Εικόνες σελίδας
PDF
Ηλεκτρ. έκδοση

"Fifthly. Because the able-bodied men of the settlement being drawn away in her line of the army-the people being unprotected, the British and savages came down, slaughtered many of her inhabitants-devastated the whole settlement with fire and sword, to the total loss of houses, barns, cattle, and the year's harvest-to the utter ruin of every thing but the naked soil.

"Sixthly. Because, discouraging as the circumstances were, the survivors returned to Wyoming-renewed the settlement, and persevered in maintaining the claims of Connecticut, under her chartered limits, to her western lands.

"Seventhly. Because, in the final adjustment of her land claims, Connecticut retained, or obtained, the Western Reserve in Ohio, embracing 120 miles in longitude west of Pennsylvania, by a degree and two minutes of latitude, containing five millions of acres of land-a territory larger than the whole present limits of the state; of which Reserve, if it belonged originally to Connecticut, Westmoreland or Wyoming, as a part of the state, might reasonably have claimed a share; and if it be regarded as a grant for revolutionary services and sufferings, the claim of Wyoming would be stronger still.

"Eighthly. Because Connecticut appropriated five hundred thousand acres of the Reserve to indemnify the sufferers of Groton, New London, Fairfield, Danbury and New Haven, cut off by the common enemy, and appropriated nothing to Westmoreland, the greatest sufferer, and not the least meritorious.

"And ninthly. Because it was owing, in a great degree, to the early, persevering efforts of the Wyoming settlers to sustain the chartered and territorial claims of the state west of New York, that the Western Reserve was finally secured to Connecticut.

"Therefore, be it Resolved, That while we are not disposed to go back into those old claims, however clear and strong in equity and justice we may regard them, yet, as it is undeniable that those who fell in the battle were citizens of Connecticut, fighting in defence of her rights and laws; that they were her own children, most of them natives of the state; and while it is but a reasonable mark of respect that their remains should be gathered and decently interred with suitable sepulchral honours, it seems to us but right that the state should make an appropriation to finish the monument in a plain but neat style, worthy of her justice and of their merits and sufferings. If granted, we will receive the donation with grateful hearts, in full and perfect absolution of all other demands existing, or which might be supposed to exist, against the state on the part of the people of Wyoming."

Without taking the yeas and nays, the House by a large majority voted to grant the $3000 asked for the monument, but the Senate did not concur. A further effort was made the succeeding year, when the Hon. C. D. Shoemaker, accompanied by Col. Miller Horton, attended on behalf of the ancient people; but their efforts were unavailing, and there, in relation to Connecticut, the claim for aid rests, except that Erastus Ellsworth, Esq., of Windsor, to his honour be it spoken, sent us a present of Five dollars, after the rejection of the petition, expressing his deep sympathy for the Wyoming sufferers, and his respect for the services rendered by them to the state and country.

All the efforts of the Gentlemen having failed, the Ladies formed a "Luzerne Monumental Association;" solicited donations, held fairs, and by superior energy and address, obtained the necessary funds and completed the monument.

The following is a list of the officers of the association: Mrs. C. Butler, Presi dent. Mrs. G. M. Hollenback, Mrs. E. Carey, Vice Presidents. Mrs. J. Butler, Mrs. Nicholson, Mrs. Hollenback, Mrs. Lewis, Mrs. Ross, Mrs. Conyngham, Mrs. Beaumont, Mrs. Drake, Mrs. Bennet, Mrs. Carey, Executive Committee. Miss Emily Cist, Treasurer. Miss Gertrude Butler, Secretary. Mrs. Donley, Mrs. L. Butler, Corresponding Committee.

On two marble tablets are engraved the names of those (so far as could be ascertained) who fell, and also those who, having been in the battle, survived, bu the list must necessarily be very incomplete. And another tablet contains, from the pen of Edward Mallery, Esq., the following chaste, beautiful, and apposite inscription.

