[FN-2] The Indians do not often put their prisoners to the torture, or even to death—seldom, unless when they have sustained great losses, or when some of their warriors have been murdered. The torture is then resorted to, to glut their vengeance.—Heckewelder.
[FN-3] Idem.
From an account of the ceremonies at one of the festivals, of which Mrs. Campbell was a spectator during her captivity, she must have been present at the great annual feast of thanksgiving and remission of sin, which is held by the Senecas and other tribes of the confederacy. This is their greatest national and most solemn sacrifice. It is invariably held at the time of the old moon in January, and is celebrated with great parade; the ceremonies being conducted with the utmost order, harmony, and decorum, under the direction of a large committee appointed for that purpose.
The festivities continued nine days, on the first of which two white dogs, without spot or blemish, if such could be found, were strangled and hung up before the door of the council-house, at the height of twenty feet. Not a drop of blood was allowed to be shed in compassing their death, as the victims would thereby be rendered unfit for the sacrifice. After the animals were killed, and before their suspension, their faces were painted red, as also the edges of their ears and other parts of their bodies. They were then fantastically decorated with ribbons and feathers, rendering them as beautiful, in the eye of an Indian, as possible. Their fancy dress being completed, the dogs were hung up, and the ceremonies of the frolic commenced. In the course of the first day every lodge in the town was visited by the committee, each member being provided with a shovel, with which he removed the ashes and coals from every hearth, and scattered them to the winds. In this manner the fire of every lodge was extinguished, to be re-kindled only by striking virgin sparks from the flint. The discharge of a gun at every lodge announced that the work of purification, even of fire itself, had been performed; and with this ceremony ended the labors of the first day.
The ceremonies of the second day were opened with a dance by the committee, after which, dressed in bear-skins, the members visited every lodge, with baskets to take up alms—receiving whatever was bestowed, but particularly tobacco, and other articles used for incense in the sacrifice. Two or three days were occupied in receiving these grateful donations, during which time the people at the council-house were engaged in dances and other recreations. On the fifth day masks were added to the bear-skin dresses of the masters of the festival, some ludicrous and others frightful, in which they ran about the village, smearing themselves with dirt, and bedaubing all such as refused to add to the contents of their baskets of incense. While thus engaged, the collectors were supposed to receive into their own bodies all the sins of their tribe, however numerous or heinous, committed within the preceding year.
On the ninth day of the feast, by some magical process, the sins of the nation thus collected were transfused from the several members of the Committee into one of their number. The dogs were then taken down, and the whole weight of the nation's iniquity, by another magical process, was transfused into their lifeless carcasses. The bodies of the dogs were next laid upon an altar of wood, to which fire was applied, and the whole consumed—the masters of the sacrifice throwing the tobacco and other odoriferous articles into the flames, the incense ascending from which was supposed to be acceptable to the Great Spirit. The sacrifice ended, the people all partook of a bountiful feast, the chief article of which was succotash. Then followed the war and peace dances, and the smoking of the calumet. Thus refreshed, and relieved from the burden of sin—at peace with the Great Spirit, and with each other—the warriors with their families returned, each to his own house, prepared to enter upon the business and the duties of another year; the chiefs, during the festival, having carefully reviewed the past, and adjusted their policy for the future. [FN]
[FN] The reminiscences of Mrs. Campbell scarcely allowed her to give the particulars of this great festival in extenso, although she seems, from the Annals of her grandson, to have retained a remembrance of the leading points of the ceremonies. The author has supplied the deficiencies of her account from the life of Mrs. Jemison. The sacrifice of dogs is, we believe, universal among the North American Indians. How long the practice has prevailed cannot well be known. Cotton Mather affirms, "that the Indians, in their wars with us, finding a sore inconvenience by our dogs, sacrificed a dog to the devil; after which no English dog would bark at an Indian for divers months ensuing." Magnalia, iii. 192. What interpreter the devil had on these occasions, does not appear. That he did not understand the Indian tongue, is manifest from the same writer:—"Once finding that the Daemons, in a possessed young woman, understood the Latin, Greek, and Hebrew tongues, my curiosity induced me to make trial of this Indian language, and the Daemons did seem as if they did not understand it."—Sands.
Captain Butler having returned from his visit to General Haldimand, with permission for the proposed exchange of prisoners, the Colonel, his father, proceeded to the Seneca castle to negotiate for the release of Mrs. Campbell. The family by whom she had been adopted were very reluctant to part with her; but, after the holding of a council, the strong appeals of Colonel Butler, who was anxious for the release of his own wife and family, prevailed. Mrs. Campbell, however, had been pledged to a Genesee family, whither she was shortly to be removed; and as her liberation could not be completed without the consent of that family, Guyanguahta, the aged king of the Senecas, who had become her zealous friend, made the journey to the Genesee on her behalf. He was successful, and Mrs. Campbell was removed to Niagara. The aged king, being too old to go out upon the war-path, had borne no part in the pending hostilities. He seemed little disposed to evil, and on parting with the fair captive bade her an affectionate farewell in the words following:—"You are about to return to your home and friends," said the venerable sachem. "I rejoice. You live a great way off, and many journeys from here. I am an old man, and do not know that I shall live to the end of the war. If I do, I will come and see you." [FN] Mrs. Campbell reached Niagara in June, 1779. While residing there, among others she had an opportunity of seeing the celebrated Catharine Montour, whose name occurs in the preceding pages in connexion with the battle of Wyoming. One of her two sons, who had signalized themselves at Wyoming, was also in the affair at Cherry Valley; and it was he who made prisoner of Mr. Cannon, the father of Mrs. Campbell, after he had been wounded by a musket ball. Being a Whig of consideration, and also a member of the Committee of Safety, it was determined to retain Mr. Cannon in captivity, for the purpose of exchanging him for some one of their own men of like consequence. But his age and his wound rendered him an inconvenient prisoner, and Kate Montour was in a rage with her son for not having killed him outright. Yet, notwithstanding this exhibition of a savage temper, she was treated with marked consideration by the British officers.