Front matter
r
Roads ===== B^^addock’s Road ^caldar'mil^
PENnj^YLVANlA
Preface
A PREFACE to a book is a queer affair, a kind of work of supererogation, a production which is rarely useful to any person except the printer, and not always so to him. When the body of the work does not exactly make up a form, it is convenient for the printer to have a page, or perhaps more, written about something to make out the necessary space. Webster says a Preface is intended to inform the reader of the main design of that to which it is prefixed. The book itself, is surely the best exposition of its own purpose, but a preface may do the same thing briefly.
The title page of our book does this very briefly ; but we will make out a preface by saying that our design in preparing our book was to give, from the scanty and scattered materials within our reach, a plain narrative of the steps by which the heavily timbered land, at the head of the Ohio, was converted into thriving and populous cities and villages, and to point out the advantages which the inhabitants of this location enjoy, such as cheap fuel, salubrity of climate, fine and pure water, and very easy access to the various parts of the country around.
ERRATA,
Page 25, last word but one, for read was.”
“ 253, in the extract from “ Hildreth’s History,” for Pitt,” read Fayette,.”
“ 297, in line 18, after the word “^o,” read ‘^noxious.”
“ 303, for activity,” read ^^activdy.”
“ 397, 6th line from bottom for ^^enjoye/^' read ^'enjoys.”
A
Alliquippa, Queen and Son, 29.
Armstrong, Col. John, takes the Kittaning, 07.
Amherst, General, succeeds the Earl of London as commander in chief in America, 72.
Attempts to regulate prices, 146.
Alarm at Fort Pitt from expected attack by the French, 161. Allegheny County established, 207.
Allegheny, Town of, 207.
Anniversary of Washington’s birth, celebration of, 217.
Application of John Neville to Judges, General of Militia, and Sheriff for protection proved unavailing, 248.
Attack upon John Neville’s house, first one repelled, 248.
Attack second, and house, &c. burned, 249 and 50.
Arrests of insurgents, 266.
Addison, Alexander, impeached, 286.
his character, 286 and 7.
Advantages of Pittsburgh, 296.
B
Braddock, General his defeat a very important event in our history, 40.
his route described by T. C. Atkinson, Esq., 41 and 50.
■ contemporaneous account of his defeat, 50 and 58.
Bouciuet, Colonel, discussion with Washington about Forbes’ route, 72.
his advice prevails, 73.
reasons probably urged by him, 73.
his redout still stands, 86.
commands army to relieve Fort Pitt, 91.
arrives at Bushy run, 91.
• attacked there by Indians, 92.
Indians routed and Port Pitt relieved, do.
his redout built, do.
expedition to Muskingum, 93.
Beatty, Rev. Chas., at Pittsburgh, 94.
goes up Coal-hill, 95.
Boundaries of the purchase made in 1768, 104.
Boundaries of Manor of Pittsburgh, 104.
Boat builders, fourteen arrive from Philadelphia, 141.
Brodhead, Colonel, in command, 144.
expedition to Coshocton, 152.
extracts from his correspondence, 155 and 161,
Bayard, Stephen and Isaac Craig, first purchasers in Pittsburgh, 181.
VI
GENERAL INDEX.
Brady, Captain Samuel, trial of, 223 and 4.
Brownsville, meeting at, in opposition to tax on whiskey, 235.
Bower Hill Farm, residence of John Neville, where at, 247.
Butler, Thomas, sends eleven men to aid in defending John Neville’s house, 248.
Braekenridge, H. H., his course at Mingo creek meeting house, 251. Bradford causes U. S. mail to be opened and examined, do.
Braddock’s Field, great meeting of insurgents there, 262.
Bradford, David, the master spirit, designed to get possession of Fort Fayette, 253.
Butler, Major Thomas, gives insurgents notice to keep at a proper distance from Fort Fayette, 253 note.
Bradford, Attorney General, advises calling out militia, 255- Brackenridge’s alarming letter, 256.
Bradford, David, flies, 264
Branch of Pennsylvania Bank established here, 289.
Bank of Pittsburgh incorporated, 288.
Bridge, Monongahela, built, 288.
Allegheny, **
Batture cases, 290 and 5-
C
Celeron, Captain, 20.
Contrecoeur, Monsieur, arrives, 23,
summons, do.
captures Ensign Ward, 26.
Campbell, Col., lays out four squares of Pittsburgh.
