Pen and Ink Witchcraft

by Calloway, Colin G.

  The Oneidas took a lot of work. They made up nearly five hundred of the three thousand Indians in attendance, which meant that almost one-third of the Oneida population was present, and, Tagawaron told Johnson, they were “much divided in opinion.” The sachems were expected to function as peacemakers and they also saw the treaty as a way to obtain goods and maintain their influence among the young warriors, but the warriors were intent on preserving their hunting territories and their access to the Carrying Place between Wood Creek and the Mohawk where they could earn money as porters.102 Johnson said “the greatest trouble and difficulty I met with was to bring the Oneidas to allow the line to run any farther West than Oriskane Creek” and that the negotiations on that question “engaged all my interest three Days & almost 3 nights,” more than all the rest of the line.103 At nine o’clock on Sunday evening, October 30, six Oneida chiefs came to see Johnson in private and proposed running the line from the Susquehanna north to Fort Newport on Wood Creek. Johnson rejected it because the crucial portage would be left in Indian hands. He offered the Oneidas an additional $500 and promised each of the chiefs “a handsome present” if they could persuade the nation to give up the Carrying Place, but the Oneidas would not budge. The next morning the chiefs returned to tell Johnson “that their people positively refused to agree to any other Line than they had proposed the last night”; game was growing scarce and they needed to keep the Carrying Place so that they could supplement their declining income from hunting by transporting traders’ goods. Johnson refused to accept their decision and some of the other chiefs by this time were pressing the Oneidas to close the deal. The Oneida chiefs “withdrew to consult further upon it,” and returned soon after with their final offer: for $600 “over and besides the several Fees which were given in private,” they would share the Carrying Place and accept a line ending slightly farther west at Canada Creek, a tributary of the Mohawk. “Sir William finding it best not to urge this matter farther told them that he acquiesced for the present leaving it to be confirmed or rejected by His Majesty.”104 Conoghquieson returned that night to tell Johnson the Indians were ready to present their final resolves: they insisted on the Cherokee River as their western limit and they would agree to make a cession to Pennsylvania on payment of $10,000.105

  The Rev. Eleazar Wheelock had sent two missionaries to the treaty to lobby for setting aside some land for the new college he hoped to build “in the heart of the Indian country.” Johnson had initially supported the missionary work of the Congregationalist minister and had recruited students for his Charity School in Lebanon, Connecticut. One of Wheelock’s students, Rev. Samuel Kirkland, was the resident missionary among the Oneidas. But Johnson, an Anglican, grew cold to Wheelock and withdrew his support for the work. Johnson blamed the missionaries for encouraging the Oneidas to oppose extending the boundary to the north or west, in order to “reserve those Lands for the purposes of Religion,” and to refuse selling land along the Susquehanna, where Wheelock also had his eyes on a grant for his college. “The Arguments they made use of in private amongst the Inds. Their misrepresentations of our Religion, & the Extraordinary private Instructions of Mr. Wheelock of wch I am accidentally possessed would shew them in a very odd Light,” Johnson wrote later.106 (Unsuccessful in his efforts to secure lands in the Susquehanna, Wheelock built his new school, Dartmouth College, in the upper Connecticut Valley in New Hampshire.)

  The general congress reconvened on Tuesday, November 1. The Iroquois speaker reviewed the history of relations with the English and, presenting a wampum belt to Johnson, pledged to keep the Covenant Chain “so long as you shall preserve it strong & bright on your part.” After “sundry Meetings amongst ourselves and with you,” the Iroquois had reached a final resolution, on the understanding that this would be the final line, that there would be no more demands for land, and that none of the colonies or colonists should attempt to breach it “under color of any old Deeds, or other pretences whatsoever for in many of these things we have been imposed on.” The boundaries they agreed to would

  begin on the Ohio at the mouth of the Cherokee River which is now our just right, and from thence we give up on the South side of Ohio to Kittanning above Fort Pitt, from thence a direct Line to the nearest Fork of the West Branch of Susquehanna thence through the Allegany Mountains along the south side of the said West Branch till we come opposite to the mouth of the Creek called Tiadaghton thence across the West Branch & along the East side of that Creek and along the ridge of Burnets Hills to a Creek called Awandae thence down the same to the East Branch of the Susquehanna, and across the same and up the East side of that River to Oswegy, from thence Eastward to Delaware River, and up that River to opposite where Trinaderha falls into Susquehanna, thence to Trinaderha and up the West side thereof and its West Branches to the Head thereof thence by a straight Line to the mouth of Canada Creek where it emptys itself into Wood Creek at the end of the long carrying place beyond Fort Stanwix, and this we declare to be our final Resolves and we expect that the conditions of this our Grant will be observed.

