Indian Biography; Vol. 2 (of 2): Or, An Historical Account of Those Individuals Who Have Been Distinguished among the North American Natives as Orators, Warriors, Statesmen, and Other Remarkable CharactersThatcher, B. B. (Benjamin Bussey)
History
Indian Biography; Vol. 2 (of 2): Or, An Historical Account of Those Individuals Who Have Been Distinguished among the North American Natives as Orators, Warriors, Statesmen, and Other Remarkable Characters
Thatcher, B. B. (Benjamin Bussey)
Indians of North America -- Biography; Indians of North America -- History
On coming near one of the villages of the Five Nations, he concealed
himself until night, and then entered a cabin, while the inmates were fast
asleep, murdered the whole family, and carried the scalps to his
lurking-place. The next day, the people of the village sought for the
murderer, but in vain. He came out again at midnight, and repeated his
deed of blood. The third night, a watch was kept in every house, and
Piskaret was compelled to exercise more caution. But his purpose was not
abandoned. He bundled up the scalps he had already taken to carry home
with him as a proof of his victory, and then stole warily from house to
house, until he at last discovered an Indian nodding at his post. This man
he despatched at a blow, but that blow alarmed the neighborhood, and he
was forced immediately to fly for his life. Being, however, the fleetest
Indian then alive, he was under no apprehension of danger from the chase.
He suffered his pursuers to approach him from time to time, and then
suddenly darted away from them, hoping in this manner to discourage as
well as escape them. When the evening came on, he hid himself; and his
enemies stopped to rest. Feeling no danger from a single enemy, and he a
fugitive, they even indulged themselves in sleep. Piskaret, who watched
every movement, turned about, knocked every man of them on the head, added
their scalps to his bundle, and leisurely resumed his way home.
To return to the Five Nations. The career of victory, which began with the
fall of the Adirondacks, was destined to be extended beyond all precedent
in the history of the Indian tribes. They exterminated the Eries or
Erigas, once living on the south side of the lake of their own name. They
nearly destroyed the powerful Anderstez, and the Chouanons or Showanons.
They drove back the Hurons and Ottawas among the Sioux of the Upper
Mississippi, where they separated themselves into bands, "proclaiming,
wherever they went the terror of the Iroquois." [FN-1] The Illinois on the
west also were subdued, with the Miamies and the Shawanese. The
Nipeneneans of the St Lawrence fled to Hudson's Bay, to avoid their fury.
"The borders of the Outaouis," says an historian, "which were long thickly
peopled, became almost deserted." [FN-2] The Mohawk was a name of terror
to the farthest tribes of New-England; and though but one of that
formidable people should appear for a moment on the hills of the
Connecticut or Massachusetts, the villages below would be in an uproar of
confusion and fear. Finally they conquered the tribe of Virginia, west of
the Alleghenies; and warred against the Catawbas, Cherokees, and most of
the nations of the South.
* * * * *
[FN-1] Herriot's History of Canada.
[FN-2] Ibid.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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