Daily stories of Pennsylvania (part 3 of 6)

Daily stories of Pennsylvania (part 3 of 6)

Pittsburgh became a city by an Act of Assembly at the sessions of 1815–1816, the date of the change in city government being March 18, 1816. At the first election for municipal officers under the City Charter, Major Ebenezer Denny was chosen Mayor.

The first great consolidation was effected March 29, 1872, when the South side was united with Pittsburgh. This brought into the city the boroughs of Birmingham, East Birmingham, Ormsby, Allentown, St. Clair, South Pittsburgh, Monongahela, Mount Washington, Union, West Pittsburgh and Temperanceville.

The population of Pittsburgh according to the census of 1920 was 588,343.

----------

Margaret Junkin Preston, Poetess-Laureate,| Died March 19, 1897

It is a matter of just pride that the most brilliant and beloved poetess of yesteryear was none other than a Pennsylvania girl, Margaret Junkin Preston, who through her writings, both in prose and poetry, attained Nation-wide distinction and won the title “Poetess-Laureate of the South.”

Margaret Junkin was born in Milton, Northumberland County, Pennsylvania, May 19, 1820, the eldest child of Rev. George and Julia Rush Miller Junkin.

Her parents were of that stalwart, heroic race, the Covenanters of Scotland.

Dr. Junkin’s life was devoted to religion and education, and at the time of his marriage he was the minister of the Presbyterian Church at Milton.

When Margaret was ten years old her parents moved to Germantown, where her father assumed charge of the Manual Labor Academy of Pennsylvania. After a delightful residence of two years Dr. Junkin was called to the first presidency of Lafayette College, and the family moved to the “Forks of the Delaware.”

It was during the incumbency of Dr. Junkin that the college, which for two years was conducted on a farm south of the Lehigh, was moved to the present site, on what has since been known as College Hill Easton, and Old South College built. President and Mrs. Junkin and their seven children moved into the original building, where they continued to reside until March 30, 1841, when the doctor accepted the presidency of Miami College, Oxford, O.

It was during her residence at Easton that Margaret and her sister, Eleanor, became members of the First Presbyterian Church and that her first productions in verse appeared in the columns of a local newspaper; they were “Childhood,” “The Forest Grave” and “Where Dwelleth the Scent of the Rose.” After her removal to Oxford, O., she wrote “Lines Written on Reading Letters Bringing Sad News From Easton.”

In 1844 Dr. Junkin returned to Easton to again assume the presidency of Lafayette College, in which position he capably served until 1848, when he accepted the presidency of Washington College, now Washington and Lee University, at Lexington, Va.

Upon Margaret Junkin’s return to Easton, she wrote “Love’s Tribute to the Departed,” occasioned by the death of an intimate friend, and “The Fate of a Raindrop.” These were followed after removing to Lexington, by “Thoughts Suggested by Powers’ Proserpine,” “The Old Dominion,” “The Solaced Grief,” “Galileo Before the Inquisition,” and “The Polish Boy.”

The life of Margaret Junkin at Lexington differed from that which she experienced as a young girl at Germantown, Easton and Oxford. She had reached the age of twenty-eight, and the old town in the Shenandoah Valley, with its educational institutions, social atmosphere and local culture brought many interesting persons as visitors, not to speak of the quaint life among the slaves. This all appealed to her. She entered into the spirit of this environment to the fullest extent. Her lovely character, unusual attainments, literary and social, were fully recognized at home and abroad.

The death, in 1849, of her brother, Joseph, followed by that of her mother, in 1854, and only a few months later by that of her favorite sister, Eleanor, brought profound grief to the Junkin household.

The sister, Eleanor, survived only a year her marriage to Major Thomas J. Jackson, a graduate of West Point, and then a professor in the Virginia Military Institute, who later achieved fame in the Civil War and gained the sobriquet of “Stonewall Jackson,” second only to his commander-in-chief, Robert E. Lee. After the death of Mrs. Jackson, her husband continued to be a member of Dr. Junkin’s household for four years.

Margaret Junkin married, August 3, 1857, Major T. L. Preston, professor of Latin in the Virginia Military Institute, a widower with seven children. To this family she proved to be an affectionate and devoted mother.

Two sons were born to Major and Margaret Junkin Preston—George Junkin Preston, for many years a successful specialist in nervous diseases at Baltimore, now deceased, and Herbert Preston, now General Solicitor for the Baltimore and Ohio Railroad Company.

The war clouds were lowering for a bitter conflict between the North and South, and the Junkin family became divided. The father, Rev. George Junkin, a pronounced abolitionist and opposed to secession, resigned the presidency of Washington College, and, with his widowed daughter departed for Philadelphia.

The story told of this trip, which was made overland, is that when the Mason and Dixon line was reached the team pulling the heavy load of household effects, and the one attached to the carriage in which the doctor and his daughter were riding, were halted, the goods unloaded, the horses, harness, wagon, carriage and themselves all carefully washed, then again loaded and driven over the boundary line into Pennsylvania. As the doctor afterwards related, no Southern soil should be brought into Pennsylvania, he wanted to leave it all where it belonged.

His son, William, espoused the Southern cause and became a captain, but his son, John M., served as a surgeon in the Federal Army.

Following the close of the Civil War, Mrs. Preston devoted much time to reviewing books for various publishers, and in compiling and arranging for publication her own compositions in prose and verse, the latter resulting in the publication, in 1866, of her “Bechenbrook,” a book of poems voicing the sorrow and patriotism of the Southern people, and of “Old Songs and New” in 1870.

These were followed by “Cartoons,” “Handful of Monographs,” “For Love’s Sake,” “Colonial Ballads and Sonnets,” “Chimes for Church Children” and “Aunt Dorothy.” In addition she contributed to Century Magazine in the early eighties some reminiscences of General Robert E. Lee, and personal reminiscences of General “Stonewall” Jackson.

Colonel Preston resigned his professorship in 1882, when he and his talented wife traveled and visited among their children. The husband died July 15, 1890, and Mrs. Preston continued to live at Lexington for two years, but late in December, 1892, she removed to Baltimore and made her home with her eldest son, Dr. George Junkin Preston.

Margaret Junkin Preston died March 19, 1897.

There was much written about this poetess at the time, and possibly the best known was “An Appreciation of Margaret J. Preston, a Sketch of her Fifty Years of Literary Life,” by Prof. James A. Harrison, of the University of Virginia.

Mrs. Elizabeth Randolph Preston Allan compiled and published a volume entitled “The Life and Letters of Margaret Junkin Preston,” and an excellent sketch of her interesting life has also been written by Ethan Allen Weaver, of Germantown, from which much of this story of the “Poetess-Laureate of the South” has been taken.

----------

Military Laws of Province Repealed by Import Act, March 20, 1780

On March 20, 1780, a law was passed to effect a reorganization of the whole militia system in Pennsylvania. It provided for the appointment of a lieutenant for each county, and two sub-lieutenants or more, not exceeding the number of battalions, which were to be divided into classes as heretofore. Fines, however for non-attendance on muster days were fixed for commissioned officers at the price of three days’ labor.

When called out, the pay of privates was to be equal to one day’s labor. Persons called out, but neglecting or refusing to go, were liable to pay in each case the price of a day’s labor during the term of service, beside a tax of fifteen shillings on the hundred pounds upon their estates. As a relief to this class, the hiring of substitutes was allowed. Pensions were promised the wounded in battle, and support to the families of those militiamen who were killed, at rates to be fixed by the courts. Considerable opposition was made to this law, from the fact that by permitting the hiring of substitutes it would relieve the disaffected and Tories.

While this bill, undoubtedly, had many defects, it was the first real effort toward the establishment of a military system in the Commonwealth upon a practical basis.

Militia companies were provided in each county, the State being divided into districts, and all males were required to enroll, who were between eighteen and fifty-three years of age.

This act was modified in 1783, when a more specific code of discipline was adopted. This act remained in force until 1793.

The militia act of March 20, 1780, was the outgrowth or development of the militia system of Pennsylvania which may be considered to have begun in the year 1747. Altho in the charter given to William Penn, the Governor was given authority to levy, muster and train men, to make war upon and pursue the enemy, even beyond the limits of the province.

As early as 1702, Lieutenant Governor Hamilton asked the Assembly to enact a bill to provide for “what may come against us by land or by sea.”

Several years later Lieutenant Governor Evans urged a similar law, but the idea was unpopular. Several other similar bills were subsequently defeated, yet the Assembly occasionally appropriated funds for “the King’s use,” for the purchase of bread, beef, pork, flour, wheat and “other grain.” Franklin later commented that “other grain” meant black grains of gunpowder.

It was through the effort and influence of Franklin, in 1747, that a volunteer military association was effected, consisting of about 1200 of the most influential men in the province. This soon grew to 10,000 and the following year the “Associated Companies,” by which name the organization became known, had enrolled 12,000 horse, foot and artillery, each armed and equipped at personal expense, and the officers chosen from the members. Franklin was one of the original colonels.

This association rendered conspicuous service in the French and Indian wars and preserved its organization. Many of the companies volunteered for service in the Revolution and formed the backbone of the State’s militia.

In 1756 there were in Philadelphia three of these companies, with a total of seventeen officers and 260 private men, one troop of horse with five officers and forty men and one battery of artillery with three officers and 150 men. In Bucks County there were nine companies with thirty-nine officers and 513 men; in Chester County there were several companies, under command of Captain John Singleton, Samuel West, Robert Boyd and Jacob Richardson. In York County there were eight companies with an enrollment of 642 men and in Lancaster County there were nine companies and 545 men.

It was not until Braddock’s defeat that the Assembly voted a substantial sum for the “King’s use,” but made no provision for an organized military force. November 25, 1755, the Assembly passed “an Act for the better ordering and regulating such as are willing and desirous to be united for military purposes within the province.”

This was the first act of Assembly which in any way provided for the organized defense of the province, and this was to remain in force only until October 30, 1756.

By March 29, 1757, the Quakers had become a minority in the Assembly and an act was passed which was more satisfactory. It also provided for the compulsory enrollment of all male persons between the ages of seventeen and fifty-five years. It also stated the financial responsibility required of those who would serve as officers.

One section of this act provided “that all Quakers, Menonists, Moravians and others conscientiously scrupulous of bearing arms, who shall appear on any alarm with the militia, though without arms, and obey the commands of the officers in extinguishing fires, suppressing insurrection of slaves or other evil-minded persons during an attack, in caring for the wounded, conveying intelligence as expresses or messengers, carrying refreshments to such as are on duty, and in conveying to places of safety women and children, aged and infirm, and wounded persons are free and exempt from penalties of this act.” This act remained in force until the close of the French and Indian War in 1763.

There was no special control of military affairs again until June 30, 1775, when the Assembly passed an act for “the defense of their lives, liberty and property.”

At this same session there was established a Committee of Safety, of twenty-five members, which constituted the Board of War, whose powers enabled them to call into service so many of the associators as they deemed necessary or the occasion required.

The Committee of Safety was organized July 3, 1775, with Benjamin Franklin as president.

This committee exercised supreme control of the land and naval forces of the province until October 13, 1777, when its powers were transferred to the body known as the Council of Safety, this comprising the Supreme Executive Council and nine others. The Council of Safety was dissolved December 6, 1777, when the military authority was assumed by the Supreme Executive Council and the Assembly.

The aggregate number of men furnished by the Associators during the Revolution was in excess of 35,000.

Pennsylvania furnished in all arms of the service, under the various calls, a total of 120,514 men, which number does not include many bodies of militia and many men who were under arms for a brief period, a record of which service was not kept during the early years of the war.

Laws were passed during the war relating to the military forces, but these were all repealed by the formal act of March 20, 1780.

----------

Old Northumberland, Mother of Counties,

Erected March 21, 1772

The political development of Pennsylvania followed closely in the wake of its expanding settlements. In 1682 the Counties of Philadelphia, Bucks and Chester were formed, with limits intended to include not only the populated area, but territory enough in addition to meet for a considerable time to come the growing necessities of the rapidly increasing immigration.

It was not until 1729, therefore, that the extension of the settlements and the purchase of new lands from the Indians led to the erection of Lancaster County. At that time the Susquehanna River marked the western limit of the land purchased from the Indians in the province. But the purchase of October 11, 1736, opened a triangular area west of the river, which was attached to Lancaster until the convenience of the increasing settlements in this region in 1749 demanded the erection of York County, and a year later for the erection of Cumberland County.

The northern extension of these counties was limited by the Indian boundary line, marked by the Kittatinny Range.

Again the extension of settlements and the treaty of August 22, 1749, demanded new county organizations, and in 1752 Berks and Northampton were formed to include in their jurisdiction the northern portions of the older counties and the newly acquired territory between the Delaware and Susquehanna Rivers. Berks embraced the larger area.

Additional territory west of the Susquehanna was acquired from the Indians by the treaties of 1754 and 1758, which made the outlying county of Cumberland too large for the convenience of its inhabitants, and in 1771 Bedford County was erected.

A similar development was rapidly taking place east of the Susquehanna, occasioned by the activity about Fort Augusta, at the Forks of the Susquehanna, and the Pennamite-Yankee War, which was being waged for possession of the territory in the Wyoming Valley and elsewhere, claimed by the Susquehanna Company of Connecticut, and the treaty of November 5, 1768, added much new territory.

By an act passed March 21, 1772, the County of Northumberland was erected out of parts of the counties of Lancaster, Cumberland, Berks, Bedford and Northampton. The bounds of the new county stretched to the New York-Pennsylvania boundary line on the north and to the Allegheny River on the west, including in its extensive territory the present-day counties of Susquehanna, Lackawanna, Luzerne, Wyoming, Bradford, Sullivan, Columbia, Montour, Northumberland, Snyder, Union, Lycoming, Tioga, Potter, Clinton, Cameron, Elk, McKean, Forest, Jefferson, Clarion and parts of Schuylkill, Center, Mifflin, Juniata, Clearfield, Indiana, Armstrong, Venango and Warren.

It is with eminent propriety this tenth county of Pennsylvania has been frequently styled “Old Mother Northumberland,” and each of her twenty-nine children refer back to her for their earliest political history.

Its greatest proportions were attained in 1785, when, by the Act of April 9, all that part of the purchase of October 22, 1784, east of the Conewango Creek and Allegheny River was placed within its limits. The county thus extended along the northern line of the State as far west as the Conewango Creek, which crosses the New York-Pennsylvania boundary line in Warren County, and from the Lehigh River to the Allegheny River, with a maximum width of nearly two-thirds that of the State. The extent of this region exceeds that of several States of the Union.

By the Act of September 24, 1788, Allegheny County was created, including all the territory in the State north and west of the Ohio and Allegheny Rivers, and from this territory, by act of March 12, 1800, the counties of Beaver, Butler, Mercer, Crawford, Erie, Warren, Venango and Armstrong were erected. Thus it would seem that the first five of these should be added with the offspring of Old Northumberland, for three years at least. If this be the case her children would number thirty-four of the sixty-seven counties of the State.

The first curtailment of this generous domain resulted from the erection of Luzerne County, September 25, 1786. West of the Susquehanna the first county to which Northumberland contributed was Mifflin, erected September 19, 1789, but the part taken from Northumberland with additional territory from Northumberland and other counties, was erected into Center, February 13, 1800. The formation of Lycoming County, April 13, 1795, deprived Northumberland of the large extent of territory it had acquired under the purchase of 1784, with a considerable part of its original area.

Northumberland was thus reduced to the position of an interior county. With this reduced territory the statesmen of Pennsylvania were not fully satisfied, and March 22, 1813, the townships of Chillisquaque and Turbot were detached to form part of the new Columbia County, but this was an unpopular move and the greater part of these townships were re-annexed to Northumberland, February 21, 1815.

On June 16, 1772, the surveyor general was directed to “lay out a town for the county of Northumberland, to be called by the name of Sunbury, at the most commodious place between the fort (Augusta) and the mouth of Shamokin Creek.”

Until the court house was built the courts were held at Fort Augusta, the first session being held April 9, 1772.

The first jail in the county was the dungeon beneath the magazine of Fort Augusta. This is the only part of the early county buildings now in existence, and this particular dungeon and the old well which supplied water for the garrison are now the property of the Commonwealth.

When the county was erected the Governor appointed William Plunket, Turbut Francis, Samuel Hunter, James Potter, William Maclay, Caleb Graydon, Benjamin Allison, Robert Moodie, John Lowdon, Thomas Lemon, Ellis Hughes and Benjamin Weiser to be justices. William Plunket was the president of the court and served as such four years.

William Maclay was the Prothonotary and Register and Recorder, and served until March 22, 1777; George Nagel, Sheriff of Berks County, served in a similar capacity in the new county; Edward Burd was the State’s attorney, and the Coroner was James Parr. The original County Commissioners were William Gray, Thomas Hewitt and John Weitzel. Alexander Hunter was Treasurer, and Walter Clark, Jonathan Lodge, Peter Hosterman, James Harrison, Nicholas Miller, Jacob Heverling and Samuel Weiser, Assessors; Thomas Lemon, Collector of Excise; Joshua Elder, James Potter, Jesse Lukens and William Scull were appointed to run the boundary line; Samuel Hunter was the first member of the Assembly.

----------

Peter Pence, Indian Fighter, Captured

March 22, 1780

One of the conspicuous characters along the Susquehanna Valleys during the period of the Revolutionary War, and afterwards, was a Pennsylvania Dutchman by the name of Peter Pence. It is generally believed that his proper name was Bentz, a name which occurs frequently in Lancaster County, from which place he went to Shamokin. The well-known aptitude of the Dutchman to incorrectly sound his letters is given as the reason that his name was pronounced and spelled Pence.

In accord with the resolution adopted by Congress, June 14, 1775, directing the formation of six companies of expert riflemen in Pennsylvania to be employed as light infantry, one of the companies was recruited in Northumberland County, June 25, 1775, under the command of Captain John Lowdon.

Captain Lowdon then resided on a farm called Silver Spring, adjoining the present town of Mifflinburg, Union County, where he died in February, 1798, aged sixty-eight years.

The company formed part of the battalion of riflemen commanded by Colonel William Thompson, of Carlisle. This company boarded boats on the Susquehanna River and were conveyed to Harris’ Ferry, then marched overland to Reading, where they arrived July 13, and received knapsacks, blankets and other equipment. This battalion was composed of nine companies, two from Cumberland County, two from Lancaster, and one each from York and Northumberland, Berks, Bedford and Northampton.

The battalion arrived at Cambridge August 7, and soon became the picketguard of the 2000 provincials there. It also became the First Regiment of the Continental Line, Colonel Thompson being promoted to brigadier general, March 1, 1776. He was succeeded by Colonel Edward Hand, of Lancaster, who also became a brigadier, September 17, 1778.

This battalion participated in the Battle of Trenton, was at the taking of Burgoyne, was with Sullivan in his expedition against the Six Nation Indians, was at Stony Point under General Wayne and finally served in the campaign of South Carolina during the latter days of the war.

The first record of Peter Pence is as a private soldier in Lowdon’s company, and the further fact that he served faithfully is sufficient introduction to the thrilling life he led in the frontiers of Pennsylvania.

On March 22, 1780, the Indians made an attack on some settlers in the vicinity of Fort Wheeler, on the banks of Fishing Creek, about three miles above the present town of Bloomsburg, Columbia County. The Indians killed and scalped Cornelius Van Campen and his brother, and a son was tomahawked, scalped and thrown into the fire. Lieutenant Moses Van Campen, another son, was taken captive, as was his cousin, a young lad, and Peter Pence. Soon after this, at another place, the Indians took a lad named Jonah Rogers and a man named Abram Pike.

With their captives the Indians made their way over the mountains, into what is now Bradford County. The savage warriors were ten in number.

One evening, while the prisoners were being bound for the night, an Indian accidentally dropped his knife close to Van Campen’s feet, and he covered the knife unobserved.

About midnight, when the warriors were all asleep, Van Campen got the knife and released Peter Pence, who in turn released the others. Cautiously and quickly the weapons were obtained and a plan of action determined. The prisoners had been placed in the midst of the warriors. Van Campen and Pike were to use the tomahawk on one group, while Peter Pence opened fire on the other with the rifles.

The work was well done, Van Campen and Pike dispatched four while Pence, with unerring aim speedily killed his group. A hand to hand fight between the remaining Indian, John, a Mohawk sachem, and Van Campen, resulted in the Indian making his escape.

The liberated captives scalped the Indians, picked up their plunder and hastily constructed a raft, and, after a series of adventures, reached Wyoming, April 4, 1780, where Pike and young Rogers left the party. Peter Pence and the Van Campens reached Fort Jenkins on the morning of April 6, where they found Colonel John Kelly, with 100 frontiersmen who had hurried there from the West Branch. The following day Pence and Van Campen reached Fort Augusta, where they were received in a regular frontier triumph.

The next exploit in which we find Pence engaged is in the year 1781, when one of the most atrocious murders was committed near Selinsgrove.

Three brothers by the name of Stock were at work in the field when a party of about thirty Indians appeared. They did not attack the boys, but passed on to the house, which they entered. On the way they found another son plowing, whom they killed. Mrs. Stock and a daughter-in-law were found in the house. The mother defended herself with a canoe pole, as she retreated toward the field where her husband was working. She was tomahawked, however, the house plundered and the young woman carried into the woods nearby and killed and scalped. When Stock returned and found his wife, son and daughter-in-law inhumanly butchered he gave an alarm.

Three experienced Indian fighters, Michael Grove, John Stroh and Peter Pence went in pursuit of the enemy. They found them encamped on the North Branch, on the side of a hill covered with fern. Grove crept close enough to discover that their rifles were stacked around a tree and that all but three were asleep.

One of the Indians was narrating in high glee how Mrs. Stock defended herself with the pole. Grove lay quiet until all the Indians fell asleep. He then returned to his companions, Stroh and Pence. They decided to attack, and crept up close to the camp, when they dashed among the sleeping savages. Grove plied his deadly tomahawk, while Stroh and Pence seized the rifles and fired among the sleepers. Several Indians were killed; the others, believing they were attacked by a large party fled to the woods.

A captive white boy was liberated and the three brave men brought home a number of scalps and the best rifles.

March 10, 1810, the Legislature passed an act granting an annuity to Peter Pence, in consideration of his services, of $40 per annum. He died in the Nippenose Valley, in 1812. He left several sons and daughters. Robert Hamilton, of Pine Creek Township, Clinton County, was the executor of his estate. He left a will which is recorded in Lycoming County.

----------

John Bartram, First Great American Botanist and Founder of Bartram Gardens, Born at Darby, March 23, 1699

It is not generally known, at least outside of Pennsylvania, that that State was the birth place of a man whom the celebrated Linnaeus pronounced the greatest natural botanist in the world. This man was John Bartram, a native of Delaware County.

August 30, 1685 John Bartram bought three hundred acres of land from Thomas Brassey, which land was situated along Darby Creek, in now Delaware County. Here John Bartram was born March 23, 1699.

His early attention was first directed to botanical studies by one of those accidents which seem to shape the destinies of all great men.

When a mere lad and helping his father with the work about the farm he plowed up a daisy. Despite everything the modest little flower kept intruding itself on his consideration, until after several days he hired a man to plow while he rode to Philadelphia to procure a treatise on botany and a Latin grammar.

Fortunately for himself and the world he inherited a farm from a bachelor uncle, which gave him the means to marry early, and purchase the land where he afterwards established the noted “Botanical Gardens.” His wife was Mary, daughter of Richard and Elizabeth Maris; they were married April 25, 1723. Mrs. Bartram died within a few years, and he then married Ann Mendenhall, February 11, 1729.

Bartram bought his piece of ground at Gray’s Ferry in 1728. On this estate he built with his own hands a stone house, and on one of the stones in the gable was cut “John * Ann Bartram, 1731.”

Here he pursued his studious habits, his reputation spreading abroad until correspondence was solicited by the leading botanists of the Old World,—Linnaeus, Dr. Fothergill, and others,—while in the colonies, all scientific men in the same line of study sought his favor, advice and opinions. Dr. Benjamin Franklin was his earnest friend, and constantly urged Bartram to authorship.

His fame had so extended that in 1765 King George III appointed him botanist to the King.

He transmitted both his talents and tastes to his son William, and their joint labors during a period of nearly one hundred years were the most valuable contributions that this country has made to the science in whose behalf they were devoted.

They were pious Quakers, admired and loved by their acquaintances.

James Logan was probably the first person who directed the mind of John Bartram seriously to botany as the pursuit of a lifetime.

Logan was a lover of plants and flowers and enjoyed a wonderful garden at “Stenton,” and Bartram was a welcome guest.

Logan, in 1729, sent to England for a copy of “Parkinson’s Herbal,” saying he wanted to present it to John Bartram, who was a person worthier of a heavier purse than fortune had yet allowed him, and had “a genius perfectly well turned for botany.”

A subscription was started in 1742 to enable Bartram to travel in search of botanical specimens. It was proposed to raise enough for him to continue his travels for three years, he being described as a person who “has had a propensity to Botanicks from his infancy,” and “an accurate observer, of great industry and temperance, and of unquestionable veracity.”

The result of these travels was the publication of two very delightful books by this earliest of American botanists.

The specimens he collected were sent to Europe, where they attracted Kahn and many other naturalists to this country.

In 1751 he published his work, “Observations on the Inhabitants, Climate, Soil, Divers Productions, Animals, etc., made in his Travels from Pennsylvania to Onondaga, Oswego, and the Lake Ontario.” In 1766 appeared “An Account of East Florida, by William Stork, with a Journal kept by John Bartram, of Philadelphia, upon a Journey from St. Augustine, Fla., up the River St. John’s.”

He also contributed numerous papers to the Philosophical Transactions from 1740 to 1763.

He was the first in this country to form a botanical garden.

On the outside of his house, over the front window of his study, was a stone with the inscription, carved by his own hand:

“’Tis God alone, Almighty God, The Holy One, by me Adored. John Bartram, 1770;”

and an inscription over the door of his greenhouse was:

“Slave to no sect, who takes no private road, But looks through nature up to Nature’s God.”

As the British soldiers were approaching Philadelphia from the Battle of Brandywine, John Bartram greatly feared they would destroy his “beloved garden,” the work of a lifetime. He became very much excited, and said, “I want to die!” and expired half an hour later, September 22, 1777. His remains lie buried in the Friends’ burying ground, Darby.

His son William went to Florida to study and collect botanical specimens, returning home in 1771. In 1773, at the instance of the distinguished Quaker physician, Dr. John Fothergill, of London, William spent five years in the study of the natural productions of the Southern States. The results of these investigations were published by Dr. Fothergill.

In 1782 he was elected Professor of Botany in the University of Pennsylvania, but declined the appointment on the score of ill health.

Besides his discoveries and publications on botany, he prepared the most complete table of American ornithology prior to Wilson’s great work, and he was an assistant of the latter in a portion of his work.

He died suddenly, July 22, 1823, just a moment after he had completed writing a sketch of a new specimen of a plant.

This first botanical garden in America is situated in West Philadelphia, near Fifty-fourth Street and Woodland Avenue. There is a cider mill, and close by the grave of an old and faithful slave.

The house is sufficient to attract any visitor, and it was here where the illustrious visitors from various parts of the world were received by the Bartrams.

The city authorities assumed control of this property in 1891.

----------

Proposal for Second Constitution for Pennsylvania Adopted March 24, 1789

The Pennsylvania Constitution of 1776 proving inadequate for the requirements of a useful and effective Government, its revision was demanded. On March 24, 1789, the Assembly adopted resolutions recommending the election of delegates to form a new Constitution.

The struggle for independence had been fought and won, but with the triumph of the Revolution even those who had been opposed to the movement speedily acquiesced, though many years elapsed before all the bitter memories engendered by the strife could pass away. Time was healing the wounds of war, and others were growing up who had not suffered.

The adoption of the Federal Constitution had rendered the institution of measures necessary for the election of members of Congress and electors of President and Vice President of the United States. In order to avail themselves as fully as possible of the privileges afforded, the Anti-Federalists were early at work.

A few of the leading men of this party assembled in convention at Harrisburg in September, 1788, ostensibly for the purpose of recommending revision of the new Constitution. Blair McClenachen was chosen as the chairman of this small assembly, and General John A. Hanna, secretary. They resolved that it was expedient to recommend an acquiescence in the Constitution but that a revision of the instrument was necessary. They debated among other topics, a reform in the ratio of congressional representation, and a referendum on the term of a Senator. Several other changes were advocated, but the body contented itself by nominating a general ticket for Congress.

The action of this body was immediately denounced and as the nominees were Anti-Federalists, it was said that power to enforce the new constitutional system ought not to be granted to its opponents.

A new convention was to meet at Lancaster, which selected candidates for Congress and electors for President. The election took place in November, and in the State six of the nominees on the Federal ticket were elected and two (David Muhlenberg, of Montgomery, and Daniel Hiester, of Berks), who, although Federalists, had with two others of the same politics, been placed as a matter of policy with the opposition ticket.

The political condition of Pennsylvania had undergone a great change, and now the three original counties had multiplied by 1790 to twenty-one. Immigration was strongly flowing into the State. The abundance of fertile lands formed an attraction to the immigrant almost without parallel in the county.

Then the Constitution of 1776 had been rather hastily prepared amid great excitement and was adopted with the determined spirit that characterized all public measures during the Revolutionary period.

Even though the instrument had become somewhat antiquated, it might have been improved by regular methods, and the amended Constitution would have been acceptable to a large number of people, but such action would not have served the personal ambitions of the leaders.

The chief objections to the Constitution were the single legislative body, and a Council of Censors whose functions were of such an unusual character, the latter body being the real bone of contention.

When the people had grown discontented with the old Constitution, believing they had suffered long enough through lack of action and authority, they were willing to adopt another Constitution containing the principles of enduring life.

The same movement that led to the ratification of the Federal Constitution by Pennsylvania stirred the waters in another direction. If the Federal Constitution could be ratified by a convention, why could not a convention be called to make and adopt another Constitution for Pennsylvania?

A petition was addressed to the Legislature, which adopted a resolution March 24, 1789, but the Supreme Executive Council refused to promulgate this action of the Assembly.

September 15, 1789, the Assembly adopted another resolution calling for a convention by a vote of 39 to 17.

At the election in October delegates were chosen, and on Tuesday, November 24, 1789, the convention assembled in Philadelphia, but a quorum not being present, the organization was effected the following day with sixty-four delegates in attendance. No returns had been received from the counties of Northumberland and Allegheny, and Mifflin had sent a double delegation.

Thomas Mifflin was chosen president; Joseph Redman, secretary; Frederick Snyder, messenger, and Joseph Fry, doorkeeper.

On the Republican side, those in favor of a new constitution were James Wilson, Thomas McKean and Thomas Mifflin, all of Philadelphia; Timothy Pickering, of Luzerne; Edward Hand, of Lancaster. Among the Constitutionalists were William Findley, of Westmoreland; John Smilie and Albert Gallatin, of Fayette; Robert Whitehill and William Irvine, of Cumberland.

After a long session the convention adjourned Friday, February 26, 1790, to meet Monday, August 9.

The second session of the convention met pursuant to adjournment and got down to business the third day, and concluded its work by the final adoption of a new instrument September 2, 1790, the final vote being sixty-one to one, Mr. George Roberts, of Philadelphia, voting against its adoption.

The most radical changes were made in the executive and legislative branches of government. The Assembly ceased to have the sole right to make laws, a Senate being created. The Supreme Executive Council was abolished. A Governor was directed to be elected to whom the administration of affairs was to be entrusted.

The former judicial system was continued, excepting that the judges of the higher courts were to be appointed during good behavior, instead of seven years. The Bill of Rights re-enacted the old Provincial provision copied into the first Constitution, respecting freedom of worship and the rights of conscience. The Council of Censors ceased to have authority and Pennsylvania conformed in all important matters to the system upon which the new Federal Government was to be administered.

The first election held under the Constitution of the Commonwealth, that of 1790, resulted in the choice of Thomas Mifflin, the president of the convention, which made, adopted and proclaimed the Constitution, for Governor. He served three terms.

----------

David Lewis, Robber and Counterfeiter, Born March 25, 1790

David Lewis was the most notorious robber and counterfeiter in this country a little more than a century ago.

He was born at Carlisle, March 25, 1790, of poor, but respectable parents, being one of a large family of children. The father died when David was less than ten years old, and the widow had a hard struggle to raise her family. Be it said to the credit of David that he remained with her and assisted in raising the family until he was seventeen years old. Then he worked at different occupations in and about Bellefonte until he enlisted in the army.

During this service he was punished by a sergeant for some offense and deserted, only to re-enlist a few months later, as a private in Captain William N. Irvine’s company of light artillery, under an assumed name.

By this time he had formed vicious habits and he immediately planned to decamp with his bounty money, but he was discovered as a former deserter. The War of 1812 was imminent and discipline rigid, so that the sentence of his court martial was death. Through the efforts of his distressed mother, his sentence was commuted to imprisonment in a guard house, secured by ball and chain.

He served only one week of this sentence, for he then made his escape and safely reached a cave on the banks of the Conodoguinet Creek, less than two miles from Carlisle. The very night he arrived in this favorite haunt Lewis began his long and varied career of robbery and lawlessness. This cave and another on Little Chickies Creek near Mount Joy, Lancaster County, were the storehouses for the major portion of the ill-gotten loot of Lewis and his gang.

The first victims of Lewis were the country banks, but recently established and whose bank notes were easy to counterfeit. Lewis was quick to make the most of this condition. He journeyed to Vermont and there made enormous quantities of spurious bank bills, purporting to have been issued from banks in Philadelphia and various Pennsylvania towns. These were successfully passed in New York.

Lewis was captured and committed to jail at Troy, from which he soon escaped, with the assistance of the jailer’s daughter, who fled with him and became his wife. His devotion to her was so genuine that it is strange her influence did not prove sufficient for him to have become a valuable member of society instead of one of the worst criminals on record.

Lewis was a man of unusual physical strength, handsome, and possessed a most pleasing personality. He was conscious of that fact, and made many friends, not in crime, but those who would aid him in making escape or give him timely warning. The story is told of Nicholas Howard, a prominent landlord near Doubling Gap, who would display a flag from a certain upper window when the coast was clear, and Lewis was thus advised of the movements of the officers seeking his apprehension. Food was often carried to him in his hiding place by those who never suspected they were befriending an outlaw.

A Mr. Black, of Cumberland, Md., related a personal adventure with Lewis in the Allegheny Mountains. Black had crossed the mountain on horseback to Brownsville, where he collected a large sum of money. He rode a speedy black horse. While in Brownsville he won another horse in a race and the following day started home, riding the new horse, leading his own “Blacky.”

In a lonely ravine a man suddenly appeared and jumped on Blacky’s back and rode alongside Black and began to barter for the horse. The horse was not for sale and they rode together until a spring was reached, where they dismounted and quenched their thirst and ate a bite and drank some peach brandy. By the time a second spring was reached Black and his new-found companion were on intimate terms. The stranger asked Black if he had ever seen Lewis, about whom there was so much fear and excitement. He replied that he had not.

“Well, sir,” replied the stranger, jumping to his feet, “here is Lewis—I am the man.”

Black further stated that Lewis told him he had seen the race in Brownsville and knew he had collected much money there, and that he had preceded him to waylay and rob him, but that Black had treated him like a gentleman and he would not harm him or take a cent from his pocket.

At another time when a large searching party in Adams County in pursuit of Lewis met a well-dressed stranger on horseback, they asked him if he had “seen or heard anything of Lewis, the robber.” He replied that he had not and joined in the pursuit. Later he had the audacity to send a letter stating that they had been riding with Lewis, and he was anxious to learn if they had thought him an agreeable companion.

One of the best of his exploits took place in Mifflin County. Having failed in the execution of some plots to rob several wealthy farmers, his ready cash uncomfortably low, he set out to replenish his finances. Coming across a fine, large house that stood back from the highway, he knocked at the door, which was opened by an elderly woman of respectable appearance. Lewis, to ascertain where her money was kept, asked her to change a five dollar note.

“That I am not able to do,” replied the woman, “for I am unfortunate and have not a dollar in the house, and what is worse,” she added despondently, as she caught sight of a man coming through the woods toward the house, “there comes the constable to take my cow for the last half-year’s rent. I don’t know what to do without her.”

“How much do you owe?” inquired Lewis, hurriedly.

“Twenty dollars, sir,” answered the woman.

“Have you no one to help you?” inquired Lewis.

“No one,” she replied.

“Then I will,” said the robber, as he drew from his pocket the exact sum. “Pay that fellow his demand and be sure to take his receipt, but don’t say anything about me.”

Lewis had just time to make his escape, unobserved, when the constable arrived and proceeded to drive away the widow’s cow, but she rushed forward, paid him the money and took his receipt.

He immediately set out upon his return, but had not proceeded far, when Lewis bounded into the road and greeted him as follows:

“How d’ye do, stranger? Got any spare change about you?”

“No,” answered the frightened constable.

“Come, shell out, old fellow, or I’ll save you the trouble,” retorted Lewis, as he presented his pistol. This argument convinced the worthy official that the stranger meant business and he quickly handed over his money.

Lewis got back his twenty dollars and forty dollars in addition. He often afterward boasted that the loan of that twenty to the widow was one of the best investments he ever made.

----------

More Exploits of Lewis, the Robber—Conclusion

of Yesterday’s Story, March 26

Yesterday’s story was a brief outline of the early life of David Lewis, the robber and counterfeiter, and in this will be told those events which followed and ended in his death.

In 1818, Dr. Peter Shoenberger, owner of the Huntingdon Furnace, in Huntingdon County, had made extensive shipments of iron to Harper’s Ferry and prepared to cross the mountains to receive his pay. Lewis and his band knew of this proposed trip and determined to waylay and rob him. The sum to be collected amounted to more than $13,000, and the ironmaster’s credit would be ruined if this sum was not in deposit in Bellefonte by a certain date.

While they were scheming to rob Shoenberger news reached them that their victim was returning home by way of the Cumberland Valley and Harrisburg.

When Lewis and his gang arrived at Harrisburg they learned that the doctor, warned of their designs, had again changed his route, but the highwaymen knew the country and soon got in advance of their victim. In the early hours of the morning, a few miles east of Bellefonte, the doctor was confronted by a large man on horseback, who, with a pistol in hand, ordered him to “stand and deliver.”

The doctor was in a dilemma; he faced financial ruin or loss of life. As he reached for his saddlebag he heard a shout and at the same time saw the top of a Conestoga wagon reaching the top of the hill. The wagoners were encouraging their horses as the doctor yelled in desperation, “Men, I am being robbed. Help! Help!”

Lewis snapped his pistol, but it failed to discharge. Connelly, a mate of Lewis, rode up and would have killed the doctor, but for Lewis. A shot by one of the wagoners struck Connelly in the shoulder, but he and Lewis escaped in the woods.

During his operations in New York City Lewis formed a partnership with other noted crooks. Each one signed an ironclad compact with blood drawn from the veins of each member as they formed in a circle, while Lewis held a basin to receive the blood of each, which was used as ink.

Lewis knew that Mrs. John Jacob Astor was to attend a well-advertised auction sale, where she made many purchases of rare laces and jewelry, placing them in a reticule, which she kept on a bench close by her side. While she was engaged in conversation, Lewis stole the bag and made his escape. He failed to divide the plunder with the gang, but gave it all to his wife, barely escaping their wrath.

Lewis headed for Princeton, where, he said, he found “empty heads and full purses.” He succeeded in fleecing many of the students of all the money they had or could obtain.

His next exploits were in Philadelphia, where he was the leader of a band which attempted to decoy Stephen Girard out of the city into the country, to keep him in confinement until forced to purchase his freedom. They also planned to dig a tunnel from the Dock Street sewer to Girard’s banking house, where they intended to reach the bank vaults from below. The dangerous illness of Lewis’ daughter caused a delay in these plans, his gang drifted apart, and the scheme was abandoned.

He then drove a team in the United States Army, where he robbed officers and men. When he received his pay for his services and for his employer’s teams and wagons, he stole the entire proceeds and left for Western Pennsylvania, where he was most active and successful in his nefarious pursuit.

His wife died about this time and his grief was so genuine that he almost changed his mode of life, but soon fell in with another gang and for some time devoted his attention to making and circulating spurious money. He was caught passing bad money and arrested at Bedford and sentenced to the penitentiary, from which he was pardoned by Governor Findlay.

Lewis and his band robbed a Mr. McClelland, who was riding from Pittsburgh to Bedford. Lewis saved McClelland’s life when Connelly insisted on shooting him, saying “Dead men tell no tales.” Lewis was again caught and confined in the Bedford jail. He not only escaped, but he set free all the convicts who entered in the plan with him, leaving behind “an ordinary thief who had robbed a poor widow. Such a thief should remain in jail and pay the price,” wrote Lewis in his confession.

Lewis and Connelly made a trip through York and Cumberland Counties robbing wealthy German farmers. A well-laid plot to rob a wealthy Mr. Bashore was frustrated through the presence of mind and bravery of his wife, who blew a horn to alarm the neighborhood, as Lewis confessed, “displaying as much courage as any man and more resolution than any woman I had met with.”

On several occasions he was known to have risked capture, and even his life, just to spend a few hours with his mother, whom he dearly loved.

Lewis learned that a wagon load of merchandise belonging to Hamilton and Page, of Bellefonte, was expected to pass through the Seven Mountains. He and his gang quickly planned and successfully executed this robbery, and immediately thereafter made a rich haul from the store of General James Potter, in Penn’s Valley near the Old Fort.

Lewis was a shrewd mountaineer and smart as a steel trap, but like all such criminals of his daring was sure to meet his fate. Even though frequently arrested and confined in jail, none was strong enough to hold him. He never served a sentence in a single institution.

After the robbery of General Potter’s store, Lewis and Connelly started for Sinnemahoning, meeting at the house of Samuel Smith, where they participated in shooting at a mark, and mingled in the crowd. Lewis and Connelly were recognized and their surrender demanded as rewards were everywhere offered for their arrest. Connelly opened fire, killing one of the captors.

Lewis, never having taken life, snapped his pistol in the air, but the fire was returned in earnest, Lewis being shot in the right arm and Connelly in the hip. The latter was found hiding in a tree top. Lewis and Connelly were loaded in canoes and taken down the river to Great Island, now Lock Haven, where three physicians attended them. Connelly died that night. Lewis was removed, as soon as his wounds would permit to Bellefonte jail, where he died a month later, July 13, 1820.

Thus a sad commentary in the life of Lewis, the Robber, that the only jail from which he failed to escape was the Bellefonte bastile, and while there his wounds were of such a nature he could not plan nor did he desire to escape, but he often told his jailer he could easily get away any hour he pleased.

----------

Bethlehem Hospital Base During Revolution, Moved March 27, 1777

Bethlehem was the seat of a general hospital twice during the Revolution and during the six years from 1775 to 1781, it was a thoroughfare for Continental troops. Heavy baggage and munitions of war and General Washington’s private baggage were stored in the town and guarded by 200 Continentals under command of Colonel William Polk, of North Carolina, while many houses were occupied by American troops and British prisoners of war. The Continental Congress found refuge there when on its flight from Philadelphia.

The inhabitants of Bethlehem, therefore, witnessed not only the horrors and experienced the discomforts of war, but also its “pomp and circumstance,” for at times there were sojourning among them Generals Washington, Lafayette, Greene, Knox, Sterling, Schuyler, Gates, Sullivan, De Kalb, Steuben, Pulaski and Arnold, with members of their staffs, and General Charles Lee’s division of the army in command of General Sullivan was encamped opposite the town.

The population of Bethlehem in those stirring days was about 500 souls, principally Moravians. The “Church Store,” on Market Street, was well stocked and spacious; in its cellars were stored supplies for the hospital and in the dwelling part sick and wounded soldiers found desirable quarters.

The dwelling of Thomas Horsfield was nearby. He was a hero of the French and Indian War, a colonel of the Provincial forces and a magistrate. Many refugees from Philadelphia and New York were provided a temporary home by the old veteran. Beyond, to the west, resided William Boehler, where Captain Thomas Webb, the founder of Methodism in America, and a British prisoner of war with his family of seven persons, were comfortably accommodated.

On what is now Main Street, and north of the “Brethren House,” stood the “Family House,” for married people, in which were confined more than 200 British prisoners, whose guard of 100 Continentals were quartered in the water works building. When they marched for Reading and Lancaster, the surgeons of the hospital occupied the building.

Farther up the thoroughfares were the farm buildings and dwelling of Frederick Boeckel, the farmer general of the Moravian estates, where Lafayette, after being wounded at Brandywine, was tenderly nursed to convalescence by Dame Barbara Boeckel and her pretty daughter, Liesel.

The last house overlooking the Valley of the Monocacy was the Sun Inn, a hostelry unsurpassed in the Colonies, and surely none other entertained and sheltered so many of the patriots of the American Revolution.

The Single Brethren’s House now the middle building of the Moravian Seminary and College for Women, which has weathered the storms of more than 175 years, was twice during the Revolution occupied as a general hospital, the first time from December, 1776, to April, 1777, and for the last time from September, 1777, to April, 1778. The cornerstone of this large building was laid April 1, 1748.

The Americans were defeated at Long Island in August, 1776, when Washington withdrew his troops to New York City, which a few days later fell into the hands of the enemy. This loss was quickly followed by that of Fort Washington and Fort Lee, when Washington crossed the North River into New Jersey, and continued his retreat to Trenton, in which he was closely pursued by Cornwallis. It was at this crisis that the general hospital, in which more than 1,000 sick and wounded were living, was removed from Morristown to Bethlehem.

On December 3, 1776, Dr. Cornelius Baldwin rode up to the clergy house and delivered to Reverend John Ettwein an order from General John Warren, general hospital surgeon, which stated that General Washington had ordered the General Hospital to Bethlehem and directed the Moravian brethren to put their buildings in condition for the reception of the invalids and he doubted not “but you will act upon this occasion as becomes men and Christians.”

Toward evening Drs. William Shippen and John Warren arrived and made arrangements with Reverend Ettwein for the reception of 250 of the sick. During the ensuing two days the invalids, in charge of their surgeons, commenced to arrive. Their suffering from exposure and improper transportation made them pitiable objects to behold and two died before they were removed from the wagons. Food was scarce and the Moravians relieved their distress from their own supplies. Some of the sick were taken to Easton and Allentown.

On December 7 two deaths occurred and a site for a cemetery was selected on the bluff on the west bank of the Monocacy Creek.

The Moravians constantly attended the sick and Mr. Ettwein visited the patients daily. In February smallpox was brought to the hospital by some soldiers, but an epidemic was averted. On March 27, 1777, the hospital was transferred to Philadelphia.

During the time the hospital was in Bethlehem more than 100 died, coffins for whom were made by the Moravian carpenters, who also dug the graves and served at the burial of the deceased patriots.

Again when the Continental army failed to defend Philadelphia, the hospital was removed to Bethlehem. On September 13, 1777, Washington ordered all military stores of the army, in 700 wagons to Bethlehem. The Church bells of Philadelphia, with the Liberty Bell, were also transported to Bethlehem en route to Allentown. Again the Moravians were directed to prepare their buildings for hospital use and September 20, the sick and wounded began to arrive, among them Lafayette and Colonel, later General John Armstrong, of Carlisle. On the twenty-second the archives and money of Congress, under an escort, arrived.

On October 7 the wounded from the Battle of Germantown began to arrive and in a fortnight 450 patients were being treated. A rain lasting six days set in and the suffering was indescribable. The Moravians furnished many blankets and much clothing for the destitute soldiers. During December many sick soldiers were brought to Bethlehem from hospitals in New Jersey. The loss was enormous due to lack of proper facilities with which to treat the patients, and the mortality during eight months and ten days was 120.

Among the surgeons from Pennsylvania were William Shippen, Jr., John Morgan, Thomas Bond, Jr., William Smith, Bodo Otto, Aquila Wilmot, James Houston, S. Halling and Francis Allison, Jr.

On August 28, 1778, the remaining sixty-five patients were removed to Lancaster and Yellow Springs, and Bethlehem ceased to be a hospital base during the war.

----------

Flight of Tory Leaders from Pittsburgh, March 28, 1778

General Edward Hand, the commandant at Fort Pitt, had failed in two expeditions, and the resultant effect was disastrous to the American cause on the border, especially in the spring of 1778. During the previous winter the British, under General Howe, had occupied Philadelphia, the capital of the colonies; the Continental Congress had been driven to York, and Washington’s Army, reduced to half-naked and half-starved condition, had suffered in camp at Valley Forge, so there was not much to win adherents to the cause of liberty among those otherwise inclined.

Governor Hamilton, the British commander at Detroit, sent many agents, red and white, to penetrate the border settlements to organize the Tories into effective military units. In February and March, 1778, a daring and shrewd British spy visited Pittsburgh and carried on his plotting against the colonies almost under the nose of General Hand. Most of the Tories of this neighborhood were at the house of Alexander McKee, at what is now called McKees Rocks. Another place of assembly was at Redstone, where a British flag flew nearly all of that winter.

Captain Alexander McKee, the Tory leader at Pittsburgh, was an educated man of wide influence on the frontier. He had been an Indian trader and for twelve years prior to the Revolution had been the King’s deputy agent for Indian affairs at Fort Pitt. For a short time he had been one of the justices of the peace for Westmoreland County, and he was intimately acquainted with most of the Indian chiefs. In 1764 he received a grant of 1,400 acres of land from Colonel Henry Bouquet, at the mouth of Chartier’s Creek, and he divided his time between his house in Pittsburgh and his farm at McKees Rocks.

In the spring of 1776, McKee was discovered to be in correspondence with the British officers in Canada, and he was put on his parole not to give aid or comfort to the enemies of American liberty, and not to leave the vicinity of Pittsburgh without the consent of the Revolutionary Committee.

In February, 1778, General Hand had reason to suspect that McKee had resumed his relations and correspondence with the British authorities and ordered the captain to go to York and report himself to the Continental Congress. For a time McKee avoided compliance, on plea of illness, but unable to further delay, he contrived to escape to Detroit and there openly ally himself with the British cause.

About a year before this a young trader, Matthew Elliott, who understood the Shawnee language, had been employed by the Americans to carry messages from Fort Pitt to the Shawnee and other Indian tribes to the westward, in the interest of peace. On one of his missions he was captured by hostile savages and carried to Detroit, where, after a short imprisonment, he had been released on parole.

He returned to Pittsburgh via Quebec, New York and Philadelphia, all then in British possession. He had been impressed by the show of British power in the East, in contrast to the miserable conditions of the American forces, especially along the frontier. He became convinced that the colonists would fail in the Revolution, and on his return to Pittsburgh got into communication with Captain McKee and others of the Tory party.

Elliott was suspected of having poured into McKee’s ears the wild tale that he was to be waylaid and killed on his journey to York. McKee heard such a story and believed it, which decided him to escape from Fort Pitt and go to Detroit.

The flight of the Tories took place from Alexander McKee’s house during the night of March 28, 1778. General Hand received a hint of this move early in the evening and dispatched a squad of soldiers to McKee’s house Sunday morning to remove McKee to Fort Pitt. The soldiers arrived too late. The members of the little party who had fled into Indian land in that rough season were Captain McKee, his cousin, Robert Surphlit; Simon Girty, Matthew Elliott, a man of the name of Higgins, and two Negro slaves belonging to McKee.

Simon Girty was a Pennsylvanian, who had been captured by the Indians when eleven years old, kept in captivity for three years by the Seneca, and afterward employed at Fort Pitt as an interpreter and messenger. He had served the American cause faithfully. He then became the most notorious renegade and Tory in Pennsylvania.

The Tories in their flight made their way through the woods to the Delaware town Coshocton, where they tarried several days endeavoring to incite the tribe to rise against the colonists. Their efforts were thwarted by Chief White Eyes, who declared his friendship for the “buckskins” as he called the Americans, and he proved his sincerity until his death.

Chief White Eyes and Captain Pipe, an influential chief, debated in the Coshocton council on the advocacy of war, White Eyes pleading the cause of peace. The oratory of White Eyes carried the day and the seven Tories departed to the Shawnee towns on the Scioto, where they were welcomed. Many of the Shawnee were already on the warpath, and all were eager to hear the arguments of their friend McKee. James Girty, a brother of Simon, was then with the Shawnee tribe, having been sent from Fort Pitt by General Hand on a futile peace mission. He had been raised among the Shawnee, was a natural savage and at once joined his brother and the other Tories.

When Governor Hamilton heard of the flight of Captain McKee and his companions from Fort Pitt, he dispatched Edward Hazle to the Scioto to conduct the renegades safely through the several Indian tribes to Detroit. Hamilton, as would be expected, received them cordially and gave them commissions in the British service. For sixteen years McKee, Elliott and the Girtys were the merciless scourges of the border. They were the instigators and leaders of many Indian raids, and their intimate knowledge of the frontier rendered their operations especially effective. Long after the close of the Revolution they continued their deadly enmity to the American cause and were largely responsible for the general Indian war of 1790–94.

McKee and his associate renegades left behind them at Fort Pitt a band of Tories who had planned to blow up the fortress and escape in boats at night. In some way the scheme was frustrated just in time, probably by the confession of one of the conspirators, and the disaster averted. A score of the traitors escaped in boats during the night, and fled down the Ohio River. On the following day they were pursued and overtaken near the mouth of the Muskingum. Eight of the runaways escaped to the shore and were lost in the trackless woods; some were killed in the conflict which then occurred and the others were taken back as prisoners to Fort Pitt.

Two were shot, another hanged and two were publicly whipped on the parade ground of the fort. The punishment of these men was almost the last act performed by General Hand before he was relieved by General Lachlan McIntosh, but it put an end to the machinations of the Tories at Pittsburgh.

----------

Colonel Clapham Commissioned to Build

Fort Augusta, March 29, 1756

From the moment Captain John Smith beheld the waters of the Susquehanna to the present, it has been the main artery for the development of Central and Northern Pennsylvania.

The two great branches of the Susquehanna River join at what is now Northumberland, but opposite is a plain, where the old Indian town of Shamokin was located, upon which the present city of Sunbury was laid out July 4, 1772.

It was at Shamokin where the Indians established a vice-regal government and installed the noble Shikellamy, the friend of the English and foe of intemperance and vice. This was the largest and most important Indian town south of Tioga Point. It was visited by the Moravian missionaries and the interpreter, Conrad Weiser, tarried there in 1737 on his way to a council at Onondaga. He and Shikellamy became intimate friends and remained so until the latter’s death, December 17, 1748.