Croghan’s Journal, 1766, 97.
Conference with Indians here, 100.
Congress and Treaty at Fort Stanwix, 100 and 103.
Cession of land to the Penns, 101 and 102.
Controversy between Pennsylvania and Virginia, 112-127.
Commissioners appointed to hold Treaties with Indians, 140.
arrive at Pittsburgh.
Craig, Captain Isaac, detached to join General Clarke, 160.
Connolly, Col. John, his projected attack of Fort Pitt, 161.
his character, 162.
Cornwallis, Lord, order issu-ed by General Irvin« announcing his surrender at York town, 165.
Craig, Captain, returns from the Falls, 169.
Charter’s Creek, mouth o^ preferred by General Irvine as a military post, 170.
Crawi'ord, Col., his defeat, 179.
Craig, Isaac, extracts from his memorandum book, 182-3.
ConstituJion of United States formed, 204.
Craig, Major Isaac, letter from about arms delivered to inhabitants, under threats, 208.
various letters, extracts from, 211-14.
Cornplanter at Legionville, 220.
remark of, 220.
GENERAL INDEX.
Vll
Correspondence, citizens of Pittsburgh and Gen. Wayne, 320-2.
Craig, Isaac, notice of,
Clymer, George, sent from Philadelphia to get evidence against persons concerned in the Faulkner case, 242.
Commissioners appointed by the President to visit the insurgent counties, 257-
by the Governor, do.
Convention at Parkinson’s Ferry, 257.
Committee of fifteen appointed by Convention to confer with the Commissioners, 258.
Convention dissolved, 258.
Commissioners and Committee meet, 259.
Cornplanter, letter from, 275.
Craig, Major, letter about beginning of glass works h«re, 276.
City of Pittsburgh erected, 288.
Oanal, Pennsylvania, 289.
D
Delawares, 16.
Donville, Monsieur, killed, 66.
Dumas, Monsieur, Commander at Fort Duquesne, 67.
humane instructions, 67.
Depressed condition of British affairs when Pitt came into office, 71. Duffield, Rev. visits Pittsburgh, 95.
Depreciation of Paper Money, 145.
Distillery to be erected at Pittsburgh, 189.
Democratic Societies, 254.
Description of the scite of Pittsburgh in 1798, 282- E
Early occupants, 15.
Ecuyer, Capt.
Encroachments by whites on Indian lands, 97.
Efforts of government to prevent white encroachments, 97.
Elliot, M’Kee and Girty escape, 141.
Election to be held to decide whether the citizens would submit to the law taxing whiskey, 261.
Eichbaum, William, Sr., at Pittsburgh, 276.
F
Force, La, taken prisoner, 28.
his character, 28-9.
Forbes, Gen. John, to command expedition against Fort Du Quesne, 72. His character, do. His army at Ray’s town, now Bedford, do. His army list or return of, 76. Takes possession of Fort Du Quesne, 77. First Fort Pitt built, 77.
Forbes returns to Philadelphia and dies, 79.
First sale of ground in Pittsburgh, 181.
First Presbyterian church in Pittsburgh, 204.
Vlll
GENERAL INDEX.
First Furnace west of the Mountains established by Turnbull <fe Marmie, 212, note.
Finley, Major, laconic note from, 216.
Faulkner, Captain, permits his house to be used as a house of inspection, 240. Compelled by rioters to recall the permission, 241.
First attack on John Neville’s house at Dower Hill, 248.
Fauchet, French minister, remarkable exposure, 269.
First Iron Foundry, 288.
Steam Flouring Mill, do.
Steam Boat, do.
Rolling Mill, do.
Flood, great, of 1832, 289.
G
Grant, Major, detached from Fort Ligonier, 73. Defeated and taken prisoner, 74.
Guyasutha or Pontiac’s war, 90. Character of, various modes of spelling his name, a >very prominent man among the Indians, 137. P<iesent at a meeting here, 138. Reply to Captain John Neville, 139.
Girty, Elliot and M’Kee, escape, 141.
Gallatin, Albert, Secretary of meeting at Braddock’s Field, 252.
Galleys, President Adams and Senatov Boss, built here, 285.
II
llarmar. General, expedition against the Indians, 208.
Hildreth’s History of the United States, extract from, 349.
Hamilton, Alexander, advises the calling out of militia, 255.
Howell, Governor, commands troops from New Jersey against insurgents, 000.
