History of the settlement of Upper Canada (Ontario,) with special reference to the Bay Quinté. William Canniff
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of Upper Canada, he invited Mr. Lawrence to settle there,” and, through the Governor, he acquired a large tract of land.
The Queen’s Rangers were disbanded in 1802, having been associated with the events of the first government of Upper Canada, their colonel (Simcoe) having been the first Governor. A detachment of this regiment were stationed upon the banks of the Don, before there was a single white inhabitant where now stands Toronto.
FERGUSON’S RANGERS.
This corps formed a part of Burgoyne’s army at the time of surrendering, and, “with other provincial prisoners, retired to Canada, by permission of Gates.”
THE HESSIANS.
The British Government, during the course of the war, procured some foreign troops from one of the German Principalities upon the Rhine, mostly from Hesse-Hamburg. This foreign legion was under the command of General Baron de Reidesel, of their own country. It would seem from the testimony of their descendants in Marysburgh, that the British Government employed the men from the Government of the principality, and that the men did not voluntarily enter the service, but were impressed. These Hessians were drilled before leaving their country. They were composed of infantry, artillery, and a rifle company, “Green Yongers.” They were embarked for Canada, by way of Portsmouth, and reached Quebec in time to join the British army, and meet the enemy at Stillwater. Conrad Bongard, of Marysburgh, informs us that his father was one of the company under General Reidesel. He was in the artillery, and accompanied Burgoyne in his eventful campaign; was at the battle of Tyconderoga; and, with the rest of the Hessian troops, was taken prisoner at Saratoga. They were taken down to Virginia, and there retained as prisoners of war for nearly two years. Being released on parole, many of them, with their General, were conveyed back to Germany; but some of them, having the alternative, preferred to remain in America, to share with the loyalists in grants of land. (See Marysburgh, where the Hessians settled). Conrad Bongard became the servant of Surveyor Holland, and was with him as he proceeded up the St. Lawrence, to survey. Bongard married a widow Carr, whose husband had been in the 24th regiment of Royal Fusileers, and had died while the prisoners were retained in Virginia. He eventually settled in the fifth township, where he died, January, 1840, aged 89. His wife, Susan, died February, 1846, aged 98. Both were members of the Lutheran church. Mrs. B. was a native of Philadelphia.
The wife of the General, Baroness de Reidesel, has left an interesting record of the battles prior to Burgoyne’s surrender.
CHAPTER VIII.
Contents—Indian Names—The Five Tribes—The Sixth—Confederation—Government—Subdivisions—Origin—Hendrick—Death—Brant—Birth—Education—Married—Teaching—Christianity—Brant elected Chief—Commissioned a British Captain—Visits England—Returns—Leads his warriors to battle—Efforts of Rebels to seduce Brant to their cause—Attempted treachery of the Rebel Herchimer—Border warfare—Wyoming—Attempt to blacken the character of Brant—His noble conduct—Untruthful American History—The inhabitants of Wyoming—The Rebels first to blame—Cherry Valley—Van Schaick—Bloody orders—Terrible conduct of the Rebels, Helpless Indian families—Further deeds of blood and rapine by the rebel Sullivan—A month of horrible work—Attributes of cruelty more conspicuous in the Rebels than in the Indians—The New Englander—Conduct toward the Indians—Inconsistent—The “down trodden”—The Mohawks—Indian agriculture—Broken faith with the Indians—Noble conduct of Brant—After the war—His family—Death—Miss Molly—Indian usage—The character of the Mohawk—The six Indians as Canadians—Fidelity to the British—Receiving land—Bay Quinté—Grand River—Settling—Captain Isaac, Captain John—At present—Mohawk Counsel.
THE SIX NATIONS.
This once powerful Confederacy styled themselves Kan-ye-a-ke; also, they sometimes called themselves Aganuschioni or Agnanuschioni, which signifies united people. The French designated them Iroquois, from a peculiar sound of their speech. The English knew them as the Five Nations, and Six Nations, more generally by the latter term. The original five tribes that formed the Confederacy, were the Mohawks, Oneidas, Cayugas, Onondagas, and Senecas. Subsequently in 1712, the Tuscaroras came from the south, North Carolina, and made the sixth nation. But according to some authority, there were six nations before the Tuscaroras joined them. However, we learn from several sources, that up to 1712, the English, in speaking of them, referred to only five nations. The Oneidas seem, at one time, to have been omitted, and the Aucguagas inserted in their stead. The oldest members of the confederation were the Mohawks, Onondagas, and Senecas. The union of those three tribes took place prior to the occupation of America by the Europeans. The time at which the confederation of the five nations was formed is uncertain, but it is supposed to have been in the early part of the sixteenth century. The league binding them together was rather of a democratic nature.
Each tribe was represented in the great council of the nation by one principal sachem, with a number of associates.
They were always deliberate in their councils, considerate in their decisions, never infringing upon the rights of a minority, and dignified in their utterances. They were noted, not only as warriors, but as well for their agriculture, their laws, and their oratorical ability.
Each tribe was subdivided into classes, and each of these had a device or “totem,” namely, the tortoise, the bear, the wolf, the beaver, the deer, the falcon, the plover, and the crane.
They were for hundreds of years the terror of the various Indian tribes peopling North America, and most of the time could at will, roam the wide expanse between the Hudson Bay and the Carolinas. Other tribes, too weak to oppose them, were from time to time completely exterminated. Of these was the Erie tribe, which had entirely disappeared by the year 1653. Of those who stubbornly resisted the Six Nations, were the Hurons, the Adirondacks, of the north, the Delawares, the Cherokees, and the Mohicans.
Smith, an historian of New York, says that in 1756 “Our Indians universally concur in the claim of all the lands not sold to the English, from the mouth of Sorel River, on the south side of Lakes Erie and Ontario, on both sides of the Ohio, till it falls into the Mississippi; and on the north side of those lakes, that whole territory between the Outaouais River, and the Lake Huron, and even beyond the straits between that and Lake Erie.”
“When the Dutch began the settlement of New York, all the Indians on Long Island, and the northern shore of the Sound, on the banks of the Connecticut, Hudson, Delaware, and Susquehanna rivers, were in subjection to the Five Nations,” and in 1756, “a little tribe, settled at the Sugar-loaf Mountain, in Orange County, made a yearly payment of about £20 to the Mohawks.”
Among the traditions of this people is one that they had a supernatural origin from the heart of a mountain, that they then migrated to the west, where they lived for a time by the sea shore. Then, in time returned to the country of the lakes. A country now passed into the hands of the white man, who paid no just price. But the names of many places yet indicate the history of the ancient owners of the soil.
Among the Mohawks, in the beginning of the eighteenth century, was a chief known as Old King Hendrick, or Soi-euga-rah-ta, renowned for eloquence, bravery, and integrity. He was intimate with Sir William Johnson, and it was between them that the amusing contention of dreams occurred, that has been narrated.
In 1755, a battle was fought at Lake George, between the French, under Baron Dieskau, and the English, under Johnson, resulting in the defeat of the French. The French and English were supported by their respective allies. At this engagement Old King Hendrick,