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G. Upper Canada and the First Nations, 1780s to 1820s
From Canada's First People - Senior Edition
The Loyalists and the First Nations
Peace did not last long after the Seven Years War and the Royal Proclamation of 1763. America's revolutionary war changed the political landscape of North America. Many textbooks outline how the American Revolution created the United States, and how this changed the lives of European and English settlers in North America. However, it was equally important to First Nations.
From the 1780s onward, over 40,000 people who sided with the British in the Revolution, called Loyalists, left the United States and migrated into the British colony of Quebec. Eventually so many arrived that the British split the colony in two. The Constitutional Act of 1791 created the colonies of Upper Canada (Ontario) and Lower Canada (Quebec). The arrival of all of these Loyalists into the areas of present day Toronto, Niagara and Kingston as well as the Maritimes changed the lives of the Ojibwa and Mi'kmaq who lived in these regions.
Many First Nations people also left the United States for Canada. Some, such as the Iroquois, fought for the British. When Britain lost the Revolution they feared the Americans would want revenge against them. Older textbooks often referred to these people as the "Indian Loyalists." Thousands of Iroquois and other First Nations 'Loyalists,' therefore, entered Upper Canada as well.
Ontario Aboriginals
- "It is recorded of him that a bruised reed he never broke. Cease then to call yourselves Christians, lest you declare to the world your hypocrisy. Cease too to call other nations savage, when you are tenfold more the children of cruelty than they.
- No person among us desires any other reward for performing a brave and worthwhile action, but the consciousness of having served his nation. I bow to no man for I am considered a prince among my own people. But I will gladly shake your hand."
- Joseph Brant to King George III
Aboriginal peoples arguably lost the most when the Loyalists arrived in Upper Canada. In exchange for treaty rights, support, and reserves set aside for their "use and benefit," they were stripped of much of their aboriginal rights through a series of treaties negotiated by the British Crown and their representatives. Adding to the difficulty was the fact that treaty and reserve boundaries were often vague at best. Often there were serious language problems and misunderstandings between First Nations and the British about the treaties. Some translators employed by the Crown were not very good at their job; others were dishonest.
Many First Nations leaders realized that life on their territory was changing because fo the arrival of the British. Iroquois leader Thayendanegea (also known as Joseph Brant) realized that the future would be very different than the past. Survival, he believed, would only come through selling off or leasing his people's rights to Crown land. Thus, over 150 000 hectares of land were sold off within a generation. Other tribes followed their example. In 1790 the Ottawa and Ojibwa people ceded their rights to close to one million hectares around the Thames River area of present-day southern Ontario for 1,200 British pounds. Three years later, for the same amount they sold more than 1.2 million hectares again in the same region. Throughout the nineteenth century, the aboriginal peoples who had lived freely and independently for centuries on the land were shunted aside by advancing European settlement.
The American Revolution
The Iroquois confederacy was composed of the Mohawk, Oneida, Onondaga, Cayuga, and Seneca. After the Tuscarora joined in 1722, the league became known as the Six Nations and was recognized as such at a treaty in Albany, New York, in 1722. The Six Nations were better organized than other Indian confederacies. Benjamin Franklin even noted their success when he argued for the unification of the Thirteen Colonies. The Six Nations lived in comfortable homes, often better than those of the colonists. They raised fine crops, and every year sent hunters to Ohio for meat.
During the U.S. War of Independence a split developed in the Iroquois confederacy. Some favoured a neutral stance, preferring to let the white men kill each other. But Joseph Brant and his friend John Deserontyon knew that Indians and Whites had different views about land ownership, and feared that the Indians would lose their lands if the colonists achieved independence. Brant knew his people needed protection against the growing numbers of settlers, so he argued that his people should side with the British. The Mohawk, Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca backed Brant in the Iroquois League, but the Oneida and Tuscarora favoured the American cause.
Brant was the son of an important Mohawk chief. His sister, Molly Brant, had married William Johnson, Britain's Indian Superintendent in the New York colony. Brant had a lot of wartime experience having fought in the Seven Years War and against Pontiac's forces in 1763. He also went to Moor's Indian Charity School in Connecticut (now called Dartmouth College) for a number of years. Brant could speak several Native languages, and read and write English. He was an excellent advocate for his people as he understood both First Nations and the British.
When the American Revolution started Brant sailed to London. He told the British that he and most of his people would fight for the British if they received promises that their land would be protected from settlers. British leaders promised Brant that Iroquois lands would be protected.
Brant's warriors and other First Nations won a number of battles for the British during the Revolutionary War. He led Iroquois warriors in the Battle of Oriskany on August 6, 1777. In early 1778 he gathered a force of Indians from the villages of Unadilla and Oquaga on the Susquehanna River. On September 17, 1778 they destroyed German Flats near Herkimer, New York. The American rebels retaliated, and on Oct. 8 and 10 a force led by Col. William Butler destroyed the Iroquois villages of Unadilla and Oquaga, killing many people.
Brant's forces, along with loyalists under Capt. Walter N. Butler, then set out to retaliate by destroying the town and fort at Cherry Valley, Pennsylvania. On July 3, 1778, the attackers killed some 30 men, women, and children, burned the village, and took 71 prisoners. They killed 16 soldiers at the fort but withdrew the following day when reinforcements arrived. The so-called "Wyoming Valley Massacre." gave Brant's forces a fearsome reputation with American settlers, and was a rallying cry for launching retaliation against the Iroquois. As is often the case, First Nations' victories were called "massacres" while victories by white soldiers were simply successful battles.
