Francis Whiting Halsey

“ There in the wilderness his son, the future novelist, grew up from infancy and gained that knowledge of frontier life and Indian character of which he has given the truest and most lasting pictures in our literature. ”

“ Page 99 LAST of the great acts of Sir William Johnson's life was the negotiation of the treaty of Fort Stanwix in 1768. By the terms of this treaty a vast territory south and east of the Ohio, Susquehanna, and Unadilla rivers was first opened to settlement. After Pontiac’s War, discontent had arisen among the Indians from many causes. For one thing, they disliked the white man’s inordinate "thirst for land," and a council was called, not only to renew the ancient covenant chain between the Indians and the English, but to establish a scientific frontier. ”

“ When the Congress opened, 3,200 Indians were present, "each of whom," wrote Johnson, "consumes daily more than two ordinary men amongst us, and would be extremely dissatisfied if stinted when convened for business." After Sir William had told them the King was resolved to terminate the grievances from which they suffered for want of a boundary, and that the King had ordered presents proportionate to the nature and extent of the interests involved, the Indians retired, and for several days were in private council. ”