Early western travels, 1748-1846, Volume 1 (of 2)

By George Croghan et al.

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Title: Early western travels, 1748-1846, Volume 1 (of 2)

Editor: Reuben Gold Thwaites

Author: George Croghan
Thomas Morris
Christian Frederick Post
Conrad Weiser

Release date: May 27, 2024 [eBook #73714]

Language: English

Original publication: Cleveland: The Arthur H. Clark Company, 1904

Credits: Greg Bergquist and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team at https://www.pgdp.net (This file was produced from images generously made available by The Internet Archive/American Libraries.)

*** START OF THE PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK EARLY WESTERN TRAVELS, 1748-1846, VOLUME 1 (OF 2) ***

Early Western Travels 1748-1846

Volume I

_Of this work seven hundred and fifty complete sets are printed, each
numbered and signed._

_This set is No. 666_

The Arthur H. Clark Co.

[Illustration: _Capt. “Tho.” Morris._]

Early Western Travels
1748-1846

A Series of Annotated Reprints of some of the best
and rarest contemporary volumes of travel, descriptive
of the Aborigines and Social and
Economic Conditions in the Middle
and Far West, during the Period
of Early American Settlement

Edited with Notes, Introductions, Index, etc., by
Reuben Gold Thwaites
Editor of “The Jesuit Relations and Allied Documents,” “Wisconsin
Historical Collections,” “Chronicles of Border Warfare,”
“Hennepin’s New Discovery,” etc.

Volume I

Journals of
Conrad Weiser (1748), George Croghan (1750-1765)
Christian Frederick Post (1758), and
Thomas Morris (1764)

[Illustration]

Cleveland, Ohio
The Arthur H. Clark Company
1904

The Lakeside Press
R. R. DONNELLEY & SONS COMPANY
CHICAGO

CONTENTS OF VOLUME I

PREFACE. _The Editor_ 11

INTRODUCTORY NOTE. _The Editor_ 17

JOURNAL OF A TOUR TO THE OHIO; August 11-October 2, 1748. _Conrad
Weiser_ 21

INTRODUCTORY NOTE. _The Editor_ 47

A SELECTION OF LETTERS AND JOURNALS RELATING TO TOURS INTO THE
WESTERN COUNTRY. _George Croghan_

Croghan to the Governor of Pennsylvania; November 16, 1750 53

Proceedings of Croghan and Andrew Montour at [the] Ohio; May
18-28, 1751 58

Letter of Croghan to the Governor, accompanying the treaty at
Logstown; June 10, 1751 70

Croghan’s Journal; January 12-February 3, 1754 72

Croghan to Charles Swaine, at Shippensburg; October 9, 1755 82

Council held at Carlisle; January 13, 1756 84

Croghan’s Transactions with the Indians previous to Hostilities
on the Ohio; [June, 1757] 88

Croghan’s Journal; October 21, 1760-January 7, 1761 100

Croghan’s Journal; May 15-September 26, 1765 126

List of the different Nations and Tribes of Indians in the
Northern District of North America, with the number of
their fighting men 167

Croghan to Sir William Johnson; November, 1765 170

III

INTRODUCTORY NOTE. _The Editor_ 177

TWO JOURNALS OF WESTERN TOURS. _Charles Frederick Post_

1. From Philadelphia to the Ohio, on a message from the
Government of Pennsylvania to the Delaware, Shawnese,
and Mingo Indians; July 15-September 22, 1758 185

2. On a message from the Governor of Pennsylvania to the
Indians on the Ohio, in the latter part of the same year;
October 25, 1758-January 10, 1759 234

INTRODUCTORY NOTE. _The Editor_ 295

JOURNAL [OF A TOUR OF THE MAUMEE]; Detroit, September 25, 1764.
_Captain Thomas Morris_, of his Majesty’s XVII Regiment of
Infantry 301

ILLUSTRATION TO VOLUME I

PORTRAIT OF CAPTAIN THOMAS MORRIS. _Photographic facsimile of steel plate
in original edition of “Miscellanies in Prose and Verse.”_

Frontispiece.

PREFACE TO VOLUME I

In planning for this series of reprints of Early Western Travels, we
were confronted by an embarrassment of riches. To reissue all of the
many excellent works of travel originally published during the formative
period of Western settlement, would obviously be impossible. A selection
had therefore to be made, both as to period and material. The century
commencing with Conrad Weiser’s notable journey to the Western Indians
in 1748, set convenient limits to the field in the matter of time. The
question of material was much more difficult.

It being unlikely that any two editors would choose the same volumes
for reprint, criticism of our list will undoubtedly be made. It should,
however, candidly be explained that the matter of selection has in each
case necessarily been affected by two important considerations—(1) the
intrinsic value of the original from the historical side, and (2) its
present rarity and market value. The Editor having selected a list of
items worthy of a new lease of life, the Publishers, from their intimate
knowledge of the commercial aspect of rare Americana, advised which
of these in their opinion were sufficiently in demand by libraries
and collectors to render the enterprise financially productive. It is
believed that this co-operative method has resulted in an interesting
collection, and given point to the descriptive sub-title: “Some of the
best and rarest contemporary volumes of travel ... in the Middle and Far
West, during the period of early American settlement.”

The first volume of our series is necessarily more varied in composition
than any of its successors, it having been deemed important to present
herein several typical early tours into the Indian country west of the
Alleghenies.

That of Conrad Weiser, occurring in August and September of 1748, was
the first official journey undertaken at the instance of the English
colonies, to the west of the mountain wall. His purpose was, to carry to
the tribesmen on the Ohio a present from the Pennsylvania and Virginia
authorities. The results were favorable to an English alliance, but they
were partially neutralized by the French expedition headed by Céloron the
following year.

The journals of George Croghan (1750-65) are an epitome of the Indian
history of the time. The first three documents deal with the period of
English progress—in 1750, Croghan was on the Ohio en route to the Shawnee
towns and Pickawillany; the next season, he outwitted Joncaire on the
Allegheny. The four succeeding documents are concerned with the period
of hostility to the English—in 1754 he was on the Ohio after Washington
had passed (December, 1753); the letter from Aughwick, in 1755, tells of
affairs after Braddock’s defeat; in 1756, we learn particulars of Indian
affairs; and in 1757 is given a résumé of past events. The last two
journals are the longest and most important—that of 1760-61 is concerned,
topographically and otherwise, with the trip to Detroit via Lake Erie,
in the company of Rogers’s Rangers, and the return by land to Pittsburg;
that of 1765, with a tour down the Ohio towards the Illinois, where the
writer is captured and carried to Ouiatanon—in due course making a peace
with Pontiac, and returning to Niagara.

The journals of Christian Frederick Post and Thomas Morris are
interludes, as to time, in the Croghan diaries. Post’s two journals cover
the months of July to September, 1758, and October, 1758 to January,
1759. He was at first sent out, by the northern trail, in midsummer,
as an official messenger to the hostiles, among whom he succeeded
in securing a kind of neutrality—a venturesome expedition into the
neighborhood of Fort Duquesne, whose French commandant offered a price
upon his head. The second journey, in the autumn, was undertaken to carry
the news of the treaty of Easton (October, 1758), and pave the way for
General Forbes’s advance. In the course of his journey he proceeded to
the Indian towns on the Ohio and its northern tributaries, and returned
to the settlements with Forbes’s army.

Captain Morris accompanied Bradstreet (1764) on the latter’s expedition
towards Detroit. Being dispatched from Cedar Point on a mission to the
French in the Illinois, Morris was arrested and maltreated at the Ottawa
village at Maumee Rapids. He saw Pontiac, went to Fort Miami, narrowly
escaped being burned at the stake, and finally made his escape through
the woods to Detroit. His journal presents a thrilling episode in Western
history.

It is our purpose, in these reprints, accurately to republish the
original volumes, with all of their illustrations and other features.
While seeking to reproduce the old text as closely as practicable,
with its typographic and orthographic peculiarities, it has been
found advisable here and there to make a few minor changes; these
consist almost wholly of palpable blemishes, the result of negligent
proof-reading—such as turned letters, transposed letters, slipped
letters, and mis-spacings. Such corrections will be made without specific
mention; in some instances, however, the original error has for a reason
been retained, and in juxtaposition the correction given within brackets.
We indicate, throughout, the pagination of the old edition which we are
reprinting, by inclosing within brackets the number of each page at its
beginning, _e. g._ [24]; in the few instances where pages were, as the
fruit of carelessness in make-up, misnumbered in the original, we have
given the incorrect as well as the correct figure, _e. g._ [25, _i. e._
125]. In two or three instances, where matter foreign to our purpose was
introduced in the volume as originally published—such as the journal of a
voyage not within our field, or an appendix of irrelevant or unimportant
matter—we have taken the liberty of eliminating this; in such cases,
however, especial attention will be called to the omission.

An analytical index to the series will appear in the concluding volume.

In the preparation of notes for the present volume, the Editor has been
assisted by Louise Phelps Kellogg, Ph.D., of the Division of Maps and
Manuscripts in the Wisconsin State Historical Library. He has also been
favored with valuable information on various points, from Colonel Reuben
T. Durrett of Louisville, Mr. Frank H. Severance of Buffalo, the Western
Reserve Historical Society at Cleveland, and Dr. Ernest C. Richardson and
Dr. John Rogers Williams of Princeton University.

R. G. T.

MADISON, WIS., January, 1904.

CONRAD WEISER’S JOURNAL OF A TOUR TO THE OHIO

AUGUST 11-OCTOBER 2, 1748

SOURCE: _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, pp. 348-358; with variations
from _Pennsylvania Historical Collections_, i, pp. 23-33.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Conrad Weiser, one of the most prominent agents in the management of
Indian affairs during the later French wars, was a native of Würtemberg,
being born November 2, 1696. When Conrad was but fourteen years old, his
father, John Conrad Weiser, led a party of Palatines to America where
they lived four years on the Livingston manor in New York, and in 1714
removed to Schoharie. There young Weiser came in close contact with the
Mohawk Indians, was adopted into their tribe, and living among them for
some years became master of their language.

In 1729, he and his family, consisting of a wife and five young children,
removed to Berks (then Lancaster) County, Pennsylvania, where a number of
Weiser’s countrymen had preceded them. The new homestead was a mile east
of the present town of Womelsdorf, and became the centre of an extended
hospitality both for Pennsylvania Germans and visiting Indians. When
Reading was laid out (1748), Weiser was one of the commissioners for that
purpose, building therein a house and store that are still standing.

His first employment as an interpreter was in 1731, when forty shillings
were allotted him for his services. From this time forward he was
official interpreter for Pennsylvania, and for thirty years was employed
in every important Indian transaction. The Pennsylvania Council testified
in 1736 “that they had found Conrad faithfull and honest, that he is a
true good Man & had Spoke their words [the Indians’] & our Words, and
not his own.”[1] Again in 1743, the governor of Virginia requested the
province of Pennsylvania to send their “honest interpreter,” Conrad
Weiser, to adjust a difficulty with the Iroquois Indians; whereupon he
proceeded to Onondaga with a present of £100 on the part of Virginia, and
made peace for the English colonists.[2] The following year, Weiser was
chief interpreter at the important treaty of Lancaster; and throughout
King George’s War was occupied with negotiations with the Six Nations,
detaching them from the French influence, and keeping the Pennsylvania
Delawares quiet “upon their mats.”

After the journey to the Ohio, described in the following diary,
Weiser’s Indian transactions were largely confined to the province
of Pennsylvania; Montour and Croghan taking over the business with
the Ohio Indians until the outbreak of the French and Indian War.
Weiser now assumed duties in a military capacity. He raised a company
of soldiers for the Canadian expedition (1755), and later was made
lieutenant-colonel, with the care of the frontier forts under his charge.
At the same time the New York authorities besought his influence with the
Mohawks and Western Iroquois; and he assisted in arranging the treaty at
Easton, which prepared the way for the success of Forbes’s expedition
(1758).

Weiser was the most influential German of his section, possibly of all
Pennsylvania; but his religious affiliations and enmities interfered
with his political ambitions. Originally a Lutheran, in 1735 he became
concerned with the movement of the Seventh Day Baptists, which led to
the establishment of the community at Ephrata, where he was known as
Brother Enoch, and consecrated to the priesthood. These sectaries charged
that the bribe of official position tempted him to forsake his vows;
certain it is that in 1741 he was appointed justice of the peace for
Berks County, and left Ephrata, later (1743) sending a letter requesting
his former brethren to consider him a “stranger.” The opposition of this
sect of Germans, the indifference of the Moravians, and the alienation
of his earlier Lutheran friends, lost him his coveted election for the
assembly; and he afterwards withdrew from politics to remain the trusted
adviser of the government upon Indian and local affairs. His sincerity,
honesty, and trustworthiness made him greatly respected throughout the
entire province, and his death, July 13, 1760, was considered a public
calamity.

The journey undertaken to the Ohio, which the accompanying journal
chronicles, was the first official embassy to the Indians who lived
beyond the Alleghenies, and was undertaken for the following reasons.

The efforts of the English traders to push their connections among
the “far Indians” had been increasingly successful, during the decade
1738-48, and the resulting rivalry with the French had reached an
intense stage. The firm hold of the latter on the Indian nations of
the “upper country” had been shaken by a long series of wars with the
Foxes and Chickasaws, accompanied by humiliating defeats. In 1747, the
most faithful of the French Indians—those domiciled at Mackinac and
Detroit—had risen in revolt; and George Croghan sent word to the council
at Philadelphia that some nations along the shore of Lake Erie desired
the English alliance, having as an earnest thereof sent a belt of wampum
and a French scalp.[3] The Pennsylvania authorities voted them a present
of £200, to be sent out by Croghan. About the same time, a deputation
of ten Indians from the Ohio arriving in Philadelphia, the council
considered this “an extraordinary event in the English favor,” and not
only secured a grant of £1,000 from the assembly, but applied to the
governors of the Southern provinces to aid in this work; in accordance
with which request, Virginia replied with an appropriation of £200.[4]
Croghan set off in the spring of 1748, and informed the Allegheny Indians
that Weiser, the official interpreter, would be among them during the
summer. Meanwhile, the latter was detained by a treaty with the Twigtwee
(Miami) Indians, who had come unexpectedly offering to the English the
alliance of that powerful nation;[5] so that it was not until August that
he was able to start on his mission to the Ohio.

In addition to the delivery of the present, he was also instructed to
secure satisfaction for the attack of some Northern Indians upon the
Carolina settlements; wherein one Captain Haig, with several others,
had been carried off prisoners—supposedly by some Ohio Indians.[6] The
success of this mission was most gratifying to the English and the
frontier settlers. The Virginia authorities were more active than those
of Pennsylvania in following up the advantage thus gained; and under the
leadership of the Ohio Company sought to secure the Forks of the Ohio,
with the ensuing consequences of the French and Indian War.

R. G. T.

THE JOURNAL OF CONRAD WEISER, ESQR., INDIAN INTERPRETER, TO THE OHIO[7]

Augˢᵗ 11th. Set out from my House & came to James Galbreath[8] that day,
30 Miles.

12th. Came to George Croghans,[9] 15 Miles.

13th. To Robert Dunnings, 20 Miles.

14th. To the Tuscarroro Path, 30 Miles.

15th and 16th. Lay by on Account of the Men coming back Sick, & some
other Affairs hindering us.

17th. Crossed the Tuscarroro Hill & came to the Sleeping Place called the
Black Log, 20 Miles.

18th. Had a great rain in the afternoon; came within two Miles of the
Standing Stone, 24 Miles.

19th. We travelled but 12 Miles;[10] were obliged to dry our Things in
the afternoon.

20th. Came to Franks Town, but saw no Houses or Cabins; here we overtook
the Goods,[11] because four of George Croghan’s Hands fell sick, 26 Miles.

21st. Lay by, it raining all Day.

22d. Crossed Alleghany Hill & came to the Clear Fields, 16 Miles.[12]

23d. Came to the Shawonese[13] Cabbins, 34 Miles.

24th. Found a dead Man on the Road who had killed himself by Drinking
too much Whisky; the Place being very stony we cou’d not dig a Grave;
He smelling very strong we covered him with Stones & Wood & went on our
Journey; came to the 10 Mile Lick, 32 Miles.

25th. Crossed Kiskeminetoes Creek & came to Ohio that Day, 26 Miles.[14]

26th. Hired a Cannoe; paid 1,000 Black Wampum for the loan of it to Logs
Town. Our Horses being all tyred, we went by Water & came that Night to a
Delaware Town; the Indians used us very kindly.[15]

27th. Sett off again in the morning early; Rainy Wheather. We dined in a
Seneka Town, where an old Seneka Woman Reigns with great Authority;[16]
we dined at her House, & they all used us very well; at this & the
last-mentioned Delaware Town they received us by firing a great many
Guns; especially at this last Place. We saluted the Town by firing off 4
pair of pistols; arrived that Evening at Logs Town, & Saluted the Town
as before; the Indians returned about One hundred Guns;[17] Great Joy
appear’d in their Countenances. From the Place where we took Water, _i.
e._ from the old Shawones Town, commonly called Chartier’s Town,[18] to
this Place is about 60 Miles by Water & but 35 or 40 by Land.

The Indian Council met this Evening to shake Hands with me & to shew
their Satisfaction at my safe arrival; I desired of them to send a Couple
of Canoes to fetch down the Goods from Chartier’s old Town, where we had
been oblig’d to leave them on account of our Horses being all tyred. I
gave them a String of Wampum to enforce my Request.[19]

28th. Lay still.

29th. The Indians sett off in three Canoes to fetch the Goods. I expected
the Goods wou’d be all at Chartier’s old Town by the time the Canoes
wou’d get there, as we met about twenty Horses of George Croghan’s at the
Shawonese Cabbins in order to fetch the Goods that were then lying at
Franks Town.

This Day news came to Town that the Six Nations were on the point of
declaring War against the French, for reason the French had Imprison’d
some of the Indian Deputies. A Council was held & all the Indians
acquainted with the News, and it was said the Indian Messenger was by the
way to give all the Indians Notice to make ready to fight the French.[20]
This Day my Companions went to Coscosky, a large Indian Town about 30
Miles off.[21]

30th. I went to Beaver Creek, an Indian Town about 8 Miles off, chiefly
Delawares, the rest Mohocks, to have some Belts of Wampum made.[22]
This afternoon Rainy Wheather set in which lasted above a Week. Andrew
Montour[23] came back from Coscosky with a Message from the Indians there
to desire of me that the ensuing Council might be held at their Town. We
both lodged at this Town at George Croghan’s Trading House.

31st. Sent Andrew Montour back to Coscosky with a String of Wampum to
let the Indians there know that it was an act of their own that the
ensuing Council must be held at Logs Town, they had order’d it do last
Spring when George Croghan was up, & at the last Treaty in Lancaster the
Shawonese & Twightwees[24] have been told so, & they stayed accordingly
for that purpose, & both would be offended if the Council was to be held
at Coscosky, besides my instructions binds me to Logs Town, & could not
go further without giving offence.

Septʳ. 1. The Indians in Logs Town having heard of the Message from
Coscosky sent for me to know what I was resolv’d to do, and told me that
the Indians at Coscosky were no more Chiefs than themselves, & that last
Spring they had nothing to eat, & expecting that they shou’d have nothing
to eat at our arrival, order’d that the Council should be held here; now
their Corn is ripe, they want to remove the Council, but they ought to
stand by their word; we have kept the Twightwees here & our Brethren the
Shawonese from below on that account, as I told them the Message that I
had sent by Andrew Montour; they were content.

2d. Rain continued; the Indians brought in a good deal of Venison.

3d. Set up the Union Flagg on a long Pole. Treated all the Company with a
Dram of Rum; The King’s Health was drank by Indians & white men. Towards
Night a great many Indians arrived to attend the Council. There was great
firing on both sides; the Strangers first Saluted the Town at a quarter
of a Mile distance, and at their Entry the Town’s People return’d the
fire, also the English Traders, of whom there were above twenty. At
Night, being very sick of the Cholick, I got bled.

4th. Was oblig’d to keep my bed all Day, being very weak.

5th. I found myself better. Scaiohady[25] came to see me; had some
discourse with him about the ensuing Council.

6th. Had a Council with the Wondats, otherways called Ionontady Hagas,
they made a fine Speech to me to make me welcome, & appeared in the
whole very friendly.[26] Rainy Wheather continued.

7th. Being inform’d that the Wondats had a mind to go back again to the
French, & had endeavour’d to take the Delawares with them to recommend
them to the French, I sent Andrew Montour to Beaver Creek with a string
of Wampum to inform himself of the Truth of the matter; they sent a
String in answer to let me know they had no correspondence that way with
the Wondats, and that the aforesaid Report was false.

8th. Had a Council with the Chiefs of the Wondats; enquired their number,
& what occasion’d them to come away from the French, What Correspondence
they had with the Six Nations, & whether or no they had ever had any
Correspondence with the Government of New York; they inform’d me their
coming away from the French was because of the hard Usage they received
from them; That they wou’d always get their Young Men to go to War
against their Enemies, and wou’d use them as their own People, that is
like Slaves, & their Goods were so dear that they, the Indians, cou’d not
buy them; that there was one hundred fighting Men that came over to join
the English, seventy were left behind at another Town a good distance
off, & they hoped they wou’d follow them; that they had a very good
Correspondence with the Six Nations many Years, & were one People with
them, that they cou’d wish the Six Nations wou’d act more brisker against
the French; That above fifty Years ago they made a Treaty of Friendship
with the Governor of New York at Albany, & shewed me a large Belt of
Wampum they received there from the said Governor as from the King of
Great Britain; the Belt was 25 Grains wide & 265 long, very Curiously
wrought, there were seven Images of Men holding one another by the Hand,
the 1st signifying the Governor of New York (or rather, as they said, the
King of Great Britain), the 2d the Mohawks, the 3d the Oneidos, the 4th
the Cajugas, the 5th the Onondagers, the 6th the Senekas, the 7th the
Owandaets [Wyandots], the two Rows of black Wampum under their feet thro’
the whole length of the Belt to signify the Road from Albany thro’ the 5
Nations to the Owendaets; That 6 Years ago, they had sent Deputies with
the same Belt to Albany to renew the Friendship.

I treated them with a quart of Whiskey & a Roll of Tobacco; they
expressed their good Wishes to King George & all his People, & were
mightily pleas’d that I look’d upon them as Brethren of the English.

This Day I desir’d the Deputies of all the Nations of Indians settled on
the Waters of Ohio to give me a List of their fighting Men, which they
promis’d to do. A great many of the Indians went away this Day because
the Goods did not come, & the People in the Town cou’d not find Provision
enough, the number was so great.

The following is the number of every Nation, given to me by their
several Deputies in Council, in so many Sticks tied up in a Bundle:

The Senacas 163, Shawonese 162, Owendaets 100, Tisagechroanu 40; Mohawks
74; Mohickons 15; Onondagers 35; Cajukas 20; Oneidos 15; Delawares 165;
in all 789.[27]

9th. I had a Council with the Senakas, & gave them a large String of
Wampum, black & White, to acquaint them I had it in Charge from the
President & Council in Philadelphia to enquire who it was that lately
took the People Prisoners in Carolina, one thereof being a Great man,
& that by what discovery I had already made I found it was some of the
Senekas did it; I therefore desir’d them to give me their Reasons for
doing so, & as they had struck their Hatchet into their Brethren’s Body
they cou’d not expect that I could deliver my Message with a good heart
before they gave me Satisfaction in that Respect, for they must consider
the English, tho’ living in several Provinces, are all one People, &
doing Mischeif to one is doing to the other; let me have a plain & direct
answer.

10th. A great many of the Indians got drunk; one Henry Noland had brought
near 30 Gallons of Whiskey to the Town. This Day I made a Present to
the old Shawonese Chief Cackawatcheky, of a Stroud, a Blanket, a Match
Coat,[28] a Shirt, a Pair of Stockings, & a large twist of Tobacco, &
told him that the President & Council of Philadelphia remember’d their
love to him as to their old & true Friend, & wou’d Cloath his Body once
more, & wished he might weare them out so as to give them an opportunity
to cloath him again. There was a great many Indians present, two of which
were the big Hominy & the Pride, those that went off with Chartier, but
protested against his proceedings against our Traders. Catchawatcheky
return’d thanks, & some of the Six Nations did the same, & express’d
their Satisfaction to see a true man taken Notice of, altho’ he was now
grown Childish.

11th. George Croghan & myself staved an 8 Gallon Cag of Liquor belonging
to the aforesaid Henry Norland, who could not be prevail’d on to hide it
in the Woods, but would sell it & get drunk himselfe.

I desir’d some of the Indians in Council to send some of their Young Men
to meet our People with the Goods, and not to come back before they heard
of or saw them. I begun to be afraid they had fallen into the Hands of
the Enemy; so did the Indians.

Ten Warriors came to Town by Water from Niagara; We suspected them very
much, & fear’d that some of their Parties went to meet our People by
hearing of them.[29]

12th. Two Indians and a white man[30] went out to meet our People, & had
Orders not to come back before they saw them, or go to Franks Town, where
we left the Goods. The same Day the Indians made answer to my Request
concerning the Prisoners taken in Carolina: Thanayieson, a Speaker of
the Senekas, spoke to the following purpose in the presence of all the
Deputies of the other Nations (We were out of Doors): “Brethren, You
came a great way to visit us, & many sorts of Evils might have befallen
You by the way which might have been hurtful to your Eyes & your inward
parts, for the Woods are full of Evil Spirits. We give You this String
of Wampum to clear up your Eyes & Minds & to remove all bitterness of
your Spirit, that you may hear us speak in good Chear.” Then the Speaker
took his Belt in his Hand & said: “Brethren, when we and you first saw
one another at your first arrival at Albany we shook Hands together and
became Brethren & we tyed your Ship to the Bushes, and after we had more
acquaintance with you we lov’d you more and more, & perceiving that a
Bush wou’d not hold your Vessel we then tyed her to a large Tree & ever
after good Friendship continued between us; afterwards you, our Brethren,
told us that a Tree might happen to fall down and the Rope rot wherewith
the Ship was tyed. You then proposed to make a Silver Chain & tye your
Ship to the great Mountains in the five Nations’ Country, & that Chain
was called the Chain of Friendship; we were all tyed by our Arms together
with it, & we the Indians of the five Nations heartily agreed to it, &
ever since a very good Correspondence have been kept between us; but we
are very sorry that at your coming here we are oblig’d to talk of the
Accident that lately befell you in Carolina, where some of our Warriors,
by the Instigation of the Evil Spirit, struck their Hatchet into our own
Body like, for our Brethren the English & we are of one Body, & what
was done we utterly abhor as a thing done by the Evil Spirit himself; we
never expected any of our People wou’d ever do so to our Brethren. We
therefore remove our Hatchet which, by the influence of the Evil Spirit,
was struck into your Body, and we desire that our Brethren the Govʳ. of
New York & Onas[31] may use their utmost endeavours that the thing may be
buried in the bottomless Pit, that it may never be seen again—that the
Chain of Friendship which is of so long standing may be preserv’d bright
& unhurt.” Gave a Belt. The Speaker then took up a String of Wampum,
mostly black, and said: “Brethren, as we have removed our Hatchet out
of your Body, or properly speaking, out of our own, We now desire that
the Air may be clear’d up again & the wound given may be healed, & every
thing put in good understanding, as it was before, and we desire you will
assist us to make up everything with the Govʳ. of Carolina; the Man that
has been brought as a Prisoner we now deliver to You, he is yours” (lay’d
down the String, and took the Prisoner by the Hand and delivered him to
me).[32] By way of discourse, the Speaker said, “the Six Nation Warriors
often meet Englishmen trading to the Catawbas, & often found that the
Englishmen betrayed them to their Enemy, & some of the English Traders
had been spoke to by the Indian Speaker last Year in the Cherrykees[33]
Country & were told not to do so; that the Speaker & many others of the
Six Nations had been afraid a long time that such a thing wou’d be done
by some of their Warriors at one time or other.”

13th. Had a Council with the Senekas and Onontagers about the Wandots,
to receive them into our Union. I gave a large Belt of Wampum and the
Indians gave two, & everything was agreed upon about what sho’d be said
to the Wandots. The same Evening a full Council was appointed & met
accordingly, & a Speech was made to the Wandots by Asserhartur, a Seneka,
as follows:

“Brethren, the Ionontady Hagas:[34] last Spring you sent this Belt of
Wampum to Us (having the Belt then in his hand) to desire us and our
Brethren, the Shawonese & our Cousins the Delawares, to come & meet you
in your retreat from the French, & we accordingly came to your Assistance
& brought you here & received you as our own flesh. We desire you will
think you now join us, & our Brethren, the English, & you are become
one People with us”—then he lay’d that Belt by & gave them a very large
String of Wampum.

The Speaker took up the Belt I gave & said: “Brethren: the English, our
Brothers, bid you welcome & are glad you escaped out Captivity like: You
have been kept as Slaves by Onontio,[35] notwithstanding he call’d You
all along his Children, but now You have broke the Rope wherewith you
have been tyed & become Freemen, & we, the united Six Nations, receive
you to our Council Fire, & make you Members thereof, and we will secure
your dwelling Place to You against all manner of danger.”—Gave the Belt.

“Brethren: We the Six United Nations & all our Indian Allies, with our
Brethren the English, look upon you as our Children, tho’ you are our
Brethren; we desire you will give no ear to the Evil Spirit that spreads
lyes & wickedness, let your mind by easy & clear, & be of the same mind
with us whatever you may hear, nothing shall befall you but what of
necessity must befall us at the same time.

“Brethren: We are extremely pleased to see you here, as it happened just
at the same time when our Brother Onas is with us. We jointly, by this
Belt of Wampum, embrace you about your middle, & desire you to be strong
in your minds & hearts, let nothing alter your minds, but live & dye with
us.” Gave a Belt—the Council broke up.

14th. A full Council was Summon’d & every thing repeated by me to all
the Indians of what pass’d in Lancaster at the last Treaty with the
Twightwees.

The News was confirm’d by a Belt of Wampum from the Six Nations, that
the French had imprisoned some of the Six Nations Deputies, & 30 of the
Wandots, including Women & Children.

The Indians that were sent to meet our People with the Goods came back &
did not see any thing of them, but they had been no further than the old
Shawonese Town.

15th. I let the Indians know that I wou’d deliver my Message to morrow, &
the Goods I had, & that they must send Deputies with me on my returning
homewards, & wherever we shou’d meet the rest of the Goods I wou’d send
them to them if they were not taken by the Enemy, to which they agreed.

The same Day the Delawares made a Speech to me & presented a Beaver Coat
& a String of Wampum, & said, “Brother: we let the President & Council
of Phila. know that after the Death of our Chief Man, Olomipies, our
Grand Children the Shawnese[36] came to our own Town to condole with us
over the loss of our good King, your Brother, & they wiped off our Tears
& comforted our minds, & as the Delawares are the same People with the
Pennsylvanians, & born in one & the same Country, we give some of the
Present our Grand Children gave us to the President & Council of Philda.
because the Death of their good Friend & Brother must have affected them
as well as us.”—Gave the Beaver Coat & a String of Wampum.

The same Day the Wandots sent for me & Andrew & presented us with 7
Beaver Skins about 10 lbs. weight, & said they gave us that to buy some
refreshments for us after our arrival in Pennsylvania, wished we might
get home safe, & lifted up their Hands & said they wou’d pray God to
protect us & guide us the way home. I desir’d to know their names; they
behav’d like People of good Sense & Sincerity; the most of them were grey
headed; their Names are as follows: Totornihiades, Taganayesy, Sonachqua,
Wanduny, Taruchiorus, their Speaker. The Chiefs of the Delawares that
made the above Speech are Shawanasson & Achamanatainu.[37]

16th. I made answer to the Delawares & said, “Brethren the Delawares:
It is true what you said that the People of Pennsylvania are your
Brethren & Countrymen; we are very well pleas’d of what your Children
the Shawonese did to you; this is the first time we had publick Notice
given us of the Death of our good Friend & Brother Olomipies. I take this
opportunity to remove the remainder of your Troubles from your Hearts to
enable you to attend in Council at the ensuing Treaty, & I assure you
that the President & Council of Pennsylvania condoles with You over the
loss of your King our good Friend and Brother.”—Gave them 5 Strouds.

The two aforesaid Chiefs gave a String of Wampum & desir’d me to let
their Brethren, the President & Council, know they intended a Journey
next Spring to Philadelphia to consult with their Brethren over some
Affairs of Moment; since they are now like Orphan Children, they hoped
their Brethren wou’d let them have their good Advice and Assistance, as
the People of Pennsylvania & the Delawares were like one Family.

The same Day the rest of the Goods arriv’d the Men said they had nine
Days’ Rain & the Creeks arose, & that they had been oblig’d to send a
sick Man back from Franks Town to the Inhabitants with another to attend
him.

The neighboring Indians being sent for again, the Council was appointed
to meet to-morrow. It rain’d again.

17th. It rained very hard, but in the Afternoon it held up for about 3
hours; the Deputies of the several Nations met in Council & I delivered
them what I had to say from the President & Council of Pennsylvania by
Andrew Montour.

“Brethren, you that live on Ohio: I am sent to You by the President &
Council of Pennsylvania, & I am now going to Speak to You on their behalf
I desire You will take Notice & hear what I shall say.”—Gave a String of
Wampum.

“Brethren: Some of You have been in Philadelphia last Fall & acquainted
us that You had taken up the English Hatchet, and that You had already
made use of it against the French, & that the French had very hard
heads, & your Country afforded nothing but Sticks & Hickerys which was
not sufficient to break them. You desir’d your Brethren wou’d assist
You with some Weapons sufficient to do it. Your Brethren the Presidᵗ.
& Council promis’d you then to send something to You next Spring by
Tharachiawagon,[38] but as some other Affairs prevented his Journey to
Ohio, you receiv’d a Supply by George Croghan sent you by your said
Brethren; but before George Croghan came back from Ohio News came from
over the Great Lake that the King of Great Britain & the French King
had agreed upon a Cessation of Arms for Six Months & that a Peace was
very likely to follow. Your Brethren, the President & Council, were
then in a manner at a loss what to do. It did not become them to act
contrary to the command of the King, and it was out of their Power to
encourage you in the War against the French; but as your Brethren never
miss’d fulfilling their Promises, they have upon second Consideration
thought proper to turn the intended Supply into a Civil & Brotherly
Present, and have accordingly sent me with it, and here are the Goods
before your Eyes, which I have, by your Brethren’s Order, divided into
5 Shares & layd in 5 different heaps, one heap whereof your Brother
Assaraquoa sent to You to remember his Friendship and Unity with You;
& as you are all of the same Nations with whom we the English have
been in League of Friendship, nothing need be said more than this, that
the President & Council & Assaraquoa[39] have sent You this Present to
serve to strengthen the Chain of Friendship between us the English & the
several Nations of Indians to which You belong. A French Peace is a very
uncertain One, they keep it no longer than their Interest permits, then
they break it without provocation given them. The French King’s People
have been almost starv’d in old France for want of Provision, which made
them wish & seek for Peace; but our wise People are of opinion that after
their Bellies are full they will quarrel again & raise a War. All nations
in Europe know that their Friendship is mix’d with Poison, & many that
trusted too much on their Friendship have been ruin’d.

“I now conclude & say, that we the English are your true Brethren at all
Events, In token whereof receive this Present.” The Goods being then
uncover’d I proceeded. “Brethren: You have of late settled the River of
Ohio for the sake of Hunting, & our Traders followed you for the sake
of Hunting also. You have invited them yourselves. Your Brethren, the
President & Council, desire You will look upon them as your Brethren
& see that they have justice done. Some of your Young Men have robbed
our Traders, but you will be so honest as to compel them to make
Satisfaction. You are now become a People of Note, & are grown very
numerous of late Years, & there is no doubt some wise Men among you, it
therefore becomes you to Act the part of wise men, & for the future be
more regular than You have been for some Years past, when only a few
Young Hunters lived here.”—Gave a Belt.

“Brethren: You have of late made frequent Complaints against the Traders
bringing so much Rum to your Towns, & desir’d it might be stop’t; & your
Brethren the President & Council made an Act accordingly & put a stop
to it, & no Trader was to bring any Rum or strong Liquor to your Towns.
I have the Act here with me & shall explain it to You before I leave
you;[40] But it seems it is out of your Brethren’s Power to stop it
entirely. You send down your own Skins by the Traders to buy Rum for you.
You go yourselves & fetch Horse loads of strong Liquor. But the other Day
an Indian came to this Town out of Maryland with 3 Horse loads of Liquor,
so that it appears you love it so well that you cannot be without it.
You know very well that the Country near the endless Mountain affords
strong Liquor, & the moment the Traders buy it they are gone out of the
Inhabitants & are travelling to this Place without being discover’d;
besides this, you never agree about it—one will have it, the other won’t
(tho’ very few), a third says we will have it cheaper; this last we
believe is spoken from your Hearts (here they Laughed). Your Brethren,
therefore, have order’d that every cask of Whiskey shall be sold to You
for 5 Bucks in your Town, & if a Trader offers to sell Whiskey to You and
will not let you have it at that Price, you may take it from him & drink
it for nothing.”—Gave a Belt.

“Brethren: Here is one of the Traders who you know to be a very sober &
honest Man; he has been robbed of the value of 300 Bucks, & you all know
by whom; let, therefore, Satisfaction be made to the Trader.”—Gave a
String of Wampum.

“Brethren, I have no more to say.”

I delivered the Goods to them, having first divided them into 5 Shares—a
Share to the Senekas, another to the Cajukas, Oneidos, the Onontagers,
& Mohawks, another to the Delawares, another to the Owendaets,
Tisagechroanu, & Mohickons, and the other to the Shawonese.

The Indians signified great Satisfaction & were well pleased with the
Cessation of Arms. The Rainy Wheather hasted them away with the Goods
into the Houses.

18th. The Speech was delivered to the Delawares in their own Language,
& also to the Shawonese in their’s, by Andrew Montour, in the presence
of the Gentlemen that accompanied me.[41] I acquainted the Indians I was
determined to leave them to-morrow & return homewards.

19th. Scaiohady, Tannghrishon, Oniadagarehra, with a few more, came to my
lodging & spoke as follows:

“Brother Onas, We desire you will hear what we are going to say to You in
behalf of all the Indians on Ohio; their Deputies have sent us to You. We
have heard what you have said to us, & we return you many thanks for your
kindness in informing us of what pass’d between the King of Great Britain
& the French King, and in particular we return you many thanks for the
large Presents; the same we do to our Brother Assaraquoa, who joined our
Brother Onas in making us a Present. Our Brethren have indeed tied our
Hearts to their’s. We at present can but return thanks with an empty hand
till another opportunity serves to do it sufficiently. We must call a
great Council & do every thing regular; in the mean time look upon us as
your true Brothers.

“Brother: You said the other Day in Council if any thing befell us from
the French we must let you know of it. We will let you know if we hear
any thing from the French, be it against us or yourself. You will have
Peace, but it’s most certain that the Six Nations & their Allies are
upon the point of declaring War against the French. Let us keep up true
Corrispondence & always hear of one another.”—They gave a Belt.

Scaiohady & the half King, with two others, had inform’d me that they
often must send Messengers to Indian Towns & Nations, & had nothing in
their Council Bag, as they were new beginners, either to recompense a
Messenger or to get Wampum to do the business, & begged I wou’d assist
them with something. I had saved a Piece of Strowd, an half Barrell
of Pow[d]er, 100 pounds of Lead, 10 Shirts, 6 Knives, & 1 Pound of
Vermillion, & gave it to them for the aforesaid use; they return’d many
thanks and were mightily pleased.[42]

The same Day I set out for Pennsylvania in Rainy Weather, and arrived at
George Croghan’s on the 28th Instant.[43]

CONRAD WEISER.

PENNSBURY, Sepᵗ. 29th, 1748.

FOOTNOTES

[1] _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_ (Harrisburg, 1851), iv, p. 88.

[2] _Ibid._, pp. 660-669, for journal of this tour.

[3] _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, p. 72.

[4] _Ibid._, pp. 121, 140, 145-152, 189, 190, 257.

[5] _Ibid._, pp. 286-290, 307-319.

[6] _Ibid._, pp. 290-293, 304.

[7] There appear to have been two copies of this journal prepared, one as
the official report to the president and council of Pennsylvania, which
was published in the _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, pp. 348-358. A
reprint from the same manuscript appeared in _Early History of Western
Pennsylvania_ (Pittsburg and Harrisburg, 1846), appendix, pp. 13-23. The
other copy seems to have been preserved among the family papers; and was
edited and published by a descendant of Weiser—Heister M. Muhlenberg,
M.D., of Reading, Pennsylvania—in Pennsylvania Historical Society
_Collections_ (Philadelphia, 1851), i, pp. 23-33. We have followed
the official copy, indicating by footnotes variations in the other
account.—ED.

[8] Weiser’s house was about one mile east of Womelsdorf, now in Berks
County, Pennsylvania. James Galbreath was a prominent Indian trader, one
of those licensed by the government of Pennsylvania.—ED.

[9] Croghan lived at this time just west of Harrisburg in Pennsboro
Township, Cumberland County.—ED.

[10] There were three great Indian paths from east to west through
Western Pennsylvania. The southern led from Fort Cumberland on the
Potomac, westward through the valleys of Youghiogheny and Monongahela,
to the Forks of the Ohio, and was the route taken by Washington in 1753,
later by Braddock’s expedition, and was substantially the line of the
great Cumberland National Road of the early nineteenth century.

The central trail, passing through Carlisle, Shippensburg, and Bedford,
over Laurel Mountain, through Fort Ligonier, over Chestnut Ridge, to
Shannopin’s Town at the Forks of the Ohio, was the most direct, and
became the basis of General Forbes’s road, and later of the Pennsylvania
wagon road to the Ohio. Gist took this trail in 1750.—See Hulbert, _Old
Glade Road_ (Cleveland, 1903).

The northern, or Kittanning trail, was the oldest, and that most used by
Indian traders. It is this route that Weiser followed. From Croghan’s,
he passed over into the valley of Sherman’s Creek (in Perry County),
crossed the Tuscarora Mountains at what was later known as Sterritt’s
Gap, and reached the Black Log sleeping place near Shade Valley in the
southeastern part of Huntingdon County. This was a digression to the
south, for in an extract from his journal in _Pennsylvania Archives_,
ii, p. 13, Weiser says: “The Black Log is 8 or 10 miles South East of
the Three Springs and Frank’s Town lies to yᵉ North, so that there must
be a deduction of at least twenty miles.” From here, following the
valley of Aughwick Creek, he crossed the Juniata River, and approached
the “Standing Stone.” This was a prominent landmark of the region, and
stood on the right bank of a creek of the same name, near the present
town of Huntingdon. It was about 14 feet high, and six inches square, and
served as a kind of Indian guidepost for that region. From this point,
the trail followed the Juniata Valley, coinciding for a short distance
with the line of the Pennsylvania Central Railway, but turning off on the
Frankstown branch of the Juniata at the present town of Petersburg.

There was also a fourth trail, still farther north, by way of Sunbury and
the west branch of the Susquehanna to Venango. This was Post’s route in
1758.—ED.

[11] Frankstown was an important Indian village in the county of Blair,
near Hollidaysburg. The present town of this name lies on the north side
of the river, whereas the Indian town appears to have been on the south
bank. Remains of the native village were in existence in the early part
of the nineteenth century. The Indian name was “Assunepachla,” the title
“Frankstown” being given in honor of Stephen Franks, a German trader who
lived at this place.—See Jones, _History of Juniata Valley_ (Harrisburg,
1889, 2nd ed.), pp. 298-303. The cause of its desertion when Weiser
passed, is not known. The other edition of the journal says, “Here we
overtook one half the goods,” which seems more correct in view of the
succeeding account.—ED.

[12] Of the place where the Kittanning trail crosses the Allegheny Range,
Jones writes (_op. cit._), that the path is still visible, although
filled with weeds in the summer. “In some places where the ground was
marshy, close to the run, the path is at least twelve inches deep, and
the very stones along the road bear the marks of the iron-shod horses of
the Indian traders. Two years ago we picked up, at the edge of the run,
a mile up the gorge, two gun-flints,—now rated as relics of a past age.”
Clear fields was at the head waters of Clearfield Creek, a branch of the
Susquehanna River, in Clearfield Township, Cambria County. This is not
to be confused with Clearfield (Chinklacamoos), an important Indian town
farther north. See Post’s _Journal_, _post_.—ED.

[13] The Shawnees (Fr., Chaouanons), when first known, appear to have
been living in Western Kentucky; they were greatly harassed by the
Iroquois, and made frequent migrations which are difficult to trace. In
1692, they made peace with the Iroquois and the English, and portions
of the tribe settled in the Ohio country and Western Pennsylvania.
Intriguing with both English and French, they were treacherous toward
both nations. The location of the cabins mentioned here by Weiser is not
positively known—it was in the northern part of Indiana County; somewhere
on the Kittanning trail.—ED.

[14] Weiser turned aside from the regular trail that ended at the
Delaware Indians’ town of Kittanning, and followed a branch of the
path that turned southwest; crossed the Kiskiminitas Creek at the ford
where the town of Saltzburg, Indiana County, now stands; and reached
the Allegheny River (then called the Ohio) at Chartier’s Old Town, now
Chartier’s Station, Westmoreland County. It was at this point that in
1749, the French explorer, Céloron de Blainville, met six traders with
fifty horses laden with peltries, by these sending his famous message to
the governor of Pennsylvania to keep his traders from that country, which
was owned by the French. Weiser calculated the distance of his journey
by land as one hundred and seventy miles, and by deducting twenty miles
for the detour at Black Log, made the distance from the settlements one
hundred and fifty miles.—ED.

[15] This was the Delaware village known as Shannopin’s Town, from a
chief of that name, who died in 1749. It was situated on the Allegheny
River in the present city of Pittsburg, and contained about twenty
wigwams, and fifty or sixty natives. See Darlington, _Gist’s Journals_
(Pittsburg, 1893), pp. 92, 93.—ED.

[16] The reference is to Queen Aliquippa, whose town, directly at the
Forks of the Ohio, was called by Céloron “the written rock village.”
The writings proved on examination to be but names of English traders
scrawled in charcoal on the rocks. See Father Bonnécamps’s Relation,
_Jesuit Relations_ (Thwaites’s ed., Cleveland, 1896-1902), lxix, p. 175.
Céloron says of the Seneca queen: “She regards herself as a sovereign,
and is entirely devoted to the English.” Upon the advent of the French,
she removed her village to the forks of the Monongahela and Youghiogheny,
where she told Gist in 1753 she would never go back to the Allegheny to
live, unless the English built a fort. Céloron says of the site of her
first village: “This place is one of the most beautiful I have seen on
the Beautiful River [la Belle Rivière, the French name for the Ohio].”—ED.

[17] Logstown (French, Chinnigné, Shenango) was the most important
Indian trading village in that part of the country. It was a mixed
village composed of Indians of several tribes—chiefly Iroquois, Mohican,
and Shawnee. When Céloron visited it a year after Weiser’s sojourn, he
spoke of it as “a very bad village, seduced by the desire for the cheap
goods of the English.” He was near being attacked here, being saved by
discovering the plot, and displaying the strength of his forces. Like
Weiser, he was received with a salute of guns, but feared it was more a
sign of enmity than amity. Later, the Indians of this village returned
to the French alliance, and after the founding of Fort Duquesne, houses
were built by the French for its inhabitants. With the restoration of
English interest, the importance of the place diminished, and by 1784
it is spoken of as a “former settlement.” The site of Logstown is about
eighteen miles down the river from Pittsburg, just below the present town
of Economy, Pennsylvania. It was on a high bluff on the north shore. For
the history of this place, see Darlington’s _Gist_, pp. 95-100.—ED.

[18] There were two Indian towns called by this name—one at the mouth
of Chartier’s Creek, Allegheny County, three miles below Pittsburg;
the other opposite the mouth of Chartier’s Run, which falls into the
Allegheny in Westmoreland County. Weiser refers to the latter of these.
Chartier was a French-Shawnee half-breed that had much influence with his
tribe. In 1745, he induced most of them to remove to the neighborhood
of Detroit, on the orders of the governor of New France. See Croghan’s
_Journals_, _post_.—ED.

[19] The other edition of the journal adds, that the horses were “all
scalled on their backs.”

The importance of “wampum” in all Indian transactions cannot be
overestimated. It was used for money, as a much-prized ornament, to
enforce a request (as at this time), to accredit a messenger, to ransom
a prisoner, to atone for a crime. No council could be held, no treaty
drawn up, without a liberal use of wampum. It was used also to record
treaties, as the one described by Weiser between the Wyandots, Iroquois,
and governor of New York. Hale—“Indian Wampum Records,” _Popular Science
Monthly_, February, 1897—thinks that it was a comparatively late
invention in Indian development, and took its rise among the Iroquois.
Weiser’s list of the wampum used and received in this journey is to be
found in _Pennsylvania Archives_, ii, p. 17.—ED.

[20] The French had retained the Iroquois deputies in order to secure
from them the French prisoners in their hands. La Galissonière, the
governor wrote to his home government in 1748, that he should persist in
retaining their (the Iroquois) people, until he recovered the French.
The governor of New York demanded the Mohawks, on the ground of their
being British subjects, a claim the French refused to admit. The matter
was finally adjusted without an Indian war, although it caused much
irritation. See O’Callaghan (ed.), _New York Colonial Documents_ (Albany,
1858), x, p. 185.—ED.

[21] Kuskuskis was an important centre for the Delaware Indians, on the
Mahoning Branch of Beaver Creek, in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. It
consisted of separate villages scattered along the creek, one of which,
called “Old Kuskuskis,” was at the forks, where New Castle now stands.
See Post’s _Journal_, _post_.—ED.

[22] The Indian town at the mouth of Beaver Creek, where the town of
Beaver now stands, was known indifferently as King Beaver’s, or Shingas’s
Old Town (from two noted Delaware chiefs), or Sohkon (signifying “at the
mouth of a stream”). This was a noted fur-trading station, and after
the building of Fort Duquesne, the French erected houses here, for the
Indians. It was the starting place for many a border raid, that made
Shingas’s name “a terror to the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania.”
See Post’s experiences at this place in 1758, _post_.—ED.

[23] Andrew Montour was the son of a noted French half-breed, Madame
Montour, who being captured by the Iroquois in her youth married an
Oneida chief and was a firm adherent of the English. Montour’s services
for the English were considerable. He was an expert interpreter, speaking
the languages of the various Ohio Indians, as well as Iroquois. First
mentioned by Weiser in 1744, when he interpreted Delaware for his
Iroquois, he assisted in nearly all the important Indian negotiations
from that time until the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768, being employed
in turn by the Pennsylvania, Virginia, and New York governments, and the
Ohio Company. In 1754, he was with Washington at the surrender of Fort
Necessity. Several times he warned the settlements of impending raids,
among other services bringing word of Pontiac’s outbreak. He accompanied
Major Rogers as captain of the Indian forces, when the latter went to
take possession of Detroit; and in 1764 commanded a party against the
recalcitrant Delawares. He received for his services several grants of
land in Western Pennsylvania, as well as money. For a detailed biography
see Darlington’s _Gist_, pp. 159-175.—ED.

[24] Twigtwees was the English name for the Miamis, a large nation of
Algonquian Indians, that were first met by the seventeenth century
explorers in Northern Illinois. But later, they moved eastward into the
present state of Indiana, and settled on the Maumee and Wabash rivers,
also on St. Josephs River in Michigan. The French had had posts among
them for two generations, but from 1723 the English traders had been
seeking a foothold in their midst. Their adherence to the English in 1748
was a blow to the French trade.—ED.

[25] Scarroyahy was an Oneida chief of great influence with the Ohio
Indians, especially at Logstown. He remained firm in the English
interest, and in 1754 moved to Aughwick Creek, to get away from the
French influence, and to protect the settlements. His death the same
year, was imputed by his friends to French witchcraft.—ED.

[26] The Wyandots, or Tobacco Hurons, or Petuns, were of Iroquois stock,
but nearly destroyed by that nation in the seventeenth century. Fleeing
westward, they placed themselves under French protection, and, after
its founding in 1701, were settled chiefly about Detroit. In the early
eighteenth century they straggled eastward along the south shore of
Lake Erie, and began to open communication with their ancient enemies,
the Iroquois. In 1747, occurred the rebellion of their chief Nicholas,
who built a fort in the marshes of the Sandusky, and defied the French
soldiers. The chiefs whom Weiser met, were deputies from this party of
rebels.

The other edition of Weiser’s journal does not mention the “Wondats”
until September 7; and has the following entry for September 6: “One
canoe with goods arrived, the rest did not come to the river. The Indians
that brought the goods found our casks of whiskey hid by some of the
traders; they had drunk two and brought two to the town. The Indians all
got drunk to-night, and some of the traders along with them. The weather
cleared up.”—ED.

[27] The Tisagechroanu were “a numerous Nation to the North of Lake
Frontenac; they don’t come by Niagara in their way to Oswego, but right
across the Lake.”—_Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, p. 85. Probably
they were a party of the Neutral Hurons.

The other edition adds after the Mohawks, “among whom there were 27
French Mohawks.” The Mohicans were a wandering tribe, whose original home
was on the banks of the Hudson, and in the Connecticut Valley. Charlevoix
found them in the far West in 1721. These on the Ohio were called “Loups”
by the French.—ED.

[28] Stroud was a kind of coarse, warm cloth made for the use of the
Indian trade. A match-coat was a large loose coat worn by the Indians,
originally made of skins, later of match-cloth.—ED.

[29] The other edition adds, “coming down the river.”—ED.

[30] His name is given in the other edition as Robert Callender. He
accompanied Croghan and Gist on their journey to the Ohio in 1750-51.—ED.

[31] “Onas” was the Indian term for the governor of Pennsylvania—first
used for Penn in his treaty with the Delawares, in 1682.—ED.

[32] Apparently this was a lad named William Brown, whom Croghan sent to
the settlements, October 20, 1748.—_Pennsylvania Archives_, ii, p. 17.—ED.

[33] The Catawbas were a powerful Indian tribe of South Carolina, thought
by Powell—“Indian Linguistic Families of North America,” in U. S. Bureau
of Ethnology _Report_, 1885-86—to be of Siouan stock. They inhabited
the western portion of the Carolinas, and were traditional enemies of
the Iroquois. The Cherokees were a settled tribe in North Carolina and
Tennessee, and at this time in the English interest.—ED.

[34] “Jonontady Hagas” was the Iroquois phrase for the Wyandot or Huron
Indians.—ED.

[35] “Onontio” was the Indian term for the governor of Canada.—ED.

[36] Olumpias was principal chief of the Delawares. He had formerly lived
in the Schuylkill Valley, and signed the treaty of purchase by which the
Germans came into possession of their lands in that region (1732). He
died in the autumn of 1747, the president and council of Pennsylvania
being asked to name his successor. The Delawares considered themselves
the aborigines of Pennsylvania, and spoke of the Shawnees, whom they had
permitted to come among them, as “grandchildren.”—ED.

[37] These names are given in the other edition as “Shawanapon and
Achamantama.”—ED.

[38] This was Weiser’s Indian name.—ED.

[39] The Virginians were called by the Indians “Long Knives,” or more
literally “Big Knives.” Ash-a-le-co-a is the Indian form of this word,
which Weiser spells phonetically. He means that the present was sent by
both Pennsylvania and Virginia.—ED.

[40] For this proclamation against the sale of liquor to Indians, see
_Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, pp. 194-196.—ED.

[41] One of those who accompanied Weiser was William, son of Benjamin
Franklin, who later became governor of New Jersey. See _Pennsylvania
Archives_, ii, p. 15.—ED.

[42] Here occurs the following, in the other edition: “The old Sinicker
Queen from above, already mentioned, came to inform me some time ago
that she had sent a string of wampum of three fathoms to Philadelphia by
James Dunnings, to desire her brethren would send her up a cask of powder
and some small shot to enable her to send out the Indian boys to kill
turkeys and other fowls for her, whilst the men are gone to war against
the French, that they may not be starved. I told her I had heard nothing
of her message, but if she had told me of it before I had parted with
all the powder and lead, I could have let her have some, and promised
I would make inquiry; perhaps her messenger had lost it on the way to
Philadelphia. I gave her a shirt, a Dutch wooden pipe and some tobacco.
She seemed to have taken a little affront because I took not sufficient
notice of her in coming down. I told her she acted very imprudently not
to let me know by some of her friends who she was, as she knew very well
I could not know by myself. She was satisfied, and went away with a deal
of kind expressions. The same day I gave a stroud, a shirt, and a pair
of stockings to the young Shawano, King Capechque, and a pipe and some
tobacco.”—ED.

[43] The following description of the homeward journey is contained in
the other edition:

“The 20th, left a horse behind that we could not find. Came to the river;
had a great rain; the river not rideable [fordable].

“The 21st, sent for a canoe about 6 miles up the river to a Delaware
town. An Indian brought one, we paid him a blanket, got over the river
about 12 o’clock. Crossed Kiskaminity creek, and came that night to the
round hole, about twelve miles from the river.

“The 22d, the weather cleared up; we travelled this day about 35 miles,
came by the place where we had buried the body of John Quen, but found
the bears had pulled him out and left nothing of him but a few naked
bones and some old rags.

“The 23rd, crossed the head of the West Branch of the Susquehanna; about
noon came to the Cheasts [Chest creek, Cambria County]. This night we had
a great frost, our kettle standing about four or five feet from the fire,
was frozen over with ice thicker than a brass penny.

“The 24th, got over Allegheny hill, otherwise called mountains, to
Frankstown, about 20 miles.

“The 25th, came to the Standing Stone; slept three miles at this side;
about 31 miles.

“The 26th, to the forks of the wood about 30 miles; left my man’s horse
behind as he was tired.

“The 27th, it rained very fast; travelled in the rain all day; came about
25 miles.

“The 28th, rain continued; came to a place where white people now begin
to settle, and arrived at George Croghan’s in Pennsbury, about an hour
after dark; came about 35 miles that day, but we left our baggage behind.

“The 29th and 30th, I rested myself at George Croghan’s, in the mean time
our baggage was sent for, which arrived.

“The 1st of October reached the heads of the Tulpenhocken.

“The 2nd I arrived safe at my house.”—ED.

A SELECTION OF GEORGE CROGHAN’S LETTERS AND JOURNALS RELATING TO TOURS
INTO THE WESTERN COUNTRY—NOVEMBER 16, 1750-NOVEMBER, 1765.

SOURCES: _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, pp. 496-498, 530-536,
539, 540, 731-735; vi, pp. 642, 643, 781, 782; vii, pp. 267-271.
_Massachusetts Historical Collections_, 4 series, ix, pp. 362-379.
Butler’s _History of Kentucky_ (Cincinnati and Louisville, 1836),
appendix, with variations from other sources. _New York Colonial
Documents_, vii, pp. 781-788.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Next to Sir William Johnson, George Croghan was the most prominent figure
among British Indian agents during the period of the later French wars,
and the conspiracy of Pontiac. A history of his life is therefore an
epitome of Indian relations with the whites, especially on the borders
of Virginia and Pennsylvania and in the Ohio Valley. A pioneer trader
and traveller, and a government agent, no other man of his time better
knew the West and the counter currents that went to make up its history.
Not even the indefatigable Gist, or the self-sacrificing Post, travelled
over so large a portion of the Western country, knew better the different
routes, or was more welcome in the Indian villages. Among his own
class he was the “mere idol of the Irish traders.” Sir William Johnson
appreciated his services, made him his deputy for the Ohio Indians, and
entrusted him with the most delicate and difficult negotiations, such
as those at Fort Pitt and Detroit in 1758-61; and those in the Illinois
(1765) by which Pontiac was brought to terms.

Born in Ireland and educated at Dublin, Croghan emigrated to Pennsylvania
at an early age and settled just west of Harris’s Ferry in the township
of Pennsboro, then on the border of Western settlement. The opportunities
of the Indian trade appealed to his fondness for journeying and sense of
adventure. His daring soon carried him beyond the bounds of the province,
and among the “far Indians” of Sandusky and the Lake Erie region, where
he won adherents for the English among the wavering allies of the
French. His abilities and his influence over the Indians soon attracted
the attention of the hard-headed German, Conrad Weiser, who in 1747
recommended him to the Council of Pennsylvania. In this manner he entered
the public service, and continued therein throughout the active years of
his life.

Croghan was first employed by the province in assisting Weiser to convey
a present to the Ohio, whither he preceded him in the spring of 1748.[1]
The following year he was sent out to report on the French expedition
whose passage down the Ohio had alarmed the Allegheny Indians, and
arrived at Logstown just after Céloron had passed, thus neutralizing the
latter’s influence in that region.[2]

The jealousy of the Indians over the encroachments of the settlers upon
their lands west of the mountains on the Juniata, and in the central
valleys of Pennsylvania, determined the government to expel the settlers
rather than risk a breach with the Indians. In this task, which must have
been uncongenial to him, Croghan, as justice of the peace for Cumberland
County, was employed during the spring of 1750.[3] The autumn of the same
year, found him beginning one of his most extensive journeys throughout
the Ohio Valley, as far as the Miamis and Pickawillany, where he made
an advantageous treaty with new envoys of the Western tribes who sought
his alliance. To Croghan’s annoyance, the Pennsylvania government in an
access of caution repudiated this treaty as having been unauthorized.

