diff options
Diffstat (limited to '36974-8.txt')
| -rw-r--r-- | 36974-8.txt | 8985 |
1 files changed, 8985 insertions, 0 deletions
diff --git a/36974-8.txt b/36974-8.txt new file mode 100644 index 0000000..33db99b --- /dev/null +++ b/36974-8.txt @@ -0,0 +1,8985 @@ +Project Gutenberg's Old Trails on the Niagara Frontier, by Frank H. Severance + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + + +Title: Old Trails on the Niagara Frontier + +Author: Frank H. Severance + +Release Date: August 5, 2011 [EBook #36974] + +Language: English + +Character set encoding: ISO-8859-1 + +*** START OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TRAILS ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER *** + + + + +Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + + + + + + + + + OLD TRAILS + ON THE + NIAGARA FRONTIER + + [Illustration] + + FRANK H. SEVERANCE + + + + [Illustration: THE VISION OF BRÉBEUF. + _Drawn by H. H. Green._ _See Page 15._] + + + + OLD TRAILS + ON THE + NIAGARA FRONTIER + + BY FRANK H. SEVERANCE + + BUFFALO N Y + MDCCCXCIX + + + + COPYRIGHT 1899 + BY FRANK H. SEVERANCE + + THE MATTHEWS-NORTHRUP CO., + COMPLETE ART-PRINTING WORKS, + BUFFALO, N. Y. + + + + TO THE + YOUNG PEOPLE OF THE SCHOOLS + OF BUFFALO, + + MANY OF WHOM, ON SUNDRY PLEASANT OCCASIONS, HAVE ACCOMPANIED ME, IN + SCHOOL-ROOM TALKS, OVER SOME OF THE OLD TRAILS WHICH RUN IN AND OUT + OF OUR HOME REGION, THESE STUDIES OF NIAGARA FRONTIER HISTORY ARE + CORDIALLY INSCRIBED. + F. H. S. + + + + +CONTENTS. + + + DEDICATION, v + PREFACE, ix + THE CROSS BEARERS, 1 + THE PASCHAL OF THE GREAT PINCH, 43 + WITH BOLTON AT FORT NIAGARA, 63 + WHAT BEFEL DAVID OGDEN, 107 + A FORT NIAGARA CENTENNIAL, 141 + THE JOURNALS AND JOURNEYS OF AN EARLY BUFFALO MERCHANT, 163 + MISADVENTURES OF ROBERT MARSH, 195 + UNDERGROUND TRAILS, 227 + NIAGARA AND THE POETS, 275 + + + + +PREFACE. + + +The essays herein contained have been written at "odd moments," and +for divers purposes. Their chief value lies in the fact that they +illustrate, several of them by means of individual experiences, certain +typical and well-defined periods in the history of the Niagara region. +By "Niagara region," a phrase which no doubt occurs pretty often in the +following pages, I mean to designate in a historic, not a scenic, sense +the frontier territory of the Niagara from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario. It +is a region which has a concrete but as yet for the most part unwritten +history of its own. The value of its past to the student, as is ever the +case with "local history" in its worthy aspect, depends upon the +importance of its relation to the general history of our country. That +the Niagara region has played an important part in that history, is an +assurance wholly superfluous for even the most casual student of +American development. All that the following studies undertake is to +give a glimpse, with such fidelity as may be, of events and conditions +hereabouts existing, at periods which may fairly be termed typical. + +"The Cross Bearers," a paper originally prepared as a lecture for a +class that was studying the history of the Catholic Church in America, +is, so far as I am aware, the first attempt to review in a single +narrative all of the French missions in this immediate vicinity, and the +work of the English-speaking missionary priests who said mass in the +Niagara region prior to its full organization under ecclesiastical +jurisdiction. The data are drawn from the original sources--the Jesuit +Relations, Champlain, Le Clercq, Hennepin, Charlevoix, Crespel and other +early writers whose works, in any edition, are often inaccessible to the +student. For data relating to Bishop Burke, and for other valuable +assistance, I am indebted to my friend the Very Rev. Wm. R. Harris, Dean +of St. Catharines. + +"The Paschal of the Great Pinch" is an attempt to picture, in narrative +form, conditions conceived to exist at Fort Niagara in 1687-'8, when the +Marquis de Denonville made his abortive attempt to occupy that point. +Lest any reader shall be in doubt as to the genuineness of the memoirs +of the Chevalier De Tregay, I beg to assure him that Lieut. De Tregay is +no myth. His name, and practically all the facts on which my sketch is +based, will be found in the Paris Documents (IV.), "Documentary History +of the State of New York," Vol. I. This paper stands for the French +period on the Niagara; the two next following, for the British period. + +"With Bolton at Fort Niagara" is almost wholly drawn from unpublished +records, chiefly the Haldimand Papers, the originals of which are in the +British Museum, but certified copies of which are readily accessible to +the student in the Archives at Ottawa. I have made but a slight study of +the great mass of material from which practically the history of the +Niagara region during the Revolution is to be written; yet it is +probable that this slight study makes known for the first time, to +students of our home history, such facts as the employment of Hessians +on the Niagara during the Revolution, the first bringing hither of the +American flag, possibly even the work and fate of Lieut. Col. Bolton +himself. + +The next paper, "What Befel David Ogden," is drawn from a widely +different, though scarcely less known source. The personal narrative is +based on an obscure pamphlet by Josiah Priest, published at +Lansingburgh, N. Y., in 1840. I am aware that Priest is not altogether +trustworthy as a historian. Dr. Thos. W. Field calls him a "prolific, +needy and unscrupulous author" [_See_ "An Essay Toward an Indian +Bibliography"]; yet he concedes to his works "a large amount of historic +material obtained at some pains from sources more or less authentic." My +judgment is, that Priest is least trustworthy in his more ambitious +work; whereas his unpretentious pamphlets, wretchedly printed at a +country press sixty years ago, contain true narratives of individual +undertakings in the Revolution, Indian captivities and other pioneer +experiences, gathered by the writer direct from the hero whose +adventures he wrote down, without literary skill it is true, but also +without apparent perversion or exaggeration. The very circumstantiality +with which David Ogden's experiences are narrated is evidence of their +genuineness. Corroborative evidence is also furnished by the +lately-published muster-rolls of New York regiments during the +Revolution. In the Third Regiment of Tryon County militia, among the +enlisted men, appears the name of David Ogden ["New York in the +Revolution," 2d ed., p. 181], and there was but one David Ogden, not +merely in the Tryon County militia, but so far as these records show, in +the entire soldiery of New York State. In the same regiment there was +also a "Daniel" Ogden, Sr., possibly David's father. The name Daniel +Ogden also occurs in the list of Tryon County Rangers ["New York in the +Revolution," 2d ed., p. 186], a service in which we would naturally +expect to find one whom the Indian Brant called "the beaver hunter, that +old scouter." In short, I think we may accept David as altogether +genuine, and in his adventures--never told before, I believe, as a part +of Niagara history--may find an example of patriotic suffering and +endurance wholly typical of what many another underwent at that time and +in this region. + +The "Fort Niagara Centennial Address" is here included because its most +important part relates to that period in our history immediately +following the Revolution, the "hold-over period," during which, for +thirteen years after the Treaty of 1783, the British continued to occupy +Fort Niagara and other lake posts. What I say on the negotiations +leading to the final relinquishment of Fort Niagara is based on +information gleaned from the manuscript records in London and Ottawa. + +"The Journals and Journeys of an Early Buffalo Merchant" is also a +contribution to local annals from an unpublished source, being drawn +from the MS. journals of John Lay, very kindly placed in my hands by +members of his family. They afford a picture of conditions hereabouts +and elsewhere, during the years 1810-'23, which I have thought worthy of +preservation. + +In the "Misadventures of Robert Marsh" I have endeavored by means of a +personal narrative to illustrate another period in our history. The +misguided Marsh fairly stands for many of the so-called Patriots whose +uprising on this border is known as Mackenzie's Rebellion of 1837-'8. +The considerable literature on this subject includes a number of +personal narratives, for the most part published in small editions and +now hard to find; but the scarcest of all, so far as my experience has +discovered, is that from which I have drawn the story of Robert Marsh: +"Seven Years of My Life, or Narrative of a Patriot Exile, who together +with eighty-two American Citizens were illegally tried for rebellion in +Upper Canada and transported to Van Dieman's Land," etc., etc. It is an +exceedingly prolix and pretentious title, after the fashion of the time, +prefacing a badly-written, poorly-printed volume of 207 pages, turned +out by the press of Faxon & Stevens, Buffalo, 1848. In view of the fact +that neither in Sabin nor any other bibliography have I found any +mention of this book, and the further fact that in fifteen years of +somewhat diligent book-hunting I have discovered but one copy, it is no +exaggeration to call Marsh's "Narrative" "scarce," if not "rare." + +The incidents related in "Underground Trails" are illustrative of many +an episode at the eastern end of Lake Erie in the days preceding the +Civil War. I had the facts of the principal adventures some years ago +from the late Mr. Frank Henry of Erie, Pa., who had himself been a +participant in more than one worthy enterprise of the Underground +Railroad. Sketches based on information supplied by Mr. Henry, and +originally written out for the Erie Gazette, are the latter part of the +paper as it now stands. + +The last essay, "Niagara and the Poets," is a following of "Old Trails" +chiefly in a literary sense, but it is thought its inclusion here will +not be found inappropriate to the general character of the collection. + +I must add a word of grateful acknowledgment for help received from +Douglas Brymner, Dominion Archivist, at Ottawa; from the Hon. Peter A. +Porter of Niagara Falls, N. Y., Charles W. Dobbins of New York City, and +John Miller, Erie, Pa. F. H. S. + + + + +The Cross Bearers. + + + + +THE CROSS BEARERS. + + +I invite you to consider briefly with me the beginnings of known history +in our home region. Of the general character of that history, as a part +of the exploration and settlement of the lake region, you are already +familiar. What I undertake is to direct special attention to a few of +the individuals who made that history--for history, in the ultimate +analysis, is merely the record of the result of personal character and +influence; and it is striking to note how relatively few and individual +are the dominating minds. + +Remembering this, when we turn to trace the story of the Niagara, we +find the initial impulses strikingly different from those which lie at +the base of history in many places. Often the first chapter in the story +is a record of war for war's sake--the aim being conquest, acquisition +of territory, or the search for gold. Not so here. The first invasion of +white men in this mid-lake region was a mission of peace and good will. +Our history begins in a sweet and heroic obedience to commands passed +down direct from the Founder of Christianity Himself. Into these wilds, +long before the banner of any earthly kingdom was planted here, was +borne the cross of Christ. Here the crucifix preceded the sword; the +altar was built before the hearth. + +Now, I care not what the faith of the student be, he cannot escape the +facts. The cross is stamped upon the first page of our home history--of +this Buffalo and the banks of the Niagara; and whoever would know +something of that history must follow the footsteps of those who first +brought the cross to these shores. It is, therefore, a brief following +of the personal experiences of these early cross bearers that we +undertake; but first, a word may be permitted by way of reminder as to +the conditions here existing when our recorded history begins. + +From remote days unrecorded, the territory bordering the Niagara, +between Lakes Erie and Ontario, was occupied by a nation of Indians +called the Neuters. A few of their villages were on the east side of the +river, the easternmost being supposed to have stood near the present +site of Lockport. The greater part of the Niagara peninsula of Ontario +and the north shore of Lake Erie was their territory. To the east of +them, in the Genesee valley and beyond, dwelt the Senecas, the +westernmost of the Iroquois tribes. To the north of them, on Lake Huron +and the Georgian Bay, dwelt the Hurons. About 1650 the Iroquois overran +the Neuter territory, destroyed the nation and made the region east of +the Niagara a part of their own territory; though more than a century +elapsed, after their conquest of the Neuters, before the Senecas made +permanent villages on Buffalo Creek and near the Niagara. It is +necessary to bear this fact in mind, in considering the visits of white +men to this region during that period; it had become territory of the +Senecas, but they only occupied it at intervals, on hunting or fishing +expeditions. + +During the latter years of Neuter possession of our region, missionaries +began to approach the Niagara from two directions; but long before any +brave soul had neared it through what is now New York State,--then the +heart of the fierce Iroquois country,--others, more successful, had come +down from the early-established missions among the Hurons, had sojourned +among the Neuters and had offered Christian prayers among the savages +east of the Niagara. + +Note, therefore, that the first white man known to have visited the +Niagara region was a Catholic priest. Moreover, so far as is +ascertained, he was the first man, coming from what is now Canada, to +bring the Christian faith into the present territory of the United +States. This man was Joseph de la Roche Dallion.[1] The date of his +visit is 1626. + +Father Dallion was a Franciscan of the Recollect reform, who had been +for a time at the mission among the Hurons, then carried on jointly by +priests and lay brothers of the Recollects and also by Fathers of the +Society of Jesus. On October 18th of this year (1626), he left his +companions, resolved to carry the cross among the people of the Neuter +nation. An interpreter, Bruslé, had "told wonders" of these people. +Bruslé, it would seem, therefore, had been among them; and although, as +I have said, Father Dallion was the first white man known to have +reached the Niagara, yet it is just to consider the probabilities in the +case of this all but unknown interpreter. There are plausible grounds +for belief, but no proof, that Étienne Bruslé was the first white man +who ever saw Niagara Falls. No adventurer in our region had a more +remarkable career than his, yet but little of it is known to us. He was +with Champlain on his journey to the Huron country. He left that +explorer in September, 1615, at the outlet of Lake Simcoe, and went on a +most perilous mission into the country of the Andastes, allies of the +Hurons, to enlist them against the Iroquois. The Andastes lived on the +head-waters of the Susquehanna, and along the south shore of Lake Erie, +the present site of Buffalo being generally included within the bounds +of their territory. Champlain saw nothing more of Bruslé for three +years, but in the summer of 1618 met him at Saut St. Louis. Bruslé had +had wonderful adventures, had even been bound to the stake and burned so +severely that he must have been frightfully scarred. The name by which +we know him may have been given him on this account. He was saved from +death by what the Indians regarded as an exhibition of wrath on the part +of the Great Spirit. I find no trace of him between 1618 and 1626, when +Father Dallion appears to have taken counsel of him regarding the +Neuters. Bruslé was murdered by the Hurons near Penetanguishene in 1632. +What is known of him is learned from Champlain's narrative of the voyage +of 1618 (edition of 1627). Sagard also speaks of him, and says he made +an exploration of the upper lakes--a claim not generally credited. +Parkman, drawing from these sources and the "Relations," tells his story +in "The Pioneers of France in the New World," admiringly calls him "That +Pioneer of Pioneers," and says that he seems to have visited the Eries +in 1615. + +The interesting thing about him in connection with our present study is +the fact that he appears to have been the forerunner of Dallion among +the savages of the Niagara. There is no white man named in history who +may be even conjectured, with any plausibility, to have visited the +Niagara earlier than Bruslé.[2] + +Stimulated by this interpreter's reports, by the encouragement of his +companions and the promptings of his own zeal, Father Dallion set out +for the unknown regions. Two Frenchmen, Grenole and Lavallée, +accompanied him. They tramped the trail for six days through the woods, +apparently rounding the western end of Lake Ontario, and coming eastward +through the Niagara Peninsula. They were well received at the villages, +given venison, squashes and parched corn to eat, and were shown no sign +of hostility. "All were astonished to see me dressed as I was," writes +the father, "and to see that I desired nothing of theirs, except that I +invited them by signs to lift their eyes to heaven, make the sign of the +cross and receive the faith of Jesus Christ." The good priest, however, +had another object, somewhat unusual to the men of his calling. At the +sixth village, where he had been advised to remain, a council was held. +"There I told them, as well as I could, that I came on behalf of the +French to contract alliance and friendship with them, and to invite them +to come to trade. I also begged them to allow me to remain in their +country, to be able to instruct them in the law of our God, which is the +only means of going to paradise." The Neuters accepted the priest's +offers, and the first recorded trade in the Niagara region was made when +he presented them "little knives and other trifles." They adopted him +into the tribe, and gave him a father, the chief Souharissen. + +After this cordial welcome, Grenole and Lavallée returned to the Hurons, +leaving Father Joseph "the happiest man in the world, hoping to do +something there to advance God's glory, or at least to discover the +means, which would be no small thing, and to endeavor to discover the +mouth of the river of Hiroquois, in order to bring them to trade." After +speaking of the people and his efforts to teach them, he continues: "I +have always seen them constant in their resolution to go with at least +four canoes to the trade, if I would guide them, the whole difficulty +being that we did not know the way. Yroquet, an Indian known in those +countries, who had come there with twenty of his men hunting for beaver, +and who took fully 500, would never give us any mark to know the mouth +of the river. He and several Hurons assured us that it was only ten +days' journey to the trading place; but we were afraid of taking one +river for another, and losing our way or dying of hunger on the land." +So excellent an authority as Dr. John Gilmary Shea says: "This was +evidently the Niagara River, and the route through Lake Ontario. He +(Dallion) apparently crossed the river, as he was on the Iroquois +frontier." The great conquest of the Neuters by the Iroquois was not +until 1648 or 1650. Just what the "Iroquois frontier" was in 1627 is +uncertain. It appears to have been about midway between the Niagara and +the Genesee, the easternmost Neuter village being some thirty miles east +of the Niagara. The Recollect appears therefore as the first man to +write of the Niagara, from personal knowledge, and of its mouth as a +place of trade. The above quotations are from the letter Father Dallion +wrote to one of his friends in France July 18, 1627, he having then +returned to Toanchain, a Huron village. I have followed the text as +given by Sagard. It is significant that Le Clercq, in his "Premier +Établissement de la Foy," etc., gives a portion of Dallion's account of +his visit to the Neuters, but omits nearly everything he says about +trade. + +Father Dallion sojourned three winter months with the Neuters, but the +latter part of the stay was far from agreeable. The Hurons, he says, +having discovered that he talked of leading the Neuters to trade, at +once spread false and evil reports of him. They said he was a great +magician; that he was a poisoner, that he tainted the air of the country +where he tarried, and that if the Neuters did not kill him, he would +burn their villages and kill their children. The priest was at a +disadvantage in not having much command of the Neuter dialect, and it is +not strange, after the evil report had once been started, that he should +have seemed to engage in some devilish incantation whenever he held the +cross before them or sought to baptize the children. When one reflects +upon the dense wall of ignorance and superstition against which his +every effort at moral or spiritual teaching was impotent, the admiration +for the martyr spirit which animated the effort is tempered by amazement +that an acute and sagacious man should have thought it well to "labor" +in such an obviously ineffective way. But history is full of instances +of ardent devotion to aims which the "practical" man would denounce at +once as unattainable. That Father Dallion was animated by the spirit of +the martyrs is attested in his own account of what befel him. A +treacherous band of ten came to him and tried to pick a quarrel. "One +knocked me down with a blow of his fist, another took an ax and tried to +split my head. God averted his hand; the blow fell on a post near me. I +also received much other ill-treatment; but that is what we came to seek +in this country." His assailants robbed him of many of his possessions, +including his breviary and compass. These precious things, which were no +doubt "big medicine" in the eyes of his ungracious hosts, were +afterwards returned. The news of his maltreatment reached the ears of +Fathers Brébeuf and De la Nouë at the Huron mission. They sent the +messenger, Grenole, to bring him back, if found alive. Father Dallion +returned with Grenole early in the year 1627; and so ended the first +recorded visit of white man to the Niagara region. + + * * * * * + +For fourteen years succeeding, I find no allusion to our district. Then +comes an episode which is so adventurous and so heroic, so endowed with +beauty and devotion, that it should be familiar to all who give any +heed to what has happened in the vicinity of the Niagara. + +Jean de Brébeuf was a missionary priest of the Jesuits. That implies +much; but in his case even such a general imputation of exalted +qualities falls short of justice. His is a superb figure, a splendid +acquisition to the line of heroic figures that pass in shadowy +procession along the horizon of our home history. Trace the narrative of +his life as sedulously as we may, examine his character and conduct in +whatever critical light we may choose to study them, and still the noble +figure of Father Brébeuf is seen without a flaw. There were those of his +order whose acts were at times open to two constructions. Some of them +were charged, by men of other faith and hostile allegiance, with using +their priestly privileges as a cloak for worldly objects. No such charge +was ever brought against Father Brébeuf. The guilelessness and heroism +of his life are unassailable. + +He was of a noble Normandy family, and when he comes upon the scene, on +the banks of the Niagara, he was forty-seven years old. He had come out +to Quebec fifteen years before and had been assigned to the Huron +mission. In 1628 he was called back to Quebec, but five years later he +was allowed to return to his charge in the remote wilderness. The record +of his work and sufferings there is not a part of our present story. +Those who seek a marvelous exemplification of human endurance and +devotion, may find it in the ancient Relations of the order. He lived +amid threats and plots against his life, he endured what seems +unendurable, and his zeal throve on the experience. In November, 1640, +he and a companion, the priest Joseph Chaumonot, resolved to carry the +cross to the Neuter nation. They no doubt knew of Father Dallion's +dismal experience; and were spurred on thereby. Like him, they sought +martyrdom. Their route from the Huron country to the Niagara has been +traced with skill and probable accuracy by the Very Rev. Wm. R. Harris, +Dean of St. Catharines. At this time the Neuter nation lived to the +north of Lake Erie throughout what we know as the Niagara Peninsula, and +on both sides of the Niagara, their most eastern village being near the +present site of Lockport. From an uncertain boundary, thereabouts, they +confronted the possessions of the Senecas, who a few years later were to +wipe them off the face of the earth and occupy all their territory east +of the lake and river. + +Fathers Brébeuf and Chaumonot set out on their hazardous mission +November 2d, in the year named, from a Huron town in the present +township of Medonte, Ontario. (Near Penetanguishene, on Georgian Bay.) +Their probable path was through the present towns of Beeton, +Orangeville, Georgetown, Hamilton and St. Catharines. They came out upon +the Niagara just north of the Queenston escarpment. The journey thus far +had been a succession of hardships. The interpreters whom they had +engaged to act as guides deserted them at the outset. Ahead of them went +the reputation which the Hurons spread abroad, that they were magicians +and carried all manner of evils with them. Father Brébeuf was a man of +extraordinary physical strength. Many a time, in years gone by, he had +astonished the Indians by his endurance at the paddle, and in carrying +great loads over the portages. His companion, Chaumonot, was smaller and +weaker, but was equally sustained by faith in Divine guidance. On their +way through the forests, Father Brébeuf was cheered by a vision of +angels, beckoning him on; but when he and his companion finally stood on +the banks of the Niagara, under the leaden sky of late November, there +was little of the beatific in the prospect. They crossed the swirling +stream--by what means must be left to conjecture, the probability being +in favor of a light bark canoe--and on the eastern bank found themselves +in the hostile village of Onguiara--the first-mentioned settlement on +the banks of our river. + +Here the half-famished priests were charged with having come to ruin the +people. They were refused shelter and food, but finally found +opportunity to step into a wigwam, where Indian custom, augmented by +fear, permitted them to remain. The braves gathered around, and proposed +to put them to death. "I am tired," cried one, "eating the dark flesh of +our enemies, and I want to taste the white flesh of the Frenchman." So +at least is the record in the Relation. Another drew bow to pierce the +heart of Chaumonot; but all fell back in awe when the stalwart Brébeuf +stepped forth into their midst, without weapon and without fear, and +raising his hand exclaimed: "We have not come here for any other purpose +than to do you a friendly service. We wish to teach you to worship the +Master of Life, so that you may be happy in this world and in the +other." + +Whether or not any of the spiritual import of his speech was +comprehended cannot be said; but the temper of the crowd changed, so +that, instead of threatening immediate death, they began to take a +curious, childish interest in the two "black-gowns"; examining the +priests' clothes, and appropriating their hats and other loose articles. +The travelers completely mystified them by reading a written message, +and thus getting at another's thoughts without a spoken word. The +Relation is rich in details of this sort, and of the wretchedness of the +life which the missionaries led. They visited other "towns," as the +collections of bark wigwams are called; but everywhere they were looked +upon as necromancers, and their lives were spared only through fear. + +Far into the winter the priests endured all manner of hardship. Food was +sometimes thrown to them as to a worthless dog, sometimes denied +altogether, and then they had to make shift with such roots and barks or +chance game as their poor woodcraft enabled them to procure, or the +meager winter woods afforded. On one occasion, when a chief frankly told +them that his people would have killed them long before, but for fear +that the spirits of the priests would in vengeance destroy them, +Brébeuf began to assure him that his mission was only to do good; +whereupon the savage replied by spitting in the priest's face; and the +priest thanked God that he was worthy of the same indignity which had +been put upon Jesus Christ. When one faces his foes in such a spirit, +there is absolutely nothing to fear. And yet, after four months of these +experiences, there seems not to have been the slightest sign of any good +result. The savages were as invulnerable to any moral or spiritual +teachings as the chill earth itself. Dumb brutes would have shown more +return for kindness than they. The saying of Chateaubriand, that man +without religion is the most dangerous animal that walks the earth, +found full justification in these savages. Finally, Brébeuf and his +associate determined to withdraw from the absolutely fruitless field, +and began to retrace their steps towards Huronia. + +It was near the middle of February, 1641, when they began their retreat +from the land of the Neuters. The story of that retreat, as indeed of +the whole mission, has been most beautifully told, with a sympathetic +fervency impossible for one not richly endowed with faith to simulate, +by Dean Harris. Let his account of what happened stand here: + +"The snow was falling when they left the village Onguiara, crossed the +Niagara River near Queenston, ascended its banks and disappeared in the +shadowy forest. The path, which led through an unbroken wilderness, lay +buried in snow. The cold pierced them through and through. The cords on +Fr. Chaumonot's snow-shoe broke, and his stiffened fingers could +scarcely tie the knot. Innumerable flakes of snow were falling from +innumerable branches. Their only food was a pittance of Indian corn +mixed with melted snow; their only guide, a compass. Worn and spent with +hardships, these saintly men, carrying in sacks their portable altar, +were returning to announce to their priestly companions on the Wye the +dismal news of their melancholy failure and defeat. There was not a +hungry wolf that passed them but looked back and half forgave their +being human. There was not a tree but looked down upon them with pity +and commiseration. Night was closing in when, spent with fatigue, they +saw smoke rising at a distance. Soon they reached a clearing and +descried before them a cluster of bark lodges. Here these Christian +soldiers of the cross bivouacked for the night. + +"Early that evening while Chaumonot, worn with traveling and overcome +with sleep, threw himself to rest on a bed that was not made up since +the creation of the world, Father Brébeuf, to escape for a time the +acrid and pungent smoke that filled the cabin, went out to commune with +God alone in prayer.... He moved toward the margin of the woods, when +presently he stopped as if transfixed. Far away to the southeast, high +in the air and boldly outlined, a huge cross floated suspended in +mid-heaven. Was it stationary? No, it moved toward him from the land of +the Iroquois. The saintly face lighted with unwonted splendor, for he +saw in the vision the presage of the martyr's crown. Tree and hillside, +lodge and village, faded away, and while the cross was still slowly +approaching, the soul of the great priest went out in ecstasy, in loving +adoration to his Lord and his God.... Overcome with emotion, he +exclaimed, 'Who will separate me from the love of my Lord? Shall +tribulation, nakedness, peril, distress, or famine, or the sword?' +Emparadised in ecstatic vision, he again cries out with enthusiastic +loyalty, '_Sentio me vehementer impelli ad moriendum pro Christo_'--'I +feel within me a mighty impulse to die for Christ'--and flinging himself +upon his knees as a victim for the sacrifice or a holocaust for sin, he +registered his wondrous vow to meet martyrdom, when it came to him, with +the joy and resignation befitting a disciple of his Lord. + +"When he returned to himself the cross had faded away, innumerable stars +were brightly shining, the cold was wrapping him in icy mantle, and he +retraced his footsteps to the smoky cabin. He flung himself beside his +weary brother and laid him down to rest. When morning broke they began +anew their toilsome journey, holding friendly converse. + +"'Was the cross large?' asked Father Chaumonot. + +"'Large,' spoke back the other, 'yes, large enough to crucify us all.'" + +It is idle to insist on judgments by the ordinary standards in a case +like this. As Parkman says, it belongs not to history, but to +psychology. Brébeuf saw the luminous cross in the heavens above the +Niagara; not the material, out-reaching arms of Niagara's spray, rising +columnar from the chasm, then resting, with crosslike extensions on the +quiet air, white and pallid under the winter moon. Such phenomena are +not unusual above the cataract, but may not be offered in explanation of +the priest's vision. He was in the neighborhood of Grimsby, full twenty +miles from the falls, when he saw the cross; much too far away to catch +the gleam of frosted spray. Nor is it a gracious spirit which seeks a +material explanation for his vision. The cross truly presaged his +martyrdom; and although the feet of Father Brébeuf never again sought +the ungrateful land of the Neuters, yet his visit and his vision were +not wholly without fruit. They endow local history with an example of +pure devotion to the betterment of others, unsurpassed in all the annals +of the holy orders. To Brébeuf the miraculous cross foretold martyrdom, +and thereby was it a sign of conquest and of victory to this heroic +Constantine of the Niagara. + + * * * * * + +After Brébeuf and Chaumonot had turned their backs on the Neuters, the +Niagara region was apparently unvisited by white men for more than a +quarter of a century. These were not, however, years of peaceful hunting +and still more placid corn and pumpkin-growing, such as some romantic +writers have been fond of ascribing to the red men when they were +unmolested by the whites. As a matter of fact, and as Fathers Dallion, +Brébeuf and Chaumonot had discovered, the people who claimed the banks +of the lower reaches of the Niagara as within their territory, were the +embodiment of all that was vile and barbarous. There is no record that +they had a village at the angle of lake and river, where now stands old +Fort Niagara. It would have been strange, however, if they did not +occasionally occupy that sightly plateau with their wigwams or huts, +while they were laying in a supply of fish. If trees ever covered the +spot they were killed by early camp-fires, probably long before the +coming of the whites. Among the earliest allusions to the point is one +which speaks of the difficulty of getting wood there; and such a +treeless tract, in this part of the country, could usually be attributed +to the denudation consequent on Indian occupancy. + +A decade or so after the retreat of the missionaries came that fierce +Indian strife which annihilated the Neuters and gave Niagara's banks +into the keeping of the fiercer but somewhat nobler Iroquois. The story +of this Indian war has been told with all possible illumination from the +few meager records that are known; and it only concerns the present +chronicle to note that about 1650 the site of Fort Niagara passed under +Seneca domination. The Senecas had no permanent town in the vicinity, +but undoubtedly made it a rendezvous for war parties, and for hunting +and fishing expeditions. + +Meanwhile, the Jesuits in their Relations, and after them the +cartographers in Europe, were making hearsay allusions to the Niagara or +locating it, with much inaccuracy, on their now grotesque maps. In 1648 +the Jesuit Ragueneau, writing to the Superior at Paris, mentions +Niagara, which he had never seen or approached, as "a cataract of +frightful height." L'Allemant in the Relation published in 1642, had +alluded to the river, but not to the fall. Sanson, in 1656, put +"Ongiara" on his famous map; and four years later the map of Creuxius, +published with his great "Historiæ Canadensis," gave our river and fall +the Latin dignity of "Ongiara Catarractes." One map-maker copied from +another, so that even by the middle of the seventeenth century, the +reading and student world--small and ecclesiastical as it mostly +was--began to have some inkling of the main features and continental +position of the mid-lake region for the possession of which, a little +later, several Forts Niagara were to be projected. It is not, however, +until 1669 that we come to another definite episode in the history of +the region. + +In that year came hither the Sulpitian missionaries, François Dollier de +Casson and René de Bréhant[3] de Galinée. They were bent on carrying the +cross to nations hitherto unreached, on Western rivers. With them was +the young Robert Cavelier, known as La Salle, who was less interested in +carrying the cross than in exploring the country. Their expedition left +Montreal July 6th, nine canoes in all. They made their way up the St. +Lawrence, skirted the south shore of Lake Ontario, and on Aug. 10th were +at Irondequoit Bay. They made a most eventful visit to the Seneca +villages south of the bay. Thence they continued westward, apparently by +Indian trails overland, and not by canoe. De Galinée, who was the +historian of the expedition, says that they came to a river "one eighth +of a league broad and extremely rapid, forming the outlet or +communication from Lake Erie to Lake Ontario," and he continues with a +somewhat detailed account of Niagara Falls, which, although he passed +near them, he did not turn aside to see. The Sulpitians and La Salle +crossed the river, apparently below Lewiston. They may indeed have come +to the river at its mouth, skirting the lake shore. One may infer either +course from the narrative of de Galinée, which goes on to say that five +days after passing the river they "arrived at the extremity of Lake +Ontario, where there is a fine, large sandy bay ... and where we +unloaded our canoes." + +Pushing on westward, late in September, on the trail between Burlington +Bay and the Grand River, they met Joliet, returning from his expedition +in search of copper mines on Lake Superior. This meeting in the +wilderness is a suggestive and picturesque subject, but we may not dwell +on it here. Joliet, though he had thus preceded LaSalle and the +Sulpitians in the exploration of the lakes, had gone west by the old +northern route along the Ottawa, Lake Nipissing and the French River. He +was never on the Niagara, for after his meeting with LaSalle, he +continued eastward by way of the Grand River valley and Lake Ontario. +Fear of the savages deterred him from coming by way of the Niagara, and +thereby, it is not unlikely, becoming the white discoverer of Niagara +Falls.[4] He was the first white man, so far as records relate, to come +eastward through the Detroit River and Lake Erie. Our lake was therefore +"discovered" from the west--a fact perhaps without parallel in the +history of American exploration. + +After the meeting with Joliet, La Salle left the missionaries, who, +taking advantage of information had from Joliet, followed the Grand +River down to Lake Erie. Subsequently they passed through Lake Erie to +the westward, the first of white men to explore the lake in that +direction. De Galinée's map (1669) is the first that gives us the north +shore of Lake Erie with approximate accuracy. On October 15th this +devout man and his companion reached Lake Erie, which they described as +"a vast sea, tossed by tempestuous winds." Deterred by the lateness of +the season from attempting further travel by this course, they +determined to winter where they were, and built a cabin for their +shelter. + +Occasionally they were visited in their hut by Iroquois beaver hunters. +For five months and eleven days they remained in their winter quarters +and on the 23d of March, 1670, being Passion Sunday, they erected a +cross as a memorial of their long sojourn. The official record of the +act is as follows: + + "We the undersigned certify that we have seen affixed on the lands + of the lake called Erié the arms of the King of France with this + inscription: 'The year of salvation 1669, Clement IX. being seated + in St. Peter's chair, Louis XIV. reigning in France, M. de + Courcelle being Governor of New France, and M. Talon being + intendant therein for the King, there arrived in this place two + missionaries from Montreal accompanied by seven other Frenchmen, + who, the first of all European peoples, have wintered on this lake, + of which, as of a territory not occupied, they have taken + possession in the name of their King by the apposition of his arms, + which they have attached to the foot of this cross. In witness + whereof we have signed the present certificate.' + + "FRANCOIS DOLLIER, + "Priest of the Diocese of Nantes in Brittany. + "DE GALINÉE, + "Deacon of the Diocese of Rennes in Brittany." + +The winter was exceedingly mild, but the stream[5] was still frozen on +the 26th of March, when they portaged their canoes and goods to the lake +to resume their westward journey. Unfortunately losing one of their +canoes in a gale they were obliged to divide their party, four men with +the luggage going in the two remaining canoes; while the rest, including +the missionaries, undertook the wearisome journey on foot all the way +from Long Point to the mouth of the Kettle Creek. De Galinée grows +enthusiastic in his admiration for the immense quantities of game and +fruits opposite Long Point and calls the country the terrestrial +Paradise of Canada. "The grapes were as large and as sweet as the finest +in France. The wine made from them was as good as _vin de Grave_." He +admires the profusion of walnuts, chestnuts, wild apples and plums. +Bears were fatter and better to the palate than the most "savory" pigs +in France. Deer wandered in herds of fifty to an hundred. Sometimes even +two hundred would be seen feeding together. Before arriving at the sand +beach which then connected Long Point with the mainland they had to +cross two streams. To cross the first stream they were forced to walk +four leagues inland before they found a satisfactory place to cross. One +whole day was spent in constructing a raft to cross Big Creek, and after +another delay caused by a severe snow-storm, they successfully effected +a crossing and found on the west side a marshy meadow two hundred paces +wide into which they sank to their girdles in mud and slush. Beset by +dangers and retarded by inclement weather, they at last arrived at +Kettle Creek, where they expected to find the canoe in which Joliet had +come down Lake Huron and the Detroit and which he had told them was +hidden there. Great was their disappointment to find that the Indians +had taken it. However, later in the day, while gathering some wood for a +fire, they found the canoe between two logs and joyfully bore it to the +lake. In the vicinity of their encampment the hunters failed to secure +any game, and for four or five days the party subsisted on boiled maize. +The whole party then paddled up the lake to a place where game was +plentiful and the hunters saw more than two hundred deer in one herd, +but missed their aim. Disheartened at their failure and craving meat, +they shot and skinned a miserable wolf and had it ready for the kettle +when one of the men saw some thirty deer on the other side of the small +lake they were on. The party succeeded in surrounding the deer and, +forcing them into the water, killed ten of them. Now well supplied with +both fresh and smoked meat, they continued their journey, traveled +nearly fifty miles in one day and came to a beautiful sand beach (Point +Pelée), where they drew up their canoes and camped for the night. During +the night a terrific gale came up from the northeast. Awakened by the +storm they made all shift to save their canoes and cargoes. Dollier's +and de Galinée's canoes were saved, but the other one was swept away +with its contents of provisions, goods for barter, ammunition, and, +worst of all, the altar service, with which they intended establishing +their mission among the Pottawatamies. + +The loss of their altar service caused them to abandon the mission and +they set out to return to Montreal, but strangely enough chose the long, +roundabout journey by way of the Detroit, Lake Huron and the French +River, in preference to the route by which they had come, or by the +outlet of Lake Erie, which they had crossed the autumn before. Thus de +Galinée and Dollier de Casson, like Joliet,--not to revert to Champlain +half a century earlier,--missed the opportunity, which seemed to wait +for them, of exploring the eastern end of Lake Erie, of correctly +mapping the Niagara and observing and describing its incomparable +cataract. Obviously the Niagara region was shunned less on account of +its real difficulties, which were not then known, than through terror of +the Iroquois. Our two Sulpitians reached Montreal June 18, 1670, which +date marks the close of the third missionary visitation in the history +of the Niagara. + + * * * * * + +And now I approach the point at which many writers of our local history +have chosen to begin their story--the famous expedition of La Salle and +his companions in 1678-'79. For the purpose of the present study we may +omit the more familiar aspects of that adventure, and limit our regard +to the acts of the holy men who continue the interrupted chain of +missionary work on the Niagara. On December 6th, St. Nicholas Day, 1678, +with an advance party under La Motte de Lussiére, came the Flemish +Recollect, Louis Hennepin. As the bark in which they had crossed stormy +Lake Ontario at length entered the Niagara, they chanted the Ambrosian +hymn, "Te Deum Laudamus," and there is no gainsaying the sincerity of +that thank-offering for perils escaped. Five days later, being encamped +on the present site of Niagara, Ont., Father Hennepin celebrated the +first mass ever said in the vicinity. A few days later, on the site of +Lewiston, he had completed a bark chapel, in which was held the first +Christian service which had been held on the eastern side of the Niagara +since the visit of Brébeuf thirty-eight years before. Father Hennepin +has left abundant chronicles of his activities on the Niagara. As soon +as the construction of the Griffon was begun above the falls a chapel +was established there, near the mouth of Cayuga Creek. Having blessed +this pioneer vessel of the upper lakes, when she was launched, he set +out for Fort Frontenac in the interests of the enterprise, and was +accompanied to the Niagara, on his return, by the Superior of the +mission, Father Gabriel de la Ribourde, and Fathers Zénobius Membré and +Melithon Watteaux. All through that summer these devoted priests shared +the varied labors of the camp. Hennepin tells us how he and his +companions toiled back and forth over the portage around the falls, +sometimes with their portable altar, sometimes with provisions, rigging +or other equipment for the ship. "Father Gabriel," he says, "though of +sixty-five years of age, bore with great vigor the fatigue of that +journey, and went thrice up and down those three mountains, which are +pretty high and steep." This glimpse of the saintly old priest is a +reminiscence to cherish in our local annals. He was the last of a noble +family in Burgundy who gave up worldly wealth and station to enter the +Order of St. Francis. He came to Canada in 1670, and was the first +Superior of the restored Recollect mission in that country. There is a +discrepancy between Hennepin and Le Clercq as to his age; the former +says he was sixty-five years old in 1679, when he was on the Niagara; +the later speaks of him as being in his seventieth year in 1680. Of the +three missionaries who with La Salle sailed up the Niagara in August, +1679, and with prayers and hymns boldly faced the dangers of the unknown +lake, the venerable Father Gabriel was first of all to receive the +martyr's crown. A year later, September 9, 1680, while engaged at his +devotions, he was basely murdered by three Indians. To Father Membré +there were allotted five years of missionary labor before he, too, was +to fall a victim to the savage. Father Hennepin lived many years, and +his chronicles stand to-day as in some respects the foundation of our +local history. But cherish as we may the memory of this trio of +missionaries, the imagination turns with a yet fonder regard back to the +devoted priest who was not permitted to voyage westward from the Niagara +with the gallant La Salle. When the Griffon sailed, Father Melithon +Watteaux was left behind in the little palisaded house at Niagara as +chaplain. He takes his place in our history as the first Catholic priest +appointed to minister to whites in New York State. On May 27, 1679, La +Salle had made a grant of land at Niagara to these Recollect Fathers, +for a residence and cemetery, and this was the first property in the +present State of New York to which the Catholic Church held title. Who +can say what were the experiences of the priest during the succeeding +winter in the loneliness and dangers of the savage-infested wilderness? +Nowhere have I as yet found any detailed account of his sojourn. We +know, however, that it was not long. During the succeeding years there +was some passing to and fro. In 1680 La Salle, returning east, passed +the site of his ruined and abandoned fort. He was again on the Niagara +in 1681 with a considerable party bound for the Miami. Father Membré, +who was with him, returned east in October, 1682, by the Niagara route; +and La Salle himself passed down the river again in 1683--his last visit +to the Niagara. His blockhouse, within which was Father Melithon's +chapel, had been burned by the Senecas. + +From this time on for over half a century the missionary work in our +region centered at Fort Niagara, which still stands, a manifold reminder +of the romantic past, at the mouth of the river. Four years after La +Salle's last passage through the Niagara--in 1687--the Marquis de +Denonville led his famous expedition against the Senecas. With him in +this campaign was a band of Western Indians, who were attended by the +Jesuit Father Enjalran. He was wounded in the battle with the Senecas +near Boughton Hill, but appears to have accompanied de Denonville to his +rendezvous on the site of Fort Niagara. Here he undoubtedly exercised +his sacred office; and since the construction of Fort Niagara began at +this time his name may head the list of priests officiating at that +stronghold. He was soon after dispatched on a peace mission to the West, +which was the special scene of his labors. His part, for some years to +come, was to be an important one as Superior of the Jesuit Mission at +Michillimackinac. + +As soon as Fort Niagara was garrisoned, Father Jean de Lamberville was +sent thither as chaplain. For the student, it would be profitable to +dwell at length upon the ministrations of this devoted priest. He was of +the Society of Jesus, had come out to Canada in 1668, and labored in the +Onondaga mission from 1671 to 1687. His work is indelibly written on the +history of missions in our State. He was the innocent cause of a party +of Iroquois falling into the hands of the French, who sent them to +France, where they toiled in the king's galleys. When de Denonville, in +1687, left at Fort Niagara a garrison of one hundred men under the +Chevalier de la Mothe, Father Lamberville came to minister to them. The +hostile Iroquois had been dealt a heavy blow, but a more insidious and +dreadful enemy soon appeared within the gates. The provisions which had +been left for the men proved utterly unfit for food, so that disease, +with astounding swiftness, swept away most of the garrison, including +the commander. Father Lamberville, himself, was soon stricken down with +the scurvy. Every man in the fort would no doubt have perished but for +the timely arrival of a party of friendly Miami Indians, through whose +good offices the few survivors, Father Lamberville among them, were +enabled to make their way to Catarouquoi--now Kingston, Ont. There he +recovered; and he continued in the Canadian missions until 1698, when he +returned to France. + +Not willing to see his ambitious fort on the Niagara so soon abandoned, +de Denonville sent out a new garrison and with them came Father Pierre +Milet. He had labored, with rich results, among the Onondagas and +Oneidas. No sooner was he among his countrymen, in this remote and +forlorn corner of the earth, than he took up his spiritual work with +characteristic zeal. On Good Friday of that year, 1688, in the center of +the square within the palisades, he caused to be erected a great cross. +It was of wood, eighteen feet high, hewn from the forest trees and +neatly framed. On the arms of it was carved in abbreviated words the +sacred legend, "_Regnat, Vincit, Imperat Christus_," and in the midst of +it was engraven the Sacred Heart. Surrounded by the officers of the +garrison,--gallant men of France, with shining records, some of them +were,--by the soldiers, laborers and friendly Indians, Father Milet +solemnly blessed it. Can you not see the little band, kneeling about +that symbol of conquest? Around them were the humble cabins and quarters +of the soldiers. One of them, holding the altar, was consecrated to +worship. Beyond ran the palisades and earthworks--feeble fortifications +between the feeble garrison and the limitless, foe-infested wilderness. +On one hand smiled the blue Ontario, and at their feet ran the gleaming +Niagara, already a synonym of hardship and suffering in the annals of +three of the religious orders. What wonder that the sense of isolation +and feebleness was borne in upon the little band, or that they devoutly +bowed before the cross which was the visible emblem of their strength +and consolation in the wilderness. Where is the artist who shall paint +us this scene, unique in the annals of any people? + +And yet, but a few months later--September 15th of that year--the +garrison was recalled, the post abandoned, the palisades broken down, +the cabins left rifled and empty; and when priest and soldiers had +sailed away, and only the prowling wolf or the stealthy Indian ventured +near the spot, Father Milet's great cross still loomed amid the +solitude, a silent witness of the faith which knows no vanquishing. + +There followed an interim in the occupancy of the Niagara when neither +sword nor altar held sway here; nor was the altar reëstablished in our +region until the permanent rebuilding of Fort Niagara in 1726. True, +Father Charlevoix passed up the river in 1721, and has left an +interesting account of his journey, his view of the falls, and his brief +tarrying at the carrying-place--now Lewiston. This spot was the +principal rendezvous of the region for many years; and here, at the +cabin of the interpreter Joncaire, where Father Charlevoix was received, +we may be sure that spiritual ministrations were not omitted. A somewhat +similar incident, twenty-eight years later, was the coming to these +shores of the Jesuit Father Bonnecamps. He was not only the spiritual +leader but appears to have acted as pilot and guide to De Céloron's +expedition--an abortive attempt on the part of Louis XV. to reësablish +the claims of France to the inland regions of America. The expedition +came up the St. Lawrence and through Lake Ontario, reaching Fort Niagara +on July 6, 1749. It passed up the river, across to the south shore of +Lake Erie and by way of Chautauqua Lake and the Allegheny down the Ohio. +Returning from its utterly futile adventure, we find the party resting +at Fort Niagara for three days, October 19-21. Who the resident chaplain +was at the post at that date I have not been able to ascertain; but we +may be sure that he had a glad greeting for Father Bonnecamps. From +1726, when, as already mentioned, the fort was rebuilt, until its +surrender to Sir Wm. Johnson in 1759, a garrison was continually +maintained, and without doubt was constantly attended by a chaplain. The +register of the post during these years has never been found--the +presumption being that it was destroyed by the English--so that the +complete list of priests who ministered there is not known. + +Only here and there from other sources do we glean a name by which to +continue the succession. Father Crespel was stationed at Fort Niagara +for about three years from 1729, interrupting his ministrations there +with a journey to Detroit, where his order--the Society of Jesus--had +established a mission. Of Fort Niagara at this time he says: "I found +the place very agreeable; hunting and fishing were very productive; the +woods in their greatest beauty, and full of walnut and chestnut trees, +oaks, elms and some others, far superior to any we see in France." But +not even the banks of the Niagara were to prove an earthly paradise. +"The fever," he continues, "soon destroyed the pleasures we began to +find, and much incommoded us, until the beginning of autumn, which +season dispelled the unwholesome air. We passed the winter very quietly, +and would have passed it very agreeably, if the vessel which was to have +brought us refreshments had not encountered a storm on the lake, and +been obliged to put back to Frontenac, which laid us under the necessity +of drinking nothing but water. As the winter advanced, she dared not +proceed, and we did not receive our stores till May." + +Remember the utter isolation of this post and mission at the period we +are considering. To be sure, it was a link in the chain of French posts, +which included Quebec, Montreal, Kingston, Niagara, Detroit, +Michillimackinac; but in winter the water route for transport was +closed, and Niagara, like the upper posts, was thrown on its own +resources for existence. There is no place in our domain to-day which +fairly may be compared to it for isolation and remoteness. The upper +reaches of Alaskan rivers are scarcely less known to the world than was +the Niagara at the beginning of the last century. A little fringe of +settlement--hostile settlement at that--stretched up the Hudson from New +York. Even the Mohawk Valley was still unsettled. From the Hudson to +the remotest West the wilderness stretched as a sea, and Fort Niagara +was buried in its midst. Although a full century had gone by since +Father Dallion first reached its shores, there was now no trace of white +men on the banks of the Niagara save at the fort at its mouth, where +Father Crespel ministered, and at the carrying-place, where Joncaire the +interpreter lived with the Indians. Not even the first Indian villages +on Buffalo Creek were to be established for half a century to come. + +After Father Crespel's return from Detroit, he remained two years longer +at Fort Niagara, caring for the spiritual life of the little garrison, +and learning the Iroquois and Ottawah languages well enough to converse +with the Indians. "This enabled me," he writes, "to enjoy their company +when I took a walk in the environs of our post." The ability to converse +with the Indians afterwards saved his life. When his three years of +residence at Niagara expired he was relieved, according to the custom of +his order, and he passed a season in the convent at Quebec. While he was +undoubtedly immediately succeeded at Niagara by another chaplain, I have +been unable to learn his name or aught of his ministrations. Indeed, +there are but few glimpses of the post to be had from 1733 to 1759, when +it fell into the hands of the English. One of the most interesting of +these is of the visit of the Sulpitian missionary, the Abbé Piquet, who +in 1751 came to Fort Niagara from his successful mission at La +Présentation--now Ogdensburg. It is recorded of him that while here he +exhorted the Senecas to beware of the white man's brandy; his name may +perhaps stand as that of the first avowed temperance worker in the +Niagara region. + +But the end of the French _régime_ was at hand. For more than a century +our home region had been claimed by France; for the last thirty-three +years the lily-strewn standard of Louis had flaunted defiance to the +English from the banks of the Niagara. Now on a scorching July day the +little fort found itself surrounded, with Sir Wm. Johnson's cannon +roaring from the wilderness. There was a gallant defense, a baptism of +fire and blood, an honorable capitulation. But in that fierce conflict +at least one of the consecrated soldiers of the cross--Father Claude +Virot--fell before British bullets; and when the triple cross of Britain +floated over Fort Niagara, the last altar raised by the French on the +east bank of the Niagara river had been overthrown. + + * * * * * + +On this eventful day in 1759, when seemingly the opportunities for the +Catholic Church to continue its work on the Niagara were at an end, +there was, in the poor parish of Maryborough, county Kildare, Ireland, a +little lad of six whose mission it was to be to bring hither again the +blessed offices of his faith. This was Edmund Burke, afterwards Bishop +of Zion, and first Vicar-Apostolic of Nova Scotia, but whose name shines +not less in the annals of his church because of his zeal as missionary +in Upper Canada. Having come to Quebec in 1786, he was, in 1794, +commissioned Vicar-General for the whole of Upper Canada--the province +having then been established two years. In that year we find him at +Niagara, where he was the first English-speaking priest to hold Catholic +service. True, there was at the post that year a French missionary named +Le Dru, who could speak English; but he had been ordered out of the +province for cause. The field was ripe for a man of Father Burke's +character and energy. His early mission was near Detroit; he was the +first English-speaking priest in Ohio, and it is worthy of note that he +was at Niagara on his way east, July 22, 1796--only three weeks before +the British finally evacuated Fort Niagara and the Americans took +possession. Through his efforts in that year, the Church procured a +large lot at Niagara, Ont., where he proposed a missionary +establishment. There had probably never been a time, since the English +conquest, when there had not been Catholics among the troops quartered +on the Niagara; but under a British and Protestant commandant no +suitable provision for their worship had been made. In 1798--two years +after the British had relinquished the fort on the east side of the +river to the Americans--Father Burke, being at the British garrison on +the Canadian side, wrote to Monseigneur Plessis: + + Here I am at Niagara, instead of having carried out my original + design of going on to Detroit, thence returning to Kingston to pass + the winter. The commander of the garrison, annoyed by the continual + complaints of the civic officials against the Catholic soldiers, + who used to frequent the taverns during the hours of service on + Sunday, gave orders that officers and men should attend the + Protestant service. They had attended for three consecutive Sundays + when I represented to the commander the iniquity of this order. He + replied that he would send them to mass if the chaplain was there, + and he thought it very extraordinary that whilst a chaplain was + paid by the king for the battalion, instead of attending to his + duty he should be in charge of a mission, his men were without + religious services, and his sick were dying without the sacraments. + You see, therefore, that I have reason for stopping short at + Niagara; for we must not permit four companies, of whom three + fourths both of officers and men are Catholics, to frequent the + Protestant church. + +The name of the priest against whom the charge of neglect appears to +lie, was Duval; but it is not clear that he had ever attended the troops +to the Niagara station. But after Father Burke came Father Désjardines +and an unbroken succession, with the district fully organized