their warriors, ab 
 stained from hostilities, they were seriously compromised. They 
 had lost friends whose deaths were unavenged ; the axe of the 
 French was sticking in the heads of their people ; in Canada 
 prisons their brethren were rotting in irons ; they had taken up 
 the hatchet with reluctance, and would not lay it down until 
 their friends were released and a definite proposal made guaran 
 teeing their protection in the future. "We will still keep the 
 hatchet in our hands," said the former ; " we will still keepour hands 
 on the cocks of our guns," said the latter. With them the question 
 
 1 Stone's Life and Times of Sir William Johnson, i, 350, 354. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 207 
 
 of peace remained an open one until the exchange of prisoners 
 was completed in June, 1750.* For two or three years later 
 the Mohawks carried the hatchet in their hands, the English 
 having neglected to call them together and remove it by a dis 
 tribution of presents, a custom for which they had a most tena 
 cious regard. 
 
 In the meantime, five tribes of the confederacy made peace 
 with the French, asserting thereby not only their national in 
 dependence but subscribing their totems to the declaration 
 " that they had not ceded to any one, their lands ;" that they 
 "were not subjects of England." 2 To the French this was 
 an important declaration. If the nations represented claimed 
 independence, then could treaties be made with them and the 
 foundation of territorial lines established ; but if already under 
 allegiance to Great Britain, the question of boundaries was still 
 an open one. The Mohawks alone took their rank with the 
 English ; the practical division of the confederacy, upon a very 
 vital point, was established, and a new element added to the 
 controversy which had so long existed between the Indian na 
 tions and the English. 
 
 1 Colonial History , x, an. * Colonial History, x, 187. 
 
208 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 CHAPTER IX. 
 
 THE WAR OF 1755 REHABILITATION OF THE LENAPES 
 AND SHAWANOES THE CONSPIRACY OF PONTIAC. 
 
 | HE treaty of Aix la Chapelle was a very imperfect 
 paper. By its stipulations "all Nova Scotia, or 
 Acadia, with its dependencies," was ceded to 
 Great Britain ; the " subjects of France, inhabit 
 ants of Canada," were not to " disturb or molest in any man 
 ner whatever," the Five Indian Nations which were " subject to 
 Great Britain," nor the " other American allies" of that govern 
 ment ; the boundaries between the English and French posses 
 sions, along the rivers St. Lawrence and Mississippi, and the 
 limits even of Nova Scotia, one of the original causes of the 
 war, were left entirely undetermined, and no provision was 
 made for the removal of the forts which the French had erected 
 at Crown point, or Lake Champlain, and at Niagara. The 
 key to its interpretation, if such it had, was the status of the 
 " Five Indian Nations" claimed as " subjects to Great Britain." 
 If the nations referred to were not " subjects to Great Britain," 
 then were the prohibitions of the treaty void, so far as they 
 circumscribed the operations of the French or defined the 
 boundaries of their possessions. Availing themselves of this 
 interpretation, the French forstalled the English by securing 
 from the Onondagas, Senecas, Cayugas^and Qneidas, the declara 
 tion already quoted that they were independent tribes, and re 
 sumed the prosecution of the policy, which they had inaugurated 
 as early as 1731, of connecting the St. Lawrence with the gulf 
 of Mexico by a chain of forts along that river to Detroit and 
 down the Ohio to the Mississippi. While the English were 
 disputing with them in regard to the Nova Scotia peninsula, La 
 Galissoniere was sent out, in 1749, with three hundred men to 
 trace and occupy the Ohio valley, and faithfully did he perform 
 his work. At the mouth of every principal river plates of lead 
 
CXF HUDSON'S RIVER. 209 
 
 were deposited in the soil bearing the inscription, that, from 
 the farthest ridge whence water trickled towards the Ohio, the 
 country belonged to France, and the lilies of the Bourbons 
 were nailed to forest trees in token of possession. 1 
 
 The determination of the French reopened the original con 
 troversy. The establishment of the contemplated forts was 
 fraught with danger to the English colonies. Not only would 
 they cut off the western Indian trade, but would build up a 
 power behind the English settlements which would be to them 
 a perpetual menace, even if it did not involve their very exist 
 ence as subjects of Great Britain. Self-interest as well as self- 
 defense demanded that their construction should be anticipated 
 if possible if not, that their occupation by the French should 
 be resisted. The colonies were themselves divided in regard to 
 the jurisdiction to which they were respectively entitled by their 
 charters ; but, without waiting for the determination of the dis 
 pute, Virginia organized what was known as the Ohio com 
 pany, for the ostensible purpose of securing the Ohio valley 
 for the English world. Obtaining a patent in March, 1749, 
 for five hundred thousand acres, this company sent out, in Oc 
 tober, 1750, Christopher Gist to make treaties with the Indians 
 and select locations for colonies, while Pennsylvania, for a 
 similar purpose, dispatched George Croghan. At Logstown, 
 these agents met and together prosecuted surveys, and consum 
 mated treaties, covering a broad expanse of territory, resting 
 from their labors finally in the heart of the territory of the 
 Miamis. 
 
 The Senecas, the Lenapes, and the Shawanoes, whose territory 
 was thus invaded by the rival civilizations of Europe, at first 
 received their visitors approvingly ; but at length comprehending 
 that they were to be the ultimate sufferers, remonstrated. 
 " Where," said Tanadiarisson, the Half-King, as the ruling 
 Seneca chief was called ; " where lie the lands of the Indians ? 
 The French claim -all on one side of the river, and the English 
 all on the other j " and, repairing to the French commandant at 
 Erie, he declared that it was the wish of his people that both 
 parties should withdraw. Met with open refusal, he returned 
 
 1 Bancroft, iv, 43 etc. ; Life and Times of Sir Wm, Johnson, i, 386, etc. 
 
210 1HE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 to his council, and added to the pending conflict a third party in 
 interest the aboriginal proprietors who were resolved to defeat 
 the purposes of their European neighbors in such manner as 
 opportunity should develop. 
 
 Strong in all the resources of civil and military centralization, 
 the government of Canada moved with a resolution and celerity 
 that for a time set at defiance the efforts of their slow-footed 
 and divided adversaries. By the end of 1753, they had a con 
 nected line of forts, extending from Montreal to what is now 
 called French creek, in Pennsylvania, but to which they gave 
 the name of the Riviere aux Boeufs. 1 To this latter fort, 
 Virginia sent, in December, Major George Washington, to 
 demand the reason " for invading the British possessions in time 
 of peace," and to warn the trespassers to retire. Civilly was 
 he treated ; the answer which he received was not unexpected. 
 The French commandant knew no law but the orders of his 
 general ; to those orders he should u conform with exactness 
 and resolution." The casus belli which Virginia sought was 
 supplied. 
 
 Promptly voting 10,000, Virginia dispatched, in May, a 
 force of one hundred and fifty men, under Washington, to the 
 invaded territory, instructed " to make prisoners, kill or destroy 
 all who interrupted the English settlements." Not a moment 
 too soon did he reach the field. The French, sweeping down 
 from Venango, had compelled the English to evacuate the trad 
 ing post which they had established at the Fork, 2 and had occu 
 pied the place with fortifications. Warned by the Half-King, 
 Washington hurried to the Great Meadows, where he held a 
 conference with the friendly Lenape and Seneca chiefs. Before 
 the rising sun of another day the French were attacked in 
 ambush. An action of about a quarter of an hour ensued ; 
 ten of the French force were killed, including Jumonville, their 
 commander, and twenty-<one wounded. 3 Bearing tidings of the 
 
 1 On account of the number of Buffalo other to the west. Hence the name, 
 found in its vicinity. Sfarkis Washing- the Fork. 
 
 ton, n, 436. 8 Washington was severely criticised for 
 
 2 Now the city of Pittsburg, Pa. It this attack, and was charged with the 
 was here that the Indian path separated, murder of Jumonville. Memoirs Hist. 
 one leading to the Seneca country and the Soc. Penn., v, 45, etc. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 211 
 
 disaster, a soldier reached the headquarters of the French com 
 mandant ; a council of war was instantly assembled ; its deli 
 berations almost as instantly resulted in sending out an over 
 whelming force to meet and crush the advancing English. 
 Washington fell back to the Great Meadows, where he threw 
 up the breastworks of Fort Necessity and manned its feeble 
 ramparts. But resistance was hopeless. Without supplies of 
 ammunition or of food, capitulation was a necessity. Accept 
 ing permission to retire with his forces, Washington turned his 
 face homeward. On the morning of the fourth of July, 1754, 
 the French flag waved in triumph in the valley of the Ohio. 
 
 Not alone in the celerity of their movements had the French 
 anticipated the English. With a zeal as remarkable as it was con 
 tagious among the Indians, they had pushed the alliances and 
 strengthened the tribes immediately dependent upon them to an 
 extent which had transferred to them the active power which 
 had formerly been exercised by the Five Nations, when, armed 
 by the English, they had first been commissioned a roving police 
 over their contemporary tribes. In this respect the change had 
 been wonderful indeed since the confederates rallied in the war of 
 1688. The liberality of the French had removed much of the 
 ancient prejudice against them ; the labors of the priests had 
 won converts until in Canada the Iroquois were represented by 
 as many organizations as they were in New York, who com 
 pletely neutralized the action of the parent stocks ; the Mississa- 
 gies, the seventh tribe of the confederacy, had dropped from 
 their ranks ; the Senecas were estranged, and at Onondaga the 
 council fire of the nation was constantly attended by the emis 
 saries of France. As early as 1720, they began to appear in 
 the character of mediators, rather than that of aggressive allies, 
 and in 1745, they had with great difficulty indeed been brought 
 out in even inconsiderable force in behalf of the English. 
 
 Perhaps this result was due in a great measure to the policy 
 of the English in seeking through their alliances the promotion 
 of trade ; in neglecting to supply them with priests as self- 
 sacrificing as were those sent out by France ; in supplying the 
 more immediate tribes with intoxicating liquors to their destruc 
 tion, and in failing to cultivate the intimate relations with them 
 27 
 
212 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 which formed so conspicuous a feature of the policy of the 
 French. Whatever the cause, the French experienced little 
 difficulty in transferring to themselves the moral support of the 
 Senecas, and in securing the active alliance of the Lenapes and 
 Shawanoes, as well as of the more western tribes, and to direct 
 their blows for the possession of the Ohio valley against the 
 English as their worst enemies. 
 
 For their negative rather than their positive power, continued 
 alliance with the confederates was desirable to the English. 
 As enemies, they would be dangerous fr6m their familiarity with 
 the English settlements; as allies, they would still interpose a 
 barrier to the incursions of their relatives in the Canada alliance. 
 Their threats x intimidated Clinton ; the rapidity with which events 
 were culminating in hostilities, aroused the reluctant assembly ; 
 the funds necessary to provide presents for a renewal of the 
 ancient alliance with them was voted, and Colonel Johnson 
 dispatched to their castles to invite their attendance at a confer 
 ence at Albany. The Mohawks responded sullenly : " Had 
 any other person been sent, we would not move a foot ; " at 
 Onondaga, the king declared he did not understand what the 
 French and English intended to do in reference to the Ohio 
 country, but for his people he could say, that they were already 
 " so hemmed in by both, that hardly a hunting place was left, 
 so that even if they should find a bear in a tree, there would 
 immediately appear an owner of the land to challenge the pro 
 perty.'/ 
 
 The conference at Albany was appointed for the fourteenth 
 of June, 1754, and was to be held in conjunction with a con 
 vention of delegates from the several colonies, called to consider a 
 plan for a general union for mutual protection. The attendance 
 was not large ; the colonies were not fully represented ; the con 
 federates were still halting between two opinions. The proceed 
 ings were opened with an address by acting governor De Lancey, 
 in which the tribes were invited to " renew and strengthen their 
 ancient covenant " with the English, and to call back the clans 
 who had removed to the territory of the French. " The 
 French," said he, " profess to be in perfect friendship with us 
 
 1 The Life and Times of Sir William Johnson, i, 422. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 213 
 
 as well as with you. Notwithstanding this they are making 
 continual encroachments upon us both. They have lately done 
 so in the most insulting manner, both to the northward and 
 westward. They are endeavoring to possess themselves of the 
 whole country, although they have made express treaties with 
 the English to the contrary. It appears to us that their mea 
 sures must necessarily soon interrupt and destroy all trade and 
 intercourse between the English and the several Indian nations 
 on the continent, and will block up and obstruct the great roads, 
 which have hitherto been kept open, between you and your allies 
 and friends who live at a distance. We want, therefore, to 
 know whether these things appear to you in the same light as 
 they do to us, or whether the French, taking possession of the 
 lands in your country, and building forts between the lake Erie 
 and the Ohio, be done with your consent or approbation." 
 
 Hendrik accepted the belt, and replied that it should be taken 
 to Onondaga for consultation. The confederates had been 
 shamefully treated by their allies, while the French had used 
 their utmost endeavors to bring them over in their favor. 
 " This," said he, " is the ancient place of treaty, where the fire 
 of friendship always used to burn ; and 'tis now three years 
 since we have been called to any public treaty here. 'Tis true 
 there are commissioners here, but they have never invited us to 
 smoke with them. But the Indians of Canada come frequently 
 and smoke here, which is for the sake of their beaver. But we 
 hate them. We have not yet confirmed the peace with them. 
 'Tis your fault, brethren, that we are not strengthened by con 
 quest ; for we would have gone and taken Crown point, but 
 you hindered us. We had concluded to go and take it, but we 
 were told that it was too late and that the ice would not bear 
 us. Instead of this, you burnt your own fort at Saratoga, and 
 run away from it, which was a shame and a scandal to you. 
 Look about your country, and see, you have no fortifications 
 about you ; no, not even to this city. Look at the French ; 
 they are men ; they are fortifying everywhere. But, we are 
 ashamed to say it, you are all like women, bare and open with 
 out any fortifications." r 
 
 1 Colonial History y vi, 870 ; Life and Times of Sir Wm. Johnson, i, 456, etc. 
 
214 THE INDIAN 7RIBES 
 
 The Mahicans who acknowledged the jurisdiction of the au 
 thorities of New York, as well as those living under the go 
 vernment of Massachusetts, were present, and also the Schaticooks. 
 The latter, replying to the governor, said ; u Your honor may 
 see that we are young and inexperienced, our ancient people 
 being almost all dead, so that 'we have nobody to give us ad vice, 
 but we will do as our fathers have done before us." The re 
 ception of the Mabicans from Stockbridge was delayed, the 
 governor regarding them as belonging to Massachusetts. The 
 records of the Indian commissioners were examined, and the 
 fact made apparent that while under the territorial jurisdiction 
 of Massachusetts, they were not the less the representatives of 
 the Mabican nation ; that they had always been present at the 
 treaties with the Five Nations, and had been included therein. 1 
 Their address was historical and forcible. Their fathers had 
 first welcomed the Europeans and given them lands ; had 
 formed with them a covenant chain which had never been 
 broken. That chain they would now renew, rub bright and 
 defend its links. 2 
 
 The conference closed on the eighth of July. Every effort 
 had been made to conciliate the chiefs, and presents and promises 
 were lavished upon them. The heart of Hendrik grew happy. 
 " We are highly pleased that all things have been so amicably 
 settled," said he, " and hope that all that has passed between 
 us may be strictly observed on both sides. If we do not hold 
 fast by this chain of friendship, our enemies will laugh us to 
 scorn." Thirty wagons conveyed to Schenectady the rum and 
 other presents which he had received for his people ; in full 
 faith that his lands would be protected, and a church built at 
 Canajoharie, in which should be taught the principles of peace 
 and good will, he departed. 
 
 While the conference with the Six Nations was as satisfactory 
 as could have been expected, proceedings not directly connected 
 therewith were had which ultimately destroyed not only the 
 good which was anticipated, but plunged the confederates them 
 selves into greater discord, 3 and aroused the Lenapes to war. 
 
 1 Colonial History , vi, 865. * Colonial History, vn, 956. 
 
 3 Colonial Hittory, vi, 88 1. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 215 
 
 Sundry individuals of Connecticut had, after exploring the Sus- 
 quehanna valley, determined to locate a settlement at Wyoming. 
 The territory being regarded as the property of the Six Nations, 
 although in the occupation of the Lenapes and their confederated 
 clans, a deputation was sent to Albany to confer with them and 
 effect its purchase. The governor of Pennsylvania promptly 
 interposed objections to the procedure, and the delegates from 
 that province were instructed to prevent its consummation if 
 possible. The motive was entirely selfish. The proprietaries 
 of Pennsylvania were also in attendance seeking the purchase of 
 the same lands. The Connecticut agents succeeded, through 
 the aid of Colonel Lydius. The tract purchased extended about 
 seventy miles north and south, and from a parallel line ten miles 
 east of the Susquehanna, westward two degrees of longitude, 
 and included the whole valley of Wyoming and the country 
 westward to the sources of the Alleghany. Failing to secure 
 this tract for themselves, the proprietaries of Pennsylvania added 
 to their purchase of 1737, "a tract of land between the Blue 
 mountain and the forks of the Susquehanna river." These 
 purchases were not made in open council with the representatives 
 of the Iribes, but from a few of the chiefs, several of whom 
 were in a state of intoxication when they signed the deed of 
 conveyance; but the purchasers, and especially the Connecticut 
 company, 1 insisted upon their validity. 2 
 
 The convention of deputies from the several colonies was 
 continued in session until July nth. A plan of union was 
 agreed to and referred to the several colonial assemblies, and 
 a declaration adopted recommending that the Indians in alliance 
 with the English should be placed under a competent superin- 
 tendency ; that forts should be built for the security of .each 
 nation; that vessels of war should be placed on the lakes, and that 
 any further advances of the French should be prevented. The 
 latter only was approved ; the union of the colonies failed. 
 Regarding the transfer of powers to a confederate organization 
 as too much of an encroachment upon the liberties of the people, 
 the colonial assemblies refused their assent, while the parent 
 
 1 Known as the Susquehanna company. 2 Life and Times of Sir Wm. Johnson, 
 It was organized in 1753. i, 468, etc. 
 
216 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 government rejected the plan on the ground that it favored 
 the democratic at the expense of the aristocratic element. 
 
 The echo of Washington's guns on the Ohio meadows was 
 speedily wafted to Canada, and scarcely had the last commis 
 sioner departed from Albany before the forests became alive 
 with savage hordes let loose by the French upon the settlements. 
 On the 28th of August, the St. Francis Indians fell upon 
 Schaticook and Hoosic ; killed several persons, destroyed houses, 
 barns and cattle, and swept off, either as prisoners or willing 
 attendants, the remnant of Pennacooks residing there. 1 Bakers- 
 town, in New Hampshire, was next visited, and there, as well 
 at other points, men and women fell under the blows of .their 
 assailants, or were carried away captive. 
 
 Even more disastrous results were inaugurated in Pennsyl 
 vania and the Ohio country when the Albany purchases became 
 known. The Senecas openly repudiated the contract. The 
 lands which had been sold were theirs ; were occupied by their 
 children and their allies, and they would not listen to its sale. 
 Their principal chief, who had been one of the intoxicated 
 grantors, was driven out from their cantons ; 3 the Lenapes and 
 Skawanoes were urged to hostilities. The latter required but 
 little encouragement. To them the famous " walking treaty," 
 had been a sore grievance, a shameless fraud. That treaty was 
 drawn by Penn in 1686, and conveyed an immense tract on the 
 Delaware, the boundaries of which were described as beginning 
 at a certain tree above the mouth of Neshamony creek \ thence 
 by a course west-north-west to the Neshamony ; thence back 
 into the woods "as far as a man could walk in a day and a 
 
 1 On the z8th of August a party of fidelity. Report of Gov. DeLancy, Colo- 
 
 French Indians, said to be of Bekan- nlal History, V i, 909. 
 
 court, a place between Quebeck and Mont- 2 Johnson says that this chief fled to 
 
 real, made an incursion into this province the French for protection against his in- 
 
 and burnt the houses and barns full of censed people, but immediately adds : "A 
 
 grain at Hoosic, a place lying about powerful party who followed his fortunes, 
 
 eighteen or twenty miles east from that took up arms shortly after, attacked a 
 
 part of Hudson's river which is ten miles body of provincials at Lake George, whom 
 
 above Albany. They carried off with he totally defeated, and killed forty-five, 
 
 them the few remaining Indians at Scha- Since which he was concerned in the 
 
 ticook, being between fifty and sixty most important services against us, cut off 
 
 in number, men, women and children, some of our settlements, and occasioned 
 
 They had a little while before, when I the deaths of more than four hundred of 
 
 was in Albany, assured me of their our people." Colonial History , vn, 956 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 217 
 
 half ; " thence to the Delaware again, and so down to the place 
 of beginning. Sixty years later, Penn's successors were the 
 surveyors of this tract, and, in order to secure as good a bargain 
 as possible, prepared a road for the " walk," provided expedi 
 tious means of crossing the intersecting streams, and selected 
 the swiftest pedestrians in the province, that thereby might be 
 accomplished as great a distance as possible within the time 
 limited. The line on the Delaware was not fixed by the treaty, 
 and advantage was taken of the omission to run the course not 
 parallel with the river, but by one which extended north-east 
 for a hundred miles and more, till it struck the Delaware near 
 the mouth of Laxawaxen creek, far above Easton. A million 
 acres of land were thus embraced, when, by a fairer computa 
 tion, three hundred and fifty thousand would have confined 
 their claim. 1 
 
 This was the largest, but not the least of the frauds which 
 the Lenapes had suffered. In the Minnisink country they had 
 also been defrauded. The famous Minnisink patent covered 
 lands which had been purchased from them but never paid for, 
 the purchasers having made the grantors drunk pending the 
 execution of the deed, obtained their signatures when they knew 
 not what they were doing, and then refused the promised com 
 pensation on the plea that it had already been given. 2 The 
 Esopus chiefs, and the Hackinsacks and Tappans, joined in the 
 complaint ; the borders of New Jersey and New York, as well 
 
 1 Memoirs Historical Society of Pcnnsyl- Moravians, his residence being on the 
 
 vania, v, 68. old Mine Road, which they traveled. 
 
 2 " An elderly man who lived in the Memorials of Moravian Churchy i, 46. 
 Highlands, and at whose house I dined " The examinant (John Morris) says he 
 on my way from New York some years often heard the Delawares say that the 
 ago, told me that he lived with or in the reason of their quarrelling with and kill- 
 neighborhood of one Depuy, and was ing the English in that part of the coun- 
 present when the said Depuy purchased try was on account of their lands which 
 the Minnisink lands from the Indians ; the Pennsylvania government cheated 
 that when they were to sign the deed of them out of, and drove them from their 
 sale he made them drunk and never paid settlement at Shamokin by crowding upon 
 them the purchase money agreed upon, them, and by that means spoiled their 
 He heard the Indians frequently com- hunting, and that the people of Minnisink 
 plain of the fraud, and declare that they used to make the Indians always drunk 
 would never be easy until they had satis- whenever they traded with them, and 
 faction for their "lands." Manuscripts of then cheated them out of their furs and 
 Sir JVm. Johnson, xxiv, 14. Depuy was skins, also wronged them with regard to 
 probably the agent employed to make the their lands." Colonial History , vii, 332. 
 purchase. . He was well known to the 
 
 
218 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 as the wilderness of Pennsylvania, were filled with the threatening 
 protestations of disfranchised proprietors animated by a common 
 determination to hold possession of their ancient homes. 
 
 Hitherto their protestations had been without favorable result. 
 The authorities of Pennsylvania, to provide against evil conse 
 quences, had appealed to the Five Nations to send delegates to 
 a council at Philadelphia, when they had complained of the 
 " walking " boundaries in 1742. The Iroquois delegates heard 
 the complaint, as well as received private presents from the 
 proprietaries. Subsidized by rum and trinkets, they commanded 
 the Lenapes to yield possession of the lands. u We conquered 
 you ; we made women of you ; we charge you to remove in 
 stantly ; we don't give you liberty to think about it ; we assign 
 you two places to go to, either to Wyoming or Shamoking," was 
 their answer, and the debate was closed. 
 
 The Lenapes had removed as they were bidden, and settled 
 in the valley of Wyoming, but with that removal and settlement 
 the " undisciplined feeling of natural equity " was fully developed 
 in them. Whatever of doubt hung over their right of pos 
 session to the lands from which they had been ejected, there 
 was none in regard to those to which they had been assigned. 
 The Five Nations had given them the latter, and they were 
 theirs. In the sale to the Connecticut company these lands 
 were included ; in that to the agents of the Pennsylvania pro 
 prietaries, their more western hunting grounds were cut off 
 without their consent. Remembering that by precisely similar 
 means they had been despoiled of their former homes, they 
 resolved to fight to the last in defense of their rights ; to revenge 
 this last and crowning outrage, and to wipe away with blood 
 the well remembered wrongs which had rankled in their 
 bosoms for years. The chiefs of the east met those of the 
 west in council at Alleghany, rehearsed the wrongs which they 
 had suffered, and declared that wherever the white man had 
 settled within the territory which they claimed, there they would 
 strike him as best they could with such weapons as they could 
 command ; and, that the blow might be effectually dealt, each 
 warrior-chief was charged to scalp, kill and burn within the 
 precincts of his birthright, and all simultaneously, from the 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 219 
 
 frontiers, down into the heart of the settlements, until the 
 English should sue for peace and promise redress. 1 
 
 The summer was spent in hostile preparations and in establish 
 ing alliances. The Senecas gave them arms, removed from 
 them the petticoat, and bade them take the hatchet ; the " six 
 . different nations of French Indians " 2 plead their cause with the 
 Mohawks, and " advised and entreated them " to break the 
 Albany sales, and to " have some consideration for those they 
 'called brothers;" 3 the council at Onondaga repudiated the 
 offensive contracts. October came, and no sooner had the 
 biting frost reddened the maple and hardened the yellow corn in 
 the husk, than, with their allies, painted black for war, in bands 
 of two or four abreast, they moved eastward with murderous 
 intent, and the line of the Blue mountain, from the Delaware 
 to the Susquehanna, became the scene of the carnival which 
 they held with torch and tomahawk during many coming months. 
 The defenseless settlers were harassed by an unseen foe by 
 day and by night. Some were shot down at the plow, some 
 were killed at the fireside ; men, women and children were 
 promiscuously tomahawked or scalped, or hurried away into 
 distant captivity, for torture or for coveted ransom. There 
 was literally a pillar of fire by night and a pillar and cloud by 
 day going up along the horizon, marking the progress of the 
 relentless Indians, as they dealt out death, and pillage, and con 
 flagration, and drove before them, in midwinter's flight, hundreds 
 of homeless wanderers, who scarce knew where to turn for 
 safety or for succor in the swift destruction that s was come upon 
 them. 4 
 
 The attacking force appeared in two distinct yet united or 
 ganizations that of the eastern Lenapes, under the lead of 
 Teedyuscung ; that of the western under Shingas. 5 Both 
 
 1 Thompson's Alienation. ploits on record they would form an in- 
 
 2 These were representatives of the Six teresting document, though a shocking 
 Nations who had removed to Canada at one. His person was small, but in point 
 the instigation of the French priests. of courage and activity, he was said ne- 
 
 3 Colonial History, vi, 938. ver to have been exceeded by any one." 
 
 4 Memorials Meravian Church, i, 193. (Hcckciu elders Narrative, 64). Pennsyl- 
 6 " Shingask was his proper name, vania offered 200 for his scalp. His 
 
 which interpreted is a bog meado<w. brother, Tamaque, or King Beaver, 
 This man was the greatest Delaware was also a distinguished warrior and 
 warrior of that time j were his war ex- chief. Ib,, 61, 64. 
 
 28 
 
220 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 were equal in determination, though perhaps unequal in strength, 
 the western being the most formidable in numbers, in position, 
 and in the direct aid which they could obtain from the French. 
 The defeat of Braddock in July, was the signal for the 
 aggressive action already outlined in general terms. The 
 western. organization was first to strike. On the i6th of Oc 
 tober they fell upon the whites of John Penn's creek, four 
 miles south of Shamokin. Here they killed or took captive 
 twenty-five persons ; and it was only the twenty-third of the' 
 month when all the settlements along the Susquehanna, between 
 Shamokin and Hunter's mill, for a distance of fifty miles, were 
 hopelessly deserted. Early in November the Great and Little 
 Cove were attacked and the inhabitants either put to death or 
 taken prisoners, and the settlements totally destroyed. 
 
 These blows were promptly seconded by the eastern organ 
 ization under Teedyuscung. Assembling his allied Lenape, 
 Shawanoe and Mabican warriors at Nescopec, he marked out 
 the plan of the campaign for the coming autumn and winter. 
 Its operations were to be restricted to the ct walking purchase," 
 within which it was resolved to chastise the English first,%y 
 waging against them a war of extermination. From their lurk 
 ing places in the fastnesses of the Great Swamp, the wronged 
 warriors, led by Teedyuscung in person, sallied forth on their 
 marauds, striking consternation into the hearts of the settlers. 
 Falling upon the farms along the Susquehanna and Delaware, 
 they fired the harvested grain and fodder in barns and in barracks, 
 destroyed large numbers of cattle and horses, and killed thirteen 
 persons. On the 24th of November the Moravian mission at 
 Gnadenhutten was surprised and ten of its converts scalped, or 
 shot, or tomahawked, or burned to death in their dwellings. 
 This was but the prelude to the tragedy which was to be per 
 formed. Along the northern line of the tract which had been 
 so fraudulently surveyed, the tide of devastation rolled its black 
 ening current. Within a month, fifty farm houses were plun 
 dered and burned, and upwards of one hundred persons killed 
 on the frontiers on both sides of the Kittatinny, or endless 
 hills. " All our border country," writes a chronicler of the day, 
 " extending from the Potomac to the Delaware, not less than one 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 221 
 
 hundred and fifty miles in length and between twenty and thirty 
 in breadth, has been entirely deserted, its houses reduced to 
 ashes, and the cattle, horses, grain and other possessions of the 
 inhabitants either destroyed, burned or carried off by the Indians ; 
 while such of the poor planters who, with their wives, children 
 and servants, escaped from the enemy, have been obliged, in 
 this inclement season of the year, to abandon their habitations 
 almost naked, and to throw themselves upon the charity of those 
 who dwell in the interior of the province."' 
 
 The Minsis, unleashed, performed their part for each tribal 
 clan, it will be borne in mind, was, by the terms of the compact, 
 required to strike within the territory which they claimed as their 
 
 birthright and on the borders of 
 Ulster and Orange counties in New 
 York, and in the western settle 
 ments of New Jersey, were repeated 
 the fearful ravages of the more 
 remote districts of Pennsylvania. 
 Except in the town of Goshen, 
 the settlements here were at con 
 siderable distance from each other 
 and much exposed to the surprises 
 of the Indian enemy. The incur 
 sions of the Indians were frequent ; the people, especially in the 
 northern part of Orange and southern part of Ulster, were kept in 
 almost perpetual alarm and under such " continued military duty 
 as to be rendered incapable of taking care of their private affairs 
 for the support of their families." An extent of country, on 
 the west side of the Wallkill, of fifteen miles in length and 
 seven or eight in breadth, which was "well and thickly settled, 
 was abandoned by the inhabitants, who, for their safety, removed 
 their families to the east side of the river, and became a charge 
 on the charity of their neighbors," while others " removed to 
 distant parts, and some out of the province. 1 
 
 " Fatigues of body, in continually guarding and ranging the 
 woods, and anxiety of mind which the inhabitants could not 
 
 1 Neiv Tork Manuscripts, LXXXII, 107, etc. 
 
222 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 avoid by their being exposed to a cruel and savage enemy, 
 increased by the perpetual lamentations and cries of the women 
 and children," were not the only evils which the inhabitants 
 suffered. Three men were killed at Cochecton ; five men at 
 Philip Swartwout's ; Benjamin Sutton and one Rude, two of 
 the Goshen militia, were killed at Minnisink ; Morgan Owen 
 was killed and scalped about four miles from Goshen ; a woman, 
 taken prisoner at Minnisink, was killed and her body cut in halves 
 and left by the highway ; Silas Hulet's house was robbed and 
 he himself narrowly escaped. " From about the drowned lands 
 for fifteen miles down the Wallkill, where fifty families dwelt, 
 all save four abandoned their fields and crops." * 
 
 Meanwhile General Edward Braddock, whose defeat has bee/i 
 incidentally noticed, had arrived in Virginia with two regiments 
 of English troops, and at a conference with the royal governors, 
 on the 14-th of April, had planned four expeditions against the 
 French ; the first was to effect the complete reduction of Nova 
 Scotia, the second was to recover the Ohio valley, the third was 
 to expel the French from Fort Niagara and form a junction 
 with the expedition to the Ohio, and the fourth, under the com 
 mand of Colonel Johnson, was to have for its object the capture 
 of Crown point, for which purpose he was to have the militia of 
 New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut, and the warriors 
 of the Six Nations under his command. To aid in securing 
 the services of the latter, as well as to effect a more complete 
 organization of the Indian alliances, he was appointed superin 
 tendent of Indian affairs, with full power to make treaties in the 
 interest of the crown. 2 
 
 Returning from Alexandria, where the conference had been 
 held, Johnson entered upon the work which had been assigned 
 to him. From Mount Johnson, to which he removed the 
 council-fire which had for so many years been kept burning at 
 Albany, he sent a belt to each of the confederate tribes, 
 
 lu All the families between the depo- which was, last year, fifteen or sixteen 
 
 nent's house and Minnisink, to the amount miles within the settlements at Minnisink, 
 
 of one hundred and fifty persons, have is about sixteen miles from Hudson's 
 
 deserted those settlements and come into river." Affidavit of James Hoivell, New 
 
 four frontier houses, one of which is the York Manuscripts, LXXXII, 107, etc. 
 
 deponent's: that deponent's house, which 2 Colonial History, vi, 961. 
 is now a frontier house on that side, and 
 
O.P HUDSON'S RIPER. 223 
 
 acquainting them of his appointment and asking them to 
 come and meet him. Over a thousand sons of the forest 
 accepted the invitation, and, on the 2ist of June, seated them 
 selves before him in council. While ready to do him personal 
 service and honor, they had many complaints to make were 
 deeply entangled by their pledges to the French as well as to 
 their tribal blood in Canada. Johnson listened to them with 
 patience, and, after answering all their inquiries, delivered to 
 them a ringing appeal to join him. The chtefs listened and 
 applauded ; drank the rum which had been provided, accepted 
 the presents, and danced the war dance, but that was all. To 
 march with him to the frontiers they were not prepared, and 
 plead the shortness of the warning, the want of time to call in 
 their scattered people, the disgraceful termination of the con 
 test of 1745, their relations with their Canada brethren ; indeed, 
 there was apparently no end to the reasons which they could not 
 assign to conceal their indifference to the English cause and the 
 divisions which existed among themselves. 
 
 From this boasted " bulwark " against the French, turn for t 
 a moment to the conduct of the nations in the French alliance, 
 led by the flower of the Hudson river tribes. At the call of 
 Vaudreuil three and thirty nations rallied to his ranks. From 
 the rivers of Maine and Acadia, and the wildernesses of Lake 
 Huron and Lake Superior, the martial airs of France were 
 shouted in the many tongues of the allied nations as they pressed 
 with swift destruction upon the border settlements and returned 
 laden with the trophies of the fray. 
 
 Hendrik and his Mohawks, bound by personal ties to John 
 son, with here and there a warrior from the other tribes, to the 
 number of fifty, left Albany with Johnson on the 8th of Au 
 gust. At the " carrying place " some two hundred warriors 
 joined him, 1 giving to him, with the militia, a force of about 
 thirty-five hundred men. The French, marching in about 
 equal force to attack Oswego, were called back and sent, under 
 Baron Dieskau, to the defense of Crown point. Leaving the 
 largest portion of his forces at that Fort, Dieskau pushed on 
 
 J The French report says: "All the Tharhkarorin, some Mahicans, and one 
 Mohawks were there, some Oneidas, some Onondaga." Colonial History, x, 32,2. 
 
224 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 intending to attack Fort Edward, cut off Johnson's retreat, and 
 annihilate his army. Misled by his guides, he found himself 
 on the road to Lake George and only four miles distant from 
 Johnson's encampment at Ticonderoga. Leaving his position, 
 Johnson detached one thousand men and two hundred Indians 
 to bring on an engagement. The opposing forces met on the 
 8th of September. Finding the French too powerful, the Eng 
 lish fell back to Ticonderoga ; the French pursued and re 
 sumed the battle under the walls of Johnson's position. After 
 a severe engagement, from twelve until four o'clock, the French 
 retreated. The losses on both sides were heavy, that of the 
 English being one hundred and fifty-eight killed, including King 
 Hendrik and thirty-eight of his warriors, ninety-two wounded 
 and sixty-two missing, while that of the French was .between 
 three ^nd four hundred. 1 Johnson was wounded slightly, and 
 Dieskau mortally. The French retreat was unmolested ; Crown 
 point was not reduced. Such was the victory which gave to 
 Johnson a baronetcy, and to American history Fort Ticonderoga. 
 . Johnson returned to his residence in November, and was 
 met at Schenectady by a message from the governor of Penn 
 sylvania asking his aid in arresting the depredations of the Lenapes 
 in that province. Summoning the chiefs of the Six Nations 
 (Jan. yth), he informed them that u the Shawanoes and Dela 
 ware* and river Indians 2 were committing hostilities in the 
 southern part of New York, as well as in New Jersdy and 
 Pennsylvania ;" that they had " burned several out settlements 
 and killed many people who had never offended them ;" that 
 as the offenders were " looked upon as allies and dependents of 
 the Six Nations," and living within the limits of their country, 
 it was expected that they would reprimand them " for what 
 they had already done, prevent their doing any more mischief, 
 and insist on their turning their arms against the French." 3 
 
 The mission was promptly undertaken by the Mohawk, 
 Oneida and Tuscarora chiefs. 4 They had already sent a belt 
 to the Lenapes and their allies desiring that they would not 
 
 1 Life and Times of Sir Wm. Johnson. 8 Colonial History, vn, 44. 
 
 2 The reference is to Mahican and 4 These were the only nations repre- 
 other clans residing on the Delaware. sented at the conference. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 225 
 
 join with any but the Five Nations j 1 now they would " appoint 
 with them a conference at Tiyoga and endeavor to put a stop 
 to any more bloodshed." The loyal Seneca villages 2 exercised 
 their influence in the same direction. Visited by a party of 
 Lenapes on their way to Niagara, they tried to persuade them 
 to stop, and called to their aid their most venerable chief; but 
 neither belts nor personal appeals had any effect upon the fol 
 lowers of Shingas. Replying to the loyal Senecas they ex 
 claimed : " We have once been women and ashamed to look 
 down at our petticoats, but as you have taken off our petticoats, 
 and encouraged us to begin a quarrel with the English, we are 
 determined never to submit agaiA to that ignominious state while 
 there is one of us alive. It seems to us that you now want to 
 throw all the blame on us, and make peace, which we will not 
 hearken to, but will go to our father the French, who will assist 
 and protect us." 3 Thither they went, and to the commandant 
 at Niagara declared : " Father We are now at war with the 
 English. When we first began, being very poor, we struck 
 them with billets of wood." In reply, the commandant gave 
 them a hatchet, and arms and ammunition, and lighted afresh 
 the torch of war which they had waved along the borders. 
 
 Not more successful were the direct appeals of Johnson's 
 embassadors to Shingas. " Get sober," said they to him, in 
 the metaphorical language of Indian speech ; u Get sober your 
 actions are those of a drunken man." But the days of yore 
 were gone, when the trembling Lenape stood cowering in the 
 presence of the Mengwe. Unhesitating submission to the man 
 dates of the tribes that had so long oppressed and insulted his 
 nation, was no longer written on his heart. Of the old con 
 federacy the most powerful part were now his friends, while 
 around him had gathered his grandchildren in formidable num 
 bers. To the words of the embassadors he returned scoff for 
 scoff, and scorn for scorn. '* We are men," said he ; " we are 
 men and warriors. We will acknowledge no superiors upon 
 
 1 When speaking of themselves in of two Seneca villages who remained 
 official transactions Five Nations only loyal to the English. As already stated, 
 were recognized. The Tuscaroras had the great bulk of the Senecas were ac- 
 no territorial rights or authority. tively aiding the French. 
 
 2 The Onondagas, Cayugas and Senecas * Manuscripts of Sir William Johnson^ 
 preferred neutrality, with the exception iv, 131. 
 
226 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 earth. We are men, and are determined to be no longer ruled 
 over by you as women. We are warriors, and are determined 
 to cut off all the English save those that make their escape from 
 us in ships. So say no more to us on that head, lest we make 
 women of you as you have done of us." V 
 
 At Otseningo the embassadors were more successful, the 
 Lenapes and their allies there being more immediately under the 
 influence of the Oneidas. From thence they returned, on the 
 27th of December, bearing with them the message that the 
 offending chiefs there had promised to " stop and repent," but 
 as a condition thereto the English must return the captives 
 which they had taken ; that they " must see every one of them 
 returned again " or it " would not be well ;" for this they would 
 wait -two months, and if the captives were then returned, they 
 would " corttrive to make up the matter and settle affairs, and 
 not till then ;" meanwhile they promised that their young men 
 who were on the war path should be called back." 2 
 
 In February, 1756, Johnson again called the attention of his 
 allies to the matter, and reminded them that unless they exerted 
 themselves to " maintain their superiority," they would " not 
 only lose that authority " which had been hitherto acknowledged, 
 but would have the Lenapes their enemies. Red Head, the 
 Onondaga sachem, replied, that when first requested to do so a 
 message had been dispatched to the Lenapes, which had subse 
 quently been " backed with a second message ; " that both 
 messages having proved abortive, they had u obtained an inter 
 view," through the Oneidas, at which the Lenapes had promised 
 that hostilities should cease. They would cheerfully renew 
 their efforts, and would appoint a meeting at Otseningo, at which, 
 by a full representation of the tribes, they would endeavor to 
 exercise that influence in which they had hitherto failed. 
 
 Pending this new mission, a delegation of friendly Lenapes 
 met Johnson in conference, on the 2Qth of February. The 
 Oneida and Tuscarora embassadors opened the proceedings, and 
 stated that the Shawanoes were on their way to Chugnut 3 where 
 
 1 Thompson's Alienation, 77 j Memoirs 3 On the south side of the Susquehanna 
 
 Historical Society Pennsylvania, v, 98. river, opposite Binghamton. It was a 
 
 3 Colonial History, vii, 44, 49. very small portion of the Shawanoes that 
 
 were represented. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 227 
 
 they would live under the protection of the Six Nations; that 
 the Lenapes had given the strongest assurances of peace, and that 
 they earnestly desired that a fort might be erected for their pro 
 tection. Johnson expressed his gratification at the disposition 
 of the chiefs in attendance ; promised that a fort should be 
 built for the protection of the Lenapes and that they should be 
 cared for and supplied with arms and ammunition. Adam, on 
 the part of the latter, expressed his appreciation of the kindness 
 which they had received, and promised never to forget it. The 
 visit was of no significance touching the action of the Lenapes 
 proper, but appears to have been gotten up to indicate that the 
 Oneidas and Tuscaroras still had the influence which they claimed. 
 
 On the 2 ist of April, the embassadors of the second mission 
 made their report. They had visited the Lenapes and Sha- 
 wanoes, and had succeeded, they said, in " convincing them that 
 they had acted very foolishly and very unjustifiably," and that 
 they had "promised and agreed" to unite with them against 
 the " common enemy ; " but at the same time had expressed 
 the desire that they might have a hearing at Onondaga to con 
 vince them that harmony and friendship with them was desired, 
 in which request the embassadors united. Johnson accepted 
 the proposition; he would hold a council at Onondaga twenty 
 days hence, and charged the chiefs, then present with the duty 
 of extending the invitation. 
 
 About the same time an important change took place in the 
 Lenape government. Tadame, 1 their king, was treacherously 
 murdered, but by whom is not stated, and Teedyuscung, that 
 " lusty, raw-boned man," whose voice had already been heard 
 in the wilderness, became his successor. Enjoying the confi 
 dence of his people, as well as possessing great native ability, he 
 had already become a power to be both feared and conciliated. 
 For peace with the English he was ready, but it must be a 
 peace which recognized the rights of his nation ; to no other 
 would he listen, and spurned alike the threats and the blandish 
 ments of those who would influence him to a different policy. 
 
 1 We have not met with a more spe- long out lived his activity. Minor's His- 
 
 cific reference to this chief. He appears tory Wyoming Memorials Moravian 
 
 to have been the successor of Allum- Church^ i, 67. 
 
 panees who died in I747> after having ft 
 
 29 
 
228 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 In the meantime, Pennsylvania declared war against the 
 Lenapes and Shawanoes^ and sent out a force of three hundred 
 men, under the charge of Benjamin Franklin, to build a fort at 
 GnadenhutteR 1 or Shamokin, and restore the fugitive Moravian 
 Indians and their missionaries to their lands. Johnson doubted 
 the policy of these movements, regarding it as the part of wis 
 dom to have awaited the result of the negotiations which he 
 had inaugurated, and which he believed only awaited the council 
 which Jie had appointed at Onondaga for their consummation. 
 That council assembled in June, but Teedyuscung did not 
 attend, nor were his subordinate chiefs present in numbers suffi 
 cient u to enter upon business and conclude affairs relating to 
 them with proper authority." 2 To entertain and conciliate 
 them special effort had been made. Thirty Indians from the 
 Delaware river, who had been taken prisoners by the English, 
 and whose release had been insisted upon, were taken up in full 
 clothing and armament, as a peace offering, and ample presents 
 were provided for distribution. On the last day of the session 
 Teedyuscung made his appearance, but would do nothing, and 
 the conference was adjourned to Mount Johnson. 3 
 
 The adjourned conference was more successful. Teedyus 
 cung, having satisfied himself that the English were not only 
 sincere in their desire for peace, but had been convinced that 
 the Six Nations, in their present condition, were wholly unable 
 to control his people, made his appearance, and was urged to 
 explain the reason for the hostilities which had been committed, 
 and to enter upon a covenant of peace. But he was not pre 
 pared to comply. " I cannot take upon me at this time to give 
 a determinate answer to you," said he, " but I shall punctually 
 deliver your speech to all my nation on my return home, and 
 you shall have our fixed resolutions and positive answers as soon 
 as possible." Dismissing him, Johnson called the confederate 
 
 1 Fort Allen. It was located at the 2 There were only two young warriors 
 
 Moravian town of Gnadenhiitten, on the of the Delaware nation present. Colonial 
 
 Lehigh river, opposite the mouth of the History, vii, 146. 
 
 Mahoning, and adjoined the Lenape 3 Neither did the deputation from the 
 
 town of Shamokin where Teedyuscung Delawares come till that meeting was 
 
 had his residence. It was built in Janu- near upon a conclusion. Colonial History, 
 
 arv *7$6j by Benjamin Franklin. vu, 153. 
 Pennsylvania Colonial Records, vu, 15. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 229 
 
 chiefs to advise with him what further course to pursue, and 
 it was agreed that the latter should visit Teedyuscung in his 
 tent and persuade him to declare his intentions at the session 
 of the following day. To this the king consented, and, at the 
 appointed time, stated that he could only agree for himself and 
 his people at Tiyoga ; that his brethren on the Ohio must 
 determine for themselves, but for himself and those whose 
 representative he was, he promised to follow the example of the 
 Six Nations a promise at that time of very doubtful import. 
 Paxinos, the Shawanoe king, made similar pledge, and Abraham, 
 on behalf of the Mahicans at Otsiningo, united in the assurance 
 of harmony. A formal declaration or covenant of peace and 
 friendship was then made, and the war dance celebrated. 
 
 Still Johnson was not altogether satisfied that his work was 
 well done. He knew that the Lenapes^ and their allies, aspired 
 to if they did not possess the independence which they claimed, 
 and that so long as this was denied, peace would not be possible. 
 The necessities of the English were great, 1 the determination of 
 the Lenapes and their allies undisguised. Selfishness became 
 the ally of justice the diplomacy of Teedyuscung secured the 
 triumph of his people. In the watches of the night Johnson 
 meditated, and on the morning of the 1 2th of July, after con 
 sultation with the sachems of the Six Nations, declared to the 
 Lenape king, and the representatives of the Shawanoes and 
 Mabicans, that, in consideration of the promise they had made, 
 and in full confidence of their future suitable behavior, they 
 were " hereafter to be considered as men," by all their brethren 
 the English, u and no longer as women," and expressed 
 the hope that the Six Nations would follow his example and 
 remove the "invidious distinction." 2 Decking the chiefs with 
 medals, and the kings with silver gorgets, he covered the em 
 bers of the council-fire, and sent from his presence a rehabi 
 litated race. 
 
 1 The good consequences that will Shawanese that are settled on the Ohio 
 
 attend the accommodating of this un- from the French interest. I doubt their 
 
 happy breach are great. It will give a present connections are too strong to hope 
 
 great turn to the affairs of the present war for this success now. Hardy to Lords of 
 
 in North America, and I trust may, by a Trade, May 10, 1756. 
 
 little time and proper management, en- 2 Colonial History, vii, 151, 160. 
 able us to withdraw the Delawares and 
 
230 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 While the attention of Johnson was mainly devoted to the 
 pacification of the more important Indian nations, the domestic 
 clans of Minsis and Mahicans, who remained in the valley of the 
 Hudson, were not neglected. To the former, proclamation was 
 made in December, 1755, through the justices of Ulster, 
 inviting them to remove from the " back settlements, where 
 they might be taken for enemies and destroyed," to the " towns 
 where they would be protected and assisted." Accepting these 
 assurances, many of them came forward ; but the promised pro 
 tection and assistance was not, in all cases, extended. At Wile- 
 mantown, in Ulster county, 1 at the house of Charles Stevenson, 
 where a number of them assembled, they were attacked, on the 
 second of March, by a party of armed men, headed by Samuel 
 Slaughter, and a man and his squaw killed. Moving from 
 thence to a wigwam about a mile and a half distant, three In 
 dians, two squaws and two children fell victims to Slaughter's 
 misguided zeal. 2 Those who reached Kingston, while spared 
 hostile attack, were suffered to remain dependent upon such 
 charity as was usually extended to their race. Under the cir 
 cumstances in which they were placed, they readily accepted 
 the offer which was made to them to remove to the Mohawk 
 country. To that end Mohawk chiefs were sent to them, with 
 an interpreter, and provision made for their transportation. 
 On the 22d of May they appeared before Johnson, were ad 
 dressed and assigned to lands in the Schoharie county. 3 
 
 Many of the Mahicans of the upper Hudson and Wapplngers 
 of Dutchess followed in the same direction. On the 28th of 
 May, Johnson writes : " The river Indians whose families a$e 
 at Fishkill, have had a meeting with the Mohawk Indians, and 
 it is agreed that they shall remove and live with the- Mohawks. 
 Two of those Indians are going down to fetch up their women, 
 children, etc., and I send an interpreter with them. As the 
 removal of these Indians and their incorporation with the Mo 
 hawks is an affair that will be, I hope, of happy consequence 
 towards the public tranquillity at this juncture, I must desire you 
 
 1 Near Walden, Orange county, in the Documentary History of New York, H, 
 ate of New York. 763,764. 
 
 2 New York Manuscripts, LXXXII, 88; 3 Colonial History, 11,94/96, 100,113. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 231 
 
 will give all assistance in your power to the Indians who are 
 going down, and take care that no just cause of dissatisfaction be 
 given to them." 1 When Johnson returned to his residence on 
 the gth of July, he found, as the fruit of this order, one hundred 
 and ninety-six " Mobicander or river Indians," men, women and 
 children, awaiting his pleasure. In the afternoon he clothed the 
 men " from head to foot, gave them ammunition, paint, etc., in 
 !he presence of the Six Nations and the Shawanoes and Delaware 
 kings." 2 They were warmly greeted by their brethren who 
 had left them many years before, and who were then present, 
 as well as by the Nanticokes, in whose immediate vicinity they 
 were assigned lands at Otsiningo. 3 Thither they went, and in 
 the subsequent assemblies of the tribes took their place as the 
 allies of the Senecas, After serving Johnson faithfully for a 
 time, and especially in his expedition against Crown point, they 
 joined the fortunes of their brethren in the Lenape confederation 
 and lost their identity in their subsequent wars. 
 
 The peace which Johnson had made with Teedyuscung was 
 only partial. In consenting to it the latter had defined his authority 
 as limited to the territory which he specially represented. For 
 himself, and those who acknowledged his authority, he had 
 promised the Lenapes, Shawanoes and Mabicans of the Ohio 
 country he would influence if he could. To attend any peace 
 conference with Johnson, they had refused, as also had the 
 Minsis. Said the latter: " We have murdered the English from 
 Canastota to Esopus. Warraghiyagy (Johnson) may pretend 
 to make peace, but peace is not in his power. The governor 
 of Pennsylvania is master this way, and will not listen to peace," 
 and such was the interpretation which Teedyuscung himself 
 
 1 Manuscripts of Sir Wm. Johnson, iv, and the Senecas appointed lands for you 
 54. to cultivate. Call all your dispersed 
 
 2 Colonial History , vn, 153. brethren together and sit down here with 
 8 "Last spring," said Jonathan, who them as their habitation, and we Nanti- 
 
 represented them at the conference of cokes assure you that whoever shall pinch 
 
 April 23d, 1757, " last spring, with this or hurt you, we shall feel it, and the Six 
 
 belt the Nanticokes took us by the hand Nations shall do the same.' This belt 
 
 and bid us sit down by them. They said we propose to send among all our dispersed 
 
 to us, ' you Mohikanders and we Nanti- people 5 we acquaint you herewith, and 
 
 cokes will be one people and take you whenever you see any of our scattered 
 
 Mohikanders by the hand as brethren, people passing up the river, you will know 
 
 and fix you here at Otsiningo, where the they are removing to Otsiningo." Colo- 
 
 Six Nations have lighted a council fire nial History, vu, 253. 
 
232 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 gave to Johnson's jurisdiction. Monakadook, 1 the Seneca Half- 
 King, who had been sent to the Ohio Lenapes to invite them to 
 Onondaga, was the bearer of a message from them to the 
 governor. On his arrival he found that Teedyuscung had pre 
 ceded him, and had informed him that he had been empowered 
 by ten nations 2 to conclude a peace, and was prepared to nego 
 tiate. Monakadook could give the governor no information on 
 the subject, and was made the bearer to Johnson of the inquiry : 
 " Who is this Teedyuscung who claims to be king of the 
 Delawares ? " coupled with the declaration that his protestations 
 of a desire for peace must be false, "as the Delaware Indians 
 were still murdering" his people. 3 
 
 Johnson professed entire ignorance in regard to the commis 
 sion whiqh Teedyuscung claimed he had received, and it is not 
 probable that he had any information on the subject. The 
 inference is that the chiefs who were negotiating in his interest, 
 having failed to control the Lenapes, had concealed from him 
 their further action in the matter, hoping to effect the end which 
 he sought by other means, with a view to maintain a reputation 
 which they no longer possessed. 4 Johnson promised to make 
 inquiry at Onondaga in regard to the matter. What the result 
 of this inquiry was does not appear; but the governor of Penn 
 sylvania was convinced, and modified his declaration of war, 
 making it applicable only to u implacable and obstinate enemies, 
 and not against any that now are or hereafter may be disposed 
 to hearken to the Six Nations in our favor." By November he 
 
 a So called by the Iroquois. coats on them. A long time after that, 
 
 2 Including, as subsequently appeared, they lived among you, and, upon some 
 
 his own immediate tribes and the Six differences between them and you, we 
 
 Nations. thought proper to remove them, giving 
 
 8 Colonial History, vii, 197. The go- them lands to plant and hunt on at 
 vernor sent a more formal message by Wyoming and Juniatta. But you, cove- 
 Captain Newcastle, in October, inquiring tous of land, made plantations there and 
 into the character and credentials of spoiled their hunting. They complained 
 Teedyuscung, and, it is said was informed to us, and we found their complaints true, 
 by one of the Six Nations that the Dela- You drove them into the arms of the 
 ware chief "did not speak the truth when French. It is our advice that you send 
 he told the governor that he had authority for the Senecas and them, treat them 
 from the Six Nations to treat with Onas." kindly, and give them back some part of 
 
 4 This inference is strengthened by the their lands, rather than differ with them, 
 
 speech of the Mohawk orator at Lancas- It is in your power to settle the difference 
 
 ter. "In former times our forefathers with them if you please." Gallatin, 78 
 conquered the Delawares, and put petti- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RI7ER. 233 
 
 had fully learned who Teedyuscung was, and at Easton held a 
 formal conference with him. The Lenape king stated his com 
 plaint boldly and plainly. To the governor's inquiry for speci 
 fications in regard to alleged wrongs in the sale of lands, he 
 replied : " I have not far to go for an instance. This very 
 ground under me (striking it with his foot), was my land by 
 inheritance, and is taken from me by fraud. When I say this 
 ground, I mean all the land lying between Tohiccon creek and 
 Wyoming, on the" river Susquehanna. I have not only been 
 served so in this government, but the same thing has been done 
 to me as to several tracts in New Jersey, over the river." 
 When asked what he meant by u fraud," he gave instances of 
 forged deeds, under which lands were claimed which were never 
 sold. " This," said he, " is fraud." " Also, when one chief has 
 land beyond the river, and another chief has land on this side, 
 both bounded by rivers, mountains and springs, which cannot be 
 moved, and the proprietaries, ready to purchase lands, buy of one 
 chief what belongs to another, this likewise is fraud." In regard 
 to the lands on the Delaware, he said his people had never been 
 satisfied since the treaty of 1737. The boundary of the land 
 then sold was to have gone only "as far as a man could walk 
 in a day and a half from Nashamony creek," yet the person 
 who measured the ground did not walk but ran. He was, more 
 over, as they supposed, to follow the winding bank of the river, 
 whereas he went in a straight line. And because the Indians 
 had been unwilling to give up the land as far as the " walk " 
 extended, the governor sent for their cousins, the Six Nations, 
 to come down and drive them from the land. When the Six 
 Nations came down, the Lenapes met them for the purpose of 
 explaining why they did not give up the land ; but the English 
 made so many presents to the Six Nations that their ears were 
 stopped. They would listen to no explanations ; and Canasa- 
 teego x had abused them, and called them women. The Six 
 Nations had, however, given to them and the Shawanoes the 
 lands upon the Susquehanna and Juniatta for hunting grounds, 
 and had so informed the governor ; but notwithstanding this the 
 white men were allowed to go and settle upon those lands. 
 
 1 A viceroy chieftain jwho had been set over them by the Six Nations. 
 
234 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Two years ago, moreover, the governor had been to Albany to 
 buy some land of the Six Nations, 1 and had described the 
 boundaries by points of compass, which the Indians did not 
 understand, by which the deeds were made to include lands both 
 upon the Susquehanna and the Juniata which they did not intend 
 to sell. When all these things were known to the Indians, 
 they had declared that they would no longer be friends to the 
 English, who were trying to get all their country away from 
 them. He had come now to smoke the pipe of peace with 
 them, and hoped that justice might be done to his people. 2 
 
 The conference continued nine days, and was the occasion 
 for the display of no little tact and good judgment on the part 
 of Governor Denny, as well as on that of Teedyuscung. The 
 former, as some of the Iroquois chiefs expressed it, " put his 
 hand into Teedyuscung's bosom, and was so successful as to 
 draw out the secret, which neither Johnson nor the Six Nations 
 could do ;" while tne latter secured a truce at least involving 
 peace on the basis that himself and his people were to remain on 
 the Wyoming lands, and that houses should be built for them 
 by the Pennsylvania proprietaries. He was to go to Johnson's 
 council-fire and explain what had been done, obtain his confirm 
 ation and take advice as to the future. Several matters were 
 left unadjusted, Teedyuscung declaring that he was not empow 
 ered to consider them, and that the parties interested were not 
 properly represented to make action binding. He proposed 
 that a meeting should be held at Lancaster in the spring, at 
 which all the matters in dispute should be definitely adjusted, 
 and with that understanding the council closed. 
 
 But at the meeting which was then appointed, Teedyuscung 
 was not present, 3 and it was not until the 2ist of July that the 
 adjourned council was held. On its assemblage the Lenape 
 king presented his credentials as the representative of the 
 Lenapes, Minsis, Mabicans, Sbawanoes&n&Nanticokes, east of the 
 Alleghany mountains, fully empowered by them and by the 
 Senecas^ Onondagas, Gayugas, Qneldas and Mohawks, " to set- 
 
 1 At the congress of 1754. 8 The attendance of the Indians was 
 
 2 Life and Times of Sir Pfm. Johnson ; prevented by the severity of the winter, 
 Colonial History, vn, 260, etc. the snow being too deep to permit them 
 
 to travel. " , 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 235 
 
 tie all differences subsisting between them and their brethren, 
 the English." George Croghan represented Johnson, as super 
 intendent of Indian affairs. A patient, earnest and honest in 
 vestigation was had. Surrounded by three hundred of his 
 people ; counselled by Paxinos, chief of the Shawanoes, and Abra- 
 ham^ chief of the Mahicans^ and advised by a delegation of 
 Quakers, one of whom, Charles Thompson, acted as his clerk, 1 
 Teedyuscung conducted his case. " The land is the cause of 
 our difference," said he, " and if I can now prevail with you, as 
 I hope I shall, honestly to do what may be consistent with jus 
 tice, then will I with a loud voice speak, and the nations shall 
 hear me. The complaint I made last fall, I yet continue. I 
 think some lands have been bought by the proprietor or his 
 agents from Indians who had not a right to sell, and to whom 
 the lands did not belong. I think also when some lands have 
 been sold to the proprietor by Indians who had a right to sell to 
 a certain place, whether that purchase was made by miles or 
 hours' walk, the proprietors have, contrary to agreement or bar 
 gain, taken in more lands than they ought to have done, and 
 lands that belonged to others. I therefore now desire that you 
 will produce the writings and deeds by which you hold the land 
 and let them be read in public and examined, that it may be 
 fully known from what Indians you bought the lands you hold 
 and how far your purchase extends. What is fairly bought and 
 paid for, I make no further demands about, but if any lands have 
 been bought of Indians to whom they did not belong, and who 
 had no right to sell them, I expect satisfaction for those lands ; 
 and if the proprietors have taken in more lands than they bought 
 of true owners, I expect likewise to be paid for that. But as 
 the persons to whom the proprietors may have sold those lands 
 which of right belong to me, have made some settlements, I 
 
 1(1 At this council Teedyuscung insisted Philadelphia, was appointed. He was 
 
 upon having a secretary of his own selec- afterwards secretary to the Continental 
 
 tion appointed, to take down the pro- congress, and filled that station for many 
 
 ceedings in behalf of the Indians, The years. He died in 1824, aged 94 years, 
 
 demand was considered extraordinary and full of honors. The Delawares adopted 
 
 was opposed by Governor Denny. Teedy- him and gave him a name signifying, 
 
 uscung persisted in his demand, and it the man of truth. Life and Times of 
 
 was finally acceded to. Charles Thomp- Sir Wm. Johnson, n, 14. 
 son, master of. the free Quaker School in 
 
 30 
 
236 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 don't want to disturb them or force them to leave them, but I 
 expect a full satisfaction shall be made to the true owners for 
 these lands." 
 