In 1751 Croghan was again upon the Allegheny, encouraging the Indians
in their English alliance, and defeating Joncaire, the shrewdest of
the French agents in this region, by means of his own tactics. The
next year, he was pursuing his traffic in furs among the Shawnees, but
without forgetting the public interest;[4] and the following year finds
him assisting the governor and Council at the important negotiations
at Carlisle.[5] This same year (1753) Croghan removed his home some
distance west, and settled on Aughwick Creek upon land granted him by the
Province. His public services were continued early in the next year by
a journey with the official present to the Ohio, where he arrived soon
after Washington had passed upon the return from the famous embassy to
the French officers at Fort Le Bœuf.

The outbreak of the French and Indian War ruined Croghan’s prosperous
trading business, and brought him to the verge of bankruptcy. While at
the same time a large number of Indian refugees, desiring to remain under
British protection, sought his home at Aughwick, where he felt obliged to
provision them, with but meagre assistance from the Province. To add to
his troubles, the Irish traders, because of their Romanist proclivities,
fell under suspicion of acting as French spies, and Croghan was unjustly
eyed askance by many in authority.[6] Although he was granted a captain’s
commission to command the Indian contingent during Braddock’s campaign,
he resigned this office early in 1756, and retired from the Pennsylvania
service.

About this time he paid a visit to New York, where his distant relative,
Sir William Johnson, appreciating his abilities, chose him deputy
Indian agent, and appointed him to manage the Susquehanna and Allegheny
tribes.[7] From this time forward he was engaged in important dealings
with the natives, swaying them to the British interest, making possible
the success of Forbes (1758), and the victory of Prideaux and Johnson
(1759). After the capitulation of Montreal, he accompanied Major Rogers
to Detroit. All of 1761 and 1762 were occupied with Indian conferences
and negotiations, in the course of which he again visited Detroit,
meeting Sir William Johnson en route.[8]

Late in 1763, Croghan went to England on private business, and was
shipwrecked upon the coast of France;[9] but finally reached London,
where he presented to the lords of trade an important memorial on Indian
affairs.[10]

Upon his return to America (1765), he was at once dispatched to the
Illinois. Proceeding by the Ohio River, he was made prisoner near the
mouth of the Wabash, and carried to the Indian towns upon that river,
where he not only secured his own release, but conducted negotiations
which put an end to Pontiac’s War, and opened the Illinois to the British.

A second journey to the Illinois, in the following year, resulted in his
reaching Fort Chartres, and proceeding thence to New Orleans. No journal
of this voyage has to our knowledge been preserved.

Croghan’s part in the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) was rewarded by
a grant of land in Cherry Valley, New York. Previous to this he had
purchased a tract on the Allegheny about four miles above Pittsburg,
where in 1770 he entertained Washington. At the beginning of the
Revolution he appears to have embarked in the patriot cause,[11]
but later was an object of suspicion; and in 1778 was proclaimed
by Pennsylvania as a public enemy, his place as Indian agent being
conferred upon Colonel George Morgan. He continued, however, to reside in
Pennsylvania, and died at Passyunk in 1782.[12]

In our selection of material from the large amount of Croghan’s published
work, we have chosen that which exemplifies Western conditions under
three aspects: First, the period of English ascendency on the Ohio,
which is illustrated by three documents of 1750 and 1751. Secondly, the
period of French ascendency, hostility toward the English, and war on the
frontiers; for this epoch we publish four documents, ranging from 1754
to 1757. The third period, after the downfall of Canada, is concerned
with the surrender of the French posts, and the renewed hostility
of the Indians; the two journals we publish for this period present
interesting material for the study of Western history. Each deals with a
pioneer voyage, for Rogers and Croghan were the first Englishmen (except
wandering traders or prisoners) to penetrate the Lake Erie region and
reach Detroit. The voyage down the Ohio (1765), with its circumstantial
account of the appearance of the country, and its description of Indian
conditions and relations, is noteworthy.

Croghan was a voluminous writer. In addition to the official reports of
his journeys, he evidently had the habit of noting down the events of
the day in a simple, straightforward manner, so that many manuscripts of
his were long extant, presenting often different versions of the same
journey. The earlier antiquaries published these as chance brought them
to their notice.[13] The official reports themselves were preserved in
the colonial archives, and are published in the Pennsylvania and New
York collections. It is believed that this is the first attempt to bring
together a selection of Croghan material that in any adequate manner
outlines his interesting career. The chronological extent of these
journals (from 1750-1765) makes those which follow—Post’s of 1758; and
Morris’s of 1764—interludes in the events which Croghan describes, thus
throwing additional light upon the same period and the same range of
territory.

R. G. T.

A SELECTION OF GEORGE CROGHAN’S LETTERS AND JOURNALS RELATING TO TOURS
INTO THE WESTERN COUNTRY—NOVEMBER 16, 1750-NOVEMBER, 1765

CROGHAN TO THE GOVERNOR OF PENNSYLVANIA[14]

LOGSTOWN ON OHIO,
December [November] the 16th, 1750.[15]

SIR: Yesterday Mr. Montour and I got to this Town, where we found thirty
Warriors of the Six Nations going to War against the Catawba Indians;
they told us that they saw John Coeur about one hundred and fifty miles
up this River at an Indian Town, where he intends to build a Fort if he
can get Liberty from the Ohio Indians; he has five canoes loaded with
Goods, and is very generous in making Presents to all the Chiefs of
the Indians that he meets with; he has sent two Messages to this Town
desiring the Indians here to go and meet him and clear the Road for
him to come down the River, but they have had so little Regard to his
Message that they have not thought it worth while to send him an answer
as yet.[16] We have seen but very few of the Chiefs of the Indians they
being all out a hunting, but those we have seen are of opinion that their
Brothers the English ought _to have a Fort on this River_ to secure the
Trade, for they think it will be dangerous for the Traders to travel
the Roads for fear of being surprised by some of the French and French
Indians, as they expect nothing else but a War with the French next
Spring. At a Town about three hundred miles down this River, where the
Chief of the Shawonese live,[17] a Party of French and French Indians
surprised some of the Shawonese and killed a man and took a woman and two
children Prisoners; the Shawonese pursued them and took five French Men
and some Indians Prisoners; the Twightwees likewise have sent word to the
French that if they can find any of their People, either French or French
Indians, on their hunting Ground, that they will make them Prisoners,
so I expect nothing else but a War this Spring; the Twightwees want to
settle themselves some where up this River in order to be nearer their
Brothers the English, for they are determined never to hold a Treaty of
Peace with the French. Mr. Montour and I intend as soon as we can get the
Chiefs of the Six Nations that are Settled here together, to sollicit
them to appoint a Piece of Ground up this River to seat the Twightwees
on and kindle a Fire for them, and if possible to remove the Shawonese
up the River, which we think will be securing those Nations more steady
to the English Interest. I hope the Present of Goods that is preparing
for those Indians will be at this Town some time in March next, for the
Indians, as they are now acquainted that there is a Present coming, will
be impatient to receive it, as they intend to meet the French next Spring
between this and Fort De Troit, for they are certain the French intend
an Expedition against them next Spring from Fort De Troit.[18] I hear
the Owendaets [Wyandots] are as steady and well attached to the English
Interest as ever they were, so that I believe the French will make but a
poor hand of those Indians. Mr. Montour takes a great deal of Pains to
promote the English Interest amongst those Indians, and has a great sway
amongst all those Nations; if your Honour has any Instructions to send to
Mr. Montour, Mr. Trent will forward it to me.[19] I will see it delivered
to the Indians in the best manner, that your Honour’s Commands may have
their full Force with the Indians.

I am, with due respects,

Your Honour’s most humble Servant,

GEO. CROGHAN.

The Honoble. JAMES HAMILTON,[20] Esq.

PROCEEDINGS OF GEORGE CROGHAN, ESQUIRE, AND MR. ANDREW MONTOUR AT OHIO,
IN THE EXECUTION OF THE GOVERNOR’S INSTRUCTIONS TO DELIVER THE PROVINCIAL
PRESENT TO THE SEVERAL TRIBES OF INDIANS SETTLED THERE:[21]

May the 18th, 1751.—I arrived at the Log’s Town on Ohio with the
Provincial Present from the Province of Pennsylvania, where I was
received by a great number of the Six Nations, Delawares, and Shawonese,
in a very complaisant manner in their way, by firing Guns and Hoisting
the English Colours. As soon as I came to the shore their Chiefs met me
and took me by the Hand bidding me welcome to their Country.

May the 19th.—One of the Six Nation Kings from the Head of Ohio came to
the Logstown to the Council, he immediately came to visit me, and told me
he was glad to see a Messenger from his Brother Onas on the waters of the
Ohio.

May the 20th.—Forty Warriors of the Six Nations came to Town from the
Heads of Ohio, with Mr. Ioncoeur and one Frenchman more in company.

May the 21st, 1751.—Mr. Ioncoeur, the French Interpreter, called a
council with all the Indians then present in the Town, and made the
following Speech:

“CHILDREN: I desire you may now give me an answer from your hearts to
the Speech Monsieur Celeron (the Commander of the Party of Two Hundred
Frenchmen that went down the River two Years ago) made to you.[22] His
Speech was, That their Father the Governor of Canada desired his Children
on Ohio to turn away the English Traders from amongst them, and discharge
them from ever coming to trade there again, or on any of the Branches,
on Pain of incurring his Displeasure, and to enforce that Speech he gave
them a very large Belt of Wampum. Immediately one of the Chiefs of the
Six Nations get up and made the following answer:

“FATHERS: I mean you that call yourselves our Fathers, hear what I am
going to say to you. You desire we may turn our Brothers the English
away, and not suffer them to come and trade with us again; I now tell
you from our Hearts we will not, for we ourselves brought them here to
trade with us, and they shall live amongst us as long as there is one
of us alive. You are always threatning our Brothers what you will do to
them, and in particular to that man (pointing to me); now if you have
anything to say to our Brothers tell it to him if you be a man, as you
Frenchmen always say you are, and the Head of all Nations. Our Brothers
are the People we will trade with, and not you. Go and tell your Governor
to ask the Onondago Council If I don’t speak the minds of all the Six
Nations;”[23] and then [he] returned the Belt.

I paid Cochawitchake the old Shawonese King a visit, as he was rendered
incapable of attending the Council by his great age, and let him know
that his Brother the Governor of Pennsylvania was glad to hear that he
was still alive and retained his senses, and had ordered me to cloathe
him and to acquaint him that he had not forgot his strict Attachment to
the English Interest. I gave him a Strowd Shirt, Match Coat, and a pair
of Stockings, for which he gave the Governor a great many thanks.

May the 22d.—A number of about forty of the Six Nations came up the River
Ohio to Logstown to wait on the Council; as soon as they came to Town
they came to my House, and after shaking Hands they told me they were
glad to see me safe arrived in their Country after my long Journey.

May the 23d.—Conajarca, one of the Chiefs of the Six Nations, and a Party
with him from the Cuscuskie, came to Town to wait on the Council, and
congratulated me upon my safe arrival in their Country.

May the 24th.—Some Warriors of the Delawares came to Town from the Lower
Shawonese Town, and brought a Scalp with them; they brought an Account
that the Southward Indians had come to the Lower Towns to War, and had
killed some of the Shawonese, Delawares, and the Six Nations, so that we
might not expect any People from there to the Council.

May the 25th.—I had a conference with Monsieur Ioncoeur; he desired I
would excuse him and not think hard of him for the Speech he made to the
Indians requesting them to turn the English Traders away and not suffer
them to trade, for it was the Governor of Canada’s Orders[24] to him,
and he was obliged to obey them altho’ he was very sensible which way
the Indians would receive them, for he was sure the French could not
accomplish their designs with the Six Nations without it could be done by
Force, which he said he believed they would find to be as difficult as
the method they had just tryed, and would meet with the like success.

May the 26th.—A Dunkar from the Colony of Virginia came to the Log’s Town
and requested Liberty of the Six Nation Chiefs to make [a settlement]
on the River Yogh-yo-gaine a branch of Ohio, to which the Indians made
answer that it was not in their Power to dispose of Lands; that he must
apply to the Council at Onondago, and further told him that he did not
take a right method, for he should be first recommended by their Brother
the Governor of Pennsylvania, with whom all Publick Business of that sort
must be transacted before he need expect to succeed.[25]

May the 27th.—Mr Montour and I had a Conference with the Chiefs of the
Six Nations, when it was agreed upon that the following Speeches should
be made to the Delawares, Shawonese, Owendatts and Twightwees, when the
Provincial Present should be delivered them in the Name of the Honourable
James Hamilton, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor and Commander-in-Chief of
the Province of Pennsylvania, and Counties of New Castle, Kent, and
Sussex, on Delaware, in Conjunction with the Chiefs of the Six United
Nations On Ohio:

A TREATY WITH THE INDIANS OF THE SIX NATIONS, DELAWARES, SHAWONESE,
OWENDATTS AND TWIGHTWEES.

IN THE LOG’S TOWN ON OHIO,
Thursday the 28th May, 1751.

PRESENT:

Thomas Kinton,
Samuel Cuzzens,
Jacob Pyatt,
John Owens,
Thomas Ward,
Joseph Nelson,
James Brown,
Dennis Sullavan,
Paul Pearce,
Caleb Lamb,

Indian Traders.

The Deputies of the Six Nations, Delawares, Shawonese, Owendatts,
and Twightwees; Mr. Andrew Montour, Interpreter for the Province of
Pennsylvania; Toanshiscoe, Interpreter for the Six Nations.

George Croghan made the following Speech to the several Nations, when
they were met in Council, in the Name of the Honourable James Hamilton,
Esquire, Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania:

“FRIENDS AND BRETHREN:—I am sent here by your Brother the Governor of
Pennsylvania with this Present of Goods to renew the Friendship so long
subsisting between Us, and I present you these four strings of Wampum to
clear your Minds and open your Eyes and Ears that you may see the Sun
clear, and hear what your Brother is going to say to you.”—Gave 4 Strings
of Wampum.

A Speech delivered the Delawares—in answer to the Speech they sent by Mr.
Weiser three Years ago to his Honour the Governor to acquaint him of the
Death of their Chief, King Oulamopess[26]—by George Croghan:

“BRETHREN THE DELAWARES:—Three years ago some of the Chiefs of your
Nation sent me a Message by Mr. Weiser to acquaint me of the Death of
your King, a man well beloved by his Brethren the English. You told Mr.
Weiser that you intended to visit me in order to consult about a new
Chief, but you never did it. I have ever since condoled with you for the
Loss of so good a Man, and considering the lamentable Condition you were
in for want of a Chief I present You this Belt of Wampum and this Present
to wipe away your Tears, and I desire you may choose amongst Yourselves
one of your wisest Counsellors and present to your Brethren the Six
Nations and me for a Chief, and he so chosen by you shall be looked upon
by us as your King, with whom Publick Business shall be transacted.
Brethren, to enforce this on your Minds I present you this Belt of
Wampum.”—Gave a Belt of Wampum, which was received with the Yohah.[27]

A Speech delivered the Shawonese from the Honourable James Hamilton,
Governor of Pennsylvania, by George Croghan:

“BRETHREN THE SHAWONESE:—Three years ago when some of your Chiefs and
some Chiefs of the Six Nations came down to Lancaster with our Brethren
the Twightwees, they informed me that your People that went away with
Peter Chartier was coming back, and since that I hear that Part of them
are returned. I am glad to hear that they are coming home to you again
that you may become once more a People, and not as you were dispersed
thro’ the World. I do not blame you for what happened, for the wisest
of People sometimes make mistakes; it was the French that the Indians
call their Fathers that deceived You and scattered you about the Woods
that they might have it in their Power to keep you poor. Brethren, I
assure you by this Present that I am fully reconcil’d and have forgot
any thing that you have done, and I hope for the future there will be a
more free and open Correspondence between us; and now your Brethren the
Six Nations join with me to remove any misunderstanding that should have
happened between us, that we may henceforth spend the remainder of our
days together in Brotherly Love and Friendship. Now, that this Speech
which your Brothers the Six Nations joyn with me in may have its full
Force on your minds, I present you this Belt of Wampum.”—Gave a Belt of
Wampum, which was received with the Yo-hah.

A Speech delivered the Owendatts, from the Honourable James Hamilton,
Governor of Pennsylvania, by George Croghan:

“BRETHREN THE OWENDATTS:—I receiv’d a Message by the Six Nations and
another by Mr. Montour from you, by both which I understand the French,
whom the Indians call their Father, wont let you rest in your Towns in
Peace, but constantly threaten to cut you off. How comes this? Are you
not a free and independent People, and have you not a Right to live
where you please on your own Land and trade with whom you please? Your
Brethren, the English, always considered you as a free Nation, and I
think the French who attempt to infringe on your Liberties should be
opposed by one and all the Indians or any other Nations that should
undertake such unjust proceedings.

“Brethren: I am sorry to hear of your Troubles, and I hope you and your
Brethren the Six Nations will let the French know that you are a free
People and will not be imposed on by them. To assure you that I have your
Troubles much at heart I present you this Belt and this Present of Goods
to cloathe your Families.”—Gave a Belt of Wampum, which was received with
the Yo-hah.

A Speech delivered the Twightwees from the Honourable James Hamilton,
Esquire, Governor Pennsylvania, by George Croghan:

“BRETHREN THE TWIGHTWEES:—As you are an antient and renowned Nation I
was well pleased when you sent your Deputies now three years ago to
sollicit our Alliance; nor did we hesitate to grant you your Request,
as it came so warmly recommended to us by our Brethren the Six Nations,
Delawares, and Shawonese. At your further Request we ordered our Traders
to go amongst you and supply you with Goods at as reasonable rates as
they could afford. We understand that in obedience to our Commands our
Traders have given you full Satisfaction to your Requests. In one your
Towns about three Months ago Mr. George Croghan likewise informs us
that some more of your Tribes earnestly requested to become our Allies.
He and Mr. Montour did receive a writing from you Certifying such your
Request, and containing your Promises of Fidelity and Friendship, which
we have seen and approve of. Brethren: we have recommended it to our
Brethren the Six Nations to give you their advice how you should behave
in your new Alliance with us, and we expect that you will follow it, that
the Friendship now subsisting between Us, the Six Nations, Delawares,
Shawonese, Owendatts, and you, may become as Strong as a great Mountain
which the Winds constantly blow against but never overset. Brethren, to
assure you of our hearty Inclinations towards you I make you this Present
of Goods; and that this Speech which I make you now in Conjunction with
the Six Nations may have its full Force on your minds, I present you this
Belt of Wampum.”—Gave a Belt, which was received with the Yo-hah.

A Speech made to the Six United Nations by George Croghan in behalf
of the Honourable James Hamilton, Esquire, Governor of the Province of
Pennsylvania:

“BRETHREN THE SIX NATIONS: Hear what I am going to say to you. Brethren:
it is a great while since we, your Brothers the English, first came over
the great Water (meaning the Sea); as soon as our ship struck the Land
you the Six Nations took hold of her and tyed her to the Bushes, and for
fear the Bushes would not be strong enough to hold her you removed the
Rope and tyed it about a great Tree; then fearing the winds would blow
the Tree down, you removed the Rope and tyed it about a great Mountain
in the Country (meaning the Onondago Country), and since that time we
have lived in true Brotherly Love and Friendship together. Now, Brethren,
since that there are several Nations joined in Friendship with you and
Us, and of late our Brethren the Twightwees: Now, Brethren, as you are
the Head of all the Nations of Indians, I warmly recommend it to you to
give our Brethren the Twightwees your best advice that they may know how
to behave in their New Alliance, and likewise I give our Brethren the
Owendatts in charge to you, that you may Strengthen them to withstand
their Enemies the French, who I understand treat them more like Enemies
than Children tho’ they call themselves their Father.

“Brethren: I hope we, your Brothers the English, and you the Six Nations,
Delawares, Shawonese, Owendatts, and Twightwees, will continue in such
Brotherly Love and Friendship that it will be as strong as that Mountain
to which you tyed our Ship. Now, Brethren, I am informed by George
Croghan that the French obstruct my Traders and carry away their Persons
and Goods, and are guilty of many outrageous Practices, Whereby the
Roads are rendered unsafe to travel in, nor can we ask our Traders to go
amongst you whilst their Lives and Effects are in such great Danger. How
comes this to pass? Don’t this proceed from the Pride of Onontio, whom
the Indians call their Father, because they don’t see his ill Designs?
The strong houses you gave him Leave to erect on your Lands serve (As
your Brethren the English always told you) to impoverish You and keep
your Wives and Children always naked by keeping the English Traders at a
Distance, the French well knowing the English sell their Goods cheaper
than they can afford, and I can assure You Onontio will never rest while
an English Trader comes to Ohio; and indeed if you don’t open your Eyes
and put a Stop to his Proceedings he will gain his Ends. Brethren: I hope
you will consider well what Onontio means or is about to do. To enforce
what I have been saying to you on your minds, I present this Belt of
Wampum.”—Gave a Belt. They received this Belt with Yo-hah.

The Speaker of the Six Nations made the following Speech to Monsieur
Ioncoeur in open Council; he spoke very quick and sharp with the Air of a
Warrior:

“FATHER—How comes it that you have broke the General Peace? Is it not
three years since you as well as our Brother the English told Us that
there was a Peace between the English and French, and how comes it that
you have taken our Brothers as your Prisoners on our Lands? Is it not
our Land (Stamping on the Ground and putting his Finger to John Coeur’s
Nose)? What Right has Onontio to our Lands? I desire you may go home
directly off our Lands and tell Onontio to send us word immediately
what was his Reason for using our Brothers so, or what he means by such
Proceedings, that we may know what to do, for I can assure Onontio that
We the Six Nations will not take such Usage. You hear what I say, and
that is the Sentiments of all our Nations; tell it to Onontio that that
is what the Six Nations said to you.”—Gave 4 Strings of black Wampum.

After which the Chief of the Indians ordered the Goods to be divided, and
appointed some of each Nation to stand by to see it done, that those that
were absent might have a sufficient Share laid by for them.

After which the Chiefs made me a Speech and told me it was a Custom with
their Brothers whenever they went to Council to have their Guns, Kettles,
and Hatchets mended, and desired I might order that done, for they could
not go home till they had that done. So Mr. Montour and I agreed to
comply with their Request, and ordered it done that they might depart
well satisfied.

LETTER OF CROGHAN TO THE GOVERNOR, ACCOMPANYING THE FOREGOING TREATY[28]

PENNSBORO’, June 10th, 1751.

MAY IT PLEASE YOUR HONOUR: Inclosed is a Copy of the Treaty held on
Ohio by your Honour’s Instructions on delivering your Honour’s Present
to the several Nations of Indians Residing there. I hope your Honour on
perusing the Proceedings of the Treaty will find that I have observed
your Honour’s Instructions in every Speech that I delivered from your
Honour. I took all the Pains I could to make the Present have its full
Force and Weight with the Indians, and I have the Pleasure of assuring
your Honour that the Indians were all unanimously well pleased at your
Honour’s Speeches, and likewise acknowledged it was a great Present, and
the Chiefs of the Six Nations took great Pains with me in dividing it
amongst the other nations, that it might have its full force with them,
which I assure your Honour it had, for every man I saw there was well
satisfied with his share of the Present; the Indians in general expressed
a high Satisfaction at having the Opportunity in the Presence of Ioncœur
of expressing their hearty Love and Inclinations towards the English, and
likewise to assure your Honour what Contempt they had for the French,
which your Honour will see by the Speeches they made. Ioncœur-Ioncœur
has sent a Letter to your Honour, which I enclose here.[29] Mr.
Montour has exerted himself very much on this occasion, and he is not
only very capable of doing the Business, but look’d on amongst all the
Indians as one of their Chiefs, I hope your Honour will think him worth
notice, and recommend it to the Assembly to make him full Satisfaction
for his Trouble, as he has employed all his Time in the Business of
the Government. I hope your Honour will recommend it to the Government
of Virginia to answer the Speech sent them now in answer to their own
Speech sent last Fall, as soon as possible. May it please your Honour, I
make bold to send down my Account against the Province for what Wampum
I delivered Mr. Montour to make the Speeches last Fall and this Spring,
delivered by your Honour’s Instructions. Mr. Montour is at my House and
will wait on your Honour when you Please to appoint the time. I hope what
has been transacted at this Treaty will be pleasing to your Honour, as
I am sure the Present had its full Force, and shall defer any farther
Account till you have the opportunity of examining Mr. Montour.

I am your Honour’s most obedient, humble Servant,

GEORGE CROGHAN.

CROGHAN’S JOURNAL, 1754.[30]

January 12th, 1754.—I arrived at Turtle Creek about eight miles from the
Forks of Mohongialo, where I was informed by John Frazier, an Indian
Trader,[31] that Mr. Washington, who was sent by the Governor of Virginia
to the French Camp, was returned. Mr. Washington told Mr. Frazier that he
had been very well used by the French General; that after he delivered
his Message the General told him his Orders were to take all the English
he found on the Ohio, which Orders he was determined to obey, and further
told him that the English had no business to trade on the Ohio, for that
all the Lands of Ohio belonged to his Master the King of France, all to
Alegainay Mountain. Mr. Washington told Mr. Frazier the Fort where he was
is very strong, and that they had Abundance of Provisions, but they would
not let him see their Magazine; there are about one hundred Soldiers
and fifty Workmen at that Fort, and as many more at the Upper Fort, and
about fifty Men at Weningo with Jean Coeur; the Rest of their Army went
home last Fall, but is to return as soon as possible this Spring; when
they return they are to come down to Log’s Town in order to build a Fort
somewhere thereabouts. This is all I had of Mr. Washington’s Journey
worth relating to your Honour.[32]

On the thirteenth I arrived at Shanoppin’s Town, where Mr. Montour and
Mr. Patten overtook me.[33]

On the fourteenth we set off to Log’s Town, where we found the Indians
all drunk; the first Salutation we got was from one of the Shawonese who
told Mr. Montour and myself we were Prisoners, before we had time to
tell them that their Men that were in Prison at Carolina were released,
and that we had two of them in our Company. The Shawonese have been very
uneasy about those Men that were in Prison, and had not those Men been
released it might have been of very ill consequence at this time; but as
soon as they found their Men were released they seem’d all overjoyed, and
I believe will prove true to their Alliance.[34]

On the fifteenth Five Canoes of French came down to Log’s Town in Company
with the Half King[35] and some more of the Six Nations, in Number an
Ensign, a Serjeant, and Fifteen Soldiers.

On the sixteenth in the morning Mr. Patten took a Walk to where the
French had pitched their Tents, and on his returning back by the
Officer’s Tent he ordered Mr. Patten to be brought in to him, on which
Word came to the Town that Mr. Patten was taken Prisoner. Mr. Montour and
myself immediately went to where the French was encamped, where we found
the French Officer and the Half King in a high Dispute. The Officer told
Mr. Montour and Me that he meant no hurt to Mr. Patten, but wondered he
should pass backward and forward without calling in. The Indians were
all drunk, and seemed very uneasy at the French for stopping Mr. Patten,
on which the Officer ordered his Men on board their Canoes and set off
to a small Town of the Six Nations about two Miles below the Log’s Town,
where he intends to stay till the Rest of their Army come down. As to any
particulars that pass’d between the Officer and Mr. Patten I refer your
Honour to Mr. Patten.

By a Chickisaw Man who has lived amongst the Shawonese since he was a
Lad, and is just returned from the Chickisaw Country[36] where he has
been making a Visit to his Friends, we hear that there is a large Body of
French at the Falls of Ohio, not less he says than a thousand Men; that
they have abundance of Provisions and Powder and Lead with them, and that
they are coming up the River to meet the Army from Canada coming down. He
says a Canoe with Ten French Men in her came up to the Lower Shawonese
Town with him, but on some of the English Traders’ threatning to take
them they set back that night without telling their Business.

By a message sent here from Fort De Troit by the Owendats to the Six
Nations, Delawares, and Shawonese, we hear that the Ottoways are
gathering together on this Side Lake Erie, several hundreds of them, in
order to cutt off the Shawonese at the Lower Shawonese Town.[37] The
French and Ottoways offered the Hatchet to the Owendats but they refused
to assist them.

We hear from Scarrooyady that the Twightwees that went last Spring to
Canada to counsel with the French were returned last Fall; that they had
taken hold of the French Hatchet and were entirely gone back to their old
Towns amongst the French.

From the sixteenth to the twenty-sixth we could do nothing, the Indians
being constantly drunk.

On the twenty sixth the French called the Indians to Council and made
them a Present of Goods. On the Indians Return the Half King told Mr.
Montour and me he would take an Opportunity to repeat over to Us what the
French said to them.

On the twenty-seventh We called the Indians to Council, and cloathed
the Two Shawonese according to the Indian Custom, and delivered them up
in Council with your Honour’s Speeches, sent by Mr. Patten, which Mr.
Montour adapted to Indian Forms as much as was in his Power or mine.

On the twenty-eighth We called the Indians to Council again, and
delivered them a large Belt of Black and White Wampum in Your Honour’s
and the Governor of Virginia’s Name, by which we desired they might open
their Minds to your Honour, and speak from their Hearts and not from
their Lips; and that they might now inform your Honour by Mr. Andrew
Montour, whom You had chosen to transact Business between You and your
Brethren at Ohio, whether that Speech which they sent your Honour by
Lewis Montour was agreed on in Council or not, and assured them they
might freely open their Minds to their Brethren your Honour and the
Governor of Virginia, as the only Friends and Brethren they had to depend
on. Gave the Belt.

After delivering the Belt Mr. Montour gave them the Goods left in my Care
by your Honour’s Commissioners at Carlisle, and at the same time made
a Speech to them to let them know that those Goods were for the Use of
their Warriors and Defence of their Country.

As soon as the Goods were delivered the Half King made a Speech to the
Shawonese and Delawares, and told them as their Brother Onas had sent
them a large Supply of Necessaries for the Defence of their Country, that
he would put it in their Care till all their Warriors would have Occasion
to call for it, as their Brethren the English had not yet got a strong
House to keep such Things safe in.

The Thirty-First A Speech delivered by the Half King in Answer to your
Honour’s Speeches on delivering the Shawonese:

“BROTHER ONAS:—We return You our hearty Thanks for the Trouble You
have taken in sending for our poor Relations the Shawonese, and with
these four Strings of Wampum we clear your Eyes and Hearts, that You
may see your Brothers the Shawonese clear as You used to do, and not
think that any small Disturbance shall obstruct the Friendship so long
subsisting between You and us your Brethren, the Six Nations, Delawares,
and Shawonese. We will make all Nations that are in Alliance with Us
acquainted with the Care You have had of our People at such a great
distance from both You and Us.”—Gave Four Strings of Wampum.

_A Speech Delivered by the Half King_

“Brethren the Governors of Pennsylvania and Virginia: You desire Us to
open our Minds to You and to speak from our Hearts, which we assure You,
Brethren, we do. You desire We may inform you whether that Speech sent by
Lewis Montour was agreed on in Council or not, Which we now assure You it
was in part; but that Part of giving the Lands to pay the Traders’ Debts
We know nothing of it; it must have been added by the Traders that wrote
the Letter;[38] but we earnestly requested by that Belt, and likewise
we now request that our Brother the Governor of Virginia may build a
Strong House at the Forks of the Mohongialo, and send some of our young
Brethren, their Warriors, to live on it; and we expect our Brother of
Pennsylvania will build another House somewhere on the River where he
shall think proper, where whatever assistance he will think proper to
send us may be kept safe for us, as our Enemies are just at hand, and we
do not know what Day they may come upon Us. We now acquaint our Brethren
that we have our Hatchet in our Hands to strike the Enemy as soon as our
Brethren come to our assistance.”

Gave a Belt and Eight Strings of Wampum.

THE HALF KING,
SCARROOYADY,
NEWCOMER,
COSWENTANNEA,
TONELAGUESONA,
SHINGASS,
DELAWARE GEORGE.

After the Chiefs had signed the last Speech, the Half King repeated over
the French Council, which was as follows:

“CHILDREN: I am come here to tell you that your Father is coming here to
visit you and to take You under his care, and I desire You may not listen
to any ill News You hear, for I assure you he will not hurt You; ’Tis
true he has something to say to your Brethren the English, but do you sit
still and do not mind what your Father does to your Brothers, for he will
not suffer the English to live or tread on this River Ohio;”—on which he
made them a Present of Goods.

February the First.—By a Cousin of Mr. Montour’s that came to Log’s town
in company with a Frenchman from Weningo by Land, we hear that the French
expect Four Hundred Men every Day to the Fort above Weningo, and as
soon as they come they are to come down the River to Log’s town to take
possession from the English till the rest of the Army comes in the Spring.

The Frenchman that came here in company with Mr. Montour’s Cousin, is
Keeper of the King’s Stores, and I believe the chief of his Business is
to take a view of the Country and to see what Number of English there is
here, and to know how the Indians are affected to the French.

February the Second.—Just as we were leaving the Log’s Town, the Indians
made the following Speech:

“Brethren the Governors of Pennsylvania and Virginia: we have opened our
Hearts to You and let you know our Minds; we now, by these two Strings of
black Wampum, desire You may directly send to our Assistance that You and
We may secure the Lands of Ohio, for there is nobody but You our Brethren
and ourselves have any Right to the Lands; but if you do not send
immediately we shall surely be cut of[f] by our Enemy the French.”—Gave
two Strings of black Wampum.

February the Second.—A Speech made by Shingass, King of the Delawares.

“BROTHER ONAS: I am glad to hear all our People here are of one mind;
it is true I live here on the River Side, which is the French Road, and
I assure you by these Strings of Wampum that I will neither go down or
up, but I will move nearer to my Brethren the English, where I can keep
our Women and Children safe from the Enemy.”[39]—Gave Three Strings of
Wampum.

The above is a true account of our Proceedings, taken down by Your
Honour’s most obedient humble Servant.

GEORGE CROGHAN.

3d February, 1754.

_The Honourable James Hamilton Esquire._

CROGHAN TO CHARLES SWAINE AT SHIPPENSBURG[40]

AUGHWICK, October 9th, 1755.

DEAR SIR: On my return home I met with an Indian from Ohio who gives me
the following accounts: That about 14 days ago he left Ohio, at that
time there was about 160 Men ready to set out to harrass the English
which probably they be those doing the Mischiefs on Potomack. He says
the French Fort is not very strong with men at present. He likewise says
that he is of opinion the Indians will do no mischief on the Inhabitants
of Pennsylvania till they can draw all the Indians out of the Province
and off Sasquehanna, which they are now industriously endeavouring to do;
and he desires me as soon as I see the Indians remove from Sasquehanna
back to Ohio to shift my quarters, for he says that the French will, if
possible, lay all the back frontiers in ruins this Winter.

This man was sent by a few of my old Indian Friends to give me this
caution, that I might save my scalps, which he says would be no small
Prize to the French; and he has ordered me to keep it private so that I
don’t intend to communicate it to any body but you. I don’t know whether
the Governor should be made acquainted with it or no; but if you judge it
proper write the Governor the whole, but at the same time request him to
keep it a secret from whom he had his Information, for if it should be
made publick to the Interpreters or Indians it may cost me and the man
I had my Information from our Lives; and, moreover, the best method to
frustrate their Designs will be for the Governor not to let the Indians
know that he is acquainted with their design, but to conduct the affair
privately, so as not to let the Indians know he has any suspicion of
them. Indeed it is only what I thought the Indians always aimed at, and
what I feared they would accomplish, for I see all our great Directors of
Indian affairs are very short sighted, and glad I am that I have no hand
in Indian affairs at this critical time, where no fault can be thrown on
my shoulders.

I am, Dear Sir, Your most humble Servant,

GEO. CROGHAN.

_To Mr. Charles Swaine._

P. S.—Sir, if you could possibly Lend me 6 guns with powder, 20 of lead
by the bearer, I will return them in about 15 days, when I can get some
from the Mouth of Conegochege. I hope to have my Stockade finished by the
middle of next week.[41]

G. C.

A COUNCIL HELD AT CARLISLE, TUESDAY THE 13TH JANUARY, 1756[42]

_Present_:

The Honourable ROBERT HUNTER MORRIS,[43] Esq., Lieutenant Governor.
JAMES HAMILTON WILLIAM LOGAN, RICHARD PETERS, Esquires.
JOSEPH FOX, Esquire, Commissioner,
MR. CROGHAN.

Mr. Croghan having been desired by the Governor in December last to
do all in his Power to gain Intelligence of the Motions and Designs
of the Indians, and being now in Town was sent for into Council, and
at the Instance of the Governor gave the following Information, viz:
“That he sent Delaware Jo, one of our Friendly Indians, to the Ohio for
Intelligence, who returned to his House at Aucquick the eighth Instant,
and informed him that he went to Kittannin, an Indian Delaware Town on
the Ohio about forty Miles above Fort Duquesne, the Residence of Chingas
and Captain Jacobs, where he found one hundred and forty Men chiefly
Delawares and Shawonese, who had then with them above one hundred English
Prisoners big and little taken from Virginia and Pennsylvania.

That there the Beaver,[44] Brother of Chingas, told him that the
Governor of Fort Duquesne[45] had often offered the French Hatchet to
the Shawonese and Delawares, who had as often refused it, declaring
they would do as they should be advised by the Six Nations; but that in
April or May last a Party of Six Nation Warriors in Company with some
Caghnawagos[46] and Adirondacks called at the French Fort in their going
to War against the Southern Indians, and on these the Governor of Fort
Duquesne prevailed to offer the French Hatchet to the Delawares and
Shawonese who received it from them and went directly against Virginia.

That neither the Beaver nor several others of the Shawonese and Delawares
approved of this measure nor had taken up the Hatchet, and the Beaver
believed some of those who had were sorry for what they had done, and
would be glad to make up Matters with the English.

That from Kittannin he went to the Log’s Town, where he found about one
hundred Indians and thirty English Prisoners taken by the Shawonese
living at the Lower Shawonese Town from the western Frontier of Virginia
and sent up to Log’s Town. He was told the same thing by these Shawonese
that the Beaver had told him before respecting their striking the English
by the advise of some of the Six Nations, and further he was informed
that the French had sollicited the Indians to sell them the English
Prisoners, which they had refused, declaring they would not dispose of
them, but keep them until they should receive Advice from the Six Nations
what to do with them.

That there are more or less of the Six Nations living with the Shawonese
and Delawares in their Towns, and these always accompanied them in their
Incursions upon the English and took Part with them in the War.

That when at Log’s Town, which is near Fort Duquesne, on the opposite
Side of the River, he intended to have gone there to see what the French
were doing in that Fort, but could not cross the River for the driving
of the Ice; he was, however, informed the Number of the French did not
exceed four hundred.

That he returned to Kittannin, and there learned that Ten Delawares were
gone to the Sasquehannah, and as he supposed to persuade those Indians to
strike the English who might perhaps be concerned in the Mischief lately
done in the County of Northampton.[47]

No more than Seven Indians being as yet come to Carlisle Mr. Croghan was
asked the Reason of it; he said that the Indians were mostly gone an
hunting, but he expected as many more at least would come in a day or two.

Mr. Weiser was then sent for and it was taken into Consideration what
should be said to the Indians.

CROGHAN’S TRANSACTIONS WITH THE INDIANS PREVIOUS TO HOSTILITIES ON THE
OHIO[48]

In November 1748 Mʳ Hamilton arrived in Philadelphia, Governor of
Pennsylvania. During the late war all the Indian tribes living on the
Ohio and the branches thereof, on this side Lake Erie, were in strict
friendship with the English in the several Provinces, and took the
greatest care to preserve the friendship then subsisting between them and
us. At that time we carried on a considerable branch of trade with those
Indians for skins and furrs, no less advantagious to them than to us. We
sold them goods on much better terms than the French, which drew many
Indians over the Lakes to trade with us. The exports of skins and furs
from this Province at that time will shew the increase of our trade in
them articles.

In August 1749, Governor Hamilton sent me to the Ohio with a message to
the Indians, to notifie to them the Cessation of Arms, and to enquire of
the Indians the reason of the march of Monsieur Celaroon with two hundred
French soldiers through their country (This detachment under Monsieur
Celaroon had passed by the Logs Town before I reached it.)

After I had delivered my message to the Indians, I inquired what the
French Commander said to them. They told me he said he was only come to
visit them, and see how they were cloathed, for their Father the Governor
of Canada was determined to take great care of all his children settled
on the Ohio, and desired they wou’d turn away all the English traders
from amongst them, for their Father would not suffer them to trade there
any more, but would send traders of his own, who would trade with them on
reasonabler terms than the English.

I then asked them if they really thought that was the intention of the
French coming at that time: They answered, yes, they believed the French
not only wanted to drive the English traders off, that they might have
the trade to themselves; but that they had also a further intention
by their burrying iron plates with inscriptions on them in the mouth
of every remarkable Creek, which we know is to steal our country from
us. But we will go to the Onondago Council and consult them how we may
prevent them from defrauding us of our land.

At my return I acquainted the Governor what passed between the Indians
and me.

This year the Governor purchased a tract of land on the East of
Susquehannah for the Proprietaries, at which time the Indians complained
that the White People was encroaching on their lands on the West side of
Susquehannah, and desired that the Governor might turn them off, as those
lands were the hunting-grounds of the Susquehannah Indians.

At that time the Six Nations delivered a string of Wampum from
the Connays, desiring their Brother Onas to make the Connays some
satisfaction for their settlement at the Connay Town in Donegal,[49]
which they had lately left and settled amongst the Susquehannah Indians
which town had been reserved for their use at that time their Brother
Onas had made a purchase of the land adjoining to that town.

In November [1750] I went to the country of the Twightwees by order of
the Governor with a small present to renew the chain of friendship, in
company with Mʳ Montour Interpreter; on our journey we met Mʳ Gist, a
messenger from the Governor of Virginia, who was sent to invite the Ohio
Indians to meet the Commissioners of Virginia at the Logs town in the
Spring following to receive a present of goods which their father the
King of Great Britain had sent them.[50] Whilst I was at the Twightwee
town delivering the present and message, there came several of the Chiefs
of the Wawioughtanes and Pianguisha Nations, living on Wabash, and
requested to be admitted into the chain of friendship between the English
and the Six Nations and their allies; which request I granted & exchang’d
deeds of friendship with them, with a view of extending His Majesty’s
Indian interest, and made them a small present. On my return I sent a
coppy of my proceedings to the Governor. On his laying it before the
House of Assembly, it was rejected and myself condemned for bad conduct
in drawing an additionall expence on the Government, and the Indians
were neglected.[51]

At the time that the Secretary, the provincial Interpreter, with the
Justice of Cumberland County and the Sheriff were ordered to dispossess
the people settled on the unpurchased lands on the West side of
Susquehannah, and on their return to my house, they met a deputation
of the Ohio Indians, who told the Secretary that they had heard of a
purchase that the Governor had made on the East side of Susquehannah,
and said they were intitled to part of the goods paid for that purchase,
but had received none, that they were come now to desire the Governor
to purchase no more lands without first acquainting them, for that the
lands belonged to them as well as to the Onondago Council; on which they
delivered a Belt of Wampum, and desired that the Governor might send that
Belt to Onondago to let them know that the Ohio Indians had made such a
complaint.

In April 1751 the Governor sent me to Ohio with a present of goods; the
speeches were all wrote by the Provincial Interpreter Mʳ Wiser. In one
of the speeches was warmly expressed that the Govʳ of Pennsylvania would
build a fort on the Ohio, to protect the Indians, as well as the English
Traders, from the insults of the French. On the Governor perusing the
speech he thought it too strongly expressed, on which he ordered me not
to make it, but ordered me to sound the Chief of the Indians on that
head, to know whether it would be agreeable to them or not. Which orders
I obeyed, and did in the presence of Mʳ Montour sound the Half King
Scarioaday and the Belt of Wampum, who all told me that the building
of a Trading House had been agreed on between them and the Onondago
Council, since the time of the detachment of French, under the command of
Monsʳ Celaroon, had gone down the river Ohio, and said they would send a
message by me to their Brother Onas, on that head.

After I had delivered the present and done the chief of the business,
the Indians in publick Council, by a Belt of Wampum, requested that the
Governor of Pennsylvania would immediately build a strong house (or Fort)
at the Forks of Monongehela, where the Fort Du Quesne now stands, for the
protection of themselves and the English Traders.

But on my return this Government rejected the proposal I had made, and
condemned me for making such a report to the government, alledging it
was not the intention of the Indians. The Provincial Interpreter, who
being examined by the House of Assembly, denyed that he knew of any
instructions I had to treat with the Indians for building a Trading
House, though he wrote the speech himself, and further said he was sure
the Six Nations would never agree to have a Trading House built there,
and Governor Hamilton, though he by his letter of instructions ordered me
to sound the Indians on that head, let the House know he had given me no
such instructions: all which instructions will appear on the Records of
Indian Affairs.[52] The 12ᵗʰ June 1752, the Virginia Commissioners met
the Indians at the Logs Town and delivered the King’s present to them.
The Indians then renewed their request of having a fort built as the
government of Pennsylvania had taken no notice of their former request to
them, and they insisted strongly on the government of Virginia’s building
one in the same place that they had requested the Pennsylvanians to build
one; but to no effect.[53]

In the year 1753 a French army came to the heads of Ohio and built fort
Preskle on the Lake, and another fort at the head of Venango Creek,
called by the French Le Buff Rivere.[54] Early in the fall the same year
about one hundred Indians from the Ohio came from Winchester in Virginia,
expecting to meet the Governor there who did not come, but ordered Coll.
Fairfax to meet them. Here again they renewed their request of having a
Fort built, and said altho’ the French had placed themselves on the head
of Ohio, that if their Brethren the English would exert themselves and
sent out a number of men, that they would join them, & drive the French
army away or die in the attempt.

From Winchester those Indians came to Cumberland County where they were
met by Commissioners from Governor Hamilton, and promised the same
which they had done in Virginia;[55] but notwithstanding the earnest
solicitations of those Indians, the governments neglected building them
a fort, or assisting them with men; believing or seeming to believe
that there was no French there; till the Governor of Virginia sent Col.
Washington to the heads of Venango Creek, where he met the French General
at a fort he had lately built there.

In February 1754, Captain Trent was at the mouth of Red Stone Creek,
building a Store house for the Ohio Company, in order to lodge stores to
be carried from there to the mouth of Monongehela, by water, where he had
received orders in conjunction with Cresap[56] and Gist to build a fort
for that Company. This Creek is about 37 miles from where fort Du Quesne
now stands.

About the 10ᵗʰ of this month he received a Commission from the Governor
of Virginia with orders to raise a Company of Militia, and that he would
soon be joined by Col. Washington. At this time the Indians appointed to
meet him at the mouth of Monongehela in order to receive a present which
he had brought them from Virginia. Between this time and that appointed
to meet the Indians he raised upwards of twenty men & found them with
arms ammunition & provisions at his own expence. At this meeting the
Indians insisted that he should set his men at work, which he did, and
finished a Store House, and a large quantity of timber hew’d, boards
saw’d, and shingles made. After finishing his business with the Indians
he stayed some time in expectation of Col. Washington joining him, as
several accounts came of his being there in a few days. As there was
no more men to be had here at this time, there being no inhabitants in
this country but Indian traders who were scattered over the country for
several hundred miles, & no provisions but a little Indian corn to be
had, he applied to the Indians, who had given him reason to believe they
would join him and cut off the French on the Ohio, but when he proposed
it to the Half-King, he told him that had the Virginians been in earnest
they wou’d have had their men there before that time, and desired him to
get the rest of his men and hurry out the provisions. Agreeable to his
instructions he went and recruited his company, but before he could get
back, it being 110 miles from here to the nighest inhabitants, the French
came and drove his people off.

In June following when the Indians heard that Coll. Washington with a
Detachment of the Virginia troops had reached the great Meadows, the
Half-King and Scaruady with about 50 men joined him—notwithstanding the
French were in possession of this country with six or seven hundred men;
so great was their regard for the English at that time.

After the defeat of Col. Washington, the Indians came to Virginia, where
they stayed some time, & then came to my house in Pennsylvania and put
themselves under the protection of this Government.

As soon as possible they sent messengers to call down the heads of the
Delawares and Shawnese to a meeting at my house, and at the same time
they desired the Governor of this Province, or some Deputy from him, to
meet them there to consult what was best to be done.

The Governor sent Mʳ Wiser the Provincial Interpreter; the Chiefs of
those Indians came down and met him and offered their service, but it
was not accepted by Mʳ Wiser. He in answer told them to sit still, till
Governor Morris arrived, and then he himself wou’d come and let them know
what was to be done. They waited there till very late in the fall, but
received no answer, so set off for their own country.[57]

This Government continued to maintain the Indians that lived at my house,
till the Spring, when General Bradock[58] arrived; they then desired
Governor Morris to let me know they would not maintain them any longer;
at which time Governor Morris desired me to take them to Fort Cumberland
to meet General Bradock; which I did;—On my arrival at Fort Cumberland
General Braddock asked me where the rest of the Indians were. I told him
I did not know, I had brought but fifty men which was all that was at
that time under my care, and which I had brought there by the directions
of Governor Morris. He replied that Governor Dinwiddie told me [him] at
Alexandria that he had sent for 400 which would be here before me. I
answered I knew nothing of that but that Captain Montour the Virginia
Interpreter was in camp & could inform His Excellency. On which Montour
was sent for who informed the General that Mʳ Gist’s son was sent off
some time agoe for some Cherokee Indians, but whether they would come he
could not tell. On which the General asked me whether I could not send
for some of the Delawares and Shawnese to Ohio. I told him I could; on
which I sent a messenger to Ohio, who returned in eight days and brought
with him the Chiefs of the Delawares. The General held a conference the
Chiefs in company with those fifty I had brought with me, and made them
a handsome present, & behav’d to them as kindly as he possibly could,
during their stay, ordering me to let them want for nothing.

The Delawares promised, in Council, to meet the General on the road, as
he marched out with a number of their warriors. But whether the former
breaches of faith on the side of the English prevented them, or that they
choose to see the event of the action between General Braddock and the
French, I cannot tell; but they disappointed the General and did not meet
him.

Two days after the Delaware Chiefs had left the camp at Fort Cumberland,
Mʳ Gist’s son returned from the Southward, where he had been sent by Govʳ
Dinwiddie, but brought no Indians with him.

Soon after, the General was preparing for the march, with no more Indians
than I had with me; when Coll. Innis[59] told the General that the women
and children of the Indians that were to remain at Fort Cumberland,
would be very troublesome, and that the General need not take above
eight or nine men out with him, for if he took more he would find them
very troublesome on the march and of no service; on which the General
ordered me to send back all the men, women and children, to my house in
Pennsylvania, except eight or ten, which I should keep as scouts and to
hunt; which I accordingly did.

(Indorsed: “Recᵈ with Sʳ Wᵐ Johnson’s letter of the 25 June, 1757.”)

CROGHAN’S JOURNAL, 1760-61[60]

October 21ˢᵗ 1760.—In pursuance to my Instructions I set of[f] from Fort
Pitt to join Major Rogers[61] at Presqu’ Isle[62] in order to proceed
with the Detachmᵗ of his Majestys Troops under his Command to take
possession of Fort D’Troit.

25ᵗʰ.—I joined Capt Campbell at Venango who was on his march to Presqu’
Isle with a Detachment of the Royal Americans to join Major Rogers.[63]

26ᵗʰ.—I halted at Venango as the French Creek was very high, to assist
in getting the Pack Horses loaded with Pitch & Blanketts for the Kings
service over.[64]

27ᵗʰ.—Left Venango.

30ᵗʰ.—Got to La’Bauf.[65]

31ˢᵗ.—Arrived at Presqu-Isle where I delivered Major Rogers his Orders
from General Monckton.[66]

November 3ᵈ.—Capᵗ Brewer of the Rangers with a Party of forty Men set
of[f] by Land with the Bullocks with whom I sent fifteen Indians of
different Nations, to pilot them, with Orders that if they met with any
of the Indians of the Western Nations hunting on the Lake Side to tell
them to come and meet me.[67] This Evening we loaded our Boats & lay on
the shore that night.

4ᵗʰ.—We set sail at seven o’clock in the morning & at three in the
afternoon we got to Siney Sipey or Stoney Creek about ten Leagues from
Presqu’ Isle where we went ashore in a fine Harbour and encamped.[68]

5ᵗʰ.—At seven o’Clock in the Morning we set sail, about 12 we were met
by about thirty Ottawas who had an English Flag, they saluted us with a
discharge of their fire Arms, we then put ashore shook hands and smoked
with them out of their Council Pipe, we drank a dram and then embarked,
about two o’Clock arrived at Wajea Sipery or Crooked Creek, went ashore
in a good Harbour and encamped, this day went about seven Leagues. After
we had encamped I called a meeting of all the Indians and acquainted
them of the Reduction of Montreal, and agreeable to the Capitulation we
were going to take possession of Fort D’Troit, Misselemakinack, Fort
St. Joseph’s &c. and carry the French Garrisons away Prisoners of War &
Garrison the Forts with English Troops, that the French Inhabitants were
to remain in possession of their property on their taking the Oath of
Fidelity to his Majesty King George, and assured them by a Belt of Wampum
that all Nations of Indians should enjoy a free Trade with their Brethren
the English and be protected in peaceable possession of their hunting
Country as long as they adhered to his Majestys Interest. The Indians
in several Speeches made me, expressed their satisfaction at exchanging
their Fathers the French for their Brethren the English who they were
assured were much better able to supply them with all necessaries, and
then begged that we might forget every thing that happened since the
commencement of the War, as they were obliged to serve the French from
whom they got all their necessitys supplyed, that it was necessity and
not choice that made them take part with the French which they confirmed
by several Belts and Strings of Wampum. The principal Man of the Ottawas
said on a large Belt that he had not long to live & said pointing to
two Men “those Men I have appointed to transact the Business of my
Tribe, with them you confirmed the Peace last year when you came up to
Pittsburg, I now recommend them to you, and I beg you may take notice of
them and pity our women and Children as they are poor and naked, you are
able to do it & by pitying their Necessitys you will win their Hearts.”
The Speaker then took up the Pipe of Peace belonging to the Nation and
said Brother to Confirm what we have said to you I give you this Peace
Pipe which is known to all the Nations living in this Country and when
they see it they will know it to be the Pipe of Peace belonging to our
Nation, then [he] delivered the Pipe.

The principal Man then requested some Powder & Lead for their young Men
to stay there and hunt for the support of their familys as the Chiefs had
agreed to go with us to D’Troit, and a little Flower which I applyed to
Major Rogers for who chearfully ordered it to me as I informed him it was
necessary & would be for the good of his Majestys Indian Interest.[69]

6ᵗʰ.—At seven o’Clock we set sail in Company with the Indians arrived
at a pretty large Creek called Onchuago or fire Creek[70] about twelve
Leagues from Crooked Creek, where we went ashore and incamped, a fine
Harbour; here we met seven familys of Ottawa Indians Hunting.

7ᵗʰ.—We loaded our Boats, sent of[f] the Battoes with the Provisions and
some Whale Boats to attend them, but before they had got two Miles they
were obliged to return the Wind springing up so high that no Boat could
live on the Lake. Continued our encampment here the whole day.

8ᵗʰ 9ᵗʰ & 10ᵗʰ.—We continued here the Wind so high could not put out of
the Harbour here the Indians gave us great quantitys of Bears & Elks
Meat, very fat.

11ᵗʰ.—About One o’Clock P.M. set sail, a great swell in the Lake, at
Eight o’Clock got into a little Cove went ashore & encamped on a fine
strand, about six Leagues from fire Creek, where Mʳ Braam with his party
had been some time encamped.[71]

12ᵗʰ.—At half an hour after Eight A.M. set sail, very Calm, about 10
came on a great squawl, the Waves run Mountains high, about half an hour
after twelve we got into Gichawaga Creek where is a fine Harbour, some of
the Battoes were forced a shore on the Strand and received considerable
damage, some of the flower wet and the Ammunition Boat allmost staved
to Pieces, here we found several Indians of the Ottawa Nation hunting,
who received us very kindly they being old Acquaintances of mine, here
we overtook Capᵗ Brewer of the Rangers with his party who set of by Land
with some Cattle, this day came about four Leagues.[72]

13ᵗʰ.—We lay by to mend our Boats.

14ᵗʰ.—The Wind blew so hard we could not set of[f]. This day we were
allarmed by one of the Rangers who reported he saw about Twenty French
within a Mile of our encampment on which I sent out a party of Indians
and Major Rogers a party of Rangers, both partys returned without
discovering any thing, but the Tracts of two Indians who went out a
hunting that Morning.

15ᵗʰ.—Fine Weather we set sail and at twelve o’Clock came to Sinquene
Thipe or Stony Creek[73] where we met a Wayondott Indian named
Togasoady, and his family a hunting. He informed me he was fifteen days
from D’Troit, that before he left that the French had Accounts of the
reduction of Montreal & that they expected an English Army from Niagara
to D’Troit every day; that M. Balletré,[74] would not believe that the
Governor of Montreal had Capitulated for D’Troit; that he had no more
than fifty soldiers in the Fort; that the Inhabitants and Indians who
were at home were very much afraid of being plundered by our Soldiers,
and he requested that no outrage might be committed by our soldiers on
the Indian settlements, as the chief of the Indians were out a hunting. I
assured them that there should be no plundering. This afternoon we came
to Nechey Thepy or two Creeks,[75] about Nine Leagues from Gichawga,
high banks all the way & most part of it a perpendicular Rock about 60
feet high.

16ᵗʰ.—a storm so that we could [not] stir.

17ᵗʰ.—The Wind continued very high, stayed here this day, set of[f] the
Cattle with an escort of Souldiers and Indians.

18ᵗʰ.—Set Sail came to Oulame Thepy or Vermillion Creek a narrow Channel
about Eight foot Water a large Harbour when in, about four o’Clock came
to Notowacy Thepy a fine Creek running through a Meadow about Eighteen
foot Water, this day came about seven Leagues;[76] here I met three
Indians who informed me that the Deputys I sent from Fort Pitt had passed
by their hunting Cabin Eight days agoe on their way to D’Troit in order
to deliver the Messages I sent by them to the several Indian Nations.

19ᵗʰ.—Several Indians came down the Creek to our encampment and made us
a present of dryed Meat, set of[f], came to the little Lake just as the
Cattle set over from thence, set of[f] from here came to a Creek which
runs through a marchy Meadow, here we encamped, came this day about six
Leagues.[77]

20ᵗʰ.—Mr. Braam set of[f] to D’Troit with a Flag of Truce and took with
him Mr Gamblin a French Gentleman an Inhabitant of D’Troit.[78] This
day about One o’Clock we met a Canoe of Wayandott Indians who informed
us that the Deputys I sent to yᵉ several Nations living about Fort
D’Troit, from Fort Pitt had got there and collected the principal Men
of the several Nations together and delivered their Messages which were
well received by the Indians, and that a Deputation of the Indians were
appointed to come with my Deputys to meet us at that place which was the
Carrying place from Sandusky into the Lake, we put into the Creek called
Crambary Creek, went a shore & encamped to wait the arrival of those
Deputys; we sent over the Carrying place to two Indian Villages which are
within two Miles of each other to invite the Indians to come & meet the
Deputys at our Camp.[79] This day came four Leagues.

21ˢᵗ.—Towards Evening some of the Indians from the two Villages came to
our Camp; just after dark a Canoe came in sight who immediately saluted
us with three discharges of their fire Arms, which was returned from our
Camp, on their arrival we found them to be the Deputys sent from the
Nations living about D’Troit with the Deputys I had sent from Fort Pitt,
as soon as they landed the Deputys I had sent introduced them to Majʳ
Rogers, Capᵗ Campbell and myself & said they had delivered their Messages
[to] the several Nations and that the Indians which came with them were
come to return Answers which we should hear in the Morning & they hoped
their answers would be to our expectations. After drinking a dram round
we dismissed them & gave them Provisions.

22ᵈ.—About 9 o’Clock the Indians met in Council, though several of their
People were in Liquor, & made several speeches on strings and one Belt of
Wampum all to the following purport.

BRETHREN: We your Brethren of the several Nations living in this Country
received your Messages well and return you thanks for sending us word
of what has happened and your coming to remove the French Garrison out
of our Country and putting one there of our Brethren the English; your
Conduct in sending us timely notice of it is a Confirmation of your
sincerity & upright intentions towards us and we are sent here to meet
you & bid you welcome to our Country.

Brethren all our principal Men are met on this side the French Garrison
to shake hands with you in Friendship & have determined in Council to
abandon the French Interest and receive our Brethren the English as our
true Friends & establish a lasting Peace with you & we expect you will
support us and supply us with a fire & open Trade for the Cloathing of
our Women and Children. Then they delivered two strings of Wampum to the
Six Nations and Delawares returning them thanks for sending Messages
to them with the Deputys I had sent & desired those strings might be
delivered to them in Council. Then the Speaker spoke on a Belt & said
Brethren the Chief of our young People are gone out a hunting and our
Women have put up their Effects & Corn for the maintainance of their
Children in the Houses about the French Fort and we know that all
Warriors plunder when they go on those Occasions, we desire by this Belt
that you will give orders that none of our Houses may be plundered as
we are a poor People and cannot supply our Losses of that kind. Then
I acquainted them of the Reduction of all Canada and the terms of the
Capitulation & when I met their Chiefs I would tell them on what terms
the Peace was confirmed between all Nations of Indians and us. Then Major
Rogers gave them a string by which he took all the Indians present by
the hand & lead them to D’Troit where he would have a Conference with
them and deliver them some speeches sent by him to them from General
Amherst.[80] At 10 o’Clock we embarked sailed about five Leagues and
encampᵈ on a Beach.

23ᵈ.—We embarked sailed about three Leagues and an half to Ceeder point
where is a large Bay, here was a large encampment of Indians Wayondotts
and Ottawas who insisted on our staying there that day as it was raining
and a large Bay to cross which Major Rogers agreed to.[81]

24ᵗʰ.—We set of[f] at Eight o’Clock across the Bay in which is an Island
the day was so foggy that the Drum was obliged to beat all day to keep
the Boats together, this day we went about Eight Leagues. Where we
encamped there came to us five Indian familys.

