LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF PITTSBURGH
THIS BOOK
C. HALE SII'E. A. H
THE INDIAN WARS
of PENNSYLVANIA
An Account of the Indian Events, in Pennsylvania, of The French and Indian War, Pontiac s War, Lord Dunmore's War, The Revolutionary War and the Indian Uprising from 1789 to 1795
Tragedies of the Pennsylvania Frontier
Based Primarily on the Penna. Archives and Colonial Records
By C. HALE SIPE
of the Pittsburgh and Butler Bars; Member of the His- torical Society of Pennsylvania; Author of "The Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania" and "Mount Vernon and the Washington Family"
Introduction by
DR. GEORGE P. DONEHOO, Former State
Librarian of Pennsylvania
For Schools, Colleges, Libraries and Lovers of Informative Literature
THE TELEGRAPH PRESS
HARRISBURG. PA. 1929
Price $5.00, postpaid. Order from C. Hale Sipe, Butler, Pa.
De.r.
Eve
P4561
Copyrighted 1929
By C. HALE SIPE
Printed in the United States of America
To the Memory of his Sainted Mother,
from Whom he Inherited a Love for
the History of Pennsylvania,
this Book is Reverently
Dedicated by The
Author
Principal Sources Utilized in the Preparation of this Work
Archives of Pennsylvania.
Colonial Records of Pennsylvania.
Egle's History of Pennsylvania.
Gordon's History of Pennsylvania.
Day's Historical Collections.
Frontier Forts of Pennsylvania.
Pennypacker's Pennsylvania, the Key- stone.
Loudon's Indian Narratives.
Rupp's County Histories.
Magazines of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.
Egle's Notes and Queries.
Miner's History of Wyoming.
Jenkin's Pennsylvania, Colonial and Fed" eral.
Lossing's Field Book of the Revolution.
On the Frontier with Colonel Antes.
Meginness' Otzinachson.
Linn's Annals of Buffalo Valley.
Hassler's Old Westmoreland.
Fisher's Making of Pennsylvania.
McClure's Old Time Notes.
Parkman's Works.
Jones' Juniata Valley.
Hanna's Wilderness Trail.
March's History of Pennsylvania.
Smith's History of Armstrong County.
Veech's Monongahela of Old.
McKnight's Pioneer History of North- western Pennsylvania.
Conover's Journal of the Military Ex- pedition of Major-General Sullivan against the Six Nations of New York in 1779.
Craig's The Olden Time.
Darlington's Fort Pitt and Letters from the Frontier.
Darlington's Christopher Gist's Journals.
Hodge's Handbook of American Indians.
Sylvester's Indian Wars of New England.
Hulbert's Historic Highways of America.
Rupp's Early History of Western Penn- sylvania and the West.
Thwaites' Early Western Travels.
Thwaites' Documentary History of Lord Dunmore's War.
Walton's Conrad Weiser and the Indian Policy of Colonial Pennsylvania.
Withers' Chronicles of Border Warfare.
Craig's History of Pittsburgh.
Cort's Henry Bouquet.
Keith's Chronicles of Pennsylvania.
Boucher's History of Westmoreland County.
Albert's History of Westmoreland County.
Donehoo's Pennsylvania — A History.
DeSchweinitz's Life of David Zeisberger.
Espenshade's Pennsylvania Place Names.
Heckewelder's Works.
Mann's Life of Henry Melchior Muhlen- berg.
Father Lambing's Works.
Butterfield's Washington- Irvine Corres- pondence.
Washington's Journal.
Celeron's Journal.
Colden's History of the Five Nations.
Volwiler's George Croghan.
Johnson's Swedish Settlements on the Delaware.
Loskiel's History of the Mission of the United Brethren Among the Indians of North America.
Patterson's History of the Backwoods.
Doddridge's Settlement and Indian Wars of Virginia and Pennsylvania.
Godcharles' Daily Stories of Pennsyl- vania.
Sawvel's Logan, the Mingo.
And many others.
INTRODUCTION
IT affords me much pleasure to write these few words of intro- duction to "The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania," of which I have read the manuscript.
Mr. Sipe has wisely followed the same scientific method in the collection of his data for this work which he did in his "Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania." As a consequence the two books give a thoroughly accurate picture of the thrillingly romantic period of Pennsylvania history from 1755 to 1795, during which the mountains and the valleys of the frontiers of Pennsylvania were literally drenched with blood.
For nearly three quarters of a century after the Treaty of William Penn with the Indians on the Delaware, the settlements of the European races had spread peacefully westward to the Blue Mountains. Even though there were occasional rumblings of a threatening storm, the sky was still clear and peace dwelt in the far-flung settlements, which stretched westward to the foothills of the Alleghenies.