 The deeds which he questioned, it was proposed should be 
 sent to Johnson to examine ; but to this he objected : " We do 
 not know Colonel Johnson ; he may be an honest and sincere 
 man. We do understand he treats his Indians very well, but 
 we are sensible that some of the nations are there that have 
 .been instrumental to this misunderstanding in selling lands in 
 this province, having in former years usurped that authority and 
 called us women, and threatened to take us by the foretop, 
 and throw us aside as women. But after a long space I believe 
 it is evident, nay there are witnesses present who can prove 
 that it is otherwise. Let the deeds be produced here and put 
 down with the minutes." The governor complied with the 
 request, and the deeds were compared by Thompson, who 
 certified to the correctness of the transcripts which were made. 
 They were five in number. 1 It was agreed that they should be 
 sent to Johnson for transmission to the king, and that awaiting 
 his decision upon the questions which the Indians had raised, 
 there should be peace. 
 
 These matters having been made satisfactory, Teedyuscung 
 announced his purpose. "I shall, as I promised," said he, 
 " speak to the different nations with a loud voice. I will faithfully 
 let them know what you have promised, and as we are wit 
 nesses that you are wealthy and powerful, and well disposed to 
 assist such as shall come in as brothers, I will let them know 
 it. Those who come to me with hostile intent, I will stop, 
 and if they will not by reasonable terms turn about and join 
 with me, I will then make an end of them or they of me ; and 
 if there is a great number, so that I may not be able to with 
 stand them, I will take all prudent steps to let my brethren 
 the English know." " Now," said he, in conclusion, " you 
 
 1 I. A paper copy of the last Indian pur- from the Six Nations of lands eastward to 
 
 chase, July, 28, 1686 2. A release Delaware river, dated October 25, 1736, 
 
 from the Delaware Indians, August 25, with another endorsed, " Dated July 9, 
 
 1757. 3. A release from the Five Na- 1754." 5- A deed of release for In- 
 
 tions for the lands on the Susquehanna dian purchase, dated August, 22,1749. 
 
 river, October, n, 1736. 4. A release Colonial History, vu, 313. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 237 
 
 may remember I was styled by my uncles, the Six Nations, a 
 woman in former years, and had no hatchet in my hand, but a 
 pestle or hominy pounder. But now, brethren, here are some 
 of my uncles who are present to witness the truth of this. As 
 I had np tomahawk and my uncles were always styled men and 
 had tomahawks in their hands, they gave me a tomahawk ; and 
 as. my uncles have given me a tomahawk and appointed and 
 authorized me to make peace with a tomahawk in my hand, I 
 take that tomahawk and turn the edge of it against your enemies 
 the French." 
 
 The papers which were transmitted to Johnson were imme 
 diately sent by him to the lords of trade, accompanied by the 
 statement that " some of the Six Nations were disgusted with 
 the deed which had been given at Albany, while others were 
 conniving at the hostilities which were being committed, and 
 that he conceived the "most effectual method of producing tran 
 quillity," would be the voluntary and open surrender of that 
 deed, leaving the proprietaries to fix with the Indians, in the 
 best manner they could, " the bounds for their settlements." 
 This opinion he had other reasons for entertaining. The Six 
 Nations, whose consequence he never forgot to magnify, would 
 never be satisfied " unless the deeds of the Albany purchase " were 
 " surrendered up, and the claims founded thereon in a great mea 
 sure set aside ; " the Lenapes were equally determined, testimony 
 having been furnished him that they had been heard to declare 
 " most solemnly" that " they would never leave off killing the 
 English as long as there was one on their lands ; that they were 
 determined to drive them all off their lands, naming Minnisink 
 almost to the North river east (in the provinces of New York 
 and New Jersey) ; also Bethlehem and the lands on a parallel 
 line to it west," which the English had cheated them out of. 1 
 
 In this conclusion he was most amply justified by the results 
 which had been experienced. Peace had been declared, but no 
 exchange of prisoners had taken place, and while Teedyuscung 
 himself maintained the truce which had been agreed to at Easton, 
 on the Ohio, his allies and kindred spurned the overtures made 
 to them and maintained their alliance with the French. Send- 
 
 1 Colonial History , vn, 331. ^ 
 
238 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 ing their emissaries eastward, the latter propagated prejudices 
 against the good intentions of the English, magnified the prowess, 
 kindness and generosity of the French, and successfully plead 
 the wrongs which had been committed against them in the sale 
 and occupation of their lands. 1 The Minsis were ready listeners 
 to these appeals, and active participants in the hostilities which 
 were continued. 2 Indeed, hostilities were not suspended in any 
 direction. In August, 1757, says Niles, 3 "one James Tidd 
 was scalped in the Minnisinks. About this time, also, one 
 James Watson, with James Mullen, went out on some business 
 and were fired upon by a party of Indians. Watson was found 
 killed and scalped j Mullen was carried off, as was concluded, 
 not being found or heard of. About the igth of September, 
 Patrick Karr was killed and scalped at a place called Minnisink 
 bridge. 
 
 cc Some time in the first part of October, in Ulster county, 
 the Indians fired into the furthermost house in Rochester, and 
 killed two women, but were repulsed by two men. 4 Just before 
 the other Indians came up, one of the company that was fore 
 most seized a young woman as she was washing at the door ; upon 
 which she screamed out ; another woman rescued her, beat ofF 
 the Indian and shut the door. 
 
 "On the 1 6th of May, 1758, about two clock in the after 
 noon, about thirteen Indians rushed into the house of one Nicho 
 las Cole, on the frontiers of the Jerseys, if I mistake not. Cole 
 not being at home, they immediately pinioned his wife, and 
 tomahawked their son-in-law, about eighteen years old, and 
 dragged her out of doors, where her eldest daughter, about 
 thirteen years old, lay murdered, and a boy aged eight, and her 
 youngest daughter, aged about four. At last, the poor, helpless 
 
 1 Colonial History, vn, 87. * The official account states that this raid 
 
 2 History of the French and Indian War, was by a party of Senecas and river (Dela- 
 Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., v. ware) Indians. The attack here spoken 
 
 3 " I am inclined to think the Minnisink of, was on the house of Peter Jan, in the 
 Indians who formerly lived on those lands, south-western part of Rochester. Jan's 
 if not the only are at least the chief per- house was turned and one of his daugh- 
 petrators of those hostilities and ravages ters, and two men who acted as scouts, 
 which the frontiers of your province and were killed. Jan's wife and two daugh- 
 that of New York, have and are daily suf- ters, and himself and two sons who were 
 fering." Johnson to Gov. of New Jer- in the field, escaped. Documentary His- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 239 
 
 old woman saw the cruel savages thrust their spears into the 
 body of her gasping infant. They rifled the house, and then 
 carried her and her son off, after they had scalped the slain 
 above mentioned. 
 
 " Soon after they were joined by two Indians with two Ger 
 man captives they had taken that day, and killed and scalped 
 another, in one Anthony Westbrook's field, near Minnisink, so 
 called, in Susquehanna county, if I mistake not. Not long 
 after Cole returned home ; where to his great surprise he found 
 his four children murdered, and his wife and other son missing. 
 Upon which he went to Minnisink (Napanochj fort, and got 
 a few soldiers to assist him in burying his children and the Ger 
 man. The soldiers joined with some of the neighbors that 
 evening to cross Delaware river at day-light, and waylay the 
 road to Wyoming ; and as four of them were going to one 
 Chambers's, about two o'clock at night, they heard the Indians 
 coming down the hill, to cross the Delaware, as was supposed, 
 when one of the four fired on them. They immediately fled, 
 giving a yell after their manner. The woman they led with a 
 string about her neck, and the boy by the hand ; who, finding 
 themselves loose, made their escape along the road, and happily 
 met at James McCarty's house, the boy first, and afterward 
 the woman. 
 
 " The daughter of one widow Walling, living near Fort 
 Gardiner, between Goshen and Minnisink, going out to pick up 
 some chips for the fire, was shot at -by three Indians. Her 
 shrieks alarmed the people. Her brother, looking out at a gar 
 ret window, and seeing a fellow dispatching and scalping his 
 sister, fired at them, and was pretty certain he wounded one of 
 them. The old woman, during this, with her other daughter 
 and her son, made off and escaped. 
 
 " About this time (beginning of June), a sergeant went from 
 Waasing 1 to Minnisink with a party of men, but returned not at 
 the time they were expected. Upon which a larger party went 
 out in search of them, and, at their arrival at Minnisink, found 
 seven of them killed and scalped, three wounded, and a woman 
 and four children carried off. Near about the same time, in 
 
 1 Wawarsing probably. 
 
240 THE INDUN TRIBES 
 
 the frontiers of the Jerseys, a house was beset by a party of In 
 dians, where were seventeen persons, who were killed, as I 
 remember the account. A man and a boy traveling on the road 
 with their muskets were fired on by some Indians in ambush. 
 The man was killed ; but the boy escaped, having first killed 
 one of the Indians. Not far from this time whether before or 
 after I am not certain the Indians killed seven New York 
 soldiers. This slaughter was committed at a place called West- 
 falls, in the frontiers of New Jersey." 1 
 
 Such is the imperfect record of these hostilities. That they 
 were not more numerous is due to the erection, by Governor 
 Hardy, in the summer of 1757, of a number of blockhouses 
 along the frontiers of Orange and Ulster county, covering 
 a distance of thirty miles. 2 and affording a refuge to the 
 settlers. At these blockhouses garrisons of regular troops 
 or militia were constantly stationed, and moved to the defense 
 of more exposed situations. They were far from being a per 
 fect protection, however, and, as already shown, were themselves 
 the object of hostile attack. 
 
 There was some excuse on the part of the Indians for the 
 continuance of hostilities. The proprietaries of Pennsylvania 
 had manifested no willingness to relinquish their claim to the 
 lands which they had so fraudulently acquired, nor had New 
 Jersey made overtures of restitution. To Johnson's letter to 
 the lords of trade, the proprietaries had entered a remonstrance, 
 denying that any cause of complaint existed in reference to the 
 lands which they held, and at home were unsparing in their 
 
 1 A party of Indians lay in ambush to the soldiers were killed. History Orange 
 
 get an opportunity to take the lower fort County, 381. 
 
 at Mr. Westfall's. They sent two of 2 " From a place called Machakamak 
 
 their party to espy it, who discovered that to the town of Rochester." (Cov. Hardy's 
 
 there were only two women in the fort. Message}. Machakamak, is now the 
 
 While the two spies returned to inform village of Port Jervis. The blockhouse 
 
 their party, a small company of soldiers, at this point was called Col. Jersey fort, 
 
 marching from New Jersey to Esopus, and was still standing at the outbreak 
 
 came along and stopped at the fort, of the war of the Revolution. The 
 
 They were scarcely seated before the In- location of the other blockhouses is not 
 
 dians rushed in and fell on the men with marked on Sauthier's map. These block- 
 
 their tomahawks. The soldiers fled to houses were joined on the south by 
 
 the chamber from which they shot at the those erected by New Jersey of which 
 
 Indians, and after a desperate fight com- one was known as Westfall's fort, at 
 
 pelled them to retire, though several of the lower neighborhood. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 241 
 
 denunciations of the Quakers for having, as they asserted, 
 assisted the Indians against the interests of the province. The 
 papers forwarded by Johnson, however, were too plain a state 
 ment of facts to sustain them in their position, and the order 
 was returned directing him to appoint a commission to make 
 an examination of the case. Anticipating the action of this 
 commission, the governor of Pennsylvania appointed a confer 
 ence with the Indians at Easton, in October, 1758. Teedyus- 
 cung attended as the representative of thirteen nations, 1 assumed 
 the position which he had formerly occupied, and sustained 
 himself with eloquence and dignity. Finding that nothing 
 could be done unless the land question was satisfactorily dis- 
 *posed of, the proprietaries came forward and surrendered the 
 confirmatory deed which had been received from the Six Nations 
 at Albany in* 1 754, 2 and recognized 1:he right of the government 
 to arrange the boundaries of the lands included in the treaty of 
 1742. A treaty was concluded, after a session of nineteen days. 
 All that Teedyuscung had asked was granted ; the boundary 
 lines were agreed to ; New Jersey paid the Mlnsis <i,ooo for the 
 lands which they claimed in that province, and received a 
 concurrent deed from all the Lenape tribes ; an exchange of 
 prisoners was agreed to, 3 and peace folded her wing over the 
 long harassed frontiers. 
 
 The divisions which existed among the Six Nations, so ap 
 parent in the early stages of the controversy with France, in 
 creased as the war progressed. In April, 1757, the Senecas, 
 
 1 The tribes represented were classified acquainted that at the late treaty at 
 as the Mohawks, Oneidas, Onondagas, Easton, in Pennsylvania, the proprietary 
 Cayugas, Senecas, and Tuscaroras, com- agents, .in behalf of their constituents, 
 prising the Six Nations, the Nanticokes, gave up their claims to the lands on the 
 Conoys, Tuteloes, and Chugnuts, of the Ohio, which were sold to the proprie- 
 Susquehannah j the Lenapes, Minsis,Sha- taries in 1754, at Albany, and here I 
 wanoes, Mahicans, and Wappingers of have in my hands the instrument of 
 the Delaware. In the Wappingers will release and surrender." 
 
 be recognized the families gathered at 3 It is said that a portion of the pri- 
 
 Fishkill in 1756, and in the Mahicans soners taken by the Lenapes had been 
 
 the clans of that nation whose removal given to the Six Nations, but the 
 
 to the Delaware country had commenced confederate title is probably used in this 
 
 in 1730 (ante, p. 194). as in many other cases when the desig- 
 
 2 Not the deed to the Connecticut com- nation should have been specific to have 
 pany. (Documentary History, n, 775)5 properly recorded the fact. These pri- 
 also Colonial History, vn, 388, where soners were returned at Canajoharie, 
 Johnson says : " Brethren, you have been April 13, 1759. 
 
242 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Qnondagas, and Gayngas, threw off the disguise of active friend 
 ship which they had professed for the English, and sent a large 
 belt to Canada to make peace with the French. " Our promise," 
 said they, " to remain firm to the English was given with the 
 understanding that the war should be prosecuted vigorously ;" 
 now that they saw the French victorious on every side, and the 
 English army retreating as it were, they considered themselves 
 released from all previous obligations and determined to make 
 peace for themselves, and thenceforth to remain neutral. With 
 them the victorious party were desired as friends ; besides, so 
 many of their number were already in the ranks of the French, 
 that those who remained attached to the English had no security 
 from destruction but neutrality. 
 
 The advantages of this neutrality were in favor of the French. 
 Although by its terms the English were not deprived of any 
 numerical force, yet the fact that the confederacy was divided 
 in its allegiance had its influence at home as well as among the 
 nations more remote. The Mohawks were compromised by it, 
 and became idle spectators to the numerous incursions of the 
 French Indians, whjle to the Indians of the Ohio country it was 
 an encouragement to continue their revolt. Eventually it 
 drifted into war in behalf of the French ; for the time being it 
 was turned by Johnson to the best advantage possible. " As you 
 have declared yourselves neutrals," said he to the three tribes, 
 tc I shall expect you to act as neutrals and not permit either 
 the French or their Indians to pass through your settlements to 
 make war upon the English, and that you do not directly or 
 indirectly give our enemies or their Indians information to our 
 prejudice. Should you violate these rules of behavior, we shall 
 Ipok upon the covenant chain as absolutely broken between us." 
 This promise they gave, and their neutrality was confirmed. 
 
 With war rolling its folds of fire on the north and west, and 
 allies within their bosom who were indifferent if not willing 
 spectators to its progress, the English had no mean task before 
 them to retain their supremacy. At one time, indeed, even 
 this seemed hopeless ; x but, better counsels prevailing in the pro- 
 
 1 " For God's sake," wrote the officer of Massachusetts, in 1757, " exert yourself 
 in command at Albany, to the governor to save a province j New York itself may 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 243 
 
 vinces as well as on the part of the home government, the lost 
 ground was recovered and the banners of England floated in 
 undisputed possession of Canada. 
 
 In the Ohio country the conflict was continued long after its 
 close at the north, and developed the strength of the ties which 
 had been formed between the western Indians and the French. 
 Usually the first, they were now the last to yield. The Senecas 
 joined them ; the Lenapes saw all their ancient wrongs repeated 
 and riveted upon them in the success of the English. Already 
 had the advanced couriers of the latter penetrated the Ohio 
 valley ; here and there in convenient proximity forts had been 
 erected to overawe them and protect their enemies. Every 
 promise which the English had made having been apparently 
 violated, the war-belt of the Senecas invited the nations in the 
 French alliance to take up the hatchet in their behalf. 1 
 
 The plot was discovered in time to arrest immediate hostili- 
 ties, but not to defeat the formation of a more formidable con 
 spiracy. As the tribes felt the chain of English domination 
 drawing closer and closer around them, one among their number, 
 Pontiac, the king of the Ottawas^ counseled, in the summer of 
 1762, the formation of a league to drive the English from the 
 continent. The great interior tribes responded. The Senecas 
 gave to the movement one thousand warriors ; the Lenapes 
 and Shawanoes, nine hundred ; the Mahicans and Wyandots, 
 two hundred ; the Ottawa confederacy under Pontiac a num 
 ber equal to their allies. 2 Moving quickly to their work, one 
 after another, LeBoeuf, Verrango, Presque Isle, Sandusky, St. 
 Joseph, Miami, and Michillimackinac fell into the hands of 
 the conspirators. 
 
 fall ; save a country ; prevent the down- Friendly Indians. MoAa-wks, two vil- 
 
 fall of the British government upon this lages, 1 60 warriors j Oneidas, two villages, 
 
 continent." Bancroft. 250; Tuscaroras, one village, 140; Qnon- 
 
 IU I understood and was told by them dagas, one large village, 1.50; Cayugas, 
 
 (the Delawares) that the breaking out of one large village, 200 total, 900 war- 
 
 this war was occasioned by the Seneca riors. 
 
 Indians who went about with a bloody Hostile Indians Scnecas, tw villages, 
 
 belt and tomahawk to all the nations en- 1050; Delawares, of the Ohio, 600; 
 
 gaged m this trouble " Manuscripts of Shaiuanoes, 300 ; Wyandots and Mohicans, 
 
 Sir Wm. Johnson, vm, 14. near Fort Sandusky, 200 total 2150 
 
 2 The following is Johnson's estimate: warriors. Manuscripts, xxiv, 186. 
 
 31 
 
244 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 The Mohawks^ Oneidas, Tuscaroras^ Onondagas and Cayugas 
 held to their covenant with the English, but only as neutrals. 
 Teedyuscung followed their example, having, in a treaty at 
 Easton, in May, 1762, fully adjusted his dispute with the pro 
 prietaries. It was his last treaty. The Senecas and the western 
 Lenapes were alike offended by his course, 1 and determined to 
 advance their ends by his destruction. Resorting to a mode of 
 warfare favorite among the Indians and especially calculated to 
 serve a double purpose, a party of Senecas* ostensibly on a mis 
 sion of peace, visited Wyoming in April, 1763, and after linger 
 ing about for several days, in the night time treacherously set 
 fire to the house of the unsuspecting king, which, with the 
 veteran himself, was burnt to ashes. Remaining on the ground, 
 they inspired the followers of the murdered king with the belief 
 that the work had been done by the Connecticut settlers. Stim- 
 ulated by these representations, the infuriated Lenapes fell upon 
 the unsuspecting whites, on the I4th, and massacred about 
 thirty, drove off their cattle, rifled their stores, and at night 
 applied the torch to dwellings and barns, and lighted up the val 
 ley with their destruction. 
 
 The fall of Teedyuscung accomplished the purpose which 
 its perpetrators had designed, the Lenapes were consolidated in 
 interest, and the alliances of the Senecas made complete. The 
 governor of Pennsylvania sent troops to the scene of conflict, 
 
 x The Indians went away much dissa- known. His successor, Nctaivaticives, 
 
 tisfied, especially the Six Nations, /. ., the held the throne untill 1776, when by his 
 
 Senecas. The Shaivanoes and Delaware* death, it devolved upon Coquehagechton, 
 
 left most of their presents on the road to alias White Eyes, who, during the early 
 
 the Ohio. Manuscripts, vi, 144. part of the Revolution, was distinguished 
 
 2 Stone and other writers use the term for his friendship to the colonists and for 
 
 Iroquois, implying the participation of his efforts to keep his people neutral. He 
 
 the confederacy in the transaction, and died at Tuscorawas (Fort Laurens) of 
 
 assuming that they were offended at the small-pox in 1778. "The person on 
 
 growing power of Teedyuscung. Such whom, by lineal descent, the station of 
 
 an interpretation does not correspond with head-chief of the nation devolved, being 
 
 the apparent facts. The Indians were yet young in years, the surviving chiefs 
 
 Iroquois it is true, but it is also true that Gelellmand, alias Killbuck, Machingive 
 
 they were Senecas or those engaged in Pushis, alias Large Cat, and Tetepachksi 
 
 stirring up hostilities in the west. Heck- officiated in his stead." The young king 
 
 ewelder says : " Fearing that he might was killed in the massacre of peaceable 
 
 not fall into their measures of joining in Indians by Williamson at Pittsb'urg, in 
 
 a new war against the English, they per- 1781. Hcckeivclder's Narrative, 153, 
 
 haps concerted the plan of destroying 193, 198, etc. 
 him." Nothing was ever positively 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 245 
 
 but the immediate participants in the massacre anticipated their 
 arrival and withdrew to Tioga, while the Moravian Indians, 
 who had taken no part in the transaction, removed to Gnaden- 
 hiitten. Failing to reach the guilty, a band of lawless whites 
 determined to punish the innocent, and with a hatred born of 
 the pernicious teachings of Church, banded together to exter 
 minate the whole Indian race, " that the saints might possess 
 the land." Sixty in number, these maddened zealots fell upon 
 the CanestogoesJ a small clan of Onelda dependents residing 
 upon their reservation in the most inoffensive manner, hacked 
 their chief in pieces in his bed, murdered three men, two 
 women and a boy, and burnt their houses. But few of the 
 Indians were at home, being absent selling their little wares 
 among the people. On their return the magistrates of Lancas 
 ter collected them and placed them in one of the public build 
 ings for protection. Thither they were followed by the fanatics, 
 the building broken open and the massacre commenced. 
 " When the poor wretches saw they had no protection, and that 
 they could not escape, and being without the least weapon of 
 defense, they divided their little families, the children clinging 
 to their parents ; they fell on their faces, protested their inno 
 cence, declared their love for the English, and that in their 
 whole lives they had never done them any harm, and in this 
 posture they received the hatchet. Men, women and children, 
 infants clinging to the breast, were all inhumanly butchered in 
 cold blood." z 
 
 The Moravian Indians at Gnadenhiitten fled to Philadelphia, 
 and were followed thither by their maddened persecutors, whose 
 numbers now swelled to an insurgent army. The governor 
 called the troops for the protection of the fugitives ; the Indians 
 begged that they might be sent to England. An attempt was 
 made to send them to the Mohawk country, but after proceeding as 
 far as Amboy, they were recalled. Another season of terror 
 
 1 The Conestogoes are presumed to have when they were sent to Conestoga. 
 
 been the remnant of the old Susquehan- Their name would seem to have been 
 
 nocks, whose destruction was accom- derived from that of the chief under 
 
 plished by the English of Maryland aided whose charge they were placed. Gallatin, 
 
 by the Five Nations. They were removed 55. 
 
 from Maryland and settled among the * Proud ; see also Life and Times of Sir 
 
 Oneidas until they lost their language, Wm. Johnson. 
 
246 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 ensued, and the governor hid himself away in the house of Dr. 
 Franklin. The Quakers were alone equal to the occasion, 
 and firmly resisted the intended bloodshed. Persuaded to listen to 
 the voice of reason, the insurgents at length abandoned their 
 murderous purposes and returned to their homes, and the be 
 sieged Indians again sought rest in the wilderness. 1 
 
 The combination under Pontiac failed, but not from any lack 
 of courage and determination on the part of the confederates. 
 While maintaining the siege of Detroit, belts, which had been 
 sent in all directions by the French, assured the tribes which 
 had been in alliance with them that their power had departed. 
 The courier who took the belt to the north, offered peace to all 
 the tribes wherever he passed ; and to Detroit, where he arrived 
 on the last of October, he bore a letter in the nature of a pro 
 clamation, informing the inhabitants of the cession of Canada to 
 England ; another addressed to twenty-five nations by name, and 
 particularly to Pontiac, and a third to the commander, express 
 ing a readiness to surrender to the English all the forts of the 
 Ohio and east of the Mississippi. 2 The next morning Pontiac 
 raised the siege, accepted " the peace which his father the 
 French had sent him," and departed with his followers, disap 
 pointed but unrelenting. 
 
 The Lenapes and their allies had, in the meantime, performed 
 their allotted work. Ruined mills, deserted cabins, fields wav 
 ing with the harvest but without reapers, attested their ruthless 
 warfare east of the Alleghanies, while at Fort Pitt they held suc 
 cessful siege. The Virginia troops under Boquet, who had been 
 sent out against them, barely escaped destruction. At Edge hill, 
 on the 5th and 6th of August, 1763, stratagem alone saved him. 
 Taking advantage of the intrepidity of his assailants, he feigned 
 a retreat. The allies hurried to charge with the utmost daring, 
 when two companies, that had been purposely concealed, fell 
 upon their flank ; others turned and met them in front ; and the 
 Indians, yielding to the irresistible shock, were routed and put 
 
 1 It is a singular fact, that the actors in consideration that the press did not dis- 
 
 this strange and tragic affair were not of close their names, nor the government 
 
 the lower orders of the people. They attempt their punishment. Stone. 
 were Presbyterians, comprising in their a Bancroft ', v, 133, 164. 
 ranks men of intelligence, and of so much 
 
O.P HUDSON'S RWER. 247 
 
 to flight. The loss to the English of one hundred and fifteen 
 men, or about one-fourth of their force, attested the bravery of 
 the assailants. 1 
 
 During the winter of 1764, Johnson succeeded in persuading 
 some of the warriors of the neutral nations to unite with 
 a company of militia under his son, John Johnson, for the in 
 vasion of the Lenape territory. On the 26th of February, a 
 company of insurgents, under command of Captain Bull, 2 was 
 surprised and made prisoners in their encampment near the Sus- 
 quehanna. The prisoners were removed to Johnson Hall, from 
 whence Bull and thirteen of his warriors were sent to New 
 York and lodged in jail, and the remainder distributed among 
 the confederates. Another Iroquois party under Brant, burned 
 the Lenape town of Kanestio and six other of their large villages 
 lying on the head waters of the Susquehanna. 
 
 Seconding the efforts of Johnson, New Jersey and Connecti 
 cut sent out an army of eleven hundred men to attack the 
 Senecas^ while Pennsylvania and Virginia contributed a greater 
 number to subdue the allies in the Ohio valley. The Lenapes 
 fled from their burning villages to the Senecas^ and the latter, fearing 
 the destruction of their own towns, sent, early in April, a deputa 
 tion of four hundred of their chief men to Johnson Hall to sue 
 for peace. The overture was taken advantage of by Johnson 
 to gain important concessions. The Senecas were required to 
 stop hostilities and engage never again to make war upon the 
 
 1 Johnson pays this tribute to the sue them through their different suc- 
 prowess of the Lenapes and their allies : cessful expeditions and depredations 
 " The Ohio Indians begun on the fron- would be entering into a tedious detail of 
 tiers of Pennsylvania, Virginia, and the facts well known and still sensibly felt 
 communications to the posts, three of here." Colonial History, vii, 962. 
 which, Presque Isle, Verrango and La s " Made them all prisoners to the num- 
 Boeuf, they took immediately. After ber of forty-one, including their chief, 
 laying waste all the frontiers they invested Captain Bull, son to Teedyuscung, and 
 Fort Pitt, and reduced the garrison to one who has discovered great inveteracy 
 much danger. Col. Boquet, with six hun- against the English, and led several par- 
 dred men and a large convoy, marching ties against them during the present In 
 to its relief, was attacked by only ninety- dianwar." (Johnson, Colonial History, vii, 
 five of them (for I have the best authori- 611.) In Memorials of Moravin Church, 
 ties of white men then with the Indians i, 252, it is stated that Teedyuscung had 
 and of several different Indians, who all three sons, Amos or Tachgokanhelle, the 
 agree that that is the' true number), who oldest, Kesmitas, and John Jacob." 
 killed about sixty of his people and greatly Captain Bull was probably Amos. At 
 obstructed his march. In short, to pur- that time he was thirty-four years old. 
 
248 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 English, deliver up all their prisoners within three months, cede 
 to the crown the Niagara carrying place and allow the free 
 passage of troops through their country, and renounce " all in 
 tercourse with the Delaware* and Shawanoes," and assist the 
 English in bringing them to punishment. As hostages, three 
 of their principal chiefs were to await the complete fulfillment 
 of the terms. 
 
 When the English under Bradstreet reached Niagara in Au 
 gust, he found no Indians in arms. There the Senecas met 
 him, delivered up fourteen prisoners, and asked that the Lenapes 
 and Skawanoes should be included in the treaty of April, 1 
 Johnson, who had arrived before Bradstreet, agreed to this on 
 condition that those tribes delivered up their king and Squash 
 Cutter, their chief warrior, and the Senecas left with him two 
 of their chiefs as hostages for the fulfillment of the terms. 
 With the Ottawas, Ckippewas, Hurons, and other tribes under 
 Pontiac, peace was also made, although Pontiac did not appear. 
 The Indian country was made a part of the royal dominions ; 
 its tribes were bound to aid the English troops, and in return 
 were promised assistance and protection ; Indian murderers and 
 plunderers were to be delivered up ; all captives were to be set 
 free and restored, and the families of English settlers assured of 
 welcome. 
 
 Not less successful was the expedition under Boquet. A 
 little below the mouth of Sandy creek, beneath a bower erected 
 on the banks of the Tuscarawas, chiefs of the Senecas, the Le 
 napes, the Shawanoes, and the Mohicans, invited peace. The 
 Lenapes delivered up eighteen prisoners, and eighty-three small 
 sticks as pledges for the return of as many more. At the junc 
 tion of the White Woman and the Tuscarawas, in the centre 
 of the Indian villages, the Shawanoes accepted the terms of 
 peace with dejected sullenness, and promised, by their orator, 
 Red Hawk, to collect all captives from the lower towns and 
 restore them in the spring. 2 
 
 On the 2yth of April, 1765, the pledges which had been 
 given by the Senecas were redeemed by the surrender of the 
 
 1 Stone, in his Life and Times of Sir dit for his part in this transaction. 
 Wm. Johnson, gives Bradstreet little ere- a ancroft t v, 210, 221. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 249 
 
 Lenape king, Long Coat, and his principal warrior, Squash 
 Cutter, who in their turn became hostages for the Susquehanna 
 clans. Captain Bull and two of his warriors were released, and 
 the remaining prisoners, who had been sent to New York for 
 security, were brought up and placed in charge of the com 
 manding officer at Albany until the Susquehanna clans, to whom 
 they belonged, should deliver up their prisoners according to 
 promise. On the iQth of June the latter appeared with twenty- 
 five persons, including even half-breeds, the children of inter 
 marriages with the Indians. The exchange was made ; the 
 hostage chiefs departed, and the war of ten years was closed. 1 
 
 The withdrawal of the French brought with it the necessity 
 of treaties with the tribes that had been in alliance with them, 
 as well as changes in the policy of the English. The task was 
 a difficult one. The attachment of the northern and western 
 Indians to the French was strong ; the grievances of the Senecas 
 and their Lenape allies were aggravated by the peace to which 
 they had been compelled and in which they had been forced to 
 concede that their lands were a part of the royal dominions. 
 In regard to their territorial possessions, their decision in 1748 
 had grown into a positive policy, which the English were obliged 
 to recognize on the very threshold of negotiations, as well as the 
 wide-spread influence which it exerted. T o treaties, submissions, 
 and cessions, which recognized any other fact than that they 
 were a free people that they had independent lands, which 
 were their ancient possessions they would give no attention, 
 while to proffered protection they replied that they wanted none 
 so much as from the English themselves. 2 
 
 1 The treaty of peace was made with all the savages upon this continent, the 
 Killbuck or Bemineo, Long Coat or most knowing, the most intriguing, the 
 Anindamooky, and Squash Cutter or less useful, and the greatest villains, are 
 Yaghkapoose, on the part of the eastern those most conversant with the Euro- 
 Lenapes, and was ratified and confirmed peans, and deserve most the attention of 
 by Turtle Heart OP Aquarsqua, Wieween- the government by way of correction, and 
 oghwa, Tedabajhsika, Lenapes of the these are the Six Nations, Shawanoes, 
 Ohio, and Benavissica, Manykypusson, and Delawares. They are well acquainted 
 Nanicksah, and Wabysequina, Shawanoes with'the defenseless state of the inhabit- 
 of the Ohio. Colonial History, vn, 738. ants who live on the frontiers, and think 
 
 2 Colonial History, vn, 958. Colonel they will ever have it in their power to 
 Bradstreet, in his " Thoughts on Indian distress and plunder them, and never cease 
 Affairs," gives a different view of the raising the jealousy of the Upper Nations 
 policy of the tribes. He writes : " Of against us, by propagating amongst them 
 
250 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 To appease their demands Johnson had proposed to them in 
 1765, to "make a line" which should be recognized alike by 
 themselves and the English as a boundary beyond which neither 
 should pass. The proposition was accepted, but its execution 
 was delayed. Meanwhile the tribes remained morose and jeal 
 ous and at times ready to take up the hatchet. Hostilities on 
 the western border continued of frequent occurrence ; the diffi 
 culties in Pennsylvania, were kept alive by the constantly in 
 creasing tide of European emigration. Connecticut determined 
 to occupy the Wyoming valley, while the fanatics of the Ca- 
 nestogo massacre shot and scalped with unrelenting zeal 
 the Indian hunters wherever opportunity offered. Smarting 
 under these aggressions, the Senecas, in 1768, by a large belt 
 said to the Lenapes and Sbawanoes : " Brethren, these lands x are 
 yours as well as ours ; God gave them to us to live upon, and 
 before the white people shall have them for nothing, we will 
 sprinkle the leaves with blood, or die every man in the attempt." 
 Finding that the matter could no longer be delayed, a conference 
 was called at Fort Stanwix and the contemplated boundary line 
 established. 2 In the name of the king, Johnson took a deed for 
 the territory south and east of the Ohio. In addition to this 
 deed, William Trent obtained title to a tract between the 
 Kenawha and Monongahela ; the proprietaries of Pennsylvania, 
 one of the Wyoming lands, and George Croghan one confirma 
 tory of two grants which the Indians had given him, in 1766, 
 
 such stories as make them believe the occupied by the English along the Mon- 
 
 English have nothing so much at heart ongahela, and the Red Stone creek, 
 
 as the extirpation of all savages. The a This treaty was concluded Nov. 5th, 
 
 apparent design of the Six Nations is, to 1768. By its terms all the lands north 
 
 keep us at war with all savages but them- and west of the Ohio and Alleghany 
 
 selves, that they may be employed as rivers to Kittaning ; thence in a direct 
 
 mediators between us and them, at a line to the nearest fork of the west branch 
 
 continuation of expense, too often and of the Susquehanna ; thence, following 
 
 too heavily felt, the sweets of which they that stream through the Alleghanies, by 
 
 will never forget nor lose sight of, if they the way of Burnett's Hills and the eastern 
 
 can possibly avoid it. That of the Sha- branch of the Susquehanna and the Dela- 
 
 wanoes and Delawares is to live on killing ware into New York, to a line parallel 
 
 and captivating and plundering the people with Nonaderha creek, and thence north 
 
 inhabiting the frontiers ; long experience to Wood creek, east of Oneida lake was 
 
 has shown them they grow richer, and recognized as the territorial domain of the 
 
 live better thereby, than by hunting wild Six Nations, Lcnapes, Sha<wanocs y etc. 
 
 beasts." Colonial History, vn, 690. Colonial History , vm, 135. 
 1 The reference is to lands then being 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. * 251 
 
 of thirteen hundred acres on the Alleghany river. The sum of 
 ten thousand dollars in goods and money was paid to the Six 
 Nations and their allies, and their possessions in the valley of 
 the Hudson, as well as of the Delaware, were known to them 
 no more. 
 
 Not only was the policy referred to, with its resultant boun 
 dary, developed by the war, but the position of the Indian na 
 tions was changed. As the representative allies of the English, 
 the confederated tribes still had a name, but in almost all other 
 respects their dominion and authority had shriveled up under 
 the touch of the contending civilizations as certainly as had that 
 of the nations which ha<l earlier fallen under its malign influence. 
 Nominally united when the war closed, and maintaining a 
 recognized deference to the action and wishes of each other, 
 as they had during its continuance, they were nevertheless prac 
 tically divided. The Mohawks, dwelling in the presence of 
 Johnson his own children swelling their ranks 1 reflected in 
 their action the wishes of the English government, or stirred 
 up the tribes to mischief with the expectation of rewards as 
 mediators ; petted, and perhaps deservedly so, for services which 
 had cost them the loss of their ablest chief and a large number 
 of their best warriors, they were not the less debauched by 
 liquor, enfeebled by disease, 2 and shorn of their prestige ; while 
 the Senecas, more manly and generous, less contaminated by 
 civilization by their separation from its more immediate influ 
 ence, dictated the policy and controlled all of active force that 
 remained among their ancient brethren. As a nation they never 
 again appeared in the field as contestants. Power and territory 
 alike fell from their grasp at Fort Stanwix. 
 
 Brighter was the record of the Lenapes, and their grand-child 
 ren, the Shawanoes and Mahicans of the west, judged from the 
 standpoint of the success which had crowned their efforts. En 
 tering upon the struggle as " poor women" striking their op 
 pressors with " billets of wood," they emerged from it 
 u increased in interest and respect," in the opinion of their 
 enemies, " their conduct having restored them to the rank of 
 
 1 It is said that Johnson had not less 2 Johnson. N. T. Colonial History, 
 than one hundred children by squaws, vii, 957. 
 
 32 * 
 
252 * THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 men," and given to them an influence not only " very exten 
 sive," 1 but destined in the future to embalm their names as the 
 most formidable of the original Indian nations of Hudson's 
 river. Their prowess vindicated in the field, their diplomacy 
 triumphant in council, their manhood wrung from the unwilling 
 hands of civilized and uncivilized foes, they gave to the conflicts 
 of the west an impetus which made their name national, and 
 grafted it forever upon the politics and history of their native 
 land. 
 
 Not lost to the records of this eventful period were the Ma- 
 bicansand Wappingers of the Hudson. While floating fragments 
 from their ranks found new homes among the Mohawks and 
 Senecas, swelled the victorious clans of their brethren in the 
 west, suffered persecution for righteousness' sake at Gnaden- 
 hiicten, or 'chanted with Montcalm the war songs of the French, 
 at Westenhuck, in the valley of the Housatonic, their ancient 
 council fire was kept brightly burning and their braves aided to 
 give to the English the supremacy of the continent. The 
 introduction among them of unselfish and devoted ministers of 
 the gospel had restored to them, in a great measure, their 
 ancient character, and made their influence felt in the camp and 
 in the field, so much so, indeed, that the Mohawks sent to their 
 schools their children for instruction, and the Onetdas were 
 proud to hail them as brothers. When the war came on, 
 Johnson made an effort to raise from their ranks a company to 
 aid in the expedition against Crown point, 2 failing only to permit 
 Governor Shirley to draw ofF with his expedition " nearly every 
 fighting man among them." 3 After the war they demanded 
 restitution from the Abenaquis for the loss of one of their 
 number, and delayed the consummation of peace with them 
 until 1 762.4 After the peace, they revived their claims to lands 
 in Albany county, as well as in Dutchess in the former, 
 pressing even west of the Hudson, and in the latter, asserting 
 and clearly proving fraud in the sale of the tract now embraced 
 
 Johnson. Colonial History, vii, 953. Colonial History, vin, 45*. 
 
 2 Johnson Manuscripts, n, 86. 4 A warrior was finally sent to them by 
 
 ^Stockbridge, Past and Present. "They the Abenaquis to compensate them for 
 
 served as a corps in the late war, and are their loss. Johnson Manuscripts, xxiv, 
 
 in number about fhree hundred." Tryon, 125. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 253 
 
 in the county of Putnam. Failing to secure redress, they 
 attempted the forcible ejectment of the settlers, and compelled 
 the interference of the military. Subsequently, Nimham, the 
 Wappinger king, in company with chiefs from the Mahicans of 
 Connecticut, visited England and received favorable hearing. 
 Returning to America their claims were thrown into the courts 
 and were there overtaken by the Revolution. 
 
 Still clinging to their ancient homes, at the close of the war, 
 were considerable numbers of the Esopus and Mahican clans, 
 then generally known as "domestic tribes." Of the former 
 <c Nachnawachena, alias Sanders, chief sachem, accompanied by 
 sachems Hakawarenim, Qualaghquninjon, and Walagayhin, and 
 twenty-three Indians besides squaws and children," came to 
 conference at Kingston, September yth, I77I. 1 They were 
 then principally residents of the country back of the Shawangunk 
 mountains, and without special usefulness in the contest which 
 had decided the future rank of their brethren, the Minsis, in the west. 
 Not the last, but the closing record of the English administra 
 tion in reference to them is that by Governor Tryon, in 1774 : 
 " The river tribes have become so scattered and so addicted to 
 wandering, that no certain account of their numbers can be 
 obtained. These tribes the Montauks and others of Long 
 island, Wappingers of Dutchess county, and the Esopus, Papa- 
 goncks, etc., of Ulster county^- have generally been denomi 
 nated River Indians and consist of about three hundred fighting 
 men. Most of these people at present profess Christianity, and 
 as far as in their power adopt our customs. The greater part 
 of them attended the army during the late war, but not with 
 the same reputation of those who are still deemed hunters." 2 
 
 1 Manuscripts of Sir Wm. Johnson, a Colonial History y vni, 451. 
 xxin, 4. 
 
254 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 CHAPTER X. 
 
 
 
 THE INDIANS AND THE WAR OF THE REVOLUTION THE 
 DESTRUCTION OF THE Six NATIONS THE LAST OF THE 
 MAHICANS. 
 
 >HE hostility of the Indian tribes of the west to the 
 colonists, in the war of the Revolution, had its 
 origin mainly in the long catalogue of aggressive 
 acts which the colonists themselves had committed, 
 and against which the tribes had adopted a settled and well 
 understood policy, involving resistance to further encroachments 
 upon territory which they regarded as their especial domain. In 
 their controversies in regard to these encroachments the Indians 
 had learned to distinguish between the king of England and 
 those whom they regarded as their oppressors, and to assume 
 that while the latter were trespassers, the former was a just 
 judge to whom they could appeal. The revision of the 
 Wyoming deeds, and the establishment of the treaty line of 
 1768, they regarded as having been especially directed by the 
 former, in acknowledgment of the justice of their claims, and 
 this impression was strengthened by the policy which Johnson 
 pursued, as distinguished from that which was sanctioned by 
 colonial authority. 1 
 
 Unfortunately the colonists made not only no effort to remove 
 this impression, but, by their repeated violations of the treaty 
 line, kept alive the irritations which its establishment was de- 
 
 1 " His majesty, with great wisdom and since removed not only below the Kan- 
 discretion, was pleased to direct that (no hawa, but even far beyond the limits of 
 settlements) should now be made below the cession, and in a little time we may 
 the great Kanhawa river, with which I probably hear that they have crossed the 
 acquainted the Indians, agreeable to my Ohio wherever the lands invite them j for 
 orders, but numbers of settlements had the body of these people are under no 
 been made there previous to the cession, restraint, and pay as little regard to go- 
 Attempts made since to form others on vernment as they do to title for their 
 the Mississippi, and great numbers in possessions." Johnson, Colonial History 
 defiance of the cession, or the orders of the vui, 460. 
 government in consequence thereof, have 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 255 
 
 signed to remove. The Virginians did not cease to push their 
 pioneers into the Ohio valley, while the Pennsylvanians, under 
 Franklin, although acting with the consent of the tribes in in 
 terest, were not the less violators of the spirit of the treaty. 
 The Virginians, however, openly disregarded the compact, and 
 did not scruple to regard the Indians as legitimate prey for their 
 rifles, or to commit a succession of outrages more cruel and 
 unprovqked than any known to savage warfare. Retaliation 
 followed, and what was known as Cresap's war was inaugu 
 rated. The immediate causes of this war may be briefly stated. 
 In the spring of 1774, a party of land agents under the lead of 
 Captain Michael Cresap, was sent out by the Virginians to 
 locate and open up farms in the valley of the Ohio, near the 
 present cities of Pittsburg and Wheeling. The Indians remon 
 strated with Governor Dunmore, but instead of heeding them, 
 the latter sent word to Cresap that he must be prepared for 
 hostilities. Determined to anticipate the Indians in the attack 
 which appeared to be imminent, Cresap, on the twenty-sixth of 
 April, declared war, organized his party and moved towards the 
 Ohio where he killed two Indians, and, on the following day, 
 surprised a party of Senecas and inflicted upon them the loss o f 
 one man. 
 
 Not satisfied with these achievements, the party pushed for 
 ward to attack the encampment of Logan, a Mingoe chief, near 
 the mouth of Yellow creek. The expedition was abandoned 
 without consummation, only to be transferred to others. 
 Opposite Logan's encampment a trader named Baker had 
 erected a cabin and engaged in the sale of rum. At this cabin 
 a party of flying settlers met, among whom was one Daniel 
 Greathouse who acted as their leader. Logan and his Indians, 
 it is said, had determined to cut off Baker, 1 and that the latter, 
 
 1 Stone's Life and Times of Sir Wm. sented seven Indian scalps, and stated 
 Johnson. The attack, however, appears their having taken them in the following 
 to have been wholly without justification, manner : That a number of Indians hav- 
 The following is the account given in ing encamped at the mouth of Yellow 
 Colonial History, vm, 464 : " Received creek, they with one Grithouse had col- 
 information from Captain Crawford and lee ted themselves at the house of one 
 one Mr. Nevill, from Virginia, that on Baker opposite to the said Indian camp, 
 their way to this place they met a number and decoyed the Indian men, and two 
 of inhabitants settled below this, moving women over to their side of the river to 
 off, among whom was a party who pre- drink with them, who, upon finding 
 
256 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 warned by a friendly squaw to escape, invited the aid of Great- 
 house, who organized a band of thirty-two men and crossed the 
 river for the purpose of falling upon the Indians ; but finding 
 that they were too strong for him, retreated, and, with a show 
 of friendship, invited them to an entertainment. Without sus 
 picion of treachery, part of the Indians accepted the invitation, 
 and while engaged in drinking some of them in a state of 
 intoxication were set upon and butchered in cold blood. The 
 Indians who had remained at their encampment, hearing the noise 
 of the treacherous attack, ran to their canoes to rescue their 
 friends. This movement had been anticipated, and sharp 
 shooters stationed in ambuscade, shot numbers of them in their 
 canoes, and compelled the others to return. Logan's mother, 
 brother and sister were among the slain. 
 
 These transactions were soon followed by another outrage, 
 which, though of less magnitude, was not less atrocious. An 
 aged and inoffensive Lenape chief, named the Bald Eagle, while 
 r eturning from a visit to the fort at the north of the Kanhawa, 
 was shot while alone in his canoe. Not satisfied with this 
 cowardly act, the perpetrator of the murder seized the canoe, 
 tore the scalp from the head of his victim, placed the body in 
 a sitting posture in the canoe, and sent it adrift down the stream 
 to bear to the friends of the venerated sachem the most exas 
 perating evidence of the hostility which had been committed. 
 At about the same time, Silver Heels, a favorite chief of the 
 Shawanoes^ was murdered by trespassers upon the Indian terri 
 tory, and in less than a month forty victims were added to the 
 rapacity of the whites. 1 These acts thoroughly aroused the 
 tribes, and the Lenapes and Skawanoes, under Cornstalk, and the 
 
 them intoxicated, fell upon them and them were killed, who dropped into the 
 
 knocked them in the head, and scalped river, and two others they observed fall 
 
 them 5 that soon after two other Indians dead in the canoe, and the fifth, upon 
 
 came over to see what detained their their landing, they could discover very 
 
 friends, and were served in the same badly wounded so that he could scarce 
 
 manner; that after this the Indians ap- get up the bank." 
 
 peared uneasy, and six of their men were * The very critical situation of Indian 
 
 coming across the river to see after their affairs, occasioned by the cruelties and 
 
 people, who approaching near the shore, murders committed by Cresap, who with 
 
 observed the white people lying in ambush some .frontier banditti, causelessly mur- 
 
 for them, and, attempting to return to dered near forty Indians on the Ohio. 
 
 their camp, were fired upon and two of Colonial History y vm, 471. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 257 
 
 Senecas and Mingoes z led by Logan, threw themselves with fire 
 and tomahawk upon the Virginia border. 
 
 The war was nominally concluded in October. Immediately 
 on its outbreak Dunmore organized a force of three thousand 
 men and marched to the Ohio country. One of the divisions 
 of this force, under Colonel Lewis, reached the mouth of the 
 Great Kanhawa on the sixth, and was there attacked, on the 
 tenth, by one thousand warriors of the western confederacy, 
 under Cornstalk, who had determined to anticipate his junction 
 with the main army under Dunmore. The battle was a despe 
 rate one, and neither party could fairly claim the victory. The 
 Virginians lost their commander, Colonel Lewis, one- half of 
 their commissioned officers and fifty-two privates killed, while 
 the Indians lost, in killed and wounded, two hundred and thirty- 
 three. In the night the Indians retreated. Meanwhile Dun- 
 more had pushed on to the Sciota, with the division under his 
 command, and was there met by a flag of truce from the In 
 dians proposing to treat for peace. Negotiations were opened, 
 and a treaty concluded. 2 But the war did not stop. Boone and 
 Bullit, and other pioneers, 3 provoked fresh hostilities and entailed 
 upon the colonists the animosities which had been engendered 
 in all the long struggle for the possession of the Ohio valley. 
 
 The French traders and priests who remained in the Indian 
 country, moreover, contributed in no small degree to keep alive 
 the hostile feeling which they had inculcated from the first hour 
 of their presence in the Ohio valley. In the conflict which 
 they saw was coming, they also saw the hope of a restoration to 
 France of the territory which had been lost. Holding their 
 head-quarters in the Spanish possessions of Louisiana, they in- 
 
 1 The Mingots were a mixed people made so by the intermarriages of which 
 
 formed mainly by the intermarriage of Johnson speaks. 
 
 Minsisy Senecas and Shaivanoes. They ac- 2 Cornstalk conducted the negotiations 
 
 knowledged the jurisdiction of, and were on the part of the Indians. Logan was 
 
 ruled by chiefs of the Seneca nation. ( N. not present, but sent to the conference 
 
 T. Colonial History, vm, 517). Brodhead the famous speech which Jefferson pre- 
 
 states that the " Mingoes were the Andas- served in his Notes on Virginia, and 
 
 tes, or Gandastogues, or Conestogas who which has made the name of Logan a 
 
 lived at Conestoga creek, where they were household word. 
 
 settled after their subjugation by the Iro- 3 Daniel Boone, Colonial History, vm, 
 
 quois" (Gallatin, 55), but such does not 395. 
 appear to be the fact, except as they were 
 
258 THE INDIAN 7RIBES 
 
 vited the northern and western Indians thither and delivered to 
 them speeches " setting forth the danger all their nations were 
 in, from the designs of the English, who, they said, had it in 
 view to possess all their country." x From them also came the 
 invitation to the tribes to remove further down the Ohio, with 
 a view to make their organization more compact and formidable, 
 an invitation which Custalaga, a Lenape chief, with one hundred 
 of his followers, accepted, and was very soon after followed by 
 larger delegations, 2 animated by a common feeling of resistance. 
 With the alliance of the Shawanoes and the Mahican clans, the 
 Lenapes were now more powerful than the Six Nations them 
 selves, 3 and, no longer taunted as women, but recognized as 
 brothers by them, they prepared to contest the supremacy of 
 the colonists. 
 
 The prejudice against the colonists, which was entertained by 
 the western tribes, was, as has been already shown, equally bitter 
 on the part of the Senecas, over whom Johnson with great 
 difficulty maintained even a nominal control, and the feeling was 
 largely shared by what were called the Upper nations of the 
 confederacy. The Mohawks, Oneidas and Tuscaroras had 
 less interest in the western controversy. Under the treaty of 
 1768, they had been paid for the lands which they claimed, not 
 only in Pennsylvania, but for those embraced in the famous 
 Kayaderossera patent on the Hudson, 4 so long a subject of 
 complaint on the part of the Mohawks ; besides, they were 
 
 1 Colonial History, vm, 396, 404, 507. to all the friends of America, and a de- 
 
 2 Colonial History, vm, 396. After cided enemy to all its foes. He hopes 
 the alliance of the colonists with France, that all his children, whom he loves sin- 
 this policy was reversed. On the Z9th cerely, will take part with their father 
 of August, 1779, Count Rochambeau in the war against the English." 
 
 issued to them a proclamation through 8 " The worst circumstance is that these 
 a delegation of Oneidas, Tuscaroras and people have of late become more power- 
 Caughnawagas who visited him at New- ful by alliances, and the Six Nations less, 
 port in the following words: "The so that their authority begins to be dis 
 king of France, your father, has not puted at advantage." Johnson Manu- 
 forgotten his children. As a token of scripts, xxn, Nov. 29, 1772. 
 remembrance, I have presented gifts to 4 This patent covered all the land lying 
 your deputies in his name. He learned between the Hudson and Mohawk rivers, 
 with concern, that many nations, deceived extending from Coic falls, near the junc- 
 by the English, who were his enemies, tion of those streams, to the third, or as 
 had attacked and lifted up the hatchet it is now called, Baker's falls, on the 
 against his good and faithful allies, the Hudson, and contained about seven hun- 
 United States. He has desired to tell dred thousand acres of land. Stone's Life 
 you, that he is a firm and faithful friend of Johnson, u, 299. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RI7ER. 259 
 
 more immediately under the control of the English. The 
 Mohawks had a blood alliance with Johnson ; the Oneidas and 
 Tuscaroras had submitted themselves almost entirely to the 
 guidance of the English ministers who had located among them, 
 and their every-day associations were of a different nature from 
 those of their more westward brethren. Practically, the con 
 federacy was divided, although it still maintained the forms of 
 unity and some of its spirit. While against the authorities of 
 New York the more eastern tribes had no special complaint, 
 their education, from the days of Stuy vesant, had been adverse 
 " to the Bostonians," and the feeling was strengthened by the 
 persistent determination of the Connecticut people to settle at 
 Wyoming in defiance of the treaty of 1768, by which the rights 
 of the proprietaries of Pennsylvania were secured. They hated 
 them, too, upon general principles growing out of the extirminat- 
 ing policy of Church and his followers, and came to sympathize 
 with the Indians in the French alliance and to encourage their 
 hostilities. 
 
 The great strength of the control which the English had 
 over them, however, lay in the personal associations of the 
 Mohawks with the Johnson family. To create this influence John 
 son had become an Indian ; his legitimate children had grown 
 up with theirs, while those by his mistress, Molly Brant, eight 
 in number, were " bone of their bone and flesh of their flesh." 1 
 Skillfully was this influence wielded by Johnson and the home 
 government. The reduction of Canada had created. the neces 
 sity for a reorganization of the Indian department. The 
 Canada tribes, as well as those of the west, were too remote for 
 that official intercourse to which they had become accustomed 
 under the French, and required separate superintendence ; but 
 it was also necessary that that superintendence should be con 
 ducted on a basis uniform with that which was applied to the 
 confederated tribes. The materials for such an organization 
 were already provided. George Croghan had filled the post of 
 assistant to Johnson ; Daniel Claus and Guy Johnson, the sons- 
 in-law of Johnson, were entirely familiar with the duties to be 
 
 1 The children borne to him by Molly made legitimate by marriage a short time 
 Brant, sister of the great chief, were before his death. 
 
 33 
 
260 
 
 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 performed ; their interests were bound up in obedience to the 
 directions of Sir William. To Croghan was assigned the charge 
 of the Ohio country ; Col. Claus was sent to Canada, with his 
 heacl-quarters at Montreal, while Guy Johnson was made deputy 
 in charge of the Six Nations and the neighboring tribes, and 
 remained at Johnson Hall. 1 
 
 That there was plan^and purpose in this arrangement, there 
 is no reasonable doubt. It was no idle boast on the part of 
 Johnson, when, in 1771, he wrote that he was confident that 
 " in any event that might happen in Europe or in America," 
 he could, from the measures he had taken and the influence 
 which he possessed, secure and attach to the interests of the 
 crown, " such a body of Indians as if not so numerous as those 
 opposed," to those interests, would " give a severe check to 
 their attempts." 2 Nor were tr^e expectations of the home 
 government disappointed in the result, although the great force 
 of the plan was lost by the death of Johnson in July, I774- 3 
 When that event occurred, Guy Johnson at once assumed the 
 duties of superintendent, 4 with all the prestige which his rela- 
 
 1 Colonial '^History ', vn, 579. 
 
 8 Documentary History , n, 983. 
 
 'Sir William Johnson was born in 
 Ireland, about the year 1714. He was 
 the nephew of Sir Peter Warren, the 
 commodore who was distinguished in the 
 attack onLouisburgh, Cape Breton, 1745. 
 Sir Peter married a lady (Miss Watts) in 
 New York, purchased large tracts of land 
 upon the Mohawk, and about 1734, 
 young Johnson was induced to come to 
 America and take charge of his uncle's 
 affairs in that quarter. He learned the 
 Indian language, adopted their manners, 
 and by fair trade and conciliatory conduct, 
 won their friendship and esteem. He 
 built a large stone mansion on the 
 Mohawk, about three miles west of 
 Amsterdam, where he resided for twenty 
 years, previous to the erection of Johnson 
 Hall at Johnstown, where he resided at 
 the time of his death. He was never 
 given credit for great military skill or 
 personal bravery, and was more expert 
 in intriguing with the Indians, than in 
 leading disciplined troops boldly into ac 
 tion. For his success at Lake George, 
 he was made major general and a knight. 
 
 His first wife was a Dutch girl, for whom, 
 it is said, he gave five pounds for payment 
 of her passage money to the captain of 
 the emigrant ship in which she came to 
 this country. By her he had one son, 
 John, and two daughters who married 
 respectively Daniel Claus, and Guy John 
 son. When she was on her death-bed, 
 Sir William was married to her in order 
 to legitimate her children. After her 
 death her place was supplied by Molly 
 Brant, sister of Joseph, the Mohawk 
 chief, by whom he had eight children. 
 She was a very sprightly and beautiful 
 squaw when he took her to his mansion 
 as his mistress. Toward the close of his 
 life he married her in order to legitimate 
 her children. He died of disease of the 
 heart, while attending the conference 
 with the Indians stated in the text, July 
 nth, 1774, aged 60 years. Lossing i, 
 232, 2,87 ; Stone" 1 ! Life tfnd Times of Sir 
 WiHi am Johnson^ etc. 
 
 4 He was commissioned to fill the va 
 cancy in September, but performed the 
 duties of superintendent in the interim by 
 virtue of his appointment as deputy. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 
 
 261 
 
 tionship to his predecessors inspired, combined with the support 
 of Sir John Johnson, who succeeded to his fathers's title and 
 estate, and that of Molly Brant, and Thayendanegea, her 
 brother the Joseph Brant of the Revolution then a pro 
 minent chief pf the upper Mohawk castle, who was made his 
 secretary. 
 
 Against these controlling influences the colonists could not 
 only array that which had been acquired by individuals through 
 personal intercourse with the Indians, and that which had been 
 gained by the labors of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland and the Rev. 
 James Dean, missionaries to the Oneidas and Tuscaroras.* The 
 extent of these influences was considerable especially that ex 
 ercised by the missionaries named but nevertheless was en 
 tirely inadequate to compensate for that which was wielded by 
 
 1 JAMES DEAN. The history of this 
 individual, and his agency in many of the 
 events transpiring previous to and during 
 the revolutionary war, would form a vo 
 lume of deeply interesting and most thrill 
 ing incidents. He was a native of New 
 England and educated with special refer 
 ence to missionary labor among the In- 
 dians,with whom he lived many years from 
 his youth. At the outbreak of the war he 
 was stationed at Oghkwaga, where he 
 made no attempt to conceal his views 
 from the Indians. In 1774, he was em 
 ployed by the Continental congress to 
 visit the New York and Canada tribes to 
 ascertain the part they would probably 
 take in the contest. For this purpose he 
 assumed the disguise of an Indian trader 
 and, supplied with goods, accomplished 
 the object of his mission. An adopted 
 son of the Oneidas, and regarded by them 
 with more than parental affection, his 
 influence over them was especially con 
 spicuous. He was subsequently appointed 
 to the office of Indian agent, and during 
 the whole war of the revolution he con 
 tinued his services to the country in that 
 capacity. A very considerable portion of 
 the war he was stationed at Fort Stan wix, 
 and by virtue of his office, superintended 
 the intercourse with the Indians. At 
 the close of the war the Oneidas granted 
 him a tract of land two miles square, 
 lying on the Wood creek west of Rome, 
 to which he removed in 1784. Here he 
 continued two years, when he effected an 
 
 exchange with the nation for the tract of 
 land lying in Westmoreland, known as 
 Dean's patent, to which he removed, and 
 where he continued to reside until his 
 death in September, 1832. Stone's Life 
 of 'Brant , i, Appendix. 
 
