An Account of Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha, or Red Jacket, and His People, 1750-1830

Produced by Anne Soulard, Richard Prairie, Juliet Sutherland
and the Online Distributed Proofreading Team
AN ACCOUNT OF SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA OR RED JACKET AND HIS PEOPLE, 1750-1830.
To the Hon. Henry G. Hubbard, of Middletown, Conn.
DEAR SIR: Your name, associated with many pleasant memories in the past, and in later years with substantial tokens of esteem, is held in grateful recollection; and the hope that these pages may serve to interest an occasional leisure hour, has led to their being inscribed to you, by your friend and relative.
The Life and Times of Red Jacket by Colonel William L. Stone, has been before the public for many years. The industry and ability of the author have made it a work of great value, and his extensive researches have left but little room for anything new to be said, by one coming after him. Yet the fact need not be concealed that many, who were intimately acquainted with Red Jacket, were disappointed when they came to read his biography. If it had been prepared under the direct influence and superintendence of Thayendanegea, or Brant, it could not have reflected more truly the animus of that distinguished character. Red Jacket in his day was the subject, at different times of much angry feeling, and jealousy. The author has not taken pains to embalm it, in these memorials of the great orator of the Senecas. Much that was the subject of criticism during his life, admits of a more charitable construction, and the grave should become the receptacle of all human resentments.
The author acknowledges his indebtedness to the labors of Col. Stone, and by an honorable arrangement, liberty was obtained for the use made of them, in the following pages. Acknowledgments are due also to others, whose names will appear in the course of this work.
TRACY, CAL., April 12th , 1885.
Red Jacket—Name widely known—Interest connected with his history—His origin—Development of his genius—Opinion of Capt. Horatio Jones—Customs of his people—Their councils—Love of eloquence—Distinguished names— Eloquence an art among them—Peculiarity of their language—Field opened for his genius.