25ᵗʰ.—The Indians desired Major Rogers would order the Boats into a Cove
as it was likely to be bad Weather & lay by that day & they would send
some men to where their Chiefs were collected to hear News which was
agreed to.[82]

26ᵗʰ.—The Wind blew so hard that we could not put out of the Cove, the
Messengers the Indians sent returned and informed us that the French
were very angry with the Indian Nations for meeting us and threatned to
burn their Towns; that the Commanding Officer would not let us come to
D’Troit till he received his Orders from the Governor of Canada and the
Capitulation to which we answered the Indians that they might depend on
it, that if any damage was done them by the French that we would see the
damage repaired.

27ᵗʰ.—In the Morning a Cannoe with two Interpreters and four French came
to our Camp with Letters from Monsieur Balletré. We decamped and came
into the mouth of the River where we met the Chief of the Wayondotts,
Ottawas & Putawatimes who bid us welcome to their Country and joined us,
we went up the River about 6 miles where we met a French Officer who
hoisted a Flag of Truce and beat a parley here we encamped on an Island
and sent for the French Officer who delivered his Messages.

28ᵗʰ.—Capt. Campbell was sent of[f] with a Flag of Truce to give M.
Balletré his orders to give up the Place soon after we set of[f] up the
River and encamped at an Indian Village, at Night Capt. Campbell joined
us and informed us that Monsieur Balletré behaved very politely on seeing
M. Vaudreuils[83] Orders & desired we would proceed the next day and take
possession of the Fort & Country.

29ᵗʰ.—We set of[f] and arrived about twelve o’Clock at the place where we
landed and sent and relieved the Garrison.

30ᵗʰ.—Part of the Militia lay down their Arms and took the Oath of
Fidelity.

December 1ˢᵗ.—The rest of the Militia layed down their Arms and took the
Oath of Fidelity.

2ᵈ.—Lieuᵗ Holms was sent of[f] with M. Balletré and the French Garrison
with whom I sent 15 English Prisoners which I got from the Indians.

3ᵈ.—In the Morning the principal Indians of 3 different Nations came to
my Lodgings & made the following Speech on a Belt of Wampum.

BRETHREN:—You have now taken possession of this Country. While the French
lived here they kept a smith to mend our Guns and Hatchets and a Doctor
to attend our People when sick, we expect you will do the same and as
no doubt you have something to say to us from the English General and
Sir William Johnson we would be glad [to know] how soon you would go on
business as this is our hunting season.

Fort D’Troit December 4ᵗʰ 1760. We met the Wayondotts, Putawatimes and
Ottawas[84] in the Council House, with several of the principal Men of
the Ohio Indians who accompanied his Majestys Forces there when the
following speeches were made to them.

BRETHREN CHIEFS & WARRIORS OF THE SEVERAL NATIONS NOW PRESENT: You have
been made acquainted with the success of his Majestys Arms under the
Command of his Excellency General Amherst and the Reduction of all Canada
& now you are Eye Witnesses to the surrender of this place agreeable to
the Capitulation as I sent you word before the arrival of his Majestys
Troops; you see now your Fathers are become British Subjects, you are
therefore desired to look on them as such & not to think them a separate
People; and as long as you adhere to his Majestys Interest and behave
yoursel[ves] well to all his subjects as faithfull allies, you may depend
on having a free open Trade with your Brethren the English & be protected
by his Majesty King George now your Father & my Master.—A Belt.

BRETHREN: At a Conference held with several Chiefs & Deputys of your
several Nations at Pittsburg this Summer, you told me that all our
Prisoners which have been taken since the War, yet remaining in your
possession were then set at Liberty to return home if they pleased, now
I have received by Major Rogers the Commanding Officer here, General
Amherst and Sir William Johnson’s Orders to demand due performance of
your promise & desire that you may forthwith deliver them up as that is
the only way you can convince us of your sincerity and future intentions
of living in Friendship with all his Majestys Subjects in the several
British Colonies in America.—A belt.

BRETHREN: On Condition of your performance of what has been said to you I
by this Belt renew and brighten the Ancient Chain of Friendship between
his Majestys Subjects, the Six United Nations and our Brethren of the
several Western Nations to the Sun setting and wish it may continue as
long as the Sun and Moon give light.—A belt.

BRETHREN: As my orders are to return to Pittsburg I now recommend Capt.
Campbel to you as he is appointed by his Majestys Commander in Chief
to be Governour of this place, with him you must transact the publick
business and you may depend he will do you all the service in his power
and see that justice is done you in Trade.—A belt.

BRETHREN CHIEFS AND WARRIORS: As the Ancient Friendship that long
subsisted between our Ancestors is now renewed I was[h] the Blood of[f]
the Earth, that has been shed since the present War, that you may smell
the sweet scent of the Springing Herbs & bury the War Hatchet in the
Bottomless Pitt.—A belt.

BRETHREN: I know your Warriors have all a martial spirit & must be
employed at War & if they want diversion after the fatigue of hunting
there is your natural Enemies the Cherookees with whom you have been
long at War, there your Warriors will find diversion & there they may
go, they have no other place to go, as all Nations else are become the
subjects of Great Britain.—A belt.

BRETHREN: As I command this Garrison for his Majesty King George I must
acquaint you that all the Settlers living in this Country are my Master’s
subjects therefore I take this opportunity to desire you our Brethren of
the several Nations not to take any of their Effects from them by force,
nor kill or steal any of their Cattle, as I shall look on any insult of
that kind as if done to me, as they are under my protection. I desire
you will encourage your young Men to hunt and bring their Meat to me for
which they shall be paid in Powder and Lead.—A belt.

Major Rogers acquainted the Indians that he was going to Misselemaknach
to relieve that Garrison and desired some of their young Men to go with
him, whom he would pay for their Services and that he was sending an
Officer to Sᵗ. Josephs and the Waweoughtannes[85] to relieve their Post &
bring of[f] the French Garrisons & desired they would send some of their
young Men with him who should likewise be paid for their services.—A belt.

Then we acquainted them by a string that as they had requested a Smith to
mend their Guns as usual & the Doctor to attend their sick that it was
granted till the Generals pleasure was known.—A string.

December the 4ᵗʰ.—A Principal Man of the Wayondotts spoke and said
Brethren we have heard and considered what you said to us yesterday and
are met this day to return you an answer agreeable to our promise.

The Wayondott Speaker addressed his speech to Major Rogers, Capt Campbel
and myself.

BRETHREN: We have heard what you said to us yesterday, we are like a
lost People, as we have lost many of our principal Men, & we hope you
will excuse us if we should make any Mistakes, but we assure you our
Hearts are good towards our Brethren the English when your General and
Sir William Johnson took all Canada they ordered you to send us Word,
we received your Messages & we see, by your removing the French in the
manner you have from here, that what you said to us by your Messengers is
true. Brethren be it so, and continue as you have begun for the good of
us all. All the Indians in this Country are Allies to each other and as
one People, what you have said to us is very agreeable & we hope you will
continue to strengthen the Ancient Chain of Friendship.—A belt.

You desired us yesterday to perform our promise & deliver up your
Prisoners, it is very true we did promise to deliver them up, and have
since delivered up many, what would you have us do there is very few here
at present they are all yours & you shall have them as soon as possible
tho’ we do not choose to force them that have a mind to live with us.—A
belt.

BRETHREN: Yesterday you renewed and brightened the Ancient Chain of
Friendship between our Ancestors the Six Nations & you. Brethren I am
glad to hear that you our Brethren the English and the Six Nations have
renewed and strengthened the Ancient Chain of Friendship subsisting
between us, & we assure you that if ever it be broke it will be on your
side, and it is in your power as you are an able People to preserve it,
for while this Friendship is preserved we shall be a strong Body of
People, and do not let a small matter make a difference between us.—A
belt.

BRETHREN: Yesterday you desired us to be strong and preserve the Chain of
Friendship free from rust, Brethren look on this Friendship Belt where we
have the Six Nations and you by the hand; this Belt was delivered us by
our Brethren the English & Six Nations when first you came over the great
Water, that we might go & pass to Trade where we pleased & you likewise
with us, this Belt we preserve that our Children unborn may know.

BRETHREN: We heard what you said yesterday it was all good but we
expected two things more, first that you would have put it out of the
power of the Evil Spirit to hurt the Chain of Friendship, and secondly
that you would have settled the prices of goods that we might have them
cheaper from you than we had from the French as you have often told us.
Brethren you have renewed the Old Friendship yesterday, the Ancient Chain
is now become bright, it is new to our young Men, and Brethren we now
take a faster hold of it than ever we had & hope it may be preserved free
from rust to our posterity.—A belt [of] 9 rows.

BRETHREN: This Belt is from our Warriors in behalf of our Women &
Children and they desire of us to request of you to be strong & see that
they have goods cheap from your Traders & not be oppressed as they have
been by the French.[86]—A belt [of] 7 rows.

BRETHREN:—Shewing two Medals those we had from you as a token that we
might remember our Friendship whenever we should meet in the Woods and
smoke under the Tree of Peace, we preserved your token and hope you
remember your promise, it was then said that this Country was given by
God to the Indians & that you would preserve it for our joint use where
we first met under a shade as there were no Houses in those times.

The same speaker addressing himself to the six Nations.

BRETHREN: I am very glad to hear what our Brethren the English have said
to us, and I now send this string by you, and take the Chiefs of the six
Nations by the hand to come here to Council next spring.

Brother addressing himself to me

You have been employed by the King and Sir William Johnson amongst many
Nations of Indians in settling this Peace, now you are sent here where
our Council fire is, the Smoke of which ascends to the Skies you are
going away and all Nations to the Sun sitting are to meet here to see
their Brethren the English in possession of this place and we desire that
you may stay here till that Council, that you may take your Master Word
of what is to be transacted here.—A belt.

BRETHREN: By this String we request you will consider it will be
difficult for us to understand each other. It would be agreeable to us
if you would continue our old Interpreter as he understands our Language
well.—A string.

December the 5ᵗʰ the Principal Man of the Putawatimes spoke

BRETHREN: Yesterday our Uncles of the Six Nations spoke to you for us
all; do not be surprised at it, they have more understanding in Council
affairs than us, we have employed them to speak for us all, and Confirm
what they have said by this Belt.—A belt.

BRETHREN: Be strong and bring large quantitys of goods to supply us & we
will bring all our Furs to this place. We are glad you acquainted us that
the Inhabitants of French here are become English subjects, we shall look
on them as such for the future and treat them as our Brethren.—A belt.

BRETHREN: Our Uncles gave us this String of Wampum and desired us to be
strong and hunt for you, we should be glad [if] you would fix the price
to be given for a Deer of Meat, then insisted strongly that the six
Nation Deputys should press their Chiefs to attend the General meeting to
be held here in the spring by a Belt.

The principal Man of the Ottawas got up and made two speeches to the same
purport as above.

Then I made them the following speech.

BRETHREN: I return you thanks for the several affectionate speeches you
made us yesterday. To day it is agreed that he [the interpreter] be
continued till General Amherst and Sir William Johnson’s pleasure be
known; you likewise desired I might stay here till your General Meeting
in the Spring, I am not my own Master so you must excuse me till I
receive further Orders.—A belt.

Then the Present of Goods was delivered to each Nation in his Majestys
Name, for which they returned their hearty thanks.

Then Major Rogers spoke to them.

BRETHREN: I return you thanks for your readiness in joining his Majestys
Troops under my Command, on my way here, as I soon set out to execute
my orders and relieve the Garrison of Misselemakinach I take this
opportunity of taking my leave of you, and you may be assured I will
acquaint General Amherst and Sir William Johnson of the kind reception I
have met with amongst your Nations and recommend your services.—A belt.

Then the Council fire was covered up & the Conference ended.

7ᵗʰ.—Mr Butler of the Rangers set of[f] with an officer & party to
relieve the Garrison at the Milineys[87] [Miamis] with whom I sent an
Interpreter and gave him Wampum and such other things as was necessary
for his Journey and Instructions in what manner to speak to the Indians
in those parts.

The 8ᵗʰ.—Major Rogers set of[f] for Misselemachinack with whom I sent
Capᵗ Montour and four Indians who were well acquainted with the Country
and the Indian Nations that Inhabit it.[88]

The 9ᵗʰ & 10ᵗʰ.—Capt Campble assembled all the Inhabitants and read the
Act of Parliament to them & setled matters with them to his satisfaction,
they agreeing to yᵉ billiting of Troops and furnishing fire Wood &
Provisions for the Garrison, and indeed every thing in their power for
his Majestys service.

The 11ᵗʰ.—In the Evening Capt. Campble finished his Letters when I set
off leaving him what Wampum, Silver Truck & Goods I had for the Indian
service.

The 16ᵗʰ.—We came to the little Lake called Sandusky which we found froze
over so as not to be passable for some days.

The 22ᵈ.—We crossed the little Lake on the Ice which is about 6 Miles
over to an Indian Village where we found our Horses which we sent from
D’Troit, there were but five Indians at home all the rest being gone a
hunting.

23ᵈ.—We came to Chenunda an Indian Village 6 miles from Sandusky.[89]

24ᵗʰ.—We stayed to hunt up some Horses.

25ᵗʰ.—We came to the Principal Mans hunting Cabin about 16 miles from
Chenunda level Road and clear Woods, several Savannahs.

26ᵗʰ.—We came to Mohicken Village, this day, we crossed several small
Creeks all branches of Muskingum, level Road, pretty clear Woods about 30
Miles, the Indians were all out a hunting except one family.

27ᵗʰ.—We halted, it rained all day.

28ᵗʰ.—We set of[f], it snowed all day & come to another branch of
Muskingum about 9 Miles good Road where we stayed the 29ᵗʰ for a Cannoe
to put us over, the Creek being very high.

30ᵗʰ.—We set of[f] and came to another branch of Muskingum about 11 Miles
and the 31ˢᵗ we fell a Tree over the Creek and carryed over our Baggage
and encamped about one Mile up a Run.

January the 1ˢᵗ.—We travelled about 16 Miles clear woods & level Road to
a place called the Sugar Cabins.

2ᵈ.—We came about 12 Miles to the Beavers Town clear Woods and good Road.

3ᵈ.—Crossed Muskingum Creek and encamped in a fine bottom on this side
the Creek.

4ᵗʰ.—Set of[f] and travelled about 20 Miles up a branch of Muskingum good
Road.

5ᵗʰ.—Travelled about 18 Miles and crossed a branch of little Beaver Creek
clear Woods & good Road.

6ᵗʰ.—Travelled about Eighteen Miles and crossed two Branches of little
Beaver Creek good Road & Clear Woods.

7ᵗʰ.—Crossed the mouth of big Beaver Creek at an Indian Village and came
to Pittsburg about 25 Miles good Road & Clear Woods.[90]

CROGHAN’S JOURNAL, 1765[91]

May 15th, 1765.—I set off from fort Pitt with two batteaux, and encamped
at Chartier’s Island, in the Ohio, three miles below Fort Pitt.[92]

16th.—Being joined by the deputies of the Senecas, Shawnesse, and
Delawares, that were to accompany me, we set off at seven o’clock in the
morning, and at ten o’clock arrived at the Logs Town, an old settlement
of the Shawnesse, about seventeen miles from Fort Pitt, where we put
ashore, and viewed the remains of that village, which was situated on a
high bank, on the south side of the Ohio river, a fine fertile country
round it. At 11 o’clock we re-embarked and proceeded down the Ohio to
the mouth of Big Beaver Creek, about ten miles below the Logs Town: this
creek empties itself between two fine rich bottoms, a mile wide on each
side from the banks of the river to the highlands. About a mile below
the mouth of Beaver Creek we passed an old settlement of the Delawares,
where the French, in 1756, built a town for that nation. On the north
side of the river some of the stone chimneys are yet remaining; here the
highlands come close to the banks and continue so for about five miles.
After which we passed several spacious bottoms on each side of the river,
and came to Little Beaver Creek, about fifteen miles below Big Beaver
Creek. A number of small rivulets fall into the river on each side. From
thence we sailed to Yellow Creek,[93] being about fifteen miles from the
last mentioned creek; here and there the hills come close to the banks of
the river on each side, but where there are bottoms, they are very large,
and well watered; numbers of small rivulets running through them, falling
into the Ohio on both sides. We encamped on the river bank, and found a
great part of the trees in the bottom are covered with grape vines. This
day we passed by eleven islands, one of which being about seven miles
long. For the most part of the way we made this day, the banks of the
river are high and steep. The course of the Ohio from Fort Pitt to the
mouth of Beaver Creek inclines to the north-west; from thence to the two
creeks partly due west.

17th.—At 6 o’clock in the morning we embarked: and were delighted with
the prospect of a fine open country on each side of the river as we
passed down. We came to a place called the Two Creeks, about fifteen
miles from Yellow Creek, where we put to shore; here the Senecas have
a village on a high bank, on the north side of the river; the chief
of this village offered me his service to go with me to the Illinois,
which I could not refuse for fear of giving him offence, although I had
a sufficient number of deputies with me already.[94] From thence we
proceeded down the river, passed many large, rich, and fine bottoms; the
highlands being at a considerable distance from the river banks, till
we came to the Buffalo Creek, being about ten miles below the Seneca
village; and from Buffalo Creek, we proceeded down the river to Fat Meat
Creek, about thirty miles.[95] The face of the country appears much like
what we met with before; large, rich, and well watered bottoms, then
succeeded by the hills pinching close on the river; these bottoms, on the
north side, appear rather low, and consequently subject to inundations,
in the spring of the year, when there never fail to be high freshes in
the Ohio, owing to the melting of the snows. This day we passed by ten
fine islands, though the greatest part of them are small. They lay much
higher out of the water than the main land, and of course less subject to
be flooded by the freshes. At night we encamped near an Indian village.
The general course of the river from the Two Creeks to Fat Meat Creek
inclines to the southwest.

18th.—At 6 o’clock, A.M. we set off in our batteaux; the country on both
sides of the river appears delightful; the hills are several miles from
the river banks, and consequently the bottoms large; the soil, timber,
and banks of the river, much like those we have before described; about
fifty miles below Fat Meat Creek, we enter the long reach, where the
river runs a straight course for twenty miles, and makes a delightful
prospect; the banks continue high; the country on both sides, level,
rich, and well watered. At the lower end of the reach we encamped.[96]
This day we passed nine islands, some of which are large, and lie high
out of the water.

19th.—We decamped at six in the morning, and sailed to a place called
the Three Islands, being about fifteen miles from our last encampment;
here the highlands come close to the river banks, and the bottoms for
the most part—till we come to the Muskingum (or Elk)[97] river—are but
narrow: this river empties itself into the Ohio about fifteen miles below
the Three Islands; the banks of the river continue steep, and the country
is level, for several miles back from the river. The course of the river
from Fat Meat Creek to Elk River, is about southwest and by south. We
proceeded down the river about fifteen miles, to the mouth of Little
Conhawa River, with little or no alteration in the face of the country;
here we encamped in a fine rich bottom, after having passed fourteen
islands, some of them large, and mostly lying high out of the water.[98]
Here buffaloes, bears, turkeys, with all other kinds of wild game are
extremely plenty. A good hunter, without much fatigue to himself, could
here supply daily one hundred men with meat. The course of the Ohio, from
Elk River to Little Conhawa, is about south.

20th.—At six in the morning we embarked in our boats, and proceeded down
to the mouth of Hochocken or Bottle River,[99] where we were obliged to
encamp, having a strong head wind against us. We made but twenty miles
this day, and passed by five very fine islands, the country the whole
way being rich and level, with high and steep banks to the rivers. From
here I despatched an Indian to the Plains of Scioto, with a letter to the
French traders from the Illinois residing there, amongst the Shawnesse,
requiring them to come and join me at the mouth of Scioto, in order to
proceed with me to their own country, and take the oaths of allegiance to
his Britannic Majesty, as they were now become his subjects, and had no
right to trade there without license. At the same time I sent messages
to the Shawnesse Indians to oblige the French to come to me in case of
refusal.

21st.—We embarked at half past 8 o’clock in the morning, and sailed to a
place called the Big Bend, about thirty-five miles below Bottle River.
The course of the Ohio, from Little Conhawa River to Big Bend, is about
south-west by south. The country hereabouts abounds with buffalo, bears,
deer, and all sorts of wild game, in such plenty, that we killed out
of our boats as much as we wanted. We proceeded down the river to the
Buffalo Bottom, about ten miles from the beginning of the Big Bend, where
we encamped. The country on both sides of the river, much the same as we
passed the day before. This day we passed nine islands, all lying high
out of the water.

22d.—At half an hour past 5 o’clock, set off and sailed to a place,
called Alum Hill, so called from the great quantity of that mineral
found there by the Indians; this place lies about ten miles from Buffalo
Bottom;[100] thence we sailed to the mouth of Great Conhawa River,[101]
being ten miles from the Alum Hill. The course of the river, from the
Great Bend to this place, is mostly west; from hence we proceeded down to
Little Guyondott River, where we encamped, about thirty miles from Great
Conhawa; the country still fine and level; the bank of the river high,
with abundance of creeks and rivulets falling into it. This day we passed
six fine islands. In the evening one of our Indians discovered three
Cherokees near our encampment, which obliged our Indians to keep out a
good guard the first part of the night. Our party being pretty strong, I
imagine the Cherokees were afraid to attack us, and so ran off.

23d.—Decamped about five in the morning, and arrived at Big Guyondott,
twenty miles from our last encampment: the country as of yesterday;
from hence we proceeded down to Sandy River being twenty miles further;
thence to the mouth of Scioto, about forty miles from the last mentioned
river. The general course of the river from Great Conhawa to this place
inclines to the south-west. The soil rich, the country level, and the
banks of the river high. The soil on the banks of Scioto, for a vast
distance up the country, is prodigious rich, the bottoms very wide, and
in the spring of the year, many of them are flooded, so that the river
appears to be two or three miles wide. Bears, deer, turkeys, and most
sorts of wild game, are very plenty on the banks of this river. On the
Ohio, just below the mouth of Scioto, on a high bank, near forty feet,
formerly stood the Shawnesse town, called the Lower Town, which was
all carried away, except three or four houses, by a great flood in the
Scioto. I was in the town at the time, though the banks of the Ohio were
so high, the water was nine feet on the top, which obliged the whole town
to take to their canoes, and move with their effects to the hills. The
Shawnesse afterwards built their town on the opposite side of the river,
which, during the French war, they abandoned, for fear of the Virginians,
and removed to the plains on Scioto. The Ohio is about one hundred
yards wider here than at Fort Pitt, which is but a small augumentation,
considering the great number of rivers and creeks, that fall into it
during the course of four hundred and twenty miles; and as it deepens
but very little, I imagine the water sinks, though there is no visible
appearance of it. In general all the lands on the Scioto River, as well
as the bottoms on Ohio, are too rich for any thing but hemp, flax, or
Indian corn.[102]

24th, 25th, and 26th.—Stayed at the mouth of Scioto, waiting for the
Shawnesse and French traders, who arrived here on the evening of the
26th, in consequence of the message I sent them from Hochocken, or Bottle
Creek.[103]

27th.—The Indians requested me to stay this day, which I could not refuse.

28th.—We set off: passing down the Ohio, the country on both sides the
river level; the banks continue high. This day we came sixty miles;
passed no islands. The river being wider and deeper, we drove all night.

29th.—We came to the little Miame River, having proceeded sixty miles
last night.

30th.—We passed the Great Miame River, about thirty miles from the little
river of that name, _and in the evening arrived at the place where the
Elephants’ bones are found_, where we encamped, intending to take a view
of the place next morning. This day we came about seventy miles. The
country on both sides level, and rich bottoms well watered.

31st.—_Early in the morning we went to the great Lick, where those bones
are only found, about four miles from the river, on the south-east side.
In our way we passed through a fine timbered clear wood; we came into
a large road which the Buffaloes have beaten, spacious enough for two
waggons to go abreast, and leading straight into the Lick._ It appears
that there are vast quantities of these bones lying five or six feet
under ground, which we discovered in the bank, at the edge of the Lick.
We found here two tusks above six feet long; we carried one, with some
other bones, to our boats, and set off.[104] This day we proceeded down
the river about eighty miles, through a country much the same as already
described, since we passed the Scioto. In this day’s journey we passed
the mouth of the River Kentucky, or Holsten’s River.[105]

_June 1st._—We arrived within a mile of the Falls of Ohio, where we
encamped, after coming about fifty miles this day.

2d.—Early in the morning we embarked, and passed the Falls. The river
being very low we were obliged to lighten our boats, and pass on the
north side of a little island, which lays in the middle of the river. In
general, what is called the Fall here, is no more than rapids; and in the
least fresh, a batteau of any size may come and go on each side without
any risk.[106] This day we proceeded sixty miles, in the course of which
we passed Pidgeon River. The country pretty high on each side of the
River Ohio.

3d.—In the forepart of this day’s course, we passed high lands; about
mid-day we came to a fine, flat, and level country, called by the Indians
the Low Lands; no hills to be seen. We came about eighty miles this day,
and encamped.

4th.—We came to a place called the Five Islands; these islands are very
long, and succeed one another in a chain; the country still flat and
level, the soil exceedingly rich, and well watered. The highlands are at
least fifty miles from the banks of the Ohio. In this day’s course we
passed about ninety miles, the current being very strong.

5th.—Having passed the Five Islands, we came to a place called the Owl
River. Came about forty miles this day. The country the same as yesterday.

6th.—We arrived at the mouth of the Ouabache,[107] where we found a
breast-work erected, supposed to be done by the Indians. The mouth of
this river is about two hundred yards wide, and in its course runs
through one of the finest countries in the world, the lands being
exceedingly rich, and well watered; here hemp might be raised in immense
quantities. All the bottoms, and almost the whole country abounds with
great plenty of the white and red mulberry tree. These trees are to be
found in great plenty, in all places between the mouth of Scioto and the
Ouabache: the soil of the latter affords this tree in plenty as far as
Ouicatonon, and some few on the Miame River. Several large fine islands
lie in the Ohio, opposite the mouth of the Ouabache, the banks of which
are high, and consequently free from inundations; hence we proceeded down
the river about six miles to encamp, as I judged some Indians were sent
to way-lay us, and came to a place called the Old Shawnesse Village,
some of that nation having formerly lived there.[108] In this day’s
proceedings we came about seventy-six miles. The general course of the
river; from Scioto to this place, is south-west.

7th.—We stayed here and despatched two Indians to the Illinois by land,
with letters to Lord Frazer, an English officer, who had been sent there
from Fort Pitt, and Monsieur St. Ange,[109] the French commanding officer
at Fort Chartres, and some speeches to the Indians there, letting them
know of my arrival here; that peace was made between us and the Six
Nations, Delawares, and Shawnesse, and of my having a number of deputies
of those nations along with me, to conclude matters with them also on
my arrival there. This day one of my men went into the woods and lost
himself.[110]

8th.—At day-break we were attacked by a party of Indians, consisting
of eighty warriors of the Kiccapoos and Musquattimes,[111] who killed
two of my men and three Indians, wounded myself and all the rest of my
party, except two white men and one Indian; then made myself and all the
white men prisoners, plundering us of every thing we had. A deputy of
the Shawnesse who was shot through the thigh, having concealed himself
in the woods for a few minutes after he was wounded—not knowing but
they were Southern Indians, who are always at war with the northward
Indians—after discovering what nation they were, came up to them and made
a very bold speech, telling them that the whole northward Indians would
join in taking revenge for the insult and murder of their people; this
alarmed those savages very much, who began excusing themselves, saying
their fathers, the French, had spirited them up, telling them that the
Indians were coming with a body of southern Indians to take their country
from them, and enslave them; that it was this that induced them to commit
this outrage. After dividing the plunder, (they left great part of the
heaviest effects behind, not being able to carry them,) they set off with
us to their village at Ouattonon, in a great hurry, being in dread of
pursuit from a large party of Indians they suspected were coming after
me. Our course was through a thick woody country, crossing a great many
swamps, morasses, and beaver ponds. We traveled this day about forty-two
miles.

9th.—An hour before day we set out on our march; passed through thick
woods, some highlands, and small savannahs, badly watered. Traveled this
day about thirty miles.

10th.—We set out very early in the morning, and marched through a high
country, extremely well timbered, for three hours; then came to a branch
of the Ouabache, which we crossed.[112] The remainder of this day we
traveled through fine rich bottoms, overgrown with reeds, which make the
best pasture in the world, the young reeds being preferable to sheaf
oats. Here is great plenty of wild game of all kinds. Came this day about
twenty-eight, or thirty miles.

11th.—At day-break we set off, making our way through a thin woodland,
interspersed with savannahs. I suffered extremely by reason of the
excessive heat of the weather, and scarcity of water; the little springs
and runs being dried up. Traveled this day about thirty miles.

12th.—We passed through some large savannahs, and clear woods; in the
afternoon we came to the Ouabache; then marched along it through a
prodigious rich bottom, overgrown with reeds and wild hemp; all this
bottom is well watered, and an exceeding fine hunting ground. Came this
day about thirty miles.

13th.—About an hour before day we set out; traveled through such bottoms
as of yesterday, and through some large meadows, where no trees, for
several miles together, are to be seen. Buffaloes, deer, and bears are
here in great plenty. We traveled about twenty-six miles this day.

14th.—The country we traveled through this day, appears the same as
described yesterday, excepting this afternoon’s journey through woodland,
to cut off a bend of the river. Came about twenty-seven miles this day.

15th.—We set out very early, and about one o’clock came to the Ouabache,
within six or seven miles of Port Vincent.[113] On my arrival there, I
found a village of about eighty or ninety French families settled on the
east side of this river, being one of the finest situations that can be
found. The country is level and clear, and the soil very rich, producing
wheat and tobacco. I think the latter preferable to that of Maryland or
Virginia. The French inhabitants hereabouts, are an idle, lazy people, a
parcel of renegadoes from Canada, and are much worse than the Indians.
They took a secret pleasure at our misfortunes, and the moment we
arrived, they came to the Indians, exchanging trifles for their valuable
plunder. As the savages took from me a considerable quantity of gold
and silver in specie, the French traders extorted ten half johannes[114]
from them for one pound of vermilion. Here is likewise an Indian village
of the Pyankeshaws,[115] who were much displeased with the party that
took me, telling them that “our and your chiefs are gone to make peace,
and you have begun a war, for which our women and children will have
reason to cry.” From this post the Indians permitted me to write to the
commander, at Fort Chartres, but would not suffer me to write to any
body else, (this I apprehend was a precaution of the French, lest their
villany should be perceived too soon,) although the Indians had given me
permission to write to Sir William Johnson and Fort Pitt on our march,
before we arrived at this place. But immediately after our arrival they
had a private council with the French, in which the Indians urged, (as
they afterwards informed me,) that as the French had engaged them in so
bad an affair, which was likely to bring a war on their nation, they
now expected a proof of their promise and assistance. Then delivered
the French a scalp and part of the plunder, and wanted to deliver some
presents to the Pyankeshaws, but they refused to accept of any, and
declared they would not be concerned in the affair. This last information
I got from the Pyankeshaws, as I had been well acquainted with them
several years before this time.

Port Vincent is a place of great consequence for trade, being a fine
hunting country all along the Ouabache, and too far for the Indians,
which reside hereabouts, to go either to the Illinois, or elsewhere, to
fetch their necessaries.

16th.—We were obliged to stay here to get some little apparel made up
for us, and to buy some horses for our journey to Ouicatonon, promising
payment at Detroit, for we could not procure horses from the French for
hire; though we were greatly fatigued, and our spirits much exhausted in
our late march, they would lend us no assistance.

17th.—At mid-day we set out; traveling the first five miles through a
fine thick wood. We traveled eighteen miles this day, and encamped in a
large, beautiful, well watered meadow.

18th and 19th.—We traveled through a prodigious large meadow, called
the Pyankeshaw’s Hunting Ground: here is no wood to be seen, and the
country appears like an ocean: the ground is exceedingly rich, and partly
overgrown with wild hemp; the land well watered, and full of buffalo,
deer, bears, and all kinds of wild game.

20th and 21st.—We passed through some very large meadows, part of which
belong to the Pyankeshaws on Vermilion River; the country and soil much
the same as that we traveled over for these three days past, wild hemp
grows here in abundance; the game very plenty: at any time, in half an
hour we could kill as much as we wanted.

22nd.—We passed through part of the same meadow as mentioned yesterday;
then came to a high woodland, and arrived at Vermilion River, so called
from a fine red earth found here by the Indians, with which they paint
themselves. About half a mile from the place where we crossed this river,
there is a village of Pyankeshaws, distinguished by the addition of the
name of the river. We then traveled about three hours, through a clear
high woody country, but a deep and rich soil; then came to a meadow,
where we encamped.

23d.—Early in the morning we set out through a fine meadow, then some
clear woods; in the afternoon came into a very large bottom on the
Ouabache, within six miles of Ouicatanon; here I met several chiefs of
the Kickapoos and Musquattimes, who spoke to their young men who had
taken us, and reprimanded them severely for what they had done to me,
after which they returned with us to their village, and delivered us all
to their chiefs.

The distance from port Vincent to Ouicatanon is two hundred and ten
miles. This place is situated on the Ouabache. About fourteen French
families are living in the fort, which stands on the north side of the
river. The Kickapoos and the Musquattimes, whose warriors had taken us,
live nigh the fort, on the same side of the river, where they have two
villages; and the Ouicatanons have a village on the south side of the
river. At our arrival at this post, several of the Wawcottonans, (or
Ouicatonans) with whom I had been formerly acquainted, came to visit me,
and seemed greatly concerned at what had happened. They went immediately
to the Kickapoos and Musquattimes, and charged them to take the greatest
care of us, till their chiefs should arrive from the Illinois, where
they were gone to meet me some time ago, and who were entirely ignorant
of this affair, and said the French had spirited up this party to go and
strike us.

The French have a great influence over these Indians, and never fail in
telling them many lies to the prejudice of his majesty’s interest, by
making the English nation odious and hateful to them. I had the greatest
difficulties in removing these prejudices. As these Indians are a weak,
foolish, and credulous people, they are easily imposed on by a designing
people, who have led them hitherto as they pleased. The French told them
that as the southern Indians had for two years past made war on them, it
must have been at the instigation of the English, who are a bad people.
However I have been fortunate enough to remove their prejudice, and,
in a great measure, their suspicions against the English. The country
hereabouts is exceedingly pleasant, being open and clear for many miles;
the soil very rich and well watered; all plants have a quick vegetation,
and the climate very temperate through the winter. This post has always
been a very considerable trading place. The great plenty of furs taken in
this country, induced the French to establish this post, which was the
first on the Ouabache, and by a very advantageous trade they have been
richly recompensed for their labor.

On the south side of the Ouabache runs a big bank, in which are several
fine coal mines, and behind this bank, is a very large meadow, clear
for several miles. It is surprising what false information we have had
respecting this country: some mention these spacious and beautiful
meadows as large and barren savannahs. I apprehend it has been the
artifice of the French to keep us ignorant of the country. These meadows
bear fine wild grass, and wild hemp ten or twelve feet high, which, if
properly manufactured, would prove as good, and answer all the purposes
of the hemp we cultivate.[116]

July 1ˢᵗ—A Frenchman arrived from the Illinois with a Pipe and Speech
from thence to the Kickapoos & Musquattamies, to have me Burnt, this
Speech was said to be sent from a Shawanese Indⁿ who resides at the
Ilinois, & has been during the War, & is much attached to the French
interest. As soon as this Speech was delivered to the Indians by the
French, the Indians informed me of it in Council, & expressed their
great concern for what had already happened, & told me they then sett
me & my people at liberty, & assured me they despised the message sent
them, and would return the Pipe & Belt to their Fathers the French, and
enquire into the reason of such a message being sent them by one of his
messengers, & desired me to stay with them ’till the Deputies of the Six
Nations, Shawanese & Delawares arrived with Pondiac at Ouiatonon in order
to settle matters, to wʰ I consented.

From 4ᵗʰ to the 8ᵗʰ—I had several Conferences with the Wawiotonans,
Pyankeeshas, Kickapoos & Musquatamies in which Conferences I was lucky
enough to reconcile those Nations to his Majesties Interest & obtain
their Consent and Approbation to take Possession of any Posts in their
country which the French formerly possessed & an offer of their service
should any Nation oppose our taking possession of it, all which they
confirmed by four large Pipes.

11ᵗʰ—Mʳ Maisonville[117] arrived with an Interpreter & a message to the
Indians to bring me & my party to the Ilinois, till then I had no answer
from Mʳ St. Ange to the letter I wrote him of the 16ᵗʰ June, as I wanted
to go to the Ilinois, I desired the Chiefs to prepare themselves & set
off with me as soon as possible.

12ᵗʰ—I wrote to General Gage[118] & Sir William Johnson, to Colᵒ Campbell
at Detroit, & Major Murray at Fort Pitt & Major Firmer at Mobiel or on
his way to the Mississipi,[119] & acquainted [them with] every thing that
had happened since my departure from Ft. Pitt.

July 13ᵗʰ—The Chiefs of the Twightwees came to me from the Miamis and
renewed their Antient Friendship with His Majesty & all his Subjects in
America & confirmed it with a Pipe.

18ᵗʰ—I set off for the Ilinois with the Chiefs of all those Nations when
by the way we met with Pondiac together with the Deputies of the Six
Nations, Delawares & Shawanese, which accompanied Mʳ Frazier & myself
down the Ohio & also Deputies with speeches from the four Nations living
in the Ilinois Country to me & the Six Nations, Delawares & Shawanese,
on which we return’d to Ouiatonon and there held another conference,
in which I settled all matters with the Ilinois Indians—Pondiac & they
agreeing to every thing the other Nations had done, all which they
confirmed by Pipes & Belts, but told me the French had informed them that
the English intended to take their Country from them, & give it to the
Cherokees to settle on, & that if ever they suffered the English to take
possession of their Country they would make slaves of them, that this was
the reason of their Opposing the English hitherto from taking possession
of _Fort Chartres_ & induced them to tell Mr. La Gutrie & Mʳ Sinnott[120]
that they would not let the English come into their Country. But being
informed since Mʳ Sinnott had retired by the Deputies of the Six Nations,
Delawares & Shawanese, that every difference subsisting between them &
the English was now settled, they were willing to comply as the other
Nations their Brethren had done and desired that their Father the King of
England might not look upon his taking possession of the Forts which the
French had formerly possest as a title for his subjects to possess their
Country, as they never had sold any part of it to the French, & that I
might rest satisfied that whenever the English came to take possession
they would receive them with open arms.

_July 25th._[121]—We set out from this place (after settling all matters
happily with the natives) for the Miames, and traveled the whole way
through a fine rich bottom, overgrown with wild hemp, alongside the
Ouabache, till we came to Eel River, where we arrived the 27th. About six
miles up this river is a small village of the Twightwee, situated on a
very delightful spot of ground on the bank of the river. The Eel River
heads near St. Joseph’s, and runs nearly parallel to the Miames, and at
some few miles distance from it, through a fine, pleasant country, and
after a course of about one hundred and eighty miles empties itself into
the Ouabache.

28th, 29th, 30th and 31st.—We traveled still along side the Eel River,
passing through fine clear woods, and some good meadows, though not so
large as those we passed some days before. The country is more overgrown
with woods, the soil is sufficiently rich, and well watered with springs.

_August 1st._—We arrived at the carrying place between the River Miames
and the Ouabache, which is about nine miles long in dry seasons, but not
above half that length in freshes. The head of the Ouabache is about
forty miles from this place, and after a course of about seven hundred
and sixty miles from the head spring, through one of the finest countries
in the world, it empties itself into the Ohio. The navigation from hence
to Ouicatanon, is very difficult in low water, on account of many rapids
and rifts; but in freshes, which generally happen in the spring and fall,
batteaux or canoes will pass, without difficulty, from here to Ouicatanon
in three days, which is about two hundred and forty miles, and by land
about two hundred and ten miles. From Ouicatanon to Port Vincent, and
thence to the Ohio, batteaux and canoes may go at any season of the year.
Throughout the whole course of the Ouabache the banks are pretty high,
and in the river are a great many islands. Many shrubs and trees are
found here unknown to us.

Within a mile of the Twightwee village, I was met by the chiefs of that
nation, who received us very kindly. The most part of these Indians knew
me, and conducted me to their village, where they immediately hoisted
an English flag that I had formerly given them at Fort Pitt. The next
day they held a council, after which they gave me up all the English
prisoners they had, then made several speeches, in all which they
expressed the great pleasure it gave them, to see the unhappy differences
which embroiled the several nations in a war with their brethren,
the English, were now so near a happy conclusion, and that peace was
established in their country.

The Twightwee village is situated on both sides of a river, called St.
Joseph’s. This river, where it falls into the Miame river, about a
quarter of a mile from this place, is one hundred yards wide, on the east
side of which stands a stockade fort, somewhat ruinous.

The Indian village consists of about forty or fifty cabins, besides nine
or ten French houses, a runaway colony from Detroit, during the late
Indian war; they were concerned in it, and being afraid of punishment,
came to this post, where ever since they have spirited up the Indians
against the English. All the French residing here are a lazy, indolent
people, fond of breeding mischief, and spiriting up the Indians against
the English, and should by no means be suffered to remain here. The
country is pleasant, the soil rich and well watered. After several
conferences with these Indians, and their delivering me up all the
English prisoners they had,—[blank space in MS.]

On the 6th of August we set out for Detroit, down the Miames river in
a canoe. This river heads about ten miles from hence. The river is
not navigable till you come where the river St. Joseph joins it, and
makes a considerably large stream. Nevertheless we found a great deal
of difficulty in getting our canoe over shoals, as the waters at this
season were very low. The banks of the river are high, and the country
overgrown with lofty timber of various kinds; the land is level, and the
woods clear. About ninety miles from the Miames or Twightwee, we came to
where a large river, that heads in a large lick, falls into the Miame
river; this they call the Forks.[122] The Ottawas claim this country,
and hunt here, where game is very plenty. From hence we proceeded to the
Ottawa village. This nation formerly lived at Detroit, but is now settled
here, on account of the richness of the country, where game is always to
be found in plenty. Here we were obliged to get out of our canoes, and
drag them eighteen miles, on account of the rifts which interrupt the
navigation.[123] At the end of these rifts, we came to a village of the
Wyondotts, who received us very kindly and from thence we proceeded to
the mouth of the river, where it falls into Lake Erie. From the Miames
to the lake is computed one hundred and eighty miles, and from the
entrance of the river into the lake to Detroit, is sixty miles; that is,
forty-two miles up the lake, and eighteen miles up the Detroit river to
the garrison of that name. The land on the lake side is low and flat. We
passed several large rivers and bays, and on the 16th of August, in the
afternoon, we arrived at Detroit river. The country here is much higher
than on the lake side; the river is about nine hundred yards wide, and
the current runs very strong. There are several fine and large islands in
this river, one of which is nine miles long; its banks high, and the soil
very good.

17th.—In the morning we arrived at the fort, which is a large stockade,
inclosing about eighty houses, it stands close on the north side of the
river, on a high bank, commands a very pleasant prospect for nine miles
above, and nine miles below the fort; the country is thick settled with
French, their plantations are generally laid out about three or four
acres in breadth on the river, and eighty acres in depth; the soil is
good, producing plenty of grain. All the people here are generally poor
wretches, and consist of three or four hundred French families, a lazy,
idle people, depending chiefly on the savages for their subsistence;
though the land, with little labor, produces plenty of grain, they
scarcely raise as much as will supply their wants, in imitation of the
Indians, whose manners and customs they have entirely adopted, and cannot
subsist without them. The men, women, and children speak the Indian
tongue perfectly well. In the last Indian war the most part of the
French were concerned in it, (although the whole settlement had taken
the oath of allegiance to his Britannic Majesty) they have, therefore,
great reason to be thankful to the English clemency in not bringing them
to deserved punishment. Before the late Indian war there resided three
nations of Indians at this place: the Putawatimes, whose village was on
the west side of the river, about one mile below the fort; the Ottawas,
on the east side, about three miles above the Fort; and the Wyondotts,
whose village lies on the east side, about two miles below the fort.
The former two nations have removed to a considerable distance, and the
latter still remain where they were, and are remarkable for their good
sense and hospitality. They have a particular attachment to the Roman
Catholic religion, the French, by their priests, having taken uncommon
pains to instruct them.

During my stay here, I held frequent conferences with the different
nations of Indians assembled at this place, with whom I settled matters
to their general satisfaction.

August 17ᵗʰ[124]—I arrived at Detroit where I found several small Tribes
of Ottawas, Puttewatamies & Chipwas waiting in Consequence of Colᵒ
Bradstreets Invitation to see him.[125] Here I met _Mʳ DeCouagne_ and
_Wabecomicat_ with a Deputation of Indians from Niagara, with Messages
from Sir William Johnson to Pondiac & those Western Nations.[126]

23ᵈ—Colo Campbell[127] & I had a Meeting with the Twightwees,
Wawiotonans, Pyankeshas, Kickapoos and Musquattamies, when they produced
the several Belts sent them by Colᵒ Bradstreet, in consequence of which
Invitation they came here.

Then they spoake to the Six Nations Delawares & Shawanese on several
Belts & Pipes, beging in the most abject manner that they would forgive
them for the ill conduct of their Young Men, to take Pity on their Women
& Children & grant yᵐ peace.

They then spoake to the Colᵒ & me on several Pipes & Belts Expressing
their great satisfaction at a firm and lasting Peace settled between
their Bretheren the English, & the several Indian Nations in this
Country, that they saw the heavy Clouds that hung over their heads for
some time past were now dispersed, and that the Sun shone clear & bright,
& that as their Father the King of England had conquered the French in
that [this] Country & taken into his Friendship all the Indian Nations,
they hoped for the future they would be a happy people, & that they
should always have reason to call the English their Fathers & beged we
would take pity on their Women & Children, & make up the difference
subsisting between them and the Shawanese, Delawares & Six Nations,
and said as they were come here in consequence of Colᵒ Bradstreet’s
Invitation, & that he had not met them they hoped their Fathers would
pity their necessity & give them a little clothing, and a little rum to
drink on the road, as they had come a great way to see their Fathers.
Then the Wyondats spoake to the Shawanese, & all the Western Nations on
severall Belts & strings, by which they exhorted the several Nations to
behave themselves well to their Fathers the English, who had now taken
them under their Protection, that if they did, they would be a happy
People, that if they did not listen to the Councils of their Fathers,
they must take the Consequences, having assured them that all Nations to
the Sun rising had taken fast hold of their Fathers the English by the
hand, & would follow their Advice, & do every thing they desired them, &
never would let slip the Chain of Friendship now so happily renewed.

August 24ᵗʰ—We had another Meeting with the Several Nations, when the
Wawiotonans, Twightwees, Pyankeshas, Kickapoos & Musquatamies made
several speeches to Colᵒ Campbell & me, in presence of all the other
Nations, when they promised to become the Children of the King of Great
Britain & farther acknowledged that they had at Ouiatonon before they
came there [here] given up the Soverignty of their Country to me for His
Majesty, & promised to support his subjects in taking possession of all
the Posts given up by the French their former Fathers, to the English,
now their present Fathers, all which they confirmed with a Belt.

25ᵗʰ—We had another meeting with the same Indians, when Colᵒ Campbell &
I made them several speeches in answer to theirs of the 23 & 24ᵗʰ then
delivered them a Road Belt in the name of Sir William Johnson Baronet, to
open a Road from the rising to the setting of the Sun which we charged
them to keep open through their Country & cautioned them to stop their
Ears against the Storys or idle reports of evil minded People & continue
to promote the good Works of Peace, all which they promised to do in a
most sincere manner.

26ᵗʰ—Colᵒ Campbell & I made those Nations some presents, when after
taking leave of us, they sett off for their own Country well satisfied.

27ᵗʰ—We had a Meeting with Pondiac & all the Ottawa Tribes, Chipwaes &
Puttewatamies wᵗʰ the Hurons of this Place & the chiefs of those settled
at Sandusky & the Miamis River, when we made them the following Speeches.

CHILDREN PONDIAC & ALL OUR CHILDREN THE OTTAWAS, PUTTEWATAMIES, CHIPWAYS
& WYONDATTS: We are very glad to see so many of our Children here present
at your Antient Council Fire, which has been neglected for some time
past, since those high winds has arose & raised some heavy clouds over
your Country, I now by this Belt dress up your Antient Fire & throw some
dry wood upon it, that the blaze may ascend to the Clouds so that all
Nations may see it, & know that you live in Peace & Tranquility with your
Fathers the English.—A Belt.

By this Belt I disperse all the black clouds from over your heads, that
the Sun may shine clear on your Women and Children, that those unborn may
enjoy the blessings of this General Peace, now so happily settled between
your Fathers the English & you & all your younger Bretheren to the Sun
setting.—A Belt.

Children: By this Belt I gather up all the Bones of your deceased
friends, & bury them deep in the ground, that the herbs & sweet flowers
of the earth may grow over them, that we may not see them any more.—A
Belt.

Children: with this Belt I take the Hatchet out of your Hands & I pluck
up a large tree & bury it deep, so that it may never be found any more, &
I plant the tree of Peace, where all our children may sit under & smoak
in Peace with their Fathers.—A Belt.

Children: We have made a Road from the Sun rising to the Sun setting, I
desire that you will preserve that Road good and pleasant to Travel upon,
that we may all share the blessings of this happy Union. I am sorry to
see our Children dispersed thro’ the Woods, I therefore desire you will
return to your Antient Settlements & take care of your Council Fire which
I have now dressed up, & promote the good work of Peace.—A Belt.

After which Wapicomica delivered his Messages from Sir William Johnson to
Pondiac & the rest of the several Chiefs.

Aug. 28ᵗʰ—We had a Meeting with Pondiac & the several Nations when
Pondiac made the following Speeches.

FATHER: We have all smoaked out of the Pipe of Peace its your Childrens
Pipe & as the War is all over, & the Great Spirit and Giver of Light who
has made the Earth & every thing therein, has brought us all together
this day for our mutual good to promote the good Works of Peace, I
declare to all Nations that I had settled my Peace with you before I
came here, & now deliver my Pipe to be sent to _Sir William Johnson_
that he may know I have made Peace, & taken the King of England for my
Father, in presence of all the Nations now assembled, & whenever any of
those Nations go to visit him, they may smoak out of it with him in
Peace. Fathers we are oblidged to you for lighting up our old Council
Fire for us, & desiring us to return to it, but we are now settled on
the Miamis River, not far from hence, whenever you want us you will find
us there ready to wait on you, the reason I choose to stay where we are
now settled, is, that we love liquor, and did we live here as formerly,
our People would be always drunk, which might occasion some quarrels
between the Soldiers & them, this Father is all the reason I have for not
returning to our old Settlements, & that we live so nigh this place, that
when we want to drink, we can easily come for it.—Gave a large Pipe with
a Belt of Wampum tied to it.

FATHER: Be strong and take pity on us your Children as our former Father
did, ’tis just the Hunting Season of our children, our Fathers the French
formerly used to credit his Children for powder & lead to hunt with, I
request in behalf of all the Nations present that you will speak to the
Traders now here to do the same, my Father, once more I request you will
take pity on us & tell your Traders to give your Children credit for a
little powder & lead, as the support of our Family’s depend upon it, we
have told you where we live, that whenever you want us & let us know it,
we will come directly to you.—A Belt.

FATHER: You stoped up the Rum Barrel when we came here, ’till the
Business of this Meeting[128] was over, as it is now finished, we
request you may open the barrel that your Children may drink & be merry.

August 29ᵗʰ—A Deputation of several Nations sett out from Detroit for
the Ilinois Country with several Messages from me & the Wyondats, Six
Nations, Delawares, Shawanese & other Nations, in answer to theirs
delivered me at Ouiatonon.

30ᵗʰ—The Chiefs of the several Nations who are settled on the Ouabache
returned to Detroit from the River Roche, where they had been encamped,
& informed Colᵒ Campbell & me, they were now going off for their own
Country, & that nothing gave them greater pleasure, than to see that all
the Western Nations & Tribes had agreed to a general Peace, & that they
should be glad [to know] how soon their Fathers the English, would take
possession of the Posts in their Country, formerly possessed by their
late Fathers the French, to open a Trade for them, & if this could not
be done this Fall, they desired that some Traders might be sent to their
Villages to supply them for the Winter, or else they would be oblidged
to go to the Ilinois and apply to their old Fathers the French for such
necessarys as they might want.

They then spoke on a Belt & said Fathers, every thing is now settled, &
we have agreed to your taking possession of the posts in our Country. We
have been informed, that the English where ever they settle, make the
Country their own, & you tell us that when you conquered the French they
gave you this Country.—That no difference may happen hereafter, we tell
you now the French never conquered us neither did they purchase a foot
of our Country, nor have they a right to give it to you, we gave them
liberty to settle for which they always rewarded us, & treated us with
great Civility while they had it in their power, but as they are become
now your people, if you expect to keep these Posts, we will expect to
have proper returns from you.—A Belt.

Septᵇʳ 2ᵈ—The chiefs of the Wyondatts or Huron, came to me & said they
had spoke last Summer to Sir Willᵐ Johnson at Niagara about the lands, on
which the French had settled near Detroit belonging to them, & desired
I would mention again to him. They never had sold it to the French, &
expected their new Fathers the English would do them justice, as the
French were become one People with us.—A Belt.

4ᵗʰ—Pondiac with several chiefs of the Ottawas, Chippawaes & Potowatamies
likewise complained that the French had settled part of their country,
which they never had sold to them, & hoped their Fathers the English
would take it into Consideration, & see that a proper satisfaction was
made to them. That their Country was very large, & they were willing to
give up such part of it, as was necessary for their Fathers the English,
to carry on Trade at, provided they were paid for it, & a sufficient part
of the Country left them to hunt on.—A Belt.

6ᵗʰ—The _Sagina_ Indians came here,[129] & made a speech on a Belt of
Wampum expressing their satisfaction on hearing that a general Peace was
made with all the Western Nations & with Pondiac, they desired a little
Powder, Lead & a few knives to enable them to hunt on their way home, &
a little rum to drink their new Fathers health.—A Belt.

9ᵗʰ—_Altewaky_ and _Chamindiway_ Chiefs of a Band of Ottawas from
Sandusky with 20 Men came here and informed me that their late conduct
had been peaceable, that on hearing there was a great Meeting of all
Nations at this place, they came to hear what would be done, & on their
way here they had been informed that a General Peace was settled with
all Nations to the Sun setting, & they now came to assure us of their
attachment to the English Interest, & beged for some Powder, Lead, some
Blankets and a little rum to help them to return to their town. A String.

Septbr 11ᵗʰ—Colᵒ Campbell & I gave the above parties some presents & a
little rum & sent them away well satisfied.

12ᵗʰ—The Grand Sautois[130] came with his band and spoke as follows.

FATHER: You sent me a Belt from the Miamis, & as soon as I received it, I
set off to meet you here, on my way I heard what had past between you &
the several Tribes that met you here, you have had pity on them, & I beg
in behalf of myself & the people of Chicago that you will have pity on us
also. ’tis true we have been Fools, & have listened to evil reports, &
the whistling of bad birds, we red people, are a very jealous and foolish
people, & Father amongst you White People, there are bad people also,
that tell us lyes & deceive us, which has been the occasion of what has
past, I need not say much on this head, I am now convinced, that I have
been wrong for some years past, but there are people who have behaved
worse than I & my people, they were pardoned last year at this place, I
hope we may meet with the same, that our Women & Children may enjoy the
blessings of peace as the rest of our Bretheren the red people, & you
shall be convinced by our future conduct that we will behave as well as
any Tribe of Indˢ in this Country.—A Belt.

He then said that the St. Joseph Indians would have come along with him,
but the English Prisoner which their Fathers want from them, was some
distance off a hunting, & as soon as they could get him in, they would
deliver him up and desire forgiveness.

14ᵗʰ—I had a private meeting with the grand Sautois when he told me he
was well disposed for peace last Fall, but was then sent for to the
Ilinois, where he met with Pondiac, & that then their Fathers the French
told them, if they would be strong to keep the English out of possession
of that Country but this Summer, That the King of France would send
over an Army next Spring, to assist his Children the Indians, and that
the King of Spain would likewise send troops to help them to keep the
English out of their Country, that the English were a bad people, & had
a design to cut off all the Indian Nations in this Country, & to bring
the Southern Indians to live & settle there, this account made all the
Indians very uneasy in their minds, & after holding a Council amongst
themselves, they all determined to oppose the English, & not to suffer
them to take Possession of the Ilinois, that for his part he behaved as
ill as the rest to the English Officers that came there in the Spring,
but since he had been better informed of the goodness of the English,
& convinced the French had told lyes for the love of their Beaver, he
was now determined with all his people to become faithfull to their new
Fathers the English, & pay no regard to any stories the French should
tell him for the future.

Sepʳ 15ᵗʰ—Colᵒ Campbell & I had a meeting with the Grand Sautois, at
which we informed him of every thing that had past with the several
Nations & Tribes & told him that we accepted him and his people in
Friendship, & would forgive them as we had the rest of the Tribes, &
forget what was past provided their future conduct should convince us of
their sincerity, after which we gave them some presents, for which he
returned thanks & departed very well satisfied.

19ᵗʰ—I received a letter by express from Colᵒ Reed acquainting me of Capt
Sterlings setting out from Fort Pitt, with 100 men of the 42ᵈ Regᵗ to
take possession of Fort Chartres in the Ilinois Country.

20ᵗʰ—I sent of[f] Huron Andrew Express to Capᵗ Sterling[131] at the
Ilinois, & with messages to the several Nations in that Country & those
on the Ouabache, to acquaint them of Capᵗ Starling’s departure from Fort
Pitt for the Ilinois Country.

25ᵗʰ—The Chiefs of the Sᵗ Joseph Indians arrived and addressed themselves
to Colᵒ Campbell & me as follows,

FATHERS: We are come here to see you, altho’ we are not acquainted with
you, we had a Father formerly, with whom we were very well acquainted,
& never differed with him, you have conquered him some time ago, & when
you came here first notwithstanding your hands were all bloody, you took
hold of us by the hands, & used us well, & we thought we should be happy
with our Fathers, but soon an unlucky difference happened, which threw us
all in confusion, where this arose we don’t know but we assure you, we
were the last that entered into this Quarrel, the Indˢ from this place
solicited us often to join them, but we would not listen to them, at last
they got the better of our foolish young Warriors, but we never agreed to
it, we knew it would answer no end, & often told our Warriors they were
fools, if they succeeded in killing the few English in this Country, they
could not kill them all because we knew you to be a great People.

Fathers: you have after all that has happened, received all the several
Tribes in this Country for your Children, we from St. Joseph’s seem
to be the last of your Children that come to you, we are no more than
Wild Creatures to you Fathers in understanding therefore we request
you’l forgive the past follies of our young people & receive us for
your Children since you have thrown down our former Father on his back,
we have been wandering in the dark like blind people, now you have
dispersed all this darkness which hung over the heads of the several
Tribes, & have accepted them for your Children, we hope you will let
us partake with them of the light, that our Women & Children may enjoy
Peace, & we beg you’l forget all that is past, by this belt we remove all
evil thoughts from your hearts.—A Belt.

Fathers, When we formerly came to visit our late Fathers the French they
always sent us home joyfull, & we hope you will have pity on our Women &
Young Men who are in great Want of necessarys, & not let us return home
to our Villages ashamed.

Colᵒ Campbell & I made them the following answer.

CHILDREN: I have heard with attention what you have said, & am glad
to hear that you have delivered up the Prisoners at Michillimakinac,
agreeable to my desire, as the other Prisoner who I always thought
belonged to your Nation does not, but the man who has him resides now in
your Country, I must desire you’l do every thing in your Power to get
him brought to me, nothing will give me greater pleasure than to promote
the good Works of Peace, & make my Children the Indians happy as long
as their own Conduct shall deserve it. I did not know what to think of
your conduct for some time past, but to convince you of my sincere desire
to promote Peace, I receive you as Children as I have done the other
Nations, & hope your future Conduct may be such, as will convince me of
your sincerity.—A Belt.

Children: Sometimes bad people take the liberty of stragling into your
Country, I desire if you meet any such people to bring them immediately
here, likewise I desire that none of your Young Men may steal any Horses
out of this settlement as they have done formerly, we shall see always
strict justice done to you, & expect the same from you, on that your own
happiness depends, & as long as you continue to merit our friendship by
good actions in promoting Peace & Tranquility between your Young People
& His Majesties Subjects, you may expect to be received here with open
arms, & to convince you further of my sincerity, I give you some cloaths,
powder, lead, vermillion & 2 cags of rum for your young People, that you
may return home without shame as you desired.

Children, I take this oppertunity to tell you that your Fathers the
English are gone down the Ohio from Fort Pitt to take possession the
Ilinois, & desire you may acquaint all your people of it on your return
home, & likewise desire you will stop your Ears against the Whistling of
bad birds, & mind nothing else but your Hunting to support your Familys,
that your Women & Children may enjoy the Blessing of Peace.—A Belt.

_September 26th._[132]—Set out from Detroit for Niagara; passed Lake Erie
along the north shore in a birch canoe, and arrived the 8th of October at
Niagara. The navigation of the lake is dangerous for batteaux or canoes,
by reason the lake is very shallow for a considerable distance from the
shore. The bank, for several miles, high and steep, and affords a harbor
for a single batteau. The lands in general, between Detroit and Niagara,
are high, and the soil good, with several fine rivers falling into the
lake. The distance from Detroit to Niagara is computed three hundred
miles.

