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CONTINENTAL 

SKETCHES 


OP 


DISTINGUISHED  PENNSYLVANIA^. 


BY 

DAVID  R.  B.  NEVIN. 


WITH  AN  APPENDIX, 

CONTAINING  IMPORTANT  STATE  PAPERS, 

AND    VALUABLE    STATISTICAL    AND*  HISTORICAL     INFORMATION, 
SELECTED  FROM  AUTHENTIC  SOURCES. 


PHILADELPHIA: 

PORTER  &  COATES,  822  CHESTNUT  STREET. 
I875- 


Entered,  according  to  Act  of  Congress,  in  the  year  1875,  by 

DAVID  R.  B.  NEVIN, 
In  the  office  of  the  Librarian  of  Congress,  at  Washington. 


PREFATORY. 


ON  the  threshold  of  our  Centennial  festivities 
while  the  air  is  redolent  with  the  rich  aroma 
of  cherished  memories  and  pure  resolves,  we  proffer 
no  apology  for  giving  to  the  world  brief  but  truthful 
sketches   of   distinguished    Pennsylvanians,  whose 
wisdom  in  council,  and  valor  in  battle,  contributed 
so  much  to  the  triumph  of  the  national  arms,  in  the 
grand  old  days  of  the  Eevolution.     The  galaxy  of 
greatness  developed  in  that  historic  period  borrowed 
much  of  its  splendor  from  our  own  local  firmament, 
and  the  names  of  Franklin,  Wayne,  and  Morris, 
stanch  exponents  of  philosophy,  valor,  and  finance, 
have  always  been  recognized  as  among  its  brightest 
stars.     A  plain,  unadorned  recital  of  the  virtues  of 
such  an  ancestry  cannot  fail  to  impart  a  useful  moral, 
and  stimulate  a  noble  ambition  to  emulate  those 
heroic  traits  of  which  they  were  the  bold,  expressive 
type.     Aside  from  our  natural  personal  obligations 
to  cherish  their  memories  on  the  basis  of  gratitude 
and  consanguinity,  a  closer  scrutiny  of  their  motives, 


4  PREFATORY. 

and  a  more  acute  analysis  of  their  actions,  cannot 
fail  to  elicit  our  most  enthusiastic  commendation. 
Amid  a  cloudy  atmosphere  of  doubt  and  danger, 
they  exhibited  a  blended  patience  and  fortitude  al 
most  peerless  in  the  annals  of  history.  Their  mil 
itary  prowess  seemed  whetted  by  adversity,  and  the 
bright  sunshine  of  long  delayed  victory  culminated 
in  the  development  of  a  profound  and  exalted  states 
manship. 

The  spirit  that  animated,  and  the  ambition  that 
spurred  them,  were  neither  restricted  nor  central 
ized,  but  as  limitless  and  elastic  as  the  mountain  air, 
permeating  the  length  and  breadth  of  their  colonial 
area,  flourishing  as  generously  amid  the  hills  and 
glens  of  the  interior  as  beneath  the  sacred  shadows 
of  Independence  Hall  in  their  own  loyal  metropolis. 
There  was  a  simplicity,  purity,  dignity,  and  positive 
culture,  about  these  colonial  heroes  worthy  our  strict 
est  emulation,  and  the  life  of  each  was  a  compen 
dium  of  penury,  peril,  and  heroic  sacrifice;  his  ma 
terial  and  moral  victories  being  achieved  on  battle 
fields  well  studded  with  monuments  of  private  grief 
and  personal  ruin.  The  primitive  legislation  of  col 
onial  Pennsylvania,  though  eminently  cautious  and 
conservative,  was  firm  and  prudent.  It  was  not  of 
the  Vesuvian  order,  belching  forth  an  indiscriminate 


PREFATORY.  5 

volume  of  patriotic  lava ;  but,  like  the  waters  of  her 
own  majestic  Delaware,  its  fountains  were  pure,  its 
channels  deep,  and  its  progress  irresistible.  Its  clear, 
straight,  manly  denunciation  of  Ministerial  despotism 
was  only  awarded  when  public  wrongs  or  private 
grievances  were  clearly  ascertained  and  distinctly 
specified.  That  cautious  legislation  which  at  the 
incipiency  of  the  Eevolution  was  condemned  by 
many  as  too  tardy  for  an  imminent  crisis,  asserted 
itself  at  the  proper  time  in  a  proud  and  lofty  vindi 
cation  of  colonial  honor,  and  a  happy  avoidance  of 
flagrant  blunders,  humiliating  rescindings,  and  un 
manly  compromises.  Our  general  government  has 
passed  through  the  Eevolutionary,  the  Confederate, 
and  the  Constitutional  forms.  The  first  extended 
from  the  meeting  of  the  first  Continental  Congress, 
March  5,  1774,  to  the  final  ratification  of  the  Arti 
cles  of  Confederation,  March  1,  1781. 

The  second  extended  from  the  ratification  of  the 
Articles  of  Confederation,  to  the  time  the  Constitu 
tion  went  into  operation,  March  4,  1789. 

The  third  is  that  form  which  has  existed  from 
the  latter  period  to  the  present  time. 

The  Kevolutionary  and  Confederate  forms,  ex 
tending  from  1774  to  1789,  were  eminently  fruitful 
in  the  production  of  great  men,  and  to  that  period 


6      .  PREFATORY. 

we  will  more  particularly,  though  not  exclusively, 
confine  our  selections. 

Their  lives  have  survived  the  criticisms  of  a  cen 
tury,  their  memories  are  deeply  imbedded  in  the 
national  heart,  and  a  reproduction  of  their  virtues 
we  trust  will  be  acceptable  to  their  worthy  descend 
ants  throughout  the  stanch  old  Commonwealth  for 
which  they  did  so  much. 

For  the  historical  and  statistical  matter  contained 
in  the  Appendix,  we  acknowledge  our  indebtedness, 
to,  more  particularly,  Hazard's  Archives  of  Penn 
sylvania,  the  American  Archives,  Hazard's  Eegis- 
ter  and  Proud's  History  of  Pennsylvania. 


CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 


ROBERT  MORRIS,  OF  PHIL'A. 

Incidents  and  Developments  in  the  life  of  the  Great 
Financier  of  the  Revolution — From  the  school  to  the 
counting-house — Schemes  and  theories  conceived  and 
executed  with  wonderful  celerity  and  dash — The  de 
liberate  but  cheerful  sacrifice  when  the  crisis  in  our 
history  came — A  'hard  knot  untied. 

THE  great  financier  of  the  Revolution,  who  un 
doubtedly  contributed  more  to  its  successful 
termination  than  any  civilian  of  that  historic  period, 
was  a  lifelong  resident,  but  not  a  native,  of  Philadel 
phia.  Robert  Morris  was  born  in  Lancashire,  Eng 
land,  in  1733,  and  removed  to  this  country  at  the  early 
age  of  thirteen.  His  father  was  a  Liverpool  merchant, 
largely  engaged  in  the  American  trade,  a  gentleman 
of  strict  integrity,  and  active,  progressive  business 
habits  and  tastes.  The  captain  of  a  vessel  con 
signed  to  him,  on  its  arrival  fired  what  was  intended 
as  a  complimentary  salute  to  Mr.  Morris,  but  the 
gun-wad  unfortunately  struck  that  gentleman,  pro 
ducing  so  serious  a  wound  as  to  terminate  his  life 
in  a  few  days  thereafter.  Young  Morris,  immedi- 


8  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

ately  on  his  arrival  here,  was  placed  at  one  of  the 
best  schools  in  Philadelphia,  but,  for  some  inexpli 
cable  reason,  his  scholastic  career  was  not  remark 
able.  At  fifteen  he  was  withdrawn  from  aca 
demic  walls  and  inducted  into  the  commercial  office 
of  Mr.  Charles  Willing,  at  that  time  one  of  the  lead 
ing  merchants  of  Philadelphia.  He  served  what 
was  then  termed  a  regular  apprenticeship  with  that 
gentleman  for  two  years — for  in  those  days  commer 
cial  as  well  as  literary  educations  were  more  thor 
ough  and  complete  than  now,  and  only  attainable  by 
much  labor  and  system.  Ready-made  merchants 
were  as  rarely  heard  of  at  that  time  as  ready-made 
lawyers,  and  the  solid  foundations  thus  cautiously 
prepared  were  generally  surmounted  by  worthy  and 
honorable  superstructures.  Mr.  Morris  had  the  ad 
vantage  of  superior  culture  and  training,  for  his  pre 
ceptor,  Charles  Willing,  as  we  have  intimated,  was 
an  honor  to  the  mercantile  profession,  and  remarka 
ble  for  the  scope,  vigor,  and  forecast  of  his  under 
standing,  his  great  executive  ability,  unblemished 
integrity,  and  the  amenity  of  his  disposition  and 
manners.  In  such  a  school,  with  such  an  instructor, 
the  young  commercial  aspirant  made  great  headway, 
and  in  a  few  years  formed  intimate  business  relations 
with  Mr.  Thomas  Willing,  the  son  of  his  esteemed 
patron,  and  for  forty  years  the  old  firm  of  Willing 
&  Morris  was  recognized  in  commercial  circles  as 
one  of  the  most  trustworthy  and  reliable  in  the  city 
of  Philadelphia.  This  firm  was  amicably  dissolved 


EGBERT  MORRIS.  9 

in  1793,  and  Thomas  Willing,  the  senior  member,  a 
high-toned,  Christian  gentleman,  died  in  1821,  aged 
89  years.  Bereft  of  parental  counsel,  the  early  life 
of  Mr.  Morris  makes  a  glowing  exhibit  of  fidelity, 
executive  ability,  self-reliance,  and  expansive  ideas. 
His  whole  life,  from  early  childhood  to  venerable 
old  age,  is  dotted  with  incidents  and  developments 
indicating  great  breadth  of  thought  in  everything 
pertaining  to  finance.  Schemes  and  theories  of  his, 
before  which  the  ordinary  mind  would  quail  with 
nervous  fear,  were  conceived  and  executed  by  him 
with  wonderful  celerity  and  dash,  sometimes  evok 
ing  from  him  heavy  personal  sacrifices  to  carry  his 
point.  Some  minds  have  a  sufficiency  of  nerve  and 
daring  to  attempt  the  tunneling  of  the  Andes, 
whilst  others,  cast  in  a  more  cautious  mould,  shrink 
from  the  perforation  of  a  molehill. 

Robert  Morris  watched  with  an  intelligent  and 
anxious  eye  the  encroachments  of  the  British  gov 
ernment  upon  the  liberties  of  his  countrymen,  and, 
although  his  private  interests  might  suffer,  he  never 
shrank  from  honest  protest  and  vigorous  action  in 
her  defence,  when  duty  made  the  demand.  His  firm 
was  the  largest  importing  one,  perhaps,  in  Philadel 
phia;  yet  in  1765,  when  the  crisis  seemed  to  render 
it  necessary,  he  cheerfully  signed  the  non-importa 
tion  agreement  entered  into  by  his  fellow-merchants, 
although  he  sustained  very  heavy  private  losses  by 
the  act.  The  sacrifice  was  a  deliberate  but  cheer 
ful  one ;  yet  he  allowed  no  selfish  consideration  to 


10  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

clog  the  path  of  honorable  duty.  There  is  a  moral 
grandeur  in  the  performance  of  any  conscientious 
duty,  doubly  itensified  when  the  act  conflicts  with 
private  interests,  draining  your  depleted  treasury, 
and  severing  perhaps  the  friendships  of  a  lifetime. 
The  battle  of  Lexington  was  fought  April,  1775, 
and  the  news  reached  Philadelphia  in  four  days, 
which  at  that  time  was  considered  a  remarkably 
speedy  transmittal.  It  produced  a  thrilling  sensa 
tion  throughout  the  whole  land,  particularly  in 
Philadelphia.  Mr.  Morris,  when  the  news  reached 
the  city,  was  one  of  a  large  number  of  gentlemen 
assembled  at  the  famous  old  "City  Tavern"  to  cele 
brate  St.  George's  day.  Immediately  after  the  re 
ception  of  the  news  the  groaning,  hospitable  tables 
were  all  deserted,  and  the  patron  saint  was  soon  for 
gotten  in  the  eager  and  restless  anxiety  to  hear  the 
news  from  Lexington.  From  that  moment  Mr.  Mor 
ris  was  in  favor  of  a  quick  and  final  separation  from 
the  mother  country,  and,  during  the  balance  of  his 
life  did  all  he  could  to  effect  that  object.  On  the 
3d  of  November,  1775,  he  was  elected  by  the  Legis 
lature  of  Pennsylvania  a  delegate  to  the  second  Con 
gress  that  met  in  Philadelphia.  A  short  time  there 
after  he  was  appointed  on  a  secret  committee  author 
ized  by  the  preceding  Congress,  whose  duty  it  was 
"to  contract  for  the  importation  of  arms,  ammuni 
tion,  sulphur  and  saltpetre,  and  to  export  produce  on 
the  public  account  to  pay  for  the  same."  His  rec 
ognized  business  capacity,  the  celerity  of  his  actions, 


EGBERT  MORRIS.  11 

and  his  almost  inexhaustible  creative  power,  made 
his  presence  indispensable  on  all  important  commit 
tees  where  finance  and  revenue  were  considered. 
He  was  well  and  favorably  acquainted  with  every 
business  man  and  firm  in  Philadelphia,  and  availed 
himself  of  this  fact  to  borrow  money  on  his  own 
personal  responsibility  whenever  the  stringent  exi 
gencies  of  the  Government  required  assistance.  This 
he  did  very  frequently,  and  was  always  prompt  and 
punctual  in  the  re-payment  of  all  personal  loans  thus 
negotiated.  When  Congress,  in  December,  1776,  was 
unfortunately  compelled  to  retire  from  Philadelphia, 
owing  to  the  approach  of  the  British  army,  Mr.  Mor 
ris  was  one  of  a  committee  of  three  detailed  to  re 
main  and  transact  all  Continental  business.  While 
engaged  in  this  sphere,  he  received  a  Sad  letter  from 
General  Washington,  in  which  he  gave  a  vivid  de 
scription  of  the  lamentable  condition  of  the  army,  on 
account  of  their  not  being  paid.  Our  forces  were  at 
that  time  located  on  the  Delaware  river,  opposite 
Trenton.  The  General  was  anxious  to  make  an 
offensive  demonstration,  and  to  do  this  required  ten 
thousand  dollars.  He  looked  anxiously  for  relief  to 
Mr.  Morris  as  his  last  and  only  hope.  He  had  made 
several  similar  applications  to  other  parties,  bat  in 
each  instance  had  been  disappointed.  Mr.  Morris, 
with  deep  feeling  and  emotion,  read  and  re-read  the 
letter  from  his  beloved  chieftain,  but  what  to  do  he 
knew  not.  The  sum  desired,  it  was  true,  was  small, 
but  his  own  private  exchequer  was  exhausted  and 


12  CONTINENTAL  SKTCHEES. 

demoralized,  and  the  men  of  means  (and  they  were 
comparatively  few  in  those  days)  had  left  the  city. 
He  pondered  over  the  letter  in  his  counting-room 
until  weary,  not  knowing  what  to  do  or  where  to  go 
for  this  comparatively  trifling  and  yet  essentially 
necessary  sum.  On  his  way  home  he  met  an  old 
Quaker,  with  whom  he  had  but  a  slight  acquaint 
ance,  and  who,  in  addition,  was  a  practical,  conscien 
tious  Peace  man,  opposed  to  all  wars  except  against 
Satan,  and  that  he  desired  to  prosecute  with  nervous 
vigor.  This  was  a  hard  knot  to  untie,  but  Morris, 
who  had  great  tact  and  magnetic  conversational 
powers  attempted  the  discouraging  task.  To  the 
inquiry  of  the  Quaker  as  to  the  news  of  the  day, 
Morris  replied  that  he  had  but  little,  and  that  was 
very  depressing.  He  then,  in  his  own  enthusiastic 
and  attractive  way,  told  him  all  the  facts,  and  closed 
by  showing  him  the  autograph  letter  of  Washington, 
and  explaining  the  almost  vital  necessity  of  having 
ten  thousand  dollars  at  once.  The  honest  Quaker 
faltered  but  a  moment  under  fire  of  such  guns,  and 
replied  composedly,  "  Friend  Robert,  thou  shall  have 
it"  In  one  hour  the  money  was  transmitted  to 
Washington's  headquarters,  and  was  indirectly  in 
strumental,  under  Providence,  in  gaining  a  signal 
victory  over  the  Hessians  at  Trenton,  thus  changing 
the  whole  current  of  the  war,  animating  the  droop 
ing  spirits  of  the  tattered,  hungry,  and  penniless 
patriots,  and  correspondingly  depressing  the  proud 
hopes  and  predictions  of  the  arrogant  foe. 


EoBEET   MOEEIS.  18 

In  1779  the  army  was  alarmingly  destitute  of  all 
sorts  of  military  stores  and  supplies,  particularly 
lead.  Old  clock-weights,  and  all  similar  articles 
that  could  possibly  be  used  for  the  purpose,  were 
melted  down  for  army  use,  but  the  supply  could  not 
be  kept  up  in  this  crude  and  irregular  way,  and  the 
crisis  was  becoming  serious  and  startling.  At  this 
critical  juncture  one  of  Mr.  Morris'  privateers  for 
tunately  arrived  with  a  cargo  of  ninety  tons  of  lead, 
one-half  of  which  belonging  to  him  personally  he 
immediately  forwarded  to  the  army,  and  two  days 
thereafter  bought  the  balance  with  his  own  private 
means,  and  shipped  it  on  the  same  patriotic  errand. 
We  might  multiply  instances  of  the  genuine  liber 
ality  and  opportune  tact  of  this  great  man,  but  will 
refer  to  but  one  more,  which  cannot  be  repeated  too 
often,  and  which  is  eminently  worthy  the  admiration 
and  gratitude  of  every  American  citizen. 

In  1781  General  Washington  contemplated  the 
capture  of  New  York  city.  This  was  in  accordance 
with  an  understanding  between  him  and  Count  Eo- 
chambeau,  and  it  was  arranged  that  the  French  fleet 
under  De  Barras  and  De  Grasse  should  co-operate 
with  our  land  forces  to  secure  the  desired  result. 
On  the  arrival  of  the  fleet  the  whole  plan  was  frus 
trated  by  the  announcement  of  the  Admiral  that  he 
would  not  enter  the  bay  of  New  York,  but  would 
harbor  for  a  few  weeks  in  Chesapeake  Bay.  The 
reduction  of  New  York  was  not  only  rendered  im 
practicable,  but  actually  impossible.  It  is  very  re- 


14  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

liable  history  that  at  this  very  critical  moment 
Robert  Morris,  of  Philadelphia,  suggested  quietly  to 
the  commanding  general  the  propriety  of  immedi 
ately  attacking  Cornwallis  in  the  South.  It  is  also 
well  known  that  this  was  the  most  brilliant  military 
move  of  the  campaign,  and  practically  ended  the 
whole  war.  However  historiographers  may  differ  as 
to  the  creative  mind  that  developed  this  move,  they 
cannot  differ  as  to  where  the  funds  came  from  to 
prosecute  that  particular  part  of  the  campaign. 

Nearly  every  dollar  and  every  war  supply  of  that 
memorable  campaign  was  a  generous  personal  ad 
vance  based  on  the  individual  credit  of  Robert  Mor 
ris.  He  furnished  the  army  of  General  Washing 
ton,  at  a  time  when  victory  was  not  by  any  means 
an  assured  fact,  and  the  loan  therefore  proportion 
ately  more  risky,  with  eighty  siege  guns,  one  hun 
dred  pieces  of  field  artillery,  with  all  necessary  ammu 
nition  and  other  appurtenances,  and  within  thirty 
days  from  his  original  interview  with  "Washington 
all  these  supplies  and  artillery  were  in  possession  of 
the  latter.  This  was  astounding;  but  the  whole 
has  not  been  told.  The  entire  army  at  this  time 
was  fed,  clothed,  and  paid  solely  on  the  personal 
credit  of  this  same  Robert  Morris,  who  actually  is 
sued  his  own  promissory  notes  for  the  enormous 
sum  of  one  million  four  hundred  thousand  dollars, 
every  dime  of  which  was  promptly  paid  by  him  at 
maturity.  All  this  was  done  without  the  slightest 


EGBERT  MORRIS.  15 

hope  of  profit  or   plunder,  for  the  integrity  of  the 
great  financier  was  above  all  suspicion. 

In  1781  he  was  unanimously  appointed  what  was 
termed  Superintendent  of  Finance.  The  duties  of 
this  office  were  multifarious  and  onerous,  and,  we 
may  add,  thankless.  He  had  to  examine  the  state 
of  the  public  debt,  expenditures  and  revenue,  di 
gest  and  report  plans  for  improving  and  regulating 
the  finances,  and  had  also  sole  control  of  the  man 
agement  and  disbursement  of  all  the  foreign  loans, 
national  and  individual,  in  France  and  Holland,  pub 
lic  funds  of  every  possible  character,  and  the  dis 
bursement  of  the  same  for  the  support  of  every 
branch  of  the  Government,  military,  naval,  and 
civil — in  brief,  all  the  moneyed  operations  of  the 
country  were  under  his  control,  and  this,  too,  at  a  time 
when  great  distress  prevailed  in  every  section  of 
the  land,  and  public  credit  was  a  shattered  wreck. 
The  Treasury  was  two  and  a  half  millions  in  arrears, 
the  creditors  generally  being  illiberal  and  grasping, 
and  unwilling  to  compromise  for  aught  but  cash.  The 
paper  bills  of  credit,  floating  loosely  and  promiscu 
ously  around  the  country,  were  almost  entirely 
valueless,  and  soldier  and  citizen  jointly  suffered  in 
the  midst  of  this  alarming  distress.  All  this  time 
the  private  notes  of  Morris  were  worth  "their  face," 
and  constituted  the  principal  medium  for  all  large 
transactions.  He  worked  with  a  will  in  his  official 
position  to  bring  public  confidence  to  a  wholesome 
standard,  and  gradually  succeeded  in  bringing  or- 


16  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

der,  system  and  symmetry  out  of  distrust,  demoral 
ization  and  chaos.  He  established  the  old  Bank  of 
North  America,  which  was  eminently  instrumental 
in  restoring  public  credit,  encouraging  public  im 
provements,  and  •  producing  general  and  unbounded 
public  confidence,  the  true  panacea  of  all  financial 
crises. 

Though  many  financiers  may  have  had  more 
brilliant  administrations,  producing,  perhaps,  more 
voluminous  results,  receiving  the  praise  of  servile 
dependents,  echoed  by  a  subsidized  and  partisan 
press,  we  fail  to  find,  in  the  history  of  this  country 
at  least,  a  financier  of  such  creative  genius,  bold  de 
sign,  and  fearless  execution,  as  Eobert  Morris  of 
Pennsylvania.  His  Congressional  career,  like  his 
private  character,  was  "without  spot  or  blemish." 
Whatever  he  did  was  always  well  done ;  and  as  Co 
lonial  legislator,  member  of  Congress  and  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  no  one  ever  exhibited 
more  zeal  and  sacrificed  more  comfort  and  ease  for 
the  good  of  his  country  and  his  fellow-men.  An 
unfortunate  land  speculation,  however,  shattered  his 
private  fortune  in  his  latter  days,  and  the  brilliant 
financier  of  Colonial  and  Revolutionary  times  was 
in  his  old  days  reduced  to  comparative  poverty. 
Amidst  all  these  severe  trials  and  afflictions,  he  al 
ways  asserted  his  inherent  manhood  by  a  calm,  dig 
nified,  and  philosophic  demeanor.  Worn  down  with 
public  labor  and  private  misfortune,  he  died,  May 
8,  1806,  aged  73  years. 


BENJAMIN  RUSH,  OF  PHILADELPHIA. 


His  early  studies  at  a  Maryland  Academy,  Princeton 
College,  and  Edinburgh  University — Professor  in 
the  First  Medical  School  ever  organized  in  the  Uni 
ted  States — The  Onslaught  by  Journalists,  Pamph 
leteers,  and  anonymous  writers  during  the  reign  of 
the  yellow  fever  in  1793,  &c. 

IN  the  old  township  of  Byberry,  some  fourteen 
miles  northeast  of  Philadelphia,  Dr.  Benjamin 
Eush  was  horn  on  the  24th  of  December,  1745,  his 
ancestors  having  emigrated  from  England  to  that  sec 
tion  of  Pennsylvania  about  the  year  1683.  His 
father  dying  when  he  was  six  years  old,  his  mother, 
a  most  estimable  lady,  with  a  keen  appreciation  of 
the  inestimable  advantages  of  a  good  education,  de 
termined  to  give  her  son  the  very  best  opportunity 
for  its  acquisition  her  limited  means  would  allow. 
He  was  accordingly  sent  to  a  somewhat  celebrated 
academy  located  at  Nottingham,  Md.,  at  that  time 
under  the  control  and  management  of  the  venerable 
Eev.  Dr.  Finley,  a  ripe  scholar  and  cultivated  gentle 
man,  subsequently  president  of  Princeton  College. 
The  residents  of  that  section  of  Maryland  were  re 
markable  for  their  honest  simplicity  and  correct 
morality,  and  this  fact,  coupled  with  the  literary 

(17) 


18  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

tastes  and  solid  merits  of  his  pious  and  learned  pre 
ceptor,  contributed  no  little  to  the  formation  of  his 
early  acquired  good  character.  After  a  residence 
here  of  five  years,  where  his  moral  qualities  were 
always  abreast  of  his  classical  attainments,  he  entered 
Princeton  College,  as  an  advanced  student,  in  1759. 
Such  was  the  completeness  of  his  preparatory  course 
at  Nottingham,  that,  although  the  youngest  student 
in  his  class,  in  fact,  a  mere  boy,  he  was  the  peer  of 
any  of  his  fellows  in  all  his  collegiate  studies.  He 
received  his  degree  of  A.  B.  in  1760,  before  he  had 
reached  his  fifteenth  year,  perhaps  the  youngest 
graduate  before  or  since  of  his  venerable  Alma 
Mater.  Soon  after  the  completion  of  his  collegiate 
course  he  enrolled  himself  as  a  student  in  the  medi 
cal  office  of  the  eminent  Dr.  Redman,  of  Phila 
delphia,  and  was  one  of  Dr.  Shippen's  ten  pupils 
who  attended  the  first  course  of  anatomical  lectures 
ever  given  in  this  country.  Gifted  with  an  investi 
gating  mind  he  studied  closely  and  assiduously,  with 
a  determination  to  learn,  and  in  1766  sailed  for 
Edinburgh,  where  he  resumed  his  studies  for  two 
years,  receiving  at  the  end  of  that  time,  1768,  his 
degree  of  M.  D.  from  the  University  there.  After 
spending  a  year  in  Continental  travel,  mingling  with 
the  most  cultivated  medical  men  in  London  and 
Paris,  he  returned  to  his  native  country  and  com 
menced  the  practice  of  medicine  in  Philadelphia. 
At  the  very  early  age  of  twenty-four  he  was  elected 
professor  of  chemistry  in  the  college  of  Philadelphia, 


BENJAMIN  RUSH.  19 

and  became,  about  the  same  time,  a  popular  contri 
butor  to  medical  and  general  literature,  his  foreign 
residence  and  unwearied  industry  having  materially 
enlarged  his  professional  views  and  attainments. 
The  present  University  of  Pennsylvania  was  at  that 
time  in  creative  process,  Drs.  Shippen,  Ruhn,  Bond, 
and  Morgan,  having  for  a  year  or  two  been  deliver 
ing  lectures  at  irregular  and  uncertain  intervals. 
The  acquisition  of  young  Rush  completed  the  corps 
of  professors  of  the  first  medical  school  ever  or 
ganized  in  the  United  States.  Some  fifteen  years 
thereafter  the  primitive  institution  referred  to  was 
merged  in  the  present  University,  and  Dr.  Rush, 
then  recognized  as  one  of  the  brilliant  young  phy 
sicians  of  the  country,  held  the  position  of  professor 
of  the  institutes  and  practice,  also  of  clinical  practice, 
in  the  new  combination  which  for  almost  a  century 
has  wielded  such  a  power  in  medical  circles,  and 
quietly  earned  such  an  honorable  reputation.  With 
out  possessing  any  very  marked  oratorical  powers, 
Dr.  Rush  was  an  interesting  and  popular  lecturer. 
His  language  was  simple  and  always  intelligible, 
his  scientific  disquisitions  profound,  without  being 
drowsy  and  heavy,  and  his  lectures  abounded  with 
pleasant  and  pointed  anecdotes,  and  occasional  bril 
liant  sallies  of  a  somewhat  poetic  imagination. 

He  was  an  eminently  minute  man,  garnering  care 
fully  every  floating  fact,  theory,  and  incident,  and 
treasuring  them  carefully  for  future  utilization ;  ab 
sorbing  everything,  forgetting  nothing. 


20  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

^ 
In  1790,  after  a  successful  professional  experience 

of  twenty  years,  he  gave  to  the  public,  in  book  form, 
his  new  principles  of  medicine.  His  views  were  con 
fronted  by  strong  opposition  at  the  time  of  their  pro 
mulgation.  He  had  great  confidence  in  a  free  use 
of  the  lancet,  and  abiding  faith  in  the  power  and 
utility  of  calomel,  which  he  styled  "  the  Samson  of 
the  Materia  Medica."  His  opponents  yielded  to  the 
Samsonian  illustration,  because,  as  they  jocosely  re- 
remarked,  "it  has  slain  its  thousands."  Modern 
science,  although  not  entirely  abandoning,  has  very 
greatly  modified  the  use  of  these  potential  agencies, 
for  which  Dr.  Rush  so  ably  contended,  and  which, 
under  his  skillful  control,  were  productive  of  such 
beneficent  results. 

In  1793,  Philadelphia  was  terribly  scourged  with 
the  yellow  fever.  The  city  had  been  free  from  it 
for  thirty-one  years,  but  now  it  assumed  the  shape 
of  a  fearful  epidemic,  and  swept  over  the  town  with 
the  horrible  celerity  of  a  prairie  fire,  destroying 
everything  it  touched.  It  thus  raged  from  July  to 
November,  averaging  forty  deaths  daily,  and  aggre 
gating  some  five  thousand  victims,  a  heavy  propor 
tion  considering  the  population  of  Philadelphia  at 
that  time.  The  whole  city  was  panic-stricken,  for 
the  swift-winged  messenger  of  death  baffled  all  pro 
fessional  skill  to  subdue  it,  and  the  great  metropolis 
was  being  rapidly  transformed  into  a  huge  charnel 
house.  During  this  fearful  crisis  Dr.  Rush  was  mak 
ing  herculean  efforts  to  subdue  the  deadly  foe,  work- 


BENJAMIN  EUSH.  21 

ing  with  a  will  during  part  of  his  time,  and  ap 
propriating  the  balance  to  a  thorough  analysis  of  the 
desease  from  a  scientific  standpoint.  He  visited  over 
one  hundred  and  fifty  patients  a  week,  and  saved 
many  thousand  lives  by  his  original  and  judicious 
treatment.  His  special  mode  of  treatment,  success 
ful  as  it  was,  was  severely  criticised  by  many  dis 
tinguished  medical  contemporaries  and  was  produc 
tive  of  great  prejudice  against  him.  Journalists, 
pamphleteers,  and  scurrilous  anonymous  writers 
hurled  their  fierce  javelins  at  him  with  reckless 
malignity,  until  the  discussion,  originally  based  on 
questions  of  professional  skill,  degenerated  into  a 
petty,  personal  persecution.  He  was  even  stigma 
tized  as  a  murderer,  and  threatened  with  mobocratic 
expulsion  from  his  native  city.  In  this  instance 
public  sentiment  assumed  one  of  those  peculiar  roles 
not  uncommon  in  history,  invariably  as  unjust  as 
they  are  inexplicable. 

As  a  penalty  for  his  blood-circulation  theory 
Harvey  blunted  his  professional  prospects,  and  was 
hooted  as  a  common  fool ;  and  Dr.  Bush,  by  his  bril 
liant  practice,  productive  of  the  most  successful  re 
sults  in  saving  human  life,  lost  public  confidence 
because  he  bravely  wandered  from  the  beaten  path 
of  official  routine  to  subdue  a  pestilential  foe  which, 
until  then,  had  never  been  vanquished.  On  the  ter 
mination  of  the  fever  a  motion  was  made  in  a  pub 
lic  meeting  of  the  citizens  to  cordially  thank  the 
medical  faculty  of  Philadelphia  generally,  and  Dr. 


22  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

Benjamin  Eush  specially,  for  their  eminent  services 
during  the  epidemic,  but  no  one  in  the  vast  audi 
ence  was  bold  enough  to  second  it,  and  it  failed. 
The  noble  survivors  were  grateful  to  Providence  . 
and  their  own  strong  constitutions  for  the  general 
result,  but  were  cautious  about  taking  any  addi 
tional  stock  in  the  medical  fraternity.  Phil  Frenan, 
the  dashing,  reckless  editor  of  the  New  York  Ad 
vertiser,  who  had  acquired  a  national  reputation  by 
his  pungent  paragraphs  and  satirical  verses,  com 
plained  that  the  physicians  had  fled  the  city  : 

On  prancing  steed,  with  sponge  at  nose, 

From  town  behold  Sangrado  fly  ; 
Camphor  and  tar,  where'er  he  goes, 

The  infected  shafts  of  death  defy — 
Safe  in  an  atmosphere  of  scents 
He  leaves  us  to  our  own  defence. 

"William  Cobbett,  an  intelligent  Englishman,  re 
siding  in  Philadelphia  at  the  time,  a  popular  politi 
cal  pamphleteer,  flying  the  original  nom  de  plume  of 
"  Peter  Porcupine,"  was  a  man  of  bitter  force  and 
strength,  and  a  consummate  master  of  invective. 
He  violently  attacked  Eush  in  one  of  his  publica 
tions,  and  was  sued  by  the  latter  for  libel,  and 
made  to  pay  $5,000  for  his  sport.  This  was  one 
of  the  many  assaults  made  upon  Dr.  Eush,  but 
he  survived  them  all,  and  built  up  and  retained 
by  all  odds  the  largest  practice  in  Philadelphia.  A 
few  years  afterwards  there  was  a  re-actionary  feel 
ing  in  his  favor  by  his  receiving  from  the  King  of 
Prussia,  in  1805,  a  gold  medal  for  his  replies  to  cer- 


BENJAMIN  RUSH.  23 

tain  questions  about  the  treatment  of  yellow  fever. 
For  the  same  consideration  he  received,  in  1807,  a 
medal  from  the  Queen  of  Etruria,  and  in  1811  the 
Emperor  of  Eussia  gave  him  a  brilliant  diamond 
ring,  through  respect  for  his  great  medical  fame. 

Dr.  Rush  was  a  voluminous  and  able  writer,  and 
one  wonders  how  he  could  spare  so  much  time  from 
his  laborious  professional  duties  to  assume  the  role 
of  an  essayist  and  a  general  writer  on  literary, 
moral,  philosophical,  and  political  subjects.  One  so 
lution  is  that  he  was  a  most  zealous,  indefatigable 
worker,  allowing  no  small  fragments  of  time  to  be 
wasted.  His  writings  consist  principally  of  seven 
volumes,  six  of  which  are  devoted  to  medical  sub 
jects,  the  remaining  one  being  a  compendium  of 
various  literary  articles.  His  "Medical  Inquiries 
and  Observations,"  "Diseases  of  the  Mind,"  "  Medi 
cal  Tracts,"  "  Health,  Temperance,  and  Exercise," 
gave  him  a  deservedly  high  reputation  at  home,  and 
honorable  recognition  abroad. 

In  the  early  part  of  his  life  Dr.  Rush  found  suffi 
cient  leisure  time  to  study  politics,  not  with  the 
circumscribed  instincts  of  a  selfish,  sordid  partisan, 
but  as  a  good  citizen,  with  an  honest  desire  to  assist 
in  shaping  the  political  destinies  of  his  country. 
In  1776  he  was  a  member  of  the  celebrated  Con 
gress  that  gave  us  an  historic  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence,  to  which  he  cheerfully  and  proudly  gave 
his  name  and  influence.  In  1777  he  was  appointed 
physician-general  of  the  military  hospital  in  the 


24  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

Middle  Department,  and  in  1787  was  a  member  of 
the  Pennsylvania  Convention  which  ratified  the 
Federal  Constitution,  but  was  not  a  member  of  the 
General  Constitutional  Convention,  as  has  been  er 
roneously  stated  by  some  authorities.  He  did  all 
he  could  do  for  its  adoption,  considering  it  "a  mas 
terpiece  of  human  wisdom.".  In  1799,  President 
Adams  appointed  him  Treasurer  of  the  United 
States  Mint,  solely  on  account  of  his  faultless  char 
acter  and  sterling  integrity,  and  which  was  en 
tirely  unsolicited  on  his  part.  The  duties  of  this 
office  he  faithfully  performed  during  the  last  four 
teen  years  of  his  life.  But  few  cities  in  Europe, 
and  certainly  none  in  this  country,  have  such  nu 
merous  and  various  charitable  institutions  as  Phila 
delphia.  No  one  citizen  contributed  more  to  the 
successful  organization  of  many  of  these  than  Dr. 
Benjamin  Eush.  In  1785,  he  planned  and  organ 
ized  the  Philadelphia  Dispensary,  the  first  institu 
tion  of  the  kind  in  the  country.  He  was  president 
of  the  Philadelphia  Society  for  the  Abolition  of 
Slavery,  and  also  of  the  Philadelphia  Medical 
Society.  He  was  the  founder  of  the  Philadelphia 
Bible  Society,  and  for  many  years  one  of  its  hon 
ored  presiding  officers,  and  for  several  years  was 
vice  president  of  the  celebrated  American  Philo 
sophical  Society.  He  was  a  strong,  practical  friend 
of  the  temperance  cause,  and  his  work  entitled 
"An  Inquiry  into  the  Effect  of  Ardent  Spirits 
upon  the  Human  Body  and  Mind  "  is  full  of  valu- 


BENJAMIN  RUSH.  25 

able  information,  and  is  considered  standard  au 
thority  among  the  friends  of  this  particular  reform 
atory  movement.  He  presented  a  thousand  copies 
of  this  interesting  tract  to  the  General  Assembly 
of  the  Presbyterian  Church  for  general  distribution 
among  their  members,  evoking  from  them  at  the 
time  a  stronger  resolution  in  favor  of  temperance 
than  they  have  ever  promulgated  since.  Dr.  Rush 
was  a  public  writer  for  forty-nine  years,  and  was 
not  a  mere  collator  of  other  men's  opinions,  but  an 
original,  honest  searcher  after  truth,  combining  util 
ity  and  elegance  in  all  his  essays  on  physical  science 
or  polite  literature.  He  was,  moreover,  a  high- 
toned,  Christian  gentleman,  and  the  sneers  and  fasci 
nations  of  what  are  termed  fashionable  circles  were 
powerless  to  divert  him  from  the  path  of  honest 
and  honorable  rectitude.  His  private  life  was  one 
of  unsullied  purity,  and  his  public  career  is  unsur 
passed  for  its  many  brilliant  developments  and  prac 
tical  results  for  the  common  good  of  his  country 
and  his  fellow  men. 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN,  PRINTER. 


The  man  in  whose  honor  the  Franklin  Institute  was 
named  —  A  Boston  and  Philadelphia  Statesman  — 
The  central  figure  of  ouf  local  Continental  wor 
thies  —  A  home  portrait  of  the  Editor-  Statesman  of 
1776. 


Pennsylvania  signers  to  the  Declaration  of 
_1_  Independence  were  Eobert  Morris,  Benjamin 
Rush,  Benjamin  Franklin,  John  Morton,  George  Cly- 
mer,  James  Smith,  George  Taylor,  James  Wilson, 
and  George  Ross.  The  signers  to  the  Constitution 
were  Benjamin  Franklin,  Robert  Morris,  Thomas 
Fitzsimmons,  James  Wilson,  Thomas  Mifflin,  George 
Clymer,  Jared  Ingersoll,  and  Gouverneur  Morris.  It 
will  be  observed  that  several  of  the  original  signers 
of  the  Declaration  were  leading  members  of  the 
Constitutional  Convention,  and  remembered  that  a 
majority  of  them  were  active  participants  in  our 
Continental  Congress.  The  average  intellectuality 
of  the  convention  was  high,  and,  happily,  very 
equally  distributed,  so  far  as  latitude  was  concerned. 
Even  in  those  primitive  times  there  was  consider 
able  sectional  feeling,  and  it  required  consummate 
tact  and  diplomacy  to  reconcile  and  harmonize  these 
antagonisms.  The  Cavaliers  of  the  South,  as  thev 

(26) 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  27 

were  pleased  to  term  themselves,  were  nobly  repre 
sented  by  Washington,  "  President  and  deputy  from 
Virginia, "  Jas.  Madison,  from  the  same  State,  Kut- 
ledge,  the  two  Pinckneys,  and  Pierce  Butler,  of 
South  Carolina.  The  focus  of  New  England's  ad 
miration  was  old  Eoger  Sherman,  a  severe  Puri 
tan  and  an  ardent  patriot.  New  York  was  justly 
proud  of  the  youthful,  petite,  but  graceful  and  elo 
quent,  Alexander  Hamilton,  while  Pennsylvania's 
grand  central  figure  was  the  grave  and  thoughtful 
old  Ben  Franklin.  Indeed,  as  diplomat,  scientist, 
philosopher,  and  patriot,  he  was  a  sort  of  paterfa 
milias  in  the  grand  group  of  national  celebrities. 
No  shafts  of  envy  were  hurled  at  the  veteran  states 
man,  then  in  his  eighty-first  year;  but  his  sugges 
tions,  theories,  and  opinions,  had  a  wonderful  influ 
ence  on  his  fellow-members.  To  sketch  the  civil 
heroes  of  our  Colonial  and  Continental  history,  and 
make  no  mention  of  Franklin,  even  on  the  hypoth 
esis  that  everybody  knows  all  about  him,  would  be 
a  flagrant  and  palpable  omission  of  Hamlet  in  the 
play.  Although  his  name  is  a  household  word  and 
his  fame  historically  grand,  it  is  a  singular  fact  that 
no  complete  popular  biography  of  this  great  man 
has  ever  been  published.  One  rarely  meets  with 
his  autobiography,  save  on  the  dusty  shelves  of 
some  second-hand  book  store ;  and  Sparks'  Life  of 
Franklin  is  too  voluminous  and  heavy  for  general 
currency  and  utility.  As  if  to  fill  the  vacancy,  a 
compact  three-volume  Life  of  Franklin  is,  at  the 


28  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

present  writing,  being  issued  from  the  press,  edited 
by  the  Hon.  John  Bigelow,  ex-minister  to  France. 
Franklin  was  perhaps  the  best  specimen,  of  what  is 
usually  termed  a  self-made  man,  ever  produced  in 
this  country.  Men  of  this  class  are  generally  strong, 
but  superficial,  too  often  lacking  culture  and  finish  ; 
but  he  was  just  the  reverse  of  this,  profound  in 
learning,  with  the  natural  simplicity  of  a  little  child, 
and  possessed  of  highly  polished  personal  manners. 
Franklin  was  a  remarkably  handsome  man,  with  a 
commanding  figure  above  the  middle  size,  and  was 
in  his  early  days,  quite  an  athlete,  and  famous  for 
his  physical  strength  and  activity.  His  counte 
nance  indicated  self-poise  and  serenity,  great  depth 
of  thought,  and  inflexible  resolution.  He  possessed 
captivating  conversational  powers,  and  could  adapt 
these  very  felicitously  to  circumstances,  either  in 
the  laboratory  of  the  scientist  or  at  the  desk  of  a 
school  boy.  Although  a  philosopher,  he  was  some 
thing  of  a  wag,  and  brimful  of  quaint  good  humor. 
When  John  Hancock  appended  his  signature  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  in  large,  bold  charac 
ters,  he  remarked  with  an  air  of  excusable  bravado, 
"  There !  John  Bull  can  read  my  name  without 
spectacles."  A  moment  after,  he  turned  to  Franklin, 
and  somewhat  nervously  suggested,  "  We  must  all 
hang  together  now."  "Yes,"  responded  the  reso 
lute  old  philosopher,  "or  most  assuredly  we  will  all 
hang  separately,"  which  was  a  good  joke,  and  very 
true  at  the  same  time. 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  29 

Born  in  Boston,  January  17,  1706,  it  is  not  sur 
prising  that  at  an  early  age  he  soon  wearied  of  the 
respectable,  but  not  very  intellectual,  avocation  of 
soap-boiler  and  chandler,  a  sphere  which  his  practi 
cal  father  had  selected  for  him.  In  1722  he  landed 
in  Philadelphia,  being  at  that  time  but  a  mere  boy. 
From  that  date  until  his  death,  April  17,  1790,  he 
was  most  thoroughly  identified  with  all  the  impor 
tant  interests  and  developments  of  his  adopted  State, 
and,  solely  through  intrinsic  merit,  was  the  recipient 
from  her  of  many  civil  and  political  honors.  He  was 
made  successively  Clerk  of  the  Assembly  (1736), 
Postmaster  of  Philadelphia  (1737),  and  Deputy  Post 
master  General  for  the  British  Colonies  (1753).  No 
young  man  in  these  days  of  zealous  effort  to  win 
fame  by  short  cuts  and  air-line  routes,  can  fail  to 
obtain  much  valuable  information  by  studying  close 
ly  the  salient  points  in  the  character  of  this  most 
remarkable  man.  Although  a  century  has  elapsed 
since  he  has  passed  away,  an  intelligent  posterity 
cannot  fail  to  mark  the  admirable  and  exquisitely 
adjusted  features  of  his  character,  and  the  harmoni 
ous  and  massive  grandeur  of  his  magnificent  and 
finely-developed  manhood.  Penniless  and  footsore, 
at  sixteen  years  of  age  he  entered  our  city,  and  in 
a  few  brief  years  (1752),  without  any  of  the  mod 
ern  manipulation  and  lobbying  for  titular  distinc 
tion,  the  Koyal  Society  of  London  unanimously 
elected  him  a  member  of  their  dignified  body,  and 
bestowed  upon  him  the  Copley  gold  medal  for  his 


30  .CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

brilliant  discovery  of  the  identity  of  lightning  with 
the  electric  fluid.  In  the  interim  of  these  eventful 
years,  his  failures  and  successes,  his  defeats  and  tri 
umphs,  form  a  consolidated  volume  of  profound  in 
terest,  more  thrilling  than  the  most  popular  romance 
of  modern  times.  Whether  you  view  him  as  editor 
of  the  Pennsylvania  Gazette  and  "  Poor  Richard's 
Almanac ;  "  as  mediator  between  the  Assembly  and 
the  proprietary  governments,  compromising  difficul 
ties  between  them  about  taxation  before  the  Privy 
Council  of  England;  or,  before  the  House  of  Com 
mons,  endeavoring  to  repeal  the  odious  Stamp  Act ; 
or,  again,  as  ambassador  at  the  court  of  France, 
adroitly  securing  the  memorable  treaty  of  alliance 
between  that  country  and  our  own,  so  immense 
ly  favorable  to  us ;  in  all  these  varied  spheres  of 
poverty,  honor  and  trust,  we  find  astounding  de 
velopments  of  individuality  and  wisdom.  Frank 
lin's  ancestral  tree  was  not  one  of  hot-house  culture. 
His  father  was  a  plain,  practical,  poor  man,  from 
Northampton,  England,  a  strict  Puritan,  and  left  his 
native  soil  during  the  reign  of  Charles  II.  to  avoid 
the  persecution  raging  there  with  fanatical  zeal.  He 
settled  in  Boston,  and  married  a  lady  of  respect 
able  family  in  that  city.  The  parents  determined 
to  make  a  clergyman  of  Benjamin,  nolens  volens; 
but  slender  resources,  and,  perhaps,  lack  of  theolog 
ical  taste  in  the  young  man,  changed  their  views, 
and  he  was  withdrawn  to  assist  his  father  in  his 
business  of  tallow  chandler.  He  soon  became  tired 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  31 

of  this,  for  the  business  itself  was  not  a  congenial 
one,  and,  restless  and  uneasy,  he  longed  for  the  deep 
blue  sea — that  El  •  Dorado  of  so  many  romantic 
youths  of  fifteen  who  become  tired  of  the  despotism 
of  home  rule.  Then  he  became  taciturn  and  thought 
ful,  developing  a  wonderful  taste  for  reading,  de 
vouring  everything  within  his  reach,  "Plutarch's 
Lives,"  "Defoe's  Essay  on  Projects,"  and  every 
thing  else  in  his  father's  scanty  library.  At  twelve 
we  find  him  at  the  printer's  desk;  at  fourteen, 
proficient  in  the  mechanical  part  of  his  trade,  and 
zealously  perfecting  himself  in  prose  composition. 
With  great  taste  for  learning,  he  imbibed  a  kin 
dred  one  for  disputation,  and  adopting  the  Socratic 
method,  he  became  dextrous  in  confuting  and  con 
founding  an  antagonist  by  a  series  of  questions.  In 
early  life  he  was  somewhat  skeptical  in  religious 
matters,  and  propagated  his  peculiar  tenets  with 
more  zeal,  perhaps,  than  judgment,  until  he  found 
he  did  much  injury  to  his  companions  by  this  course, 
when  he  very  prudently  desisted.  In  his  maturer 
years,  however,  according  to  his  warm,  personal 
friend,  Dr.  William  Smith,  he  became  a  believer 
in  Divine  revelation.  In  his  "  Memoirs,"  written 
by  himself,  he  says :  "  And  here  let  me,  with  all 
humility,  acknowledge  that  to  Divine  Providence  I 
am  indebted  for  all  the  happiness  I  have  hitherto  en 
joyed.  It  is  that  power  alone  which  has  furnished 
me  with  the  means  I  have  employed  and  that  has 
crowned  them  with  success.  My  faith  in  this  re- 


32  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

spect  leads  me  to  hope  that  the  Divine  goodness  will 
still  be  exercised  towards  me.  My  future  fortune  is 
unknown  but  to  Him  in  whose  hand  is  our  destiny." 
In  this  connection  we  insert  the  quaint  epitaph 
written  by  himself  long  before  his  death : — 

The  body  of 

BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN,  PRINTER, 
Like  the  cover  of  an  old  book, 

Its  contents  torn  out 
And  stript  of  its  lettering  and  gilding, 

Lies  here,  food  for  worms. 