The erection of a fort at Shamokin was repeatedly urged by friendly Indians, especially Andrew Montour and Monakatuatha or the Delaware Half King, at a council at Harris’ Ferry, November 1, 1755. This request was favorably considered by Governor Morris, but refused by the Assembly.

After Braddock’s defeat, when the French and Indians began to attack the settlers along the frontier, occurred the terrible massacre at Penn’s Creek, October 16. Later forty-six terrified settlers fled to Shamokin for protection, but the attitude of the Indians caused them to leave the following day, and as they traveled south they were fired upon from ambush near Mahonoy Creek and four killed.

The Moravians broke up their mission at Shamokin and soon thereafter the Indians abandoned the town.

October 31, 1755, a number of inhabitants gathered at John Harris’ and signed a petition for a fort at Shamokin as a protection against the French and Indians. On the same day a like gathering at Conrad Weiser’s sent a similar petition to the provincial authorities. John Shikellamy, son of the great vicegerent, went to Philadelphia and personally solicited the Governor to build a fort, saying “that such Indians as continue true to you want a place to come to and live in security against your and their enemies, and to Shamokin, when you erect the fort, they will come and bring their wives and children. Brethren, hasten the work; our warriors will assist you in building the fort.”

At a conference held at Carlisle January 17, 1756, this necessity was again brought to the notice of the Governor, who replied that he would build a strong house at Shamokin.

The fear of delay was because the French had for some time realized the importance of the strategic situation of Shamokin and if they could gain a foothold there the places below would be easy prey.

The Governor was determined that the fort should be built and made his plans accordingly. He informed the Board of Commissioners April 15, 1756, that he had on March 29 commissioned Lieutenant Colonel William Clapham to recruit a battalion for the purpose. This was the third battalion and was known as the Augusta Regiment. Major James Burd was second in command and Asher Clayton was commissioned adjutant of the battalion.

The regiment rendezvoused at Harris’ Ferry, where Governor Morris attended the recruiting and training in person. On June 12 orders were received to march.

A stockade was built at Halifax, where supplies were stored and a garrison maintained. While at this camp Colonel Clapham had a conference with the Iroquois chief, Oghagradisha, assuring him they were on their way to Shamokin.

Sufficient bateaux were built by July 1, when the regiment marched from Halifax, and by a tedious march the 400 troops reached Shamokin without mishap July 6 and immediately began the construction of the fort, which was built from plans drawn by E. Meyer, engineer of the British Government. It was called Fort Augusta in honor of the daughter of King George II.

Colonel Clapham pushed the work of construction with dispatch and September 23, wrote to Governor Denny, “The fort is now almost finished, and a fine one it is.” The construction required less than seven weeks upon the main works, but much time was employed in better protecting the fortress and in adding necessary buildings.

Much difficulty was experienced in obtaining adequate supplies of provisions and ammunition, as the only means of transportation were pack horses over a mountainous Indian trail or by bateaux and the latter was impossible during the severe winters.

Colonel Clapham was succeeded by Colonel James Burd, who left such a fascinating journal of his experiences at that frontier fort.

Expeditions were sent out from the fort to the Great Island, now Lock Haven; to Chinklacamoose, now Clearfield; to Penn’s Creek, to Wyoming, and other places.

The fort faced the main river and was nearly 300 feet square, with bastions at the four corners. The total length of the fortification was more than 600 feet. A magazine was later built in the south bastion and a covered way to the river. This was strongly built with a brick arched roof and was reached by a narrow stairway descending into it. This is now the surviving structure of that dark and gloomy period in the State’s history. It is the property of the Commonwealth and it is well marked and well kept.

Fort Augusta was far in advance of any English settlement in the Province, holding the only passage by water and blocking the pathway along the river by land, to the settlements below.

The Assembly wanted to dismantle the fort and save the expense of the garrison, but no Governor would agree to this plan, as it was an actual protection for the inhabitants.

During the Revolution Fort Augusta again became an important place, the headquarters of the Military Department of the Susquehanna. Colonel Samuel Hunter, the county lieutenant, mustered and trained troops there for the Continental Army. It was here where Colonel Thomas Hartley drew his supplies for his expedition against the Indians in 1778.

It was at Fort Augusta where the terrified inhabitants found safety in the “Great Runaway,” following the Indian incursions which culminated in the Wyoming massacre, July 3, 1778.

The work of dismantling the fort began about 1780, as the ground then passed into private hands. Thus this old fort has crumbled into ruins, its story unsung, its heroes forgotten.

But for the wisdom of the Indians this fort would not have been built and the horrors of the French and Indian War would have been carried to the banks of the Delaware. This fort was where the high tide of the Revolution was turned backward and the English and their Indian allies forced to turn their faces again toward Canada. It was the largest and most important provincial fortification on the frontier of this continent.

----------

Swedes Come to the Delaware—Peter Minuit Steps Ashore, March 30, 1638

Samuel Blummaert, of Holland, who had business interests in Sweden, directed the attention of the Swedish Chancellor, Axel Oxenstierna, to the possibilities of the copper trade with the West Indies. At that time Peter Minuit, who had been Governor of New Netherlands, 1626 to 1632, and was dissatisfied with his treatment, having been dismissed, offered his service to Blummaert, knowing that the latter owned lands on the South River, now the Delaware.

The great Gustavus died in November, 1632, and upon Oxenstierna devolved all the burdens of the American scheme. Sweden was poor; the times were unpropitious; he was forced to wait five years until practical plans could be matured. Minuit had suggested the founding of a colony upon the South River to trade with the Indians. A company was formed with the exclusive right to trade on that river for twenty years and to send goods to Sweden for a period of ten years free of duty. The ownership of this company was half Swedish and half Dutch.

An expedition reached the South River, landing at the mouth of Mispillon Creek, which they called “Paradise Point.” Passing on upward they cast anchor at Minquas-kill, where Minuit went ashore March 30, 1638, to confer with the Indians. He knew well the story of Swanendael and meant to avoid a recurrence. The chief with whom he talked was Mattahoorn, the principal sachem of that region and an Indian of worthy character, who came often into the early history of Pennsylvania before William Penn arrived. Minuit concluded an agreement, obtaining land on which to build a house for “a kettle and other articles,” and for ground on which to plant, he was to give half the tobacco raised upon it. The land was defined as “within six trees.”

Minuit had instructions to set up the arms of Sweden and take possession of the country, avoiding New Netherlands, to do no harm to the Indians, to name the country New Sweden, to dispose of his cargo and then, leaving the sloop, return to Sweden.

Minuit built Fort Christiana, named in honor of the girl queen at Stockholm, five miles below the Dutch Fort Nassau, and left in it when he departed twenty-four men.

Nearly coincident with the arrival of the Swedes at Minquas-kill, came a new Director-General of the Dutch at Manhattan, in the person of William Kieft, who sailed into that port, March 18, 1638. He was disturbed over this Swedish intrusion, and promptly wrote to his company in Holland and, May 6 addressed a formal letter to Minuit, protesting against his settlement, declaring that both banks of the river belonged to the Dutch.

This claim by the Dutch to the west bank was based on De Vries’ adventure at Swanendael. Minuit made no reply, he knew that no white man had more than six years been living on the west side of the river. So he pushed the work on his fort and built log-houses. Trade with the Indians was firmly established. A second treaty with the Indians was made, which purchase included land down the river and bay and northward as far as the Falls of Trenton. Minuit returned with his two vessels, July, 1638.

The twenty-four persons now comprising the colony at Christiana were under command of Mans Kling, with Hendrik Huyghen as commissary. This company formed the first permanent settlement by white men on the Delaware Bay, or River, on either side.

Minuit was lost at sea on his return voyage and New Sweden suffered a hard stroke of misfortune. He and De Vries were the ablest men ever sent to the South River.

The colony was in such distress in 1639 that the people thought seriously of abandoning the locality and going to Manhattan, but the following year another vessel arrived from Sweden with supplies. She sailed into Christiana, April 17, 1640. On board were four mares and two horses, a number of farming implements, thirty-one barrels of beer, and colonists, made up to some extent of deserters from the army and people accused of offenses. This vessel soon returned laden with beaver skins and other peltry. At this time the Dutch members of the company sold their interest to the Swedes.

Peter Hollender, who succeeded Peter Minuit as Governor of the Swedes, arrived in April, 1640, and continued in authority until February, 1643.

Another effort to send colonists to New Sweden originated in Utrecht. A charter granted to Hendrik Hooghkamer and others authorized them to start a settlement on the west side of South River twenty miles above Fort Christiana. They were to have what land was needed, provided they improved it within ten years. They could start manufactories and carry on trade. They were given religious liberty and were required to support ministers of the Gospel and schoolmasters. But they were compelled to submit to the Swedish law and Government and pay a tax of three florins a year for each family.

Under this arrangement the ship Fredenburg sailed from Holland, and arrived at Christiana, November 2, 1640. This ship was armed with twenty-five cannon and carried fifty Dutch colonists, headed by Jost de Bogharat. The Fredenburg took back to Sweden 737 beaver skins, 29 bear skins and some other productions of the New World.

It was a difficult matter to find colonists. At this time there were many Finns scattered over Sweden, who lived a somewhat nomadic life. They roamed about, burned the forests, and shot deer and other game unlawfully. Severe laws were passed to prevent this wantonness, but the Finns paid little attention to them, and they refused to return to Finland. New Sweden seemed to be the solution and the Government of Sweden ordered the capture of these law-breaking Finns.

Among those engaged in the pursuit of these Finns was Johan Printz, who was later Governor of New Sweden. When he caught a Finn, who had cut down six apple trees in the King’s orchard, he was given his choice between going to New Sweden or being hanged.

Two vessels were fitted out for the voyage to the New World; one of them carried thirty-five colonists, mostly Finns. They set sail in November, 1641, and arrived in New Sweden the following April. Among these arrivals were Olaf Paullsson, Anders Hansson, Axel Stille, Henrich Mattson, Olaf Stille, Mans Swensson, and Per Kock, and their names are still borne by families in Pennsylvania. Tobacco soon became the main article of commerce sent from New Sweden.

When the Swedes first arrived with Peter Minuit they built inside the fort little cottages of round logs, with low doors and no windows except the loop-holes cut between the logs. The cracks were closed with mud or clay. The fireplaces were made of stone, and a bake-oven was built within the house.

In 1640 lands were bought from the Indians on the west side of the South River from the Schuylkill as far north as the site of Trenton.

----------

History of Pennsylvania Railroad Begins with Organization of Company March 31, 1847

Prior to 1809, Oliver Evans, of Philadelphia, urged repeatedly in public addresses the construction of a passenger railroad from Philadelphia to New York, and in that year attempted to form a company for this purpose.

In 1829 a railroad, sixteen miles long, from Honesdale to Carbondale, to carry coal, was completed.

In 1827 the Mauch Chunk railroad, nine miles long, was built to connect coal mines with the Lehigh River; the gauge was three feet seven inches, and wooden rails were faced with iron.

The Baltimore and Ohio finished, in 1829, the first six miles of track upon which passengers were carried.

The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company was incorporated by special act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, approved April 4, 1833.

The charter granted to the company, December 5, 1833, authorized it to construct a railroad from Reading to Philadelphia. At Reading it was proposed to connect with the Little Schuylkill Navigation and Railroad, which had been incorporated in 1827, to build a railroad from Tamaqua to Reading.

Then followed the development of the rails in this country, and the first T-rails made in America were rolled at the Montour Mill, in Danville, Pa., in 1845. This was also an American invention. The first rails, thirty feet in length, were made at the Cambria Iron Works, at Johnstown, Pa., in 1856.

The greatest development of the locomotive was made by the great Baldwin plant in Philadelphia.

Among the several great railroad groups of America is that of the Pennsylvania system, and this corporation enjoys the distinction of having the greatest number of individual stock holders.

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, the most important carrier in Pennsylvania and in the Eastern United States, and one of the greatest and most extensive railroad systems in the entire world, was brought into existence by an act of Assembly of Pennsylvania, approved by Governor Francis R. Shunk, April 13, 1846. Letters patent were issued February 15, 1847, and the company organized March 20, but the election of officers was held and the actual beginning of this great corporation dates from March 31, 1847.

Under the articles of incorporation this company was authorized to construct, equip, and operate a line of steam railroad to connect with the then known Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy and Lancaster Railroad, and to run to Pittsburgh or to any point in Allegheny County, or to Erie, in Erie County, as its management might deem expedient.

This charter was not obtained without opposition, as it was understood that the operation of this new railroad would draw from the revenues upon which the State system of public works largely depended for support. This was undoubtedly true, but the charter was granted and the work of construction was carried forward with such vigor that in 1850 portions of the line were completed and ready for operation.

The Erie Canal, devised by DeWitt Clinton, and constructed by David Thomas, a Pennsylvanian, had deflected the trade of the Great Lakes and the West from Philadelphia to New York, and made the latter the leading city of the nation. It was expected that a railroad over the mountains would bring this trade back to Philadelphia and restore the supremacy of that city.

In order to make sure that no outside influence should get control, the charter provided that all of the directors “shall be citizens and residents of this Commonwealth.” This part of the plan failed, but the leading capitalists of Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, and elsewhere in the State, subscribed liberally to the stock of the company and from the beginning the enterprise was well backed with ample funds and equally valuable influence.

Hardly had the original road been opened for traffic before the company began to extend its lines and enlarge the field of its operations.

The movement which proved of the greatest benefit to the public, and to the company itself, was in 1857, when the Legislature passed an act, May 16, directing the line of public works between Philadelphia and Pittsburgh to be sold, and the Pennsylvania Railroad Company became the purchaser.

The purchase price was seven and one-half millions, and ownership was obtained for the combined State canal and railroad. The State was relieved of a burdensome property, and at the same time these public works were placed under the control of a corporation whose methods of management must result in great benefit to the people of the State.

Governor James Pollock caused the sale to be made, June 25, and on July 31 following the actual transfer was consummated.

This transaction fixes the date from which the progressive history of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company begins.

The canals on the Susquehanna and its branches above the mouth of the Juniata, together with the Delaware division, were sold the following year to the Sunbury and Erie Railroad Company, now a part of the great Pennsylvania system, and the work of extension did not cease.

The Pennsylvania Railroad Company, in 1861, leased for 999 years the Harrisburg, Portsmouth, Mount Joy and Lancaster road and brought it under the Pennsylvania’s management.

The work of extension has ever kept pace with the opportunity to develop this great railroad system until it includes, in whole, or in part, more than one hundred lesser lines of road, with its main line, branches and spurs.

The great terminal station in Philadelphia, recently damaged by fire, will soon be replaced by one of the finest railroad stations in the world, even comparable with the great Pennsylvania Station in New York City.

The greatest corporation in Pennsylvania is the railroad system which so gloriously carries the name of the Keystone State into every part of the Western Hemisphere.

----------

Great Indian Council Opened at Harris’ Ferry, April 1, 1757

September 10, 1756, Governor Denny ordered a suspension of hostilities against the Indians on the east side of the Susquehanna. A month later Major Parsons wrote from Easton that nine Indian men and one Indian woman with four white prisoners had arrived at Easton. One of the prisoners was Henry Hess, who had been taken prisoner on New Year’s day from his father’s plantation in Lower Smithfield, Northampton (now Monroe) County. These had been sent by Tedyuskung from Wyoming.

The Governor sent Conrad Weiser to Easton, who met and greeted the Indians in his behalf. Weiser concluded his mission by inviting Tedyuskung to meet the Governor in Philadelphia, but he declined and demanded the Governor convene a council at Easton.

This attitude incensed the Governor, who refused to humor the Indians, and said no treaty should be held outside of Philadelphia. The Governor finally yielded and under escort of a heavy guard proceeded to Easton. This treaty was formally opened on Monday, November 8, with a great display of militia and ceremonial pomp. Tedyuskung was again the principal speaker for the Indians and he assured the Governor that the Delaware were glad to meet again their old friends, the English. The council continued nine days, during which Governor Denny appears to have conducted himself with much tact and good judgment.

Early in December accounts were received that some of the Indians who had been at the Easton treaty had, on their way home, murdered certain white settlers on the frontiers—thus making it appear that Tedyuskung’s authority over these Indians was very doubtful.

About the middle of January George Croghan, next to Sir William Johnson the most prominent figure among British Indian agents, sent Joe Peepy, son of the deceased Shikellamy, and Lewis Montour, son of the celebrated Madame Montour, with a message to the Susquehanna Indians, inviting them to attend a council, or treaty, at Lancaster. Peepy and Montour delivered the message to the Indians assembled in council at Tioga when they went to the Ohio to inform the Delaware and Shawnee there of the proposed Lancaster meeting.

Upon their return Peepy and Montour reported to Croghan that all the Susquehanna Indians were disposed for peace except the Munsee, or Minisink Indians, although the messengers believe that these Indians would come down to the treaty with King Tedyuskung.

On February 18, 1757, Zaccheus, a Delaware Indian, formerly of Gnadenhuetten, arrived at Fort Allen and on the following day seven Indian women and three children arrived there, all sent from Tioga by Tedyuskung to announce to Governor Denny that they intended to come in March to Easton to hold a treaty.

Early in March Tedyuskung with two of his sons, his half-brothers, Captain Harris and Sam Evans, squaws and children, in all numbering about fifty, arrived at Fort Allen. Captain Arndt, commandant of the fort, advised Major Parsons that these Indians had “built cabins about sixty perches from the fort, where they live and intend to stay till the King comes.”

About the time these Indians had departed from Wyoming for Fort Allen all the Six Nations, Nanticoke and Delaware, who had accompanied Tedyuskung there from the Council at Tioga, proceeded down the river to Fort Augusta at Shamokin.

Major James Burd, then in command of the garrison, wrote, March 21, advising Governor Denny that 150 Six Nations had arrived there. “Sent by Sir William Johnson to oblige the Delawares to lay down the hatchet, and to be present at the treaty proposed between the Government and the Delawares.” These Indians did not tarry long at Fort Augusta, for they arrived at John Harris’ March 29, where they were met by George Croghan, who reported there were “about 160 of them—men, women and children—part of eight tribes.” A day later they were joined by some Conestoga Indians.

April 1 a formal conference between Croghan and the Indians was begun at Harris’ Ferry. Thus this much-discussed council was opened at neither Lancaster, where Croghan had suggested it be held, nor at Easton, where Tedyuskung said it would be held, but at John Harris’ Ferry, now Harrisburg.

Among the white men present were the Reverend John Elder, of the Paxton Presbyterian Church, known as the “Fighting Parson,” Captain Thomas McKee, John Harris and Hugh Crawford. Scarouady was the principal speaker for the Indians.

On April 6 it was decided to remove the council-fire to Lancaster, and the next day the entire company marched thither, being met on the outskirts of Lancaster by a number of the principal inhabitants.

The conference at Lancaster was delayed by the failure of Governor Denny to attend. Smallpox had broken out among the Indians, and they were uneasy. At length the Governor reached Lancaster, attended by members of the Provincial Council, the Assembly, the Indian Commissioners, Colonel Stanwix of the “Royal Americans,” and a number of citizens.

Three days later, May 12, 1757, the conference was formally opened in the Lancaster Courthouse. “Little Abe” and Thomas King were the chief speakers for the Indians. The former told of the declaration of the Delaware at a council where they denied the allegation they were women, and further said they acknowledged no authority over them among the Six Nations, but would listen to the Seneca.

Little Abe then advised that the Seneca be invited to a meeting with the Delaware and Shawnee at Lancaster or elsewhere. Messengers were accordingly sent, who were also instructed to see Tedyuskung and inquire as to the reasons for his absence from the Lancaster conference, which was that day brought to a close.

On the 23d all the Indians, in charge of Captain McKee, departed from Lancaster and arrived at Fort Augusta June 1. They tarried four days, and on the 5th all, except the Delaware, left the fort “in canoes, with plenty of flour, rum, etc., sufficient to carry them home.” The Delaware started a few days later across the country to Bethlehem.

Edward Shippen, of Lancaster, in a letter to his son-in-law, Major James Burd, at Fort Augusta, dated May 22, 1757, among other interesting things wrote: “We have had many meetings of the Indians here, to whom valuable presents have been given by the Governor and the Quakers; but as Tedyuskung and the Indians who were expected along with him were not come, a very handsome part is reserved for them.

“It appears to me that unless the Militia Act be passed we of this borough shall in less than a month become the frontiers.”

On June 16, 1757, Sir William Johnson held a conference with the Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca, of the Six Nations, and made an earnest and successful appeal for them to remain loyal to the English. Tedyuskung was severely censured for his conduct, and Sir William charged the Seneca to bring him around to a sensible understanding.

----------

First Mint Established in Philadelphia by Act

of April 2, 1792

The project of a national mint for the United States was first introduced by Robert Morris, of Philadelphia, the patriot and financier of the Revolution.

As the head of the Finance Department, Mr. Morris was instructed by Congress to prepare a report on the foreign coins then in circulation in the United States. On January 15, 1782, he laid before Congress an exposition of the whole subject, and accompanying this report, was a plan for American coinage.

Robert Morris was assisted in his effort to establish a mint by Thomas Jefferson and Alexander Hamilton.

On April 15, 1790, Congress instructed the Secretary of the Treasury, Alexander Hamilton, to prepare and report a proper plan for the establishment of a national mint. This was done at the ensuing session of Congress. The act was framed and passed finally March 26, 1792, and received the approval of President George Washington April 2, 1792.

A lot of ground was purchased on Seventh Street near Arch, and appropriations were made for erecting the necessary buildings. An old stillhouse, which stood on the lot, had first to be removed. In an account book of that time we find an entry on July 31, 1792, of the sale of some old material from the stillhouse for seven shillings and sixpence, which Mr. Rittenhouse directed “should be laid out for punch in laying the foundation stone.”

David Rittenhouse was the first Director of the Mint, April 14, 1792, until his health compelled him to resign in June, 1795.

This building for the United States Mint in Philadelphia was the first structure erected in America for public use under authority of the Federal Government. It was a brick building, the cornerstone of which was laid by David Rittenhouse July 31, 1792.

In the following October operations were commenced by the coinage of the silver half dimes. President Washington mentions this first coinage in his address to Congress, November 6, 1792, as follows: “There has been a small beginning in the coinage of half dimes, the want of small coins in circulation calling the first attention to them.”

The original purchase of metal for coinage was six pounds of old copper at one shilling and three pence per pound, which was coined and delivered to the Treasurer in 1793. The first deposit of silver bullion was made July 18, 1794, by the Bank of Maryland. This consisted of coins of France amounting to $80,715.73½. The first return of silver coins to the Treasurer was made on October 15, 1794. The first deposit of gold bullion was made by Moses Brown, a Boston merchant, on February 12, 1795, and paid for in silver coins. The first gold coins turned into the Treasury were 744 half eagles, on July 31, 1795. Eagles were first delivered September 22, when 400 were delivered.

There were four different currencies or rates, in different parts of the Union, and a consequent perplexity, until the passage of the law which regulated the coins of the United States. The present system of coins is formed upon the principles laid down in the resolution of 1786, by which Congress determined the denominations should be dollars (the dollar being the unit), dimes or tenths, cents or hundredths, and mills or thousandths of a dollar.

Nothing could be more simple or convenient than this decimal sub-division. The terms are proper because they express the proportions which they are intended to designate. The dollar was wisely chosen, as it corresponded with the Spanish coin, with which the colonists had long been familiar.

The mills were imaginary and never coined. The first cents were made of copper, round and about an inch in diameter and one-sixth of an inch in thickness.

It is an interesting fact that silver was first coined in money 869 years before the Christian era.

Previous to the coinage of silver dollars at the Philadelphia mint, in 1794, there occurred an amusing incident in Congress, when a member from the South bitterly opposed the choice of the eagle, on the ground of its being the “king of birds,” and hence neither proper nor suitable to represent a nation whose institutions were inimical to monarchial forms of government.

Judge Thatcher playfully in reply suggested that perhaps a goose might suit the gentleman, as it was a rather humble and republican bird, and would also be serviceable in other respects, as the goslings would answer to place on the dimes.

This answer created considerable merriment, and the irate Southerner, conceiving the humorous rejoinder as an insult, sent a challenge to the Judge who promptly declined it. The bearer, rather astonished, asked, “Will you be branded as a coward?” “Certainly, if he pleases,” replied Thatcher; “I always was one and he knew it, or he would never have risked a challenge.”

The affair occasioned much mirth, and, in due time, former existing cordial relations were restored; the irritable Southerner concluding there was nothing to gain fighting one who fired nothing but jokes.

March 2, 1829, provisions were made by Congress, for extending the Mint establishment, the supply of bullion for coinage having increased beyond the capacity of the existing accommodations.

The Mint edifice under this provision was erected at the northwest corner of Chestnut and Juniper Streets. The corner-stone was laid July 4, 1829, by Samuel Moore, then Director of the Mint. The building was occupied in 1833.

This was among the finest of Philadelphia’s classic structures, and it was admired by every resident and visitor. The building was of marble and of the Grecian style of architecture, the roof being covered with copper. Each front on Chestnut Street and Penn Square was ornamented with a portico of sixty feet, containing six Ionic columns.

The present structure on Spring Garden Street is huge and an impressive building, but a disappointment when compared with the beautiful edifice that it supplanted. It was first occupied October 1, 1901, and was about three years in building.

Nearly two-thirds of our coinage comes from the mint at Philadelphia, which is the largest and most completely equipped mint in the world. The coins for nearly all the South American countries are also made in this mint.

A wonderful collection of coins and medals of all lands can be seen by the public in this building.

----------

Act for Purchase of Erie Triangle Passed

April 3, 1792

For many years after William Penn received the charter for Pennsylvania he was engaged in controversies over the boundary line of his Province, and long after his death the several proprietaries were concerned with the question. It was not until 1774 that the controversy with Maryland was concluded, and it was after the Revolution that the armed conflict with Connecticut was finally determined by Congress, and the imminent conflict with Virginia over the territory west of the Alleghenies was satisfactorily settled.

It was not until 1786, after many difficulties between the States of Pennsylvania and Virginia, that the western boundary of our State was surveyed by extending the Mason and Dixon line to the end of the five degrees west from the Delaware River and a meridian drawn from the western extremity to the northern limit.

In 1785 commissioners were appointed on the part of Pennsylvania and New York to ascertain the northern boundary of the former from the Delaware River westward to the northwest corner. The commissioners were David Rittenhouse on the part of Pennsylvania, and Samuel Holland on the part of New York. They proceeded to act in pursuance of that appointment, and in December, 1786, ascertained and fixed the beginning of the forty-third degree of north latitude, erected suitable monuments there and near the Delaware River, but were prevented by inclement weather from proceeding further in the survey.

The next year Andrew Ellicott was appointed a commissioner, on the part of Pennsylvania, and James Clinton and Simeon Dewitt on the part of New York. In 1787 they completed the running and marking of this northern boundary 259 miles and 88 perches from its commencement at the Delaware River, to its termination in Lake Erie, five or six miles east of the Ohio State line and marked the whole distance throughout by milestones, each one indicating the distance from the Delaware River. In 1789 an act of Assembly confirmed the acts of the commissioners.

The Indians being recognized as owners of the soil, the whole was purchased from them by different treaties. One at Fort Stanwix extinguished their title to the lands of Western Pennsylvania and New York, excepting the Triangle or Presqu’ Isle lands, which were accidentally left out of Pennsylvania, New York, Massachusetts, Connecticut and Virginia and were supposed at different times to belong to each.

General William Irvine discovered while surveying the Donation Lands that Pennsylvania had but a few miles of lake coast and not any harbor, and in consequence of his representations the State of Pennsylvania made propositions for its purchase from Philips and Gorham, the reputed owners, in the year 1788. Surveyor General Andrew Ellicott surveyed and established lines at the request of the Federal Government, but Frederic Saxton accompanied him on behalf of the owners.

It was finally determined by comparison with the charters of New York, Massachusetts and Connecticut just what was the western limit of New York. This was found to be twenty miles east of Presqu’ Isle.

On June 6, 1788, the Board of Treasury was induced to make a contract for the sale of this tract described as bounded “on the east by New York, on the south by Pennsylvania and on the north and west by Lake Erie.”

On September 4 it was resolved by Congress “that the United States do relinquish and transfer to Pennsylvania all their right, title and claim to the Government and jurisdiction of the said land forever, and it is declared and made known that the laws and public acts of Pennsylvania shall extend over every part of said tract as if the said tract had originally been within the charter bounds of the State.”

By an act of October 2, 1788, the sum of £1200 was appropriated to purchase the Indian title to the tract, in fulfillment of the contract to sell it to Pennsylvania.

At the treaty of Fort McIntosh, January 9, 1789, Chief Cornplanter and other chiefs of the Six Nations signed a deed in consideration of the sum of £1200, ceding the Presqu’ Isle lands to the United States. It was then, by a deed dated March 3, 1792, ceded by the United States to Pennsylvania. This deed is signed by George Washington, President, and Thomas Jefferson, Secretary of State.

In 1790 Surveyor-General Andrew Ellicott made a survey of the triangle and found it to contain 202,287 acres. The purchase-money paid to the United States, at seventy-five cents an acre, was $151,640.25.

This purchase having been completed before the passage of the act of April 3, 1792, the lands within it except the reservations were sold under the provisions of this act. The first settlements in Erie County were made under the provisions of that law, and many instances of personal violence occurred between the contending claimants. The squatters would league together to prevent the legal claimants from depriving them of their improvements.

The settlement of the lands northwest of the Allegheny River, and especially the Presqu’ Isle lands, was never cordially acquiesced in by the Six Nations, and Cornplanter became very unpopular among his own people. It was charged upon him that he and Little Billy had received the purchase price both at Fort McIntosh and Philadelphia. Cornplanter himself protested to the United States at Buffalo Creek in June, 1794, against the garrison established by General Anthony Wayne at Presqu’ Isle, when he went out against the Miami Indians.

----------

Reading Railroad Incorporated by Act Passed April 4, 1833

The Philadelphia and Reading Railway Company was incorporated by special act of the Legislature of Pennsylvania, approved April 4, 1833.

The charter granted to the company, December 5, 1833, authorized it to construct a railroad from Reading to Philadelphia. At Reading it was proposed to connect with the Little Schuylkill Navigation and Railroad, which had been incorporated in 1827, to build a railroad from Tamaqua to Reading. By a latter statute the company was authorized to extend its road from Reading to Port Clinton, where connection was made with the Little Schuylkill and Navigation and Railroad.

The Philadelphia and Reading Railroad was planned primarily to transport anthracite from the Schuylkill region to Philadelphia and intermediate points, especially where a number of blast furnaces were then operating.

Anthracite was known to exist in the Schuylkill Valley as early as 1800, since which time the iron industry had become one of much importance, the first furnace being established on Manatawney Creek, near Pottstown, in 1716. Wood and charcoal were first used in smelting the ore, but the increasing scarcity of these fuels led to experiments, which, in 1808, proved that anthracite could be used advantageously as furnace fuel.

Anthracite was first transported by the Schuylkill Canal from the vicinity of Pottsville to Philadelphia, and the furnaces in the Schuylkill Valley. The growing need for this new fuel in domestic and furnace use and the limitations of canal transportation led to the era of railroad construction between the anthracite regions and tidewater ports.

On December 5, 1839, the railroad was opened to traffic from Reading to Philadelphia, and on January 1, 1842, the first locomotive and train passed over the entire line between Mount Carbon in Schuylkill County, and Philadelphia. On May 17, 1842, the Richmond Branch, from the Falls of the Schuylkill to the terminal at Port Richmond, on the Delaware, was opened, from which time the Reading has been an important railroad.

In 1853 the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company began the construction of the Lebanon Valley Railroad, extending from Reading to Harrisburg. The line was completed in 1858, and merged into the Reading Railroad.

May 8, 1871, the parent company bought the Northern Liberties and Penn Township Railroad, in Philadelphia, control of which had been obtained in 1857.

In the period between 1859 and 1870, the Philadelphia and Reading Railroad Company commenced the systematic extension which has resulted in the development of the present Reading System. In that period the company acquired through purchase or lease twenty-six railroads. Between 1870 and 1880, thirteen more were acquired; in the next decade nine were added; from 1890 to 1900 eight were acquired and since 1900, four more were added, until, at the present time the Reading Company, with its affiliated lines operates 1619.15 miles of railroad, exclusive of the Central Railroad of New Jersey, and 3.63 miles of road leased jointly by the Reading Company and the Central Railroad of New Jersey.

Forming quite a contrast with the huge high-speed Pacific type locomotives used today, are the locomotives used in the early days. At first these locomotives in appearance were somewhat grotesque. Their loud puffing was alarming, and the twenty-mile speed was terrifying.

One of these early engines, the Rocket, has been preserved for posterity and is on exhibition in the Columbia Avenue Station in Philadelphia.

The Rocket never ran when it rained. On clear days it was capable of taking a train at nearly thirty miles per hour. It burned wood as fuel but later adopted coal.

The engineer of the Rocket was also the fireman. When his steam was running low he reached over, grabbed a log from the pile along the platform, thrust it into the fire box, then again became an engineer. There was only one lever, and that was the throttle. All the way ahead there was one speed, same in reverse. There were only four wheels and no driving rods. There were no brakes on the Rocket. It had a kerosene bull’s eye and a pop whistle, and at night when it came crashing along at its twenty-mile clip, its bull’s-eye quivering, its stack emitting sparks, its whistle popping, it was the marvel of the countryside.

Of almost equal interest are the stories of the first day coaches and the Pullman cars. In the early days the coaches were very narrow, built to meet the conditions of the narrow-gauge tracks, as there was a row of double seats in one side of the aisle and a row of single seats on the other.

There were first and second class coaches, designated by the figure 1 and 2 on the sides of the car. Those of the first class were upholstered with black hair cloth, while the second-class had only plain wooden seats and backs. The windows were small and placed near the roof.

In the winter the cars were heated with wood stoves. The cars were lighted with candles. When a change from one line to another was made each passenger picked out his own baggage and attended to its loading on the new train.

At the dining stations the menu consisted of coffee and ham sandwiches and sometimes beef stew.

The first sleeping cars were the ordinary day coaches changed by adding sleeping requirements. They were usually divided into four compartments, in each of which three bunks were built against one side of the car, while in a corner of the rear end of the car were provided water, a towel and a basin. No bedclothes were furnished, and the passengers, fully dressed, retired upon rough mattresses with their overcoats pulled over them for covering.

Continued patronage by the public of the day coaches, parlor, sleeping and dining cars led, step by step to the facilities for comfortable and luxurious travel offered today, where there is nothing left to be desired and modern American railroad comfort is supreme.

----------

Mary Jemison, White Woman of Genesee, Captured April 5, 1758

The thrilling narrative of the life of Mary Jemison, who was captured by the Indians April 5, 1758, when only twelve years old, and who continued to live among them during her long and eventful life, marrying two chiefs of renown, continues to this day to be a wondrous story of one of the most remarkable captivities suffered at the hands of the Indians by the pioneer settlers of this country.

Mary Jemison, who came to be known as “The White Woman of the Genesee,” related her own story of her capture and life among the Indians when eighty years old.

She endured hardship and suffering with astonishing fortitude, and amidst all the surrounding of barbaric life she preserved the sensibilities of a white woman. The story of the captivity may be briefly told as follows: Thomas and Jane Erwin Jemison emigrated from Ireland about the year 1746. Mary, the fourth child, was born on shipboard during the voyage to America.

Thomas Jemison removed his family to the then frontier settlements of Pennsylvania on a tract of excellent land lying on Marsh Creek, in Franklin Township, Adams County. They removed to another place near the confluence of Sharps Run and Conewago Creek, a short distance from their first home.

A few neighbors had come to live with the Jemison family on account of the men being with Washington’s army and their fear of the Indians.

One morning Mary returned from an errand to the mill, and a man took her horse to his house after a bag of grain. Mary’s father was busy with the chores, her mother was getting breakfast; the two older brothers were in the barn, and the little ones with Mary and the neighbor woman and her three children in the house.

Breakfast was not yet ready when they were alarmed by the discharge of a number of guns. On opening the door the man and horse lay dead. The Indians captured Mr. Jemison, then rushed into the house and made prisoners of Mrs. Jemison, Robert, Matthew, Betsey and Mary and the other woman and her three children and then plundered the house. The two brothers in the barn escaped and afterward went to Virginia.

In the attacking party were six Indians and four Frenchmen, and after they took everything they wanted and all the food in the house, they set out in great haste with their prisoners, keeping them in single file, using a whip when any one lagged behind. No food or water was given them all that day, and at night, fatigued and hungry, they were compelled to lie upon the ground without fire or shelter. In the morning they were given breakfast from the provisions taken from the Jemison home.

They were made to march a great distance the second day and at night had a meal with bread and meat.

An Indian removed Mary’s shoes and stockings and put a pair of moccasins on her feet which Mrs. Jemison believed meant they intended to spare her life and destroy the other captives. An Indian removed the shoes and stockings from the neighbor boy, and after putting moccasins on him, led him and Mary off from the others some distance into the woods and there laid down with them for the night.

That was the last time Mary ever saw her parents, for during the night, the Indians murdered in most cruel manner the rest of the captives and left their bodies in the swamps to be devoured by wild beasts.

During the next day’s march Mary had to watch them scrape and dry the scalps of her parents, brothers and sisters and neighbors. Her mother’s hair being red, she could easily distinguish it from the others, but she knew them all, and the sight was one which remained with her during all her life.

The boy was given to the French and Mary was given to two Shawnee squaws. They started down the Ohio in canoes, toward their home at Sciota. Upon arrival at the home of the squaws, Mary was given a suit of Indian clothing and formally adopted according to Indian custom, replacing a brother of the squaws, who had been killed in war. She was given the Indian name Dickewamis, which means pretty girl or good thing. She was not allowed to speak English, so soon learned the Indian tongue.

At this time the English had taken Fort Pitt, and as soon as the corn was harvested the Indians went to the fort to make peace with the British and Mary was taken along. She went with a light heart, feeling sure she was to be restored to her brothers. The English asked her many questions about herself, and this interest so alarmed her Indian sisters that they hurried her away in their canoe. She learned later that some white people had come to take her away, but could not find her.

Her Indian sisters made her marry a Delaware Indian named Sheninjee. Mary spoke of him as noble, large in stature, elegant in appearance, generous in conduct, courageous in war, a friend to peace and a great lover of justice. Truly a fine tribute for an Indian warrior.

Her first child died soon after birth, but the fourth year she had a son who she named in memory of her father, Thomas Jemison.

She had many hardships traveling with her child to the Genesee country, which was 600 miles through an almost pathless wilderness.

Her husband died while she was en route to her new home. Several times efforts were made to restore her to the English, and on one occasion the chiefs determined she should be given up, but she fought against it herself and her Indian brother helped her in her effort to remain among the Indians.

Several years after the death of her husband she married Hiokatoo, commonly called Gardow, by whom she had four daughters and two sons. Her second husband was the most cruel Indian known.

Mary Jemison continued to live in the German Flats, N. Y., and upon the death of Hiokatoo became possessed of much valuable land.

Two great sorrows were experienced when a feud between her sons resulted in John, a wayward fellow, killing Thomas, who was a great comfort to his mother and a leader among the Indians, and some years later John killed his other brother, Jesse.

This double grief was almost more than the venerable woman could endure and it was not assuaged when John was murdered in a drunken quarrel with two Indians.

She was naturalized April 19, 1817, by which she received a clear title to her reservation. In 1823 she disposed of the major portion of her real estate holdings, reserving a tract two miles long and one mile wide.

She died September 19, 1833, aged ninety-one years, and was buried with Christian service in the cemetery of Seneca Mission Church, Buffalo Creek Reservation. Her body was reinterred on March 7, 1874, in the Indian Council House Grounds at Letchworth Park, where an elegant bronze statue marks the grave of Mary Jemison, “The White Woman of the Genesee.”

----------

Governor Penn Makes Trip Through State, Starting April 6, 1788

Following the last great purchase from the Indians at Fort Stanwix, October 23, 1784, the State enjoyed a steady flow of immigration. There was an abundance of fertile and cheap lands, a desirable climate and low taxes. It was possible for a foreigner to buy and hold lands with relinquishment of their allegiance to the country of their birth. This right had been granted for three years from 1787, and was continued for a longer period after 1790.

About this time John Penn, son of Thomas Penn, and a grandson of William Penn, and twice governor of the Province, traveled through the State to look after some of the Proprietary estates, and during his trip from Philadelphia to Carlisle and return he made some notes that are replete with interest.

He set out from Philadelphia on the morning of April 6, 1788, on horse back. He passed through the Township of Roxborough, and on his way saw two meeting houses filled with people, another proof that the Friends were still faithful to their old traditions.

At a tavern where he alighted he met a hoary-headed guest who invited him within, calling him the “honorable proprietor.” That night he rested at Brooke’s tavern and very much admired the sign, which was a striking likeness of Dr. Benjamin Franklin, painted by George Rutter (Ritter), a noted sign painter of that period. He then called on Frederick A. Muhlenberg, Speaker of the last Assembly.

As Penn drew near Reading he was questioned by a person concerning a manor of which he was the owner. This was Penn’s Mount, at that time on the eastern limits of the town. Penn thought Reading was finely situated. He dined on catfish with Abraham Whitman, the only tavern keeper who had not voted against the confirmation of the proprietary estate. He visited a ferry, still belonging to him, and from there went to a farm “belonging to the proprietors,” which he determined to divide and sell in smaller parcels.

Penn paid a visit to Angelica, the beautiful farm belonging to General Thomas Mifflin, situated a few miles from Reading. A neighbor of General Mifflin’s, who attracted Penn’s attention, was “one of the marrying Dunkers, who live in their own houses like other countrymen, but wear their beards long.”

Penn tarried here until the 9th, then went to Womelsdorf, passing on the way one place that was “remarkable for its European appearance.” He then rode through Lebanon, “a handsome town containing some hundred inhabitants.” The horses were “baited” at Millerstown.

About sunset Penn caught his first glimpse of the Susquehanna “flowing between its wooded and cultivated banks close to the town” of Harrisburg.

Penn adds: “Mr. Harris, the owner and founder of the town, informed me that three years ago there was but one house built and seemed to possess pride and pleasure in his success.

“Though the courts are held here generally, Lebanon is infinitely larger. The situation of this place is one of the finest I ever saw. One good point of view is the tavern, almost close to the river. It is called the Compass, and is one of the first public houses in Pennsylvania. The room I had is twenty-two feet square and high in proportion.”

After breakfast on the morning of April 11 Penn and John Harris walked to the ferry and had a thrilling experience while ferrying across the river, and on account of the high water and swift current they were carried far out of their course.

About two miles west of the river they passed the home of Robert Whitehill, the Assemblyman, and about 3 o’clock in the afternoon they reached the town of Carlisle.

The first buildings seen were three or four separate wings, intended for magazines originally, but granted by Congress to the trustees of Dickinson College for twenty years. The Reverend Charles Nisbet, D. D., was then at the head of the institution.

In the neighborhood of Carlisle Penn had lands in charge of General John Armstrong. Colonel Robert Magaw was also his companion during his stay in Carlisle.

After remaining in Carlisle until the 13th Penn commenced his return to Philadelphia by rising early in order “to see a cave near Conedoguinet Creek,” in which the water petrifies as it drops from the roof. Then he resumed his route and noted the “Yellow Breeches Creek,” reaching the Susquehanna, again crossed Harris’ Ferry and then traveled along the eastern bank of the river to Middletown. He was impressed with the scenery and made many comments about both banks of the river. He wrote:

“At Middletown I put up at one More’s, who was a teacher formerly at Philadelphia of Latin and Greek. He talked very sensibly, chiefly on subjects which discovered him to be a warm Tory and friend of passive obedience. Here the Great Swatara joins the Susquehanna, and a very fine mill is kept at their confluence by Mr. Frey, a Dutchman, to whom I carried a letter from Mr. D. Clymer.”

“April 14. Before my departure Mr. Frey showed me his excellent mill and still more extraordinary millstream, running from one part of the Swatara for above a mile till it rejoins it at the mouth. It was cut by himself, with great expense and trouble, and is the only work of the kind in Pennsylvania. Middletown is in a situation as beautiful as it is adapted to trade, and already of respectable size.”

Penn then writes of passing through Elizabethtown, and over Creeks Conewago and Chickesalunga, and adds: “As you leave Dauphin for Lancaster County the lands improve.” He was told of a farm “said to be worth £15 per acre.”

On his return through Lancaster Penn learned that the country was friendly to the new Federal Constitution, the argument being “that matters could not be worse nor taxes higher.”

“April 15. I rode alone over to Bluerock and spent a great part of the day in examining the grounds, not returning till dusk. The consequence of this ride was the resolution I made of keeping or purchasing nearly 200 acres round a spot admirably calculated for a country seat.”

Penn’s next stop was at the Horse and Groom, next to Nottingham Meeting House. To this society William Penn had given forty acres as a place of worship. The titles were in dispute, owing to the boundary lines being uncertain between Pennsylvania and Maryland, and the grandson, having his eyes wide open to all possibilities, remarked that he could gain little information of his “claims to these lands.”

Continuing his journey Penn reached Wilmington, and after a brief visit there returned to Philadelphia.

----------

Edwin Forrest, the Great American Actor, Founded the Home for Actors, April 7, 1873

One of the asylums which has attracted more attention than many others is the Edwin Forrest Home for Retired Actors.

It was founded under the direction of Edwin Forrest, the famous tragedian, who by his will, dated April 5, 1866, bequeathed to his executors, James Oakes of Boston, James Lawson of New York, and David Dougherty of Philadelphia, all his property, with the exception of annuities to his sisters and some personal legacies, in trust for an institution “which they will call the Edwin Forrest Home.” He further directed that it should be established at his country place called Spring Brook, below Holmesburg, in the city of Philadelphia, which he had purchased some years before.

Mr. Forrest recommended that an application should be made to the Legislature for a charter to trustees, with authority to conduct the affairs of the institution in accordance with his plans.

Application was accordingly made, and on April 7, 1873, James Oakes of Boston, James Lawson of New York, Daniel Dougherty, John W. Forney, James H. Castle, John H. Michener, and the mayor of Philadelphia for the time being, were made a body politic by the name of the Edwin Forrest Home, with authority to carry out the designs of the donor.

The estate which Mr. Forrest left was largely in real property, land and houses, some of it unproductive and waiting for a market, so that there was no product from it. In addition there was a claim on behalf of his wife, who had been separated from him for years, which seemed to affect his property. She had been divorced in the State of New York, where the judge had allowed her alimony, three thousand dollars per year, and this claim was thought to be good against Mr. Forrest’s estate during the entire period of her life.

This condition embarrassed the executors, but a compromise was arrived at which released the property, upon payment of a large sum of money, by which the aggregate fund for the support of the home was considerably diminished.

The executors were not able to open the home until 1876, when it commenced with four inmates, William Lomas, George G. Spear, Mrs. Rhoda Wood and Mrs. Burroughs. To these old actors and actresses was shortly added Jacob W. Thoman, who had made his first appearance at the Chestnut Street Theater, Philadelphia, in 1834.

The location of the home was far out in the country and the actors who spent their life in the environment of the stage, would prefer to spend their declining days near the theatres, so that they could frequently visit them and renew acquaintances and friendships with old companions of the mask and wig.

The mansion was a fine house, and capable of being made comfortable. It was of old style, three stories high, skirted by broad pillared porticos, tastefully decorated with growing plants.

The halls and rooms were hung with portraits and works of arts, and marble busts of the great characters of earlier days were there in abundance. Many fine oil portraits of Forrest in different roles were among the collection of art. Many interesting play-bills of his early performances, and portraits of most of the actors who had won fame before the footlights were on the walls.

The bedrooms were each furnished with high-post bedsteads, and old types of bureaus and dressers.

The library was unique and wonderfully furnished, and the eight thousand volumes embraced the classics, treatises upon art, and interesting histories of the stage. In niches of the walls were busts of the nation’s great men. Art masterpieces in oil and marble were to be found in the old home.

The farm attached to the fine mansion contains one hundred and eleven acres.

Edwin Forrest was born in Philadelphia, March 9, 1806. He died there December 12, 1872.

His father was Scotch, his mother of German birth. He exhibited from early age a taste for the stage, and when eleven years old participated in theatrical representations as a member of an amateur club, sometimes performing female roles.

His first appearance on the regular stage was on November 27, 1820, in the part of Douglas in Home’s tragedy of that name.

A protracted professional tour in the west and south ensued, in which he won considerable reputation.

His first great success was achieved May 26, 1826, in the Park Theater, New York, as Othello. This led to a long engagement at the Bowery Theater, where he enjoyed extraordinary popularity.

In 1836 he crossed the Atlantic and first appeared as Spartacus in Drury Lane Theater, London, October 17. He achieved distinguished success, and acquired the friendship of Macready, Kemble, and others.

In 1837 he married Catherine Norton Sinclair, daughter of John Sinclair the singer, and soon afterward returned to the United States, where he was welcomed by enthusiastic audiences.

In 1845 Mr. and Mrs. Forrest returned to London. During this visit, which lasted two years, a rupture occurred in the friendly relations between Forrest and Macready, and to the zeal with which the friends of the former espoused his quarrel was due the disgraceful riot in New York, May 10, 1849, during an engagement of Macready at the Astor Place Theater. This was accompanied by serious loss of life.

Soon after Forrest separated from his wife, and between 1853 and 1860 he retired from professional life, but when he returned to the stage he filled the role of Hamlet with all his former acceptance.

Latterly he suffered considerably from illness, and his last engagement began on February 6, 1871.

He died of apoplexy, surviving the attack only half an hour.

He was a man of fine presence, well equipped for his profession, naturally frank and engaging.

A large part of his valuable library and Shakespeare collection, which he had spent many years in gathering, was almost entirely destroyed by fire in his house in Philadelphia, January 15, 1873.

----------

Monument Erected to Colonel Kelly, Revolutionary

War Hero, April 8, 1835

A monument to the memory of Colonel John Kelly was erected with impressive ceremonies April 8, 1835, in the Presbyterian burial-ground, in the borough of Lewisburg. A company of cavalry from Northumberland County, one from Union, and three infantry companies participated. General Abbott Green was grand marshal, with General Robert H. Hammond, General Michael Brobst, Colonel Philip Ruhl and Surgeon Major Dr. James S. Dougal as aids.

The parade was formed by the adjutant, Colonel Jackson McFadden, with the citizen militia on the right of line, followed by the veterans of the Revolutionary War and those of the War of 1812, and hundreds of citizens.

The most interesting feature of the large procession was a float which was drawn by four gray horses, upon which was placed the monument. Cavalry on either side acted as a guard of honor. In the carriages were the orator, General James Merrill, the clergy, and relatives of the old hero in whose honor the celebration was being held.

Upon its arrival at the ground, after the proper military manoeuver was performed, the monument was set by the architects, William Hubbard, F. Stoughton, Samuel Hursh and Charles Penny. The orator had a subject worthy of his best efforts, for such was Colonel John Kelly.

Colonel Kelly was born in Lancaster County, February, 1744. Almost immediately after the purchase from the Indians, November 5, 1768, he went to Buffalo Valley, in what is now Union County. There he endured hardships common to all the settlers who pushed out along the frontiers. He was in the prime of manhood, of a robust constitution, vigorous and muscular, 6 feet 2 inches in height, and almost insensible to fatigue, and so accustomed to dangers that bodily fear was foreign to his nature.

Colonel Kelly served in the Revolutionary War and distinguished himself in the battles of Trenton and Princeton. In the course of one of the retreats Colonel James Potter sent an order to Major Kelly to have a certain bridge cut down to prevent the advance of the British, who were then in sight. Kelly sent for an ax, but represented that the enterprise would be very hazardous. Still the British advance must be stopped and the order was not withdrawn. He said he could not order another to do what some would say he was afraid to do himself—he would cut down the bridge.

Before all the logs were cut away he was within range of the British fire, and many balls struck the logs. The last log fell sooner than he expected and he fell with it into the swollen stream. The American soldiers moved off, not believing it possible to assist him to make his escape. He, however, reached the shore and joined the troops and managed to capture an armed British scout on the way and took him into camp a prisoner of war.

History records the fact that our army was saved by the destruction of that bridge, but the manner in which it was done or the person who did it is not mentioned.

After his discharge Major Kelly returned to his farm and family, and during the three succeeding years the Indians were troublesome to the settlers on the West Branch. He became colonel of the regiment, and it was his duty to guard the valley against the incursions of the savages.

When the “Big Runaway” occurred following the Wyoming massacre, Colonel Kelly was among the first to return. For at least two harvests reapers took their rifles to the field, and some of the company watched while others wrought.

Colonel Kelly had the principal command of scouting parties in the valley, and very often he went in person. Many nights he laid on the branches of trees without a fire, because it would have indicated his position to the enemy. He was skilled in Indian mode of warfare and was a terror to their marauding bands.

So greatly was he feared by the savages that they determined on his destruction and, being too cowardly to attack him openly, sought his life by stealth. One night he apprehended they were near. He rose early next morning and, looking through the crevices of his log house, he ascertained that two at least, if not more, were lying with their arms so as to shoot him when he should open his door. He fixed his own rifle and took his position so that by a string he could open the door and watch the Indians. The moment he pulled the door open two balls came into the house and the Indians rose to advance. He fired and wounded one, when they both retreated. When safe to do so he followed them by the blood, but they escaped.

After the capture and destruction of Fort Freeland, Colonel Kelly with a company of men went to the scene of the battle and buried the dead.

For many years Colonel Kelly held the office of Justice of the Peace, and, in the administration of justice, he exhibited the same anxiety to do right, which had characterized him in his military service. He would at any time forego his own fees, and, if the parties were poor, pay the constable’s costs, to procure a compromise.

While he was a devout Presbyterian he entertained an intense hatred for an Indian. When the Presbytery of Northumberland called on Colonel Kelly for a contribution to be used to evangelize the savages, he refused to give one cent, but said he would cheerfully subscribe any sum required to buy ropes to hang them.

Toward the end of a long and active life, Colonel Kelly became by disease incapable of much motion; and seldom left his home. He died February 18, 1832, aged eighty-eight years. He was greatly respected by his neighbors and friends, and it is little wonder that a monument was unveiled to his memory three years later.

