The Hawaiian star. [volume] (Honolulu [Oahu]) 1893-1912, 1893-10-21
THE PAINTED POST.
A HUMBLE MONUMENT IN NEW YORK
OF THE OLD INDIAN WARS.

How n Town In the Empire State Came by
It's Peculiar Name-The Legend of the
Origin of the Post-some Conflicting
Stories of the Indians.
The first permanent white settlement in
Bteuben county was made at the Painted
Post in 1885 by Samuel Harris, an Indian
trader. There was at that time an impor-
tant village of Seneca Indians established
on the banks of the Conhocton 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-
uuehanna Beyond a doubt the Six Ma
lions appreciated the strategic Importance
of the Painted Post, where three long val
legs came together bringing water, which
leaves no trail Through this gateway the
war cloud from the Geneshago, or Shining
valley, descended in July, IT'S, upon an
errand of savage vengeance to the Wyom-
ing. By the same route, as well 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. go, ITO, dealt a death
blow to the power of the great Indian con-
federacy.
The first white man found 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
at Corning, two miles distant. The latter
is now a city of 1900 inhabitants, while
Painted Post has been incorporated vii
lage with population of 800 persons.
The present painted post stands at the
southeast corner of the cross roads. 1t is
about 18 feet high and diagonal in shape
painted red. 1t is iiches In diameter,
tapers at the top and il surmounted by a
sheet iron Indian chief grasping a toma-
hawk and bow and dressed in a 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 Corners"
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
it to the late Charles II. 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 l saw it for the
first time, it had no marks or paint upon it,
and it had the color of weather beaten
oaken rail. There was neither mark nor
carving upon it, 1 have many time sat
near it and with others talked about it and
speculated 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 Chemung river two miles
to Knoxville, whether for the purpose of
founding a museum or for the more seri-
GUS object of purloining the fame which
encircled the oak post is not clear. 1t was
afterward 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 it were furnished to relic
hunters until one day in moment of i'm
patience Colonel Erwin, the landlord o.
the tavern, adjudged it nuisance and or
dered it thrown into the river.
In the course of the next 20 years the new
post, which was much larger than the ole
one, was Clipped to pieces by relic fiends
and a few years later new post was raised
with sheet iron Indian at the top.
The generally accepted legend concerning
the post makes very pretty story. 1t /!
said that Captain Roland Montour hal
breed and son of Queen Catharine of Wy
oming fame, was seriously wounded in tn,
fight at Newtown and died on the retreat
up the CONNECTION. He was buried under
large elm tree, and the "Te-can- nes-to." a.
the post was called by the Delawares, wa.
set up as an imposing monument to hi
memory. This legend was confirmed by
the statement made by the Seneca Chic
Cornplanter to Captain Samuel Adams il
an interview had at Cornplanter's eddy OF
the Allegheny river in 1888.
Cornplanter, being asked about the post
said through his interpreter, as related b.
Captain Adams, that a great chief ant
brave was there taken sick, died and wa
buried under the shade of an elm on tn
! north side of the CONNECTION river lat tn
same time mapping it out on the grount
floor and marking with his knife the plac
of the gravel, and that he (Cornplanter
was one of the council that placed over tn
grave post, stained with the juice of tn
wild strawberry, to mark the spot. H
would not state the name or tribe of thi
great chief
1t was not Captain Montour, for he, witt
his brother John, appeared at the militar
post of Major Taylor, near Pittsburg, il
December of the same year. Two year
later the two brothers were with Colone
Broadhead on the Muskingum, in Ohio.
Charles H. Erwin, in pamphlet pub
lished as late as 1874, accepts Captain Mon
tour as the hero and martyr, but in his NOR
recently prepared manuscripts cites tn
facts which show that the captain and hi
brother were active in the flesh for severa