An Account of Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha Part 13

He was with his people when they fought in alliance with the French in the year 1755. The princ.i.p.al part of the force which met and defeated the English under General Braddock was Indian, and it was through their prowess mainly, if not entirely, that the victory was gained.

What part Cornplanter took in that engagement is not known, but in the war of the Revolution, he was a war-chief, and ranked high in the estimation of his people.

In a speech addressed to President Was.h.i.+ngton in 1790, he related the manner in which the Indians came to be in alliance with the English.

"Many nations inhabited this country; but they had no wisdom, therefore they warred together. The Six Nations were powerful and compelled them to peace; the lands to a great extent were given up to them; the French came among us and built Niagara; they became our fathers and took care of us.

Sir William Johnson came and took that fort from the French; he became our father and promised to take care of us, and did so until you were too strong for his king.

"When you kindled your thirteen fires separately, the wise men that a.s.sembled at them told us that you were all brothers, the children of one great father, who regarded the red people also as his children. They called us brothers, and invited us to his protection; they told us that he resided beyond the great water, where the sun first rises; that he was a king whose power no people could resist, and that his goodness was as bright as that sun. What they said went to our hearts; we accepted the invitation, and promised to obey him. What the Seneca Nation promise, they faithfully perform; and when you refused obedience to that king, he commanded us to a.s.sist his beloved men, in making you sober. In obeying him we did no more than yourselves had led us to promise. The men that claimed this promise told us that you were children, and had no guns; that when they had shaken you, you would submit. We hearkened to them and were deceived."

As a leader he was very active and brave, and as a partisan of the English, bore a prominent part in all of the princ.i.p.al engagements, in which the Indians were concerned during that war. He was on the war-path with Brant during the campaign of General Sullivan against the Indian towns in the Genesee country in 1779, and also when under the command of Brant and Sir John Johnson, the Indians subsequently avenged the invasion of Sullivan, by the fearful destruction they wrought in the valley of the Mohawk.

It was during this expedition that Cornplanter visited his father a second time. He was residing then in the vicinity of Fort Plain, and ascertaining where he lived, Cornplanter watched his opportunity and made his father a prisoner, but managed so adroitly, as to avoid recognition. He marched his sire ten or twelve miles up the river, and then stepped in front of him, faced about, and addressed him in the following manner:--

"My name is John O'Bail, commonly called Cornplanter. I am your son! You are my father! You are now my prisoner, and subject to the customs of Indian warfare. But you shall not be harmed: you need not fear. I am a warrior! Many are the scalps I have taken! Many the prisoners I have tortured to death! I am your son! I was anxious to see you, and greet you in friends.h.i.+p. I went to your cabin, and took you by force. But your life shall be spared. Indians love their friends and their kindred, and treat them with kindness. If now you choose to follow the fortunes of your yellow son, and to live with our people, I will cherish your old age with plenty of venison, and you shall live easy. But if it is your choice to return to your fields, and live with your white children, I will send a party of my trusty young men to conduct you back in safety. I respect you, my father: you have been friendly to Indians, and they are your friends."

The father preferred to return to his white children, and was therefore set at liberty, and escorted back in safety to his own home.

In another address to the governor of Pennsylvania, he used this language: "I will now tell you, that the Great Spirit has made known to me that I have been wicked; and the cause was the Revolutionary war in America. The cause of Indians having been led into sin, at that time, was that many of them, were in the practice of drinking and getting intoxicated. Great Britain requested us to join with them in the conflict against the Americans, and promised the Indians land and liquor. I myself was opposed to joining in the conflict, as I had nothing to do with the difficulty between the two parties.

"They told me they would inform me of the cause of the Revolution, which I requested them to do minutely. They then said it was on account of the heavy taxes, imposed on them by the British government, which had been for fifty years increasing upon them; that the Americans had grown weary thereof, and refused to pay, which affronted the king. There had likewise a difficulty taken place about some tea, which they wished me not to use, as it had been one of the causes that many people had lost their lives.

And the British government now being affronted, the war commenced, and the cannons began to roar in our country.