In September, 1779. George Washington ordered one of his generals, John Sullivan, to make a retaliatory expedition of 3700 men against the Iroquois. He took with him one of the survivors, Col. Zebulon Butler, the military leader of Wyoming Valley, who personally led the burnings of Cayuga villages. The Americans destroyed Iroquois farms, fields and orchards. This finally broke the Iroquois will, and they defeated the League in a battle near present-day Elmira, New York. Brant's raids persisted until the end of the war, but the Iroquois League came to an end after the admitted defeat in the Second Treaty of Ft. Stanwix in 1784.
Brant had failed in his mission, since Britain could not keep its promise to the First Nations when it lost the revolution. With a new border was in place, Britain became more concerned with keeping good relations with the new United States of America.
Joseph Brant, John Deserontyon and other chiefs who fought with the British were very angry with Britain when it signed the peace and handed over their land to the new American government. They travelled to Montreal and heatedly made their position known to Governor Haldimand in Montreal.
A leading official in the Indian Department, Sir John Johnson (William Johnson's son) also warned the British of Native anger:
"The Indians... look upon our conduct to them as treacherous and cruel: they told me they never could believe that our King could pretend to cede to America what was not his to give...That they were his faithful Allies of the King of England, but not his subjects...they would defend their own Just Rights or perish in the attempt to the last man."[1]
But Joseph Brant was also a practical leader. He made a rough peace with the Americans, discouraged further warfare, and helped the Miamis and other western tribes secure peace treaties with the new rulers. He also retained his commission in the British Army. His first thought, however, was to find a new home for his people.
Iroquois Loyalists
Many early textbooks refer to Brant and the other First Nations who fought for the British as Iroquois Loyalists. This is not the proper term for them. They did fight for the British, but they did not see themselves as British subjects. They had fought for the British to help their own people. When the American Revolution was lost they looked to their British ally for help.
British relations with the United States were strained after the revolution. The military governor, Frederick Haldimand, feared that the Iroquois and other First Nations north of Lakes Ontario and Erie might rise up against the British just as Pontiac had in 1763. He knew compensation was necessary if Britain wanted to keep First Nations as allies against the new American threat.
Governor Haldimand did two things. First, he told officials in the Indian Department to be very generous when giving First Nations food and supplies. He did not want any of them to starve and become so desperate and angry that they might attack the British in Canada. He also offered the Iroquois land in Canada.
The two large groups of Iroquois refugees were led by "Captain John" Deserontyon and Joseph Brant. Combined these two groups had over 3000 people including large numbers of warriors who might still fight for the British if they were treated properly. Giving them both their own territory, and meeting their needs, was one way of keeping good relations with the Iroquois.
Haldimand offered them both land on Lake Ontario on the Bay of Quinte (near the present day town of Belleville). He sent Indian Agents to negotiate with the Ojibwa who lived in that region for land to give to the Iroquois. The Ojibwa agreed, but worried that there would not be enough food in the area for everyone to hunt and support themselves. There was likely still some lingering fear about the Iroquois because of the earlier battles between them and the Ojibwa in the late 1600s.
On April, 1793, Haldimand ordered the new Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada, John Graves Simcoe, to grant a tract of land the size of a township (approximately 92,700 acres) to the Six Nations people The "Simcoe Deed" (also referred to as Treaty 3 1/2) created the Mohawk Tract, today's Tyendinaga Mohawk Territory, which over the years was reduced by land alienations and surrenders to approximately 18,000 acres. Located about 12 km east of Belleville and 80 miles west of Kingston, the name Tyendinaga is derived from "Thayendanegea," Joseph Brant's Mohawk name, and means "placing the wood together."
The Deserontyon and Brant groups agreed to settle on the Mohawk Tract, but Brant soon changed his mind. A number of Seneca people were in his group, and they wanted to be closer to their traditional homelands. So he chose land further west in the Valley of the Grand River (near the present day town of Brantford). In 1784 a treaty with the local Ojibwa for land in the Grand River Valley was signed between the Ojibwa in the area and the Crown.
Brant's people received a tract of 675,000 acres along the Grand River from its mouth to its source, 10 km deep on either side. Brant led 1,843 Iroquois Loyalists from New York State to this site where they settled and established the Grand River Reserve for the Mohawk and Cayugas, as well as a few Delaware, Nanticoke, Tutelo, Creek, and Cherokee, who had lived with the Iroquois before the war. The people settled in small tribal villages along the river.
Brant urged Deserontyon to join him there in a unified community, but Deserontyon preferred the Bay of Quinte site where he could manage his own affairs. On May 22, 1784, he landed on the shores of the Bay of Quinte with about 20 families, an event that is celebrated every year as "Mohawk Landing". With government help the people built an Anglican chapel and a schoolhouse.
Problems arose because of land title. Haldimand had hurriedly pushed through the land agreement before his term of office expired and failed to provide Brant and his people with legal title to the property. For this reason, Brant again travelled to England in 1785. He failed to obtain firm title to the Grand River reserve. He succeeded in getting compensation for Mohawk losses in the War, and received funds for a saw mill, a grist mill, a school, and a church - the first Anglican Church in Upper Canada - Her Majesty's Chapel of the Mohawks. This simple wooden structure survives today as the oldest Protestant church in Ontario. It is the only church outside the UK with the status of Chapel Royal. The church contains the silver service and bible dating from 1712 when Queen Anne had a church erected for the Mohawk on the Mohawk River in New York.
