The Oneidas

Front matter

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Preface

In undertaking this work for the Oneidas there have been three great difficulties to contend against. Advanced years, confirmed invalidism and inability to go to Libraries to look up records of these Indians. Friends, however, have been exceedingly kind in bringing me books of value from which to cull notes. Among them I would mention indebtedness to: "The League of the Iroquois" by Lewis H. Morgan; Col. Stone's "Life of Joseph Brant"; Clarke's "Onondaga"; Halsey's "Old New York Frontier." Also "The Mohawk Valley," to whose author, Mr. W. Max Reid, we are indebted for several illustrations; and to the Rev. F. W. Merrill for extracts and illustrations from his "People of the Stone."

There has also been given by me for reference : "Missions to the Oneidas," papers written by Susan Fenimore Cooper. They appeared some few years since in "The Living Church" as a serial and were in part prepared at the request of a friend on hearing of Bishop Kemper's earnest desire to have same account of these faithful Indians written and preserved in book form. They, with a Diary kept by the wife of a most faithful Missionary among them, were to have so appeared; but certain untoward events at the time, less interest in the Indians, etc., prevented. Since, though feeling great inability to undertake this work, we have been kindly urged by the Rev. F. W. Merrill to give a fuller historix PREFACE.

cal account of the Oneidas than his own. Out of this request has grown this unpretentious work.

There has been made little or no attempt to give a statistical account of Indian treaties, Reservation transfers, or Government dealings with the Nation, but simply to record such customs and events of their past and present as may be of general interest. Gleanings from various reliable sources of one of the noted Six Nations. A Tribe well worthy to have their name and lineage handed down to their descendents.

J. K. B.

Contents

Chapter. Page.

i — In Central New York n

6 — Efforts to Christianize the Indians 67

Chapter I. In Central New York

There is a general feeling of regret among historians, and those who would learn events of the past connected with the earliest settlements of this country, to find so little, comparatively speaking, recorded or correctly handed down. And this is especially true of our North and South American Indians. Whole tribes have passed away with but little to tell of their mode of living, or degree of intelligence. And yet the little in some instances gives assurance that some of the earliest known aboriginals were a superior people, especially those among the South American Indians, or those of Mexico and Peru.

In Central America there have been found extensive remains of architecture and traces of civilization that one marvels over. They would seem to date back to a more remote period than even that of the Mexican and Peruvian empires. Immense artificial mounds also exist in the Valley of the Mississippi, and elsewhere, supposed to be the work of a remarkably intelligent race of Indians. Eminent writers who have since made a study of the Iroquois, their great intelligence and rare traits of character, think they may have been nearly allied to some of those who in the far past gave evidence of such remarkable achievements, but in time sadly deteriorated throusrh ill-treatment, indifference shown them and the introduction among - them of fire-water with all its baneful influences, and that to the encroachments of the white man was due their apathy, or savage hatred and desire for revenge.

As population increased, certainly they were crowded more and more out of their rights, cheated and robbed by avaricious land-agents, or those seeking to gain their valuable lands through exchange of mere trifles, or still worse, whisky, that they had taught the Indian to crave. And this has been going on from the advent of the white man among them down to the present time. Government, however, of late has been roused to a more humane and better policy in its treatment of the Indian. It is to be hoped now that the scattered remnants of the once powerful League, through being allowed to retain their Reservation, education and a higher state of civilization may prove themselves not only worthy of the truest, but in many characteristics no mean descendants of their earliest known ancestors. And this without undue praise, we think can be said of the Mohawks on their Canadian Reservation and of the Oneidas on theirs, near Green Bay, Wisconsin.

Of the earliest history of the Oneidas we are baffled by uncertain traditions, or legends that are of little or no account. Cut from various valuable works at our disposal we find something of interest connected with the ( >neidas when with the League in the northern part of New York. Lewis II. Morgan, at one time adopted by the Senecas and while with them taking notes of the different Nations composing the Confederacy, tells us in his "League of the Iroquois" that "prior to their occupation of New York, they were living in the vicinity of Montreal upon the northern banks of the St. Lawrence.

