gone through his ceremonies and finished his
prayers, the rain came and raised the creek
a sufficient height, so that we passed in safety
down to Scioto, and proceeded up to the
carrying-place. We proceeded from this
place down Sandusky, and in our passage we
killed four bears and a number of turkeys.
Tecaughretanego appeared now fully per-
suaded that all this came in answer to his
SMITH AMONG THE DELAWARES 107
prayers, and who can say with any degree of
certainty that it was not so ?
When we came to the Httle lake at the
mouth of Sandusky, we called at a Wyandot
town that was then there, called Sunyende-
and. Here we diverted ourselves several
days by catching rock-fish in a small creek,
the name of which is also Sunyendeand,
which signifies rock-fish. They fished in the
night with lights, and struck the fish with
gigs or spears. The rock-fish here, when
they begin first to run up the creek to spawn,
are exceedingly fat, sufficiently so to fry
themselves. The first night we scarcely
caught fish enough for present use for all
that were in the town.
The next morning I met with a prisoner at
this place by the name of Thompson, who
had been taken from Virginia. He told me,
if the Indians would only omit disturbing
the fish for one night, he could catch more
fish than the whole town could make use of.
108 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
I told Mr. Thompson that if he was certain
he could do this, that I would use my in-
fluence with the Indians to let the fish alone
for one night. I applied to the chiefs, who
agreed to my proposal, and said they were
anxious to see what the Great Knife (as
they called the Virginian) could do. Mr.
Thompson, with the assistance of some other
prisoners, set to work, and made a hoop-net
of ehii-bark ; they then cut down a tree across
the creek, and stuck in stakes at the lower
side of it to prevent the fish from passing up,
leaving only a gap at the one side of the
creek ; here he sat with his net, and when he
felt the fish touch the net he drew it up, and
frequently would haul out two or three rock-
fish that would weigh about five or six
pounds each. He continued at this until he
had hauled out about a wagon-load, and then
left the gap open in order to let them pass
up, for they could not go far on account of
the shallow water. Before day Mr. Thomp-
son shut it up, to prevent them from passing
SMITH AMONG THE DELAWARES 109
down, in order to let the Indians have some
diversion in kilHng them in daylight.
When the news of the fish came to town
the Indians all collected, and with surprise
beheld the large heap of fish, and applauded
the ingenuity of the Virginian. When they
saw the number of them that were confined
in the water above the tree, the young In-
dians ran back to the town, and in a short
time returned with their spears, gigs, bows
and arrows, etc., and were the chief part of
that day engaged in killing rock-fish, inso-
much that we had more than we could use or
preserve. As we had no salt, or any way to
keep them, they lay upon the banks, and
after some time great numbers of turkey-
buzzards and eagles collected together and
devoured them.
Shortly after this we left Sunyendeand,
and in three days arrived at Detroit, where
we remained this summer.
Some time in INIay we heard that General
Forbes, with seven thousand men, was pre-
110 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
paring to carry on a campaign against Fort
Du Quesne, which then stood near where
Fort Pitt was afterwards erected. Upon
receiving this news, a number of rminers
were sent off by the French commander at
Detroit to urge the different tribes of Indian
warriors to repair to Fort Du Quesne.
Some time in July, 1758, the Ottawas,
Jibewas, Potowatomies, and Wyandots ren-
dezvoused at Detroit, and marched off to Fort
Du Quesne, to prepare for the encounter of
General Forbes. The common report was
that they would serve him as they did Gen-
eral Braddock, and obtain much plunder.
From this time until fall we had frequent
accounts of Forbes's army, by Indian run-
ners that were sent out to watch their mo-
tion. They espied them frequently from the
mountains even after they left Fort Loudon.
Notwithstanding their vigilance. Colonel
Grant, with his Highlanders, stole a march
upon them, and in the night took possession
of a hill about eighty rods from Fort Du
SMITH AMONG THE DELAWARES 111
Quesne; this hill is on that account called
Grant's Hill to this day. The French and
Indians knew not that Grant and his men
were there, until they beat the drum and
played upon the bagpipes just at daylight.
