Europeans Arrive

 

The Dutch and the French

 Europeans first arrived in New York State as early as 1524, when the Italian explorer Verrazano sailed into New York harbor. On that occasion the local Native Americans there saw European ships for the first time. There appears to have been no actual contact at that location, however (he met natives further along the coast as he headed north).[1]  Later, in 1609, Henry Hudson’s expedition sailed up the river that would later bear his name, and native residents of the Hudson Valley met and interacted with the crew.[2]

 In 1614, the Dutch government granted a trading patent to the New Netherland Company giving them exclusive rights to trade between the 40^th and 45^th parallels. Meridian’s eventual location, just north of the 43^rd parallel, was within that area.[3] The first trading post, known as Fort Nassau, was established on an island in the Hudson River near present-day Albany,[4] just 150 miles and nearly two hundred years from the future site of Meridian. 

 The trade in which the Dutch were interested was the fur trade, and the Iroquois of Central New York became active participants in that trade, trapping animals (especially beaver), preparing fur pelts, and delivering them to trading posts along the Mohawk and Hudson rivers. Unfortunately for the Iroquois, the beavers they trapped were not the 500-pound variety had roamed the region just after the Ice Age. It they had still been around, perhaps New York State history would have been different.

 By 1624, New Netherland became a province of the Dutch Republic, but the northern border of Dutch territory moved south to the 42^nd parallel (the east-west line that today defines the border of upstate New York and Pennsylvania). [5] Meridian’s location therefore technically became British territory and would remain so for the next 159 years.

 Even though the region was claimed by the British, it is doubtful that many Europeans, if any at all, actually visited this area until the 1650’s. In 1653, the Iroquois sent representatives to the French at Montreal, asking for peace to end hostilities with the French allies, the Hurons. The French sent missionaries to the Iroquois in response. Father Simon Lemoyne arrived in Iroquois territory in 1654, spending nine weeks among the Onondagas. There by delegates from the other nations of the Iroquois Confederacy visited him.[6]

 In 1655, Jesuit priests, Father Joseph Chaumonot and Father Claude Dablon, also paid a visit to the Onondagas, and were met by a delegation of Cayugas soon after their arrival. The natives were eager to learn about Christianity, and that set the stage for the missions that were to follow.[7],[8]

 A large expedition left Quebec in 1656, heading for the Onondagas. The party consisted of four priests, two brothers, ten soldiers and several French colonists, along with a company of Hurons, Senecas and Onondagas. They had a hard journey, running out of food by the time they reached present-day Port Ontario (called by them “Famine Bay”), but they persevered, eventually reaching Onondaga Lake via the Oswego River. The purpose of this expedition, according to their journals, was not to trade, but to convert the natives to Christianity. [9]

 After their arrival, an elderly delegate from the Cayugas asked that a priest come to their territory to teach them about the faith of the French. Accordingly, Father René Menard, Father Joseph Chaumonot and two other Frenchmen traveled westward to become the guests of Chief Saonchiogwa at the Cayugas’ principal village, Gol-O-Gouen, located about three miles south of present-day Union Springs.

 This, the Mission of St. Joseph, was the first of three Jesuit missions to the Cayugas. Eventually the Jesuits established the Mission of St. Stephen, at Tichero (at the North end of Cayuga Lake) and the mission of St. Rene, at Onnontaré (at Fox Ridge, near Port Byron). The missions to the Cayugas lasted four years, ending in 1660 as war between the French and the Iroquois began. The war was to last for eight years.

 At war’s end, the Iroquois asked that the missions be re-established, and the Jesuits returned to their labors among the Cayugas. During their tenure, they converted and baptized many members of the Cayuga nation. These French missions continued even though the Colony of New York had been officially become a British Colony in 1664. In 1683, however, New York Governor Thomas Dongan began efforts to expel French missionaries from his Colony, and the missions closed in 1684, although the French clergy continued to travel among the Iroquois. [10]

 

The French and Indian War

 The eighteenth century was one of unrest in New York. After the establishment of the Colony of New York, the Cayugas and the rest of the Iroquois Confederacy continued in their normal way of life, and continued trading with Europeans at Albany and at trading posts along the Mohawk River.

 The Europeans, however, could not seem to get along, and the Iroquois found themselves swept up in the wars between England and France. At first, the Iroquois tried to remain neutral.