Soon difficulties arose between Brant and the government of Upper Canada. Brant saw the land as his and his people's. He began to sell and lease it to settlers who asked for it. Different lieutenant-governors of Upper Canada and Indian Department Officials said he could not do this. All Indian land, they argued, had to be sold according to the Royal Proclamation. The Grand River lands, however, were not traditional Iroquois lands. They were given to them by the British. Why could they not sell them as any other person or group did? British officials did not press Brant too hard on this, however, because they wanted to keep his people as allies. However, future colonial leaders found Brant difficult to deal with because he would not simply do as they asked him. Brant maintained that he was independent of British rule, as were the Iroquois at Grand River.
In his later years, Brant continued the work he had begun as a young man of translating the Creed and important passages of the Old and New Testament into the Mohawk language. He died on the reserve on August 24, 1807.
Upper Canada's Early Relations with First Nations
Britain had to treat all First Nations in Upper Canada very carefully. While many thousands of Loyalists entered Upper Canada after the American Revolution they were scattered over a large area. First Nations were very important to the British for a number of reasons. While problems did emerge the government of Upper Canada, for the most part, tried to keep First Nations as content as possible.
First, the settlements in Upper Canada were very small. Toronto, or York as it was called at that time, was only a small collection of buildings along the lake shore in the 1790s and early 1800s. There were no luxuries, and the possibility of starvation was very real. Upper Canada's first lieutenant-governor, John Graves Simcoe, realized how helpless the new colony was. To help it develop he encouraged First Nations people to hunt and bring food into the small settlements at Kingston, York and Niagara. Iroquois on the Grand River hunted deer and other animals regularly, and brought this meat to the town of Niagara every week. Settlers adopted First Nations methods of fishing and hunting in order to get enough food to eat.
Second, Britain needed all the First Nations as military allies. Iroquois help was very important, but so too was the help of the Ojibwa who also lived within the colony. Ojibwa bands had a combined force of thousands of warriors. Britain, therefore, adopted many of the same policies that the French had used with First Nations. First, it placed all First Nations policy under the control of the Indian Department. Created in 1755 the Indian Department was created to act as a military organization. Staffed by men who had a lot of experience dealing with First Nations, both as traders and in warfare, the Indian Department controlled Native policy in Upper Canada.
Through the end of the 1700s and the first few decades of the 1800s Native styles of diplomacy were followed by the Indian Department. Indian Department agents, and military officers in charge of forts, were told to treat all First Nations properly. They gave out food and supplies when First Nations asked for it, and made sure to distribute presents to chiefs and other important Native leaders. During any meeting or negotiations agents and fort commanders had to follow the rituals of the First Nation they were dealing with.
Lastly, Britain needed to maintain good relations with First Nations because they had something which the colony of Upper Canada needed: land. With the arrival of the Loyalists and it became necessary to find these people land to settle on and farm. Under the terms of the Royal Proclamation Britain had to enter into treaties with the Ojibwa (or Mississauga as they were called then) to get land for the settlers. Very soon the Indian Department's main goal was to purchase land.
Upper Canada's Early Treaties
Treaty history is very complicated. While a large number of the early treaties may appear simple when read today there are a number of issues and problems which have emerged since they were created.
First, the written treaties do not outline everything that was said and promised by the British during the treaty negotiations. In fact, early treaties do not say very much at all. They provide a description of the land that the Crown wanted. Payment terms to the First Nation involved is also outlined. Sometimes other promises are included, such as telling the First Nation that it can continue to hunt and fish, but very little else is said. Historians who specialize in treaty history do a lot of work today for the federal and provincial governments and for different First Nations to discover what was promised during treaty negotiations. Many modern land claims are based on discrepancies between the written treaty and what was verbally agreed to during the negotiations.
First Nations and the Crown also had very different ideas about what the treaties meant. First Nations saw treaties as a sharing agreements. Settlers needed land, and First Nations agreed to share their land with the new settlers. They did not 'sell' their land to the Crown, nor did First Nations agree to give up hunting or fishing over it. First Nations did not conceive of land as something that could be sold to someone. The Crown, however, believed that once a treaty was signed the land belonged to the Crown. When settlers received that land from the Crown they considered that land to be their private property. This could lead to misunderstanding. Often, after treaties were signed, First Nations would come back to an area they had used for generations to hunt or fish. Settlers would tell them to leave because they were trespassing on private property. In 1805 an Ojibwa chief, Quinipeno, complained to the British Indian Department about what happened after his people signed a treaty:
- "...we were told that our Father the King wanted some Land for his people it was some time before we sold it, but when we found it was wanted by the King to settle his people on it, whom we were told would be of great use to us, we granted it accordingly. Father - we have not found this so, as the inhabitants drive us away instead of helping us, we want to know why we are served in that manner? ...when we encamp on the Land they [settlers] drove us off and shoot our dogs and never give us any assistance as was promised to our old Chiefs."[2]
By the 1830s the Ojibwa were more blunt in their assessment of the treaties. One chief gave his opinion on what had happened to his people during the early treaty negotiations:
"Our fathers held out to them [the British] the hand of friendship. The strangers then asked for a small piece of land on which they might pitch their tents; the request was cheerfully granted. By and by they begged for more, and more was given to them. In this way they have continued to ask, or have obtained by force or fraud, the fairest portions of our territory."[3]
In addition to these problems there was the issue of squatters. These are people who simply settle on a piece of land and claim it for their own. Many times squatters began to settle and farm on Native land that was not covered by treaty. Despite complaints from First Nations the government of Upper Canada did very little to remove these people.
