Life of Joseph Brant—Thayendanegea (Vol. II) / Including the Border Wars of the American Revolution and Sketches of the Indian Campaigns of Generals Harmar, St. Clair, and Wayne; And Other Matters Connected with the Indian Relations of the United States and Great Britain, from the Peace of 1783 to the Indian Peace of 1795

by William L. Stone

[Reference from Page 236.]

At a meeting of the principal inhabitants of the Mohawk District, in Tryon County, Colonel Josiah Throop in the Chair,

Taking into consideration the peculiar circumstances of this country, relating to its situation, and the numbers that joined the enemy from among us, whose brutal barbarities in their frequent visits to their old neighbours, are shocking to humanity to relate:

They have murdered the peaceful husbandman and his lovely boys about him, unarmed and defenceless in the field. They have, with a malicious pleasure, butchered the aged and infirm; they have wantonly sported with the lives of helpless women and children; numbers they have scalped alive, shut them up in their houses, and burnt them to death. Several children, by the vigilance of their friends, have been snatched from flaming buildings; and, though tomahawked and scalped, are still living among us; they have made more than three hundred widows, and above two thousand orphans in this county; they have killed thousands of cattle and horses that rotted in the field; they have burnt more than two millions of bushels of grain, many hundreds of buildings, and vast stores of forage; and now these merciless fiends are creeping in among us again, to claim the privilege of fellow citizens and demand a restitution of their forfeited estates; but can they leave their infernal tempers behind them, and be safe or peaceable neighbors? Or can the disconsolate widow and the bereaved mother reconcile her tender feelings to a free and cheerful neighborhood with those who so inhumanly made her such? Impossible! It is contrary to nature, the first principle of which is self-preservation; it is contrary to the law of nations, especially that nation, which, for numberless reasons, we should be thought to pattern after. Since the accession of the House of Hanover to the British throne, five hundred and twenty peerages in Scotland have been sunk, the Peers executed or fled, and their estates confiscated to the crown, for adhering to their former administration after a new one was established by law. It is contrary to the eternal rule of reason and rectitude. If Britain employed them, let Britain pay them! We will not.

Therefore, Resolved unanimously, that all those who have gone off to the enemy, or have been banished by any law of this state, or those who we shall find tarried as spies or tools of the enemy, and encouraged and harbored those who went away, shall not live in this district on any pretence whatever; and as for those who have washed their faces from Indian paint, and their hands from the innocent blood of our dear ones, and have returned either openly or covertly, we hereby warn them to leave this district before the twentieth of June next, or they may expect to feel the just resentment of an injured and determined people.

We likewise unanimously desire our brethren in the other districts in this county to join with us, to instruct our representatives not to consent to the repealing any laws made for the safety of the state, against treason or confiscation of traitors' estates; or to passing any new acts for the return or restitution of Tories.

By order of the Meeting, Josiah Throop, Chairman.

May 9, 1789

At a meeting of the freeholders and inhabitants of Canajoharie District, in the County of Tryon, held at Fort Plain in the same district, on Saturday the 7th day of June, 1783, the following resolves were unanimously entered into. Lieutenant Colonel Samuel Clyde in the Chair:

Whereas, In the course of the late war, large numbers of the inhabitants of this county, lost to every sense of the duty they owed their country, have joined the enemies of this state, and have, in conjunction with the British troops, waged war on the people of this state; while others, more abandoned, have remained among us, and have harbored, aided, assisted, and victualed the said British troops and their adherents; and by their example and influence have encouraged many to desert the service of their country, and by insults and threats have discouraged the virtuous citizens, thereby inducing a number to abandon their estates and the defence of their country; and whereas, the County of Tryon hath, in an especial manner, been exposed to the continued inroads and incursions of the enemy, in which inroads and incursions the most cruel murders, robberies, and depredations have been committed that ever yet happened in this or any other country; neither sex nor age being spared, insomuch that the most aged people of each sex, and infants at their mothers' breasts, have inhumanly been butchered; our buildings (the edifices dedicated to the service of Almighty God not excepted) have been reduced to ashes; our property destroyed and carried away; our people carried through a far and distant wilderness, into captivity among savages (the dear and faithful allies of the merciful and humane British!) where very many still remain, and have by ill usage been forced to enter into their service.