[1293] When Fort Stanwix was occupied without causing an Indian outbreak, Washington congratulated Schuyler (Sparks's Washington, iv. p. 24). We have but little information of the conference at Montreal which Col. Guy Johnson held in July; but in Almon's Remembrancer, i. p. 241, the statement is made that a considerable number of the chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations were present, and that there were also present 1,700 Caughnawagas. In the presence of Governor Carleton, "they unanimously resolved to support their engagements with his majesty, and remove all intruders on the several communications." This gives a hint of the jealousy with which they regarded the occupation of the posts at the carrying-places between the Mohawk Valley and the lakes. See also Guy Carleton's letter to Dartmouth (N. Y. Col. Doc., viii. 635), in which he says that at Ontario they agreed to defend the communications.
[1294] An intended conference of the Six Nations with the Canadian Indians was announced to Congress by Schuyler in January, 1776 (Am. Arch., 4th ser., iv. p. 898). In March the Oneidas, by their friendly interference, again prevented the taking up of the hatchet which had been surrendered at Albany. (Dean to Schuyler, Am. Arch., 4th ser., v. p. 768.) The Caughnawagas went to Oneida, but would not go to the Onondaga council in March (Ibid. p. 769). Dean went to the Onondaga council. While on the way there his life was threatened, and the Oneidas declined to go on until they received assurances of Dean's safety (Ibid. pp. 1100-1103). The Caughnawagas, returning from Onondaga[?], surrendered the sharp hatchet which Col. Guy Johnson had given them. ("The Commissioners in Canada to the President of Congress, Montreal, May 6, 1776", in Ibid. p. 1214.)
[1295] The loyalists termed this Schuyler's "Peacock Expedition", because the men decorated themselves with feathers from the peacocks at Johnson Hall. Cf. Jones's New York, i. 71, and note xxx.; De Peyster's Life and Misfortunes of Sir John Johnson (New York, 1882), which was first issued as a part of the Orderly-Book of Sir John Johnson (Albany, 1882). This contains a portrait of Sir John, which will also be found in Hubbard's Red Jacket.—Ed.
[1296] Tuesday, March 5, 1776. Two Indian chiefs, who lately arrived in town from Canada, were introduced to his majesty at St. James's by Col. Johnson, and graciously received (Gentleman's Magazine, xlvi. p. 138).
[1297] See ante, chap. ii.
[1298] The site is at present covered by the town of Rome. Its name was changed, when occupied by the Americans, to Fort Schuyler, and for a time the new name conquered a place in the despatches, but the fort is more generally known and spoken of by its original title. There had been another Fort Schuyler at the spot where Utica now stands, and this fact has caused some confusion. See a paper on Forts Stanwix and Bull and other forts near Rome, by D. E. Wager, in the Oneida. Hist. Soc. Trans., 1885-86, p. 65.—Ed.
[1299] The "large force at Oswego" was probably suggested by a grand Indian council held at Niagara in September, 1776, between Col. John Butler and others representing the English and fifteen Indian tribes, including representatives of the Six Nations. The Indians declared their intention to embark in the war and abide the result of the contest (MSS. of Gen. Gansevoort, quoted by Stone in his Brant, ii. p. 4, note).
[1300] In March the Oneidas sent a delegation, accompanied by the Rev. Mr. Kirkland, to the army, to see how matters were going. An offer made by them to act as scouts, probably a result of this tour of inspection, was on the 29th of April accepted by Congress.
[1301] Stone, in his Brant, i. p. 185, attributes to Herkimer an act of intended treachery utterly inconsistent with Herkimer's character as it is portrayed to us. Simms, in his Frontiersmen, etc. (ii. p. 19), gives a more natural version of the story.
[1302] This tragical incident, which attained great currency at the time, is followed in D. Wilson's Life of Jane McCrea (New York, 1853); Mrs. Ellet's Women of the Rev. (ii. 221); Lossing's Schuyler (ii. 250) and Field-Book (vol. i.); the elder Stone's Brant (i. 203), and the younger Stone's papers in Hist. Mag. (April, 1867) and Galaxy (Jan., 1867, also in Beach's Indian Miscellany), and App. to his Burgoyne's Campaign; Asa Fitch in N. J. Hist. Soc. Proc., also in Stephen Dodd's Revolutionary Memorials; Epaphras Hoyt in N. Y. Hist. Soc. Proc. (1847, p. 77); Mag. of Amer. Hist., viii. 202; also Moore's Diary (475), and Ruttenber's Hudson River Indians (p. 273). The subsequent fate of Lieut. Jones, her lover, is told in the Catholic World, Dec., 1882.—Ed.