IN CENTRAL NEW YORK. 13

They were then in subjection to the Adirondacks, a branch of the warlike Algonquin race. At that time they are said to have been few in number, but as they multiplied and gained experience in the hardship of the warpath and the chase they sought independence, and after a fierce struggle left the country."

At what period this was, or the exact time of their entrance into New York cannot now be ascertained. Most writers agree that it must have been a century, or more, before their discovery by the Dutch in 1609. For they had long occupied a vast territory between the Hudson and Genesee rivers. Some writers say: "After coasting along the shore of Lake Ontario separate bands entered the State at different points and made their way into the interior. And that it was the Onondagas alone, who coasting its eastern shore to the mouth of the Oswego River, entered through this channel."

But this is immaterial. We would here state that in preparing this simple account of the Oneidas we may not in every instance be as technically correct as historians, or give exact locality and date, but shall endeavor to have them as nearly correct as some study and their own varied accounts will allow.

"The Iroquois in their best days," says Halsey, in his "Old New York Frontier," "were the noblest and most interesting of all Indians who have lived on this continent north of Mexico. They were truly the men whose Indian name signifies: 'We surpass all others.' They alone founded a political institution and gained political supremacy. With European civilization still unknown to them, they had given birth to self government in America. They founded independence, effected a union of States, carried their arms far beyond their own borders and made their conquests permanent. The conquered people becoming tributary states much after the manner of those which Rome conquered two thousand years before them. In diplomacy the Iroquois matched the white man from Europe. They had self-control, knowledge of human nature, tact and sagacity, and they often became the arbitrators in disputes between other people."

Universal testimony has been borne to their oratory of which the merit was its naturalness and bearing the supreme test of translation. Convinced that they were born free, they bore themselves with the pride which springs from that consciousness. Sovereigns they were and the only accountability they acknowledged was to the Great Spirit. "In war tactics they have been equaled by no red men. The forts which they created around their villages were essentially impregnable. An overwhelming force alone could enter them ; artillery alone destroy them. It was virtually an empire that they raised, and this empire like the empire of Rome, meant peace within its borders. Before the Europeans came, they had been unquestionably for some generations at peace among them. It was an ideal, an idyllic state of aboriginal life. All of which was to be overthrown by the coming of the white man when he arrived, bearing in one hand fire-arms and in the other fire-water."

Other writers pay as high a tribute to this noble race of Indians. It is known, as we have already said, that for more than a century before their discovery by the Dutch, they had been in possession of the beautiful lands, hills and valleys, lakes and streams, in the central part of the State of New York now bearing their names. But of the exact period, or for what purpose they had first been formed into a league must ever remain mere conjecture,

IN CENTRAL NEW YORK. 15

for neither written history, nor Indian tradition can throw more than feeble light upon the subject.

It is supposed, however, by some writers, that anciently they were separate and independent Nations, though of the same lineage. Sometimes, perhaps, with contentions among themselves yet ever ready to combine in making war upon the rude and more savage Indians of their interior and whom in time they conquered and brought under subjection. Finally, they must have united themselves into a Confederacy for greater security as well as to strengthen their power and importance at home, and enable them to better pursue other conquests abroad. And, too, they had their own peculiar religious beliefs and ceremonies to unite in and give permanency to, differing from all other Indian Nations in important particulars. Hence their federative League must, it is thought, have been formed at a remote period. So remote that even by tradition the time became lost in the clouded uncertainty of the past.

