716 



TEDYCrSKUNO 



[B. A. E. 



deputized Tedyuskung to act for them. 

 This they denied. 



War between France and England had 

 been declared and the expedition against 

 Ft Duquesne was being organized. An alli- 

 ance with the Cherokee and the Catawba 

 was being sought. The Iroquois and the 

 Delawares both said that they would not 

 fight on the same side with these hated 

 foes, hence the whole effect of the Easton 

 council was in danger of becoming dissi- 

 pated. Then came up the almost endless 

 discussions among the various parties in 

 the councils of the province. Gov. Morris 

 had been succeeded by Gov. Denny, who 

 insisted that the council for which ar- 

 rangements had been made must be 

 held in Philadelphia and not at EastOn. 

 Finally he consented to go to Easton 

 with a heavy guard. Tedyuskung said 

 in his opening speech: "I am sorry for 

 what our people have done. I have gone 

 among our people pleading for peace. If 

 it cost me my life I would do it" (Col. 

 Rec. Fa., vii, 332, 1851). 



A general peace was decided upon, and 

 Tedyuskung promised to see that the 

 white prisoners were returned. He went 

 to Ft Allen, where he and his warriors 

 had a drunken frolic. Weiser says of 

 him at this time: "Though he is a 

 drunkard and a very irregular man, yet 

 he is a man that can think well, and I 

 believe him to be sincere in what he 

 said" (Pa. Arch. 2d s., iii, 67, 1853). 

 When the council opened at Easton in 

 July (1757), Tedyuskung demanded that 

 he have a clerk of his own. This request 

 caused much discussion, but was finally 

 granted upon Tedyuskung' s threat to 

 leave if it was not acceded to (Pa. Arch., 

 2d s., Ill, 259 et seq., 1853). Richard 

 Peters was angered at the position taken 

 by the assembly and the commissioners 

 that Tedyuekung's demands for a clerk 

 were right. He was also much provoked 

 by the way the business was carried on, 

 charging Conrad Weiser, George Crog- 

 han, and others with trying to unfit "the 

 king" for the transaction of business by 

 getting him drunk every night. But 

 whatever may have been the intentions 

 of the Pennsylvania representatives, the 

 "king" went to the councils each day 

 with a clear head and perfectly able to 

 cope with all of the representatives of 

 the province of Pennsylvania. The 

 principal point at issue concerned the 

 fraud in the land grants (see Walton, 

 Conrad Weiser, 356, 1900). After first 

 refusing to allow Tedyuskung to see the 

 deeds of these sales, as he had requested 

 at the previous council, the governor 

 and the council finally granted his re- 

 quest and permitted him to see the deeds 

 of 1686 and 1737 from the Delawares and 

 that of 1749 from the Iroquois. By re- 

 quest of the chief these deeds were copied 



for him by Charles Thompson. After a 

 promise that satisfaction should be made 

 for the fraudulent "Walking Purchase," 

 if any fraud was found, peace with the 

 Delawares seemed assured. In order to 

 make it more complete it was deemed 

 necessary to bring the Indians on the 

 Ohio into friendly relations. 



In the spring of 1758 Tedyuskung went 

 to Philadelphia and after a conference 

 with the governor and council he urged 

 them to complete the work of peace 

 by bringing these western Indians into 

 friendly relations at once. This was the 

 first suggestion of an oflicial mission to 

 the Indians on the Ohio, which later re- 

 sulted in Post's journey to Kuskuski. 

 The council did not take action promptly, 

 so Tedyuskung decided to send two 

 members of his own tribe on the errand 

 of peace; but these messengers did not 

 get beyond Ft Allen. A new difficulty 

 had arisen. Paxinos, the friendly 

 Shawnee chief, had turned against the 

 English, and a general Indian uprising 

 was threatened. When the cause of this 

 was searched for, it was found that both 

 the Iroquois and the Delawares were be- 

 coming aroused because of the presence 

 of their hated enemies, the Cherokee 

 and the Catawba, with Gen. Forbes' expe- 

 dition. Both the general and the gov- 

 ernor urged Post and Thompson to go to 

 Wyoming to try to win back the dissatis- 

 fied Indians. On their way to Wyoming 

 they met Tedyuskung, who insisted on 

 their going back, as to go on was to en- 

 danger their lives. They followed his 

 advice, but on their return to the gov- 

 ernor they were immediately sent back 

 to the old chief with offers of peace from 

 the Cherokee deputies. After Tedyus- 

 kung had heard this message, and had 

 heard also from the western Indians as 

 to the condition of affairs on the Ohio, 

 he insisted that messengers be sent west- 

 ward at once. On Post's return and report 

 to the governor he was despatched at 

 once to the Ohio. This mission of the 

 Moravian missionary to the western 

 Indians was one of the most heroic en- 

 terprises ever undertaken by any man. 

 The miles of forests were filled with hos- 

 tile Indians who knew nothing of these 

 peace proposals; the French were doing 

 everything to keep the angered Indians 

 in alliance with them; the winter was 

 fast approaching, and before such a jour- 

 ney could be made the mountains would 

 be covered deep with snow. Post and 

 his work at this critical time have never 

 been justly appreciated. His own un- 

 bounded faith and his efforts to win the 

 western Indians prevented defeat similar 

 to that of Braddock. 



The fourth council was held at Easton 

 in Oct. 1758. Before it had ended Post 

 had returned from his first mission west- 



