An Account of Sa-Go-Ye-Wat-Ha | Page 3

laid a claim to greatness, but are now fast passing
into obscurity, it is not on this account the less attractive, but presents
another reason for our regard.
Such was the name of SA-GO-YE-WAT-HA, or, as he has more
commonly been called, Red Jacket. Having risen, by the force of his
eloquence, from an obscure station to the highest rank among his
people, he became conspicuous in all of those great transactions, in

which they gradually relinquished a title to their old hunting grounds,
and gave place to the intrusive white man. And he lived to see his
nation pass from the pride of their ancient dominion, to so humble an
inheritance, that his last days were embittered with the thought, that the
red men were destined to become extinct. With him has ceased the
glory of their council fire, and of their name.
His origin, as we have intimated, was obscure. He must be introduced,
as he has come down to us, without rank or pedigree. His pedigree
nature acknowledged, and gave him a right to become great among her
sons. His birth is a matter of fact, its time and place, circumstances of
conjecture. Some affirm that he was born at the Old Seneca Castle, near
the foot of Seneca lake, not far from 1750. [Footnote: Hist. of North
American tribes by Thos. L. McKenney.]
Another tradition awards the honor of his birth to a place at, or near
Canoga, on the banks of the Cayuga lake. [Footnote: Schoolcraft's
Report.]
Who were his parents? and what, his early history? As the wave casts
upon the shore some treasured fragment, and then recedes to mingle
with its parent waters, so their names, and much of his early history
have been lost in the oblivion of the past.
So likewise it is uncertain, as to the time when the wonderful powers of
his genius began to be developed, or as to the steps by which he arrived
at the high distinction of orator among his people.
Whether by dint of study he gained the requisite discipline of mind, and
acquired that elegance of diction for which he was distinguished;
whether by repeated trial and failure, accompanied by a proud ambition,
and an unyielding purpose, he reached, like Demosthenes, the summit
of his aspirations; or, assisted more by nature than by art, emerged, like
Patrick Henry at once, into the grand arena of mind, and by a single
effort attained distinction and fame, is to be gathered more from
circumstances than from facts.
It is generally conceded, however, that the powers of his intellect were

of the highest order. Captain Horatio Jones, the well known interpreter
and agent among the Indians, and than whom no one was more
intimately acquainted with this orator of the Seneca nation, was
accustomed to speak of him as the greatest man that ever lived. "For,"
said he, "the great men of our own and of other times, have become so
by education; but RED JACKET WAS AS NATURE MADE HIM.
Had he enjoyed their advantages, he would have surpassed them, since
it can hardly be supposed that they, without these, would have equalled
him." [Footnote: Conversation of the author with Col. Wm. Jones, of
Geneseo, Livingston Co., N. Y., son of Capt. Horatio Jones.]
Some allowance should be made for this statement, perhaps, on the
ground that Mr. Jones was a warm admirer of the orator's genius; yet
his admiration sprang from an intimate knowledge of him, seen under
circumstances, that afforded the best opportunity of forming a just
opinion of his talents; and these, he maintained, "were among the
noblest that nature ever conferred upon man."
But genius, while it may have smoothed the way, may not have spared
him the pains, by which ordinary minds ascend to greatness. For since
it is so universally the fact, that the path to eminence, is rugged and
steep, and the gifts of fame seldom bestowed but in answer to repeated
toil; curiosity would inquire by what means one, who was reputed a
barbarian, gained the highest distinction ever awarded to civilized man.
It is not enough to reply simply, "that nature made him so," or to
receive, without qualification, his own proud assertion, "I AM AN
ORATOR, I WAS BORN AN ORATOR." The laws of mind are the
same for peasants, and princes in intellect; great minds as well as small,
must take measures to compass their object, or leave it unattained.
It does not appear that his genius was sudden, or precocious in its
development. It is said that his mind, naturally active and brilliant,
gradually opened, until it reached its meridian splendor. Nor did his
powers grow without any means to mature and perfect them. As the
young oak is strengthened by warring with the storm,