The Nature of Early Treaty Negotiations
Two elements characterize both the nature of early treaty negotiations in Upper Canada, and the structure that those treaties assumed.
First, money was rarely used as a form of treaty payment at this time. The Ojibwa who entered into the treaties asked for and received a one-time payment of goods. Cash was rarely given to First Nations because Upper Canada was a cash poor society. There was little need for money during the early years of the colony. Goods received by First Nations for signing treaties included: ammunition, cloth, axes, fishing equipment, traps, and spears (for fishing). Such goods had greater utility and value than money.
This information is important to historians because it reveals some of what the Ojibwa wanted in the treaties, and what they did not give up. Early treaties rarely contain any reference to First Nations' hunting or fishing rights. However, the goods they received as payment indicate that First Nations did not surrender their rights to hunt, fish and trap. They would not ask for things to help them harvest natural resources if they had given up that right through the treaty.
Second, the people who negotiated the early treaties on behalf of the Indian Department had a certain approach to First Nations and diplomacy. Many of these early employees (called Indian Agents) had long standing experience and relations with First Nations people. Early Indian Agents had worked as fur traders, or as British military officers. Over the course of their careers with First Nations they learned their languages, and adopted many elements of First Nations diplomacy. Part of this adoption was a reliance on oral promises and negotiation. As a result, these early Indian Agents rarely left behind written records of their treaty negotiations.
Later discrepancies about treaty boundaries and promises, therefore, were often resolved against the First Nations. Colonial officials relied entirely on written records. Since none of the Indian Agents maintained transcripts of the negotiations, officials relied on the text of the written treaty. However, the written treaties (as noted earlier) did not contain a complete list of all the promises that the Crown made during the negotiations.
Lastly, problems exist about the nature of the negotiations and the words used in the written treaties. Some concepts contained within the treaties were foreign to First Nations. For example, the concept of a mile does not exist in all cultures. Descriptions of land in treaties, therefore, did not always accurately represent the treaty boundaries as the First Nations understood them. Many of the legal terms in early treaties are also foreign to First Nations. It is clear that these terms could not be properly explained to First Nations during the negotiations (assuming there was an effort made to explain them).
The 1787 Toronto Purchase
The Toronto Purchase is a good example of an early British treaty with the First Nations. The land around present day Toronto interested the British because it lay at a strategic crossroads. It gave the British access to potential naval habours on Lake Ontario. Furthermore, rivers linked Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe in the north. The Humber River, for example, was an important fur trade route. For a long time the Humber River route was referred to simple as the Carrying Place.
Governor Frederick Haldimand, the British governor of Quebec, wanted this area for its use as a supply line. Troops and equipment could be brought from the St. Lawrence River, through Lake Ontario to the Carrying Place. From there, people and supplies could be conveyed up the Humber River to Lake Simcoe. A short portage allowed troops and supplies to travel to Georgian Bay and the British military outpost at Penetanguishene. Once troops and supplies were on Georgian Bay it allowed for relatively quick travel around lakes Huron, Michigan and Superior.
Haldimand was also under pressure from fur traders to improve the Humber River route. After the American Revolutionary War, the Montreal fur merchants, especially the North West Company, wanted the government to build a portage road from Toronto to Georgian Bay so they could ship goods west and bypass Lake Erie and Detroit.
Transportation concerns drove the British to enter into a treaty in 1785. That year the British purchased one mile on each side of a path that ran between Lake Simcoe and Georgian Bay. This would become an important road to transport military troops and supplies. However, this early treaty suffered from one of the deficiencies noted above: there are not written records about it. Either the treaty document is lost, or no one bothered to write it down. The only reference to this 1785 treaty is a reference in a later treaty signed in 1815.
In 1787, British Governor-in-Chief Guy Carleton, asked Sir John Johnson of the Indian Department to purchase land from the Ojibwa on the north shore of Lake Ontario. This land would be around the present day city of Toronto, but the Crown also wanted land on the Bay of Quinte (near the current city of Belleville).
On September 23, 1787, Johnson and Deputy Surveyor General John Collins arrived at the Bay of Quinte. They met with the Mississauga chiefs Wabikane, Neace, and Pakquan. They agreed to pay the chiefs £1,700 (approximately $200,000 in current dollars) for a tract of land covering 101,528 hectares (250,880 acres), virtually all the land now covered by Toronto.
Known today as The Toronto Purchase, the Mississauga (a term given to the Ojibwa in the region) received as payment a small amount of cash and 149 barrels of goods that included: axes, cloth, guns, gunpowder, 2,000 gun flints, fish hooks, blankets, 24 brass kettles, 10 dozen mirrors, 2 dozen laced hats, a bale of flowered flannel, and 96 gallons of rum.