 SAMUEL KIRKLAND. This distin 
 guished missionary was born at Norwich, 
 Conn., 1742. After a special education 
 for |the work, he was sent to Oneida 
 Castle, in 1766, and continued to labor 
 among that tribe for forty years. During 
 the revolutionary war he was in the pay 
 of the United States, and in 1779, was 
 brigade chaplain in General Sullivan's 
 campaign against the Indians of western 
 New York. After the peace he re 
 mained among the Oneidas, and in 1788, 
 assisted at the great Indian council for the 
 extinction of their title to the Genesee 
 country. So sensible was the state go 
 vernment of the value of his services, that 
 in the year 1789, it granted him a tract 
 of land two miles square in the present 
 town of Kirkland, whither he imme 
 diately removed, and where he subse 
 quently made a liberal endowment of 
 land for the purpose of founding a school 
 which was originally called Hamilton 
 Oneida Academy, subsequently incorpo 
 rated under the name of Hamilton Col 
 lege. After a life of much public useful 
 ness, he at length departed this life on the 
 28th of February, 1808. Note, Colonial 
 History, vm, 631 ; Jones's History of 
 Oneida County. 
 
262 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 the Johnsons. Had Guy Johnson possessed the shrewdness 
 and skill of his predecessor, the result, so far as the Six Nations 
 were concerned, would not have been doubtful ; but in that 
 which he gained by his position, he was seriously compromised 
 by the superior diplomacy of the colonists. 
 
 Both parties moved with caution. While Johnson was un 
 remitting in his endeavors to preserve the good will and affection 
 of the Six Nations, the colonists lost no time in instructing them 
 in regard to the nature of the controversy, and in advising them 
 to act as neutrals. With a very considerable portion of the 
 Six Nations neutrality had long been an established policy, and 
 gained for the colonists not only an attentive ear, but compelled 
 Johnson to adopt it as the course which he wished them to 
 pursue. To the declarations of Dean and Kirkland, and to 
 the belts which the faithful Mahicans sent to all the tribes 
 advising neutrality that the " dispute did not concern the In 
 dians ; that it arose from the crown's endeavors to obtain a 
 large reimbursement for the expenses of the late war, which 
 the colonists could not comply with, and therefore an army was 
 sent to compel them" Johnson found it necessary to reply 
 that the " dispute was solely occasioned by some people who, 
 notwithstanding the king's law, would not permit some tea to 
 land, but destroyed it ;" that the matter was one with which 
 they had " nothing to do," any more than they had " with the 
 foolish people" who talked to them about that " which they 
 themselves did not understand." 1 Thus urged, the Six Nations 
 in general council at Onondaga, resolved to have " nothing to 
 do with the axe, but to support their engagements." 
 
 This action left the Johnsons with nothing but their personal 
 influence and official relations, but these they believed, and 
 not without reason, were sufficient to control to a great extent 
 the action of the tribes. The well-founded suspicions of the 
 integrity of the Johnsons, which the colonists entertained, 
 brought the issue to a culmination much sooner than they had 
 intended. The committee of safety of Tryon county, early 
 in 1775, set a strict watch upon their movements, and when, 
 in May, Guy Johnson received secret instructions from General 
 
 1 Colonial History, vin, 538, 557. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 263 
 
 Gage, requiring him to report himself at Montreal for instruc 
 tions, he professed alarm for his personal safety and appealed 
 to his retainers among the Indians to induce the Six Nations 
 to take upon themselves his protection. Gathering together 
 a company of tories, among whom John and Walter N. Butler 
 were prominent, and accompanied by Brant and a portion of 
 the Mohawks, he fled to Oswego, where he held a conference 
 with the tribes, and from thence pushed on to Montreal, where, 
 in July, he met the Indians of the northren confederacy, seven 
 teen hundred in number. 1 Whether his fears were well 
 founded or not, the movement was an adroit one. Wherever 
 he met the Indians he urged upon their consideration the attack 
 which had been made upon himself, and appealed to the memory 
 of his father-in-law, and to his associations with them, to pro 
 tect Sir John, and to induce them to become his followers; yet 
 he still insisted that his mission was that of peace, and that'the 
 Indians should maintain their neutrality. 
 
 Such was the condition of affairs when, in July, the Conti 
 nental congress resolved to establish three departments of Indian 
 affairs, the northern, middle and southern, " with powers to 
 treat with the Indians in their respective departments, to pre 
 serve peace and friendship, and to prevent their taking any part in 
 the present commotion." z In accordance with this resolution, 
 the commissioners for the northern department 3 held a council 
 with chiefs of the Six Nations at German Flats on the fifteenth 
 of August, but the attendance being limited, adjourned it to 
 Albany, where, on the twenty- fourth, its proceedings were con 
 cluded. At this conference the commissioners recited the 
 grievances of which the colonists complained, and against which 
 they had resolved to take up arms, and advised the Indians to 
 observe neutrality. "This is a family quarrel between us and 
 old England," said they ; u you Indians are not concerned in 
 it. We don't wish you to take up the hatchet against the king's 
 
 1 Colonial History, vm, 636. 3 The commissioners for the northern 
 
 2 It was not until a year later that con- department were Gen. Philip Schuyler, 
 
 gress authorized the employment of In- Major Joseph Hawley, Turbot Francis, 
 
 dians. Those who acted with the colo- Oliver Wolcott and Volkert P. Douw. 
 
 nial forces prior to that time were enlisted The department included the Six Nations 
 
 by the colonies in their independent capa- and all other tribes to the northward of 
 
 city. them. 
 
264 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 troops ; we desire you to remain at home, and not join either 
 side, but keep the hatchet buried deep. In the name and behalf 
 of all our people, we ask and desire you to love peace and 
 maintain it, and to love and sympathize with us in our trouble, 
 that the path may be kept open with all our people and yours, 
 to pass and repass without molestation." 
 
 " You told us it was a family quarrel," said Abraham, the 
 venerable chief of the upper Mohawk castle, 1 in reply ; " and 
 that we should sit still, and mind nothing but peace. Our great 
 man, Colonel Johnson, did the same at Oswego ; he desired 
 us to sit still likewise. You likewise desired us that if application 
 should be made to us by any of the king's officers, we would 
 not join them. Now, therefore attend, and apply your ears 
 closely. We have fully considered this matter. The resolu 
 tions of the Six Nations are not to be broken or altered. 2 When 
 they resolve, the matter is fixed. This chain is the determina 
 tion of the Six Nations not to take any part, but as it is a family 
 affair,* to sit still and see you fight it out. We beg you to receive 
 this as infallible, it being our full resolution ; for we bear as 
 much affection for the king of England's subjects on the other 
 side of the water, as we do for you upon this island. It is a 
 long time since we came to this resolution. It is the result of 
 mature deliberation. It was our declaration to Colonel Johnson. 
 We told him we should take no part in the quarrel, and hoped 
 neither side would desire it. The resolutions of the Six Nations 
 are not to be broken." 3 
 
 While there can be no reasonable doubt that the determina 
 tion of the Six Nations was fairly expressed by the speaker, its 
 announcement was not without qualifications. The Wyoming 
 lands, he insisted, the tribes regarded as belonging to the pro 
 prietaries of Pennsylvania, and desired that the settlement which 
 
 'Abraham was the brother of Hen- History, vn, 115). He subsequently fol- 
 
 drik (Colonial History). He originally lowed the fortunes of the Johnsons, but 
 
 represented the lower Mohawk castle, died soon after the opening of the Revo- 
 
 and was known as Little Abraham, lution. 
 
 On the death of Hendrik, he became 2 Referring to the action of the 
 
 chief sachem of Canajoharie or the up- council at Onondaga. Colonial History , 
 
 per Mohawk castle; Young Abra- vin, 556. 
 
 ham, as he was called, succeeded to the 3 Proceedings of conference. Colonial 
 
 lower Mohawk castle, and Seth History, vin, 605, etc. 
 became chief of the Schoharies (Colonial 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 265 
 
 they had made in 1768 should be held as valid against the 
 Connecticut people. 1 The commissioners had expressed the 
 determination of the colonists " to drive away, kill and destroy 
 all who appeared in arms " against them. " We beg you to 
 take care what you do," said Abraham ; " there are many 
 around us who are friends to the king. As to your quarrels to 
 the eastward along the sea coasts, do as you please. But it 
 would hurt us to see those brought up in our bosoms ill-used. 
 In particular we would mention the son of Sir William Johnson. 2 
 He was born among us, and does not intermeddle in public dis 
 putes. We would likewise mention our father the missionary 
 who resides among the Mohawks. The king sent him to them, 
 and if he was removed, they would look upon it as taking away 
 one of their own body." Then the people of Albany had taken 
 from them two pieces of land, " without any reward, not so 
 much as a single pipe ;" they should be restored. " If you 
 refuse to do this, we shall look upon the prospect to be bad j 
 for if you conquer, you will take us by the arm and pull us all 
 off." 
 
 Whatever may have been the precise character of the instruc 
 tions which Guy Johnson received from General Gage, there 
 is no doubt in regard to those which were issued to him by the 
 ministry, and which he received after his arrival in Montreal. 
 These instructions were under date July 5th and July 24th. 
 In the former he was advised to inform the Indians that in con 
 sequence of the " unnatural rebellion" which had broken out, 
 the "immediate consideration" of the grievances of which they 
 
 1 Connecticut claimed by virtue of the property confiscated, his family in exile, 
 boundaries of its original charter. The he became an uncompromising enemy 
 deed which they had received was set to the patriots, and exerted his influence 
 aside in the agreement of 1768. against them until the close of the war. 
 
 2 John Johnson was the son of Sir Soon after the close of the war he went 
 William by his first wife. He was born to England, and, on returning in 1785, 
 in 1742, and succeeded his father to his settled in Canada. He was appointed 
 title and estates in 1774. He was not superintendent and inspector general of 
 as popular as his father, being less social Indian affairs in North America, and for 
 and less acquainted with human nature, several years he was a member of the 
 His official relations to the parent govern- legislative council of Canada. To com 
 ment, and his known opposition to the pensate him for his losses, the British go- 
 rebellious movements of the colonies, vernment made him several grants of 
 ca used him to be strictly watched, and, lands. He died, at the house of his 
 as we have noted in the text, not without daughter, Mrs. Bowers, at Montreal, in 
 just cause. Expelled from his estate, his 1830, aged 88 years. Lossing y i, 285. 
 
266 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 had complained was defeated, but that they should ultimately be 
 protected and preserved in all their rights ; while in the latter 
 he was told that, as they had already " hinted that the time 
 might possibly come when the king, relying upon the attach 
 ment of his faithful allies, the Six Nations, might be under the 
 necessity of calling upon them for their aid and assistance," 
 that time had now come ; that he should " lose no time in 
 taking such steps" as might be necessary " to induce them to 
 take up the hatchet against his majesty's rebellious subjects," 
 and that he should " engage them in his majesty's service" 
 upon such plan as would be suggested to him by General Gage. 
 The course to be pursued in carrying out this plan was left 
 to Johnson, but with the specific instruction that he should 
 " not fail to exert every effort to accomplish it, and to use the 
 utmost dilligence and activity in the execution of the order." 1 
 
 Entering upon the duties assigned to him with a zeal sharp 
 ened by the seizure of his property in the Mohawk valley, 
 Johnson nevertheless found his efforts to control the Six Nations 
 obstructed by the action of the council of Onondaga in favor 
 of neutrality, as well as by the success of the colonists in the 
 reduction of Ticonderoga and Crown point, and although 
 Brant and his Mohawks still adhered to him, his recruits were 
 principally confined to enlistments from the Canada tribes. 
 When Montgomery attacked Quebec, he claimed to have 
 had over four hundred Indians in encampment, but of that 
 number only ninety were participants in the engagement. The 
 retreat of the Americans and the subsequent capture of Ethan 
 Allen inspirited his recruits for a short time, but by the middle 
 of October scarce one of his dusky followers remained. 
 
 Even Brant was lukewarm and indifferent. The pledge of 
 the tribes was sacred and could not be easily broken, even by 
 one so firmly bound to the fortunes of the Johnsons. Be 
 sides, he was thoroughly schooled in the selfish politics of his 
 predecessors, and would have positive assurances of com 
 pensation for his services. In this emergency, the plan resorted 
 to in 1710 was adopted. Brant was sent to England; was 
 there feasted and honored as his predecessors had been, and like 
 
 1 Colonial History , viu, 596. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 267 
 
 them returned to the tribes pledged to do the bidding of his 
 royal master. Reaching Canada in the winter of 1776, he at 
 once entered upon the work of organizing a force of Iroquois 1 
 to operate upon the borders of New York and Pennsylvania, in 
 conjunction with the operations of the western confederacy. 
 The field had been as well prepared for him as possible. Sir John 
 Johnson, the last of the patrons of his family, had fled from his 
 parole of honor, and taken refuge in Montreal, and whatever 
 regard the confederates had for his father had been fully 
 aroused, while the tories had been active in prejudicing the 
 colonists. 
 
 In the spring of 1777, Brant appeared at Oghkwaga with a 
 retinue of warriors. He had not yet committed any act of hos 
 tility within the borders of New York, yet none doubted his 
 intentions. In June he ascended the Susquehanna to Una- 
 dilla, with about eighty warriors, and requested an interview 
 with the Rev. Mr. Johnstone of the Johnstone settlement. He 
 declared that his object was to procure food for his famished 
 people, and that if it was not furnished, the Indians would take it 
 by force. Mr. Johnstone sounded him in regard to his purposes, 
 and the chief told him, without reserve, that he had made a 
 covenant with the king, and was not inclined to break it. The 
 people supplied him with food, but the marauders not satisfied, 
 drove off a large number of cattle, sheep, and swine. As 
 soon as they departed, not feeling safe in their remote settle 
 ment, the whites abandoned it, and took refuge in Cherry 
 Valley. Some families in the neighborhood of Unadilla fled 
 to the German Flats, and others to Kingston and Newburgh on 
 the Hudson. 
 
 For the purpose of obtaining more positive information in 
 regard to the intentions of the Indians, General Herkimer was 
 instructed to visit Brant at Unadilla. Herkimer took with him 
 three hundred Tryon county militia, and invited Brant to meet 
 him. This the chief agreed to. It was a week after Her 
 kimer arrived at Unadilla, however, before Brant made his 
 
 1 " Joseph, since his arrival from Eng- America, in Indian matters, and deserves; 
 land, has showed himself the most zealous to be noticed as such." Colonel Claus t 
 and faithful subject his majesty can have in Colonial History , vm, 724. 
 
 34 
 
268 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 appearance. He came accompanied by five hundred warriors. 
 Neither party had confidence in the other, and it was finally 
 agreed that their accompanying forces should encamp within 
 two miles of each other, and that the principals to the confer 
 ence should, with a few of their followers, meet in an open 
 field. These preliminaries being adjusted, the conference was 
 opened. In reply to Herkimer's inquiries, Brant declared,* 
 " that the Indians were in concert with the king, as their fathers 
 had been ; that the king's belts were yet lodged with them, and 
 they could not violate their pledge ; that Herkimer and his fol 
 lowers had joined the Boston people against their sovereign ; 
 that although the Boston people were resolute, the king would 
 humble them; that General Schuyler was very smart on the 
 Indians at German Flats, 1 but at the same time was not able 
 to afford them the smallest article of clothing ; and finally, 
 that the Indians had formerly "made war on the white people 
 when they were all united, and as they were now divided, the 
 Indians were not frightened." He also told Herkimer that a 
 path had been opened across the country to Esopus, for the 
 tories of Ulster and Orange to join them. 2 
 
 A few days after this conference, Brant withdrew his warriors 
 from the Susquehanna, and joined Sir John Johnson and 
 Colonel John Butler, who had collected a body of tories and 
 refugees at Oswego, 3 preparatory to a descent upon the Mo 
 hawk and Schoharie settlements. There Guy Johnson, and 
 other officers of the British Indian department, summoned a 
 
 a The conference of July, 1775. erected at Oswego, on the east side of 
 3 CampbtlFs Annah of Tryon County, the river. In 1726, in order to prevent 
 Claus tells the brazen story that Herki- the encroachments of the French, Go- 
 mer " had three hundred men with him vernor Burnet erected old Fort Oswego, 
 and five hundred more in the distance," on the west side of the river. In 1755, 
 and that " Brant, who had not two hun- Fort Ontario was constructed, on the east 
 dred men, after resolutely declaring that side of the river, under the direction of 
 he was determined to act for the king," Governor Shirley. On the I4th of Au- 
 obliged Herkimer to retreat "with mere gust, 1756, both these forts, with a gar- 
 menaces, not having twenty pounds of risoaofi6oo men, and a large quantity 
 powder among his party." ( Colonial His- of ammunition, were surrendered to the 
 /cry, vin, 7^o.) It was by such stories French, under Montcalm. The forts 
 that the Indian ring managed to give a were returned to the English under the 
 consequence to the Six Nations which treaty of peace of 1763. They were su/- 
 they did not possess. rendered to the United States, by the 
 8 Ini7Z2, under the direction of Go- British government, under the treaty 
 vernor Burnet, a trading house was of 1794. 
 

 OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 269 
 
 grand council of the Six Nations, who were invited to assemble 
 " to eat the flesh and drink the blood of a Bostonian ;" in other 
 words, to feast on the occasion of a proposed treaty of alliance 
 against the patriots, who were denominated Bostonians as a 
 special appeal to the prejudices of the Indians. There was a 
 pretty full attendance at the council, but a large portion of the 
 sachems adhered faithfully to their covenant of neutrality, and 
 it was not until the British commissioners appealed to their 
 avarice that their sense of honor was overcome. The con 
 tract was closed by the distribution of scarlet clothes, beads, and 
 trinkets, in addition to which each warrior was presented a brass 
 kettle, a suit of clothes, a gun, a tomahawk and a scalping knife, 
 a piece of gold, a quantity of ammunition, and a promise of a 
 bounty upon every scalp he should bring in. 1 Brant was ac 
 knowledged as a war captain, and soon after commenced his 
 career of blood upon the borders. 
 
 Meanwhile the attention of the colonists had not been entirely 
 devoted to the Six Nations. In April, 1774, the Provincial 
 congress of Massachusetts sent a message to the Mahicans and 
 Wappingers 2 at Westenhuck, apprising them of the gathering 
 tempest, and expressing a desire to cultivate a good understand 
 ing with them. In reply, Captain Solomon Wa-haun-wan-wau- 
 meet visited Boston on the eleventh of April, and delivered the 
 following speech : 
 
 " Brothers : We have heard you speak by your letter ; we 
 thank you for it ; we now make answer. 
 
 " Brothers : You remember when you first came over the 
 great ^ waters, I was great and you was very little, very small. 
 I then took you in for a friend, and kept you under my arms, 
 so that no one might injure you ; since that time we have ever 
 been true friends ; there has never been any quarrel between us. 
 But now our conditions are changed. You are become great 
 
 1 See Life of Mary Jamison. This birth. At the council here spoken of 
 
 pamphlet was written in 1823, and pub- she was present with her husband. 
 
 lished by James D. Bemis, of Canandai- Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution, 
 
 gua, N. Y. She was taken a captive I, 239. 
 
 near Fort Duquesne (now Pittsburg) 2 This message was addressed "To 
 
 when a child, and was reared among the Captain Solomon Ahhannuauwaumut, 
 
 Indians. She married a chief and be- chief sachem of the Moheakounuck 
 
 came an Indian in every particular, except Indians." He died in 1777. 
 
270 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 and tall. You reach the clouds. You are seen all around the 
 world, and I am become small, very little. I am not so high 
 as your heel. Now you take care of me, and I look to you 
 for protection. 
 
 " Brothers : I am sorry to hear this great quarrel between you 
 and old England. It appears that blood must soon be shed to 
 end this quarrel. We never till this day understood the founda 
 tion of this quarrel between you and the country you came from. 
 
 " Brothers : Whenever I see your blood running, you will 
 soon find me about to revenge my brother's blood. Although 
 I am low and very small, I will gripe hold of your enemy's 
 heel, that he cannot run so fast, and so light, as if he had nothing 
 at his heels. 
 
 " Brothers : You know I am not so wise as you are, there 
 fore I ask your advice in what I am now going to say. I have 
 been thinking, before you come to action, to take a run to the 
 westward, and feel the mind of my Indian brethren, the Six 
 Nations, and know how they stand whether they are on your 
 side or for your enemies. If I find they are against you, I will 
 try to turn their minds. I think they will listen to me, for they 
 have always looked this way for advice, concerning all important 
 news that comes from the rising of the sun. If they hearken 
 to me, you will not be afraid of any danger behind you. How 
 ever their minds are affected you shall soon know by me. Now 
 I think I can do you more service in this way, than by march 
 ing off immediately to Boston, and staying there ; it may be a 
 great while before blood runs. Now, as I said you are wiser 
 than I j I leave this for your consideration, whether I .come 
 down immediately or wait till I hear some blood is spilled. 
 
 " Brothers : I would not have you think by this that we are 
 falling back from our engagements. We are ready to do any 
 thing for your relief, and shall be guided by your councils. 
 
 " Brothers : One thing I ask of you, if you send for me to 
 fight, that you will let me fight in my own Indian way. I am 
 not used to fight English fashion, therefore you must not expect 
 I can train like your men. Only point out to me where your 
 enemies keep and that is all I shall want to know." 
 
 Two days afterwards the congress made the following reply : 
 
OF HUDSON'S RWER. 271 
 
 " Brothers : We this day, by the delegate from Stockbridge, 
 first heard of your friendly answer to our speech to you by 
 Captain William Goodrich, which answer we are told you made 
 to us immediately by a letter, which we have not yet received. 
 We now reply. 
 
 "Brothers: You say that you were once great, but that you 
 are now little ; and that we were once little and are now great. 
 The Supreme Spirit orders these things. Whether we are 
 little or great, let us keep the path of friendship clear, which 
 our fathers made and in which we have both traveled to this 
 time. The friends of the wicked counselors of our king fell 
 upon us, and shed some blood soon after we spake to you last 
 by letter. But we, with a small twig killed so many, and 
 Frightened them so much, that they have shut themselves up in 
 our great town called Boston, which they have made strong. 
 We have now made our hatchets, and all our instruments of 
 war, sharp and bright. All the chief counselors, who live on 
 this side the great water, are sitting at the grand council-house 
 in Philadelphia ; when they give the word, we shall all as one 
 man, fall on, and drive our enemies out of their strong fort, and 
 follow them till they shall take their hands out of our pouches, 
 and let us sit in our council-house, as we used to do, and as our 
 fathers did in old times. 
 
 " Brothers : Though you are small yet you are wise. Use 
 your wisdom to help us. If you think it best, go and smoke 
 your pipe with your Indian brothers toward the setting sun, and 
 tell them of all you hear and all* you see ; and let us know what 
 their wise men say. If some of you young men have a mind to 
 see what we are doing, let them come down and tarry among 
 *pur warriors. We will provide for them while they are here. 
 
 " Brothers : When you have any trouble, come and tell it to 
 us, and we will help you." 
 
 The occasion for the services of the Mahlcans was not long 
 delayed. When the alarm came up from Lexington, a year 
 later, they took the field, and participated in the battle of 
 Bunker Hill on the seventeenth of June. From thence Cap 
 tain Solomon, or Captain Hendrik as he was subsequently- 
 known, repaired with his warriors to the council at German 
 
272 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Flats, and, at its adjourned session at Albany, renewed the 
 pledge of his people in language most eloquent. "Depend 
 upon it," said the noble chieftain ; " depend upon it we are 
 true to you, and mean to join you. Wherever you go, we will 
 be by your sides. Our bones shall die with yours. We are 
 determined never to be at peace with the red coats, while they 
 are at variance with you. We have one favor to beg. We 
 should be glad if you would help us to establish a minister 
 amongst us, that when our men are gone to war, our women 
 and children may have the advantage of being instructed by 
 him. If we are conquered, our lands go with yours ; but if 
 you are victorious, we hope you will help us to recover our 
 just rights." 1 Wherever the influence of the Alahlcans could 
 reach, it was exerted among their brethren of the west. Their 
 fugitive clans at Oghkawaga, and their associates from the 
 Esopus tribes, 2 refused for a time to take up the hatchet against 
 the colonists, and held the Tuscaroras to neutrality ; while 
 those among the Lenapes, east of the Alleghanies, as well as the 
 domestic Lenape clans, joined them in an earnest support of 
 the patriots. At White Plains, in October, 1776, their united 
 war-cry, " Woach, Woach, Ha, Ha, Hach, Woach ! " rang out 
 as when of old they had disputed the supremacy of the Dutch, 
 and their blood mingled with that of their chosen allies. 3 
 
 Active hostilities brought sifting time to the Six Nations. 
 Notwithstanding the efforts of the Johnsons and the pleadings 
 of Brant, they were not united in the alliance with the British, 
 
 1 The Mabicans claimed several tracts brothers, that we are sincerely disposed to 
 of land, extending even west of the keep our covenant of peace with you our 
 Hudson. Their principal claim, however, brethren." (Letter to Justices of Kingston 
 was for a portion of the Livingston patent signed by chiefs of Tuscarora and Esopus 
 and for lands at Westenhuck. The latter Indians). See Proceedings Provincial Con- 
 they claimed to have leased to the whites vention of Neio fork, i, 803, 8055 n, 
 for a term of years, but had lost the papers. 301,419, 424. To what extent these 
 The matter has been before the legislature Indians were compromised with Brant is 
 of New York several times, but like the not known, but it is quite certain that a 
 claim of the Wappingers, has never been large number of the Esopus Indians be- 
 adjusted. came his obedient followers. 
 
 2 " We, the head of this place, with 3 The Indians were stationed on Chat- 
 our brethren the Tuscaroras and some of terton's hill, under Colonel Haslet, and 
 the Onondagas and Mahicandcrs, being were in the heaviest of the engagement 
 assembled. * * We hope you on the z8th of October. Lossings Field 
 will give no heed to the false reports that Book, n, 822. 
 
 are going about, for we assure you, 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 273 
 
 although Brant doubtless drew recruits from all the tribes. 
 The Oneidas and Tuscaroras consistently refused to join him ; 
 the Onondagas were not at first warmly enlisted in the move 
 ment ; the Mohawks were divided. 1 So far as recognized 
 tribal action was concerned, however, it soon became an es 
 tablished fact, that the Mohawks, Cayugas, Onondagas, and 
 Senecas, had attached themselves to the king. Of the entire 
 confederacy not more than eight hundred warriors took the 
 field, under the British, at any time ; but this number, added 
 to those from the Canada tribes, and those whose hostilities in 
 the west had never been suspended, constituted no inconsidera 
 ble portion of their forces. Could they have been regularly 
 enrolled and disciplined, or could their services have been 
 depended upon at any time, they would have constituted an 
 effective body of men ; but their modes of warfare would not 
 admit of discipline, and their habits of living would not permit 
 their attendance, in any considerable numbers, except at certain 
 seasons of the year. That they were a scourge to the frontier 
 settlements, is unquestioned ; yet in no instance does it appear 
 that they constituted the entire attacking force, but on the con 
 trary that they were invariably led by tories, whose deeds of 
 cruelty outrivaled savage ingenuity, and whose numbers, in most 
 instances, was greater than that of the Indians. 
 
 The principal campaign in which the British Indians were 
 engaged was that undertaken in 1777, to determine the control 
 of the Hudson river. Sweeping down from Canada with his 
 powerful army, Burgoyne recaptured Crown point and Ticon- 
 deroga, while his auxiliaries, the Indians and tories, attacked 
 the defenses more remote from his route. Of these Fort 
 Schuyler 2 was the first, against which Colonel Butler marched 
 
 1 The reference is not to the lower telligence to the enemy, and in supporting 
 
 Mohawk castle of which Little Abraham their scouting parties when making in- 
 
 was chief sachem while his brother Hen- cursions," and that " when the Mohawks 
 
 drik lived, but to that known as the joined the enemy," they were " left to 
 
 Praying Mohawks, at the mouth of answer those purposes, and keep posses- 
 
 Schoharie creek, which maintained at least sion of the land" of the tribe. By his 
 
 a nominal alliance with the colonists, or direction they were subsequently taken 
 
 rather observed the neutrality to which prisoners and removed to Albany. Stone's 
 
 they had pledged themselves. General Life of Brant, n, 40. 
 Sullivan, however, believed that . they 2 Originally Fort Stanwix. The present 
 
 " were constantly employed in giving in- city of Rome, OAeida county, now covers 
 
274 THE INDIJN TRIBES 
 
 from Oswego with a motley crew of whites and Indians, 1 un 
 der the commands of John Johnson, Claus, and Brant, and 
 united with the forces under St. Leger. 2 The siege commenced 
 on the fourth of August, when a few bombs were thrown into 
 the fort, while the Indians, concealed behind trees and bushes, 
 wounded several men who were engaged in raising the parapets. 
 Similar annoyances occurred on the fifth, but formidable opera 
 tions were held in abeyance pending an attack upon a force of 
 colonists who were approaching, for the relief of the fort, under 
 General Herkimer. To meet this force Butler and Brant were 
 dispatched, and at Oriskany was fought the desperate engage 
 ment in which the heroic Herkimer gave up his life. 
 
 Meanwhile a successful sally from the fort had carried con 
 sternation and disgrace into the British ranks. So impetuous 
 was this sally, that the camp of John Johnson and his Royal 
 Greens was seized ; its valorous commander fleeing without 
 his coat, and his tory confederates following at his heels. 
 Twenty-one wagon-loads of spoil, five British standards, the 
 baggage and papers of Johnson, and the clothing of his Indian 
 allies, 3 rewarded the victors. The siege was continued until 
 the twenty-second, when an incident occurred which showed 
 the unreliability of the Indians, and defeated its further prosecu 
 tion. A half idiot, named Hon Yost 4 Schuyler, a nephew to 
 General Herkimer, who had been taken to Canada by Walter 
 Butler, burst into the British camp almost out of breath, and 
 delivered the story that the Americans, in numbers like the forest 
 leaves, were approaching ; that he himself had barely escaped 
 with his life, in testimony of which he appealed to his coat which 
 
 its site. The old fort was erected during " During the action (at Oriskany), when 
 
 the French and Indian war of 1755, and the garrison found the Indians' camp 
 
 subsequently became a point of much (who went out against their reinforce- 
 
 importance in transactions with the Six ments) empty, they boldly sallied out 
 
 Nations. with three hundred men and two field 
 
 1 Johnson's Royal Greens. pieces, and took away the Indians' packs, 
 
 2 St. Leger's detachment was sent to with their clothes, wampum and silver 
 Oswego, there to unite with Butler's work, they having gone in their shirts, 
 refugees and Brant's Indians, and with or naked, to action. The disappoint- 
 them to penetrate the country from that ment was rather greater to the Indians 
 point, capture Fort Schuyler, sweep the than their loss, for they had nothing to 
 valley of the Mohawk, and join Burgoyne cover themselves with at night, against 
 at Albany. the weather, and nothing in our camp to 
 
 8 Colonel Claus (Colonial History, viu, supply them." 
 721) gives the following particulars: * Jan jfoost, John Justus. 
 

 OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 275 
 
 bore the marks of several bullets. The Indians were thoroughly 
 alarmed. St. Leger tried to pacify them, but, mourning the 
 loss of over seventy of their number -at Oriskany, and appre 
 hensive of further disaster, they broke and fled towards their 
 boats on Oneida lake, killing on their way thither many of 
 their tory allies, and obliging St. Leger to write that they were 
 " more formidable than the enemy they had to expect." 1 
 
 But, while conducting the siege, they took occasion to chas 
 tise the Oneidas who had refused to unite with them. After 
 the battle of Oriskany, Brant and a party of his warriors fell 
 upon the old Oneida castle, burned the wigwams, destroyed the 
 crops, and drove away the cattle of his former confederates. 
 No sooner had he retreated, however, than the Oneidas retali 
 ated. The residence of Molly Johnson, at the Upper Mo 
 hawk castle, was ravaged, herself and family driven from home, 
 and her cash, clothing and cattle taken. From thence the 
 avengers visited the Lower castle, and drove the followers of 
 Little Abraham, one hundred in number, to refuge in Mont 
 real, laying waste their plantations. Molly fled to Onondaga, 
 and besought vengeance for the indignities which she had suf 
 fered, but to her possessions she was never restored ; the 
 indignant Oneidas had blotted out forever the seats of power 
 from whence her tribe had swayed the destinies of a once 
 powerful people. 2 
 
 In the meantime the battle of Bennington had been fought 
 with disastrous results to Burgoyne, not the least of which was 
 the pall which it threw over the spirits of his dusky allies, who 
 now began to find their way back to Canada in large numbers. 
 With his defeat at Stillwater, they were as thoroughly demoral 
 ized as they were at Fort Schuyler when frightened by an idiot 
 boy. Within three days after that battle, one hundred and 
 fifty warriors made their peace with General Gates, accepted 
 the war-belt, partook of the feast, and joined the Americans. 
 When the final surrender of the British army came, not an 
 
 x The story of Hon Yost is well told says (ibid. t 727), the destruction of the 
 
 in Lossing's Field Book. Having lost Mohawk castles occurred after the battle 
 
 their shirts the Indians evidently feared of Bennington, and that the fugitives fled 
 
 that they might lose their skins. to Burgoyne, but the account by Glaus is 
 
 a Colonial History , viu, 725. Johnson the most probable. 
 
 35 
 
276 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Indian was found in its ranks. For their conduct Johnson and 
 Claus had many excuses to offer. The latter charged that 
 their " harsh and indiscreet treatment " by Major Campbell, 
 caused the greatest part of them to quit Burgoyne ; Johnson 
 assumed that at Oriskany they were not adequately supported 
 by St. Leger, and that had they been they " would have ren 
 dered more material service ; " but the fact would seem to be 
 that they had acted in precise accordance *with the course 
 which they had pursued in the previous war with France, and 
 were ready at all times to court the favor of the party which, for 
 the time being, appeared the most successful. The evidence 
 of their moral greatness is yet wanting. 
 
 For border warfare, however, the Indians under Brant, who 
 were principally composed of Senecas, Qnondagas, Cayugas and 
 Mohawks, were still a power in the hands of the tories, as their 
 subsequent ravages in the Mohawk valley, and at Wyoming 
 and Minnisink, in 1778-9, sufficiently attest. The path which 
 Brant had opened to the Esopus country, in the spring of 1777, 
 became indeed a path of blood. Rallying such warriors as 
 could be induced to continue in the service of the crown, 
 Colonel John Butler succeeded, in the spring of 1778, in organiz 
 ing a force of five hundred Indians and six hundred tories, and 
 with these made his appearance on the Susquehanna. At Win- 
 termoot's fort, on the third of July, the colonial militia, in infe 
 rior numbers, under Colonel Zebulon Butler, opposed his 
 progress in a desperate conflict. Retreating from thence to 
 Fort Forty, and unable to rally the flying inhabitants to its 
 defense, terms of capitulation were agreed to by which the valley 
 of Wyoming was surrendered to the mercy of savage white 
 men and half-civilized Indians. Foremost in the frightful orgies 
 which followed, was Catharine Montour, the Queen Esther 
 of the Senecas, a half-breed, 1 who assumed the office of execu 
 tioner, and, using a maul and a tomahawk, passed around the 
 
 1 She was a native of Canada, and her nalized in the wars against the Catawbas. 
 
 father one of the French governors, pro- He fell in battle, about the year 1730. 
 
 bably Frontenac. She was made a captive Catharine had several children by him, 
 
 during the wars between the Hurons and and remained a wjdow. Her superior 
 
 the French and the Six Nations, and was mind gave her great ascendancy over the 
 
 carried into the Seneca country, where Senecas, and she was a queen indeed 
 
 she married a young chief who was sig- among them. Lasting, i, 357. 
 
O^ HUDSON'S RIPER. 277 
 
 ring of prisoners, who had been arranged at her bidding, delibe 
 rately chanted the song of death and murdered her victims to its 
 cadences in consecutive order. Forts, houses, barns, grain and 
 cattle were destroyed. When Butler and his tories withdrew, 
 the homes of five hundred settlers had been laid waste, their 
 occupants made fugitives, their dead left unburied. Shielding 
 their bloody work, with the name of Brant, and throwing the 
 cause of the attack on the disaffection of the Indians at the 
 occupation of the valley by the whites, Butler and his tories 
 have been floated on the page of history as endeavoring to re 
 strain the ravages which they had instigated. Stripped of their 
 disguise, they now stand as the spoilers of an exposed settlement, 
 without the excuse which a regularly constituted army might 
 offer of harassing an enemy. 1 
 
 Although Butler withdrew his followers from the valley 
 almost immediately after the massacre, he nevertheless left 
 behind him those who had personal grievances to avenge and 
 mercenary rewards to secure. These were mainly fugitives 
 from the Esopus clans at Oghkwaga, and tories, who, availing 
 themselves of the withdrawal of Count Pulaski and his legion of 
 cavalry from Minnisink, where they had been stationed for the 
 protection of the frontier, made a descent, on the fourth of 
 May, 1779, upon the settlers at Fantinekil in western Ulster, 
 killing six of the settlers and burning four dwelling houses and 
 five barns. Colonel Cortlandt's regiment, then stationed at 
 Wawarsing, went in pursuit of the authors of the mischief, but 
 without success. Scarcely had he turned back, before the town 
 of Woodstock was attacked and several houses destroyed. 
 
 Reinforced by Brant in person, the war raged along the entire 
 border. In July, Fantinekil was again visited, and the widow 
 
 1 The story of Wyoming Has been told Lenapes. That question was satisfactorily 
 
 in all its details by Minor and Stone, and settled by the treaty of 1768. The only 
 
 others, and is repeated by Lossing in his question in dispute was that between the 
 
 Field Book. Notwithstanding the per- Connecticut company and the proprieta- 
 
 sistent efforts of the poet Campbell and ries of Pennsylvania, in which the Indians 
 
 that of the English historians to escape had no part, except as they were influenced 
 
 censure by blackening the name of Brant, by the contestants. The truth of Wyom- 
 
 the fact is pretty well established that he ing can only be written by an analysis 
 
 was almost entirely innocent of the ex- of the actors in the massacre and their 
 
 cesses which were committed. Nor is association with the proprietaries of Penn- 
 
 there better ground for associating with sylvania. 
 the transaction the old dispute of the 
 
278 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 of Isaac Bevier and her two sons, and Michael Socks and his 
 father, mother, two brothers, wife and two children, were 
 massacred, and the house which they occupied given to the 
 flames. At the house of Jesse Bevier the assailants were suc 
 cessfully resisted, although the building was set on fire and its 
 inmates exposed to a terrible death. Alarmed, it is said, by a 
 faithful dog, settlers two miles distant came to the relief of their 
 friends. The tories fled without completing their work, only 
 to reappear at Napanoch, where they burned the only house 
 standing on the site of the present village of Ellenville. From 
 thence they moved to Minnisink, where, on the night of July 
 I Qth, Brant, with sixty of his Indians, and twenty-seven tories 
 disguised as savages, stole upon the little town, and, before the ' 
 people were aroused from their slumbers, fired several dwellings. 
 With no means of defense, the inhabitants sought safety in 
 flight to the mountains, leaving all their worldly goods a spoil 
 to the invaders. Their small stockade fort, a mill, and twelve 
 houses and barns were burned ; several persons were killed and 
 some taken prisoners. Orchards and farms were laid waste, 
 cattle were driven away, and booty of every kind carried to 
 Grassy brook on the Delaware, where Brant had his head 
 quarters. 
 
 Alarmed by fugitives, Lieutenant Colonel Tusten, of Goshen, 
 issued orders to the officers of his regiment to meet him at 
 Minnisink the next day, with as many men as they could muster. 
 In response to this call one hundred and forty-nine men were 
 gathered in council with him the following morning. Tusten 
 regarded the force as too small to attempt the pursuit of the 
 invaders, but he was overruled, and the line of march taken up. 
 On the twenty-first, Colonel Hathorn, of Warwick, joined the 
 pursuers with a small additional force, and assumed the command. 
 On the twenty-second, Hathorn pushed on to the high hills 
 overlooking the Delaware, near the mouth of the Lackawaxen, 
 where the enemy was discovered. Brant, who had watched the 
 movement, ordered the main body of his warriors to an ambus 
 cade in the rear of Hathorn's force, and when the latter, not 
 finding his foes in front as he expected, attempted to return 
 from the plain which he had reached, he was met by the fire of 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 279 
 
 his wily antagonist. A long and bloody conflict ensued. Brant 
 had the advantage of position and superior numbers ; one-third 
 of Hathorn's small force became detached ; closer and closer 
 the Indians and their white allies drew their circle of fire until 
 Hathorn was hemmed within the circumference of an acre of 
 ground, upon a rocky hill that sloped on all sides, where he 
 maintained the conflict until the sun of that long July day went 
 down. With the gathering twilight the ammunition of the 
 militia was exhausted, and, placing themselves in a hollow square, 
 they prepared their last defense with the butts of their muskets. 
 Broken at one corner, the square became a rout, and the flying 
 fugitives were shot down without mercy. Behind a rock on the 
 field, Tusten dressed the wounds of his neighbors, while ite 
 shelter was also made the point from which a constant fire was 
 kept up by a negro without his knowledge. As the last shot fell from 
 this retreat, the Indians rushed to the spot, killed Tusten and 
 the wounded men in his charge, seventeen in number, and com 
 pleted the bloody work which they had commenced. Of the 
 whole number who went forth to chastise the invaders, only 
 about thirty returned to relate the scenes through which they had 
 passed, and to graft forever their traditions of the damage from 
 which they had escaped upon the history of Orange county. 
 
 The attack upon Wyoming and the devastation which threat 
 ened the borders determined the action of congress. In the 
 spring of 1779, and while yet the incursions upon the frontiers 
 of Ulster county were in progress, an expedition was organized 
 to invade the Seneca country, in which the tories and Indians 
 held their headquarters, with a view to chastise and disperse 
 them. This expedition moved in two divisions, the first under 
 General Sullivan by the way of the Susquehanna and Wyoming ; 
 and the second under General James Clinton through the valley 
 of the Mohawk. The expedition was entirely successful. At 
 Tioga the divisions were united, and from thence moved into 
 the heart of the Indian country, and marked their pathway with 
 blazing Indian villages and blackened harvest fields. " The 
 Indians shall see," said Sullivan, " that we have malice enough 
 in our hearts to destroy everything that contributes to their sup 
 port," and faithfully was that determination executed. Catha- 
 
280 T HE INDUN TRIBES 
 
 rine Montour received in part the punishment she merited in 
 the destruction of her residence at Catharinestown ; Kendaia 
 was swept from existence ; Kanadaseagea, the capital of the 
 'Senecas^ near the. head of the lake which bears their name, with 
 its sixty well built houses and fine orchards ; Kanandaigua, with 
 its " twenty-three very elegant houses, mostly framed, and, in 
 general, large," and its fields of corn and orchards of fruit, and 
 Genesee castle, the capital of the Onondagas, with its " one 
 hundred and twenty-eight houses, mostly large and very elegant," 
 were alike destroyed. Forty Indian towns were burned ; one 
 hundred and sixty thousand bushels of corn in the fields and 
 in granaries, were destroyed ; a vast number of the finest fruit 
 ^rees were cut down ; gardens covered with vegetables were 
 desolated ; the proud Indians, who had scarce felt the touch of 
 the colonists except in kindness, were driven into the forests to 
 starve and be hunted like wild beasts ; their altars were overturned, 
 their graves trampled upon by strangers, and their beautiful 
 country laid waste. 
 
 The punishment administered by Sullivan was indeed terrible, 
 but was it just? That the projectors of the expedition, includ 
 ing Washington, so regarded it, is well known ; that four of 
 the tribes had broken their pledge of neutrality and carried for 
 ward their revenges 'and prejudices to the account of the inno 
 cent, is also known. That they were the victims of the wiles 
 of designing men had learned their lessons of hatred in the 
 earlier controversies between the contending civilizations was 
 as strongly urged in their behalf then as it can be now. Had 
 they been without warning, the destruction of their towns would 
 have been without justification ; but they had been both warned 
 and entreated. In December, 1777, congress had addressed 
 to them an earnest and eloquent appeal to preserve their neu 
 trality, and refrain from further hostilities, to sit under the shade 
 of their own trees and by the side of their own streams and 
 " smoke their pipe in safety and contentment j " x but they 
 
 4 This address recognized the division hearts, and be attentive. Much are you 
 
 which then existed in the confederacy, to blame, and greatly have you wronged 
 
 To the four hostile tribes, it said : us. Be wise in time. Be sorry for your 
 
 " Brothers, Cayugas, Senecas, Ononda- faults. The great council, through the 
 
 gas and Mohawks : Look well into your blood of our friends who fell by your 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 
 
 281 
 
 would not listen, and grew bold in the supposed impossibility of 
 being reached by the government. The visitation which they 
 had provoked was a necessity. 
 
 The scourging army passed by the towns of the Oneidas and 
 Tuscaroras, and struck its blows where chastisement was most 
 deserved. A single village of the Mohawks was spared, 1 con 
 sisting of four houses, the occupants of which were made 
 prisoners ; but the torch was stayed by the entreaties of home 
 less frontier settlers who begged that they might occupy them 
 until they could procure others, and to them was also given the 
 grain, horses and cows, the stores and furniture, of the remain 
 ing followers of Little Abraham, who had found opportunity 
 to make themselves obnoxious as informers, if not as active 
 participants in the English cause. The council- seat of the 
 traditional Atotarho was thrown down, and the council-fire 
 of the nation, which had so long been kept burning at Onondaga, 
 was put out never to be rekindled on its ancient hearth. 
 
 The offending tribes were astounded. The Onondagas flew 
 to the Oneidas for relief; the Senecas and Cayugas joined the 
 
 tomahawks at the German Flats, cries 
 aloud against you, will yet be patient. 
 We do not desire to destroy you. Long 
 have we been at peace 5 and it is still our 
 wish to bury the hatchet, and wipe away 
 the blood which some of you have so un 
 justly shed. Till time shall be no more, 
 we wish to smoke with you the calumet 
 of friendship at Onondaga. But, brothers, 
 mark well what we now tell you. Let 
 it sink deep as the bottom of the sea, and 
 never be forgotten by you or your child 
 ren. If ever again you take up the 
 hatchet to strike us, if you join our ene 
 mies in battle or council, if you give them 
 intelligence, or encourage or permit them 
 to pass through your country to molest or 
 hurt any of our people, we shall look 
 upon you as our enemies, who, under a 
 cloak of friendship, cover your bad de 
 signs, and like the concealed adder, only 
 wait for an opportunity to wound us when 
 we are most unprepared. Believe us who 
 never deceive. If, after all our good 
 counsel, and all our care to prevent it, 
 we must take up the hatchet, the blood 
 to be shed will lie heavy on your heads. 
 The hand of the thirteen United States 
 
 is not short. It will reach to the farthest 
 extent of the country of the Six Nations ; 
 and while we have right on our side, the 
 good Spirit, whom we serve, will enable 
 us to punish you, and put it out of your 
 power to do us farther mischief." 
 
 To the Oneidas and Tuscaroras no 
 such warning words were necessary. 
 " Hearken to us," said the address to 
 them : " It rejoices our heart that we 
 have no reason to reproach you in com 
 mon with the rest of the Six Nations. 
 We have experienced your love, strong as 
 the oak ; and your fidelity, unchangeable 
 as truth. You have kept fast hold of the 
 ancient covenant chain, and preserved it 
 free from rust and decay, and bright as 
 silver. Like brave men, for glory you 
 despise danger 5 you stood forth in the 
 cause of your friends, and ventured your 
 lives in our battles. While the sun and 
 moon continue to give light to the world, 
 we shall love and respect you. As our 
 trusty friends, we shall protect you, and 
 shall at all times consideryour welfare asour 
 own." Stone's Life of Brant, i, 292, etc. 
 
 J The castle of the Praying Maquas at 
 the mouth of Schoharie creek. 
 
282 1HE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Mohawks at Fort Niagara. 1 Humbled, the former sent their 
 chiefs to Fort Stanwix and asked, " Was the destruction of our 
 castle done by design, or by mistake ? If by mistake, we hope 
 to see our brethren, the prisoners ; but if our brethren, the 
 Americans, mean to destroy us also, we will not fly we will 
 wait here and receive our death." " I know the agreement 
 made four years ago with the Six Nations," replied Colonel 
 Van Schaick ; " I also know that all of them, except the Onei- 
 das and Tuscaroras, broke their engagements and flung away 
 the chain of friendship. The Onondagas have been great mur 
 derers ; we have found the scalps of our brothers at their castle. 
 They were cut off, not by mistake, but by design I was 
 ordered to do it, and it is done." Trembling, the fugitives at 
 Niagara, appealed to Haldiman, the governor of Canada : " The 
 great king's enemies are many, and they grow fast in number. 
 They were formerly like young panthers ; they could neither 
 bite nor scratch ; we could play with them safely ; we feared 
 nothing they could do to us. But now their bodies are become 
 big as the elk, and strong as the buffalo ; they have also got 
 great and sharp claws. They have driven us out of our country 
 for taking part in your quarrel. We expect the great king will 
 give us another country, that our children may live after us, 
 and be his friends and children as we are." 2 
 
 At Fort Niagara they perished in large numbers from diseases 
 caused by the absence of accustomed food, and the exposures 
 to which they were necessarily subjected. But their hatreds 
 grew with their misfortunes. Red Jacket plead with them to 
 make peace, without avail ; against the name of Washington 
 they wrote that of Annatakaules, the destroyer of towns. 
 Still powerful for predatory warfare, they organized anew during 
 the winter, and, with Corn-Planter in command of the Senecas, 
 fell upon the Oneidas and Tuscaroras ; burned their castle, 
 church, and village, and drove the offenders down upon the 
 
 1 Fort Niagara was erected by the and tories. It was surrendered to the 
 
 French in 1725, and was for many years United States in 1794. 
 the seat of the French missionaries. The a The authenticity of this document 
 
 English captured it in 1759, when it was has been disputed. The portion quoted, 
 
 rebuilt and regarrisoned. During the however, is a statement of facts, if not 
 
 revolution, it was held by the British, and by the Indians themselves. Appendix 
 
 became the head-quarters of the Indians Stone's Life of Brant. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 283 
 
 white settlements for protection. 1 In May, in detached parties 
 they renewed their attacks upon the borders of Ulster county, 
 plundered the houses of Thomas and Johannes Jansen, in the 
 town of Shawangunk ; killed a Miss Mack anfl her father, as 
 well as a young woman from New York then residing with 
 them, in one of the mountain gorges, and subsequently reached 
 the Hudson in an attack upon the settlement at Saugerties, 
 where they made prisoners of Captain Jeremiah Snyder and his 
 son Isaac, who were taken to Fort Niagara and from thence to 
 Montreal. The convenient instruments of the tories, they 
 followed their footsteps wherever they were bidden. 
 
 In the meantime, Sir John Johnson, at the head of a band of 
 refugees and Indians, five hundred in number, stole through the 
 woods from Crown point and appeared at Johnson Hall. His 
 purpose was to remove the treasure which he had buried on the 
 occasion of his first flight, and to punish some of his old neigh 
 bors. In both he was successful. Two barrels of silver coin, 
 the fruits of his father's honest traffic with the Indians, rewarded 
 him ; his attendants lighted up the surrounding neighborhood 
 with blazing dwellings, and murdered the defenseless people. 
 The village of Caghnawaga 2 was given to the flames, and 
 along the Mohawk valley for several miles every building, not 
 owned by a loyalist, was burned, the cattle killed, and all the 
 horses that could be found taken away. With many prisoners 
 and much booty, Johnson made good his retreat. 
 
 During the autumn more formidable operations were under 
 taken. Sir John Johnson, with three companies of refugees, 
 one company of German Yagers, two hundred of Butler's 
 Rangers, and one company of British Regulars, with Brant and 
 
 1 The fugitives collected together near site is now covered by the village of 
 Schenectady, where they remained until Fonda, Montgomery county. The Mo- 
 after the war, in active alliance with the hawks who originally occupied it were 
 colonists. proselyted by the Jesuits and induced to 
 
 2 This village took its name from that remove to Canada, where they were 
 of the ancient Mohawk village called established at a mission called by them- 
 Gaudaouague 5 by the French, On- selves, in remembrance of their ancient 
 engioure, and by the Dutch, Kaghne- village, Caghnawaga. (Brodheadyii, 129, 
 wage. It was in j_this village that 299. Ante, p. 97). At the time of its 
 Father Jogues was so badly treated dur- destruction it was occupied principally by 
 ing eighteen months of captivity. Its German families from the Palatinate. 
 
 36 
 
284 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 Corn planter and five hundred of their warriors, entered the 
 Schoharie valley, and although not successful in reducing the 
 block-houses which had been erected, nevertheless spread destruc 
 tion along thefr pathway. Not a house, barn, or grain-stack 
 known to belong to a whig, was left standing ; one hundred 
 thousand bushels of grain were destroyed in a single day. The 
 houses of the tories were spared, but no sooner had the enemy 
 retired than the exasperated whigs set them on fire, and all 
 shared the common fate. The valley of the Mohawk was 
 next visited. At Caghnawaga the buildings which had been 
 left standing at the previous visitation, as well as those which 
 had been rebuilt, were destroyed, and every dwelling on both 
 sides of the river, as far up as Fort Plain, was burned. Murder 
 and rapine attested alike the hatred of Johnson for his former 
 neighbors and the vengeance of his dusky allies. 
 
 But the marauders were not permitted to again escape with 
 out molestation. Governor George Clinton, having received 
 information from two Oneidas, of their movements, promptly 
 marched to the relief of the district. A strong body of Oneida 
 warriors, led by their chief, Louis Atyataronghta, 1 who had been 
 commissioned a colonel by congress, joined him on his way. 
 Near Fort Plain the opposing forces met ; Brant and his Indians, 
 in a thicket of shrub oaks, were supported by Johnson, while 
 the right of the patriot line was held by the Oneidas. The 
 defiant war-whoop of the opposing chiefs was echoed by their 
 followers ; supported by the militia, the Oneidas dashed forward ; 
 Brant gave way and fled, wounded in the heel, to the fording 
 place near the old upper Indian castle, crossed the river and 
 found refuge in the rear of the reserve forces of his friends. 
 Johnson immediately made hasty retreat to his boats on Onon- 
 daga lake, and escaped to Canada by the way of Oswego, shorn 
 of whatever prestige he had gained on his former raid. 
 
 Similar were the events of 1781. The devastations of the 
 invading bands commenced again on the borders of Ulster. In 
 August, a body of three hundred Indians and ninety tories fell 
 
 1 It is said that he was the representa- the blood of the French, the Indian, and 
 live of three nations, having in his veins the negro. His bravery was unquestioned. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 285 
 
 upon the settlers in the Wawarsing valley and " burned and 
 destroyed about a dozen houses, with their barns," and killed 
 one of the inhabitants, " the rest having fled." Colonel Har- 
 denburgh, -with a force of only nine .men, hastened forward to 
 the aid of the settlers, and, throwing his men into a small stone 
 house, checked the advance of the enemy. In their repeated 
 attempts to dislodge him, thirteen of their number were left 
 dead upon the field. Colonel Paulding's regiment of state levies, 
 together with the militia, was soon on the ground, but not in 
 time to punish the marauders, although they were pursued for 
 seven days. 
 
 In October the Mohawk valley was visited by Major Ross 
 and Walter N. Butler at the head of about one thousand troops, 
 consisting of regulars, tories and Indians. The settlement 
 known as Warren Bush was broken into so suddenly that the 
 people had no chance for escape. Many were killed and their 
 houses plundered and destroyed. Colonel Willett, informed of 
 the incursion, marched with about four hundred men, including 
 Onelda warriors, to the defensg of the valley. He was joined 
 by Colonel Rowley with the Tryon county militia, and the 
 plan of attack agreed to. Rowley was sent to fall upon the 
 enemy in the rear, while Willett was to attack them in front. 
 The belligerents met a short distance above Johnson Hall, and 
 a battle immediately ensued. Willett's militia broke and fled 
 to the stone church in the village, but at that moment Rowley 
 attacked the rear and soon compelled the enemy to retreat, 
 leaving forty of their number killed and wounded and fifty 
 prisoners. The pursuit was not taken up until the next morning, 
 when it was continued until evening before the enemy were 
 reached. A running fight then ensued ; Butler's Indians became 
 alarmed at the havoc in their ranks and fled ; a brisk fire was 
 kept up for some time by the tories, until Butler, who was 
 watching the fight from behind a tree, exposed his head and fell 
 under a quick ball from an Oneida, who knew him and who was 
 watching his motions ; his troops fled in confusion ; the Oneida 
 bounded across the stream that separated the contestants, and 
 while Butler, yet living, cried for quarter, finished the work 
 
286 
 
 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 which he had commenced, tore from his head the reeking trophy 
 which he sought, and bore it as a banner in the onward charge 
 
 of his comrades. So perished 
 Walter N. Butler, the most 
 heartless of all the tories who 
 engaged in the border wars ; so 
 closed the attacks upon the 
 frontier settlements of New 
 York. 
 
 The gallantry of the Oneidas 
 and Tuscaroras during the war 
 was only exceeded by that of 
 the Mohicans and JVappingers. 
 Active in the campaign of 
 
 1777, tne latter joined Washington again in the spring of 1778, 
 and were detached with the forces under Lafayette to check the 
 depredations of the British army on its retreat from Philadelphia. 
 At the engagement at Barren hill they defeated a company of 
 British troops, but not precisely in the manner of creditable war 
 fare. Stationed in a wood at a considerable distance from the 
 main army, they met the attack .of the enemy by discharging 
 their muskets and uttering their hideous battle-cry. " The re 
 sult," says Sparks, " was laughable ; both parties ran off equally 
 frightened at the unexpected and terrific appearance of their 
 antagonists." 1 
 
 But such was not their record in Westchester county, where 
 they first met the British, ancf where they were stationed soon 
 after the engagement at Barren hill. In July, while Simcoe and 
 Tarleton were making some examinations of the country, the 
 Mahicans formed an ambuscade for their capture, and very 
 nearly succeeded in their purpose, the party escaping by chang 
 ing their route. 2 Their most distinguished service, however, 
 was performed in August. While on a scouting expedition on 
 the thirtieth, Lieutenant Colonel Emerick met a body of them 
 under Nimham, the king of the Wappingers, and in the engage- 
 
 Sfarks y vn, 547. 
 
 * Simcoe's Military Journal. 
 
OF HUDSON'S R17ER. 
 
 287 
 
 ment which followed was compelled to retreat. On the follow 
 ing morning the whole of the British force at Kingsbridge was 
 ordered out and the largest portion placed in an ambuscade, 
 while Emerick was sent forward to decoy his assailants of the 
 previous day. The plan failed, but an engagement was brought 
 on, by Emerick's corps, on what is now known as Cortland's ridge, 
 in the present town of Yonkers, which was one of the most 
 severe of the war. The Indians made the attack from behind 
 the fences, and in their first fire wounded five of their enemies, 
 including Simcoe. Falling back among the rocks they defied 
 for a time the efforts to dislodge them. Emerick offered them 
 peace and protection if they would surrender ; four of their 
 number accepted the terms only to be hewn in pieces as soon 
 as they reached his lines. The engagement was renewed ; 
 Emerick charged the ridge with cavalry in overwhelming force, 
 but was stoutly resisted. As the cavalry rode them down, the 
 Indians seized the legs of their foes and dragged them from 
 their saddles to join them in death. All hope of successful 
 resistance gone, Ntmham commanded his followers to fly, but 
 for himself exclaimed : " I am an aged tree ; I will die here." 
 Ridden down by Simcoe, he wounded that officer and was on 
 the point of dragging him from his horse when he was shot by 
 Wright, Simcoe's orderly. " The Indians fought most gal 
 lantly," is Simcoe's testimony ; but the number engaged is riot 
 stated. Emerick reported that " near forty " of them " were 
 killed or desperately wounded." If his previous statement is 
 correct, that the number who had "just joined Washington " 
 was "about sixty," over one-half must have fallen in the 
 engagement. 1 
 
 To their services in that and in other engagements the testimony 
 of Washington is added. 2 Literally did*they redeem the pledge 
 which they had given at Albany, the pledge of Ruth : " Whither 
 
 1 Near forty of the Indians were killed 
 or desperately wounded, among them 
 Nimham, a chieftain who had been to 
 England, and his son (Simcoe's Journal}. 
 Bolton states that eighteen bodies were 
 recovered from the field and buried in one 
 pit. The loss of the British is said to 
 have been five ; but it was rare indeed 
 
 that they made a correct return, and the 
 number may have been much greater. 
 3 " Head Quarters, Bergen Co., 
 
 September 13, 1870. 
 To the President of Congress : 
 
 Sir : This will be presented to your 
 excellency by Captain Hendriks Solo 
 mon of Stockbridge. He and about 
 
288 THE INDIJN TRIBES 
 
 thou goest I will go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge ; thy 
 people shall be my people, and thy God my God ; where thou 
 diest will I die, and there will I be buried." The privations 
 which the patriots suffered, they shared without a murmur ; in 
 their devotion they never wearied. When the tattered banners 
 of the struggle were folded away, they returned to their ancient 
 seats, and at the head waters of the Hudson again met the white 
 men, now their brothers by a holier covenant, as they had 
 met them in 1609, the sole representatives of the Indian tribes 
 of Hudson's river. 
 
