Early History, the Village of Havana (Classic Reprint)

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Excerpt from Early History, the Village of Havana There are but few localities so thickly clustered with such associations of deep interest, that they appear like fuglemen in the march of events which attract the notice of the historian. Very prominent among these are the subject of this work - drenched in history, pleasantly situated, and geologically conspicuous. In the immediate vicinity of the corporate boundaries of Havana village were enacted some of those thrilling scenes that collectively conspired to make the narrative of the expedition of Gen. John Sullivan one of intense and peculiar interest. No history of Havana would be complete without a brief resume of the transactions connected with the destruction of the village of the Senecas, the familiar Catharine's Town of old. History proclaims it as the former home of Catharine Montour, the renowned chieftess of the tribe, whose nod was the law of her empire, and whose word was the oracle of her people. Of French and Indian extraction, she combined the natural finesse of the former race with the subtlety and ferocity of the latter. These traits of character, coupled with a handsome person and a polite address, made her an object of interest second to no individual of her time in all the region. She was born in Upper Canada and later married Telenemut, a Seneca chief of note whose parentage is unascertainable. and who was also known as Thomas Hudson. He was a distinguished warrior, and by bravery and courage made himself conspicuous in the wars of the Six Nations against the Catawbas, the latter a powerful nation which then occupied the soil in the south-west part of Virginia. She had several children by this chief, who fell in battle while yet a comparatively young man. A son, Amochol, was living at New Salem in 1778 and she was living in 1791 "over the lake not far from Niagara." To the memory of Capt. Montour, one of her sons, tradition assigns the erection of the famous old "Painted Post, " at the confluence of the Tioga (Chemung) and Conhocton Rivers. She is said to have been a handsome woman when young, genteel in her manners, notwithstanding her Indian associations. It was her custom to accompany the chiefs of the tribe to Philadelphia and other places where the treaties were made, and from her character and manners was much admired by American ladies. She was commonly referred to as Queen Catharine, and from the British is believed to have received a small pension for many years on account of her great influence with the Indians. After a long and eventful life she died about the year 1804, and is buried in the Cook grave-yard on the east side of the Chemung Canal and north of Lock No. 3 in the southern part of Havana village. George Mills, who settled here some years prior to her death, well remembered the illustrious chieftess. In one account he recalled an occasional meal as a guest at her table. The fare included salt, then a very precious commodity, seldom found in general use. The expedition of Gen. Sullivan, in 1779, passed through this country on its mission of vengeance, following the battle of Newtown, so fatal to the Indians. He was acting under a general order from the War Department to destroy all the villages and improvements of the Indians, so that not a vestage of their prosperity remained. This was in righteous retaliation for the barbarous massacre at Wyoming, in Pennsylvania, on the awful 3rd day of July, 1778. The Indian town of Catharine's, was later described by Alexander Wilson, author of American Ornithology, as being "situated near the head of Seneca Lake, in one of the most delightful and romantic spots imaginable, containing a great number of houses with large orchards and corn-fields. It was totally destroyed, in 1779, by the troops under the command of Gen. John Sullivan, who, entering the place at night, found it nearly deserted by its inhabitan