years.

CORNSTALK.

The reader of these pages is already familiar with the name of
Cornstalk, "the mighty Cornstalk, sachem of the Shawanoes, and king of
the Northern Confederacy." His conduct in the memorable battle of Point
Pleasant establishes his fame as an able and gallant warrior. He
carried into that action the skill of an accomplished general, and the
heroism of a dauntless brave. Neither a thirst for blood, nor the love
of renown, ever prompted him to arms. He was the open advocate for
honorable peace--the avowed and devoted friend of the whites. But he
loved his own people and the hunting grounds in which they roamed; and,
when his country's wrongs demanded redress, he became the "thunderbolt
of war," and avenged the aggressions upon his tribe with energy and
power. He fought, however, that peace might reign; and, after the
battle in which he so highly distinguished himself, was the first among
his associated chiefs to propose a cessation of hostilities. While he
mourned over the inevitable doom of the Indians, he had the sagacity to
perceive that all efforts to avert it, were not only useless, but, in
the end, reacted upon them with withering influence.

He has been justly called a great and a good man. He was the zealous
friend of the Moravian missions; and warmly encouraged every effort to
ameliorate the moral and physical condition of his people. "His noble
bearing," says Mr. Withers, "his generous and disinterested attachment
to the colonies, when the thunder of British cannon was reverberating
through the land, his anxiety to preserve the frontier of Virginia from
desolation and death, (the object of his visit to Point Pleasant,) all
conspired to win for him the esteem and respect of others; while the
untimely and perfidious manner of his death, caused a deep and lasting
regret to pervade the bosoms even of those who were enemies to his
nation; and excited the just indignation of all towards his inhuman and
barbarous murderers." The strong native powers of his mind had been
more enriched by observation, travel and intercourse with the whites,
than is usual among the Indian chiefs. He was familiarly acquainted
with the topography and geography of the north-west, even beyond the
Mississippi river, and possessed an accurate knowledge of the various
treaties between the whites and the Indian tribes of this region, and
the relative rights of each party.

At the treaty with Dunmore, he made a speech ali