Origin of the Five Nations.
By some inducement a body of people was concealed in the mountain at the falls named Kuskehsawkich, (now Oswego.) When the people were released from the mountain they were visited by TARENYAWAGON, i. e. the Holder of the Heavens, who had power to change himself into various shapes: he ordered the people to proceed towards the sunrise as he guided them and came to a river and named Yenonanatche, i. e. going round a mountain, (now Mohawk) and went down the bank of the river and came to where it discharges into a great river running towards the midday sun; and named Shaw-nay-taw-ty, i. e. beyond the Pineries, (now Hudson,) and went down the bank of the river and touched the bank of a great water. The company made encampment at the place and remained there a few days. The people were yet in one language; some of the people went on the banks of the great water towards the midday sun; but the main company returned as they came, on the bank of the river, under the direction of the Holder of the Heavens. Of this company there was a particular body which called themselves one household; of these were six families and they entered into a resolution to preserve the chain of alliance which should not be extinguished in any manner.
The company advanced some distance up the river of Shaw-na-taw-ty, (Hudson) the Holder of the Heavens directs the first family to make their residence near the bank of the river, and the family was named Te-haw-re-ho-geh, i. e. a Speech divided, (now Mohawk) and their language was soon altered; the company then turned and went towards the sunsetting and travelled about two days and a half, and come to a creek[111] which was named Kaw-na-taw-te-ruh, i. e. Pineries. The second family was directed to make their residence near the creek, and the family was named Ne-haw-re-tah-go, i. e. Big Tree, now Oneidas, and likewise their language was altered. The company continued to proceed towards the sunsetting under the direction of the Holder of the Heavens. The third family was directed to make their residence on a mountain named Onondaga, (now Onondaga) and the family was named Seuh-now-kah-tah, i. e. carrying the name, and their language was altered. The company continued their journey towards the sunsetting. The fourth family was directed to make their residence near a long lake named Go-yo-goh, i. e. a mountain rising from water, (now Cayuga) and the family was named Sho-nea-na-we-to-wah, i. e. a great pipe, their language was altered. The company continued to proceed towards the sunsetting. The fifth family was directed to make their residence near a high mountain, or rather nole, situated south of the Canandaigua lake, which was named Jenneatowake and the family was named Te-how-nea-nyo-hent, i. e. Possessing a Door, now Seneca, and their language was altered. The sixth family went with the company that journeyed towards the sunsetting, and touched the bank of a great lake, and named Kau-ha-gwa-rah-ka, i. e. A Cap, now Erie, and then went towards between the midday and sunsetting, and travelled considerable distance and came to a large river which was named Ouau-we-yo-ka, i. e. a principal stream, now Mississippi; the people discovered a grape vine lying across the river by which a part of the people went over, but while they were engaged, the vine broke and were divided, they became enemies to those that went over the river; in consequence they were obliged to disperse the journey. The Holder of the Heavens instructs them in the art of bows and arrows in the time of game and danger. Associates were dispersed and each family went to search for residences according to their conveniences of game. The sixth family went towards the sunrise and touched the bank of the great water. The family was directed to make their residence near Cau-ta-noh, i. e. Pine in water, situated near the mouth of Neuse River, now in North Carolina, and the family was named Kau-ta-noh, now Tuscarora and their language was also altered; but the six families did not go so far as to lose the understanding of each other’s language. The Holder of the Heavens returns to the five families and forms the mode of confederacy, which was named Ggo-nea-seab-neh, i. e. A Long House, to which are, 1st.—Tea-kaw-reh-ho-geh, 2d—New-haw-teh-tah-go; 3d.—Seuh-nau-ka-ta; 4th—Sho-nea-na-we-to-wah; 5th.—Te-hoo-nea-nyo-hent.
[111] The creek now branches of the Susquehanna River at the head generally called Col. Allen’s lake, ten miles south of the Oneida Castle.
(E.)
Letter from S. A. Goodwin to Henry R. Schoolcraft.
Auburn, Oct. 17, 1845.
