Books: Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians

E >> Elias Johnson >> Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians

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Because their system not being like the white people's, it does not
follow that it was not a system. You might have looked into the wigwam or
lodge and thought everything in confusion, while to the occupants, there
was a place for everything, and everything in its place: each had a couch
which answered for bed by night and seat by day. The ceremonies at their
festivals were as regular as in the churches, their rules of war as well
defined as those of christian nations, and in their games and athletic
sports there was a code of honor which it was disgraceful to violate:
their marriage vows were as well understood, and courtesy as formally
practiced at their dances.

The nature of the Indian is in all respects like the nature of any other
nation; placed in the same circumstances, he exhibits the same passions
and vices. But in his forest home there was not the same temptation to
great crimes, or what is termed the lesser ones, that of slander,
scandal, and gossip, as exists among civilized nations.

They knew nothing of the desire of gain, and therefore were not made
selfish by the love of hoarding; and there was no temptation to steal,
where they had everything in common, and their reverence for truth and
fidelity to promises, may well put all the nations of christendom to
shame.

I have written in somewhat of the spirit which will characterize a
History, by an Indian, yet it does not deserve to be called Indian
partiality, but only justice and the spirit of humanity; or, if I may be
allowed to say it, the spirit with which any christian should be able to
consider the character and deeds of his foe. I would not detract from the
virtues of your forefathers. They were at that time unrivalled, but
bigotry and superstition of the dark ages still lingered among them, and
their own perils blinded them to the wickedness and cruelty of the means
they took for defence.

Four, and perhaps two centuries hence, I doubt not, some of your dogmas
will seem unchristian, as the Indians seem to you, and I truly hope, ere
then, all wars will seem as barbarous, and the fantastic dress of the
soldiers as ridiculous, as you have been in the habit of representing the
wars and the wild drapery of the Indians of the forest.

How long were the Saxon and Celt in becoming a civilized and Christian
people? How long since the helmet, the coat of mail, and the battle axe,
were laid aside?

To make himself more terrific, the Briton of the days of Henry II drew
the skin of a wild beast over his armor with the head and ears standing
upright, and mounted his war-horse to go forth crying, "To arms! Death to
the invader!" The paint and the Eagle plume of the Indian warrior were
scarcely a more barbarous invention, nor his war-cry more terrible.

It is not just to compare the Indian of the fifteenth, with the christian
of the fifteenth century. But compare them with the barbarian of Britain,
of Russia, of Lapland, and Tartary, and represent them as truly as these
nations have been represented, and they will not suffer by the
comparison.

* * * * *

CAPTIVE'S LIFE AMONG INDIANS.

ILLUSTRATED BY THE LIFE OF THE "WHITE WOMAN."

* * * * *

To be taken captive by the Indians, was, among the early colonists,
considered the most terrible of all calamities, and it was indeed a
fearful thing to become the victim of their revenge. But those who were
enduring the actual sufferings of captivity, or suffering still more from
terror of uncertain evils, thought little of the provocation given by the
white people. The innocent suffered for the guilty, and however
persevering--I suppose the efforts of the government to be just--in its
infancy, in a wild unknown country it was impossible to control
unprincipled marauders. Some atrocious act was first committed by white
men, which drove the Indian to retaliation, and thinking pale faces were
all alike, he did not wait till the real offender fell into his hands.

When the white men first came, the Indian looked upon them as superior
beings. They were ready to worship Columbus and his little party, and all
others along the coast, until their simple trust was outraged beyond
endurance, they welcomed the strangers, gave them food when they were
hungry, and sheltered them when they were cold. It was not till their
encroachments became alarming, that the Indians asserted their rights,
and if in all cases they had been as justly and kindly dealt with as by
the Quakers of Pennsylvania, there would not have been so dark a record
of sins, wrongs and tortures. If none but men of principle had made
treaties with them, and all whose duty it was to observe them, had kept
their faith, revenge had not come out so prominently in Indian character.

