The contrary most clearly appears by the whole course of conduct of our
Chief; as well as by his speeches, his letters and his participation in
treaties. With BRANT, CORNPLANTER never was on friendly terms, and after
the war of the Revolution, their policy, and even personal relations,
were adverse and hostile. Mr. KETCHUM, himself, shows that there existed
between these Chiefs "a personal dislike."
While CORNPLANTER was aiding WASHINGTON and his agents, Colonels PROCTOR
and PICKERING, and others, to preserve peace with the hostile Indians
of the west, and conciliate the Six Nations, BRANT was the agent of the
British to keep up the war, and he even sent some of his warriors to
join the enemy, when they took up the hatchet; he made his home with
the British, and was in constant communication with Colonels GORDON and
M'KEE, the commanders at Niagara and Detroit, and with other British
officers.
The writer referred to adds the following: "As a warrior, whatever may be
thought or said by whites, CORNPLANTER, in the estimation of the Indians
who were their contemporaries, was the superior of BRANT. The Senecas
were a nation of warriors; and it will be admitted that they did the most
of the fighting for the Six Nations, during nearly two centuries of their
history, with which we are conversant. From the time CORNPLANTER came on
the stage, (and he entered upon the war path early,) down to the close of
the Revolutionary war, he had no superior, and few equals as a warrior.
His other qualifications will be judged by the record he has left in
his speeches and letters, and in the archives of our State and National
Government."--Vol. 1, p. 411.
I am content to let the personal and political character of our Chief
be judged by the records thus referred to. And I think I have shown in
this MEMORIAL, _from these records_, that CORNPLANTER was not only a
distinguished warrior, statesman and orator, but that he was, after the
close of the Revolutionary war, the active, faithful and devoted friend
of the government and people of the United States. And that he also well
deserves the inscription on the monument erected by Pennsylvania to his
memory, "Distinguished for talent, courage, eloquence, sobriety and
love for his tribe and race, to whose welfare he devoted his time, his
energies and his means, during a long and eventful life."
There is one trait in the character of CORNPLANTER, not heretofore
noticed, which is referred to by Colonel PROCTOR in his narrative, and
which I think ought to be presented here. Colonel PROCTOR was sent by
WASHINGTON, to visit CORNPLANTER, to engage him and other Chiefs, to
go on an embassy of peace to the Western Indians. He traveled by way of
Wyoming and the Susquehanna. I quote from his narrative, under the date
of March 20, 1791.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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