The Wilmington daily Republican. (Wilmington, Del.) 1890-1902, 1893-09-07
THE PAINTED POST.
A HUMBLE MONUMENT IN NEW YORK
OF THE OLD INDIAN WARS.

4 HUMBLE MONUMENT IN NEW YORK
OF THE OLD INDIAN WARS.
How q Town In the Empire State Came by
Its Peculiar Name-The Legend of the
Origin of tho Post-some Conflicting
Stories of the Indians.
The frst permanent white settlement In
Steuben county was made at the Painted
Post in 1885 by Samuel Harris an Indian
trader. There WIS at that time an impor-
tant village Of Seneca Indians established
on the banks of the CONNECTION river, near
the junction of the waters OF the Tioga,
Canisteo and Conhocton rivers, which here
form the Chemung and pass on to the Sus-
quehanna. Beyond a doubt the Six Ma
lions appreciatkl the strategic Importance
of the Painted Post, where three long val
leys came together, bringing water, which
leaves no trail. Through this gateway the
war cloud from the Geneshago, or Shining
valley, descended in July, ITS, upon an
GRAND OF savage vengeance to the Wyom-
ing. By the same route, as we'll as by the
waters of the Conhocton, the former lords
of the soil retreated from the battlefield of
Newtown, where General Sullivan and his
yeomanry on Aug 20, TITO, dealt a death
blow to the power of the great Indian con-
federaey.
The first white man found a name made
to order for the place, and that name still
remains the most interesting feature of the
locality. The advantages Of river and val
ley have dwindled away before the superior
enterprise and courage of men who many
years later settled in the narrow bottoms
AZ Corning, two miles distant. The latter
lis now city OF $4,000 inhabitants while
Painted Post has been Incorporated vii
lAge with population of 1 800 persons.
Tho present painted post stands at the
southeast corner of the cross roads. II is
about 10 feet high and octagonal in shape
painted red. 1t is inches in diameter,
tapers at the top and is surmounted by
sheet Iron Indian chief grasping a toma-
hawk and bow and dressed in red Jacket
and buckskin trousers. The original post
stood near the center Of the present high.
way leading from Painted Post to Corning
and few rods east OF the -Four CornersD
and the sight Of the present post 1t was
an oak post 10 or 10 feet above the ground
and from 10 to IA inches in diameter 1t
was square to a height of four feet above
the ground and then octagonal to the top
Samuel Cook Of Lindley thus described
II to the late Charles H. Erwin of Painted
Post, as detailed by the latter in his manu-
script "A History of Painted Post and
Other Towns" now in the hands OF his ex-
ecutors: when in 1902 saw it for the
first time, it had no marks or paint upon it,
and it had the color of q weather beaten
oaken rail. There was neither mark nor
carving upon 1t. have many time sat
near 1t and with others talked about 1t and
specialized about its history" 1t stood on
the banks OF the Conhocton river at the
side Of well beaten trail from the village
to Tioga Point (Athens, Pa.).
This post remained until 1901 or 1902,
when 1t is said to have been dug up and
carried down the Chemuug river two miles
to Knoxville, whether for the purpose Of
founding museum or for the more seri-
GUS object of purloining the fame which
iencircled the oak post is not clear. 1t was
Iafterward returned. but in the meantime
"a new oak post had been erected by the
whites in the settlement near the original
site. What became of the old post is not
known for certain. 1t is said to have re-
manned in the garnet of the first log tavern,
and chips from 1t were furnished to relic
hunters until one day in a moment of i'm
patience Colonel Erwin, the landlord of
the tavern, adjudged 1t a nuisance and Or
Iuered IL thrown into the river.
In the course of the next 20 years the new
post, which was much larger than the old
one, was Clipped to pieces by relic fiends,
and q few years later new post was raised
with sheet iron Indian at the top.
The generally accepted legend concerning
the post makes a very pretty story. II Is
said that Captain Roland Montour, half
breed and a son of Queen Catharine of wy
oming fame, was seriously wounded in the
fight at Newtown and died on the retreat
up the Conhocton. He was buried under a
large elm tree, and the "Te-can -nes-to.n as
the post was called by the Delawares, was
set up as an imposing monument to his
memory. This legend was confirmed by
the statement made by the Seneca Chief
Cornplanter to Captain Samuel Adams ius
an interview had at Cornplanter's eddy on
the Allegheny river in 1888.
Cornplanter, being asked about the post,
said through his interpreter, as related by
Captain Adams. that great chief and
brave was there taken sick, died and was
buried under the shade of an elm on the
north side of the Conhocton river lat the
same time mapping 1t out on the ground
floor and marking with his knife the place
of the grave), and that he tCornplanter)
was one of the council that placed over the
grave post, stained with the juice Of the
wild strawberry, to mark the spot He
would not state the name or tribe OF this
great chief.
1t was not Captain Montour, for he, with
his brother John, appeared at the military
post of Major Taylor, near Pittsburg, in
December of the snme year. Two years
later the two brothers were with Colonel
Broadhead on the Muskingum, in Ohio
Charles II. Erwin, in a pamphlet pub
lished as late as 1874, accepts Captain Mon
tour as the hero and martyr, but in his more
recently prepared manuscripts cites the
facts which show that the captain and his
brother were active in the flesh for several
years later at least.
Mr.. Erwin in his latest work scouts the |
idea that the post was intended as a monu-
ment at all. Such tribute to the dead was |
contrary to Indian nature and to any known |
custom among them. 1t seems highly i'm. |
probable that SO unusual an exception |
should he made very shortly after battle |
In which the Indians had been worsted and |
when their white enemy might be expected |
to appear among them at any time. II is |
true, however, that excavations for cellars |
Or wells in the neighborhood of the post |
have frequently unearthed Indian bones |
and relics.-New York Times
An Invention For Steamships.
An English mechanical genius has de- |
vised a method of indicating and stop