_A List of the different Nations and Tribes of Indians in the Northern
District of North America, with the number of their fighting Men._

====================+=======+=========================+==================
Names of the | Nos. | Their Dwelling Ground. | Their Hunting
Tribes. | | | Grounds.
--------------------+-------+-------------------------+------------------
Mohocks,[_a_] | 160 |Mohock River. |Between that and
| | | Lake George.
| | |
Oneidas,[_b_] | 300 |East side of Oneida Lake,|In the country
| | & on the head waters of| where they live.
| | the east branch of |
| | Susquehannah. |
| | |
Tuscaroras,[_b_] | 200 |Between the Oneidas and |Between Oneida
| | Onandagoes. | Lake & Lake
| | | Ontario.
| | |
Onandagoes,[_b_] | 260 |Near the Onandaga Lake. |Between Onandago
| | | L. & mouth of
| | | Seneca River,
| | | near Oswego.
| | |
Cayugas,[_b_] | 200 |On two small Lakes, |Where they reside.
| | called the Cayugas, on |
| | the north branch of |
| | Susquehannah. |
| | |
Senecas,[_b_] | 1,000 |Seneca Country, on the |Their chief
| | waters of Susquehannah,| hunting country
| | the waters of Lake | thereabouts.
| | Ontario, and on the |
| | heads of Ohio River. |
| | |
Aughquagas,[_c_] | 150 |East branch of |Where they live.
| | Susquehannah River, |
| | and on Aughquaga. |
| | |
Nanticokes,[_c_] | 100}|Utsanango, Chagmett, | Do.
Mohickons,[_c_] | 100}| Oswego, and on the east|
Conoys,[_c_] | 30}| branch of Susquehannah.|
| | |
Monsays,[_c_] | 150}|At Diahogo, and other | Do.
Sapoones,[_c_] | 30}| villages up the north |
Delawares,[_c_] | 150}| branch of Susquehannah.|
| | |
Delawares,[_d_] | 600 |Between the Ohio & Lake |Where they live.
| | Erie, on the branches |
| | of Beaver Creek, |
| | Muskingum and Guyehugo.|
| | |
Shawnesse,[_d_] | 300 |On Scioto & branch of | Do.
| | Muskingum. |
| | |
Mohickone,[_d_] | 300 |In villages near | Do.
| | Sandusky. |
| | |
Goghnawages,[_d_] | | |On the head
| | | banks of
| | | Scioto.
| | |
Twightwees,[_e_] | 250 |Miame River, near Fort |On the ground
| | Miame. | where they
| | | live.
| | |
Wayoughtanies,[_f_] | 300}|On the branches of |Between Ouitanon
Pyankeshas,[_f_] | 300}| Ouabache, near Fort | & the Miames.
Shockays,[_f_] | 200}| Ouitanon. |
| | |
Huskhuskeys,[_g_] | 300}|Near the French |
Illinois,[_g_] | 300}| settlements, in the |
| | Illinois Country. |
| | |
Wayondotts,[_h_] | 250}|Near Fort Detroit. |About Lake Erie.
Ottawas,[_h_] | 400}| |
Putawatimes,[_h_] | }| |
| | |
Chipawas,[_i_] }| 200 |On Saganna Creek, which |Thereabouts.
Ottawas }| | empties into Lake |
| | Huron. |
| | |
Chippawas[_j_] | 400}|Near Michilimachinac. |On the north
Ottawas,[_j_] | 260}| | side of Lake
| | | Huron.
| | |
Chipawas,[*][_k_] | 400 |Near the entrance of Lake|Thereabouts.
| | Superior, and not far |
| | from Fort St. Mary’s. |
| | |
Chepawas,[_k_] }| 550 |Near Fort Labay on the |Thereabouts.
Mynonamies,[_k_] }| | Lake Michigan. |
Shockeys,[_k_] }| | |
| | |
Putawatimes,[_k_] | 150}|Near Fort St. Joseph’s. |Thereabouts.
Ottawas,[_k_] | 150}| |
| | |
Kicapoos,[_l_] }| 4,000 |On Lake Michigan and |Where they
Outtagamies,[_l_] }| | between it and the | respectively
Musquatans,[_l_] }| | Mississippi. | reside.
Miscotins,[_l_] }| | |
Outtamacks,[_l_] }| | |
Musquaykeys,[_l_] }| | |
| | |
Oswegatches,[_h_] | 100 |Settled at Swagatchy in |Thereabouts.
| | Canada, on the River |
| | St. Lawrence. |
| | |
Connesedagoes,[_k_]}| 300 |Near Montreal. |
Coghnewagoes,[_k_] }| | |
| | |
Orondocks,[_k_] | 100}|Settled near Trois |
Abonakies,[_k_] | 150}| Rivers. |
Alagonkins,[_k_] | 100}| |
| | |
La Suil,[†] |10,000 |South-west of Lake |
| | Superior. |
--------------------+-------+-------------------------+------------------

[_a_] These are the oldest Tribe of the Confederacy of the Six Nations.

[_b_] Connected with New York, part of the Confederacy with New York.

[_c_] Connected with, and depending on the Five Nations.

[_d_] Dependent on the Six Nations, and connected with Pennsylvania.

[_e_] Connected with Pennsylvania.

[_f_] Connected with the Twightwees.

[_g_] These two Nations the English had never any trade, or connection
with.

[_h_] Connected formerly with the French.

[_i_] Connected with the Indians about Detroit, and dependant on the
commanding officer.

[_j_] Always connected with the French.

[_k_] Connected with the French.

[_l_] Never connected in any trade or otherwise with the English.

[*] There are several villages of Chipawas settled along the bank of Lake
Superior, but as I have no knowledge of that country, cannot ascertain
their numbers.

[†] These are a nation of Indians settled south-west of Lake Superior,
called by the French La Sue, who, by the best account that I could ever
get from the French and Indians, are computed ten thousand fighting men.
They spread over a large tract of country, and have forty odd villages;
in which country are several other tribes of Indians, who are tributaries
to the La Sues, none of whom except a very few, have ever known the
use of fire-arms: as yet but two villages. I suppose the French don’t
choose to risk a trade among such a powerful body of people, at so vast a
distance.

CROGHAN TO SIR WILLIAM JOHNSON[133]

SIR: In the scituation I was in at Ouiatonon, with great numbers of
Indians about me, & no Necessaries such as Paper & Ink, I had it not in
my power to take down all the speeches made by the Indian Nations, nor
what I said to them, in so particular a manner as I could wish, but hope
the heads of it as I have taken down will meet with your approbation.

In the Course of this Tour through the Indⁿ Countrys I made it my study
to converse in private with Pondiac, & several of the Chiefs of the
different Nations, as often as oppertunity served, in order to find out
the sentiments they have of the French & English, Pondiac is a shrewd
sensible Indian of few words, & commands more respect amongst those
Nations, than any Indian I ever saw could do amongst his own Tribe.
He and all his principal men of those Nations seem at present to be
convinced that the French had a view of interest in stirring up the
late differance between his Majesties Subjects & them & call it a Bever
War, for neither Pondiac nor any of the Indians which I met with, ever
pretended to deny but the French were at the bottom of the whole, &
constantly supplyed them with every necessary they wanted, as far as in
their power, every where through that Country & notwithstanding they
are at present convinced, that it was for their own Interest, yet it
has not changed the Indians affections to them, they have been bred up
together like Children in that Country, & the French have always adopted
the Indians customs & manners, treated them civily & supplyed their
wants generously, by which means they gained the hearts of the Indians
& commanded their services, & enjoyed the benefit of a very large Furr
Trade, as they well knew if they had not taken this measure they could
not enjoy any of those Advantages. The French have in a manner taught
the Indians in that Country to hate the English, by representing them
in the worst light they could on all occasion, in particular they have
made the Indians there believe lately, that the English would take their
Country from them & bring the _Cherokees_ there to settle & to enslave
them, which report they easily gave credit to, as the Southern Indˢ had
lately commenced war against them. I had great difficulty in removeing
this suspicion and convincing them of the falsity of this report, which I
flatter myself I have done in a great measure, yet it will require some
time, a very even Conduct in those that are to reside in their Country,
before we can expect to rival the French in their affection, all Indians
are jealous & from their high notion of liberty hate power, those Nations
are jealous and prejudiced against us, so that the greatest care will
be necessary to convince them of our honest Intention by our Actions.
The French sold them goods much dearer than the English Traders do at
present, in that point we have the advantage of the French, but they
made that up in large presents to them for their services, which they
wanted to support their Interest in the Country, & tho’ we want none of
their services, yet they will expect favours, & if refused look on it
in a bad light, & very likely think it done to distress them for some
particular Advantages we want to gain over them. They are by no means so
sensible a People as the Six Nations or other Tribes this way, & the
French have learned them for their own advantage a bad custom, for by
all I could learn, they seldom made them any general presents, but as it
were fed them with Necessaries just as they wanted them Tribe by Tribe,
& never sent them away empty, which will make it difficult & troublesome
to the Gentlemen that are to command in their Country for some time, to
please them & preserve Peace, as they are a rash inconsiderate People
and don’t look on themselves under any obligations to us, but rather
think we are obliged to them for letting us reside in their Country. As
far as I can judge of their Sentiments by the several Conversations I
have had with them, they will expect some satisfaction made them by Us,
for any Posts that should be established in their Country for Trade.
But you will be informed better by themselves next Spring, as Pondiac &
some Chiefs of every Nation in that Country intend to pay you a visit.
The several Nations on the Ouiabache, & towards the _Ilinois_, _St.
Josephs_, _Chicago_, _Labaye_, _Sagina_ & other places have applyed for
Traders to be sent to their settlements, but as it is not in the power of
any Officer to permit Traders to go from Detroit or _Michillimackinac_,
either English or French, I am of opinion the Indˢ will be supplyed
this year chiefly from the _Ilinois_, which is all French property & if
Trading Posts are not established at proper Places in that Country soon
the French will carry the best part of the Trade over the _Missisipi_
which they are determined to do if they can, for I have been well
informed that the French are preparing to build a strong trading Fort
on the other side Missisipi, about 60 miles above _Fort Chartres_,[134]
and have this Summer in a private manner transported 26 pieces of small
canon up the River for that purpose.

G. CROGHAN.

November, 1765.

FOOTNOTES

[1] See Weiser’s _Journal_, _ante_; and _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_,
v, pp. 287, 295.

[2] _Ibid._, v, p. 387; _Pennsylvania Archives_, ii, p. 31.

[3] _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, pp. 432-449.

[4] See _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, p. 568.

[5] _Ibid._, p. 665.

[6] _Pennsylvania Archives_, ii, pp. 114, 689.

[7] _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, vii, p. 355; _New York Colonial
Documents_, vii, pp. 136, 174, 196, 211.

[8] Stone, _Life of Johnson_, ii, app., p. 457.

[9] _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, p. 624.

[10] _Ibid._, p. 603.

[11] Egle, _Notes and Queries_ (Harrisburg, 1896) 3d series, ii, p. 348.

[12] For his descendants see Egle, _Notes and Queries_, 3d series, ii, p.
349.

[13] See Craig, _The Olden Time_, and the heterogeneous mass of Croghan’s
writings therein printed.

[14] The following is reprinted from _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v,
pp. 496-498; also printed in _Early History of Western Pennsylvania_,
app., pp. 21-29. The circumstances under which it was written are as
follows: In the autumn of 1750, Conrad Weiser reported to the governor
of Pennsylvania that the French agent Joncaire was on his way to the
Ohio with a present of goods, and orders from the governor of Canada
to drive out all the English traders. Accordingly, Governor Hamilton
detailed Croghan and Montour to hasten thither, and by the use of a small
present, and the promise of more, to try and counteract the intrigues
of the French, and maintain the Indians in the English interest. Upon
Croghan’s arrival at Logstown, he sent back this reassuring letter.
Proceeding westward to the Muskingum, where he had a trading house at
a Wyandot village, Croghan met Christopher Gist, agent for the Ohio
Company, and with him continued to the Scioto, thence to the Twigtwee
town of Pickawillany (near the present Piqua, Ohio). All the way, Croghan
held conferences with the Delawares, Shawnees, Wyandots, and Twigtwees,
strengthening the English alliance, and promising a large present
of goods to be furnished next spring at Logstown. At Pickawillany,
he made an unauthorized treaty with two new tribes who sought the
English alliance—the Piankeshaws and Weas (Waughwaoughtanneys, French
Ouiatonons). Unfortunately no extant document by Croghan adequately
chronicles this journey. Our knowledge of it is derived from the journal
of Gist (_q. v._); from incidental notices in the _Pennsylvania Colonial
Records_, v, pp. 476, 485-488, 522-525; and from Croghan’s brief account,
see _post_.—ED.

[15] In the original publication the month was misprinted December for
November. See _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, p. 498, where the
governor in a message to the Assembly speaks of Croghan’s letter from the
Ohio of the sixteenth of November. Cf. also, Gist’s _Journal_, November
25, 1750, where he says that Croghan had passed through Logstown about a
week before.—ED.

[16] Philippe Thomas Joncaire (John Cœur), Sieur de Chabert, was a
French officer resident among the Seneca Indians, to whose tribe his
mother was said to belong. Born in 1707, on the death of his father
(1740) he succeeded to the latter’s influence and authority among the
Iroquois, and made constant efforts to neutralize the influence of Sir
William Johnson, the English agent. Joncaire had a trading house at
Niagara, and his profits from the portage of goods at that place were
great. He accompanied Céloron’s expedition in 1749; and in 1753 met
Washington at Venango. It was chiefly due to his influence that the Ohio
Indians deserted the English at the outbreak of the French and Indian
war. Joncaire led the Iroquois contingent in all the campaigns on the
Allegheny and in Western New York; and when Prideaux and Johnson advanced
against Niagara, he commanded an outpost at the upper end of the portage.
He signed the capitulation of Fort Niagara (1759), but after that nothing
further is known of him.—ED.

[17] The town mentioned here was at the mouth of the Scioto River, and
was known as “the lower Shawnee town.”—ED.

[18] Detroit was considered an important station by La Salle; but no
permanent post was established there until 1701, when De la Mothe
Cadillac built a fort named Pontchartrain, and established the nucleus of
a French colony. Bands of Indians were induced to settle at the strait;
and here (1712) took place the battle of the Foxes with the Hurons
and Ottawas. Detroit continued to be one of the most important French
posts in the West until in 1760, when it was transferred to an English
detachment under command of Major Rogers. See Croghan’s _Journal_, _post_.

The siege of Detroit during Pontiac’s War is one of the best known
incidents in its history. During the Revolution, the British officials
here were accused of sending scalping parties against the frontier
settlements; and in 1779 George Rogers Clark captured at Vincennes its
“hair-buying” commandant, General Henry Hamilton. In 1780, an expedition
against Detroit was projected by Clark, but failed of organization.
Throughout the Indian wars of the Northwest, Detroit was regarded with
suspicion by the Americans, and its surrender in 1796 secured a respite
for the frontier. Its capitulation to the British by Hull (1812) was a
blow to the American cause, which was not repaired until after Perry’s
victory on Lake Erie, when Proctor evacuated Detroit, which was regained
by an American force (September 29, 1813). Cass was then made governor.
As American settlement came in, the importance of Detroit as a centre
for the fur-trade declined, and its career as a Western commercial city
began.—ED.

[19] Captain William Trent was a noted Indian trader, brother-in-law and
at this time partner of Croghan. Although born in Lancaster, Pennsylvania
(1715), he served the colony of Virginia as Indian agent; and in 1752
its governor dispatched him to the Miamis with a present. See _Journal
of Captain Trent_ (Cincinnati, 1871). The following year he was sent
out by the Ohio Company to begin a fortification at the Forks of the
Ohio, from which in Trent’s absence (April, 1754), the garrison was
expelled by a French force under Contrecœur. Trent was with Forbes in
1758, and the following year was made deputy Indian agent, assistant to
Croghan, and aided at the conferences at Fort Pitt in 1760. His trade was
ruined by the uprising of Pontiac’s forces, but he received reparation
at the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) by a large grant of land between
the Kanawha and Monongahela rivers, where he made a settlement. At the
outbreak of the Revolution he joined the patriot cause, and was major of
troops raised in Western Pennsylvania.—ED.

[20] Governor James Hamilton was the son of a prominent Philadelphia
lawyer, and being himself educated for the legal profession, held several
offices in the colony before he was appointed lieutenant-governor in
1748. His administration was a vigorous one, but owing to difficulties
with the Quaker party he resigned in 1754. Five years later he was
reinstated in the office, and served until the proprietor John Penn
came over as governor (1763). His death occurred at New York during the
British occupation (1783).—ED.

[21] This document is reprinted from _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_,
v, pp. 530-536; a portion of it is also to be found in Craig, _The
Olden Time_ (Pittsburg, 1846), i, p. 136, and a reprint in _Early
History of Western Pennsylvania_, app., pp. 26-34. As the result of
Croghan’s Western journey during the winter of 1750-51, and the desire
of Pennsylvania to maintain its trade relations with the Ohio Indians,
the Assembly voted £700 to be employed in presents; and the governor
instructed Croghan and Montour to deliver the goods.—See _Pennsylvania
Colonial Records_, v, pp. 487, 518, 525, and Croghan’s account, _post_.
The adroitness with which Croghan outwitted the French officer and
interpreter Joncaire, and his influence over the chiefs on the Ohio,
as well as the susceptibility of the Indian nature to the influence of
material goods, are all exemplified in this narrative. It did not result,
however, as Croghan and the governor wished, in inducing the Pennsylvania
authorities to construct a fort on the Ohio. The beginnings of that
enterprise were left to the Virginians, but too late to secure the Forks
of the Ohio from being seized by the French.—ED.

[22] The commandant of this famous expedition (1749) was Pierre Joseph
Céloron, Sieur de Blainville, born in 1693, and having served a long
apprenticeship in the posts of the upper country. He commanded an
invasion of the Chickasaw country (1739), and had charge of the post at
Detroit in 1742-43, and again in 1750-54. Fort Niagara was entrusted to
him in 1744-47, whence he was transferred to Crown Point, until his Ohio
expedition took place. In the French and Indian War he held the rank of
major, and served on the staff of the commander-in-chief. He died about
1777. In 1760, the Canadian authorities characterized him as “poor and
brave.” Some question has arisen, whether the leader of this expedition
might not have been a younger brother, Jean Baptiste. For Croghan’s visit
to the Ohio directly after Céloron’s expedition had passed, see _post_;
also, _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, p. 387, and _Pennsylvania
Archives_, ii, p. 31.—ED.

[23] The Onondaga Council was the chief governing body of the Six
Nations, or Iroquois, and since this confederacy assumed supremacy over
the Ohio Indians, it was the chief centre of Indian diplomacy. The
council house was situated on the site of the present town of Onondaga,
New York, and was about eighty feet long, with broad seats arranged on
each side. For an early description see Bartram, _Observations, etc._
(London, 1751), pp. 40, 41.—ED.

[24] Galissonière, the governor of Canada, who planned Céloron’s
expedition to the Ohio, was superseded in the autumn of 1749 by Jacques
Pierre de Taffanel, Marquis de la Jonquière, who continued the policy of
the former; he sent orders to the commandants of the Western posts to
arrest all British subjects found in the Ohio Valley. La Jonquière, who
was born in 1686, had served in the French navy with distinction, and
after his first commission as governor of New France was captured by an
English vessel (1747), and kept a prisoner for more than a year, so that
he did not reach his post until 1749. His term of service was but two
years and a half, being terminated by his death in May, 1752.—ED.

[25] This Dunkar (or Dunker) was doubtless Samuel Eckerlin one of three
brothers who migrated from Ephrata about 1745, and ultimately settled
on the Monongahela about ten miles below Morgantown, West Virginia. The
Dunkers were a sect of German Baptists that arose in the Palatine about
1708, and migrated to Pennsylvania in 1719. Their formal organization
took place at a baptism on the banks of Wissahickon Creek (near
Philadelphia) in 1723. There were several divisions of this sect, one
of which founded the community of Ephrata. Their tenets were baptism
by immersion, a celibate community life, and refusal to bear arms. The
Eckerlin brothers sought a solitary wilderness life, and at first were
regarded with favor by the Ohio Indians. A massacre, however, demolished
their settlement in 1757. Three of the party were captured, and sent as
prisoners to Canada, and later to France. For details see Sachse, _German
Sectarians of Pennsylvania_ (Philadelphia, 1900), ii, pp. 340-359.—ED.

[26] For an account of this chief see Weiser’s _Journal_, _ante_.—ED.

[27] Indians receive a speech with grunts of approval, which the French
annalists spelled “ho-ho.” Croghan is apparently giving the English
rendering of this term.—ED.

[28] This letter accompanied the preceding journal, and was written
on Croghan’s return to the settlements. Pennsboro was the district in
Cumberland County west of the Susquehanna, in which Croghan’s home was at
this time situated.—ED.

[29] The letter from Joncaire here referred to, is printed in French
in _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, p. 540. It consists merely of a
statement of the French right to the Ohio Valley, and of the orders of
the governor of Canada to permit no English to trade therein.—ED.

[30] This journal is reprinted from the _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_,
v, pp. 731-735 (also found in _Early History of Western Pennsylvania_,
app., pp. 50-53), and chronicles a material change of affairs on the Ohio
since the last account written by Croghan. Then the English interests
were in the ascendency, and the French were being flouted and driven
from the headwaters of the Ohio. But the division in English councils,
the supineness of the colonial assemblies, and the active preparation
and determined advance of the French into the upper Ohio Valley had had
its effect upon the Indian tribes. Two years before, Trent had reported
all the Ohio tribes secure in the English interest; but the same year
an expedition from Detroit had moved against the recalcitrant Miamis
(Twigtwees), and after inflicting a severe chastisement had secured
them again to the French control, as Croghan herein reports. Early
the following year the French expedition under Marin had advanced to
take forcible possession of the Ohio country, and begin the chain of
posts necessary to its defense. Presqu’isle and Le Bœuf had been built,
while a deputation under Joncaire had seized the English trader’s house
at Venango, and placed a French flag above it. A large number of the
Indians, frightened at this show of force, yielded to the threatenings
and cajoleries of the French officers. A small party, hoping to obtain
aid from the English colonists, had sent off a deputation in the autumn
of 1753 to meet the Virginia authorities at Winchester, and those of
Pennsylvania at Carlisle, at both of which conferences Croghan was in
attendance. The present which the Assembly of Pennsylvania had voted
the preceding May (_Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, p. 617) was
cautiously given out, most of it consisting of powder and lead; it was
feared with reason, that it might be used to the disadvantage of the back
settlements. Croghan himself, although using every endeavor to fortify
the Indians in the English alliance, lost heart at the dilatoriness of
the Pennsylvania Assembly, some of whose members even doubted whether
the land invaded did not rightfully belong to the French. He could wish
with all his “hart Some gentleman who is an Artist in Philadelphia, and
whos Acount wold be Depended on, whould have ye Curiosety to take a
Journay in those parts,” in order to prove to the province (by means of
a map) that the lands on which the French were building lay within their
jurisdiction—(_Pennsylvania Archives_, ii, p. 132). Meanwhile, Washington
had been sent out by Dinwiddie to summon the French to retire. Croghan,
who reached this territory soon after Washington’s return, reports in the
following journal the conditions on the Ohio.—ED.

[31] A year and a half after this visit of Croghan’s, Turtle Creek was
the site of Braddock’s defeat. For a description of the battle, and the
present appearance of the site, see Thwaites, _How George Rogers Clark
won the Northwest and other Essays in Western History_ (Chicago, 1903),
pp. 184, 185.

John Frazier, who had his house at the mouth of Turtle Creek, was a
Pennsylvania trader, gunsmith, and interpreter, who had lived twelve
years at Venango, whence he was driven by the invading French expedition
the summer previous. He assisted Washington on his journey, and the next
year (1754) was commissioned lieutenant of the militia forces under
Trent’s command, that were to fortify the Forks of the Ohio.—ED.

[32] The journal of Washington on this journey was on his return printed
in Winchester (only two copies of which edition are known to be extant),
also in London (1754). Frequent reprints have been made, and the journal
has been edited by Sparks, Rupp, Craig, Shea, and Ford. The journal of
Gist, who accompanied Washington, is found in Darlington’s _Gist_, pp.
80-87. Croghan gives a concise summary of Washington’s mission and its
results.—ED.

[33] John Patten was a Pennsylvania Indian trader, who was captured in
the Miami towns by the order of the French governor (1750). He and two
companions were carried to Canada, and afterwards sent to France, being
imprisoned at La Rochelle, whence they appealed to the English ambassador
who secured their release. See _New York Colonial Documents_, x, p. 241.
Patten had at this time been sent to the Ohio with the Shawnee prisoners
from South Carolina. See _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, pp. 730,
731.—ED.

[34] Six Shawnee Indians had been arrested on suspicion of being
concerned in a raid, and confined in the Charleston, South Carolina,
jail. On the request of Governor Hamilton, two were released and sent to
Philadelphia to be delivered to their kinsfolk. The other four made their
escape. See _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, pp. 696-700.—ED.

[35] The Half-King was a prominent Seneca or Mingo chief, whose home was
at Logstown. He was faithful to the English interest, and accompanied
Washington both on his journey of 1753 and his expedition of 1754; upon
the latter, he claimed to have slain Jumonville with his own hand. He was
decorated by the governor of Virginia in recognition of his services, and
given the honorary name of “Dinwiddie” in which he took great pride. When
the French secured the Ohio region, he removed under Croghan’s protection
to Aughwick Creek, where he died in October, 1756.—ED.

[36] The Chickasaws were a tribe of Southern Indians, domiciled in
Western Tennessee and Northern Mississippi, who were traditional allies
of the English and enemies of the French. After the Natchez War in
Louisiana, the remnant of that tribe took refuge with the Chickasaws, who
inflicted a severe defeat upon the French (1736), capturing and burning a
Jesuit priest and several well-known officers.—ED.

[37] The Ottawas were an Algonquian tribe, domiciled in Michigan about
the posts of Mackinac and Detroit. Faithful to the French interests,
they were doubtless acting under the directions of their commandants in
gathering to attack the Shawnees on the Scioto—ED.

[38] Lewis Montour, a brother of Andrew, had come the previous autumn to
the governor of Pennsylvania, with a message purporting to have been sent
by the Ohio Indians; they were represented as requesting help against the
French, and the building of forts on the river, and as offering all the
lands east of the river to pay the debts of the traders. As the character
of those who claimed to have obtained this treaty was open to suspicion,
the governor had sent Croghan and Andrew Montour to ascertain the truth
of the matter. The unauthorized insertion of so great a land grant, is a
good specimen of the methods by which the unprincipled traders sought to
take advantage of the Indians. See _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v,
pp. 691-696.—ED.

[39] Shingas, brother of King Beaver, was one of the principal leaders
of the Delaware Indians on the Ohio, where he had a town at the mouth
of Beaver Creek. Shortly after this meeting with Croghan, he deserted
to the French, and his braves were a terror to the border settlers.
Governor Denny of Pennsylvania set a price of £200 upon his head. Post
had a conference with Shingas (1758), and persuaded him to return to
the English alliance; nevertheless, at the occupation of the Forks
of the Ohio by the English, Shingas with his band retreated to the
Muskingum. The last mention of him seems to be in 1762 (_Pennsylvania
Colonial Records_, viii, p. 690), and he appears to have died before the
conspiracy of Pontiac (1763), in which his tribe took part.—ED.

[40] This letter is reprinted from _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, vi,
pp. 642, 643. In the interval between this and the preceding document,
momentous events, in which Croghan had a full share, had occurred on the
Ohio. The governor of Virginia had engaged him to act as interpreter in
Colonel Washington’s army—see “Dinwiddie Papers,” _Virginia Historical
Collections_ (Richmond, 1883-84), i, p. 187—and he had been present at
the affair of the Great Meadows. During the period between this and
Braddock’s expedition, Croghan had been busily employed in bringing
over as many Indians as possible to the English cause, and he had led
the Indian contingent to Braddock’s aid (see _post_). After the battle
of the Monongahela, Croghan returned to his home at Aughwick Creek,
caring at his own expense for the few Indians who remained firm in the
English interest, and planning to defend his settlement by a stockade
fort. A bill for his relief (he had lost all of his trading equipment)
passed the Pennsylvania Assembly. Although holding no provincial office,
his knowledge of the frontier situation was much relied on in this
extremity.—ED.

[41] This stockade fort was built on Aughwick Creek, where stands the
present town of Shirleysburg. It was known first as Fort Croghan, then
a private enterprise; but later in the same year (1755), a fort was
built on this site by order of the government and named for General
Shirley, commander-in-chief of the British forces in North America.
Governor Morris wrote, after a visit to this fort in January, 1756, that
seventy-five men were garrisoned therein (_Pennsylvania Archives_, ii,
p. 556). It was appointed as the rendezvous for Armstrong’s expedition
against Kittanning in August of this same year; but by October 15 the
site had grown so dangerous that the governor ordered it abandoned.—ED.

[42] This account of the situation on the Ohio, obtained from the
journey of a Delaware Indian, is reprinted from _Pennsylvania Colonial
Records_, vi, pp. 781, 782. Since the last letter written by Croghan, the
Assembly had passed a militia bill (November, 1755), and Franklin had
been commissioned to take charge of the erection of a series of frontier
forts. Croghan was commissioned captain, and promptly raising a company,
entered with zeal upon the work. For his instructions, see _Pennsylvania
Archives_, ii, p. 536.—ED.

[43] Robert Hunter Morris, son of Lewis Morris, prominent colonial
statesman and governor of New Jersey, was born at Morrisania, New York,
about 1700. Having been educated for the law, he became chief-justice
of New Jersey (1738), a position held until his death in 1764. The
Pennsylvania proprietors chose him as lieutenant-governor to succeed
Hamilton in 1754; during his term of office he vigorously defended the
province, but engaged in constant disputes with the Quaker party in
the Assembly. The annoyance arising from this caused him to resign in
1756.—ED.

[44] King Beaver (Tamaque) was head chief of the Delaware Indians on the
Ohio, with headquarters at the mouth of Beaver Creek. He was somewhat
half-hearted in the English service, but protested his desire to preserve
the alliance until after Braddock’s defeat, when he openly took the
hatchet against the English settlements. Post met him upon the Ohio in
1758, and secured a conditional agreement to remain neutral; but after
the English occupation of the Forks of the Ohio, he retreated to the
Muskingum, where a town was named for him. He took part in the treaties
with the English in 1760 and 1762; but was one of the ring-leaders in the
conspiracy of Pontiac (1763). After Bouquet’s advance into his territory,
he reluctantly made peace, and delivered up his English prisoners. He
died about 1770, having in his later years passed under the influence
of the Moravian missionaries, and become one of their most eminent
disciples.—ED.

[45] Fort Duquesne, built at the Forks of the Ohio in 1754, was first
commanded by Contrecœur; but in the September following the battle of
the Monongahela, Captain Dumas, who had distinguished himself at that
engagement, was made commandant. He was an officer of great ability, and
while he sent out parties against the frontier, his instructions to one
subordinate (Donville, captured in 1756) were to use measures “consistent
with honor and humanity.” Dumas was superseded in 1756 by De Ligneris,
who remained in command at Fort Duquesne until ordered to demolish the
post, and retire before Forbes’s advancing army (1758).—ED.

[46] The Caghnawagos (Caughnawagas) were the Iroquois of the mission
village of that name, about six miles above Montreal.—ED.

[47] This reference is to the massacre of the Moravian settlers at
Gnadenhütten, in November, 1755.—ED.

[48] This paper is reprinted from _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp.
267-271. It accompanied a letter from Croghan to Sir William Johnson, in
which he says, “Inclosed you have a copy of some extracts from my old
journals relating to Indian Affairs, from the time of Mr. Hamilton’s
arrival as Governour of this Province till the defeat of General
Braddock; all which you may depend upon are facts, and will appear upon
the records of Indian Affairs in ye several Governments.”

After Croghan had been commissioned captain by the Pennsylvania
authorities, “he continued in Command of one of the Companies he had
raised, and of Fort Shirley on the Western frontier about three months,
during which time he sent, by my direction, Indian Messengers to the Ohio
for Intelligence, but never procured me any that was very material, and
having a dispute with the Commissʳˢ about some accounts between them, in
which he thought himself ill-used; he resigned his commission, and about
a month ago informed me that he had not received pay upon Genˡ Braddock’s
warrant, and desired my recommendation to Genˡ Shirley, which I gave him,
and he set off directly for Albany, & I hear is now at Onondago with Sʳ
Wᵐ Johnson.”—(Letter of Governor Morris, July 5, 1756, in _Pennsylvania
Archives_, ii, pp. 689, 690.)

Sir William Johnson, having more penetration than the Pennsylvania
authorities as to the value of Croghan’s services, immediately appointed
him his deputy, in which position he continued for several years.
When he presented himself to the governor’s council in Philadelphia,
December 14, 1756, “the Council knowing Mr. Croghan’s Circumstances
was not a little surprised at the Appointment, and desired to see his
Credentials”—(_Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, vii, p. 355). In regard
to his services during this period, see _New York Colonial Documents_,
vii, pp. 136, 174, 175, 196, 211, 246, 277, 280; _Pennsylvania Colonial
Records_, vii, pp. 435, 465, 484, 506; viii, 175; _Pennsylvania
Archives_, iii, pp. 319, 544.

Sir William Johnson was born in Ireland in 1715, came to New York at an
early age, and settled as a trader in the Mohawk Valley. He was adopted
into the Iroquois nation, and acquired power in their national councils,
retaining them in the English interest during the French and Indian War.
After the battle of Lake George, Johnson was rewarded with a baronetcy,
and secured the surrender of Niagara in 1759. From that time until his
death in 1774, he was occupied with Indian negotiations, chief of which
was the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768).—ED.

[49] Donegal was an old town on the east side of the Susquehanna,
situated between the Conewago and Chiques creeks, in the northwestern
angle of the county of Lancaster (Scull’s _Map of Pennsylvania_), where
these Indians have left their name to the Conoy, or as it is now called,
Coney Creek. _Memoirs of the Pennsylvania Historical Society_, iv, part
ii, p. 210. The Conoys were originally from Piscataway, in Maryland,
whence they moved to an island in the Potomac, and, on the invitation
of William Penn, removed to the Susquehanna—(_Pennsylvania Colonial
Records_, iv, p. 657).—E. B. O’CALLAGHAN.

[50] Christopher Gist was of English descent, and a native of Maryland.
In early life he removed to the frontiers of North Carolina, where he
became so expert in surveying and woodcraft, that he was employed for
two successive years by the Ohio Company in inspecting and surveying
the Western country. It was on his first journey (1750-51) that he
encountered Croghan, when they travelled together to Pickawillany (the
Twigtwee town), and Gist continued via the Scioto River and the Kentucky
country back to Virginia. On the second journey (1751-52), he explored
the West Virginia region. His most noted adventure was accompanying Major
George Washington in the autumn of 1753 to the French forts in Northwest
Pennsylvania. Earlier in the same year, Gist had made a settlement near
Mount Braddock, Fayette County, Pennsylvania, and under the auspices of
the Ohio Company was enlisting settlers for the region. Eleven came out
in the spring of 1754, and a stockade fort was begun. This was utilized
during Washington’s campaign, but burned by the French after the defeat
at Great Meadows. Gist later petitioned the Virginia House of Burgesses
for indemnity, but his request was rejected. Both Gist and his son
served with Braddock as scouts, and after his defeat, raised a company
of militia to protect the frontiers. After serving for a time as deputy
Indian agent for the Southern Indians, he died in 1759, either in South
Carolina or Georgia. One of his sons was killed at the battle of King’s
Mountain (1780).—ED.

[51] For a copy of this treaty see _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v,
pp. 522-525. In regard to the rejection thereof, note that the governor
in the speech made to the Twigtwees says it is approved. See _ante_.—ED.

[52] The records appear to bear out Croghan’s contention that he was
given instructions to discuss the erection of a fort. See _Pennsylvania
Colonial Records_, v, pp. 522, 529. Historians admit that this neglect of
the Indians’ request was attended with evil consequences to the English
colonies, and Pennsylvania in particular. Consult _Pennsylvania Colonial
Records_, v, pp. 537, 547, for the Indian demand and the Assembly’s
refusal.—ED.

[53] On this conference at Logstown see _Dinwiddie Papers_, i, pp. 6, 7,
11, 22; Trent’s _Journals_, pp. 69-81; Gist’s _Journals_, pp. 231-234.—ED.

[54] For the French sources of this expedition see _New York Colonial
Documents_, x, pp. 255-257; _Pennsylvania Archives_ (2d series), vi, pp.
161-164.—ED.

[55] On the conferences at Winchester and Carlisle (1753), see
_Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, v, pp. 657, 665-684.—ED.

[56] Colonel Thomas Cresap was a Yorkshireman who came to Maryland at
an early age. Having settled within the territory in dispute between
Maryland and Pennsylvania, he became an aggressive leader of the
forces of the former and was arrested by the Pennsylvania sheriff of
Lancaster, where he spent several months in jail. Being released by an
agreement between the proprietors of the two colonies (1739), he moved
westward, and became the first permanent settler of Maryland beyond
the mountains, taking up land at a deserted Shawnee village now called
Oldtown. An active member of the Ohio Company, he was assisted by the
Indian Nemacolin in blazing the first path west to the Ohio (1752). After
the defeat on the Monongahela, Cresap moved back to the settlements
on Conococheague Creek; but on the return of peace sought his former
location, where he became a noted surveyor and frontiersman. His son
Michael was likewise a well-known borderer and Indian fighter. For a
complete biographical account, see Ohio Archæological and Historical
_Publications_ (Columbus, 1902), x, pp. 146-164.—ED.

[57] The official report of these affairs is in _Pennsylvania Colonial
Records_, vi, pp. 150-161, 180, 181, 186-191.—ED.

[58] On Croghan’s relations to Braddock’s expedition, see _Pennsylvania
Colonial Records_, vi, pp. 372, 381, 398; _New York Colonial Documents_,
vi, p. 973.—ED.

[59] Colonel James Innes was an elderly Scotch officer, who had served
under the king’s commission in the West Indies, and had settled in North
Carolina. He commanded the contingent from that colony that came to the
assistance of Virginia in 1754. On the death of Colonel Joshua Fry,
Dinwiddie appointed Innes, who was his personal friend, to the position
of commander-in-chief of the colonial army, of which Washington was
acting commandant. Innes got no further than Fort Cumberland, where he
remained as commander of the fort, alternately appealing to his former
royal commission, and to his colonial authorization, for authority to
maintain his rank.—ED.

[60] The years between the last document (1757) and the commencement of
this journey (October 21, 1760) had been eventful ones for the future
of American history. The French and Indian War, which until the close
of 1757 had resulted only in a series of disasters to the English, was
pursued with greater vigor when a change of administration sent able
officers and leaders to America. The evacuation of Fort Duquesne (1758),
the capture of Niagara and Quebec (1759), and the final capitulation of
all Canada at Montreal (1760) gave the mastery of the continent to the
English, and opened the portals of the West. Croghan was occupied during
these momentous years with Indian negotiations of great importance. As
deputy of Sir William Johnson, he endeavored to hold the Six Nations
firm in their alliance, to pacify the frontier tribes, and finally to
announce to the expectant savages the English victory, and their transfer
to British authority. In 1757, he was employed in making peace with the
Susquehanna Indians (_Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, vii, pp. 517-551,
656-714; _Pennsylvania Archives_, iii, pp. 248, 319; _New York Colonial
Documents_, vii, pp. 321-324); and made a journey to Fort Loudoun, in
Tennessee to sound the disposition of the Cherokees—(_Pennsylvania
Colonial Records_ vii, pp. 600, 630). His influence was relied upon
to pave the way for Forbes’s army (1758), and he was present at the
important treaty at Easton, in October of this year—(_Pennsylvania
Archives_, iii, p. 429; _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, viii, pp.
175-223; Stone, _Life of Sir William Johnson_, ii, p. 389). Croghan also
accompanied Forbes’s expedition, and assisted in pacifying the Allegheny
Indians. The journal in _Pennsylvania Archives_, iii, pp. 560-563,
designated as _Journal of Frederick Post from Pittsburgh, 1758_, is
really Croghan’s journal, as a comparison with Post’s journal for these
dates will reveal. Early in the next year we find Croghan at Fort Pitt,
holding constant conferences with Western Indians (_Pennsylvania Colonial
Records_, viii, pp. 387-391; _Pennsylvania Archives_, iii, pp. 671, 744),
where he remained until ordered to join the expedition sent out under
Major Rogers to secure possession of Detroit and other Western posts,
included in the capitulation at Montreal. The diary of this journey,
which we here publish, is reprinted from _Massachusetts Historical
Collections_, 4th series, ix, pp. 362-379. Other letters of Croghan’s
are found in the same volume, pp. 246-253, 260, 266, 283-289. These all
relate to Indian affairs, and the information being brought in by his
scouts and messengers of conditions in the country lying westward—of the
agitation, alarm, and confusion among the Indian hostiles, who were eager
to give in their allegiance to their conquering English “brothers.” This
journal of the voyage to Detroit admirably supplements that of Major
Robert Rogers, commandant of the party which Croghan accompanied, whose
account has been the standard authority. It was published in Dublin,
1770, and several reprints have been issued, the best of which is that
edited by Hough, _Rogers’s Journals_, 1755-1760 (Albany, 1883).—ED.

[61] Major Robert Rogers, the noted partisan leader, was born in New
Hampshire. On the outbreak of the French and Indian War he raised a
company of scouts known as “Rogers’s Rangers,” who did great service
on the New York frontier. After receiving the surrender of Detroit and
attempting in vain to reach Mackinac, he was again sent to Detroit to
relieve the garrison in Pontiac’s War, after which he proceeded against
the Cherokees in the South. About this time he was retired on half pay,
and visited England, where he published his journals, and a _Concise
Account of North America_. In 1766, he was assigned to the command of the
important post of Mackinac, and there schemed to betray the fort to the
Spaniards. The plot having been discovered, he was tried in Montreal,
but secured an acquittal, when he visited England a second time, only to
be thrown into prison for debt. During the Revolution he led a body of
Loyalists, and having been banished from New Hampshire retired to England
(1780), where he died about 1800.—ED.

[62] Fort Presqu’ Isle was built by the French expedition under Marin
in the spring of 1753, on the site of the present city of Erie,
Pennsylvania. It was a post of much importance in maintaining the
communication between Niagara, Detroit, and the Forks of the Ohio. After
the fall of Fort Duquesne at the latter site (1758), a large garrison was
collected at Fort Presqu’ Isle, and a movement to re-possess the Ohio
country was being organized, when the capture of Niagara (1759) threw the
project into confusion. Johnson sent out a party to relieve the French
officer at this place, and a detachment of the Royal Americans commanded
by Colonel Henry Bouquet advanced from Fort Pitt and took possession
of the stronghold. The fort was captured by Indians during Pontiac’s
conspiracy (June 17, 1763), as graphically related by Parkman. After
this uprising, a British detachment controlled the place until the final
surrender of the posts to the United States in 1796. Within the same
year, General Anthony Wayne, returning from his fruitful campaign against
the Indians, died in the old blockhouse of the fort. Some remains of the
works are still to be seen at Erie.—ED.

[63] Captain Donald Campbell was a Scotch officer who came to America
with the 62nd regiment in 1756, and was made captain of the Royal
Americans in 1759. After accompanying this expedition to Detroit
(1760), he was left in command of that post (see letter from Campbell,
_Massachusetts Historical Collections_, 4th series, ix, p. 382), and when
superseded by Major Gladwin remained as lieutenant-commander. Leaving
the fort on an embassy, during the Pontiac uprising (1763), he was
treacherously seized, made captive, and cruelly murdered by the Indian
hostiles. See Parkman, _Conspiracy of Pontiac_ (Boston, 1851), chaps. 11
and 14.—ED.

[64] Marin’s expedition (1753), that erected forts Presqu’ Isle and Le
Bœuf, intended to plant a fort at Venango, at the junction of French
Creek with the Allegheny; the first detachment sent out for that purpose
was, however, repulsed by the Indians. When Washington visited the place
(December, 1753), he found the French flag flying over the house of an
English trader, Frazier, who had been driven from the spot. The following
year, the French built an outpost on this site, and named it Fort
Machault. When Post passed by here in 1758, he found it garrisoned by
but six men and a single officer; see _post_. The French abandoned Fort
Machault in 1759, and early the following spring the English built Fort
Venango, about forty rods nearer the mouth of the creek. At the outbreak
of Pontiac’s War, the latter fort was commanded by Lieutenant Gordon, and
he with all the garrison were captured, tortured, and murdered by Indian
foes. No fort was rebuilt at this place until late in the Revolution,
when Fort Franklin was erected for the protection of the border, being
garrisoned from 1788-96. The present town of Franklin was laid out around
the post in 1795.—ED.

[65] The French Fort Le Bœuf (technically, “Fort de la Rivière aux
Bœufs”) was built by Marin (1753) on a creek of the same name, at the
site of the present town of Waterford, the terminus of the road which
Marin caused to be constructed south from Presqu’ Isle. This was the
destination of Washington’s expedition in 1753, and here he met the
French commandant, Legardeur de St. Pierre. The fort at this place
was farmed out to a French officer, who superintended the portage of
provisions from Lake Erie to the Ohio. Post found it garrisoned by about
thirty soldiers in 1758; see _post_. The following year, after the French
had abandoned it, a detachment of the Royal Americans went forward from
Fort Pitt to occupy this stronghold; and three years later Ensign Price
was beleaguered therein by the Indians, and barely escaped with his
life after a brave but futile defense. The Indians destroyed Fort Le
Bœuf by fire, and it was never rebuilt. In 1794, another fort with the
same name was erected near the old site, and garrisoned until after the
War of 1812-15. Subsequently the structure was used as a hotel, until
accidentally burned in 1868.—ED.

[66] General Robert Monckton, a son of the Viscount of Galway, began his
military career by service in Flanders (1742). He came to America about
1750, and was stationed at Halifax, being appointed governor of Nova
Scotia (1754-56). After being transferred to the Royal Americans (1757),
he was at the siege of Louisburg in 1758, and the following year was
made second in command for the capture of Quebec. Promoted for gallant
services, he was placed in control of the Western department, and had
headquarters at Fort Pitt, where Rogers had been detailed to seek him
for orders with reference to the latter’s Western expedition. General
Monckton was military governor of New York City, 1761-63. During that
time he made an expedition to the West Indies, and captured Martinique.
Returning to England he was made governor of Berwick (1766), and later
of Portsmouth, which he represented in Parliament. He refused to take a
commission to serve against the Americans in the Revolutionary War.—ED.

[67] Captain David Brewer joined Rogers’s Rangers as ensign in 1756, and
three years later was promoted for gallant services on Lake Champlain.
He appears to have been one of the most trusted officers of this
company. Rogers left him to bring up the troops to Presqu’ Isle, while
he hastened on to Fort Pitt, at the beginning of the expedition; after
the capitulation of Detroit, he sent the larger portion of the Rangers
back to Niagara under Brewer’s command. See Rogers’s _Journal_, pp. 152,
198.—ED.

[68] The topography of this voyage is a disputed question. Croghan is the
only contemporary authority who gives details. Siney Sipey is probably
the present Conneaut Creek, about twenty miles from Presqu’ Isle. Rogers
says “by night we had advanced twenty miles.” “Sinissippi” is frequently
used for Stoney or Rock Creek; the present Rock River, Illinois, claims
that for its Indian title. In 1761, Sir William Johnson describes this
place (without naming it) as follows: “Encamped in a very good creek and
safe harbor. The creek about fifty yards wide, and pretty deep; two very
steep hills at the entrance thereof, and the water of it of a very brown
color.”—ED.

[69] Rogers in his _Journal_ places this meeting with the Ottawas on the
seventh instead of the fifth of November, and locates it at “Chogage”
River (formerly supposed to be Cuyahoga, but now thought to be Grand
River). Croghan’s account is more detailed, and probably written at the
time; while Rogers’s was written or revised later. “Wajea Sipery” is
probably Ashtabula Creek, which is sufficiently crooked in its course to
make this name appropriate. This is the traditional meeting for the first
time, with Pontiac, the Ottawa chief. Parkman’s well-known account of
the haughty bearing and dignified demands of this great Indian contrast
markedly with Croghan’s simpler and more literal account. In truth, it
may be doubted whether this chief was Pontiac at all, as he here speaks
of himself as an old man. Rogers’s _Journal_ makes no mention of any
chief, and alludes but incidentally to meeting the Ottawa band; but in
his _Concise Account of North America_, published in London (1765), when
the exploits of Pontiac were causing much attention, Rogers represents
himself as having encountered that chief on his way to Detroit, and
that the latter asked him how he dared to enter that country without
his (Pontiac’s) leave. This was probably a flight of the imagination,
consequent upon his representing the Indian chief as the hero of the
tragedy in the verses he was then preparing, known as _Ponteach, or the
Savages of America_ (London, 1766). See Parkman, _Conspiracy of Pontiac_,
i, p. 165, ii, appendix B. The plain, unadorned account of Croghan, and
the begging attitude of the Ottawa chief, are probably more in accordance
with historical verity than Parkman’s and Rogers’s more romantic
accounts.—ED.

[70] The creek which Croghan calls “Onchuago” was Grand River, whose
Indian name was “Chaeaga” (Sheauga), and which is thus designated on
Evans’s map of 1755, and Hutchins’s map of 1778. Whittlesey, _Early
History of Cleveland_ (Cleveland, 1867), thus identifies this stream.
Baldwin, in his “Early Maps of Ohio and the West,” Western Reserve
Historical Society _Tracts_, No. 25, thinks it is the Conneaut Creek;
but that would be too far east to correspond with this description, and
the present Geauga County takes its title from the Indian name of Grand
River.—ED.

[71] Lieutenant Dietrich Brehm (Braam) was a German engineer who came
to America in 1756 with the 32nd regiment (later the 60th or Royal
Americans). Little is known of his military career, save that in the line
of promotion he was captain in 1774, and major in 1783.—ED.

[72] Probably “Gichawaga” was Cuyahoga River, the site of the city of
Cleveland, and a well-known rendezvous of the Ottawa Indians, who had
a village some miles up its banks. Rogers speaks of it as Elk River,
which by some geographers is placed east of Cuyahoga River; but Rogers’s
list of distances, allowing for much tacking, would indicate that the
expedition had by this time certainly come as far beyond Grand River as
Cuyahoga.—ED.

[73] Stony Creek was the present Rocky River, about five miles west of
Cleveland. Near this spot a part of Bradstreet’s fleet was wrecked in
1764. See Western Reserve Historical Society _Tracts_, No. 13.—ED.

[74] Marie François Picoté, Sieur de Bellestre, was born in 1719, and
when about ten years of age emigrated with his father to Detroit.
Entering the army, he held a number of commands—in Acadia (1745-46),
and at the Western posts, especially at St. Josephs, where he had much
influence over the Indians. In the Huron revolt (1748), his bravery was
especially commended. During the French and Indian War he led his Indian
allies on various raids—one to Carolina in 1756, where he received a
slight wound; and again in New York against the German Flats (1757).
Bellestre was present at Niagara about the time it was attacked; but
Pouchot detailed him to retire with the detachments from forts Presqu’
Isle and Machault to Detroit, and he was commanding at this post when
summoned to surrender to Major Rogers. After the capitulation of Detroit,
he returned to Canada, and became a partisan of the British power,
captured St. John, and defended Chambly against the Americans in 1775-76.
He was made a member of the first legislative council of the province.—ED.

[75] The encampment for the night of November 15 seems to have been made
between two small creeks that flow into the lake near together, in Dover
Township, Cuyahoga County.—ED.

[76] Vermillion Creek or River retains its name. The river where the
expedition encamped (“Notowacy Thepy”) was probably that now known as
the Huron River, in Erie County, Ohio. Rogers’s _Journal_ mentions these
rivers without giving names.—ED.

[77] Rogers names the lake here mentioned, as Sandusky. It is difficult
to tell from this description whether or not the flotilla entered the
inner Sandusky Bay. Probably the encampment for the nineteenth was on the
site of the present city of Sandusky, at Mill or Pipe Creek.—ED.

[78] Médard Gamelin was the son of a French surgeon, and nephew of
that Sieur de la Jémerais who accompanied La Vérendrye on his Western
explorations, and died (1735) in the wilderness west of Lake Superior.
Gamelin was born two years before this event. Emigrating to Detroit,
he employed himself in raising and training a militia company composed
of the habitants, which he led to the relief of Niagara (1759). There
he was captured and kept a prisoner until released by the orders of
General Amherst in order to accompany Rogers’s expedition, and pacify the
settlers at Detroit. He took the oath of allegiance and remained in that
city after its capitulation to the British, dying there about 1778.—ED.

[79] The present Cranberry Creek is east of Sandusky. The creek which
Croghan mentions was some small tributary of Portage River (the
Carrying-place), or directly beyond it. Rogers says they went “to the
mouth of a river in breadth 300 feet,” which is evidently Portage
River.—ED.

[80] Rogers’s _Journal_ (p. 191), gives his own speech. He indicates
in his account that the Indians were preparing to resist the English
advance; but Croghan does not mention any such suspicions.

General Jeffrey Amherst was an English soldier of much distinction, who
after serving a campaign in Flanders and Germany, was commissioned by
Pitt to take charge of the military operations in America (1758). His
first success was the capture of Louisburg, followed by the campaign
of 1759, when he reduced Ticonderoga and Crown Point, and moved upon
Montreal, which capitulated the following year. He was immediately made
governor-general of the British in North America, received the thanks
of Parliament, and was presented with the order of the Bath. It was in
obedience to his orders that Rogers undertook this westward expedition.
Amherst’s later career was a succession of honors, emoluments, and high
appointments in the British army. He opposed the cause of the colonies
during the American Revolution. Late in life he was field-marshal of the
British army, dying (1797) at his estate in Kent, as Baron Amherst of
Montreal.—ED.

[81] Cedar Point is at the southeastern entrance of Maumee Bay. Rogers’s
_Journal_ for November 23 says that an Ottawa sachem came into their
camp; possibly this was Pontiac.—ED.

[82] From the distances given in Rogers’s _Journal_ it would appear that
the expedition encamped the twenty-fifth and twenty-sixth in the entrance
of Swan Creek, Monroe County, Michigan, a short distance north of Stony
Point.—ED.

[83] Pierre François Rigault, Chevalier de Cavagnal, Marquis de
Vaudreuil, was Canadian born, and entered the military service at an
early age. In 1728 he was in the present Wisconsin on an expedition
against the Fox Indians; some years later, he was governor at Trois
Rivières, and in 1743 was sent to command in Louisiana, where he remained
nine years, until appointed governor of New France, just before the
outbreak of the French and Indian War. As the last French governor
of Canada, his term of service was embittered by quarrels with the
French generals, and disasters to French arms. After his capitulation
at Montreal, he went to France, only to be arrested, thrown into the
Bastile, and tried for malfeasance in office. He succeeded in securing an
acquittal (1763); but, broken by disappointments and enmities, died the
following year.—ED.

[84] The Potawotami Indians are an Algonquian tribe, being first
encountered by French explorers on the borders of Green Bay; but later,
they had villages at Detroit, St. Josephs River (southeast Michigan),
and Milwaukee. They were devoted to the French interests, and easily
attracted to the vicinity of the French posts. For the Wyandots (Hurons)
and Ottawas, see _ante_.—ED.

[85] The French fort of St. Josephs was established early in the
eighteenth century, on the right bank of the river of that name, about
a mile from the present city of Niles, Michigan. Its commandant was the
“farmer” of the post—that is, he was entitled to what profits he could
win from the Indian trade, and paid his own expenses. After the British
took possession of this fort, it was garrisoned by a small detachment
of the Royal Americans. When Pontiac’s War broke out, but fourteen
soldiers were at the place, with Ensign Schlosser in command. The fort
was captured and eleven of the garrison killed, the rest being carried
prisoners to Detroit. During the Revolution, Fort St. Josephs was three
times taken from the British—twice by parties from the Illinois led by
French traders (in 1777, and again in 1778); and in 1781, a Spanish
expedition set out from St. Louis to capture the stronghold, and take
possession of this region for Spain. See Mason, _Chapters from Illinois
History_ (Chicago, 1901). The United States failed to garrison St.
Josephs when the British forts were surrendered in 1796, and built
instead (1804) Fort Dearborn at Chicago.

Ouiatonon (Waweoughtannes) was situated at the head of navigation on
the Wabash River, not far from the present city of Lafayette, Indiana.
The French founded this post about 1719, among a tribe of the same
name (called Weas by the English); and kept an officer stationed there
until its surrender to the English party sent out by Rogers (1761). The
small garrison under command of Lieutenant Jenkins was captured at the
outbreak of Pontiac’s conspiracy; but through the intervention of French
traders their lives were spared, while the fort was destroyed by burning,
and never rebuilt. See Craig, “Ouiatonon,” Indiana Historical Society
_Collections_ (Indianapolis, 1886), v, ii. See also Croghan’s description
when he passed here five years later, _post_.—ED.

[86] The speculation and corruption of the French officers at the Western
posts, was notorious. Bellestre was not free from suspicions of taking
advantage of his official position to exploit the Indian trade. See
Farmer, _History of Detroit and Michigan_ (Detroit, 1884), p. 766.—ED.

[87] The French fort among the Miamis (English, Twigtwees) was situated
on the Maumee River, near the present site of Fort Wayne. The date of its
founding is in doubt; but the elder Vincennes was there in 1704, and soon
after this frequent mention is made of its commandants. During the revolt
of the French Indians (1748), the fort was partially burned. When Céloron
passed, the succeeding year, he described it as in a bad condition, and
located on an unhealthful site. About this time, the Miamis removed to
the Great Miami River, and permitted the English to build a fortified
trading house at Pickawillany. But an expedition sent out from Detroit
chastised these recalcitrants, and brought them back to their former
abode, about Fort Miami—which latter is described (1757) as protected
with palisades, on the right bank of the river. The garrison of the
Rangers sent out by Rogers from Detroit to secure this post, was later
replaced by a small detachment of the Royal Americans, under command of
Lieutenant Robert Holmes, who notified Gladwin of Pontiac’s conspiracy,
but nevertheless himself fell a victim thereto. See Morris’s _Journal_,
_post_. The fort destroyed at this time was not rebuilt. Croghan (1765)
speaks of it as ruinous. In the Indian wars of the Northwest, Wayne,
perceiving its strategic importance, built at this site the fort named in
his honor (1794), whence arose the present city.—ED.

[88] The expedition of Major Rogers to relieve the French at Mackinac,
failed because of the lateness of the season, and the consequent ice in
Lake Huron. Rogers returned to Detroit December 21, and two days later
left for Pittsburg, where he arrived January 23, 1761, after a land march
of just one month. The fort at Mackinac was delivered over to an English
detachment under command of Captain Balfour of the Royal Americans,
September 28, 1761.—ED.

[89] The place here mentioned was a Wyandot town shown on Hutchins’s map
(1778). Probably this was the village of the chief Nicholas, founded
in 1747 during his revolt from the French. See Weiser’s _Journal_,
_ante_.—ED.

[90] Croghan returned to Pittsburg by the “great trail,” a famous
Indian thoroughfare leading from the Forks of the Ohio to Detroit.
For a description of this route, see Hulbert, _Indian Thoroughfares_
(Cleveland, 1902), p. 107; and in more detail his article in Ohio
Archæological and Historical Society _Publications_ (Columbus, 1899),
viii, p. 276.

Mohican John’s village was on White Woman’s Creek, near the site of
Reedsburg, Ohio. Beaver’s Town was at the junction of the Tuscarawas and
the Big Sandy, the antecedent of the present Bolivar; for the town at the
mouth of Big Beaver Creek, see Weiser’s _Journal_, _ante_.—ED.

[91] The manuscript of the journal that we here reprint came into the
possession of George William Featherstonhaugh, a noted English geologist
who came to the United States in the early nineteenth century and edited
a geological magazine in Philadelphia. He first published the document
therein (_The Monthly Journal of American Geology_), in the number for
December, 1831. It appeared again in a pamphlet, published at Burlington,
N. J. (no date); and Mann Butler thought it of sufficient consequence to
be introduced into the appendix to his _History of Kentucky_ (Cincinnati
and Louisville, 2nd ed., 1836). Another version of this journey (which
we may call the official version), also written by Croghan, was sent
by Sir William Johnson to the lords of trade, and is published in
_New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 779-788. Hildreth published a
variant of the second (official) version “from an original MS. among
Colonel Morgan’s papers,” in his _Pioneer History of the Ohio Valley_
(Cincinnati, 1848). The two versions supplement each other. The first was
evidently written for some persons interested in lands in the Western
country—their fertility, products, and general aspects; therefore Croghan
herein confines himself to general topographical description, and omits
his journey towards the Illinois, his meeting with Pontiac, and all
Indian negotiations. The official report, on the other hand, abbreviates
greatly the account of the journey and the appearance of the country, and
concerns itself with Indian affairs and historical events. We have in the
present publication combined the two journals, indicating in footnotes
the important variations; but the bulk of the narrative is a reprint of
the Featherstonhaugh-Butler version.

With regard to the circumstances under which the official journal was
transcribed, Johnson makes the following explanation in his letter to
the board of trade (_New York Colonial Documents_, vii, p. 775): “I have
selected the principal parts [of this journal] which I now inclose to
your Lordships, the whole of his Journal is long and not yet collected
because after he was made Prisoner, & lost his Baggage &ca. he was
necessitated to write it on Scraps of Paper procured with difficulty at
_Post Vincent_, and that in a disguised Character to prevent its being
understood by the French in case through any disaster he might be again
plundered.”