  Another wampum belt handed to Johnson encoded the message. The Indians were to retain the right to hunt in the ceded territory “as they have no other means of subsistence,” but white people were restricted from hunting on the Indian side of the line “to prevent contensions.” Two Mohawk towns and the Oneida town of Oriske lay east of the new line and were to remain as enclaves of Indian country. Handing Johnson another belt, they addressed the King of England on behalf of the Six Nations, Shawnees, Delawares, “and all other our Friends, Allies, & Dependants.” They were giving him “a great and valuable Country, and we know that what we shall now get for it must be far short of its value.” They did so on condition that the relationship forged at Fort Stanwix be maintained into the future and that the king should not forget his commitments or allow the chain to rust.107

  The Mohawks, whose villages in the Mohawk Valley fell within the area opened to colonial settlement, insisted that the lands they occupied “be considered as their sole property and at their disposal both now, and as long as the sun shines,” and that any grants or agreements they had made be considered as “Independent of this Boundary.” In other words, they could sell their lands if they saw fit. The final deed stipulated that “the Lands occupied by the Mohawks around their villages … may effectually remain to them and to their posterity.”108

  The Iroquois agreed to the massive cession of lands to Pennsylvania. In doing so, they supported Pennsylvania’s claims to land south of the Ohio contested by Virginia, and the Wyoming Valley, finally, was bought for the Penns. No commissioners from Connecticut were present to protest the sale and argue their claims. Johnson, Croghan, and the Iroquois had strategized to exclude John Henry Lydius, a well-known land speculator and smuggler, and the Indians rejected his claims as invalid. But they made a private agreement and signed a deed granting the “suffering traders” land around the Forks of the Ohio in compensation for their losses in the war: “in order to shew that we love justice, we expect the Traders who suffered by some of our dependants in the wars five years ago, may have a grant for the Lands we now give them down Ohio, as a satisfaction for their losses.” The traders received almost 2.5 million acres, about one-quarter of the current state of West Virginia. In addition, said the Iroquois, “as our friend Mr Croghan long ago got a Deed for Lands from us, which may now be taken into Mr Penns Lands, should it so happen, we request that it may be considered and get as much from the King somewhere else, as he fairly bought it.” In addition to his share in the suffering traders’ grant, Croghan thus received reaffirmation of the earlier grant of two hundred thousand acres on the Ohio that “conveniently” fell within the new cession. He had also bought up deeds to 127,000 acres of land in the weeks leading up to the treaty. The Iroquois granted Sir William two hundred thousand acres in New York. Having “given enough to shew our Love for the King and make his people easy,” they expected the Crown to permit no old claims or new encroac
hments.109

  Sir William thanked them for their words and the council adjourned. Heavy rain prevented a meeting the next day, but Johnson kept busy presenting gifts of clothing to chiefs and preparing papers. He made a final effort to persuade the Mohawks to extend the boundary beyond Wood Creek but the Mohawks stuck to their guns. After another day spent preparing speeches and drawing up the deed of cession, the parties reconvened on Friday, November 4, to conclude the treaty.110 After conducting a condolence ceremony for the death of an Oneida chief, Johnson assured the Indians that their speech to the king would be forwarded along with the rest of the proceedings and that the boundary was intended to last; however, “should it be found necessary by His Majesty or yourselves to make any future additions or alterations he will treat with you by those who have management of your affairs.” Finally, on that last day, Johnson turned to the Shawnees and Delawares. Having brought the Senecas back into the British orbit after years of rocky relations, he now treated their erstwhile allies with disdain and effectively discredited them as participants in the treaty. He told them he knew they had been talking with England’s enemies and warned them not to listen to mischief makers; the British had conquered Canada and driven the French out of their country and would always have it in their power to defeat any future French efforts. He instructed the Shawnees and Delawares to remember their agreements with the English, observe the peace with the Cherokees, “& pay due regard to the Boundary Line now made.” If they made no disturbances on the frontiers and kept “the Roads & Waters open and free,” they would “enjoy the benefits of Peace & Commerce, the esteem of the King of Great Britain & the friendship of all his subjects.” He handed them a wampum belt and told them to “remember & often repeat my words.” Johnson wanted the Ohio nations united under the leadership of the Six Nations, not scattered and following their own paths. Because the government was transferring management of the Indian trade to the individual colonies, he called on the governor of New Jersey and the various commissioners “to enact the most effectual Laws for the due observance of this Line & the preventing all future intrusions.” All that remained then, said Johnson, was for the Indians to execute a deed of cession to the king and for him to deliver to the Indians the presents and money he had promised.111

