The wife of the General, Baroness de Reidesel, has left an interesting record of the battles prior to Burgoyne’s surrender.
CONTENTS—Indian Names—The Five Tribes—The Sixth—Confederation— Government—Subdivisions—Origin—Hendrick—Death—Brant—Birth— Education—Married—Teaching—Christianity—Brant elected Chief— Commissioned a British Captain—Visits England—Returns—Leads his warriors to battle—Efforts of Rebels to seduce Brant to their cause—Attempted treachery of the Rebel Herchimer—Border warfare— Wyoming—Attempt to blacken the character of Brant—His noble conduct—Untruthful American History—The inhabitants of Wyoming—The Rebels first to blame—Cherry Valley—Van Schaick—Bloody orders— Terrible conduct of the Rebels, Helpless Indian families—Further deeds of blood and rapine by the rebel Sullivan—A month of horrible work—Attributes of cruelty more conspicuous in the Rebels than in the Indians—The New Englander—Conduct toward the Indians— Inconsistent—The “down trodden”—The Mohawks—Indian agriculture— Broken faith with the Indians—Noble conduct of Brant—After the war—His family—Death—Miss Molly—Indian usage—The character of the Mohawk—The six Indians as Canadians—Fidelity to the British— Receiving land—Bay Quinté—Grand River—Settling—Captain Isaac, Captain John—At present—Mohawk Counsel.
This once powerful Confederacy styled themselves Kan-ye-a-ke; also, they sometimes called themselves _Aganuschioni_ or _Agnanuschioni_, which signifies _united_ people. The French designated them Iroquois, from a peculiar sound of their speech. The English knew them as the _Five Nations_, and _Six Nations_, more generally by the latter term. The original five tribes that formed the Confederacy, were the Mohawks, Oneidas, Cayugas, Onondagas, and Senecas. Subsequently in 1712, the Tuscaroras came from the south, North Carolina, and made the sixth nation. But according to some authority, there were six nations before the Tuscaroras joined them. However, we learn from several sources, that up to 1712, the English, in speaking of them, referred to only five nations. The Oneidas seem, at one time, to have been omitted, and the Aucguagas inserted in their stead. The oldest members of the confederation were the Mohawks, Onondagas, and Senecas. The union of those three tribes took place prior to the occupation of America by the Europeans. The time at which the confederation of the five nations was formed is uncertain, but it is supposed to have been in the early part of the sixteenth century. The league binding them together was rather of a democratic nature.