My Dear Sir—I received yours of the 2d inst. in due course of post, and now send you, at the first practicable moment, a diagram and sketch of the “Old Fort.” My engagements have been such as to prevent my going out to Geneva, and making a trip to the old fortification alluded to. As to the other one here referred to by McAuley, it is just back of my house, and as soon as I have time to make an examination I will drop you a line respecting it. I go to Rochester, to attend supreme court, to-morrow. I shall try, on my return, to stop at Geneva and get a sketch of that one.
Very truly your friend,
S. H. GOODWIN.
Diagram of an ancient fortification on Fort Hill, Auburn, N. Y.
This enclosure is situate on the highest point of land in the vicinity of Auburn, and is in the form of an ellipse and measures in diameter, from east to west, (from the outside of the base of the embankment) four hundred and sixteen feet, and from north to south, three hundred and ten feet; the circumference, twelve hundred feet; present height of the highest part of the embankment on the west side from the bottom of the ditch, four feet; the thickness at the base, fourteen feet; from the centre of the enclosure the ground has a gentle slope to the north, east and west, and is nearly level towards the south. The openings on the south, one of sixty and the other of seventy-eight feet, are directly opposite or against deep ravines separated by a narrow steep ridge, access through which would be difficult, being on an angle of nearly forty-five degrees. The opening on the north measures one hundred and sixty-six feet, opposite to which the ground continues to slope to the north for the distance of seventy feet, from which point the descent is very abrupt. The opening on the east measures sixty-six feet, opposite to which the ground continues on a gentle descent to the east for several hundred feet. The opening on the southwest measures fifty feet, and is opposite to a ridge gently descending to the southwest. There are no less than ten deep ravines and as many steep ridges surrounding and leading to this ancient fortification.
McAuley, in his history of the State of New-York, Vol. 2d, pages 111 and 112, gives a minute and interesting description of this fortification, which, however, contains some inaccuracies; and also of another fortification situate in the northeast part of Auburn. The large chesnut stump described by him as standing in the moat on the west side of the enclosure, is still to be seen; there are still to be seen the remains of two large oak stumps, which seem to have escaped his notice, situate on the southeast side of the enclosure, one of them on the top of the embankment, and the other in the ditch some twelve feet distant. There are scarcely any traces remaining of the fortification described by McAuley as being in the north east part of Auburn, from the fact that the ground upon which it stood has been under cultivation for many years.
JAMES H. BOSTWICK, Surveyor.
October 16, 1845.
(F.)
Letter from Frederick Follet to Henry R. Schoolcraft.
Batavia, Oct. 25, 1845.
Dear Sir—My private and public duties together prevented my making a visit to “Fort Hill,” until the 22d inst. and I proceed to give you my ideas of that formation.
The ground known as “Fort Hill” is situated about three miles north of the village of Le Roy, and ten or twelve miles northeast from Batavia, the capitol of Genesee county. The better view of “Fort Hill” is had to the north of it, about a quarter of a mile, on the road leading from Bergen to Le Roy. From this point of observation it needs little aid of the imagination to conceive that it was erected as a fortification by a large and powerful army, looking for a permanent and almost inaccessible bulwark of defence. From the centre of the “Hill,” in the northwesterly course, the country lies quite flat—immediately north, and inclining to the east, the land is also level for one hundred rods, when it rises nearly as high as the “Hill,” and continues for several miles quite elevated. In approaching the “Hill” from the north it stands very prominently before you, rising rather abruptly, though not perpendicularly, to the height of eighty or ninety feet, extending about forty rods on a line east and west, the corners being round or truncated, and continuing to the south on the west side for some sixty rods, and on the east side for about half a mile, maintaining about the same elevation at the sides as in front; beyond which distance the line of the “Hill” is that of the land around.
“Fort Hill,” however, is not a work of art. The geological character of it shows it to be the result of natural causes. Nevertheless, there are undoubted evidences of its once having been resorted to as a fortification, and of its having constituted a valuable point of defence to a rude and half-civilized people.
