 | THE STATISTICS OF SARATOGA. Saratoga in 1901 |  |
THE STATISTICS OF SARATOGA.
“Let me see, Wm.—Sir William Johnson
— wounded in the battle of Lake
George, September 8, 1755,” the old statician
murmured.
“What else?” I inquired.
“Wounded in the leg,” he contiuuation.
“Ball not extracted—did not recover. Dysentery,
William about Saratoga—the “Medicine Spring of the Great
Spirit.” There were then six nations of Indians forming the
Great Iroquois Confederacy—the Mohawks, Cayugas, Onondagas,
Senecas, Oneidas, and Tuscaroras.
“Sir William reached High Rock Spring August 22nd, 1767.
He went with the Indians to Schenectady by canoe on the
Mohawk River, then by litter viâ Ballston Lake to the rude
cabin of Michael McDonald, thence to High Rock Spring.
“The sun was an hour above the eastern hills,” continued my
statician, reading from a book, “when the startled deer saw the
evergreens sway, and the Baronet's party
emerge from the thicket. Their polished
bracelets and
rich trappings,
glittering in the
dewy foliage
like so many
diamonds, were
in keeping with
the cheerfulness
visible upon
each countenance—for
were
they not bearing
their dearly
loved brother to
the `Medicine
Spring of the Great Spirit?' As the party emerge from the glade
upon the green sward, they separate into two divisions; and, with
gentle tread approach the spring, bearing their precious burden
in the center. Pausing a few rods from the spring, the Baronet
leaves the litter; and, for a moment, his manly form, wrapped in
his scarlet blanket bordered with gold lace, stands towering and
erect above the waving plumes of his Mohawk braves.”
“How do you know these to be facts, my venerable friend?”
“Well, the book says so, sir; besides Wm. L. Stone delivered
these facts in an address in 1866,” said my statician indignantly.
“They are correct,” observed Mr. Marvin.
“Very well, go on!”
“Then,” continued the old man, “Sir William approaching the
spring, kneels, with uncovered head, and reverently places upon
the rock a roll of fragrant tobacco—his propitiatory offering to
the Manitou of the spring. Still kneeling, he fills and lights
descended to the renowned Pontiac, and, taking a whiff from its
hieroglyphic stem, passes it to each chieftain in turn. Then,
amid the profound silence of his warriors, he, for the first time,
touches his lips to the water; and, gathering the folds of his
mantle about him amid a wild and strange chant raised by the
Indians to their Deity, he enters the rude bark lodge which, with
prudent forethought, his braves had erected for his comfort
directly where this building now stands; and in this primitive
hotel reclined the first white man that had ever visited this spring.”
“How long did he stay, what hotel did he put up at, and
where was Wm. Leland and Col. Johnson then?” I asked, interrupting
the old man.
“Sh—!” he exclaimed,“ Wm. Leland was dead then. He
was not discovered till fifty years afterwards. This was even
before Fernando Wood or Mr. Greeley or Peter Gilsey were
discovered. Sir William sojourned four days at High Rock
Spring, then went back to Schenectady on foot, and General
Philip Schuyler sent up Dr. Stringer to analyse the spring.
| THE STATISTICS OF SARATOGA. Saratoga in 1901 | |