Health of Pittsburgh, 307.
Introductory, 13.
Iroquois, 15.
Irvine, Gen. William, letter from, 163. Selected by Congress to command at Fort Pitt, 164. Order issued by him announcing capture of Cornwallis, 165. Ilis character, 166. Disapproves of the location of Fort Pitt, and prefers a position at mouth of Chartier’s creek, 166. Long letter from, 167.
Jackson proposes emigration to erect a new State, 173. Further notice of, 178.
Irvine’s, Gen. account of Crawford’s expedition and defeat, 179.
Johnston, Robert, tarred, feathered, and abused by whiskey insurgents, 237.
Insurgents alarmed, 264.
Influence of insurrection on the growth of Pittsburgh and west Pennsylvania, 273.
Jackson & Sharpless erect first paper mill, 278.
GENERAL INDEX.
IX
K
Killed and wounded at Braddock’s defeat, 58.
Kittaning, place where it stands taken by Armstrong, 67.
Kirkpatrick, Abraham; notice of, 231.
Kiddoo, James, a complying distiller injured by rioters, 245. Kirkpatrick, Major, volunteers to defend John Neville’s house, 248. , his barn burnt, 258.
Knox, Henry, advises the calling out of the militia, 255.
Kenhawa Salt brought here, 284.
Kiskeminitas do. 284.
L
Leaden plate deposited, 21.
Loudon, Earl of, his character, 71.
Lotteries granted, 96.
Lands acquired by the Treaty of 1768 offered for sale, 103.
Lochry, Col. and all his troops destroyed by French and Indians, 169. Lee, Arthur, at Pittsburgh, 188. Extract from his Diary, 184-6. Legionville, Wayne’s army at, 215.
Logstown, its location, do, note.
Lenox, David, U. S. Marshal, pursued by rioters and fired at, 246.
M
Mackay, Captain, joins Washington, 29.
M’Kinney’s account of Fort Du Quesne, 67.
Mercer, Col. Hugh, commands here, 79.
Military lots laid out by Col. John Campbell, 93.
Manor of Pittsburgh surveyed, 104. Boundaries of, 105.
Meeting of Augusta County, Virginia, at Pittsburgh, 127.
Meeting of inhabitants of Westmoreland County, Pennsylvania, at Hanna’s town, 134.
Meeting with Indians here, 137.
Morgan. Col. George, appointed Indian agent, 139.
M’Kee, Girty and Elliot, escape, 141.
M’Intosh Fort built at Beaver, 000.
M’Intosh, General, marches against the Indians and builds Fort Laurens, 143.
Murder of Indians at the Moravian towns, Gen. Irvine’s notice of, 171. May Flower with emigrants from New England to Ohio arrives here, 205, Mechanics in Pittsburgh in 1792, 213.
Mail boats, a line of, established from Wheeling to Maysville, 227. Martin, Elijah, captain of mail boat No. 1, do.
Mills, Charles, mail boat No. 2, 228.
Marshal, Biddle, his deputy Fox afraid to serve process against rioters in Allegheny county, 238.
Messenger sent with process whipped, tarred and feathered, 239. M’Farlane^ leader of the Insurgents, killed, 250.
Mingo Creek meeting house, meeting of Insurgents at, 250.
Mail intercepted and opened, 251.
X
Mifflin, Governor, doubts whether militia would obey a eall against Insurgents, 255.
Morgan, General, commands troops from Virginia, 263.
Mifflin, those of Pennsylvania, 263.
Morgan, General, left in command of 2500 men, 267. Mio-qua-coo-na-caw died, 278. Inscription on tomb stone, 279. Monongahela Bridge, 288.
Monongahela River improved by locks and dams, 289.
Manufactories in Pittsburgh, 311.
N
Necessity, Fort, at Great Meadows, 29.
Niagara Fort taken, 82.
New State projected, 173. Further notice of, 177.
Navigation of the Ohio good above as below Wheeling, 225.
Neville, John, Judge Wilkinson’s notice of, 228. Character of, 230. Neville, Presley, character of, 231.
Neville, John, Inspector of Revenue, burnt in effigy in Allegheny county, at a public meeting, in presence of several magistrates, without interruption, 243. Pursued by rioters, 245. In company with the Marshal David Lenox pursued and fired upon, 246.
Ohio Company, Grant to, 21.
Ordei*, Braddock’s, at Monakatuca camp, 52-4.