But it was not in obedience to national policy that those who were taken
in battle, were put to the torture, burned, and flayed. The Six Nations
had never found it necessary to build prisons, and dig dungeons for their
own people. If any man committed murder, they sometimes decided that he
should die, and sometimes bade him flee far away where none who knew him
could look upon his face. But crimes were so rare that they had no
criminal code, and when they overcame their enemies, they either adopted
them and treated them as brethren, or put them immediately to death.

White people have often put Indians to death, and oftener put them in
dungeons to waste and starve, but it was not part of their practice to
adopt them and call them brethren. Had they sometimes done this, or sent
them freely back to their friends unharmed, they might have conciliated
where they were only made more desperate.

When families are bereaved, they sought to be revenged on those who had
bereaved them, and when warriors returned from battle, the prisoners were
given up to the friends of the afflicted. With them alone it remained to
decide the fate of those who fell into their hands. If they chose, they
adopt them in place of the husbands, or brothers, who were slain; and if
they so decided they were put to death, and in any way they decreed. If
the manner in which their friend had been killed was aggravating and
greatly enraged them, they were very likely to decide upon torture, and
inflicted it in a manner to produce the greatest suffering. But in such
cases, they sometimes showed great magnanimity, and "returned good for
evil."

Children were often adopted, and by a solemn ceremony received into a
particular tribe, and evermore treated as one of their own people. You
have been in the habit of listening to heart-rending stories of cruelties
to captives, but captives who were adopted were never cruelly treated.
Those who were immediately put to death experienced great suffering for a
few hours, and those who were preserved were subjected to hardships which
seemed to them unspeakable, but they were such as are necessarily
incident to Indian life. They left no written chronicles to tell to all
future generations the wrongs and tortures to which they were subjected,
but one who sits with them by their firesides, may have his blood frozen
with horror at the recitals of civilized barbarity.

And there was one species of wrong of which no captive woman of any
nation had to complain when she was thrown upon the tender mercies of
Indian warriors. Not among all the dark and terrible records which their
enemies have delighted to magnify, is there a single instance of the
outrage of that delicacy which a pure minded woman cherishes at the
expense of life, and sacrifices not to any species of mere animal
suffering. Of what other nation can it thus be written, that their
soldiers were not more terrible at the firesides of their enemies than on
the battle-field, with all the fierce engines of war at their command. To
whatever motive it is to be ascribed, let this at least stand out on the
pages of Indian history as an ever enduring monument to their honor.

A little book which professes to have been written for the sole purpose
of recording and perpetuating Indian atrocities, and dwells upon them
with infinite delight, alludes to this redeeming trait in Indian
character, but attempts to ascribe it to the influence of superstition,
as it were necessary to find some evil or deteriorating motive for
everything noble, or pleasing in Indian character. Their treatment of
captives from among Indian nations were the same. And I know not that
there has been any satisfactory solution of a characteristic which has
been found among only one other civilized christian or barbarous nation.
A wanderer among the Indian tribes once asked an Indian why they thus
honored their women, and he said "The Great Spirit taught, and would
punish us if we did not." Among the Germans I believed there existed the
same respect for woman, till they became civilized. They may have been
some superstitious fears mingled with a strong governing and controlling
principle, but it is not on this account the less marvelous that whole
nations, consisting of millions, should have been so trained, religiously
or domestically, that degree of beauty or fascination placed under their
care, though hundreds of miles in the solitudes of the wilderness, should
have tempted them from the strictest honor and the most delicate
kindness. MARY JANISON was eighty years a resident among the Senecas, and
in the early part of the time the forests had few clearings, and the
comforts and the vices of white men prevailed but little among them. She
was born on the ocean, with the billowy sea for her cradle, and the
tempest for her lullaby. Her parents emigrated from England to this
country in 1742, and settled in the unfortunate vale of Wyoming, where
date her first remembrances, which were all the woes that fell upon her
family, the wail of the sorrow-stricken and breaking of heart-strings.
The last meal they took together was a breakfast, after which the father
and eldest three sons went into the field, and Mary with the other
little children was playing not far from the house. They were suddenly
startled by a shriek, and knew it must be from their mother. On running
in they saw her in the hands of two Indians, who were holding her fast. A
little boy ran to call his father, and found him also bound by another of
the party, and his eldest brother lying dead upon the earth; the other
two fled to Virginia, where they had an uncle, as Mary afterward learned,
and those who remained were made captives and hurried into the woods. All
day they were obliged to march in single file over the rough, cold soil.
Night found them in the heart of the wilderness, surrounded by their
strange captors, and all the horrors of Indian life or Indian death
staring them in the face. They had no hope of mercy, whether permitted to
live or condemned to die. The mother said to Mary, "My daughter, you, I
think will be permitted to live, but they will deprive you of your father
and mother, and perhaps of your brothers and sisters, so that you will be
alone. But endeavor in all things to please the Indians, and they will be
more kind to you. Do not forget your own language, and never fail to
repeat your catechism and the Lord's prayer every morning and evening
while you live." This she promised to do, and having kissed her child,
the mother was removed from her sight.

