[Footnote 399: _Fox to Johnson, 13 March, 1756. Papers of Sir William
Johnson._]

[Footnote 400: _Conferences between Sir William Johnson and the Indians,
Dec. 1755, to Feb. 1756_, in _N.Y. Col. Docs._, VII. 44-74. _Account of
Conferences held and Treaties made between Sir William Johnson, Bart.,
and the Indian Nations of North America_ (London, 1756).]

In June he went to Onondaga, well escorted, for the way was dangerous.
This capital of the Confederacy was under a cloud. It had just lost one
Red Head, its chief sachem; and first of all it behooved the baronet to
condole their affliction. The ceremony was long, with compliments,
lugubrious speeches, wampum-belts, the scalp of an enemy to replace the
departed, and a final glass of rum for each of the assembled mourners.
The conferences lasted a fortnight; and when Johnson took his leave, the
tribes stood pledged to lift the hatchet for the English.[401]

[Footnote 401: _Minutes of Councils of Onondaga, 19 June to 3 July,
1756_, in _N.Y. Col. Docs._, VII. 134-150.]

When he returned to Fort Johnson a fever seized him, and he lay helpless
for a time; then rose from his sick bed to meet another congregation of
Indians. These were deputies of the Five Nations, with Mohegans from the
Hudson, and Delawares and Shawanoes from the Susquehanna, whom he had
persuaded to visit him in hope that he might induce them to cease from
murdering the border settlers. All their tribesmen were in arms against
the English; but he prevailed at last, and they accepted the war-belt at
his hands. The Delawares complained that their old conquerors, the Five
Nations, had forced them "to wear the petticoat," that is, to be counted
not as warriors but as women. Johnson, in presence of all the Assembly,
now took off the figurative garment, and pronounced them henceforth men.
A grand war-dance followed. A hundred and fifty Mohawks, Oneidas,
Onondagas, Delawares, Shawanoes, and Mohegans stamped, whooped, and
yelled all night.[402] In spite of Piquet, the two Joncaires, and the
rest of the French agents, Johnson had achieved a success. But would the
Indians keep their word? It was more than doubtful. While some of them
treated with him on the Mohawk, others treated with Vaudreuil at
Montreal.[403] A display of military vigor on the English side, crowned
by some signal victory, would alone make their alliance sure.

[Footnote 402: _Minutes of Councils at Fort Johnson, 9 July to 12 July_,
in _N.Y. Co