The attitude assumed by the British government in the order of July 24th represented the position which was retained during the remainder of the war. From Halifax, on June 7, 1776, General Howe assured Lord George Germain that his best endeavors would be used to engage the Indians of the Six Nations, and he hoped by the influence of Colonel Guy Johnson to make them useful. Notwithstanding the fact that the intercepted correspondence between General Gage and John Stuart, the superintendent, had been in possession of the Americans for some months, Henry Stuart, a deputy of his brother, on May 18, 1776, asserted that it was not the design of his majesty "to set his friends and allies on his liege subjects." This was probably true, but there were a number of inhabitants of the Southern colonies who could hardly have been classified as "liege subjects" at that time, to whom this announcement could not have conveyed much satisfaction. From an intercepted letter from the same source a scheme for co-operating with the fleet when it should appear on the coast, by marching troops from Florida in concert with a force composed of Creeks and Cherokees, to the frontiers of North and South Carolina, was made public. In the fall of 1776 Lord George Germain forwarded a supply of presents to the Indians, and called the attention of the generals in command to the necessity of securing their services. In November, 1777, the Earl of Suffolk justified the alliance with the Indians on two grounds: "one as necessary in fact, the other as allowable on principle; for, first, the Americans endeavored to raise them on their side, and would gain them if we did not; and next, it was allowable, and perfectly justifiable, to use every means that God and nature had put in our hands."[1288] This avowal called forth from the Earl of Chatham a fierce denunciation of its author.
In the review which has been submitted of the acts and opinions, official and personal, on both sides the ocean, concerning the employment of the Indians in the Revolutionary War, the actors have been allowed to speak for themselves as nearly as possible. If we follow the order of events, we can see that the flaming rhetoric of the address of the Continental Congress to the people of Ireland, and the caustic arraignment of the king of Great Britain in the Declaration of Independence, were calculated to produce an erroneous impression as to the American position upon the subject. With the publication, which afterwards took place, of the correspondence of prominent men of the times, and of official documents from state and national archives, this became evident. Sparks, in his Washington,[1289] says: "It has been usual in America to represent the English as much the most censurable on this score in the Revolutionary War; and if we estimate the amount of deserved censure by the effect produced, this opinion is no doubt correct. But such is not the equitable mode of judging on the subject, since the principle and intention are chiefly concerned, and not the policy of the measure nor the success of the execution. Taken on this ground, historical justice must award the Americans a due share of the blame." We may complain of the brutal eagerness of Lord Dunmore to sustain his official position at any expense to his people; we may hold up for abhorrence the vindictive nature of the orders transmitted by General Gage; we may point out the disingenuous evasions or downright falsehoods of Colonel Guy Johnson; but we must accept responsibility for the enlistment, before the battle of Lexington, of the Stockbridge Indians by the Provincial Congress of Massachusetts Bay. We may claim with apparent justice that the Continental Congress was reluctant to employ Indians; yet we cannot undertake to reconcile the resolutions of that Congress on May 25 and on June 17, 1776, with the indignation against Great Britain, expressed so shortly afterward in the Declaration of Independence and the Address to the people of Ireland, for doing what Congress, by resolutions of previous date, had first declared to be highly expedient, and then had specifically ordered to be done.
The examination which has heretofore been made of the position of the colonies on the question of the employment of Indians as soldiers has already brought to light some of the events requiring notice which took place in the Northern Department. The few Mohegans, whose unfortunate enlistment as minute-men furnished argument for Gage "that the colonies were collecting all the Indians that they could", were practically the only Indians the colonies found ready to take up arms in their behalf. During the summer and autumn of 1775 Washington was much encouraged by reports of the friendly disposition of the Eastern and Canadian Indians. He was visited at Cambridge by delegations from the Penobscot, the St. Francis, and the Caughnawaga tribes, who in friendly talks conveyed the impression that they favored the colonies. The Six Nations were sorely perplexed and divided in their councils.[1290] The residence of the superintendent among them, his power as the distributer of gifts, the traditional respect and affection that they had for his predecessor, and, above all, the active agency of Joseph Brant, the Mohawk chief, whom the superintendent adroitly engaged as his private secretary, all conspired to take them over to the enemy.
JOSEPH THAYENDANEGEA.
This portrait of Brant, "from an original drawing in the possession of James Boswell, Esq.", is engraved in the London Mag., July, 1776. It is reëngraved in the N. E. Hist. and Geneal. Reg., ii. 345.—Ed.
It is surprising that any influences could have overcome, even partially, this combination of circumstances in favor of the English; but, as it proved, the personal attachment of the Oneidas and Tuscaroras for Kirkland the missionary, and Dean the interpreter, was powerful enough, when exerted in favor of neutrality, to prevent the greater part of those tribes from following their brethren. Various conferences were held during the summer between delegations of whites and representatives of the Eastern tribes of the confederacy, in all of which those Indians who participated professed their willingness to remain neutral.[1291] In the autumn of 1775 the Indian commissioners of the Northern Department held a preliminary conference at German Flats, and thereafter a formal conference at Albany, at which the peace-speech of Congress was presented to the Six Nations, or rather to that part of the confederacy which was represented at the conference.[1292] An agreement of neutrality was entered into, but its value was greatly diminished by the fact that in the preliminary speeches the Indians insisted upon the necessity of keeping open their communications. This meant that they would regard the occupation of Fort Stanwix as an invasion of their rights.[1293] While these proceedings were going on, some of the Indians who had accompanied Guy Johnson to Montreal returned to their homes. When Dean, under orders from the commissioners, went out to explain to the tribes the nature of the Albany treaty, he met these Indians from Montreal. He says they were members of the Cayuga, Mohawk, and Seneca tribes, and they informed their brethren that they had taken up the hatchet at Montreal against the colonies. The Indians who had been at Albany were displeased at this, and their influence so far prevailed that the famous war-belt delivered by Guy Johnson was surrendered to General Schuyler on the 12th of December at Albany.[1294]
In the Mohawk Valley, the departure of Guy Johnson, in the summer of 1775, left Sir John Johnson the most prominent royalist, and at the same time the most conspicuous friend of the Indians, in that region. He was surrounded by several hundred Scotch Highlanders, who were devoted to him personally, and followed his lead in politics. Early in January, 1776, General Schuyler received orders to proceed to Johnstown, apprehend Sir John, and disarm his followers. In carrying out these orders the jealousy of the Indians had to be considered. Conferences were held with them. They tried to dissuade the general from invading the valley with an armed force, but he carefully explained to them the situation, and insisted upon advancing.