, Camp near Monongahela, 54.
Orrasby, John, account of taking Fort Du Quesne, 77-8. Account of alarm at Fort Pitt in 1759, 82.
Orders received by Captain Edmonson to abandon Fort Pitt, 110. Ordinance of 1787, 204.
Ohio, navigation of, as good above as below Wheeling, 225.
Opposition to tax on Whiskey, 235.
Opposition to the administration of Washington, greatly mortified at result of the insurrection, 269.
Onondaga Salt introduced here, 284.
O'llara, James, and Salt, 284.
Ohio and Pennsylvania Rail Road, 289.
P
Pitt, William, Prime Minister, 71.
Pitt, First Fort built, 78. Affairs at, 80. Threatened descent of French and Indians, 81-2.
Pitt, Fort, a formidable work built, 84. Description of, 85. Monckton, General, arrives at, 88. Orders troops from to Presquile, 88. Troops march from, 88-9.
Peace between Great Britain, France and Spain, 89.
Pitt, Fort, Treaty with the Indians at, 89. Besieged, 91.
Pontiac or Guyasutha War, 90.
GENERAL INDEX.
XI
Proclamation offering rewards for Indian scalps, 97.
Pittsburgh laid out, 181. Pittsburgh in 1784, 186-8. Brackenridge’s account of 1786, 189. First meeting at to oppose tax on whiskey, proceedings of, 236-7. Second meeting at, 241.
Pittsburgh Gazette issued, 189.
Presbyterian Church, First, 204.
Postages, Pittsburgh and Richmond, in 1790 and 1850, 207.
President Washington issues his proclamation against obstructors of the excise law, 241.-
Paper Mill, first west of the mountains, 278.
Q
Quesne, Fort Du, built, 27.
R
Reasons probably urged by Bouquet against Braddock’^ route for Forbe’s army, 73.
Redout built by Bouquet, 92.
Redstone, meeting at, to oppose tax on whiskey, 235.
Randolph disapproves the call of militia, 256.
Requisition made on Pennsylvania, New Jersey, Maryland and Virginia, 256.
S
Six Nations or Iroquois, 15.
Shawanos or Shawanese, 19.
Senecas, 20.
Sawcunk, now Beaver, 20.
Shingiss, character of, note, 22,
Summons of Contrecoeur, 23.
Stoho, Captain, a hostage to the French, 32. Letters from Fort Duquesne, 33. His character and adventures, 39.
Smith’s, James, account of burning prisoners at Fort Du Quesne, 60-65. Scotchmen, prominent in the early history of this region, 79.
Stanwix, General, successor of General Forbes, 80. Arrives here, 84. Directs building of Fort Pitt, 00. Returns to Philadelphia, 87. Arrives in London, 88. Shipwrecked, himself, wife, daughter, a relative and four servants, all lost, 88.
St. Clair, Sir John, arrives here, 90.
Stanwix, Fort, first treaty at, 100.
Scarcity of Provision at Pittsburgh, 143.
Smoky Island, attack upon friendly Delaware Indians on, 172.
Stanwix, Fort, second treaty at, 183,
Scull, John, letter from, 214.
Second attack upon John Neville’s house, 249.
Smith, General Samuel, commands troops from Maryland, 263. Sharpless & Jackson establish first paper west of mountains, 278.
Ship building here, 287.
Salubrity of Pittsburgh, 310.
Xll
GENERAL INDEX.
T
Trent, Captain, arrives at Forks, 22.
Tanacharison advises Ward, 26.
Tax upon whiskey, 234.
Troops begin their march and andve at Parkinson’s Ferry, 262-6.
W
Washington arrived at Forks — his journal, extract from, 21-2.
Ward, Ensign, at the Forks — summoned to surrender, 23. Capitulates and arrives at Will’s creek, 27.
Washington has a consultation — determines to advance — arrives at Little Meadows, do. Joined by Tanacharison — attacks and defeats the French, and kills their leader Jumonville, 28. Advances to Gist’s farm and retreats to Fort Necessity, 30. Attacked by De Villiers, 31. Capitulates, 32.
Washington, on his way to the Kenhawa, arrives here, 106. Extract from his journal, 106-110. His estimate of number of houses here in 1770, 110.
Wayne, General, at Legionville — strict discipline, 216. His victory and his death, 273-8.
Wells, Collector of Revenue, maltreated by rioters, 239.
Winter of 1796-7 very severe, 278.
