X – THE COUNSELS OF THE FOREST

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THE traveller must beware not only of the foe that prowls but of the foe that glides ; he must fear not only the enemy that leaps upon him with a roar, but the enemy that thrusts a fatal sting from flowers and grass in silence ; the panther is terrible, but the serpent is dreaded even more.

The scarlet lines of British troops and the white flash of British steel made no pleasant sight in the dreams of the Colonists; but perhaps, at least on the frontier, the prospect of trouble with the almost invisible savages cut into their slumber still more deeply. To be killed, said Madame Magloire, one could endure; but to be killed with a dull knife — — ! and the knives of Indians, far worse than dull, had their edges twisted into every contortion that savage cruelty could imagine, to prolong and agonize the tragedy of death. The frightful gauntlet, the bloody scalping-knife, pitch-pine splinters burning in the flesh, slow fires kindled on the body, gaping wounds crammed with salt, slashed feet driven over gravelly roads, a whole infernal gamut of tortures too horrible or too indecent for description, and then, beyond the worst of them, the torments of the heart added to those of the nerves, when husbands, wives, and children were compelled to witness one another’s torments, — all these were no bygone tales, but living realities, almost passing before their eyes, to the Americans of 1775.

Peculiar dangers, too, as well as cruelties belonged to Indian warfare. True sons of the forest, the savages had a key to every secret path of the wilderness, and for them each tree of the mountain was a sign-post. Few indeed of the palefaces equalled them as scouts. Nobody could foretell when a sleepless,bloodshot eye might be tracking his footsteps, or waiting in the branches of a hemlock to shoot him down as he passed. Striking like a snake from the covert of leaves, but without the warning hiss or rattle, the Indian kept his foes in deadly fear even while busy far away; and after fear, tired by long watching and reassured by the stillness, had fallen asleep, in the very moment of confidence, when the breeze in the pines whispered only of peace, he struck like the lightning, and marked the spot forever with a name of blood. Quiet was a trap and silence a delusion; information might only bait a snare; and victory proved too often but the shadow of a coming disaster.

No doubt the day had passed when the result of a set contest between white and red could be uncertain ; yet the Indians — especially if somewhat united — could still muster large as well as infernal cohorts. The league of the Iroquois in central New York — the fierce Mohawks, the brave though milder Oneidas, the warlike Senecas and their less known allies — made the name of the Six Nations a factor still in any calculations of American war. In the central council-house, guarded sternly by the Onondagas, hung many a belt of wampum that told of triumphs in war and in statecraft; and the proud hope of adding to the score burned hot within many a painted brave. Brant, the civilized but no less terrible Mohawk, was now in his prime; and, while he lived, the Dutch west of Albany, hearing the cry, ‘Brandt, brandt !’ felt happy if it proved to mean a fire in the village, not a raid of this dreaded enemy. (1 – Bonney, Gleanings, I., p. 53.)

Less martial and less mighty, the Seven Nations of Canada were linked in bonds of alliance to the Iroquois. I,ess martial, yes; yet not for that reason tame or dog- hearted. Even the ‘ Christianized ‘ Abenakis of St. Francis were not yet far from savagery. Montcalm had looked with amazement there, only a few years before, on sombre faces painted with white, green, yellow, black, and fiery vermilion, scalp-locks bristling with feathers or with wampum, pendants dangling low from every nose and weighing the lobe of every ear to the shoulder, hunting-shirts daubed with vermilion, and necks hung with wampum; and, in spite of the silver bracelets, the gorgets and medals, the good steel knives on their bosoms, and the good French muskets in their hands, these lambs of the fold had seemed very passable wolves. For all their childish finery, they were able warriors; and, when Rogers took their village by surprise one morning, he found hundreds of English scalps hanging from the poles above .their doors. These, thought Joseph Reed, were ‘ the savages we had the most reason to fear.’ (2 – Journ. Cong., July 13, 1775, Baker (4 Force, II., 1735) gave the names of all. See Parkman, Montcalm, I., pp. 371, 480, 485 ; II, p. 255. W. B. Reed, J. Reed, I., p. 119.)

At Caughnawaga, on the south side of the River St. Lawrence about nine miles above Montreal, dwelt— and still dwells — another of the Seven Nations. Clever Piquet, one of the political French preachers, established a mi’ssiou on a commanding ridge at the mouth of the Oswegatchie, where Ogdensburg has now built its thriving warehouses. Many from the Six Nations, particularly Mohawks and Onondagas, were drawn to it; and some of these, with other Iroquois, removing to the Rapids of lyachine, founded the ‘ Castle’ of Caughnawaga. Some, or perhaps — as John Brown stated — all the chiefs of this tribe were ‘ of English extraction Captivated in their infancy ‘ ; and the blood of their leaders, no less than their central position, gave this little band of less than two hundred effective warriors a certain leadership, it would appear, in the statecraft of the northern confederacy. But each of the tribes had its governor, so Captain Baker stated; and, meeting in conference, they selected a chief magistrate, to exercise a vague authority over the whole body. (3 – Parkman, Montcalm, I., pp. 64. 171. 478, etc. J. Wheelock on Can. Inds May 1779: Wheelock Papers. Caugh. is said to be Iroquo’s for ‘ At the Rapids’: Hist. Mag., 1864, p. 373. Brown: Mass. Arch., Vol 193 p. 41. 200:J. Liv!, Aug. — , 1775 (Etnmet Coll.). The chiefs asserted that they had 300.)

North and west of these loose but important leagues — the Iroquois and the Seven Nations — raged an almost unknown sea of painted red-men. The wild Ottawas and the broken yet still warlike Hurons were the surf at its edge. Beyond these, a whole pageful of uncouth names represented possibilities of savage invasion that no sagacity could fathom; and the foulness of Indian war- fare deepened and blackened toward the west into the stark horror of absolute cannibalism. (4 – Parkman, Montcalm, I., pp. 478, 479. etc.)