"Near this spot was fought,

On the afternoon of Friday, the third day of July, 1778,

THE BATTLE OF WYOMING,

In which a small band of patriot Americans,
chiefly the undisciplined, the youthful, and the aged,
spared, by inefficiency, from the distant ranks of the republic,
led by Col. Zebulon Butler, and Col. Nathan Denison,
With a courage that deserved success,
boldly met and bravely fought,

a combined British, Tory, and Indian force
of thrice their number.

Numerical superiority alone gave success to the invader,
And wide-spread havoc, desolation and ruin
marked his savage and bloody footsteps through the valley.

THIS MONUMENT,

commemorative of these events,
and of the actors in them,

has been erected

over the bones of the slain,

By their descendants, and others, who gratefully appreciated
the services and sacrifices of their patriot ancestors."

A suitable enclosure remains to be erected, which, we trust, will early be accomplished.

INDIAN ELOQUENCE.

Published to illustrate the character of the Iroquois, who held dominion over Wyoming.

PERHAPS we cannot present the reader with a greater orator than GARANGULA; or, as he was called by the French, GRAND GUEULE, though Lahontan, who knew him, wrote it Grangula. He was by nation an Onondaga, and is brought to our notice by the manly and magnanimous speech which he made to a French general, who marched into the country of the Iroquois to subdue them.

In the year 1684, M. De la Barre, Governor-General of Canada, complained to the English at Albany, that the Senecas were infringing upon their rights of trade with some of the other more remote nations. Governor Dungan acquainted the Senecas with the charge made by the French governor. They admitted the fact, but justified their course, alleging that the French supplied their enemies with arms and ammunition, with whom they were then at war. About the same time the French governor raised an army of 1700 men, and made other "mighty preparations" for the final destruction of the Five Nations. But before he had progressed far in his great undertaking, a mortal sickness broke out in his army, which finally caused him to give over his expedition. In the mean time, the Governor of New York was ordered to lay no obstacles in the way of the French expedition. Instead of regarding this order, which was from his master, the Duke

of York, he sent interpreters to the Five Nations to encourage them, with offers to assist them.

De la Barre, in hopes to effect something by this expensive undertaking, crossed Lake Ontario, and held a talk with such of the Five Nations as would meet him. To keep up the appearance of power, he made a high-toned speech to GRANGULA, in which he observed, that the nations had often infringed upon the peace; that he wished now for peace; but on the condition that they should make full satisfaction for all the injuries they had done the French, and for the future never to disturb them. That they, the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas, and Mohawks, had abused and robbed all their traders, and unless they gave satisfaction he should declare war. That they had conducted the English into their country to get away their trade heretofore, but the past he would overlook, if they would offend no more; yet, if ever the like should happen again, he had express orders from the king, his master, to declare war.

Grangula listened to these words, and many more in the like strain, with that contempt which a real knowledge of the situation of the French army, and the rectitude of his own course, were calculated to inspire; and after walking several times round the circle formed by his people and the French, addressing himself to the governor, seated in his elbow chair, he began as follows:

"Yonnondio, [such was the general name for the French Governors of Canada.] I honour you, and the warriors that are with me likewise honour you. Your interpreter has finished your speech. I now begin mine. My words make haste to reach your ears. Harken to them.

"Yonnondio. You must have believed, when you left Quebec, that the sun had burnt up all the forests, which render our country inaccessible to the French, or that the lakes had so far overflown the banks, that they had surrounded our castles, and that it was impossible for us to get out of them; yes, surely you must have dreamt so, and the curiosity of seeing so great a wonder has brought you so far. Now you are undeceived, since that I, and the warriors here present, are come to assure you that the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks are yet alive. I thank you, in their name, for bringing back into their country the calumet, which your predecessor received from their hands. It was happy for you that you left under ground that murdering hatchet that had been so often dyed in the blood of the French.

