This course, the excellence of which experience has fully demonstrated,
was finally adopted, and in pursuance of this design, a general council of
the Iroquois was convened at Fort Stanwix, in the fall of 1784. It was
attended by Oliver Wolcott, Richard Butler, and Arthur Lee, who were
appointed commissioners on the part of the United States. The different
tribes of the Iroquois were represented, and Red Jacket was present, and
took an active part in its deliberations. He had now been elected to the
office of Sachem; at what time precisely, is not known, but probably not
far from the close of the war of the Revolution.
The manner in which he gained this office has been ascribed by some to
artifice as well as the force of his eloquence. Col. Stone says, that
"aspiring to the rank of chief, he not only wrought upon the minds of his
people, by the exertion of that faculty which was ever with them a high
standard of merit, but he succeeded in availing himself of the
superstitious constitution of his race, to effect his purpose. His first
essay was to dream that he was, or should be a chief, and that the Great
Spirit was angry that his nation had not advanced him to that dignity.
This dream, with the necessary variations, he repeated until, fortunately
for him, the small pox broke out among the Senecas. He then proclaimed the
loathsome infliction a judgment sent by the Great Spirit, to punish them
for their ingratitude to him. The consequence ultimately was, that by
administering flattery to some, working upon the superstitious fears of
others, and by awakening the admiration of all by his eloquence, he
reached the goal of his ambition.
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