Part of Colonel Dearborn's Journal, 1779.
Sept. 21.—I was ordered with 200 men to proceed to the west side of the Cayuga Lake, from thence down the side of the lake to the south end, to burn and destroy such houses and corn as might be found and to intercept the Cayugas if they attempted to escape Col. Butler. At 8 o'clock I marched, proceeded an east course about 8 miles and found 3 wigwams in the woods[155] with some small patches of corn, squashes, water-melons and cucumbers and 15 horses which we could not take. Destroyed this village, proceeded 4 miles to the lake where we found a very pretty town of 10 houses[156] and a considerable quantity of corn, all which we burnt. We discovered another small town about a mile above this, we likewise destroyed. This place is called Skannautenate.[157] After destroying this town I marched on one mile, and came to a new town[158] consisting of 9 houses which we destroyed, and proceeded one mile and found one large house which we set fire to, and marched 2 miles and encamped. The land we marched over this day is exceeding fine.
Sept. 22.—I marched ½ an hour before sunrise, proceeded 5 miles and came to the ruins of a town which a part of our army burnt when it was advancing who missed their way and happened to fall in with it, ½ a mile distant found a large field of corn and 3 houses. We gathered the corn and burnt it in the houses. This town is called Swahyawana.[159] Moved on 5 miles and came to a wigwam with 3 squaws and one young Indian who was a cripple. I took 2 of the squaws who were about 40 years of age and marched on 3 miles and found 1 hut and a field of corn which was burnt. Went 4 miles further and encamped.
Sept. 23.—Marched at sunrise, proceeded without any path or track, or any person who was ever in this part of the country before to guide us, and the land so horribly rough and brushy that it was difficult to advance, however with great labor and difficulty we proceeded 8 miles to the end of a long cape[160] which I expected was the end of the lake. We then marched off 2 or 3 miles from the lake, and went by a point of compass 8 miles to the end of the lake and encamped. This lake is 40 miles in length and from 2 to 5 miles in width, and runs nearly No. and So. parallel to the Seneca lake which is from 8 to 10 miles distant.
Sept. 24.—Marched at sunrise, proceeded 3 miles on the high land and came to an old path which led us to 2 huts and some cornfields, which we burnt. I then sent several parties in different directions to look for a large town that I had been informed was not many miles from the end of the lake. The parties found 10 or 12 scattering houses and a number of large cornfields on and near the stream that falls into the lake. After burning several fields of corn and houses they discovered the town, 3 miles from the lake, on the above mentioned stream, which contained 25 houses and is called Coreorgonel[161] and is the capital of a small nation or tribe. My party was employed from 9 till sunset in destroying the town and corn. I expected to have met Col. Butler with his party at this town.
Sept. 25.—Marched at sunrise for Catherine's Town, where I was ordered to join the main army. Proceeded a due west course over a very rough, mountainous country 18 miles, and at 4 o'clock reached the town, but the army was gone forward. Advanced 6 miles in what is called the Bear Swamp and encamped.
Sept. 26.—Marched at sunrise and at 12 o'clock joined the main army at Kanawalahola which is 4 miles from where we fought the enemy on the 29th of August. The army had a day of rejoicing here in consequence from the news of Spain.
Sept. 27.—Some detachments were sent up the Teago river to destroy such houses and corn fields as they might find.
Sept. 28.—The same parties that were sent out yesterday were sent again further up the river to destroy a Tory settlement which was discovered yesterday, and a large detachment was sent off to complete the destruction of the corn, &c., at and about New Town. At 12 o'clock Col. Butler and his party arrived in Camp. In their route round the lake they destroyed several towns and a vast quantity of corn.
FOOTNOTES:
[155] This hamlet appears to have been located on the farm of Thomas Shankwiller, near the south-east corner of lot 15 in the town of Fayette, Seneca County, probably on Sucker brook.
[156] A town of ten houses, located on the west bank of Cayuga lake at the north-east corner of the town of Fayette, in Seneca County, about a mile and a half from present Canoga village. Destroyed Sept. 21, 1779.
[157] Skannayutenate, a small village located about forty rods from the shore of the lake, on the south bank of Canoga creek, about half a mile north-east of present Canoga village. On the north bank of the creek, between the site of the old Indian town and the north and south road passing through Canoga, is said to be the birth-place of the renowned Seneca orator, Sagoyewatha or Red Jacket. Destroyed Sept. 21, 1779.
[158] Newtown—An Indian village of nine houses, located on the west bank of Cayuga lake, on the Disinger farm, a mile south of present Canoga village, and directly opposite the village of Union Springs on the east side of the lake. Destroyed Sept. 21, 1779.
