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Transcript of Letter about a Council with Native Americans

A Closer Look with R. Scott Stephenson

I'm really excited to share this document with you from the collection of the Museum of the American Revolution. It was written in January of 1777 from a town called Easton, which is about 60 miles north of Philadelphia in the period you would either ride a horse for several days or you would pull or row your way up the Delaware River. So it's north of where I'm sitting in Philadelphia.In the time of the Revolutionary War, Easton was a kind of boundary between the areas of New Jersey and Pennsylvania that were heavily settled by colonists. And the lands that were in the possession of the Indigenous people, the Native American nations, the Mohawk, the Cayugas, the Senecas, and also Muncie, Quinault and Nanticoke people who lived in what's now North Central Pennsylvania in the upper reaches of the Susquehanna River Valley.And they had for centuries had lands taken away from them by colonists. And now in the midst of the Revolutionary War, they are trying to preserve their independence against the British and the revolutionary governments. At this point in 1776 and 1777 after the Declaration of Independence, the British and the American revolutionaries were calling on Native people to fight on one side or another.And so many Native communities had to decide, how do we preserve our independence? Do we side with the British, do we side with the revolutionaries, or do we try to remain neutral in the middle? And each nation, each community had to struggle and ask themselves, how do they try to protect their families, their communities, and their lands?And so this document relates to a treaty council that took place. So about 200 Native people, men and women and children gathered at Easton with representatives of the Continental Congress and Pennsylvania's revolutionary government. And for a couple of weeks, they stayed together and they talked and they discussed and they thought they had come to some sort of agreement where these Native people would remain neutral. They would not get involved in the fighting between the British and the revolutionary governments.But ultimately, the British put a lot of pressure on them, and some of their fellow Native nations had decided that they were going to side with the British. Others decided that they would try to remain neutral and a few like the Oneida Indian Nation decided to support the Continental Congress.And so the tragedy of this treaty at Easton in 1777 is that it did not create a lasting peace between the Native people and the Continental Congress. And so the story would be sad as you move forward. You had invasions of Indian territory in order by General Washington, and fighting all on the border between colonial and Native settlements to the very last days of the Revolutionary War.

Collection Highlight: Council with Native Americans Letter

Unfolded sheet of creased and weathered paper with brown cursive handwriting

In this January 1777 letter, Colonel John Bull of Pennsylvania reports on preparations for a council with Native American men, women, and children from communities in the upper Susquehanna River Valley. Professing neutrality in the conflict between Great Britain and the United States, the Native American leaders requested that illegal squatters be removed from their land. Anger over such encroachments, which Pennsylvania authorities ignored, led many Native Americans to side with the British in the Revolutionary War.

In this January 1777 letter, Colonel John Bull reports on preparations for a council with Native American communities in the Susquehanna River Valley.

Letter about a Council with Native Americans

War and Independence

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Pride and Protest

Inside the Declaration of Independence gallery featuring a copy of the Declaration of Independence

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A high up view of the War at Sea gallery in the Museum of the American Revolution featuring a sloop

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A New Nation

Inside of the Revolutionary Generation gallery in the Museum of the American Revolution featuring photographs of the revolutionary generation

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Timeline of the American Revolution

Letter about a Council with Native Americans

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A Closer Look with R. Scott Stephenson

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Transcript of Letter about a Council with Native Americans

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