MICHIGAN
PIONEER SOCIETY
(Found among Major May’s papers, April A. D. Fraser)
Father, We the chiefs of the Chippewa
Nation of Indians, inhabiting and owning the lands on the West and North of the
Great Water, called Lake St. Clair, now waite on you, to assure, of our sincere
and friendly attachment to the people with whom but very lately we were at war,
but that war not brought on by us but instigated by bad council.
We sometimes since met a great war-chief of your people at
Greenville for the purpose of putting a happy end to the war subsisting between
us, which chief we are told is now gone to the great and good spirit
therefore cannot now talk with us; in our great council with him he gave
us assurance that all our lands should remain to us and remain to our youths
and at our disposal, what passed there,
we consider as done before the Great and Good Spirit that punishes people for
doing bad things or telling things that are not true.
In full belief of what had been agreed upon between us and
the great war chief, we returned home contented to our little houses to see our
children and aged parents.
Father, We have been long sufferers by the
hunt (on which our support depended) having left our country and we unable to
cultivate the land as white people do, to obtain a support, we found no other
alterations to gain a subsistence but to rent our lands to white people
to labour; out of the whites we made choice of three of our brethren with whom
we have for a long time been on the most friendly footing, and who for many
years past have often relieved us from distress, to these three we have rented
part of our lands, for which we are to receive an annual payment in the
necessaries of life, as will appear by their agreement with us which we now
shew you, besides our enjoying every use of said land that we ever
before have done.
Father, We have already received a
considerable amount in advance from our brothers for said land we are
now in want of necessaries for the approaching cold weather, which they are
ready to give us; as soon as you are (our) good father will say that our
conveyance of the land to them is just and for our advantage, this we hope you
will do in order that we may get the wished for supply and enable us to do
justice to our friends by our fulfilling the agreement made with them.
And request you would communicate this our
desire and agreement to our great and good father at the great village of
Philadelphia, hoping that he will say that we have done right and allow us to
do our friend justice.
Detroit, 8 of
September 1797