HISTORY OF STEUBEN COUNTY, NEW YORK. 



37 



CHAPTER Vll. 



TREATY OF OLIVER PHELPS ^WITH THE SENECA 



INDIANS. 



Disposition of the Senecas — Difficulties in the Way of Mr. Phelps — 

 Compromise with the Lessees — Conclusion of the Treaty. 



Although the Senecas had been urged to attend, and 

 considerable delegations had been brought with much diffi- 

 culty to the councils, it was wholly for the sake of the 

 influence which the proceedings and actions of the other 

 nations would exert upon them. Their lands lying west 

 of'the Massachusetts pre-emption line were not the sub- 

 ject of negotiation by the State of New York, and were 

 yet in their possession. While they held them, and were 

 at the same time displeased with the course pursued by the 

 other nations, they were constantly being stirred up by the 

 lessees and other parties to hinder and, if possible, thwart 

 the consummation of the plans of the State. This dissatis- 

 faction found ready and willing promoters in the persons of 

 the government officers of Canada and the loyalists who 

 had sought refuge there during the border wars of the 

 Revolution. When the first attempt was made to survey 

 the lands, a message was received by Governor Clinton from 

 some of the malcontents threatenini^: resistance. When the 

 period approached for the payment of the first annuity, the 

 Onondagas informed the Governor that they had received 

 four strings of wampum from the Senecas forbidding their 

 going to Fort Stanwix to receive the money. A council of 

 Indians was convened at Niagara, at which Col. Butler 

 said the Oneidas were " a poor, despicable set of Indians, 

 who had sold their country to the Governor of New York, 

 and had dealt treacherously with their old friends." When 

 seeking to deter the Onondagas from receiving their an- 

 nuity, the Senecas informed them that the Governor of 

 Quebec wanted their lands, that Col. Butler wanted the 

 lands of the Cayugas, and the commanding officer of Fort 

 Niagara the Seneca's lands. The Cayugas sent a message to 

 Governor Clinton, informing him that they were threatened 

 with total extermination, because they had sold their lands 

 without consulting the Western tribes. Mr. Turner justly 

 remarks in a note, page 21, Phelps and Gorham Pur- 

 chase : 



" The part that the Senecas were persuaded to take in 

 promoting these embarrassments was glaringly inconsistent. 

 They had sold a part of their lands to Mr. Phelps the fall 

 before without consulting other nations, to say nothing of 

 their having consented to the ' lease,' which was a far 

 worse bargain than those by the State. But the main 

 promoters of the troubles were the lessees and the British 

 agents, the latter of whom were soured by the results of 

 the Revolution, and were yet looking forward to British 

 repossession of all Western and part of Middle New York. 

 In all this matter the conduct of Brant did not correspond 

 with his general reputation for fiiirness and honesty. He 

 helped to fan the flames of discontent, while, at the same 

 time, he was almost upon his own hooks trying to sell the 

 State the remnant of the Mohawk lands. Interfering be- 

 tween the State and the Indians, he got some dissatisfied 

 chiefs to join in an insolent letter to the Governor, which 

 was replied to with a good deal of severity of language." 



DIFFICULTIES IN THE WAY OF MR. PHELPS. 



The extinguishment of the Indian title to that portion 

 of the State in which the county of Steuben is situated 

 was attended with difficulties similar to those which had 

 marked the progress of this important work from the be- 

 ginning. In this case, however, on one side at least, we 

 lose sight of a remarkable class of actors in the drama, the 

 New York board and their sturdy and efficient head, Gov- 

 ernor Clinton, and in their stead appear the agents and 

 representatives of a new company. Messrs. Phelps and 

 Gorham having purchased the pre-emption right of the 

 State of Massachusetts to lands lying wholly within the 

 domain of the Seneca nation, were preparing, in the spring 

 of 1788, to take preliminary measures for the colonization 

 and settlement of the lands which they had purchased. 

 At a meeting of the shareholders. Gen. Israel Chapin was 

 appointed to go out and explore the country ; Mr. Phelps, 

 the general agent, was to hold a treaty with the Indians in 

 order to purchase their right to the soil ; Mr. Gorham was 

 appointed an agent to confer with the authorities of the 

 State of New York in reference to running the boundary 

 or pre-emption line, and Mr. William Walker as the local 

 agent of surveys and sales. 



Being well aware of the power and influence of the 

 lessees and their agents, Mr. Phelps resolved upon a com- 

 promise as the cheapest and surest means of success. Pro- 

 ceeding to the Hudson, he met some of the principal lessees 

 and effected a compromise with them on such terms as al- 

 lowed them to become shareholders with him and his as- 

 sociates. The lessees, on their part, agreed to hold another 

 treaty with the Indians at Kanadesaga, surrender their 

 lease to all the lands west of the Massachusetts pre-emption 

 line, and procure in exchange therefor a deed of cession, 

 Phelps and Gorham, for themselves and associates, to be 

 the grantees. The treaty was to be held under the super- 

 vision of John Livingston, the principal agent of the 

 lessees. With this understanding, and in full confidence that 

 the arrangement would be consummated, Mr. Phelps re- 

 turned to New England, fitted himself out with a corps of 

 agents, surveyors, and assistants, and started upon his advent 

 to the Genesee country, prepared to take possession and 

 commence operations. Arriving at Schenectady, where 

 Livingston was to meet him, he began to hear rumors that 

 the Indians had refused to treat with the lessees, and that 

 they had arrested and whipped one of their agents. On 

 the 13th he wrote to Col. Wadsworth, of Hartford, that 

 Livingston had arrived with his provisions and goods for 

 the treaty, and the expedition was ready to depart, but that 

 an Oneida Indian had arrived from the West with informa- 

 tion that Brant had got the Indians collected at Buff"alo 

 Creek, and was advising them to take up the hatchet, and, 

 if possible, not treat with Livingston and his company. 

 He expresses his fears that the treaty will fail, and adds his 

 regrets, as he thinks it will keep back settlement a whole 

 year. He arrived at Geneva (Kanadesaga) on the 1st of 

 June, where he waited till the 17th, and seeing no prospect 

 of convening a council there, he informed Mr. Livingston 

 that he should proceed independent of the lessees and their 

 lease. He had by this time discovered that the two lessee 

 companies were pulling in opposition to each other, and that 



