[FN] Letter of Washington of March 4, to Governor Clinton, and also from the same to General Gates of March 6, 1779.
Those who have been accustomed to contemplate the whole race of North American aboriginals as essentially alike, viewing them all as the same roving, restless, houseless race of hunters and fishermen, without a local habitation, and with scarce a name, have widely misunderstood the Indian character, and must know but little of its varieties. They have, indeed, many traits and characteristics in common; but in other respects the moody Englishman is not more unlike his mercurial neighbor on the other side of the channel, than is the Mohawk unlike the Sioux. It is the remark of a popular writer of the day, [FN-1] that "those who are familiar with the reserved and haughty bearing of the forest tribes, cannot fail, when an opportunity of comparison is afforded, to be struck with the social air and excitable disposition which mark their prairie brethren, and so decidedly distinguish the 'gens du large' from les gens des feuilles,' as the voyageurs term the different races. The Pawnees, following the buffalo in his migrations, and having always plenty of animal food to subsist upon, are a much better fed and larger race than those who find a precarious subsistence in the forest chase. While the woodland tribes, who, though not so plump in form, are of a more wiry and perhaps muscular make, have again a decided advantage in figure and gait over the 'gens du lac,' or fishing and trapping tribes of the North-west, that pass most of their time in canoes. This difference in character and physical appearance between the different Indian races, or rather between those tribes who have such different methods of gaining a livelihood, has never been sufficiently attended to by modern authors, though it did not escape the early French writers on this country. And yet, if habit have any effect in forming the temper and character of a rude people, it must of course follow, that the savage who lives in eternal sunshine upon flowery plains, and hunts on horseback with a troop of tribesmen around him, must be a different being from the solitary deer-stalker, who wanders through the dim forest, depending upon his single arm for a subsistence for his wife and children." But the higher state of social organization among the Six Nations greatly increased the difference. They had many towns and villages giving evidence of permanence. They were organized into communities, whose social and political institutions, simple as they were, were still as distinct and well-defined as those of the American confederacy. They had now acquired some of the arts, and were enjoying many of the comforts, of civilized life. Not content with small patches of cleared lands for the raising of a few vegetables, they possessed cultivated fields, and orchards of great productiveness, at the West. Especially was this the fact with regard to the Cayugas and Senecas. The Mohawks having been driven from their own rich lands, the extensive domains of the two westernmost tribes of the confederacy formed the granary of the whole. And in consequence of the superior social and political organization just referred to, and the Spartan-like character incident to the forest life, the Six Nations, though not the most numerous, were beyond a doubt the most formidable, of the tribes then in arms in behalf of the Crown. [FN-2] It was justly considered, therefore, that the only way to strike them effectively, would be to destroy their homes and the growing products of their farms; and thus, by cutting off their means of supply, drive them from their own country deeper into the interior, and perhaps throw them altogether upon their British allies for subsistence. It was likewise the design to extend the operations of the expedition as far as Niagara, if possible—that post, of all others in the occupation of the enemy, enabling his officers to maintain an extensive influence over his savage allies. [FN-3]
[FN-1] Charles F. Hoffman, Esq.
[FN-2] "The Six Nations were a peculiar and extraordinary people, contra-distinguished from the mass of Indian nations by great attainments in polity, in negotiation, in eloquence, and in war."—Discourse of De Wilt Clinton before the New-York Hist. Society—1811.
[FN-3] Since these sheets were in the hands of the printer, the author has discovered an official manuscript account of a grand Indian council held at Niagara, in September, 1776, by Colonel John Butler, and Lieutenants Matthews, Burnit, and Kinnesley, and Ensign Butler, with the Hurons, Chippewas, Ottawas, Pottawatamies, Missiasagas, Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, Tuscaroras, Mohawks, Delawares, Nanticokes, Squaneghiges{?}, and Conagreves{?}—in presence of Lieut. Colonel John Caldwell, then in command at Niagara. It appears that only one Oneida sachem was present and one Tuscarora. They {illegible} an address which was unanimously signed{?} by the chiefs attending the Congress declaring their intention to embark in the war, and abide the result of the contest of the King with his people. They also made a strong appeal to the Oneidas and the Tuscaroras, "to quit the {illegible}, and be strong and determined to fulfill their engagements to the King." They also exhorted the Mohawks to be strong, and assured them "that they all their western brethren, would fly to their assistance at the first cal," &c.—Manuscripts of Gen Gansevoort.
{Transcriber's Note: The above footnote, [FN-3], from the word "Delawares" forward, the following paragraph, and its footnote are on a page that did not scan well. It is nearly illegible. The transcription presented here is a best guess.}
The plan of this campaign was well devised and matured{?}. It was to be commenced by a combined movement of two divisions—the one from Pennsylvania {transiting?} the valley of the Susquehanna to the intersection of the Tioga river under General Sullivan, who was invested with the command in chief; and the other from the north under General James Clinton, which was to descend the Susquehanna from its principal source, and after forming a junction with Sullivan, the whole to proceed, by the course of the Chemung river, into the fertile country of the Senecas and Cayugas. The expedition was intended as the principal campaign of the year; since the relative military strength and situation of the two contending powers rendered it impossible that any other offensive operations could be carried on by the Americans at the same time. [FN]