IIALARM AT LOGSTOWN
Logstown, or Shenango, the head village of the Mingos, was nicely located in a clearing of the forest upon the high north bank of the Ohio River, a half day’s travel below De-ka-na-wi-da—the two-rivers-flowing-together place. This place, where the Monongahela River from the southward and the Allegheny River from the northward joined to form the Ohio or Beautiful River, the English traders called the Forks.
Logstown contained some fifty log cabins and skin and bark lodges and almost three hundred people. Fifteen miles east up the Ohio, on the south bank near the Forks, there was the Delaware village of fiery old King Shingis, sachem of the Delawares. On the Monongahela south of the Forks there was the village of fat old Queen Allaquippa, a woman sachem of the Delawares. Up the Allegheny, on the east bank just north of the Forks there was the village Shanopin’s-town of old King Shanopin, another Delaware sachem. And further north up the Allegheny there was Kittanning, where more Mingos and Delawares lived under command of the Delaware chief named Captain Jacobs.
West from Logstown, down along the Ohio by the Shawnee Trail there were the Delawares of King Beaver, and the Wyandots or Little Mingos of Muskingum, and the Shawnees and Delawares of WhiteWoman’s Creek which was the home of Robert’s mother, and the Shawnees of Sonnioto or Scioto.
All, all this country of the Ohio River was Indian country. But to Robert the Hunter the Logstown of the Mingos was the most important place. He rather doubted whether the Englishmen’s Albany or Philadelphia could equal it.
Tanacharison was the chief man in Logstown. He was about fifty years old, and wise. The Grand Council of the Six Nations, sitting at Onondaga, New York, had appointed him head of the Mingos of the Ohio River country, therefore he ranked as a Half-King among the Iroquois.
Next to him there was Scarouady, or Beyond-the-sky, a chief and orator of the Oneida Mingos. In the Delaware tongue his name was Mona-cath-u-atha, which was the name given to the Half-King also; but he was better known as Scarouady. The English traders called him “Scaddy.”
Anybody who looked upon Scarouady saw a warrior and chief indeed. He was over six feet tall, and straight and sinewy and active. Already he had fought in more than twenty-five battles, so that his leggins and his hunting shirt were fringed with scalp hair. His head was shaven except for the long braided scalp lock, to be taken by the hand that could take it; the chief’s sign, a tail plume of the bald eagle, was thrust through the base of the scalp lock, and the braid was decorated with blue-jay feathers.
Upon his broad chest a tomahawk—the warrior sign—had been tattooed in blue; and the hunter sign, of bow and arrow, had been tattooed upon either cheek.
With his light coppery skin, his high forehead,a large, straight nose set between his wide cheek bones, his black eyes and his firm, thin lips, this was the brave Scarouady, friend to the English and to Robert the Hunter.
Then there was White Thunder or Belt of Wampum, who had a pretty daughter named Bright Lightning; and old Juskakaka or Green Grasshopper, whom the English called “Little Billy;” and Guyasuta or Standing Cross, a famous young warrior; and Aroas or Silver Heels, another Seneca warrior; and other valiant men, all of whom regarded Tanacharison and Scarouady as their leaders.
Here to Logstown came the English traders: John Fraser on his way to his trading house in the Seneca and Delaware town of Venango, sixty miles northward, where he stored his goods and made guns to sell; and John Davidson of the Virginia Long Knives, and Captain George Croghan of Pennsylvania of the east; and others, driving their pack horses over the mountains and crossing the river in wooden canoes, to stay at Logstown and to trade beads, paint, powder, lead, blankets and rum for furs.
And here came Captain Andrew Montour, who was part Huron and part Seneca and part white, to talk for the Governor of Pennsylvania; and once in a long time the merry Captain Joncaire, half Seneca, from the French of Canada. These two were gaily dressed, and spoke the Iroquois tongue, and were accounted great men.
So that with the Indians in paint, blankets and moccasins, and the traders in whiskers, fur caps and deer-hide shirts, and speech makers like Captains Montour and Joncaire, and the women, children and dogs, Logstown beside the broad, blueOhio flowing amid forest and meadow, rich in deer, bear and wild turkey, was a stirring town.