The importance of this journal for the study of Western history has
frequently been noted. Parkman used it extensively in his _Conspiracy
of Pontiac_. Winsor in his _Critical and Narrative History of America_,
v, p. 704, _note_, first pointed out in some detail the differences
between the two versions. He errs, however, in confusing the letters
Croghan wrote from Vincennes and Ouiatonon. Many secondary authorities
also wrongly aver that Croghan on this journey went as far as Fort
Chartres.—ED.

[92] Croghan arrived at Fort Pitt, February 28, 1765, and from then
until his departure was constantly occupied with Indian transactions in
preparation for his journey. See _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, ix, pp.
250-264; also Withers’s _Early History of Western Pennsylvania_, app.,
pp. 166-179.—ED.

[93] Little Beaver Creek (near the western border of Pennsylvania) and
Yellow Creek (in Ohio) were much frequented by Indians. On the former,
Half King had a hunting cabin. Logan, the noted Mingo chief, lived at
the mouth of the latter. Opposite, upon the Virginia shore, occurred
the massacre of Logan’s family (April 30, 1774), which was one of the
opening events of Lord Dunmore’s War. See _Withers’s Chronicles of Border
Warfare_ (Thwaites’s ed., Cincinnati, 1895), p. 150, _notes_.—ED.

[94] The village here described was Mingo Town on Mingo bottom, situated
at the present Mingo Junction, Ohio. It is not to be confused with the
Mingo bottom opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek. The former town was
prominent as a rendezvous for border war-parties in the Revolutionary
period. From this point, started the rabble that massacred the Moravian
Indians in 1782. Colonel Crawford set out from here, in May of the same
year, on his ill-fated expedition against the Sandusky Indians. See
Withers’s _Chronicles_, chap. 13.

Possibly the chief who joined Croghan at this point was Logan, since
the former had known him in his earlier home on the Susquehanna, near
Sunbury.—ED.

[95] Buffalo Creek is in Brooke County, West Virginia, with the town of
Wellsburg located at its mouth. The first settlers arrived about 1769.
Fat Meat Creek is not identified; from the distances given, it might be
Big Grave Creek, in Marshall County, West Virginia, or Pipe Creek, nearly
opposite, in Belmont County, Ohio.—ED.

[96] The “Long Reach” lies between Fishing Creek and the Muskingum,
sixteen and a half miles in a nearly straight line to the southwest.—ED.

[97] The French called the Muskingum Yanangué-kouan—the river of the
Tobacco (Petun-Huron) Indians. Céloron (1749) left at the mouth of
this river, one of his plates, which was found in 1798, and is now
in possession of the American Antiquarian Society, at Worcester,
Massachusetts. Croghan had frequently been on the Muskingum, where as
early as 1750, he had a trading house. The inhabitants at that time
appear to have been Wyandots; but after the French and Indian War
the Delawares retreated thither, and built their towns on the upper
Muskingum. Later, the Moravian missionaries removed their converts
thither, and erected upon the banks of this river their towns, Salem,
Schönbrunn, and Gnadenhütten. In 1785, Fort Harmar was placed at its
mouth; and thither, three years later, came the famous colony of New
England Revolutionary soldiers, under the leadership of Rufus Putnam,
which founded Marietta.—ED.

[98] The Little Kanawha was the terminus of the exploring expedition
of George Rogers Clark and Jones in 1772. They reported unfavorably
in regard to the lands; but settlers soon began to occupy them, and
they were a part of the grant given to Trent, Croghan, and others at
the treaty of Fort Stanwix (1768) as a reparation for their losses in
the previous wars. About the time of Croghan’s visit, Captain Bull, a
well-known Delaware Indian of New York, removed to the Little Kanawha,
and in 1772 his village, Bulltown, was the scene of a revolting massacre
of friendly Indians by brutal white borderers.—ED.

[99] Hockhocking is the local Indian name for a bottle-shaped gourd, to
which they likened the course of this river. Its chief historical event
is connected with Lord Dunmore’s War. Nine years after this voyage of
Croghan, Dunmore descended the Ohio with his flotilla, and disembarking
at the river with his army of regulars and frontiersmen—Clark, Cresap,
Kenton, and Girty among the number—marched overland to the Scioto,
leaving Fort Gower here to guard his rear. Signs of the earthwork of this
fortification are still visible. At this place, on the return journey,
the Virginia officers of the army drew up resolutions of sympathy with
the Continental Congress then in session at Philadelphia.—ED.

[100] The “Big Bend” of the river is that now known as Pomeroy’s Bend,
from the Ohio town at its upper point. Alum Hill was probably West
Columbia, Mason County, West Virginia. See Lewis, _History of West
Virginia_ (Philadelphia, 1889), p. 109.—ED.

[101] The Kanawha takes its name from a tribe of Indians who formerly
lived in its valley, but they were destroyed by the Iroquois in the early
eighteenth century. Céloron called it the Chinondaista, and at its mouth
buried a plate which is now in the museum of the Virginia Historical
Society, at Richmond. Gist surveyed here for the Ohio Company in 1752;
later, Washington owned ten thousand acres in the vicinity, and visited
the spot in 1774. That same year, the battle of Point Pleasant was fought
at the mouth of the Kanawha by Colonel Andrew Lewis’s division of Lord
Dunmore’s army; and the succeeding year, Fort Randolph was built to
protect the frontiers. Daniel Boone retired hither from Kentucky, and
lived in this neighborhood four years (1791-95), before migrating to
Missouri.—ED.

[102] The word Scioto probably signified “deer,” although it is said by
David Jones to mean “hairy” river, from the multitude of deer’s hairs
which floated down the stream. The valley of the Scioto is famous in
Western annals. During the second half of the eighteenth century it was
the chief seat of the Shawnees whose lower, or “Shannoah,” town has been
frequently mentioned in the Indian transactions which we have printed.
The Shawnees, on their withdrawal up the valley, built the Chillicothe
towns, where Pontiac’s conspiracy was largely fomented. These were the
starting point of many raids against the Kentucky and West Virginia
settlements. From these villages Mrs. Ingles and Mrs. Dennis made their
celebrated escapes in 1755 and 1763 respectively. During all the long
series of wars closing with Wayne’s victory in 1794, the intractable
Shawnees were among the most dreaded of the Indian enemy.—ED.

[103] The result of this message in regard to the French traders, is thus
given in the official version of the journal:

“26th. Several of the Shawanese came there & brought with them 7 French
Traders which they delivered to me, those being all that resided in their
Villages, & told me there was just six more living with the Delawares,
that on their return to their Towns they would go to the Delawares & get
them to send those French Traders home, & told me they were determined
to do everything in their power to convince me of their sincerity & good
disposition to preserve a peace.”—ED.

[104] Big Bone Lick, in Boone County, Kentucky, was visited by the French
in the early eighteenth century. It was a landmark for early Kentucky
hunters, who describe it in terms similar to those used by Croghan. At
the beginning of the nineteenth century, scientists took much interest
in the remains of the mammoth (or mastodon)—the “elephant’s bones”
described by Croghan. Thomas Jefferson and several members of the
American Philosophical Society, at Philadelphia, attempted to secure a
complete skeleton of this extinct giant; and a number of fossils from the
lick were also sent to Europe. Dr. Goforth of Cincinnati undertook an
exploration to the lick at his own expense (1803), but was later robbed
of the result. The store of huge bones is not yet entirely exhausted,
specimens being yet occasionally excavated—the present writer having
examined some there in 1894.—ED.

[105] It is a curious mistake on Croghan’s part to designate the Kentucky
as the Holston River. The latter is a branch of the Tennessee, flowing
through the mountains of Tennessee, North Carolina, and Virginia.
Its valley was early settled by Croghan’s friends, Scotch-Irish from
Pennsylvania. It is probable that, as the Kentucky’s waters come from
that direction, he had a confused idea of the topography.—ED.

[106] One of the earliest descriptions of the Falls of the Ohio. Gist was
ordered to explore as far as there in 1750, but did not reach the goal.
Findlay was there in 1753. Gordon gives an account similar to Croghan’s
in 1766. Ensign Butricke made more of an adventure in passing these
falls—see _Historical Magazine_, viii, p. 259. An attempt at a settlement
was made by John Connolly (1773); but the beginnings of the present city
of Louisville are due to the pioneers who accompanied George Rogers Clark
thither in 1778, and made their first home on Corn Island. For the early
history of Louisville, see Durrett, _Centenary of Louisville_, Filson
Club _Publications_, No. 8 (Louisville, 1893).—ED.

[107] Colonel Reuben T. Durrett, of Louisville, thinks Croghan “must
have meant Salt River when he spoke of passing Pigeon River during his
first day’s journey after leaving the Falls of the Ohio.” The Owl River
he identifies with Highland Creek in Kentucky, between the mouths of the
Green and Wabash rivers.

The Wabash River was early considered by the French as one of the most
important highways between Canada and Louisiana. Marquette designates
it on his map as the Ouabouskiguo, which later Frenchmen corrupted into
Ouabache. The name was also applied to that portion of the Ohio below
the mouth of the Wabash; but James Logan in 1718 noted the distinction.
See Winsor, _Mississippi Basin_, p. 17. Croghan was probably the first
Englishman who had penetrated thus far into the former French territory,
except Fraser, who had preceded him to the Illinois.—ED.

[108] The Shawnees had formerly dwelt west and south of their habitations
on the Scioto. The Cumberland River was known on early maps as the
“Shawana River;” and in 1718, they were located in the direction of
Carolina. Their migration east and north took place about 1730. The
present Illinois town at this site, is still called Shawneetown.—ED.

[109] Being able to speak French, Lieutenant Alexander Fraser of the
78th infantry had been detailed to accompany Croghan. He went in advance
of the latter, and reached the Illinois, where he found himself in such
danger that he escaped to Mobile in disguise. See Parkman, _Conspiracy of
Pontiac_, ii, pp. 276, 284-286.

Captain Louis St. Ange de Bellerive, was the son of a French officer
who came to Louisiana early in the eighteenth century, and commanded in
the Illinois country in 1722 and again in 1733. St. Ange had himself
seen much pioneer service, having been placed in charge of a fort on
the Missouri (1736), and having succeeded Vincennes at the post bearing
the latter’s name. St. Ange remained at Vincennes until summoned by De
Villiers, commandant at Fort Chartres, to supersede him there, and spare
him the mortification of a surrender to the English. After yielding Fort
Chartres to Captain Sterling (October, 1765), St. Ange retired to St.
Louis, where he acted as commandant (after 1766, in the Spanish service)
until his death in 1774.—ED.

[110] This man was in reality captured. See Parkman, _Conspiracy of
Pontiac_, ii, p. 289, _note_.—ED.

[111] The Kickapoos and Mascoutins were allied Algonquian tribes who were
first encountered in Wisconsin; but being of roving habits they ranged
all the prairie lands between the Wisconsin and Wabash rivers. In 1712,
they were about the Maumee and at Detroit. Charlevoix describes them
(1721) as living near Chicago. Being concerned in the Fox wars, they fled
across the Mississippi; and again, about the middle of the eighteenth
century, were with the Miamis on the Wabash, where they had a town near
Fort Ouiatonon. They were always somewhat intractable and difficult to
restrain. The remnant of these tribes live on reservations in Kansas and
Oklahoma.—ED.

[112] This branch of the Wabash is now called the Little Wabash River.
The party must have taken a very circuitous route, else Croghan greatly
overestimates the distances. Vincennes is about seventy-five miles from
the point where they were made prisoners.—ED.

[113] The date of the founding of Vincennes (Post or Port Vincent) has
been varyingly assigned from 1702 to 1735; but Dunn, in his _Indiana_
(Boston and New York, 1888), p. 54, shows quite conclusively that
François Margane, Sieur de Vincennes, went thither at the request of
Governor Périer of Louisiana in 1727, and founded a fort to counteract
the designs of the English against the French trade. The French colony
was not begun until 1735, and the next year the commandant Vincennes was
captured and burnt by the Chickasaws, while engaged in an expedition
against their country. Louis St. Ange succeeded to the position of
commandant at Vincennes, which he continued to hold until 1764, when
summoned to the Illinois. He left two soldiers in charge at Vincennes,
of whom and their companions Croghan gives this unfavorable account.
No English officer appeared to take command at Vincennes until 1777;
meanwhile General Gage had endeavored to expel the French inhabitants
therefrom (1772-73). It is not surprising, therefore, that they received
the Americans under George Rogers Clark (1778), with cordiality; or that
after Hamilton’s re-capture of the place, they were unwilling to aid
the English in maintaining the post against Clark’s surprise (February,
1779), which resulted in the capture of Hamilton and all the British
garrison. After this event, Vincennes became part of the Illinois
government, until the organization of a Northwest Territory in 1787.—ED.

[114] A johannies was a Portuguese coin current in America about this
time, worth nearly nine dollars. The Indians, therefore, paid over forty
dollars for their pound of vermillion.—ED.

[115] The Piankeshaws were a tribe of the Miamis, who had been settled
near Vincennes as long as they had been known to the whites.—ED.

[116] The entries from July 1 to 18, inclusive, are here inserted from
the second (or official) version in the _New York Colonial Documents_,
vii, pp. 781, 782; hiatuses therein, are supplied from the Hildreth
version. See note 91, _ante_, p. 126.—ED.

[117] François Rivard dit Maisonville was a member of one of the first
families to settle Detroit. He entered the British service at Fort Pitt
as an interpreter, accompanying Lieutenant Fraser to the Illinois in
that capacity. In 1774, Maisonville was Indian agent on the Wabash with
a salary of £100 a year. When George Rogers Clark invaded the Illinois
country (1778), Maisonville carried the first intelligence of this
incursion to Detroit. The next year General Hamilton employed him on
his advance against Vincennes; but on Clark’s approach he was captured,
while on a scouting party, and cruelly treated by some of the American
partisans. He made one of the party sent to Virginia as captives, and the
following year committed suicide in prison.—ED.

[118] General Thomas Gage was at this time British commander-in-chief
in America, with headquarters at New York. Having come to America with
Braddock, he served on this continent for twenty years, in numerous
important offices. After the surrender of Montreal he was made governor
of that city and province, until in 1763 he superseded Amherst as
commander-in-chief, in which capacity he served until the outbreak of
the Revolution. His part in the initial battles of that conflict about
Boston, where he commanded, is a matter of general history. After his
recall to England his subsequent career was uneventful. He died as
Viscount Gage in 1787.—ED.

[119] Major William Murray of the 42nd infantry succeeded Colonel Henry
Bouquet as commandant at Fort Pitt, in the spring of 1765.

Major Robert Farmer was sent to receive the surrender of Mobile in 1763.
For a description by Aubry, the retiring French governor of Louisiana, of
Farmer’s character and manner, see Claiborne, _History of Mississippi_
(Jackson, 1880), p. 104. Late in this year that Croghan wrote (1765),
Farmer ascended the Mississippi with a detachment of the 34th infantry,
and took over the command of the Illinois from Major Sterling, being in
turn relieved (1767) by Colonel Edward Cole. Farmer died or retired from
the army in 1768.—ED.

[120] La Guthrie was the interpreter sent with Lieutenant Fraser. Sinnott
was a deputy-agent sent out by Stuart, agent for the Southern department
to attempt conciliation in the Illinois. His stores had been plundered,
and he himself having escaped with difficulty from Fort Chartres, sought
refuge at New Orleans. See _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 765,
776.—ED.

[121] We here again resume the first (Featherstonhaugh-Butler) version of
the journal, which continues through August 17.—ED.

[122] This is the Auglaize River. On the site called the Forks, Wayne
built Fort Defiance during his campaign against the Indians (1794).—ED.

[123] The rapids of the Maumee were famous in the later Indian wars.
There, in 1794, the British built Fort Miami, almost within the reach of
whose guns Wayne fought the battle of Fallen Timbers. Fort Meigs was the
American stockade built here during the War of 1812-15; and this vicinity
was the scene of operations during all the Western campaigns ending with
Perry’s victory on Lake Erie, and the re-taking of Detroit.—ED.

[124] All that follows, until the conclusion of the Indian speeches, is
inserted from the second (official) version of the journals, found in the
_New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 781-787.—ED.

[125] Although English born, Colonel John Bradstreet lived all his mature
life in America, and distinguished himself for his military services in
the later French wars. He was in the campaign against Louisburg (1745),
and was promoted for gallantry, and given the governorship of St.
John’s, Newfoundland. The outbreak of the French and Indian War found
him at Oswego, where with great bravery he drove the French back from an
attack on a convoy (1756). On the organization of the Royal Americans,
Bradstreet became lieutenant-colonel, and served with Abercrombie at
Ticonderoga (1758). His most renowned exploit was the capture, the same
year, of Fort Frontenac, which severed the connection between Canada and
its Western dependencies. After the close of the war, Bradstreet received
a colonelcy. When the news of Pontiac’s uprising reached the East, he was
detailed to make an expedition into the Indian territory by way of Lake
Erie. His confidence in Indian promises proved too great; he made peace
with the very tribes who went murdering and scalping along the frontiers
as soon as his army had passed. Bradstreet was made a major-general in
1772; but two years later, died in the city of New York. The Indians
whom Croghan found at Detroit were small bands from the north and west,
who had not received Bradstreet’s message, in time to attend before that
officer’s departure from Detroit.—ED.

[126] In the Hildreth version these names are spelled “Duquanee” and
“Waobecomica.” The former was a Detroit habitant Dequindre, who had
brought messages from the Illinois to Pontiac during the siege of
Detroit. Waobecomica was a Missassaga chief, well-affected toward the
English, whom Johnson had sent in the spring of 1765 with messages to
Pontiac. See _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, p. 747.—ED.

[127] This was Lieutenant-colonel Alexander Campbell, formerly commander
of the 95th regiment, who succeeded Major Gladwin in command of Detroit
(1764). He is not to be confused with Captain Donald Campbell, the
earlier commandant, who was killed by the Indians during Pontiac’s
conspiracy.—ED.

[128] There were present at this treaty about thirty chiefs and five
hundred warriors. A list of the tribes is given, and the names of the
chiefs. This was the last public transaction in which Pondiac was engaged
with the English. The year following, in a council with the Indians on
the Illinois, this noted chief was stabbed to the heart, by an Indian who
had long followed him for that purpose.—HILDRETH.

_Comment by Ed._—Hildreth is mistaken in calling this the last public
transaction of Pontiac. He was at Oswego and treated with Johnson in the
spring of 1766. See _New York Colonial Documents_, vii, pp. 854-867.

[129] The Saginaw Indians were a notoriously turbulent band of Chippewas,
who had a village on Saginaw Bay. They had assisted in the siege of
Detroit; and going to Mackinac to secure recruits to continue their
resistance, they attempted to kill the trader Alexander Henry. See Bain
(ed.), Henry’s _Travels and Adventures_ (Boston, 1901), pp. 148-152, an
admirably-edited work, containing much valuable information.—ED.

[130] According to Parkman, Le Grand Sauteur was Pontiac’s chief
coadjutor among the northern Indians in his attack on the English. His
Indian name was Minavavana, and he was considered the author of the plot
against Mackinac. This has been since attributed to Match-e-ke-wis, a
younger Indian; but Le Grand Sauteur remained an inveterate enemy of
the English, and was at length stabbed by an English trader. See Henry,
_Travels_, pp. 42-47.—ED.

[131] Sir Thomas Stirling, Bart., obtained his company in July, 1757, in
the 42d, or Royal Highland, regiment, which accompanied Abercromby in
1758, and Amherst in 1759 in their respective expeditions on Lakes George
and Champlain; was afterwards detailed to assist at the siege of Niagara,
and accompanied Amherst from Oswego to Montreal in 1760. _Knox._ Captain
Stirling was appointed a Major in 1770, and Lieutenant-colonel of the 42d
in September, 1771. He was in command of his regiment in the engagement
on Staten Island, and in the battle of Brooklyn Heights, in 1776; was
afterwards at the storming of Fort Washington and accompanied the
expedition against Philadelphia. He became Colonel in the army in 1779,
and was Brigadier, under Sir Henry Clinton, in the expedition against
Charleston, S. C., in 1780. _Beatson._ He succeeded Lieutenant-general
Frazer as Colonel of the 71st Highlanders, in February, 1782, and in
November following, became Major-general. He went on the retired list
in 1783, when his regiment was disbanded. In 1796 he was appointed
Lieutenant-general; was created a Baronet some time after, and became a
General in the army on the first of January, 1801. He died in 1808. _Army
Lists._—E. B. O’CALLAGHAN.

[132] The entry for September 26, and the list of tribes following, are
taken from the Featherstonhaugh-Butler edition of the journal.—ED.

[133] This letter is reprinted from _New York Colonial Documents_, vii,
pp. 787, 788. It was evidently written after Croghan’s return from the
West, and accompanied the official version of his journal, which Johnson
sent to England November 16, 1765. See _New York Colonial Documents_,
vii, p. 775.—ED.

[134] Fort Chartres was originally built as a stockade post in 1720;
but in 1756 was rebuilt in stone, and became the most important French
fortification in the West. It was an irregular quadrangle, with
houses, magazines, barracks, etc., defended with cannon.—See Pittman,
_Settlements on the Mississippi_ (London, 1770), pp. 45, 46. After its
surrender by the French, the English garrisoned the stronghold until
1772, when the river’s erosion made it untenable. For the present state
of the ruins, see Mason, _Chapters from Illinois History_, pp. 241-249.

The French trading post sixty miles above Fort Chartres, on the western
bank of the river, was the beginning of the present city of St. Louis,
which was founded in April, 1764, by Pierre Laclède. Upon the surrender
of the Illinois to the English, St. Ange, with the garrison and many
French families, removed to this new post, in the expectation of living
under French authority. To their chagrin the place was surrendered to the
Spanish the following year.—ED.

III

TWO JOURNALS OF WESTERN TOURS, BY CHARLES FREDERICK POST: ONE, TO THE
NEIGHBORHOOD OF FORT DUQUESNE (JULY-SEPTEMBER, 1758); THE OTHER TO THE
OHIO (OCTOBER, 1758-JANUARY 1759)

SOURCE: Proud’s _History of Pennsylvania_ (Philadelphia, 1798), ii,
appendix.

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

Christian Frederick Post, author of the following journals, was a simple,
uneducated missionary of the Moravian Church. His chief qualifications
for the perilous journeys herein detailed, were his intimate acquaintance
with Indian life and character, the belief of the tribesmen in his
truthfulness and honesty, and his own steadfast courage and trust in the
protection of a higher power. Born in Polish Prussia in 1710, Post early
came under the influence of the Moravians, whose remarkable missionary
movement was just beginning to germinate.

The first attempt of this church to christianize the American Indians
in Georgia having failed because of Spanish hostility, the Moravian
disciples removed to Pennsylvania (1739), and were granted land on
which to establish their colony at Bethlehem. Thither in 1742 came
Post, eager to join in evangelizing the Indians; for which purpose he
was sent the following year to assist Henry Rauch in his mission to the
Mohegans and Wampanoags. This mission had been established about 1740,
Count Zinzendorf, the great Moravian bishop, having visited its site at
Shekomeko (Pine Plains, Dutchess County, New York) and baptized three
Indians as its first fruits. The work spread to the neighboring Indian
villages of Connecticut, and Post was assigned to a circuit in Sharon
Township, Litchfield County, consisting of the villages of Pachgatgoch
and Wechquadnach. Here, in his zeal for the service, he married a
converted Indian woman (1743), and endeared himself to all the tribe.

But persecutions began to assail the humble brethren and their converts;
they were accused of being papists, arrested and haled before local
magistrates, by whom they were no sooner released than a mob of those
whose gain in pampering to Indian vices was endangered by Moravian
success, set upon them and rendered their lives and those of their new
converts intolerable. Post, who had been on a journey to the Iroquois
country (1745), was arrested at Albany and sent to New York, where he
was imprisoned for seven weeks on a trumped-up charge of abetting Indian
raids.

The situation made retreat necessary; therefore, in 1746, the Shekomeko
and Connecticut settlements were broken up, and the Christian Indians
with their missionaries moved in detachments to Pennsylvania, where,
after kindly entertainment at Bethlehem, a town called Gnadenhütten (huts
of Grace), was built for them, at Weisport, Carbon County. It was during
their stay at Bethlehem that Rachel, Post’s Indian wife, died (1747), and
there two years later he married a Delaware convert, Agnes, who lived
only until 1751.

Meanwhile, Post was employed as missionary assistant, going to Shamokin
in 1747 to aid the missionary blacksmith established there, to clear
and plant more ground. Again in 1749, he revisited the scene of his
early labors, and helped David Bruce to re-establish a mission among
the remnant left at Pachgatgoch. Two years later he was summoned to a
more distant field on the dismal shores of Labrador, where a company
of four Moravian brethren were sent to begin a mission to the Eskimos.
An untoward accident rendered this project futile; the major part of
the crew of the vessel which had transported them having been lost, the
captain impressed the missionaries to carry his ship back to England.

Thereupon Post again sought his home in Pennsylvania, dwelling
principally at Bethlehem, until called upon by the Pennsylvania
authorities to assist in public affairs. There is no certain information
of his introduction to the managers of Indian matters in Pennsylvania;
but several Christian Indians from his flock had been utilized as
interpreters, and the Friendly Association of Quakers, which was assuming
so large a rôle in treating with the natives, was well-inclined toward
the Moravian brothers.

The first mention of Post in the public records is in connection with
a message which he was employed to carry (June, 1758) in conjunction
with Charles Thomson to Teedyuscung at Wyoming.[1] On his return to the
settlements, he was immediately commissioned to go back to Wyoming with
a message from the Cherokee auxiliaries, who had come to join the army
of Forbes, and whose presence caused consternation among Pennsylvania’s
savage allies. With but five days’ respite, Post again started on a
journey beset with perils on every side, through the wilderness of
Northern Pennsylvania.[2] At Teedyuscung’s cabin he met two Indians from
the Ohio, who declared that their tribes were sorry they had gone to
war against the English; they had often wished that messengers from the
government would come to them, for then they should long before have
abandoned war.

On the receipt of this important information, the council at
Philadelphia debated to what use it might be put in furthering the plans
for Forbes’s advance. “Post was desired to accompany the Indians, and he
readily consented to go.”[3]

Antiquarians and historians have alike admired the sublime courage of
the man, and the heroic patriotism which made him capable of advancing
into the heart of a hostile territory, into the very hands of a cruel and
treacherous foe. But aside from Post’s supreme religious faith, he had a
shrewd knowledge of Indian customs, and knew that in the character of an
ambassador requested by the Western tribes, his mission would be a source
of protection. Therefore, even under the very walls of Fort Duquesne, he
trusted not in vain to Indian good faith.

The results of this embassy were most gratifying. The report of his
mission coming during the important negotiations at Easton, aided in
securing the Indian neutrality which made the advance of Forbes so much
less hazardous than that of Braddock.

But the work was only begun; and to complete it Post’s renewed
co-operation was necessary. This time he was not to venture alone.
Two militia officers, Captain John Bull and Lieutenant William Hays,
volunteered for the service,[4] and having joined Post at Reading, all
proceeded with Indian companions in their van, to overtake the army and
reach the Ohio in advance of the column.

Their mission was not in time to save the Indian ferocity at Grant’s
defeat; but it contributed to assure the French that aid from the
neighboring Indians was dubious, and that in retreat lay their only
safety. Through the simple narrative of Indian speeches and replies, one
feels the intensity of the strain: the French captain “looked as pale as
death;” “we hanged out the English flag, in spite of the French, on which
our prisoners folded their hands, in hopes that their redemption was
nigh.” Then the news came “which gave us the pleasure to hear, that the
English had the field, and that the French had demolished and burnt the
place entirely and went off.”

Of Post’s later life and its vicissitudes, we get but scattered glimpses.
For the two years succeeding these adventurous journeys, he served the
Pennsylvania authorities as messenger and interpreter, at the same time
begging to be allowed to go and preach to the newly-appeased Indians on
the Ohio. The last official act of Governor Denny was the affixing of
his signature to a passport for Post, of whose loyalty, integrity and
prudence he testifies to have had good experience.[5]

This desire to begin a mission to the Western Indians was consummated
in 1761, when Post proceeded alone to the Muskingum and built the first
white man’s house within the present limits of Ohio. The following
spring, he applied to the Moravian brethren for an assistant; whereupon
John Heckewelder was assigned to this service, and in his _Narrative_
describes their courteous reception by Bouquet at Fort Pitt, the restless
conditions among the Delawares and Shawnees, and the warnings against the
storm of fire and blood which was so soon to break over the frontier.
Heckewelder retreated in due season; Post barely saved himself by a
sudden flight.

In 1764, the ecclesiastical authorities saw fit to send this intrepid
missionary to the Mosquito Coast, where he stayed two years, making a
second visit in 1767. Toward the close of his life he retired from the
Moravian sect, and entered the Protestant Episcopal Church. His death
occurred at Germantown in 1785.

The journal of the first tour to the Ohio Indians (July 15-September 22,
1758), was printed in the appendix to _An Enquiry into the Causes of
the Alienation of the Delaware and Shawanese Indians from the British
Interest_ (London, 1759; reprinted Philadelphia, 1867). This book was
published anonymously, but was known to be the work of Charles Thomson,
a prominent Philadelphia Quaker, later secretary of the Continental
Congress. Thomson gives a brief preface to Post’s journal, and the
matter in the notes thereof is evidently by his hand; it is probable
that the notes to the second journal are also by him. The first journal
was reprinted by Proud, _History of Pennsylvania_ (Philadelphia, 1798),
ii, appendix, pp. 65-95, from which edition our reprint has been made.
Craig also published this in _The Olden Time_, i, pp. 99-125, following
almost verbatim the edition of Thomson and Proud. Rupp, _Early History
of Western Pennsylvania_ (Pittsburg and Harrisburg, 1846), appendix,
pp. 75-98, gives the same journal. The _Pennsylvania Archives_, iii,
pp. 520-544, also contains this journal, evidently taken from the same
manuscript, with but slight variations in the spelling of proper names.

Heckewelder, _Narrative of the Mission of the United Brethren_
(Philadelphia, 1820), pp. 55, 56, says: “To enumerate all the hardships,
difficulties and dangers, Frederick Post had been subjected to on these
journies, especially on the first, in the summer of the year 1758, is
at this time both impossible and needless. Suffice it to say, that what
_he_ intended the public should know, was published in the year after,
in England, under the title of ‘Christian Frederick Post’s Journal
from Philadelphia to the Ohio,’ &c. His _original_ manuscript journal,
however, which had for some time been placed in the hands of the writer
of this narrative, was far more interesting, and evinced that few men
would be found able to undergo the fatigues of a journey, bearing so hard
on the constitution, or a mind to sustain such trials of adversity—at
least not with that calmness with which Mr. Post endured it.”

The diary of the second journey of Christian Frederick Post to the Ohio,
October 25, 1758—January 8, 1759, was first printed in London, 1759, for
J. Wilkie; see Field, _An Essay towards an Indian Bibliography_ (New
York, 1873), p. 315. Proud, _History of Pennsylvania_, ii, appendix, pp.
96-132, also reprints Post’s second journal, and from this our reprint
is made. It appears also in _The Olden Time_, i, pp. 144-177; and in
Rupp, _Early History of Western Pennsylvania_, appendix, pp. 99-126. The
extract from a journal in the _Pennsylvania Archives_, iii, pp. 560-563,
entitled “Journal of Frederick Post from Pittsburg, 1758,” is in reality
that of Croghan’s—see _ante_, p. 100. For an example of the form and
spelling of the original manuscripts of these journals before they were
rigorously edited, see letter of Post’s in _Pennsylvania Archives_, iii,
pp. 742-744. The following is a sample extract therefrom:

To his honnour da Governor of Pansylvanea:

Broder, I cam to Machochlaung, wa mane Indeans luve, I cald dam all
togader, and I told dam wat we bous had agread on wan we sa one anoder
last, and wat you ar sorre for and have so mouts at hart, and dasayrt me
to mack it avere war noun avere war, and dasayrd dam to be strong and sea
dat your flasch and blod may be rastord to you; now br’r, you know dat it
is aur agreamand, dat as soun as I hoar any ting, I geave yu daracktly
notys of, and as I am as jat closs bay you, so I sand daes prasonars to
you which da daleverat to me, and I geave dam to Papunnahanck to dalever
dam to you; br. I do not sand daes poepel daun, da have had damself a
long dasayr to go daun to sea dar br. da Englesch, so I tot it proper to
sand dam along; I hop you will rajoys to sea dam and be kaynd to dam, and
allso to dam poepel dat bryng dam daun; wan I am farder from you and I
schall meat wit som, I schall bryng dam maysalf daun wan I com along; br.
you know aur worck is grat, and will tack a long taym befor we coan com
back, I salud all da schandel pepel, and dasayr you to be strong.

Ye 20 Day of May, 1760, rot at Machochloschung.

Ordinarily, the modern historical student very properly deprecates any
tampering with original manuscripts; but an examination of the foregoing
inclines one not only to forgive but to thank the early editors for
having translated Post’s jargon into understandable English.

R. G. T.

THE JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN FREDERICK POST, FROM PHILADELPHIA TO THE OHIO,
ON A MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNMENT OF PENNSYLVANIA TO THE DELAWARE,
SHAWNESE, AND MINGO INDIANS, SETTLED THERE.

_July the_ 15th, 1758.—This day I received orders from his honour, the
Governor, to set out on my intended journey, and proceeded as far as
_German Town_, where I found all the _Indians_ drunk.[6] _Willamegicken_
returned to _Philadelphia_, for a horse, that was promised him.[7]

16th.—This day I waited for the said _Willamegicken_ till near noon, and
when he came, being very drunk, he could proceed no further, so that I
left him, and went to _Bethlehem_.[8]

17th.—I arrived at _Bethlehem_, and prepared for my journey.

18th.—I read over both the last treaties, that at _Easton_, and that
at _Philadelphia_, and made myself acquainted with the particulars of
each.[9]

19th.—With much difficulty I persuaded the _Indians_ to leave
_Bethlehem_, and travelled this day no further than _Hayes’s_ having a
hard shower of rain.

20th.—Arrived at fort _Allen_.[10]

21st.—I called my company together, to know if we should proceed. They
complained they were sick, and must rest that day. This day, I think,
_Teedyuscung_[11] laid many obstacles in my way, and was very much
against my proceeding: he said, he was afraid I should never return; and
that the Indians would kill me. About dinner time two _Indians_ arrived
from _Wyoming_,[12] with an account that _Teedyuscung’s_ son, _Hans
Jacob_, was returned, and brought news from the _French_ and _Allegheny
Indians_. _Teedyuscung_ then called a Council, and proposed that I should
only go to _Wyoming_, and return, with the message his son had brought,
to _Philadelphia_. I made answer, that it was too late, that he should
have proposed that in _Philadelphia_; for that the writings containing my
orders were so drawn, as obliged me to go, though I should lose my life.

22d.—I desired my companions to prepare to set out, upon which
_Teedyuscung_ called them all together in the fort, and protested against
my going. His reasons were, that he was afraid the _Indians_ would kill
me, or the _French_ get me; and if that should be the case he should be
very sorry, and did not know what he should do. I gave for answer, “that
I did not know what to think of their conduct. It is plain, said I, that
the _French_ have a _public road_[13] to your towns, yet you will not
let your own flesh and blood, the _English_, come near them; which is
very hard: and if that be the case, the _French_ must be your masters.”
I added, that, if I died in the undertaking, it would be as much for
the _Indians_ as the _English_, and that I hoped my journey would be of
this advantage, that it would be the means of saving the lives of many
hundreds of the _Indians_: therefore, I was resolved to go forward,
taking my life in my hand, as one ready to part with it for their good.
Immediately after I had spoken thus, three rose up and offered to go with
me the nearest way; and we concluded to go through the inhabitants, under
the Blue mountains to fort _Augusta_, on _Susquahanna_; where we arrived
the 25th.[14]

It gave me great pain to observe many plantations deserted and laid
waste; and I could not but reflect on the distress, the poor owners must
be drove to, who once lived in plenty; and I prayed the Lord to restore
peace and prosperity to the distressed.

At fort _Augusta_ we were entertained very kindly, had our horses shod,
and one being lame, we exchanged for another. Here we received, by
_Indians_ from _Diahogo_,[15] the disagreeable news that our army was,
as they said, entirely cut off at _Ticonderoga_,[16] which discouraged
one of my companions, _Lappopetung’s_ son, so much, that he would proceed
no further. _Shamokin Daniel_ here asked me, if I thought he should be
satisfied for his trouble in going with me. I told him every body, that
did any service for the province, I thought, would be paid.

27th.—They furnished us here with every necessary for our journey, and we
set out with good courage. After we rode about ten miles, we were caught
in a hard gust of rain.

28th.—We came to _Wekeeponall_, where the road turns off for _Wyoming_,
and slept this night at _Queenashawakee_.[17]

29th.—We crossed the _Susquahanna_ over the _Big Island_. My companions
were now very fearful, and this night went a great way out of the road,
to sleep without fire, but could not sleep for the musquetoes and vermin.

30th & 31st.—We were glad it was day, that we might set out. We got upon
the mountains, and had heavy rains all night. The heavens alone were our
covering, and we accepted of all that was poured down from thence.

_August_ 1st.—We saw three hoops[18] on a bush; to one of them there
remained some long white hair. Our horses left us, I suppose, not being
fond of the dry food on the mountains: with a good deal of trouble we
found them again. We slept this night on the same mountain.

2d.—We came across several places where two poles, painted red, were
stuck in the ground by the _Indians_, to which they tye the prisoners,
when they stop at night, in their return from their incursions. We
arrived this night at _Shinglimuhee_,[19] where was another of the same
posts. It is a disagreeable and melancholy sight, to see the means they
make use of, according to their savage way, to distress others.

3d.—We came to a part of a river called _Tobeco_, over the mountains, a
very bad road.

4th.—We lost one of our horses, and with much difficulty found him, but
were detained a whole day on that account.

I had much conversation with _Pisquetumen_;[20] of which I think to
inform myself further when I get to my journey’s end.

5th.—We set out early this day, and made a good long stretch, crossing
the big river _Tobeco_, and lodged between two mountains. I had the
misfortune to lose my pocket book with three pounds five shillings,[21]
and sundry other things. What writings it contained were illegible to
any body but myself.

6th.—We passed all the mountains, and the big river, _Weshawaucks_, and
crossed a fine meadow two miles in length, where we slept that night,
having nothing to eat.[22]

7th.—We came in sight of fort _Venango_, belonging to the _French_,
situate between two mountains, in a fork of the _Ohio_ river. I prayed
the Lord to blind them, as he did the enemies of _Lot_ and _Elisha_, that
I might pass unknown. When we arrived, the fort being on the other side
of the river, we hallooed, and desired them to fetch us over; which they
were afraid to do; but shewed us a place where we might ford. We slept
that night within half gun shot of the fort.

8th.—This morning I hunted for my horse, round the fort, within ten yards
of it. The Lord heard my prayer, and I passed unknown till we had mounted
our horses to go off, when two _Frenchmen_ came to take leave of the
_Indians_, and were much surprised at seeing me, but said nothing.

By what I could learn of _Pisquetumen_, and the _Indians_, who went into
the fort, the garrison consisted of only six men, and an officer blind
of one eye.[23] They enquired much of the _Indians_ concerning the
_English_, whether they knew of any party coming to attack them, of which
they were apprehensive.

9th.—Heavy rains all night and day: we slept on swampy ground.

10th.—We imagined we were near _Kushkushkee_; and having travelled three
miles, we met three _Frenchmen_, who appeared very shy of us, but said
nothing more than to enquire, whether we knew of any _English_ coming
against fort _Venango_.

After we travelled two miles farther, we met with an _Indian_, and one
that I took to be a runagade _English Indian_ trader; he spoke good
_English_, was very curious in examining every thing, particularly the
silver medal about Pisquitumen’s neck. He appeared by his countenance to
be guilty. We enquired of them where we were, and found we were lost, and
within twenty miles of fort _Duquesne_. We struck out of the road to the
right, and slept between two mountains; and being destitute of food, two
went to hunt, and others to seek a road, but to no purpose.

11th.—We went to the place where they had killed two deers, and
_Pisquetumen_ and I roasted the meat. Two went to hunt for the road, to
know which way we should go: one came back, and found a road; the other
lost himself.

12th.—The rest of us hunted for him, but in vain; so, as we could not
find him, we concluded to set off, leaving such marks, that, if he
returned, he might know which way to follow us; and we left him some
meat. We came to the river _Conaquonashon_ [Conequenessing Creek], where
was an old _Indian_ town. We were then fifteen miles from _Kushkushkee_.

There we stopt, and sent forward _Pisquetumen_ with four strings of
_wampum_ to apprize the town of our coming,[24] with this message:

“Brother,[25] thy brethren are come a great way, and want to see thee, at
thy fire, to _smoak that good tobacco_,[26] which our good grandfathers
used to smoak. Turn thy eyes once more upon that road, by which I
came.[27] I bring thee words of great consequence from the Governor, and
people of _Pennsylvania_, and from the king of _England_. Now I desire
thee to call all the kings and captains from all the towns, that none may
be missing. I do not desire that my words may be hid, or spoken under
cover. I want to speak loud, that all the _Indians_ may hear me. I hope
thou wilt bring me on the road, and lead me into the town. I blind the
_French_, that they may not see me, and stop their ears, that they may
not hear the great news I bring you.”

About noon we met some _Shawanese_, that used to live at _Wyoming_. They
knew me, and received me very kindly. I saluted them, and assured them
the government of _Pennsylvania_ wished them well, and wished to live in
peace and friendship with them. Before we came to the town, two men came
to meet us and lead us in. King Beaver shewed us a large house to lodge
in.[28] The people soon came and shook hands with us. The number was
about sixty young able men. Soon after king _Beaver_ came and told his
people, “Boys, hearken, we sat here without ever expecting again to see
our brethren the _English_; but now one of them is brought before you,
that you may see your brethren, the _English_, with your own eyes; and I
wish you may take it into consideration.” Afterwards he turned to me and
said,

“Brother, I am very glad to see you, I never thought we should have had
the opportunity to see one another more; but now I am very glad, and
thank God, who has brought you to us. It is a great satisfaction to me.”
I said, “Brother, I rejoice in my heart, I thank God, who has brought
me to you. I bring you joyful news from the Governor and people of
_Pennsylvania_, and from your children, the Friends:[29] and, as I have
words of great consequence I will lay them before you, when all the kings
and captains are called together from the other towns. I wish there may
not be a man of them missing, but that they may be all here to hear.”

In the evening king Beaver came again, and told me, they had held a
council, and sent out to all their towns, but it would take five days
before they could all come together. I thanked him for his care. Ten
captains came and saluted me. One said to the others; “We never expected
to see our brethren the _English_ again, but now God has granted us once
more to shake hands with them, which we will not forget.” They sat by my
fire till midnight.

14th.—The people crowded to my house; it was full. We had much talk.
_Delaware George_[30] said, he had not slept all night, so much had
he been engaged on account of my coming. The _French_ came, and would
speak with me. There were then fifteen of them building houses for the
_Indians_. The captain is gone with fifteen to another town. He can speak
the _Indian_ tongue well. The _Indians_ say he is a cunning fox; that
they get a great deal of goods from the _French_; and that the French
cloath the _Indians_ every year, men, women and children, and give them
as much powder and lead as they want.

15th.—_Beaver_ king was informed, that _Teedyuscung_ had said he had
turned the hatchet against the _French_, by advice of the _Alleghany
Indians_; this he blamed, as they had never sent him such advice. But
being informed it was his own doing, without any persuasion of the
Governor, he was easy on that head. _Delaware Daniel_ prepared a dinner,
to which he invited me, and all the kings and captains; and when I came,
he said, “Brother, we are as glad to see you among us, as if we dined
with the Governor and people in Philadelphia. We have thought a great
deal since you have been here. We never thought so much before.”[31] I
thanked them for their kind reception; I said, it was something great,
that God had spared our lives, to see one another again, in the old
brother-like love and friendship. There were in all thirteen, who dined
together.

In the evening they danced at my fire, first the men, and then the women,
till after midnight.

On the 16th, the king and captains called on me privately. They wanted to
hear what _Teedyuscung_ had said of them, and begged me to take out the
writings. I read to them what _Teedyuscung_ had said, and told them, as
_Teedyuscung_ had said he would speak so loud, that all at _Allegheny_,
and beyond should hear it, I would conceal nothing from them. They said,
they never sent any such advice (as above mentioned), to _Teedyuscung_,
nor ever sent a message at all to the government,[32] and now the
_French_ were here, their captain would come to hear, and this would make
disturbance. I then told them I would read the rest, and leave out that
part, and they might tell the kings and captains of it, when they came
together.

17th.—Early, this morning they called all the people together to clean
the place, where they intended to hold the council, it being in the
middle of the town. _Kushkushkee_ is divided into four towns, each at a
distance from the others; and the whole consists of about ninety houses,
and two hundred able warriors.

About noon two public messengers arrived from the _Indians_ at fort
_Duquesne_ and the other towns. They brought three large belts and two
bundles of strings;[33] there came with them a _French_ captain, and
fifteen men. The two messengers insisted that I should go with them to
fort _Duquesne_; that there were _Indians_ of eight nations, who wanted
to hear me; that if I brought good news, they inclined to leave off war,
and live in friendship with the _English_. The above messengers being
_Indian_ captains, were very surly. When I went to shake hands with
one of them, he gave me his little finger; the other withdrew his hand
entirely; upon which I appeared as stout as either, and withdrew my hand
as quick as I could. Their rudeness to me was taken very ill by the other
captains, who treated them in the same manner in their turn.

I told them my order was to go to the _Indian_ towns, kings and captains,
and not to the _French_; that the _English_ were at war with the French,
but not with those _Indians_, who withdrew from the _French_, and would
be at peace with the _English_.

King Beaver invited me to his house to dinner, and afterwards he invited
the _French_ captain, and said before the _Frenchman_, that the _Indians_
were very proud to see one of their brothers, the _English_, among them;
at which the _French_ captain appeared low spirited, and seemed to eat
his dinner with very little appetite.

In the afternoon the _Indian_ kings and captains called me aside, and
desired me to read them the writings that I had. First I read part of
the _Easton_ treaty to them; but they presently stopped me, and would
not hear it; I then began with the articles of peace made with the
_Indians_ there. They stopped me again, and said, they had nothing to
say to any treaty, or league, of peace, made at _Easton_, nor had any
thing to do with _Teedyuscung_; that, if I had nothing to say to them
from the government, or Governor, they would have nothing to say to me;
and farther said, they had hitherto been at war with the _English_, and
had never expected to be at peace with them again; and that there were
six of their men now gone to war against them with other _Indians_; that
had there been peace between us, those men should not have gone to war.
I then shewed them the belts and strings from the Governor; and they
again told me to lay aside _Teedyuscung_, and the peace made by him; for
that they had nothing to do with it.[34] I desired them to suffer me to
produce my papers, and I would read what I had to say to them.

18th.—_Delaware George_ is very active in endeavouring to establish a
peace. I believe he is in earnest. Hitherto they have all treated me
kindly.

In the afternoon, all the kings and captains were called together, and
sent for me to their council. King Beaver first addressed himself to the
captains; and afterwards spoke to me, as follows:

“Brother, you have been here now five days by our fire.[35] We have sent
to all the kings and captains, desiring them to come to our fire and hear
the good news you brought. Yesterday they sent two captains to acquaint
us, they were glad to hear our _English_ brother was come among us, and
were desirous to hear the good news he brought; and since there are a
great many nations that went [want] to see our brother, they have invited
us to their fire, that they may hear us all. Now, brother, we have but
one great fire; so, brother, by this string we will take you in our arms,
and deliver you into the arms of the other kings, and when we have called
all the nations there, we will hear the good news, you have brought.”
Delivers four strings.

King _Beaver_, _Shingas_, and _Delaware George_, spoke as follows:

“Brother, we alone cannot make a peace; it would be of no significance;
for, as all the _Indians_, from the sunrise to the sunset, are united in
a body, it is necessary that the whole should join in the peace, or it
can be no peace; and we can assure you, all the _Indians_, a great way
from this, even beyond the lakes, are desirous of, and wish for a peace
with the _English_, and have desired us, as we are the nearest of kin, if
we see the _English_ incline a peace, to hold it fast.”

On the 19th, all the people gathered together, men, women, and children;
and king _Beaver_ desired me to read to them the news I had brought,
and told me that all the able men would go with me to the other town. I
complied with his desire, and they appeared very much pleased at every
thing, till I came to that part respecting the prisoners. This they
disliked; for, they say, it appears very odd and unreasonable that we
should demand prisoners before there is an established peace; such an
unreasonable demand makes us appear as if we wanted brains.

20th.—We set out from _Kushkushkee_, for _Sankonk_; my company consisted
of twenty-five horsemen and fifteen foot. We arrived at _Sankonk_, in the
afternoon. The people of the town were much disturbed at my coming, and
received me in a very rough manner. They surrounded me with drawn knives
in their hands, in such a manner, that I could hardly get along; running
up against me, with their breasts open, as if they wanted some pretence
to kill me. I saw by their countenances they sought my death. Their faces
were quite distorted with rage, and they went so far as to say, I should
not live long; but some _Indians_, with whom I was formerly acquainted,
coming up, and saluting me in a friendly manner, their behaviour to me
was quickly changed.

On the 21st, they sent Messengers to Fort _Duquesne_, to let them know
I was there, and invited them to their fire. In the afternoon, I read
them all my message, the _French_ captain being present; for he still
continued with us: upon which they were more kind to me. In the evening,
fifteen more arrived here from _Kushkushkee_. The men here now [were]
about one hundred and twenty.

22d.—Arrived about twenty _Shawanese_ and _Mingos_. I read to them the
message; at which they seemed well pleased. Then the two kings came to
me, and spoke in the following manner:

“Brother, we, the _Shawanese_ and _Mingos_, have heard your message; the
messenger we sent to Fort _Duquesne_, is returned, and tells us, there
are eight different nations there, who want to hear your message; we will
conduct you there, and let both the _Indians_ and _French_ hear what our
brothers, the English, have to say.”

I protested against going to Fort _Duquesne_, but all in vain; for they
insisted on my going, and said that I need not fear the _French_, for
they would carry me in their bosoms, i. e. engage for my safety.

23d.—We set off for Fort _Duquesne_, and went no farther this night than
Log’s town, where I met with four _Shawanese_, who lived in _Wyoming_
when I did. They received me very kindly, and called the prisoners to
shake hands with me, as their countryman, and gave me leave to go into
every house to see them, which was done in no other town besides.

24th.—They called to me, and desired that I would write to the general
for them. The jealousy natural to the _Indians_ is not to be described;
for though they wanted me to write for them, they were afraid I would, at
the same time, give other information, and this perplexed them.

We continued our journey to the fort; and arrived in sight, on this side
the river, in the afternoon, and all the _Indian_ chiefs immediately came
over; they called me into the middle, and king _Beaver_ presented me to
them, and said, “Here is our _English_ brother, who has brought great
news.” Two of them rose up and signified they were glad to see me. But an
old deaf _Onondago Indian_ rose up and signified his displeasure. This
_Indian_ is much disliked by the others; he had heard nothing yet, that
had passed, he has lived here a great while, and constantly lives in the
fort, and is mightily attached to the _French_; he spoke as follows, to
the _Delawares_:

“I do not know this _Swannock_;[36] it may be that you know him. I, the
_Shawanese_, and our father[37] do not know him. I stand here (stamping
his foot) as a man on his own ground;[38] therefore, I, the _Shawanese_
and my father do not like that a _Swannock_ come on our ground.” Then
there was silence awhile, till the pipe went round;[39] after that was
over, one of the _Delawares_ rose up, and spoke in opposition to him that
spoke last, and delivered himself as follows:

“That man speaks not as a man; he endeavours to frighten us, by saying
this ground is his; he dreams; he and his father have certainly drunk
too much liquor; they are drunk; pray let them go to sleep till they are
sober. You do not know what your own nation does, at home; how much they
have to say to the _Swannocks_. You are quite rotten. You stink.[40] You
do nothing but smoke your pipe here. Go to sleep with your father, and
when you are sober we will speak to you.”

After this the _French_ demanded me of the _Indians_. They said it was a
custom among the white people when a messenger came, even if it was the
Governor, to blind his eyes, and lead him into the fort, to a prison, or
private room. They, with some of the _Indians_ insisted very much on my
being sent into the fort, but to no purpose; for the other _Indians_ said
to the _French_; “It may be a rule among you, but we have brought him
here, that all the _Indians_ might see him, and hear what our brothers
the English have to say; and we will not suffer him to be blinded and
carried into the fort.” The _French_ still insisted on my being delivered
to them; but the _Indians_ desired them, to let them hear no more about
it; but to send them one hundred loaves of bread; for they were hungry.

25th.—This morning early they sent us over a large bullock, and all
the _Indian_ chiefs came over again, and counselled a great deal among
themselves; then the _Delaware_, that handled the old deaf _Onondago_
Indian so roughly yesterday, addressed himself to him, in this manner;
“I hope, to day, you are sober. I am certain you did not know what you
said yesterday. You endeavoured to frighten us; but know, _we are now
men_, and not so easily frightened. You said something yesterday of the
_Shawanese_; see here what they have sent you,” (_presenting him with a
large roll of tobacco_.)

Then the old deaf _Indian_ rose up, and acknowledged he had been in the
wrong; he said, that he had now cleaned _himself_,[41] and hoped they
would forgive him.

Then the Delaware delivered the message, that was sent by the _Shawanese_
which was, “That they hoped the _Delawares_, &c. would be strong,[42] in
what they were undertaking; that they were extremely proud to hear such
good news from their brothers, the _English_; that whatever contracts
they made with the _English_, the _Shawanese_ would agree to; that they
were their brothers, and that they loved them.”

The _French_ whispered to the _Indians_, as I imagined, to insist on
my delivering what I had to say, on the other side of the water. Which
they did to no purpose, for my company still insisted on a hearing on
this side the water. The _Indians_ crossed the river to council with
their Fathers.[43] My company desired to know whether they would hear
me or no. This afternoon three hundred _Canadians_ arrived at the fort,
and reported that six hundred more were soon to follow them, and forty
battoes laden with amunition. Some of my party desired me not to stir
from the fire; for that the _French_ had offered a great reward for
my scalp, and that there were several parties out on that purpose.
Accordingly I stuck constantly as close to the fire, as if I had been
chained there.

26th.—The Indians, with a great many of the _French_ officers, came over
to hear what I had to say. The officers brought with them a table, pens,
ink and paper. I spoke in the middle of them with a free conscience, and
perceived by the look of the _French_, they were not pleased with what I
said; the particulars of which were as follows; I spoke in the name of
the government and people of _Pensilvania_.

“Brethren at Allegheny, We have a long time desired to see and hear from
you; you know the road was quite stopt; and we did not know how to come
through. We have sent many messengers to you; but we did not hear of you;
now we are very glad we have found an opening to come and see you, and to
speak with you, and to hear your true mind and resolution. We salute you
very heartily.” A string, No. 1.

“Brethren at Allegheny, Take notice of what I say. You know that the bad
spirit has brought something between us, that has kept us at a distance
one from another; I now, by this belt, take every thing out of the way,
that the bad spirit has brought between us, and all the jealousy and
fearfulness we had of one another, and whatever else the bad spirit might
have poisoned your heart and mind with, that nothing of it may be left.
Moreover let us look up to God, and beg for his assistance, that he may
put into our hearts what pleases him, and join us close in that brotherly
love and friendship, which our grandfathers had. We assure you of our
love towards you.” A belt of eleven rows.

“Brothers at Allegheny, Hearken to what I say; we began to hear of you
from _Wellemeghihink_, who returned from _Allegheny_. We heard you had
but a slight, confused account of us; and did not know of the peace,
we made twelve months past, in _Easton_. It was then agreed, that the
large belt of peace should be sent to you at _Allegheny_. As these our
two old friends from _Allegheny_, who are well known to many here, found
an opening to come to our council fire, to see with their own eyes,
to sit with us face to face, to hear with their own ears, every thing
that has been transacted between us; it gives me and all the people of
the province great pleasure to see them among us. And I assure all my
brethren at _Allegheny_, that nothing would please me, and all the people
of the province better, than to see our countrymen the _Delawares_ well
settled among us.” A belt.

“Hearken, my brethren at _Allegheny_. When we began to make peace with
the _Delawares_, twelve months ago, in behalf of ten other nations,
we opened a road, and cleared the bushes from the blood, and gathered
all the bones, on both sides, together; and when we had brought them
together, in one heap, we could find no place to bury them: we would not
bury them as our grandfathers did. They buried them under ground, where
they may be found again. We prayed to God, that he would have mercy on
us, and take all these bones away from us, and hide them, that they might
never be found any more; and take from both sides all the remembrance
of them out of our heart and mind. And we have a firm confidence, that
God will be pleased to take all the bones and hide them from us, that
they may never be remembered by us, while we live, nor our children, nor
grand children, hereafter. The hatchet was buried on both sides, and
large belts of peace exchanged. Since we have cleared every thing from
the heart, and taken every thing out of our way; now, my brethren at
_Allegheny_, every one that hears me, if you will join with us, in that
brotherly love and friendship, which our grandfathers had, we assure you,
that all past offences shall be forgotten, and never more talked of, by
us, our children and grand children hereafter. This belt assures you of
our sincerity, and honest and upright heart towards you.” A belt of seven
rows.

“Hearken, brethren at _Allegheny_. I have told you that we really made
peace with part of your nation, twelve months past; I now by this
belt open the road from _Allegheny_ to our council fire, where your
grandfathers kept good councils with us, that all may pass without
molestation or danger. You must be sensible, that unless a road be
kept open, people at variance can never come together to make up their
differences. Messengers are free in all nations throughout the world,
by a particular token. Now, brethren at _Allegheny_, I desire you will
join with me in keeping the road open, and let us know in what manner we
may come free to you, and what the token shall be. I join both my hands
to yours, and will do all in my power to keep the road open.” A belt of
seven rows.

“Now, brethren at _Allegheny_, Hear what I say. Every one that lays hold
of this belt of peace, I proclaim peace to them from the _English_
nation, and let you know that the great king of _England_ does not
incline to have war with the _Indians_; but he wants to live in peace
and love with them, if they will lay down the hatchet, and leave off war
against him.”

“We love you farther, we let you know that the great king of _England_
has sent a great number of warriors into this country, not to go to war
against the _Indians_, in their towns, no, not at all; these warriors
are going against the _French_; they are on the march to the _Ohio_, to
revenge the blood they have shed. And by this belt I take you by the
hand, and lead you at a distance from the _French_, for your own safety,
that your legs may not be stained with blood. Come away on this side of
the mountain, where we may oftener converse together, and where your own
flesh and blood lives. We look upon you as our countrymen, that sprung
out of the same ground with us; we think, therefore, that it is our duty
to take care of you, and we in brotherly love advise you to come away
with your whole nation, and as many of your friends as you can get to
follow you. We do not come to hurt you, we love you, therefore we do not
call you to war, that you may be slain; what benefit will it be to you
to go to war with your own flesh and blood? We wish you may live without
fear or danger with your women and children.” The large peace belt.

“Brethren, I have almost finished what I had to say, and hope it will
be to your satisfaction; my wish is, that we may join close together in
that old brotherly love and friendship, which our grandfathers had; so
that all the nations may hear and see us, and have the benefit of it;
and if you have any uneasiness, or complaint, in your heart and mind, do
not keep it to yourself. We have opened the road to the council fire,
therefore, my brethren, come and acquaint the Governor with it; you will
be readily heard, and full justice will be done you.” A belt.

“Brethren, One thing I must bring to your remembrance. You know, if any
body loses a little child, or some body takes it from him, he cannot be
easy, he will think on his child by day and night; since our flesh and
blood is in captivity, in the _Indian_ towns, we desire you will rejoice
the country’s heart, and bring them to me; I shall stretch out my arms to
receive you kindly.” A string.

After I had done, I left my belts and strings still before them. The
_Delawares_ took them all up, and laid them before the _Mingoes_;[44]
upon which they rose up, and spoke as follows:

“_Chau_, What I have heard pleases me well; I do not know why I go to war
against the _English_. _Noques_, what do you think? You must be strong.
I did not begin the war, therefore, I have little to say; but whatever
you agree to, I will do the same.” Then he addressed himself to the
_Shawanese_, and said, “You brought the hatchet to us from the _French_,
and persuaded us to strike our brothers the _English_; you may consider
(laying the belts, &c. before them) wherefore you have done this.”

The _Shawanese_ acknowledged they received the hatchet from the _French_,
who persuaded them to strike the _English_; that they would now send the
belts to all the _Indians_, and in twelve days would meet again.

Present at this council, three hundred _French_ and _Indians_. They all
took leave, and went over again to the fort, but my companions, who were
about seventy in number.

_Shamokin Daniel_, who came with me, went over to the fort by himself,
(which my companions disapproved of) and counselled with the Governor;
who presented him with a laced coat and hat, a blanket, shirts, ribbons,
a new gun, powder, lead, &c. When he returned he was quite changed, and
said, “See here, you fools, what the _French_ have given me. I was in
_Philadelphia_, and never received a farthing;” and, directing himself
to me, he said, “The English are fools, and so are you.” In short, he
behaved in a very proud, saucy and imperious manner. He further said,
“The _English_ never give the _Indians_ any powder, and that the _French_
would have given him a horseload, if he would have taken it; see that
young man there, he was in _Philadelphia_ and never got any thing; I will
take him over to the _French_; and get some cloathing for him.”

