The Story of Butler's Rangers and the Settlement of Niagara [Special Illustrated Edition]

The trading posts and forts on the great lakes lay practically at the mercy of the Six Nations, as the garrisons were insufficient and the works had been permitted to decay until they were scarcely defensible. As long as the Indians continued friendly these posts would be tolerably secure, but if they became neutral or joined the enemy resistance against any attack would be hopeless. The capture of the forts would entail the loss of the Northwestern fur trade, upon which the commercial welfare of Canada then entirely depended. To preserve both, an alliance with the Indians was clearly indispensable. Those who knew the Indians best on both sides agreed that it would be impossible to keep them neutral. To the educated Englishmen there can be little doubt their employment at first appeared much more objectionable than it did to the average colonist, who had been made familiar with it in former wars. It is certain that Washington and Adams, Montgomery and Schuyler, and in fact the leaders of the revolution generally, approved of it with scarcely a symptom of hesitation, except on the ground of expense. Having already enlisted the Stockbridge Indians, the Congress of Massachusetts, on the 4th of April, 1775, sent a letter to the Missionary Kirkland at Oneida, requesting him to exert his influence with the Six Nations to induce them to join their forces, but if they refused to prevail upon them to remain neutral. An address to the Indians accompanied this letter. It was a marvel of ingenious misrepresentation. " Our fathers," it said, " were obliged by the cruelty of their brethren to leave their country, yet we have fought for them and conquered Canada and many other places which they have had and have not paid us for. They have refused to let us have powder.

The Story of Butler's Rangers and the Settlement of Niagara [Special Illustrated Edition]

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