Mary must at this time have been ten years of age. She was afterwards
told, when she could understand the Indian language, that they would not
have killed her parents if the captors had not been pursued, and that a
little boy, who was the son of a neighbor, and was also taken, was given
to the French, two of whom were of the party.

In the marches of the Indians it was the custom for one to linger behind,
and poke up the grass with a stick after a party had passed along, to
conceal all traces of their footsteps, so a pursuit was seldom
successful. In deviating from a direct course in order not to get lost,
they noticed the moss upon the trees, which always grows thickest upon
the north side, as the south side being most exposed to the sun, became
soonest dry. They also had some knowledge of the stars, and knew from the
position of certain clusters that were to be seen at certain seasons,
which was east and which west.

Mary was adopted in place of two brothers who had fallen in battle, and
for whom the lamentations had not died away. The ceremony of adoption is
very solemn, requiring the deliberations of a council and the formal
bestowing of a name, as a sort of baptism, from which time the captive is
not allowed to speak any other language but the Indian, and must in all
things conform to Indian habits and tastes.

It is customary among them to give children a name which corresponds with
the sports and dependence of childhood, and when they arrive at maturity
to change it for one that corresponds with the duties and employments of
manhood and womanhood. The first name is given by the relatives and
afterwards publicly announced in council. The second is bestowed in the
same way; and by this they are ever afterward called, except on becoming
a Sachem, and, sometimes, on becoming a Chief or warrior another name is
taken, and each denotes definitely the new position. Each clan, too, had
its peculiar names, so that when a person's name was mentioned it was
immediately known to what clan he belonged.

A curious feature in the Indian code of etiquette is that it is
exceedingly impolite to ask a person's name, or to speak it in his
presence. In the social circle and all private conversation the person
spoken of is described if it is necessary to allude to him, as the person
who sits there, or who lives in that house, or wears such a dress. If I
ask a woman, whose husband is present if that is Mr. B-- she blushes, and
stammers, and replies, "He is my child's father," in order to avoid
speaking his name in his presence, which would offend him. On asking a
man his name he remained silent, not understanding the reason the
question was repeated, when he indignantly replied, "Do you think that I
am an owl to go about hooting my name everywhere?" The name of the owl in
Indian corresponding exactly to the note he utters.

When Mary Jemmison had been formally named De-he-wa-mis, they called her
daughter and sister, and treated her in all respects as if she had been
born among them and the same blood flowed in her veins, or rather, they
were accustomed to be more kind to captives than to their own children,
because they had not been inured to the same hardships. There was no
difference in the cares bestowed, no allusion was ever made to the child
as if it belonged to a hated race, and it never felt the want of
affection.