Three _Indians_ informed me, that as soon as the _French_ got over, they
called a council, with their own _Indians_, among whom there happened
accidentally to be a _Delaware_ captain, who was privately invited by one
of his acquaintances to hear what the French had to say; and when they
were assembled, the _French_ spoke, as follows:

“My children, now we are alone, hearken to what I have to say. I perceive
the _Delawares_ are wavering; they incline to the _English_, and will be
faithful to us no longer. Now all the chiefs are here, and but a handful,
let us cut them off, and then we shall be troubled with them no longer.”
Then the _Tawaas_ [Ottawas] answered, “No, we cannot do this thing; for
though there is but a handful here, the _Delawares_ are a strong people,
and are spread to a great distance, and whatever they agree to must be.”

This afternoon, in council, on the other side of the river, the _French_
insisted that I must be delivered up to them, and that it was not lawful
for me to go away; which occasioned a quarrel between them and the
_Indians_, who immediately came away and crossed the river to me; and
some of them let me know thet _Daniel_ had received a string from the
_French_, to leave me there; but it was to no purpose, for they would not
give their consent; and then agreed that I should set off before day the
next morning.

27th.—Accordingly, I set out before day, with six _Indians_, and took
another road, that we might not be seen; the main body told me, they
would stay behind, to know whether the _French_ would make an attempt to
take me by force; that if they did, they, the _Indians_, would endeavour
to prevent their crossing the river, and coming secretly upon me. Just
as I set off the _French_ fired all their great guns, it being Sunday
(I counted nineteen) and concluded they did the same every Sabbath. We
passed through three _Shawanese_ towns; the _Indians_ appeared very
proud to see me return, and we arrived about night at _Sawcunk_, where
they were likewise very glad to see me return. Here I met with the two
captains, who treated me so uncivilly before; they now received me very
kindly, and accepted of my hand, and apologized for their former rude
behaviour. Their names are _Kuckquetackton_ and _Killbuck_.[45] They
said,

“Brother, we, in behalf of the people of _Sawcunk_, desire that you will
hold fast what you have begun, and be strong.[46] We are but little and
poor, and therefore cannot do much. You are rich, and must go on and be
strong. We have done all in our power towards bringing about a peace: we
have had a great quarrel about you with the _French_; but we do not mind
them. Do you make haste, and be strong, and let us see you again.” The
said _Killbuck_ is a great captain and conjurer; he desired me to mention
him to the Governor, and ask him if he would be pleased to send him a
good saddle by the next messenger; and that he would do all in his power
for the service of the English.

28th.—We set out from _Sawcunk_, in company with twenty, for
_Kushkushkee_; on the road _Shingas_ addressed himself to me, and asked,
if I did not think, that, if he came to the English, they would hang
him, as they had offered a great reward for his head. He spoke in a very
soft and easy manner. I told him that was a great while ago, it was all
forgotten and wiped clean away; that the English would receive him
very kindly. Then _Daniel_ interrupted me, and said to _Shingas_, “Do
not believe him, he tells nothing but idle lying stories. Wherefore did
the _English_ hire one thousand two hundred _Indians_[47] to kill us.”
I protested it was false; he said, G—d d—n[48] you for a fool; did you
not see the woman lying [in] the road that was killed by the _Indians_,
that the _English_ hired? I said, “Brother do consider how many thousand
_Indians_ the _French_ have hired to kill the _English_, and how many
they have killed along the frontiers.” Then _Daniel_ said, “D—n you,
why do not you and the _French_ fight on the sea? You come here only to
cheat the poor _Indians_, and take their land from them.” Then _Shingas_
told him to be still; for he did not know what he said. We arrived at
_Kushkushkee_ before night, and I informed _Pisquetumen_ of _Daniel’s_
behaviour, at which he appeared sorry.

29th.—I dined with _Shingas_; he told me, though the _English_ had set
a great price on his head, he had never thought to revenge himself, but
was always very kind to any prisoners that were brought in;[49] and that
he assured the Governor, he would do all in his power to bring about an
established peace, and wished he could be certain of the _English_ being
in earnest.

Then seven chiefs present said, when the Governor sends the next
messenger, let him send two or three white men, at least, to confirm the
thing, and not send such a man as _Daniel_; they did not understand him;
he always speaks, said they, as if he was drunk; and if a great many
of them had not known me, they should not know what to think; for every
thing I said he contradicted. I assured them I would faithfully inform
the Governor of what they said, and they should see, as messengers,
other guise _Indians_ than _Daniel_, for the time to come; and I farther
informed them, that he was not sent by the Governor, but came on his
own accord; and I would endeavour to prevent his coming back. _Daniel_
demanded of me his pay, and I gave him three dollars; and he took as much
wampum from me as he pleased, and would not suffer me to count it. I
imagined there was about two thousand.

About night, nine _Tawaas_ past by here, in their way to the _French_
fort.

30th and 31st.—The _Indians_ feasted greatly, during which time, I
several times begged of them to consider and dispatch me.

September 1st.—_Shingas_, King _Beaver_, _Delaware George_, and
_Pisquetumen_, with several other captains said to me,

“Brother, We have thought a great deal since God has brought you to
us; and this is a matter of great consequence, which we cannot readily
answer; we think on it, and will answer you as soon as we can. Our feast
hinders us; all our young men, women and children are glad to see you;
before you came, they all agreed together to go and join the _French_;
but since they have seen you, they all draw back; though we have great
reason to believe you intend to drive us away, and settle the country; or
else, why do you come to fight in the land that God has given us?”

I said, we did not intend to take the land from them; but only to drive
the _French_ away. They said, they knew better; for that they were
informed so by our greatest traders; and some Justices of the Peace had
told them the same, and the _French_, said they, tell us much the same
thing,—“that the _English_ intend to destroy us, and take our lands;” but
the land is ours, and not theirs; therefore, we say, if you will be at
peace with us, we will send the _French_ home. It is you that have begun
the war, and it is necessary that you hold fast, and be not discouraged,
in the work of peace. We love you more than you love us; for when we take
any prisoners from you, we treat them as our own children. We are poor,
and yet we clothe them as well as we can, though you see our children are
as naked as at the first. By this you may see that our hearts are better
than yours. It is plain that you white people are the cause of this war;
why do not you and the _French_ fight in the old country, and on the sea?
Why do you come to fight on our land? This makes every body believe, you
want to take the land from us by force, and settle it.[50]

I told them, “Brothers, as for my part, I have not one foot of land, nor
do I desire to have any; and if I had any land, I had rather give it to
you, than take any from you. Yes, brothers, if I die, you will get a
little more land from me; for I shall then no longer walk on that ground,
which God has made. We told you that you should keep nothing in your
heart, but bring it before the council fire, and before the Governor, and
his council; they will readily hear you; and I promise you, what they
answer they will stand to. I further read to you what agreements they
made about _Wioming_,[51] and they stand to them.”

They said, “Brother, your heart is good, you speak always sincerely; but
we know there are always a great number of people that want to get rich;
they never have enough; look, we do not want to be rich, and take away
that which others have. God has given you the tame creatures; we do not
want to take them from you. God has given to us the deer, and other wild
creatures, which we must feed on; and we rejoice in that which springs
out of the ground, and thank God for it. Look now, my brother, the white
people think we have no brains in our heads; but that they are great and
big, and that makes them make war with us: we are but a little handful to
what you are; but remember, when you look for a wild turkey you cannot
always find it, it is so little it hides itself under the bushes: and
when you hunt for a rattle-snake, you cannot find it; and perhaps it will
bite you before you see it. However, since you are so great and big, and
we so little, do you use your greatness and strength in compleating this
work of peace. This is the first time that we saw or heard of you, since
the war begun, and we have great reason to think about it, since such a
great body of you comes into our lands.[52] It is told us, that you and
the _French_ contrived the war, to waste the _Indians_ between you; and
that you and the _French_ intended to divide the land between you: this
was told us by the chief of the _Indian_ traders; and they said further,
brothers, this is the last time we shall come among you; for the _French_
and the _English_ intend to kill all the _Indians_, and then divide the
land among themselves.”

Then they addressed themselves to me, and said, “Brother, I suppose you
know something about it; or has the Governor stopped your mouth, that you
cannot tell us?”

Then I said, “Brothers, I am very sorry to see you so jealous. I am your
own flesh and blood, and sooner than I would tell you any story that
would be of hurt to you, or your children, I would suffer death: and if
I did not know that it was the desire of the Governor, that we should
renew our old brotherly love and friendship, that subsisted between our
grandfathers, I would not have undertaken this journey. I do assure you
of mine and the people’s honesty. If the _French_ had not been here, the
_English_ would not have come; and consider, brothers, whether, in such a
case, we can always sit still.”

Then they said, “It is a thousand pities we did not know this sooner; if
we had, it would have been peace long before now.”

Then I said, “My brothers, I know you have been wrongly persuaded by many
wicked people; for you must know, that there are a great many Papists in
the country, in _French_ interest, who appear like gentlemen, and have
sent many runaway Irish papist servants[53] among you, who have put bad
notions into your heads, and strengthened you against your brothers the
_English_.

“Brothers, I beg that you would not believe every idle and false story,
that ill-designing people may bring to you against us your brothers. Let
us not hearken to what lying and foolish people may bring to you, against
us your brothers. Let us not hearken to what lying and foolish people
say, but let us hear what wise and good people say; they will tell us
what is good for us and our children.”

Mem. There are a great number of _Irish_ traders now among the _Indians_,
who have always endeavoured to spirit up the _Indians_ against the
_English_; which made some, that I was acquainted with from their
infancy, desire the chiefs to enquire of me, for that they were certain I
would speak the truth.

_Pisquetumen_ now told me, we could not go to the General, that it was
very dangerous, the _French_ having sent out several scouts to wait for
me on the road. And further, _Pisquetumen_ told me, it was a pity the
Governor had no ear,[54] to bring him intelligence; that the _French_
had three ears, whom they rewarded with great presents; and signified,
that he and _Shingas_ would be ears, at the service of his honour, if he
pleased.

2d.—I bade _Shingas_ to make haste and dispatch me, and once more desired
to know of them, if it was possible for them to guide me to the General.
Of all which they told me they would consider; and _Shingas_ gave me his
hand, and said, “Brother, the next time you come, I will return with you
to _Philadelphia_, and will do all in my power to prevent any body’s
coming to hurt the _English_ more.”

3d.—To-day I found myself unwell, and made a little tea, which refreshed
me: had many very pretty discourses with _George_. In the afternoon they
called a council together, and gave me the following answer in council;
the speaker addressing the Governor and people of _Pennsylvania_:

“Brethren, It is a great many days since we have seen or heard from
you.[55] I now speak to you in behalf of all the nations, that have heard
you heretofore.

“Brethren, it is the first message which we have seen or heard from
you. Brethren, you have talked of that peace and friendship which we
had formerly with you. Brethren, we tell you to be strong, and always
remember that friendship, which we had formerly. Brethren, we desire you
would be strong, and let us once more hear of our good friendship and
peace, we had formerly. Brethren, we desire that you make haste, and let
us hear of you again; for, as yet, we have not heard you rightly.” Gives
a string.

“Brethren, hear what I have to say: look, brethren, we, who have now seen
and heard you, we, who are present, are part of all the several nations,
that heard you some days ago; we see that you are sorry we have not that
friendship, we formerly had.

“Look, brethren, we at _Allegheny_ are likewise sorry we have not
that friendship with you, which we formerly had. Brethren, we long
for that peace and friendship we had formerly. Brethren, it is good
that you desire that friendship, that was formerly among our fathers
and grandfathers. Brethren, we will tell you, you must not let that
friendship be quite lost, which was formerly between us.

“Now, brethren, it is three years since we dropt that peace and
friendship, which we formerly had with you. Brethren, it was dropt, and
lay buried in the ground, where you and I stand, in the middle between us
both. Brethren, I see you have digged up, and revived, that friendship,
which was buried in the ground; and now you have it, hold it fast. Do be
strong, brethren, and exert yourselves, that that friendship may be well
established and finished between us. Brethren, if you will be strong, it
is in your power to finish that peace and friendship well. Therefore,
brethren, we desire you to be strong and establish it, and make known
to all the _English_ this peace and friendship, that it may embrace all
and cover all. As you are of one nation and colour, in all the _English_
governments, so let the peace be the same with all. Brethren, when you
have finished this peace, which you have begun; when it is known every
where amongst your brethren, and you have every where agreed together on
this peace and friendship, then you will be pleased to send the great
peace belt to us at _Allegheny_.

“Brethren, when you have settled this peace and friendship, and finished
it well, and you send the great peace-belt to me, I will send it to all
the nations of my colour, they will all join to it, and we all will hold
it fast.

“Brethren, when all the nations join to this friendship, then the day
will begin to shine clear over us. When we hear once more of you, and we
join together, then the day will be still, and no wind, or storm, will
come over us, to disturb us.

“Now, brethren, you know our hearts, and what we have to say; be strong;
if you do what we have now told you, and in this peace all the nations
agree to join. Now, brethren, let the king of _England_ know what our
mind is as soon as possibly you can.”[56] Gives a belt of eight rows.

I received the above speech and belt from the underwritten, who are all
captains and counsellors.

BEAVER, KING,
DELAWARE GEORGE,
PISQUETUMEN,
TASUCAMIN,
AWAKANOMIN,
CUSHAWMEKWY,
KEYHEYNAPALIN,
CAPTAIN PETER,
MACOMAL,
POPAUCE,
WASHAOCAUTAUT,
COCHQUACAUKEHLTON,
JOHN HICKOMEN, and
KILL BUCK.

_Delaware George_ spoke as follows:

“Look, brothers, we are here of three different nations. I am of the
Unami nation:[57] I have heard all the speeches that you have made to us
with the many other nations.

“Brothers, you did let us know, that every one that takes hold of this
peace-belt, you would take them by the hand, and lead them to the council
fire, where our grandfathers kept good councils. So soon as I heard this,
I took hold of it.

“Brother, I now let you know that my heart never was parted from you.
I am sorry that I should make friendship with the _French_ against
the _English_. I now assure you my heart sticks close to the English
interest. One of our great captains, when he heard it, immediately took
hold of it as well as myself. Now, Brother, I let you know that you shall
soon see me by your council fire, and then I shall hear from you myself,
the plain truth, in every respect.

“I love that which is good, like as our grandfathers did: they chose to
speak the sentiments of their mind: all the _Five Nations_ know me, and
know that I always spoke truth; and so you shall find, when I come to
your council fire.” Gives a string.

The above _Delaware George_ had in company with him,

CUSHAWMEKWY,
KEHKEHNOPATIN,
CAPTAIN PETER,
JOHN PETER,
STINFEOR.

4th.—Present, _Shingas_, King _Beaver_, _Pisquetumen_, and several
others. I asked what they meant by saying, “_They had not rightly heard
me yet._” They said,

“Brother, you very well know that you have collected all your young
men about the country, which makes a large body;[58] and now they are
standing _before our doors_;[59] you come with good news and fine
speeches. Brother, this is what makes us jealous, and we do not know what
to think of it: if you had brought the news of peace before your army had
begun to march, it would have caused a great deal more good. We do not
so readily believe you, because a great many great men and traders have
told us, long before the war, that you and the _French_ intended to join
and cut all the _Indians_ off. These were people of your own colour, and
your own countrymen; and some told us to join the _French_; for that they
would be our fathers: besides, many runaways have told us the same story;
and some we took prisoners told us how you would use us, if you caught
us: therefore, brother, I say, we cannot conclude, at this time, but must
see and hear you once more.” And further they said,

“Now, brother, you are here with us, you are our flesh and blood, speak
from the bottom of your heart, will not the _French_ and _English_ join
together to cut off the _Indians_? Speak, brother, from your heart, and
tell us the truth, and let us know who were the beginners of the war.”

Then I delivered myself thus:

“Brothers, I love you from the bottom of my heart. I am extremely sorry
to see the jealousy so deeply rooted in your hearts and minds. I have
told you the truth; and yet, if I was to tell it you a hundred times, it
seems you would not rightly believe me. My _Indian_ brothers, I wish you
would draw your hearts to God, that he may convince you of the truth.

“I do now declare, before God, that the _English_ never did, nor never
will, join with the French to destroy you. As far as I know, the _French_
are the beginners of this war. Brothers, about twelve years ago, you may
remember, they had war with the English, and they both agreed to articles
of peace. The _English_ gave up _Cape Breton_ in _Acadia_, but the
_French_ never gave up the part of that country, which they had agreed
to give up; and, in a very little time, made their _Children_ strike the
_English_. This was the first cause of the war. Now, brothers; if any
body strike you three times, one after another, you still sit still and
consider: they strike you again, then, my brothers, you say, it is time,
and you will rise up to defend yourselves. Now, my brothers, this is
exactly the case between the _French_ and _English_. Consider farther,
my brothers, what a great number of our poor back inhabitants have been
killed since the _French_ came to the _Ohio_. The French are the cause of
their death, and if they were not there, the _English_ would not trouble
themselves to go there. They go no where to war, but where the French
are. Those wicked people that set you at variance with the _English_,
by telling you many wicked stories, are papists in French pay: besides,
there are many among us, in the _French_ service, who appear like
gentlemen, and buy Irish papist servants, and promise them great rewards
to run away to you and strengthen you against the _English_, by making
them appear as black as devils.”

This day arrived here two hundred _French_ and _Indians_, on their way to
fort _Duquesne_. They staid all night. In the middle of the night king
_Beaver’s_ daughter died, on which a great many guns were fired in the
town.

5th.—It made a general stop in my journey. The _French_ said to their
Children, they should catch me privately, or get my scalp. The commander
wanted to examine me, as he was going to _fort Duquesne_. When they told
me of it, I said, as he was going to _fort Duquesne_, he might enquire
about me there: I had nothing at all to say, or do with the _French_:
they would tell them every particular they wanted to know in the fort.
They all came into the house where I was, as if they would see a new
creature.

In the afternoon there came six _Indians_, and brought three German
prisoners, and two scalps of the _Catabaws_.

As _Daniel_ blamed the _English_, that they never paid him for his
trouble, I asked him whether he was pleased with what I paid him. He
said, no. I said, “Brother, you took as much as you pleased.” I asked
you, whether you was satisfied; you said, yes. I told him, I was ashamed
to hear him blame the country so. I told him, “You shall have for this
journey whatever you desire, when I reach the inhabitants.”

6th.—_Pisquetumen_, _Tom Hickman_ and _Shingas_ told me,

“Brother, it is good that you have stayed so long with us; we love to
see you, and wish to see you here longer; but since you are so desirous
to go, you may set off to morrow: _Pisquetumen_ has brought you here,
and he may carry you home again: you have seen us, and we have talked a
great deal together, which we have not done for a long time before. Now,
Brother, we love you, but cannot help wondering why the _English_ and
_French_ do not make up with one another, and tell one another not to
fight on our land.”

I told them, “Brother, if the _English_ told the _French_ so a thousand
times, they never would go away. Brother, you know so long as the world
has stood there has not been such a war. You know when the French lived
on the other side, the war was there, and here we lived in peace.
Consider how many thousand men are killed, and how many houses are burned
since the _French_ lived here; if they had not been here it would not
have been so; you know we do not blame you; we blame the _French_; they
are the cause of this war; therefore, we do not come to hurt you, but to
chastise the _French_.”

They told me, that at the great council, held at _Onondago_, among the
_Five Nations_, before the war began (_Conrad Weiser_ was there, and
wrote every thing down) it was said to the _Indians_ at the _Ohio_,
that they should let the _French_ alone there, and leave it entirely to
the _Five Nations_; the _Five Nations_ would know what to do with them.
Yet soon after two hundred _French_ and _Indians_ came and built _Fort
Duquesne_.

King _Beaver_ and _Shingas_ spoke to _Pisquetumen_.

“Brother, you told us that the Governor of _Philadelphia_ and
_Teedyuscung_ took this man out of their bosoms, and put him into your
bosom, that you should bring him here; and you have brought him here to
us; and we have seen and heard him; and now we give him into your bosom,
to bring him to the same place again, before the Governor; but do not let
him quite loose; we shall rejoice when we shall see him here again.” They
desired me to speak to the Governor, in their behalf, as follows:

“Brother, we beg you to remember our oldest brother, _Pisquetumen_, and
furnish him with good cloathes, and reward him well for his trouble; for
we shall look upon him when he comes back.”

7th.—When we were ready to go, they began to council which course we
should go, to be safest; and then they hunted for the horses, but could
not find them; and so we lost that day’s journey.

It is a troublesome cross and heavy yoke to draw this people: They
can punish and squeeze a body’s heart to the utmost. I suspect the
reason they kept me here so long was by instigation of the _French_.
I remember somebody told me, the _French_ told them to keep me twelve
days longer, for that they were afraid I should get back too soon, and
give information to the general. My heart has been very heavy here,
because they kept me for no purpose. The Lord knows how they have been
counselling about my life; but they did not know who was my protector
and deliverer: I believe my Lord has been too strong against them; my
enemies have done what lies in their power.

8th.—We prepared for our journey on the morning, and made ourselves
ready. There came some together and examined me what I had wrote
yesterday. I told them, I wondered what need they had to concern
themselves about my writing. They said, if they knew I had wrote about
the prisoners, they would not let me go out of the town. I told them what
I writ was my duty to do. “Brothers, I tell you, I am not afraid of you,
if there were a thousand more. I have a good conscience before God and
man. I tell you I have wrote nothing about the prisoners. I tell you,
Brothers, this is not good; there’s a bad spirit in your heart, which
breeds that jealousy; and it will keep you ever in fear, that you will
never get rest. I beg you would pray to God, for grace to resist that
wicked spirit, that breeds such wicked jealousies in you; which is the
reason you have kept me here so long. How often have I begged of you to
dispatch me? I am ashamed to see you so jealous; I am not, in the least,
afraid of you. Have I not brought writings to you? and what, do you think
I must not carry some home, to the Governor? or, shall I shut my mouth,
and say nothing? Look into your hearts, and see if it would be right or
wrong, if any body gives a salutation to their friends, and it is not
returned in the same way. You told me many times how kind you were to
the prisoners, and now you are afraid that any of them should speak to
me.”[60]

They told me, they had cause to be afraid; and then made a draught, and
shewed me how they were surrounded with war. Then I told them, if they
would be quiet, and keep at a distance, they need not fear. Then they
went away, very much ashamed, one after another. I told my men, that we
must make haste and go; accordingly we set off, in the afternoon, from
_Kushkushkee_, and came ten miles.

9th.—We took a little foot-path hardly to be seen. We left it, and went
through thick bushes, till we came to a mire, which we did not see, till
we were in it; and _Tom Hickman_ fell in, and almost broke his leg. We
had hard work before we could get the horse out again. The Lord helped
me, that I got safe from my horse. I and _Pisquetumen_ had enough to do
to come through. We passed many such places: it rained all day; and we
got a double portion of it, because we received all that hung on the
bushes. We were as wet as if we were swimming all the day; and at night
we laid ourselves down in a swampy place to sleep, where we had nothing
but the heavens for our covering.

10th.—We had but little to live on. _Tom Hickman_ shot a deer on the
road. Every thing here, upon the _Ohio_, is extremely dear, much more
so than in _Pennsylvania_: I gave for one dish of corn four hundred and
sixty _wampum_. They told me that the Governor of _fort Duquesne_ kept
a store of his own, and that all the _Indians_ must come and buy the
goods of him; and when they come and buy, he tells them, if they will go
to war, they shall have as much goods as they please. Before I set off,
I heard further, that a _French_ captain who goes to all the _Indian_
towns[61] came to _Sacunck_, and said, “Children, will you not come and
help your father against the _English_?” They answered, “Why should we go
to war against our brethren? They are now our friends.” “O! Children,”
said he, “I hope you do not own them for friends.” “Yes,” said they,
“We do; we are their friends, and we hope they will remain ours.” “O!
Children, said he, you must not believe what you have heard, and what has
been told you by that man.” They said to him, “Yes, we do believe him
more than we do you: it was you that set us against them; and we will
by and by have peace with them;” and then he spoke not a word more, but
returned to the fort. So, I hope, some good is done: praised be the name
of the Lord.

11th.—Being Monday, we went over _Antigoc_:[62] we went down a very steep
hill, and our horses slipt so far, that I expected, every moment, they
would fall heels over head. We found fresh _Indian_ tracts on the other
side of the river. We crossed _Allegheny_ river, and went through the
bushes upon a high hill, and slept upon the side of the mountain, without
fire, for fear of the enemy. It was a cold night, and I had but a thin
blanket to cover myself.

12th.—We made a little fire, to warm ourselves in the morning. Our horses
began to be weary with climbing up and down these steep mountains. We
came this night to the top of a mountain, where we found a log-house.
Here we made a small fire, just to boil ourselves a little victuals. The
_Indians_ were very much afraid, and lay with their guns and tomhocks on
all night. They heard somebody run and whisper in the night. I slept very
sound, and in the morning they asked me, if I was not afraid the enemy
_Indians_ would kill me. I said, “No, I am not afraid of the _Indians_,
nor the devil himself: I fear my great Creator, God.” “Aye, they said,
you know you will go to a good place when you die, but we do not know
that: that makes us afraid.”

13th.—In the afternoon we twice crossed _Chowatin_, and came to
_Ponchestanning_,[63] an old deserted Indian town, that lies on the same
creek. We went through a bad swamp, where were very thick sharp thorns,
so that they tore our cloaths and flesh, both hands and face, to a bad
degree. We had this kind of road all the day. In the evening we made a
fire, and then they heard something rush, in the bushes, as though they
heard somebody walk. Then we went about three gun-shot from our fire, and
could not find a place to lie down on, for the innumerable rocks; so that
we were obliged to get small stones to fill up the hollow places in the
rocks, for our bed; but it was very uneasy; almost shirt and skin grew
together. They kept watch one after another all night.

14th.—In the morning, I asked them what made them afraid. They said, I
knew nothing; the _French_ had set a great price on my head; and they
knew there was gone out a great scout to lie in wait for me. We went over
great mountains and a very bad road.

15th.—We came to _Susquehanna_, and crossed it six times, and came to
_Catawaweshink_, where had been an old _Indian_ town.[64] In the evening
there came three _Indians_, and said they saw two _Indian_ tracks,
which came to the place where we slept, and turned back, as if to give
information of us to a party; so that we were sure they followed us.

16th and 17th.—We crossed the mountain.

18th.—Came to the _Big Island_, where having nothing to live on, we were
obliged to stay to hunt.

19th.—We met 20 warriors, who were returning from the inhabitants, with
five prisoners and one scalp; six of them were _Delawares_, the rest
_Mingoes_. We sat down all in one ring together. I informed them where I
had been, and what was done; they asked me to go back a little, and so I
did, and slept all night with them. I informed them of the particulars of
the peace proposed; they said, “If they had known so much before, they
would not have gone to war. Be strong; if you make a good peace, then we
will bring all the prisoners back again.” They killed two deer, and gave
me one.

20th.—We took leave of each other, and went on our journey, and arrived
the 22d at _fort Augusta_, in the afternoon, very weary and hungry; but
greatly rejoiced of our return from this tedious journey.

There is not a prouder, or more high minded people, in themselves, than
the Indians. They think themselves the wisest and prudentest men in the
world; and that they can over-power both the _French_ and _English_ when
they please. The white people are, in their eyes, nothing at all. They
say, that through their conjuring craft they can do what they please,
and nothing can withstand them. In their way of fighting they have this
method, to see that they first shoot the officers and commanders; and
then, they say, we shall be sure to have them. They also say, that if
their conjurers run through the middle of our people, no bullet can
hurt them. They say too, that when they have shot the commanders, the
soldiers will all be confused, and will not know what to do. They say of
themselves, that every one of them is like a king and captain, and fights
for himself. By this way they imagine they can overthrow any body of men,
that may come against them. They say, “The _English_ people are fools;
they hold their guns half man high, and then let them snap: we take
sight and have them at a shot, and so do the _French_; they do not only
shoot with a bullet, but big swan shot.” They say, the French load with
a bullet and six swan-shot. They further say, “We take care to have the
first shot at our enemies, and then they are half dead before they begin
to fight.”

The _Indians_ are a people full of jealousy, and will not easily trust
any body; and they are very easily affronted, and brought into jealousy;
then afterwards they will have nothing at all to do with those they
suspect; and it is not brought so easy out of their minds; they keep it
to their graves, and leave the seed of it in their children and grand
children’s minds; so, if they can, they will revenge themselves for
every imagined injury. They are a very distrustful people. Through their
imagination and reason they think themselves a thousand times stronger
than all other people. _Fort du Quesne_ is said to be under-mined. The
_French_ have given out, that, if we over-power them, and they should
die, we should certainly all die with them. When I came to the fort,
the garrison, it was said, consisted of about one thousand four hundred
men; and I am told they will now be full three thousand _French_ and
_Indians_. They are almost all _Canadians_, and will certainly meet the
general before he comes to the fort, in an ambush. You may depend upon
it the _French_ will make no open field-battle, as in the old country,
but lie in ambush. The _Canadians_ are all hunters. The _Indians_ have
agreed to draw back; but how far we may give credit to their promises the
Lord knows. It is the best way to be on our guard against them, as they
really could with one thousand over-power eight thousand.

Thirty-two nights I lay in the woods; the heavens were my covering. The
dew came so hard sometimes, that it pinched close to the skin. There
was nothing that laid so heavy on my heart, as the man that went along
with me. He thwarted me in every thing I said or did; not that he did
it against me, but against the country, on whose business I was sent: I
was afraid he would overthrow what I went about. When he was with the
_English_ he would speak against the _French_, and when with the _French_
against the _English_. The _Indians_ observed that he was a false fellow,
and desired me, that I would not bring him any more, to transact any
business between the _English_ and them; and told me, it was through his
means I could not have the liberty to talk with the prisoners.

Praise and glory be to the _Lamb_, that has been slain, and brought
me through the country of dreadful jealousy and mistrust, where the
prince of this world has his rule and government over the children of
disobedience.

The Lord has preserved me through all the dangers and difficulties, that
I have ever been under. He directed me according to his will, by his
holy spirit. I had no one to converse with but him. He brought me under
a thick, heavy, and dark cloud, into the open air; for which I adore,
praise, and worship the Lord my God, that I know has grasped me in his
hands, and has forgiven me for all sins, and sent and washed my heart
with his most precious blood; that I now live not for myself, but for
him that made me; and to do his holy will is my pleasure. I own that, in
the children of light, there dwells another kind of spirit, than there
does in the children of this world; therefore, these two spirits cannot
rightly agree in fellowship.

CHRISTIAN FREDERICK POST.

THE JOURNAL OF CHRISTIAN FREDERICK POST, ON A MESSAGE FROM THE GOVERNOR
OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO THE INDIANS ON THE OHIO, IN THE LATTER PART OF THE
SAME YEAR.

_October 25th, 1758._—Having received the orders of the honourable
Governor _Denny_,[65] I set out from _Easton_ to _Bethlehem_, and arrived
there about three o’clock in the afternoon; I was employed most of the
night, in preparing myself with necessaries, &c. for the journey.

26th.—Rose early, but my horse being lame, though I travelled all the
day, I could not, till after night, reach to an inn, about ten miles from
_Reading_.

27th.—I set out early, and about seven o’clock in the morning came to
_Reading_, and there found Captain _Bull_, Mr. _Hays_,[66] and the
_Indians_ just mounted, and ready to set out on their journey; they were
heartily glad to see me; _Pisquetomen_ stretched out his arms, and said,
“Now, Brother, I am glad I have got you in my arms, I will not let you
go, I will not let you go again from me, you must go with me:” and I
likewise said the same to him, and told him, “I will accompany you, if
you will go the same way as I must go.” And then I called them together,
in Mr. _Weiser’s_ house, and read a letter to them, which I had received
from the Governor, which is as follows, viz.

“To _Pisquetomen_ and _Thomas Hickman_, to _Totiniontenna_
and _Shickalamy_, and to _Isaac Still_.[67]

“Brethren, Mr. _Frederick Post_ is come express from the general,
who sends his compliments to you, and desires you would come by
the way of his camp, and give him an opportunity of talking with
you.

“By this string of wampum I request of you to alter your intended
rout by way of _Shamokin_,[68] and to go to the general,[69] who
will give you a kind reception. It is a nigher way, in which you
will be better supplied with provisions, and can travel with less
fatigue and more safety.

“WILLIAM DENNY.

“_Easton, October 23d, 1758._”

To which I added, “Brethren, I take you by this string,[70] by the hand,
and lift you from this place, and lead you along to the general.”

After which they consulted among themselves, and soon resolved to go with
me. We shook hands with each other, and Mr. Hays immediately set out with
them; after which, having with some difficulty procured a fresh horse, in
the king’s service, I set off about noon with captain _Bull_; and when
we came to _Conrad Weiser’s_ plantation, we found _Pisquetomen_ lying on
the ground very drunk,[71] which obliged us to stay there all night; the
other _Indians_ were gone eight miles farther on their journey.

28th.—We rose early, and I spoke to _Pisquetomen_ a great deal; he was
very sick, and could hardly stir; when we overtook the rest, we found
them in the same condition; and they seemed discouraged, from going the
way to the general; and wanted to go through the woods. I told them,
I was sorry to see them wavering, and reminded them, that when I went
to their towns, I was not sent to the _French_, but when your old men
insisted on my going to them, I followed their advice, and went; and
as the general is, in the king’s name, over the provinces, in matters
of war and peace, and the _Indians_, at _Allegheny_,[72] want to know,
whether all the _English_ governments will join in the peace with them;
the way to obtain full satisfaction is to go to him, and there you will
receive another great belt to carry home; which I desire you seriously
to take into consideration. They then resolved to go to _Harris’s_
ferry, and consider about it as they went;—we arrived there late in the
night.[73]

29th.—In the morning, the two _Cayugas_ being most desirous of going
through the woods, the others continued irresolute;[74] upon which I
told them, “I wish you would go with good courage, and with hearty
resolution,” and repeated what I had said to them yesterday, and reminded
them, as they were messengers, they should consider what would be the
best for their whole nation; “consult among yourselves, and let me know
your true mind and determination;” and I informed them, I could not go
with them, unless they would go to the general, as I had messages to
deliver him. After which, having consulted together, _Pesquitomen_ came
and gave me his hand, and said, “Brother, here is my hand, we have all
joined to go with you, and we put ourselves under your protection to
bring us safe through, and to secure us from all danger.” We came that
night to _Carlisle_[75] and found a small house without the fort, for
the _Indians_ to be by themselves, and hired a woman to dress their
victuals, which pleased them well.

30th.—Setting out early, we came to _Shippensburg_,[76] and were lodged
in the fort, where the _Indians_ had a house to themselves.

31st.—Set out early; in our passing by _Chambers_ Fort,[77] some of the
_Irish_ people, knowing some of the _Indians_, in a rash manner exclaimed
against them, and we had some difficulty to get them off clear. At fort
_Loudon_ we met about sixteen of the _Cherokees_, who came in a friendly
manner to our _Indians_, enquiring for _Bill Sockum_,[78] and shewed
the pipe[79] they had received from the _Shawanese_, and gave it,
according to their custom, to smoak out of, and said, they hoped they
were friends of the _English_. They knew me. _Pesquitomen_ begged me
to give him some _wampum_, that he might speak to them: I gave him 400
white _wampum_, and he then said to them:—“We formerly had friendship
one with another; we are only messengers, and cannot say much, but by
these strings we let you know we are friends, and we are about settling
a peace with the _English_, and wish to be at peace also with you, and
all other _Indians_.”—And informed them further, they came from a treaty,
which was held at _Easton_, between the _Eight United Nations_ and their
confederates, and the _English_; in which peace was established; and
shewed them the two messengers from the _Five Nations_, who were going,
with them, to make it known to all the _Indians_ to the westward. Then
the _Cherokees_ answered and said; “they should be glad to know how far
the friendship was to reach; they, for themselves, wished it might reach
from the sun-rise to the sun-set; for, as they were in friendship with
the _English_, they would be at peace with all their friends, and at war
with their enemies.”

Nov. 1.—We reached fort _Littleton_,[80] in company with the _Cherokees_,
and were lodged, in the fort; they, and our _Indians_, in distinct
places; and they entertained each other with stories of their warlike
adventures.

2d.—_Pesquitomen_ said to me, “you have led us this way, through the
fire; if any mischief should befal us, we shall lay it entirely to you;
for we think it was your doing, to bring us this way; you should have
told us at _Easton_, if it was necessary we should go to the general.”

I told him, “that I had informed the great men, at _Easton_, that I then
thought it would be best not to let them go from thence, till they had
seen the general’s letter; and assured them that it was agreeable to the
general’s pleasure.”

3d.—_Pesquitomen_ began to argue with captain _Bull_ and Mr. _Hays_, upon
the same subject, as they did with me, when I went to them with my first
message; which was, “that they should tell them, whether the general
would claim the land as his own, when he should drive the _French_ away?
or, whether the _English_ thought to settle the country? We are always
jealous the _English_ will take the land from us. Look, brother, what
makes you come with such a large body of men, and make such large roads
into our country; we could drive away the _French_ ourselves, without
your coming into our country.”

Then I desired captain _Bull_ and Mr. _Hays_ to be careful how they
argued with the _Indians_; and be sure to say nothing, that might affront
them; for it may prove to our disadvantage, when we come amongst them.
This day we came to _Rays-town_,[81] and with much difficulty got a
place to lodge the _Indians_ by themselves, to their satisfaction.

4th.—We intended to set out, but our _Indians_ told us, the _Cherokees_
had desired them to stay that day, as they intended to hold a council;
and they desired us to read over to them the governor’s message; which
we accordingly did. _Pesquitomen_, finding _Jenny Frazer_ there, who
had been their prisoner, and escaped, spoke to her a little rashly. Our
_Indians_, waiting all the day, and the _Cherokees_ not sending to them,
were displeased.

5th.—Rose early, and, it raining smartly, we asked our _Indians_, if they
would go; which they took time to consult about.

The _Cherokees_ came and told them, the _English_ had killed about thirty
of their people, for taking some horses, which they resented much; and
told our _Indians_ they had better go home, than go any farther with us,
lest they should meet with the same. On hearing this, I told them how I
had heard it happened; upon which our _Indians_ said, they had behaved
like fools, and brought the mischief on themselves.

_Pesquitomen_, before we went from hence, made it up with _Jenny Frazer_,
and they parted good friends; and though it rained hard, we set out at 10
o’clock, and got to the foot of the _Alleghenny_, and lodged at the first
run of water.

6th.—One of our horses went back; we hunted a good while for him. Then
we set off, and found one of the worst roads that ever was travelled
until _Stoney creek_.[82] Upon the road we overtook a great number of
pack horses; whereon _Pesquitomen_ said, “Brother, now you see, if you
had not come to us before, this road would not be so safe as it is;
now you see, we could have destroyed all this people on the road, and
great mischief would have been done, if you had not stopt, and drawn our
people back.”—We were informed that the general was not yet gone to fort
_Duquesne_, wherefore _Pesquitomen_ said, he was glad, and expressed, “If
I can come to our towns before the general begins the attack, I know our
people will draw back, and leave the _French_.”—We lodged this night at
_Stoney creek_.

7th.—We arose early, and made all the haste we could on our journey; we
crossed the large creek, _Rekempalin_; near _Lawrel hill_. Upon this
hill we overtook the artillery, and came, before sun set, to _Loyal
Hanning_.[83] We were gladly received in the camp by the general, and
most of the people. We made our fire near the other _Indian_ camps; which
pleased our people. Soon after some of the officers came, and spoke very
rashly to our _Indians_, in respect to their conduct to our people; at
which they were much displeased, and answered as rashly, and said,
“they did not understand such usage; for they were come upon a message
of peace; if we had a mind to war, they knew how to help themselves; and
they were not afraid of us.”

8th.—At eleven o’clock the general called the _Indians_ together, the
_Cherokees_ and _Catawbas_ being present; he spake to them in a kind and
loving manner, and bid them heartily welcome to his camp, and expressed
his joy to see them, and desired them to give his compliments to all
their kings and captains:—He desired them that had any love for the
_English_ nation, to withdraw from the _French_; for if he should find
them among the _French_, he must treat them as enemies, as he should
advance with a large army very soon, and cannot wait longer on account
of the winter season. After that he drank the king’s health, and all
that wish well to the _English_ nation; then he drank king _Beaver’s_,
_Shingas_; and all the warrior’s healths, and recommended us (the
messengers) to their care; and desired them to give credit to what we
should say. After that we went to another house with the general alone;
and he shewed them the belt, and said, he would furnish them with a
writing, for both the belt and string; and after a little discourse
more, our _Indians_ parted in love, and well satisfied. And we made all
necessary preparations for our journey.

9th.—Some of the colonels and chief commanders wondered how I came
through so many difficulties, and how I could rule and bring these
people to reason, making no use of gun or sword. I told them, it is done
by no other means than by faith. Then they asked me, if I had faith to
venture myself to come safe through with my companions. I told them, it
was in my heart to pray for them, “you know that the Lord has given many
promises to his servants, and what he promises, you may depend upon, he
will perform.”—Then they wished us good success. We waited till almost
noon for the writing of the general. We were escorted by an hundred men,
rank and file, commanded by captain _Haselet_;[84] we passed through a
tract of good land, about six miles on the old trading path, and came to
the creek again, where there is a large fine bottom, well timbered; from
thence we came upon a hill, to an advanced breast work, about ten miles
from the camp, well situated for strength, facing a small branch of the
aforesaid creek; the hill is steep down, perpendicular about twenty feet,
on the south side; which is a great defence; and on the west side the
breast-work about seven feet high, where we encamped that night:[85] our
_Indian_ companions heard that we were to part in the morning, and that
twelve men were to be sent with us, and the others, part of the company,
to go towards fort _Duquesne_. Our _Indians_ desired that the captain
would send twenty men, instead of twelve; that if any accident should
happen, they could be more able to defend themselves in returning back;
“for we know, say they, the enemy will follow the smallest party.” It
began to rain. Within five miles from the breast-work we departed from
captain _Haselet_; he kept the old trading path to the _Ohio_. Lieutenant
_Hays_[86] was ordered to accompany us to the _Alleghenny_ river[87]
with fourteen men. We went the path that leads along the _Loyal Hanning_
creek, where there is a rich fine bottom, land well timbered, good
springs and small creeks. At four o’clock we were alarmed by three men,
in _Indian_ dress; and preparation was made on both sides for defence.
_Isaac Still_ shewed a white token, and _Pesquitomen_ gave an _Indian
halloo_; after which they threw down their bundles, and ran away as fast
as they could. We afterwards took up their bundles, and found that it was
a small party of our men, that had been long out. We were sorry that we
had scared them; for they lost their bundles with all their food. Then, I
held a conference with our _Indians_, and asked them, if it would not be
good, to send one of our _Indians_ to _Logstown_ and _fort Duquesne_, and
call the _Indians_ from thence, before we arrive at _Kushkushking_. They
all agreed it would not be good, as they were but messengers; it must be
done by their chief men. The wolves made a terrible music this night.

11th.—We started early, and came to the old _Shawanese_ town, called
_Keckkeknepolin_,[88] grown up thick with weeds, briars and bushes,
that we scarcely could get through. _Pesquitomen_ led us upon a steep
hill, that our horses could hardly get up; and _Thomas Hickman’s_
horse stumbled, and rolled down the hill like a wheel; on which he
grew angry, and would go no further with us, and said, he would go by
himself: It happened we found a path on the top of the hill. At three
o’clock we came to _Kiskemeneco_, an old _Indian_ town, a rich bottom,
well timbered, good fine _English_ grass, well watered, and lays waste
since the war began.[89] We let our horses feed here, and agreed that
lieutenant _Hays_ might go back with his party; and as they were short
of provisions, we, therefore, gave them a little of ours, which they
took very kind of us. _Thomas Hickman_ could find no other road, and
came to us again a little ashamed; we were glad to see him; and we went
about three miles farther, where we made a large fire. Here the _Indians_
looked over their presents, and grumbled at me; they thought, if they
had gone the other way by _Shamokin_, they would have got more. Captain
Bull spoke in their favour against me. Then I said to them, “I am ashamed
to see you grumble about presents; I thought you were sent to establish
a peace.” Though I confess I was not pleased that the _Indians_ were so
slightly fitted out from _Easton_, as the general had nothing to give
them, in the critical circumstances he was in, fit for their purpose.

12th.—Early in the morning, I spoke to the _Indians_ of my company,
“Brethren, you have now passed through the heart of the country back and
forward, likewise through the midst of the army, without any difficulty
or danger; you have seen and heard a great deal. When I was among you,
at _Alleghenny_, you told me, I should not regard what the common people
would say, but only hearken to the chiefs; I should take no bad stories
along. I did accordingly; and when I left _Alleghenny_ I dropt all evil
reports, and only carried the agreeable news, which was pleasing to all
that heard it. Now, brethren, I beg of you to do the same, and to drop
all evil reports, which you may have heard of bad people, and only to
observe and keep what you have heard of our rulers, and the wise people,
so that all your young men, women and children, may rejoice at our coming
to them, and may have the benefit of it.”

They took it very kindly. After awhile they spoke in the following manner
to us, and said, “Brethren, when you come to _Kushkushking_, you must not
mind the prisoners, and have nothing to do with them. Mr. _Post_, when he
was first there, listened too much to the prisoners; the _Indians_ were
almost mad with him for it, and would have confined him for it; for, they
said, he had wrote something of them.”

As we were hunting for our horses, we found _Thomas Hickman’s_ horse
dead, which rolled yesterday down the hill. At one o’clock we came to the
_Alleghenny_, to an old _Shawano_ town, situated under a high hill on the
east, opposite an island of about one hundred acres, very rich land, well
timbered.[90] We looked for a place to cross the river, but in vain; we
then went smartly to work, and made a raft; we cut the wood, and carried
it to the water side. The wolves and owls made a great noise in the night.

13th.—We got up early, and boiled some chocolate for breakfast, and then
began to finish our rafts; we cloathed ourselves as well as we could in
_Indian_ dress; it was about two o’clock in the afternoon, before we all
got over to the other side, near an old _Indian_ town. The _Indians_ told
us, we should not call Mr. _Bull_, _captain_, their young men would be
mad that we brought a warrior there. We went up a steep hill, good land,
to the creek _Cowewanick_,[91] where we made our fire. They wanted to
hunt for meat, and looked for a road. Captain _Bull_ shot a squirrel, and
broke his gun. I cut fire wood, and boiled some chocolate for supper.
The others came home, and brought nothing. _Pesquitomen_ wanted to hear
the writing from the general, which we read to them, to their great
satisfaction. This was the first night we slept in the open air. Mr.
_Bull_ took the tent along with him. We discoursed a good deal of the
night together.

14th.—We rose early, and thought to make good progress on our way. At
one o’clock _Thomas Hickman_ shot a large buck; and, as our people were
hungry for meat, we made our camp there, and called the water _Buck
run_. In the evening we heard the great guns fire from _fort Duquesne_.
Whenever I looked towards that place, I felt a dismal impression, the
very place seemed shocking and dark. _Pesquitomen_ looked his things
over, and found a white belt, sent by the commissioners of trade,[92]
for the _Indian_ affairs. We could find no writing concerning the belt,
and did not know what was the signification thereof: They seemed much
concerned to know it.

15th.—We arose early, and had a good day’s journey: we passed these two
days through thick bushes of briars and thorns; so that it was very
difficult to get through. We crossed the creek _Paquakonink_; the land is
very indifferent. At twelve o’clock we crossed the road from _Venango_ to
_fort Duquesne_. We went west towards _Kushkushking_, about sixteen miles
from the fort. We went over a large barren plain, and made our lodging
by a little run. _Pesquitomen_ told us, we must send a messenger, to let
them know of our coming, as the _French_ live amongst them; he desired a
string of wampum; I gave him three hundred and fifty. We concluded to go
within three miles of _Kushkushking_, to their sugar cabbins,[93] and to
call their chiefs there. In discourse, Mr. Bull told the _Indians_, the
_English_ should let all the prisoners stay amongst them, that liked to
stay.

16th.—We met two _Indians_ on the road, and sat down with them to dinner.
They informed us that no body was at home, at _Kushkushking_; that one
hundred and fifty, from that town, were gone to war against our party. We
crossed the above mentioned creek; good land, but hilly. Went down a long
valley to _Beaver_ creek, through old _Kushkushking_,[94] a large spot of
land, about three miles long; they both went with us to the town; one of
them rode before us, to let the people in the town know of our coming;
we found there but two men, and some women. Those, that were at home,
received us kindly. _Pesquitomen_ desired us to read the message to them
that were there.

17th.—There were five _Frenchmen_ in the town; the rest were gone
to war. We held a council with _Delaware George_, delivered him the
string and presents, that were sent to him; and informed him of the
general’s sentiments, and what he desired of them; upon which he agreed,
and complied to go with Mr. _Bull_, to the general. Towards night
_Keckkenepalin_ came home from the war, and told us the disagreeable
news, that they had fallen in with that party, that had guided us; they
had killed Lieutenant _Hays_, and four more, and took five prisoners,
the others got clear off. They had a skirmish with them within twelve
miles of _fort Duquesne_. Further he told us, that one of the captives
was to be burnt, which grieved us. By the prisoners they were informed
of our arrival; on which they concluded to leave the _French_, and to
hear what news we brought them. In the evening they brought a prisoner to
town. We called the _Indians_ together, that were at home, and explained
the matter to them, and told them, as their own people had desired
the general to give them a guide to conduct them safe home and by a
misfortune, your people have fallen in with this party, and killed five
and taken five prisoners; and we are now informed that one of them is to
be burnt; “Consider, my brethren, if you should give us a guide, to bring
us safe on our way home, and our parties should fall in with you, how
hard you would take it.”

They said, “Brother, it is a hard matter, and we are sorry it hath
happened so.” I answered, “Let us therefore spare no pains to relieve
them from any cruelty.” We could scarce find a messenger, that would
undertake to go to _Sawcung_, where the prisoner was to be bu[r]nt. We
promised to one named _Compass_, 500 black wampum, and Mr. _Hays_ gave
him a shirt and a dollar, on which he promised to go. We sent him as a
messenger. By a string of wampum I spoke these words, “Brethren, consider
the messengers are come home with good news, and three of your brethren,
the _English_, with them. We desire you would pity your own young men,
women and children, and use no hardships towards the captives, as having
been guiding our party.”

Afterwards the warriors informed us, that their design had not been to
go to war, but that they had a mind to go to the general and speak with
him; and on the road the _French_ made a division among them, that they
could not agree; after which they were discovered by the _Cherokees_
and _Catawbas_, who fled, and left their bundles, where they found an
_English_ colour. So _Kekeuscung_ told them he would go before them
to the general, if they would follow him; but they would not agree
to it; and the _French_ persuaded them to fall upon the _English_ at
_Loyal-hanning_;[95] they accordingly did, and as they were driven back,
they fell in with that party, that guided us, which they did not know.
They seemed very sorry for it.

18th.—Captain _Bull_ acted as commander, without letting us know any
thing, or communicating with us. He and _George_ relieved a prisoner from
the warriors, by what means I do not know. When the warriors were met,
he then called us first to sit down, and to hear what they had to say.
The _Indian_ that delivered the prisoner to _Bull_ and _George_, spoke as
follows:

“My brethren, the _English_ are at such a distance from us, as if they
were under ground, that I cannot hear them. I am very glad to hear from
you such good news; and I am very sorry that it happened so, that I went
to war. Now I let the general know, he should consider his young men, and
if you should have any of us, to set them at liberty, so as we do to you.”

Then _Pesquitomen_ said, “As the Governor gave these three messengers
into my bosom, so I now likewise, by this string of wampum, give _Bull_
into _Delaware George’s_ bosom, to bring him safe to the general.” Mr.
_Bull_ sat down with the prisoner, who gave him some intelligence in
writing; at which the _Indians_ grew very jealous and asked them what
they had to write there? I wrote a letter to the general by Mr. _Bull_.
In the afternoon Mr. _Bull_, _Delaware George_, and _Keskenepalen_ set
out for the camp. Towards night they brought in another prisoner. When
Mr. _Bull_ and company were gone, the _Indians_ took the same prisoner,
whom Mr. _Bull_ had relieved, and bound him and carried him to another
town, without our knowledge. I a thousand times wished Mr. _Bull_ had
never meddled in the affair, fearing they would exceedingly punish, and
bring the prisoner to confession of the contents of the writing.

19th.—A great many of the warriors came home. The _French_ had infused
bad notions into the _Indians_, by means of the letters, they found
upon Lieutenant _Hays_, who was killed, which they falsely interpreted
to them, viz. That, in one letter it was wrote, that the general should
do all that was in his power to conquer the _French_, and, in the mean
time the messengers to the _Indians_ should do their utmost to draw
the Indians back, and keep them together in conferences, till he, the
general, had made a conquest of the _French_, and afterwards he should
fall upon all _Indians_, and destroy them. And, that, if we should lose
our lives, the _English_ would carry on the war, so long as an _Indian_,
or _Frenchman_ was alive. Thereupon the French said to the Indians;

“Now you can see, my children, how the _English_ want to deceive you,
and if it would not offend you, I would go and knock these messengers on
the head, before you should be deceived by them.” One of the _Indian_
captains spoke to the _French_ and said, “To be sure it would offend us,
if you should offer to knock them on the head. If you have a mind to go
to war, go to the _English_ army, and knock them on the head, and not
these three men, that come with a message to us.”

After this speech the _Indians_ went all off, and left the _French_.
Nevertheless it had enraged some of the young people, and made them
suspicious; so that it was a precarious time for us. I said, “Brethren,
have good courage, and be strong; let not every wind disturb your mind;
let the _French_ bring the letter here; for, as you cannot read, they may
tell you thousands of false stories. We will read the letter to you. As
_Isaac Still_[96] can read, he will tell you the truth.”

After this all the young men were gathered together, _Isaac Still_ being
in company. The young men said, “One that had but half an eye could see
that the _English_ only intended to cheat them; and that it was best to
knock every one of us messengers on the head.”

Then _Isaac_ began to speak and said, “I am ashamed to hear such talking
from you; you are but boys like me; you should not talk of such a thing.
There have been thirteen nations at _Easton_, where they have established
a firm peace with the _English_; and I have heard that the Five Nations
were always called the wisest; go tell them that they are fools, and
cannot see; and tell them that you are kings, and wise men. Go and tell
the _Cayuga_ chiefs so, that are here; and you will become great men.”
Afterwards they were all still, and said not one word more.

20th.—There came a great many more together in the town, and brought
_Henry Osten_, the sergeant, who was to have been burnt. They hallooed
the war halloo; and the men and women beat him till he came into the
house.[97] It is a grievous and melancholy sight to see our fellow
mortals so abused. _Isaac Still_ had a long discourse with the _French_
captain; who made himself great, by telling how he had fought the
_English_ at _Loyal-Hanning_. _Isaac_ rallied him, and said he had seen
them scalp horses, and take others for food. The first he denied, but the
second he owned. _Isaac_ ran the captain quite down, before them all.
The _French_ captain spoke with the two _Cayugas_; at last the _Cayugas_
spoke very sharp to him, so that he grew pale, and was quite silent.

These three days past was precarious time for us. We were warned not to
go far from the house; because the people who came from the slaughter,
having been driven back, were possessed with a murdering spirit; which
led them as in a halter, in which they were catched, and with bloody
vengeance were thirsty and drunk. This afforded a melancholy prospect.
_Isaac Still_ was himself dubious of our lives. We did not let Mr.
_Hays_ know of the danger. I said, “As God hath stopped the mouth of the
lions, that they could not devour _Daniel_, so he will preserve us from
their fury, and bring us through.” I had a discourse with Mr. _Hays_
concerning our message, and begged him he would pray to God for grace and
wisdom, that he would grant us peace among this people. We will remain in
stillness, and not look to our own credit. We are in the service of our
king and country. This people are rebellious in heart.

Now we are here to reconcile them again to the General, Governor, and
the _English_ nation; to turn them again from their errors. And I wished
that God would grant us his grace, whereby we may do it; which I hope and
believe he will do. Mr. _Hays_ took it to heart and was convinced of all;
which much rejoiced me. I begged _Isaac Still_ to watch over himself and
not to be discouraged; for I hoped the storm would soon pass by.

In the afternoon all the captains gathered together in the middle town;
they sent for us, and desired we should give them information of our
message. Accordingly we did. We read the message with great satisfaction
to them. It was a great pleasure both to them and us. The number of
captains and counsellors were sixteen. In the evening messengers arrived
from _fort Duquesne_, with a string of wampum from the commander; upon
which they all came together in the house where we lodged. The messengers
delivered their string, with these words from their father, the _French_
King:

“My children, come to me, and hear what I have to say. The _English_ are
coming with an army to destroy both you and me. I therefore desire you
immediately, my children, to hasten with all the young men; we will
drive the _English_ and destroy them. I, as a father, will tell you
always what is best.” He laid the string before one of the captains.
After a little conversation, the captain stood up and said; “I have just
heard something of our brethren the _English_, which pleaseth me much
better. I will not go. Give it to the others, may be they will go.” The
messenger took up again the string and said, “He won’t go, he has heard
of the _English_.”[98] Then all cried out, “yes, yes, we have heard from
the _English_.” He then threw the string to the other fire place, where
the other captains were; but they kicked it from one to another, as if it
was a snake. Captain _Peter_ took a stick, and with it flung the string
from one end of the room to the other,[99] and said, “Give it to the
_French_ captain, and let him go with his young men; he boasted much of
his fighting; now let us see his fighting. We have often ventured our
lives for him; and had hardly a loaf of bread, when we came to him; and
now he thinks we should jump to serve him.” Then we saw the _French_
captain mortified to the uttermost; he looked as pale as death. The
Indians discoursed and joked till midnight; and the _French_ captain sent
messengers at midnight to _fort Duquesne_.

21st.—We were informed that the general was within twenty miles of _fort
Duquesne_. As the _Indians_ were afraid the _English_ would come over the
river _Ohio_, I spoke with some of the captains, and told them that, “I
supposed the general intended to surround the _French_, and therefore
must come to this side the river; but we assure you that he will not
come to your towns to hurt you.” I begged them to let the _Shawanese_
at _Logstown_, know it, and gave them four strings of 300 wampum, with
this message; “Brethren, we are arrived with good news, waiting for you;
we desire you to be strong, and remember the ancient friendship your
grandfathers had with the _English_. We wish you would remember it, and
pity your young men, women and children, and keep away from the _French_;
and if the _English_ should come to surround the _French_, be not afraid.
We assure you they won’t hurt you.”

22d.—_Kittiuskund_ came home, and sent for us, being very glad to see
us. He informed us, the general was within fifteen miles of the _French
fort_; that the _French_ had uncovered their houses, and laid the roofs
round the fort to set it on fire, and made ready to go off, and would
demolish the fort, and let the _English_ have the bare ground; saying;
“they are not able to build a strong fort this winter; and we will be
early enough in the spring to destroy them. We will come with seventeen
nations of _Indians_, and a great many _French_, and build a stone fort.”

The Indians danced round the fire till midnight, for joy of their
brethren, the _English_, coming. There went some scouting parties towards
the army. Some of the captains told me, that _Shamokin Daniel_, who came
with me in my former journey, had fairly sold me to the _French_; and the
_French_ had been very much displeased that the _Indians_ had brought me
away.

23d.—The _liar_ raised a story, as if the _English_ were divided into
three bodies, to come on this side the river. They told us the _Cayugas_,
that came with us, had said so. We told the _Cayugas_ of it; on which
they called the other _Indians_ together; denied that they ever said
so; and said, they were sent to this place from the _Five Nations_, to
tell them to do their best endeavors to send the _French_ off from this
country; and when that was done they would go and tell the general to go
back over the mountains.

I see the _Indians_ concern themselves very much about the affair of
land; and are continually jealous, and afraid the _English_ will take
their land. I told them to be still and content themselves, “for there
are some chiefs of the _Five Nations_ with the army; they will settle the
affair, as they are the chief owners of the land; and it will be well for
you to come and speak with the general yourselves.”

_Isaac Still_ asked the _French_ captain, whether it was true, that
_Daniel_ had sold me to the _French_? He owned it, and said, I was
theirs, they had bought me fairly; and, if the _Indians_ would give them
leave, he would take me.

24th.—We hanged out the _English_ flag, in spite of the _French_; on
which our prisoners folded their hands, in hopes that their redemption
was nigh, looking up to God, which melted my heart in tears, and prayers
to God, to hear their prayers, and change the times, and the situation,
which our prisoners are in, and under which they groan. “O Lord, said
they, when will our redemption come, that we shall be delivered, and
return home?”—And if any accident happeneth, which the _Indians_ dislike,
the prisoners all tremble with fear, saying, “Lord, what will become
of us, and what will be the end of our lives?” So that they often wish
themselves rather under the ground, than in this life. King Beaver came
home, and called us to his house, and saluted us in a friendly manner;
which we, in like manner, did to him. Afterwards I spoke by four strings
of 350 wampum, and said, as followeth:

“I have a salutation to you, and all your people, from the general, the
governor, and many other gentlemen. Brother, it pleases me that the day
is come to see you and your people. We have warmed ourselves by your
fire, and waited for you, and thank you, that you did come home. We have
good news of great importance; which we hope will make you, and all your
people’s hearts glad. By these strings I desire you would be pleased to
call all your kings and captains, from all the towns and nations; so that
they all may hear us, and have the benefit thereof, while they live, and
their children after them.”