in +ecclesiastical jurisdiction. + + * * * * * + +And now, although our story of mission work in the Niagara region has +been long--has reviewed the visitations of two centuries--the reader may +have remarked the striking fact that every priest who came into our +territory, up to the opening of the nineteenth century, came from +Canada. This fact is the more remarkable when we recall the +long-continued and vigorous missions of the Jesuits in what is now New +York State, extending west nearly to the Genesee River. But the fact +stands that no priest from those early establishments made his way +westward to the present site of Buffalo. Fathers Lamberville and Milet +had been stationed among the Onondagas and Oneidas before coming into +our region at Fort Niagara; but they came thither from Canada, by way of +Lake Ontario, and not through the wilderness of Western New York. The +westernmost mission among the Iroquois was that of Fathers Carheil and +Garnier at Cayuga, where they were at work ten years before La Salle +built the Griffon on the Niagara. It is interesting to note that this +mission, which was established nearest to our own region, was "dedicated +to God under the invocation of St. Joseph," and that, two hundred years +after, the first Bishop of Buffalo obtained from his Holiness, Pope Pius +IX., permission that St. Joseph should be the principal patron saint of +this diocese. + +The earliest episcopal jurisdiction of the territory now embraced in the +city of Buffalo, dating from the first visit of Dallion to the land of +the Neuters, was directly vested in the diocese of Rouen--for it was the +rule that regions new-visited belonged to the government of the bishop +from a port in whose diocese the expedition bearing the missionary had +sailed; and this stood until a local ecclesiastical government was +formed; the first ecclesiastical association of our region, on the New +York side, therefore, is with that grand old city, Rouen, the home of La +Salle, scene of the martyrdom of the Maid of Orleans, and the center, +through many centuries, of mighty impulses affecting the New World. From +1657 to 1670 our region was embraced in the jurisdiction of the Vicar +Apostolic of New France; and from 1670 to the Conquest in the diocese of +Quebec. There are involved here, of course, all the questions which grew +out of the strife for possession of the Niagara region by the French, +English and Dutch. Into these questions we may not enter now further +than to note that from 1684 the English claimed jurisdiction of all the +region on the east bank of the Niagara and the present site of Buffalo. +This claim was in part based on the Treaty of Albany at which the +Senecas had signified their allegiance to King Charles; and by that +acquiescence nominally put the east side of the Niagara under British +rule. The next year, when the Duke of York came to the throne, he +decreed that the Archbishop of Canterbury should hold ecclesiastical +jurisdiction over the whole Colony of New York. It is very doubtful, +however, if the Archbishop of Canterbury had ever heard of the +Niagara--the first English translation of Hennepin did not appear for +fourteen years after this date; and nothing is more unlikely than that +the Senecas who visited the Niagara at this period, or even the Dutch +and English traders who gave them rum for beaver-skins, had ever heard +of the Archbishop of Canterbury, or cared a copper for his +ecclesiastical jurisdiction, either on the Niagara or even in the +settlements on the Hudson. In the New York Colony, and afterward State, +the legal discrimination against Catholics continued down to 1784, when +the law which condemned Catholic priests to imprisonment or even death +was repealed. At the date of its repeal there was not a Catholic +congregation in the State. Those Catholics who were among the pioneer +settlers of Western New York had to go as far east as Albany to perform +their religious duties or get their children baptized. Four years +later--in 1788--our region was included in the newly-formed diocese of +Baltimore. In 1808 we came into the new diocese of New York. Not until +1821 do we find record of the visit of a priest to Buffalo. In 1829 the +Church acquired its first property here--through its benefactor whose +name and memory are preserved by one of our noblest institutions--Louis +Le Couteulx--and the first Buffalo parish was established under the Rev. +Nicholas Mertz. + +We are coming very close to the present; and yet still later, in 1847, +when the diocese of Buffalo was formed, there were but sixteen priests +in the sixteen great counties which constituted it. It is superfluous to +contrast that time with the present. There is nothing more striking, to +the student of the history and development of our region during the last +half century, than the increase of the Catholic Church--in parishes and +schools, in means of propaganda, in material wealth with its vast +resources and power for good, and especially in that personal zeal and +unflagging devotion which know no limit and no exhaustion, and are drawn +from the same source of strength that inspired and sustained Brébeuf and +Chaumonot and their fellow-heroes of the cross on the banks of the +Niagara. + + + + +The Paschal of the Great Pinch. + + + + +THE PASCHAL OF THE GREAT PINCH. + + _An Episode in the History of Fort Niagara; being an Extract from + the hitherto unknown Memoirs of the Chevalier De Tregay, Lieutenant + under the Sieur de Troyes, commanding at Fort Denonville (now + called Niagara), in the Year of Starvation 1687; with Captain + Désbergeres at that remote fortress from the joyfull Easter of 1688 + till its abandonment; Soldier of His Excellency the Sr. de Brissay, + Marquis de Denonville, Governor and Lieutenant General in New + France; and humble Servitor of His Serene Majesty Louis XIV._ + + +It has been my lot to suffer in many far parts of the earth; to bleed a +little and go hungry for the King; to lie freezing for fame and +France--and gain nothing thereby but a distemper; but so it is to be a +soldier. + +And I have seen trouble in my day. I have fought in Flanders on an empty +stomach, and have burned my brain among the Spaniards so that I could +neither fight nor run away; but of all the heavy employment I ever knew, +naught can compare with what befel in the remote parts of New France, +where I was with the troops that the Marquis de Denonville took through +the wilderness into the cantons of the Iroquois, and afterwards employed +to build a stockade and cabins at the mouth of the Strait of Niagara, on +the east side, in the way where they go a beaver-hunting. "Fort +Denonville," the Sieur de Brissay decreed it should be called, for he +held great hopes of the service which it should do him against both the +Iroquois and the English; but now that he has fallen into the disfavor +that has ever been the reward of faithful service in this accursed land, +his name is no more given even to that unhappy spot, but rather it is +called Fort Niagara. + +There were some hundreds of us all told that reached that fair plateau, +after we left the river of the Senecas. It was mid-summer of the year of +grace 1687, and we made at first a pleasant camp, somewhat overlooking +the great lake, while to the west side of the point the great river made +good haven for our batteaux and canoes. There was fine stir of air at +night, so that we slept wholesomely, and the wounded began to mend at a +great rate. And of a truth, tho' I have adventured in many lands, I have +seen no spot which in all its demesne offered a fairer prospect to a man +of taste. On the north of us, like the great sea itself, lay the Lake +Ontario, which on a summer morning, when touched by a little wind, with +the sun aslant, was like the lapis lazuli I have seen in the King's +palace--very blue, yet all bright with white and gold. The river behind +the camp ran mightily strong, yet for the most part glassy and green +like the precious green-stone the lapidaries call verd-antique. Behind +us to the south lay the forest, and four leagues away rose the triple +mountains wherein is the great fall; but these are not such mountains as +we have in Italy and Spain, being more of the nature of a great +table-land, making an exceeding hard portage to reach the Strait of +Erie above the great fall. + +It was truly a most fit place for a fort, and the Marquis de Denonville +let none in his command rest day or night until we had made a +fortification, in part of earth, surmounted by palisades which the +soldiers cut in the woods. There was much of hazard and fatigue in this +work, for the whole plain about the fort had no trees; so that some of +us went into the forest along the shore to the eastward and some cut +their sticks on the west side of the river. It was hard work, getting +them up the high bank; but so pressed were we, somewhat by fear of an +attack, and even more by the zeal of our commander, that in three days +we had built there a pretty good fort with four bastions, where we put +two great guns and some pattareras; and we had begun to build some +cabins on the four sides of the square in the middle of it. And as we +worked, our number was constantly diminished; for the Sieurs Du Luth and +Durantaye, with that one-handed Chevalier de Tonty of whom they tell so +much, and our allies the savages who had come from the Illinois to join +the Governor in his assault upon the Iroquois, as soon as their wounded +were able to be moved, took themselves off up the Niagara and over the +mountain portage I have spoken of; for they kept a post and place of +trade at the Detroit, and at Michillimackinac. And then presently the +Marquis himself and all whom he would let go sailed away around the +great lake for Montreal. But he ordered that an hundred, officers and +men, stay behind to hold this new Fort Denonville. He had placed in +command over us the Sieur de Troyes, of whom it would not become me to +speak in any wise ill. + +There were sour looks and sad, as the main force marched to the +batteaux. But the Marquis did not choose to heed anything of that. We +were put on parade for the embarkation--though we made a sorry show of +it, for there were even then more rags than lace or good leather--and +His Excellency spoke a farewell word in the hearing of us all. + +"You are to complete your quarters with all convenient expediency," he +said to De Troyes, who stood attentive, before us. "There will be no +lack of provision sent. You have here in these waters the finest fish in +the world. There is naught to fear from these Iroquois wasps--have we +not just torn to pieces their nests?" + +He said this with a fine bravado, though methought he lacked somewhat of +sincerity; for surely scattered wasps might prove troublesome enough to +those of us who stayed behind. But De Troyes made no reply, and saluted +gravely. And so, with a jaunty word about the pleasant spot where we +were to abide, and a light promise to send fresh troops in the spring, +the General took himself off, and we were left behind to look out for +the wasps. As the boats passed the sandbar and turned to skirt the lake +shore to the westward, we gave them a salvo of musketry; but De Troyes +raised his hand--although the great Marquis was yet in sight and almost +in hailing distance--and forbade another discharge. + +"Save your powder," was all he said; and the very brevity of it seemed +to mean more than many words, and put us into a low mood for that whole +day. + +Now for a time that followed there was work enough to keep each man +busy, which is best for all who are in this trade of war, especially in +the wilderness. It was on the third of August that M. de Brissay left +us, he having sent off some of the militia ahead of him; and he bade M. +de Vaudreuil stay behind for a space, to help the Sieur de Troyes +complete the fort and cabins, and this he did right ably, for as all +Canada and the King himself know, M. de Vaudreuil was a man of exceeding +great energy and resources in these matters. There was a vast deal of +fetching and carrying, of hewing and sawing and framing. And +notwithstanding that the sun of that climate was desperately hot the men +worked with good hearts, so that there was soon finished an excellent +lodgment for the commandant; with a chimney of sticks and clay, and +boards arranged into a sort of bedstead; and this M. de Troyes shared +with M. de Vaudreuil, until such time as the latter gentleman quit us. +There were three other cabins built, with chimneys, doors and little +windows. We also constructed a baking-house with a large oven and +chimney, partly covered with boards and the remainder with hurdles and +clay. We also built an extensive framed building without chimney, and a +large store-house with pillars eight feet high, and made from time to +time yet other constructions for the men and goods--though, _Dieu +défend_! we had spare room for both, soon enough. In the square in the +midst of the buildings we digged a well; and although the water was +sweet enough, yet from the first, for lack of proper curbing and +protection, it was ever much roiled and impure when we drew it, a +detriment alike to health and cookery. + +M. de Vaudreuil seeing us at last well roofed, and having directed for a +little the getting of a store of firewood, made his adieux. Even then, +in those fine August days, a spirit of discontent was among us, and more +than one spark of a soldier, who at the first camp had been hot upon +staying on the Niagara, sought now to be taken in M. de Vaudreuil's +escort. But that gentleman replied, that he wished to make a good report +of us all to the Governor, and that, for his part, he hoped he might +come to us early in the spring, with the promised detachment of troops. +And so we parted. + +Now the spring before, when we had all followed the Marquis de +Denonville across Lake Ontario to harass the cantons of the Iroquois, +this establishment of a post on the Niagara was assuredly a part of that +gentleman's plan. It is not for me, who am but a mere lieutenant of +marines, to show how a great commander should conduct his expeditions; +yet I do declare that while there was no lack of provision made for +killing such of the savages as would permit it, there was next to none +for maintaining troops who were to be left penned up in the savages' +country. We who were left at Fort Denonville had but few mattocks or +even axes. Of ammunition there was none too much. In the Senecas' +country we had destroyed thousands of minots[6] of corn, but had brought +along scarce a week's rations of it to this corner. We had none of us +gone a-soldiering with our pockets full of seed, and even if we had +brought ample store of corn and pumpkin seed, of lentils and salad +plants, the season was too late to have done much in gardening. We made +some feeble attempts at it; but no rain fell, the earth baked under the +sun so hard that great cracks came in it; and what few shoots of corn +and pumpkin thrust upward through this parched soil, withered away +before any strengthening juices came in them. To hunt far from the fort +we durst not, save in considerable parties; so that if we made ourselves +safe from the savages, we also made every other living thing safe +against us. To fish was well nigh our only recourse; but although many +of our men labored diligently at it, they met with but indifferent +return. + +Thus it was that our most ardent hopes, our very life itself, hung upon +the coming of the promised supplies. There was joy at the fort when at +length the sail of the little bark was seen; even De Troyes, who had +grown exceeding grave and melancholy, took on again something of his +wonted spirit. But we were not quite yet to be succored, for it was the +season of the most light and trifling airs, so that the bark for two +days hung idly on the shining lake, some leagues away from the mouth of +the river, while we idled and fretted like children, impatient for her +coming. When once we had her within the bar, there was no time lost in +unlading. It was a poor soldier indeed who could not work to secure the +comfort of his own belly; and the store was so ample that we felt secure +for the winter, come what might. The bark that fetched these things had +been so delayed by the calms, that she weighed and sailed with the first +favoring breeze; and it was not until her sail had fall'n below the +horizon that we fairly had sight or smell of what she had brought. + +From the first the stores proved bad; still, we made shift to use the +best, eked out with what the near-by forest and river afforded. For many +weeks we saw no foes. There was little work to do, and the men idled +through the days, with no word on their lips but to complain of the food +and wish for spring. When the frosts began to fall we had a more +vigorous spell of it; but now for the first time appeared the Iroquois +wasps. One of our parties, which had gone toward the great fall of the +Niagara, lost two men; those who returned reported that their comrades +were taken all unawares by the savages. Another party, seeking game to +the eastward where a stream cuts through the high bank on its way to the +lake,[7] never came back at all. Here we found their bodies and buried +them; but their scalps, after the manner of these people, had been +taken. + +Christmas drew on, but never was a sorrier season kept by soldiers of +France. De Troyes had fallen ill. Naught ailed him that we could see +save low spirits and a thinning of the blood, which made him too weak to +walk. The Father Jean de Lamberville, who had stayed with us, and who +would have been our hope and consolation in those days, very early fell +desperate ill of a distemper, so that the men had not the help of his +ministrations and holy example. Others there were who either from +feebleness or lack of discipline openly refused their daily duty and +went unpunished. We had fair store of brandy; and on Christmas eve those +of us who still held some soul for sport essayed to lighten the hour. We +brewed a comfortable draught, built the blaze high, for the frosts were +getting exceeding sharp, gathered as many as could be had of officers +and worthy men into our cabin, and made brave to sing the songs of +France. And now here was a strange thing: that while the hardiest and +soundest amongst us had made good show of cheer, had eaten the vile food +and tried to speak lightly of our ills, no sooner did we hear our own +voices in the songs that carried us back to the pleasantries of our +native land, than we fell a-sobbing and weeping like children; which +weakness I attribute to the distemper that was already in our blood. + +For the days that followed I have no heart to set down much. We never +went without the palisades except well guarded to fetch firewood. This +duty indeed made the burden of every day. A prodigious store of wood was +needed, for the cold surpassed anything I had ever known. The snow fell +heavily, and there were storms when for days the gale drave straight +across our bleak plateau. There was no blood in us to withstand the icy +blasts. Do what we would the chill of the tomb was in the cabins where +the men lay. The wood-choppers one day, facing such a storm, fell in the +deep drifts just outside the gate. None durst go out to them. The second +day the wolves found them--and we saw it all! + +There was not a charge of powder left in the fort. There was not a +mouthful of fit food. The biscuits had from the first been full of worms +and weevils. The salted meat, either from the admixture of sea-water +through leaky casks, or from other cause, was rotten beyond the power +even of a starving man to hold. + +_Le scorbut_ broke out. I had seen it on shipboard, and knew the signs. +De Troyes now seldom left his cabin; and when, in the way of duty, I +made my devoirs, and he asked after the men, I made shift to hide the +truth. But it could not be for long. + +"My poor fellows," he sighed one day, as he turned feebly on his couch +of planks, "it must be with all as it is with me--see, look here, De +Tregay, do you know the sign?" and he bared his shrunken arm and side. + +Indeed I knew the signs--the dry, pallid skin, with the purple blotches +and indurations. He saw I was at a loss for words. + +"_Sang de Dieu!_" he cried, "Is this what soldiers of France must come +to, for the glory of"----. He stopped short, as if lacking spirit to go +on. "Now I bethink me," he added, in a melancholy voice, "it _is_ what +soldiers must come to." Then, after a while he asked: + +"How many dead today, De Tregay?" + +How many dead! From a garrison of gallant men-at-arms we had become a +charnel-house. In six weeks we had lost sixty men. From a hundred at the +beginning of autumn, we were now scarce forty, and February was not +gone. A few of us, perhaps with stouter stomachs than the rest, did all +the duty of the post. We brought the firewood and we buried the +dead--picking the frozen clods with infinite toil, that we might lay the +bones of our comrades beyond the reach of wolves. Sometimes it was the +scurvy, sometimes it was the cold, sometimes, methinks, it was naught +but a weak will--or as we say, the broken heart; but it mattered not, +the end was the same. More than twenty died in March; and although we +were now but a handful of skeletons and accustomed to death, I had no +thought of sorrow or of grief, so dulled had my spirit become, until one +morning I found the brave De Troyes drawing with frightful pains his +dying breath. With the name of a maid he loved upon his lips, the light +went out; and with heavy heart I buried him in that crowded ground, and +fain would have lain down with him. + +And now with our commander under the snow, what little spirit still +burned in the best of us seemed to die down. I too bore the signs of the +distemper, yet to no great extent, for of all the garrison I had labored +by exercise to keep myself wholesome, and in the woods I had tasted of +barks and buds and roots of little herbs, hoping to find something akin +in its juices to the _herbe de scorbut_[8] which I have known to cure +sick sailors. But now I gave over these last efforts for life; for, +thought I, spring is tardy in these latitudes. Many weeks must yet pass +before the noble Marquis at Montreal (where comforts are) will care to +send the promised troop. And the Western savages, our allies the +Illinois, the Ottawais, the Miamis, were they not coming to succor us +here and to raid the Iroquois cantons? But of what account is the +savage's word! + +So I thought, and I turned myself on my pallet. I listened. There was no +sound in all the place save the beating of a sleet. "It is appointed," I +said within me. "Let the end come." And presently, being numb with the +cold, I thought I was on a sunny hillside in Anjou. It was the time of +the grape-harvest, and the smell of the vines, laughter and sunshine +filled the air. Young lads and maids, playmates of my boyhood days, came +and took me by the hand.... + +A twinge of pain made the vision pass. I opened my eyes upon a huge +savage, painted and bedaubed, after their fashion. It was the grip of +his vast fist that had brought me back from Anjou. + +"The Iroquois, then," I thought, "have learned of our extremity, and +have broken in, to finish all. So much the better," and I was for +sinking back upon the boards, when the savage took from a little pouch a +handful of the parched corn which they carry on their expeditions. +"Eat," he said, in the language of the Miamis. And then I knew that +relief had come--and I knew no more for a space. + +Now this was Michitonka himself, who had led his war party from beyond +Lake Erie, where the Chevalier de Tonty and Du Luth were, to see how we +fared at Fort Denonville, and to make an expedition against the +Senecas--of whom we saw no more, from the time the Miamis arrived. There +were of all our garrison but twelve not dead, and among those who threw +off the distemper was the Father de Lamberville. His recovery gave us +the greatest joy. He lay for many weeks at the very verge of the grave, +and it was marvelous to all to see his skin, which had been so empurpled +and full of malignant humors, come wholesome and fair again. I have +often remarked, in this hard country, that of all Europeans the Fathers +of the Holy Orders may be brought nearest to death, and yet regain their +wonted health. They have the same prejudice for life that the wildest +savage has. But as for the rest of us, who are neither savage nor holy, +it is by a slim chance that we live at all. + +Now the Father, and two or three of the others who had the strength to +risk it, set out with a part of Michitonka's people to Cataracouy[9] and +Montreal, to carry the news of our extremity. And on a soft April day as +we looked over lake, we saw a sail; and we knew that we had kept the +fort until the relief company was sent as had been commanded. But it had +been a great pinch. + +Now I am come to that which after all I chiefly set out to write down; +for I have ever held that great woes should be passed over with few +words, but it is meet to dwell upon the hour of gladness. And this hour +was now arrived, when we saw approach the new commandant, the Sieur +Désbergeres, captain of one of the companies of the Detachment of the +Marine, and with him the Father Milet, of the Society of Jesus. There +was a goodly company, whose names are well writ on the history of this +New France: the Sieurs De la Mothe, La Rabelle, Demuratre de Clerin and +de Gemerais, and others, besides a host of fine fellows of the common +rank; with fresh food that meant life to us. + +Of all who came that April day, it was the Father Milet who did the +most. The very morning that he landed, we knelt about him at mass; and +scarce had he rested in his cabin than he marked a spot in the midst of +the square, where a cross should stand, and bade as many as could, get +about the hewing of it; and although I was yet feeble and might rest as +I liked, I chose to share in the work, for so I found my pleasure. A +fair straight oak was felled and well hewn, and with infinite toil the +timber was taken within the palisades and further dressed; and while the +carpenters toiled to mortise the cross-piece and fasten it with pins, +Father Milet himself traced upon the arms the symbols for the legend: + + Regnat, Vincit, Imperat Christus. + +And these letters were well cut into the wood, in the midst of them +being the sign of the Sacred Heart. We had it well made, and a place dug +for it, on a Thursday; and on the next morning, which was Good Friday, +the reverend Father placed his little portable altar in the midst of the +square, where we all, officers and men, and even some of the Miamis who +were yet with us, assembled for the mass. Then we raised the great cross +and planted it firmly in the midst of the little square. The service of +the blessing of it lay hold of my mind mightily, for my fancy was that +this great sign of victory had sprung from the midst of the graves where +De Troyes and four score of my comrades lay; and being in this tender +mood (for I was still weak in body) the words which the Father read from +his breviary seemed to rest the more clearly in my mind. + +"_Adjutorium nostrum in nomine Domini._" Father Milet had a good voice, +with a sort of tenderness in it, so that we were every one disposed to +such silence and attention, that I could even hear the little waves +lapping the shore below the fort. And when he began with the +"_Oramus_"--"_Rogamus te Domine sancte Pater omnipotens_,"--I was that +moved, by the joy of it, and my own memories, that I wept--and I a +soldier! + +It may be believed that the Sunday which followed, which was the +Paschal, was kept by us with such worship and rejoicing as had never yet +been known in those remote parts. Holy men had been on that river +before, it is true; but none had abode there for long, nor had any set +up so great a cross, nor had there ever such new life come to men as we +knew at Fort Denonville that Easter. + +For a space, all things went well. What with the season (for spring ever +inspires men to new undertakings) and the bitter lessons learned in the +great pinch of the past winter, we were no more an idle set, but kept +all at work, and well. Yet the Iroquois pestered us vastly, being set on +thereto by the English, who claimed this spot. And in September there +came that pilot Maheut, bringing his bark La General over the shoal at +the river's mouth all unexpected; and she was scarce anchored in the +little roadstead than Désbergeres knew he was to abandon all. It was +cause of chagrin to the great Marquis, I make no doubt, thus to drop the +prize he had so tried to hold; but some of us in the fort had no stomach +for another winter on the Niagara, and we made haste to execute the +orders which the Marquis de Denonville had sent. We put the guns on +board La General. We set the gate open, and tore down the rows of pales +on the south and east sides of the square. Indeed the wind had long ago +begun this work, so that towards the lake the pales (being but little +set in the earth) had fallen or leaned over, so they could readily have +been scaled, or broken through. But as the order was, we left the cabins +and quarters standing, with doors ajar, to welcome who might come, +Iroquois or wolf, for there was naught within. But Father Milet took +down from above the door of his cabin the little sun dial. "The shadow +of the great cross falls divers ways," was his saying. + +Early the next morning, being the 15th of September, of the year 1688, +being ready for the embarkation, Father Milet summoned us to the last +mass he might say in the place. It was a sad morning, for the clouds +hung heavy; the lake was of a somber and forbidding cast, and the very +touch in the air forebode autumnal gales. As we knelt around the cross +for the last time, the ensign brought the standards which Désbergeres +had kept, and holding the staves, knelt also. Certain Miamis, too, who +were about to make the Niagara portage, stayed to see what the priest +might do. And at the end of the office Father Milet did an uncommon +thing, for he was mightily moved. He turned from us toward the cross, +and throwing wide his arms spoke the last word--"Amen." + +There were both gladness and sorrow in our hearts as we embarked. Lake +and sky took on the hue of lead, foreboding storm. We durst carry but +little sail, and at the sunset hour were scarce a league off shore. As +it chanced, Father Milet and I stood together on the deck and gazed +through the gloom toward that dark coast. While we thus stood, there +came a rift betwixt the banked clouds to the west, so that the sun, just +as it slipped from sight, lighted those Niagara shores, and we saw but +for an instant, above the blackness and the desolation, the great cross +as in fire or blood gleam red. + + + + +With Bolton at Fort Niagara. + + + + +WITH BOLTON AT FORT NIAGARA. + + +One pleasant September day in 1897 it was my good fortune, under expert +guidance, to follow for a little the one solitary trail made by the +American patriots in Western New York during the Revolutionary War, the +one expedition of our colonial forces approaching this region during +that period. This was the famous "raid" led by Gen. John Sullivan in the +summer of 1779. Our quest took us up the long hill slope west of Conesus +Lake, in what is now the town of Groveland, Livingston Co., to a +spot--among the most memorable in the annals of Western New York, yet +unmarked and known to but a few--where a detachment of Sullivan's army, +under Lieut. Boyd, were waylaid and massacred by the Indians. It was on +the 13th of September that this tragedy occurred. Two days later Gen. +Sullivan, having accomplished the main purpose of his raid--the +destruction of Indian villages and crops--turned back towards +Pennsylvania, returning to Easton, whence the expedition had started. He +had come within about eighty miles of the Niagara. "Though I had it not +in command," wrote Gen. Sullivan in his report to the Secretary of War, +"I should have ventured to have paid [Fort] Niagara a visit, had I been +supplied with fifteen days' provisions in addition to what I had, which +I am persuaded from the bravery and ardor of our troops would have +fallen into our hands."[10] This was the nearest approach to any attempt +made by the Americans to enter this region during that war. + +The events of Sullivan's expedition are well known. Few episodes of the +Revolution are more fully recorded. But what is the reverse of the +picture? What lay at the other side of this Western New York wilderness +which Sullivan failed to penetrate? What was going on, up and down the +Niagara, and on Buffalo Creek, during those momentous years? We know +that the region was British, that old Fort Niagara was its garrison, the +principal rendezvous of the Indians and the base from which scalping +parties set out to harry the frontier settlements. The most dreadful +frontier tragedies of the war--Wyoming, Cherry Valley, and others--were +planned here and carried out with British coöperation. But who were the +men and what were the incidents of the time, upon our Niagara frontier? +So far as I am aware, that period is for the most part a blank in our +histories. One may search the books in vain for any adequate +narrative--indeed for any but the most meager data--of the history of +the Niagara region during the Revolution. The materials are not lacking, +they are in fact abundant. In this paper I undertake only to give an +inkling of the character of events in this region during that grave +period in our nation's history.[11] + +In 1778, Colonel Haldimand, afterward Sir Frederick, succeeded Gen. Guy +Carleton in the command of the British forces in Canada. He was +Commander in Chief, and Governor of Canada, until his recall in 1784. +Lord North was England's Prime Minister, Lord George Germaine in charge +of American affairs in the Cabinet. Haldimand took up his residence at +Quebec, and therefrom, for a decade, administered the affairs of the +Canadian frontier with zeal and adroitness. He was a thorough soldier, +as his letters show. He was also an adept in the treatment of matters +which, like the retention by the British of the frontier posts for +thirteen years after they had been ceded to the Americans by treaty, +called for dogged determination, veiled behind diplomatic courtesies. +The troops which he commanded were scattered from the mouth of the St. +Lawrence to Lake Michigan; but to no part of this long line of +wilderness defense--a line which was substantially the enemy's +frontier--did he pay more constant attention than to Fort Niagara. There +were good reasons for this. Fort Niagara was not only the key to the +upper lakes, the base of supplies for Detroit, Michillimackinac and +minor posts, but it had long been an important trading post and the +principal rendezvous of the Six Nations, upon whose peculiarly efficient +services against the American frontiers Sir Frederick relied scarcely +less than he did upon the British troops themselves. It was, therefore, +with no ordinary solicitude that he made his appointments for Niagara. + +I cannot state positively the names of all officers in command at Fort +Niagara from the time war was begun, down to 1777. Lieut. Lernault, +afterwards at Detroit, was here for a time; but about the spring of '77 +we find Fort Niagara put under the command of Lieut. Col. Mason Bolton, +of the 34th Royal Artillery. He had then seen some years of service in +America; had campaigned in Florida and the West Indies; had been sent to +Mackinac and as far west as the Illinois; and it was no slight tribute +to his ability and fidelity, when Haldimand put the Niagara frontier +into his hands. Here, for over three years, he was the chief in command. +In military rank, even if in nothing else, he was the principal man in +this region during the crucial period of the Revolution. He commanded +the garrison at Fort Niagara, and its dependencies at Schlosser and Fort +Erie. Buffalo was then unthought of--it was merely Te-hos-e-ro-ron, the +place of the basswoods; but at the Indian villages farther up Buffalo +Creek, which came into existence in 1780, the name of Col. Bolton stood +for the highest military authority of the region. And yet, incredible as +it may seem, after all these years in which--to adapt Carlyle's +phrase--the Torch of History has been so assiduously brandished about, I +do not know of any printed book which offers any information about Col. +Mason Bolton or the life he led here. Indeed, with one or two +exceptions, in which he is barely alluded to, I think all printed +literature may be searched in vain for so much as a mention of his name. + +Other chief men of this frontier, at the period we are considering, were +Col. Guy Johnson, Superintendent of Indian Affairs; Sir John Johnson, +son of the Sir William who captured Fort Niagara from the French in +1759; Col. John Butler, of the Queen's Rangers; his son Walter; +Sayenqueraghta, the King of the Senecas; Rowland Montour, his half-breed +son-in-law; and Brant, the Mohawk hero, who, equipped with a New England +schooling and enlightened by a trip to England, here returned to lead +out scalping parties in the British interests. + +Col. Bolton had been for some time without authentic news of the enemy, +when on the morning of December 14, 1777, the little garrison was thrown +into unwonted activity by the arrival of Capt. La Mothe, who reported +that Gen. Howe had taken Philadelphia, and that the rebels had +"sustained an incredible loss." By a forced march of Howe, La Mothe +averred, Gen. Washington had been defeated, "with 11,000 rebels killed, +wounded and prisoners." Two days later the excitement was increased by +the arrival at the fort of some Delaware Indians, who brought the great +news that Washington was killed and his army totally routed. "I had a +meeting of the chiefs of the Six Nations," wrote Bolton to Gen. +Carleton, "about an hour after the express arrived and told them the +news. They seemed extremely pleased and have been in good temper ever +since their arrival." Oddly enough, this news was confirmed by a soldier +of the 7th Regiment, who had been taken prisoner by the Americans, but +had escaped and made his way to Niagara. He further embellished the +report by declaring that 9,000 men under Lord Percy defeated 13,000 +rebels at Bear's Hill on December 20th, under Washington, that Gates was +sent for to take the command when Washington was killed, and that 7,000 +volunteers from Ireland had joined Howe's army. Washington at this time, +the reader will remember, had gone into winter quarters with his army at +Valley Forge. + +There were 2,300 Indians at Fort Niagara at this period, all making +perpetual demands for beef, flour and rum. The license of the jubilee +over Washington's death probably was limited only by the scantiness of +provisions and the impossibility of adding to the store. Cold weather +shut down on the establishment, the vessels were laid up, and all winter +long Col. Bolton and his men had no word contradicting the report of +Washington's death. As late as April 8th, the following spring, he wrote +to Gen. Carleton that "all accounts confirm Washington being killed and +his army defeated in December last, and that Gates was sent for to take +the command." + +The British early were apprised of Sullivan's intended raid, and +although powerless to prevent it, kept well posted as to its progress. +The various parties which Sullivan encountered, were directed from Fort +Niagara. "Since the rebels visit the Indian country," wrote Gen. +Haldimand to Sir John Johnson, September 14, 1779, "I am happy they are +advancing so far. They can never reach Niagara and their difficulties +and danger of retreat will, in proportion as they advance, increase." +Again he wrote twelve days later: "You will be able to make your way to +Niagara, and if the rebels should be encouraged to advance as far as +that place, I am convinced that few of them will escape from famine or +the sword. All in my power to do for you is to push up provisions, which +shall be done with the utmost vigor, while the river and lake remain +navigable, although it may throw me into great distress in this part of +the province, should anything happen to prevent the arrival of the fall +victuallers." There was however genuine alarm at Fort Niagara, and even +Sir Frederick himself, though he wrote so confidently to Bolton, in his +letters to the Ministry expressed grave apprehensions of what might +happen. + +What did happen was bad enough for British interests, for though the +Americans turned back, the raid had driven in upon Bolton a horde of +frightened, hungry and irresponsible Indians, who had to be fed at the +King's expense and were a source of unmeasured concern to the overworked +commandant, notwithstanding the independent organization of the Indian +Department which was effected. + +To arrive at a just idea of conditions hereabouts at this period, we +must keep in mind the relation of the fluctuating population, Indians +and whites, to the uncertain and often inadequate food supply. + +Fort Niagara at this time--the fall of '78--was a fortification 1,100 +yards in circumference, with five bastions and two blockhouses. Capt. +John Johnson thought 1,000 men were needed to defend it; "the present +strength," he wrote, "amounting to no more than 200 rank and file, +including fifteen men of the Royal Artillery and the sick, a number +barely sufficient to defend the outworks (if they were in a state of +defense) and return the necessary sentries, should the place be infested +by a considerable force.... With a garrison of 500 or a less number, it +is impregnable against all the savages in America, but if a strong body +of troops with artillery should move this way, I believe no engineer who +has ever seen these works will say it can hold out any considerable +time." + +On May 1st, 1778, there had been in the garrison at Fort Niagara 311 +men. Half a dozen more were stationed at Fort Schlosser, and thirty-two +at Fort Erie, a total of 349, of whom 255 were reported as fit for duty. +At this time Maj. Butler's Rangers, numbering 106, had gone on "an +expedition with the Indians towards the settlements of Pennsylvania or +New York, whichever he finds most practicable and advantageous to the +King's service." These raids from Fort Niagara were far more frequent +than one would infer from the histories--even from the American +histories whose authors are not to be suspected of purposely minimizing +either their number or effect. But it appears from the records that not +infrequently the expeditions accomplished nothing of more consequence +than to steal stock. Horses, cattle and sheep were in more than one +instance driven away from settlements far down on the Mohawk or +Susquehanna, and brought back alive or dead along the old trails, to +Fort Niagara. + +To illustrate the methods of the time: In a report to Brig. Gen. Powell, +Maj. Butler wrote: "In the spring of 1778 I found it absolutely +requisite for the good of His Majesty's service, with the consent and +approbation of Lt. Col. Bolton, and on the application of the chiefs and +warriors of the five united nations ..., to proceed to the frontiers of +the colonies in rebellion, with as many officers and men of my corps as +were then raised, in order to protect the Indian settlements and to +annoy the enemy." At this time many of his men were new recruits from +the colonies, sons or heads of Loyalist--or as we used to say, on this +side the border, of Tory--families. As they approached American frontier +settlements, the loyalty to King George of some of his men became +suspicious, so that Butler issued a proclamation that all deserters, if +apprehended, were to be shot. In the letter just quoted from he reports +that this order had a good effect. Many curious circumstances arose at +the time, due to the British or American allegiance of men who before +the war had been friendly neighbors, but who now met as hostiles, as +captor and captive, sometimes as victor and victim. There was a constant +flight, by one route and another, of Loyalist refugees to Fort Niagara. +Thus, by a return of Feb. 12, 1779, 1,346 people were drawing rations +from the stores of that place, of whom sixty-four were "distressed +families," that is, Tories who had fled from the colonies (mostly from +the Mohawk Valley); and 445 Indians. The war parties left early in the +spring, and during the summer the supply boats could get up from the +lower stations. Then came that march of destruction up the Genesee +Valley; winter shut down on lake and river communication, and the most +distressed period the frontier had known under British rule set in. In +October, immediately after the invasion, Col. Bolton wrote (I quote +briefly from a very full report): "Joseph Brant ... assures me that if +500 men had joined the Rangers in time, there is no doubt that instead +of 300, at least 1,000 warriors would have turned out, and with that +force he is convinced that Mr. Sullivan would have had some reason to +repent of his expedition; but the Indians not being supported as they +expected, thought of nothing more than carrying off their families, and +we had at this Post the 21st of last month 5,036 to supply with +provisions, and notwithstanding a number of parties have been sent out +since, we have still on the ground 3,678 to maintain. I am convinced +your Excellency will not be surprised, if I am extremely alarmed, for to +support such a multitude I think will be absolutely impossible. I have +requested of Major Butler to try his utmost to prevail on the Indians +whose villages have been destroyed to go down to Montreal for the +winter, where, I have assured him, they would be well taken care of; and +to inform all the rest who have not suffered by the enemy that they must +return home and take care of their corn." + +Neither plan worked as hoped for. It was difficult to get the Indians to +consent to go down the river, or even to Carleton Island; and as +Sullivan had destroyed every village save two, few of the Senecas could +be induced to return into the Genesee country. Bolton's urgent appeals +for extra provisions were also doomed to disappointment, owing to the +lateness of the season or the lack of transports. + +The winter after Sullivan's raid, Guy Johnson distributed clothing to +more than 3,000 Indians at Fort Niagara. But the cost of clothing them +was trifling compared with the cost of feeding them. Expeditions against +the distant American settlements were planned, not more through the +desire for retaliation, than from the necessity of reducing the number +of dependents on Fort Niagara. When the inroads on provisions grew +serious, the Indians were encouraged to go on the war-path. But so +exceedingly severe was the winter, so deep was the snow on the trails, +that not until the middle of February could any parties be induced to +set out. The number camped around the fort, consuming the King's pork, +beef, flour and rum, rose as we have seen, to more than 5,000. Many +starved and many froze. + +Much could be said regarding the British policy of dealing with the +Indians at Fort Niagara, but I may only touch upon the subject at this +time. Haldimand, and behind him the British Ministry, placed great +reliance upon them. The uniform instruction was that the Indians should +be maintained as allies. On April 10, 1778, Lord George Germaine wrote +to Gen. Haldimand that the designs of the rebels against Niagara and +Detroit were not likely to be successful as long as the Six Nations +continued faithful. Presents, honors, and the full license of the +tomahawk and scalping-knife were allowed them. With a view to promoting +their fidelity, Joseph Brant was made a colonel. Significant, too, was +the settling of a generous allowance for life upon Brant's sister, Sir +William Johnson's consort; which act was approved, about this time, by +the august council at Whitehall. + +The British watched the state of the Indian mind as the sailor watches +his barometer at the coming of a storm. And the Indian mind, though +always cunning, was sometimes childlike in the directness and simplicity +of its conclusions. The constant flight to Fort Niagara of refugee +Tories was remarked by the savages, and in turn noted and reported to +Gen. Haldimand. "The frequent passing of white people to Niagara," wrote +Capt. John Johnson to Gen. Carleton, October 6, 1778, "is much taken +note of by the Indians, who say they are running away and that they (the +Tories) have begun the quarrel and leave them (the Indians) to defend +it." However, Johnson counted on being able to change their minds, for +he added: "I hope in my next to inform you of giving the rebels an +eternal thrashing." + +The usual British good sense--the national tradesman's instinct--seems +to have been temporarily suspended, held in abeyance, at the demands of +these Indians. In his report of May 12, '78, Col. Bolton writes that he +has approved bills for nearly £18,000 "for sundries furnished savages +which Maj. Butler thought absolutely necessary, notwithstanding all the +presents sent to their posts last year; 2,700 being assembled at a time +when I little expected such a number, obliged me to send to Detroit for +a supply of provisions, and to buy up all the cattle, etc., that could +possibly be procured, otherwise this garrison must have been distressed +or the savages offended, and of course, I suppose, would have joined the +rebels. Even after all that was done for them they scarce seemed +satisfied." In June he writes that only eight out of twenty puncheons of +rum ordered for Fort Niagara had been received, and that "much wine has +been given to the savages that was intended for this post." + +One reads in this old correspondence, with mingled amusement and +amazement, of the marvelous attentions paid these wily savages. +Childlike, whatever they saw in the cargoes of the merchants, they +wanted, and England humored and pampered them, lest they transfer their +affections. We have Guy Johnson's word for it, under date of Niagara, +July 3, 1780, that "many of the Indians will no longer wear tinsel lace, +and are become good judges of gold and silver. They frequently demand +and have received wine, tea, coffee, candles and many such articles, and +they are frequently nice in the choice of the finest black and other +cloth for blankets, and the best linnen and cambrick with other things +needless to enumerate.... The Six Nations are not so fond of gaudy +colors as of good and substantial things, but they are passionately fond +of silver ornaments and neat arrows." Elsewhere in these letters a +requisition for port wine is explained on the ground that it was +demanded by the chiefs when they were sick--dainty treatment, truly, for +stalwart savages whose more accustomed diet was cornmeal and water, and +who could feast, when fortune favored, on the reeking entrails of a dead +horse. + +Now and then, it is true, advantages were taken of the Indians in ways +which, presumably, it was thought they would not detect; all, we must +grant, in the interest of economy. One was in the matter of powder. The +Indians were furnished with a grade inferior to the garrison powder. +This was shown by a series of tests made at Fort Niagara by order of +Brig. Gen. Powell--Col. Bolton's successor--on July 10, 1782. We may +suppose it to have been an agreeable summer day, that there was leisure +at the fort to indulge in experiments, and that there were no astute +Indians on hand to be unduly edified by the result. At Gen. Powell's +order an eight-inch mortar was elevated to forty-five degrees, and six +rounds fired, to find out how far one half a pound of powder would throw +a forty-six pound shell. The first trial, with the garrison powder, sent +the shell 239 yards. For rounds two and three Indian Department powder +was used; the fine-glazed kind sent the shell eighty-two yards, the +coarser grain carried it but seventy-nine yards. Once more the garrison +powder was used; the shell flew 243 yards, while a second trial of the +two sorts of Indian Department powder sent it but eighty-four and +seventy-six yards, or about three to one in favor of the white man. With +the garrison powder, a musket and carbine ball went through a two and +one-quarter-inch oak plank, at the distance of fifty yards, and lodged +in one six inches behind it; but with the Indian powder these balls +would not go through the first plank. + +This seems like taking a base advantage of the trustful Indian ally, +especially since he was to use his powder against the common foe, the +American rebel; in reality, however, the Indians were wasteful and +irresponsible, and squandered their ammunition on the little birds of +the forest and even in harmless but expensive salvos into the empty air. + +Another economy was practiced in the Indian Department: when the stock +ran low the rum was watered. Sometimes the precious contents of the +casks were augmented one third, sometimes even two thirds, with the more +abundant beverage from Niagara River, so that the garrison rum, like +the garrison powder, "carried" two or three times as well as did that of +the Indian Department; but whether this had a salutary effect upon the +thirsty recipients is a problem the solution of which lies outside the +range of the exact historian. + +Difficult as it was to hold the allegiance of the savage, it was harder +yet--nay, it was impossible--to make him fight according to the rules of +civilized warfare. The British Government from the Ministry down stand +in history in an equivocal position in this matter. Over and over again +in the correspondence which I have examined, one finds vigorous +condemnation of the Indian method of slaughter of women and children, +and the torture of captives. Over and over again the officers are urged +not to allow it; and over and over again they report, after a raid, that +they deplore the acts of wantonness which were committed, and which they +were unable to prevent. But nowhere do I find any suggestion that the +services of the Indians be dispensed with. Throughout the Revolution, +the Senecas, Cayugas, Onondagas and Delawares--for the last, also, were +often at Fort Niagara--were sent against the Americans, by the British. +The Oneidas, as is well known, were divided and vacillating in their +allegiance. In August, 1780, 132 of them who hitherto had been +ostensibly friendly to the Americans, were induced to go to Niagara and +give their pledges to the British. When they arrived Guy Johnson put on +a severe front and censured them for their lack of steadfastness to the +King. According to him, some 500 Oneidas in all came to the fort that +year and declared themselves ready to fight the Americans. The last +party that arrived delivered up to the Superintendent a commission +which, he says, "the Rebels had issued with a view to form the Oneidas +into a corps, ... they also delivered up to me the Rebel flag." + +So far as I am aware this is the first mention of the Stars and Stripes +on the banks of the Niagara. By resolution of June 14, 1777, the +American Congress had decreed "That the flag of the thirteen United +States be thirteen stripes alternate red and white; that the union be +thirteen stars, white in a blue field, representing a new +constellation." A little over three years had passed since John Paul +Jones had first flung to the breeze, at the mast of his ship Ranger, +this bright banner of the new nation. It was not to appear in a British +port for two and a half years to come; sixteen years were to pass before +it could fly triumphant over the old walls of Fort Niagara; but France +had saluted it, Americans were fighting for it, and although it is first +found here in hostile hands, yet I like to reckon from that August day +in 1780, the beginning, if in prophecy only, of the reign of that new +constellation over the Niagara region. + +Col. Bolton's life at Fort Niagara was one of infinite care. Besides the +routine of the garrison, he was constantly harrassed by the demands of +the Indians, whom the British did not wish to feed, but whom they dared +not offend. The old fort, which now sleeps so quietly at the mouth of +the river, was a busy place in those days. There was constant coming and +going. Schooners, snows[12] and batteaux with provisions from Quebec, or +with munitions of war or detachments of troops for Detroit or +Michillimackinac, were constantly arriving. I question if the lower +Niagara were not busier in that period than it is now. The transfer of +supplies around the falls--the "great portage"--was hard and tedious +work. Not Quebec, but Great Britain, was the real base of supplies. +There were many detentions, and constant interruption in shipment, at +every stage of the way. Sometimes a cargo of salt pork from Ireland or +flour from London would reach Quebec too late in the summer to admit of +transfer to the posts until spring. Sometimes, in crossing Lake Ontario, +the provisions would be damaged so as to be unfit for use; sometimes +they would be lost. Then not only the garrison at Niagara had to face +starvation, but Col. Bolton soon had his ears ringing with messages and +maledictions from Detroit and Mackinac, buried still farther in the +wilderness, and all looking to Niagara for food and clothing. At such +times of distress the upper posts questioned whether goods intended for +them were not irregularly held at Niagara; the meanwhile, Col. Bolton +would be straining every effort to get provisions enough to keep his own +command from starvation. Indian supplies and traders' goods, too, were +liable to loss and detention; and on very slight provocation, the +demands of the Indians grew insolent. + +There were constant desertions, too, among the troops. Indeed, there +seems never to have been a time at Fort Niagara when desertions were not +frequent, and, more than once, so numerous as to threaten the very +existence of the garrison. This, however, not in Bolton's time. As the +correspondence shows, he enjoyed the utmost confidence of his superiors, +and there is nothing to indicate that his men were not as devoted to him +as any officer could expect at a frontier post where service meant hard +work and possible starvation. + +Frequent as had been the raids against the settlements before the +expedition of Sullivan, they became thereafter even more frequent; and, +if less disastrous, they were so merely because the American frontier +settlements had already paid their utmost tribute to Butler and Brant. +The expeditions, along certain much-worn trails, had to go farther and +farther in order to find foes to attack or cattle to steal. This was +especially so in the valleys of the Mohawk and Susquehanna; yet in one +quarter and another this border warfare went on, and there is no lack of +evidence, in the official correspondence, of its effectiveness. Thus, +writing from Fort Niagara, August 24, 1780, Guy Johnson reports: "I have +the pleasure to inform your excellency that the partys who subdivided +after Capt. Brant's success at the Cleysburg"--an expedition which he +had previously reported--"have all been successful; that Capt. Brant +has destroyed twenty houses in Schoharie and taken and killed twelve +persons, besides releasing several women and children. Among the +prisoners is Lieut. Vrooman, the settlement of that name being that +which was destroyed. The other divisions of that party have been also +successful, particularly Capt. David's party, and the number of killed +and taken by them within that time, so far as it has come to my hands, +is, killed, thirty-five, taken, forty-six, released, forty.... The +remaining inhabitants on the frontiers are drawing in so as to deprive +the rebels of any useful resources from them. I have at present on +service, several partys that set out within one and the same week, and I +apprehend that falling on the frontiers in different places at the same +time will have a good effect." September 18th he writes, telling of the +destruction of "Kleysberg," "containing a church, 100 houses and as many +barnes, besides mills and 500 cattle and horses." In the same letter he +wrote: "I have now 405 warriors out in different parties and quarters, +exclusive of some marched from Kadaragawas.... The greater part of the +rest are at their planting grounds, and many sick here, as fevers and +fluxes have for some time prevailed at this Post." October 1st he +reports the number of men in the war parties sent out from Fort Niagara +as 892. A return, dated June 30, 1781, shows that the war parties "have +killed and taken during the season already 150 persons." September 30th +he reports an expedition under Walter Johnson and Montour, in which +about "twenty rebels" were killed; and on that day Capt. Nelles arrived +with eleven prisoners taken in Pennsylvania. A postscript to this letter +says: "Since writing, I have received the disagreeable news of the death +of the gallant Montour, who died of the wounds he received in the action +before related. He was a chief of the greatest spirit and readiness, and +his death is a loss." We can well believe that; for Montour, who, from +the American view-point, had the reputation of being a fiend incarnate, +had indeed shown "spirit and readiness" in stealing cattle, burning log +cabins, killing and scalping their occupants or bringing them captive to +Fort Niagara. + +In another paper[13] I have stated that I have traced out the individual +experiences in captivity of thirty-two of these Americans, who were +taken by the Indians and British and brought as prisoners to Fort +Niagara. How much might be done on this line may be judged from a review +of Col. Johnson's transactions, furnished by that officer at Montreal, +March 24, 1782, in which it is stated that the number of Americans +killed and taken captive by parties from Fort Niagara, amounted at that +time to near 900. The time was rife with like experiences. For instance, +there was the famous raid on Cherry Valley, from which Mrs. Jane +Campbell and her four children, after a long detention among the +Indians, were brought to Fort Niagara. There was Jane Moore, who was +also taken at Cherry Valley, and who subsequently was married to Capt. +Powell of the Niagara garrison in the winter of 1779--the ceremony, by +the Church of England service, so impressing Joseph Brant that he +immediately led up to the minister the squaw with whom he had been +living for a long time, and insisted on being married over again, white +man's fashion. There was Lieut. Col. Stacia, another prisoner from +Cherry Valley, whose head Molly Brant wanted for a football. Some of the +stories of these captives, like that of Alexander Harper, who ran the +gauntlet at Fort Niagara (the ordeal apparently being made light in his +case), are familiar to readers of our history; others, I venture to say, +are unknown. For instance, there were John and Robert Brice, two little +boys, who were taken in 1779 near Rensselaerville by a scouting party, +and brought, with other prisoners and eight scalps, to Fort Niagara. But +they did not come together. Robert, who was but eleven years old, was +taken to Fort Erie and sold to a lake sailor for the sum of £3. This +little Son of the Revolution was kept on the upper lakes until 1783, +when he was summoned to Fort Niagara where he met his brother John, from +whom he had parted near the mouth of the Unadilla River some four years +before. They were sent to Montreal with nearly 200 liberated captives, +and ultimately the boys reached Albany and their friends. Then there is +the story of Nancy Bundy, who, her husband and children being killed, +was brought to Fort Niagara and sold into servitude for $8. There was +the famous Indian fighter, Moses Van Campen, whose adventures and +captivity in our region are the subject of a whole book. There were +Horatio Jones and Jasper Parrish, who passed from Indian captives into +the useful role of interpreters for the whites. + +Thus I might go on, naming by the score the heroes and heroines of +Indian captivities whose sufferings and whose adventures make up the +most romantic chapter in our home annals, as yet for the most part +unwritten. But I take time now to dwell, briefly as possible, upon but +one of these captivities--one of the notable incidents during Col. +Bolton's time at Fort Niagara. This was the capture of the Gilbert +family. It made so great a stir, even in those days accustomed to war +and Indian raids, that in 1784 a little book was published in +Philadelphia giving the history of it. The original edition[14] has long +since been one of the scarcest of Americana. But in the unpublished +correspondence between Gen. Haldimand and the officers at Fort Niagara, +I find sundry allusions to "the Quaker's