 The “Covenant Chain,” an agreement between the Iroquois Confederacy and the British colonies, was renewed at the outbreak of the French and Indian War in 1754 (three earlier French and Indian Wars had occurred between 1677 and 1748). The Iroquois generally supported the British throughout this war, which ended in 1763.[11]

 After the French and Indian War ended in 1763, the native Americans once again expressed their dissatisfaction with the line (known as the Proclamation Line) drawn by British King George III to distinguish land belonging to the British Colonies and lands allotted to the Indians. The colonists were not happy with it, either, since it banned European settlement west of the line. The Native American lands were extensive, and included much of what is now northern, central, and western New York State. Large swaths of Canada, and lands north and west of the Great Lakes were British, but settlement was prohibited from any land acquired from the French during the war. [12]

 Of course, European settlers took advantage of the new peacetime to extend their reach westward, and the Iroquois were less than pleased with the encroachments into their lands. Violence between settlers and the Iroquois ensued.

 To mitigate this situation, the Treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768 provided for the payment of over $50,000 to the Iroquois in exchange for title to a vast territory. This agreement helped the British because it made new lands available for settlement. The Iroquois felt that this was a permanent arrangement that protected them from further encroachment by the British. The treaty established a line running south from a point just west of Ft. Stanwix (present-day Rome, New York) into Pennsylvania, where it went as far west as the Ohio River’s junction with the Tennessee River. All lands south and east of the line were ceded to the British, and lands north and west of the line, including Central New York, were to remain as Native American territory. [13]

It was not long after the Treaty of Fort Stanwix that difficulties arose. British expansion continued, and settlers pressed westward despite the treaty. Border disputes engendered violence between Native Americans and settlers.

 

American Revolution

 Just 8 years after the Treaty of Fort Stanwix, the colonists turned their attention to grievances with their British rulers, and the Declaration of Independence signaled the beginning of the War for American Independence.

 Both sides courted the Iroquois during the war. The Senecas and Cayugas were on the side of the British. Onondagas and Mohawks tried to remain neutral, but some of them also sided with the British. Oneidas and Tuscaroras also tried to be neutral, but some of them fought on the side of the colonists.[14]

 British troops enlisted their new allies and together, attacks on colonial settlements increased. These attacks destroyed settlements. Prisoners were taken. The Governor of New York, George Clinton was worried that settlements west of the Hudson would no longer be tenable unless something was done. When the Cayugas and Senecas, led by the British, invaded Cherry Valley and the Wyoming Valley and massacred settlers there, General Washington had had enough. In 1779 he ordered General John Sullivan to march into Iroquois territory.

 What ensued can only be described as ethnic cleansing. Beginning May 1^st, 1779, Sullivan’s 4,000 troops moved up the Susquehanna from the south, with the goal of destroying the villages and food supplies of the Cayugas and Senecas, taking prisoners where possible.

The troops came from New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Pennsylvania, and included Oneida Indians, as well.

 The army traveled north from Pennsylvania and traveled up the east side of Cayuga Lake before heading west toward the Genesee. The troops destroyed Seneca and Cayuga villages and crops and then headed back south.

 The Native Americans didn’t put up a fight, but rather headed west to Fort Niagara, where the British troops stationed there sheltered about 3,000 of them. [15]

 At least forty towns were destroyed. In the eastern section of Cayuga lands, Kanedesaga (north of present-day Geneva), Scawyace (near Waterloo), Choharo (at the foot of Cayuga Lake), Gewaga (near Union Springs on Cayuga Lake), Goigouen (three separate towns in what is now Springport, Fleming, Ledyard, with a total of fifty houses). Chonodote (known as Peach Tree Town, on the site of present-day Aurora), and Coreorgonel (south of present-day Ithaca) were destroyed.

 Thomas Grant, one of the soldiers in the expedition, kept a journal of his trek through the Cayuga country:

 

Sept. 20 – This day a detachment of six hundred men with a sufficiency of officers under the command of General Wm. Butler were sent into the Cayuga country, with which detachment I was ordered. They marched from Cannadesago [aka Kanedesaga, see above] at 3 o’clock p.m. Marched this day eight miles to an Indian town by the name of Scawyace where about eight acres of corn was destroyed.

