At a meeting of the directors and agents of the company, held at Campus Martius, (Marietta,) Ohio, February 9, 1789, the following proceedings were had:
"_Whereas_, GYANTWACHIA, or THE CORNPLANTER, Chief of the Seneca nation, has since the treaty of peace, made in the year 1784, between the United States and the Indian nations, in many instances, been of great service to the United States; and the friendship he has manifested to the proprietors of hind purchased by the Ohio company, has been of particular service to them; therefore,
_Resolved_, That one mile square of the donation lands be granted to GYANTWACHIA, and his heirs forever, in such place as the committee appointed to examine proper places of settlement shall assign; and that the duties, conditions and limitations required of other settlers on such land, shall in this grant be dispensed with. And the said committee of five are directed to give him a deed accordingly."--[_Ohio Company Records, p, 54._]
The above interesting transaction was communicated to me by W. S. WARD, Esq., of Marietta, Ohio. He says, however, that there is no evidence, so far as he can learn, that the committee or agents ever selected this "mile square," donated to CORNPLANTER; consequently he received no deed for the land. Probably there may be some documents on this subject among the papers of CORNPLANTER. The Chief always carefully preserved his important papers, and they are now in the hands of his descendants at Jennesadaga.
The grants of lands made at these treaties, gave offence to many of the Senecas and others of the Six Nations, led on by the opposition of RED JACKET and BRANT. He was not only vilified and misrepresented, but his life was even threatened. He resolved to present to _his_ friend, and the friend of the human race, WASHINGTON, the condition of his nation and his own peril.
CORNPLANTER came to Philadelphia, by the way of Fort Franklin and Fort Pitt, traveling with his party down the Allegheny river in canoes. At Fort Franklin, ensign JEFFERS, of the 1st Pennsylvania regiment, was in command. He furnished our Chief with a letter of recommendation, in which he says: "The bearer hereof, CYENTWOKEE, the head Chief of the Seneca nation, is an undoubted friend of the United States. When the Indians have stolen horses and other things from our people, I have known him, with the greatest dignity, to give orders for them to be returned. I never knew his orders to be disobeyed. When the people of Cussewago (now Meadville) were about to fly on account of unfavorable reports about some of the Southern (Western) Indians, he sent a speech to me, in which he said, 'he wished the people to keep their minds easy, and take care of the corn fields, that the Six Nations were friends; that should the Western Indians invade the settlements, he would gather his warriors and help to drive them to the setting of the sun.' In consequence of this, the people rested easy. On his arrival here, he told me that should I be invaded, so that I could not get provisions, that he and his warriors would clear the way; he said that at the Council at the Muskingum the great men asked him which side he would die on? He told them on the side of the Americans. He says he is of the same mind yet. Sundry other things might be said, but as he is now on his way to attend the Assembly at Philadelphia, I will only recommend him to the particular attention of the good people of Pennsylvania, between here and that place. They may depend upon it, that they not only entertain a friend, but a friend of great consequence, for the Seneca nation is so much governed by him, that if he says _war_, it is _war_; and if he says _peace_, it is _peace_. He is, therefore, a man worthy of the greatest attention. The other Chiefs with him, second him in every thing, and are men worthy of great attention."