Yet  the  book  itself  shall  not  be  lost, 

For  it  will  (as  he  believed)  appear  once  more, 

in  a  new 

and  more  beautiful  edition, 

corrected  and  amended 

by  the  Author. 

The  early  life  of  Franklin,  as  we  have  seen,  was 
obscured  by  dark  clouds,  and  his  pathway  full  of 
thorns.  His  parents  were  poor,  and  his  father  more 
particularly,  unappreciative  and  unsympathetic ;  his 
brother,  to  whom  he  was  indentured  as  a  printer's 
apprentice,  harsh,  parsimonious,  and  despotic ;  his 
own  means  limited,  and  his  health  delicate.  This 
was  the  atmosphere  surrounding  him,  when  at  six 
teen  he  sailed  from  Boston  for  New  York,  and  failing 
to  secure  employment  therer  walked  from  the  latter 
city  to  Philadelphia.  On  his  arrival  he  had  not  a 
farthing,  no  counsellor,  no  acquaintance,  no  friend ; 
he  had  to  start  from  the  crude  surface  and  build  up. 
He  wandered  through  our  long,  narrow  streets,  not 
a  pauper,  but  a  delicate,  penniless  youth,  but  one 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  33 

within  whose  bosom  was  a  riveted  determination  to 
work  and  win.  Space  will  not  permit  us  to  enter 
into  minute  details  of  his  career  during  the  first  few 
years  of  his  life  in  Philadelphia.  Sir  William  Keith, 
Governor  of  the  Province,  took  stock  in  the  young 
printer,  and  suggested  the  propriety  of  his  going  to 
England  to  purchase  printing  material  and  supplies 
to  start  his  new  paper  in  Philadelphia.  He  sailed 
for  London,  and  when  he  arrived  there  found  that 
Sir  William,  upon  whose  letters  of  credit  he  had 
relied,  had  deceived  him,  and  he  was  compelled  to 
search  for  something  to  do  to  support  himself  in 
that  mammoth  city.  In  1726  he  returned  to  Phila 
delphia  and  started  his  paper.  In  1730  he  married, 
and  in  1732  began  the  publication  of  "Poor  Rich 
ard's  Almanac,"  which  was  continued  for  twenty-five 
years — a  most  valuable  compendium  of  prudential 
maxims  and  sound  common-sense,  a  republication 
of  which  might  furnish  useful  reading,  during  the 
long  winter  nights,  for  our  National  and  State  leg 
islators.  Franklin's  political  career  commenced  in 
1736,  and  during  the  same  year  he  assisted  in  the 
establishment  of  the  American  Philosophical  So 
ciety  and  the  University  of  Pennsylvania.  In  1738 
he  formed  the  first  fire  company  ever  organized  in 
Philadelphia,  to  which  was  shortly  afterward  added 
an  insurance  office  against  losses  by  fire.  In  1742 
he  published  his  celebrated  treatise  upon  the  im 
provement  of  chimneys,  following  this  by  inventing 
a  stove  known  as  the  "  Franklin,"  used  for  a  century 

2* 


34  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

in  all  parts  of  the  country.  In  the  French  war  of 
1744  he  proposed  a  plan  of  voluntary  association 
for  the  defence  of  the  country,  which  was  joined  by 
ten  thousand  persons,  trained  to  the  use  and  exer 
cise  of  arms.  He  was  chosen  colonel  of  the  Phila 
delphia  regiment,  but  declined  the  honor  in  favor  of 
a  friend.  The  same  year  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  Provincial  Assembly,  where  he  remained  for 
ten  years.  He  now  devoted  his  time  more  particu 
larly  to  philosophical  and  scientific  researches,  and 
in  1752  fixed  an  insulated  iron  rod  to  his  own  resi 
dence  to  protect  it  from  lightning,  for  which  act  his 
profound  and  wise  neighbors  deemed  him  a  fit  sub 
ject  for  a  lunatic  asylum.  In  1753  he  assumed  the 
office  of  Deputy  Postmaster  General  of  America,  and, 
strange  as  it  may  seem  to  our  modern  postal  officials, 
he  made  the  Post  Office  Department  a  source  of 
revenue  to  the  British  Crown,  instead  of  a  tax  upon 
the  people  for  its  support.  At  this  period  Brad- 
dock  was  defeated  in  his  wild  and  reckless  expedi 
tion  against  Fort  Du  Quesne,  and  the  whole  frontier 
was  exposed  to  the  incursions  of  the  savages  and  the 
French.  Franklin  dropped  his  philosophy  and  his 
metaphysics,  and  at  the  head  of  a  company  of  bold 
volunteers  marched  to  the  protection  of  our  frontier. 
In  1757  the  militia  were  disbanded  by  order  of  the 
British,  government,  shortly  after  which  Franklin 
was  appointed  agent  to  adjust  the  difficulties  which 
had  arisen  between  the  citizens  of  Pennsylvania  and 
the  proprietary  government.  He  sailed  for  Europe 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  35 

to  lay  the  matter  before  the  Privy  Council.  His 
fame  as  a  philosopher  had  preceded  him,  and  un 
sought  on  his  -part  he  received  honorable  degrees  at 
London,  Edinburgh,  and  Oxford.  In  1764  he  again 
returned  to  England  to  settle  if  possible  the  stamp- 
act  difficulty,  and  lay  the  facts  before  the  Crown. 
In  1766  and  1767  he  made  a  trip  to  Holland,  Ger 
many,  and  France,  where  he  met  with  most  flatter 
ing  and  distinguished  receptions.  His  subsequent 
connection  with  the  celebrated  treaty  of  alliance, 
negotiated  mainly  through  his  instrumentality,  is 
well  known  to  every  one  conversant  with  our  early 
national  career.  His  connection  with  the  conven 
tion  that  framed  the  Constitution  is  also  valuable 
subject  matter  of  history.  He  was  eighty-one  years 
of  age  when  a  delegate  to  the  latter  position,  the 
oldest  member  of  that  body.  In  1788  he  withdrew 
from  public  life,  his  great  age  rendering  retirement 
desirable.  He  had  two  children,  a  son  and  a  daugh 
ter.  The  son  under  the  British  government  was 
appointed  Governor  of  New  Jersey,  and  at  the  com 
mencement  of  the  Eevolution  took  up  his  residence 
in  England,  where  he  spent  the  remainder  of  his 
life.  The  daughter  was  married  to  an  accomplished 
gentleman  of  Philadelphia,  Mr.  William  Bache. 

Dr.  Franklin  died  in  Philadelphia  on  the  17th  of 
April,  1790,  aged  84  years.  His  death  produced 
the  most  profound  sensation  throughout  the  coun 
try,  and  it  was  computed  that  not  less  than  twenty 
thousand  persons  attended  the  funeral.  He  was  ad- 


36  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

mired  and  revered  next  to  Washington.  Congress 
directed  a  general  mourning  for  him  throughout 
the  United  States  for  the  space  of  a  month,  and  the 
National  Assembly  of  France  testified  their  sense  of 
the  loss  which  the  whole  world  had  sustained  by 
decreeing  that  each  member  should  wear  mourning 
for  three  days.  Genuine  grief  for  the  loss  of  the 
great  and  good  man  was  universal. 

In  reviewing  the  imperfect  synopsis  we  have 
given  of  the  leading  points  in  the  life  of  this  great 
man  who  contributed  so  much  to  Colonial,  State, 
and  National  history,  indeed  for  the  universal  broth 
erhood  of  man,  one  cannot  fail  to  admire  his  many 
sterling,  genuine  traits  of  character.  His  individu 
ality,  that  characteristic  of  all  great  minds,  is  most 
marked.  His  resolute  will  bade  defiance  to  every 
obstacle  in  his  path,  bounding  swallow-like  through 
sunshine  and  cloud  with  almost  mathematical  celer 
ity  and  certainty.  Such  minds  never  fail.  His  most 
wonderful  executive  powers  also  stand  out  in  bold 
relief.  His  labor  triumphs  and  achievements  are 
astounding  and  almost  incomprehensible  to  the  ordi 
nary  mind.  Yiew  his  whole  life  from  any  stand 
point  we  may  desire,  as  mechanic,  inventor,  public 
official,  diplomat,  statesman  or  philanthropist, *and 
the  golden  fruits  of  his  versatile  life  are  rich,  mellow, 
and  abundant.  His  whole  life  was  one  of  continu 
ous  hard  work.  He  abhorred  fashionable  laziness 
and  sickly  sentimentalism,  never  calling  on  Hercules, 
but  relying  on  his  own  strong  shoulder  to  make  the  , 

- 
. 

V 


BENJAMIN  FRANKLIN.  37 

wheels  move.  Then,  again,  his  sobriety  assisted 
him  in  his  physical  and  mental  labors,  for  Frank 
lin,  although  not  noisy  and  demonstrative,  was  a 
practical,  conscientious  temperance  man.  He  con 
sidered  intemperance  the  great  enemy  of  the  labor 
ing  classes,  demoralizing  and  robbing  them  of  their 
hard  earnings ;  and  he  advocated  this,  as  he  did  all 
practical  reforms,  without  fear  or  favor.  His  integ 
rity,  however,  was  the  brightest  jewel  in  the  casket, 
for  in  all  his  private  and  public  relations  Franklin 
was  scrupulously  an  honest  man,  abhorring  debt, 
always  fortifying  his  honor  behind  the  entrench 
ments  of  prudence  and  economy.  His  loyalty  was 
above  suspicion,  and  his  efforts  to  assist  his  sorrow- 
stricken  country  in  her  hours  of  darkness  and  dis 
tress  should  be  familiar  to  every  American  school 
boy.  At  no  period  of  his  life  was  he  wealthy,  but 
always  in  what  might  be  termed  comfortable  cir 
cumstances.  Mere  crude  wealth,  divorced  from  no 
bler  aspirations,  is  always  flimsy  and  ephemeral, 
but  well-directed  intellect  has  the  world  as  its  audi 
tory  and  lives  forever  in  history.  The  titled  Colo 
nial  aristocracy  of  our  early  career,  and  the  daz 
zling  millionaires  of  our  more  advanced  history,  are 
nameless  and  forgotten,  but  their  humble  contem 
porary — the  penniless  Franklin — will  be  remem 
bered  as  long  as  science  has  a  friend  and  honest 
loyalty  an  admirer.  It  is  perhaps  a  lamentable  but 
nevertheless  an  historical  fact  which  cannot  be  ig 
nored,  that  on  the  occasion  of  the  passage  6f  the 


38  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

Declaration  of  Independence  there  was  considerable 
absenteeism,  and  a  tremendous  outside  pressure  to 
prevent  its  consummation.  We  will  return  to  this 
part  of  our  subject  matter  in  a  future  article,  and 
simply  refer  to  it  now  to  state  that,  although  others, 
and  many  of  them,  were  absent  through  real  or 
fictitious  cause,  Benjamin  Franklin,  of  Pennsylvania, 
was  always  at  his  post  of  duty,  calm  and  serene,  but 
firm  and  immovable  as  the  cliffs  of  Gibraltar. 


EVENTS  IN  THE  LIFE  OF  JOHN  MORTON. 


The  Man  who  held  the  balance  of  poiver  in  the 
Pennsylvania  Delegation  at  the  time  of  the  pas 
sage  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  as  de 
scribed  almost  a  century  after  his  death — His  ser 
vices  in  the  General  Assembly  and  Congress — 
Some  well-authenticated  facts  connected  with  the 
history  of  our  Colonial  severance. 

IN  the  quiet  cemetery  of  St.  James'  Church,  in 
the  thrifty  young  city  of  Chester,  on  the  Dela 
ware,  repose  the  remains  of  John  Morton,  one  of  the 
Pennsylvania  signers  of  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence.  It  is  subject-matter  of  history,  and  true 
beyond  cavil,  that  this  same  John  Morton,  at  the 
time  of  our  Colonial  severance,  by  his  ballot,  held 
the  balance  of  power  in  the  Pennsylvania  delega 
tion,  and  by  his  single  vote,  if  he  had  so  desired, 
could  have  defeated  the  unanimous  passage  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  By  his  intrepidity 
the  social  compact  was  sealed  as  a  unit,  and  our  ca 
reer  as  a  Republic  inaugurated.  The  defection  of 
a  single  State  at  this  thrilling  crisis  would  have  en 
dangered  the  success  of  the  whole  grand  movement, 
and  thus  completely  changed  the  current  of  our 
national  historv. 

(39) 


40  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

A  plain,  practical,  good  man,  of  great  personal 
purity,    strict   integrity,    and    marked    decision   of 
character,  John  Morton  played  no  unimportant  part 
in  the  early  history  of  his  country.    With  an  instinc 
tive  love  of  freedom,  he  combined  intense  moral  sen 
sibility,  and  a  conscientiousness  which  never  allowed 
him,  under  the  most  trying  circumstances,  to  swerve 
a  hair's  breadth  from  what  he  conceived  to  be  the 
path  of  duty.     These  are  the  kindred  elements  and 
characteristics   which  in   the   past   have  given   to 
religion  and  patriotism  their  martyrs  and  heroes. 
Before  entering  somewhat  into  detail  as  regards  the 
many  interesting  events  connected  with  the  life  of 
Judge   Morton,  some"  well- authenticated  facts  con 
nected  with  the  history  of  the  Declaration  may  not 
prove   uninteresting   to   the   general  reader.     The 
prevailing  popular  opinion  is  that  immediately  on 
the  passage  of  the  historic  document,  July  4,  1776, 
it  was  signed  on  that  day  by  the  members  whose 
names  are  affixed.     Such,  however,  is  not  the  fact ; 
not  a  single  name  was  attached  to  it  at  that  time. 
Fifteen  days  thereafter  Congress  ordered  that  it-be 
engrossed  on  parchment  and  signed  by  every  mem 
ber.     This  was   done  on  the  2d  of  the  .following 
August,  almost  thirty  days  after  its  original  passage. 
It  was  on  that  day  signed  by  all  who'^were  then 
members,  and  afterwards  by  several  who  were  sub-' 
sequently  elected.     A   number  who  voted  for  the 
Declaration  did  not  sign  it  on  August  2d  for  in  the 
interim  their  respective  terms  of  office  had  expired. 


JOHN  MORTON.  41 

Strange  to  say,  among  those  who  subscribed  their 
names  was  one  who  opposed  its  passage — Hon.  Geo. 
Reed,  of  Delaware. 

The  Pennsylvania  delegation  on  this  memorable 
occasion  consisted  of  seven  members,  Messrs.  Ben 
jamin  Franklin,  James  Wilson,  John  Morton,  John 
Dickinson,  Robert  Morris,  Thos.  Willing,  and  Chas. 
Humphreys.  All  arguments  on  the  matter  being  ex 
hausted,  Congress  resolved  itself  into  a  Committee  of 
the  Whole  July  1, 1776.  Without  any  preliminary 
skirmishing,  the  chairman,  to  test  the  matter,  put 
the  question  direct  to  the  convention,  and  all  the 
States  voted  in  the  affirmative  except  Pennsylvania 
and  Delaware,  which  gave  the  negative  vote.  Of 
the  seven  Pennsylvanians  present,  Morton,  Franklin, 
and  Wilson  voted  in  favor  of,  and  Dickinson,  Mor 
ris,  Willing,  and  Humphreys  in  opposition  to  the 
measure.  Delaware  was  a  tie — Thomas  McKean 
(born  in  Chester  county,  and  afterwards  Chief  Jus 
tice  of  our  Commonwealth)  voted  in  favor  of  the 
bill,  and  George  Reed  against  it,  Caesar  Rodney,  the 
third  member,  being  unavoidably  absent  from  his 
post  of  duty.  On  the  next  Thursday,  July  4,  1776, 
amid  the  most  intense  excitement,  the  vital  civil 
question  of  the  age  came  before  Congress.  The 
scene  in  the"  old  Independence  Hall  was  morally 
grand  beyond  description,  and  the  pulsation  of  pat 
riotic  hearts  could  almost  be  heard  in  the  profound 
stillness  imparted  by  the  solemnity  of  the  historic 
occasion.  Even  were  the  Colonial  heroes  successful 


42  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

in  the  vote  which  in  a  moment  was  to  be  taken, 
their  future  was  fearfully  problematic  and  dark,  and 
each  man  knew  it  well.     They  represented  a  con 
stituency  of  but  three  millions  of  people,  scattered 
over  a  widely  extended  domain,  with  no  recognized 
political  status,   a   depleted   treasury,  a   disjointed 
brotherhood,  bankrupt  in  everything   but   honest 
manhood,  and  bound  together   by  no  other  bond 
than  common  sufferings,  common  danger,  and  com 
mon  necessities.     Here  was  a  crisis,  for   glory  or 
shame,  history  or  the  halter.     Eleven  Colonies  vo 
ted  successively  in  favor  of  the  measure,  and   as 
each  Colonial  vote  was  announced,  legislative  dig 
nity  was  for  a  moment  dethroned  by  the  suppressed, 
but  still  audible  exultation  of  the  triumphant  pat 
riots.     And  now,  once   more,  there  is  almost  the 
stillness  of  the  sepulchre  as  the  Colony  of  Delaware 
is  called,  and,  like  the  lightning  flash,  all  eyes  are 
concentrated  on  her  delegation.     There  is  manifest 
surprise,  and  low  whisperings  and  nmtterings  as  the 
discovery  is  made  that  again  one  of  her  delegates  is 
absent.     The  stern  voice  of  the  courteous  but  im 
partial   Speaker   commands   the   clerk   to  proceed 
with  the  vote.     McKean,   true  as   steel,  voted  an 
emphatic   aye,  while   Reed,  his  colleague,  equally 
loyal  perhaps,  but  timidly  created,  rendered  a  vote 
for  the  opposition.     At  this  moment  the  clatter  of 
horses'  feet  is  heard  in  front  of  State  House  Row, 
and  quickly  dismounting  from  his  foaming  steed, 
booted  and  spurred,  the  third  delegate  from  little 


JOHN  MORTON.  43 

Delaware,  the  gallant  Csesar  Rodney,  rushes  into  the 
assembly  just  in  time  to  make  the  historic  Declara 
tion,  thus  far,  a  unit  and  a  success.  Anticipating 
the  issue,  McKean  had  dispatched  a  messenger  for 
Rodney,  and  the  latter,  with  whip  and  spur,  had  rid 
den  eighty  miles,  from  the  county  of  Kent,  through 
marsh  and  swamp,  with  the  dash  and  enthusiasm 
of  a  Riehard  Cosur  de  Leon,  until  he  reached  his 
loyal  goal.  To  this  point  the  friends  of  the  meas 
ure  had  been  favored  with  blue  skies  and  fair 
weather,  but  sturdy  old  Pennsylvania  was  yet  to 
cast  her  ponderous  vote,  and  the  nervous  anxiety 
as  to  the  result  was  almost  painful.  Of  the  seven 
members  enumerated  above  as  composing  her  dele 
gation,  but  five  are  actually  in  their  seats  in  the 
convention.  Dickinson  and  Morris,  though  present 
in  the  hall,  are  not  in  their  official  positions  during 
the  calling  of  the  roll.  One  of  the  five  is  even  ab 
sent  temporarily,  and  John  Hancock,  surveying  the 
field,  resorted  to  a  little  excusable  legislative  strat 
egy,  and,  in  order  to  kill  time  until  the  arrival  of 
the  mysterious  absentee  of  the  Pennsylvania  dele 
gation,  was  addressing  the  house  on  some  minor 
parliamentary  point,  when  the  hall-door  opened,  and 
the  missing  delegate  entered  and  quietly  took  his 
seat.  That  man  was  John  Morton,  of  Delaware  county. 
His  blanched  cheek,  quivering  lip,  and  clenched  hand 
indicate  a  fearful  internal  struggle.  Once  more 
the  sound  of  the  Speaker's  gavel  is  heard,  silence 
ordered,  and  Pennsylvania,  the  last  of  the  Thirteen 


44  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

Colonies,  and  the  first  in  commercial  importance,  is 
called  upon  to  record  her  vote.  Franklin  votes  aye, 
Willing  nay,  Wilson  aye,  and  Humphrey  nay. 
When  the  name  of  John  Morton  is  called  he  is  for 
an  instant  the  focus  of  all  eyes.  The  lip  has  ceased 
to  quiver,  the  clenched  hand  has  relaxed,  and  the 
blanched  cheek  is  now  crimsoned  with  the  hot  flush 
of  conscientious  resolve,  and  the  utterance  of  his 
honest  "  Aye !  "  reverberating  through  the  old  hall 
gives  him  historic  fame  and  confirms  the  unanimity 
of  the  Declaration  of  Independence. 

All  historical  authority,  contemporaneous  or 
otherwise,  unites  in  awarding  the  honor  of  giving 
the  casting  vote  to  Judge  Morton,  and  it  has  never 
been  denied  by  any  reputable  historiographer.  In 
referring  once  more  to  the  signers  of  the  Declaration 
-we  find  that  of  the  seven  members  present  from 
Pennsylvania — present  at  its  passage — but  four  of 
their  names  are  affixed  to  it,  viz. :  Eobert  Morris, 
Benjamin  Franklin,  John  Morton,  and  James  Wil 
son.  The  other  five  names  subsequently  added  are 
Benjamin  Eush,  George  Clymer,  James  Smith, 
George  Taylor,  and  George  Eoss,  who  were  ap 
pointed  delegates  to  the  Continental  Congress  by 
the  Legislature,  on  the  26th  of  July,  1776. 

John  Morton  deserves  to  be  remembered  with 
peculiar  respect  by  State  and  Nation.  The  respon 
sibility  he  assumed  was  great,  even  fearful,  should  the 
measure  be  attended  with  disastrous  consequences, 
as  was  then  most  probable.  Every  element  of  a 


JOHN  MORTON.  45 

potential  lobby  was  brought  into  play  to  subvert 
and  control  his  judgment  in  relation  to  this  vote. 
But  threats  and  bribes  fell  harmless  at  the  feet  of 
this  Christian  patriot.  Friends,  relatives,  and  neigh 
bors  ostracised  him  socially  and  politically  for  what 
they  were  pleased  to  term  his  criminal  imprudence. 
During  his  last  illness,  on  the  very  verge  of  the 
eternal  world,  he  requested  those  who  stood  around 
his  bedside  to  tell  his  enemies  "  that  the  hour  would 
yet  come  when  it  would  be  acknowledged  that  his 
vote  in  favor  of  American  independence  was  the 
most  illustrious  act  of  his  life."  Morton  was  a  re 
markably  sensitive  man,  but  lacked  neither  indi 
viduality  nor  decision,  as  the  crowning  act  of  his 
life  testifies.  For  some  time  immediately  after  the 
promulgation  of  the  Declaration  our  army  in  the 
field  met  with  an  almost  unbroken  series  of  disas* 
ters ;  and  solicitude  on  this  point,  coupled  with  the 
local  persecutions  he  suffered,  no  doubt  hastened 
his  death. 

He  lived  only  long  enough  to  witness  with  a  sad 
heart  the  calamities  and  misfortunes  that  befel  the 
national  arms  in  almost  all  the  engagements  of  1776 
and  the  spring  of  1777,  and  was  not  permitted,  in 
the  wisdom  of  a  Higher  Power,  to  witness  the 
bright  sunlight  of  a  glorious  peace,  enunciated  on 
the  nineteenth  of  April,  1783,  after  eight  long  years 
of  sanguinary,  desolating  war.  In  relation  to  the 
status  of  a  majority  of  that  portion  of  the  members 
of  the  Continental  Congress  who  voted  against  the 


46  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

Declaration,  it  may  be  remarked  that  their  patri 
otism  was  never  doubted  by  their  colleagues,  their 
constituents,  or  reliable  history.  There  were  thou 
sands  in  the  country  of  reliable,  worthy,  patriotic 
men,  who  deemed  the  agitation  of  so  important  a 
question  at  that  particular  time  as  premature  and 
consequently  inexpedient.  This  was  the  strong 
argument  adduced  by  the  opponents  of  the  measure 
in  the  Continental  Congress,  timid  croakers,  but  yet 
at  heart  genuine  patriots,  men  who  ardently  desired 
but  yet  lacked  the  moral  courage  to  assert  their 
rights.  Such  a  class  is  even  yet  always  largely 
represented  in  all  large  deliberative  bodies ;  follow 
ers,  not  leaders;  good  elements  for  reinforcements, 
but  poor  material  for  the  advance  guard.  John 
Morton  did  not  belong  to  the  class  to  which  we 
have  alluded,  but  was  blunt,  frank  and  decided,  and 
voted  for  independence  simply  because  his  con 
scientious  convictions  led  him  in  that  direction. 
The  opponents  of  the  measure  in  the  Pennsylvania 
delegation  claimed,  with  some  show  of  reason,  that 
their  instructions  from  the  Legislature  were  of  a 
pacific  character  and  restricted  the  latitude  of  per 
sonal  judgment.  It  will  be  remembered  that  the 
members  of  the  Continental  Congress  were  elected 
by  the  several  Colonial  Legislatures,  and  not  di 
rectly  by  the  people.  The  following  is  the  closing 
paragraph  of  certain  instructions  issued  by  the 
Pennsylvania  Legislature  to  the  Congressional  dele 
gation  on  the  9th  of  November,  1775 : 


JOHN  MORTON.  47 

"Though  the  oppressive  measures  of  the  British 
Parliament  and  administration  have  compelled  us  to 
resist  their  violence  by  force  of  arms,  yet  we  strictly 
enjoin  you  that  you,  in  behalf  of  this  Colony,  dis 
sent  from  and  utterly  reject  any  propositions,  should 
such  be  made,  that  may  cause  or  lead  to  a  separation 
from  our  mother  country,  or  to  a  change  of  the  form 
of  this  Government." 

On  the  14th  of  the  following  June  we  find  addi 
tional  instructions  issued,  of  which  the  following  is 
the  closing  portion:  "The  happiness  of  these  Colo 
nies  has,  during  the  whole  course  of  this  fatal  con 
troversy,  been  our  first  wish — their  reconciliation 
with  Great  Britain  our  next.  Ardently  have  we 
prayed  for  the  accomplishment  of  both.  But  if  we 
renounce  the  one  or  the  other,  we  humbly  trust  to 
the  mercies  of  the  Supreme  Governor  of  the  Uni 
verse,  that  we  shall  not  stand  condemned  before  His 
throne,  if  our  choice  is  determined  by  that  over 
ruling  law  of  self-preservation  which  His  divine 
wisdom  has  thought  fit  to  implant  in  the  hearts  of 
His  creatures." 

The  last  series  of  instructions  in  the  main  are 
pointed  and  decided,  couched  in  language  indicating 
earnest,  solemn,  religious  conviction,  and  both  are 
signed  "by  order  of  the  House,"  John  Morton, 
Speaker.  He  seems  to  have  interpreted  the  instruc 
tions  in  his  own  patriotic  and  original  way. 

John  Morton  was  born  in  1724,  in  Eidley  township, 
now  Delaware  county,  formerly  a  part  of  Chester 


48  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

county,  Pa.  The  house  in  which  he  was  born  is  still 
standing  on  the  Chester  turnpike,  (the  old  Queen's 
highway,)  twelve  miles  from  Philadelphia  and  three 
from  the  city  of  Chester.  His  ancestors  were  of 
Swedish  extraction,  and  were  among  the  first  Swed 
ish  emigrants  who  settled  on  the  banks  of  the  Dela 
ware,  below  Philadelphia.  His  father,  for  whom 
he  was  named,  died  a  few- months  before  his  birth. 
His  mother  some  time  after  was  married  to  an  in 
telligent  Englishman,  John  Sketchley,  who  possessed 
more  than  an  ordinary  education,  and  who,  with 
great  kindness  and  consideration,  superintended  the 
home  education  of  his  bright,  promising  step- son. 
His  active  mind  rapidly  expanded,  and  gave  great 
promise  of  future  usefulness.  Under  the  guidance 
and  management  of  Mr.  Sketchley,  young  Morton 
became  quite  a  profound  mathematician,  and  very 
proficient  as  a  surveyor,  a  profession  most  admirably 
adapted  to  the  development  of  method,  system  and 
precision,  in  both  thought  and  action.  He  never 
ceased  to  remember  the  kindness  of  Mr.  Sketchley, 
who  was  indeed  a  skillful  tutor,  and  a  most  faithful 
guardian  and  friend. 

In  1764  he  was  commissioned  as  a  justice  of  the 
peace,  and  the  same  year  was  sent  as  a  delegate  to 
the  General  Assembly  of  Pennsylvania,  of  which  he 
was,  for  many  years,  an  influential  member,  and  for 
some  time  was  Speaker  of  the  Lower  House.  In 
1765  he  was  appointed  by  our  Legislature  to  attend 
the  General  Congress,  assembled  in  New  York,  to 


JOHN  MORTON.  49 

concert  measures  for  the  repeal  of  the  odious  stamp 
act.  In  1766  he  was  appointed  sheriff  of  Chester 
county,  which  position  he  held  for  three  years.  In 
1772  he  was  elevated  to  a  seat  on  the  bench  of  the 
Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania,  which  honorable 
position  he  filled  with  great  dignity  and  ability.  In 
July,  1774,  he  was  elected  a  member  of  the  historic 
Congress  that  convened  in  Thiladelphia  the  follow 
ing  September  to  make  one  final  effort  to  effect  a 
reconciliation  between  the  Colonies  and  the  mother 
country.  This  body  was  composed  of  men  of  pro 
found  learning,  inflexible  firmness,  and  unblemished 
private  and  public  character;  men  who  could  not 
be  seduced  from  the  straight  path  of  duty  by  any 
of  the  glittering  temptations  of  money  or  power 
unfortunately  so  potential  in  more  modern  times. 
Judge  Morton  earnestly  concurred  in  all  the  ad 
vanced  movements  and  deliberations  of  that  body, 
which  virtually  kindled  the  fires  of  the  Eevolution. 
In  May,  1775,  he  took  his  seat  in  Congress,  and 
was  re-elected  in  November.  In  July,  1776,  he 
brilliantly  closed  his  Congressional  career  by  his 
historic  vote  in  the  creation  of  a  unanimom  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  to  which  we  have  already 
feebly  alluded.  In  April,  1777,  he  was  attacked  by 
an  inflammatory  fever,  which  terminated  his  life 
after  a  few  days'  illness,  at  the  early  age  of  fifty -four, 
just  nine  months  after  he  had  given  his  famous  vote 
in  the  Continental  Congress.  John  Morton  was  no 
ordinary  man.  To  the  cool  caution  of  his  calm 


50  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

temperament  was  strongly  allied  the  inflexible  will 
of  a  Cromwell.  A  stranger  to  cunning,  that  ready 
weapon  of  small  minds,  he  never  viewed  any  Na 
tional  or  State  question  from  the  stand-point  of  selfish 
policy.  Such  was  his  devotion  to  integrity  that  he 
would  sacrifice  his  best  personal  friend,  if  that  friend 
blocked  his  own  path  of  duty.  In  private  life  and 
the  social  circle  he  was"  esteemed  and  beloved  for 
his  intelligent  vivacity,  unspotted  personal  character, 
and  sweet  Christian  virtues.  His  descendants  are 
widely. scattered  over  the  different  sections  of  our 
country,  some  lingering  around  and  about  the  old 
homestead  in  Delaware  county,  whilst  others  are 
prominently  identified  with  the  leading  business  in 
terests  of  Philadelphia. 


GEORGE  CLYMER'S  MARKED  TRAITS. 


A  man  who  never  bought  or  sought  office,  who  never 
traduced  another's  character,  and  whose  devotion  to 
his  country  developed  itself  in  a  long  and  honorable 
life — An  orphan  at  seven  years — From  the  counting- 
room  to  the  head  of  a  leading  firm — His  record  in 
Congress. 

r  I  ^HE  same  strata  of  sterling  qualities  and  attrac- 
JL  tive  excellencies  appear  to  have  pervaded  the 
characters  of  the  leading  men  of  Pennsylvania, 
signers  and  others,  who  figured  in  our  Revolutionary 
history.  Practical  common  sense,  dignified  gravity, 
intense  conscientiousness,  and  burning  patriotic  zeal, 
seem  to  have  permeated  every  fibre  and  muscle  of 
those  primitive  patriots. 

Prominent  among  his  compeers  for  stateliness  of 
manners,  elegant  courtesy,  and  that  ease  and  grace 
which  some  men  seem  to  inherit,  and  which  others 
can  never  acquire,  was  George  Clymer.  He  was 
born  in  Philadelphia,  in  1739.  His  father  emigrated 
to  this  country  from  Bristol,  England,  and  married 
a  cultivated  lady  of  Philadelphia.  At  the  early  age 
of  seven  young  Clymer  was  left  an  orphan,  and  Mr. 
William  Coleman,  a  maternal  uncle,  a  gentleman  of 
refinement  and  culture,  and  a  prominent  merchant, 

(51) 


52  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

claimed  him  as  his  ward,  and  personally  superin 
tended  his  early  education.  The  guardian  was  emi 
nently  qualified  for  his  responsible  position,  and  the 
young  orphan  was  peculiarly  fortunate  in  securing 
in  him  a  proficient  tutor  and  most  judicious  coun 
sellor  and  friend.  On  the  completion  of  his  pre 
liminary  education  he  was  forthwith  inducted  into 
the  counting-room  of  his  worthy  uncle,  which  he 
entered,  however,  under  the  silent  protest  of  his 
own  judgment.  His  genius  was  poorly  adapted  to 
mercantile  life  and  the  dull  routine  of  commercial 
pursuits,  being  more  friendly  disposed  to  literary 
and  scientific  aspirations.  However,  he  had  too 
much  good  sense  and  gratitude  to  openly  revolt 
against  the  judgment  of  his  worthy  relative,  and  a 
merchant  he  became.  He  inaugurated  his  commer 
cial  career  by  transacting  business  in  the  name  of 
George  Clymer,  merchant,  then  in  the  name  of  Cly- 
mer  &  Eitchie :  then  formed  a  business  alliance  part 
nership  with  a  Mr.  Meredith,  and  subsequently  at  the 
age  of  twenty-seven,  a  matrimonial  alliance  with  the 
daughter  of  his  last  partner,  a  lady  recognized 
among  the  elite  of  that  period  as  one  of  the  brilliant 
stars  in  fashionable  circles.  Mr.  Clymer  continued 
for  several  years  a  leading  business  man  in  Phila 
delphia,  and,  although  the  bulk  of  his  time  was  ab 
sorbed  by  the  cares  and  duties  of  his  legitimate 
vocation,  found  sufficient  leisure  to  store  his  mind 
with  the  general  principles  of  international  law, 
history,  politics  and  light  literature,  and  a  vast 


GEORGE  CLYMER.  '  53 

amount  of  valuable  general  information.  By  nature 
he  was  a  lover  of  free  institutions  and  a  democratic 
form  of  government,  having  implicit  faith  in  the 
will  of  the  people.  At  a  very  early  age  his  feelings 
were  strongly  enlisted  against  the  many  arbitrary 
acts  of  the  British  government,  and  when  concilia 
tory  measures  failed  to  secure  our  rights,  and  the 
logic  of  protest,  petition  and  appeal  had  become 
thoroughly  exhausted,  he  was  among  the  first  men 
in  Philadelphia  to  suggest  and  adopt  proper  meas 
ures  of  national  defence.  George  Clymer  was  not  a 
theoretic  patriot,  feasting  amid  dreamy  visions  on 
hopes  that  could  never  be  realized,  but,  like  the  ma 
jority  of  his  colleagues  of  that  period,  a  practical, 
aggressive  one,  and  in  1773  accepted  a  captain's 
commission  of  a  volunteer  company  raised  for  the 
defence  of  the  province.  During  that  year  a  cargo 
of  tea  was  sent  out  by  Great  Britain,  consigned  to 
certain  parties  in  Philadelphia,  for  the  purpose  of 
indirectly  levying  a  contribution  on  her  citizens 
without  their  consent.  Its  arrival  at  our  wharves 
created  the  most  intense  excitement.  A  mass  or 
town  meeting  was  called  at  once,  and  a  committee 
was  appointed,  of  which  George  Clymer  was  chair 
man,  to  wait  on  the  consignees  and  request  them 
under  no  circumstances  to  offer  that  tea  for  sale  in 
Philadelphia.  The  delicate  task  was  faithfully  per 
formed  by  the  committee,  and  not  an  ounce  of  the 
.  tea  was  allowed  to  be  sold  within  the  limits  of  the 
city. 


54  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

Two  years  after  this  (1775)  Clymer  was  appointed 
a  member  of  the  historic  Committee  on  Safety ;  on 
the  20th  day  of  July,  1776,  he  was  appointed  by 
the  Colonial  Legislature  a  member  of  the  Continental 
Congress,  sixteen  days  after  the  passage  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence.  As  we  have  stated, 
however,  in  a  previous  article,  he  had  the  honor  of 
affixing  his  name  to  that  document  on  the  second 
day  of  the  following  month. 

His  practical  business  habits  received  honorable 
recognition  by  the  Government  in  September,  1775, 
when  he  was  appointed  at  that  time,  jointly  with 
Mr.  Stockton,  to  inspect  and  report  upon  the  general 
condition  of  the  northern  wing  of  our  army.  In 
December  of  the  same  year  the  good  citizens  of 
Philadelphia  were  startled  by  the  rumor  that  the 
British  army  was  moving  rapidly  upon  them.  All 
was  alarm  and  excitement.  Congress,  then  in  ses 
sion  there,  deeming  discretion  the  better  part  of 
valor,  wisely  concluded  to  adjourn  at  once  to  Balti 
more,  and  there  was  no  tie  vote  on  that  question. 
Robert  Morris,  George  Clymer  and  George  Walton 
were  appointed  by  Congress  a  committee  to  remain 
in  Philadelphia  and  adopt  such  measures  and  trans 
act  such  business  as  the  extraordinary  circumstances 
of  the  critical  occasion  might  require.  In  1777  he 
was  once  more  returned  to  Congress,  and  so  arduous 
were  his  duties,  and  so  unremitting  his  exertions 
during  that  session,  that  his  health  was  seriously 
impaired,  and  he  was  compelled  for  a  brief  season 


GEORGE  CLYMER.  55 

to  withdraw  from  public  life.  His  family  resided 
at  this  time  in  Chester  county,  some  twenty  miles 
from  Philadelphia.  During  the  fall  of  that  year  a 
roving  band  of  British  stragglers  attacked  his  house, 
destroying  all  his  furniture,  his  family  with  the 
greatest  difficulty  escaping  with  their  lives.  Mr. 
Clymer  himself  was  in  Philadelphia  at  the  time,  and 
when  the  invaders  reached  that  city  in  a  few  days 
they  sought  out  his  residence,  and  with  a  vulgar,  mob- 
ocratic  spirit,  at  variance  with  all  recognized  rules 
of  honorable  warfare,  proceeded  to  level  it  to  the 
ground,  and  were  only  dissuaded  from  their  purpose 
when  informed  that  the  building  was  a  leased  one, 
in  which  Mr.  Clymer  had  no  financial  interest  what 
ever.  The  fact  that  he  was  a  shining  mark  for  the 
wrath  of  the  ruthless  foe  is  the  highest  compliment 
that  could  be  paid  to  his  unswerving  loyalty.  But 
his  country  had  still  more  work  for  the  young,  un 
tiring  patriot,  and,  in  December  of  the  same  year, 
he  was  appointed  a  commissioner,  in  conjunction 
with  several  other  gentlemen,  to  visit  the  wilds  of 
Western  Pennsylvania  on  important  business  of  a 
secret  'and  confidential  nature.  It  is  generally  un 
derstood  that  the  object  of  this  mission  was  to  pre 
serve  friendly  relations  with  the  Indians  of  the 
border,  and-  enlist  some  of  the  more  friendly  of  the 
Shawnees  and  Delawares  into  the  service  of  the 
United  States.  In  1780  our  general  army  was  suf 
fering  intensely  from  a  combination  of  unpropitious 
causes,  which  threatened  almost  to  eventuate  in  its 


56  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

disbandment.  The  suggestive  mind  of  Eobert  Mor 
ris,  the  financial  genius  of  our  early  history,  origi 
nated  the  old  Bank  of  North  America  in  the  city  of 
Philadelphia.  This  institution  subserved  many  great 
and  good  purposes  in  its  early  days ;  revived  public 
credit ;  promoted  internal  improvements ;  but,  better 
than  all  this,  was  instrumental,  to  a  very  great  de 
gree,  in  relieving  the  wants  of  our  noble  army, 
whose  sufferings  at  that  crisis  were  almost  beyond 
human  endurance.  As  an  expression  of  its  faith  in 
and  gratitude  to  this  well-managed  financial  institu 
tion  Congress  passed  a  formal  resolution  in  its  favor, 
and  pledged  the  faith  of  the  United  States  to  indem 
nify  all  subscriptions  to  its  stock.  George  Clymer 
was  one  of  the  active  minds  of  this  financial  experi 
ment  that  ultimately  developed  into  such  grand 
proportions,  and  served  for  many  years  as  one  of 
its  most  efficient  directors.  In  1780  we  find  Mr. 
Clymer  again  re-elected  or  re-appointed  to  Congress. 
These  renewals  of  public  confidence  in  him  were 
entirely  unsolicited  on  his  part,  for  in  those  halcyon 
days  of  primitive  simplicity  the  office  actually  did 
seek  the  man  and  not  the  man  the  office.  Fdr  two 
successive  years  he  served  his  constituency  and 
State  most  faithfully,  seldom  being  absent  from  his 
post  of  duty,  never  allowing  personal  considerations 
to  interfere  with  the  discharge  of  his  official  duties, 
and  never  drawing  any  more  compensation  than  he 
was  honestly  entitled  to.  In  1782  he  removed  with 
his  family  to  the  old  town  of  Princeton,  N.  J.,  for 


GEORGE  CLYMER.  57 

the  purpose  of  educating  his  family  at  Nassau  Hall, 
then  as  now  one  of  the  leading  collegiate  institutions 
of  the  land.  At  the  beginning  of  the  war,  the  old 
college  doors  were  closed,  and  faculty  and  students 
were  scattered,  many  of  them  fighting  the  battles  of 
their  country.  The  venerable  Dr.  Witherspoon, 
the  patriot-president  of  the  college,  had  exchanged 
the  pulpit  for  the  forum,  and  was  now  a  Federal 
lawmaker  in  the  Continental  Congress  at  Philadel 
phia.  In  1782  it  was  re-opened,  however,  and  in 
the  quiet  village  of  Princeton,  with  its  literary  at 
mosphere  and  captivating  social  attractions,  George 
Clymer  settled  down  to  enjoy  the  peace  and  luxury 
of  private  life  after  the  toils,  troubles  and  privations 
of  a  long,  busy  and  eventful  public  career.  In  two 
brief  years,  however,  he  responded  to  another  call 
from  his  native  State,  this  time  to  be  a  representa 
tive  in  her  Legislature.  Of  this  body  he  was  an 
influential  member,  and  was  appointed  by  it  to  rep 
resent  the  State  in  the  great  convention  which  met 
to  frame  the  Constitution,  which  was  but  lately 
changed.  After  its  adoption  he  represented  the  State 
once  more  in  a  Congressional  term  of  two  years, 
when,  declining  a  renomination,  he  closed  his  long, 
most  honorable  and  highly  useful  legislative  career. 
In  1791  Mr.  Clymer  was  placed  at  the  head  of  the 
excise  department  in  Pennsylvania,  at  the  time  when 
Congress,  judiciously  or  otherwise,  passed  a  bill  im 
posing  a  duty  on  all  spirits  distilled  in  the  country. 
This  legislation  was  very  unpopular  in  certain  sec- 


58  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

tions  of  the  country,  and  was  particularly  obnoxious 
to  the  citizens  of  Western  Pennsylvania.  This  dis 
satisfaction  eventuated  in  what  is  known  as  the 
"whisky  insurrection,"  and  for  a  time  assumed  a 
most  threatening  attitude.  Mr.  Clymer  had  no  taste 
for  factious  broils  based  on  whisky,  and  soon  re 
signed  an  office  which  was  very  distasteful  to  him. 
In  1796  he  was  appointed,  in  connection  with  Colo 
nels  Hawkins  and  Pickens,  to  negotiate  a  treaty 
with  the  Cherokee  and  Creek  Indians  in  Georgia. 
He  sailed  from  Philadelphia,  for  Savannah,  in  April 
of  that  year,  and  narrowly  escaped  shipwreck  by  a 
violent  storm,  which  continued  for  several  days.  He 
satisfactorily  completed  the  object  of  his  mission 
and  returned  to  Philadelphia,  and  shortly  after  re 
tired  to  that  private  life  he  so  earnestly  coveted. 
He  subsequently  officiated  as  president  of  the  Phila 
delphia  Bank,  the  Philadelphia  Agricultural  Society, 
and  the  Academy  of  Fine  Arts.  He  died  January 
23,  1813,  in  the  74th  year  of  his  age.  George  Cly 
mer  was  a  little  above  the  medium  size,  of  fair  com 
plexion,  and  erect  and  manly  in  his  personal  bear 
ing.  His  marked  features  indicated  intelligence  and 
benevolence,  and  resolution  without  arrogance.  He 
possessed  all  that  delicacy  and  sensibility  so  essential 
to  taste,  and  was  always  an  active  friend  of  the  fine 
arts  and  polite  literature.  He  was  a  man  of  warm 
feelings,  ardent  in  his  affections,  and  the  very  life  of 
the  social  circle.  Modest  and  diffident,  he  was  no  ora 
tor,  but  a  writer  of  considerable  force  and  elegance. 