They then flew to arms, and the Indians ran
up under cover of the banks of the Alle-
ghany and Monongahela for some distance,
and then sallied out from the banks of the
rivers, and took possession of the hill above
Grant; and as he was on the point of it, in
sight of the fort, they immediately sur-
rounded him ; and as he had his Highlanders
in ranks, and in very close order, and the
Indians scattered and concealed behind trees,
they defeated him with the loss only of a
few warriors ; most of the Highlanders were
killed or taken prisoners.
After this defeat the Indians held a coun-
cil, but were divided in their opinions.
Some said that General Forbes would now
turn back, and go home the way that he
came, as Dunbar had done when General
112 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
Braddock was defeated; others supposed he
would come on. The French urged the In-
dians to stay and see the event; but as it
was hard for the Indians to be absent from
their squaws and children at this season of
the year, a great many of them returned
home to their hunting. After this the re-
mainder of the Indians, some French reg-
ulars, and a number of Canadians, marched
off in quest of General Forbes. They met
his army near Fort Ligoneer, and attacked
them, but were frustrated in their design.
They said that Forbes's men were beginning
to learn the art of war, and that there were
a great number of American riflemen along
with the redcoats, who scattered out, took
trees, and were good marksmen; therefore
they found they could not accomplish their
design, and were obliged to retreat. When
they returned from the battle to Fort Du
Quesne, the Indians concluded that they
would go to their hunting. The French en-
deavored to persuade them to stay and try
SMITH AMONG THE DELAWARES 113
another battle. The Indians said if it was
only the redcoats they had to do with they
could soon subdue them, but they could not
withstand Aslialecoa, or the Great Knife,
which was the name they gave the Vir-
ginians. They then returned home to their
liunting, and the French evacuated the fort,
which General Forbes came and took pos-
session of, without further opposition, late in
the year 1758, and at this time began to build
Fort Pitt.
When Tecaughretanego had heard the
particulars of Grant's defeat he said that
he could not well account for his contra-
dictory and inconsistent conduct. He said,
as the art of war consists in ambushing and
surprising our enemies, and in preventing
them from ambushing and surprising us,
Grant, in the first place, acted like a wise
and experienced warrior in artfully ap-
proaching in the night without being dis-
covered ; but when he came to the place, and
the Indians were lying asleep outside of the
114 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
fort, between him and the Alleghany River,
in place of slipping up quietly, and falling
upon them with their broadswords, they beat
the drums and played upon the bagpipes.
He said he could account for this inconsistent
conduct in no other way than by supposing
that he had made too free with spirituous
liquors during the night, and became intoxi-
cated about daylight. But to return.
This year we huated up Sandusky and
down Scioto, and toe!; nearly the same route
that we had done the last hunting season.
We had considerable success, and retui'ned
to Detroit some time in April, 1759.
Shortly after this Tecaughretanego, his
son Nunganey, and myself went from De-
troit (in an elm-bark canoe) to Caughne-
waga, a very ancient Indian town, about
nine miles above JVIontreal, v/here I remained
until about the first of July. I then heard
of a French ship at Montreal that had Eng-
lish prisoners on board, in order to carry
them over sea and exchange them. I went
SMITH AMONG THE DELAWARES 115
privately off from the Indians, and got also
on board ; but as General Wolfe had stopped
the river St. Lawrence, we were all sent to
prison in Montreal, where I remained four
months. Some time in November we were
all sent off from this place to Crown Point,
and exchanged.
Early in the year 1760 I came home to
Conococheague, and found that my people
could never ascertain whether I was killed or
taken until my return. They received me
with great joy, but were surprised to see me
so much like an Indian, both in my gait and
gesture.
Upon inquiry, I found that my sweetheart
was married a few days before I arrived.
My feelings I must leave, on this occasion,
for those of my readers to judge who have
felt the pangs of disappointed love, as it is
impossible now for me to describe the emo-
tion of soul I felt at that time.
In the year 1788 I settled in Bourbon
County, Kentucky, seven miles above Paris,
116 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
and in the same year was elected a member
of the convention that sat at Danville to
confer about a separation from the State of
Virginia; and from that year until the year
1799 I represented Bourbon County either
in convention or as a member of the General
Assembly, except two years that I was left a
few votes behind.
II
THE NARRATIVE OF
FRANCESCO GIUSEPPE BRESSANI^ S. J.,
RELATING HIS
CAPTIVITY AMONG THE IROQUOIS, IN 1644.
