Chapter 10

That the said chiefs and head men of the Seneca Nation of Indians, in consideration of the sum of two hundred and two thousand dollars to them in hand paid by the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have granted, bargained, sold, released and confirmed, and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell, release and confirm unto the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, and to their heirs and assigns, all that certain tract or parcel of land situate, lying and being in the county of Erie and State of New York, commonly called and known by the name of Buffalo Creek Reservation, containing by estimation forty-nine thousand nine hundred and twenty acres, be the contents thereof more or less. Also all that certain other tract or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the counties of Erie, Chautauqua and Cattaraugus, in said State, commonly called and known by the name of Cattaraugus Reservation, containing by estimation twenty-one thousand six hundred and eighty acres, be the contents thereof more or less. Also all that certain other tract or parcel of land, situate, lying and being in the said county of Cattaraugus, in said State, commonly called and known by the name of the Alleghany Reservation, containing by estimation thirty thousand four hundred and sixty-nine acres, be the contents more or less. And also all that certain other tract or parcel of land, situate, lying and being partly in said county of Erie and partly in the county of Genesee in said State, commonly called and known by the name of the Tonawanda Reservation, and containing by estimation twelve thousand eight hundred acres, be the same more or less: As the said several tracts of land have been heretofore reserved and are held and occupied by the Seneca Nation of Indians, or by individuals thereof, together with all and singular the rights, privileges, hereditaments and appurtenances to each and every of the said tracts or parcels of land belonging or appertaining; and all the estate, right, title, interest, claim and demand of the said party of the first part, and of the said Seneca Nation of Indians, of, in and to the same, and to each and every parcel thereof; to have and to hold all and singular the above described and released premises unto the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, their heirs and assigns, to their proper use and behalf forever, as joint tenants, and not as tenants in common.

At the before-mentioned treaty, held in my presence, as superintendent on the part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, and this day concluded, the foregoing instrument of writing was agreed to by the contracting parties therein named, and was in my presence executed by them, and being approved by me, I do hereby certify and declare such my approbation thereof.

Witness my hand and seal, at Buffalo Creek, this 15th day of, January, in the year 1838.

JOSIAH TROWBRIDGE.

I have attended a treaty of the Seneca Nation of Indians, held at Buffalo Creek, in the county of Erie, in the State of New York, on the fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, when the within instrument was duly executed in my presence, by the chiefs of the Seneca Nation, being fairly and properly understood by them. I do therefore certify and approve the same.

R. H. GILLET, Commissioner.

At a treaty held under and by authority of the United States of America, at Buffalo Creek, in the county of Erie, and State of New York, between the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Tuscarora Nation of Indians, duly assembled in council, and representing and voting for the said Nation, on the one part, and Thomas Ludlow Ogden, of the city of New York, and Joseph Fellows, of Geneva, in the county of Ontario, on the other part, concerning the purchase of the rights and claim of the said Indians in and to the lands within the State of New York remaining in their occupation. Ransom H. Gillett, Esq., a commissioner appointed by the President of the United States to attend and hold the said treaty, and also Josiah Trowbridge, Esq., the superintendent on behalf of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, being severally present at the said treaty, the said sachems, chiefs and warriors, on behalf of the said Tuscarora Nation, did agree to sell and release to the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, and they, the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, did agree to purchase all the right, title and claim of the Tuscarora Nation of, in and to the tract, piece or parcel of land mentioned and described in the instrument of writing next hereafter set forth, and at the price or sum therein specified as the consideration or purchase money for such sale and release; which instrument being read and explained to the said parties, and mutually agreed to, was signed and sealed by the contracting parties, and is in the words following:

This indenture, made this fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, between the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Tuscarora Nation of Indians, duly assembled in council, and acting for and on behalf of the said Tuscarora Nation, of the first part, and Thomas Ludlow Ogden, of the city of New York, and Joseph Fellows, of Geneva, in the county of Ontario, of the second part, witnesseth:

That the said sachems, chiefs and warriors of the Tuscarora Nation, in consideration of the sum of nine thousand six hundred dollars to them in hand paid by the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, the receipt whereof is hereby acknowledged, have granted, bargained, sold, released and confirmed, and by these presents do grant, bargain, sell, release and confirm to the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, and to their heirs and assigns, all that tract or parcel of land situated, lying and being in the county of Niagara, and State of New York, commonly called and known by the name of the Tuscarora Reservation, or Seneca grant, containing nineteen hundred and twenty acres, be the same more or less, being thelands in their occupancy, and not included in the land conveyed to them by Henry Dearborn, together with all and singular the rights, privileges, hereditaments and appurtenances to the said tract or parcel of land belonging or appertaining, and all the estate, right, title, interest, claim and demand of the said party of the first part, and of the said Tuscarora Nation of Indians of, in and to the same, and to every part and parcel thereof; to have and to hold all and singular the above described and released premises unto the said Thomas Ludlow Ogden and Joseph Fellows, and their heirs and assigns, to their proper use and behalf forever, as joint tenants and not as tenants in common.

At the above-mentioned treaty, held in my presence as superintendent on the part of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts and this day concluded, the foregoing instrument was agreed to by the contracting parties therein named, and was in my presence executed by them; and being approved by me, I do hereby certify and declare such my approbation thereof.

Witness my hand and seal at Buffalo Creek, this 15th day of January, in the year 1838,

J. TROWBRIDGE, Superintendent.

I have attended a treaty of the Tuscarora Nation of Indians, held at Buffalo Creek, in the county of Erie, in the State of New York, on the fifteenth day of January, in the year of our Lord one thousand eight hundred and thirty-eight, when the within instrument was duly executed in my presence by the sachems, chiefs and warriors of the said nation, being fairly and properly understood and transacted by all the parties of Indians concerned, and declared to be done to their full satisfaction. I do therefore certify and approve the same.

R. H. GILLET, Commissioner.

SUPPLEMENTAL ARTICLE TO THE TREATY CONCLUDED AT BUFFALO CREEK, IN THE STATE OF NEW YORK, ON THE 15TH DAY OF JANUARY, 1838, CONCLUDED BETWEEN RANSOM H. GILLET, COMMISSIONER, ON THE PART OF THE UNITED STATES, AND CHIEFS AND HEAD MEN OF THE ST. REGIS INDIANS, CONCLUDED ON THE 13TH OF FEBRUARY, 1838.

The undersigned, chiefs and head men of the St. Regis Indians, residing in the State of New York, having heard a copy of said treaty read by Ransom H. Gillet, the commissioner who concluded that treaty on the part of the United States, and be having fully and publicly explained the same, and believing the conditions of the said treaty to be very liberal on the part of the United States, and calculated to be highly beneficial to the New York Indians, including the St. Regis, who are embraced in its provision, do hereby assent to every part of the said treaty, and approve the same. And it is further agreed that any of the St. Regis Indians who wish to do so shall be at liberty to remove to the said country at any time hereafter within the time specified in this treaty, but under it the Government shall not compel them to remove.

The United States will, within one year after the ratification of this treaty, pay over to the American party of said Indians one thousand dollars, part of the sum of five thousand dollars mentioned in the special provisions for the St. Regis Indians, anything in the article contained to the contrary, notwithstanding.

Proclaimed April 4, 1840.

* * * * *

In the year 1846, on the 16th day of May, about forty of the Tuscaroras emigrated from the reservation to their new homes in the Indian Territory, and in one year about one-third of them died on account of the sufferings they endured. They were destitute of everything, and the Government was to have sustained them for one year, and to build houses for them, and provide all the necessaries of life, but they failed in fulfilling their promises on account of the misconduct of Dr. A. Hogeboom, the moving agent of the emigration party.

By reference to official documents in the Indian department it appears that a petition from a small party of discontented emigrationists at the Tuscarora village, dated March 4th, 1845, was sent to the President of the United States, expressing a desire to remove to the West. It also further appears that a letter had been received by the department from a certain D. G. Garnsey, dated May 8th, 1845, stating that a portion of the Senecas, and others of the Six Nations in western New York, were now ready to remove. The Government, justly fearing that there might be persons so anxious to possess themselves of the moneys appropriated by law for the removal and support of emigrating Indians, as to resort to fraudulent means for the purpose, by letters warned the Indian agent at Buffalo to be on his guard against such imposition. Afterwards, several petitioners from small fragments of the Senecas and other tribes, were prevailed on to sign memorials to the President, asking to be removed, and begging appropriations for that purpose. To those well acquainted with these movements, there was sufficient evidence that persons interested in their removal were at the bottom of all this business.