The spring of 1856 the monument, together with his remains, were removed to the new and beautiful cemetery on the western border of the Union County seat.

The old colonel was survived by his wife, seven sons and two daughters. One son, James, was the father of United States Senator James K. Kelly, of Oregon.

----------

Captain John Armstrong Murdered in Jack’s Narrows April 9, 1744

John Armstrong, a trader among the Indians, residing on the Susquehanna above Peter’s Mountain, on the east bank of the river, and two of his servants, James Smith and Woodward Arnold, were barbarously murdered April 9, 1744, by an Indian of the Delaware tribe named Musemeelin in Jack’s Narrows, now Huntingdon County.

The murderer was apprehended and delivered up by his own nation and imprisoned at Lancaster, whence he was removed to Philadelphia lest he should escape or his trial and execution, if found guilty, produce an unfavorable impression on the Indians. This was particularly important, as a large council was about to convene at Lancaster.

Governor George Thomas directed that the property of Armstrong be returned to his family. He also invited a deputation of the Delaware tribe to attend the trial of Musemeelin and to be present at his execution, if such was to take place.

Nine of Armstrong’s relatives and neighbors went in search of the remains of the murdered men and to gather such evidence as they could about the details of the crime. They signed a deposition before James Armstrong, one of His Majesty’s justices of the peace for Lancaster County, dated “Paxtang, 19th day of April, 1744.”

These deponents testified that when they learned of the murder they met at the house of Joseph Chambers, in Paxtang, and determined to go to Shamokin and consult with Shilkellamy, the vicegerent of the Six Nations, what they should do concerning the affair.

Shikellamy sent eight Indians to accompany the deponents. The entire party then went to the house of James Berry, on Mahantango Creek, which empties into the Susquehanna above the mouth of the Juniata.

On the way to Berry’s three of the Indians ran away, but on the morning after their arrival there, the deponents, with the five Indians, set out in quest of the bodies.

They proceeded to the last known sleeping place of John Armstrong and his men, and a short distance from this place James Berry picked up the shoulder bone of a human being. He showed his find to his companions, and the action of the Indians at this time proved to the whites that they knew more about the crime than they had made known.

The party proceeded along a path three miles, heading to the Juniata Narrows, to a point where they suspected the crime to have been committed. Here the white men directed the Indians to go farther down the creek, but they hung back, and actually followed the white men. Some eagles or vultures were noticed and then the Indians disappeared.

At this place a corpse was discovered, which they believed to be that of James Smith; three shots were heard at a short distance, and the deponents, believing the Indians had fired them to advise the finding of another corpse, rushed to the place, but the Indians had run away. A quarter of a mile farther down the creek the corpse of Woodward Arnold was found lying on a rock.

The deponents examined the bodies of Arnold and Smith and found them to have been most barbarously and inhumanely murdered by being gashed with deep cuts on their heads with tomahawks, and other parts of their bodies mutilated. The body of Armstrong was believed to have been eaten by the savages.

This deposition was signed by Alexander Armstrong, a brother of John, the murdered man, who lived at the mouth of Armstrong’s Creek, above the present town of Halifax, Dauphin County; Thomas McKee; John Foster, who also lived on the west side of the Susquehanna; William Baskins, James Berry, who lived on the east side, near the Juniata, and John Watts, James Armstrong and David Denny.

The atrocity of this outrage was so revolting that a Provincial Council was held to take the matter into consideration, and it was finally resolved that Conrad Weiser should be sent to Shamokin to make demands, in the name of the Governor, for those concerned in the crime.

Mr. Weiser arrived at Shamokin, May, 1744, and delivered Governor Thomas’ message to Allummapees, then the Delaware King, a large number of that tribe and in the presence of Shikellamy and a small number of the Six Nations.

Following the presentation of the affidavit, Allummapees replied, confessing the guilt of Musemeelin. Shikellamy then arose and entered into a full account of the unhappy affair.

He claimed that Musemeelin owed Armstrong some skins, and that Armstrong seized a horse and rifled gun belonging to the Indian in lieu of the skins. These were taken by Smith for Armstrong.

When Musemeelin met Armstrong near the Juniata, he paid all the account but twenty shillings and demanded his horse. Armstrong refused to give up the animal, and after a quarrel the Indian went away in great anger.

Some time later Armstrong and his two servants, on their way to the Ohio country, passed by the cabin of Musemeelin, and his wife demanded the horse of Armstrong, but by this time he had sold the beast to James Berry.

Upon his return from a hunting trip his wife told Musemeelin of her demand to Armstrong. This angered the Indian, who determined on revenge.

Musemeelin engaged two young Indians to go on a hunting trip, but he led them to the camp of Armstrong and his men. When they arrived at a fire James Smith was sitting there alone. Musemeelin told Smith he wanted to speak with him privately, and they went into the woods. Musemeelin soon came back laughing, as he had killed Smith and shot Arnold, whom he found coming back to the camp.

The young Indians were terrified, but too afraid of Musemeelin to leave him. They soon came across John Armstrong sitting on an old log. Musemeelin asked: “Where is my horse?” Armstrong replied: “He will come by and by.” “I want him now,” said Musemeelin. “You shall have him. Come to the fire and let us smoke and talk together,” said Armstrong. As they proceeded, Armstrong in the advance, Musemeelin shot him in the back, then tomahawked him.

Shikellamy further said that the three Indians buried John Armstrong and that the others were thrown into the river.

Jacks Narrows, where this crime was committed, takes it name from Captain John (Jack) Armstrong, the victim.

Musemeelin was not convicted of the crime, but returned to his wigwam and was looked upon by his savage people as a hero.

----------

Tories of Sinking Valley Take Oath to King April 10,1778

Among the tragedies during the Revolutionary war, none seem more melancholy than those connected with efforts of the disaffected to escape to the enemy. During the winter of 1777–78, British agents were busy along the western frontier and as far east as Cumberland County, seeking to corrupt the frontier settlers, insinuating sentiments of discontent, assuring them that the American cause was sure to fail and making glittering promises of reward for those who should join the cause of the King.

One of the agents visited the valleys of the Allegheny Mountains in what is now Blair County, but then was a part of Bedford. He was successful in deluding a considerable band of ignorant frontiersmen by the most despicable methods.

This rascal held out to these mountaineers a vision of wholesale plunder and carnage on the property of their patriot neighbors. His appeals were made only to the vicious, who were promised if they would organize and join a force of British and Indians coming down the Allegheny Valley in the spring they would be permitted to participate in a general onslaught on the settlements and would receive their share of the pillage and, in addition to this, they should each receive grants for the lands of the rebel neighbors to the extent of 300 acres each, wherever they should select.

One of the men who entered into this despicable plot afterward confessed that it was the design to slaughter the peaceable inhabitants without mercy—men, women and children—and seize their property and lands.

In the northern part of Blair County is a deep valley called Sinking Spring Valley. It is still a wild and romantic country, but 150 years ago was singularly desolate and lonely and seemed a fitting place for the meeting of such conspirators as had been enlisted in this cruel Tory plot.

In Sinking Spring Valley the tory band held its gatherings during February and March, 1778. Many of the plotters were from the frontier settlement of Frankstown, near what is now Hollidaysburg. The leader was John Weston, a bold, lawless man, half farmer, half hunter, half civilized, who lived with his wife and brother, Richard, in a crude mountain cabin.

The British agent, having thoroughly enlisted Weston in the murderous enterprise, returned up the Allegheny, promising to be at Kittanning about the middle of April, with 300 Indians and white men, there to meet his mountain friends and with them swoop down on the other settlements, and make all of his partisans weary under the burden of their rich plunder.

Weston furthered the propaganda and enlisted thirty of his neighbors in the adventure. Alarming intelligence of the Tory plans leaked out, reached the larger settlement of Standing Stone, now Huntingdon, where it was reported that a thousand Indians and Tories were about to fall on the frontier.

A stockade had been built at Standing Stone, but its garrison never consisted of more than a score of green militiamen, and there was a general flight of the terrified people from the upper valley of the Juniata toward Carlisle and York.

The band of plotters was joined, about April 1, by a man named McKee, of Carlisle. He had been in communication with a British officer, who was confined in Carlisle, with other prisoners of war. He gave McKee a letter addressed to all British officers, vouching for the loyalty of McKee and his associates. This letter was to be used in securing protection and a welcome for the Sinking Spring Valley Tories when they should meet with the British and Indians on their flight to the Allegheny.

At the appointed time word reached the valley that a large force of Indians had gathered at Kittanning. The last meeting of the plotters was held April 10, in the forest, and thirty-one took the oath of allegiance and pledged themselves to follow Weston.

On the following morning, at the break of day they began their march over the mountains. In the afternoon of the second day they had come within a few miles of their intended destination, when they encountered a band of about 100 Iroquois Indians. The savages burst suddenly out of the thicket in full war paint.

John Weston sprang forward, waving his hand and crying out, “Friends! Friends!” The Indians were not in the British conspiracy, but were bent on a plundering raid on their own account and regarded Weston and his armed companions as a hostile party.

The Indian chieftain fired at Weston, and the Tory leader fell dead. His startled and horrified followers halted in dread astonishment. Another of the savages sprang forward and, before the ignorant borderers could recover from their surprise, tore the scalp from Weston’s head.

At this point McKee rushed out, holding aloft in one hand a white handkerchief and in the other hand the letter from the British officer at Carlisle, and called out to the Indians: “Brothers! Brothers!” The savages did not respond. Almost as suddenly as they appeared they vanished into the undergrowth, leaving the bewildered mountaineers alone with their dead and scalped leader. Weston was buried where he fell.

The Tories feared to go forward and even more to return to their homes. They held a consultation, when some declared their intention to return to Bedford County, but others feared arrest and determined they would seek safety elsewhere.

Hard was the fate of this company. Some of them wandered in the forests and perished from hunger. Some of them made their way to the southward, and reached British posts after great suffering. Five of them returned to their homes in Sinking Spring Valley and were seized by the aroused frontiersmen and lodged in the log jail at Bedford.

Richard Weston, brother of the slain leader, was caught near his home by a party of settlers going to work in the lead mines there, and he was sent under guard to Carlisle. Weston confessed the whole plot, but claimed he had been misled by his older brother. He escaped from prison before his trial, so his taint of treason was hardly to be blamed on his brother.

The Supreme Executive Council ordered a special court to try the prisoners at Bedford. It held two sessions in the fall of 1778 and spring of 1779, with General John Armstrong, of Carlisle, as president. The court failed to convict any of the defendants on the charge of high treason. The leaders were either dead or out of the country, and the few men brought before the court seemed to be sufficiently punished by their imprisonment and the contempt of their neighbors.

Those who fled away were tainted with treason and their estates were declared forfeited.

----------

Captain John Brady, Noted Hero, Killed by Indians April 11, 1779

Captain John Brady was foremost in all the expeditions that went out from the West Branch of the Susquehanna settlements, and his untimely death, April 11, 1779, was the worst blow ever inflicted upon the distressed settlers.

John Brady, second son of Hugh and Hannah Brady was born in 1733, near Newark, Delaware. He came with his parents to Pennsylvania, married Mary Quigley, when he was twenty-two years old, and soon thereafter enlisted in the French and Indian War. On July 19, 1763, he was commissioned captain and assigned to the Second Battalion of the Pennsylvania Regiment, commanded by Governor John Penn and Lieutenant Colonels Turbutt Francis and Asher Clayton.

The following year his command was with Colonel Henry Bouquet on his expedition west of the Ohio, and was actively engaged against the Indians who made terrible slaughter in Bedford and Cumberland Counties.

Captain Brady was one of the officers who received land grants from the Proprietaries, and, in 1768, he removed his family to Standing Stone, now Huntingdon. The following year he changed his residence to a site opposite the present town of Lewisburg. He was a land surveyor and his note books furnish much valuable land data.

In 1776 Brady removed to Muncy Manor, where he built a semi-fortified log house, known later as Fort Brady. It was in what is now the borough of Muncy, and was a private affair but was classed among the provincial fortifications.

In December, 1775, when Colonel William Plunket made his famous expedition to the Wyoming Valley, Captain John Brady was one of his ablest assistants. When the Twelfth Regiment of the Continental Line was organized under command of Colonel William Cooke, September 28, 1776, Captain Brady was one of the original captains. Two of Captain Brady’s sons married daughters of Colonel Cooke.

At the Battle of Brandywine the Twelfth was engaged under General John Sullivan and was cut to pieces in the desperate fighting near the Birmingham Meeting House. Captain John Brady was among those seriously wounded, and his son, John, a lad of only fifteen, who had come like David of old, with supplies for the camp and had remained for the battle, was also wounded, and only saved from capture by the act of his colonel in throwing the boy upon a horse when the troops retreated. So fierce was the fighting that every officer in Captain Brady’s company was killed or wounded, together with most of his men.

Captain Brady was given a leave of absence while the army was in winter quarters at Valley Forge, and during this time was at his home at Fort Brady. When the Indians became so troublesome between the North and West Branch Valleys, he removed his family to Sunbury, and September 1, 1778 returned to the army. He served for a time with Colonel Daniel Brodhead’s regiment at Fort Pitt.

James Brady, Captain John’s second son, who was himself a militia captain, was mortally wounded August 8, 1778, while he was working in the field near Fort Muncy. Young Brady survived his frightful wound for five days and died at Sunbury in the arms of his mother, an heroic pioneer woman.

Captain John Brady had taken such an active part in the efforts of the settlers to subdue the Indian atrocities, and his daring and repeated endeavors had so intensified their hatred, that they determined his capture above all other efforts.

April 11, 1779, Captain Brady went up the river some distance to procure supplies for those in the fort, and he took with him a wagon, team and guard, and was in charge of the party. They secured the supplies and were returning in the afternoon, Captain Brady astride a fine mare. Within a short distance of the fort, where the road forked, he was riding a little distance in the rear of the team and guard, and engaged in conversation with Peter Smith, who was walking. He determined that they would not follow the team, but would take another and shorter road to the fort. They rode and walked along together until they reached a small run where the same roads again joined. Brady observed, “This would be a good place for Indians to secrete themselves.” Smith replied “yes.” That instant three rifles cracked and Brady fell.

The mare ran toward Smith, who grabbed her and threw himself upon her back and in a few moments reached the fort.

The people in the fort heard the rifle shots and, seeing Smith on the mare coming at full speed, all rushed out to learn the fate of Captain Brady. Mrs. Brady led those of the party in reaching Smith’s side. Smith told them, “Brady is in heaven or hell or on his way to Tioga,” meaning that he was either killed or taken prisoner. Those in the fort ran to the spot and soon found the captain lying on the ground, his scalp and rifle gone; but the Indians had been in too much haste to take his watch or shot-pouch.

Samuel, known as “Old Sam,” Brady happened to be at the fort when Captain John Brady was killed, and it was he who rushed out, followed by some of the garrison, and bore his brother’s body into the fort.

Thus perished one of the most skilled and daring Indians fighters, on whose sterling qualities and sound judgment the pioneers so much depended.

His remains are interred in the old graveyard near Halls, where a heavy granite marker was erected bearing the inscription:

Captain John Brady Fell in defense of our forefathers at Wolf Run, April 11, 1779. Aged 46 years.

One hundred years after his death funds for a monument were raised by public subscription and $1600 secured, and on October 15, 1879, the shaft was unveiled in Muncy cemetery. The oration was delivered by the Hon. John Blair Linn, in the presence of an immense concourse made up of military and patriotic organizations and thousands of citizens, including several hundred of the Brady family.

----------

General Abner Lacock, United States Senator and Distinguished Citizen, Died in Beaver County, April 12, 1837

In the Biographical Annals of the Civil Government of the United States published in 1876, appears the following brief notice of a once prominent citizen of Pennsylvania:

“Abner Lacock, born in Virginia, in 1770. Without the advantage of much early education, he raised himself by his talents to eminence as a legislator, statesman and civilian. He filled various public stations for a period of nearly forty years; was a Representative in Congress from Pennsylvania from 1811 to 1813, and United States Senator from 1813 to 1819. He died in Beaver County, Pennsylvania, April 12, 1837.”

A search for further information concerning one of whom so little is known by the public, but who was honored with the highest offices in the gift of his neighbors and of the whole people of our State, reveals many interesting details and important events in the life of this man.

Abner Lacock was popularly known as General Lacock. He was born in Cobs Run, near Alexandria, Virginia, July 9, 1770. His father was a native of England, and his mother a native of France. The father emigrated to Washington County, Pennsylvania, while Abner was quite young, and settled on a farm.

In 1796 Abner removed to the town of Beaver, then in Allegheny County, and was one of the first settlers in that neighborhood.

His public career commenced almost immediately after his settlement at Beaver. On September 19, 1796, he was commissioned by Governor Thomas Mifflin a justice of the peace for Pitt Township, Allegheny County. This appointment made him the first public official within the present limits of Beaver County, which was formed out of parts of Allegheny and Washington Counties, March 12, 1800.

In his first office Lacock evinced such a natural strength of mind and sound intelligence that he was elected in 1801, the first Representative to the State Legislature from Beaver County, which post he filled until 1803, when he was commissioned the first associate judge for the new county, but he resigned at the end of the year to again enter the Legislature. The first session of court was held in Abner Lacock’s house, February 6, 1804.

After serving four successive terms in the House, in 1808, he was elected to the Senate, representing Allegheny, Beaver and Butler Counties in the upper body of the Pennsylvania Legislature with marked ability.

The War of 1812 with the agitation which preceded it brought him into the larger field of national politics. In 1810 he was elected by the people of his district as the “War Candidate” to Congress, when he showed such qualities of leadership that in 1813 the Legislature of his State with great unanimity elected him a Senator of the United States. He served in the House during the Twelfth Congress and in the Senate in the Thirteenth, Fourteenth and Fifteenth Congresses.

General Lacock was a warm friend of Madison and Monroe, and a bitter enemy of Andrew Jackson. In his later years he was an Adams and Henry Clay Whig.

On December 18, 1818, a select committee of five members was appointed in the Senate of the United States, to investigate the conduct of General Andrew Jackson in connection with the Seminole War. Of this committee Senator Lacock was chairman, and author of the report made February 24, 1819, which severely arraigned Jackson with the violation of the Constitution and International Laws.

This action of the committee made Jackson and his friends furious, he threatening members of the committee with personal violence. Lacock was unafraid and wrote frequently about Jackson’s boasting only in public, and that he should never avoid him a single inch.

The clash never came, and they left the capital on the same day, and in the same public conveyance.

General Lacock was one of the most active promoters of internal improvements in the State of Pennsylvania. Soon after his term in the United States Senate had ceased, he entered heartily into the scheme for uniting the waters of the Delaware and the Ohio by a State line of Canals and railroads. On April 11, 1825, he was appointed one of five commissioners to make a complete survey of the route for the contemplated improvements.

On February 25, 1826, the Legislature authorized the commencement of the work on the canal. General Lacock was chosen to supervise the construction of the Western division of the canal from Pittsburgh to Johnstown.

The first canal boat built or run west of the Allegheny Mountains was named the “General Abner Lacock.” It was built at Apollo by Philip Dally.

Later General Lacock repeatedly served Beaver County in the State Legislature, and in 1836 was appointed to survey and construct the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, known as the “cross-cut canal,” connecting the Erie division of the Pennsylvania Canal with the Portsmouth and Ohio Canal, contracting in its service in that year his last illness.

Besides those named, General Lacock held, or was offered many other positions of high public trust, both in this and other states.

Abner Lacock obtained the title of General in the early part of his public career while serving as an officer of the Pennsylvania militia. As early as 1807 he was a brigadier general, commanding a brigade in the counties of Beaver and Butler.

General Lacock was the friend and earnest champion of the common school system, which when first proposed was very unpopular in Pennsylvania. His library was one of the largest in Western Pennsylvania, and was partially destroyed by a flood in the Ohio River in 1832.

General Lacock was of medium height and well proportioned. He was strong and athletic. He was the father of a large family, but there are no living male descendants of this distinguished citizen.

He died at his residence, near Freedom, on Wednesday morning, April 12, 1837, after a long and painful illness.

----------

Family of Richard Bard Captured by Indians April 13, 1758

During the French and Indian War of 1755–58, the barrier of the South Mountain shielded the settlers of York County, from the savage incursions that desolated the Cumberland Valley and other parts of the frontier of Pennsylvania. Yet occasionally a party more daring than the rest would push across the mountain and murder or carry defenseless families into captivity.

An affecting instance of this kind was the captivity of Richard Bard, which is narrated in detail by his son, the late Archibald Bard, of Franklin County.

Richard Bard owned and resided near a mill, which was later known as Marshall’s Mill, on the Carroll tract, in now Adams County.

On the morning of April 13, 1758, his house was invested by a party of nineteen Delaware Indians, who were discovered by a little girl named Hannah McBride. She was at the door and when they approached she screamed and ran into the house, where were Richard Bard and his wife, a child six months old, a bound boy, and a relative of the Bards, Lieutenant Thomas Potter, a brother of General James Potter.

The Indians rushed into the house, and one of them, with a large cutlass in his grasp, made a blow at Potter, who wrested it from the savage. Mr. Bard laid hold of a pistol that hung on the wall and snapped it at the breast of one of the Indians, but there being tow in the pan it did not fire, but the Indians ran out of the house.

The savages were numerous and there was no ammunition in the Bard home, and fearing a slaughter or being burned alive, those inside surrendered, as the Indians promised no harm would befall them. The Indians went to a field and made prisoners of Samuel Hunter, Daniel McManimy, and a lad named William White, who was coming to the mill.

Having secured the prisoners the Indians plundered the house and set fire to the mill. About seventy rods from the house, contrary to their promises, they put to death Thomas Potter; and having proceeded on the mountain three or four miles, one of the Indians sunk the spear of his tomahawk into the breast of the small child, and after repeated blows scalped it.

The prisoners were taken over the mountain past McCord’s fort, into the Path Valley, where they encamped for the night. The second day the Indians discovered a party of white men in pursuit, on which they hastened the pace of their prisoners, under threat of being tomahawked.

When they reached the top of the Tuscarora Mountain, they sat down to rest, when an Indian, without any previous warning, sunk a tomahawk into the forehead of Samuel Hunter, who was seated next to Richard Bard, killed and scalped him.

Passing over Sideling Hill, and the Allegheny Mountains, by Blair’s Gap, they encamped beyond Stony Creek. Here Bard’s head had been painted red on one side only, denoting that a council has been held, and an equal number were for killing him, and for saving his life, and that his fate would be determined at the next council.

While Mr. and Mrs. Bard were engaged together in plucking a turkey, the former told his wife of his design to escape. Some of the Indians were asleep, and one was amusing the others by dressing himself in Mrs. Bard’s gown. Bard was sent to the spring for water and contrived to escape, while his wife kept the Indians amused with the gown.

The Indians made an unsuccessful search for Bard, and proceeded to Fort Duquesne, then twenty miles down the Ohio River to Kuskusky, in what is now Butler County.

Here Mrs. Bard and two boys and girls were compelled to run the gauntlet, and were beaten in an unmerciful manner. It was at this place that Daniel McManimy was put to death. The Indians formed themselves into a circle round the prisoner, and beat him with sticks and tomahawks, then tied him to a post, and after more torturing he was scalped alive, a gun barrel was heated and passed over his body, and he was pierced in the body until he was relieved from further torture by death.

Mrs. Bard was taken from the other prisoners and led from place to place, until she was finally adopted into the tribe by two Indian men, to take the place of a deceased sister.

She was next taken to the headwaters of the Susquehanna, and during this journey she suffered much from fatigue and illness. She lay two months in this doleful situation, with none to comfort or sympathize with her, a blanket her only covering, and boiled corn her only food.

She met with a woman who had been in captivity several years and was married to an Indian. She told Mrs. Bard that soon as she could speak the Delaware tongue she would be obliged to marry one of the Indians or be put to death. She then resolved not to learn the language. She was kept in captivity two years and five months, during which time she was treated with much kindness by her adopted relations.

Richard Bard suffered extreme hardships in effecting his escape and return to his home, traveling over mountains thick with laurel and briers and covered with snow. His feet were sore, his clothes wet and frozen and he was often exhausted and ready to lie down and perish for want of food. His food during a journey of nine days was a few buds and four snakes, when he reached Fort Littleton, in now Bedford County.

After this he did but little else than wander from place to place in quest of information respecting his wife. He made several perilous journeys to Fort Duquesne, in which he narrowly escaped capture several times. He at length learned she was at Fort Augusta, at Shamokin, and redeemed her.

Before the Bards departed from Shamokin, Richard Bard requested the Indian, who was the adopted brother of his wife, to visit them at their home. Accordingly, some time afterwards the Indian paid them a visit, when the Bards were living about ten miles from Chambersburg.

The Indian remained there for some time and one day went to McCormack’s tavern and became intoxicated, when he fell into a brawl with a rough named Newgen, who stabbed the Indian in the neck. Newgen escaped the wrath of the settlers by fleeing the neighborhood. The Indian was attended by a physician and recovered, being nursed back to health by his adopted sister, Mrs. Richard Bard.

When he returned to his own people he was put to death on the pretext of having, as they said, joined the white people.

----------

Bounties for Scalps of Indians Proclaimed April 14, 1756

After Braddock’s defeat, the protection of the frontiers of Pennsylvania being left to the inhabitants themselves, they rapidly formed companies, designated their own officers and received commissions from Lieutenant Governor Morris.

It was thought that the Indians would do no mischief in Pennsylvania until they could draw all the others out of the province and away from the Susquehanna. But the Delaware and Shawnee had been ravaging in the neighborhood of Fort Cumberland on both sides of the Potomac. In the middle of October, 1755, occurred the terrible massacres of John Penn’s Creek, at the mouth of Mahanoy Creek, and when the Great and Little Coves were destroyed. Shortly after occurred the massacres at Tulpehocken and other places.

When any Indians of the Delaware or Shawnee Nations were discovered they were found in their war paint. These were under the command of Chief Shingass.

These incursions aroused the Quakers, and November 7, 1775, an address signed by Anthony Morris and twenty-two other Quakers was presented to the Assembly, expressing willingness to contribute toward the exigencies of government. But the Assembly and the Executive still fought over the tax bill.

At this juncture Scarouady went to Philadelphia and demanded to know if the people of Pennsylvania intended to fight, yes or no. The Governor explained to the chieftain how the Assembly and he could not agree.

Scarouady, who had suffered defeat with Braddock and remained a firm friend of the English, with many other Indians went to Shamokin to live, or at least hunt, during the ensuing season.

Governor Morris sent Scarouady to the Six Nations to report the conduct of the Delawares. While he was on this mission the Delaware destroyed Gnadenhutten, in Northampton County, and the farm houses between that place and Nazareth were burned January 1, 1756.

Benjamin Franklin, as Commissioner, then marched with several companies and built Fort Allen.

The Delaware, forcing even John Shikellamy to go against the English, sent representatives to the Six Nations to justify their conduct, but were condemned and ordered to desist.

When Lieutenant Governor Morris heard this chastisement given the Delaware, and seeing that it so far had not deterred the enemy, he determined to meet barbarity with barbarity, and gave a hatchet to Scarouady, as a declaration of war against the Delaware, and obtained an offer in writing from Commissioners Fox, Hamilton, Morgan, Mifflin and Hughes to pay rewards for Indian prisoners.

Governor Morris issued a proclamation April 14, 1756, offering such bounties that he hoped would incite not only the soldiers and more venturesome of the inhabitants, but which would also alarm those Indians who still remained friendly to the English.

The proclamation contains the following provisions:

“For every male Indian enemy above twelve years old, who shall be taken prisoner and delivered at any fort, garrisoned by the troops in pay of this Province, or at any of the county towns to the keepers of the common jail there, the sum of 150 Spanish dollars or pieces of eight; for the scalp of every male enemy above the age of twelve years, produced to evidence of their being killed the sum of 130 pieces of eight; for every female Indian taken prisoner and brought in as aforesaid, and for every male Indian prisoner under the age of twelve years, taken and brought in as aforesaid, 130 pieces of eight; for the scalp of every Indian woman, produced as evidence of their being killed, the sum of fifty pieces of eight, and for every English subject that has been killed and carried from this Province into captivity that shall be recovered and brought in and delivered at the City of Philadelphia, to the Governor of this Province, the sum of 130 pieces of eight, but nothing for their scalps; and that there shall be paid to every officer or soldier as are or shall be in the pay of the Province who shall redeem and deliver any English subject carried into captivity as aforesaid, or shall take, bring in and produce any enemy prisoner, or scalp as aforesaid, one-half of the said several and respective premiums and bounties.”

This proclamation gave great offense to the Assembly, but not to the population, especially those who lived in the counties distant from Philadelphia. The times were perilous, and the bounties were absolutely necessary to secure better protection of the borders. To the credit of the hardy and brave frontier pioneers of Pennsylvania be it said no Indian was wantonly killed for the sake of the reward.

Robert Morris resigned the office of Lieutenant Governor he had held during these stirring years, and on August 20, 1756, William Denny arrived from England, and superseded him. Governor Denny was well educated and held in high favor at Court. His advent here was hailed with joy by the Assembly, who flattered themselves that with a change of the executives at this time there would come a change of such measures as had caused their enmity with his predecessors. Upon his assumption of the office and making known the Proprietary instructions, to which he stated he was compelled to adhere, all friendly feeling was at an end, and there was a renewal of the old discord.

Before Governor Morris resigned as Lieutenant Governor he had concerted with Colonel John Armstrong an expedition against the strong Indian town of Kittanning, on the Allegheny River.

----------

Theatrical Performances Begun in State April 15, 1754

The amusements of the young people were for many years of the simplest and most innocent kind. Riding, swimming and skating afforded pleasant outdoor sport.

Yearly Meeting, in 1716, advised Friends against “going to or being in any way concerned in plays, games, lotteries, music and dancing.” In 1719 advice was given “that such be dealt with as run races, either on horseback or on foot, laying wagers, or use any gaming or needless and vain sport and pastimes, for our time passeth swiftly away, and our pleasure and delight ought to be in the law of the Lord.”

Various early laws of the Province prohibited stage plays and amusements, not only bull-baiting, bear-baiting and cock-fighting, but such as were neither immoral nor cruel, as bowls, billiards and quoits.

Macauley said of the Puritans that they opposed bear-baiting “not because it gave pain to the bear, but because it gave pleasure to the spectators.”

Quaker legislation as to games was, indeed, scarcely stricter than Henry VIII’s, but Quakerism discountenanced excitement.

In 1723 a wandering showman arrived in Philadelphia and set up a stage just below South Street, where he was outside the jurisdiction of the City Corporation. At the desire of the Quaker Assemblymen, the Speaker, Joseph Growdon, on March 30, asked Lieutenant Governor Keith to prohibit any performance. This he declined to do, but promised that good order should be kept.

So the actor issued his playbills and gave what is supposed to have been the first entertainment in Pennsylvania that might be called theatrical.

As the man who entertained by his “Comical Humour” in April, 1724, called himself the audience’s “Old friend Pickle Herring,” he may be presumed to have been the owner of both shows. In 1724, he introduced the “Roap-Dancing” as “newly arrived.” The rope-walkers were a lad of seven years and a woman. There was also a woman who would spin around rapidly for a quarter of an hour with seven or eight swords pointed at her eyes, mouth and breast. Governor Keith himself attended one or more of these performances.

Small shows now, from time to time, made their appearance. In 1727, “The Lion, King of Beasts,” was advertised to be exhibited on Water Street.

The Quakers and rigid Presbyterians, who in the early days frowned down dancing and other “frivolous amusements,” could not be expected to countenance the introduction of the drama in Philadelphia. So when Murray and Kean’s company of Thespians made their appearance in 1749 they were not permitted to make a long stay, but were ordered off as soon as the worthy rulers of the city’s morals realized the fact that their entertainments possessed irresistible attractions. So Murray and Kean went to New York and for five years the Philadelphians did not see a play.

In August, 1749, mention is made of the tragedy of Cato being acted; but January 8, 1750, attention being called to some persons having lately taken upon themselves to act plays, and intending “to make a frequent practice thereof,” the City Council asked the magistrates to suppress the same.

In the year 1753 Lewis Hallam’s English company, after traveling a year in the Southern colonies and performing in various places in Virginia and Maryland, went to New York, where they opened their theatre in the month of September. The report of the great success of their talented actors awakened a desire among the more liberal-minded Philadelphians that Hallam should visit the Quaker City.

On April 15, 1754, they gave their first performance in the large brick warehouse of William Plumstead, situated in King or Water Street, between Pine and Lombard Streets. This house remained standing until 1849, when it was pulled down.

The opening piece was the tragedy of “The Fair Penitent,” followed by the farce “Miss in Her Teens.”

Mr. Rigby spoke a prologue and Mrs. Hallam an epilogue written for the occasion, in which, after defending the stage from the accusation of sinfulness and alluding to the effect produced by the tragedy upon the audience, she asked:

“If then the soul in Virtue’s cause we move Why should the friends of Virtue disapprove?”

This temporary theatre was neatly fitted up and opened to a full house. The license was for twenty-four nights but this number was extended to thirty, and the theatre closed June 24 after having had a brilliant and profitable season. One of the performances was given for the benefit of the charity school.

Hallam’s company came back to Philadelphia in 1759 to occupy a permanent theatre erected for them in Southwark, at the corner of Cedar (or South) and Vernon Streets, on Society Hill.

This theatre was opened June 25, 1759, but either because the house was too small and not well equipped or because of discouraging opposition the company only played in it one season. They remained away five years.

On their return a new house, much larger than the first one, was built at the corner of South and Apollo Streets. This new theatre was opened November 12, 1766.

It was in this theatre and by “The American Company” that the first play by an American author performed on any regular stage was given April 24, 1767. This was “The Prince of Porthia,” by Thomas Godfrey, Jr., of Philadelphia.

The American Company played at this theatre several seasons. The theatre remained closed from the beginning of the Revolutionary War until it was opened by the British officers during their occupancy of the city, 1777–78.

These amateur performers gave regular plays, the proceeds going to widows and orphan children of the soldiers. The ill-fated Major Andre and Captain Delancy painted the scenes and other decorations. The curtain, representing a waterfall scene, the work of young Andre, remained in use until the theatre was destroyed by fire May 9, 1823.

After the return of the Continental Congress the Legislature of Pennsylvania legislated against theatrical performances. No plays were given until 1789, when a petition signed by 1900 citizens, asking the repeal of the prohibiting provision relating to theatres, was presented to the Legislature. The religious community presented a petition signed by more than 1000 citizens as a remonstrance against the repeal.

The restrictive portion of the act was repealed and Hallam and Henry opened the Southwark Theatre January 6, 1790, with “The Rivals” and “The Critic.”

The season was unusually brilliant, and the theatre in Philadelphia and elsewhere throughout Pennsylvania has since been popular.

----------

Tedyuskung, Indian Chieftain, Burns to Death in Cabin, April 16, 1763

Tedyuskung was made king of the Delaware nation in the spring of 1756, and from that date until his untimely death this great Indian chieftain exerted a most powerful influence throughout the entire Province of Pennsylvania.

The name is of Munsee dialect, and signifies “the healer,” or “one who cures wounds, bruises, etc.”

He was one of the most famous and crafty of the Delaware chiefs during the period of discussion of the Indian claims, following the sale of the lands along the Delaware and Susquehanna to the Proprietors of Pennsylvania by the Iroquois.

Tedyuskung was born at the present site of Trenton, N.J., about 1705, and died April 16, 1763. Nothing is known of his life before the time he first appears as an historic character, prior to which he was known as “Honest John.”

When about fifty years old he was chosen chief of the Delaware on the Susquehanna, and from that time wielded a potent influence, although he occupied a peculiar position.

Sir William Johnson, of New York, was a zealous friend of the Iroquois, while Conrad Weiser and George Croghan, of Pennsylvania, were strongly prejudiced against the Delaware and Shawnee. The problem which the Provincial Government of Pennsylvania had to solve was how to keep peace with the Iroquois and at the same time prevent the Delaware and the Shawnee who were then becoming independent of the Iroquois, from going over to the French.

The Delaware were conscious they had been unjustly deprived of their lands by the Pennsylvania authorities, aided by the Iroquois. They had been driven from the Delaware to the Susquehanna, and many had been forced even as far west as the Ohio, and now that France and England had commenced to struggle for the possession of that region the Delaware felt they were to be again driven from their home. They were revolting not only against the English, but against their masters, the Iroquois.

At this critical time, when the border settlements in Western Pennsylvania were being ravaged by hostile bands of Delaware and Shawnee, and when the English were making preparations for an expedition to take Fort Duquesne, Tedyuskung took his stand as a friend of the English.

Christian Frederic Post had been sent on a mission to the Ohio Indians, and Conrad Weiser and others were working to retain the friendship of these Indians. The many squatters along the Juniata River and the illegal sale of land at Wyoming made by the Mohawk to the Connecticut settlers complicated the situation and made the work of these emissaries much more difficult and trying. Then the Indians who had been in conference at Albany in 1754, found when they returned home that lands had been sold to the Proprietors which they did not comprehend.

Washington suffered defeat at Fort Necessity and this was followed by the terrible Braddock disaster; which with the evil effects of the rum traffic among the Indians and the almost total neglect by the Province of Pennsylvania had almost entirely alienated them from the English cause.

Then began the several attempts to win them back, but the passage of the Scalp Act and the declaration of war against the Delaware caused this tribe to rise in rebellion against the Province and also against their hated title of “women,” given them by the Iroquois.

Such was the situation when the great council was called at Easton, July, 1756, at which Tedyuskung appeared as the champion of the Delaware. Governor Morris opened the council with a speech, in which he warmly welcomed the chief. Tedyuskung replied: “The Delaware are no longer the slaves of the Six Nations. I, Tedyuskung, have been appointed King over the Five United Nations. What I do here will be approved by all. This is a good day. I wish the same good that possessed the good old man, William Penn, who was a friend of the Indian, may inspire the people of the Province at this time.”

The first session was followed by a grand feast and reception, during which King Tedyuskung and Chief Newcastle were sent to give the “big peace halloo” to the Indians and invite them to a larger conference, which was held at a later time.

Tedyuskung left Easton, but loitered about Fort Allen, where he became drunk and disorderly, and so incensed Lieutenant Miller that the whole outcome of the peace conference was, for a time, endangered.

During this drunken spree Tedyuskung was blamed for having dealings with the French, but no evidence was produced to prove the charges; yet Governor Morris dispatched Chief Newcastle to Sir William Johnson to learn if the Iroquois had deputized Tedyuskung to act for them. This they denied.

Then followed endless discussions in Provincial Council. Governor Morris had been succeeded by Governor Denny, who went to the council at Easton, July, 1757, under a heavy guard. Tedyuskung, in his opening speech, said: “I am sorry for what our people have done. I have gone among our people pleading for peace. If it cost me my life I would do it.”

Tedyuskung demanded a clerk at this Easton Council on threat of leaving, and he was assigned such official. While Tedyuskung was drunk each night, he appeared at council each morning with a clear head and was the equal of any in debate.

This second Easton council determined upon a general peace and Tedyuskung promised to see that their white prisoners were all returned. He then went to Fort Allen, where he and his warriors had a drunken frolic. Conrad Weiser says of him at this time: “Though he is a drunkard and a very irregular man, yet he is a man that can think well, and I believe him to be sincere in what he said.”

A fourth council was held at Easton in October, 1758, when Post had returned from his Western mission. Land disputes again became a principal topic, and Tedyuskung was discredited by the Iroquois, who attempted to destroy his influence with the Provincial Government. They even left the council when he spoke, but the old King won out and the council finally ended in a treaty of peace.

In 1762 the Governor offered Tedyuskung £400 as a present if he would withdraw his charges of fraud in the “Walking Purchase,” and he accepted the bribe.

After all the dealing with the Governors and councils of Pennsylvania, and his personal controversies with the enemy tribes, this last of the chiefs of the eastern Delaware traveled from Philadelphia to his home at Wyoming, and on the night of April 16, 1763, his house was set on fire while he lay on his couch in a drunken debauch and he was burned to death in the flames. The perpetrators of this crime were either Seneca or Mohawk.

He was the most virile chief of the Delaware nation during the years of their subjugation to the Iroquois. His efforts for peace did much to win the Ohio region from the French.

A monument to Tedyuskung has been erected in Fairmount Park, Philadelphia.

----------

Lottery for Union Canal for $400,000 Authorized by Legislature, April 17, 1795

By the act of April 17, 1795, the president and managers of the Schuykill and Susquehanna Navigation, and the president and managers of the Delaware and Schuykill Canal Navigation, were authorized to raise by means of a lottery, a sum of $400,000 for the purpose of completing the works cited in their acts of incorporation, under a prohibition that neither of them should form the same into capital stock, upon which to declare a dividend of profits.

An Act Passed March 4, 1807, authorized the said companies to raise their respective sums separately, subject to the prohibition as to dividends.

The two companies were consolidated by act of April 2, 1811 into a corporation known as the Union Canal Company of Pennsylvania. The new company was authorized to raise money by loan to complete the canal and to use the proceeds of the lotteries already authorized, and by the twenty-eighth section of the act authority was given to raise the residue of the original sum equal to $340,000 by a lottery.

By the act of March 29, 1819 the proceeds of the above lottery were pledged as a fund for the payment of an annual interest of 6 per cent upon the stock of the company.

By these and subsequent acts it appears that the lottery grants were given in the first instance, to the two companies, and afterwards continued to the Union Canal Company to aid and encourage the construction and completion of a canal and lock navigation uniting the waters of the Susquehanna and Schuylkill.

In consequence of these lottery grants, individuals were induced to invest their funds in the furtherance of the work, and loans to the amount of $830,400 were made upon the credit of the capital stock and the profits of the lotteries.

The Union Canal Company entered into contracts for the conduct of these lotteries, the last one, October 6, 1824, for five years, which expired December 31, 1829.

There was much sentiment against these lotteries and as there were laws in force for suppressing and preventing lotteries, there was objection made when the extension of this lottery was brought to the General Assembly. The Committee on Ways and Means, February 9, 1828, reported that it was inexpedient to resume the lottery grants to the Union Canal Company at this time and further resolved, “that the committee be instructed to bring in a bill to regulate lottery brokers, and to restrain the sale of lottery tickets within this Commonwealth.”

For more than half a century after the founding of the Province, Pennsylvania was dominated by the Quakers, who were constantly opposed to all games of chance. At the very first meeting of the Assembly, at Chester, in 1682, an act was passed against cards, dice, lotteries, etc. This and similar acts were annulled by the English Government.

Although lotteries were not legally prohibited only one lottery appears to have been drawn during the next several decades. In 1720 a Mr. Reed by means of a lottery of 350 tickets, which were sold for twenty shillings each, disposed of a new brick house and several lots in Philadelphia.

In 1730 lotteries were prohibited under a penalty of £100, half of which was to go to the Governor, and half to the party bringing suit.

It seems probable that the Provincial Assembly authorized lotteries by special legislation for at least two lotteries had the official sanction of the Philadelphia Council; one in 1747, for the fortification of the City, the other a year later for street paving. From this time until the passage of the anti-lottery act of 1762, lotteries increased in number.

During this period lotteries were drawn for the college, academy and charitable school of Philadelphia, to complete the Episcopal Church, etc.

The act of 1762 proved to be effective in limiting the number and purposes for which lotteries might be established. Between 1762 and 1796, there were only twenty-three lotteries in Pennsylvania. Of these six were private, eight were for public use and nine for the erection of church buildings, in which twenty-one churches were concerned.

With the establishment of the Federal Government the financial condition of the country rapidly improved. With the gradual growth of population, and rapid development of business, came increased demands for new churches, schools, public buildings and improved transportation. To meet these public needs the regular revenue was insufficient and to avoid an abnormal increase in taxation, petitions were presented to the Legislature for the privilege of establishing public or semi-public lotteries.

The Legislature rejected all requests for lotteries, except when some important purpose was to be served. Only one lottery was authorized in 1790, for the erection of a Jewish synagogue; none then until 1795, when one was granted the Aaronsburg Town Lottery, in now Center County, and the other was to aid in opening the canal navigation between the Schuylkill and Susquehanna Rivers.

From 1796 to 1808 inclusive seventy-eight different lotteries were authorized.

The lottery of 1782 for the improvement of roads west of Philadelphia was managed as a state lottery. Others were county, city, borough and township schemes. Some were for erection of bridges, ferries and even improving creeks. One was for a garden and public bath in Philadelphia, one for the pay of soldiers in the French and Indian War; hospitals were also included, as were schools.

Many churches were built by means of lotteries and the newspapers of that period carried many advertisements, both from those authorized by the Pennsylvania Legislature and those of other States. It is estimated that at least fifty lotteries chartered by other States had agencies in Pennsylvania.

From 1747 to 1883 there were 176 separate lotteries. One single lottery, Union Canal lottery, awarded in prizes more than $33,000,000 between 1811 and December 31, 1833.

The State became flooded with local and foreign lottery tickets, and many memorials were presented to the Legislature against all form of lotteries, but they continued to thrive until December 31, 1833, when they were abolished by law, Pennsylvania taking the lead of all States in banishing lotteries.

Governor George Wolf said in a message to the General Assembly: “A more pernicious, ruinous and demoralizing evil can scarcely be imagined.”

----------

First Northern Camp in Civil War Established April 18, 1861

On April 18, 1861, Camp Curtin was regularly and formally established in the northwestern suburbs of Harrisburg. It was the first regular camp formed north of the Susquehanna in the loyal States, and before the end of the month twenty-five regiments were sent to the front from the counties of Pennsylvania.

The willing and prompt response to the call of President Lincoln and the appeal of Governor Curtin created immediately the necessity for a great rendezvous for the State’s troops. Harrisburg was the logical place for such a camp, for it had the advantage of being the seat of government and railroad lines extending in all directions.

The troops began to pour into Harrisburg so suddenly that temporary shelter was erected on all public grounds, within three days after the President’s call for volunteers.

Governor Curtin acted promptly in procuring accommodations for the troops, and on April 18 requested Captain E. C. Williams to take charge of the grounds controlled by the Dauphin County Agricultural Society, near the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad Company on the east and less than a quarter of a mile from the Susquehanna on the west.

It was the original intention to call this rendezvous “Camp Union,” but Captain E. C. Williams, Captain J. P. Knipe and others very appropriately changed the name in honor of the patriotic and beloved Governor of Pennsylvania.

When the war broke out in all its suddenness, and Washington was cut off from the loyal States of the North by the riotous proceedings at Baltimore, there was an utter lack of military organization in Pennsylvania. The military system of the State had decayed and aside from Philadelphia and Pittsburgh, there were very few military companies in the State fully armed and equipped. Of these only a few contained the minimum number of thirty-two men. But, as the appeal for men was disseminated through the towns and villages of the interior counties, the officers of such military companies as did exist very promptly rallied their men and tendered their services to the Governor.

Ringgold Light Artillery, Captain McKnight, of Reading; the Logan Guards, Captain Selheimer, of Lewistown; the Washington Artillery, Captain Wren, and the National Light Infantry, Captain McDonald, both of Pottsville, and the Allen Rifles, Captain Yeager, of Allentown, were the first to offer their services in an armed and disciplined condition for immediate action. When the Ringgold Light Artillery, numbering one hundred and two men, reached Harrisburg and word was sent to the Secretary of War of the presence of so strong a company at the State Capital, he at once telegraphed for its immediate presence in Washington, but for prudence the order was suppressed.

On the morning of the 18th, the day Camp Curtin was established, a detachment of Company H, Fourth United States Artillery, numbering fifty, arrived from the West, in command of Lieutenant Pemberton.

The five volunteer companies, first to report at Camp Curtin, were promptly mustered into the United States service by Captain, afterwards Colonel Seneca G. Simmons, of the Seventh United States Infantry, and the regulars, mentioned above, and these volunteers departed on the same train for Fort McHenry, to assist in the defense of Washington.

The volunteers marched through Baltimore, then filled with Southern sympathizers, ready and eager to obstruct their passage through the city. On leaving the cars at Bolton station to march to the Camden station, a battalion was formed. As the march began the Baltimore police appeared in large force, headed by Marshall Kane, followed by a mob, who at once attacked the volunteers and were countenanced by the police sent to give safe conduct through the city. The troops were ordered to maintain their discipline.

When in the center of the city, the regulars under Lieutenant Pemberton marched off toward Fort McHenry leaving the volunteers to pursue their march to Camden station. This seemed to be a signal to the mob, and at once the air was filled with flying missiles, while every species of oath and imprecation were flung at the volunteers as they marched forward. Not a man made a reply, but steadily, sternly, and undauntedly the five companies of Pennsylvanians moved over the cobble-stoned streets of the city. At every step the mob increased, but with unblanched faces and martial step the brave men never for one moment wavered, marching like veterans as the mob gave way before and around them as they forced their passage to the depot.

The mob believed that a portion of the Logan Guards carried loaded guns, because their half-cocked pieces displayed percussion caps, but in reality there was not a load of powder and ball in the entire five companies. Nevertheless, the feint of displaying the caps, which was done partly as a jest on leaving the cars at Bolton Station, saved the men from the bloody attack which was hurled the next day at the force of Massachusetts troops passing through the city. As it was, when the troops were boarding the cars at Camden station, the infuriated rabble who had dogged their steps, hurled bricks, stones, clubs and mud into their disorganized ranks, without, fortunately, injuring a single volunteer.

Attempts were made to throw the cars from the track, to detach the locomotive, and even to break the driving mechanism of the engine, all of which failed, and the train pulled out of the station amid the demoniac yells of the disappointed ruffians whose thirst for blood was now aroused to a savage fury.

The solicitude of Governor Curtin for the safe transportation of these troops through Baltimore was intense. He remained at the telegraph office in Harrisburg receiving dispatches which depicted the stirring scenes in the streets of Baltimore. When it was finally announced that the trains had passed out of reach of their assailants with the men safely aboard, he emphatically declared that not another Pennsylvania soldier should march through Baltimore unarmed, but fully prepared to defend himself.

At 7 o’clock in the evening of the eighteenth, the five Pennsylvania companies reached Washington, the first troops which arrived from any State to defend the National Capital. On July 22 Congress adopted a resolution commending these Pennsylvania volunteers for the gallantry displayed in passing through the Baltimore mob and reaching Washington so promptly. It is of interest to note that our own Pennsylvanian, Galusha A. Grow, was then Speaker of the House of Representatives and signed this resolution.

----------

Training of Troops Began at Camp Curtin, April 19, 1861

When the First Defenders departed from Camp Curtin and were the first troops which arrived at Washington from any State to defend the National Capital, the real activities of this famous training camp began.

Beginning on the morning of April 19 every inbound train brought troops to Harrisburg, and soon Camp Curtin was a hive of activity.

Eli Seifer, Secretary of the Commonwealth, assumed the discharge of certain military functions, such as replying to telegraphic offer of troops, etc., but beginning April 19, Captain G. A. C. Seiler, the commandant, assumed the responsibilities, and displayed great energy. His administration was characterized by earnestness and activity, until by exposure and over-work, he contracted a disease from which he died. He was succeeded July 31 by Colonel John H. Taggart, of Philadelphia.

Colonel Taggart was the editor of the Sunday Times, in Philadelphia, and when the news of hostilities reached there, he raised a company of volunteers called “The Wayne Guards” and marched them from Philadelphia to Harrisburg. They arrived at Camp Curtin June 7.

Governor Curtin was not over sanguine that the war was likely to be concluded at the first contest so when the responses to the first call for volunteers brought enough to make twenty-five regiments instead of only the eight asked for, the Governor did not disband them, but directed that they preserve their organizations, and immediately applied to the Legislature for authority to form a corps of thirteen regiments of infantry, one of cavalry, and one of artillery, to be organized and equipped by the State, to be subject to the call of the National Government if needed, and at all times to be in readiness for immediate service.

On May 15, the Legislature passed an act authorizing the organization of the “Reserve Volunteer Corps of the Commonwealth,” and Governor Curtin issued his call for men to compose the corps, and apportioned the number that would be received from each county, in order that each section of the State and every class of its people should be duly represented in it.

Four camps of instruction were established; one at Easton, under command of Colonel William B. Mann, of Philadelphia; one at West Chester, under Captain Henry M. McIntire, of West Chester; one at Pittsburgh, under Colonel John W. McLean; and one at Camp Curtin, Harrisburg, under Colonel G. A. C. Seiler, of Harrisburg.

George A. McCall, a graduate of the West Point Military Academy, of the class of 1822, a distinguished soldier in the war with Mexico, was appointed a Major General to command the corps. General McCall immediately organized his staff by appointing Henry J. Biddle, Assistant Adjutant General, and Henry Sheets and Eldrige McConkey, Aids-de-Camp. Subsequently, Professor Henry Coppee was attached to the staff as Inspector General.

On June 22 two of the regiments were ordered to Cumberland, Md., and soon afterward rendered excellent service at New Creek and Piedmont, in West Virginia until ordered to the lower Potomac regions.

On July 22, the day after the disaster at Bull Run, a requisition was made on the State for its Reserve Corps, and as quickly as the means of transportation could be provided, eleven thousand of these troops, fully armed and equipped, were sent to the defenses of Washington, and a few days later the regiments were mustered into the United States service for three years, or during the war.

This was the beginning of the Pennsylvania Reserves, an organization, which, during the later years of the war, won fame on many battlefields, and many of whose members sleep beneath the sod in Southern States. Their skill was everywhere recognized, and no others were more renowned for bravery.

Reverend A. S. Williams who gave the historical address on the occasion of the dedication of the statue to Governor Curtin on the site of Camp Curtin, among other interesting facts said: “When General McDowell’s soldiers were defeated at Bull’s Run, the trained Pennsylvania Reserve Regiment from Camp Curtin, steadied the Government at Washington. When General Lee attempted to invade the North in 1862, Governor Curtin called for fifty thousand volunteers, and a strong reserve was maintained at Camp Curtin ready to march at a moment’s notice.

“During the early months of the war, on one occasion trucks were pushed on the tracks of the railroad to the east of the Camp and a Brigade of Soldiers stepped on them and was carried by way of Huntingdon over the Broad Top Railroad to Hopewell; from here they marched through Bedford to Cumberland, Md. For two months these soldiers protected this community from the harrassing enemy.

