Page:Early western travels, 1748-1846 (Vol 1 1904).djvu/32

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26

Early Western Travels

[Vol. i

tier's old Town by the time the Canoes wou'd get there, as we met about twenty Horses of George Groghan's at the Shawonese Cabbins in order to fetch the Goods that were then lying at Franks Town.

This Day news came to Town that the Six Nations were on the point of declaring War against the French, for reason the French had Imprison'd some of the Indian Deputies. A Council was held & all the Indians acquainted with the News, and it was said the Indian Messenger was by the way to give all the Indians Notice to make ready to fight the French.^[1] This Day my Companions went to Coscosky, a large Indian Town about 30 Miles off.^[2]

30th. I went to Beaver Creek, an Indian Town about 8 Miles off, chiefly Delawares, the rest Mohocks, to have some Belts of Wampum made.^[3] This afternoon Rainy Wheather set in which lasted above a Week. Andrew

↑ The French had retained the Iroquois deputies in order to secure from them the French prisoners in their hands. La Galissonière, the governor wrote to his home government in 1748, that he should persist in retaining their (the Iroquois) people, until he recovered the French. The governor of New York demanded the Mohawks, on the ground of their being British subjects, a claim the French refused to admit. The matter was finally adjusted without an Indian war, although it caused much irritation. See O'Callaghan (ed.), New York Colonial Documents (Albany, 1858), x, p. 185.—Ed.
↑ Kuskuskis was an important centre for the Delaware Indians, on the Mahoning Branch of Beaver Creek, in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. It consisted of separate villages scattered along the creek, one of which, called "Old Kuskuskis," was at the forks, where New Castle now stands. See Post's Journal, post.—Ed.
↑ The Indian town at the mouth of Beaver Creek, where the town of Beaver now stands, was known indifferently as King Beaver's, or Shingas's Old Town (from two noted Delaware chiefs), or Sohkon (signifying "at the mouth of a stream"). This was a noted fur-trading station, and after the building of Fort Duquesne, the French erected houses here, for the Indians. It was the starting place for many a border raid, that made Shingas's name "a terror to the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania." See Post's experiences at this place in 1758, post.—Ed.

[1] The French had retained the Iroquois deputies in order to secure from them the French prisoners in their hands. La Galissonière, the governor wrote to his home government in 1748, that he should persist in retaining their (the Iroquois) people, until he recovered the French. The governor of New York demanded the Mohawks, on the ground of their being British subjects, a claim the French refused to admit. The matter was finally adjusted without an Indian war, although it caused much irritation. See O'Callaghan (ed.), New York Colonial Documents (Albany, 1858), x, p. 185.—Ed.

[2] Kuskuskis was an important centre for the Delaware Indians, on the Mahoning Branch of Beaver Creek, in Lawrence County, Pennsylvania. It consisted of separate villages scattered along the creek, one of which, called "Old Kuskuskis," was at the forks, where New Castle now stands. See Post's Journal, post.—Ed.

[3] The Indian town at the mouth of Beaver Creek, where the town of Beaver now stands, was known indifferently as King Beaver's, or Shingas's Old Town (from two noted Delaware chiefs), or Sohkon (signifying "at the mouth of a stream"). This was a noted fur-trading station, and after the building of Fort Duquesne, the French erected houses here, for the Indians. It was the starting place for many a border raid, that made Shingas's name "a terror to the frontier settlements of Pennsylvania." See Post's experiences at this place in 1758, post.—Ed.

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