As for the aborigines themselves, the clash of arms between England and her Colonies darted strange notes of perplexity, of menace, and — above all — of excitement into their very hearts. When the red flag and the white met in battle, they understood it, for had not the Mohawk lifted the scalp of the Huron ? But what could it mean that Enghslimen were levelling the musket at luiglishmeu, that the great King of the British sent warriors to mow down his own children ?

What will become of the tender shoots of civilization among us, in such a chaos ? asked the more enlightened. How can our feeble alliances, ahvavs in danger of breaking asunder, bear the strain of these contending friendships atid interests ? reflected the statesmen. How can the rash young braves be kept from turning a difficult into a hopeless problem ? reasoned the elders. What will become of our trade, without which we cannot live ? said the prudent. Shall we not find ourselves at la.st between the upper and the nether millstones? asked the sages.

‘Blood, booty, scalps, brandy, revenge ! ‘ shrieked the young men when they dared. (5 – Based upon a priori reasoning and a variety of hints, many of which will appear later.)

In May, news came to the Massachusetts Congress that the Indians on a hunt near Brownfield, in the district of Maine, seemed strangely excited. ‘ They can’t hunt, eat, nor sleep,’ said a squaw; ‘ keep calhng together every night; courting, courting, courting, every night, all night. O, strange, Englishmen kill one another ! I think the world is coming to an end ! (6 – Brownfield Com. to Mass, Cong., May 16, 1775: 4 Force, II., 621. ‘ Courting ‘ appears to mean gathering in council.) Might not this excitement of the wild folk, spreading electrically through the forest like the mysterious quiver of its leaves before the tempest, betoken a storm of savage fury, soon to break the bonds of a great fear, and burst upon the whites in a whirlwind of blood and fire ?

In studying the problem of the woods, the Colonials found themselves face to face with a verj^ unpleasant fact. The Indians were in reality wards of the British. For a long time they had been accustomed to depend upon the government. In Canada, as we have seen, St. I,uc La Corne had been their Superintendent under the king of France, and Campbell, I^a Corne’s son-in-law, held that ofQce now. Among the Iroquois, Sir William Johnson had lorded it mightily from the rude baronial man.sion on the hill near Johnstown, and his rare talent for both winning and commanding the Indians was reinforced by a marriage — or what they doubtless regarded as a marri- age — between him and Molly Brant, sister of the Mohawk chief. Sir William had recently departed the scene; but Sir John, who occupied the Hall, Colonel Guy, who became the Indian Superintendent, and Daniel Claus, a son-in-law, who acted as the Deputy-Superintendent, might all of them together fill his place, perhaps; and certainly they would aid the King to the extent of their power. In the west, the bond held more loosely, no doubt, yet perhaps was no less real. (7 – Johnstown : Elmer, Journal, p. 119 ; Bloomfield f N. J. Hist. Soc. Proc, II., p. 116. West: the correspondence of the governors of Quebec gives along series of hints. Marriage : cf. Haldimand to Johnson, Sept. 9, 1 779 (Can. Arch., B, 107, p. 35) vrith Lossing, Schuyler, I., p. 353. Sir John Carleton to Germain, July 8, 1776 (Bancroft Coll., Eng. and Am., Aug., 1775-Dec., 1776, p. 461). Guy and Claus: Ind. Trans., Pub. Rec. Off,, Am. and W. Ind,. Vol. 280, p. 9. )

Both the hands and the ears of the Indians were open to their Superintendents; and one reckoned easily enough the influence of those arguments, persuasions, threats, promises, and presents, which the British government could well afford to supply. To be sure, the manufactured articles needed by the Iroquois came chiefly through New York, and many of the other tribes were partly, if not mainly, supplied by the Colonies; but, should the American seaports be stopped and the feeble manufacturing of the Provincials be checked by war, while the way to England through Canada remained open, resentment and interest alike would draw the Indians more and more closely to the government.

Besides, the redoubtable Iroquois felt none too friendly toward the New Yorkers. Little by little, yet rapidly, they had seen Fort Orange, a wretched pile of logs, grow up into the busy and aggressive town of Albany. They had watched the settlers push out and speedily change from trembling pioneers into rich and haughty magnates. Hendrick, the famous chief of the Mohawks, though he died fighting for the Colonists, complained that ere long, should an Indian find a bear in a tree, before he could kill the animal some white man would appear and say it was his. Constant encroachment had been the rule, as the natives thought ; and the dangerous Mohawks had felt the pressure most. Nor had the suaviter in modo softened “Cos. fortiter in re. Hard men were those Dutch merchants of Albany oftentimes, and not always overnice; and, between the tricks of the speculators in land and the extortions — not to say, lies — of the traders, many a sullen Iroquois found himself well lined with grudges. The Canadian Indians, to be sure, had not these inflammable recollections; but, if they did not hate the Colonials, they feared the British, which, at this crisis, amounted to about the same thing. Not very powerful at best, they stood between the regulars and the Canadians; and, if those two parties agreed upon a line of march, their own route lay clearly in the same direction. (8 – Ft. Orange : Parkman, Jesuits, p. 229. Id., Montcalm, I., 171, 172, 320, 390.)

More or less informed of these dangers, the Colonial authorities felt anxious from the first. All the leverage they possessed was made to do its work. ‘ We pray you to use every effort to preserve and improve the present peaceable dispositions ‘ of the Indians, wrote New York to her sister Connecticut, when troops were to occupy the lake forts; and, while Arnold bore sway in that quarter, the Continental Congress ordered him to secure and preserve their friendship. General Schuyler, who had been adopted by the Mohawks, and was called a chief under Indian names by the Mohawks and Oneidas, had no little influence with the savages, and exerted it all. ‘ Old Put,’ a hero among Indians as well as whites, addressed a letter to the Caughnawagas. (9 – N. Y. to Conn., May 24, 1775: 4 Force, II., 1248. Journ. Cong-., June 16, 1775 Schuyler: Lossing, Schuyler, I., pp. 66, 387. Putnam: Brown to S. Adams, Mar. 29, 1775 (Mass. Arch., Vol. 193, p. 41)