 

Sept. 21 – The detachment marched this morning at 7 o’clock a.m. sixteen and a half miles to a small Indian settlement one and a half miles short of Cayuga Castle [part of Goigouen] where we encamped for the night. At eight and a half miles crossed the outlet of Cayuga, which in breadth was about seventy perches, and more than middle deep to the men. Near the outlet we destroyed two Indian houses. The name of the place Choharo and destroyed on the lake in different places __ houses and – acres of corn, but saw no enemy. The general course since we crossed the outlet, nearly south, the road not more than half a mile from the lake at farthest, the land middling.

 

Sept. 22, 1779 – Marched this day at 6 o’clock a.m. two miles to the Cayuga Castle, an Indian town of that name containing in number about 15 very large square log houses. I think the building superior to any yet have seen. [Here] cattle were killed and three days beef issued to the troops. The fatigue parties were sent to destroy the corn to the amount of 110 acres, though not all destroyed this day. Two other towns were discovered, one twenty-three and a half miles from Seneca Lake, which we called Upper Cayuga, containing fourteen large houses, the other about two miles east of the castle which we called Cayuga, containing thirteen houses. The troops were all employed this day in destroying corn till after dark. We found at this town apples, peaches, potatoes, turnips, inions, pumpkins, squashes, and vegetables of various kinds and great plenty.

 

Sept. 23, 1779, this day the troops were employed till 3 o’clock p.m. finishing the destruction of the corn and burning the aforementioned towns within. Marched five miles to an Indian town by the name of Chandot or Peach Town, remarkable for a large peach orchard containing [1500] fine thriving peach trees, likewise…acres of corn. This town contained about twelve or fifteen houses chiefly old buildings. Part of the corn was destroyed this evening.

 

Sept. 24, 1779 – This morning the troops were employed in finishing the destruction of the corn and peach trees. At 10 o’clock a.m. fire was set to this town and the detachment went off the ground. Marched this day sixteen and a half miles and encamped on a pleasant hill near a fine creek about one hour after dark. The land we passed this day well-timbered, and the soil very good, but very scarce of water. Nine miles from Chondote we crossed a stream of water which fell over rocks eight feet perpendicular. Three miles from [this] we crossed a second stream which fell about fifty feet perpendicular, which empty themselves into Cayuga Lake. Saw no enemy this day.[16]

 

Sept. 25, 1779 – Marched this morning about 6 o’clock and encamped at an Indian town three and a half miles above Cayuga Lake. The town appeared to be just consumed, supposed to be burnt by a detachment from General Sullivan’s army. The town was situated on a rising ground in a large, beautiful valley. The soil equal to or rather superior to any in the country, through which runs several fine streams of water, the first a creek about four poles wide, which falls from the mountain on the east side of the valley about 120 feet perpendicular into which creek three other streams empty, the second creek is the principal supply of the Cayuga Lake navigable for large canoes or boats to the town.

 

Another expedition, under the command of Col. Goose Van Schaick, coming from Fort Stanwix in the east, sought to destroy the settlements of Senecas in Pennsylvania and the Onondagas in Central New York. [17] That expedition began assembling troops on 16 April. Earlier, 63 Oneida Indians had asked to join the expedition. On 18 April, Van Schaik’s 558 soldiers, and the 63 Oneidas, headed west.

 They sailed across Oneida Lake and marched toward Onondaga Creek. They were able to surprise most of the Onondagas. Van Schaick reported:

 

We took thirty-three Indians and one white man prisoner, and killed twelve Indians. The whole of their settlement, Consisting of about fifty houses, a large quantity of Corn and Beans were burnt, a number of fine horses & every other kind of Stock we found were killed. About an hundred Guns, some of which were rifles, was among the plunder, the whole of which after the men had loaded themselves with as much as they could Carry was destroyed with a Considerable Quantity of ammunition; one swivel stake at the Council house had the Trunions broke off, and was otherwise damaged, in dine their destruction of all their settlements was complete.

 

They arrived back at Fort Stanwix on April 24.

 Despite Van Schaick’s and Sullivan’s efforts, the Native Americans who were British allies restarted their attacks on the frontier the very next year. Washington’s goal of stopping them had not been achieved.[18]

 When the revolution was finally over in 1783, those of the Six Nations who had sided with the British were no longer in any position to make any demands, or even requests, of the new United States. The Cayugas in particular had been scattered in all directions by Sullivan’s army, and by 1800, hardly any remained in Central New York. [19]

 In 1784, the new nation demanded that the Six Nations sign a new treaty. The new Treaty of Fort Stanwix was a peace treaty of sorts. However, it also changed the map of the continent with respect to the location of lands allocated to the Native Americans.

