On the frontier with Colonel Antes

Chapter I. Colonial Times 7

7. The Ferocity of the White Man 70

8. Shikellimy 82

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Where it has been impossible to illustrate by other than imaginary pictures, the most searching care has been given to the selection of the views as near the fact as is possible to obtain.

Pictures opposite the numbers marked, except cases marked*.

Frontispiece, the author of the book, Edwin MacMinn. From a half-tone made by "Harper Bros.," of New York. Page 22. The Wissahickon, near Cleaver's Mile, formerly Dewees' Mill.

Kindly loaned by Mr. William H. Richardson, who has so successfully photographed the scene.

" 25. Mt. St. Joseph Convent and Academy. Kindly loaned by the Mother Superior.

The sides of the buildings presented are facing the spot occupied by the Antes-Dewees Mill.

" 41. Zeisberger Preaching to the Indians.

This is a photographic reproduction of the famous painting of Prof. E. Schuessele, in the possession of the Moravian Church, at Bethlehem. The photography was by Julius Sachse, and the half-tone work is a masterpiece by Gatchell and Manning. It was to engrave this celebrated painting that John Sartain did his best work.

Among the plates selected and prepared by the late John F. Meginnes to illustrate his books on the West Branch history, were several which have been generously placed at our service by Mrs. Meginnes. They are as follows :

SHIKELLIMY.

A Stockade Fort to Protect Settlers from Indians. The Weapons of a Frontier Scout.

These were the property of Robert Covenhoven. 316. Settler's Home in Muncy, in 1770.

" Maclay's House in Sunbury, 1773. *234. Caltrop.

♦236. Map of Indian Purchases. 328. Derr's Mill.

ILLUSTRATIONS.

V Page 93. The; Town where Shikellimy Dwelt.

• " 231. Fort Augusta, at Shamokin.

/ " 297. Confluence of the North and West Branches oe the Susquehanna before Blue Hill.

/ " 256. The Sketch Map of the West Branch is the result of close study and careful work by Joseph H. McMinn. It is invaluable in explaining the early history of this famous valley.

/ " 324. The picture, Beside the Babbling Brook, was specially prepared for the "Ladies' Home Journal" as an illustration of rare merit. It is exactly like Antes Creek. We are indebted to the Curtis Publishing Company for its use.

y " 324. The Old Grist Mill was placed in our hands by Gatchell and Manning. The bluff above the mill is precisely like the bluff above the Antes mill, on which the Stockade Fort was erected.

From the American Baptist Publication Society we were privileged to obtain the following excellent pictures :

Grandmother's Spinning Wheel.

Savage Wolves at the Cabin Door.

Betsy Chilloway.

The Settler's Lonely Home.

The Massacre.

William Penn making a Treaty with the Indians.

Escape of William King.

A Trader's Camp.

"The Christian Work," of New York City, favored us with 373. the pictures of Independence Hall, in 1776, and the State House as it was originally.

The Geological and Historical Society of Wilkesbarre kindly placed at our disposal the pictures :

421. Forty Fort.

;| -'405. Lazarus Stewart's Block House, and the ^380. Map of the Wyoming Valley. All of great 'historical value.

128. Major Pratt, of the Carlisle Indian School, generously favored us with :

128. a The Indian School at Carlisle.

J bDR. Carlos Montezuma as an Apache, and * c As a Physician in Chicago.

d Tom Torlino as a Navajoe, and as a Carlisle Student.

i «

: 352.

; 221.

V "

; 398.

V "

y "

ILLUSTRATIONS.

Professor J. M. M. Gernard, of Muncy, the editor of "Now and Page 180. Then," has enabled us to use the plates of Pottery and Indian 193. PlPES, specially made to represent specimens which he found, and now has in his extensive collection of Indian relics.

Professor D. B. B runner, A. M., of Reading, ex-Congressman of Berks county, Pa., lias skillfully made cuts of many of the choice Indian relics which he has picked up in the fields about Reading.

no. He has given us the use of some of these of AxES, Si'Ears, KNIVES and Arrow Points, which, for accuracy, are unsurpassed.

The series of pictures of the five Leading Educational Institutions, in the Susquehanna Valleys, are given to show the marvelous advancement of civilization and prosperity attained when hardships once were so bravely endured.

