METALLIC ORNAMENTS OF NEW YORK INDIANS 53 



On the same subject Governor Beauharnois wrote again, Oct. 15, 

 lj$2, to the Count de Maurepas: 



I thank you, My Lord, for the twelve medals you had the good- 

 ness to send me for the Indians. His Majesty may be assured that 

 I will make the most of them, and that I shall not distribute them 

 except to Chiefs, whose services and attachment to the French will 

 be known to me. As there are many such to whom I have promised 

 such a token of honor, and as the adventure of our Iroquois and 

 Hurons against the Foxes places me under the obligation of giving 

 a few to the principal Chiefs of the expedition, I beg you, My Lord, 

 to order that some be sent me next year, so that I may be enabled to 

 invest them with this mark of honor, which also renders them more 

 respectable among their people. O'Callaghan. Col. Hist. 9:1036 



Sir William Johnson gave " three silver gorgets to three of the 

 principal warriors " of the Ganuskago Indians, at Fort Johnson, 

 Feb. 26, 1756. At the same place, July 12, he " put medals round 

 the necks of the Shawanese and Delaware chiefs, and also to the 

 chief Sachem of the River Indians, accompanied with the usual ex- 

 hortation, also gave silver Gorgets to some of their head Warriors.'' 

 O'Callaghan. Col. Hist. 7:160 



He held a council at Onondaga lake that year. When the Onon- 

 daga speaker had concluded his address, July 2, " Sir William then 

 rose and put a medal about the Speaker's neck and declared him a 

 Sachem of that Council, charging him to be steady to his Majesty's 

 interest." O'Callaghan. Col. Hist. 7:149 



To take off the medal was to renounce friendship or allegiance, 

 and this the French encouraged when English medals were worn. 

 A Seneca chief, who wore an English medal in 1775, said to 

 Governor Vaudreuil : " I tear off the medal of. the King of England, 

 which hangs from my neck and trample it under foot." O'Callaghan. 

 Col. Hist. 10:378 



The year before, the La Presentation Indians had sent to M. 

 Duquesne " the medals the English had presented to some of that 

 village who had furtively assisted at the Council at Orange." O'Cal- 

 laghan. Col. Hist. 10:263 



Two Iroquois chiefs gave up their English medals to Vaudreuil 

 in Aug. 1756. Of another he said: " I have appointed this Onon- 



