lebrated expedition, undertaken by way of
retaliation for the outrages which the Indians (Senecas) had committed
on the frontiers, and particularly in destroying the unfortunate
settlement of Wyoming during the preceding summer.

"What rendered this total ruin of the country possessed by the Five
Nations the more remarkable was the degree of knowledge and expertness
in agriculture and in various domestic arts to which it was now for the
first time discovered that the Indians had attained. It appeared by
General Sullivan's account that the lands about the towns were
excellently cultivated, and their houses large and elegantly
constructed. The extent of their industry may be conjectured by his
asserting that the quantity of corn destroyed could not, by a moderate
computation, amount to less than 160,000 bushels; that their orchards
were so well stocked that no less than 1,500 trees were cut down in one
orchard only, numbers of which had evidently been planted many years;
and that their garden grounds contained immense quantities of vegetables
of every kind."[92]

Mr. Bancroft represents what he in one place terms "the great
expedition" as a mere raid for the chastisement of the Seneca Indians.
He says: "Moved by the massacres of Wyoming and Cherry Valley, Congress,
on the 25th of February, had directed Washington to protect the inland
frontiers and chastise the Seneca Indians. * * The best part of the
season was gone when Sullivan, on the last of July, moved from Wyoming.
His arrival at Tioga sent terror to the Indians. * * Several of the
chiefs said to Colonel Bolton, in council, 'Why does not the great king,
our father, assist us? Our villages will be cut off, and we can no
longer fight his battles.'

"On the 22nd of August, the day after he was joined by New York troops
under General James Clinton, Sullivan began his march up the Tioga into
the heart of the Indian country. On the same day, Little David, a Mohawk
chief, delivered a message from himself and the Six Nations to General
Haldimand, then Governor of Canada: 'Brother! for these three years past
the Six Nations have been running a race against fresh enemies, and are
almost out of breath. Now we shall see whether you are our loving strong
brother, or whether you deceive us. Brother! we are still strong for the
King of England, if you will show us that he is a man of his word, and
that he will not abandon his brothers the Six Nations.' * * The march
into the c