Then he said, “As soon as I heard of your coming, I rose up directly to
come to you.” Then there came another message, which called me to another
place, where six kings of six nations were met together. I sent them
word, they should sit together a while, and smoke their pipes, and I
would come to them. King Beaver said further,

“Brother, it pleaseth me to hear that you brought such good news; and
my heart rejoices already at what you said to me. It rejoices me that I
have now heard of you.” I said, “Brother, you did well, that you first
came here, before you went to the kings; as the good news we brought is
to all nations, from the rising of the sun to the going down of the same;
that want to be in peace and friendship with the _English_. So it will
give them satisfaction, when they hear it.” The _French_ captain told us,
that they would demolish the fort; and he thought the _English_ would be
to-day at the place.

25th.—_Shingas_ came home, and saluted us in a friendly manner, and so
did _Beaver_, in our house; and then they told us, they would hear our
message; and we perceived that the _French_ captain had an inclination to
hear it. We called _Beaver_ and _Shingas_, and informed them, that all
the nations, at _Easton_, had agreed with the governor, that every thing
should be kept secret from the ears and eyes of the _French_. He said,
“it was no matter, they were beaten already. It is good news, and if he
would say any thing, we would tell him what friendship we have together.”
Accordingly they met together, and the _French_ captain was present. The
number consisted of about fifty.

King _Beaver_ first spoke to his men, “Hearken, all you captains and
warriors, here are our brethren, the _English_; I wish that you may give
attention, and take notice of what they say. As it is for our good, that
there may an everlasting peace be established, although there is a great
deal of mischief done, if it pleaseth God to help us, we may live in
peace again.”

Then I began to speak by four strings to them, and said,

“Brethren, being come here to see you, I perceive your bodies are all
stained with blood, and observe tears and sorrows in your eyes: With
this string I clean your body from blood, and wipe and anoint your
eyes with the healing oil, so that you may see your brethren clearly.
And as so many storms have blown since we last saw one another, and we
are at such a distance from you, that you could not rightly hear us as
yet, I, by this string, take a soft feather, and with that good oil,
our grandfathers used, open and clear your ears, so that you may both
hear and understand what your brethren have to say to you. And by these
strings I clear your throat from the dust, and take all the bitterness
out of your heart, and clear the passage from the heart to the throat,
that you may speak freely with your brethren, the _English_, from the
heart.”

Then _Isaac Still_ gave the pipe, sent by the _Friends_,[100] filled with
tobacco, and handed round, after their custom, and said:

“Brethren, here is the pipe, which your grandfathers used to smoke with,
when they met together in councils of peace. And here is some of that
good tobacco, prepared for our grandfathers from God:—When you shall
taste of it, you shall feel it through all your body; and it will put
you in remembrance of the good councils, your grandfathers used to hold
with the _English_, your brethren, and that ancient friendship, they had
together.”

King _Beaver_ rose, and thanked us first, that we had cleared his body
from the blood, and wiped the tears and sorrow from his eyes, and opened
his ears, so that now he could well hear and understand. Likewise he
returned thanks for the _pipe and tobacco_, that we brought, which our
grandfathers used to smoke. He said,—“When I tasted that good tobacco, I
felt it all through my body, and it made me all over well.”

Then we delivered the messages, as followeth:

Governor _Denny’s_ answer to the message of the _Ohio Indians_, brought
by _Frederick Post_, _Pesquitomen_ and _Thomas Hickman_.

“By this string, my _Indian_ brethren of the United Nations and
_Delawares_, join with me, in requiring of the _Indian_ councils, to
which these following messages shall be presented, to keep every thing
private from the eyes and ears of the _French_.” A string.

“Brethren, we received your message by _Pesquitomen_ and _Frederick
Post_, and thank you for the care you have taken of our messenger of
peace, and that you have put him in your bosom, and protected him against
our enemy, _Onontio_, and his children, and sent him safe back to our
council fire, by the same man, that received him from us.” A string.

“Brethren, I only sent _Post_ to peep into your cabbins, and to know
the sentiments of your old men, and to look at your faces, to see how
you look. And I am glad to hear from him, that you look friendly; and
that there still remain some sparks of love towards us. It was what
we believed before hand, and therefore we never let slip the chain of
friendship, but held it fast, on our side, and it has never dropt out of
our hands. By this belt we desire that you will dig up your end of the
chain of friendship, that you suffered, by the subtlety of the _French_,
to be buried.” A belt.

“Brethren, it happened that the governor of _Jersey_ was with me, and a
great many _Indian_ brethren, sitting in council at _Easton_, when your
messengers arrived; and it gave pleasure to every one that heard it; and
it will afford the same satisfaction to our neighboring governors, and
their people, when they come to hear it. I shall send messengers to them,
and acquaint them with what you have said.

“Your requesting us to let the king of _England_ know your good
dispositions we took to heart, and shall let him know it; and we will
speak in your favor to his majesty, who has, for some time past, looked
upon you as his lost children. And we can assure you, that, as a tender
father over all his children, he will forgive what is past, and receive
you again into his arms.” A belt.

“Brethren, if you are in earnest to be reconciled to us, you will keep
your young men from attacking our country and killing and carrying
captive our back inhabitants; And will likewise give orders, that your
people may be kept at a distance from _Fort Duquesne_; that they may
not be hurt by our warriors, who are sent by our king to chastise the
_French_, and not to hurt you. Consider the commanding officer of that
army treads heavy, and would be very sorry to hurt any of his _Indian_
brethren.” A large belt.

“And brethren, the chiefs of the _United Nations_, with their cousins,
our brethren, the _Delawares_, and others now here, jointly with me
send this belt, which has upon it two figures, that represent all
the _English_, and all the _Indians_, now present, taking hands, and
delivering it to _Pesquitomen_: and we desire it may be likewise sent to
the _Indians_, who are named at the end of these messages;[101] as they
have all been formerly our very good friends and allies; and we desire
they will all go from among the _French_ to their own towns, and no
longer help the _French_.

“_Brethren on the Ohio_, if you take the belts we just now gave you, in
which all here join, _English_ and _Indians_, as we do not doubt you
will; then, by this belt, I make a road for you, and invite you to come
to _Philadelphia_, to your first old council fire, which was kindled when
we first saw one another; which fire we will kindle up again, and remove
all disputes, and renew the old and first treaties of friendship. This
is a clear and open road for you; fear, therefore, nothing, and come to
us with as many as can be of the _Delawares_, _Shawanese_, or of the _Six
Nations_: We will be glad to see you; we desire all tribes and nations
of _Indians_, who are in alliance with you, may come. As soon as we hear
of your coming, of which you will give us timely notice, we will lay up
provisions for you along the road.”

A large white belt, with the figure of a man, at each end, and streaks of
black, representing the road from the _Ohio_ to _Philadelphia_.

“Brethren, the _Six Nation_ and _Delaware_ chiefs join with me in those
belts, which are tied together, to signify our union and friendship for
each other; with them we jointly take the _tomahawks_ out of your hands,
and bury them under ground.

“We speak aloud, so as you may hear us; you see we all stand together,
joined hand in hand.” Two belts tied together.

“General _Forbes_ to the _Shawanese_, and _Delawares_, on the _Ohio_.

“Brethren, I embrace this opportunity by our brother, _Pesquitomen_, who
is now on his return home with some of your uncles, of the _Six Nations_,
from the treaty of _Easton_, of giving you joy of the happy conclusion of
that great council, which is perfectly agreeable to me; as it is for the
mutual advantage of our brethren, the _Indians_, as well as the _English_
nation.

“I am glad to find that all past disputes and animosities are now finally
settled, and amicably adjusted; and I hope they will be for ever buried
in oblivion, and that you will now again be firmly united in the interest
of your brethren, the _English_.”

“As I am now advancing, at the head of a large army, against his
majesty’s enemies, the _French_, on the _Ohio_, I must strongly recommend
to you to send immediate notice to any of your people, who may be at
the _French_ fort, to return forthwith to your towns; where you may sit
by your fires, with your wives and children, quiet and undisturbed, and
smoke your pipes in safety. Let the _French_ fight their own battles,
as they were the first cause of the war, and the occasion of the long
difference, which hath subsisted between you and your brethren, the
_English_; but I must entreat you to restrain your young men from
crossing the _Ohio_, as it will be impossible for me to distinguish them
from our enemies; which I expect you will comply with, without delay;
lest, by your neglect thereof, I should be the innocent cause of some of
our brethren’s death. This advice take and keep in your own breasts, and
suffer it not to reach the ears of the _French_.

“As a proof of the truth and sincerity of what I say, and to confirm the
tender regard I have for the lives and welfare of our brethren, on the
_Ohio_, I send you this string of wampum.

“I am, brethren and warriors,

“Your friend and brother,

“JOHN FORBES.”

“Brethren, kings _Beaver_ and _Shingas_, and all the warriors, who join
with you:

“The many acts of hostility, committed by the _French_ against the
_British_ subjects, made it necessary for the king to take up arms, in
their defence, and to redress their wrongs, which have been done them;
heaven hath favoured the justice of the cause, and given success to his
fleets and armies, in different parts of the world. I have received his
commands, with regard to what is to be done on the _Ohio_, and shall
endeavour to act like a soldier by driving the _French_ from thence, or
destroying them.

“It is a particular pleasure to me to learn, that the _Indians_, who
inhabit near that river, have lately concluded a treaty of peace with
the _English_; by which the ancient friendship is renewed with their
brethren, and fixed on a firmer foundation than ever. May it be lasting
and unmoveable as the mountains. I make no doubt but it gives you equal
satisfaction, and that you will unite your endeavours with mine, and all
the governors of these provinces, to strengthen it: The clouds, that,
for some time, hung over the _English_, and their friends, the _Indians_
on the _Ohio_, and kept them both in darkness, are now dispersed, and
the chearful light now again shines upon us, and warms us both. May it
continue to do so, while the sun and moon give light.

“Your people, who were sent to us, were received by us with open arms;
they were kindly entertained, while they were here; and I have taken care
that they shall return safe to you; with them come trusty messengers,
whom I earnestly recommend to your protection; they have several matters
in charge; and I desire you may give credit to what they say; in
particular, they have a large belt of wampum, and by this belt we let you
know, that it is agreed by me, and all the governors, that there shall
be an everlasting peace with all the _Indians_, established as sure as
the mountains, between the _English_ nation and the _Indians_, all over,
from the sun rising to the sun setting; and as your influence on them is
great, so you will make it known to all the different nations, that want
to be in friendship with the _English_; and I hope, by your means and
persuasions, many will lay hold on this belt, and immediately withdraw
from the _French_; this will be greatly to their own interest and your
honor, and I shall not fail to acquaint the great king of it: I sincerely
wish it, for their good; for it will fill me with concern, to find any
of you joined with the _French_; as in that case, you must be sensible
I must treat them as enemies; however, I once more repeat, that there
is no time to be lost; for I intend to march with the army very soon;
and I hope to enjoy the pleasure of thanking you for your zeal, and of
entertaining you in the fort ere long. In the mean time I wish happiness
and prosperity to you, your women and children.

“I write to you as a warrior should, that is, with candour and love, and
I recommend secrecy and dispatch.

“I am, kings _Beaver_ and _Shingas_,
”And brother warriors,
“Your assured friend and brother,

“JOHN FORBES.”

“From my camp at LOYALHANNON, Nov. 9, 1758.”

The messages pleased, and gave satisfaction to all the hearers, except
the _French_ captain. He shook his head with bitter grief, and often
changed his countenance. _Isaac Still_ ran down the _French_ captain with
great boldness, and pointed at him saying, “There he sits.” Afterwards
_Shingas_ rose up and said:

“Brethren, now we have rightly heard and understood you, it pleaseth me
and all the young men, that hear it; we shall think of it, and take it
into due consideration; and when we have considered it well, then we will
give you an answer, and send it to all the towns and nations, as you
desired us.”

We thanked them and wished them good success in their undertaking; and
wished it might have the same effect upon all other nations, that may
hereafter hear it, as it had on them. We went a little out of the house.
In the mean time _Isaac Still_ demanded the letter, which the _French_
had falsely interpreted, that it might be read in public. Then they
called us back, and I, _Frederick Post_, found it was my own letter, I
had wrote to the general. I therefore stood up, and read it, which Isaac
interpreted. The _Indians_ were well pleased, and took it as if it was
written to them; thereupon they all said: “We always thought the _French_
report of the letter was a lie; they always deceived us:” Pointing at
the _French_ captain; who, bowing down his head, turned quite pale, and
could look no one in the face. All the _Indians_ began to mock and laugh
at him; he could hold it no longer, and went out. Then the _Cayuga_ chief
delivered a string, in the name of the _Six Nations_, with these words:

“Cousins, hear what I have to say; I see you are sorry, and the tears
stand in your eyes. I would open your ears, and clear your eyes from
tears, so that you may see, and hear what your uncles, the _Six Nations_,
have to say. We have established a friendship with your brethren, the
_English_. We see that you are all over bloody, on your body; I clean
the heart from the dust, and your eyes from the tears, and your bodies
from the blood, that you may hear and see your brethren, the _English_,
and appear clean before them, and that you may speak from the heart with
them.” Delivered four strings.

Then he shewed to them a string from the _Cherokees_, with these words:

“Nephews, we let you know, that we are exceedingly glad that there is
such a firm friendship established, on so good a foundation, with so
many nations, that it will last for ever; and, as the _Six Nations_ have
agreed with the _English_, so we wish that you may lay hold of the same
friendship. We will remind you, that we were formerly good friends.
Likewise we let you know, that the _Six Nations_ gave us a _tomahawk_,
and, if any body offended us, we should strike him with it; likewise they
gave me a knife, to take off the scalp. So we let you know, that we are
desirous to hear very soon from you, what you determine. It may be we
shall use the hatchet very soon, therefore I long to hear from you.”

Then the council broke up. After a little while messengers arrived, and
_Beaver_ came into our house, and gave us the pleasure to hear, that the
_English_ had the field, and that the _French_ had demolished and burnt
the place entirely, and went off; that the commander is gone with two
hundred men to _Venango_, and the rest gone down the river in battoes, to
the lower _Shawanese_ town, with an intention to build a fort there; they
were seen yesterday passing by _Sawcung_.

We ended this day with pleasure and great satisfaction on both sides: the
_Cayuga_ chief said, he would speak further to them tomorrow.

26th.—We met together about ten o’clock. First, King _Beaver_ addressed
himself to the _Cayuga_ chief, and said;

“My uncles, as it is customary to answer one another, so I thank you,
that you took so much notice of your cousins, and that you have wiped
the tears from our eyes, and cleaned our bodies from the blood; when you
spoke to me I saw myself all over bloody; and since you cleaned me I feel
myself quite pleasant through my whole body, and I can see the sun shine
clear over us.” Delivered four strings.

He said further, “As you took so much pains, and came a great way through
the bushes, I, by this string, clean you from the sweat, and clean the
dust out of your throat, so that you may speak what you have to say from
your brethren, the _English_, and our uncles, the _Six Nations_, to your
cousins, I am ready to hear.”

Then _Petiniontonka_, the _Cayuga_ chief, took the belt with eight
diamonds,[102] and said;

“Cousins, take notice of what I have to say; we let you know what
agreement we have made with our brethren, the _English_. We had almost
slipt and dropt the chain of friendship with our brethren, the _English_;
now we let you know that we have renewed the peace and friendship with
our brethren, the _English_; and we have made a new agreement with them.
We see that you have dropt the peace and friendship with them. We desire
you would lay hold of the covenant, we have made with our brethren, the
_English_, and be strong. We likewise take the _tomahawk_ out of your
hands, that you received from the white people; use it no longer; fling
the _tomahawk_ away; it is the white people’s; let them use it among
themselves; it is theirs, and they are of one colour; let them fight
with one another, and do you be still and quiet in _Kushkushking_. Let
our grandchildren, the _Shawanese_, likewise know of the covenant, we
established with our friends, the English, and also let all other nations
know it.”

Then he explained to them the eight diamonds, on the belt, signifying the
five united nations, and the three younger nations, which join them;
these all united with the _English_. Then he proceeded thus:

“Brethren,” (delivering a belt with eight diamonds, the second belt)
“we hear that you did not sit right; and when I came I found you in a
moving posture, ready to jump towards the sunset; so we will set you at
ease, and quietly down, that you may sit well at _Kushkushking_; and
we desire you to be strong; and if you will be strong, your women and
children will see from day to day the light shining more over them;
and our children and grand children will see that there will be an
everlasting peace established. We desire you to be still; we do not know
as yet, what to do; towards the spring you shall hear from your uncles
what they conclude; in the mean time do you sit still by your fire at
_Kushkushking_.”

In the evening the devil made a general disturbance, to hinder them in
their good disposition. It was reported that they saw three _Catawba
Indians_ in their town; and they roved about all that cold night, in
great fear and confusion. When I consider with what tyranny and power
the prince of this world rules over this people, it breaks my heart over
them, and that their redemption may draw nigh, and open their eyes, that
they may see what bondage they are in, and deliver them from the evil.

27th.—We waited all the day for an answer. _Beaver_ came and told us,
“They were busy all the day long.” He said, “It is a great matter, and
wants much consideration. We are three tribes, which must separately
agree among ourselves; it takes time before we hear each agreement, and
the particulars thereof.” He desired us to read our message once more to
them in private; we told them, we were at their service at any time; and
then we explained him the whole again. There arrived a messenger from
_Sawcung_, and informed us that four of their people were gone to our
camp, to see what the _English_ were about; and that one of them climbing
upon a tree was discovered by falling down; and then our people spoke
to them; three resolved to go to the other side, and one came back and
brought the news, which pleased the company. Some of the captains and
counsellors were together; they said, that the _French_ would build a
strong fort, at the lower _Shawanese_ town. I answered them, “Brethren,
if you suffer the French to build a fort there, you must suffer likewise
the _English_ to come and destroy the place; _English_ will follow the
_French_, and pursue them, let it cost whatever it will; and wherever the
_French_ settle, the _English_ will follow and destroy them.”

They said, “We think the same, and would endeavour to prevent it, if the
_English_ only would go back, after having drove away the _French_, and
not settle there.” I said, “I can tell you no certainty in this affair;
it is best for you to go with us to the general, and speak with him. So
much I know, that they only want to establish a trade with you; and you
know yourselves that you cannot do without being supplied with such goods
as you stand in need of; but, brethren, be assured you must entirely quit
the _French_, and have no communication with them, else they will always
breed disturbance and confusion amongst you, and persuade your young
people to go to war against our brethren, the _English_.”

I spoke with them further about _Venango_, and said, I believed the
_English_ would go there, if they suffered the _French_ longer to live
there. This speech had much influence on them, and they said; “We are
convinced of all that you have said; it will be so.” I found them
inclined to send off the _French_ from _Venango_; but they wanted first
to know the disposition of the _English_, and not to suffer the _French_
to build any where.

28th.—King _Beaver_ arose early before the break of day, and bid all his
people a good morning, desired them to rise early and prepare victuals;
for they had to answer their brethren, the _English_, and their uncles,
and therefore they should be in a good humor and disposition. At ten
o’clock they met together; _Beaver_ addressed himself to his people, and
said,

“Take notice all you young men and warriors to what we answer now: it is
three days since we heard our brethren, the _English_, and our uncles;
and what we have heard of both, is very good; and we are all much pleased
with what we have heard. Our uncles have made an agreement, and peace
is established with our brethren, the _English_, and they have shook
hands with them; and we likewise agree in the peace and friendship, they
have established between them.” Then he spoke to the _French_ captain
_Canaquais_, and said,

“You may hear what I answer; it is good news, that we have heard. I
have not made myself a king. My uncles have made me like a queen, that
I always should mind what is good and right, and whatever I agree with,
they will assist me, and help me through. Since the warriors came
amongst us, I could not follow that which is good and right; which has
made me heavy; and since it is my duty to do that which is good, so I
will endeavour to do and to speak what is good, and not let myself be
disturbed by the warriors.”

Then he spoke to the _Mingoes_, and said,

“My uncles, hear me; It is two days since you told me, that you have made
peace and friendship, and shook hands with our brethren, the _English_.
I am really very much pleased with what you told me; and I join with
you in the same; and, as you said, I should let the _Shawanese_ and
_Delamaitanoes_ know of the agreement, you have made with our brethren,
the _English_, I took it to heart, and shall let them know it very soon.”
He delivered a string.

“Look now, my uncles, and hear what your cousins say: you have spoke the
day before yesterday to me. I have heard you. You told me, you would set
me at _Kushkushking_ easy down. I took it to heart; and I shall do so,
and be still, and lay myself easy down, and keep my match-coat close to
my breast. You told me, you will let me know in the next spring, what to
do; so I will be still, and wait to hear from you.” Gave him a belt.

Then he turned himself to us, and gave us the following answers. First,
to the general;

“Brother, by these strings I would desire, in a most kind and friendly
manner, you would be pleased to hear me what I have to say, as you are
not far off.

“Brother, now you told me you have heard of that good agreement, that has
been agreed to, at the treaty at Easton; and that you have put your hands
to it, to strengthen it, so that it may last for ever. Brother, you have
told me, that after you have come to hear it, you have taken it to heart,
and then you sent it to me, and let me know it. Brother, I would desire
you would be pleased to hear me, and I would tell you, in a most soft,
loving and friendly manner, to go back over the mountain, and to stay
there; for, if you will do that, I will use it for an argument, to argue
with other nations of _Indians_. Now, brother, you have told me you have
made a road clear, from the sun-set to our first old council fire, at
_Philadelphia_, and therefore I should fear nothing, and come into that
road. Brother, after these far _Indians_ shall come to hear of that good
and wide road, that you have laid out for us, then they will turn and
look at the road, and see nothing in the way; and that is the reason that
maketh me tell you to go back over the mountain again, and to stay there;
for then the road will be clear, and nothing in the way.”

Then he addressed himself to the Governor of _Pennsylvania_, as follows;

“Brother, give good attention to what I am going to say; for I speak
from my heart; and think nothing the less of it, though the strings be
small.[103]

“Brother, I now tell you what I have heard from you is quite agreeable to
my mind; and I love to hear you. I tell you likewise, that all the chief
men of _Allegheny_ are well pleased with what you have said to us; and
all my young men, women and children, that are able to understand, are
well pleased with what you have said to me.

“Brother, you tell me that all the Governors of the several provinces
have agreed to a well established and everlasting peace with the
_Indians_; and you likewise tell me, that my uncles, the _Six Nations_,
and my brethren the _Delawares_, and several other tribes of _Indians_
join with you in it, to establish it, so that it may be everlasting; you
likewise tell me, you have all agreed on a treaty of peace to last for
ever; and for these reasons I tell you, I am pleased with what you have
told me.

“Brother, I am heartily pleased to hear that you never let slip the chain
of friendship out of your hands, which our grandfathers had between
them, so that they could agree as brethren and friends in any thing.

“Brother, as you have been pleased to let me know of that good and
desirable agreement, that you and my uncles and brothers have agreed to,
at the treaty of peace, I now tell you I heartily join and agree in it,
and to it; and now I desire you to go on steadily in that great and good
work, you have taken in hand; and I will do as you desire me to do; that
is, to let the other tribes of _Indians_ know it, and more especially my
uncles, the _Six Nations_, and the _Shawanese_, my grandchildren, and all
other nations, settled to the westward.

“Brother, I desire you not to be out of patience, as I have a great many
friends at a great distance; and I shall use my best endeavours to let
them know it as soon as possible; and as soon as I obtain their answer,
shall let you know it.” Then he gave six strings all white.

In the evening arrived a messenger from _Sackung_, _Netodwehement_, and
desired they should make all the haste to dispatch us, and we should come
to _Sackung_; for, as they did not know what is become of those three,
that went to our camp, they were afraid the _English_ would keep them,
till they heard what was become of us, their messengers.

29th.—Before day break _Beaver_ and _Shingas_ came, and called us
into their council. They had been all the night together. They said;
“Brethren, now is the day coming, you will set off from here. It is
a good many days since we heard you; and what we have heard is very
pleasing and agreeable to us. It rejoices all our hearts; and all our
young men, women and children, that are capable to understand, are really
very well pleased with what they have heard; it is so agreeable to us,
that we never received such good news before; we think God has made it
so; he pities us, and has mercy on us. And now, brethren, you desire that
I should let it be known to all other nations; and I shall let them know
very soon. Therefore _Shingas_ cannot go with you. He must go with me, to
help me in this great work; and I shall send nobody, but go myself, to
make it known to all nations.”

Then we thanked them for their care; and wished him good success on his
journey and undertaking: and, as this message had such a good effect
on them, we hoped it would have the same on all other nations, when
they came to hear it. I hoped that all the clouds would pass away, and
the chearful light would shine over all nations; so I wished them good
assistance and help on their journey. Farther, he said to us;

“Now we desire you to be strong;[104] because I shall make it my strong
argument with other nations; but as we have given credit to what you
have said, hoping it is true, and we agree to it; if it should prove the
contrary, it would make me so ashamed, that I never could lift up my
head, and never undertake to speak any word more for the interest of the
_English_.”

I told them, “Brethren, you will remember that it was wrote to you by the
general, that you might give credit to what we say; so I am glad to hear
of you, that you give credit; and we assure you, that what we have told
you is the truth; and you will find it so.”

They said further, “Brethren, we let you know, that the _French_ have
used our people kindly, in every respect; they have used them like
gentlemen, especially those that live near them. So they have treated the
chiefs. Now we desire you to be strong; we wish you would take the same
method, and use our people well: for the other _Indians_ will look upon
us;[105] and we do not otherwise know how to convince them, and to bring
them into the _English_ interest, without your using such means as will
convince them. For the _French_ will still do more to keep them to their
interest.”

I told them, “I would take it to heart, and inform the Governor, and
other gentlemen of it; and speak to them in their favour.” Then they
said, “It is so far well, and the road is cleared; but they thought we
should send them another call, when they may come.” I told them; “We did
not know when they would have agreed with the other nations. Brother, it
is you, who must give us the first notice when you can come; the sooner
the better; and so soon as you send us word, we will prepare for you on
the road.” After this we made ready for our journey.

_Ketiushund_, a noted _Indian_, one of the chief counsellors, told us in
secret, “That all the nations had jointly agreed to defend their hunting
place at _Alleghenny_, and suffer nobody to settle there; and as these
_Indians_ are very much inclined to the _English_ interest, so he begged
us very much to tell the Governor, General, and all other people not to
settle there. And if the _English_ would draw back over the mountain,
they would get all the other nations into their interest; but if they
staid and settled there, all the nations would be against them; and he
was afraid it would be a great war, and never come to a peace again.”

I promised to inform the Governor, General, and all other people of
it, and repeated my former request to them, not to suffer any _French_
to settle amongst them. After we had fetched our horses, we went from
_Kushkushking_, and came at five o’clock to _Saccung_, in company with
twenty _Indians_. When we came about half way, we met a messenger from
fort _Duquesne_, with a belt from _Thomas King_,[106] inviting all the
chiefs to _Saccung_. We heard at the same time, that Mr. _Croghn_ and
_Henry Montour_ would be there to day. The messenger was one of those
three, that went to our camp; and it seemed to rejoice all the company;
for some of them were much troubled in their minds, fearing that the
_English_ had kept them, as prisoners, or killed them. In the evening we
arrived at _Saccung_, on the _Beaver_ creek. We were well received. The
king provided for us. After a little while we visited Mr. _Croghn_ and
his company.

30th.—In the morning the _Indians_ of the town visited us. About eleven
o’clock about forty came together; when we read the message to them; Mr.
_Croghn_, _Henry Montour_ and _Thomas King_ being present. They were all
well pleased with the message. In the evening we came together with the
chiefs, and explained the signification of the belts; which lasted till
eleven o’clock at night.

_December 1st._—After hunting a great while for our horses, without
finding them, we were obliged to give an _Indian_ three hundred wampum
for looking for them. We bought corn for four hundred and fifty wampum
for our horses. The Indians met together to hear what Mr. Croghn had
to say. _Thomas King_ spoke by a belt, and invited them to come to the
general; upon which they all resolved to go.

In the evening the captains and counsellors came together, I and _Isaac
Still_ being present; they told us, that they had formerly agreed not
to give any credit to any message, sent from the English by _Indians_;
thinking, if the _English_ would have peace with them, they would come
themselves; “So soon, therefore, as you came, it was as if the weather
changed; and a great cloud passed away, and we could think again on our
ancient friendship with our brethren, the _English_. We have thought
since that time, more on the _English_ than ever before, although the
_French_ have done all, in their power, to prejudice our young men
against the _English_. Since you now come the second time, we think it is
God’s work; he pities us, that we should not all die; and if we should
not accept of the peace offered to us, we think God would forsake us.”

In discourse, they spoke about preaching, and said, “They wished many
times to hear the word of God; but they were always afraid the _English_
would take that opportunity to bring them into bondage.” They invited
me to come and live amongst them; since I had taken so much pains in
bringing a peace about between them and the _English_. I told them, “It
might be, that when the peace was firmly established, I would come to
proclaim the peace and love of God to them.”

In the evening arrived a message, with a string of wampum, to a noted
_Indian_, _Ketiuscund_, to come to _Wenango_, to meet the _Unami_
chief, _Quitahicung_ there; he said that a _French Mohock_ had killed
a _Delaware_ Indian; and when he was asked why he did it? He said the
_French_ bid him do it.

2d.—Early before we set out, I gave 300 wampums to the _Cayugas_, to
buy some corn for their horses; they agreed that I should go before to
the general, to acquaint him of their coming. The _Beaver_ creek being
very high, it was almost two o’clock in the afternoon, before we came
over the creek; this land seems to be very rich. I, with my companion,
_Kekiuscund’s_ son, came to Log’s-town, situated on a hill. On the
east end is a great piece of low land, where the old _Logs-town_ used
to stand. In the new _Logs-town_ the _French_ have built about thirty
houses for the _Indians_. They have a large corn field on the south side,
where the corn stands ungathered. Then we went further through a large
tract of fine land, along the river side. We came within eight miles of
_Pittsburg_,[107] where we lodged on a hill, in the open air. It was a
cold night; and I had forgot my blanket, being packed upon Mr. Hays’s
horse. Between _Saccung_ and _Pittsburg_, all the _Shawanos_ towns are
empty of people.

3d.—We started early, and came to the river by _Pittsburg_; we called
that they should come over and fetch us; but their boats having gone
adrift, they made a raft of black oak pallisadoes, which sunk as soon as
it came into the water. We were very hungry, and staid on that island,
where I had kept council with the _Indians_, in the month of August last;
for all I had nothing to live on, I thought myself a great deal better
off now, than at that time, having now liberty to walk upon the island
according to pleasure; and it seemed as if the dark clouds were dispersed.

While I waited here, I saw the general march off from _Pittsburg_; which
made me sorry, that I could not have the pleasure of speaking with him.
Towards evening our whole party arrived: upon which they fired from the
fort with twelve great guns; and our _Indians_ saluted again three times
round with their small arms. By accident some of the _Indians_ found a
raft hid in the bushes, and Mr. Hays, coming last, went over first with
two Indians. They sent us but a small allowance; so that it would not
serve each round. I tied my belt a little closer, being very hungry, and
nothing to eat.[108] It snowed, and we were obliged to sleep without any
shelter. In the evening they threw light balls from the fort; at which
the _Indians_ started, thinking they would fire at them; but seeing it
was not aimed at them, they rejoiced to see them fly so high.

4th.—We got up early, and cleared a place from the snow, cut some fire
wood, and hallooed till we were tired. Towards noon Mr. _Hays_ came with
a raft, and the _Indian_ chiefs went over: he informed me of Colonel
_Bouquet’s_[109] displeasure with the _Indians’_ answer to the general,
and his desire that they should alter their mind, in insisting upon the
general’s going back; but the _Indians_ had no inclination to alter
their mind. In the afternoon some provision was sent over, but a small
allowance. When I came over to the fort, the council with the _Indians_
was almost at an end. I had a discourse with Colonel _Bouquet_ about the
affairs, disposition and resolution of the _Indians_.

I drew provision for our journey to fort _Ligonier_, and baked bread
for our whole company: towards noon the _Indians_ met together in a
conference. First king _Beaver_ addressed himself to the _Mohocks_,
desiring them to give their brethren an answer about settling at
_Pittsburg_. The _Mohocks_ said, “They lived at such a distance, that
they could not defend the _English_ there, if any accident should befal
them; but you, cousins, who live close here, must think what to do.” Then
_Beaver_ said by a string:

“What this messenger has brought is very agreeable to us; and as our
uncles have made peace with you, the _English_, and many other nations,
so we likewise join, and accept of the peace offered to us; and we have
already answered by your messenger, what we have to say to the general,
that he should go back over the mountains; we have nothing to say to the
contrary.”

Neither Mr. _Croghn_ nor _Andrew Montour_ would tell Colonel _Bouquet_
the _Indians’_ answer. Then Mr. _Croghn_, Colonel _Armstrong_ and
Colonel _Bouquet_ went into the tent by themselves, and I went upon my
business. What they have further agreed I do not know; but when they had
done, I called king _Beaver_, _Shingas_, and _Kekeuscund_, and said,

“Brethren, if you have any alteration to make, in the answer to the
general, concerning leaving this place, you will be pleased to let me
know.” They said, they would alter nothing, “We have told them three
times to leave the place and go back; but they insist upon staying here;
if, therefore, they will be destroyed by the _French_ and the _Indians_,
we cannot help them.”

Colonel _Bouquet_ set out for _Loyalhannon_: The _Indians_ got some
liquor between ten and eleven o’clock. One _Mohock_ died; the others
fired guns three times over him; at the last firing one had accidentally
loaded his gun with a double charge: this gun burst to pieces, and broke
his hand clean off; he also got a hard knock on his breast; and in the
morning at nine o’clock he died, and they buried them in that place, both
in one hole.

6th.—It was a cold morning; we swam our horses over the river, the ice
running violently. Mr. _Croghn_ told me that the _Indians_ had spoke,
upon the same string that I had, to Colonel _Bouquet_, and altered their
mind; and had agreed and desired that 200 men should stay at the fort.
I refused to make any alteration in the answer to the general, till I
myself did hear it of the _Indians_; at which Mr. _Croghn_ grew very
angry. I told him I had already spoke with the _Indians_; he said, it was
a d—d lie; and desired Mr. _Hays_ to enquire of the _Indians_, and take
down in writing what they said. Accordingly he called them, and asked
them, if they had altered their speech, or spoke to Colonel _Bouquet_
on that string they gave me. _Shingas_ and the other counsellor said,
they had spoken nothing to Colonel _Bouquet_ on the string they gave me,
but what was agreed between the Indians at _Kushkushking_. They said,
Mr. _Croghn_ and _Henry Montour_ had not spoke and acted honestly and
uprightly; they bid us not alter the least, and said, “We have told them
three times to go back; but they will not go, insisting upon staying
here. Now you will let the governor, general, and all people know, that
our desire is, that they should go back, till the other nations have
joined in the peace, and then they may come and build a trading house.”

They then repeated what they had said the 5th instant. Then we took leave
of them, and promised to inform the general, governor, and all other
gentle people of their disposition; and so we set out from _Pittsburg_,
and came within fifteen miles of the breast-work; where we encamped. It
snowed, and we made a little cabbin of hides.

7th.—Our horses were fainting, having little or no food. We came that
day about twenty miles, to another breast-work; where the whole army had
encamped on a hill; the water being far to fetch.

8th.—Between _Pittsburg_ and fort _Ligonier_ the country is hilly, with
rich bottoms, well timbered, but scantily watered. We arrived at fort
_Ligonier_ in the afternoon, about four o’clock; where we found the
general very sick; and therefore could have no opportunity to speak with
him.

9th.—We waited to see the general; they told us he would march the next
day, and we should go with him. Captain _Sinclair_ wrote us a return for
provisions for four days.

10th.—The general was still sick; so that he could not go on the journey.

11th.—We longed very much to go farther; and therefore spoke to Major
_Halket_,[110] and desired him to enquire of the general, if he intended
to speak with us, or, if we might go; as we were in a poor condition,
for want of linen, and other necessaries. He desired us to bring the
_Indians’_ answer, and our journal to the general. Mr. _Hays_ read
his journal to Major _Halket_ and Governor _Glen_.[111] They took
memorandums, and went to the general.

12th.—They told us we should stay till the general went.

14th.—The general intended to go; but his horses could not be found.
They thought the _Indians_ had carried them off. They hunted all day for
the horses, but could not find them. I spoke to Colonel _Bouquet_ about
our allowance being so small, that we could hardly subsist; and that we
were without money; and desired him to let us have some money, that we
might buy necessaries. Provisions, and every thing is exceeding dear.
One pound of bread cost a shilling; one pound of sugar four shillings, a
quart of rum seven shillings and six pence, and so in proportion. Colonel
Bouquet laid our matters before the general; who let me call, and excused
himself, that his distemper had hindered him from speaking with me; and
promised to help me in every thing I should want, and ordered him to give
me some money. He said farther, that I often should call; and when he
was alone he would speak with me.

16th.—Mr. _Hays_, being a hunting, was so lucky as to find the general’s
horses, and brought them home; for which the general was very thankful to
him.

17th.—Mr. _Hays_, being desired by Major _Halket_ to go and look for the
other horses, went, but found none.

18th.—The general told me to hold myself ready, to go with him down the
country.

20th.—After we had been out two days, to hunt for our horses, in the
rain, we went again to day, and were informed, they had been seen in a
lost condition; one laying on the hill, and the other standing; they had
been hoppled together; but a person told us, he had cut the hopples. When
we came home we found the horses; they having made home to the fort.

22d.—It was cold and stormy weather.

23d.—I hunted for our horses, and having found them, we gave them both to
the king’s commissary; they not being able to carry us farther.

The sergeant _Henry Osten_, being one of the company that guided us, as
above mentioned, and was that same prisoner, whom the _Shawanos_ intended
to burn alive, came to day to the fort. He was much rejoiced to see us,
and said, “I thank you a thousand times for my deliverance from the fire;
and think it not too much to be at your service my whole life time.” He
gave us intelligence that the _Indians_ were, as yet, mightily for the
_English_. His master had offered to set him at liberty, and bring him to
_Pittsburg_ if he would promise him ten gallons of rum; which he did; and
he was brought safe to _Pittsburg_. _Delaware George_ is still faithful
to the _English_; and was very helpful to procure his liberty. _Isaac
Still_, _Shingas_ and _Beaver_ are gone with the message to the nations
living further off. When the _French_ had heard that the garrison, at
_Pittsburg_, consisted only of 200 men, they resolved to go down from
_Venango_, and destroy the _English_ fort. So soon as the _Indians_ at
_Kushkushking_, heard of their intention, they sent a message to the
_French_, desiring them to draw back; for they would have no war in
their country. The friendly _Indians_ have sent out parties with that
intention, that if the _French_ went on, in their march towards the fort,
they would catch them, and bring them to the _English_. They shewed to
_Osten_ the place, where eight _French Indian_ spies had lain near the
fort. By their marks upon the place they learned that these eight were
gone back, and five more were to come to the same place again. He told
us further, that the _Indians_ had spoke among themselves, that if the
_English_ would join them, they would go to _Venango_, and destroy the
_French_ there. We hear that the friendly _Indians_ intend to hunt round
the fort, at _Pittsburg_, and bring the garrison fresh meat. And upon
this intelligence the general sent Captain _Wedderholz_[112] with fifty
men, to reinforce the garrison at _Pittsburg_.

25th.—The people in the camp prepared for a _Christmas_ frolick; but I
kept _Christmas_ in the woods by myself.

26th.—To day an express came from _Pittsburg_ to inform the general, that
the French had called all the _Indians_ in their interest together, and
intended to come and destroy them there.

27th.—Towards noon the general set out; which caused a great joy among
the garrison, which had hitherto lain in tents, but now being a smaller
company, could be more comfortably lodged. It snowed the whole day. We
encamped by a _beaver dam_, under _Laurel Hill_.

28th.—We came to _Stony Creek_, where Mr. _Quickfell_ is stationed. The
general sent Mr. _Hays_, express, to fort _Bedford_ (_Rays Town_) and
commanded him to see, if the place for encampment, under the _Allegheny_
mountain, was prepared; as also to take care that refreshments should be
at hand, at his coming. It was stormy and snowed all the day.

29th.—On the road I came up with some waggons; and found my horses with
the company; who had taken my horse up, and intended to carry the same
away. We encamped on this side, under the _Allegheny_ hill.

30th.—Very early I hunted for my horses, but in vain, and therefore was
obliged to carry my saddle bags, and other baggage on my back. The burden
was heavy, the roads bad; which made me very tired, and came late to
_Bedford_; where I took my old lodging with Mr. _Frazier_. They received
me kindly, and refreshed me according to their ability.

31st.—This day we rested, and, contrary to expectation, preparation was
made for moving further to-morrow. Mr. _Hays_, who has his lodging with
the commander of that place, visited me.

January 1st. 1759.—We set out early. I got my saddle bags upon a waggon;
but my bed and covering I carried upon my back; and came that day to the
crossing of _Juniata_: where I had poor lodgings, being obliged to sleep
in the open air, the night being very cold.

2d.—We set out early. I wondered very much that the horses, in these
slippery roads, came so well with the waggons over these steep hills. We
came to fort _Littleton_; where I drew provisions; but could not find any
who had bread, to exchange for flour. I took lodging in a common house.
Mr. _Hays_ arrived late.

3d.—We rose early. I thought to travel the nearest road to _Shippen’s
Town_, and therefore desired leave of the general to prosecute my journey
to _Lancaster_, and wait for his excellency there; but he desired me to
follow in his company. It snowed, freezed, rained, and was stormy the
whole day. All were exceeding glad that the general arrived safe at fort
_Loudon_. There was no room in the fort for such a great company; I,
therefore, and some others went two miles further, and got lodgings at a
plantation.

4th.—I and my company took the upper road; which is three miles nearer to
_Shippen’s town_, where we arrived this evening. The slippery roads made
me, as a traveller, very tired.

5th.—To day I staid here for the general. Mr. _Hays_ went ten miles
further, to see some of his relations. In the afternoon _Israel
Pemberton_ came from _Philadelphia_ to wait upon the general.[113]

6th.—I came to-day ten miles to Mr. _Miller’s_, where I lodged, having
no comfortable place in _Shippen’s town_; all the houses being crowded
with people.

7th.—They made preparation, at Mr. _Millers_, for the reception of
the general; but he, being so well to-day, resolved to go as far as
_Carlisle_. I could scarce find any lodging there. _Henry Montour_ was so
kind as to take me in his room.

8th.—I begged the general for leave to go to _Lancaster_, having some
business, which he at last granted. I went to captain Sinclair for a
horse, who ordered me to go to the chief justice of the town; who ought
to procure one for me, in the province service. According to this order I
went; but the justice told me, that he did not know how to get any horse;
if I would go and look for one, he should be glad if I found any. But
having no mind to run from one to another, I resolved to walk, as I had
done before: and so travelled along, and came about ten miles that day to
a tavern keeper’s, named _Chesnut_.

9th.—To-day I crossed the _Susquahanna_ over the ice, and came within
thirteen miles of _Lancaster_. It was slippery and heavy travelling.

10th.—It rained all the day. I arrived at three o’clock in the afternoon,
in _Lancaster_; and was quite refreshed, to have the favour to see my
brethren.

FOOTNOTES

[1] _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, viii, p. 132; _Pennsylvania
Archives_, iii, pp. 412-422.

[2] Journal of this journey in _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, viii, pp.
142-145.

[3] _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, viii, p. 147.

[4] _Pennsylvania Archives_, iii, pp. 556, 557.

[5] _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, viii, pp. 341, 419, 463, 466, 469,
491; _Pennsylvania Archives_, iii, pp. 581, 582, 689, 702, 703.

[6] All Indians are excessive fond of rum, and will be drunk whenever
they can get it.—[CHARLES THOMSON?]

[7] Willamegicken (Wellemeghikink), known to the whites as James, was a
prominent brave of the Allegheny Delawares, who had been employed as a
messenger between them and the Susquehanna tribes of the same race. He
had agreed to accompany Post on this journey, for which the Pennsylvania
Council had voted to supply him with a horse. _Pennsylvania Archives_,
iii, p. 415; _Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, viii, p. 148.—ED.

[8] Bethlehem is a Moravian town built in 1741-42, after the retreat of
these people from Georgia. Count Zinzendorf organized the congregation at
this place, and named the settlement (1742). For the first twenty years a
community system prevailed among the inhabitants, called the “Economy.”
Portions of the buildings erected under that régime are still standing.
See “Moravians and their Festival,” in _Outlook_, August 1, 1903. In
1752, the brethren built a large stone house for the accommodation
of Indian visitors, and those who escaped the massacre of 1755 were
domiciled there when Post passed through.—ED.

[9] These two treaties were made with Teedyuscung: the first at Easton in
July and August, 1757, whereby the neutrality of the Susquehanna Indians
and the Six Nations was secured (_Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, vii,
pp. 649-714); the second at Philadelphia in April, 1758 (see _Id._, viii,
pp. 29-56, 87-97).—ED.

[10] After Braddock’s defeat, the ravaging of the frontiers both west
and north of the settled portions of Pennsylvania became so serious that
the colonial government appointed a commission, headed by Franklin,
to take means to protect the settlers, and defend the territory.
Franklin proceeded into Northumberland County, and made arrangements
to fortify the point on the Lehigh where Weisport, Carbon County, now
stands. But before the stockade was completed a body of Indians fell
upon and seriously defeated a party of militia from the neighboring
Irish settlements, led by Captain Hayes (January, 1756). The works were
pushed rapidly after this setback, and the fort was named in honor of
William Allen, chief-justice of the province. This post was garrisoned
until after Pontiac’s War, and probably throughout the Revolution. See
Franklin’s _Writings_ (New York, 1887), ii, pp. 449-454.—ED.

[11] Teedyuscung, one of the most famous of Delaware chiefs, was born in
Trenton about 1705. When nearly fifty years old, he was chosen chief of
the Susquehanna Delawares, and being shrewd and cunning played a game of
diplomacy between the Iroquois, the Ohio Indians, and the authorities of
Pennsylvania, by which he managed largely to enhance his own importance,
and to free the Delawares from their submission to the Six Nations. His
headquarters were in the Wyoming Valley, whence he descended to the
Moravian settlements, and even to Easton and Philadelphia, to secure
supplies from the Pennsylvania authorities. In 1756 a truce was patched
up with this chief at Easton, after he had bitterly complained of the
“Walking Purchase” of 1737, and the white settlements on the Juniata.
His loyalty to the English was doubtful and wavering, and his opposition
to Post’s journey was probably due to fears that his own importance as
a medium between the Ohio Indians and the English would be diminished
by the former’s success. His cabin at Wyoming having treacherously been
set on fire, during one of his drunken sleeps, Teedyuscung was burned to
death in 1763. The Iroquois, who were the guilty party, threw the obloquy
upon the Connecticut settlement, whereupon Teedyuscung’s followers
murdered all the band.—ED.

[12] Wyoming Valley was the bone of contention between the Connecticut
and Pennsylvania colonies, each claiming that it was within their charter
limits. The Connecticut agents succeeded in securing an Indian title at
the Albany conference (1754); but their first settlement being effaced by
an Indian massacre (see preceding note), their next body of emigrants did
not proceed thither until 1769. Meanwhile, on the strength of the Indian
purchase at Fort Stanwix (1768) the Pennsylvanians had occupied the
valley; and a border warfare began, which lasted until the Revolution.
The massacre of 1778, by the Tories and British Indians, is a matter of
general history.

The Indians of the valley were of many tribes—Oneidas, Delawares,
Shawnees, Munseys, Nanticokes, etc. The Moravian Christian Indians
settled at Wyoming in 1752. After the murder of Teedyuscung they fled,
but returned to found the town of Wyalusing (1765), where the missionary
Zeisberger lived with them until their removal, three years later to the
Ohio.—ED.

[13] An _Indian_ expression meaning free admission.—[C. T.?]

[14] Post, after leaving Fort Allen, passed through the present Carbon
County, crossed the headwaters of the Schuylkill, and traversed
Northumberland County to Fort Augusta. On the massacres in that region
see Rupp, _History of Northumberland_, etc., (Lancaster, 1847), pp.
100-116. Fort Augusta, at the forks of the Susquehanna, was built in
1756, at the request of the Indians settled there under the chieftainship
of Shickalamy. It was not a mere stockade and blockhouse, but a regular
fortification, provided with cannon, and was commanded at first by
Colonel Clapham, succeeded by Colonel James Burd. This stronghold was
garrisoned until after the Revolutionary War; but before that time
settlement had begun to spring up about the fort, and the town of Sunbury
was laid out in 1772.—ED.

[15] An Indian settlement towards the heads of Susquahanna.—[C. T.?]

[16] The reference is to Abercrombie’s defeat and retreat from Fort
Ticonderoga in July, 1758.—ED.

[17] The Indian trail followed by Post, passed up the West Branch of the
Susquehanna, through a region which had earlier been thickly sprinkled
with Indian towns. The Moravian missionaries had been here as early as
1742, and had been hospitably received by Madame Montour, whose town
was at the mouth of Loyalsock Creek, opposite the present village of
Montoursville. This was probably Post’s “Wekeponall,” as the path to
Wyoming led northeast from this place. Queenashawakee (Quenslehague)
Creek is in Lycoming County, with the town of Linden at its mouth.—ED.

[18] Little hoops on which the _Indians_ stretch and dress the raw
scalps.—[C. T.?]

[19] Big Island is at the mouth of Bald Eagle Creek, in Clinton County.
From that point the trail led up the creek to a point above Milesburg,
Center County, then turned almost due west across Center and Clearfield
counties to Clearfield (Shinglimuhee). This was the “Chinklacamoos path,”
north of the Kittanning trail followed by Weiser in 1748. The word
“Chinklacamoos” is said to signify “it almost joins,” in allusion to a
horseshoe bend at this place. See Meginness, _Otzinachson: A History of
the West Branch Valley_ (rev. ed., Williamsport, Pa., 1889), p. 272.—ED.

[20] An _Indian_ Chief, that travelled with him.—[C. T.?]

[21] The money of _Pennsylvania_, being paper, is chiefly carried in
pocket books.—[C. T.?]

[22] From Chinklacamoos the Indian trail crossed Clearfield, Jefferson,
and Clarion counties, over Little Toby’s Creek (Tobeco), the Clarion
River (big river Tobeco), and east Sandy Creek (Weshawaucks). That
no Indians were met through all this region is proof of its deserted
condition, its former frequenters having withdrawn to the French sphere
of influence.—ED.

[23] The officer commanding Venango at this time was Jean Baptiste
Boucher Sieur de Niverville, a noted border ranger and Indian raider.
Born in Montreal in 1716, he early acquired an ascendency over the
Abenaki Indians, which was utilized in leading their parties against the
English settlements of New England. In King George’s War, bands under his
command ravaged New Hampshire and Vermont, and penetrated as far as Fort
Massachusetts in the Berkshire Hills (1748). During the French and Indian
War, he was similarly employed, and after Braddock’s defeat, conducted a
winter campaign of thirty-three days, in the direction of Fort Cumberland
on the Potomac, bringing off numerous English captives. At Lake George in
1757, he led the Abenaki auxiliaries, and was present at the massacre of
Fort William Henry. The last that is known of his military exploits is
during the siege of Quebec, when he defended dangerous outposts with the
aid of savage allies.—ED.

[24] According to the rules of Indian politeness, you must never go into
a town without sending a previous message to denote your arrival, or,
standing at a distance from the town, and hallooing till some come out,
to conduct you in. Otherwise you are thought as _rude as white men_.—[C.
T.?]

[25] When the people of a town, or of a nation, are addressed, the
_Indians_ always use the singular number.—[C. T.?]

[26] _i. e._ To confer in a friendly manner.—[C. T.?]

[27] _i. e._ Call to mind our ancient friendly intercourse.—[C. T.?]

[28] Every _Indian_ town has a large cabbin for the entertainment of
strangers by the public hospitality.—[C. T.?]

[29] That is, the _Quakers_, for whom the _Indians_ have a particular
regard.—[C. T.?]

[30] Delaware George was an important chief of that tribe, who had been
a disciple of Post’s in his Pennsylvania mission. He maintained friendly
relations with the English until after the defeat of Braddock. Although
closely associated with King Beaver and Shingas, he seems to have leaned
more than they to the English interest.—ED.

[31] That is, we look on your coming as a matter of importance, it
engages our attention.—[C. T.?]

[32] At the Easton treaty in the autumn of 1757, Teedyuscung had
promised to “halloo” to all the far Indian tribes, and bring them to an
understanding with the English. In January, 1758, he reported to the
governor that “all the Indian Nations from the Sun Rise to these beyond
the Lakes, as far as the Sun setts, have heard what has passed between
you and me, and are pleased with it,” and urged him to continue the work
of peace. Teedyuscung was evidently enlarging upon his own importance,
and to this end giving unwarrantable information.—ED.

[33] These belts and strings are made of shell-beads, called _wampum_.
The _wampum_ serves, among the _Indians_, as money; of it they also make
their necklaces, bracelets, and other ornaments. Belts and strings of
it are used in all public negotiations; to each belt or string there is
connected a message, speech, or part of a speech, to be delivered with a
belt by the messenger, or speaker. These belts also serve for records,
being worked with figures, composed of beads of different colours, to
assist the memory.—[C. T.?]

[34] The peace made with _Teedyuscung_, was for the _Delawares_, &c. on
_Susquahanna_ only, and did not include the _Indians_ on the _Ohio_; they
having no deputies at the treaty. But he had promised to _halloo_ to
them, that is, send messengers to them, and endeavour to draw them into
the peace, which he accordingly did.—[C. T.?]

[35] A fire, in public affairs, signifies, among the _Indians_ a
council.—[C. T.?]

[36] _i. e._ This Englishman.—[C. T.?]

[37] By father, they express the _French_.—[C. T.?]

[38] By I, he here means, I, the Six Nations, of which the _Onondagoes_
are one of the greatest. This was, therefore, a claim of the _Ohio_
lands, as belonging to the Six Nations, exclusive of the _Delawares_,
whom they formerly called women.—[C. T.?]

[39] The _Indians_ smoke in their councils.—[C. T.?]

[40] That is, the sentiments you express, are offensive to the
company.—[C. T.?]

[41] That is, he had changed his offensive sentiments.—[C. T.?]

[42] That is, that they would act vigorously.—[C. T.?]

[43] The _French_, at the fort.—[C. T.?]

[44] The Six Nations.—[C. T.?]

[45] Kuckquetackton (Koquethagechton) was the Indian name of the famous
Delaware chief Captain White Eyes. About 1776, he succeeded Netawatwes,
of whom he had been chief counsellor, as head of the nation Heckewelder
first met him at this same town, where Post encountered him in 1772, and
says that he strove to keep the neutrality during both Lord Dunmore’s War
and the Revolution. Finding that impossible, he joined the American cause
(1778), and brought an Indian contingent to the aid of General McIntosh
at Fort Laurens; dying, however, before the attack was made on the
Sandusky towns. He was always a firm friend of the Moravians, and though
of small stature was one of the best and bravest of Delaware chiefs.

There were two chiefs known by the name of Killbuck, the younger of
whom was the more famous. His Indian name was Gelelemend, and he was a
grandson of the great chief Netawatwes. Born near Lehigh Water Gap in the
decade 1730-40, he removed to the Allegheny with the Delawares, and later
to the Muskingum, where was a village called Killbuck’s Town. Like White
Eyes, he was a firm friend of peace and of the whites, and his life was
imperilled because of this advocacy. He joined the Moravians, and was
baptized as William Henry, about 1788. Later he removed to Pittsburg to
secure protection from his enemies, but died at Goshen in 1811. A lineal
descendant of Killbuck is at present a Moravian missionary in Alaska.—ED.

[46] That is, go on steadily with this good work of establishing a
peace.—[C. T.?]

[47] Meaning the _Cherokees_.—[C. T.?]

[48] Some of the first _English_ speech, that the _Indians_ learn from
the traders, is swearing.—[C. T.?]

[49] Heckewelder testifies that Shingas, though a dreaded foe in battle,
was never known to treat prisoners cruelly. See his _Indian Nations_,
Historical Society of Pennsylvania _Memoirs_ (Philadelphia, 1876), xii,
pp. 269, 270.—ED.

[50] The Indians, having plenty of land, are no niggards of it. They
sometimes give large tracts to their friends freely; and when they sell
it, they make most generous bargains. But some _fraudulent purchases_,
in which they were grossly imposed on, and some _violent intrusions_,
imprudently and wickedly made without purchase, have rendered them
jealous that we intend finally to take all from them by force. We should
endeavour to recover our credit with them by fair purchases and honest
payments; and then there is no doubt but they will readily sell us, at
reasonable rates, as much, from time to time, as we can possibly have
occasion for.—[C. T.?]

[51] The agreement made with _Teedyuscung_, that he should enjoy the
_Wioming_ lands, and have houses built there for him and his people.—[C.
T.?]

[52] The army under _General Forbes_.—[C. T.?]

[53] The _Indian_ traders used to buy the transported _Irish_, and other
convicts, as servants, to be employed in carrying up the goods among
the _Indians_. The ill behaviour of these people has always hurt the
character of the _English_ among the _Indians_.—[C. T.?]

[54] No spy among his enemies.—[C. T.?]

[55] That is, since we had a friendly intercourse with each other. The
frequent repetition of the word, _Brethren_, is the effect of their rules
of politeness, which enjoin, in all conversations, a constant remembrance
of the relation subsisting between the parties, especially where that
relation implies any affection, or respect. It is like the perpetual
repetitions among us, of _Sir_, or, _Madam_, or, _Your Lordship_. In the
same manner the _Indians_ at every sentence repeat, _My Father_, _My
Uncle_, _My Cousin_, _My Brother_, _My Friend_, &c.—[C. T.?]

[56] In this speech the _Indians_ carefully guard the honour of their
nation, by frequently intimating, that the peace is _sought by the
English: you have talked of peace: you are sorry for the war: you have
digged up the peace, that was buried_, &c. Then they declare their
readiness to grant peace, if the English agree to its being general for
all the colonies. The _Indian_ word, that is translated, be strong, so
often repeated, is an expression they use to spirit up persons, who have
undertaken some difficult task, as to lift, or move, a great weight, or
execute a difficult enterprise; nearly equivalent to our word, _courage!
courage!_—[C. T.?]

[57] The three tribes of the Delaware nation—the Unamis, Unalachtgo, and
Minsi—were designated by the totems turtle, turkey, and wolf. The chief
of the first of these was the head chief of the nation, being chosen and
installed with great ceremony and rejoicing. See Heckewelder, _Indian
Nations_, pp. 51, 53.—ED.

[58] Meaning General Forbes’s army.—[C. T.?]

[59] _i. e._ Just ready to enter our country.—[C. T.?]

[60] Two of the prisoners mention their pleasure at seeing Post, and
the fact that the Indians forbade them to communicate with him. See
“Narrative of Marie le Roy and Barbara Leininger,” _Pennsylvania
Archives_, 2nd series (Harrisburg, 1878), vii, pp. 401-412.—ED.

[61] He was sent to collect the _Indians_ together, to attack General
Forbes’s army, once more, on their march.—[C. T.?]

[62] The creek, here called “Antigoc” was probably Venango or the French
Creek, which the Delawares designated as Attigé.—ED.

[63] The Indian name of this town, in Jefferson County, on the Mahoning
Creek, is usually given as Punxatawny.—ED.

[64] Probably this was the town called “Calamaweshink” or “Chinklemoose,”
Clearfield.—ED.

[65] The proprietors of Pennsylvania chose William Denny
lieutenant-governor (1756), because they wished a “military man with a
ready pen.” He had been captain in the British army, and his experience
in Pennsylvania gave opportunity for military talents. But bound by
instructions from his principals, and hampered by the hostility of the
provincial assembly, he made no headway in his government. Accused of
accepting bribes to betray the proprietors’ interests, he was removed in
October, 1759. Returning to England, he was given a high position in the
army, and died about 1766.—ED.

[66] Captain Bull and Lieutenant Hays were militia officers, the latter
of Northampton County, where was an Irish settlement between Bethlehem
and Fort Allen, known as “Hays’s.” Captain John Bull commanded at Fort
Allen in the summer of 1758. They both volunteered to undertake this
hazardous mission of a visit to the Ohio Indians. For the instructions
given them, see _Pennsylvania Archives_, iii, p. 556.—ED.

[67] Thomas Hickman was an Indian who had taken an English name, and was
much employed by the province of Pennsylvania as an interpreter. A brutal
white man murdered Hickman in the Tuscarora Valley in 1761.

Totiniontenna was a Cayuga chieftain who with Shickalamy was deputed by
the Six Nations to undertake this embassy to the Ohio Indians.

The chief here called Shickalamy was the youngest son, of the famous
Oneida of that name, who dwelt so long at the forks of the Susquehanna,
and was friendly to the whites, especially the Moravians. The elder chief
died in 1749, his most famous son being Logan.

Isaac Still was a Moravian Christian Indian, frequently employed as a
messenger and interpreter.—ED.

[68] Shamokin was an Indian town at the forks of the Susquehanna, the
abode of Shickalamy, “vice-king” of the Indians of that region. It was
first visited by the whites in 1728. Weiser built a house at this village
by request of the chief, in 1744. Frequent visits of the Moravians led to
the establishment here of a blacksmith’s shop, and a quasi-mission. Fort
Augusta was built there in 1756; but on the proclamation of war against
the Delawares in the same year, the Indians abandoned the place and
destroyed the settlement.—ED.

