Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians

by Elias Johnson

Thus the Doctor was put in possession of the sum of ten thousand Dollars, and we hear no more about the two hundred and sixty Indians, nor of any more trouble about Indian emigration during the remainder of the year.

The proceedings of Dr. Hogeboom; and other persons interested in removing the Senecas, necessarily produced great agitation, and a very unsettled state among those who had no idea of emigrating. The chiefs on the reservations of Alleghany and Cattaraugus, harassed and perplexed by this vexatious state of things, at length determined to address the President on the occasion. This application procured the appointment of the council which was held at Cattaraugus on June 2d, 1846.

In the spring of 1846 Dr. Hogeboom, hearing that the Government had called a council of the Senecas, for the express purpose of inquiring officially whether there was an emigration party among them, and, if there was one, what its number, made great exertions to push off his emigrants. Regardless of the positive instructions of the Government, and without its knowledge, he hastily collected as many of the Indians as he could bring under his influence, and with them embarked in a steamboat at Silver Creck, on Lake Eric, near Cattaraugus Reservation.

The circumstances and manner of the embarkation throws much light on the motives and conduct of this emigrating agent. The subject is graphically related in a speech of Israel Jemison, as made in a council of 1846, and addressed to the Commissioners of the United States, as follows, to wit:

"Brothers! The question relative to emigration being disposed of, I will explain the manner in which this removal of the Indians to the West has been effected. I believe it was irregularly conducted. Indeed, I may say, of this I am convinced. The agent who came to execute it was duly notified, that the Government had called the present council for the consideration and investigation of this matter. As soon as it was known that this had been determined on, great efforts were made to hurry off the emigrants and induce them to leave before the council would meet. I am satisfied that many were decoyed away by various contrivances and gross misrepresentations on the part of the emigrating agent and his emissaries. I myself remonstrated against these proceedings, and asked if it could beproper to inveigle and deceive the Indians in this manner. In reply I was desired to be silent, to which I rejoined that many of them whom they had decoyed on board were then drunk, and in a state of unconsciousness! These remonstrances availed nothing, and the whole were hurried away. If anyshowed an unwillingness to go they were told they might return if theychose, should they not like the place when they got there."

The painful, and indeed the awful result of this inhuman conduct of Dr. Hogeboom will be seen by reference to the memorial of the Seneca chiefs to the President of the United States, invoking the aid of the Government to bring back the wretched surviving remnant of the poor duped people. It is as follows:

To His Excellency, James K. Polk, President of the United States:

The memorial of the undersigned chiefs and warriors of the Seneca Nation of Indians, residing in the State of New York, respectfully showeth,

That a party of the Seneca Nation, consisting, as your memorialists have been informed, of sixty-two persons, together with a portion of the Cayugas, Onondagas and Oneidas, residing with us, and a party of the Tuscaroras, residing near Lewiston, in Niagara county, left the State of New York last spring to settle in the country west of Missouri. That your memorialists have been credibly informed by letters received from individuals among them, and by the statements of such as have returned, that great distress has, from their first arrival there, existed among them, and does exist without mitigation, in consequence of the insalubrity of the climate; that twenty persons of the sixty-two Senecas were already dead some six weeks since, and about the same proportion of our friends of the other tribes; that many others were sick; that three of the leading Seneca chiefs, one of the Onondagas, one of the Oneidas, and a leading man of the Tuscaroras, were dead; that the remnant of the people, with very few exceptions, were very anxious to return, but were destitute of the means of doing so; that many of them have sent earnest requests to us for assistance to enable them to do so; but that only a few families among us are able to furnish efficient relief to their suffering friends. In view of all these facts, we would respectfully request the Vice President to furnish the necessary assistance to bring back the remnant of the party to their former homes, and to arrange for the payment of the annuities belonging to them, so that in future they may receive them here. Although they went out from us against our earnest remonstrance and entreaty, and some of them mocking our expressions of concern for them as we stood around the boat when they were going on board, still we shall rejoice to have them home again amongst us, for they are our brethren and their sufferings grieve us to the heart. Thirteen of the Senecas have already returned, and three others, we have heard, are on the way. This makes the condition of those unable to return the more lonely and wretched. We hope the President will not say it was their own fault that they went there, for even if they were to be blamed for doing so, they had already suffered a fearful punishment. But we think that if the President were acquainted with the circumstances he would pity rather than blame them for going. Notice had been repeatedly given from the War Department that unless a company of two hundred and fifty emigrants could be organized, none would be removed. Such a company having failed to be organized in the fall of 1845, we were told that the Department had required the removing agent to refund the money he had received for the purpose of removing them. In the spring of the present year certain men were running from house to house among our people saying that the agent still held the money in his hands, and would remove all who wished to go, upon the opening of navigation. Directly after, notice was received from the Government that commissionerswere appointed, and that a Council would be held on a specified day to ascertain if the requisite number wished to emigrate. When this became known it was immediately reported that the removing agent (Dr. Hogeboom) had already contracted for their passage—that the steamboat would take them in at Cattarangus Creek on a certain day, and it was not necessary for them to wait for the action of the Government. The agent soon after appeared, accompanied by two individuals from Buffalo, who, as we were afterward credibly informed, instigated him to practice this fraud upon the Government, and endeavored, by representing the country west as a paradise, to induce a large company to go on board their boat. Some of our friends, who had not disposed of their effects, were told not to mind their stuff, for the country to which they were going was so rich, and they would prosper there so rapidly that they would never feel the loss of it, and one family were hurried away from their table, leaving everything upon it just as it was when they arose from their dinner. We have reason to believe that the whole company, except a few leaders, most of whom are now dead, were deluded by these flattering but fate representations of those white men, and inasmuch as the removing Agent appeared on the ground, with the money in his hand, these simple people were made to discredit the orders received from the department, relative to the council of the 2d of June. Justice would indeed seem to require that these white men should repair the injury they have done to us, and not to us alone, but also to the government.

But we have no power to compel them. Our only resource is to appeal to the government in behalf of our afflicted and desponding brethren, who are perishing under the accumulated pressure of disappointed expectations —grief for the dead and the heavy hand of disease upon their own persons. We trust our appeal will not be disregarded. We think it is the dictate of humanity, and we confidently believe that the voice of the whole country would approve the course of the President if he would grant the needed relief. We would beg leave further to request the President to make known to us through our friend Philip E. Thomas, of Baltimore, who will present our memorial, the decision he may make in regard to it.