THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
Minutes of the Provincial
Council of Pennsylvania
(Indian Conferences:
Lancaster, Aug. 1762)
(Due to length divided here into three parts)
In: Pennsylvania Colonial
Docs., vol. 8,
pp. 721-741.
At a
Conference with the Western Indians held at Lancaster,
on Monday the 16th of August, 1762.
Present:
The Honourable JAMES HAMILTON, Esquire, Lieutent. Governor, &ca., &ca., as before.
The Governor having acquainted the Indians that he was ready to hear what they had to say:
Beaver, a Delaware Chief, spoke as follows:
Brother:
I do not chuse to speak now myself, as I do not speak clearly, and distinctly, & therefore shall appoint this Indian, named Cleghiccon (in English, Simon) to speak for me.
Then Cleghiccon spoke.
Brother:
The day before Yesterday you spoke to me, and I have heard you, and we your Brethren, the Western Indians, have all been consulting about it.
Brother:
I now inform you, in behalf of my Grandchildren, the Tawwas, they have none of your Flesh and Blood left in their Towns, for they have delivered them all up to you; Likewise in behalf of my Grandchildren, the Twightwees, they have delivered them all up also, and have none left; Also on behalf of the Wawaghtanies, they have none of your prisoners, for they have also delivered them all up; And lastly, on behalf of another nation, called the Kickapoes, they say they never had any prisoners.
Brother:
The day before Yesterday, I heard what you said, & I assure you I am very well pleased with it. From what you have said, I suppose this matter of the prisoners to be the principal Business for which you invited us here.
Brother:
I have told you I left some of your Flesh and Blood where I came from, and I assure you I look upon them as my own Flesh & Blood, & I assure you again, you shall see them some time hence.
Brother:
I am very well pleased that you have demanded them now, & assure You, You shall have every one of them that remains with us.
Brother:
You may remember that you told me we should deliver all the Prisoners at Pittsburgh, and I should be glad you would now shew to me the Persons here whom you shall appoint to receive those our Friends, and we shall be glad of it.
A Belt of 7 rows.
Then Beaver stood up and spoke:
Brother:
This is all I have to say to you. We, the Western Indians, have nothing further to say to you; You know that we spoke three days ago to you, about the Friendship between us.
Brother:
The next Nation that have a mind to speak to you, are our Grandchildren, the Shawanese, and they are now about to speak.
Then Miskapalathy, a Shawanese, rose up and spoke:
Brother:
I have heard what you and the Chief men have been conferring about, & now I desire you will hear your younger Brothers, the Shawanese. Our Chief men are not here, but we are sent by the Chief men to speak for them, & what we say comes from their Hearts. There are several of our Nation here, though but two of us are deputed by our Chiefs.
Brother:
I am very well pleased to hear you have cleansed our Council House. Now, though we who are left, are like Boys, I assure you we will assist you to cleanse our Council Chamber, & we will do it always from our Hearts.
A Belt of 8 Rows.
Brother:
You have heard what I had to say last Fall; George Croghan knows it, & I suppose you know it. I told him then, that I would cut all the Prisoners loose, and set them at Liberty.
Brother:
I have heard what you said to my Grandfathers, the Delawares, respecting the demand of your Flesh and Blood, and I am very well pleased with your Demand, and I now assure you I am in a hurry to get home, for they, your Flesh and Blood, yet remain there.
Brother:
I have heard what you said. Now, I shall depart very soon; I expect to meet my people and all the Prisoners at Pittsburgh, where I shall deliver them up, & you shall then hear what I shall have further to say to you.
A String.
Brother:
Now you have heard what I have said to you, & it is all I intend to say to you.
Brother:
I now want to mention something to you, about our Trade with you.
Brother:
We, of the Shawanese, Twightwees, Ottaways, Wawaghtanies, and Kickapoes desire you will take pity on us. Our Chief men at Home have their Eyes on us Boys, who came with our Grandfathers, the Delawares, to talk with you about Friendship. We have now concluded our Friendship with you; I now desire you will open a Trade with us, & that you will not be too hard in it. If you open a Trade among the back Nations, we desire to know at what prices you can afford your Goods.
A Belt of 7 Rows.