A few years before, Eleazar Wheelock, a heroic minister, had gone up the Connecticut into New Hampshire, and, among the tall pines of Hanover plain, laid the foundations of Dartmouth College. The son of the head sachem at St. Francis, the brother of a Caughnawaga sachem, and a considerable number of others from the northern tribes were in attendance there in the spring of 1775; and the Continental Congress, poor though it felt, appropriated five hundred dollars to continue the work of educating them and so maintaining this bond. In March, Wheelock sent James Dean, one of his helpers, into Canada ‘ to strengthen and perpetuate the Friendship lately commenced’ between his College and the northern Indians; and as Dean, brought up and naturalized among the Six Nations, was considered a great orator by the Caughnawagas, Wheelock felt well convinced that this connection would prove ‘our strongest bulwark.’ Fired with apostolic energy, the missionary pushed his way — on fooc, a great part of the distance beyond Crown Point — through the snows and ice of that raging season to Caughnawaga, and a fellow-evangelist, Walcott, labored at St. Francis. (10 – Chase, Hanover. Wheelock to Trumbull, Mar., 16, 1775; Wheelock: Papers and 4 Force, II., 152. Narrative, ib., 1594. Journ. Cong., July 12. Wheelock to N. H. Cong., June 28, 1775: Wheelock Papers. Dean to Wheelock, Apr. 4. 1775: Emmet Coll. See also 4 Force, III., 1924; Hist. Mag:., 2nd Ser. VI., pp. 239, 240.)

Among the Iroquois, Samuel Kirkland had been preaching for six years. Notwithstanding his cloth, as he once remarked, he interpreted the proceedings of Congress to the Oneida sachems, and for doing that Guy Johnson forbade him to speak so much as a word to the Indians; but he continued, in the triple character of envoy, interpreter, and preacher, to wield a great influence among them. Much was due to him, said Washington; and Congress, besides appropriating three hundred dollars for his travelling expenses, recommended his employment among the Six Nations at the public charge, ‘in order to secure their friendship and to continue them in a state of neutrality.’ Other dissenting ministers worked in the same peaceful direction, and England recognized their influence by ordering them, one and all, to leave the Iroquois. (11 – Conn Hist. Soc. Coll., II., p. 330. note. Kirkland to Albany Com,, June 9, 1775. 4 Force., II., 1309. Wash, to Cont. Cong., Sept. 30, 1775: 4 Force, III., 852. Secret Journ. Cong., July 17, 1775.)

In June, Bayley addressed the northern tribes with a piquancy that must have gone to their hearts: ‘ We only want to live as we have heretofore; we do not want to fight, if they would let us alone. You are as much threatened as we; they want you to kill us, then they will kill you, if you will not serve them. Dreadful wicked men they be; . . . But I know you will be friendly, and you may depend upon us. . . . We [Colonials] are now all brothers, and we will be so with you; for one God made us all, and all must meet before God in a little while.’ (12 – Bayley, June 23, 1775 : 4 Force, II., 1070.)

Massachusetts took formal steps to influence the Indians. In April, a curious appeal, drafted by Samuel Adams, went in Kirkland’s hand to the dreaded Mohawks: ‘ Brothers, they have made a law to estabhsh the religion of the Pope in Canada, which lies so near you. We much fear some of your children may be induced, instead of worshiping the only true God, to pay his due to images made with their own hands.’ Andrew Gilman, Gentleman, received instructions to cultivate peaceful relations with the St. Francis Indians. Great pains were taken to hold the good- will of the tribes living east of the Penobscot. The attention of the Continental Congress was earnestly invited to the danger from the Iroquois; and Jonathan Edwards’s parishioners, the Stockbridges, bravely struggling to civilize themselves among the Berkshire hills, were enlisted in the patriot cause as minute-meii, and rigged out with a blanket and a yard of ribbon apiece. (13 – Adams, Apr. 4, 1775: 4 Force, I., 1349; Wells, S. Adams, II., p. 282, Oilman, June 25, 1775: 4 Force, II., 1444. Eastern Inds. : ib., 942, 1501, etc. Mass. to N, Y. Cong., June 13, 1775: it)., 1319. Stockbridges, Apr. i, 1775: 4 Force, I., 1347.)

Touching indeed, as well as important, was the course of these people, once able to muster a thousand warriors but now only a handful. On the eleventh of April, after a council of nearly two days, their chief sachem — as the voice of his tribe — despatched this message to the Congress of the Colony”: (14 - Force, II., 315. With reference to the Stockbridges, see Dewey Berkshire,”and Pope : West. Boundary. They have been called Mohegans.)

‘Brothers: You remember when you first came over the great waters, I was great and you was little^ — very small. I then took you in for a friend, and kept you under my arms, so that no one might injure you. . . . But now our conditions are changed; you are become great and tall; you reach up to the clouds; you are seen all round 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: whenever I see your blood running, you will soon find me about you to revenge my brothers’ 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.’ So then, if you please, I will ‘take a run to the Westward and feel the minds’ of the Six Nations, who have ‘always looked this way for advice concerning all important news that comes from the rising of the sun. … If I find they are against you, I will try to turn their minds.’

‘Brothers,’ replied the Congress, ‘though you are small, yet you are wise. Use j^our wisdom to help us. If you think it best, go and smoke your pipe with your Indian brothers towards the setting of the sun, and tell them all you hear, and all you see, and let us know what their wise men say.’ (15 – Force, II., 937.)