A fur trader, John Long, was present during the meeting. He later wrote that the Ojibwa were asked by Johnson to surrender land between Lake Ontario and Lake Huron. On the invoice for the supplies Johnson gave to the Mississauga is a note that these were given for “a formal Cession of Lands on the North side of Lake Ontario to the Crown.”[4]
In August, 1788, Surveyor Alexander Aitkin arrived in Toronto Bay to begin surveying the land described in the treaty. He drew up plans for a possible Toronto town site. A military officer, Capt. Gother Mann, examined Toronto Bay to determine its suitability as a future military and commercial shipping harbour. Aitkin and his men, however, ran into a dispute with a local Mississauga chief who claimed that the Ojibwa had not sold any land east of the Don River. Other chiefs told Aitken that he was extending his survey too far inland from the shores of Lake Ontario. Other chiefs complained to Aitken that they had not been included in the treaty negotiations; therefore, some of the land Aitken was surveying had not been covered by the Toronto Purchase. There were also complaints that neither the Toronto Islands nor the Rouge River valley were included in the treaty. The Toronto Islands were a sacred place for the Ojibwa, and they did not surrender them to the Crown.
When Simcoe arrived in Upper Canada he was unhappy with how the Toronto Purchase was created. Concerned about an American attack on Upper Canada, he wanted to make sure that relations between the colony and First Nations were good. Simcoe feared that if the discrepancies around the treaty were no cleared up the Ojibwa might refuse to support the British in any future conflict with the United States, or it could lead to the outbreak of violence between the Ojibwa and the Crown.
In 1792 Simcoe investigated the problem personally. Simcoe found only one document about the Toronto Purchase: a blank deed with no description of the land that had been purchased by the Crown. It contained the totems of the three Mississauga Chiefs, but otherwise it was blank!
In 1794 Simcoe wrote to the Colonial Office in London, England, about the status of the Toronto Purchase. The Colonial Office replied that the 1787 treaty was not valid because it had not been properly completed. In 1798, officials asked for clarification from Sir John Johnson, who wrote a letter confirming that he had created a treaty in 1787. Johnson described the boundaries as roughly "ten miles square at Toronto, and two or four miles . . . on each side of the intended road or Carrying Place" (the Humber River). According to Johnson, the surrender document was essentially a blank signed deed of Indian land in favour of the Crown, and the intention was that the dimensions would be inserted in the deed when the land was later surveyed.
The land described by Johnson did not match the land that Aitken was told to survey. That land measured 14 x 28 miles. Peter Russell, head of the Indian Department of Upper Canada wrote to Acting Governor Robert Prescott asking if the First Nations should be told of the situation regarding the "Toronto Purchase". Russell was told to call another meeting of the Ojibwa chiefs in the area. During this meeting Russell was told to "confirm" the earlier 1787 treaty, but not to reveal to the chiefs the problems that had arose regarding the treaty.
Russell called the meeting with a number of chiefs at York. Russell told them that they had surrendered a large piece of land to the Crownin 1787, and the government wanted to confirm the boundaries to make sure no one trespassed on Native land. Chief Yellowhead of the Lake Simcoe area realized what Russell was trying to do, and said:
"If you white people forget your transactions with us, we do not. The Lands you have just shewn to us belongs to you; We have nothing to do with it; We have sold it to Our Great Father the King, and was well paid for it. Therefore make your mind at easy. There may be some of young people who do not think so; They may tell your people that the land is ours, but you must not open your ears to them, but take them by the arm and put them out of your houses."[5]
The 1805 Toronto and Mississauga Purchases
In early August of 1805, Claus met with the Mississaugas at the mouth of the Credit River in present day Toronto to confirm the earlier 1787 Toronto Purchase and acquire additional land.
On August 1st, 1805, eight Mississaugas chiefs signed Treaty 13, also known as the Toronto Purchase, which affirmed the earlier but unclear treaty signed at the Bay of Quinte in 1787. It surrendered over 250,000 acres of land (14 x 28 miles [392 square miles]) in exchange for 10 shillings.[6]
Tecumseh and the Uprising in the Ohio Valley
- "Whole Indian nations have melted away like snowballs in the sun before the white man's advance. They leave scarcely a name of our people except those wrongly recorded by their destroyers. Where are the Delawares? They have been reduced to a mere shadow of their former greatness. We had hoped that the white men would not be willing to travel beyond the mountains. Now that hope is gone. They have passed the mountains, and have settled upon Cherokee land. They wish to have that action sanctioned by treaty. When that is gained, the same encroaching spirit will lead them upon other land of the Cherokees. New cessions will be asked. Finally the whole country, which the Cherokees and their fathers have so long occupied, will be demanded, and the remnant of Ani-Yunwiya, THE REAL PEOPLE, once so great and formidable, will be compelled to seek refuge in some distant wilderness. There they will be permitted to stay only a short while, until they again behold the advancing banners of the same greedy host. Not being able to point out any further retreat for the miserable Cherokees, the extinction of the whole race will be proclaimed. Should we not therefore run all risks, and incur all consequences, rather than submit to further loss of our country? Such treaties may be alright for men who are too old to hunt or fight. As for me, I have my young warriors about me. We will have our lands. A-WANINSKI, I have spoken."
- Dragging Canoe (Cherokee)
- On Concluding the Transylvania Treaty
- Cherokee Country, 1775
Even though Britain lost the American Revolution they kept up relations with First Nations that lived in the United States for some time. Britain did this by keeping their posts in what is today Ohio and Indiana. While the Treaty of Paris, which ended the American Revolution, stated that Britain was to give up these posts the British secretly continued to operate them. Keeping the posts meant that British commanders and fur traders could continue to give First Nations gifts and supplies to make sure they stayed allies of the British. It also meant they could help First Nations in their war against the Americans.