family," and statements which +go to show that the British at least were disposed to treat them well, +and to effect their exchange as soon as possible. Notwithstanding, it +was a long and cruel captivity, and presents some features of peculiar +significance in our local history. + +About sunrise on the morning of April 25, 1780, a party of eleven +painted Indians suddenly issued from the woods bordering Mahoning Creek, +in Northampton County, Penn. They had come from Fort Niagara, and were +one of those scalping parties for the success of which so many +encouraging messages had passed from Whitehall to Quebec, and from +Quebec to the frontier, and to stimulate which Guy Johnson had been so +lavish with the fine linen, silver ornaments and port wine. The party +was commanded by Rowland Montour, John Montour being second in command. +Undiscovered, they surrounded the log house of the old Quaker miller, +Benjamin Gilbert. With tomahawk raised and flint-locks cocked they +suddenly appeared at door and windows. The old Quaker offered his hand +as a brother. It was refused. Partly from the Quaker habit of +non-resistance, partly from the obvious certainty that to attempt to +escape meant death, the whole household submitted to be bound, while +their home was plundered and burned. Loading three of Gilbert's horses +with booty, and placing heavy packs on the back of each prisoner old +enough to bear them, the expedition took the trail for Fort Niagara, +more than 200 miles away. This was "war" in "the good old days." + +There were twelve prisoners in the party, of whom but five were men. +The patriarch of the household, Benjamin, was sixty-nine years old; +Elizabeth, his wife, was fifty-five; Joseph, Benjamin's son by a former +wife, aged forty-one; another son, Jesse, aged nineteen, and his wife +Sarah, the same age. There were three younger children, Rebecca, Abner +and Elizabeth, respectively sixteen, fourteen and twelve; Thomas Peart, +son to Benjamin Gilbert's wife by a former husband, aged twenty-three; a +nephew, Benjamin Gilbert, aged eleven; a hired man, Andrew Harrigar, +twenty-six; and Abigail Dodson, the fourteen-year-old daughter of a +neighbor; she had had the ill-luck to come to Gilbert's mill that +morning for grist, and was taken with the rest. Half a mile distant +lived Mrs. Gilbert's oldest son, Benjamin Peart, aged twenty-seven, his +wife Elizabeth, who was but twenty, and their nine-months-old child. +Montour added these to his party, making fifteen prisoners in all, +burned their house and urged all along the trail, their first stop being +near "Mochunk." (Mauch Chunk.) + +I must omit most of the details of their march northward. On the evening +of the first day Benjamin Peart fainted from fatigue and Rowland Montour +was with difficulty restrained from tomahawking him. At night the men +prisoners were secured in a way which was usual on these raids, +throughout Western New York and Pennsylvania, during those dismal years. +The Indians cut down a sapling five or six inches in diameter, and cut +notches in it large enough to receive the ankles of the prisoners. After +fixing their legs in these notches, they placed another pole over the +first, and thus secured them as in stocks. This upper pole was then +crossed at each end by stakes driven into the ground. The prisoners thus +lay on the ground, on their backs. Straps or ropes around their necks +were made fast to near-by trees. Sometimes a blanket was granted them +for covering, sometimes not. What rest might be had, preparatory to +another day's forced march, I leave to the imagination. + +During the early stages of this march the old couple were constantly +threatened with death, because unable to keep up. On the fourth day four +negroes who claimed that they were loyal to the King, that they had +escaped from the Americans and had set out for Fort Niagara, were taken +up by Montour from a camp where he had left them on his way down the +valley. These negroes frequently whipped and tortured the prisoners for +sport, Montour making no objection. On the 4th of May, the Indians +separated into two companies; one taking the westward path, and with +this party went Thomas Peart, Joseph Gilbert, Benjamin Gilbert--the +little boy of eleven--and Sarah, wife of Jesse. The others kept on the +northerly course. Andrew Harrigar, terrified by the Indian boast that +those who had gone with the other party "were killed and scalped, and +you may expect the same fate tonight," took a kettle, under pretence of +bringing water, but ran away under cover of darkness. After incredible +hardships he regained the settlements. His escape so angered Rowland +Montour that he threw Jesse Gilbert down, and lifted his tomahawk for +the fatal blow; Elizabeth, Jesse's mother, knelt over him, pressed her +head to her son's brow and begged the captain to spare his life. Montour +kicked her over and tied them both by their necks to a tree; after a +time, his passion cooling, he loosed them, bade them pack up and take +the trail. This is but a sample incident. I pass over many. + +None suffered more on the march than Elizabeth Peart, the girl mother. +The Indians would not let her husband relieve her by carrying her child, +and she was ever the victim of the whimsical moods of her captors. At +one time they would let her ride one of the horses; at another, would +compel her to walk, carrying the child, and would beat her if she lagged +behind. By the 14th of May Elizabeth Gilbert had become so weak that she +could only keep the trail when led and supported by her children. On +this day the main party was rejoined by a portion of the party that had +branched off to westward; with them were two of the four captives, +Benjamin Gilbert, Jr., and Sarah, wife of Jesse. On this day old +Benjamin was painted black, the custom of the Indians with prisoners +whom they intended to kill. Later on they were joined by British +soldiers, who took away the four negroes and did something to alleviate +the sufferings of the white prisoners. The expedition had exhausted its +provisions and all that had been taken from the Gilberts. A chance +hedgehog, and roots dug in the woods, sustained them for some days. May +the 17th they ferried across the Genesee River on a log raft. +Provisions were brought from Fort Niagara, an Indian having been sent +ahead, on the best horse; and on the morning of the 21st of May they +heard, faintly booming beyond the intervening forest, the morning gun at +Fort Niagara. An incident of that day's march was a meeting with +Montour's wife. She was the daughter of the great Seneca Sayenqueraghta, +the man who led the Indians at Wyoming,[15] and whose influence was +greater in this region, at the time we are studying, than even that of +Brant himself. He was the Old King of the Senecas, called Old Smoke by +the whites. Smoke's Creek, the well-known stream which empties into Lake +Erie just beyond the southwest limit of Buffalo, between South Park and +Woodlawn Beach, preserves his name to our day. It was there that he +lived in his last years; and somewhere on its margin, in a now unknown +grave, he was buried. His daughter the "Princess," was, next to Molly +Brant, the grandest Indian woman of the time on the Niagara. As she met +the wretched Gilberts, "she was dressed altogether in the Indian +costume, and was shining with gold lace and silver baubles." To her +Rowland Montour presented the girl Rebecca, as a daughter. The princess +took a silver ring from her finger and put it on Rebecca's, which act +completed the adoption of this little Quaker maid of sixteen into one +of the most famous--possibly the most infamous--family of the Niagara +region during the Revolutionary period. + +At a village not far from Fort Niagara, apparently near the present +Tuscarora village on the heights east of Lewiston, Montour painted +Jesse, Abner, Rebecca and Elizabeth Gilbert, Jr., as Indians are +painted, and gave each a belt of wampum; but while these marks of favor +were shown to the young people, the mother, because of her feebleness, +was continually the victim of the displeasure and the blows of the +Indians. On May 23d, being at the Landing--what is now Lewiston--they +were visited by Captains Powell and Dace from the fort, and the next +day, just one month from the time of their capture, they trudged down +the trail which is now the pleasant river road, towards the old fort, +protected with difficulty from the blows of the Indians along the way. + +Now followed the dispersion of this unhappy family. After the Indian +custom, the young and active prisoners were sought by the Indians for +adoption. Many brave American boys went out to live, in the most menial +servitude, among the Senecas and other tribes who during the later years +of the Revolution lived on the Genesee, the Tonawanda, Buffalo, +Cazenove, Smoke's, and Cattaraugus creeks. The old man and his wife and +their son Jesse were surrendered to Col. Johnson. Benjamin Peart, Mrs. +Gilbert's son, was carried off to the Genesee. The other members of the +party were held in captivity in various places; but I may only stay now +to note what befel the little Rebecca and her sister-in-law, Elizabeth +Peart. + +As already stated, Rebecca had been adopted by Rowland Montour's wife. +In the general allotment of prisoners, her cousin, Benjamin Gilbert, the +lad of eleven, also fell to this daughter of Sayenqueraghta. She took +the children to a cabin where her father's family, eleven in number, +were assembled. After the usual grand lamentation for the dead, whose +places were supposed now to be filled by the white prisoners, this royal +household departed by easy stages for their summer's corn-planting. They +tarried at the Landing, while clothing was had from the fort. The little +Quaker girl was dressed after the Indian fashion, "with short-clothes, +leggins and a gold-laced hat"; while Benjamin, "as a badge of his +dignity, wore a silver medal hanging from his neck." They moved up to +Fort Schlosser (just above the falls, near where the present power-house +stands), thence by canoe to Fort Erie; then "four miles further, up +Buffalo Creek, where they pitched their tent for a settlement." Here the +women planted corn; but the little Rebecca, not being strong, was +allowed to look after the cooking. The whole household, queen, princess +and slave, had to work. The men of course were exempt; but the chief +advantage of Sayenqueraghta's high rank was that he could procure more +provisions from the King's stores at Fort Niagara than could the humbler +members of the tribe. The boy Ben had an easy time of it. He roamed at +will with the Indian boys over the territory that is now Buffalo; +fished in the lake, hunted or idled without constraint, and it is +recorded that he was so pleased with the Indian mode of life, that but +for his sister's constant admonition he would have dropped all thought +of return to civilization, and cheerfully have become as good an Indian +as the best of them. At eleven years of age savagery takes easy hold. + +These children lived with Montour's Indian relatives for over two years; +sharing in the feasts when there was plenty, going pinched with hunger +on the frequent occasions when improvidence had exhausted the supply. +There were numerous expeditions, afoot and by canoe, to Fort Niagara. On +one occasion Rebecca, with her Indian family, were entertained by +British officers at Fort Erie, when Old Smoke drank so much wine that +when he came to paddle his canoe homeward, across the river, he narrowly +escaped an upset on the rocky reef, just outside the entrance to Buffalo +Creek. On every visit to Fort Niagara Rebecca would look for release; +but although the officers were kind to her, they did not choose to +interfere with so powerful a family as Montour's. It was shortly after +one of these disappointments that she heard of her father's death. For +some months she was sick; then came news of the death of her Indian +father, Rowland Montour, who succumbed to wounds received in the attack +already noted. There was great mourning in the lodge on Buffalo Creek, +and Rebecca had to make a feint of sorrow, weeping aloud with the rest. + +In the winter of '81-'82 a scheme was devised by friends at the fort +for abducting her from the Indians, but it was not undertaken. In the +spring of '82 peremptory orders came from Gen. Haldimand that all the +remaining members of the Gilbert family who were still in captivity +should be taken from the Indians; but after a council fire had been +lighted, Old Smoke, Montour's widow, and the rest of the family, Rebecca +and Ben included, moved six miles up the lake shore--apparently to +Smoke's Creek--where they stayed several weeks making maple sugar. Then, +a great pigeon roost being reported, men and boys went off to it, some +fifty miles, and the delighted young Ben went too. Of all the Gilbert +captives he alone seems to have had experiences too full of wholesome +adventure and easy living to warrant the expenditure of the least bit of +sympathy upon him. But sooner or later the wily Indians had to heed Sir +Frederick's command, and on the 1st of June, 1782, after upwards of two +years of captivity, Rebecca and her cousin were released at Fort +Niagara, and two days later, with others, embarked for Montreal. + +Far more cheerless were the experiences of Elizabeth Peart. She was +parted from her husband, adopted by a Seneca family, and was also +brought to raise corn on Buffalo Creek. Early in her servitude among the +Indians her babe was taken from her and carried across to Canada. She +was but twenty years old herself; the family that had taken her came by +canoe to Buffalo Creek, where they settled for the corn-planting. This +was in the spring of 1780. All manner of drudgery and burdens were put +upon her. Her work was to cultivate the corn. Falling sick, the Indians +built a hut for her by the side of the cornfield, and then utterly +neglected her. Here she remained through the summer, regaining strength +enough to care for and gather the corn; when this was done, her Indian +father permitted her to come and live again in the family lodge. At one +time a drunken Indian attacked her, knocked her down, and dragged her +about, beating her. At another, all provision failing, she tramped with +others four days through the snow to Fort Niagara. Here Capt. Powell's +wife--who had been a prisoner herself--interceded in Elizabeth's behalf, +but to no avail. She was however given an opportunity to see her babe, +which was being cared for by an Indian family on the Canadian side of +the river, opposite Fort Niagara. This privilege was gained for the poor +mother by bribing her Indian father with a bottle of rum. So far as I am +aware, this was the best use to which a bottle of rum was put during the +Revolutionary War. But back to Buffalo Creek the unhappy mother had to +come. Her release was finally obtained by artifice. Being allowed to +visit Fort Niagara, where she had some needlework to do for the white +people, she feigned sickness, and by one excuse and another the Indians +were put off until she could be shipped away to Montreal. + +Of the Gilbert family and those taken with them by Montour, only the old +man died in captivity. The adventures of each one would make a long +story, but may not be entered upon here. By the close of '82 they were +all released from the Indians, and after a detention at Montreal, +reached their friends in Pennsylvania and set about the reëstablishment +of homes. + +Beyond question, Elizabeth Peart and Rebecca Gilbert were the first +white women ever on the site of the present city of Buffalo. They were +brave, patient, patriotic girls; no truer Daughters of the American +Revolution are known to history. It would seem fitting that their memory +should be preserved and their story known--much fuller than I have here +sketched it--by the patriotic Daughters of the Revolution of our own +day, who give heed to American beginnings in this region. + +I have dwelt at length on the Gilbert captivity, not more because of its +own importance than to illustrate the responsibilities which constantly +rested on the commandant at Niagara, at this period. We now turn to +other phases of the service which engaged the attention and taxed the +endurance of Col. Bolton. + +From the time of the conquest of Canada in 1760 down to the opening of +the Revolution, there had been a slow but steady growth of shipping on +the lakes, especially on Lake Ontario. On this lake, as early as 1767, +there were four brigs of from forty to seventy tons, and sixteen armed +deck-cutters. Besides the "King's ships" there were still much travel +and traffic by means of canoes and batteaux. One of the first effects of +the war with the American colonies was to beget active ship-building +operations by the British; for Lake Ontario, at Oswegatchie, Oswego and +Niagara; and for Lake Erie, at Navy Island, Detroit and Pine River. An +official return made in July, 1778, the summer after Col. Bolton assumed +command at Niagara, enumerates twelve sailing craft built for Lake +Ontario since the British gained control of that lake in 1759, and +sixteen for Lake Erie; seven of the Lake Ontario boats had been cast +away, two were laid up and decayed; so that at this time--midsummer of +'78--there were still in service only the snow Haldimand, eighteen guns, +built at Oswegatchie in 1771; the snow Seneca, eighteen guns, built in +1777; and the sloop Caldwell, two guns, built in 1774. A memorandum +records that Capt. Andrews, in the spring of 1778, sought permission to +build another vessel at Niagara, to take the place of the Haldimand, +which, he was informed, could not last more than another year. The +vessel built, in accordance with this recommendation, was a schooner; +her construction was entrusted to Capt. Shank, at Niagara, across the +river from the fort. We may be sure that Col. Bolton visited the yard +from time to time to note the progress of the work. There was discussion +over her lines. "Capt. Shank was told that he was making her too +flat-bottomed, and that she would upset." The builder laughed at his +critics and stuck to his model. She was launched, named the Ontario, and +was hastened forward to completion, for the King's service had urgent +need of her. + +Col. Bolton had long been in bad health, wearied with the cares and +perplexities of his position and eager to get away from Fort Niagara. +One source of constant annoyance to his military mind was the traders' +supplies, which turned the fort into a warehouse and laid distasteful +duties upon its commandant. His letters contain many allusions to the +"incredible plague and trouble caused by merchants' goods frequently +sent without a single person to care for them." "Last year," so he wrote +in May, '78, "every place in this fort was lumbered with them, and +vessels were obliged to navigate the lakes until Nov. 30th." The vessels +were primarily for the King's service, but when unemployed were allowed +to be used in transporting merchants' goods, under certain regulations. +The next statement in the same letter gives some idea of the magnitude +of the transactions involved in the various departments in this region +at the period: "I have drawn a bill of £14,760-9-5"--nearly $74,000--"on +acct. of sundries furnished Indians by Maj. Butler, also another on +acct. of Naval Dept. at Detroit for £4,070-18-9. Between us I am +heartily sick of bills and accounts and if the other posts are as +expensive to Government as this has been I think Old England had done +much better in letting the savages take possession of them than to have +put herself to half the enormous sum she has been at in keeping them. +Neither does the climate agree with my constitution, which has already +suffered by being employed many years in the West Indies and Florida, +for I have been extremely ill the two winters I have spent here with +rheumatism and a disorder in my breast." + +One source of annoyance to Bolton was a detachment of Hessians which was +sent to augment the garrison at Fort Niagara. Col. Bolton did not find +them to his liking, nor was life at a backwoods post at all congenial to +these mercenaries, fighting England's battles to pay their monarch's +debts. They refused to work on the fortifications at Niagara; whereupon, +in November, 1779, Col. Bolton packed them off down to Carleton Island. +Alexander Fraser, in charge of that post, wrote to Gen. Haldimand that +he had ordered the "jagers" to be replaced by a company of the 34th. +"Capt. Count Wittgenstein," he added, "fears bad consequences should the +Jagers be ordered to return." Nowhere in America does the British +employment of Hessian troops appear to have been less satisfactory than +on this frontier. At Carleton Island, as at Niagara, they refused to +work, many of them were accused of selling their necessaries for rum, +and the Count de Wittgenstein himself was reprimanded. + +There were difficulties, too, with the lake service. Desertion and +discontent followed an attempt to shorten the seamen's rations. In the +summer of '78, the sailors on board the snow Seneca, at Niagara, asked +to be discharged, alleging that their time had expired the preceding +November, and the yet more remarkable reason that they objected to the +service because they had been brought up on shore and life on the +rolling deep of Lake Ontario afforded "no opportunity of exercising our +Religion, neither does confinement agree with our healths." Like many +lake sailors at this period they were probably French Canadian +Catholics, with loyalty none too strong to the British cause. + +Bolton stuck to his post throughout that season, the year of alarm that +followed, and the succeeding period of distress. The most frequent +entries in his letters record the arrival of war parties, and his +anxiety over the enormous expense incurred for the Indians by Maj. +Butler. "Scalps and prisoners are coming in every day, which is all the +news this place affords," he writes in June, '78; and again, the same +month: "Ninety savages are just arrived with thirteen scalps and two +prisoners, and forty more with two scalps are expected. All of these +gentry, I am informed, must be clothed."[16] While there does not seem +ever to have been an open break between Bolton and Butler, yet the +former looked with dismay, if not disapproval, upon the endless +expenditure incurred for the Indians. In August, 1778, he wrote: "Maj. +Butler, chief of the Indian Department, gives orders to the merchants to +supply the savages with everything to answer their demands, of which +undoubtedly he is the best judge and only person who can satisfy them or +keep them in temper. He also signs a certificate that the goods and cash +issued and paid by his order were indispensably necessary for the +government of His Majesty's service. The commanding officer of this +post is thus obliged to draw bills for the amount of all these accounts, +of which it is impossible he can be a judge or know anything about.... I +only mention these things to show Yr Excellency the disagreeable part +that falls to my lot as commanding officer; besides this is such a +complicated command that even an officer of much superior abilities than +I am master of, would find himself sometimes not a little embarrassed at +this Post." + +Bolton was seriously ill during the winter of '79-'80, as indeed were +many of his garrison. In April, 1780, he reports his wretched health to +Gen. Haldimand. All through the succeeding summer he stuck to his post; +but on September 13th, worn out and discouraged, he asked to be allowed +to retire from the command of the upper posts and lakes. September 30th +he again wrote, begging for leave of absence. Some weeks later the +desired permission was sent, and Bolton determined to stay no longer. +Late in October the new Ontario, which Capt. Shank had built across the +river from the fort, was finished and rigged; she carried sixteen guns, +and was declared ready for service. She was ordered to convey a company +of the 34th down to Carleton Island. It was a notable departure. The +season was so late, no other opportunity for crossing Lake Ontario might +be afforded until spring. Lieut. Royce, with thirty men of the 34th, +embarked, under orders; so did Lieut. Colleton of the Royal Artillery. +Capt. Andrews, superintendent of naval construction, at whose +solicitations the Ontario had been built, being at Fort Niagara at the +time, also took passage. There was the full complement of officers and +crew. Several passengers--licensed Indian traders and fur merchants, +probably--crowded aboard; and among those who sailed away from Fort +Niagara that last October day, was Col. Bolton. It was the Ontario's +first voyage; and we may be sure that there was no lack of speculation +and wise opinion in the throng of spectators who watched her round the +bar at the mouth of the river and take her course down the lake. The old +criticism about her flat bottom and lack of draught was sure to be +recalled. But the Ontario, with her notable passenger list, had sailed, +and the only port she ever reached was the bottom of the lake. It is +supposed she foundered, some forty miles east of Niagara, near a place +called Golden Hill. On the beach there, some days after, a few articles +were found, supposed to have come ashore; but no other sign, no word of +the Ontario or of any of the throng that sailed in her has been had from +that day to this. In due time news of the loss reached Quebec. Sincere +but short were the expressions of sorrow in the correspondence that +followed. "The loss of so many good officers and men," wrote Haldimand, +"particularly at this period, and the disappointment of forwarding +provisions for the great consumption at the upper posts, will be +severely felt."[17] It was the fortune of war, and already the thought +turned to those who had depended upon a return cargo of provisions by +the Ontario. And so passes Mason Bolton out of the history of Fort +Niagara. + + + + + +What Befel David Ogden. + + + + +WHAT BEFEL DAVID OGDEN. + + +It was my privilege, in the summer of 1896, to share in the exercises +which marked the Centennial of the delivery of Fort Niagara by Great +Britain to the United States. As I stood in that old stronghold on the +bank above the blue lake, strolled across the ancient parade ground, or +passed from one historic building to another, I found myself constantly +forgetting the actual day and hour, and slipping back a century or two. +There was a great crowd at Fort Niagara on this August day; thousands of +people--citizens, officials, soldiers and pleasure-seekers; but with +them came and went, to my retrospective vision, many more thousands yet: +missionary priests, French adventurers, traders, soldiers of the +scarlet, and of the buff and blue. I saw Butler's Rangers in their green +suits; and I saw a horde of savages, now begging for rations from the +King's stores, now coming in from their forays, famished but exultant, +displaying the scalps they had taken, or leading their ragged and +woebegone captives. It was upon these captives, whose romantic +misfortunes make a long and dramatic chapter in the history of Fort +Niagara, that my regard was prone to center. Their stories have nowhere +been told, so far as I am aware, as a part of the history of the place; +many of them never can be told; but of others some details may be +recorded. + +Throughout the whole period of the Revolutionary War, Fort Niagara was a +garrisoned British post, of varying strength. It was the supply depot +for all arms and provisions which were destined for the upper posts of +Detroit and Michillimackinac; it was the rendezvous of the Senecas, who +worked the Government for all the blankets and guns, trinkets and +provisions which they could get; it was the headquarters of Col. Guy +Johnson, Indian Superintendent; and it was the resting-place and base of +operations of They-en-dan-e-gey-ah--in English, Joseph Brant; of Butler +and his rangers, and of numerous other less famous but more cruel +Indians, British and Tory leaders. No American troops reached Fort +Niagara to attack it. Only once was it even threatened. Yet throughout +the whole period of the war parties sallied forth from Fort Niagara to +plunder, capture or kill the rebel settlers wherever they could be +reached. + +Sixty years ago Judge Samuel De Veaux wrote of this phase of the history +of Fort Niagara: + + This old fort is as much noted for enormity and crime, as for any + good ever derived from it by the nation in occupation.... During + the American Revolution it was the headquarters of all that was + barbarous, unrelenting and cruel. There, were congregated the + leaders and chiefs of those bands of murderers and miscreants, that + carried death and destruction into the remote American settlements. + There, civilized Europe revelled with savage America; and ladies of + education and refinement mingled in the society of those whose + only distinction was to wield the bloody tomahawk and + scalping-knife. There, the squaws of the forest were raised to + eminence, and the most unholy unions between them and officers of + the highest rank, smiled upon and countenanced. There, in their + strong hold, like a nest of vultures, securely, for seven years, + they sallied forth and preyed upon the distant settlements of the + Mohawks and Susquehannahs. It was the depot of their plunder; there + they planned their forays, and there they returned to feast, until + the hour of action came again.[18] + +This striking passage, which the worthy author did not substantiate by a +single fact, may stand as the present text. I have undertaken to trace +some of the flights of the birds of prey from this nest, and to bring +together the details relating to the captives who were brought hither. +From many sources I have traced out the narratives of thirty-two persons +who were brought to Fort Niagara captive by the Indians, during the +years 1778 to 1783. Among them is my boy hero Davy Ogden, whose +adventures I undertake to tell with some minuteness. Just how many +American prisoners were brought into Fort Niagara during this period I +am unable to say, though it is possible that from the official +correspondence of the time figures could be had on which a very close +estimate could be based. My examination of the subject warrants the +assertion that several hundred were brought in by the war parties under +Indian, British and Tory leaders. In this correspondence, very little of +which has ever been published, one may find such entries as the +following: + +Guy Johnson wrote from Fort Niagara, June 30, 1781: + + In my last letter of the 24th inst. I had just time to enclose a + copy of Lieut. Nelles's letter with an account of his success, + since which he arrived at this place with more particular + information by which I find that he killed thirteen and took seven + (the Indians not having reckoned two of the persons whom they left + unscalped).... + +Again: + + I have the honor to transmit to Your Excellency a general letter + containing the state of the garrison and of my Department to the + 1st inst., and a return, at the foot, of the war parties that have + been on service this year, ... by which it will appear that they + have killed and taken during the season already 150 persons, + including those last brought in.... + +Again he reports, August 30, 1781: + + The party with Capt. Caldwell and some of the Indians with Capt. + Lottridge are returning, having destroyed several settlements in + Ulster County, and about 100 of the Indians are gone against other + parts of the frontiers, and I have some large parties under good + leaders still on service as well as scouts towards Fort Pitt.... + +Not only are there many returns of this sort, but also tabulated +statements, giving the number of prisoners sent down from Fort Niagara +to Montreal on given dates, with their names, ages, names of their +captors, and the places where they were taken. There were many shipments +during the summer of '83, and the latest return of this sort which I +have found in the archives is dated August 1st of that year, when eleven +prisoners were sent from the fort to Montreal. It was probably not far +from this time that the last American prisoner of the Revolution was +released from Fort Niagara. But let the reader beware of forming hasty +conclusions as to the cruelty or brutality of the British at Fort +Niagara. In the first place, remember that harshness or kindness in the +treatment of the helpless depends in good degree--and always has +depended--upon the temperament and mood of the individual custodian. +There were those in command at Fort Niagara who appear to have been +capable of almost any iniquity. Others gave frequent and conspicuous +proofs of their humanity. Remember, secondly, that the prisoners +primarily belonged to the Indians who captured them. The Indian custom +of adoption--the taking into the family circle of a prisoner in place of +a son or husband who had been killed by the enemy--was an Iroquois +custom, dating back much further than their acquaintance with the +English. Many of the Americans who were detained in this fashion by +their Indian captors, probably never were given over to the British. +Some, as we know, like Mary Jemison, the White Woman of the Genesee, +adopted the Indian mode of life and refused to leave it. Others died in +captivity, some escaped. Horatio Jones and Jasper Parrish were first +prisoners, then utilized as interpreters, but remained among the +Indians.[19] And in many cases, especially of women and children, we +know that they were got away from the Indians by the British officers at +Fort Niagara, only after considerable trouble and expense. In these +cases the British were the real benefactors of the Americans, and the +kindness in the act cannot always be put aside on the mere ground of +military exchange, prisoner for prisoner. Gen. Haldimand is quoted to +the effect that he "does not intend to enter into an exchange of +prisoners, but he will not add to the distresses attending the present +war, by detaining helpless women and children from their families."[20] + +I have spoken of Mrs. Campbell, who was held some months at Kanadasaga. +The letter just cited further illustrates the point I would make: + + A former application had been made in behalf of Col. Campbell to + procure the exchange of his family for that of Col. Butler, and the + officer commanding the upper posts collected Mr. Campbell's and the + family of a Mr. Moore, and procured their release from the Indians + upon the above mentioned condition with infinite trouble and a very + heavy expense. They are now at Fort Niagara where the best care + that circumstances will admit of, is taken of them, and I am to + acquaint you that Mrs. Campbell & any other women or children that + shall be specified shall be safely conducted to Fort Schuyler, or + to any other place that shall be thought most convenient, provided + Mrs. Butler & her family consisting of a like number shall in the + same manner have safe conduct to my advance post upon Lake + Champlain in order that she may cross the lake before the ice + breaks up. + +The official correspondence carried on during the years 1779 to '83, +between Gen. Haldimand and the commanding officers at Fort Niagara shows +in more than one instance that American prisoners were a burden and a +trouble at that post. Sometimes, as in the case of Mrs. Campbell, who +was finally exchanged for Mrs. Butler and her children, they were +detained as hostages. More often, they were received from the Indians in +exchange for presents, the British being obliged to humor the Indians +and thus retain their invaluable services. Thus, under date of Oct. 2, +1779, we find Col. Bolton writing from Fort Niagara to Gen. Haldimand: +"I should be glad to know what to do with the prisoners sent here by +Capt. Lernault. Some of them I forwarded to Carleton Island, and Maj. +Nairne has applied for leave to send them to Montreal. I have also many +here belonging to the Indians, who have not as yet agreed to deliver +them up."[21] + +I could multiply at great length these citations from the official +correspondence, but enough has been given to show that the wholesale +condemnation of the British, into whose hands American prisoners fell, +is not warranted by the facts. But there is no plainer fact in it all +than that the British organized and aided the Indian raids, and were, +therefore, joint culprits in general. + +And this brings us to the subject of scalps. For many years Fort Niagara +was called a scalp-market. The statement is frequent in early writers +that the British officers offered about eight dollars for every +American's scalp, and that it was this offer, more than anything else, +which fired the Indians to their most horrible deeds. Many scalps were +brought into Fort Niagara, but I have failed, as yet, to find any +report, or figure, or allusion, in the British archives pointing to the +payment of anything whatever. Further search may discover something to +settle this not unimportant matter; for we may readily believe that if +such payments were made the matter would be passed over as unobtrusively +as possible, especially in the reports to the Ministry. The facts appear +to be that warriors who brought scalps into Fort Niagara gave them to +the Superintendent of Indian Affairs, or his deputy, and then received +presents from him. Probably these presents were proportioned to the +success on the warpath. + +These facts and reflections are offered to assist the reader's ready +understanding and imagination in following in detail the adventures of +one out of the many prisoners whose paths we have glanced at; for of all +these unfortunate patriots who were thus brought to the "vultures' nest" +none has laid hold of my interest and my imagination more strongly than +has David Ogden. He was born in a troublous time, and the hazards of +border life were his sole heritage, save alone a sturdy intrepidity of +character which chiefly commends him to me as the typical hero of all +the heroic souls, men, women, and children, who came through great +bereavements and hardships, into old Fort Niagara as prisoners of war. +Davy was born at Fishkill, Dutchess Co., New York, in 1764. His parents +made one remove after another, in the restless American fashion, for +some years taking such chances of betterment as new settlements +afforded; first at Waterford, Saratoga Co.; then in the wilderness on +the head-waters of the Susquehanna near the present village of +Huntsville; then up the river to the settlement known in those days as +Newtown Martin, now Middlefield; and later, for safety, to Cherry +Valley. Here David's mother and her four boys were at the time of the +famous massacre of November, 1778. When the alarm was given Mrs. Ogden +snatched a blanket, and with her little ones began a flight through the +woods towards the Mohawk. With them also fled Col. Campbell, of the +patriot militia. Coming to a deserted cabin whose owner had fled, they +did not scruple to help themselves to a loaf of bread, which Col. +Campbell cut up with his sword. After another flight of some hours +through a storm of mingled snow and rain, they came to the house of one +Lyons, a Tory, who was absent, presumably because busied in the black +work at Cherry Valley. Mrs. Lyons, who seems to have shared her +husband's sentiments, refused the refugees anything to eat, but finally +let the mother and children spend the night on the floor. Col. Campbell +left the Ogdens here and pushed on alone towards Canajoharie; while Mrs. +Odgen and her hungry little ones went on by themselves through the snow. +That day they came to a more hospitable house, where the keen suffering +of that adventure ended; and some days later, on the Mohawk, the father +rejoined the family, he also having escaped the massacre at Cherry +Valley. + +This incident may be reckoned the mere prelude of our Davy's adventures; +for the next spring, having reached the mature age of fourteen, he +volunteered in the service of his country, entered upon the regular life +of a soldier, and began to have adventures on his own account. The year +that followed was spent in arduous but not particularly romantic +service. He was marched from one point to another on the Mohawk and the +Hudson; saw André hanged at Tappan, and finally was sent to the frontier +again, where at Fort Stanwix,[22] in the spring of 1781, what we may +regard as the real adventures of Davy Ogden began. + +A party of eleven wood-choppers were at work in the heavy timber about +two miles from the fort, and every day an armed guard was sent out from +the garrison to protect them. On March 2d, Corporal Samuel Betts and six +soldiers, Davy among them, were detailed on this service. I conceive of +my hero at this time as a sturdy, well-seasoned lad, to whom woodcraft +and pioneer soldiering had become second nature. I would like to see him +among city boys of his own age to-day. Most things that they know, and +think of, would be quite out of his range. But there is a common ground +on which all healthy, high-minded boys, of whatever time or station in +life, stand on a level. I do not know that he had ever been to school, +or that he could read, though I think his mother must have looked to +that. But I do know that he was well educated. He was innocent of the +bicycle, but I'll warrant he could skate. I know he could swim like an +otter--as I shall presently record--and when it came to running, he +would have been a champion of the cinder-path, to-day. He knew the ways +of poverty and of self-denial; knew the signs of the forest, of wild +animal and Indian; and best of all, I am sure he knew just why he was +carrying a heavy flint-lock in the ragged, hungry ranks of the American +"rebels." It must be admitted, I linger somewhat over my hero; but I +like the lad, and would have the reader come into sympathy with him. I +can see him now as he followed the corporal out of the fort that March +morning. He wore the three-cornered cocked-up hat of the prescribed +uniform, and his powder-horn was slung at his side. The whole guard +very likely wore snowshoes, for the snow lay three feet deep in the +woods, and a thaw had weakened the crust. + +Late in the afternoon, soldiers and wood-choppers were startled by the +yells of Indians and Tories, who had gained a hill between them and the +fort. Brant had achieved another of his surprises, and there was no +escape from his party, which seemed to fill the woods. His evident +intent was to make captives and not to kill, though his men had orders +to shoot or tomahawk any who fired in self-defense. Two of Davy's +companions were wounded by the enemy. One of them, Timothy Runnels, was +shot in the mouth, "the ball coming through his cheek; and yet not a +tooth was disturbed, a pretty good evidence, in the opinion of his +comrades, that his mouth was wide open when the ball went in." It fared +more seriously with the other wounded soldier. This man, whose name was +Morfat, had his thigh broken by a bullet. The Indians rushed upon him as +he fell at Davy's side, tomahawked him, scalped him, stripped him and +left him naked upon the snow, thus visiting a special vengeance upon one +who was said to be a deserter from the British. It is further chronicled +that Morfat did not immediately die, but lived until he was found, hours +after, by a party from the fort, finally expiring as his comrades bore +him through the gate of Fort Stanwix. + +Davy Ogden had seen this dreadful thing, but with no sign of fear or +sickness. He had already mastered that scorn of suffering and death +which always commended the brave to their Indian captors. He was ranged +up with the other prisoners, and Brant asked of each his name. When Davy +gave his, the great chief exclaimed: + +"What, a son of Ogden the beaver-hunter, that old scouter? Ugh! I wish +it were he instead of you! But we will take care of his boy or he may +become a scouter too!" + +Thus began David's captivity, as the prisoner, and perhaps receiving +some of the special regard, of Brant himself. There could have been +little doubt in Davy's mind, from the moment of his capture, that he was +to be carried to Fort Niagara; yet the first move of the party was +characteristic of Indian strategy; for instead of taking the trail +westward, they all marched off to the eastward, coming upon the Mohawk +some miles below Fort Stanwix. They forded the river twice, the icy +water coming above their waists. On emerging upon the road between Fort +Stanwix and Fort Herkimer, Brant halted his sixteen prisoners and caused +the buckles to be cut from their shoes. These he placed in a row in the +road, where the first passing American would be sure to see them. There +was something of a taunt in the act, and a good deal of humor; and we +may be sure that Joseph Brant, who was educated enough, and of great +nature enough, to enjoy a joke, had many a laugh on his way back to +Niagara as he thought of those thirty-two buckles in a row. + +The prisoners tied up their shoes with deerskin strings, and trudged +along through the night until the gleam of fires ahead and a chorus of +yells turned their thoughts towards the stake and an ignominious +martyrdom. But their fate was easier to meet. In a volley of sixteen +distinct yells for the prisoners and one for the scalp, the party--said +to number 100 Indians and fifty Tories--entered the first camp, where +squaws were boiling huge kettles of samp--pounded corn--eaten without +salt. All fared equally well, and all slept on the ground in the snow, +Davy and his fellows being guarded by British soldiers. + +The next day's march brought them to Oneida Castle, often the +headquarters of Brant in his expeditions. Here the Indians dug up from +the snow a store of unhusked corn, and shelled and pounded a quantity +for their long march. Here, too, Davy's three-cornered Revolutionary hat +was taken from him, and in its place was given him a raccoon skin. All +of the captives except the corporal were similarly treated and the +Indians showed them how to tie the head and tail together. On some the +legs stuck up and on others the legs hung down. I do not know how Davy +wore his--with a touch of taste and an air of gaiety, no doubt; and we +may be sure it made a better head-covering for a march of 250 miles at +that season than would the stiff hat he had lost. Corporal Betts alone +was permitted to keep his hat, as insignia of rank, and it is to be +hoped he got some comfort out of it. + +It would take too long to give all the dismal details of Davy's dreary +tramp across the State. Other captivities which I have spoken of had +incidents of more dire misery and greater horror than befel the party +to which Ogden belonged; and this is one reason why I have chosen to +dwell upon his adventures, because my aim is, by a personal narrative, +to illustrate the average experience of the time. + +There were hundreds of American prisoners brought to Fort Niagara during +the period we are studying, but it would be far from just to their +captors, and would throw our historical perspective out of focus, to +take the extreme cases as types for the whole. + +Yet, put it mildly as we can, the experience persists in being serious. +At Oneida Castle Brant, evidently fearing pursuit, roused his party in +the middle of the night, and a forced march was begun through the heavy +timber and up and down the long hills to the westward. When the moon +went down they halted, but at the first streak of daylight they pushed +on, not waiting even to boil their samp. An occasional handful of +parched corn, pounded fine and taken with a swallow of water, was all +the food any of the party had that day. + +The next encampment was on the Onondaga River, south of the lake; and +here occurred an incident as characteristic of Indian character as was +the row of shoe-buckles in the road. Some Indians found a small cannon, +which had probably been abandoned by one of the detachments sent out by +Sullivan on his retreat from the Genesee in '79. Brant, who had plenty +of powder, ordered his American prisoners to load and fire this gun a +number of times, the Indians meanwhile yelling in delight and the +Tories and British enjoying the chagrin of the helpless Americans. Then +the march was resumed; over the watershed to Cayuga Lake, which they +crossed on the ice near the outlet, a long train, each man far from his +fellow, for the ice was rotten and full of air-holes; then along the old +trail to Seneca River, which they forded; thence the route was west by +north, one camp being somewhere between the present villages of Waterloo +and Lyons. Brant on this expedition appears to have kept to the north of +Kanadasaga.[23] A day later they came to the outlet of Canandaigua Lake, +where the Indians, finding a human head which they said was the head of +a Yankee, had an improvised game of football with it, with taunts and +threats for the edification of their prisoners. The next day they +crossed the Genesee River, at or near the old Genesee Castle. And still, +as throughout all this march, unsalted, often uncooked, samp was their +only food. + +On the march Davy and each of his fellows had worn about their necks a +rope of some fourteen or sixteen feet in length. In the daytime these +ropes were wound about their necks and tied. At night they were unwound, +each prisoner placed between two captors, and one end of the rope was +fastened to each of the double guard. Under the circumstances it is no +reflection upon our hero's courage that he had not made his escape. + +West of the Genesee, and beyond the country which had been ravaged by +Sullivan, signs of Indian occupancy multiplied; but as yet there was no +other food than corn to be had for their ill-conditioned bodies. As they +filed along the trail, through the snow and mud of March, they met +another large party just setting out from Niagara on a foray for +prisoners and scalps. There were noisy greetings and many exultant +yells; and as the outbound savages passed the prisoners, they snatched +from each one's head the raccoon-skin cap; so that for the rest of the +journey Davy and his companions met the weather bare-headed--all save +Corporal Betts, to whom again was still spared the old three-cornered +hat. The incident bespeaks either the lack of control or the negligent +good nature of Brant, for fifteen raccoon-skins at Fort Niagara would +surely have been worth at least fifteen quarts of rum. Corporal Betts, +however, must have got little comfort out of his hat; for seeing him +look so soldierly in it, the whim seized upon Brant to compel the +unlucky corporal to review his woebegone troops. + +"Drill your men," said the fun-loving chief, "and let us see if these +Yankees can go through the tactics of Baron Steuben." + +And so poor Betts, but with a broken spirit, mustered his forlorn guard, +dressed them in a straight line, and put them through the manual +according to Steuben. I doubt if the history of Western New York can +show a stranger military function than this reluctant muster of patriot +prisoners under compulsion of a playful tiger of an Indian, jeered at +meanwhile by British soldiers from Fort Niagara. When these latter went +too far in their ridicule Brant stopped them. "The Yankees," he said +angrily, "do it a damned sight better than you can." + +This affair took place, as nearly as I can make out, somewhere between +Batavia and Lockport; probably not far from the old Indian village of +Tonawanda. + +Being now in the valley of the Tonawanda, Brant seems to have sent ahead +a runner to announce his approach; for the second or third day after +crossing the Genesee they were met by a party from the fort, bringing +pork and flour, whereupon there was a camp and a feast; with the not +strange result that many of them had to return to the astringent parched +corn as a corrective. + +From this point on Davy and his friends were subjected to a new +experience; for, as they passed through the Indian villages, the old +women and children exercised their accustomed privilege of beating and +abusing the prisoners. On one occasion, as Davy was plodding along the +path, a squaw ran up to him, and, all unawares, hit him a terrific blow +on the side of the head, whereupon the boy came near getting into +trouble by making a vigorous effort to kick the lady. At another time, +as David marched near Brant, he saw a young Indian raise a pole, +intending to give the prisoner a whack over the head. Davy dodged, and +the blow fell on Brant's back. The chief, though undoubtedly hurt, paid +no attention to the Indian lad, but advised Davy to run, and Davy, +knowing perfectly well that to run away meant torture and death, wisely +ran towards the fort, which was but a few miles distant. A companion +named Hawkins, who had marched with him, ran by his side. And, as they +ran, they came upon still another village of the Senecas, from which two +young savages took after them. Believing that their pursuers would +tomahawk them, the boys let out a link or two of their speed, and coming +to a creek where logs made a bridge, Hawkins hid under the bridge, while +Davy ran behind a great buttonwood tree. The young Indians, however, had +seen them, and on coming up, one of them promptly went under the bridge, +and the other around the tree for Davy. This Indian held out his hand in +friendship, and said: "Brother, stop." And the boys, seeing that the +Indians had no tomahawks and could do them no harm, were reassured, and +they all went on together toward Fort Niagara. + +Soon they met a detail of soldiers from the fort, who detained them +until the rest of the party came up, when Davy saw that some of his +friends had been so badly wounded by the assaults of these village +Indians that they were now being carried. As the party went on together, +the path was continually lined with Indians, whose camps were on the +open plains about the fort; and the clubbing and beating of the +prisoners became incessant. This was all a regular part of a triumphal +return to Fort Niagara of a party of British and Indians with American +prisoners, and was the mild preliminary of that dread ordeal known as +running the gauntlet. + +When Davy, well to the front of the procession, had been marched some +distance farther through the wood, he looked out upon a clearing, across +which extended a long line of fallen trees, which lay piled with the +butts inward, so that the sharpened points of the forked branches all +pointed outwards, making a _chevaux-de-frise_ upon which one might +impale himself, but which could scarcely be scaled. Beyond this barrier, +as Davy looked, he saw, first, the wagon road which ran between this +_chevaux-de-frise_ and the palisades or pickets of the fort beyond. +Within the palisades he could see the outlines of the fortification, the +upper part of the old castle which still stands there, and other +buildings, and over all the red flag of Great Britain. But while he +noted these things, his chief regard must have fallen upon the great +crowd of Indians who were ranged along on either side of the road +between the outwork of fallen trees and the palisades--two close ranks +of painted savages in front, and behind them on either side a dense mass +of yelling, gesticulating bucks, squaws, old men and children, impatient +for the passing of the prisoners. Beyond, the British sentries, officers +and other inmates of the fort, awaited the sport, like spectators at a +play. + +Davy knew the gravity and the chances of the situation. He knew the +Indian custom, which does not seem to have been at all interfered with +by the officers in command at Niagara,[24] which allowed the spectator +to assault or wound the prisoner who should run between the ranks, in +any way which his ingenuity could suggest, except with hatchets and +knives; these could be used only on prisoners whose faces were painted +black, by which sign wretches doomed to death were known; yet any +prisoner, even the black-painted ones, who lived through the gauntlet +and gained the gate of the fort, was safe from Indian judgment, and +could rest his case upon the mercies of the British. + +I do not know whether or not Davy's heart stood still for a second, but +I am bound to say there was not a drop of craven blood in his veins. He +was not exactly in training, as we would say of a sprinter today--his +diet, the reader will remember, had been somewhat deficient. But if he +hesitated or trembled it was not for long. We can see him as he stands +between the soldiers from the fort--bareheaded, ragged, dirty; a blanket +pinned about his shoulders and still with the rope about his neck by +which he was secured at night. And now, as his guards look back to see +the others come up, Davy tightens the leather strap at his waist, takes +a deep breath, bends low, darts forward, and is half way down the line +before the waiting Indians know he is coming. + +How he does run! And how the yells and execrations follow! There is a +flight of stones and clubs, but not one touches the boy. One huge +savage steps forward, to throw the runner backward--he clutches only the +blanket, which is left in his hands, and Davy runs freer than before. +The twenty rods of this race for life are passed, and as the boy dashes +upon the bridge by which the road into the fort crosses the outer ditch, +he is confronted by an evil-looking squaw, who aims a blow with her fist +square at his face. Davy knocks up her arm with such force that she +sprawls heavily to the ground, striking her head on one of the great +spikes that held the planking. And straight on runs Davy, not down the +road along the wall to the place set for prisoners, but through the +inner gate, under the guard-house; and so, panting and spent, out upon +the old parade-ground. + +Thus came the boy-soldier of the Revolution, David Ogden, to Fort +Niagara, 118 years ago. + +The sentries hailed him with laughter and jeers, and asked him what he +was doing there. "Go back," they said, "under the guard-house and down +the road outside the wall, to the bottom." + +This was where Guy Johnson's house stood, and there the prisoners were +to report. But when Davy looked forth he concluded that discretion was +the better part of valor, for the angry Indians had closed upon his +fellows who followed, and were clubbing them, knocking them down and +kicking them; so that of the whole party taken prisoners near Fort +Stanwix, Davy Ogden was the only one who reached Fort Niagara without +serious harm. Turning back upon the parade ground he flatly refused to +go out again, whereupon the officer of the guard was called, who +questioned him, took pity on him, and sheltered him in his own quarters +for three days. + +Now, if this were a mere story, we would expect, right here, a happy +turn in Davy's fortunes. As matter of fact, the most dismal days in +Davy's life were just to begin. He had hoped that the worst would be +detention at the fort, and a speedy shipment down the lake to Montreal, +for exchange. But after some days he was summoned to Guy Johnson's +house, where were many Indians, and here he was handed over to a squaw +to be her son, in place of one she had lost in the war. David was +powerless; and after what, many years later, he described as a powwow +had been held over him, he was led away by the squaw and her husband. A +British soldier, named Hank Haff, added to his grief by telling him that +he was adopted by the Indians and would have to live with them forever; +and, as he was led off across the plain, away from his friends and even +from communication with the British, who were at least of his own blood, +it was small consolation to know that his adopted father's name was +Skun-nun-do, that the hideous old hag, his mother, was Gunna-go-let, +that there was a daughter in the wigwam named Au-lee-zer-quot, +or that his own name was henceforth to be Chee-chee-le-coo, or +"Chipping-bird"--a good deal, I submit, for a soldier of the Revolution +to bear, even if he were only a boy.[25] + +David lived with this fine family for over two years, being virtually +their slave, and always under circumstances which made escape +impossible. He dressed in Indian fashion, and learned their language, +their yells and signal whoops. During the first months of his adoption, +their wigwam was about four miles from the fort--presumably east or +southeast of it; and one of David's first duties was to go with +Gunna-go-let out on to the treeless plain overlooking Lake Ontario, +where the old squaw had found a prize in the shape of a horse which had +died of starvation. David helped her cut up the carcass and "tote" it +home--and he was glad to eat of the soup which she made of it. They were +always hungry. Skun-nun-do being a warrior, the burden of providing for +the family fell upon Gunna-go-let. Her principal recourse was to cut +faggots in the woods and carry them to the fort. Many a time did she and +Davy Ogden carry their loads of firewood on their backs up to the fort, +glad to receive in exchange cast-off meat, stale bread or rum. So much +of this work did Davy do during the two years that he was kept with +these Indians that his back became sore, then calloused. + +When he had lived with Gunna-go-let three months, she packed up and +moved her wigwam to the carrying-place, now Lewiston. Here there was +cleared land, and some 200 huts or wigwams were pitched, while the +Indians planted, hoed and gathered a crop of corn. Davy was kept hard at +work in the field, or in carrying brooms, baskets and other things to +the fort for sale. + +When he had been at the carrying-place about a year and a half, he saw a +large party of captives brought in from the settlements. Among them was +a young woman who had been at Fort Stanwix when Ogden was on duty there. +As she sat in the camp, Davy being present, she began to observe him +carefully. Although our hero was dressed as an Indian--Indian gaiters, a +short frock belted at the waist, and with his hair cut close to the +scalp over the whole head except a long tuft on the crown--yet this poor +girl saw his real condition and soon learned who he was. There was no +chance for confidences. What little they said had to be spoken freely, +without feeling, as if casually between strangers indifferent to each +other. She told David that she was gathering cowslip greens in a field, +when an Indian rushed upon her and carried her away. What she endured +while being brought to the Niagara I leave to the imagination. Davy saw +her carried away by her captors across the river into Canada; and thus +vanishes Hannah Armstrong, for I find no mention of her except in this +reminiscence of her drawn from Ogden's own lips. + +About this time David was taken to the fort, old Gunna-go-let having +heard that the British would give her a present for the lad. Davy +trudged the nine miles from their hut to the fort with a good heart, for +to him the news meant a chance of exchange. At Guy Johnson's house he +and his mother sat expectant on the steps. Presently out came Capt. +Powell, who had married Jane Moore--who had herself been brought to the +fort a captive from Cherry Valley. This fine couple, from whom the lad +had some right to expect kindness, paraded up and down the "stoop" or +verandah of the house for a while, the wife hanging on her captain's arm +and both ignoring the boy. At length they paused, and Capt. Powell said: + +"You are one of the squaw boys? Do you want to quit the Indians?" + +"Yes," said Davy, heart in mouth. + +"What for?" quizzed the captain. + +"To be exchanged--to get back home, to my own country." + +"Well," said Powell, "if you really want to get free from the Indians +come up and enlist in Butler's Rangers. Then we can ransom you from this +old squaw--will you do it?" + +"No, I won't!" blazed Davy, fiercely. + +Capt. Powell turned on his heel. "Go back with the Indians again and be +damned!" and with that he vanished into the house; and we have no means +of knowing whether Jane, his wife, had by this time become so "Tory" +that she made no protest; but it is pleasanter to think of her as +remembering her own captivity, and, still loyal at heart, as interceding +for the boy.