The Governor, asking the names of the two Shawanese Chiefs or Deputies, was informed they were called Miskapalathy, or the Red Hawke, & Wapemashaway, or the White Horse. The Governor told them he had heard what they had said, & it was very agreeable to him, and that he would give them notice when he should return them an answer.
________
At a Conference with the Western Indians, held at Lancaster, on Wednesday 18th day of August, 1762.
Present:
The Hon'ble JAMES HAMILTON, Esquire, Lieutent. Governor, &ca., &ca., &ca., as before.
The Governor, addressing himself to Beaver and the Delawares from the Ohio, spoke as follows, vizt.:
Brethren:
Listen to me, while I give you an answer to the Speeches that you made to me on Monday.
You spoke to me in behalf of your Grandchildren, the Tawwas, Twightwees, Wawaghtanies, & Kickapoes, acquainting me that they had respectively delivered up all our people, who were prisoners in their Towns during the War.
Brethren:
Let them know that we esteem this as the greatest mark they could have given us of the sincerity of their Friendship, & by this Belt we return them our hearty thanks.
A Belt.
Brethren:
You told us that our demanding the prisoners at this Time, & in the manner we have done it, was very agreeable to you; and you supposed it was the principal Business for which we invited you here.
Brethren:
You judge right, in thinking that the affair of our Prisoners was a principal reason of our inviting you here; it really was so, for we had it very much at Heart.
Another reason of our desiring to see you was, that we might renew our ancient Friendship, & brighten and strengthen the Covenant Chain, which so long & happily subsisted between our Ancestors. This last has now been done to our mutual Satisfaction, & it has given me,m and all the good people present, the highest pleasure to hear from your own mouths that, agreeable to our Demand, you are determined to deliver up all the prisoners that remain in your Towns, to such persons as I shall appoint to receive them, at Pittsburgh.
Brethren:
I have not yet concluded upon the persons to be sent to Pittsburgh for that purpose, but you may be assured I shall very soon, who, when they come, will bring with them a Message & full Credentials from me, by which you will know that they are deputed by me to received the prisoners from you. I propose they shall be at Pittsburgh the Second day of October next, by which time I expect you will have collected all of them, & brought them to that place.
A String.
Brethren:
We shall now return an answer to your Grandchildren ye Shawanese.
Brethren, the Shawanese:
You told me at your last Meeting that you were pleased to hear what had passed between us and your Grandfathers, and with our having cleaned the Council Chamber, which you said you would always assist in keeping Clean. You told us also that your Chief men are not here, but have deputed you to speak for them, and that what you shall say comes from their hearts.
Brethren:
As we have been very sincere and open in every thing we have said to your Grandfathers, we should have been glad that more of your Chiefs had been here to have heard it, but as they are not, we desire you will acquaint them & all your Nation, that we are extreamly well disposed towards them, and are determined to hold fast the Chain of Friendship that has been so happily renewed between us, & are glad to hear you will always readily assist us to keep the Council Chamber clean.
A Belt.
Brethren:
You told me that you had sent me Word last Fall by Mr. Croghan, that you would cut all the Bands of the prisoners loose, and set them at Liberty, & that you were pleased to hear the Demand I made of your Grandfathers that they might all be delivered up; that you expect to meet your people & all the prisoners at Pittsburgh, where you will deliver them, & that you are in a hurry to go home for that purpose.
Brethren:
Mr. Croghan delivered me your Message last Fall, & I was very well pleased to hear you had concluded to set our people at Liberty, and I am the more so to hear that you expect your people may be on the way to Pittsburgh with the prisoners, & that you will deliver them up immediately, and your desiring to return home forthwith for the purpose convinces me that you are in earnest, & I much approve of it.
Brethren:
You desired we would open a Trade with you & the other Western Nations, & not to be too hard in our dealing with them. I must address my Answer not only to you but to the Delawares and all present, who I desire may listen attentively to it.