Water Street, proceedings to remove obstructions in, 295.
Y
Yellow Fever in Philadelphia and alarm here, 226.
‘’ contributions here for the relief of
the suffering poor, 286.
Youghiogany river improved by locks and dams, 289.
INTRODUCTORY.
In writing the history of American towns, there exist not those materials for giving interest and variety to the narrative which can be found in older countries, where distance lends enchantment to the view and gives room for the play of fancy. If, however, our own history affords less opportunity for the introduction of romantic incidents, it, at least, gives us the means of detailing with greater accuracy the events which have actually occurred. In regard to this section of country, there is one point in which the narrative must differ widely from those of some older countries. Of Rome, for instance, from its foundation, we have a continued narrative partly true, partly fictitious, down through twelve centuries or more ; while of the country in which we dwell, we have for many years after its first occupancy only occasional and very brief glimpses. This latter circumstance naturally gives to the account of the first occupancy and settlement, the form of lean and occasional sketches ; but even these glimpses of the steps by which this region of country passed from a wilderness to a rich and highly cultivated land, thickly populated with an enterprising, active people, can scarcely fail to be interesting.
The annals of Pittsburgh, however, present greater variety of incidents than most American towns. A writer in speaking of Detroit uses the following Ian-
XIV
INTRODUCTORY.
guage. ‘‘ How numerous and diversified are the inci- “ dents compressed within the history of this settle-
ment. No place in the United States presents such ‘‘a series of events interesting in themselves, and “ permanently affecting, as they occurred, its pros- “ perity. Five times its flag has changed, three dif- “ ferent sovereignties have claimed its allegiance, and “ since it has been held by the United States, its “ government has been thrice transferred. Twice it “ has been besieged by the Indians, once captured in “war and once burned to the ground.”
We think that the history of Pittsburgh, will present no less variety of incident. Great Britain, France, Great Britain again, Virginia, the United States and Pennsylvania have each in turn exercised sovereignty here. Twice it has been captured in war. First by Contrecoeur in 1754 and by Forbes in 1758. Once besieged by Indians, in 1763, onee blown up and burned by the French in 1758, it was the field of controversy between neighboring States in 1774, and finally the scene of civil tvar in 1734.
In the following book a brief notice of each of these events and various others in our history will be given ; and our progress thus traced, from the period when the roving Iroquois or Delawares w'ere the only tenants of the forest here, down to the present day of steam power, telegraphs and railroads.
THE
HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH.
Chapter 1
Earliest known occupants of this region. Six Nations or Iroquois, Delawares, Shawanese, European claimants, French, English. Captain Celeron. English grant to Ohio company. Washington’s first visit and notice of ‘‘the Forks.” Shingiss. Captain Trent arrives. Monsieur Contrecceur descends the Allegheny, takes Ensign Ward prisoner, Fort Duquesne built. Operations of Washington and the French, Jumonville killed, taking of Fort Necessity.
At the time the white man first appeared in the region around the head of the Ohio, the only occupants of the soil, were the six nations called Iroquois by the French, Magua by the Dutch ; Mingoes by the English ; and Mengive by the other Indian nations ; The Lenni-Lenape or Delawares, and the Shawanos or the Shawanese.
The Six Nations were originally five, viz : the Mohawks, the Oneidas, the Onondagoes, the Cayugas and the Senecas ; subsequently, however, the Tuscaroras upon being driven from North Carolina, applied for admission into the Five Nations, and since their admission in 1712, the union has been styled the Six Nations. The home of the Five Nations was in New York, but they were a very warlike people and their conquests
HISTORY OF PITTSBUllGII.
had extended, as we are told, by Golden in his history of the Five Nations, from New York to Carolina, and from New England to the Mississippi. To manage their common concerns they had a Council composed of Sachems of different nations, who met annually, it is said, at Onondaga. This council has been compared to the Wittenagemot of the Saxons.
Mingoes w^ere found scattered through Western Pennsylvania and in Ohio. Washington in 1753 found Tanacliarison, the Half King of the Six Nations at Logstown, and a portion of them settled in the rich bottom on the Ohio, below Steubenville, have left their name there.
