Excerpt from:

THE SUSQUEHANNOCK INDIANS OF PENNSYLVANIA- 

by Donald Cadzow (1936)

Pennsylvania Historical Commission, Harrisburg, PA

"THE SUSQUEHANNOCK INDIANS - 1606-1695"

"Of all the native inhabitants of Pennsylvania the least known to the ethnographers. is the southern division of the northern Iroquois. They were called Susquehannock by the Powhatan*

Indian tribes, later the English adopted the name and it was applied to them by the first known white man to meet them, Captain John Smith. The story of the Susquehannocks is a tragic one. They appeared early on the historic stage along the Susquehanna watershed, played a leading role and declined into obscurity.

Through the pages of history they are called a variety of names -out of which the one applied by Powhatan and Captain John Smith seems to be the most appropriate. This name has been explained by various authorities as Algonkian and not Iro-quoian as we might expect it to be. According to Brinton, "the terminal 'K' is the place sign, 'hanna' denotes a flowing stream, while the adjectival prefix has been identified by Heckwelder with 'schachage,' straight, from the direct course of the river near its mouth, and by Mr. Guss with 'woski,' new, which he thinks referred to fresh or spring water ." ( 5) .

In the writings of McSherry we find the following Algon-kian interpretation-"Saskwe-an-og-Sask means rubbing, sweep-ing, grating. 'K' is the sign of prolongation. 'We' -in com-position means the effect produced by waves. 'Og' is plural animate termination. Hence Sas-k-we-in-og means 'those who live in a place where water is heard grating (beating) on the shore!" (6), Miss Gladys Tantaquidgeon interprets the name in Delaware as "sak a'n' hanek, river full of islands or projections above the water," from sak .i.xRn, "something in plain sight project-ing up," and a'n'h a n.e k "running water or streams." The people inhabiting the territory along the banks of the river would be called Sak.an han.eyok." (7) .

According to Dr. Frank G. Speck, the term saskewhan'ne "muddy river" appears in a study of the N anti coke and Conoy .POWHATAN-The ruling chief and the founder of the Powhatan confed-eracy in Virginia at the period of the first English settlements. About thirty cognate Algonkian tribes were subject to his rule. He was the father of Pocahontas and his proper name was Wahunsonaoock.( 8) This may also account for Hewetts' interpre-tation of the name-"signify roiley river," in his story of the Conestoga ( 9) .

The Cree Indians of northwest Canada interpret the name as meaning "water rubbing hard upon something." This inter-pretation agrees with.McSherry's and we are inclined to accept his translation and believe the name is of Algonkian origin as the Crees are among the few tribes left where the tongue still remains almost pure, and their translation of Susquehannock as meaning "people living where water rubs on the shore" would be appropriate for a group living along the rapids of what is now the Lower Susquehanna River.*

The early Swedes and Dutch called the Susquehanna Iroquois "Minquas" from the Delaware name applied to all tribes of this group. These names are corruptions of the Algonquian mingwe meaning "stealthy, treacherous." Minquas was also used extensively during the late colonial period to designate any detached body of Iroquois regardless of where they were from.

To the French and the Five Nations the Susquehanna Iroquoian groups were known as Andastes, Andastoghernons, Gandastogues, Conestogas, etc., etc. The Indians undoubtedly separated the upper and lower river tribes but the white man did not do so conclusively in his records of the period.  

In our histories the Iroquois of eastern Pennsylvania have been given a variety of misspelled and misinterpreted proper names. This jumble is very confusing to a student, and in this paper we will call the Susquehanna Iroquoian groups Carantouans to distinguish them from the Five Nations. We will also divide them into two main groups, the Andaste on the upper rivers, and the Susquehannock on the lower river.

For the lack of a better informed authority we will accept the interpretation of General John Clark, in his unpublished notes, for the meaning of Carantouan. He believed the term wa~detiyed from the Iroquois garonta and touan meaning "gre~t tree." In this translation he agrees with J. G. Shea of Elizit-beth, N. J ., a contemporary. student of the Iroquois, especially through the Jesuit Relations. 

In his early detached notes Clark was inclined to believe '*Truman Michelson in a recent article discussed certain phases of Algonklan languages and Inclosing wrote: "Summing up, we may say that Powhatan clearly belongs with the Cree group of Central Algonquian languages." (29). The term might indicate "big horn eminent at the head." In lis belief he was first influenced by the "Capitanessis" shown 1 the Susquehanna in some of Champlain's early maps. In is fina1 analysis, however, he agrees with Shea.

The Susquehannocks apparently had indirect contact with hite men before they met Captain Smith. While he was siting the Tockwoghes, a group of Indians on the Chesapeake ay, he recorded the fact that-"Many hatchets, knives, peeces : iron, and brasse, we saw amongst them, which they reported I have from the Sasquesahanocks, a mightie people and ortall enemies of the Massawomeks."* Smith thought this Intact was with the French who were in touch with the )rthern Iroquois at that time and said, "Many descriptions td discourses they made us, of Alquanachuck, Massawomek, 1606 and other people, signifying they inhabit upon a great water 'yorid the mountains which we understood to be some great lke or river of Canada, and from the French to have their ltchets and commodies by trade."