The struggle between France and Great Britain for the posses- sion of the Ohio valley and the consequent effort on the part of both of these rivals for the friendship of the Indian was the final cause for the conflict between the Indian and the English settler. The French had traded with the Delaware and the Shawnee, but had not taken his lands for settlement. On the other hand, the English had driven the Delaware from his ancestral habitat on the river which bears his name to the Susquehanna and then to the Ohio by his land purchases, just and unjust, and the same fact applies to the Shawnee. The English had, in their spreading settlements, taken up Indian lands, until practically nothing was left of their lands east of the mountain ridges. Even their last place of refuge on the waters of the Ohio, which they were oc- cupying by permission of the Iroquois, was sought for by the "land hungry" English.
This land hunger was, so far as the English were concerned, a hunger for homes by these people of the British Empire, who had never known what it was to own lands of their own. It was the real motive in all of the migrations of these peoples from the lands across the seas. And yet, it caused as serious consequences to the Indian as did the Spanish search for gold.
INTRODUCTION
After the defeat of the army of General Edward Braddock by the French and Indians in 1755, the storm which had been slowly gathering along the waters of the upper Ohio, broke in all of its mad fury along the eastern foothills of the Alleghenies and for a period of forty years it raged with but few slight intermissions.
After the Conspiracy of Pontiac, 1763-4, the scene of action for the worst Indian wars was shifted west of the Alleghenies. The Purchase of 1768 opened the lands west of the mountains to the settlers who poured over the mountain ridges in an ever in- creasing tide. The occupation of these lands along the Ohio by the white settlers from Pennsylvania and Virginia met with the armed opposition of the Indians. As a consequence, there was the long series of Border Wars, expeditions into the "Indian country" west of the Ohio, and later the union of the British with the Indians against all of the settlement? in western Penn- sylvania. These wars did not end until the final overthrow of the Indian and British by General Anthony Wayne, at Fallen Timbers, and the Treaty at Greenville, which resulted, in 1795.
The hardships and sufferings of the pioneer settlers of Pennsyl- vania during these long, weary years of border wars was, however, the foundation upon which a new nation was to be builded. Without the training and the discipline in hardship of those years the War of the American Revolution, which followed so closely upon these Indian wars, would have been doomed to failure. These frontiers-men were trained in the use of the rifle and in the methods of warfare. The generation of young men, which made up the very backbone of Washington's army had known nothing but warfare and strife from their earliest infancy. The war- whoop of the Indian and the whistle of rifle bullets were the familiar sounds of childhood.
Germantown, Valley Forge, Monmouth, Trenton, Saratoga and Yorktown could not have been without these years of bitter training, in the making of Morgan's Riflemen, Proctor's Brigade, the Eighth Pennsylvania, the Thirteenth Virginia and the other bodies making up the Continental Army from the frontiers of Pennsylvania.
Not only the enlisted men, but also the great majority of the most effective officers of the Army of Washington were trained for war on the frontiers of Pennsylvania. Washington, Wayne, Mercer, Morgan, Armstrong, Proctor, Burd, Clapham, Shippen, Brodhead, St. Clair, Irvine, Crawford and Sullivan are but a few
INTRODUCTION
of the graduates of this "West Point" of the frontiers of Penn- sylvania.
Mr. Sipe in his "Indian Chiefs of Pennsylvania" has given a critical, and romantic picture of the Indian chiefs who played such vital parts upon the stage of history during this period. In the present work, "The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania," he tells what these chiefs did to make the pioneer history of the frontiers of Pennsylvania one of the most thrilling chapters in American history. He fully and accurately covers the events of these Border Wars, which had so much to do with the Birth of a Nation.
GEORGE P. DONEHOO.
PREFACE
ii^ I '^HE Indian Wars of Pennsylvania" has been written in
X response to the requests of many historians and educators, not only in Pennsylvania but in other parts of the United States, who were well pleased with the author's "Indian Chiefs of Penn- sylvania." Until the appearance of "The Indian Chiefs of Penn- sylvania," in April, 1927, the author was unknown to the lovers of the history of the Keystone State; and he believes that the fine reception given this book was due, in large measure, to the fact that it was highly endorsed by that eminent authority on Pennsylvania history. Dr. George P. Donehoo, whose "History of the Indian Place Names in Pennsylvania" and forthcoming "History of the Indian Trails of Pennsylvania" should find a place in the library of every lover of the history of the Penn- sylvania Indians.