It is well known that whatever event is untraceable to the Indians they invest it with some peculiar legend. And Clark relates one as handed down in connection with the formation of the League. We can give it but in part for it is quite lengthy and flowery, but the main facts go to show that "Hundreds of years ago, Ta-oun-ya-wat-ha, the deity who presides over streams and fisheries, came down from his dwelling place in the clouds to visit the inhabitants of the earth. He had been sent by the Great and Good Spirit, No-wah-ne-re, to visit the streams and clear the channels from all obstructions, to seek out the best things of the country through which he intended to pass that they might be pointed out to the good people of the earth.

1 6 THE ON HI DAS.

"About this time two young men of the Onondaga Nation were listlessly gazing over the calm waters of the 'Lake of a Thousand Isles' when they espied far in the distance a single white speck dancing over the bright blue waters. As they watched, it seemed to increase in size and moved as if approaching the place where they were concealed. They watched with anxiety, for at this time no canoes had ever made their appearance in the direction from whence this was approaching. As the object neared the shore it proved to be a venerable man seated in a pure white canoe very curiously constructed and much more ingeniously wrought than those in use by the tribes of the country.

"Like a signet upon the wide blue sea, so sat Ta-oun-ya-wat-ha upon the Lake of 'The Thousand Isles.' Deep thought sat on the brow of the gray haired mariner ; penetration marked his eyes, and deep, dark mystery pervaded his countenance. With a single oar he silently paddled his light trimmed bark along the shore of the lake as if seeking a suitable haven for rest. He soon turned the prow of his vessel into the arm of the 'double river', and made fast to the western shore, when he majestically ascended the steep bank and gained the summit of the hill. Then silently gazing around as if to examine the country he became enchanted with the view and exclaimed in accents of the wildest enthusiasm, 'Osh-wah-kee ! Osh-wah-kee !' interpreted, 'I see every where and I see nothing !' "

This place of landing was probably at Montreal, a then unsettled village upon an island formed by the separation of the two channels by which the Ottawa issues into the St. Lawrence. For history tells us that there was an Indian village there discovered as early as September, 1535,

IX CENTRAL NEW YORK. 17

by Jacques Cartier. And it was from his admiring exclamation at the view obtained from the neighboring hill that Montreal, corrupted from Mount Royal, derives its name. This real fact must in some way have become incorporated in the legend. To return to it : "The two Onondagas, watching the mysterious old man as he descended from the hill, made themselves known to him, who gave them his reason for coming and invited them to cross the lake and go up the Swa-geh river."

So well pleased was Ta-oun-ya-wat-ha with the country, all the beautiful inland lakes and streams that he relinquished his divine title, so runs the legend, and assumed the character and habits of the Indians of the State who gathered about him. He was, however, looked upon as an extraordinary individual and one possessed with transcendent powers of mind. The name, "Hi-a-wat-ha" very wise man, was now given him by the Indians who resorted to him for advice from all quarters. Shortly after, when the country became greatly alarmed by the sudden approach of a band of warriors from north of the Great Lakes, and made indiscriminate slaughter of men,, women and children, they thronged the dwelling place of Hi-a-wat-ha for advice.

In this trying emergency he advised calling a council of their principal warriors that the advice of all might be received, for said he, "Our safety is in good council and speedy energetic action." Accordingly, runners with belts were dispatched in all directions notifying the Indians of a great Council to be held near the banks of the Lake, Ohnan-ta-ha," supposed to be the high ground near where the Onondagas were settled and where, for long afterwards were held their great Council fires. When all had arrived and were ready Hi-a-wat-ha appeared among them. A breathless silence ensued when the venerable Councilor began :

"Friends and Brothers, you are members of many tribes and nations. You have come here, many of you a great distance from your homes. We have convened for one common purpose to promote one common interest and that is to provide for our mutual safety and how it shall be best accomplished. To oppose those hordes of northern foes by tribes singly and alone would prove our certain destruction. We can make no progress in that way, we must unite ourselves into one common band of brothers. Our warriors united would surely repel those rude invaders and drive them from the borders. This must be done and we shall be safe.

