Page:History of Delaware County (1856).djvu/91

Rh this precaution of safety, nothing transpired to justify his fears, and consequently the order committed to the ambush, was not carried into execution. The parties having met according to agreement, Brant was the first to break the silence. Addressing himself to Herkimer, he said : " I have five hundred warriors with me, armed and ready for battle. You are in my power, but as we have been friends and neigh- bors, I will not take advantage of you." At the close of the interview. General Herkimer presented the chieftain with a number of fat cattle, which had previously arrived from Otsego lake; for which the chief could not refrain from thanking him, as provisions with them were exceedingly scarce.

Campbell, speaking of this expedition, says : "This singular conference was singularly terminated. It was early in July, and the sun shone forth without a cloud to obscure it, and as its rays gilded the tops of the forest-trees, or were reflected from the waters of the Susquehanna, imparted a rich tint to the wild scenery with which they were surrounded. The echo of the war-whoop had scarcely died away before the heavens became black, and a violent storm of rain and hail obliged each party to withdraw and seek the nearest shelter. Men less superstitious than many of the unlettered yeomen, who, leaning upon their arms, were witnesses of the events of this day, could not have failed in after times to have looked back upon them, if not as an omen, at least as an emblem of those dreadful massacres which these Indians and their associates afterward visited upon the inhabitants of this unfortunate frontier."

The unsuccessful termination of the pacific mission of Greneral Herkimer to the Indians, and which ended June 28th, together with their open declaration in favor of the king, as well as their denunciation of the acts of the Boston people, rendered the situation of the well-affected citizens of Harpers-