"Hear, Yonnondio. I do not sleep; I have my eyes open; and the sun, which enlightens me, discovered to me a great captain at the head of a company of soldiers, who speaks as if he were dreaming. He says, that he only came to the lake to smoke on the great calumet with the Onondagas. But Grangula says, that he sees the contrary; that it was to knock them on the head, if sickness had not weakened the arms of the French. I see Yonnondio raving in a camp of sick men, whose lives the Great Spirit has saved by inflicting this sickness on them.

Hear, Yonnondio. Our women had taken their clubs, our children and old men had carried their bows and arrows into the heart of your camp, if our warriors had not disarmed them, and kept them back, when your messenger Akouossan came to our castles. It is done, and I have said it.

"Hear, Yonnondio. We plundered none of the French but those that carried guns, powder and balls to the Twightwies, and Chictaghicks, because those arms might have cost us our lives. Herein we follow the example of the Jesuits, who break all the kegs of rum brought to our castle, lest the drunken Indians should knock them on the head. Our warriors have not beaver enough to pay for all those arms that they have taken, and our old men are not afraid of the war. This belt preserves my words.

"We carried the English into our lakes, to trade there with the Utawawas and Quatoghies, as the Adirondaks brought the French to our castles, to carry on a trade which the English say is theirs. WE ARE BORN FREE. WE NEITHER DEPEND ON YONNONDIO, NOR CORLEAR, [the English.] WE MAY GO WHERE WE PLEASE, AND CARRY WITH US WHOM WE PLEASE, AND BUY AND SELL WHAT WE PLEASE.* If

This proud declaration of Independence accords with, and sustains the opinions ex'pressed by us in our Indian narrative.

your allies be your slaves, use them as such; command them to receive no other but your people. This belt preserves my words.

"We knockod the Twightwies and Chictaghicks on the head, because they had cut down the trees of peace, which were the limits of our country. They have hunted beaver on our lands. They have acted contrary to the customs of all Indians, for they left none of the beavers alive; they killed both male and female. They brought the Satanas into their country, to take part with them, after they had concerted ill designs against us. We have done less than either the English or French that have usurped the lands of so many Indian nations, and chased them from their own country This belt preserves my words.

"Hear, Yonnondio. What I say is the voice of all the Five Nations. Hear what they answer. Open your ears to what they speak. The Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas, Oneidas and Mohawks say, that when they buried the hatchet at Cadarackuí in the presence of your predecessor, in the middle of the fort, they planted the tree of peace in the same place; to be there carefully preserved, that, in the place of a retreat for soldiers, that fort might be a rendezvous for merchants: that, in place of arms and ammunition of war, beavers and merchandize should only enter there.

"Hear, Yonnondio. Take care for the future, that so great a number of soldiers as appear there, do not choke the tree of peace planted in so small a fort. It will be a great loss, if, after it had so easily taken root, you should stop its growth, and prevent its covering your country and ours with its branches. I assure you, in the name of the Five Nations, that our warriors shall dance to the calumet of peace under its leaves; and shall remain quiet on their mats, and shall never dig up the hatchet, till their brother Yonnondio or Corlear shall either jointly or separately endeavour to attack the country which the Great Spirit has given to our ancestors. This belt preserves my words, and this other, the authority which the Five Nations have given me."

Then addressing himself to the interpreter, he said: "Take courage. You have spirit; speak, explain my words, forget nothing; tell all that your brethren and friends say to Yonnondio, your governor, by the mouth of Grangula, who loves you, and desires you to accept of this present of beaver, and take part with me in my feast, to which I invite you. This present of beaver is sent to Yonnondio, on the part of the Five Nations."

De la Barre was struck with surprise at the wisdom of this chief, and equal chagrin at the plain refutation of his own. He immediately returned to Montreal, and thus finished this inglorious expedition of the French against the Five Nations. Grangula was at this time a very old man, and from this valuable speech we became acquainted with him-a very Nestor of his nation-whose powers of mind would not suffer in comparison with those of a Roman or a more modern senator. He treated the French with great civility, and feasted them with the best his country would afford, on their departure.-Drake.

