An account of Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha Red Jacket and his people, 1750-1830

story of the Iroquois-

ength-Traditions-Probab

of their origin-

ing to have lived here always, and to have grown out of the soil like the trees of the forest. Scattered over this continent were various Indian tribes, resembling each other in their general features and habits, but in some instances ex

re the most numerous and powerful of the six nations, of whom they were a part. Such was the title given to that celebrate

House. It was a shadowy dome, of generous amplitude, covered by the azure expanse above, garnished with hills, lakes, and laughing streams, and well stored with provisions, in the elk and

resided at one, and its western by the Senecas,

im entertainment, and examine into the nature of his embassy. If it was of small importance, it was decided by their own council; but if it was such as to demand the united wisdom of the tribes, a runner was

afterward embraced six, by the addition of the Tuscaroras,

rs. Unsuccessful in the attempt, pressed sorely by the whites, who resisted the attack, and unwilling themselves to submit, they removed to the north, and through sympathy, similarity of taste, manners, or language, or from the stronger motives of consanguinity, became incorporated with the confederated tribes of the Iroquoi

race. By their united strength they were able to repel invasion, from any of the surrounding nations, and by the for

unching their war-canoes upon the lakes and rivers of the west, now engaged in bloody conflicts with the Catawbas and Cherokees of the south, now traversing regions of snow in pursuit of the Algonquins of the

re being no written records among them, all that can be ascertained of their history previous to their becoming known to the whites, must be gathered from the dim light of tradition, from their symbolic representations, from antique remains of their

intelligent order of beings, the lower unformed and chaotic, whose surface was covered with water, in which huge monsters careered, uncontrolled and wild. From the upper there descended to the lower a creating spirit, in the form o

stars. When these were created the water- monsters were terrified by the light, and fled and hid themselves in the depths of the ocean. He diversified the earth by making rivers, seas and plains, covered it with animals, and filled it with p

sustenance of man. His conduct so awakened the displeasure of the good, as to bring them into personal conflict. Their time of combat, and arms were chosen, one selecting flag-roots, the other the horns of a deer. Two whole days they were engaged in unearthly combat; b

s, but not more so perhaps than similar traditions

to where it discharges into a great river running toward the mid-day sun, the Hudson, and went down this river and touched the bank of a great water, while the main body returned by the way they came, and as they proceeded westward, originated the different tribes composing

d Ge-nun-de-wa, is venerated as the birth place of their nation. It was surrounded anciently by a rude fortification which formed their dwelling in time of

. His dimensions were so vast as to enable him to coil himself completely around the fort. His head and tail came together at its gate. There he lay writ

prevented their endeavors. Others again sought to climb over his body, but were unable; while others still attempted to pass by his head, but fell into hi

lves with hatchets, and clubs, and whatever implements of war they could find, and made a

directed by an oracle to make a bow of a certain kind of willow, and an arrow of the same, the point of

xhibiting signs of the deepest distress. He threw himself into every imaginable shape, and with wonderful contortions and agonizing pains, rolled his pondero

the water. Soon he vomited up the heads of those whom he had swallowed, and immediately aft

thus preserved, the Seneca n

nce continued from one generation to another by the aid of religious rites. Here they were formerly in the habit of assembling in council, and here

livity. The round stones found there in great abundance, resembling in size and shape the human head, are taken as additional proof, for they affirm that these are the heads disgorged by the serpent, and have been petrified by the waters

wa, marked by a legend which draws a tear from the eye of the dusky warrior, or sends him away in a thoughtful mood, with a shade of sadness upon his usually placid brow. The story is not of the same charact

ose gifts of strength and symmetry, which awaken savage admiration. After a short debate he was condemned to die on the following day, by the slow torture of empalement. While he was thus lying in the cabin of death, a lodge devoted to condemned prisoners, the daughter of the sachem brought him food, and struck with his manly form and heroic bearing, resolved to

te lovers on landing, took a trail leading in a western direction over the hills. The Algonquin, weakened by unhealed wounds, followed his active guide up the aclivity, with panting heart and flagging pace; while his enemies, with the grim old sachem at their head, drew nearer and nearer. At length finding further attempts at flight useless, she diverged from the trail, and conducted her lover to a table-crested rock that projected over a ravine or gulf, one hundred and fifty feet in depth, the bottom of which was strewed with misshapen rocks, scattered in rude confusion. With hearts nerved to a high resolve, the hapless pair awaited the arrival of their yelling pursuers. Conspicuous by his eagle plume, towering form and scowling brow, the daughter soon descried her inexorable sir

eep rock, an

e sunbeams fall there with softened radiance, and a brook near by gives out a complaining murmur, as if mourning for the dead. [Footnote: Mr. Stone adds in a note- "This interesting legend was derived many years ago from a Seneca chief of some note, named Chequered

ations assigned them, independent of each other. Here they increased in valor, skill and knowledge, suited to their forest home. At length becoming numerous, rival interests arose among them, which did not exist wh

olated and divided condition. Already weary of their unprofitable conflicts, the proposal was received with favor, and Ato-tar-ho, an Onandaga chieftain, unequalled in valor, and the fame of whose skill and daring was known among all the tribes, became the leading spirit of this confederacy, and by common co

untry. [Footnote: Pyrlaus, a missionary at the ancient site of Dionderoga, or Fort Hunter, writing between 1742 and 1748, gives this as the best conjecture he could form, from information derived from the

ndependence, no people among the aboriginal race have ever exceeded, if any has equalled the Iroquois." [Footnote: Schoolcraft.] They occupied a region surpassed by no other on the continent, for grandeur and beauty united, and inherited from this or some ot