[1283] From the best evidence that I can get, I conclude that Ontario and Oswego are one. Stone and Lossing state that there were two conferences. Guy Johnson, in "a brief sketch of his past transactions", refers to but one (N. Y. Col. Doc., viii. 636).
[1284] At a conference between Captain John, in behalf of the Six Nations, and Colonel Butler, of the colony of Connecticut, in 1776, Captain John said: "We come to make you a visit, and let you know we were at the treaty at Oswego with Col. Guy Johnson." "We do now assure you that so long as the waters run, so long you may depend on our friendship. We are all of one mind and are all for peace." (Miner's Wyoming, p. 183.) Under date of Nov. 21, 1774, the following is entered in the records of Harvard College: "As the corporation with pleasure have received information of Mr. Zebulon Butler to engage in a mission to the Tuscarora Indians, they cheerfully signify their readiness to give him all suitable encouragement, as far as may be in their power, if he should proceed according to his intention in so laudable an undertaking." This extract will perhaps explain Col. Butler's influence among the Indians.
[1285] An unsuccessful attempt was made to detach Cameron, Stuart's deputy, from the king's service. He was offered a salary and compensation for losses if he would join the American cause. "He refused to resign his commission or accept of any employment in the colony service." Hearing later that he was to be seized, he fled to the Cherokee country. This alarmed the colonists, but they were quieted when they heard that he had written "that Captain Stewart had never given him orders to induce the Indians to fall upon Carolina, but to keep them firmly attached to his majesty" (Moultrie's Memoirs, i. p. 76). It appears from Stuart's correspondence that he received almost simultaneously, in the first part of October, satisfactory replies from the Indians and orders from General Gage to make use of the natives (Amer. Arch., 4th ser., iv. p. 317). The Catawbas, a relatively insignificant tribe, were said to be friendly to the rebels. The Cherokees were ready for attack (Almon's Remembrancer, Part iii., 1776, p. 180).
[1286] The reasons for believing that both these statements were true have already been given.
[1287] Bancroft's United States, viii. p. 88.
[1288] Parl. Reg., x. p. 48. Flavored as follows in a communication quoted in Almon's Remembrancer, viii. p. 328: "God and nature hath put into our hands the scalping-knife and tomahawk, to torture them into unconditional submission." Burgoyne's opinions at this time became important; they are in his speeches (Parl. Reg.), his letter to the secretary of state (Ryerson's Loyalists), his address to the Indians (Anburey's Travels), and elsewhere (Hadden's Journal and Orderly-Book, etc.). Cf. also Gent. Mag., March, 1778; McKnight's Burke, ii. 213; Walpole and Mason Corresp., i. 335; Fonblanque's Burgoyne.—Ed.
[1289] Vol. iii., App.
[1290] At the same time that some of them were engaged in hostilities in Canada, others were at Philadelphia having peace-talks with Congress (Journals of Congress, ii. pp. 192, 206, 207).
[1291] For the treaty at Albany in August, see Mass. Hist. Soc. Coll., xxv. 75, and N. Y. Col. Doc., viii. 605. A report of the commissioner of Indian affairs in the Northern Department, addressed to President Hancock from Albany, Dec. 14, 1775, is in Letters and Papers, 1761-1776 (MSS. in Mass. Hist. Soc.).—Ed.
[1292] Numerous other conferences and communications between different persons and bodies and the several tribes attracted attention this season. In May, 1775, the Mohawks declared to the committee of Albany and Schenectady that it was their intention to remain neutral, but they had heard that their superintendent was threatened, and they would protect him (Am. Arch., 4th ser., ii. p. 842). They also addressed a letter to the Oneidas, calling on them to prevent the Bostonians from capturing him (Ibid. pp. 664, 665). For accounts of the conferences, see Am. Arch., 4th ser., iii.; also Stone's Brant, i. ch. v. Cf. letter from Albany in Am. Arch., 4th ser., iii. p. 625.