The Delawares, another nation of Indians occupying this region of country, were once the formidable enemies of the Iroq^uois, but about two hundred years ago their condition was greatly altered. The mediators among the Indians w^ere women. It is deemed disgraceful for a warrior to speak of peace while war exists. About 1617 the Iroquois had, by their own account, conquered the Delawares and forced them to put on petticoats and assume the character of women. The Delawares admit the fact, of the assumption of the new character, but say the Iroquois accomplished their purpose by artifice ; by persuading them that it would be magnanimous for a great and heroic nation like the Delawares to assume the character of a mediator. The ceremony of the metamorphosis was celebrated with great pomp at Albany, in presence of the Dutch, whom the Delawares accused of conspiring with their enemies, the Mengwe, to degrade them.
The cause of the Delawares, and their explanation of this strange occurrence, is zealously advocated by
HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH.
the Rev. Mr. Heckeweldcr ; but that view of the matter seems far from satisfactory. The Iroquois, upon several subsequent occasions, assumed that dictatorial or authoritative tone to the Delawares, which might be expected from a conqueror, but not from a treacherous deceiver. The submissiveness, too, of the Delawares under such treatment, seems rather to resemble the timidity of a conquered, than the fierce resentment of a deceived people. A single instance will elucidate this point. In 1736 there was a dispute between the Delawares and the proprietors of Pennsylvania arising out of what was called the walking purchase of land, in the forks of the Delaware river. In 1742 a new treaty was to be made with Governor Thomas, at Philadelphia. He solicited the influence of the Six Nations, who sent down two hundred and thirty warriors. After the Council had assembled, CannassategOj an Iroquois chief, told the Governor That they saw the Delawares had been an unruly people, and were altogether in the wrong'; that they had concluded to remove them, and oblige them to go over the river Delaware and quit all claim to any lands on this side for the future, since they had received pay for them, and it is gone through their guts long ago.” “ They deserved to ~I)e taken by the hair of the head and shaken severely until they recovered their senses.” ‘‘We conquered you and made women of you, and you know you can no more sell lands than women.” “For all these reasons we charge you to remove instantly ; we don’t give you liberty to think about it. You are women. Dont deliberate, hut remove away''
The Delawares dared not disobey. They left the a2*
HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH.
Council immediately, and soon after removed from the forks of the Delaware ; some to Shamokin and Wyoming, the places assigned them by Oanassatego, and some to Ohio. -
Certainly the language of the Iroquois resembled that of a conqueror, rather than that of a mere deceiver, and the conduct of the Delawares was not such, as we would expect from persons who were shamefully deceived and imposed upon.
Again, at a Treaty held at Fort Pitt, in May, 1768, a little incident occurred, w^hich showed that the Shawanese also submitted very patiently to the rebukes of the Iroquois, and tended to prove that the latter well deserved the name given them by the late De Witt Clinton, of the Romans of America. Nymwha, a Shawanese, addressing the Pennsylvania Commissioners and the English present, said: We desired you to destroy your forts, &c. We also desired you not to go down the river,” &c. Next day Keyashuta, a Seneca chief, (one of the Indians, by the w^ay, who accompanied Washington from Logstown, to Le Boeuf in 1753, and whom the writer w'ell recollects,) rose with a copy of the Treaty of 1764 with Col. Bradstreet, in his hand, and addressing the Commissioners, said : ^^By this Treaty we agreed that you had a right to build forts and trading-houses where you pleased, and to travel the road of peace from the sun rising to the sun setting. At that Treaty the Shawanese and Delawares w'ere with me, and know all this well, and I am surprised they should speak to you as they did yesterday.” Two days afterwards, Kissinaughta, a Shawanese chief, rose, and said: ‘‘You desired us to speak from our hearts, and tell you what gave us un-
HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH.
easiness of mind, and we did so. We are very sorry we should have said any thing to give offence, and we acknowledge we were wrong.”
At the time of the charter to William Penn, the Delawares occupied New Jersey, the valley of the Delaware river, and the entire basin of the Schuylkill. Subsequently they removed to the Ohio, and in 1753, Washington found Shmgiss, their King, near McKee’s Rocks, and Queen Aliquippa at the mouth of the Youghiogany, now McKeesport.*
The ShawanoSy or Shawanese, are described as a restless people, who were constantly engaged in war with some of their neighbors. They were originally from the South ; the French say from the Cumberland river ; Mr. Heckewelder was told by other Indians that they were from Florida, and Mr. Johnson, United States Agent of Indian affairs, at Piqua, in Ohio, states that they came from the Suwaney river, Florida, and that it derived its name from them. He also states, that they, and they only, of all the Indian tribes, have a 'tradition that their ancestors crossed the sea. He also says, that until lately they kept a yearly sacrifice for their safe arrival.
