INT.  SCHUYLER’S OFFICE – DAY

Two men, LAFAYETTE and SCHUYLER, are in SCHUYLER’S office.  The room has MAPS STREWN about and files of correspondence.

LAFAYETTE is at the window, staring out into the falling snow. 

LAFAYETTE

              (angrily)

General Gates has sent my on a fool’s errand!  The winter in this country is so unlike our winters in France, everything is buried in snow!  A horse cannot move in this weather, nor can it be fed!  How  could anyone have thought an invasion of Canada could be done in this frozen desert!

As LAFAYETTE speaks, ABRAHAM NIMHAM the room and HANDS SCHUYLER some papers.  SCHUYLER PICKS OUT the most important-appearing one, OPENS and READS its contents to himself.

8.

SCHUYLER

              (with enthusiasm)

My dear Marquis, General Gates and his Board of War may have sent you on a fool's errand, but some good

may yet be done while you are here.  Dispatches from General Washington have just arrived, along with a special courier, Captain Nimham of our Stockbridge Indians.

LAFAYETTE

Truly?  Please, what does his Excellency say?

SCHUYLER

              (reading)

Gentlemen: You will perceive, by the inclosed Copy of a Resolve of Congress, that I am impowered to employ a body of four hundred Indians, if they can be procured upon proper terms. If the Indians can be procured, I would choose to have them here by the opening of the Campaign, and therefore they should be engaged as soon as possible as there is not more time between this and the Middle of May than will be necessary to settle the business with them and to March from their Country to the Army.  I have the honour etc., etc.

     LAFAYETTE

     (happily)

General, my time in Albany may yet be well spent!

EXT.  JOHNSON HALL – DAY

JOHNSON HALL is a large, imposing mansion with broad fields surrounding the property.  GATHERED here are several hundred INDIAN MEN, WOMEN AND CHILDREN wearing an assortment of clothing.  Some of the men are WARRIORS, some are SACHEMS DRESSED IN THEIR FINERY.  All are in a good mood to meet with SCHUYLER

9.

and LAFAYETTE.

In front of the main door, two groups of men are SEATED benches.  On one side are the INDIAN LEADERS; on the other side are CONTINENTAL OFFICERS and POLITICAL LEADERS. SEATED in between the two groups is SAMUEL KIRKLAND, missionary to the Indians.

SCHUYLER STANDS and WALKS to the middle of the two groups.  He FACES the Indian leaders.

SCHUYLER

Brothers,

We come here today to brighten the covenant between the Six Nations and the United States.  We stand united in the face of our enemy's tyranny and resolute in our determination to stand together in all things.

Brothers,

Hear me, the great French father across the waters has seen the righteousness of our cause and has sent his young men, armed with the weapons of war to us so that we may defeat our common enemy.

Brothers,

Today, a great soldier of the French father is here to speak to you and to show you that what I say is true.  He is young, but his heart is pure and his military prowess great.  The Marquis de Lafayette wishes to speak to his Iroquois brothers.

SCHULYER MOVES TOWARDS LAFAYETTE.  LAFAYETTE STANDS and APPROACHES the Indian leaders.

LAFAYETTE

Brothers,

I am a soldier in the service of the father of the Canadas.  He sends me here to tell you that he remembers his Iroquois children and that he has not forgotten you.  He brings you gifts for your young and old and for your

10.

warriors.

Brothers,

Your French father has looked at the argument between the British and their American cousins, and has been sad to see this family fight spill into your country.  The French and the Iroquois have been drawn into this fight by the British, and now we must decide who is right and who is wrong.

Brothers,

The British make many promises, but never kept one of them!  The French father has always loved his Iroquois children, and has never broken any promises made to them.  The British promise that you may live at peace in your longhouses, but then they bring armies and death to your valleys.  The British promise you that they will whip their American children, but the child is now grown, and has beaten back the hand raised against it. 

