THE OHIO VALLEY-GREAT LAKES ETHNOHISTORY
ARCHIVES: THE MIAMI COLLECTION
It is noted that the following work from the Miami Archives should be read and
considered within the historical context in which it was composed and printed.
The opinions expressed and the language used do not reflect the opinions or
standards of the Glenn A. Black Laboratory of Archaeology, but are, rather,
indicative of thought in that historical moment during which the document was
published.
Journal
(May, 1769)
McKee, Alexander in: The
Papers of Sir William
Johnson, vol. 7,
pp. 184-185.
JOURNAL OF ALEXANDER MCKEE
A. D.1
[ ] May last the Shawanese, Delawares, and Senicas of [ ]il with the Twightwees, Piankisaw's, Waweoughtenoes, Musquetons, [ ]s that Live upon the Wabash, at Stoney River when they Settled all [ ] former Disputes and entred into a Strong and firm Alliance, by which they [ ] to Live and die by each other, and are also to Defend themselves against any Enemy that may hereafter Quarrel with either of them whether English or Indians. The Senicas, Shawanese, Delawares, Munseys, Moheckons, & Musquaghkees who reside upon the Ohio and its Waters in a Meeting of their own this Summer have Complained much of the Conduct of the Six Nations giving up so much of the Country to the English without asking their Consent & Approbation and say the Lands down the Ohio to the Cherokee River is as much theirs as the Six Nations, it having been Conquered by the whole Confederacy and the Senicas and Cayugas have declared to these Nations that it was Contrary to their Judgements to do so but that the Mohawks, Onidas, Onondagoes, & Tuskaroras would have it so. The Shawanese, & Delawares have Built this Summer a very large Council House at Scioto to which they have invited all the Wabash Indians the Hurons, Ottawas, Putiwatimies, and Chepawas and likewise all the Chiefs of the Senicas ware to be present;- This great Meeting was to [take] place the latter end of June or July-; A Deputation of [Shawan]ese followed the Cherokees to Fort Pitt and took Six of them [ ] The Intention of this Meeting is to form a [ ] Southern Nations together; against the English and the Senicas are to [ ] of the whole, the Mohawks, Onidas, Tuskaro[ras ] to be left out to do as they please.-
The above information I have had from a Chief who has been (page
185) [ ] private Meetings, and says
this plan has been on foot th[ ] Years past but could not be brought
to bear till now, th [] with the Southern Indians is Settled-; He
says this G[ ] was first Recommended by the French in order to drive
the [English] out of their Country and Burn all their Forts, that they [would
not] Strike untill the French would come to Assist them, But [the] Numbers of
White people and Surveyors that come out this [ ] to Settle and
Survey the Country about Fort Pitt and down [the] Ohio has set all their
Warriors in a rage, and has been ye prin[cipal] cause of hastening
this Meeting, for it had been agreed on [ ] Winter to be put off
untill next Summer; He likewise told [me he] had certain advice from New
Orleans that Forty Battoes with Ammunition &ca was to be sent from thence
this Fall up to the [ ] Ohio by the French and Spaniards for their
several Nations [ ] they the French and Spaniards would make War
upon the E[nglish next] Spring upon the great Lake; he told me that the
Shawanese &] Delawares had come to a Resolution not to be the [first (?)
] and that they had told the Senecas so, as they had [ ] last
War. The Senicas in answer to this d[ ] and they would see them [start
] it heartily before, but were determined to begin here and the
[ ] southward. The Conduct of the Senica [ ] seems to
Confirm the certainty of this being their present plan, as they are the only
Indians who beheave Insolently or Ill [about] Fort Pitt, Killing Cattle,
Stealing Horses, and in short plundering every House & Field they come to;
And I am sorry to say the White people on their parts beheave as Ill to their
Indian Neighbours, and seem to Wish for a Quarrel as much as the Indians. There
is now several Indians of the Shawanese & Delawares come to the West and
East Branches of Susquohannah to take away this Fall to Ohio, all their Friends
amongst the Six Nations and have Belts to Invite the Moheckons, Munseys, &
Nanticokes to go & Live at Scioto where they have Lands for them which the
Six Nations can not Sell to the English.
____________________________
1 Inclosed in the preceding letter, of September 18th.
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