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Shegenaba to Virginia Council
Speech
Please note, the exact date and location of the speech were not recorded in the book, History of the Valley of the Mississippi. We can determine that the speech was after 1775, but no earlier. Henry Hamilton became Lieutenant Governor and Superintendent of Indian Affairs for the British at Fort Detroit in 1775. Regarding the location, Hamilton tried to dissuade Shegenaba from traveling into American borders to attend the Virginia Council, which may have been held at Historic Jamestown, VA. The speech by Shegenaba is listed below:
Fathers, after the insinuations of the commandant of Detroit, I accepted your invitation with distrust, and measured my route with trembling feet toward this 'Council of Fire.' Your reception proves his falsehood, and that my fears were groundless. Truth and him have been a long time enemies. My father, and many of my chiefs, have lately tasted the bitterness of death. The memory of this misfortune almost destroys my quality of man, in filling my eyes with tears.
Your sensible compassion has relieved my heart of this heavy burden, and the remembrance will be transmitted to my remotest posterity. Fathers: I rejoice at what I have just now heard, and I assure you that I shall faithfully relate it to my nation. If, for, the future, you wish to speak with me, I shall return with pleasure; and I thank you for your present invitation. The particular friendship which you express toward me; and the gun which you have given me, for the care I took of your young brother, Field, exact my most heartfelt gratitude. I feel that I did nothing but my duty. He who simply does his duty merits no praise. If any one of your nation should visit mine, either from curiosity or on business, or should be Involuntarily thrust among us by the strong hand of the conqueror, he will meet with the same reception which your brother received. You have assured me that, if my nation, should visit yours, they will be welcome. My fears have ceased. I have now no longer any doubts. I will recommend our young men to, visit yours, and to make their acquaintance.
Fathers: What has passed this day is too profoundly engraved on my heart for time ever to efface it. I predict that the sun's rays of this day of peace will warm the children of our children, and will protect them against the tempests of misfortune. As a guaranty of what I say, I present you my right hand: this hand which has never been given with-out the, heart consented, which has never shed human blood in peace, nor spared an enemy in war; and I assure you of my friendship with a tongue which has never jested with truth since I have been of that age to know that falsehood is a crime.
Fathers, after the insinuations of the commandant of Detroit, I accepted your invitation with distrust, and measured my route with trembling feet toward this 'Council of Fire.' Your reception proves his falsehood, and that my fears were groundless. Truth and him have been a long time enemies. My father, and many of my chiefs, have lately tasted the bitterness of death. The memory of this misfortune almost destroys my quality of man, in filling my eyes with tears.
Your sensible compassion has relieved my heart of this heavy burden, and the remembrance will be transmitted to my remotest posterity. Fathers: I rejoice at what I have just now heard, and I assure you that I shall faithfully relate it to my nation. If, for, the future, you wish to speak with me, I shall return with pleasure; and I thank you for your present invitation. The particular friendship which you express toward me; and the gun which you have given me, for the care I took of your young brother, Field, exact my most heartfelt gratitude. I feel that I did nothing but my duty. He who simply does his duty merits no praise. If any one of your nation should visit mine, either from curiosity or on business, or should be Involuntarily thrust among us by the strong hand of the conqueror, he will meet with the same reception which your brother received. You have assured me that, if my nation, should visit yours, they will be welcome. My fears have ceased. I have now no longer any doubts. I will recommend our young men to, visit yours, and to make their acquaintance.
Fathers: What has passed this day is too profoundly engraved on my heart for time ever to efface it. I predict that the sun's rays of this day of peace will warm the children of our children, and will protect them against the tempests of misfortune. As a guaranty of what I say, I present you my right hand: this hand which has never been given with-out the, heart consented, which has never shed human blood in peace, nor spared an enemy in war; and I assure you of my friendship with a tongue which has never jested with truth since I have been of that age to know that falsehood is a crime.
Years
Location