Having risen, by the force of his eloquence, from an
obscure station to the highest rank among his people, he became
conspicuous in all of those great transactions, in which they gradually
relinquished a title to their old hunting grounds, and gave place to the
intrusive white man. And he lived to see his nation pass from the pride of
their ancient dominion, to so humble an inheritance, that his last days
were embittered with the thought, that the _red men_ were destined to
become extinct. With him has ceased the glory of their council fire, and
of their name.
His origin, as we have intimated, was obscure. He must be introduced, as
he has come down to us, without rank or pedigree. His pedigree nature
acknowledged, and gave him a right to become great among her sons. His
birth is a matter of fact, its time and place, circumstances of
conjecture. Some affirm that he was born at the Old Seneca Castle, near
the foot of Seneca lake, not far from 1750. [Footnote: Hist. of North
American tribes by Thos. L. McKenney.]
Another tradition awards the honor of his birth to a place at, or near
Canoga, on the banks of the Cayuga lake. [Footnote: Schoolcraft's Report.]
Who were his parents? and what, his early history? As the wave casts upon
the shore some treasured fragment, and then recedes to mingle with its
parent waters, so their names, and much of his early history have been
lost in the oblivion of the past.
So likewise it is uncertain, as to the time when the wonderful powers of
his genius began to be developed, or as to the steps by which he arrived
at the high distinction of orator among his people.
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