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Council at Canawangus
A council of the Iroquois was held at
Ca-na-wau-gus, near West Avon, in the autumn of 1798. Connected
with it is a reminiscence of Red Jacket of much interest, as an
item of history, and it serves well to illustrate the orator's
mental habit.
His conduct was such on this occasion, as to excite the
observation as well as curiosity of Captain Parrish, who related
the occurrence.
For the first few days of the council, he uttered not a
word. He appeared to be in deep thought, and was exceedingly
reserved. The expression of his countenance was severe, and
there was much "hauteur" in his manner. He ate scarcely
anything, and his appearance was so remarkable, as to excite the
wonder of all present. At length on the third or fourth day of
the council, he arose with great dignity, and solemnity of air,
and commenced speaking. His exordium was for the most part a
beautiful and highly wrought enconium on the character and
history of the Indians; particularly of his own people, in the
past. They were taken back, as by a magic spell, to primitive
times. The days of their renown, when the name and glory of
their nation, were the admiration of the world. When from the
rising to the setting sun, there was no power to stand before
them, or hinder the victorious march of their warriors through
the land. As they glided over the waters of river or lake, as
they ascended the mountain, or passed through the valley, they
could feel that their dominion was wide, and undisputed. Every
deer that bounded through the forest, every bird that winged the
air, and the fish in all the waters, were theirs, and they were
happy. Such was the glowing picture he drew, they did not
realize the present, from the engrossing theme of the past.
He next proceeded to sketch their history, as affected
by the coming of the white man among them. The friendly
relations, that marked their early intercourse. Their small
beginnings, and the imperceptible manner of their increase. How
they began to line the eastern shores,--plant themselves upon
the borders of their rivers, and gather into neighborhoods, and
towns, and cities. How these new and wonderful things engaged
the attention of the Indians, and kept them spell-bound, so that
they were insensible to what had been going on till the whites
were firmly planted, like a tree that has taken deep root, and
sends its branches out over the land.
He next drew their attention to a time when the signs
of a great tempest began to appear. When the clouds began to
overspread the heavens, when the lightning flashed, and the
thunders rolled, and the land was shaken by their power. A
mighty whirlwind came sweeping through the land, the tall trees
of the forest were uprooted, the branches torn off and sent
flying through the air. So has our nation he said been uprooted,
the strong men torn from us, and scattered, and laid low. Thus
he went on recounting as few could, the circumstances of their
history, and as he advanced, his expressions matured in their
intensity, his thoughts appeared to be winged, and came glowing,
as if from some furnace in nature, where all her materials are
wrought under intense heat, and sent forth in forms of highest
brilliancy, and beauty. His hearers were amid the heavings of
the earthquake, the blackness of the storms, the wild and
irresistible sweep of the tornado. The heavens, the earth, the
elements, seemed to be careering under the rapid and startling
flights of his fancy.
He next adverted with much feeling, and with evident
sadness, to the transactions of the past year, by which they had
become dispossessed of the largest part of their ancient
inheritance: and then he drew, with a prophetic hand, a picture
of their probable future, that brought sorrow to their hearts,
and tears to their eyes. He closed his harangue by pronouncing a
most withering phillipic against the whites. The effect of his
speech was wonderful. Mr. Parrish declared that it exceeded, in
its brilliancy and force, all his former utterances, of which he
had any knowledge; and he never heard from him afterward,
anything that could compare with it. His auditors were mainly
those of his own people. His flow of thought was not interrupted
by the slow, and embarrassing process of interpretation. The
full grief of his heart, in view of the transactions of the
previous year, was poured forth, and came like the irresistible
sweep of a whirlwind82.
It was some little time after the delivery of this
speech, before the minds of the Indians were sufficiently
composed to attend to the main business of their council, which
was presented in a speech by Farmer's Brother, and embodied in
an address to the Legislature of New York, thus: "The Sachems,
Chiefs and Warriors of the Seneca Nation, to the Sachems, and
Chiefs assembled about the great Council Fire of the State of
New York:
"BROTHERS: As you are once more assembled in
council for the purpose of doing honor to yourselves and justice
to your country, we, your brothers, the Sachems, Chiefs and
Warriors of the Seneca Nation, request you to open your ears,
and give attention to our voice and wishes.
"You will recollect the late contest between you and
your father, the great king of England. This contest threw the
inhabitants of this whole island into a great tumult and
commotion, like a raging whirlwind, which tears up the trees,
and tosses to and fro the leaves, so that no one knows whence
they come, or where they will fall.
