Part 2 (2/2)
In July, 1750, the government was thrown into alarm by the rumor that a Mr. Delany had, while speaking of the removal of the trespa.s.sers on the unpurchased lands northwest of the Kittochtinny Hills, said, ”that if the people of the Great and Little Coves would apply to Maryland they might have warrants for their lands; and if those of the Tuscarora Path Valley would apply to Virginia, he did not doubt but they might obtain rights there.”
Pet.i.tions were sent to the Council from the residents of the Coves, in which it was set forth that they did not wish to be either in the province of Maryland or Virginia, and prayed permission to remain, until the boundary of the provinces was determined, on the lands purchased from the Indians.
This proposition was not accepted, and was only followed up by proclamations imposing severe penalties upon trespa.s.sers. This was deemed absolutely necessary by Governor Hamilton, for the French were a.s.suming a menacing att.i.tude along the frontier, and it was necessary, at all hazards, to preserve the alliance of the Indians.
The Provincial Government was strong enough to drive the settlers out of the valley, but immeasurably too weak to keep them out. This brought about the treaty at Albany in 1754, to which we have previously alluded. Thomas and Richard Penn, seeing the government unable to remove the squatters permanently, in consequence of the feelings of the people being with the latter, bought from the sachems the very considerable slice of land in which was included the Valley of the Juniata, for the trifling consideration of 400. This was supposed to act as a healing balm for the trespa.s.ses upon their hunting-grounds, and at the same time the Penns undoubtedly entertained the idea that they could realize a handsome profit in re-selling the lands at an advanced price to those who occupied them, as well as to European emigrants constantly arriving and anxious to purchase.
The Indian chiefs and sachems who were not present at this treaty were highly indignant, and p.r.o.nounced the whole transaction a gross fraud; and those who were present at the treaty declared they were outwitted by misrepresentations, and grossly defrauded. Conrad Weiser, the Indian interpreter, in his journal of a conference at Aughwick, stated that the dissatisfaction with the purchase of 1754 was general. The Indians said they did not understand the points of the compa.s.s, and if the line was so run as to include the west branch of Susquehanna, they would never agree to it. According to Smith's Laws, vol. xxi., p. 120, ”the land where the Shawnee and Ohio Indians lived, and the hunting-grounds of the Delawares, the Nantic.o.kes, and the Tutelos, were all included.”
So decided and general was the dissatisfaction of the Indians, that, in order to keep what few remained from being alienated, the proprietors found it necessary to cede back to them, at a treaty held in Easton, in October, 1758, all the land lying north and west of the Alleghany Mountains within the province. The restoration, however, came too late to effect much good.
But even the lands west of the Alleghany Mountains were not sacred to the Indians, mountainous as they were and unfertile as they were deemed; for westward the squatter went, gradually encroaching upon the red men's last reserve, until he finally settled in their midst. These aggressions were followed by the usual proclamations from the government, but they had little or no effect in preventing the bold adventurers from crossing the Alleghany Mountains and staking out farms in the valley of the Conemaugh. This continued for a number of years, until the government, wearied by unavailing efforts to keep settlers from Indian lands, caused a stringent law to be pa.s.sed by Council in February, 1768, when it was enacted ”that if any person settled upon the unpurchased lands neglected or refused to remove from the same within thirty days after they were required so to do by persons to be appointed for that purpose by the governor or by his proclamation, or, having so removed, should return to such settlement, or the settlement of any other person, with or without a family, to remain and settle on such lands, or if any person after such notice resided and settled on such lands, every such person so neglecting or refusing to remove, or returning to settle as aforesaid, or that should settle after the requisition or notice aforesaid, being legally convicted, _was to be punished with death without the benefit of clergy_.”
There is no evidence on record that the provision of this act was ever enforced, although it was openly violated. It was succeeded by laws a little more lenient, making fine and imprisonment the punishment in lieu of the death-penalty ”without the benefit of clergy.” Neither does the record say that the coffers of the provincial treasury ever became plethoric with the collection of fines paid by trespa.s.sers.
During the Indian wars of 1762-63, many of the inhabitants of the valley fled to the more densely populated districts for safety. Up to this time few forts were built for defence, and the settlers dreaded the merciless warfare of the savages. The restoration of peace in the latter year brought a considerable degree of repose to the long hara.s.sed colonies. The turbulent Indians of the Ohio buried the hatchet in October, 1764, on the plains of Muskingum, which enabled the husbandman to rea.s.sume his labors and to extend his cultivation and improvements. The prosperity of Pennsylvania increased rapidly; and those who were compelled by Indian warfare to abandon their settlements rapidly returned to them. The Juniata Valley, and especially the lower part of it, gained a considerable accession of inhabitants in the shape of st.u.r.dy tillers of the soil and well-disposed Christian people.
For a time the Scotch-Irish Presbyterians maintained rule in religion; but, about 1767, German Lutherans, Irish Catholics, and some few Dunkards and other denominations, found their way to the valley.
Meeting-houses were built, stockade forts erected, and communities of neighbors formed for mutual protection, without regard to religious distinctions.
The first settlements of the upper portion of the valley were not effected until between 1765 and 1770. True, there was here and there an isolated family, but the danger of being so near the Kittaning Path was deemed too hazardous. It was in the upper part of the valley, too, that most of the ma.s.sacres took place between 1776 and 1782, as the lower end of it was too thickly populated and too well prepared for the marauders to permit them to make incursions or commit depredations.
