THE GROWTH OF BRITISH INFLUENCE AMONG THE SENECA TO 1768 John R. Sahli eighteenth century saw the British gain the trade and political advantages formerly held by the French over the powerful Seneca Thein what is now western New York. The strategic position of Niagara in French hands, the influence of Chabert de Joncaire, 1 and the distance between the Seneca nation and the centers of British in- fluence were removed by the French and Indian War. At its end the possession of Niagara, the influence of Sir William Johnson, 2 and the aroused Indian anger against the westward expansion of the Americans gave the British those advantages formerly held by the French. The unhampered British position enabled them to increase their influence and the Seneca finally entered the Revolution against the Americans. To understand the reasons for this change-over, one must recog- nize the factors responsible for the French influence and the methods used by the British in winning the loyalty of the Seneca. This analysis must begin with the French occupation of the Seneca country. The Spread of French Influence among the Seneca In the latter part of the seventeenth century, the Iroquois Con- federacy, in an imperialistic struggle for the rich fur trade that gave itnot only a commodity that insured it desirable trade advantages with Dr. Sahli is professor of—Social Science at Indiana University of Pennsyl- vania, Indiana, Pennsylvania. Ed. 1 Louis Thomas de Joncaire, seigneur of Chabert, commandant at Niagara, 1720-30, came to Canada in 1687 and was shortly afterwards taken prisoner by the Seneca. He became one of the most trusted and successful of French officials in dealing with the Indians. Most of his service was on the Niagara frontier. 2 Sir WilliamJohnson, 1715-74, was born in County Meath, Ireland ;settled in the Mohawk Valley;entered the fur trade and gained great power among the Mohawk and other Iroquois. A key figure in the French and Indian War, he helped formulate British Indian policy at the Albany Congress (1754), and was made General Superintendent of Iroquois Affairs.In 1756, he was made General Superintendent of Indian Affairs north of the Ohio. Somewhat restricted by British economy measures and Pontiac's Con- spiracy in centralizing control over both Indians and fur traders, he achieved much and presided at the Council of Fort Stanwix (1768) where the Indians made important land cessions. 128 JOHN R. SAHLI APRIL the Britishbut also military power, fought a series of wars. The Huron, Andaste, Neutral, and Erie nations were reduced in turn, and the Confederacy asserted a complete supremacy over the northeastern tribes. True to their ancient traditions, the Seneca adopted many of the Huron captives 3 and others, fillingthe man-power gap caused by the losses in the wars. Inthe adopted Huron, the western Iroquoian nation found onits hands a host of people who had been strongly influ- enced by the French since their arrival in the New World. These Huron were settled along the banks of the Genesee on the lands that formerly belonged to the Neutral nation. By this conquest of the land from the Genesee River westward to the Niagara River, the Seneca nation found not only room for colonization of its captives, but a strategic position on the portage of Niagara. The French were not slow to realize the importance of the Niagara region. The fur trade was the lifeblood of their small colony that had been settled above the British fringe facing the Atlantic. For the security of the westward communications, in which direction lay the bulk of the French and Indian trade, the possession of Niagara was vital. As early as 1673, Frontenac, 4 the governor of New France, had explained to the French minister, Jean Colbert, that the French could control the upper lakes with a fort at Niagara and a boat on Lake Erie. 5 The French constructed in 1678 a storehouse at the present site of Lewiston, emphasizing the strategic value of Niagara. Permission was then given by the Seneca to La Salle to build a fort. That he was successful might, in part, be attributed to the fact that he came in contact with Seneca-adopted Huron on the Genesee. They still had respect for their old French friends. Of the fort that was constructed and its strategic position, Hennepen 6 said : 3 Arthur C. Parker, An Analytical History of the Seneca Indians (Rochester: Lewis H. Morgan Chapter, 1926), 36. 4 Louis de Buade, Comte de Frontenac (1620-98) was appointed governor of New France in1672. Although curbed in his powers by Louis XIVand his minister, Colbert, he dealt wisely and successfully with the Indians ; forwarded the explorations of Joliet, Marquette, and LaSalle, and aided in the establishment of French forts and posts inthe new French territory. Recalled to France in 1682, he was sent back in 1689 because of the dis- tress in the colony and the havoc worked by the Iroquois. In this work he was successful. 