The War in the Northwest 379 



brother; we, therefore, hope our elder brother will 

 not take our lands from us, that the Great Man 

 above gave us. He made you and he made us ; we 

 are all his children, and we hope our elder brother 

 will take pity on us, and not take our lands from us 

 that our father gave us, because he is stronger than 

 we are. We are the first people that ever lived on 

 this land ; it is ours, and why will our elder brother 

 take it from us? It is true, some time past, the 

 people over the great water persuaded some of our 

 young men to do some mischief to our elder brother, 

 which our principal men were sorry for. But you 

 our elder brothers came to our towns and took satis- 

 faction, and then sent for us to come and treat with 

 you, which we did. Then our elder brother prom- 

 ised to have the line run between us agreeable to 

 the first treaty, and all that should be found over the 

 line should be moved off. But it is not done yet. 

 We have done nothing to offend our elder brother 

 since the last treaty, and why should our elder 

 brother want to quarrel with us? We have sent 

 to the Governor of Virginia on the same subject. 

 We hope that between you both, you will take pity 

 on your younger brother, and send Col. Sevier, who 

 is a good man, to have all your people moved off 

 our land. I should say a great deal more, but our 

 friend, Colonel Martin, knows all our grievances, 

 and he can inform you. A string." 20 



20 Ramsey, 271. The "strings" of wampum were used to 

 mark periods and to indicate, and act as reminders of, special 

 points in the speech. 