In May the embassy set out, but for some reason concluded to go north instead of west. At the lakes, Arnold gave the envoys a letter of introduction to Walker, and Allen — ‘By Advice of Council’ — gave them an epistle to the Caughnawagas ; and then, as they bent their steps toward Montreal accompanied by the same Winthrop Hoyt that had guided John Brown on his journey to Canada, they received further aid from the British; for they were seized by the regulars, tried by a court-martial on the charge of coming to inflame the Indians against the troops, and condemned to be hung. Excitement rose high in Caughnawaga Castle. Said the sachems to Carleton: ‘ If you think it best for you to hang these, our brothers, that came a great way to see us, do it; but remember, we shall not forget it.’ Finally, the visitors were released, but that mercy could not extinguish all the resentment, and their mission was so much the more effective. Not without reason, probably, did Ethan Allen count ‘ the imperious and haughty conduct ‘ of the British troops as an influence favorable to the Colonies. (16 – By accident the letter of the Inds. miscarried, and the reply of the Mass. Cong, did not go until June 8. Apparently (as the text assumes) the Stock-bridges sent off the embassy without waiting for it. Arnold to Walker, May 20, I775- Can. Arch., Q, 11, p. 192. Id. to Cont. Cong., June 13, 1775; 4 Force, II., 076. Allen to N. Y. Cong., June 2, 1775: ib., 8qi. Id. to Caugh., May 24, 1775. Can. Arch., Q, II, p. 193. B. Deane to S D., June 1, 1775: Conn. Hist. Soc Coll II , p. 246. In Can.- Stock, to memb. Mass. Cong., June, 22, 1775 (4 Force, II., 1060); Verreau (.Sanguinet), Invasion, p. 40. Arnold,, Regt. Mem. Book, June 5. Allen to Mass. Cong., June g, 1775: 4 Force, 11., 939.)

Many were the arguments brought to bear on those half-ripe minds. Eet the whites destroy one another, and we shall get our lands back, suggested some of the shrewdest; and, as that idea worked for neutrality, the Colonials did not complain of it. This is a war of brothers, urged Cazeau, a Canadian ally of theirs, and when it is over, if you have taken sides, both will hate you. Walker reasoned in the same way. As for the American Congress, it did not shrink from employing Indians against British forces that used them, but it preferred to eliminate the savages from the contest, and its efforts pointed in that direction. (17 – Cazeau : Garneau, Canada, II., p. 447. Walker to S. Adams, Apr, 8, 1775: Mass. Arch., Vol. 193, p. 83. Journ. Cong., July 12, 1775. Wash, to Schuyler, Aug. 20, 1775: Writings (Ford), III., p. 86. Remark XIV.)

 

‘Brothers and friends, open a kind ear! ‘ in this wise it addressed the Iroquois; ‘Brothers, listen! . . . This is a family quarrel between us and Old England. You Indians are not concerned in it. We don’t wish you to take up the hatchet against the king’s troops. We desire you to remain at home and not join on either side, but keep the hatchet buried deep.’ A pictorial version of taxation without representation, well adapted to the aboriginal mind, was presented, and this keen hint planted at the same time: ‘Brothers, observe well ! … If the king’s troops take away our property, and destroy us who are of the same blood with themselves, what can you, who are Indians, expect from them afterwards ? ‘

A warning against the tales of the British followed: ‘Brothers, . . . This island now trembles, the wind whistles from almost every quarter — let us fortify our minds and shut our ears against false rumours — -let us be cautious what we receive for truth, unless spoken by wise and good men.’

‘Let this our good talk [that is, the belts of wampum which represent it] remain at Onondaga, your central council house,’ requested the Congress, adding, ‘We depend upon you to send and acquaint your allies to the northward, the seven tribes on the St. Lawrence, that you have this talk of ours at the great council-fire of the Six Nations.’ More important still. Congress established three Indian departments to look after supplying the savages with all needed goods, especially, ‘arms, ammunition, and cloathing ‘; to treat with them on the basis of neutrality; and, by appointing what were called in Parliament ‘ respectable ‘ traders, to prevent extortion on the one side and resentment on the other.” (18 – Journ. Cong., July 12, 13, 1775- House of tords, Mar. 5, 1776: 4 Force, VI., 301.)

But the main argument for the Indian seemed almost sure to be force. ‘ They have no personal prejudice or controversy with the United Colonies,’ observed Ethan Allen, ‘ but act upon political principles, and consequently are inclined to fall in with the strongest side.’ The victories on the lakes appeared to be more hopeful influences than speeches or belts. ‘The King’s troops- cannot save their populous towns from devastation,’ wrote Allen and Warner; and the Indians might well dread that ‘ a blow at the root ‘ would follow, should they up the hatchet without provocation. ‘Environ Montreal,’ said Easton; ‘ This will inevitably fix and confirm’ them, especially as both their lives and supplies would then lie solely in the hands of the Colonies. ‘ Secure the Government of Quebeck,’ echoed Trumbull, ‘ and thereby the whole Indian strength in our interest and favour.’ This method Congress was following. (19 – Allen to Mass, Cong., June 9, 1775: 4 Force, II., 939. A. and W. to Dyer and Deane, July 4,1775: Bancroft Coll. Amer. Papers, 11, p. 411 (413). Easton to Mass. Cong., June 6, 1775: 4 Force. H-. 919 – Trumbull to Schuyler, July 24, 1775: ib., 1721.)

How was such a complexity of inducements and pressures working on the strange mind of the savage ? Many an anxious eye, scanning the mysterious face of the woods day by day and hour by hour, noted signs of something taking place behind it; and various indeed were the reports and interpretations.

