[siebert] loyalists AND SIX NATION INDIANS 93 



THE INDIAN SETTLEMENT AT "lOYAL CONFEDERATE VALLEY," 

 AND THE PURCHASE OF LANDS FOR THE SIX NATIONS. 



Haldimand's decision to effect the purchase of a new and ex- 

 tended tract in the Niagara Peninsula had grown out of Brant's 

 demands for territory upon which the sadly reduced Six Nations 

 might settle. Since the summer of 1782 these people had dwelt 

 in a temporary settlement on the American side of the River Niagara, 

 eight miles south of the fort and two miles east of the landing (that 

 is, Lewiston). The place had been appreciatively christened "Loyal 

 Confederate Valley" by Colonel Powell when visiting there during the 

 first summer, at which time he had found the Indians comfortably 

 situated and their fields well planted with maize. The omission of 

 any mention of Brant and his warrors in the preliminary treaty be- 

 tween the United States and Great Britain caused discontent among 

 the red men, in view of the fact that their ancient country lay within 

 the boundaries granted to the Americans. In order to quiet their 

 fears Colonel Maclean met them in council at Niagara, December 

 12, 1783, but could do no more than try to convince them that they 

 were better off than the Loyalists, since the latter had suffered banish- 

 ment and loss of property, and in many instances loss of friends.^ 



The Senecas now came forward and offered the Mohawks a 

 tract of their abandoned possessions in the Genesee Valley; but the 

 Mohawks, like most of the Loyalists, would not consent to live within 

 the boundaries of the United States, being determined to "sink or 

 swim" with the English. They therefore declined the offer of the 

 Senecas, and Brant proceeded to Montreal to confer w^ith the Superin- 

 tendent General of Indian Affairs, Sir John Johnson, and thence to 

 Quebec to claim from Governor Haldimand the fulfilment of a pledge 

 he had made to the Mohawks in April, 1779, to restore them to as 

 good a condition as they had been in at the beginning of the war. 

 The Governor was as good as his word, and when Brant indicated a 

 tract on the Bay of Quinte, on the north side of Lake Ontario, Haldi- 

 mand consented to its purchase and conveyance to the Mohawks. 

 In the latter part of May the Governor, in compliance with this ar- 

 rangement, sent Major Samuel Holland, together with Brant, to exa- 

 mine the region at Cataraqui, or the Bay of Quinte. On the return 

 of the Mohawk Chief to Niagara, the Senecas objected to the re- 

 moval of their friends to so great a distance from them, inasmuch as 

 they thought they might be oppressed by the United States govern- 

 ment and hence need a place of refuge. Under these circumstances 

 the Mohawks decided that Captain Brant should pay a second visit 



1 Stone, Life of Joseph Brant, II, 238, 239; Niagara Hist. Soc, No. 17, 8, 9. 