64. State Normal School, located in Lock Haven, at the western end of the West Branch Valley.

Furnished by J. R. Flickinger, Principal. 285. Dickinson's Seminary, in Williamsport.

Furnished by E. J. Grey, D. D., President. 3 ( J0- State Normal School, located at Bloomsburg, near the site of Fort Freehand.

Furnished by J. P. Welsh, Ph. D., Principal. 430. The Wyoming Seminary, located at Kingston, in the center of the disputed territory.

Furnished by L. L. Sprague, D. D., President. 470. Buckneei. University, near the site of Derr's Mill. Furnished by W. C. Gretzinger, Registrar.

All of these schools arc of the highest merit, and prove that these valleys are unsurpassed in the refinements and advantages of this day.

Preface

In the studies connected with the preparation of the book, "A German Hero of Pennsylvania," published some fifteen years ago, the author was impressed with the fact that justice had never been given the Antes family in the history of the development of Pennsylvania. The welcome that book received, and the endorsement of it by many of the most accurate writers of colonial history, led the author to prepare on a more extended scale a statement of the services the sons of Henry Antes rendered the Commonwealth.

The author has taken great care to learn the exact facts, and to do this has searched the Congressional Library at Washington, the Mercantile Library in Philadelphia, the Philadelphia City Library, the Library of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania and the Salem City Public Library. Pie has also searched the county records of deeds, wills and mortgages of Philadelphia, Montgomery, Northumberland and Lycoming Counties. He has also availed himself of favors shown by Messrs. John W. Jordan, Henry S. Doterer, Ethen Allen Weaver, Rev. H. E. Hayden, J. H. MacMinn and other specialists in departments of the field of research traversed. There have been placed in his hands original letters, unpublished archives and other matter of original sources of information in the possession of individuals and of the Historical Society of Pennnsylvania, and of the Moravian Church at Bethlehem. He has also visited the localities and has conversed with the aged people whose memories carried them back to conversations with their sires, giving the traditions of those days. And in addition to all these sources, he has read carefully the following books to gather information: Archives of the State of Pennsylvania, Colonial

4 PREFACE.

Records of Pennsylvania, History of Chester Comity by Futhey, History of Montgomery County by Bean, History of Lycoming County by Stewart, History of Lycoming County by Meginnes, History of Northumberland County, History of Buffalo Valley by Linn, History of the West Branch Valley by Meginnes, Biographical Annals by Meginnes, History of Wyoming by Charles Miner, Gordan's Pennsylvania, Watson's Annals of Philadelphia, Watson's Annals of New York, all the volumes of the Pennsylvania Magazine, Winterbotham's History of America, Historical Review of Pennsylvania by Benjamin Franklin, Pennsylvania Historical Collections by Day, Transactions of the Historical and Literary Committee of the American Philosophical Society, The Making of the Nation by Walker, Through Colonial Doorways by Anna H. Wharton, Life and Writings of John Dickinson, History of the People of the United States by Mc- Master, A Short History of the English Colonies in America by Lodge, Discovery of America by John Fiske, Dutch and Quaker Colonists by John Fiske, Winning of the West by Roosevelt, Life and Writings of De Witt Clinton, Life of Franklin by Bigelow, Life of Franklin by Parton, Life of Jefferson by Morse, Life of Alexander Hamilton by Lodge, Sketches of William Bradford, the Potts' Memorial, Genealogist, Vol. i; Ridpath's History of the United States, Household History of the United States by Eggleston, Sketches of Montgomery County Historical Society, Settlement of Germantown by Samuel W. Pennypacker, Egie's History of Pennsylvania, Bolles' History of Pennsylvania, Smith's History of New Jersey, Autobiography of Charles Biddie, The Colonial Era by Fisher, Life of Daniel Boone, Memorials of the Moravian Church, Moravian Seminary Souvenir, Moravian History by Reichel, Zeisberger's Diary, Old Landmarks by Hagen, Antiquities of the Southern Indians by Jones, Book of the Indians by Drake, Schoolcraft's Notes on the Iroquois, An Account of the History, Manners and Customs of the Indians by Heckewelder, all the volumes of Notes and Queries by Egle, etc., etc.