Indians were no novelty to Captain Smith, and when he tally saw the Susquehannocks in 1608 he was impressed by these people more than by any other Indians he had met. After s contact with the Tockwoghes, a name that has survived to is day in parts of the south meaning "poor land" or "poor 'ople," the Captain could not help being surprised and pleased ith the clean, independent warlike Iroquois. His record of them is undoubtedly exaggerated but is valuable because it is le of the few contact descriptions of these people. He said, sixty of those Sasquesahanocks came to us.with Skins, Bowes, Arrows, Targets, Beads, Swords and Tobacco-pipes for esents. Such great and well proportioned men are seldome seene, for they seemed like Giants to the EngLish yea and to e neighbours, yet seemed of an honest and simple disposition, th much a doe restrained from adoring us as Gods. Those are the strangest people of all those Countries, both in language d attire; for their language it may well. beseeme their pro-rtions, sounding from them as a voyce in a vault. Their tire is the skinnes of Beares, and Woolves, some have lssacks made of Beares heads and skinnes, that a mans head ,es through the skinnes neck, and the eares of the Beare fastened to his shoulders, the nose and teeth hanging downe his breast, another Beares face split behind him, and at the end of the Nose hung a Pawe, the halfe sleeves comming to the elbows were the neckes of Beares and the armes through the mouth with the pawes hanging at their noses. One had the head of a Wolfe hanging in a chaine for a Jewell, his tobacco pipe three-quarters of a yard long, prettily carved with a Bird, a Deere or some such devise at the great end, sufficient to beat out ones braines; with Bowes, .Arrows and Clubs, suit-able to their greatnesse. They are scarce known to Powhatan. They can make near 600 able men, and are palisaded in their Townes to defend them from the Massawomenkes, their mortal enemies. Five of their chief Werowances came aboard us and crossed the Bay in our Barge. The picture of the greatest of them is signified in the Mappe. -The calfe of whose leg was three-quarters of a yard about, and all the rest of his limbes so answerable to that proportion, that he seemed the goddliest man we ever beheld. His hayre, the one side was long, the other close with a ridge over his crowne like a cocks combe. His arrowes were five-quarters long, headed with the splinters of a white chirstall-like stone, in form of a heart, an inch broad, and an inch and a half or more long. These he wore in a Woolves skinne at his backe for his quiver, his bow in one hand and his club in the other ." Although Smith did not visit the villages of the Susque-hannock he named them and located them upon his map as follows: "Sasquesahanough, Quadroque, Attaock, Tesinigh, !lltchowig and Cepowig." The accuracy of his map is question-aDle but, later writers have agreed with Smith as to the loca-tions of some of these villages and archaeological evidence checks with at least one. The town of "Sasquesahanough" measures about 22 miles from the mouth of the river on Smith's map. This would bring it to a few miles below Cono-wingo near the mouth of the Octararo, in Maryland. The distance of 32 miles upriver to "Quadroque" on the Smith map would locate this town near the present village of Washington Borough on a modern map. This would place "Tesi-nigh" at Conewago Falls near Falmouth.

Apparently in 'Smith's time, the Susquehannock controlled all the upper tributaries of the Chesapeake and to the north of ,South Mountain along the river. The fact that their power was felt far to the east will be shown later  'he second white mah to meet Carantouan people and the fact, according to present available records, was Brule, Samuel de Charoplain's interpreter. He had sent to the tribes of the Susquehanna because they were s outh of the Hurons with whom Charoplain was closely associated d. Brule visited the Andaste in 1616 near where Athens, Pennsylvania, now stands. The object of his visit was to ask reinforcements to assist in a proposed attack on Onondaga i one of the strongholds of the Five Nations in what is New York State. He had to wait for the Andastes to are themselves and "busied himself in exploring the try, visiting nearby lands and nations, and in following course of the river ( Susquehanna ) which flows in the direction of Florida." He explored the river to the sea and reported in 1618" a large number of people who are of good 1618 natural disposition, esteeming the French Nation above all others." (II). Brule was the first white man definitely to record the fact he had set foot upon what is now the soil of the Commonweath of Pennsylvania. He brought to the Carantouan Indians renewed alliance with the Huron Tribe that later caused complete downfall.

ln 1616 Captain Hendrickson of New Netherland reported 1616 "meeting "Minquas" at latitude 38° to 400 north, probably ~ place in Delaware Bay. He traded with them and used lame Minquas on the map accompanying his report. ( 12) . 

This map is the famous "Carte Figurative," and is the first known geographic record of the territory now within New York and Pennsylvania, showing the Susquehanna as the outlet Lake Ontario and causing it to flow into Delaware Bay. The region explored by Hendrickson was undoubtedly under domination of the Susquehannock at the time. It is doubt-however, if the people he met were Susquehannocks. If had been, they would not call themselves "Minquas."* He have met some I.enape who tried to explain to the in.' inquisitive'Dutchman that the country to the west was occupied people with this name.

Apparently between 1620 and 1640 the Carantouans waged relentless war against surrounding Algonkian tribes, especially on the lower Potomac and Delaware River and Bay. De Vries met a party of fifty Susquehannocks in the Delaware River in 1633. He said they were part of a large party numbering more than six hundred that was in the region to make war. A few days later he met Algonkians who reported to him that the war party had killed some of their people, burned their houses and returned to their own country.