[159] Swahyawana, was on the farm of Edward R. Dean, in the north-east corner of the town of Romulus, in Seneca county, on the north bank of Sinclair Hollow creek, near the shore of the lake, and almost exactly opposite the important town of Chonodote, on the east side, at site of present Aurora. Was burned September 6, by a party that wandered from the track of the main army when they passed up on the east side of the lake.
[160] Taghanic Point, formerly known as Goodwin's Point. The bank of the lake both north and south of this, is very much cut up with ravines, and the lake shore is too rocky and precipitous for an Indian path. For several miles the trail was back two miles from the lake, along the heads of the ravines, probably passing through Hayt's corners and Ovid Centre. From this high ground the lake appears to end at Taghanic Point.
[161] Coreorgonel, called De-ho-riss-kanadia by George Grant, was located on the west side of Cayuga inlet, about three miles from the end of the lake, and two miles south of Ithaca. The main village was on a high ground south of the school-house on the farm of James Fleming, nearly opposite Buttermilk Falls. Several skeletons have been exhumed here within a few years, and the usual variety of relics found, such as hatchets, wampum, beads, &c. A solitary apple-tree still remains, a fit memento to represent the race by which it was planted. When first known to the whites there were five boles starting from the ground, but these are now reduced to two, and are probably shoots from the original tree cut down or girdled by Dearborn. The town was destroyed September 24, 1779. At this time it contained twenty-five houses, besides ten or twelve scattered between the main village and the lake. Colonel Butler after passing up on the east side of Cayuga Lake halted here on the 25th, and found Rev. Dr. Kirkland's horse in the vicinity of the smoking ruins.
A peculiar interest is attached to this locality and village, from the fact that here the representatives of a once powerful people, sought to preserve for a brief period, the last remaining spark of a council fire that from time immemorial had burned brilliantly in the presence of assembled nations, numbering their warriors by thousands. They were called by the Iroquois Toderichroones, one of the tribes known to the English as Catawbas, sometimes called Saponies. They formerly resided between the Potomac and Roanoke rivers, east of the Alleghanies. A most inveterate hostile feeling existed between them and the Iroquois, which reached back to near the middle of the seventeenth century. A peace was arranged as early as 1685, through negotiations with the government of Virginia, and again what was expected to be a "lasting peace" and firm alliance, was concluded in 1714, but in the night after the close of the council, the Iroquois deputies, while reposing in fancied security were treacherously murdered while asleep. This aroused the Iroquois to vengeance, and the war was renewed with unexampled ferocity, with a determination to totally extirpate the base, faithless and treacherous people. In 1717 through the intercession of Governor Hunter, at the request of Governor Spottswood of Virginia, a truce was arranged, and in 1722 delegates from the Five Nations met Governor Spottswood at Albany to conclude what was to be an "everlasting peace," in which the Iroquois bound themselves not to cross the Potomac or go over the Alleghanies, without a passport from the Governor of New York, Governor Spottswood engaging that the tribes in his locality should not pass to the north or west of same lines. The tribes mentioned by the Governor were the "Nottoways, Meherins, Nansemonds, Pamunkeys, Chicohominys, and the Christanna Indians whom you call Toderichroones," and others—in all, ten nations. This council was conducted with great formality, and valuable presents were presented, among which were a "fine coronet" and a "gold horse shoe" with an inscription. In 1738 they were again at war, and in 1742 at peace. In 1731 Governor Clinton says "the Governor of South Carolina sent six chiefs of the Catawbas, to make peace with the Five Nations," and says that "they had been at war as long as any one in this country can remember." In 1753 Sir William Johnson mentions the fact that the Cayugas "are about to strengthen their castle by taking in the Tedarighroones." In the same year they are mentioned as attending a conference at Mt. Johnson and are described as "one of the nine confederate nations." The town is indicated at the head of Cayuga lake on the Guy Johnson map of 1771, in the same position where it was found by Colonel Dearborn in 1779, under the name of Todevighrono, the name of the people. In 1750 Zeisberger, the Moravian missionary, passed through this valley while on his way to visit the Cayugas, but makes no mention of an Indian village in the vicinity. Undoubtedly they settled there in the summer of 1753. Their cleared fields were found on the present site of Ithaca on the first settlement of the country by the whites and were the first lands occupied in the county. The town is indicated but not named on the map of Mr. Lodge, the surveyor who accompanied Colonel Butler's detachment. To stand on the identical spot from which this people sunk into oblivion, appeared like standing on the grave of a nation. Their history, the beginning of which extends far back into the unknown and unattainable, ends where that of civilization begins, and adds another name to the long list of extinguished nationalities that preceded us in sovereignty. Here their council fire, fanned by the last expiring breath of a once brave and numerous people, was extinguished forever.