But their cries were
not to be in vain; for "their fathers, the French" had heard them
and had promised to aid them if they would now strike as one for
their lands.
After this preamble the deputy of the Mohawks rose. He said that
some American people had made war on one of their towns and had
seized the son of their Great Beloved Man, Sir William Johnson,
imprisoned him, and put him to a cruel death; this crime demanded
a great vengeance and they would not cease until they had taken
it. One after another the fourteen delegates rose and made their
"talks" and presented their wampum strings to Dragging Canoe. The
last to speak was a chief of the Shawanoes. He also declared that
"their fathers, the French," who had been so long dead, were
"alive again," that they had supplied them plentifully with arms
and ammunition and had promised to assist them in driving out the
Americans and in reclaiming their country. Now all the Northern
tribes were joined in one for this great purpose; and they
themselves were on their way to all the Southern tribes and had
resolved that, if any tribe refused to join, they would fall upon
and extirpate that tribe, after having overcome the whites. At
the conclusion of his oration the Shawanoe presented the war
belt--nine feet of six-inch wide purple wampum spattered with
vermilion--to Dragging Canoe, who held it extended between his
two hands, in silence, and waited.
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