This was part of the Six Nations' meeting with the various government
officials from Maryland and Virginia in Lancaster, Pennsylvania, on June
17, 1744. This was where the members of the Six Nations' were given the
offer to send their sons to William and Mary, and other colleges I
believe, and they responded to this on the following day.  The response
may have been sent by Conassatego, the wise Delaware chief, who was one
of the participants of the 1744 conference. This letter has been quoted
in many sources since the early 19th century, including a more
modernized abstract of it in both the "Southern Literary Messenger,"
vol. 2, No. 4, March 1836, and in Samuel G. Drake's "Biography and
History of the Indians of North America," Third Edition, O.L. Perkins
and Hillard, Gray & Company, Boston, 1834, Book 1, Ch. 35, p. 27. The
more recent book, "Letters of a Nation" by Andrew Carroll is said to
have the more accurate version of it along with McLuhan's book, "Touch
the Earth." Perhaps some historian out there can be of help to us
regarding the original source's current location. 
-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion of research and writing about Virginia history
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Douglas Deal
Sent: Tuesday, May 22, 2007 7:35 AM
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Indian Schools

Anita Wills wrote:
> It is interesting that the letter makes no mention of who sent it. 
> Where is the signature? I have a list of Indian Children who attended 
> the school as well, with their Native names.
>
> Anita
>
>
>
> -- marsha moses <[log in to unmask]> wrote:
> OH, MY GOSH, Katherine.   Is this for real?  I am blown away if it 
> is.  
> Were there Indians who could convey these thoughts?  Marsha in Wv
>
> Katharine Harbury wrote:
>
>   
>> There was indeed input from  Native Americans but has to know where
>>     
> to
>   
>> look.  One famous example, shown below, was given in June 1744 to the

>> College of William and Mary in response to their invitation that the
>>     
> Six
>   
>> Nations send twelve boys to the school: 
>>
>> "Sirs,
>> We know that you highly esteem the kind of Learning taught in those 
>> Colleges, and that the Maintenance of our Young Men, while with you, 
>> would be very expensive to you.  We are convinc'd, therefore, that
>>     
> you
>   
>> mean to do us Good by your Proposal; and we thank you heartily.  But 
>> you, who are wise, must know that different Nations have different 
>> Conceptions of things; and you will therefore not take it amiss, if
>>     
> our
>   
>> Ideas of this kind of Education happen not to be the same with yours.
>> We have had some Experience of it.  Several of our Young People were 
>> formerly brought up at the Colleges of the Northern Provinces; they
>>     
> were
>   
>> instructed in all your Sciences; but, when they came back to us, they

>> were bad Runners, ignorant of every means of living in the Woods,
>>     
> unable
>   
>> to bear either Cold or Hunger, knew neither how to build a Cabin,
>>     
> take a
>   
>> Deer, or kill an Enemy, spoke our Language imperfectly, were
>>     
> therefore
>   
>> neither fit for Hunters, Warriors, nor Counsellors; they were totally

>> good for nothing.  We are, however, not the less oblig'd by your kind

>> Offer, tho' we decline accepting it; and, to show our grateful Sense
>>     
> of
>   
>> it, if the Gentlemen of Virginia will send us a Dozen of their Sons,
>>     
> we
>   
>> will take Care of their Education; instruct them in all we know, and 
>> make Men of them."
>>
>> IF I recall correctly, the source is housed among the special 
>> collections at the College of William and Mary, but it can also be
>>     
> found
>   
>> in printed books, such as "Letters of a Nation" by Andrew Carroll or 
>> "Touch the Earth" by T.C. McLuhan.
>>
>> Swem's index also lists names of some of the Indian students at the 
>> College of William and Mary if anyone is interested- here are a few
>>     
> of
>   
>> the names listed for the years 1754 and 1755 - Gideon and John
>>     
> Langston,
>   
>> Charles Murphy, John Montour, William Squirrel, and John and Thomas 
>> Sampson.  [See vol. 6 of "William and Mary Quarterly," first series,
>>     
> No.
>   
>> 3, p. 188; vol. 1 of ditto, 2nd series, No.1,  pp. 32, 35, 36, 38,
>>     
> 39.]
>   
>>  
>>
>>  
>>
>>     
This "letter" comes from a 1784 pamphlet by Benjamin Franklin entitled
"Remarks Concerning the savages of North America." In it, Franklin
supposedly refers to a speech by the Onondaga chief Canasatego at the
1744 treaty council in Lancaster, PA. I have not seen a document from
that council that includes anything like the material in Franklin's
pamphlet, but I believe one could check by consulting the treaty
deliberations in the Pennsylvania Archives volume treating the Lancaster
council. Some Franklin scholars consider the piece to be a satire (see
Richard Amacher, ed., Wit and Humor of Franklin: The Bagatelles).

Marsha asks whether there were really Indians who could convey such
thoughts. Whatever we make of Franklin's piece, the answer to that
question is yes, indeed. The problem, obviously, is that they lacked
written languages, so we lack "writings" from the colonial era that are
anything but translations of speeches delivered at councils such as the
one at Lancaster in 1744. But it takes only a small amount of reading in
the records of those councils to see the sophistication of the Indian
participants. The translator for the Lancaster council, by the way, was
Conrad Weiser.

Doug Deal
History/SUNY Oswego