[FN] This letter was copied by the author from the original, in the State Department, Albany.
Colonel Johnson was accompanied in his departure by Joseph Brant, or Thayendanegea, his secretary, and by Colonel John Butler and his son Walter. By the preceding letter, the reader will have seen that they succeeded in convening a very large council at Ontario. The greater portion of the Indians attending, however, were probably Cayugas and Senecas. These were now far the most numerous of the Six Nations, although the Mohawks yet stood in rank at the head of the confederacy. Formerly the last-mentioned tribe had been the most numerous and powerful of the Cantons; but at an early day after the planting of the Colony of New-York, the French had succeeded in seducing a large section of the Mohawks to return to Canada, whence they originally came, after breaking the vassalage in which they had been held by the Algonquins. Their proximity to the whites, moreover, had been attended by the effect, invariable and seemingly inevitable, in regard to their race, of diminishing their numbers. Added to all which, their warlike character, and their daring ferocity, exposing them to more frequent perils than were encountered by their associated Cantons, had contributed still farther to this unequal diminution. [FN]
[FN] Among the manuscripts of Sir William Johnson, I have found a census of the Northern and Western Indians, from the Hudson river to the great Lakes and the Mississippi, taken in 1763. The Mohawk warriors were then only 160; the Oneidas, 250; Tuscaroras, 140; Onondagas, 150; Cayugas, 200; Senecas, 1050. Total, 1950. According to the calculation of a British agent, several of the tribes must have increased between the close of the French war and the beginning of the American Revolution, as it was computed that, during the latter contest, the English had in service 300 Mohawks, 150 Oneidas, 200 Tuscaroras, 300 Onondagas, 230 Cayugas, and 400 Senecas.—Author.
It is not known that any record of this council was preserved, although the speeches interchanged were doubtless written, since that was the universal practice in the conduct of Indian intercourse. But no doubt exists as to the fact, that the superintendent succeeded in still farther alienating the affections of the great majority of the Indians from the Americans, if they did not immediately join the ranks of the invaders. Nor, when all the circumstances of their case and position are dispassionately considered, is it surprising that their inclinations were favorable to the Crown. On the contrary, the wonder is that Colonel Johnson did not succeed in carrying with him the Oneidas and Tuscaroras also; and he probably would have done so, but for the salutary though indirect influence of Mr. Kirkland, and their noble chief, the sagacious Schenandoah—always the warm and unwavering friend of the Colonists. With regard to these Indians, it must be considered that they had then been in alliance with Great Britain during a period of more than one hundred years. In all their wars with their implacable enemies the Algonquins, acting in alliance with the French, the Six Nations had been assisted by the English, or fighting side by side with them. For a long series of years Sir William Johnson had been their counselor and friend. His family was to a certain extent allied with the head canton of the confederacy, and he was consulted by them in all affairs of business or of high emergency, as an oracle. They had drawn their supplies through him and his agents, and it was natural that, upon his decease, their affection for him should be transferred to his successor in office, who was also his son-in-law. Miss Molly, moreover, was a woman of vigorous understanding and of able management. And, as we have already seen, she and Colonel Guy himself, were sustained by the powerful aid of Thayendanegea, who united the advantages of education with the native sagacity of his race. Added to all which, the cause was considered, if not desperate, at least of doubtful issue; while the unenlightened Indians had been taught to hear the name of the king with great reverence, and to believe him all-powerful. They considered the officers of the Crown their best friends; and it was but natural that they should hold on upon the great chain which they had so long laboured to keep bright between them.
It has already been remarked, that, thus far, Colonel Guy Johnson had committed no act of actual hostility. While this council was holding in Ontario, however, the whole valley of the Mohawk was filled with alarm, by reports that he was preparing an expedition to return upon them, and lay the country waste by fire and sword. On the 11th of July, Colonel Herkimer wrote from Canajoharie to the Palatine Committee, that he had received credible intelligence that morning, that Guy Johnson was ready to march back upon them with a body of eight or nine hundred Indians, and that the attack would be commenced from the woods below the Little Falls, on the northern side of the river. He therefore proposed sending to Albany immediately for a corresponding number of men. An urgent letter was forthwith despatched by the Committee to Schenectady and Albany, for the amount of assistance mentioned, "to prevent these barbarous enterprises," and to enable them "to resist their inhuman enemies with good success—that they might not be slaughtered, like innocent and defenceless sheep before ravaging wolves."
From the positive character of the intelligence, and the mysterious movements of Guy Johnson and his followers, the inhabitants had good cause of alarm; more especially as Sir John Johnson [FN-1] remained at the Hall in Johnstown, having at his beck a large body of loyalists, making his castle (for the Hall was now fortified,) their head quarters,—who, in the event of such a movement by his brother-in-law from the west, would doubtless be prepared to join the Indians in the enterprise, and between them both, be able to whelm the settlements in destruction at a single blow. Every possible preparation was therefore made for their defence, but the alarm proved to be without foundation; and after Guy Johnson had completed his business at Ontario, he returned to Oswego, where he very soon afterward convened another council and held a treaty, at which he succeeded in still farther estranging the Indians from the Colonies. The particulars of this council have never transpired in writing; but some interesting references to it will occur in an Indian speech a few pages onward. [FN-2]
[FN-1] Sir John Johnson held a commission as Brigadier-general of militia.