If the reader will consult the histories of Philip, Pontiac and Tecumseh, who may fairly be said to have been “great men,” he will perceive that in each case, these chiefs were the life and soul of enterprise and action, and that it was by their talents, bravery, and activity, that the tribes were confederated and led against the Whites. As soon as they were gone, there were none who could succeed them or fill up their places, and the confederacies were immediately broken up. But this was not the case with the celebrated five nations, or Mohawks, who, like the Romans of former days, spread their conquests until their name was a terror wherever it was mentioned. Philip, Pontiac and Tecumseh were great men, but the Mohawks’ confederacy was a nation of great men. When the French settled in Canada in 1603, the Mohawks, or Iroquois as they called them, were living near to where Montreal now stands. They were at war with the Adirondacks, a very numerous and powerful nation, and were beaten down towards the Lakes; but they recovered themselves, and their opponents were in their turn beaten down to Quebec. The war between the Adirondacks and the Iroquois is full of the most interesting details of courage on both sides. The Iroquois having subdued, and, indeed, exterminated the Adirondacks, turned their arms against several other tribes, whom they vanquished; they then attacked the Ottawas and Hurons, and drove them to the other side of the Mississippi. The Illinois were next subdued, then the Miamies and Shawnees were driven back for the time. Finally, they conquered the Virginian tribes, and warred against the Cherokees, Catawbas, and other nations of the South. Although it was impossible for them to hold the vast extent of country which they had overrun, still it is certain that their very name was so terrible that, from New England to the Mississippi, every town and village would be deserted at their approach.
The chief portion of the Mohawks, under their celebrated leader Brandt, served on the British side in the war of Independence, and at the close of the war, they settled in lands given them by the English, on the banks of Grand river in Canada in the year 1783. At the time they took possession of their land, their numbers amounted to nearly 8,000; but, as is every where the case where the Indians are settled and confined on reserved lands, they have now decreased to about 2,500. A portion of the tribe of Senecas, one of the Mohawk confederacy, joined the Americans; the remnants of them are still located a few miles from Buffalo, in the State of New York. Their chief, Red-jacket, died lately; he was a great warrior and still greater orator.
The most formidable opponents to the five nations were the Delawares, or Lenni Lenape, who lived in Pennsylvania. The Delawares joined the British in the war of Independence.
In the succeeding chapter, I shall give the reader a census of the American Indian tribes which still remain. It will be perceived that they are chiefly comprised of tribes which inhabited the Far-West, and were until lately, almost unknown. Of the New England and Virginian confederacies, once so powerful, not a vestige remains; of the Delawares, 826 still exist west of the Mississippi; of the Shawanees, or Shawnees, once so terrible on the banks of the Ohio, 1,272. In fact, all those Indians whose territory bounded the coast first taken possession of by the white men, have been annihilated. I have often heard it argued, when I was in the United States, that the Indians could not be considered as having any claim to the land, as they did not settle or cultivate it, and it is a general opinion that they lived almost entirely by the proceeds of the chase: but this is not a fact; indeed it is disproved by the early settlers themselves, who acknowledge that if they had not been supplied with corn by the Indians they must have starved. That the Indians did not grow more than was sufficient for their own consumption is very probable, but that they did cultivate the land is most certain; indeed, when the country and soil were favourable, they appear to have cultivated to a great extent. When General Wayne destroyed the settlements of the Miamies and Wyandots, on the Miami river, in 1794, he says in his despatch, “never have I beheld such immense fields of corn in any part of America as possessed by these Indians.” The chase was considered by the Indians as a preparatory school for warriors, and was followed accordingly; indeed, a hunting party and a war party were often one and the same thing, as the hunting grounds were common, and when tribes who were at variance fell in with each other, a conflict invariably ensued. My limits will not permit me to enter into the subject more fully; my object has been, in as few pages as possible, to assist the map in giving the reader some idea of the location of the Aborigines of America. If he would know more of this interesting people, there are many very excellent works concerning them written by Americans, which, were they collected together, would form a most valuable and important history.
Volume Three—Chapter Eight.
Indians.
I will now enter into a short examination of the present position of the remaining Indian tribes. The plan of the American Government has been to compel them to sell their lands and remove west of the Mississippi, to lands of which I doubt that the Americans have any right to claim an acre. That the removal of them is expedient I grant, and that is all that can be said on the subject. That the Indians were fated to melt away before the white men, like snow before the sun, is true; still, it is painful to consider what has taken place from the period of our first landing, when we were received hospitably—saved from starvation by the generous sacrifice of their small stores of grain—permitted to settle upon a small tract of land humbly solicited—and that from the time that the white men once gained a footing on their shores, the Indians have been hunted like wild beasts from hill to hill, from river to river, and from country to country, until nearly the whole of the vast continent may be said to have been wrested from them. This system is still continued, one tribe being forced back westward upon another, till they come into conflict with, and destroy, each other; but the buffalo and other animals, upon which they depend for food, recede with them and gradually disappear. As Christians, we must lament that the track for the advance of Christianity is cleared away by a series of rapine, cruelty, and injustice, at which every one must shudder.
The following is the Report to the American Government, of the various tribes of Indians remaining in the year 1837. It is divided into three parts.