Walker deemed the chiefs wise enough to keep out of a quarrel which could only injure them; but Wheelock, despite his ardent faith in the lyord and the College, had many fears. ‘ What an easy prey we may be,’ he exclaimed, ‘to such a northern army of savages, etc. as we are threatened with.’ Allen declared that gaining the sovereignty of Lake Champlain had ‘ united the temper of the Indians ‘ to the victors ; yet he and Warner agreed that ‘Governor Carlton, with the influence of Guy Johnson and others, but above all by rich Presents ‘ might seduce them. John Brown reported in March that the Caughnawagas, ‘a very sinsible Pollitick People,’ had not only sent Putnam ‘assurence of their Peaciable Desposition,’ but promised to ‘take part on the Side of their Brethren the English in N. England,’ if compelled to fight, and five chiefs, who visited Ticonderoga early in June, used extremely good words; yet, in the course of the latter month, reports came that they had had a war-dance, and taken up the hatchet for the King. The eastern red-men, who were described as ‘ hearty in the cause,’ represented the Canadian tribes as ‘all of the same mind’ ; but the Continental Congress had found reason to believe, not long before, that Carleton expected the savages to help recover Ticonderoga and Crown Point for him. Captain Baker was told by the Indians in July that the Seven Nations would not fight the Yankees, but the murder of a white near Cherry Valley — a familiar har- binger of trouble — seemed the beginning of a difierent story. (20 – Walker to S. Adams, Apr. 8, 1775: Mass. Arch., Vol. 193, p. 83. Wheelock to Trumbull, Mar. 22, 1775: Wells, Newbury, p. 73. Id. to , Mar. 16, 1775: Wheelock Papers. Allen to N. Y. Cong., June 2, 1775: 4 Force, II., 891, A. and W. : Note 19. Brown to S. Adams et al.. Mar. 29, 1775 : Mass. Arch., Vol. 193, p. 41. (See also Wheelock to J Trumbull, June iq, 1775: Wheelock Papers.) Arnold’s report: Trumbull to Warren, June 19, 1775 (Journ. Mass. Cong., p. 372). Caugh. hostile: Trumbull to Mass. Cong., June 27, 1775 (4 Force, 11., 1116); Stringer to Cont. Cong., June 21. 1775 (ib., 1048). Oneidas: 4 Force, II., 1116 ; Hollister, Conn., II,, p. 227. Schuyler to Cont. Cong., June 28, 1775: 4 Force, II., 1 123. f;. Indians : Lane to Mass. Cong., June g, 1775 (ib., 942). Cont.Cong.: N. H. Deleg. to N. H. Com., May 22, 1775 (ib., 669); Journ., May 30. Arnold’s letter of May 23). Baker, Report, July 26, 1775: 4 Force, II., 1735. Sachems: Alb. Com. to Schuyler, July 26. 1775 t,ib., 1746). Murder: Chief to Cherry Val. Com. (ib , 1766). The refs, add some facts to the text.

Formal assurances of goodwill were given by the savages. ‘Brothers, You tell me that I must sit still, and have nothing to do with this quarrel,’ — so ran the answer of the Caughnawagas to their brethren, the Stockbridges; ‘I am glad to hear you; I shall do as you tell me. . . . There are seven brothers of us — we are all agreed in this.’ Chief Louis went down to Cambridge and affirmed that when British officers put ‘ two Johannes a-piece’ (about sixteen dollars) into the hands of the young men, the chiefs took the money away from them and gave it back, warning their juniors, ‘If you offer to engage, we will put you to death.’ Swashan, a St. Francis chief, who visited Washington’s camp a few weeks later, described the Canadian Indians as ‘ determined not to act ‘ against the Colonials. Solomon, King of the Stockbridges, announced in Pittsfield that the Mohawks had not only permitted his tribe to aid the whites, but sent word by a belt that five hundred braves would hold themselves ready to join it. And yet, after these and other signs of Indian friendliness, a very intelligent gentleman from Canada warned Governor Trumbull that the Caughnawagas greatly feared the regulars, and the Americans ought to ‘provide against the worst’; while, as for the Iroquois, the New York Committee of Safety heard ‘from good authority,’ about the middle of July, that a thousand or twelve hundred of them were already halfway to Montreal. (21 – Caugh reply, June 15, 1775: 4 Force, II., 1002. Roseboom, July 15, I775- ib., 1670. Exam, of Louis, Aug. 3, 1775:4 Force, III., 301. Swashan: Essex Gazette, Aug. 24. Solomon: T Allen to Pomeroy, May g, 1775 (Field, Pittsfield, p. 75). Report to Trumbull, July 6, 1775 : 4 Force, II., 1594. N. Y. Com. Safety to N. Y. Deleg., July 15, 1775 : ib., 1788. The refs, add facts.)

Gradually, out of this chaos of reports and promises, the chance of having to eat one’s own ears emerged with three distinguishable faces.

News from London represented that sterling argumente each stamped with the King’s gracious features, were pouring in a golden flood through the British posts in the northwest, and Price announced that L,a Corne had sent an embassy with war-belts in that direction. As a measure of prudence, the New York Congress cut short the journey of Captain Patrick Sinclair, just then on his way to govern at Michilimackinack, but apparently no great harm, after all, was likely to be done in that quarter. (22 – Esssex Gazette, Sept. 28, 1775. Va. Gazette, July 11, 1775. Price: Conn Com to Cong. Assem., May 23, 1775 (Journ. Mass. Cong., p. 707). Sinclair; N Y. Cong., Aug. 3, 1775 (4 Force, 11., 1815). Harm: Wheelock to Trumbull, June iq, 1775 (Wheelock Papers).

The northern Indians, though evidently uncertain, appeared more and more to have the same friendly disposition as the Canadians, with whom the reports commonly bracketed them; and it seemed as if a successful campaign above the border would be enough to ensure their good-will. Indeed, as a matter of fact, dimly reported to the Provincials, they took the ground, in reply to a summons from the Governor, that they did not understand the matter and must have time to consider it fully before acting, — a politic form of declaring their neutrality. (23 – E g. Brown, Aug. 14, 1775: 4 Force, III., 135. Neutrality: Clans, Narrative (No Am. Notes and Queries, I ,1.p. 24); G. Johnson to Dartmouth, Oct 12 1775 (Pub. Rec. off., Am. and W. Ind., Vol. 279, p. 345)