PREFACE. 5

Tt would, perhaps, be claiming too much to assert accuracy in every particular, but the author has spared no pains to make the presentation as accurate and valuable as the extensive sources of information given him would allow. One very pleasing accompaniment of his labors has been the personal assistance and friendship of many who are known to fame, and are among the most learned and loyal of the sons of Pennsylvania, and the encouraging letters from a large number of generous subscribers to the publication of the book.

ON THE FRONTIER WITH COLONEL ANTES.

CHAPTER I.

AT THE present time the thoughts of the reading people are turned toward that period of our history when the foundations of government were being laid. Historians are presenting the events in order as they occurred with the plainness and exactness that are essential to make history worth the reading. In these volumes attention is given to the men and event"? around which the current of the forces involved swirled and eddied. These histories are not dull reading. They bristle with accounts that stir the patriotic heart, and in the descendants of the brave men of that time arouse a pride that threatens to develop into an aristocracy, which is even now assuming form under such names as "The Order of the Cincinnati," "The Sons of the Revolution," "The Colonial Dames," "The Daughters of the Revolution," and others.

Closely following the historian is the "Pedigree Hunter." Sometimes these are employed professionally by those who wish to have a standing in the new aristocracy, but of themselves are unable to furnish the necessary proofs of their pedigree. Others, sure of their facts, and equally desirous of showing their patriotic ancestry, search the records of ancient times, and gather from old trunks, chests and the secret drawers of cabinets musty and faded letters, clippings of colonial papers, parchment deeds and elaborately written wills, and present these as proof of their right to be in the company of those who, from the beginning of our National history, have been patriots of the purest sort. These people are well known by the county clerks and the librarians of old libraries, and extremely old people, who are supposed to cherish remembrances of their early days, and can recall the traditions of their day, which, generallv, are reliable and of great value. Through these workers the past is being resurrected and the work of the historian supplemented with great advantage to all who will, in the future, learn the story of our early days.

The field of Colonial times has also been entered by a third party with an energy and brightness that is astonishing the world. There is a class of writers who combine the historic perceptive qualities with a strong imagination and are producing a class of fiction that is being read with avidity by hundreds of thousands of the thinking people of the land. Indeed, from this class of writers will be gleaned all the knowledge of Colonial times that the great mass of the people will ever possess. It is fortunate for the readers that these writers are conscientious, and are producing stories that are worth the reading because of the truth that is in the midst of their fanciful portrayals of characters.

In this story of the career of Colonel Henry Antes, the attempt is made to present the life of one who was so identified with various movements in the development of the frontier of Pennsylvania, as to constitute him a representative character. He was brought into intimate relations with the men who stand out as the controling thinkers and workers of the Colonial regime. In his earlier days, Benjamin Franklin and John Dickinson were the dominant factors, and the political strife was on the problem of the limitation of the powers of the proprietary government. In his later days, Andrew Jackson was the cynosure of all eyes, and the era of internal improvements was being ushered in. Between these two periods occurred the war of the Revolution, the war of 1 8 12, and the careers of Washington, Jefferson, Adams, Madison. Monroe, Hamilton, and their compeers. But the activities of Col. Henry Antes were not so much with these men as with the men they were leading. As a local leader of the people, he represents the forces at work in the substratum of government. A study of his life shows us how our ancestors lived, and wrought, and became prosperous, while fair and fertile fields succeeded forests, and palatial edifices of brick and stone and marble arose from the spot where the log cabin of the brave pioneer had stood.

When Col. Henry Antes was in his prime, the territory under the civilization of the English race was very small compared with what it is to-day. The treaty that secured the independence of the colonies ceded a territory that stretched from the Atlantic Ocean to the Mississippi, and from the Great Lakes on the north to the 31st parallel and the southern border of Georgia. This section was parcelled among the thirteen States, of which only seven had well defined boundaries. Even in these the greater part was a wilderness. The coast line from Maine to Georgia was broken by many spaces of undeveloped lands and straggling villages, where there were a few fishers' cots built of rough hewn logs and thatched with sea weed. Between Portland and the St. Lawrence there were no settlements. Beyond Schenectady, in New York State, the white man dared not go, because the land was occupied by the organized tribes of Indians, and there they had their homes, and dwelt in built houses, and tilled their fields and raised fruit in extensive orchards, and hunted the wild animals in the primitive forests about them. In Pennsylvania the entire northern, western and central parts were a wilderness bearing great trees, while the streams were the highways where the Indian moved free from fear of the white man. In Virginia there were only a few straggling villages about the headwaters of their great rivers, and beyond that, in the States of Kentucky and Tennessee, there were only a few hunters and trappers and traders who were slowly fighting their way as the advance guard of the aggressive Scotch-Irish settlers who were closely following them. The valley of the Mississippi was coveted by the various countries of Europe and it was not at all certain whether France, or Spain, or England, would finally possess it. No white man had yet seen the headwaters of the mighty river, and the territory beyond it was the region of speculation and mythology.