GEORGE  CLYMEK.  59 

There  was  a  simplicity  and  frank  honesty  in  his 
whole  character  well  calculated  to  win  the  friend 
ship  of  all  with  whom  he  came  in  contact.  This 
charming  trait,  so  rare  in  public  men,  was  never 
blunted  or  blurred  by  contact  with  the  rude  elements 
of  the  rough  outside  world.  He  never  bought  or 
sought  office,  and  scorned  to  practice  the  duplicity 
of  the  demagogue  as  the  condition  of  any  political 
preferment  he  ever  received.  He  never  spoke  ill 
of  the  absent,  never  traduced  any  man's  character, 
and  in  all  matters,  great  or  small,  was  most  punc 
tilious  and  exact  in  fulfilling  all  his  promises.  So 
cially  connected  with  some  of  the  leading  families  of 
Philadelphia  in  her  early  history,  the  home  of  Mr. 
Clymer  was  the  abode  of  taste,  wealth,  and  generous 
hospitality.  In  all  the  varied  spheres  of  life,  in  the 
public  arena  of  politics  or  the  quiet  elegance  of  his 
own  home,  he  was  a  man  whose  purity  of  character 
was  unquestionable,  and  whose  devotion  to  his 
country  developed  itself  in  a  long,  honorable  life, 
devoted  to  her  best  interests. 


JAMES  SMITH,  IRISH  AMERICAN. 


A  man  practical  and  prudent  in  his  loyal  career,  and 
brimful  of  that  mother  wit  for  ivhich  his  race  is 
proverbial — From  College  to  the  law  office — An  un 
compromising  advocate  of  prompt  and  vigorous 
measures — Colonel  in  the  Army,  member  of  the  Pro 
vincial  Convention  of  1775,  and  one  of  the  body  to 
frame  the  first  Constitution  of  Pennsylvania. 

AN  interesting  and  somewhat  remarkable  fact, 
connected  not  only  with  the  Pennsylvania 
signers  of  the  Declaration,  but  with  all  of  them,  was 
their  astonishing  longevity.  They  numbered  fifty 
six  persons  and  averaged  sixty  five  years.  Four  of 
the  number  attained  the  age  of  ninety  and  upwards, 
fourteen  exceeded  eighty  years,  and  twenty-three 
reached  the  venerable  Psalmist's  standard  of  three 
score  and  ten.  The  fourteen  members  composing  the 
New  England  delegation  averaged  seventy-five  years. 
Charles  Carroll,  of  Carrollton,  was  the  last  survivor 
of  the  noble  fifty-six.  Of  the  nine  signers  of  the 
Pennsylvania  delegation  five  were  natives  of  the 
province,  one  was  born  in  Delaware,  one  in  Scotland, 
and  two  in  Ireland.  The  subject  of  our  memoir, 
James  Smith,  was  a  native  of  the  Emerald  Isle,  and, 
although  his  name  has  not  figured  conspicuously  in 

(60) 


JAMES  SMITH.  61 

our  Revolutionary  history  in  proportion  to  his  in 
trinsic  merits,  was  a  most  worthy  gentleman,  em 
inently  aggressive,  and  withal  practical  and  prudent 
in  his  loyal  career,  and  brimful  of  that  mother  wit, 
the  sauce  piquante,  for  which  the  Irish  character  is 
proverbial.  One  peculiarity  of  the  man  was  his  ret 
icence  concerning  his  age,  his  most  intimate  friends 
never  being  able  to  find  out  precisely  what  it  was. 
Like  some  stately,  fashionable  maiden  drifting  from 
the  whirlpool  of  social  folly  into  the  misty  woodland 
of  the  "sere  and  yellow  leaf,"  he  was  conscientiously 
opposed  to  telling  any  one  his  age,  and  pertinaciously 
and  often  bluntly  refused  to  impart  the  secret  to  a 
living  soul — a  secret  which  was  buried  with  him  in 
his  grave.  His  friends  conjectured  that  he  was  born 
between  the  years  1715  and  1720. 

All  that  vast  territory  in  Pennsylvania  lying  west 
of  the  Susquehanna,  now  abounding  in  blooming 
valleys,  rich  in  agricultural  wealth,  dotted  with 
smiling  villages  and  thrifty  cities,  the  church  and 
academic  spires  indicating  the  positive  worth  and 
progressive  spirit  of  the  inhabitants,  was  a  century 
ago  a  comparative  wilderness.  The  father  of  James 
Smith,  tired  of  the  shackles  and  bondage  of  foreign 
despotism,  left  the  shores  of  his  native  isle,  and  with 
a  numerous  family  located  in  this  unattractive  waste, 
exiled  as  it  were  from  all  the  comforts  and  luxuries 
of  social  life.  They  settled  in  1743  in  the  old 
historic  county  of  Cumberland,  now  one  of  the  most 
beautiful  of  Southern  Pennsylvania,  where  for  many 


62  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

years  they  buffeted  the  storms  and  adversities  of 
rough  frontier  life.  Placing  that  high  estimate  on 
liberal  education  which  appears  to  have  been  a 
strong  characteristic  of  our  primitive  forefathers, 
he  selected  from  his  family  group  his  son  James  and 
placed  him  under  the  educational  control  of  the 
distinguished  Dr.  Allison,  then  provost  of  the  Col 
lege  of  Philadelphia,  who  appears  to  have  been  the 
universal  Colonial  schoolmaster  of  the  period.  The 
classical  proficiency  of  young  Smith  was  of  a  high 
order,  but  he  gave  special  attention  to  surveying, 
then  one  of  the  useful  and  practical  professions  of  the 
day,  and  for  which  there  was  an  unlimited  demand. 
After  completing  his  collegiate  course  in  Phila 
delphia  he  removed  to  Lancaster,  then  one  of  the 
outposts  of  civilization,  and  entered  the  office  of 
Thomas  Cookson,  Esq.,  as  a  law  student.  On  his 
admission  to  the  bar  he  removed  to  the  old  village 
of  Shippensburgh,  at  that  time  the  court  town  of 
Cumberland  county,  and  a  point  of  considerable 
business  importance.  Remaining  here  for  a  short 
time  his  restless  ambition  yearned  for  a  wider  field 
of  operation,  and  he  removed  to  the  thrifty  town  of 
York,  Pa.,  where  he  permanently  established  himself, 
and  where  he  successfully  practiced  his  profession 
during  the  balance  of  his  life.  At  the  very  inaugura 
tion  of  the  contest  between  Great  Britain  and  the 
Colonies,  the  latter  found  a  firm  friend  and  gallant 
champion  in  the  brilliant  young  lawyer  of  York,  a 
representative  man  of  the  rough,  strong,  honest 


JAMES  SMITH.  63 

elements  of  the  rural  districts  of  the  wild  frontier. 
In  1774,  at  the  delegate  meeting  of  all  the  counties 
of  the  State,  convened  to  give  an  expression  of 
public  sentiment  on  the  propriety  and  expediency  of 
abstaining  from  the  importation  of  any  goods  from 
England,  James  Smith  was  the  representative  from 
York,  and  was  one  of  a  committee  appointed  to 
draft  instructions  to  the  General  Assembly,  then 
about  to  convene. 

There  is  no  disguising  the  fact  that  a  most  power 
ful  effort  was  being  made  by  the  friends  of  uncon 
ditional  peace  to  suppress  anything  like  a  public 
outbreak  between  the  two  countries.  Many  of  these 
parties  were  actuated  by  the  purest  motives  im 
aginable,  and  these  were  encouraged  by  others 
naturally  cautious  and  timid,  representatives  of  that 
large  ratio  of  society  lacking  moral  courage  when 
ever  it  is  essentially  desirable,  nervously  receiving 
every  incident  as  an  accident,  and  every  accident 
as  a  positive  calamity.  The  impulsive  loyalty  of 
Smith,  perhaps,  drove  him  to  the  other  extreme,  and 
made  him  an  uncompromising  advocate  of  prompt 
and  vigorous  measures.  After  the  adjournment  of 
the  convention  to  which  allusion  has  been  made,  he 
returned  in  1774  to  York,  and  organized  the  first 
volunteer  militia  company  ever  raised  in  Penn 
sylvania  in  opposition  to  the  forces  of  Great  Britain. 
He  was  elected  captain  of  this  company,  and  sub 
sequently  colonel  of  a  regiment  to  which  it  became 
attached.  Colonel  Smith  was  a  member  of  the 


64  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

Provincial  Convention  of  January,  1775,  and  one 
of  the  ablest  champions  of  the  spirited  declaration 
made  by  that  body,  viz.:  that  "if  the  British  ad 
ministration  should  determine  by  force  to  effect  a 
submission  to  the  late  arbitrary  acts  of  the  British 
Parliament,  in  such  a  situation  we  hold  it  as  an  in 
dispensable  duty  to  resist  such  force,  and  at  every 
hazard  to  defend  the  rights  and  liberties  of  Amer 
ica."  This  resolution  had  the  true  ring  of  defiant 
resistance  to  despotic  usurpation;  but,  strange  as  it 
may  seem,  it  was  practically  ignored  by  a  series  of 
instructions  issued  November  9,  of  the  same  year, 
by  the  General  Assembly  to  the  delegates  appointed 
by  it  to  Congress.  The  tenor  of  these  instructions 
was  not  hidden,  as  the  following  positive  resolution 
indicates :  "That  though  the  oppressive  measures  of 
the  British  Parliament  and  administration  have 
compelled  us  to  resist  their  violence  by  force  of 
arms,  yet  we  strictly  enjoin  you  that  you,  in  behalf 
of  this  colony,  dissent  from  and  utterly  reject  any 
proposition,  should  such  be  made,  that  may  cause  or 
lead  to  a  separation  from  our  mother  country  or  a 
change  in  the  form  of  government."  The  dominant 
Quaker  element,  actuated,  no  doubt,  by  conscien 
tious  motives,  was  mainly  instrumental  in  securing 
the  passage  of  this  strangely  constructed  resolution. 
Here  was  a  dead-lock,  a  broad  antagonism,  one  cloud 
charged  with  positive,  the  other  with  negative  elec 
tricity,  in  close  proximity,  with  a  collision  inevita 
ble.  The  shock  and  reverberation  came  on  the  15th 


JAMES  SMITH.  65 

of  May,  1776,  when  Congress  adopted  a  resolution 
which,  almost  amounted  to  a  separation.  The  citi 
zens  of  Philadelphia  assembled  en  masse  five  days 
after  the  passage  of  the  resolution,  and  in  front  of 
the  very  building  in  which  Congress  was  assembled, 
discussed  and  digested  plans  of  positive  resistance. 
The  wildest  enthusiasm  prevailed,  and  Chestnut 
street  was  crowded  with  the  excited  populace,  clam 
oring  for  an  immediate  dissolution  of  our  Colonial 
relations  and  "  war  to  the  hilt."  The  instructions 
of  the  Provincial  Assembly  were  not  only  pointedly 
condemned,  but  hooted  and  spurned  by  the  excited 
multitude,  and  a  loud  demand  made  for  a  Provincial 
Conference  to  establish  a  new  form  of  government 
in  Pennsylvania.  This  conference  met  on  the  18th 
of  June,  1776,  and  was  composed  of  the  advance 
guard,  the  progressive,  intelligent  young  men  of  the 
State.  Among  these  was  James  Smith,  of  York, 
manfully  struggling  in  the  front  ranks  for  a  clear 
definition  of  our  national  rights,  and  how  to  prompt 
ly  secure  them.  On  the  fourteenth  of  the  same 
month,  four  days  before  the  meeting  of  this  confer 
ence,  the  General  Assembly  had  rescinded  their  ill- 
timed  and  obnoxious  instructions  to  the  delegates 
in  Congress  by  an  able  and  dignified  State  paper  in 
the  form  of  a  resolution,  closing  thus :  "  The  happi 
ness  of  these  Colonies  has,  during  the  whole  course 
of  this  fatal  controversy,  been  our  first  wish,  their 
reconciliation  with  Great  Britain  our  next.  Ar 
dently  have  we  prayed  for  the  accomplishment  of 


66  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

both.  But,  if  we  renounce  the  one  or  the  other, 
we  humbly  trust  to  the  mercies  of  the  Supreme 
Governor  of  the  Universe,  that  we  shall  not  stand 
condemned  before  His  throne  if  our  choice  is  deter 
mined  by  that  law  of  self-preservation  which  His 
Divine  wisdom  has  thought  fit  to  implant  in  the 
hearts  of  His  creatures."  This  was  signed  "by 
order  of  the  House,  John  Morton,  Speaker."  This 
prompt  action  of  the  Assembly  would  seem  to 
have  obviated  the  necessity  of  the  special  confer 
ence  meeting,  but  meet  they  did,  determined  to 
give  formal  expression  of  their  views  in  relation 
to  the  anticipated  Declaration  of  Independence.  To 
accomplish  this  a  motion  was  made  by  Dr.  Benja 
min  Eush,  then  comparatively  a  young  man,  which 
was  seconded  by  Col.  James  Smith;  and  these  two 
gentlemen,  in  connection  with  the  impulsive  but 
brilliant  Thomas  McKean,  were  appointed  a  com 
mittee  to  draft  a  clear,  explicit  declaration  of  their 
views  on  the  matter.  On  the  following  morning 
they  made  their  report,  which,  being  unanimously 
confirmed  by  the  conference  and  signed  by  the 
members,  was  transmitted  to  Congress  on  June  the 
25th,  a  day  or  two  before  the  Declaration  of  Inde 
pendence  by  Congress  was  presented  to  that  body. 
This  document,  with  which  Col.  Smith  was  very 
closely  identified,  bears  a  marked  resemblance  to  the 
original  as  drafted  by  Jefferson  and  promulgated 
by  Congress,  July  4,  1776. 

In  the  early  part  of  July  a  Convention  assembled 


JAMES  SMITH.  67 

in  Philadelphia  to  frame  a  Constitution  for  the  State, 
and  on  the  15th  instant  Colonel  Smith  appeared  and 
took  his  seat  as  a  member  of  that  body.  Five  days 
thereafter  he  was  elected  by  the  convention  a  mem-' 
ber  of  Congress,  which  position  he  held  for  several 
years,  and  in  which  he  was  considered  strong,  effi 
cient,  and  incorruptible.  After  his  withdrawal  from 
Congress  he  resumed  his  professional  pursuits,  until 
1800,  when  he  retired  from  the  bar,  after  a  success 
ful  career  of  sixty  years,  untarnished  by  a  single 
dishonorable  or  disreputable  episode. 

Colonel  Smith  was  an  eccentric  person,  of  pecu 
liar  traits,  remarkable  for  his  love  of  sport  and 
well-regulated  conviviality.  His  satire  was  keen 
as  a  Damascus  blade,  and  his  humor  inimitable,  and 
in  either  sphere  he  was  unsurpassed  by  Lucian, 
Swift,  or  Eabelais.  He  was  a  sanguine,  hopeful, 
cheerful  man,  always  searching  for  sunlight  instead 
of  clouds,  his  genial  presence  imparting  almost  fra 
grance,  stimulating  the  despondent,  and  strengthen 
ing  the  doubtful  amidst  the  many  adversities  and 
revolutions  of  the  stirring  times  in  which  he  lived. 
His  memory  was  uncommonly  retentive,  and  his 
mind  well  stored  with  humorous  incidents  and  an 
ecdotes,  which  he  recited,  when  prudence  and  judg 
ment  dictated,  with  marked  effect.  His  acquire 
ments,  however,  were  not  by  any  means  of  a  super 
ficial  character,  for  he  was  learned  in  the  law,  and 
a  man  of  broad,  comprehensive,  statesmanlike  views, 
a  valuable  acquisition  to  the  many  honorable  bodies 


68  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

with  which  he  was  officially  connected.  His  loyalty 
was  unfaltering  and  uncompromising,  and  he  cheer 
fully  signed  his  name  to  the  charter  of  our  liberties, 
without  doubt,  cavil,  or  criticism.  He  died  in  1806, 
at  the  supposed  age  of  eighty-six. 


GEORGE  TAYLOR  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


From  the  atmosphere  of  tinctures  and  lotions  to  an 
iron  foundry  as  an  ordinary  day  laborer — Next, 
proprietor  of  a  whole  establishment — The  result  of 
prudence,  tact,  economy,  and  industry — A  Represent 
ative  of  Northampton  county  in  the  Provincial  As 
sembly — Taylor's  Congressional  career,  &c. 

r  1 1HE  life  of  George  Taylor  furnishes  an  illustri- 
_l_  ous  example  of  the  natural  powers  of  a  strong, 
rugged  mind  triumphing  over  the  deficiencies  of 
early  education,  and  marching  straight  forward  in 
the  path  of  honor  and  distinction,  regardless  of  every 
intervening  obstacle.  Notwithstanding  the  veil  of 
oblivion  obscures  the  minute  details  of  this  plain, 
practical,  but  honest  and  useful  life,  baffling  the  in 
genuity  of  the  biographer,  his  fame  as  one  of  the 
signers  of  the  Declaration  is  embalmed  in  the  na 
tional  heart.  Although  an  eminently  useful  man  in 
our  early  history,  a  fine  parliamentarian,  peerless  as 
an  executive  officer  in  the  committee  room,  thor 
oughly  reliable  in  all  startling  crises,  his  long  official 
career,  unstained  by  a  single  blot  of  corruption, 
there  is  no  man  in  American  history  about  whom 
so  little  is  known  as  George  Taylor.  No  gilt-edged 
eulogium  perpetuates  his  virtues,  but  his  acts  and 

(69) 


70  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

deeds  can  only  be  found  in  the  dusty  records  and  ar 
chives  of  our  Colonial  history.  One  of  the  nine  dis 
tinguished  representatives  of  Pennsylvania  who  af 
fixed  his  signature  to  the  charter  of  our  liberties, 
he  is  to-day  almost  forgotten,  save  through  the  me 
dium  of  some  brief,  imperfect,  unsatisfactory  sketch. 

"What  is  glory? — in  the  socket 
See  how  dying  tapers  flare." 

Mr.  Taylor  was  born  in  the  North  of  Ireland  in 
1716.  His  father  was  a  highly  respectable  minister, 
of  more  than  ordinary  culture,  with  a  keen  appre 
ciation  of  the  advantages  of  a  good  education.  He 
gave  his  son  an  opportunity  to  improve  his  mind, 
and  after  some  preliminary  preparation  the  young 
man  commenced  the  study  of  medicine.  He  soon, 
however,  became  disgusted  with  his  new  profession, 
and  sooner  than  be  classified  as  a 

Quack-salving,  cheating  mountebank,  whose  skill 
Would  make  the  sound  men  sick,  and  sick  men  kill, 

abandoned  the  atmosphere  of  tinctures  and  lotions 
for  a  sphere  of  more  variety  and  activity.  About 
the  year  1736,  without  a  penny  or  an  outfit,  he  went 
on  board  a  ship  sailing  for  New  York,  and  was  re 
gistered  as  a  redemptioner,  and  on  his  arrival  his 
services  were  sold,  under  certain  stipulations  to  a 
Mr.  Savage,  the  proprietor  of  extensive  iron  works 
in  the  old  town  of  Durham,  a  few  miles  from  Eas- 
ton,  Pa.  Here  he  was  employed  for  some  time  as  an 
ordinary  day  laborer,  his  specific  work  being  that 


GEORGE  TAYLOR.  71 

of  a  "filler"  throwing  coal  into  a  furnace  when  in 
blast. 

In  this  uncongenial  and  trying  position  he  never 
uttered  a  complaint,  although  the  work  was  rough 
and  his  surroundings  generally  disagreeable.  His 
employer  soon  transferred  him  from  these  menial 
duties  to  his  own  private  office,  where  he  was  ex 
ceedingly  useful,  and  where  he  remained  for  several 
years.  On  the  death  of  Mr.  Savage  young  Taylor 
became  connected  in  marriage  with  his  widow,  and 
consequently  the  proprietor  of  the  whole  establish 
ment.  In  his  new  sphere,  suddenly  elevated  from 
comparative  poverty  to  financial  independence,  he 
exhibited  great  prudence,  tact,  economy  and  industry, 
and  in  a  short  time  amassed  a  very  large  fortune. 
In  a  few  years  he  purchased  an  additional  estate  on 
the  Lehigh  river,  in  Northampton  county,  where  he 
erected  a  spacious  mansion,  and  took  up  his  perma 
nent  residence.  Here  he  was  first  called  into  public 
life,  and  represented  Northampton  county  in  the 
Provincial  Assembly,  which  met  in  Philadelphia, 
October,  15,  1764,  of  which  body  he  was  appointed 
a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Grievances,  and 
where  he  displayed  very  considerable  legislative 
capacity.  In  June,  1765,  the  Speaker  of  the  Assem 
bly  received  a  proposal  from  the  House  of  Repre 
sentatives  of  Massachusetts  Bay,  soli  citing  a  general 
Congress  of  Delegates  to  convene  in  New  York  city 
the  ensuing  fall.  At  the  meeting  of  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Assembly,  in  September,  of  the  same  year, 


7«H  w  1770  Mr. 
visk  on 


TATLO*. 


7-:     - 


74  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

other  considerations  created  at  that  particular  time 
a  conservative  sentiment  bordering  on  a  strong  re 
luctance  to  sever  the  bond  so  long  uniting  her  to  the 
mother  country.  Hence,  the  series  of  instructions 
emanating  from  this  committee  of  seven,  of  a  con 
ciliatory  character,  urging  its  members  to  seek  all 
honorable  means  for  the  redress  of  American  griev 
ances,  but  not  to  do  anything  to  widen  the  breach 
and  destroy  that  harmony  and  union  which  was  so 
essential  to  the  welfare  of  both  countries.  However, 
during  the  winter  and  spring  of  1776  there  was  a 
great  reaction  in  public  sentiment  throughout  the 
length  and  breadth  of  her  provincial  borders,  event 
uating  in  the  Assembly  rescinding  their  former  in 
structions,  and  declaring  firmly  and  boldly  that  they 
were  unwilling  to  purchase  peace  by  a  dishonorable 
submission  to  arbitrary  power.  These  latter  in 
structions,  which  had  the  ring  of  sterling  patriotism, 
authorized  the  Pennsylvania  Representatives  "to  con 
cur  with  the  other  delegates  in  Congress  in  forming 
such  further  compacts  between  the  united  Colonies, 
concluding  such  treaties  with  foreign  kingdoms  and 
States,  and  in  adopting  such  other  measures  as,  upon 
a  view  of  all  circumstances,  shall  be  judged  neces 
sary  for  promoting  the  liberty,  safety  and  interests 
of  America,  reserving  to  the  people  of  this  Colony 
the  sole  and  exclusive  right  of  regulating  the  inter 
nal  government  and  policy  of  the  same."  These  in 
structions  were  adopted  by  the  Assembly,  June  14, 
1776,  and  were  a  powerful  auxiliary  in  promoting 


GEORGE  TAYLOR.  75 

the  passage  of  the  Declaration  on  the  4th  of  the 
ensuing  month.  The  approbation  of  Pennsylvania 
was  only  obtained  by  the  casting  vote  of  the  Hon. 
John  Morton.  On  the  20th  of  July  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Assembly  proceeded  to  a  new  choice  of  Rep 
resentatives,  and  those  who  had  opposed  the  pas 
sage  of  the  Declaration  were  dropped  from  the  rolls, 
and  in  their  stead  were  appointed  Messrs.  Taylor, 
Ross,  Clymer,  Rush  and  Smith.  The  Declaration 
was  passed  and  proclaimed  July  4,  but  the  copy- 
engrossed  on  parchment  was  not  prepared  until 
nearly  a  month  after.  The  gentlemen  named  above, 
although  not  present  at  its  formal  passage,  had  the 
honor  of  affixing  their  names  to  it  August  2,  1776, 
at  which  time  it  was  signed  by  the  members  gen 
erally.  In  his  Congressional  career  George  Taylor 
was  noted  for  his  sagacity,  decision,  patriotism,  and 
fine  executive  powers.  In  March,  1777,  he  retired 
from  Congress  and  repaired  to  Easton,  where  he 
concentrated  his  energies  in  recuperating  his  private 
fortune,  and  with  very  great  success.  He  never  en 
tered  the  political  arena  or  the  legislative  hall  after 
wards.  It  was  glory  enough  for  him  to  see  his 
once  subjugated  and  impoverished  country  swiftly 
and  surely  developing  into  an  honorable  position 
among  the  nations  of  the  earth ;  and  it  was  the  crown 
ing  honor  of  his  whole  life  to  be  permitted  to  sign 
his  honest  name  to  the  Magna  Charta  of  our  liber 
ties.  He  died  on  the  23d  of  February,  1781,  in  the 
sixty-sixth  year  of  his  age. 


JAMES  WILSON,  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


Student  in  the  schools  of  Edinburgh  and  St.  Andrew, 
tutor  in  the  Philadelphia  College,  member  of  the 
Bar,  delegate  to  the  Provincial  Convention  of  the 
State,  elected  to  Congress,  and  Advocate  General  for 
France  in  America — Accusations  sufficiently  dis 
proved  by  history. 

TO  the  multitude  the  name  of  James  "Wilson,  of 
Pennsylvania,  is  not  a  familiar  one.  Many 
others,  far  less  deserving,  have  been  perpetuated  in 
history  under  the  misnomer  of  fame.  To  the  well- 
versed  student  of  general  jurisprudence  and  the  in 
telligent  reader  of  our  primitive  Colonial  and  Revo 
lutionary  times,  his  name  and  fame  are  familiar,  and 
to  such  he  needs  no  special  introduction.  Born  in 
1742,  in  Scotland,  the  home  of  Wallace  and  Bruce, 
of  Burns  and  Sir  Walter  Scott,  the  abode  of  stub 
born  but  consistent  theology,  cultivated  fiction  and 
gentle  song,  he  was  fortunate  in  securing  very  great 
educational  advantages.  His  father  resided  in  the 
neighborhood  of  St.  Andrew's,  and  although  not 
wealthy,  was  possessed  of  that  moderate  competency 
which,  when  coupled  with  a  contented  disposition, 
is  oftentimes  more  productive  of  real  comfort  than 
the  inheritance  of  a  kingdom.  Within  the  classic 
(76) 


JAMES  WILSON.  77 

walls  of  the  celebrated  schools  of  Edinburgh  and 
St.  Andrew's,  young  Wilson,  taking  advantage  of 
fortuitous  circumstances,  studied  with  an  untiring 
will  and  received  a  superior  education.  James  Wil 
son  was  a  natural-born  republican  and  a  lover  of  free 
institutions.  At  the  age  of  twenty-four  he  resolved 
to  leave  his  native  land  and  seek  fortune  and  fame 
in  the  wilderness  of  America.  In  the  spring  of 
1766  he  arrived  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia,  with  a 
full  supply  of  recommendations  from  prominent  men 
in  Scotland  to  leading  men  here.  He  was  not  long 
in  securing  a  position,  for  in  less  than  three  months 
after  his  arrival  he  was  appointed  tutor  in  the  Phila 
delphia  College,  where  he  remained  for  some  time, 
and  was  recognized  as  one  of  the  most  efficient  clas 
sical  scholars  that  had  ever  been  identified  with  the 
institution.  By  assiduous  application  to  his  pro 
fessional  duties,  the  cultivation  of  a  good  character, 
and  possessing  genial,  fascinating  personal  manners, 
he  attracted  the  attention  of  some  of  the  leading 
men  of  the  metropolis,  who  were  generously  await 
ing  to  afford  him  any  facilities  required  to  promote 
his  success.  By  the  joint  influence  of  the  learned 
and  good  Bishop  White  and  Judge  Peters,  he  was 
afforded  an  opportunity  of  entering  the  office  of  the 
celebrated  lawyer,  John  Dickinson,  who  received  his 
own  professional  training  at  the  Temple,  in  London, 
and  was  widely  known  as  a  writer  of  mark  and  a 
most  profound  jurist.  Dickinson  was  the  author  of 
the  celebrated  "  Farmer's  Letters,"  written  in  1767- 


78  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

68,  and  although  his  political  history  is  somewhat 
blurred  by  his  peculiar  views  in  relation  to  the  pas 
sage  of  the  Declaration  of  Independence,  he  was  in 
the  main  a  sound,  loyal  man,  possessing  a  highly 
cultivated  mind,  refined  taste,  habitual  eloquence, 
and  polished  elegance  of  manners.  Young  Wilson 
was  fortunate  in  securing  such  a  worthy  preceptor, 
and  for  two  years  he  applied  himself  to  his  legal 
studies  with  great  zeal  and  industry.  Immediately 
after  his  admission  to  the  bar  he  left  Philadelphia 
and  settled  in  Reading,  at  that  time  a  very  small, 
retired  village.  He  remained  there,  however,  but 
a  short  time,  and  then  removed  to  the  venerable 
borough  of  Carlisle,  in  Cumberland  County,  where 
he  practiced  with  very  great  success  for  several 
years  and  acquired  the  reputation  of  being  a  most 
eminent  counsellor.  He  removed  afterwards  to  An 
napolis,  Md.,  whence  he  came  to  Philadelphia  in 
1778,  where  he  continued  permanently  to  reside 
luring  the  remainder  of  his  life.  In  1774  he  was 
a  member  of  the  Provincial  Convention  of  Penn 
sylvania,  and,  in  connection  with  Mr.  Dickinson, 
was  nominated  as  a  delegate  to  Congress.  Both, 
however,  were  defeated  through  the  manipulation  and 
intrigue  of  Speaker  Galloway,  a  gentleman  of  very 
strongly  suspected  loyalty,  who  afterwards  allied 
himself  with  the  British  when  they  occupied  Phila 
delphia.  In  the  following  year  Mr.  Wilson  was 
elected  to  Congress,  and  took  his  seat  in  that  body 
May  10,  1775.  Here  he  remained  for  two  years, 


JAMES  WILSON.  79 

doing  good  official  duty,  when  he  was  removed 
through  the  intense  partisan  feeling  then  prevailing. 
In  the  fall  of  1782,  however,  he  was  re-elected,  and 
took  his  seat  January  2,  1783.  Mr.  Wilson  was  at 
this  particular  period  in  the  very  zenith  of  his  pro 
fessional  glory,  and  was  considered  by  all  odds  the 
best  lawyer  in  the  whole  Commonwealth.  At  that, 
time  a  serious  controversy  was  going  on  between 
Pennsylvania  and  Connecticut  about  the  proper  title 
to  certain  valuable  lands  claimed  by  the  latter  State 
and  located  within  the  charter  boundary  of  the 
former.  In  this  important  controversy  Mr.  Wilson 
was  appointed  by  the  Supreme  Executive  Council 
to  take  charge  of  the  interests  of  Pennsylvania.  A 
court  of  commissioners  was  appointed  to  determine 
the  rightful  claimant,  and  December  30,  1782,  the 
great  question  came  up  before  that  body  at  Trenton, 
N.  J.  On  this  occasion  Mr.  Wilson  put  forth  his 
ablest  efforts,  and  by  a  luminous  and  impressive 
argument,  which  occupied  the  attention  of  the  court 
for  four  days,  successfully  carried  his  point,  and  re 
ceived  from  the  learned  commission  a  unanimous 
decision  in  favor  of  the  claims  of  Pennsvlvania. 
As  corroborative  of  the  very  high  legal  character 
enjoyed  by  Mr.  Wilson,  it  may  be  remarked  that  he 
received  at  this  period  from  the  French  Government 
the  important  appointment  of  advocate  general  for 
France  in  this  country.  He  was  thus  commissioned 
June  5,  1779,  and  for  two  years  performed  its  re 
quirements  with  honor  and  credit,  when  he  resigned 


80  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

on  account  of  some  minor  disagreement  about  his 
official  pay.  He  continued,  however,  subsequently 
to  transact  much  consular  and  other  important  busi 
ness  for  the  French  government,  and  the  King,  as 
a  slight  compensation  for  his  valuable  services,  gave 
him  ten  thousand  livres.  In  addition  to  being  an 
intellectual  giant  in  his  chosen  profession,  Mr.  Wil 
son  was  a  most  capable  and  trustworthy  representa 
tive  of  the  people  in  Congress.  He  steered  clear  of 
all  subsidies,  bounties,  and  bribes,  and  studied  well 
the  wants  and  interests  of  his  constituents.  His 
general  business  habits  were  of  a  superior  order, 
and  in  the  committee-room,  being  sagacious,  faith 
ful,  and  industrious,  he  worked  assiduously  and 
effectually,  with  the  quiet  system  of  a  well-regula 
ted  machine.  Such  elements,  combined  with  strong 
native  talent  and  a  mind  most  admirably  trained, 
produced  him  much  fame,  and,  as  a  consequence,  no 
little  persecution.  In  proportion  as  he  rose  in  pub 
lic  estimation  was  he  calumniated  and  slandered  by 
puny  rivals  whom  he  had  quietly  but  rapidly  out 
run  in  the  race  for  professional  and  political  honors. 

"  Base  envy,  withers  at  another's  joy, 
And  hates  the  excellence  it  cannot  reach." 

Two  specific  charges  seem  to  have  been  made  by 
this  class  of  humanitarians  against  James  Wilson. 
He  was  accused  of  being  secretly  opposed  to  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  and  also  of  being  one 
of  a  hostile  combination  organized  against  Wash 
ington  in  1777.  History  furnishes  sufficient  denial 


JAMES  WILSON.  81 

through  the  official  records  of  the  Government  to 
the  first  charge,  which  was  as  foundationless  as 
"  the  baseless  fabric  of  a  dream."  On  the  fir,st  of 
July,  1776,  as  we  have  stated  in  a  former  article, 
when  the  grave  question  was  discussed  in  Commit 
tee  of  the  Whole,  and  received  the  votes  of  all  but 
two  States,  James  Wilson's  record  is  clear  and  un 
impeachable  ;  he  voted  in  the  affirmative.  On  the 
memorable  fourth  of  the  same  month,  when  the 
question  was  revived  once  more,  Franklin,  Morton, 
and  James  Wilson  voted  in  favor  of  the  sterling 
measure,  and  thus  secured  a  unanimous  vote  of  the 
thirteen  colonies  in  favor  of  its  passage. 

As  to  the  second  charge,  it  was  equally  unfound 
ed.  The  conspiracy  against  General  Washington, 
which  most  certainly  did  exist,  was  more  of  a  mili 
tary  than  of  a  civil  character.  Washington,  by  a 
series  of  brilliant,  rapid  strides,  reached  the  very 
summit  of  human  exaltation,  and  was  justly  termed 
the  idol  of  the  nation.  The  recital  of  his  troubles 
at  this  particular  period  furnishes  the  same  old  story 
with  which  history  abounds.  As  long  as  victory 
perched  upon  his  banner  his  life  was  one  continuous, 
magnificent  ovation;  but  when  disaster  came  with 
its  chilling  blasts  and  threatening  clouds,  the  firm 
friends  of  yesterday  fell  thick  and  fast  around  him 
"  like  leaves  in  Yalumbrosa."  When  reverses  over 
took  his  special  command,  General  Gates  with  the 
northern  wing  was  acquiring  additional  fame  by  the 

capitulation  of  Saratoga;    the  latter,  flushed  with 

4* 


82  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

success,  coveted  the  coronet  another  wore,  and 
dimmed  the  lustre  of  all  his  military  achieve- 
menjs  by  the  unsoldierly  and  unfriendly  attitude 
he  assumed  towards  George  Washington.  In  this 
unworthy  crusade  he  was  assisted  by  some  subordi 
nate  officers,  and  not  a  few  members  of  Congress. 
But  among  them  all  there  is  no  evidence  whatever 
to  implicate  James  Wilson,  and  nothing  to  compro 
mise  his  reputation  as  a  staunch  friend  of  the  great 
chieftain.  Generals  Gates  and  Con  way  were  really 
the  prime  movers  in  the  whole  disgraceful  con 
spiracy  against  Washington,  but  the  latter  had  a 
strong  hold  on  public  favor  which  he  had  gallantly 
and  honestly  earned,  and  a  fierce  reaction  soon  set 
in  and  once  more  entrenched  him  firmly  in  the  affec 
tions  of  the  whole  nation.  Gates,  whose  vaulting 
ambition  had  sadly  overleapt  itself,  dwindled  into 
comparative  obscurity,  which  was  somewhat  acceler 
ated  by  his  disastrous  defeat  at  Camden.  Conway, 
the  champion  calumniator  of  the  period,  scorned  by 
all  honorable  men  for  his  gross  abuse  of  one  who  oc 
cupied  such  a  worthy  and  honorable  place  in  the 
nation,  being  charged  with  palpable  cowardice  at 
the  battle  of  Germantown,  resigned  his  commission 
April  28,  1778,  and  quietly  drifted  into  oblivion. 

Wilson  was  a  brilliant  member  of  the  Constitu 
tional  Convention  of  1787,  and,  being  a  man  of 
sagacity  and  foresight,  a  profound  lawyer  of  great 
tact,  and  a  fluent,  forcible  speaker,  did  as  much 
as  any  one  man  in  that  famed  body  for  the 


JAMES  WILSON.  83 

creation  of  the  Constitution  under  which  we  now 
exist.  Nay,  more,  on  the  23d  of  July,  1787,  it  was 
resolved  "  That  the  proceedings  of  the  convention 
for  the  establishment  of  a  National  Government, 
except  what  respects  the  Supreme  Executive,  be 
referred  to  a  committee  for  the  purpose  of  reporting 
a  Constitution  conformably  to  the  proceedings  afore 
said."  Of  this  most  important  committee  James 
Wilson  was  chairman,  and  on  the  6th  of  August 
they  reported  the  Constitution.  This  was  a  high 
honor  conferred  on  Pennsylvania,  and  its  noble  ap 
pointee  fulfilled  his  commission  in  a  manner  worthy 
the  great  Commonwealth  he  represented.  Mr.  Wil 
son  was  subsequently  a  member  of  the  State  Legis 
lature,  when  the  important  duty  devolved  upon  it 
of  ratifying  the  general  Constitution,  and  here  again 
his  experience  as  a  legislator  and  erudition  as  a  law 
yer  made  him  eminently  useful.  After  the  Federal 
Constitution  was  ratified,  a  convention  was  called  to 
make  our  State  Constitution  harmonize  with  that  of 
the  General  Government,  and  Mr.  Wilson  was  one 
of  a  committee  appointed  to  make  the  necessary 
change,  and  upon  him  rested  the  task  of  making  the 
draft.  In  corroboration  of  what  we  have  before  in 
timated  as  to  the  good  feeling  existing  between 
Washington  and  himself,  in  1789  the  former  ap 
pointed  him  a  justice  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  the 
United  States.  The  bench  at  that  time  was  pro 
verbially  strong.  John  Jay  was  Chief  Justice,  and 
his  colleagues  were  ex-Chief  Justice  Gushing,  of 


84  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

Massachusetts ;  ex- Chief  Justice  Harrison,  of  Mary 
land  (formerly  one  of  the  confidential  secretaries  of 
Washington) ;  ex- Judge  Blair,  of  Virginia ;  John 
Rutledge,  the  accomplished  scholar  and  statesman 
of  South  Carolina,  and  James  Wilson,  of  Pennsyl 
vania.  This  was  an  array  of  almost  unparalleled 
intellectual  brilliancy,  but  plain  James  Wilson,  of 
Pennsylvania,  was  the  peer  of  any  man  who  sat  in 
that  court.  He  officiated  in  this  high  and  honora 
ble  position  for  nine  years.  While  attending  court 
as  a  United  States  Circuit  Judge  in  1798,  in  Eden- 
ton,  North  Carolina,  he  was  taken  suddenly  ill  and 
died  there,  aged  fifty-six  years.  Judge  Wilson  was 
a  man  about  six  feet  in  stature,  of  fine  personal  ap 
pearance  and  graceful  demeanor.  He  was  a  shining 
member  of  the  Philadelphia  bar  in  its  comparative 
infancy,  and  as  a  citizen  and  gentleman  was  noted 
for  his  graceful  courtesy  and  genial  hospitality.  He 
was  always  distinguished  for  great  integrity  of  char 
acter  and  an  inviolate  regard  for  truth.  He  was 
twice  married,  and  many  of  his  honorable  descend 
ants  are  yet  living  in  the  States  of  New  York  and 
Pennsylvania. 


HON.  GEORGE  ROSS,  ATTORNEY-AT-LAW. 


The  result  of  fifteen  years'  practice  in  Lancaster 
county — Prosecutor  to  the  King  and  Representa 
tive  to  the  Pennsylvania  Assembly — Points  in  his 
career  as  a  Legislator — An  ardent  supporter  of  the 
demand  for  a  General  Congress — Member  of  the 
Committee  of  Grievances  and  of  the  General  Con 
vention^  &c.,  &c. 

THIS  gentleman,  whose  name  is  the  last  of  the 
Pennsylvania  delegation  affixed  to  the  Declara 
tion  of  Independence,  was  the  son  of  the  Eev.  George 
Ross,  rector  of  the  Episcopal  church  in  the  old  town 
of  New  Castle,  Delaware.  He  was  born  in  1730, 
and  his  youth  was  characterized  by  an  unusual  fond 
ness  for  literature  and  thirst  for  learning.  His 
worthy  father,  a  gentleman  of  culture  and  educa 
tion,  accorded  to  the  son  every  advantage  his  cir 
cumstances  would  permit  to  develop  and  improve 
his  literary  tastes.  Fortified  by  cherished  home 
principles  and  the  best  educational  facilities  the  vil 
lage  could  afford,  young  Ross,  at  the  early  age  of 
eighteen,  enrolled  himself  as  a  law  student  in  the 
office  of  his  brother,  John  Ross,  Esq.,  at  that  time 
a  promising  lawyer  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia. 
After  devoting  three  years  of  untiring  study  to  his 

(85) 


86  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

new  profession  he  determined  to  risk  his  fortune  in 
the  old  frontier  town  of  Lancaster,  at  that  time  near 
the  western  limits  of  civilization.  He  timidly  shrunk 
from  the  formidable  competition  of  the  Philadelphia 
bar,  which,  even  at  that  early  day,  strange  as  it  may 
seem,  was  in  the  very  zenith  of  its  professional  glory, 
including  in  its  membership  the  most  brilliant  law 
yers  of  the  whole  country.  George  Ross  went  to  * 
the  Far  West  in  Lancaster  county,  armed  and 
equipped  with  a  good  character  and  a  superior  edu 
cation,  and  linked  his  youthful  fortune  with  the 
humble,  honest  yeomanry  of  that  distant  land,  now 
accessible  in  two  hours  by  rail  from  Philadelphia. 
He  settled  there  in  1751,  and  soon  married  Miss 
Ann  Lawler,  an  accomplished  and  cultivated  young 
lady  residing  in  his  newly  adopted  home. 

