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The Adirondack
The Iroquois were not always the
same fierce, rapacious and blood-thirsty people which they are now
familiarly known to have been, but were once engrossed in the peaceful
pursuits of the husbandman. Colden graphically relates the circumstances
which led them in a measure to forsake that occupation, and involved
them in a war with the Adirondacks, in which they were engaged when the
French first settled Canada. We quote:
"The Adirondacks formerly lived three hundred miles
above Trois Rivers, where now the Utawawas are situated; at that time
they employed themselves wholly in hunting, and the Five Nations made
planting of corn their business. By this means they became useful to each
other, by exchanging corn for venison. The Adirondacks, however, valued
themselves, as delighting in a more manly employment, and despised the
Five Nations, in following business, which they thought only fit for
women. But it once happened that the game failed the Adirondacks, which
made them desire some of the young men of the Five Nations to assist them
in hunting. These young men soon became much more expert in hunting, and
able to endure fatigue, than the Adirondacks expected or desired; in short
they became jealous of them, and, one night, murdered all the young men
they had with them. The Five Nations complained to the chiefs of the
Adirondacks of the inhumanity of this action; but they contented
themselves with blaming the murderers, and ordered them to make some small
presents to the relatives of the murdered persons,18
without being apprehensive of the resentment of the Five Nations; for they
looked upon them as men not capable of taking any great revenge.
"This, however, provoked the Five Nations to that
degree, that they soon resolved by some means to be revenged; and the
Adirondacks, being informed of these designs, thought to prevent them, by
reducing them with force to their obedience.
"The Five Nations then lived near where Mont Real now
stands; they defended themselves at first but faintly against the vigorous
attacks of the Adirondacks, and were forced to leave their own country,
and fly to the banks of the lakes, where they now live.
As they were hitherto losers by the war, it obliged
them to apply themselves to the exercise of arms, in which they became
daily more and more expert. Their Sachems, in order to raise their
people's spirits, turned them against the Satanas, a less
warlike nation, who then lived on the banks of the lakes; for they found
it was difficult to remove the dread their people had of the valor of the
Adirondacks. The Five Nations soon subdued the Satanas, and drove them out
of their country; and their people's courage being thus elevated, they,
from this time, not only defended themselves bravely against the whole
force of the Adirondacks, but often carried the war into the heart of the
Adirondacks' country, and, at last, forced them to leave it, and to fly
into that part of the country where Quebec is now built."19
While the Iroquois were waging war with the
Adirondacks, the French, who early signalized their enmity to the former,
had, by the establishment of their fur trade, drawn most of the
neighboring nations to Quebec, and supplied them with firearms.
These nations joined in the war against the Iroquois.
The Adirondacks now resolved on the utter destruction of the Five Nations;
but their young warriors, from their superiority in numbers and arms,
became rash and insolent and restive under the disciplinary restraints of
their chiefs. The Iroquois, who were thrown on the defensive by the rash
impetuousness of their enemies, soon discovered the advantages they gained
by this want of discipline, and became themselves more submissive to their
chiefs and diligent in executing any enterprise. They opposed strategy,
for which they were so conspicuously distinguished,20
to the superiority in numbers and arms of the enemy, who were adroitly
drawn into ambuscades and thereby suffered great losses. This warfare was
continued until it culminated in the disastrous defeat and dispersion of
the Adirondacks and their allies, the Quatoghies, or Hurons, in a terrible
battle fought within sight of the French settlements at Quebec. They
pursued these enemies to their place of refuge with a relentless
persistency which only relaxed with their dispersion and almost utter
extermination.
With the same terrible, deadly vehemence they pursued
other enemies, prominent among whom were the Neutrals and Eries to the
west and the Andastes to the south of them, their vengeance never satiated
until they were wiped out of existence as nations. Thus they eventually
became the dictators of the Continent, their sway extending over a
territory estimated to be twelve hundred miles long by eight hundred
broad, embracing a large part of New England and reaching thence to the
Mississippi; while the French occupants of Canada, and the Cherokees and
Catawbas in the far south were humbled by their power. But they held in
actual possession only the limited territory previously described.
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18 It was customary with the
Iroquois, as with other Indian nations, to expiate murder by means of
presents given to the friends of the deceased. It
is a most peculiar reflection that the efforts were directed not to
bringing the
murderers to a just punishment, but to satisfying those who had a right to
feel aggrieved. Murder was the most heinous crime except witchcraft, and
was rare. If the slayer and the slain were of the same household or tribe,
the affair was regarded as a family quarrel, to be settled by the
immediate
kin on both sides. This, under the pressure of public opinion, was
commonly
effected without bloodshed. But if the murderer and his victim were
of different clans or nations, still more if the slain was a foreigner,
the whole
community became interested to prevent the discord or the war which might
arise. To this end, contributions were made and presents collected. Their
number and value were determined by established usage and differed with
different nations. The Iroquois demanded 100 yards of wampum for the
murder of a man and 200 for that of a woman. If the victim was of a
foreign
tribe, a higher compensation was demanded, as it involved the danger of
war.
Authors differ as to the result which followed in case
of refusal on the part of
the relatives of the deceased to accept the proper atonement, which they
might do if they chose. Parkman says the murderer was given them as a
slave, but they might by no means kill him. Colden says they "have such
absolute notions of liberty that they allow no kind of superiority of one
over
another, and banish all servitude from their territories." Loskiel implies
that the punishment of death may be inflicted.
The Jesuit Lalemant, while inveighing against a
practice which made the
public and not the criminal answerable for an offense, admits that heinous
crimes were more rare than in France, where the guilty party himself was
punished.--Parkman.
19 History of the Five Indian
Nations.
20 "The Five Nations are so much delighted with
stratagems in war, that no
superiority of their forces ever makes them neglect them."--Colden.
Notes About the Book:
Source: Smith, James H., History of Chenango and Madison Counties, New York.
D. Mason & Co. Syracuse, NY 1880
Online Publication: The manuscript was scanned and
then ocr'd. Minimal editing has been done, and readers can and should expect
some errors in the textual output.
This site includes some historical materials that may imply negative
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