"The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania" is based primarily on the Pennsylvania Archives and the Pennsylvania Colonial Records. No effort has been spared to make the book a trustworthy and authoritative work on the great Indian wars and uprisings which crimsoned the soil of Pennsylvania with the blood of both the Indian and the white man during the long period from 1755 to 1795. Throughout the book will be found many references to the Pennsylvania Archives and the Pennsylvania Colonial Re- cords and many quotations from these and other trustworthy sources.
The need for the present volume is apparent. There is no more thrilling and tragic chapter in American History than the period of the Indian wars and uprisings in Pennsylvania. Penn- sylvania suffered more than did any other Colony during this period. Yet how few are familiar with this important period in the history of Pennsylvania! And the reason is that historical writers have not given the Indian wars and uprisings in Pennsyl- vania the attention that their importance deserves.
We read the history of Greece, of Rome, of England. Why should we neglect the history of the great race that roamed the hills and vales of Pennsylvania and left its sounding names on the Pennsylvania mountains, valleys and streams?
The reader will note that more than one hundred and seventy- five pages of the present volume deal with the Indian events in
PREFACE
Pennsylvania during the Revolutionary War. The author be- lieves that students of the Revolutionary struggle will appreciate this fact. Few historians seem to realize how largely the Revolu- tionary War was fought on the frontiers of Pennsylvania.
Perhaps a few words should be said concerning the plan of "The Indian Wars of Pennsylvania." The author thought it well not to have the book begin abruptly with the account of the first conflict between the Indian and the white man in Pennsylvania. Hence, the opening chapters are devoted to the Indian's religion and character; to a view of the Indian tribes that inhabited Pennsylvania; to a discussion of the Indian policy of the Swedes on the Delaware and of William Penn; and to the leading events in the Indian history of Pennsylvania before the bloody warfare between the two races began. This plan, the author believes, will enable the reader to make a more intelligent and satisfactory study of the many years of bloody conflict between the two races in Pennsylvania. The volume is thus much more than a history of the Indian wars and uprisings in the state bearing the name of Penn, the apostle.
C. HALE SIPE. Butler, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1929.
ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
THE author desires to thank the hundreds of Pennsylvanians and others who subscribed for "The Indian Wars of Penn- sylvania" before the manuscript was handed to the printer. He especially thanks the following persons for substantial sub- scriptions :
Governor John S. Fisher and State Librarian Frederick A. Godcharles of Pennsylvania; Prof. John A, Anthony, Pittsburgh, Penna., Jos. A. Beck, Esq., Pittsburgh, Penna.; G. H. Blakeley, Bethlehem, Penna.; Hon. Marshall Brown, Pittsburgh, Penna.; Capt. W. R. Furlong, Washington, D. C.; Earle R. Forrest, Washington, Penna.; John Gribbel and W. Grififin Gribbel, Wyncote, Penna.; Jos. F. Guflfey, Pittsburgh, Penna.; Hon. D. B. Heiner, Kittanning, Penna.; Dr. C. G. Hughes, Pittsburgh, Penna.; E. H. Hutchison, Harmony, Penna.; Dr. C. E. Imbrie, Butler, Penna.; Prof. V. K. Irvine, Butler, Penna.; Mrs. Cecelia R. Jamison, Greensburg, Penna.; Hon. J. W. King, Kittanning, Penna.; Hon. Richard H. Koch, Pottsville, Penna.; H. K. Landis, Lancaster, Penna.; J. B. Landis, Butler, Penna.; Rachel R. Lowe, Pittsburgh, Penna.; Hon. W. Frank Mathues, Philadelphia, Penna. ; Hon. Geo. W. Maxey, Scranton, Penna. ; W. H. McClane, Washington, Penna.; Harry A. Neeb, Jr., Pittsburgh, Penna.; H. R. Pratt, Baltimore, Md.; W. L. Riggs, Esq., McKeesport, Penna.; A. C. Robinson, Sewickley, Penna.; J. V. Scaife, Pitts- burgh, Penna.; Samuel Shoemaker, Philadelphia, Penna.; Homer H. Swaney, Esq., Beaver Falls, Penna.; Vernon F. Taylor, Indiana, Penna.; Hon. Henry W. Temple, Washington, Penna.; Hon. Theo. L, Wilson, Clarion, Penna; Henry Wittmer, Pitts- burgh, Penna.; J. E. Henretta, Kane, Penna.; J. B. Warriner, Lansford, Penna.; W. M. Laverty, Philadelphia, Penna.; and M. Wilson Stewart, Esq., Pittsburgh, Penna.
The author is under great obligation to Dr. George P. Donehoo for his careful reading of the proofs and making many suggestions.