CHAPTER III.
JUNIATA ISLAND--AN INDIAN PARADISE--REV. DAVID BRAINERD AMONG THE SAVAGES--THE EARLY SETTLERS, HULINGS, WATTS, AND BASKINS--INDIAN BATTLES--REMARKABLE ESCAPE OF MRS. HULINGS, ETC.
Juniata Island--now called Duncan's Island, in consequence of the Duncan family being the proprietors for many years--is formed by the confluence of the Juniata and Susquehanna. Stretching northward, it presents a lovely and fertile plain, surrounded by gorgeous and romantic scenery, surpa.s.sed by few places in the State. This must have been a very paradise for the sons of the forest. Facing to the west, before them lay their beautiful hunting-grounds; facing to the south, the eye rested upon the ”long crooked river,” over whose rippling bosom danced the light bark canoe, and whose waters were filled with the choicest of fish. With such blessings within their reach, the inhabitants of the Juniata Island should have been superlatively happy, and probably would, had it not been for the internal feuds which existed among the tribes. Although the wigwams of two distinct tribes dotted the island on the arrival of the white man, social intercourse and the most friendly terms of intimacy existed between them. They were the Shawnees and the Conoys. Then, too, it betokened a peaceable spot, and yet it had been a famous Indian battle-ground in its day. The traditions speak of a battle fought many years ago, between the Delawares and the Cayugas, on this island, when the gullies ran red with blood of mighty warriors, and the bones of a thousand of them were entombed in one common grave upon the battle-field. Both tribes suffered severely. The Delawares, although they lost the most braves, and were ultimately driven from the field, fought with the most savage desperation; but the Cayugas had the advantage in point of numbers, and some of them used fire-arms, then totally unknown to the Delawares.
The first adventurers who went up the Susquehanna were Indian traders, who took up articles for traffic in canoes. Fascinated by the beautiful scenery of the country, and impressed with the idea that corn and fruits grew upon the island spontaneously, these traders did not fail to give it a name and reputation; and curiosity soon prompted others to visit the ”Big Island,” as they called it. Some of them soon went so far as to contemplate a settlement upon it. This, however, the Indians would not permit; they were willing to trade at all times with them, but the island was a kind of reservation, and on no condition would they permit the pale-faces to share it with them. Even had they suffered white men to settle among them, none would have repented the act, as a rash step, more bitterly than the white men themselves; for the Shawnees were a treacherous nation, and exceedingly jealous of any innovations upon their rights or the customs of their fathers.
Still, the island became settled at an early day. The roving Shawnees pushed their way westward, and the prejudices of those who took their place were probably overcome by presents of guns, ammunition, tobacco, and _fire-water_.
The Rev. David Brainerd, a devout and pious missionary, visited the island in 1745, in the spring while going up the river, and in the fall while returning. His object was to convert the Indians, which he found quite as hopeless a task as did Heckwelder and Loskiel, who preceded him with the same object in view. During his peregrinations Brainerd kept a journal, which, together with his life, was published by the American Tract Society. From this journal we extract the following, in order to give his views of savage life, as well as an interesting account of what he saw and heard at the island:--
Sept. 20.--Visited the Indians again at Juneauta Island, and found them almost universally very busy in making preparations for a great sacrifice and dance. Had no opportunity to get them together in order to discourse with them about Christianity, by reason of their being so much engaged about their sacrifice. My spirits were much sunk with a prospect so very discouraging, and specially seeing I had this day no interpreter but a pagan, who was as much attached to idolatry as any of them, and who could neither speak nor understand the language of these Indians; so that I was under the greatest disadvantages imaginable. However, I attempted to discourse privately with some of them, but without any appearance of success; notwithstanding, I still tarried with them.
The valuable interpreter was probably a Delaware Indian, who was a visitor to take part in the dance and sacrifice, while the inhabitants of the island were Shawnees, who originally came from the south, and their languages were entirely dissimilar. Brainerd calls them ”pagans”
and ”idolaters.” This is a charge the Indians used to combat most vehemently. They most unquestionably had small images carved out of wood to represent the Deity; yet they repudiated the idea of wors.h.i.+pping the wood, or the wooden image, merely using it as a symbol through which to wors.h.i.+p the Unseen Spirit. If such was the fact, they could not well be called pagans in the common acceptation of the term.
The journal goes on to say:--
In the evening they met together, nearly one hundred of them, and danced around a large fire, having prepared ten fat deer for the sacrifice. The fat of the inwards they burnt in the fire while they were dancing, which sometimes raised the flame to a prodigious height, at the same time yelling and shouting in such a manner that they might easily have been heard two miles or more. They continued their sacred dance nearly all night; after which they ate the flesh of the sacrifice, and so retired each one to his own lodging.
Making a burnt-offering of the deer-fat to illuminate the dance, and to make a meat-offering to the insatiate Indian appet.i.te, after undergoing such fatigues, of the roasted venison, had not much idolatry in it.
Unconnected with any religious ceremony, such a proceeding might have been considered rational, and coming altogether within the meaning of the Masonic principle which recognises ”refreshment after labor.” Mr.
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