On this day in 1710, Pieter Schuyler and four Native American leaders were presented to the Lords of the Board of Trade. The four Native American leaders visited London in 1710 as part of a diplomatic visit organized by Pieter Schuyler, mayor of Albany, New York. They were received in London as diplomats, being transported through the streets of the city in Royal carriages, and received by Queen Anne at the Court of St. James Palace. They also visited the Tower of London and St. Paul’s Cathedral. Historian W. Max Reid describes that “no man in the whole province who had more extended views of the importance of driving the French out of Canada than Colonel Peter Schuyler. To preserve the friendship of the Five Nations without which it would be impossible to prevent the frontier from becoming a field of blood, he studied all the arts of insinuating himself into their favor, he gave them all possible encouragement and assistance and very much impaired his own fortune by his liberality to their chiefs. They never came to Albany but what they resorted to his house and even dined at his table and by this means he obtained all ascendency over them which was attended with good consequences to the province. Impressed with a strong sense of the necessity. Of some vigorous measures against the French, he resolved to make a voyage to England at his private expense the better to make known to the ministry the absolute necessity of reducing Canada to the crown of Great Britain. For that purpose he proposed to take with him to Queen Anne’s court five Indian chiefs representing the Five Natoins Therefore in due time the journey was made and the embassy consisting of Peter Schuyler Colonel Necholson the Mohawk chiefs Hendrick and Brandt and three other sachems together with Abraham Schuyler as interpreter arrived in London after a voyage of considerable discomfort to the Indians It is recorded that three Sachems and their interpreter Abraham Schuyler were presented to the April 25 1710 The arrival of the Five Sachems in England made great bruit throughout the kingdom the mob followed wherever they went and small cuts of them were sold to the people. Schuyler was among Saratoga patentees in 1685. Saratoga has been defined by the people who by choice or by chance make up this community. The Schuyler family help defined this community. The village of Schuylerville in the Town of Saratoga is named after the Schuyler family. It is the determination of our forefathers, including Governor Schuyler in surmounting overwhelming odds that help define the American spirit – the will and ability to shape a better future. It is the people it is that define this community by choice or by chance have changed this country and even the world political development. That is why studying the people of Saratoga is helpful in the understanding of the condition of being human.
Historian at Saratoga - Town of Saratoga 