Now this summer Juskakaka and White Thunder with speech belts were sent to the council to be held with the English at Albany of New York in the country of the Iroquois council fire.
When they two returned they reported that the French of Canada were getting ready to seize the Ohio River. The Iroquois spies were certain of this, and so were the English.
The Six Nations League of the Iroquois were friends of the English, and enemies of the French. That had long been the case. All the Iroquois lands from the Alleghany Mountains to the setting sun were open to the English; “for,” said the Iroquois, “we have conquered it, and it is yours who are our brothers.”
Therefore, at the big council, the Iroquois agreed to help the English to keep the French out. The English were to put many more traders into the Ohio River country, so that the Indians should be fat with goods and strong to fight.
The Mingos had been directed to talk with the Delawares and the Shawnees, and ask them to take up the hatchet against the French, and against the Ottawas and the Potawatomis of the north, who were allies of the French. But the Delawares and Shawnees of the Ohio were undecided.
King Shingis of the Delawares spoke fiercely. He was a small man, but strong and quick, and his eyes glowed hotly. He hated the English, and wished no white men at all.
“No,” he said. “This is our country. The Delaware are men. They stand on their own ground. Ifthe French and English desire to fight, let them fight in their own land or on the big water. If they fight here, the Indian will be like cloth under a pair of shears and will be cut in pieces. We ask for nothing but to be let alone. Besides, the English are stingy. They give little. The French give much. The Swannoks (which was a name of contempt for the English) fool us with trash and take our lands and drive us out. The French will leave us our lands and live among us.”
And so said King Beaver, of the Delawares farther west, in Ohio.
“The Delaware are not women, to be ordered by the Iroquois,” said King Beaver. “Three times the Iroquois have sold our lands and made us move. Now this is our land and not a Frenchman nor an Englishman shall have one foot of it.”
And so said Killbuck, and Kateuskund. Old Shanopin of Shanopin’s-town said nothing; but the fiery young Cat-a-he-cassa or Blackhoof of the Shawnees cried angrily:
“What our grandfathers the Delaware say, we say. Onontio is a better man than the King of the Swannoks, but we wish no white men except traders in our land.”
The French came. Runners from the Senecas of Venango in the north panted in to declare that the French of Onontio were descending the Allegheny River in twenty-three canoes. There were more than two hundred soldiers and Ottawas under a French captain; and they were sending Captain Joncaire the half-Seneca ahead, to make things ready. They were burying lead plates and nailing up signs at the mouthsof the rivers, seizing the land for Onontio, and driving out the English traders.
“The English have not yet come to help us,” said Tanacharison, in the Mingo council. “They should have built a fort with great guns in it, to turn the French back. Let us hear what these French have to say. To show that we are not at war we will put up the flags of the two nations.”
So the King George’s red flag given by the English traders was kept up, and the white French flag sent last year by Captain Joncaire himself was put up. Soon Indians from the outside again hurried in. Delawares of Kittanning up the Allegheny arrived to say that the French had landed there and had found nobody; and the Shawnees and Delawares from Shanopin’s-town arrived to say that the French had passed there; and Mingos and Delawares from fat Queen Allaquippa’s town of the Monongahela south of the Forks arrived to say that the French were there.
And the next noon here came, in a canoe paddled by Ottawas but bearing no soldiers, Captain Joncaire, bringing another French flag.
A swarthy, wrinkled man, was Captain Joncaire; small, lean, quick, dark but gray-haired, constantly smiling and merry, but exceedingly sharp. It was only by his smiles and his white teeth that he showed his French blood. His father was a French officer of Canada, but his mother was a Seneca and he spoke the Seneca tongue.
Now wearing a blue French soldier coat with captain’s epaulets, and gaily beaded leggins and moccasins, and a woodsman’s cap on his long gray hair,and a sword at his belt and a rifle on his back he sprang ashore at Logstown.
“Greetings to my brothers,” he called, in Seneca. “I am come from your father Onontio. A greater one than I am is following with presents and important words. Am I welcome?”
But he was answered with murmurs and black looks. With his Ottawas of the French he strode on to the council house where Tanacharison would be waiting for him. He and the chiefs smoked the calumet pipe; then Tanacharison the Half-King asked:
“What does my brother wish in Shenango?”
