OF LANCASTER COUNTY. 181 



At the same meeting of the council in Philadelphia, Monday, Decem- 

 ber 19th, the Governor laid before the Board the following letter from 

 the Conestogo Indians : 



" To the Honorable JOHN PENN^ Esquire^ Lieutenant Oovernor and 

 Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania^ &c., &c. 



"Brother: We (the Conestogoe Indians) take the present oppor-' 

 tunity, by Capt. Montour, to welcome you into this Country by this 

 String of Wampum, and as we were settled at this place by an Agree- 

 ment of Peace and Amity established between your Grandfathers and ours, 

 we now promise ourselves your favour and protection, and as we have 

 always lived in peace and quietness with our brethren and neighbours 

 round us during the last and present Indian wars, we hope now, as we 

 are deprived from supporting our families by hunting, as we formerly 

 did, you will consider our distressed situation, and grant our women and 

 children some cloathing to cover them this winter. The Government 

 has always been kind enough to allow us some provisions, and did for- 

 merly appoint people to take care of us, but as there is no person to 

 take that upon him, and some of our Neighbours have encroach'd upon 

 the Tract of Land reserved here for our use, We would now beg our 

 Brother the Governor to appoint our Friend Captain Thomas M'Kee, 

 who lives near us and understands our Language, to take care and see 



Justice done us. 



" SoHAYS, y^ his Mark. 



"Indian, ^^ his Mark. 



or Cuyanguerrycoea, 



his 

 " Saguyasotha, IxI or John." 

 Mark. 

 "Conestogoe, Nov. 30th, 1763." 



Upon receiving intelligence of the outrage committed at Conestogo, 

 the Governor, on December 19th issued the following proclamation. 



By the Honourable John Penn, Esquire, Lieutenant Governor and 

 Commander-in-Chief of the Province of Pennsylvania, and Counties of 

 New Castle, Kent and Sussex, upon Delaware. 



''A PROCLAMATION. 

 "Whereas, I have received information, that on Wednesday the 

 fourteenth day of this month, a number of People, armed and mounted 

 on Horseback, unlawfally assembled together and went to the Indian 

 Town in the Conestogoe Manor, in Lancaster County, and without the 

 least Reason or Provocation, in cool blood barbarously killed Six of the 

 Indians settled there, and burnt and destroyed all their Houses and Ef- 

 fects. And ivhereas^ so cruel and inhuman an Act committed in the 

 Heart of this Province, on the said Indians, who have lived peaceably 