[26] But that was the end of it for this time, and back +Davy went, with an angry squaw, to continue his ignoble servitude until +the next spring. Then word spread all through the region that the +prisoners must be brought into Fort Niagara, and this time Davy was not +disappointed, for with many others he was hurried on board the schooner +Seneca and carried to Oswego. Obviously the news of the preparations for +a peace had reached Niagara. Although the Treaty of Paris was not signed +until September 3d of that year (1783), yet the preliminary articles had +been agreed upon in January. The order from the British Ministry to +cease hostilities reached Sir Guy Carleton about the 1st of April, and a +week or so would suffice for its transmission to Niagara. Captives who +had been detained and claimed by the Indians continued to be brought in +during that summer, but we hear no more of returning war parties +arriving with new prisoners. The War of the Revolution was over, even at +remote Niagara, although for one pretext and another--and for some good +reasons--the British held on to Fort Niagara and kept up its garrison +for thirteen years more. + +With the sailing of the Seneca the connection of Davy Ogden with Fort +Niagara ended; but no one who has followed his fortunes thus far can +wish to drop him, as it were, in the middle of Lake Ontario. That is +where Davy came near going, for a gale came up which not only made him +and the throng of others who were fastened below decks desperately sick, +but came near wrecking the schooner. She was compelled to put in at +Buck's Island, and after some days reached Oswego, then strongly +garrisoned. Here Davy stayed, still a prisoner, but living with the +British Indians, through the winter. In the spring, with a companion +named Danforth, who stole a loaf of bread for their sustenance, he made +his escape. He ran through the woods, twenty-four miles in four hours; +swam the Oswego River, and on reaching the far side, and fearing +pursuit, did not stop to dress, but ran on naked through the woods until +he and his companion hoped they had distanced their pursuers. A party +had been sent after them from the fort, but on reaching the point where +the boys had plunged into the river, gave up the chase. Ogden and +Danforth pressed on, around Oneida Lake--having an adventure with a bear +by the way, and another with rattlesnakes--and finally, following old +trails, reached Fort Herkimer, having finished their loaf of bread and +run seventy miles on the last day of their flight. Here Davy was among +friends. The officers promptly clothed him, gave him passports, and in a +few days he found his parents at Warrensburg, in Schoharie County. + +When the War of 1812 broke out, David took his gun again. He fought at +the Battle of Queenston, where forty men in his own company were killed +or wounded. Two bullets passed through his clothes, but he was unharmed. +We can imagine the interest with which he viewed the Lewiston plateau +where he had lived with Gunna-go-let more than thirty years before. +After the war he returned East, and in 1840 was living in the town of +Franklin, Delaware Co., being then seventy-six years old. The story of +his adventures was gathered from his own lips, but I do not think it has +ever been told before as a part of the history of the Niagara frontier. + + + + + +A Fort Niagara Centennial. + + + + +A FORT NIAGARA CENTENNIAL. + +_With Especial Reference to the British Retention of that Post for +Thirteen Years after the Treaty of 1783._[27] + + +The part assigned to me in these exercises is to review the history of +Fort Niagara; to summon from the shades and rehabilitate the figures +whose ambitions or whose patriotism are web and woof of the fabric which +Time has woven here. It is a long procession, led by the disciples of +St. Francis and Loyola--first the Cross, then the scalping-knife, the +sword and musket. These came with adventurers of France, under sanction +of Louis the Magnificent, who first builded our Fort Niagara and with +varying fortunes kept here a feeble footing for four score years, until, +one July day, Great Britain's wave of continental conquest passed up the +Niagara; and here, as on all the frontier from Duquesne to Quebec, + + "The lilies withered where the Lion trod."[28] + +The fragile emblem of France vanished from these shores, and the triple +cross waved over Fort Niagara until, 100 years ago to-day, it gave way +to a fairer flag. This is the event we celebrate, this, with the +succeeding years, the period we review: a period embracing three great +wars between three great nations; covering our Nation's birth, growth, +assertion and maintenance of independence. The story of Fort Niagara is +peculiarly the story of the fur trade and the strife for commercial +monopoly; and it is, too, in considerable measure, the story of our +neighbor, the magnificent colony of Canada, herself worthy of full +sisterhood among the nations. It is a story replete with incident of +battle and siege, of Indian cruelty, of patriot captivity, of white +man's duplicity, of famine, disease and death,--of all the varied forms +of misery and wretchedness of a frontier post, which we in days of ease +are wont to call picturesque and romantic. It is a story without a dull +page, and it is two and a half centuries long. + +Obviously something must be here omitted, for your committee have +allotted me fifteen minutes in which to tell it! + +Let us note, then, in briefest way, the essential data of the spot where +we stand. + +A French exploratory expedition headed by Robert Cavelier, called La +Salle, attempted the first fortification here in 1679.[29] There was a +temporary Indian village on the west side of the river, but no +settlement here, neither were there trees on this point. Here, under the +direction of La Motte de Lussiere, were built two timber redoubts, +joined by a palisade. This structure, called Fort Conty, burned the same +year, and the site of Fort Niagara was unfortified until the summer of +1687, when the Marquis de Denonville, Governor General of Canada, after +his expedition against the Senecas, made rendezvous on this point, and +(metaphorically) shaking his fist at his rival Dongan, the Governor of +the English Colony of New York, built here a fort which was called Fort +Denonville. It was a timber stockade, of four bastions; was built in +three days, occupied for eleven months by a garrison which dwindled from +100 men to a dozen, and would no doubt entirely have succumbed to the +scurvy and the besieging Iroquois but for the timely arrival of friendly +Miamis. It was finally abandoned September 15, 1688, the palisades being +torn down, but the little huts which had sheltered the garrison left +standing. How long they endured is not recorded. All traces of them had +evidently vanished by 1721, when in May of that year Charlevoix rounded +yonder point in his canoe and came up the Niagara. His Journal gives no +account of any structure here. Four years more elapsed before the French +ventured to take decided stand on this ground. In 1725 Governor De +Vaudreuil deputed the General De Longueil to erect a fort here. The work +was entrusted to the royal engineer Chaussegros de Léry--the elder of +the two distinguished engineers bearing that name. He came to this spot, +got his stone from Lewiston Heights and his timber from the forest west +of the river, and built the "castle." Some of the cut stone was +apparently brought from the vicinity of Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, +across the lake. The oldest part of this familiar pile, and more or less +of the superstructure, is therefore 171 years old.[30] There is, +however, probably but little suggestion of the original building in the +present construction, which has been several times altered and enlarged. +But from 1725 to the present hour Fort Niagara has existed and, with one +brief interim, has been continuously and successively garrisoned by the +troops of France, England, and the United States. + +By 1727 De Léry had completed the fortification of the "castle," and the +French held the post until 1759, when it surrendered to the English +under Sir William Johnson. It was in its last defence by the French that +the famous Capt. Pouchot first established the fortification to the +eastward, with two bastions and a curtain-wall, apparently on about the +same lines as those since maintained. The story of the siege, the +battle, and the surrender is an eventful one; it is also one of the most +familiar episodes in the history of the place, and may not be dwelt upon +here. + +July 25, 1759, marks the end of the French period in the history of Fort +Niagara. The real significance of that period was even less in its +military than in its commercial aspect. During the first century and +more of our story the possession of the Niagara was coveted for the sake +of the fur trade which it controlled. I cannot better tell the story of +that hundred years in less than a hundred words, than to symbolize Fort +Niagara as a beaver skin, held by an Indian, a Frenchman, an Englishman +and a Dutchman, each of the last three trying to pull it away from the +others (the poor Dutchman being early bowled over in the scuffle), and +each European equally eager to placate the Indian with fine words, with +prayers or with brandy, or to stick a knife into his white brother's +back. + +This vicinity also has peculiar precedence in the religious records of +our State. It was near here[31] that Father Melithon Watteaux, the first +Catholic priest to minister to whites in what is now New York State, set +up his altar.[32] It has been claimed, too, by eminent authority, that +on this bank of the Niagara, was acquired by the Catholic Church its +first title to property in this State[33]; and here at Fort Niagara, +under the French _régime_, ministered Fathers Lamberville and Milet, +Crespel and others of shining memory. But the capture of Fort Niagara by +Sir William Johnson overthrew the last altar raised by the French on the +east bank of the Niagara. + +The first period of British possession of this point extends from 1759 +to 1796. This includes the Revolutionary period, with sixteen years +before war was begun, and thirteen years after peace was declared. When +yielded up by the French, most of the buildings were of wood. Exceptions +were the castle, the old barracks and magazine, the two latter, +probably, dating from 1756, when the French engineer, Capt. Pouchot, +practically rebuilt the fort. The southwest blockhouse may also be of +French construction. A tablet on the wall of yonder bake-house says it +was erected in 1762. There were constant repairs and alterations under +the English, and several periods of important construction. They rebuilt +the bastions and waged constant warfare against the encroaching lake. In +1789 Capt. Gother Mann, Royal Engineer, made report on the needs of the +place, and his recommendations were followed the succeeding year. In his +report for 1790 he enumerates various works which have been accomplished +on the fortifications, and says: "The blockhouse [has been] moved to +the gorge of the ravelin so as to form a guard-house for the same, and +to flank the line of picketts.... A blockhouse has been built on the +lake side." This obviously refers to the solid old structure still +standing there.[34] + +The real life of the place during the pre-Revolutionary days can only be +hinted at here. It was the scene of Sir William Johnson's activities, +the rendezvous and recruiting post for Western expeditions. Here was +held the great treaty of 1764; and here England made that alliance with +the tribes which turned their tomahawks against the "American rebels." +It may not be too much to say that the greatest horrors of the +Revolutionary War had their source in this spot. Without Fort Niagara +there would have been no massacre of Wyoming,[35] no Cherry Valley and +Bowman's Creek outrages. Here it was that the cunning of Montour and of +Brant joined with the zeal of the Butlers and Guy Johnson, and all were +directed and sanctioned by the able and merciless Haldimand, then +Governor General of Canada. When Sullivan, the avenger, approached in +1779, Fort Niagara trembled; had he but known the weakness of the +garrison then, one page of our history would have been altered. The +British breathed easier when he turned back, but another avenger was in +the camp; for the 5,000 inflocking Indians created a scarcity of +provisions; and starvation, disease and death, as had been the case more +than once before on this point, became the real commanders of the +garrison at Fort Niagara. + +I hurry over the Revolutionary period in order to dwell, briefly, on the +time following the treaty of 1783. By that treaty Great Britain +acknowledged the independence of this country. When it was signed the +British held the posts of Point au Fer and Dutchmen's Point on Lake +Champlain, Oswegatchie on the St. Lawrence, Oswego, Niagara, Detroit and +Mackinac. The last three were important depots for the fur trade and +were remote from the settled sections of the country. The British +alleged that they held on to these posts because of the non-fulfillment +of certain clauses in the treaty by the American Government. But +Congress was impotent; it could only recommend action on the part of the +States, and the impoverished States were at loggerheads with each other. +England waited to see the new Nation succumb to its own domestic +difficulties. It is exceedingly interesting to note at this juncture the +attitude of Gov. Haldimand. In November, 1784, more than a year after +the signing of the treaty, he wrote to Brig. Gen. St. Leger: "Different +attempts having been made by the American States to get possession of +the posts in the Upper Country, I have thought it my duty uniformly to +oppose the same until His Majesty's orders for that purpose shall be +received, and my conduct upon that occasion having been approved, as you +will see by enclosed extract of a letter from His Majesty's Minister of +State, I have only to recommend to you a strict attention to the same, +which will be more than ever necessary as uncommon returns of furs from +the Upper Country this year have increased the anxiety of the Americans +to become masters of it, and have prompted them to make sacrifices to +the Indians for that purpose"; and he adds, after more in this vein, +that should evacuation be ordered, "on no account whatever are any +stores or provisions to be left in the forts" for the use of the +Americans. + +Not only did Haldimand, during the years immediately following the +treaty, refuse to consider any overtures made by the Americans looking +to a transfer of the posts, but he was especially solicitous in +maintaining the garrisons, keeping them provisioned, and the +fortifications in good repair. There were over 2,000, troops, Loyalists +and Indians, at Fort Niagara, October 1, 1783. A year later it was much +the best-equipped post west of Montreal; and ten years later it was not +only well garrisoned and armed, mounting twelve 24-pounders, ten +12-pounders, two howitzers and five mortars, with large store of shell +and powder, but it had become such an important depot of supply to the +impoverished Loyalists that a great scandal had arisen over the matter +of feeding them with King's stores; and the last spring of the +Britishers' sojourn here was enlivened by the proceedings of a court of +inquiry, with a possible court-martial in prospect, over a wholesale +embezzlement of the King's flour. + +Haldimand prized Niagara at its true value. In October, 1782, several +months before peace was declared, with admirable forethought and +diplomacy, he wrote to the Minister: "In case a peace or truce should +take place during the winter ... great care should be taken that Niagara +and Oswego should be annexed to Canada, or comprehended in the general +words, that each of the contending parties in North America should +retain what they possessed at the time. The possession of these two +forts is essentially necessary to the security as well as trade of the +country."[36] He ordered the commandant at Fort Niagara to be very much +on his guard against surprise by the wily Americans, and at the same +time to "be very industrious in giving every satisfaction to our Indian +allies."[37] + +On the 2d of May, 1783, an express messenger from Gen. Washington +arrived at Fort Niagara, bringing the terms of the treaty. The news gave +great uneasiness to Indian-Supt. Butler. "Strict attention to the +Indians," he wrote next day to Capt. Mathews, "has hitherto kept them in +good humor, but now I am fearful of a sudden and disagreeable change in +their conduct. The Indians, finding that their lands are ceded to the +Americans, will greatly sour their tempers and make them very +troublesome." The British, with good reason, were constantly considering +the effect of evacuation upon the Indians. + +The Americans made an ineffectual effort to get early possession of the +posts. New York State made a proposition for garrisoning Oswego and +Niagara, but Congress did not accede. On January 21, 1784, Gov. Clinton +advised the New York State Senate and Assembly on the subject. The +British commander [Haldimand], he said, had treated the Provisional +Articles as a suspension of hostilities only, "declined to withdraw his +garrison and refused us even to visit those posts."[38] The Legislature +agreed with the Governor that nothing could be done until spring.[39] +Spring found them equally impotent. In March Gov. Clinton sent a copy of +the proclamation announcing the ratification of the treaty to Gen. +Haldimand: "Having no doubt that Your Excellency will, as soon as the +season admits, withdraw the British garrisons under your command from +the places they now hold in the United States, agreeable to the 7th +Article of the Treaty, it becomes a part of my duty to make the +necessary provisions for receiving the Post of Niagara and the other +posts within the limits of this State, and it is for this purpose I have +now to request that Your Excellency would give me every possible +information of the time when these posts are to be delivered up." + +Lieut.-Col. Fish, who carried Gov. Clinton's letter to Quebec, received +no satisfaction. Gen. Haldimand evaded anything like a direct reply, +saying that he would obey the instructions of His Majesty's +Ministers--whom he was meanwhile urging to hold on to the posts--but he +gave the American officer the gratuitous information that in his +[Haldimand's] private opinion "the posts should not be evacuated until +such time as the American States should carry into execution the +articles of the treaty in favor of the Loyalists; that in conformity to +that article [I quote from Haldimand's report of the interview to Lord +North], I had given liberty to many of the unhappy people to go into the +States in order to solicit the recovery of their estates and effects, +but that they were glad to return, without effecting anything after +having been insulted in the grossest manner; that although in compliance +with His Majesty's order, and [to] shun everything which might tend to +prevent a reconciliation between the two countries, I had make no public +representation on that head. I could not be insensible to the sufferings +of those who had a right to look up to me for protection, and that such +conduct towards the Loyalists was not a likely means to engage Great +Britain to evacuate the posts; for in all my transactions," he adds, "I +never used the words either of my 'delivering' or their 'receiving' the +posts, for reasons mentioned in one of my former letters to Your +Lordship." And with this poor satisfaction Col. Fish was sent back to +Gov. Clinton.[40] + +In June, Maj.-Gen. Knox, Secretary of War, sent Lieut.-Col. Hull to +Quebec on the same errand. In a most courteous letter he asked to be +notified of the time of evacuation, and proposed, "as a matter of mutual +convenience, an exchange of certain cannon and stores now at these posts +for others to be delivered at West Point upon Hudson's River, New York, +or some other convenient place," and he added that Lieut.-Col. Hull was +fully authorized to make final arrangements, "so that there may remain +no impediment to the march of the American troops destined for this +service." Holdfast Haldimand sent him back with no satisfaction +whatever, and again exulted, in his report to Lord Sydney, over his +success in withstanding the Americans.[41] It was with great reluctance +that in the summer of 1784 he reduced the number of British vessels by +one on each of the lakes Erie and Ontario. "It appears to be an object +of National advantage," he wrote to an official of the British Treasury, +"to prevent the fur trade from being diverted to the American States, +and no measure is so likely to have effect as the disallowing, as long +as it shall be in our power, the navigation of the lakes by vessels or +small crafts of any kind belonging to individuals; hence I was the more +inclined to indulge the merchants, though in opposition to the plan of +economy which I had laid down."[42] + +In October, 1784, Congress ordered 700 men to be raised for garrisoning +the posts; but the season was late, the States impotent or indifferent, +and nothing came of the order. Congress faithfully exercised all the +power it possessed in the matter. In 1783, and again in 1787, it +unanimously recommended to the States (and the British commissioner was +aware, when the treaty was made, that Congress could do no more than +recommend) to comply speedily and exactly with that portion of the +treaty that concerned creditors and Royalists. The States were unable to +act in concert, and alleged infractions of the compact by the British, +as, indeed, there were. There was a sporadic show of indignation in +various quarters over the continued retention of the posts; but in view +of more vital matters, and consciousness that the British claim of +unfulfilled conditions was not wholly unfounded, the agitation slumbered +for long periods, and matters remained _in statu quo_. + +The establishment of the Federal Constitution in 1789 gave the States a +new and firmer union; and the success of Wayne's expedition materially +loosened the British hold on the Indians and the trade of the lake +region; so that Great Britain readily agreed to the express stipulation +in the commercial treaty of 1794, that the posts should be evacuated "on +or before the 1st of June, 1796." This treaty, commonly called Jay's, +was signed in London, November 19, 1794, but not ratified until October +28, 1795. No transfer of troops was then reasonably to be expected +during the winter. Indeed, it was not until April 25, 1796, that Lord +Dorchester officially informed his council at Castle St. Louis that he +had received a copy of the treaty. Even then the transfer was postponed +until assurances could be had that English traders among the Indians +should not be unduly dealt with.[43] There was much highly-interesting +correspondence between Lord Dorchester and the commandant at Niagara on +this point; with James McHenry, our Secretary of War; with Robert +Liston, the British Minister at Philadelphia; and, of course, with the +Duke of Portland and others of the Ministry. Capt. Lewis, representing +the United States, was sent to Quebec for definite information of +British intention. He fared better than the American emissaries had +twelve years before. He was cordially received and supplied with a copy +of the official order commanding evacuation of the posts. Whereupon, +having received the assurance which his Government had so long sought, +he immediately requested that the posts should not be evacuated until +the troops of the United States should be at hand to protect the works +and public buildings. "Being desirous," wrote Lord Dorchester, "to meet +the wishes of the President, I have qualified my orders in a manner that +I think will answer this purpose."[44] Thus it happened that the +evacuation occurred at several different dates. It not being thought +necessary to await the coming of American forces at the small posts on +Lake Champlain and at Oswegatchie, the British withdrew from those +points without ceremony about July 1st. Detroit followed, July 11th; +then Oswego, July 15th. Most of the garrison appears to have left Fort +Niagara early in July, but an officer's guard remained until August +11th,[45] when American troops arrived from Oswego, and the Stars and +Stripes went to the masthead. + +I have dwelt upon this period in the history of Fort Niagara at some +length, partly because it is the exact period marked by our celebration +today, partly because most of the data just related are gleaned from +unpublished official MSS., of which but scant use appears to have been +made by writers on the subject. + +Of Fort Niagara under the American flag I shall be very brief. No loyal +American can take pride in telling of its surrender to the British, +December 19, 1813. There was neither a gallant defense nor a generous +enemy. Cowardice on the one hand and retaliation on the other sum up the +episode. The place was restored to the United States March 27, 1815, +and with the exception of one brief interim has been maintained as a +garrison to this day. The Morgan affair of 1826 need only be alluded +to. The last defensive work of consequence--the brick facing of the +bastions, fronting east--dates from 1861. + +In the continental view, Fort Niagara was never of paramount importance. +Before the British conquest, Niagara was the key to the inner door, but +Quebec was the master-lock. The French Niagara need never have been +attacked; after the fall of Quebec it would inevitably have become Great +Britain's without a blow. In English hands its importance was great, its +expense enormous. Without it, Detroit and Mackinac could not have +existed; yet England's struggle with the rebellious colonies would have +been inevitable, and would have terminated exactly as it did, had she +never possessed a post in the lake region. And of Fort Niagara as an +American possession, the American historian can say nothing more true +than this: that it is a striking exemplification of the fact that his +beloved country is ill prepared upon her frontiers for anything save a +state of international amity and undisturbed peace. + + + + +The Journals and Journeys of an Early Buffalo Merchant. + + + + +THE JOURNALS AND JOURNEYS OF AN EARLY BUFFALO MERCHANT. + + +On the frosty morning of February 5, 1822, a strange equipage turned out +of Erie Street into Willink Avenue, Buffalo, drove down that steep and +ungraded highway for a short distance, then crossed to Onondaga Street, +and turning into Crow, was soon lost to sight among the snowdrifts that +lined the road running round the south shore of Lake Erie. At least, +such I take to have been the route, through streets now familiar as +Main, Washington and Exchange, which a traveler would choose who was +bound up the south shore of Lake Erie. + +The equipage, as I have said, was a strange one, and a good many people +came out to see it; not so much to look at the vehicle as to bid +good-bye to its solitary passenger. The conveyance itself was nothing +more nor less than a good-sized crockery-crate, set upon runners. Thills +were attached, in which was harnessed a well-conditioned horse. The +baggage, snugly stowed, included a saddle and saddle-bags, and a sack of +oats for the horse. Sitting among his effects, the passenger, though +raised but a few inches above the snow, looked snug and comfortable. +With a chorus of well-wishes following him, he left the village and by +nightfall had traveled many miles to the westward, taking his course on +the ice that covered Lake Erie. + +This was John Lay, a merchant of the early Buffalo, whom even yet it is +only necessary to introduce to the young people and to new-comers. The +older generation remembers well the enterprising and successful merchant +who shared fortunes with Buffalo in her most romantic days. Before going +after him, up the ice-covered lake, let us make his closer acquaintance. + +Mr. Lay, who was of good New-England stock, came to Buffalo in 1810 to +clerk in the general store of his brother-in-law, Eli Hart. Mr. Hart had +built his store on Main near the corner of Erie Street, the site now +occupied by the American Express Co.'s building. His dwelling was on +Erie Street, adjoining, and between the house and store was an ample +garden. The space now occupied by St. Paul's Church and the Erie County +Savings Bank was a rough common; native timber still stood thick along +the east side of Main, above South Division Street; the town had been +laid out in streets and lots for four years, and the population, +exceeding at that time 400, was rapidly increasing. There was a turnpike +road to the eastward, with a stage route. Buffalo Creek flowed lazily +into the lake; no harbor had been begun; and on quiet days in summer the +bees could still be heard humming among the basswoods by its waters. + +This was the Buffalo to which young Lay had come. Looking back to those +times, even more novel than the condition of the frontier village, was +the character of the frontier trade carried on by Mr. Hart. The trade of +the villagers was less important than that which was held with the +Canadians or English who were in office under the Government. To them +they sold India goods, silks and muslins. Side by side with these the +shelves were stocked with hardware, crockery, cottonades, jeans and +flannels, Indian supplies, groceries and liquors. The young New +Englander soon found that with such customers as Red Jacket and other +representative red-men his usefulness was impaired unless he could speak +Indian. With characteristic energy he set himself at the task, and in +three months had mastered the Seneca. New goods came from the East by +the old Mohawk River and Lewiston route, were poled up the Niagara from +Schlosser's, above the falls, on flatboats, and were stored in a log +house at the foot of Main Street. + +Up to 1810 the growth of Buffalo had been exceedingly slow, even for a +remote frontier point. But about the time Mr. Lay came here new life was +shown. Ohio and Michigan were filling up, and the tide of migration +strengthened. Mr. Hart's market extended yearly farther west and +southwest, and for a time the firm did a profitable business. + +Then came the war, paralysis of trade, and destruction of property. Mr. +Lay was enrolled as a private in Butts's Company, for defense. The night +the village was burned he with his brother-in-law, Eli Hart, were in +their store. The people were in terror, fearing massacre by the +Indians, hesitating to fly, not knowing in which direction safety lay. + +"John," said Mr. Hart, "there's all that liquor in the cellar--the +redskins mustn't get at that." + +Together they went down and knocked in the heads of all the casks until, +as Mr. Lay said afterwards, they stood up to their knees in liquor. As +he was coming up from the work he encountered a villainous-looking +Onondaga chief, who was knocking off the iron shutters from the store +windows. They had been none too quick in letting the whisky run into the +ground. Mr. Lay said to the Indian: + +"You no hurt friend?" + +Just then a soldier jumped from his horse before the door. Mr. Lay +caught up a pair of saddle-bags, filled with silver and valuable papers, +threw them across the horse, and cried out to his brother-in-law: + +"Here, jump on and strike out for the woods." + +Mr. Hart took this advice and started. The horse was shot from under +him, but the rider fell unharmed, and, catching up the saddle-bags, made +his way on foot to the house of another brother-in-law, Mr. Comstock. +Later that day they came back to the town, and with others they picked +up thirty dead bodies and put them into Rees's blacksmith shop, where +the next day they were burned with the shop. + +After starting his relatives toward safety, Mr. Lay thought of himself. +The Onondaga had disappeared, and Mr. Lay went into the house, took a +long surtout that hung on the wall and put it on. As he stepped out of +the door he was taken prisoner, and that night, with many others, +soldiers and civilians, was carried across the river to Canada. + +And here begins an episode over which I am tempted to linger; for the +details of his captivity, as they were related to me by his widow, the +late Mrs. Frances Lay, are worthy of consideration. I will only +rehearse, as briefly as possible, the chief events of this captivity in +Canada, which, although not recorded in Mr. Lay's journals, resulted in +one of his most arduous and adventurous journeys. + +The night of December 30, 1813, was bitterly cold. The captured and the +captors made a hard march from Fort Erie to Newark--or, as we know it +now, Niagara, Ont., on Lake Ontario. The town was full of Indians, and +many of the Indians were full of whisky. Under the escort of a +body-guard Mr. Lay was allowed to go to the house of a Mrs. Secord, whom +he knew. While there, the enemy surrounded the house and demanded Lay, +but Mrs. Secord hid him in a closet, and kept him concealed until Mr. +Hart, who had followed with a flag of truce, had learned of his safety. +Then came the long, hard march through Canadian snows to Montreal. The +prisoners were put on short rations, were grudgingly given water to +drink, and were treated with such unnecessary harshness that Mr. Lay +boldly told the officer in charge of the expedition that on reaching +Montreal he should report him to the Government for violating the laws +of civilized warfare. + +In March he was exchanged at Greenbush, opposite Albany. There he got +some bounty and footed it across the country to Oneida, where his father +lived. As he walked through the village he saw his father's sleigh in +front of the postoffice, where his parents had gone, hoping for news +from him. They burned his war-rags, and he rested for a time at his +father's home, sick of the horrors of war and fearful lest his +constitution had been wrecked by the hardships he had undergone. It will +be noted that this enforced journey from Buffalo through Canada to +Montreal and thence south and west to Oneida had been made in the dead +of winter and chiefly, if not wholly, on foot. Instead of killing him, +as his anxious parents feared it might, the experience seems to have +taught him the pleasures of pedestrianism, for it is on foot and alone +that we are to see him undertaking some of his most extended journeys. + +I cannot even pause to call attention to the slow recovery of Buffalo +from her absolute prostration. The first house rebuilt here after the +burning was that of Mrs. Mary Atkins, a young widow, whose husband, +Lieut. Asael Atkins, had died of an epidemic only ten days before the +village was destroyed. The young widow had fled with the rest, finding +shelter at Williamsville, until her new house was raised on the +foundation of the old. It stood on the corner of Church and Pearl +streets, where the Stafford Building now is. + +The reader is perhaps wondering what all this has to do with John Lay. +Merely this: that when, at Mr. Hart's solicitation, Mr. Lay once more +returned to Buffalo, he boarded across the common from the rebuilt +store, with the Widow Atkins, and later on married her daughter Frances, +who, many years his junior, long survived him, and to whose vigorous +memory and kind graciousness we are indebted for these pictures of the +past. + +The years that followed the War of 1812 were devoted by Messrs. Hart & +Lay to a new upbuilding of their business. Mr. Hart, who had ample +capital, went to New York to do the buying for the firm, and continued +to reside there, establishing as many as five general stores in +different parts of Western New York. He had discerned in his young +relative a rare combination of business talents, made him a partner, and +entrusted him with the entire conduct of the business at Buffalo. After +peace was declared the commercial opportunities of a well-equipped firm +here were great. Each season brought in larger demands from the western +country. Much of the money that accrued from the sale of lands of the +Holland Purchase flowed in the course of trade into their hands. The +pioneer families of towns to the west of Buffalo came hither to trade, +and personal friendships were cemented among residents scattered through +a large section. I find no period of our local history so full of +activities. From Western New York to Illinois it was a time of +foundation-laying. Let me quote a few paragraphs from memoranda which +Mrs. Lay made relating to this period: + + The war had brought men of strong character, able to cope with + pioneer life; among others, professional men, surgeons, doctors + and lawyers: Trowbridge, Marshall, Johnson, and many others. Elliot + of Erie was a young lawyer, of whom Mr. Lay had often said, "His + word is as good as his bond." Another friend was Hamot of Erie, who + had married Mr. Hart's niece. He made frequent visits to his + countryman, Louis Le Couteulx. [At whose house, by the way, John + Lay and Frances Atkins were married, Red Jacket being among the + guests.] At Erie, then a naval station, were the families of + Dickinson, Brown, Kelso, Reed, Col. Christy, and many others, all + numbered among Mr. Lay's patrons. Albert H. Tracy came here about + that time; he brought a letter from his brother Phineas, who had + married Mr. Lay's sister. He requested Mr. Lay to do for him what + he could in the way of business. Mr. Lay gave him a room over his + store, and candles and wood for five years. Even in those days Mr. + Tracy used to declare that he should make public life his business. + + Hart & Lay became consignees for the Astors in the fur business. I + well remember that one vessel-load of furs from the West got wet. + To dry them Mr. Lay spread them on the grass, filling the green + where the churches now are. The wet skins tainted the air so + strongly that Mr. Lay was threatened with indictment--but he saved + the Astors a large sum of money. + +Hart & Lay acquired tracts of land in Canada, Ohio and Michigan. To look +after these and other interests Mr. Lay made several adventurous +journeys to the West--such journeys as deserve to be chronicled with +minutest details, which are not known to have been preserved. On one +occasion, to look after Detroit interests, he went up the lake on the +ice with Maj. Barton and his wife; the party slept in the wigwams of +Indians, and Mr. Lay has left on record his admiration of Mrs. Barton's +ability to make even such rough traveling agreeable. + +A still wilder journey took him to Chicago. He went alone, save for his +Indian guides, and somewhere in the Western wilderness they came to him +and told him they had lost the trail. Before it was regained their +provisions were exhausted, and they lived for a time on a few kernels of +corn, a little mutton tallow, and a sip of whisky. Fort Dearborn--or +Chicago--at that date had but one house, a fur-trading post. When Mr. +Lay and his guides reached there they were so near starvation that the +people dared give them only a teaspoonful of pigeon soup at a time. Nor +had starvation been the only peril on this journey. An attempt to rob +him, if not to murder him, lent a grim spice to the experience. Mr. Lay +discovered that he was followed, and kept his big horse-pistols in +readiness. One night, as he lay in a log-house, he suddenly felt a hand +moving along the belt which he wore at his waist. Instantly he raised +his pistol and fired. The robber dashed through the window, and he was +molested no more. + +Such adventurous journeyings as these formed no inconsiderable part of +the work of this pushing Buffalo merchant during the half dozen years +that followed the burning of the town. Business grew so that half a +dozen clerks were employed, and there were frequently crowds of people +waiting to be served. The store became a favorite rendezvous of +prominent men of the place. + +Many a war episode was told over there. Albert Gallatin and Henry Clay, +Jackson and the United States banks--the great men and measures of the +day--were hotly discussed there; and many a time did the group listen as +Mr. Lay read from _Niles' Register_, of which he was a constant +subscriber. There were sometimes lively scrimmages there, as the +following incident, narrated by Mrs. Lay, will illustrate: + +There was a family in New York City whose son was about to form a +misalliance. His friends put him under Mr. Hart's care, and he brought +the youth to Buffalo. Here, however, an undreamed-of difficulty was +encountered. A young Seneca squaw, well known in town as Suse, saw the +youth from New York and fell desperately in love with him. Mr. Lay, not +caring to take the responsibility of such a match-making, shipped the +young man back to New York. The forest maiden was disconsolate; but, +unlike _Viola_, she told her love, nor "let concealment, like the worm +i' the bud, feed on her damask cheek." Not a bit of it. On the contrary, +whenever Suse saw Mr. Lay she would ask him where her friend was. One +day she went into the store, and, going up to the counter behind which +Mr. Lay was busy, drew a club from under her blanket and "let him have +it" over the shoulders. The attack was sudden, but just as suddenly did +he jump over the counter and tackle her. Suse was a love-lorn maid, but +she was strong as a wildcat and as savage. Albert H. Tracy, who was in +the store, afterwards described the trouble to Mrs. Lay. + +"I never saw a fight," he said, "where both parties came so near being +killed; but Lay got the better of her, and yanked her out into the +street with her clothes torn off from her." + +"I should think you would have helped John," said the gentle lady, as +Mr. Tracy told her this. + +By the close of the year 1821, although still a young man, the subject +of this sketch had made a considerable fortune. Feeling the need of +rest, and anxious to extend his horizon beyond the frontier scenes to +which he was accustomed, he decided to go to Europe. Telling Mr. Hart to +get another partner, the business was temporarily left in other hands; +and on February 5, 1822, as narrated at the opening of this paper, Mr. +Lay drove out of town in a crockery-crate, and took his course up the +ice-covered lake, bound for Europe. + +Recall, if you please, something of the conditions of those times. No +modern journeyings that we can conceive of, short of actual exploration +in unknown regions, are quite comparable to such an undertaking as Mr. +Lay proposed. Partly, perhaps, because it was a truly extraordinary +thing for a frontier merchant to stop work and set off for an indefinite +period of sight-seeing; and partly, too, because he was a man whose love +for the accumulation of knowledge was regulated by precise habits, we +are now able to follow him in the closely-written, faded pages of half a +dozen fat journals, written by his own hand day by day during the two +years of his wanderings. No portion of these journals has ever been +published; yet they are full of interesting pictures of the past, and +show Mr. Lay to have been a close observer and a receptive student of +nature and of men. + +The reason for his crockery-crate outfit may have been divined. He +wanted a sleigh which he could leave behind without loss when the snow +disappeared. + +Business took him first to Cleveland, which he reached in six days, +driving much of the distance on the lake. Returning, at Erie he headed +south and followed the old French Creek route to the Allegheny. +Presently the snow disappeared. The crockery-crate sleigh was abandoned, +and the journey lightly continued in the saddle; among the few +_impedimenta_ which were carried in the saddle-bags being "a fine +picture of Niagara Falls, painted on satin, and many Indian curiosities +to present to friends on the other side." + +Pittsburg was reached March 2d; and, after a delay of four days, during +which he sold his horse for $30, we find our traveler embarked on the +new steamer Gen. Neville, carrying $120,000 worth of freight and fifty +passengers. + +Those were the palmy days of river travel. There were no railroads to +cut freight rates, or to divert the passenger traffic. The steamers were +the great transporters of the middle West. The Ohio country was just +emerging from the famous period which made the name "river-man" +synonymous with all that was disreputable. It was still the day of poor +taverns, poor food, much bad liquor, fighting, and every manifestation +of the early American vulgarity, ignorance and boastfulness which amazed +every foreigner who ventured to travel in that part of the United +States, and sent him home to magnify his bad impressions in a book. But +with all its discomforts, the great Southern river route of 1822 proved +infinitely enjoyable to our Buffalonian. At Louisville, where the falls +intercepted travel, he reëmbarked on the boat Frankfort for a +fourteen-days' journey to New Orleans. Her cargo included barrels of +whisky, hogsheads of tobacco, some flour and cotton, packs of furs, and +two barrels of bear's oil--how many years, I wonder, since that last +item has been found in a bill of lading on an Ohio steamer! + +I must hurry our traveler on to New Orleans, where, on a Sunday, he +witnessed a Congo dance, attended by 5,000 people, and at a theater saw +"The Battle of Chippewa" enacted. There are antiquarians of the Niagara +Frontier today who would start for New Orleans by first train if they +thought they could see that play. + +April 27th, Mr. Lay sailed from New Orleans, the only passenger on the +ship Triton, 310 tons, cotton-laden, for Liverpool. It was ten days +before they passed the bar of the Mississippi and entered the Gulf, and +it was not until June 28th that they anchored in the Mersey. The +chronicle of this sixty days' voyage, as is apt to be the case with +journals kept at sea, is exceedingly minute in detail. Day after day it +is recorded that "we sailed thirty miles to-day," "sailed forty miles +to-day," etc. There's travel for you--thirty miles on long tacks, in +twenty-four hours! The ocean greyhound was as yet unborn. The chief +diversion of the passage was a gale which blew them along 195 miles in +twenty-four hours; and an encounter with a whaleship that had not heard +a word from the United States in three years. "I tossed into their +boat," Mr. Lay writes, "a package of newspapers. The captain clutched +them with the avidity of a starving man." + +Ashore in Liverpool, the first sight he saw was a cripple being carried +through the streets--the only survivor from the wreck of the President, +just lost on the Irish coast.[46] + +He hastened to London just too late to witness the coronation of George +IV., but followed the multitude to Scotland, where, as he writes, "the +outlay of attentions to this bad man was beyond belief. Many of the +nobility were nearly ruined thereby." He was in Edinburgh on the night +of August 15, 1822, when that city paid homage to the new King; saw the +whole coast of Fife illuminated "with bonfires composed of thirty tons +of coal and nearly 1,000 gallons of tar and other combustibles"; and the +next day, wearing a badge of Edinburgh University, was thereby enabled +to gain a good place to view the guests as they passed on their way to a +royal levee. To the nobility our Buffalonian gave little heed; but when +Sir Walter Scott's carriage drove slowly by he gazed his fill. "He has +gray thin hair and a thoughtful look," Mr. Lay wrote. "The Heart of +Midlothian" had just been published, and Mr. Lay went on foot over all +the ground mentioned in that historical romance. He stayed in pleasant +private lodgings in Edinburgh for six months, making pedestrian +excursions to various parts of Scotland. In twenty-eight days of these +wanderings he walked 260 miles. + +Instead of following him closely in these rambles, my readers are asked +to recall, for a moment, the time of this visit. Great Britain was as +yet, to all intents and purposes, in the eighteenth century. She had few +canals and no railroads, no applied uses of steam and electricity. True, +Stephenson had experimented on the Killingworth Railway in 1814; but +Parliament had passed the first railway act only a few months before Mr. +Lay reached England, and the railway era did not actually set in until +eight years later. There is no reference in the Lay journals to steam +locomotives or railways. Liverpool, which was built up by the African +slave trade, was still carrying it on; the Reform Bill was not born in +Parliament; it was still the old _régime_. + +Our traveler was much struck by the general bad opinion which prevailed +regarding America. On meeting him, people often could not conceal their +surprise that so intelligent and well-read a man should be an American, +and a frontier tradesman at that. They quizzed him about the workings of +popular government. + + I told them [writes this true-hearted democrat] that as long as we + demanded from our public men honesty and upright dealings, our + institutions would be safe, but when men could be bought or sold I + feared the influence would operate ruinously, as all former + republics had failed for lack of integrity and honesty. + +His political talks brought to him these definitions, which I copy from +his journal: + + Tory was originally a name given to the wild Irish robbers who + favored the massacre of the Protestants in 1641. It was afterward + applied to all highflyers of the Church. Whig was a name first + given to the country field-elevation meetings, their ordinary drink + being whig, or whey, or coagulated sour milk. Those against the + Court interest during the reigns of Charles II. and James II. and + for the Court in the reigns of William and George I. were called + Whigs. A Yankee is thus defined by an Englishman, who gives me what + is most likely the correct derivation of the epithet: The Cherokee + word eanker [?] signifies coward or slave. The Virginians gave the + New Englanders this name for not assisting in a war with the + Cherokees in the early settlement of their country, but after the + affair of Bunker Hill the New Englanders gloried in the name, and + in retaliation called the Virginians Buckskins, in allusion to + their ancestors being hunters, and selling as well as wearing + buckskins in place of cloth. + +In Edinburgh he saw and heard much of some of Scotia's chief literary +folk. Burns had been dead twenty-six years, but he was still much spoken +of, much read, and admired far more than when he lived. With Mr. +Stenhouse, who for years was an intimate of Burns, Mr. Lay formed a +close acquaintance: + + Mr. Stenhouse has in his possession [says the journal] the mss. of + all of Burns's writings. I have had the pleasure of perusing them, + which I think a great treat. In the last of Burns's letters which I + read he speaks of his approaching dissolution with sorrow, of the + last events in his life in the most touching and delicate language. + +The journal relates some original Burns anecdotes, which Mr. Lay had +from the former companions of the bard, but which have probably never +been made public, possibly because--in characteristic contrast to the +letter referred to above--they are touching but _not_ delicate. + +Our Buffalonian encountered numerous literary lions, and writes +entertainingly of them. He speaks often of Scott, who he says "is quite +the theme. He is constantly writing--something from his pen is shortly +expected. I saw him walking on the day of the grand procession. He is +very lame, has been lame from his youth, a fact I did not know before." +James Hogg, author of the "Winter Evening Tales," lived near Edinburgh. +Mr. Lay described him as "a singular rustic sort of a genius, but withal +clever--very little is said about him." + +I have touched upon Mr. Lay's achievements in pedestrianism, a mode of +travel which he doubtless adopted partly because of the vigorous +pleasure it afforded, partly because it was the only way in which to +visit some sections of the country. A man who had walked from Fort Erie +to Montreal, to say nothing of hundreds of miles done under pleasanter +circumstances, would naturally take an interest in the pedestrian +achievements of others. Whoever cares for this "sport" will find in the +Lay journals unexpected revelations on the diversions and contests of +three-quarters of a century ago. Have we not regarded the walking-match +as a modern mania, certainly not antedating Weston's achievements? Yet +listen to this page of the old journal, dated Edinburgh, Aug. 27, 1822: + + I went to see a pedestrian named Russell, from the north of + England, who had undertaken to walk 102 miles in twenty-four + successive hours. He commenced his task yesterday at 1.15 o'clock. + The spot chosen was in the vale between the Mound and the North + Bridge, which gave an opportunity for a great number of spectators + to see him to advantage; yet the numbers were so great and so much + interested that there were persons constantly employed to clear his + way. The ground he walked over measured one eighth of a mile. I saw + him walk the last mile, which he did in twelve minutes. He finished + his task with eleven minutes to spare, and was raised on the + shoulders of men and borne away to be put into a carriage from + which the horses were taken. The multitude then drew him through + many principal streets of the city in triumph. The Earl of Fyfe + agreed to give him £30 if he finished his work within the given + time. He also got donations from others. Large bets were depending, + one of 500 guineas. He carried a small blue flag toward the last + and was loudly cheered by the spectators at intervals. + +Nor was the "sport" confined to Scotland. August 4, 1823, being in +London, Mr. Lay writes: + + To-day a girl of eight years of age undertook to walk thirty miles + in eight consecutive hours. She accomplished her task in seven + hours and forty-nine minutes without being distressed. A wager of + 100 sovereigns was laid. This great pedestrian feat took place at + Chelsea. + +A few weeks later he writes again: + + This is truly the age of pedestrianism. A man has just accomplished + 1,250 miles in twenty successive days. He is now to walk backward + forty miles a day for three successive days. Mr. Irvine, the + pedestrian, who attempted to walk from London to York and back, 394 + miles, in five days and eight hours, accomplished it in five days + seven and one-half hours. + +With men walking backwards and eight-years-old girls on the track, these +Britons of three-quarters of a century ago still deserve the palm. But +Mr. Lay's own achievements are not to be lightly passed over. Before +leaving London he wrote: "The whole length of my perambulations in +London and vicinity exceeds 1,200 miles." + +The journals, especially during the months of his residence in Scotland, +abound in descriptions of people and of customs now pleasant to recall +because for the most part obsolete. He heard much rugged theology from +Scotland's greatest preachers; had an encounter with robbers in the dark +and poorly-policed streets of Edinburgh; had his pockets picked while +watching the King; and saw a boy hanged in public for house-breaking. +With friends he went to a Scotch wedding, the description of which is so +long that I can only give parts of it: + + About forty had assembled. The priest, a Protestant, united them + with much ceremony, giving them a long lecture, after which dinner + was served up and whisky toddy. At six, dancing commenced and was + kept up with spirit until eleven, when we had tea, after which + dancing continued until three in the morning. The Scotch dances + differ from the American, and the dancers hold out longer. The + girls particularly do not tire so early as ours at home. We retired + to the house where the bride and groom were to be bedded. The + females of the party first put the bride to bed, and the bridegroom + was then led in by the men. After both were in bed liquor was + served. The groom threw his left-leg hose. Whoever it lights upon + is next to be married. The stocking lighted on my head, which + caused a universal shout. We reached home at half past six in the + morning, on foot. + +I have been much too long in getting Mr. Lay to London, to go about much +with him there. And yet the temptation is great, for to an American of +Mr. Lay's intelligence and inquiring mind the great city was beyond +doubt the most diverting spot on earth. One of the first sights he +saw--a May-day procession of chimney-sweeps, their clothes covered with +gilt paper--belonged more to the seventeenth century than to the +nineteenth. Peel and Wilberforce, Brougham and Lord Gower, were +celebrities whom he lost no time in seeing. On the Thames he saw the +grand annual rowing match for the Othello wherry prize, given by Edmund +Kean in commemoration of Garrick's last public appearance on June 10, +1776. Mr. Lay's description of the race, and of Kean himself, who +"witnessed the whole in an eight-oared cutter," is full of color and +appreciative spirit. He saw a man brought before the Lord Mayor who "on +a wager had eaten two pounds of candles and drank seven glasses of rum," +and who at another time had eaten at one meal "nine pounds of ox hearts +and taken drink proportionately"; and he went to Bartholomew's Fair, +that most audacious of English orgies, against which even the public +sentiment of that loose day was beginning to protest. As American +visitors at Quebec feel to-day a flush of patriotic resentment when the +orderly in the citadel shows them the little cannon captured at Bunker +Hill, so our loyal friend, with more interest than pleasure, saw in the +chapel at Whitehall, "on each side and over the altar eight or ten +eagles, taken from the French, and flags of different nations; the +eagle of the United States is among them, two taken at New Orleans, one +at Fort Niagara, one at Queenston, and three at Detroit"; but like the +American at Quebec, who, the familiar story has it, on being taunted +with the captured Bunker Hill trophy, promptly replied, "Yes, you got +the cannon, but we kept the hill," Mr. Lay, we may be sure, found +consolation in the thought that though we lost a few eagle-crested +standards, we kept the Bird o' Freedom's nest. + +On July 5, 1823, he crossed London Bridge on foot, and set out on an +exploration of rural England; tourings in which I can not take space to +follow him. When he first went abroad he had contemplated a trip on the +continent. This, however, he found it advisable to abandon, and on +October 5, 1823, on board the Galatea, he was beating down the channel, +bound for Boston. The journey homeward was full of grim adventure. A +tempest attended them across the Atlantic. In one night of terror, +"which I can never forget," he writes, "the ship went twice entirely +around the compass, and in very short space, with continual seas +breaking over her." The sailors mutinied and tried to throw the first +mate into the sea. Swords, pistols and muskets were made ready by the +captain. Mr. Lay armed himself and helped put down the rebellion. When +the captain was once more sure of his command, "Jack, a Swede, was taken +from his confinement, lashed up, and whipped with a cat-o'-nine-tails, +then sent to duty." The dose of cat was afterwards administered to the +others. It is no wonder that the traveler's heart was cheered when, on +November 13th, the storm-tossed Galatea passed under the guns of Forts +Warren and Independence and he stepped ashore at Boston. + +He did not hurry away, but explored that city and vicinity thoroughly, +going everywhere on foot, as he had, for the most part, in England. He +visited the theaters and saw the celebrities of the day, both of the +stage and the pulpit. At the old Boston Theater, Cooper was playing +_Marc Antony_, with Mr. Finn as _Brutus_, and Mr. Barrett as _Cassius_. + +On November 20th he pictures a New-England Thanksgiving: + + This is Thanksgiving Day throughout the State of Massachusetts. It + is most strictly observed in this city; no business whatever is + transacted--all shops remained shut throughout the day. All the + churches in the city were open, divine service performed, and + everything wore the appearance of Sunday. Great dinners are + prepared and eaten on this occasion, and in the evening the + theaters and ball-rooms tremble with delight and carriages fill + the streets.... A drunken, riotous gang of fellows got under our + windows yelping and making a great tumult. + +A week later, sending his baggage ahead by stage-coach, he passed over +Cambridge Bridge, on foot for Buffalo, by way of New York, Philadelphia, +Washington, Pittsburg and Erie. + +Once more I must regret that reasonable demands on the reader's patience +will not let me dwell with much detail on the incidents and observations +of this unusual journey. No man could take such a grand walk and fail +to see and learn much of interest. But here was a practical, shrewd, +observant gentleman who, just returned from two years in Great Britain, +was studying his own countrymen and weighing their condition and ideas +by most intelligent standards. The result is that the pages of the +journals reflect with unaccustomed fidelity the spirit of those days, +and form a series of historical pictures not unworthy our careful +attention. Just a glimpse or two by the way, and I am through. + +The long-settled towns of Massachusetts and Connecticut appeared to him +in the main thrifty and growing. Hartford he found a place of 7,000 +inhabitants, "completely but irregularly built, the streets crooked and +dirty, with sidewalks but no pavements." He passed through Wethersfield, +"famous for its quantities of onions. A church was built here, and its +bell purchased," he records, "with this vegetable." New Haven struck him +as "elegant, but not very flourishing, with 300 students in Yale." +Walking from twenty-five to thirty-five miles a day, he reached Rye, +just over the New York State line, on the ninth day from Boston, and +found people burning turf or peat for fuel, the first of this that he +had noticed in the United States. + +At Harlem Bridge, which crosses to New York Island, he found some fine +houses, "the summer residences of opulent New Yorkers"; and the next day +"set out for New York, seven miles distant, over a perfectly straight +and broad road, through a rough, rocky and unpleasing region." In New +York, where he rested a few days, he reviewed his New England walk of +212 miles: + + The general aspect of the country is pleasing; inns are provided + with the best, the people are kind and attentive. I think I have + never seen tables better spread. I passed through thirty-six towns + on the journey, which are of no mean appearance. I never had a more + pleasant or satisfactory excursion. There are a great number of + coaches for public conveyance plying on this great road. The fare + is $12 for the whole distance. Formerly it was 254 miles between + Boston and New York, but the roads are now straightened, which has + shortened the distance to 212 miles. + +He had experienced a Boston Thanksgiving. In New York, on Thursday, +December 18th, he had another one. Thanksgiving then was a matter of +State proclamation, as now, but the day had not been given its National +character, and in many of the States was not observed at all. We have +seen what it was like in Boston. In New York, "business appears as brisk +as on any other laboring day." The churches, however, were open for +service, and our traveler went to hear the Rev. Mr. Cummings in +Vanderventer Street, and to contribute to a collection in behalf of the +Greeks. + +Four days before Christmas he crossed to Hoboken, and trudged his way +through New Jersey snow and mud to Philadelphia, which he reached on +Christmas. At the theater that night he attended-- + + a benefit for Mr. Booth of Covent Garden, London, and was filled + with admiration for Mr. Booth, but the dancing by Miss Hathwell was + shocking in the extreme. The house was for a long time in great + uproar, and nothing would quiet them but an assurance from the + manager of Mr. Booth's reappearance. + +This of course was Junius Brutus Booth. Here is Mr. Lay's pen-picture of +Philadelphia seventy-six years ago: + + The streets of Philadelphia cross at right angles; are perfectly + straight, well-paved but miserably lighted. The sidewalks break + with wooden bars on which various things are suspended, and in the + lower streets these bars are appropriated for drying the + washwomen's clothes. Carpets are shaken in the streets at all + hours, and to the annoyance of the passer-by. Mr. Peale of the old + Philadelphia Museum was lecturing three nights a week on galvanism, + and entertaining the populace with a magic lantern. + +It is much the same Philadelphia yet. + +January 8th, Mr. Lay took his way south to Baltimore, making slow +progress because of muddy roads; but he had set out to walk, and so he +pushed ahead on to Washington, although there were eight coaches daily +for the conveyance of passengers between the two cities, the fare being +$4. The road for part of the way lay through a wilderness. "The inns +generally were bad and the attention to travelers indifferent." + +In Washington, which he reached on January 14th, he lost no time in +going to the House of Representatives, where he was soon greeted by +Albert H. Tracy, whose career in