At that time Philadelphia was the principal city in North America, and in its streets were seen the representatives of all nationalities and the varieties of dress of every class found on this side of the Atlantic. Here the Indians and the white men held great councils and professed peaceful sentiments while displaying all the dignity and grandeur that each of them was capable of presenting.

Although the seat of Quaker simplicity, Philadelphia had the reputation of being the richest, most fashionable and most extravagant city on the continent. Men of prominence were recognized as soon as they appeared on the streets, and because of the influx of foreigners, the social lines were distinctly drawn by those who assumed to be the choice people of the commonwealth. The people lived over their stores and built balconies in front of their

IO COLONIAL TIMES.

houses, where they sat and watched the passing people and saluted their friends. Chestnut street, the principal street, was a daily parade ground for those who delighted in showing the latest imp< stations from the shops of Europe. A gentleman appeared on the street wearing a three-cornered hat heavily laced ; hair done up in a cue, and the color of it made uncertain by the profusion of powder sprinkled upon it. His light colored coat had a long back and was surmounted with a small cape. The silver buttons on the coat were engraved with the initials of the owner's name. His small clothes hardly reached his knees, his stockings were striped, his shoes pointed, on which he wore large buckles, and he carried a cane which he flourished as he walked. A lady appeared dressed in gorgeous brocades displayed over cumbrous hoops which stood out at least two feet from her form. Her hat was in the shape of a tower, and was surmounted with tall feathers. When a gentleman passed a lady they both courtesied profoundly, taking half the pavement to make the evolutions.

Henry Cabot Lodge says: "In a community with so large an interest in trade and shopkeeping, there was, of course, from the outset, the usual tendency to concentrate for the better prosecution of business. Philadelphia throve from the beginning, was in the year 1750 second only to Boston in size and importance, and by the time of the Revolution had become the first city in America in population. The inhabitants of the city proper numbered more than 25,000, and those of the suburbs carried the total above 30.000. The city was laid out on the imbecile checkerboard fashion, now almost universal in the United States, and the High street running through the center of the town was the great promenade for the citizens. From the very outset good building was the rule; the houses were chiefly of brick, some of stone, and but few of wood. The public buildings were comely and useful structures, and considered in their day imposing and handsome. The churches were small and unpretentious, but neat. The open squares, long rows of poplars, and large gardens and orchards about the houses of the better sort gave some relief to the rigid lines of the streets. In the matter of police regulations, more had been done in Philadelphia at that time than in m«.st cities in any part of the world, and this was chiefly due to the genius and quiet energy of Franklin. At his arrival the town was filthy and unpaved, unlighted, and guarded only by half a

COLONIAL TIMES. II

dozen constables drawn from the citizens. When the Continental Congress assembled the crossings everywhere were paved, as well as the principal streets ; there was a regular watch to patrol the town, cleaning was performed by contract,, instead of inefficiently by convicts, and the streets were dimly lighted. By Franklin's exertions the city had come to be the pride of the province, and there was abundant legislation for its benefit. The well built houses, sometimes rising over shops and store-houses, sometimes surrounded by gardens, were generally in the English style of the Eighteenth century. They all had broad porches and projecting roofs and windows. Many were adorned with balconies, and the old dials set in the walls served in large measure as timekeepers to a race ignorant of steam engines. The most characteristic feature of the town was the sidewalks, marked off from the roadway by posts at short intervals, and by pumps, surmounted by lamps, and thirty yards apart. Within these posts foot passengers found protection from vehicles, and convivial gentlemen groping their way home through the faintly lighted streets butted against them and were thus kept in the foot-path and out of the gutter. Houses and sidewalks were scrupulously clean, and even the large and commodious market, at the end of the High street, filled every morning with a busy crowd, was neat, quiet and orderly. All the foreign commerce of the province centered in Philadelphia, and the quays along the river were the scene of bustle and activity inseparable from thriving trade. Great fairs brought in the country people, and these, with the seamen and strangers, gave life and variety to the streets and squares.

