Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora IndiansJohnson, Elias
History
Legends, Traditions, and Laws of the Iroquois, or Six Nations, and History of the Tuscarora Indians
Johnson, Elias
Iroquois Indians; Tuscarora Indians
After this in one of the scouting tours of the Senecas across the Niagara
river, among the Masassauka Indians, on their return at night to the
"place of peace" or Gau-strau-yea, they were pursued by a number of the
Masassaukas; when both parties had arrived and had their repast, they all
lodged there to rest in peace for the night, as they were wont to do. But
in the slumber and stillness of the midnight hour, was tested the
treachery of the Queen, by the Masassaukas, in asking her consent to
massacre the Senecas in their unsuspecting slumber; her feelings having
been previously somewhat alienated from the Senecas, she was induced to
give her consent, whereupon they were massacred; their number I have not
been able to obtain. They were buried southwest from the Queen's house,
the mound of which was perceptible until a few years ago, when it was
cultivated.
This breach of the law of that fort by the Queen giving consent in the
shedding of blood in that sacred place, grated the conscience of the
Squawkikows, and being alienated by the defeat they experienced a short
time previous by the matches they had with the Senecas.
This affair was kept secret for a while. At the same time the Squawkihows
urged the consent of the Queen for them to exterminate the Seneca nation
and to take them on surprise, for, they said when they hear of the
massacre, they will at once wage war against us. They finally prevailed
on her, so she condemned the Seneca nation to be exterminated.
At this time there was one warrior of the Senecas who had married into
the Squawkihows' nation and lived among them. When he heard that the
Queen had given up the Seneca nation into the hands of the Squawkihows,
to be exterminated, he resolved to go to a place called Tah-nyh-yea,
among the Senecas--east side of Genesee river, on the Seneca river--where
dwelled the head Sachem of the Seneca nation, by the name of Onea-gah-re-
tah-wa, and make his report to that venerable Sachem, the decision of the
Queen, which was final. To accomplish this, without exciting the
suspicion of his family and neighbors, he went under the pretense of
going away to hunt on the lake shore of Ontario, and would not be
expected home in two or three days. Early one fine morning this warrior
started on his high mission from his house, which was located near the
fort (Gau-strau-yea). He went northerly and touched Lake Ontario, where
he had a canoe for the purpose of hunting and fishing, in which he
embarked and rowed eastward to the mouth of the Oswego river, and up the
river as far as the Seneca river: then up that river to the settlement of
the Senecas. He there left his canoe and made for Tah-nyh-yea, and went
directly to the Sachem, (Onea-gah-re-tah-wa's) wigwam in the dead of
night, and called him out doors. He there related to the Sachem the
decree of the Queen, concerning the Seneca nation and the massacre, and
requested him to keep secret the way he had received the message. The
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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