It is probable that at a period of time very far distant, the ground about “Fort Hill” was, for some considerable distance around, entirely of the same level, and that by the action of water, a change took place, which brought about the present condition. The low land immediately in front to the north, is only the remains of a water course, which was made up of a stream coming down the gorge of the west side, and the present “Allen’s creek,” which flows through a portion of the gorge of the east side, the stream of the west having been a branch of that of the east side. Through the west gorge now flows, in the wet season, a moderate stream, coming from the lands above the gorge, and having an interrupted fall of some forty or fifty feet; while “Allen’s creek” occupies a portion of the eastern gorge, much broader, at the extremity of which, some half a mile from the “Hill,” there is a beautiful fall of eighty feet perpendicularly. The structure of the “Hill” bears out this construction; it being composed of the same rock—with the exception of the upper strata—as the falls. At the falls the upper strata of rock and that which forms the bed of the creek for some two miles or more east, is the corniferous limestone; underlaying which are hydraulic and Onondaga limestones. The two latter are only seen at “Fort Hill,” covered by a few feet of soil and several small masses of stone, a part out of place, among which are a few of Medina sandstone. The strata are, therefore continuous from the falls, and at some former periods, extended over the gorges, and formed a regular and nearly level surface, the action of water having removed, which has left the broad and conspicuous point of “Fort Hill,” as memorable monuments of the earlier condition of the country.
When “Fort Hill” was used as a fortification the summit was entrenched. Forty years ago an entrenchment, ten feet deep and some twelve or fifteen wide, extended from the west to the east end, along the north or front part, and continued up each side about twenty rods, where it crossed over and joining, made the circuit of entrenchment complete. At this day a portion of this entrenchment is easily perceived for fifteen rods along the extreme western half of the north or front part, the cultivation of the soil, with other causes, having nearly obliterated all other portions. It would seem that this fortification was arranged more for protection against invasion from the north than from any other quarter, this direction evidently being its most commanding position. Near the northwest corner have, at different times, been found collections of rounded stones of hard consistence, which are supposed to have been used as weapons of defence by the besieged against the besiegers.
Arrow-heads, made of flint or horn-stone, gouges, pestles, hatchets, and other weapons formed from stone, have been found about the “Hill” and throughout this section. Of the rarer articles, are pipes and beads, a few of the latter of which I have been able to obtain. The gouges, pestles and hatchets, are, I think, frequently made of compact limestone, probably what is now known in Mr. Hall’s State report as the one foot limestone at Le Roy, though many of them seem to be formed of primitive rock, and very likely were worked out from boulders scattered about the country.
Skeletons found about “Fort Hill” and its vicinity sustain the impression that the former occupants of this “military station” were of a larger and more powerful race of men than ourselves. I learned that the skeletons generally indicated a stouter and larger frame. An humerus or shoulder bone of which preserved may safely be said to be one-third larger or stouter than any now swung by the living. A resident of Batavia, Thomas T. Everett, M. D., has in his cabinet a portion of a lower jaw bone full one-third larger than any possessed by the present race of men, which was found in a hill near Le Roy, some two years since. From the same hill arrow-heads and other articles have been removed for many years.
The articles I send you are as follows:—No. 1, an Indian gouge, made of very hard stone, found at “Fort Hill;” No. 3, arrow-heads, of flint; No. 4, beads; No. 5, a bead, evidently formed from a tooth, as the enamel and other distinctive marks indicate; No. 6, a bead, apparently of bone.
No. 2 is a stone tomahawk, presented to me by Jerome A. Clark, Esq., of this village. It was found on his premises half a mile south of this place. I herewith present it to you.
These articles I have sent to-day by a friend, and you will find them by calling at Tammany Hall. I have not yet been able to visit Tonawanda, but am in hopes to do so in a day or two.
Your ob’t serv’t,
FREDERICK FOLLETT.
(G.)
Letter from C. Dewey to Henry R. Schoolcraft.
Fort Hill.
This is celebrated as being the remains of some ancient work, and was supposed to have been a fort. Though the name is pronounced as if hill was the name of some individual, yet the place is a fort on a hill, in the loose use of the word. The name designates the place as Fort-hill, to distinguish it from the hills which have no fort on them. Neither is it a hill, except as you rise from the swale on the north, for it is lower than the land to which it naturally belongs.
As you pass towards Fort-Hill in the road from Le Roy village, which is about three miles to the south, you descend a little most of the distance to this place. The road passes a little west of the middle of the space nearly north and south.
The shape is quadrangular, and is shown in the diagram or ground plot.