The Italian Jesuit missionary Father Bressani was
born in Rome, 6 May, 1612. At the age of fourteen he
entered the novitiate of the Society of Jesus. Becom-
ing zealous to serve as missionary among the Amer-
ican Indians, he went to Quebec in the summer of
1642, and the following year he was sent among the
Algonquins at Three Rivers.
In April, 1644, while on his way to the Huron coun-
try, where a mission had been established, he was cap-
tured by the Iroquois, who at that time were an ex-
ceedingly fierce and even cannibal nation, perpetually
at war with nearly the whole known continent. By
them he was subjected to tortures, but finally was
made over to an old squaw to take the place of a de-
ceased relative. From her he was ransomed by the
Dutch at Fort Orange (the modern Albany), and by
them he was sent to France, where he arrived in No-
vember, 1644.
Despite his terrible experiences among the savages,
117
118 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
and his maimed condition, the indomitable missionary
returned to Canada the next spring, and labored with
the Hurons until their mission was destroyed by the
Iroquois four years later.
In November, 1650, Bressani, in broken health, went
back to his native land. Here he spent many years as
a preacher and home missionary. He died at Flor-
ence, 9 September, 1672.
The following account of Father Bressani's suffer-
ings among the Indians is translated from two of his
own letters in his book Breve Relatione d'alcune
Mission! nella Nuova Francia, published at Macerata
in 1653. (Editor.)
FIRST LETTER,
Dated "From the Iroquois, the
15th of July, 1644."
OUR MOST REVEREND FATHER IN CHRIST:
PAX CHRISTI—1 know not
whether Your Paternity will
recognize the handwriting of a
poor cripple, who formerly, when in perfect
health, was well known to you. The letter
is badly written, and quite soiled, because,
among other inconveniences, the writer has
but one whole finger on his right hand, and
NARRATIVE OF BRESSANI 119
can scarcely prevent the paper's being
stained by the blood which flows from his
yet unhealed wounds. His ink is arquebuse
powder [gunpowder rubbed up with water],
and his table the bare earth. He writes to
you from the land of the Iroquois, where he
is now a captive, and would briefly relate
what Divine Providence has at last ordained
for him.
I set out from Three Rivers, by order of
the Superior, the 27th of last April, in com-
pany with six Christian Indians and a young
Frencliman, with three canoes, to go to the
country of the Hurons.
On the evening of the first day, the Huron
who steered our canoe, when firing at an
eagle, upset us into Lake St. Pierre. I did
not know how to swim, but two Hurons
caught me and drew me to the shore, where
we spent the night, all drenched. The
Hurons took this accident for an ill-omen,
and advised me to return to our starting
point, which was only eight or ten miles off.
120 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
"Certainly," they cried, "this voyage will not
prove fortunate." As I feared that there
might be some superstition in this discourse,
I preferred to push on to another French fort
[Richelieu], thirty miles higher up, where
we might recruit a little. They obeyed me,
and we started quite early the next morning,
but the snow and bad weather greatly re-
tarded our speed, and compelled us to stop
at midday.
On the third day, when twenty-two or
twenty-four miles from Three Rivers, and
seven or eight from Fort Richelieu, we fell
into an ambuscade of twenty-seven Iroquois,
who killed one of our Indians, and took the
rest and myself prisoners. We might have
fled, or killed some Iroquois ; but I, for my
part, seeing my companions taken, judged
it better to remain with them, accepting it as
a sign of the will of God. . . .
Those who had captured us made horrible
cries, and after profuse thanks to the Sun
for having in their hands, among the others.
NARRATIVE OF BRESSANI 121
a "Black Robe," as they call the Jesuits, they
changed the canoes. Then they took from
us everything; that is, provisions for all of
ours residing among the Hurons, who were
in extreme want, inasmuch as they had
for several years received no aid from Eu-
rope.
Having commanded us to sing, they led
us to a little river hard by, where they
divided the booty, and scalped the Huron
whom they had killed. The scalp was to be
carried in triumph on a pole. They also
cut off the feet, hands, and most fleshy parts
of the body to eat, as well as the heart.
Then they made us cross the lake to pass
the night in a retired but very damp spot.
We there began to take our sleep bound
and in the open air, as we continued to do
during the rest of the voyage. . . .
