Very recently remains of an early white settlement, traditionally
ascribed to the Spaniards, have been reported from Lincolnton, North
Carolina, on the edge of the ancient country of the Sara, among whom
the Spaniards built a fort in 1566. The works include a dam of cut
stone, a series of low pillars of cut stone, arranged in squares
as though intended for foundations, a stone-walled well, a quarry
from which the stone had been procured, a fire pit, and a series
of sinks, extending along the stream, in which were found remains
of timbers suggesting the subterranean cabins on Dukes creek. All
these antedated the first settlement of that region, about the year
1750. Ancient mining indications are also reported from Kings mountain,
about twenty miles distant (Reinhardt MS, 1900, in Bureau of American
Ethnology archives). The Spanish miners of whom Lederer heard in 1670
and Moore in 1690 were probably at work in this neighborhood.
(12) Sir William Johnson (p. 38): This great soldier, whose history
is so inseparably connected with that of the Six Nations, was born
in the county Meath, Ireland, in 1715, and died at Johnstown, New
York, in 1774. The younger son of an Irish gentleman, he left his
native country in 1738 in consequence of a disappointment in love,
and emigrated to America, where he undertook the settlement of a
large tract of wild land belonging to his uncle, which lay along the
south side of the Mohawk river in what was then the wilderness of
New York. This brought him into close contact with the Six Nations,
particularly the Mohawks, in whom he became so much interested as to
learn their language and in some degree to accommodate himself to their
customs, sometimes even to the wearing of the native costume. This
interest, together with his natural kindness and dignity, completely
won the hearts of the Six Nations, over whom he acquired a greater
influence than has ever been exercised by any other white man before
or since. He was formally adopted as a chief by the Mohawk tribe. In
1744, being still a very young man, he was placed in charge of British
affairs with the Six Nations, and in 1755 was regularly commissioned
at their own urgent request as superintendent for the Six Nations
and their dependent and allied tribes, a position which he held for
the rest of his life. In 1748 he was also placed in command of the
New York colonial forces, and two years later was appointed to the
governor's council. At the beginning of the French and Indian war he
was commissioned a major-general. He defeated Dieskau at the battle
of Lake George, where he was severely wounded early in the action,
but refused to leave the field. For this service he received the
thanks of Parliament, a grant of £5,000, and a baronetcy. He also
distinguished himself at Ticonderoga and Fort Niagara, taking the
latter after routing the French army sent to its relief. At the head
of his Indian and colonial forces he took part in other actions and
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