Of the Six Nations, once the owners and lords of the soil within the boundaries of the great Commonwealth of New York, there were many small remnants scattered over the western part of this State in a condition of wretched vagrancy; reduced by idleness and intemperance to poverty, and ready, for a trifling compensation, to have their names attached to any memorial, without regard to its objects, for a small sum of money they would lend themselves to the service of any artful intriguer whose designs were to defraud the Government.

By an act of Congress passed on the 3rd day of April, 1843, the sum of twenty thousand four hundred and seventy-seven dollars and fifty cents was appropriated for the removal of two hundred and fifty Indians to the countries west and south of the Missouri river.

This appropriation was granted in consequence of repeated assurances made to the Indian department that this number were anxious to emigrate. The glittering prize thus hung up in the face of the noon-day sun was so bright and alluring that a goodly number of hungry candidates were soon seen entering the lists and struggling for the prize. But, alas! for the conditions; unless two hundred and fifty Indians could be procured to enrol themselves on the emigration engagement, and actually embark for the West, the stakes could not be legally won. Here was the great difficulty. And yet one would suppose that out of four thousand eight hundred and eighty-five Indians, belonging to the following tribes, to wit: the Senecas, Onondagas, Cayugas, Tuscaroras, Oneidas, St. Regises, Stockbridges, Munsees and Brothertowns, by taking up all the poor, degraded individuals, and gathering together all the sincere emigrationists, such a small proportion of the whole might easily be procured; especially if these candidates for an agency had told the truth when they asserted that _large bodies of the Indians were anxious to remove_. By these movements the Government had been induced to believe that there really was an emigration party sufficiently large to meet the objects of the late appropriation, and to warrant the appointment of an emigration agent. Under this impression, the Secretary of War, by a letter dated Sept. 12, 1845, addressed to Dr. Abraham Hogeboom, appointed him to that office, instructing him, however, that no movement was to be made unless the full complement of emigrants should desire, in good faith, to remove to the West, and Hogeboom was also explicitly informed that "the Government would not undertake the emigration of these Indians unless _two hundred and fifty_ of them, then residing in the State of New York, exclusive of the Canada Indians, should muster themselves and actually go with the agent."

As if to leave no door open for misunderstanding, the Commissioner of Indian Affairs at Washington addressed a letter to Hogeboom, dated Oct. 2nd, 1845, in which it was expressly declared that "two hundred and fifty Indians is the smallest number that will be emigrated."

On the 27th of that month, Hogeboom wrote to the department giving it information that two hundred and nine Indians had enrolled themselves, and some of their chiefs had assured him that at Buffalo, Cattaraugus and Alleghany there would be twenty more. Thus the utmost number that the Doctor could dare to hope for was two hundred and twenty-nine. If that letter was written in order to feel after the temper of the departmcnt, and to ascertain how far it was disposed to relax its determination to send no less away than two hundred and fifty, he was not long in suspense, for by a letter dated Nov. 4th the Secretary of War again reminded him that he, was "selected to act as emigrating agent only in the event that two hundred and fifty would go." But on the 7th of that month Hogeboom again writes to him, dating his letter from Buffalo, saying he had ascertained that two hundred and sixty, Indians had enrolled themselves, and had fixed on the 20th of that month as the time for starting. This sudden and unexpected movement was not agreeable to the Secretary on account of the advanced state of the season; but, hoping they might get out before the lakes and rivers should be impassable on account of the ice, he immediately ordered provisions for their sustenance at their intended homes, to be procured and be in readiness at the time of their arrival.

Notwithstanding all these assurances on the part of Hogeboom, when the time for telling the truth came the whole scheme failed; a sufficient number of Indians could not be persuaded to go. The emigration was therefore indefinitely postponed.

