Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico / edited by Frederick Webb Hodge.

Date:
1907-1910
Catalogue details

Licence: In copyright

Credit: Handbook of American Indians north of Mexico / edited by Frederick Webb Hodge. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    956/1000 (page 938)
    IMontoiir, who, he states, was “a French woman by birth, of a good family, but now in mode of life a complete Indian.” In 1744, at the great treaty of Lancaster between the Six Nations and the i'h-ov- inces of Virginia, IMaryland, and Uenn- sylvaiua, INIadam Montour was ])resent wdth tw'o of her daughters, on which oc- casion she related to Marshe the story of her life. He represented her as genteel, of polished address, a!id as having been attractive in her prime; he also learned that her two sons-in-law and her only son were then absent, at war with the Catawba. In 1745 Madam IMontour was living on an island in the Su.s(inehanna, at Shamokin, having left Ostonwackin permanently. Prior to 17d4 siu* became blind, hut she was still vigorous enough to make a horseback trip from Logstown, on the Ohio, to N’enango, a distance of ()0 m., in two days, her son Andrew, on foot, leading the horse all tlx' way. When Count Zinzendorf visited Sha- mokin in 1742 he was welcomed 1)y iMadam Montour and her son Andrew. Seeing tlie Count and hearing that he came to preach the gospel, the truths of which she had almost forgotten, she burst into tears. It was learned that she believed that Bethlehem, the birthplace of Christ, was situated in France, and that it was Englishmen wdio crucified him—a silly perversion of the truth that originated with French religious teachers. In view' of the fact that there is no record of a governor of Canada named Montour, the belief that she was the daughter of such a personage seems groundless, notwithstanding her own statement to this effect to IMarshe. E(iually doubtful is the a.ssertion that she was alive during the American Revolu- tion, a statement possibly arising from the fact that she was confounded with her reputed granddaughter, Catherine of Catherine’s Town, situated near the head of Seneca lake and destroyed by Sulli- van’s army in 1779. Being more than ()0 years of ag(^ in 1744, it is not ])robable that she (tould have been an aedive ])ar- ticipant in the Wyoming massacre, .‘H years later, and tlu're is no authentic evideiKH' (“.(^meeting Madam Montour wdth the shedding of blood, white or Indian. EsTiiEit MoNTorK, justly infamous as the ‘‘fiend of Wyoming,” a daughter of French IMargaret, hence a granddaughtt'r of Madam Montour and a sisf(>r of French Catherine and Mary, and the wdfe of Eghohowin, a ruling child’ of the Munsee, was living in 1772at Shesheipiin, 6 m. below' Tioga Point; but in this year she removi'd (> m. above, fo a ])lace w here she foundeil a mwv settU'- ment, later known as thit'cn Esther’s Town, wdiich was destroyed by Col. Hartley in 1778. Thence she removed, probably to Chemung. It is known that there were Montours at the battle of Wyoming, for ‘‘Stuttering John” and Roland admitted it some years afterward. John and Catrina were always relentless enemies of the English (colonies. That John, Poland, Esther, and Catherine and Mary were half-breeds is (piite jirobable. But Esther’s bloody W(»rk at Wyoming, July 3, 1778, has made her name execra- ted wherever known. Toward the end of Juneofthe year named the Tory Colonel, John Butler, with about 400 British and Tories and about 700 Indians, chiefly Seneca, under Sagaiengwaraton, de- scended the Susijuehanna on his way to attai^k the settlements in Wyoming val- ley, Pa. To defend the valley against this foire there weri' 40 or 50 num under Capt. Hetrick Hewitt, an<l the militia— about 400 men and boys, the residue of the three companies that had been en- listed in the (k)ntineidal army. Col. Zebulon Butler, hapj)ening to be in the valley, took command of the little army, aidc(i by Maj. Carret, Col. Dennison, aiul Lieut. Col. Dorrance. The 400 undisci]>lined militia were soon outflanked and broken in the ensuing battle. After the enemy had gained the rear, an officer said to Hewitt: “See! the enemy has gained the rear in force. Shall we retreat?” ‘‘I’ll be d d if 1 do,” was Hewitt’s rei>ly, and, like the other otlicers killed in action, he fell at the head of his men. The battle was lost. Then followed a most dreadful slaughter of the brave but overpowered soldiers of M’voming. Without mercy and with the most fearful tortures, they were ruthlessly but(4iered, chiefly in the tligiit, and after havingsurrendereil tluun- selvcs jirisoners of war. IMaced around a huge rock and held by stout Indians, IB men Were killed one by one by the knife or tomahawk in tlie hands of ‘‘(hioen Esther.” In a similar circle 9 others were kilU'd in the same brutal manner. Erom these two circles alone only one, a strong man named Hammond, esca])cd by almost superhuman effort. This slaughter, which made 150 widows and (iOO orphans in the valley, gave Esther her bloody title. Catiieiune IMontour, a noted character in the coloiual history of Pennsylvania, and who gave the name of Catlu>rine’s Town to Sheo()uaga, was another daugh- ter of French IMargaret, hence a grand- daughter of .Madam .Montour. Slie be- came the wife of Telelemut, a noted Seneca chief, named Thomas Hudson by the English, by whom slu' had a son named .\mochol (‘Canoe’), or .Andrew, and two daughters. The statement that