Congress I assume to be familiar to the +reader. + + On the day named, the House was crowded to excess with spectators, + a great number of whom were ladies, in consequence of Mr. Clay's + taking the floor. He spoke for two hours on the subject of internal + improvements, and the next day the question of erecting a statue to + Washington somewhere about the Capitol, was debated warmly. + +On his return North, in passing through Baltimore, he called on Henry +Niles, who as editor of _Niles' Weekly Register_, was to thousands of +Americans of that day what Horace Greeley became later on--an oracle; +and on January 18th struck out over a fine turnpike road for Pittsburg. + +The Pittsburg pike was then the greatest highway to the West. The Erie +Canal was nearing completion, and the stage-routes across New York State +saw much traffic. Yet the South-Pennsylvania route led more directly to +the Ohio region, and it had more traffic from the West to the East than +the more northern highways had for years to come. In the eastern part of +the State it extends through one of the most fertile and best-settled +parts of the United States. Farther west it climbs a forest-clad +mountain, winds through picturesque valleys, and from one end of the +great State to the other is yet a pleasant path for the modern tourist. +The great Conestoga wagons in endless trains, which our pedestrian +seldom lost sight of, have now disappeared. The wayside inns are gone or +have lost their early character, and the locomotive has everywhere set a +new pace for progress. + +When Mr. Lay entered the Blue Ridge section, beyond Chambersburg, he +found Dutch almost the only language spoken. The season was at first +mild, and as he tramped along the Juniata, it seemed to him like May. +"Land," he notes, "is to be had at from $1 to $3 per acre." It took him +seventeen days to walk to Pittsburg. Of the journey as a whole he says: + + At Chambersburg the great stage route from Philadelphia unites with + the Baltimore road. Taverns on these roads are frequent and nearly + in sight of each other. The gates for the collection of tolls + differ in distance--some five, others ten, and others twenty-five + miles asunder. Notwithstanding the travel is great the stock yields + no profit, but, on the contrary, it is a sinking concern on some + parts, and several of the companies are in debt for opening the + road. About $100 per mile are annually expended in repairs. It cost + a great sum to open the road, particularly that portion leading + over the mountains and across the valleys. + + Taverns are very cheap in their charges; meals are a fourth of a + dollar, beds 6¼ cents, liquors remarkably cheap. Their tables + are loaded with food in variety, well prepared and cleanly served + up with the kindest attention and smiling cheerfulness. The women + are foremost in kind abilities. Beer is made at Chambersburg of an + excellent quality and at other places. A good deal of this beverage + is used and becoming quite common; it is found at most of the good + taverns. Whisky is universally drank and it is most prevalent. + Places for divine service are rarely to be met with immediately on + the road. The inhabitants, however, are provided with them not far + distant in the back settlements, for almost the whole distance. The + weather has been so cold that for the two last days before reaching + Pittsburg I could not keep myself comfortable in walking; indeed, I + thought several times I might perish. + +In Pittsburg he lodged at the old Spread Eagle Tavern, and afterwards at +Conrad Upperman's inn on Front Street at $2 a week. He found the city +dull and depressed: + + The streets are almost deserted, a great number of the houses not + tenanted, shops shut, merchants and mechanics failed; the rivers + are both banked by ice, and many other things wearing the aspect of + decayed trade and stagnation of commerce. Money I find purchases + things very low. Flour from this city is sent over the mountains to + Philadelphia for $1 per barrel, which will little more than half + pay the wagoner's expenses for the 280 miles. Superfine flour was + $4.12½ in Philadelphia, and coal three cents per bushel. Coal + for cooking is getting in use in this city--probably two-thirds the + cooking is with coal. + +He had had no trouble up to this point in sending his baggage ahead. It +was some days before the stage left for Erie. All was at length +dispatched, however, and on February 14th he crossed over to +Allegheny--I think there was no bridge there then--and marched along, +day after day, through Harmony, Mercer and Meadville, his progress much +impeded by heavy snow; at Waterford he met his old friend G. A. Elliott, +and went to a country dance; and, finally, on February 20th found +himself at Mr. Hamot's dinner-table in Erie, surrounded by old friends. +They held him for two days; then, in spite of heavy snow, he set out on +foot for Buffalo. Even the faded pages of the old journal which hold the +record of these last few days bespeak the eager nervousness which one +long absent feels as his wanderings bring him near home. With undaunted +spirit, our walker pushed on eastward to the house of Col. N. Bird, two +miles beyond Westfield; and the next day, with Col. Bird, drove through +a violent snow-storm to Mayville to visit Mr. William Peacock--the first +ride he had taken since landing in Boston in November of the previous +year. But he was known throughout the neighborhood, and his friends seem +to have taken possession of him. From Mr. Bird's he went in a +stage-sleigh to Fredonia to visit the Burtons. Snow two feet deep +detained him in Hanover town, where friends showed him "some tea-seed +bought of a New-England peddler, who left written directions for its +cultivation." "It's all an imposition," is Mr. Lay's comment--but what a +horde of smooth-tongued tricksters New England has to answer for! + +The stage made its way through the drifts with difficulty to the +Cattaraugus, where Mr. Lay left it, and stoutly set out on foot once +more. For the closing stages of this great journey let me quote direct +from the journal: + + I proceeded over banks of drifted snow until I reached James + Marks's, who served breakfast. The stage wagon came up again, when + we went on through the Four-mile woods, stopping to see friends and + spending the night with Russell Goodrich. On February 29th [two + years and twenty-four days from the date of setting out] I drove + into Buffalo on Goodrich's sleigh and went straight to Rathbun's, + where I met a great number of friends, and was invited to take a + ride in Rathbun's fine sleigh with four beautiful greys. We drove + down the Niagara as far as Mrs. Seely's and upset once. + +What happier climax could there have been for this happy home-coming! + + + + +Misadventures of Robert Marsh. + + + + +MISADVENTURES OF ROBERT MARSH. + + +Robert Marsh claimed American citizenship, but the eventful year of 1837 +found him on the Canadian side of the Niagara River. His brother was a +baker at Chippewa, and Robert drove a cart, laden with the bakery +products, back and forth between the neighboring villages. From St. +Catharines to Fort Erie he dispensed bread and crackers and the other +perhaps not wholly harmless ammunition that was moulded in that Chippewa +bakery; and he naturally absorbed the ideas and the sentiments of the +men he met. The Niagara district was at fever heat. Mackenzie had sown +his Patriot literature broadcast, and what with real and imaginary +wrongs the majority of the community sentiment seemed ripe for +rebellion. + +It is easy enough now, as one reads the story of that uprising, to see +that the rebels never had a ghost of a chance. The grip of the +Government never was in real danger of being thrown off in the upper +province; but a very little rebellion looks great in the eyes of the +rebel who hazards his neck thereby; and it is no wonder that Robert +Marsh came to the conclusion that the colonial government of Canada was +about to be overthrown, or that he decided to cast in his lot with +those who should win glory in the cause of freedom. As an American +citizen he had a right to do this. History was full of high precedents. +Did not Byron espouse the cause of the Greeks? Did not Lafayette make +his name immortal in the ranks of American rebels? One part of America +had lately thrown off the hated yoke of Great Britain; why should not +another part? So our cracker peddler reasoned; and reasoning thus, began +the train of adventures for the narration of which I draw in brief upon +his own obscure narrative. It is a story that leads us over some strange +old trails, and its value lies chiefly in the fact that it illustrates, +by means of a personal experience, a well-defined period in the history +of the Niagara region. Robert Marsh is hardly an ideal hero, but he is a +fair type of a class who contrived greatly to delude themselves, and to +pay roundly for their experience. He thought as many others thought; +what he adventured was also adventured by many other men of spirit; and +what he endured before he got through with it was the unhappy lot of +many of his fellows. + +It was a time of great discontent and discouragement on both sides of +the border. Throughout the Holland Purchase the difficulties over land +titles had reached a climax, and the sheriff and his deputies enforced +the law at the risk of their lives. This year of 1837 also brought the +financial panic which is still a high-water mark of hard times in our +history. Buffalo suffered keenly, and it is not strange that such of +her young men as had a drop of adventurous blood in their veins were +ready to turn "Patriot" for the time being; though as a matter of sober +fact it must be recorded that the enthusiasm of the majority did not +blind their judgment to the hopelessness of the rebellion. On the +Canadian side the case was different. Unlike their American brethren, +many of the residents there felt that they had not a representative +government. It is not necessary now, nor is it essential to our story, +to rehearse the grievances which the Canadian Patriots undertook to +correct by taking up arms against the established authority. They are +presented with great elaboration in many histories; they are detailed +with curious ardor in the Declaration of Rights, a document +ostentatiously patterned after the Declaration of Independence. William +Lyon Mackenzie was a long way from being a Thomas Jefferson; yet he and +his associates undertook a reform which--taking it at their +valuation--was as truly in behalf of liberty as was the work of the +Signers of the Declaration of Independence. They made the same appeal to +justice; argued from the same point of view for man's inalienable +rights; they were temperate, too, in their demands, and sought liberty +without bloodshed. Yet while the American patriots were enabled to +persist and win their cause, though after two bitter and exhausting +wars, their Canadian imitators were ignominiously obliterated in a few +weeks. In the one case the cause of Liberty won her brightest star. In +the other, there is complete defeat, without a monument save the +derision of posterity. + +It was in November of this year of rebellion 1837 that Marsh, being at +Chippewa, decided to cast in his lot with the Patriots. "I began to +think," he says, "that I must soon become an actor on one side or the +other." He saw the Government troops patrolling every inch of the +Canadian bank of the Niagara, and concentrating in the vicinity of +Chippewa. "Boats of every description were brought from different parts; +at the same time they were mustering all their cannon and mortars +intending to drive them [the Patriots] off; one would think by their +talk, that they would not only kill them all, but with their cannon mow +down all the trees, and what the balls failed in hitting the trees would +fall upon, and thus demolish the whole Patriot army." Our hero's +observations have this peculiar value: they are on the common level. He +heard the boasts and braggadocio of the common soldier; the diplomatic +or guarded speech of officers and officials he did not record. He heard +all about the plot to seize the Caroline, and could not believe it at +first. But, he says, "when I beheld the men get in the boats and shove +off and the beacon lights kindled on the shore, that they might the more +safely find the way back, my eyes were on the stretch, towards where the +ill-fated boat lay." When he saw the party return and heard them boast +of what they had done, he thought it high time for him to leave the +place. "Judge my feelings," he says, "on beholding this boat on fire, +perhaps some on board, within two short miles of the Falls of Niagara, +going at the rate of twelve miles an hour."[47] + +The Caroline was burned on the 29th of December. On the next day our +hero and a friend set out to join the Patriots. Let me quote in +condensed fashion from his narrative, which is a tolerably graphic +contribution to the history of this famous episode: + +"We succeeded in reaching the river six miles above Chippewa about 11 +o'clock in the evening, after a tedious and dangerous journey through an +extensive swamp. There is a small settlement in a part of this swamp +which has been called Sodom. There were many Indians prowling about. We +managed to evade them but with much difficulty. There were sentinels +every few rods along the line." A friendly woman at a farmhouse let them +take a boat. They offered her $5 for its use, but she declined; "she +said she would not take anything ... as she knew our situation and felt +anxious to do all in her power to help us across the river; she also +told us that her husband had taken Mackenzie across a few nights +previous. 'Leave the boat in the mouth of the creek,' said she, +pointing across the river towards Grand Island, ... 'there is a man +there that will fetch it back, you have only to fasten it, say nothing +and go your way.' We were convinced that we were not the only ones +assisted by this patriotic lady." + +Marsh and his companion, whose surname was Thomas, launched the boat +with much difficulty, and with muffled oars they rowed across to Grand +Island. "It was about 1 o'clock in the morning and we had to go eight or +nine miles through the woods and no road. There had been a light fall of +snow, and in places [was] ice that would bear a man, but oftener would +not; once or twice in crossing streams the ice gave way and we found +ourselves nearly to the middle in water." Our patriot's path, the reader +will note, was hard from the outset, but he kept on, expecting to be +with his friends again in a few days, and little dreaming of what lay +ahead of him. "We at near daylight succeeded in reaching White Haven, a +small village, where we were hailed by one of our militia sentinels: +'Who comes there?' 'Friends.' 'Advance and give the countersign.' Of +course we advanced, but we could not give the countersign; a guard was +immediately dispatched with us to headquarters, where we underwent a +strict examination." + +He was sent across to Tonawanda, where he took the cars for Schlosser. +There the blood-stains on the dock where Durfee had been killed sealed +his resolution; he crossed to Navy Island and presented himself at the +headquarters of William Lyon Mackenzie, the peppery little Scotchman +who was the prime organizer of the Provisional Government, and of +General Van Rensselaer, commander-in-chief of the Patriot Army. "The +General produced the list and asked me the length of time I wished to +enlist. I was so confident of success that I unhesitatingly replied, +'Seven years or during the war.' The General remarked, 'I wish I had +2,000 such men, we have about 1,000 already,[48] and I think this +Caroline affair will soon swell our force to 2,000, and then I shall +make an attack at some point where they least expect, ... and as you are +well acquainted there I want you to be by my side.'" Here was preferment +indeed, for Marsh believed that Van Rensselaer was brave and able; +history has a different verdict; but we must assume that our hero +entered upon the campaign with high hopes and who knows what visions of +glory. + +Now, at the risk of tiresomeness, I venture to dwell a little longer on +this occupancy of Navy Island; I promise to get over ground faster +farther along in the story. It is assumed that the reader knows the +principal facts of this familiar episode; but in Marsh's journal I find +graphic details of the affair not elsewhere given, to my knowledge. Let +me quote from his obscure record: + + After my informing the General of their preparations and intention + of attacking the Island, breastworks were hastily thrown up, and + all necessary arrangements made to give them a warm reception. + There were twenty-five cannon, mostly well mounted, which could + easily be concentrated at any point required; and manned by men + that knew how to handle them. Besides other preparations, tops of + trees and underbrush were thrown over the bank at different places + to prevent them landing. I know there were various opinions + respecting the strength of the Island, but from close observation, + during these days of my enlistment, it is my candid opinion that if + they had attacked the Island, as was expected, they would mostly or + all have found a watery grave. The tories were fearful of this, for + when the attempt was made men could not be found to hazard their + lives in so rash an attempt.... + + It was hoped and much regretted by all on the Island that the + attempt was not made; for if they had done so it would have thinned + their ranks and made it the more easy for us to have entered Canada + at that place. They finally concluded to bring all their artillery + to bear upon us, and thus exterminate all within their reach. They + were accordingly arranged in martial pomp, opposite the Island, the + distance of about three-quarters of a mile. Now the work of + destruction commences; the balls and bombs fly in all directions. + The tops of the trees appear to be a great eye-sore to them. I + suppose they thought by commencing an attack upon them, their + falling would aid materially in the destruction of lives below. + +Robert, the reader will have observed, had a fine gift of sarcasm. The +thundering of artillery was heard, by times, he says, for twenty and +thirty miles around, for a week, "[the enemy] being obliged to cease +firing at times for her cannons to cool. They were very lavish with Her +Gracious Majesty's powder and balls." He continues: + + I recollect a man standing behind the breastwork where were four of + us sitting as the balls were whistling through the trees. "Well," + says he, "if this is the way to kill the timber on this island, it + certainly is a very expensive way as well as somewhat comical; I + should think it would be cheaper to come over with axes, and if + they are not in too big a hurry, girdle the trees and they will die + the sooner." I remarked: "They did not know how to use an axe, but + understood girdling in a different way." An old gentleman from + Canada taking the hint quickly responded, "Yes. Canada can testify + to the fact of their having other ways of girdling besides with the + axe, and unless there is a speedy stop put to it, there will not be + a green tree left." There was another gentleman about to say + something of their manner of swindling in other parts of the world, + he had just commenced about Ireland when I felt a sudden jar at my + back, and the other three that set near me did the same; we rose up + and discovered that a cannon ball had found its way through our + breastwork, but was kind enough to stop after just stirring the + dirt at our backs. I had only moved about an inch of dirt when I + picked up a six-pound ball. + + As it happened, our gun was a six-pounder. We concluded, as that + was the only ball that had as yet been willing to pay us a visit, + we would send it back as quick as it come. We immediately put it + into our gun and wheeled around the corner of the breastwork. + "Hold," said I, "there is Queen Ann's Pocket Piece, as it is + called, it will soon be opposite, and then we'll show them what we + can do." It was not mounted, but swung under the ex [axle] of a + cart, such as are used for drawing saw-logs, with very large + wheels. I had seen it previous to my leaving Chippewa. I think + there was six horses attached to the cart, for it was very heavy, + it being a twenty-four-pounder. I suppose it was their intention to + split the Island in two with it, hoping by so doing it might loosen + at the roots and move off with the current and go over the falls, + and thus accomplish their great work of destruction at once. As + they were opposite, the words "ready, fire," were given; we had the + satisfaction of seeing the horses leave the battleground with all + possible speed. The gun was forsaken in no time, and in less than + five minutes there was scarcely a man to be seen. The ball had + gone about three feet further to the left than had been intended; + it was intended to lop the wheels, but it severed the tongue from + the ex and the horses took the liberty to move off as fast as + possible. + + We were about to give them another shot, when the officer of the + day came up and told us the orders from headquarters were not to + fire unless it was absolutely necessary, that we must be saving of + our ammunition. I told him that it was their own ball that we had + just sent back. When he saw the execution it had done he smiled and + went on, remarking, "They begin to fire a little lower." "Yes," + said I, "and as that was the first, we thought we would send it + back and let them know we did not want it, that we had balls of our + own." + +This incident was the beginning of more active operations. For the next +nine days and nights there was a great deal of firing, with one killed +and three wounded. The Patriot army held on to its absurd stronghold for +four weeks, causing, as Marsh quaintly puts it, "much noise and +confusion on both sides"; and he at least was keenly disappointed when +it was evacuated, Jan. 12, 1838. The handful of Patriots scattered and +Chippewa composed herself to the repose which, but for one ripple of +disturbance in 1866, continues to the present day. + +Up to the end of this abortive campaign Robert Marsh's chief +misadventure had been to cut himself off, practically, from a safe +return to the community where his best interests lay. But he had a stout +heart if a perverse head. "I was born of Patriot parentage," he boasted; +"I am not a Patriot today and tomorrow the reverse"; and being fairly +identified with the rebels, he determined to woo the fortunes of war +wherever opportunity offered. His ardor must have been considerable, +for he made his way in the dead of winter from Buffalo to Detroit; just +how I do not know; but he speaks of arriving at Sandusky "after a +tedious walk of five days." Here he joined a party for an attack on +Malden, but the Patriots were themselves attacked by some 300 Canadian +troops who came across the lake in sleighs; there was a lively fight on +the ice, with some loss of life, when each party was glad to retire. +Next he tried it with a band of rebels on Fighting Island, below +Detroit; treachery and "the power of British gold" seem to have kept +Canada from falling into their hands; and presently, "being sick of +island fighting," as he puts it, he made his way to Detroit, where, all +through that troubled summer of '38, he appears to have been one of the +most active and ardent of the plotters. Certain it is that he was +promptly to the front for the battle of Windsor, and was with the +invaders on Dec. 4, 1838, when a band of 164 misguided men crossed the +Detroit River to take Canada. He was "Lieutenant" Marsh on this +expedition, but it was the emptiest of honors. At four in the morning +they attacked the barracks on the river banks above Windsor, and, as +often happens with the most fatuous enterprises, met at the outset with +success. They burned the barracks and took thirty-eight prisoners (whom +they could not hold), looking meanwhile across the river for help which +never came. "We were about planting our standard," wrote Marsh +afterward; "the flag was a splendid one, with two stars for Upper and +Lower Canada. We had just succeeded in getting a long spar and was in +the act of raising it, as the cry was heard,--'There comes the +Red-coats! There are the dragoons!'" Our Patriot, it will be observed, +made no nice distinctions between British and Canadian troops; that +distinction will not fail to be made for him, in a province which has +always claimed the honor--to which it is fully entitled--of putting down +this troublesome uprising without having to call for help upon the +British regulars. But the invaders did not raise nice points then. They +hastily formed and withstood the attack for a little; but it was a +hopeless stand, for numbers and discipline were all on the other side. +According to Marsh, the regulars numbered 600. There was sharp firing, +eleven Patriots and forty-four Canadians were killed; and seeing this, +and learning, later than his friends across the river, that discretion +is the better part of valor, he did the only thing that remained to +do--he took to the woods. + +The woods were full just then of discreet Patriots, and several of them +held a breathless council of war. Here is Marsh's account of it: + + It was finally concluded for every man to do the best he could for + himself. We accordingly separated and I found myself pursued by a + man hollowing at the top of his voice, "Stop there, stop, you + damned rebel, or I'll shoot you! stop, stop!" I was near a fence at + that time crossing a field. I proceeded to the fence, dropped on + one knee, put my rifle through the fence, took deliberate aim. He + had a gun and was gaining on me. I had a cannister of powder, pouch + of balls, two pistols and an overcoat on, which prevented me from + attempting to run. I saw all hopes of escape was useless; I + discharged my rifle, but cannot say whether it hit the mark or not, + for I did not look, but immediately rose and walked off. At any + rate I heard no more "Stop there, you damned rebel." + +Marsh's narrative is too diffuse, not to mention other faults, for me to +follow it _verbatim et (il-)literatim_. I give the events of the next +few days as simply as possible. After he fired his gun through the fence +at the red-coat who followed no more--his last shot, be it remarked, for +the relief of Canada--he found that he was very tired. It was late in +the day of the battle and he had eaten nothing for nearly forty-eight +hours. Pushing on through the woods he came to a barn, but had scarcely +entered when it was surrounded by ten or twelve "dragoons," as he calls +them. He scrambled up a ladder to the hay-mow, dug a hole in the hay, +crawled in and smoothed it over himself, and, he says, "had just got a +pistol in each hand as the door flew open; in they rushed, crying, 'Come +out, you damned rebel, we'll shoot you, we'll not take you before the +Colonel to be shot, come out, come out, we'll hang you.' Said another, +'We'll quarter you and feed you to the hogs as we've just served one!' +They thrust their swords into the hay, and threatened to burn the barn; +but as it belonged to one of their sort, they thought better of it and +went off. They soon came back, and saying they would place a sentry, +disappeared again." Marsh tore up certain papers which he feared would +be troublesome if found on him and then slept. It was dark when he +awoke. He crept out of the barn and wandered through the woods until +daylight, narrowly escaping some Indians. He applied at the house of a +French settler for something to eat; frankly admitting, what it +obviously was folly to deny, that he was a fugitive. Three "large bony +Frenchmen" came to the door, made him their prisoner and marched him off +through the woods to Sandwich, where he was stripped of his valuables +and locked up with several others, his captors cheerfully assuring them +that they would have a fine shooting-match tomorrow. Marsh stoutly +maintained that, as he owed the Queen no allegiance, he was not a rebel; +but his protests did him no good. He was not shot on the morrow, +although others of the captives were summarily executed, without a +pretext of trial or even a chance to say their prayers. + +And now begins an imprisonment of ten months full of such distress and +atrocity that I should not please, however much I might edify, by its +recital. We read today of the horrors of Spanish and Turkish massacres +or of Siberian prisons, and every page of history has its record of +inhumanity--its Black Hole, its Dartmoor, its Andersonville. In this +dishonor roll of official outrages surely may be included the backwoods +prisons of Upper Canada in 1838 and '39. Our misadventurer was shifted +from one to another. At Fort Malden, on the shore of Lake Erie, he was +kept for seven weeks in a small room with twenty-eight other men. It was +the dead of winter, but they had no warmth save from their emaciated and +vermin-infested bodies. They were ironed two and two, day and night. +They were so crowded that there was not floor-room for all to sleep at +once. According to Marsh, who afterwards wrote a minute record of this +imprisonment, their feeding and care would have been fatal to a herd of +hogs. The acme of the miseries of the prison at Fort Malden I cannot +even hint at with propriety. When transferred from Sandwich to Malden, +and later from Malden to London, Marsh, like many of his fellow +sufferers, had his feet frozen; and when his limbs swelled so that life +itself was threatened, it was not the surgeon but a clumsy blacksmith +who cut off the irons and supplied new ones. + +In London the treatment of Malden was repeated. Here the trials began. +The gallows was erected close to the jail wall; day by day the doomed +ones walked out of a door in the second story to the death platform; and +day by day Marsh and the other wretches in the cells heard the drop as +it swung, in falling, against the jail wall. Marsh lived in hourly +expectation of the summons, but before his turn came there was a stay in +the work which had been going on under the warrants signed by Sir George +Arthur--as great a tyrant, probably, as ever held power on the American +continent. A far more philosophic writer than Robert Marsh has called +him the Robespierre of Canada. Whatever may be held as to the illegality +of the trials which sent some twenty-five men to the gallows at this +time, certain it is that the hangings stopped before our hero's neck was +stretched. Fate still had her quiver full of evil days for him; and +fortune, like a gleam of sun between clouds, moved him on to the prison +at Toronto, where his mother came to see him. + +It was in the early spring of 1839 that he was transferred to Toronto. +In June following, with a boatload of companions, he was shipped down to +Fort Henry at Kingston. Here, for three months, he was deluded with the +constant expectation of release; but he must have had some +foreshadowings of his fate when, after three months of wretched +existence at Fort Henry, he was again sent on, down the river to Quebec; +and there, on September 28, 1839, he and 137 companions in irons were +put aboard the British prison-ship Buffalo, commanded by Capt. Wood. +They were stowed on the third deck, below the water line; 140 sailors +were placed over them; and the Buffalo took her course down the widening +gulf. The dismal departure was lightened by a touch of human nature. +There were several of the convicts who, like Marsh, claimed American +citizenship, and American blood will show itself.[49] As the prisoners +were marched down with clanking chains from Fort Henry for the shipment +to Quebec, many of them thought that it was their last shift before +release. "There were three or four very good singers amongst us," says +Marsh, "which made the fort ring with the 'American Star,' 'Hunters of +Kentucky' and other similar songs, which caused many to flock to our +windows. Some of them remarked, 'You will not feel like singing in +Botany Bay.' 'Give us "Botany Bay,"' said one, and it was done in good +style." + +If the reader will permit the digression, it may afford a little +entertainment to consider for a moment these old songs. The literature +of every war includes its patriotic songs--seldom the work of great +poets, and most popular when they appeal to the quick sympathies and +sense of humor of the common people. Every people has such songs, +sometimes cherished and sung for generations. England has them without +number, Canada has hers, the United States has hers; and among the most +popular for many years, strange as it now may seem, were "The American +Star" and "The Hunters of Kentucky," which were sung by these +none-too-worthy representatives of the United States, through Canadian +prison bars, this autumn morning sixty years ago. Both songs had their +origin, I believe, at the time of the War of 1812. That such barren and +bombastic lines as "The American Star" should have remained popular a +quarter of a century seems incredible, and appears to indicate that the +youth of the country were very hard up for patriotic songs worth +singing. Here follows "The American Star": + + Come, strike the bold anthem, the war dogs are howling, + Already they eagerly snuff up their prey, + The red clouds of war o'er our forests are scowling, + Soft peace spreads her wings and flies weeping away; + The infants, affrighted, cling close to their mothers, + The youths grasp their swords, for the combat prepare, + While beauty weeps fathers, and lovers and brothers, + Who rush to display the American Star. + + Come blow the shrill bugle, the loud drum awaken, + The dread rifle seize, let the cannon deep roar; + No heart with pale fear, or faint doubtings be shaken, + No slave's hostile foot leave a print on our shore. + Shall mothers, wives, daughters and sisters left weeping, + Insulted by ruffians, be dragged to despair! + Oh no! from her hills the proud eagle comes sweeping + And waves to the brave the American Star. + + The spirits of Washington, Warren, Montgomery, + Look down from the clouds with bright aspect serene; + Come, soldiers, a tear and a toast to their memory, + Rejoicing they'll see us as they once have been. + To us the high boon by the gods has been granted, + To speed the glad tidings of liberty far; + Let millions invade us, we'll meet them undaunted, + And vanquish them by the American Star. + + Your hands, then, dear comrades, round Liberty's altar, + United we swear by the souls of the brave + Not one from the strong resolution shall falter, + To live independent, or sink to the grave! + Then, freemen, fill up--Lo, the striped banner's flying, + The high bird of liberty screams through the air; + Beneath her oppression and tyranny dying-- + Success to the beaming American Star. + +Every one of its turgid and wordy lines bespeaks the struggling infancy +of a National literature. "The Hunters of Kentucky" is a little better, +because it has humor--though of the primitive backwoods type--in it. If +the reader has not heard it lately, perhaps he can stand a little of it. +It was inspired by the battle of New Orleans: + + Ye gentlemen and ladies fair, + Who grace this famous city, + Just listen, if you've time to spare, + While I rehearse a ditty; + And for the opportunity + Conceive yourselves quite lucky, + For 'tis not often that you see + A hunter from Kentucky; + O! Kentucky, + The hunters of Kentucky. + + We are a hardy free-born race, + Each man to fear a stranger; + Whate'er the game, we join in chase, + Despising toil and danger; + And if a daring foe annoys, + Whate'er his strength or force is, + We'll show him that Kentucky boys + Are alligators,--horses: + O! Kentucky, etc. + + I s'pose you've read it in the prints, + How Packenham attempted + To make Old Hickory Jackson wince, + But soon his schemes repented; + For we, with rifles ready cock'd, + Thought such occasion lucky, + And soon around the general flock'd + The hunters of Kentucky: + O! Kentucky, etc. + + I s'pose you've heard how New Orleans + Is famed for wealth and beauty; + There's gals of every hue, it seems, + From snowy white to sooty: + So, Packenham he made his brags + If he in fight was lucky, + He'd have their gals and cotton bags, + In spite of Old Kentucky: + O! Kentucky, etc. + + But Jackson he was wide awake, + And wasn't scared at trifles, + For well he knew what aim we take + With our Kentucky rifles; + So, he led us down to Cypress Swamp, + The ground was low and mucky; + There stood John Bull in martial pomp-- + But here was Old Kentucky: + O! Kentucky, etc. + + We raised a bank to hide our breasts, + Not that we thought of dying, + But then we always like to rest, + Unless the game is flying; + Behind it stood our little force-- + None wish'd it to be greater, + For every man was half a horse + And half an alligator: + O! Kentucky, etc. + + They didn't let our patience tire + Before they show'd their faces; + We didn't choose to waste our fire, + But snugly kept our places; + And when so near we saw them wink, + We thought it time to stop 'em, + It would have done you good, I think, + To see Kentuckians drop 'em: + O! Kentucky, etc. + + They found, at length, 'twas vain to fight, + When lead was all their booty, + And so, they wisely took to flight, + And left us all the beauty. + And now, if danger e'er annoys, + Remember what our trade is; + Just send for us Kentucky boys, + And we'll protect you, ladies: + O! Kentucky, etc. + +At least it has a gallant ending, which was not altogether apposite to +the situation of Marsh and his fellow-prisoners at Kingston. "Botany +Bay" was more in their line just then; but, at any rate, it was just as +philosophic to go into exile singing as mourning or cursing. + +Were I a Herman Melville or a Clark Russell I should be tempted to dwell +on this dreary voyage of the prison-ship Buffalo. Even Marsh's humble +chronicle of it is graphic with unstudied incidents. They ran into rough +weather at once; so that to the wretchedness of their imprisonment was +added the misery of seasickness. No one had told them of their +destination, and many of them, like Marsh, stoutly maintained from first +to last that they were transported without a sentence. Their daily life +in this dark and crowded 'tween-decks, practically the hold of a +staggering old sailer, could not be detailed without offense; and if it +could be, I have no desire to heap up the horrors. In mid-voyage there +was an attempted mutiny; the convicts tried to seize the ship; but the +only result was heavier irons, closer confinement, and a stricter +guard. After two months of the stormy Atlantic the Buffalo put into Rio +Janeiro, where she lay three tantalizing days. "It happened to be the +Emperor's birthday," says Marsh, "and although we were not allowed to go +on shore, we could discover through a skylight the flags on the +pinnacles of houses and hills apparently reaching to the clouds." A +little fruit was had aboard to allay the scurvy which was making havoc, +and the Buffalo lumbered away again and ran straight into a savage gale, +in which she sprung a bad leak. She was an old ship, and had formerly +been a man-of-war, but for some years now had been employed as a convict +transport between England and New South Wales. From Rio around the Cape +of Good Hope the log kept by Robert Marsh is a story of sickness and +death. Those who had had their limbs frozen in Canada now found the skin +and flesh coming away and the sea water on their bare feet gave them +excruciating agony. The shotted sack slid into the shark-patrolled +waters of the Indian Ocean, and the wretches who still lived were +envious of the dead. And on the 13th of February, 1840, four months and +a half from Quebec, the Buffalo anchored in Hobart Town harbor, Van +Dieman's Land. + +And now a word about this antipodean land on which our unlucky hero +looked out from the prison-ship. We are wont to regard it, perhaps, as a +new and well-nigh unknown part of the world; possibly some of us would +have to think twice if asked off-hand, Where is Van Dieman's Land? Of +course we remember, when we glance at the map, that it is a good-sized +island just south of Australia. From extreme north to extreme south it +is about as far as from Buffalo to Philadelphia, and east and west not +quite so far as from Buffalo to Albany. And here is a coincidence: +Hobart Town, in the harbor of which the prison-ship Buffalo dropped +anchor with her load of misery, is exactly as far south of the equator +as Buffalo is north of it. Other parallel data may perhaps be helpful: +It was in 1642 that the navigator Tasman discovered the island, naming +it after his Dutch patron, Van Dieman. The explorer's name has now been +substituted, as it should be, and Tasmania, not Van Dieman's Land, +appears on modern maps. The history of that land dates from 1642. It was +in 1641 that those adventurous missioners, Brébeuf and Chaumonot, first +carried their portable altar across the Niagara; and from the Relations +of their order for that year the world gained the first actual glimpse +of the Niagara region. In the world's annals, therefore, this far-away +island and our own Niagara and lake region are of the same age. One +other parallel may be ventured. The first permanent settlement in Van +Dieman's Land was made in 1803. In 1804 Buffalo had fifteen actual +settlers and a few squatters. But here our parallels end, for when, on +that February morning of 1840, the unhappy Marsh was put ashore, he +found a community unlike any that has ever existed in this happier part +of the world. For over thirty years England had been sending thither her +worst criminals. Shipload after shipload, year after year, of the most +depraved and vicious of mankind, had been sent out. England had made of +it and of Botany Bay a dumping-ground for whatever manner of evil men +and women she could scrape from her London slums. There was some free +colonization, but it went on slowly. Honest men hesitated to go where +society was so handicapped. The treatment of the convicts varied +according to the Governors, but for years before Marsh arrived it seems +to have been as harsh and brutalizing as imperiousness and cruelty could +devise. In 1836 Sir John Franklin was sent out to the station. He was an +exceptionally humane and generous man, according to most accounts. Marsh +does not complain of any severity from him, but calls him an old granny, +a glutton and a temporizer in his promises to convicts. It is something +foreign to our purpose to dwell upon this point, nor is it a gracious +thing to seek any imputation against a character which history delights +to hold as the embodiment of the gallant and heroic. We must remember +that Robert Marsh's point of view was not likely to bring him to +favorable estimates of those in authority over him and through whom his +very real oppression came. Years after, when the great explorer's bones +lay whitening in the unknown North, this far-away colony raised to his +memory a noble bronze statue, which stands to-day in Franklin Square, +Hobart, not far from the old Government House, the scene of his +uncongenial administration. + +And now behold our hero marched ashore with his fellows; reeling like a +drunken man, the strange effect of firm earth under foot after months +of heaving seaway; examined, ticketed and numbered, clad in Her +Majesty's livery, and sent to a near-by country station, where he is put +to work under savage overseers at carrying stone for road-building; and +thus began five years of unmitigated suffering for Robert Marsh in that +detestable land. There were about 43,000 convicts on the island at the +time, 25,000 of whom were driven to daily work in chain gangs, on the +roads, in the wet mines or the forest. The rest were ex-convicts; had +served their sentences and counted themselves among the free population, +which all told did not then exceed 60,000. Conceive of a free community, +nearly one half of whom, men and women, were former convicts, but not +regenerate. For years the brothels of London, Glasgow, Edinburgh, were +emptied into Van Dieman's Land. A reputable writer has said that at this +time female virtue was unknown in the island. The wealthy land-owners, +under government patronage, were autocrats in their own domain. The +whipping-post, the triangle--a refinement of cruelty--and the gallows +were familiar sights. The slightest failure at his daily task sent the +convict to the whipping-post or to solitary confinement. + +Official iniquity flourished under Sir George Arthur's reign of eleven +years. He was Franklin's predecessor, and his minions were still in +control when Marsh came under their power. He was shifted from station +to station; fed like a dog, lodged in the meanest huts and worked well +nigh to death. The worst characters were his overseers, and the day +began with the lash. A convict's strength would give out under his load; +he would lag behind, or stop to rest. At once he would be taken to the +station, stripped to the waist--if he chanced to have anything +on--strung up to the post or triangle, and flogged. As an additional +measure of reform, brine was thrown into the gashes which the lash had +made. These were the milder forms of daily punishment. Sir George +Arthur's prouder record comes from the executions. Travelers to-day tell +us that Tasmania is really a second England; in its settled portions it +is a land of pleasant vales and gentle rivers, rich in harvests of the +temperate zone. "Appleland," some have called it, from its fruitful +orchards; but no tree transplanted from Merrie England ever flourished +more than the black stock from Tyburn Hill. Sir George hanged 1,500 +during his stay. Marsh tells of a compassionate clergyman who was +watching with interest the erection of a gallows. "Yes," he said, "I +suppose it will do, but it is not as large as we need. I think ten will +hang comfortable, but twelve will be rather crowded." + +It is small wonder that our hero tried to escape. He took to the +bush--which means the unexplored and inhospitable forest--with a band of +friends; was captured, punished, and thereafter dressed in +magpie--trousers and frock one half black, one half yellow; and in this +garb, which advertised to all that he had been a bush-ranger, he worked +on until the spring of 1842, when Sir John Franklin made him a +ticket-of-leave man. This relieved him from the overseers, and gave him +permission to work, for whatever wages he could get, in an assigned +district. + +And now again, of this new phase of his misadventures, a long story +could be made. At that time the best circumstanced ticket-of-leave men +got about a shilling a day and boarded themselves. But there was little +work and many seekers. They roamed over the country, turned away from +plantation after plantation, and in many cases became the boldest of +outlaws. Escape from the island was well nigh impossible; but after many +hardships, utterly unable to get honest work, Marsh was one of a party +that determined to try it. Making their way eighty miles to the +seashore, they hid in the woods, where for a week or so they gathered +firewood, buried potatoes and snared kangaroo. One of their number +reached a settlement and returned with the word that an American whaler +was coming to take them off. After six days more of waiting the vessel +hove in sight. As she tried to draw near and send boats ashore a storm +came up and she narrowly escaped the breakers. At this critical moment a +British armed patrol schooner rounded a point down the coast and the +American made her escape with great difficulty, leaving the score of +runaway convicts at their precarious lookout, hopeless and despondent. + +They were soon arrested, Marsh among them. He was tried for breaking his +patrol, and sent to an inland district, 100 miles through the bush and +swamps. "It was all punishment," he says pathetically, in describing +this journey on which he nearly perished. So down-hearted and distressed +were they, so appalled by the war of nature and man against them, that +one of Marsh's companions, with fagged-out brain, came to the conclusion +that they were really in hell and that the devil himself was in charge +of them. But there is always a turn to the tide. They trapped a kangaroo +and did not starve. Marsh reached his district and this time found work, +which had to be light, for he was weak, emaciated and troubled day and +night with a pain in his chest. And finally the glad word came that he +was gazetted for pardon and could go to Hobart. There, on January 27, +1845, after ten months in Canada prisons, four and a half months in a +transport ship, and five years in a convict colony, he went on board the +American whaler Steiglitz of Sag Harbor, Selah Young, master, a free +man. + +The Steiglitz was bound out on a whaling voyage. No matter, she would +take Marsh away from that hell. She cruised for whale off New Zealand, +then made north, and in April anchored off Honolulu. King Hamehameha +III., on hearing the story of the convict Americans, welcomed them +ashore, and there Marsh stayed for four months, exploring the islands +and waiting for a chance to get home. At last it came in the welcome +shape of the whaler Samuel Robertson, Capt. Warner, bound for New +Bedford. She touched at the Society Islands and Pernambuco, and on March +13, 1846, after seven years four and a half months absence, Marsh +stepped ashore in his own country again. The people of New Bedford +helped him and a few others as far as Utica. There one of his comrades +in exile left him for his home in Watertown, and others went their +several ways. Marsh was helped as far as Canandaigua, where his brother +met him and took him to his home in Avon; and after a time of +recuperation there, they came on to Buffalo, where he met his father, +his mother and sister. He soon crossed the river, visited Toronto, and +probably looked over the scenes of his early cracker-peddling and +subsequent campaigning, up and down the Niagara. He had traveled 77,000 +miles, but here his journey ended; and here the Patriot exile told his +story, which I have drawn on in an imperfect way, for this true +chronicle of old trails. + + + + +Underground Trails. + + + + +UNDERGROUND TRAILS. + + +It was Dame Nature who decreed that the Niagara region should be +peculiarly a place of trails. When she set the great cataract midway +between two lakes, she thereby ordained that in days to come the Indian +should go around the falls, on foot. The Indian trail was a footpath; +nothing more. Here it followed the margin of a stream; there, well nigh +indiscernable, it crossed a rocky plateau; again, worn deep in yielding +loam, it led through thick woods, twisting and turning around trees and +boulders, with detours for swamps or bad ground, and long stretches +along favorable slopes or sightly ridges. Who can hazard a guess as to +the time when, or by what manner of men, these trails were first +established in our region? Immemorial in their source--akin in natural +origins to the path the deer makes in going to the salt-lick or to +drink--they were old, established, when our history begins. And when the +white man came he followed the old trails. Traveling like the Indian, by +water when he could; when lakes and rivers did not serve, he found the +footpaths ready made for him in the forest. Armies came, cutting +military roads. Settlers followed to banish forests, drain swamps, and +make new highways. And yet the horseman, the military train, the wagon +of the pioneer, the early stage-coach, the railroad, each in its day, +along many of the most direct and important thoroughfares, has but +followed the ancient ways. The thing is axiomatic. Nature for the most +part decrees where men shall walk. Her lakes and rivers and her hills +may be strewn by whim; but there are plain reasons enough for our +road-building. We go where we can, with safety and expedition. So ran +the red man. We still follow the old trails. + +Other aspects of our frontier are worthy of a thought. Two nations look +across the Niagara, so that, even though its flow were placid from lake +to lake, it would still be a political barrier, a halting-place. This +fact has filled it full of trails in history. Again, as the gateway of +the West, the paths of immigration and of commerce for a century have +here converged. The early settlers of Michigan and Wisconsin went by the +old Lewiston ferry. From Buffalo by boat, and from old Suspension Bridge +by rail, who can estimate the thousands who have gone on to create the +New West? From the earliest Iroquois raid upon the Neuters, down to +yesterday's excursion, the Niagara frontier has been peculiarly a region +of passing, of coming and going, along old trails. + +Now of all the paths that have led hitherward, none has greater +significance in American history than that known as the Underground +Railroad. Other paths, touching here, have led to war, to wealth, to +pleasure; but this led to Liberty. Thousands of negro slaves, gaining +after infinite hardships these shores of the lake or river, have looked +across the smiling expanse to such an elysium as only a slave can dream +of. Once the passage made, no matter how poor the passenger, freedom +became his possession and the heritage of his children. The chattel +became a man. I can never sail upon the blue lake, or down the pleasant +river, without seeing in fancy this throng of famished, frightened, +blindly hopeful blacks, for whom these waters were the gateway to new +life. The most vital part of the Underground Railroad was the over-water +ferry. Bark canoe and great steamer alike leave no lasting trail; but to +him who reads the history of our region, this fair waterway at our door +is thronged as a street; and every secret traveler thereby is worthy of +his attention. Much has been recorded of these refugees, who came, +singly or in small parties, for more than thirty years preceding the +Civil War. Indeed, runaway slaves passed this way to Canada soon after +the War of 1812. The tales of soldiers returning to Kentucky from the +Niagara frontier and other campaigns of that war, first planted in the +minds of Southern slaves the idea that Canada was a land of freedom. By +1830 many earnest people who disapproved of slavery, the Quakers +prominent among them, were giving organized aid to the escaping blacks. +In many secret ways the refugees were passed on from one friend to +another. Hiding-places were established, and routes which were found +advantageous were regularly followed. + +It is no part of my present plan to enter upon a general sketch of the +Underground Railroad. That task has already been admirably performed, at +voluminous length, by careful students. My aim in this paper is to +bring together a number of incidents and narratives, particularly +illustrative of its work at the eastern end of Lake Erie and along the +Niagara frontier, in order that the student may the better appreciate +how vital this phase of the slavery issue was, even in this region, for +more than a generation preceding the Civil War. There were established +routes for the passage of fugitive slaves: From the seaboard States to +the North, by water from Newberne, S. C, and Portsmouth, Va.; or by land +routes from Washington and Philadelphia, to and through New England and +so into Quebec. There was "John Brown's route" through Eastern Kansas +and Nebraska; and there were many routes through Iowa and Illinois, most +of them leading to Chicago and other Lake Michigan ports, whence the +refugees came by boat to Canadian points, chiefly along the north shore +of Lake Erie; or even, in some cases, by water to Collingwood on +Georgian Bay, where a considerable number of runaway slaves were carried +prior to the Civil War. But the travel by these extreme East and West +routes was insignificant as compared with the number that came through +Western Pennsylvania, Ohio and Indiana, to points on the south shore of +Lake Erie and the Detroit and Niagara rivers at either end. The region +bounded by the Ohio, the Allegheny, and the western border of Indiana +was a vast plexus of Underground routes. The negroes were taken across +to Canada in great numbers from Detroit and other points on that river; +from Sandusky to Point Pelee; from Ashtabula to Port Stanley; from +Conneaut to Port Burwell; from Erie to Long Point; and from all +south-shore points on Lake Erie they were brought by steamer to Buffalo. +Often, the vessel captains would put the refugees ashore between Long +Point and Buffalo. At other times, the fugitives were sent to stations +at Black Rock or Niagara Falls, whence they were soon set across the +river and were free. There were some long routes across New York State, +the chief one being up the Hudson and Mohawk valleys to Lake Ontario +ports. There was some crossing to Kingston, and some from Rochester to +Port Dalhousie or Toronto. Another route led from Harrisburg up the +Susquehanna to Williamsport, thence to Elmira, and northwesterly, +avoiding large towns, to Niagara Falls. But the most active part in the +Underground Railroad operations in New York State was borne by the +western counties. There were numerous routes through Allegany, +Chautauqua and Cattaraugus counties, along which the negroes were +helped; all converging at Buffalo or on the Niagara. In the old towns of +this section are still many houses and other buildings which are pointed +out to the visitor as having been former stations on the Underground. +The Pettit house at Fredonia is a distinguished example. + +It is impossible to state even approximately the number of refugee +negroes who crossed by these routes to Upper Canada, now Ontario. In +1844 the number was estimated at 40,000;[50] in 1852 the Anti-Slavery +Society of Canada stated in its annual report that there were about +30,000 blacks in Canada West; in 1858 the number was estimated as high +as 75,000.[51] This figure is probably excessive; but since the negroes +continued to come, up to the hour of the Emancipation Proclamation, it +is probably within the fact to say that more than 50,000 crossed to +Upper Canada, nearly all from points on Lake Erie, the Detroit and +Niagara rivers. + +Runaway slaves appeared in Buffalo at least as early as the '30's. +"Professor Edward Orton recalls that in 1838, soon after his father +moved to Buffalo, two sleigh-loads of negroes from the Western Reserve +were brought to the house in the night-time; and Mr. Frederick Nicholson +of Warsaw, N. Y., states that the Underground work in his vicinity began +in 1840. From this time on there was apparently no cessation of +migrations of fugitives into Canada at Black Rock, Buffalo and other +points."[52] Those too were the days of much passenger travel on Lake +Erie, and certain boats came to be known as friendly to the Underground +cause. One boat which ran between Cleveland and Buffalo gave employment +to the fugitive William Wells Brown. It became known at Cleveland that +Brown would take escaped slaves under his protection without charge, +hence he rarely failed to find a little company ready to sail when he +started out from Cleveland. "In the year 1842," he says, "I conveyed +from the 1st of May to the 1st of December, sixty-nine fugitives over +Lake Erie to Canada."[53] Many anecdotes are told of the search for +runaways on the lake steamers. Lake travel in the _ante-bellum_ days was +ever liable to be enlivened by an exciting episode in a "nigger-chase"; +but usually, it would seem, the negroes could rely upon the friendliness +of the captains for concealment or other assistance. + +There are chronicled, too, many little histories of flights which +brought the fugitive to Buffalo. I pass over those which are readily +accessible elsewhere to the student of this phase of our home +history.[54] It is well, however, to devote a paragraph or two to one +famous affair which most if not all American writers on the Underground +Railroad appear to have overlooked. + +One day in 1836 an intelligent negro, riding a thoroughbred but jaded +horse, appeared on the streets of Buffalo. His appearance must have +advertised him to all as a runaway slave. I do not know that he made any +attempt to conceal the fact. His chief concern was to sell the horse as +quickly as possible, and get across to Canada. And there, presently, we +find him, settled at historic old Niagara, near the mouth of the river. +Here, even at that date, so many negroes had made their way from the +South, that more than 400 occupied a quarter known as Negro Town. The +newcomer, whose name was Moseby, admitted that he had run away from a +plantation in Kentucky, and had used a horse that formerly belonged to +his master to make his way North. A Kentucky grand jury soon found a +true bill against him for horse-stealing, and civil officers traced him +to Niagara, and made requisition for his arrest and extradition. The +year before, Sir Francis Bond Head had succeeded Sir John Colborne as +Governor of Canada West, and before him the case was laid. Sir Francis +regarded the charge as lawful, notwithstanding the avowal of Moseby's +owners that if they could get him back to Kentucky they would "make an +example of him"; in plainer words, would whip him to death as a warning +to all slaves who dared to dream of seeking freedom in Canada. + +Moseby was arrested and locked up in the Niagara jail; whereupon great +excitement arose, the blacks and many sympathizing whites declaring that +he should never be carried back South. The Governor, Sir Francis, was +petitioned not to surrender Moseby; he replied that his duty was to give +him up as a felon, "although he would have armed the province to protect +a slave." For more than a week crowds of negroes, men and women, camped +before the jail, day and night. Under the leadership of a mulatto +schoolmaster named Holmes, and of Mrs. Carter, a negress with a gift for +making fiery speeches, the mob were kept worked up to a high pitch of +excitement, although, as a contemporary writer avers, they were +unarmed, showed "good sense, forbearance and resolution," and declared +their intention not to commit any violence against the English law. They +even agreed that Moseby should remain in jail until they could raise the +price of the horse, but threatened, "if any attempt were made to take +him from the prison, and send him across to Lewiston, they would resist +it at the hazard of their lives." The order, however, came for Moseby's +delivery to the slave-hunters, and the sheriff and a party of constables +attempted to execute it. Moseby was brought out from the jail, +handcuffed and placed in a cart; whereupon the mob attacked the +officers. The military was called out to help the civil force and +ordered to fire on the assailants. Two negroes were killed, two or three +wounded, and Moseby ran off and was not pursued. The negro women played +a curiously-prominent part in the affair. "They had been most active in +the fray, throwing themselves fearlessly between the black men and the +whites, who, of course, shrank from injuring them. One woman had seized +the sheriff, and held him pinioned in her arms; another, on one of the +artillery-men presenting his piece, and swearing that he would shoot her +if she did not get out of his way, gave him only one glance of +unutterable contempt, and with one hand knocking up his piece, and +collaring him with the other, held him in such a manner as to prevent +his firing."