About 1698, they first appeared in Pennsylvania, as Mr. Heckewelder states, at Montour’s Island, six miles below Pittsburgh, some advanced to Conestoga, and others settled on the head waters of the Susquehanna and Delaware. In 1728, they were again in motion to the West, and located themselves near the Allegheny and Ohio. In 1732, of seven hundred warriors in the State, three hundred and fifty were Shawanese.
■•^Another Delaware town, called Shannoj^in’s town was situated near the Allegheny river, from the two mile run downwards.
HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH.
They had several villages within the limits of the present counties of Allegheny and Beaver. Christian Frederic Post passed through three Shawanese villages between Fort Duquesne and Sawcunh^ which, we believe, was near the mouth of Beaver, about where Beaver town now stands. Their principal residence was afterwards on the Scioto.
Of the Six Nations, the Senecas were the most western in geographical position, their homes extended from the head waters of the Allegheny river some distance down the Ohio ; and to this nation belonged Tanacharison, Guyasutha and Cornplanter.
These various nations, strangely mixed together and yet preserving their distinctive and separate organizations, were dwelling here in peace, when the white man appeared among them. The Englishman claiming title under a charter by a distant king, strengthened by a treaty with the Iroquois ; the Frenchman resting upon the first discovery. It is useless now to inquire, which had the better or which the worse title. Certainly it was easy enough for either claimant to find sufficient flaws in his adversary’s title ; to excuse his resistance to it; especially in a. case where only a plausible pretext was needed.
France then held extensive possessions in North America. Canada and Louisiana belonged to her, and she was anxious to strengthen herself, and circumscribe her adversary, by establishing a line of posts from her northern to her southern colony. The point at the junction of the Monongahela and Allegheny rivers, at once became a commanding position in this great scheme.
In 1T49 Capt. Celeron, a French officer, was de-
HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH.
tached from Canada to take possession of the country along the Allegheny and Ohio rivers. He performed his task and deposited leaden plates at different points. Three of these have been found, one at the mouth of French creek, as we have been told, one at Marietta, and one at the mouth of Big Kenhawa. Of the latter, a very accurate /«(? simile was engraved for, and published in the Olden Time^ a periodical issued in Pittsburgh in 1846.
In the year 1748 Thomas Lee, one of the King’s council in Virginia, formed a plan for a settlement on lands west of the mountains ; a company was formed of persons in Maryland and Virginia, and Mr. Ilanbury, of London, by the name of the Ohio Company ; to whom a half a million acres of land, principally on the south side of the Ohio, between the Monongahela and Kenhawa, were granted.
We learn from Washington’s journal of his visit to the French at Le Boeuf, that the Ohio Company, intended to lay off their fort near McKee’s Bocks ; this, however, was not done, we know not why.
On the 24th day of November, 1753, George Washington arrived here, on his way to the French commandant at Le Boeuf. His journal contains the following notice of this place, where, at that time, we presume, there was no human being residing.
‘‘ As I got down before the canoe, I spent some time in viewing the rivers, and the land in the fork, which I think extremely well situated for a fort, as it has the absolute command of both rivers. The land at the point is twenty-five feet above the common surface of the water; and a considerable bottom of flat well timbered land all around it very convenient for build-
HISTORY OF PITTSBURGH.
ing. The rivers are each a quarter of a mile across, and run here very nearly at right angles; Allegheny, bearing north-east ; and Monongahela, south-east. The former of these two is a very rapid and swift running water, the other deep and still, without any perceptible fall.
About two miles from this, on the south-east side of the river, at the place where the Ohio company intended to erect a fort, lives Shingiss,* king of the Delawares. We called upon him, to invite him to a council at Logstown.
“As I had taken a good deal of notice yesterday of the situation at the fork, - my curiosty led me to examine this more particularly, and I think it greatly inferior, either for defence or advantages, especially the latter. For a fort at the fork would be equally well situated on the Ohio, and have the entire command of the Monongahela, which runs up our settlement, and is extremely well designed for water carriage, as it is of a deep, still nature. Besides, a fort at the fork might be built at much less expense, than at the other place.”
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The end
You’ve reached the end of The history of Pittsburgh, with a brief notice of its facilities of communication, and other advantages for commercial and manufacturing purposes.