"Most of the citizens lived in rooms over their shops, which were tended by their wives and daughters, and their daily life was as sober, monotonous and respectable as their Quaker garb. They still preserved the customs and traditions of their founder, which were rapidly giving way before the accumulation of wealth, the increase of luxury and the presence of ever increasing sects, whose leading tenets were not simplicity of dress or manners. But the traders and shopkeepers differed only in degree from the upper classes, whose mode of life has been preserved for us in many ways. The old style of living was one of extreme simplicity, but luxury began to come in rapidly after the middle of the Eighteenth century, when tea and coffee came into general use, the bare floors began to be carpeted, and the bare walls papered. There was in every way plenty of substantial comfort. The houses were large, broad, with dormer windows and balconies, and usually in the midst of pretty gardens. The rooms were low and spacious, with heavy wainscots and large open fire places, while the furniture and silver were plain and massive, but handsome, and often rich."

We will introduce the reader to Col. Henry Antes at a time when the entire country was in a state of intense excitement. His name, like that of his father, was properly John Henry, but the John was dropped, and he was always spoken of simply as Henry Antes.

Henry Antes, well fixed in his new home on the west branch of the Susquehanna, had come to Philadelphia to receive his appointment from the Lieutenant Governor as a Justice of the Commonwealth. It was at a time when the masses of people were surging through the city in a state of wonder at the portents of the times. Coming from the frontier, Antes was dressed in a suit of home-tanned deer skin, trimmed with bear's teeth, and wearing a fur cap, on which was the bristling tail of a fox. He wore a belt made of rattlesnake skin and carried the rifle that was the inevitable complement to the attire of a backwoodsman. He was a large man, both in stature and in breadth of shoulders, and attracted attention wherever he passed from the dignity and majesty of his appearance.

It did not take much time for him to walk through the city. In a few moments he walked from the soldiers' barracks in the Northern Liberties down to the Hospital, and from the Hospital to the river at the foot of Chestnut street, and thence up to the State House and to the famous "Inn," just across the street from the State House, which was the rendezvous of the most distinguished strangers in the city.

What a company he saw there. Benjamin Franklin had just returned from England after a fruitless endeavor to prevent war between the Mother Country and the Colonies. Just before Franklin arrived the battles of Lexington and Concord had been fought. Immediately on his arrival. Franklin had been appointed by the Assembly that was then in session a deputy to the General Congress that was meeting in Philadelphia. Parton says: "Delegates to the Congress began to reach Philadelphia soon after Franklin's arrival. May the ninth the four members from South

Carolina landed from the Charleston packet, and had joyful welcome. The next day approached in a body the delegates from Virginia, North Carolina, Maryland and Delaware, George Washington and Patrick Henry among them. There was no drilling in the public grounds of Philadelphia on that day. The officers of all the city companies, and nearly every gentleman who could get a horse, five hundred mounted men in all, rode six miles out of town to meet the coming members and escort them to the city. At the distance of two miles the cavalcade was met by the companies of foot and a band of music. All Philadelphia gathered in the streets, at the windows, on the house-tops, to see the procession pass and salute the delegates with cheers. The day after arrived the members from New England, New York and New Jersey, whose whole journey had been an ovation. Congress met on the tenth of May with nearly every one of the sixty-three delegates present. They adopted the New England army as their own and elected George Washington Commander-in-Chief."

Old Christopher Marshall, a retired druggist of Philadelphia, a Quaker expelled for taking an active part against the King, wrote in his diary on the seventh of May: "It is admirable to see the alteration in the tory class in this place since the account of the engagement in New England ; their language is quite softened, and many of them have so far renounced their former sentiments as that they have taken in arms and are joined in the associations; nay, even many of the stiff Quakers, some even of those who drew up the Testimony, are ashamed of their proceedings. The Friends held a meeting last fifth day afternoon in order to consider how to send a supply to the Bostonians : it being a matter they had before treated with contempt and ridicule. The people were signing petitions to the Assembly asking them to raise fifty thousand pounds for the defense of the province, and to obstruct the navigation of the river by sinking ships. Military companies, organized on Franklin's system, were exercising in every public ground in and about the city, while the Philosophical Society was searching its books to discover the process of making saltpeter. Soon the bold conception was promulgated that, perhaps by the favor of Heaven and the wit of patriots, even cannon might be cast in Philadelphia."