 By the treaty of peace between the United States and Great 
 Britain which was without stipulation in regard to the Indian 
 allies of the latter government " the ancient country of the 
 Six Nations, the residence of their ancestors from the time far 
 beyond their earliest traditions, was included within the bound 
 aries granted to the Americans." Nor was this their only loss ; 
 in their social and political condition they had been great 
 sufferers by their unfortunate alliance. The great body of the 
 Oneldas and Tuscaroras had been severed from the confederacy ; 
 the " eastern door " of their cc Long House " had been broken 
 in and its ancient keepers, the Mohawks, made fugitives from 
 the seats of their fathers ; the alliance of the four tribes with 
 the crown had divested them of the respect of the victors ; their 
 towns had been destroyed and their fields wasted by the scourg 
 ing army of Sullivan. When the war closed, the Oneidas and 
 Tuscaroras returned to their possessions, assured of the protec 
 tion of their American allies ; the Mohawks, after brooding 
 awhile over their misfortunes, retired to the banks of the Ouise 
 
 twenty of his tribe have been serving- as them, but because I have it not in my 
 
 volunteers with the army since,, the be- power to furnish them with such articles 
 
 ginning of July. They have been gene- of clothing as they request, and which 
 
 rally attached to the light corps, and have they would prefer to money. Congress 
 
 conducted themselves with great propriety will, I doubt not, direct such a supply as 
 
 and fidelity. Seeing no immediate pro- they shall think proper. Captain Solo- 
 
 spect of any operation in this quarter, in mon, with part of these people was with 
 
 which they can be serviceable, they are us in the year 1778. The tribe suffered 
 
 desirous of returning home after receiv- severely during that campaign, in a skir- 
 
 ing some compensation for the time, dur- mish with the enemy, in which they lost 
 
 ing which they have been with us, and their chief and several of their warriors, 
 after having made a visit to Philadelphia, I have the honor to be 
 
 I have thought it best to gratify them, Yours, etc., 
 
 not only on account of being agreeable to GEO. WASHINGTON." 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIVER. 289 
 
 ** 
 
 or Grand river, under the protection of the crown, 1 prepared to 
 renew the struggle whenever they should be bidden by those 
 whom they served ; the Senecas relighted their council-fire, broken, 
 dispirited and divided. 
 
 New York was disposed to complete the work of disintegra 
 tion and dispersion, which the war had developed, by expelling 
 the Senecas, Onondagas and Gayugas from all the country within 
 its bounds which had not been ceded by them under the treaty 
 of 1768; but congress adopted a more liberal policy, never 
 theless one involving punishment. Commissioners on the part 
 of the United States met the representatives of the tribes at 
 Fort Schuyler in October, 1784, prepared to negotiate a treaty 
 based on a concession of territory. The Mohawks were not 
 represented ; the Senecas asked delay until the tribes on the 
 Ohio could be summoned, but the commissioners would^ not 
 consent, nor would they recognize a unity that did not exist. 
 Red Jacket opposed the burial of the hatchet, while Corn- 
 planter counseled peace, regarding the loss of territory, on the 
 terms offered, as far better than the hazards of further war. 
 The efforts of the latter prevailed, and, on the twenty-second, 
 a treaty was signed by which the United States gave peace to 
 the Mohawks, Senecas, Onondagas and Cayugas, and received 
 them under their protection, on condition that all the prisoners 
 in their possession, white and black, should be delivered up. 
 The Oneidas and Tuscaroras, as well as all the tribes, were 
 secured in the possession of the lands they were then occupying, 
 with power to sell and relinquish, but at the same time gave up 
 all claims to the territory not in absolute occupation^west of a 
 line beginning at the mouth of the Oyonwayea creek, flowing 
 into Lake Ontario four miles east of Niagara, thence southerly, 
 but preserving a line four miles east of the carrying path, to the 
 mouth of Tehoseroron or Buffalo creek ; thence to the north 
 boundary of Pennsylvania ; thence south along the Pennsylvania 
 line to the Ohio. 
 
 Had the tribes been permitted to follow their own inclinations, 
 this treaty would perhaps have been conclusive; but the Eng- 
 
 1 At the close of the war the Mohawks can side of the Niagara river, in the 
 were temporarily residing en the Ameri- vicinity of the old landing place above 
 
290 THE INDIAN 7RIBES 
 
 * 
 
 lish in Canada, and especially the tories, professing to believe 
 that the contest between the colonies and the mother country 
 had been postponed, not determined, 1 disseminated discontent 
 and hastened to revive in the hearts of their allies the sacredness 
 of the boundary line of 1768, and the policy upon which it had 
 been based. The Lenapes and Shawanoes were encouraged to 
 revolt ; Corn planter was driven from power by Red Jacket. 
 Brant assumed the task of organizing formidable and active 
 hostilities, and for that purpose visited England in 1785. On 
 his return the tribes in interest opened communications with the 
 American government, suggested that a grand council should be 
 called, and that, pending its assemblage, and determination, sur 
 veyors and settlers should be restrained from passing beyond 
 the Ohio. 
 
 The government, anxious to prevent hostilities, replied by 
 sending instructions to General St. Clair, then governor of the 
 north-western territory, to inquire particularly into the temper 
 of the Indians, and if he found them hostile, to endeavor to 
 hold as general a treaty with them as he could convene, and, 
 if possible, satisfactorily extinguish their title to lands as far 
 westward as the Mississippi. Under these instructions St. 
 Clair concluded at Fort Harmer, on the ninth of January, 1789, 
 two separate treaties ; the first, with the sachems of the Five 
 Nations, the Mohawks excepted ; the second, with the sachems 
 of the Lenapes, Wyandots, Ottawas, Ckippewas, and other west 
 ern clans represented. These treaties recognized the boundary 
 line of 1784, but at the same time modified that treaty by con 
 ceding the right of the Indians to compensation for lands east 
 of the line as far as the boundary of 1768. 
 
 At the negotiation of these treaties the fact became strikingly 
 apparent that the confederate tribes were without agreement 
 upon any line of policy, 2 Brant openly denouncing many of his 
 
 the fort. The governor of Canada sub- ary of the territory which had been relin- 
 
 sequently assigned them lands on the quished. It was not until 1794, that a 
 
 Grand river about forty miles above treaty was ratified covering these points, 
 
 Niagara Falls. <S/o|, u, 2.39. meanwhile the encouragement of the 
 
 1 Great Britain, it will be remembered, officers of the crown to the Indians was 
 
 refused to negotiate a commercial treaty not disguised. See Johnson's letter in 
 
 with the United States, or to surrender Stones Life of Brant, n, 267. 
 certain forts within the northern bound- a St. Clair writes : " A jealousy sub- 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 291 
 
 late allies as having " sold themselves to the devil." z Failing 
 to unite and wield the tribes to his purposes, he appealed to 
 the Lenapes and Shawanoes to take the offensive, with himself 
 and Jjis associates as followers. The latter accepted the belt, 
 and began hostilities along the western border, then covering an 
 extent of four hundred miles. To restrain and punish the 
 insurgents General Harmer was sent out, in the autumn of 
 1790, with a force of fifteen hundred men, but suffered disaster 
 in a conflict near the junction of the St. Joseph and St. Mary 
 rivers ; and General St. Clair, with an expedition for a similar 
 purpose, was defeated and severely punished in November of 
 the following year. 2 
 
 Encouraged by these successes, the Lenapes and their allies 
 resisted the overtures for peace which Captain Hendrik Aupau- 
 mut, the Mohican chief, conveyed to them, and, in council 
 at Miami Rapids, on the I3th of August, 1793, issued the de 
 claration, that to them the money which the United States 
 offered for their lands was of no value, to most of them 
 unknown ; that no consideration whatever could induce 
 them to sell that from which they obtained sustenance for their 
 women and children ; that if peace was desired, justice must be 
 done, and to that end the money which was offered them should 
 be divided among the settlers who had invaded their country 
 and they be bidden to withdraw ; that they never made any agree 
 ment with the king by which their lands followed the fortunes 
 of his wars, nor would they now make a treaty which denied 
 to them the right to make " bargain or cession of lands when 
 ever and to whomsoever they pleased ; " peace with them could 
 be had only on the basis that the Ohio should remain the 
 boundary line beyond which the white man should not come. 
 " We can retreat no further, because the country behind hardly 
 affords food for its present inhabitants ; we have therefore 
 
 sisted among them, which I was not deadly variance." Am. State Papers, iv, 
 
 willing to lessen by considering them as 10. 
 
 one people. They do not so consider *In other words, to the Yankees, 
 
 themselves ; and I am persuaded their against whom he manifested at all times 
 
 general confederacy is entirely broken, the most intense hatred. 
 
 Indeed, it would not be very difficult, if * Stone* s Life of Brant y 11, 308, etc.; 
 
 circumstances required it, to set them at Gallatin, 50, 51, 68. 
 
 37 
 
292 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 resolved to leave our bones in this small space, to which we are 
 now consigned." 
 
 Thirteen tribes, the Lenapes^ Shawanoes, Minsis^ Mahicans, 
 of the Delaware, Nanticokes and Conoys, the seven nations of 
 Canada, the Wyandots, Miamis, Chippeways and Pottawattamies^ 
 and the Senecas of the Glaize, signed the declaration, and on the 
 thirtieth of June following, sealed it with the blood of their bravest 
 warriors in battle against General Wayne on the ground where 
 St. Clair had been so disastrously defeated in I79I. 1 From that 
 field they retired crushed and broken, while fire and sword fol 
 lowed them in their retreat, and blazing villages and ruined 
 fields convinced them that however just their cause, there was 
 a limit to their powers of resistance. Ruined in estate, and 
 deserted by their English allies, with whom the United States 
 had finally concluded definite treaty, they came up to a confer 
 ence with Wayne, at Greenville, on the third of August, 1795, 
 and accepted the terms of their conquerors. 2 
 , Full of interest as are the details of this struggle, they do not 
 strictly pertain to the purpose of this work, the general facts 
 sufficiently indicating the events attending the retreating foot 
 steps of the once powerful occupants of the western valley of 
 the Hudson. Leaving the Lenapes and their grandchildren on 
 the banks of the Mississippi, the warriors of the Six Nations, 
 who, in small number, had participated in the contest, returned 
 to the reservations which had been set apart for them by the 
 legislature of New York, which in part they still occupy. 3 
 From their ancient dominions the Mahicans at Westenhuck 
 removed, in 1785, on the invitation of the Qneidas, to a tract 
 six miles square in the present towns of Augusta, Oneida county, 
 and Stockbridge, Madison county. Here they resided until 
 1821, when, with other Indians of New York, they purchased 
 of the Menomlnees and Wmnebagoes, a tract of land on the 
 Wisconsin and Fox rivers in Wisconsin, and took up their resi 
 dence there. 4 
 
 1 Stone's Life of Brant y n, 382, etc. Only a comparatively small portion of the 
 
 3 The loss inflicted upon the Americans original reservations now remain in their 
 
 during this war is officially stated at over possession. 
 
 two thousand men. 4 Stockbridge, Past and Present. 
 8 Census of New York, 1855, appendix. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 
 
 293 
 
 And there were other settlements. A band of Montauks of 
 Long Island, Mohegans of Connecticut, and Pequots and Narra- 
 gansetts of Massachusetts, under the leadership of Samson Oc- 
 cum, a Mohegan missionary, took up their residence in the 
 Oneida country in 1788, and were confirmed on a reservation 
 two miles in length by three in breadth, in the present town of 
 Marshall, Oneida county, where, having no language in com 
 mon, they adopted the English, and received the name of 
 Brothertons. They subsequently removed to the west and 
 settled in Wisconsin. 
 
 Similar was the course of the domestic clans of Raritans. 
 From an early period a remnant of the tribe had occupied a 
 reservation in the county of Burlington, New Jersey, where they 
 were known as Brothertons. In 1802, they accepted an invita 
 tion from the Mabicans to unite with them, and, obtaining 
 consent from the legislature, sold their lands and removed to 
 the reservation of the latter. They were officially met by the 
 authorities of New Jersey for the last, time in 1832, when, 
 reduced to about forty souls, they applied to the legislature for 
 remuneration on account of their rights of hunting and fishing 
 on unenclosed lands, which they had reserved in their various 
 agreements with the whites, and the legislature promptly directed 
 the payment to them of two thousand dollars in full relinquish- 
 ment of their claims. 1 
 
 1 The application was made by Sha- 
 <wuskukhkung or Wilted Grass, a chief of 
 the Delawares, who had been educated 
 at Princeton at the expense of the Scotch 
 Missionary Society. At the time of 
 making the application he was seventy- 
 six years of age. His address to the 
 legislature, on the occasion, was as fol 
 lows : 
 
 * ' MY BRETHREN. I am old, and weak, 
 and poor, and therefore a fit representa 
 tive of my people. You are young, and 
 strong, and rich, and therefore fit repre 
 sentatives of your people. But let me 
 beg you for a moment to lay aside the 
 recollection of your strength and of our 
 weakness, that your minds may be pre 
 pared to examine with candor the subject 
 of our claims. 
 
 " Our tradition informs us, and I believe 
 
 it corresponds with your records, that the 
 right of fishing in all the rivers and bays 
 south of the Raritan, and of hunting 
 in all unenclosed lands, was never relin 
 quished, but on the contrary was expressly 
 reserved in our last treaty, held at Cross- 
 wicks, in 1758. 
 
 " Having myself been one of the 
 parties to the sale, I believe in 1801, I 
 know that these rights were not sold or 
 parted with. 
 
 " We now offer to sell these privileges 
 to the state of New Jersey. They were 
 once of great value to us, and we appre 
 hend that neither time nor distance, nor 
 the non-use of our rights, has at all 
 affected them, but that the courts here 
 would consider our claims valid were we 
 to exercise them ourselves, or delegate 
 them to others. It is not, however, our 
 
294 
 
 THE INDIAN TRIBES 
 
 On a small reservation on Long island the Montauks have 
 still a representation, though with scarce a member of pure 
 blood. On the third of March, 1702, they made an agreement 
 with the English in which the rights of each were definitely 
 fixed, and resided in peace with their neighbors until after the 
 revolution, when they made claim to lands which they had 
 previously ceded, but without success. The first to welcome 
 Hudson's wandering bark, they are now the last representatives 
 of the tribes which once held dominion on Sewanhackie. 
 
 Domestic clans or families of Minsls and Mahlcans lingered 
 
 wish thus to excite litigation. We con 
 sider the state legislature the proper pur 
 chaser, and throw ourselves upon its 
 benevolence and magnanimity, trusting 
 that feelirtgs of justice and liberality will 
 induce you to give us what you deem a 
 compensation." 
 
 The whole subject was referred to a 
 committee, before whom Hon. Samuel 
 L. Southard voluntarily and ably advocated 
 the claim of the Delawares ; and at the 
 conclusion of his speech remarked : 
 "That it was a proud fact in the history 
 of New Jersey, that every foot of her 
 soil had been obtained from the Indians 
 by fair and voluntary purchase and trans 
 fer, a fact that no other state in the 
 union, not even the land which bears the 
 name of Penn, can boast of." The com 
 mittee reported in favor of an appropria 
 tion of $2,000, which the legislature at 
 once confirmed. This was the crowning 
 act of a series in which justice and kind 
 ness to the Indians had been kept steadily 
 in view ; and was thus acknowledged by 
 the veteran chief in a letter to the legis 
 lature dated "Trenton, March 12, 1832: 
 
 " Bartholomew S. Calvin (his English 
 name), takes this method to return his 
 thanks to both houses of the state legis 
 lature, and especially to their committees, 
 for their very respectful attention to, and 
 candid examination of, the Indian claims 
 which he was delegated to present. 
 
 " The final act of official intercourse 
 between the state of New Jersey and the 
 Delaware Indians, who once owned nearly 
 the whole of its territory, has now been 
 consummated, and in a manner which 
 must redound to the honor of this grow 
 ing state, and, in all probability, to the 
 
 prolongation'of the existence of a wasted, 
 yet grateful people. Upon this parting 
 occasion, I feel it to be an incumbent 
 duty to bear the feeble tribute of my 
 praise to the high-toned justice which, 
 in this instance, and, so far as I am ac 
 quainted, in all former times, has actuated 
 the councils of this commonwealth in 
 dealing with the aboriginal inhabitants. 
 
 " Not a drop of our blood have you 
 spilled in battle not an acre of our 
 land have you taken but by our consent. 
 These facts speak for themselves, and 
 need no comment. They place the 
 character of New Jersey in bold relief and 
 bright example to those states within 
 whose territorial limits our brethren still 
 remain. Nothing save benisons can fall 
 upon her from the lips of a Lenni Lenape. 
 
 "There may be some who would despise 
 an Indian benediction ; but when I return 
 to my people, and make known to them 
 the result of my mission, the ear of the 
 Great Sovereign of the universe, which 
 is still open to our cry, will be penetrated 
 with our invocation of blessings upon the 
 generous sons of New Jersey. 
 
 " To those gentlemen, members of the 
 legislature, and others who have evinced 
 their kindness to me, I cannot refrain 
 from paying the unsolicited tribute of my 
 heart-felt thanks. Unable to return 
 them any other compensation, I fervently 
 pray that God will have them in his holy 
 keeping will guide them in safety 
 through the vicissitudes of this life, and 
 ultimately, through the rich mercies of 
 our blessed Redeemer, receive them into 
 the glorious entertainment of his kingdom 
 above." See note by W. J. Allinson, 
 New Jersey Historical Collections. 
 
OF HUDSON'S RIPER. 
 
 295 
 
 around their ancient seats for some years after the close of the 
 revolution, but of them one after another it is written, " they 
 disappeared in the night." In the language of Tamenund at 
 the death of Uncas : " The pale faces are masters of the earth, 
 and the time of the red men has not yet come again. My day 
 has been too long. In the morning I saw the sons of Unami 
 happy and strong ; and yet, before the night has come, have I 
 lived to see the last warrior of the wise race of the Mabicans" 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
APPENDIX 
 
 I. BIOGRAPHICAL SKETCHES. 
 
 i HE personal history of the early Indian kings and 
 chiefs who held dominion in the valley of the Hud 
 son, is involved in even greater obscurity than that 
 which attaches to their contemporaries in other 
 parts of the new world. Of MASSASOIT, MIANTONOMOH, 
 UNCAS, PHILIP, and other New England chiefs, and of Pow- 
 HATTAN and POCAHONTAS of Virginia, there is some definite 
 information ; but of those who welcomed the emigrants from 
 Holland, names alone survive. MONEMIUS and UNUWATS, 
 whose castles Hudson visited, have no record except in the 
 deed which they gave to their lands, while AEPJIN, king of the 
 Mahicans, and GOETHALS, king of the Wapplngers, float in an 
 uncertain twilight which is scarcely relieved on the part of their 
 contemporaries, KAELCOP and SEWACKENAMO of the Minsis^ 
 WYANDANCE, of the Montauks, and ORITANY of the Hackin- 
 sacks, by the stirring scenes in which they were participants. 
 Even as late as 1710, when more definite rejlrds came to be 
 written, there is no preservation of the lines of kings, nor is 
 there positive identification of the Mahlcan and Iroquois sachems 
 who then visited England. True, it is said that HENDRIK of 
 the Mohawks, was one of the latter, and that ELOW-OH-KAOM, 
 of the Mahicans, left a daughter who became the wife of UM- 
 PACHENEE, a chief subsequently known to the missionaries of 
 Stockbridge ; but as a rule, the declaration is not the mere 
 creation of the poet SPRAGUE, that 
 
 "The doomed Indian leaves' behind no trace, 
 To save his own or serve another race, 
 With his frail breath his peftver has passed away, 
 His deeds, his thoughts, are buried with* his clay. 
 His heraldry is but a broken bow, 
 His history but a tale of wrong and woe, 
 His very name must be a blank/' 
 
 38 
 
300 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 On the part of the Lenapes the name of TAMANY, or TA- 
 MANED has beerf preserved in a halo of traditionary glory. He 
 was one of their sachems or kings, and lived possibly as late as 
 1680. Heckewelder says: "The fame of this great man 
 extended even among the whites, who fabricated numerous 
 legends respecting him, which I never heard, however, from 
 the mouth of an Indian, and therefore believe to be fabulous." 
 He is said to have been a resident of the present county of 
 Bucks, in Pennsylvania, and that he was buried near a spring 
 about three and a half miles west of Doylestown, in that county. 
 Heckewelder adds, that when Colonel George Morgan of 
 Princeton, visited the western Indians, by order of congress, 
 in 1776, he was so beloved for his goodness that the Lenapes 
 gave to him the name of their venerated chief. Morgan brought 
 back to the whites such glowing accounts of the qualities of the 
 ancient chief, that, in the revolutionary war, he was dubbed a 
 saint, his name was placed on some calendars, and his festi 
 val celebrated on the first day of May in every year. " On 
 that day a numerous society of votaries walked together in pro 
 cession through the streets of Philadelphia, their hats decorated 
 with bucks' tails, and proceeded to a handsome rural place out 
 of town which they called a wigwam, where, after a long talk 
 or Indian speech had been delivered, and the calumet of friend 
 ship and peace had been smoked, they spent the day in festivity 
 and mirth. After dinner Indian dances were performed on the 
 green in front of the wigwam, the calumet was again smoked, 
 and the company separated." " After the war," adds Thatcher, 
 " these meetings were broken up ; but since that time Tam 
 many societies have sprung up in Philadelphia and New York, 
 which have excited no little influence in political circles." 
 
 ALLUMMAPEES, or Sassoonan, is the first ruling king of the 
 Lenapes, known to the records. He was the associate, perhaps 
 the successor of Tamany. In 1718, he headed the deputation 
 of Indian chieftains at Philadelphia, who signed an absolute 
 release to the proprietaries *for the lands " situate between 
 Delaware and Sus'quehanna, from Duck creek to the mountains 
 on this side Lechay, which lands had been granted by their 
 ancestors to William Penn." In 1728, he had removed "from 
 
APPENDIX. 301 
 
 on Delaware to Shamokin." Conrad Weisser, the Indian 
 interpreter, writes in 1747: "The Delaware Indians last year 
 intended to visit Philadelphia, but were prevented by ALLUM 
 MAPEES' sickness, who is still alive, but not able to stir. They 
 will come down this year, some time after harvest. ALLUM- 
 MAPEES has no successor in his relations, and he will hear of 
 none so long as he is alive, and none of the Indians care to 
 meddle in the affair. Shikellimy z advises that the government 
 should name ALLUMMAPEES' successor, and set him up by 
 their authority, that at this critical time there might be a man 
 to apply to, since ALLUMMAPEES has lost his senses and is inca 
 pable of doing anything." In 1747, the old chief took part in 
 a treaty with the Moravians concerning the erection of a smithy 
 at their town. In the fall of that year he deceased. What 
 ever he may have been in his earlier years, he was but little 
 more than an intemperate imbecile at the time of his death. 
 Weisser writes : " ALLUMMAPEES would have resigned his 
 crown before now, but as he had the keeping of the public 
 treasure (that is to say of the council-bag), consisting of belts 
 of wampum, for which he buys liquor, and has been drunk for 
 these two or three years almost constantly, it is thought he won't 
 die so long as there is one single wampum left in the bag." 2 
 
 TADAME was the successor of Allummapees. He held the 
 crown until 1756, when he was " treacherously murdered, but 
 by whom or for what cause," says Minor, " we find no record." 3 
 The probabilities are, however, that as he was active in the 
 hostilities which had then been inaugurated with the English, 
 his death was caused by some wretch of his own tribe for the 
 purpose of obtaining the price which the governor of Pennsyl 
 vania had offered for his scalp. 
 
 TEEDYUSCUNG, the most distinguished of the modern Lenape 
 kings, was the successor of Tadame. Major Parsons writes 
 that he was " a lusty, raw-boned man, but haughty and very 
 desirable of respect and command." Reichel, in his Memorials 
 of the Moravian Church^ adds : " According to his own state- 
 
 1 Shiktllimy was one of the viceregent 2 Memorials of the Moravian Church, 
 Oneida chiefs, residing at Shamokin. i, 67. 
 He died in 1748. 3 History of Wyoming. 
 
. 
 302 HUDSON RIPER INDIANS. 
 
 ment, he was born about the year 1700, in New Jersey, east 
 of Trenton, in which neighborhood his ancestors of the Unamis 
 had been seated from time immemorial. Old Captain Harris, 
 a noted Delaware, was his father. The same was the father 
 also of Captain John of Nazareth, of young Captain Harris, of 
 Tom, of Jo, and of Sam Evans, a family of high-spirited sons 
 who were not in good repute with their white neighbors. The 
 latter named them, it is true, for men of their own people, and 
 TEEDYUSCUNG they named Honest John ; yet they disliked 
 and then feared them, for the Harrises were known to grow 
 moody and resentful, and were heard to speak threatening words 
 as they saw their paternal acres passing out of their hands, and 
 their hunting-grounds converted into pasture and plowed fields." 
 When the Moravians appeared at Bethlehem, TEEDYUSCUNG 
 came to hear them ; soon after professed conversion and was bap 
 tized. His conversion, however, was not proof against the 
 wrongs which his people had suffered, and when the offer of the 
 crown was made to him he readily accepted it, and became 
 their leader. At the conferences which he attended, says the 
 writer last quoted : " TEEDYUSCUNG stood up as the champion 
 of his people, fearlessly demanding restitution of their lands, or 
 an equivalent for their irreparable loss, and in addition the free 
 exercise of the right to select, within the territory in dispute, a 
 permanent home. The chieftain's imposing presence, his 
 earnestness of appeal, and his impassioned oratory, as he plead 
 the cause of the long-injured Lenape, evoked the admiration of 
 his enemies themselves. He always spoke in the euphonious 
 Delaware, employing this Castilian of the new world to utter 
 the simple and expressive figures and tropes of the native rhe 
 toric with which his harangues were replete, although he was 
 conversant with the white man's speech. It would almost 
 appear, from the minutes of these conferences, that the English 
 artfully attempted to evade the point at issue, and to conciliate 
 the indignant chieftain by fair speeches and uncertain promises. 
 The hollowness of the former he boldly exposed, and the latter 
 he scornfully rejected ; so that it was soon perceived that the 
 Indian king was as astute and sagacious, as he was unmovable 
 in the justice of his righteous demands. This conviction forced 
 
APPENDIX. 303 
 
 itself upon his hearers, and then they yielded to the terms he 
 laid down." He was the hero of the war of 1755, for while 
 Hendrik boldly demanded the simple distribution of presents, 
 TEEDYUSCUNG wrung the liberties of his people from both his 
 civilized and uncivilized enemies. 
 
 In the spring of 1758, TEEDYUSCUNG removed to Wyoming, 
 where, agreeably to his request and the conditions of treaty, a 
 town had been built for him and his followers by the govern 
 ment of Pennsylvania. Here he lived not unmindful of his 
 long cherished object, and here he was burned to death on the 
 night of the iQth of April, 1763, while asleep in his lodge. 
 " The concurrent testimony of his time agrees in representing 
 him as a man of marked ability, a brave warrior, a sagacious 
 counsellor and a patriot among his people. Although he was 
 governed by strong passions, and a slave of that degrading vice 
 which was the bane of his race, he was not devoid of feeling, 
 but susceptible of the gentler influences of our nature. Numer 
 ous are the anecdotes extant, illustrating his love of humor, his 
 ready wit, his quickness of apprehension and reply, his keen 
 penetration, and his sarcastic delight in exposing low cunning 
 and artifice." Stone adds : " In regard to the character of 
 TEEDYUSCUNG, the sympathies of Sir William Johnson were 
 with his own people ; yet in his correspondence, while he labored 
 somewhat to detract from the lofty pretensions of the Delaware 
 captain, the baronet conceded to him enough of talent, influence, 
 and power among his people, to give him a proud rank among 
 the chieftains of his race. Certain it is, that TEEDYUSCUNG 
 did much to restore his nation to the rank of MEN." 
 
 NETAWATWEES, the successor of Teedyuscung, is spoken of 
 in the highest terms by Loskiel and Heckewelder. Loskiel 
 says : " This wise man spared no pains to conciliate the affection 
 of all his neighbors. He sent frequent embassies to his grand 
 children, admonishing them to keep the peace, and proved in 
 truth a wise grandfather to them. He used to lay all affairs of 
 state before his counsellors for their consideration, without tell 
 ing them his own sentiments. When they gave him their 
 opinion, he either approved of it, or stated his objections and 
 amendments, always stating the reasons of his disapprobation. 
 
304 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 Thus he kept them active, and maintained great respect. When 
 the war of the revolution came on he did every thing in his 
 power to preserve peace among the Indian nations. He, however, 
 received a message from the Hurons, " that the Delaware; 
 should keep their shoes in readiness, to join the warriors." 
 >This message he would not accept, but sent several to the Hu- 
 rons admonishing them to sit still, and to remember the misery 
 they had brought upon themselves by taking share in the late 
 war between the English and the French. These belts were 
 carried to the chiefs of the Hurons in Fort Detroit, but as it 
 was necessary to deliver them in the presence of the English 
 governor, the latter, " to fulfill his duty, cut them in pieces, 
 cast them at the deputies' feet, and commanded them to 
 depart." He died at Pittsburg in 1776. Loskiel adds : u Ever 
 since his sentiments changed in favor of the Gospel, he was 
 a faithful friend of the brethren, and being one of the most 
 experienced chiefs of his time, his council proved often very 
 serviceable to the mission. The wish he uttered as his last will 
 and testament, that the Delaware nation might hear and believe 
 the word of God, preached by the brethren, was frequently re 
 peated in the council by his successors, and then they renewed 
 their covenant to use their utmost exertions to fulfill this last 
 wish of their old, worthy and honored chief. Upon such an 
 occasion Captain White Eyes, holding the Bible and some spell 
 ing books in his hands, addressed the council with great emotion 
 and even with tears. My friends, said he, you have now 
 heard the last will and testament of our departed chief. I will 
 therefore gather together my young men and their children, and 
 kneeling down before that God who created them, will pray 
 unto him, 1 that he may have mercy upon us and reveal his will 
 unto us. And as we cannot declare it to those who are yet 
 unborn, we will pray unto the Lord our God, to make it known 
 to our children, and children's children." Heckewelder says : 
 " All the surrounding nations appeared to have been sensible of 
 his worth. While living, he often encouraged his people to 
 adopt the way of living by agriculture, and finally become civil 
 ized. His ideas were, that unless the Indians changed their 
 mode of living they would in time dwindle to nothing." 
 
APPENDIX. 305 
 
 Captain WHITE EYES, or Coquehageahton^ distinguished for 
 his friendship for the Americans in the early stages of the 
 revolution, was the successor of Netawatwees, but held the 
 government only two years. On his death, in 1778, a regency 
 took the direction during the minority of the lineal heir to the 
 throne. On the death of the latter, in 1781, GELELEMAND, 
 alias Killbuck, became king by election. 
 
 One of the earliest chiers of the Skawanoes, of whom record 
 has been preserved, was PAXINOS or Paxinosa, who came to 
 theMinnisink country in 1692, and who appears, in the records of 
 New York, as chief of the Minnisinks. He subsequently fell back 
 with his people to the Delaware country, and next appears in 
 the difficulties which grew out of the removal of the Lenapes to 
 Wyoming. With a desire to strengthen themselves at the 
 latter place, Teedyuscung and PAXINOS visited the " believing 
 Indians" at Gnadenhiitten, in 1752, and desired them to remove 
 to the lands which they had selected, repeating as the order of 
 the Six Nations : u They (the Iroquois) rejoice that some of 
 the believing Indians have removed to Wyoming ; but now 
 they lift up the remaining Mahicam and Delaware* and settle 
 them down in Wyoming, for there a fire is kindled for them, 
 and there they may plant and think on God." About eighty 
 of the converts accompanied the parties to Wyoming, but the 
 remainder refused to do so, under the advice of the missionaries. 
 In the spring of 1754, PAXINOS again appeared in the settle 
 ment, accompanied by twenty-three warriors and three Iroquois 
 embassadors, and added to the order already quoted, that if the 
 invitation was not heeded, " the great head (the Iroquois) would 
 come down and clean their ears with a red-hot poker." Says 
 Loskiel : "PAXINOS then turned to the missionaries, earnestly 
 demanding of them not to hinder the Indians from removing to 
 Wajomick, for that the road was free, therefore they might 
 visit their friends there, stay with them till they were tired, and 
 then return to their own country." On the nth of February, 
 1755, PAXINOS "demanded an answer to the message he had 
 brought last year," and was told that " the brethren would con 
 fer with the Iroquois themselves, concerning the intended 
 removal of the Indians at Gnadenhiitten to Wajomick." Los- 
 
306 HUDSON RIPER INDIANS. 
 
 kiel adds : " PAXINOS, being only an embassador in this business, 
 was satisfied, and even formed a closer acquaintance with the 
 brethren. His wife, who heard the gospel preached daily, was 
 so overcome by its divine power, that she began to see her lost 
 estate by nature, and earnestly begged for baptism. Her hus 
 band, having lived thirty-eight years with her in marriage, to 
 mutual satisfaction, willingly gave is consent, prolonged his 
 stay at Bethlehem, was present in the chapel, and deeply 
 affected when his wife was baptized by Bishop Spangenberg." 
 The Indians did not remove, and, soon after PAXINOS' last visit, 
 the Moravian settlement near Shamokin was attacked, and four 
 teen persons killed. On the 24th of November, Shamokin 
 shared the same fate. Several persons were killed, and eleven 
 belonging to the mission were burned alive ; and, on New 
 Year's day the work of destruction was completed. What 
 connection PAXINOS had with these hostilities does not appear, 
 but it is said that he sent his two sons to rescue brother Kiefer, if 
 he should be in the hands of the enemy, and that that mission 
 ary was conducted by them to Gnadenhiitten, showing that he 
 must have been aware that the attack was contemplated. He 
 was present at the treaty with Johnson in 1756, and at Easton 
 with Teedyuscung in 1757, on which latter occasion he was 
 addressed by Governor Denny as " our hearty friend and a 
 lover of peace." Reichel says he removed with his family to 
 the Ohio country in 1758, and that he was the last Shawanoe 
 king east of the Alleghanies. At the time of his removal he 
 was an old man, and was doubtless soon after gathered to his 
 fathers. His son Kolapeka or Teatapercaum^ alias Samuel, was 
 a distinguished chief in the war of 1764. 
 
 Although perhaps not strictly a part of the history of the 
 Indians of Hudson's river, the connection of the Skawanoes 
 with the Minsis will permit the introduction of one or two of 
 their more prominent chiefs. BENEVISSICA represented them 
 in the treaty at Fort Stanwix in 1764, and again in 1765. In 
 1774, it is said that a belt was sent to NERERAHHE, a Shawanoe, 
 u but he being a sachem, sent it to the chief warrior of his 
 nation, SOWANOWANE." Although it does not positively appear, 
 there is some ground for the presumption that the latter was 
 
APPENDIX. 307 
 
 Hpne other than the famous CORNSTALK, who stood at the head 
 of the western confederacy in that year, and who held the com 
 mand in the engagement with the forces under Dunmore and 
 Lewis at Point Pleasant. He was a man of more than ordinary 
 nerve and power, as well as one of the most eloquent of his 
 race. Says Stone : " Col. Wilson who was present at |he 
 interview between the chief and Lord Dunmore, thus speaks of 
 the chieftain's tearing on the occasion : ' When he arose, he 
 was in no wise confused or daunted, but spoke in a distinct and 
 audible voice, without stammering or repetition, and with pecu 
 liar emphasis. His looks, while addressing Dunmore, were 
 truly grand and majestic, yet graceful and attractive. I have 
 heard the first orators in Virginia, Patrick Henry and Richard 
 Henry Lee ; but never have I heard one whose powers of deli 
 very surpassed those of CORNSTALK.' ' After his treaty with 
 Dunmore he became a friend to the English, and to that friend 
 ship gave up his life. Learning that his people were determined 
 to make war upon the English, he visited the latter in 1777, at 
 the fort which they had erected at Point Pleasant to take advice. 
 The commandant of the fort detained him as a hostage, and 
 while thus detained he ^was joined by his son Ellinipsico. 
 Soon after the arrival of the latter, a white man named Gilmore 
 was killed near the fort. The cry of revenge was raised, and 
 a party of ruffians assembled, under the command of Capt. 
 Hall, who, instead of pursuing 'the guilty, fell upon the hostages 
 in the fort. Seeing that there was no escape for him, the old 
 chief addressed his son : " My son, the Great Spirit has seen fit 
 that we should die together, and has sent you to that end. It 
 is his will, and let us submit." CORNSTALK fell, perforated 
 with seven bullets, and died without a struggle, while his son 
 met his fate with composure and was shot on the seat upon 
 which he was sitting. " Thus," says Withers in his Indian 
 Chronicles, "perished the mighty CORNSTALK, sachem of the 
 Shawanoes, and king of the northern confederacy in 1774, a 
 chief remarkable for many great and good qualities. He was 
 disposed to be at all times the friend of the white man, as he 
 was ever the advocate of honorable peace. But when his 
 country's wrongs summoned him to battle, he became the 
 39 
 
308 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 thunderbolt of war, and made his enemies feel the weight <af 
 his arm. His noble bearing, his generous and disinterested 
 attachment to the colonies, his anxiety to preserve the frontier 
 of Virginia from desolation and death, all conspired to win for 
 him the esteem and respect of others ; while the untimely and 
 perfidious manner of his death caused a deep and lasting feeling 
 of regret to pervade the bosoms, even of those who were ene 
 mies to his nation, and excited the just indignation of all towards 
 his inhuman murderers." 
 
 The most distinguished chief of the Shawanoes, of more 
 modern times, was TECUMSEH, who, as Parton justly writes, 
 " though not the faultless ideal of a patriot prince that romantic 
 story represents him, was all of a patriot, a hero, a man, that 
 an Indian can be." He was a cross-breed, the son of a Skawa- 
 noe by a Creek woman, and at a very early age gave evidence 
 of superior abilities in the wars which were terminated by the 
 treaty of 1794. Thoroughly indoctrinated in the policy of his 
 people, and a willing student of the schools which demanded a 
 line beyond which the whites should not advance to the hunting 
 grounds of the west, the sale of the lands of his tribe on the 
 Wabash, soon after Mr. Jefferson came into power, gave him 
 great offense. About this time Hendrik, of the Mahicans, 
 conceived the plan of uniting the tribes of the west for the 
 better protection of their interests. TECUMSEH seized the idea 
 quickly and perverted its purpose to the accomplishment of an 
 organization which should have for its object the entire destruc 
 tion of the whites, after the plan of his great prototype, King 
 Philip. From tribe to tribe he passed, declaring : " The Great 
 Spirit gave this great island to his red children ; he placed the 
 whites on the other side of the big water ; they were not con 
 tented with their own, but came to take ours from us. They 
 have driven us from the sea to the lakes ; we can go no further. 
 They have taken upon them to say this land belongs to the 
 Miamis, this to the Delaware*, and so on ; but the Great Spirit 
 intended it as the common property of us all." For four years 
 he was engaged in the work of preparing the tribes for a gene 
 ral war. A silent man in the ordinary circumstances of life, 
 he could employ more than the eloquence of Logan, and when 
 
APPENDIX. 309 
 
 descanting upon the Indian's wrongs, and the white man's 
 encroachments. General Harrison, who was long his patient 
 and forbearing adviser, and then his conqueror, speaks of him 
 as " one of those uncommon geniuses which spring up occa 
 sionally to produce revolutions, and overturn the established 
 order of things. If it were not for the vicinity of the United 
 States, he would, perhaps, be the founder of an empire, that 
 would rival in glory Mexico or Peru. No difficulties deter 
 him. For four years he has been in constant motion. You 
 see him to-day on the Wabash, and in a short time hear of him 
 on the shores of Lake Erie or Michigan, or on the banks of 
 the Mississippi ; and wherever he goes he makes an impression 
 favorable to his purposes." Failing to accomplish his purpose, 
 he accepted the overtures of the British and brought to their 
 aid, in the war of 1812, two thousand warriors an alliance 
 more powerful than that which that government had ever been 
 able to command even in the palmiest days of the Five Nations. 
 On the banks of the Thames, on the 5th of October, in an 
 engagement which will forever occupy a prominent place in 
 American history from its association with his fate, he gave up 
 his life in endeavoring to promote the cause of those in whose 
 selfish purposes he had no interest, but in whom he found what 
 he believed to be the avengers of the wrongs of his people. 
 He is described as a person of erect, athletic frame, of noble, 
 commanding appearance, and the air of a king. When he arose 
 before his savage audiences, his imposing manner created a feel 
 ing of awe ; but when he kindled with his great subject, he 
 seemed like one inspired. His eye flashed fire, his swarthy bosom 
 heaved and swelled with imprisoned passion, his whole frame 
 dilated with excitement, and his strong untutored soul poured 
 itself forth in eloquence, wild, headlong, and resistless. When 
 not addressing his clans, he was cold and haughty. " His 
 withering sarcasm," says Headley, " when Proctor proposed to 
 retreat from Walden ; his reply to the interpreter, who, offering 
 him a chair in the presence of Harrison, said, * Your father 
 wishes you to be seated/ ' My Father ! the sun is my father, 
 and the earth my mother ; I will rest on her bosom ' reveal a 
 nature conscious of its greatness." And Parton adds : u If to 
 
310 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 conceive a grand, difficult, and unselfish project, to labor for 
 years with enthusiasm and prudence in attempting its execution ; 
 to enlist in it by the magnetism of personal influence great 
 multitudes of various tribes ; to contend for it with unfaltering 
 valor longer than there was hope of success ; and to die fighting 
 for it to the last, falling toward the enemy covered with wounds, 
 is to give proof of an heroic cast of character, then is the Sha- 
 wanoe chief TECUMSEH, in whose veins flowed no blood that 
 was not Indian, entitled to rank among heroes." * 
 
 The Six Nations were not without their great men, of whom 
 King HENDRIK, or Soi-en-ga-rah-ta, who stood for so many 
 years at the head of the Mohawks^ was one. It is said that 
 he was born in 1680, and that he was one of the chiefs who 
 visited England in I7io. 2 His father was a Mabican chief, 
 called by his people The Wolf, who, either by captivity and 
 adoption became a member of the Mohawk family, or was 
 attracted thither by the fair charmer who became his wife, 
 herself the daughter of a king. In the right of his mother, 
 HENDRIK became king. When about twenty years of age, 
 and for half a century or more subsequently, he represented his 
 people in council and in camp, coming down to the present time 
 as a model of Indian courage and the embodiment of Indian 
 eloquence. His greatest service to the English appears to have 
 been performed in the battle under Johnson, at Lake George, 
 in 1755, where he lost his life, and his greatest speech that 
 which he delivered before the conference at Albany in 1754. 
 That the reader may judge of its merits, without the trouble of 
 reference, its most important parts are copied : 
 
 u Brethren : We return you all our grateful acknowledgments 
 for renewing and brightening the covenant chain. This chain 
 belt is of very great importance to our united nations, and all 
 our allies ; we will therefore take it to Onondaga, where our 
 council-fire always burns, and keep it so securely that Slither 
 thunder nor lightning shall break it ; there we will consult over 
 
 1 Parton's Life of Jackson ; Hcadley's * The statement of Governor Hunter 
 
 Second War ivitA England; Drake's Life (Colonial History, v, 358), leaves no room 
 
 of Tecumseh ; Montgomery^ Life of Har- to doubt that Hendrik was one of the 
 
 riton. chiefs named as parties to this expedition. 
 
APPENDIX. 311 
 
 it, and as we have lately added two links to it, so we will en 
 deavor to add as many more links to it as lies in our power ; 
 and we hope when we show you this belt again, we shall give 
 you reason to rejoice at it, by your seeing the vacancies in it 
 filled up. In the meantime we desire that you will strengthen 
 yourselves, and bring as many into this covenant chain as you 
 possibly can. 
 
 " We do now solemnly renew and brighten the covenant 
 chain with our brethren here present, and all our other absent 
 brethren on the continent. 
 
 " Brethren : As to the accounts you have heard of our living 
 dispersed from each other, 'tis very true. We have several 
 times endeavored to draw off those of our brethren who are 
 settled at Oswegatchie but in vain, for the governor of Canada 
 is like a wicked deluding spirit ; however, as you desire we shall 
 persist in our endeavors. 
 
 " You have asked us the reason of our living in this dispersed 
 manner. The. reason is, your neglecting us for these three 
 years past. You have thus (taking a stick and throwing it be 
 hind his back), thrown us behind your back, and disregarded us, 
 whereas the French are a subtle and vigilant people, ever using 
 their utmost endeavors to bring our people over to them. 
 
 " Brethren : It is very true as you told us that the clouds 
 hang heavy over us, and 'tis not very pleasant to look up, but 
 we give you this belt to clear away all clouds, that we may all 
 live in bright sunshine, and keep together in strict union and 
 friendship; then we shall become strong and nothing can hurt us. 
 
 " Brethren : This is the ancient place of treaty, where the 
 fire of friendship always used to burn, and 'tis now three years 
 since we have been called to any public treaty here. 'Tts true 
 there are commissioners here, but they have never invited us to 
 smoke with them ; but the Indians of Canada come frequently 
 and smoke here, which is for the sake of their beaver ; but we 
 hate them. 'Tis your fault, brethren, that we are not strength 
 ened by conquest, for we would have gone and taken Crown 
 point, but you hindered us ; we had concluded to go and take 
 it, but we were told it was too late, and that the ice would not 
 bear us ; instead of this, you burnt your own fort at Saratoga 
 
312 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 and run away from it, which was a shame and a scandal to you. 
 Look about your country and see ; you have no fortifications 
 about you, no, not even to this city ; 'tis but one step from 
 Canada hither, and the French may easily come and turn you 
 out of your doors. 
 
 " Brethren : You desire us to speak from the bottom of our 
 hearts, and we shall do it. Look about you and see all these 
 houses full of beaver, and the money is all gone to Canada, 
 likewise powder, lead and guns, which the French now make 
 use of at Ohio. 
 
 " Brethren : The goods which go from hence to Oswego, 
 go from thence to Ohio, which further enables the French to 
 carry on their designs at the Ohio. 
 
 1 " Brethren : You were desirous that we should open our 
 minds, and our hearts to you ; look at the French, they are 
 men, they are fortifying everywhere ; but, we are ashamed to 
 say it, you are all, like women, bare and open without any 
 fortifications." 
 
 At the same conference, in subsequent session, he spoke as 
 follows : 
 
 u Brethren : There is an affair about which our hearts tremble 
 and our minds are deeply concerned ; this is the selling of rum 
 in our castles. It destroys many, both of our old and young 
 people. We request of all the governments here present, that 
 it may be forbidden to carry any of it amongst the Five Nations. 
 
 " Brethren : We are in great fears about this rum ; it may 
 cause murder on both sides* We don't want it to be forbid to 
 be sold to us at Albany, but that none may be brought to our 
 castles. The Cayugas now declare in their own name, that 
 they will not allow any rum to be brought up their river, and 
 those who do so must take the consequences. 
 
 " Brethren : We, the Mohawks of both castles, have also one 
 request to make, which is, that the people who are settled 
 round about us, may not be suffered to sell our people rum ; it 
 keeps them all poor, makes them idle and wicked ; if they have 
 any money or goods they lay it all out in rum ; it destroys vir 
 tue and the progress of religion amongst us. We have a friendly 
 request to make to the governor and all the commissioners here 
 
l] 
 
 TIIK GKKA'i' f ALTAI A Or THF, SIX NATIONS. 
 iniir,! ih'iirm, i 'mi'm-il J'.iiiitin.i ,v 't'.l(,'/iui<-\ ;in lit,' <'<><it'ii<i'/< //'///. . ,,/, -7 ',',;//-' '/////;;?/ r, A/-' /.v'.V. 
 
APPENDIX. 313 
 
 present, that they will help us to build a church at Canajoharie, 
 and that we may have a bell in it, which, together with the 
 putting a stop to the selling of rum, will tend to make us religious 
 and lead better lives than we now do." 
 
 Comparisons, it is said, are odious ; in this case they are not 
 necessary in order to strip from history the high coloring which has 
 been given to the eloquence of HENDRIK. Nor can it with truth 
 be added that Aupaumut " for capacity, bravery and vigor of 
 mind, and immovable integrity united, he excelled all the abo 
 riginal inhabitants of whom we have any knowledge." Concede 
 to him all that even charity demands for his race, he yet failed 
 to rise to the greatness of Massasoit, Uncas, Philip, Teedyuscung, 
 dupaumut, Pontiac, or Tecumseh. He was less eloquent than 
 Logan the Oneida, than Aupaumut the Mahican, than Corn- 
 planter or Red Jacket of the Senecas ; his bravery and his integrity 
 were alike tarnished by his selfishness. That he was a great 
 man among his people, " esteemed the bravest of the brave, 
 among the Iroquois" is true. The concurrent testimony of 
 every traditionist awards to him great natural talents, judgment 
 and sagacity. His death was heroic ; his life, a criticism on 
 the debasing influences of civilization upon his race. 
 
 THAYENDANEGA, or Joseph Brant, who is regarded as the 
 successor of King Hendrik* is said to have been the son of a 
 Mohawk woman by a chief of the OnondagasJ although there 
 have been those who have regarded him as one of the illegitimate 
 children of Sir William Johnson. He was born, says Stone, in 
 the Ohio country, in 1742, where his father and mother were 
 
 1 Speaking of the succession of kings, supplied by the election of Joseph Brant, 
 Schoolcraft remarks : " The din of ihe an entirely new man in the line of chiefs, 
 chief's oldest sister was the chief pre- It was the wise policy of Sir Wm. John- 
 sum ptive. Such was the Iroquois rule son and his son, to lay the greatest stress 
 when King Hendrik fell at the battle of on his tribal authority, and to strengthen 
 Lake George 5 he had a son of mature age, it by every means, as the best and most 
 who made use of the memorable expres- direct way of exercising an influence over 
 sion, on hearing his father's death, " No, the tribes." (Hist. Indian Tribes, part iv, 
 he is not dead, but lives here," striking 481). In Colonial History, vin, 53, Abra- 
 his breast. Yet he did not succeed his father ham' is, said to have been the great Hen- 
 in the Mohawk chieftaincy. It fell to drik's brother, not a son of the sister of 
 his sister's son, Little Abraham, a mild that chief, as stated by Schoolcraft. But 
 and politic chief, who died at the era of he was not the less the legitimate suc- 
 the opening of the American revolution, cessor to the throne. 
 On this, there was a vacancy which was 
 
314 HUDSON RWER INDIANS. 
 
 then temporarily residing, and where his father soon after died. 
 His mother, on her return to Canajoharie, married an Indian 
 called Carrihogo, or News Carrier, whose Christian name 
 was Barnet or Bernard, which was subsequently contracted into 
 Brant, by which name his step-son was also known, being first 
 called Brant's Joseph, and subsequently, by inversion, 
 Joseph Brant. His position as chief was mainly due to his 
 associations with the Johnsons. His sister, Mary or Molly, was 
 the concubine of Sir William, and as her brother was perhaps 
 necessarily much in her company, Johnson sent him to Dr. 
 Wheelock's school, and subsequently employed him as his secre 
 tary as an agent in public affairs. Throughout the revolution he 
 was engaged in warfare chiefly upon the border settlements of 
 New York and Pennsylvania, in connection with the Johnsons 
 and Butlers. After the war he devoted himself to the social 
 and religious improvement of the Mohawks, who were settled 
 upon the Ouise or Grand river, in Upper Canada, upon lands 
 granted to them by the governor of that province. He trans 
 lated the Gospel of St. Mark into the Mohawk language ; and 
 in many ways his exertions for the spiritual and temporal wel 
 fare of his people were eminently successful, and endeared him 
 to his nation. He was far from being a great or an able chief, 
 many of his contemporaries being his peers in courage and in 
 native ability. "His education and his association with the John 
 sons gave him in prominence what he lacked in distinctive 
 merit. He died at his residence at the head of Lake Ontario, 
 November 24th, 1807, aged 65 years. One of his sons (John) 
 was an officer in the British service, on the Niagara frontier in 
 the war of 1812. (Lossing, I, 257). Schoolcraft repudiates the 
 claim set up by Stone that Brant was made the war chieftain of 
 the confederacy. He asserts that no such office existed, and 
 that Brant was simply a chief of the third and lowest class. 
 (Notes on the Iroquois, 496). The authority which he exercised 
 was undoubtedly by virtue of his commission from the British 
 government. At no time was his course approved by the united 
 voice of the confederacy in council at Onondaga. 
 
 LOGAN, who was regarded by Jefferson as the most eloquent 
 of all the aborigines, " was the son of Shikellimy, alias Swatane, 
 
APPENDIX. 315 
 
 an Onetda chief of the Oquacbo or Wolf tribe of Indians, who 
 was in 1728, acting representative of the Five Nations, in busi 
 ness affairs with the proprietary government, and who was ap 
 pointed their vicegerent, and in this capacity administered their 
 tributaries within the province of Pennsylvania, with Shamokin 
 for his seat. 1 His father was one of the earliest to encourage 
 the introduction of Christianity by the Moravians. He was a 
 great friend of the celebrated James Logan, who accompanied 
 Penn on his last voyage to America, and who subsequently 
 became distinguished in the colony for his learning and benevo 
 lence. Hence the name of his son. LOGAN married a Sba- 
 wanoe woman and removed from his father's lodge to the Ohio 
 country where he became a chief, and, from the fact of his 
 intermarriage with the Shawanoes, a Mingoe. He was a friend 
 of the white men, by education and association, and one of the 
 noblest of his race, not only by right of birth, but in considera 
 tion of his own character. During the Indian wars connected 
 with the contest with France, he took no part save in the cha 
 racter of a peace-maker. In the spring of 1774, a company of 
 land "agents and traders on the Ohio came in collision with the 
 Indians, and in retaliation for the loss of two of their men, 
 succeeded in killing LOGAN'S entire family, including his young 
 est brother and his sister. For this and similar acts, LOGAN 
 placed himself at the head of a band of Ohio Senecas, and, in 
 company with the Lenapes and Shawanoes under Cornstalk, in 
 vaded the Virginia border with fire and tomahawk. At the 
 treaty of peace with Dunmore, LOGAN was not present. On 
 being visited for the purpose of securing his assent to the terms, 
 he delivered the famous speech which Jefferson has preserved 
 in his Notes on Virginia, and which has become familiar wher 
 ever the English language is spoken : " I appeal to any white 
 man to say if he ever entered LOGAN'S cabin" hungry, and he 
 gave him not meat ; if ever he came cold and naked and he 
 clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody 
 war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. 
 
 1 Memorials Moravian Church, i, 83. both were full-blooded Oneidas. Shikel- 
 
 Shikellimy is called a Cayuga chief, by limy had three sons, John, James Logan, 
 
 some writers, and his son a Mingoe, but and John Petty. He died in 1749. 
 
 the testimony of Reichel seems clear that Loskiel, n, 119. 
 
 40 
 
316 HUDSON R17ER INDIANS. 
 
 Such was my love for the whites, that my countrymen pointed, 
 as they passed, and said, ' Logan is the friend of the white men.' 
 I had even thought to live with you, but for the injuries of one 
 man. Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood and unpro 
 voked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing 
 my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood 
 in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for 
 revenge. I have sought it ; I have killed many ; I have fully 
 glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams 
 of peace ; but do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of 
 fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to 
 save his live. Who is there to mourn for Logan ? Not one." 
 Soon after the treaty at which this speech was delivered, LOGAN 
 became intemperate, and on his return from one of his visits to 
 Detroit was murdered in the woods. 
 
 Among the distinguished men of the Five Nations at an 
 earlier period was GARANGULA, who'was called. "the pride of 
 the Onondaga tribe," and whose speech in reply to M. de la 
 Barre, the governor of Canada, in 1684, is quoted by Thatcher 
 and Drake. At the time of its delivery he was an old man, 
 and disappears from history soon after. A man of more activity 
 was the warrior called by the English, BLACK KETTLE. Golden 
 speaks of him as a " famous hero ; " but few of his exploits 
 have come down to the present time. " It is only known," 
 says Thatcher, " that he commanded large parties of his country 
 men, who were exceedingly troublesome to the French. In 
 1691, he made an irruption into the country around Montreal, 
 at the head of several hundred men. " He overran Canada (say 
 the French annalists), as a torrent does the low lands, when it 
 overflows its banks, and there is no withstanding it. The troops 
 of the stations received orders to stand upon the defensive ; and 
 it was not until the enemy were returning home victorious, after 
 having desolated the French possessions, that a force of four 
 hundred soldiers was mustered to pursue them. BLACK KET 
 TLE is said to have had but half that number with him at this 
 juncture, but he gave battle and fought desperately. After losing 
 twenty men slain, with some prisoners, he broke through the 
 French ranks and escaped, leaving a considerable number of his 
 
! 
 
 
APPENDIX. 317 
 
 enemies wounded and killed." The story is no doubt exagge 
 rated, but the courage and daring of the famous chief is well attested. 
 At a later period the names of SKENANDO, CORNPLANTER and 
 RED JACKET are prominent in Indian annals. The former 
 was of 'the Qnetdas, and the author of this famous reply: " I am 
 an aged hemlock ; the winds of an hundred winters have 
 whistled through my branches ; I am dead at the top. The 
 generation to which I belonged has run away and left me." 
 He was one of the converts to the missionary, Kirkland ; was 
 a warm friend of the Americans during the revolution, and died 
 in 1816, at the age of one hundred and ten years. CORN- 
 PLANTER was a Seneca half-breed, his father being a Dutch 
 trader. RED JACKET was a full-blooded Seneca. Both were 
 distinguished for their eloquence, and both were engaged in the 
 border wars of the revolution as inveterate enemies of the colo 
 nists. The former died in 1836, at the age of one hundred 
 and one years, and the latter in 1830, aged about ninety years. 
 PASSACONNAWAY, who was at the head of the Pennacooks 
 at the time of the discovery, was one of the most distinguished 
 men of the Indian nations. " His name," says Schoolcraft, 
 " is indicative of his warlike character Papisseconewa, as writ 
 ten by himself, meaning The Child of the Bear." We first 
 hear of him in 1627 or 8. Thomas Morton, in his New Eng 
 lish Canaan, thus speaks of him, being in this country at that 
 time : " That Sachem or Sagamore is a Powah of great estima 
 tion amongst all kind of salvages, there hee is at their Revels 
 (which is the time when a greate company of salvages meete 
 from several parts of the country, in amity with their neighbors), 
 hath advanced his honor in his feats or jugling tricks (as I may 
 right tearme them], to the admiration of the spectators, whom 
 hee endeavored to perswade that hee would goe under water to 
 the further side of a river to broade for any man to undertake 
 with a breath, which thing hee performed by swiming over and 
 deluding the company with casting a mist before their eyes that 
 see him enter in and come out ; but no part of the way he has 
 bin scene ; likewise by our English in the heat of all summer, 
 to make ice appear in a bowle of faire water, first having the 
 water set before him, hee hath begunne his incantation accord- 
 
318 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 ing to their usual custom, and before the same hath bin ended, 
 a thick cloude has darkened the aire, on a sodane a thunderclap 
 hath bin heard that has amazed the natives ; in an instant hee 
 hath showed a firme peece of ice to flote in the middest of the 
 bowle in the presence of the vulgar people, which doubtless 
 was done by the agility of Satan his consort." 
 
 But he was something more than a juggler ; his ability as a 
 warrior and as a ruler is acknowledged. Gookin wrote of him 
 in 1675 : " He lived to a very great age, as I saw him alive at 
 Pawtucket when he was about one hundred and twenty years 
 old." Schoolcraft argues that the time when Gookin saw him 
 was in 1648, and hence that he was one hundred years old when 
 the English first purchased land from him. He was converted 
 by Eliot in 1648, and continued a professing Christian until the 
 time of his death. In 1660, when about one hundred and 
 thirty years old, he called his tribe around him and delivered his 
 farewell speech. " The occasion," says Schoolcraft, " filled all 
 with sorrow, in spite of Indian stoicism. PASSACONNAWAY was 
 deeply affected, and his voice, tremulous with age and emotion, 
 still was musical and powerful a splendid remnant of that 
 whose power and beauty, in the fullness and vigor of manhood, 
 had soothed or excited the passions of assembled savages, and 
 moulded them to suit the purposes of the speaker. 
 
 " Hearken," said he, " to the words of your father. I am 
 an old oak, that has withstood the storms of more than an 
 hundred winters. Leaves and branches have been stripped from 
 me by the winds and frosts my eyes are dim my limbs 
 totter I must soon fall ! But when young and sturdy, when 
 no young man of the Pennacooks could bend my bow when 
 my arrows would pierce a deer at an hundred yards, and I could 
 bury my hatchet in a sapling to the eye no weekwam had so 
 many furs, no poll so many scalp-locks as Passaconaway's ! 
 Then, I delighted in war. The whoop of the Pennacook was 
 heard upon the Mohawk ^and no voice so loud as Passacona 
 way's. The scalps upon the pole of my weekwam told the 
 story of Mohawk suffering. 
 