5 Frank H. Severance, An Old Frontier of France (New York: Dodd, Mead and Co., 1917), 1,32-33. 6 Louis Hennepen (1640-1701?) was a Franciscan friar and chaplain of LaSalle's westward expedition in1678. He explored the upper Mississippi Valley; was captured by the Sioux and rescued by Duluth. On his return 1966 BRITISH INFLUENCE AMONG THE SENECA 129 It is at the mouth of Lake Frontenac that a fort was began, whichmight have been able to keep the Iroquois in check and especially the Tsounontouans (Seneca), the most numerous and most powerful of all, and prevent the trade which they carry on with the English and Dutch, for quantities of furs which they obliged to seek in western countries, and pass by Niagara going and coming, where they might be stopped in a friendly way in time of peace, and by force in time of war.7 The establishment of the French was followed by the arrival in that region of a personality destined to be extremely important in creating additional French influence among the Seneca. Chabert de Joncaire had found his captivity among the Seneca fruitful and, upon his release, was an adopted member of the nation and a welcome guest in its villages. His influence was profitably used by the French. At various times he was sent to the Seneca villages to further French trade and hinder British who were seeking a foothold on the shore of Lake Ontario. 8 Joncaire secured from the Seneca in 1718 consent for the erection of a magazine and stockaded houses at Niagara. This success was followed by the construction of a better palisaded house in 1723, and the building of a permanent fort in 1726. The closer ties of friendship with the Seneca and the increased military strength of the French added to the latter's morale. When Lawrence Claesson, a messenger of the New York governor, Burnet, found a French blacksmith on the Genesee to whose presence he objected, he was informed, "When we keep our house and people at Niagara we can stop the Senecas and Western Indians too from trading with you .. ."9 The Spread of BritishInfluence among the Seneca The British had not quietly accepted the French foothold at the Niagara portage. Governor Thomas Dongan 10 of New York, in 1685, had licensed men to trade in the west. Two years later a party of men under the leadership of Johannes Rooseboom was captured in to France, he wrote in 1682, Description de la Louisiane, Nouveau Voyeage (1696) and Nouvelle Decouverte (1697) in which he falsely claimed to have descended the Mississippi to its mouth. He was the first to describe the upper Mississippi and Niagara Falls. 7 Severance, I,41-42. 8 Ibid., I, 162. 9 Ibid., I, 195. A good general account of developing Indian-British relations in the eighteenth century is found in Chap. XVII,Herbert L. Osgood's The American Colonies in the Eighteenth Century (Gloucester, Mass.: Peter Smith, 1958), III. 10 Thomas Dongan (1634-1715) succeeded Sir Edmund Andros as governor of New York in 1682. He secured a permanent charter in 1686 for New York City, but it was chiefly to Dongan that the English owed their protectorate over the Iroquois, which the French recognized in 1713. 130 JOHN R. SAHLI APRIL the Niagara region by the French, 11 who greatly feared the British threat to their fur trade. The English, increasingly, realized the importance of Niagara. The French Kingwas informed in1707 that they intended to seize the post at that place. If successful, the Indian trade and the security of Canada would be endangered. 12 But it was not until 1721 that the Lords of Trade authorized the building of a fort in the Seneca country to offset the influence of the French at the portage. 13 The result was the erection of Oswego in 1725-1 727.14 To this center of influence, Irondequoit Bay was added in1740. 15 These posts and their attractive trade led 220 canoes to by-pass Niagara in1750, 16 indicative of the slow but successful British penetration into the Seneca country. Also aiding the English had been the lack of a uniform policy on the part of the Seneca nation. The Indian bargained with both the English and the French, excusing his actions to both of his white neighbors, but maintaining a position in the center between them. As the most western nation of the Confederacy, the Seneca were well able to assume a neutral position through no organized efforts on their ownbehalf. 17 The Huron-Seneca of the Genesee allowed French pene- tration into that section, but the cheaper and better made British trade goods were most welcome to the eastern Seneca who were closely tied to the other members of the Confederacy.