That the region was eventually conquered and that the Sus-quehannocks penetrated well into what is now New Jersey is shown by the writings of Cornelius Van Trehoven who says : "The district inhabited by a nation called Raritangs is situated on a fresh water river ( Raritan ) * which flows through the low-land which the Indians cultivated. This district was abandoned because they were unable to resist the Susquehannas so they migrated further inland." ( 13) .

When Lord Calvert founded his colony at St. Marys, on the Chesapeake in 1634, the Pascatoway Indians ( Piscat-away) * * were deserting their villages and fleeing before the Susquehannocks, who at that time claimed as far south as the Choptank on the eastern shore and the Patuxtent on the western shore.

In the Jesuit Relations for 1637 we find a reference to 'the Susquehannock. Apparently during that year, according to Le Mercier, disease was rampant along the river. He says, "On the 20th we heard from the ~I\nons a new opinion touching the disease, that a rumor ran that it had come from the Agniehenon ( Mohawks) who brought it from the Andastoer-honon ( Susquehannocks ) , which is a nation near Virginia." ( 14) . In the early Swedish records we find the Susquehannocks called by a great variety of names, of which Black Minqua seemed to be the favorite. 

The story of New 'Sweden has been told by many able writers and it is sufficient to say here that it was supposed to lie 39 to 40" on both sides of the Delaware River in 1639.. It extended in .length from Cape Henlopen at the entrance of the bay, about thirty miles ( Swedish) * * *to the great falls of the river on the northeast (Trenton) .

Thomas Holn has left an excellent account of the Susque hannock. He says: "Besides the Americans there were found when the Swedes first came to this country within eighteen miles (Swedish) circumference, ten or eleven other Indian nations who spoke different languages and had their own sachems or chiefs over them. Among these, the Minquas or Minckus were the. principal and were renowned for their war like character. These Indians lived at the distance of twelve miles from New Sweden, where they daily came to trade with us. The way to their land was very bad, being stony, full of sharp gray stones, with hills and morasses, so that the Swedes when they went to them, which happened, generally, once or twice a year, had to walk in the water up to their armpits. They went thither with cloth, kettles, axes, hatchets, knives mirrors and coral beads, which they sold to them for beaver and other valuable skins, also for black foxes and fisher'  skins, which is a kind of skin that looks like sable, but with longer hair, and silvery hair mixed like some of the best sables with beaver, velvet, black squirrel skins, etc. These precious furs are the principal articles which the Minquas have for sale "They live on a high mountain, very steep and difficult to climb; there they have a fort or square building surrounded with palisades in which they reside. There they have guns and small iron cannon with which they shoot and defend themselves and take with them when they go to war . "They are strong and vigorous, both young and old; the are a tall people, and not frightful in appearance. When the are fighting they do not attempt to fly, but all stand like wall, as long al,\there is one remaining. They forced the other Indians, whom .we have before mentioned ( Delaware) , and who are not so warlike as the Minques, to be afraid of them and made them subject and tributary to them; so they dare not stir much less go to war against them but their numbers are at present greatly diminished by wars and sickness." ( 15 ) . Vimont mentions them again in 1640 as being numerous and more or less sedentary, ( ReI. 1640 p. 35) .

Apparently the years between 1640 and 165 2 were critical one~ for the Carantouans, they were pressed by their enemies from the north and the south.  In 1643 Lord Calvert left his colony in Maryland and sailed for England, A giles Brent became acting Governor and he commissioned Cornwallis to lead an expedition against the Susquehannock. The author of Nova AIbion writes that with fifty-three "raw and tired Mary-landers" he met two hundred and fifty Indians and killed twenty-nine. ( 16) .

On the north the Five N tions had secured fire arms from the F'rench and were a decided menace. They were threatening the Hurons, and the J esuits with this tribe were worried. In the Relations for 1647 we find the following: "Our father with the Hurons informs us that the Indians of Andastone whom we believe to be neighbors of Virginia, and who formerly had great alliance with the Hurons, to the extent that people of their ( respective) countries are still found in their territory, these Indians, I say have given the Huron these few words to understand: We hear that you have enemies: you have but to say to us raise the tomahawk, and we assure you, that they will either make peace or we will make war on them. The Hurons greatly rejoiced at these fine offers and have sent an embassy to these nations. The chief of this embassy is a worthy Christian, accompanied by eight persons, four of whom have embraced the faith of Jesus Christ."

Reagueneau writing from the Huron country in 1648 says : "Moreover our Hurons have sent an embassy to the Andas-taeronons, nations of New Sweden, their old Allies, to solicit them to meditate a complete peace or resume war, which they had only a few years ago with the Iroquois Annieronons. A great relief for this country is expected from them."

Reagueneau also describes the region in which the Andas-taeronons live, and they are undoubtedly the Susquehannock. He says: " Andastoe is a country beyond the Neuter Nation distant from the Huron 15° leagues S. E. ! from the Hurons, that is to say S. inclining a little E. but the road that is necessary to take to go there is nearly 200 leagues ( 600 Miles) on account of the detours."