"The white people who live at Warren, called on me, some time ago to pay taxes for my land; which I objected to, as I had never been called upon for that purpose before; and having refused to pay, the white people became irritated, called upon me frequently, and at length brought four guns with them, and seized our cattle. I still refused to pay, and was not willing to let the cattle go. After a time of dispute, they returned home, and I understood the militia was ordered out to enforce the collection of the tax. I went to Warren, and to avert the impending difficulty, was obliged to give my note for the tax, the amount of which was forty-three dollars and seventy-nine cents. It is my desire that the governor will exempt me from paying taxes for my land to the white people; and also cause that the money I am now obliged to pay, may be refunded to me, as I am very poor."

This appeal was brought before the Legislature of Pennsylvania, and an act was pa.s.sed by which the chief was exonerated from the tax.

One writer speaks of him as possessing uncommon genius, a strong and discriminating mind, and as having the power of enduring great mental application. He anxiously inquired into the evidences in support of the scripture account of creation, and of the scheme of doctrines which Christianity unfolded.

President Alden of Alleghany college, speaks with delight of a visit he made to the old chief. He found him on the banks of the Alleghany, on a piece of first rate bottom land, a little within the limits of Pennsylvania. He was the owner of thirteen hundred acres of land, on a part of which stood his village, whose inhabitants gave signs of industry and thrift.

He found it pleasant to behold the agricultural habits of the place as appeared from the numerous enclosures of buckwheat, corn and oats. He also speaks of seeing a number of oxen, cows and horses; and many logs designed for the saw mill, and the Pittsburgh market. "Cornplanter had for some time been very much in favor of the christian religion, and hailed with joy such as professed it. When apprised of Mr. Alden's arrival he hastened to welcome him to his village, and to wait upon him. And notwithstanding his high station as a chief, having many men under his command, he chose rather, in the ancient patriarchal style, to serve his visitors himself; he therefore took care of their horses, and went into the field and cut and brought oats for them." [Footnote: Drake's book of the Indians.]

He died at his reservation March 7th, 1836, a hundred winters having pa.s.sed over him, and was buried beneath the sheltering branches of a n.o.ble tree standing in his field. No other monument marks his grave.

CHAPTER XV.

Change in Red Jacket's views--How caused--His opposition to Christianity-- Visit of a Missionary--Missionary's speech--Red Jacket's reply--Unpleasant termination of the Council.

As time advanced, the mind of Red Jacket gradually receded from the favorable opinion he had entertained, with respect to the introduction among his people, of the customs of civilized life. Before this he regarded with favor the philanthropic designs of Was.h.i.+ngton and others, which contemplated such a change. But henceforth his influence and energies were uniformly exerted, in resisting any innovation, upon the anciently established usages of the Iroquois. Several causes seemed to influence such a result.

First of all was the condition of his people, as affected by the whites.

They had been wasted and greatly enfeebled by the wars carried on between the whites, taking sides, as in the Revolution, against each other. And in their own conflicts, though in some instances successful, they had been so effectually overcome, that no hope now remained to them of resistance by war; no matter what combinations they might be able to effect among themselves.

A still deeper source of regret, was the loss of so large a portion of their wide and beautiful country. Since parting with it, swarms of settlers had been flocking to the more favored portions, and were irresistibly advancing to full and entire possession. The idea that they could have their country to hunt in, as well after it was sold as before, was rapidly dissipated by the busy sounds, all through the forest, of the woodman's axe, and by the roar of the stately trees, as they fell down before the enterprising pioneer. The Indian brooded over this in silence, while all of these sounds, delightful to the emigrant, were as a knell of death to his ear. The eloquence of Red Jacket had been exerted in vain, to arrest the progress of the white men. Onward they swept, bidding defiance to all the obstacles in their way. They were in possession of the ancient seats of the Iroquois. The red man's inheritance, was but a beggarly portion, when compared with his former princely domain. The thought of this weighed heavily upon Red Jacket's lofty spirit, and affected materially the disposition with which he regarded the white man.