Additional thanks are due State Librarian Frederick A. God- charles for many courtesies extended the author in the use of rare volumes in the Pennsylvania State Library. Finally, the author thanks the many educators and historians in Pennsylvania and other parts of the United States, who suggested to him the writing of this specialized history, and he hopes the book will come up to their expectations.
C. HALE SIPE. Butler, Pennsylvania, February 2, 1929.
LIST OF ILLUSTRATIONS
Captain John Smith's Sketch of a Susquehanna or Cones- toga Chief 28
Conrad Weiser's Home and Monument 100
Marker Near Grave of Shikellamy 134
Statue to George Washington at Waterford, Pa 148
View of Braddock's Field in 1803 190
Marker at Kittanning 312
Statue of "The White Woman of The Genessee" 380
Monument Marking the Approximate Spot Where Wash- ington Was Fired Upon, December 27th, 1753 400
Ravine on Battle Field of Bushy Run and Brush Creek
Church 440
Plan of the Battle of Bushy Run 448
A War Poster Used in Western Pennsylvania During the
Revolution 506
Joseph Brant (Thayendanegea) 558
Major-General John Sullivan, Brigadier-General Edward
Hand and view of the Genesee River 604
Colonel (later Brevet General) Daniel Brodhead 628
Monument at Grave of the Rev. Samuel Kirkland 684
Monument at Grave of General Arthur St. Clair 698
CONTENTS
Chapter Page
I — The Pennsylvania Indians — Their ReHgion and
Character 17
II — The Pennsylvania Indian Tribes 28
III — The Swedes and William Penn 59
IV — Principal Indian Events from 1701 to 1754. ... 82
V — Opening of the French and Indian War 152
VI — General Braddock's Campaign 177
VII — The First Delaware Invasion 203
VIII — Invasion of the Great and Little Coves and the
Conolloways 217
IX — Massacres of November and December, 1755. . 230
X — Massacres Early in 1756 255
XI — Carlisle Council — War Declared 276
XII — Atrocities in the Summer and Autumn of 1756 . . 284
XIII — Destruction of Kittanning 304
XIV— Efforts for Peace in 1756 321
XV— Events of the Year 1757 333
XVI — Post's Peace Missions — Grand Council at
Easton 356
XVII — General Forbes' Expedition against Fort Du-
quesne 387
XVIII— Pontiac's War 407
XIX— Pontiac's War (Continued) 439
XX— Pontiac's War (Continued) 450
XXI— Pontiac's War (Continued) 470
XXII— Lord Dunmore's War 488
XXIII— The Revolutionary War (1775, 1776 and 1777). 506
XXIV— The Revolutionary War (1778) 527
XXV— The Revolutionary War (1779) 573
XXVI— The Revolutionary War (1780) : 607
XXVII— The Revolutionary War (1781) 627
XXVIII— The Revolutionary War (1782-1783) 647
XXIX — The Post- Revolutionary Uprising 685
Appendix 720
Index 762
CHAPTER I
The Pennsylvania Indians — Their Religion and Character
Go where we may, in Pennsylvania, we are put in remem- brance of the American Indian by the beautiful names he gave to the valleys, streams and mountains where he roamed for untold generations, never dreaming that from afar would come a stronger race which would plant amid the wilderness the hamlet and the town and cause cities to rise where the forest waved over the home of his heart. The Wyoming Valley; the Tuscarora Valley; the winding Susquehanna; the blue Juniata; the broad Ohio; the Kittatinny Mountain ; the Allegheny Mountains — these are but a few of the everlasting reminders of the Pennsylvania Indians. Until the new heavens arch themselves and until the new earth comes, our Pennsylvania valleys will lie smiling in the sunlight, our Pennsylvania streams will go singing to the sea, and our Pennsylvania mountains will lift their summits to the sky; and throughout the ages may succeeding generations of Pennsylvanians realize that the Indian loved these valleys, these streams, these mountains, with a love as strong as that hallowing passion which touched the Grecian mountain-pass of Thermo- pylae more than twenty-four hundred years ago, and has caused it to glow with never-dying lustre through the long night of centuries. It was love for the land of his fathers that caused the Indian to fight to the death for his home and hunting grounds. A child of nature, the Indian knew not the God of revelation; but the God of the universe and nature he acknowledged in all things around him, — the sun, the moon, the stars, the flowers, the singing birds, the mighty oaks and sighing pines of the forest, the pleasant valleys, the babbling brooks, the dashing water-falls, the rushing rivers, the lofty mountains. Reverently he wor- shipped the Great Spirit, who created him, who governed the world, who taught the streams to flow and the bird to build her nest, who caused day and night and the changing seasons, who
18 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
stocked the streams with fish and the forests with game for his Red Children. To the Great Spirit went up many a pure prayer from the Indian's dark bosom. He prayed when he went on the chase; he prayed when he sat down to partake of the fruits of the chase; he prayed when he went to war. And when he closed his eyes in death, it was in the firm belief that death was mere transition to the Happy Hunting Ground, where, with care and sorrow removed, he would pursue the deer throughout the endless ages of eternity.
