Tecumseh-His great exertions to prevent the whites from overrunning his country-Battle of Tippecanoe Battle of the Thames, and death of Tecumseh,

232

CHAPTER VI.

Facts in the history of the Seneca nation-Sagoyewatha, or RedJacket-His famous speech to a missionary-Governor Clinton's account of him-Witchcraft affair-One of his people put to death for being a witch-He defends the executioner-His interview with Lafayette-Council at Canandaigua-Farmers-Brother-Narrative of his capture during the revolutionary war,

243

CHAPTER VII.

Captain Pipe-Situation of affairs on the frontiers at the period of the revolution-Sad condition of the Moravian Indians at this periodRemarkable deliverance-Colonel Broadhead's expedition-Brutal massacre of a chief-Murder of Major Trueman and others in the battle of Presqu'Isle-His great intrepidity-Expedition and defeat of Colonel Crawford, who is burnt at the stake, and many moreDefeat of General St. Clair's army-Incidents in that affair-Anecdotes-Blue-Jacket-Defeated by General Wayne in the battle of Presqu'Isle, .

273

CHAPTER VIII.

Destruction of Deerfield, and captivity of Reverend John Williams and family, in 1704,

CHAPTER IX.

297

Narrative of the life of Logan, a Mingo chief-Cresap's war-Battle of Point Pleasant-Logan's famous speech-The genuineness of it doubted-Cornstock-His history-Melancholy death of Logan, 301

Adam Poe,

CHAPTER X.

CHAPTER XI.

311

Narrative of the captivity of John Ortiz, a Spaniard, who was eleven years a prisoner among the Indians of Florida,

. 315

CHAPTER XII.

Narrative of the captivity of Mrs. Mary Rowlandson, wife of Rev. Joseph Rowlandson, who was taken prisoner when Lancaster was destroyed in the year 1676; written by herself,

322

Narrative of the captivity of Quintin Stockwell, who was taken at Deerfield, in Massachusetts, by a party of inland Indians, in the year 1677; communicated in his own words, and originally published by the eminent Dr. Increase Mather, in the year 1684,

355

CHAPTER XIV.

Of the captivity and sufferings of Miss Sarah Gerish, who was taken at the sacking of Dover, in the year 1689, by the Indians; as communicated to the Rev. Dr. Cotton Mather by the Rev. John Pike, minister of Dover,

362

CHAPTER XV.

Narrative of the remarkable escape of Widow Elizabeth Heard, also taken at the destruction of Major Waldron's garrison in Dover; as communicated to Dr. Cotton Mather by the Rev. John Pike, minister of the place,

364

CHAPTER XVI.

Memoirs of odd adventures, strange deliverances, &c., in the captivity of John Gyles, Esq., commander of the garrison on St. George river, in the district of Maine. Written by himself. Originally published at Boston, 1736,

366

CHAPTER XVII.

Narrative of excessive distress of persons taken at the destruction of Salmon falls, in the State of New Hampshire, on the twenty-seventh of March, 1690,

. 392

CHAPTER XVIII.

God's mercy surmounting man's cruelty, exemplified in the captivity and surprising deliverance of Elizabeth Hanson, wife of John Hanson, of Knoxmarsh, at Kecheachy, in Dover township, who was taken captive with her children and maid-servant, by the Indians in New England, in the year 1724,

395

CHAPTER XIX.

A narrative of the captivity of Nehemiah How, who was taken by the Indians at the Great Meadow Fort above Fort Dummer, where he was an inhabitant, October 11th, 1745,

• 406

CHAPTER XX.

Particulars relating to the captivity of John Fitch, of Ashby, Mass., related by Mr. Enos Jones, of Ashburnham,

416

CHAPTER XXI.

PAGE

Captivity of Mary Fowler, of Hopkinton,

417

CHAPTER XXII.

Narrative of the captivity of Mrs. Isabella M'Coy, who was taken captive at Epsom, N. H., in the year 1747. Collected from the recollections of aged people who knew her, by the Rev. Jonathan Curtis, a minister of that town, about seventeen years ago, and by him communicated to the publishers of the New Hampshire Historical Collections,

419

CHAPTER XXIII.

An account of the remarkable occurrences in the life and travels of Colonel James Smith, (late a citizen of Bourbon county, Kentucky,) during his captivity with the Indians, in the years 1755, '56, '57, '58, and '59,

Harris's Escape,

CHAPTER XXIV.

CHAPTER XXV.

Minutes of the Provincial Council, of the year 1721, from which it will be seen that the Mingoes or Conestogas were a large and powerful tribe,

423

476

477

The Lone Indian,

An Indian Mother-Great battle in the Indian country,

Michigan and Wisconsin Border,

Chapter on Indians,

An extract from the Life of Capt. Samuel Brady,

Polygamy-Treatment to Wives-Marriage Ceremonies-Mode of Divorcing-Another Ceremony-Children called by the Mother's name, &c.

Death of an Indian Warrior,.

APPENDIX,

493

510

513

514

515

519

521

524

528

529

PREFACE.

Another book upon the Aborigines of North America, exclaims the reader! Have we not volume upon volume of works on the Indians of this continent? Their manners and customs, warfare and barbarities, have been described again and again, by antique as well as modern writers: Church, Hoyt, Hubbard, Mather, McClung, Flint, Proud, Smith, Hutchinson, Heckewelder, Fletcher, Drake, and many others, have all written books in relation to some certain tribes, confining themselves to distinct latitudes, whilst others of them have taken into their works a review of the entire race, as they existed after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth up to the present period; but they are most generally given in a prolix detail-much that to the mere casual reader is dull and uninteresting, and which for their great length are laid aside, and their beautiful parts lost sight of as they moulder upon the mantel or in the book-case of many a household. We would not be understood to say, that the authors of the books we have alluded to are in any manner blameable for this; they have labored faithfully and industriously in the accumulation of facts and matter which directly concerns every American. They have made their subjects part of the history of our own government, and as such we should understand them, and be conversant with the events, changes and scenes of days that have passed.

Voluminous historics are looked upon and very often deemed too intricate by some to be read. In view of a full and minute description of all the Indians that priorly existed in the vast territories which now compose the United States, it would require as many years and as much labor as the printing of the archives of our own republic. This work has, however, been undertaken by a distinguished author, S. G. DRAKE, Esq., of Massachusetts, who has already published several volumes, which are deservedly popular. We must here acknowledge that we are much indebted to him for some of the events which appear in the volume we are now about presenting to the public.

We do not design, by the publication of a compendium of the Events in Indian History, to claim any particular advantage over other books of a similar character that have already been issued. There are, notwithstanding, a number of advantages connected with the present compilation. A volume of the most important Events in Indian History, judiciously arranged in order as they occurred, has been the aim of our labors; in connection with this we had an eye in selecting from those works which are the most accurate in their descriptions, and in all cases cut off what we did not think essentially answering the purpose to complete our object. The Biographical department contains the incidents of those tribes which are the most celebrated in the Indian annals; some, indeed, are as complete and comprehensive as can any where else be found;-of this the reader will be better enabled to judge when examining it.

A History of the indigenes of any country has for itself many claims, which attract the notice of the learned, and the lovers of literature, but especially can our own claim attention; so varied, great and romantic are the events which followed their discovery, that no one can turn from the page of their history without being wiser and better satisfied with the change which the God of Heaven and earth has mysteriously wrought among this people. The numerous tribes that were in existence when the first navigators arrived upon the soil of this continent, receiving the adventurers of an unknown land in the North and South, with demonstrations of joy and welcome, which could scarcely have been expected by the voyagers themselves from an uncivilised race; a race of men who never before looked in the face of a white man-who never before beheld the white sails of a vessel speeding through the waters of their own wide and romantic rivers, these have passed away with the tide of civilisation, which has run its course in the same space of time westward of the Atlantic Ocean.

Numerous as they were, it appears that but one century had passed after the Europeans took possession of the soil, when their most extensive leagues were severed and their governments relinquished, as though civilisation was a very antipode to their prosperity as a nation and a people. They have passed away with the years which have made the same clime, in power and prosperity, one of the mightiest upon the globe. The mountains and umbrageous forests, dressed in all the primitive grandeur of Nature, where they pursued the chase and walked in majestic pride as the lords of the soil, now to a great extent are made to give echo to the enterprise and industry of the descendants of the Anglo-Saxons. The many thousands who now