 " The English came, they seized our lands ; I sat me down 
 at Pennacook. They followed upon my footsteps ; I made 
 
APPENDIX. 319 
 
 war upon them, but they fought with fire and thunder ; my 
 young men were swept down before me when no one was near 
 them. I tried sorcery against them, but still they increased and 
 prevailed over me and mine, and I gave place to them, and 
 retired to my beautiful island of Natticook. I, that can make 
 the dry leaf turn green and live again ; I, that can take the rat 
 tlesnake in my palm as I would a worm, without harm ; I, who 
 had communion with the Great Spirit, dreaming and awaking ; 
 I am powerless before the pale faces. The oak will soon break 
 before the whirlwind, it shivers and shakes even now; soon its 
 trunk will be prostrate, the ant and the worm will sport upon 
 it. Then think, my children, of what I say ; I commune with 
 the Great Spirit. He whispers me now. ' Tell your peopl'e, 
 peace, peace is the only hope of your race. I have given fire and 
 thunder to the pale faces for weapons ; I- have made them plentier 
 than the leaves of the forest, and still they shall increase ! 
 These meadows they shall turn with the plough, these forests 
 shall fall by the axe, the pale faces shall live upon your hunting- 
 grounds, and make their villages upon your fishing places.' The 
 Great Spirit says this, and it must be so. We are few and 
 powerless before them. We must bend before the storm. 
 The wind blows hard ! The old oak trembles ! Its branches 
 are gone ! Its sap is frozen ! It bends ! It falls ! Peace, peace 
 with the white man is the command of the Great Spirit, and 
 the wish the last wish of Passaconnaway." 
 
 The old chief did not die at that time, but his activity was 
 so impaired that he abdicated his throne to his son Wannalancet. 
 He died between 1663 and 1669 the oldest, most learned, 
 and most eloquent of his race. 
 
 SOQUANS and MINICHQUE appear as representatives of the 
 Mahicdns on the Hudson in 1700. The first was a speaker of 
 more than ordinary merit, as his public addresses attest. 
 MINICHQUE is called the u great sachem " of his people, and 
 great he certainly was in forgiving, upon his death-bed, his mur 
 derers, and praying that they might be spared the punishment 
 due for the offense which they had committed. There is a 
 moral grandeur in this, the crowning act of his life, which appeals 
 to every reasonable mind. It is to be regretted that so little is 
 
320 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 known of his history. There is no doubt he was one of the 
 leaders of the Mahicans at the time the Mohawks appealed to 
 the governor of Canada, to protect them against his nation, 1 and 
 that he subsequently became firmly attached to the English 
 government. He was an intemperate man, but in this was no 
 exception to his race ; he was beloved by his people for his 
 greatness as a savage ; his dying wish associates with his memory 
 one of the " attributes of the gods." 
 
 The " oldest man " among the Mahicans^ when the New 
 England missionaries first visited them, was Captain JOHN 
 KONAPOT. He was one of the signers to the deed to Parsons 
 and his associates in 1724, and subsequently became an influen 
 tial member of the mission church at Stockbridge. Hopkins 
 says of him : " KONAPOT, the principal man among the Muhhe- 
 kanok of Massachusetts, was strictly temperate, very just and 
 upright in his dealings, a man of prudence and industry, and 
 inclined to embrace the Christian religion j " and Sergeant adds : 
 " He is an excellent man, and I do believe has the true spirit of 
 Christianity in him." He had from Gov. Belcher a commission 
 as captain, and served his people and the Massachusetts govern 
 ment well and faithfully. His son, JOHN KONAPOT, Jr., is 
 said to have been the grandson of old King Hendrik of the 
 Mohawks. The date of his death is not given, but it probably 
 occurred about 1750. 
 
 The most distinguished man of the Mabicans was Captain 
 HENDRIK AUPAUMUT, subsequently known as Captain HEN 
 DRIK, who appears to have sustained the most important rela 
 tion to his tribe and to the nation for nearly half a century. 2 
 Of his birth and parentage nothing is known. He is first 
 
 1 Brodhcad, n, 161. death of King Solomon, the government, 
 
 2 In 1771, Benjamin Kok-ke-we-nau- it is said, devolved upon Joseph Quan- 
 naut, called King Benjamin, being 94 au-kaunt (pronounced, by the English at 
 years of age, resigned his office of sachem, least, Quinney-hong, and now generally 
 and requested his people to elect a succes- spelled Quinney), who divided his power 
 sor. Solomon Un-haun-nau-waun-nutt more equally with his counsellors Peter 
 was chosen. He was acting in that ca- Poh-quon-nop-peet (pronounced Ponkne- 
 pacity at the outbreak of the revolution and peet), Captain Hendrik Aupaumut and 
 was addressed by the Massachusetts Con- Captain John Konapot, Jr. The wife 
 vention. He died in February, 1777, while of Captain Hendrik and the wife of King 
 Benjamin lived until 1781, dying at the Solomon, were the sisters of King 
 advanced age of 104 years. After the Joseph. Stockbridgc, Past and Present. 
 
APPENDIX. 321 
 
 introduced as the speaker in the conference with the Mohawk 
 embassadors during the war of 1746. At the conference in 
 Albany, in 1754, he represented his tribe, and in response^to the 
 governor, delivered the following address : 
 
 " Fathers : We are greatly rejoiced to see you all here. It 
 is by the will of Heaven that we are met here, and we thank 
 you for this opportunity of seeing you altogether, as it is a long 
 time since we have had such an one. 
 
 " Fathers : Who sit present here, we will just give you a 
 short relation of the long friendship which hath subsisted be 
 tween the white people of this country and us. Our forefathers 
 had a castle on this river. As one of them walked out he saw 
 something on the river, but was at a loss to know what it was. 
 He took it at first for a great fish. He ran into the castle and 
 gave notice to the other Indians. Two of our forefathers went 
 to see what it was, and found it a vessel with men in it. They 
 immediately joined hands with the people in the vessel and 
 became friends. The white people told them they should not 
 come any further up the river at that time, and said to them 
 they would return back whence they came and come again in a 
 year's time. According to their promise they returned back in 
 a year's time, and came as far up the river as where the old fort 
 stood. Our forefathers invited them on shore and said to them, 
 here we will give you a place to make you a town ; it shall be 
 from this place to such a stream, and from the river back up to 
 the hill. Our forefathers told them, though they were now a 
 small people they would in time multiply and fill up the land 
 they had given to them. After they went ashore some time, 
 some other Indians who had not seen them before, looked fiercely 
 at them, and our forefathers observing it, and seeing the white 
 people so few in number, lest they should be destroyed, took 
 and sheltered them under their arms. But it turned out that 
 those Indians did not desire to destroy them, but wished also to 
 have the white people for their friends. At this time, which 
 we have now spoken of, the white people were small, but we 
 were very numerous and strong. We defended them in that 
 low state, but now the case is altered. You are numerous and 
 strong j we are few and weak ; therefore we expect you to act 
 
322 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 by us in these circumstances as we did by you in those we have 
 just now related. We view you now as a very large tree which 
 has taken deep root in the ground ; whose branches are spread 
 very wide. We stand by the body of this tree and we look 
 around to see if there be any who endeavor to hurt it, and if it 
 should so happen that any are powerful enough to destroy it, 
 we are ready to fall with it. 
 
 " Fathers : You see how early we made friendship with you. 
 We tied each other in a very strong chain. That chain has 
 not yet been broken. We now clean and rub that chain to 
 make it brighter and stronger, and we determine on our part 
 that it shall never be broken, and we hope you will take care 
 that neither you nor any one else shall break it. And we are 
 greatly rejoiced that peace and friendship have so long subsisted 
 between us. 
 
 u Fathers : Don't think strange at what we are about to say. 
 We would say something respecting our lands. When the 
 white people purchased from time to time of' us, they said they 
 only wanted to purchase the low lands ; they told us the hilly 
 land was good for nothing, and that it was full of wood and 
 stones ; but now we see people living all about the hills and 
 woods, although they have not purchased the lands. When 
 we inquire of the people who live on these lands what right 
 they have to them, they reply to us, that we are not to be 
 regarded, and that these lands belong to the king; but we were 
 the first possessors of them, and when the king has paid us for 
 them, then they may say they are his. Hunting now has 
 grown very scarce, and we are not like to get our living that 
 way. Therefore we hope our fathers will take care that we are 
 paid for our lands that we may live." x 
 
 In the war which followed, HENDRIK served the English 
 faithfully, and returned to his people with honor. In 1774, he 
 represented his tribe at the Albany conference held by the com 
 missioners of the Continental Congress, and there delivered one 
 of the most eloquent speeches in the English language. " Depend 
 upon," said he, "we are true to you, and mean to join you. 
 Wherever you go, we will be by your sides. Our bones shall 
 
 1 Colonial History, vi, 88 1. 
 
APPENDIX. 323 
 
 lie with yours. We are determined never to be at peace with 
 the red coats, while they are at variance with you. We have 
 one favor to beg : we should be glad if you would help us to 
 ^establish a minister among us, that when our men are gone to 
 war, our women and children may have the advantage of being 
 instructed by them. If we are conquered, our lands go with 
 yours ; but if you are victorious, we hope you will help us to 
 recover our just rights." And in this spirit himself and his 
 people fought to make a free nation for white men. 
 
 Welcoming the missionaries among his people, HENDRIK 
 impressed upon them a recognition of his worth even while 
 refusing to unite with them, and in all his intercourse with them 
 and with the authorities, won, by his demeanor and his integrity, 
 the tribute due to royalty. Says his biographer : " He was 
 often employed as an interpreter, and in this capacity his strong 
 memory, his clear, lucid manner, and his mind-illumed face, 
 as he conveyed the thoughts of a preacher to his people, are 
 highly praised. His public speeches are spoken of as always 
 remarkable for perspicuity and sound sense. ' I have,' says our 
 informant, ' seen many Indian chiefs, but never his equal ; ' ! 
 testimony which is the more valuable, coming as it does from 
 one who had no personal ends to serve by magnifying the con 
 sequence of the people among whom he labored, and who at 
 one time had " the Great Hendrik " of the Mohawks among 
 his pupils. 
 
 After the war of the revolution HENDRIK was frequently 
 employed by the government on missions to the western Indians, 
 and was an important agent in the negotiations with them. 
 In 1810, says his biographer, Captain HENDRIK * was on the 
 
 1 Captain Hendrik was employed in this the Six Nations. Captain Hendrik is 
 capacity at the suggestion of the Rev. well acquainted with their customs and 
 Mr. Kirkland, who wrote to General manners, and has since the war received 
 Knox, then secretary of war (April 2,2, several invitations to make them a visit. 
 1791), as follows: "As I deprecate an As you are in a measure a stranger to 
 Indian war from every principle of hu- Captain Hendrik, allow me to say, from 
 manity and policy, permit me, sir, to sug- long personal acquaintance with him, 
 gest the idea of sending Captain Hendrik, that he is very little inferior to Corn- 
 one of the chiefs of the Stockbridge tribe planter, who himself has a high esteem 
 to the westward. This tribe had formerly for the Stockbridge chief." Sparks' Life 
 more influence with the Miamies, Shawa- of Kirkland. 
 noes, Delawares and Chippewas, than all 
 
 41 
 
324 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 White river, with his son Abner, and designed to have settled 
 on the land given the Mahicans by the Miamis. Here he 
 formed the plan of collecting all the eastern Indians in that 
 region at a place where they might live in peace with the whites, 
 and in fellowship with each other. Before Tecumseh began his 
 labors, HENDRIK had sent a speech to his people on the subject, 
 and was anxiously waiting for a reply, when his work was over 
 taken by the former and diverted into a gospel of hate. Then 
 it was that the government paid to HENDRIK the highest com 
 pliment that could be given, by appointing him as the man most 
 fit of all others to meet the eloquent chief of the Shawanoes on 
 his own ground. For three years he followed the footsteps of 
 Tecumseb and his brother, and so well and thoroughly did he 
 combat their eloquence and their sophistry, that, had not the war 
 of 1812 intervened, and the seductive influences of the British 
 been given to the aid of the Shawanoes, they would have been 
 powerless for evil. Of his labors in this field the Rev. John 
 Sergeant writes : " It appears that through the judicious arrange 
 ments of Captain HENDRIK, the influence of the prophet is 
 nearly at an end." His biographer adds : " Captain HENDRIK 
 himself says that the head men of the various tribes do not join 
 the prophet, but only the ignorant and unwary j that the mes 
 sage of the Delaware* had already shut his mouth, and he 
 believed that in the course of the next summer he would ' be 
 brought down from the Wabash, to the ground from which his 
 ancestors were created,' and so it proved. We find nothing, in 
 the public histories of those times respecting Captain HENDRIK, 
 but we do find that the battle of Tippecanoe was hazarded 
 because the already waning power of Tecumseh required some 
 desperate act ; and the eloquence of Captain HENDRIK, his 
 influence as a Muh-he-ka-neew chief with the western Indians, 
 and the information communicated by Mr. Sergeant, take us 
 c behind the scenes,' and show us at least one great cause of 
 that waning. All due honor to the c hero of Tippecanoe ; ' 
 but let not the faithful Mahican, who, by sapping and mining, 
 prepared the way for that victory, be forgotten." x 
 
 Stockbridge, Past and Present ; Stone's Life of Brant, u, 307. 
 
APPENDIX. 325 
 
 In the war of 1812, Captain HENDRIK joined the American 
 army, was favorably noticed, and promoted to office. In all 
 his public duties he never for a moment forgot his people, and 
 one of his last acts was to write a history of his nation. In 1829, 
 he removed to Green Bay, Wisconsin, where he was gathered 
 to his fathers, the "noblest Roman of them all." What his 
 namesake was to the English government, Captain HENDRIK 
 was to the United States ; what his namesake was not to his 
 people, Captain HENDRIK was : an example of unselfish devo 
 tion and purity of character. 
 
 OCCUM, a >M.ahican, was the first educated and ordained 
 Indian minister. He attended Dr. Wheelock's school at Leba 
 non, about the middle of the eighteenth century, embraced 
 Christianity and was baptized by the mame of SAMSON. He 
 began his labors as a teacher and evangelist among the Mon- 
 tauks on Long island, where he kept a school for some years. 
 He was afterwards ordained by the Presbytery to preach 
 the gospel, and became an efficient means of introducing 
 Christianity to the Indian bands located at separate places in 
 New England and New York. In 1755-56, he visited England, 
 in company with the Rev. Mr. Whitaker, in order, by personal 
 appeals, to solicit* funds for the support of Dr. Wheelock's 
 school. Not only was his mission successful, but, as he was 
 the first Indian minister who had visited that country, he attracted 
 special attention, and wherever he went crowds gathered to 
 hear him. About 1786, he went to the country of the Oneidas, 
 taking with him several Indians of kindred blood, who clung 
 to him as their leader. He was subsequently joined by a 
 number of Mohegans from the sea-coast of New England, and 
 a few Nanticokes, Narragqnsetts and Pequots. Differences 
 existing in their dialects, they agreed to drop them 
 altogether, and adopt the English, taking the name of Brother- 
 tons. He continued to devote himself to the interests of his 
 people till age incapacitated him, and younger laborers stepped 
 in. During his old age, he went to live with his kindred 
 at New Stockbridge, where he died in 1792. Schoolcraft 
 adds : " It is expressly stated by the New England clergy, 
 to whom we are indebted for these notices, that his Christian 
 
326 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 and ministerial character were well approved, and that he was 
 deemed to possess a peculiar fluency and aptness in teaching the 
 Indians, over whom he exercised a happy influence. It is 
 inferable, but not distinctly said, that the first or early period 
 of his ministry formed the one of his most active usefulness ; 
 but his whole life, after his conversion, is to be regarded as a 
 triumphant evidence of the power and endurance of the gospel 
 truth in the Indian heart. Nor am I aware that we have a 
 superior, if an equal, instance of an individual of the pure Indian 
 blood having been ordained to the ministry who has left behind 
 him so excellent a testimony of consistent usefulness. The 
 foundation of the tribe of the Brothertons is a work due to his 
 enterprise, foresight and exertions. The practical working of 
 the plan which he introduced was excellent. The Brothertons 
 continued to dwell together at their first location in Oneida 
 county till they had well advanced in elementary education and 
 the arts. At this period of their history, they sent delegates to 
 Wisconsin to procure a cession of territory from the indigenous 
 Indians of Fox river of that state, on the borders of Winne- 
 bago lake. Having disposed of their possessions in Oneida 
 county, they in due time migrated to that location, where they 
 now reside. By an act of congress, the Brothertons of Wis 
 consin were admitted to all the rights of citizens of the United 
 States. They were also admitted, by a state act, to the rights 
 of citizens of Wisconsin. The problem of their triple emanci 
 pation from barbarism, idleness, and political defranchisement, 
 is thus completely worked out ; and worked out in a practical 
 way, in which the experience and wisdom of Occum and his 
 clerical teachers of the olden time predicted, it could only be 
 done." During his later years Occum's reputation passed under 
 a cloud, and before his death he relapsed into some of the worst 
 habits of his tribe ; but this fact cannot detract from his per 
 sonal worth or the excellence of his earlier life. Men can be 
 found in all nations, whose record is marred by the weaknesses 
 of age. " It is not conceived necessary to digress or deny the 
 fact that Noah got drunk." x 
 
 1 History of Indian Nations, part v, 518, etc. 
 
APPENDIX. 327 
 
 The Moravian missionaries have preserved in their records 
 the names and services of many of the Indian chiefs with whom 
 they were associated, but none whose character is brighter than 
 that of the Mahican chieftain, WASAMAPAH, or Tschoop, who, 
 after his conversion was called John. He was tfie ruling 
 chief at Shekomeko, in the present county of Dutchess. When 
 first met by the missionary Rauch, he is described as the " great 
 est drunkard " among his people, and as being crippled by his 
 vices. He became not only a convert, but an interpreter and a 
 preacher of the word of life. Most eloquent is his own account 
 of his conversion : cc Brethren, I have been a heathen, and 
 have grown old among the heathen, therefore I know how 
 the heathen think. Once a preacher came and began to explain 
 to us that there was a God. We answered : ' Dost thou 
 think we are so ignorant as not to know that ? Go back to 
 the place from whence thou earnest ? ' Then, again, another 
 preacher came and began to teach us and to say, ' You must 
 not steal, nor lie, nor get drunk,' etc. We answered : 'Thou 
 fool, dost thou think we don't know that ? Learn first thyself, 
 and then teach the people, to whom thou belongest, to leave off 
 these things ; for who steal and lie, or who are more drunken 
 than thine own people ? ' and thus we dismissed him. After some 
 time, Brother Christian Henry Rauch came into my hut and 
 sat down by me. He spoke to me nearly as follows : ' I come 
 to you in the name of the Lord of heaven and earth. He sends 
 rrie to let you know that he is willing to make you happy, and 
 to deliver you from the misery in which you are at present. 
 To this end he became a man, gave his life as a ransom for 
 man, and shed his blood for him.' When he had finished, he 
 lay down upon a board, being fatigued with his journey, and 
 fell into a sound sleep. I then thought, ' What kind of a man 
 is this ? There he lies and sleeps ; I might kill him and throw 
 him into the woods, and who would regard it ? But this gives 
 him no concern ! However, I could not forget his words. 
 They constantly recurred to my mind. Even when I slept I 
 dreamed of that blood which Christ shed for us. This was 
 something different from what I had ever before heard, and I 
 interpreted Christian Henry's words to the other Indians." 
 
328 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 WASAMAPACH removed from Shekomeko to the Delaware, 
 in August, 1745. Here he acted as interpreter in the service 
 held for the Indians on Sunday afternoon ; he also gave instruc 
 tion in Mahican to a number of brethren and sisters who were 
 designed for missionaries. On the organization of the refugees 
 from Shekomeko into a Christian congregation, at Friedenshut- 
 ten, on the 24th of July, 1746, he was appointed their teacher. 
 Soon after the small pox broke out, and he became one of its 
 victims, after an illness of seven days, during which he gave 
 evidence of the thoroughness of his conversion. His death 
 took place on the 27th of August, and his funeral on the 28th. 
 Loskiel writes : " John was one of the first fruits. As a 
 heathen he distinguished himself by his heathen and sinful prac 
 tices, and as his vices became more seductive, on account of 
 his natural wit and humor, so as a Christian he became a most 
 powerful and persuasive witness of our Saviour among his nation. 
 His gifts were sanctified by the grace of God, and employed in 
 such a manner as to be the means of blessing both to Euro 
 peans and Indians. Few of his countrymen could vie with him 
 in point of Indian oratory. His discourses were full of anima 
 tion, and his words penetrated like fire into the hearts of his 
 countrymen ; his soul found a rich pasture in the gospel, and 
 whether at home, or on a journey, he could not forbear speak 
 ing of the salvation purchased for us by the sufferings of Jesus, 
 never hesitating a moment, whether his hearers were Christians 
 or Indians. In short, he appeared chosen by God to be a wft- 
 ness to his people, and was four years active in this service. 
 Nor was he less respected as a chief among the Indians, no 
 affairs of state being transacted without his advice and consent." 
 And Bishop Spangenberg adds : u In his mien was the majesty 
 of a Luther, a man whose mind grappled as by intuition the 
 glorious mysteries of the gospel of Christ, and whose strength 
 of will, inspired and sanctified by Christianity, at once triumphed 
 over the vilest passions and most hideous vices by which the 
 human heart can be deformed." 
 
 SHABASCH, the associate of Wasamapab, is also favorably 
 spoken of by Loskiel. He became a convert and was baptized 
 under the name of Abraham. He was appointed elder of the 
 
APPENDIX. 329 
 
 congregation at Shekomeko, and discharged its duties with 
 credit. He subsequently accepted the chieftaincy of the Mahi- 
 cans of the Delaware country and represented them in the con 
 ferences with Johnson, and also with the governor of Pennsyl 
 vania. He died in 1762, " much respected on account of his 
 wisdom and grave deportment." 
 
 The Wappingers were not without their hero in the person 
 of DANIEL NIMHAM, who, in 1765, is described as "a native 
 Indian and acknowledged sachem or king of a certain tribe of 
 Indians known and called by the name of Wappingers" He 
 appears to have taken up his residence at Westenhuck in 1746, 
 and to have subsequently taken part in the war of that period 
 and also of that of 1754. The proceedings to which he was a 
 party for the recovery of the lands of his people, would occupy 
 a volume. The facts stated in the case, as reported by the 
 lords of trade, on the hearing of NIMHAM, who visited England, 
 for that purpose, are " that the tract of land, the property and 
 possession whereof is claimed by these Indians, and their title 
 disputed, is situated between Hudson's river and the line which 
 divides the province of New York from that of Connecticut, 
 extending in length from east to west about twenty miles, and 
 in breadth from north to south about sixteen miles, and con 
 taining about two hundred and four thousand and eight hundred 
 acres of land ; that they continued in the uninterrupted posses 
 sion of these lands, and in the actual improvement and settle 
 ment of the same, by themselves and their tenants, until the 
 commencement of the late war (1755), when the head sachem, 
 accompanied by all the males of that tribe able to bear arms, 
 went into your majesty's service under Sir William Johnson, 
 and the residue removed to Stockbridge, for their greater con 
 venience and accommodation ; that whilst the said sachem and 
 his people were righting under your majesty's banner; all this 
 tract of land was taken up by persons claiming under a grant 
 thereof made by the governor of New York .to one Adolph 
 Phillipse in 1697, and afterwards purchased by him of the 
 ancestors of the said Indians, which purchase they allege, was 
 not a purchase of the whole tract comprehended in the grant 
 
330 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 of 1697, but only of a small part of it ; x that finding themselves 
 by these claims likely to be dispossessed of their patrimonial 
 lands, they chose a guardian of their rights, and proceeded to 
 try their claim in various suits and actions in the courts of law 
 of New York ; that judgment having been given against them 
 on those several suits and actions (in the trial of which they 
 state great prejudice and partiality), they applied by petition in 
 February, 1765, to the lieutenant-governor and council, and 
 had a hearing upon their case ; that in the proceedings before 
 the lieutenant governor and council they were treated with great 
 supercilious neglect, the claims of their adversaries countenanced 
 and supported with apparent partiality, and a decision given 
 against them upon the evidence of a deed of purchase of these 
 lands from their ancestors, which deed they suggest to have 
 been fraudulent and counterfeit." It subsequently appeared 
 that Phillipse obtained his patent five years before he made his 
 purchase, in violation of the laws of the province, and there is 
 very little reason to doubt that he then obtained it from self- 
 constituted proprietors to cover a most nefarious transaction. 
 That NIMHAM and the Wappingers were unlawfully deprived 
 of the lands embraced in the present county of Putnam, may 
 be regarded as certain. 2 
 
 NIMHAM'S tragic death, in Westchester county, has already 
 been referred to. The following account of the engagement 
 in which he sealed his devotion to the cause of the colonists 
 with his life, is from the pen of those against whom he fought, 3 
 American historians refusing, apparently, to do justice to the 
 memory of one who was wronged in his life and in his death : 
 
 " Lieut. Col. Simcoe, returning from head-quarters, the 3Oth 
 of August, heard a firing in front, and being informed that 
 Lieut. Col. Emerick had patrolled, he immediately marched to 
 his assistance. He soon met him retreating ; and Lieut. Col. 
 
 1 The reference is to the Canopus' quently purchased the reversionary interest 
 lands included in the manor of Cort- of the heirs, for $100,000, and ten years 
 landt. afterwards received from the state of New 
 
 2 Phillipse did not live to enjoy his ill- York $500,000 in six per cent stocks for 
 gotten lands. On his death they became the title which he had acquired. 
 
 the property of his father, and afterwards 3 Simcoe' s Military Journal. 
 of his heirs. John Jacob Astor subse- 
 
APPENDIX. 331 
 
 Emerick being of opinion the rebels were in such force that it 
 would be advisable for him to return, he did so. Lieut. Col. 
 Simcoe understood that NIMH AM, an Indian chief, and some of 
 his tribe, were with the enemy ; and by his spies, who were 
 excellent, he was informed that they were highly elated at the 
 retreat of Emerick's corps, and applied it to the whole of the 
 light troops at Kingsbridge. Lieut. Col. Simcoe took measures 
 to increase their belief; and, ordering a day's provisions to be 
 cooked, marched the next morning, the 3151 of August, a small 
 distance in front of the fort, and determined to wait there the 
 whole day, in hopes of betraying the enemy into an ambuscade. 
 His idea was, as the enemy moved upon the road, to advance 
 from his flanks ; and he meant to gain the heights in the rear of 
 the enemy, attacking whomsoever should be within reach by his 
 cavalry and such infantry as might be necessary. In pursuance 
 of these intentions, Lieut. Col. Emerick with his corps was 
 detached from the Queen's Rangers and Legion, as Lieut. Col. 
 Simcoe thought fully instructed in the plan ; however, he most 
 unfortunately mistook the nearer house for the one at a greater 
 distance, the names being the same, and there he posted himself, 
 and soon after sent from thence a patrol forward upon the road, 
 before Lieut. Col. Simcoe could have time to stop it. This- 
 patrol had no effect, not meeting the enemy ; had a single man 
 of it deserted, or been taken, the whole attempt had, probably, 
 been abortive. Lieut. Col. Simcoe, who was half way up a 
 tree, on the top of which was a drummer boy, saw a flanking 
 party of the enemy approach. The troops had scarcely fallen 
 into their ranks when a smart firing was heard from the Indians, 
 who had lined the fences of the road, and who were exchanging 
 shots with Lieut. Col. Emerick, whom they had discovered. 
 The Queen's Rangers moved rapidly to gain the heights, and 
 Lieut. Col. Tarleton immediately advanced with the Hussars 
 and the Legion of cavalry ; not being able to pass the fences in 
 his front, he made a circuit to return further upon their right ; 
 which, being reported to Lieut. Col. Simcoe, he broke from the 
 column of rangers, with the grenadier company, and, directing 
 Major Ross to conduct the corps to the heights, advanced to 
 the road, and arrived without being perceived, within ten yards 
 42 
 
332 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 of the Indians. They had been intent on the attack on Eme- 
 rick's corps and the Legion ; they now gave a yell and fired upon 
 the grenadier company, wounding four of them, and Lieut. Col. 
 Simcoe. They were driven from the fences ; and Lieut. Col. 
 Tarleton, with the cavalry, got among them, and pursued them 
 rapidly down Cortlandt's ridge. That active officer had a nar 
 row escape ; in striking at one of the fugitives, he lost his 
 balance and fell from his horse ; luckily the Indian had no bayo 
 net, and his musket had been discharged. Lieut. Col. Simcoe 
 joined the battalion and seized the heights. A captain of the 
 rebel light infantry and a few of his men were taken ; but a 
 body of them, under Major Stewart, who afterwards was dis 
 tinguished at Stony Point, left the Indians and fled. Though 
 the ambuscade, its greater part, failed, it was of consequence. 
 Near forty of the Indians were killed or desperately wounded ; 
 among others NIMHAM,* a chieftain who had been to England, 
 and his son ; and it was reported to have stopped a large number 
 of them, who were excellent marksmen, from joining General 
 Washington's army. The Indian doctor was taken , and he 
 said that when NIMHAM saw the grenadiers close in his rear, 
 he called out to his people to fly, * that he himself was old and 
 would die there.' He wounded Lieut. Col. Simcoe, and was 
 on the point of dragging him from his horse, when he was 
 killed by Wright, his orderly Hussar. The Indians fought most 
 gallantly ; they pulled more than one of the cavalry from their 
 horses. French, an active youth, bugle-horn to the Hussars, 
 struck at an Indian, but missed him ; the man dragged him 
 from his horse, and was searching for his knife to stab him, 
 when, loosening French's hand, he luckily drew out a pocket 
 pistol, and shot the Indian through the head, in which situation 
 he was found. One man of the Legion Cavalry was killed, 
 and one of them and two of the Hussars, wounded." 
 The battlements of the Hudson, 
 
 " The mountain columns 
 
 With which earth props heaven," 
 
 the early home of the patriot chief, are the monuments to his 
 memory ; the eternal flow of the Mahicanituk his requiem. 
 
APPENDIX. 333 
 
 II. LANGUAGE. 
 
 jHE early Dutch writers resolved the various dialects 
 which they met among the Indians into " four dis 
 tinct languages, namely : Manhattan, Minqua, 
 Savanos, and Wappanoos" With the Manhattan 
 they included the dialect spoken in the neighborhood of Fort 
 Amsterdam, "along the North river, on Long island, and at 
 the Neversink ; with the Minqua, the Senecas and other inland 
 tribes." The Savanos was the dialect of the south, and the 
 Wappanoos that of the east. The progress of the inquiry 
 resulting in this classification was slow. Wassanaar writes, 
 in 1621 : "'Tis worthy of remark, that so great a diversity of 
 language exists among the numerous tribes. They vary fre 
 quently not over five or six miles ; forthwith comes another 
 language ; they meet and can hardly understand one another. 
 There are some who come sixty miles from the interior, and 
 cannot well understand those on the river." Michaelius, writ 
 ing in 1 628, says : " Their language methinks is entirely peculiar. 
 Many of our common people call it an easy language, which is 
 soon learned, but I am of a contrary opinion. For those who 
 can understand their words to some extent and repeat them, fail 
 greatly in the pronunciation and speak a broken language, like 
 the language of Ashdod. For these people have different aspi 
 rates and many guttural letters which are formed -more in the 
 throat than by the mouth, teeth, and lips, which our people not 
 being accustomed to, guess at by means of their signs, and then 
 imagine that they have accomplished something wonderful. It 
 is true, one can learn as much as is sufficient for the purposes 
 of trading, but this occurs almost as much by signs with the 
 thumb and fingers as by speaking. It also seems to us that they 
 rather design to conceal their language from us than to properly 
 communicate it, except in things which happen in daily trade ; 
 saying that it is sufficient for us to understand them in those : 
 and then they speak only half their reasons with shortened 
 words ; and frequently call a dozen things and even more by 
 
334 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 one name ; and all things which have only a rude resemblance 
 to each other they frequently call by the same name. In truth 
 it is a made up childish language : so that even those who can 
 best of all speak with the Indians and get along well in trade, 
 are nevertheless wholly in the dark and bewildered when they 
 hear the Indians speaking with each other by themselves." 
 Another writer says : cc The language of this people is very 
 various ; they are very difficult for strangers to learn as they 
 are spoken without any principles." And Van der Donck, 
 writing in 1656, concludes: "Their languages and dialects are 
 very different, as unlike each other as the Dutch, French, Greek 
 and Latin are. Their declensions and conjugations have an 
 affinity with the Greek and accord to it. Their declensions, 
 augmentations, cases and adverbs, are like the Greek ; but to 
 reduce their language to any of ours, would be impossible, for 
 there is no resemblance between the same. Before we have 
 acquired a knowledge of any of their languages or dialects, we 
 know no more of what they say than if a dog had barked." 
 
 While these sturdy Dutch linguists were plodding over the 
 subject, the Rev. John Eliot, of Massachusetts, had grasped 
 the hidden key of the language and proclaimed that it had prin 
 ciples and form ; that even that which Michaelius denominated 
 " shortened words " was made in accordance with rules, and 
 that in the observation of that writer of the fact that they fre 
 quently called " a dozen things and even more by one name," 
 he had simply failed to note the inflections which constituted 
 an important principle of the language. But notwithstanding 
 the publication of Eliot's grammar in 1666, and the observations 
 of the Jesuit and Moravian priests, it was not until 1819 that 
 Du Ponceau, after a thorough comparison of the Writings of 
 his predecessors, was enabled to announce the proposition : 
 " That the American languages in general use are rich in words 
 and in grammatical forms, and that, in their complicated con 
 struction, the greatest order, method, and regularity prevail." 
 It remained, however, for subsequent writers, and especially for 
 Gallatin x and Schoolcraft, to elucidate fully the grammatical 
 
 \ A Synopis of the Indian Tribes 'within tains, etc., by Hon. Albert Gallatin, 1836. 
 the United States east of the Rocky Moun- 
 
APPENDIX. 335 
 
 structure of the languages and define the characteristic features 
 of the several dialects. 
 
 According to these writers there were but two generic Indian 
 languages, the Algonquin and the Iroquois ; but these two were 
 divided into tribal dialects and groups with distinctive charac 
 teristics. While each Iroquois tribe had its dialect, the generic 
 language, as spoken by the Five Nations of New York, differed 
 in many respects from that spoken by the southern and western 
 Iroquois families. The Algonquin was represented by equally 
 distinct tribal and general types. Edwards says that the Mabi- 
 can was spoken u by all the Indians throughout New England ; " 
 that though each tribe had " a different dialect," the language 
 was " radically the same." Yet the Algonquin of the Mablcans 
 was essentially different from the Algonquin of the Lenapes. 
 Loskiel explains this more fully : " Though the three tribes of 
 the Delawares have the same language, yet they speak different 
 dialects. The Unamis and Wunalacbtikos, who formerly 
 inhabited the eastern coast of Pennsylvania and New Jersey, 
 nearly agree in pronunciation ; but the dialect of the Monsys^ 
 who formerly lived in Menissing, beyond the Blue mountains, 
 differs so much from the former, that they would hardly be able 
 to understand each other, did they not keep up a continual 
 intercourse. The language of the Delawares has an agreeable 
 sound, both in common conversation, and public delivery. 
 The dialect spoken by the Unamis and JVunalachtikos is pecu 
 liarly grateful to the ear, and much more easily learnt, by an 
 European, than that of the Monsys^ which is rougher and spoken 
 with a broad accent. However, the Monsy dialect is a key to 
 many expressions in the Unamis and Wunalacbtlkos. The latter 
 have a way of dropping some syllables, so that, without a 
 knowledge of the former, it would be impossible either to spell 
 their words or guess their meaning. 
 
 " Several other languages derive their origin from the Delaware, 
 and this proceeds chiefly from the vicinity or connections of the 
 different nations and tribes. For instance, the language of the 
 Mabikans is nearly related to the Monsy dialect, these two na 
 tions having formerly been neighbors in the province of New 
 York. The Shawanose is also related to the Monsy^ but more 
 
336 HUDSON RIPER INDIANS. 
 
 to the Mahikan; only the former generally place the accent 
 upon the last syllable. The Ottawa is nearly related to the 
 Shawanose, but the Chippewa more immediately to the Delaware. 
 The language of the Twichtwees and Wawlachtanos resembles 
 the Sbawanose ; in dialect the Kikapus, Tukachohas, Moshkos, 
 and Karhaski, differ from the Delaware in proportion to their 
 distance from each other, but all are nearly related." 
 
 The Algonquin dialects spoken in the valley of the Hudson, 
 at the time of the discovery, were at least six in number : The 
 Manhattan, the Wappanoo, the Mohican, the Minsi, the Unami 
 and the Unalachtin. It is stated that the Mahicans conquered 
 the territory which they occupied, mixed with their own the 
 dialect of the people whom they had subdued and formed that 
 subsequently spoken by themselves. It is also said that the 
 Wappanoos overran the old Manhattans and created another 
 mixed dialect, while the third type was found among the na 
 tives of Long Island, in which perhaps many of the essential 
 features of the Manhattan were preserved. .Of the three types 
 on the west, the Unami and the Unalachtin are classed as 
 Delaware as distinguished from the Minsi. The Mahican 
 has been preserved, partially at least, as has also to some extent 
 the Long Island, the latter extending along the east side of the 
 river as far as the Highlands, where it met the Wappanoos, 
 which has been preserved as spoken by its more eastern families 
 in the Massachusetts ; but the dialects on the west, .as they 
 were modified by association with those on the east, and the 
 dialects of the east as modified by association with those on 
 the west, are lost except as they live in geographical names, 
 which resist established rules of interpretation, or are approxi 
 mately preserved as they were spoken elsewhere, modified by 
 different associations. How widely they differed, can be inferred 
 from Loskiel's statement that the Minsi of the Hudson resem 
 bled the Mahican and the Sbawanoeand was scarce understood by 
 its more western families how widely they differ in the imper 
 fect forms in which they have been preserved, a few words from 
 each will sufficiently illustrate. Man, in Long Island, is 
 run ; wonnun (white man) in Wappinoo or Massachusetts, 
 wosketomp-, in Mahican neemanoo; in Delaware and Minsi, lenno. 
 Mother, in Long Island, is cwca- y in Massachusetts, okaooh ; 
 
APPENDIX. 337 
 
 in Mahican, okegan ; in Minsi, guy; in Delaware, gabowes. 
 Stone, in Long Island, is sun ; in Massachusetts, bussun; in Ma 
 hican, thaunaumka; in Minsi, achsun, in Delaware, akbsm 
 (stone), pemapukhk (rock). Earth, in Long Island, is keagb ; in 
 Massachusetts, abke; in Mahican, akek; in Minsi, acbgi; in 
 Delaware, aki, akbki. 
 
 But while the peculiar dialects of the valley have been lost, 
 or have at best an imperfect preservation, the principles upon 
 which they were based have been written. Gallatin says : 
 u The fundamental characteristics of the Indian languages of 
 America appear to be a universal tendency to express in the 
 same word, not only all that modifies or relates to the same 
 object, or action, but both the action and the object ; thus con 
 centrating in a single expression a complex idea, or several ideas 
 among which there is a natural connection. All the other fea 
 tures of the language seem to be subordinate to that general 
 principle. The object in view has been attained by various 
 means of the same tendency and often blended together : a 
 multitude of inflections properly so called ; a still greater num 
 ber of compound words, sometimes formed by the coalescence 
 of primitive words not materially altered,' more generally by the 
 union of many such words in a remarkably abbreviated form, 
 and numerous particles, either significative, or the original 
 meaning of which has been lost, prefixed, added as terminations, 
 or inserted in the body of the word." An extreme illustration 
 of this principle is furnished by Mather, in the compound phrase 
 " Kummogkodonattoottummooetiteaongannunnonash," which is 
 presumed to imply, " our question." Edwards illustrates it in a 
 simpler form in the Mahican. " If a man hold out his hand 
 to an Indian to know the name, he may receive the answer 
 " knish" thy hand ; but if he touches the hand of the Indian^ 
 he is told " nnisk" my hand ; and in either case he will infer 
 that he has received the Indian word for hand, simply, when 
 there is no such word in the language." Schoolcraft, in his 
 treatise, 1 explains this principle more fully and defines the idioms 
 and structure of the language. From this treatise the annexed 
 synopsis is made, presuming that those having occasion to do so, 
 
 1 " An Essay on the Grammatical Struc- of Indian Tribes, part n, 353, etc. 
 ture of the Algonquin Language" History 
 
338 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 or whose curiosity prompts them to the study, will consult the 
 original. 
 
 Grammar of the Algonquin Language. 
 
 I. Alphabet. The Algonquin possesses all the vowel sounds 
 as heard in far, fate, fall ; met, meet ; shine, pin ; not, note, 
 move ; put, nut. It has two labials, b and/); five dentals, d, 
 /, j, z, and j or , soft ; two nasals, m and n ; and two primary 
 gutturals, k and , hard. The letters/, r, v, are wanting. The 
 sound of x is also believed to be wanting in all the Algonquin 
 dialects but the Delaware and Mahican of the Hudson valley, 
 in which it is fully heard in Coxsackie, and in a few of the ear 
 lier geographical terms of New Jersey, the sound of r is repre 
 sented in ah. Thus an alphabet of five vowels and thirteen 
 consonants is capable of expressing, either simply or in com 
 bination, every full sound of the Algonquin language. In this 
 estimate of primary sounds, the letters <:, and ^, and y as re 
 presenting a vowel sound, are entirely rejected. The soft of 
 c is J, the hard, k. The sound of ^is always that of k. In the 
 formation of words the vowelic, diphthongal and mixed sounds 
 are syllabic. The following table represents the elementary 
 syllables on the primary vowel sounds : 
 
 (0 
 
 (*) 
 
 (3) 
 
 (4) 
 
 AI ^s A in Fate. 
 
 A as in Father. 
 
 A as in Fall. 
 
 A as in Hat 
 
 Aib Bai 
 
 Ahb Bah 
 
 Aub Baa 
 
 only utterecrwith a con 
 sonant following. 
 
 Aid Dai 
 
 Ahd Dah 
 
 Aud Dau 
 
 Ab 
 
 Aig Gai 
 
 Ahg Gah 
 
 Aug Gau 
 
 Ad 
 
 Aih Hai 
 
 Ah Hah 
 
 Auh Hau 
 
 Ag 
 
 Aik Kai 
 
 Ahj Jah 
 
 Auj Jau 
 
 Ah 
 
 Ail Lai 
 
 Ahk Kah 
 
 Auk Kau 
 
 Aj 
 
 Aij Jai 
 
 Ahl Lah 
 
 Aul Lau 
 
 Ak 
 
 Aim Mai 
 
 Ahm Mah 
 
 Aum Mau 
 
 Al 
 
 Ain Nai 
 
 Ahn Nah 
 
 Aun Nau 
 
 Am 
 
 Aip Pai 
 
 Ahp Pah 
 
 Aup Pau 
 
 An 
 
 Ais Sai 
 
 Ahs Sah 
 
 Aus Sau 
 
 A P 
 
 Ait Tai 
 
 Aht Tah 
 
 Aut Tau 
 
 As 
 
 Aiw Wai 
 
 Ahw Wah 
 
 Auw Wau 
 
 At 
 
 Aiz Yai 
 
 Ahz Zah 
 
 Auz Yau 
 
 Au 
 
 Aizh Zhai 
 
 
 Auzh Zhau 
 
 Az 
 
APPENDIX. 339 
 
 (0 
 
 EE as in me 
 
 (2) 
 E as in met 
 
 (0 
 
 I as in Fine. 
 
 (2) 
 
 I as in Pin. 
 
 Eeb Bee 
 
 Eb 
 
 Bi 
 
 Ib 
 
 Bed Dee 
 
 Ed 
 
 Di 
 
 Id 
 
 Eeg Gee 
 
 Eeh He 
 
 Eg 
 Eh 
 
 Gi 
 
 Hi 
 
 Ig 
 Ih 
 
 Eej Jee 
 Eel Lee 
 
 Ej 
 Ek 
 
 Ji 
 
 Ki 
 
 Ij 
 Ik 
 
 Eek Kee 
 
 El 
 
 Li 
 
 11 
 
 Eem Mee 
 
 Em 
 
 Mi 
 
 Im 
 
 Een Nee 
 
 En 
 
 Ni 
 
 In 
 
 Eep Pee 
 
 Ees See 
 
 Ep 
 Es 
 
 Pi 
 
 Si 
 
 IP 
 Is 
 
 Eet Tee 
 
 Et 
 
 Ti 
 
 It 
 
 Eew Wee 
 
 Eu 
 
 Wi 
 
 Iw 
 
 Eez Zee 
 
 Ez 
 
 Yi 
 
 Iz 
 
 
 
 Zi 
 
 
 (0 
 
 O as in Note 
 
 
 O as in Move. 
 
 (4) 
 O as in Not. 
 
 U as in But. 
 
 Bo 
 
 Oob Boo 
 
 Ob 
 
 Ub 
 
 Do 
 
 Ood Doo 
 
 Od 
 
 Ud 
 
 Go 
 
 Ho 
 
 Oog Goo 
 Ooh Hoo 
 
 Og 
 Oh 
 
 Ug 
 
 Uh 
 
 Jo 
 Ko 
 
 Ooj Joo 
 
 Ook Koo 
 
 Oj 
 Ok 
 
 Uj 
 Uk 
 
 lo 
 Mo 
 
 Ool Loo 
 
 Oom Moo 
 
 01 
 Om 
 
 Ul 
 Urn 
 
 No 
 
 Oon Noo 
 
 On 
 
 Un 
 
 Po 
 So 
 
 Oop Poo 
 Oos Soo 
 
 Op 
 Os 
 
 Up 
 Us 
 
 To 
 
 Got Too 
 
 Ot 
 
 Ut 
 
 Wo 
 
 Oow Woo 
 
 Ow 
 
 Uz 
 
 Yo 
 
 Zo 
 
 Ooy Yoo 
 Ooz Zoo 
 
 Oy 
 Oz 
 
 
 Diphthongal sounds are heard in limited classes of words, end 
 ing in z<7, w, and ou. The nasal sounds, which abound in the 
 language, are chiefly confined to the letter w, and the combina 
 tion ng. The gutturals are mostly formed by the -letters gb and 
 kb. The hard sound of g has its expression in the half utterance 
 43 
 
340 HUDSON RIPER INDIANS. 
 
 of k by which it is followed, as in the attempt to pronounce gk. 
 The combinations of cb, sh, and z, are common, as are also 
 those of bw^ dw, gw, and hw. Al expresses the sound of a as in 
 fate ; ah the sound of a as in father ; au, as in fall, auction, and 
 au in law ; ee is the sound of e as in feel ; ia, as the sound of i 
 in media , <?/, the sound of o in voice , alw , ouw and eow appear 
 in converting verbs indicative into different moods ; ib, the 
 sound of i suddenly stopped off; ooh, the sound of o suddenly 
 stopped off; uk, the sound of , roughly aspirated, and also ugh ; 
 ck, as in English, also, sh and zh ; bw as in bwoin; gw as in 
 gwiuk ; hw as in mohwa; kw as in wewukwun ; mw as in 
 wa-mwa; ny as in nyauj tshw as in tshwe tshwees-ke-wa, a 
 snipe. 
 
 2. Substantives. In a general survey of the language there is 
 perhaps no feature which obtrudes itself so constantly to view, 
 as the principle which separates all words, of whatever denomi 
 nation, into animates and inanimates, as they are applied to 
 objects in the animal, vegetable, or mineral kingdom. This 
 principle has been grafted upon most words, and carries its dis 
 tinctions throughout the syntax. It is the gender of the lan 
 guage ; but a gender of so unbounded a scope, as to merge it 
 in the distinctions of a masculine and feminine, and to give a 
 two-fold character to the parts of speech. 
 
 Nouns animate embrace the tribes of quadrupeds, birds, fishes, 
 insects, reptiles, Crustacea, the sun, moon, and stars, thunder, 
 and lightning ; for these are personified, and whatever possesses 
 animal life, or is endowed, by the peculiar opinions and super 
 stitions of the Indians, with it. In the vegetable kingdom their 
 number is comparatively limited, being chiefly confined to trees, 
 and those only while they are referred to as whole bodies, and 
 to the various species of fruits, seeds, and esculents. It is to 
 be remarked, however, that the names for animals are only 
 employed as animates, while the objects are referred to as whole 
 and complete species ; but the gender must be changed when it 
 becomes necessary to speak of separate members. Man, woman, 
 father, mother, are separate nouns, so long as the individuals are 
 meant ; but hand, foot, head, eye, ear, tongue, are inanimates. 
 Buck is an animate noun, while his entire carcase is referred to, 
 
APPENDIX. 341 
 
 whether living or dead ; but neck, back, heart, windpipe, take 
 the inanimate form. In like manner eagle, swan, dove, are 
 distinguished as animates ; but beak, wing, tail, are arranged 
 with inanimates. So oak, pine, ash, are animates j branch, 
 leaf, root, inanimates. 
 
 No language is perhaps so defective as to be totally without 
 number. But there are few which furnish so many modes of 
 indicating it as the Algonquin. There are as many modes of 
 forming the plural as there are vowel sounds,' yet there is no dis 
 tinction between a limited and an unlimited substantive plural ; al 
 though there is, in the pronoun, an inclusive and an exclusive plu 
 ral. Whether we say man or men, two men or twenty men, the 
 singular inin-e, and the plural ininewug, remain the same. But 
 if we say we, us or our men (who are present), or we, us, or 
 our Indians (in general), the plural we, and us, and our for 
 they are rendered by the same form admit of a change to in 
 dicate whether the objective person or persons be included or 
 excluded. This principle forms a single and anomalous instance 
 of the use of particular plurals ; and it carries its distinctions, 
 by means of the pronouns, separable and inseparable, into the 
 verbs and substantives, creating the necessity of double conju 
 gations and double declensions, in the plural forms of the first 
 person. Thus the term for Our Father, which, in the inclusive 
 form, is Kosinaun, is, in the exclusive, Nosinaun. 
 
 The general plural is variously made. But the plurals mak 
 ing inflections take upon themselves an additional power or 
 sign, by which substantives are distinguished into animates and 
 inanimates. Without this additional power, all nouns plural 
 would end in the vowels a, e, /, o, u ; but to mark the gender, 
 the letter g is added to animates, and the letter n to inanimates, 
 making the plurals of the first class terminate in ag, eeg, ig, og, 
 ug, and of the second class in an, een, in, on, un. Ten modes 
 of forming the plural are thus provided, five of which are ani 
 mate, and five inanimate plurals. A strong and clear distinc 
 tion is thus drawn between the two classes of words, so unerring 
 indeed, in its application, that it is only necessary to inquire how 
 . the plural is formed to determine whether it belong to one or 
 the other class. 
 
342 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 Where a noun terminates with the vowel in the singular, the 
 addition of the g, or n, shows at once both the plural and the 
 gender. In other instances, as in peena, a partridge ; seebe, a 
 river ; it requires a consonant to precede the plural vowel, in 
 conformity with a rule previously stated. Thus peenal-wug ; 
 and seebe-wun. Where the noun singular terminates in the 
 broad instead of the long sound of #, as in ogimau, a chief; 
 ishpatinau^ a hill, the plural is ogim-aug, ishpatinaun. But these 
 are mere modifications of two of the above forms, and are by 
 no means entitled to be considered as additional plurals. 
 
 Comparatively few substantives are without number. There 
 is, however, one exception from the general use of number. 
 This exception consists of the want of number in the third per 
 son of the declensions of animate nouns, and the conjugation of 
 animate verbs. Not that such words are destitute of number, 
 in their simple forms, or when used under circumstances requir 
 ing no change of these simple forms no prefixes and no inflec 
 tions. But it will be seen, at a glance, how very limited such 
 an application must be in a transpositive language. 
 
 Distinctions of number are founded upon a modification of 
 the five vowel sounds. Possessives are likewise founded upon 
 the basis of the vowel sounds. There are five declensions of 
 the noun to mark the possessives, ending, in the possessive, in 
 am, eem, im, om, um, oom. Where the nominative ends with a 
 vowel, the possessive is made by adding the letter m, as in mal- 
 mai, a woodcock, ne maimaim, my woodcock, etc. Where 
 the nominative ends in a consonant, as in ah, a shell, the full 
 possessive inflection is required, making nln dais-im, my shell. 
 In the latter form, the consonant d is interposed between the 
 pronoun and noun, and sounded with the noun, in conformity 
 with a general rule. Where the nominative ends in the broad, 
 in lieu of the long sound of a, as in ogimau, a chief, the posses 
 sive is aum. 
 
 It is a constant and unremitting aim in the Indian languages, 
 to distinguish the actor from the object ; partly by prefixes, and 
 partly by inseparable suffixes. That the termination un is one 
 of these inseparable particles, and that its office, while it con 
 founds the number of the third person, is to designate the 
 
APPENDIX. 343 
 
 object, appears probable, from the fact that it retains its connec 
 tion with the noun, whether the latter follow or precede the 
 verb, or whatever its position in the sentence may be. 
 
 In tracing the operation of the rule through the doublings of 
 the language, it is necessary to distinguish every modification 
 of sound, whether it is accompanied, or not accompanied, by a 
 modification of the sense. The particle un, which thus marks 
 the third person and persons, is sometimes pronounced wun, and 
 sometimes yun, as the euphony of the word to which it is suf 
 fixed may require. But not the slightest change is thereby 
 made in its meaning. 
 
 Substantives require, throughout the language, separable or 
 inseparable pronouns, under the form of prefixes. Inflections 
 of the first and second persons, which occupy the place of pos- 
 sessives, and those of the third person, resembling objectives, 
 pertain to words which are either primitives, or denote but a 
 single object, as moose, fire. There is, however, another class 
 of substantives, or substantive expressions, and an extensive 
 class for it embraces a great portion of the compound de 
 scriptive terms in the use of which no pronominal prefixes 
 are required. The distinctions of person are, exclusively, sup 
 plied by pronominal suffixes. Of this class are the words de 
 scriptive of country, place of dwelling, field of battle, place of 
 employment, &c. Thus,*///W<7^, home or place of dwelling, 
 in the substantive singular, is Aindauyaun, my home ; Alndau- 
 yun, thy home; Aindau-d, his home. And the substantive 
 plural is Aindau-yaun-in, my homes ; Aindau-yun-in, thy 
 homes ; Aindau-yaung-in, our homes, &c. 
 
 Substantives have modifications by which locality, diminution, 
 a defective quality, and the past tense are expressed ; by which 
 various adjectives and adverbal significations are given ; and 
 finally the substantives themselves converted into verbs. Such 
 are, also, the modes of indicating the masculine and feminine 
 (both merged in the animate class), and those words which are 
 of a strictly sexual character, or are restricted in their use to 
 males or females. 
 
 That quality of the noun which, in the shape of an inflection, 
 denotes the relative situation of the object by the contiguous 
 
I 
 
 344 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 position of some accessory object, is expressed, in the English 
 language, by the prepositions in, into, at or on. In the Indian 
 they are denoted by an inflection. Thus the phrase, in the 
 box, is rendered, in the Indian, by one word, mukukoong ; the 
 termination oong denoting the locality, not of the box, but of the 
 object sought after. Generally, the inflection is employed when 
 there is some circumstance or condition of the noun either con 
 cealed, or not fully apparent. The principal local inflections 
 are ing and oong, which become aing and eeng as the terminal 
 vowel of the noun may require. Ishkodai, fire ; hhkod-aing, 
 in or on the fire ; Sebe, river ; Sebeeng, in or on the river ; Kon, 
 snow ; Kon-ing, in or on the snow ; Azhibik, rock ; Azhibik- 
 oong, in or on the rock, &c. 
 
 The local form pertains either to such nouns of the animate 
 class as are in their nature inanimates, or at most possessed of 
 vegetable life. There is another variation of the local form of 
 the noun, indicative of locality in a more general sense. It is 
 formed by ong or nong, frequent terminations in geographical 
 names. Thus, from Ojibwai (Chippewa) is formed Ojibwainong, 
 place of the Chippewas. The termination ing is also sometimes 
 employed, as Monomonikaun-ing, in the place of wild rice, &c. 
 
 The diminutive forms of the noun are indicated by ais, ees, 
 os, and aus, as the final vowel of the word may require. Thus, 
 Ojibwai, a Chippewa, becomes Oji^w-ais, a little Chippewa ; 
 Amik, a beaver, Amik-0.r, a young beaver ; Minnis, an island, 
 Minnis-fl/j, a small island ; Shomin, a grape, Shomin-^/V, a little 
 grape ; Ossin, a stone, Ossin-m, a small stone ; Sebe, a river, 
 Seb-m, a small river ; Negik, an otter, Negik-w, a small otter ; 
 Wakiegun, a house, Wakieg-^wi, a small house. These diminu 
 tives, as far as they can be employed, supersede the use of ad 
 jectives, and are happily employed by the Indian in expressing 
 ridicule or contempt. When applied to animals, or to inorganic 
 objects, their meaning, however, is very nearly limited to an 
 inferiority in size or age. Sometimes both the local and di 
 minutive inflections are employed. Thus the word minnisain- 
 sing signifies, literally, in the little island. 
 
 The syllable ish, when added to a noun, indicates a bad or 
 dreaded quality, or conveys the idea of imperfection or decay. 
 
APPENDIX. 345 
 
 The sound of this inflection is sometimes changed to eesb, oosb, 
 or aush. Thus Eckwai, a woman, becomes Eckwai-if/V^, a 
 bad woman ; Nebi, water, becomes Nebe-^, strong water ; 
 Webeed, a tooth, becomes Webeed-tfw.f, a decayed or aching 
 tooth. The rule is nearly universal that the final sound of sh 9 
 in any of its forms, is indicative of a faulty quality. 
 
 Substantives have, therefore, a diminutive form, made in ais^ 
 ees, oSj or aus ; a derogative form, made in isb, eesb, oosh, or 
 ausb ; and a local form, made in aing, eeng, ing, or ong. By a 
 principle of accretion, the second and third may be added to 
 the first form, and the third to the second. 
 
 While substantives have their primitive and derivative forms, 
 they also appear as compounds. Among the primitives may be 
 found dissyllables and possibly trisyllables ; but as a principle, 
 all polysyllabic words, all words of three syllables, and most 
 words of two syllables, are compounds. 
 
 3. Adjectives. It has been remarked, that the distinction of words 
 into animates and inanimates, is a principle intimately interwoven 
 throughout the structure of the language, constituting indeed 
 its fundamental principle. In the plural only of the substantive 
 is the adjective indicated. One set of adjective symbols express 
 the ideas peculiarly appropriate to animates, and another set is 
 exclusively applicable to inanimates. Good and bad, black and 
 white, great and small, handsome and ugly, have such modifica 
 tions as are practically competent to indicate the general nature 
 of the objects referred to, whether provided with, or destitute 
 of, the vital principle. And not only so, but by the figurative 
 use of these forms, to exalt inanimate masses into the class of 
 living beings, or to strip the latter of the properties of life. 
 
 Examples illustrating this principle are quoted, and explained 
 in complex and simple forms. Of the latter, it is said : Ask a 
 Chippewa the name for a rock, and he will answer, auzbebik. 
 Ask him the name for red rock, and he will answer, miskwau- 
 bik ; for white rock, waubaubik ; for black rock, mukkuddawau- 
 bik ; for bright rock, wassyaubik ; for yellow rock, ozabwaubik ; 
 for green rock, ozahw ushkwaubik ; for smooth rock, shoisbk- 
 waubik, etc., compounds in which the words, red, white, black 
 yellow, etc., unite with aubik. 
 
346 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 Let this mode of interrogation be continued, and -extended to 
 other adjectives, or the same adjectives applied to other objects, 
 and results equally regular and numerous will appear. Minnis, 
 we shall be told, is an island ; miskominnis, a red island ; muk- 
 kuddaminnis, a black island, etc. Annokwut, is a cloud ; misk- 
 waunakwut, a red cloud j waubabnokwut, a white cloud, etc. 
 Neebe is the specific term for water, but is not generally used 
 in combination with the adjective. The word goma, like aubo^ 
 appears to be a generic term for water or potable liquids. 
 Hence, gitskee, great, gitshig-guma^ great water ; minno, good, 
 minwau-guma, good drink, etc. Baimwa is sound ; baimwawa, 
 the passing sound ; minwawa, a pleasant sound ; mudwayaussh- 
 kau, the sound of waves dashing on the shore. These exam 
 ples might be continued ad infinitum. Every modification of 
 circumstances, almost every peculiarity of thought, is expressed 
 by some modification of the orthography. Enough has been 
 given to prove that the adjective combines itself with the sub 
 stantive, the verb, and the pronoun ; that the combinations thus 
 produced are numerous, afford concentrated modes of convey 
 ing ideas, and oftentimes happy terms of expression. 
 
 Varied as the adjective is in its changes, it has no compara 
 tive inflection. A Chippewa cannot say, that one substance is 
 hotter or colder than another ; or of two or more substances 
 unequally heated, that this or that is the hottest or coldest, with 
 out employing adverbs or accessory adjectives. And it is accord 
 ingly by adverbs and accessory adjectives that the degrees of 
 comparison are expressed. Pemmaudlzzlwin is a very good 
 substantive expression, indicating the tenor of being or life. 
 Nem bimmaud-izziwin, my tenor of life ; Ke bimmaud-izzi- 
 win, thy tenor of life. To form the positive degree, minno, 
 good, and mudjee, bad, is introduced between the pronoun d 
 and the verb, thus : Ne minno pimmaud-izziwin, my good tenor 
 of life ; Ne mudjee pimmaud-izziwin, thy bad tenor of life. To 
 c nstitute the comparative degree, nahwudj^ more, is prefixed to 
 the adjective. When the adjective is preceded by the adverb, 
 it assumes a negative form. 
 
 4. Pronouns. Pronouns are buried, if we may so say, in the 
 structure of the verb. In tracing them back, to their primitive 
 
APPENDIX. 347 
 
 forms, through the almost infinite variety of modifications which 
 they assume in connection with the verb, substantive, and ad 
 jective, it will facilitate analysis to group them into preforma- 
 tive and subformative classes ; terms which have already been 
 made use of, and which include the pronominal prefixes and 
 suffixes. They admit of the further distinction of separable 
 and inseparable pronouns. By separable is intended those forms 
 which have a meaning by themselves, and are thus distinguished 
 from the inflective and subformative pronouns, and pronominal 
 particles ; significant only in connection with another word. 
 