The Testimony of Heckewelder
The Moravian missionary. Rev. John Heckewelder, who labored for many years among the Delawares of Pennsylvania and Ohio, beginning his work in 1762, makes the following state- ments concerning the Indian's religion and character, in his "Indian Nations", published in 1818:
"The Indian considers himself as being created by an all- powerful, wise, and benevolent Mannito (Manitou); all that he possesses, all that he enjoys, he looks upon as given to him or allotted for his use by the Great Spirit who gave him life. He therefore believes it to be his duty to adore and worship his Creator and benefactor; to acknowledge with gratitude his past favours, thank him for present blessings, and solicit the con- tinuation of his good will. An old Indian told me, about fifty years ago, that when he was young, he still followed the custom of his father and ancestors, in climbing upon a high mountain or pinnacle, to thank the Great Spirit for all the benefits before bestowed, and to pray for a continuance of his favor; that they were sure their prayers were heard, and acceptable to the Great Spirit, although he did not himself appear unto them.
"They think that he, the Great Spirit, made the earth and all that it contains for the common good of mankind ; when he stocked the country that he gave them with plenty of game, it was not for the benefit of a few, but of all. Every thing was given in common for the sons of men . . . From this principle, hos- pitality flows as from its source. With them, it is not a virtue, but a strict duty. Hence they are never in search of excuses to avoid giving, but freely supply their neighbour's wants from the stock prepared for their own use. They give and are hospitable to all, without exception, and will always share with each other and often with the stranger, even to their last morsel. They
INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 19
rather would lie down themselves on an empty stomach, than have it laid to their charge that they had neglected their duty by not satisfying the wants of the stranger, the sick or the needy. . .
"They treat each other with civility, and show much affection on meeting after an absence . . . They are not quarrelsome, and are always on their guard, so as not to offend each other. They do not fight with each other; they say that fighting is only for dogs and beasts. They are, however, fond of play, yet very careful that they do not offend. They are remarkable for the particular respect which they pay to old age. In all their meetings, whether public or private, they pay the greatest attention to the observations and advice of the aged ; no one will attempt to contradict them, nor to interfere in any manner or even to speak, unless he is specially called upon."
Heckewelder says that, while marriages among the Indians were not contracted for life, it being understood that the parties were not to live together longer than they should be pleased with each other, yet both parties, sensible of this understanding, did every thing in their power to please each other. The husband built the home, and considered himself bound to support the wife and family by his exertions as hunter, fisher and trapper, while the wife took upon herself the labor of planting and raising corn and other products of the soil. The wife, he says, considered her labor much lighter than that of the husband, "for they them- selves say that, while their field labour employs them at most six weeks in the year, that of the men continues the whole year round. Neither creeks nor rivers, whether shallow or deep, frozen or free from ice, must be an obstacle to the hunter, when in pursuit of a wounded deer, bear, or other animal, as is often the case. Nor has he then leisure to think on the state of his body, and to con- sider whether his blood is not too much heated to plunge without danger into the cold stream, since the game he is in pursuit of is running off from him with full speed. Many dangerous accidents often befall him, both as a hunter and a warrior (for he is both), and are seldom unattended with painful consequences, such as rheumatism, or comsumption of the lungs, for which the sweat- house, on which they so much depend, and to which they often resort for relief, especially after a fatiguing hunt or warlike ex- pedition, is not always a sure preservative or an effectual remedy."
Heckewelder also says that, if the sick squaw longed for an article of food, be it what it may or however difficult to procure, the husband would at once endeavor to get it for her, and that
20 THE^INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
he knew of instances where the husband would go forty or fifty miles for a mess of cranberries to satisfy his wife's longing.
Speaking of the Indians' cruelty to their enemies, Heckewelder says:
"The Indians are cruel to their enemies! In some cases they are, but perhaps not more so than white men have sometimes shewn themselves. There have been instances of white men flaying or taking off the skin of Indians who had fallen into their hands, and then tanning those skins, or cutting them in pieces, making them up into razor-straps, and exposing those for sale, as was done at or near Pittsburg, sometime during the Revolutionary War. Those things are abominations in the eyes of the Indians, who, indeed, when strongly excited, inflict torments on their prisoners and put them to death by cruel tortures, but never are guilty of acts of barbarity in cold blood. Neither do the Dela- wares, and some other Indian nations, ever, on any account, disturb the ashes of the dead."