“In June 1863 when the people of the State became apprehensive lest Harrisburg and Philadelphia fall into the hands of General Lee, again the troops from Camp Curtin met the enemy but a few miles from Harrisburg along the Carlisle Pike.”

Camp Curtin was available and often used as an Army hospital.

Among the commanders at Camp Curtin besides those above mentioned were Colonel Thomas Welsh, of Lancaster; Colonel Charles J. Biddle, of Philadelphia; and Colonel James A. Beaver, afterwards General and later Governor of Pennsylvania.

Governor Curtin, after all, was the leading spirit in this greatest of Army Camps and it is appropriate that the words on a bronze tablet on his statue should read: “His administration of the Gubernatorial office during the dark days of the Republic made an imperishable name for his family, and added historic grandeur to the annals of the Commonwealth.”

----------

Colonel Brodhead Destroyed Indian Town of Coshocton, April 20, 1781

Colonel Daniel Brodhead, the commandant at Fort Pitt, had not been able to execute his design to lead a force against the Wyandot and Shawnee Indian towns in Ohio. He had expected to obtain the help of the Delaware warriors at Coshocton for this expedition, but in the spring of 1781, a change in the situation impelled him to strike at the Delaware.

Until December, 1780, the Delaware took no part, as a nation, in the warfare against the frontiers of Pennsylvania, and the alliance with the United States, made by their three principal chiefs in the autumn of 1778, was outwardly observed for more than two years. The death of their noted chief, White Eyes, which occurred from an attack of smallpox, at Pittsburgh, November, 1778, was followed by the election of Killbuck, or Gelelemand, the celebrated sachem, who proved himself to be an unswerving friend of the Americans. Chief Killbuck found himself the leader of the minority of his nation, but his influence was sufficient to delay the union of the Delaware with the other hostile Indian nations.

The Americans gave no presents to the Indians and had little else of value to offer them, while the British, especially those at the Detroit post, gave them not only alluring promises but showered many valuable presents upon them. It was then only a matter of time until the Shawnee, Seneca, Miami, Wyandot and other Indians hostile to the Americans could persuade the Delaware to join with them in war against the Colonists. Captain Pipe was the principal Delaware chief who had long led the war party and finally controlled their determination to take up the hatchet.

In February, 1781, a council was held at Coshocton, at which Killbuck was not present, being then on an important mission to Fort Pitt, and the Delaware yielded to the pressure and voted to join in warfare against the borders of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

Killbuck was afraid to return to Coshocton, as he learned of threats against his life, so he made his home with the Moravians and their converted Indians at Salem, on the western branch of the Tuscarawas River, fourteen miles below New Philadelphia. Here he professed Christianity and was baptized and received the Christian name William Henry, in honor of a distinguished citizen of Lancaster, Pa. He was afterward commissioned by the United States Congress and was proud to call himself “Colonel Henry.” When he removed his family to Salem he took also with him the family of White Eyes and other Delaware Indians, including the aged warriors Big Cat and Nonowland.

Killbuck wrote a long letter to Colonel Brodhead informing him of the hostile action of the council at Coshocton. The missionary, the Reverend John Heckewelder, who penned this letter, also sent another by the same messenger, John Montour, in which he suggested an expedition against Coshocton.

Colonel Brodhead at once determined to attack the place and punish the Delaware for their perfidy. The Pennsylvania Government gave him much assistance and a supply of provisions, but his force of regular troops at Fort Pitt had been reduced, from various causes, to about 200 men. He made a call for assistance to the officers of the border counties, but no troops were furnished by them. Colonel David Shepherd, county lieutenant of Ohio County, Virginia (now Green County, Pa.) however, sent him a body of excellent volunteers consisting of 134 Virginia militiamen, arranged in four companies, under Captains John Ogle, Benjamin Royce, Jacob Leffler and William Crawford. These men were hardy young farmers from the settlements in Washington County; most of them rode their own horses, and cheerfully responded to Colonel Shepherd’s call.

These troops rendezvoused at Fort Henry, the stockade at Wheeling, where Colonel Brodhead and his command joined them. On Tuesday, April 19, the little army of 300 was ferried over the Ohio River and marched over the Indian trail for Muskingum River. John Montour, Nonowland and Delaware braves joined the Americans to fight their own treacherous tribesmen.

The purpose was to march rapidly and take the village of Coshocton by surprise; yet it required ten days to reach that place on account of severe weather and unusually heavy rains. A short pause was made at Salem, where Colonel Brodhead held a conference with the Reverend John Heckewelder.

He learned there were no Christian Indians at Coshocton. The Moravians were to prepare corn and cattle for the soldiers against the return march. The missionary then hastened back to Gnadenhuetten and Salem to carry the news that the Americans were in the country and Killbuck and his warriors again donned the war paint to join the Continentals against other savages.

Although it required ten days to reach the Muskingum, the Delaware were taken by surprise. They had no expectation that the Americans would act so promptly and, on account of stormy weather, they were careless and kept out no scouts. Then some of the principal chiefs were at Detroit, in attendance at a big council with De Peyster, the British governor.

On Friday morning, April 20, during a heavy downpour, the advance guard came upon three Indians in the woods, not more than a mile distant from Coshocton. One of the savages was captured, but the two others escaped to the town and gave the alarm. The captured Indian said there were not many warriors at home, that a band of forty had just returned from a border raid, with scalps and prisoners, but had crossed to the farther side of the river, a few miles above the town, to enjoy a drunken revel.

Brodhead hurried forward and dashed into the Indian capital, finding but fifteen warriors there, who made a brave resistance, but every one was either killed by rifle ball or tomahawked by an American soldier. The mounted men were first in the town and they would not accept surrender or suffer the wounded to linger long in agony. No harm was done to any of the old men, women or children, of whom more than a score were captured. These were removed and every building in Coshocton set on fire. A great quantity of peltry and other stores was taken and forty head of cattle furnished good food for the hungry soldiers.

As a result of the Coshocton campaign the hostile Delaware migrated to the headwaters of the Sandusky and other places farther westward, while the adherents of Chief Killbuck and those friendly to the Americans moved to Pittsburgh and erected their rude wigwams on Smoky Island, sometimes called Killbuck Island, at the northern side of the junction of the Allegheny and Monongahela Rivers.

----------

Cornerstones Laid for Germantown Academy, April 21, 1760

By the year 1760, the French and Indian War had narrowed its area and was confined chiefly to Canada. This was then a period of development in and about Philadelphia.

The Germantown Academy was organized January 1, 1760, and four cornerstones were laid with appropriate ceremonies, April 21, 1760.

This ancient and honorable institution was originated in a meeting held December 6, 1759, at the house of Daniel Mackinet, when it was resolved to start a subscription for erecting a large and commodious building near the center of the town for the use of an English and High Dutch School, with suitable dwelling houses for the teachers. Christopher Meng, Christopher Sower, Baltus Reser, Daniel Machinet, John Jones, and Charles Bensell were appointed to solicit and receive subscriptions.

At the organization meeting held by the contributors, January 1, 1760, Richard Johnson was appointed treasurer, and Christopher Sower, Thomas Rosse, John Jones, Daniel Mackinet, Jacob Rizer, John Bowman, Thomas Livezey, David Dreshler, George Absentz, Joseph Galloway, Charles Bensell, Jacob Naglee and Benjamin Engle were chosen trustees.

The trustees purchased a lot from George Bringhurst in Bensell’s Lane, subsequently called Schoolhouse Lane. The institution was named Germantown Union High School House.

It was also decided that the school should be free to persons of all religious denominations.

The buildings were completed by the following year, when the school was opened in September.

The schoolhouse was eighty feet long and forty feet wide, two stories high, and six schoolrooms, and wings supplying two dwelling houses for the use of the masters.

The Academy is a long-fronted building of rough gray stone topped by a quaint little belfry tower, and with small stone houses on either side, which balance the pleasing effect. There is a worn stone sill, which doubtless is the same upon which Washington stepped when he visited the institution.

Hilarius Becker made his appearance as the German teacher, with seventy pupils, and David James Dove as the English teacher, with sixty-one pupils and Thomas Pratt was the English usher.

Although the mass of people used the German language, these numbers show that those of the English-speaking tongue were rapidly creeping on them.

David James Dove was one of the most famous characters in old Philadelphia. He had formerly taught grammar sixteen years at Chichester, England. He was an excellent master and his scholars made surprising progress. He was the first English teacher in Franklin’s Academy, and then conducted a school of his own in Vidells Alley before he became the first English teacher in the new academy at Germantown.

He became rather overbearing and also divided too much of his time with private scholars, and in 1763 the trustees tried to remove him, but he refused to be removed, even though Pelatiah Webster had already been appointed as his successor. Dove held possession of the schoolhouse and declared he would not retire. Finally Joseph Galloway and Thomas Wharton were charged with the duty of dealing with Dove.

Of course, Dove made way after a time for his successor, but for many years he continued to teach a private school in Germantown.

Dove’s method of reclaiming truants was to send a committee of five or six boys in search of them with a lighted lantern and a bell and in an odd equipage in broad daylight. The bell was always tinkling as they went about the town, and soon they would bring the culprits back filled with shame.

The progress of the academy was most satisfactory, for in 1764 Greek, Latin and the higher mathematics were taught. In the early seventies additional ground in the rear of the lot was obtained.

The rudiments of good manners were taught along with those of learning, but it was expressly enjoined that youths of Quaker parentage should not be required to take off their hats in saluting the teachers.

In March, 1761, a lottery scheme was put forth to raise £1125 for the use of this school. Another lottery the same year was for the Germantown Public School. The academy lottery consisted of 6667 tickets at $3 to raise $3000.

As the Revolution approached, and, at last, swept over them, the school experienced troubled times; it was difficult even to get a quorum of the trustees.

In July, 1777, a new teacher was appointed because Thomas Dungan, the master of the English school, had joined the American army.

After the Battle of Germantown the academy was used by the British as a hospital. Some twenty feet to the east of the back part of the grounds six British soldiers, who died of their wounds, were buried in what was Dreshler’s lot.

After the war the revival was slow. In 1784 a charter was obtained incorporating it as the “Public School at Germantown,” which was amended in 1786. The school was poor, the State could not furnish much assistance and contributions were solicited. These and the increase in the enrollment kept the Academy forging ahead. In 1808 another lottery was held which yielded about $500, but John Bowman, the treasurer, refused to receive the money.

In the yellow fever epidemic of 1793 the Legislature of Pennsylvania and the Congress of the United States made proposals for an occupation. It was given to Congress, on the rather easy terms of the restoration of “104 panes of glass, two window shutters, two door linings, three door locks, the steps front and back both of new wood, the hearths to be laid with new bricks, sundry patchings and white washing for which repairs and no others, the sum of $60 will be allowed out of the rent, which is to be $300 for one session.”

In the yellow fever of 1798 the use of the lower floor and cellar was granted to the Banks of North America and Pennsylvania, they agreeing as compensation to paint the building and to renew its roof.

The centennial anniversary of the laying of the cornerstone was celebrated with great enthusiasm April 21, 1860, by ringing the bell, parade, 100 guns, and in the evening an address by John S. Littell and an oration by Sidney George Foster.

These are only incidents in the career of more than 160 years, and the Academy has long been one of the most celebrated in the country.

----------

Eccentric John Mason’s Leaning Tower on Blue Hill Destroyed April 22, 1864

Travelers up and down both branches of the Susquehanna River years ago will well remember the leaning tower high up on Blue Hill, opposite Northumberland. This peculiar building hung over a precipice and viewed from the river level, looked as if a breath of air would topple it to the rocks below. It was built by John Mason, who owned a farm of ninety acres of land on the hill, and who, from his eccentricities, came to be known as the “Hermit of Blue Hill.”

The tower, which was built as an observatory, was about sixteen by eighteen feet, two stories in height and of octagonal shape. It leaned at an angle of about twenty-two degrees and for safety was clamped to the rock upon which it was built with strong iron rods. The roof was flat, and there was a railing around it for protection of those who had courage to go upon it and look down the frightful precipice.

The view from the roof of “John Mason’s Leaning Tower,” as it was called, was one of superlative grandeur. Both the North and West Branches of the Susquehanna, as well as the main stream below their confluence, the majestic hills and pretty towns of Northumberland and Sunbury could all be taken in one panoramic view. Blue Hill at this point is 301 feet in height, as determined by the engineers who laid out the railroad in after years.

The leaning tower was built very near the spot one now sees, in seeking the profile of old “Shikellamy,” which would be located about where the top of the forehead would be seen. The tower was almost destroyed by visitors who cut their initials upon everything of wood, until it was entirely covered by these characters.

John Mason built this odd-looking house in 1839. William Henry did the carpenter work. It stood there until the spring of 1864—a period of twenty-five years—when, on a Sunday afternoon, April 22, it was destroyed by a party of railroad men in a spirit of deviltry. They loosened its moorings and the curious tower rolled down the rocky precipice with a tremendous crash and landed on a raft of logs passing down stream.

Its destruction removed one of the oddest, as well as one of the most conspicuous, landmarks along the Susquehanna River.

There are several stories related of John Mason’s eccentricities and the motives which induced him to erect this leaning tower.

About the time the vandals destroyed the tower a most interesting novel was written entitled “Eros and Antiros,” which story was woven about this scene and its unusual builder. In fact, John Mason was the hero of the story. The author, being a personal acquaintance, may have written from a knowledge of the facts.

In the story John Mason had been disappointed in a love affair and sought this manner to remove himself from the busier world and to live and die in seclusion.

Another version of the eccentric John Mason’s leaning tower is that it was his eyrie, where he gathered together a rare collection of queer old English books—they sold at 75 cents the bushel-basketful at his sale—and here he slung his hammock and here he read his books.

That story says John Mason’s father was a Quaker, living in Philadelphia, an old acquaintance of James Jenkins, Jr., at Turtle Creek, opposite the town of Northumberland, at the base of Blue Hill, who said to him one day, speaking of his son John, that he was a restless fellow and wanted to go to sea, and that it would be the death of his mother. “Can’t thee take him out with thee?” Jenkins replied that it was a wild place and not likely to suit the taste of one who wanted to go sea-faring.

But John Mason did go up into the wilderness, engaged in the mercantile business for a time at Northumberland, then moved his stock of merchandise to the western side of the river and opened a store at Turtle Creek.

John Mason never recognized or became intimate with women. One evening at the Jenkins home, Mason came in as was his custom from the store, about 9 o’clock, and seated himself by the ample fireplace to read a book. There was a number of young people in the room, who were playing pawns and forfeits. One pretty girl was condemned in a whisper, to kiss John Mason. He was apparently paying no attention to the others, but, as she slyly approached within reaching distance, he raised the tongs between them, saying, “Not one step nearer.”

Jenkins and he went alternately to Philadelphia to buy goods. Mason always walked there and back. He lived to an extreme age and was buried on his hill-top.

So much for that story. It is generally accepted that John Mason was of English origin, born in Philadelphia, December 7, 1768, and died on the farm of Colonel Meens above the present city of Williamsport, April 25, 1849.

During his life at the Blue Hill home, it is told of him that he was a sterling athlete, and could skate to Harrisburg in half a day; that he often walked to Williamsport, always carrying an old umbrella. His eccentricities were much talked about in his day.

During the winter following his death his remains were removed by friends, on a sled and carried to the scene of his hermit life, and buried under the wide spreading branches of a chestnut tree a few yards in the rear of his leaning tower. A neat marble tombstone, properly inscribed, was erected to mark the place of his burial.

This grave has long since been so trampled upon by curious visitors, that it was entirely obliterated many years ago. Relic hunters so defaced the stone that it was removed to a neighboring farm house for preservation. This is all that remains by which to remember John Mason, “The Hermit of Blue Hill,” the builder of the “Leaning Tower.”

----------

James Buchanan, Pennsylvania’s Only President, Born April 23, 1791

James Buchanan, Pennsylvania’s only President of the United States, was born in a little settlement which bore the odd name of Stony Batter, near Mercersburg, Franklin County, Pa., April 23, 1791.

Among the Scotch-Irish, whose enterprise brought them to America, was James Buchanan, a native of Donegal, Ireland. He settled in Franklin County in 1783, where he set up a store, married Elizabeth Speer, daughter of a farmer of Adams County, a woman of remarkable native intellect, and distinguished for her good sense and rare literary taste.

Many a man has owed his success to his mother. James Buchanan said: “My mother was a remarkable woman. The daughter of a country farmer, engaged in household employment from early life until after my father’s death, she yet found time to read much and to reflect on it. What she read once she remembered forever. For her sons she was a delightful and instructive companion. I attribute any distinction which I may have gained to the blessing which God conferred upon me in granting me such a mother.”

After he was grown a man, James might often be found sitting in the kitchen to talk with his mother while she worked.

In 1798 James Buchanan, the elder, removed to Mercersburg, where his son received his academical education and made such progress that his parents determined to give him the benefit of a collegiate course.

He entered Dickinson College at Carlisle at the age of fourteen. Here he found that many of the students did very much as they pleased. “To be a sober, industrious, plodding youth,” said Buchanan afterwards, “was to incur the ridicule of the mass of students.” He imitated the majority and soon learned that he was not longer desired as a student. Knowing his father would not help him out of his plight, he turned to the pastor of his church, and by his aid James received another chance and made good use of it. He graduated in June, 1809.

In December, following, he commenced to study law with James Hopkins, of Lancaster. He applied himself, “determined” said he, “that if severe application would make me a good lawyer, I should not fail. I studied law and nothing but law.” He was admitted to practice November 17, 1812, and at once took the first rank in his profession. So successful was he, that when but forty years old he had acquired means that enabled him to retire from the profession.

When the British burned the Capitol at Washington and threatened Baltimore, James Buchanan displayed his patriotism by enlisting as a private in the company commanded by Captain Henry Shipman, which marched from Lancaster to the defense of Baltimore and with which he served until honorably discharged.

In October, 1814, he was selected a representative in the Legislature, and re-elected. His intention, however, was to return to the practice of law and stay out of political office. A sad event changed the current of Buchanan’s life.

A young woman, to whom Buchanan was engaged in early manhood, a daughter of the wealthiest family in the county, wrote him a letter of dismissal under the spell of jealousy which had been aroused by gossips. Pride on both sides kept the two apart until their separation was made irrevocable by her sudden death. In grief and horror, the young lover wrote to the father of the dead girl, begging the privilege of looking upon her remains and of following them to the grave. But the letter was returned to him unopened.

Four and forty years passed, and Buchanan went to his grave without ever having taken any other woman to his heart.

To help him forget his grief, Buchanan accepted the nomination for Congress. He did not expect to win but did, and his career thenceforward became political. He served five terms and at the end of his service the Democrats of Pennsylvania brought forward his name for the vice presidency. Then President Jackson appointed him Minister to Russia. In this position he concluded the first commercial treaty between the United States and Russia, securing to our seamen important privileges in the Baltic and Black Seas.

In 1833, on his return to the United States, he was elected United States Senator, taking his seat December 15, 1834.

President Van Buren offered Buchanan the place of Attorney General, but it was declined. When Polk became President, the post of Secretary of State was offered and accepted. The most pressing question Buchanan had before him was the northern boundary of the Oregon Territory. Buchanan closed this transaction with Great Britain in 1846, and completed our boundary line to the Pacific.

At the close of Polk’s Administration, Buchanan retired to private life at his country home, called Wheatland, just outside of Lancaster. A niece and nephew were taken into his home and raised as his own children.

When Pierce became President, on March 4, 1853, Buchanan was sent as United States Minister to England. On his return from this mission he was nominated and elected to the presidency, and inaugurated March 4, 1857.

Buchanan clung to the idea that freedom rather than slavery was to blame for all the trouble. He believed that since this Government had permitted slavery when the Union was formed, the Nation had no right to interfere with it in States already in the Union.

When South Carolina seceded he was within ten weeks of the end of his term, with a hostile Congress in front of him and behind him a country as resolute as himself.

Buchanan lived quietly at Wheatland and saw the Rebellion begin and triumphantly end.

Whatever the writers of history may say concerning the wisdom of Buchanan’s political ideas, no one can deny the honesty of his character. No President could have been more careful to set a good example to others. He considered that his time belonged to the Nation. When presented with gifts of any value, he at once returned them to the sender.

In his travels he paid his own fare, and never used a pass even when out of office. “When I cannot afford to pay my way,” he declared, “I will stay at home.”

His niece, Harriet Lane, while “Mistress of the White House,” took a trip to West Point on a Government vessel which had been named after her. Her uncle wrote to her that national vessels should not be employed on pleasure excursions, and that he would put a stop to the practice.

James Buchanan died at Wheatland, June 1, 1868.

----------

News of Revolution Reached Philadelphia by Messenger, April 24, 1775

At 5 o’clock in the afternoon of Tuesday, April 24, 1775, an express rider came galloping into Philadelphia from Trenton, with the greatest possible haste, excitement in his looks and on his lips. The rider hurried up to the City Tavern, where the people crowded in eagerness to learn of his mission. Members of the Committee of Correspondence were in the crowd and to these the rider delivered his dispatch. It was a brief and hurried message, but it had come a long route and it was big with the fate of a nation.

It was a dispatch from Watertown, dated April 19, announcing that General Gage’s men had marched out of Boston the night before, crossed to Cambridge, fired on and killed the militia at Lexington, destroyed a store at Concord, were now on the retreat and hotly pursued. Many were killed on both sides and the country was rising.

The message had come by way of Worchester, where it was vised by the town clerk. It then went to Brookline, Thursday, 20th, and was forwarded at 4 o’clock in the afternoon from Norwich; at 7 that evening it was expressed from New London.

The committee at Lynn received, copied and started the rider with it at 1 o’clock Friday morning. It came to Saybrook before sun-up. At breakfast time another messenger took it up to Killingworth. At 8 o’clock it was at East Guilford; at 10 in Guilford, and at noon in Brandford. It was sent from New Haven with further details on Saturday, and dispatched from the New York committee rooms 4 o’clock Sunday afternoon. It reached New Brunswick at 2 o’clock Monday morning, Princeton at 6 o’clock in the evening and Trenton at 9 o’clock Tuesday morning. It was indorsed: “Rec’d the above p. express and forwarded the same to the Committee of Philadelphia.”

Thus was the news of the actual opening battle of the Revolution carried by express riders from Watertown to Philadelphia, which had been selected as the seat of Government for the Thirteen Colonies.

Two days later another express came into Philadelphia bringing fuller particulars of “the Battle of Lexington,” as that memorable fight has since been called.

The news of Lexington arrived too late in the day to spread at once over the city. But next morning every man, woman and child knew it, and, borne by intense patriotic feeling the people assembled in public meeting, as if by common consent at the State House.

There were 8000 persons present, and all seemed to be actuated with but a single purpose. The Committee of Correspondence took charge of the meeting and its authority was recognized and accepted.

Only one resolution was proposed and adopted, to “associate together, to defend with arms their property, liberty and lives against all attempts to deprive them of it,” and then, with impatience and eagerness, to action. The time for words was passed. The time for organization, arming, drilling and marching had come.

The enrollment began at this meeting. The committee besought all who had arms to let them know, so that they might be purchased and secured. The associates availed themselves of their existing organization to turn themselves forthwith into military companies.

It was agreed that two troops of light horse, two companies of riflemen and two companies of artillery, with brass and iron field pieces, should be formed immediately.

Drilling was started at once, and the progress was so marked that the companies were ready to parade by May 10, when they turned out to receive Continental Congress, and also to honor John Hancock.

The foot company and riflemen turned out to meet the Southern delegates to Congress at Gray’s Ferry. The officers of all the companies mounted, went out to meet the Eastern delegates and Hancock.

The associators’ organization was officered as follows: First Battalion, John Dickinson, colonel; John Chevalier, lieutenant colonel; Jacob Morgan and William Coates, majors. Second Battalion, Daniel Roderdeau, colonel; Joseph Reed, lieutenant colonel; John Cox and John Bayard, majors. Third Battalion, John Cadwallader, colonel; John Nixon, lieutenant colonel; Thomas Mifflin and Samuel Merideth, majors.

Peter Markoe was captain of the light horse, Joseph Cowperthwait of the Quaker Blues, James Biddle, Benjamin Loxley, Thomas Proctor and Joseph Moulder, were officers of the artillery, and Richard Peters, Tench Francis, William Bradford and Lambert Cadwallader were in command of the Greens. John Shee, John Wilcocks, Thomas Willing, Francis Gurney and others were of the staff.

The battalions, mustering 1500 men, all uniformed and equipped, and 500 artillerymen and troops of horse, gave a drill early in June in the presence of the “honorable members of the Continental Congress and several thousand spectators.”

The troops were reviewed by General Washington on June 20 and next day he set out for Boston escorted across New Jersey by the cavalry troop.

On June 23, the associators listened to an eloquent sermon by the Reverend Dr. William Smith.

They petitioned the Assembly, setting forth a full and detailed account of their organization into companies, etc., and asked that they be put into service at once. Neither the Governor nor the Council had the power or funds to comply, and even the Congress had no direct authority as yet to raise an army.

Franklin had returned from England May 5, and the next morning he was elected to Congress. But his work on the Committee of Safety is really the history of the defense of Philadelphia during the first year of the war.

It was late in June before the Committee of Safety was given power to employ the associators, and the city and counties were called upon to provide arms and equipment, the House agreeing to pay for the service of the troops.

A committee was named whose duty it was to call troops into the service as necessity demanded and to provide for the defense of this Province against insurrections and invasion.

The Committee of Safety met July 3. Franklin was unanimously chosen president, and William Govett, clerk. It proceeded to business with energy and dispatch.

----------

Frame of Government Written by William Penn, April 25, 1682

Penn’s remarkable frame of Government, dated April 25, 1682, was so far in advance of the age that, as Bancroft says, “its essential principles remain to this day without change.” Another competent critic has said that in it was “the germ if not the development of every valuable improvement in Government or legislation which has been introduced into the political systems of more modern epochs.”

The government was to consist of the Governor, a Provincial Council, and a General Assembly. These bodies, which were to make laws, create courts, choose officers and transact public affairs, were to be elected by the freemen by ballot. By freemen, were meant not only handholders, but “every inhabitant, artificer, or other resident that pays scot or lot to the Government.” Penn believed that “any government is free to the people under it, whatever be the frame, where the laws rule and the people are a party to those laws, and more than this is tyranny, oligarchy or confusion.”

The “Frame of Government” and the “Laws Agreed Upon in England” were the final products of all Penn’s best thinking and conferences, and were brought with him to the Colony. Though changed in form many times, they shaped all future Constitutions of Pennsylvania, of other States and even the Federal Union.

This frame was published by Penn, together with certain laws agreed on between himself and the purchasers under him, entitled “The Frame of the Government of the Province of Pennsylvania, in America; together with certain laws, agreed upon in England by the Governor and divers of the Free Men of the aforesaid Province. To be further Explained and Confirmed there, by the First Provincial Council and General Assembly that shall be held, if they seem meet.”

James Claypoole called it in one of his letters, “the fundamentals for government.” In effect it was the first Constitution of Pennsylvania. It was the work of William Penn and reflects precisely some of the brightest and some of the much less bright traits of his genius and character.

The “preface” or preamble to this Constitution is curious, for it is written as if Penn felt that the eyes of the court were upon him. The first two paragraphs form a simple excursus upon the doctrine of the law and the transgressor as expounded in St. Paul’s Epistle to the Romans: “For we know that the law is spiritual; but I am carnal, sold under the sin,” etc. From this Penn derives “the divine right of government,” the object of government being two-fold, to terrify evildoers and to cherish those who do well “which gives government a life beyond corruption (i. e., divine right), and makes it as durable in the world as good men should be.” Hence Penn thought that government seemed like a part of religion itself, a thing sacred in its institution and end.

“They weakly err,” continues Penn, “that think there is no other use of government than correction; which is the coarsest part of it. * * * Men side with their passions against their reason, and their sinister interests have so strong a bias upon their minds that they lean to them against the good of the things they know.”

The form, he concludes, does not matter much after all, “Any government is free to the people under it (whatever be the frame) where the laws rule and the people are a party to these laws.” Good men are to be preferred even above good laws. The frame of laws now published, Penn adds, “has been carefully contrived to secure the people from abuse of power.”

In the Constitution which follows the preamble, Penn begins by confirming to the freemen of the province all the liberties, franchises and properties secured to them by the patent of King Charles II.

After stating how the government was to be organized, he directed that the council of seventy-two members, was to be elected at once, one-third of the members to go out, and their successors elected each year, and after the first seven years those going out each year shall not be returned within a year. Two-thirds of the members constituted a quorum on all important matters, but twenty-four would suffice on minor questions.

The Governor was to preside and to have three votes. All bills should be prepared and proposed by the Council for presentation to the General Assembly, which body, on the ninth day should pass or defeat such measures as presented.

To be sure the Provincial Council also was an elective body, but the difference was in the fact that it was meant to consist of the Governor’s friends; it was an aristocratic body, and therefore not entirely representative.

Aside from this fatal defect there is much to praise in Penn’s Constitution and something to wonder at, as being so far in advance of his age.

Besides carefully defining and limiting the executive functions of the Governor and Council a wholesome and liberal provision was made for education, public schools, inventions and useful scientific discoveries.

The Constitution could not be altered without the consent of the Governor and six-sevenths of the Council and the General Assembly, which rule, if enforced, would have perpetuated any Constitution, however bad.

On May 15, 1682, Penn’s code of laws, passed in England, to be altered or amended in Pennsylvania, was promulgated. It consisted of forty statutes, the first of which declared the character or Constitution, which has just been analyzed to be “fundamental in the Government itself.”

Regulations as to taxes, trials, prisons and marriage were clearly set forth in the code. It was also arranged that every child of twelve should be taught some useful trade. Members of the Council and General Assembly, as well as Judges, were to be professing Christians. Every one was to be allowed to worship God according to the dictates of his own conscience and this not as a mere matter of toleration, but because it was an inherent right.

The penalty of death was to be inflicted sparingly; some 200 offenses which were named as capital by English law were to be punished in a lighter manner.

During Penn’s absence there was clashing, dissension and tumult. If he could have kept his hand in person on the Government for a generation there would have been a wonderful difference in the results attained.

----------

Indians Captured James McKnight, Assemblyman, April 26, 1779

In the spring of 1779 conditions along the frontier became more serious than in any time past. The Indians were more active and destroyed growing crops and burned the homes and outbuildings of the settlers, whom they murdered or took away in captivity.

The condition was so alarming it was reported to the Supreme Executive Council. One such letter, dated “Fort Augusta 27th April, 1779” written by Colonel Samuel Hunter, was in part: “I am really sorry to inform you of our present Disturbances; not a day, but there is some of the Enemy makes their appearances on our Frontiers. On Sunday last, there was a party of Savages attact’d the inhabitants that lived near Fort Jenkins, and had taken two or three familys prisoners, but the Garrison being appris’d of it, about thirty men turned out of the Fort and Rescued the Prisoners; the Indians collecting Themselves in a body drove our men under Cover of the Fort, with the loss of three men kill’d & four Badly Wounded; they burned several houses near the Fort, kill’d cattle, & drove off a number of Horses.

“Yesterday there was another party of Indians, about thirty or forty, kill’d and took seven of our militia, that was stationed at a little Fort near Muncy Hill, call’d Fort Freeland; there was two or three of the inhabitants taken prisoners; among the latter is James McKnight, Esqr., one of our Assemblymen; the same day a party of thirteen of the inhabitants that went to hunt their Horses, about four or five miles from Fort Muncy was fired upon by a large party of Indians, and all taken or kill’d except one man. Captain Walker, of the Continental Troops, who commands at that post turned out with thirty-four men to the place he heard the firing, and found four men kill’d and scalped and supposes they Captured ye Remaind’r.

“This is the way our Frontiers is harrassed by a cruel Savage Enemy, so that they cannot get any Spring crops in to induce them to stay in the County. I am afraid in a very short time we shall have no inhabitants above this place unless when General Hand arrives here he may order some of the Troops at Wyoming down on our Frontiers, all Col. Hartley’s Regiment, our two month’s men, and what militia we can turn out, is very inadequate to guard our Country.

“I am certain everything is doing for our relief but afraid it will be too late for this County, as its impossible to prevail on the inhabitants to make a stand, upon account of their Women and Childer.

“Our case is Really deplorable and alarming, and our County on ye Eve of breaking up, as I am informed at the time I am writing this by two or three expresses that there is nothing to be seen but Desolation, fire & smoke, as the inhabitants is collected at particular places, the Enemy burns all their Houses that they have evacuated.” The bearer of this important letter was James Hepburn.

It is a matter of interest that the James McKnight captured at Fort Freeland had secured 300 acres of land, April 3, 1769, in what is now Union County, where he brought his family. In 1774 they purchased three tracts of land “contiguous to and bounded on each other,” on Limestone Run, in Turbut Township, Northumberland County.

In 1776 William McKnight was chosen a member of the Committee of Safety, and was a most zealous and active patriot.

Both he and his wife perished at the hands of the Indians, when they attempted to make a trip from Fort Freeland, where they had sought refuge from the savages. Their only son, James, carried their bodies from Fort Freeland to the graveyard now known as Chillisquaque, and there buried them himself.

James McKnight had three sisters. He married Elizabeth Gillen, and was regarded as a man of great courage and rectitude. In 1778 he was elected to the General Assembly, but did not long survive to enjoy the honor.

The McKnight family had frequent and terrible experiences with the Indians. In the autumn of 1778 Mrs. James McKnight and Mrs. Margaret Wilson Durham, each with an infant in her arms, started on horseback from Fort Freeland to go to Northumberland. Near the mouth of Warrior Run, about two miles from the fort, they were fired upon by a band of Indians, lying in ambush. Mrs. Durham’s child was killed in her arms, and she fell from her horse. An Indian rushed out of the bushes, scalped her and fled.

Alexander Guffy and two companions named Peter and Ellis Williams rushed to the scene of the shooting and when they approached Mrs. Durham, whom they supposed dead, they were greatly surprised to see her rise up and piteously call for water. With the loss of her scalp she presented a horrible appearance. Guffy ran to the river and brought water in his hat. They then bound up her head, as best they could, and placed her in a canoe and hastily paddled down stream fifteen miles to Sunbury, where Colonel William Plunket, also a distinguished physician, dressed her wounded head, and she recovered. She died in 1829, aged seventy-four years.

Mrs. McKnight escaped unhurt from the surprise attack. The shots frightened the horse she was riding, it turned and ran back to the fort. Mrs. McKnight came near losing her child, when the horse wheeled and the child fell from her arms, but she caught it by the foot and held to it until the fort was reached.

Two sons of Mrs. McKnight, who were accompanying the party on foot, attempted to escape by hiding under the bank of the river, but were taken by the Indians.

James Durham, husband of Margaret, was taken at the same time. The three prisoners survived their captivity in Canada, and returned to their homes at the close of the Revolution in 1783.

On the eventful day that the little stockade was next attacked, April 26, 1779, Hon. James McKnight, was captured by the Indians.

William McKnight and his wife and James and his wife are interred in the old Chillisquaque burying ground.

----------

Steam Boat Susquehanna, in Effort to Navigate River, Starts Fatal Trip, April 27, 1826

Even before the advent of canals or railroads the enterprising merchants of Baltimore sensed the importance of facilitating the commerce along the great Susquehanna River.

They believed it would materially enhance their volume of business, especially in lumber, iron, grain, and whiskey, if the river would be freed of such obstructions as impeded or hindered navigation.

Large sums of money were expended in removing rocky channels in the river below Columbia, so as to admit the passage of arks and rafts down stream, on their way to tide water. A canal had been constructed from Port Deposit, northward, in order that the returning craft might avoid the shoals and dangerous reefs along the first ten miles above tide water.

Yet in spite of all these improvements no satisfactory way had been found which would return to the producers of the Susquehanna Valley such articles of commerce and merchandise as they would naturally require in return for the raw products of the forest, field and mine.

The authorities of Pennsylvania were also awake to the situation, as were the citizens. Several attempts had been made to have complete surveys of the river and estimates of the cost of the work required to make the great river navigable.

To Baltimore, more than to Pennsylvania, belongs the credit of an actual attempt to establish steamboat navigation.

In 1825 a small steamboat, named the Susquehanna, was built in Baltimore and, when launched, was towed up to Port Deposit.

The Harrisburg Chronicle said:

“The Susquehanna was expected at Columbia on Sunday night, Tuesday’s reports were, that she had not got to Columbia. Eye-witnesses to her progress put the matter to rest on Wednesday; they had seen her a short distance above the head of the Maryland Canal, with a posse of men tugging at the ropes, and when they had tugged nine miles gave up the job. So ended all the romance about the Susquehanna. She drew too much water (22 inches) for the purpose and started at the wrong point. Watermen say that the crookedness of the channel, with the rapidity of the current, makes it utterly impossible for a steamboat to ascend the falls between the head of the canal and Columbia.”

The Chronicle article says further: “We have a report that Mr. Winchester, of Baltimore, has contracted for the building of a steamboat at York Haven. We also learn that the York Company are making great progress with the sheet-iron steamboat, and that she will be launched about the 4th of July.”

This sheetiron boat was called the Codorus, and early in April of the next year ascended the river as far as Binghamton, after which she returned to York Haven. Her captain, a Mr. Elger, reported that navigation of the Susquehanna by steam was impracticable.

Either the original Susquehanna renamed or another steamboat built by the Baltimore promoters, and named Susquehanna and Baltimore was put on the river and operation above Conewago Falls by Captain Cornwell, an experienced river pilot.

She was accompanied on her trial trip on this portion of the river by a board of Commissioners of the State of Maryland, Messrs. Patterson, Ellicott and Morris, three distinguished citizens of Baltimore. Capt. Cornwell had already in March made several successful trips as far up as Northumberland and Danville on the North Branch and to Milton on the West Branch, returning to York Haven without accident.

April 17, 1826, the boat started from York Haven, having in tow a large keel boat capable of carrying a thousand bushels of wheat, and proceeded on her fatal trip, arriving at the Nescopeck Falls at 4 o’clock on May 3. At these falls there was an outer and an artificial inner channel of shallow water for the accommodation of rafts and arks. Capt. Cornwell decided after consulting with other river men on board, to try first the main, or deep water channel, and the captain argued that if the boat would not stem it, that he could then drop back and try the other one. The boat made a halt in a small eddy below the falls on the east side of the river and some of the passengers went ashore; this was the case with the Maryland Commissioners.

The boat was directed into the main channel, and had proceeded perhaps two-thirds of the distance through the falls, when she ceased to make further progress, the engine was stopped and she was permitted to drift back to the foot of the rapid, where she struck upon a wall dividing the artificial from the main channel, and at that instant one of her boilers exploded.

The scene was as awful as the imagination can picture. Two of the passengers on board, named John Turk and Heber Whitmarsh, raftmen from Chenango, N.Y., were instantly killed; William Camp, a merchant from Owego, was fatally scalded by escaping steam. Dave Rose, of Chenango, N. Y., was fatally injured. Quincy Maynard, the engineer, as stated in the account published in the Danville Watchman, one week after the occurrence, was not expected to recover. Christian Brobst, of Catawissa and Jeremiah Miller, of Juniata, were seriously injured. Messrs. Woodside, Colt and Underwood, of Danville, were more or less injured, as were Messrs. Barton, Hurley, Foster and Colonel Paxton, of Catawissa, and Benjamin Edwards, of Braintrim, Luzerne County.

It was said by somebody on board that at the time of the explosion, a passenger was holding down the lever of the safety valve, but why this should be done after the boat had ceased her efforts to pull through is difficult to conjecture. Thus ended the second attempt to navigate the Susquehanna by steam power.

----------

Shawnee Indians Murder Conestoga Tribesmen April 28, 1728

Two Shawnee Indians cruelly murdered a man and a woman of the Conestoga tribe, April 28, 1728. John Wright, of Hempfield, wrote from Lancaster, May 2, advising James Logan of this murder, and that the Conestoga have demanded of the Shawnee the surrender of the murderers. He further wrote that some Shawnee had brought the Shawnee murderers as far as Peter Chartier’s house, but there the party engaged in a drinking bout and through the connivance of Chartier the two murderers escaped.

Chartier was an Indian trader among the Shawnee and was himself a half-blood Shawnee. He had traded for a time on the Pequea Creek and at Paxtang. Later he settled at the Shawnee town on the west side of the Susquehanna, at the mouth of the Yellow Breeches Creek, the present site of New Cumberland. He later removed on the Conemaugh, then to the Allegheny, about 1734.

The action upon the part of Chartier incensed the Conestoga so much that they threatened to wipe out the whole section of the Shawnee.

John Wright further states in his letter, “Yesterday there came seventeen or eighteen of the young men, commanded by Tilehausey, all Conestoga Indians, painted for war, all armed. We inquired which way they were going. They would not tell us, but said they or some of them were going to war, and that there were some Canoy to go along with them. But we hearing the above report, are apt to think that they are going against the Shawnee.”

Almost contemporary with this murder, the whites along the Schuylkill had their safety threatened from another quarter. Kakowwatchy, head of the Shawnee at Pechoquealon, claimed to have heard that the Flatheads, or Catawba from Carolina, had entered Pennsylvania to strike the Indians along the Susquehanna. He sent eleven warriors to ascertain the truth of this incursion of the Southern Indians, and as they approached the neighborhood of the Durham Iron Works, at Manatawny, their provisions failing, forced the inhabitants to give them victuals and drink.

The people did not know these Indians and believing the chief of the band to be a Spanish Indian, caused great alarm.

Families left their plantations, and the women and children were in great danger from exposure, as the weather was cold. About twenty white men took arms, approached the band, and soon a battle was in progress. The whites said that the Indians refused a parley and fired first, wounding several of the inhabitants. The red men made off into the woods and were not seen again. Their leader was wounded, but escaped.

The identity of this band was not known until ten days later, May 20, when the Lieutenant Governor Patrick Gordon was waited upon by John Smith and Nicholas Schonhoven, two Indian traders from Pechoquealon, who delivered to him a verbal message from Kakowwatchy, which was an explanation of the unfortunate affair, and for which the chief sent his regrets, and asked the Governor for a return of the gun which the wounded leader had lost.

The Lieutenant Governor, accompanied by many other citizens of Philadelphia went to the troubled district, and personally pleaded with those who had fled from their plantations to return. So excited were the whites that they seemed ready to kill any red man or woman.

On May 20, an Indian man, two women and two girls, appeared at John Roberts, at Cucussea, then in Chester County. Their neighbors fearing danger, rallied to their defense, and shot the man and one of the women, beat out the brains of the other woman, and wounded the girls. Their excuse was that the Indian had put an arrow into his bow.

The Provincial authorities were fearful that revenge upon the people might be attempted, so the two neighbors who committed the atrocity were arrested and sent to Chester for trial, and notice of the affair was sent to Sassoonan, Opekasset, and Manawhyhickon, with a request that they bring their people to a treaty, arranged to be held at Conestoga with Chief Civility and the Indians there.

The Pennsylvania Government did not leave all to diplomacy. John Pawling, Marcus Hulings and Mordecai Lincoln (a relative of President Abraham Lincoln) were commissioned to gather the inhabitants and to put them in a posture to defend themselves.

Having forwarded to Kakowwatchy the watchcoats, belts and tomahawks dropped by the eleven warriors, and having sent a present, together with a request that he warn his Indians to be more cautious in the future, Governor Gordon expressed a wish to see Kakowwatchy at Durham, then went to Conestoga, and met Civility, Tawenne and other Conestoga, some Delaware and three Shawnee chiefs.

Gordon began by reminding the Indians of the links in the chain of friendship and that neither the Indians nor Christians would believe ill reports of each other without investigation of the facts. The Governor then made them presents of watchcoats, duffels, blankets, shirts, gunpowder, lead, flints and knives.

The Governor then told them of the recent murders, and of the intention to punish those who killed the Indians, if found guilty. The chiefs, in turn, declared that they had no cause of complaint.

Sassoonan, or Allummapees, the head of the Delaware, and his nephew, Opekasset, and some other chiefs, including the great Shikellamy, vicegerent of the Six Nations, met with Governor Gordon at Molatton, and from there went to Philadelphia, where a great council was held June 4, 1728, which was concluded most satisfactorily for all concerned.

----------

Christian Post, Moravian Missionary and Messenger, Died April 29, 1785

Christian Frederic Post, who has been denominated “the great Moravian peace-maker,” was a simple uneducated missionary of the Moravian Church. He was born in Polish Prussia, in 1710, and at an early age came under the influence of the Moravians. He emigrated to this country as a member of the “Sea Congregation,” which arrived on the Catherine, at New London, Conn., May 30, 1742. Post, with the other members, joined the congregation at Bethlehem, Pa., three weeks later.

From that time until his death, at Germantown, April 29, 1785, he performed many hazardous missions for his church and the Provincial Government of Pennsylvania, and many times was in imminent peril. The first several years of his residence in Pennsylvania he was employed as a Moravian missionary, but afterwards was almost constantly performing important services for the Province in its Indian dealings.

Some of the journals of Post, which appear in the Archives of Pennsylvania, and have been republished elsewhere, are valuable for the intimate history of the peoples and the country through which he traveled. One of the editors who republished his journals, wrote as follows concerning the missionary and mediator: “Antiquarians and historians have alike admired the sublime courage of the man and the heroic patriotism which made him capable of advancing into the heart of a hostile territory, into the very hands of a cruel and treacherous foe. But aside from Post’s supreme religious faith, he had a shrewd knowledge of Indian customs, and knew that in the character of an ambassador requested by the Western tribes his mission would be a source of protection. Therefore, even under the very walls of Fort Dusquesne, he trusted not in vain to Indian good faith.”

When Conrad Weiser visited Shikellamy at Shamokin, May, 1743, he wrote: “As I saw their old men seated on rude benches and on the ground listening with decorous gravity and rapt attention to Post, I fancied I saw before me a congregation of primitive Christians.”

In 1743 Post was married to a converted Indian woman, and endeared himself to all the Indians. But all was not smooth, for the Brethren were persecuted and humbled before their converts. Post, who had been on a journey to the Iroquois country, in March, 1745, was arrested at Canajoharie and sent to New York, where he was imprisoned for weeks, on a trumped-up charge of abetting Indian raids. He was released April 10.

In 1758 it became a matter of importance with Governor Denny and Sir William Johnson, that a treaty of peace be secured with the Western Indians. Post was selected to convey to them the white belt of peace and reconciliation. Tedyuskung, the Delaware king, protested against his going, declaring he would never return alive, but the bold and confident Christian said it was a mission of peace, that God would protect him, and that he must go.

On July 15, 1758, Post departed from Philadelphia with five Indian guides. He carried with him copies of the treaties made with Tedyuskung, belts of wampum and messages from the Governor. He made his trip by way of Bethlehem, Shamokin, Great Island, Chinclamoose, etc.

It was a perilous journey. Twice he got lost in the woods, and one of his guides strayed away and could not be found. Without food and drenched with rain, night after night he slept on the cold, wet ground. He was frequently very near the French. Finally he arrived at King Beaver’s, who ruled over the Delaware in the West. These Indians remembered him when he preached the gospel at Wyoming, and were glad to see him. They gave him a public dinner, to which they invited the surrounding tribes.

The French sent spies to watch him and to induce him to go to Fort Duquesne. Post refused to be trapped, but instead succeeded in making arrangements for kindling a great council-fire at Easton in October following.

Post now set out on his return and had not proceeded far when he heard the thunder of nineteen cannon discharged at the fort. Under the very mouths of these guns he had, singly and alone, with the full knowledge of the French, laid a plan which rent asunder the alliance between them and their Indian allies.

Post succeeded in his mission, and the French at the fort, finding themselves abandoned by their allies, fired it and fled, as the invalid general, John Forbes, and his army made their appearance.

Frank Cowan, poet of Southwestern Pennsylvania, tells the story in one of his songs, of which the following is a verse:

“The Head of Iron from his couch, Gave courage and command, Which Washington, Bouquet and Grant Repeated to the band; Till Hark! the Highlanders began With their chieftain’s word to swell, ‘Tonight, I shall sup and drain my cup In Fort Du Quense—or Hell!’ But the Man of Prayer, and not of boast, Had spoken first, in Frederic Post.”

Again, in 1761, he proceeded to the Muskingum and built the first white man’s house within the present State of Ohio. He had made previous trips into this country, and always succeeded in persuading the Shawnee and Delaware to “bury the hatchet” and desert the French. He did this with a heavy reward upon his scalp, and while his every footstep was surrounded with danger.

In 1762 the Reverend John G. B. Heckewelder, the Moravian missionary and writer, especially among the Delaware, was an assistant to Post.

Toward the close of his eventful life Post retired from the Moravian sect and entered the Protestant Episcopal Church. He died at Germantown on April 29, 1785, and on May 1 his remains were interred in the “Lower graveyard of that place, the Reverend William White, then rector of Christ Church,” conducting the funeral service.

----------

Veterans of French and Indian Wars Organize April 30, 1765

As early as 1764 officers of the First and Second Battalions of Pennsylvania who had served under Colonel Henry Bouquet during the French and Indian War tarried at Bedford on their way home and formed an association. The purpose of this organization was that they be awarded the land to which they were entitled for service rendered.

This association held another and more important meeting at Carlisle, April 30, 1765, when they elected officers and renewed their application to the proprietaries and asked for 24,000 acres of land along the West Branch of the Susquehanna.

In this formal application they stated their object was “to embody themselves on some good land at some distance from the inhabited part of the Province, where by their industry they might procure a comfortable subsistance for themselves and by their arms, union and increase become a powerful barrier to the Province.”

These officers knew that the Proprietaries had not that much land to award them and that they had not yet purchased the West Branch lands from the Indians, but at this meeting they adopted a strong resolution calling upon them to make such a purchase.

Following the French and Indian War the lawless white men had been encroaching upon Indian lands, provoked hostilities and murdered many innocent Indians. The situation became so acute that General Gage offered troops to assist Governor Penn in removing and punishing these intruders.

Governor Penn appealed to the Assembly for help. In the discussion of this important matter it was learned from George Croghan, Sir William Johnson and others that the Indians designed a northern confederacy, and were determined to avenge this intrusion and the murder of the Conestoga Indians at Lancaster.

The Assembly agreed to pass a boundary bill. They also sent a message to the Indians promising to punish those responsible for the Conestoga massacre, and urged a conference at which a boundary line could be established. They also appropriated £3000 as a present to appease the Indians.

During the following spring several conferences were held, the largest being at Fort Pitt, where many chiefs and warriors of the Six Nations were present; in all 1103 men, women and children. The explanations were satisfactory and the presents and cash joyously received.

But it is quite probable that another savage war was averted by the intervention of Sir William Johnson, who, at this critical period, suggested a great council be held at Fort Stanwix, where this vital question could be definitely decided. This council was held in October, 1768, with Governor Penn present in person, as well as the principal chiefs of the tribes which had grievances to air.

The council, in the treaty of November 5, 1768, settled the boundary dispute and the Indians sold to the Proprietaries of Pennsylvania most of the central and western end of the State, excepting a small strip along Lake Erie. The consideration was $10,000.

Now that the Proprietaries had purchased the land desired by the association, on February 3, 1769, it was ordered by the Board of Property “that Colonel Francis and the officers of the First and Second Battalions of the Pennsylvania Regiment be allowed to take up 24,000 acres, to be divided among them in district surveys on the waters of the West Branch of the Susquehanna, to be seated with a family for each 300 acres, within two years from the time of the survey, paying £5 per hundred and one penny sterling per acre.”

Near the close of February many of the officers met at Fort Augusta and agreed to take the land proposed by the Proprietaries, and that one of the tracts should be surveyed on the West Branch, adjoining Andrew Montour’s place at Chillisquaque Creek, and one in Buffalo Valley. It was also agreed that Captains Plunket, Brady, Piper and Lieutenant Askey should accompany William Scull to the eastern side of the river as they made the surveys.

These surveys were promptly made and another meeting was held at Fort Augusta, when it was determined that the third tract of 8000 acres should be surveyed on Bald Eagle Creek. Captains Hunter, Brady and Piper were appointed to accompany Charles Lukens as he made the survey.

May 16, 1769, the officers met at Harris Ferry, where Messrs. Maclay, Scull and Lukens laid before them the drafts of their respective surveys. They agreed that Colonel Turbutt Francis should receive his share, 2075 acres, surveyed to him in one tract. Accordingly he selected land upon which the town of Milton is now the center.

Lots were then drawn by the other officers for the choice of lands. Captain William Hendricks, Captain William Plunket, Captain John Brady, Captain John Kern, Lieutenant Dr. Thomas Wiggins, Captain Conrad Bucher, Captain William Irvine and Lieutenants Askey, Stewart and McAllister took land in Buffalo Valley.

Ensign A. Stein, Lieutenant Daniel Hunsicker, Captain William Piper, Lieutenant James Hayes, Captain Samuel Hunter, Captain Nicholas Hausegger took lands above Chillisquaque Creek. Major John Philip de Haas was the principal officer to be awarded land on the Bald Eagle, and near him were Lieutenant James Hays and Thomas Wiggans, Ensign William McMeen, Lieutenant Hunsicker, Captain Timothy Green, Captain John Brady, Captain James Irvine and Captain William Plunket.

Colonel Francis acquired by purchase land from Chillisquaque Creek to and including the present town of Northumberland, and then owned a continuous strip from the North Branch to a point near Watsontown, a distance of eighteen miles along the West Branch. This made him one of the most extensive land owners of that time.

By these awards the West Branch Valley was permanently settled by these distinguished officers or their kin, and many of the families resident there today are descendants of these sturdy patriots.

----------

British Foragers Massacre Americans at Crooked Billet, May 1, 1778

With the exception of occasional depredations committed by the British foraging parties during the winter of 1777–78, all was quiet on the Delaware. The vigilance of Generals James Potter and John Lacey greatly restrained these forays. In the meantime General Washington, with the aid of Baron von Steuben and other foreign officers in the Continental army, transformed the band of American patriots into a well-disciplined, well-drilled and confident army.

General Wayne’s command was encamped during the whole winter and spring at Mount Joy, in Montgomery County, and materially assisted in securing supplies of provisions for the army at Valley Forge.

When Washington withdrew from Whitemarsh, he was anxious that the upper part of the Delaware-Schuylkill peninsula should be well guarded. A thousand Pennsylvania militia were placed under command of General John Lacey, January 9, 1778. Lacey established his headquarters at the Crooked Billet Tavern, Bucks County, now called Hatboro, about twenty-five miles north of Philadelphia.