 Of the first class are the personal pronouns nee (I), kee (thou), 
 and wee, or o (he or she), which are declined, to form the plu 
 ral persons, by neen owind, keen owau, ween owau. The plural 
 of the possessive mine, or my, in the inclusive, is made by k 
 the pronominal sign of the second person, and the usual sub 
 stantive inflection in w /, with a terminal d. The letter o is 
 a mere connective, without meaning. The second person is 
 rendered plural by the particle, au instead of win. The third 
 person has its plural in the common sign of w. The examples 
 cited embrace the mode of distinguishing the person, number, 
 relation, and gender or what is deemed its technical equivalent, 
 i. e., the mutations words undergo, not to mark the distinctions 
 of sex, but the presence or absence of vitality ; and also the 
 inflections which the pronouns take for tense, or rather, the 
 auxiliary verbs, have, had, shall, will, may, etc. This class 
 embraces the preformative or prefixed pronouns. 
 
 The inseparable suffixed or subformative pronouns are : 
 yaun, my ; yun, thy ; id or d, his or hers ; yaung, our (ex.) ; 
 yung, our (in.) ; yaig^ your ; waud, their. These pronouns are 
 exclusively employed as suffixes ; and as suffixes to the de 
 scriptive substantives, adjectives, and verbs. Relative pronouns 
 are very limited. Demonstrative pronouns, both animate and 
 inanimate, are found in many forms 
 
 The Algonquin language is in a peculiar sense a language of 
 
 pronouns. Originally there appear to have been but three 
 
 terms, answering to the three persons, I, thou, or you, and he 
 
 or she. By these terms, the speaker or actor is clearly distin- 
 
 44 
 
348 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 guished ; but they convey no idea of sex, the word for the 
 third person in which we should suspect it, being strictly epi 
 cene. In a class of languages strongly transitive, the purposes 
 of precision required another class of pronouns, which should 
 be suffixed to the end of verbs, to render the object of the ac 
 tion as certain as the actor is. The language being without 
 auxiliary verbs, their place is supplied by the tensal syllables, 
 ge, gab, and gub, which have extended the original monysylla- 
 bles into trisyllables. This is the first step on the polysyllabical 
 ladder. To make the suffixed or objective pronouns, they ap 
 pear to have availed themselves of a principle which they had 
 already applied to nouns namely, the principle of indicating, 
 by the letters g or n added to the plural terms, the two great 
 divisions of creation, on which the whole grammatical structure 
 is built namely, the genderic classes of living or inert matter. 
 As these alphabetical signs, g and n, could be applied to the 
 five terminal vowel sounds of all nouns and all verbs (for they 
 must, to be made plural or conjugated, be provided with terminal 
 vowels, where they do not, when used disjunctively, exist), 
 there is naturally a set of five vital or animate and five non- 
 vital or inanimate plurals. Ten classes of nouns and ten 
 classes of verbs are thus formed. But as the long vowels in 
 au and aan require three more varieties of numerical inflection 
 in each of these vowels, the respective number of plural terms 
 is eight, and the total sixteen sixteen modes of making the 
 plural, and sixteen conjugations for the verb. This is pro 
 ductive of a variety of terminal sounds, and appears at the first 
 glance to be confused, but the principle is simple and easily 
 remembered ; so easily, that a child need never mistake it. 
 The terminal g or n of each word denotes in all positions, the 
 two great genderic classes of nature, which are the cardinal 
 points of the grammar. 
 
 Agreeably to data furnished, the regular plurals are respec 
 tively ag, eg, ig, og, ug, and ain, een, in, on, un, with the addi 
 tional aug, eeg, and oag, in the vital, and aun, een, and oan, for 
 the long vowels, in the non-vital class. Only two ideas are 
 gained by thirty-two numerical inflections, namely, that the ob 
 jects are vital or non-vital. 
 
APPENDIX. 349 
 
 The pure verbs, the noun-verbs, the adjective-verbs, and 
 the propositional, adverbial, and compound terms and declen-* 
 sions, are made plural precisely as the nouns, regard being al 
 ways had to the principles of euphony, in throwing away or 
 adding a letter, or giving precedence to an adjective inflection. 
 The suffixed pronouns are required to be put at the end of 
 these plurals, where they will not always coalesce without in 
 serting them before the sign of the epicene or anti-epicene. 
 
 These suffixed plural inflections, as before indicated, are yaun, 
 yun, id, or simply d /, you, be, she ; which are changed to 
 plurals personal by the usual inflections of the letter g, making 
 them yaung, we, us, our (ex.) ; yung, we, us our (in.), and yaig 
 for ye. The vital particle are, is placed before d for the pro 
 noun they. 
 
 As the pronouns are made plural precisely as the nouns, for 
 distinction's sake, the numerical inflections aig, aug, eeg, ig, og, 
 oog, ug, may be employed to express the various senses of we, 
 they, them, and us, ours, theirs. These fourteen suffixed 
 pronouns enable the speaker to designate the objective transi 
 tive persons, and to designate the reflex action in the first plural, 
 which is uniform. 
 
 The anti-epicene suffixed pronouns for the same persons, 
 are am, een, in, on, aun, un, aim, eem, im, om, oam, um ; with 
 such changes in their adjustment as usage and the juxtaposition 
 of consonants r^ave produced. 
 
 5. Verbs. The whole stock of verbs in the Indian vocabulary 
 is grouped with five epicene and five classes of anti-epicene 
 conjugations. The conjugations embrace not only the natural 
 verbs in common use, but they provide for all the nouns and 
 noun-adjectives of every' possible kind ; for these, it must be 
 remembered, can all be converted, under the plastic rules of 
 the language, into verbs. 
 
 With a formidable display of vocal terms and inflective forms, 
 there is, therefore, a very simple principle to unravel the lexico 
 graphy, namely, fidelity to the meaning of primary and vowelic 
 sounds. If we compare this principle to a thread, parts of 
 which are white, black, green, blue and yellow, the white may 
 stand as the symbol of five vowelic classes of words in a, the 
 
350 HUDSON RIPER INDIANS. 
 
 black in b; the green in c; the blue in d; and the yellow 
 in e. It creates no confusion to the eye to add, that there is 
 a filament of red running through the whole series of colored 
 strands, whereby five additional distinctions are made, making 
 ten in all. These represent the two great classes of sounds of 
 the Algonquin grammar, denoting what has been called the 
 epicene. and anti-epicene scheme. 
 
 If we would know to what class of conjugations a word 
 belongs, we must inquire how the plural is made. It will be 
 borne in mind that all verbs, like all substantives, either termi 
 nate in a vowel sound, or, where they do not, that a vowel 
 sound must be added in making the plural, in order that it may 
 serve as a coalescent for the epicene g or the anti-epicene . 
 Thus man, inine^ is rendered men, ininewug, not by adding the 
 simple epicene plural ug, but by throwing a w before it, making 
 the plural in wug. So paup^ to laugh, is rendered plural in wug^ 
 and not ug ; whilst minnis, an island, sebens^ a brook, and all 
 words ending in a consonant, take the regular anti-epicene 
 plural in un. The rule that in syllabication a vowel should 
 follow a consonant is indeed universal. 
 
 The arrangement of the vowelic classes is so important to 
 any correct view of the grammar of the language, and is, at the 
 same time, so regular, euphonious, and philosophical, that it 
 will impress it the better on the mind, by presenting a tabular 
 view of it. t 
 
 CORRESPONDING CLASSES OF VERBS. 
 Epicene Substantives. 
 
 PLURAL INFLECTIONS. 
 
 1. Words ending in ... a .... ag 
 
 2. " " . . . . e ... eg 
 3- " " "... i .... i'g 
 
 4. ' '*'" . . . o ... 6g 
 
 5. " "... u .... ug 
 
 Anti-epicene Substantives. 
 
 i. Words ending in ... a .... an 
 
 2 " " " . e ... en 
 
 3. "... i .... in 
 
 4. " " " . o ... on 
 
 5. " " " * . . u . . . . tin 
 
APPENDIX. 
 
 351 
 
 i. Verbs ending in 
 
 2 ee tt ft 
 
 3 tt It 
 
 4 . - " 
 
 5 . " - 
 
 Verbs ending in 
 
 Epicene Verbs. 
 
 . a or ag 
 e or eg . 
 
 . i or i'g 
 6 or 6g . 
 
 . ii or iig 
 
 Anti-Epicene Verbs. 
 
 . a or an 
 e or en . 
 
 . i' or in 
 n . 6 or on . 
 
 . ii or iin 
 
 CLASS OF CONJUGATIONS. 
 . in class a 
 
 in class a 
 
 6. Radices. The Algonquin language is founded on roots 
 or primary elements having a meaning by themselves. As 
 waub, to see ; paup, to laugh ; wa, to move in space ; bwa^ 
 a voice. The theory of its orthography is to employ these 
 primary sounds in combination, and not as disjunctive elements, 
 which has originated a plan of thought and concords quite pe 
 culiar. It is evident that such particles as ak, be, ge, were in 
 vested with generic meanings before they assumed their 
 concrete forms of ak-e, earth ; ne-be, water ; ge-zis^ sky. 
 Without attention to this theory of radices, and to the word- 
 building principle of the language, to this constant capacity 
 of incremental extension, and to the mode of doubling, triplicat 
 ing, and quadruplicating ideas, it is impossible to analyze it 
 to trace its compounds to their embryotic roots, and to seize 
 upon those principles of thought and utterance, by attention to 
 which, there has been created in the forests of America, one 
 of the most polysyllabic and completely transpositive modes of 
 communicating thought that exists. 
 
 Humboldt applies the term " agglutinated" in defining the 
 structure of the language. If by agglutination be meant accre 
 tion, and the adhesive principle be its syntax, the term is 
 certainly appropriate. Whatever is agglutinated in the material 
 world requires gluten to attach piece to piece, and its analogy 
 in the intellectual process of sticking syllable to syllable, and 
 word to word, is the accretive principle ; and this syllabical 
 
352 HUDSON RIPER INDIANS. 
 
 gluten is precisely that to which the closest attention is required 
 to trace its syntax. 
 
 7. Word-Building. The accretive system upon which the 
 language is based is most clearly illustrated by analysis. Waub 
 is, apparently, the radix of the verb, to see, and of the word, 
 light. Waubun is the east, or sunlight, and, inferentially, place 
 of light, dub is the name of the eye-ball, hence ai-aub, to eye, 
 or to see with the eye-ball. Ozh appears tb be the root of 
 every species of contrivance designed to float on water. 
 Wa-mit-ig-o%h, the people of the wooden-made vessel this 
 is the Algonquin term for a Frenchman. O%, vessel ; mitig, 
 trees or timbers, and wa^ a plural phrase indicative of persons. 
 It is said the Indian must have had a term for grape, be 
 fore he made the compound term for wine, since the meaning 
 of the latter is grape-liquor. Aubo in the Algonquin, means a 
 liquid or liquor. Shomin^ is a grape but this is itself a dual 
 compound. Min^ in the same language, means a berry. The 
 primordial root of the word is Sho. Hence the terms : 
 
 A Radix .... Sbo . . . .A grape. 
 A Radix, . . . Min. . . A berry. 
 Undecided, . . . Aubo . .A liquor. 
 
 A compound of Shominaubo. Wine, that is grape- 
 
 four syllables. berry liquor. 
 
 The word Mishimin means an apple. It is compounded 
 from Misb, the primordial root, and Min, a berry, with the 
 short sound of / thrown in for euphony. The principle of 
 euphony requires a vowel to be interposed where two short 
 words meet, which would bring two consonants (as in this case) 
 together, and a consonant in expressions which would bring 
 two vowels together. The enlargement of the word into the 
 class of trisyllables, in all these cases, brings only sound into the 
 new compound, without any enlargement of the sense. By 
 joining the worct aubo to this dualistic term, we have the Indian 
 name for cider. 
 
 Radix, Misb . . . Apple. 
 
 Connective, ....*" 
 
APPENDIX. 353 
 
 Radix, . . . . . Min . . . Berry. 
 Undecided, .... Aubo . . Liquor. 
 Compound of four syllables. Misbiminaubo. Apple-berry liquor. 
 
 The term for rum is ishkoda wabo. Ishkoda is itself a com 
 pound word, koda signifies a plain or valley, and ish, fire, and 
 is employed perhaps to denote quality and prostration ; w is a 
 coalescent and aubo, liquor five syllables, fire-liquor. The 
 word for mechanical, and all classes of implements, is 'Jegun. 
 To break up (any inanimate substance), is Pegoobidon. Land 
 or earth is Akki > Akkum, surface of the earth. Hence, Pegoo- 
 kumibe'ejegun, a plough or breaking-up-land instrument. Wassa- 
 au is light ; Biskoona, 'flame. Hence, Was-ko-nen-jegun, a 
 candle or light flame instrument. 
 
 Not only verbs and substantives are thus compounded and 
 lengthened out in their syllabical structure, but adjectives ad 
 mit of similar forms. Thus from the adjective radix misk^ there 
 is formed a variety of dual and trial compounds, which are in 
 daily vocal use. 
 
 Misquee, Blood. From misk t red, and nebee, water. 
 
 Misqueewon, Bloody. " " won, a substance. 
 
 Misqueengtta, A blush. " " equa, a female. 
 
 Misquawauk, Pved cedar. " ' auk, a tree. 
 
 From the word Mmno^ good, is derived. 
 
 Minnomonedo, . . A good God, or an heavenly spirit. 
 Minnoinnini, . . A good man. 
 Minnoequa, . . .A good woman. 
 
 From the word Mudjee, or Matchee, as it is usually written, 
 is formed : 
 
 Matcbeemonedo A bad spirit of demon of evil. 
 
 Matcbeinnini, ... A bad man. 
 
 One of the most striking sources of Indian compounds is that 
 derived from men's and women's names. The open firmament 
 of heaven is the field from which these names 'aje generally 
 derived. They are, consequently, sublime or grandiloquent in 
 phraseology ; sometimes poetic, always highly figurative, and 
 
354 HUDSON RIVER IN DUNS. 
 
 often bombastic or ridiculous. The following examples of the 
 personal names of each sex will denote this : 
 
 Au be tub gee zbig, . . Centre of the sky. 
 
 Bairn wa wa, . . . The passing thunder. 
 
 Cbeeng gaus sin, . . . The noise of wind. 
 
 Esb ta nak wod, . . . Clear sky or cloudless sky. 
 
 Mo kau ge zbig, . . . The sun bursting from a cloud. 
 
 Ning au be un y . . . The westerly wind. 
 
 O zhau wus co ge zbig, . . The blue sky,. 
 
 Pa bait ge me wong, . . ' The showers. 
 
 Sa sa gun, .... Hail. 
 
 Waub un nung, . . . The morning star. 
 
 Males have two and sometimes three names, but generally 
 two, one of which may be called his baptismal name, and the 
 other that which he has acquired from some incident or cir 
 cumstance. The former is studiously concealed, and never 
 revealed by the Indian bearing it j the latter is the familiar cog 
 nomen. It is characteristic of female names, that they denote 
 the gender in their terminal syllable qua. The following will 
 sufficiently illustrate the manner in which they are compounded: 
 
 Au zbe bik o qua, .... Woman of the rock. 
 
 Bairn wa wa ge zbig a qua, . . Woman of the thunder-cloud. 
 
 Cbeeng gosh kum o qua, . . . Woman of the sounding foot 
 steps. 
 
 Ke neance e qua, .... Little rose-bud woman. 
 
 Mau je ge zbik o qua, . . . Woman of the zenith. 
 
 O gin e bug o qua, .... Woman of the rose. 
 
 O bub bau mwa wa ge zbig o qua, Woman of the murmuring of 
 
 the skies. 
 
 The formation of geographical names is no exception to the 
 rule. Wombi, in the Natick, or Massachusetts dialect, which 
 the Wappingers are presumed to have spoken, means white ; 
 /V, or //, is a termination for azbfbik^ a rock or solid formation 
 of rocks. Hence Wombic, the Indian name for the White 
 mountains o/ New Hampshire. In the Algonquin, monaud 
 signifies bad ; nok and nac, in the same language, is a term indi 
 cative of rock or precipice. Hence Monadnock, a detached 
 
APPENDIX. 355 
 
 I 
 
 mountain of New Hampshire, whose characteristic is thus 
 denoted to consist in the difficulty or badness of its ascent. 
 The Delawares denominate their river Lenapekituk. Of this 
 term Lenape is their own proper name, ituk is a local phrase. 
 The Mahicans gave to their river a name similarly constituted 
 in Mahicanituk. The 'particle na in the Chippewa, indicates, 
 in compounds, " fairness, abundance, excellence, something 
 surpassing." Amik, is a term for a beaver, and ong denotes 
 place. Thus Namikong, the name for a noted point on Lake 
 Superior, means a surpassing place for beavers. The name 
 Housatonick is a trinary, which appears to be composed of wassa, 
 bright, atun, a channel or stream, and ick from azkebic, rocks ; 
 i. e., " Bright stream flowing through rocks." While it is 
 perhaps impossible to translate many of the local and geographi 
 cal names which are found in the valley of the Hudson, from 
 the fact that the language was a mixture of Algonquin, Man 
 hattan, Wappenackie, Mahican, Minsi and Iroquois, their form 
 ation was in accordance with the concrete principle, and in 
 many cases the root terms are easily detected. 
 
 Connected with this branch of his subject, the author intro 
 duces a plan of a system of geographical names, founded 
 on the aboriginal languages, which gives to the investigation a 
 practical form, and, if adopted, would enrich our own language 
 as well as preserve the original. He says : 
 
 u It is found that many aboriginal terms which are graphically 
 descriptive in the native dialects, fail in the necessary euphony 
 and shortness necessary to their popular adoption. The princi 
 ples of the polysynthetic languages embrace the rule of concen 
 trating, in their compounds, the full meaning of a word upon a 
 single syllable, and sometimes a single letter. Thus in Alon- 
 quin, the particle be denotes water ; wa, inanimate motion ; ga, 
 personal actidn ; ac, a tree ; bic, a rock or metal. The sylla 
 ble ti y in Iroquois, constantly means water ; tar, a rock ; on, a 
 hill ; nee, a tree. In the Natick or Massachusetts dialect, as 
 given by Mr. Eliot, the negative form of elementary words is 
 matt a ; the local inflection ett ; the adjective great, missi ; 
 black, moot ; white, wompi. 
 45 
 
356 HUDSON RIVER INDUNS. 
 
 * 
 
 " The Indian languages also contain generic syllables or 
 particles in the shape of inflections to nouns and verbs ; in the 
 Algonquin, abo, a liquid ; jegun, or simply gun, an instrument ; 
 jewun, a current ; wunzh, a plant ; ong or onk, a place, &c. 
 
 " By these concentrations, descriptive words become replete 
 with meanings ; but it requires a very nice collocation and ad 
 justment of syllables to attain the requisite degree of euphony, 
 for the adoption of such compounds by foreign ears. Generally, 
 words of three syllables recommend themselves to the English 
 ear for quantity, in geographical names adopted from an Indian 
 language, as heard in Oswego, Chicago, Ohio, Monadnock, 
 and Toronto. In the terms suggested in the following lists of 
 words, intended to be introduced into our geographical nomen 
 clature, the principles of elision and concentration referred to, 
 have been applied. The root-forms carry the entire significa 
 tion to which they are entitled, in the elementary vocabulary, 
 after they have been divested, by analysis, of their adjuncts. 
 Thus, in the Algonquin, the syllable ac stands for land, earth, 
 ground, soil ; be, for water, liquid ; bic, for rock, stone, metal, 
 hard mineral ; co for object ; ke for country, precinct, or terri 
 tory ; os for pebble, loose stone, detritus ; min, good ; ia, the 
 term for a beautiful scene ; na, a particle, which, in compound 
 words, denotes excellence ; oma, a large body of water j non, 
 a place ; gan, a lake ; coda, a plain or valley ; oda, a town, 
 village, or cluster of houses, &c. 
 
 " By adding the primary syllable of a word, as conveying the 
 entire signification of the word, and employing it as a nominative 
 to other syllables, which are also made use of in their concen 
 trated forms, a class of words is formed, which are generally 
 shorter than their parent forms, more replete in their meanings, 
 and securing, at the same time, a more uniformly euphonious 
 pronounciation. Quantity and accent being thus at command 
 by these elisions and transpositions, the number of syllables of 
 which a new class of words shall consist, is a question to be 
 predetermined. Expletive consonants, harsh gutturals, and 
 double inflections, the pests of Indian lexography, are dropped, 
 and the selections made from syllables which abound in liquid 
 and vowel sounds. For it should be the object to preserve, as 
 
APPENDIX. 357 
 
 new elements in this peculiar branch of American literature, 
 not the harsh and barbarous, but the soft and sonorous sounds. 
 I. Terms from the Algonquin. " As a basis for these terms, 
 we take, from the vocabulary of analyzed words, the primary 
 terms ad, ab, os, w ud, pat, mo, at, seeb, gon, pew, cbig, naig, ag, 
 mon, tig, cos, pen, mig, won ; meaning respectively deer, home, 
 pebble, mountain, hill, spring, channel or current, river, clay- 
 land, iron, shore, sand, water's edge, corn, tree, grass, bird, ea 
 gle, rose-bud. Subjecting these nominatives to the adjective 
 expression ia, signifying beautiful, fair, admirable, and placing 
 the particle nac, land, earth, soil, in the objective, and changing 
 the latter for gan a lake ; bee, water ; min, good ; na, excellent ; 
 ma, large water ; ock, forest ; we have the following trisyllabic 
 terms : 
 
 Deer, .... 
 
 . Ad . 
 
 . . Ad ia nac. 
 
 Home, . 
 Pebble, . . . 
 Mountain, 
 Hill, . . . . 
 
 . Ab. . 
 . Os . 
 . Wud . 
 . Pat . 
 
 Ab ia nac. 
 . Os ia nac. 
 Wud ia nac. 
 . Pat ia nac. 
 
 Spring, . 
 Current, 
 River, 
 
 . Mo 
 . At . 
 Seeb . 
 
 Mo ia nac. 
 . At ia nac. 
 . Seeb ia nac 
 
 Clay-land, . . . 
 Iron, 
 
 . Gon . 
 Pew . 
 
 . Gon ia nac. 
 . Petv ia nac 
 
 Shore, .... 
 
 . Chi? 
 
 . Cbig ia nac 
 
 Sand, 
 
 Naif 
 
 . . Nat? ia nac 
 
 Beach, . 
 
 A? 
 
 AP ia nac 
 
 Corn, . 
 
 Mon . 
 
 . J^on ia nac 
 
 Tree . 
 
 Tiff 
 
 Tip ia nac 
 
 Grass, . 
 
 Cos 
 
 Cos ia nac. 
 
 Bird, .... 
 
 . Pen 
 
 . Pen ia nac 
 
 Eagle, 
 
 Mi? 
 
 . Mig ia nac. 
 
 Rose-bud, . 
 
 . Won . 
 
 . Won ia nac. 
 
 " By reversing the action of the verb, or noun nominative, 
 a new set of phrases is created, by which the meaning is changed 
 from deer-land, home-land, &c., to land of deer, land of home, 
 &c. The number of the objective syllables is as various as 
 the objects in nature. The whole class of animals, birds, rep- 
 
358 HUDSON RIVE& INDIANS. 
 
 tiles, insects, fishes ; the wide-spread phenomena of the 
 heavens, of the forests and of the waters, supply words which 
 are susceptible of being employed in the construction of new 
 terms. Not only can the objective be exchanged for the nomi 
 native, but the qualifying word admits of many euphonious ex 
 changes, and it may itself be employed as an objective, and the 
 nominative itself thrown in the body of the terms as a qualify 
 ing syllable ; producing a set of words like those heard in Peoria 
 and Kaskaskia, where the terminal syllable, ia, denotes fair or 
 beautiful. In these terms the syllable os y denoting pebble or 
 drift, is the adjunct noun. 
 
 Adbsia . . . Fair deer land, . . From Adic. 
 
 Abbsia, . . Fair home land, . . " Abia. 
 Patbsia, . . Fair hill, . " Isbpatina. 
 
 " If the terminal ome or oma, as it is heard in Gitchig-oma, 
 be employed, we have a set of terms denoting water prospects. 
 
 Min-b-ma, Good water. 
 
 Mos-b-ma t . . . . Moose water. 
 
 Mon-b-ma, . . . . . . Spirit water. 
 
 Mok-b-ma, . . . . Spring water. 
 
 Ac-b-ma t Rock water. 
 
 " The particle na as heard in Namikong, denotes excellent, 
 abundant, surpassing. By taking this for the objective syllable, 
 and retaining the same nominative, and the same qualifying 
 syllable made use of above, the resulting terms are as follows : 
 
 Min-ia-na, .... Good, fair and excellent. 
 Ack-ia-na, .... " " land. 
 
 Tig-ia-na, ..... " " trees. 
 
 Mon-ia-na, .... " spirits. 
 
 2. Terms from the Iroquois. The syllables co, a cascade ; //, 
 water ; tar, rock ; on^ hill ; asto, a defile, are selected as ex 
 hibiting the transpositive capacities of this language. 
 
 u Termination in atea, a valley or landscape. 
 
 Co-at-at-ea, . . . Valley below falls. 
 Ti-at-at-ea . . . Well watered valley. 
 
APPENDIX. 359 
 
 Tar-at-at-ea, . . . Rocks of the valley. 
 
 On-at-at-ea, . . . Hills of the valley. 
 
 As-to-at-ea, . . . Narrow pass of a river in the valley. 
 
 "Terminations in oga, a place, change these terms to 
 "place of water and rocks," "place of hills and rocks," 
 " place of the watery vale," etc. Terminations in /0, beautiful : 
 Co-i-o, beautiful falls ; Te-i-o, beautiful waters ; On-ti-o, 
 beautiful hills ; Tar-i-o, beautiful rocks ; Os-i-o, beautiful 
 view." 
 
 Examples of transpositions and elisions are abundantly fur 
 nished, but sufficient have been quoted to illustrate the principle 
 and direct attention to the subject. Instead of Smith's corners, 
 Johnson's mills, arid a class of local terms without significance, 
 might be introduced Na-pee-na, abounding in birds ; . Al-gan-see, 
 water of the plains ; I-6s-co, water of light ; I-e-nia, wanderer's 
 rest; Was-sa-han-na, bright river; Sho-min-ac, grape-land; 
 Mon-a-kee, spirit land ; Tal-lu-la, leaping waters ; Os-se-go, 
 beautiful view ; Bis-co-da, beautiful plain, terms of appropriate and 
 permanent import. For private residences or country seats, no 
 class of terms could be applied more expressive or more Ame 
 rican. The titles of the old world certainly need not be copied 
 when those that are fresh and fragrant await adoption. 
 
 Dialectic Vocabularies. 
 
 Dialectic vocabularies, while not without their value for 
 comparative purposes and for supplying primitive terms, afford 
 but little aid in other respects. As a general rule, those which 
 have been preserved are composed of words spoken in different 
 localities and. at different periods, and frequently mislead the 
 inquirer. Those having occasion to do so, will consult them in 
 their most complete form in Schooler affs History, and in Galla- 
 tin's Synopsis. The table annexed is introduced as simply 
 illustrative. 
 
parative Voca 
 
 
 j 
 
 ' 
 
 JC 
 E 
 
 C 
 
 
 
 
 J 
 
 
 p 
 
 
 v 
 
 B 
 
 B U 6 
 
 
 5 
 
 
 
 ; 
 
 .11 i J -"i l 
 
 
 c 
 
 <j c 
 
 
 
 
 o 
 
 s 
 
 
 I 
 
 1 
 
 n 
 
 -= 
 
 
 
 
 c 
 
 |l| J 
 
 e g 13 x 
 >> a J3 c 
 
 ;< 5 3 = 
 ^.5 t* h 
 f5 J3 o j: 
 
 3 o 
 
 11-*' 
 s|g 
 
 ia^ 
 
 
 -2 OObflOoOO^ O-i^ O U O L 
 
 c 
 
 > 
 
 > O rt 
 
 J<! 
 
 
 : :::::::; j ''~^ ' 
 
 
 
 
 : : 
 
 
 :::: j :'":; 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 :::::: i'"^ jj= E j 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1 
 
 
 
 
 
 : 
 
 i 
 
 2*" iiii'i'i^O'rt^"' b 
 
 
 
 
 
 Hi 
 
 *H s ~' " s & ^ * 
 
 
 
 
 
 s 
 
 e I g"J- : :<>. i.a.S'S I. J 
 
 S 
 
 
 i i 
 
 : | 
 
 u 
 
 : ! * 5jQ*t3 i * lo * ^- ^ 'H rt * 
 
 C 
 
 
 oT * ^ 
 
 s" i 
 
 
 *2 ' "* "^ ,^~ i> **.5 13 ^ ^ ^ ^ ^ R 
 
 *Z 
 
 .! 
 
 2^ 5= c 
 
 " a 
 
 
 o H'i'g'v.B-$!i.$$'0jiJ 
 
 j 
 
 j 
 
 Ij-s .t 
 
 '38 5 
 
 
 J* i : : J; el3 J! -v S^^-'S E 
 
 .1 
 
 
 S rt E 
 
 'S.Elx 
 
 1 
 
 *f \. ' ' ' : : ': : 
 
 ''"%'' a. o" ' ^ " ^ ' '' 
 : ' " ^"M '''':* 
 
 \ 
 
 j 
 
 - l -ii 1 
 
 i i 
 
 5 
 
 e i^^S""*'o: ( * ; iT "^^S^ 
 
 1 
 
 i r 
 
 
 S ^5* 
 
 a 
 
 ^^E^^5j?fi S fl ' S's 
 
 
 I 
 
 ^ ^ CT 1 *"* 
 
 **" s! -C 
 
 CO 
 
 'S zz cr*-2 '5 8 " u* / o ^ e 'c 
 
 1 
 
 I 
 
 E 
 
 eft , 
 
 B_8j| s 
 
 ill 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 . . . 
 
 
 : i ! !E j : : : j ! : = i 
 
 
 
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APPENDIX. 361 
 
 III. GEOGRAPHICAL NOMENCLATURE AND TRADITIONS. 
 
 ( N addition to the geographical terms which have 
 been given in the body of this work, there are 
 many to which reference may very properly be 
 made, as well as traditions " which take the form 
 of history," from their very general acceptance as such. It is 
 to be regretted that the orthography of most of the Indian geo 
 graphical terms is so ba'dly rendered in the official records as to 
 make interpretation almost impossible, even where the dialect 
 has been preserved, and especially is it to be regretted that the 
 dialects themselves have not been preserved with more of their 
 original character. As an almost universal rule, however, the 
 statement may be accepted as a fact that the Indians had little 
 of poetry in their" composition, and that, while many of their 
 terms can be made poetical, they were originally of the plainest 
 and simplest descriptive equivalents. A black hill or a red hill, 
 a large hill or a small one, a small stream of water or a larger 
 one, or one which was muddy or stony, a field of maize, or of 
 leeks, overhanging rocks or dashing waterfalls (patternack), 
 almost invariably denoting some physical peculiarity, or some 
 product of the soil. Their commemorative terms were few. 
 
 Manhattan has already been explained as signifying island, 
 or, in its plural form, islands; as applied to the people, " the 
 people of the islands." The extreme point of land between 
 the junction of East and North rivers, of which the battery is 
 now a part, was called Kapsee, and is still known to many per 
 sons as the Copsie point. The term appears to have denoted 
 a " safe place of landing," formed by eddy waters. Sappokani- 
 kan, a point of land on the Hudson below Greenwich avenue, 
 is supposed to indicate, " the carrying place," from sipon^ river, 
 and oumgan, a portage. The Indians carried their canoes either 
 over the point or across the island to East river, at this place, to 
 save the trouble of paddling down to the foot of the island and 
 then up the East river. (O* Callaghari). Corlear's hook was 
 called Naghtognk, according to Benson. The name is also given 
 
362 HUDSON RWER INDIANS. 
 
 as Rtcbtauck ; from reckwa^ sand. A tract of meadow land on 
 the north end of the island, near Kingsbridge, was called Mus- 
 coota,^that is " meadow or grass land." (Benson.) Warpoes 
 was a term bestowed on a piece of elevated ground, situated 
 above and beyond the small lake or pond called the kolck ; the 
 latter occupying several acres in the neighborhood of the present 
 halls of justice in Centre street. Many of the streets of the 
 city are laid out upon the old Indian paths. This is true of 
 Broadway from the battery to the Park, where the Indian paths 
 forked, one running east to Chatham square, and the other 
 west to Tivoli garden, etc. This would lead to Warpoes by 
 paths on the east and west side of the kolck. At or beyond 
 Warpoes the paths again forked, one leading to Sappokanikan on 
 the Hudson, and the other to Nagbtognk or Corlear's hook. The 
 island was not a place of permanent abode of the Indians, but 
 was only occupied during certain seasons. It was sold to 
 Minuet, the first director-general of the Holland government, 
 in 1624, and was then estimated to contain about twenty-two 
 thousand acres. The price paid to the Indians was sixty guild 
 ers, or about twenty-four dollars. 
 
 Staten island bears different names in different deeds. In 
 the deed to Michael Pauw, in 1631, it is called Matawucks, 
 and in that to Capellen, in 1655, Eghquaous. DeVries says 
 that it was called Monocknong, and that the clan occupying it 
 were Monatons. The deed to Capellen states that it was jointly 
 owned by the Raritans and the Hackinsacks. Governor's 
 island was called by the Indians, Pagganck ; Bedloe's island, 
 Minnisais ; Ellis' island, Kiosbk; and Blackwell's island, Minna- 
 kanock, the latter signifying " at the island," or " the island 
 home." ct The word is a compound of Menahan, an island, 
 and uck, locality." (O' Callaghan). 
 
 On the point of land now occupied by Fort Schuyler is lo 
 cated a tradition which Judge Benson relates in his Memoirs 
 of New York. Directly opposite the fort are the famous step 
 ping stones, 1 consisting of a number of rocks which project 
 
 1 On a map descriptive of the battle on the Hudson. Documentary History, 
 near Lake George, in 1755, Stepping iv, 259. 
 Stones is also applied to the palisades 
 
APPENDIX. 363 
 
 in a line from the Long Island shore, and show their bare tops 
 at low water. " An Indian origin," says Benson, " is asserted 
 for this name, and a tradition vouched as authority." It is said, 
 that at a certain time the evil spirit set up a claim against the 
 Indians, to Connecticut, as his peculiar domain ; but they being 
 in possession, determined, of course, to try to hold it. The 
 surface of Connecticut and Long Island were then the reverse 
 of what they are now. The latter was covered with rocks ; 
 Connecticut was free from them. The Indians first tried to 
 negotiate with his majesty ; offering to retire from the land, 
 provided they were permitted to girdle the trees and remove 
 their property. No answer was made to the proposition, and 
 both parties appealed to arms. The arch-leader took the field 
 alone ; and being an overmatch for the Indians in skill and 
 spirit, he at first advanced on them ; but, they having provided 
 there should be constant reinforcements on their march, thereby 
 preserving their corps entire, and harassing him incessantly, 
 giving him no rest night nor day, he was obliged finally to yield 
 to vigilance and perseverance, and fall back. He retired col 
 lected, and, as usual, gave up the ground only inch by inch ; 
 and though retiring, still presenting a front whenever attack 
 threatened. He kept close to the sound to secure his flank 
 from attack on that side ; and having reached the point, and the 
 water becoming narrow, and the tide running out, and the rocks 
 showing their heads, he availed himself of them, and stepping 
 from one to the other effected his retreat to Long Island. He 
 at first betook himself, silent and sullen, to Coram, in the middle 
 of the island ; but it being in his nature not to remain idle long, 
 and rage being superadded, soon roused him and ministered to 
 him the means of revenge. He collected all the rocks in the 
 island in heaps at Cold Spring, and throwing them in different 
 directions, to different distances across the sound in Connecticut, 
 covered the surface of it with them as we now see it." 
 
 This tradition was given to the first settlers at Cold Spring, 
 and the last Indians who remained there not only undertook to 
 show the spot where his majesty stood, but insisted that they 
 could still discern the prints of his feet. A projecting point of 
 land on the neck is still called Satan's Toe. 
 46 
 
364 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 Among the natural curiosities of Long Island is Ronconcoa 
 lake, lying upon the boundary line which divides the four towns 
 of Smithtown, Setauket, Islip, and Patchogue. This lake is of 
 great depth and for a long time was supposed to be unfathomable. 
 It has an ebb and flow in its waters at different periods ; and was 
 early made the theme of Indian story and tradition. They re 
 garded it with a species of superstitious veneration, and although 
 it abounded in a variety of fish, they, at the early settlement, 
 refused to eat them, believing they were superior beings and 
 placed there by the Great Spirit. 
 
 About thirty miles from Brooklyn and midway between the 
 north and south sides of the island, is a hill known as Marietta, 
 a corruption of the original name, which was Manitou, or the 
 hill of the Great Spirit. The tradition is, that many ages since, 
 the aborigines residing in those parts suffered extremely from 
 the want of water. Under their suffering they offered up 
 prayers to the Great Spirit for relief. That in reply to their 
 supplications, the Great Spirit directed their chieftain should 
 shoot his arrow in the air, and on the spot where it fell they 
 shpuld dig, and would assuredly discover the element they so 
 much desired. They pursued the direction, dug, and found 
 water. There is now a well situated on this rising ground ; and 
 the tradition continues to say, that this well is on the very spot 
 indicated by the Good Spirit. The probabilities are that the 
 hill takes its name from the fact that it was used as the place of 
 general offering to the Great Spirit. 
 
 Canoe Place, on the south side of the island, near Southampton, 
 derives its name from the fact, that more than two centuries ago 
 a canal was made there by the Indians, for the purpose of pass 
 ing their canoes from one bay to the other, that is across the 
 island from Mecox bay to Peconlc bay. Although the trench 
 has been in a great measure filled up, yet its remains are still 
 visible, and partly flowed at high water. It was constructed by 
 Mongotucksee, or Long Knife, who then reigned over the nation 
 of Montauk a chief of gigantic form, proud and despotic in 
 peace, and terrible in war. But although a tyrant of his people, 
 he protected them from their enemies, and commanded their 
 respect for his savage virtues. He sustained his power not less 
 
APPENDIX. 365 
 
 by the resources of his mind than by the vigor of his arm. An 
 ever watchful policy guided his councils. Prepared for every 
 exigency, not even aboriginal sagacity could surprise his canton. 
 To facilitate communication around the seat of his dominion 
 for the purpose not only of defense but of annoyance he 
 constructed this canal, which remains a monument of his genius. 
 The praises of Mongotucksee are still chanted in aboriginal verse 
 to the winds that howl around the eastern extremity of the 
 island. 
 
 Long Island, as already stated, was called Sewanbackey. 
 Among the localities, Occopoque (Riverhead), takes its name 
 from accup, a creek. The Indian village of Accopogue was situ 
 ated on the creek which enters Little Peconic bay on the north 
 side. Nepeage was the name of the peninsula which unites 
 Montauk to the western part of East Hampton, and is supposed 
 to mean " water land," from nepe, water, and eage, earth or land. 
 (O'Callagban.) Montauk, the name for the east end of the 
 island, is from mintuck, a tree, in the Narragansett dialect. 
 The place abounded with trees, according to Thompson. 
 (Ibid.} Namke, from namaas, fish and ke, place was the name of 
 the creek near Riverhead. {Ibid.} Mereyckawick (Brooklyn), 
 is from me, the article in the Algonquin ; reckwa, sand, and ick, 
 locality, "the sandy place." The name was probably applied, at 
 first, to the bottom land or beach. Wallabout bay was called 
 " the boght of Mareckawick." (Ibid} Huppogues, in Smithtown, 
 is an abbreviation of sumhuppaog, the Narragansett word for 
 beavers. (Rhode Island Historical Collections, I, 95.) 
 
 Bolton, in his History of Westchester County, has preserved 
 many of the Indian names in that district. To the Spuyten 
 Duyvel creek he assigns the term, Papirinimen. O'Callaghan 
 gives the same name to a tract " on the north end of the island 
 of Manhattans," about 228th street, between Spuyten Duyvel 
 creek on the west and Harlem river on the east. Saw mill 
 creek was called Neperah, from nepe, water, and gave its name 
 to the Indian village of Nappeckamak, which stood on the site 
 of the present village of Yonkers, literally "the rapid water 
 settlement." In an obscure nook on the Hudson, west of the 
 Neperah, is a large rock which was called Meghkeekassin, or 
 
366 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 Amackassin* ox "the great stone," to which it is said the Indians 
 paid reverence as an evidence of the permanency and immuta 
 bility of their deity. * 
 
 No Indian name more frequently occurs in the history of the 
 county than that of Weckquaesgeek, nor one the precise location 
 of which there is more difficulty in determining. O'Callaghan 
 says: "This tract is described as extending from the Hudson 
 to the East river. The name is from wigwos, birch bark, and 
 keag, country " the country of the birch bark." Bolton gives 
 the name to an Indian village which occupied the site of Dobbs' 
 ferry, which he denominates "the place of the bark kettle." In 
 Albany Records, m, 379, is this entry : " Personally appeared 
 Sauwenare, sachem of Wieckqueskeck, Amenameck his brother, 
 and others, all owners, etc.^ of lands situated on North river 
 called Wieckquaeskeck, and declared that they had sold the same 
 to Wouter Van Twiller in 1645." In a deed to Frederick 
 Phillipse, April 12, 1682, the bounds of the tract conveyed are 
 given as, "southerly to a creek or fall called by the Indians 
 Weghquegsike," and in another deed the tract is described as 
 "a piece of land lying about Wighquaeskeek" and in still another 
 the creek is called Weghqueghe. Bolton says the creek was 
 called Wysquaqua. 
 
 The Indian name for Tarrytown was Alipconck, " the place of 
 elms." Sing-Sing takes its name from an Indian village called 
 Ossing-sing, from ossin, a stone, and ing, a place, the " place of 
 stones," or " stone upon stone." (BoltonJ) In a deed to Philip 
 Phillipse, 1685, it is said, "a creek called Kitchawan, called by 
 the Indians Sinksink" Bolton, however, gives the name of 
 Kitcbawonck to the Croton river. The site of the present vil 
 lage of Peekskill was called Sackhoes and was occupied by an 
 Indian village known by that name. Teller's point was called 
 Senasqua. Tradition weaves the story that the forms of the 
 ancient warriors still haunt the surrounding glens and woods of 
 this district, and the Haunted Hollow, and the sachems of 
 Teller's point, have become household words in the neighbor 
 hood. Another tradition tells us that a desperate conflict was 
 
 1 In one of the Phillipse Deeds, it is described as " a great rock called by the 
 
 Indians SiggAes." 
 
APPENDIX. 367 
 
 once held here by the Kitchawongs against their enemies, and that 
 the mound near the entrance to Teller's point was erected over 
 the dead who fell on that memorable occasion. 
 
 Anthony's nose was called Kittatenny, a Delaware term signi 
 fying "endless hills." 1 Poconteco river, called also Pekanteco or 
 Peregbanduck, is presumed to express in its name the dark river ; 
 from pohkunni, dark, inde. pecontecue^ night. The stream may 
 have been densely overshadowed by trees. (O' Callaghan.) 
 Bolton says the name signifies "a run between two hills." The 
 Dutch styled it " Sleepy Haven kil," hence the origin of the 
 present term Sleepy Hollow applied to the valley. Sacrabung^ 
 or mill river, takes its name from sacra, rain. Its liability to 
 freshets after heavy rains, may have given origin to the Indian 
 name. (Ibid?) )uinnabung, a neck of land at the mouth and 
 west side of the Bronck river, from quinni, long, and unk^ 
 locality. (Ibid.) Aquebung, " the place of peace," from aquene, 
 peace, was the name given to the place occupied by Jonas 
 Bronck in commemoration of the peace which was there con 
 cluded with the Indians in 1643. (Ibid.) The Indian name 
 for the Bronck tract, however, was Ranachque or Raraque. 
 The tract commonly called by the English the " White Plains," 
 was known to the Indians as ^hiaroppas. Verplanck's point 
 was called Meabagb, and the lands immediately east, Appamagb- 
 pogh. Poningo, the name of the residence of one of the chiefs 
 of the Siwanoys, embraces the tract of land now included in 
 the towns of Rye and Harrison. Rye Neck was called Apaw- 
 quammis. The town of Morisania was known as Ranachque or 
 Raraque. The towns of New Castle and Bedford occupy a 
 tract called Shappeqlia, a name now applied to the Shappequa 
 hills, and destined to be remembered from its recent association 
 with trte name of Mr. Horace Greeley. The west neck 
 adjoining New Rochelle was called Magopson. The Byram 
 river was known by the name of Armonck, and the meadowy 
 bordering it Haseco and Miosekassaky. Harlem river was called 
 Muscoota; Blind brook, Mockquams, and the high ridge east of 
 it, Enketaupuenson ; Beaver dam or Stony Brook, Pockestersen, 
 and Delancey's neck, Waumainuck. A tract called Rippowams 
 
 1 The name is applied to the entire range both in New Jersey and New York. 
 
368 HUDSON RWER INDIANS. 
 
 fell to the share of the people of Stamford, Conn., in 1655. 
 It extended eighteen miles north and south, and eight miles 
 east and west. 
 
 In the town of Carmel, in the county of Putnam, is located 
 Lake Macookpack, now Mahopack^ a term probably signifying 
 simply a large inland lake, from ma large water and aki land. 
 The same name was applied to what is now known as 
 Copake lake in Columbia county. The lake is nine miles in cir 
 cumference, and is situated about eighteen hundred feet above 
 the level of the sea. On one of the islands of the lake is what 
 is called the Chieftain's rock, on which was held, according 
 to tradition, the last council of the tribe. This council was for 
 the purpose of considering the proposition of the English to 
 buy their lands and remove the tribe to the far west. Canopus, 
 the aged sachem of the tribe, urged his followers to reject the 
 proposal ; to rally to the defense of their empire, and the graves 
 of their fathers. His impassioned eloquence determined the 
 council against the proposition. JOHN W. LEE, Esq., of 
 New York, has thrown this legend into the following verse : 
 
 " Once the airy curtain lifted, and the shadows rolling back, 
 Shadows of the years that hover o'er the lake of Mahopac 
 Showed me Indian warriors gathered in the wooded island dell, 
 Which the rocks, all worn and moss-clad, and the waters guarded well. 
 ********** 
 
 Then upon the ledge above them, rose an aged, yet stalwart form, 
 Like some monarch of the f jrest, bending never to the storm, 
 Rose the CHIEFTAIN OF THE ISLAND, with that bearing of a king, 
 Which the pride of birth may strive for, but the SOUL alone can bring. 
 
 Turned his eagle gaze upon them, and with voice as clarion cleaf^ 
 Waked the dreamers, and the waiting, wearied MAIDEN sleeping near : 
 " Rouse, Mahicans ! sons of heroes ! keep your ancient honor bright ! 
 I have seen you in the battle ye were lions in the fight. 
 
 " I have seen you in the council, when the watch-fire lit the glen, 
 And the clouds of war hung o'er us ye were all undaunted then; 
 When the faggots blazed around you, all defiant in your pain; 
 I have heard you chant your death-song chieftains, NOW be men again ! 
 
APPENDIX. 369 
 
 " Snake or traitor hissed that whisper : ' Sell your forests, there is rest 
 On the banks of the Mississippi, on the prairies of the west.' 
 Who the craven counsel uttered ? Let him in the fire-light stand ! 
 Nay, he dares not. Crouching coward ! palsied be thy trembling hand ! 
 
 " When the pale-face, rushing on thee, grasps thy hatchet and thy bow ! 
 Hark, the Spirit ! * Stand, Mahicans guard your forests, meet the foe ! ' 
 By the memory of our empire ; by the mounds along the bank, 
 Where our fathers hear the moaning of the river Kicktawanc ! 
 
 " Brothers ! gird ye for the struggle ; breast to breast, and eye to eye, 
 
 Let us swear the oath of glory one to conquer, one to die ! 
 
 Sound once more your ancient war cry ! Sound it from the mountain's 
 
 steep, 
 Where the eagle hath her eyrie, and the rocks their vigils keep. 
 
 " Twice ten thousand shouts shall answer from the river to the sea ! 
 Dare, nor falter ! Fear is failure. Craven-hearted, will ye flee ? 
 Go ! yet on the darkening future, read the sentence of your doom, 
 As, in letters of the lightning, traced upon a scroll of gloom ! 
 
 " Go ! the western tribes shall meet you, ye will be an handful then, 
 And shall perish in your weakness perish from the minds of men ! 
 Like yon rushing highland river, in its mountains wild and free, 
 In the ocean lost forever. Thus shall be your destiny ." 
 
 The Highlands of the Hudson were not called Matteawan 
 mountains, as stated by Moulton. The Indians had no names 
 for mountain ranges, but designated different parts or peaks by 
 different names. In the patent known as the Little Nine 
 Partners, one of the more eastern peaks of the Highland range 
 is called Weputing, from Weepitung, literally tooth mountain, 
 probably from its resemblance to a molar tooth. The nearest 
 approach to a name for the range was that which the Indians 
 sometimes applied to themselves Wequekachke, or " the people 
 of the hill country." x The Dutch used Hoogland or Hoge- 
 land in speaking of the range,' and, like the Indians, gave names 
 to particular peaks, as Anthony's Nose, Dunderberg, ButtabergJ', 
 etc. 
 
 1 Hogeland, or Hoogland, Dutch for them Wequchachke, the hill country. 
 Highlands, a name applied to the High- Memorials Moravian Church, 146. 
 lands of New York. The Indians called 
 
- 
 370 HUDSON RIPER INDIANS. 
 
 Matteawan was the Indian name for what is now called Fish- 
 kill creek, but which the early settlers denominated the " Fresh 
 kil or creek." The meaning of the word has been defined 
 as " good furs," and Moulton has endeavored to associate 
 it with the incantations of Indian priests, but on no positive 
 authority. Matta, in the Massachusetts dialect, is the elemen 
 tary form of negative words, and generally used for no ; wa is 
 inanimate motion. This interpretation applied to the creek, 
 would be- u no water " or " little water or motion." Another 
 classification would be ma, large water ; tea, valley or land 
 scape ; wan, inanimate motion literally cc the large water in the 
 valley," wan perhaps referring to that portion of the creek near 
 its confluence with the Hudson. 
 
 What is now known as Wappinger's creek, while appropri 
 ately preserving the name of its aboriginal owners, was not so 
 called by them, but by the very beautiful name, Mawenawasigh. 
 The precise meaning of the phrase cannot be given. Ma is 
 the Algonquin for large water ; we is also water ; na is excel 
 lence, fairness, abundance, something surpassing ; wasigb is 
 apparently a corrupt rendering of wassa, light or foamy water. 
 A large stream of excellent water, or a large waterfall, would 
 seem to cover the original definition. Such names are beauti 
 ful without interpretation, and far more appropriate than many 
 English geographical terms. Wappinger's Falls, the name of the 
 village near the locality from which it takes its name, might well 
 be changed to Mawenawasigh. 
 
 Apoquague was the Indian name of what is now called Silver 
 lake, in Fishkill. The name signifies " round pond." Wtc- 
 copee was the Indian name of the highest peak in the Fishkill 
 mountains on the south border of East Fishkill, and also of the 
 pass or gorge in the mountains through which the Indian trail 
 formerly ran. An Indian castle is traditionally located here, 
 and another at Shenandoab. It is said that at Fishkill hook 
 remains of an Indian burial ground have been found, and also 
 that apple trees planted by them were still bearing within the 
 memory of the earlier inhabitants. 
 
 An explanation of Wappingers may be proper in this connec 
 tion. Although passed irrevocably into history, the term is a 
 
APPENDIX. 371 
 
 corruption of wabun, east, and acki, land which, as applied by 
 the Indians to themselves, may be rendered Eastlanders, or Men 
 of the East. The French preserved the original very nearly in 
 Abenaque, and Heckewelder in Wapanacbki (note, ante p. 45). 
 The Dutch historians are responsible for Wappingers, perhaps 
 from their rendering of the sound of the original word, and per 
 haps as expressing the fact that they were, in the Dutch lan 
 guage, wapen or half-armed Indians. 
 
 Fourteen miles west of the Hudson and a few miles north of 
 Poughkeepsie was ^uerapoquett^ from whence the boundary of 
 the Sackett tract ran north-east to a tree on the east side of 
 the Wesiack subsequently known as Ten Mile river. Of the 
 Indian name, O'Callaghan says : " Wissayck, rocky country," 
 from qussuk, a rock, and ick, a locality." A more correct expla 
 nation is probably derived from wassa^ light, and ick, locality 
 the light or bright waters. It was in this district that the 
 Moravians found their fields of labor in the villages of Shecomeco^ 
 Wecbquadnach and Packgatgoch. The former name is preserved 
 in that of the stream upon which the village stood, while the 
 second is applied to the lake now called Indian pond. 
 
 A tract of meadow land "lying slanting to the Dancing 
 Chamber," north of Wappinger's creek, had for 'its eastern 
 boundary a creek called Wynogkee. Schoolcraft defines Pough 
 keepsie. as signifying safe harbor, from apokeepsing ; but the 
 interpretation is open to question. In early documents the 
 name is variously spelled. In a deed to Arnot Veil, 1680, 
 covering the tract, the boundaries are described as " beginning 
 at a creek called Pacaksing, by the river side ;" in a petition from 
 Wm. Caldwell the orthography is Pogkeepke ; in an affidavit by 
 Myndert Harmense, it is Pokeepsinck ; in other papers the pre 
 vailing orthography is Poghkeepke, and finally it is found applied 
 to a pond of water, lying in the vicinity of the city, and its sig 
 nification given ; or muddy pond, an explanation which accords 
 with the accepted interpretation of Ramepogh a simple generic 
 term for pond, or ponds, modified by locality or character. 
 West of Poughkeepsie, and constituting the boundary of the 
 Veil tract was Matapan fall or creek. In the geographical 
 terms of this district ma^ mata and matea, frequently occur. 
 47 
 
372 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 Crum Elbow creek was called Equorsink, and the lands ad 
 joining, on the Hudson, Eaquaquanessink ; so given in a patent 
 to Henry Beekman, the bounds of which ran from the Hudson 
 " east by side of a fresh meadow called frlansakin and a small 
 creek called Mancapawimi$k" In a patent to Peter Fal- 
 conier and others the lands are called Eaquaquannessinck, 
 the meadow Mamakin, the small creek Nancapaconick, and 
 the Crum Elbow Eaquarysink. The boundary line of the 
 " Great Nine Partners patent'' began " at the creek called 
 by the Indians Aquasing and by the Christians Fish creek." 
 The Christians spoken of made free use of the word Fish, 
 no less than three streams emptying into the Hudson being 
 given that name. The signification of the Indian name, 
 however, is not involved in the Dutch designations. In this 
 case Aquasing apparently indicates stony, from qusuk. Roeloff 
 Jansen's kil was the dividing line between the Mohicans and 
 the Wappingers, a fact which has not only been already stated but 
 which the reader will recognize in the change in dialect shown 
 in the geographical terms. The creek was called Sankpenak. 
 In the Livingston patent, of which it formed the southern 
 boundary, the names of a number of localities are given, and, in 
 some cases, their signification. In his first purchase were 
 " three planes" or tracts of u flat lands" called Nekankook, 
 Kickua, and Wicquaskaka, lying on the Hudson between tc a 
 small creek or kil" lying over against Katskill, called Wackan- 
 hasiack, and a place called by the Indians Swaskahamuka. His 
 second, or Taghkanlck tract, began at a place called Minis- 
 sichtanock ; thence west along a small hill " to a creek" called 
 ghiissicheook ; thence " to a high place " called Skaanpook^ which, 
 " a little lower down" is called Twastawekah ; then south along 
 the foot of the high mountains tl to the path that goes to 
 Wawijchtanok, " to a hill called by the Indians Mananosick ,-" 
 then west to " a creek" called Nachawawachkano^ " which 
 creek empties into the Twastawekah" the place " where the two 
 creeks meet being called Mawichnanck." His third purchase 
 began at a creek called Wachankasigh ; thence to a place called 
 Wawanaquassick, u where the heaps of stories lye," near the 
 head of a creek called Nanapenahekan, u which comes out of a 
 
APPENDIX. 373 
 
 marsh lying near unto the said hills of the said heaps of stones 
 upon which the Indians throw another as they pass by, from 
 an ancient custom among them ;" then to the u northernmost 
 end of the hills that are to the north of Tacabkanick, known 
 by the name of Ahashewaghkick ;" then " along the said hills to 
 the southernmost end of the same, cailed Wicbquapakkat" In 
 the line of the boundaries " a rock or great stone" is called 
 Acawaisik, and " a dry gully at Hudson's river," Sackahampa. 
 Taghkanick^ the name now applied to the entire range of hills 
 forming the eastern boundary of the manor lands, was originally 
 local, as appears not only from the names given to the north 
 and south ends respectively, but from the fact that the Indians 
 had no titles for entire mountain ranges. The name is pro 
 nounced Toh-kon-ick, and is said to have been given to a spring 
 on the west side of the mountains in Copake. Copake lake 
 was called Kookpake. (See Mabopac.} Scompamuck was the 
 name of the locality now covered by the village of Ghent. 
 
 IVawanaquassick, " where the heaps of stones lye j" has its 
 plural in wa-wa ; na signifies good ; quas is stone or stones, and 
 ick locality. The name is without commemorative character. 
 Of the custom referred to in the quotation, the Rev. Gideon 
 Hawley writes : " We came to a resting place, and breathed 
 our horses, and slaked our thirst at the stream, when we per 
 ceived our Indian looking for a stone, which having found, he 
 cast to a heap, which for ages had been accumulating by pas 
 sengers like him, who was our guide. We inquired why he 
 observed that rite. He answered that his father practised it 
 and enjoined it on him. But he did not like to talk on the sub 
 ject. I have observed in every part of the country, and among 
 every tribe of Indians, and among those where I now am in 
 a particular manner, such heaps of stones or sticks col 
 lected on the like occasion as the above. The largest heap- 
 I ever observed, is that large collection of small stones 
 on the mountain between Stockbridge and Great Barring- 
 ton. We have a Sacrifice rock, as it is termed, between 
 Plymouth and Sandwich, to which stones and sticks are always 
 cast by Indians who pass it. This custom or rite is an acknow 
 ledgment of an invisible being. We may style him the unknown 
 
374 HUDSON RIVER INDUNS. 
 
 God, whom this people worship. This heap is his altar. The 
 stone that is collected is the oblation of the traveler, which, if 
 offered with a good mind, may be as acceptable as a consecrated 
 animal. But perhaps these heaps of stones may be erected to 
 a local deity, which most probably is the case." 
 
 There has always been manifested a disposition to invest the 
 unexplained customs of the Indians with suppositions and super 
 stitions. Mr. Hawley's description is marred in this respect. 
 The custom referred to had nothing of worship in it, nor was 
 it in recognition of an u unknown God," or of a u local deity." 
 The stone heaps were always by the side of a trail or regularly 
 traveled path, and usually at or near a stream of water. The 
 Indians paused to refresh themselves, and, by throwing a stone 
 or a stick to a certain place, indicated to other travellers that a 
 friend had passed. 
 
 Twastawekak, was the name of what is now known as 
 Klaverack creek. Machackoesk was the name of a tract lying 
 on both sides of Kinderhook creek ; Pomponick that of another 
 tract in the same vicinity, and Kenagktequak that of a small 
 creek. The New England path, one of the routes of travel 
 between the Indians of the Hudson and those of the east, ran 
 along a portion of the boundary line of the Kinderhook patent. 
 Kinderhook is Dutch of course, but is said to have had its origin 
 in the fact that the point was a favorite place for the children 
 of the Indians to practice their games, and perhaps the only 
 point at which they could be observed from vessels passing on 
 the river, as the Dans-Kammer was the only point at which 
 devil worship was similarly observed. There is a fragrance in 
 the fact that makes the name more palatable than most of the 
 Dutch 'geographical terms. 
 
 Scbodac^ to which tradition assigns the important position of 
 the capital of the Mahicans at the time of the discovery, is now 
 covered by the village of Castleton. The name is from skootag, 
 fire, and ack^ place. 
 
 Sannakagog is the name given for the tract of land extending 
 on the east side of the river from Beeren island to Smack's 
 island. Beeren island was called Passapenock and subsequently, 
 Mahican island. It was occupied by the Mahicans until 
 
APPENDIX. 375 
 
 the war of 1689, when they were "persuaded to goe and live 
 at Katskill," where they would be in greater readiness for the 
 public service. Cacbtanaquick is described as an island over 
 against Beeren island. The island opposite Albany known as 
 Smack's, was called " Scbotack or Aepjen's island." Poetanock 
 was the name for Mill creek, opposite Albany, and Semesseeck 
 that for a tract through which it passed. Another tract adjoin 
 ing took its name from its owner, Paep-Sikenekomtas^ abbreviated 
 to Papsickenekas. Petuquapoen and Tuscumcatlck are names 
 applied to what is now Greenbush. Keeseywego was the name 
 of a kil opposite Albany, described as being " 1200 rods from 
 Major Abram Staets's , kil." Paanpaack was the name of the 
 tract now covered by the city of Troy. Taescameasick and 
 Sheepshack are now covered by Lansingburgh, and Popquassick^ 
 which is described as " a piece of woodland on the east side of 
 the river near a small island commonly known as whale fishing 
 island," is also supposed to be a part of the town of Lansing- 
 burgh. Panhoosick was the name of a tract north of Troy, and 
 is still preserved in that of one of the towns of Rensselaer 
 county and in Hoosick river. A small stream flowing into the 
 Hoosick from the south was called Tomkenack creek, and one 
 from the north bore the name of Poquampacak. Further east 
 the Wallomsckock, after taking in several tributary mountain 
 streams from Vermont, adds its waters in considerable volume. 
 The Indian village of Schaticook which stood at the confluence 
 of the Hoosick and Hudson, has already been referred to. 
 Dionondahowa is given as the Indian name for the falls on the 
 Batten kil below Galesville, Washington county, and Tioneen- 
 dogahe to the kil itself. (Patent to Schuyler.} The same name 
 was also applied to the outlet of Lake George, now called 
 Ticonderoga, by which it is known in its many historic associa 
 tions. It is a generic term and appears under different ortho 
 graphies and interpretations. " Tionderoga, meaning the place 
 where two rivers meet. The French called it Carillon, on 
 account of the noise of the waterfall at the outlet." (Brod- 
 head.} " Tsinondrosie, or Cheonderoga^ signifying brawling 
 water, and the French name, Carillon, signifying a chime of 
 bells, were both suggested by the noise of the rapids." (Ga- 
 
376 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 zetteer.} " Dionderoga, c place of the inflowing waters ; ' Ticon- 
 deroga, from //', water ; on, hills ; dar, precipitous rocks, and 
 oga, place." (Schooler aft.} ^uequicke was the name of the falls 
 on the Hoosick east of the bounds of Schaticook, now known 
 as Hoosick Falls. In answer to the claim that the Hoosick 
 takes its name from Abraham Hoosac, one of the early settlers, 
 is the positive assertion, in one of the first patents, that a tract, 
 " twenty-five English miles north-east of the city of Albany," 
 was " known by the Indian name of Hoosack." The name is 
 from hussun, stone, and ack, place literally "stony country." 
 A strata of round stones, such as are used for street pavements, 
 apparently underlies the entire valley. 
 
