An Account of Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha, or Red Jacket, and His People, 1750-1830 eBook

The few days spent by the army on the battle ground after its victory, were occupied in destroying the property of the Indians in that vicinity, including also the extensive possessions of Colonel McKee, an officer of the British Indian Department, whose influence had been exerted in promoting these hostilities, whose effects were now being experienced.  The fort itself was poised in the General’s mind, as was also the torch of the gunner, who was only restrained by his commanding officer from firing upon Wayne, who, as he thought came too near, in making his observations on one of His Majesty’s forts.  Prudence prevailed.  The fighting was confined to a war of words in a spirited correspondence between General Wayne, and the officer in command of the fort.

General Wayne after laying waste their principal towns in this region, continued in the Indian country during the following year, bringing his campaign to a close by a treaty with the North-western tribes, which was entirely agreeable to the wishes of the United States.

CHAPTER X.

Canandaigua at an early day—­Facts in the early settlement of Bloomfield—­ Indian Council—­Its object—­Indian parade—­Indian dress—­Opening of Council—­Speeches—­Liberal offers of the government—­Mr. Savary’s Journal —­Treaty concluded—­Account of Red Jacket by Thomas Morris.

Canandaigua at an early day was the objective point for all who were seeking what was called the Genesee country.  It was at the head of navigation.  Parties coming from the east could transport their goods by water from Long Island Sound to Canandaigua, with the exception of one or two carrying places, where they were taken by land.

We can hardly realize that at that time there was here a widely extended forest, in all its loneliness and grandeur.  Its first trees were cut down in the fall of 1788, soon after Mr. Phelps had concluded his treaty of purchase with the Indians.  By means of them a log store-house was constructed, near the outlet of the lake.  The family of a Mr. Joseph Smith took possession of it in the spring of 1789.  Judge J. H. Jones, who in the fall of 1788, was one of a party to open a road between Geneva and Canandaigua, witnessed, on revisiting the latter place in 1789, a great change.

“When we left,” he says, “in the fall of ’88, there was not a solitary person there;—­when I returned fourteen months afterwards, the place was full of people; residents, surveyors, explorers, adventurers; houses were going up; it was a thriving, busy place.”  During the following year quite a nucleus for a town had gathered here.  In 1794, Mrs. Sanborne, an enterprising landlady, whose eye kindled with the recollection of those days, served up in a tea saucer the first currants produced in the Genesee country. [Footnote:  Conversation of the author with Mrs. Sanborne.] Canandaigua at that time and for many years after was head-quarters for all who were making their way into what at that time was called the Indian country, and from the respectability and enterprise of its early inhabitants, it became attractive as a place of residence.