It was a great event, when, early in the next vear, Frederick

Antes announced to Congress that he and Mr. Potts had succeeded in casting and proving at Warwick furnace, in Chester County, a four-pounder cannon, the first thus cast in America.

In that company of five hundred horsemen we see the Antes brothers, Frederick, William and Henry, and in the course of this history will show why they are entitled to a position among the patriot fathers who laid so broad and strong the foundations of our liberties. We will go back to the days of their father and catch hold of the threads that are to be woven into Iheir robe of renown.

Chapter II. A Notable Colonial Leader

THE FATHER of John Henry Antes was one of the most distinguished men in the Colony of Pennsylvania. In that transition period there were several rival classes struggling to obtain the supremacy in shaping the affairs of the Colony. The material which they had to work upon and to bring into harmony was of the most diverse character. The oppressed of all nations had to come to Pennsylvania to realize their dream of liberty, and to find a home where they could rear their children in a freedom that had been pictured to them in glowing colors by the agents of the Penns.

These immigrants, with seeming oneness of purpose, brought with them the peculiarities of their ancestral homes, which had become a part of their natures through ages of hereditary transmission. By these their ideas of liberty were colored, and, as a consequence, the conception of the duties and privileges belonging to their new estate were as varied as the countries from which they came.

The problem of the rulers was to bring these people into a compact relationship that would give strength and stability to the new State.

Reichel says : "There could not be found at that time on any other spot on the globe such a mixture of nationalities and languages, such a medley of opinions and views so freely maintained and so fearlessly proclaimed, as in Pennsylvania. English and Irish, Scotch and Welsh, Germans and Swiss, Swedes and Danes. Dutch and French, Jews and Indians were scattered throughout the whole province, maintaining their nationalities without any political restraint, and still more variegated, perhaps, were the religious views of the first settlers. Truth and error, genuine piety and utter indifference to all religion, fanaticism and mere formality, were to be found side by side in the enjoyment of equal rights and privileges."

In Philadelphia the conservative English Quakers were at first supreme. But a growing spirit of radicalism, under the vigorous leadership of Franklin, threatened to overthrow them. This culminated in the social and political dissensions so painfully prominent at the bursting forth of the war for independence. Near the city there were colonies of Welsh, who, in a strong clannish spirit, attempted to perpetuate the customs handed down from centuries of ancestors. Toward the frontier the hold and sturdy Scotch and Irish braved the greatest hardships, and holding fast to their religious customs defied alike the terrors of the wilderness and the savage Indians that roamed beneath their shades. But of all that came there were none more interesting than the Germans.

Reichel says: "In 1682 the Frankfort Company was formed by ten gentlemen of note, mostly Mennonites, living in Frankfort on the Alain. The object of this company was to procure an asylum in Pennsylvania for their friends and religious associates. In 1683, August 20, one of the leaders of this company, F. Daniel Pastorius, arrived on the shores of the Delaware with twenty German and Dutch families, and they were soon followed by others. They bought nearly 8,000 acres of land from Penn, the Germantown and Manatawny patent, and in 1685, October 25, Germantown was laid out, and in 1689 incorporated by the Assembly the first German town in Pennsylvania. The comparatively small number of German immigrants, which, however, gradually increased, was in 1709 followed by an emigration en masse. The continual wars on the continent of Europe, scarcity of provisions, causing an actual famine, and, above all. the religious oppression of the different governments in connection with repeated changes in the confession of faith, especially in the Palatinate, awakened among the masses a desire for the land of liberty. The distress seemed to have reached its climax in the dreadful winter of 1709. when thousands died of cold and starvation. The invitation of Queen Anne, of England, promising free transportation to America and good land without price, was therefore joyfully accepted, and in a short time no less than 30,000 Germans had left their native places, relying on the promise of the British Queen."