For  fifteen  long  years  he  devoted  his  undivided 
time  and  energies  to  his  profession,  intellectual  capi 
tal  well  invested,  producing  him  in  return  a  large 
and  lucrative  practice,  and  for  a  short  -  term  the 
honorable  local  office  of  prosecutor  to  the  King. 
During  all  this  time  he  eschewed  politics,  entering 
its  fascinating  arena  in  1768,  when  he  was  elected  a 
Representative  from  Lancaster  county  to  the  Penn 
sylvania  Assembly,  taking  his  seat  in  October  of 
the  same  year.  He  remained  in  this  position  for 
several  consecutive  years,  and  won  the  respect  of 
his  colleagues  of  all  political  shades,  and  the  appro 
bation  of  an  intelligent  constituency.  Whilst  there 
he  made  the  Indian  question  a  special  study.  This 


GEOKGE  Ross.  87 

theme  was  as  vexatious  a  one  in  old  as  it  has  been 
in  modern  times,  and  was  a  subject  of  constant  anx 
iety  to  the  province,  producing  oftentimes  very  great 
differences  between  the  Assembly  and  the  Govern 
ors.  It  was  a  sort  of  standing  controversial  ques 
tion  for  the  political  magnates  to  fall  back  upon 
when  they  had  a  superabundance  of  leisure  time, 
which  was  very  often  the  case.  The  Governor  fre 
quently  interfered  in  the  matter  in  an  arbitrary  and 
injudicious  manner,  his  motives  being  good,  but  his 
suggestions  being  impracticable  and  decidedly  im 
politic.  On  one  occasion  he  recommended  in  his 
message  an  increase  of  the  garrison  at  Fort  Pitt. 
The  Assembly  were  marked  in  their  opposition  to 
this,  and  their  reply,  couched  in  respectful  but  em 
phatic  language,  was  prepared  by  Ross,  of  Lancas 
ter.  "We  all  know,"  it  recites,  "that  from  the  first 
settlement  of  the  province,  down  to  the  late  French 
and  Indian  war,  the  most  perfect  good  understand 
ing  and  friendship  were  preserved  between  this 
government  and  those  people,  by  a  conduct  uniform 
ly  just  and  kind  towards  them ;  that  since  the  late 
Indian  war  the  like  happy  effects  have  been  pro 
duced  by  the  like  policy,  and  that  on  the  contrary 
the  maintaining  of  garrisons  in  or  near  their  country 
has  been  frequently  an  object  of  their  jealousy  and 
complaints.  ********* 
"We  might  offer  other  reasons  for  not  concurring 
in  sentiment  with  your  Honor  on  the  propriety  of 
supporting  a  garrison  at  Fort  Pitt;  but,  being  of 


88  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

opinion  that  any  warlike  preparations,  even  within 
our  own  frontier,  at  a  time  of  prevailing  harmony 
between  us  and  the  natives,  may  be  attended  with 
more  ill  than  good  consequences,  we  shall  waive 
them  as  unnecessary,  and  content  ourselves  with  as 
suring  you  that  we  shall,  and  we  have  no  doubt  that 
all  future  Assemblies  will  be  very  ready,  when  there 
shall  be  real  occasion,  to  afford  every  kind  of  protec 
tion  to  the  back  inhabitants  the  circumstances  of 
the  province  will  allow." 

George  Ross,  however,  was  destined  by  his  erudi 
tion  and  force  of  character  to  play  a  more  conspic 
uous  part,  in  a  more  comprehensive  drama,  than  the 
maintainance  of  a  petty  garrison  at  Fort  Pitt  in  the 
Western  wilds  of  Pennsylvania.  The  arbitrary  pro 
ceedings  of  the  British  government  were  electrifying 
the  nation,  and  creating  deep,  hoarse,  colonial  mut- 
terings  and  threats  from  New  Hampshire  to  the 
Carolinas.  The  demand  of  Virginia  and  other 
States  for  the  meeting  of  a  general  congress  found 
an  ardent  supporter  in  Mr.  Ross.  The  resolutions 
making  this  request  were  received  by  the  Pennsyl 
vania  Assembly  on  the  very  eve  of  its  dissolution, 
and  on  account  of  their  profound  importance  final 
action  was  postponed,  and  the  matter  referred  to  the 
succeeding  Assembly.  Mr.  Ross  was  appointed  chair 
man  of  a  committee  to  communicate  this  action  to 
the  Virginia  House  of  Delegates,  which  was  done  in 
a  prompt  and  courteous  manner.  In  July  following 
a  committee  of  seven  on  the  part  of  the  province  was 


GEORGE  Eoss.  89 

appointed  to  meet  the  other  colonial  delegates  at  a 
time  and  place  to  be  determined.  The  instructions 
to  this  committee  by  a  singular  coincidence  were 
drafted  by  Ross  himself,  and  were  positive  and  con 
cise,  giving  the  honorable  appointees  considerable 
discretion  and  latitude.  In  obedience  to  these  in 
structions  he  took  his  seat  in  Congress  September  5, 
1774,  and  filled  the  position  until  January,  1777, 
when  he  obtained  leave  of  absence  on  account  of  sick 
ness,  and  retired.  His  public  career  as  a  Congres 
sional  Representative  elicited  the  warmest  commen 
dation  from  his  constituents,  as  is  evidenced  by  the 
following  resolutions  passed  by  the  inhabitants  of 
old  Lancaster  county : 

Resolved,  That  the  sum  of  one  hundred  and  fifty 
pounds  out  of  the  county  stock  be  forthwith  trans 
mitted  to  George  Ross,  one  of  the  members  of  As 
sembly  for  this  county,  and  one  of  the  delegates  for 
this  Colony  in  the  Continental  Congress,  and  that  he 
be  requested  to  accept  the  same  as  a  testimony  from 
this  county  of  their  sense  of  his  attendance  on  the 
public  business,  to  his  great  private  loss,  and  of 
their  approbation  of  his  conduct. 

Resolved,  That  if  it  be  more  agreeable,  Mr.  Ross 
purchase  with  part  of  the  said  money  a  genteel  piece 
of  plate,  one  ornamented  as  he  thinks  proper,  to 
remain  with  him  as  a  testimony  of  the  esteem  this 
county  has  for  him,  by  reason  of  his  patriotic  con 
duct  in  the  great  struggle  for  American  liberty. 

These  resolutions,  couched  perhaps  in  plain,  homely 


90  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

phraseology,  indicate  a  patriotic  gratitude  and  great 
personal  confidence  on  the  part  of  the  honest 
yeomanry  of  his  adopted  county,  and  their  presenta 
tion  was  exceedingly  gratifying  to  Mr.  Ross.  From 
a  positive  sense  of  duty,  however,  he  felt  compelled 
to  decline  an  acceptance  of  either  the  pounds  or  the 
plate,  considering  it  as  he  remarked,  "  the  duty  of 
every  man,  and  especially  of  every  representative 
of  the  people,  to  contribute  by  every  means  within 
his  power  to  the  welfare  of  his  country,  ivithout  ex 
pecting  pecuniary  rewards!'1'1  This  was  considered 
sound  doctrine  in  our  primitive  history,  but  its  sym 
metry  has  not  only  been  slightly  marred,  but  very 
badly  damaged,  in  modern  Legislative  circles.  Al 
though  a  member  of  Congress,  Mr.  Ross  was  at  the 
same  time  an  active,  influential  member  of  the  Pro 
vincial  Legislature.  In  1775  the  Governor  trans 
mitted  a  message  to  the  House,  in  which  he  argued 
in  favor  of  pacific  measures  as  a  good  stroke  of 
Colonial  policy,  in  view  of  the  threatening  attitude 
assumed  by  the  mother  country.  It  was  a  common 
custom  at  that  time  to  reply  at  once  to  the  messages 
of  the  Governor,  and  his  present  action  demanded  a 
public  expression  of  opinion  by  the  different  mem 
bers.  The  question  was  whether  Pennsylvania 
would  make  an  humble  retraction,  or  order  an  un 
compromising  advance.  The  talent  of  the  House 
developed  itself  in  a  brilliant  debate,  and  George 
Ross,  as  the  leading  friend  of  decisive  measures, 
succeeded  in  securing  a  committee  coinciding  with 


GEORGE  Ross.  91 

his  views,  and  of  which  he  was  a  member.  This 
committee  presented  their  report  in  courteous,  but 
strong  terms,  and  its  reception  was  the  signal  for 
an  exciting  debate,  which  lasted  two  days,  ending, 
however,  in  its  adoption  by  twenty-two  to  fifteen 
votes.  Strange,  that  then,  as  now,  numerically 
strong  minorities  were  always  found  when  great 
national  questions  were  involved.  In  the  summer 
of  1775  something  more  tangible  and  vigorous  was 
demanded  than  Legislative  resolves — something 
more  formidable  than  rhetorical  display  or  paper 
missiles.  Keenly  appreciative  of  the  crisis,  the 
Assembly  appointed  Mr.  Boss,  and  several  other 
worthy  gentleman,  as  a  committee  to  "  consider  and 
report  such  measures  as  they  might  think  proper  to 
place  Philadelphia  and  the  Province  in  a  state  of 
defence." 

This  committee  reported  promptly,  recommend 
ing  the  people  to  associate  for  the  protection  of 
their  lives,  liberty,  and  property ;  and  strongly  urg 
ing  upon  the  inhabitants  of  the  province  the  import 
ance  of  collecting  stores  of  ammunition  and  arms. 
This  was  the  nucleus  of  the  celebrated  Committee 
of  Safety,  afterwards  formed,  which  did  such  good 
practical  work  in  the  early  days  of  the  Revolution, 
and  of  which  George  Ross  was  an  active  and  effi 
cient  member.  This  committee  was  really  for  a 
time  the  potential  executive  organ  of  the  Govern 
ment,  and  was  clothed  with  almost  unlimited  pow 
ers,  which  it  seldom,  if  ever,  abused.  He  belonged 


92  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

also  to  the  Committee  of  Grievances,  and  was  ap 
pointed,  with  two  others,  to  prepare  rules  and  regu 
lations  for  the  government  of  the  forces  of  the  pro 
vince  which  might  be  raised. 

On  the  dissolution  of  the  Proprietary  government 
and  a  substitution  of  a  General  Convention  for  the 
previous  Legislature,  Mr.  Eoss  represented  Lancas 
ter  county  in  this  new  body,  and  was  recognized  as 
one  of  its  leading  members.  In  this  sphere  he  was 
appointed  to  assist  in  preparing  a  declaration  of 
rights  for  the  State,  and  was  chairman  of  two  very 
important  committees — one  for  framing  regulations 
for  the  government  of  the  convention ;  the  other  for 
preparing  an  ordinance  declaratory  of  what  should 
be  considered  high  treason  and  misprison  of  treason 
against  the  State,  and  the  punishment  for  the  same. 
In  rehearsing  briefly  the  salient  points  in  the  career 
of  this  distinguished  man  we  notice  his  great  capa 
city  for  labor ;  his  untiring  industry,  as  proven  by 
his  voluminous  work  as  a  committee-man ;  his  ster 
ling  integrity,  and  his  genial,  unostentatious  man 
ners,  all  indicating  a  happy  blending  of  the  incorrupt 
ible  statesman  and  the  Colonial  patriot.  Mr.  Ross 
was  well  versed  in  the  law,  and  before  the  Revolution 
took  high  rank  in  his  profession.  On  its  inaugura 
tion  and  during  its  continuance  his  sphere  was  chang 
ed  from  that  of  mere  local  subordinate  provincial 
judicature  to  a  higher  plane  involving  the  consider 
ation  and  solution  of  great  and  grave  national  ques 
tions.  His  compeers  were  gifted,  high-toned  honor- 


GEORGE  Ross.  93 

able  gentlemen — James  Wilson,  then  of  Carlisle, 
Biddle  of  Beading,  Read,  Attorney  General  Sergent, 
and  Lewis,  formed  a  brilliant  legal  constellation, 
eminently  worthy  the  growing  fame  of  the  young 
Colony.  Mr.  Ross  was  appointed  a  judge  of  the 
Court  of  Admiralty  for  Pennsylvania,  April  14, 
1779.  In  July  of  the  same  year  he  died  at  Lancas 
ter,  in  the  fiftieth  year  of  his  age. 


THE  DASHING  ANTHONY  WAYNE. 


A  man  whose  military  genius  never  deserted  him — 
The  hero  of  Ticonderoga,  Brandywine,  German- 
town,  Monmouth,  and  other  sanguinary  battles  of 
the  Revolution,  portrayed — Stony  Point — "  Fort 
and  garrison  are  ours  " — The  Pennsylvania  Gen 
eral's  movements  in  the  memorable  campaign 
against  Cornwallis. 

"  Oh  for  the  swords  of  former  time, 
Oh  for  the  men  who  bore  them, 
When  armed  for  right,  they  stood  sublime 
And  tyrants  crouched  before  them  ?" 

AMONG  the  gallant  men  who  participated  in  our 
Revolutionary  struggle,  covering  themselves 
with  glory,  honestly  earning  the  gratitude  of  poster 
ity,  and  disarming  the  criticism  of  the  historian,  was 
the  distinguished  Pennsylvanian,  General  Anthony 
Wayne.  From  the  very  incipiency  of  the  war  to 
its  brilliant  termination,  when  peace  returned  "with 
healing  on  her  wings  and  majesty  in  her  beams," 
his  career  was  that  of  an  honest  patriot  and  a  bold, 
dashing  cavalier,  his  whole  life  a  thrilling  tableau 
of  peril  and  glory.  The  military  genius  of  the  man 
never  deserted  him,  but  gained  lustre  with  age,  spark 
ling  brilliantly  at  Ticonderoga  and  Brandy  wine,  and 
bursting  forth  in  a  blaze  of  glory  on  the  historic  and 

(94) 


ANTHONY  WAYNE.  95 

sanguinary  battle-fields  of  Germantown  and  Mon- 
mouth.  Major  General  Anthony  Wayne  was  born 
at  Waynesboro,  Chester  county,  Pa.,  January  1, 
1745.  His  father  was  a  native  of  the  same  county 
— an  intelligent,  thrifty  farmer — and  for  several 
years  was  an  honorable  member  of  the  Colonial 
General  Assembly  prior  to  the  Revolution.  His 
grandfather,  a  fine  specimen  of  the  old  English  gen 
tleman,  was  a  native  of  Yorkshire,  and  commanded 
a  squadron  at  the  battle  of  the  Boyne,  shortly  after 
which  engagement  he  emigrated  to  America.  An 
thony  received  his  primary  education  at  Phila 
delphia,  a  ad  at  the  early  age  of  18  was  so  proficient 
as  a  land  surveyor  as  to  attract  the  attention  of  Dr. 
Franklin,  who  selected  him  to  superintend  the  man 
agement  of  a  projected  settlement  in  Nova  Scotia, 
which  position,  however,  he  never  accepted. 

In  1773  he  was  returned  as  a  member  of  the  As 
sembly  from  his  native  county,  in  which  position  he 
proved  himself  not  only  an  advanced  friend  of  free 
institutions,  but  exhibited  considerable  talent  as  a 
legislator,  the  fruition  of  which  was  only  thwarted 
by  the  startling  military  developments  in  which  he 
subsequently  played  so  conspicuous  a  part.  On  all 
proper  occasions  he  opposed  with  consummate  abil 
ity  and  tact  the  encroachments  of  the  mother  coun 
try  upon  our  reserved  rights,  and  did  much  towards 
shaping  the  opinion  of  his  native  State  in  relation  to 
the  contemplated  outbreak  which  might  burst  forth 
at  any  moment  from  the  smouldering  Vesuvius  of  an 


96  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

excited  public  sentiment.  In  1775  he  was  married, 
and  settling  down  on  his  little  estate,  was  appointed 
a  member  of  the  Committee  of  Safety,  in  which 
sphere  he  gave  considerable  attention  to  military 
drill  and  tactics ;  indeed,  all  his  military  education 
was  received  in  this  primitive  school.  The  same 
year  he  was  authorized  to  raise  a  regiment  in  Ches 
ter  county,  and  such  was  his  personal  magnetism, 
combined  with  his  great  energy,  that  the  trust  was 
fulfilled  in  less  than  two  weeks.  Soon  after,  he  was 
detached  from  his  original  command  and  ordered  to 
Canada  under  General  Thompson,  where  he  covered 
the  retreat  of  the  provincial  forces  at  Three  Eivers, 
in  which  movement  General  Thompson  was  taken 
prisoner,  and  young  Wayne  was  severely  wounded. 
At  Ticonderoga,  in  1776,  he  displayed  great  cour 
age  and  skill,  and  was  a  special  favorite  of  General 
Gates,  who  complimented  him  on-  his  personal  brav 
ery  and  eminent  ability  as  an  engineer.  At  Bran- 
dywine  he  gave  another  magnificent  exhibition  of 
that  matchless  courage  which  is  as  natural  to  some 
men  as  cowardice  is  to  others,  brilliantly  and  suc 
cessfully  opposing  for  a  long  time  the  progress  of 
the  enemy  at  Chadd's  Ford.  Public  sentiment, 
fickle  as  the  winds,  and  oftentimes  unreliable  as  it 
is  excitable,  demoralized  by  the  repeated  defeats  of 
the  National  arms,  forced  the  battle  of  Brandywine 
at  a  most  unpropitious  time.  Military  authority 
protested  in  vain  against  the  conflict,  which  event 
uated  in  an  unfortunate  but  not  discreditable  result. 


ANTHONY  WAYNE.  97 

• 

In  this  engagement  the  Americans  were  inferior  in 
numbers,  discipline  and  arms,  but  not  lacking  in 
that  thrilling  valor  which  afterwards  exhibited 
itself  on  so  many  bloody  battle-fields.  The  ground 
was  bravely  fought  inch  by  inch,  and  although  par 
tial  defeat  was  our  fate,  the  rank  and  file  were  be 
guiled  with  the  flattering  theory  so  common  under 
similar  circumstances  in  our  late  civil  war,  that  the 
enemy  lost  as  many  as  ourselves.  The  American 
commander-in-chief  determined  to  hazard  another 
battle  at  the  first  opportunity,  and  as  a  preliminary 
step,  detached  General  Wayne  with  his  division  of 
braves,  with  instructions  to  harrass  the  foe  by  every 
means  in  his  power. 

The  British  troops  were  drawn  up  near  the  old 
town  of  Tredyffrin,  and  Wayne's  small  force  was 
located  about  three  miles  in  the  rear  of  their  left 
wing,  near  the  old  Paoli  tavern.  Notwithstanding 
he  had  taken  all  reasonable  precautionary  measures 
to  warrant  comparative  safety,  about  11  o'clock  on 
the  night  of  September  20th  his  pickets  came  flying 
in,  hotly  pursued  by  the  British  troops  under  Gen 
eral  Gray.  The  night  was  fearfully  dark,  and  the 
American  troops  were  aroused  from  their  peaceful 
dreams  only  to  meet  the  fixed  bayonets  of  the  ruth 
less  invaders.  For  a  time  Wayne  and  his  valiant 
men  fought  desperately,  but  were  soon  compelled  to 
succumb  to  superior  numbers,  and  beat  a  retreat. 
In  a  short  time  he  reformed  his  line  a  little  distance 
from  the  original  engagement,  and  found  that  as  a 


98  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

sad  result  of  the  midnight  surprise  he  had  lost,  in  an 
engagement  not  lasting  over  one  hour,  one  hundred 
and  fifty  men  killed  and  wounded.  The  blighting 
tongue  of  slander,  and  the  freezing  envy  of  the  line, 
anxious  to  detract  from  the  rapidly-growing  fame 
of  the  intrepid  young  commander,  whose  pathway 
was  already  golden  with  bright  promises  of  the 
future,  attempted  to  hold  him  responsible  for  the 
unfortunate  defeat  at  Paoli.  He  at  once  demanded 
a  court-martial,  which  was  promptly  granted,  and, 
after  a  full  hearing  of  the  facts,  he  was  honorably 
acquitted  by  the  finding  that  he  had  done  everything 
"consistent  with  the  character  of  an  active,  brave, 
and  efficient  officer."  He  lost  victory,  but  not  repu 
tation,  at  the  midnight  slaughter  of  Paoli.  A  chaste, 
substantial  monument  marks  the  spot  where  the 
brave  men  fell  on  the  night  of  September  20,  1777. 
Soon  afterwards  he  gained  additional  fame  by  his 
gallant  action  at  the  battle  of  Germantown,  where 
he  led  his  men  into  the  very  heart  of  the  fight  with 
an  abandon  almost  amounting  to  positive  reckless 
ness,  having  one  horse  shot  under  him,  another  as 
he  was  mounting  him,  receiving  himself  almost  at 
the  same  moment  wounds  in  his  left  foot  and  left 
hand. 

Although  a  valiant  warrior  in  the  field,  General 
Wayne  was  distinguished  in  the  councils  of  war  for 
his  great  prudence  and  foresight.  Before  the  bat 
tle  of  Monmouth  the  only  two  officers  really  in  favor 
of  an  aggressive  movement  were  the  two  distin- 


ANTHONY  WAYNE.  99 

guished  young  Pennsylvania  generals,  Wayne  and 
Cadwalader.  The  other  American  officers  were  in 
fluenced  and  controlled  by  the  opinions  of  Baron 
Steuben  and  Generals  Du  Portail  and  Lee,  who  vehe 
mently  opposed  an  engagement  at  the  time  as  hazard 
ous  in  the  extreme.  Washington,  though  warmly 
attached  to  these  distinguished  foreigners,  and  emi 
nently  grateful  for  their  valuable  assistance,  dissent 
ed  from  their  theory  in  this  matter  and  approved 
that  of  Calwalader  and  Wayne,  resulting  in  an  en 
gagement  so  highly  honorable  to  American  arms 
and  valor.  Here  once  more  Wayne  was  conspicu 
ous  for  the  ardor  of  his  attack,  as  Washington 
makes  mention  in  his  official  report  to  Congress.  He 
says :  "  Were  I  to  conclude  my  account  of  this  day's 
transaction  without  expressing  my  obligations  to  the 
officers  of  the  army  in  general,  I  should  do  injustice 
to  their  merits  and  violence  to  my  own  feelings. 
They  seemed  to  vie  with  each  other  in  manifesting 
their  zeal  and  bravery.  The  catalogue  of  those  who 
distinguished  themselves  is  too  long  to  admit  of  par 
ticularizing  individuals,  but  1  cannot  forbear  men 
tioning  Brigadier  General  Anthony  Wayne,  whose 
good  conduct  and  bravery  throughout  the  whole  en 
gagement  deserves  particular  commendation."  An 
exceptional  reference  of  this  kind  from  such  an  im 
partial  and  distinguished  source  is,  perhaps,  the  very 
highest  compliment  any  man  could  receive.  Per 
haps  the  finest  exhibition  of  combined  skill  and 
dash  in  the  eventful  life  of  General  Wayne  was  de- 


100  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

veloped  in  the  storming  of  Stony  Point,  July  15, 
1779.  Having  conceived  the  design,  "Washington 
prudently  and  wisely  committed  its  execution  to 
Wayne,  in  whom  he  had  unlimited  confidence. 
Stony  Point  was  a  very  formidable  fort  on  the  Hud 
son,  its  base  being  washed  on  one  side  by  the  waters 
of  that  beautiful  river.  The  other  sides  were  pro 
tected  by  an  extensive  morass,  over  which  there  was 
but  a  single  crossing  place.  This  fine,  natural  posi 
tion  was  surrounded  with  frowning  batteries  of  artil 
lery,  heavy  breastworks,  and  an  almost  impenetrable 
circle  of  skillfully  prepared  abattis.  To  make  assur 
ance  doubly  sure,  and  render  this  strong  position 
perfectly  impregnable,  three  British  men-of-war  were 
in  the  river  below,  the  guns  of  which  commanded  the 
entire  surroundings  of  the  base  of  the  hill.  On  the 
15th  of  July  General  "Wayne  marched  from  Sandy 
Beach,  arriving  at  8  P.  M.  within  a  short  distance 
of  the  fort,  where  he  halted  to  perfect  his  prelimi 
nary  arrangements  for  the  terrific  assault.  It  was 
a  bold  task,  but  the  perilous  enterprise  was  in  the 
hands  of  a  bold  man.  At  11  o'clock,  at  the  head  of 
his  column,  he  commenced  the  advance,  the  com 
mand  having  unloaded  muskets  and  fixed  bayonets, 
intent  upon  victory  or  death.  The  fort  was  carried 
by  storm,  without  the  firing  of  a  gun.  The  garri 
son  consisted  of  six  hundred  men.  Of  these,  five 
hundred  and  forty-three  were  made  prisoners,  the 
balance  being  killed  in  the  conflict.  The  intrepid 
leader,  who  always  led  and  never  followed,  was  in 


ANTHONY  WAYNE.  101 

the  very  centre  of  the  desperate  hand-to-hand  fight, 
and,  while  encouraging  the  men  of  Febinger's  regi 
ment,  of  which  he  had  command,  was  wounded  in 
the  head  by  a  musket  ball.  As  he  fell,  he  thought 
the  wound  was  mortal,  and  requested  of  his  gallant 
comrades  to  be  carried  forward  that  he  might  die 
within  the  walls  of  the  fort  they  had  so  nobly  won. 
A  faint  conception  of  the  fierceness  of  the  encounter 
may  be  gathered  from  the  fact  that  of  the  twenty 
men  detailed  as  a  "forlorn  hope"  to  remove  the 
abattis,  seventeen  were  killed.  For  his  bravery  on 
this  occasion,  justly  considered  the  most  brilliant 
victory  of  the  whole  war,  Congress  presented  Gen 
eral  "Wayne  with  a  costly  gold  medal,  emblematic 
of  the  action.  His  report  of  the  battle  was  com 
municated  to  his  Commander-in- Chief  in  the  follow 
ing  laconic  letter : 

STONY  POINT,  July  16, 1779, ) 
2  o'clock  A.  M.  ) 

DEAR  GENERAL:— The  fort  and  garrison,  with  Col. 
Johnson,  are  ours.  The  officers  and  men  behaved  like 
men  determined  to  be  free. 

Yours  most  sincerely, 

ANTHONY  WAYNE. 
To  General  Washington. 

In  1781  he  bore  a  conspicuous  part  in  the  mem 
orable  campaign  which  resulted  in  the  surrender  of 
Cornwallis.  The  British  having  made  considerable 
advance  in  Georgia,  Washington  dispatched  Wayne 
there  to  take  command  and  bring  matters  up  to  a 
respectable  standard.  After  a  series  of  sanguinary 


102  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

skirmishes  and  battles,  he  brought  order  out  of  chaos 
and  established  general  security  within  the  borders 
of  the  whole  State.  The  Georgians  were  very  grateful 
for  his  valuable  services,  and  their  Legislature  gave 
him  a  valuable  farm,  as  a  slight  testimonial  of  their 
esteem.  Peace  being  declared,  shortly  after  this 
he  returned  to  his  quiet  home  in  Chester  county. 
In  1789  he  was  a  member  of  the  Pennsylvania  Leg 
islature,  and  a  great  friend  of  the  Federal  Consti 
tution.  In  1792  he  was  appointed  to  succeed  Gen 
eral  St.  Clair  in  command  of  the  army  engaged 
against  the  Indians  on  our  western  frontier.  He 
succeeded  not  only  in  driving  them  back,  but  oc 
cupied  their  territory  by  a  chain  of  military  posts, 
thus  effectually  checking  all  future  predatory  in 
cursions,  and  holding  the  ground  as  he  won  it. 
After  a  year  of  rough,  dangerous  border  warfare 
with  an  unscrupulous  foe,  he  compelled  them  to  suc 
cumb  to  his  iron  will  and  sue  for  a  definite  treaty  of 
peace,  which  he  concluded  with  them.  He  died, 
December  14,  1796,  aged  fifty-one  years,  at  Fort 
Presque,  then  a  far-off  western  post  on  the  outskirts 
of  civilization,  now  the  beautiful  young  city  of  Erie. 
Some  time  afterwards  his  remains  were  exhumed  by 
a  devoted  son,  and  removed  to  the  quiet  borders  of 
his  native  county,  where  they  were  subsequently  sur 
mounted  by  a  marble  monument  of  symmetry  and 
beauty,  the  grateful  offering  of  the  Pennsylvania 
State  Society  of  the  Cincinnati.  Granite,  bronze,  or 
marble  never  covered  the  grave  of  a  braver  man 


ANTHONY  WAYNE.  103 

than  Anthony  Wayne  of  Chester  county.  He  won 
and  preserved  through  life  the  love  and  esteem  of 
George  Washington.  To  his  great  natural  military 
genius  he  added  the  ardent  enthusiasm  of  genuine 
patriotism ;  and  whether  we  view  him  as  a  stripling 
on  the  Canadian  frontier,  or  as  a  bronzed  veteran 
among  the  palmettoes  of  the  South,  or  fighting  the 
local  Kevolutionary  battles  of  our  own  latitude,  we 
find  him  one  of  the  most  remarkable  military  men 
of  Revolutionary  times,  worthy  the  gratitude  of  the 
nation,  and  one  of  whom  every  Pennsylvanian  may 
well  be  proud. 


ARTHUR  ST.  CLAIR. 


WE  shall  not  attempt  minutely  to  delineate  the 
character  of  General  St.  Glair.  His  his 
tory  is  intimately  connected  with  our  early  Colonial 
era,  and  from  1760  to  1812  we  find  him  the  recipient 
of  high  military  and  civil  positions,  the  subject  of 
caustic  criticism  and  censure,  and,  at  times,  the  grand 
central  figure  of  that  popular  idolatry  which  always 
kneels  and  worships  at  the  shrine  of  success.  His 
whole  life  is  an  epitome  of  victories  and  defeats, 
wealth  and  poverty,  gilded  promises  and  blasted 
hopes.  Although  for  half  a  century  intimately 
identified  with  the  development  and  progress  of 
Pennsylvania,  Arthur  St.  Clair  was  not  a  native  of 
that  colony,  but  was  born  at'  Thurso,  Caithness, 
Scotland,  in  1734.  He  was  grandson  of  the  Earl  of 
Eoslyn,  and  studied  medicine  with  the  celebrated 
John  Hunter.  By  the  death  of  his  mother  he  in 
herited  a  handsome  estate,  and,  abandoning  his  pro 
fessional  studies,  he  purchased  an  Ensigncy  in  the 
60th  Foot,  May  13, 1757.  He  came  to  America  with 
Boscawen's  fleet  in  1758,  and  served  under  Amherst 
at  the  capture  of  Louisburg.  He  was  made  a  Lieu 
tenant,  April  17,  1759,  and  gained  great  distinction 
by  his  intrepid  valor  under  General  Wolfe  at  Quebec, 

(104) 


ARTHUR  ST.  GLAIR.  105 

during  the  same  year.  On  May  14, 1760,  he  mar 
ried  Phebe,  a  daughter  of  Balthazar  Bayard  and 
Mary  Bowdoin,  a  half  sister  of  Governor  James 
Bowdoin.  On  April  16, 1762,  he  resigned  his  com 
mission,  and  two  years  after  purchased  an  estate  in 
Ligonier  valley,  at  that  time  on  the  very  outskirts 
of  civilization  in  Pennsylvania.  Here  he  perma 
nently  located  his  family,  erected  large  mills,  and  gave 
his  undivided  attention  to  manufactures  and  other 
industrial  pursuits.  After  residing  here  for  several 
years  he  was  appointed  surveyor  of  the  old  Cum 
berland  district,  and  in  1770  was  made  a  member  01 
the  proprietary  council.  In  1771  he  was  appointed 
a  justice  and  recorder  for  Bedford  county,  and  in 
1773  received  similar  appointments  for  "Westmore 
land  county.  In  1775  he  was  appointed  Colonel  of 
militia,  and  in  the  fall  of  that  year  he  accompanied, 
as  Secretary,  Commissioners  James  Wilson,  Lewis 
Morris  and  Dr.  Walker  to  confer  and  treat  with  the 
Indians  at  Fort  Pitt.  On  January  3,  1776,  he  was 
made  a  Colonel  in  the  Continental  army,  with  power 
to  raise  a  regiment  to  serve  in  Canada.  In  six  weeks 
after  this  authority  was  granted  he  was  ready  with 
his  troops  to  take  the  field,  and,  as  Colonel  of  the  2d 
Pennsylvania  regiment,  on  March  2,  1776,  his  gallant 
command  took  up  their  line  of  march  to  the  north 
ern  wilds  of  Canada.  After  the  disastrous  termi 
nation  of  the  Three  Eivers  affair  he  very  materially 
aided  General  Sullivan  in  saving  his  entire  army 
from  capture.  He  was  appointed  Brigadier  General, 


106  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

August  9,  1776,  and  Major  General,  February  19, 
1777.  In  January,  1776,  he  resigned  numerous  civil 
offices  he  had  held,  and,  joining  "Washington  in 
November  of  the  same  year,  he  was  at  once  ap 
pointed  to  organize  the  New  Jersey  Militia.  In 
council,  on  the  night  of  January  2,  1777,  he  recom 
mended  the  flank  movement  which  precipitated  the 
battle  of  Princeton,  in  which  historic  engagement 
he  rendered  material  and  effective  service  by  pro 
tecting  the  fords  at  Assumpink.  For  a  short  time 
he  now  officiated  as  Adjutant  General  of  the  army, 
and  in  March  succeeded  General  Gates  in  command 
at  Philadelphia.  On  April  1,  1777,  he  took  com 
mand  at  Ticonderoga.  The  result  of  this  unfortu 
nate  affair  is  well  known  to  every  intelligent  reader 
of  American  history.  On  the  night  of  July  4,  1777, 
he  was  compelled  to  evacuate  the  fort,  his  command 
being  totally  inadequate  to  its  defence.  Although 
his  garrison  of  2,000  men  was  badly  equipped,  he 
was  sanguine  of  holding  the  post,  but  the  forces  of 
General  Burgoyne  having  obtained  possession  of 
Sugar  Hill,  which  was  improperly  fortified,  secured 
a  commanding  position,  and  St.  Clair  was  compelled 
to  withdraw  his  forces  precipitately,  which  was  done 
with  a  heavy  loss.  From  this  date  he  lost  popular 
favor  as  a  military  leader.  Public  sentiment  was 
divided  in  relation  to  the  matter,  but  St.  Clair  never 
fully  recovered  from  the  disaster  of  that  dull  heavy 
night  at  Ticonderoga.  He  was  court-martialed  and 
officially  vindicated.  The  court  met  in  September, 


ARTHUR  ST.  GLAIR.  107 

1778,  and  declared  "that  Major  General  St.  Glair  is 
with  the  highest  honor  acquitted  of  the  charges 
against  him."  Though  not  officially  employed,  and 
being  a  warm  personal  friend  of  General  Washing 
ton,  the  latter  retained  him  on  his  military  staff  at 
Brandywine,  September  11, 1777.  He  also  assisted 
General  Sullivan  in  preparing  the  expedition  against 
the  Six  Nations,  and  was  one  of  the  commissioners 
to  arrange  a  cartel  with  the  British  at  Amboy, 
March  9,  1780.  On  August  1st  of  the  same  year, 
he  was  appointed  to  command  a  corps  of  light  in 
fantry  in  the  absence  of  General  Lafayette.  He 
was  also  a  member  of  the  court-martial  which  con 
demned  Major  Andre.  He  was  active  in  raising 
and  forwarding  troops  to  the  South,  and  in  October 
joined  Washington,  and  participated  in  the  capture 
of  Cornwallis  at  Yorktown.  After  the  declaration  of 
peace,  General  St.  Glair  returned  to  the  State  of  his 
adoption,  and  took  up  his  residence  once  more  amid 
the  wilds  of  Ligonier.  He  at  once  was  the  recip 
ient  of  high  civil  honors.  In  1783  he  was  a  mem 
ber  of  the  Pennsylvania  Council  of  Censors,  and  was 
a  Delegate  to  Congress  from  November  2,  1785,  to 
November  28,  1787.  During  the  latter  portion  of 
his  term  he  was  elected  presiding  officer  of  that 
highly-distinguished  and  honorable  body.  In  1786 
he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  American  Philo 
sophical  Society,  and  on  February  1,  1788,  was  ap 
pointed  Governor  of  the  North  Western  Territory. 
In  January,  1790,  he  fixed  the  seat  of  justice  at 


108  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

Cincinnati ;  giving  that  place  its  name,  in  honor  of 
the  Society  of  which  he  was  the  Pennsylvania  Presi 
dent  in  1783-9.  His  military  career  now  seemed  to 
brighten  temporarily;  and  on  March  4,  1790,  he 
was  appointed  General-in-Chief  of  the  Army.  He 
shortly  after  moved  against  the  Indians  of  the 
Miami  and  the  Wahash.  The  proximity  of  the  foe 
was  communicated  to  General  Butler,  second  in  com 
mand,  but  not  directly  to  General  St.  Clair.  At 
sunrise,  on  the  morning  of  the  4th,  a  vigorous 
attack  was  made  by  the  Indians,  and  in  spite  of  St. 
Glair's  heroic  efforts,  he  met  with  an  overwhelming 
defeat,  and  lost  600  out  of  a  force  of  1,400  men.  A 
committee  of  investigation,  appointed  by  Congress, 
completely  vindicated  him,  but  the  popular  jury 
never  did.  The  memory  of  Ticonderoga  was  re 
vived,  and  his  military  fame  was  now  irrevocably 
lost.  He  resigned  his  military  position,  March  5, 
1792,  and  on  November  22,  1802,  he  was  removed 
by  President  Jefferson  from  his  position  as  Gov 
ernor  of  the  Northwestern  Territory.  He  had  many 
friends,  and,  like  all  positive  men,  numerous  enemies. 
He  had  many  virtues,  and  perhaps  some  vices,  but 
he  was  bold,  brave  and  generous,  possessing  the  fine 
courtesy  of  a  cultivated  gentleman,  and  the  blunt 
dignity  of  a  gallant  soldier.  After  his  removal 
from  office,  he  retired  to  a  small  log  cabin  on  the 
summit  of  Chestnut  Eidge,  in  Westmoreland  county, 
where  he  spent  the  balance  of  his  days  in  compara 
tive  poverty.  In  1813  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylva- 


ARTHUK  ST.  GLAIR.  109 

ma  granted  him  an  annuity  of  $400,  and  a  short 
time  prior  to  his  death  he  received  a  pension  from 
the  United  States  Government  of  sixty  dollars  per 
month.  He  published  a  "Narrative  of  his  Cam 
paign  in  1791,"  which  excited  some  attention  and 
considerable  comment.  He  died  at  Greensburg, 
Pennsylvania,  August  31,  1818. 


THOS.  MIFFLIN,  SOLDIER-STATESMAN. 

From  the  counting-house  into  the  arena  of  party  pol 
itics — A  member  of  the  first  Congress,  Quartermaster 
General  in  the  American  Army,  banished  from  all 
the  church  privileges  of  the  Friends,  and  President 
of  the  body  to  which  Washington  tendered  his  res 
ignation  as  commander  of  the  victorious  forces. 

rjlHOMAS  MIFFLIN,  the  soldier-statesman,  who 
JL  wore  with  becoming  grace  and  modesty  the 
passants  of  a<  major-general  and  the  laurels  of  many 
an  honorable  civil  position  in  our  primitive  history, 
was  born  in  Philadelphia,  in  1744.  His  parents  oc 
cupied  commanding  social  positions,  were  Quakers 
in  their  religious  faith,  scrupulously  jealous  of  their 
church  tenets,  and  strict  disciplinarians.  His  early 
life  was  surrounded  by  those  advantages  and  luxu 
ries  incident  to  all  well-regulated  households  where 
religion  and  culture  shed  their  benign  influence. 
His  education  was  entrusted  to  the  Rev.  Dr.  Smith, 
provost  of  the  University,  a  profound  scholar  and  ac 
complished  gentleman.  For  more  than  forty  years, 
indeed,  during  his  whole  life,  he  was  connected  by 
terms  of  warm  friendship  and  cordial  intimacy  with 
his  honored  preceptor.  Of  ardent  temperament, 
sanguine  disposition,  and  active  impulses,  young 
Mifflin,  in  very  early  life,  zealously  opposed  the  en- 
(110) 


THOMAS  MIFFLTN.  Ill 

croaching  legislation  of  the  British  Parliament  upon 
our  reserved  rights.  His  father,  intending  to  make 
him  a  merchant,  placed  him  in  the  counting-room  of 
Mr.  William  Coleman,  one  of  the  leading  merchants 
of  Philadelphia  at  that  time,  a  most  estimable  man, 
and  an  intimate  friend  and  companion  of  Dr.  Frank 
lin.  He  became  restive,  however,  under  the  restric 
tions  and  limitations  of  commercial  life,  and  yearned 
for  the  excitement  of  public  position,  where  his  ner 
vous  ambition  could  have  a  wider  sphere  of  opera 
tion.  When  the  dark  clouds  of  war  hovered  over 
the  defenceless  and  impoverished  Colonies,  threaten 
ing  them  with  the  deluge  of  extermination,  although 
many  hearts  palpitated  with  fear,  and  others  suc 
cumbed  to  the  potentiality  of  selfishness,  the  clarion 
voice  of  the  ardent,  eloquent  young  Pennsylvanian 
gave  forth  no  uncertain  sound.  With  the  self-reli 
ance  of  an  accomplished  athlete,  he  bounded  at  once 
into  the  arena  of  party  politics,  and  in  1774  was 
elected  a  member  of  the  first  Congress.  In  this  posi 
tion  his  loyal  utterances,  always  pointed  and  un 
equivocal,  fairly  electrified  his  auditors  by  their  for 
cible  delivery.  All  positive  men  have  this  redeem 
ing  quality — that  you  always  know  in  great  crises 
just  where  to  find  them.  Morally  considered,  the 
positively  bad  man  is  perhaps  the  inferior  of  the 
negatively  good  one,  but  both  are  comparatively  use 
less  when  great  deeds  are  to  be  accomplished. 
Known  mischiefs  have  their  cure,  but  doubts  have  none ; 
And  better  is  despair  than  fruitless  hope  mix'd  with  a  kill 
ing  fear. 


112  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

Thomas  Mifflin  was  a  man  of  pronounced  individ 
uality,  and  his  devotion  to  a  principle  was  so  intense 
that  neither  Church,  State,  nor  social  considerations 
could  prevail  to  mar  his  judgment  or  cripple  his 
honest  convictions.  He  was  among  the  very  first 
commissioned  officers  of  the  Continental  army, 
having  been  appointed  Quartermaster-General  in 
1 775.  Adhering  most  consistently  to  their  avowed 
principles,  his  Quaker  brethren,  astounded  at  his 
warlike  proclivities,  gave  him  a  ticket-of-leave,  and 
banished  him  from  all  Church  privileges.  Not 
blessed  with  the  heritage  of  a  calm,  cool  tempera 
ment,"  he  became  restless  under  what  he  considered 
the  tardy  prosecution  of  the  war,  and  on  several  oc 
casions  was  unjustly  severe  in  his  strictures  on  this 
point,  reflecting  bitterly  and  unwisely  on  his  supe 
rior  officer,  the  Commander-in-chief.  This,  however, 
was  more  an  error  of  the  head  than  the  heart,  amply 
compensated  for  in  the  future  by  the  zeal  with  which 
he  labored  for  the  good  of  the  general  cause,  and  his 
many  subsequent  exhibitions  of  kindness  to  Wash 
ington  personally.  He  was  President  of  Congress 
at  Annapolis,  when  the  the  latter  tendered  his  res 
ignation  as  commander  of  the  American  forces. 
This  interesting  event,  perhaps  the  most  impressive 
and  sublime  in  our  national  history,  occurred  on  the 
23d  of  December,  1783.  All  preliminary  arrange 
ments  had  been  made  by  order  of  Congress,  and,  in 
obedience  to  the  same,  the  great  Commander-in-chief, 
the  bronzed  and  victorious  warrior,  who  for  eight 


THOMAS  MIFFLIN.  113 

years  had  not  slept  beneath  the  roof  of  his  humble 
home  in  Virginia,  was  formally  admitted  to  the  Con 
gress  of  the  nation,  to  sheath  his  sword  and  resign 
his  commission.  He  moved  into  the  audience-cham 
ber  of  the  nation  he  had  saved  with  that  quiet 
grace  and  majestic  presence  for  which  he  was  so 
proverbial,  amid  the  enthusiastic  plaudits  of  the  as 
sembled  multitude.  After  he  was  seated,  the  Pre 
sident,  General  Mifflin,  of  Pennsylvania,  politely  in 
timated  that  they  were  prepared  to  receive  his  com 
munications.  In  a  brief  but  appropriate  speech, 
delivered  with  great  feeling  to  a  tearful  audience, 
he  congratulated  them  felicitously  on  the  happy  ter 
mination  of  the  war,  and  indicated  a  desire  to  resign 
at  once  into  the  hands  of  Congress  the  important 
trust  committed  to  him.  "I  consider  it,"  he  elo 
quently  concluded,  "an  indispensable  duty  to  close 
this  last  act  of  my  official  life  by  commending  the 
interests  of  our  dearest  country  to  the  protection  of 
Almighty  God,  and  those  who  have  the  superinten 
dence  of  them  to  His  holy  keeping.  Having  now 
finished  the  work  assigned  me,  I  retire  from  the 
theatre  of  action,  and  bidding  an  affectionate  fare 
well  to  this  august  body,  under  whose  orders  I  have 
so  long  acted,  I  here  offer  my  commission,  and  take 
my  leave  of  all  the  emoluments  of  public  life." 