The Iroquois, however, both nearer and more powerful, threatened to be also more unfriendly. During the latter part of May, Indian chiefs gave notice at Philadelphia that Guy Johnson was endeavoring to excite his wards against the Colonies ; Kirkland sent a verbal message to the same effect; and, before June went out, this intelligence was considered certain at Fort George. Warm notes passed between the New York authorities and that ‘High-flying Tory.’ The Indian Superintendent, fortifying his house and invoking Brant’s aid. blustered that attempts were secretly hatching to attack him; and, although the Albany people ridiculed his ‘ terrible ideas,’ the natives became excited. ‘ We shall support and defend our Superintendent,’ said a leading Mohawk chief. This was ominous. Not less so the complaint of the Iroquois that their supplies of gunpowder from New York had been stopped, and a glimpse of three Indians riding home from Oswego post-haste, each with a bag of that article on the shoulders of his pony. In short, about the middle of July, the Tryon County Committee sent word to Schenectady and Albany that eight hundred or nine hundred Indians were ready to begin their bloody forays. Not only powder, but full barrels of rum, had been provided, and £3,000 for presents, it was said. Johnson himself professed a warm attachment for ‘ the innocent inhabitants’ of New York, and proclaimed besides: ‘My duty is to promote peace’; but Washington, reading between the lines of his bland assurances, inferred that ‘no art or influence’ would be left untried by him to rouse the savages against their white neighbors. (24 – Cont Cong. : N. H. Delegs. to N. H. Com., May 22, 1775 (4 Force. II., 669). Kirkland: S. Mott to Trumbull, June 30, 1775 (Trumbull Papers, IV., p. 124); 4 Force, II., 1140. Ft. George, June 29, 1775: 4 Force, II., 113s. N. Y. and Johnson : 4 Force, II., 638, 664, 665, 1275, i66g, etc. Alb. Com, to Johnson, May 23, 1775: ib., 672. G. Johnson lived at Guy Park, near the present Amsterdam: Lossing, Schuyler, I., p. 349. Mohawk, May 20, 1775, to Schenect.; ib., 841. Gunpowder: ib., 1666. Tryon Co.: ib , 1666. Rum : Roseboom before Alb. Sub-Corn., July 15 (ib., 1747) Presents : Wheelock to N H. Cong.. June 28, 1775 (ib . iiBi, 154T ; Wheelock Papers). Johnson to N. Y. Cong,, July 8, 177.5: 4 Force II., 1669. Id. to Schenect. Com , May 18, 1775: ib., 638. Wash, to Sch., July 28, 1775 :ib,, 1747.)

Such was the truth. ‘We therefore earnestly desire you to whet your Hatchet, and be prepared with us to defend our liberties and lives,’ Massachusetts had written to the Mohawks in April; some of Edwards’s more or less regenerated Stockbridges were actually under arms; Indians could be seen in Washington’s camp; and such facts enabled General Gage to write the government: ‘ we need not be tender in calling upon the Savages, as the Rebels have shown us the Example.’ Accordingly, early in May, he sent Guy Johnson secret instructions, the tenor of which could be divined from the consequences. (25 – Mass., Apr. 4, 1775: 4 Force, I., 1350. Gage to Secy. State, June 12, 1775: Pub Rec off., Am. and W. Ind., Vol. 420, p. 224. Secret instr. : Johnson to Dartmouth, Oct. 12, 1775 ;ib.. Vol. 279, p. 345 ; No. Am. Notes and Q., I., 1, p. 23.)

On finding his designs blocked by the New Yorkers, Johnson left home, the latter part of that month, with two hundred and fifty Tories and Mohawks; and, after halting at Fort Stanwix for a council, went on to Oswego. There, on the high plateau east of the river, where Montcalm had broken triumphantly through the star-shaped enclosure of palisades named Fort Ontario, he soon assembled fourteen hundred and fifty-eight red- skins and one hundred whites. After a long council, both Iroquois and Hurons agreed warmly to accept his presents and arms, and to support the King’s troops in ‘ the annoyance of the Enemy.’ Then Johnson determined to embark for Montreal, with as many of them as he could trausport^two hundred and twenty picked warriors and rangers — and, if it was possible, ‘ inspire their dependants in Canada with the same Resolutions.’ (26 – For Johnson’s operations: Extracts from Records of Ind. Trans. (Pub Rec Off, Am. and W. Ind., Vol. 280, p. 9) ; Précis of Oper. (ib.. Vol. 290, Haldimand, Jan. 11, 1783 (Can. Arch., B, 106, p. 204); Carlelon to Dartmouth, June 7 26, 1775 (Pub Rec. Off., Colon Corres., Quebec, 11, pp. 283, 309) ; Id. to Id Aue’ 14 1775 (Can. Arch., Q, 11, pp. 222); Quebec letter, Oct. 1, 1775 (4 Force III ,925); J. Liv. to Schuyler, Aug. Q, 1775 (Emmet Coll.); Brown to Trumbull, Aug 14, 1775 (4 Force, III. 135)- Ft. Ontario: Parkman, Montcalm, I., p. 410. Remark XV. )

Leaving Oswego on the eleventh of July in a sloop and four or five boats, this party threaded the shadowy passages of the Thousand Isles, plunged through the rapids of the St. Lawrence, and set up their wigwams at Lachine, over against Caughnawaga, within sight and sound of the grey tumbling waters of the long Sault. A message to the Seven Nations went forth at once, and within two weeks nearly seventeen hundred of them gathered. Influenced by arguments, presents, and the contagion of excitement, they now ‘readily agreed to the same measures engaged by the Six Nations,’ though Johnson confessed that their minds had been ‘ corrupted by New England Emissaries, & most of them discouraged by the backwardness of the Canadians.’ The war-song was sung, the war-belts and hatchets were given and taken, and Johnson, roasting an ox and broaching a pipe of red wine, invited the Indians to eat the emblematic but nutritious ‘Bostonian ‘ and to driuk his emblematic but intoxicating ‘blood.’ (27 – See also Schuyler to Wash. and to Hancock, Dec. 14, 15, 1775: 4 Force, IV., 260, 282.)

Without loss of time, he next called upon the Governor ‘ to put the Indians as soon as possible in motion as they were unaccustomed to remain lyong Idle.’ But here came a pause. The British government, three thousand miles away, could possibly think of the savages as valiant though undisciplined warriors, merely liable to be over-much in earnest on occasions, and might not squirm when Shelburne in the House of lyords denounced the plan to turn them loose on the Colonies as.- a ‘barbarous measure’ and a ‘cowardly attempt ‘(28 – Nov. 10, 1775: 4 Force, VI., 133.) ; but a glimpse of Lachine would have told it a still harsher tale. Within a few days, the blue flame of alcohol began to mount under their volatile wits. Canadian nobles themselves placed the cup of brandy at their lips and said, Drink! Piece by piece, clothing was exchanged for liquor; and with it fell off what rags of civihzation had been picked up. Nakedness, paint, debauchery, madness, wild firing of guns, yells, bedlam, pandemonium, hell, took possession of their camp, and they became more troublesome — perhaps more dangerous — to friends than to foes.