Brethren:
Trade is a Business of Importance, and what I intended to mention to you all at this meeting. You know that for some Years past this Government hath kept a great Store at Pittsburgh in order to supply you with goods, in exchange for your Skins & Furs, near your own Homes. Good men have been appointed to regulate the prices of our Goods and your Skins, & great care ahs been taken that you should not be cheated or imposed upon by those who have from Time to Time kept the Provincial Stores; but I am sorry to inform you that the Charges of carrying our Goods & bringing back your Skins so many hundred miles on Horse back are so high that it is a great discouragement to that Trade, and we lose a great deal of money by it every Year, insomuch that I fear it will drop, unless your Uncles, the Six Nations, will consent to let us go with our Canoes up the West Branch of Susquehannah as far as we can, & build a few Store Houses on the banks of that river to secure our Goods in as we pass and repass. This will cut off a long Land Carriage, and may be a means of encouraging the continuance of the Trade with you, & enabling our people to sell their Goods to you at a reasonable rate. We intend to speak to your Uncles on this Subject.
Brethren:
I have now finished my answers to your several Speeches, but I have still something particularly to say to Beaver & our Brethren of the Delaware Nation living at Allegheny, and desire you will attend to me.
Brethren, the Delawares:
I take this opportunity to inform you, That about Six Years ago your Brother, Teedyuscung, made a complaint the Proprietaries, wherein he charged them of defrauding the Delawares of a Tract of Land, lying on the River Delaware, between Tohiccon Creek & the Kittatinny Hills. He alledged that this Complaint was not made by him, on his own account, but on behalf of the Owners of the Land, many of whom, he said, lived at Allegheny. This Dispute, brethren, was, by mutual Consent, referred to our Great King George, who ordered Sir William Johnson to enquire fully into the matter, and made his report to Him, that Justice might be done you, if you had been wronged. Accordingly Sir William, about two Months ago, came to Easton, where, on the proprietaries' Commissioners producing & reading sundry Writings & papers, Teedyuscung was convinced of his Error, and acknowl- (page 740) edged that he had been mistaken with regard to the charge of Forgery made against the Proprietaries, having been misinformed by his Ancestors, & desired that all further disputes about Land should be buried under Ground, and never heard of more, offering that such of the Indians as were then present should sign a Release for the Land in Question, & that he would endeavour to persuade the rest of his Brethren who were concerned to do the same, at this Treaty at Lancaster. Now, Brethren of Allegheny, as we are Face to Face, be plain, & tell whether you are satisfied with, & approve of, what was done at the last Treaty at Easton, and whether you lay any Claim to those Lands, that there may be no room left for any future dispute about it among our Children.
A small Belt.
To which Beaver said:
Brother:
As to my own part, I know nothing about the Lands upon the river Delaware, but since you request it, I will first speak to my own people about it.
Then Beaver, consulting with his Councellors, returned the following answer:
Brother:
I must acknowledge I know nothing about Lands upon the Delaware, & I have no concern with Lands upon that river; We know nothing of the Delawares' claim to them; I have no claim myself nor any of my people; I suppose there may be some spots or pieces of Land, in some part of the Province, that the Delawares claim; but neither I nor any of my people know any thing of them; As to what you and our Brother Teedyuscung have done, if you are both pleased, I am pleased with it; As to my part, I want to say nothing about Land Affairs; what I have at Heart, and what I came down about is, to confirm our Friendship, & make a lasting peace, so that our Children & Grandchildren may live together in everlasting peace after we are dead.
Teedyuscung and his Delawares being present, something passed between them which was not interpreted.
The Governor addressing himself to Beaver said:
I am very much pleased with what you have said; You speak like an honest man, and I hope that the friendship that has been made between us & our Brethren, the Delawares, will remain firm, as long as the Sun shines & the Rivers run.
Teedyuscung then stood up, & addressing himself to the Governor, said:
Brother:
Before all these Allegheny Indians here present I do now assure you that I am ready and willing to sign a release to all the Lands we have been disputing about, as I told you I would at Easton, & desire no more may be ever said or heard of them hereafter.
On which the Governor told Teedyuscung that he was pleased with what he had said, & that on that occasion he had acted like an honest man.
The Governor then concluded.
Brethren:
Your Brothers, the proprietaries, about three Years ago, directed me, as soon as Teedyuscung's complaint against them was determined & Justice done to their Characters, to make their old Friends, the Delawares, a present in their name, to supply your Wants, and as a mark of their affection and regard for you, and to convince you that they had no ill Will in their Hearts against you, but looked up on you as formerly to be their good Friends and Brothers; Now as that dispute is happily at an End, I am at liberty to follow their directions, and shall accordingly order a present of Goods to be delivered to you from the proprietaries.
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