He  then  gracefully  stepped  forward  a  few  paces,  and 
delivered  into  the  hands  of  the  President  his  com 
mission  and  a  copy  of  his  address.  General  Mifflin, 
who  was  a  brilliant  orator,  briefly  replied,  review- 


114  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

ing  in  his  happiest  effort  the  great  career  brought 
to  a  close.  "The  glory  of  your  virtues,"  he  con 
cluded,  "  will  not  terminate  with  your  military  com 
mand  ;  it  will  continue  to  animate  the  remotest  ages. 
We  join  with  you  in  commending  the  interests  of 
the  country  to  Almighty  God,  beseeching  Him  to 
dispose  the  hearts  and  minds  of  its  citizens  to  im 
prove  the  opportunity  afforded  them  of  becoming  a 
happy  and  respectable  nation.  And  for  you  we  ad 
dress  to  Him  our  warmest  prayers  that  a  life  so 
beloved  may  be  fostered  with  all  His  care,  that  your 
days  may  be  as  happy  as  they  have  been  illustrious, 
and  that  He  will  finally  give  you  that  reward  which 
this  world  cannot  bestow."  General  Mifflin  asserted 
his  own  true,  heroic  manhood  in  his  eloquent  re 
sponse  on  this  most  memorable  occasion.  Although 
a  decided  partisan,  he  never  dealt  in  that  coarse 
abuse  and  bitter  invective  so  characteristic  of  his 
political  friends  at  the  close  of  Washington's  Presi 
dential  career.  We  are  apt  to  imagine  nowadays 
that  party  fealty  imperiously  demands  scurrilous 
abuse  of  an  honest  opponent,  simply  because  he  dif 
fers  from  us  in  sentiment  or  opinion.  This  license, 
which  certainly  has  scope  enough  in  modern  politics, 
is  but  a  dim  shadow  of  the  slimy  original  in  the 
period  referred  to,  when  Frenau,  Bache,  Genet,  Tom 
Paine,  and  even  Jackson  and  Jefferson,  poured  forth 
such  torrents  of  abuse  against  the  personal  and  offi  - 
cial  character  of  Washington  that  their  reproduc 
tion  is  painful  to  the  historian  and  distasteful  to  the 


THOMAS  MIFFLW.  115 

intelligent  reader.  In  1787  we  find  the  name  of 
Thomas  Mifflin  affixed  to  the  Federal  Constitution, 
promulgated  by  the  historic  convention  of  which  he 
was  so  prominent  and  distinguished  a  member.  In 
reviewing  its  deliberations  and  debates,  we  find  him 
a  leading  participant  in  all  the  discussions  incident 
to  the  many  grave  questions  then  under  considera 
tion.  His  utterances  and  opinions  had  great  weight, 
supported  as  they  always  were  by  an  irresistible 
array  of  facts,  and  delivered  in  eloquent  style,  well 
calculated  to  wield  immense  influence  in  any  organic 
political  body.  In  October,  1788,  he  succeeded  Dr. 
Franklin  as  President  of  the  Supreme  Executive 
Council  of  Pennsylvania,  which  position  he  occupied 
until  October,  1790.  He  presided  over  the  Consti 
tutional  Convention  which  met  in  September  of  the 
same  year,  and  by  that  body  was  chosen  the  first 
Governor  of  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 
He  served  three  terms  as  Governor,  extending  from 
1790  to  1799.  During  the  insurrection  of  1794  he 
utilized  his  marked  oratorical  powers  to  the  great 
advantage  of  the  nation  and  the  State.  His  earnest, 
natural,  stirring  appeals  always  met  with  a  hearty 
response  from  the  masses.  The  imperfections  of  the 
militia  laws  of  Pennsylvania  were  oftentimes  more 
than  compensated  for  by  the  personal  magnetism  and 
thrilling  eloquence  of  her  distinguished  Chief  Mag 
istrate,  who  was  as  potential  in  peace  as  he  was 
formidable  in  war.  Governor  Mifflin  died  in  Lan 
caster,  Pennsylvania,  January  20,  1800,  in  the  fifty- 


1 16  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

s  eventh  year  of  his  age.  His  life  was  a  stormy, 
eventful  one,  producing  for  him  many  friends,  and 
not  a  few  enemies.  Perhaps  the  only  stain  resting 
upon  his  reputation  was  his  identification  with  the 
celebrated  "  Conway  cabal,"  a  politico-military  con 
spiracy  to  have  General  Gates  supersede  General 
Washington  in  command  of  the  American  army. 
Governor  Mifflin  lived  long  enough  after  the  failure 
of  the  enterprise  to  see  his  error,  and  made  all  the 
reparation  he  could  consistent  with  the  feelings  of 
an  honorable  man.  His  courage  and  patriotism 
were  undoubted,  his  statesmanship  was  of  a  high 
order,  and  his  private  character  was  without  spot  or 
blemish. 


GENERAL  WILLIAM  IRVINE. 


A  Zealous  Patriot,  Judicious  Statesman,  and  Con 
scientious  Executor  of  all  Public  Trusts — Scholastic 
and  Literary  Attainments  of  a  High  Order — The 
Meetings  Preliminary  to  the  Historic  Provincial 
Convention  at  Philadelphia  in  July  of  1774 —  With 
the  Army  in  Canada — An  Unsuccessful  Attempt  to 
Surprise  the  Vanguards  of  the  British  Forces  at 
Trois  Rivieres,  &c. 

WILLIAM  IKYINE  was  born  at  Fermanagh, 
Ireland,  November  3, 1741.  Possessed  of  a 
strong,  clear,  penetrating  mind,  admirably  balanced, 
lie  was  a  zealous  patriot,  a  judicious  statesman,  and 
a  conscientious  executor  of  all  public  trusts  com 
mitted  to  his  care.  His  elementary  education  com 
menced  at  a  grammar  school  at  Enniskillen,  and  was 
completed  at  the  celebrated  University  of  Dublin. 
His  scholastic  and  literary  attainments  were  of  a 
high  order,  and,  soon  after  graduating,  he  adopted 
the  profession  of  medicine,  which  he  studied  earn 
estly  for  several  years  in  the  office  of  the  celebrated 
Dr.  Cleghorn.  He  was  soon  appointed  surgeon  on 
board  a  man-of-war,  and  honorably  served  in  that 
capacity  during  part  of  the  war  of  1756-63  between 
Great  Britain  and  France.  On  the  declaration  of 

(117) 


118  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

peace  in  1763  he  emigrated  to  the  United  States, 
and  in  1764,  attracted  by  the  number  and  character 
of  his  countrymen  who  had  settled  along  the  sou  them 
border  of  Pennsylvania,  he  located  in  Carlisle.  Here, 
by  superior  professional  skill  and  urbane  manners, 
he  soon  commanded  public  confidence  and  secured  a 
large  and  lucrative  practice.  He  remained  at  Car 
lisle  ten  years,  and  deserted  his  successful  profession 
al  field  only  at  the  beginning  of  our  Revolutionary 
difficulties,  his  sympathies  and  feelings  being  strong 
ly  enlisted  from  the  first  in  favor  of  the  struggling 
Colonies.  Political  controversies  at  that  time  were 
particularly  bitter  and  acrimonious  in  Pennsylvania, 
requiring  combined  tact  and  prudence  to  promote 
harmony  in  the  solution  of  grave  colonial  and  na 
tional  questions.  Great  wisdom  and  adroit  states 
manship  were  in  constant  requisition  to  counteract 
the  evil  results  arising  from  certain  peculiar  con 
scientious  scruples  which  disaffected  several  of  the 
religious  sects ;  national  prejudices,  inseparable  from 
a  population  of  mixed  habits,  languages,  and  nation 
alities  ;  and  lastly,  proprietary  influence,  which, 
through  the  multiplied  channels  of  relatives,  agents, 
and  a  whole  army  of  subordinate  officials,  permeated 
the  entire  Colony,  addressing  itself  alternately  to 
the  hopes  and  fears  of  the  community.  In  such  an 
unpromising  crisis  as  this  Mr.  Irvine,  by  his  ster 
ling  worth  and  judicious  conservatism,  contributed 
no  little  to  pilot  his  adopted  State  through  her  poli 
tical  straits  into  an  honorable  harbor.  Impelled  by 


GENERAL  WILLIAM  IRVINE.  119 

an  honest  love  of  State  and  country,  and  in  order  to 
consummate  some  specific  and  decisive  measures,  a 
preliminary  meeting  of  distinguished  gentlemen 
from  various  points  in  Pennsylvania  convened  at 
Philadelphia,  June  18,  1774.  Other  meetings  of  a 
like  character  were  held  simultaneously  in  the  dif 
ferent  counties  of  the  Colony,  eventuating  in  the 
historic  Provincial  Convention  which  met  in  Phila 
delphia  on  July  15  of  the  same  year.  This  latter 
body  recommended  a  general  Congress,  denounced 
the  Boston  Port  Bill  as  unconstitutional,  and  declar 
ed  their  willingness  and  determination  to  make  any 
sacrifice  necessary  for  the  vindication  and  support 
of  American  rights.  Mr.  Irvine  was  a  representa 
tive  from  Carlisle  in  this  convention  until  January 
10,  1776,  at  which  time  he  was  authorized  by  Con 
gress  to  organize  and  command  a  regiment  of  the 
Pennsylvania  Line.  The  appointee  was  a  man  of 
rapid  movements  and  ripe  executive  capacity,  and, 
in  less  than  five  months  from  the  date  of  his  origi 
nal  instructions,  raised,  clothed,  and  equipped  the  6th 
Battalion  of  State  troops,  and  was  at  once  ordered 
with  his  command  to  join  the  army  in  Canada.  He 
immediately  marched  to  the  mouth  of  the  Sorrel 
river,  and  on  June  10,  1776,  united  with  General 
Thompson's  brigade  in  an  unsuccessful  attempt  to 
surprise  the  vanguard  of  the  British  forces  station 
ed  at  Trois  Eivieres.  In  this  gallant  but  unfortu 
nate  enterprise  the  commanding  general,  Colonel 
Irvine,  and  about  two  hundred  subordinate  officers 


120  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

and  privates,  who  constituted  the  very  head  and 
front  of  the  assaulting  party,  were  captured  and 
promptly  forwarded  to  Quebec.  Colonel  Irvine  was 
released  on  parole,  August  3,  and,  returning  home, 
made  every  possible  effort  to  secure  an  exchange, 
but  owing  to  some  misunderstanding  between  the 
two  governments  or  their  agents,  this  was  not  ac 
complished  until  May  6,  1778,  a  period  of  almost 
two  years.  Immediately  after  his  exchange  he  re  - 
joined  the  army,  and  resumed  command  of  his  gal 
lant  old  regiment.  On  May  12,  1779,  he  was  ap 
pointed  a  brigadier-general,  and  was  assigned  to 
command  the  2d  Brigade  of  the  Pennsylvania  Line, 
a  corps  of  great  and  merited  distinction.  In  July, 
of  the  same  year,  he  was  a  member  of  the  court- 
martial  that  tried  General  Charles  Lee.  He  was 
also  selected  as  one  of  the  members  of  a  court-mar 
tial  to  try  General  Arnold,  but  was  objected  to  by 
that  officer.  General  Irvine  commanded  his  brigade 
in  the  unsuccessful  attack  of  General  Wayne,  at 
Bull's  Ferry,  July  21-22,  1780,  his  command  bat 
tling  with  a  fiery  heroism  on  that  memorable  occa 
sion.  He  continued  in  charge  of  his  fighting  bri 
gade  until  the  fall  of  1781,  when  he  was  detached 
to  assume  command  at  Pittsburgh,  in  defence  of  the 
Northwestern  frontier,  then  menaced  by  a  combined 
British  and  Indian  invasion.  He  continued  to  dis 
charge  the  onerous  duties  of  his  responsible  position 
until  October  1,  1783,  some  time  after  hostilities  had 
terminated.  After  eight  years  of  sanguinary  and 


GENERAL  WILLIAM  IRVINE.  121 

doubtful  war,  the  bright  sunlight  of  a  joyous  peace 
streamed  through  the  dark,  murky  clouds  on  an  im 
poverished  and  bankrupt  infant  Republic. 
"  Were  half  the  power  that  fills  the  world  with  terror, 
Were  half  the  wealth  bestowed  on  camps  and  courts, 
Given  to  redeem  the  human  mind  from  error, 
There  were  no  need  of  arsenals  and  forts." 
The  appoinment  of  General  Irvine  to  the  com 
mand  of  the  Pittsburgh  district  was  a  grateful  trib 
ute  to  his  sound  judgment  and  executive  ability. 
The  elements  he  had  to  control  were  inharmonious 
and  almost  revolutionary.  The  frontier  volunteer 
forces  had  been  treated  shabbily  in  regard  to  their 
pay,  clothing,  and  even  their  subsistence.  This  was 
one  prolific  element  of  discord,  and  a  very  danger 
ous  one.  In  addition,  a  bitter  controversy  was  going 
on  between  the  States  of  Virginia  and  Pennsylvania 
in  relation  to  certain  boundary  lines,  and  this  diffi 
culty  was  gradually  assuming  alarming  proportions, 
exciting  bad  blood,  and  threatening  the  most  disas 
trous  consequences.  Indian  difficulties  were  also 
numerous  and  complicated,  and  that  general  lawless 
ness  and  mobocracy  so  characteristic  of  all  border 
life  was  rampant  and  almost  unmanageable.  All 
these  combined  drawbacks,  amply  sufficient  to  stifle 
the  efforts  of  ordinary  administrative  ability,  were 
manipulated  and  controlled  by  General  Irvine  with 
consummate  prudence  and  great  skill,  and  his  almost 
superhuman  efforts  were,  fruitful  in  good,  practical 
results. 

In  1786,  at  the  request  of  the  Pennsylvania  troops, 

6 


122  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

he  was  appointed  by  the  State  authorities  an  agent 
under  "an  act  for  directing  the  mode  of  distribut 
ing  the  donation  lands  promised  to  the  troops  of  the 
Commonwealth,"  the  duties  of  which  delicate  posi 
tion  he  discharged  with  honorable  fidelity  and  im 
partiality.  About  this  time  his  suggestive  mind  in 
dicated  to  the  ruling  powers  of  the  State  the  great 
importance  of  acquiring  by  purchase  from  the  United 
States  a  small  tract  of  land  ceded  by  the  State  of 
New  York,  and  which,  from  its  peculiar  shape,  was 
called  the  Triangle,  thus  giving  to  Pennsylvania  an 
outlet  on  Lake  Erie.  In  1787  he  took  his  seat  as  a 
member  of  Congress  under  the  Confederation,  and 
was  associated  with  Hayne,  of  South  Carolina,  and 
Gilman,  of  New  Hampshire,  as  a  committee  to  ad 
just  and  settle  between  the  several  States  certain  finan 
cial  difficulties  created  by  the  war.  These  were 
becoming  quite  complicated,  and  even  at  that  early 
day  were  begetting  sectional  feelings  and  local  pre 
judices,  threatening  disintegration,  perhaps  domestic 
revolutions.  Through  the  instrumentality  of  this 
judiciously-selected  committee,  all  conflicting  claims 
were  compromised  and  harmonized  on  a  basis  satis 
factory  to  all  the  claimants,  and  the  tottering  infant 
Eepublic  fast  assumed  the  full  proportions  of  a  well- 
developed  manhood.  General  Irvine  was  subse 
quently  a  member  of  the  first  State  Convention  to 
revise  the  constitution  of  Pennsylvania.  As  indi 
cating  the  strong  anti-monarchical  feeling  of  that 
period,  this  grave  Convention  stripped  the  executive 


GENERAL  WILLIAM  IRVINE.  123 

department  of  the  State  government  of  almost  all 
its  powers,  privileges,  and  patronage.  As  the  nat 
ural  sequence  of  such  a  heated  and  inflammatory 
course  they  ran  to  the  other  extreme,  and  gave  to 
the  legislative  department  a  fearful  excess  of  power, 
thus  endangering  the  usefulness  and  stability  they 
aimed  to  strengthen  and  perpetuate.  He  resumed 
his  seat  in  Congress  in  the  session  of  1793-5.  In 
1794  he  took  command  of  the  Pennsylvania  troops 
to  quell  the  "Whiskey  Insurrection"  in  the  western 
counties  of  the  State,  where  the  powers  of  the  Na 
tional  Government  were  assailed  and  menaced.  In 
March,  1801,  he  was  appointed  by  President  Jeffer 
son  superintendent  of  military  stores  in  Philadelphia, 
and  during  his  tenure  of  office  was  president  of  the 
"State  Society  of  Cincinnati."  He  died  at  Phila 
delphia,  July  29, 1804,  aged  63.  He  had  two  brothers 
attached  to  the  Revolutionary  forces,  Captain  An 
drew  Irvine,  of  Wayne's  Brigade,  and  Dr.  Matthew 
Irvine,  of  "Lee's  Legion."  He  had  four  sons  sub 
sequently  connected  with  the  United  States  army. 
In  glancing  briefly  at  the  salient  points  in  the  life  of 
General  Irvine,  one  cannot  fail  to  admire  his  in 
flexible  integrity  and  his  very  great  executive  ability. 
His  judgment  was  never  led  captive  by  the  glamour 
of  speculation,  nor  was  he  a  worshipper  of  fine-spun 
theories.  A  plain,  practical,  good  man,  he  had  the 
supreme  respect  of  his  superior  officers  in  whatever 
sphere  he  was  called  to  act,  and  what  he  did  for  his 
country  and  for  posterity  was  always  done  well. 


MAJOR  GENERAL  MUHLENBERG. 


A  Name  most  Intimately  and  Honorably  connected 
not  only  with  the  Colonial  but  the  subsequent  His 
tory  of  Pennsylvania — Young  Peter  as  a  Jolly 
High  Private  in  a  Crack  Regiment  of  Imperial 
Dragoons — Ordained  for  Service  in  the  Church — 
The  Clerical  Robes  exchanged  for  the  Uniform  of  a 
Soldier — His  First  Campaign  in  Georgia,  South 
Carolina]  &c. 

rr^HE  name  of  Muhlenberg  is  most  intimately 
_JL  and  honorably  identified,  not  only  with  the 
Colonial,  but  the  subsequent  history  of  Pennsylva 
nia.  No  family  within  the  realm  of  the  Common 
wealth  can  present  a  more  formidable  exhibit  of 
actual  worth.  For  almost  a  century  its  representa 
tive  members  figured  conspicuously  in  the  various 
spheres  of  theology,  science,  and  politics.  Their 
name  and  fame  were  not  the  result  of  a  combination 
of  fortuitous  circumstances,  nor  were  they  reared  on 
the  ephemeral  base  of  mere  crude  wealth.  Their 
leading  members  were  well-educated  men,  of  strong 
moral  stamina  and  irreproachable  integrity.  Their 
immediate  ancestor,  Henry  Melchoir  Muhlenberg, 
D.  D.,  the  venerable  patriarch  of  the  Lutheran 

(124) 


MAJOR  GENERAL  MUHLENBERG.          125 

Church  in  America,  was  born  in  Eimbeck,  Hanover, 
September  6,  1711,  and  emigrated  to  America  in 
1742,  as  a  missionary  to  Philadelphia.  He  shortly 
afterwards  removed  to  the  Trappe,  Montgomery 
county,  Pa.,  and  there  organized  the  first  Lutheran 
synod  of  America — that  of  Pennsylvania.  Dr.  Muh- 
lenberg  was  a  highly  accomplished  gentleman  of 
chaste  literary  taste,  a  profound  theologian,  and  for 
twenty  years  was  a  valued  contributor  to  the  Hal- 
lische  Nachrichten,  at  Halle,  and  the  various  literary 
and  scientific  journals  of  his  adopted  country. 

Gotthilf  Henry  Ernst  Muhlenberg,  D.  D.,  a  son  of 
Henry  Melchoir,  was  a  distinguished  scientist,  an 
eloquent  pulpit  orator,  a  member  of  some  of  the 
prominent  societies  of  France  and  Germany,  but 
was  better  known  in  this  country  as  a  botanist. 
His  chief  works  in  this,  his  favorite  department, 
were  "Catologus  Plantarum,"  "Gramina  Americas 
Septentrionalis,"  and  "Flora  Lancastriensis."  He 
lived  in  quiet  elegance  in  Lancaster,  Pennsylvania. 
Another  son,  Frederick  Augustus,  was  a  man  of 
fine  natural  ability,  a  polished  speaker,  and  a  supe 
rior  presiding  officer.  He  officiated  as  a  minister  in 
New  York  until  the  British  forces  entered  that  city. 
He  was  subsequently  a  member  of  the  old  Congress 
of  1779-80,  member  and  Speaker  of  the  Pennsylva 
nia  Legislature  in  1781-4,  afterwards  State  treas 
urer,  and  president  of  the  convention  that  ratified 
the  United  States  Constitution.  He  was  also  a 
member  of  Congress  from  1789  to  1797,  and  pre- 


126  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

siding  officer  of  the  First  and  Third  Congresses. 
His  casting  vote  carried  Jay's  treaty  into  effect. 
Henry  A.  Muhlenberg,  clergyman  and  statesman, 
was  a  son  of  the  Rev.  Ernst,  and  for  several  years 
officiated  as  a  clergyman  at  Reading,  Pennsylvania ; 
was  in  Congress  from  1829  to  1838 ;  and  was  the 
candidate  of  the  Democratic  party  in  Pennsylvania 
for  Governor  in  1835,  but  was  unsuccessful.  In 
1837  he  declined  the  Secretaryship  of  the  navy, 
also  the  mission  to  Russia,  but  accepted  the  position 
of  minister  to  Austria,  which  was  tendered  to  him 
in  1838.  Major  General  Peter  Muhlenberg,  the 
eldest  of  the  three  sons  of  Henry  Melchoir,  was 
born  October  1,  1746,  at  the  Trappe,  Montgomery 
county,  Pennsylvania.  The  three  sons  were  sent  to 
Germany  to  receive  all  the  advantages  of  a  thor 
ough  and  complete  education.  The  early  theologi 
cal  training  which  young  Peter  had  received  around 
the  hearthstone  of  his  gifted  father  was  likely  to 
prove  an  injudicious  and  unremunerative  invest 
ment.  He  soon  became  tired  of  monotonous  class 
ics  and  German  metaphysics,  absconded  from  Halle, 
and  for  over  a  year  was  a  jolly  high  private  in  a 
crack  regiment  of  Imperial  dragoons.  His  fast  life, 
however,  was  brief,  for  he  soon  recrossed  the  ocean, 
and  returning  to  the  "  still  waters  and  green  pas 
tures  "  of  the  Trappe,  received  a  solid  education  at 
home,  and  was  prepared  for  service  in  the  Swedish 
Lutheran  Church.  His  denomination  deeming  Epis 
copal  ordination  necessary,  he  went  to  England  in 


MAJOR  GENERAL  MUHLENBERG.          127 

1772,  with  Bishop  White,  then  also  a  candidate  for 
holy  orders,  and  they  were  ordained  at  the  same 
time  by  the  Bishop  of  London.  Eeturning  once 
more  to  his  native  land,  he  officiated  as  an  Episco 
pal  minister  for"  several  years  at  Woodstock,  Vir 
ginia.  At  the  inauguration  of  the  Eevolution  he 
exchanged  his  clerical  robes  for  the  uniform  of  a 
patriot  soldier.  On  entering  his  pulpit  for  the  last 
time,  he  told  his  parishioners  that  there  was  a  time 
for  all  things — a  time  to  preach  and  a  time  to  fight 
— and  now  was  the  time  to  fight.  After  services 
he  gracefully  threw  back  his  clerical  robes,  display 
ing  a  full  uniform.  He  then  calmly  and  deliberate 
ly  read  his  commission  as  colonel,  and  ordered  some 
drummer  boys  he  held  in  reserve  to  beat  up  for 
recruits.  The  whole  affair  was  theatrical  and  some 
what  sensational,  but  it  had  a  magical  effect,  and  the 
honest  parishioners  of  Woodstock  rallied  in  large 
numbers  to  the  standard  of  the  gallant  young  com 
mander.  They  formed  a  prominent  element  in  what 
was  known  as  the  German  Eegiment,  or  Eighth 
Virginia,  a  corps  eminently  distinguished  during 
the  Revolution  for  its  dash  and  gallantry.  His 
first  campaigns  were  in  Georgia  and  South  Caro 
lina;  and  his  masterly  skill  and  undaunted  bravery 
in  their  management  elicited  the  highest  commenda 
tion  from  General  Washington.  Indeed,  young 
Muhlenberg  was  a  particular  favorite  of  the  Com- 
mander-in- Chief,  the  latter  having  great  confidence 
in  his  coolness,  decision,  and  valor.  In  February, 


128  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

1777,  he  was  appointed  a  brigadier-general  in  the 
Revolutionary  army,  and  in  the  autumn  of  that 
year  actively  and  valiantly  participated  in  the  mem 
orable  battles  of  Brandywine  and  Germantown.  In 
the  campaign  of  1778,  he  was  present  at  Monmouth, 
doing  good  service,  and  in  1779,  commanded  the  re 
serve  at  the  storming  of  Stony  Point.  In  1780, 
when  General  Leslie  invaded  Virginia,  Muhlenberg 
opposed  him,  holding  at  that  time  the  chief  com 
mand.  When  the  subsequent  movement  was  made 
by  Generals  Arnold  and  Phillip,  he  was  attached  to 
the  immediate  command  of  Baron  Steuben,  and 
when  Lord  Cornwallis  entered  Virginia  our  gallant 
young  Pennsylvanian  was  next  in  command  to  Gen 
eral  Lafayette.  He  was  also  present  at  the  historic 
battle  of  Yorktown,  commanding  on  that  occasion 
the  dashing  First  Brigade  of  Light  Infantry.  It 
has  been  asserted  with  some  degree  of  confidence 
that  it  was  General  Muhlenberg  who  commanded 
the  American  storming  party  at  Yorktown,  the 
honor  of  which  position  has  been  attributed  by  dif 
ferent  historiographers  of  the  Eevolution  to  another 
person.  Be  this  as  it  may,  there  is  no  disputation 
as  to  his  dauntless  courage  and  the  distinguished 
part  he  played  at  the  siege  of  Yorktown.  At  the 
termination  of  the  long  and  eventful  war,  when  its 
dark  shadows  were  transformed  into  streaming  sun 
shine,  and  peace  with  her  olive  wand  gave  safety, 
strength,  and  glory  to  the  new-born  Republic,  our 
bronzed  young  hero,  who  had  exchanged  the  pulpit 


MAJOR  GENERAL  MUHLENBERG.          129 

for  the  camp,  sheathed  his  trusty  sword  without  a 
stain  of  dishonor  upon  its  bright  blade.  At  the 
disbanding  of  the  forces  he  wore  the  passants  of  a 
major  general,  and  no  knight  of  the  olden  time, 
with  his  shattered  lance  and  splintered  spear,  was 
more  justly  entitled  to  meritorious  recognition  and 
promotion. 

Peace  being  formally  announced,  General  Muh- 
lenberg  returned  to  his  native  State,  and  with  that 
remarkable  power  of  adaptation  for  which  Ameri 
cans  are  proverbial,  deserted  the  standard  of  Mars 
and  devoted  his  energies  and  talents  to  the  practical 
matters  of  quiet  civil  life.  Men  of  his  intellectual  cal 
ibre,  however,  are  always  restive  in  whatever  sphere 
their  lot  is  cast,  and  are  seldom  contented  with 
a  reserve  position  in  the  midst  of  exciting  events. 
They  yearn  "for  other  worlds  to  conquer,"  and  are 
never  followers,  but  always  agressive  leaders.  Gen 
eral  Muhlenberg  immediately  entered  into  political 
life,  and  successively  filled  several  very  high  and  im 
portant  State  and  National  positions.  He  was  first 
elected  a  member  of  the  Supreme  Executive  Coun 
cil  of  the  State,  and  subsequently,  in  1785,  was 
chosen  Vice-President  of  the  State  at  the  time  Ben 
jamin  Franklin  was  President.  On  the  adoption  of 
the  Federal  Constitution  he  was  elected  a  member 
of  the  First  Congress,  and  was  afterwards  re-elected 
a  member  of  the  Third  and  also  of  the  Sixth  Con 
gress.  In  1797  he  was  appointed  a  Presidential 
elector,  and  in  1801  was  elected  United  States  Sena- 

6* 


130  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

tor  to  represent  the  Commonwealth  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  latter  position,  however,  he  resigned  in  1802, 
and  was  appointed  by  Mr.  Jefferson  to  the  more  lu 
crative,  but  perhaps  less  honorable,  position  of  super 
visor  of  revenue  for  the  district  of  Pennsylvania. 
In  1805  he  was  appointed  collector  of  the  port  of 
Philadelphia,  which  position  he  held  at  the  time  of 
his  death,  which  occurred  on  the  1st  day  of  October, 
1807,  in  the  sixty-second  year  of  his  age,  at  his 
country  seat,  near  the  Schuylkill,  in  Montgomery 
county,  Pa.  General  Muhlenberg,  like  the  other 
leading  members  of  that  prominent  family,  was  a 
strong  adherent  of  the  Democratic  party,  and  al 
though  a  severe  partisan  and  an  unflinching  personal 
and  political  friend  of  Mr.  Jefferson,  was  as  incor 
ruptible  in  public  as  he  was  honest  in  private  life. 
He  discharged  his  duties  well  in  all  the  numerous 
military  and  political  distinctions  heaped  upon  him, 
and  was  as  firm  in  the  Cabinet  as  he  was  reliant  in 
the  field. 


ANDREW  PORTER  IN  PEACE  AND  WAR. 


A  Boy  too  fond  of  Books  and  Figures  to  be  useful  in 
any  way,  even  as  an  Apprentice — Failures  at  the 
Carpenter's  Bench  and  in  Agricultural  Pursuits — 
The  Man's  Army  Record — Services  in  the  Marine 
and  Artillery  Corps — After  the  Revolution,  &c.,  &c, 

\  KDREW  PORTER,  the  subject  of  the  present 
-jLjL  brief  memoir,  was  born  in  old  Worcester 
township,  Montgomery  county,  Pa.,  on  the  24th  of 
September,  1743.  Gifted  by  nature  with  a  strong, 
vigorous  intellect,  and  a  clear,  discriminating  mind, 
he  acquired  through  life  quite  an  enviable  reputa 
tion  as  a  scientist,  as  well  as  an  honorable  record  as 
a  soldier.  His  early  educational  advantages  were 
limited,  but,  by  untiring  industry  and  indomitable 
energy,  he  triumphed  over  all  obstacles  in  his  path, 
and  secured  a  success  seldom  attained  by  those  who 
are  favored  by  more  auspicious  surroundings.  His 
father,  Mr.  Robert  Porter,  emigrated  to  Pennsylva 
nia  in  early  life,  and  for  many  years  was  a  respect 
able  farmer  of  Montgomery  county,  the  possessor  of 
a  numerous  family  and  slender  revenues.  The  old 
gentleman  determined  to  make  a  carpenter  of  his 
son,  and  to  accomplish  this  placed  him  in  charge  of 

(131) 


182  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

a  respectable  and  efficient  master-mechanic  in  the 
neighborhood.  In  a  few  months  his  employer  re 
ported  him  as  entirely  unfit  for  mechanical  pursuits, 
"  too  fond  of  books  and  figures  to  be  useful  in  any 
way,  even  as  an  apprentice."  The  young  lad  had 
evidently  great  mathematical  talent,  and  observing 
a  sun-dial  in  the  neighborhood,  at  once  determined 
to  make  one  like  it.  He  went  to  an  adjacent  soap- 
stone  quarry,  and  having  selected  the  proper  mate 
rial,  completed  a  very  handsome  dial,  but  in  doing 
so  ruined  the  tools  of  his  worthy  employer.  This 
brought  his  apprenticeship  to  an  inglorious  termi 
nation,  and  he  was  banished  from  the  shop  as  gross 
ly  inefficient  and  incorrigible.  He  next  turned  his 
attention  to  quiet  agricultural  pursuits,  succeeding 
about  as  well  in  his  new  sphere  as  he  did  at  the  car 
penter's  bench.  Sighing  for  other  worlds  to  con 
quer,  and  yearning  for  the  dignity  and  autocracy  of 
a  country  pedagogue,  his  desponding  father  gave 
him  one  more  chance.  He  opened  a  school  in  the 
neighborhood,  and  the  effort  was  a  financial  success. 
In  his  leisure  hours  he  devoted  himself  assiduously 
to  the  study  of  mathematics,  his  favorite  pursuit. 
Hearing  that  the  celebrated  Dr.  Rittenhouse  was 
spending  some  time  at  his  country  seat,  not  far  dis 
tant,  young  Porter  paid  him  a  visit  to  borrow  a  work 
on  conic  sections.  The  Doctor,  after  making  some 
inquiries  about  his  primary  education,  pleasantly 
told  him  he  feared  he  could  not  comprehend  the 
work  he  desired  to  borrow.  In  the  conversation 


ANDEEW  PORTER.  133 

that  followed,  Dr.  Rittenhouse  was  fairly  astounded 
at  the  proficiency  of  his  youthful  visitor  in  the 
abstruse  labyrinth  of  mathematics,  and  advised  him 
not  to  bury  himself  in  the  country,  but  go  at 
once  and  open  a  mathematical  school  in  Philadelphia. 
He  carried  out  the  suggestion  of  his  learned  friend, 
and,  removing  to  Philadelphia  in  1767,  opened  an 
English  and  mathematical  school,  which  he  managed 
and  controlled  with  much  reputation  and  success 
until  1776.  In  that  memorable  and  historic  year  he 
bade  a  final  adieu  to  his  peaceful  and  congenial  avo 
cation,  and  went  forth  to  fight  the  battles  of  his 
country.  During  his  long  residence  in  Philadelphia 
he  was  an  intimate  friend  of  Doctors  Rush,  Kitten- 
house,  Ewing,  Williamson,  and  other  distinguished 
scientific  men,  building  for  himself  in  the  mean 
while  an  enviable  reputation  as  a  profound  mathe 
matician  and  an  accurate  astronomer.  In  1776  he  ex 
changed  his  quiet  literary  life  for  the  eventful  de 
velopments  of  a  military  career,  and  was  immedi 
ately  commissioned  by  Congress  a  captain  of  marines, 
and  ordered  on  board  the  frigate  Effingham.  At  this 
time  his  school  contained  over  a  hundred  pupils,  the 
income  from  which  enabled  him  to  support  well  his 
five  little  children,  their  mother  having  recently 
died.  No  selfish  or  pecuniary  consideration,  how 
ever,  could  restrain  him  from  the  post  when  duty 
called.  Not  liking  the  marine  service  on  account  of 
its  circumscribed  limits  of  action,  he  was  soon 
transferred  to  the  artillery  corps,  for  which,  from  his 


134  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

previous  education,  he  was  better  adapted.  He 
served  in  this  latter  sphere  with  consummate  skill 
and  bravery  until  the  disbanding  of  the  army,  being 
promoted  to  a  majority,  April  19,  1781,  and  subse 
quently  to  the  colonelcy  of  the  4th  Pennsylvania 
Artillery.  During  his  military  career  he  participa 
ted  in  the  historic  battles  of  Trenton,  Princeton, 
Brandy  wine,  and  Germantown.  In  the  latter  action 
his  command  fought  with  a  valor  approaching  to 
desperation,  hurling  the  invaders  back 

"As  waves  before  a  vessel  under  sail," 
losing  fearfully,  however,  in  killed,  wounded,  and 
prisoners.     At  Trenton  he  received  in  person  on  the 
field  the  warm  commendation  of  General  Washington 
for  his  masterly  skill  and  undaunted  courage. 

In  April,  1779,  he  was  detached  with  his  com 
pany  to  join  General  Clinton's  brigade  in  the  opera 
tions  under  General  Sullivan  against  the  Indians. 
'  He  left  the  grand  park  of  artillery  at  Pluckemin, 
May  6,  1779,  and  on  the  13th  arrived  in  Albany, 
where  he  joined  Clinton,  with  whom  he  proceed 
ed  to  the  Mohawk  river.  The  troops  were  ra 
pidly  marched  to  the  headquarters  of  Otsego  Lake, 
and  it  was  here  that  Colonel  Porter  suggested  to 
his  superior  officers  the  idea  of  damming  the  out 
let  of  the  Lake  to  enable  the  forces  to  be  trans 
ported  by  boats  to  Tioga  Point,  where  they  were  to 
meet  General  Sullivan's  army.  The  experiment  was 
successful,  and  a  union  of  forces  being  consummated, 
the  battle  of  August  29,  and  the  subsequent  destruc- 


ANDREW  PORTER.  135 

tion  of  Indian  towns,  cornfields,  &c.,  accomplsihed 
the  main  object  of  the  expedition,  and  the  artillery 
rejoined  the  army  proper,  and  wintered  at  Morris- 
town.  When  the  siege  of  Yorktown  was  deter 
mined  upon,  Colonel  Porter  was  ordered  to  proceed 
to  Philadelphia  and  superintend  the  Government 
laboratory  there,  at  which  various  kinds  of  ammu 
nition  were  being  prepared  for  the  contemplated 
siege.  With  considerable  warmth  and  zeal  he  pro 
tested  against  being  removed  from  active  duty  in 
the  field.  His  objections  were  silenced,  however, 
by  the  courteous,  plausible  arguments  of  his  Com- 
mander-in-Chief.  "  You  say,"  he  remarked,  "  that 
you  are  desirous  of  being  placed  in  that  situation  in 
which  you  can  render  your  country  the  most  effi 
cient  services.  Our  success  depends  much  on  the 
manner  in  which  our  cartridges,  bombs,  and  matches 
are  prepared.  The  eye  of  science  is  required  to 
superintend  their  preparation ;  and,  if  the  informa 
tion  of  General  Knox,  who  knows  you  well  and  in 
timately,  is  to  be  depended  upon,  there  is  no  officer 
in  the  army  better  qualified  than  yourself  for  the 
station  I  have  assigned  you." 

The  grand  object  of  the  war  having  been  attain 
ed,  and  his  trenchant  blade  honorably  sheathed, 
Colonel  Porter,  in  1783,  retired  to  private  life.  The 
trustees  of  the  University  of  Pennsylvania  tendered 
him  the  position  of  professor  of  mathematics  in 
that  venerable  institution,  which  he  respectfully  de 
clined.  He  was  subsequently  appointed  by  the 


136  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

Supreme  Executive  Council  of  Pennsylvania  a  com 
missioner  to  run  the  State  boundary  lines  between 
Pennsylvania  and  the  several  States  of  Ohio,  Vir 
ginia,  and  New  York,  a  work  for  which  he  was 
most  admirably  qualified,  and  in  which  he  was 
materially  assisted  by  Drs.  Eittenhouse  and  Ewing, 
Bishop  Madison,  General  Clinton,  and  other  distin 
guished  gentlemen  of  recognized  mathematical  and 
scientific  attainments".  In  1788  he  retired  to  his 
farm  near  the  place  of  his  nativity,  in  Montgomery 
county,  Pa.,  where  he  continued  to  reside  until 
1809.  In  1800  he  succeeded  Peter  Muhlenberg  as 
Major  General  of  the  Pennsylvania  Militia,  and  in 
1809  Governor  Snyder  appointed  him  Surveyor 
General  of  the  State,  which  position  he  held  until 
his  decease,  November  16,  1813.  As  Surveyor 
General  he  exhibited  great  capacity  and  executive 
ability,  bringing  order  out  of  chaos;  the  books, 
papers,  and  archives  of  the  office  being  in  a  sadly  de 
moralized  condition  when  he  assumed  control  of  its 
management.  During  1812  and  the  early  part  of 
1813  he  declined  the  situations  of  Brigadier  General 
in  the  United  States  army,  and  Secretary  of  War ; 
both  of  which  positions  were  respectfully  tendered 
him  by  President  Madison.  General  Porter  was  a 
man  of  great  personal  popularity,  decided  positivism, 
and  strong  prejudices.  In  stature  he  was  above  the 
medium  size,  rather  inclined  to  corpulency,  and  his 
extended  army  career  imparted  to  him  a  proud, 
military  air  and  manner,  which  he  carried  with  him 


ANDKEW  PORTER.  187 

through  life.  His  morals  were  unexceptionably 
pure,  his  friendships  warm  and  sincere,  and  his  en 
mities  severe  and  acrimonious.  Of  his  sons,  the 
Hon.  David  E.  Porter  was  Governor  of  Pennsylva 
nia  from  1839  to  1845 ;  the  Hon.  George  B.  Porter 
was  Governor  of  Michigan  Territory  from  1831  to 
1834,  and  was  long  recognized  as  one  of  its 
leading  business  men  and  Democratic  politicians. 
Another  son  was  the  Hon.  James  Madison  Porter, 
late  of  Easton,  Pa.,  who  was  appointed  Secretary  of 
War  during  the  Administration  of  Mr.  Tyler,  but 
whose  nomination  was  rejected  by  the  Senate.  The 
latter  gentleman  was  a  volunteer  in  the  war  of  1812 
-14 ;  and  a  leading  member  of  the  Pennsylvania 
Constitutional  Convention  of  1838. 


GEN.  JOSEPH  REED,  OF.NEW  JERSEY. 

A  Graduate  of  Princeton  College  at  the  age  of  six 
teen — First  a  Friend  of  Reconciliation,  and  next 
a  zealous,  impetuous  Advocate  of  Unconditional 
Separation  from  the  Mother  Country — One  of  the 
Famous  Committee  of  Correspondence,  soon  after 
wards  President  of  the  State  Convention,  and  then 
Member  of  the  Continental  Congress. 

A  GALLANT  compeer  of  Wayne,  Cadwalader, 
^LJL.  and  Mifflin,  aggregating  a  military  represen 
tation  highly  creditable  to  our  Colonial  history,  was 
General  Joseph  Reed.  Born  in  New  Jersey,  August 
27,  1741,  he  enjoyed  superior  facilities  for  cultivat 
ing  his  literary  tastes,  and  in  1757,  when  only  six 
teen  years  old,  he  graduated  creditably  at  Prince 
ton  College.  His  transition  from  the  classic  halls  of 
old  "  Nassau "  to  the  law-office  of  Richard  Stock 
ton,  Esq.,  was  a  fortunate  and  propitious  move  for 
young  Reed.  Mr.  Stockton  belonged  to  an  old  and 
respectable  family  of  New  Jersey,  was  a  man  of 
letters,  possessed  of  superior  genius,  highly  cultiva 
ted,  a  gifted  attorney,  and  an  honorable  man.  In  this 
position  he  remained  for  some  two  years,  pursuing 
his  legal  studies  with  unremitting  energy  and  zsal. 
He  afterwards  prosecuted  his  professional  education 

(138) 


GENERAL  JOSEPH  REED.  139 

in  England  at  the  Temple.  When  our  Colonial  diffi 
culties  were  inaugurated  by  the  passage  of  the  Stamp 
Act,  young  Reed  promptly  decided  to  return  to  his 
native  land  and  identify  himself  with  her  very 
doubtful  future.  He  married  Miss  Esther  De  Bordt, 
the  daughter  of  an  eminent  London  merchant,  who, 
prior  to  the  Revolution,  represented  the  provincial 
interests  of  Massachusetts  in  that  city.  On  his  re 
turn  to  America  he  settled  in  Philadelphia,  where 
he  practiced  his  profession  with  eminent  success, 
and  took  an  active  part  in  the  stormy  military  and 
political  developments  of  that  particular  period. 

He  was  an  original  friend  of  reconciliation,  but 
when  he  discovered  that  this  could  not  be  accom 
plished  without  a  total  sacrifice  of  everything  like 
national  honor,  he  abandoned  the  logic  of  peaceful 
compromise,  and  soon  became  a  zealous,  impetuous 
advocate  of  unconditional  separation  from  the  mother 
country.  At  an  early  age  we  find  him  the  recipient 
of  many  official  positions  of  honor  and  trust  in  his 
adopted  State  and  city.  In  1774  he  was  appointed 
one  of  the  famous  committee  of  correspondence,  soon 
afterwards  president  of  the  State  Convention,  and 
subsequently  a  member  of  the  Continental  Congress. 
At  the  opening  of  active  military  operations  he 
closed  his  law-office,  forfeited  a  lucrative  practice  in 
Philadelphia,  and  started  at  once  for  camp  at  Cam 
bridge,  where  he  was  appointed  to  the  honorable 
position  of  aid-de-camp  and  confidential  secretary 
to  General  Washington.  Although  a  volunteer  aid, 


140  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

he  exhibited  in  his  new  sphere,  during  the  whole  of 
that  memorable  campaign,  signal  personal  bravery, 
united  with  great  military  genius.  His  conduct 
was  keenly  appreciated  by  "Washington,  and  in  1776, 
at  the  opening  of  the  campaign,  on  the  promotion 
of  General  Gates,  our  gallant  young  Pennsylvanian, 
by  the  special  order  of  "Washington,  was  advanced 
to  the  position  of  Adjutant-General.  His  local 
knowledge  of  the  topography  of  certain  portions  of 
New  Jersey  made  him  very  useful  during  the  cam 
paign,  particularly  in  the  skirmish  at  Trenton  and 
the  battle  of  Princeton.  Perhaps  with  none  of  his 
subordinates  was  Washington  personally  and  soci 
ally  more  intimate  than  with  young  Reed.  The 
latter,  at  the  close  of  this  historic  and  depressing 
campaign,  resigned  his  position  as  Adjutant  Gen 
eral,  and  was  immediately  appointed  a  general 
officer,  with  the  view  of  giving  him  the  entire 
cavalry  command.  This  scheme,  however,  was 
frustrated  by  a  combination  of  unfortunate  circum 
stances  incident  to  that  period  of  the  "War,  and  for 
which  he  was  in  no  way  responsible.  General  Reed 
was  as  pertinacious  in  his  military  as  he  was  inde 
fatigable  in  his  civil  duties,  and  from  the  entrance 
of  the  British  forces  into  Pennsylvania  until  the 
close  of  the  campaign,  in  1777,  he  was  seldom  ab 
sent  an  hour  from  his  post  of  duty.  He  participat 
ed  with  great  credit  in  the  battle  of  Germantown, 
and  at  Whitemarsh  rendered  efficient  aid  to  General 
Potter  in  the  formation  of  his  raw  militia  lines. 


GENERAL  JOSEPH  EEED.  141 

In  1778,  he  was  appointed  a  member  of  Congress, 
and  signed  the  articles  of  confederation.  During 
this  year  the  three  British  commissioners,  Governor 
Johnstone,  Lord  Carlisle,  and  the  Hon.  Mr.  Eden  ar 
rived  in  this  country  on  a  pacific  mission.  Their 
object  was  to  secure  peace,  either  by  diplomacy  or 
by  duplicity.  The  principal  member  of  the  com 
mission,  Governor  Johnstone,  unfortunately  descend 
ed  from  the  high  sphere  of  his  original  position, 
and  attempted  by  indirect  bribery  to  secure  advan 
tages  he  failed  to  obtain  by  legitimate  treaty.  He 
privately  addressed  certain  letters  to  Robert  Morris, 
Francis  Dana,  Henry  Laurens,  and  Joseph  Reed, 
offering  them,  in  cunningly  devised  terms,  great 
pecuniary  advantage  and  royal  preferment  if  they 
would  consent  to  certain  propositions. 

These  advances,  appealing  to  cupidity,  avarice, 
and  social  ambition,  were  couched  in  language  more 
becoming  the  rank  and  file  of  the  modern  Congres 
sional  lobby,  and  unworthy  a  dignified  commission 
representing  the  interests  of  a  substantial  and  vene 
rable  monarchy.  Indeed,  ten  thousand  pounds 
sterling  were  almost  directly  offered  to  General 
Reed,  coupled  with  glittering  promises  of  high  civil 
distinction,  if  he  would  co-operate  in  compelling  a 
speedy  submission  of  the  Colonies.  He,  however, 
spurned  the  sordid  proposition  with  merited  con 
tempt,  declaring,  in  his  memorable  language,  "  that 
he  was  not  worth  purchasing,  but,  such  as  he  was,  the 
King  of  Great  Britain  was  not  rich  enough  to  buy 


142  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

him."  The  whole  affair  was  referred  to  Congress, 
and  a  resolution  was  speedily  passed  by  that  body, 
reviewing  all  the  facts,  and  concluding  in  view  of 
the  same  to  have  no  further  communication  or  cor 
respondence  with  the  redoubtable  Johnstone.  The 
latter,  on  his  return  to  England,  in  open  Parliament 
disclaimed  ever  having  made  any  improper  over 
tures  to  Reed  or  any  other  American  citizen.  In 
consequence  of  this  flat  denial  Reed  soon  published 
a  pamphlet  giving  a  minute  narration  of  the  whole 
affair,  reiterating  and  very,  satisfactorily  proving 
his  former  statement.  This  document  was  exten 
sively  circulated  in  this  country  and  England,  ex 
citing  much  angry  comment  and  discussion. 