When Johnson urged they be set at work, the Governor demanded to see them, and one look was evidently enough. Depending mainly, as he told Johnson that he did, on the Canadians, he could not risk the consequences of sending such warriors against their neighbors. Hoping still to see the Colonials reconciled to the mother-country, he deemed it bad policy to skin some of them alive and roast others. Motives of sheer humanity rein- forced this prudence. The friendship of the Indians he no doubt considered ‘ absolutely necessary,’ (29 – Carleton to Dartmouth, Aug. 14, 1775: Can. Arch., Q, 11, p. 222. See Branfs statement: Lossing, Schuyler, I., p. 357.) and he thought they might be used rightfully in defence of the province; but he flatly refused to scatter this nest of scorpions, this den of serpents, these red firebrands of Gehenna upon the women and children of the frontier. (30 – Carleton to Dartmouth, Oct. 25, 1775; Bancroft Coll., Eng. and Am, Aug., 1775-Dec., 1776, p. 133.) When a party under Remember Baker fired on some Indians, Johnson begged again for permission to move; but Carleton replied sternly that ‘no one thing had yet happened to make him alter his Opinion.’ In vain Johnson appealed to Gage’s instructions; in vain the savages complained that the hatchet would cut them, unless they dulled its edge on some foe. About a hundred of them were sent over to St. Johns ; five hundred in all remained in the camps near Montreal; and the rest, as August wore away, gradually disbanded, assuring Johnson of their willingness to return, whenever scalps could be taken.

Meanwhile the Colonials, though ill-informed as to the details of these movements, took their precautions. In June, some Oneidas advised holding a conference at Albany; and, since Johnson’s departure could be regarded as extinguishing the old council-fire, a good reason for such an innovation could be offered the Indians. (31 – Oneidas: Schuyler to Cont. Cong., June 29, 1775 (4 Force, 11 , 1133).

Congress acted on the hint. ‘We judge it wise and expedient,’ added the Great Fathers in their Talk to the Iroquois, ‘to kindle up a small council fire at Albany, where we may hear each other’s voice, and disclose our minds more fully to each other.’ Accordingly, Colonel Francis and Mr. Douw, of the Commissioners, met Indian delegates at German Flats on the fifteenth of August, and proposed in the name of the ‘Twelve United Colonies, dwelling upon this island of America,’ that invitations be issued. And then Kanaghquaesa, an Oneida sachem, standing up like a pine of the forest, with all solemnity made answer: (32 – Journ. Cong., July 13, 1775. For the council at Albany and its preliminaries, see 4 Force, III., 473-493 ; Schuyler to N. Y. Cong., Aug. 23, 1775 ; ib., 243 ; Barlow, Journal, Aug, 22, 25 ; Boston Gazette, Sept., 11, 1775, p. 2 ; I^ossing, Schuyler, I., p. 388 ; Jones, N. Y., I., p. 373 ; Journ. Cong., July 13 ; Nov. 23.)

‘Brother Solihoany and our Albany Brother, Com- missioners from the Twelve United Colonies, you have now opened your minds. We have heard your voices. Your speeches are far from being contemptible. But, as the day is far spent, we defer a reply till tomorrow. As we are weary from having sat long in council, we think it time for a little drink; and you must remember that Twelve Colonies are a great body.’

The drink appears to have been equally great; and on the morrow Tiahogwando of Onondaga accepted the proposal of the day before, though he returned the belt which signified an invitation to the Canada tribes. ‘Brothers, possess yourselves in peace,’ he explained ; ‘ We of the Six Nations have the minds of the Cauglinawagas, and the Seven Tribes in that quarter, at our central council house.’

August the twenty-third, Schuyler, Chairman of the Indian Commissioners for the Northern Department, accompanied by Francis, Douw, Kirkland, Dean, the Albany Committee, and a number of leading citizens, met the heads of the Indians at Cartwright’s Tavern, invited them, after due preliminaries, ‘to takea drink, and smoke a pipe,’ and proposed to open the council on the second day thereafter.

‘We are glad to see you,’ answered Kanaghquaesa gravely. ‘We thank God that we meet in love and friendship. We will cheerfully take a drink, and smoke a pipe with you, and will be ready to proceed to business on the day which you were pleased to appoint for that purpose.’

Two days later the public bellman ding-donged the rounds of Albany, and all with time to spare gathered at the Dutch church. In a large, square body of seats, about seven hundred Indians sate with all dignity by themselves. Representing the party of peace among the Iroquois, they represented also the party of civilization. Most of them wore rufiied shirts, Indian stockings and shoes, and blankets richly trimmed with silver and wampum: and on some of the shaven heads laced hats could be seen, hiding the scalp-locks as Louis the Four- teenth’s manners did his heart. ‘They made a very beautiful show,’ noted Sergeant Barlow in his diary; ‘ They were the likeliest brightest Indians that ever I saw.’

After the visitors had laid certain grievances before the Albany Committee, the business with Schuyler and his colleagues was opened. First, the great pipe of peace travelled slowly round; and then the Commissioners told, in a long speech, how a certain father, misled by proud and ill-natured servants, had added and still added to the pack of his little son, until the child, ‘ so faint he could only lisp his last humble supplication,’ finding that entreaties were of no avail, threw off the pack, saying to himself, ‘It will crush me down, and kill me [to carry it longer] — and I can but die, if I refuse ‘ ; and how, upon that, the wicked servants brought a great cudgel to the father, urging him to take it in his hand and beat the child: ‘Thus stands the matter betwixt old England and America.’ Finally, a white belt was passed to the grim savages in ruffled shirts, and the Commissioners unfolded the desire of their hearts : ‘ to sit down under the same tree of peace ‘ with them, to water its roots, and to cherish its growth together.