On the right and east side is the deep water course of Allen’s Creek, cut down through the rocks for a mile or more, perhaps one hundred and thirty feet deep; on the north is that of Fordham’s Brook, of nearly the same depth, which drains a wide swale from the north and northwest; and on the west is a short and deep ravine, which is a water course in some seasons of the year, where the waters fall over a precipice a little south of the quadrangular space, or fortification. This ravine is not so deep as the water courses on the east and north. The descent is quite steep on these three sides. At the northeast Allen’s Creek turns to the east and receives the waters from Fordham’s Brook.
The quadrangular space, D, A, B, C, was enclosed by a trench, D A, nearly a north line on the east, by A B on the north, and B C on the west.
A B is the north trench about sixty rods long, and nearly east and west. A D is about thirty rods, and B C is fifteen rods, and terminates at the ravine at C. The trench D A, and A B lies on the brow of the descent to the streams below. At D the bend of the ravine stops the trench. At the northwest corner B, a trench is continued about 15° to the right and down the declivity 15 rods to a spring; 50 feet perhaps below A B, and B G is the brow of the descent west of the trench at B, and G C is the edge of the ravine on the west. Q W is Allen’s Creek on the east; H I K is Fordham’s Brook on the north, and L P M is the water course on the west to the precipice at M, over which the water falls at some seasons, and the surface at M is only a few feet lower than the general level of the quadrangle. The space F was a burying ground, as bones, skulls, pipes, beads, have been ploughed up there. The road R N passes through the middle nearly of the space enclosed by the trench, and at N turns to the right to descend to the flat below; but formerly the road turned to the right at U and passed down at the right of the trench at D to T.
The place was pointed out to me by H. M. Ward, Esq., who was familiar with it when it was covered with the forest. He states that the trench must have been eight to ten feet deep and as many wide; that the earth was thrown either way, but much of it inwards; that the forest trees were standing in the trench and on the sides of it and of the same apparent age and magnitude as on the ground generally; that the heart-wood of black cherry trees of large size was scattered over the ground, evidently the remains of a forest anterior to the then growth of maple and beech, and that this black cherry was used by the settlers for timber; that the road, when first made, crossed the trench at N by a bridge; that the trench at D and A was cut down the bank a few feet, or else in time water had worn a passage from the trench downwards; that there was no tradition heard of among the Indians of the country, in respect to the use or design of the work.
The underlying rock is the hydraulic limestone of this section, which is fully exposed at the falls of Allen’s Creek, half a mile south of Fort-Hill. This rock was struck in digging the trench on the north line in some places, and portions of it were thrown out with the earth.
Of the pipes found at F one was formed from granular limestone; one was of baked clay, in the form of the rude outlines of a man’s head and face, nose, eyes, &c., and it reminds one of the figures in some of Stephens’ Plates of the ruins of Palenque. It has the hollows for the ears to be fastened on, and shows no little effort. The top of the head is surrounded by a fillet or wreath, and behind are two more fillets. At the bottom of the neck is a similar ornament, and on the front is another below it. This is the most curious.
Another pipe is of reddish baked clay, with some pits or dots for ornament upon it, two rows of dots around it and another below like a chain suspended at several points and curved by its own weight.
The forest has been removed. Not a tree remains on the quadrangle, and only a few on the edge of the ravine on the west. By cultivating the land, the trench is nearly filled in some places, though the line of it is clearly seen. On the north side the trench is considerable, and where the road crosses it, is three or four feet deep at the sides of the road. It will take only a few years more to obliterate it entirely, as not even a stump remains to mark out its line.
From this view it may be seen or inferred,
1. That a real trench bounded three sides of the quadrangle. On the south side there was not found any trace of trench, palisadoes, blocks, &c.
2. It was formed long before the whites came into the country. The large trees on the ground and in the trench, carry us back to an early era.
3. The workers must have had some convenient tools for excavation.
4. The direction of the sides may have had some reference to the four cardinal points, though the situation of the ravines naturally marked out the lines.
5. It cannot have been designed merely to catch wild animals to be driven into it from the south. The oblique cut down to the spring is opposed to this supposition, as well as the insufficiency of such a trench to confine the animals of the forest.
