314 NEW YORK STATE MUSEUM 



Eyendeegen, was present at a council with the JNIunseys in Phila- 

 delphia Aug. 4. He said they could not hold treaties, being 

 women, and conducted the business for them. 



July 7, 1758, Abercrombie was defeated at Ticonderoga with 

 heavy loss. The Iroquois despised him from the first and few 

 Indians shared in the fight on either side. Some success the 

 English now had. In August Colonel Bradstreet took Fort Fron- 

 tenac, and Oswego was reoccupied. In November Fort Du- 

 quesne was evacuated on the approach of General Forbes. The 

 Indians of Canada were displeased with Montcalm's treatment of 

 them at Ticonderoga, and the Six Nations took note of this. 



The fourth Easton council met Oct. 8, 1758, and the Iroquois, 

 Minisinks and Delawares came. The assembly was large and 

 the ancient rites scrupulously observed. Three old land disputes 

 were to be settled; the Iroquois sale of 1754, the Walking Pur- 

 chase, and the claims of the Minisinks in New Jersey. The last 

 was speedily adjusted, and the lands west of the mountains were 

 deeded back to the Iroquois. On the Walking Purchase, Teedy- 

 uscung's official character came in question, and his pride had a 

 blow in a private council. A Mohawk chief said : *' Who made 

 Teedyuscung the chief of the nations? If he be such a great man 

 we desire to know who made him so." A Seneca chief said: 

 " We do not know who made Teedyuscung this great man over 

 Ten Nations, and I want to know who made him so." An Onon- 

 daga chief added, " I never heard before now that Teedyuscung 

 was such a great man, and much less can I tell who made him 

 so. No such thing was ever said in our towns." An Oneida 

 spoke for the Oneidas, Tuscaroras, Nanticokes and Conoys : " I 

 now tell you none of us know who has made Teedyuscung such 

 a great man. Perhaps the French have, or perhaps you have, or 

 some among you, as you have different governments and are 

 different people. We for our part entirely disown that he has 

 any authority over us, and we desire to know from whence he 

 derives his authority." 



In that chief's presence, next day, the governors of Pennsyl- 

 vania and New Jersey explained that he only claimed to be king 