In the Ohio Valley First Nations were becoming angry at the influx of American settlers onto their lands. Several battles were fought between the Shawnee and other First Nations against American forces. First Nations warriors won a number of these conflicts including the defeat of a large American force of 2300 soldiers in the early 1790s. Americans continued to lose to First Nations until the Battle of Fallen Timbers in 1794. Following this defeat the British agreed to give up their posts under the terms of the Jay Treaty (named after John Jay, the American Secretary of State). However, British forts still existed on the border between the United States and British North America (present day Canada) which allowed British and French fur traders to supply the First Nations on the American side with guns and supplies. At this time the border was hardly (if ever) patrolled. It was easy for Native peoples on the US side to cross over to a British post for supplies.
Eventually in 1795 the Shawnee First Nation and others surrendered most of present day Ohio to the American government in the Treaty of Greenville. Warfare, however, continued for some time. Not every First Nations leader accepted the Treaty of Greenville. Eventually a single chief emerged who would pull together the various First Nations into a unified force to resist the Americans. This man was Tecumseh a Shawnee chieftain. He believed that continual America settlement in the Ohio Valley would cause his people and other First Nations to lose their land.
Tenskwatawa and Tecumseh led a large number of Shawnee people who believed in this new message to the shores of the Wabash River in Ohio and formed a village known as Prophetstown by the Americans. Tenskwatawa became very powerful. Hundreds of other people from different First Nations went to Prophetstown to hear his message. American military leaders in the region, such as William Henry Harrison, became worried that this new religious movement might unify all of the tribes.
While Tenskwatawa was certainly important the greater threat to the Americans was Tecumseh. While he supported his brother, Tecumseh was (like Pontiac) more pragmatic. He used this religious movement to convince many people that the best way to fight the Americans was through military action and alliances with the British. Tenskwatawa soon lost some of his power to his brother, but this new religion remained an important part of the confederacy Tecumseh was forming.
Tenskwatawa's movement became so large that William Henry Harrison could no longer ignore it. In November 1811, he attacked Prophetstown with 1000 soldiers. While each side suffered the same number of casualties (about 60 each), the town was destroyed.
Tecumseh continued to work to pull his confederacy together with the help of his brother. When the War of 1812 started he saw this as a chance to get greater support from the British if his people helped them fight the Americans.
First Nations and the War of 1812
The close relationship between Tecumseh and the British was one of the causes of the War of 1812. In the United States Congress was a group of senators and congressmen known as the War Hawks. They pressed President Madison to declare war on Britain for several reasons, one of which was British support of Tecumseh. Aboriginal flare-ups occurred with regularity and while the British arguably had little to do with inciting the aboriginal population, the Americans perceived the situation quite differently. Finding the aboriginals with British weapons only raised American suspicions. Those anxieties reached their height in 1811 at the Battle of Tippecanoe. The aboriginals were defeated at the battle but the Americans held the British responsible for arming and encouraging them.
Other factors outside of North America also led to war. In Europe the French dictator Napoleon had conquered large parts of western Europe. Napoleon, in an effort to defeat Britain, formed a naval blockade around the entire country. Britain did the same of France and other European ports. American ships were now being stopped by British war vessels on the open seas (i.e.: international waters) to insure they were not trading with Europe. The War Hawks resented this interference. It became even worse as the British navy began to take American sailors who they thought had fled the Royal Navy. On numerous occasions the Royal Navy took American sailors who were legally American citizens.
Eventually the War Hawks convinced President Madison to declare war on Britain. Upper Canada had a very small population in 1812, only 75,000 settlers. In comparison the United States had hundreds of thousands of people in it. While not every state went to war with Upper Canada it was clear that the British settlers were outnumbered.
First Nations warriors played an important role in the war, but it is important to remember that they were not helping just to save the British. As historian Arthur Ray has noted, the War of 1812 was in reality two wars being fought at the same time. The war most students learn about is the defence of Canada against an American invasion. Tecumseh and the First Nations, however, were fighting their own war to protect their land against American settlers. Their alliance with the British was only to help them achieve their goals. However, without this aid it is unlikely the British could have won. Tecumseh brought his warriors to Upper Canada, and worked out a deal with the British. He agreed to help the British against the Americans if they promised to give First Nations all of Michigan as an Indian territory that no settler would be allowed to enter. Colonial officials agreed to this very quickly.
Major-General Sir Isaac Brock realized how important First Nations warriors would be to the British. Brock arrived in Upper Canada about one year before the war started. His job was to get the colony ready should war begin. Brock had little faith in the ability of Upper Canada's militia to fight against the Americans. Militia soldiers are just regular people who sign up to fight if a war starts. They had little or no military training. Many were recent American immigrants. Brock was afraid they might switch sides and help the Americans (what is known as a fifth column movement).
Brock knew that Native warriors were far more effective. With the help of Joseph Brant's son John and his adopted son John Norton [Teyoninhokarawen], he set about convincing the Ojibwa in the region, and the Iroquois at Six Nations Reserve and Thayendinaga (Bay of Quinte), to fight with the British. At first the Iroquois at Six Nations Reserve stayed neutral. Then Brant and Norton held a war conference in early October, and many agreed to enter the war on the British side. Brock also sent secret letters to British fur traders, such as Robert Dickson. Brock asked Dickson to convince the nations he traded with to fight for the British.