[55] + +Soon after, in the same year, the Governor of Kentucky made requisition +on the Governor of the province of Canada West for the surrender of +Jesse Happy, another runaway slave, also on a charge of horse-stealing. +Sir Francis held him in confinement in Hamilton jail, but refused to +deliver him up until he had laid the case before the Home Government. In +a most interesting report to the Colonial Secretary, under date of +Toronto, Oct. 8, 1837, he asked for instructions "as a matter of general +policy," and reviewed the Moseby case in a fair and broad spirit, highly +creditable to him alike as an administrator and a friend of the +oppressed. "I am by no means desirous," he wrote, "that this province +should become an asylum for the guilty of any color; at the same time +the documents submitted with this dispatch will I conceive show that the +subject of giving up fugitive slaves to the authorities of the adjoining +republican States is one respecting which it is highly desirable I +should receive from Her Majesty's Government specific instructions.... +It may be argued that the slave escaping from bondage on his master's +horse is a vicious struggle between two guilty parties, of which the +slave-owner is not only the aggressor, but the blackest criminal of the +two. It is a case of the dealer in human flesh _versus_ the stealer of +horse-flesh; and it may be argued that, if the British Government does +not feel itself authorized to pass judgment on the plaintiff, neither +should it on the defendant." Sir Francis continues in this ingenious +strain, observing that "it is as much a theft in the slave walking from +slavery to liberty in his master's shoes as riding on his master's +horse." To give up a slave for trial to the American laws, he argued, +was in fact giving him back to his former master; and he held that, +until the State authorities could separate trial from unjust punishment, +however willing the Government of Canada might be to deliver up a man +for trial, it was justified in refusing to deliver him up for +punishment, "unless sufficient security be entered into in this +province, that the person delivered up for trial shall be brought back +to Upper Canada as soon as his trial or the punishment awarded by it +shall be concluded." And he added this final argument, begging that +instructions should be sent to him at once: + + It is argued, that the republican states have no right, under the + pretext of any human treaty, to claim from the British Government, + which does not recognize slavery, beings who by slave-law are not + recognized as _men_ and who actually existed as brute beasts in + moral darkness, until on reaching British soil they suddenly heard, + for the first time in their lives, the sacred words, "Let there be + light; and there was light!" From that moment it is argued they + were created _men_, and if this be true, it is said they cannot be + held responsible for conduct prior to their existence.[56] + +Sir Francis left the Home Government in no doubt as to his own feelings +in the matter; and although I have seen no further report regarding +Jesse Happy, neither do I know of any case in which a refugee in Canada +for whom requisition was thus made was permitted to go back to slavery. +It did sometimes happen, however, that refugees were enticed across the +river on one pretext or another, or grew careless and took their chances +on the American side, only to fall into the clutches of the +ever-watchful slave-hunters. + +British love of fair play could be counted on to stand up for the rights +of the negro on British soil; but that by no means implies that this +inpouring of ignorant blacks, unfitted for many kinds of pioneer work +and ill able to withstand the climate, was welcomed by the communities +in which they settled. At best, they were tolerated. Very different from +the spirit shown in Sir Francis Bond Head's plea, is the tone of much +tourist comment, especially during the later years of the Abolition +movement. Thus, in 1854, the Hon. Amelia M. Murray wrote, just after her +Niagara visit: + +"One of the evils consequent upon Southern Slavery, is the ignorant and +miserable set of coloured people who throw themselves into Canada.... I +must regret that the well-meant enthusiasm of the Abolitionists has been +without judgment."[57] Another particularly unamiable critic, W. Howard +Russell, a much-exploited English war correspondent who wrote +voluminously of the United States during the Civil War, and who showed +less good will to this country than any other man who ever wrote so +much, came to Niagara in the winter of 1862, and in sourly recording his +unpleasant impressions wrote: "There are too many free negroes and too +many Irish located in the immediate neighborhood of the American town, +to cause the doctrines of the Abolitionists to be received with much +favor by the American population; and the Irish of course are opposed to +free negroes, where they are attracted by paper mills, hotel service, +bricklaying, plastering, housebuilding, and the like--the Americans +monopolizing the higher branches of labor and money-making, including +the guide business."[58] A few pages farther on, however, describing his +sight-seeing on the Canadian side, he speaks of "our guide, a strapping +specimen of negro or mulatto." Quotations of like purport from English +writers during the years immediately preceding the Civil War, might be +multiplied. One rarely will find any opinion at all favorable to the +refugee black, and never any expression of sympathy with the +Abolitionists by English tourists who wrote books, or endorsal of the +work accomplished by the Underground Railroad. + +From its importance as a terminal of the Underground, one would look to +Buffalo for a wealth of reminiscence on this subject. On the contrary, +comparatively little seems to have been gathered up regarding Buffalo +stations and workers. The Buffalo of _ante-bellum_ days was not a large +place, and many "personally-escorted" refugees were taken direct from +country stations to the river ferries, without having to be hid away in +the city. Certain houses there were, however, which served as stations. +One of these, on Ferry Street near Niagara, long since disappeared. When +the "Morris Butler house," at the corner of Utica Street and Linwood +Avenue, built about 1857, was taken down a few years ago, hiding-places +were found on either side of the front door, accessible only from the +cellar. Old residents then recalled that Mr. Butler was reputed to keep +the last station on the Underground route to Canada.[59] + +Many years before Mr. Butler's time runaway slaves used to appear in +Buffalo, eagerly asking the way to Canada. Those days were recalled by +the death, on Aug. 2, 1899, in the Kent County House of Refuge, Chatham, +Ont., of "Mammy" Chadwick, reputed to be over 100 years old. She was +born a slave in Virginia; was many times sold, once at auction in New +Orleans, and later taken to Kentucky. She escaped and made her way by +the Underground to Buffalo in 1837. She always fixed her arrival at Fort +Erie as "in de year dat de Queen was crowned." She married in Fort +Erie, but after a few years went to Chatham, in the midst of a district +full of refugee blacks, and there she lived for sixty years, rejoicing +in the distinction of having nursed in their infancy many who became +Chatham's oldest and most prominent citizens. + +There still lives at Fort Erie an active old woman who came to Buffalo, +a refugee from slavery, some time prior to 1837; she herself says, "a +good while before the Canadian Rebellion," and her memory is so clear +and vigorous in general that there appears no warrant for mistrusting it +on this point. This interesting woman is Mrs. Betsy Robinson, known +throughout the neighborhood as "Aunt Betsy." She lately told her story +to me at length. Robbed of all the picturesque detail with which she +invested it, the bare facts are here recorded. Her father, mother, and +their seven children were slaves on a plantation in Rockingham County, +Virginia. There came a change of ownership, and Baker (her father) heard +he was to be sold to New Orleans--the fate which the Virginia slave most +dreaded; "and yet," says Aunt Betsy, "I've seen dem slaves, in gangs +bein' sent off to New Orleans, singin' and playin' on jewsharps, lettin' +on to be that careless an' happy." But not so Baker. He made ready to +escape. For a week beforehand his wife hid food in the woods. On a dark +night the whole family stole away from the plantation, crossed a river, +probably the north fork of the Shenandoah, and pushed northward. The +father had procured three "passes," which commended them for assistance +to friends along the way. According to Aunt Betsy, there were a good +many white people in the South in those days who helped the runaway. She +was a little girl then, and she now recalls the child's vivid +impressions of the weeks they spent traveling and hiding in the +mountains, which she says were full of rattlesnakes, wolves and deer. It +was a wild country that they crossed, for they came out near Washington, +Pa. Here the Quakers helped them; and her father and brothers worked in +the coal mines for a time. Then they came on to Pittsburg. From that +city north there was no lack of help. "We walked all the way," she says. +"There was no railroads in them days, an' I don't remember's we got any +wagon-rides. You see, we was so many, nine in all. I remember we went to +Erie, and came through Fredonia. We walked through Buffalo--it was +little then, you know--and down the river road. My father missed the +Black Rock ferry an' we went away down where the bridge is now. I +remember we had to walk back up the river, and then we got brought +across to Fort Erie. That was a good while before the Canadian +Rebellion."[60] + +Samuel Murray, a free-born negro, came to Buffalo from Reading, Pa., in +1852. For a time he was employed at the American Hotel, and went to +work very early in the morning. It was, he has said, a common +occurrence to meet strange negroes, who would ask him the way to Canada. +"Many a time," said Murray, "I have gone into the hotel and taken food +for them. Then I would walk out Niagara Street to the ferry and see them +on the boat bound for Canada." Mr. Murray has related the following +incidents: + +"There was a free black man living in Buffalo in the '50's who made a +business of going to the South after the wives of former slaves who had +found comfortable homes, either in the Northern States or in Canada. +They paid him well for his work, and he rarely failed to accomplish his +mission. + +"While connected with the Underground Railroad in Buffalo word was sent +us that a colored man from Detroit, a traitor to his color, was coming +to Buffalo. This man made a business of informing Southerners of the +whereabouts of their slaves, and was paid a good sum per head for those +that they recovered. When we heard that he was coming a meeting was held +and a committee appointed to arrange for his reception. After being here +a few days, not thinking that he was known, he was met by the committee +and taken out in the woods where the Parade House now stands. Here he +was tied to a tree, stripped and cow-hided until he was almost dead. He +lay for a time insensible in a pool of his own blood. Finally regaining +consciousness, he made his way back into Buffalo and as soon as he was +able complained to the city authorities. His assailants were identified, +arrested, and locked up in the old jail to await the result of his +injuries. After a time the excitement caused by the affair subsided and +the men were let out one day without having been tried." The sympathy of +the sheriff, and probably that of the community as a whole, was plainly +not with the renegade who got flogged. + +Another celebrated Underground case was the arrest at Niagara Falls of a +slave named Sneedon, on a charge of murder, undoubtedly trumped up to +procure his return South. Sneedon is described as a fine-looking man, +with a complexion almost white. He was brought to trial in Buffalo, when +Eli Cook pleaded his case so successfully that he was acquitted. No +sooner was he released than he was spirited away _via_ the Underground +Railroad. + +Niagara Falls, far more than Buffalo, was the scene of interesting +episodes in the Underground days. Not only did many refugee negroes find +employment in the vicinity, especially on the Canada side, but many +Southern planters used to visit there, bringing their retinue of blacks. +Many a time the trusted body-servant, or slave-girl, would leave master +or mistress in the discharge of some errand, and never come back. +Instances are related, too, of sudden meetings, at the Falls hotels, +between negro waiters and the former masters they had run away from. It +is recorded that when Gen. Peter B. Porter brought his Kentucky wife +home with him to Niagara Falls, she was attended by a numerous retinue +of negro servants, but that one by one they "scented freedom in the air" +and ran away, though probably not to any immediate betterment of their +condition. + +Henry Clay visited Buffalo in September, 1849. When he left for +Cleveland his black servant Levi was missing, but whether he had gone +voluntarily or against his wishes Mr. Clay was uncertain. "There are +circumstances having a tendency both ways," he wrote to Lewis L. Hodges +of Buffalo, in his effort to trace the lost property. "If voluntarily, I +will take no trouble about him, as it is probable that in a reversal of +our conditions I would have done the same thing."[61] The absentee had +merely been left in Buffalo--probably he missed the boat--and reported +in due time to his master at Ashland. The incident, however, suggests +the hazards of Northern travel which in those years awaited wealthy +Southerners, who were fond of making long sojourns at Niagara Falls, +accompanied by many servants. + +An "old resident of Buffalo" is to be credited with the following +reminiscence: + +"I remember one attempt that was made to capture a runaway slave. It was +right up here on Niagara Street. The negro ventured out in daytime and +was seized by a couple of men who had been on the watch for him. The +slave was a muscular fellow, and fought desperately for his liberty; but +his captors began beating him over the head with their whips, and he +would have been overpowered and carried off if his cries had not +attracted the attention of two Abolitionists, who ran up and joined in +the scuffle. It was just above Ferry Street, and they pulled and hauled +at that slave and pounded him and each other until it looked as though +somebody would be killed. At last, however, the slave, with the help of +his friends, got away and ran for his life, and the slave-chasers and +the Abolitionists dropped from blows to high words, the former +threatening prosecutions and vengeance, but I presume nothing came of +it."[62] + +Nowhere were the friends of the fugitive more active or more successful +than in the towns along the south shore of Lake Erie, from Erie to +Buffalo.[63] Some years ago it was my good fortune to become acquainted +with Mr. Frank Henry of Erie, who had been a very active "conductor" on +the Underground.[64] From him I had the facts of the following +experiences, which he had not in earlier years thought it prudent to +make public. These I now submit, partly in Mr. Henry's own language, as +fairly-illustrative episodes in the history of Underground trails at the +eastern end of Lake Erie. + +In the year 1841 Capt. David Porter Dobbins, afterwards Superintendent +of Life Saving Stations in the Ninth U. S. District, including Lakes +Erie and Ontario, was a citizen of Erie. In politics he was one of the +sturdy, old-time Democrats, not a few of whom, in marked contrast to +their "Copperhead" neighbors, secretly sympathized with and aided the +runaway slaves. Capt. Dobbins had in his employ a black man named +William Mason, his surname being taken, as was the usual, but not +invariable, custom among slaves, from that of his first master. Now +Mason, some time before he came into the employ of Capt. Dobbins, had +apparently become tired of getting only the blows and abuse of an +overseer in return for his toil; so one night he quietly left his "old +Kentucky home," determined to gain his freedom or die in the attempt. In +good time he succeeded in getting to Detroit, then a small town; and +there he found work, took unto himself a wife, and essayed to settle +down. Instead, however, of settling, he soon found himself more badly +stirred up than ever before, for his wife proved to be a veritable +she-devil in petticoats, with a tongue keener than his master's lash. +They parted, and the unfaithful wife informed against him to the +slave-hunters. Mason fled, made his way to Erie, and was given work by +Capt. Dobbins. He was a stalwart negro, intelligent above the average, +altogether too fine a prize to let slip easily, and the professional +slave-hunters lost no time in hunting him out. + +For many years prior to the Civil War a large class of men made their +living by ferreting out and recapturing fugitive slaves and returning +them to their old masters; or, as was often the case, selling them into +slavery again. Free black men, peaceful citizens of the Northern States, +were sometimes seized, to be sold to unscrupulous men who stood ever +ready to buy them. There was but little hope for the negro who found +himself carried south of Mason and Dixon's line in the clutches of these +hard men, who were generally provided with a minute description of +runaways from the border States, and received a large commission for +capturing and returning them into bondage. + +One day, as Mason was cutting up a quarter of beef in Capt. Dobbins's +house, two men came in, making plausible excuses. Mason saw they were +watching him closely, and his suspicions were at once aroused. + +"Is your name William?" one of them asked. + +"No," said Mason curtly, pretending to be busy with his beef. + +Then they told him to take off his shoe and let them see if there was a +scar on his foot. On his refusing to do so, they produced handcuffs and +called on him to surrender. Livid with desperation and fear, Mason +rushed upon them with his huge butcher-knive, and the fellows took to +their heels to save their heads. They lost no time in getting a warrant +from a magistrate on some pretext or other, and placed it in the hands +of an officer for execution. + +While the little by-play with the butcher-knife was going on, Capt. +Dobbins had entered the house, and to him Mason rushed in appeal. +Swearing "by de hosts of heaben" that he would never be captured, he +piteously begged for help and the protection of his employer. And in +Capt. Dobbins he had a friend who was equal to any emergency. Calling +Mason from the room his employer hurried with him to Josiah Kellogg's +house, then one of the finest places in Erie, with a commanding view +from its high bank over lake and bay.[65] To this house Mason was +hurried, and Mrs. Kellogg comprehended the situation at a glance. The +fugitive was soon so carefully hidden that, to use the Captain's +expression, "The Devil himself couldn't have found him, sir!" + +Expeditious as they were, they had been none too quick. Capt. Dobbins +had scarcely regained his own door, when the two slave-hunters came +back with the sheriff and demanded Mason. + +"Search the premises at your pleasure," was the response. + +The house was ransacked from cellar to garret, but, needless to say, +Mason was not to be found. + +There was living in Erie at that time a big burly negro, Lemuel Gates by +name, whose strength was only surpassed by his good nature. He was +willing enough to lend himself to the cause of humanity. The Captain +owned a very fast horse, and while the officer and his disappointed and +suspicious companions were still lurking around, just at nightfall, he +harnessed his horse into the buggy and seated the Hercules by his side. +All this was quietly done in the barn with closed doors. At a given +signal, the servant-girl threw open the doors, the Captain cracked his +whip, and out they dashed at full speed. He took good care to be seen +and recognized by the spies on watch, and then laid his course for +Hamlin Russell's house at Belle Valley. Mr. Russell was a noted +Abolitionist, and lived on a cross-road between the Wattsburg and Lake +Pleasant roads. Just beyond Marvintown, at Davison's, the Lake Pleasant +road forks off from the Wattsburg road to the right. The travelers took +the Lake road. When Mr. Russell's house was reached, the Captain slipped +a half-eagle into the hand of his grinning companion, with the needless +advice that it would be well to make tracks for home as fast as +possible. Mr. Russell was told of the clever ruse, and then Capt. +Dobbins drove leisurely homeward. At the junction of the two roads he +met the officer and his comrades in hot pursuit. + +"Where is Mason?" they demanded. + +"Find out," was the Captain's only answer, as he drove quietly along, +chuckling to himself over the success of his strategy; while the +slave-hunters worked themselves into a passion over a fruitless search +of Mr. Russell's innocent premises. + +Early one morning a few days afterward, as Capt. Dobbins was on the bank +of the lake, he saw a vessel round the point of the Peninsula, sail up +the channel, and cast anchor in Misery Bay, then, and for many years +afterwards, a favorite anchorage for wind-bound vessels. Soon a yawl was +seen to put off for the shore with the master of the vessel aboard. +Capt. Dobbins contrived to see him during the day, and was delighted to +find him an old and formerly intimate shipmate. The ship-master heartily +entered into the Captain's plans, and it was agreed to put Mason aboard +of the vessel at two o'clock the next morning. + +At the time of which we write, the steamer docks and lumber-yards which +later were built along the shore at that point, were yet undreamed of, +and the waters of the bay broke unhindered at the foot of the high bank +on which stood Mrs. Kellogg's house, where Mason was hid. It would not +do openly to borrow a boat, and Capt. Dobbins had no small difficulty in +getting a craft for the conveyance of his _protégé_ to the vessel. At +last, late at night, a little, leaky old skiff was temporarily +confiscated. By this time a strong breeze had sprung up, and it was +difficult to approach the shore. A tree had fallen over the bank with +its top in the water, and the Captain found precarious anchorage for his +leaky tub by clinging to its branches. With a cry like the call of the +whip-poor-will the runaway was summoned. In his hurry to get down the +bank he slipped and fell headlong into the fallen treetop; while a small +avalanche of stones and earth came crashing after and nearly swamped the +boat. When the boat had been lightened of its unexpected cargo, the +voyage across the bay began. The poor darky, however, was no sooner sure +that his neck was not broken by the tumble, than he was nearly dead with +the fear of drowning. Their boat, a little skiff just big enough for one +person, leaked like a sieve, and soon became water-logged in the seaway. +Mason's hat was a stiff "plug," a former gift of charity. It had +suffered sorely by the plunge down the bank, but its ruin was made +complete by the Captain ordering its owner to fall to and bail out the +boat with it. The brim soon vanished, but the upper part did very well +as a bucket; and the owner consoled himself that in thus sacrificing his +hat he saved his life. It was a close call for safety. The Captain +tugged away at the oars as never before, and the shivering negro scooped +away for dear life to keep the boat afloat. In after years Capt. Dobbins +experienced shipwreck more than once, but he used to say that never had +he been in greater peril than when making that memorable trip across +Presque Isle Bay in the wild darkness and storm of midnight. The vessel +was at length reached. She was loaded with staves, and a great hole was +made in the deck load, within which Mason was snugly stowed away, while +the staves were piled over him again. Capt. Dobbins reached the mainland +in safety before daylight, and during the morning had the satisfaction +of seeing the wind haul around off land, when the vessel weighed anchor +and sailed away. + +Knowing that pursuit was impossible (there were no steam tugs on the bay +in those days), Capt. Dobbins quietly told the officer that he was tired +of being watched, and that if he would come along, he would show him +where Mason was. The Captain had notified some of his friends, and when +the bank of the lake was reached, a crowd had gathered, for the affair +had created quite a stir in the village. + +"Do you see that sail?" said the Captain, pointing to the retreating +vessel. + +"Well?" was the impatient answer. + +"Mason is aboard of her," was the quiet reply. The befooled magistrate +of the law, who had taken great care to bring handcuffs for his expected +prisoner, acknowledged himself beaten; while the "nigger-chasers" were +glad to sneak off, followed by the shouts and jeers of the crowd. +"Pretty well done--for a Democrat," said Mr. Russell to the Captain a +few days afterwards. "After your conversion to our principles you will +make a good Abolitionist." + +Some years after the event above narrated, as Capt. Dobbins[66] was in +the cabin of his vessel as she lay at Buffalo, a respectably-dressed +black man was shown into the cabin. It was Mason, who had come to repay +his benefactor with thanks and even with proffered money. He had settled +somewhere back of Kingston, Ontario, on land which the Canadian +Government at that time gave to actual settlers. He had married an +amiable woman, and was prosperous and happy. + + * * * * * + +I give the following incident substantially as it was set down for me by +Mr. Frank Henry: + +In the summer of 1858 Mr. Jehiel Towner (now deceased) sent me a note +from the city of Erie, asking me to call on him that evening. When night +came I rode into town from my home in Harborcreek, and saw Mr. Towner. +"There are three 'passengers' hidden in town, Henry," said he, "and we +must land them somewhere on the Canada shore. You are just the man for +this work; will you undertake to get them across?" + +You must remember that we never had anything to do with "runaway +niggers" in those days, nor even with "fugitive slaves"; we simply +"assisted passengers." I knew well enough that there was a big risk in +the present case, but I promised to do my part, and so after talking +over matters a little I drove home. + +The next night just about dusk a wagon was driven into my yard. The +driver, one Hamilton Waters, was a free mulatto, known to everybody +around Erie. He had brought a little boy with him as guide, for he was +almost as blind as a bat. In his wagon were three of the +strangest-looking "passengers" I ever saw; I can remember how oddly they +looked as they clambered out of the wagon. There was a man they called +Sam, a great strapping negro, who might have been forty years old. He +was a loose-jointed fellow, with a head like a pumpkin, and a mouth like +a cavern, its vast circumference always stretched in a glorious grin; +for no matter how badly Sam might feel, or how frightened, the grin had +so grown into his black cheeks that it never vanished. I remember how, a +few nights after, when the poor fellow was scared just about out of his +wits, his grin, though a little ghastly, was as broad as ever. Sam was +one of the queerest characters I ever met. His long arms seemed all +wrists, his legs all ankles; and when he walked, his nether limbs had a +flail-like flop that made him look like a runaway windmill. The bases +upon which rested this fearfully-and wonderfully-made superstructure +were abundantly ample. On one foot he wore an old shoe--at least number +twelve in size--and on the other a heavy boot; and his trousers-legs, by +a grim fatality, were similarly unbalanced, for while the one was tucked +into the boot-top, its fellow, from the knee down, had wholly vanished. +Sam wore a weather-beaten and brimless "tile" on his head, and in his +hand carried an old-fashioned long-barreled rifle. He set great store +by his "ole smooth bo'," though he handled it in a gingerly sort of way, +that suggested a greater fear of its kicks than confidence in its aim. +Sam's companions were an intelligent-looking negro about twenty-five +years old, named Martin, and his wife, a pretty quadroon girl, with thin +lips and a pleasant voice, for all the world like _Eliza_ in "Uncle +Tom's Cabin." She carried a plump little piccaninny against her breast, +over which a thin shawl was tightly drawn. She was an uncommonly +attractive young woman, and I made up my mind then and there that she +shouldn't be carried back to slavery if I had any say in the matter. + +The only persons besides myself who knew of their arrival were William +P. Trimble and Maj. F. L. Fitch. The party was conducted to the old +Methodist church in Wesleyville, which had served for a long time as a +place of rendezvous and concealment. Except for the regular Sunday +services, and a Thursday-night prayer-meeting, the church was never +opened, unless for an occasional funeral, and so it was as safe a place +as could well have been found. In case of unexpected intruders, the +fugitives could crawl up into the attic and remain as safe as if in +Liberia. + +It was my plan to take the "passengers" from the mouth of Four-Mile +Creek across the lake to Long Point light-house, on the Canada shore, +but the wind hung in a bad quarter for the next two or three days, and +our party had to keep in the dark. One rainy night, however--it was a +miserable, drizzling rain, and dark as Egypt--I was suddenly notified +that a sailboat was in readiness off the mouth of Four-Mile Creek. At +first I was at a loss what to do. I didn't dare go home for provisions, +for I had good reason to believe that my house was nightly watched by a +cowardly wretch, whose only concern was to secure the $500 offered by +Sam's former master for the capture of the slaves. In the vicinity lived +a well-to-do farmer, a devoted pro-slavery Democrat. Notwithstanding his +politics, I knew the man was the soul of honor, and possessed a great +generous heart. So I marshaled my black brigade out of the church, and +marched them off, through the rain, single file, to his house. In answer +to our knock, our friend threw open the door; then, with a thousand +interrogation points frozen into his face, he stood for a minute, one +hand holding a candle above his head, the other shading his eyes, as he +stared at the wet and shivering group of darkies, the very picture of +dumfounded astonishment. In less time than it takes to tell it, however, +he grasped the situation, hustled us all into the house and shut the +door with a most expressive slam. + +"What in ---- does all this mean?" was his pious ejaculation. + +He saw what it meant, and it needed but few words of explanation on my +part. "They are a party of fugitives from slavery," said I, calling our +friend by name. "We are about to cross the lake to Canada; the party are +destitute and closely pursued; their only crime is a desire for freedom. +This young woman and mother has been sold from her husband and child to +a dealer in the far South, and if captured, she will be consigned to a +life of shame." The story was all too common in those days, and needed +no fine words. The young girl's eyes pleaded more forcibly than any +words I could have spoken. + +"Well--what do you want of me?" demanded our host, trying hard to look +fierce and angry. + +"Clothing and provisions," I replied. + +"Now look here," said he, in his gruffest voice, "this is a bad job--bad +job." Then, turning to the negroes: "Better go back. Canada is full of +runaway niggers now. They're freezin' and starvin' by thousands. Was +over in Canada t'other day. Saw six niggers by the roadside, with their +heads cut off. Bones of niggers danglin' in the trees. Crows pickin' +their eyes out. _You_ better go back, d'ye _hear_?" he added, turning +suddenly towards Sam. + +Poor Sam shook in his shoes, and his eyes rolled in terror. He fingered +his cherished smooth-bore as though uncertain whether to shoot his +entertainer, or save all his ammunition for Canada crows, while he cast +a helpless look of appeal upon his companions. The young woman, however, +with her keener insight, had seen through the sham brusqueness of their +host; and although she was evidently appalled by the horrible picture of +what lay before them across the lake, her heart told her it was +immeasurably to be preferred to a return to the only fate which awaited +her in the South. Her thoughts lay in her face, and our friend read +them; and not having a stone in his broad bosom, but a big, warm, +thumping old heart, was moved to pity and to aid. He set about getting a +basket of provisions. Then he skirmished around and found a blanket and +hood for the woman; all the time declaring that _he_ never would help +runaway niggers, no sir! and drawing (for Sam's especial delectation) +the most horrible pictures of Canadian hospitality that he could conjure +up. "You'll find 'em on shore waitin' for ye," said he; "they'll catch +ye and kill ye and string ye up for a scare-crow." Seeing that Sam was +coatless, he stripped off his own coat and bundled it upon the +astonished darky with the consoling remark: "When they get hold of _you_ +they'll tan your black hide, stretch it for drum-heads, and beat 'God +Save the Queen' out of ye every day in the year." + +All being in readiness, our benefactor plunged his hand into his pocket, +and pulling it out full of small change thrust it into the woman's +hands, still urging them to go back to the old life. At the door Sam +turned back and spoke for the first time: + +"Look 'e hyar, Massa, you's good to we uns an' 'fo' de Lo'd I tank yer. +Ef enny No'then gemmen hankah fur my chances in de Souf, I' zign in dair +favo'. 'Fo' de good Lo'd I tank ye, Massa, I does, _shuah_!" + +Here Sam's feelings got the better of him, and we were hurrying off, +when our entertainer said: + +"See here, now, Henry, remember you were never at my house with a lot of +damned niggers in the night. Do you understand?" + +"All right, sir. You are the last man who would ever be charged with +Abolitionism, and that's the reason why we came here tonight. Mum is the +word." + +The rain had stopped and the stars were shining in a cheerful way as we +all trudged down the wet road to the lake shore. Our boat was found +close in shore, and Martin and his wife had waded out to it, while Sam +and I stood talking in low tones on the beach. Suddenly a crash like the +breaking of fence-boards was heard on the bank near by, and to the +westward of us. We looked up quickly and saw the form of a man climb +over the fence and then crouch down in the shadow. Up came Sam's rifle, +and with a hurried aim he fired at the moving object. His old gun was +trusty and his aim true, and had it not been for a lucky blow from my +hand, which knocked the gun upwards just as he fired, and sent the ball +whistling harmlessly over the bank, there'd have been one less mean man +in the world, and we should have had a corpse to dispose of. I scrambled +up the bank, with my heart in my mouth, I'll confess, just in time to +see the sneak scurry along in the direction of the highway. I watched a +long time at the creek after the boat left, and seeing no one astir +started for home. By the time I reached the Lake road the moon had come +up, and a fresh carriage-track could be plainly seen. I followed it down +the road a short distance, when it turned, ran across the sod, and ended +at the fence, which had been freshly gnawed by horses. It then turned +back into the highway, followed up the crossroad to Wesleyville, and +thence came to the city. + +The fugitives reached the promised land in safety, and I heard from them +several times thereafter. The man Sam subsequently made two or three +successful trips back to the old home, once for a wife and afterwards +for other friends. He made some money in the Canada oil fields, and some +time after sent me $100, $50 for myself to invest in books, and $50 for +the fishermen who carried them safely across to Long Point and liberty. + + * * * * * + +Of all the places which have sheltered the fugitive slave there is none +better known, along the southeastern shore of Lake Erie, than the old +Methodist church at Wesleyville, Erie Co., Pennsylvania. It stands today +much as it stood a half century since; though repairs have been made +from time to time, and of late years modern coal stoves have replaced +the capacious but fervid old wood-eaters known as box-stoves. Dedicated +to God, it has been doubly hallowed by being devoted to the cause of +humanity. To more than one wretch, worn out with the toils of a long +flight, it has proved a glorious house of refuge; and if safety lay not +within the shadow of its sacred altar, it surely did amidst the shadowy +gloom of its dingy garret. + +In the year 1856 there lived in Caldwell County, in western Kentucky, a +well-to-do farmer named Wilson. He owned a large and well-stocked farm, +which he had inherited, with several slaves, from his father. Mr. Wilson +was an easy-going and indulgent master, and reaped a greater reward of +affection from his "people" than he did of pecuniary gain from his +plantation. In the autumn of the above-named year he died, and his +servants were divided among the heirs, who lived in Daviess County, in +the same State. Two of the slaves, Jack and Nannie, a young man and his +sister, fell to the lot of a hard master named Watson. The housekeeper +dying, Nannie was taken from the field to fill her place. Nothing could +have been worse for the poor girl. She was handsome, her young master a +brute. Because she defended her honor she was cruelly punished and +locked up for many hours. Her brother succeeded in freeing her, and +together they fled, only to be recaptured. They were whipped so terribly +that the girl Nannie died. Jack survived, heart-broken, quiet for a +time, but with a growing resolve in his heart. One night his master came +home from a debauch, and ordered Jack to perform some unreasonable and +impossible task. Because the poor boy failed, the master flew at him +with an open knife. It was death for one of them. The image of poor Nan, +beaten to an awful death, rose before Jack's eyes. In a moment he became +a tiger. Seizing a cart-stake, he dealt his master a blow that killed +him. The blood of his sister was avenged. + +Once more Jack fled. The murder of the master had aroused the +neighborhood. Blood-hounds, both brute and human, scoured the woods and +swamps; flaming handbills offered great rewards for Jack Watson, dead or +alive. With incredible cunning, and grown wary as a wild animal, Jack +lurked in the vicinity a long time. When the excitement had somewhat +abated, he found his way to Salem, Ohio, and was for a time in the +employ of a worthy Quaker named Bonsell, whose descendants still live in +that locality. It was then a neighborhood of Friends, and Jack's life +among them brought him great good. He learned to read and write, and +became in heart and conduct a changed man. His life, however, was +haunted by two ghastly forms; and as often as the image of his murdered +master rose before him, that of Nan came also to justify the deed. These +apparitions wore upon him, and made his life unnatural and highly +sensitive. On one occasion, while in Pittsburg, he saw what he took to +be the ghost of his murdered master coming toward him in the street. He +turned and fled in abject terror, much to the astonishment of all +passers-by. Long afterward he learned that the supposed apparition was a +half-brother of his former master. + +Jack now determined to devote his life to freeing his countrymen from +bondage. In due time he found his way to the house of Mr. John Young, a +noted Abolitionist of Wilmington township, in Mercer County, +Pennsylvania. Mr. Young was one of the first men in Mercer County to +proclaim his political convictions to the world, and to stand by them, +bravely and consistently, and through many a dangerous hour, until +slavery was a thing of the past. No man ever asked brave John Young for +help and was refused. His house was known among Abolitionists far and +wide as a safe station for the Underground Road. + +While Jack was at Mr. Young's he fell in with a young minister, himself +a former fugitive from Kentucky, and who was at the time an earnest +Baptist preacher in Syracuse, N. Y. This friend, named Jarm W. Loguen, +promised Jack shelter if he could but reach Syracuse, and so Jack was +"forwarded" along the road. + +When he reached Erie, the late Mr. Thomas Elliott, of Harborcreek, +carried him to Wesleyville. His pursuers were incidentally heard of as +being in the vicinity of Meadville, and it was necessary to proceed with +great caution; so Jack was hidden away for a few days beneath the +shelter of the old church roof. + +It so happened that at this time a protracted meeting was in progress in +the church. It was a great awakening, well remembered yet in the +neighborhood. There were meetings every night, though the church was +shut up during the day. During the evening meetings Jack would stay +quietly concealed in the garret; but after the congregation dispersed +and the key was turned in the door, he would descend, stir up a rousing +fire, and make himself as comfortable as possible until the meeting-hour +came round again. It is related that Mr. David Chambers generously kept +the house supplied with fuel; and his boys, to whose lot fell the +manipulation of the wood-pile, were in constant wonder at the +disappearance of the wood. "I shan't be very sorry when this revival +winds up," said one of them confidentially to the other; "it takes an +awful lot of wood to run a red-hot revival." The meanwhile black Jack +toasted his shins by the revival fire, and found, no doubt, a deal of +comfort in the sacred atmosphere of the sheltering church. + +The meetings grew in interest with every night. Scores were gathered +into the fold of the church, and the whole community, young and old, +were touched by the mysterious power. The meetings were conducted by the +Rev. John McLean, afterwards a venerable superannuate of the East Ohio +Conference, yet living (at least a few years ago) in Canfield, Mahoning +County, Ohio; by the Rev. B. Marsteller, and others. The interest came +to a climax one Sunday night. A most thrilling sermon had been preached. +Every heart was on fire with the sacred excitement, and it seemed as if +the Holy Spirit were almost tangible in their very midst. The church was +full, even to the gallery that surrounds three sides of the interior. +Methodists are not--at least were not in those days--afraid to shout; +and Jack, hidden above the ceiling, had long been a rapt listener to the +earnest exhortations. His murder, his people in bondage, all the sorrows +and sins of his eventful life, rose before his eyes. Overcome with +contrition, he knelt upon the rickety old boards, and poured out his +troubles in prayer. Meanwhile, down below, the excitement grew. The Rev. +James Sullivan made an impassioned exhortation, and when he finished, +the altar was crowded with penitents. The service resolved itself into a +general prayer-meeting. Men embraced each other in the aisles, or knelt +in tearful prayer together; while shouts of victory and groans of +repentance filled the church. God bless the good old-fashioned shouting +Methodists, who shouted all the louder as the Lord drew near! Some of +the old revival hymns, sent rolling across winter fields, and throbbing +and ringing through the midnight air, would set the very universe +rejoicing, and scatter the legions of Satan in dismay. Alas that the +religion of lungs--the shouting, noisy, devout, glorious old worship, is +passing away! The whispers of the Devil too often drown the modulations +of modern prayer, and instead of glorified visions of angels and the +saints, the eyes of modern worshipers rest weariedly upon the things of +the world. + +As the tide of excitement swelled higher and wilder that night, it +caught poor Jack, up in the garret. Through narrow cracks he could see +the emotions and devotions of the audience; and in his enthusiasm he +wholly forgot that he was in concealment and his presence known to only +two or three of the worshipers. + +"Come up, sinners, come up to the Throne of Grace and cast your heavy +burdens down," called the pastor, his face aglow with exercise and +emotion, and his heart throbbing with exultation. "Praise be to God on +High for this glorious harvest of souls." + +"Glory, glory, amen!" rose from all parts of the church. + +"Glory, glory, amen!" came back a voice from the unknown above. + +The hubbub was at such a pitch down stairs that Jack's unconscious +response was scarcely heard; but to those in the gallery it was plainly +audible. + +"Lord God of Sabbaoth," prayed the minister, "come down upon us tonight. +Send Thy Spirit into our midst!" + +"Amen! glory! hallelujah!" shouted Jack in the garret. + +The people in the gallery were in holy fear. "It is Gabriel," they said. + +"We come to Thee, Lord! We come, we come!" cried the repentent sinners +down stairs. + +"I come, I come, glory to God, hallelujah, amen!" shouted back the +Gabriel in the garret, clapping his hands in the fervor of his ecstacy. + +All at once his Abolition friends below heard him. They were struck with +consternation and looked at each other in dismay. If Jack was +discovered, there would be trouble; they must quiet him at any hazard. +"The idea of that nigger getting the power in the garret! A stop must be +put to that at once. A revival in full blast is an unusual treat for an +Underground Railroad traveler; he should take with gratitude what he +could hear, and keep still for the safety of his skin." So thought his +frightened friends, who at once cast about for means to quiet him. + +Now it so happened--how fortunate that there is always a way out of a +dilemma!--that the old stove-pipe, which connected with the chimney in +the attic, frequently became disconnected; and on more than one occasion +incipient fires had started among the dry boards of the garret floor. +The people were used to seeing the boys go aloft to look after the +safety of the house; so, when Dempster M. Chambers, a son of Mr. +Stewart Chambers, inspired by a happy thought, scrambled up the ladder +and crawled through the trap-door into the gloom, those who noticed it +thought only that the old stove-pipe had slipped out, and continued to +throw their sins as fuel into the general religious blaze; or thinking +of the fires of hell, gave little heed to lesser flames. Jack was soon +quieted, and the meeting, having consumed itself with its own fervor, +broke up without further incident. There is no doubt, however, that +certain worthy people who were seated in the gallery have ever stoutly +maintained that the Angel Gabriel actually replied to the prayers of +that memorable night.[67] + +In due time Jack Watson reached the home of his friend, the Rev. Jarm W. +Loguen; and during the dark days of the War he rendered valuable aid to +the Union cause along the Kentucky and Virginia borders, and in one +guerrilla skirmish he lost his left arm. A few years since he was still +living on a preëmpted land-claim in Rice County, Kansas. + +The following incident, connected with Watson's career, will not be out +of place in closing this sketch: + +Some years since the Rev. Glezen Fillmore, a famous pioneer of the +Methodist Episcopal Church in Buffalo, and for more than half a century +an honored member of the Genesee Conference, was engaged in raising +funds for the Freedmen's Aid Society. One day his cousin, the late +ex-President Millard Fillmore, rode out from Buffalo to visit him. +During the conversation the venerable preacher related the story of +Watson's escape, as Watson himself had told it while at Fillmore's +Underground Railroad depot. The former President was strongly touched by +the story, and at its close he drew a check for fifty dollars for the +Freedmen. "Thank you, thank you," said the good old parson. "I was +praying that the Lord would open your heart to give ten dollars, and +here are fifty." + +No study of Underground Railroad work in this region, even though, like +the present paper, it aims to be chiefly anecdotal, can neglect +recognition of the fact that it was a Buffalo man in the Presidential +chair who, by signing the Fugitive Slave act of 1850, brought upon his +head the maledictions of the Abolitionists, who were so stimulated +thereby in their humanitarian law-breaking, that the most active period +in Underground Railroad work dates from the stroke of Millard Fillmore's +pen which sought to put a stop to it. No passage in American history +displays more acrimony than this. Wherever the friends of the negro were +at work on Underground lines, Mr. Fillmore was denounced in the most +intemperate terms. In his home city of Buffalo, some who had hitherto +prided themselves upon his distinguished acquaintance, estranged +themselves from him, and on his return to Buffalo he found cold and +formal treatment from people whom he had formerly greeted as friends. +Insults were offered him; and the changed demeanor of many of his +townsmen showed itself even in the church which he attended. Certain +ardent souls there were who refused any longer to worship where he +did.[68] Mr. Fillmore met all these hostile demonstrations, as he +sustained the angry protests and denunciations of the Abolitionists in +general, in dignified impurturbability, resting his case upon the +constitutionality of his conduct. The act of 1850 reaffirmed the act of +1793, and both rested upon the explicit provision in the Constitution +which declares that "no person held to service or labor in one State +under the laws thereof, escaping into another, shall, in consequence of +any law or regulation therein, be discharged from such service or labor; +but shall be delivered up on claim of the party to whom such service or +labor may be due." Obviously, so far as this section was concerned, many +people of the North were in rebellion against the Constitution of the +United States for many years before the Civil War. That the work of the +Underground Railroad was justifiable in the humanitarian aspect needs no +argument now. But the student of that period cannot overcome the legal +stand taken by Mr. Fillmore, his advisers and sympathizers, unless he +asserts, as Mr. Seward asserted, that the provision of the Constitution +relating to the rendition of slaves was of no binding force. "The law of +nations," he declared, "disavows such compacts--the law of nature +written on the hearts and consciences of men repudiates them."[69] This +was met by the plausible assertion that "the hostility which was +directed against the law of 1850 would have been equally violent against +any law which effectually carried out the provision of the +Constitution."[70] During the years that followed, efforts were made to +recover fugitive slaves under this law. Special officers were appointed +to execute it, but in most Northern communities they were regarded with +odium, and every possible obstacle put in the way of the discharge of +their offensive duties. Many tragic affairs occurred; but the +organization of the Underground Railroad was too thorough, its operation +was in the hands of men too discreet and determined, to be seriously +disturbed by a law which found so little moral support in the +communities through which its devious trails ran. Thus the work went on, +through civil contention and bloody war, until the Emancipator came to +loose all shackles, to put an end to property in slaves, and to stop all +work, because abolishing all need, of the Underground Railroad. + + + + +Niagara and the Poets. + + + + +NIAGARA AND THE POETS. + + +On a day in July, 1804, a ruddy-faced, handsome young Irishman, whose +appearance must have commanded unusual attention in wild frontier +surroundings, came out of the woods that overlooked Lake Erie, picking +his way among the still-standing stumps, and trudged down the Indian +trail, which had not long been made passable for wagons. Presently he +came into the better part of the road, named Willink Avenue, passed a +dozen scattered houses, and finally stopped at John Crow's log tavern, +the principal inn of the infant Buffalo. He was dusty, tired, and +disgusted with the fortune that had brought an accident some distance +back in the woods, compelling him to finish this stage of his journey, +not merely on foot, but disabled. Here, surrounded by more Indians than +whites, he lodged for a day or so before continuing his journey to +Niagara Falls; and here, according to his own testimony, he wrote a long +poem, which was not only, in all probability, the first poem ever +composed in Buffalo, and one of the bitterest tirades against America +and American institutions to be found in literature; but which +contained, so far as I have been able to discover, the first allusion to +Niagara Falls, written by one who actually traveled thither, in the +poetry of any language. + +The poetry of Niagara Falls is contemporary with the first knowledge of +the cataract among civilized men. One may make this statement with +positiveness, inasmuch as the first book printed in Europe which +mentions Niagara Falls contains a poem in which allusion is made to that +wonder. This work is the excessively rare "Des Sauvages" of Champlain +(Paris, 1604),[71] in which, after the dedication, is a sonnet, +inscribed "Le Sievr de la Franchise av discovrs Dv Sievr Champlain." It +seems proper, in quoting this first of all Niagara poems, to follow as +closely as may be in modern type the archaic spelling of the original: + + Mvses, si vous chantez, vrayment ie vous conseille + Que vous louëz Champlain, pour estre courageux: + Sans crainte des hasards, il a veu tant de lieux, + Que ses relations nous contentent l'oreille. + Il a veu le Perou,[72] Mexique & la Merueille + Du Vulcan infernal qui vomit tant de feux, + Et les saults Mocosans,[73] qui offensent les yeux + De ceux qui osent voir leur cheute nonpareille. + Il nous promet encor de passer plus auant, + Reduire les Gentils, & trouuer le Leuant, + Par le Nort, ou le Su, pour aller à la Chine. + C'est charitablement tout pour l'amour de Dieu. + Fy des lasches poltrons qui ne bougent d'vn lieu! + Leur vie, sans mentir, me paroist trop mesquine. + +I regret that some research has failed to discover any further +information regarding the poet De la Franchise. Obviously, he took +rather more than the permissible measure of poet's license in saying +that Champlain had seen Peru, a country far beyond the known range of +Champlain's travels. But in the phrase "_les saults Mocosans_," the +falls of Mocosa, we have the ancient name of the undefined territory +afterwards labeled "Virginia." The intent of the allusion is made +plainer by Marc Lescarbot, who in 1610 wrote a poem in which he speaks +of "great falls which the Indians say they encounter in ascending the +St. Lawrence as far as the neighborhood of Virginia."[74] The allusion +can only be to Niagara. + +It is gratifying to find our incomparable cataract a theme for song, +even though known only by aboriginal report, thus at the very dawn of +exploration in this part of America. It is fitting, too, that the French +should be the first to sing of what they discovered. More than a century +after De la Franchise and Lescarbot, a Frenchman who really saw the +falls introduced them to the muse, though only by a quotation. This was +Father Charlevoix, who, writing "From the Fall of Niagara, May 14, +1721," to the Duchess of Lesdiguieres, was moved to aid his description +by quoting poetry. "Ovid," the priest wrote to the duchess, "gives us +the description of such another cataract, situated according to him in +the delightful valley of Tempe. I will not pretend that the country of +Niagara is as fine as that, though I believe its cataract much the +noblest of the two," and he thereupon quotes these lines from the +"Metamorphoses": + + Est nemus Hæmoniæ, prærupta quod undique claudit + Sylva; vocant Tempe, per quæ Peneus ab imo + Effusus Pindo spumosis volvitur undis, + Dejectisque gravi tenues agitantia fumos + Nubila conducit, summisque aspergine sylvas, + Impluit, et sonitu plusquam vicina fatigat. + +It would be strange if there were not other impressionable Frenchmen who +composed or quoted verses expressive of Niagara's grandeur, during the +eighty-one years that elapsed between the French discovery of Niagara +Falls and the English Conquest--a period of over three-quarters of a +century during which earth's most magnificent cataract belonged to +France. But if priest or soldier, coureur-de-bois or verse-maker at the +court of Louis said aught in meter of Niagara in all that time, I have +not found it. + +A little thunder by Sir William Johnson's guns at Fort Niagara, a little +blood on the Plains of Abraham, and Niagara Falls was handed over to +Great Britain. Four years after the Conquest English poetry made its +first claim to our cataract. In 1764 appeared that ever-delightful work, +"The Traveller, or, a Prospect of Society," wherein we read: + + Have we not seen at pleasure's lordly call + The smiling long-frequented village fall? + Behold the duteous son, the sire decayed, + The modest matron or the blushing maid, + Forced from their homes, a melancholy train, + To traverse climes beyond the western main; + Where wild Oswego spreads her swamps around + And Niagara[75] stuns with thundering sound. + Even now, perhaps, as there some pilgrim strays + Through tangled forests and through dangerous ways, + Where beasts with man divided empire claim, + And the brown Indian marks with murderous aim; + There, while above the giddy tempest flies, + And all around distressful yells arise, + The pensive exile, bending with his woe, + To stop too fearful and too faint to go, + Casts a long look where England's glories shine, + And bids his bosom sympathize with mine.[76] + +Obviously, Oliver Goldsmith's "Traveller," in its American allusions, +reflected the current literature of those years when Englishmen heard +more of Oswego than they ever have since. Niagara and Oswego were +uttermost points told of in the dispatches, during that long war, +reached and held by England's "far-flung battle line"; but if Britain's +poets found any inspiration in Niagara's mighty fount for a half century +after Goldsmith, I know it not. + +And this brings us again to our first visiting poet, Tom Moore, whose +approach to Niagara by way of Buffalo in 1804 has been described. +Penning an epistle in rhyme from "Buffalo, on Lake Erie," to the Hon. W. +R. Spencer--writing, we are warranted in fancying, after a supper of +poor bacon and tea, or an evening among the loutish Indians who hung +about Crow's log-tavern--he recorded his emotions in no amiable mood: + + Even now, as wandering upon Erie's shore + I hear Niagara's distant cataract roar,[77] + I sigh for home--alas! these weary feet + Have many a mile to journey, ere we meet. + +Niagara in 1804 was most easily approached from the East by schooner on +Lake Ontario from Oswego, though the overland trail through the woods +was beginning to be used. Moore came by the land route. The record of +the journey is to be found in the preface to his American Poems, and in +his letters to his mother, published for the first time in his +"Memoirs, Journal and Correspondence," edited by Earl Russell and issued +in London and Boston in 1853-'56. The letters narrating his adventures +in the region are dated "Geneva, Genessee County, July 17, 1804"; +"Chippewa, Upper Canada, July 22d"; "Niagara, July 24th";--in which he +copies a description of the falls from his journal, not elsewhere +published--and "Chippewa, July 25th," signed "Tom." There is no mention +in these letters of Buffalo, but in the prefatory narrative above +alluded to we have this interesting account of the visit: + + It is but too true, of all grand objects, whether in nature or art, + that facility of access to them much diminishes the feeling of + reverence they ought to inspire. Of this fault, however, the route + to Niagara, at this period--at least the portion of it which led + through the Genesee country--could not justly be accused. The + latter part of the journey, which lay chiefly through yet but + half-cleared woods, we were obliged to perform on foot; and a + slight accident I met with in the course of our rugged walk laid me + up for some days at Buffalo. + +And so laid up--perhaps with a blistered heel--he sought relief by +driving his quill into the heart of democracy. His friend, he lamented, +had often told him of happy hours passed amid the classic associations +and art treasures of Italy: + + But here alas, by Erie's stormy lake, + As far from such bright haunts my course I take, + No proud remembrance o'er the fancy plays, + No classic dream, no star of other days + Hath left the visionary light behind, + That lingering radiance of immortal mind, + Which gilds and hallows even the rudest scene, + The humblest shed where Genius once had been. + +He views, not merely his immediate surroundings in the pioneer village +by Lake Erie, but the general character of the whole land: + + All that creation's varying mass assumes, + Of grand or lovely, here aspires and blooms. + Bold rise the mountains, rich the gardens glow, + Bright lakes expand and conquering rivers flow; + But mind, immortal mind, without whose ray + This world's a wilderness and man but clay, + Mind, mind alone, in barren still repose, + Nor blooms, nor rises, nor expands, nor flows. + Take Christians, Mohawks, democrats and all, + From the rude wigwam to the Congress Hall, + From man the savage, whether slaved or free, + To man the civilized, less tame than he, + 'Tis one dull chaos, one unfertile strife + Betwixt half-polished and half-barbarous life; + Where every ill the ancient world could brew + Is mixed with every grossness of the new; + Where all corrupts, though little can entice, + And naught is known of luxury, but its vice! + Is this the region then, is this the clime + For soaring fancies? for those dreams sublime, + Which all their miracles of light reveal + To heads that meditate and hearts that feel? + Alas! not so! + +And after much more of proud protest against Columbia and "the mob mania +that imbrutes her now," our disapproving poet turned in to make the +best, let us hope, of Landlord Crow's poor quarters, and to prepare for +Niagara. Years afterwards he admitted that there was some soul for song +among the men of the Far West of that day. Very complacently he tells us +that "Even then, on the shores of those far lakes, the title of +'Poet'--however in that instance unworthily bestowed--bespoke a kind and +distinguished welcome for its wearer. The captain who commanded the +packet in which I crossed Lake Ontario, in addition to other marks of +courtesy, begged, on parting with me, to be allowed to decline payment +for my passage." I cannot do better than to quote further from his +account of the visit to the falls: + + When we arrived at length at the inn, in the neighborhood of the + Falls, it was too late to think of visiting them that evening; and + I lay awake almost the whole night with the sound of the cataract + in my ears. The day following I consider as a sort of era in my + life; and the first glimpse I caught of that wonderful cataract + gave me a feeling which nothing in this world can ever awaken + again. It was through an opening among the trees, as we approached + the spot where the full view of the Falls was to burst upon us, + that I caught this glimpse of the mighty mass of waters falling + smoothly over the edge of the precipice; and so overwhelming was + the notion it gave me of the awful spectacle I was approaching, + that during the short interval that followed, imagination had far + outrun the reality--and vast and wonderful as was the scene that + then opened upon me, my first feeling was that of disappointment. + It would have been impossible, indeed, for anything real to come up + to the vision I had, in these few seconds, formed of it, and those + awful scriptural words, 'The fountains of the great deep were + broken up,' can alone give any notion of the vague wonders for + which I was prepared. + + But, in spite of the start thus got by imagination, the triumph of + reality was, in the end, but the greater; for the gradual glory of + the scene that opened upon me soon took possession of my whole + mind; presenting from day to day, some new beauty or wonder, and + like all that is most sublime in nature or art, awakening sad as + well as elevating thoughts. I retain in my memory but one other + dream--for such do events so long past appear--which can by any + respect be associated with the grand vision I have just been + describing; and however different the nature of their appeals to + the imagination, I should find it difficult to say on which + occasion I felt most deeply affected, when looking at the Falls + of Niagara, or when standing by moonlight among the ruins of the + Coliseum. + +It was the tranquillity and unapproachableness of the great fall, in the +midst of so much turmoil, which most impressed him. He tried to express +this in a Song of the Spirit of the region: + + There amid the island sedge, + Just upon the cataract's edge, + Where the foot of living man + Never trod since time began, + Lone I sit at close of day,[78] ... + +The poem as a whole, however, is not a strong one, even for Tom Moore. + +As the Irish bard sailed back to England, another pedestrian poet was +making ready for a tour to Niagara. This was the Paisley weaver, +rhymster and roamer, Alexander Wilson, whose fame as an ornithologist +outshines his reputation as a poet. Yet in him America has--by +adoption--her Oliver Goldsmith. In 1794, being then twenty-eight years +old, he arrived in Philadelphia. For eight years he taught school, or +botanized, roamed the woods with his gun, worked at the loom, and +peddled his verses among the inhabitants of New Jersey. In October, +1804, accompanied by his nephew and another friend, he set out on a +walking expedition to Niagara, which he satisfactorily accomplished. His +companions left him, but he persevered, and reached home after an +absence of fifty-nine days and a walk of 1,260 miles. It is very +pleasant, especially for one who has himself toured afoot over a +considerable part of this same route, to follow our naturalist poet and +his friends on their long walk through the wilderness, in the pages of +Wilson's descriptive poem, "The Foresters." Its first edition, it is +believed, is a quaint little volume of 106 pages, published at Newtown, +Penn., in 1818.