For three long days the savages wrestled with this proposition. Then Little Abraham made answer, and, on coming to the pith of the question, said:

‘ Now, therefore, attend, and apply your ears closely. We have fully considered this matter. The resolutions of the Six Nations are not to be broken or altered; when they resolve, the matter is fixed. This, then, is the determination 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. ‘

The rest of the Indians testified their approval by silence, nods, or grunts ; and the promise of a valuable present, in the shape of laced hats, blankets, calico, and what Barlow called ‘other Furniture,’ sealed the happy bargain. (33 – Worth £1800 or £2000 (Liv., Journal, Sept. 2). All seemed well content with peaceful neutrality.

Not so the Stockbridges, however. No mere friendship, no mere interest allied them to the whites, but the apostolic devotion and saintly teachings of Jonathan Edwards; and they had a word of their own to add. ‘Depend upon it,’ said Chief Solomon to the Commissioners, ‘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 lie with yours.’

So far, well, — very well; but the marplot had been at work. To men like Remember Baker, a bold partisan almost the equal of Rogers himself, scouting became a passion; and, after making a trip for Schuyler’s sake, he undertook one, soon after the middle of August, for his own. With five men he paddled up into Missisquoi Bay, beyond the boundary of Canada, ‘ in the silent watches of the night,’ hid his boat — a new one — in the bushes, and, when day appeared, set out for a journey of investigation. Pushing on through swamps and woods, he approached St. Johns, reconnoitred the fort and shipping, and then — happily undiscovered — retraced his path. With every sense alert, the party crept on through the jungle, for the ground was low and marshy round the bay. A gust of wind rustling a maple, or the scream of a catbird in the alders, would halt them now and then; and, poised like a wildcat sniffing the air, they would study the thicket on all sides. But quiet returned in a moment; and only the beams of sunlight, sifted through the tremulous foliage and weaving indecipherable messages on the ground, appeared to be alive. (34 – On the Baker episode : Verreau (Lorimier), Invasion, p. 246 ; Schuyler to Ind. Commrs., Aug. 31, 1775 (4 Force, III., 493); letter, Ti., Sept. 14, 1775 (ib., 709)- Mrs Walker, Journal; Macpherson to Schuyler, Aug-. 30, 1775 (Schuyler Papers)- Ainslie, Journal, Introd.; I. Allen, Vt., p. 62 ; Quebec Gazette, Aug. 31 1775 ; Griffin, affidavit, Aug. 25, 1775 I4 Force, III., 670); letter m Boston Gazette Sept -5 1775 The affair seems to have occurred on or about Aug. 22 (Quebec Gazette) Baker’s head went from St. Johns to Montreal : Verreau (Berthelot), Invasion, p. 228. For Baker: Hall, Vt., p. 456; I. Allen, Vt., passim ; Chittenden, Ti., p. 23.)

Suddenly, as the party reached a point of land, they saw Lorimier and five Caughnawaga Indians paddling along under the bushes within half musket-range, towing Baker’s boat. The owner hailed them, and demanded his property, adding, ‘The Indians and the Americans are friends ‘ ; but the men below, a hostile scouting party, made no sign of giving up their prize. Now Baker knew that strict orders had been given not to molest the Canadians nor the savages ; but it would have been awkward to lose his boat, the fellows were certainly thieves, and redskins were vermin, anyhow, to a white ranger. He threatened to shoot. ‘If you fire, we shall,’ was the only reply. ‘Fire!’ he cried to his party; and blood spurted from two of the Indians.

His own piece did not explode, however: the flint was too sharp and caught on the steel; and, as he stooped to hammer it, his head projected beyond the tree that covered him. Just then Lorimier and his crew let fly into the woods at a venture, for they could see nobody. A buckshot marked a little sign on Baker’s forehead and went on with its leaden message to the brain. Both parties fled; but later the Indians returned with reinforcements, discovered the dead scout, and bore his redoubtable head in triumph to St. Johns.

Schuyler left Albany for the north before the Council broke up, and, on hearing of this untoward event, sent word to the other Commissioners in great distress. Without delay, the facts were laid before the visitors, and they were assured that it was ‘ far from General Schuyler’s intention to pluck one hair from an Indian’s head, or to spill one drop of Indian blood.’ Yet all trembled: would not the savages fall into a rage, and go mad for vengeance ? (35 – Sch. from Ti., Aug. 31, 1775; 4 Force, III., 493, Baker episode before the council: 4 Force, III., 494, 495.)

Happily a few lives at long range signified little to them just then, and they accepted the explanations and assurances in good part. ‘We take the liberty now,’ they added, ‘to instruct you how to settle this unhappy affair. You are first to pull the hatchet out of the head of the deceased, dig up a pine tree, and then throw the hatchet into the hole; this is to be done with a white belt. By a second belt you must say, ‘ We cover the dead bodies and the hatchet in the same grave, never to be found again! The second belt must be large.’ Truly an ingenious method was this, to extort a fine without appearing to sell the blood of their friends !

And then came the second great success of the Council. Four envoys were despatched to the Caughnawagas, begging them not to lay Baker’s conduct ‘too much to heart,’ since he had acted without the orders or even the knowledge of the ‘Great Warriours,’ and also inviting them to send a few people to the central council-fire without delay, in order to learn about the treaty just made at Albany.

It certainly looked as if the Colonials, aided by Carleton, had got the better of Guy Johnson. Yet Bougainville had well said, ‘Of all caprice, Indian caprice is the most capricious.’ Nobody could tell how the two factions — one for wampum and the other for scalps — would finally settle their difference. The course of the northern tribes had already shown how little the Indians could be reckoned upon. Should the Colonial troops invade Canada, the Governor himself would call upon them; and a thousand or two of those unrivalled scouts and fierce warriors would make a heavy counterpoise in the scales of fortune. Meanwhile, the ruffled shirts vanished into the forest; and, to the credit of Indian self-restraint or Colonial generosity, fifteen gallons of wine and some spirits remained in Mr. Douw’s hands. (36 – Parkman, Montcalm, I., p. 430. Journ. Cong., Jan. 12, 1776.)

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