He had observed also that the Indian had not been improved, but rather made worse by intercourse with the white man. He more readily acquired his vices, than his virtues.

The schools likewise that had been established among the Indians, had not been attended with very salutary results. And some of the Indian boys that had been sent to the schools of the whites, had failed to be qualified for usefulness among white men, and were unfitted in their tastes and habits for a life among the Indians. As was observed by Red Jacket: "they have returned to their kindred and color, neither white men nor Indians. The arts they have learned are incompatible with the chase, and ill adapted to our customs. They have been taught that which is useless to us. They have been made to feel artificial wants, which never entered the minds of their brothers. They have imbibed, in your great towns, the seeds of vices, which were unknown in the forest. They become discouraged and dissipated, --despised by the Indians, neglected by the whites, and without value to either,--less honest than the former, and perhaps more knavish than the latter." [Footnote: Was.h.i.+ngton had always been earnest in his desire to civilize the savages, but had little faith in the expedient which had been pursued, of sending their young men to our colleges; the true means he thought, was to introduce the arts and habits of husbandry among them.-- Irving's Life of Was.h.i.+ngton.] Red Jacket was not alone in this opinion.

One of Cornplanter's sons, Henry O'Bail, had been educated in Philadelphia; but on returning to his people, became a drunkard, and was discarded by his father. He had other sons, but resolved that no more of them should be educated among the whites, for said he, "it entirely spoils Indian."

"What have we here?" exclaimed Red Jacket on one occasion addressing one of them. "What have we here? _You are neither a white man, or an Indian; for heaven's sake tell us, what are you?_"

But further than this, Red Jacket had witnessed among the whites so many evidences of deceit and fraud; he had so often seen the Indians circ.u.mvented by their avarice and craft, that he looked with suspicion even on their attempts to do the Indians good. The language of the Trojan patriot concerning the Greeks--represents very nearly the feelings he entertained toward the whites.

"Timeo Danaos et dona ferrentes.

"The Greeks I fear, e'en in the gifts they bear."

Hence Red Jacket began to look unfavorably on the attempts that had been made to civilize the Indian. He scorned to use the white man's axe, or hoe, or any implement of husbandry. He would not even use his language.

Understanding well what was said to him in English, he spurned the idea of holding any communication with a white man, save through an interpreter.

The Indian he looked upon as the rightful lord of this part of creation, the white man, as an intruder. The white man's ways were good for the white man; but in his view they would spoil the Indian. He believed that the peculiar characteristics of the Indian, were conferred on him by the Great Spirit for a wise purpose, and for his good, they needed to be maintained. Hence all the ancient habits of his people, he earnestly strove to preserve, and had it been in his power, he would have built a wall like the Chinese, to keep his people from meeting with, and being contaminated by the whites. He would frown contempt on the Indian, who used a stool or chair in his cabin, and no king in his palace, ever sat more proudly, or with greater dignity on his throne, than did Red Jacket on his bear-skin in his humble dwelling.

We can but admire in this, his independence of character; and when we reflect upon his conduct as influenced by the conviction, that such a course was essential for the good of his people, we may view it as meriting the praise of philanthrophy. Had he been as firm in resisting every enticement of the whites, he would have maintained a greater consistency, and himself attained a higher degree of excellence.

Red Jacket was equally opposed to the introduction of Christianity among his people. He looked upon the religion of the white man, with the same feeling of suspicion and distrust as everything else coming from that source. He had no evidence from experience, of the benefits that would arise to them from its introduction among them. On the contrary his convictions, arising from observation, were against it; because he saw his people were made worse, by a.s.sociating with the whites. When asked on one occasion, why he was opposed to the coming of missionaries among his people, he replied,--"Because they do us no good. If they are not useful among the white people, why do they send them among the Indians?--If they are useful to the white people, why do they not keep them at home? They are surely bad enough, to need the labor of every one, who can make them better."

The Indians made no distinction between those who professed religion and those who made no profession. Their own religion was national. There was no division between the religious and irreligious. All were religious. In other words, they were all educated in the same faith, all united in observing the same religious rites, and all entertained the same religious belief, as had been handed down to them from their forefathers. This was salutary in promoting among them many virtues, worthy of commendation.