"BROTHERS: This whirlwind was so directed by the Great
Spirit above, as to throw into our arms two of your infant
children, Jasper Parrish, and Horatio Jones. We adopted them
into our families, and made them our children. We loved them and
nourished them. They lived with us many years. At length the
Great Spirit spoke to the whirlwind, and it was still. A clear
and uninterrupted sky appeared. The path of peace was opened,
and the chain of friendship was once more made bright. Then
these, our adopted children, left us, to seek their relations.
We wished them to return among us, and promised if they would
return, and live in our country, to give each of them a seat of
land for them, and their children to sit down upon.
"BROTHERS: They have returned, and have for several
years past been serviceable to us as interpreters. We still feel
our hearts beat in affection for them, and now wish to fulfill
the promise we made them, and to reward them for their services.
We have therefore made up our minds to give them a seat of two
square miles of land lying on the outlet of Lake Erie, about
three miles below Black Rock, beginning at the mouth of a creek
known by the name of Scoy-gu-quoy-des Creek, running one mile
from the river Niagara, up said creek, thence northerly as the
river runs two miles, thence westerly one mile to the river,
thence up the river as the river runs to the place of beginning,
so as to contain two square miles.
"BROTHERS: We have now made known to you our minds; we
expect and earnestly request that you will permit our friends to
receive this our gift, and will make the same good to them,
according to the laws and customs of your nation."
By the laws of the State, no sale or transfers of
Indian lands could be made to private individuals, without
permission from the government. Hence the address embodying the
request as presented above, which was complied with, and the
land secured as desired by the Indians.
The above is certainly an able document, and has been
justly admired for its originality, and the boldness of its
figures. It is in keeping with the high order of mind, that has
marked the history of the Six Nations. One expression in it has
been pointed out, as an instance of the truly sublime: "THE
GREAT SPIRIT SPOKE TO THE WHIRLWIND, AND IT WAS STILL."
We may observe here that in tracing the history of the
Iroquois, the instances are not rare of a true nobility of
character. Their confidence and esteem once secured, no slight
cause would interrupt, none appreciated more highly the offices
of kindness,--and none would go further in making a generous
return for favors rendered.
Jasper Parrish and Horatio Jones were favorite
interpreters of Red Jacket, and as they passed no inconsiderable
part of their lives among the Indians, a further notice of their
history is desirable.
The early life of Captain Jasper Parrish was marked by
scenes alike trying and eventful. He was a native of
Connecticut, from which State his family removed to the waters
of the Delaware, in the state of Pennsylvania. In 1778, when but
eleven years old, he accompanied his father on a short
expedition, to remove a family of backwoodsmen, to a less
exposed part of the settlement. On their way they were attacked
by a small party of Indians, and made captives. The father was
taken to Niagara, and after a captivity of two years, was
exchanged and enabled to return to his own family.
The son was claimed by a war-chief, who treated him
kindly, and after a time took him to the waters of the Chemung.
On entering an Indian village, the war-party which accompanied
them, sounded the war-whoop, and it was answered by the Indians
and Indian boys who came out to meet them. They pulled the young
prisoner from the horse he was riding, scourged him with whips,
and beat him with the handles of their tomahawks, one of the
forms of their gauntlet, until his master humanely rescued him.
He was after this sold to a family of Delaware, and taken to
reside with them on the Delaware river, where he suffered much
from want of proper clothing, and from scanty fare. To inure him
to cold, the Indians compelled him almost daily, to strip and
plunge into the icy waters of the river.
He was with the Indians when General Sullivan invaded
their country, and witnessed their retreat, after the battle at
Newtown, until they found protection from the guns of the
British, at Fort Niagara. Here they subsisted during the winter
by rations from the garrison, and to induce them to return again
to their villages, on the Genesee river, the officers pledged
them an increased bounty for American scalps.
On one occasion, while with the Delaware family at
Niagara, he came near being a victim of the British bounty for
scalps. Left alone with some Indians, who were having a
carousal, he overheard a proposal to kill the young Yankee, and
take his scalp to the fort, and sell it for rum. In a few
moments one of them took a large brand from the fire and hurled
at him, but being on the alert he dodged it, and made his
escape. The Indians pursued, but it was dark and they did not
find him.
From the Delaware family, he was sold to an Indian of
the Mohawk tribe, called Captain David Hill. At a council of the
British and Indians, he was afterwards adopted with much
ceremony, into the family of Captain Hill, as his own son. He
resided with him at the Mohawk settlement near the present
village of Lewiston, till the close of the war, and being
surrendered in accordance with the stipulations of the treaty at
Fort Stanwix in 1784, he returned once more to his own father's
house.
