Land for goods: the Crawford Purchases
By Dr. David Shanahan
At the end of the American War of Independence, large numbers of white settlers who had remained loyal to Britain, as well as around 200 Mohawks under the leadership of Chief John Desoronto, and almost 2,000 Six Nations peoples under Joseph Brant, were forced from their traditional lands. Initially, Governor Frederick Haldimand promised that all First Nations people who had lost territory would be granted new lands in the Indian Territory set out in the Royal Proclamation of 1763. The white settlers who decided to remain in British North America were expected to settle in the Maritime colonies, or in Quebec.
However, when he sent officers to meet with the Mississauga north of Lake Ontario, in order to arrange for lands for the Desoronto and Brant groups, he found that the Loyalists would be welcomed by the Mississauga if they chose to settle there too. Captain William Redford Crawford was assigned the duty of meeting with the Mississauga to negotiate the transfer of lands for this purpose, and, in October, 1783, Crawford met with many of the Mississauga Chiefs at Carleton Island in the St. Lawrence River, where Haldimand has built a fort during the late War. There were also some Onondaga Chiefs at the meeting, along with one named Mynass who lived at Lake of Two Mountains, but claimed title to land north of the St. Lawrence River.
The land transferred to the Crown as a result of the treaties made at Carleton Island was extensive, but as no written treaties, and no detailed description of the lands have survived, the only information we have about the treaties comes from letters to Haldimand giving a brief account of what transpired at the meeting. On October 9, 1784, Crawford reported to Haldimand that he had “purchased from the Mississaugas all the lands from Toniata or Onagara River to the River in the Bay of Quinté within eight leagues of the bottom of the said Bay, including all the Islands, extending from the Lake back as far as a man can travel in a day”. Not a very detailed description.
In return for these lands, the Mississauga clothing for all their families, guns for those who did not have any, some powder and ball for winter hunting, 12 laced hats, and red cloth sufficient for 12 coats. This was one of the very first treaties to be negotiated in what is now Ontario, but we have no treaty document, and no report on the actual talks between Crawford and the Mississauga was made, aside from Crawford’s letter to Haldimand. As a young military officer, William Crawford was given enormous freedom to negotiate with the Mississauga and Onondaga. They, in turn, had agreed to share a huge tract of land with the refugee Loyalists, a generous offer which proved that no good deed goes unpunished! No reserves were included in the agreements, and the Mississauga were later to find themselves pushed out of their traditional territory, as the Loyalists and later settlers took over the land.
Chief Mynass had been, according to Crawford, very helpful in the negotiations with the Mississauga, and he announced his intention of giving up his lands under treaty also. He claimed the lands running from the Gananoque River east as far as Toniato or Onagara River, near modern day Brockville, which, he said, had been granted to him by the French before the Conquest in 1760. Mynass claimed that his lands ran back from the St. Lawrence to the Ottawa River, and all of that he ceded to the Crown. His claims were accepted by Crawford. Most of the lands he “surrendered” were traditional territory of the Algonquins, who are to this day, still trying to correct Crawford’s mistake.
No money changed hands at these treaties. The Mississauga were agreeing to share their lands, and in return, received clothes for their families, some guns and ammunition, 12 lace hats and enough red cloth to make 12 coats. In return for the lands ceded by Mynass, the Crown agreed to clothe his family for his lifetime, though he died shortly afterwards. Nevertheless, the family continued to receive the promised clothing. Although no written records survive, Crawford did report to Haldimand that wampum belts were given to both Mynass and the Mississaugas.
The irony in every treaty entered into by the Indigenous people in Canada was that, although they signed as sovereign nations, they immediately afterwards came under the jurisdiction of European laws, and theses were used over and over again to deny them their territory, their traditional ways, and even the benefits promised in the treaties themselves. Crawford was just one of the first of many to begin that process.