The country nearer Philadelphia, where the British were encamped, was thus open to the Queen’s Rangers and James’ and Hovenden’s Loyalists, who foraged and ravaged as they pleased. There was intense hatred between these Tories and the Continentals.

The British continually employed troops to forage and plunder, and while Lacey was himself in Bucks County, he could do nothing to save it from their ravages. But his energy and enterprise, even with his small forces, enabled him to reduce the supplies of Philadelphia so materially that the attempt was made to destroy his command, and an expedition was sent against him.

The party was under command of Lieutenant-Colonel Abercrombie, comprising light infantry, cavalry and Simcoe’s Rangers, and started on May 1, 1778. Simcoe was to get in Lacey’s rear and a party was to be placed in ambush, while the mounted infantry and cavalry advanced along the road.

Lacey’s officers and patrols were negligent, and his force was completely surprised and surrounded on all sides. They retreated fighting, but without their baggage, and finally got away with a loss of twenty-six killed, eight or ten wounded, and fifty-eight missing.

The British, as at Paoli, bayoneted many of the American troops after they were so seriously wounded they could be of no further effect against them; others of the wounded were thrown in among some buckwheat straw, which was then set on fire, and they were roasted to death. The bodies of many of the killed among the Americans were then thrown into the burning straw. The famous scoundrels who committed these atrocities were the Tory soldiers of Simcoe’s Rangers. The British loss was nominal.

Among the American slain in this massacre was Captain John Downey, who had been a schoolmaster in Philadelphia and a gallant volunteer at Trenton and Princeton. He had surveyed the Delaware River for the Committee of Safety, and was acting as commissary to General Lacey’s brigade. He was bayoneted and mutilated while lying wounded and a prisoner at the Crooked Billet.

A monument was erected in December, 1861, to the victims of Lacey’s command in this fight, on the battlefield at Hatboro. The surprise was a legitimate act of war, but the massacre after surrender was a barbarous atrocity.

The Supreme Executive Council of the State, and the Assembly in session at Lancaster, and the Continental Congress at York had been principally engaged in legislating for the interests of the army, preparing for the ensuing campaign. The Assembly passed the “act for the attainder of divers traitors,” among whom were specially mentioned Joseph Galloway, Andrew Allen, Reverend Jacob Duche, John Biddle, John Allen, William Allen, James Rankin, of York County, Gilbert Hicks, of Bucks County, Samuel Shoemaker, late of Penn’s Council, John Potts, Nathaniel Vernon, ex-Sheriff of Chester County, Christian Fouts, formerly lieutenant-colonel in Lancaster militia, Reynold Keen and John Biddle, latter two of Berks County. Reverend Duche had made the prayer at the opening of the first Continental Congress and since had been chaplain to Congress, but had prayed for the King.

Joseph Galloway’s estate was worth in excess of £40,000 sterling, and his handsome home on the southeast corner of Sixth and High Streets in Philadelphia, was appropriated by the State of Pennsylvania as a residence for the President of the Supreme Executive Council, who was the chief executive officer of the State. This house was afterwards sold to Robert Morris.

Through the influence and negotiations of Benjamin Franklin Silas Deane and Arthur Lee, Commissioners sent to Paris by Congress, France had now openly espoused the American cause. The joyful news reached Congress sitting at York, May 2, 1778.

On May 7, Lord Howe was superseded by Sir Henry Clinton. Previous to the British commander’s departure, a magnificent fete called the “Mischianza,” was held May 18 in his honor.

On the following day, Lafayette with 2500 men and eight cannon crossed the Schuylkill to Barren Hill. Howe, with 5700 under Clinton and Knyphausen, supported by Grant in his rear, with 5,300 troops, marched to overwhelm this important post of the American army. Lafayette escaped by Matson’s Ford. Four days later, May 24, Howe embarked for England.

The same day a council of war was held under Sir Henry Clinton, and it was resolved to evacuate the city, which event occurred on June 19. This movement had been delayed owing to the arrival on June 6, of three British Commissioners to negotiate peace and a reconciliation. It was too late.

Among other intrigues, it is stated, the Commissioners secretly offered to General Joseph Reed, then delegate to Congress, and afterwards President of the Supreme Executive Council of Pennsylvania, £10,000 sterling, with the best office in the Colonies to promote their plans. General Reed promptly replied: “I am not worth purchasing, but such as I am, the King of Great Britain is not rich enough to do it.”

Upon occupation of Philadelphia, General Benedict Arnold was ordered by General Washington to take command of the city, and “prevent the disorders which were expected upon the evacuation of the place and return of the Whigs after being so long kept out of their property.”

----------

General Edward Hand Relieved of Command Following Squaw Campaign May 2, 1778

For some time General Washington had believed that the permanent safety of the western section of Pennsylvania could only be secured by carrying on a successful war, in an aggressive manner, against the enemy in their own country. That determination was strengthened by the Commissioners of Congress, who met in Pittsburgh late in 1777, and learned first handed of the barbarous warfare carried on against the western frontier by the British under Henry Hamilton, then Governor of Detroit, with the assistance of their Indian allies.

During October and November, 1777, while General Edward Hand, then commandant at Fort Pitt, was trying to recruit his army for the invasion of the Indian country, many raids were made in Westmoreland County. Eleven men were killed and scalped near Palmer’s Fort, in Ligonier Valley, and a few days later four children were killed within sight of the fort. Three men were killed and a woman captured within a few miles of Ligonier. A band of Indians, led by a Canadian, made a fierce attack on Fort Wallace, near Blairsville, but the Canadian was killed and the savages repulsed. These maurauders were pursued by a party of rangers led by Captain James Smith and overtaken near Kittanning, where five redskins were killed and scalped. The snows of winter prevented other ravages.

During the Christmas holidays General Hand learned that the British had built a magazine where Cleveland now stands and had stored arms, ammunition, clothing and provisions in it for the use of the Indians in the spring. He immediately planned an expedition for the destruction of the magazine. His call for troops required each man to be mounted and provided with food for a short campaign. He promised to provide the arms and ammunition.

The general proposed, as a special inducement to enlist, that all plunder would be sold and the cash proceeds divided among the force. February 15, about 500 horsemen were at Pittsburgh ready for the adventure, and this considerable force caused General Hand to be sanguine for its success.

The expedition followed the old Indian trail which descended the Ohio River to the Beaver and then ascended that stream and the Mahoning toward the Cuyahoga. The snow on the ground was soon melted by heavy rains and the marching was made difficult.

By the time the Mahoning was reached that stream was almost impassable, even some of the level lands were covered with water for wide stretches. The horsemen grumbled and Hand too was so discouraged that he was about to give up the expedition and return, when the foot-prints of some Indians were discovered on the high ground.

The tracks led to a small village, where a sudden attack was made, but the place contained only one old man, some squaws and children. The warriors were away on a hunt. The startled savages scattered and all escaped except the old man and one woman, who were shot and a woman taken prisoner.

This affair took place about where Edenburg is, in Lawrence County. The Indian told her captors that ten Wolf, or Munsee, Indians were making salt ten miles farther up the Mahoning. Hand dispatched a detachment after these savages and he went into camp under uncomfortable conditions.

The reported Munsee proved to be four squaws and a boy. The soldiers killed three of the squaws and the boy, the other squaw was taken prisoner. One of the soldiers was wounded here and another drowned during the march.

The weather conditions made further campaigns impossible and General Hand led his dispirited and hungry men back to Fort Pitt. The trophies were two Indian women. His formidable force had slain one old man, four women and a boy. On his arrival at Fort Pitt his work was generally derided by the frontiersmen and his expedition was dubbed the Squaw Campaign.

This finished General Hand as an Indian fighter. He asked General Washington to relieve him and May 2, 1778, Congress voted his recall and commissioned General Lachlan McIntosh to succeed him.

General Edward Hand won distinction in other directions. He was born at Elzduffs, Kings County, Ireland, December 31, 1744.

In 1767 he was appointed by George III surgeon of the 18th Royal Irish Regiment of foot, and sailed with the regiment from Cork on May 20 of the same year, arriving in Philadelphia July 11.

He served with this regiment at Fort Pitt and returning to Philadelphia in 1774, resigned his commission, receiving a regular discharge from the British service. In the same year he went to Lancaster and began the practice of his profession.

He joined the First Battalion of Pennsylvania Riflemen as lieutenant-colonel at the outbreak of the Revolution and served in the siege of Boston. He was promoted to colonel in 1776, and led his regiment in the Battle of Long Island, and also at Trenton. In April, 1777, he was appointed brigadier-general; and in this capacity served in command of the Western Department until relieved May 2, 1778; in October following he succeeded General Stark in command at Albany.

In the successful expedition against the Six Nations Indians in 1779, led by General John Sullivan, General Hand was an active participant.

Near the close of 1780, General Hand succeeded General Scammel as adjutant-general. He was an intimate friend of General Washington and had his full confidence during the entire struggle of the colonies. He was one of the original members of the Order of the Cincinnati.

In 1785 General Hand was elected to the Assembly; then he was a member of Congress and assisted in the formation of the Constitution of Pennsylvania in 1789, when the second Constitution of the State was written, and adopted the following year.

General Hand died at Rockford, Lancaster County, September 3, 1802.

----------

Evangelist Whitefield Bought Site for Negro School at Nazareth May 3, 1740

The Reverend George Whitefield was an exceeding earnest worker for the good of souls. He came to America and spent much of his time in Georgia, where he preached effectively and established an orphan house and school near Savannah, laying the first brick himself for the building, March 25, 1740. He named it “Bethesda”—a house of mercy. It afterward became eminently useful.

Whitefield undertook to found a school for Negroes in Pennsylvania, and with it a settlement for persons converted in England by his preaching and subjected to annoyance on that account.

An agreement for a site was made with William Allen, May 3, 1740, when 5000 acres of land were purchased, situated at the Forks of the Delaware, the consideration being £2200. The title was made to Whitefield and then assigned to his friend William Seward, who was a man of considerable wealth, as security for Seward’s advancing the purchase money.

Two days afterward Whitefield preached in the morning at the German settlement on the Skippack Creek to about 5000 persons, and in the evening, after riding twelve miles to Henry Antes’, he preached to about 3000. The Moravian Boehler followed with an address in German.

During this same day Whitefield offered to hire as builders the Moravians who had arrived from Savannah on the sloop with him.

Whitefield and the Moravians then visited the ground, when the latter, by the cast of the lot, according to their custom, felt directed to engage in the enterprise.

Seward, several days after the purchase of the site was made, sailed from Philadelphia for England, partly to convert some securities into cash and also to solicit further contributions. He was accidentally hit on the head while at Caerleon, Wales, from the effect of which blow he died a few days later, October 22, 1740.

The Moravians arrived in that part of Northampton County, which is now within the limits of Upper and Lower Nazareth and Bethlehem Townships, and there commenced to erect a large stone house which Whitefield proposed to use as the school for Negroes. This tract its proprietor named Nazareth.

Here the Moravians worked for the remainder of the year and by their efforts had built two houses. But at this time there arose a dispute between Whitefield and those employed on the buildings. It is believed Whitefield disapproved of Boehler’s doctrinal opinions and, unable in an argument conducted in Latin to convince him, discharged the workmen.

The Moravians were allowed to stay on the property for some time by Allen’s agent, but the whole project failed, largely through Seward’s death. Whitefield again secured the title and cheerfully assigned it to the Moravians.

The Moravian workmen were compelled to seek a new home. This they found when their Bishop, David Nitcshmann, secured a tract of 5000 acres at the confluence of the Monocacy Creek and the Delaware River, on which, in March, 1741, they began to build Bethlehem. This eventually became the principal settlement of the Moravians in the province.

George Whitefield was born in Gloucester, England, December 16, 1714, and entered Oxford in 1732. He was a religious enthusiast in very early life, fasting twice a week for thirty-six hours and while an undergraduate became a member of the “Holy Club,” in which the denomination of Methodists took its rise.

Whitefield became intimately associated in religious matters with John and Charles Wesley. He was made deacon by the Bishop of Gloucester on Sunday, June 20, 1736, two weeks before his graduation, and attracted attention even by his first sermon; he drew such crowds in London and Bristol that people hung upon the rails of the organ loft and climbed in the windows.

The Wesleys accompanied Oglethorpe to Georgia in 1736 and the following year John Wesley invited Whitefield to join him in his work in America. He came in May, 1738, and after laboring for months as a missionary in the colony of Georgia he returned to England and was ordained priest at Oxford, Sunday, January 14, 1739. On his way a second time to Georgia he first visited Pennsylvania.

Whitefield and his friend, William Seward, arrived in Philadelphia in the evening of Friday, November 2, 1739, on horseback from Lewes, where they had disembarked.

He read prayers and assisted at Christ Church in the services of the following Sunday, and preached there in the afternoon and every day for the rest of the week with increasing congregations. He dined at Thomas Penn’s, and was visited by the ministers of the Presbyterian and Baptist Churches and by many Quakers. He preached twice to more than three thousand persons.

He made a trip to New York, and on his return preached from the yard of the Reverend William Tennent’s church on the Neshaminy to about three thousand, and from the porch window of the Presbyterian Church at Abington, and again several times at Christ Church.

When Whitefield was to preach his farewell sermon in the afternoon of November 28, the church not being large enough for those expected he adjourned to the fields, and preached to 10,000. Twenty gentlemen on horseback accompanied him out of town. At Chester he spoke from a balcony to 5000, of whom one-fifth had come from Philadelphia.

He was energetically philanthropic. His main purpose in going back to Georgia was to carry on his work among the poor orphans.

On Boston Common he preached to 20,000 at one time, and was distinctly heard.

Although he was active in the establishment of the Methodist denomination, he disagreed with Wesley on points of doctrine, and was finally an evangelist without the discipline of any denomination.

Whitefield crossed the ocean many times, and made tours from Georgia to New Hampshire. In September, 1769, he started on his seventh tour there, and the day before his death he preached two hours at Exeter, N. H., and the same evening preached in the open air at Newburyport, Mass. He died of asthma the next day, September 30, 1770, and was buried under the pulpit of the Federal Street Church in that town.

----------

Trial of Five Mollie Maguires for Murder of B. F. Yost Begun at Pottsville May 4, 1876

On May 4, 1876, James Carroll, Thomas Duffy, James Roarty, Hugh McGehan, and James Boyle, were placed on trial in Schuylkill County Court at Pottsville, for the murder of Benjamin F. Yost, of Tamaqua.

The details of this revolting crime and the apprehension of the Mollie Maguires are of interest as they reveal the terrible horrors experienced in the anthracite coal fields during the reign of this lawless organization.

James McParlan, the Pinkerton detective, who joined the Mollies under the alias of James McKenna, and successfully brought their leaders to the gallows, was working on the Gomer James murder outrage, when he learned that the next victim was to be an excellent and competent policeman of Tamaqua, of the name of Benjamin F. Yost.

McParlan had been unable to learn sufficient of their designs to get a warning to Yost, as he had so frequently done in other cases.

Yost had experienced considerable trouble with the Mollies, especially as he had several times arrested James Kerrigan, their local leader, for drunkenness. Barney McCarron, the other member of the Tamaqua police force, had also come in for his share of their ill-will, but, from his German parentage, Yost was the more intensely hated. Yost had been threatened several times but was a fearless man, a veteran of the Civil War, where he displayed conspicuous valor on many battlefields, and a policeman who served his community with fidelity.

About midnight of July 5, 1875, the two policemen in passing Carroll’s saloon, noted that the place was still open, went inside and saw Kerrigan and another man drinking.

The policemen proceeded with their duties, and extinguished the street lamps on their route. They arrived at Yost’s residence about two o’clock and partook of a lunch, preparatory to finishing up the night’s work.

The two officers parted at Yost’s front gate, and Mrs. Yost, looking out of her bedroom window, saw her husband place a small ladder against a lamp post a short distance from their home, and step upon the rungs, but he never reached the light.

The woman saw two flashes from a pistol; heard the two loud reports and saw her husband fall from the ladder. She ran down the stairs and into the street, and met the wounded man, staggering and weak with loss of blood, clinging to the fence, looking toward his once happy home.

Yost lived long enough to say that his murderers were two Irishmen who had been in Carroll’s saloon that evening. He exonerated Kerrigan of the crime, saying one was larger and the other smaller than he. He did not see Kerrigan.

Yost died at nine o’clock that morning; he was then thirty-three years of age.

McParlan was soon on the trail of the Mollies who committed this cruel murder, and Captain Linden, another Pinkerton operative, was also active on the case.

McParlan was at this time under suspicion by the Mollies of being a detective and his work was the most dangerous any man was ever called upon to perform, but he was a hero.

He now affected the role of a drunken man and while sleeping off his debauch listened to a conversation which gave him a clue; he then fell in with Carroll, engaged his wife in conversation and soon learned much of importance.

The next day he learned the names of two of the men who had killed Yost, Hugh McGehan and James Boyle, both of Summit Hill.

The following day he went to Coaldale and visited James Roarty, head of the Mollie branch there, ostensibly to see another person. Here they had a drinking bout, and Roarty told too much, and he was Mollie number three.

Two days later McParlan was back in Tamaqua and lounging about Carroll’s saloon where he got more information from Roarty and Carroll. He then learned that Thomas Duffy was an actor in the crime.

Sunday, July 26, McParlan and Carroll spent some time together, when the latter related the conversation he had had with some detectives (which McParlan had sent there), and boasted about loaning his pistol to the man who did the job. This made Carroll number four.

Soon afterwards Duffy bragged to McParlan of the part he had taken and the fifth Mollie was trapped.

All that was then needed was to gather his evidence so that it could be used against these criminals, and for this purpose Captain Linden was most valuable.

Kerrigan took McParlan to the scene of the murder and enacted the crime for his friend’s benefit, and soon after this incident the detective learned that McGehan fired the two shots which killed Yost.

This is the same James Kerrigan who turned State’s evidence in the great trial of Mollies at Mauch Chunk, January 18, 1876, which resulted in the conviction of Kerrigan, Michael J. Doyle, and Edward Kelly for the murder of John P. Jones. Kerrigan’s evidence was the most stunning blow the Mollies had thus far received, but they knew not the heavier blows which were to fall on their villainous heads.

The great trial of Thomas Munley and Charles McAllister for the murder of Thomas Sanger and William Uren, which was held at Pottsville, June, 1876, brought the great Franklin B. Gowen into the case, and the testimony of McParlan, the Pinkerton detective. Conviction followed.

Then May 4, when the five Mollies were placed on trial at Pottsville for the murder of Yost. Judges C. L. Pershing, D. B. Green and T. H. Walker presided.

A juror was taken sick and died, and the second trial was begun July 6, each of the Mollies was found guilty of murder in the first degree, and each was hanged in the Pottsville jail yard, the warrants being signed by Governor Hartranft, May 21, 1877, the executions being held June 21, the day eight Mollies expiated their crimes.

----------

French and Indian Wars—Lieutenant Governor Thomas Resigned May 5, 1747

Coincident with the announcement in the Assembly of the death of John Penn, one of the Proprietors, was the resignation of Lieutenant Governor Sir George Thomas, May 5, 1747, on account of ill-health.

On the departure of Governor Thomas, the executive functions again devolved on the Provincial Council, of which Anthony Palmer was president; he served until the arrival of James Hamilton, son of Andrew Hamilton, former Speaker of the Assembly, as Lieutenant Governor, November 23, 1749.

The harvests of the years 1750 to 1752 were so abundant that an extract of the time is interesting: “The years 1751 and 1752 have been so fruitful in wheat and other grain that men in wanton carelessness sought to waste the supply: for the precious wheat which might have supported many poor, they used to fatten hogs, which afterward they consumed in their sumptuousness. Besides, distilleries were erected everywhere, and thus this great blessing was turned into strong drink, which gave rise to much disorder.

These years of plenty were followed by three years of scarcity, 1753–1755, and on the heels of it came the terrible Indian hostilities.

The progress of the white population toward the West alarmed and irritated the Indians. The new settlers did not suffer the delays of the land office, nor did they pay for their lands, but in search for richer soils sought homes in regions where the Indian title had not been extinguished. Some of these settlements were commenced prior to 1740, and rapidly increased, despite the complaints of the Indians, the laws of the Province or the several proclamations of the Governor.

An alarming crisis was now at hand. The French in the neighborhood of the Great Lakes were sedulously applying themselves to seduce the Indians from their allegiance to the English. The Shawnee had already joined the French cause; the Delaware only waited for an opportunity to avenge their wrongs; and of the Six Nations, the Onondaga, Cayuga and Seneca were wavering and listening to overtures from the agents of both the English and French.

To keep the Indians in favor of the province required much cunning diplomacy and many expensive presents. In the midst of this alarming condition the old flame of civil dissension burst out with increased fury. The presents so frequently procured for the Indians, the erection of a chain of forts along the frontier and the maintenance of a military force drew too heavily upon the provincial purse, which never was burdened with any great surplus.

The Assembly urged that the Proprietary estates be taxed, as well as those of humble individuals. The Proprietaries, as would be expected, refused to be taxed and pleaded prerogative, charter and law; the Assembly in turn pleaded equity, common danger, common benefit and at common expense.

The Proprietaries offered bounties in lands not yet acquired from the Indians by treaty or purchase, and in addition proposed the issuing of more paper money. The Assembly was not satisfied; they wanted something more tangible. They passed laws laying taxes and granting supplies, but the Proprietaries opposed the conditions. They were willing to aid the Assembly in taxing the people, but not the Proprietaries. Here were sown the germs of the Revolution, though not fully matured until twenty years later.

During those frivolous disputes in the Assembly the frontiers were left fully exposed. The pacific principles, too, of the Quakers, Dunkards, Mennonites and Schwenckfelders came in to complicate the strife, but as the danger increased they prudently kept aloof from public office, leaving the management of the war to sects less scrupulous. The pulpit and the press were deeply involved, and the inhabitants divided into opposing factions upon this question.

The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle was scarcely regarded more seriously than a truce by the French in America. In their eagerness to extend their territories and connect their northern possessions with Louisiana, they projected a line of forts and military posts from one to the other along the Mississippi and Ohio Rivers. They explored and occupied the land upon the latter stream, buried in many places leaden plates, by which they claimed possession of those lands.

The French established themselves at Presqu’ Isle and extended themselves southward; they erected a fort at Au Boeuf and another at the mouth of French Creek, which they called Fort Machault.

Virginia was much interested in this foothold gained by the French along the Ohio, for they claimed the territory of Pennsylvania west of the Allegheny Mountains as part of their dominion.

The English Government having learned that the French claimed right to the Ohio River country by virtue of the discovery of La Salle, made sixty years previous, remonstrated with the Court of Versailles, but without avail, and resolved to oppose force with force.

The first move made by the English was to present a solid front by combining the efforts of all the colonies. To this end a conference was called at Albany in July, 1754, to which the Six Nations were invited. Governor Hamilton could not attend this conference, and John Penn and Richard Peters, of the Council, and Isaac Norris and Benjamin Franklin, of the Assembly, were commissioned to represent the Province of Pennsylvania. They carried with them £500 as the provincial present to the Indians.

The results of this confederated council were not satisfactory, but the Pennsylvania Commissioners obtained a great part of the land in the province, to which the Indian title was not extinct, comprising the lands lying southwest of a line beginning one mile above the mouth of Penns Creek, in what is now Snyder County, and running northwest by west “to the western boundary of the State.”

The Shawnee, Delaware and Munsee Indians, on the Susquehanna, Juniata, Allegheny and Ohio Rivers, thus found their lands “sold from under their feet,” which the Six Nations had guaranteed to them on their removal from the Eastern waters. This proved of great dissatisfaction to these Indians and had not a little part in causing their alienation from the English interest.

----------

Work Begun on Building Braddock Road

Over Alleghenies May 6, 1755

Preparatory to the ill-fated expedition of General Braddock, which precipitated the forays of the French and Indians upon the unprotected frontiers of Pennsylvania, was the letter to Governor Morris, of Pennsylvania, asking to have a road cut so that there might be communication between Philadelphia and the Three Forks of the Youghiogheny, both for the security of retreat and to facilitate the transport of provisions. These English officers were unacquainted with American geography, and at best the maps used by them were by no means accurate.

Governor Morris in response advised Sir John St. Clair, deputy quartermaster general, that there was a very good wagon road from Philadelphia to the mouth of the Conococheague, but only a horse path through the mountains by which the Indian traders carried their goods, and that there would be great difficulty in making a wagon road that way. He also gently intimated that the distance was much greater than the English officers realized.

Governor Morris, with the sanction of the Assembly, sent George Croghan, John Armstrong, James Burd, William Buchanan and Adam Hoopes as commissioners to explore the country west of the “Great Virginia Road,” as the road through the Cumberland Valley was called, and to survey and lay out such roads as were most direct and commodious. No better men could have been chosen. They were acquainted with the country, and Armstrong was the best surveyor on the frontier.

These commissioners projected a road from McDowell’s Mill, in present Franklin County, to within eighteen miles of the Three Forks, where they found too many French and Indians scouting and hunting to venture farther. The length of projected road so far as it was surveyed was sixty-nine miles.

The commissioners could not effect a meeting with Sir John until April 16. When they showed him the drafts he raved like a wild man, and the commissioners, believing they had done their part well, were abashed by their unusual reception.

Sir John told them it was too late to build this road now, and instead of marching to the Ohio they would march into Cumberland County. Not a soldier should handle an ax, but by fire and sword General Braddock would compel the inhabitants to build it. He would kill all the cattle and drive away the horses, burn the houses, and if the French defeated the army by the delays of the Province, he would, with his sword drawn, pass through it and treat the inhabitants as a parcel of traitors to his master. He even avowed his purpose to “shake Mr. Penn’s Proprietaryship” by representing Pennsylvania as a disaffected province.

Braddock was constantly complaining of the failure of Pennsylvania and Virginia. He spoke slightingly of the provincial contingent and scoffed at danger from the Indians. “These savages,” he said to Franklin, “may indeed be a formidable enemy to raw American militia, but upon the King’s regular and disciplined troops, sir, it is impossible they should make an impression.”

Governor Morris early in May sent Secretary Peters to expedite the work of the road-makers by his presence. Neither General Braddock nor Sir John had any distinct idea of the obstacles to road-building over the Pennsylvania mountains or of the difficulties which confronted Governor Morris in a work of such magnitude, who lacked both money and men for the undertaking.

This road, which afterward received the name of Braddock’s Road, passed beyond McDowell’s Mill, around Parnell’s and Jordan’s Knobs into Path Valley, into Cowan’s Gap, past Burnt Cabins and Sugar Cabins to Sideling Hill. From the latter point the road extended to the crossing of the Juniata, thence to Raystown (now Bedford), and it then went over the Alleghenies to the Great Crossing, three miles from Turkey’s Foot.

The entire expense of making the road was to be paid by the Province. Advertisements were broadcasted in Cumberland, York and Lancaster Counties for laborers. James Wright and John Smith contracted to supply the workmen with provisions.

Ground was broken May 6, 1755, when only ten men reported for work under command of James Burd. By the 15th there were seventy men at work and by the end of the month 120.

Mr. Burd was in sole charge of the work at the outset, the other commissioners being too busy—Croghan with the Indian contingent ordered by Braddock, Armstrong with complications growing out of the purchase of 1754 and Buchanan and Hoopes with their private affairs.

The road was built thirty feet wide for about ten miles, when it was determined to make it twenty feet, and parts requiring digging or quarrying only ten feet.

Twenty days were required to make the road from Anthony Thompson’s to Sideling Hill, a distance of nineteen miles. William Smith was commissioned to assist Mr. Burd and reported May 28.

Much of the money required for the work was supplied by Joseph Armstrong and Samuel Smith, members of the Assembly from Cumberland County, from their private purse, for the Legislature held its pursestrings with a tight grip. The workmen at times suffered for the want of bread and liquor.

By June 16, Mr. Burd wrote from “Alloqueepy’s Town,” thirty-four and a half miles from Thompson’s, that he expected to finish the work there the next day, and join the advance division, under Smith, at Raystown.

The Indians menaced the work at this time and Braddock, who at first refused aid, sent 100 men, under Captain Hogg, as a guard. The soldiers came none too soon.

As Braddock penetrated the Alleghenies, Indian ravages began in his rear. True to their character, the savages spared neither sex nor age. The soldiers deserted and the workmen were unprotected and in constant danger.

By July 5 the road was completed to the eastern base of the Alleghenies.

On the day that Braddock’s body was buried at Great Meadows, John Armstrong wrote to him from Carlisle to say that the new road would soon be completed. It was too late. Braddock had no further need for a road, except a spot for a burial place in that great highway over which he had marched to defeat with so much military pomp.

----------

George Croghan, King of Traders, Sent on

Mission to Logstown May 7, 1751

George Croghan and Andrew Montour were sent, May 7, 1751, to Logstown to carry a Provincial present to the Indians. While there the wily Irishman met Joncaire, the French Indian agent, but succeeded in outwitting him in diplomacy; and the chiefs ordered the French from their lands and reasserted their friendship for the English. At this time the Indians requested Croghan to ask Governor Hamilton to build a strong house on the Ohio River for the protection of their wives and children in event they should be obliged to engage in war.

George Croghan, next to Sir William Johnson, was the most prominent figure among British-Indian agents during the period of the later French wars and the conspiracy of Pontiac, from 1746 until the Revolutionary War, when he unfortunately cast his lot with the British.

He was born in Ireland and educated at Dublin, and emigrated to America in 1741. He settled in Pennsylvania near John Harris’ Ferry, now Harrisburg. He became an Indian trader in 1744, and was made a Councilor of the Six Nations at Onondaga in 1746.

Croghan first appears in the official correspondence of Pennsylvania as writing to Secretary Richard Peters, May 26, 1747, that he had just returned from the woods, bringing a letter, a French scalp, and some wampum, for the Governor from a party of the Six Nations Indians having their dwelling on the borders of Lake Erie, who had formerly been in the French interest; and who now, thanks to Croghan’s diplomacy, had declared against the French.

Croghan went to Logstown in April, 1748, with a message and present from Pennsylvania Council to the Ohio Indians. Conrad Weiser carried a larger present to these same Indians, and on his trip lodged in Croghan’s storehouse in Logstown.

In 1750, Croghan accompanied Secretary Peters and other officials on a trip among the settlers in Path, Tuscarora, Juniata and Aughwick Valleys warning them off, burning their cabins and confining some of the intruders in prison.

At the great Shawnee Council at Logstown, he, Andrew Montour and Christopher Gist were present and Croghan boldly announced to the Indians that the French had offered a large sum of money to any one who would bring them the bodies or scalps of Croghan or Montour. So the mission to Logstown, May 7, 1751, when the French-Indian Agent was present, was a most unusual moment to the intrepid Croghan, and his almost equally celebrated companion, Andrew Montour.

Croghan succeeded in making a treaty between the Indians and Virginia Commissioners. He was again at Logstown, May 7, 1753, in company with William Trent, Robert Callender and other traders, when a messenger arrived with the news that the French were on Lake Erie in large force, with brass cannon, on their way to the Ohio. Croghan held a conference with Scarouady, the Half King, on May 12; and then attended an important council between Pennsylvania Commissioners and chiefs of the Six Nations, Shawnee, Delaware, Wyandot and Twightwee at Carlisle in October, 1753. About this time he was compelled, by impending bankruptcy and fear of being imprisoned for debt, to remove to the Indian country, and he built a house at Aughwick Old Town, near the Juniata.

Croghan accompanied George Washington and his little army on the march from Fort Necessity to Redstone. When he returned to Aughwick he kept Governor Morris informed of the movements of the French and their Indian allies.

Croghan attended the important Indian conferences at Easton, Harris’ Ferry, Lancaster, Onondaga, Philadelphia, Pittsburgh and other places, and always faithfully represented the English cause. He and Weiser were the most active agents at Easton, June, 1762, when King Tedyuskung retracted his charges of fraud and forgery in land transactions made against the Proprietaries by him at Easton six years before.

He was commissioned captain and served with Braddock, when he commanded a company of Indians. He resigned his commission in spring of 1756 and joined his fortunes with those of Sir William Johnson in the Mohawk Valley. He was appointed a deputy in the Indian service, with the rank of colonel.

December 1, 1763, he sailed for England to confer with the ministry about some boundary lines, but he was shipwrecked off the coast of France and did not reach his destination until February, 1764.

Croghan made an affidavit while in London which relates much of his early movements. He also presented to the Lords of Trade an interesting Memorial on Indian Affairs in America.

He returned to Pennsylvania in October, 1764, and was induced to continue as Deputy Indian Agent in the Western Department.

Croghan was sent by General Gage to Illinois for the purpose of making peace with the Indians. He embarked from Fort Pitt, May 15, 1765, and experienced a hazardous trip during which his party was attacked by hostile Indians. He being severely wounded and taken prisoner, was carried to what is now Lafayette, Indiana, where he was recognized by some chiefs with whom he had previous dealings, and in spite of the fact that the French demanded his execution, Croghan was liberated, July 18. He set off that day for the Illinois country. On the way he met Pontiac and other chiefs, and effected the treaty he had been sent to make.

Colonel Croghan kept journals of all his trips and these are both interesting and valuable. They reveal many exciting adventures and some very harrowing experiences.

Croghan mortgaged his Otsego tract of land to William Franklin, son of Benjamin, and lost it under foreclosure in 1773. This became the home of James Fennimore Cooper, now Cooperstown, N. Y.

In the controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia for the territory which lies west of the Laurel Hills, Croghan was a partisan of Virginia, and one of those who stirred up the most trouble.

At the beginning of the Revolution Colonel Croghan embarked in the patriot cause, being elected chairman of the Committee of Safety of Augusta County, May 16, 1775. He later became an object of suspicion.

June 15, 1778, he was declared by Pennsylvania a public enemy, and his office of Indian Agent was conferred upon Colonel George Morgan. He continued, however, to reside in Pennsylvania, and died at Passyunk, in the summer of 1782. His will is dated June 12, 1782.

Colonel Croghan married a Mohawk Indian, and their daughter, Catherine, became the third wife of Joseph Brant, the celebrated Mohawk chieftain of the Revolutionary period.

----------

Pennsylvania Navy Meets British in Action, May 8, 1776

The Committee of Safety, which organized July 3, 1775, early in the following year, had a survey made of the Delaware River, with a view to its more extensive fortification. Leave was obtained from New Jersey to construct works on that side of the river; a permanent fort was determined upon at Billingsport; the fort at Fort Island was hurried to completion; it was decided to fortify Liberty Island, and additions were made to the chevaux-de-frise. To the naval flotilla were added the floating battery Arnold, the ship-of-war Montgomery, the fireship Aetna and some guardboats for Philadelphia harbor. This naval force soon had a chance to show its mettle.

On May 6 news came to Philadelphia by express from Fort Penn that two warships, a schooner and three tenders were coming up the river. The Committee of Safety ordered the gunboat flotilla and the Montgomery and Aetna, under command of Commodore Andrew Caldwell and Captain James Reed, to attack the enemy. His vessels were the Roebuck, forty-eight guns, under command of Captain Hammond, and the sloop-of-war Liverpool, twenty-eight guns, under command of Captain Bellew, and their tenders.

Captain Proctor, in command of the fort at Fort Island, volunteered for the fight with 100 of his men and served on board the Hornet. The Montgomery, the Continental ship Reprisal, under command of Captain Wickes, and the battery Arnold, under Captain Samuel Davidson, remained near the chevaux-de-frise, in a line with the forts. The other boats went down the river to the mouth of Christiana Creek, coming up with the enemy on the afternoon of May 8.

Fire was immediately opened on both sides and was maintained with much spirit until dark. The Roebuck ran ashore and careened; the Liverpool came to anchor to protect her and the provincial boats withdrew to obtain more ammunition.

During this engagement, the Continental schooner Wasp, with Captain Alexander, which had been previously chased into Wilmington, came out and captured an English brig belonging to the squadron. The fireship was not brought into use, and before morning the Roebuck was again afloat.

The attack was renewed at 5 o’clock in the morning when the British ships retired, being closely pursued as far as New Castle by the Philadelphia navy.

The officers of the flotilla complained grievously of the supplies furnished them by the Committee of Safety as being defective in quality and deficient in quantity; the powder was so bad that the men had to cut up their clothes and equipments to make the cartridges serviceable. There were also other defects, so that the officers threw the whole blame of their failure to destroy or capture the enemy vessels upon the committee. The Assembly investigated, however, and exonerated the committee.

The American loss was one killed and two wounded. The British lost one killed and five wounded. So it was quite probable this engagement was fought at long range. Members of the Provincial Navy, however, brought up some splinters from the enemy’s ships to exhibit at the Coffee House as trophies of the fight. The Roebuck and the Liverpool returned to their stations at Cape May, depending upon New Jersey, instead of Pennsylvania, for poultry and fresh provisions.

This engagement served a valuable purpose. Congress and the Provincial Assembly were certainly admonished to increase their navies. The Committee of Safety added to the galleys and other vessels, sloops, schooners, guard boats and also firerafts. This added force was composed of 743 men. Samuel Davidson was appointed to succeed Commodore Caldwell, as commander of the flotilla, soon after the fight, but on account of much opposition from other officers, never took up the command.

The Committee of Safety organized a system of privateers and letters of marque at this time, with the sanction of Congress. They created a Court of Admiralty, of which George Ross, of Lancaster, was judge; Matthew Clarkson, marshal, and Andrew Robinson, register.

Before July there had also been commissioned the brigs Hancock and Congress, and the sloop Chance, under Captains Wingate Newman, John Kaye, and James Robertson. As early as May the Congress and Chance had taken three valuable ships from Jamaica bound for London, with large cargoes of rum, sugar and molasses, 22,420 “pieces of eight,” 187 ounces of plate and a fine turtle, intended as a present to Lord North. The President of the Continental Congress received and enjoyed this turtle.

It is also of interest to our Province to note that the activities of the young navy resulted in other important prizes. The privateer Congress captured the schooner Thistle; the privateer Franklin, of Philadelphia, took a British storeship with seventy-five tons of gunpowder and 1000 stands of arms; the ship Lexington, under Captain John Barry, of Philadelphia, captured the Edward; the Wasp took the schooner Betsy. In the meantime the British Roebuck and Liverpool, with their tenders, made many captures of vessels about the Delaware Capes, chasing others ashore. But the record of the young American Navy was glorious and certainly a fine beginning for the brilliant successes which were to follow.

Thus we find that the Committee of Safety constructed the Pennsylvania State Navy three months before Congress proposed a Continental navy.

By August, 1776, the fleet numbered twenty-seven vessels, with Captain Thomas Reed as commodore, the first officer of that title in America. Another distinguished officer was Nicholas Biddle.

Three months after the State Navy was begun the Continental Congress took action for the construction of a Continental navy, which was also fitted out in Philadelphia. When the Congress of the United States established the Navy Department in 1798, the first navy yard was located in Philadelphia, where ship building had been an established enterprise since 1683. The city is today famous for the quality and quantity of ships built for this and other nations of the world.

----------

Bishop John Heyl Vincent, Founder of Chautauqua, Died May 9, 1920

General Grant once introduced Bishop J. H. Vincent to President Lincoln and said: “Dr. Vincent was my pastor at Galena (Illinois), and I do not think I missed one of his sermons while I lived there.”

This same Bishop Vincent, of good old Pennsylvania stock and many years a resident of Pennsylvania, was the founder of the Chautauqua Assembly, next only to the public-school system in bringing to the masses of the people some share of their inheritance in the world’s great creations in art and literature. This is the work of a man—a great teacher and educator and university preacher—who did not himself have a college education.

In 1772 the Vincent family, consisting of John Vincent and wife, their sons, Cornelius and Peter; their sons-in-law, Timothy Williams and Samuel Gould, removed from Essex County, N. J., and settled in Northumberland County, Pa., near the present town of Milton.

When the Indians became hostile during the Revolutionary War the early settlers along the West branch of the Susquehanna erected stockade forts at central points, into which the women and children of the neighborhood were gathered for protection at the approach of danger. In one of these forts, known as Fort Freeland, situated on Warrior Run, were gathered the Vincents, the Himrods, the Miles, the McKnights, the Boyds, the Kings, the Littles and others.

June 21, 1779, a party of Indians approached stealthily and fired upon six men hoeing corn in a field near the fort. They killed Isaac Vincent and James Miles and took Michael Freeland and Benjamin Vincent prisoners.

July 28, 1779, 200 British under Captain John McDonald and 300 Seneca Indians, under Chief Hiokatoo attacked the fort and compelled it to capitulate, the conditions of surrender being that all the men over seventeen should become prisoners of war, and the women and children and the aged should be set at liberty. Under this capitulation, Cornelius Vincent and his sons, Daniel and Bethuel, with their neighbors, were marched across the country to the Lakes, then to Quebec, where they remained prisoners till the close of the war.

The aged John Vincent and wife, with the wife and younger children of Cornelius, wended their way back on foot to New Jersey and were scattered among their friends until the return of the captives.

Soon after their return from captivity Cornelius Vincent and his wife and their sons, Daniel and Bethuel, returned to the West Branch Valley and resumed the settlement they had been obliged to abandon. Daniel built and owned a large mill on Warrior Run. Bethuel built a large hotel in Milton, and became its most prominent citizen. Bethuel Vincent was postmaster at Milton, June 29, 1803 to February 22, 1822, and again July 13, 1822 to June 23, 1829.

Cornelius Vincent died in Milton, July 16, 1812. Daniel Vincent died near his mills, January 26, 1826, and Bethuel died at his home in Milton, April 30, 1837.

Bethuel Vincent, born June 3, 1762, married Martha Himrod, January 1, 1788. They were the parents of nine children, of whom John Himrod, born April 20, 1798, was the youngest of the four sons.

John Himrod married Mary Raser, a native of Philadelphia, who died at Chillisquaque, Pa., February 16, 1852. They were old-fashioned Methodists, and parents of Bishop Vincent.

During a short residence in Tuscaloosa, Ala., John Heyl Vincent, the subject of this sketch, was born February 23, 1832. The parents soon moved back to their Pennsylvania home, where John H. attended the schools at Milton and Lewisburg. He began to preach at eighteen years and studied for awhile at Wesleyan Institute, Newark, N. J.

Reverend John Heyl Vincent joined the New Jersey Conference in 1853. Was ordained deacon, 1855; elder, in 1857. Transferred to Rock River, Ill. Conference, he became pastor at Galena in 1857, and General U. S. Grant was one of his parishioners. He then preached elsewhere and in Chicago.

A trip to the old world in 1862, contributed an important part to his intellectual training. He visited Egypt, Palestine, Greece, Italy and other countries.

In 1866 he was elected general agent of the Methodist Episcopal Sunday School Union and in 1868, corresponding secretary of the Sunday School Union and Tract Society, with residence in New York City. A complete series of his books forms an encyclopedia of modern Sunday School literature.

This work culminated in 1874, in the Chautauqua Sunday School Assembly, from which he founded, in 1878, the Chautauqua Literary and Scientific Circle and was its Chancellor until his death.

He was made resident bishop at Zurich, Switzerland, 1900, and placed in charge of European work of the Methodist Church.

Bishop Vincent became preacher to Harvard, Yale, Cornell, Wellesley and other universities and colleges, and was the recipient of many honorary degrees.

In speaking of his great work at Chautauqua he remarked: “I do not expect to make a second Harvard and Yale out of Chautauqua, but I do want to give the people of this generation such a taste of what it is to be intelligent that they will see to it that their children have the best education the country can give.”

Bishop Vincent died in Chicago, May 9, 1920, aged 88 years.

Bishop Vincent’s son, Hon. George Edgar Vincent, a distinguished educator and powerful orator, is president of the Rockefeller Foundation.

Pennsylvania may well be proud to claim the ancestors of Bishop Vincent, the founder of Chautauqua, as their own.

----------

Long Standing Boundary Line Dispute Between Maryland and Pennsylvania Proprietaries Signed May 10, 1732

In the boundary dispute between Pennsylvania and Maryland Lord Baltimore had observations taken of the latitude of New Castle, Delaware, which showed that town to be 39° 39′ 30″, which would place the end of the fortieth degree many miles to the north, and its beginning far beyond the reach of the radius of twelve miles as called for by Lord Chief Justice North, of England.

A degree of latitude is a band about sixty-nine and a half miles wide, extending around the earth parallel to the equator.

Lord North, William Penn, Lord Baltimore, and others, in the absence of better knowledge, simply assumed that the degrees on the maps were all too far south, which was only a guess, but in fact they were nearly correct.

Penn obtained his charter and sent William Markham, his cousin and deputy, to the Delaware to take an observation of the latitude, and he was to meet Lord Baltimore, or his agents, and settle the boundaries.

This meeting was held in Upland, now Chester, in latter part of the year 1681. The observation was taken, and it became manifest that an absurd mistake in latitude was revealed, and that the fortieth degree, the southern boundary of Pennsylvania was twelve miles farther to the North. Lord Baltimore already knew that the end of the fortieth degree was many miles north of its position on Captain John Smith’s map, and he renewed his old claim that his province of Maryland extended to the fortieth degree complete. Thus began the controversy which lasted twenty years.

This claim carried the northern boundary of Maryland far into Penn’s province, just north of Philadelphia, and if successfully defended would have cut from the southern part of our State all the territory south of a line running through Philadelphia, Dowingtown, just south of Lancaster, and north of York, Bedford, Somerset, Connellsville, Brownsville, and the village of West Finley in Washington County.

But Penn had a strong case to defend his territorial limits, his charter expressly defined the southern limit of Pennsylvania, as on the beginning of the fortieth degree, which would make its southern limit reach nearly to the City of Washington, and would have cut off from Lord Baltimore’s province much more territory than he was trying to cut from Penn’s. Penn also possessed the later grant from the Crown, and in such a dispute, where the limits overlapped, it would be taken to have annulled the older.

Penn was willing to yield his stronger position and compromise, all he demanded was that the line be placed where it was supposed to be when his charter was granted. The mistake in latitude made Penn’s boundary on the Delaware ridiculous, for the circle of twelve miles from New Castle could not possibly touch the beginning of the fortieth degree, which was forty miles to the south of it.

It would have been unfortunate to obstruct the settlement of this country by putting claims in which both seemed to be justified, but Penn did even more than expected. He offered to purchase from Baltimore sufficient land to give Pennsylvania a harbor at the head of the Chesapeake. At another personal interview with Baltimore at West River he suggested a compromise even more favorable to Maryland, by suggesting that additional territory should be given Baltimore to make up the loss of the increased length of a degree, which was recently ascertained to be 69½ instead of 60 miles. This would have placed the northern line of Maryland about seven miles north of the head of the Chesapeake.

Lord Baltimore refused all compromises offered by William Penn. He fancied he could obtain great acquisitions of territory, and was determined his province should consist of the present Maryland, Delaware and the southern strip of Pennsylvania above described.

The controversy was thrown in the privy council. The case was argued for two years, the council finally deciding that Baltimore’s charter did not give him a title to Delaware, because at the time of granting the charter that region had been in possession of the Dutch, and they ordered Baltimore and Penn to divide Delaware equally between them by a north and south line, midway between the Chesapeake and the Delaware. The decision of the council was confined to the controversy between Delaware and Maryland, and nothing was said about the disputed boundary of the 40° between Maryland and Pennsylvania and it remained unsettled.

This condition proved a great hardship, the inhabitants on the border, uncertain of their position, refused to pay taxes to either government, and the sheriffs of adjoining counties carried on a warfare of petty annoyance. This gave the rougher and lawless men an excuse for fighting. One of the most notable of these was Thomas Cresap. He caused so much trouble in the southern counties that when he was arrested and carried to Philadelphia, which he called a pretty Maryland town, his exploits were known as the Cresap War.

William Penn died July 30, 1718, leaving the question as unsettled as it was in 1682. Charles Calvert, the fifth Lord Baltimore, was now the proprietor of Maryland, and the first of the family to show much cleverness.

He went to Penn’s widow and admitted he had no just claim to the title of Delaware, and suggested that no more land should be granted near either of the disputed borders by either government for eighteen months, within which time they could settle all difficulties. This agreement was signed in February, 1723, and long after the eighteen months had passed into history, the agreement was faithfully observed by Hannah Penn, and after her death by her children. Baltimore also observed it.

William Penn’s widow died in 1726, and her young sons did not immediately mark the boundary, and Baltimore now assumed the role of an injured person, and in 1731 petitioned the Crown to compel the Proprietors of Pennsylvania to join with him in settling the boundaries. He applied to John and Thomas Penn to meet with him and sign an agreement of settlement, which they agreed to do, and they also accepted the terms proposed in it by Baltimore and the articles were signed May 10, 1732.

The southern boundary of Pennsylvania was fixed about seven miles north of the head of Chesapeake, and the same as William Penn had offered Baltimore in their interview at West River. By this agreement Lord Baltimore received more than had ever belonged to him.

A map was prepared, and attached to the agreement, on which the boundaries were plainly marked. This map was prepared by Baltimore, and the Penns accepted it as correct.

----------

Captain Stephen Chambers Fatally Wounded in Duel with Dr. Rieger May 11, 1789

In May, 1789, there was a brilliant banquet given at the public house of Colonel Mathias Slough, on the southeast corner of Penn Square and South Queen Street, Lancaster. This social function was attended by a large number of officers and soldiers who had fought in the Revolutionary War, among whom were Captain Stephen Chambers and Surgeon Jacob Rieger.

Captain Chambers was neatly dressed in his military uniform, and in personal appearance was one of the finest-looking officers of that period. Dr. Rieger was quite the opposite, rather diminutive in stature, unshaven and otherwise very untidy.

During the progress of the banquet Captain Chambers made some disparaging remark about Dr. Rieger, which the latter overheard and deemed insulting. The result was a challenge to a duel, which was as promptly accepted.

The parties immediately named their seconds, who fixed the following Monday evening, May 11, as the time. The parties met according to arrangement on the outskirts of Lancaster, and after the necessary details were concluded the antagonists faced each other, and at the command of fire neither shot took effect. The seconds, at this point, made an earnest effort to reconcile the principals, Captain Chambers and his seconds being in a mood to offer such terms as they believed to be proper and satisfactory, but Dr. Rieger would not consent to any terms of reconciliation.

They took their places and on the command of fire Captain Chambers snapped his pistol without discharging, but Dr. Rieger sent a ball crashing through both legs of Captain Chambers. His wounds bled freely, and for two days it was thought they were not dangerous; mortification, however, set in and he died in great agony on Saturday morning following, May 16.

Thus perished one of the noblest patriots and most brilliant legal minds of the bar, an event which agitated the public mind for years afterward as an unwarranted and cold-blooded murder.

Judge John Joseph Henry married Chambers’ sister, Jane, and was the attorney for his executors.

Captain Chambers was a native of Ireland, being born there in 1750. He came to Pennsylvania prior to the Revolution, and settled at Lancaster. He studied law and as soon as he was admitted to practice in 1773, he removed to Sunbury, where he became the first resident attorney of Northumberland County. Fithian, in his journal under date July 20, 1775, met him at Sunbury, “a lawyer, serious, civil and social.”

At the outset of the Revolution he entered the service. He was appointed first lieutenant of the Twelfth Regiment of the Continental Line, October 16, 1776, and promoted to captain in 1777.

He was chosen to the General Assembly from Northumberland County, October 2, 1778, and while in attendance thereon was admitted to the Philadelphia bar, March 6, 1779. In 1779 he was a member of the Republican Society of Philadelphia, whose object was the revision of the Constitution of 1776.

In the fall of 1780 he returned to his former home in Lancaster and soon attained a large and lucrative practice, owned several farms and also became interested in the iron business. He represented Lancaster County in the Council of Censors, 1783 and 1784. He also was one of the original members of the Pennsylvania Society of the Cincinnati.

He was a delegate to the convention November 29, 1787, which ratified, on the part of Pennsylvania, the Federal Constitution. In the debate he took a most aggressive part, frequently becoming very personal in his attack upon members of the opposite side, especially toward William Findlay. Captain Chambers voted with his comrades in arms, and on the side of the adoption of the Federal Constitution.

It is a matter of interest that Captain Chambers was among the distinguished patriots who were in the house of James Wilson, in Philadelphia, when the mob made a disgraceful attack against it, October 4, 1779. Captain Chambers appeared with James Wilson, and others, before Supreme Executive Council, October 19, 1779, and was bound over to appear at the next term of court, in the sum of £5000. George Clymer and Samuel Caldwell becoming his sureties in the sum of £2,500 each.

The evening of the day of the riot at “Fort Wilson,” Captain Chambers attended the Quarterly Communication of the Grand Lodge of Ancient York Masons and was installed Worshipful Master of Lodge No. 22, which was constituted at Northumberland the following month.

At the constitution of Lodge No. 22, about the middle of November, 1779, Chambers became its first Worshipful Master, and the warrant for that body was produced and presented by him at “his own proper cost and charges.”

In July, 1785, he became the warrant Worshipful Master of Lodge No. 43, at Lancaster, and both of these ancient lodges are still at labor, the former, Lodge No. 22, now at Sunbury.

Dr. Joseph Rieger was the surgeon of the Pennsylvania Rifle Regiment, commanded by Colonel Samuel Hiles. He was commissioned March 22, 1776. He was a highly respected physician of Lancaster. He died there in 1795.

----------

War of 1812 Began in Pennsylvania with Message of Governor Snyder May 12, 1812

The inhabitants of the infant Nation believed that Great Britain had wantonly trampled on their rights, and on May 12, 1812, Governor Simon Snyder expressed the feelings of the people in his call for Pennsylvania’s quota of 14,000 militia, when he stated that for thirty years we had lived at peace with all the nations of the earth, while the storm of war had been desolating many countries of the civilized world, and that all means which wisdom and patience could devise had been in vain resorted to in the hope of preserving peace.

“The cup of patience, of humiliation and long suffering,” declared the Governor, “had been filled to overflowing; and the indignant arm of an injured people must be raised to dash it to the earth and grasp the avenging sword. If ever a nation had justifiable cause for war, that nation is the United States. If ever a people had motives to fight, we are that people. It would give the Governor inexpressible satisfaction if Pennsylvania would volunteer her quota.”

Such was the enthusiasm of the hour that in response to the Governor’s call three times as many troops tendered their services as were required. The disappointment of some was so great that money was freely offered to secure a place among those accepted by the authorities.