[79] The route led through Bucks and Northumberland +counties, over the mountains and up the valley of the Susquehanna; past +Newtown, N. Y., now Elmira, and so on to the Indian village of +Catherine, near the head of Seneca Lake. Here, a quarter of a century +before, Sullivan and his raiders had brought desolation, traces of which +stirred our singer to some of his loftiest flights. In that romantic +wilderness of rocky glen and marsh and lake, the region where Montour +Falls and Watkins now are, Wilson lingered to shoot wild fowl. Thence +the route lay through that interval of long ascents--so long that the +trudging poet thought + + To Heaven's own gates the mountain seemed to rise + +--and equally long descents, from Seneca Lake to Cayuga. Here, after a +night's rest, under a pioneer's roof: + + Our boat now ready and our baggage stored, + Provisions, mast and oars and sails aboard, + With three loud cheers that echoed from the steep, + We launched our skiff "Niagara" to the deep. + +Down to old Cayuga bridge they sailed and through the outlet, passed the +salt marshes and so on to Fort Oswego. That post had been abandoned on +the 28th of October, about a week before Wilson arrived there. A +desolate, woebegone place he found it: + + Those struggling huts that on the left appear, + Where fence, or field, or cultured garden green, + Or blessed plough, or spade were never seen, + Is old Oswego; once renowned in trade, + Where numerous tribes their annual visits paid. + From distant wilds, the beaver's rich retreat, + For one whole moon they trudged with weary feet; + Piled their rich furs within the crowded store, + Replaced their packs and plodded back for more. + But time and war have banished all their trains + And naught but potash, salt and rum remains. + The boisterous boatman, drunk but twice a day, + Begs of the landlord; but forgets to pay; + Pledges his salt, a cask for every quart, + Pleased thus for poison with his pay to part. + From morn to night here noise and riot reign; + From night to morn 'tis noise and roar again. + +Not a flattering picture, truly, and yet no doubt a trustworthy one, of +this period in Oswego's history. + +But we must hurry along with the poet to his destination, although the +temptation to linger with him in this part of the journey is great. +Indeed, "The Foresters" is a historic chronicle of no slight value. +There is no doubting the fidelity of its pictures of the state of nature +and of man along this storied route as seen by its author at the +beginning of the century; while his poetic philosophizing is now shrewd, +now absurd, but always ardently American in tone. + +Our foresters undertook to coast along the Ontario shore in their frail +"Niagara"; narrowly escaped swamping, and were picked up by + + A friendly sloop for Queenstown Harbor bound, + +where they arrived safely, after being gloriously seasick. It was the +season of autumn gales. A few days before a British packet called the +Speedy, with some twenty or thirty persons on board, including a judge +advocate, other judges, witnesses and an Indian prisoner, had foundered +and every soul perished. No part of the Speedy was afterwards found but +the pump, which Wilson says his captain picked up and carried to +Queenston. + +Wilson had moralized, philosophized and rhapsodized all the way from the +Schuylkill. His verse, as he approaches the Mecca of his wanderings, +fairly palpitates with expectation and excitement. He was not a bard to +sing in a majestic strain, but his description of the falls and their +environment is vivid and of historic value. As they tramped through the +forest,-- + + Heavy and slow, increasing on the ear, + Deep through the woods a rising storm we hear. + Th' approaching gust still loud and louder grows, + As when the strong northeast resistless blows, + Or black tornado, rushing through the wood, + Alarms th' affrighted swains with uproar rude. + Yet the blue heavens displayed their clearest sky, + And dead below the silent forests lie; + And not a breath the lightest leaf assailed; + But all around tranquillity prevailed. + "What noise is that?" we ask with anxious mien, + A dull salt-driver passing with his team. + "Noise? noise?--why, nothing that I hear or see + But Nagra Falls--Pray, whereabouts live ye?" + +This touch of realism ushers in a long and over-wrought description of +the whole scene. The "crashing roar," he says, + + ---- bade us kneel and Time's great God adore. + +Whatever may have been his emotions, his adjectives are sadly +inadequate, and his verse devoid of true poetic fervor. More than one of +his descriptive passages, however, give us those glimpses of conditions +past and gone, which the historian values. For instance, this: + + High o'er the wat'ry uproar, silent seen, + Sailing sedate, in majesty serene, + Now midst the pillared spray sublimely lost, + Swept the gray eagles, gazing calm and slow, + On all the horrors of the gulf below; + Intent, alone, to sate themselves with blood, + From the torn victims of the raging flood. + +Wilson was not the man to mistake a bird; and many other early travelers +have testified to the former presence of eagles in considerable numbers, +haunting the gorge below the falls in quest of the remains of animals +that had been carried down stream. + +Moore, as we have seen, denounced the country for its lack of + + That lingering radiance of immortal mind + +which so inspires the poet in older lands. He was right in his fact, but +absurd in his fault-finding. It has somewhere been said of him, that +Niagara Falls was the only thing he found in America which overcame his +self-importance; but we must remember his youth, the flatteries on which +he had fed at home and the crudities of American life at that time. For +a quarter of a century after Tom Moore's visit there was much in the +crass assertiveness of American democracy which was as ridiculous in its +way as the Old-World ideas of class and social distinctions were in +their way--and vastly more vulgar and offensive. Read, in evidence, Mrs. +Trollope and Capt. Basil Hall, two of America's severest and sincerest +critics. It should be put down to Tom Moore's credit, too, that before +he died he admitted to Washington Irving and to others that his writings +on America were the greatest sin of his early life.[80] + +Like Moore, Alexander Wilson felt America's lack of a poet; and, like +Barlow and Humphreys and Freneau and others of forgotten fame, he +undertook--like them again, unsuccessfully--to supply the lack. There is +something pathetic--or grotesque, as we look at it--in the patriotic +efforts of these commonplace men to be great for their country's sake. + + To Europe's shores renowned in deathless song, + +asks Wilson, + + Must all the honors of the bard belong? + And rural Poetry's enchanting strain + Be only heard beyond th' Atlantic main? + Yet Nature's charms that bloom so lovely here, + Unhailed arrive, unheeded disappear; + While bare black heaths and brooks of half a mile + Can rouse the thousand bards of Britain's Isle. + There, scarce a stream creeps down its narrow bed, + There scarce a hillock lifts its little head, + Or humble hamlet peeps their glades among + But lives and murmurs in immortal song. + Our Western world, with all its matchless floods, + Our vast transparent lakes and boundless woods, + Stamped with the traits of majesty sublime, + Unhonored weep the silent lapse of time, + Spread their wild grandeur to the unconscious sky, + In sweetest seasons pass unheeded by; + While scarce one Muse returns the songs they gave, + Or seeks to snatch their glories from the grave. + +This solicitude by the early American writers, lest the poetic themes of +their country should go unsung, contrasts amusingly, as does Moore's +ill-natured complaining, with the prophetic assurance of Bishop +Berkeley's famous lines, written half a century or so before, in +allusion to America: + + The muse, disgusted at an age and clime + Barren of every glorious theme, + In distant lands now waits a better time, + Producing subjects worthy fame. + . . . . . . . . . + Westward the course of empire takes its way, ... + +I have found no other pilgrim poets making Niagara their theme, until +the War of 1812 came to create heroes and leave ruin along the frontier, +and stir a few patriotic singers to hurl back defiance to the British +hordes. Iambic defiance, unless kindled by a grand genius, is a poor +sort of fireworks, even when it undertakes to combine patriotism and +natural grandeur. Certainly something might be expected of a poet who +sandwiches Niagara Falls in between bloody battles, and gives us the +magnificent in nature, the gallant in warfare and the loftiest +patriotism in purpose, the three strains woven in a triple pæan of +passion, ninety-four duodecimo pages in length. Such a work was offered +to the world at Baltimore in 1818, with this title-page: "Battle of +Niagara, a Poem Without Notes, and Goldau, or the Maniac Harper. Eagles +and Stars and Rainbows. By Jehu O' Cataract, author of 'Keep Cool.'" I +have never seen "Keep Cool," but it must be very different from the +"Battle of Niagara," or it belies its name. The fiery Jehu O' Cataract +was John Neal.[81] + +The "Battle of Niagara," he informs the reader, was written when he was +a prisoner; when he "felt the victories of his countrymen." "I have +attempted," he says, "to do justice to American scenery and American +character, not to versify minutiæ of battles." The poem has a metrical +introduction and four cantos, in which is told, none too lucidly, the +story of the battle of Niagara; with such flights of eagles, +scintillation of stars and breaking of rainbows, that no brief quotation +can do it justice. In style it is now Miltonic, now reminiscent of +Walter Scott. The opening canto is mainly an apostrophe to the Bird, and +a vision of glittering horsemen. Canto two is a dissertation on Lake +Ontario, with word-pictures of the primitive Indian. The rest of the +poem is devoted to the battle near the great cataract--and throughout +all are sprinkled the eagles, stars and rainbows. Do not infer from this +characterization that the production is wholly bad; it is merely a good +specimen of that early American poetry which was just bad enough to +escape being good. + +A brief passage or two will sufficiently illustrate the author's trait +of painting in high colors. He is a word-impressionist whose brush, with +indiscreet dashes, mars the composition. I select two passages +descriptive of the battle: + + The drum is rolled again. The bugle sings + And far upon the wind the cross flag flings + A radiant challenge to its starry foe, + That floats--a sheet of light!--away below, + Where troops are forming--slowly in the night + Of mighty waters; where an angry light + Bounds from the cataract, and fills the skies + With visions--rainbows--and the foamy dyes + That one may see at morn in youthful poets' eyes. + + Niagara! Niagara! I hear + Thy tumbling waters. And I see thee rear + Thy thundering sceptre to the clouded skies: + I see it wave--I hear the ocean rise, + And roll obedient to thy call. I hear + The tempest-hymning of thy floods in fear; + The quaking mountains and the nodding trees-- + The reeling birds and the careering breeze-- + The tottering hills, unsteadied in thy roar; + Niagara! as thy dark waters pour + One everlasting earthquake rocks thy lofty shore! + . . . . . . . . . + The cavalcade went by. The day hath gone; + And yet the soldier lives; his cheerful tone + Rises in boisterous song; while slowly calls + The monarch spirit of the mighty falls: + Soldier, be firm! and mind your watchfires well; + Sleep not to-night! + +The following picture of the camp at sunset, as the reveille rings over +the field, and Niagara's muffled drums vibrate through the dusk, +presents many of the elements of true poetry: + + Low stooping from his arch, the glorious sun + Hath left the storm with which his course begun; + And now in rolling clouds goes calmly home + In heavenly pomp adown the far blue dome. + In sweet-toned minstrelsy is heard the cry, + All clear and smooth, along the echoing sky, + Of many a fresh-blown bugle full and strong, + The soldier's instrument! the soldier's song! + Niagara, too, is heard; his thunder comes + Like far-off battle--hosts of rolling drums. + All o'er the western heaven the flaming clouds + Detach themselves and float like hovering shrouds. + Loosely unwoven, and afar unfurled, + A sunset canopy enwraps the world. + The Vesper hymn grows soft. In parting day + Wings flit about. The warblings die away, + The shores are dizzy and the hills look dim, + The cataract falls deeper and the landscapes swim. + +Jehu O' Cataract does not always hold his fancy with so steady a rein as +this. He is prone to eccentric flights, to bathos and absurdities. His +apostrophe to Lake Ontario, several hundred lines in length, has many +fine fancies, but his luxuriant imagination continually wrecks itself on +extravagancies which break down the effect. This I think the following +lines illustrate: + + ... He had fought with savages, whose breath + He felt upon his cheek like mildew till his death. + . . . . . . . . . + So stood the battle. Bravely it was fought, + Lions and Eagles met. That hill was bought + And sold in desperate combat. Wrapped in flame, + Died these idolaters of bannered fame. + Three times that meteor hill was bravely lost-- + Three times 'twas bravely won, while madly tost, + Encountering red plumes in the dusky air; + While Slaughter shouted in her bloody lair, + And spectres blew their horns and shook their whistling hair. + . . . . . . . . . + +There are allusions to Niagara in some of the ballads of the War of +1812, one of the finest of which, "Sea and Land Victories," beginning + + With half the western world at stake + See Perry on the midland lake,-- + +appeared in the Naval Songster of 1815, and was a great favorite half a +century or more ago. So far, however, as the last War with Great Britain +has added to our store of poetry by turning the attention of the poets +to the Niagara region as a strikingly picturesque scene of war, there is +little worthy of attention. One ambitious work is remembered, when +remembered at all, as a curio of literature. This is "The Fredoniad, or +Independence Preserved," an epic poem by Richard Emmons, a Kentuckian, +afterwards a physician of Philadelphia. He worked on it for ten years, +finally printed it in 1826, and in 1830 got it through a second edition, +ostentatiously dedicated to Lafayette. "The Fredoniad" is a history in +verse of the War of 1812; it was published in four volumes; it has forty +cantos, filling 1,404 duodecimo pages, or a total length of about 42,000 +lines. The first and second cantos are devoted to Hell, the third to +Heaven, and the fourth to Detroit. About one-third of the whole work is +occupied with military operations on the Niagara frontier. Nothing from +Fort Erie to Fort Niagara escapes this meter-machine. The Doctor's +poetic feet stretch out to miles and leagues, but not a single verse do +I find that prompts to quotation; though, I am free to confess, I have +not read them all, and much doubt if any one save the infatuated author, +and perhaps his proof-reader, ever did read the whole of "The +Fredoniad." + + * * * * * + +No sooner was the frontier at peace, and the pathways of travel +multiplied and smoothed, than there set in the first great era of +tourist travel to Niagara. From 1825, when the opening of the Erie Canal +first made the falls easily accessible to the East, the tide of visitors +steadily swelled. In that year came one other poetizing pilgrim, from +York, now Toronto, who, returning home, published in his own city a +duodecimo of forty-six pages, entitled "Wonders of the West, or a Day at +the Falls of Niagara in 1825. A Poem. By a Canadian." The author was J. +S. Alexander, said to have been a Toronto school-teacher. It is a great +curio, though of not the least value as poetry; in fact, as verse it is +ridiculously bad. The author does not narrate his own adventures at +Niagara, but makes his descriptive and historical passages incidental to +the story of a hero named _St. Julian_. Never was the name of this +beloved patron saint of travelers more unhappily bestowed, for this _St. +Julian_ is a lugubrious, crack-brained individual who mourns the +supposed death of a lady-love, _Eleanor St. Fleur_. Other characters are +introduced; all French except a remarkable driver named _Wogee_, who +tells legends and historic incidents in as good verse, apparently, as +the author was able to produce. _St. Julian_ is twice on the point of +committing suicide; once on Queenston Heights, and again at the falls. +Just as he is about to throw himself into the river he hears his +_Ellen's_ voice--the lady, it seems, had come from France by a different +route--all the mysteries are cleared up, and the reunited lovers and +their friends decide to "hasten hence," + + Again to our dear native France, + Where we shall talk of all we saw, + At thy dread falls, Niagara.[82] + +From about this date the personal adventures of individuals bound for +Niagara cease to be told in verse, and if they were they would cease to +be of much historic interest. The relation of the poets to Niagara no +longer concerns us because of its historic aspect. + + * * * * * + +There remains, however, an even more important division of the subject. +The review must be less narrative than critical, to satisfy the natural +inquiry, What impress upon the poetry of our literature has this +greatest of cataracts made during the three-quarters of a century that +it has been easily accessible to the world? What of the supreme in +poetry has been prompted by this mighty example of the supreme in +nature? The proposition at once suggests subtleties of analysis which +must not be entered upon in this brief survey. The answer to the +question is attempted chiefly by the historical method. A few selected +examples of the verse which relates to Niagara will, by their very +nature, indicate the logical answer to the fundamental inquiry. + +There is much significance in the fact, that what has been called the +best poem on Niagara was written by one who never saw the falls. +Chronologically, so far as I have ascertained, it is the work which +should next be considered, for it appeared in the columns of a +New-England newspaper, about the time when the newly-opened highway to +the West robbed Niagara forever of her majestic solitude, and filled the +world with her praise. They may have been travelers' tales that +prompted, but it was the spiritual vision of the true poet that inspired +the lines printed in the _Connecticut Mirror_ at Hartford, about 1825, +by the delicate, gentle youth, John G. C. Brainard. It is a poem much +quoted, of a character fairly indicated by these lines: + + It would seem + As if God formed thee from his "hollow hand" + And hung his bow upon thine awful front; + And spoke in that loud voice, which seemed to him + Who dwelt in Patmos for his Savior's sake, + "The sound of many waters"; and bade + Thy flood to chronicle the ages back, + And notch his centuries in the eternal rocks. + +Measured by the strength of an Emerson or a Lowell, this is but feeble +blank verse, approaching the bombastic; but as compared with what had +gone before, and much that was to follow, on the Niagara theme, it is a +not unwelcome variation. + +The soul's vision, through imagination's magic glass, receives more of +Poesy's divine light than is shed upon all the rapt gazers at the +veritable cliff and falling flood. + +During the formative years of what we now regard as an established +literary taste, but which later generations will modify in turn, most +American poetry was imitative of English models. Later, as has been +shown, there was an assertively patriotic era; and later still, one of +great laudation of America's newly-discovered wonders, which in the case +of Niagara took the form of apostrophe and devotion. To the patriotic +literature of Niagara, besides examples already cited, belongs Joseph +Rodman Drake's "Niagara," printed with "The Culprit Fay, and Other +Poems" in 1835.[83] It is a poem which would strike the critical ear of +today, I think, as artificial; its sentiment, however, is not to be +impeached. The poet sings of the love of freedom which distinguishes the +Swiss mountaineer; of the sailor's daring and bravery; of the soldier's +heroism, even to death. Niagara, like the alp, the sea, and the battle, +symbolizes freedom, triumph and glory: + + Then pour thy broad wave like a flood from the heavens, + Each son that thou rearest, in the battle's wild shock, + When the death-speaking note of the trumpet is given, + Will charge like thy torrent or stand like thy rock. + + Let his roof be the cloud and the rock be his pillow, + Let him stride the rough mountain or toss on the foam, + Let him strike fast and well on the field or the billow, + In triumph and glory for God and his home! + +Nine years after Drake came Mrs. Sigourney, who, notwithstanding her +genuine love of nature and of mankind, her sincerity and occasional +genius, was hopelessly of the sentimental school. Like Frances S. +Osgood, N. P. Willis and others now lost in even deeper oblivion, she +found great favor with her day and generation. Few things from her +ever-productive pen had a warmer welcome than the lines beginning: + + Up to the table-rock, where the great flood + Reveals its fullest glory, + +and her "Farewell to Niagara," concluding + + ... it were sweet + To linger here, and be thy worshipper, + Until death's footstep broke this dream of life. + +Supremely devout in tone, her Niagara poems are commonplace in +imagination. Her fancy rarely reaches higher than the perfectly obvious. +I confess that I cannot read her lines without a vision of the lady +herself standing in rapt attitude on the edge of Table Rock, with +note-book in hand and pencil uplifted to catch the purest inspiration +from the scene before her. She is the type of a considerable train of +writers whose Niagara effusions leave on the reader's mind little +impression beyond an iterated "Oh, thou great Niagara, Oh!" Such a one +was Richard Kelsey, whose "Niagara and Other Poems," printed in London +in 1848, is likely to be encountered in old London bookshops. I have +read Mr. Kelsey's "Niagara" several times. Once when I first secured the +handsome gilt-edged volume; again, later on, to discover why I failed to +remember any word or thought of it; and again, in the preparation of +this paper, that I might justly characterize it. But I am free to +confess that beyond a general impression of Parnassian attitudinizing +and extravagant apostrophe I get nothing out of its pages. Decidedly +better are the lines "On Visiting the Falls of Niagara," by Lord +Morpeth, the Earl of Carlisle, who visited Niagara in 1841.[84] He, too, +begins with the inevitable apostrophe: + + There's nothing great or bright, thou glorious fall! + Thou mayst not to the fancy's sense recall-- + +but he saves himself with a fairly creditable sentiment: + + Oh! may the wars that madden in thy deeps + There spend their rage nor climb the encircling steeps, + And till the conflict of thy surges cease + The nations on thy bank repose in peace. + +A British poet who should perhaps have mention in this connection is +Thomas Campbell, whose poem, "The Emigrant," contains an allusion to +Niagara. It was published anonymously in 1823 in the _New Monthly +Magazine_, which Campbell then edited.[85] + +No poem on Niagara that I know of is more entitled to our respectful +consideration than the elaborate work which was published in 1848 by the +Rev. C. H. A. Bulkley of Mt. Morris, N. Y. It is a serious attempt to +produce a great poem with Niagara Falls as its theme. Its length--about +3,600 lines--secures to Western New York the palm for elaborate +treatment of the cataract in verse. "Much," says the author, "has been +written hitherto upon Niagara in fugitive verse, but no attempt like +this has been made to present its united wonders as the theme of a +single poem. It seems a bold adventure and one too hazardous, because of +the greatness of the subject and the obscurity of the bard; but his +countrymen are called upon to judge it with impartiality, and pronounce +its life or its death. The author would not shrink from criticism.... +His object has been, not so much to describe at length the scenery of +Niagara in order to excite emotions in the reader similar to those of +the beholder, for this would be a vain endeavor, as to give a transcript +of what passes through the mind of one who is supposed to witness so +grand an achievement of nature. The difficulty," he adds, "with those +who visit this wonderful cataract is to give utterance to those feelings +and thoughts that crowd within and often, because thus pent up, produce +what may be termed the pain of delight." + +Of a poem which fills 132 duodecimo pages it is difficult to give a fair +idea in a few words. There is an introductory apostrophe, followed by a +specific apostrophe to the falls as a vast form of life. Farther on the +cataract is apostrophized as a destroyer, as an historian, a warning +prophet, an oracle of truth, a tireless laborer. There are many passages +descriptive of the islands, the gorge, the whirlpool, etc. Then come +more apostrophes to the fall respecting its origin and early life. It is +viewed as the presence-chamber of God, and as a proof of Deity. Finally, +we have the cataract's hymn to the Creator, and the flood's death-dirge. + +No long poem is without its commonplace intervals. Mr. Bulkley's +"Niagara" has them to excess, yet as a whole it is the work of a refined +and scholarly mind, its imagination hampered by its religious habit, but +now and than quickened to lofty flights, and strikingly sustained and +noble in its diction. Only a true poet takes such cognizance of initial +impulses and relations in nature as this: + + In thy hoarse strains is heard the desolate wail + Of streams unnumbered wandering far away, + From mountain homes where, 'neath the shady rocks + Their parent springs gave them a peaceful birth. + +It presents many of the elements of a great poem, reaching the climax in +the cataract's hymn to the Creator, beginning + + Oh mighty Architect of Nature's home! + +At about this period--to be exact, in 1848--there was published in New +York City, as a pamphlet or thin booklet, a poem entitled "Niagara," by +"A Member of the Ohio Bar," of whose identity I know nothing. It is a +composition of some merit, chiefly interesting by reason of its +concluding lines: + + ... Then so live, + That when in the last fearful mortal hour, + Thy wave, borne on at unexpected speed, + O'erhangs the yawning chasm, soon to fall, + Thou start not back affrighted, like a youth + That wakes from sleep to find his feeble bark + Suspended o'er Niagara, and with shrieks + And unavailing cries alarms the air, + Tossing his hands in frenzied fear a moment, + Then borne away forever! But with gaze + Calm and serene look through the eddying mists, + On Faith's unclouded bow, and take thy plunge + As one whose Father's arms are stretched beneath, + Who falls into the bosom of his God! + +The close parallelism of these lines with the exalted conclusion of +"Thanatopsis" is of course obvious; but they embody a symbolism which is +one of the best that has been suggested by Niagara. + + * * * * * + +From the sublime to the ridiculous was never a shorter descent than in +this matter of Niagara poetry. At about the time Mr. Bulkley wrote, and +for some years after, it was the pernicious custom to keep public albums +at the Table Rock and other points at the falls, for the record of +"impressions." Needless to say, these albums filled up with rubbish. To +bad taste was added the iniquity of publication, so that future +generations may be acquainted with one of the least creditable of native +American literary whims. The editor of one of these albums, issued in +1856, lamented that "the innumerable host of visitors who have +perpetrated composition in the volumes of manuscript now before us, +should have added so little to the general stock of legitimate and +permanent literature"; and he adds--by way seemingly of adequate +excuse--that "the actual amount of frivolous nonsense which constitutes +so large a portion of the contents ... is not all to be calculated by +the specimens now and then exhibited. We have given the best," he says, +"always taking care that decency shall not be outraged, nor delicacy +shocked; and in this respect, however improbable it may seem, precaution +has been by no means unnecessary." What a commentary on the sublime in +nature, as reflected on man in the mass! + +These Table-Rock Albums contain some true poetry; much would-be fine +verse which falls below mediocre; much of horse-play or puerility; and +now and then a gleam of wit. Here first appeared the lines which I +remember to have conned years ago in a school-rhetoric, and for which, I +believe, N. P. Willis was responsible: + + To view Niagara Falls one day, + A parson and a tailor took their way; + The parson cried, whilst wrapped in wonder, + And listening to the cataract's thunder, + "Lord! how thy works amaze our eyes, + And fill our hearts with vast surprise";-- + The tailor merely made his note: + "Lord! what a place to sponge a coat!" + +There has been many a visitor at Niagara Falls who shares the sentiments +of one disciple of the realistic school: + + Loud roars the waters, O, + Loud roars the waters, O, + When I come to the Falls again + I hope they will not spatter so. + +Another writes: + + My thoughts are strange, sublime and deep, + As I look up to thee-- + What a glorious place for washing sheep, + Niagara would be! + +Examples of such doggerel could be multiplied by scores, but without +profit. There was sense if not poetry in the wight who wrote: + + I have been to "Termination Rock" + Where many have been before; + But as I can't describe the scene + I wont say any more. + +Infinitely better than this are the light but pleasing verses written in +a child's album, years ago, by the late Col. Peter A. Porter of Niagara +Falls. He pictured the discovery of the falls by La Salle and Hennepin +and ponders upon the changes that have followed: + + What troops of tourists have encamped upon the river's brink; + What poets shed from countless quills Niagaras of ink; + What artist armies tried to fix the evanescent bow + Of the waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago. + . . . . . . . . . + And stately inns feed scores of guests from well-replenished larder, + And hackmen drive their horses hard, but drive a bargain harder, + And screaming locomotives rush in anger to and fro; + But the waters fall as once they fell two hundred years ago. + + And brides of every age and clime frequent the islands' bower, + And gaze from off the stone-built perch--hence called the Bridal + Tower-- + And many a lunar belle goes forth to meet a lunar beau, + By the waters falling as they fell two hundred years ago. + +Towards the close of the long poem the author takes a more serious tone, +but throughout he keeps up a happy cleverness, agreeably in contrast to +the prevailing high gush on one hand and balderdash on the other. + +Among the writers of serious and sometimes creditable verse whose names +appear in the Table-Rock Albums were Henry D. O'Reilly, C. R. Rowland, +Sarah Pratt, Maria del Occidente, George Menzies, Henry Lindsay, the +Rev. John Dowling, J. S. Buckingham, the Hon. C. N. Vivian, Douglas +Stuart, A. S. Ridgely of Baltimore, H. W. Parker, and Josef Leopold +Stiger. Several of these names are not unknown in literature. Prof. +Buckingham is remembered as an earlier Bryce, whose elaborate +three-volume work on America is still of value. Vivian was a +distinguished traveler who wrote books; and Josef Leopold Stiger's +stanzas beginning + + Sei mir gegrüsst, des jungen Weltreichs Stolz und Zierde! + +are by no means the worst of Niagara poems. + +I cannot conceive of Niagara Falls as a scene promotive of humor, or +suggestive of wit. Others may see both in John G. Saxe's verses, of +which the first stanza will suffice to quote: + + See Niagara's torrent pour over the height, + How rapid the stream! how majestic the flood + Rolls on, and descends in the strength of his might, + As a monstrous great frog leaps into the mud! + +The "poem" contains six more stanzas of the same stamp. + +The writing of jingles and doggerel having Niagara as a theme did not +cease when the Albums were no longer kept up. If there is no humor or +grotesqueness in Niagara, there is much of both in the human accessories +with which the spot is constantly supplied, and these will never cease +to stimulate the wits. I believe that a study of this field--not in a +restricted, but a general survey--would discover a decided improvement, +in taste if not in native wit, as compared with the compositions which +found favor half a century ago. Without entering that field, however, it +will suffice to submit in evidence one "poem" from a recent publication, +which shows that the making of these American _genre_ sketches, with +Niagara in the background, is not yet a lost art: + + Before Niagara Falls they stood, + He raised aloft his head, + For he was in poetic mood, + And this is what he said: + + "Oh, work sublime! Oh, wondrous law + That rules thy presence here! + How filled I am with boundless awe + To view thy waters clear! + + "What myriad rainbow colors float + About thee like a veil, + And in what countless streams remote + Thy life has left its trail!" + + "Yes, George," the maiden cried in haste, + "Such shades I've never seen, + I'm going to have my next new waist + The color of that green." + + * * * * * + +From about 1850 down to the present hour there is a striking dearth +of verse, worthy to be called poetry, with Niagara for its theme. +Newspapers and magazines would no doubt yield a store if they could be +gleaned; perchance the one Niagara pearl of poetry is thus overlooked; +but it is reasonably safe to assume that few really great poems sink +utterly from sight. There is, or was, a self-styled Bard of Niagara, +whose verses, printed at Montreal in 1872, need not detain us. The only +long work on the subject of real merit that I know of, which has +appeared in recent years, is George Houghton's "Niagara," published in +1882. Like Mr. Bulkley, he has a true poet's grasp of the material +aspect of his subject: + + Formed when the oceans were fashioned, when all the world was + a workshop; + Loud roared the furnace fires and tall leapt the smoke from + volcanoes, + Scooped were round bowls for lakes and grooves for the sliding + of rivers, + Whilst with a cunning hand, the mountains were linked together. + Then through the day-dawn, lurid with cloud, and rent by forked + lightning, + Stricken by earthquake beneath, above by the rattle of thunder, + Sudden the clamor was pierced by a voice, deep-lunged and + portentous-- + Thine, O Niagara, crying, "Now is creation completed!" + +He sees in imagination the million sources of the streams in forest and +prairie, which ultimately pour their gathered "tribute of silver" from +the rich Western land into the lap of Niagara. He makes skillful use of +the Indian legendry associated with the river; he listens to Niagara's +"dolorous fugue," and resolves it into many contributory cries. In +exquisite fancy he listens to the incantation of the siren rapids: + + Thus, in some midnight obscure, bent down by the storm of temptation + (So hath the wind, in the beechen wood, confided the story), + Pine trees, thrusting their way and trampling down one another, + Curious, lean and listen, replying in sobs and in whispers; + Till of the secret possessed, which brings sure blight to the hearer + (So hath the wind, in the beechen wood, confided the story), + Faltering, they stagger brinkward--clutch at the roots of the grasses, + Cry--a pitiful cry of remorse--and plunge down in the darkness. + +The cataract in its varied aspects is considered with a thought for +those who + + Sin, and with wine-cup deadened, scoff at the dread of hereafter,-- + And, because all seems lost, besiege Death's door-way with gladness. + +The master-stroke of the poem is in two lines: + + That alone is august which is gazed upon by the noble, + That alone is gladsome which eyes full of gladness discover. + +Herein lies the rebuking judgment upon Niagara's detractors, not all of +whom have perpetrated album rhymes. + +Mr. Houghton, as the reader will note, recognizes the tragic aspect of +Niagara. Considering the insistence with which accident and suicide +attend, making here an unappeased altar to the weaknesses and woes of +mankind, this aspect of Niagara has been singularly neglected by the +poets. We have it, however, exquisitely expressed, in the best of all +recent Niagara verse--a sonnet entitled "At Niagara," by Richard Watson +Gilder.[86] The following lines illustrate our point: + + There at the chasm's edge behold her lean + Trembling, as, 'neath the charm, + A wild bird lifts no wing to 'scape from harm; + Her very soul drawn to the glittering, green, + Smooth, lustrous, awful, lovely curve of peril; + While far below the bending sea of beryl + Thunder and tumult--whence a billowy spray + Enclouds the day. + . . . . . . . . . + + * * * * * + +There is a considerable amount of recent verse commonly called +"fugitive" that has Niagara for its theme, but I find little that calls +for special attention. A few Buffalo writers, the Rev. John C. Lord, +Judge Jesse Walker, David Gray, Jas. W. Ward, Henry Chandler, and the +Rev. Benjamin Copeland among them, have found inspiration in the lake +and river for some of the best lines that adorn the purely local +literature of the Niagara region. Indeed, I know of no allusion to +Niagara more exquisitely poetical than the lines in David Gray's +historical poem, "The Last of the Kah-Kwahs," in which he compares the +Indian villages sleeping in ever-threatened peace to + + ... the isle + That, locked in wild Niagara's fierce embrace, + Still wears a smile of summer on its face-- + Love in the clasp of Madness. + +With this beautiful imagery in mind, recall the lines of Byron: + + On the verge + . . . . . . . . . + An Iris sits amidst the infernal surge + . . . . . . . . . + Resembling, 'mid the tortures of the scene, + Love watching Madness with unalterable mien. + +Byron did not write of Niagara, but these stanzas beginning + + The roar of waters ... + +often have been applied to our cataract. Mr. Gray may or may not have +been familiar with them. In any event he improved on the earlier poet's +figure. + +Merely as a matter of chronicle, it is well to record here the names of +several writers, some of them of considerable reputation, who have +contributed to the poetry of Niagara. Alfred B. Street's well-known +narrative poem, "Frontenac," contains Niagara passages. So does Levi +Bishop's metrical volume "Teuchsa Grondie" ("Whip-poor-will"), the +Niagara portion dedicated to the Hon. Augustus S. Porter. Ever since +Chateaubriand wrote "Atala," authors have been prompted to associate +Indian legends with Niagara, but none has done this more happily than +William Trumbull, whose poem, "The Legend of the White Canoe," +illustrated by F. V. Du Mond, is one of the most artistic works in all +the literature of Niagara. + +The Rev. William Ellery Channing, the Rev. Joseph H. Clinch, the Rev. +Joseph Cook, Christopher P. Cranch, Oliver I. Taylor, Grenville Mellen, +Prof. Moffat, John Savage, Augustus N. Lowry, Claude James Baxley of +Virginia, Abraham Coles, M. D., Henry Howard Brownell, the Rev. Roswell +Park, Willis Gaylord Clark, Mary J. Wines, M. E. Wood, E. H. Dewart, G. +W. Cutter, J. N. McJilton, and the Chicago writer, Harriet Monroe, are, +most of them, minor poets (some, perhaps, but poets by courtesy), whose +tributes to our cataract are contained in their collected volumes of +verse. In E. G. Holland's "Niagara and Other Poems" (1861), is a poem on +Niagara thirty-one pages long, with several pages of notes, "composed +for the most part by the Drachenfels, one of the Seven Mountains of the +Rhine, in the vicinity of Bonn, September, 1856, and delivered as a part +of an address on American Scenery the day following." Among the Canadian +poets who have attempted the theme, besides several already named, may +be recorded John Breakenridge, a volume of whose verse was printed at +Kingston in 1846; Charles Sangster, James Breckenridge, John Imrie, and +William Rice, the last three of Toronto. The French-Canadian poet, Louis +Fréchette, has written an excellent poem, "Le Niagara." Wm. Sharpe, M. +D., "of Ireland," wrote at length in verse on "Niagara and Nature +Worship." Charles Pelham Mulvaney touches the region in his poem, "South +Africa Remembered at Niagara." One of the most striking effusions on the +subject comes from the successful Australian writer, Douglas Sladen. It +is entitled "To the American Fall at Niagara," and is dated "Niagara, +Oct. 18, 1899": + + Niagara, national emblem! Cataract + Born of the maddened rapids, sweeping down + Direct, resistless from the abyss's crown + Into the deep, fierce pool with vast impact + Scarce broken by the giant boulders, stacked + To meet thine onslaught, threatening to drown + Each tillaged plain, each level-loving town + 'Twixt thee and ocean. Lo! the type exact! + + America Niagarized the world. + Europe, a hundred years agone, beheld + An avalanche, like pent-up Erie, hurled + Through barriers, to which the rocks of eld + Seemed toy things--leaping into godlike space + A sign and wonder to the human race.[87] + +Friedrich Bodenstedt and Wilhelm Meister of Germany, J. B. Scandella and +the Rev. Santo Santelli of Italy ("Cascada di Niagara," 1841), have +place among our Niagara poets. So, conspicuously, has Juan Antonio +Perez Bonalde, whose illustrated volume, "El Poema del Niagara," +dedicated to Emilio Castelar, with a prose introduction of twenty-five +pages by the Cuban martyr José Martí, was published in New York, +reaching at least a second edition, in 1883. Several Mexican poets have +addressed themselves to Niagara. "Á la Catarata del Niágara" is a sonnet +by Don Manuel Carpio, whose collected works have been issued at Vera +Cruz, Paris, and perhaps elsewhere. In the dramatic works of Don +Vincente Riva Palacio and Don Juan A. Mateos is found "La Catarata del +Niágara," a three-act drama in verse; the first two acts occur in +Mexico, in the house of _Dona Rosa_, the third act is at Niagara Falls, +the time being 1847.[88] The Spanish poet Antonio Vinageras, nearly +fifty years ago, wrote a long ode on Niagara, dedicating it to "la +célebre poetisa, Doña Gertrudis Gomez de Avellaneda." In no language is +there a nobler poem on Niagara than the familiar work by Maria José +Heredosia, translated from the Spanish by William Cullen Bryant. The +Comte de Fleury, who visited Niagara a few years ago, left a somewhat +poetical souvenir in French verse. Fredrika Bremer, whose prose is often +unmetered poetry even after translation, wrote of Niagara in a brief +poem. The following is a close paraphrase of the Swedish original: + + Niagara is the betrothal of Earth's life + With the Heavenly life. + That has Niagara told me to-day. + And now can I leave Niagara. She has + Told me her word of primeval being. + +Another Scandinavian poet, John Nyborn, has written a meritorious poem +on Niagara Falls, an adaptation of which, in English, was published some +years since by Dr. Albin Bernays. + + * * * * * + +It is a striking fact that Niagara's stimulus to the poetic mind has +been quite as often through the ear as through the eye. The best +passages of the best poems are prompted by the sound of the falling +waters, rather than by the expanse of the flood, the height of cliffs, +or the play of light. In Mr. Bulkley's work, which indeed exhausts the +whole store of simile and comparison, we perpetually hear the voice of +the falls, the myriad voices of nature, the awful voice of God. + + "Minstrel of the Floods," + +he cries: + + What pæans full of triumph dost thou hymn! + . . . . . . . . . + However varied is the rhythm sweet + Of thine unceasing song! The ripple oft + Astray along thy banks a lyric is + Of love; the cool drops trickling down thy sides + Are gentle sonnets; and thy lesser falls + Are strains elegiac, that sadly sound + A monody of grief; thy whirlpool fierce, + A shrill-toned battle-song; thy river's rush + A strain heroic with its couplet rhymes; + . . . . . . . . . + While the full sweep of thy close-crowded tide + Resounds supreme o'er all, an epic grand. + +Of this class, too, is the "Apostrophe to Niagara," by one B. Frank +Palmer, in 1855. It is said to have been "written with the pencil in a +few minutes, the author seated on the bank, drenched, from the mighty +bath at Termination Rock, and still listening to the roar and feeling +the eternal jar of the cataract." The Rev. T. Starr King, upon reading +it in 1855, said: "The apostrophe has the music of Niagara in it." As a +typical example of the devotional apostrophe it is perhaps well to give +it in full: + + This is Jehovah's fullest organ strain! + I hear the liquid music rolling, breaking. + From the gigantic pipes the great refrain + Bursts on my ravished ear, high thoughts awaking! + + The low sub-bass, uprising from the deep, + Swells the great pæan as it rolls supernal-- + Anon, I hear, at one majestic sweep + The diapason of the keys eternal! + + Standing beneath Niagara's angry flood-- + The thundering cataract above me bounding-- + I hear the echo: "Man, there is a God!" + From the great arches of the gorge resounding! + + Behold, O man! nor shrink aghast in fear! + Survey the vortex boiling deep before thee! + The Hand that ope'd the liquid gateway here + Hath set the beauteous bow of promise o'er thee! + + Here, in the hollow of that Mighty Hand, + Which holds the basin of the tidal ocean, + Let not the jarring of the spray-washed strand + Disturb the orisons of pure devotion. + + Roll on, Niagara! great River King! + Beneath thy sceptre all earth's rulers, mortal, + Bow reverently; and bards shall ever sing + The matchless grandeur of thy peerless portal! + + I hear, Niagara, in this grand strain, + His voice, who speaks in flood, in flame and thunder-- + Forever mayst thou, singing, roll and reign-- + Earth's grand, sublime, supreme, supernal wonder. + +Such lines as these--which might be many times multiplied--recall Eugene +Thayer's ingenious and highly poetic paper on "The Music of +Niagara."[89] Indeed, many of the prose writers, as well as the +versifiers, have found their best tribute to Niagara inspired by the +mere sound of falling waters. + +That Niagara's supreme appeal to the emotions is not through the eye but +through the ear, finds a striking illustration in "Thoughts on Niagara," +a poem of about eighty lines written prior to 1854 by Michael McGuire, a +blind man.[90] Here was one whose only impressions of the cataract came +through senses other than that of sight. As is usual with the blind, he +uses phrases that imply consciousness of light; yet to him, as to other +poets whose devotional natures respond to this exhibition of natural +laws, all the phenomena merge in "the voice of God": + + I stood where swift Niagara pours its flood + Into the darksome caverns where it falls, + And heard its voice, as voice of God, proclaim + The power of Him, who let it on its course + Commence, with the green earth's first creation; + + And I was where the atmosphere shed tears, + As giving back the drops the waters wept, + On reaching that great sepulchre of floods,-- + Or bringing from above the bow of God, + To plant its beauties in the pearly spray. + + And as I stood and heard, _though seeing nought_, + Sad thoughts took deep possession of my mind, + And rude imagination venturing forth, + Did toil to pencil, though in vain, that scene, + Which, in its every feature, spoke of God. + +The poem, which as a whole is far above commonplace, develops a pathetic +prayer for sight; and employs much exalted imagery attuned to the +central idea that here Omnipotence speaks without ceasing; here is + + A temple, where Jehovah is felt most. + +But for the most part, the world's strong singers have passed Niagara +by; nor has Niagara's newest aspect, that of a vast engine of energy to +be used for the good of man, yet found worthy recognition by any poet of +potentials. + + * * * * * + +This survey, though incomplete, is yet sufficiently comprehensive to +warrant a few conclusions. More than half of all the verse on the +subject which I have examined was written during the second quarter of +this century. The first quarter, as has been shown, was the age of +Niagara's literary discovery, and produced a few chronicles of curious +interest. During the last half of the century--the time in which +practically the whole brilliant and substantial fabric of American +literature has been created--Niagara well-nigh has been ignored by the +poets. In all our list, Goldsmith and Moore are the British writers of +chief eminence who have touched the subject in verse, though many +British poets, from Edwin Arnold to Oscar Wilde, have written poetic +prose about Niagara. Of native Americans, I have found no names in the +list of Niagara singers greater than those of Drake and Mrs. Sigourney. +Emerson nor Lowell, Whittier nor Longfellow, Holmes nor Stedman, has +given our Niagara wonder the dowry of a single line. Whitman, indeed, +alludes to Niagara in his poem "By Blue Ontario's Shore," but his poetic +vision makes no pause at the falls; nor does that of Joseph O'Connor, +who in his stirring and exalted Columbian poem, "The Philosophy of +America," finds a touch of color for his continental cosmorama by +letting his sweeping glance fall for a moment, + + To where, 'twixt Erie and Ontario, + Leaps green Niagara with a giant roar. + +But in such a symphony as his, Niagara is a subservient element, not the +dominating theme. Most of the Niagara poets have been of local repute, +unknown to fame. + +What, then, must we conclude? Shall we say with Martin Farquhar +Tupper--who has contributed to the alleged poetry of the place--that +there is nothing sublime about Niagara? The many poetic and impassioned +passages in prose descriptions are against such a view. If dimensions, +volume, exhibition of power, are elements of sublimity, Niagara Falls +are sublime. But it cannot be said that superlative exhibitions of +nature, some essentially universal phenomena, like those of the sea and +sky, excepted, have been made the specific subject of verse, with a high +degree of success. The reason is not far to seek, and lies in the +inherent nature of poetry. It is a chief essential of poetry that it +express, in imaginative form, the insight of the human soul. The feeble +poets who have addressed themselves to Niagara have stopped, for the +most part, with purely objective utterance. In some few instances, as we +have seen, a truly subjective regard has given us noble lines. + +The poetic in nature is essentially independent of the detail of natural +phenomena. A waterfall 150 feet high is not intrinsically any more +poetic than one but half that height; or a thunder-peal than the tinkle +of a rill. True poetry must be self-expression, as well as interpretive +of truths which are manifested through physical phenomena. Hence it is +in the nature of things that a nameless brook shall have its Tennyson, +or a Niagara flow unsung. + + + * * * * * + + + + +FOOTNOTES: + + +[1] Often spelled "Daillon" or "d'Allion," the latter form suggesting +origin from the name of a place, as is common in the French. Charlevoix +sometimes wrongly has it "de Dallion." I follow the spelling as given in +the priest's own signature to a letter to a friend in Paris, dated at +"Tonachain [Toanchain], Huron village, this 18th July, 1627," and signed +"Joseph De La Roche Dallion." The student of seventeenth-century history +need not be reminded that little uniformity in the spelling of proper +names can be looked for, either in printed books or manuscripts. In +French, as in English, men spelled their names in different +ways--Shakespeare, it is said, achieving thirty-nine variations. The +matter bears on our present study because the diversity of spelling may +involve the young student in perplexity. Thus, the name of the priests +Lalemant (there were three of them) is given by Le Clercq as +"Lallemant," by Charlevoix (a much later historian) as "Lallemant" or +"Lalemant," but in the contemporary "Relations" of 1641-'42 as +"Lallemant," "Lalemant" or "L'allemant." Many other names are equally +variable, changes due to elision being sometimes, but not always, +indicated by accents, as "Bruslé," "Brûlé." Thus we have "Jolliet" or +"Joliet," "De Gallinée" or "De Galinée," "Du Lu," "Du Luth," "Duluth," +etc. When we turn to modern English, the confusion is much--and +needlessly--increased. Dr. Shea, the learned translator and editor of Le +Clercq, apparently aimed to put all the names into English, without +accents. Parkman, or his publishers, have been guilty of many +inconsistencies, now speaking of "Brébeuf," now of "Brebeuf," and +changing "Le Clercq" to "Le Clerc." The "Historical Writings" of +Buffalo's pre-eminent student in this field, Orsamus H. Marshall, share +with many less valuable works--the present, no doubt, among them--these +inconsistencies of style in the use of proper names. + + +[2] Mr. Consul W. Butterfield, whose "History of Brûlé's Discoveries and +Explorations, 1610-1626," has appeared since the above was written, is +of opinion that Brûlé did not visit the falls, nor gain any particular +knowledge of Lake Erie, as that lake is not shown on Champlain's map of +1632; but that he and his Indian escort crossed the Niagara near Lake +Ontario, "into what is now Western New York, in the present county of +Niagara," and that "the journey was doubtless pursued through what are +now the counties of Erie, Genesee, Wyoming, Livingston, Steuben and +Chemung into Tioga," and thence down the Susquehanna. It is probable +that Brûlé's party would follow existing trails, and one of the best +defined trails, at a later period when the Senecas occupied the country +as far west as the Niagara, followed this easterly course; but there +were other trails, one of which lay along the east bank of the Niagara. +So long as we have no other original source of information except +Champlain, Sagard and Le Caron, none of whom has left any explicit +record of Brûlé's journeyings hereabouts, so long must his exact path in +the Niagara region remain untraced. + + +[3] "Brehan de Gallinée," in Margry. Shea has it "Brehaut de Galinée." + + +[4] Why Joliet left the Lake Erie route on his way east, for one much +more difficult, has been a matter of some discussion. According to the +Abbé Galinée, he was induced to turn aside by an Iroquois Indian who had +been a prisoner among the Ottawas. Joliet persuaded the Ottawas to let +this prisoner return with him. As they drew near the Niagara the +Iroquois became afraid lest he should fall into the hands of the ancient +enemies of the Iroquois, the Andastes, although the habitat of that +people is usually given as from about the site of Buffalo to the west +and southwest. At any rate it was the representations of this Iroquois +prisoner and guide which apparently turned Joliet into the Grand River +and kept him away from the Niagara. The paragraph in de Galinée bearing +on the matter is as follows: + +"Ce fut cet Iroquois qui montra à M. Jolliet un nouveau chemin que les +François n'avoient point sceu jusques alors pour revenir des Outaouacs +dans le pays des Iroquois. Cependant la crainte que ce sauvage eut de +retomber entre les mains des Antastoes luy fit dire à M. Jolliet qu'il +falloit qu'il quittast son canot et marchast par terre plustost qu'il +n'eust fallu, et mesme sans cette terreur du sauvage, M. Jolliet eust pu +venir par eau jusques dans le lac Ontario, en faisant un portage de +demi-lieue pour éviter le grand sault dont j'ay déjà parlé, mais entin +il fut obligé par son guide de faire cinquante lieues par terre, et +abandonner son canot sur lebord du lac Erié." + +It is singular that so important a relation in the history of our region +has never been published in English. De Galinée's original MS. Journal +is preserved in the Bibliothèque Nationale, in Paris. It was first +printed in French by M. Pierre Margry in 1879; but five years prior to +that date Mr. O. H. Marshall of Buffalo, having been granted access to +M. Margry's MS. copy, made extracts, which were printed in English in +1874. These were only a small portion of the Abbé's valuable record. The +Ontario Historical Society has for some time contemplated the +translation and publication of the complete Journal--a work which +students of the early history of the lake region will hope soon to see +accomplished. + + +[5] Probably that now known as Patterson's Creek. + + +[6] A minot is an old French measure; about three bushels. + + +[7] Evidently at Four or Six Mile Creek. + + +[8] Probably what the English call scurvy-grass. + + +[9] Otherwise Fort Frontenac, now Kingston, Ont. + + +[10] Sullivan to Jay, Teaogo (Tioga), Sept. 30, 1779. + + +[11] I first struck the trail in London, among the Colonial Papers +preserved in the Public Records Office. Subsequently, in the Archives +Department at Ottawa, I found that trail broaden into a fair highway. +Something has been gleaned at Albany; more, no doubt, is to be looked +for at Washington; but it is an amazing fact that our Government is far +less liberal in granting access for students to its official records +than is either England or Canada. But the Niagara region was British +during the Revolution, and its history is chiefly to be sought in +British archives. Especially in the Haldimand Papers, preserved in the +British Museum, but of which verified copies are readily accessible in +the Archives at Ottawa, is the Revolutionary history of the Niagara to +be found. Besides the 232 great volumes in which these papers are +gathered, there are thousands of other MSS. of value to an inquirer +seeking the history of this region; especially the correspondence, +during all that term of years, between the commandants at Fort Niagara +and other upper lake posts, and the Commander in Chief of the British +forces in America; between that general and the Ministry in London, and +between the commandants at the posts and the Indian agents, fur traders +and many classes and conditions of men. For the incidents here recorded +I have drawn, almost exclusively, on these unpublished sources. + + +[12] A snow is a three-masted craft, the smallest mast abaft the +mainmast being rigged with a try-sail. Possibly, on the lakes where +shipyards were primitive, this type was not always adhered to; but the +correspondence and orders of the period under notice carefully +discriminate between snows and schooners. + + +[13] See "What Befel David Ogden," in this volume. + + +[14] "A Narrative of the Captivity and Sufferings of Benjamin Gilbert +and his Family; Who were surprised by the Indians, and taken from their +Farms, on the Frontiers of Pennsylvania, in the Spring, 1780. +Philadelphia: Printed and sold by Joseph Crukshank, in Market-street, +between Second and Third-streets. M DCC LXXXIV." 12mo, pp. iv-96. It was +reprinted in London (12mo, pp. 123) in 1785, and again (12mo, pp. 124, +"Reprinted and sold by James Phillips, George-Yard, Lombard street") in +1790. A "third edition, revised and enlarged," 16mo, pp. 240, bears date +Philadelphia, 1848. Of a later edition (8vo, pp. 38, Lancaster, Pa., +1890) privately printed, only 150 copies were issued. The work was +written by William Walton, to whom the facts were told by the Gilberts +after their return. (Field.) Ketchum made some use of the "Narrative" in +his "Buffalo and the Senecas," as has Wm. Clement Bryant and perhaps +other local writers. See also "Account of Benjamin Gilbert," Vol. III., +Register of Pennsylvania. A reissue of the original work, carefully +edited, would not only be a useful book for students of the history of +Buffalo and the Niagara region, but would offer much in the way of +extraordinary adventure for the edification of "the general reader." + + +[15] Ketchum says he could not have done so. ("History of Buffalo," Vol. +I., p. 328.) But Ketchum was misled, as many writers have been in +ascribing the leadership to Brant. My assertion rests on the evidence of +contemporary documents in the Archives at Ottawa, especially the MS. +"Anecdotes of Capt. Joseph Brant, Niagara, 1778," in the handwriting of +Col. Daniel Claus. Wm. Clement Bryant published a part of it in his +"Captain Brant and the Old King," _q. v._ + + +[16] What became of all the scalps brought in to Fort Niagara during +these years, and delivered up to the British officers, if not for pay, +certainly for presents? The human scalp, properly dried, is not readily +perishable, if cared for. Very many of them--from youthful heads or +those white with age, the long tresses of women and the soft ringlets of +children--became the property of officers at this post. Little is said +on this subject in the correspondence; we do not see them with flags and +other trophies in the cathedrals and museums of England. What became of +them? + + +[17] In another letter to Lord George Germaine, dated Nov. 20, 1780, we +have a few additional particulars. It is probably the fullest account of +this calamity in existence. "It is with great concern," wrote Haldimand, +"I acquaint your Lordship of a most unfortunate event which is just +reported to me to have happened upon Lake Ontario about the 1st. [Nov., +1780.] A very fine snow [schooner] carrying 16 guns, which was built +last winter, sailed the 31st ultimo from Niagara and was seen several +times the same day near the north shore. The next day it blew very hard, +and the vessel's boats, binnacle, gratings, some hats, etc., were found +upon the opposite shore, the wind having changed suddenly, by Lt. Col. +Butler about forty miles from Niagara, on his way from Oswego, so there +cannot be a doubt that she is totally lost and her crew, consisting of +forty seamen, perished, together with Lt. Col. Bolton of the King's +Regiment, whom I had permitted to leave Niagara on account of his bad +state of health, Lt. Colleton of the Royal Artillery, Lt. Royce and +thirty men of the 34th Regiment, who were crossing the lake to reinforce +Carleton Island. Capt. Andrews who commanded the vessel and the naval +armament upon that lake was a most zealous, active, intelligent officer. +The loss of so many good officers and men is much aggravated by the +consequences that will follow this misfortune in the disappointment of +conveying provisions across the lake for the garrison of Niagara and +Detroit, which are not near completed for the winter consumption, and +there is not a possibility of affording them much assistance with the +vessels that remain, it being dangerous to navigate the lake later than +the 20th inst., particularly as the large vessels are almost worn out. +The master builder and carpenters are sent off to repair this evil." + + +[18] "The Falls of Niagara, or Tourist's Guide," etc., by S. De Veaux. +Buffalo, 1839. + + +[19] Capt. Parrish became Indian agent, but Capt. Jones held the office +of interpreter for many years. "Their councils [with the Indians] were +held at a council house belonging to the Senecas situated a few rods +east of the bend in the road just this side of the red bridge across +Buffalo Creek on the Aurora Plank Road, then little more than an Indian +trail; but much of their business was transacted at the store of Hart & +Lay, situated on the west side of Main Street, midway between Swan and +Erie streets, and on the common opposite, then known as Ellicott +Square."