6. The same reasons render it improbable that the quadrangle was designed to confine and protect domestic animals.
7. It was probably a sort of fortified place. There might have been a defence on the south by a stockade or some similar means, which might have entirely disappeared.
By what people was this work done?
The articles found in the burying ground at F. offer no certain reply. The axes, chisels, &c. found on the Indian grounds in this part of the State, were evidently made of the greenstone or trap of New-England, like those found on the Connecticut river, in Massachusetts. The pipe of limestone might be from that part of the country. The pipes seem to belong to different eras.
1. The limestone pipe indicates the work of the savage, or aborigines.
2. The third indicates the age of French influence over the Indians. An intelligent French gentleman says such clay pipes are frequent among the town population in parts of France.
3. The second and most curious seems to indicate an earlier age and people.
The beads found at Fort Hill are long and coarse, made of baked clay, and may have had the same origin as the third pipe.
Fort Hill cannot have been formed by the French, as one of their posts to aid in the destruction of the English colonies.
In 1689, or 156 years ago, the French in Canada made various attempts to destroy the English colony of New-York. If the French had made Fort Hill a post as early as 1660, or 185 years ago, and then deserted it, the trees could not have grown to the size of the forest generally in 1810, or in 150 years afterwards. The white settlements had extended only “twelve miles west of Avon” in 1798, and some years after 1800, Fort Hill was covered with a dense forest. A chesnut tree cut down in 1842, at Rochester, showed 254 concentric circles of wood, and must have been more than 200 years old in 1800. So opposed is the notion that this was a deserted French post.
Must we not refer Fort Hill to that race which peopled this country before the Indians, who raised so many monuments greatly exceeding the power of the Indians, and who lived at a remote era?”
H. R. Schoolcraft, Esq.: I forward you the observations on Fort Hill, for your use. My speculations are added for my pleasure, and you will use them as you please. In great haste, I am obliged to close.
Your obedient,
C. DEWEY.
(H.)
Letter from Rev. Gilbert Rockwood to Henry R. Schoolcraft.
Tuscarora Mission, August 1, 1845.
Sir:—In the following communication, you can make use of such statements as you may deem proper. If all the statements should not be necessary for your official objects, yet they may be interesting to you as an individual.
This mission was commenced about fifty years since, under the care of the “New-York Missionary Society.” It was transferred to the “United Foreign Mission Society,” in 1821, and to the “American Board of Com. for Foreign Missions,” in 1826.
The church was organized in 1805, with five persons. The whole number of native members who have united since its organization is 123. The present number of native members is 53; others 5, total 58.
Between July 1st, 1844, and July 1st, 1845, there were only three admissions, two by profession and one by letter.
About one-third of the population attend meeting on the Sabbath. Their meeting house was built by themselves, with a little assistance from abroad.
They have also a school house, the expense of which was nearly all defrayed by themselves. There is but one school among them, which is kept the year through, with the exception of the vacations. The teacher is appointed by the American Board. The number of scholars the past year, is not far from 50.
I have been among these Indians now nearly eight years. I can see that there has been an advance, both in their moral and physical condition.
It is within the memory of many now living among them, when drunkenness was almost universal; now, comparatively, few are intemperate. A majority of the chiefs, are decidedly temperance men, and exert a salutary influence. They have a temperance society, and hold frequent meetings. They utterly forbid the traffic in intoxicating drinks on their own soil.
The marriage relation is being better understood by them, and more appreciated. More of the young men and women, enter into the marriage relation, in the regular Christian way, than a few years ago. Four couple have been regularly married the past year. Number of deaths, 8; an unusual number since I have been among them.
There is besides the church, above referred to, a Baptist church, organized a few years since, the particulars of which, I am unable to give. For any information you may wish respecting it, I would refer you to James Cusick, their minister.
On the whole, there is much to encourage the philanthropist and the Christian in labors for the good and well being of the Indians here, although we meet with many obstacles and difficulties in the way.
They are becoming more and more industrious in their habits, as the appearance of their farms, and the amount of produce, and their personal appearance will testify.
With these brief statements, I subscribe myself,
Yours, truly,
GILBERT ROCKWOOD.