The remains of
the fort burned by the French are still plainly visible on a hill a
mile and a quarter from the ancient town. A plan of it will be found
in Squier's _Aboriginal Monuments of New York_. The site of the three
other Seneca towns destroyed by Denonville, and called Totiakton,
Gannondata, and Gannongarae, can also be identified. See Marshall, in
_Collections N. Y. Hist. Soc., 2d Series_, II. Indian traditions of
historical events are usually almost worthless; but the old Seneca
chief Dyunehogawah, or "John Blacksmith," who was living a few years
ago at the Tonawanda reservation, recounted to Mr. Marshall with
remarkable accuracy the story of the battle as handed down from his
ancestors who lived at Gannagaro, close to the scene of action.
Gannagaro was the Canagorah of Wentworth Greenalgh's Journal. The old
Seneca, on being shown a map of the locality, placed his finger on the
spot where the fight took place, and which Avas long known to the
Senecas by the name of Dyagodiyu, or "The Place of a Battle." It
answers in the most perfect manner to the French contemporary
descriptions.
[1] The authorities for the above are Denonville, Champigny, Abbe
Belmont, Bishop Saint-Vallier, and the author of _Recueil de ce qui
s'est passe en Canada au Sujet de la Guerre, etc.
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