I38 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Montour, or at least was in the encampment at the mouth of the 

 Tioga at the time of his death. Col. Harper, of Harpersfield, the 

 well known officer of the frontier militia of New York in the Revolu- 

 tion, informed Judge Knox, of Knoxville, in this 00., that the 

 Painted Post was erected over the grave of a chief who was wounded 

 at the battle of the " Hog-Back " and brought in a canoe to the 

 head of the Chemung, where he died. It was well understood by 

 the early settlers that this monument was erected in memory of 

 some distinguished warrior who had been wounded in one of the 

 border battles of the Revolution and afterward died at this place. 

 The post stood for many years after the settlement of the co. ; and 

 the story goes that it rotted down at the butt, and was preserved 

 in the bar-room of a tavern till about the year 18 10 and then 

 mysteriously disappeared. It is also said to have been swept away 

 in a freshet. McMasters, p. 34 



In spite of the prominent place given to the war post by recent 

 writers, the early ones almost ignore it. Charlevoix mentions it 

 incidentally : 



As often as any one in the public dances strikes the post with his 

 hatchet, and recalls to memory his most signal exploits, as is always 

 the custom, the chief under whose conduct he performed them, is 

 obliged to make him a present ; at least this is usual among some 

 nations. Charlevoix, 1:332 



The same writer said : " All those who enlist themselves, give also 

 to the chief, as a token of their engagement, a bit of wood with 

 their mark upon it." He also noticed another feature: 



They have a kind of standards or colours to know one another 

 by, and to enable them to rally; these are small pieces of bark cut 

 into a round form, which they fix to the head of a pole, and on 

 which is drawn the mark of their nation or village. If the party 

 is numerous, each family or village has its peculiar ensign with its 

 distinguishing mark. Their arms are also adorned with different 

 figures, and sometimes with the mark of the chief. Charlevoix, 



1:338 



A novel use of sticks in battle was noted by another writer, in 

 a fight between some Onondagas and Canadian Indians : 



The captains of these two little troops encourage their men, they 

 exhort them not to give way, and to die sooner than to flee. It is 

 the custom of these captains when they find themselves close to the 

 occasions, to produce some sticks, which they bring for this pur- 

 pose, and present them to their warriors in order to fix them in 



