James Kenny was recruited to manage the trading store established by Pennsylvania’s Commissioners of Indian Affairs at Pittsburgh, near Fort Pitt, beginning in the spring of 1761. Pittsburgh adjoined the territory of the Ohio Indians, a loosely affiliated network of communities that included Delawares, Shawnees, western Iroquois, Mahicans, and Wyandots. The Ohio Indians had a long, ambivalent relationship with the British. In the 1740s and 1750s, they had a thriving trade connection with Pennsylvania. But when New France planted Fort Duquesne in their midst on the eve of the Seven Years’ War, they were pressed to join the French as allies. For several years they conducted devastating raids against the Pennsylvania and Virginia frontiers. Then, in 1758, they agreed to peace with Pennsylvania and abandoned the French alliance. Fort Duquesne was indefensible without the support of its Indian allies, and the French razed the fort and abandoned their position. British troops built a new fort — Fort Pitt — on its site, and Pittsburgh soon sprang up alongside it.
Kenny kept a detailed journal that offers a fascinating glimpse of life in western Pennsylvania immediately after the Seven Years’ War. Among the many details of local life Kenny recorded, he frequently described the Native Americans who came to trade with him and recorded their complaints and grievances.
14 July 1761: An Indian call’d John Armstrong who talks some English being about here I had a deal of discourse with him; he seems to harbor jelousies of ye English, having revenge or some advantage in view against ye Indians, on Acount they keep making fortifications, now after they have beat ye French, & he knew not ye reason why ye White People wanted back ye Prisoners, seeing they were satisfied to live with the Indians. So ye first I let him know that in Case ye English did not keep Garisons out here they expect’d ye French would come again & set ye Indians on to kill ye White People & that ye Traders would not venture out with Goods to suply ye Indians otherwise, & as for ye Prisoners, that their fathers & Mothers & friends longed to see them & was not satisfied without seeing them….
1 Aug. 1761: George Croughan is gone toward Detroit with White Wampum to endeavour to settle ye Nations there as there has been a Plot discover’d amongst ye Indians, in which they had propos’d to attack, that place & this & Niagara all in one Night, by storming ye Places or geting in Sliely & then destroying ye People with Tomhocks. As it is said they are not settled yet, they keep Rob[b]ing People between Venango & Presque Isle….
15 Oct. 1762: I have I think made mention before of ye Imposter which is raised amongst ye Delawares [the prophet Neolin], in order to shew them ye right way to Heaven. This plan is Portrayed on a Dress’d Leather Skin & some on paper, fixes ye Earth at ye Bottom & heaven at ye top, having a straight Line from One to ye Other, by which their forefathers use’d to assend to Hapiness. Abo[u]t ye middle is like a Long Square cut[t]ing thire way to Hapiness, at right Angles, & stop[p]ing them representing ye White people, ye outside is a Long Squair like black Stroke Circomscribing ye Whole within it, & joyning on ye left Hand Issuing from ye White Peoples place is cut many Strokes parralel to thire Squair or Situation, all these Strokes represents all ye Sins & Vices which ye Indians have learned from ye White people, through which now they must go, ye Good Road being Stopt. Hell being not far off, there they are Led irrevocibly. Ye Doctrine issued on this & ye way to help it, is said to be, to learn to live without any Trade or Connections with ye White people, Clothing & Supporting themselves as their forefathers did; its also s[ai]d that ye Imposter Prognosticates that there will be Two or Three Good Talks & then War; this Gains amongst them so much, that mostly they have quit Hunting any more then for to suply Nature in that way.
Source: John W. Jordan, ed., “Journal of James Kenny, 1761–1763,” Pennsylvania Magazine of History and Biography 37 (1913): 1–47, 152–201.
Evaluating the Evidence