It was with some effort he recovered again the use of
his own native tongue. During his captivity he had acquired and
could speak fluently, the language of five different tribes, and
his qualifications as an interpreter, together with his known
faithfulness and integrity, coming to the knowledge of our
government, he received an appointment in the Indian service,
and during the greater part of his subsequent life, was actively
employed in business relating to the welfare of the Indians. He
died at his residence in Canandaigua, July 12th, 1836, in the
sixty-ninth year of his age.
Captain Horatio Jones, was a native of Chester county,
Pennsylvania. At the age of sixteen he enlisted as a volunteer,
in a company commanded by Captain John Boyd. It was when the
Indians, led by the notorious Butler, Brant, and Nellis, were
committing their depredations and massacres among the settlers
of the frontier, sparing neither age nor sex, from the tomahawk
and scalping knife. With the ardor of youth he engaged in the
active employments of a soldier, and accompanied Captain Boyd on
several important and dangerous expeditions, in which himself
and commander had the good fortune to escape unhurt.
At length in the spring of 1781, while Captain Boyd and
his men, numbering thirty-two, were in pursuit of Nellis, they
were surprised by a large party of Indians, who killed about
half their number, and of the rest took eight prisoners, Jones
and his commanding officer being among the number. The Indians
conducted them to their towns on the Genesee river, where they
had to run the gauntlet, and having passed with safety through
this trying ordeal, they next came near losing their lives in a
savage frolic. The warriors, on returning from their excursion,
gave themselves up to drinking and merriment. Partaking freely
of the intoxicating bowl, they soon became much excited, and the
ferocity, which a time of war engenders, was thoroughly aroused
among them. One of the prisoners they killed, and severing his
head from the body, carried it about the camp, on the end of a
pole, with wild shouts and frantic yells.
They next meditated the death of Boyd and Jones, and
while discussing the manner in which they would have them
suffer, a few squaws conveyed them away and hid them. Jones was
subsequently adopted into an Indian family, became familiar with
their customs and language, and after the declaration of peace,
was appointed by President Washington as Indian interpreter, the
duties of which office he discharged with fidelity, until within
a year or two of his death.
Mr. Jones was about the ordinary stature, firmly built,
and qualified by nature for duties requiring activity and
endurance. Possessing uncommon mental vigor, and quick
perception, he was enabled to form a just estimate of character,
and determine with readiness the springs of human action. His
bravery, physical power, energy and decision of character, gave
him great command over the Indians with whom he was associated,
and having their entire confidence, he was enabled to render the
government invaluable service in her treaties with the northern
and north-western tribes. He was a favorite interpreter of Red
Jacket, and his style is said to have been energetic, graphic,
and chaste. He died at his residence near Genesee, on the 18th
of August, 1836.
It was not far from the time of this council at
Canawangus that Red Jacket visited Hartford, Conn.
In the adjustment of the land difficulties between the
states of Connecticut and Pennsylvania, owing to the indefinite
terms of their original charters, Connecticut obtained, as we
have seen, a title to that part of Ohio, called Western Reserve.
The Seneca laying claim to this, on the ground of conquest,
negotiations were entered into with them for the extinguishment
of their title. This was the occasion of the orator's visit,
concerning which there is but a very brief record. His
appearance, however, has been spoken of in terms of high
commendation, and a single passage only of the speech he made on
that occasion has been preserved.
"We stand," said he, when representing the condition of
his people, "a small island in the bosom of the great waters. We
are encircled, we are encompassed. The evil spirit rides upon
the blast, and the waters are disturbed. They rise, they press
upon us, and the waves once settled over us, we disappear
forever. Who then lives to mourn us? None. What marks our
extermination? Nothing. We are mingled with the common
elements."
The entire speech was listened to with feelings of profound
admiration, and his action elicited praise for its dignity and
grace. He entered the august assemblage, before which he was
called to appear, with a step measured, firm and dignified,--a
countenance erect, bold and discursive,--without manifesting
surprise, fear or curiosity; and his effort sustaining fully his
high reputation as an orator, made the occasion one of great
interest, to those whom it had been the means of bringing
together, or who had been attracted by curiosity, to see one
whose fame had reached the land of steady habits83.
82. Conversation of the author with Samuel
J. Mills, Esq., formerly of Mt. Morris, N. Y., later of Nevada,
Iowa. Mr. Mills heard Mr. Parrish give this description of Red
Jacket and of his speech, while sitting at one time on the porch
of one of the hotels at Avon Springs. Mr. Parrish pointed out
the ground occupied by the Indians, when this speech was
delivered. It was only a little distance from the porch where
they were sitting.
83. Col. Stone, from collections by J. W.
Moulton.
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