"You — The Mohawks, sitting under the shadow of the 'Great Tree,' whose roots sink deep in the earth and whose branches spread over a vast country shall be the First Nation, because you are warlike and mighty. And you, — Oneidas, a people who recline your bodies against the Everlasting Stone that can't be removed, shall be the Second Nation, because you give wise council. And you, — Onondagas, who have your habitations at the 'Great Mountain' and are overshadowed by its crags, shall be the Third Nation, because you are greatly gifted in speech and mighty in war.

"And you — Cayugas, a people whose habitations are in the Dark Forests, and whose home is every where shall be the Fourth Nation, because of your superior cunning in hunting.

"And you, — Senecas, a people who live in the Open Country and possess much wisdom shall be the Fifth Nation, because you understand better the art of raising corn and beans and making cabins. You, Five great and

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powerful Nations, must unite and have but one common interest and no foe shall be able to disturb or subdue you.

"And you, — Manhattoes, Nyacks, Montauks and others who are feeble 'Bushes,' and you, — Narragansetts, Mohegans, Wampanoogs, and your neighbors who are a 'Fishing People/ may place yourselves under our protection. Be for us and we will defend you. You of the South and you of the West may do the same and we will protect you. We earnestly desire your alliance and friendship.

"Brothers, if we be united in this bond, the Great Spirit will smile upon us and we shall be free, prosperous and happy. But if we remain as we are we shall be subject to his frown ; we shall be enslaved, ruined, perhaps and annihilated forever. We shall perish and our names be blotted out from among the Nations of men.

"Brothers, these are the words of Hi-a-wat-ha. Let them sink deep in your hearts. I have said it."

A long silence ensued; the words of the wise man had made a deep impression upon the minds of all. They unanimously declared the subject too deep for immediate decision. "Let us," said the brave warriors and chiefs "adjourn the Council for one day and then we will respond." On the morrow the Council was again assembled. After due deliberation the speech of the wise man was declared to be good and worthy of adoption.

"Immediately upon this was formed the celebrated Aquinuschioni, or League of the great Confederacy of the Five Nations, which to this day has remained in full force." After the business of this first great council, to which other tribes had been invited, was brought to a close and the assembly was on the eve of separation Hi-awat-ha arose and in a dignified manner said :

"Friends and Brothers, — I have now fulfilled my mission upon earth, I have done everything that can be done at present for the good of this great people. Age, infirmity and distress sit heavy upon me." He then in eloquent words before bidding them farewell admonished them not to admit other nations to their councils for fear of jealousy and contentions among themselves which might enslave and prevent their becoming free, numerous and mighty. And he closed by saying, "Remember these words, they are the last you will hear from the lips of Hia-wat-ha. Listen, my friends, the Great Master of Breath calls me to go. I have patiently waited His summons. I am ready, farewell." And the mysterious old man is said to have sailed away as he came, in the white vessel.

Though this is but a legend there doubtless was some wise and noble Indian, who thus, long years ago, united them into the wonderful League. It certainly strengthened them as a "United People." And through the Confederacy they ever after showed great power and almost marvellous executive ability to govern themselves and others through council. Later, indeed, we hear there has been found by one of our writers a long handed down tradition, going back to a very remote and uncertain period as to the formation of the League. It states that the Nations long ago were in separate and sometimes hostile bands, although of generic origin, and were drawn together in Council to deliberate upon the plan of a League which a wise man of the Onondaga Nation had projected. He explained it and assured them that under it the United Nation could elevate themselves to a general supremacy. The name of the great and wise Chief was Da-ga-no-weda. He is supposed to have been the real founder of the League and the first law-giver of the Ho-de-no-sau-nee, the name given to the Iroquois after the formation of

IN CENTRAL NEW YORK. 21

the League and said to signify "The People of the Long House." Among themselves it was their only name. The tradition also points to the northern shore of Ga-nun-ta-ah, Onondaga Lake, or valley near, as the place where the first council fire was kindled, around which the braves and wise men of the several Nations were gathered and where, after a long debate and much consideration, its establishment was effected.