In 1652 six chiefs of the Susquehannock, Sawahegeh, Auro-ghtergh, Scarhuhadgh, Rutchogah and Nathheldaneh, in the presence of a Swedish Commission ceded to Maryland all their territory from the Pauxtent River to Palmers Island and from the Choptank River to the northeast branch, north of the Elk River. This gained the Susquehannocks an important white alliance that lasted until 1667. Maryland gave them men, ammunition and cannon to prosecute the war against their enemies to the north. That this war was carried on the extent of their ability is shown by contemporary record. The front changed from the lower Susquehanna River a moved northward toward the homeland of the Five Nation. It caused unrest in all the seaboard colonies of the period.

The Jesuits, who were working among the defeated Hurons were worried over the war situation for several years. The sympathy was naturally with the Susquehannocks, as the successful warriors of the Five Nations apparently made life miserable for the Black Fathers. In their Relations for 1657 , find the following notation: "We blamed their youth, we told them that these disorders had involved them in war with the nations called Mahinganak ( Mahican) and with the Andashoneronons (Susquehannock) ."

In 1660 the Fathers were still concerned about the trouble some times and were beginning to take an interest in the histories of the groups involved, and recorded the following in their Relations: "Of the five people who compose the whole Iroquois nation those whom we call the Agnieronnon, have been so many times at the top and bottom of the wheel  less than sixty years that we find in history few examples similar revelations. As they are naturally insolent and really warlike, they have trouble with all their neighbors; with the "Alnaquriois who are on the east; with the Andastogehrono toward the south, a people who inhabit the coast of Virginia. We cannot go very far back in research of what has occurred among them since they have no other libraries than the memory of the old men. What we learn from these living books that toward the end of the last century, the Agneronnons which reduced so low by the Algonkians, that there appeared scarcely any of them on the earth; that nevertheless what few remained, like a generous germ had so grown in a few years that they in turn brought the Algonkians down to the same straits they had been in. But this state did not last long the Andastogehronons made so fierce a war for ten years, til the nation was almost extinct."

That the power of the Five Nations was on the wane 1663, and that they were being humiliated, is shown by 1 rout of 800 Seneca and Cayuga warriors sent against the Susquehannocks by the Confederation. Assisted by their alIies the Marylanders, the Susquehannock had prepared themselves for defense in one of their forts, supposed to be near where the town of Washington Borough now stands in Lancaster County.

Jerome Lalemont in the Relations for 1663 ( ch. IV, 10) says: "The three other Iroquois nations had no better success in an expedition which they undertook against the Andastoguer-onons, Indians of New Sweden, with whom war has been acknowledged for some years back. They make up accordingly an army of 800 men: they embark on Lake Ontario about the beginning of the month of April last, they go to the extremity of this fine lake to reach a great river, almost like that of our St. Lawrence, which bears them without rapids and without falls to the very doors of the town of -,Andastogue. Our warriors arrived there after having sailed more than a hundred leagues on this beautiful river. * They encamp in most advantageous posts, and prepare for a general assault, thinking to carry off the whole town in their usual way and return at once loaded with glory and captives. But they saw that this town was defended on one side by the river, on whose banks it was situated, on the other by a double line of large trees, flanked by two bastions in European style and even equipped with some pieces of artillery. The Iroquois surprised at these well planned defenses abandoned the idea of an assault and after some light skirmishes had recourse to their ordinary suppleness, to obtain by trick what they could not take by force. They accordingly make an overture of some parleying, they offer to go into the besieged placed to the number of twenty five men, some to treat of peace, they said, some to buy provisions for their return. The gates are opened to them: they enter: but at the same time they are siezed and without more delay, they are forced to ascend a scaffold, and in sight of their own army they are all burnt alive. The An-da5togueronons thus declaring the war more furiously than ever, give the Iroquois assurance, that this was only the prelude of what they were going to do in their country, and that they had only to return as soon as possible to prepare for a siege or at least to see their fields laid waste. The Iroquois humbled by this affront, more than can be imagined, disbanded, and come to put themselves on the defensive, the) now had borne their victorious arms through all the countries.

Between 1660 and 1667 the Susquehannock re; height of their power. Had they taken full advantage strength they might have changed our early history ably. As a result of their rise the warlike activity Five Nations were curtailed. 

That the Black Fathers in the north were -pleased situation and wished that the haughty F'ive Nations humbled is shown by the tone of their Relations during this period. Rafeix in 1672 tells how sixty Susquehannocks between fifteen and sixteen years of age surprised a two, northern warriors, and following up their advantage pursued the rest of the war party in canoes and killed more and wounded many others. The priest ends with: "God preserves the Andastoguen who have only 3 hundred warriors and favors their army to humble the and preserve us peace and our Missions."

During the year of 1670 the Susquehannock sent an ambassador to the Five N ations with three wampum belt for peace. They kept him until the spring of 167I after a successful raid to the south, where they captured prisoners, they proceeded to tomahawk him and burn together with that of his nephew who accompanied him.

In 1672 what was left of the ambassador's body interred and buried on the war trail to the south. This was done by the sachems at the request of a medicine man. A few days later two women were killed within fifty paces of the Cayuga palisades by Susquehannocks.