“I am come alone,” said Captain Joncaire. “I am a Seneca, I am among brothers. I come from the French of Onontio, who also are my brothers. The great Onontio does not like to see two flags floating in this country which he shares with his red children. He has heard that the English are crossing the mountains into your country and his, and are poisoning the minds of his children. So he is sending a company under a mighty captain down the Beautiful River to talk with his children the Mingo, the Wyandot, the Delaware, the Shawnee. From Shenango the captain goes on to scourge home the Miami and the Wyandot further west who have listened to the false songs of the English. This is French country; our father Onontio wishes all the Indians to live here at peace, but he will have no English traders, who are only spies.”
“Is Onontio at war with the English king across the water?” Half-King asked.
“He is not at war, but his arm is long; it can reach across the water,” said Captain Joncaire. “Youknow me as your brother. I live in your houses. I tell you the truth. You cannot think to stand still and be the children of the French and of the English both. That is impossible. The English seek to drive you from your lands; the French seek to hold your lands for you. Have the French ever stolen land from under your feet? No! But with the French pulling you one way and the English pushing you another, you will be torn in two. So now the French are coming in to hold you on the land, and the English must get out. They have no right between the mountains and the setting sun.”
“We will talk with the captain sent by Onontio,” said Tanacharison.
When the warriors knew what had been said in the council, Logstown was much excited. Those Indians who wanted no whites at all were in favor of killing the ten English traders in town and not letting the French land. Tanacharison sent the Hunter to tell the traders to be careful and to stay indoors. Those Indians who wished the English were also in favor of not letting the French land and bury plates that would make the country French. The Mingos were for obeying the words of Tanacharison, and hearing what the captain sent by Onontio had to say, under the peace flag. So between the warriors of Tanacharison, helped by Scarouady and White Thunder, and the Delawares and Shawnees of Shingis and Blackhoof, there was hot talk.
In mid-afternoon the fleet of canoes swept into the bend and bore down for Logstown. The paddles flashed, guns glistened, and the white flag with the golden lilies of France streamed in the breeze from the foremost boat.
Everybody rushed to the high bank, where the canoe landing was. The muskets and rifles volleyed—Bang! Bang! Crack! Crack!—in salute and in warning, too, for the bullets splashed the canoes with water.
The canoes, crowded with the sky-blue coats and the white breeches of the soldiery, almost stopped; but the French captain bravely stood up and shouted, in French:
“What is this? Do you fire on your brothers from Onontio? Quit this foolishness or we will give you ball for ball.”
Tanacharison and Scarouady and Captain Joncaire struck aside the barrels of the guns, and the warriors ceased firing. The French came on; they climbed the bank and marched to a piece of higher ground above the town, nearer the forest, and made camp.
They placed guards around their camp; the head captain sent word to the chiefs that he wished to meet them in council; and Half-King replied that he must wait until the chiefs had talked together.
It was another stormy talk. Shingis and Blackhoof were still for war; they would drive off the French and the English both, and many of the Mingos were for wiping out these French anyway. But the French were strong and well guarded in their camp, and Captain Joncaire had friends who would tell him what was being planned. So although the town was in a hubbub through most of the night, nothing was done, and in the morning the council with the French captain, whose name was Céleron, sat to hear what he would say.
Captain Joncaire translated. The French captain, standing up in his best uniform, said:
“Onontio your father speaks to you with these words: Through the love I bear you, my children, I send to you Captain de Céleron to open your eyes to the schemes of the English against your lands. What they mean to do will ruin you. They work in secret, but they plan to build houses upon your lands and settle here and drive you away, if I let them. As a good father who loves his children and far away keeps them always in his heart I warn you of the danger that threatens you. The English plan to rob you of your country, and first they rob you of your minds. They mean to seize the Ohio which belongs to me; so I have ordered Captain de Céleron to tell them to go out, and leave Shenango and all other villages of my children of the Ohio.”
Then Tanacharison answered:
“Our brother from Onontio sees us poor. We are a long way from Onontio. The goods he sends us are many moons getting here. That our wives and children may not go cold and hungry we trade with the English, who are always with us. We ask Onontio to let us trade a little while yet with the English who have come. They are our guests and it is not right to put them out. We understand that you are burying lead plates and nailing up signs to claim this land. We do not know why this is French land. The English say that it is English land. Where is the Indian land? We are made poor; and if we do not get goods from the English we will starve.”