Mary said her tasks were always light, and everything was done to win her
love and make her happy. She now and then longed for the comforts of her
cottage home, and wept at the thought of her mother's cruel death, but
gradually learned to love the freedom of the forest, and to gambol freely
and gaily with her Indian play-mates. When she was named they threw her
dress away, and clothed her in deer skins and moccasins, and painted her
face in true Indian style. She never spoke English in their presence, as
they did not allow it, but when alone, did not forget her mother's
injunction, and repeated her prayers and all the words she could
remember, thus retaining enough of the language to enable her easily to
recall it when she should again return to civilized society, as she
constantly indulged the hope of doing, by an exchange of captives.

But when she was fourteen years of age, her mother selected for her a
husband, to whom she was married according to Indian custom. His name was
Sheningee, and though she was not acquainted with him previously, and of
course had no affection for him, but proved not only an amiable and
excellent man but a congenial companion, whom she loved devotedly. He had
all the noble qualities of an Indian, being handsome and brave, and
generous, and kind, and to her very gentle and affectionate.

Now she became thoroughly reconciled to Indian life, her greatest sorrow
being the necessary absence of her husband on the war-path and hunting
excursions. She followed the occupation of a woman, tilled the fields,
dressed the meats and skins, and gathered the fuel for the winter's fire,
and although this seems to the whites as unfeminine labor, it was
performed at their leisure, and occupied very little of their time.

When the hunters returned they were weary and passive, and seldom were
guilty of fault-finding, and so well did an Indian woman know her duty,
that her husband was not obliged to make his wants known. Obedience was
required in all respects, and where there was harmony and affection,
cheerfully yielded, and knowing as they did that separation would be the
consequence of neglect of duty and unkindness, there was really more
self-control, and about little things, than those who are bound for
life. They did not agree to live together through good and through evil
reports, but only while they loved and confided in each other, and they
were therefore careful not to throw lightly away this love and affection.

The labor of the field was performed in so systematic a manner, and by so
thorough and wisely divisioned labor, that there were none of the
jealousies and enjoyings which exist among those who wish to hoard, and
ambitious to excel in style and equipage. And before the fire-water came
among them, dissentions of any kind were almost unknown. This has been
the fruitful source of all their woes. It was not till Mary became a
mother that she gave up all longing for civilized society, and
relinquished all hope of again returning to the abodes of the white man.
Now she had a tie to bind her which could not be broken. If she should
find her white friends they would not recognize her Indian husband, or
consider her lawfully married: they would not care to be connected by
ties of blood to a people whom they despised: her child would not be
happy among those who looked upon her as inferior, and she herself had no
education to fit her for the companionship of the white people. She
looked upon her little daughter and thought, it is Sheningee's--it is
dearer to me than all things else--I could not endure to see her treated
with aversion or neglect.

But only a little while was she permitted this happiness, her daughter
died while yet an infant, and when Sheningee was away. Again the feeling
of desolation came over her young spirit, but all around her ministered
in every way to her comfort, and became more than ever endeared to her
heart. After a long absence. Sheningee returned. She afterwards had a
son, and named him after her father, to which no objection was made by
her Indian friends, and her love for her husband became idolatry. In her
eyes he seemed everything noble and good: she mourned his departure and
longed for his return, for his affection prompted him to treat her with
gentle and winning kindness which is the spirit of true love alone.

But again the separation, and she must pass another winter alone. For
hunting was the Indian's toil, and though they delighted in it, the pangs
of parting from his wife and little one, made it a sacrifice, and spread
a dark cloud over a long period of his life. And now it became dark
indeed to Mary, for she waited long and Sheningee came not. She put
everything in order in his little dwelling. She dressed new skins for his
couch, and smoked venison to please his taste. She made the fire bright
to welcome him, hoping every evening when she lay down with her baby upon
her bosom, that ere the morning sun the husband and father would gladden
them by his smiles, but in vain; winter had passed away, and the spring,
and then came the sad tidings that he was dead, she became a widow and
her child fatherless.

Very long did she mourn Sheningee, for it seemed to her there was none
like him. But again the sympathies of his people created a new link to
bind her to them, and she said she could not have loved a mother or
sisters more dearly than she did those who stood in this relationship to
her, and soothed her with their loving words.

