[FN] Chapman's History of Wyoming.
Still, at the time when Count Zinzendorf commenced the mission of the United Brethren in that valley, the jurisdiction was conceded to belong to the Six Nations; and a formal permission was given to the count by the latter, to preach the Gospel among them. He was met by a numerous embassy of their chiefs, from whom he received a speech of welcome, which at once laid the foundation of a good understanding between them. [FN] But, notwithstanding this admitted superiority of the Iroquois in the time of Sir William Johnson, the rival and conflicting Indian claims of title were the cause of rival negotiations between the white land-speculators and both nations of Indians, which in the end were the cause of many and very sore evils, as will presently appear.
[FN] Heckewelder. The incident of the serpent, referred to in a preceding page, was as follows:—Jealous of the Count's intentions in coming among them, some of the Indians had resolved upon his death. "Zinzendorf was alone in his tent, seated upon a bundle of weeds composing his bed, and engaged in writing, when the assassins approached to execute their bloody commission. It was night, and the cool air of September had rendered a fire necessary to his comfort. A blanket curtain was the only guard to the entrance of his tent. The heat of his fire had drawn forth a large rattlesnake from the contiguous brake; and the reptile, to enjoy the genial warmth, had crawled slowly into the tent, and passed over one of the holy man's legs unperceived. Without, all was still and quiet, except the distant sound of the river at the rapids a mile below. At this moment the Indians softly approached the door of his tent, and gently removing the curtain, contemplated the venerable man, too deeply engaged in the subject of his thoughts to observe either their approach or the serpent which lay extended before him. At a sight like this, even the heart of the savages shrank from the idea of committing the barbarous act, and they hastily returned to their lodge, and informed their companions that the Great Spirit protected the stranger, for they had found him with no door but a blanket, and had seen a large rattlesnake crawl over his legs without attempting to injure him." This circumstance wrought as great a change as did the incident of the viper, after the shipwreck, in the fortunes of Paul. The Count soon acquired the confidence of the Indians; and the occurrence probably contributed essentially toward inducing many of them subsequently to embrace the Christian religion.—Chapman's His. Wyoming.
The first movement toward the planting of a white colony in the Wyoming Valley was made by Connecticut in 1753. It was justly held that this section of country belonged originally to the grant of James I., in 1620, to the old Plymouth Company. The Earl of Warwick and his associates having purchased the right of the Plymouth Company to the territory of Connecticut and the lands beyond New Jersey, west, "from sea to sea," within certain limits, Connecticut claimed under that grant. But no sooner was a company formed to plant a colony in Wyoming—called the Susquehanna Company—than Pennsylvania preferred a claim to the same territory, under a grant from Charles II. to William Penn, in 1681, covering the whole claim of Connecticut; and a rival association, called the Delaware Company, was organised in like manner to settle it. The strife of each, at first, was to circumvent the other in purchasing the Indian title. At this time it was conceded that the aboriginal proprietaries were the Six Nations; and, though beset on all sides, old King Hendrick refused for a time to dispose of the territory to either party. Ultimately, however, the Six Nations sold to the Susquehanna Company; and in 1755 the Connecticut Colony was commenced. But by reason of the French and Indian wars, their settlers were compelled to return to Connecticut, and the obstacles became so numerous, that it was not until 1762 that they were enabled to obtain a foothold.
The Pennsylvanians immediately prepared to oppose the settlers from Connecticut. A case was made up and transmitted to England, on which Mr. Pratt, the Attorney General, (afterward Lord Camden,) gave an opinion in favor of the successors of Penn. Connecticut likewise sent over a case, and on her part obtained a like favorable opinion from eminent counsel. In this position of the controversy, a catastrophe befell the infant settlement, which put an end to the enterprise for several years. Thus far the relations between the Colonists and the Indians had been of the most pacific character. The old Delaware chief Tadeuskund, who had embraced the Christian religion, was, with his people, their friend. But he had given offence to some of the Six Nations in 1758, a party of whom came among the Delawares, under the guise of friendship, in April, 1763, and murdered the venerable chief by setting fire to his dwelling, in which he was consumed. [FN] The murder was charged by the Indians upon the adventurers from Connecticut. But the emigrants, unconscious that a storm was rising against them, remained in fancied security. They had given no offence; and in order to allay any suspicions that might otherwise be awakened among the Indians, they had even neglected to provide themselves with weapons for self-protection. The consequence was the sudden destruction of their settlement by a party of Delaware Indians, on the 15th of October. The descent was made upon the town while the men were at work in the fields. About twenty persons were killed, and several were taken prisoners. Those who could, men, women, and children, fled to the woods and the mountains, from whence they were compelled to behold the sad spectacle of their dwellings in flames, and the Indians making off with the remains of their little property. Their flight through a trackless forest to the Delaware, unprovided with food, and unprotected by suitable clothing against the searching weather of Autumn, was painful to a degree. But even then their journey was not ended, as they had yet to proceed back to Connecticut, destitute, and on foot.
[FN] Tadeuskund was a Delaware chief of note. Previous to the year 1750, he was known among the English by the name of Honest John. He was baptized by the Moravians, but was wavering and inconstant. He was too fond of the war-path to become a consistent follower of the pacific Moravians. When he saw opportunities of signalizing himself as a warrior, therefore, he left his faith, to re-embrace it as might suit his policy. He inclined to the French in the war; but assisted in concluding a peace among several Indian nations in 1758, which gave umbrage to the Six Nations.
In 1668 the Delaware Company took advantage of a treaty holden at Fort Stanwix, and purchased of the same Six Nations, who had sold to the Connecticut Company, the same territory of Wyoming. The Pennsylvanians entered upon immediate possession; and when, on the opening of the ensuing Spring, the Connecticut Colonists returned with recruits, they found others in the occupancy of the lands, with a block-house erected, and armed for defence, under the direction of Amos Ogden and Charles Stewart, to whom a lease of a section of land in the heart of the valley had been granted by John Penn, for the express purpose of ousting the Connecticut claimants. Here was a new and unexpected state of things. Some of the leading men of the Connecticut Colony were decoyed into the block-house, arrested, and sent off to a distant prison. But recruits coming on from Connecticut, they in turn built works of defence, and proceeded with their colonial labors.