As LAFAYETTE SPEAKS, KIRKLAND LOOKS to the ONEIDA CHIEF, OJISTALALE, with a silent communication to support the AMERICANS.

                   LAFAYETTE con’t

Brothers,

Now is the time for the Iroquois Confederacy to stand up!  By these belts, the French father asks you to join him in this fight.  Let us stand together once again against the redcoat and let us clear the path between your hearths and mine.  This I say in the name of my father in France.

LAFAYETTE TAKES HIS SEAT.  OJISTALALE STANDS and APPROACHES the AMERICANS.  He is CARRYING BELTS of WAMPUM.

OJISTALALE

Brother,

11.

Tears fill our eyes at our joy in seeing you.  Our hearts beat with gladness to hear from our French father.  We remember his kindness and his words, and today we acknowledge your presence as if he was hear himself.

Brother,

We want to stand with you in this fight.  Our young men have bled at Oriskany and at Saratoga; we are not afraid to bleed.  But Brother, we have our women and children to think of.  We must make our homes safe from our enemy's vengeance.

Brothers,

You are strong and have men who know how to make forts and have soldiers to protect them.  We do not have the skills to make forts, and our warriors know only the way of the woods.

Brothers,

We will do all that we can to honor our friendship.  If you send your men to us and build us a fort to protect our women and children while we are away at war, we will join you as in times past. 

LAFAYETTE STANDS and MEETS OJISTALALE.

LAFAYETTE

Brother,

My ears are open to what you say.  I also am concerned for your families while your young men are away.  We will build you a fort to protect your village and do all that we can to keep the path clear of your enemies. 

LAFAYETTE PULLS from a case a MEDALION.

          LAFAYETTE con’t

My French father wishes me to give you

12.

this medallion as a symbol of our friendship.

OJISTALALE

Brothers,

Attend.  I, Ojistalale, Chief of the Oneida do hereby take this young man, and give him the name Kayewla, and adopt him into our

nation. 

OJISTALALE EXTENDS the BELTS OF WAMPUM to LAFAYETTE.

          OJISTALALE con’t

By these strings, the Oneidas and the Tuscaroras will stand with you at every hazard.  We honor our French father by holding fast the Covenant Chain with the United States.    With our American Brothers, we will enjoy the same fruits of victory and peace, or be buried in the same grave!

The INDIANS in attendance cry out with whoops, and the AMERICANS look at KIRKLAND and among one another with smug satisfaction.

INT.  INDIAN WIGWAM – NIGHT

With noise of an Indian party coming from outside, three men, ABRAHAM NIMHAM, LOUIS AND HONYERE, are sitting around a small fire.  ABRAHAM NIMHAM TAKES a stick and STIRS the fire.

ABRAHAM NIMHAM

So cousins, you will come to Philadelphia in the spring?

HONYERE

     (with dry humor)

Yes, we have decided our Mohican friends need someone to show them how to fight like warriors again… you have become like the white soldiers.

LOUIS

              (humorously)

Be careful Honyere, Abraham is a

13.

captain with the Continentals! You are just a captain of some braves.  He outranks you!

ABRAHAM NIMHAM

              (exaggerated seriousness)

Yes!  Be careful Honyere, or I will insist you call me captain and have you tip your hat to me!

HONYERE

If I only wore a hat!

 THEY LAUGH.

ABRAHAM NIMHAM

              (contemplatively)

I am not entirely happy that you Oneida and your Tuscarora brothers will join General Washington's army.

LOUIS

Why do you say that?  We all fought with Gates at Saratoga, and see how well that turned out?

ABRAHAM NIMHAM

I am afraid that while your men are so far away, your enemies will strike your homes. 

LOUIS and HONYERE LOOK at each other with KNOWING eyes.

          ABRAHAM NIMHAM  con’t

Do not trust to the whites to build you a fort and protect your villages.  They are like the man who is a guest at your fire.  He eats your food, tells you how wonderful everything is and then just before he leaves, he passes wind so that he won't be around to smell it.