They very properly estimated the value of religion, by the practical influence it exerted on those who received it. And they judged of the Christian religion, by the conduct and character of the nation that received and cherished it; who were nominally Christian.

Unfortunately for the success of Christianity among them, they had witnessed so much deceit and fraud, there were so many among the whites, who were ready to take advantage of them,--to make them drunk, and then cheat them, they were unable to perceive in what way the religion of the whites, from whom they had received such treatment, could be better or as good, even as their own. They had not learned to regard those only as Christians, who reduced the principles of Christianity to practice, and were not aware that as a system, it enforced only what was right, and tolerated no conduct that was wrong.

Hence in the efforts made to introduce Christianity among the Senecas, we find Red Jacket summoning the entire force of his influence, and eloquence in opposition to the measure.

The arrival among them of a missionary from Ma.s.sachusetts, was the occasion of a forensic effort, which defines very clearly his position, and though it may have suffered, as did most of his speeches, from coming through an interpreter, it displays nevertheless, indications of deep thought, and of a high order of talent. It was regarded at the time as an effort of great ability, and is perhaps as fair a specimen of his oratory, as has come down to us from the past.

A council having been called to consider the matter, the missionary was introduced, who spoke as follows: [Footnote: The speech of the missionary is quoted from Col. Stone; the reply of Red Jacket from Drake, who is Col.

Stone's authority for the same speech.]

"My Friends: I am thankful for the opportunity afforded us of meeting together at this time. I had a great desire to see you, and inquire into your state and welfare. For this purpose I have traveled a great distance, being sent by your old friends, the Boston Missionary Society. You will recollect they formerly sent missionaries among you, to instruct you in religion, and labor for your good. Although they have not heard from you for a long time, yet they have not forgotten their brothers, the Six Nations, and are still anxious to do you good.

"Brothers: I have not come to get your lands, or your money, but to enlighten your minds, and instruct you how to wors.h.i.+p the Great Spirit, agreeably to his mind and will, and to preach to you the gospel of his Son, Jesus Christ. There is but one religion, and but one way to serve G.o.d, and if you do not embrace the right way, you can not be happy hereafter. You have never wors.h.i.+pped the Great Spirit, in a manner acceptable to him, but have all your lives, been in great errors and darkness. To endeavor to remove these errors, and open your eyes, so that you might see clearly, is my business with you.

"Brothers: I wish to talk with you as one friend talks with another; and if you have any objections to receive the religion which I preach, I wish you to state them; and I will endeavor to satisfy your minds, and remove the objections.

"Brothers: I want you to speak your minds freely; for I wish to reason with you on the subject, and if possible remove all doubts, if there be any on your minds. The subject is an important one, and it is of consequence, that you give it an early attention, while the offer is made you. Your friends, the Boston Missionary Society, will continue to send you good and faithful ministers, to instruct and strengthen you in religion, if on your part you are willing to receive them.

"Brothers: Since I have been in this part of the country, I have visited some of your small villages, and talked with your people. They appear willing to receive instruction, but as they look up to you, as their elder brothers in council, they want first to know your opinion on the subject.

You have now heard what I have to propose at present. I hope you will take it into consideration, and give me an answer before we part."

The chiefs were in consultation for about two hours, when Red Jacket arose and spoke as follows:

"Friend and Brother: It was the will of the Great Spirit that we should meet together this day. He orders all things, and has given us a fine day for our council. He has taken his garment from before the sun, and caused it to s.h.i.+ne with brightness upon us. Our eyes are opened that we see clearly; our ears are unstopped, that we have been able to hear distinctly the words you have spoken. For all these favors we thank the Great Spirit, and Him only.

"Brother: This council fire was kindled by you. It was at your request that we came together at this time. We have listened with attention to what you have said. You requested us to speak our minds freely. This gives us great joy: for now we consider that we stand upright before you, and can speak what we think. All have heard your voice, and all speak to you now as one man. Our minds are agreed.