WYOMING CLAIM ON CONGRESS.

As a matter of historical interest, and because the subject may still be regarded as pending before Congress, this memorial is published, not without the hope that the National Legislature may yet be persuaded to take the case under their favourable consideration.

Memorial to Congress in behalf of Wyoming.

At a meeting held by Public Notice at the house of Wm. H. Alexander, in

Wilkesbarre, November 7th, 1837,-of a number of sufferers at Wyoming during the Revolutionary War, their descendants and others:

Gen. WILLIAM ROSS was called to the Chair, and
ANDERSON DANA appointed Secretary.

CHESTER BUTLER, Esq., from the Committee appointed at a former meeting for that purpose, reported a memorial to Congress which was adopted; and it was ordered that the same be signed by the Chairman and Secretary, in behalf of the Meeting, and be forwarded for presentation.

To the Honourable, the Senate and House of Representatives of the United States, in Congress assembled:

By order of a public meeting, held at Wilkesbarre, Luzerne county, Pennsylva nia, the subscribers present you the following memorial in behalf of the Wyoming sufferers, during the Revolutionary war, their heirs, widows, and legal representatives.

The circumstances of the invasion of the Wyoming settlement by the British and Indians; the battle and massacre; the entire expulsion of the inhabitants; the conflagration of their dwellings, and the devastation of their fields-are presumed to be familiar to all of you. In the annals of that fearful but glorious conflict, not a page recounts a livelier devotion to the cause of liberty, or depicts a bloodier field, deeper woes, or more extensive losses of property. Every historian who has written an account of the Revolutionary war, has told the story of her sufferings. All America and Europe were filled, at the time, with the melancholy details. It is not our purpose to awaken your sympathies; but so much we thought proper to say by way of introduction." We would address facts to your reason, and arguments to your understanding; looking to your deliberate judgments for a favourable response to our petition.

The Wyoming settlements were made under the authority of Connecticut. A town called Westmoreland was erected here, attached to the county of Litchfield, near three hundred miles distant, the laws of Connecticut prevailed. Civil and military officers derived their commissions from that state. Representatives were sent from here to her legislature; and the troops raised in Westmoreland were part of the Connecticut line on the Continental establishment. Several towns of Connecticut were burnt by the enemy: New London, Danbury, Westmoreland, Fairfield, Groton and others, were among the number. Connecticut has made all those towns, except one, full and ample remuneration for their losses. Westmoreland, or Wyoming, alone received nothing. Five hundred thousand acres of land, in the Western Reserve, were granted in 1792 to those towns, valued at 6s. 8d., a French crown, per acre-amounting to between five and six hundred thousand dollars. This was a beneficent act on the part of Connecticut, and will redound in all future time to her honour. Was not the grant also just as well as beneficent? Did not the recipients deserve-were they not entitled to this grant? Was not their claim founded in the principles of eternal equity and everlasting justice? Who ever heard a doubt expressed of the righteousness of their claim? If, then, it was just and equitable that New London, Danbury, Fairfield and those other towns should be indemnified, is it not clear as demonstration, that Westmoreland, or Wyoming-where a heavier sacrifice of life, far deeper personal sufferings, and more extensive losses were sustained, was also entitled to remuneration?

We anticipate here, that honourable members may say "Your claim is doubtless just.-Standing on its own merits of services, sufferings and losses, it is a strong claim; and when it is considered relatively to those other towns of Connecticut, provided for, it appears of unquestionable validity. But when your parent state was making so ample provision for others similarly situated, why did you not then apply to her for aid? While we admit the claim just, we cannot see as yet, how the general government can be held liable to make you compensation." To this we would reply with all truth and simplicity:

The reason why no provision was made for Westmoreland is simple and easily told.-About the conclusion of the war, by the decree of Trenton, which settled the long existing controversy in respect to these lands, the jurisdiction over

« ΠροηγούμενηΣυνέχεια »