General  Reed  was  elected  in  1778  president  of  the 
Supreme  Executive  Council  of  Pennsylvania,  which 
position  he  honorably  filled  for  three  successive 
years,  being  elected  annually.  At  that  time  ruth 
less  partisanship  was  rampant,  threatening  the  de 
struction  of  the  whole  State  government.  Under 
his  gubernatorial  management  violent  commotions, 
outbreaks,  and  almost  positive  insurrection  were 
common  and  lamentable  occurrences.  The  destinies 
of  the  Colony,  however,  were  in  the  hands  of  a 
leader  of  clear  head,  strong  arm,  and  iron  nerve, 
and  for  his  judicious  control  of  these  disorganizing 
elements  he  received  a  vote  of  thanks  from  the  Leg 
islature.  During  these  exciting  crises,  when  skill 
fully  devised  arguments  and  influences  were  adroitly 
created  and  used  to  cause  a  defection  in  the  quota  of 


GENERAL  JOSEPH  REED.  143 

Pennsylvania,  Governor  Reed  displayed  great  tact 
and  administrative  capacity.  With  disinterested 
zeal  and  firmness  of  decision  commensurate  with  the 
importance  of  the  occasion,  he  strenuously  labored 
to  bring  the  revolters  back  to  their  posts  of  duty 
and  a  keen  realization  of  their  country's  actual  dan 
ger.  His  whole  career  as  president  of  the  Colony 
was  characterized  by  marked  ability,  amid  many 
discouraging  and  gloomy  circumstances.  He  was 
positive  in  his  official  suggestions  and  recommenda 
tions,  was  in  favor  of  a  total  demolition  of  the  pro 
prietary  laws,  was  antagonistic  to  slavery,  and 
favored  a  rapid,  vigorous  prosecution  of  the  war. 
His  knowledge  of  law  was  of  great  advantage  to 
him  in  the  comparatively  crude  condition  of  our 
Colonial  government  at  that  time.  Indeed,  in  re 
viewing  in  detail  the  official  acts  of  his  State  Pres 
idential  career  we  find  very  much  to  commend  and 
little  to  deprecate.  The  surrounding  atmosphere  was 
poisoned  by  political  broils,  filled  with  the  barbed 
arrows  of  personal  spleen,  occasioned  by  a  division  in 
public  sentiment  as  to  the  origin  and  management  of 
the  war.  Feuds,  cabals,  and  conspiracies  were  rife, 
and  required  the  hand  of  a  skillful  manager  to  soothe 
and  quell  them.  After  the  close  of  his  term,  Gover 
nor  Reed  cheerfully  retired  from  a  position  which  had 
caused  him  much  personal  trouble  and  annoyance, 
and  which  he  accepted  only  from  a  sense  of  positive 
duty.  His  military  career  was  more  brilliant  than 
is  generally  supposed.  He  had  three  horses  shot 


144  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

under  him  during  the  war,  one  at  Brandywine,  ano 
ther  at  the  spirited  skirmish  of  Whitemarsh,  and 
still  another  at  the  thrilling  battle  of  Monmouth. 
He  participated  in  numerous  engagements  in  the 
northern  and  eastern  sections  of  the  country,  but 
fortunately  never  was  wounded.  No  stronger  evi 
dence  of  his  actual  worth  can  be  adduced  than  his 
intimate,  confidential  relations  during  the  whole  war 
with  such  illustrious  generals  as  Washington, 
Wayne,  Greene,  Steuben,  and  Lafayette.  The 
friendship  of  General  Greene  for  him  was  particular 
ly  marked,  and  the  biographer  of  that  distinguished 
man  says:  "Among  the  many  inestimable  friends 
who  attached  themselves  to  him  during  his  military 
career,  there  was  no  one  whom  General  Greene  prized 
more,  or  more  justly,  than  the  late  Governor  Reed  of 
Pennsylvania.  It  was  before  this  gentleman  had 
immortalized  himself  by  his  celebrated  reply  to  the 
agent  of  corruption  that  these  two  distinguished 
patriots  had'  begun  to  feel  for  each  other  the  sympa 
thy  of  congenial  souls.  Mr.  Reed  had  accompanied 
General  Washington  to  Boston,  when  he  first  took 
command  of  the.  American  army.  There  he  be 
came  acquainted  with  General  Greene,  and,  as  was 
almost  invariably  the  case  with  those  who  became 
acquainted  with  him  and  had  hearts  to  acknowledge 
his  worth,  a  friendship  ensued  which  lasted  through 
their  lives." 

By  arduous  application  to  his  varied  civil  and 
military  duties  General  Reed's  health  was  seriously 


GENERAL  JOSEPH  EEED.  145 

impaired.  In  1784  he  visited  England  to  recuper 
ate  his  failing  strength,  but  without  the  desired  ef 
fect.  He  died  March  3,  1785,  at  the  very  early  age 
of  43.  His  funeral  was  largely  attended  by  the 
citizens  of  Philadelphia,  the  President  of  the  Colony, 
the  Executive  Council,  and  the  Speaker  and  mem 
bers  of  the  General  Assembly.  In  private  life  he 
was  a  man  of  pure  morals,  graceful  culture,  fer 
vent  and  faithful  in  all  his  social  and  domestic  at 
tachments. 

He  clung  to  his  country  through  doubt,  danger, 
and  distress,  until  she  reached  the  threshold  of  per 
manent  security,  and  will  always  be  remembered  as 
a  gallant,  faithful  young  officer  of  our  primitive  his 
tory,  honest,  prompt,  and  manly  in  the  discharge  of 
every  official  duty. 


GENERAL  JOHN  ARMSTRONG,  JR. 


Sterling  Traits  blended  with  Erratic  Positivism — 
The  Possessor  of  the  Light  Accomplishments  of  a 
Society  Man  coupled  with  the  more  Severe  Elements 
of  a  Forcible,  Elegant  Writer,  and  a  Politico- 
Statesman  of  no  Mean  Pretensions — Aide-de-  Camp 
to  the  Gallant  Hugh  Mercer — On  the  Staff  of 
General  Gates — The  First  Civic  Office  held  by 
Armstrong,  &c, 

rTIHE  character  of  General  John  Armstrong,  Jr., 
_1_  presents  many  points  calculated  to  invoke 
criticism  and  challenge  admiration.  Many  sterling 
traits  were  blended  with  his  erratic  positivism,  and 
for  almost  half  a  century  he  was  prominently  iden 
tified  with  the  leading  military  and  political  events 
of  his  country.  At  times,  on  the  swelling  tide  of 
unbounded  success,  he  was  the  recipient  of  high 
civil  and  military  positions,  and  soon  after,  perhaps, 
was  submerged  many  fathoms  deep  by  the  fickle 
waves  of  popular  favor.  He  possessed  in  no  ordi 
nary  degree  what  might  be  termed  the  light  accom 
plishments  of  a  society  man,  coupled  with  the  more 
severe  elements  of  a  forcible,  elegant  writer,  and 
was  a  politico-statesman  of  no  mean  pretensions. 
General  Armstrong  was  born  at  Carlisle,  Pa.,  No- 

(146) 


GENERAL  JOHN  ARMSTRONG,  JR.    147 

vember  25,  1758,  and  belonged  to  a  family  of  strong 
local  influence,  marked  intellectuality,  and  high  so 
cial  status.  His  father,  General  John  Armstrong, 
Sr.,  also  a  native  of  Carlisle,  possessed  considerable 
military  genius,  and  served  with  great  distinction 
in  the  French  and  Indian  wars.  In  1756,  as  colo 
nel  of  the  combined  provincial  forces  of  Pennsylva 
nia,  he  headed  an  expedition  against  the  Indians  at 
Kittanning,  Pa.,  destroyed  the  entire  settlement,  and 
captured  large  quantities  of  stores  and  supplies 
sent  there  by  the  French  for  the  use  of  their  native 
allies.  In  return  for  his  successful  efforts  in  this 
dashing  sortie  the  citizens  of  the  corporation  of 
Philadelphia  presented  him  with  a  vote  of  thanks, 
a  medal,  and  a  costly  silver  tea  service.  He  pos 
sessed,  in  a  great  degree,  the  confidence  of  the  pro 
prietors  of  Pennsylvania,  and  his  opinion  on  Indian 
affairs  was  always  considered  high  authority.  On 
March  1,  1776,  he  was  appointed  Brigadier-General 
in  the  Continental  army,  and  during  the  long-con 
tinuance  of  hostilities  gained  an  enviable  reputation 
in  military  circles,  doing  valiant  service  in  the  de 
fence  of  Fort  Moultrie,  and  also  at  the  battles  of 
Brandywine  and  Germantown.  In  the  latter  en 
gagement  he  commanded  the  Pennsylvania  militia, 
having  left  the  army  proper,  April  4,  1777,  on  ac 
count  of  some  real  or  imaginary  grievance  involved 
in  the  question  of  rank,  that  prolific  source  of  army 
broils  in  all  ages  and  in  all  countries.  He  served 
as  a  member  of  Congress  in  the  session  of  1778-80, 


148  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

and  also  in  1787-8,  never  acquiring,  however,  a 
very  marked  reputation  as  a  legislator.  General 
John  Armstrong,  Jr.,  the  subject  of  this  sketch, 
while  a  student  at  Princeton  College,  volunteered  to 
serve  his  country  at  the  early  age  of  eighteen,  and 
forthwith  enrolled  himself  as  a  member  of  Potter's 
Pennsylvania  Eegiment.  Shortly  after  his  enlist 
ment  he  was  appointed  aide-de-camp  to  the  gallant 
General  Hugh  Mercer,  the  latter  officer  having 
served  with  distinction  under  the  young  appointee's 
father  at  the  battle  of  Kittanning,  in  1756,  to  which 
we  have  briefly  alluded.  At  that  period  General 
Mercer  was  a  citizen  of  Pennsylvania,  although  he 
was  a  native  of  Aberdeen,  Scotland,  having  served 
as  a  surgeon  in  the  memorable  battle  of  Culloden. 
For  his  good  deeds  at  Kittanning,  Philadelphia  pre 
sented  him,  also,  with  a  gold  medal.  In  1763  he 
removed  to  Fredericksburg,  Virginia,  where  he 
practiced  his  profession  with  great  success  until  the 
inauguration  of  the  Revolution.  It  was  on  the 
staff  of  this  distinguished  gentleman  and  soldier 
that  young  Armstrong  initiated  his  military  career, 
and  it  was  in  the  arms  of  his  faithful  young  aide- 
de-camp  that  the  gallant  Hugh  Mercer  fell,  mortally 
wounded,  on  the  fatal  morning  of  January  3,  1777, 
near  Stony  Brook,  adjacent  to  Princeton,  N.  J. 
Mercer  survived  his  wounds  about  one  week,  and 
was  buried  in  Princeton,  his  remains  being  subse 
quently  removed  for  re-interment  to  Philadelphia. 
Armstrong  at  this  time  was  only  19  years  old,  and 


GENERAL  JOHN  ARMSTRONG,  JR.        149 

incidentally  was  thrown  into  company  with  the  dis 
tinguished  General  Gates,  who  was  so  pleased  with 
the  vivacious  manner  and  captivating  conversa 
tional  powers  of  the  young  lad  that  he  promptly 
invited  him  to  become  a  member  of  his  military 
family,  which  position  was  readily  accepted.  He 
continued  on  the  staff  of  General  Gates,  with  the 
rank  of  major,  until  the  close  of  the  war,  and  was 
always  a  warm  personal  friend  and  devoted  admirer 
of  his  illustrious  chief.  On  the  termination  of  hos 
tilities,  the  grand  result  was  marred  in  part  by  the 
very  great  dissatisfaction  exhibited  by  honorably- 
discharged  officers  and  men  on  account  of  the  non 
payment  of  arrears  justly  due  them  for  services 
rendered  in  the  field.  The  original  spark  of  com 
plaint  was  soon  fanned  into  a  threatening  blaze,  and 
required  careful  management  to  prevent  its  becom 
ing  most  destructive  and  disastrous.  The  oversight 
in  securing  the  proper  kind  of  legislation  was  as 
much  perhaps  the  result  of  Congressional  neglect 
and  carelessness  as  anything  else;  but  no  logic 
could  quell  the  angry  passions  of  the  excited  com 
plainants,  whose  imperious  demands  were  fast  be 
coming  dangerous  and  revolutionary.  At  this  criti 
cal  moment  young  Armstrong  became  a  sort  of 
representative  of  the  disorganizers,  and,  at  the  re 
quest  of  several  officers  of  high  rank,  he  prepared 
the  celebrated  warlike  manifesto  known  as  the 
"  Newburg  Letters,"  which  created  at  the  time  a 
profound  sensation  in  official  circles,  and  threatened 


150  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

to  produce  much  mischief.  They  were  written  with 
vigor  and  ability,  were  inflammatory  and  impracti 
cable  in  spirit,  and,  while  they  were  approved  by  a 
limited  few,  were  very  generally  condemned  by  the 
best  men  of  the  period.  Washington  interposed  by 
a  counter-address,  couched  in  the  plain  language  of 
patriotism  and  common  sense,  thus  effectually  cor 
recting  public  sentiment  and  re-establishing  public 
confidence.  The  first  civil  office  held  by  Gen.  Arm 
strong  was  that  of  Secretary  of  Pennsylvania,  during 
the  administration  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin ;  and 
some  time  afterwards  he  became  a  member  of  the 
Old  Congress.  In  1789  he  married  a  sister  of  Chan 
cellor  Livingston,  of  New  York,  a  charming  and 
cultivated  lady,  identified  with  the  most  refined  cir 
cles  of  metropolitan  society.  He  retired  to  an  ex 
tensive  landed  estate  in  Duchess  county,  New  York, 
where  for  several  years  he  lived  in  quiet  elegance, 
ostensibly  an  agriculturist,  but  in  reality  devoting 
the  bulk  of  his  time  to  literary  and  scientific  pur 
suits.  In  1800  he  was  elected  a  United  States 
Senator  from  the  State  of  New  York,  by  an  almost 
unanimous  vote  of  both  houses  of  the  Legislature. 
Three  years  before  the  expiration  of  his  Senatorial 
term,  President  Jefferson  appointed  him  Minister  to 
France,  the  onerous  duties  of  which  position  he 
discharged  with  eminent  ability.  During  his  resi 
dence  abroad  in  the  latter  capacity  he  also  discharg 
ed  the  functions  of  a  separate  mission  to  Spain,  for 
which  he  never  received  nor  claimed  any  pecuniary 


GENERAL  JOHN  ARMSTRONG,  JR.         151 

consideration  from  his  Government.  His  mission 
to  France  terminated  at  his  own  request  in  1810 . 
He  was  appointed  Brigadier-General,  July  6,  1812, 
and  was  assigned  to  duty  as  commander  of  the  Dis 
trict  of  New  York.  In  1813-14  he  was  Secretary 
of  War,  having  succeeded  Dr.  Eustes  in  that  posi 
tion.  In  this  new  and  trying  sphere  at  that  pecu 
liar  period  his  troubles  and  difficulties  increased  an 
hundred-fold.  He  had  no  confidence  whatever  in 
the  Generals  appointed  by  Mr.  Madison,  and  being 
self-willed,  and  somewhat  arrogant,  was  in  continu 
ous  collision  with  his  military  subordinates,  and  not 
unfrequently  with  the  President  himself.  The  ene 
mies  he  had  made,  thirty  years  before,  by  his  fluent, 
caustic  pen,  in  his  unfortunate  "  Newburg  Letters," 
had  not  forgotten  their  wrongs,  and  massed  them 
selves  against  their  old  enemy,  determined  on  his 
political  and  military  overthrow.  In  addition  to 
this  outside  organization,  his  military  movements 
were  not  of  such  a  character  as  to  command  public 
approbation.  The  total  failure  of  the  military  opera 
tions  against  Canada,  and  the  capture  of  Washing 
ton  City,  in  August,  1814,  by  the  British,  completed 
the  demolition  of  the  erratic  but  intellectual  Secre 
tary,  and  his  portfolio  was  soon  transferred  to  other 
keeping.  As  fruits  of  his  literary  efforts  after  his 
retirement  to  private  life,  he  published  an  able  trea 
tise  on  gardening  and  agriculture,  a  review  of  "Gen 
eral  Wilkinson's  Memoirs"  (in  which  he  handles 
the  author  without  gloves),  and  a  two- volume  His- 


152  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

tory  of  the  "War  of  1812-14.  General  Armstrong, 
with  all  his  failings,  was  a  man  of  very  decided 
ability,  and  of  unquestionable  loyalty.  His  long- 
continued  intimate  personal  relations  with  General 
Gates  made  him  unpopular  with  the  numerous  ene 
mies  of  that  gentleman;  and  his  sharp,  pungent, 
personal  assaults  with  his  graceful  but  bitter  pen 
poorly  qualified  him  to  run  smoothly  in  what  might 
be  termed  the  popular  groove.  Notwithstanding 
all  these  drawbacks,  however,  he  secured  many  high 
civil  and  military  distinctions,  the  majority  of  which 
he  filled  with  signal  ability.  His  daughter  was  the 
estimable  wife  of  William  B.  Astor,  Esq.,  of  New 
York  City.  General  Armstrong  died  at  his  coun 
try-seat  at  Eed  Bank,  N.  J.,  April  1, 1843,  in  his 
eighty-fifth  year. 


THE  COMMANDER  OF  GIBSON'S  LAMBS. 


A  Well-known  Army  Favorite  and  His  Sons  in 
Revolutionary  Times — Careers  Eventful,  Perilous, 
and  Highly  Honorable — General  John  Gibson's 
Interview  with  ike  Mingo  Chief,  Logan,  &c. 

THE  distinguished  brothers,  Generals  John  and 
George  Gibson,  were  natives  of  Lancaster, 
Pennsylvania.  The  latter  was  a  well-known  army 
favorite  in  revolutionary  times,  personally  very  pop 
ular,  of  genial  social  qualities,  and  esteemed  by  all 
who  knew  him  for  the  honorable  and  generous  feel 
ings  of  his  heart.  The  services  rendered  by  him  to 
his  country  were  neither  few  nor  unimportant.  He 
commenced  his  career  in  a  large  mercantile  house 
in  Philadelphia,  subsequently  making  several  voy 
ages  to  the  "West  Indies  as  a  supercargo.  After 
wards  he  retired  to  Fort  Pitt,  at  that  period  a  fron 
tier  post  within  the  jurisdiction  of  Virginia.  He 
met  with  but  indifferent  success  in  his  Western 
trading  operations,  and  soon  after  removed  to  the 
neighborhood  of  Carlisle,  Cumberland  county,  Pa., 
where  he  engaged  in  agricultural  pursuits,  which 
also  proved  unfortunate  and  unremunerative.  He 
then  returned  once  more  to  Fort  Pitt,  and  organized 

7*  (153) 


154  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

a  company  of  one  hundred  picked  men,  with  whom 
he  marched  to  Williarnsburg,  at  that  time  the  seat 
of  government  of  Virginia.  His  men  were  rather 
a  reckless  set  of  customers,  possessing  that  indivi 
dual  independence,  hardihood,  and  desperate  dar 
ing  characteristic  of  all  frontiersmen  familiar  with 
danger  and  removed  from  the  restraints  of  civiliza 
tion.  They  were  all  sharpshooters,  mischievous 
without  being  malicious,  and  during  the  war  were 
known  by  the  classic  appellation  of  "Gibson's  lambs." 
The  career  of  General  George  Gibson  during  the 
whole  term  of  his  military  experience  was  eventful, 
perilous,  and  highly  honorable.  He  participated  in 
the  leading  battles  of  the  Revolution,  and  after  the 
declaration  of  peace  returned  to  his  farm  in  Cum 
berland  county.  In  1791  he  took  command  of  a 
regiment  under  Gen.  St.  Clair,  and  in  the  unfortu 
nate  defeat  of  that  officer,  while  leading  his  men  in 
a  fearful  bayonet  charge,  he  received  a  mortal  wound. 
He  was  a  high-toned,  honorable  man,  quite  a  lin 
guist,  and  possessed  a  vast  fund  of  interesting  in 
formation.  He  was  a  humorist  of  the  first  water, 
and  the  author  of  several  very  popular  songs,  which 
he  sung  with  incredible  effect.  One  of  his  sons 
was  John  Bannister  Gibson,  LL.  D.,  born  in  Carlisle, 
Pa.,  November  8,  1780,  and  who  died  in  Philadel 
phia,  May  3,  1853.  He  was  admitted  to  the  Cum 
berland  county  bar  in  1803,  and  practiced  success 
fully  in  Carlisle  and  Beaver,  Pa.,  and  was  appointed 
Judge  of  the  old  Eleventh  District,  July,  1813.  He 


GIBSON'S  LAMBS.  155 

was  appointed  to  the  Supreme  Bench  of  Pennsylva 
nia  in  1816,  and  held  the  office  of  Chief- Justice 
from  1827  to  1851.  He  was  possessed  of  very  su 
perior  attainments,  and  as  the  fruit  of  long-conti 
nued,  severe,  and  regular  training,  his  mind  became 
so  thoroughly  imbued  with  legal  principles  and 
maxims,  that  they  seemed  to  be  part  and  parcel  of 
his  very  nature.  He  was  the  peer  and  a  worthy 
successor  of  the  Tilghmans,  Ingersoll,  and  Rawle, 
when  the  Philadelphia  bar  was  the  brilliant  expo 
nent  of  the  legal  talent  of  the  country.  Another 
son  was  General  George  Gibson,  who  for  over  forty 
years  administered  the  Commissary  Department  of 
the  United  States  army  with  commendable  fidelity. 
He  served  with  credit  in  the  war  of  1812,  and  was 
breveted  Major-General,  May  30,  1848,  for  merito 
rious  conduct  in  the  Mexican  war.  He  died  in 
Washington,  D.  C.,  September  21,  1861. 

General  John  Gibson  was  born  in  Lancaster,  Pa., 
on  the  23d  of  May,  1740.  He  received  a  good  pri 
mary  education,  and  entering  the  service  at  the  early 
age  of  eighteen,  made  his  first  military  campaign  un 
der  General  Forbes,  in  the  famous  expedition  which 
resulted  in  the  acquisition  of  Fort  Du  Quesne,  Pitts 
burgh,  from  the  French.  He  settled  at  the  latter 
place  as  an  Indian  trader  in  1763,  immediately  after 
the  declaration  of  peace.  Shortly  after  this  the  war 
with  the  Indians  was  renewed,  and  Gibson  and  two 
companions,  while  descending  the  Ohio  river  in  a 
flat-boat,  were  overhauled  by  the  savages  at  the 


156  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

mouth  of  Beaver  Creek.  The  two  companions  were 
burned  at  the  stake,  and  Gibson's  life  was  preserved 
by  an  old  squaw,  who  adopted  him  in  lieu  of  a  favor 
ite  son,  who  had  recently  been  killed  in  battle.  He 
remained  several  years  a  captive,  during  which  time 
he  was  treated  well,  and  became  familiar  with  the 
language,  habits,  manners,  customs,  and  traditions 
of  the  Indians.  At  the  termination  of  hostilities, 
he  settled  once  more  at  Fort  Pitt.  In  1774  he  was 
an  important  agent  in  enforcing  the  Indian  treaty 
inaugurated  by  Lord  Dunmore,  and  restored  nume 
rous  prisoners  to  their  friends  after  a  captivity  of 
many  years.  It  was  on  this  occasion  that  the  cele 
brated  Mingo  Chief,  Logan,  delivered  his  historic 
speech,  Colonel  Gibson  being  the  interpreter.  As 
the  troops  were  drawn  up  in  line  of  battle,  and  every 
thing  indicated  an  immediate  and  vigorous  attack, 
Gibson  was  sent  forward  under  a  flag  of  truce,  au 
thorized  to  make  overtures  of  peace  to  the  savage 
enemy. 

En  route  he  encountered  the  tall,  robust  figure  of 
the  bronzed  Mingo  Chief,  a  splendid  specimen  of 
physical  manhood,  leaning  against  a  huge  oak  tree, 
his  piercing  eye  flashing  bold  defiance,  and  his 
clenched  hand  and  heaving  breast  indicating  a  fear 
ful  battle  within.  Gibson  was  his  peer  in  muscular 
vigor  and  valorous  courage,  and  as  he  approached 
Logan,  accosted  him  familiarly  and  kindly :  "  My 
old  friend,  how  do  you  do  ?  I  am  glad  to  see  you." 
Logan,  struggling  to  conceal  his  feelings,  coldly  re- 


GIBSON'S  LAMBS.  157 

plied,  "  I  suppose  you  are,"  and  turned  away. 
With  the  exception  of  Logan,  all  the  chiefs  assem 
bled  in  the  council,  which  was  immediately  held, 
were  unanimously  in  favor  of  an  immediate  peace. 
During  the  discussion  of  the  terms  and  stipulations, 
Colonel  Gibson  felt  some  one  plucking  the  skirt  of 
his  capote,  and,  turning  around,  found  Logan  stand 
ing  at  his  back,  his  face  convulsed  with  passion, 
beckoning  him  to  follow.  At  first  he  hesitated,  but, 
being  well  armed  and  fearless  of  danger,  he  con 
cluded  to  follow,  whfle  the  great  Mingo  Chief,  with 
noiseless  but  hurried  tread,  led  the  way  to  a  copse 
of  woods  some  considerable  distance  from  the  coun 
cil.  Here  they  sat  down  together,  and  Logan  fairly 
trembled  with  grief  and  excitement.  He  wept  like 
a  child,  and  for  some  time  was  so  completely  over 
come  by  his  feelings  that  he  could  scarcely  utter 
a  syllable.  He  then  rose  to  his  feet  with  a  wild, 
majestic  dignity,  paced  to  and  fro  for  a  few  mo 
ments,  and  then  turning  to  his  solitary  auditor, 
addressed  him  in  eloquent  thrilling  terms  as  follows : 
"  I  appeal  to  any  white  man  to  say  if  he  ever  en 
tered  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  of  peace.  Such  was  my  love  for  the 
whites,  that  my  countrymen  pointed  as  they  passed, 
and  said,  '  Logan  is  the  friend  of  white  men ! '  I 
had  even  thought  to  have  lived  with  you,  but  for 


15S  COXTLS'ENTAL   SKETCHES. 

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  his  heeL 
to  save  his  life.  Who  is  there  to  mourn  for  Logan  ? 
Not  one,"  After  the  delivery  of  this  speech,  the 
last  utterances  of  a  desolate  and  broken  heart,  he 
sat  down  convulsed  with  grief.  He  begged  of  Colo 
nel  Gibson  to  communicate  his  sentiments  to  Lord 
Dunmore,  for  the  purpose  of  removing  all  suspicion 
of  insincerity  on  the  part  of  the  Indians,  in  conse 
quence  of  the  refusal  of  a  chief  of  his  position  to 
take  part  in  the  ratification  of  the  treaty.  After 
making  this  last  request,  the  bold,  brave,  stalwart 
Mingo  Chief  darted  off  like  an  arrow  from  a  bow, 
and  was  soon  lost  in  the  denseness  of  the  surround 
ing  forest.  On  the  breaking  out  of  the  Revolution 
ary  War.  General  Gibson  was  appointed  to  the 
command  of  one  of  the  Continental  regiments,  and 
served  with  the  army  at  New  York,  and  in  the  re- 
treat  through  New  Jersey.  During  the  balance  of 
the  war  he  was  employed  on  the  Western  frontier. 
for  which,  by  long  experience  in  Indian  warfare,  he 
admirably  qualified.  In  1788  he  was  a  mem- 


GIBSOX'S  LAMBS.  159 

ber  of  the  convention  -which  framed  the  constitution 
of  Pennsylvania,  and  was  subsequently  an  associate 
judge  of  Alleghany  county,  Pa^  and  Major-GeneHll 
of  militia.  President  Jefferson  appointed  in-m  in 
1800  Secretary  of  the  Territory  of  Indiana,  which 
position  he  held  until  that  Territorv  became  an 
admitted  State  in  1816.  He  died  at  the  residence 
of  his  son-in-law.  George  Wallace,  Esq.,  at  Brad- 
dock's  Field,  Pa.,  on  the  10th  of  April,  1822,  aged 
eighty-two,  having  borne  through  life  the  charac 
ter  of  a  brave  soldier  and  an  honest 


MAJOR-GENERAL  JOHN  CADWALADER. 


The  Youthful  Commander  of  "The  Silk  Stocking 
Company"  in  the  Revolution — The  Reward  of 
Strict  Discipline  and  Military  Bearing — A  Com 
bination  of  the  Dash  of  Marion  and  the  Personal 
Bravery  of  Mad  Anthony  Wayne — The  Triumph 
at  Trenton — The  Struggle  at  Princeton,  &c.,  &c. 

FOR  zealous  and  inflexible  adherence  to  the  na 
tional  cause,  coupled  with  gallant  intrepidity 
as  a  soldier,  few  men  of  the  Revolutionary  times 
were  the  peers  of  the  youthful,  chivalric  General, 
John  Cadwalader  of  Pennsylvania.  In  the  periods 
of  doubt,  misfortune,  and  positive  disaster  with 
which  that  era  unfortunately  abounded,  when  brave 
men  quailed,  and  good  men  were  appalled  at  the 
threatening  shadows  of  defeat,  with  its  stringent, 
fearful  penalties,  young  Cadwalader  was  calm  and 
undismayed,  hopeful  and  determined.  He  was  born 
in  Philadelphia,  in  1742,  and  at  the  dawn  of  the 
Revolution  commanded  a  corps  of  volunteers  in  that 
city,  facetiously  designated  as  "the  silk  stocking 
company."  This  fine  organization  was  composed  of 
select  young  men  from  the  front  ranks  of  Philadel 
phia  society — the  very  elite  of  the  city.  The  com- 

(160) 


MAJOR-GENERAL  CADWALADER.          161 

pany  was  admirably  drilled,  handsomely  clad,  and 
its  aristocratic  pretensions  in  no  manner  interfered 
with  its  military  excellence.  Its  youthful  comman 
der,  of  handsome  martial  bearing,  and  every  inch 
the  soldier,  possessed  military  genius  and  taste,  and 
his  gallant  command  did  not  uselessly  expend  its 
military  ardor  in  gaudy  street  parades  in  times  of 
peace,  evaporating  into  a  mysterious  oblivion  in 
times  of  war.  When  the  tocsin  of  alarm  sounded, 
nearly  every  member  of  this  company  promptly  re 
sponded,  and  the  majority  of  its  members  became  pro 
minent  line  and  staff  officers,  doing  good  practical 
work  during  the  Revolution  in  spite  of  their  gauze 
hosiery.  Young  Cadwalader  was  soon  appointed 
colonel  of  one  of  the  Philadelphia  regiments,  and  by 
his  strict  discipline  and  military  bearing  was  soon 
afterwards  appointed  brigadier-general,  with  sole 
command  of  the  entire  Pennsylvania  forces  in  the 
important  operations  of  the  historic  winter  cam 
paign  of  1776-7.  General  Cadwalader  combined 
the  dash  of  Marion  with  the  personal  bravery  of 
"Mad  Anthony  Wayne,"  possessing,  moreover,  that 
calm,  philosophic  discretion  and  devotion  to  rigid 
discipline  so  characteristic  of  his  illustrious  proto 
type,  his  beloved  Commander-in-chief.  This  happy 
union  of  rare  elements  combined  to  make  him  a 
most  efficient  auxiliary  to  Washington,  whose  con 
fidence  he  enjoyed  to  a  very  great  extent,  and  whose 
staunch  personal  friend  he  continued  to  be  through 
life.  With  his  hardy,  stalwart  Pennsylvania  troops 


162  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

General  Cadwalader  gained  laurels  worthy  of  a 
Wellington  in  the  historic  actions  of  Princeton, 
Brandy  wine,  Germantown,  Monmouth,  and  on  many 
other  memorable  battle-fields  of  the  Kevolution. 

On  the  evening  of  December  25,  1776,  Washing 
ton  made  arrangements  to  cross  the  Delaware  river, 
determined  to  drop  the  defensive  and  attack  the 
British  and  Hessian  troops  at  Trenton  in  the  very 
midst  of  their  Christmas  festivities.  His  army  was 
divided  into  three  divisions.  One,  under  General 
Cadwalader,  consisting  of  some  five  hundred  men, 
was  to  cross  near  Bristol;  another,  under  General 
Irvine,  to  cross  at  the  old  Trenton  Ferry,  and  secure, 
if  possible,  the  bridge  leading  to  the  town.  Both 
these  divisions  made  herculean  efforts  to  obey  in 
structions,  but  the  condition  of  the  river,  owing  to 
the  huge  masses  of  ice  piled  up  on  the  Jersey  side, 
rendered  their  passage  an  absolute  impossibility,  and 
they  were  reluctantly  compelled  to  abandon  the  at 
tempt.  The  third  division,  however,  under  com 
mand  of  Washington,  succeeded  in  crossing  the 
Delaware,  after  almost  superhuman  effort,  at  Mc- 
Kenzie's  Perry,  ten  miles  above  Trenton.  They 
found  great  difficulty  in  getting  their  artillery  over. 
Indeed  they  did  not  succeed  till  three  o'clock  the 
next  morning.  This  division  was  sub-divided  into 
two  others,  commanded  respectively  by  the  gallant 
veterans  Sullivan  and  Greene,  having  as  heroic  sub 
ordinates  Brigadier-Generals  Mercer  and  St.  Clair. 
This  military  movement  eventuated  the  next  day  in 


MAJOR-GENERAL  OADWALADER.          163 

the  battle  of  Trenton.  Only  about  forty  Hessians 
were  killed  in  the  engagement,  but  the  aggregate  of 
the  surrender  by  the  enemy  was  twenty-three  officers 
and  eight  hundred  and  eighty- six  men,  while  our 
loss  was  but  two  killed — several,  however,  being 
frozen  to  death.  The  balance  of  the  troops,  num 
bering  six  hundred,  escaped  by  way  of  the  road 
leading  to  Bordentown.  The  British  having  a  strong 
force  at  Princeton,  only  ten  miles  distant,  and  in  ad 
dition  a  superior  force  to  ours  near  the  Delaware, 
Washington  deemed  it  prudent  to  recross  into  Penn 
sylvania,  which  he  did  the  next  day,  having  in  his 
custody  all  his  prisoners.  Telegraphs,  in  those  days, 
were  among  the  undeveloped  mysteries  of  science, 
postal  facilities  were  crude  and  contracted,  and  cou 
riers  uncertain  and  unreliable.  Young  Cadwalader, 
ambitious  for  warmer  work  than  assaulting  Delaware 
river  icebergs,  and  totally  ignorant  of  his  comman 
der's  return,  succeeded  at  last  in  crossing  the  day 
after  "Washington  had  recrossed,  with  a  force  of 
some  fifteen  hundred  men.  With  these  he  pursued 
the  panic-stricken  enemy  to  Burlington,  harassing 
them  terribly,  and  driving  them  pell-mell  into  that 
ancient  borough.  Wa  shington  sent  his  Hessian  pris 
oners  to  Philadelphia,  and  they  were  paraded  through 
Front,  Third,  Chestnut,  and  Market  streets,  amid  the 
enthusiastic  cheers  of  the  general  populace,  and  to 
the  evident  chagrin  of  some  who  were  not  quite  so 
loyal.  This  display  was  made  to  convince  the  po 
sitive  traitors  and  doubting  Thomases  that  a  victory 


164  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

had  actually  been  gained — a  fact  they  very  serious 
ly  doubted  and  certainly  did  not  desire.  The 
triumph  at  Trenton  occured  at  a  most  propitious 
time,  and  seemed  like  the  first  wave  of  the  return 
ing  tide.  Public  sentiment  was  badly  demoralized, 
confidence  crippled,  and  hope  flickering,  when  the 
joyous  news  of  "a  victory  at  Trenton  "  strengthened 
public  sentiment,  and  drove  the  chronic  croakers  to 
the  rear.  The  brilliant  services  and  intrinsic  merits 
of  young  Cadwalader  won  the  gratitude  not  only  of 
his  native  city  and  State,  but  of  the  entire  Colonies, 
and  were  especially  recognized  by  Congress  in  a  ten 
der  to  him  of  the  honorable  position  of  General  of 
Cavalry.  He  declined  the  generous  offer,  however, 
with  becoming  grace,  conscious  that  he  might  be 
more  useful  to  his  country  in  the  sphere  he  then  oc 
cupied.  Encouraged  by  success  at  Trenton  and 
heavy  accessions  to  his  ranks  of  gallant  recruits, 
whose  lack  of  temporal  comforts  was  more  than  com 
pensated  by  their  ardent  zeal  and  patriotic  inspira 
tion,  Washington  concluded  to  inaugurate  an  aggres 
sive  movement,  determined,  if  possible,  to  make 
a  brilliant  winter  campaign  for  the  recovery  of  the 
whole,  or,  at  least,  a  great  portion,  of  New  Jersey, 
which  was  crushed  by  the  iron  heel  of  an  arrogant 
fbe.  Lord  Cornwallis  held  command  of  the  British 
forces  at  Princeton,  and  this  was  made  the  prospec 
tive  point  of  attack.  It  is  an  interesting  digression 
to  remember  the  cordial  relations  existing,  more  es 
pecially  at  this  time,  between  the  citizens  of  the 


MAJOR-GENERAL  CADWALADER.  165 

Colonies  of  Pennsylvania  and  New  Jersey.  They 
seemed  like  one  great  brotherhood  united  by  com 
mon  interests,  and  forming  a  powerful  patriotic  co 
partnership  in  fighting  the  battles  of  their  common 
country.  Generals  Mifflin  and  Cadwalader,  both 
gallant  Pennsylvanians,  lay  at  Bordentown  and 
Crosswicks,  with  three  thousand  six  hundred  raw 
militia,  and  were  ordered  to  join  Washington  on  the 
night  of  January  1,  1777.  The  combined  army 
thus  reinforced  did  not  number  more  than  five 
thousand  men.  The  Commander-in-chief  determin 
ed  to  make  a  forced  march  from  the  Delaware  river 
to  the  left  flank  and  to  the  rear  of  the  enemy  at 
Princeton,  their  supposed  most  vulnerable  point. 
On  the  morning  of  January  3,  "he  arrived  within 
a  short  distance  of  Princeton,  and  but  for  meeting, 
within  a  mile  or  two  of  the  village,  some  stragglers 
of  the  enemy,  would  have  completely  surprised 
Cornwallis  and  achieved  a  brilliant  victory.  Their 
presence  being  informally  and  unfortunately  announ 
ced,  a  sharp,  bitter  fight  commenced  at  once.  The 
rew  militia  fell  back  for  a  moment  under  the  fierce 
fire  of  the  British  troops,  and  their  gallant  leader, 
General  Hugh  Mercer,  fell  mortally  wounded  while 
endeavoring  to  rally  his  broken  ranks." 

At  the  critical  moment  Washington,  by  one  of 
those  magnificent  exhibitions  of  personal  bravery 
which  made  him  so  conspicuous  on  many  a  battle 
field,  dashed  forward  on  his  foaming  steed  and 
placed  himself  in  front  of  the  shattered  line,  his 


166  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

horse's  head  being  directly  facing  the  assaulting  foe. 
The  effect  was  electric  and  instantaneous.  Bravery 
begets  bravery,  and  the  Americans,  resuming  their 
original  position,  fought  with  the  wildest  despera 
tion.  Part  of  the  British  forces  broke  ranks,  and 
fled  into  the  old  college  building,  where  their  assail 
ants  attacked  them  with  artillery,  compelling  them 
in  less  than  half  an  hour  to  surrender  as  prisoners 
of  war.  In  this  comparatively  brief  engagement 
more  than  one  hundred  of  the  enemy  were  killed 
and  three  hundred  taken  prisoners.  The  American 
loss  was  light.  Colonels  Haslet  and  Potter,  two 
brilliant  young  officers  from  Delaware  and  Penn 
sylvania,  were  among  the  killed.  In  this  battle 
General  Cadwalader  displayed  his  usual  personal 
bravery  and  skill  as  a  tactician.  He  was  always 
calm  and  collected  under  fire,  never  losing  his  pre 
sence  of  mind  and  self-control.  His  whole  military 
career  was  in  keeping  with  his  brilliant  campaign 
in  New  Jersey,  affording  additional  developments  of 
military  genius,  and  his  unfeigned  love  for  his  coun 
try.  General  Cadwalader's  duel  with  General  Con- 
way  originated  in  the  love  he  bore  for  General 
Washington,  and  the  corresponding  contempt  he 
had  for  all  who  waged  a  personal  war  against  him. 
He  inherited  a  keen  sense  of  honor,  and  his  spirited 
opposition  to  the  intrigues  of  Conway  produced 
the  unfortunate  collision.  General  Gates  was  ambi 
tious,  and  encouraged  these  attempts  to  place  him 
in  command  at  the  expense  of  Washington's  well- 


MAJOR-GENERAL  CADWALADER.          167 

earned  reputation.  Bancroft,  in  speaking  of  Gates, 
says  "  his  experience  adapted  him  for  good  service 
in  bringing  the  army  into  order,  but  he  was  shallow 
in  his  natural  endowments  and  in  his  military  cul 
ture."  It  will  be  remembered  that,  in  the  duel  with 
Cadwalader,  Conway  was  dangerously  wounded,  and 
while  there  was  some  doubt  about  his  recovery,  he 
wrote  to  General  Washington,  acknowledging  that 
he  had  done  him  great  injustice.  At  the  termina 
tion  of  the  war  Cadwalader  removed  to  Maryland, 
where  he  resided  during  the  balance  of  his  life. 
He  represented  his  district  there  as  a  member  of 
the  Assembly  for  two  years.  He  died  at  Shrews 
bury,  his  country  seat,  in  Kent  county,  Maryland, 
February  10,  1786,  in  the  44th  year  of  his  age. 
He  served  his  country  well,  and  left  an  unsullied 
reputation  as  a  soldier  and  a  gentleman.  A  zealous 
friend  of  his  country  and  her  institutions,  his  en 
thusiasm  in  her  behalf  was  not  tinctured  by  bitter 
ness  or  malevolence  towards  others  who  respectfully 
differed  from  him.  In  the  private  circle  he  was 
almost  proverbial  in  his  neighborhood  for  his  genial 
traits,  cheerful  temper,  liberal  views,  generous  hos 
pitality,  and  unswerving  integrity.  He  belonged  to 
a  family  long  and  honorably  identified  with  the  civil 
and  military  history  of  Philadelphia  and  Pennsylva 
nia. 


CAPTAIN  NICHOLAS  BIDDLE,  U.S.N. 


Hardships  Endured  by  the  Young  Mariner  on  a 
Barren  Waste — Midshipman  at  Twenty  Years  of 
Age — Before  the  Mast  on  Board  the  Carcase,  of 
the  North  Pole  Expedition — In  the  Revolution — 
Commander  of  the  Andrea  Dorea — The  Prizes 
Brought  to  the  Delaware,  &c. 

rMHE  Biddle  family,  prominently  identified  with 
-I-  our  early  history,  were  among  the  first  set 
tlers  of  New  Jersey  and  Pennsylvania,  their  im 
mediate  ancestor,  William  Biddle,  being  one  of  the 
early  proprietors  of  the  former  estate.  Charles 
Biddle,  father  of  the  somewhat  celebrated  financier, 
Nicholas  Biddle,  and  brother  of  the  subject  of  this 
article,  was  an  ardent  patriot  in  the  Revolution, 
and  under  the  Constitution  of  1776  was  Vice- 
President  of  the  Commonwealth,  when  Franklin 
was  President.  Another  brother,  Edward  Biddle, 
served  as  a  captain  in  the  war  of  1756,  and  was  a 
member  of  the  first  Congress  in  1774,  while  another 
brother,  James,  prior  to  the  Eevolution,  held  the 
office  of  deputy  judge  of  the  Admiralty,  being  sub 
sequently  appointed  judge  of  the  First  Judicial  Dis 
trict. 


CAPTAIN  NICHOLAS  BIDDLE.  169 

Captain  Nicholas  Biddle,  the  youngest  brother  of 
this  distinguished  household,  a  man  of  marked  mili 
tary  genius  and  intrepid  gallantry,  was  born  in 
Philadelphia,  September  10,  1750.  From  early 
childhood  he  manifested  a  decided  partiality  for  the 
sea,  and  in  1764,  being  then  but  fourteen  years  of 
age,  he  made  a  voyage  to  Quebec.  In  1765  he  sail 
ed  from  Philadelphia  for  the  West  Indies.  The 
vessel  left  the  Bay  of  Honduras  in  December-  of 
that  year,  bound  to  Antigua,  and  on  January  2d, 
during  a  heavy  gale,  was  cast  on  a  shoal  called  the 
Northern  Triangles.  The  crew  remained  for  several 
days  upon  the  wreck,  when  they  were  compelled  to 
take  to  their  yawl,  the  long-boat  having  been  lost, 
and  with  great  difficulty  succeeded  in  landing  on 
one  of  the  small  uninhabited  islands  a  short  distance 
from  the  reef  on  which  they  struck. 

With  a  scanty  larder,  secured  from  the  wreck, 
and  a  disabled  yawl,  the  condition  of  the  shipwreck 
ed  crew  was  desperate.  The  small  boat  was  refitted, 
and  lots  drawn  to  determine  who  should  remain  on 
the  dreary  island.  .  Young  Biddle  was  one  of  four 
doomed  to  stay,  and  for  two  months  he  and  his 
companions  suffered  great  privations  and  extreme 
hardships  on  this  barren  waste.  This  was  pretty 
severe  practical  nautical  experience  for  a  delicate 
young  lad  of  fifteen,  reared  amid  the  comforts  of  a 
luxurious  home  in  the  city  of  Philadelphia.  Dur 
ing  his  two  months  of  exile  here  his  health  was 
materially  impaired  by  scanty  and  inferior  supplies 


170  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

of  provisions  and  water.  Such  an  experience  would 
have  crippled  the  ambition  of  any  ordinary  young 
man ;  but  not  so  with  our  hero.  In  ten  days  after 
his  return  to  Philadelphia  he  sailed  for  Liverpool, 
and  in  several  subsequent  European  voyages  ac 
quired  a  very  thorough  knowledge  of  practical  sea 
manship.  In  1770,  when  twenty  years  of  age,  he 
served  as  a  midshipman  on  an  English  vessel  com 
manded  by  Captain  Sterling,  brother-in-law  of  Mr. 
Thomas  Willing,  a  well-remembered,  public-spirited 
citizen  of  Philadelphia.  He  shipped  on  this  vessel 
in  anticipation  of  a  threatened  war  between  Great 
Britain  and  Spain  about  the  Falkland  Islands,  and, 
that  difficulty  being  happily  adjusted,  he  yearned 
for  a  life  of  more  exciting  activity.  In  1773  a  North 
Pole  expedition  was  inaugurated  under  the  auspices 
of  the  Eoyal  Society;  and  two  vessels,  the  Eace 
Horse  and  Carcase,  were  fitted  out  under  command 
of  Lord  Mulgrave. 