  The next morning, when the Indians filed into the fort, the presents and money were laid out on the parade ground for all to see. Wharton said it was “the greatest Quantity of Indian Goods, and Dollars, I ever saw on such an occasion” and that the presents were arranged so that they “circumscribed” Johnson, Governor Franklin, and the commissioners on three sides. The Indians’ spokesman repeated what Johnson had said the day before and thanked him for his words and advice. The deeds to the king, the proprietors of Pennsylvania, and the traders were then laid on the table and signed. Six chiefs, one for each of the Six Nations, affixed their signatures to the final deed: Abraham for the Mohawks, Conoghquieson for the Oneidas, Sequarusera for the Tuscaroras, Bunt for the Onondagas, Tegaia for the Cayugas, and Gaustrax for the Senecas. No Shawnees or Delawares were included, and there was not any statement indicating that they had agreed to the largest cession of Indian land in colonial America. The chiefs of each nation then “received the Cash which was piled on a Table for that purpose” and spent the rest of the day dividing the goods among their people. Governor Franklin and the other commissioners wasted no time and headed for home that afternoon. Johnson and the Indians left the next day, Sunday.112

  The treaty extended the boundary line almost four hundred miles farther west than Johnson’s instructions from London stipulated, embracing most of Kentucky and West Virginia (see figure 2.3). Asserting their right to the Tennessee River and their authority to act for “the Shawanoes, Delawares, Mingoes of Ohio and other Dependent Tribes,” the Iroquois delegates had signed away thousands of square miles of other peoples’ lands. The grant of lands as reparations to Philadelphia merchants—the Indiana grant—lay north and east of the Kanawha, the authorized boundary. South and west of the Kanawha lay “the whole Cumberland-Tennessee-Kentucky region so productive of future difficulties.”113 As the historian Timothy Shannon says, “The handprints of private land speculators, including Johnson’s own, were all over these cessions.” In return for £10,000 in cash and trade goods, and a measure of protection for their own lands, the Iroquois sold Shawnee hunting grounds “to agents whose official credentials barely disguised their private interests.”114 Yet at Stanwix, Crown purposes, private speculations, and Iroquois interests were not at odds; they were just not quite in line. The total cost came to £13,156, 14 shillings, and one penny: £10,460 7s. 3d in cash; £2,328. 5s. 0d. in gifts, and £758. 4s. 5d. in provisions, with additional expenses for travel, messengers, making wampum belts at the treaty, and so on.115 The Ohio Indians were allotted just £27 worth of trade goods.

  FIGURE 2.3 Guy Johnson’s map of the boundary line established at the Treaty of Fort Stanwix. (A Map of the Frontiers of the Northern Colonies with the Boundary Line established between them and the Indians at the Treaty held by Sir Will Johnson at Ft Stanwix in Novr. 1768. DRCHNY, 8, opp. 136; Courtesy Dartmouth College)