The Susquehannocks, weakened by the loss of the Maryland allies, were now on the decline. They raided into the north, but became weaker as the Five Nations grew stronger .

A brief description of how some of the Susquehannock prisoners taken by the Five Nations were treated is given by John de Lamberville who was stationed at Onondaga He says: "Two Andastoguez taken by the Iroquois have been happier: they received baptism immediately before the hot irons were applied.  One of whom having been burnt during the night from his feet to his knees in a cabin, still prayed to God with me the next day, being fastened to a stake in the square of the town. I do not repeat here what is already known that the torments they compel prisoners of war to endure are horrible. The patience of their poor victims is admirable, but it is impossible to behold without horror their flesh roasting and men who make a vile meal of them like hungry dogs. "Passing one day near the spot where they were cutting to pieces the body of an Andastoguez, I could not refrain from approaching and declaiming against this brutality. I saw one of these man eaters who was asking for a knife to cut off an arm. I opposed it and threatened him, that if he did not desist, God would know how to punish him sooner or later . He told me as a reason that he had been invited to a dream feast where nothing was to be eaten but human flesh brought by the very persons who were invited to the banquet. Two days later God permitted that his wife fell into the hands of the Andastoguez who avenged on her person the cruelty of her husband." (Relations 1672-73, p. 96).

The Susquehannock undoubtedly treated their captives in a similar manner for stories of their cruel practices are found in the pages of history. 

The decline of the Susquehannock power was well under-way by 1674. This was not from the arms of their enemies, but primarily from disease, probably brought to them by white men. This, together with famine and the lack of numbers to watch their diminishing frontiers, so reduced their strength that they were finally subdued by the Five Nations. Unfortunately we have no details as to the conquering forces or to the time or manner of their defeat. They were apparently too proud to yield to those with whom they had fought as equals and refused to submit to holding their land by sufferance, yet they were too weak to withstand their enemies. Those who were not captured left the river bearing their name, and took up a position in western Maryland near Piscataway below pres-ent Washington, supposed to be their ancient home.

The date of the final submission of the Susquehannock is verified by the following entry in the Relations for the year  1675: "In fact since they ( Five Nations ) have entirely defeated the Andastogues who were their most redoubtable enemies, their insolence knows no bounds." 

Nichols Perrot, Moeurs et Coutumes, explains how the captives of this final campaign were disposed of in a Relation  for the same year: The Iroquois being unable to longer make war on his neighbors, the force of arms having compelled him to put an end to all his cruelties; he went to seek to do so among the Andastes whom he defeated in several engagements and by whom he increased his strength considerably, by the great number of. children and other prisoners to who were granted life. The Andastes were entirely defeated and that remained surrendered with a mutual consent, they received, and are at present among the Tsonontonans." (probably the Seneca).

With this final paragraph the Susquehannock disappear from the Relations, the most authentic contemporary records of those troublesome times from 1650 to 1675.

For a few years they appear again in Maryland and best accounts of their stand against overwhelming odds misunderstanding is given by S. F. Streeter in the Historical Magazine for March 1857 (17).

It is believed that war parties from the Five Nations, : the trail into Maryland arid Virginia unprotected by ancient enemies, took advantage of the opportunity and raided far to the south of their usual territory. Their atrocities blamed on the Susquehannocks and we cannot improve Mr. Streeter's description of the latter's final end :

The presence of the Susquehannock tribe on their western borders had already excited dissatisfaction among the people of Maryland, especially those whose plantations were situated near the Piscataway: and efforts had been made, but in vain, to induce them to leave the position they had taken. This was on the north side of the Piscataway, a strong fort, which had either originally belonged to the Piscataway tribe, or was one built by the province a year previous*, for the protection of the frontier settlement and perhaps left unoccupied during the time of peace which had preceded these occurrences. From its strength and construction the latter supposition seems the more probable.

In 1644 an Act was passed "to enable the governor to establish and support a garrison at Piscataway."-Bacon's Laws.

The walls of the fort were high banks of earth, having flankers well provided with loop-holes, and encompassed by a ditch. Without this, was a row of tall trees, from five to eight inches in diameter, set three feet in the earth and six inches apart, and wattled in such a manner as at the same time to protect those within and afford holes for shooting through.* These defenses were ingenious and strong, and enabled the occupants to set at defiance any ordinary beseiging force, unless provided with cannon, or prepared to starrve its defenders into a surrender. Here the Susquehannocks, to the number of nearly one hundred, with their old men, women, and children, established themselves, and here they were determined to remain.

Remembering only the deeds of violence that had been done, and taking counsel of their apprehensions, forgetful, as it would seem, of the outrage which had stung the savages into a revengeful mood, the Marylanders determined to organize an expedition against them, in order to punish their presumed misdeeds, and drive them from the province.

Doubting, however, their ability to carry out promptly and effectually their designs, and aware that the Virginians, like themselves, had of late suffered from midnight attacks and murders, which, from their share in: the recent unortunate assault on the Susquehannocks, they were disposed to attribute to them acts of revenge, the Marylanders proposed to the Virginians a 'Union of forces and a joint expedition, for the purpose of subduing their common enemy.