Such  an  expedition,  with  its  perils,  dangers,  and 
romance,  had  special  attraction  for  such  an  adven 
turous,  dashing  spirit  as  our  young  American,  and 
he  pleaded  with  all  the  eloquence  of  a  Cicero  to  be 
released  from  his  engagement  with  his  kind  friend, 
Captain  Sterling.  His  appeals  were  futile,  but  the 
temptation  to  go  was  irresistible,  and  he  flung  aside 
the  gaudy  uniform  of  a  British  midshipman  and 
entered  on  board  the  Carcase  as  a  private  sailor  be 
fore  the  mast.  The  particulars  of  this  historic 
expedition  are  well  known  by  scientific  men,  the 


CAPTAIN  NICHOLAS  BIDDLE.  171 

intrepid  navigators  having  penetrated  as  far  as  the 
latitude  of  81  deg.  39  min.,  often  locked  up  for 
weeks  in  the  huge  mountains  of  ice.  In  this  same 
expedition  young  Horatio,  afterwards  Lord  Nelson, 
the  greatest  of  Britain's  admirals,  served,  and  was 
a  warm  personal  friend  of  young  Biddle.  After 
certain  developments  in  his  native  land,  clearly 
indicating  a  rupture  between  England  and  America, 
our  youthful  wanderer  repaired  without  delay  to 
the  standard  of  his  country.  On  his  return  to  his 
native  city  he  was  appointed  to  the  command  of 
the  Camden  galley,  fitted  for  the  defence  of  the 
Delaware.  This  service  was  too  inactive  for  one  of 
his  ardent  temperament,  and  he  was  soon  afterwards 
appointed  commander  of  the  good  ship  Andrea 
Dorea,  a  brig  of  14  guns  and  130  men,  attached  to 
the  fleet  under  Commodore  Hopkins  preparing  for 
an  expedition  against  New  Providence.  Paul  Jones, 
afterwards  so  distinguished  in  our  naval  history, 
was  a  young  lieutenant  attached  to  the  same  com 
mand.  Writing  from  off  the  Capes  to  his  brother, 
Judge  Biddle,  he  says :  "I  know  not  what  may  be 
our  fate ;  be  it,  however,  what  it  may,  you  may  rest 
assured  I  will  never  cause  a  blush  in  the  cheeks  of 
my  friends  and  countrymen."  On  the  arrival  of  the 
fleet  at  New  Providence,  that  place  surrendered  with 
out  opposition.  After  refitting  at  the  latter  port, 
Captain  Biddle  received  orders  to  proceed  off  the 
Banks  of  Newfoundland,  to  intercept  transports  and 
storeships  bound  for  Boston.  En  route  he  captured 


172  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

two  ships  from  Scotland,  with  four  hundred  High 
land  troops  on  board,  bound  for  Boston.  He  was 
eminently  successful  in  capturing  other  prizes,  and 
when  he  arrived  in  the  Delaware  he  had  but  five  of 
his  original  crew,  the  rest  having  been  distributed 
among  the  captured  vessels.  In  the  fall  of  1776 
Captain  Biddle  was  appointed  to  the  command  of 
the  Eandolph,  a  frigate  of  thirty-two  guns,  and 
sailed  from  Philadelphia  February,  1777.  A  heavy 
gale  carried  away  all  her  masts,  and  she  entered 
Charleston  habor  in  a  shattered  and  disabled  condi 
tion.  After  refitting  at  Charleston  as  speedily  as 
possible,  he  sailed  on  a  cruise,  and  within  one  week 
returned  to  port  with  four  valuable  prizes.  His 
spirit  and  success  were  keenly  appreciated  by  the 
Charlestonians,  and  in  a  short  time  a  fleet  was  ten 
dered  him,  comprising  the  ship  General  Moultrie, 
and  the  brigs  Fair  America,  Polly,  and  Notre  Dame. 
A  detachment  of  fifty  men  from  the  First  Eegiment 
of  South  Carolina  Continental  Infantry  was  ordered 
to  act  as  marines  on  board  of  the  Eandolph.  The 
honorable,  amiable,  and  professional  conduct  and 
valor  of  the  young  commander  inspired  general 
confidence  in  the  whole  corps,  and  gave  great  pro 
mise  of  a  brilliant  future.  Finding  that  the  enemy's 
ships  had  left  the  coast,  the  fleet  proceeded  to  the 
West  Indies,  and  cruised  for  several  days  in  the 
latitude  of  Barbadoes.  On  the  night  of  the  7th  of 
March,  1778,  the  brief  but  brilliant  career  of  this 
gallant  young  naval  hero  was  brought  to  a  sad  close 


CAPTAIN  NICHOLAS  BIDDLE.  173 

in  a  fierce  engagement  of  the  Randolph  with  the 
British  ship  Yarmouth,  of  sixty-four  guns,  com 
manded  by  Captain  Vincent.  At  the  very  begin 
ning  of  the  fierce  conflict  Captain  Biddle  was  in 
jured  in  the  thigh,  and  was  supposed  to  be  mortally 
wounded.  He  soon  rallied,  however,  and  ordered 
a  chair  to  be  brought  to  the  forward  deck,  in  which 
he  took  a  seat  and  issued  his  orders  with  coolness  and 
precision,  amid  the  blaze  of  battle  and  the  terrific 
broadsides  of  the  enemy.  Mingled  with  the  horrible 
din  of  the  deadly  conflict  could  be  heard  the  stento 
rian  tones  of  young  Biddle,  the  warm  blood  oozing 
from  his  fatal  wound,  encouraging  his  men  "to 
stand  to  their  guns."  The  battle  lasted  only  twenty 
minutes,  when  the  Randolph  blew  up,  and  of  her 
gallant  crew  of  three  hundred  and  fifteen  American 
tars  only  four  remained  to  tell  the  story.  Thus 
prematurely  fell,  at  the  very  early  age  of  27,  as 
gallant  a  young  naval  hero  as  ever  trod  a  quarter 
deck.  Brave  to  a  fault,  and  consummately  skilled 
in  his  profession,  no  danger,  real  or  imaginary, 
could  shake  his  firmness  or  disturb  his  mental  equi 
poise.  Although  a  strict  disciplinarian,  he  tem 
pered  his  authority  with  so  much  humanity  and 
affability  that  his  orders  were  always  executed  with 
cheerfulness  and  alacrity.  Fenimore  Cooper,  in  his 
Naval  History,  speaks  of  him  thus :  "  Ardent,  ambi 
tious,  fearless,  intelligent,  and  persevering,  he  had 
all  the  qualities  of  a  great  naval  captain ;  and 
although  possessing  some  local  family  influence,  he 


174  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

rose  to  the  station  he  filled  at  so  early  an  age  by 
personal  merit.  His  loss  was  greatly  regretted  in 
the  midst  of  the  excitement  and  vicissitudes  of  a 
revolution,  and  can  scarcely  be  appreciated  by  those 
who  do  not  understand  the  influence  that  such  a 
character  can  influence  on  a  small  infant  service." 
Eamsey,  the  historian,  truthfully  says :  "  Captain 
Biddle,  who  perished  on  board  the  Randolph,  was 
universally  lamented.  He  was  in  the  prime  of  life, 
and  had  excited  high  expectations  of  future  useful 
ness  to  his  country,  as  a  bold  and  skillful  naval 
officer." 

At  the  termination  of  his  cruise  he  was  to  have 
married  an  accomplished  young  lady,  Miss  Eliza 
beth  Elliott  Baker,  daughter  of  Mr.  Thomas  Bohun 
Baker,  of  Charleston,  S.  C.  He  liberally  remem 
bered  her  in  his  will  by  bequeathing  to  her  the 
munificent  sum  of  twenty-five  thousand  pounds. 
Captain  Biddle  was  a  man  of  strictly  temperate 
habits,  and  possessed  the  crowning  virtue  of  a 
sweet  Christian  character.  His  genial,  winning 
manners  were  as  attractive  in  the  social  circle  as 
his  brilliant  naval  career  was  jointly  creditable  to 
his  friends,  his  State,  and  his  country. 


THOMAS  McKEAN. 


Another  of  the  Leading  Men  whose  Reputation  was 
not  Hemmed  in  by  Contracted  State  Lines,  but  Be 
longed  to  the  Nation  and  the  World  —  Thomas  Mc- 
Kean,  Jurist,  Patriot,  and  Statesman  —  Member  of 
the  Philadelphia  Bar  in  1756,  Delegate  to  the 
Celebrated  Stamp-act  Congress,  .Representative  in 
the  National  Legislature,  and  Governor  of  the 
State. 


county  seems  to  have  been  the  grand 
centre  of  intellectual  culture,  and  the  nursery 
of  patriotism  during  the  early  history  of  our  coun 
try.  We  have  remarked  that  John  Morton  and 
Dr.  Hugh  Williamson,  of  North  Carolina,  were  both 
born  in  this  county,  and  now  we  chronicle  the  same 
locality  as  the  birthplace  of  another  distinguished 
Pennsylvanian  whose  reputation  was  not  hemmed  in 
by  contracted  State  lines,  but  belonged  to  the  nation 
and  the  world.  Thomas  McKean,  jurist,  patriot, 
and  statesman,  was  born  in  the  old  township  of  New 
London,  county  of  Chester,  and  province  of  Penn 
sylvania,  on  the  nineteenth  of  March,  1734.  His 
father,  Mr.  Wm.  McKean,  was  a  native  of  Ire 
land,  and  shortly  after  his  arrival  in  this  country 
(175) 


176  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

he  settled  permanently  in  New  London.  The  Rev. 
Dr.  Allison,  a  learned  and  accomplished  scholar  at 
that  time,  presided  over  a  quite  celebrated  institu 
tion  at  that  place,  and  at  this  school  young  McKean 
was  placed  at  the  very  early  age  of  nine  years. 
This  old  Dr.  Allison,  we  may  remark,  had  an  almost 
national  reputation  as  a  successful  preceptor,  was 
wonderfully  proficient  in  the  classics,  and  well  versed 
in  philosophy,  history,  and  general  literature.  The 
leading  men  of  Pennsylvania  and  the  neighboring 
Colonies,  who  yearned  for  solid  learning  and  polite 
literature  generally,  had  their  thirst  quenched  at  the 
scientific  fountain  of  quaint  old  Dr.  Allison,  at  New 
London,  Chester  county. 

After  acquiring  the  elementary  basis  of  a  good 
education,  with  a  fair  knowledge  of  rhetoric,  logic, 
and  classics,  young  McKean  registered  himself  as 
a  law  student  in  the  office  of  a  relative  of  no  mean 
legal  reputation,  David  Finney,  Esq.,  of  New  Castle, 
Delaware.  Before  he  attained  his  majority  he  was 
admitted  to  the  bar,  and  in  a  very  short  time  se 
cured  a  large  and  lucrative  practice,  and  was  recog 
nized  as  one  of  the  most  prominent  and  brilliant 
young  advocates  in  the  Colony  of  Delaware.-  In  1756 
he  was  admitted  to  practice  in  the  courts  of  the  city 
and  county  of  Philadelphia,  and  the  following  year 
to  the  bar  of  the  Supreme  Court  of  Pennsylvania. 
The  political  career  of  Mr.  McKean  began  when  he 
was  about  twenty-eight  years  of  age,  and  for  several 
years  he  held  successively  many  local  offices  of 


THOMAS  McKEAN.  177 

honor  and  trust ;  and  by  his  unflagging  industry  and 
genuine  ability  gave  significant  promise  of  that 
great  eminence  which  he  subsequently  attained. 
He  was  a  leading  member  of  the  celebrated  Stamp 
Act  Congress,  which  met  in  New  York  in  1765,  to 
obtain  relief  of  the  British  Government  from  a  long 
schedule  of  grievances  under  which  we  suffered,  but 
more  particularly  those  allied  to  the  celebrated 
Stamp  Act.  The  proceedings  of  that  famous  con 
vention  have  never  received  the  publicity  their  im 
portance  demanded,  excepting,  of  course,  the  gene 
ral  declaration  of  rights,  appeal  to  the  King,* and 
various  petitions  to  Parliament.  A  commendable 
proportion  of  firmness  and  boldness  characterized 
the  general  proceedings  of  the  convention,  but 
throughout  all  their  deliberations  there  was  an  un 
mistakable  outcropping  of  nervous  timidity,  dubious 
loyalty,  and  that  non-committal  policy  which  shirks 
everything  with  which  it  comes  in  contact.  The 
aggressive  wing  of  the  body  was  engineered  by  the 
celebrated  James  Otis,  of  Boston,  and  young  Thomas 
McKean  of  Delaware ;  and  their  stirring  and  thril 
ling  appeals  gave  forth  no  uncertain  sound.  One 
Timothy  Euggles,  of  Massachusetts,  was  elected 
chairman  of  the  convention  by  a  majority  'of  one 
vote  over  his  competitor,  this  same  James  Otis — one 
of  those,  peculiar  political  results  which  are  as  un 
accountable  as  they  are  common.  President  Eug 
gles,  although  a  good  man  in  the  quiet  walks  of  pri 
vate  life,  was  not  the  most  reliable  loyalist  in  the 


178  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

world,  and,  instead  of  being  an  aggressive  states 
man,  was  one  of  trembling  tendencies.  When  the 
convention  ceased  its  operations,  and  the  president, 
with  others,  was  called  upon  to  sign  the  proceedings, 
and  give  them  official  character,  he  peremptorily  re 
fused  to  affix  his  name.  This  produced  what  in 
modern  parlance  we  might  term  a  sensation!  Mc- 
Kean,  who  was  impulsive  and  a  seeker  after  truth, 
with  proper  dignity  but  some  warmth  demanded  of 
Timothy  his  reasons  for  refusing  to  sign  the  peti 
tion.  This  was  a  bombshell  in  the  camp  of  the  con 
servatives,  and  after  some  parleying  and  much  per 
sonal  embarrassment,  Euggles  replied  that  he  refus 
ed  because  he  had  a  right  to  do  so,  and  to  sign  these 
proceedings  "would  be  doing  violence  to  his  con 
science."  This  brought  the  impetuous  McKean  to 
his  feet,  who  yelled  out,  "Conscience!  Conscience!" 
so  long  and  so  loud,  and  in  such  a  strangely  modulated 
tone,  that  the  chairman  became  irritable  beyond  all 
measure,  and,  forgetful  of  all  parliamentary  propriety 
and  dignity,  immediately  then  and  there  challenged 
his  youthful  assailant  to  mortal  combat.  The  chal 
lenge  was  no  sooner  proffered  than  accepted,  but  the 
timid  Euggles  was  no  more  inclined  to  fight  than  to 
sign  the  official  proceedings,  and  quietly  returned  to 
Massachusetts  only  to  receive  from  the  Legislature 
of  that  colony  a  stern  rebuke  for  his  vacillating, 
timid  course  as  her  representative.  Euggles  and 
Eobert  Ogden,  of  New  Jersey,  were  the  only  two 
delegates  who  refused  to  sign  the  petitions.  The 


THOMAS  McKEAN.  179 

latter  was  subsequently  burned  in  effigy  by  his  in 
dignant  constituents,  and  forced  to  retire  from  the 
Speakership  of  the  General  Assembly  of  that  State. 
Ogden  blamed  McKean  for  communicating. to  the 
public  his  action  in  the  matter,  and  threatened  him 
with  a  challenge,  but  very  prudently,  perhaps,  never 
carried  his  threat  into  execution.  Mr.  McKean  re 
moved  to  Philadelphia  in  1774,  a  short  time  before 
the  meeting  of  Congress.  The  citizens  of  the  coun 
ties  of  New  Castle,  Sussex,  and  Kent,  in  Delaware, 
still  insisted  that  he  should  represent  them  in  Con 
gress,  and  he  was  accordingly  elected  as  their  dele 
gate,  and  took  his  seat  in  that  body  September  3d, 
1774.  He  acted  in  that  capacity  from  that  date  to 
February  1,  1783.  This  was  said  to  be  the  only 
instance  where  any  one  member  remained  for  so 
long  a  period  in  Congress,  i.  e.,  from  1774  to  the 
signing  of  the  preliminary  peace  in  1783,  a  con 
tinuous  term  of  eight  and  a  half  years.  It  is  a 
singular  incident  in  his  life  that  during  all  this  time 
he  was  actually  a  resident  of  Philadelphia,  while 
at  the  same  time  his  constituents  were  residents  of 
another  State.  In  1777,  although,  as  stated,  he 
was  a  Congressional  Representative  of  Delaware, 
he  was  appointed  Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania, 
thus  holding  high  official  positions  in  both  States 
at  the  same  time,  and  claimed  as  a  citizen  by 
each — a  most  singular  position  to  occupy,  and  an 
anomaly  in  the  history  of  politics.  He  received 
his  commission  as  Chief  Justice  of  Pennsylvania, 


180  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

July  28,  1778,  from  the  Supreme  Executive  Coun 
cil  of  the  State,  and  most  ably  discharged  the 
duties  of  the  honorable  position  for  a  period  of 
twenty-two  years.  In  1780,  actually  oppressed  by 
the  weight  of  official  position,  he  tendered  his  re 
signation  to  the  citizens  of  Delaware  as  their  Con 
gressional  Eepresentative.  So  invaluable,  however, 
were  his  services,  that  his  Delaware  friends  declined 
to  accept  it,  and  he  was  compelled  to  continue  in  the 
position,  more  from  a  sense  of  gratitude  and  duty 
than  from  love  of  honor  or  reward.  In  July,  1781, 
he  was  elected  President  of  Congress,  but  in  Oc 
tober  of  the  same  year  was  compelled  to  relinquish 
this  position  because  it  interfered  with  the  proper 
exercise  of  his  functions  and  duties  as  Chief  Justice. 
Of  McKean  as  a  lawyer  we  may  safely  say  that  he 
was  master  of  that  intricate  profession.  As  a  con- 
.temporary  very  justly  remarked  of  Tilghman,  we 
may  appropriately  say  of  McKean :  "  He  took  in  at 
one  glance  all  the  beauties  of  the  most  obscure  and 
difficult  limitations.  With  him  it  was  intuitive,  and 
he  could  untie  the  knots  of  a  contingent  remainder 
or  an  executive  device,  as  familiarly  as  he  could  his 
garter."  Of  his  career  as  a  judge  it  is  unnecessary 
for  us  to  comment,  for  his  judicial  fame  is  the  com 
mon  property  of  the  world.  Pennsylvania,  however 
much  she  may  have  suffered  in  many  instances  by 
irresponsible  and  unworthy  political  representation 
in  the  councils  of  the  nation,  has  always  been  justly 
proud  of  her  incorruptible  and  learned  judiciary. 


THOMAS  MCKEAN.  181 

Eoss,  Tilghman,  Ingersoll,  Bawle,  and  Bradford,  with 
a  host  of  others,  were  brilliant  stars  in  the  legal  fir 
mament  of  the  old  Colonial  times,  and  the  lustre  of 
the  galaxy  has  not  been  dimmed  by  such  modern 
luminaries  as  Gibson  and  Black.  But  the  peer  of 
them  all  was  Chief  Justice  Thos.  McKean.  A  fault 
less  logician,  fluent  without  the  least  volubility, 
wonderfully  concise,  with  a  naturally  logical  mind 
well  disciplined  by  severe  and  systematic  training, 
he  was  a  most  brilliant  advocate  and  attorney.  As 
a  j  udge  he  had  few  equals  in  this  or  any  other  land. 
When  he  assumed  the  judicial  ermine,  the  laws  of 
Pennsylvania  were  crude  and  unsettled,  and  it  de 
volved  upon  him  to  overcome  all  these  difficulties, 
and  bring  order  out  of  comparative  chaos.  His  de 
cisions  were  remarkably  accurate,  sometimes  quite 
profound,  and  always  delivered  with  a  grace  of  dic 
tion  and  perspicuity  of  language  which  commend 
them  to  the  cultivated  legal  mind.  His  personal 
appearance  on  the  bench  was  a  combination  of 
proper  affability  and  great  dignity.  In  1788  an  at 
tempt  was  made  to  impeach  him  as  Chief  Justice, 
bat  it  was  promptly  ignored  by  the  General  Assem 
bly,  to  whom  it  was  referred.  Mr.  McKean  was 
delegated  a  member  from  Philadelphia  to  the  Penn 
sylvania  Convention  which  met  in  1787  to  ratify 
the  constitution  of  the  United  States,  and  was  a 
leading  spirit  of  that  body.  In  concluding  an  elo 
quent  speech  in  favor  of  the  ratification,  he  said: 
"The  law,  sir,  has  been  my  study  from  my  infancy, 


182  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

and  my  only  profession.  I  have  gone  through  the 
circle  of  office  in  the  legislative,  judicial,  and  execu 
tive  departments  of  government,  and  from  all  my 
study,  observation,  and  experience,  I  must  declare, 
that  from  a  full  examination  and  due  consideration 
of  this  system,  it  appears  to  be  the  very  best  the 
world  has  yet  seen." 

In  1788  the  Legislature  of  Pennsylvania  took 
preliminary  action  in  relation  to  calling  a  conven 
tion  to  revise  the  State  Constitution.  This  body 
assembled  on  the  24th  of  November,  1789,  and  here 
again  McKean  was  a  member  of  great  mark  and 
force.  In  1799  he  was  elected  Governor  of  Penn 
sylvania,  his  competitor  being  the  able  and  dis 
tinguished  jurist,  Judge  James  Ross.  McKean  was 
an  uncompromising  Democrat,  and  by  his  great 
personal  and  political  influence  contributed  in  no 
small  degree  to  the  election  of  Mr.  Jefferson  to  the 
Presidency.  His  gubernatorial  career  was  marked 
by  great  ability,  and  produced  beneficial  results  to 
the  Commonwealth.  He  was  a  rigid  partisan,  well 
disciplined  in  tactics,  and  a  devout  believer  in  the 
old  Jeffersonian  maxim,  that  "to  the  victors  belong 
the  spoils."  In  carrying  out  his  specific  views  of 
this  theory,  his  wholesale  removal  of  political  oppo 
nents  from  office  was  unprecedented  in  our  early 
history,  producing  very  great  excitement,  and  evinc 
ing  on  his  part  an  unjustifiable  degree  of  politi 
cal  asperity.  Party  spirit,  however,  in  those  days 
ran  high  on  both  sides,  as  was  indicated  by  a  series 


THOMAS  McKjsAN.  183 

of  charges  made  against  Governor  McKean  by  cer 
tain  influential  citizens  of  the  county  of  Phila 
delphia,  which  resulted  in  having  them  referred  to 
a  committee  of  the  Legislature.  This  committee 
reported  adversely  to  the  Governor  on  six  different 
points,  including  unjustifiable  interference  on  his 
part  with  the  election  of  Sheriff  in  Philadelphia  in 
1806 ;  an  usurpation  of  authority  in  the  somewhat 
celebrated  case  of  Joseph  Cabrera ;  violation  of  the 
constitution  in  making  certain  Philadelphia  appoint 
ments  ;  allowing  his  name  to  be  stamped  on  blank 
patents,  Treasury  warrants,  and  other  official  papers ; 
and  improper  overtures  in  the  exciting  case  of  Wm. 
Duane  against  the  son  of  the  Governor,  for  what 
was  termed  a  murderous  assault. 

The  committee,  as  we  have  intimated,  reported  a 
resolution  in  favor  of  the  impeachment  of  the  Gover 
nor  for  "high  crimes  and  misdemeanors,"  but  after 
considerable  preliminary  skirmishing,  the  House, 
on  the  27th  of  January,  indefinitely  postponed  fur 
ther  consideration  of  the  whole  matter,  and  the 
impulsive  but  not  malicious  official  was  saved  from 
the  ignominy  of  successful  impeachment.  The  next 
day  a  formal  reply  of  his  to  the  charges  preferred 
against  him  was  inserted  in  full  on  the  House  Jour 
nal,  where  it  remains  to  this  day,  and  the  whole 
matter  thus  terminated.  In  this  reply  occurs  the 
following  passage,  which  is  characteristic  of  the 
man:  "That  I  may  have  erred  in  judgment,  that 
I  may  have  been  mistaken  in  my  general  views  of 


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THE  POET,  FRANCIS  HOPKINSON. 


Graduate  of  the  Philadelphia  College,  Successful  Ad 
vocate  at  the  Bar,  Author  of  "  The  Battle  of  the 
Kegs"  Executive  Counsellor  and  Collector  of  Cus 
toms,  Representative  in  Congress,  and  United 
States  Judge  for  the  District  of  Pennsylvania. 

\  LTHOTJGH  for  several  years  a  resident  of 
_£JL.  New  Jersey,  and  one  of  her  Congressional 
Eepresentatives,  Francis  Hopkinson  was  a  native  of 
Pennsylvania,  and  as  he  spent  the  greater  portion  of 
his  life  in  the  latter,  may  be  claimed  as  the  joint  pro 
perty  of  the  two  venerable  colonies  that  fought  side 
by  side  during  the  stormy  times  of  the  Revolution . 
He  was  born  in  Philadelphia,  in  the  year  1737. 
His  father,  Mr.  Thomas  Hopkinson,  married  a  niece 
of  the  Bishop  of  Worcester,  and  emigrating  to 
this  country  about  1716,  settled  in  Philadelphia, 
where  he  was  justly  considered  a  most  valuable  ac 
quisition  to  her  select  society,  and  filled  in  that  city 
several  important  offices  under  the  English  Govern 
ment.  He  was  somewhat  of  a  scientist,  and  an  in 
timate  personal  friend  of  Dr.  Benjamin  Franklin. 
The  elder  Hopkinson  claimed  credit  for  several  sci 
entific  discoveries  which  were  of  great  practical 

(186) 


THE  POET,  FRANCIS  HOPKINSON.        187 

utility,  and  which  were  highly  commended  by 
Franklin.  Attracting  the  electric  fluid  by  means  of 
a  pointed  instead  of  a  blunt  instrument,  thus  avoid 
ing  the  disagreeable  explosion  which  invariably 
took  place  by  the  old  method,  was  one  of  his  inven 
tions  or  discoveries.  He  died  comparatively  young, 
leaving  a  large  family  in  sole  charge  of  his  widow, 
a  lady  of  superior  attainments,  much  self-denial, 
great  force  of  character,  and  a  rare  combination  of 
those  sweet  virtues  and  gentle  traits  which  develop 
the  perfectibility  of  true  womanhood.  The  influ 
ence  of  such  a  person  was  not  lost  upon  her  family, 
especially  that  son  who  is  the  subject  of  this  imper 
fect  sketch ;  and  her  noble  efforts  in  his  behalf  were 
crowned  with  the  most  satisfactory  results.  She 
lived  long  enough  to  see  the  partial  fruition  of  a 
mother's  hopes  in  his  graduation  at  the  Philadelphia 
College,  and  his  securing  an  honorable  position  as  a 
successful  advocate  of  the  Philadelphia  bar.  His 
genius  was  quick  and  versatile,  and  his  acquirements 
were  a  singular  combination  of  profound  learning 
and  the  lighter  accomplishments  of  what  is  termed 
a  fashionable  education.  He  was  a  man  of  fine  so 
cial  points — fond  of  society,  quite  a  musician,  a  sati 
rist,  a  humorist,  and  a  poet  of  no  mean  pretension. 
His  poetic  talent  developed  itself  in  the  production 
of  a  number  of  humorous  ballads,  which  were  very 
popular  at  that  time.  The  well  known  revolu 
tionary  song  of  "  The  Battle  of  the  Kegs,"  of  which 
he  was  the  author,  is  perhaps  a  fair  specimen  of  his 


188  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

somewhat  peculiar  poetic  development.  His  ver 
sification  was  fluent  and  graceful,  and  he  wrote  more 
to  amuse  his  friends  and  subserve  the  glorious  cause 
he  so  enthusiastically  espoused  than  to  rival  Milton 
or  Goethe.  In  thrilling  revolutionary  times,  when 
the  pulse  beats  fast  and  the  passions  are  keenly  sen 
sitive,  a  light,  humorous  poet  is  a  more  important 
auxiliary  to  the  public  welfare  then  is  generally  con 
ceded.  Without  such  an  on6  the  surrounding  at 
mosphere  becomes  heavy  and  murky,  and  the  pub 
lic  mind  phlegmatic  and  melancholy.  The  avoca 
tion  of  this  peculiar  bard  has  been  supplanted  in 
modern  times  by  the  expressive  pencil  of  the  artist, 
and  a  broad  cartoon  nowadays  is  oftentimes  more 
potential  than  a  logical  speech  of  a  fortnight's  pre 
paration.  "We  would  not  underrate  the  poetic  status 
of  Mr.  Hopkinson,  for  in  this  sphere  he  was  always 
recognized  as  a  poet  of  the  people,  amusing,  instruc 
ting,  and  inspiring,  a  broad  humorist,  and  not  a  vul 
gar  wag,  a  bitter  satirist,  with  a  good  motive  always 
clinging  to  his  barbed  arrow.  The  poetic  genius, 
equally  intensified  and  much  more  cultivated,  clung 
to  the  family  line,  and  his  son,  Judge  Joseph  Hop 
kinson,  is  justly  celebrated  as  the  author  of  our  na 
tional  song,  "Hail  Columbia,"  favorably  known 
wherever  the  English  language  is  spoken. 

At  the  age  "of  twenty-nine,  after  having  secured 
an  enviable  reputation  as  a  brilliant  attorney,  he 
embarked  for  England  to  visit  the  home  of  his  an 
cestors,  and  remained  abroad  two  years.  At  the 


THE  POET,  FRANCIS  HOPKINSON.        189 

expiration  of  that  time  he  returned  to  this  country, 
settled  in  New  Jersey,  and  married  Miss  Borden,  a 
cultivated  and  estimable  lady  of  that  colony,  The 
royal  government  recognized  his  intrinsic  merits  by 
appointing  him  successively  executive  counsellor 
and  collector  of  customs.  The  latter  position  he 
forfeited  by  the  intense  zeal  with  which  he  entered 
into  the  discussion  of  the  exciting  questions  im 
mediately  preceding  the  Eevolution.  He  gained, 
however,  in  return,  the  undivided  good- will  of  all 
his  friends  and  neighbors,  and  was  shortly  afterward 
selected  as  a  Representative  of  New  Jersey  in  the 
Continental  Congress  of  1776.  In  that  capacity  he 
gave  his  cordial  and  cheerful  approval  to  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  and  voted  promptly  for  its 
passage. 

In  1779  the  President  of  the  Colony  of  Pennsyl 
vania  nominated  Mr.  Hopkinson  to  fill  the  judicial 
vacancy  in  the  Admiralty  Court  occasioned  by  the 
retirement  of  Judge  Ross,  and  he  was  unanimously 
appointed  to  the  same,  and  for  ten  years,  until  the 
organization  of  the  Federal  Government,  honorably 
discharged  its  important  duties. 

He  was  subsequently  appointed  by  General  Wash 
ington  United  States  Judge  for  the  District  of  Penn 
sylvania,  in  which  position  he  contributed  no  little 
to  the  stability  and  dignity  of  the  general  Govern 
ment.  One  leading  point  in  the  life  of  this  eminent 
man  is  worthy  of  intelligent  commendation.  Dur 
ing  the  continuance  of  his  extended  judicial  course 


190  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

he  conscientiously  avoided  mingling  in  party  poli 
tics.  Thus  his  official  ermine  was  preserved  pure 
and  spotless,  and  his  judgment  unswayed  by  the 
rude  elements  of  coarse  partisanship.  An  inde 
pendent  judiciary,  untrammelled  by  political  hopes 
or  fears,  is  as  essential  to  the  welfare  of  a  well-regu 
lated  government  as  oxygen  to  the  atmospheric 
breath :  and  it  argues  a  lamentable  condition  of 
society,  indicative  of  speedy  ruin  and  decay,  when 
the  politician  becomes  the  judge,  or  the  judge  the 
politician.  Either  will  corrupt  the  fountain,  and 
the  stream  must  become  impure. 

When  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States  was 
ratified,  all  the  large  maritime  towns  of  the  country 
particularly  hailed  the  result  with  great  joy,  and 
grand  celebrations  in  honor  of  the  important  event 
were  the  order  of  the  day.  Perhaps  the  most  im 
posing  demonstration  of  this  kind  ever  held  in  the 
early  history  of  Philadelphia  was  that  of  July  4, 
1788,  in  honor  of  the  ratification.  This  grand 
pageant  and  demonstration  was  planned  and  managed 
by  Mr.  Hopkinson,  and  was  a  practical  illustration 
of  that  taste,  tact,  loyalty,  and  executive  ability  for 
which  he  was  always  so  conspicuous.  A  contempo 
rary  thus  describes  it :  "  The  rising  sun  was  saluted 
with  the  ringing  of  bells  and  the  discharge  of  can 
non.  Ten  ships  along  the  river  in  front  of  the  city 
represented  the  ten  ratifying  States,  each  gaily 
dressed  in  flags  and  streamers  with  appropriate  in 
scriptions  emblazoned  in  gold.  At  half-past  nine 


THE  POET,  FBANCIS  HOPKIKSOST.        191 

• 
« 

o'clock  the  grand  procession  began  to  move.  The 
Declaration  of  Independence,  the  French  Alliance, 
the  Definite  Treaty  of  Peace,  the  Convention  of 
the  States,  the  Constitution,  and  the  !NTew  Era  were 
represented  by  some  of  the  principal  citizens  in 
emblematical  costumes.  The  Constitution  was  per 
sonified  by  a  lofty  monumental  car  in  the  form  of 
an  eagle,  drawn  by  six  horses.  Chief  Justice 
McKean,  with  Judges  Atlee  and  Rush  in  their  offi 
cial  robes,  were  seated  in  this  car,  bearing  the  Con 
stitution,  framed  and  fixed  upon  a  staff  which  was 
crowned  with  the  cap  of  liberty,  and  bore  as  a 
legend  '  The  People,'  in  golden  letters.  A  carriage 
drawn  by  ten  white  horses  supported  the  model  of 
a  Federal  edifice,  the  'Xew  Ecof  of  which  was 
upheld  by  thirteen  columns,  the  three  inscribed  with 
the  names  of  the  States  which  had  not  yet  ratified 
the  Constitution  being  unfinished.  The  pilots,  ship- 
carpenters,  boat-builders,  and  other  trades  connected 
with  navigation,  surrounding  the  Federal  ship, 
Union,  mounting  twenty  guns,  and  with  a  crew  of 
twenty-five  men.  A  sheet  of  canvas,  tacked  along 
the  water  line,  extended  over  a  light  frame,  and 
was  painted  to  represent  the  sea,  concealing  the 
carriage  on  which  the  vessel  was  drawn.  The 
procession,  including  all  the  trades,  many  of  which 
were  occupied  with  their  appropriate  duties,  the 
military,  and  the  public  functionaries,  embraced 
more  than  five  thousand  persons ;  and  having  tra 
versed  the  city,  it  proceeded  to  Union  Green,  Bush 


192  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

Hill,  where  a  crowd  of  over  seventeen  thousand 
was  collected  to  observe  the  remaining  proceedings. 
While  the  procession  was  moving  the  printers  struck 
off'  and  distributed  from  their  car  among  the  peo 
ple  an  inspiring  ode  which  was  written  by  Judge 
Hopkinson.  The  entire  proceedings  were  marked 
by  the  utmost  decorum.  The  streets  and  the  win 
dows  and  roofs  of  houses  were  crowded  with  specta 
tors,  but  there  was  not  an  accident  or  the  slightest 
disturbance  of  any  kind  during  the  day." 

Judge  Hopkinson  died  of  an  apoplectic  fit,  after 
an  illness  of  only  a  few  hours,  May  8,  1791,  aged 
53. 

In  stature  he  was  below  the  medium  height,  and 
his  features,  although  small,  did  not  detract  from 
an  exceedingly  bright  and  animated  countenance, 
indicating  mirth,  benevolence,  with  sufficient  firm 
ness.  He  was  noted  for  his  classical  taste  and  de 
votion  to  science,  and  his  collection  of  rare  and 
valuable  books  formed  one  of  the  very  best  libra 
ries  in  the  country.  He  was  of  a  social  make, 
something  of  a  bon  vivant,  a  brilliant  wit,  and,  dur-_ 
ing  the  visit  of  Tom  Moore  to  this  country  in  1787, 
was  perhaps  the  most  intimate  friend  the  gifted  poet 
had  in  Philadelphia. 

"Gray's  Ferry,"  strange  to  say,  was  the  fashion 
able  resort  of  the  pleasure-loving  people  of  the  city, 
and  at  a  fashionable  inn  there,  patronized  by  the 
elite  of  the  town,  Moore  and  Hopkinson  spent  the 
bulk  of  their  leisure  time.  One  can  scarcely  realize 


THE  POET,  FRANCIS  HOPKINSON.         193 

that  the  Gray's  Ferry  of  to-day,  with  its  deep  rail 
way-gashes  through  huge  hills  of  dry  white  sand, 
its  puffing  engines  and  greasy  brakesmen,  could 
ever  have  been  such  an  attractive  spot  as  has  been 
painted  by  the  graceful  pens  of  the  old  Colonial 
poets,  and  indirectly  by  Tom  Moore  himself. 


HON.  HUGH  WILLIAMSON,  LL.L). 


PEOMINENT  among  the  gifted  men  of  our 
early  history,  and  particularly  conspicuous  in 
the  Constitutional  Convention  which  met  in  the  Old 
State  House  on  the  14th  of  May,  1787,  was  Dr. 
Hugh  Williamson,  a  native  of  Pennsylvania,  but  a 
representative  in  the  convention  from  North  Caro 
lina.  This  convention,  assembled  to  define  the  limits 
of  individual  liberty  and  popular  sovereignty,  claim 
ed  in  its  membership  the  most  brilliant  men  of  the 
nation.  Dr.  Williamson  was  a  patriot  and  a  scholar, 
and  the  peer  of  any  man  who  sat  in  that  historic  assem 
blage.  Of  classical  features,  with  an  aquiline  nose, 
soft,  but  most  expressive  deep  blue  eyes,  a  massive, 
Websterian  forehead,  his  finely-carved  head  sur 
mounted  with  an  abundance  of  dark-brown  hair,  he 
added  to  these  fine  personal  attractions  the  courteous 
manners  of  a  Chesterfield,  and  the  solid  virtues  of  a 
high-toned  Christian  gentleman.  Griswold  charac 
terizes  him  as  "a  most  worthy  and  excellent  man, 
of  much  observation  and  extensive  attainments,  and 
an  undoubted  patriot."  He  was  born  in  West  Not 
tingham  township,  Chester  county,  Pa.,  December 
5,  1735,  and  from  his  very  earliest  childhood  gave 
strong  indications  of  marked  intellectuality.  In 

(194) 


HON.  HUGH  WILLIAMSON,  LLD.        195 

those  primitive  days  one  possessed  but  few  of  the 
advantages  for  securing  an  education  now  so  uni 
formly  common  through  the  medium  of  our  mag 
nificent  system  of  common  schools  and  numerous 
well-managed  normal  and  collegiate  institutions. 

A  delicate  physical  organization,  coupled  with  a 
somewhat  depleted  exchequer,  instead  of  dwarfing 
or  crippling  the  ambition  of  young  "Williamson, 
made  him  more  determined  to  succeed  in  those  iite- 
ary  pursuits  for  which  he  evidently  had  such  a  pro 
nounced  taste.  Always  thoughtful,  meditative,  and 
profoundly  conscientious,  he  chose  theology  as  his 
profession,  and  in  a  few  years,  after  overcoming  al 
most  insuperable  difficulties,  we  find  him  a  licentiate 
of  the  Presbytery  of  Philadelphia.  But  the  young 
ambassador  from  a  higher  court  had  studied  too 
much,  worked  too  hard,  and  had  overtaxed  his  sys 
tem  so  much,  that,  to  his  great  regret,  he  found  him 
self  physically  unable  to  assume  the  duties  of  the 
pulpit.  His  physician  demanded  a  cessation  from 
all  mental  labor,  and  with  the  return  of  health  we 
find  him  very  closely  identified  with  the  current 
literature  of  the  period  and  soon  recognized  as  one 
of  the  clearest,  ablest  writers  of  the  day.  His  va 
rious  contributions  to  the  scientific  and  literary  pub 
lications  brought  him  most  conspicuously  before  the 
public,  and  the  trustees  of  the  University  of  Penn 
sylvania  tendered  him  the  position  of  professor  of 
mathematics  in  that  institution,  which  he  accepted 
and  filled  most  creditably  for  several  years.  Al- 


196  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

though  his  fluent,  graceful,  and  loyal  pen  was  not 
idle  in  those  days  of  heated  political  discussion,  he 
devoted  much  of  his  leisure  time,  during  his  connec- 
tign  with  the  university,  to  the  study  of  medicine. 
With  nervous  energy  and  a  bold  desire  to  master 
his   new   profession,  he  resigned  his  professorship 
in  the  university  and  availed  himself  of  the  cele 
brated  medical  schools  of  London,  Edinburgh,  and 
Utrecht,  at  which  last  institution  he  received  his 
medical   degree   and  diploma.     After  making  the 
Continental  tour,  and  mingling  with  the  literati  and 
savans  of  Europe,  with  health  somewhat  improved, 
he  returned  to  Philadelphia,  where  for  several  years 
he  practiced  his  profession  with  very  great  success. 
Again,  unfortunately  for  science,  his'overtaxed  and 
overworked  system  compelled  him  to  relinquish  his 
second  profession,  causing  him  great  disappointment 
and  depression.     He  withdrew  for  a  time  from  the 
excitement  of  public  life  in  a  large  city,  and  spent 
a  year  or  two  with  a  favorite  sister,  who  married 
Daniel  Nevin,  Esq.,  who  resided  in  what  was  then 
termed  far-off  Western  territory,  the  beautiful  Cum 
berland  Valley  of  to  day.     Among  the  bold,  grand 
scenery  of  that  lovely  section  of  our  interior,  he 
again  recuperated  his  health  somewhat,  and  spent 
many  happy  hours  with  his  friends  and  kinsmen 
there,  to  whom  he   was   greatly  endeared   by  his 
genial,  winning  ways,  courteous  bearing,  and  captivat 
ing  conversational   powers.     At   that   time   there 
were  no  railways,  nor  even  canals,  in  our  State,  or 


HON.  HUGH  WILLIAMSON*,  LL.I).        197 

indeed  in  the  country;  and  Dr.  Williamson  made 
this  trip  from  Philadelphia  to  Cumberland  Valley 
in  the  first  carriage  that  certainly  ever  was  there, 
and,  most  probably,  the  first  that  ever  crossed  the 
Susquehanna  river.  Its  arrival  created  quite  an  ex 
citement  among  the  yeomanry  of  that  mountainous 
region,  and  hundreds  flocked  from  a  long  distance 
to  see  the  wonder  of  the  day,  a  plain,  substantial, 
close-covered  carriage.  Wearied  with  the  mono 
tony  of  country  life,  he  re-established  himself  once 
more  in  Philadelphia,  then  the  great  commercial,  in 
tellectual,  and  political  centre  of  the  country.  He 
employed  himself  mainly  in  literary  pursuits  and 
philosophical  investigations,  and  in  January,  1769, 
was  apjx)inted,  with  David  Rittenhouse,  Dr.  Kwing, 
and  Rev.  Dr.  Smith,  provost  of  the  university,  on  u 
committee  to  observe  the  transit  of  Venus,  which 
occurcd  on  the  3d  of  June  of  that  year,  and  soon 
after  to  observe  the  transit  of  Mercury,  which  took 
place  November  9,  1769.  His  articles  on  the  Comet 
and  Climatology,  in  the  "American  Philosophical 
Transactions"  of  1769  and  1770,  were  marked  by 
great  ability,  and  produced  a  most  profound  sensa 
tion.  , 

Having  received  his  academical  education  at  New 
ark,  Del.,  he  took  a  joint  interest  in  the  cause  of 
general  education  and  the  success  of  the  old  academy 
where  he  had  spent  his  early  years,  and,  fortified 
by  a  strong  endorsement  from  Gov.  John  Penn, 
he  sailed  in  1773  for  the  West  Indies,  and  from 


198  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

thence  to  Europe,  to  solicit  financial  aid  in  behalf  of 
the  humble  but  potent  school  in  Newark.  He  perse 
vered  in  this  effort  under  great  disadvantages,  but 
with  very  great  success,  until  the  autumn  of  1775, 
when  our  Colonial  difficulties  with  the  mother-coun 
try  were  inaugurated.  He  was  the  first  to  report 
the  destruction  of  tea  at  Boston ;  and  on  that  occa 
sion  boldly  declared  that  coercive  measures  must 
result  in  a  bloody  civil  war.  ^Dr.  Williamson,  while 
in  London,  procured  the  letters  of  Hutchinson,  Oliver, 
and  others,  and  caused  them  to  be  delivered  to  Dr. 
Franklin,  who  sent  them  to  Boston,  for  which  Wed- 
derburne  before  the  Privy  Council  stigmatized  good 
old  Benjamin  Franklin  as  a  "  thief!  "  John  Adams 
supposed  it  was  David  Hartly,  a  member  of  Parlia 
ment,  but  friendly  disposed  to  our  country,  who 
caused  the  important  correspondence  to  be  transmit 
ted  to  Franklin.  After  the  expose  of  this  affair, 
Williamson,  deeming  discretion  the  better  part  of 
valor,  suddenly  left  England,  and  sailed  for  Holland. 
On  the  day  after  the  reception  of  the  news  of  the 
Declaration  of  Independence,  regardless  of  every 
personal  and  business  consideration,  he  sailed  for 
his  native  land.  Unwilling  to  be  a  mere  spectator, 
he  earnestly  yearned  to  be  a  participant  in  the  stir 
ring  scenes  then  foreshadowed,  and  which  were  des 
tined  to  startle  and  electrify  the  world.  On  his 
arrival  he  found  the  medical  corps  of  the  army  was 
filled,  but  having  occasion  to  visit  Newbern,  N.  C.,  on 
important  private  business,  he  went  at  once  to  the 


•     HON.  HUGH  WILLIAMSON,  LLJX        199 

residence  of  the  Governor  of  the  Province,  and  ten 
dered  his  services  for  any  position  in  which  he  might 
be  useful  to  his  country.  When  the  British  took  pos 
session  of  Charleston,  South  Carolina,  a  large  draft 
of  military  was  ordered  from  North  Carolina,  for  the 
defence  of  South  Carolina,  and  Dr.  Williamson  was 
placed  at  the  head  of  the  medical  department.  His 
medical  knowledge  and  scientific  attainments  emi 
nently  qualified  him  for  this  important  position,  and 
his  gentle  manners  and  high-toned  Christian  charac 
ter  exerted  a  most  wholesome  influence  on  his  subor 
dinates.  After  the  battle  of  Camden,  August  18, 
1780,  which  the  Doctor  witnessed,  he  requested 
General  Caswell,  then  Governor  of  the  Province,  to 
give  him  a  flag,  that  he  might  attend  to  the  wants  of 
the  North  Carolina  prisoners.  The  General  inform 
ed  him  that  his  duties  did  not  require  him  to  go, 
and  suggested  that  he  send  some  of  the  regimental 
surgeons.  He  replied,  that  such  of  his  surgeons,  as 
he  had  seen,  declined  to  go,  afraid  of  the  conse 
quences  ;  "  but,"  said  he,  "  if  I  have  lived  until  a  flag 
that  will  not  protect  me  I  have  outlived  my  country, 
and  in  that  case  have  lived  a  day  too  long."  He  did 
go,  however,  and  remained  over  two  months  in  the 
enemy's  camp,  rendering  good  service  to  the  sick 
of  both  armies,  where  his  skill  was  highly  appre 
ciated.  At  the  close  of  the  war  he  served  as  a 
representative  of  Edenton,  North  Carolina,  in  the 
House  of  Commons.  Subsequently  he  was  elected 
by  the  Legislature  of  North  Carolina  to  the  Con- 


200  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

tinental  Congress,  where  lie  served  three  years,  as 
long  a  term  as  the  law  at  that  time  allowed.     He 
was  a  member  on  that  memorable  occasion,  Decem 
ber  23,  1783,  when  Washington,  at  Annapolis,  Md., 
tendered  his  commission   and   claimed    the   indul 
gence  of  retiring  from  the  public  service.     This  was 
truly  one  of  the  most  sublime  scenes  in  our  national 
history  perpetuated  on  canvas  by  Trumbull,  and  now 
adorning    the    rotunda  of  the  Capitol    at   Wash 
ington.    Prominent  in  this  picture  is  the  fine  com 
manding  figure  and  sweet  expressive  countenance 
of  our   gallant   young   Pennsylvanian,    Dr.    Hugh 
Williamson,   who  perfectly   idolized    Washington. 
In  1787  he  was  a  delegate  to  the  convention  which 
framed  the  Constitution  of  the  United  States.     This 
convention  assembled  at  a  most  critical  period  of 
our  country's  history,  and   consisted   of  fifty-five 
m  embers.    It  may  safely  be  asserted  that  a  more 
august  and  dignified  body  never  assembled,  before 
or  since ;  men  selected  from  the  very  front  ranks  of 
society,  educated,  refined,  and,  as  it  were,  brimful 
of  ardent  patriotism.     Our^  recent  colonial  relations 
had  imparted  to  our  worthy  ancestors  a   certain 
courtly  dignity  and  precise  formality  rarely  found 
in  these  degenerate  times.     The  inclined  planes  of 
society  had  not  been  subjected  to  the  dead  levellin  g 
system  of  extreme  social  democracy.     The   politi 
cians  of  that  day  were  statesmen,  and  the   public 
officials  gentlemen,  sans  peur  et  sans  reproche.     Dr. 
Williamson  was  a  valued  member  of  the  conven- 


HON.  HUGH  WILLIAMSON,  LL.D.        201 

tion,  and  a  most  zealous  advocate  of  the  new  Con 
stitution.  In  January,  1789,  he  married  Miss  Maria 
Apthorp,  one  of  the  reigning  belles  of  New  York 
city,  where  he  went  to  reside.  Here  he  continued 
his  literary  pursuits  industriously,  writing  on  va 
rious  scientific  subjects,  advocating  the  famous  New 
York  canal  system,  actively  promoting  the  various 
philanthropic  and  literary  institutions  coming  with 
in  his  sphere ;  and  in  1812  he  gave  to  the  world  his 
"  History  of  North  Carolina." 