[69] The general here referred to was John Forbes, a Scotchman who in
1757 was appointed brigadier-general for the war in America. His first
service was at Louisburg. In 1758, he was appointed to organize the
expedition against Fort Duquesne. After the French, on the approach of
Forbes’s army, had abandoned that stronghold, the general, suffering from
a serious disease, was carried by slow stages to Philadelphia, where he
died in March, 1760. He was a man of iron purpose, and great strength of
character, being popular alike with his soldiers and Indian allies.—ED.

[70] A string of _wampum_ beads. Nothing of importance is said, or
proposed without _wampum_.—[C. T.?]

[71] The _Indians_, having learned drunkenness of the white people,
do not reckon it among the vices. They all, without exception, and
without shame, practice it when they can get strong liquor. It does not,
among them, hurt the character of the greatest warrior, the greatest
counsellor, or the modestest matron. It is not so much an _offence_, as
an _excuse_ for other offences; the injuries they do each other in their
drink being charged, not upon the man, but upon the rum.—[C. T.?]

[72] The Ohio.—[C. T.?]

[73] An Indian trader, John Harris, built a log house on the Susquehanna
in 1705, and later established an inn and a ferry at the spot called
Harris’s Ferry, which was maintained for three-quarters of a century. His
son laid out the present town of Harrisburg.—ED.

[74] They were afraid of going where our people were all in arms, lest
some of the indiscreet soldiers might kill them.—[C. T.?]

[75] Carlisle, the seat of Cumberland County (erected in 1750), was
originally settled by Scotch-Irish immigrants, who in the decade between
1720 and 1730 formed the “back settlements” of Pennsylvania. The Indian
title was extinguished by a treaty in 1736; but when Fort Lowther was
built at this site in 1753, there were but five houses in the place.
Later it became the eastern terminus of the Pennsylvania highroad, and
the centre of an extensive overland trade.—ED.

[76] The town of Shippensburg was one of the oldest west of the
Susquehanna, having been laid out in 1749, by Edward Shippen—later
chief-justice of Pennsylvania—on land of which he was proprietor. It
was the site of two frontier forts—Franklin, built before Braddock’s
defeat; and Morris, erected after that disaster. Shippensburg became an
important station on the Pennsylvania state road; and until the opening
of the nineteenth century was the end of the stage-route from Lancaster
westward.—ED.

[77] Chambers’s Fort was a private stockade erected (1756) on the
Conococheague Creek, by a Scotch-Irishman, Benjamin Chambers, who for
some time had had a mill and settlement here. The fort was a large stone
building, protected by cannon, and considered one of the strongest
defenses in that region. The government attempted to take possession of
the guns in 1757, lest they should be captured and turned against the
other forts; but the Scotch-Irish settlers stoutly resisted this attempt,
and it was abandoned. The present city of Chambersburg occupies the
site.—ED.

[78] This should not be confused with the more famous Fort Loudoun,
built the same year (1756) in Tennessee as a check upon the Cherokees.
The Pennsylvania fort was on the road between Shippensburg and Fort
Lyttleton, about a mile east of the present village of Loudon, Franklin
County, being erected by Armstrong after Braddock’s defeat. This was
the scene of the plundering of the Indian goods, dispatched to the Ohio
(1765) for Croghan’s use on his journey to the Illinois.

The Cherokees were employed by the English as auxiliaries in this
campaign. Their presence had caused much concern among the Northern
Indians, and Post had been sent to Wyoming the previous spring, with
reassuring messages on this account.

Bill Sock was a Conestoga Indian, employed as a messenger to the Six
Nations. He was massacred in the Paxton affair (1763). See Heckeweldert
_Narrative_, p. 79.—ED.

[79] A calumet pipe; the signal of peace.—[C. T.?]

[80] Fort Lyttleton was another of the chain of frontier posts built
in 1756 for the protection of the frontiers. It was located at the
place called by the Indian traders “Sugar Cabins,” near the present
McConnellsburg, Fulton County. A garrison was maintained at this point
until after Pontiac’s War, when it gradually fell into ruins, some relics
of its occupation being still found in the locality.—ED.

[81] Ray’s town, so named from its first settler (1751), was the
chief rendezvous for Forbes’s army in this campaign, where he had the
stronghold of Fort Bedford built, and whence he made his final advance
against Fort Duquesne. From 1760-63, the fort at this place was commanded
by Captain Lewis Ourry of the Royal Americans; and its apparent strength
saved it from attack by the Indians of the conspiracy. Bouquet made it
the rendezvous in his advance in 1764. Throughout the Indian wars, Fort
Bedford was the most important station between Carlisle and Fort Pitt.
The town of Bedford was incorporated in 1766.—ED.

[82] Post’s testimony as to the condition of the new road cut for the
army west from Fort Bedford is interesting. For an account of the
controversy over the building of this road, see Hulbert, _Old Glade Road_
(Cleveland, 1903), pp. 65-161.

Stony Creek flows northward through the valley between the Allegheny and
Laurel Hill ranges of mountains.—ED.

[83] The creek called “Rekempalin,” apparently was Pickings Run in
Somerset County—not a large creek, but all streams were swollen by
unusual rains.

Loyal Hanna was an old Indian town situated on the trail passing west to
Shannopin’s Town at the Forks of the Ohio. Upon the advance of Forbes’s
army (1758), this was made the last station on the road to Fort Duquesne,
and a fort was built called Ligonier. Before the erection of this fort
the station was known simply as the “Camp on Loyal Hanna.”—ED.

[84] Captain John Haslett was an officer of the Pennsylvania provincial
troops, of which there was in Forbes’s army, a contingent of two thousand
and seven hundred. Probably this was the same officer who commanded
Delaware troops in the Revolution, and after conspicuous bravery at Long
Island was killed in the battle of Princeton.—ED.

[85] The camping-place for this night, at the advanced breast-work, is
identified as on the Nine Mile Run, in Unity Township, Westmoreland
County, being still locally known as “Breast-work Hill.”—ED.

[86] Lieutenant William Hays, who was later killed on his return from
escorting Post, belonged to the Royal Americans, having been commissioned
December 11, 1756.—ED.

[87] The Ohio, as it is called by the Sennecas. Alleghenny is the name of
the same river in the Delaware language. Both words signify the fine, or
fair river.—[C. T.?]

[88] The Indian town which Post calls Keckkeknepolin was usually known as
Blackleg’s Town, being situated at the mouth of Loyalhanna Creek, where
it flows into the Kiskiminitas.—ED.

[89] Heckewelder says that the word “Kiskiminitas” means “make daylight,”
and was due to the impatient exclamation of some eager warrior encamped
on the spot. The town here mentioned was in Armstrong County, on a
creek of the same name, about seven miles from where it flows into the
Allegheny River.—ED.

[90] When he parted from Captain Haslett, Post left the regular
westward Indian trail to the Forks of the Ohio. In order to avoid
Fort Duquesne, and to reach the Indian towns beyond the Allegheny, he
followed a northward branch of the same that led down the Loyalhanna and
Kiskiminitas creeks. The Indian town at the mouth of Kiskiminitas Creek
had always been insignificant, lying between Kittanning on the north, and
Shannopin’s Town on the south.—ED.

[91] Connequenessing Creek, whose name, according to Heckewelder,
signifies “a long straight course.”—ED.

[92] Persons appointed by law to manage the _Indian_ trade, for the
public; the private trade, on account of its abuses, being abolished.—[C.
T.?]

[93] Where they boil into sugar the juice of a tree that grows in those
rich lands.—[C. T.?]

[94] Irvine says (_Pennsylvania Archives_, xi, p. 518) that the Indians
termed all the land along Beaver and Mahoning creeks for twenty-five
miles, Kuskuskies. Old Kuskusking was located between the mouths of
Neshanock and Mahoning creeks on the Shenango, about where the town of
New Castle, Lawrence County, now stands.—ED.

[95] Kekeuscung’s name signified “the healer.” He was accounted a great
warrior, and often joined the Six Nations against the Cherokees. The
traditional hostility between the latter Indians and those around the
Allegheny rendered difficult the attempt to conciliate the Delawares
while the Cherokees were in the English army.

The attack here mentioned on the English camp at Loyalhanna, was repulsed
by Colonel Mercer and the Virginian troops. On their return they fired by
mistake upon their own re-enforcements, and nearly killed their leader,
Washington.—ED.

[96] An _Indian_ with an _English_ name. An _Indian_ sometimes changes
his name with an _Englishman_ he respects; it is a seal of friendship,
and creates a kind of relation between them.—[C. T.?]

[97] When a prisoner is brought to an _Indian_ town, he runs a kind of
gauntlet thro’ the mob; and every one, even the children, endeavour to
have a stroke at him; but as soon as he can get into any of their huts,
he is under protection, and refreshments are administered to him.—[C. T.?]

[98] _i. e._ He has listened to the _English_ messengers.—[C. T.?]

[99] Kicking the string about, and throwing it with a stick, not
touching it with their hands, were marks of dislike of the message, that
accompanied it.—[C. T.?]

[100] The _Quakers_ of _Philadelphia_, who first set on foot these
negociations of peace; and for whom the _Indians_ have always had a great
regard.—[C. T.?]

_Comment by Ed._ See on this subject _Pennsylvania Archives_, iii, p. 581.

[101] “Sastaghretsy, Anigh Kalicken, Atowateany, Towigh, Towighroano,
Geghdageghroano, Oyaghtanont, Sisaghroano, Stiaggeghroano,
Jenontadynago.”—[C. T.?]

[102] Diamond figures, formed by beads of wampum, of different
colours.—[C. T.?]

[103] Important matters should be accompanied with large strings, or
belts; but sometimes a sufficient quantity of wampum is not at hand.—[C.
T.?]

[104] The word, _wishicksey_, translated, _be strong_, is of a very
extensive signification be strong, be steady, pursue to effect what you
have begun, &c.—[C. T.?]

[105] _i. e._ They will observe how we are dressed.—[C. T.?]

[106] Thomas King was an Oneida Indian, who had taken a prominent part in
the treaty at Easton (October, 1758).—ED.

[107] It is probable that Croghan brought Post the news of the change of
name from Fort Duquesne to Pittsburg. He apparently uses the new term
with much relish. The day after the English occupation of Fort Duquesne,
General Forbes wrote to Governor Denny, dating his letter “Fort Duquesne,
or now Pittsburg.”—_Pennsylvania Colonial Records_, viii, p. 232.—ED.

[108] As it often happens to the _Indians_, on their long marches, in
war, and sometimes in their hunting expeditions, to be without victuals
for several days, occasioned by bad weather and other accidents, they
have the custom in such cases; which _Post_ probably learned of them,
viz. girding their bellies tight, when they have nothing to put in them;
and they say it prevents the pain of hunger.—[C. T.?]

[109] Colonel Henry Bouquet, a Swiss officer, who had served with
distinction in the armies of Sardinia and Holland, was engaged to enter
the regiment of Royal Americans, and came to America in 1756. The
following year he was in command in South Carolina; but early in 1758 was
summoned north to aid Forbes in his march through Pennsylvania. Bouquet
commanded the advance, and prepared the road, ordered the stations
for reserve supplies, and by careful management contributed much to
the success of the campaign. Upon Forbes’s retiring, Bouquet was left
in command at Fort Pitt, where he remained fulfilling the arduous and
exacting duties of his frontier service until late in 1762, when he was
relieved by Captain Ecuyer, and returned to Philadelphia. On the news of
the siege of Fort Pitt (1763), Bouquet organized a relief expedition,
which inflicted a severe defeat upon the Indians at Bushy Run. The
following year, the Indian country was invaded, Bouquet’s expedition
to the Muskingum proving a complete success. Relieved from his Western
command, he was promoted to the rank of brigadier-general and placed in
command of all the troops in the southern British colonies of America.
He died at Pensacola, February, 1766, at the early age of forty-seven.
He was not only a soldier of ability and vigor, but a man of most
attractive and charming character, beloved by superiors and subordinates.
The collection of his letters in the British Museum is a chief source
for the history of the West during this period. See calendar in
_Canadian Archives_, 1889; extracts in _Michigan Pioneer and Historical
Collections_, xix, pp. 27-295; also _Bouquet’s Expedition against the
Ohio Indians_ (Cincinnati, 1868).—ED.

[110] Major Halket was the son of Sir Peter Halket, who was killed,
together with another son, at the battle of Monongahela (1755). When
Major Halket accompanied the detachment sent by Forbes to bury the bones
of the victims of that disaster, he recognized the skeletons of his
father and brother and at the sight fainted with grief and horror.—ED.

[111] James Glen had been governor of South Carolina (1744-55), but was
superseded in the latter year by Governor Lyttleton. His presence at
Forbes’s camp is perhaps explained by the fact that he was interested in
the Cherokee Indian trade.—ED.

[112] Captain Nicholas Wedderholz (Weatherholt) was a militia officer
in command of a German company from Northumberland County, which was
enlisted December 16, 1755, and “discontinued” in 1760. It is said
that every man in his company was of German descent. During the Indian
troubles of 1763, Weatherholt raised another company, which did not,
however, see active service.—ED.

[113] Israel Pemberton was a member of a prominent Quaker family, and
a merchant of Philadelphia. Very active in political affairs, and
influential with the Indians because of his Quaker principles and
trade-relations, he was one of the leading members of the “Friendly
Association,” formed to put down war with the Indians. In 1759 he sent
for the association £1,000 worth of goods to be distributed to the Ohio
Indians at Pittsburg. Pemberton, with other leading Quakers, was much
disliked by the borderers, who called him “King Wampum,” and placed his
life in jeopardy during the Paxton riots (1763). Neither did Pemberton
find favor with the “Sons of Liberty,” and the patriot party of the
Revolution. In 1777 he, with two brothers, was banished to Virginia on
the charge of aiding the British enemy.—ED.

JOURNAL OF CAPTAIN THOMAS MORRIS, OF HIS MAJESTY’S XVII REGIMENT OF
INFANTRY; DETROIT, SEPTEMBER 25, 1764

Reprint from the author’s _Miscellanies in Prose and Verse_ (London,
1791), pp. 1-39

INTRODUCTORY NOTE

The journal of Captain Thomas Morris is notable from two points of
view. First, because of its rarity—the volume in which it is found,
_Miscellanies in Prose and Verse_ (London, printed for James Ridgway,
1791), being a treasure much prized by the collector of valuable
Americana. In the second place, the journal is of importance to
historical students because of the light it throws upon conditions in
the West at this critical moment (1766), and the proof it furnishes
that Pontiac’s influence was still paramount among the Western Indians,
that Bradstreet had been completely duped, and that native hostility to
British sovereignty over the Western tribes was deep-seated, and would
take many years wholly to uproot.

Incidentally, also, the journal possesses considerable dramatic
interest. Dealing with a single episode, told in the first person by the
chief participant, and he a person of literary tastes, the thrilling
incidents—repeated escapes from torture and death, the flight through
the woods, and the final refuge at Detroit—all depicted graphically, yet
simply, hold one’s attention unflagging to the end. The side touches
are in keeping with the principal incidents: the contrast between the
author’s situation and his calm enjoyment of Shakespeare’s tragedy, so
curiously preserved for him from the loot of some English officer’s
baggage; the appearance of the white charger that had borne its master
Braddock to sudden death in the Monongahela Valley nine years before;
the gratitude and fidelity of the Canadian Godefroy, evinced to so good
a purpose; the pomp and pride of the red-coated brave who wore on his
back his reward for services to Sir William Johnson; the honor of Pontiac
and the Miami chief, who protected with difficulty the sacred person of
an ambassador; the roguery of the Loretto Indian, who deserted his chief
and so speedily suffered therefor—all these circumstances heighten and
prolong the reader’s interest, and add vividness to the narrative.

Our knowledge of the author’s life is but slight. He came of a race of
soldiers, his father and grandfather before him having served as captains
of the same regiment in which he was an officer. His early education was
considerable; and fifteen months had been spent in Paris familiarizing
himself with the language and literature of its people. His tastes were
always those of a scholar and a lover of literature; he being of that
class of British soldiers of which Wolfe was so conspicuous an example,
whose recreations took the line of literary appreciation and performance.
Morris came to America in 1758, as a lieutenant in the 17th regiment
of infantry, in which he had been commissioned three years previous.
Although this was Forbes’s command, Morris saw service at Louisburg in
1758, and was with Amherst in the campaign around Lake Champlain in the
following year. In 1761, he was promoted to a captaincy and assigned to
the garrison of Fort Hendrick, at Canajoharie in the Mohawk Valley—the
home of the famous Mohawk chiefs, Hendricks and Brant. It was doubtless
there that he acquired that knowledge of the Mohawk temperament which he
exhibits in the opening pages of his journal. While stationed at this
lonely outpost he addressed his friend “Dicky” Montgomery in a parody
of one of Horace’s odes, which possesses more historical interest than
literary merit.[1] It is evident from his dedication of certain odes to
“ceux des Français, qui ont connu l’auteur au siége de la Martinique,”
that Morris accompanied General Monckton upon that expedition in 1762.

After his adventures along the Maumee, related in the present journal,
he remained at Detroit for some time, and returned to England with his
regiment in 1767. At this time occurred his meeting with the soldier whom
he had previously encountered as an Indian prisoner, under circumstances
of great danger and distress, near the treacherously-destroyed Fort Miami.

What we know of Morris’s later life is comprised in his “Preamble” to the
volume containing this journal. Having retired from the army in 1775, he
lost his property by means of speculative ventures. For the sake of his
children, he appealed to the king for a pension, on the ground of past
services, especially those detailed in the Maumee journal. A copy of the
journal was annexed to the petition, but the latter failed of effect.
The narrative here reprinted was laid aside until encouragement from a
“respectable gentleman of my acquaintance, a man of letters in whose
judgment I place implicit faith” determined him to print some of his
literary efforts and to include the journal to “complete the volume.” He
expresses the hope that the recital of his adventures “might possibly,
some time or other, procure a friend or protector to one of my children.”
“This is a plain and simple tale,” he concludes, “accounting for my
presumption in offering to the public an old story relating to one whose
wish used to be, to lie concealed in domestic life; a wish, in which
he has been amply gratified by the very obliging silence of some of his
nearest connexions.”

It is evident, therefore, that the journal, unlike most of the others we
publish in this volume, was dressed up for publication, and purposely
given a dramatic turn. The official report of the expedition, as sent to
Bradstreet, together with letters from Morris to his superior, are in the
British Public Record Office, still unpublished.[2]

The small volume of _Miscellanies_, from which we extract the journal,
contains in addition thereto an essay on dramatic art, translations
of two of Juvenal’s satires, and five odes which are accompanied by
transliterations into French prose. Morris had already published two
collections of songs—in 1786, and in 1790. In 1792, appeared his _Life of
Reverend David Williams_; and four years later a versified tale, _Quashy,
or the Coal Black Maid_, which has been described as “a negroe love story
which bears reference to the slave-trade, and is here but indifferently
told.”[3] With the publication in 1802, of _Songs, Political and
Convivial_, Captain Thomas Morris passes from public view.

The character of the man throws the incidents of this hazardous journey
into still stronger relief. Here is no frontiersman like Weiser and
Croghan, familiar with the hardships of the wilderness; no missionary,
like Post, seeking rewards not measured by earthly laurels and success;
not even a bluff, practical soldier like Bradstreet, who dispatched
him on his venturesome mission. Morris was a man of the great world, a
fashionable dilettante, dabbling in literature and the dramatic art.
Parkman comments on his round English face—as shown in the portrait which
appears on the frontispiece to his _Miscellanies_, and which we republish
as frontispiece to the present volume—and the lack of resolution and
courage therein expressed. Yet upon his memorable embassy he displayed no
want of either. Probably it was his familiarity with the French language
that led to his being chosen for the task; he entered upon it with
commendable zeal, and attempted to carry out his orders at every risk.

Doubtless the adventure appealed to that latent fondness for experiences,
that men of the literary temperament frequently possess. In his essay
on dramatic art he says, “If the world ever afforded me a pleasure
equal to that of reading Shakespear at the foot of a water-fall in an
American desert, it was Du Menil’s performance of tragedy.” Morris
evinced a steadiness of courage, endurance, and hardihood, fortitude
under disaster, and an unflinching determination to do his duty, as well
as a power of attaching men to his service, that would do credit to
any man. For a victim of Indian cruelties, his magnanimity was a still
rarer quality. He bore no grudge against his savage tormentors, speaking
of them as “an innocent, much-abused, and once happy people.” His
appreciation of the qualities of the French Canadians, and his remarks
upon their conduct of Indian affairs show keen observation, astuteness,
and a judgment free from prejudice. As an author, wit, man of affairs,
courageous soldier, magnanimous foe, we may apply to him in earnest the
epithet levied in jest by the reviewer of his first volume of songs—the
“inimitable Captain Morris.”

R. G. T.

JOURNAL OF CAPTAIN THOMAS MORRIS OF HIS MAJESTY’S XVII REGIMENT OF
INFANTRY

General Bradstreet, who commanded an army sent against those Indian
nations who had cut off several English garrisons, of which we had taken
possession after the surrender of Canada, having too hastily determined
to send an officer to take possession also of the Illinois country in
his Britannic Majesty’s name, sent his Aid de Camp to sound me on the
occasion. His Aid de Camp desired me to recommend some officer with
qualities he described. I named every one that I could recollect; but
he always answered me shortly: “No, no; he won’t do.” I then began to
suspect that he might have a design on myself. Accordingly I said: “If I
thought my services would be acceptable”—He interrupted me: “That is what
is wanted.” I replied: “Why did you not say so at first?” He said, with
an oath: “It is not a thing to be asked of any man.” I answered: “If the
General thinks me the properest person, I am ready.” I was immediately
conducted to the General; and while I was at dinner with him, he said,
in his frank manner: “Morris, I have a French fellow here, my prisoner,
who expects to be hanged for treason; he speaks all the Indian languages,
and if you think he can be of use to you, I’ll send for him, pardon him,
and send him with you.” I answered: “I am glad you have thought of it,
Sir; I wish you would.” The prisoner, whose name was Godefroi,[4] was
accordingly sent for; and, as soon as he entered the tent, he turned
pale, and fell on his knees, begging for mercy. The General telling
him that it was in his power to hang him, concluded with saying: “I
give thee thy life; take care of this gentleman.” The man expressed a
grateful sense of the mercy shewn him, and protested that he would be
faithful: and indeed his behaviour afterwards proved that he was sincere
in his promise. As General Bradstreet had pardoned him on my account, he
considered me as his deliverer. Little minds hate obligations; and thence
the transition is easy to the hatred of their benefactor: this man’s soul
was of another make, and, though in a low station, a noble pride urged
him to throw a heavier weight of obligation on him to whom he thought he
was indebted for his liberty, if not his life; and I had the singular
satisfaction of owing those blessings to one who fancied he owed the same
to me.

While I was preparing to set out, the boats being almost loaden with
our provisions and necessaries, the Aid de Camp told me, that if the
Indian deputies, who were expected to arrive at the camp that evening,
did not come, the Uttawaw [Ottawa] village,[5] where I was to lie that
night, would be attacked at three o’clock in the morning; “but that,”
added he, “will make no difference in your affairs.” I was astonished
that the General could think so: but I made no reply to him, and we
talked of other matters. However, as I was stepping into my boat, some
canoes appeared, and I came on shore again, and found they were the
Indian deputies who were expected. This I thought a very happy incident
for me; and having received proper powers and instructions I set out in
good spirits from Cedar Point,[6] in Lake Erie, on the 26th of August,
1764, about four o’clock in the afternoon, at the same time that the
army proceeded for Detroit. My escort consisted of Godefroi, and another
Canadian, two servants, twelve Indians, our allies, and five Mohawks,
with a boat in which were our provisions, who were to attend us to the
swifts of the Miamis river, about ten leagues distant, and then return to
the army. I had with me likewise Warsong, the great Chippawaw chief, and
Attawang, an Uttawaw chief, with some other Indians of their nations, who
had come the same day to our camp with proposals of peace. We lay that
night at the mouth of the Miamis river.

I was greatly delighted on observing the difference of temper betwixt
these Indian strangers and those of my old acquaintance of the five
nations. Godefroi was employed in interpreting to me all their
pleasantries; and I thought them the most agreeable ralliers I had ever
met with. As all men love those who resemble themselves, the sprightly
manners of the French cannot fail to recommend them to these savages, as
our grave deportment is an advantage to us among our Indian neighbors;
for it is certain that a reserved Englishman differs not more from a
lively Frenchman than does a stern Mohawk from a laughing Chippawaw.
The next day (27th) we arrived at the Swifts,[7] six leagues from the
mouth of the river, and the Uttawaw chief sent to his village for horses.
Soon after a party of young Indians came to us on horseback, and the two
Canadians and myself having mounted, we proceeded, together with the
twelve Indians my escort, who were on foot, and marched in the front,
the chief carrying English colours, towards the village, which was two
leagues and a half distant. On our approaching it, I was astonished to
see a great number of white flags flying; and, passing by the encampment
of the Miamis, while I was admiring the regularity and contrivance of
it, I heard a yell, and found myself surrounded by Pondiac’s army,
consisting of six hundred savages, with tommahawks in their hands, who
beat my horse, and endeavoured to separate me from my Indians, at the
head of whom I had placed myself on our discovering the village. By
their malicious smiles, it was easy for me to guess their intention of
putting me to death. They led me up to a person, who stood advanced
before two slaves (prisoners of the Panis nation, taken in war and kept
in slavery[8]) who had arms, himself holding a fusee with the butt on the
ground. By his dress, and the air he assumed, he appeared to be a French
officer: I afterwards found that he was a native of old France, had been
long in the regular troops as a drummer, and that his war-name was St.
Vincent. This fine dressed half French, half Indian figure desired me
to dismount; a bear-skin was spread on the ground, and St. Vincent and
I sat upon it, the whole Indian army, circle within circle, standing
round us. Godefroi sat at a little distance from us; and presently came
Pondiac, and squatted himself, after his fashion, opposite to me. This
Indian has a more extensive power than ever was known among that people;
for every chief used to command his own tribe: but eighteen nations, by
French intrigue, had been brought to unite, and chuse this man for their
commander, after the English had conquered Canada; having been taught
to believe that, aided by France, they might make a vigorous push and
drive us out of North America. Pondiac asked me in his language, which
Godefroi interpreted, “whether I was come to tell lies, like the rest
of my countrymen.” He said, “That Ononteeo (the French king) was not
crushed as the English had reported, but had got upon his legs again,”
and presented me a letter from New Orleans, directed to him, written in
French, full of the most improbable falsehoods, though beginning with
a truth. The writer mentioned the repulse of the English troops in the
Mississippi, who were going to take possession of Fort Chartres,[9]
blamed the Natchez nation for their ill conduct in that affair, made our
loss in that attack to be very considerable, and concluded with assuring
him, that a French army was landed in Louisiana, and that his father
(the French king) would drive the English out of the country. I began to
reason with him; but St. Vincent hurried me away to his cabin; where,
when he talked to me of the French army, I asked him if he thought me
fool enough to give credit to that account; and told him that none but
the simple Indians could be so credulous. Attawang, the Uttawaw chief,
came to seek me, and carried me to his cabin. The next day (28th) I went
to the grand council, and addressed the chiefs. When I mentioned that
their father, the king of France, had ceded those countries to their
brother the king of England, (for so the two kings are called by the
Indians) the great Miamis chief started up and spoke very loud, in his
singular language, and laughed. Godefroi whispered me, that it was very
lucky that he received my intelligence with contempt and not anger,
and desired me to say no more, but sit down, and let my chief speak;
accordingly I sat down, and he produced his belts, and spoke. I have
called the Miamis tongue a singular language; because it has no affinity
in its sound with any other Indian language which I have heard. It is
much wondered whence this nation came; who differ as much from all the
other nations in their superstitious practices, as in their speech,
and manner of encamping.[10] As they left the Uttawaw villages before
me on their way home, we traced their encampments, where we saw their
offerings of tobacco, made by every individual each morning, ranged in
the nicest order, on long slips of bark both on the shore, and on rocks
in the river. They carry their God in a bag, which is hung in the front
of their encampment, and is visited by none but the priest; if any other
person presumes to advance between the front of the encampment and that
spirit in the bag, he is put to death: and I was told that a drunken
French soldier, who had done so, was with great difficulty saved. When
the council was over, St. Vincent changed his note, and told me that
if I could ensure to him his pardon, he would go to Detroit. I answered
him, “that it was not in my power to promise it.” However, as I found
that I could not well do without him, I contrived to make him my friend.
Pondiac said to my chief: “If you have made peace with the English, we
have no business to make war on them. The war-belts came from you.” He
afterwards said to Godefroi: “I will lead the nations to war no more; let
’em be at peace, if they chuse it: but I myself will never be a friend
to the English. I shall now become a wanderer in the woods; and if they
come to seek me there, while I have an arrow left, I will shoot at them.”
This I imagined he said in despair, and gave it as my opinion, that he
might easily be won to our interest; and it afterwards proved so. He
made a speech to the chiefs, who wanted to put me to death, which does
him honour; and shews that he was acquainted with the law of nations:
“We must not,” said he, “kill ambassadors: do we not send them to the
Flat-heads, our greatest enemies,[11] and they to us? Yet these are
always treated with hospitality.” The following day (29th) the Mohawk,
who commanded the Indians in the provision-boat, stole away, without
taking my letter to General Bradstreet, as he had been ordered, having,
the night before, robbed us of almost every thing, and sold my rum (two
barrels) to the Uttawaws. The greater part of the warriors got drunk;
and a young Indian drew his knife, and made a stroke at me; but Godefroi
seized his arm, threw him down, and took the knife from him. He certainly
saved my life, for I was fitting, and could not have avoided the blow
though I saw it coming. I was now concealed under my matress, as all the
young Indians were determined to murder me, was afterwards obliged to put
on Indian shoes and cover myself with a blanket to look like a savage,
and escape by fording the river into a field of Indian corn with St.
Vincent, Godefroi, and the other Canadian. Pondiac asked Godefroi, who
returned to the village to see what was going on, “what he had done with
the English man.” And being told, he said, “you have done well.” Attawang
came to see me, and made his two sons guard me. Two Kickapoo chiefs came
to me, and spoke kindly, telling me that they had not been at war with
the English for seven years. Two Miamis came likewise, and told me that I
need not be afraid to go to their village. A Huron woman however abused
me because the English had killed her son. Late at night I returned to
Attawang’s cabin, where I found my servant concealed under a blanket,
the Indians having attempted to murder him; but they had been prevented
by St. Vincent. There was an alarm in the night, a drunken Indian having
been seen at the skirt of the wood. One of the Delaware nation, who
happened to be with Pondiac’s army, passing by the cabin where I lay,
called out in broken English: “D—d son of a b—ch.” All this while I saw
none of my own Indians: I believe their situation was almost as perilous
as my own. The following day (30th) the Miamis and Kickapoos set out on
their return home, as provisions were growing scarce. An Indian called
the little chief, told Godefroi that he would send his son with me, and
made me a present of a volume of Shakespear’s plays; a singular gift from
a savage. He however begged a little gunpowder in return, a commodity
to him much more precious than diamonds. The next day (31st) I gave
Attawang, who was going to Detroit, a letter for General Bradstreet,[12]
and to one of my servants whom I sent along with this chief, I gave
another for his Aid de Camp. And now, having purchased three horses and
hired two canoes to carry our little baggage, I set out once more, having
obtained Pondiac’s consent, for the Illinois country, with my twelve
Indians, the two Canadians, St. Vincent’s two slaves, and the little
chief’s son and nephew. There was scarcely any water in the channel of
the river, owing to the great drought, so that the canoes could hardly
be dragged along empty in some places. We passed by the island where is
Pondiac’s village, and arrived at a little village consisting of only two
pretty large cabins, and three small ones, and here we encamped: that is,
we lay on the ground; and as a distinguished personage, I was honoured by
having a few small branches under me, and a sort of basket-work made by
bending boughs with their ends fixed in the earth, for me to thrust my
head under to avoid the musketoes or large gnats with which that country
is infested. The day following (August 1st)[13] arrived St. Vincent and
Pondiac. The latter gave the former the great belt, forty years old, on
which were described two hundred and ten villages. St. Vincent joined
us, and we set forward, and arrived at another village of the Uttawaws,
the last of their villages we had to pass. One of the chiefs of this
village gave me his hand, and led us into the cabin for strangers, where
was Katapelleecy, a chief of very great note, who gave his hand to all
my fellow-travellers, but not to me. This man was a famous dreamer, and
told St. Vincent that he had talked with the great spirit the preceding
night; and had he happened to dream any thing to my disadvantage the
night I lay there, it had been over with me.[14] The Indian who gave me
his hand, went into the upper range of beds, and came down dressed in a
laced scarlet coat with blue cuffs, and a laced hat. I wondered more at
the colour of the cloaths than at the finery; and was told that it was a
present from the English, and that this Indian had conducted Sir William
Johnson to Detroit.[15] The next morning (2d) he told me the English
were liars; that if I spoke falsehoods he should know it, and asked
why the General desired to see the Indians at Detroit, and if he would
cloathe them. I assured him that the General sought their friendship;
and gave him, at his own request, a letter of recommendation to him. We
then continued our route towards the Miamis country, putting our baggage
into the canoes, but the greater part of us went by land, as the water
was so shallow, that those who worked the canoes were frequently obliged
to wade and drag them along. We met an Indian and his wife in a canoe
returning from hunting; and bought plenty of venison ready dressed, some
turkeys, and a great deal of dried fish for a small quantity of powder
and shot. The following day (3d) we were over-taken by Pondiac’s nephew
and two other young Uttawaws, who, with the Chippawaws before-mentioned,
made the party twenty-four. We met an Indian who, as we afterwards
found, had been despatched to Pondiac with belts from the Shawanese and
Delawares; but he would not stop to talk to us. This day I saw made the
most extraordinary meal to which I ever was or ever can be witness. Till
these last named Indians joined us we had killed nothing but a very
large wild cat, called a pichou,[16] which indeed was very good eating:
but this day we eat two deer, some wild turkeys, wild geese, and wild
ducks, besides a great quantity of Indian corn. Of the wild ducks and
Indian corn we made broth; the Indians made spoons of the bark of a tree
in a few minutes, and, for the first time, I eat of boiled wild duck.
When we marched on after dinner, I could perceive no fragments left.
What an Indian can eat is scarcely credible to those who have not seen
it. Indeed the Frenchmen, who had been used to savage life, expressed
their astonishment at the quantity which had been devoured. The next day
(4th) we found plenty of game, having sufficient time to hunt for it, as
the canoes were for the greatest part of the day dragged along, there
not being water sufficient to float them. The day after (5th) we met an
Indian on a handsome white horse, which had been General Braddock’s,
and had been taken ten years before when that General was killed on his
march to Fort du Quesne, afterwards called Fort Pitt, on the Ohio. The
following day (6th) we arrived at a rocky shoal, where the water was not
more than two or three inches deep, and found a great number of young
Indians spearing fish with sticks burnt at the end and sharpened; an art
at which they are very dexterous; for the chief, who steered my canoe
with a setting-pole (no oars being used the whole way), whenever he saw a
fish, used to strike it through with his pole, though the end had been
blunted and made as flat and broad as a shilling, pin it to the ground,
then lift it out of the water, and shake it into the boat. I never saw
him miss a fish which he took aim at. The day after, on the seventh of
September, in the morning we got into easy water, and arrived at the
meadow near the Miamis fort, pretty early in the day. We were met at the
bottom of the meadow by almost the whole village, who had brought spears
and tommahawks, in order to despatch me; even the little children had
bows and arrows to shoot at the Englishman who was come among them; but I
had the good fortune to stay in the canoe, reading the tragedy of Anthony
and Cleopatra, in the volume of Shakespear which the little chief had
given me, when the rest went on shore, though perfectly ignorant of their
intention, I pushed the canoe over to the other side of the river, where
I saw a man cutting wood. I was surprised to hear him speak English. On
questioning him I found he was a prisoner, had been one of Lieutenant
Holmes’s garrison at the Miamis Fort, which officer the Indians had
murdered, a young squaw whom he kept having enticed him out of the
garrison under a pretext of her mother’s wanting to be bled. They cut
off his head, brought it to the fort, and threw it into the corporal’s
bed,[17] and afterwards killed all the garrison except five or six whom
they reserved as victims to be sacrificed when they should lose a man in
their wars with the English. They had all been killed except this one man
whom an old squaw had adopted as her son. Some years afterwards, when I
lay on board a transport in the harbour of New York, in order to return
to Europe, Sir Henry Moore, then governor of that province,[18] came to
bid me adieu, and was rowed on board by this very man among others. The
man immediately recollected me; and we felt, on seeing each other, what
those only can feel who have been in the like situations. On our arrival
at the fort, the chiefs assembled, and passed me by, when they presented
the pipe of friendship; on which I looked at Godefroi, and said: “Mauvais
augure pour moi.” A bad omen for me. Nor was I mistaken; for they led
my Indians to the village, on the other side of the water, and told me
to stay in the fort with the French inhabitants; though care had been
taken to forbid them to receive me into their houses, and some strings
of wampum, on which the French had spoken to spare my life, had been
refused. We wondered at this treatment, as we expected that I should be
civilly received; but soon learned that this change of temper was owing
to the Shawanese and Delawares, a deputation of fifteen of them having
come there with fourteen belts and six strings of wampum; who, in the
name of their nations, and of the Senecas, declared they would perish
to a man before they would make peace with the English: seven of them
had returned to their villages; five were gone to Wyaut [Ouiatonon];
and three had set out the morning I had arrived for St. Joseph;[19] (a
fortunate circumstance for me, for they had determined to kill me). The
Shawanese and Delawares begged of the Miamis either to put us to death
(the Indians and myself) or to tie us and send us prisoners to their
villages, or at least to make us return. They loaded the English with
the heaviest reproaches; and added, that while the sun shone they would
be at enmity with us. The Kiccapoos, Mascoutins, and Wiatanons, who
happened to be at the Miamis village declared, that they would dispatch
me at their villages, if the Miamis should let me pass. The Shawanese and
Delawares concluded their speeches with saying: “This is the last belt
we shall send you, till we send the hatchet; which will be about the end
of next month (October).” Doubtless their design was to amuse General
Bradstreet with fair language, to cut off his army at Sandusky, when
least expected, and then to send the hatchet to the nations: a plan well
laid; but of which it was my good fortune to prevent them from attempting
the execution. To return to myself: I remained in the fort, and two
Indian warriors (one of whom was called Visenlair) with tommahawks in
their hands, seized me, one by each arm; on which I turned to Godefroi,
the only person who had not left me, and cried out to him, seeing him
stand motionless and pale: “Eh bien! Vous m’abandonnez donc?” Well then!
You give me up? He answered: “Non, mon capitaine, je ne vous abandonnerai
jamais,” No, my captain, I will never give you up; and followed the
Indians, who pulled me along to the water-side, where I imagined they
intended to put me into a canoe; but they dragged me into the water. I
concluded their whim was to drown me, and then scalp me; but I soon found
my mistake, the river being fordable. They led me on till we came near
their village; and there they stopped and stripped me. They could not get
off my shirt, which was held by the wrist bands, after they had pulled
it over my head; and in rage and despair I tore it off myself. They then
bound my arms with my sash, and drove me before them to a cabin, where
was a bench, on which they made me sit. The whole village was now in an
uproar. Godefroi prevailed with St. Vincent, who had followed us to the
water-side, but had turned back, to come along with him; and encouraged
Pondiac’s nephew and the little chief’s son to take my part. St. Vincent
brought the great belt, and Pondiac’s nephew spoke. Nanamis, an Indian,
bid Godefroi take courage, and not quit me. Godefroi told le Cygne, a
Miamis chief, that his children were at Detroit; and that, if they killed
me, he could not tell what might befal them. He spoke likewise to le
Cygne’s son, who whispered his father, and the father came and unbound
my arms, and gave me his pipe to smoke. Visenlair, upon my speaking, got
up and tied me by the neck to a post. And now every one was preparing to
act his part in torturing me. The usual modes of torturing prisoners are
applying hot stones to the soles of the feet, running hot needles into
the eyes, which latter cruelty is generally performed by the women, and
shooting arrows and running and pulling them out of the sufferer in order
to shoot them again and again: this is generally done by the children.
The torture is often continued two or three days, if they can contrive
to keep the prisoner alive so long. These modes of torture I should not
have mentioned, if the gentleman who advised me to publish my journal,
had not thought it necessary. It may easily be conceived what I must have
felt at the thought of such horrors which I was to endure. I recollect
perfectly what my apprehensions were. I had not the smallest hope of
life; and I remember that I conceived myself as it were going to plunge
into a gulf, vast, immeasurable; and that, in a few moments after, the
thought of torture occasioned a sort of torpor and insensibility; and I
looked at Godefroi, and seeing him exceedingly distressed, I said what I
could to encourage him: but he desired me not to speak. I supposed that
it gave offence to the savages, and therefore was silent; when Pacanne,
king of the Miamis nation, and just out of his minority, having mounted
a horse and crossed the river, rode up to me. When I heard him calling
out to those about me, and felt his hand behind my neck, I thought he
was going to strangle me out of pity: but he untied me, saying (as it
was afterwards interpreted to me) I give that man his life. “If you want
meat (for they sometimes eat their prisoners) go to Detroit, or upon the
lake (meaning go face your enemies the English) and you’ll find enough.
What business have you with this man’s flesh, who is come to speak to
us?” I fixed my eyes steadfastly on this young man, and endeavoured by
looks to express my gratitude. An Indian then presented me his pipe; and
I was dismissed by being pushed rudely away. I made what haste I could to
a canoe, and passed over to the fort, having received on my way a smart
cut of a switch from an Indian on horseback. Mr. Levi, a Jew trader, and
some soldiers, who were prisoners, came to see me. Two very handsome
young Indian women came likewise, seemed to compassionate me extremely,
and asked Godefroi a thousand questions. If I remember right, they were
the young king’s sisters. Happy Don Quixote, attended by princesses! I
was never left alone, as the wretches, who stripped and tied me, were
always lurking about to find an opportunity to stab me. I lay in the
house of one L’Esperance, a Frenchman. The next day my Indians spoke on
their belts. The two wretches still sought an opportunity to kill me.
The day following the Miamis returned their answer: “That we must go
back;” shewed the belts of the Senecas, Shawanese, and Delawares; gave
my Indians a small string of white wampum; and told them: “to go and
inform their chiefs of what they had seen and heard.” While the council
sat I was concealed in L’Esperance’s garret, as Godefroi was obliged
to attend it. Being determined at all events to get into the Illinois
country if possible, St. Vincent and I agreed, that he should endeavour
to gain le Cygne and the young king to attend me to Wyaut: but, in the
middle of the night, St. Vincent came and awoke me, told me that two
Frenchmen were just arrived from St. Joseph, and that the Delewares, who
were there, were coming back to the Miamis village. He advised me to send
for my chief immediately, and tell him, for his own safety as well as
mine, to try to get leave to go away in the morning, (for the Miamis had
appointed the next day but one for our departure). This was accordingly
done, and leave obtained. I went to visit le Cygne, who told me, “that he
would have been glad to have attended me to Wyaut; but that he could not
think of leading me to my death: for that there were so many tommahawks
lifted up there, that he should have trembled to have gone himself.” I
gave notes to Pacanne and Pondiac’s nephew, setting forth that they had
saved my life, and entreating all Englishmen to use them kindly. (Pacanne
shewed his paper to Colonel Croghan, when he made his tour through the
Indian country, and the Colonel was pleased to bring him to Detroit,
and, at a private meeting appointed for that purpose, sent for me, and
gave me a very handsome present to lay at his feet). We gave all our
blankets and shirts to those Indians who had done us service; and hearing
that the chiefs were in council, and talked of not allowing me to return
with my party, but of detaining me prisoner; and my Indians themselves
appearing uneasy, having left my money and baggage with one Capucin, a
Frenchman, I hurried away about noon, vexed at heart that I had not been
able to execute the orders I had received. I gave General Bradstreet’s
letter for Monsieur St. Ange, the French commandant at Fort Chartres, to
St. Vincent, to deliver to that officer; and signed a certificate which
he was pleased to put into my hands, specifying that, on many occasions,
he had saved my life. Fear lent wings to my Indians this day; and we
continued our march till it was quite dark, being apprehensive of an
attack. We set out very early the next morning; and as nothing worthy of
observation happened, my thoughts were taken up during this day’s journey
in admiring the fine policy of the French with respect to the Indian
nations; of which, from among a thousand, I shall select two remarkable
instances, which I mention as not only worthy of imitation, but to wear
out of the minds of such of my countrymen as have good sense and humanity
the prejudices conceived against an innocent, much-abused, and once happy
people; who have as deep a sense of the justice and benevolence of the
French, as of the wrongs and haughty treatment which they have received
from their present masters. The first of these is the encouragement given
by the French court to marriages betwixt its subjects and Indian women;
by which means Lewis got admission into their councils, and all their
designs were known from their very birth. Add to this, that the French
so entirely won their affections by this step, that to this hour the
savages say, that the French and they are one people. The next instance
is, the prohibiting the sale of spirituous liquors to Indians, under pain
of not receiving absolution: it is what the French call a _cas reservé_;
none but a bishop can absolve a person guilty of it. This prevented many
mischiefs too frequent among the unfortunate tribes of savages, who are
fallen to our lot. From drunkenness arise quarrels, murders, and what
not? for there is nothing, however shocking and abominable, that the
most innocent of that innocent people are not madly bent on when drunk.
From imposing on the drunken Indian in trade, abusing his drunken wife,
daughter, or other female relation, and other such scandalous practices
arise still greater evils. When such things are done (and they are done)
can we wonder that the Indians seek revenge? The ill conduct of a few
dissolute pedlars has often cost the lives of thousands of his Majesty’s
most industrious subjects, who were just emerging from the gloom of toil
and want, to the fair prospect of ease and contentment. The following
day, while we were shooting at some turkeys, we discovered the cabins of
a hunting party on the opposite side of the Miamis river; the men were
in the woods; but a squaw came over to us, who proved to be the wife
of the little chief. Godefroi told her that I was gone to the Ilinois
country with her son. She informed us that the Indians were not returned
from Detroit; and added that there were four hundred Delawares and three
hundred Shawanese (as she had been told) at the Uttawaw villages, who
wanted to go and set fire to that place. We were sure that this piece
of news about the Shawanese and Delawares was false, as the Uttawaws
themselves wanted provisions: but my Indians believed it, and it served
to bring them over at once to my way of thinking, which was, to pass
through the woods, and avoid the villages of the Uttawaws. They were all
much alarmed, but in particular the Huron of Loretto. This regenerate
monster of the church, this Christian savage,[20] who spoke French
fluently, had the cruelty and insolence to tell me, that as I could
not march as fast as the rest, I must take an old man and a boy (both
lame) and make the best of my way: that the chief would go with me,
and he would conduct the other[s], who were eleven in number, and all
able men. I spoke to him with gentleness, and begged that he would not
think of separating from us; on which he said something, that I did not
understand, in his language which resembles that of the five nations,
and of course was understood by my chief, and which vexed him so much,
that he told me, “I might go by myself;” but I found means to pacify him.
I now told Godefroi, who was of himself so determined, that he would
of course go with me. Upon this the Huron gave us very gross language;
and indeed such stubborn impudence I never saw. He told the chief that
if he suffered me to take my horses with me, we should be discovered,
but I obtained the chief’s consent to take them a little way. I then
proposed going into the wood to settle the distribution of our provisions
and ammunition; but the Huron would listen to nothing: so leaving him
and his party, consisting of ten, with my best horse, which he said he
would turn loose as soon as he should get a little way further, I struck
into the wood with Godefroi, the chief, the old Indian, and the Indian
boy; Godefroi and myself on horseback. We went North East from twelve
o’clock till two; from two to five we went North; and finding a pool of
water, we took up our lodgings there. The next day we continued our route
North, North East, being as nearly as we could guess in the course of the
Miamis river. We endured great thirst all this day. About three o’clock
we reached the swamps, which, by the dryness of the season, might have
passed for meadows, and not finding any water, about five o’clock we made
a hole, two feet deep, with our hands, (for we had no kind of tool fit
for that use) where some tall, broad grass grew; and getting good water,
though very muddy, we made a fire, and determined to pass the night by
the side of our little well. We travelled in the swamps the following day
till half an hour after one o’clock, at which time we came to open woods,
having found water in two places on our way; but we could find none when
we wanted to repose ourselves at the close of day. We therefore set to
work, as the day before, and made a hole four feet deep in a place which
must be a swamp in the wet season: but it was three hours before we got
a draught of what I might rather call watery mud than muddy water. We
were forced from want of water to stew a turkey in the fat of a racoon;
and I thought I had never eaten any thing so delicious, though salt was
wanting: but perhaps it was hunger which made me think so. We heard
four shots fired very near us just before dark; we had a little before
discovered the tracks of Indians, and they undoubtedly had discovered
ours, and, supposing us friends, fired to let us know were they were.
These shots alarmed our chief, and he told me that I must leave my horses
behind. I bid Godefroi drive them to some little distance from us, and
let them go: accordingly he went towards the place where we had left
them, as if he intended to do so; but, unknown to me, wisely deferred
it till morning, hoping our chief would change his mind. This night the
chief, seeing me writing by the light of the fire, grew jealous, and
asked if I was counting the trees. The next morning the chief being a
little intimidated, instead of going East North East, as agreed on the
night before, in order to draw near the Miamis river, went due North; by
which means he led us into the most perplexed wood I ever saw. He had my
compass, which I asked him for, and wanted to carry about me, as he very
seldom looked at it; but this gave great offense, and he told me I might
go by myself. In short, he was grown captious beyond measure. In order
to please him, we had put his pack on one of our horses; but we were
forced to take it off again, as a loaded horse could not force its way
through the thick wood we were in. I found such a difficulty in leading
my horse (for it was impossible to ride) through this part of the forest,
that I called out to the party for God’s sake to stop till I could see
them, or I should never see them more: at that time I could not be more
than fifteen yards behind them. They had hurried on in pursuit of a
rattle-snake. The chief now told me again, that I must let my horses go;
but Godefroi convinced me, that I could not reach Detroit without them.
I therefore resolved, if he persisted, to quit him, to take Godefroi
with me, and to kill one of my horses for a supply of food, for we had
very little ammunition left, and no provisions. However the chief grew
good-humoured by Godefroi’s management; and as he now thought himself out
of danger, changed his course, going East North East. We soon got into
a fine open wood, where there was room to drive a coach and six. Here
we halted to refresh ourselves by smoaking our pipes, having nothing to
eat, the old Indian, who always ranged as we travelled on, having found
no game that morning. As I had not been used to smoaking, I desired to
have sumach leaves only, without tobacco; but, after a few whiffs, I was
so giddy, that I was forced to desist: probably an empty stomach was the
chief cause of this unpleasant effect of smoaking. Soon after we came
into extensive meadows; and I was assured that those meadows continue
for a hundred and fifty miles, being in the winter drowned lands and
marshes. By the dryness of the season they were now beautiful pastures:
and here presented itself one of the most delightful prospects I ever
beheld; all the low grounds being meadow, and without wood, and all the
high grounds being covered with trees, and appearing like islands; the
whole scene seemed an elysium. Here we found good water, and sat down by
it, and made a comfortable meal of what the old Indian had killed, after
we left our halting-place. We afterwards continued our route, and at
five o’clock discovering a small rivulet, which gave us all, and me in
particular, inexpressible pleasure, we made a fire by the side of it, and
lay there all night. The day following, we crossed the tracks of a party
of men running from the Uttawaw villages directly up into the woods,
which we imagined to be those of the Huron’s party who might have lost
their way; as it proved. I laughed and joked a good deal with Godefroi
on this occasion; for when the Huron left us, I asked in a sneering
manner, “if he had any commands, in case I should get before him to
Detroit;” and he answered me in the same tone, “if when you arrive, you
don’t find me there, you may safely say that I am gone to the devil.”
Soon after, to our great joy, we fell into the path leading from the
Uttawaw villages to Detroit, and struck into a by-path to avoid meeting
Indians; but unluckily stumbled on that which led from the great path to
Attawang’s village. We met three Hurons on horseback, who told us, that
peace was concluded, that the Uttawaws had returned the day before to
their villages, and that General Bradstreet was to be at Cedar-Point that
night on his way to Sandusky. One of these Indians had been present when
I was prisoner at Attawang’s village; and though I was dressed like a
Canadian, and spoke French to Godefroi to prevent discovery, recollected
me to be the Englishman he had seen there. I gave him a letter from St.
Vincent to Pondiac which I had promised to deliver. They then took their
leave of us; and as soon as they were out of sight, we turned into the
great path, and putting our Indians on our horses, Godefroi and I walked
at a very great rate. We arrived at the Pootiwatamy village[21] at a
quarter past three, where I had the pleasure of seeing English colours
flying. I wanted to avoid the village; but the chief, being very hungry
(for we had eat nothing that day) fell into a passion, and asked what we
were afraid of. He knew he ran no risk here. I was a little vexed, and
mounting my horse bid him follow. I went to the village, where I bought
a little Indian corn and a piece of venison; and then Godefroi and I
rode on till it was dark, in hopes of reaching Detroit the next day; and
finding water, made a fire near it, and passed the night there, having
left our fellow-travellers to sleep with the Pootiwatamies; who, as none
of them knew me, were told by Godefroi that I was gone to the country
of the Ilinois, and that he growing tired of the journey, and wanting
to see his children, was on his return home. The next morning we set
out at the dawn of day; and, to save ourselves the trouble of making a
raft, took the upper road, though the journey was much longer that way,
hoping to find the river fordable, in which we were not disappointed. We
travelled this day a great way, and our horses were so much fatigued,
that they were hardly able to carry us towards the close of the day.
We found fresh horse-dung on the road, which Godefroi having curiously
examined, knew that some Indians had just passed that way; and by their
tracks he was sure they were before us. He therefore made an excuse to
halt for about an hour, endeavouring to conceal the truth from me; but
I was no stranger to his real motive. However, about seven o’clock we
arrived at Detroit; whence I was fifty leagues distant when I left the
Miamis river and struck into the woods: and by the circuit I was obliged
to make to avoid pursuit, I made it at least fourscore leagues, or two
hundred and forty miles. The Huron and his people did not arrive till
many days after, and in three different parties. They had lost their way;
were obliged to divide themselves into small bodies in order to seek
for game; had suffered extremely by fatigue and hunger; one having died
by the way, and all the rest being very ill when they reached Detroit.
The Huron I imagined would have died. I gave him, as well as all the
others, all the assistance in my power; but could not help reproaching
him with his barbarity to me, and reminding him, “that the Great Spirit
had protected one whom he had abandoned, and punished him who had basely
deserted his fellow-warrior.” Immediately after my arrival at Detroit, I
sent an express to General Bradstreet, with an account of my proceedings,
and to warn him of the dangerous situation he was in, being advanced some
miles up the Sandusky river, and surrounded with treacherous Indians.
The moment he received my letter, he removed, falling down the river,
till he reached Lake Erie: by this means he disappointed their hopes of
surprising his army. This army however suffered extremely afterwards, and
great numbers were lost in traversing the desert, many of their boats
having in the night been dashed to pieces against the shore, while the
soldiers were in their tents. The boats were unfortunately too large to
be drawn out of the water. The centinels gave the alarm on finding the
sudden swell of the lake, but after infinite labour, from the loss of
boats, a large body of men were obliged to attempt to reach Fort Niagara
by land, many of whom perished. It is worthy of remark, that, during this
violent swell of the waters, soldiers stood on the shore with lighted
candles, not a breath of wind being perceived. This phænomenon often
happens. Another curious fact respecting the waters of these lakes is,
that they rise for seven years and fall for seven years; or in other
words, there is a seven years tide. I have read somewhere, that the
Caspian sea overflows its banks once in fifteen years. This, however,
is denied elsewhere. But, if the former opinion be really the case, as
the American lakes and the Caspian sea are in parts of the earth almost
opposite to each other, it might be worth while to enquire, whether, when
they are at the lowest in one place, they are at the highest in that
which is opposite, or both rise and fall at the same time?

The Natchez nation, mentioned in the letter to Pondiac, which he shewed
me, and who were blamed by the rest of the Indian army for having fired
too soon on the English who were sent to take possession of Fort Chartres
by way of the Mississippi river, no doubt did it by design, that the
troops might have an opportunity of retreating; for the French had
formerly endeavoured to extirpate that nation, and had nearly succeeded
in the undertaking, a small number only having escaped the massacre.[22]
It is not probable such an action could ever be forgiven; especially by
savages. This nation have a perpetual fire; and two men are appointed to
watch it. It has been conjectured that their ancestors were deserters
from the Mexicans who worship the sun.

The Miamis nation, of whom I have spoken so much, and into whose hands I
fell after leaving Pondiac’s army at the Uttawaw villages, are the very
people who have lately defeated the Americans in three different battles;
and when the last accounts from that country reached us, they were
encamped on the banks of the Ohio, near the falls or cataracts of that
river.[23]

It may not be improper to mention, that if I could have completed the
tour intended, viz. from Detroit to New Orleans, thence to New York, and
thence to Detroit again, whence I set out, it would have been a circuit
little short of five thousand miles.

DETROIT, September 25, 1764.

FOOTNOTES

[1] Simms, _Frontiersmen of New York_ (Albany, 1882), i, pp. 438, 439.

[2] Parkman, _Conspiracy of Pontiac_, ii, p. 195.

[3] _Monthly Review_, March, 1797, p. 381.

[4] Jacques Godefroy was a prominent habitant of Detroit, who had been
employed by Major Gladwin to seek an interview with Pontiac on behalf
of the English cause. From this mission he had returned unsuccessful.
Later, dispatched to the Illinois with four other Canadians, they had not
only pillaged an English trader, but aided the Indians to capture Fort
Miami. As Godefroy had taken the oath of allegiance to the British crown
in 1760, he was arrested and sentenced to be hanged on the charge of
treason. After this journey with Morris he continued to live at Detroit,
much respected and esteemed, and one of the richest of the French colony.
His son leaned toward the American side in the Revolution, and assisted
George Rogers Clark.—ED.

[5] This was Pontiac’s village on the Maumee. See Croghan’s Journal of
1765, _ante_.—ED.

[6] Cedar Point was near the entrance to the Maumee River.—ED.

[7] See note on Maumee Rapids, Croghan’s _Journals_, _ante_.—ED.

[8] On Indian slavery, see “The Panis; Canadian Indian Slavery,” in
Canadian Institute _Proceedings_, 1897.—ED.

[9] The reference here is to the defeat and retreat of Major Arthur
Loftus, who left Pensacola early in February, 1764, with a detachment of
the 22nd infantry to proceed to the Illinois, and take possession for the
English. On the nineteenth of March he was ambushed and fired upon near
Tunica Bend on the Mississippi, and obliged to retreat to New Orleans.—ED.

[10] The Miamis were of Algonquian stock; but the early French writers
noted their peculiarities and special customs. See _Wisconsin Historical
Collections_, xvi, p. 376; also index thereto.—ED.

[11] The Northern tribes, especially the Iroquois, termed the Cherokees,
Chickasaws, etc., “Têtes plattes” (Flat-heads). The enmity between the
Northern and the Southern Indians was traditional.—ED.

[12] A letter to Bradstreet from Morris, dated September 2, 1764, is
quoted by Wallace, _History of Illinois and Louisiana under French Rule_
(Cincinnati, 1893), p. 352, _note_.—ED.

[13] Reference to the date of starting (_ante_, p. 303) shows that this
should read September 1.—ED.

[14] On the influence of dreams over the actions of Indians, see Long’s
_Travels_, vol. ii of this series.—ED.

[15] The journey of Sir William Johnson to Detroit, here referred to,
took place July 4-October 30, 1761. For the diary of this voyage, see
Stone, _Life and Times of Sir William Johnson_, ii, pp. 429-477.—ED.

[16] Pichou is the Canadian name for the loup-cervier, or _lynx
canadensis_.—ED.

[17] Holmes had warned Gladwin of the conspiracy among the Indians;
nevertheless, he himself fell a victim thereto. See Parkman, _Conspiracy
of Pontiac_, i, pp. 189, 278.—ED.

[18] Sir Henry Moore was the only colonist appointed governor of New
York, having been born in Jamaica in 1713. After serving as governor
of that island, and by his bravery and wisdom averting serious peril
during a slave insurrection, he was rewarded with a baronetcy and
the governorship of New York (1764). He filled this position with
acceptability, dying at his post in 1769.—ED.

[19] For these forts, see Croghan’s _Journals_, _ante_.—ED.

[20] One of the earliest Jesuit missions in Canada was to the Hurons, for
whom (1673) a village was built at Loretto, ten miles from Quebec, on a
seigniory belonging to the Jesuit order. Remnants of the Loretto Hurons
are still to be found at the old village. The French had employed these
“praying Indians” in their wars; it will be seen that the English were
following the same policy.—ED.

[21] See Croghan’s _Journals_, _ante_, for note upon the location of this
Potawatomi village.—ED.

[22] The Natchez War, with its sequel in the Chickasaw campaigns, was the
most disastrous series of Indian troubles in the early history of French
Louisiana. The Natchez secretly rose, and treacherously massacred the
garrison of Fort Rosalie, November 29, 1729. During the two succeeding
years Governor Périer twice invaded their territory, and inflicted so
severe a chastisement that the nation as such ceased to exist, its
remnant taking refuge among the Chickasaws.—ED.

[23] This paragraph was obviously interpolated just before the
publication of the journal (1791), for the three different battles to
which Morris here refers were those of Harmar’s campaign in 1790, when
three several detachments of the latter’s army were at different times
overpowered in the Miami territory. The defeat of St. Clair (November 4,
1791), by the same tribesmen, doubtless was too recent an event for the
information to have reached England, and been embodied in a publication
of that year.—ED.

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