The proposition was readily accepted, and the two provinces raised a force of one thousand men, to march against the Susquehannocks. The Virginia troops were under the command of Colonel John Washington,** the great-grandfather of General George Washington ; those of Maryland under Major Thomas Truman.

On the morning of Sunday, the 26th of September, the Maryland forces appeared before the fort; the Virginians probably a little later. In obedience to his instructions from his government, to settle matters with the Susque-hannocks by negotiation, if possible, Major Truman sent two messengers to the fort, one of whom was well acquainted with the Indian language, to invite Harignera, one of their principal chiefs, to a conference. Having ascertained that Harignera was dead, they requested that other chiefs might be sent in his stead j whereupon six of their leaders came forth, and met the commander of the Marylanders, in the presence of his principal officers and several Indians belonging to neighboring tribes. Upon their demanding the reason of all that hostile array, Major Truman informed them, through the interpreter, that grievous outrages had been perpetrated, both in Maryland and Virginia, and that he had come to. ascertain who had committed them. They replied, it was the Senecas. The major then inquired if they would furnish some of their young men as guides in pursuit, as several of the other tribes had already done j but they replied, the Senecas had been gone four days, and by that time, must be near the head of the Patapsco. To this it was answered, that the horses of the white men were fleet, and the Indian runners swift, and both might easily overtake the Senecas. They then consented to furnish the guides.

During this conversation, Col. Washington and Col. Mason came over from the Virginia encampment, and charged the chiefs with the murders that had been committed on the south side of the Potomac  but they positively denied that any of their tribe were guilty. The Virginians, however, far from being convinced by this denial, insisted that three of the Susquehannocks had been positively identified as participants in the outrages which had taken place.

The chiefs then presented to Major Truman a paper and a silver medal, with a black and yellow ribbon attached, which they said had been given to them by former governors of Maryland,** (** This medal is now exceedingly rare. It is of siver. about the size and the thickness of a crown piece. with a knob on the edge. and for insertion a cord or ribbon, so that it may be suspended from the neck...) as a pledge of protection and friendship, as long as the sun and moon should 

endure. These tokens were received by Major Truman with assurances that he was satisfied the Senecas had been the aggressors in the late outrages, and they need feel no apprehension for the safety of themselves, their wives, or their children. The officers, as it was near evening, then returned to their respective encampments, and the Indians went back to the fort.

Early the next morning, Capt. John Allen, a well-known leader of rangers, in the Maryland service, was ordered to proceed with a file of men to the house of Randolph Hanson, one of the victims of the recent outrages, to ascertain if it had been plundered by the Indians, and to bring away any ammunition that might have been left on the premises. Capt. Allen promptly discharged this duty, and returned, bringing with him the bodies of those murdered at Hanson's house.

During his absence the Susquehannock chiefs had again come out of the fort, probably by appointment on the preceding evening, for the purpose of renconvening their conference with the Maryland and Virginia officers. They were again charged by the latter, even more vehemently than before, with having been concerned in the outrages in Virginia; but the accusation was again met with an absolute and indignant denial. Upon this, the chiefs were placed in the custody of Maryland and Virginia troops, and the officers retired to another part of the field to deliberate and decide what course to pursue.

Unfortunately for the prisoners, in the midst of this deliberation Capt. Allen and his detachment made their appearance, bearing with them the mangled bodies, the bloody evidences of savage barbarity and hate. The whole camp was aroused; Marylanders and Virginians alike burned with indignation and thirsted for revenge ; the council of officers was broken up; and the feeling which had been stirred up by the sight of their murdered countrymen found vent in an almost unanimous demand for the death of those now in their hands, who were strongly suspected of being guilty parties in this case, and who had been so strenuously denounced by the Virginians as the known murderers of their people.

Before, they might have listened to the voice and justice; now, they thought only of the injuries that had been inflicted by a savage hand, and loudly vengeance on those unfortunate representatives of the race whose confidence in the efficacy of past tokens and the sanctity of present pledges had placed them in their power. They forgot that these men had responded to a Iy peaceful summons; that they had come out emblems of friendship in their hands; that they received assurances of confidence and promises of protection and, hurried away by the fury of the moment, a deed, which, as it violated the laws of God brought upon them the condemnation of their contemporaries, as it must have done of their own conscience after moments of coolness and reflection.

Major Truman struggled against the excitement pleaded for delay, but in vain; the Virginia officers confident of getting, immediate possession of the professing to believe that they were only by a anticipating the fate of the prisoners and perhaps depending in part on the effect of so terrible a blow insisted on the immediate execution of the chiefs. Only one of them, for what reason we are not apprised, was spared the remainder, five in number, were bound, led the place of their detention, and, to use the plain phrase of our authority, "knocked on the head." ~ So died the chiefs of the Susquehannocks; not with arms, but with the pledges of the white man's protection in their on the open field and in fair fight, but entrapped by treachery, and encompassed by their enemies; not the death of warriors, but of dumb cattle! They died an ignominious death, yet their executioners, by their act, covered themselves with a thousand-fold deeper disgrace and shame.

