" [Footnote: Col. Stone's Life and Times
of Thayendanegea and Life and Times of Red Jacket. This statement has been
denied by some, who affirm that his eloquence was the sole cause of his
elevation. If this representation came from Brant, it may be recollected
that between Red Jacket and Brant there did not exist a very strong
attachment, and statements made by one concerning the other, would not be
likely to bear the coloring of a very warm friendship.]
However this may have been, it is certain this course was not necessary to
establish Red Jacket's position among his people. The circumstances of
their history created a necessity for his transcendent abilities, and the
light of his genius, though it may have been obscured for a time, must
eventually have shone forth, in its original beauty and splendor.
Red Jacket was now called upon to assist in the deliberations of his
people, and from this time to the day of his death, we find him connected
with, and bearing an important part in all of their public transactions.
The council at Fort Stanwix was the first occasion in which he appeared
before the public. It was a meeting of no small moment. With an anxious
heart the Indian left his home and wended his way, through his native
forests, to the place where he was to meet in council, the chiefs of the
thirteen fires. His own tribes had been wasted, by a long and bloody war.
The nation they had so long clung to, and by whose artifice they had been
led to engage in the strife, stood confessedly vanquished.
Pages:
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60