History of the Indians, of North and South America

by Samuel G. Goodrich

The Five Nations, soon after this, subdued the tribe of the Illinois, who had fought against them, and then prepared to go against the Miamis. The French determined to support their allies, and sent an order to all the Indians around Michilimackinac to assemble at Niagara and join them in an attack on the Senecas. The Potawatomies and others assembled at the place of rendezvous; but here the Ottawas sought to divert them from the enterprise, not being willing to lose a gainful trade they now enjoyed with the English. After various preparations, the French, with their Indian allies, marched toward the Seneca towns. The warriors of the latter tribe were, however, on the alert. Five hundred or more of them lay in ambush, while the French scouts passed within pistol-shot, and, not seeing them, reported that they could not find the enemy. The French pressed boldly forward, but, when they were about a quarter of a league from their village, the Senecas suddenly rose upon them with a discharge of their fire-arms, attended by the appalling war-whoop. This threw the militia, as well as the regular troops, into a fright, and such was the confusion, that they fired on one another. The Senecas, perceiving their disorder, fell upon them, till the French Indians, at last, rallied and repulsed them. This action so dispirited the French commander, that he could not be induced immediately to pursue his object; he halted till the next day, when he marched forward to burn the village. But he now found that the Senecas had already laid it in ashes and disappeared. After destroying two other villages, and the corn he found there, he returned home to Canada.

Instigated by new causes of dissatisfaction, the Five Nations invaded Canada with a large force, and pushed the war with such vigor as to take Montreal and lay it in ashes. One thousand of the French are said to have been killed, and twenty-six taken prisoners, with the loss of only three men on the part of the Indians, who got drunk and remained behind. Had they understood the feeble condition of the French, and been relieved from the influence of the priests that were among them, especially the Oneidas, Onondagas, and Cayugas, the French settlements in Canada would probably have been totally ruined.

Influenced by the advice of an English officer, Colonel Dogan, in whom they confided, the Five Nations, so far as they could, formed treaties with the Western Indians. At this period, war between the English and the French again broke out, and Count Frontenac, the new governor of Canada, sent a message to the tribes by a sachem who had been a prisoner and had been carried to France, but who had just returned with the Count. The object of this mission was to invite the Five Nations to a conference, for the purpose of making peace. After holding a general council, consisting of eighty sachems, at Onondaga, on the 27th of December, 1689, at which they requested the mayor of Albany to be present, in order to advise them, they sent to Count Frontenac their answer. This was quite characteristic. Its conclusion ran thus:—

“Yonondio,” (the name they always gave the French governor,) “you desire to speak with us at Cadarackui. Don’t you know that your fire there is extinguished? It is extinguished with blood. You must send home the prisoners in the first place.

“We let you know that we have made peace with the Wagunhas [probably the Ottawas]. You are not to think that we have laid down the axe because we return no answer; we intend no such thing. Our far-fighters shall continue the war till our countrymen return. When our brother is returned, then we will speak to you of peace.”

The Five Nations were now engaged in frequent skirmishes with the French, whom they annoyed greatly by their war-parties, killing some, and carrying off others as prisoners, sometimes even from the vicinity of Montreal. The Mohawks, however, not finding the English earnest in furnishing them aid, as they had promised, began to incline to make peace with the French. They accordingly despatched some of their sachems to Count Frontenac for this purpose, and entered into a treaty with him. The English, being made aware of this, renewed their covenant with the other nations, and gave them presents. The Mohawks also renewed their alliance with the English colonies, saying, “Though an angry dog has endeavoured to bite the chain in pieces, we are resolved to keep it firm, both in peace and in war. We now renew the old chain, that so the tree of peace and prosperity may flourish and spread its roots through all the country.”

During the whole of this war, the Five Nations remained faithful to the English colonies, notwithstanding the intrigues of the French to lure them over to their side. They contributed essentially to the protection of our frontiers, and greatly harassed the enemy along the whole Canadian border. The contest drew forth many acts of extraordinary skill and bravery, on both sides, as well as others of shocking atrocity. The French seemed often to forget their civilization in their fury against their savage foe. At last, the treaty of Ryswick, between England and France, which terminated the war in other quarters, brought peace also to the Indian tribes.

During Queen Anne’s War, the Five Nations were prevailed on by the French, as they refused their alliance, to stand neutral, for they could not be induced to make war against the English. They were, however, more or less engaged in incursions into Virginia, and harassing the friendly Indians there. In 1712, they received into their confederacy the Tuscaroras, who fled from North Carolina, as we have related; so that, afterwards, they bore the title of the Six Nations. The peace of Utrecht, in 1713, put an end to the hostilities between the English and French. The Indians were now, for a number of years, engaged in trade, both at Montreal and Albany.

In 1743, several chiefs of the Six Nations met the English commissioners at Philadelphia. They there made a cession of their lands on both sides of the Susquehannah, in Pennsylvania, and, in view of the expected war with the French, renewed their bond of alliance with them. Similar meetings and treaties occurred in 1744, between the Six Nations and the governors of Maryland and Virginia. The Delawares were required by the Six Nations to remove to the west side of the River Delaware, and not to sell lands hereafter, “as they were no better than women.” A peace was made with the Cherokees, with whom they were at war, but not with the Catawbas, whom they threatened with their vengeance, because they did not come and join them at the council. In the year 1746, they met the governor of New York and renewed their alliances; and, from time to time, they sent out parties to harass the French, in which they were joined by the Susquehannah Indians.