The following day we embarked on a
river, and after some miles they ordered me
to throw overboard my papers, which they
had left me till then. They superstitiously
122 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
imagined that these had caused the wreck of
our canoe. They were surprised to see me
grieve at this loss, who had never shown any
regret for all else. We were two days in
ascending this river to the rapids [of
Chambly], which compelled us to land, and
we marched six days in the woods.
The next day, which was Friday, the sixth
of May, we met other Iroquois going out to
war. They added some blows to the many
threats they had made ; and having related to
us the death of one of their party, killed by
a Frenchman, was the cause of their com-
mencing to treat me with greater cruelty
than before.
At the moment of our capture the Iroquois
were dying of hunger; so that, in two or
three days, they consumed all our provisions,
and we had no food during the rest of the
way but from hunting, fishing, or some wild
roots, if any were found. Their want was
so great that they picked up on the shore a
dead beaver already putrefying. They gave
NARRATIVE OF BRESSANI 123
it to me in the evening to wash in the river;
but, its stench leading me to beheve that
they did not want it, I threw it into the
water. I was paid for that by a severe pen-
ance.
I will not here relate all I had to suffer in
that voyage. It is enough to say that we
had to carry our loads in the woods where
there were no roads, but only stones, shoots,
holes, water, and snow, which had not yet
everywhere melted. We were barefooted,
and were left fasting sometimes till three or
four o'clock in the afternoon, and often
during the whole day, exposed to the rain,
and drenched with the waters of the torrents
and rivers which we had to cross.
When evening was come I was ordered to
go for wood, to bring water, and to cook
when they had any provisions. When I did
not succeed, or misunderstood the orders
which I received, blows were not spared;
still less when we met other barbarians going
to fish or hunt. It was not easy for me to
124 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
rest at night, because they tied me to a tree,
leaving me exposed to the keen night air,
which was still quite cold.
We at last arrived at their lake [Cham-
plain]. We had to make other canoes, in
which I too had to do my part. After five
or six days' sailing we landed, and marched
for three more.
The fourth day, which was the fifteenth
of ]May, we arrived about the twentieth hour
[3 p. M.], and before having as yet taken
any food, at a river where some four hun-
dred barbarians were gathered fishing.
Hearing of our approach, they came out to
meet us. When about two hundred paces
from their cabins, they stripped off all my
clothes, and made me march ahead. The
young men formed a line on each side, armed
with sticks, except the first one, who held a
knife in his hand.
When I began my march this one stopped
my passage, and, seizing my left hand, cleft
it open with his knife between the little
NARRATIVE OF BRESSANI 125
finger and the ring finger, with such force
and violence that I thought he would lay
open my whole hand. The others then be-
gan to load me with blows till I reached the
stage which they had erected for our torture.
Then I had to mount on great pieces of bark,
raised about nine palms high so as to give
the crowd an opportunity to see and insult
us. I was all drenched and covered with
blood that streamed from every part of my
body, and exposed to a very cold wind that
made it congeal immediately on my skin.
But I consoled myself, seeing that God
granted me the favor of suffering in this
world some pain in place of what I was
under obligation, on account of my sins, to
pay in the other with torments incomparably
greater.
The warriors came next, and were re-
ceived by the people with great ceremony,
and regaled with the best of all that their
fishing supplied. They bade us sing.
Judge whether we could do so, fasting, worn
126 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
down by marching, broken bj^ their blows,
and shivering from head to foot with cold.
Shortly after, a Huron slave brought me
a little Indian corn, and a captain, who saw
me all trembling with cold, at last, at my
entreaty, gave me back the half of an old
summer cassock, all in tatters, which served
to cover rather than warm me.
We had to sing till the warriors went
away, and were then left at the mercy of
the youths, who made us come down from
the scaffold, where we had been about two
hours, to make us dance in their fashion;
and, because I did not succeed, nor indeed
knew how, they beat me, pricked me, plucked
out my hair, my beard, etc.
They kept us five or six days in this place
for their pastime, leaving us at the discretion
or indiscretion of every one. We were
obliged to obey even the children, and that
in things unreasonable, and often contra-
dictory. "Sing!" cries one. "Hold your
NARRATIVE OF BRESSANI 127
tongue!" saj^s another. If I obeyed the
first, the latter tormented me. "Stretch out
your hand; I want to burn it." Another
burned it because I did not extend it to Jiim.