This was a clever speech, which promised nothing. Then the French captain stood again, and said:
“By the gifts that your father sends you he promises to take care of his children. Stand firm against the English, and soon your father will raise a barrier against them and the sky will always be calm over your heads. This shall be your land to enjoy as you please, if you remain true children. As for these English now here, I myself will order them to go back to their own country.”
That he did, after the council. The ten traders agreed to leave, and the French went on down the Beautiful River, to talk with the Wyandots, the Shawnees and the Miamis in the west. But the English traders stayed.
Now Logstown was of several minds again. Old King Shingis was satisfied.
“The English are being driven out,” he said. “That is good. The French speak fair words, and we shall see whether they lie or not. If they think to settle here, we will drive them out, too, for this is Indian land. Then we will be rid of all whites.”
George Croghan, who was a great trader from Pennsylvania and had a store-house in Logstown, came to Tanacharison and said:
“Listen, brother. This is the country of your father Onas.” Onas was the name for the governor of Pennsylvania. “Pay no attention to the twitters of the French, for we pay no attention to them. The French are far, but Onas is near. He it is who sends us over the mountains to trade with you, and our goods are cheap. But these Virginia men plan to settle upon your country and you should watch them, or they will try to buy you with their goods.”
Everybody knew that there was rivalry between the Pennsylvania traders and the Virginia traders.The traders of Onas claimed the right to trade, for they said that the Forks of the Ohio and the country near were Pennsylvania. The Virginians said it all was Virginia.
So Tanacharison went to John Davidson, of the Virginia traders, and said:
“Is it true that Assaragoa (which was the name for the Governor of Virginia) plans to build houses and settle the Indian country?”
John Davidson replied:
“It is true that Assaragoa governs all this country from the mountains to the river, and his traders have the right to trade with you. I think the men from Onas have been talking to you. It is true, too, that your Virginia father is going to send men in to clear land and build a house on this side of the mountains, near the Ohio, and keep the French out. Then the Indians may live in peace.”
“Who will bring these men in?” asked Tanacharison.
“It is a company under a man named Washington,” said John Davidson.
“That is good,” said Tanacharison. “I have heard of Washington, but do not know him. He is not a chief.”
“He is a soldier captain and a chief,” replied John Davidson.
“We shall see,” said Half-King. “When you go back you tell our Virginia father to send men and build a house with guns, for the men of Onas do not say they will build houses.”
Another thing happened right after the council. Robert the Hunter saw Bright Lightning, WhiteThunder’s pretty daughter, beckon to him, and he went to her.
“I found something,” said Bright Lightning. “What shall I do with it? I am afraid of it.”
She showed it to him, where she had hidden it under some leaves. It was one of the lead plates brought by the French.
“Where did you get it?”
“From Captain Joncaire. He was playing with me, and when he wasn’t looking I took it. There were others; so I put this under my blanket, and he didn’t know. But I’m afraid of it, Hunter. It has evil signs on it. You are part white. Is this white man’s witchcraft?”
The plate was marked with strange signs that Robert could not read. In fact, he could not read print, anyway—he never had learned. His reading was of signs left by animals and birds and men, upon the ground. So whether these signs were writing in French or English he did not know. They looked like witchcraft.
“We’ll take it to Tanacharison,” he said. “Tanacharison is wise. Maybe it ought to be burned.”
They took it to Tanacharison, and Tanacharison examined it. He could make nothing of it, and none of the English could make anything of it—for the very good reason that it was written in French. Evidently this plate was a mischief plate.
“Let us send it to the head council at Onondago,” said Tanacharison. “They will show it to wise English who will read it, and then we will know the designs of the French from Onontio.”
White Thunder set off with the plate carefully wrapped in deer skin, for Onondago of New York.
When he returned he reported that Colonel William Johnson, the great white Mohawk brother in the Six Nations, had read the plate. The words on the plate were very bad; wherever these plates were buried they would blast the land and the Indians would sicken and die. He advised his brothers of the Ohio to have nothing whatever to do with the French.