Contrary to the general supposition, the Indian was not cruel by nature. His cruelty was confined to the times when he was on the war path; and even then, there is no record of his having committed a deed as disgusting, revolting and horrible as the murder of the ninety-six Christian Delawares, at Gnadenhuetten, Ohio, on the 8th of March, 1782, by Colonel David Williamson and his band of Scotch-Irish settlers from Washington County, Pennsylvania.
During the long Indian wars, in Pennsylvania, from 1755 to 1795, hundreds of white persons, captured by the Indians, were adopted into Indian families, to take the places mostly of war- riors who had fallen on the field of the slain. These captives, so adopted, were treated with great kindness, and were looked upon by the Indians as their own flesh and blood. Many, indeed, were the instances of captives, recovered by the whites, who later returned to the forest homes of their Indian friends and adopted Indian relatives. Heckewelder speaks of the humanity and delicacy with which the Indians treated female prisoners whom they intended to adopt. The early Indian never captured women, white or red, for immoral purposes. (Page 381.)
The fiercest passion in the Indian's wild heart was the love of revenge, but, on the other hand, he would give his life for the protection of a friend. There was none more constant and stead- fast as a friend. He would share his last morsel with the stranger within his gates. He was the noblest type of primitive man that ever trod the earth.
INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 21
Among the children of men there were none who could equal him in power of endurance and capacity for suffering. He could travel on foot for days without food. He could be tortured to death by fire without a groan escaping his lips, and he chanted his death song with his latest breath.
The Indian's Pride
Says, Heckewelder, speaking of the Delawares or Lenni-Lenape;
"They will not admit that the whites are superior beings. They say that the hair of their heads, their features, the various colours of their eyes, evince that they are not like themselves Lenni Lenape, an Original People, a race of men that has existed un- changed from the beginning of time; but they are a mixed race, and therefore a troublesome one. Wherever they may be, the Great Spirit, knowing the wickedness of their disposition, found it necessary to give them a great Book, and taught them how to read it, that they might know and observe what he wished them to do and to abstain from. But they, the Indians, have no need of any such book to let them know the will of their Maker; they find it engraved on their own hearts; they have had sufficient discernment given to them to distinguish good from evil, and by following that guide, they are sure not to err.
"It is true, they confess, that when they first saw the whites, they took them for beings of a superior kind. They did not know but that they had been sent to them from the abode of the Great Spirit for some great and important purpose. They therefore welcomed them, hoping to be made happier by their company. It was not long, however, before they discovered their mistake, having found them an ungrateful, insatiable people, who, though the Indians had given them as much land as was necessary to raise provisions for themselves and their families, and pasture for their cattle, wanted still to have more, and at last would not be contented with less than the whole country. 'And yet,' say those injured people, 'these white men would always be telling us of their great Book which God had given to them; they would persuade us that every man was good who believed in what the Book said, and every man was bad who did not believe in it. They told us a great many things, which, they said, were written in the good Book, and wanted us to believe it all. We would probably have done so, if we had seen them practise what they pretended to believe, and act according to the good words which
22 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
they told us. But no! While they held their big Book in one hand, in the other, they had murderous weapons, guns and swords wherewith to kill us, poor Indians. Ah! and they did so, too; they killed those who believed in their Book, as well as those who did not. They made no distinction!"
Effects of the White Man's Rum and Vices
Having seen that the Indian had many virtues, it is but fair to add that many of these virtues were broken down by the white man. We refer particularly to the ruin wrought among the Indians by the white man's rum and vices. The Indian knew neither rum nor shameful diseases until his contact with the white man. Hear Heckewelder:
"So late as about the middle of the last century (the eighteenth century), the Indians were yet a hardy and healthy people, and many very aged men and women were seen among them, some of whom thought they had lived about one hundred years. They frequently told me and others that, when they were young men, their people did not marry so early as they did since, that even at twenty they were called boys, and durst not wear a breech- clout, as the men did at that time, but had only a small bit of skin hanging before them. Neither, did they say, were they sub- ject to so many disorders as in later times, and many of them calculated on dying of old age. But since that time, a great change has taken place in the constitution of those Indians who live nearest to the whites. By the introduction of ardent spirits among them, they have been led into vices which have brought on disorders which, they say, were unknown before; their blood be- came corrupted by a shameful complaint, which, they say, they had never known or heard of until the Europeans came among them. Now the Indians are affected with it to a great degree; children frequently inherit it from their parents, and after lingering for a few years, at last die victims to this poison. Our vices have destroyed them more than our swords.