It is but just to the rank and file of the Maryland troops  to say, that, though one authority speaks of  unanimous consent of the Virginians and the eager of the whole field, Marylanders as well as Virginians upon the sight of the Christians murdered at Hanson's; another alluding to this unhappy act, states man's first commands for the killing of those Indians were not obeyed; and he had some difficulty to get his men to obey him therein; and, after they were put to death, not a man would own to have had a hand in it, but rather seemed to abhor the act."*

If the Virginians were moved to their determination to take the lives of these chiefs by the expectation that it would hasten the surrender of the fort, they greatly miscalculated. When those who had remained behind learned what had been done, hate and desperation contended for the mastery in their hearts; the blood of their slaughtered leaders called for revenge; the proved faithlessness of those who threatened their stronghold, forbade them to hope; they shut themselves up within their palisades, strengthened their defences, and prepared for a desperate resistance. Whenever and wherever the besiegers pre-pared or attempted an assault, they were ready to meet them; whenever a proposal was made for a conference or surrender, their reply was, "Where are our chiefs ?"

The Susquehannocks had been too suddenly attacked to allow them to lay in supplies to stand a long siege, even if their mode of warfare had encouraged or their resources had allowed such a proceeding; and, as the besieging forces cut them off from the surrounding country, they soon suffered from a want of provisions. N ot daunted by the prospect of starvation, they made frequent and fierce sallies, to the severe annoyance and loss of the besiegers ; and, at last, in their extremity, resorted to the expedient of capturing and feeding upon the horses which belonged to their assailants. These do not appear to have acted with much vigor, either because the first rash step had dampened the ardor of the men, or because it was rather the policy of the commanders to starve than to force the Indians into a surrender. The fort also was too strong to be stormed; its situation on low ground precluded the possibility of undermining the palisades, even if the watch-fulness of the besieged would have permitted their' approach; and they had no cannon with which to batter it so that they were compelled, in fact, to await the time when famine would have so weakened the enemy as to render them an easy prey.

But the Susquehannocks had no idea of such a termination to their struggle. After six weeks of heroic defence, during which they had inflicted much injury on their enemies, with but little loss to themselves, they yielded, not to the prowess of their besiegers, but to the want of food, and prepared, not to surrender, but to evacuate the fort.

It certainly gives a strong color of probability to the charge of neglect of duty on the part of the investing troops, that the Susquehannocks, after destroying everything within the fort that could be of use to the assailants, and leaving behind only a few decrepit old men, marched out under cover of the night, seventy-five in number, with their women and children, passed undiscovered through the lines of the besieging forces and, in their way, killed ten of the guards, whom they found asleep. 

The next morning, the united forces discovering that the prey had escaped, followed in pursuit; but either could not, or, as our authority significantly hints, "would not overtake these desperate fugitives, for fear of  ambuscades."

Both detachments, it would seem, were heartily tired of the enterprise, from which neither officers nor men were likely to derive honor or profit. We may, therefore, infer that both parties readily relinquished the pursuit; and, after detailing a sufficient force to occupy the fort and range through the adjacent country, returned to their respective provinces, not merely willing, but desirous, that their exploits during this expedition should pass into oblivion.

Not so the Susquehannockso They left the last place of their refuge in the soil of Maryland, with a stinging sense of injury, a recollection of solemn obligations slighted and of wrongs yet unavenged. 

The voices of their slaughtered chiefs called upon them for the sacrifice of blood; and, as they took their leave of the territory of their enemies, and, crossing the Potomac, directed their route over the heads of the Rappahannock, York, and James Rivers, the tomahawk fell upon settler after settler, until sixty victims were sacrificed, to atone for the slaughter of the heads of their tribe.

One of the sufferers, at the head of James River, was a valued overseer on the plantation of Nathaniel Bacon ; and it was the murder of this man, in connection with the disturbed state of the country, which caused Bacon's application for a commission to go against the Indians, a part of whom were Susquehannocks, his subsequent difficulties with Governor Berkeley, his rebellion, and his untimely death, the details of which are familiar to the readers of the colonial history of Virginia.

The Susquehannocks, believing that they have now sacrificed victims enough to redeem their own honor and to appease the angry spirits of their murdered chiefs, are willing to negotiate with the Virginians. They send to the governor a remonstrance, drawn up by an English interpreter, to the following effect :

"First: They ask why he, a professed friend, has taken up arms in behalf of the Marylanders, their avowed enemies.

"Secondly: They express their regrets to find that the Virginians, from friends, have become such violent enemies as to pursue them even into another province.

"Thirdly: They complain that their chiefs, sent out to treat for peace, were not only murdered, but the act was countenanced by the governor .

"Fourthly: They declare, that, seeing no other way of obtaining satisfaction, they have killed ten of the common English for each one of their chiefs, to make up for the disproportion arising from the difference of rank.

"Finally: They propose, if the Virginians will make them compensation for the damages sustained by the attack upon them, and withhold all aid from the Marylanders, to renew the ancient league of friendship otherwise, they, and those in league with them, will continue the war, so unfairly begun, and fight it out, to the last man."