Chapter II. "People of the Long House."

At a very early date, a century or more before their discovery by the white people, the various Nations had been living, for better security it is supposed against invaders, in strongly built bark lodges of peculiar construction. They were long in proportion to their width, partitioned off and occupied by several families living in harmony, each with its own hearthstone or fire. It was to these long houses, after the formation of the League, they figuratively likened themselves, "The People of the Long House," their political edifice opening its eastern door upon the Hudson, while the western door looked upon Niagara.

At the time of their earliest discovery, says Morgan, "this fine domain was the patrimony of the League if not the land of their origin. And they had long defended it against hostile bands with a patriotism as glowing as such a fine possession could inspire in the heart of man." In their immediate vicinity were numerous tribes of Indians called from their weakness and inferiority to their more powerful neighbors of the Five Nations, "The Bushes." As many as fifteen tribes were supposed to have had their allotted territories in the State of New York and on Long Island. From the first they evinced a hostile disposition towards their neighbors and later were a continual source of alarm to the white inhabitants until they were subdued and became subject to the powerful confederacy. Firmly banded in one they held the ascendancy over all these roving North American tribes, who have since become extinct.

The territory proper of the "United People" is said to have extended from the Hudson River on the east to the Niagara River on the west, from Lake Ontario on the north, to the Alleghanies on the south. At one time their actual domain, we are told, reached from the Sorel River south, by the Great Lakes to the Mississippi west, then east to the Santee, and coastwise back to the Hudson. Says Clark: "They indeed occupied a wide spread of country comprising a great body of fertile land, combined with a healthy and temperate climate. They, too, had greater facilities for water communications, not only within their own territory but extending from it in all directions, with more extensive hunting grounds and fisheries than any other tract of the same extent in the world.

They were called by the French, "Iroquois," by the English, "The Confederates, or Five Nations," by the Dutch "Maquas," and by themselves "Mungoes" meaning to them all : "United People." The English long retained the name Magnos for the Mohawks. These intelligent Indians of the Confederacy, says one, "were not insensible to the political advantages afforded by their geographical position. It was their boast that they occupied the highest part of the continent, and that it possessed greater advantages than any other part of America. Situated upon the head waters of the Hudson, the Delaware, the Susquehanna, the Ohio and the St. Lawrence, flowing in every direction to the sea, they held within their jurisdiction, as it were, the gates of the country and could through them descend at will upon every point.

almost as one Nation. But in time the Oneidas established themselves at Ga-no-wa-lo-hale, east of the lake that afterwards bore their name, and became a more independent Nation. In like manner the Onondagas settled themselves in the Onondaga valley and on the adjacent hills. This, however, must have been prior to the formation of the League. For to the Onondagas already settled in their picturesque locality near the Deep Spring were given the custody, for all time, of the "Council Brand," and also the Wampum into which the law of the League had been "talked." Not, it is said, in preference or any superior power, but from their situation equally convenient for all the Long House to reach.

The territory of the Cayugas lay upon both sides of Cayuga Lake and eastward to Owasco Lake. The Senecas had their territory east of the Genesee River, and extended their jurisdiction over the whole of the area between Seneca Lake and Lake Erie. The Long House to which they likened their political edifice opened its eastern door upon the Hudson, while the western looked upon the Niagara where dwelt the Senecas. To them were given the name of Do-nan-ne-ho-out : "The Door Keepers". To them belonged the guardianship of the western door of the Long House, while the Mohawks were made Door Keepers at the east in the Mohawk country.

On the boundary line between the Onondagas and Oneidas the most prominent point was the Deep Spring, De-o-song-wa. This Spring not only marked the limit line between them, but was a well known stopping place on the great central trail, or highway of the Nations as they passed back and forth through the Long House or heart of the territory from the Hudson to Lake Erie.