The first victory in the war went to Upper Canada. The Ojibwa and other northern First Nations, and a small group of British soldiers attacked the American fort at Michilimackinac and captured it in June, 1812.
During this same time, however, the Americans invaded through Detroit under the command of General William Hull. Canadian militia fell back as the Americans advanced. Hull and troops, however, were very afraid of First Nations warriors. After advancing so far he retreated back to Fort Detroit. By this time Isaac Brock and his troops arrived and with Tecumseh and his 600 warriors they surrounded Fort Detroit.
Brock knew that Hull was terrified of Native warriors. American soldiers transporting supplies had been captured by the British, and brought to Brock a letter Hull had written. In this letter Hull explained how he was terrified of First Nations because he believed them to be savage warriors. Brock exploited this. He wrote his own letter to General Hull before the battle started. In the letter he told Hull that the British had hundreds of Native warriors with them. Once the fighting started, Brock said, he would not be able to control them and a massacre would probably happen. Hull was terrified, and surrendered Fort Detroit without firing a shot.
First Nations warriors played key roles in a number of battles following the victory at Detroit. Many times they acted as scouts and brought information back to British officers about where American troops were. Often they do not receive sufficient credit for this important role.
During the Battle of Queenston Heights, the Native warriors quietly circled around behind the American forces and drove them off the high ground. As John Beverley Robinson related, "About three o'clock, General Sheaffe advanced through the woods towards the battery on the mountain, with the main body and the field guns on the right: the Mohawk Indians, under Captain Norton, and a Niagara Company of Blacks, proceeded along the brow of the mountain on the left ; and our company of Militia, with the Light Company of the 49th, broke through in the centre. In this manner we rushed through the woods to our encamping ground on the mountain, which the enemy had occupied. The Indians were the first in advance. As soon as they perceived the enemy they uttered their terrific war-whoop, and commenced a most destructive fire, rushing rapidly upon them. Our troops instantly sprang forward from all quarters, joining in the shout. The Americans stood a few moments, gave two or three general volleys, and then fled by hundreds down the mountain."
Unfortunately, the Mohawks' friend Isaac brock was killed in the battle:
In 1813, US President James Madison needed a victory to convince the American Congress to fund the War. He again ordered Upper Canada invaded at Niagara.
After the battle of Stoney Creek on June 6, 1813, US General Dearborn withdrew American forces to Fort George. Two weeks later, the American commander at Fort George, General John Boyd, ordered Lt. Col. Charles Boerstler to take 570 troops and three cannon and attack and destroy a British advance post and supply depot in the DeCew House near Thorold, Ontario. The fortified house was held by Capt. James FitzGibbon and his company of 49th Foot. FitzGibbon had been sent into the area to cause trouble and harass the American forces. With him was Captain of Militia Dominique Ducharme and his force of 300 Kanawake and Kahnesetake Iroquois.
At sunset on July 22, a group of Iroquois escorted an exhausted Laura Secord into FitzGibbon's headquarters. When she told him she had overheard the American plan of attack, FitzGibbon quickly ordered Ducharme to send out scouting parties to find Boerstler's troops as they moved through wooded country.
One of Ducharme's scouting parties had already located the US force, and FitzGibbon ordered Ducharme to take his force of 300 Kanawake and Kahnesetake Iroquois and attack the Americans. The force was joined by a party of 100 Grand River Mohawks led by William Kerr and John Brant. FitzGibbon followed later with cannon and 50 of his 80 British regulars.
At about 9 in the morning of June 24, 1813, Ducharme's Iroquois ambushed the Americans at Beaver Dams. Their first volley of musket fire killed or wounded many of the US advance party before they could take cover in a gully. The Americans were surrounded, and everywhere they turned they were met by heavy fire. Boerstler ordered his men to set up the three cannon. The Iroquois warriors charged from the woods just as the US gunners had loaded the first gun. A single blast of grapeshot from the cannon killed five chiefs and severely wounded a young native boy.
As Thomas G. Ridout wrote, "Saturday 17, Henry Nelles & I rode down to the cross roads three miles from Niagara when the Royals Kings & 6 or 700 indians are posted. I understood the Americans were advancing into battlefields. Immediately the yell was given & Blackbird & Norton set out with their indians to meet them. Nelles & I rode along. And in a few minutes the skirmish began by the western Indian getting upon the left Flank and the 5 Nations upon the other. The enemy consisted of 500 men soon retreated, firing heavy vollies upon Blackbird party which was the nearest. ... And they again advanced with a large front, firing grape shot the indians scattered in the woods. But we were obliged to keep the road. By this time 3 companies of the Royals & a brass 6 pounder came up & posted on this side battlefield the Yankees on the other & I fired for sometime when the Americans thought fit to retreat. ... A young Cayuga had his arm & side carried away with a cannon ball & another a ball through his arm. Some of the musqet [sic] balls came pretty close... "
Boerstler regrouped his force to fight his way back to Fort George, but he was wounded, many of his officers were dead, and they were very low on ammunition. His men were dazed by three hours of fighting an enemy they could not see, and terrified by the war whoops issuing from the woods. Suddenly out of the woods came FitzGibbon on a horse, offering him protection from the scalping knife if he surrendered his troops and three cannons to the British. Unaware that he outnumbered the British and Native warriors, Boerstler and 462 terrified survivors surrendered.