General William Reed, the Adjutant General of the State, speedily organized this force, which was formed into two divisions, four brigades and twenty-two regiments. The first, or Philadelphia division, was commanded by Major General Isaac Morrell and the second, from Pittsburgh and vicinity, by Major General Adamson Tannehill.

The differences which had so long existed between the United States and Great Britain finally resulted in war, which was declared by Congress June 18, 1812. Every Representative, but two from Pennsylvania and both the Senators, voted in favor of a declaration and the people at home proved in demonstrative terms that they approved their vote.

In July a general alarm prevailed in Erie and vicinity, in consequence of the appearance of a British-Indian force on the opposite side of the lake.

On July 15 the sixteenth division of Pennsylvania militia was organized under General Kelso. Four thousand men called for by the President rendezvoused at Meadville and Pittsburgh looking to a movement on Canada.

Soon the 2000 men at Meadville were ordered to Western New York, where they participated in the battles along the Canadian border. After the unsuccessful efforts of General Dearborn and Wilkinson, the rank of major general was conferred upon Jacob Brown, of Bucks County, and he was given the command of the Northern Department.

General Brown at Ogdensburg, October 4, 1812, defeated the British, and won a signal victory, May 29, when he took Sackett’s Harbor, which he retained until the close of the war. General Brown also won a brilliant victory at Fort Erie, which is on the Canadian shore, opposite Buffalo, N. Y., on July 3, 1814.

Winfield Scott, later the successful commander in the war with Mexico, was an officer under General Brown. He won the brilliant and important engagement at Chippewa, under directions of General Brown. Captain Thomas Biddle, of Philadelphia, commanded one of the three batteries of artillery engaged.

General Brown then won the severe battle of Lundy’s Lane, July 25, in which 2600 Americans defeated 7000 British, and captured one of their batteries. In this engagement General Brown was twice wounded, Major Daniel McFarland was killed, Captain Biddle and Colonel Hugh Brady, of Northumberland County, afterward a distinguished general of the United States Army, were severely wounded.

General Brown defended Fort Erie against two attacks and at the close of the campaign was honored by the State of New York with a gift of gold and a decorated sword, “in testimony of the high sense they entertained of his valor and skill in defeating the British forces, superior in number.” Congress gave him the thanks of the Nation and a gold medal, and he was made Commander-in-Chief of the armies of the United States. He died February 24, 1828, from the effects of wounds received at Lundy’s Lane.

Other Pennsylvanians who were heroes in this war included General Thomas Bodley and Colonel William Carroll, a native of Pittsburgh, who afterward served as Governor of Tennessee from 1821 to 1827, and again from 1830 to 1835.

The defense of Philadelphia was chiefly maintained by volunteers from Pennsylvania. One camp was established at Shell Pot, north of Wilmington, where the “Philadelphia Blues” under Captain Lewis Rush formed a part of the command. He was promoted and Lieutenant Henry Myers succeeded him as captain of the Blues, or “Bucktails,” as they were more generally called.

In the summer of 1814, Governor Snyder ordered out troops to serve for the defense of Delaware and the Elk River. A camp was established near Wilmington, called Camp Dupont, and was under the command of General Thomas Cadwalader, of Philadelphia. The infantry regiment was commanded by Colonel Clement C. Biddle, and a battalion of artillery was there under command of Colonel Prevost. Another camp was formed near Marcus Hook, called Camp Gaines. General Snyder commanded this brigade. In this camp were Colonel William Duane and others. The First or old “City Troop,” commanded then by Captain Charles Ross, was in Camp Gaines.

Another camp of 5000 troops was established at York under Major General Nathaniel Watson. When General Ross attempted the capture of Baltimore these Pennsylvanians marched there and aided in repelling the enemy.

An important event of this war was the blockade of the Delaware River in March, 1813, by the British fleet under Commodore Sir John P. Beresford.

The closing scenes of the war were enacted in the regions north and south of Pennsylvania, and the State was not seriously threatened with invasion.

On August 24, 1814, Washington fell into the enemy’s hands, the city pillaged and the Capitol burned.

Just as Robert Morris was the financier of the Revolution, so Stephen Girard also of Philadelphia, was the financier of the War of 1812. The Government needed $5,000,000 and offered high interest, but only $200,000 was subscribed, when Girard stepped into the scene and subscribed the balance. He staked his whole fortune in his trust of his adopted country, which none other would do, and saved the Nation from a humiliating defeat. He also took Treasury bills at their face value, and his example shamed other creditors, who then accepted the money of the Government.

----------

Lieutenant Colonel Antes, Soldier and Frontiersman, Died May 13, 1820

Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Antes died at his stockaded home, long known as Antes’ Fort, May 13, 1820, aged eighty-three years.

This pioneer statesman and soldier was an early settler on the frontier of Pennsylvania, a member of a distinguished family in the Province, an officer of the Revolution, Sheriff of Northumberland County during the stirring days of the Wyoming controversy, and an ardent patriot whose influence, both in civic and military affairs, was most potent a century and a quarter since.

The ancestral home of Colonel Antes was in the beautiful and fertile valley, called Falkner’s Swamp, in what is now Montgomery County, about six miles from Pottstown.

Philip Frederick Antes, grandfather of Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Antes, of the noble family of Von Blume, of Rhenish Bavaria, Germany, owing to religious persecutions, came from Friensheim, Germany, sometime between 1716 and 1723, and settled for a short time in Germantown.

On February 29, 1722–23, he bought 154 acres in the Van Bebber tract in what has since been called Falkner’s Swamp. This was a tract of 500 acres in the original patent made by William Penn, October 25, 1701, to the Frankford Land Company, and comprised 22,337 acres of the most fertile land in the State.

On December 16, 1708, the tract was sold by the agent, Daniel Falkner, to John Henry Sprogel for £500, current money of Pennsylvania and was paid for in “Silver Coyne.” This was known as the German tract and also by other names.

In 1726 Henry Antes, the only son, married Christina, the daughter of William Dewees, who built the second paper mill in America, in 1710, in that part of Germantown known as Crefeld, near the line of the present Montgomery County. A flour mill was added to the Crefeld paper mill and here Henry Antes worked for three years. This was the birthplace of three of their children, Frederick, William and Elizabeth. Henry Antes served for more than ten years as one of the Justices of the Province.

September 2, 1735, Henry Antes purchased more than 200 acres about two miles away, just across the line from the German tract, in what is now Frederick Township, Montgomery County, and built a grist mill and a stone mansion, in which the rest of his distinguished family was born, and which was destined to become one of the valued historic buildings of the State.

It was in this home that Lieutenant Colonel John Henry Antes was born, October 5, 1736. Here Reverend George Whitefield, the great evangelist, preached from the porch, April 23, 1740, to a multitude estimated at 3000 persons.

In 1745 Pious Henry Antes gave up his home to the needs of the Moravian Society, and his house became the school for boys. He and his wife removed to Bethlehem. Henry Antes’ home thus became the first boarding school for boys in America.

It was in this mansion, then owned by Colonel Frederic Antes, that General Washington made his headquarters, September 18 to 24, 1777, during his stay at Camp Pottsgrove, the most westerly point ever reached by the Continental Army.

When still quite a young man John Henry Antes, being of a romantic disposition, went to the Susquehanna region, being induced to do so by Conrad Weiser, who was a great friend of the family, and who had made frequent trips to the West Branch in the interest of the Provincial Government. He settled on a farm situated on Shamokin Creek, near the present Sunbury, and soon became one of the prominent men of that region.

On July 29, 1775, he was appointed a Justice of Quarter Sessions. On January 24, 1776, he was commissioned a captain in the Second Battalion, under Colonel James Potter, and on March 13, following was assigned to the command of Colonel William Plunket, when he made his expedition against the Connecticut settlers; then Captain Antes was assigned to the Second Battalion of Associators.

On May 21, 1777, he was commissioned lieutenant colonel of the Fourth Battalion, of Northumberland County Militia, and in this service endeared himself to the frontier inhabitants by his active work in protecting the settlements from the frequent incursions of the Indians.

He established his headquarters in the Nippenose Valley. Here he built the stockade, called Antes’ Fort, which was the most exposed place on the frontier. This stockade and the cabin home of Colonel Antes were destroyed by the Tories and Indians at the time of the “Great Runaway,” July, 1778.

Towards the close of the Revolution, Colonel Antes was elected Sheriff of Northumberland County, October 18, 1782, and re-elected. At this time his jurisdiction extended over what is now thirty counties of Pennsylvania.

At the close of his political and military career, he removed from his farm to a tract of land on Nippenose Creek, which he had purchased September 29, 1773. This site was near the mouth of that creek opposite the mouth of Pine Creek, near the present Jersey Shore, and here he built a mill, known as Antes’ Fort. His log mansion built at the same time, 1785, which he stockaded, and which was later occupied by his son, Henry, until 1830, is still in use. The grist mill, now in operation, is the fourth one erected on the original site.

A gap in the mountains, a small town, and other places have taken their name from this sturdy pioneer.

The Antes Burying Ground is not far distant from the home and mill site, and in it is the grave of Colonel John Henry Antes.

The numerous descendants of Colonel Antes meet in annual reunion and recount his many exploits and services so unselfishly rendered in time of need.

----------

Provincial Council Hears of Border Trouble May 14, 1734

Thomas and John Penn, the Proprietaries, arrived in the Province, the former in 1732, and his elder brother, John, two years later. They were cordially and affectionately received by the colonists as the sons of the most illustrious founder.

John Penn remained only one year, as he hurried back to England to oppose the pretensions of Lord Baltimore, but Thomas Penn remained for some years in the Province, spending his time generally after the manner of an English country gentleman. He was cold and distant in his intercourse with society and consequently unpopular. He returned to England in 1741.

In the year 1733 the Provincial Government for the first time became apprehensive of the designs of the French in the Western country, where they began to establish trading posts along the headwaters of the Allegheny and Ohio Rivers and claimed all the land on those waters by virtue of some treaty of which the Provincial Government was not apprised.

With a view to frustrate their designs, which obviously tended to alienate the Indians from the English, James Logan proposed that a treaty should be made with the Shawnee and other tribes, and that they should be invited to remove nearer the English settlements. In accord with this suggestion, a treaty was held with the Six Nations at Philadelphia, when the savages confirmed the fears of the English by advising them of the French designs, and they promised perpetual friendship with the English.

Then trouble began on the Maryland border. At a meeting of Council held in Philadelphia May 14, 1734, Thomas Penn informed the board of some very unneighborly proceedings of the Province of Maryland in not only harassing some of the inhabitants of this Province who lived along the border, but that they extended their claims much farther than they had ever before pretended they had a right. They went so far as to carry off several persons, whom they imprisoned, among them being John Hendricks and Joshua Minshall, who lived on the Susquehanna in what is now York County. At the time of this report they were still confined in prison at Annapolis.

Penn advised Council he had engaged Andrew Hamilton, Esq., to appear for them when they should be brought to trial at the ensuing Provincial Court of Maryland. Penn said this action of the Marylanders made settlements along the border insecure and he proposed that the Council decide on measures for maintaining the peace between his Majesty’s subjects in both Provinces.

Mr. Hamilton, accompanied by Mr. Georges, private secretary to Governor Thomas Penn, went to Annapolis on their mission. They were also acting in capacity of commissioners for the Proprietaries, with the approval of the Assembly, to execute articles of agreement, and to run, mark and lay out the lines, limits and boundaries between the two Provinces. They did not meet with much success, in consequence of which, the Governor, under date of August 19, 1734, wrote to the Justices of the Counties of Chester, Lancaster on the Susquehanna, and New Castle, Kent and Sussex on the Delaware as follows:

“You are not, I believe, insensible how much the whole country has been disappointed in the just hopes which had been entertained of seeing a final period put to those long pending disputes between this Government and that of Maryland, touching their respective boundaries, by the execution of the solemn agreement concluded between the Proprietaries of each. It is, however, no small satisfaction to me that I can now acquaint you that this agreement, with the proceedings of the commissioners thereon, having been laid before his Majesty’s attorney and solicitor general, we have had the pleasure of lately receiving the opinion, that the agreement still remains valid and binding, on both Proprietaries, although their commissioners, by reason of difference in sentiments, have not carried into execution.

“Now, as the northern bounds, formerly set by Lord Baltimore to himself, differ not much from those lately agreed upon, I know not how we can judge better or with more certainty of any bounds by which we limit our present jurisdiction than near the place where it is known they will fall when the lines shall be actually run.

“In the meantime, that a stop may be put to any further insults on the people of this Government, and encroachments on lands within the bounds of the same, I am again to renew to you those pressing instances I have repeatedly made, that agreeable to the duty of your stations, you exert your utmost endeavors for preserving peace throughout your county, and protecting all the inhabitants in the just and right possessions, in legal and necessary defense of which every person ought to be encouraged to appear with boldness, and to be assured of receiving all the countenance that lawful authority can give.

“And as the late disturbances have been in a great measure owing to the unjust attempts of those who, pretending right to, or claiming disputed lands, under that pretense, have come many miles into this Province, and with force possessed themselves of lands for which they can have no lawful grant from any other persons but our Honorable Proprietaries only, and have likewise committed very great violences upon sundry of our inhabitants, you are to give strict orders for apprehending and securing all such who have been principals or accessories therein, as well as those who hereafter shall presume to offer an injury to the persons or professions of his Majesty’s peaceable subjects or encroach on any lands within the known and reputed limits of your county, that they may be brought to condign punishment.

“But as in the year 1724, it was agreed ‘that for avoiding all manner of contention or difference between the inhabitants of the two Provinces, no person or persons should be disturbed or molested in their possessions they then held on either side,’ you are desired still to have a particular regard to those entitled to the benefit of that agreement, while they behave themselves peaceably.”

The letters then gave implicit instructions to the sheriffs, directing them to frequently visit the borders, particularly where the disturbances happened, and give all assistance possible to the injured and apprehend those who caused the trouble and seize and secure them.

It was particularly fortunate that the Indians continued to live amicably with the settlers at this period.

----------

Dr. Nicholas More, First Chief Justice, Impeached May 15, 1685

William Penn appointed his cousin, Captain William Markham, Deputy Governor, and he arrived in the Province in October, 1681. He then appointed commissioners to lay out the proposed great city, who came over toward the end of that year. The commissioners, as originally appointed were William Crispin, Nathaniel Allen and John Bezar.

These commissioners sailed in the ship John and Sarah, taking the southern passage and stopping at Barbadoes, where Crispin died. Crispin was head of the commission, a man of mature years and Penn’s own kinsman, like Markham.

It appears by a letter from Penn to Markham, dated London, October 18, 1681, that Penn intended Crispin to hold high office in the new province. He says:

“I have sent my cosen, William Crispen, to be thy assistant, as my commission will appear. His Skill, experience, Industry and Integrity are well known to me, and particularly in Court keeping &c., so yt is my will and pleasure that he be as Chief Justice to keep ye Seal, ye Courts and Sessions, & he shall be accountable to me for it.”

The honor, therefore, of discharging the highest judicial office in Pennsylvania is to be attributed to the man appointed by the proprietary in pursuance of the act of 1684—that man was Dr. Nicholas More.

It is difficult to understand the abilities and character of More. He was educated in medicine, but drifted away, in his mature years, from the practice of his profession, and in 1681 became the president of the Society of Free Traders, and a large purchaser of land in the new Province of Pennsylvania.

Nicholas More arrived in the province with Penn in 1682, and though not a member of the Society of Friends, he so far won their confidence that he was returned a member of the first Assembly at Chester, and probably was the speaker of that body. He continued a member for three years, and in 1684 was again elected its speaker.

In August, 1684, he was commissioned Chief Justice by the Proprietary and at once entered upon the discharge of the functions of that high office.

In spite of the estimable qualities which entitled him to these honors, his character was stained with faults, and his haughty demeanor, harsh and ungoverned temper, incensed those with whom he was brought in contact.

In 1683 a Council and Assembly attempted to function with less members than required by the Frame of Government. More reminded them they had broken the Charter and their acts would amount to nothing. He further said: “Hundreds in England will curse you * * * and their children after them, and you may be impeached for treason for what you do.”

He denounced them when they passed laws which he opposed, and used language which was not in common usage among the pious Quakers.

These practices and his overbearing and haughty spirit made More many enemies in all classes. It is therefore with but little surprise that the Assembly formally impeached him early in his judicial career.

On the morning of May 15, 1685, a member of the House presented a formal complaint. More, who was sitting as a delegate, was ordered to withdraw. The articles of accusation were read and approved, and a committee named to conduct the impeachment. But the Council received the accusers with grave civility and gave the Judge until 7 o’clock the following morning to answer the charges.

More was not inclined to gracefully submit himself to the judgment of the Council and bitterly accused Abraham Mann as “a person of a seditious spirit.” He did not appear before Council and also refused to attend when warned by a committee.

The Assembly prudently resolved to collect the testimony necessary to make good their charges. They required the records of the Provincial Court, which were in possession of Patrick Robinson, clerk of the Court, who happened to be present in the House. He was little in sympathy with the impeachment and refused to produce the desired records. He even alleged that the records were “written in Latin where one word stood for a sentence and in unintelligible characters which no person could read but himself; no, not an angel from Heaven.”

The clerk held firm and then withdrew from the House. A warrant was issued by the Speaker and he was placed in the custody of the sheriff.

More all this time, secretly supported by the Governor and his friends in the Council, took no notice of the proceedings against him. He told John Briggs, a member of the House, “Either I myself or some of you will be hanged and I advise you to enter your protest against it.”

On the morning of May 18 the Assembly met after a long conference with the Council. They once more endeavored to extort the records from Robinson, who was brought into the House in the custody of the Sheriff, but in vain. Robinson threw himself on the floor and refused to arise or answer any questions put to him. The House, therefore, hastened to make an end of the business. They expelled More, resolved to ask that Robinson should be removed from office, hastily gathered together their evidence, and presented themselves before the Council.

More again absented himself, but the evidence against him was sufficiently serious. He was proved to have acted in a summary and unlawful way in summoning juries; to have perverted the sense of the testimony; to have unduly harassed a jury into finding an unjust verdict, etc., and finally of having used “several contemptuous and derogatory expressions ... of the Provincial Council and of the present state of Government by calling the members thereof fooles and loggerheads,” and by saying “it was well if all the laws had dropt and that it never would be good times as long as ye Quakers had ye administration.”

The speaker requested that both More and Robinson be dismissed from office, and the Assembly withdrew.

The Governor and Council were puzzled how to act. Robinson was retained until he became so insolent that he was dismissed. But More had incurred the displeasure of public opinion, yet they could not proceed against him. The further prosecution of his case was postponed month by month by trivial excuses, till more important matters took its place in the public mind.

It is reasonable to conclude that Judge More must have been possessed of some sterling qualities and considerable natural parts to warrant Penn in his appointment. His dismissal from office ended his career as a public man.

Dr. More was the founder of the Manor of Moreland. He died after a languishing illness in 1689.

----------

Massacre at French Jacob Groshong’s in Union County, May 16, 1780

In the spring of 1780 occurred an Indian massacre at what was then known as French Jacob’s Mill. The site of this fatal attack is on a farm long in the possession of the Wohlheiter family, situated about one-half a mile southeast of the Forest House, at the end of Brush Valley Narrows, in what is now Union County.

Here in 1776 Jacob Groshong, or French Jacob, as he was called by his neighbors, built a log mill, which was patronized by the settlers for many miles around.

On May 16, 1780, a patrol of Continental soldiers on duty as a garrison at the mill, was attacked by a party of Indians, and four of the defenders were killed and several wounded. Those killed were John Foster, James Chambers, George Etzweiler and Samuel McLaughlin.

The soldiers were outside the mill at the time of the attack washing themselves. They had just returned from patroling that neighborhood and were confident the immediate country was free of redskins.

Christian Shively heard the firing as he was threshing grain in a field. He immediately concealed his wife and two small children near the creek, then rolled some logs into the stream and tied them into a raft, put his wife and children on, and floated down stream to safety. Henry Pontius, a neighbor, also heard the shots, secured his gun, hurriedly mounted a horse and made a circuit through the woods, and came to the mill just in time to see the Indians fleeing with their plunder.

An appeal for assistance was sent to the seat of Government, and the following day messengers set off for Philadelphia. A detail started for New Berlin, bearing the bodies of the murdered soldiers, but when John Clark’s farm was reached the party was divided. Those carrying the bodies of John Foster and James Chambers were compelled to make burial in the Lewis graveyard, as the weather was too excessively hot. The other party, bearing the body of George Etzweiler, buried it on the farm of John Brook, where his grave was suitably marked. The body of Samuel McLaughlin was carried to New Berlin and buried in the Dry Run Cemetery.

Colonel Matthew Smith sent a letter to General Joseph Reed, president of the State, dated Northumberland, May 18, 1780, in which he complained bitterly of the defenseless frontiers, and begged for immediate assistance. He said:

“Sir, unless some support can be instantly afforded, the State must shortly count one county less than formerly—which God forbid. I refer you, Dear Sir, to the bearer, General Potter, for further information, as he waits on horseback, whilst I write this imperfect, distressed account. Provisions none; cash none, nor can it be had in this place. General Potter’s account from this place to the Honorable Assembly, which I doubt not you will see, will fully satisfy you of the state of this place.”

This mill, where the Indian fight occurred, was a favorite place for visitors as long as it stood.

Some time between 1776 and 1779 Jacob Groshong built a little log mill on a site long afterward known as Solomon Heberling’s. He thought he had a clear title to the location, but he was defeated in a law suit for possession.

Groshong later moved up into the Nittany Mountain, in now Center County, and then went West. His name, or rather his nickname, is still preserved in connection with a rather large spring a little above the tavern, on the Bush Valley road. He is the hero of many of the wild tales of Indian troubles in that part of the valley.

On July 14, following this attack at French Jacob’s, the Indians attacked the family of Allens living at the mouth of Buffalo Creek, now Lewisburg. The woman succeeded in making her escape across the creek, but the husband and three children were killed.

The same day Baltzer Klinesmith was killed and his two daughters, Elizabeth and Catherine, were carried off. This was in the vicinity of the present Dreisbach Church, Union County.

The Indians and their prisoners arrived at a spring north of New Berlin, where they left the girls in charge of an old Indian and went down Dry Valley. It soon began to rain and the Indian made the girls gather brush to cover a bag of flour they had stolen. He laid down under a tree with his tomahawk under his head. The girls, passing with brush, gradually worked it from under him as he slept. Elizabeth secured it and motioned to her sister to run. She then sank it into the old Indian’s head and made her escape.

The Indians returned about this time and pursued the girls, reaching them when they neared the house. A rifle ball passed through Catherine’s shoulder, which maimed her for life, but the girls succeeded in reaching their home and the men, already alarmed and prepared, gave chase to the savages.

Two days after these attacks Colonel John Kelly enrolled a company of Northumberland County militia, with James Thompson as captain; Joseph Poak, lieutenant, and Alexander Ewing, ensign.

----------

Indian War Known as Pontiac Conspiracy Opened May 17, 1763

General John Forbes and his invincible army invested the ruins of Fort Duquesne, November 24, 1758. There was no attempt made to restore the old fortification, but about one year later work was begun on a new fort, under the personal direction of General John Stanwix, who succeeded General Forbes, which has since been known as Fort Pitt.

It was built near the point where the Allegheny and Monongahela unite their waters, but a little farther inland than the site of Fort Duquesne. The exact date of its completion is not known, but on March 21, 1760, Major General Stanwix, having finished his work, set out on his return journey to Philadelphia.

The effect of this stronghold was soon apparent in the return of about 4000 settlers to their lands on the frontiers of Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia, from which they had been driven by their savage enemies, and the brisk trade which at once began to be carried on with the now, to all appearance, friendly Indians. However, this security was not of long duration. The definite treaty of peace between England, Spain and France was signed February 10, 1763, but before that time, Pontiac, the great chief of the Ottawas, was planning his conspiracy, which carried death and desolation throughout the frontier.

The French had always tried to ingratiate themselves with the Indians. When their warriors came to the French forts they were hospitably welcomed and liberally supplied with guns, ammunition and clothing. The English, on the contrary, either gave reluctantly or did not give at all.

In a spirit of revenge and hatred a powerful confederacy was formed which included all the Western tribes, under the command of Pontiac, alike renowned for his warlike spirit, his wisdom and his bravery, and whose name was a terror to the entire region of the lakes. The blow was to be struck the middle of May, 1763. The tribes were to rise simultaneously and attack the English garrisons. Thus a sudden attack was made May 17, on all Western posts.

Detroit was saved after a long and close siege. Forts Pitt and Niagara narrowly escaped, while Le Boeuff, Venango, Presque Isle, Miami, St. Joseph, Ouachtown, Sandusky, and Michillimackimac all fell into the hands of the savages. Their garrisons were either butchered on the spot, or carried off to be tortured for the amusement of their cruel captors.

The Indians swept over the surrounding country, carrying death and destruction wherever they went. Hundreds of traders were slaughtered without mercy, while their wives and children, if not murdered, were carried off captives. The property destroyed or stolen amounted, it is said, to five hundred thousand pounds.

Attacks were made at Forts Bedford and Ligonier, but without success. Fort Ligonier was under siege for two months. The preservation of this post was of the utmost importance, and Lieutenant Blaine, by his courage and good conduct, managed to hold out until August 2, 1763, when Colonel Henry Bouquet arrived with his little army to relieve him.

In the meantime, every preparation was made at Fort Pitt for an attack. The garrison at that post numbered 330, commanded by Captain Simeon Ecuyer, a brave Swiss. The fortifications were repaired, barracks were made shot-proof and a rude fire-engine was constructed to extinguish any flames kindled by the fire arrows of the Indians. All the houses and cabins outside the walls were leveled to the ground. The fort was crowded with the families of the settlers.

Several weeks elapsed before there was any determined attack from the enemy. Only July 26 some chiefs asked for a parley with Captain Ecuyer, which was granted. They demanded that he and all in the fort should leave it immediately or it and they would all be destroyed.

On the night succeeding this parley the Indians approached in great numbers, crawling under the banks of the two rivers, in which they were completely sheltered from the fire of the fort. On the one side the entire bank was lined with the burrows, from which they shot volleys of bullets, arrows and fire-arrows into the fort. The yelling was terrific, and the women and children in the crowded barracks clung to each other in abject terror. This attack lasted for five days. On August 1, the Indians heard the rumor that Colonel Bouquet was approaching with a large force of troops, which caused them to give up the attack and move off, thus relieving the garrison.

When the news of this sudden Indian uprising reached General Amherst he ordered Colonel Bouquet to march with a detachment of 500 men to the relief of the besieged forts. This force was composed of regulars and six companies of Provincial Rangers.

Bouquet established his rendezvous in Carlisle, where he arrived the latter part of June, 1763. Here he found every building, every house, every barn, every hovel crowded with terrified refugees. He wrote to General Amherst, July 13, as follows:

“The list of people known to be killed increases every day. The desolation of so many families, reduced to the last extremity of want and misery; the despair of those who have lost their parents, relations and friends, with the cries of distracted women and children who fill the streets, form a scene painful to humanity and impossible to describe.”

Strange as it may seem, the Province of Pennsylvania would do nothing to aid the troops who gathered for its defense. Colonel Bouquet, in another letter to General Amherst, said: “I hope we shall be able to save that infatuated people from destruction, notwithstanding all their endeavors to defeat your vigorous measures.”

While Bouquet, harassed and exasperated, labored on at his difficult task, the terror of the frontier people increased, until at last, finding they could hope for but little aid from the Government, they bestirred themselves with admirable spirit in their own defense. They raised small bodies of riflemen, who scoured the woods in front of the settlements, and succeeded in driving the enemy back. In many instances the men dressed themselves in Indian fashion, painted their faces red and black, and adopted the savage mode of warfare.

Forts Pitt, Niagara and Detroit were saved. Colonel Bouquet relieved Fort Pitt; Niagara was not attacked, and Detroit, after a long siege by Pontiac in person, was relieved by Colonel Bradstreet in 1764.

The Indians were speedily subdued, but Pontiac remained hostile until his death in 1769.

----------

Meschianza, Stupendous Entertainment for Sir Wm. Howe, May 18, 1778

The British spent the winter of 1777–78 in Philadelphia, and while the Americans were suffering at Valley Forge, Sir William Howe’s army enjoyed one long round of pleasure in the capital city. The officers entertained themselves with fetes, dances and theatre parties, and they played cricket and had cock-fights. As Franklin said: “Howe did not take Philadelphia—Philadelphia took Howe.”

Howe was criticized at home, where he was regarded as indolent in command and he resigned. Sir Henry Clinton superseded him.

On May 18, 1778, before Howe’s departure, a fete at the home of Thomas Wharton, at Walnut Grove, was arranged for him by Major John Andre, a talented man, attractive to the ladies, who was later hanged as a spy. It was called the Meschianza, and comprised a regatta, tournament, feast and ball. It was a splendid folly in itself, and is notorious in American history.

After all, the performance must have been crude and some of the features of it in bad taste and incongruous. The elements of the medley would not mix. Major Andre says the cost of the entertainment was defrayed by twenty-two officers of Howe’s staff.

The Meschianza began with a regatta, which was in fact a military procession along the waterfront; boats, barges and galleys, filled with guests and officers, including Lord Howe, General Howe, Sir Henry Clinton, Lord Rawdon and General Knyphausen, moving in three divisions down the river, the surrounding vessels decked with flags and the wharves teaming with spectators.

As the company disembarked at the Wharton mansion they marched through files of grenadiers and light horse. On the lawn the bands in massed formation played favorite airs. Triumphal arches were erected on the lawn near the mansion, under which the ladies were received as at a royal court.

Here were seated seven of the principal belles dressed in Turkish habits and wearing in their turbans the favors with which they meant to reward the several knights who were to contend in their honor. At a blast of the trumpets, a band of knights, dressed in ancient habits and mounted on gray horses, with rich trappings, dashed into the court. Each knight was accompanied by an esquire on foot. There were heralds and others, all in robes of ceremony.

Lord Cathcart, superbly mounted, appeared as the chief of the White Knights. His lady was Miss Auchmuty. Then came Captain Cathcart, the first knight, in honor of Miss N. White; Lieutenant Bygrove and Miss Jane Craig; Captain Andre and Miss Peggy Chew; Captain Horneck and Miss Nancy Redman; Captain Matthews and Miss Wilhelmina Bond, Lieutenant Sloper and Miss Mary Shippen.

A herald then proclaimed a challenge for “The Knights of the Blended Rose,” which was accepted by “The Knights of the Burning Mountain,” led by Captain Watson, of the Black Knights, whose particular lady was Miss Rebecca Franks. These knights and their ladies were Lieutenant Underwood and Miss Sarah Shippen, Lieutenant Winyard and Miss Peggy Shippen, Lieutenant Delaval and Miss Becky Bond, Monsier Montluissant and Miss Rebecca Redman, Lieutenant Hobart and Miss Sophia Chew and Major Tarleton and Miss Wilhelmina Smith.

These ladies wore costumes uniformly similar to that adopted by their knights. The ladies of the Blended Rose each wore white silk, pink sash and spangled shoes and stockings. The ladies of the Burning Mountain wore white silk gowns trimmed with black and white sashes edged with black.

The Black Knights threw down the gauntlet to the White Knights. It was picked up. Then the knights fixed their lances and shields and, galloping at full speed, encountered several times. The third such charge was ended by the firing of pistols, then the sword of combat, and at last the two chiefs engaged in single combat, till the marshal, Major Gwynne, rushed between them and declared that the fair damsels of the Blended Rose and the Burning Mountain were satisfied with the feats of valor of their respective knights, and favors were then distributed, and the knights rode off the field.

They then reappeared riding through the triumphal arch and presented themselves to Lord Howe, which was followed by a grand procession. The entertainment then continued in the mansion, which had been transformed for the occasion into an Egyptian palace. The ballroom contained eighty-five large mirrors, and was lighted with thirty-four branches of wax-lights.

The four drawing rooms where the refreshments were served were decorated and lighted in the same style and taste as the ballroom.

The ball by the knights and their ladies, and the dancing continued until 10 o’clock when the windows were thrown open and a magnificent bouquet of rockets began the fireworks.

This part of the elaborate entertainment was designed by Captain Montressor, the chief engineer, and consisted of twenty different exhibitions, displayed under his direction and to the delight and satisfaction of all present. The conclusion was the illumination of the triumphal arch, with a display of all the trophies.

At midnight supper was announced, and large folding-doors, suddenly thrown open, disclosed a magnificent salon 210 feet by 40. Here again many mirrors, artificial flowers and clusters of lights were made to produce a wonderful effect. Covers were laid for 430 guests.

Toward the end of the supper the herald of the Blended Rose attended, entered the saloon and proclaimed the King’s health, the Queen, royal family, army, navy, their commanders, the knights and their ladies and the ladies in general, each of these toasts being accompanied by a flourish of music. Dancing was then continued until 4 o’clock.

While this revelry was at its height the sound of cannon was heard in the North. The English officers explained to their frightened partners in the dance that it was part of the ceremony. But it was not. Captain McLane, a dashing officer, hearing of the Meschianza, at the head of 100 infantry and Clow’s dragoons, reached the line of redoubts between the Delaware and Schuylkill, painted everything within reach with tar and, at a given signal, set it on fire. The sudden blaze took the British by surprise, the long roll was beaten, every cannon in the redoubts was fired. The British cavalry dashed out into the night, but the daring Americans were nowhere to be found.

----------

Colonel Pluck Parades His Celebrated “Bloody Eighty-Fourth” Regiment,

May 19, 1825

An amusing sensation started in 1824 continued to attract attention in Philadelphia during the following year.

There had been more or less laxity in the various militia organizations in the election of their officers and this was much more evident in Philadelphia than elsewhere in the State.

John Pluck, an ignorant hostler, was elected colonel of the Eighty-fourth Regiment as a joke and to ridicule the militia system, which at that moment was very unpopular with the members.

This election had been resisted by many who were disinclined to treat so serious a matter jocularly, and the board of officers set aside the election as illegal, and ordered a new election.

At the next election John Pluck received 447 votes; Benjamin Harter, 64; and John Ferdey, commonly called “Whistling Johnny,” 15.

The successful candidate treated the matter seriously and issued an order for a parade of the First Battalion on May 1, on Callowhill Street, the right resting on Sixth Street; and the Second Battalion was ordered to parade at the same place on May 19.

The order further directed that Lieutenant-Colonel Joseph Norbury was to command the training of the First Battalion. The colonel himself was to take charge of the Second Battalion.

The papers of that day do not notice the parade of the First Battalion, which was scheduled for May 1, but they have much to say about the big parade of May 19.

It seems that by this time most of the militiamen in the regiment fully sensed the ridiculous position they were in with such an ignorant commander, and on the occasion of this much heralded parade the members appeared in fantastic costumes.

Many of the militiamen were armed with ponderous imitations of weapons, and a large number of the populace turned out in the parade, dressed in every imaginable sort of costume, such as would even cause a ripple of laughter at Hallowe’en; these were armed with brooms, rakes, hoes and every conception of weapon.

Philadelphia had never before witnessed such a “military” parade, and was quite unaccustomed to such a display, and this regimental review of “horribles” attracted much attention.

Colonel Pluck was mounted on a fine steed, and Adjutant Roberts, also well mounted, were the moving spirits of the parade and did not seem to fully realize the burlesque features of it.

The regiment marched out to Bush Hill, followed by thousands of people on foot and hundreds on horseback.

The press was either silent or expressed dissatisfaction. It could not have done otherwise.

A few days following the parade Colonel Pluck issued new orders. He said: “Well, I am an honest man, anyhow. And I ain’t afraid to fight, and that’s more than most of them can say.”

The United States Gazette said, “Pluck is the head groom at the corner of Third and Callowhill Streets. Some months ago he was chosen commander-in-chief of the ‘bloody Eighty-fourth;’ but the powers that be refused to commission him. * * * The Militia system is a farce. Demagogues have been using commissions in the militia as stepping-stones to offices of profit and honor. A cure must be found for the evil, which is to make fun of it.”

The “Pluck Parade” rendered one other good service to Philadelphia. When the regiment paraded to Bush Hill and wound up the day in disorderly frivolities, the grand jury in June declared Bush Hill a public nuisance. This was a large open field on the north side of Callowhill Street, between Schuylkill Fourth and Schuylkill Fifth.

The presentment of the grand jury states that men and women resorted there on various days, as well as on the Sabbath, “drinking, tippling, cursing, swearing, etc.” The grand jury further said that it had “particular reference to the days on which regiments and battalions of militia parade, when numerous booths, tents, and gaming tables are there erected.”

It would be supposed that such a fantastic exhibition, directed against the militia system, would soon cause a change in the existing law, but it did no such thing.

The act of Assembly of April 2, 1822, had reorganized the militia of Pennsylvania, and divided the State into sixteen military divisions.

But the act did not work to the advantage of the militia system. It developed a lot of merely dress parade organizations, which were usually equipped with costly and gaudy uniforms, while discipline and military regulations became at once of secondary importance.

From 1808 to 1844, the laws were principally for designating independent companies with high-sounding names. Such militiamen were exempted from drilling with regular militia, and occasionally the Legislature made appropriations to certain favored companies.

The music on days of general muster was not only made a special feature of the occasion but its cost was borne by the State.

So it is little wonder that the “Bloody Eighty-fourth,” elected “Colonel Pluck,” or that the populace and papers of that day demanded a change in the militia system of the State.

----------

Lafayette Executes Skillful Retreat at Matson’s Ford, May 20, 1778

As an appropriate closing to the round of dissipation in which the British Army had indulged during its occupation of Philadelphia, the officers gave a magnificent entertainment, called the Meschianza, in honor of Sir William Howe, as commander-in-chief of the British Army in America. This stupendous folly was given May 18, 1778, at the Wharton mansion.

Shortly after the close of the entertainment, on the following day, the British commander was informed that General Lafayette with 2400 men and five cannon had crossed the Schuylkill and was then at Barren Hill, about eleven miles from Philadelphia.

In the hope of capturing this force, and thus signalizing his retirement from the command by a brilliant stroke, General Howe, on the night of the 19th, sent General Grant, with Sir William Erskine and General Grey, at the head of 5300 chosen men, to gain the rear of Lafayette’s position by a circuitous route. General Howe, accompanied by Sir Henry Clinton, General Knyphausen and Admiral Howe, set out with 5700 troops on the following morning, May 20, expecting to intercept the American Army in retreat at Chestnut Hill.

Lafayette’s position was skillfully chosen. His troops were encamped on a commanding eminence west of the Wissahickon, flanked by the Schuylkill and rocky precipices on the right and by woods and several strong stone houses on the left. His cannon were in front. A few hundred yards in advance of his left wing, on the Ridge road, were Captain Allen McLane’s company of about fifty Indians and a company of Morgan’s Riflemen, under Captain Parr. Videttes and pickets were stationed on the roads leading to Philadelphia and those toward Whitemarsh he had ordered to be watched by 600 Pennsylvania militia.

The British plan of surprise was well conceived. Grant, with the grenadiers and light infantry, undertook to get in Lafayette’s rear by the Whitemarsh road. Grey, with the Hessians, was to cross the river and post his men at the fords in order to prevent the Americans from making their escape.

Early in the morning of the 20th, while Lafayette was conversing with a girl who was preparing to go into Philadelphia for intelligence under the pretense of visiting her relations, news came that a body of cavalry had been seen at Whitemarsh, dressed in red. As Lafayette was expecting a detachment of dragoons to join him in that direction, he at first supposed they were his own men and felt no concern.

Lafayette, however, sent out an officer to reconnoiter, who soon returned with the report that a column of the enemy was in full march along the road from Whitemarsh to Swede’s Ford, a little more than a mile from his encampment, and that the front of the column had actually gained the road which led from Barren Hill to Valley Forge.

This was Grant’s division and as another was approaching on the Philadelphia road, the situation of Lafayette’s force was alarming and critical, being nearly surrounded by the enemy.

No time was to be lost. In a few minutes retreat would have been cut off and the army would have fallen an easy prey to the British. Lafayette immediately sent forward small bodies of troops with the view of deceiving Grant into the belief that they were the heads of a large attacking force.

This ruse succeeded. Grant halted and prepared for action to prevent his line from being attacked on its flank, and during the interval thus gained Lafayette and General Poor, with the main body, conducted a skillful retreat over the country between the Ridge road and the Schuylkill, which he crossed at Matson’s Ford.

Grey, with his intercepting force, had cut off the direct retreat to Valley Forge, but had failed to cover Matson’s Ford. The detachments which Lafayette had thrown forward as a “blind” retreated in good order, and when the two columns of the British Army united near Barren Hill Church, General Howe discovered that his intended prize had outwitted and escaped him.

While the artillery was crossing the river, there was a skirmish at Matson’s Ford, in which nine Americans were killed or captured and two British troopers killed and several wounded.

Lafayette drew up his force in strong position on the west bank of the river, and, having planted his cannon, awaited the enemy’s approach. But the British generals made no further movement in that direction, and the army was forced to return to Philadelphia, after a long and fatiguing march, without having accomplished anything. Seldom has a military maneuvre been executed with more success.

Howe and the British officers were intensely mortified at this failure. So sure were they of success that it is said that before the troops left for Barren Hill the General invited some ladies to sup with Lafayette upon his return, while his brother, the admiral, prepared a frigate to send the distinguished prisoner immediately to England.

Fortune had favored the British in so far that Lafayette would not have been surprised, but for the negligence of the Pennsylvania militia, who in disobedience of orders, had removed from their station at Whitemarsh without the General’s knowledge.

An amusing adventure occurred during the retreat. A body of British light horse came suddenly upon the Indians, who were posted in a wood at a considerable distance from the main army. The Indians fired their muskets and set up a hideous yell, according to their custom in battle. Both parties ran off, equally frightened at the unexpected and terrific appearance of their antagonists.

----------

Stephen Girard, Resident of Philadelphia by Accident, Born May 21, 1750

Stephen Girard was born near Bordeaux, France, May 21, 1750, the son of a sea captain. At the age of eight a little playmate threw an oyster shell into the open fire, it cracked, a piece struck Stephen and put out his right eye. The other boys of the neighborhood made fun of the one-eyed lad, which, with the sternness of his parents soured Stephen’s disposition, and he became sullen and gloomy.

His mother died, and Stephen could no longer bear to live at home. Although but fourteen he sailed as cabin boy on the ship Pelerin for St. Domingo, and then for nine years sailed between Bordeaux and the French West Indies, during which time he studied navigation, until October 4, 1773, a license was issued “to Stephen Girard, of Bordeaux, full authority to act as captain, master and patron of a merchant vessel.”

His attention now turned to commercial affairs in connection with the pursuit of the sea. His journal contains records of invoices and sales of goods suited to a West Indian market. These goods, amounting in value to $3000 Federal money, were disposed of in St. Domingo, February, 1774.

From the West Indies he sailed to New York, arrived there July, 1774. Here his business tact and shrewdness in trade attracted the notice of Thomas Randall, a prosperous merchant, and for more than two years Girard traded with New York, New Orleans and Port au Prince, on his own account and jointly with Mr. Randall.

One night in May, 1776, Stephen Girard’s vessel was overtaken by a storm and the ship was driven before the gale, until Captain Girard could hear the waves upon the shore. He cast anchor and waited for the morning. When daylight dawned the fog was too heavy for him to locate his position.

Girard fired a cannon as a signal of distress, which was soon answered by the approach of a pilot. “Where are we?” asked Captain Girard. “You are in Delaware Bay,” answered the pilot. “I wish to go to New York,” said Girard. “It can’t be done,” was the reply, “the British ships are swarming outside. You escaped them because of the fog but as soon as it disappears they will see and capture you. You must sail up to Philadelphia.”

Captain Stephen Girard saw that the advice was good, went to Philadelphia, sold his vessel and cargo, and made the city his home.

He set up a small store on Water Street, a short distance from the spot where he afterward located. He had no friends, and could speak English but poorly, but his business ability was so pronounced that he succeeded from the very beginning.

In July, 1777, he married Mary Lumm, of Philadelphia, the daughter of a shipbuilder, but the union was unhappy. Mr. Girard applied for a divorce, but his wife died of insanity in a hospital.

The approach of the British troops to Philadelphia drove Mr. Girard to Mount Holly, N. J., where he enjoyed a profitable trade with the American sailors, until the evacuation of Philadelphia, when he returned and for a few years was associated in business with his brother, John. This connection was dissolved in 1780, by which time Stephen had gained a fortune of $30,000.

During the next ten years he acquired a number of vessels, and had secured the lease on a range of stores at a time when rents were low, which he underlet at a large profit. He began to build a splendid fleet of ships, and soon every ocean saw Girard’s vessels.

Once when the United States was again troubled by the British, a ship owned by Girard, carrying a rich cargo from the East, almost in sight of Delaware Bay, was captured. Girard drove a bargain with the British captain and bought back his vessel for $180,000. Then he brought her to Philadelphia and sold the cargo for $500,000. It was difficult to beat Stephen Girard.

He was very frugal in private life, but generous in public affairs. During the yellow fever epidemic in 1793, Girard personally devoted several hours each day serving in the hospital. Of all his benefactions for the poor of his adopted country, this was really his noblest work.

His mercantile business had grown so profitable and his fortune had increased so rapidly that in June, 1812, he determined to devote his attention to banking. To this end he purchased the bank-house of the Bank of the United States and opened “The Bank of Stephen Girard,” with a capital of $1,200,000, which was increased afterward to $4,000,000.

Just as Robert Morris was the financier of the Revolution, so Stephen Girard was the financier of the War of 1812. In 1814 it looked as though the American cause must fail for lack of funds, and the heads of the national Government were in despair. A loan was offered in the money market, but so low was the credit of the Nation that only $200,000 was subscribed. Thereupon Stephen Girard took the whole issue of bonds, amounting to $5,000,000, and saved us from defeat and a disgraceful peace with England.

Girard contributed liberally to public improvements, and adorned Philadelphia with many handsome buildings.

At the age of eighty Girard was the richest man in America. The same year he was knocked down by a carriage and badly injured. “Go on, doctor, I am an old sailor; I can bear a great deal,” he said to his physician. He lived two years afterward.

When he died, December 26, 1831, his estate was valued at $9,000,000. Besides large bequests to public institutions, he gave $500,000 to improve the water front of Philadelphia. He gave $2,000,000 and a plot of ground for the erection and support of a college for orphans, which was opened January 1, 1848.

At his death he was buried in the vault of the Holy Trinity Roman Catholic Church, but on the completion of Girard College his remains were reinterred in a sarcophagus beneath the statue of the donor in the vestibule of the main building of the college.

Girard College is the most richly endowed educational institution in the world, and its founder was one of the most remarkable men who ever lived, and his accidental residence in Philadelphia was one of the most fortunate incidents in the history of Pennsylvania.

----------

Philadelphia Paid Homage to Lady Washington, May 22, 1789

The completion of the Federal Constitution and its adoption by ten of the United States was celebrated on July 4, 1788, by a great procession in the City of Philadelphia. And it was truly a great affair, far surpassing in extent and magnificence anything of the kind the young Nation had yet known.

Immediately after the close of the constitutional convention which this pageant celebrated, General Washington, who had presided over the convention as its president, left Philadelphia for his home at Mount Vernon, again hoping that he might enjoy the freedom of life on his extensive lands on the banks of the Potomac. But this could not be so in his case.

The first election for President of the United States was held January 7, 1789, and the country called Washington to be its first President under the Constitution which he had helped to formulate. President-elect Washington set out from Mount Vernon for New York, where Congress was in session, in April, after having been officially notified of his election.

His many friends in Philadelphia were reluctant to see him go to New York, but made elaborate preparations for his reception in Philadelphia when he should pass through that city on the way to assume the high office. He was met by the Hon. Thomas Mifflin, president of the State; distinguished officers, the First City Troop of Horse and citizens. The imposing parade passed through arches formed of laurel, and along streets crowded with people and buildings decorated with flags. A banquet was spread, toasts were drunk and addresses delivered by the high officials of the State.

The next day President Washington set out for Trenton in his carriage.

Less than a month later Mrs. Washington, or Lady Washington, as many persisted in calling her, followed the general to New York and like her distinguished husband, she was delightfully entertained by her many friends and admirers in Philadelphia.

On Friday, May 22, the two troops of Light Horse, commanded by Captain Miles and Bingham, accompanied by General Mifflin, president of the State; Richard Peters, Speaker of the Assembly, and many ladies and gentlemen prominent in Philadelphia and the State, went to a point near Darby to meet her. Mrs. Robert Morris with a company of ladies in carriages joined the escort there.

When Mrs. Washington arrived all went to Grays Ferry where a fine collation was served at Gray’s Garden. In the party besides the president of the State and Speaker of the Assembly, were Temple Franklin, Benjamin Crew, Jr., Robert Morris, Jr., William Morris, Richard Bache, John Ross, Robert Hare, George Harrison, Samuel Meredith, also the gentlemen troopers, a large number of Continental officers, citizens and about twenty ladies.

There is a record of this luncheon and bill of expenses which reveal that the company consumed ten bottles of Madeira wine, one bottle of champagne, two bottles of claret, forty-five bowls of punch, ten bottles of American porter, one bottle of ale, and two bottles of cider.

The honored visitor was then escorted by the troopers to the residence of Robert Morris, on High Street, amid the ringing of bells, the discharge of salvos of artillery, and the shouts of great crowds of people.

Mrs. Washington remained in Philadelphia over the week-end. There were entertainments given in her honor during these two days.

On Monday she was similarly complimented upon her departure for New York, and accompanied by Mrs. Robert Morris, she was escorted upon her way for a considerable distance.

In New York, on May 29, at the opening levee, Mrs. Morris occupied the first place on the right of the hostess. This position of honor was accorded her whenever she was present at a similar function, either in New York or Philadelphia.

The glad news was soon received in Philadelphia that the capital was to be removed from New York to the city which had been the capital of the thirteen colonies during the Revolution and where the Constitution of the United States was born.

President and Mrs. Washington soon became comfortably settled in the fine home of Robert Morris, the same house which Sir William Howe occupied while the British were in possession of Philadelphia and General Washington was suffering with the Colonial troops at Valley Forge. The Morris house was built of brick, three stories high. The stable could accommodate twelve horses. This property was purchased by Mr. Morris in August, 1785, and at once he rebuilt the house, which had been destroyed by fire in 1780. Mr. and Mrs. Morris moved into the house which had been confiscated from Joseph Galloway during the Revolution. It adjoined the other residence.

The President and Mrs. Washington reached Philadelphia November 27, 1790. At the first levee given Mr. and Mrs. Morris were, as usual, honored guests.

The home of the Washingtons became noted for its generous hospitality. The younger people of the President’s household, as well as their elders, were fond of going to the theatre.

The family of the President and his wife included Miss Custis, a granddaughter of Mrs. Washington, aged about sixteen, and George Washington Custis, her brother, about eighteen years old.

Their dinners were elegant and in good taste. President Washington had a stud of twelve or fourteen horses and occasionally rode out to take the air with six horses to the coach, and always two footmen behind his carriage.

When the news reached Philadelphia that Washington had died, bells were muffled for three days, a funeral procession was held and Major General Henry Lee delivered an oration.

With Washington gone, the removal of the capital to the new Federal City did not bring such a wrench to the people of Philadelphia, who dearly loved the great and good man and his estimable wife.

----------

Moravian Mission at Wyalusing Established May 23, 1763

During the month of May, 1760, Christian Frederic Post, the renowned Moravian, on his way with a message from James Hamilton, Lieutenant Governor of the Province of Pennsylvania, to the Great Indian Council at Onondaga, the seat of government of the Six Nations, stopped overnight at Wyalusing in now Bradford County. At the request of Papunhank, the chief of the Munsee, and the other Indians, he preached a sermon. Among those in the crowd on that occasion were Job Chilloway, the friendly Delaware Indian interpreter, and Tom Curtis, another Indian of much consequence.

Papunhank was losing his influence among his people on account of his own dissolute life, and a movement was started to bring in white teachers. In their councils, however, they were divided in opinion, one party favoring the Quakers and the other the Moravians, and so equal was the strength of the two parties that neither was willing to yield to the other. Their differences were compromised by agreeing to accept the first teacher who came.

John Woolman, the prominent Quaker evangelist, having made the acquaintance of some of the Wyalusing Indians at Philadelphia, probably of Papunhank himself, after much deliberation, set out in company with Benjamin Parvin, to visit the town, in May, 1763, purposing, if he should be well received, to remain with them and teach them the gospel.

In the meantime, news of the awakened interest in religion at Wyalusing reached the ears of Reverend David Zeisberger, the celebrated Moravian apostle to the Indians, and he left Bethlehem May 18, 1763, meeting Woolman on the mountain below Wilkes-Barre, where they dined together. Zeisberger proceeded on his way and reached Wyalusing on May 23, two days before Woolman arrived there.

When Zeisberger had arrived a short distance above the Lackawanna, he was met by Job Chilloway who informed him of the conclusion of the council at Onondaga, and accompanied him to Papunhank’s town. Here Zeisberger was received as the divinely sent messenger, and though wearied by his long journey, at once set about preaching the gospel to his waiting and anxious hearers.

Woolman, on his arrival two days later, was received kindly, but was informed that, according to the decisions of their council, Zeisberger must be regarded as their accepted teacher. After remaining five days to assist in inaugurating the good work, he departed, with many prayers for the abundant success of the mission. The opportune arrival of Zeisberger was the occasion of founding one of the most important and successful missions ever established among the North American Indians.

Zeisberger was appointed resident missionary at Wyalusing soon as it was learned that he had been so well received. He prosecuted his labors there and at Tawandaemenk, a village at the mouth of Towanda Creek, with great success.

Scarcely had a month elapsed from the time Zeisberger’s first visit to Wyalusing, before the Pontiac War broke out, and the messengers of that celebrated chieftain were sent to every village on the Susquehanna, to urge the Indians to again take up the hatchet which they had so recently buried. These emissaries arrived at Wyalusing and Zeisberger was soon commanded to leave the town. All was now excitement and commotion. The intrepid missionary was compelled to suspend the work so auspiciously begun, but not before he had baptised Papunhank, who received the name of John, and another Indian who was called Peter.

