On this day 250 years ago in Cambridge, Massachusetts, General George Washington met with Chief “Jean Baptist or Ogaghsagighte”” and “Sundry Sachems & Warriors” of the Caughnawaga Nation. Washington’s aide Lt. Col. Robert Hanson Harrison recorded these words of Chief Ogaghsagighte:

We were sent by the Five tribes of Canada Indians, consisting of the Coghnawaga &c. to see General Schuyler at Albany & then to come to you, to Inquire into the cause of the Quarrel between the people of England & Our Brothers in this Country.

This is a treaty of peace entered into between General Schuyler &c. & our people and we shall be very glad If you will put your name to It, and certify that you like It & the promises mentioned In It—This being done.

We are very glad that a firm peace is now made between us & our Brothers—we now look upon ourselves to be free & like our brothers of New England—The rest of our people stayed at Home to take care of our Castle & public concerns & sent us to do this Work, which they will abide by and hold as strong, as If they had been All here.

I am now in my own Country where I was born (being a New Englander & taken prisoner in his Infancy) and want liberty to raise men to fight for Its defence—We wish that you would give us a Letter to General Schuyler & Inform him that If he wants men, to call upon us & we will join him.

A representative of the St. Johns Indians and two members of the Passamaquoddy Indians also spoke:

We are very glad to see you & that we have met our Coghnawaga Friends here.

The English people are mad & very cross & want us to fight against the New England people.

God is on the side of our Brothers and they will beat them.

There is a providence in our meeting our Cognawaga Friends at this Time, who have come so far from Canada.

We want to go Home quick to tell our Friends what we have seen & done here, & next Spring many of our Nation will come & help the New England People.

We are in much want of Powder to Hunt with—the Old English people will not let us have any, Unless we will fight against our Brothers & Countrymen.

Source: “Speeches of the Caughnawaga, St. Johns, and Passamaquoddy Indians, 31 January 1776,” Founders Online, National Archives, https://founders.archives.gov/documents/Washington/03-03-02-0161. [Original source: The Papers of George Washington, Revolutionary War Series, vol. 3, 1 January 1776 – 31 March 1776, ed. Philander D. Chase. Charlottesville: University Press of Virginia, 1988, pp. 223–224.]