[FN-2] Idem.
The next morning General Herkimer called one of his most trusty men aside, Joseph Waggoner by name, for the purpose of communicating to him, in confidence, a matter of great importance, respecting which the most profound secrecy was enjoined. He then informed Waggoner that he had selected him and three others to perform a high and important duty, requiring promptness, courage, and decision. His design, the General said, was to take the lives of Brant and his three attendants, on the renewal of their visit that morning. For this purpose he should rely upon Waggoner and his three associates, on the arrival of the chief and his friends within the circle as on the preceding day, each to select his man, and, at a concerted signal, shoot them down upon the spot. There is something so revolting—so rank and foul—in this project of meditated treachery, that it is difficult to reconcile it with the known character of General Herkimer. And yet it is given on the written authority of Waggoner himself, whose character was equally respectable. The patriotic veteran, in devising such a scheme, had probably reasoned himself into the belief that the intended victims were only Indians, and that in the emergency of the country, it would be justifiable to do evil that good might come. It was, however, a most reprehensible scheme—scarcely less defensible than the murder, by Catharine de Medicis, of some of the Huguenot chiefs, who were invited to Paris under the guise of friendship, on the eve of the Bartholomew massacre, and treacherously taken off by poison; and equal in its purposed atrocity, though upon a smaller scale, to the subsequent treachery of Ali Pacha of Egypt, in regard to the Mamelukes, whom he caused to be decoyed into the strong-hold of Cairo, and slaughtered. Indian that he was, there is no known act of perfidy chargeable upon Brant; and he had met Herkimer on his own invitation. A betrayal of his confidence, under those circumstances, would have brought a stain upon the character of the Provincials, which all the waters of the Mohawk could not have washed away.
Fortunately, however, the design was not carried into execution. Whether the wary chieftain entertained any suspicions of foul play, is not known. But, certain it is, that his precaution and his bearing, when he arrived at Herkimer's quarters, were such as to frustrate the purpose. As he entered the circle, attended as before, he drew himself up with dignity, and addressed General Herkimer as follows:—"I have five hundred warriors with me, armed and ready for battle. You are in my power; but as we have been friends and neighbors, I will not take the advantage of you." [FN-1] Saying which, at a signal, a host of his armed warriors darted forth from the contiguous forest, all painted and ready for the onslaught, as the well-known war-whoop but too clearly proclaimed. The chief continued the discourse by advising the General to go back to his own home—thanked him for his civility in coming thus far to see him, and told him that perhaps he might one day return the compliment. Meantime, he said, he would go back to his village, and for the present the General might rest assured that no hostilities should be committed by the Indians. He then requested that the Rev. Mr. Stuart, the English missionary at Fort Hunter, might be permitted to retire into Canada, as also the wife of Colonel Butler. To these requests General Herkimer assented, although the latter was not complied with. He then presented the Indians with ten or a dozen heads of cattle, which they fell upon and slaughtered incontinently. [FN-2] Brant himself turned proudly away, and buried himself in the forest; while General Herkimer struck his tents, and retraced his steps to the valley of the Mohawk.
[FN-1] Waggoner's manuscript.
[FN-2] Idem.
Thus terminated this most singular conference. "It was early in July, and the morning was remarkably clear and beautiful. But the echo of the war-whoop had scarcely died away, before the heavens became black, and a violent storm obliged each party to seek the nearest shelter. Men less superstitious than many of the unlettered yeomen, who, leaning upon their arms, were witnesses of the events of this day, could not fail in after-times to look back upon the tempest, if not as an omen, at least as an emblem of those bloody massacres with which these Indians and their associates afterward visited the inhabitants of this unfortunate frontier." [FN]
[FN] Annals of Tryon County.
This was the last conference held with the hostile Mohawks. Their chief very soon afterward drew off his warriors from the Susquehanna, and united them to the forces of Sir John Johnson and Colonel John Butler, who were concentrating the Tories and refugees at Oswego. It was at about the same period that the officers of the British Indian department had summoned a general council of the Six Nations, to be held at that place; and it is probable that Brant arrived at the post with his warriors for that occasion. According to Ramsay, the invitations to this council were sent forth by Guy Johnson, the Indians being requested to assemble "to eat the flesh and drink the blood of a Bostonian." This language was understood figuratively, however,—the roasting of an ox and a banquet being intended.