This message to Governor Berkeley, notwithstanding its lofty tone, made no impression, and elicited no reply; and the Susquehannocks were left to fulfill their terrible threat, which they did to the letter. They succeeded in enlisting in their cause several of the tribes, before friendly to the Virginians, and then addressed themselves, with savage earnestness, to their bloody work. So sudden were their attacks and so awful the inhumanities of which they were guilty, that the frontier plantations were deserted, and it would seem that even Jamestown itself was not safe from their attack.

A line of forts was established along the frontiers, to prevent their incursions; but, like most similar attempts of the colonies, owing to their distance from each other and the want of sufficient garrisons, they failed entirely to afford protection Bands of savage marauders watched their opportunity, passed between the forts, effected their murderous objects, trepassed the lines, and were beyond pursuit, before the garrisons could be alarmed or dispatched to the point assailed.

Yet these were, after all, but the last desperate efforts of a despairing people. Few in numbers themselves, and leagued with tribes feeble indeed in comparison with those against whom their fierce assaults were directed, they could only hope to inflict the utmost injury upon their adversaries, with the certainty of finally perishing, as individuals and as a people, in the contest. Had not Virginia herself been crippled by a civil controversy, they would have been crushed at once; but, even as it was, in the midst of all his distractions and his difficulties with the government, Bacon found time to avenge those of his friends and of the province who had fallen beneath their assaults, and ressure the desponding colonists He swept the country of the tribes with whom the Susquehannocks had leagued themselves, burned their towns, put a large number of them to the sword, and dispersed the remainder "The Indians everywhere fled before him; several tribes entirely perished and those who survived were so reduced as never afterwards to be able to make any firm stand against the whites."

Among those who were made to feel the avenging arm of Bacon was the homeless remnant of the Susquehannocks His residence was on the James River, at a point called "CurIes," in Henrico County; and, as has been mentioned, his favorite overseer had been murdered by the savages. 

The confidence of the frontier settlers in his courage and ability made them anxious to obtain him as their leader against the enemy. He was willing to take the command of an expedition, but had no commission from the governor for raising a military force. After many difficulties, a commission" was promised him, and he commenced his preparations; but, in the midst of them, ascertained that the governor had acted the part of a hypocrite, and did not intend to fulfill his promise. Roused by this discourteous and distrustful procedure, Bacon at once armed his servants, and called together the frontier settlers, and, placing himself at their head, marched into the forest, to pursue and punish the Susquehannocks.

Advancing to a village occupied by a tribe of Occonegies, he was received by them in a friendly manner, and informed in regard to the place where the Susquehannocks had fortified themselves, and prepared for a desperate resistance, in case of an attack. He pushed forward without delay, and found them strongly posted in a rude fort; but this did not deter him. He led his men to the assault, and, after a fierce struggle, succeeded in forcing his way within the fort, and put seventy of its de-fenders to the sword.* A few of the original tribe may have survived, but the information we possess, relative to the diminished number of the tribe at that period, justifies the conclusion that this severe blow completed their extinction.

So disappear the stout Susquehannocks from the page of aboriginal history. They met the first white man who set foot on their soil, with a firm and unyielding front ; they resisted for years his attempts at negotiation or encroachments on their territory; hard pressed at last by powerful enemies of their own race, they yielded to necessity and accepted his proffered friendship; for a quarter of a century they held the sacred pledges of Lord Baltimore, and kept the peace; during which time, driven by the Senecas from their homes, they were forced into a position which brought upon them the hostility of the people of Maryland; they accepted proposals for negotiations, only to find their leaders entrapped and put to death; they defended themselves bravely in their stronghold, and, rather than surrender, retreated to another terrritory; and there, after tendering to the authorities, with a proud and unbroken spirit, the choice between the hand of friendship and the tomahawk, accepted the latter alternative, as that alone was left to them. Then came the deadly struggle, in the course of which, though, individuals survived and were incorporated into other tribes, as a distinct people they perished, in a manner most glorious to their savage conceptions, surrounded with the victims of their vengeance, in the blaze of the burning mansion, the ruin of cultivated estates, with the shrieks and the supplication of the murdered white man ringing in their ears, and their hands red with human blood.

"Although apparently "exterminated to the last man remnant of the Susquehannock or Andaste tribe appeal have found its way to the west end of Lake Erie on the shore and are indicated on La Hontan's maps of about period of 1685. They were probably the same ones referred to in 1695 by the Dutch prisoner from Orange who reported held in contempt, they slowly degenerated until at the close of the year 1763 they numbered only twenty souls. At that time rioters inflamed by accounts of the Indian war raging along the Pennsylvania frontier, massacred this small band where they had taken shelter in the jail yard in the city of Lancaster . On that day the last known group of Susquehannocks passed out of existence." 

Written by: Donald Cadzow (1936), "THE SUSQUEHANNOCK INDIANS of Pennsylvania, Pennsylvania Historical Commission, Harrisburg, PA"(pages 15-38)

Learn more at:

• Who were the Susquehannocks?
• Excerpts from Louise Welles Murray
• Were they GIANTS?
• How did they live?
• What was their language like?
• Andastes, Minques, Susquehannocks, and Conestogues Names
• Accounts from 1608 - 1695
• Why do we care if they were here?
• Bronze statue illustrating the description by Captain John Smith