--MS. narrative of Capt. Jones's captivity, by Orlando Allen, in +possession of William L. Bryant of Buffalo. Horatio Jones was captured +about 1777 near Bedford, Pa., being aged 14; was taken to a town on the +Genesee River, where he ran the gauntlet, was adopted, and lived with +the Indians until liberated by the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1784. The +MS. narrative above quoted is Orlando Allen's chronicle of facts given +to him by Capts. Jones and Parrish, and is of exceptional value. + + +[20] Brig. Powell to Col. van Schaick, Feb. 13, 1780; Haldimand Papers, +"Correspondence relating to exchange of prisoners," etc., B. 175. + + +[21] I cannot better show the real state of affairs at Fort Niagara, +towards the close of the Revolutionary War, than by submitting the +following "Review of Col. Johnson's Transactions," which I copy from the +Canadian Archives. [Series B, Vol. 106, p. 123, _et seq._] I do not know +that it has ever been printed. Obviously written at the instigation of +Col. Johnson, it is perhaps colored to justify his administrative +conduct; but in any event it is a most useful picture of conditions at +the time. Except for some slight changes in punctuation in order to make +the meaning more readily apparent, the statement is given verbatim: + + MONTREAL, 24th March, 1782. + +Before Colonel Johnson arrived at Niagara in 1779 the Six Nations lived +in their original possession the nearest of which was about 100 and the +farthest about 300 miles from that post. Their warriors were called upon +as the service required parties, which in 1776 amounted to about 70 men, +and the expenses attending them and a few occasional meetings ought to +have been and he presumes were a mere Trifle when compared with what +must attend their situation when all [were] driven to Niagara, exposed +to every want, to every temptation and with every claim which their +distinguished sacrifices and the tenor of Soloman [solemn] Treaties had +entitled them to from Government. The years 1777 & 1778 exhibited only a +larger number occasionally employed and for their fidelity and +attachment to Government they were invaded in 1779 by a rebel army +reported to be from 5 to 600 men with a train of Artillery who forced +them to retire to Niagara leaving behind them very fine plantations of +corn and vegetables, with their cloathing, arms, silver works, Wampum +Kettles and Implements of Husbandry, the collection of ages of which +were distroyed in a deliberate manner and march of the rebels. Two +villages only escaped that were out of their route. + +The Indians having always apprehended that their distinguished Loyalty +might draw some such calamity towards them had stipulated that under +such circumstances they effected [expected] to have their losses made up +as well as a liberal continuation of favors and to be supported at the +expence of Government till they could be reinstated in their former +possessions. They were accordingly advised to form camps around Niagara +which they were beginning to do at the time of Colonel Johnson's arrival +who found them much chagrined and prepared to reconcile them to their +disaster which he foresaw would be a work of time requiring great +judgement and address in effecting which he was afterwards successful +beyond his most sanguine expectations, and this was the state of the +Indians at Colonel Johnson's arrival. As to the state and regulation of +Colonel Johnson's offices and department at that period he found the +duties performed by 2 or three persons the rest little acquainted with +them and considered as less capable of learning them, and the whole +number inadequate to that of the Indians, and the then requisite calls +of the service, and that it was necessary after refusing the present +wants of the Indians to keep their minds occupied by constant military +employment, all which he laid before the Commander in Chief who +frequently honoured his conduct with particular approbation. + +By His Instructions he was to apply to Lieut. Colonel Bolton, more +especially regarding the modes of this place and the public accounts &c +from whom he received no further information, than that they were kept, +and made up by the established house at that post, and consider of +goods, orders and all contingencies and disbursements for Indians, +ranging parties, Prisoners, &c. That they were generally arranged half +yearly as well as the nature of them and of the changeable people they +had to deal with would permit; that he believed many demands were +therefore outstanding and that he was glad to have done with passing +[i. e., granting of passes] as it was impossible for him or any person +that had other duties to discharge to give them much attention. At which +Colonel Johnson expressed his concern but was told that the house was +established in the business and thro' the impossibility of having proper +circulating cash in another channell they advanced all monies and +settled all accounts and that that mode had been found most eligable. +Colonel Johnson thereupon issued the best orders he could devise for the +preventing abuses and the better regulation of matters relating to goods +payment of expenses, and proceeding to the discharge of the principal +objects of his duty, he, accordingly to a plan long since proposed, +formed the Indians into Companies and by degrees taught them to feel the +convenience of having officers set apart to each, which they were soon +not only reconciled to but highly pleased with, by which means he gave +some degree of method and form to the most Independent race of the +Indians, greatly facilitated all business with them and by a prudent +arrangement of his officers those who were before uninformed became in a +little time some of the most approved and usefull persons in his +department, being constantly quartered at such places or sent on some +services as tended most to their improvement and the public advantage, +whilst by spiriting up and employing the Indians with constant party's +along the frontiers from Fort Stanwix to Fort Pitt he so harrassed the +back settlements, as finally to drive numbers of them from their +plantation destroying their houses, mills, graneries, &c, frequently +defeating their scouting parties killing and captivating many of their +people amounting in the whole to near 900 and all this with few or no +instances of savage cruelty exclusive of what they performed when +assisted by His Majesty's Troops as will appear from his returns. By +these means he presented [? preserved] the spirit of the Indians and +kept their minds so occupied as to prevent their being disgusted at the +want of Military aid, which had been long their Topic and which could +then be afforded according to their requisitions; neither did he admit +any point of negociation during this period of peculiar hurry, for +knowing the importance the Oneidas &c., were off [of] to the rebels and +the obstruction they gave to all means of intelligence from that +quarter, he sent a private Belt and message on pretence of former +Friendship for them, in consequence of which he was shortly joined by +430 of them of [whom] 130 were men who have since on all occasions +peculiarly distinguished themselves, and after defeating the rebel +Invitation to the Indians he by the renewal of the great covenant chain +and war Belt which he sent thro' all the nations animation to the most +western Indians. + +Soon after with intention to reduce the vast consumption of provisions, +he with much difficulty prevailed on part of the Indians to begin some +new plantation, that they might supply themselves with grain, &c; but +this being an object of the most serious and National concern, and urged +in the strongest terms by the commander-in-chief, Col. Johnson, during +the winter 1780, took indefatigable pains to persuade the whole to +remove and settle the ensuing season on advantageous terms. He had +himself visited for that purpose but finding that their treaties with +and expectations from Government, combined with their natural Indulgence +to render it a matter of infinite difficulty which would encrease by +delay and probably become unsurmountable he procured some grain from +Detroit and liberally rewarded the families of Influence at additional +expence to sett the example to the rest and assisted their beginning to +prevent a disappointment by which means he has enabled before the end of +May last to settle the whole about 3500 souls exclusive of those who had +joined the 2 farms that had not been distroyed by the rebels and thereby +with a little future assistance, and good management to create a saving +of £100,000 pr annum N. York currency at the rate of provision is worth +there to Government, together with a reduction of rum and of all Indian +Expenses, as will appear from the reduced accounts since these +settlements were made. The peculiar circumstances above mentioned and +the constant disappointment of goods from the Crown at the times they +were most wanted will easily account for the occasional expence. The +house which conducted the Business at Niagara was perpetually thronged +by Indians and others. Lieut. Colonel Bolton often sent verbal orders +for articles as did some other secretaries and sometimes necessity +required it and often they were charged and others substituted of equal +value with other irregularities, the consequence of a crew of Indians +before unknown, of an encrease of duties, and the necessity for sending +them to plant well satisfied. + +The number of prisoners thrown upon Colonel Johnson from time to time +and of Indian Chiefs and their families about his quarters was attended +with vast trouble and an Expense which it was impossible to ascertain +with exactness and when he directed the moiety of certain articles of +consumption to be placed to the account of the Crown, he soon found +himself lower. The merchants have since been accused of fraud by a clerk +who lived some time with them, the investigation of which he was called +suddenly to attend and he now finds that many articles undoubtedly +issued have been placed to his account instead of their [the] Crown, and +many false and malicious insinuations circulated to the prejudice of his +character and his influence with the Indians which is rendered the more +injurious by his abrupt departure from the shortness of the time, which +did not permit his calling and explaining to the chiefs the reasons for +his leaving them as [he] undoubtedly should have done, and therefore, +and on every public account, his presence is not only effected +[expected], but is become more necessary among them than ever. This +brief summary is candidly prepared and is capable of sufficient proof +and Illustration. + + +[22] Site of Rome, N. Y. + + +[23] Perhaps more correctly, according to eminent authority (Lewis H. +Morgan), "Ga-nun-da-sa-ga." It was one of the most important of the +Seneca towns, situated near the site of the present town of Geneva. Gen. +Sullivan destroyed it in September, 1779, and no attempt was ever made +to rebuild it. + + +[24] Except perhaps in the case of Capt. Alexander Harper and his party, +for whom the ordeal was made light, most of the Indians having been +enticed away from the vicinity of the fort; but this was apparently due +to Brant, rather than to the British.--_See_ Ketchum's "History of +Buffalo," Vol. I., pp. 374, 375. + + +[25] I have followed the old narrative in the spelling of these Indian +names, which, no doubt, students of Indian linguistics will discover are +not wholly in accord with the genius of the Seneca tongue. + + +[26] Ketchum gives Capt. Powell a better character than this incident +would indicate; and says that he "visited the prisoners among the +Senecas, at Buffalo Creek, several times during the time they remained +there, not only to encourage them by his counsel and sympathy, but to +administer to their necessities, and to procure their release; which was +ultimately accomplished, mainly through his efforts, assisted by other +officers at the fort, which [_sic_] the example and interest of Jane +Moore, the Cherry Valley captive had influenced to coöperate in this +work of mercy." ["History of Buffalo," Vol. I., p. 376.] I have adhered +to the spirit and in part, to the language, of Ogden's own narrative. + + +[27] Address delivered at Fort Niagara, N. Y., at the celebration of the +centennial of British evacuation, August 11, 1896. Amplification on some +points, not possible in the brief time allotted for the spoken address +on that occasion, is here made in foot-notes. + + +[28] See Oliver Wendell Holmes's beautiful poem, "Francis Parkman," read +at the meeting of the Massachusetts Historical Society in memory of the +historian, who died November 8, 1893. + + +[29] The first official step towards such fortification was taken by +Frontenac. On Nov. 14, 1674, he wrote to the Minister, Colbert: "Sieur +Joliet ... has returned three months ago, and discovered some very fine +Countries, and a navigation so easy through the beautiful rivers he has +found, that a person can go from Lake Ontario and Fort Frontenac in a +bark to the Gulf of Mexico, there being only one carrying place, half a +league in length, where Lake Ontario communicates with Lake Erie. A +settlement would be made at this point and another bark built on Lake +Erie. These are projects which it will be possible to effect when Peace +will be firmly established, and whenever it will please the King to +prosecute these discoveries." [Paris Docs. I., N. Y. Colonial MSS.] +Joliet, it must be remembered, was never on the Niagara; whatever +representations he made to Frontenac regarding it were based on hearsay, +very likely on reports made to him by La Salle at their meeting in 1669; +so that priority in promoting the Niagara route reverts after all to +that gallant adventurer. + + +[30] In 1896. + + +[31] In the palisaded cabin on the site of Lewiston. + + +[32] Father Watteaux (also spelled "Watteau," "Vatteaux," etc.) was +first only in the sense of being assigned to a located mission. "Father +Gabriel [de la Ribourde] was named Superior.... Father Melithon was to +remain at Niagara and make it his mission." (Le Clercq, Shea's +translation, Vol. I., p. 112.) "Father Melithon remained in the house at +Niagara with some laborers and clerks." (_Ib._, p. 113.) This was in the +summer of 1679; but six months earlier mass had been celebrated on the +New York side of the Niagara by Father Hennepin. + + +[33] This statement, which I have elsewhere accepted (_See_ "The +Cross-Bearers," p. 28 of this volume), is on the usually unimpeachable +authority of Dr. John Gilmary Shea, the historian of the Catholic Church +in America. (_See_ "The Catholic Church in Colonial Days," p. 322.) I +find, however, on referring to the authorities on which Dr. Shea rests +his statement that the particular grant made on the date named--May 27, +1679--was not at Niagara but at Fort Frontenac. (Hennepin, "Nouvelle +Découverte," p. 108.) At Frontenac La Salle had seigniorial rights, and +could pass title as he wished; but on the Niagara he had no right to +confer title, for he held no delegated power beyond the letters patent +from the King, which permitted him to explore and build forts, under +certain restrictions. + + +[34] This would seem to fix the date of the northeast blockhouse at +1790; but on examination of other sources of information I discover +strong evidence that the original construction was earlier. The Duke de +la Rochefoucault Liancourt, who visited Fort Niagara in June, 1795, +wrote: "All the buildings, within the precincts of the fort, are of +stone, and were built by the French." ("Travels," etc., London ed., +1799, Vol. I., p. 257.) This would make them antedate July, 1759, which +is not true of the bakehouse. The Duke may therefore have erred +regarding other buildings, the northeast blockhouse among them; yet had +it been but four or five years old, he would not be likely to attribute +it to the French. Pouchot's plan of the fort (1759) does not show it. I +have seen the original sketch of a plan in the British Museum, dated +Niagara, 1773, which shows, with several buildings long since destroyed, +two constructions where the blockhouses now stand, with this note: "Two +stone redoubts built in 1770 and 1771." An accompanying sketch of the +southwest redoubt shows a striking similarity to the southwest +blockhouse as it now stands, although a roadway ran through it and a gun +was mounted on top. These redoubts may have been remodeled by Gother +Mann. + + +[35] Although I am aware that some American writers, and probably all +Canadian writers who touch the subject, are offering evidence that there +was no "massacre" at Wyoming, I still find in the details of that affair +what I regard as abundant warrant for the designation of "massacre." + + +[36] Haldimand to T. Townshend, October 25, 1782. + + +[37] Haldimand to Lord North, June 2, 1782. In the same letter he wrote +"I have lately received a letter from Brig.-Gen. Maclean who commands at +Niagara.... Affairs with the Indians are in a very critical state. I +have ordered and insisted upon Sir John Johnson's immediate departure +for Niagara in hopes that his influence may be of use in preventing the +bad consequences which may be apprehended. I have been assured by the +officers who brought me the accounts of the cessation of arms, via New +York, that Gen. Schuyler and the American officers made no secret of +their hostile intentions against the Indians and such Royalists as had +served amongst them. It is to be hoped that the American Congress will +adopt a line of conduct more consonant to humanity as well as Policy." + + +[38] The full story of the efforts of the United States Government to +obtain possession of Fort Niagara and the other posts on the northern +frontier would make a long chapter. I have barely touched a few features +of it. One episode was the mission of the Baron Steuben to Haldimand, to +claim the delivery of the posts. Washington selected Steuben because of +his appreciation of that general's tact and soundness of judgment in +military matters. The President's instructions under date of July 12, +1783, were characteristically precise and judicious. Steuben was to +procure from General Haldimand, if possible, immediate cession of the +posts; failing in that, he was to get a pledge of an early cession; "but +if this cannot be done," wrote Washington, "you will endeavor to procure +from him positive and definite assurances, that he will as soon as +possible give information of the time that shall be fixed on for the +evacuation of these posts, and that the troops of his Britannic Majesty +shall not be drawn therefrom until sufficient previous notice shall be +given of that event; that the troops of the United States may be ready +to occupy the fortresses as soon as they shall be abandoned by those of +his Britannic Majesty." An exchange of artillery and stores was also to +be proposed. Having made these arrangements with Haldimand, Steuben was +to go to Oswego, thence to Niagara, and after viewing the situation, and +noting the strength and all the military and strategic conditions, was +to pass on to Detroit. Armed with these instructions from the +Commander-in-Chief, Steuben went to Canada, and on the 8th of August met +Gen. Haldimand at Sorel. For once, the man who had disciplined the +American Army met his match. His report to Washington indicates an +uncommonly positive reception. + +"To the first proposition which I had in charge to make," he wrote to +Washington, Aug. 23, 1783 ["Correspondence of the Revolution," IV., 41, +42], "Gen. Haldimand replied that he had not received any orders for +making the least arrangement for the evacuation of a single post; that +he had only received orders to cease hostilities; those he had strictly +complied with, not only by restraining the British troops, but also the +savages, from committing the least hostile act; but that, until he +should receive positive orders for that purpose, he would not evacuate +an inch of ground. I informed him that I was not instructed to insist on +an immediate evacuation of the posts in question, but that I was ordered +to demand a safe conduct to, and a liberty of visiting the posts on our +frontiers, and now occupied by the British, that I might judge of the +arrangements necessary to be made for securing the interests of the +United States. To this he answered that the precaution was premature; +that the peace was not yet signed; that he was only authorized to cease +hostilities; and that, in this point of view, he could not permit that I +should visit a single post occupied by the British. Neither would he +agree that any kind of negotiation should take place between the United +States and the Indians, if in his power to prevent it, and that the door +of communication should, on his part, be shut, until he received +positive orders from his court to open it. My last proposal was that he +should enter into an agreement to advise Congress of the evacuation of +the posts, three months previous to their abandonment. This, for the +reason before mentioned, he refused, declaring that until the definite +treaty should be signed, he would not enter into any kind of agreement +or negotiation whatever." + + +[39] The inability of the New York State Government to accomplish +anything in the matter at this time is illustrated by the following +extract from Gov. Clinton's speech to the Senate and Assembly, January +21, 1784: "You will perceive from the communication which relates to the +subject that I have not been inattentive to the circumstances of the +western posts within this State. They are undoubtedly of great +importance for the protection of our trade and frontier settlements, and +it was with concern I learnt that the propositions made by the State for +governing those posts were not acceded to by Congress. It affords me, +however, some satisfaction to find that the Commander-in-Chief was in +pursuit of measures for that purpose, but my expostulations proved +fruitless. The British commander in that Department treating the +Provisional Articles as a suspension of hostilities only, declined to +withdraw his garrisons and refused us even to visit these posts. It is +necessary for me to add that it will now be impracticable to take +possession of them until spring, and that I have no reason to believe +that Congress have, or are likely to make any provision for the expense +which will necessarily occur, it therefore remains for you to take this +interesting subject into your further consideration." + +To this the Senate made answer: "The circumstances of our western posts +excite our anxiety. We shall make no comment on the conduct of the +British officer in Canada as explained by your Excellency's +communication. It would be in vain. Convinced that our frontier +settlements, slowly emerging from the utter ruin with which they were so +lately overwhelmed, and our fur trade which constitutes a valuable +branch in our remittances, will be protected by these posts, we shall +adopt the best measures in our power for their reëstablishment." + + +[40] "Lt.-Col. Fish," the Governor General's report continues, "gave me +the strongest assurances that the proceedings against the Loyalists were +disapproved by the leading men in the different States, and gave me a +recent instance of Gov. Clinton having [? saving] Capt. Moore [?] of the +53d Regiment from the insolence of the mob in New York." + + +[41] "Lt.-Col. Hull in the American service, arrived here on the 10th +inst. with a letter from Major Gen. Knox, dated New York the 13th +June.... I did not think myself, from the tenor of Yr Lordship's letter +of the 8th of April, authorized to give publicly, any reason for +delaying the evacuation of the Posts, tho' perhaps it might have had +some effect in quickening the efforts of Congress to produce the +execution of the Article of the Difinitive Treaty in favor of the +Royalists, tho' I held the same private conversation to Lt.-Col. Hull as +I had to Lt.-Col. Fish."--Haldimand to Lord Sydney Quebec, July 16, +1784. + + +[42] Haldimand to Thos. Steile, Esq., of the Treasury; Quebec, Sept. 1, +1784. + + +[43] At the risk of overloading my pages with citations from this old +correspondence, I venture to give the following letter from Lord +Dorchester to Lt.-Gov. Simcoe, so admirably does it illustrate the +British apprehensions at the time. It is dated Quebec, Apr. 3, 1796: + +"Circumstances have arisen, which will probably, for a time, delay the +evacuation of the Upper Posts, among which some relating to the +interests of the Indians do not appear the least important. By the 8th +article of the treaty entered into the 3d August last, between Mr. Wayne +and them, it is stipulated that no person shall be allowed to reside +among or to trade with these Indian tribes, unless they be furnished +with a license from the Government of the United States, and that every +person so trading shall be delivered up by the Indians to an American +Superintendent, to be dealt with according to law, which is inconsistent +with the third article of the Treaty of Amity, Commerce and Navigation, +previously concluded between His Majesty and the United States by which +it is agreed that 'it shall at all times be free to His Majesty's +subjects and to the citizens of the United States and also to the +Indians, dwelling on either side of the Boundary Line, freely to _pass +and repass_, by land or inland navigation, into the respective +territories and countries of the two parties on the Continent of America +(the country within the limits of the Hudson Bay Co. only excepted), and +to navigate the lakes, rivers and waters thereof, and freely to carry on +trade and commerce _with each other_.' + +"Previously therefore to the actual execution of the treaty on our part, +it is requisite that we should be convinced that the stipulations +entered into by the United States will also be fulfilled by them; and on +a point so interesting to His Majesty's subjects and more especially to +the Indians, it is indispensably necessary that all doubts and +misconceptions should be removed. His Majesty's Minister at Philadelphia +is accordingly instructed to require an explanation on this subject. +Till therefore the same shall be satisfactorily terminated I shall delay +the surrender of the Posts. These matters you will be pleased to explain +to the Indians, pointing out to them at the same time the benevolent +care and regard always manifested towards them by the King their Father, +and particularly the attention that has been shown to their interests on +the present occasion." + + +[44] Dorchester to Robert Liston (British Minister at Philadelphia), +June 6, 1796. + + +[45] Under date of Niagara, August 6, 1796, Peter Russell wrote to the +Duke of Portland: "All the posts we held on the American side of the +line in the vicinity of this province, are given up to the United States +agreeable to the treaty, excepting that of Niagara, which remains +occupied by a small detachment from the 5th Regiment, until the garrison +they have ordered thither may arrive from Oswego. And I understand that +they have not yet taken possession of Michillimackinac from the want of +provisions. I have directed the officers commanding his Majesty's troops +in this Province to make me a return of the effective number that may +remain after the departure of the 5th and 24th Regiments, and of their +distribution." On August 20th he wrote: "The Fort of Niagara was +delivered up to a detachment of troops belonging to the United States of +America on the 11th inst. and the guard left in it by the 5th Regiment +has sailed for Lower Canada." Mackinac, the last of the posts to be +surrendered, did not pass into the hands of the Americans until the +following October. + + +[46] This must not be confounded with the wreck of the steamer +President, which was never heard from after the storm of March 13, 1841. +The President of which Mr. Lay wrote was obviously a bark, ship, or +other sailing craft. + + +[47] In one Canadian work, John Charles Dent's "Story of the Upper +Canadian Rebellion," statements are printed to show that the Caroline +did not go over the falls, but that her hull sank in shallow water not +far below the Schlosser landing. There is however a mass of evidence to +other effect. It is striking that so sensational an episode, happening +within the memory of many men yet living, should be thus befogged. The +contemporary accounts which were published in American newspapers were +wildly exaggerated, one report making the loss of life exceed ninety. +(There was but one man killed.) Mackenzie himself is said to have spread +these extravagant reports. He had a gift for the sort of journalism +which in this later day is called "yellow," a chief iniquity of which is +its wanton perversion of contemporary record, and the ultimate confusion +of history. + + +[48] By the end of December, 1837, about 600 men had resorted to Navy +Island in the guise of "Patriots." Although this number was later +somewhat increased, the entire "army" at that point probably never +numbered 1,000. + + +[49] There were about 150 Patriots, claiming to be citizens of the +United States, who were taken prisoners in Upper Canada, and transported +to Van Dieman's Land. Among those taken near Windsor, besides Marsh, +were Ezra Horton, Joseph Horton and John Simons of Buffalo, John W. +Simmons and Truman Woodbury of Lockport. Taken at Windmill Point, near +Prescott, was Asa M. Richardson of Buffalo. Taken at Short Hills, +Welland Co., was Linus W. Miller of Chautauqua Co., who afterwards wrote +a book on the rebellion and his exile; and Benjamin Waite, whose +"Letters from Van Dieman's Land" were published in Buffalo in 1843. +Waite died at Grand Rapids, Mich., Nov. 9, 1895, aged eighty-two. It is +not unlikely that some Americans who underwent that exile are still +living. I have seen no list of Americans captured during the outbreak in +Lower Canada. + + +[50] _See_ "Reminiscences of Levi Coffin," p. 253. + + +[51] _See_ "John Brown and His Men," p. 171. + + +[52] _See_ Siebert's "The Underground Railroad," pp. 35, 36. + + +[53] "Narrative of William W. Brown," 1848, pp. 107, 108. Quoted by +Siebert. + + +[54] There is a considerable literature on the specific subject of the +Underground Railroad, and a great deal more relating to it is to be +found in works dealing more broadly with slavery, and the political +history of our country. Of especial local interest is Eber M. Pettit's +"Sketches in the History of the Underground Railroad," etc., Fredonia, +1879. The author, "for many years a conductor on the Underground +Railroad line from slavery to freedom," has recorded many episodes in +which the fugitives were brought to Buffalo, Black Rock, or Niagara +Falls, and gives valuable and interesting data regarding the routes and +men who operated them in Western New York and Western Pennsylvania. + + +[55] I have drawn these facts from Mrs. Jameson's "Winter Studies and +Summer Rambles in Canada," published in London in 1838. Mrs. Jameson was +at Niagara in 1837, apparently during or soon after the riot. She called +on one of the negro women who had been foremost in the fray. This woman +was "apparently about five-and-twenty," had been a slave in Virginia, +but had run away at sixteen. This would indicate that she may have come +a refugee to the Niagara as early as 1828. William Kirby, in his "Annals +of Niagara," has told Moseby's story, with more detail than Mrs. +Jameson; he reports only one as killed in the _mêlée_--the schoolmaster +Holmes--and adds that "Moseby lived quietly the rest of his life in St. +Catharines and Niagara." Sir Francis Bond Head's official communication +to the Home Government regarding the matter reports two as killed. + + +[56] _See_ "A Narrative," by Sir Francis Bond Head, Bart., 2d ed., +London, 1839, pp. 200-204. + + +[57] "Letters from the United States, Cuba and Canada," London, 1856, p. +118. + + +[58] "Canada, Its Defences, Condition and Resources," by W. Howard +Russell, LL. D., London, 1865, pp. 33, 34. + + +[59] Mr. Butler's name does not appear in Siebert's history, "The +Underground Railroad." The "operators" for Erie County named therein (p. +414) are Gideon Barker, the Hon. Wm. Haywood, Geo. W. Johnson, Deacon +Henry Moore, and Messrs. Aldrich and Williams. For Niagara County he +names Thomas Binmore, W. H. Childs, M. C. Richardson, Lyman Spaulding. +Chautauqua and Wyoming counties present longer lists, and thirty-six are +named for Monroe County. As appears from my text, the Erie County list +could be extended. + + +[60] No doubt an investigator could find a number of former slaves, rich +in reminiscences of Underground days, still living in the villages and +towns of the Niagara Peninsula, though they would not be very numerous, +for, as Aunt Betsy says, "the old heads are 'bout all gone now." Between +Fort Erie and Ridgeway lives Daniel Woods, a former slave, who came by +the Underground. Harriet Black, a sister-in-law of Mrs. Robinson, still +living near Ridgeway, was also a "passenger." Probably others live at +St. Catharines, Niagara and other points of former negro settlement, who +could tell thrilling tales of their escape from the South. There are +many survivors on the Canada side of the Niagara, of another class; men +or women who were born in slavery but were "freed by the bayonet," and +came North with no fear of the slave-catchers. Of this class at Fort +Erie are Melford Harris and Thomas Banks. Mr. Banks was sold from +Virginia to go "down the river"; got his freedom at Natchez, joined the +102d Michigan Infantry, and fought for the Union until the end of the +war. His case is probably typical of many, but does not belong to the +records of the Underground Railroad. + + +[61] H. Clay to Lewis L. Hodges; original letter in possession of the +Buffalo Historical Society. + + +[62] Anonymous reminiscences published in the Buffalo Courier, about +1887. + + +[63] Apparently the greatest travel, at least over these particular +routes, was during 1840-41. It was a justifiable boast of the +"conductors" that a "passenger" was never lost. In a journal of notes, +which was annually kept for many years by one of the zealous +anti-slavery men of that day, I find the following entry in 1841: +"Nov. 1.--The week has been cold; some hard freezing and snow; now warm; +assisted six fugitives from oppression, from this land of equal rights +to the despotic government of Great Britain, where they can enjoy their +liberty. Last night put them on board a steamboat and paid their passage +to Buffalo." + + +[64] When I knew Frank Henry, he was light-house keeper at Erie. He died +in October, 1889, and his funeral was a memorable one. After the body +had been viewed by his friends, while it lay in state in the parlor of +his old home in Wesleyville, the casket was lifted to the shoulders of +the pall-bearers, who carried it through the streets of the little +village to the church, all the friends, which included all the villagers +and many from the city and the country round about, following in +procession on foot. The little church could not hold the assemblage, but +the overflow waited until the service was over, content, if near enough +the windows or the open door, to hear but a portion of the eulogies his +beloved pastor pronounced. Then they all proceeded to the graveyard +behind the historic church and laid him away. He was a man of an +exceptionally frank and lovable character. Prof. Wilbur H. Siebert +mentions him in his history, "The Underground Railroad from Slavery to +Freedom"; but nowhere else, I believe, is as much recorded of the work +which he did for the refugee slaves as in the incidents told in the +following pages; and these, we may be assured, are but examples of the +service in which he was engaged for a good many years. + + +[65] Afterwards long known as the Lowry Mansion, on Second Street, +between French and Holland streets. It is still standing. + + +[66] Capt. D. P. Dobbins was for many years a distinguished resident of +Buffalo. As vessel master, Government official, and especially as +inventor of the Dobbins life-boat, he acquired a wide reputation; but +little has been told of his Underground Railroad work. He died in 1892. + + +[67] I had the facts of this experience from Mr. Frank Henry, and first +wrote them out and printed them in the Erie Gazette in 1880. (Ah, Time, +why hasten so!) In 1894 H. U. Johnson of Orwell, O., published a book +entitled "From Dixie to Canada, Romances and Realities of the +Underground Railroad," in which a chapter is devoted to Jack Watson, and +this experience at the Wesleyville church is narrated, considerably +embellished, but in parts with striking similarity to the version for +which Frank Henry and I were responsible. Mr. Johnson gives no credit +for his facts to any source. + + +[68] Such an one was the anti-slavery worker, Sallie Holley, who had +formerly taken great pleasure in the sermons of Mr. Fillmore's pastor, +the Rev. Dr. Hosmer of the Unitarian Church. When Mr. Fillmore returned +to Buffalo and was seen again in his accustomed seat, Miss Holley +refused to attend there. "I cannot consent," she wrote, "that my name +shall stand on the books of a church that will countenance voting for +any pro-slavery presidential candidate. Think of a woman-whipper and a +baby-stealer being countenanced as a Christian!"--_See_ "A Life for +Liberty," edited by John White Chadwick, pp. 60, 69. + + +[69] _See_ Seward's "Works," Vol. I., p. 65, _et seq._ + + +[70] _See_ Chamberlain's "Biography of Millard Fillmore," p. 136. + + +[71] For the knowledge that the first mention of Niagara Falls is in +Champlain's "Des Sauvages," we are indebted to the Hon. Peter A. Porter +of Niagara Falls, who recently discovered, by comparison of early texts, +that the allusions to the falls in Marc Lescarbot's "Histoire de la +Nouvelle France" (1609), heretofore attributed to Jacques Cartier, are +really quotations from "Des Sauvages," published some five years before. +There is, apparently, no warrant for the oft-repeated statement that +Cartier, in 1535, was the first white man to hear of the falls. That +distinction passes to Champlain, who heard of them in 1603, and whose +first book, printed at the end of that year or early in 1604, gave to +the world its first knowledge of the great cataract.--_See_ "Champlain +not Cartier," by Peter A. Porter, Niagara Falls, N. Y., 1899. + + +[72] Champlain a bien été jusqu'à Mexico, comme on peut le voir dans son +voyage aux Indes Occidentales; mais il ne s'est pas rendu au Pérou, que +nous sachions.--_Note in Quebec reprint, 1870._ Nor had he been to +Niagara. + + +[73] Mocosa est le nom ancien de la Virginie. Cette expression, _saults +Mocosans_, semble donner à entendre que, dès 1603 au moins, l'on avait +quelque connaissance de la grande chute de Niagara.--_Note in Quebec +reprint, 1870._ + + +[74] "Lescarbot écrit, en 1610, une pièce de vers dans laquelle il parle +des grands sauts que les sauvages disent rencontrer en remontant le +Saint-Laurent jusqu'au voisinage de la Virginie."--_Benj. Sulte, +"Mélanges D'Histoire et de Litterature" p. 425._ + + +[75] The pronunciation of "Niagara" here, the reader will remark, is +necessarily with the primary accent on the third syllable; the correct +pronunciation, as eminent authorities maintain; and, as I hold, the more +musical. "Ni-ag'-a-ra" gives us one hard syllable; "Ni [or better, +-nee]-a-ga'-ra" makes each syllable end in a vowel, and softens the word +to the ear. "Ni-ag'-a-ra" would have been impossible to the Iroquois +tongue. But the word is now too fixed in its perverted usage to make +reform likely, and we may expect to hear the harsh "Ni-ag'-a-ra" to the +end of the chapter. + + +[76] Dr. Samuel Johnson, as is well known, was responsible for a number +of lines in "The Traveller." In the verses above quoted the line + + "To stop too fearful and too faint to go" + +is attributed to him. Thus near does the mighty Johnson, the "Great Cham +of Literature," come to legitimate inclusion among the poets of Niagara! + + +[77] This is not necessarily hyperbole, by any means. Before the Niagara +region was much settled, filled with the din of towns, the roar of +trains, screech of whistles and all manner of ear-offending sounds, +Niagara's voice could be heard for many miles. Many early travelers +testify to the same effect as Moore. An early resident of Buffalo, the +late Hon. Lewis F. Allen, has told me that many a time, seated on the +veranda of his house on Niagara Street near Ferry, in the calm of a +summer evening, he has heard the roar of Niagara Falls. + + +[78] Introduced in the Epistle to Lady Charlotte Rawdon. In Moore's day +there was a tiny islet, called Gull Island, near the edge of the +Horseshoe Fall. It long since disappeared. + + +[79] It had prior publication, serially, with illustrations, in the +"Portfolio" of Philadelphia, 1809-'10. + + +[80] Tom Moore's infantile criticisms of American institutions have +often been quoted with approbation by persons sharing his supposed +hostile views. What his maturer judgment was may be gathered from the +following extract from a letter which he wrote, July 12, 1818, to J. E. +Hall, editor of the "Portfolio," Philadelphia. I am not aware that it +ever has been published. I quote from the original manuscript, in my +possession: + +"You are mistaken in thinking that my present views of politics are a +_change_ from those I formerly entertained. They are but a _return_ to +those of my school & college days--to principles, of which I may say +what Propertius said of his mistress: _Cynthia prima fuit, Cynthia finis +erit_. The only thing that has ever made them _librate_ in their _orbit_ +was that foolish disgust I took at what I thought the _consequences_ of +democratic principles in America--but I judged by the _abuse_, not the +_use_--and the little information I took the trouble of seeking came to +me through twisted and tainted channels--and, in short, I was a rash boy +& made a fool of myself. But, thank Heaven, I soon righted again, and I +trust it was the only deviation from the path of pure public feeling I +ever shall have to reproach myself with. I mean to take some opportunity +(most probably in the Life of Sheridan I am preparing) of telling the +few to whom my opinions can be of any importance, how much I regret & +how sincerely I retract every syllable, injurious to the great cause of +Liberty, which my hasty view of America & her society provoked me into +uttering.... + +"Always faithfully & cordially Yours, + + "THOMAS MOORE." + + +[81] John Neal, or "Yankee Neal," as he was called, is a figure in early +American letters which should not be forgotten. He was of Quaker +descent, but was read out of the Society of Friends in his youth, as he +says, "for knocking a man head over heels, for writing a tragedy, for +paying a militia fine and for desiring to be turned out whether or no." +He was a pioneer in American literature, and won success at home and +abroad several years before Cooper became known. He was the first +American contributor to English and Scotch quarterlies, and compelled +attention to American topics at a time when English literature was +regarded as the monopoly of Great Britain. His career was exceedingly +varied and picturesque. He was an artist, lawyer, traveler, journalist +and athlete. He is said to have established the first gymnasium in this +country, on foreign models, and was the first to advocate, in 1838, in a +Fourth-of-July oration, the right of woman suffrage. His writings are +many, varied, and for the most part hard to find nowadays. + + +[82] Those interested in scarce Americana may care to know that this +"Wonders of the West" is said by some authorities to be the second +book--certain almanacs and small prints excluded--that was published in +Canada West, now Ontario. Of its only predecessor, "St. Ursula's +Convent, or the Nuns of Canada," Kingston, 1824, no copy is believed to +exist. Of the York school-master's Niagara poem, I know of but two +copies, one owned by M. Phileas Gagnon, the Quebec bibliophile; the +other in my own possession. It is at least of interest to observe that +Ontario's native poetry began with a tribute to her greatest natural +wonder, though it could be wished with a more creditable example. + + +[83] It is a striking fact that "The Culprit Fay," which appeared in +1819, was the outgrowth of a conversation between Drake, Halleck and +Cooper, concerning the unsung poetry of American rivers.--_See_ +Richardson's "American Literature," Vol. II., p. 24. + + +[84] Lord Morpeth made three visits to Niagara. He was the friend and +guest, during his American travels, of Mr. Wadsworth at the Geneseo +Homestead; and was also entertained by ex-President Van Buren and other +distinguished men. His writings reveal a poetic, reflective temperament, +but rarely rise above the commonplace in thought or expression. + + +[85] The lines are not included in ordinary editions of Campbell's +poems. The original MS. is in the possession of the Buffalo Public +Library. + + +[86] _See_ "Five Books of Song," by R. W. Gilder, 1894. + + +[87] Dedicatory sonnet in "Younger American Poets, 1830-1890," edited by +Douglas Sladen and G. B. Roberts. + + +[88] The only edition I have seen was printed in the City of Mexico in +1871. + + +[89] _See_ Scribner's Monthly, Feb., 1881. + + +[90] _See_ "Beauties and Achievements of the Blind," by Wm. Artman and +L. V. Hall, Dansville, N. Y., 1854. + + + + + + +End of the Project Gutenberg EBook of Old Trails on the Niagara Frontier, by +Frank H. Severance + +*** END OF THIS PROJECT GUTENBERG EBOOK OLD TRAILS ON THE NIAGARA FRONTIER *** + +***** This file should be named 36974-8.txt or 36974-8.zip ***** +This and all associated files of various formats will be found in: + http://www.gutenberg.org/3/6/9/7/36974/ + +Produced by David Edwards and the Online Distributed +Proofreading Team at http://www.pgdp.net (This file was +produced from images generously made available by The +Internet Archive) + + +Updated editions will replace the previous one--the old editions +will be renamed. + +Creating the works from public domain print editions means that no +one owns a United States copyright in these works, so the Foundation +(and you!) can copy and distribute it in the United States without +permission and without paying copyright royalties. Special rules, +set forth in the General Terms of Use part of this license, apply to +copying and distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works to +protect the PROJECT GUTENBERG-tm concept and trademark. Project +Gutenberg is a registered trademark, and may not be used if you +charge for the eBooks, unless you receive specific permission. If you +do not charge anything for copies of this eBook, complying with the +rules is very easy. You may use this eBook for nearly any purpose +such as creation of derivative works, reports, performances and +research. They may be modified and printed and given away--you may do +practically ANYTHING with public domain eBooks. Redistribution is +subject to the trademark license, especially commercial +redistribution. + + + +*** START: FULL LICENSE *** + +THE FULL PROJECT GUTENBERG LICENSE +PLEASE READ THIS BEFORE YOU DISTRIBUTE OR USE THIS WORK + +To protect the Project Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting the free +distribution of electronic works, by using or distributing this work +(or any other work associated in any way with the phrase "Project +Gutenberg"), you agree to comply with all the terms of the Full Project +Gutenberg-tm License (available with this file or online at +http://gutenberg.org/license). + + +Section 1. General Terms of Use and Redistributing Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic works + +1.A. By reading or using any part of this Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work, you indicate that you have read, understand, agree to +and accept all the terms of this license and intellectual property +(trademark/copyright) agreement. If you do not agree to abide by all +the terms of this agreement, you must cease using and return or destroy +all copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in your possession. +If you paid a fee for obtaining a copy of or access to a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work and you do not agree to be bound by the +terms of this agreement, you may obtain a refund from the person or +entity to whom you paid the fee as set forth in paragraph 1.E.8. + +1.B. "Project Gutenberg" is a registered trademark. It may only be +used on or associated in any way with an electronic work by people who +agree to be bound by the terms of this agreement. There are a few +things that you can do with most Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works +even without complying with the full terms of this agreement. See +paragraph 1.C below. There are a lot of things you can do with Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works if you follow the terms of this agreement +and help preserve free future access to Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. See paragraph 1.E below. + +1.C. The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation ("the Foundation" +or PGLAF), owns a compilation copyright in the collection of Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic works. Nearly all the individual works in the +collection are in the public domain in the United States. If an +individual work is in the public domain in the United States and you are +located in the United States, we do not claim a right to prevent you from +copying, distributing, performing, displaying or creating derivative +works based on the work as long as all references to Project Gutenberg +are removed. Of course, we hope that you will support the Project +Gutenberg-tm mission of promoting free access to electronic works by +freely sharing Project Gutenberg-tm works in compliance with the terms of +this agreement for keeping the Project Gutenberg-tm name associated with +the work. You can easily comply with the terms of this agreement by +keeping this work in the same format with its attached full Project +Gutenberg-tm License when you share it without charge with others. + +1.D. The copyright laws of the place where you are located also govern +what you can do with this work. Copyright laws in most countries are in +a constant state of change. If you are outside the United States, check +the laws of your country in addition to the terms of this agreement +before downloading, copying, displaying, performing, distributing or +creating derivative works based on this work or any other Project +Gutenberg-tm work. The Foundation makes no representations concerning +the copyright status of any work in any country outside the United +States. + +1.E. Unless you have removed all references to Project Gutenberg: + +1.E.1. The following sentence, with active links to, or other immediate +access to, the full Project Gutenberg-tm License must appear prominently +whenever any copy of a Project Gutenberg-tm work (any work on which the +phrase "Project Gutenberg" appears, or with which the phrase "Project +Gutenberg" is associated) is accessed, displayed, performed, viewed, +copied or distributed: + +This eBook is for the use of anyone anywhere at no cost and with +almost no restrictions whatsoever. You may copy it, give it away or +re-use it under the terms of the Project Gutenberg License included +with this eBook or online at www.gutenberg.org + +1.E.2. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is derived +from the public domain (does not contain a notice indicating that it is +posted with permission of the copyright holder), the work can be copied +and distributed to anyone in the United States without paying any fees +or charges. If you are redistributing or providing access to a work +with the phrase "Project Gutenberg" associated with or appearing on the +work, you must comply either with the requirements of paragraphs 1.E.1 +through 1.E.7 or obtain permission for the use of the work and the +Project Gutenberg-tm trademark as set forth in paragraphs 1.E.8 or +1.E.9. + +1.E.3. If an individual Project Gutenberg-tm electronic work is posted +with the permission of the copyright holder, your use and distribution +must comply with both paragraphs 1.E.1 through 1.E.7 and any additional +terms imposed by the copyright holder. Additional terms will be linked +to the Project Gutenberg-tm License for all works posted with the +permission of the copyright holder found at the beginning of this work. + +1.E.4. Do not unlink or detach or remove the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License terms from this work, or any files containing a part of this +work or any other work associated with Project Gutenberg-tm. + +1.E.5. Do not copy, display, perform, distribute or redistribute this +electronic work, or any part of this electronic work, without +prominently displaying the sentence set forth in paragraph 1.E.1 with +active links or immediate access to the full terms of the Project +Gutenberg-tm License. + +1.E.6. You may convert to and distribute this work in any binary, +compressed, marked up, nonproprietary or proprietary form, including any +word processing or hypertext form. However, if you provide access to or +distribute copies of a Project Gutenberg-tm work in a format other than +"Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other format used in the official version +posted on the official Project Gutenberg-tm web site (www.gutenberg.org), +you must, at no additional cost, fee or expense to the user, provide a +copy, a means of exporting a copy, or a means of obtaining a copy upon +request, of the work in its original "Plain Vanilla ASCII" or other +form. Any alternate format must include the full Project Gutenberg-tm +License as specified in paragraph 1.E.1. + +1.E.7. Do not charge a fee for access to, viewing, displaying, +performing, copying or distributing any Project Gutenberg-tm works +unless you comply with paragraph 1.E.8 or 1.E.9. + +1.E.8. You may charge a reasonable fee for copies of or providing +access to or distributing Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works provided +that + +- You pay a royalty fee of 20% of the gross profits you derive from + the use of Project Gutenberg-tm works calculated using the method + you already use to calculate your applicable taxes. The fee is + owed to the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark, but he + has agreed to donate royalties under this paragraph to the + Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation. Royalty payments + must be paid within 60 days following each date on which you + prepare (or are legally required to prepare) your periodic tax + returns. Royalty payments should be clearly marked as such and + sent to the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation at the + address specified in Section 4, "Information about donations to + the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation." + +- You provide a full refund of any money paid by a user who notifies + you in writing (or by e-mail) within 30 days of receipt that s/he + does not agree to the terms of the full Project Gutenberg-tm + License. You must require such a user to return or + destroy all copies of the works possessed in a physical medium + and discontinue all use of and all access to other copies of + Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +- You provide, in accordance with paragraph 1.F.3, a full refund of any + money paid for a work or a replacement copy, if a defect in the + electronic work is discovered and reported to you within 90 days + of receipt of the work. + +- You comply with all other terms of this agreement for free + distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm works. + +1.E.9. If you wish to charge a fee or distribute a Project Gutenberg-tm +electronic work or group of works on different terms than are set +forth in this agreement, you must obtain permission in writing from +both the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation and Michael +Hart, the owner of the Project Gutenberg-tm trademark. Contact the +Foundation as set forth in Section 3 below. + +1.F. + +1.F.1. Project Gutenberg volunteers and employees expend considerable +effort to identify, do copyright research on, transcribe and proofread +public domain works in creating the Project Gutenberg-tm +collection. Despite these efforts, Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works, and the medium on which they may be stored, may contain +"Defects," such as, but not limited to, incomplete, inaccurate or +corrupt data, transcription errors, a copyright or other intellectual +property infringement, a defective or damaged disk or other medium, a +computer virus, or computer codes that damage or cannot be read by +your equipment. + +1.F.2. LIMITED WARRANTY, DISCLAIMER OF DAMAGES - Except for the "Right +of Replacement or Refund" described in paragraph 1.F.3, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation, the owner of the Project +Gutenberg-tm trademark, and any other party distributing a Project +Gutenberg-tm electronic work under this agreement, disclaim all +liability to you for damages, costs and expenses, including legal +fees. YOU AGREE THAT YOU HAVE NO REMEDIES FOR NEGLIGENCE, STRICT +LIABILITY, BREACH OF WARRANTY OR BREACH OF CONTRACT EXCEPT THOSE +PROVIDED IN PARAGRAPH 1.F.3. YOU AGREE THAT THE FOUNDATION, THE +TRADEMARK OWNER, AND ANY DISTRIBUTOR UNDER THIS AGREEMENT WILL NOT BE +LIABLE TO YOU FOR ACTUAL, DIRECT, INDIRECT, CONSEQUENTIAL, PUNITIVE OR +INCIDENTAL DAMAGES EVEN IF YOU GIVE NOTICE OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH +DAMAGE. + +1.F.3. LIMITED RIGHT OF REPLACEMENT OR REFUND - If you discover a +defect in this electronic work within 90 days of receiving it, you can +receive a refund of the money (if any) you paid for it by sending a +written explanation to the person you received the work from. If you +received the work on a physical medium, you must return the medium with +your written explanation. The person or entity that provided you with +the defective work may elect to provide a replacement copy in lieu of a +refund. If you received the work electronically, the person or entity +providing it to you may choose to give you a second opportunity to +receive the work electronically in lieu of a refund. If the second copy +is also defective, you may demand a refund in writing without further +opportunities to fix the problem. + +1.F.4. Except for the limited right of replacement or refund set forth +in paragraph 1.F.3, this work is provided to you 'AS-IS' WITH NO OTHER +WARRANTIES OF ANY KIND, EXPRESS OR IMPLIED, INCLUDING BUT NOT LIMITED TO +WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTIBILITY OR FITNESS FOR ANY PURPOSE. + +1.F.5. Some states do not allow disclaimers of certain implied +warranties or the exclusion or limitation of certain types of damages. +If any disclaimer or limitation set forth in this agreement violates the +law of the state applicable to this agreement, the agreement shall be +interpreted to make the maximum disclaimer or limitation permitted by +the applicable state law. The invalidity or unenforceability of any +provision of this agreement shall not void the remaining provisions. + +1.F.6. INDEMNITY - You agree to indemnify and hold the Foundation, the +trademark owner, any agent or employee of the Foundation, anyone +providing copies of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works in accordance +with this agreement, and any volunteers associated with the production, +promotion and distribution of Project Gutenberg-tm electronic works, +harmless from all liability, costs and expenses, including legal fees, +that arise directly or indirectly from any of the following which you do +or cause to occur: (a) distribution of this or any Project Gutenberg-tm +work, (b) alteration, modification, or additions or deletions to any +Project Gutenberg-tm work, and (c) any Defect you cause. + + +Section 2. Information about the Mission of Project Gutenberg-tm + +Project Gutenberg-tm is synonymous with the free distribution of +electronic works in formats readable by the widest variety of computers +including obsolete, old, middle-aged and new computers. It exists +because of the efforts of hundreds of volunteers and donations from +people in all walks of life. + +Volunteers and financial support to provide volunteers with the +assistance they need, are critical to reaching Project Gutenberg-tm's +goals and ensuring that the Project Gutenberg-tm collection will +remain freely available for generations to come. In 2001, the Project +Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation was created to provide a secure +and permanent future for Project Gutenberg-tm and future generations. +To learn more about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation +and how your efforts and donations can help, see Sections 3 and 4 +and the Foundation web page at http://www.pglaf.org. + + +Section 3. Information about the Project Gutenberg Literary Archive +Foundation + +The Project Gutenberg Literary Archive Foundation is a non profit +501(c)(3) educational corporation organized under the laws of the +state of Mississippi and granted tax exempt status by the Internal +Revenue Service. The Foundation's EIN or federal tax identification +number is 64-6221541. Its 501(c)(3) letter is posted at +http://pglaf.org/fundraising. Contributions to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation are tax deductible to the full extent +permitted by U.S. federal laws and your state's laws. + +The Foundation's principal office is located at 4557 Melan Dr. S. +Fairbanks, AK, 99712., but its volunteers and employees are scattered +throughout numerous locations. Its business office is located at +809 North 1500 West, Salt Lake City, UT 84116, (801) 596-1887, email +business@pglaf.org. Email contact links and up to date contact +information can be found at the Foundation's web site and official +page at http://pglaf.org + +For additional contact information: + Dr. Gregory B. Newby + Chief Executive and Director + gbnewby@pglaf.org + + +Section 4. Information about Donations to the Project Gutenberg +Literary Archive Foundation + +Project Gutenberg-tm depends upon and cannot survive without wide +spread public support and donations to carry out its mission of +increasing the number of public domain and licensed works that can be +freely distributed in machine readable form accessible by the widest +array of equipment including outdated equipment. Many small donations +($1 to $5,000) are particularly important to maintaining tax exempt +status with the IRS. + +The Foundation is committed to complying with the laws regulating +charities and charitable donations in all 50 states of the United +States. Compliance requirements are not uniform and it takes a +considerable effort, much paperwork and many fees to meet and keep up +with these requirements. We do not solicit donations in locations +where we have not received written confirmation of compliance. To +SEND DONATIONS or determine the status of compliance for any +particular state visit http://pglaf.org + +While we cannot and do not solicit contributions from states where we +have not met the solicitation requirements, we know of no prohibition +against accepting unsolicited donations from donors in such states who +approach us with offers to donate. + +International donations are gratefully accepted, but we cannot make +any statements concerning tax treatment of donations received from +outside the United States. U.S. laws alone swamp our small staff. + +Please check the Project Gutenberg Web pages for current donation +methods and addresses. Donations are accepted in a number of other +ways including checks, online payments and credit card donations. +To donate, please visit: http://pglaf.org/donate + + +Section 5. General Information About Project Gutenberg-tm electronic +works. + +Professor Michael S. Hart is the originator of the Project Gutenberg-tm +concept of a library of electronic works that could be freely shared +with anyone. For thirty years, he produced and distributed Project +Gutenberg-tm eBooks with only a loose network of volunteer support. + + +Project Gutenberg-tm eBooks are often created from several printed +editions, all of which are confirmed as Public Domain in the U.S. +unless a copyright notice is included. Thus, we do not necessarily +keep eBooks in compliance with any particular paper edition. + + +Most people start at our Web site which has the main PG search facility: + + http://www.gutenberg.org + +This Web site includes information about Project Gutenberg-tm, +including how to make donations to the Project Gutenberg Literary +Archive Foundation, how to help produce our new eBooks, and how to +subscribe to our email newsletter to hear about new eBooks. |