With all the respect due to the authorities above quoted, we beg leave to doubt their conclusions. That the Cherokees had no tradition respecting the origin of their great mound, proves nothing. Indian tradition reaches not far. Different tribes are constantly driving each other from their possessions, and the tumulus in question may have been the work of a clan dispossessed by the Cherokees. The trees growing on such mounds prove as little. In 1825, we discovered two skeletons under the roots of a very large elm, on the banks of the Mississippi. They were at once pronounced relics of the supposed former race, and that opinion was current until the iron parts of the handle of a clasp knife were found in the earth from which they were exhumed. The Indians of the vicinity wondered, like the Cherokees at their mound, and the tree appeared more than a century old. The skulls were discovered to be those of Dahcotahs, by a peculiar formation of the lower jaw, and as the tribe to which they belonged are not agreed about their own former dwelling-place, though they left it not more than two centuries ago, we cannot attach much weight to Indian tradition.
In a stone quarry at St. Peter’s, a copper wedge, weighing three pounds, was found, about ten years since, fifteen feet below the surface of the earth. It was perfectly formed, and still bore marks of the hammer which fashioned it. This, and the exsiccated body (it is no mummy) which was found in the great cavern in Kentucky, are the only things we have seen which in our opinion justify even a conjecture that there was formerly another race of inhabitants on this continent. It will not, we suppose, be disputed, that the Mexicans were unable to rear the pyramid of Cholula, or that they are not of the same stock with our aborigines.
We are unable to decide for what purpose the erections scattered over our country, and commonly called forts, were intended. They were probablyfortifications, and very sufficient ones they must have been, before the natives were acquainted with fire arms. Whoever has seen with what incredible despatch a modern Indian throws up a work sufficient for the protection of his own body, with no better implement than his knife, will readily admit that a tribe were fully competent to erect these works of an antediluvian people.
The great work which the impostor Carver pretends to have seen on the Mississippi, never had existence, save in the pages of his deceitful book. We have often sought without finding it, and the Indians of the neighborhood know nothing about it.
On the eastern shore of lake Pepin, about three miles from its debouchure, is an extensive prairie, and on its edge, commanding the lake and the plain, are the ruins of a regular four-bastioned fort. The curtain and the two western bastions have crumbled away, and fallen into the lake; but the two other bastions and three curtains, with the corresponding ditches, scarps and counterscarps, are perfectly distinct, and might be repaired with little trouble. From its commanding situation, and its regularity, it is plain that cannon were mounted upon it, and that it was built by the early French traders or travellers. This assumption is confirmed by the fact, that asparagus still grows wild among the ruins, though it is found in no other part of the country. Yet Indian tradition knows nothing of the origin of the fort, or its uses.
OLD FORTS. Among what may be called the antiquities of America, there are few things which excite more interest than the fortifications of the Highlands of the Hudson. It will readily be remembered that this river was a pass of vast importance to the contending parties, inasmuch as it was, during the revolution, the only channel of communication between the British armies in Canada and those on the sea board. To prevent a junction, which would have been ruinous to the cause of freedom, general Washington occupied the Highlands, and made every height bristle with cannon. The remains of many of the fortifications are still distinctly visible to the traveller, as he passes up and down the river; but it is in vain, excepting in a few instances, that he inquires their history, or even their names. Those at and about West Point, however, are better known. It is needless to tell here how this post was well nigh betrayed by the traitor Arnold—the story is still fresh in the memory of all men, and it is our business to say what may be said of the works his treason would have surrendered.
West Point is situated at a bend, and the only abrupt one in the whole course of the Hudson from New York to Albany. It is a large plain, elevated several hundred feet above the level of the river. Directly opposite is a large island, called Constitution island, on which are many eminences commanding the river, which were crowned with fortifications. Fort Constitution, the principal of these, is still entire.
On a height below West Point may be observed the remains of fort Montgomery, the guns of which, it is believed, compelled the Vulture sloop of war to retire farther down the river, and was thus the cause of the land excursion and capture of André, and consequently of the safety of the post. The extremity of the Point is occupied by the ruins of fort Clinton, which commanded two ranges on the river, and was an extensive as well as a very strong and important work. It was just opposite this fort that anenormous iron chain was stretched across the river to obstruct the passage. It was broken by an English man of war under full sail; but the vessel was so injured in the attempt, as to be obliged to put back. There are many other fortifications of minor importance on and about the Point, which, as well as those already mentioned, are undergoing a rapid process of decay, and will probably disappear in less than a century.
But what strikes the eye of the traveller with most imposing effect, are the hoary ruins of fort Putnam, familiarly called Old Fort Put. They stand five hundred feet immediately above the plain of West Point, and once commanded all the batteries on and about it. They have very much the appearance of a dilapidated castle. The work is of small extent, but very strong. It stands on the apex of a steep hill, and the wall on the northern side hangs upon the edge of a perpendicular precipice. On the other sides, the walls are so high and steep, as to render escalade impracticable. The walls are solid and very thick, and contain within their mass apartments for the garrison, and furnaces for heating shot. There was once an excellent well within the area; but it is now choked and rendered useless by fragments of the crumbling masonry. One of the angles contains two cells, probably designed for prisoners, and for black holes. Tradition erroneously says that major André was confined in one of them. Altogether, the whole ruin has an imposing appearance, for it is in strict keeping with the grandeur and wildness of the surrounding scenery, and serves to awaken many pleasing historical recollections in the American spectator. In the midst of embattled heights it stands, ‘the key-stone of the arch.’ Of its strength we may say, that an enemy could not have taken it without overwhelming numbers, and loss proportionate, or without bombarding it. In short, it is, in many respects, like what we read of the hill forts of India. We hope the proverbial economy of our government will not suffer so interesting a historical monument to fall into utter decay, and the rather, that a very small expense would restore it to its original condition.