 On the west side of the Hudson and the harbor of New 
 York are the Neversink hills. The name, according to School- 
 craft, is from onawa, water, between the waters, and sink, a 
 place ; but this interpretation appears to be forced. The word 
 probably signifies a place abounding in birds. Hudson found 
 the Indians there "clothed in mantles of feathers. Amboy, 
 according to Heckewelder, is from emboli, and signifies a 
 place resembling a bowl or bottle. Epatittg, in the rear 
 of Jersey city, is from ishpa, high, and ink, a place hence 
 Iskpatink, or Espating, a high place, supposed to be Snake hill. 
 (O' Cal/agban.) Schoolcraft applies the same term to "the 
 high sandy bank now known as Brooklyn Heights." Arissheck 
 was the name of Paulus Hook, now Jersey City. Hoboken- 
 backing was the name of the tract now embraced in the site of 
 Hoboken, and is said to have meant tobacco pipe. The 
 term was frequently used to express crookedness, and in this 
 instance was applied to the form of the river shore. Raritan, 
 a forked river ; Passaic, from Pakhsajek, a valley ; Gamoenapa, 
 the aboriginal for Communipau ; the Raritan Great Meadows 
 were called Man-kack-ke-wachky ; Wiebacken is still preserved 
 in the name of Wehawken ; Hackinsack river perpetuates the 
 name of the Hackinsacks and is the modern rendering of the 
 original Ack-kin-kas-backy. The name is said to mean, " the 
 stream that unites with another in low level ground." Haque- 
 quenunck, sometimes spelled Aquackanonk, was the name for the 
 ract now covered by the city of Patterson, and Totama the 
 
APPENDIX. 377 
 
 name of the falls a word signifying to sink, to be forced down 
 under weight by water. Watchtung literally mountain was 
 the name of a range of hills lying some twelve miles west of 
 the Hudson ; Ramspook or Ramapo, a river into which empties 
 a number of round ponds ; Pompton, " crooked mouth," refer 
 ring to the manner in which the Ringwood and Ramapo rivers 
 pass down and discharge themselves into the Pompton. 
 
 It is said that the Tappans derived their name from lupbanne, 
 a cold stream, signifying the people of the cold stream. Ku- 
 mocbenack was the name for Haverstraw bay. A small stream 
 flowing into the Ramapo river was the Chesekook, a name also 
 applied " to a tract of upland and meadow " embraced in and 
 known as the " Chesekook patent," which covered a large por 
 tion of the original county of Orange, now Rockland. A small 
 stream emptying into the Hudson just below Stony point, was 
 called Minnisconga, from minnis an island, co or con, object, and 
 ga a place, referring without doubt to Stony point itself which 
 was then an island. The site of the present town of Orange- 
 town was called the Narrasunck lands as late as 1769, a name 
 which probably has its signification in na and unk, " good land." 
 Verdrietig hook, or Tedious point, as the Dutch called it from 
 the fact that it was generally so long in sight from their slow- 
 sailing sloops, was called ^uaspeck, from qusuk, a stone. 
 
 Opposite Anthony's Nose, was a " small rivulet called by ye 
 Indians Assinnapink" or ct the stream from the solid rocks." 
 South of this rivulet was Tongapogb kil, and north of it Pooploop's 
 kil, the latter apparently the name of an Indian owner. Butter 
 milk falls were called the Prince's falls, evidently from 
 their ownership by a prince of " the people of the hill country." 
 Plum point, north of the Highlands, was called Cowonham's hill, 
 and the rocky island lying opposite, Polebers island, which has 
 been corrupted into PallopePs island, and invested with a 
 Dutch tradition which is not its own. 
 
 That which has been known as the Murderer's creek, from 
 a period anterior to Van der Donck's Map of New Netberland 
 (1656), enters the Hudson at Cornwall, and originally formed 
 the starting point for the line which divided the counties of Orange 
 and Ulster. That its ijame was derived from some unex- 
 
378 HUDSON RIPER INDUNS. 
 
 plained event or hostile action on the part of the Waoran- 
 ecks appears to be conclusively established from the fact that 
 it was applied to it only until it reached the castle of that 
 chieftaincy on the north spur of Schunemunk mountain, about 
 seven miles from its mouth. Tradition affirms in explanation, 
 that at an early period a company of traders entered the 
 creek with their sloop and were enticed on shore, where they 
 were murdered on a hill still known as Sloop hill in com 
 memoration of the event ; and this explanation is strengthened 
 by the fact that the name of the hill is coexistent with that of 
 the creek. It is here that Paulding locates his beautiful story 
 of Naoman, so generally accepted as history : 
 
 " Little more than a century ago, the beautiful region watered 
 by this stream was possessed by a small tribe of Indians, which 
 has long since become extinct, or incorporated with some other 
 savage nation of the west. Three or four hundred yards from 
 where the stream discharges itself in the Hudson, a white family, 
 of the name of Stacy, had established itself in a log house, by 
 tacit permission of the tribe, to whom Stacy had made himself 
 useful by a variety of little arts, highly estimated by the savages. 
 In particular, a friendship existed between him and an old Indian, 
 called Naoman, who had often came to his house and partook 
 of his hospitality. The Indians never forgive injuries nor forget 
 benefits. The family consisted of Stacy, his wife, and two 
 children, a boy and a girl, the former five, and the latter three, 
 years old. 
 
 " One day Naoman came to Stacy's hut in his absence, lighted 
 a pipe, and sat down. He looked very serious, sometimes 
 sighed very deeply, but said not a word. Stacy's wife asked 
 him what was the matter if he was sick. He shook his head, 
 sighed, but said nothing, and soon went away. The next day 
 he came again and behaved in the same manner. Stacy's wife 
 began to think strange of this, and related it to her husband, 
 who advised her to urge the old man to an explanation, the next 
 time he came. Accordingly, when he repeated his visit, the day 
 after, she was more importunate than usual. At last the old 
 Indian said : * I am a red man, and the pale faces are our ene 
 mies ; why should I speak ? ' ' But my husband and I are 
 
APPENDIX. 379 
 
 your friends; you have eaten salt with us a hundred times, and 
 my children have sat on your knees as often. If you have any 
 thing on your mind, tell it me." " It will cost me my life if it 
 is known, and the white-faced women are not good at keeping 
 secrets," replied Naoman. " Try me and see." " Will you 
 swear, by your Great Spirit, that you will tell none but your 
 husband ? " " I have none else to tell." " But will you 
 swear ? " u I do swear, by our Great Spirit, I will tell none 
 but my husband." "But if my tribe should kill you for not 
 telling ? " " Not if your tribe should kill me for not telling." 
 " Naoman then proceeded to tell her, that, owing to some 
 encroachments of the white people below the mountains, his 
 tribe had become irritated, and were resolved, that night, to 
 massacre all the white settlers in their reach ; that she must 
 send for her husband, inform him of the danger, and as speedily 
 and as secretly as possible, take their canoe and paddle with all 
 haste over the river for safety. u Be quick, and do nothing 
 that may excite suspicion," said Naoman, as he departed. The 
 good wife sought her husband, who was on the river fishing, 
 told him the story, and, as no time was to be lost, they pro 
 ceeded to their boat, which was unluckily filled with water. 
 It took some time to clean it out, and meanwhile, Stacy recol 
 lected his gun which had been left behind. He proceeded to 
 the house and returned with it. All this took up considerable 
 time, and precious time it proved to this poor family. The 
 daily visits of old Naoman, and his more than ordinary gravity, 
 had excited suspicion in some of the tribe, who had, accord 
 ingly paid particular attention to the movements of Stacy. One 
 of the young Indians, who had been kept on the watch, seeing 
 the whole family about to take to the boat, ran to the little 
 Indian village about a mile off, and gave the alarm. Five 
 Indians collected, ran down to the river where their canoes 
 were moored, jumped in and paddled after Stacy, who, by this 
 time, had got some distance out in the stream. They gained 
 on him so fast that twice he dropped his paddle and took up his 
 gun. But his wife prevented his shooting, by telling him that, 
 if he fired, and they were afterwards overtaken, they would 
 meet with no mercy from the Indians. He accordingly refrained, 
 48 
 
380 HUDSON RWER INDIANS. 
 
 and applied his paddle till the sweat rolled in big drops from his 
 forehead. All would not do ; they were overtaken within a 
 hundred yards from the shore, and carried back, with shouts of 
 yelling and triumph. 
 
 " When they got ashore, the Indians set fire to Stacy's house, 
 and dragged himself, his wife and children to their village. 
 Here the principal old men, and Naoman among them, assembled 
 to deliberate on the affair. The chief men of the council 
 stated, that some one of the tribe had, undoubtedly, been guilty 
 of treason, in apprizing Stacy, the white man, of the designs of 
 the tribe, whereby they took the alarm, and well nigh escaped. 
 He proposed to examine the prisoners, to learn who gave the 
 information. The old men assented to this, and Naoman among 
 the rest. Stacy was first interrogated by one of the old men, 
 who spoke English and interpreted it to the others. Stacy 
 refused to betray his informant. His wife was then questioned, 
 while at the same moment, two Indians stood threatening the 
 two children with tomahawks, in case she did not confess. She 
 attempted to evade the truth, by declaring that she had a dream 
 the night before, which alarmed her, and that she had persuaded 
 her husband to fly. ' The Great Spirit never deigns to talk in 
 dreams to a white woman,' said the old Indian. c Woman, 
 thou hast two tongues and two faces. Speak the truth or thy 
 children shall surely die. The little boy and girl were then 
 brought close to her, and the two savages stood over them ready 
 to execute his bloody orders. 
 
 ctc Wilt thou name,' said the old Indian, ' the red man who 
 betrayed his tribe ? I will ask three times.' The mother ans 
 wered not. ' Wilt thou name the traitor ? This is the second 
 time.' The poor woman looked at her husband, and then at 
 her children* and stole a glance at Naoman, who sat smoking 
 his pipe with invincible gravity. She wrung her hands, and 
 wept, but remained silent. ' Wilt thou name the traitor ? 'Tis 
 the third and last time.' The agony of the mother waxed 
 more bitter ; again she sought the eye of Naoman, but it was 
 cold and motionless. The pause of a moment awaited her 
 reply, and the tomahawks were raised over the heads of the 
 children, who besought their mother not to let them be murdered. 
 
APPENDIX. 381 
 
 
 
 "'Stop!' cried Naoman. All eyes were turned upon him. 
 c Stop ! ' repeated he, in a tone of authority. ' White woman 
 thou hast kept thy word with me to the last moment. I am 
 the traitor. I have eaten of the salt, warmed myself at the 
 fire, shared the kindness of these Christian white people, and it 
 was I that told them of their danger. I am a withered, leafless, 
 branchless trunk ; cut me down if you will ; I am ready/ A 
 yell of indignation sounded on all sides. Naoman descended 
 from the little bank where he sat, shrouded his face with his 
 mantle of skins and submitted to his fate. He fell dead at the 
 feet of the white woman by a blow of the tomahawk. 
 
 " But the sacrifice of Naoman, and the firmness of the 
 Christian white woman, did not suffice to save the lives of the 
 other victims. They perished how, it is needless to say ; and 
 the memory of their fate has been preserved in the name of the 
 pleasant stream, on whose banks they lived and died, which, to 
 this day, is called the Murderer's creek." 
 
 Six miles west of the scene of this tradition is the mountain 
 range called Sckunemunk, or, as in the early deeds, Skonnemoghky, 
 on the northern spur of which, and near its base was the castle 
 or village of the clan to whom it refers, and where they con 
 tinued to reside until after considerable settlements had been 
 made around them. The name is also spelled Skonanoky^ and 
 is apparently derived from Shunna, sour, and na excellent, nuk^ 
 local probably referring to the abundance of wild grapes 
 found there. On the east side of the mountain, in the town of 
 Cornwall, and near the centre of the Wilson patent, was an 
 Indian burial grond, so .designated in a survey by General James 
 Clinton. In its vicinity on the north is a hill which was called 
 Winegtekonk, now known as Woodcock mountain. Further 
 west, in the town of Goshen, what is called Run-bolt's-run, 
 preserves in its name and source, the name and place of resi 
 dence of Rombout, one of the chiefs who signed the deed for the 
 Wawayanda tract, whose wigwam stood beside the spring from 
 which the stream flows. A modern tradition associates the 
 name of Wawastawa, another of the grantors of the tract, with 
 the stream, through his daughter, to whom a Frenchman named 
 Boltez made love. The maiden rejected his suit and fled to- 
 
382 HUDSON RIPER INDIANS. 
 
 wards her father's cabin. Just then her father's shrill whistle 
 was heard, and she paused in her flight and exclaimed, " Run, 
 Bolt, Run ! " an exclamation which, when the story came out, 
 was applied to the streamlet. On Sugar Loaf mountain, in 
 Chester, was an Indian village and burial ground some time 
 after the advent of the whites. It is said that the chieftaincy 
 located here paid tribute to the Senecas as late as 1756. Mis- 
 tucky, a locality in Warwick, is probably an abbreviation of 
 Miskotucky, a compound word implying red hills or red plains. 
 Pochuck, a name applied to one of the streams of that town as 
 well as to the district known as Florida, seems to retain the root 
 term for bog or muddy land. 
 
 Jogee Hill, in the town of Minisink, takes its name from and 
 preserves the place of residence of Keghgekapowell alias Joghem. 
 one of the grantors of lands to Governor Dongan in 1684. A 
 considerable canton is said to have resided in the vicinity at an 
 early period, and that Jogbem remained an occupant of this hill 
 long after his brethren had departed for the west. Arrowheads 
 and small images of various kinds have been found here, and 
 among other articles an Indian tomahawk the whole of which 
 is a pipe, the pole being the bowl, and the handle the stem. 
 Minnisink is from Minnis, an island, and ink, locality, and not 
 from Minsis, the name of the wolf tribe of the Lenapes. The 
 name has a very general application to lands, in Pennsylvania 
 as well as New York, known as the Minnisink country. It 
 had its origin in the tradition that the land was covered with 
 water before the Delaware broke through the mountain at the 
 water gap, or Pohoqualin, and is said to mean the land from 
 which the water is gone. 
 
 Entering the Hudson south of Newburgh is ^uassaick creek. 
 The name is from qussuk, a stone, and the signification stony 
 brook. Partly in Newburgh and partly in New Windsor is 
 what is called Muchattoes Hill, a name apparently derived from 
 Muhk, red; at, near or by, and os, small a small red hill 
 near the river. 
 
 North of Newburgh the rocky peninsula known as Dans- 
 Kammer point is a feature in the landscape as well as in the 
 history of the river. It was at this place that the Indians held 
 
APPENDIX. 383 
 
 their worship of the devil, on one occasion four or five hundred 
 being seen here engaged in that service. There were two 
 grassy plots on which the dances and other orgies were held, 
 the one called the large Dans-Kammer, and the other the 
 little Dans-Kammer. The first is now occupied by the Arm 
 strong house ; the second was on the rocky point which re 
 tains the name. The place has its story as well as its history. 
 " Hans Hansen," the story says, " was the son of Jacobus 
 Hansen, one of the first settlers in the vinicity of Albany, and,' 
 except an occasional skirmish with the Indians, had enjoyed 
 undisturbed peace and honor in the small circle that constituted 
 his settlement. He had now arrived at such an age that the 
 affairs of his farm were too fatiguing for his declining years ; 
 and Hans being the eldest son, the superintendency necessarily 
 devolved on him ; but so important a station could not be pro 
 perly filled without the assistance of a vrouw. Hans accordingly 
 looked among the fair of his acquaintances, and, with the con 
 sent of his parents, paid his addresses to Miss Katrina Van 
 Vrooman, whose residence was but a mile from his own habita 
 tion. Those were " matter of fact " days, and the girl con 
 sented, without any flirtations, to become his wife. The 
 wedding day was appointed, and the neighbors invited ; but 
 before the ceremony could be performed, it was necessary to 
 obtain a license from the governor, whose residence was in 
 New York. 
 
 " Hans accordingly prepared to go thither for his license, and 
 a party of his young friends, as well as his prospective bride, 
 determined to accompany him. Katrina invited to the excursion 
 an old squaw named Leshee, to whom she was much attached, 
 but who was regarded by some as having intercourse with the 
 Evil One, and was often consulted even in matters of import 
 ance by the superstitious Dutchmen. The day of the departure 
 was marked by a severe storm, from which Leshee boded ill- 
 luck ; but the party were impatient of delay, and proceeded on 
 their journey. 
 
 " The affianced pair, after three days' journey, reached the 
 house of the governor, obtained the necessary license, and then 
 proceeded without delay homeward. On the evening of the 
 
384 HUDSON RWER INDUNS. 
 
 sixth day they reached the Dans-Kammer. The place was 
 known to them, and the company resolved to stop there and*" 
 partake of some refreshments. Leshee remonstrated against 
 visiting the scene of the rites and sacrifices of her tribe, and 
 repeated the old prophetic lines 
 
 For none that visit the Indian's den 
 
 Return again to the haunts of men ; 
 
 The knife is their doom, oh, sad is their lot ; 
 
 Beware ! beware of the blood-stained spot. 
 
 But the evening was beautiful, the place attractive, the 
 Indians at peace, their war-whoop hushed and their sacrificial 
 fires extinguished ; hence they resolved to land. Drawing up 
 their boats on the sandy beach, they seated themselves on the 
 site of the Indians' place of worship partook of their refresh 
 ments, joined in the dance, smoked the pipe and told the story. 
 
 ". In company with one of his friends, Hans wandered over 
 the plain, and on turning espied the sparkling of an eye in a 
 thick cluster of bushes. Knowing that it was no one of his 
 party, he proceeded cautiously, without appearing to observe it, 
 until he came near enough to see it was an Indian, when, rais 
 ing his rifle and taking deliberate aim, he directed his companion 
 to make close search. Finding but one, they bound him and 
 took him to the company, who were preparing to leave, and 
 some, of whom were already in their boats. Hans soon recog 
 nized the Indian as one with whom he had recently had trouble. 
 He questioned him closely, but he refused to explain his pre 
 sence or his purposes. Finding his efforts fruitless, Hans pre 
 pared to embark, when the Indian broke the silence by a shrill 
 yell. 
 
 " The result was soon manifest. A company of warriors, 
 who had concealed themselves and their canoes above the point, 
 were seen darting forward with appalling velocity. Hans' only 
 hope of escape was his boats. The Indians drew nearer and 
 nearer they were within an arrow's flight, and yet Katrina 
 and two others were on shore. Hans faltered a moment when 
 he saw the danger to which Katrina was exposed ; but it was 
 momentary. Placing his knife at the breast of his captive, he 
 
4PPENDIX. 385 
 
 shouted to the Indians, that if they approached a step, their 
 chief should die ; but if they permitted the company to embark, 
 their chief was free. The Indians knew the determination of 
 Hans, and stopped ; the females were got on board, and Hans 
 had stepped to shove off the boat. Just then the quick voice 
 of the chief was heard, commanding his warriors to proceed. 
 They hesitated until a reproach from their chief, when they 
 again came forward with the rapidity of thought. < 
 
 " Death now seemed the immediate doom of the party ; but 
 Hans, always ready in emergency, was prompt in this. He 
 placed the chief before him and proceeded in this manner on 
 board his boat. As he expected, the Indians dared not risk 
 their chieftain's life, for they well knew the quick arm of Hans 
 would place him between the arrow and its intended victim. 
 Just at the point of safety, the Indians separated so that they 
 could kill their enemy without endangering the life of their chief. 
 Hans again raised his knife, and proclaimed that the first arrow 
 that flew the chief should die. But the enmity of the chief 
 was stronger than his love of life. He gave the war-whoop 
 a cloud of arrows darkened the air the glittering knife descended 
 and the chief was no more. Wounded, Hans stepped on board 
 his boat and shoved off". The Indians flew to their canoes ; 
 the pursuit was speedy and the arm of Hans weak from loss of 
 blood. He was soon overtaken and carried back in company 
 with Katrina and her friends. Speedily the bridal pair were 
 tied to trees and tortured in all the ways savage barbarity could 
 devise. Then gathering the materials for the fire, they kindled 
 the flame and celebrated the dance of death around their vic 
 tims in fiendish glee, until the forms of Hans and his fair bride 
 were mingled with the ashes of the pyre their embrace of 
 love was at the stake of death. 
 
 " The remaining captives were treated more humanely, and 
 were subsequently ransomed by their friends." Such is the 
 tradition'. 
 
 There is no more familiar name, in Orange county, than that 
 of Wawayanda, nor one the significance of which is less clearly 
 known. It first appears in 1703, in a petition from Dr. Staats 
 in which he states that a tract which he had purchased, called 
 
386 HUDSON RIPER INDIANS. 
 
 Wawayanda, or Woerawin, was " altogether a swamp." Its 
 next use is in the deed and patent of Wawayanda, granted 
 in 1703, while yet Staats's petition was under consideration. 
 Staats's purchase was never definitely located, but that it covered 
 a portion of the Drowned lands is known from the fact that 
 the Wawayanda patent included the lands which he claimed. 
 In the deed from the Indians, and in the patent, the description 
 implies that the name embraced more than one tract, the lan 
 guage being " called by the name or names of Wawayanda ; " 
 while the deed to Staats is apparently located by the name of 
 Woerawin, a term which may be derived from woreco, handsome, 
 or wooreecan, good, or from wewocan, from wewau, waters, and 
 wocan, barking or roaring, a term descriptive of the roaring of 
 waters at a high fall, or in a rushing rapid stream in a flood. 
 The distinction between the terms more clearly appears when 
 considered in connection with the use of local and general terms 
 in other patents. In the deed to Governor Dongan for the 
 Evans patent the language is, " comprehending all those lands, 
 meadows and woods called " by specific names, " together with 
 the hills, valleys, woods," etc., surrounding and adjoining or 
 within a district defined by certain natural boundaries, while 
 Minnisink embraced an undefined territory. The explanation 
 would seem to be that Woerawin was the name of a particular 
 part of the tract, while Wawayanda was a district embracing 
 several well known and occupied lands, or a village and its 
 dependencies. This explanation accords with the name itself. 
 Wa, according to Schoolcraft, is a reflective plural and may 
 mean be or they, or, by repetition, we ; x it has no descriptive 
 significance whatever. A'mdau-yaun is my home ; Aindau-yun, 
 thy home ; Aindau-aud, his or her home ; da, town or village. 
 From these terms we have Wa-wa-yaun-da, signifying " our 
 homes or places of dwelling," or " our village and lands." 
 Accepting the last, we find on the tract a Long house, situated 
 on what is still called Long house creek, which was undoubt 
 edly the seat or castle of the canton. 
 
 1 Substantives are generally combined or combination of both the noun and 
 
 with inseparable possessive pronouns pre- possessive pronoun in the plural (< our 
 
 fixed. The duplication nana^ vuaiua, fathers'). Zehberger's Grammar, 
 wa-wall, distinguishes the double plural, 
 
APPENDIX. 387 
 
 The stream of water now known as the Tinbrook, from 
 the German Tinn Brock, or thin brook, was called by the 
 Indians Aratkhook, or Akhgook, the Delaware term for snake, 
 the reference no doubt being to the extremely sinuous course of 
 its flow, which resembles the contortions of a snake when 
 thrown upon a fire. In 1701, Robert Sanders 1 filed a petition 
 for a patent to a tract of land described as " beginning at a fall 
 (/. <?., a stream of water) called Arackbook and running thence . 
 northerly on the east side of the Paltz creek until it comes to a 
 place called Kackawawook, and from thence due east four miles 
 into the woods, and from thence parallel to Paltz creek until a 
 due west line shall touch the aforesaid fall." He stated that he 
 had held the land since June 4th, 1689 ; that all the Indians 
 formerly owners were dead, and asked that a patent be issued 
 to himself, his son Thomas, and Johannes Bush, William, 
 Sharpas, and Joseph Cleator. He renewed the petition, April 
 1 8th, 1702, calling the tract Oghgotacton, and stated that his title 
 was derived from a loan which he had made to the Indian pro 
 prietor, who, as well as all his relations, were then dead. In 
 confirmation of his claim he presented the following paper : 
 
 u Whereas, Pungnanls is indebted to Robert Sanders the value 
 of seventy pounds, and being ten years gone to the Ottowawas^ 
 and his brother Corpowin^ now going to the war, desires that ye 
 said Robert Sanders may keep the land of his brother, called 
 Ogbotacton, till his brother pays him the said sum of seventy 
 pounds, 2 Robert Sanders comes to me to ask for leave to take 
 this land from the said Corpowin, and I do give him authority to 
 take," etc., etc. Signed by Gov. Dongan, June 4, 1689.* 
 
 A patent was issued to Sanders under this petition, but, for 
 some reason which does not appear, was not taken up by him. 
 
 1 Robert Sanders, of Albany, was a proper person to furnish the government 
 distinguished and intelligent Indian trader, information in regard to the condition of 
 He became well versed in the languages, Canada. He rendered himself so obnox- 
 both of the Mohawks and the River ious to the French governor there, in 
 Indians, and acted as interpreter between consequence of his opposition to the Je- 
 them and the English on several occasions, suit missionaries among the Five Nations, 
 He enjoyed the confidence of the Indians that he was the subject of special corn- 
 to a high degree, and was made governor plaint to Governor Dongan in 1687. 
 of Schenectady, occupying that post at MunselTs Annals of Albany. 
 the time of the massacre. He was par- 2 Less then seventy dollars of United 
 ticularly designated, by Mr. Miller, as a States currency. 
 
 49 
 
388 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 i 
 
 On the 30th of June, 1712, a patent was issued to Henry Wile- 
 man covering the same tract but extending its boundaries west 
 to the falls in the Walkill at Walden, the inference doubtless 
 being that the word " fall " in Sanders' boundary had reference 
 thereto. The Tinbrook enters the Walkill on the east about 
 half a mile from the'Yalls at Walden. 
 
 Much has been written in explanation of the word Shawangunk^ 
 and yet the solution of the term is far from satisfactory. The 
 Rev. CHARLES SCOTT, in a paper read before the Ulster Histo 
 rical Society, 1 remarks very properly that the interpretation by 
 Schoolcraft, so extensively copied, that the word means white 
 rocks, from skawan, white, and gunk, rock alluding to the 
 white cliffs which face the mountains west of Tuthiltown, is 
 not sustained by any known vocabulary of Indian dialects. The 
 word comes down to us in, two principal forms, Sbawangunk 
 and Cbawangong, the first in the Dutch records of the Esopus 
 wars, and the second in some of the early English patents. In 
 the deed to Governor Dongan, in 1684, it is specified as a certain 
 tract of land, the language being, " all those lands, meadows 
 and woods called Nescotack, Chawangon," etc. The patent 
 to Thomas Lloyd, Feb. 22, 1686, is described as at the place 
 called by the Indians Cbawangong. Says Mr. SCOTT of the 
 latter : " This tract of land was situated on the west side of 
 Shawangunk kil, and north of what is now known as McKin- 
 stry's tannery. The next locality, to the north, was named by 
 the Indians Nescotonck. On the south was Scbanwemisch, or as 
 the Dutch pronounced it, Wisbauwemis, the beech woods, or 
 place of beeches." In this manner he localizes the application 
 of the name. He continues : 
 
 " This fixes with some accuracy the bounds of the original 
 Indian Shawangunk. It was a section of fine low land, situated 
 mainly on the west side of Shawangunk kil, for about five miles, 
 from near the mouth of the Mary kil, to the mouth of the 
 Dwars kil. Two miles to the west, and near the foot of the 
 mountain, was a flat called Welgbquatenbeuk, the place of wil 
 lows ; and about two miles east, on the Wallkill, another fine 
 region of meadow and maize fields, which they designated 
 
 1 Vol. i, part in, 229, etc., of Proceedings. 
 
APPENDIX. 389 
 
 Wanoksmk, or the place of sassafras. It was the seat of the 
 main settlement of the Esopus tribe, on the east side of the 
 mountains, and had, on its southern border, the village, or castle, 
 which was destroyed by the Dutch in September and October, 
 1663. This, and nothing else, was the Shawangunk of the 
 red man. From thence the name began to spread, when the 
 country was opened to European settlement, until it became 
 widely used. First, the kil was made to assume it, instead of 
 its appropriate Acbsinink ; then the settlers along the kil for miles 
 were said to have it for their home ; then the mountains or high 
 hills running from Rosendale to Minnisink, were thus designated ; 
 and finally the precinct and afterwards the township. And here 
 let it be remarked that the name belongs in no sense whatever 
 to the mountains now bearing it. The Evans patent calls them 
 the high hills of Pitkiskakera.n& Aioskawosting. In local records, 
 they are for years termed simply the high hills or the steep 
 rocks. 
 
 After a careful analysis of the word, he concludes : 
 " I venture to interpret : Sbawangum south water. Shawan 
 gunk, etc., the place on or at the south water, water being referred 
 to generically, and not specifically, as the proper, name of the kil. 
 But to what kil and to what locality is Shawangunk relatively 
 south ? Take the map of Ulster county, and notice the posi 
 tion, in respect to each other of the Rondout and of the Sha 
 wangunk kils ; and remember that the Indian paths from one 
 valley to the other, ran almost due north and south, and one 
 good reason is manifest. The warrior and the hunter passed < 
 either from the north part of Shawangunk proper through the traps, 
 to Marbletown, or from the south part of the same, by Awos- 
 ting lake the Long pond to the Kerhonkson. Stand upon the 
 mountain top and glance down either path, to the winding 
 streams, and upon their corn fields, and the meaning of the 
 north water or the south water, can be easily understood. 
 Again, at either terminus of the Aioskawosting, or southern 
 path, were Indian villages and settlements of cultivated fields. 
 The one was on the north water and the other on the south, 
 for in truth they thus stood towards those opposite points of 
 compass. The above mentioned villages became afterwards 
 
390 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 the sites of the old fort and the new fort, mentioned in the 
 second Esopus war." 
 
 While Mr. Scott's investigation has brought out many facts 
 of interest, it is not clear that he is correct in locating the name, 
 or in explaining its meaning. If the name relates to a particular 
 tract of land, then in that tract must be found its explanation ; 
 if in any stream of water, as the south water, its explanation 
 must be sought there. The solution may be in one of the 
 paths or trails which he describes as crossing the mountain and 
 extending into the southern country, one of which was taken 
 by the Long Island Indians who accompanied Kregier's expedi 
 tion, in 1663, being the shortest route to their homes. This 
 trail continued across the present county of Orange, where it 
 formed one of the boundary lines of the lands of Christopher 
 Denn, and is described in one of his deeds as the Chauwungonk 
 path. It connected with the main trail which ran from Hack- 
 insack to the Minnisink country, partially described in the Jour- 
 nal of Arent Schuyler in 1694. Whether called the north or 
 south trail it led to and took its name apparently from one par 
 ticular locality. This locality would seem to be indicated in 
 the word itself. The first part or noun of the word, shawan or 
 chawan, would seem to be from jewan, swift current or strong 
 stream ; onk or gonk, a place, literally the country of the strong 
 stream, or the rapid water settlement, or if interpreted in con 
 nection with some part of the Wallkill, as indicating a specific 
 portion of the Chawangong trail, the reference may be to a place 
 k where the shallowness of the current gave to it rapidity and yet 
 afforded a fording or crossing place. To precisely such a place 
 the,trail in question led and the ford there established was not only 
 used by the Indians and the early settlers, but is still used as such. 
 Another interpretation is derived from shong\ the Algonquin 
 for mink, and um or oma, water, or onk, a place or country. 
 This would give the mink river, or the mink country. Still 
 another is derived from cheegaugong, the place of leeks, and 
 has no little force in the abundance of wild onions which are 
 still found in that section of country. Indeed, so universal is 
 this pest of the farmer there, that they might well have given 
 their name to the stream, the valley, and the mountains. 
 
APPENDIX. 391 
 
 The name of the Indian castle destroyed by Kregier, and 
 which is described "as being situated at the head of the Kerhonk 
 son," has not been preserveu, unless it has that preservation in 
 the name of the creek itself. It is altogether probable that 
 such is the fact as it would accord with Indian custom, as illus 
 trated in the case of the Pakadasank, to which reference will be 
 made hereafter. In regard to 'this fort, as well as that called 
 the New fort, Mr. Scott, in another paper, says : 
 
 u From the Delaware to the Hudson there once existed two 
 great pathways of Indian travel. The one started from the 
 mouth of the Neversink or Mahakemack, at Port Jervis, and 
 passing by the ancient Peenpack, and through Mamakating 
 hollow, struck the Rondout at Napanoch. Thence following 
 that stream through Wawarsirig and Rochester, it passed over 
 in Marbletown to the Esopus, and skirted the latter to its 
 mouth at Saugerties. The other crossed the mountain range at 
 Minnisink, to the eastern valleys, and followed the Shawangunk, 
 the Wallkill and the Rondout to the Hudson. The first may 
 be distinguished as the Mamakating, and the second as the 
 Shawangunk trail. From trail to trail the cross paths may yet 
 be traced, and in some places have been marked upon the 
 mountain rocks by the passing footsteps of ages." 
 
 It was on the Mamakating trail, about twenty-three miles 
 south-west of Kingston, that he locates the Old fort, or that 
 destroyed by Kregier on the 3ist of July, and designates its 
 site as being " on the south side of the Kerhonkson, near the line 
 between Rochester and Wawarsing, just north of what is called 
 Shurker's hill, and about three miles from the mouth and at the 
 head of the Kerhonkson." The New fort, or that destroyed 
 on the 4th of October, he says, " was in the town of Shawan 
 gunk, on the east bank of the Shawangunk kil, and twenty- 
 eight miles from Kingston." He adds : " Whatever doubts 
 there may be as to the Kerhonkson village, or the Old fort, 
 there can be none a to that situated on the Shawangunk. 
 From the first settlement of the country the place has been 
 called The New Fort. The village which was found aban 
 doned on the 4th of October, was in the vicinity of Burlingham. 
 An Indian burial ground marks the spot, and a path led from 
 
392 HUDSON RIPER INDIANS. 
 
 thence to the hunting house at Wurtsboro." The site of the 
 New fort, and the trails are described as follows : 
 
 " The mouth of the Shawangunk kil is six miles away, and 
 most of that distance is occupied by fine and fertile lowlands. 
 From the water rises an abrupt declivity, of irregular formation, 
 reaching, it may be, an elevation of 75. or 80 feet, and then 
 spreading out into a beautiful sandy plateau of twenty (jr. thirty 
 acres. The hill side is covered with the original forest, and 
 broken up into what seem to be artificial mounds. On the edge 
 of the plain overlooking the creek, the fort was situated, and 
 the wigwams a little distance below. To the north, along the 
 kil, extends a flat of moderate dimensions ; but on the oppo 
 site side are some of the finest lowlands in Ulster county. Here 
 the Indians planted their maize, and one spot is yet distinguished 
 as Basha's cornfield. The plateau is covered with flints and 
 arrow-heads, which every ploughing turns up to the hands of 
 those who prize them. From this village a pathway, yet pre 
 served, led across the mountains to Wawarsingand the Kerhonk- 
 son settlement, just twelve miles to the north. This was the 
 Wawarsing trail, so well known to all the early inhabitants of 
 Shawangunk and Rochester. Another trail bore off to the traps, 
 and through the clove to Marbletown. And yet a third passed 
 eastward to the Hudson, through Montgomery and New Wind 
 sor, and branching, near the Wallkill, to the south, gave access 
 from the Esopus clans, to the wigwams of the Haverstraws and 
 Hackinsacks." 
 
 That the valley of the Wallkill was thickly peopled at the 
 time of the discovery, there is no question. Along its banks 
 and tributary streams imperfect but conclusive evidence is found 
 of occupation both by permanent and temporary villages, and 
 in the old patents are many names of localities which investiga 
 tion would clothe with interest. Skirting along the eastern 
 base of the Shawangunk mountains is a stream called the Pa- 
 kadasank which took its name from an Indian village or castle 
 at its head. The location of this village entered into the dis 
 cussion in defining the boundaries of the Evans patent, and is 
 referred to, in a paper bearing date in 1756, as follows : 
 
APPENDIX. 393 
 
 41 But what proves that point past contradiction is the descrip 
 tion given of the western bounds of Evans's first purchase, which 
 expressly says it extended all along said hills, etc., and the 
 river Pakadasank southerly to a pond called Mallolaudy (Mare- 
 tange), lying on the top of the said hills. Nothing could more 
 plainly point out where that pond lies, and which is the right 
 pond, than the river Pakadasank which takes its rise at the foot 
 of the said hills, opposite the said pond and extends northerly 
 along the foofof the said hills from a place called Pakadasank, 
 where the Indians who sold the land had a large settlement, 
 and from that place to the head of the said river, and nowhere 
 else, the said river is called by that name. And the said In 
 dian settlement called Pekadasank is said to be included in the 
 first purchase, but the line run from Stony point excludes that 
 land for it is southward of their pond." 
 
 The Pakadasank has its source or head in Maretange pond 
 on what was formerly called the Alas kayer ing mountains or 
 Minnisink hills, flows north through the western part of the 
 town of Crawford, and empties into the Shawangunk kil. 
 Another stream, called the Little Pakadasank has similar source 
 and outlet. There is reason for supposing that the Indian vil 
 lage, from which both streams took their name, was in the 
 present town c f Crawford, Orange county. Bancroft Library 
 
 One of the boundaries of the Paltz patent, now known as 
 Paltz point, was called and known by the Indians, Maggrnapogh. 
 In the Ulster records is this certificate : u These are to certify 
 that the inhabitants of the towns of New Paltz, being desirous 
 that the first station of their patent named Moggonck might be 
 kept in remembrance, did desire us, Joseph Horsbrook, John 
 Hardenburgh, Roeleft Eltinge, Esq., justices of the Peace for 
 the county of Ulster, to accompany them, and there being 
 Ancrop, the Indian, then brought us to the High Mountain 
 which he named Maggrnapogh, at or near the foot of which hill 
 is a small run of water and a swamp which he called Moggonck, 
 and the said Indian Ancrop affirms it to be, the right Indian 
 names of the said places as witness our hands this nineteenth 
 day of December, 1722." Ancrop was at that time sachem of 
 the Esopus Indians. 
 
394 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 Schoolcraft has preserved a pictographic inscription on the 
 Esopus rocks, " which, from its antiquity and character appears 
 to denote the era of the introduction of fire-arms and gun 
 powder among the tribes inhabiting that section of the valley of 
 the Hudson." z He says : 
 
 " The location of the inscription is on the western bank of 
 the Hudson, at Esopus landing. Other indications have been 
 reported, at sundry times, of the skill of these ancient Indians 
 in inscribing figures on rocks. Tracks of human feet are 
 among these objects ; but the progress of building in that 
 vicinity, and the existence of but little curiosity on that head, 
 appears to have destroyed these interesting traces of a people 
 who now live only in history. The traditions of Ulster county 
 do not refer to a period when this inscription was not there. 
 The inscription may be supposed, if the era is properly con 
 jectured, to have been made with metallic tools. The lines 
 are deeply and plainly impressed. It is in double lines. The 
 plumes from the head denote a chief, -or man, skilled in the 
 Indian medico-magical art. The gun is held at rest in the 
 right hand ; the left appears to support a wand. It is in the 
 rampant Indian style. Such an inscription, recording the in 
 troduction of the gun, would not be made when that era had 
 long past and lost its interest. Indians never resort to historical 
 pictography when there is nothing new to tell. Thus the In 
 dian pictography throws a little light on the most rude and un 
 promising scene ; and if the sources of these gratifications are 
 but small, we are indebted to them for this little. No attempt 
 of rude nations to perpetuate an idea is ever wholly lost." 
 
 Atkarkarton, the Indian name for Kingston, was not the name 
 of an Indian village, but for a tract called by the Dutch the 
 Great Plot, or meadow on which the Indians raised corn 
 and beans. At is equivalent to at or by the waters. 
 
 Nutten Hook, at Katskil, was called by the Indians Kock- 
 hachcbtngh ; a place known to the Dutch as the Flying 
 corner, was called by the Indians, Machawanick ; a small 
 stream which enters " the creek called the Kats kil" on the 
 south, was called ^uatawicbnaak ; Silvester Salisbury, in 1678, 
 
 1 History of the Indian Tribes of the United States, part Hi, 73. Ante, p. 157. 
 
APPENDIX. 395 
 
 obtained " five great flats or plains" called Wachacbkeek, Wich- 
 quanachtekok, Pachquyak, Assiskowacbkok, and Pot'ick ; a tract sold to 
 Jacob Lockerman was bounded on the south by a creek called 
 Canasenix, " east on the river in the Great Imbocht where 
 Loveridge leaves off, called by the Indians Peoquanackqua, and 
 west by a place called by the Indians htackanock ; " and Henry 
 Beekman had a tract " under the great mountains called Blue 
 hills, by a place called Kiskatameck" The Mabican village 
 known as Potick, was apparently located west of Athens, where 
 the name is preserved in Potick hill and Potick creek, the latter 
 forming the west line of the town. It may be added that the 
 term Katskil was applied by the Dutch as descriptive of the 
 totemic emblem of the Indians, a wolf. 
 
 Wanton island, a short distance north of Katskill landing, 
 is the site of a traditionary battle between the Mahicans and 
 the Mohawks. Like other traditions which are woven into 
 history, the issue involved in the conflict is a pure fiction. 
 The tradition is related by Stone, in his Life of Brant, as 
 follows : 
 
 " Brown, in his History of Schobarie, gives a singular 
 tradition in regard to the kings of the Mohawks, of which I 
 have found no other mention. The Mohawks and River In 
 dians were once bitter enemies, the former becoming the terror 
 and scourge of the latter. Brown states that the last battle 
 between the Mahicans and Mohawks took place on Wanton 
 island, in the Hudson river, not far from Katskil. The ques 
 tion between them was, which should have the honor of nam 
 ing their king, or which should have the tribute of the river 
 tribes. Both nations collected their utmost strength upon that 
 island, for the purpose of a final decision, and fought a pitched 
 battle, which continued during the whole day. Towards night, 
 the Mohawks, finding that the Mahicans were likely to prove 
 an overmatch for them, deemed it necessary to resort to strata 
 gem, for which purpose they suddenly took to flight, and gained 
 another island in the evening. They here kindled a great 
 number of fires, and spread their blankets on some bushes, 
 gathered and disposed around them for that purpose, as though 
 they themselves had encamped by their fires as usual. The 
 50 
 
396 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 Mahicans following on, landed upon the Island in the depth of 
 night, and were completely taken in by the deception. Sup 
 posing that the Mohawks were sleeping soundly beneath their 
 blankets, after their fatigue, the Mahicans crept up with the 
 greatest silence, and pouring a heavy fire upon the blankets, 
 rushed upon them with knives and tomahawks in hand, making 
 the air to ring with their yells as they fell to cutting and slash 
 ing the blankets and bushes instead of Indians beneath them. 
 Just at the moment of their greatest confusion and exultation, 
 the Mohawks, who had been lying in ambush flat upon the 
 ground at a little distance, poured a murderous fire upon their 
 foes, whose figures were rendered distinctly visible by the light 
 of their fires, and rushing impetuously upon them, killed the 
 greater, part and made prisoners of the residue. A treaty was 
 then concluded, by which the Mohawks, were to have the king 
 and the Mahicans were to hold them in reverence, and call 
 them Uncle. Hendrik was the king first named such by 
 the Mohawks, after this decisive victory, " who lived to a great 
 age," says Brown, " and was killed at the battle of Lake George 
 under Sir William Johnson." 
 
 The boundary line of the Coeymans tract began at a point on 
 the west shore of the Hudson called Sieskasin, described as 
 " opposite the middle of the island called by the Indians Sapana- 
 kock" Cams keck is also the name for a tract in the^ town of 
 Coeymans about ten miles south of Albany. Coxackle or Kuxa- 
 kee has had several interpretations. Schoolcraft defines it as 
 "the place of the cut banks," where the current deflected 
 against the western shore had gradually worn away the land. 
 O'Callaghan says that the word is a corruption of the Algon 
 quin Kaaks-0&, from Kaak, a goose, and aki, locality, " the 
 country of the wild goose." Another interpretation is Cook- 
 sockuy, signifying owl-hoot. The most satisfactory explana 
 tion will be found perhaps in co, object, and ak'i, land, the 
 reference being to the clay banks which rise there to the height of 
 
 100 feet, and form a conspicuous object in the river scenery. 
 
 Neweskeke or Naveskeek, about ten miles south of Albany, is 
 
 described as being a corner or neck of land having a fresh water 
 
 river running to the east of it. 
 
APPENDIX. 397 
 
 Coeyman's Hollow was called Acbquetuck, and the creek, 
 Onisketkau. Another creek is still known by the Indian name, 
 Habnakrois. 
 
 Coeyman's Creek. 
 
 Sunckbagag is recorded as the name of the tract from Beeren 
 island to Smack's island. 1 The boundaries extended two days' 
 journey into the interior. Tawalsontba was the Mabican name 
 of the creek now called Norman's kil, in the town of Bethle 
 hem, and Tawassgunsbee that of the mound on which Fort 
 Orange was erected. Schoolcraft gives Tawasentba as the 
 orthography of the former term and regards it as signifying 
 " the place of the many dead," adding that the Mohawks once 
 had a village there, and that in excavating the road to Bethlehem 
 an Indian burial ground was opened. But the Mohawks never 
 had a village there, and the interpretation is in apparent viola- 
 lation of the custom of the Indians in bestowing names. We 
 have yet to find the name of an Indian burial ground, and espe 
 cially a stream of water and a burial ground bearing the same name. 
 
 1 The name appears on both sides of the river, ante, p. 374. 
 
398 HUDSON RIVER INDIANS. 
 
 Schenectady* is said to signify " beyond the plains." School- 
 craft giv.es Con-no-harrie-go-harrie as the original name of the 
 site of that city, and says " the name is in allusion to the flood 
 wood on the flats." Another authority gives Oron-nygh-wurrie- 
 gughre as the name of the region immediately around the city, 
 but it has been very wisely dropped notwithstanding its signifi 
 cation, maize lands. Canastagione^ a tract in Albany county, 
 is said to mean the great maize land, from onuste (Mohawk) 
 maize, and couane, great. It is added that Niskayunah^ the 
 present name of this tract, is only a variation of Canastagione, 
 and is derived from onatschia another Iroquois word for maize, 
 the o and t being dropped. (O'C.) 
 
 Saratoga is said to be derived from soragh^ salt, and oga, a 
 place, the place of the salt springs. Schoolcraft says the 
 word is from assarat, sparkling waters, and oga, a place, but 
 evidently bases his interpretation on the hypothesis that Sara 
 toga springs are referred to. The name was first applied, how 
 ever, to the site of the present village of Schuylerville on the 
 Hudson, and in that connection is said to signify swift water. 
 On Sauthier's map the name is given to a lake west of Schuy 
 lerville. Gov. Dongan endeavored to reclaim the Mohawk 
 converts from Canada and settle them here in 1687. He writes : 
 " I have done my endeavors and have gone so far in it that I 
 have prevailed with the Indians to consent to come back from 
 Canada on condition that I procure for them a piece of land 
 called Seracbtague lying upon Hudson's river about forty miles 
 above Albany, and there furnish them with priests." A fort 
 was subsequently erected there and a settlement formed. In the 
 war of 1745, the fort was destroyed by the French, together 
 
 1 The Iroquois name for the spot where bany ; Ohnoiualagantle, the town of 
 
 Albany now stands was Skenectadea. Schenectady; Cahohatatea, the north or 
 
 In regard to this and other Iroquois geo- Hudson river j Tioghsahrondc, the place 
 
 graphical names in that vicinity, Dr. or places where streams empty them- 
 
 Mitchill, in answer to an inquiry from selves. " What their etymologies are," 
 
 the Rev. Dr. Miller, in 1810, on in- he adds, " I have not been able to ascer- 
 
 formation from John Bleecker, for many tain, except as to Skcncctadea y Albany, 
 
 years an interpreter of the Iroquois, as which signifies the place the natives of 
 
 well as from the Oneida chief, Louis, the Iroquois arrived at by travelling 
 
 and other Indians, writes that Canneoga- through the pine trees." Collections of 
 
 nakalonitade was their name for the Mo- the Neva York Historical Society, I, 43. 
 hawk river j Skcnectadea, the city of Al- 
 
APPENDIX. 399 
 
 with about twenty houses; thirty persons were killed and 
 scalped, and about sixty taken prisoners. 1 The Indians were not 
 occupants of the place at the time of this occurrence. Water- 
 ford, Saratoga county, was called Nachtenack, and the island, 
 known as Long Island, near Waterford, ghiakemiscos. There 
 is apparently a mixture of the Mahican and Mohawk dialects in 
 some of the names in this section of the state. 
 
 GohoeS) a term still preserved in the falls of the Mohawk, was 
 not the name of the falls but of the island below them, and, 
 from its diminutive termal oes, is presumed to mean simply a 
 small island. Regarding co as expressing object, the first syl 
 lable may have reference to the falls, in which case 'the render 
 ing would be, the island at the falls ; or applied to the falls, 
 would class them as small compared with Niagara. The 
 term is Mahican, and is applied in another form to a district in 
 New Hampshire, the Coos country. Van der Donck says 
 of the falls, as they appeared in 1656 : u The water glides over 
 the falls as smooth as if it ran over an even wall and fell over 
 the same. The precipice is formed of firm blue rock ; near 
 by and below the falls there stand several rocks, which appear 
 splendid in the water rising above it like high turf-heaps, appa 
 rently from eight, sixteen, to thirty feet high ; very delightful to 
 the eye. The place is well calculated to exalt the fancy of the 
 poets. The ancient fabulous writers would, if they had been 
 here, have exalted those works of nature, by the force of 
 imagination, into the most artful and elegant descriptive illu 
 sions. The waters descend rapidly downwards from the falls, 
 over a stony bottom, skipping, foaming and whirling boisterously 
 about the distance of a gun-shot or more." 
 
 1 Ante, p. 205. 
 
ERRATA. 
 
 Page 9, 9th line, for then, read than. 
 44 9, igth line, for "hospitality, so, read hospitality. So he. 
 ** 18, Iith line, for Agassis, read Agassiz. 
 44 24, 9th line, for make, read also. 
 
 " 27, zist line, for sacrifice and fires, read sacrificial fires. 
 44 27, 22d line, for Kitxinaeta read Kitzinacka. 
 44 27, 2gth line, for were, read where. 
 44 29, 26th line, for presents be, read presents were. 
 44 29, 27th line, for it, read was. 
 44 32, 5th line, for called, read asked. 
 44 63, 3d line, for at, read above. 
 44 66, I4th line, for causes,, read cause. 
 44 87, loth line, for 1680, read 1630. 
 
 44 154, 24th line, for soon ~he, read soon as he. 
 
 44 172, 27th line, for concede, read accede. 
 
 44 176, I3th line, for permanent, read their. 
 
 44 187, nth line, for others read other. 
 
 44 197, 26th line, for Totakik, read Potatik. 
 
 44 453, 4th line, for Mahicans, read Mohegans. 
 
 44 261, 1st line for predecessors, read predecessor. 
 
 Errors in uniformity of orthography not noted. 
 
INDEX. 
 
 Abenaquis, a Mahican nation, 41 j 
 murder Mohawk chiefs, 156; 
 English agree not to assist, 1595 
 made peace with the Iroquois, 1835 
 make peace with the Mahicans, 
 2525 Iroquois refuse to renew war 
 with, 193 
 Abraham, or Schabash, a Mahican chief, 
 
 converted by Moravians, 197 j 
 
 made captain by Mahicans, 89 ; 
 
 assistant at Gnadenhiitten, 89; 
 
 elected chief sachem of Mahicans 
 
 of the Delaware, 197 
 Little, sachem of Lower Mohawk 
 
 castle, 264 ; brother of King Hen- 
 
 drik, 3135 succeeds King Hen- 
 
 drik, 264 
 Abrahamsen, Isaac, rescues an Indian 
 
 boy, 107 
 Ackhough, sachem of Weckquaesgeeks, 
 
 79 
 
 Adair, James, theory of, concerning ori 
 gin of American Indians, 16 
 
 Adogbegnewalquo, a Mohawk chief, ad 
 dress of, 141 
 
 Aepjin, chief sachem of Mahicans, 58 j 
 party to treaty of 1645, 118; to- 
 temic signature of, 119; council fire 
 at Schodac, 58 ; authorized to treat 
 for Esopus Indians, 137 
 
 Aepjin's island, 375 
 
 Agassiz, theory of, 17 
 
 Analysis of tribes and chieftaincies, 7 1 
 
 Andastes, war with the Iroquois, 55 
 
 Andros, Governor, offers lands to fugitive 
 Indians, 177; invites Pennacooks to 
 settle at Schaticook, 63 
 
 Andriaensen, Maryn, in command at 
 massacre at Corlear's Hook, 106 
 
 Ankerop, sachem of Esopus Indians, 201 
 
 Ann Hoock, alias Wampage, a chief of 
 Siwanoys, 8 1 
 
 Ann Hutchinson, murder of, 112 
 
 daughter of, returned from capti 
 vity, 118 
 
 Albany, Fort Nassau erected at, 99 j 
 Fort Orange erected at, 99 ; Dutch 
 make treaty with Mahicans and 
 Iroquois at, 54 ; surrendered to the 
 English, 158 ; English establish 
 council fire at, 161 ; council fire re 
 moved from, to Mount Johnson, 
 222 ; commissioners of congress hold 
 council with Iroquois at, 263 j 
 aboriginal name of, 398 
 
 Algonquin language, 645 grammar of, 
 338 
 
 Aix la Chapelle, conditions of treaty of, 
 208 
 
 Algonquin nations, 56, 64 
 
 Allegewi, tradition concerning, 45 
 
 Alliances, how formed, 32 
 
 Alliance, nature of, between ^the Dutch 
 and the Iroquois, 145 ; of Dutch with 
 Long Island chieftaincies, 1245 of 
 English with Iroquois and Mahicans, 
 158 
 
 Ampamit, address of, to Gov. Burnet, 191 
 
 Appamanskoch, sachem of Raritans, 90 
 
 Aquackanonks, location of, 91 
 
 Armies, how composed, 30 
 
 Ashhurst, Sir John, buys lands of Wao- 
 ranecks, 93 
 
 Assiapam, sachem of Matinecocks, 74 
 
 Assinapink creek, 92, 377 
 
 Atkarkarton, Kingston so called, 125, 
 394 
 
 Attention in sickness, 23 
 
 Atyataronghta, Louis, captain of Oneidas, 
 aids the Americans, 284 
 
 Aupamut, see Hendrik, Captain 
 
 Barren Hill, Mahicans in battle of, 286 
 
 Bald Eagle, a Lenape chief, death 0^256 
 
 Beeren, or Mahican island, 85, 374 
 
 Bellomont, Gov., description of an Indian 
 conference, 186 
 
 Bennington, battle of, 275 
 
 Biographical Sketches, 299 
 
 Abraham, Little, sachem of Lower 
 Mohawk castle, 264 
 
402 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Biographical Sketches, continued 
 
 Allummapees, chief sachem of Len- 
 
 apes, 300 
 Aupaumut, or Captain Hendrik, 
 
 chief sachem of Mahicans, 320 
 Benevissica, chief sachem of Shaw- 
 
 anoes, 306 
 Black Kettle, a war-captain of the 
 
 Five Nations, 316 
 Chambers, Captain Thomas, 138 
 Corn-planter, a sachem of the Sene- 
 
 cas, 317 
 Cornstalk, a war-captain of Shaw- 
 
 anoes, 306 
 
 Dean, Rev. James, 216 
 Garangula, an Onondaga chief, 316 
 Johnson, Sir John, 265 
 Johnson, Sir William, 260 
 Kirkland, Rev. Samuel, 261 
 Konapot, John, Captain, a Mahican, 
 
 320 
 Kryn, war-captain of Caghnawagas, 
 
 ifto 
 
 Logan, a Mingoe chief, 314 
 Minichque, a Mahican sachem, 185, 
 
 319 
 
 Montour, Catharine, 276 
 Nererahhe, chief sachem of Shaw- 
 
 anoes, 306 
 Netawatwees, chief sachem of Lena- 
 
 pes, 303 
 Nimham, Daniel, chief sachem of 
 
 Wappingers, 329 
 Occum, Rev. Samson, a Mahican, 
 
 325 
 Passaconnaway, chief sachem of 
 
 Pennacooks, 317 
 Paxinos, chief sachem of Shawanoes, 
 
 35 
 
 Red Jacket, a Seneca chief, 317 
 Saunders, Robert, 357 
 Shabasch, or Abraham, a Mahican 
 
 chief, 328 
 
 Shingas, a Lenape war captain, 219 
 Skenando, an Oneida chief, 317 
 Soiengarahta ; or King Hendrik of 
 
 the Mohawks, 310; portrait of, 
 
 7 
 Soquans, a Mahican sachem, 184, 
 
 319 
 
 Tadame, chief sachem of Lenapes, 
 301 
 
 Tamany, chief sachem of Lenapes, 
 300 
 
 Tecumseh, a Shawanoe chief, 308 
 
 Teedyuscung, chief sachem of Lena 
 pes, 301 
 
 Thayendanega, or Joseph Brant, 313 
 
 Biographical Sketches, continued 
 
 Wasarnapah, or Tyschoop, a Mahi 
 can chief, 197, 327 
 White Eyes, Captain, chief sachem 
 
 of Lenapes, 305 
 Block-houses constructed in Minnisink 
 
 country, 240 
 Bloom, Domine, description of Esopus 
 
 massacre, 147 
 Boone, Daniel, 257 
 Bouwensen, Thomas, roasted and eaten 
 
 by Mohawks, 100 
 
 Boquet, Col., expedition of, 246, 248 
 Braddock, General, 220, 222 
 Bradstreet, Col., expedition of, 248 ; opin 
 ion of, concerning Iroquois, 249 
 Brainerd, Rev. David, missionary labors, 
 
 196, 198 
 Brant, Molly, 259, 261, 275 
 
 Joseph, 261, 265; sent to England, 
 265 ; accepts war- belts of the 
 crown, 266 ; organizes warriors in 
 English service, 267 ; Herkimer 
 holds conference with, 267, 268 ; 
 descent of, on Wyoming valley, 
 276 ; commits depredations in Or 
 ange and Ulster, 277 j Minnisink, 
 commands massacre at, 278, 279 ; 
 defeated at Fort Plain, 284; 
 flight of, at Fort Schuyler, 274 j 
 efforts of, to arouse western tribes, 
 290 5 biographical sketch of, 313 
 Bull, Captain, son of Teedyuscung, 247 
 Burgoyne, Gen., expedition of, 273 
 Burnet, Governor, address to Mahicans, 
 
 191 
 Butler, John, accompanies Guy Johnson, 
 
 263 
 
 Walter N., accompanies Guy John 
 son, 263 ; commands in expedition 
 against Mohawk valley settle 
 ments, 283; killed by an Oneida 
 warrior, 285 
 
 Caghnawaga, Mohawk village of, 6 1, 97 ; 
 attacked by Mahicans, 97 ; de 
 stroyed by the French, 97 ; 
 Dutch embassadors visit, 132; 
 converted by Jesuits, 179, 211 ; 
 Dutch village at, destroyed by 
 John Johnson, 283 
 Nation, or Praying Indians, 179, 
 
 211 
 
 Calmet, theory of, 1 6 
 Canada, settlement of, commenced, 53 
 Canestogaes, massacre of, 245 
 Canassatiego, an Iroquois viceroy, speech 
 
 of, 69 
 Canopus, sachem of Nochpeems, 80 
 
INDEX. 
 