The Moravian Christian Indians, for their greater security during the Pontiac War, in which they refused to take any part, were removed first to a settlement near Bethlehem, and then to Province Island, in the Delaware River, a little below Philadelphia, where they were sheltered in Government barracks. Thither Papunhank and twenty of his followers hastened. Here they lived for seventeen months, and at the first dawn of peace, emerged from their prison-like home and again sought homes in the forest. Papunhank invited the whole company to settle in his town on the Susquehanna. They accepted and marched to that place, led by their beloved teachers, Reverend Zeisberger and Reverend John Jacob Schmick.

This company, consisting of eighty adults and ninety children, set out from Bethlehem and after a tedious march of thirty-six days, arrived at Wyalusing May 9, 1765. They immediately set about building their town, and during the season thirty bark-covered huts, four log cabins, a mission house and church were erected.

The town was built on the east side of the river, about two miles south of the present borough of Wyalusing, and near the Sugar Run Station on the P. and N. Y. Railroad. The church was built of logs and had a belfry in which hung a bell. The town was surrounded by a post and rail fence. The streets were regularly cleaned by the Indian women. Adjoining the town were 250 acres of plantations. They also maintained sugar camps on Sugar Run.

The mission in 1766 received the name of Friedenshutten, meaning “Huts of Peace.” A schoolhouse was built next to the church, where adults and children were taught to read in both Delaware and German. Traders were not allowed to bring spirituous liquors into the town.

In 1767 the mission entertained Tuscarora and Nanticoke Indians on their migration northward.

Another mission was started at Sheshequanink, the present Ulster, soon after the close of the Pontiac War, but did not prosper as much as the older one. At the treaty of Fort Stanwix, November 5, 1768, the Six Nations sold this land away from the Delaware, and the Moravians were unable to induce Governor Penn to give them the land.

In September, 1766, Zeisberger left Friedenhutten, and went to the Delaware Indians on the Ohio River, where he established a mission. He soon induced the Indians at Wyalusing to follow him, and on June 11, 1772, the Indians at Wyalusing assembled in the church for the last time and then they marched in two companies for the Big Beaver, in now Lawrence County. They were led by the Reverend John Ettwein on this journey.

----------

Peaceful Family of Chief Logan Slain by Whites, May 24, 1774

In the spring of the year 1774, at a time when the Indians seemed to be quiet and tranquil, a party of Virginians attacked the Mingo settlement, on the Ohio River, and slaughtered the entire population, even the women with their children in their arms, and members of the great Chief Logan’s family were among the slain.

This tragic event occurred on May 24, 1774, and according to the common belief at the time was perpetrated by Captain Michael Cresap, and a party who deliberately set out to kill every Indian they met, without regard to age or sex.

The first person to state that Logan’s family was murdered by Cresap was no other than Thomas Jefferson, in his “Notes in Virginia.”

The main authority for the vindication of Michael Cresap’s memory, is the extremely rare little volume, Jacob’s “Life of Cresap,” published in 1826. Jacob sets up an alibi for Cresap, but the present writer accepts the popular story that the wanton murder was perpetrated under the direction of Cresap.

Tahgahjute was the second son of Shikellamy, the great vicegerent of the Six Nations. He was born at Shamokin, about 1725, and was given his Christian name Logan in honor of James Logan, Secretary of the Province, who was a devoted friend of the great Shikellamy.

But little is known of the early life of Logan, but he worked his way West by degrees. He was for a time on the Juniata, where several places still bear his name, but his final home was near the mouth of the Yellow Creek, thirty miles above Wheeling.

Reverend John Heckewelder, the noted Moravian missionary among the Indians, while passing down the Ohio, in April, 1773, stopped at Logan’s settlement and in his interesting journal notes that “I received every civility I could expect from such of the family as were at home.”

Cresap was on the Ohio, below Wheeling, engaged in making a settlement. Some pioneers resolved to attack an Indian town near the mouth of the Sciota, and solicited Cresap to command the expedition. They attacked two canoes filled with Indians, chased them fifteen miles down the river, where a skirmish ensued, and the Indians who were not killed were taken. On the return of this party they planned an expedition against the settlement of Logan.

Cresap and his party proceeded to a point near the settlement and encamped on the bank, when some Indians passed them peaceably and encamped at the mouth of Grave Creek, a little below. Cresap attacked and killed the party. One of Cresap’s men fell in this action. Among the slain of the Indians were some of Logan’s family. Smith, one of the murderers, boasted of this fact in the presence of Logan’s friends.

This party then proceeded to Baker’s Bottom, opposite the mouth of Yellow Creek, when Greathouse, a spy, crossed over and approached the Indian camp as a friend and counted them. He reported their number too large to attack and was then warned by an Indian woman to leave, as the Indians had learned of Cresap’s murder of their relatives at Grave Creek and were angry and that they were drinking.

He returned to Baker’s, collected a large enough force, all got drunk, and then in that condition they fell upon and massacred the whole Indian camp except a girl, whom they kept as a prisoner. Among the slain was the woman who had warned him of his danger. A sister of Logan was inhumanly and indecently butchered in this attack.

This commenced the war, of which Logan’s war club was the chief factor. The first family murdered by him was the warning of what might be expected. Logan left a note in the house of the murdered family, and, true to his threat, great numbers of innocent men, women and children fell victims to the tomahawk and scalping knife until the decisive battle at Point Pleasant October 10, 1774.

When Lord Dunmore finally conquered the Indians and the treaty was held, Cornstalk was the principal speaker. He laid much stress for the cause of the war on the murder of Logan’s family. Logan disdained to meet with the white men in council and sat sullenly in his cabin while the treaty was in progress. Dunmore sent Captain (afterward Major General) John Gibson to invite him to the council. General Gibson later became one of the Associate Judges of Allegheny County.

The old Mingo chief took Gibson into the woods and, sitting down upon a mossy root, told him the story of the wrongs done to him and, as Gibson related, shedding many bitter tears. He refused to go to the council, but, unwilling to disturb the deliberations by seeming opposition, he sent a speech by the hand of Gibson to Governor Dunmore, which has been preserved and greatly admired for its pathetic eloquence. The speech was as follows:

“I appeal to any white man to say, if ever he entered Logan’s cabin hungry, and he gave him not meat; if ever he came cold and naked, and he clothed him not. During the course of the last long and bloody war, Logan remained idle in his cabin, an advocate for peace. Such was my love for the white, that my countrymen pointed as they passed and said, ‘Logan is the friend of the white man.’ I had ever thought to have lived with you, but for the injuries of one man, Colonel Cresap, the last spring, in cold blood, and unprovoked, murdered all the relations of Logan, not even sparing my women and children. There runs not a drop of my blood in the veins of any living creature. This called on me for revenge. I have sought it. I have killed many; I have fully glutted my vengeance. For my country, I rejoice at the beams of peace. But do not harbor a thought that mine is the joy of fear. Logan never felt fear. He will not turn on his heel to save his life. Who is there to mourn for Logan? Not one.”

Lossing, in his “Field-Book of the Revolution,” says: “Logan, whose majestic person and mental accomplishments were the theme of favorable remark, became a victim of intemperance. Earlier than the time when Dunmore called him to council, he was addicted to the habit. The last three years of his life were very melancholy. Notwithstanding the miseries he had suffered at the hands of the white men, his benevolences made him the prisoner’s friend, until intemperance blunted his sensibilities, and in 1780 we find him among the marauders at Ruddell’s Station.”

The manner of his death is differently related. The patient researches of Mr. Mayer lead the writer to adopt his as the correct one, as it was from the lips of an aged Mohawk whom he saw at Caghnawaga, twelve miles from Montreal, in the summer of 1848. His mother was a Shawnee woman, and when he was a boy he often saw Logan. Mayer says:

“In a drunken frenzy near Detroit, in 1780, Logan struck his wife to the ground. Believing her dead, he fled to the wilderness. Between Detroit and Sandusky, he was overtaken by a troop of Indian men, women and children. Not yet sober, he imagined that the penalty of his crime was about to be inflicted by a relative. Being well armed, he declared that the whole party should be destroyed. In defense, his nephew, Todkahdohs, killed him on the spot, by a shot from his gun. His wife recovered from his blow.” Chief Logan died November 28, 1780.

----------

Hamilton Pleads with Governor of Maryland for Release of Pennsylvanians, May 25, 1734

Thomas Penn informed the Council, May 14, 1734, that the business then to be considered by them related to some very unneighborly proceedings in the province of Maryland, in not only harassing some of the inhabitants of this province who live on the border, but likewise extending their claims much farther than has heretofore been pretended to be Maryland, and carrying off several persons and imprisoning them.

Governor Penn then advised the Council that Marylanders had entered the settlements of John Hendricks and Joshua Minshall, on the Susquehanna, in what is now York County, and carried them off to Annapolis and confined them in jail.

The Governor arranged with Andrew Hamilton, Esq., to appear for the prisoners. He was accompanied by John Georges, his secretary.

They made their visit and on their return made a full report to Governor Penn.

Hamilton related that they were denied an interview with the prisoners, but this was allowed them the following day, when the prisoners gave an account of their arrest. They did not know what charges were lodged against them.

The lawyer then appealed to Governor Ogle who advised them that the charges against the prisoners were serious. Hamilton suggested that even if this be true the men were taken into custody by Maryland officials on Pennsylvania soil, and should be punished in that province.

Governor Ogle then ennumerated the many abuses the inhabitants of Maryland had suffered from those of Pennsylvania. This interview ended by appointment for a meeting before council on the following morning. At this meeting, which was pretty much bluff and bluster, but little was accomplished.

It was, however, agreed that each party should reduce their claims to writing and then present them to the King for settlement.

Hamilton prepared his instrument and ably defended the part of Pennsylvania, and recited the agreements of 1724 and 1732, which were intended to quiet all disputes on the border, until actual surveys should be concluded.

He stated that notwithstanding these agreements, “two of his Majesty’s subjects, John Hendricks and Joshua Minshall, inhabitants of Lancaster County, settled upon lands legally surveyed and patented to them under the proprietors of Pennsylvania, on the west side of the river Susquehanna, had been taken from their homes, which were at least eight miles to the northward of Philadelphia, and about twenty-three miles to the northward of the line agreed upon by the aforesaid articles to be the northern bounds of Maryland, which line runs near the mouth of Octoraroe Creek, to the northward of which Maryland has never exercised any jurisdiction, except over thirteen families, that is known to Pennsylvania, till within two or three years, about the time when an absolute boundary was agreed upon by the proprietors, though Pennsylvania has maintained its government as far southward as the mouth of the said creek for above these thirty years.”

The jail was too filthy to hold further conversation with the four Pennsylvanians and permission was obtained for the sheriff to take them to his home, where the interview was had.

They insisted they had never done or said anything against Lord Baltimore, and that if such was charged against them Thomas Cresap is the only man wicked enough to bring such false charges.

Hamilton could not get his clients into court as they were under prosecution in Provincial Court, and Governor Ogle would not interfere.

Several interviews were held with the Governor, even in his own home, but at each the executive insisted on reviewing a long list of transgressions along the border and would not agree to anything Hamilton had to propose.

On May 25 the most important session was had and Governor Ogle refused even to concur in the proposal made by Hamilton that they agree upon bounds which should be judged reasonable, upon which lands no persons should plant new settlements under severe penalties.

Hamilton and Georges then said, in their report, that they saw from the first that the Governor was resolved to avoid doing anything that might prevent further differences upon the boundaries. The Governor finally ceased to further discuss the question.

When the four prisoners were tried in Provincial Court they were denied their liberty, lest it should be understood as giving up his Lordship’s right to the lands in question.

Hamilton then drew up a memorial, citing the unreasonable proceedings of Maryland and the absolute necessity Pennsylvania would be under for its own protection. It was a strong argument, but of no avail. They returned to Philadelphia in disgust.

The border troubles grew in intensity and especially when Cresap and his followers were the most active.

Hendricks and Minshall were released at the end of their sentence and many of the stirring scenes along the border occurred in the vicinity of their settlements and with them as provincial actors in the drama.

The arrest of Cresap put a stop to the local warfare but the survey of the Mason and Dixon Line fixed for all time the actual boundary between the States.

----------

General Sullivan Arrives at Easton to Subdue Six Nations, May 26, 1779

In the summer of 1778 Colonel Thomas Hartley made a successful expedition against the Six Nations Indians, marching from Fort Muncy, in present Lycoming County, to Tioga, covering 300 miles in two weeks. His army destroyed every Indian town, defeated the Indians in each encounter and brought off much food and Indian goods.

The settlers, who had taken flight, now ventured back and harvested their crops, but by spring the Indians had become bolder and more treacherous than ever before. The attention of Congress was drawn to this distress along the frontier and General Washington was directed to relieve the situation.

The Commander-in-chief selected Major General John Sullivan, and in April, 1779, directed him to prepare for an expedition into the heart of the Six Nations’ country. General Washington made no mistake in the selection of General Sullivan. He proved equal to the stupendous undertaking.

General Sullivan immediately began his preparations, but the real start of this expedition may properly be considered as of May 26, 1779, when he arrived at Easton with his command. General Washington gave him his directions in a long and interesting letter of instructions. He told him that the expedition he was to command against the hostile tribes of the Six Nations was to discourage predatory marauds on our frontier settlements and to retaliate for the horrible massacres at Wyoming and Cherry Valley, and, “if opportunity favored, for the capture of Niagara and an invasion into Canada.”

But Washington advised him that “the immediate objects are the total destruction and devastation of their settlements and the capture of as many prisoners of every age and sex as possible. So soon as your preparations are in sufficient forwardness you will assemble your main body at Wyoming and proceed thence to Tioga, taking from that place the most direct and practicable route into the heart of the Indian settlements.”

General Sullivan established a rendezvous at Easton, May 26, 1779, and then marched to Wyoming, where he experienced a long and tedious wait, caused by the failure of both Continental and State authorities to properly clothe and provision the army, and the further embarrassment that promised re-enforcements were not furnished.

In spite of these discouragements, General Sullivan determined to march, and July 31, 1779, at 1 o’clock in the afternoon, the army left Wyoming on its march up the Susquehanna, accompanied by 120 boats.

The army was composed of the following: General Edward Hand’s brigade, which consisted of the light corps, made up of the German Regiment and that commanded by Colonel Adam Hubley and the Independent regiments of Colonels Shott and Spalding; and General Maxwell’s brigade, consisting of four regiments under Colonels Dayton, Shreeve, Ogden, and Spencer; and General Poor’s brigade, with four regiments under Colonels Cilley, Reed, Scammel and Courland. The second line, or reserves were the commands of Colonels Livingston, Dubois, Gainsworth and Olden. Colonel Thomas Proctor’s artillery was also a most important part of this army.

The several encampments were made at Lackawanna, then at Quiltimunk, Tunkhannock, Vanderlip’s farm, and Wyalusing, which was reached August 6, when a heavy rain kept the army in camp two days.

On Sunday, August 8, the army reached Standing Stone, a place which derives its name from a large stone standing erect in the river. It is twenty feet in height, fourteen feet wide and three feet in thickness.

The army was forced to go into camp at Standing Stone on account of the indisposition of General Sullivan and inability to bring up the boats.

Their next encampment was at Sheshecununk, and on the following day, August 11, had extreme difficulty fording the river before reaching Tioga Flats, where Queen Esther’s Town stood, until destroyed by Colonel Hartley the previous year.

Indians were discovered at Chemung, twelve miles distant, and an expedition was set in motion to destroy their village. The main army marched through the night and arrived at daylight, but the Indians, aware of the advancing army, had evacuated the village, but made a determined stand at Newtown.

General Sullivan pushed on with great vigor and formed a junction with General Clinton’s army August 19. On August 29, 1500 Indians, under Joe Brant and Captain John MacDonald, and the British and Tories, under Colonel John Butler and the two Johnstons, attacked the Americans near the scene of the Newtown battle.

The enemy was well entrenched, thinking to destroy our army at a narrow defile in front of their breastworks. This situation was discovered by Captain Parr when Colonel Proctor opened a cannon fire on the enemy, who retreated to a much stronger position, but too closely pursued by Poor’s troops.

The Americans charged up the hill with bayonets and poured deadly fire into their ranks, driving them from the field. Nine Indians were killed and left on the ground to be scalped by the troops.

Every Indian village was burned and the savages were made to understand that the Americans were their masters.

The return march was made to Wyoming, where the army arrived October 8. A great feast on venison and wild turkey was had in honor of their effective service.

The army reached Easton October 15, and Congress set apart October 26, as a day for a general thanksgiving.

General Sullivan had shattered his constitution by years of constant exposure in the field and suffered much from an accident received in this campaign, and he was given a leave “as long as he shall judge it expedient for the recovery of his health.” He was thanked by Congress for his services. During the whole campaign his conduct was distinguished by courage, energy and skill.

General Sullivan could not recover his full vigor and resigned from the army at the close of 1779, but was convalescing when elected to Congress. He went to that body with much reluctance, but his services there were as conspicuous and patriotic as they had been on many a bloody battlefield. He died January 23, 1795.

----------

Patriotic Women Feed Soldiers at Cooper Shop and Union Saloons, May 27, 1861

During the Civil War Philadelphia lay in the channel of the great stream of volunteers from New England, New York, New Jersey and part of Pennsylvania, that commenced flowing early in May, 1861. Working in grand harmony the national and more extended organizations for the relief of the soldiers, were houses of refreshment and temporary hospital accommodations furnished by the citizens of Philadelphia.

The soldiers crossing New Jersey, and the Delaware River at Camden, were landed at the foot of Washington Avenue, where, weary and hungry, they often sought in vain for sufficient refreshments in the bakeries and groceries in the neighborhood before entering the cars for Washington or other points of rendezvous.

One morning the wife of a mechanic living near, commiserating the situation of some soldiers who had just arrived, went out with her coffee-pot and a cup, and distributed its contents among them. That generous hint was the germ of a wonderful system of relief for the passing soldiers, which was immediately developed in this patriotic and historic city.

Soon other benevolent women, living in the vicinity of the landing-place of the volunteers, imitated their patriotic sister, and a few of them formed themselves into a committee for the regular distribution of coffee on the arrival of soldiers. Soon the men in the neighborhood interested themselves in procuring other supplies.

The women who formed this original committee were Mrs. William M. Cooper, Mrs. Grace Nickles, Mrs. Sarah Ewing, Mrs. Elizabeth Vansdale, Mrs. Catherine Vansdale, Mrs. Jane Coward, Mrs. Susan Turner, Mrs. Sarah Mellen, Mrs. Catherine Alexander, Mrs. Mary Plant, and Mrs. Captain Watson.

For a few days the refreshments were dispensed under the shade of trees in front of the cooper shop owned by William M. Cooper and Henry W. Pearce, on Otsego Street near Washington Avenue. Then this shop was generously offered for the purpose by the proprietors, and immediately it was equipped with tables and such kitchen arrangements as were necessary to prepare such foods as was supplied by the voluntary contributions raised among the citizens of Philadelphia. The young women, wives and daughters of those resident in the neighborhood waited upon the soldiers.

The first body of troops fed at the saloon was the Eighth New York Regiment, called the German Rifles, under Colonel Blenker. There were 780 men who partook of a coffee breakfast there on the morning of May 27, 1861.

The cooper shop was not spacious enough to accommodate the daily increasing number of soldiers, and another place of refreshment was opened on the corner of Washington Avenue and Swanson Street, in a building formerly used as a boathouse and rigger’s loft. Two Volunteer Refreshment Saloon Committees were formed and known respectively as the “Cooper Shop” and the “Union.”

Both were in effective working order on May 27. The following were the principal officers of the two associations, respectively: The Cooper Shop: President, William M. Cooper; vice president, C. V. Fort; treasurer, Adam M. Simpson; secretaries, William M. Maull and E. S. Hall. The Union: Chairman, Arad Barrows; secretary, J. B. Wade; treasurer, B. S. Brown; steward, J. T. Williams.

These two organizations worked in harmony and generous rivalry all through the period of the war and rendered wonderful service. Both saloons were enlarged as necessity required and both had temporary hospitals attached to them. These were used for such soldiers who were sick or wounded and who were unable to leave Philadelphia and who required rest or nursing and medical attendance to restore them to health and duty.

Cooper Hospital was under the charge of Dr. Andrew Nebinger, assisted by his brother, Dr. George Nebinger, and Miss Anna M. Ross. After the death of Miss Ross, Mrs. Abigail Horner became the lady principal of the “Cooper Shop Hospital.”

Dr. Eliab Ward had charge of the “Union Hospital.” He gave his services throughout the war free of charge. Nearly 11,000 sick and wounded soldiers were nursed and received medical attention at this hospital, and nearly twice that number had their wounds dressed, and more than 40,000 had a night’s lodging.

An accurate record was kept of all the operations of the “Union Saloon,” which show that 800,000 soldiers were received and 1,025,000 meals were furnished, and the total amount of money expended being $98,204.34, and for materials used there was expended $30,000, a grand total of $128,204.34, all of which was received by voluntary contributions.

The women who devoted themselves to the service of preparing the meals and waiting upon this vast host deserve the choicest blessings of their country.

At all hours of the day and night these self-sacrificing heroines, when a little signal gun employed for the purpose announced the approach of a train bearing soldiers, would repair to their saloons and cheerfully dispense their generous bounties.

The little cannon used as a signal had a notable history. It was part of the ordnance in the army of General Taylor on the Rio Grande in 1846, where it was captured, only to be recaptured by a United States cruiser.

The last regiment of soldiers fed in either of these saloons was the 104th Pennsylvania, Colonel Kephart, numbering 748 men, on August 28, 1865.

----------

Colonel William Clapham and Family Murdered by Indians, May 28, 1763

Colonel William Clapham was an English officer who rendered conspicuous service on the frontiers of Pennsylvania and who, like many others, paid the price with his scalp in the uneven warfare waged by the Indians and their French allies.

William Clapham was born in England July 5, 1722, and after graduating from college, entered the army as an ensign. He was sent to America during the French and Indian War. He subsequently resigned his commission and took up his residence in Philadelphia, where he was living at the time of Braddock’s defeat.

This disaster to the English arms caused Captain Clapham to again offer his services, this time to the Province of Pennsylvania. He was commissioned a captain and sent by Governor Morris into Bucks County to recruit troops and to muster into the Provincial service the company recruited by Captain Insley, who were ordered to join the regular troops then posted at Reading and Easton.

While Captain Clapham was on this tour of duty he journeyed to Fort Allen to make a visit with some friends. The Assembly at this moment was pressing Colonel Benjamin Franklin to return to his seat in that body. The three forts being completed, and the inhabitants willing to remain on their plantations with soldiers in these garrisons, Colonel Franklin placed Captain Clapham in full command and departed.

This was only a temporary command, but Governor Morris, March 29, 1756, commissioned him lieutenant-colonel, and assigned him to the Third Battalion. He also ordered the Colonel to assemble his troops as soon as possible at Hunter’s Mill, preparatory to marching to Shamokin (now Sunbury), where he was to build a substantial fort.

Colonel Clapham recruited 400 men for that purpose. He assembled his force at Fort Hunter, where he began training them. Before they marched from this encampment Governor Morris paid them an official visit, the incidents of which are quite entertaining and very interesting.

Colonel Clapham marched his command to Armstrongs, built Fort Halifax, stationed a garrison there, and finally proceeded up the river to Shamokin, where he arrived July 1, and immediately set about building Fort Augusta. This formidable fortress was finished in October.

From the very beginning of this frontier service Colonel Clapham experienced no end of trouble with his officers. He seems to have been overbearing and a hard taskmaster. He bore many insults, as he termed them, from the Assembly. These frequent disputes and misunderstandings with his officers wore out his patience and he resigned in November, 1756, being succeeded by Major James Burd of Lancaster.

Notwithstanding the confusion and ill-feeling which prevailed among the officers and men during the building of Fort Augusta, it seems that a secret directing power had prevented everything from falling into chaos and much good was accomplished. Had it not been for this unseen power, the fort would have been captured by the French and Indians and the whole North and West Branch Valleys would have been overrun and held by the enemy at this most critical period in the history of the Province.

He was a most conspicuous figure on the early frontiers. Even Colonel Clapham’s enemies, or those who thought he was not an acceptable officer, must have been moved to deep and sincere sympathy when they learned the sad fate which so soon afterward befell him and his family on the western frontier of Pennsylvania.

He did not long remain out of the service when his resignation as commander of the garrison at Fort Augusta was accepted. In 1763 he was an active officer in the expedition of Colonel Henry Bouquet on the western frontier of the Province.

He was in command of a formidable scouting party when he was murdered on Sewickley Creek, near where the town of West Newton now stands.

This tragedy occurred on the afternoon of May 28, 1763, and was committed by The Wolf, Kektuscung and two other Indians, one of whom was called Butler.

Colonel Clapham had taken his family to this frontier, and was very near his own home when these Indians shot him from ambush, rushed into his house, killed and scalped his wife and three children and a woman. The two women were treated with brutal indecency. They left evidences of the fact that they were paying an old score with Colonel Clapham, and the scene was horrible to behold.

At the time of the murder of the Claphams, three men who were working at some distance from the Clapham house escaped through the woods and carried the terrible news to the garrison in Fort Pitt.

Two soldiers, who were in Colonel Clapham’s detail, and stationed at a sawmill near the fort, were killed and scalped by these same Indians.

It seems that there were others slain in this massacre for Colonel Burd entered in his journal, June 5, 1763, that “John Harris gave me an account of Colonel Clapham and twelve men being killed near Pittsburgh, and two Royal Americans being killed at the saw mill.”

Colonel Bouquet in a letter to General Amherst, dated Fort Pitt, May 31, 1763, says: “We have most melancholy reports here * * * the Indians have broke out in several places, and murdered Colonel Clapham and his family.”

Judge Jasper Yeates made a visit to Braddock’s battlefield in August, 1776, and then to the site of Fort Pitt. He remarked about seeing the grave of Colonel Clapham.

It is probable that the family became extinct after the Indians perpetrated their dastardly crime, and the ashes of the famous commander and builder of Fort Augusta have long since mingled with the soil.

----------

Free Society of Traders Organized with Aid of Penn, May 29, 1682

Soon as William Penn received the grant of land in America which is now Pennsylvania, he immediately issued advertisements in which certain concessions were offered to settlers. Among those who made application for large quantities of land were companies organized for colonization purposes.

One such company was “The Free Society of Traders,” whose plans Penn favored and whose constitution and charter he helped to draw.

The first general court of this society was held in London May 29, 1682, at which time the “Articles, Settlement and Offices” of the society were adopted and the actual operations begun.

The charter to the Pennsylvania Company, the Free Society of Traders, bears date March 24, 1862. The incorporators named in Penn’s deed to them were “Nicholas More, of London, medical doctor; James Claypoole, merchant; Philip Ford (Penn’s unworthy steward); William Sherloe, of London, merchant; Edward Pierce, of London, leather seller; John Symcock and Thomas Brassey, of Cheshire, yeoman; Thomas Barker, of London, wine cooper, and Edward Brookes, of London, grocer.”

The deed recites Penn’s authority under his patent, mentions the conveyance to the company of 20,000 acres in Philadelphia, erects this tract into the manor of Frank, “in free and common Socage, by such rents, customs and services, as to them and their successors shall seem meet, so as to be consistent with said tenure.” It allowed them two justices’ courts a year and other legal privileges.

In addition to the first 20,000 acres, their appurtenant city lots “was an entire street, and one side of a street from river to river,” comprising 100 acres, exclusive of an additional 400 acres owned in the Liberties. The location of the property was the tract between Spruce and Pine streets, from the Delaware to the Schuylkill River, 366 feet in width. Their lands were given the name Society Hill.

The society was empowered to appoint and remove its officers and servants, to levy taxes, etc. An important privilege was the authority given to be represented in the Provincial Council by three representatives of the society.

This society was given title to three-fifths of the products of all mines and minerals found, free privilege to fish in all waters of the Province, and to establish fairs, markets, etc., and the books of the society were to be exempted from all inspection.

May 29, 1682, the general court prepared and published an address, and mapped out an ambitious program of operations.

The address, which is ingenuous, points to the fact that while it proposes to employ the principles of the association in order to conduct a large business, it is no monopoly, but an absolutely free society in a free country. “It is,” says the prospectus, “an enduring estate, and a lasting as well as certain credit; a portion and inheritance that is clear and growing, free from the mischief of frauds and false securities, supported by the concurrent strength and care of a great and prudent body, a kind of perpetual trustees, the friends of the widow and orphan, for it takes no advantages of minority or simplicity.”

In the society votes were to be on a basis of amount of stock held, up to three votes, which was the limit. No one in England was allowed more than a single vote, and proxies could be voted. The officers were president, deputy, treasurer, secretary and twelve committeemen. Five, with president or deputy a quorum. The officers were to live on the society’s property.

All the society’s servants were bound to secrecy, and the books were kept in the society’s house, under three locks, the keys in charge of the president, treasurer and oldest committeeman, and not to be entrusted to any persons longer than to transcribe any part in daytime and in the house, before seven persons appointed by the committee.

The society was to send 200 servants to Pennsylvania the first year, “to build two or more general factories in Pennsylvania, one upon Chesapeake Bay, and the other upon Delaware River, or where else the committee shall see necessary for the more speedy conveyance of goods in the country and Maryland, but that the government of the whole be in the Capital City of Pennsylvania.”

The society was to aid Indians in building houses, etc., and to hold Negroes for fourteen years’ service, when they were to go free “on giving to the society two-thirds of what they can produce on land allotted to them by the society, with a stock and tools; if they agree not to this, to be servants till they do.”

The leading object of the society at the outset seems to have been an extensive free trade with the Indians, agriculture, establishment of manufactories, for carrying on the lumber trade and whale fishing. An agent in London was to sell the goods.

Nicholas More, president of the society and one of Penn’s Judges, was the first purchaser of land in the province who had a manor granted to him.

The Free Society of Traders obtained land on the river front south of Dock Creek. The society built a sawmill and a glasshouse, both in the same year, 1683. They also established a tannery, which was well supplied with bark and hides. Leather was in general use for articles of clothing, such as are now made of other goods. Penn himself wore leather stockings.

In 1695 the exportation of dressed and undressed deerskins was prohibited in order to promote their utilization at home.

But as the people arrived and settled they probably found they could do better by themselves than in a company and its schemes were not carried out. So the Free Society of Traders, from which much had been expected and which actually yielded so little, came to an end March 2, 1723, when an act of Assembly placed its property into the hands of trustees for sale to pay its debts.

The trustees appointed were Charles Reed, Job Goodson, Evan Owen, George Fitzwater and Joseph Pigeon, merchants of Philadelphia. These soon disposed of the property.

----------

Davy, the Lame Indian, Surrenders at Fort Pitt, May 30, 1783

During the morning of May 30, 1783, an Indian was discovered sitting on a porch in Pittsburgh, holding in his hand a light pole.

When a girl of the household responded to his alarm he asked her in broken English for milk. She told members of the family that the Indian was a mere skeleton and they appeared on the porch and found him so thin and emaciated that they could scarcely detect any flesh upon his bones. One of his limbs had been wounded, and the pole had been used as a sort of crutch.

On being questioned, he appeared too weak to give much of an account of himself, but drank of the milk. Word was immediately sent to General William Irvine, commandant of the garrison of Fort Pitt, who sent a guard and had him taken to the fort.

When questioned, he said that he had been trapping along Beaver River, and had a difference with a Mingo Indian who shot him in the leg, because he had said he wished to come to the white people. This story was not believed, especially by some who thought they recognized him as an Indian known as Davy. He was told to tell the truth, he would fare better, and he gave an account of the attack on the Walthour settlement, April 24, in which the following facts were related:

Five or six men were working in Christopher Walthour’s field, about eight miles west of the present Greensburg. Among the workers was a son-in-law, named Willard, whose daughter, sixteen years old, was carrying water to the men.

The workers were surprised by the appearance of a band of Delaware who captured the girl. The men reached their guns, which were a short distance away, and made a running fight as they retired toward the fort. Old man Walthour and Willard were killed, the latter falling not far from the stockade. An Indian rushed out of the bushes to scalp Willard, and was just in the act of twisting his fingers in the white man’s long hair, when a well-directed rifle shot, fired from the fort, struck the savage in the leg, who gave a horrid yell and made off toward the woods, leaving his gun beside his victim.

As soon as a band of frontiersmen could be collected they pursued the Indians, following their trail as far as the Allegheny River.

Almost two months after the attack the badly decomposed body of the Willard girl was found in the woods not far from Negley’s Run. Her head had been crushed in with a tomahawk and her scalp was gone.

The lame Indian after relating many horrid details told that he lay three days without moving from the first place he threw himself in the bushes fearing pursuit; then he crawled on hands and one foot until he found the pole in a marsh, which he used to assist him, and in the meantime lived on berries and roots. He lay all day on a hill overlooking a garrison of militiamen, thinking of giving himself up, but as they were not regulars he did not venture. Driven to desperation by hunger, he decided to make his way to Fort Pitt, and give himself up to regular soldiers.

Davy was confined in the guard house in the fort, but the news of his capture and his identity reached the settlement of Brush Creek and caused considerable excitement there.

Kindred and friends of the victims were hot for revenge and the chance presented itself. Mrs. Mary Willard, the widow of the man Davy killed and mother of the girl killed and scalped by his companions, accompanied by a deputation of her neighbors, arrived at Fort Pitt and asked General Irvine to deliver up the prisoner.

At first the request was refused, but when the body of the Willard girl was afterward found, a mass-meeting was held and a committee chosen to go to Fort Pitt and renew negotiations with General Irvine for the surrender of Davy.

After much deliberation, General Irvine yielded to the pleadings of the committee and surrendered the prisoner. The order of General Irvine to the frontiersmen was as follows: “You are hereby enjoined and required to take the Indian delivered into your charge by my order and carry him safe into the settlement of Brush Creek. You will afterward warn two justices of the peace and request their attendance at such times as they shall think proper to appoint, with several other reputable inhabitants. Until this is done and their advise and direction had in the matter you are, at your peril, not to hurt him, nor suffer any person to do it. Given under my hand at Fort Pitt, July 21, 1782.

“WILLIAM IRVINE.”

The general also sent a note to Mrs. Willard, in which he urged her to do nothing rash in retaliating her vengeance on the prisoner, and not to permit him to be put to death until after “some form of trial.”

The intention of the frontiersmen was to summon a jury of their neighbors and try him, at least to comply with the General’s orders. But the fact he was an Indian would be sufficient evidence to condemn him, even if the wounded leg was not added evidence. In event of conviction he was to suffer death in regular Indian fashion, by torture and burning.

On arrival at Walthour’s, Davy was confined in a log blockhouse for two days and three nights, while the neighbors and magistrates could assemble for the trial and execution.

While a few were guarding the prisoner, some were in quest of the neighbors and others collected wood and materials for the burning, which it was already determined should be at the identical spot where he had received his wound while in the act of scalping Willard.

On the night preceding the great day the guard was somewhat careless and, realizing their prisoner was a bad cripple, they joined rather enthusiastically in the preparations for the execution.

On arising in the morning the blockhouse was empty. The guards were aroused and an investigation revealed the guardhouse door securely locked. No human being could get through the loopholes. It was found the only possible way of escape was through the narrow space between the overjutting roof and the top of the wall, and through this he must have escaped.

Bitter was their disappointment, when they learned their prey had escaped. In every direction eager searching parties ranged the country, but no trace of the wounded Delaware. The hunt continued for two days, but Davy had made good his escape and saved himself from the warm reception which awaited him later in the day.

----------

Thousands of Lives Lost in Johnstown Flood, May 31, 1889

When an avalanche of water swept down the Conemaugh Valley destroying everything in its descent, including the thriving city of Johnstown, containing thirty thousand souls, many great industrial establishments were nearly wiped from the earth, many thousands were drowned or burned to death, and property worth many millions was destroyed. This disaster was so far beyond all experience that it is difficult for the mind to grasp it.

Johnstown was a community of seven or eight towns with a combined population of quite thirty thousand souls. It is situated in a deep valley where the Little Conemaugh River and Stony Creek unite to form the Conemaugh River.

Early on Friday, May 31, 1889, a freshet in Stony Creek broke away the boom above the town and swept down the mass of logs against the inundated houses.

This was followed in the afternoon by a far worse disaster, when the dam of the South Fork Lake broke and the mass of water swept down the valley, carrying everything before it. The logs and wreckage piled against the bridge, forming a partial dam, that raised the water level still higher, and in a short time the whole town was submerged.

Hundreds were drowned in their houses, others were swept along by the torrent and perished either by water or by fire among the debris. Nothing in the history of the United States in time of peace ever approached this appalling catastrophe.

Conemaugh Lake was a body of water about three and a half miles long, one and a quarter miles in width, and in some places one hundred feet in depth. It was located on the mountain some three or four hundred feet above the level of Johnstown and was, of course, a menace to that city. It was believed to hold more water than any reservoir in America. This lake was the property of some wealthy sportsmen of Pittsburgh and elsewhere, members of the South Fork Hunting and Fishing Club.

Every known precaution had been taken to insure the safety of the reservoir. An inspection was made monthly by competent engineers, and it was believed nothing less than some extraordinary freak of nature could destroy the barrier that held this large body of water in check. These waters were held in bounds by a dam nearly one thousand feet wide, more than one hundred feet high and ninety feet in thickness at the base.

The streams were already unusually swollen, when a heavy downpour of rain fell steadily for forty-eight hours which increased the volume of water in all the mountain streams. In fact, the entire State suffered from floods. The regions along the West Branch of the Susquehanna, the Lehigh, the Juniata and the Conemaugh Rivers were the principal scenes of desolation.

The water in the South Fork Lake rose slowly until it poured over the top of the big dam, and then some of the old leakages became larger, then the breast broke, and sixteen million tons of water rushed forth like a demon.

John Baker, the Paul Revere of the occasion, rode a race with it for a while and saved many people, but the death-dealing torrent laden with trees, houses, wreckage and human beings, defied even steam whistles and telegraph instruments.

The water plowed through South Fork, Mineral Point, Franklin, East Conemaugh, Woodvale, Conemaugh, Johnstown, Kernville, Millville and Cambria.

It was late in the afternoon and the night that followed was one of unutterable agony. Darkness added to the terror of the situation.

The wreckage could not pass through the big stone bridge. That caused the water to back up and flood the city, but soon a channel was made which cut through the heart of Johnstown. This caused the terrible destruction of life and property that was incurred at Cambria Iron Works.

Then came the flames to make the calamity more appalling. Hundreds of houses had been piled up against the stone bridge, the inmates of but a few being able to escape; these took fire and many hundreds of souls perished in them. Men, women and children, held down by timbers, watched with indescribable agony the flames creep surely toward them, and they were slowly roasted to death.

There were many instances of personal heroism and self-sacrifice in which many persons were saved from drowning or being burned to death. There were many cases of most remarkable escapes, and not a few instances of heroic rescue, which a moment later were rendered useless by another catastrophe in which both hero and victim lost their lives. Edward C. Will is credited with saving twenty-two lives.

Governor Beaver issued a proclamation, calling upon the people for their benefactions. Adjutant General Hastings was promptly on the scene and personally directed the patrol, composed of the Fourteenth Regiment and one company of the Fifth Regiment of the National Guard.

Governor Beaver appointed a Flood Relief Commission to distribute a fund which had been raised from every section of the State and all over the country. The fund exceeded $3,000,000.

The State Board of Health was early on the ground to enforce the sanitary laws. The debris was removed as promptly as possible, and healthful conditions were soon restored.

To pay the State’s expenses, generous men of means advanced the money till the Legislature would reimburse them. There never was a more beautiful example of public and private charity in all history.

The loss of lives was 2,235, or more, and the property loss exceeded $10,000,000 in value.

The people of Johnstown, although prostrated by their misfortune, soon recovered, rebuilt their city and re-established their industrial plants, making it a more beautiful and more modern place than ever before.

----------

General John Bull, Officer of Province and the Continental Army, Born June 1, 1731

General John Bull was one of the distinguished patriots of the Province and State and a veteran of the French and Indian War, a trusted agent of the Proprietaries to the Indians, an early adherent of the colonists, a member of the first Constitutional Convention, an officer of troops and builder of forts, a member of the Board of War and of the General Assembly, a prominent citizen in every particular, yet one of whose life little is known.

John Bull was born in Providence Township, now Montgomery County, June 1, 1731, and spent his early life in that immediate neighborhood.

His active military life began May 12, 1758, when he was commissioned captain in the Provincial service, and with his command was on duty at Fort Allen, now Weissport, Carbon County.

Later in that year he commanded a company in the expedition led by General John Forbes, for the reduction of Fort DuQuesne, and during this tour of duty he rendered most conspicuous service in negotiations with the Indians.

This treaty was attended by Governor Bernard of New Jersey, who had come principally to demand of the Munsee that they keep a treaty promise by which they were to deliver captives taken from his province.

The treaty ended at Easton, October 24, when mutual releases were executed; Pisquitomen and Thomas Hickman, an Ohio Indian, were sent back to the Ohio to bear assurance of pardon, and invitations to those western Indians to come to Philadelphia. Captain John Bull and William Hayes and Isaac Still, the interpreter, and two Indians of the Six Nations, one of whom was John Shikellamy, accompanied them. The mission was wholly successful.

In 1771 Captain Bull owned the Norris plantation and mill, and resided there on the site of the present Norristown, then called Norriton.

He was a delegate to the Provincial Conference of January 23, 1775, and of June 18, 1775.

On July 8, 1776, the day of the reading of the Declaration of Independence, an election was held at the State House for members of the Convention to form a Constitution for the State. Those elected from Philadelphia County were Frederic Antes, Henry Hill, Robert Loller, Joseph Blewer, John Bull, Thomas Potts, Edward Bartholomew, and William Coats.

Captain Bull was elected a member of the Board of War, March 14, 1777.

Congress asked in October, 1775, that a battalion from Pennsylvania be raised to take part in the expedition against Canada. John Bull was appointed its colonel, but resigned January 20, 1776, owing to a threat of about half the officers to do so if he continued in command, so John Philip DeHaas, of Lebanon, was appointed.

Colonel Bull was one of the commissioners at the Indian Treaty held at Easton January 30, 1777.

At the election held February 14, 1777, Colonel Bull was one of four elected to the Assembly.

After the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British, Colonel Bull was sent to Mud Island, with workmen and laborers, to repair the banks and sluices and complete barracks sufficient for the garrison.

On May 2, 1777, he was appointed colonel of the First State Regiment of Foot, and on July 16 was commissioned Adjutant-General of Pennsylvania.

In October of this year his barns, barracks, grain, and hay were burned by the British, and his wagons, horses, cattle, sheep and Negroes carried off, although General Howe had given his word to Mrs. Bull that they would not be disturbed.

In December, when General James Irvine was captured, General Bull succeeded to the command of the Second Brigade of Pennsylvania militia, under General John Armstrong.

While the British were in possession of Philadelphia a brigade of Continental troops under Colonel John Bull on the evening of December 24, 1777, made an excursion into Fourth Street in Philadelphia, with two thousand militia, and three pieces of cannon, and alarmed the city by firing off the heavy guns, whereby some of the balls fell about old Christ Church. Colonel Bull then made a good retreat back to his station, without the loss of a man.

During 1778 and 1779 he was engaged in erecting defenses for Philadelphia and in latter year he put down the chevaux de frize in the Delaware to obstruct the approach of British ships. In 1780 he served as Commissary of Purchase at Philadelphia, and appears to have been one of the busiest and most indefatigable of workers.

In the year 1785 he removed to Northumberland, being attracted there by the location of the town and the belief that it would become a large place.

In 1802 he was a candidate for the Legislature but was defeated by Simon Snyder, afterwards Governor of the State. In 1805 General Bull was elected to the General Assembly, but in 1808 he was defeated for Congress when he ran as the Federalist candidate.

Mrs. Mary Bull, his wife, died February 23, 1811, aged eighty years. The Northumberland Argus says, “She was buried in the Quaker graveyard, and General Bull, though much reduced by sickness and old age, previous to the grave being closed, addressed the people as follows: 'The Lord gave and the Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord; may we who are soon to follow be as well prepared as she was.'”

General Bull died August 9, 1824, in the 94th year of his age.

This distinguished patriot and citizen lies buried beside his wife in the Riverside Cemetery, Northumberland, where a monument should be erected in memory of this distinguished, yet eccentric, officer of the French and Indian and Revolutionary Wars.

----------

Liberty Bell Hung in Old State House on June 2, 1753

Though not the largest nor yet the oldest, but to all Americans by far the most celebrated bell is the grand old “Liberty Bell,” whose tones on July 4, 1776, proclaimed the birthday of our Nation.

This historic bell was originally cast in London, in 1752, for the State House in Philadelphia. There it hung in the belfry of Independence Hall until July 8, 1835, when it cracked while tolling the news of the death of John Marshall, Chief Justice of the United States.

In the Centennial year, 1876, a new bell, modeled after the original Liberty Bell, was made by an American bell founder for the tower of the old State House, or Independence Hall.

It weighs 13,000 pounds to represent the thirteen original States, and carries in addition to the decoration of the old Liberty Bell, a border of stars and the additional inscription: “Glory to God and on earth peace, good will toward men.”

The story of the original bell begins in the year 1749, when the tower was erected on the south side of the main building of the State House. The superintendents were ordered to proceed as soon as they conveniently might, and the tower was to contain “the staircase with a suitable place therein for hanging a bell.”

A year later the House adopted a resolution directing “that the superintendents provide a bell of such weight and dimensions as they shall think suitable.” Isaac Norris, Thomas Leech and Edward Warner accordingly prepared a letter, which is interesting as it is the commencement of proceedings which resulted in the casting of what was afterward known as the “Liberty Bell.” The letter follows:

“To Robert Charles, of London, Nov. 1, 1751. Respected Friend.—The Assembly having ordered us (the superintendents of the State House) to procure a bell from England, to be purchased for their use, we take the liberty to apply ourselves to thee to get us a good bell of about two thousand weight, the cost of which we presume may amount to about one hundred pounds sterling, or perhaps more with the charges, etc.

“We hope and rely on thy care and assistance in this affair, and that thou will procure and forward it by the first opportunity, as our workmen inform us it will be less trouble to hang the bell before their scaffolds are struck from the building where we intend to place it, which will not be done until the end of next summer or beginning of the fall. Let the bell be cast by the best workmen, and examine it carefully before it is shipped with the following words, well shaped, in long letters around it, viz.:

“‘By order of the Assembly of the Province of Pennsylvania, for the State House in the city of Philadelphia, 1752.’

“and underneath.—'Proclaim Liberty through all the land unto all the inhabitants thereof.—Levit. xxv. 10.'”

The bell was brought over in the ship Matilda, Captain Budden, and was unloaded on the wharf in Philadelphia about the end of August, 1752.

It was hung in position and when given its trial for sound “it was cracked by a stroke of the clapper, without any other violence.” Needless to state, the superintendents were disappointed and they determined to ship the bell back to England to be recast. But Captain Budden had already too heavy a cargo to carry the bell.

In this emergency two Philadelphians, Pass and Stow, undertook to recast it, using the material in the original bell. The mold was opened March 10, 1753. The work had been well done, even the letters being better than those on the first bell.

Pass and Stow first cast several small bells to test the quality of the material, and its sound, and found that there was too much copper in the mixture. It was their third mixture which was finally used.

A newspaper of June 7, 1753, carried this notice: “Last week was raised and fixed in the State House steeple the new great bell cast here by Pass and Stow, weighing 2080 pounds with this motto: ‘Proclaim Liberty to all the land and all the inhabitants thereof.’.” It was tested June 2 and proved satisfactory.

On July 8, 1776, the Declaration of Independence was read in the State House yard. At the same time the King’s Arms were taken from the court room and publicly burned, while merry chimes from the church steeples and peals from the State House bell “proclaimed liberty throughout the land.”

This was an event which made the inscription on the bell prophetic. John Adams, in writing to Samuel Chase on July 9, said, “The bells rang all day and almost all night.”

The British success on the Brandywine caused great consternation in Philadelphia. On September 15, 1777, the Supreme Executive Council ordered “the bells of Christ Church and St. Peter’s as well as the State House to be taken down and removed to a place of safety.” The church bells were sunk in the river or carried away, but the Liberty Bell, with ten others, was loaded on wagons and hauled via Bethlehem to Allentown. In Bethlehem the wagon bearing the State House bell broke down, and it had to be reloaded and, when Allentown was reached, the bell was hidden under the floor of Zion Reformed Church.

After the evacuation of Philadelphia by the British Army these bells were brought back, and the State House bell was placed in its old position in the latter part of 1778.

The “Liberty Bell” became a venerated object, and it was tacitly determined that it should only be rung on special occasions of rejoicing, or to commemorate some event of public importance. It was tolled in 1828 upon the news of the emancipation of the Catholics by act of the British Parliament. It celebrated the centennial anniversary of the birthday of Washington, February 22, 1832.

But an end was put to its usefulness for sound early in the morning of July 8, 1835. The break was at first only about eight inches in length, but when rung February 22, 1843, it was increased so much that it henceforth became a silent memento of the historic past.

The Liberty Bell has made several trips to great national expositions, notably the World’s Fair at Chicago, and the great San Francisco exposition, where it always was the most popular historic relic and viewed by millions of our citizens, but the danger incident to such exposure caused public disapproval of the bell again leaving the State House, and it will rest in this historic spot and continue to be the most popular relic in Pennsylvania.

----------

Transit of Venus Observed in Yard of State House June 3, 1769

The year 1769 was memorable in the annals of astronomy, owing to the transit of Venus over the sun’s disc, which occurred June 3. Astronomers throughout the entire world were anxious to make an observation of this celestial phenomenon, which would not occur again until 1874.

The great interest centered in this observation arose from the fact that by means of it the distance between the heavenly bodies could be more accurately calculated. It was the belief that the transits of Venus afforded the best method of measuring the distance of the sun from the earth.

This was a period of intense interest, and many expeditions were fitted out to observe the transit at different places in both the northern and southern hemispheres.

Mason and Dixon, the English astronomers, who gained undying fame as the surveyors of the boundary line between Pennsylvania and Maryland, started on a ship of war for their station on the southern hemisphere, but they were attacked by a French frigate and were compelled to return to port after a severe battle. Other expeditions became celebrated through the adventures to which they gave rise.

The transit of 1769 was visible in the Atlantic States and observations upon it were made under the auspices of the American Philosophical Society at Philadelphia. The most celebrated of all these observers was David Rittenhouse.

Benjamin Franklin had organized the society and in 1769 became the society’s first president. He was annually elected to that position for twenty-two years, being succeeded in 1791 by another Pennsylvanian, David Rittenhouse.

In 1768 the American Philosophical Society petitioned the Assembly of Pennsylvania for assistance to observe the transit of Venus, and the proposition was treated with liberality.

One hundred pounds was granted to enable the society to procure a reflecting telescope of two and a half or three feet focus and a micrometer of Dolland’s make, which had to be procured from England. They were purchased there by Dr. Franklin.

The society erected a wooden building as an observatory in the State House yard. This was of circular shape, and about twenty feet high, twelve to fifteen feet square and placed about sixty feet south of the State House.

On the morning of June 3 the sky was cloudless. The transit was observed from this building in the State House yard by Dr. John Ewing, Joseph Shippen, Dr. Hugh Williamson, Thomas Prior, Charles Thomson and James Pearson.

While they were thus engaged, David Rittenhouse, Dr. William Smith, John Sellers and John Lukens noticed the phenomena at Norriton, the home of the celebrated astronomer. Owen Biddle made an observation at Henlopen lighthouse.

Rittenhouse was already a member of the American Philosophical Society and made his observations for that society. He used a telescope and other instruments made by his own hands.

When he observed the contact, and the planet had fairly entered the sun’s disk, his emotions so overpowered him that he sank fainting to the ground, unable to bear the intense feelings of delight which attended the consummation of the long hoped for event. Rising from his exhaustion, he proceeded to measure the distance between the centers of the two bodies at stated intervals during the transit.

The observations of Rittenhouse were received with interest by scientific men everywhere. Subsequently they were found to be nearly accurate and his computations placed him among the greatest of astronomers. The royal astronomer of England bore testimony to their value and another high authority said:

“The first approximately accurate results in the measurements of the spheres were given to the world, not by schooled and salaried astronomers who watched from the magnificent royal observatories of Europe, but by unpaid amateurs and devotees to science in the youthful province of Pennsylvania.”

On November 9 of the same year David Rittenhouse made an observation of the transit of Mercury, which was the fourth ever witnessed. About this time he also determined the difference of the meridians of Norriton and Philadelphia.

David Rittenhouse was without doubt the first inventor of a practical planetarium, erroneously called the “orrery,” an instrument so constructed as to exhibit the movements of the planets around the sun. In theory the idea was not new. Such an instrument had been made for the Earl of Orrery in 1715, but this was a mere toy and gave the movements of only two heavenly bodies.

Rittenhouse determined that he would make an elaborate instrument, based on scientific principles and on the astronomical calculations which he had prepared. After three years of labor, in 1779, the “Rittenhouse orrery” was completed.

This orrery was purchased by Princeton University for £300. The trustees of the College of Philadelphia were offended, but Rittenhouse immediately set to work and constructed a duplicate, which was purchased for the college by the proceeds of a series of lectures on astronomy by Dr. William Smith, provost of the college.

The second orrery was much larger than the original, but was constructed on the same model. This was sold for £400.

David Rittenhouse was elected one of the secretaries of the American Philosophical Society in 1771. He delivered a most elaborate address before the society February 23, 1775, entitled “An Oration on Astronomy.” This address was inscribed and dedicated to the delegates assembled in the Continental Congress. In 1790 he became one of its vice presidents.

On the death of Dr. Franklin he succeeded to the office of president, January, 1791, which office he held until his death, when he was succeeded by Thomas Jefferson.

----------

Indians Succeed in Destroying Presqu' Isle, June 4, 1763

In 1763 Pontiac’s grand scheme of destroying all the English forts was completed, and it was determined the attack should be made simultaneously on June 4. Henry L. Harvey, in the Erie Observer, gives the following account of the attack on Fort Presqu' Isle.

