A DESERT CALLED PEACE

They make solitude, which they call peace - Tacitus

We moved, on the next day, to Chinesee, crossing in our path a deep creek and the Little Seneca river, and after marching six miles we reached the castle, which consisted of 128 houses, mostly very large and elegant. The town was beautifully situated, almost encircled with a clear flat which extends for a number of miles, where the most extensive fields of corn were, and every kind of vegetable that can be conceived. The whole army was immediately engaged in destroying the crops. The corn was collected and burned in houses and kilns, that the enemy might not reap the least advantage from it, which method we have pursued in every other place… Every creek and river has been traced, and the whole country explored in search of Indian settlements; and I am well persuaded, that, except one… there is not a single town left in the country of the five nations.

General John Sullivan Report to Congress Tioga, New York, September 30, 1779