 403 
 
 Captains, war chiefs so called, 31 
 
 Captahem, sachem of Aquackanonks, 91 
 
 Carnarsees, location of, 72 
 
 Cartwright, Col. George, makes treaty 
 with Iroquois, 158 
 
 Castles, mode of constructing, 25 
 
 Catholic priests, labors of, 166, 168 ; law 
 in relation to, 176 
 
 Cayugas, one of the Iroquois nations, 35 ; 
 village of, 98 j accept the war belts 
 of the English, 273 
 
 Chambers, Thomas, Capt. settles at Eso- 
 pus, 1 25 ; biographical sketch of, 133 
 
 Champlain, discovers Lake Champlain, 53 
 aids the Hurons, 53 ; encourages 
 conversion of Indians, 156 
 
 Chaatity of females, 22 
 
 Chesekock tract, 83, 377 
 
 Chegonoe, sachem of Rockaways, 73 
 
 Chekatabut, a Massachusetts Mahican 
 chief, 6 1 
 
 Child birth, 23 
 
 Claus, Daniel, 2,59; appointed superin 
 tendent of Canada, 260 
 
 Cklverack, village of, 63 j creek", name of, 
 63 
 
 Clinton, Governor, appeal of, to the Iro 
 quois, 205 
 
 De Witt, theory of, 1 6 
 Gen. James, commands in expedi 
 tion against Iroquois, 279 
 Gov. George, commands in expedi 
 tion for relief of Schoharie valley, 
 284 
 
 Coginiquant, sachem of Nesaquakes, 74 
 
 Colden, Lieut. Gov., 57 
 
 Coleman, John, killed by the Indians, 9 
 
 Colonists, efforts, of, to secure neutrality of 
 Indian tribes in Revolution, 261 
 
 Communipau, aboriginal name of, 90, 376 
 
 Conarhanded, sachem of Weckquaes- 
 geeks, 79 
 
 Connecticut, agents purchase lands at 
 Wyoming, 216; determine to oc 
 cupy, 150, 259 
 
 Conflict with Indians, at Stony Point, 
 II j at Shorackappock, n, 77 
 
 Conference at Albany, 1754, 212, at 
 Albany, 1776, 263 
 
 Congress, Continental, established three 
 Indian Departments, 263 ; organ 
 izes expedition against the English 
 Indian allies, 279 ; address of, to 
 Iroquois, 280 ; treaty of, with Iro 
 quois, 289 
 
 Corchaugs, location of, 74 
 
 Corlear's Hook, massacre of Indians at, 
 106, 108 j aboriginal name of, 361 
 
 51 
 
 Cornbury, Gov., attends conference at 
 Albany, 184. 
 
 Cornstalk, commands Lenapes and Sha- 
 wanoes, 2565 biographical sketch of, 
 307 
 
 Corn-planter, a Seneca chief, leds an 
 attack on Oneidas, 282 5 driven from 
 power by Red Jacket, 290; no 
 ticed, 317 
 
 Cortland's Ridge, Mahicans in battle of, 
 287 
 
 Couwenhoven, negotiates with Esopus 
 Indians, 151, 154 
 
 Cralo, Fort, at Greenbush, 149 
 
 Cresap's War, causes of, 255 
 
 Croton, traditionary sachem of Kitcha- 
 wongs, 79 
 
 Croton river, aboriginal name of, 79, 
 366 
 
 Croghan, George, commissioner to treat 
 with Western Indians, 209 5 assistant 
 to Sir Wm. Johnson, 250, 259 ; 
 superintendent of Ohio country, 260 
 
 Crown Point, expedition for capture of, 
 failure of, 224 
 
 Custalaga, a Lenape chief, removal of, 
 258 
 
 Dans-Kammer, devil worship at, 29, 
 94 j boundary line at the, 93 ; 
 Couwenhoven at the, 151; tradi 
 tion of the, 382 
 
 Dean, Rev. James, labors of, among 
 Oneidas and Tuscaroras, 261 j bio 
 graphical notice of, 261 
 
 Declarations of war, 31 
 
 Deeds, explanation of signatures to, 93 
 
 DeHart, Balthazar, purchases lands, 92 
 
 Dcnotas, or bags for measuring corn, 26 
 
 DeVries, David Pietersen, plantation of, 
 on Staten Island, destroyed, 102 ; 
 locates among the Tappans, 91 j 
 endeavors to prevent massacre of 
 fugitive Indians, 1065 plantation of, 
 spared by Indians, 109 ; negotiates 
 treaty of peace, 109; plantation de 
 stroyed, 113 
 
 Dieskau, Baron, commands French ex 
 pedition for reduction of Oswego, 
 223 j mortally wounded in battle at 
 Ticonderoga, 224 
 
 Dobb's Ferry, aboriginal name of, 78 
 
 Dongan, Gov., purchases lands on the 
 Hudson, 93, 95; endeavors to de 
 feat the operations of the French, 
 1 69 ; gives medals to the Iroquois, 
 1 69 j appeals to James II, to main 
 tain alliance with Iroquois, 169; 
 asks for Catholic priests, 169 
 
404 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Dress, of an Indian belle, 21 ; Hudson's 
 description of, 8 ; Verazzano's de 
 scription of, 19 
 
 Dwellings and mode of construction, 24 
 
 Du Bois, Mrs. Louis, captured by the 
 sopus Indians, 1535 tradition con 
 cerning, 153 
 
 Dunmore, Gov., 2,57 
 
 Dutch, neutrality of, in Indian wars, 54 ; 
 treaty of, with Mahicans, etc., 54; 
 send embassadors to the Mohawks, 
 132; responsible for the Manhattan 
 wars, 1195 responsible for the Eso- 
 pus wars, 134; surrender province 
 to the English, 158 
 
 Eelkins, Jacob, imprisons chief of the Se 
 quins, 100 
 
 Emerick, Col., account of battle of Cort- 
 land's Ridge, 286, 287 
 
 English capture Fort Amsterdam, 1585 
 treaty with the Iroquois, 55, 158; 
 treaty with Mahicans, 158, 1605 
 laws regulating intercourse with the 
 Indians, 1625 treaty of Esopus, 163 
 
 Eskmoppas, sachem ofRockaways, 73 
 
 Esopus, derivation of term, 945 first settle 
 ment at, 125; settlers at, abandon 
 lands, 1 1 2, 123; first war at, 120; 
 Stuyvesant solicited to protect, 125 } 
 buildings destroyed at, 125 5 new 
 village established at, 128 5 second 
 war of, 1 33, 1 34 5 torture of prisoners 
 at, 135 ; village held in siege, 135 ; 
 peace established at, 142; renewal 
 of hostilities at, 1475 new village, 
 destroyed, 147; description of 
 massacre at, 147; peace re-established 
 at, 1555 inscription on rocks at, 157, 
 
 394 
 
 Esopus Indians, chieftaincies of, 94, 95 ; 
 make peace with the Senecas, 68 ; 
 first war with the Dutch, 1205 sa 
 chems solicit peace, 128 ; Stuyvesant 
 holds conference with, 129; Indians 
 massacred at, 1335 renew hostilities, 
 135 j treaty of peace with (1660), 
 142; Stuyvesant sends chiefs into 
 slavery, 138; demand renewal of 
 treaty, 146 ; second war with, 147 ; 
 treaty of peace with (1663), 155; 
 treaty of, with the English, 163 } a 
 portion of, remove to Oghawaga, 20 1 , 
 272 ; conference with domestic 
 clans, 20 1 ; friendly, invited to re 
 move from back settlements, 230; 
 friendly, massacred near Walden, 
 3315 friendly, remove to Ticonde- 
 roga, 97, 230; condition of, 1768, 253 
 
 Evert Pels, a Dutch prisoner, escapes tor 
 ture by adoption, 144 
 
 Fantinekil, attack on, 277 
 
 Festivals, 27, 116 
 
 Five Nations, see Iroquois 
 
 Fletcher, Gov., 175; hastens to the re 
 lief of the Mohawks, 175 
 
 Food and mode of preparation, 24 
 
 Fort Amsterdam held in siege by the In 
 dians, 113, 123 : surrendered to the 
 English, 158; Nassau, construction 
 of, 99 j Necessity, Washington 
 erects, 211 5 Niagara, erected by the 
 French, 282 $ headquarters of In 
 dians and Tories in war of Revolu 
 tion, 2825 Orange, construction of, 
 99 5 Plain, battle of, 284 j Schuyler, 
 siege of, 273 
 
 Franklin, Benjamin, commands expedi 
 tion to build Fort at Gnadenhiitten, 
 228 
 
 French, employ Catholic missionaries, 
 1 68 ; secure treaty of neutrality, 
 with Duke of York, 169; make 
 prisoners of Iroquois chiefs by treach 
 ery, 1715 at war with the Senecas, 
 171; yield to the demands of the 
 Iroquois, 172; Indian war of 1689, 
 1725 preparation for war, 189; Iro 
 quois and Mahican converts aid, 
 1875 tribes in alliance with, 190; 
 interpretation of treaty of Aix-la- 
 Chapelle, 208 ; erect monuments in 
 Ohio valley, 208 j Washington de 
 feats near Great Meadows, 21 0; 
 compel Washington to evacuate Fort 
 Necessity, 211 ; liberality of, to In 
 dian allies, 211 5 surrender possession 
 of Canada, 243 5 changes in relation 
 with Indian tribes caused by with 
 drawal of the, 2495 residents of the 
 Ohio valley encourage hostilities 
 against the English, 257 ; Mohawks 
 agreement of, with Iroquois, 204 
 
 Frontenac, Count de, governor of Canada, 
 173; plans expeditions against the 
 English, 173 ; invades the Mohawk 
 country and destroys their castles, 
 175 ; invades the Onondaga coun 
 try, 176 
 Galissoniere, commissioned to occupy 
 
 Ohio valley, 208 
 
 Gallatin, Hon. Albert, statement of, con 
 cerning subjugation of Mahicans, 56 
 Garangula, a chief of Onondagas, 316 
 Gardiner, Lion and David, 76 
 German Flats, commissioners of congress 
 held conference with Iroquois at, 263 
 
INDEX. 
 
 405 
 
 Gil, sachem of Seatalcats, 74 
 
 Gist, Christopher, commissioned to treat 
 
 with Western tribes, 209 
 Geographical nomenclature, 361 
 
 Accopogue, village of, Long Island, 
 
 365 
 
 Alipconck, Tarrytown, 366 
 Appamaghpogh, near Verplanck's 
 
 Point, 367 
 
 Aquehung, or Byram river, 367 
 Apawquammis, Rye Neck, 367 
 Armonck, Byram river, 367 
 Apoquague, Silver Lake, Dutchess 
 
 county, 370 
 Assinnapink creek, Orange county, 
 
 377 
 Arackhook, Tinn Brock, Orange 
 
 county, 387 
 Alaskayering mountains. Orange 
 
 county, 393 
 
 Ackkinkashacky, Hackinsack, 396 
 Amboy, New Jersey, 376 
 Arissheck, Paulus Hook, 376 
 Atkarkarton, Kingston, 394 
 Achquetuck, Coeyman's Hollow, 
 
 39.7. 
 
 Achsinink, Shawaugunk kill,389 
 Aioskawosting, Shawangunk, Ul 
 ster county, 389 
 
 Chesekook, Rockland county, 377 
 Cowonham's hill, Plum point, 377 
 Cachtanaquick island, 375 
 Caniskeck, Coeymans, 396 
 Coxackie, Greene county, 396 
 Canastagione, Niskayunah, 398 
 Cohoes Falls, 399 
 Dionondahowa, falls on Batten kil, 
 
 370 
 
 Equorsink, Crum Elbow, 372 
 Gamoenapa, Communipau, 376 
 Huppogues, Smithtown, Long Is 
 land, 365 
 
 Hobokenhacking, Hoboken, 376 
 Haquequenunck, Patterson, 376 
 Hannakrois creek, 397 
 Hoosack, Rensselaer county, 376 
 Ishpatinck, Brooklyn Heights, 376 
 Jogee Hill, Orange county, 382 
 Kapsee, Copsie Point, New York, 
 
 361 
 
 Kitchawonck, Croton river, 366 
 Kittatenny, Anthony's nose, 367 
 Kookpake Lake, Columbia county, 
 
 373 
 Keeseywego, creek opposite Albany, 
 
 375 
 
 Kockhachchingh, Nutten' Hook, 
 Katskill, 394 
 
 Geographical nomenclature, continued 
 Kiskatameck, Katskill, 395 
 Kumochenack, Haverstraw bay, 
 
 377 
 
 Kackawawook, Orange county, 387 
 Kerhonkson, Ulster county, 391 
 Kaunaumeek, Massachusetts, 86 
 Manhattan, New York, 361 
 Muscoota, New York, 362 
 Matawucks, Staten Island, 362 
 Manetto hill, Long Island, 364 
 Mecox bay, Long Island, 364 
 Mereyekawick, Brooklyn, 365 
 Meghkeekassin, a rock, Yonkers, 
 
 365 
 
 Montauk, Long Island, 365 
 Meahagh, Verplanck's point, 367 
 Magopson, New Rochelle, 367 
 Muscoota, Harlem river, 367 
 Mockquams, Blind Brook, 367 
 Mahopak lake, Putnam county, 
 
 368 
 Matteawan creek, Dutchess county, 
 
 370 
 
 Mahicanituk, Hudson's river, 42 
 Mankackkewachky, Raritan mea 
 dows, 376 
 
 Minnisconga, Stony point, 377 
 Mistucky, Warwick, Orange county, 
 
 3 82 . 
 Minnisink, Orange couiUy, 382 
 
 Muchattoes Hill, Orange county, 
 
 382 
 Matapan creek, Dutchess county, 
 
 371 
 
 Machackoesk, Kinderhook, 374 
 Maggrnapogh, New Paltz, Ulster 
 
 county, 393 
 
 Machawanick, Katskill, 394 
 Naghtognk, Corlear's Hook, New 
 
 York, 361 
 
 Nepeage, Long Island, 365 
 Namke Creek, Long Island, 365 
 Namke creek, Long Island, 365 
 Neperah, saw mill creek, 365 
 Nappeckamak, Yonkers, 365 
 Narrasunck, Haverstraw, 377 
 Neversink Hills, New Jersey, 376 
 Neweskeke, Albany county, 396 
 Nescotonck, Shawangunk, Ulster 
 
 county, 388 
 Nanapenahekan creek, Columbia 
 
 county, 372 
 Occopoque, Riverhead, Long Island, 
 
 365. 
 
 Ossingsing, Sing Sing, 366 
 Oniskethau, Coeymans creek, 397 
 Peconic bay, Long Island, 364 
 
406 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Geographical nomenclature, continued 
 Papirinimen, Spuyten Devil creek, 
 
 365 
 Poconteco river, Westchester county, 
 
 367 
 
 Poningo, Westchester county, 367 
 Pockestersen, Stony Brook, 367 
 Pachgatgoch, Schaticook, 195 
 Pompton river, New Jersey, 377 
 Pooploop's kil, Orange county, 377 
 Poleber's Island, Pallopel's Island, 
 
 377 
 Pochuck, Warwick, Orange county, 
 
 382 
 
 Pakadasank, Orange county, 392 
 Poghkeepke, Poughkeepsie, 371 
 Passapenock, Beeren Island, 374 
 'Poetanock, Mill creek, opposite 
 
 Albany, 375 
 
 Petuquapoen, Greenbush, 375 
 Paanpaack, Troy, 375 
 Panhoosick, north of Troy, 375 
 Passaic river, New Jersey, 376 
 Potick, Athens, Greene county, 385 
 Pitkiskaker, Shawangunk, Ulster 
 
 county, 389 
 guinnahung, Westchester county, 
 
 367 
 
 Quaroppas, White Plains, 367 
 Querapoquett, Dutchess county, 371 
 Quaspeck, Verdrietig Hook, 377 
 Quassaick creek, Newburgh, 382 
 Quequicke, Hoosic Falls, 376 
 Rechtauck, New York, 362 
 Ronconcoa lake, Long Island, 364 
 Ranachque, Morisania, 367 
 Rippowams, Stamford, Ct., 368 
 Ramapo river, 377 
 Riritan river, 376 
 Sappokanikan, New York, 361 
 Sewanhackey, Long Island, 365 
 Sackhoes, Peekskill, 366 
 Senasqua, Teller's Point, 366 
 Sacrahung, Mill river, 367 
 Shappequa, Westchester county, 367 
 Shenandoah, Dutchess county, 370 
 Shecomeco, Dutchess county, 86, 
 
 37i 
 Schunemunk mountain, Orange 
 
 county, 381 
 
 Shawangunk, Ulster county, 388 
 Sankpenak, Roeloff Jansen's kil, 
 
 372 
 Scompamuck, Ghent, Columbia 
 
 county, 373 
 
 Schodac, Columbia county, 58, 374 
 Schotack, Aepjin's Island, 375 
 Sieskasin, Coeymans, 396 
 
 Geographical nomenclature, continued 
 Sunckhagag, Albany county, 87, 
 
 397 
 
 Schenectady, Albany, 398 
 Saratoga, Saratoga county, 398 
 Seepus, Esopus river, 94 
 Sannahagog, opposite Albany, 374 
 Sheepshack, Lansingburgh, 375 
 Schanwemisch, Ulster county, 388 
 Sackahampa, Columbia county, 373 
 Totama, Passaick Falls, 376 
 Tuphanne, Rockland county, 377 
 Tongapogh kil, Orange county, 377 
 Taghkanick mountains, Columbia 
 
 county, 373 
 Twastawekah, Klaverack creek, 
 
 37^, 374 
 
 Taeseameasick, Lansingburgh, 375 
 Tioneendogahe, Batten kil, 375 
 Ticonderoga, 375 
 Tawalsontha, Norman's kil, 99, 
 
 397 
 
 Tawassgunshee, Fort Orange, Al 
 bany, 397 
 
 Warpoes, New York, 362 
 Wanoksink, Ulster county, 389 
 Wawijchtanok, Columbia county, 
 
 85, 86, 372 
 
 Wnahktakook, Westenhuck, 62, 86 
 Weckquaesgeek, Westchester Co., 
 
 78,366 
 
 Wysquaqua, Wicker's creek, 78 
 Waumainuck, Delancey's neck, 367 
 Weputing, Dutchess county, 369 
 Wicopee, Dutchess county, 370 
 Wappingers Falls, Dutchess Co., 
 
 370 
 
 Wechquadnach, Conn., 371 
 Wynogkee creek, Dutchess county, 
 
 371 
 
 Wiehacken, Wehawken, New Jer 
 sey, 376 
 Wachtung mountains, New Jersey, 
 
 376 
 Winegtekonk mountain, Orange 
 
 county, 381 
 
 Wawayanda, Orange county, 385 
 Wawanaquassick, Columbia county, 
 
 372 
 Wallomschock river, Bennington, 
 
 Vt., 375 
 Willehoosa, Port Jervis, Orange 
 
 county, 96 
 
 Gnadenb.iir.ten, Moravians settle at, 198 5 
 Mahican converts remove to, 198 ; 
 attacked by Lenapes, 220 5 converts 
 fly to Pennsylvania for protection 
 against Presbyterians, 245 
 
INDEX. 
 
 407 
 
 Goethals, sachem of Wappingers, 84,2995 
 solicits peace on behalf of Esopus In 
 dians, 136 
 
 Goharius, sachem of Weckquaesgeeks, 79 
 
 Gouwarrowe,sachem of Matinecocks, 745 
 security for Hackinsacks and Tap- 
 pans, 117 
 
 Government and laws, 29 
 
 Greenbush, Mohicans ravage, 60 
 aboriginal name, 375 
 
 Haaskouaun, an Iroquois chief, 172. 
 
 Hackinsacks, location of, 905 Van der 
 Horst settles among, 104 ; a warrior 
 of, robbed, 1045 complaint of, re 
 garding presents, in j young men 
 clamor for war, 1 1 1 ; take part in 
 war of 1643, no; propose an ex 
 change of prisoners, 12,3; negotiate 
 on behalf of Esopus Indians, 139 
 
 Harmer, Gen., commands expedition 
 against Lenapes and Shawanoes, 
 291 
 
 Hathorn, Col.., commands in battle of 
 Minnisink, 278 
 
 Haverstraw, location of 92 ; bay, abori 
 ginal name of, 377 
 
 Hendrik, chief sachem of Mohawks, 
 visits England, 1885 addresses con 
 ference at Albany, 213; takes part 
 in expedition against Crown Point, 
 223; killed in battle at Lake George, 
 224; biographical sketch of, 310} 
 
 Hendrik, Captain, a Mahican chief, 271 ; 
 speech of, at Albany, 272 j bio 
 graphical sketch, 320 
 
 Herkimer, Gen., holds conference with 
 Brant, 267 ; mortally wounded at 
 Oriskany, 274 
 
 Hiawatha, the story of, 36 
 
 Hoosic French capture fort at, 204 5 
 aboriginal name of, 375, 376 
 
 Hoosic falls, aboriginal name of, 376 
 
 Horikans, location of, 85 
 
 Housatonic river, neutral boundary line, 
 62 
 
 Hudson, Henry, 7 5 conflict of, with In 
 dians at Stony Point, II ; conflict 
 of, with Indians at Shorackappock, 
 II, 77 ; discovers the Mahicanituk, 
 
 7 j intoxicates Indians at Castleton, 
 10 ; traditions respecting his visit, 
 12 j visits Indians at the Narrows, 
 
 8 $ visits Indians at Castleton, 9 
 Hunter, Gov., attends conference at Al 
 bany, 189 
 
 Hutchinson, Ann, killed by Weckquaes 
 geeks, 112; daughter of, returned 
 from captivity, 118 
 
 Indian villages and localities, 34, 361 
 Albany county, 85, 87, 96, 397 
 Columbia county, 85, 88, 372 
 Dutchess county, 83, 369 
 Greene county, 95, 394 
 Long Island, 72, 364 
 New Jersey, 89, 376 
 New York, 361 
 Orange county, 93, 377 
 Putnam county, 80, 368 
 Rensselaer county, 85, 374 
 Rockland county, 91, 377 
 Staten Island, 91, 362 
 Saratoga county, 59, 398 
 Ulster county, 94, 388 
 Westchester county, 77, 365 
 
 Iroquois confederacy, 35 ; territory of, 
 35 $ tradition respecting origin, 355 
 tribal divisions, 36, 96 ; totemic em 
 blems, 49 ; tradition respecting or 
 ganization of confederacy, 36 ; called 
 the Five Nations, 36, 39 ; form of 
 government, 39; organization of 
 confederacy, 39 ; national council, 
 40 5 political supremacy, 52 ; wars 
 with the Hurons, 53 ; defeated by 
 Champlain, 535 territory invaded by 
 the French, 54 ; make treaty with 
 the Dutch, 54; treaties with the 
 English, 53, 55, 1585 French de 
 termine to destroy, 1715 chiefs made 
 prisoners by treachery, 1725 Mahi- 
 cans in alliance with, 160, 1725 
 capture Montreal, 173 ; threaten 
 Quebec, 1735 losses sustained in the 
 war of 1689, 179; refuse to break 
 their treaty with the Abenaquis, 1925 
 hold conference with New England 
 commissioners, 192; Six Nations, so 
 called, 190 5 strength of, in 1750, 
 
 202 j refuse to take part in war of 
 1744, 203 $ decline in prowess of, 
 
 203 5 grand conference at Albany, 
 206 5 practical division of confede 
 racy, 207, 259; chiefs visit England, 
 1885 French priests convert, 179, 
 211 ; condition in 1768, 2515 ac 
 tion in regard to the war of the 
 Lenapes, 224 ; reply to invitation to 
 embark in war of 1765, 223 $ resolve 
 to remain neutral in war of Revolu 
 tion, 262, 264, 2665 debauched by 
 the English, 267 ; divided in alliance 
 in war of the Revolution, 2735 
 strength in the British alliance, 273 j 
 territory invaded by expedition under 
 Gen. Sullivan, 279 ; condition un 
 der treaty of peace with Great Bri- 
 
408 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Iroquois, continued 
 
 tain, 288 j treaty with, in 1784, 289 
 
 Jesuits, labors of the French, 166, 168 
 
 Johnson, Sir William, 17 ; commissioned 
 to invite Iroquois to conference, 2125 
 appointed superintendent of Indian 
 affairs, 222 ; commissioned to or 
 ganize expedition for capture of 
 Crown Point, 222; removes council 
 fire to Mount Johnson, 222 ; holds 
 conference with Iroquois, 223 5 
 commands in battle of Lake George, 
 224 ; endeavors to suppress hostilities 
 in Pennsylvania, 2245 holds con 
 ference with Lenapes, etc., 228, 229; 
 removes petticoats from Lenapes, 
 229 ; efforts of, to hold Indian tribes 
 in alliance with the crown, 259 5 
 biographical notice of, 260 
 
 Johnson, Sir John, 260; commands 
 Royal Greens in siege of Fort Stan- 
 wix, 274 5 removes his father's trea 
 sures, 283 ; commands expedition 
 against Schoharie settlements, 284; 
 biographical notice of, 265 
 
 Johnson, Guy, deputy superintendent of 
 Iroquois, 260 j holds conference at 
 Oswego, 263 5 appeals to Iroquois to 
 take up arms, 263 ; second confer 
 ence at Oswego, 268 5 receives in 
 structions from Gen. Gage, 262 
 
 Johnson Hall, battle of, 285 
 
 Joselyn, John, 16 
 
 Juet, Hudson's mate, visits Indians at 
 Castleton, 9 
 
 Jumonville, death of, 210 
 
 Kalebackers, Indians having guns, 136 
 
 Katskills, location of, 95; loving men of, 
 
 995 
 
 Katsban, a village of the Katskills, 177 
 
 Katonah, sachem of Siwanoys, 82 
 
 Kayingehaga, Mohawks so called, 35 
 
 Kayaderossera patent, 258 
 
 Keeperdo, a Mahican chief, territory of, 
 194 
 
 Kieft, director, attempts the collection of 
 tribute, 101 ; urges war measures, 
 102; proclaims a public fast, 1095 
 solicits aid from New England, 113; 
 solicits mediation of Mohawks and 
 Mahicans, 117 
 
 King, Thomas, chief of the Oghakawa- 
 gas, 201 
 
 King, Philip, winter quarters near Albany, 
 62 ; influence of his teachings, 203 
 
 Kingston, first settlement at, 125 5 a vil 
 lage palisaded at, 128 ; aboriginal 
 name of, 394 
 
 Kinte-Kaying, an Indian dance, 28, 115 
 Kitchawongs, location of, 79 
 Kitchawong, sachem of Kitchawongs, 
 
 79 
 
 Kitzanacka, Indian priest, 27 
 
 Kirkland, Rev. Samuel, missionary labors 
 of, 261 
 
 Konapot, sachem of Mahicans, 89 , com 
 missioned captain, 196 
 
 Kregier, Martin, journal of second Esopus 
 war, 60; commands expedition 
 against Esopus Indians, 149 
 
 Krieckbeck, commandant at Fort Orange, 
 joins war party of Mahicans, 1005 
 killed by the Mohawks, 100 
 
 Kryn, chief of the Caghnawagas, 180 
 
 La Barre, governor of Canada, 169 
 
 Lafayette, Mahicans under command of, 
 286 
 
 Lake George, battle of, 224 
 
 Language, 3335 Algonquin, origin of 
 name, 64 ; Algonquin, grammar of 
 the, 338 j dialectic vocabularies, 
 359; general reference, 333; geo 
 graphical names, formation of, 354 j 
 word building, 352 
 
 Lawrence, Dr,, 17 
 
 Leisler, Jacob, takes possession of Fort 
 James, 175 j executed for treason, 
 
 175 
 
 Lenni Lenapes, territory of, 35 ; signi 
 fication of name, 44 ; tradition re 
 specting origin, 44 ; traditionary 
 war with the Allegewi, 45 ; form of 
 government, 46 ; tribal divisions, 47, 
 totemic divisions and emblems, 
 49 ; subjugation of, by Iroquois, 64 ; 
 wars with the Senecas, 68 ; made 
 tributary to the Senecas, 69 ; 
 strengthened by emigrants from 
 Shawanoes and Mahicans, 194} 
 strength of, in 1750, 202; sale of 
 lands of, 213 ; in alliance with the 
 French, 2125 action of, concerning 
 lands, 2165 declare war against the 
 English, 2195 devastations by, along 
 the Kittatinny mountains, and on 
 the Susquehanna, 220 ; hostilities in 
 tht Minnisinks, 221, 238 ; declare 
 themselves men, 225 j Johnson 
 sends peace embassy to, 224; John 
 son appoints conference with, 228 ; 
 Johnson removes petticoat from, 
 229 ; make peace with Pennsylvania, 
 236 ; take part in Pontiac's conspi 
 racy, 243 ; massacre Connecticut 
 settlers at Wyoming, 1763, 244 ; 
 join the Western alliance, 244 ; 
 
INDEX. 
 
 409 
 
 Lenni Lenapes, continued 
 country of, invaded 
 
 by the 
 included in the 
 
 Eng- 
 peace 
 
 lish, 247; 
 
 of 1765, 249 ; condition of, in 
 1768, 251 ; declare war against Vir 
 ginia, 256; more powerful than the 
 Iroquois, 258 ; east of the Allegha- 
 nies unite with the Americans in 
 the Revolution, 272 ; war cry of, at 
 White Plains, 2725 encouraged by 
 the English to renew war, 290 ; re 
 new hostilities in che west, 291 ; 
 make treaty with Gen. Wayne, 292; 
 on the banks of the Mississippi, 292 
 Lenapewihituk, name of Delaware river, 
 
 45 
 
 Lewis, Colonel, death of, 257 
 Logan, attack on encampment of, 
 255 ; commands war party of 
 Senecas, etc., 257 ; biographical 
 sketch of, 314 
 
 Long Island, Block builds ship on, 77 ; 
 Dutch settlers on, 101 ; settlements 
 ravaged, 1365 territory of, divided 
 between Dutch and English, 124; 
 treaty with Indians of, 124; abo 
 riginal name of, 365 
 
 Long Reach, Indians of, 177 
 
 Losses sustained by the Dutch in war of 
 1643, 108 
 
 Mahican confederacy, nine nations com 
 posing, 41, 85; originalseat of, 41 ; 
 subdue tribes on the sea-coast, 41 
 
 Mahicans, a nation of the Mahican con 
 federacy, 41, 855 welcome Hudson 
 at Castleton, 9; territory of, 34, 85; 
 sub-tribal divisions, 85 5 national 
 council fire, 41, 62, 88 5 villages 
 and castles of, 85,86; tradition re 
 specting origin, 42 ; form of govern 
 ment, 42 ; relation of, to the Mohe- 
 gans, 43 ; totemic divisions and 
 emblems, 50 ; and Wappingers con 
 stitute one nation, 51 ; make treaty 
 of friendship with the Dutch, 54 ; 
 alleged subjugation of,- 56; wars 
 with the Mohawks, 57 ; ravage the 
 east side of the Hudson, 60 ; offi 
 cially recognized by Massachusetts, 
 62 5 relations with the government 
 of New York, 62 ; sell lands to Van 
 Rensselaer, 87 ; sell lands to Robert 
 Livingston, 86, 87 ; obtain fire-arms 
 from the Dutch, 66 ; attack the 
 Manhattans, 105 ; defeat the Mo 
 hawks, 60, 61 5 murder Dutch sol 
 diers, 131; solicit peace on behalf 
 of Esopus Indians, 137; included in 
 
 Vlahicans, continued 
 
 peace of Esopus, 145 ; at war with 
 the Mohawks, 149, 156; meet 
 French Indians at Cohoes, 145; 
 united in covenant with the Iroquois, 
 161 ; instigated to hostilities against 
 the Dutch by the English, i6oj 
 assist the Mohawks, 175, 1765 
 strength of, in Albany county, 1845 
 equality of, with the Iroquois, 1 8 6 j 
 chiefs of, visits England, 188; in 
 expedition against Canada, 189 ; re 
 moval of a portion to Pennsylvania, 
 194; hold conference with the Mo 
 hawks, 204 ; attend conference at 
 Albany, 214; strength of, in 1750, 
 203; condition of, in 1768, 2525 
 unite with Americans in Revolution, 
 262 ; take part in the battle of Lex 
 ington, 271 ; sent on mission to west 
 ern tribes, 269, 272; take part in 
 the battleof White Plains, 272 ; under 
 Lafayette at Barren Hill, 286 ; ope 
 rate against English in Westchester 
 county, 286; Washington's testi 
 mony regarding, 287 ; removal of, 
 to Oneida county, 292 j removal of, 
 to Wisconsin, 292 
 Mahak Niminaw, sachem of Katskills, 
 
 96 
 
 Mahican, Abraham, 88 
 Mahikanders, Mahicans, so called, 41 
 Mamekotings, location of, 95 
 Manhattans, the old, subjugated by Wap 
 pingers, 51 ; enemies of the Sanhick- 
 ans, 71; language of, 51, 77 } 
 the Dutch settle among, 77 ; Adri- 
 en Block among the, 77 ; massa 
 cre of, by order of Kieft, 106 
 Manhattan, explanation of term, 77; wars, 
 
 99, 100 
 
 Manhassets, location of, 74 
 Manners and customs, 16; attention in 
 sickness, 23; alliances, manner of 
 forming, 32; chastity of females, 
 22; child-birth, 23 ; castles and 
 mode of constructing, 25 ; dwellings 
 and mode of constructing, 24; dress of 
 an Indian belle, 21 ; disposition of 
 prisoners, 32 ; declaration of war, 31 ; 
 food and mode of preparation, 24; go 
 vernment and laws, 29 ; medicines, 
 27 ; occupation, 24 ; organization of 
 armies, 31; plurality of wives, 22; 
 punishment for murder, 33 ; religious 
 belief and worship, 27 ; rank and 
 titles, 30 ; title to lands, 30 ; wam 
 pum, 26; war, preparation for, 31 
 
4lO 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Manners and customs, continued 
 
 war address, 31 ; war song of Le- 
 napes, 32; weapons of war, 25 
 Van der Donck's description o: 
 appearance, 20 ; Verazzano's de 
 scription of appearance, 19 
 
 Maquas, Mohawks so called, 35; castle 
 of the Praying, 97 
 
 Maringoman, sachem of Waoranecks, 94; 
 castle of, 94 
 
 Marsapequas, location of the, 73 ; take 
 part in war of 1643, 73 ; aid the 
 Dutch in Esopus wars, 73, 149, 153 
 
 Maramaking, sachem of Si wanoys, 82 
 
 Massachusetts, sends war belt to Mahi- 
 cans, 269 5 reply of, to Mahican ad 
 dress, 271 
 
 Matinecocks, location of the, 74 
 
 Mattano, sachem of Raritans, 90 
 
 Mauwehu, sachem of Schaticooks of 
 Kent, Connecticut, 195 
 
 Mayane, a Wappinger chief, 82, 113 
 
 Medicines, 27 
 
 Mechkentowoons, a Mahican chieftaincy, 
 71, 85, 96 
 
 Megriesken, sachem of Wappingers, 84 
 
 Merncks, location of the, 73 
 
 Mespath, village of, destroyed by Dutch, 
 114 
 
 Metzewakes, sachem of Kikhawongs, 79 
 
 Miantonomo, sachem of Narragansetts, 
 103 
 
 Miami Rapids, council of tribes at, 291 
 
 Mingoes, origin of, 257 
 
 Minichque, a Mahican sachem, mortally 
 injured by negroes, 185; biographi 
 cal notice of, 319 
 
 Minnisinks, a chieftaincy of Minsis, lo 
 cation and villages of, 965 one of, 
 charged with murder at Esopus, 
 127; take part in war of 1689, 
 178 j visited by Arent Schuyler, 
 l8ij invite Shawanoes to settle 
 among, 181 5 Minsis defrauded of 
 lands at, 217; settlers at, killed, 
 222 j devastations in war of 1756, 
 238 ; Count Pulaski stationed at, 
 
 277 j destruction of settlement at, 
 
 278 j battle of, 278 
 
 Minsis, a tribal division of Lenapes, 50, 
 93 ; totem and chieftaincies of, 50, 
 935 at war with the Senecas, 685 
 obtain fire-arms from the Swedes, 
 69, 1 205 Senecas aided by Mo 
 hawks against, 68, 165 ; subjugated 
 by Senecas, 68, 165 ; a portion 
 settle among the Ottawas, 177 ; de 
 cimated by small pox, 181 j Shawa- 
 
 Minsis, continued 
 
 noes settle among, 1815 devastate 
 western Orange and Ulster, 221 ; 
 murder settlers from Canastota to 
 Esopus, 231 j hostilities of, in Min- 
 nisink country, 238 ; paid for lands 
 in New Jersey, 241 
 
 Mississagies, accepted as the seventh na 
 tion of the Iroquois confederacy, 199; 
 alliance of, with Iroquois broken, 200 
 
 Mitchill, Dr. theory of, 16 
 
 Mohawks, a tribe of the Five Nations, 
 36} territory of, 96; villages and 
 castles of, 97 j totems of, 49 ; mode 
 of declaring war, 31 j conversion of, 
 by Jesuits, 56; obtain fire-arms, 66, 
 100 j at war with the Hurons, 53 ; 
 first treaty with the Dutch, 545 
 wars with the Mahicans, 57, 61 j 
 drive the Soquatucks from their land, 
 59 j weakened by the Mahicans, 60 ; 
 solicit the gov. of Canada, for pro 
 tection against the Mahicans, 59; 
 attacked by the Mahicans at Cagh- 
 nawaga, 61 ; defeated by the Ma 
 hicans at Kinaquariones, 61 ; obtain 
 assistance from the Oneidas, Cayugas, 
 and Senecas, 61 ; send embassadors to 
 Fort Orange, 131 j Dutch send em 
 bassadors to, 132; promise not to aid 
 Esopus Indians, 133; send embassy to 
 Esopus to negotiate peace, 136} regard 
 Esopus war as having been caused by 
 the Dutch, 141 j included in peace 
 of Esopus, 145 ; complain of* bad 
 treatment, 144; castles destroyed by 
 the French, 175 j Zinzendorp's 
 statement concerning, 187; chiefs 
 visit England, i88j in expedition 
 against Canada, 189} in expedition 
 against Crown Point, 223 j aid the 
 English in war of Revolution, 273 j 
 retirement of, J:o Ouise river, 289 
 
 Mohegan, meaning of, 50 
 
 Mohegans, a Pequot clan, 63 
 
 Monemius, castle, 85 
 
 Monakadook, Seneca half-king, mission 
 of, 233 
 
 Montauks, location of, 75; chieftaincies 
 of, 72; originally a part of Mahican 
 confederation, 5 i ; originally styled 
 Manhattan, 5 1 ; at war with Narra 
 gansetts, 76 ; small-pox among, 765 
 accept protection of English, 76} 
 divided between English and Dutch, 
 76 j removal of portion of, to Oneida 
 county, 29 3 j reservation of, on 
 Long Island, 294 
 
INDEX. 
 
 411 
 
 Montague, Rachel, taken prisoner, 150; 
 pilots Dutch forces against Shawan- 
 gunk, 150 
 Montour,* Catharine, the Queen Esther 
 
 of the Senecas, 276 
 Moody, Lady, house of, attacked, 123 
 Moravians, testimony of, 88 
 Morton, Thomas, theory of, 16 
 Mount Misery, traditionary battle at, 81 
 Muhhekaneew, original names of Mahi- 
 
 cans, 41 ; orthography of, 41, 42 
 Murderer's kil, Indians of, 93 
 Murder, atonement for, 31 
 Murders committed by Indians, 120 
 Nanfan, Lieut. Gov., attends conference 
 
 at Albany, 184 
 
 Nanticokes, a portion of settled at 
 Katskil, 95 ; removal of, from 
 Maryland to Pennsylvania, 199; ac 
 cept Mahicanders as brothers, 231 
 National and tribal organizations, 34 
 Navisinks, location of the, 89 ; Hudson's 
 intercourse with, 9, 89 ; kill John 
 Coleman, 9, 89 
 Nawaas, location of the, 85 
 Necariages, application of, for acceptance as 
 seventh nation of Iroquois, refused, 
 200 
 
 Nesaquakes, location of the, 74 
 Neversink, explanation of term, 376 j 
 
 river, 591 
 
 Nicholson, Gen., expedition against Ca 
 nada, 188, 189 
 
 Nicolls, Richard, takes possession of Fort 
 Amsterdam, 158 ; proclaimed de 
 puty governor, 158 ; makes treaty 
 with Iroquois, 158 ; renews treaty 
 with Esopus Indians, 163 
 Niessen, Ensign, sent to Esopus, 149 
 Nimham, chief sachem ofWappingers,5i, 
 8 1, 84, 202; visits England, 253; 
 killed in battle of Cortland's ridge, 
 287 ; biographical sketch of, 329 
 Nochpeems, location of, 80 ; treaty with, 
 
 117 
 
 Novisans at war with Iroquois, 68, 159 
 Nowedonah, sachem of Shinecocks, 75 
 Occum, Rev. Samson, mission of, 293 ; 
 
 biographical sketch of, 325 
 Ochtayhquanawicroons, settlement of, on 
 the Susquehanna, 200 ; subsequently 
 called the Oghkawagas, 200 ; Ma- 
 hican clans settle among, 200 ; Ska- 
 niadaradighroonas settle among, 200; 
 Chugnuts settle among, 201 ; Esopus 
 Indians settle among, 201 ; King, 
 Thomas, chief of, 201; connection 
 of, with war of Revolution, 201 
 
 52 
 
 Oghkawagas, elements composing, 200 
 
 Oghkawaga, head-quarters of Brant, 267 
 
 Ohio company, organization of, 208 
 
 valley, French endeavor to secure 
 possession of the, 208, 209, 210 
 
 Onackatin, sachem of Warranawonkongs, 
 95 ; party to treaty of 1665, 165 j 
 lands of, 165, 387 
 
 Oneidas, a tribal division of Iroquois, 97 ; 
 assign lands to Tuscaroras, 190; 
 second castle of the, 201 ; accept 
 war belt of colonists, 273 ; disper 
 sion of, by Brant's forces, 275 ; retali 
 atory descent of, upon the Mohawks, 
 275 ; severed from Iroquois confe 
 deracy, 288 ; secured in possession of 
 lands, 289 ; Mahicans settle among, 
 292 
 
 Onderis Hocque, a Minsi chief, address 
 of, 141 
 
 Onondagas, a tribal division of Iroquois, 
 35; make treaty with the Dutch, 
 54 ; capital of the, 98 ; Spangen- 
 berg's account of confederacy of, 40; 
 territory of, invaded by French, 
 176 ; Zinzendorf's opinion of, 187; 
 declare themselves independent, 
 208 ; accept war-belts of the crown, 
 273 ; capital of, destroyed by Sulli 
 van, 280 ; apply to Oneidas for re 
 lief, 281 
 
 Onondaga, capital of Iroquois confederacy, 
 98; Jesuit missionaries at, 170; 
 war belts taken to, for consultation, 
 213; council at, repudiates sale of 
 Wyoming lands, 219 ; conference 
 with Lenapes at, 227 ; destroyed by 
 Sullivan's expedition, 281 
 
 Organization of armies, 31 
 
 Origin of the North American Indians, 
 16 
 
 Oriskany, battle of, 274 
 
 Oritany, sachem of Hackinsacks, 91 ; 
 treaty of, with the Dutch, no; 
 party to treaty of 1645, 118; soli 
 cits peace on behalf of Esopus In 
 dians, 139 
 
 Ottawas, location of the, 177 ; a number 
 of, die of small pox at Esopus, 177; 
 Pontiac, king of, organizes alliance 
 against the English, 243 
 
 Pacham, a chief of the Tankitekes, 80; 
 advises massacre of the Dutch, 1 1 1 ; 
 surrender of a condition of peace, 
 117 
 
 Papequanaehen, an Esopus chief, killed, 
 152 
 
 Parnau, sachem of Rockaways, 73 
 
412 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Passachquon, sachem of Navisinks, 90 
 
 Patchogues, location of the, 75 
 
 Patthunck, sachem of Siwanoys, 82 
 
 Pauw, Michael, settlement of, 106, 107 
 
 Pavonia, Jersey city so called, 106; 
 Manhattan fugitives at, 106 j massa 
 cre at, 107, 1 08 
 
 Paxinos, a sachem of Minnisinks, 1785 
 attends conference at Mt. Johnson, 
 229; attends conference at Lancaster, 
 235; biographical sketch of, 305 
 
 Peekskill, aboriginal name of, 79 
 
 Pemerawghin, chief sachem of Warrana- 
 wonkongs, 95 
 
 Penhawitz, sachem of Carnarsees, 73 } 
 sends delegates to negotiate peace, 
 109 ; conference with, at Rechquaa- 
 kie, no 
 
 Pennacooks, location of, 8 5 ; dispersion 
 of, 62 j a portion of, settle at Scha- 
 ticook, 63 j invited to remove to 
 Canada, 184; remnant of, carried 
 away to Canada, 216 
 
 Pennsylvania, proprietaries of, purchase 
 lands, 216; Lenapes dispute title, 
 215, 218; declares war against Le 
 napes, 228 ; deeds surrendered, 241 ; 
 makes peace with Lenapes, 241 
 
 Pequots, origin of the, 41 j country of, 
 435 destruction of, 44; jurisdiction 
 west of the Connecticut, 63 
 
 Petroleum, use of, as a cure for small 
 pox, 181 
 
 Pierron, a Jesuit missionary, labors of, 
 
 97 
 
 Plurality of wives, 22 
 
 Pocahontas, reference to, 144 
 
 Pontiac, king of Ottawas, conspiracy of, 
 243 5 tribes in alliance with, 248 ; 
 failure of conspiracy, 246 
 
 Ponus, sachem of Toquams, 80, 82 
 
 Ponupahowhelbshelen, sachem of Weck- 
 quaesgeeks, 79 
 
 Pos, Captain, taken prisoner, 123; ne 
 gotiates treaty of peace, 124 
 
 Potick, a Mahican village, 63, 395 5 fugi 
 tives from King Philip's war at, 63 
 
 Poughkeepsie, aboriginal name of, 371 
 
 Poygratasuck, sachem of Manhassets, 74 
 
 Praying Indians, Jesuit converts so called, 
 179 
 
 Presents, use of, in negotiations, 29, 31, 
 214 
 
 Preummaker, a chief of Warranawon- 
 kongs, 95 ; killed by the Dutch, 
 1385 land of, 138 
 
 Prisoners, ransom of, 124 
 
 Proprietaries, (see Pennsylvania). 
 
 Punganis, lands of, 177, 387 
 
 Punishment for murder, 33 
 
 Quassaick creek, 382 
 
 Quaqaasno, sacnem of Shinecocks, 75 
 
 Quebec, the Iroquois at, 172 
 
 Queen Anne's war, 183 
 
 Rank and titles, 30 
 
 Raritans, a chieftaincy of Lenapes, loca 
 tion of, 90 ; called Sanhikans or fire 
 workers, 90 j remove to the Kitta- 
 keny mountains, 90 j accused of 
 plundering, 101 ; attacked by the 
 Dutch, ioij destroy a family at 
 Mespath, 131 ; remove to Oneida 
 lake, 90, 293 ; remove to Lake 
 Michigan, 90 ; New Jersey pays 
 claim for lands, 293 
 
 Rauch, Christian Henry, missionary, 197 
 
 Rechtauck, Manhattan fugitives at, 1065 
 location of, 362 
 
 Reckgawawancs, location of the, 775 
 attack Hudson's ship, n, 77; in 
 cluded in treaty of 1643, 78 
 
 Red Hook, traditionary battle at, 57 
 
 Red Jacket, a Seneca chief pleads with 
 his people for peace, 282$ reference 
 
 . ' 3I7 . 
 Religious belief and worship, 27 
 
 Rochambeau, proclamation of, to French 
 
 Indian allies, 258 
 Rockaways, location of the, 73 
 Rodolf, Sergeant, commands in massacre 
 
 at Pavonia, 106 
 Ronduit, a small fort, erected at the 
 
 mouth of the Walkill, 130, 146 
 Sachus, sachem of Kitchawongs, 79 
 Sackagkemeck, sachem of Haverstraws, 92 
 Sager's kil, Indian village on, destroyed, 
 
 138 
 Sanders, Robert, commandant at Schen- 
 
 ectady, 174 
 Saraghtoga, settlement at, destroyed, 205 ; 
 
 aboriginal name, 398 
 Schabash, a chief of Shekomeko, 895 
 
 biographical notice of, 328 
 Schaticooks, elements composing the, 1 66, 
 
 186} date of organization, 166; 
 
 take part in war of 1689, 178; in 
 
 expedition against Canada, 189 ; of 
 
 Connecticut, 166 ; elements compos 
 ing* 195 
 Schaticook, orthography and signification 
 
 of, 195 
 Schenectady, destroyed by the French, 
 
 174; Albany, so called by Iroquois, 
 
 398 
 Schodac, capital of the Mahicans, 88, 
 
 374 
 
INDEX. 
 
 413 
 
 Schuyler, Col. Peter, secretary to com 
 missioners of Indian affairs, 1865 
 accompanies chiefs to England, 1 88 
 Col. Philip, 263 
 Hon. Yost, the story of, 274 
 
 Seatalcats, location of the, 74 
 
 Secatogues, location of the, 75 
 
 Senecas, a tribal division of Iroquois, 3 3 ; 
 villages of, 98 ; at war with the 
 Minsis, 68, 145 j delegation visits 
 Fort Orange, 1445 included with 
 Mohawks in peace of Esopus, 145 ; 
 Stuyvesant urges them to make 
 peace with Minsis, 146 ; subjugate 
 Minsis, 69; attack French trading 
 canoes, 1 69 ; French expedition 
 against, 172 ; estranged from the 
 English, 21 1 $ action of, concerning 
 Wyoming lands, 2165 encourage 
 Lenapes to war, 2165 remove petti 
 coat from Lenapes, 219 ; make 
 peace with the French, 242 5 invite 
 an alliance against the English, 243 5 
 war against the English,. 247 ; 
 Johnson makes treaty with, 147 ; 
 accept the war belts of the English, 
 273 ; country of, invaded by Sulli 
 van, 279 
 
 Senecas of the Glaize in western alliance, 
 292 
 
 Sequins, location and cantons of, 825 
 sell lands to West India Company, 
 82; sell lands to the English, 83; 
 chief of, imprisoned of Eelkins, 63, 
 83 $ compelled to pay tribute to Pe- 
 quots, 83 
 
 Sergeant, Rev. John, missionary, 196 
 
 Sessekemick, sachem of Tappans, 91 
 
 Sewackenamo, sachem of Esopus, 95, 1 39; 
 address of, 155 
 
 Shanasockwell, an independent nation of 
 Siwanoys, 82 
 
 Shawangunk, castle at, 93, 149, 388; ex 
 pedition for reduction of, 150 ; new 
 fort at, 152; expedition for reduc 
 tion of, 1525 third expedition to, 
 153 ; Miss Mack killed at, 283 j lo 
 cation and signification, 388 
 
 Shawanoes, removal of, from Maryland, 
 180: aided by Mahicans, 180; 
 make peace with Iroquois, 180; 
 settle among the Minsis, 1805 num 
 ber in expedition against Canada, 
 189 5 take part in Lenape wars (see 
 Lenapes). 
 
 Shawuskukhkung, address by, 293 
 
 Shekomeko, a Mahican village, 86 j 
 mjssionaries at, 86, 197, 198 
 
 Sheyickbi country, 46 
 
 Shinecocks, location of the, 75 
 
 Shingas commands war party of Lenapes, 
 219; reply of, to Johnson's com 
 missioners, 225 
 
 Shirley, Governor, expedition of, 252 
 
 Sickenames, Pequots so called, 83 
 
 Silver Heels, murder of, 256 
 
 Sing Sing, aboriginal name of, 79, 366 
 
 Sint-sinks, location of, 795 treaty with, 
 117 
 
 Sirham, sachem of Kitchawongs, 79 
 
 Siwanoys, location of the, 81 
 
 Sloughter, Col., appointed governor, 175 
 
 Small-pox, ravages of, 181 
 
 Smith, Ensign, in command at Esopus, 
 
 134 
 
 Smit, Claes, killed by a Weckquaesgeek, 
 102 
 
 Soquatucks, location of, 59, 85 5 removal 
 of, from west side of country, 595 
 treaty of peace with Mohawks, 156 
 
 Soquans, a Mahican sachem, 184, 186 
 
 Souwenaro, sachem of Weckquaesgeeks, 
 
 79 
 
 Staats, Abraham, house of, burned, 60 
 Stamford, Dutch expedition at, 114, 
 
 115; massacre of Indians near, 116 
 Staten Island, DeVries's plantation on, 
 
 101 $ aboriginal name of, 362 
 Stockbridge, mission established at, 196 
 Stockbridges, Mahicans so called, 89 
 Stuyvesant, regards Manhattan wars as 
 
 having been caused by Dutch, 124; 
 
 holds conference with Esopus In 
 dians, 126; demands Esopus lands 
 
 as indemnity, 1 27 ; declares war 
 
 against Esopus Indians, 137 5 makes 
 
 treaty with Esopus Indians, 141,155; 
 
 holds conference with Senecas, 145; 
 
 controversy with the English, 154 
 St. Clair, Gen., concludes treaties at Fort 
 
 Harmar, 290 ; defeated by Lenapes, 
 
 291 
 St. Francis, Indians, descent of, upon 
 
 Schaticook and Hoosic, 205, 216 
 St. Regis Indians, organization of, 179 
 Sullivan, Gen., commands expedition 
 
 against Iroquois, 279 
 Susquehannas, subjugation of, 55 
 Susquehanna Company, organization of, 
 
 215 
 
 Swannekins, the Dutch, so called, 108 
 Tackapousha, sachem of Marsapequas, 
 
 74, 76; treaty of, with the Dutch, 
 
 124 
 Tackarew, sachem of Reckgawawancs, 
 
 78 
 
414 
 
 INDEX. 
 
 Tadame, king of Lenapes, murder of, 227, 
 
 301 
 
 Taghkospemo, sachem of Tappans, 91 
 Tankitekes, location of, 80 j treaty with, 
 
 117 
 
 Tanadiarisson, speech of, 209 
 Tappans, location of the, 91 
 Tarrytown, aboriginal name of, 79, 366 
 Teedyuscung, chief sachem of Lenapes, 
 69, 227 j commands war-party of 
 Eastern Lenapes, 2195 holds con 
 ference with Shawanoe and Mahican 
 allies, 220 j attends conference at 
 Mount Johnson, 228 ; attends con 
 ference at Onondaga, 228 ; makes 
 treaty with Johnson, 2315 holds 
 conference with governor of Pennsyl 
 vania, 232 ; speech of, at Easton, 
 2335 empowered to make peace, 
 234; final treaty with, at Easton, 
 241 } murdered by Senecas, 2445 
 biographical sketch of, 301 
 Teller's Point, aboriginal name of, 79, 366 
 Thayendanega, (see Brant, Joseph), 
 Thompson, Charles, clerk to Teedyus 
 cung, 235 
 Throgmorton, settlement of, destroyed, 
 
 112 
 
 Ticonderoga, fortifications erected at, 2245 
 
 aboriginal name of, 375 
 Title to lands, 30 
 
 Tobaccus, sachem of Patchogues, 75 
 Totems and totemic classifications, 49 
 Traditions, 3615 Dans-Kammer, 383; 
 Hiawatha, 365 Iroquois respecting 
 origin, 35; Lenapes, respecting ori 
 gin, 45 ; Lenapes, respecting subjuga 
 tion, 64 ; Mahicans, respecting ori 
 gin, 42 ; Mahicans, respecting Hud 
 son's visit, 13 ; Mahopac lake, 368 ; 
 Manetta hill, 364; Naoman, a tra 
 dition of Murderer's creek, 378 ; 
 stepping stones, 362; Wanton Is 
 land, 395 ; Wawanaquassick, 373 
 Trade, mode of conducting, 120 
 Treaty with Iroquois, 1623, 54; 
 with Mahicans, 1623, 54; with 
 Weckquaesgeeks, etc., 1644, 117; 
 with Mohawks and Mahicans, 1 644, 
 117; with Weckquaesgeeks, etc., 
 1645, 118; with Esopus Indians, 
 1660, 1425 with Esopus Indians, 
 
 1664, 156; with Esopus Indians, 
 
 1665, 163 ; with Iroquois and Ma 
 hicans, 1664, 158; with Tacka- 
 pausha, 1656, 1245 with Iroquois, 
 1768, 250 
 
 Tryon county, committee of safety of, 262 
 
 Tschoop, a Mahican chief, conversion of, 
 197 
 
 Tuscaroras, an original Iroquois tribe, 365 
 remove to North Carolina, 36; de 
 feated by English in North Carolina, 
 1905 return of, to Iroquois country, 
 190; constituted the Sixth Nation, 
 1 90 $ accept war-belts of colonists, 
 
 273 . 
 
 Tusten, Lieut. Col., commands in battle 
 of Minnisink, 278 
 
 Umpachenee, commissioned lieutenant, 
 196 
 
 Unamis, a tribal division of Lenapes, 47, 
 50, 89; chieftancies,of, 89; totem 
 of, 50 j the ruling tribe of the Le 
 napes, 47 
 
 Unalachtos, a tribal division of Lenapes, 
 47 j totem of, 50 
 
 Uncas, a Pequot chief, 43 
 
 Underbill, Capt. John, enters the Dutch 
 service, 113; commands expedition 
 against Canarsees, 114; commands 
 in expedition against Weckquaes 
 geeks, 115, 1 1 6 
 
 Unukat's castle, 85 
 
 Van der Donck, description of Indians of 
 New York, 20 ; sub-tribal classifi 
 cations of, 72 
 
 Van Dyck, Hendrik kills a squaw, 121 j 
 shot by the Indians, 122 
 
 Vaudreuil, invades neutral territory, 204 
 
 Van Voorst, Garret Jansen, killed, 104 
 
 Van Tienhoven, secretary, mother of, 108 
 
 Verazzano, description of Indians of 
 New York, 19 
 
 Verdrietig Hook, 92, 93, 377 
 
 Vriesendael (see De Vries) 
 
 Vielle, Arnout, interpreter, 181 
 
 Virginia, operations of, in Ohio valley, 
 209, 210; war of, against the 
 French, 210 
 
 Walking treaty, the, 216 
 
 Wampum, description of, 26 
 
 Wanton Island, traditionary battle on, 
 
 57, 395 
 
 Wantage, sachem of Merricks, 73 
 
 Waoranecks, location of, 93 
 
 Wappingers, a tribal division of Mahicans, 
 42 ; chieftaincies of, 77 ; sovereignty 
 of, 63 ; no jurisdiction west of Hud 
 son, 84 ; a portion remove to Penn 
 sylvania, 85; attack boats on the 
 Hudson, in j war party of, visit 
 New Amsterdam, 121 ; attacked by 
 burgher guard, 122; destroy Hobo- 
 ken and Pavonia, I22j retain 
 prisoners as hostages, 1245 treaty 
 
INDEX. 
 
 415 
 
 Wappingers, continued 
 
 with the, 136 : encouraged by Eng 
 lish to revolt, 1555 solicit peace for 
 Esopus Indians, 155; take part in 
 war of 1689, 178; removal of 
 clans to Otseningo, 231 ; claim 
 lands in Dutchess county, 252 j 
 aid Americans in war of Revolution, 
 2865 signification of name, 370 
 
 Wappinger's creek, aboriginal name of, 
 
 84, 3?o 
 
 Warrawakin, sachem of Seatalcats, 74 
 
 Warranawonkongs, location of, 71, 94; 
 wars with the Dutch (see Esopus 
 Indians), 
 
 Warren Bush, settlement at, destroyed, 
 285 
 
 War song of Lenapes, 32 
 
 Wars, Cresap's, 285 ; Esopus, first, 120, 
 133 ; Esopus, second, 146 ; French, 
 and Indian, 1787, 171 ; 1702, 187; 
 1744, 203; 1785, 208; Iroquois 
 and the French, 172; King Philip's, 
 62; Lenapes for independence, 2165 
 **Lenapes, etc., 1793, 291 ; Mahi- 
 cans and Manhattan, 105 j Mahi- 
 cans and Mohawks, 58, 158 ; 
 Minsis and Senecas, 67, 145 ; Mo 
 hawks and the French, 131, 174; 
 Montauks and Narragansetts, 76 , 
 Pontiac's conspiracy, 243, 246; 
 Queen Anne's war, 187 ; Revolu 
 tionary war, 258 ; Raritans and the 
 Dutch, 101; Senecas and Minsis, 
 67, 145 ; Senecas and the French, 
 145, 169 j Tuscaroras and North 
 Carolina, 190 ; Weckquaesgeeks and 
 the Dutch, 102, 108, in, 119, 121 
 
 Wassenaar and De Laet's account of sub- 
 tribal organizations, 7 1 
 
 Wasenssne, sachem of Tankitekes, 80 
 
 Washington, Major George, commands 
 expedition against the French, 210; 
 holds conference with Lenape and 
 Seneca chiefs, 210; attacks the 
 French in ambush, 210; retreats to 
 the great meadows, 211 5 withdraws 
 from Ohio valley, 211 
 
 Warwarsinks, location of, 95 
 Wawayanda, signification of, 385 ^ 
 Wawiachech, sachem of Pennacooks, 
 
 193 
 
 Wawyachtonocks, location of, 85 
 Wayne, Gen., defeats Western tribes, 
 
 292 j makes treaty of Greenville, 
 
 292 
 
 Weapons of war, 25 
 Weckquaesgeeks, location of, 78 ; a 
 
 warrior of, killed, 101 j attacked by 
 
 the Dutch, 1035 murder Ann Hutch- 
 
 inson, 1125 castles of, destroyed, 
 
 114; treaty with, 117 
 Weckquaesgeek territory, 366 
 Welsh colonization of America, 17, 45 
 Werekepes, a Haverstraw chief, 92, 94 
 Weskheun, sachem of Kitchawongs, 79 
 Weskora, sachem of Weckquaesgeeks, 
 
 79 
 
 Wessickenaiuw, sachem of Weckquaes 
 geeks, 79 
 
 Westenhucks, location of, 85 
 Westenhuck, Mahican national council 
 
 at, 89 
 
 Western controversy, parties to, 258 
 Western tribes, alliance of 1793, 292 
 Whitneymen, sachem of Matinecocks, 
 
 74; negotiates peace, 117 
 Wiekajocks, location of, 85 
 Willehoosa, cavern on Shawangunk 
 
 mountains, 96 
 Wiltmeet, Indian castle of, 95 ; destroyed 
 
 by the Dutch, 137 
 Wiltwyck, the old village of Esopus, 147 j 
 
 houses burned at, 147; council of 
 
 war at, 149 
 Winnequaheagh, sachem of Secatogues, 
 
 75 
 Wyandance, sachem of Montauks, 75 j 
 
 death of, by poison, 76 
 Wycombone, sachem of Montauks, 76 
 Wyoming, lands at, purchased by Sus- 
 
 quehanna Company, 215 
 Wyoming lands, 250, 25, 264, 265 j 
 
 massacre at, 276, 277 
 Yonkers, aboriginal name of, 77, 365 
 
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