Youngstown, N. Y., from Paradise Grove.
Pontiac's rebellion came fast on the heels of the old French War, so fast indeed that we cannot really distinguish the line of division except for the fact of English occupation of Fort Niagara; with astonishing alacrity the incorrigible Senecas took up Pontiac's bloody belt, especially disgruntled with English rule in the Niagara country because the carrying business at the Niagara portage had been taken away from them upon the introduction of clumsy carts which carried to Fort Schlosser what had before been transported on the backs of Seneca braves. The retaliation for this serious loss of business was the terrible Devil's Hole Massacre of September 14, 1763, which occurred on the new portage road between Fort Schlosser and Lewiston at the head of what is known as Bloody Brook, in the ravine of which at the Gorge lies the Devil's Hole. Here a party of five hundred Senecas from Chenussio, seventy miles to the eastward of Niagara, waylaid a train of twenty-five waggons and a hundred horses and oxen, guarded, probably indifferently, by a detachment of troops variously estimated from twenty-five to three hundred in number, on its way from Lewiston to the upper fort. But three seem to have escaped that deadly ambuscade, and a relieving party, coming hurriedly at the instance of one of the survivors, ran into a second ambush, in which all but eight out of two companies of men escaped. On the third attempt the commander of the fort hastened to the bloody scene with all of the troops at his command except what were needed to defend the fort. But the redskins had gone, leaving eighty scalped corpses on the ground. The first convoy probably numbered about twenty-five and the relieving party probably twice that number. The Indians had thrown or driven every team and all the whites surviving the fire of their thirsty muskets over the brink of the great ravine in which lies the Devil's Hole, fitly named.
At the great treaty that Sir William Johnson now held at Niagara with all the western Indians—one of the most remarkable convocations ever convened on this continent—the Senecas were compelled to surrender to the English Government all right to a tract four miles wide on each side of the Niagara River from Fort Niagara to Fort Schlosser. When it came time to sign the articles agreeing to this grant, Johnson, at the suggestion of General Bradstreet, who had in mind a fortification of the present site of Fort Erie, asked to extend the grant to include all land bordering the entire river from mouth to source and for four miles back. To this the Senecas agreed, but signed the treaty, as it were, with their left hands, never intending to keep it. However, it is to this date that we trace first actual white man's ownership of the first foot of land on the Niagara frontier, save perhaps the enclosure at Fort Niagara. Until this agreement was reached Sir William refused to deal with the gathered host of Indians from the West; thus was the Devil's Hole Massacre avenged.
Over two thousand Indians had met to treat with the now famous Indian Commissioner for the Crown, coming from Nova Scotia in the East and the head streams of the Mississippi River in the West; that Niagara should have been the chosen meeting-place illustrates again its geographical position on the continent. Shrewd at this form of procrastinating business, Sir William laid down the policy of treaty with each tribe separately and not with the nations as such, and this, added to the formality observed, tended to make the procedure of almost endless duration. But Johnson knew his host and it is said on good authority that the vast sum now invested by the Crown paid good interest; the congress cost about ten thousand dollars in New York currency, and about two hundred thousand was distributed in presents to the vast assemblage. "Though this assemblage consisted of peace-desiring savages, their friendly disposition was not certain. Several straggling soldiers were shot at, and great precautions were taken by the English garrison to avert a rupture." Writes the graphic Parkman: "The troops were always on their guard, while the black muzzles of the cannons, thrust from the bastions of the fort, struck a wholesome awe into the savage throng below."
The Stone Redoubt at Fort Niagara, Built in 1770.
From the original in the British Museum.
The Fort Niagara of that day little resembled the sight that greets the tourist's eye at that point to-day. When the French built the "Mess House" or "Castle" they built one story only, but afterward added a second, the walls of which probably extended above the roof to serve as a breastwork for gunners. The present roof is an English addition, comparatively modern. The French built also the two famous block-houses, the walls of which also protruded from the ancient roof for the same purpose as on the "Mess House," and these were used as late as the War of 1812. The old Magazine was built by the French, but its present-day roof is, of course, of modern construction, being in reality nothing but a covering over the stone arch which was the ancient roof. So far as appearance goes the waters of the hungry lake have probably done more altering of the natural aspect than has the hand of man. The fantastic "castle" now stands close to the water's edge, whereas, in the olden time there were upwards of thirty rods of ground between the "Mess House" and the lake, supporting an orchard. The present stone wall was erected in 1839, and the brick walls constructed outside the old line of breastworks in 1861; four years later the lighthouse was established in the upper story of the "Castle"; in 1873 the present lighthouse was erected.