They commanded me to take fire between
the fingers to put in their pipes, full of to-
bacco, and then let it fall on the ground pur-
posely four or five times, one after another,
to make me burn myself picking it up each
time.
These scenes usually took place at night.
Towards evening the captains cried in fear-
ful voices around the cabins, "Gather, ye
young men ; come and caress our prisoners !"
On this they flocked together, and as-
sembled in some large cabin. There the
remnant of dress which had been given me
was torn off, leaving me naked. Then some
goaded me with pointed sticks ; some burned
me with firebrands or red-hot stones, while
others used burning ashes or hot coals.
They made me walk around the fire on hot
128 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
ashes, under which they had stuck sharp
sticks in the ground. Some plucked out my
hair, others my beard.
Every night, after making me sing, and
tormenting me as above, they spent eight or
ten minutes in burning one of my nails or a
finger. Of the ten that I had I have now
but one left whole, and even of that they
have torn out the nail with their teeth. One
evening they burned a nail ; the next day the
first joint; the day after, the second. By
the sixth time they burned almost six. To
the hands they applied fire and iron more
than eighteen times ; and during this torment
I was obliged to sing. They ceased tortur-
ing me only at one or two o'clock at night.
Then they usually left me tied to the ground
in some spot exposed to the rain, with no
bed or blanket, but a small skin which did
not cover half my body, and often even with-
out any covering; for they had already torn
up the piece of a cassock which had been
given me. Yet, out of compassion, they left
NARRATIVE OF BRESSANI 129
me enough to cover what decency, even
among them, requires to be concealed.
They kept the rest.
For a whole month I had to undergo these
cruelties, and greater still, but we remained
only eight days in the first place. I never
would have believed that man could endure
so hard a life.
One night that they were as usual tor-
turing me, a Huron, taken prisoner with
me, seeing one of his companions escape tor-
ments by siding against me, suddenly cried
out, in the middle of the assembled throng,
that I was a person of rank, and a captain
among the French. This they heard with
great attention; then, raising a loud shout
in sign of joy, they resolved to treat me stifl
worse, and the next morning I was con-
demned to be burnt alive, and to be eaten.
They then began to guard me more nar-
rowly. The men and children never left me
alone, even in the necessities of nature, but
came tormenting me to force me to return
130 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
to the cabin with all speed, fearing that I
might take flight.
We left there the 26th of IMay, and four
days after reached the first village of this
nation. In this march on foot, what with
rain and other hardships, I suffered more
than I had yet done. The barbarian then
my keeper was more cruel than the first. I
was wounded, weak, ill-fed, half naked, and
slept in the open air, bound to a stake or a
tree, shivering all night with cold and from
the pain caused by my bonds.
At difficult places in the road my weak-
ness called for help, but it was refused ; and
even when I fell, renewing my wounds, they
showered blows on me again, to force me to
march; for they believed that I did it pur-
posely to lag behind, and so escape.
One time, among others, I fell into a river,
and was like to have drowned. However, I
got out, I know not how, and in this plight
had to march nearly six miles more till even-
ing, with a very heavy burden on my shoul-
NARRATIVE OF BRESSANI 131
ders. They jeered at me and at my awk-
wardness in falling into the water, and they
did not omit, at night, to burn off one of my
nails.
We at last reached the first village of this
nation, and here our reception resembled the
first, but was still more cruel. Besides blows
from their fists, and other blows, which I
received in the most sensitive parts of my
body, they a second time slit open my left
hand, between the middle finger and the fore
finger, and the bastinade was such that I fell
half dead on the ground. I thought I would
lose my right eye forever. As I did not rise,
because I was unable to do so, they continued
to beat me, especially on the breast and head.
I should surely have expired beneath their
blows had not a captain caused me to be
dragged by main strength upon a stage
made, like the former one, of bark. There
they soon after cut off the thumb and man-
gled the fore finger of my left hand. Mean-
while a great rain came, with thunder and
132 CAPTIVES AMONG THE INDIANS
lightning, and they went away, leaving us
exposed naked to the storm, till some one, I
know not who, took pity on us, and in the