CRITICAL ESSAY ON THE SOURCES OF INFORMATION.
THE relations of the Indians to the British government and to the colonies during the period immediately preceding the Revolutionary War, is readily studied in The life and times of Sir William Johnson, Bart., by William L. Stone (Albany, 1865, in 2 vols.[1319]), which was intended to form a part of a history of the relations of the Iroquois to current events. Stone completed but two volumes of the series, the Life of Brant and the Life of Red Jacket. The Life of Sir William Johnson, being incomplete at the time of his death, was finished and published by his son, of the same name.[1320] The book for awhile stood alone in its detailed treatment of the official relations and dealings of the superintendent with the Indians. Later publications have infringed somewhat upon its monopoly.
The Pennsylvania Archives, and the Minutes of the Provincial Council of Pennsylvania, commonly cited as "Colonial Records", lay bare the secrets of the province, and furnish authentic information upon many points which prior to their publication were obscure.[1321]
The documentary publications of the State of New York are for the purposes of this chapter of even more value than those of Pennsylvania. They contain many official papers from the hands of Sir William Johnson, and letters from Guy Johnson, Daniel Claus, and Generals Carleton and Haldimand, treating of Indian affairs. Some of these documents help us materially in the study of the situation. The history of the publications known as the N. Y. Colonial Documents and Documentary History of N. Y. is told elsewhere;[1322] but the Journals of the Provincial Congress are of peculiar use in the present inquiry.[1323] Such of the conferences, treaties, and agreements with Indians on the part of the colonies, the Continental Congress, and the government of the United States as have been printed, are scattered through a variety of publications.[1324]
The literature of border life, from which the habits and methods of life of the frontier inhabitants may be drawn, is too extensive to permit any attempt at an exhaustive recapitulation of titles. Especial use has been made in this chapter of Dr. Joseph Doddridge's Notes on the Settlements and Indian Wars,[1325] perhaps the most valuable of the many works upon this subject. Notwithstanding the sufferings from Indian raids which Dr. Doddridge himself endured, he deals fairly with the subject of border warfare, and candidly admits the terrible responsibility of the whites for counter outrages. He draws a vivid picture of the lack of law on the frontier, aggravated as it was by the conflicts of colonies. "In the section of the country where my father lived", he says, "there was for many years after the settlement of the country neither law nor gospel. Our want of legal government was owing to the uncertainty whether we belonged to Virginia or Pennsylvania." "Thus it happened that during a long period we knew nothing of courts, lawyers, magistrates, sheriffs, or constables." "Every one was, therefore, at liberty to do whatever was right in his own eyes."
In An Account of the remarkable occurrences in the life and travels of Col. James Smith, etc., etc.,[1326] the author unconsciously gives us a picture of the lawlessness of frontier life and the power of the volunteers. The story is told in a simple manner, and the narrative is full of interest. The rare Chronicles of Border Warfare, by Alexander S. Withers (Clarksburg, Va., 1831), is a recognized authority, and is frequently quoted. It was reproduced in substantial form in Pritt's Border Life of Olden Times,[1327] a compilation of reprints of volumes, narratives and statements relating to border life. The relations of the Indians to current events are also to be traced in Gale's Upper Mississippi, etc.,[1328] and in Ketchum's History of Buffalo.[1329] The latter work covers much of the ground which Col. Stone had preëmpted. The materials are well arranged, the views of the author are clearly presented, and as a result the volumes form a valuable contribution to the history of the Indians.[1330] Many details will be found collected in Drake's Book of the Indians.[1331]
James Handasyd Perkins was a careful student of the early history of the country, and contributed many articles to the periodical literature of his day on the subject of Indian history and border warfare, which have been collected.[1332] The compiler of Annals of the West,[1333] in the preface to the third edition of that work, says: "The first edition was issued at Cincinnati, where he (the compiler) was assisted by the lamented James H. Perkins, a gentleman highly competent for the task." In the second edition of the Annals "the editor had the valuable assistance of Rev. J. M. Peck, a gentleman whose long residence in the far West, and familiarity with the history of those portions of the work less elaborately treated of in the first edition, rendered him admirably qualified for the undertaking." This work, in its chronological arrangement of events, touches upon a portion of the ground covered by this chapter. In 1791, J. Long published in London a volume entitled Voyages and Travels of an Indian Interpreter, etc. Long arrived at Montreal in 1768. His occupation for the next seven years made him familiar with frontier life and Indian ways. He volunteered in 1775 with the Indians who entered the English service, and was at Isle au Noix with a few Mohawks on the occasion of their collision with the Americans. He also served a short time with the regulars. He states intelligently the value of the alliance of the Six Nations to the English.
Wills de Haas, in his Indian Wars of Western Virginia,[1334] has devoted one chapter to "Land Companies",[1335] and another to the "Employment of Indians as Allies." His treatment of these topics is brief, but the chapters contain much more information on the subjects than can generally be obtained from American histories.
In Fugitive Essays, etc., by Charles Whittlesey (Hudson, Ohio, 1852), an article is reproduced from the January number (1845) of the Western Literary Journal and Review, entitled "Indian history: their relations to us at the time of the American Revolution", which is well worth examination.