  In the name of George III, Johnson bought from the Iroquois “a vast expense of the American West which the Crown had specifically ordered him not to buy.”116 In Johnson’s mind, imperial and personal interests were easily conflated: he and the Crown both got what they wanted at Fort Stanwix. An Indian war was averted, the traders were compensated, the boundary line was run, and both the empire and its chief agent came away with lots of land. It appeared that the authority of the Crown and its superintendent over the regulation of the boundary was reaffirmed. When he got home from the treaty, Johnson wrote to Governor Penn that “after a Great Struggle & more difficulty that can be conceived by those who were not Eye Witnesses I have at length in the Settlement of the boundary Line procured for you a very advantageous cession.”117 Richard Peters promised on his return to Philadelphia to give the governor a full account of Johnson’s “attention to his interest & the prudence & zeal with which you transacted that part of the business in which he was concerned.”118 Samuel Wharton was delighted with the treaty. “I can assure you,” he wrote Benjamin Franklin, “To the Honour of Sir William and Mr. Croghan that no Treaty was ever Conducted with more Judgement and Candour and none I am convinced, ever finished with more solid satisfaction on the part of the Natives, than this did ….There is now the fairest prospect, that these Colonies have ever had since the Year 1749, to perpetuate the Blessings of an Indian peace to their Posterity and of rendering our Commerce with the Natives much more beneficial to the Mother Country, than it Ever has been.” The Indians had given up their rights to a huge amount of territory for a “very small Sum,” and the king’s ministers should confirm the treaty, and its compensation to the traders, without delay. Once the cession was confirmed, continued Wharton with an eye to the future, settlers could occupy the Ohio and the interior parts of Virginia, Maryland, Pennsylvania, and New York and no longer be threatened by Indian attacks: “In case of a Rupture, the War can be readily and at a little expence carried into the Indian Villages and They thereby be compelled to seek a retreat, To the Westward of the great Lakes.”119

  The Iroquois got what they wanted as well. In the words of William Fenton who spent his life studying Iroquois history and culture, from an Iroquois perspective, “the Fort Stanwix treaty was the greatest giveaway in history.” They were in no position to defend what they claimed, their power was declining as that of the English increased, and their influence among the Ohio nations was in decline.120 But at Fort Stanwix, for a moment, the Iroquois reaffirmed their dominance over the western nations and regained their standing with the British. They diverted the swelling tide of British settlement away from Iroquoia onto lands that they claimed but which other people inhabited, and for a hefty sum they gave up a tenuous claim to an area they could no longer control, if indeed they ever had. The Iroquois traded land for time and it was someone
else’s land.

  Johnson and the Iroquois both saw in the treaty an opportunity to bolster their authority—Johnson as the Crown’s man-on-the-spot dealing with Indians and negotiating the expansion of the empire, and the Iroquois as the key players in Britain’s relations with a wider Indian world. The treaty also gave Johnson and others an opportunity to advance their individual interests. The interests of the Crown’s agent, colonial speculators, and eastern Iroquois headmen converged in an agreement to hand over the country south of the Ohio—and the Ohio Indians paid the price.121 But Johnson and the Iroquois would also pay a heavy price for their immediate gains. The treaty did not maintain Sir William’s influence; it did not maintain Iroquois influence, and it did not bring peace. In fact, the British-Iroquois deal at Fort Stanwix produced disastrous consequences for British-Iroquois dominance in North America.

  The Struggles for the Stanwix Cession

  The treaty was immediately controversial. General Thomas Gage, the British commander in North America, feared that pushing the boundary to the Tennessee River would cause trouble with the southern Indians: “for whatever Pretensions the Six Nations May have to the Territorys claimed by them on that Side, if our Provinces should ever pretend a Right to those Lands in Consequence of this Cession of the Six Nations, it seems most probable that a Quarrell will ensue with the Southern Nations, who by no Means admit of these Claims of the Six Nations.”122 Johnson assured him that the Tennessee River boundary would “have no Ill Effect, what I have done is only vesting the Claim of the Northeren [sic] Indians (which would always hang over that Country) in the Crown,” and the Cherokees had not objected. Had he not moved the boundary west, the Virginians would have pushed into the area anyway.123 Gage remained skeptical: the Cherokees might not have openly denied the Six Nations’ claim to those lands but they did not openly acknowledge it either. “And if by Virtue of the Claim of the Six Nations Made over to Us, we should in Consequence possess those Lands, the Cherokees would look upon such a step with a Jealous and evil Eye, and that would sooner or later occasion Hostilities between us.” Gage had little faith in boundaries anyway: They were only effective if they were strictly enforced and the frontier people were “too Numerous, too Lawless and Licentious ever to be restrained.”124 Johnson agreed that the frontier inhabitants would inevitably push west but felt that it was better that they dispossess the Cherokees than the northern tribes “who are more capable of Shewing their Resentment & more inclined to do so.”125