From this Deep Spring the line ran due south into Pennsylvania, crossing the Susquehanna near the confluence with the Chenango. North of this spring the line was deflected to the west, leaving the Oneida territory the whole circuit of the lake.

This spring was used in common by them all. Of it Judge Jones of Utica writes : "What is quite singular, the water runs in at the lower and disappears at the upper side of the reservoir." This spring while the woods were in shade and the wild deer descended to taste its limpid waters was long the favorite meeting place between the Oneidas and the Onondagas. The Onondagas, as has been said, were called the "People of the Hill," while the Oneidas were the "People of the Stone." The Rev. F. W. Merrill, in his interesting pamphlet upon "The People of the Stone", gives the following legend of how they acquired their name. He says:

"For the legend of 'The Oneida Stone' we are indebted to Dr. M. M. Bagg of the Oneida Historical Society, Utica, N. Y. At a prominent position near the entrance of the Forrest Hill Cemetery, Utica, stands the Palladium of the Oneidas, the sacred stone which gave them their national name, and which is said to have followed them in all their wanderings. The legend is that the Oneidas, whose territory extended from the country of the Onondagas to that of the Mohawks, occupying all of Central New York, were descended from two Onondaga Indians, who were brothers. At a very remote period they left their native home and built wigwams on the Oneida River, at the outlet of Oneida Lake, where, like the antediluvians, they 'builded a city' and 'begat sons and daughters.'

At their resting place there appeared an oblong roundish stone, unlike any of the rocks in the vicinity, which came to be their sacrificial altar, and gave a name to their children. "Onia," in their native tongue, is the word for a stone. As their descendants increased in number and became a community, they were called after this stone "Onionta-aug" "the people of the stone," or "who springs from the Stone." A mispronunciation has given us the word Oneida. The stone was the altar upon which all their sacrifices were made, and around which their councils and festive and religious gatherings took place.

After a lapse of several generations, the Onionta-aug, now become numerous, removed from the Oneida River to a place where the creek, which now bears their name, is discharged into the Oneida Lake, and the sacred stone, unassisted by human hands, so the legend runs, followed them and located itself again in their midst. Here they flourished until the confederation of the Five Nations was formed, and the children of the stone became second in the order of precedence in the great confederacy. At length it was determined by the old men and warriors of the nation to remove their council fire to the summit of one of the chains of hills, skirting the valley of the Oneida creek on the east.

When the council of the Nation had selected this new home for its people, the stone, true to its mission, a second time followed in the train of its children, and seeking one of the most commanding and beautiful points upon the hill, deposited itself in a beautiful butternut grove, from which the eye could look out upon the wide landscape, the most lovely portion of the national domain. Here it remained to witness the subsequent history of its people. It saw the Five Nations increase in power and importance until their name struck terror from the St. Lawrence to the Gulf of Mexico, and from the Hudson to the Father of Waters.

Around this unhewn altar, within its leafy temple, was gathered all the wisdom of the nation, when measures affecting its welfare were to be considered. Here, eloquence as effective and beautiful as ever fell from classic lips was poured forth in the ears of its sons and daughters. Here, Skenandoah, the latest orator of his race, — the warrior chief, the lowly Christian convert, — with matchless power swayed the hearts of his countrymen. Here the sacred rites were celebrated at the return of each harvest moon and each new year, when every son and daughter of the Stone came up like the Jewish tribes of old, to join in the national festivities.

In 1850 the Oneida Stone was bought with the Cemetery, from Madison County, with the approval of the resident Oneidas, as well as by the consent of the owner of the farm where it rested. The Cemetery was opened, and two hundred Oneidas and Onondagas came, and after the ceremonies many of them stooped to kiss the stone, and addresses were made by chiefs of both tribes and interpreted by the interpreter of the Oneidas, declaring that the tribes gave their sanction to this final disposal of the altar of their fathers. It is also stated that, the large space around the stone was left for the interment of any Oneidas who might wish to be buried there. Another in writing upon this subject says: