These previously related facts make sufficiently plain the extent and spirit the extent and spirit of dominion claimed and exercised in the eastern and northern portions of the Continent by this tremendously formidable power.  We now turn to the southern Province, west of the Delaware, east of the Allegheny mountains; and southerly from the head waters of the Susquehanna, administered by the Senecas and Oneidas: and as in this territory Wyoming is included, we hope to throw more incident into our narrative, and impart greater interest to the subject.

            Mr. Jefferson, after describing the numerous tribes in lower Virginia in which the Powhattan confederacy is estimated at 8000. says: “Westward of all these tribes, beyond the mountains, and extending to the great lakes, were the Massawamees, a most powerful confederacy, who harassed unremittingly the Powhattans, and Manahoacs. These were probably the ancestors of tribes known at present as the Six Nations.”   I am strongly of opinion that, at an early period, Wyoming was the head quarters of one or two of those nations, though not at the scite [sic] of their great Council fire; - that was at Onondago. They were known then by the name of Massawamees. Is not the inference fair that the name they bore was derived from these extensive plains?  The reader will bear in mind that Indian names are not arbitrary selections of fancy, but uniformly are given as descriptive of the thing named.

            Massachusetts was thus called from the blue hills, says Roger Williams. The Rev. John Cotton defines Massachusetts, in his vocabulary of Indian words, “Ant hill in the form of an arrow head.”  The name of the terrible foes of the Powhattans, then, was formed of the two words, Massa-Hills  -  Waughmees, plains - meaning A people among the hills, seated upon extensive plains - an exact description of Wyoming.

            I have purposely left a notice of Indian fortifications, found in the valley, for this connexion [sic], because the aspect they present strengthens the conclusion, that Wyoming was the residence of several chiefs and tribes of this gigantic empire.  Mr. Chapman [?] has given a clear description of the fort remaining on the west or Kingston side of the river.

            “In the valley of Wyoming, there exists some remains of ancient fortifications, which appear to have been constructed by a race of people very different in their habits from those who occupied the place when first discovered by the whites. Most of these ruins have been so much obliterated by the operations of agriculture, that their forms cannot be distinctly ascertained. That which remains the most entire, was examined by the writer during the summer of 1817, and its dimensions carefully ascertained; although from frequent ploughing, its form had become almost destroyed.  It is situated in the township of Kingston, upon a level plain on the north side of Toby’s creek, about one hundred and fifty feet from its bank, and a bout half a mile from its confluence with the Susquehanna.  It is of an oval or elliptical form, having its longest diameter from the northwest to the southeast, at right angles to the creek, three hundred and thirty-seven feet, and its shortest diameter from the northeast to the southwest, two hundred and

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seventy-two feet.  On the southwest side, appears to have been a gateway about twelve feet wide, opening toward the great eddy of the river, into which the creek falls. From present appearances, it consisted, probably, of only one mound or rampart, which in height and thickness, appears to have been the same on all sides, and was constructed of earth; the plain on which it stands, not abounding in stone.  On the outside of the rampart, is an entrenchment or ditch formed, probably, by removing the earth of which is composed, and which appears never to have been walled. The creek, on which it stands, is bounded by a high steep bank on that side, and at ordinary times, is sufficiently deep to admit canoes to ascend from the river to the fortification. When the first settlers came to Wyoming, this plain was covered with its native forests, consisting principally of oak and yellow pine; and the trees which grew in the rampart and in the entrenchment, are said to have been as large as those in any other part of the valley; one large oak, particularly, upon being cut down, was ascertained to be seven hundred years old. The Indians had no tradition concerning these fortifications, neither did they appear to have any knowledge of the purposes for which they were constructed. They were, perhaps, erected about the same time with those upon the waters of the Ohio, and, probably by a similar people, and for similar purposes.”

            I am happy to be able to add some very interesting facts to this description of my lamented friend.  Another fortification existed on Jacob’s Plains, or the upper flats, in Wilkes-Barre. Its situation is the highest part of the low grounds, so that only in extraordinary floods, is the spot covered with water. Looking over the flats, in ordinarily high freshes, the site of the fort presents to the eye and island in the vast sea of waters. The eastern extremity is near the line dividing the farms of Mr. John Searle and Mr. James Hancock, where, from its safety from inundation, a fence has long since been placed; and to this circumstance is to be attributed the preservation of the embankment and ditch. In the open field, so entirely is the work leveled, that the eye cannot trace it; but the extent west, is known, “for it reached through the meadow  lot of Capt. Gore,” (said Cornelius Courtright, Esq., to me when visiting the ground several years ago) “and came on to my lot one or two rods.”  The lot of Capt. Gore was seventeen perches in width. Taking then these two hundred and eighty feet, add the distance it extended eastwardly on the Searle lot, and the extension, westerly, on the lot of Esq. Courtright, we have the length of that measured by Mr. Chapman, so very nearly, as to render the inference almost certain, that both were of the same size and dimensions. Huge trees were growing out of the embankment when the white people began to clear the flats for cultivation. This, too, in Wilkes-Barre is oval, as is still manifest from the segment exhibited on the upper part, formed by the remaining rampart and fosse, the chord of the arc being the division fence. A circle is easily made; the elliptical form much more difficult for an untutored mind to trace. Trifling as these circumstances may appear, the exact coincidence in size and shape, and that shape difficult to form, they appeared to me worthy of a distinct notice. The Wilkes-Barre fortification is about eighty rods from the river, towards which a gate opened, and the ancient people concur in stating that a well existed in the interior, near the southern line. On the bank of the river there is an Indian burying place, not a barrow or hill, such as described by Mr. Jefferson, but where graves have been dug, and the

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deceased laid, horizontally, in regular rows. In excavating the canal, cutting through the bank that borders the flats, perhaps thirty rods south from the fort, was another burying place disclosed, evidently more ancient; for the bones almost immediately crumbled to dust, on exposure to the air; and the deposits were far more numerous than in that near the river.  By the reputation of James Stark, Esq., the skeletons were countless, and the deceased had been buried in a sitting posture. In a considerable portion of the bank, though scarcely a bone remained of sufficient firmness to be lifted up, the closeness and position of the buried, were apparent by the discoloration of the earth. In this place of deposit, no beads were found, while they were common in that near the river.

            In 1814, I visited this fortification in company with the present Chief Justice Gibson, and Jacob Cist, Esqs.  The whole line, although it had been ploughed for more than thirty years, was then distinctly traceable by the eye. Fortune was unexpectedly propitious to our search, for we found a medal bearing on one side the impress of King George the First, dated 1714, (the year he commenced his reign,) on the other an Indian chief. It was awarded to Mr. Cist, as the most curious and careful in such matters, and by him was deposited with the Philadelphia Historical Society. * [see below]

            * Should it not be placed with the Indian relics in a Museum to be formed in Wilkes-Barre?”

            Three years ago, an ice flood passed over the flats, and left several skeletons exposed. Mr. Hancock politely sent for me, but being absent, I did not visit the spot until the next day. A profusion of blue beads remained; a skull or two, and some well preserved bones were taken by Dr. Boyd; but all were regretting that I had not seen a picture of a lady, found upon the breast, worn as a locket, of, from this, the beads and ornaments, it was supposed a great chief.  Various were the conjectures who it could have been. Some supposed a European officer had presented the chief with a miniature of his mistress; this I thought improbable. The likeness was not painted on ivory, but a print

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pasted on an oval piece of glass, about four inches the longest way. Taken in connexion [sic] with the medal of George the First, I expressed the conviction that the picture must have been that of Queen Anne. What greatly strengthens this opinion is the fact, that in 1710, in the reign of that Queen, a deputation of chiefs of the Five Nations visited England, where they were received with marked distinction. Clothed like tragedy kings, by tailors of the theatre; taken in the coaches of state, they were waited upon by Sir Charles Cottrell, and on the 19^th of April introduced to her Majesty by the Duke of Shrewsbury.

They were entertained by many noble persons, particularly the great Duke of Ormond, *  who regaled them with a review of the life guards. Their portraits and are now in the British Museum.

            * The Duke of Ormand’s family name, was Butler. I throw out the conjecture, that the ancestors of Col. John Butler, the intimate friend of Sir William Johnson, and leader of the Indians may, probably at this time, have received an appointment from his relative and namesake, to return with these chiefs to America, and act as an agent of the British government.

            Their visit is noticed by Sir Richard Steele, in The Tattler of May 13, 1710.

            [Editor’s Note: The complete title would be The Lucubrations of Isaac Bickerstaff Esq, by Sir Richard Steele, published in London with daily installments in The Tattler, and later, in 1813 as a four volume set for subscribers. The editor is in possession of that four volume collection. The date of the article is actually May 12, 1710. We are not sure that Miner caught the tone of this article so are including portions of that here:

                        Timolean appeared much satisfied with this Account, and having a Philosophick Turn, began to argue against the Modes and Manners of those Nations which we esteem polite, and express himself with Disdain at our usual Method of calling such as are Strangers to our Innovations, barbarous, I have says he, so great a Deference for the Distinction given by these Princes, that “Cadaroque” shall be my Upholsterer. - He was going on, but the intended Discourse was interrupted by Minucio who sat near him, a small Philosopher, who is also somewhat of a Politician; one who sets up for Knowledge by Doubting, and has no other Way of making himself considerable, but by contradicting all he hears said. He has, besides much Doubt and Spirit of Contradiction, a constant Suspicion as to State-Affairs. This accomplished Gentleman, with a very awful Brow, a Countenance full of weight told Timolean, That is was a great Misfortune Men of Letters seldom looked into the bottom of Things. Will any Man, continued he, persuade me, that this was not from the Beginning to the End a concerted Affair? Who can convince the World, that Four Kings shall come over here, and lie at the Two Crowns and Cushion, and one of them fall sick, and the Place to be called “King-Street,” and all this by mere Accident? No, no: To a Man of very small Penetration, it appears that Tee Yee Neen Ho Ga Row, Emperor of the Mohocks, was prepared for this Adventure beforehand. I do not care to contradict any Gentleman in his Discourse; but I must say, however, Sa Ga Yeath Rua Geth Ton, and E Tow Oh Koam, might be surprised in this Matter; nevertheless, Ho Nec Yeth Taw No Row knew it before he set foot on the English Shore.

            The delegation consisted of five chiefs, of whom, the names of for are preserved: - 1. Tee-Yee-Neen-Ho-Ga-Prow; 2. Sa-Ga-Yean-Qua-Peah-Ton; 3. Elow-Oh-Koam, and 4. Oh-Nee-Yeath-Ton-No-Prow - the last two being River Indians.*

            * For this information, my acknowledgements are due to Drake’s Book of the Indians
. [Editor‘s Note: published in 1841, Samuel Alden Drake]

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            It seems, then, probable, that the skeleton found with the picture on his breast, was one of the two latter chiefs, who had visited the Court of Queen Anne, received her likeness, pasted on glass, which was worn as a badge of honour, and was buried with him.

            Mr. Jefferson further states, that the Tuscaroras became united with the Iroquois, in 1712, thus making the confederacy Six Nations. Of course when the delegation visited England in 1710, two years before, the confederacy was constituted of, as it was called, the Five Nations. Five chiefs went to England. The inference is quite probable, nay, almost certain, that a distinguished sachem went from each nation. One died in England, leaving four, whose names we have mentioned. They were spoken of at the time as kings, and treated with great distinction. Two of these are stated to have been River Indians. We have given our reasons for believing that one of those kings died at the Indian fort at Jacob’s Plains, Wilkes-Barre, and that it was his skeleton which the flood washed out, of which I have spoken. He, the, was one of the River Indians. But there was another. Our inference is, that he occupied the fortification described by Mr. Chapman, on the west side of the river; that Wyoming, therefore, must have been, so late as 1715, and for a time indefinitely previous, the occasional residence of the kings of two of the Five Nations. Depending on hunting and fishing for subsistence, the tribes would, for the sake of plenty, be located some distance apart, however close their alliance; and Wyoming, from its superabundance of game and fish, would not be overlooked or neglected. What two nations, then, inhabited the valley? Not the Mohawks; they were located the farthest east, as we have seen, and gave or received their name from the Mohawk river. Not the Onondagas, for they, I take it, were a distinguished or favored tribe, to whom was committed the preservation of the Sacred Council Fire; the “Great Head,” or Congress, ever holding their sessions within the limits of that nation.  Whether there are additional facts to warrant such an inference, I am not prepared to assert; but the Great Shikellamus, the Vice Roy over the Pennsylvania Indians, being an Onondago, might lead to the conjecture, that the more elevated civil offices of authority and honour, were exercised by that tribe. Not a fact presents itself, in my research, to lead me to suppose that the Cayugas had ever any special interest or influence here. But the Senecas and Oneidas acted so conspicuous a part in the affairs of Wyoming, that I incline strongly to the opinion, they were the nations who occupied the two fortifications described. A Seneca, Gi-en-gwah-toh, commanded  in the battle. A delegation of Senecas, attempted and executed the impudent deception upon Congress. *

            * Without anticipating events, which will be related in the sequel, illustrative of the point in question, I may here relate, that Mary Jemison was taken prisoner, from the lower part of Pennsylvania, in 1755, by a band of Senecas. Many years afterwards she married Hiokatoo, and Indian warrior, in the Seneca tribe, “that inhabited the banks of the Susquehanna.” Her husband commanded the Indians in the battle, near Northumberland, in 1779. Relating to her the events of his youth, Hiokatoo stated, that “in 1730, then aged about twenty, he was appointed a runner to collect an army to go against the Catawbas, Cherokees and other southern Indians.” He told of a battle in which twelve hundred of the enemy were

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            slain, spoke of adventures on the Mobile, and of being two years upon one expedition; constantly professing an inextinguishable hostility to the Cherokees - incidents which go far to corroborate the opinion expressed.

            These, then, were probably the two nations whose king kept their court in the valley. When the Moravian Indians were struck, it is stated to have been done by the Oneidas, the war part coming from Wyoming, showing this to have been within the special jurisdiction of those two nations. I offer another conjecture, which the unbiased mind will readily receive as true: namely, That these were the Massawamees, who so incessantly harassed the Powhattans of Virginia; struck the Catawbas of South Carolina, and took scalps and prisoners from the Cherokees on the Mississippi. The nations most southwesterly located would, naturally, be best acquainted with the southwest country and nations - know the war paths, and be best able to strike an effective blow in their own quarter.  And although acting as of one, by orders from, The Great Head, at Onondago, their enemies would be apt to designate their foes by the name of the particular nation, whose warriors reached them.

            A portion of the Wyandots, situate near Detroit, (having been permitted, probably, to return,) were claimed by the Iroquois as their cousins. Mr. Jefferson speaks of a tribe of Mingoes, on the Sciota, having eighty warriors. The former, probably, were confederates, or in close alliance with the Six Nations; subservient, but politically treated as if not subjugated; too remote to be admitted to an equality and free participation of power, at the Council Fire at Onondago; and yet trusted, and used to extend and perpetuate the power of the confederacy in the west, while the Mingoes mentioned, were the more immediate agents sent out by the Iroquois, to the waters of the Ohio, as Roman legions, under her pro-consuls, were marched to Egypt or Gaul.

            “In war concerns,” says Heckewelder, speaking of the Iroquois, “they assumed an authority over many other nations, so that they had only to dictate, and others to obey. Not only those inhabiting Pennsylvania, but those dwelling within the limits other provinces, and the adjacent country, together with the Western or Lake Indians, were called upon by the Six Nations to join the conflict, and some among them as were averse to war, were threatened with destruction if they did not join them.”

            Growing jealousy of the English, who were rapidly peopling the ocean-shore; increasing attachment to the French, whose less haughty, but more attractive manners, as well as their advancing power on the north, may have been one motive with the confederacy to concentrate the residence of their chiefs, and to fix a more northern location, nearer to their preferred allies. The position they now assumed, it must be confessed, if less attractive in beauty, was not less fitted for the seat of extended empire, embracing, particularly, the upper branches of the great rivers, the Mohawk, the Delaware and the Susquehanna, and the lesser lakes. They had settlements at Aughguago, Owego, Tioga and Chenango.  The banks of the Cayuga and Seneca lakes were spotted with their villages. *

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            * A powerful branch of the Seneca nation, the most numerous, it is believed, of the             confederacy, had a location, in 1724, near lake Ontario.

Though still in the acme of power and pride of dominion, the hour of inevitable decline was approaching with the approach of the arts and arms of the white man - whether French or English.

            The Leni-Lenape, or Delaware Indians, had long before been subjugated by the Iroquois.  “We have made you women; we have placed petticoats on you,” was the uniformly insulting language of the victors. Cowering with fear under the hand of their oppressors, yet possessing an Indian’s pride, his passions and love of independence, the numerous and wide spread tribes of the Delawares are supposed to  have given the white man a less jealous reception than their masters, hoping to find in their increasing power, protection, if not the means of revenge.  Hence, the Delawares lingered in the neighborhood of the whites - sought their society - opened their ears more readily to the instruction of missionaries, than those red men who were engaged in wars, intent on conquest and fired by ambition. These considerations are deemed important as affording a key to what, otherwise, would be perplexing difficulties.

            A few further facts, showing the extent and spirit of the power exercised, and authority claimed, by the Six Nations, demand notice. The quotation from Mr. Jefferson, showing the incessant and harassing attacks of the Six Nations, on the Indians of Virginia, occupies a preceding page.

            Mr. Heckewelder, in his narrative says, “The Six Nations, under a pretence that they had once conquered the Delawares, asserted that thereby the whole country had become theirs, and, therefore, assumed the power of dictating who should, and who should not be permitted to dwell therein.”

            Again: - “The intention was of settling certain Delawares at Wyoming; but they objected, on the ground that this place lay in the road of the warriors going to and coming from the Catawbas.”

            Catawbas, a river then peopled by a tribe of Indians, in South Carolina, full a thousand miles, by any accessible route, from the Council Fire of the Iroquois! This single fact is worth dwelling on a moment, as at once illustrative of the extent of dominion claimed, as also the character of that wonderful people. A band of warriors, armed, taking in a leathern bag a preparation of Indian corn, parched, and pounded with maple sugar, (called by the Mohegans Yokeag,) set out on a war path, to strike an enemy, and take a scalp, a thousand miles distant. Courage, fortitude, ambition; the lofty aspirations of Alexander or Napoleon were here. Nor were these all; for the geography of an extensive country must have been understood; the position and power of all he neighboring nations, comprehended by them. Books they knew not, but ignorant, it were false to deem them. It is clear, an enemy would not be sought so far, if the nearer tribes had not been previously subjugated.

            Mr. H. adds another objection of the emigrating Delawares, namely that Wyoming “abounded with Indians whom they mistrusted.” So that valley was then numerously peopled.

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            The Iroquois, it is well known, in the old French war, took part with that nation against the English. Though the intelligent Moravian Missionaries passed freely through their country, yet such was their cautious concealment that - says Heckewelder, “they kept their design a profound secret, and it was not until those Indians made a sally, and murdered fourteen white people within five miles of Shamokin, where the Brethren has a small mission, that they were aware of danger.”  He adds: - It became evident that a cruel Indian war would be the result of the influence the French had acquired among the Indians; and especially those of the Six Nations, who long since on all occasions, and particularly in war concerns, assumed an authority over many other nation, so that they had only had to dictate, and others to obey.”

            This reluctant admission, from the friend and patron of the Delawares, shows that the Six Nations were indeed conquerors, and over a vast territory supreme.

            When peace came, Mr. Heckewelder says: - “And the Iroquois, the Six Nations being reconciled, they caused the other nations to lay down the hatchet.” [1764]

            By whatever name the confederacy should be styled: a Republic, an Empire, or an Oligarchy, we behold these United people, with the ‘Great Head’ or Council at Onondago, clothed with dominion, and enthroned in power. Certainly from the Lakes to the Ocean, they were as absolute as a nation could be without forts, or standing armies. With the left hand they lighted up consuming fires on the St. Lawrence, even in the strong holds of the warlike French; hunted their broken enemies two thousand miles into desolate regions beyond lake Superior, brandished the tomahawk over trembling vassals eastwardly to the Merrimack, while with the right they smote the Catawbas on the southern coast of Carolina, and brought home scalps as from the remote Cherokees, on the distant banks of the Mississippi.