Not for four years was she again urged to marry, and during this time
there was an exchange of prisoners and she had an opportunity to return
to her kindred; she was left to do as she chose. They told her she might
go, but if she preferred to remain she should still be their daughter and
sister, and they would give her land for her own where she might always
dwell. Again she thought of the prejudice she would everywhere meet, and
that she could never patiently listen to reproaches concerning her
husband's people. It would not be believed that he was noble, because he
was an Indian; and she would have no near relatives and those she had
might reject her if she should seek them, so she came to the final
conclusion and never more sighed for the advantages or pleasures of
civilized life. She came with the brothers of Sheningee to the banks of
the Genesee, where she resided the remaining seventy-two years of her
life.

Her second husband--Hiokatoo--she never learned to love. He was a Chief
and a warrior brave and fearless; but though he was always kind to her,
he was a man of blood. He delighted in deeds of cruelty and delighted to
relate them. And now the fire water had become common, and the good were
bad and the bad worse, so that dissensions arose in families and in
neighborhoods, and the happiness which had been almost without alloy was
no longer known among these simple people.

She adds her testimony to that of all travelers and historians concerning
the purity of their lives, having never herself received the slightest
insult from an Indian and scarcely knowing an instance of infidelity or
immorality. But when once they had tasted of the maddening draught the
thirst was insatiable, and all they had would be given for a glass of
something to destroy their reason. Now they were indeed converted into
fiends and furies and sold themselves to swift destruction.

Hiokatoo hesitated at no crime and took pleasure in everything dark and
terrible, but this was a small trial compared to those which Mrs.
Jemmison was called upon to endure from the intoxication and recklessness
of her son. Her eldest, the son of Sheningee, was murdered by John, the
son of Hiokatoo, who afterward murdered his own brother Jesse, and came
to the same violent death himself at the hands of others. When they came
to be in the midst of temptation there was no restraining principle, and,
even after they grew up her house was the scene of quarrels and confusion
in consequence of their intemperance, and she knew no rest from fear of
some calamity from the indulgence of their unbridled passions. The Chief
of the Seneca nation, to which her second husband belonged, gave her a
large tract of land, and when it became necessary that it should be
secured to her by treaty, she plead her own case. The commissioners
without inquiring particularly concerning the dimensions of her lots,
allowed her to make her own boundaries, and when the document was signed
and she was in firm possession it was found that she was the owner of
nearly four thousand acres, of which only a deed in her own hand-writing
could deprive her. But though she was rich she toiled not the less
dilligently and forsook not the sphere of woman in attending to the ways
of her household, and also, true to her Indian education, she planted and
hoed and harvested, retaining her Indian dress and habits till the day of
her death. During the revolutionary war her house was made the rendevous
and headquarters of British officers and Indian Chiefs, as her sympathies
were entirely with her red brethren, and the cause they espoused was the
one she preferred to aid. It was in her power to sympathize with many a
lone captive, she always remembered her own anguish at the prospect of
spending her life in the wilderness. The companion of Indians, and though
she had learned to love instead of fearing them, and knew they were, as a
people, deserving of respect and the highest honor, she understood the
feelings of those who knew them not.

Her supplication procured the release of many from torture, and her
generous kindness clothed the naked and fed the starving.

Lot after lot, acre after acre the Indians sold their lands, and at
length the beautiful valley of the Genesee fell into the hands of the
white people, except the dominion of "the white woman," as she was always
called, which couldn't be given up without her consent. She refused, at
the time of the sale, to part with her portion, but after the Indians
removed to Buffalo reservation and she was left alone, though a lady in
the manor and surrounded by white people, she preferred to take her abode
with those whom she now called her own people. Most emphatically did she
adopt the language of Ruth in the days of old, "Entreat me not to leave
thee, or return from following after thee, for whither thou goest I will
go, and where thou lodgest I will lodge, thy people will be my people,
and thy God my God, where thou diest will I die, and there will I be
buried."

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