It will be seen by the foregoing statement that on the 27th day of October Hogeboom wrote to the department that only two hundred and nine had enrolled themselves, and he then admitted that only twenty more could be hoped for in addition; of course there was no prospect of emigrating that season. Indeed the Doctor says in that letter, speaking of the Indians, "they do not think they will be able to obtain the number of two hundred and fifty to emigrate this fall." Up to this time nothing had been done to induce the war department to advance any money to the agent. So, not only had the emigration scheme failed, but, so far as the Doctor had been moved by pecuniary motives, he had also failed. This was no doubt a trying circumstance, but the trial did not long continue, for only ten days after he had written to the war department that the Indians did not think they could emigrate this fall, he wrote again to the Secretary of War, under date of Nov. 7th, 1845, saying "I have ascertained that two hundred and sixty Indians have enrolled themselves for emigration, and have fixed the time for starting on the 20th inst." The following is an extract from a letter from the department to Hogeboom, dated Nov. 14th, in answer to his of the 7th. It was no doubt a letter such as the Doctor much desired:

SIR;--I have received your letter of the 7th inst., informing the department of the enrollment of two hundred and sixty New York Indians for emigration to their western homes, and proceed, _now that there appears to be no doubt of the movement taking place_, to give you some instructions, &c. * * * A requisition for $10,000 has this day been issued in your favor, with which you will be charged and held accountable for, under the head of "removal, &c., of New York Indians," per act March 3rd, 1843.

(Signed) W. MEDILL, Commissioner.

Thus the Doctor was put in possession of the sum of _ten thousand Dollars_, and we hear no more about the two hundred and sixty Indians, nor of any more trouble about Indian emigration during the remainder of the year.

The proceedings of Dr. Hogeboom; and other persons interested in removing the Senecas, necessarily produced great agitation, and a very unsettled state among those who had no idea of emigrating. The chiefs on the reservations of Alleghany and Cattaraugus, harassed and perplexed by this vexatious state of things, at length determined to address the President on the occasion. This application procured the appointment of the council which was held at Cattaraugus on June 2d, 1846.

In the spring of 1846 Dr. Hogeboom, hearing that the Government had called a council of the Senecas, for the express purpose of inquiring officially whether there was an emigration party among them, and, if there was one, what its number, made great exertions to push off his emigrants. Regardless of the positive instructions of the Government, and without its knowledge, he hastily collected as many of the Indians as he could bring under his influence, and with them embarked in a steamboat at Silver Creck, on Lake Eric, near Cattaraugus Reservation.

The circumstances and manner of the embarkation throws much light on the motives and conduct of this emigrating agent. The subject is graphically related in a speech of Israel Jemison, as made in a council of 1846, and addressed to the Commissioners of the United States, as follows, to wit:

"Brothers! The question relative to emigration being disposed of, I will explain the manner in which this removal of the Indians to the West has been effected. I believe it was irregularly conducted. Indeed, I may say, of this I am convinced. The agent who came to execute it was duly notified, that the Government had called the present council for the consideration and investigation of this matter. As soon as it was known that this had been determined on, _great efforts were made to hurry off the emigrants and induce them to leave before the council would meet_. I am satisfied that many were decoyed away by various contrivances and gross misrepresentations on the part of the emigrating agent and his emissaries. I myself remonstrated against these proceedings, and asked if it could beproper to inveigle and deceive the Indians in this manner. In reply I was desired to be silent, to which I rejoined that many of them whom they had decoyed on board were then drunk, and in a state of unconsciousness! These remonstrances availed nothing, and the whole were hurried away. If anyshowed an unwillingness to go they were told they might return if theychose, should they not like the place when they got there."

The painful, and indeed the awful result of this inhuman conduct of Dr. Hogeboom will be seen by reference to the memorial of the Seneca chiefs to the President of the United States, invoking the aid of the Government to bring back the wretched surviving remnant of the poor duped people. It is as follows:

_To His Excellency, James K. Polk, President of the United States_:

The memorial of the undersigned chiefs and warriors of the Seneca Nation of Indians, residing in the State of New York, respectfully showeth,