"The general prevalence of drunkenness among the Indians is, in a great degree, owing to the unprincipled white traders, who persuade them to become intoxicated that they may cheat them the more easily, and obtain their lands or pelfries for a mere trifle. Within the last fifty years, some instances have even come to my knowledge of white men having enticed Indians to drink, and when they were drunk, murdered them. The effects which
INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 23
intoxication produces upon the Indians are dreadful. It has been the cause of an infinite number of murders among them. I can- not say how many have died of colds and other disorders, which they have caught by lying upon the cold ground, and remaining exposed to the elements, when drunk; others have lingered out their lives in excruciating rheumatic pains and in wasting con- sumptions until death came to relieve them of their sufferings. I once asked an Indian at Pittsburgh, whom I had not seen before, who he was. He answered in broken English: 'My name is Blackfish ; when at home with my nation, I am a clever fellow, and when here, a hog.' He meant that by means of the liquor which the white people gave him, he was sunk to the level of that beast."
Heckewelder says that reflecting Indians keenly remarked "that it was strange that a people who professed themselves believers in a religion, revealed to them by the Great Spirit him- self; who say that they have in their houses the Word of God and his laws and commandments textually written, could think of making a beson (liquor), calculated to bewitch people and make them destroy one another."
Heckewelder's observations concerning the English traders are the sad truth. They took advantage of the Indians' inordinate appetite for rum; they cheated them out of their skins and furs; they debauched their women. The Pennsylvania Assembly, in a letter to Governor Hamilton, February 27th, 1754, character- ized the traders as "the vilest of our own inhabitants and convicts imported from Great Britain and Ireland." The traders of other Colonies, many of whom entered Pennsylvania, were no better than the Pennsylvania traders. Said Governor Dinwiddie, of Virginia, in a letter to Governor Hamilton, of Pennsylvania, May 21st, 1753: "The Indian traders, in general, appear to me to be a set of abandoned wretches." In a word, the English traders, with few exceptions, were a vile and infamous horde, who, in- stead of contributing to the betterment of the Indian, corrupted and debauched him.
Protests Against the Rum Traffic
Rum was the curse of the Red Man, and the leading Indian chiefs recognized it as such. Hence, from the very beginning of the rum trafific among the Pennsylvania Indians, we find a series of protests by their chiefs to the Pennsylvania Authorities. When
24 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
the Conestoga or Susquehanna chief, Oretyagh, with a number of other chiefs of the Conestogas and Shawnees, bade farewell to William Penn, on October 7th, 1701, just a short time before Penn left his Province never to return, this sachem, in the name of the rest, told him that the Indians had long suffered from the ravages of the rum traffic, and Penn informed Oretyagh and associate chiefs that the Assembly was at that time enacting a law, according to their desire, to prevent their being abused by the selling of rum among them. (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 2, pages 45- 46.) Penn early saw the degredation which the Indians' un- quenchable thirst for strong drink wrought among them, and he did all in his power to remedy this matter. But the law was no sooner enacted than it was disregarded by the traders. Then, in the minutes of a council held at Philadelphia, on May 16th, 1704, we read the last reference to Oretyagh in recorded history, a protest against the rum traffic, as follows:
"Oretyagh, the chief now of Conestoga, requested him [Nicole Godin, a trader] to complain to the Governor [John Evans] of the great quantities of rum continually brought to their town, insomuch that they [the Conestogas] are ruined by it, having nothing left, but have laid out all, even their clothes for rum, and may now, when threatened with war, be surprised by their enemies, when besides themselves with drink, and so utterly be destroyed." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 2, page 141.)
The great Shikellamy, the most renowned Indian that ever lived in Pennsylvania, shortly after taking up his residence on the Susquehanna, as vice-gerent of the Six Nations over the Delawares, Shawnees and other Indians in the eastern part of Pennsylvania, served notice on the Colonial Authorities that, if the rum traffic among the Indians were not better regulated, friendly relations between the Six Nations and the Colony of Pennsylvania would cease.
As we shall see in the next chapter, the Shawnees, who entered eastern Pennsylvania as early as 1694, began, about 1724 to 1727, to migrate to the valleys of the Ohio and Allegheny. One of the reasons why they migrated to the western part of the state, was to escape the ruinous effects of strong liquor. But the trader with his rum followed them into the forests of their western homes.