“The troops had retired to their quarters to procure their morning repast; some had already finished, and were sauntering about the fortress or the shores of the lake. All were joyous, in holiday attire and dreaming of nought but the pleasures of the occasion. A knocking was heard at the gate, and three Indians were announced, in hunting garb, desiring an interview with the commander. Their tale was soon told; they said they belonged to a hunting party which had started to Niagara with a lot of furs; that their canoes were bad, and they would prefer disposing of them here, if they could do so to advantage, and return rather than go farther; that their party was encamped by a small stream west of the fort, about a mile, where they had landed the previous night, and where they wished the commander to go and examine their peltries, as it was difficult to bring them as they wished to embark from where they were if they did not trade.

“The commander, accompanied by a clerk, left the fort with the Indians, charging his lieutenant that none should leave the fort, and none but its inmates be admitted until his return. Well would it probably have been had this order been obeyed. After the lapse of sufficient time for the captain to have visited the encampment of the Indians and return, a party of the latter—variously estimated, but probably about one hundred and fifty—advanced toward the fort, bearing upon their backs what appeared to be large packs of furs, which they informed the lieutenant the captain had purchased and ordered deposited in the fort.

“The stratagem succeeded, and when the party were all within the fort, the work of an instant threw off the packs and the short cloaks which covered their weapons—the whole being fastened by one loop and button at the neck. Resistance at this time was useless or ineffectual, and the work of death was as rapid as savage strength and weapons could make it. The shortened rifles, which had been sawed off for the purpose of concealing them under their cloaks and in the packs of furs, were once discharged, and of what remained the tomahawk and knife were made to do the execution.

“The history of savage war presents not a scene of more heartless or blood-thirsty vengeance than was exhibited on this occasion, and few its equal in horror. The few who were taken prisoners in the fort were doomed to the various tortures devised by savage ingenuity, until, save two individuals, all who awoke to celebrate that day at the fort had passed away to the eternal world.

“Of these two, one was a soldier who had gone into the woods near the fort, and on his return, observing a body of Indians dragging away some prisoners, he escaped and immediately proceeded to Niagara. The other was a female who had taken shelter in a small building below the hill, near the mouth of the creek. Here she remained undiscovered until near night of the fatal day, when she was drawn forth, but her life, for some reason, was spared, and she was made prisoner, and ultimately ransomed and restored to civilized life. She was subsequently married and settled in Canada. From her statement, and the information she obtained during her captivity, corroborated by other sources, this account of the massacre is gathered.

“Others have varied it so far as relates to the result, particularly Thatcher, who, in his Life of Pontiac, says: ‘The officer who commanded at Presqu’ Isle defended himself two days during which time the savages are said to have fired his blockhouse about fifty times, but the soldiers extinguished the flames as often. It was then undermined, and a train laid for an explosion, when a capitulation was proposed and agreed upon, under which a part of the garrison was carried captive to the Northwest. The officer was afterward given up at Detroit.' He does not, however, give any authority for his statements, while most writers concur that all were destroyed.

“The number who escaped from Le Boeuf is variously estimated from three to seven. Their escape was effected through a secret or underground passage, having its outlet in the direction of the swamp adjoining Le Boeuf Lake. Tradition, however, says that of these only one survived to reach a civilized settlement.”

So adroitly was the whole campaign managed that nine of the garrisons received no notice of the design in time to guard against it, and fell an easy conquest to the assailants.

Niagara, Pittsburgh, Ligonier and Bedford were strongly invested, but withstood the attacks until relief arrived from the Eastern settlements. The scattered settlers in their vicinity were generally murdered or forced to flee to the fort. Depredations were committed as far east as Carlisle and Reading, and the whole country was alarmed.

Colonel Bradstreet and Colonel Bouquet attacked the savages everywhere. General Gage directed the movements against the Indians. Bradstreet failed to comprehend the Indian character, but Bouquet conquered the savages everywhere on his route, and so completely defeated them that he was able to dictate terms of peace, and received a large number of persons who had been carried into captivity from Pennsylvania and Virginia. He was hailed as a deliverer by the people and received the thanks of the Governments of Pennsylvania and Virginia.

----------

James Pollock Nominated by Know Nothing Party, June 5, 1854

Governor William Bigler’s administration was universally acceptable to his party, and even his most earnest political opponents found little ground for criticism, but when he came up for re-election two entirely new and unexpected factors confronted him and doomed him to defeat on issues which had no relation to the administration of State affairs. First of these was the repeal of the Missouri Compromise, and second, the advent of the secret American, or Know Nothing Party.

The American, or Know Nothing, organization that became such an important political power in 1854, was the culmination of various spasmodic native American organizations beginning in New York, as early as 1835, and extending to Philadelphia and Boston. The original Native American organization of New York was directed wholly against foreigners who held positions on the police force and in other city departments. It came into its greatest power in 1844, when it controlled the entire city government.

The Native Americans carried the fall elections in Philadelphia, in 1844, with material aid from the Whigs, and remained an important element in both City and State politics in Pennsylvania for a number of years.

The name Know Nothing was applied to this organization because the members were ordered to reply to any question in regard to the party or its purposes, “I don’t know.” In the same way “Sam” was nicknamed for that party. This was applied frequently to persons suspected of being members of which it was said they had “seen Sam.”

Chief Justice Black said of the Know Nothings: “They’re like the bee, biggest when it’s born; it will perish as quickly as it rose to power.” Truly a prophecy.

In 1854 the Whig candidate for the office of Mayor, Robert T. Conrad, was supported by the Know Nothings and defeated Richard Vaux by more than 8000 votes. After this the Know Nothing Party declined in strength, and finally what was left of it and the remnant of the Whig organization were absorbed in the Republican Party. After 1856 the Know Nothing party practically disappeared as a general political factor.

The Whigs and Democrats held their regular State conventions early in the year of 1854. Governor Bigler was renominated by the Democrats, and James Pollock was nominated by the Whigs.

Pollock indicated Andrew G. Curtin as the man to take charge of his campaign, and Curtin was made chairman of the Whig State Committee. He entered upon his new duties with the ardor that was always manifested in his public efforts, and everything seemed to be going along smoothly, until he learned that there was a secret organization in the State that embraced a clear majority of the Whig voters and not a few of the Democratic voters.

There were three men of low cunning who had managed to obtain possession of the machinery of the Know Nothing organization and they availed themselves of the peculiar facilities offered by a secret organization to assume autocratic authority.

These three leaders sought out Curtin, and, proving to him that they had it in their power to compute the returns of the Know Nothing lodges and declare for or against any candidate for office, declared their purpose to defeat the Whig candidate for Governor if their wishes were not acceded to. Each of the three men required of Curtin a pledge that three of the most lucrative offices in the gift of the Governor, the inspectorships of Philadelphia, should be given them.

They did not conceal the fact that it made no difference how the Know Nothing lodges voted, they would declare the nomination in favor of or against Pollock, depending upon Curtin’s agreement to their proposition. Curtin deliberated long and had several conferences before he finally acceded to their demands to the extent that he would recommend the appointments they demanded, but that he would not give an unqualified pledge as to the action of the Governor, and that Pollock was to have no knowledge nor was he to be advised of it during the contest.

The entire program was then arranged that the State Council on June 5 should announce as the nominees of the Know Nothing Party James Pollock, Whig, for Governor; Henry S. Mott, Democrat, for Canal Commissioner, and Thomas Bair, Know Nothing Party, for Supreme Judge.

Neither Pollock nor Mott were members of the Know Nothing Party, and both were placed in nomination without their personal knowledge of being candidates of that organization.

Pollock was elected by 37,007 over Bigler; Mott was elected over Darsie by 190,743; and Jeremiah S. Black was elected by 45,535 over Bair, Know Nothing, and Smyser, Whig.

As soon as the election was over and Mott realized that he had been given this large majority by the Know Nothing vote, he openly denounced the organization as deliberately guilty of a fraud in making him its candidate, and from that day was the most vindictive opponent of Know Nothingism the State could furnish.

The alleged nomination of Pollock and Mott by the Know Nothing organization was a deliberate fraud upon the Know Nothing people, as was evidenced by the fact that their names were submitted to the various lodges by the State Council as candidates and as members of the order, when, in fact, neither of them was a member, but it mattered little whether the lodges voted for or against Pollock and Mott, there was no power to revise the returns, and they were accepted as candidates without a question and their election assured.

Few knew of the Know Nothing organization. Even Curtin had no conception of its strength and never dreamed of the political revolution that it was about to work out.

The three Know Nothing traders decided that they would accept the position of flour inspector, leather inspector and bark inspector. Curtin literally fulfilled his pledge, stating to the Governor all that had transpired and left the Governor to solve the problem.

The Governor was first determined to appoint none of them, but reconsidered and gave one of them a minor inspectorship of the city. The disappointed Know Nothing leaders had to accept defeat as they had no other way of visiting vengeance upon any one, and their party went to pieces within a year.

----------

John Penn Found First Wife Dying After Second Marriage, June 6, 1766

A sad incident in the life of John Penn has been told in the story of Tulliallan.[2] While Richard and Thomas Penn, sons of the founder, were selecting plate they intended to present to the English battleship Admiral Penn, John, the seventeen-year-old son of Richard, accompanied them to the establishment of James Cox, the silversmith.

Footnote 2:

The first of a delightful collection of folk lore and legends collected and published as “Allegheny Episodes,” by Colonel Henry W. Shoemaker, 1922.

During this errand John Penn met for the first time Marie Cox, the silversmith’s only daughter, and they fell desperately in love with each other. Many visits were made to the fine Quaker home of James Cox, which annoyed the elder Penn, and remonstrate as he did it proved of no avail. A trip to Gretna Green was made, and John Penn, aged nineteen, and Marie Cox, aged seventeen, were duly made husband and wife.

When Richard Penn, the father, and his brother Thomas were apprised by young John of what he had done, he was locked in his room, and after dark he was taken to the waterfront and placed aboard a ship sailing for the coast of France. He was carried to Paris, and there carefully watched, but supplied with all the money he required.

Temporarily John Penn forgot about his wife, Marie, as he plunged into the gayeties of the French capital. The pace was rapid and he soon became seriously ill, but he grew better and was taken to Geneva to convalesce. There he was followed by agents of his creditors, who threatened him with imprisonment for debt. John wrote his father in London, who turned a deaf ear to the prodigal; not so Uncle Thomas.

Thomas Penn wrote to his nephew that he would save him from a debtor’s cell provided he would divorce his wife and go to Pennsylvania for an indefinite period. John was in an attitude to promise anything, and soon his bills were settled. While awaiting his ship to take him to Philadelphia, the young man went to London for a day to say good-by to his relations.

The ship was delayed several days by a severe storm and as John was strolling up the streets in Cheapside, to his surprise he met his bride, the deserted Marie Cox Penn. He was much in love with her and she was ready to forgive. They spent the balance of that day together and during dinner in a restaurant it was arranged that Marie should follow her husband to America; meanwhile he would provide a home for her under an assumed name, until he became of age, when he would defy his family to again tear them apart.

John Penn arrived in Philadelphia in November, 1752. He evinced but little interest in provincial affairs, except to make a trip into the interior. He was accompanied by a bodyguard, among whom was Peter Allen. Penn took a fancy to the sturdy frontiersman, “a poor relation” of Chief Justice William Allen.

Allen had built a stone house twelve miles west of Harris’ Ferry, which he called “Tulliallan.” This was the outpost of civilization. John Penn selected this place for his bride, and as Peter Allen had three young daughters, Penn soon arranged that Marie should be their teacher.

John Penn dispatched his valet to London to escort Marie to America. She arrived and her husband took her to Peter Allen’s, where she became a great favorite and found the new life agreeable. She assumed the name Maria Warren. That was in 1754.

All went well until the Penns in London learned that Marie Cox Penn had gone to America, and they traced her to “Tulliallan.”

Maria Warren mysteriously disappeared. At the same time went two friendly Indians from that neighborhood.

Early the following summer, John Penn set out for Peter Allen’s, and when he arrived he learned that his wife was gone a fortnight, they knew not how or where.

Accompanied by servants and settlers, Penn hunted the mountains, far and wide, and inquired of all with whom he came in contact, red or white, but no trace of his wife could be found. He never gave up the search until he suffered a nervous collapse, and was sent to his home in England.

In 1763, he returned as Lieutenant Governor, and arrived in Philadelphia October 30. On June 6, 1766, he married Anne, daughter of William Allen, Chief Justice of Pennsylvania.

A few years later he took a trip through the interior. He stopped at Peter Allen’s and there learned that the Indians had carried his beloved Marie a captive to Canada. It was not long after returning that he again started on another expedition up the Susquehanna River.

A stop was made at Fisher’s Stone House, at what is now known as Fisher’s Ferry, below Sunbury. He was given a noisy welcome and he enjoyed these plain frontier people. While seated by the fireplace he heard coughing in an inner room, and inquired of Peter Fisher who it was who was ill.

“It’s an English woman, your Honor,” replied Fisher. “Tell me about her,” said the Governor. Then Fisher related the strange story, telling Penn that it is said he once loved this woman, that she was kidnapped and carried to Canada, that the Indians were paid for keeping her, that she made her escape and walked all the way back, but became ill and could not reach Peter Allen’s, and was now on her deathbed.

Penn insisted on seeing her, and he went into the room. There lay his wife. They were soon in fond embrace and others left them alone in the room. Ten minutes later Penn ran to the door and called, “Come quick, I fear she is going.” The household assembled but in a few minutes Marie Cox Penn was dead. It is said she lies buried there on a hill which overlooks the Susquehanna.

John Penn returned to Philadelphia and took no more trips through the interior of Pennsylvania. He died childless, February 9, 1795. His wife, nee Allen, survived him until 1813.

----------

Colonel William Clapham Began Erection of Fort Halifax, June 7, 1756

Early in the year of 1756 Governor Morris commissioned Lieutenant Colonel William Clapham to recruit the “Augusta Regiment” and build Fort Augusta, at Shamokin, now Sunbury. Clapham rendezvoused his troops at Hunter’s Mills, also known as Fort Hunter and then started his march up the river toward Shamokin.

The first camp was established at Armstrong’s, where on June 7 the commander wrote to Governor Morris saying this was the “most convenient place on the river between Harris’ and Shamokin for a magazine on account of its good natural situation above the Juniata Falls, the vast plenty of pine timber at hand, its nearness to Shamokin and a saw within a quarter of a mile.”

The saw was at Armstrong’s place, at the mouth of Armstrong’s Creek. The soldiers cut and squared two hundred logs, each thirty feet in length, and erected the fortification.

During the progress of this work an important Indian conference between Colonel Clapham and the Iroquois was held. The speaker for the Indians was Oghaghradisha, the noted chieftain of that nation. At this conference, held June 10, 1756, the Indians agreed to the building of a fort at Shamokin, but also wanted another fort built three days’ journey in a canoe farther up the North Branch in their branch, called Adjouquay, the mouth of present Lackawanna Creek. The Indians agreed to help build this fort.

Colonel Clapham wrote to Governor Morris from the “Camp at Armstrong’s” on June 20, 1756:

“The progress already made in this fort renders it impracticable for me to comply with the commissioner’s desire to contract it, at which I am more surprised, as I expected every day orders to enlarge it, it being as yet, in my opinion, too small. I shall leave an officer and thirty men, with orders to finish it, when I march from hence, which will be with all possible expedition after the arrival of the blankets, the rum and the money for the payment of the battoe-men, for want of which I am obliged to detain them here in idleness, not thinking it prudent to trust them on another trip for fear of their desertion, which may totally impede the service. I could wish the commissioners would invent some expedient to pay these men without money, or at least without the danger of trusting me with their money, the charge of which I am not ambitious of, or the much envied honor and trouble of expending it. This far is certain, that without such expedient or money we cannot stir.

“I have pursuant to your Honor’s command sent down two Indian Sachems, properly escorted and committed particularly in the care of Mr. Shippen (Edward, of Lancaster), and hope their coming will fully answer the ends proposed by your Honor and your Council. I have found Captain McKee extremely useful, and have sent him also at the Sachem’s particular request.

“The carpenters are still employed in building Battoes and carriages for the canoes, and everybody seems disposed cheerfully to contribute their services toward the public good; if there ever was any prospect or assurance of being paid for it.

“I assure myself, your Honor, will omit no opportunity of extricating me from embarrassments arising from the want of money, both for the Battoe-men and the soldiers; twenty-six of whom being Dutch (German) are now in confinement for mutiny on that very account. I am with all respect your Honor’s obedient servant.

”WILLIAM CLAPHAM.

“P. S.—The Fort at this place is without a name till your Honor is pleased to confer one.”

On the 25th of the month the Governor wrote from Philadelphia to Colonel Clapham. “The Fort at Armstrong’s I would have it called Fort Halifax.” This was in honor of the Earl of Halifax.

The exact location of this fort is discernible today, if one will drive along the concrete highway above the present borough of Halifax and turn off toward the river, after crossing the bridge which spans Armstrong’s Run. The covered bridge, near the mouth of the creek is the site of the old Armstrong sawmill to which Colonel Clapham referred. A short distance below are the remains of the foundation of the Armstrong home which was built prior to 1755, and a few hundreds yards below will be seen a small rise in the ground which is also marked with a small square monument. It was on this slight eminence that Fort Halifax was built.

Colonel Clapham, July 1, thanked the Governor for £100, which he distributed to the bateau men, but complained that the sum sent was insufficient. He commented upon the difficulties of conducting so “amphibious” an expedition.

When Colonel Clapham departed from Fort Halifax he left a detail of thirty men, under command of Captain Nathaniel Miles, to whom he gave most explicit instructions, even down to the detail of mounting guard and where the sentries should be stationed about the post, and in event of a surprise attack, just how each one should demean himself.

During the long period in which the provincial soldiers were building the most important Fort Augusta at Shamokin, there was much activity at Fort Halifax.

Ammunition, clothing, food and supplies were all stored there and carried farther up stream in bateaux when conditions permitted such transportation. The garrison usually consisted of thirty to fifty soldiers, under command of a captain. Escorts were furnished from this post in either direction as the urgency of the mission required.

Colonel Clapham was convinced that the garrison at Fort Halifax should never be less than 100 men, so that proper communication between the inhabitants and Fort Augusta could be maintained.

There are no positive records of an attack upon Fort Halifax. U. J. Jones, in his “Story of Simon Girty, the Outlaw,” writes of an Indian attack, led by this notorious Tory, which was successfully repulsed, with heavy loss among the besiegers. However, this is more a story of fiction than history.

In July, 1757, after the completion of Fort Augusta, a petition was presented to the Governor, praying the removal of the garrison from Fort Halifax to Hunter’s, the defense of the former being considered of little importance to the inhabitants south of the mountains. This removal was soon thereafter effected, and Fort Halifax passed into history.

----------

Earliest Court Removed from Upland to Kingsesse June 8, 1680

At a court held at Upland, now Chester, “on ye 2d Tuesday, being ye 8th day of ye month of June in ye 32 yeare of his Majesty’s Raigne Anno Dom. 1680,” with Otto Ernest Cock, Israel Helm, Henry Jones and Laurens Cock, as justices, there was a busy session and much business of importance transacted.

James Sandelands sued Hanna Salter for the account due him of two hundred and seven gilders, and the Court ordered judgment to be entered with costs, with stay of execution until the defendant could get in her wheat.

Gunla Andries brought suit against Jonas Nielsen for unlawful possession of some land at Kingsesse. “The debates of both parties being heard, & ye Pattent & former orders of Court examined: The Court Doe confirme the former orders of this Court in that Case made and doe order the Sheriffe to Put the Plt. in Possession of ye Land according to Pattent & ye sd former orders of this Court.”

The Court granted William Clark liberty to take up two hundred acres in Nieshambenies Creek; Peter Cock, Neeles Jonassen, Thomas Fairman, and Henry Jacobs, were granted each a like amount of land.

Moens Staecket, who had been in trouble, was bound over so that in future he would behave himself.

The Court took into consideration the raising of their own salaries, when they ordered each person should “pay yearly one Scipple of wheat or 5 gilders.” According to a former order, they also decreed that those in arrears should be brought before Justice Otto Ernest at Tinicum Island, and those who failed to report there should “be fetched by ye Constable by way of restraynt.”

Richard Noble, the surveyor for Upland County, made a return of surveys having been made for Andrew Boen, William Clayton, Christian Claess, Andrew Homman, William Woodmancy, Peter Nealson and William Orian. Which surveys were approved by the Court and returned to the office in New York, for confirmation by the Governor.

Then came the most important event of the day’s business. It seems that there was complaint about the location of Upland, as it was “att ye Lower End of ye County. The Court therefore for ye most ease of ye people have thought fitt for ye future to sit & meet att ye Town of Kingsesse in ye Schuylkills.”

The site of Kingsesse was probably in the immediate vicinity of the Swedish mill erected by Governor Printz, near the Blue Bell tavern on the Darby road.

Then followed the last action brought before the Court at Upland, it was the case of Gunla Andries and her husband, in a land dispute with the heirs of Peter Andries and Jonas Neelson.

The Court then moved to Kingsesse and its next session was held October 13. The same justices with the addition of George Browne, who qualified at the opening of the court.

Slander suits were the order of the day. That between Claes Cram and Hans Peters is interesting. Cram claimed Peters called him a thief, and two witnesses swore that they heard Peters say that Cram had stolen aboard a ship and in the same manner stole all his riches. The verdict was that since the defendant was not able to prove “what he hath said or any part thereof the Court ordered that ye defendant openly shall declare himself a liar and that he shall further declare ye plaintiff to be an honest man and pay twenty gilders to ye plaintiff for his loss of time, together with the cost of ye suite.”

Hans Jurian declared that Moens Staecket, during September, assaulted and beat him at his own door, followed him into his house, calling him a rogue and a dog and a thousand more names, and moreover threatened to kill Jurian whenever he met him.

One witness swore that he saw the defendant all bloody and he told him Jurian did it, that Staecket later appeared “on horseback and called for his sword, his gun, powder and shot and then rode before Hans Jurian’s door and, calling him, saying you dog, you rogue, come out, I will shoot you a bullet through your head.”

The Court bound both over to keep the peace for one year and six weeks, under penalty of £40 of lawful money of England, to be paid by him that shall first break ye peace. Staecket was also fined 200 gilders; the costs of the case were divided between the litigants.

Later in the same day the same Staecket was defendant in another action brought by the presiding justice, Otto Ernest Cock, complaining that Staecket maliciously defamed and slandered him by calling him a hog thief. The defendant protested that he never knew, heard or saw the plaintiff steal a hog, and that he to his knowledge never said any such thing but that he hath said it, as the witness doth affirm, that it must have been, when he was in his drink, and he humbly desired forgiveness, since he finds himself in a great fault. Staecket was ordered to openly declare that Justice Cock was not a hog thief, and he was fined 1000 gilders.

There were eleven cases tried this day, one, at least, before a jury. Nine petitions were disposed of and the Court issued a written direction for the overseers of the highways. Certainly a busy day in court.

The Court adjourned until second Tuesday of ye month of March next ensuing.

----------

Last Purchase from Indians Caused by Boundary Dispute, June 9, 1769

One important feature of the last treaty made with the Indians at Fort Stanwix, October, 1784, was the settlement of the difficulties which had existed for sixteen years among the white settlers over the disputed boundary line embraced by Tiadaghton.

It was contended by some that Lycoming Creek was this line, and by others that it was Pine Creek. The territory between these streams is that which lies between the present City of Williamsport and Jersey Shore, and includes nearly half of the present Lycoming County and all of Tioga.

Previous to the purchase of November 5, 1768, this part of the West Branch Valley was occupied by tribes of Shawnee and Munsee, and the way for its settlement by whites was not opened until the “New Purchase” was made at Fort Stanwix.

On June 9, 1769, a serious difference arose between the Provincial Government and the settlers whether the stream called Tiadaghton, mentioned in the treaty was Lycoming or Pine Creek when translated into English. This question remained in dispute until the last treaty, October, 1784.

This early settlement is made clear by the reference to Smith’s Laws, where is the following:

“There existed a great number of locations on the 3d of April, 1769, for the choicest lands on the West Branch of Susquehanna, between the mouths of Lycoming and Pine Creeks; but the Proprietaries from extreme caution, the result of that experience which had also produced the very penal laws of 1768 and 1769, and the proclamation already stated, had prohibited any surveys being made beyond the Lycoming. In the meantime, in violation of all laws, a set of hardy adventurers had from time to time seated themselves on this doubtful territory. They made improvements, and formed a very considerable population.

“It is true, so far as regarded the rights to real property, they were not under the protection of the laws of the country, and were we to adopt the visionary theories of some philosophers, who have drawn their arguments from a supposed state of nature, we might be led to believe that the state of these people would have been a state of continual warfare; and that in contests for property the weakest must give way to the strongest.

“To prevent the consequences, real or supposed, of this state of things, they formed a mutual compact among themselves. They annually elected a tribunal, in rotation, of three of their settlers, whom they called fair-play men, who were to decide all controversies, and settle disputed boundaries. From their decision there was no appeal. There could be no resistance. The decree was enforced by the whole body, who started up in mass, at the mandate of the court, and execution and eviction were as sudden and irresistible as the judgment. Every new comer was obliged to apply to this powerful tribunal, and upon his solemn engagement to submit in all respects to the law of the land he was permitted to take possession of some vacant spot. Their decrees were, however, just; and when their settlements were recognized by law, and fair play had ceased, their decisions were received in evidence, and confirmed by judgment of courts.”

In those early days, as later, the white man was pushing the Indian back, in spite of the proclamation of Governor Penn, which warned all persons not to settle on lands not purchased of the Indians and unsurveyed, and advised those that had settled to make haste and leave. But they did not vacate, and in the enforcement of their “fair-play” code, it became necessary to adopt rigid measures. Any person resisting the decrees was placed in a canoe, rowed to the mouth of Lycoming Creek, and there sent adrift. Subsequently a law was passed, allowing the settlers from Lycoming and Pine Creeks a preemption right to not over three hundred acres of land each, upon satisfactory proof being presented that they were actual settlers previous to 1780.

For seven years after the purchase of 1768, the pioneers swung the axe, felled the giant trees, builded their cabins, and tilled their fields unmolested; but just when they began to enjoy the comforts of their cabin homes, and reap the rewards of their industry, the cry of the Revolution was heard, and the hardy backwoodsmen trained to the vicissitudes of war during the frontier campaigns of 1755 to 1763, with true patriotism, seized their rifles and went forth to battle for liberty, leaving their families scantily provided for and exposed to the raids of the Indians.

All along the West Branch, wherever there was a white settlement, stockade forts were built, garrisoned by settlers or Provincial troops.

At the treaty of October 23, 1784, the Pennsylvania Commissioners were specially instructed to inquire of the Indians which stream was really Tiadaghton, and, also the Indian name of Burnetts’ Hills, left blank in deed of 1768. The Indians informed them Tiadaghton was what the whites call Pine Creek, being the largest stream flowing into the Otzinachson, or West Branch. They did not know the name of the hills. The authorities apprehended difficulty in settling disputes among the actual settlers.

The Commissioners at this treaty secured title from the Indians for the residue of the lands within the limits of Pennsylvania. This purchase was confirmed by the Wyandotte and Delaware nations at Fort McIntosh, January 21, 1785.

Thus in a period of 102 years was the whole right of the Indians to the soil of Pennsylvania extinguished.

The land office was opened for the new purchase in 1785 and settlers rapidly flocked to the West Branch Valley.

----------

Massacre at Lycoming Creek, Present Williamsport, June 10, 1778

As early as 1773 settlers had made improvements at the mouth of Lycoming Creek, where the city of Williamsport now stands. For the next three or four years there was no protection for settlers between there and Antes Fort, about thirteen miles west.

Some brave spirits, among whom were William King, Robert Covenhoven, and James Armstrong, built a stockade inclosure at the mouth of the Lycoming. This was located near what is now Fourth and Cemetery Streets, Williamsport.

The rumors of a descent by the Tories and Indians on the North Branch had reached the settlement at Northumberland, where William King, wife and two daughters lived. They thought the new stockade on the Lycoming would be safe and a hurried trip was made up the West Branch.

The driver of the team remarked, as they approached Loyalsock Creek: “Here is the last stream we will cross before reaching the fort, and we will stop for water.” The horses had no sooner halted than rifles cracked and the utmost confusion at once ensued.

A description of the terrible massacre that followed is given in a long letter by Colonel Hosterman to Colonel Winter from Fort Muncy, under date June 10, 1778.

Colonel Hosterman began his letter with the statement that nothing material had happened since he was stationed at Fort Muncy until that day. He was in command of a party, consisting of Captain Reynolds and thirteen men which set out for Antes Fort, carrying a supply of ammunition for the garrisons stationed there and at the Big Island.

The same day, remarks the Colonel, Peter Smith and his wife and six children; William King’s wife and two daughters, Ruth and Sarah; Michael Smith, Michael Campbell and David Chambers, the latter a member of Captain Reynolds’ company, and two men named Snodgrass and Hammond, a total of six men, two women and eight children, were going in wagons to Lycoming. When they arrived at Loyalsock Creek, John Harris (son of Samuel Harris) met them and told them that he had heard firing up the creek and advised that they return to Fort Muncy, that to advance farther was dangerous.

Peter Smith said that firing would not stop him. Harris proceeded to Fort Muncy, and the other party continued up the river. Soon as Harris reached the fort and told his story, a detail of fifteen soldiers started from the fort in the direction of where the firing had been heard.

When Smith and his party arrived within a half mile of Lycoming Creek, the Indians, lying in ambush, fired upon them, and at the first fire Snodgrass fell dead with a bullet through his forehead. The Indians gave a halloo and rushed toward the wagon. The men hurried toward trees and with these as a shelter returned the fire. A small lad and a girl escaped into the woods.

The Indians closed in on the party in an endeavor to surround them. This movement was discovered by the men, who fled as rapidly as possible, leaving only Campbell, who was fighting at too close quarters to join his companions in their flight. He was killed and scalped on the spot.

Before the men were out of sight of the wagon they saw the Indians attacking the women and children with their tomahawks. Chambers stated that he believed there were about twenty Indians in the party.

This bloody affair occurred just before sundown. The lad who escaped pushed on to the stockade on Lycoming Creek and informed the men there what had happened. They started immediately, but mistaking the intelligence the boy gave, hastened to the river to the place where they lived, thinking it was the canoe that was attacked instead of a wagon.

In the meantime Captain William Hepburn, with the detail which started from Fort Muncy, arrived at the scene of the massacre, and found the bodies of Snodgrass and Campbell. It was too dark to pursue the savages, but they pressed on toward Lycoming and met the party going out from there. They waited until the next day.

On the morning of June 11 they returned to the scene and found the bodies of Peter Smith’s wife shot through, stabbed, scalped and a knife by her side.

A little girl and a boy were killed and scalped. Snodgrass was found shot through the head and scalped, and a knife left sticking in his body. The rifles had been taken by the Indians, but nothing of value was removed from the wagon.

The lad who made his escape insisted that Mrs. King must be somewhere in the thicket, as he heard her scream and say she would not go along with the Indians when they were dragging her away. They made another search and found her near the stream where she had dragged herself and rested with her hand under her bleeding head. She had been tomahawked and scalped, but not dead. She was sitting up and greeted her husband when he approached her, but she expired almost instantly. She did not live long enough to speak of the affair.

William King was the picture of despair. He soon returned to Northumberland, and later moved up to Vincents Island. Many years later he learned that his daughter was still alive, and he started on foot with knapsack on his back, accompanied by an old Indian, for Niagara. He soon found Sarah, but had to travel far and suffered severe hardships before he succeeded in finding Ruth.

They reached their home on the island at Milton. They afterward lived at Jaysburg, the present Williamsport. Descendants of the sturdy people are now residents of that city.

Among those taken captive were Peter Wyckoff and son, Cornelius; Thomas Covenhoven and a Negro. The latter was burned in the presence of the other prisoners. Peter Wyckoff was fifty-four years old, and lived with the Indians two years before he and his son were given their freedom.

This affair occurred in the present city of Williamsport, where West Fourth Street crosses the stream which flows down Cemetery Street. There is a boulder erected near the spot which bears a bronze tablet telling of the event.

At the time this was a natural thicket of wild plum trees, which yielded fruit of remarkable size and flavor for nearly a century after the massacre. The road leading to this spot was the old Indian trail and formed a safe place for the concealment of lurking savages.

----------

Colonel William Crawford Captured by Indians June 11, 1782

During the spring of 1782 the Indians, who had removed the seat of their depredations and war to the western frontiers of Pennsylvania, and Eastern Ohio, assembled in large numbers at Upper Sandusky, Ohio, which they used as place of general rendezvous and from which they went out to the places they decided in council should be attacked and destroyed.

The principal places to which they made incursions were along the Ohio River, especially in Western Pennsylvania. So serious was the situation along the frontier, and so bold had the savages become that Congress directed a regiment of volunteers to be raised to subdue them.

General Washington commissioned Colonel William Crawford, of Westmoreland County, Pa., to command the regiment and David Williamson, Lieutenant Colonel. These men were seasoned soldiers and unusually well qualified to lead troops against the Indians.

In May, 1782, the command marched from Fort Pitt, well armed and provided with sufficient quantity of provisions. The command consisted of 462 officers and men. Each volunteer furnished his own horse, gun and a month’s provision. They were to be exempt from two tours of military duty, and in the event they captured any Indian towns, such plunder as fell into their hands should be returned to its former owner, if he could identify and prove his property, and all horses lost during the expedition by unavoidable accident were to be replaced by horses taken from the Indians.

After a fatiguing march of eleven days through the wilderness the command reached the site of Sandusky, but the inhabitants had moved eighteen miles farther down the stream. The officers decided there were no Indian towns nearer than forty miles, and while refreshing their horses the scouts advanced to search for Indian settlements. They had not gone far when the savages were discovered in great numbers and advancing toward them.

Colonel Crawford and his brave band advanced to meet the attack June 11, 1782, and when they had reached a point only a short distance from the town they were met by a white man bearing a flag of truce from the Indians, who proposed to Colonel Crawford that if he would surrender himself and his men to the Indians, who were of overwhelming force, their lives would be spared, but if they persisted further in their expedition and attacked the town they should all be massacred to the last man.

Crawford, while listening to the proposition, thought he recognized the bearer of it as one whose features were those of a former schoolmate and companion, one he knew by the name of Simon Girty, and with whom he had only recently served in the same regiment in the Continental Army.

Crawford sternly inquired of the traitor if his name was not Simon Girty. Answered in the affirmative, the colonel informed him that he despised the offer he had made; that he would not surrender his army unless he was compelled to do so by a superior force.

Girty returned and Colonel Crawford immediately commenced an engagement which lasted till darkness, without advantage to either side, when firing ceased. The troops encamped in the woods a half mile from the town. After refreshments they slept on their arms, so that they should not be caught unprepared in a surprise attack.

The sentinels reported during the night that they were surrounded by Indians upon every side, except a narrow space between them and the town. The officers consulted upon the best way of escape, for they realized to fight was useless and to surrender meant death.

Colonel Crawford proposed to retreat through the ranks of the enemy in an opposite direction from the town. Lieutenant Colonel Williamson thought the better plan would be to march directly through the town, where there appeared to be no Indians. It was no time for debate.

Colonel Crawford with sixty followers retreated on the route he had proposed by attempting to rush the enemy, but every man was killed or captured, the colonel and his surgeon, Dr. Knight, being among the prisoners. Lieutenant Colonel Williamson, with the remainder of the command and the wounded of the day’s battle, set out the same moment Colonel Crawford did, went through the town without losing a man, and by the aid of experienced guides arrived at their homes in safety.

The next day the Indians paraded their prisoners and disposed of all of them among the different tribes except Colonel Crawford and Surgeon Knight, who were reserved for a more cruel fate.

At the Indian council they were brought forward and seated in the center of the circle. The chiefs questioned Crawford on subjects relative to war. They inquired who conducted the operations of the American Army on the Ohio and Susquehanna Rivers the previous year; also who had led that army against them with so much skill and such uniform success.

Crawford very honestly and without suspecting any harm from his reply promptly stated that he was the man. Upon learning this, Chief Pipe, who had lost a son in battle where Colonel Crawford commanded, left his station in the council ring, stepped up to Crawford, blackened his face and at the same time told him he should be burned the next day.

----------

Death of Colonel Crawford and Escape of Dr. Knight June 12, 1782

The terrible disaster which occurred to the Pennsylvania militiamen under command of Colonel William Crawford, June 10, 1782, was one of the most unfortunate which is recorded in annals of border warfare.

The Indians under Captain Pipe and Chief Wyngenim, Delaware chieftains, and that white savage Simon Girty, the renegade, had surrounded the militiamen and captured or killed the entire command, except a small detachment under Lieutenant Colonel David Williamson, which made a miraculous escape through the Indian town during the progress of the battle.

The following day Colonel Crawford, his son, Captain John Crawford; son-in-law, Major Harrison; nephews, Major Rose and William Crawford, Dr. Knight and many other militiamen, who had been recruited in Westmoreland County, were being marched to the Indian towns, where they were tortured according to Indian savagery.

Dr. Knight was informed he would be sent to the Shawnee town, but he and the Colonel were to march to the place where the former was to be executed. During the march they saw five of their comrades in custody of the Indians. They were all required to sit down, when a number of squaws and boys tomahawked the five prisoners. An elderly soldier among the five, named John McKinley, from the Thirteenth Virginia, was killed, his head cut off and kicked about upon the ground. The scalps of the other four were slapped into the faces of Colonel Crawford and Surgeon Knight.

At this point Simon Girty came upon the scene in company with several Indians on horseback. Colonel Crawford engaged him in conversation and made every possible offer for relief from his perilous situation, offering Girty any price to deliver him from the savages and their torments. Girty heard his prayers with indifference.

Colonel Crawford was led to a post to which he was fastened. A pile of wood lay a few feet distant. The colonel was stripped naked and ordered to sit down on the fire which had been kindled, when the Indians began to beat him with sticks and their fists. They then bound the Colonel’s hands behind his back and fastened the rope with which he was tied to this ligature.

Girty stood and composedly looked on the preparations that were to be the death of one of his former playmates; a hero by whose side he had fought. Crawford again pleaded with Girty to save him, but he refused to procure him a moment’s respite or afford him the most trifling assistance. Crawford retorted that he would take it all patiently.

The rope was now pulled over the cross arm on the post so that the Colonel’s arms were extended above his head, with his feet just standing upon the ground. The wood was placed in a circle around him at a distance of a few feet, in order that his misery might be protracted and the fire then applied to the wood at several places in the circle.

As the flames rose and the scorching heat became unbearable he again prayed to Girty in all the anguish of his torment to rescue him from the fire, or shoot him dead. Girty, with a demoniac smile, calmly replied that he had no pity for his sufferings. Squaws took broad boards, heaped with burning embers and threw them on him, so that he had nothing but coals of fire to walk upon.

Dr. Knight who witnessed all of this horrible execution, related that Colonel Crawford at this stage of his sufferings, prayed to the Almighty to have mercy on his soul. He bore his torments with the most manly fortitude. He suffered these extremities of pain nearly two hours, when, exhausted, he fell over. They then scalped him and repeatedly slapped the bleeding scalp in the doctor’s face, remarking, “That was your great captain.” An old squaw laid a pile of coals upon his back and head where his scalp had been removed, the Colonel raised himself upon his feet and began to walk around the post, but he soon expired. His body was entirely consumed.

Colonel Crawford was about fifty years old, was a patriot and hero. He had been an intimate of General Washington and shared to an unusual degree the confidence of that great man and soldier.

Soon as brave Colonel Crawford had expired Girty went to Dr. Knight and bade him prepare for death. He told him he was to be burned in the Shawnee town. He was led away during that night.

The Indian who had Dr. Knight in custody rode on horseback and drove his captive before him. During the march the doctor pleaded ignorance of the fate which was to befall him and assumed a cheerful countenance and asked him if it was true they were to live together as brothers in one house. This pleased the Indian, who replied yes. They traveled about twenty-five miles that day.

At daybreak, June 12, the Indian untied Knight and began to make a fire. Knight took the heaviest dogwood stick he could find and in an unguarded moment struck the Indian a terrible blow on the head, which so stunned him that he fell forward into the fire. Knight seized his gun, blanket, powder horn, bullet bag and made off through the woods. He had a fatiguing tramp, many days without food or shelter. He reached the Ohio River, five miles below Fort McIntosh, twenty-one days after his escape, and at 7 o’clock in the morning of July 4, arrived safely at the fort.

He lived many years afterward and gave a thrilling narrative of the defeat and cruel death of Colonel Crawford and his own miraculous escape.

----------

Conrad Weiser and Family Arrive in America June 13, 1710

During the early days of the eighteenth century many Germans, or “Palatines” as they were called, came to America. Many of them settled near Albany, New York.

Among these Germans were John Conrad Weiser and his son Conrad, who arrived in New York June 13, 1710, and settled on Livingston Manor, in Columbia County, N. Y. Conrad was then a lad of fourteen, being born November 2, 1696, near Wurtemberg, Germany.

The company of which the Weisers were members did not prosper in their new home; many of them starved. So in 1714 the Weisers removed to Schoharie, in the Mohawk Valley.

The removal made matters worse. The family had almost nothing to eat. The friendly Mohawk chief, Quagnant, offered to take Conrad into his wigwam for the winter, and his father consented. The lad learned the Mohawk language, but often wished himself back in his own poor home. “I endured a great deal of cold,” he said, “but by spring my hunger much surpassed the cold.” Conrad did not then foresee how valuable his knowledge of Indian language and customs would become.

Conrad did not long remain at home after his return from the Mohawk camp, but acted as an interpreter between the Dutch traders and the Indians.

The son may have been headstrong and the sire harsh, at any rate the youth left home and built himself a cabin in the neighborhood, earned a good income by selling furs, and spent the greater part of the next fifteen years among the Indians. Evidently, however, he retained a respect for the teachings of his ancestors, for he says: “I married my Anna Eve, and was given in marriage by Rev. John L. Haeger, Reformed clergyman, on 22d of November (1720), in my father’s house at Schoharie.” Weiser, the elder, was at that time in Europe.

When Governor Keith, of Pennsylvania, heard of the plight of the Germans at Schoharie, he invited them to come to his colony, and promised them good land. John Weiser, a leader of the colony, set out at the head of a company and cut a road through the woods to the Susquehanna. In rough boats they floated down stream to the mouth of Swatara Creek, which they followed up to the beautiful Lebanon Valley, where they settled along Tulpehocken Creek.

Conrad Weiser and his young wife followed the elder Weisers, and settled near Womelsdorf, where he continued to reside until a few years before his death, when he removed to Reading.

It is said of Weiser that while on a hunting trip he met the great Shikellamy, and that the vicegerent was well pleased with him, and particularly so when he learned that Weiser could speak Mohawk. They became great friends.

In 1732 by special request of certain deputies of the Six Nations, Weiser was appointed by Lieutenant Governor Patrick Gordon, of Pennsylvania, interpreter for the Iroquois Confederacy. His Indian name was “Tharachiawakon.” From this time until his death he was identified with the history of the Province in all its relations with the Indians. His popularity and influence never waned, for he was honest in all his dealings.

In 1734 he was appointed a justice of the peace by the Pennsylvania Government and in the old French War was commissioned colonel and appointed to the command of all the forces that were raised west of the Susquehanna.

When Shikellamy complained to the Governor of Pennsylvania that the trade in liquor was causing the ruin of the Delaware and Shawnee, the Governor asked him to come to Philadelphia to discuss the matter. Shikellamy took with him Weiser, as interpreter, who he called “an adopted son of the Mohawk nation.”

James Logan saw the value an honest man like Weiser could render the Province, and he was made an agent for Pennsylvania in dealing with the Six Nations. Weiser thus represented both the Indians and the whites. The Iroquois declared that “Conrad Weiser is a good, true man, who will speak our words and not his own.”

Weiser entered also into the Indian affairs of Virginia and Maryland, and prevented those colonies from becoming involved in an Indian war. This was done at a great Indian council at Lancaster, in 1744.

Weiser was able, through his Indian friends to be kept informed of the French movements in the Ohio Valley. He early realized the importance of the English country “at the forks of the Ohio.” He made a journey to the western tribes and concluded a most important treaty at Logstown in 1748.

Squatters encroached upon lands in the Juniata Valley, which incensed the Indians so much that Conrad Weiser was sent to order them off the Indian lands. He succeeded in moving them off and then burned their cabins.

Following Braddock’s defeat, Conrad Weiser led many delegations of Indians to Philadelphia, and they always were entertained at his home en route. This hospitality was misunderstood by his neighbors, but his well-known integrity saved him in the hour of his greatest peril.

When the Indians committed so many murders in Penns Valley, at Mahanoy Creek and elsewhere, Weiser warned his neighbors at Tulpehocken, and when they gathered at his house for defense Weiser was made their commander.

An ungrateful Pennsylvania Assembly failed to pay Weiser’s bills, and for three years his accounts were unsettled. He refused to do further service until his bills were paid, and as Weiser was in demand his expense accounts were satisfied.

At the great Indian treaties at Easton Weiser was a prominent personage, and the final peace was due principally to his influence.

Weiser was now past sixty years of age. His work was almost done. While visiting near Womelsdorf he died July 13, 1760.

When he died one of his associates remarked: “He has left no one to fill his place.” An Iroquois orator declared: “We are at a great loss and sit in darkness.”

If all white men had been as just and friendly to the Indians as was this Pennsylvania German, the history of our westward advance might have been spared some bloody chapters.

It is said that President Washington, standing at the grave of Weiser, in 1794, remarked that the services of the latter to the Government had been of great importance and had been rendered in a difficult period and posterity would not forget him.

----------

United States Flag Adopted by Act of Congress June 14, 1777

On June 14, 1777, Continental Congress resolved “that the flag of the thirteen United States be thirteen stripes, alternate red and white; that the union be thirteen stars, white, in a blue field, representing a new constellation.”

The flag was a modification of the so-called “Great Union Flag,” used since January 2, 1776, when it was raised in the camp on Prospect Hill. Before that time different flags had been used under authority of the several provinces.

In autumn, 1775, Philadelphia floating batteries used a white flag, tree in the field, motto “An Appeal to Heaven.” The “Great Union” flag had the thirteen alternate stripes of red and white, with the union of the British Union Jack. The Philadelphia Light Horse, which escorted Washington on his way out of the city on the morning of June 21, 1775, to his command of the American forces at Cambridge, carried a flag of alternate stripes.

The popular idea was a flag of thirteen stripes, alternate red and white, emblematic of the thirteen original colonies. The field of blue with the King’s colors acknowledged fealty to the King, but though the Americans were in arms against the mother country, they still hoped that the English Parliament would repeal the obnoxious laws and restore to the colonists those English rights that were theirs by inheritance and by royal colonial charters.

Up to January 1, 1776, the Americans had no red, white and blue flag. This popular design of a flag was called “Washington’s Grand Union” flag, and it was first unfurled by Washington over the camps at Cambridge, Mass., January 2, 1776, when it was saluted with thirteen guns and thirteen cheers.

When the committee appointed by Congress to prepare a design for a new flag, consisting of General George Washington, Robert Morris and Colonel George Ross, called upon Mrs. Elizabeth (Betsy) Ross, at her home, 239 Arch street, Philadelphia, there was not much change in the popular ensign, only the displacement of the British union by thirteen white stars.

As the act of Congress did not specify the number of points of the stars or their arrangement, Mrs. Ross suggested that a star of five points would be more distinct, pleasing and appropriate than the six-pointed star which the committee had designed. Folding a piece of paper, she cut, with a single clip of her scissors, a five-pointed star, and, placing it on a blue field, delighted the committee with her taste, ingenuity and judgment. The committee decided the thirteen stars should be arranged in a circle, typifying eternity.

Betsy Ross had been making colonial flags for the army and navy, and was skilled in needlework. The committee was well pleased with the flag which she made, and authorized her, in the name of Congress, to make United States flags. She continued in that occupation for many years.

The first display of the “Stars and Stripes” as the flag soon became known, was August 3, 1777, over Fort Stanwix, now Rome, N. Y.

The first time the American flag was baptized in blood was at the Battle of Brandywine, September 11, 1777, which was only eight days after it was officially adopted by Congress, September 3, 1777.

The first appearance on a foreign stronghold was at Nassau, Bahama Islands, January 22, 1778, when the Americans captured Fort Nassau from the British.

On April 24, 1778, John Paul Jones achieved the honor of being the first officer of the American navy to compel a British man-of-war to strike her colors to the new flag.

John Singleton Copley, the American-born artist, in London, claimed to be the first to display the Stars and Stripes in Great Britain. On the day when George III acknowledged the independence of the United States, December 5, 1782, he painted the flag of the United States in the background of a portrait which he was painting in his London studio.

January 13, 1794, the flag was changed by act of Congress owing to the new States of Vermont and Kentucky being admitted to the Union. The flag now had two stars and two stripes added to it. The act went into effect May 1, 1795. This was the “Star Spangled Banner,” and under this flag our country fought and won three wars to maintain her existence; the so-called naval war with France, in 1798; that with the Barbary States in 1801–05, and that with England in 1812–15.

On April 4, 1818, Congress by act, decreed a return to the original thirteen stripes, and a star for every State in the Union to be added to the flag on July 4, following a State’s admission to the Union. This is the present law.

The arrangement of the stars on the flag is regulated by law and executive order. An executive order, issued October 26, 1912, provided for forty-eight stars to be arranged in six horizontal rows of eight stars each.

Starting in the upper left hand corner and reading each row from left to right gives the stars of each State’s ratification of the Constitution and admission to the Union, as follows:

First row—Delaware, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Georgia, Connecticut, Massachusetts, Maryland, South Carolina.

Second row—New Hampshire, Virginia, New York, North Carolina, Rhode Island, Vermont, Kentucky, Tennessee.

Third row—Ohio, Louisiana, Indiana, Mississippi, Illinois, Alabama, Maine, Missouri.

Fourth row—Arkansas, Michigan, Florida, Texas, Iowa, Wisconsin, California, Minnesota.

Fifth row—Oregon, Kansas, West Virginia, Nevada, Nebraska, Colorado, North Dakota, South Dakota.

Sixth row—Montana, Washington, Idaho, Wyoming, Utah, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Arizona.

Today the flags float over nearly every school house in the land. The custom of having a flag displayed on all public buildings in the United States was inaugurated by President Benjamin Harrison.

June 14 is now generally observed as Flag Day wherever floats the Stars and Stripes.

----------

French Plant Leaden Plates to Prove Possession on June 15, 1749

The treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle, which was concluded October 1, 1748, secured peace between Great Britain and France, and should have put an end to all hostile encounters between their representatives on the American continent.

This treaty was supposed to have settled all difficulties between the two courts, but the French were determined to occupy the whole territory drained by the Mississippi, which they claimed by priority of discovery by La Salle. The British complained to the French Government about encroachments being made by the French upon English soil in America.

The French deemed it necessary, in order to establish legal claim to the country which they believed to be theirs, to take formal possession of it. Accordingly, the Marquis de la Galissoniere, who was at that time Governor General of Canada, dispatched Captain Bienville de Celeron with a party of two hundred and fifteen French and fifty-five Indians to publicly proclaim possession and bury at prominent points plates of lead, bearing inscriptions declaring occupation in the name of the French King.

Celeron started on June 15, 1749, following the southern shore of Lakes Ontario and Erie, until he reached a point opposite Lake Chautauqua, when the boats were drawn up and carried over the dividing ridge, a distance of ten miles. They followed down the lake and the Conewago Creek, where they arrived at what is now Warren, near the confluence of the creek with the Allegheny River. Here the first plate was buried.

These plates were eleven inches long, seven and a half wide, and one-eighth of an inch thick. The inscription was in French, and in the following terms, as fairly translated into English:

“In the year, 1749, of the reign of Louis XIV, King of France, We Celeron, commander of a detachment sent by Monsieur the Marquis de la Galissoniere, Governor General of New France, to re-establish tranquillity in some Indian villages of these cantons, have buried this plate of lead at the confluence of the Ohio with the Chautauqua this 29th day of July, near the River Ohio, otherwise Belle Riviere, as a monument of the renewal of the possession we have taken of the said River Ohio, and of all those which empty into it, and of all the lands on both sides as far as the sources of the said river, as enjoyed or ought to have been enjoyed by the King of France preceding, and as they have there maintained themselves by arms and by treaties, especially those of Ryswick, Utrecht and Aix-la-Chapelle.”

The burying of this plate was attended with much form and ceremony. All the men were drawn up in battle array, when the commander, Celeron, proclaimed in a loud voice, “Vive le Roi!” and declared that possession of the country was now taken in the name of the King. A plate on which was inscribed the arms of France was affixed to the nearest tree.

The same formality was observed in planting each of the other plates, the second at the rock known as “Indian God,” on which are ancient inscriptions, a few miles below the present Franklin; a third, at the mouth of the Wheeling Creek; a fourth at the mouth of the Muskingum; the fifth and sixth, at the mouths of the Great Kanawha and the Great Miami.

At the last point, the party burned their canoes, and obtained ponies for the return trip to the portage, when they returned to Fort Frontenac, arriving on November 6.

The Indians through whose territory this expedition passed viewed this planting with great suspicion. By some means they got possession of one of the plates, generally supposed to have been planted at the very commencement of their journey near the mouth of the Chautauqua Creek. An account of this stolen plate, taken from the original manuscript journal of Celeron and the diary of Father Bonnecamps in Paris secured by Mr. O. H. Marshall, is interesting:

“The first of the leaden plates was brought to the attention of the public by Governor George Clinton to the Lords of Trade in London dated New York, December 19, 1750, in which he states that he would send to their Lordships in two or three weeks a plate of lead full of writing, which some of the upper nations of Indians stole from Jean Coeur, the French interpreter at Niagara, on his way to the Ohio River, which river, and all the lands thereabouts, the French claim, as will appear by said writing. He further states that the lead plates gave the Indians so much uneasiness that they immediately dispatched some of the Cayuga chiefs to him with it, saying that their only reliance was on him, and earnestly begged he would communicate the contents to them, which he had done, much to their satisfaction and the interests of the English. The Governor concludes by saying that ‘the contents of the plate may be of great importance in clearing up the encroachment which the French have made on the British Empire in America.’ The plate was delivered to Colonel, afterwards Sir William Johnson, on December 4, 1750, at his residence on the Mohawk, by a Cayuga sachem who accompanied it by the following speech:

Spotted a typo or a problem in this chapter? Tell us