The Battle of Beaver Dams, also known as the Battle of the Beechwoods, was one of the turning points in the War of 1812. After this defeat the Americans did not again venture out in force, leaving the British in control of the Niagara Peninsula until July of 1814 and the Battle of Lundy's Lane.
John Norton later remarked that the Caugnawaga Indians fought the battle, the Mohawks or Six Nations got the plunder, and FitzGibbon got the credit.
Despite the victory at Beaver Dam things became worse in 1813. In that year the British gave up Fort Detroit because a large American force was moving towards it. The American navy also controlled Lake Erie which made it very difficult for the British to get supplies to the fort. General Proctor (who replaced Brock, who died at the Battle of Queenston Heights) had his men retreat up the Thames River along with Tecumseh's forces.
- ACTIVITY: Read Tecumseh's Speech to Proctor about Retreating from Detroit
American soldiers caught up to them, and the Battle of the Thames (also known as the Battle of Moraviantown) started. Proctor's army kept retreating, but Tecumseh and the First Nations stood their ground. Tecumseh was killed, and his forces soon retreated. What happened to Tecumseh's body is not known. Some say his warriors took it from the battle field and secretly buried it. Others say that American soldiers found it, and cut it into small pieces for souvenirs. Mutilation of Native bodies was common practice amongst American soldiers on the battlefield. Today a monument, erected in 1963, stands on Walpole First Nations land for Tecumseh.
In 1814 the British and Americans ended the war with the Treaty of Ghent. Despite promises to Tecumseh and other leaders that the British would give them Michigan this never happened. Article Nine of the Treaty of Ghent did state that the British and the Americans would both respect the land and territory of First Nations. However, the Americans never returned any land to Tecumseh's people. Many First Nations felt betrayed by the British. They had fought for them based on certain promises, and these promises were forgotten when the war ended. Tecumseh's confederacy fell apart with his death, and their lands were eventually settled by the Americans.
Conclusion
First Nations remained important to the British after the American Revolution. However, this did not mean that they were always treated well. Britain's Indian Department did distribute presents and gifts to keep First Nations as military allies, and it did sign treaties with the Ojibwa to get access to land in Upper Canada.
However, other things slowly began to affect the independence of Native peoples. Increasing settlement meant that more land was being taken up for farming. Traditional spots for hunting and fishing were lost as a result. Britain would also not keep promises it made to Tecumseh and other Natives at the end of the War of 1812. Creating peace with the Americans was more important to the British.
Matters were even worse in the Maritimes. There was little need to keep the Mi'kmaq as military allies since there was little threat of an American invasion there. First Nations in the Maritimes were seen more as a nuisance: something to be got rid of so British settlers could farm the land.
Notes
- ↑ Robert S. Allen, His Majesty's Indian Allies: British Indian Policy in the Defence of Canada, 1774-1815 (Toronto: Dundurn Press, 1993): 55.
- ↑ Cited in Donald B. Smith, "The Dispossession of the Mississauga Indians: A Missing Chapter in the Early History of Upper Canada." J.K. Johnson and Bruce G. Wilson eds. (Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1989): 34.
- ↑ Cited in Donald B. Smith, "The Dispossession of the Mississauga Indians: A Missing Chapter in the Early History of Upper Canada." J.K. Johnson and Bruce G. Wilson eds. (Ottawa: Carleton University Press, 1989).
- ↑ National Archives of Canada, RG 10, vol. 105, p. 195. “Distribution of Arms, Ammunition and tobacco made by Sir John Johnson at the Head of the Bay of Quinté on the 23rd September 1787, at which time they made a formal Cession of Lands on the north side of Lake Ontario to the Crown.”
- ↑ E.A Cruickshank and A.F. Hunter eds., Correspondence of the Honourable Peter Russell. “Yellow Head’s Answer to the President’s Request, 22 May 1798.” Vol. II (Toronto, 1932): 161.
- ↑ The following day, on August 2nd, 1805, the Mississaugas signed Treaty 13A, also known as the Mississauga Purchase or the First Purchase. The signees of the Treaty were Chiefs Quenepenon, Wabukanyne, Chechalk and Okemapenesse. This treaty surrendered aboriginal title to lands from Etobicoke Creek to Burlington Bay, to a depth of 6 miles back from the Lake Ontario shoreline – some 85,000 acres of land in exchange for 1000 pounds currency. Treaty 13A retained sole Native rights to the fisheries around Etobicoke Creek and the Twelve Mile Creek, as well as a one-mile strip on each side of the Credit River. This became known as the Credit Indian Reserve. The transfer of the Rouge (Markham) lands may have been addressed at this meeting, but the matter was not resolved. Mississauga family groups continued to camp and hunt in the Rouge until around 1918. The Toronto Islands also lay outside of the eastern boundary of the 1805 treaty survey.<ref>In 1923, the Williams Commission attempted to resolve this issue through investigation and negotiation. After this negotiation, the Mississauga were said, by the Crown, to have agreed to surrender their land east of the Toronto Purchase from Lake Ontario to Lake Simcoe. However, the Mississauga of New Credit have a different perspective; since they did not sign the 1923 Williams Treaty, they still claim Aboriginal title and interest in some eastern GTA lands.</li></ol></ref>
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