Then the Shawnee on the Conemaugh, Kiskiminetas, and Allegheny took steps, in 1738, to restrain this pernicious traffic. On March 20th of that year, three of their chiefs in this region, namely; "Loyporcowah (Opessah's Son), Newcheconneh (Deputy
INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 25
King), and Coycacolenne, or Coracolenne (Chief Counsellor)," wrote a letter to Thomas Penn and James Logan, Secretary of the Provincial Council, in which they acknowledged the receipt of a present from Penn and Logan of powder, lead, and tobacco, delivered to them by the trader, George Miranda; in which they say they have a good understanding with the French, the Five Nations, the Ottawas, and all the French Indians; that the tract of land reser\'ed for them by the Proprietory Government on the west side of the Susquehanna does not suit them at present; and that they desire to remain in the region of the Allegheny and Kiskiminetas, make a strong town there, and keep their warriors from making war upon other nations at a distance. They then add:
"After we heard your letter read, and all our people being gathered together, we held a council together, to leave ofif drinking for the space of four years . . . There was not many of our traders at home at the time of our council, but our friends, Peter Chartier and George Miranda; but the proposal of stopping the rum and all strong liquors was made to the rest in the winter, and they were all willing. As soon as it was concluded of, all the rum that was in the towns was staved and spilled, belonging both to Indians and white people, which in quantity consisted of about forty gallons, that was thrown in the street; and we have appoint- ed four men to stave all the rum or strong liquors that is brought to the towns hereafter, either by Indians or white men, during the four years." A pledge signed by ninety-eight Shawnees and the two traders above named accompanied this letter, agreeing that all rum should be destroyed, and four men appointed in every town to see that no strong liquor should be brought into the Shawnee towns for the term of four years. (Pa. Archives, Vol. 1, pages 549-55L)
Previous to this action on part of Loyparcowah and other chiefs of the Shawnees, the Delawares at Kittanning made com- plaints concerning the rum traffic. In 1732, the trader, Edmund Cartlidge, wrote the Governor from Kittanning that the chiefs there made reflections on the Government for permitting such large quantities of rum to be carried to the Allegheny and sold to the Indians at that place, contrary to law. Also, in 1733, the Shawnee chiefs in the Allegheny region wrote the Governor re- questing that he send them an order permitting them "to break in pieces all kegs of rum so brought yearly and monthly by some new upstart of a trader without a license, who comes amongst us
26 THE INDIAN WARS OF PENNSYLVANIA
and brings nothing but rum, no powder, nor lead, nor clothing, but takes away with him those skins which the old licensed traders who bring us everything necessary, ought to have in return for their goods sold us some years since." Also in 1734, the Shawnee chiefs at Allegheny wrote the Governor and requested that none of the licensed traders be allowed to bring them more than thirty gallons of rum twice in a year, except Peter Chartier, who "trades further than ye rest."
Also, the able Indian orator and wise counselor, Scarouady, later successor to Tanacharison, the Half King, protested to the Pennsylvania Commissioners at the Carlisle Conference of Octo- ber, 1753, as follows:
"Your traders now bring scarce any thing but Rum and Flour . . . The Rum ruins us. We beg you would prevent its coming in such quantities by regulating the traders . . . When these Whiskey Traders come, they bring thirty or forty Caggs (kegs) and put them down before Us and make Us drink, and get all the Skins that should go to pay the Debts We have contracted for Goods bought of the Fair Traders, and by these means we not only ruin Ourselves but them too. These wicked Whiskey Sellers, when they have once got the Indians in Liquor, make them sell the very Clothes from their Backs. In short, if this Practice be continued. We must inevitably be ruined. We most earnestly, therefore, beseech You to remedy it." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 5, page 676.)
The whiskey traders were not checked. They continued their work unabated, in spite of the solemn protestations of the Indian chiefs and in spite of the protestations of such good white men as Conrad Weiser, who, on November 28th, 1747, wrote the Provin- cial Council of Pennsylvania characterizing the havoc wrought among the Pennsylvania Indians as "an abomination before God and man." (Pa. Col. Rec, Vol. 5, page 167.)
The Testimony of Adario
The foregoing statements relate principally to the Pennsylvania Indians. Let us, at this point, hear the testimony of a great Indian chief whose tribe did not inhabit Pennsylvania, the brave and sagacious Huron chief, Adario, who was gathered to his fathers in 1701. Out of the past comes the voice of Adario:
"As for the maple-water that we drink, 'tis sweet, well tasted, healthful, and friendly to the stomach, whereas your wine and
INDIAN RELIGION AND CHARACTER 27
brandy destroy the natural heat, pall the stomach, inflame the blood, intoxicate, and create a thousand disorders. A man in drink loses his reason before he