The treaty was particularly hard on the Six Nations, except for the Oneidas and Tuscaroras, who had been loyal to the colonial army. The Six Nations ceded their lands west and north of the boundary line of the 1768 Fort Stanwix Treaty. It did, however recognized the sovereignty of the Six Nations, and reserve land for them. The Treaty promised that the US Government would protect that land, a promise that was not kept.[20]

 

 

 

 

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[1] “Giovanni da Verrazzano,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Giovanni_da_Verrazzano#1522%E2%80%9324_voyage_to_America, access 18 August 2021

 

[2] “Henry Hudson and His Crew Sailed Into the River         That Would Bear His Name,” America’s Story, Library of Congress,  http://www.americaslibrary.gov/jb/colonial/jb_colonial_hudson_1.html, accessed 18 August 2021

 

[3] “Timeline Detail – 1614, - Pre-Revolution Timeline, the 1600s”, America’s Best History, https://americasbesthistory.com/abhtimeline1614m2.html, accessed 19 August 2021

 

[4] “Fort Nassau,” A Tour of New Netherland, New Netherland Institute, https://www.newnetherlandinstitute.org/history-and-heritage/digital-exhibitions/a-tour-of-new-netherland/albany/fort-nassau/, accessed 18 August 2021

 

[5] “New Netherland,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/New_Netherland, accessed 18 August 2021

 

[6] “Simon LeMoyne,” Wikipedia, https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simon_Le_Moyne, accessed 18 August 2021

 

[7] “Chaumonot, Pierre-Joseph-Marie,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/chaumonot_pierre_joseph_marie_1E.html, accessed 18 August 2021

 

[8] “Dablon, Claude,” Dictionary of Canadian Biography, http://www.biographi.ca/en/bio/dablon_claude_1E.html, accessed 18 August 2021

 

[9] “July 1656: Jesuits Arrive at Onondaga Lake from Quebec,” Onondaga Historical Association, https://www.cnyhistory.org/2016/07/jesuits-onondaga-lake/, accessed 18 August 2021

 

[10] Hawley, Charles, Jesuit Missions Among the Cayugas: 1656 to 1684, New York: Forgotten Books, 2018.

[11] Cuttler, Jeffrey L, “The Iroquois Nations and the French and Indian War,” Suite-101.com – Colonial America, 4 May 2010, http://colonial-america.suite101.com/article.cfm/the_iroquois

 

[12] “Proclamation Line of 1763,”, George Washington’s Mount Vernon, https://www.mountvernon.org/library/digitalhistory/digital-encyclopedia/article/proclamation-line-of-1763/#:~:text=The%20Proclamation%20Line%20of%201763,the%20French%20and%20Indian%20War. Accessed 7 February 2022.

[13] Flick, Alexander C., editor, History of the State of New York in Ten Volumes, New York: Columbia University Press, 1933.

 

[14] Brooks, Rebecca Constance,” Native Americans in the Revolutionary War,” History of Massachusetts Blog, https://historyofmassachusetts.org/native-americans-revolutionary-war/, accessed 7 February 2022.

[15] Fischer, Joseph R., A Well-Executed Failure – the Sullivan Expedition against the Iroquois, July-September 1779, Columbia, SC: University of South Carolina Press, 1997.

[16] Hardenbergh, John L., McKendry, William, Griffis, William Elliott, et al, “Part of Thomas Grant’s Journal,” Narratives of Sullivan’s Expedition Ag9ainst the Four Nations of the Iroquois & Loyalists by the Continental Army, Leonaur Ltd, 2010.

[17] “The Clinton-Sullivan Campaign of 1779,” National Park Service, Fort Stanwix National Monument, New York, https://www.nps.gov/fost/learn/historyculture/the-western-expedition-against-the-six-nations-1779.htm, accessed 7 February 2022.

[18] “The Van Schaick Expedition – April 1779, National Park Service, Fort Stanwix National Monument, New York,  https://www.nps.gov/fost/learn/historyculture/the-van-schaick-expedition-april-1779.htm, accessed 7 February 2022.

[19] Morgan, Lewis Henry, The League of the Hau-De-No-Sau-Nee or Iroquois, New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1922

[20] “Treaty and Land Transaction of 1784,” National Park Service, Fort Stanwix National Monument, New York, https://www.nps.gov/fost/learn/historyculture/treaty-landtransaction-1784.htm accessed 7 February 2022