After  a  long  life,  devoted  to  the  best  interests  of 
mankind,  Dr.  Hugh  Williamson  died  suddenly,  in 
New  York  city,  on  the  22d  of  May,  1819,  in  the 
85th  year  of  his  age.  Dr.  Hosack's  "Memoirs  of 
Williamson,"  in  the  Transactions  of  the  New  York 
Historical  Society,  is  a  cheerful,  eloquent  tribute  to 
one  of  the  purest  patriots  and  most  learned  men  of 
the  eventful  times  in  which  he  lived.  A  Christian, 
a  patriot,  a  scientist,  and  a  philanthropist,  his  me 
mory  is  very  dear  to  many  in  Pennsylvania,  the 
State  of  his  nativity,  and  equally  revered  by  his 
many  admirers  in  North  Carolina,  the  State  of  his 
adoption, 
n* 


JOHN  DICKINSON,  LLD. 


John  Dickinson,  LL.D.,  Elected  to  the  Pennsylvania 
Assembly  in  1764 — His  "Address  to  the  Committee 
of  Correspondence  in  Barbadoes" — Deputy  to  the 
First  Colonial  Congress — "Farmer's  Letters'''1 — 
"  The  Constitutional  Power  of  Great  Britain  over 
the  Colonies  of  America"  &c. 

ONE  of  the  most  forcible  and  elegant  writers  of 
our  colonial  history  was  the  Hon.  John 
Dickinson.  As  Wayne  was  a  pronounced  type  of 
the  bold,  dashing  warrior,  and  Franklin  a  model  of 
human  wisdom,  Dickinson  might  be  termed  the  great 
colonial  essayist  of  the  period,  engrafting  on  its  cur 
rent  literature  in  highly  refined  and  cultivated  lan 
guage  much  that  was  calculated  to  create,  control, 
and  sway  the  popular  mind.  He  was  the  son  of 
Judge  Samuel  Dickinson,  of  Delaware,  and  was  born 
in  that  State,  November  13,  1732.  He  studied  law 
in  Philadelphia  for  several  years,  completing  his 
course  at  the  Temple,  London.  Subsequently  re 
turning  to  this  country,  he  commenced  the  practice 
of  law  in  Philadelphia,  where  he  met  with  very  mark 
ed  success.  He  was  elected  to  the  Pennsylvania 
Assembly  in  1764,  where  he  evinced  unusual  capa- 

(202) 


JOHN  DICKINSON,  LL.D.  203 

city  as  a  legistor,  and  on  all  occasions  was  recognized 
as  a  fluent,  eloquent  debater.  Outside  of  legislative 
routine,  he  was  favorably  known  by  his  numerous 
publications  on  the  repeated  attempts  of  Great  Britain 
to  infringe  upon  the  liberties  of  the  Colonies.  His 
"  Address  to  the  Committee  of  Correspondence  in 
Barbadoes,"  who  had  censured  the  opposition  of  the 
northern  colonies  to  the  Stamp  Act,  was  an  eloquent 
and  dignified  tribute  to  the  moral  worth  and  stamina 
of  the  colonists.  He  was  a  deputy  to  the  first  Colonial 
Congress  in  1775,  and  the  principal  resolutions  on 
leading  questions  promulgated  by  that  body  were 
the  product  of  his  prolific  and  graceful  pen.  In 
1767  he  published  his  somewhat  celebrated  "Far 
mer's  Letters,"  which  were  widely  circulated  and 
read  by  all  classes.  They  were  reprinted  in  Lon 
don,  with  a  preface  by  Dr.  Franklin,  inviting  the 
attention  of  Great  Britain  to  the  calm  consideration 
of  American  "prejudices  and  errors,  if  there  were 
such,  and  hoping  the  letters  would  draw  forth  a 
satisfactory  answer,  if  they  can  be  answered."  They 
were  subsequently,  in  1769,  republished  in  Paris. 
These  letters  were  twelve  in  number,  and  written 
by  a  supposed  "farmer,  settled,  after  a  variety  of 
fortunes,  near  the  banks  of  the  river  Delaware,  in 
the  province  of  Pennsylvania."  They  arraign  the 
British  Parliament  for  laying  improper  duties  on 
glass,  paper,  &c.,  and  present  an  array  of  facts  and 
figures  almost  irresistibly  strong,  and  which  pro 
duced  a  profound  impression  wherever  they  were  read 


204  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

and  examined.  In  1774  he  published  his  "Essay 
on  the  Constitutional  Power  of  Great  Britain  over 
the  Colonies  of  America."  The  same  year  he  was 
appointed  to  the  first  Continental  Congress,  and  pub 
lished,  among  other  important  State  papers,  "The 
Address  to  the  Inhabitants  of  Quebec,"  "The  De 
claration  to  the  Armies,"  originally  adopted  by  Con 
gress,  setting  forth  the  causes  and  the  necessity  of 
taking  up  arms;  which  document  General  Washing 
ton  directed  to  be  published  immediately  upon  his 
arrival  at  the  camp  before  Boston,  in  July,  1775. 
He  also  executed  in  a  masterly  manner,  and  in  the 
finished  style  of  a  classical  connoisseur,  the  two  pe 
titions  to  the  King,  soliciting  the  royal  interposition 
for  an  accommodation  of  differences,  on  just  prin 
ciples.  These  petitions  were  carried  in  Congress  main 
ly  through  the  instrumentality  of  Mr.  Dickinson, 
who  was  strongly  in  favor  of  a  reconciliation  be 
tween  the  two  countries,  based  on  constitutional  prin 
ciples.  He  was  a  persistent  and  conscientious  ad 
vocate  of  this  line  of  policy,  and  oftentimes  tested 
severely  the  patience  of  his  colleagues,  the  majority 
of  whom  thought  that  the  era  of  petition  had  passed, 
and  that  of  positive  action  should  commence  at  once. 
Hence,  in  June,  1776,  he  openly  opposed  the  Decla 
ration  of  Independence,  deeming  decided  action  at 
that  particular  time  premature  and  inexpedient.  In 
this  cautious  position  he  was  endorsed  by  many 
other  members  "of  signal  ability  and  genuine  patriot 
ism,  but  their  flimsy  theories  were  roughly  handled 


JOHN  DICKINSON,  LL.D.  205 

by  the  thundering  eloquence  and  powerful  arguments 
of  John  Adams  of  Massachusetts,  and  Richard 
Henry  Lee  of  Virginia,  who  favored  an  immediate 
and  unconditional  separation  from  the  mother  coun 
try. 

When  the  question  came  up  in  Congress,  July  4, 
the  Pennsylvania  delegation,  consisting  of  seven 
members,  stood  thus :  Morton,  Franklin,  and  Wil 
son  for  Independence ;  Willing  and  Humphreys 
against  it ;  and  Dickinson  and  Morris,  although  pre 
sent,  not  taking  their  seats.  The  unfortunate  part 
which  Mr.  Dickinson  took  in  this  matter  occasioned 
his  recall  by  his  constituents,  who  did  not  agree 
with  him  in  his  political  views.  A  short  time  after 
the  decisive  step  of  a  declaration  had  been  made,  it 
is  a  curious  fact  that  John  Dickinson,  who  had 
openly  in  the  Congress  of  1776  opposed  its  consum 
mation,  was  the  only  member  of -that  body  who 
immediately  took  up  arms  to  face  the  enemy.  Not 
withstanding  his  Congressional  seat  was  filled  by 
another  as  a  sort  of  merited  rebuke  to  him,  his  pa 
triotic  ardor  was  not  destroyed,  for  early  in  1777 
we  find  him  valiantly  shouldering  his  musket  and 
serving  as  a  "high  private  in  the  rear  rank"  under 
Captain  Lewis,  in  the  movements  against  the  British, 
who  had  them  landed  at  the  head  of  Elk  river.  In 
1779  he  was  unanimously  sent  back  to  Congress, 
when  he  continued  a  zealous  supporter  of  an  aggres 
sive  policy  on  the  part  of  the  Government. 

The  otherwise  harmonious  symmetry  of  his  ac- 


206  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

know  ledged  statesmanship  w^,s  injured  by  this  unfor 
tunate  episode  of  his  life,  when  his  judgment,  lacking 
positivism,  "ran  the  gauntlet  of  a  file  of  doubts." 
On  his  return  to  Congress  in  1779  he  wrote  his 
somewhat  celebrated  "  Address  to  the  States."  He 
was  President  of  Pennsylvania  from  November, 
1782,  to  October,  1785,  and  was  succeeded  in  this 
office  by  the  illustrious  Dr.  Franklin. 

In  1787  he  was  a  member  of  the  convention  for 
framing  the  Federal  Constitution,  and  in  1788  wrote 
his  famous  "  Fabius  "  letters,  eloquently  advocating 
its  adoption.  He  wrote  another  series  over  the  same 
signature  in  1797,  on  "  The  Relations  of  the  United 
States  with  France,"  which  was  the  last  production 
of  his  facile,  ingenious,  and  patriotic  pen.  His  poli 
tical  writings  were  published  in  two  volumes  in 
1801,  and  have  always  commanded  a  deservedly 
high  reputation  among  our  Colonial  historiogra 
phers.  In  1792  he  was  an  influential  member  of 
the  convention  which  framed  the  constitution  of 
Delaware.  He  was  a  man  of  profound  learning  and 
finished  conversational  powers,  and  an  ardent  friend 
of  progressive  general  education.  The  venerable 
"Dickinson  College,"  of  Carlisle,  Pennsylvania, 
which  he  founded  and  most  liberally  endowed,  per 
petuates  his  name  and  fame.  In  private  life  he  was 
justly  esteemed  and  keenly  appreciated  for  his  up 
rightness  and  the  purity  of  his  morals.  In  1770  he 
married  Miss  Mary  Norris,  of  Fairhill,  Philadelphia 
county ;  and  their  country  seat  near  the  city  was  for 


JOHN  DICKINSON,  LL.D.  207 

many  years  the  abode  of  generous  and  refined  hos 
pitality.  John  Adams  dined  with  him  in  1774,  and 
notices  "  the  beautiful  prospect  of  the  city,  the  river, 
and  the  country,  fine  gardens,  and  a  very  grand 
library."  He  also  speaks  of  Dickinson  personally 
as  "  a  very  modest  man,  ingenious,  and  very  agree 
able."  Their  political  antagonism  a  few  years  after 
wards,  in  1776,  caused  Adams  to  change  his  opinion 
somewhat,  for  he  subsequently  describes  Dickinson 
as  "  subject  to  hectic  complaints."  .  .  "  He  is  a 
shadow,  tall,  but  slender  as  a  reed,  pale  as  ashes. 
One  would  think,  at  first  sight,  that  he  could  not 
live  a  month ;  yet,  upon  more  attentive  inspection, 
he  looks  as  if  the  springs  of  life  were  strong 
enough  to  last  many  years." 

As  a  specimen  of  the  vigorous,  pointed  style  of 
Mr.  Dickinson,  we  subjoin  the  following  brief  ex 
tract  from  an  address  of  Congress  to  the  several 
States,  dated  May  26,  1779,  of  which  he  was  the 
acknowledged  author :  "Fill  up  your  battalions ;  be 
prepared  in  every  part  to  repel  the  incursions  of 
your  enemies ;  place  your  several  quotas  in  the 
Continental  Treasury :  lend  moneys  for  public  uses ; 
sink  the  omissions  of  your  respective  States ;  pro 
vide  effectually  for  expediting  the  conveyance  of 
supplies  for  your  armies  and  fleets  and  for  your 
allies ;  prevent  the  produce  of  the  country  from 
being  monopolized ;  effectually  superintend  the  be 
havior  of  public  officers ;  diligently  promote  piety, 
virtue,  brotherly  love,  learning,  frugality,  and  mode- 


208  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

ration ;  and  may  you  be  approved  before  Almighty 
God  worthy  of  those  blessings  we  devoutly  wish 
you  to  enjoy."  Mr.  Dickinson  possessed  great 
strength  of  mind  and  a  wonderful  fund  of  valuable 
miscellaneous  knowledge,  which,  coupled  with  his 
ardent  eloquence  and  cultivated  manners,  made  him 
an  ornament  to  the  social  circle  and  an  important 
acquisition  to  our  colonial  legislative  halls.  His 
numerous  essays,  to  which  we  have  made  brief 
reference,  although  not  characterized  by  great  bril 
liancy,  were  positive  and  practical,  a  sort  of  patrio 
tic  literature  demanded  by  the  exigencies  of  t'he 
times,  and  which  were  eminently  productive  of 
much  good.  Unequivocal  in  his  attachment  to  his 
country  and  her  cherished  institutions,  his  patriotic 
zeal  felt  no  abatement  when  old  age  detached  him 
from  the  active  scenes  of  life  and  compelled  him  to 
seek  an  honorable  retirement  from  its  duties.  He 
died  in  Wilmington,  Delaware,  February  15,  1808, 
at  the  age  of  seventy-six. 


HONORABLE  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS. 


A  Man  Prominently  Identified  with  the  Material 
and  Political  Developments  of  Pennsylvania,  and 
among  the  Leaders  in  the  United  States  Constitu 
tional  Convention. 


OUVERNEUR  MORRIS,  Esq.,  the  youngest 
VIT"  son  of  Lewis  Morris,  was  born  at  Morrisania, 
near  New  York  City,  January,  31,  1752.  Although 
a  native  of  New  York  State,  he  was  very  promi 
nently  and  honorably  identified  with  the  material 
and  political  developments  of  Pennsylvania,  resided 
in  Philadelphia  for  many  years,  and  was  a  leading 
member  from  the  latter  State  in  the  convention 
which  met  to  frame  the  Constitution  of  the  United 
States.  The  distinguished  financier,  Robert  Morris, 
was  also  a  member  of  this  convention,  and  the  two 
Morrises,  although  intimate  friends  and  boon  com 
panions,  were  of  different  families,  Robert  Morris 
being  of  -English  birth,  emigrating  to  this  country 
when  a  lad  of  thirteen  years.  Gouverneur  Morris  be 
longed  to  a  family  of  marked  social  distinction  in 
New  York,  and  was  favored  with  superior  educa 
tional  advantages  and  privileges.  In-  1768  he  gradu 
ated  at  what  was  then  called  "King's  College,"  the 

(200) 


210  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

well-known  Columbia  College  of  to-day,  and  at  once 
entered  the  law  office  of  the  eminent  attorney,  Wil 
liam  Smith,  Esq.,  the  historian  of  the  province. 
He  was  admitted  to  the  bar  in  1771,  and  at  the  ear 
ly  age  of  eighteen  wrote  a  series  of  newspaper  finan 
cial  articles  which  attracted  considerable  attention 
and  gave  their  youthful  author  no  little  reputation. 
In  May,  1775,  he  was  chosen  a  member  of  the  Provin 
cial  Congress  from  New  York,  serving  ably  and 
zealously  in  the  same  body  in  subsequent  years. 
At  this  time,  being  then  only  twenty-three  years  of 
age,  he  made  an  interesting  report  on  the  mode  of 
issuing  paper  currency  by  the  Continental  Congress, 
and  its  leading  suggestions  were  afterward  practi 
cally  adopted.  In  1776  he  was  a  prominent  mem 
ber  of  a  committee  to  draft  a  constitution  for  the 
State  of  New  York,  and  was  a  member  of  Congress 
'  during  the  session  of  1777-80.  In  October,  1777, 
he  took  his  seat  in  the  Continental  Congress,  then 
assembled  in  the  ancient  borough  of  York,  Pa.,  and 
the  following  winter  he  spent  at  Valley  Forge,  as 
one  of  a  committee  appointed  to  examine,  in  com 
pany  with  the  distinguished  Commander-in-chief, 
into  the  condition  of  the  army  at  that  point.  In 
February,  1779,  he  was  appointed  chairman  of  the 
committee  "to  consider  the  despatches  from  the 
American  Commissioners  abroad,  and  communica 
tions  from  the  French  Ministers  in  the  United 
States,"  and  their  able  and  lucid  report  formed  the 
basis  of  the  treaty  of  peace  which  was  afterwards 


HONORABLE  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.   211 

adopted.  Young  Morris  was  a  voluminous  writer, 
and  a  steady,  hard  worker.  In  1779  he  published 
a  successful  pamphlet  called  "  Observations  on  the 
American  Revolution,"  which,  like  all  the  emanations 
from  his  prolific  pen,  attracted  considerable  atten 
tion.  Early  in  1780  he  removed  to  Philadelphia, 
then  the  recognized  metropolitan  centre,  the  abode 
of  quiet  elegance  and  munificent  hospitality.  Its 
wealth,  then  as  now,  was  gleaned  from  commerce 
and  manufactures,  but,  being  less  suddenly  acquired 
and  less  generally  diffused,  had  that  honorable  source 
and  that  stability  of  endurance  which  renders  wealth 
more  valuable  for  the  respectability  it  imparts  than 
as  a  means  of  material  luxury.  Mr.  Morris  was  a 
valuable  acquisition  to  society  circles  in  Philadel 
phia,  but  in  May,  a  few  months  after  his  arrival,  he 
was  thrown  from  his  carriage,  and  his  leg  was  so 
fearfully  fractured  as  to  require  its  immediate  am 
putation.  In  July,  1781,  he  was  appointed  the  col 
league  of  his  warm  personal  friend,  the  brilliant 
financier,  Mr.  Robert  Morris,  and  served  as  his  as 
sistant  superintendent  of  finance  for  three  and  a 
half  years,  evincing  in  this  position  superior  judg 
ment  and  great  tact.  After  the  close  of  the  Revo 
lution  he  associated  himself  with  Robert  Morris  in 
private  commercial  pursuits  and  speculations,  which 
were  extensive  and  remunerative.  He  also  resumed 
the  profession  of  law  in  Philadelphia,  and  soon  took 
high  rank  as  an  able  advocate  and  a  successful  prac 
titioner.  In  1787  he  purchased  from  his  brother,  a 


212  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

lieutenant-general  in  the  British  service,  the  beauti 
ful  patrimonial  estate  at  Morrisania.  The  same 
year  he  issued  a  strong  address  to  the  Assembly  of 
Pennsylvania,  taking  decided  ground  against  the  pro 
jected  abolition  of  the  Bank  of  North  America. 
He  was  a  delegate  from  Pennsylvania  to  the  United 
States  Constitutional  Convention  of  1787,  and  took 
a  marked  and  conspicuous  part  in  its  grave  discus 
sions  and  deliberations.  Indeed,  he  was  one  of  a 
committee  of  five  to  draft  the  constitution ;  and,  Mr. 
Madison  as  authority,  the  finish  and  style  of  that 
historic  instrument  is  in  a  great  degree  due  to  the 
graceful  pen  and  logical  mind  of  Gouverneur  Morris. 
In  order  to  perpetuate  stability  of  government,  he 
favored  a  Senate  for  life,  and  advocated  other  aggres 
sive  theories,  some  of  which  were  more  profound  than 
practical,  and  were  ignored  in  committee.  From  1788 
to  1792  he  resided  chiefly  in  Paris,  engaged  in  sell 
ing  American  lands,  and  in  other  moneyed  specula 
tions  ;  and  during  these  years  kept  a  minute  diary 
abounding  in  interesting  statistics  and  valuable  de 
tails.  In  1791  he  was  appointed  by  Washington 
secret  agent  of  his  government  to  settle  the  unfulfilled 
terms  of  the  old  treaty,  and  although  he  remained 
in  London  for  some  time,  his  efforts  in  this  peculiar 
sphere  were  not  crowned  with  very  abundant  suc 
cess.  In  1792  he  was  appointed  minister  plenipo 
tentiary  to  France,  and  during  the  revolution  there 
exhibited  commendable  prudence  in  his  official  and 
personal  relations,  although  his  sympathies  were 


HONORABLE  GOUVIRXEUR  MORRIS.      213 

not  with  the  more  democratic  side.  He  held  this 
position  until  October,  1794,  when  he  was  recalled 
at  the  request  of  the  French  Government.  Grace 
fully  relinquishing  his  diplomatic  portfolio,  Mr. 
Morris  travelled  in  Europe  until  the  autumn  of  1798, 
and  while  in  Vienna  endeavored  to  effect  the  libera 
tion  of  the  Marquis  Layfayette  from  his  dreary  prison 
at  Olmutz.  Becoming  surfeited  with  the  attractions 
of  his  continental  tour,  he  returned  in  1800  to  his 
princely  estate  at  Morrisania,  and  shortly  afterwards 
was  elected  by  the  Legislature  of  New  York  to  fill 
a  vacancy  in  the  United  States  Senate.  He  served 
with  considerable  distinction  in  that  body  until 
1808,  acting  then  and  ever  after  with  the  Federalists. 
In  the  contest,  however,  between  Jefferson  and  Burr, 
although  not  a  pronounced  friend  of  either,  he  pre 
ferred  the  former.  He  spent  the  latter  years  of 
his  life  in  retirement  amid  his  books  and  friends, 
dispensing  a  liberal  hospitality,  and  maintaining  an 
extensive  correspondence  with  distinguished  men  in 
Europe  and  America.  Occasionally  he  would  issue 
from  his  quiet  sylvan  retreat  at  Morrisania  to  in 
dulge  his  literary  taste,  and  in  response  to  the  nu 
merous  demands  for  his  valuable  services,  he  de 
livered  funeral  orations  on  Washington,  Hamilton, 
and  Governor  George  Clinton.  In  1812  he  deliver 
ed  an  able  oration  before  the  New  York  Historical 
Society,  and  shortly  afterwards  an  address  on  "the 
deliverance  of  Europe  from  the  yoke  of  military 
despotism,"  the  latter  production  attracting  consider- 


214  CONTINENfAL  SKETCHES. 

able  attention  on  account  of  its  original  and  very 
peculiar  views.  In  1816  he  delivered  one  of  his 
characteristic  orations  on  the  occasion  of  his  ap 
pointment  as  president  of  the  New  York  Historical 
Society.  Gouverneur  Morris  was  a  chaste,  classical 
writer  and  a  polished  speaker — indeed,  he  was  con 
sidered  by  many  persons  a  powerful  orator  when 
thoroughly  aroused  and  interested  in  his  subject. 
His  delivery  was  fluent,  and  his  language  choice, 
but  his  force  was  sometimes  compromised  by  his 
florid  style  and  extreme  flights  of  fancy.  He  had  a 
most  commanding  presence,  and  in  person  his  re 
semblance  to  General  Washington  was  so  close  that 
he  stood  as  a  model  of  his  form  to  the  celebrated 
sculptor  Houdon.  He  was  one  of  the  early  and  life 
long  friends  of  the  Erie  Canal,  and  was  chairman  of 
its  board  of  commissioners  from  their  first  appoint 
ment  until  near  the  close  of  his  long  and  useful  life. 
Sometimes  in  his  official  and  personal  relations  he 
was  rather  arbitrary  and  overbearing,  and  never  pos 
sessed  that  moral  equipoise  and  self-command  so 
essential  to  successful  statesmanship.  Although  a 
bon  vivant,  and  a  man  of  the  world,  there  was  a  re 
ligious  vein  in  his  composition  which  developed  it 
self  on  many  occasions.  He  regarded  religious 
principles  as  necessary  to  national  independence  and 
peace.  "  There  must  be  something,"  he  remarked  in 
his  declining  years,  "more  to  hope  for  than  pleasure, 
wealth,  and  power;  something  more  to  fear  than 
poverty  and  pain;  something  after  death,  more  ter- 


HONORABLE  GOUVERNEUR  MORRIS.       215 

rible  than  death;  there  must  be  religion.  When  that 
ligament  is  torn,  society  is  disjointed,  and  its  mem 
bers  perish."  This  final  testimony  is  the  more  im 
portant,  as  Mr.  Jefferson  represented  that  Morris 
was  not  a  believer  in  Christianity.  As  the  latter 
gentleman  was  not  what  might  be  termed  good  theo 
logical  authority,  his  criticism  must  be  accepted 
cum,  grano  salis. 

Gouverneur  Morris  died  at  Morrisania,  N.  Y.,  No 
vember  6,  1816,  aged  64. 


BENJAMIN  WEST,  OF  PENNSYLVANIA. 


A   Skillful   Artist   and   an    Unflinching   Patriot — 
The  First  Picture  Painted  at  the  Side  of  an  Old- 
fashioned  Cradle — What  Followed  a  Proposed  Cau 
cus  by  the  Religiously-disposed   Quaker  Elders — 
Four  Years  of  Study  in  Italy,  and  the  Result,  &c. 

rr^HE  township  of  Springfield,  Delaware  county, 
JL  Pennsylvania,  is  honored  as  the  birthplace  of 
Benjamin  West.  Here  the  great  Anglo-American 
painter  was  born,  October  10,  1738,  and  here  for  a 
score  of  years  he  rambled  amid  the  hills  and  groves 
of  this  now  beautiful  suburban  portion  of  Phila 
delphia,  quietly  laying  the  foundation  work  of  his 
future  celebrity.  In  his  humble  country  home, 
surrounded  by  all  the  drawbacks  incident  to  our 
primitive  history,  with  no  armorial  ensigns,  wealthy 
patrons,  or  paid  critics,  he  labored  with  an  assiduity 
worthy  his  native  genius,  until  he  honestly  achieved 
a  world- wide  reputation.  He  was  the  youngest  of 
ten  children  of  John  West,  who  married  Sarah 
Pearson,  of  good  old  Quaker  stock,  his  ancestors 
having'  emigrated  to  this  country  with  William 
Penn  at  the  time  of  his  second  visit  here.  Many 
of  his  descendants  are  respectable,  honored  residents 

(216) 


BENJAMIN  WEST,  OF  PENNSYLVANIA.     217 

of  Delaware  county.  Although  at  an  early  age 
and  through  a  long  life  he  basked  in  the  sunshine 
of  royal  favor,  having  exchanged  the  simplicity 
of  his  rural  home  for  the  gorgeous  drapery  of 
Windsor  Castle,  Benjamin  West  never  failed,  when 
necessary,  to  enunciate  his  devotion  to  his  native 
land.  Whilst  we  yield  him  due  homage  as  a  skill 
ful  artist,  we  must  also  bow  with  the  inspiration 
of  gratitude  at  the  remembrance  of  his  unflinch 
ing  patriotism,  oftentimes  severely  tested  in  a  social 
crucible  where  his  personal  friends  were  the  sworn 
enemies  of  his  country.  Flattered  and  lionized  in 
a  foreign  court,  whose  great  monarchical  head  was 
his  most  liberal  friend,  he  never  quibbled  nor  quail 
ed  to  king  or  courtier  on  any  question  involving 
our  national  honor. 

Benjamin  West  was  a  natural-born  artist,  and  at 
the  early  age  of  seven,  when  he  had  actually  never 
seen  a  picture,  his  youthful  genius  was  awakened 
by  the  sweet  smile  of  an  infant  niece  he  was  rock 
ing  in  an  old-fashioned  cradle.  In  a  short  time, 
with  red  and  black  ink,  he  produced  a  lovely  pic 
ture  of  the  little  innocent,  which  astounded  his 
parents,  and  was  the  marvel  of  the  whole  neighbor 
hood.  His  mother,  particularly,  was  delighted  with 
this  precocious  sign  of  talent,  and  her  admiration 
vastly  encouraged  the  boy  artist.  He  was  sent  to 
the  village  school,  but  made  little  progress  in  the 
usual  elementary  branches,  his  whole  mind  being 
absorbed  in  sketches  and  drawing,  and  his  juvenile 
10 


218  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

portfolio  filled  with  crude  pictures  of  birds,  beasts, 
and  reptiles.  Some  religiously-disposed  Quaker  el 
ders  in  the  vicinity  held  a  profound  caucus  about  the 
matter,  and  after  conferring  with  the  father,  the  lat 
ter  did  all  he  could  to  repress  his  son's  artistic  ardor, 
and  issued  a  sort  of  domestic  pronunciamento  on 
the  sinfulness  of  his  course.  All  in  vain,  however, 
for,  as  a  family  tradition  relates,  the  next  day  he 
was  sent  out  to  plough.  His  father  in  a  few  hours 
went  into  the  fields  to  encourage  him  in  his  agricul 
tural  pursuits,  and  was  surprised  and  shocked  to 
find  the  youngster  completing  a  pokeberry  etching 
of  a  near  neighbor,  which  was  so  strikingly  correct 
as  to  make  the  sedate  parent  emit  a  ghastly  smile. 
"  Misfortunes  never  come  singly,  but  in  battalions," 
and  the  troubles  of  the  elder  West  were  just  begin 
ning.  Some  friendly  Indians  taught  his  son  how  to 
prepare  red  and  yellow  colors,  and  he  pilfered  some 
of  his  mother's  indigo,  which  completed  all  the  ele 
mentary  colors  of  his  pallet,  the  tail  of  a  venerable 
family  cat  furnishing  him  hair  for  his  brushes.  The 
boy  was  considered  incorrigible,  and,  as  a  sad  com 
promise,  was  permitted  by  his  broken-hearted  pa 
rents  to  go  to  Philadelphia  to  pursue  painting  as  a 
profession.  At  the  early  age  of  sixteen  he  started 
out  in  the  broad  world  as  the  architect  of  his  own 
fortune,  and  for  five  years  read  and  studied,  observed 
and  practiced,  and  absorbed  all  the  information  he 
could,  in  the  city  of  his  early  adoption.  Several  of 
his  landscapes,  executed  on  panels,  are  still  pre- 


BENJAMIN  WEST,  OF  PENNSYLVANIA.     219 

served  at  the  Hospital  in  Philadelphia,  where  his 
great  picture  of  "  Christ  Healing  the  Sick  "  is  also 
on  exhibition.  The  British  Institute  presented  him 
with  three  thousand  guineas  for  this  celebrated 
work  of  art.  The  sign  at  the  Bull's  Head  Tavern, 
which  long  hung  in  Strawberry  Alley,  was  one  ot 
his  early  productions,  and  was  purchased  some 
twenty  years  ago  and  taken  to  England.  In  1759 
he  sailed  for  Italy,  where  he  spent  four  years  in  the 
studios  of  the  great  masters. 

He  was  rather  waggish  for  a  Quaker  and  very 
fond  of  a  joke.  His  preceptor  was  engaged  on  a  cele 
brated  picture,  and  during  a  temporary  absence  ot 
a  few  minutes  was  surprised  on  his  return  to  find 
a  fly  on  a  prominent  part  of  the  canvas.  His  sur 
prise  was  increased  when  the  fly  refused  to  move, 
and  proved  to  be  a  correct  imitation  of  one,  by  his 
jolly  young  American  pupil.  He  removed  to  Lon 
don  in  1763,  where  he  permanently  settled  and 
achieved  his  great  reputation.  Two  years  after 
wards  he  married  Miss  Shewell,  an  accomplished 
young  lady  of  Philadelphia.  His  whole  life  was 
an  eventful  one,  but  grandly  progressive.  When 
he  had  made  some  considerable  progress,  the  result 
of  his  Philadelphia  advantages,  at  the  early  age  of 
seventeen  he  travelled  around  in  the  villages  near 
that  city  as  a  portrait  painter,  and  on  one  of  these 
trips  painted  for  a  country  gunsmith  his  first  his 
torical  picture,  "  The  Death  of  Socrates."  A  year 
or  two  later  he  was  painting  for  the  first  families  of 


220  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

New  York  and  Philadelphia,  and  it  was  through 
the  noble  generosity  of  some  of  these  parties  that 
he  was  enabled  to  go  abroad  to  pursue  his  studies. 
At  Home  he  was  patronized  by  Lord  Grantham, 
whose  portrait  he  painted;  became  the  intimate 
friend  of  Mugs,  and,  as  the  first  American  artist 
ever  seen  in  Italy,  attracted  much  attention.  Here 
he  painted  his  "  Cimon  and  Iphigenia,"  and  "  An 
gelica  and  Medora,"  and  was  elected  a  member  of 
the  Academies  of  Florence,  Bologna,  and  Parma. 
Among  his  early  productions  at  London  was  the 
subject  of  "Agrippina  Landing  at  Brundusium 
with  the  Ashes  of  Germanicus."  His  theme  origi 
nated  from  a  conversation  at  the  table  of  the  Arch 
bishop  of  York,  where  he  was  a  guest.  It  attract 
ed  the  special  attention  of  George  III.,  who  was 
his  steady  friend  and  patron  for  forty  years,  during 
which  time  he  sketched  or  painted  over  400  pic 
tures.  His  celebrated  picture  of  "  The  Death  of 
General  Wolfe,"  painted  in  the  costume  of  the 
period,  contrary  to  the  advice  of  his  most  distin 
guished  professional  compeers,  effected  a  revolution 
in  historic  art.  He  painted  a  series  of  twenty-eight 
religious  pictures  for  King  George,  most  of  which 
still  adorn  the  walls  of  Windsor  Castle.  His  most 
brilliant  productions  were  "  Christ  Healing  the  Sick," 
"Death  on  the  Pale  Horse,"  and  the  "Battle  of  La 
Hague."  His  marked  recognition  by  King  George 
stamped  his  fame  as  an  artist,  and  made  the  latter 
his  munificent  patron.  After  the  battle  of  Brandy- 


BENJAMIN  WEST,  OF  PENNSYLVANIA.     221 

wine,  several  Ministers  of  the  court  endeavored  to 
create  a  breach  between  the  two,  representing  West 
as  a  Whig,  or,  what  was  worse,  as  a  rebel. 

The  King,  in  conversation  with  him,  endeavored 
to  develop  his  real  sentiments  in  relation  to  the  colo 
nial  difficulties.  He  succeeded  admirably,  for  West, 
in  very  strong  language,  stated  openly  and  firmly 
the  many  wrongs  his  country  had  suffered.  He 
rehearsed  these  with  a  warmth  and  eloquence  which 
seemed  to  captivate  his  royal  listener ;  and  the  King, 
in  presence  of  his  Ministers,  complimented  him  for 
his  love  of  country,  and  his  manly,  fearless  exhibi 
tion  of  the  same.  At  the  foundation  of  the  Royal 
Academy  in  1768,  he  became  a  member  of  it,  and 
succeeded  the  distinguished  Sir  Joshua  Reynolds  as 
its  President.  The  honor  of  knighthood  tendered 
him  by  King  George,  through  the  Duke  of  Glou 
cester,  was  respectfully  declined.  The  tinsel  and 
glitter  of  royalty  failed  to  conquer  strong  convic 
tions  of  duty — the  Quaker  continued  true  to  his 
principles. 

Through  his  long,  varied,  and  eminently  brilliant 
professional  career,  Benjamin  West  was  the  gene 
rous  friend,  adviser,  and  patron  of  young  artists. 
He  did  all  he  could  to  assist  them  in  the  tortuous 
path  of  fame,  and  was  always  ready  to  consult  and 
confer  with  and  encourage  youthful  genius.  He 
never  assumed  that  dogmatic  air  of  personal  supe 
riority  incident  to  so  many  men  who  have  rapidly 
acquired  wealth  or  reputation,  but  was  kind,  per- 


222  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

suasive,  sympathetic,  and  gentle  as  a  little  child. 
As  a  painter,  he  is  celebrated  for  gracefulness  of 
execution  and  harmony  of  coloring.  Without  doubt 
he  stands  at  the  very  head  of  American  artists,  and 
was  intimately  and  most  honorably  identified  with 
the  English  school  in  its  palmiest  days  during  the 
last  century.  He  died  calmly  and  sweetly,  in  Lon 
don,  March  10,  1820,  at  the  age  of  eighty-one,  and 
was  buried  with  great  pomp  at  St.  Paul's  Cathedral. 
What  a  life  of  rapid  transitions  and  magnificent 
triumphs !  The  peasant  boy  of  Delaware  county  in 
the  far-off  colony  of  Pennsylvania,  with  his  crude 
pallet  and  lean  portfolio,  developed  into  the  favorite 
artist  of  the  ruling  monarch  of  England ;  his  fame 
the  property  of  the  world ;  his  life  pure,  spotless, 
and  blameless,  and  his  death  the  signal  for  as  grand 
a  funeral  pageant  as  ever  crossed  the  threshold  01 
Old  Saint  Paul's! 


ROBERT  FULTON,  THE  INVENTOR. 


The  Trial  of  ike  Submarine  or  Plunging  Boat  in  the 
Harbor  of  Brest  —  Subsequent  Brilliant  Achieve 
ments,  exciting  the  Admiration  of  the  Scientific 
World. 


FULTON,  the  great  inventor,  pro- 
J-\)  found  scientist,  graceful  artist,  and  skillful 
engineer,  was  a  native  of  the  humble  village  of  Lit 
tle  Britain,  Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania.  He  was 
of  Irish  descent,  and  was  born  in  1765.  In  many  re 
spects  Robert  Fulton  was  a  most  remarkable  man, 
and  to  him  is  unquestionably  due  the  credit  of  first 
carrying  into  successful  practice  the  idea  of  using 
steam-power  in  navigation.  It  is  less  than  seventy 
years  since  he  first  utilized  steam  for  the  propulsion 
of  vessels,  and  as  the  result  of  his  wonderful  inven 
tive  genius  the  last  threescore  and  ten  years  have 
witnessed  a  complete  revolution  in  the  commerce, 
navigation,  and  carrying  trade  of  the  whole  world. 
This  one  brilliant  achievement  has  stamped  him 
with  a  world-  wide  reputation,  richly  merited  and 
gratefully  yielded.  At  the  age  of  three  years  young 
Fulton  lost  his  father.  He  received  the  best  educa 
tion  a  common  country  school  afforded,  occasionally 
straying  off  to  the  few  workshops  and  manufactories 
of  which  Lancaster  city  at  that  time  boasted,  taking 

(223) 


224  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

the  greatest  interest  in  everything  connected  with 
their  machinery.  "When  he  was  about  seventeen 
years  of  age  he  opened  a  studio  in  Philadelphia,  as  a 
painter  of  portraits  and  landscapes.  His  name  ap 
pears  in  the  directory  of  Philadelphia  for  1785,  as 
a  miniature  painter,  although  his  first  six  months  in 
the  city  were  really  spent  as  an  apprentice  to  a  skill 
ful  goldsmith.  His  career  as  an  artist  was  remark 
ably  successful,  and  he  was  patronized  by  the  very 
elite  of  Philadelphia.  At  the  age  of  twenty-one  he 
had  accumulated  sufficient  funds  to  purchase  a  farm 
in  Washington  county,  in  Western  Pennsylvania, 
which  he  generously  gave  to  his  widowed  mother, 
and  upon  which  she  at  once  located.  Some  wealthy 
gentlemen  of  culture  and  refinement  in  Philadelphia, 
attracted  by  his  talents,  advised  him  to  visit  Europe 
and  place  himself  under  the  care  and  instruction  of 
his  distinguished  countryman,  Benjamin  West,  who, 
at  that  time,  was  in  the  zenith  of  his  professional 
glory,  and  an  especial  favorite  of  George  III.  In 
1786  young  Fulton  arrived  in  London,  and  was 
most  kindly  received  by  West,  under  whose  tuition 
he  pursued  the  study  of  his  favorite  art  for  several 
years.  He  made  brilliant  progress  in  his  new  sphere, 
and  secured  and  always  retained  the  admiration  and 
friendship  of  his  talented  preceptor.  After  leaving 
the  studio  of  West  he  made  an  extended  tour  to 
examine  the  treasures  of  art  in  the  various  country 
residences  of  the  English  nobility.  He  remained 
in  Devonshire  two  years,  where  >  he  made  the  ac- 


EGBERT  FULTON.  225 

quaintance  of  Earl  Stanhope  and  the  Duke  of 
Bridgewater,  the  latter  the  recognized  founder  of  the 
canal  system  of  Great  Britain.  It  was  undoubtedly 
at  the  suggestion  of  these  gentlemen  that  Fulton 
bade  adieu  to  the  fine  arts  and  turned  his  attention 
to  mechanics  and  civil  engineering.  Lord  Stanhope 
himself  was  a  mechanical  projector  of  no  mean  pre 
tensions,  and  he  gave  some  important  ideas  and  sug 
gestions  to  his  skillful  and  ingenious  young  Ameri 
can  protege.  Fulton  remained  eighteen  months  in 
Birmingham,  probably  in  some  subordinate  capa 
city  in  connection  with  the  canal  then  being  con 
structed  near  that  city.  At  Birmingham  he  formed 
the  acquaintance  of  James  "Watt,  the  distinguished 
mechanician,  engineer,  and  inventor,  whose  contri 
butions  to  science  have  been  so  elaborate,  and, 
withal,  so  practical.  During  his  residence  here  he 
invented  an  improved  mill  for  sawing  marble,  for 
which  he  received  a  vote  of  thanks  and  an  honor 
ary  medal  from  the  British  Society  for  the  Promo 
tion  of  Arts  and  Commerce.  To  this  period  are 
referred  his  patented  machines  for  spinning  flax  and 
making  ropes,  and  the  invention  of  an  excavator 
for  scooping  out  channels,  canals,  and  aqueducts. 

In  1793,  being  already  familiarized  with  the  idea  of 
using  steam  as  a  propelling  power  for  boats,  he  was 
associated  in  a  project  to  improve  inland  navigation. 
In  1795  he  contributed  sundry  essays  to  the  London 
Morning  Star,  and  the  succeeding  year  published 
his  treatise  on  the  improvement  of  canal  navigation. 


226  CONTINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

At  this  same  period  he  published  a  practical,  sensi 
ble  letter  to  the  Governor  of  his  native  State,  point 
ing  out  the  manifold  advantages  of  canals  over 
turnpikes,  and  sent  a  copy  of  the  same  to  General 
Washington,  who  courteously  acknowledged  its  re 
ception  and  its  many  strong  points.  Having  ob 
tained  a  patent  in  England  for  canal  improvements, 
and  perhaps  overestimating  its  practical  utility,  he 
went  to  France,  determined,  if  possible,  to  introduce 
it  to  popular  favor.  In  1797  he  took  up  his  resi 
dence  in  Paris,  and  formed  an  intimate  acquaintance 
with  the  Hon.  Joel  Barlow,  the  American  repre 
sentative  at  the  French  court.  The  latter  gentle 
man  was  strongly  attached  to  him,  and  he  remained 
with  Mr.  Barlow  for  seven  years,  studying  the 
modern  languages  and  the  branches  of  science 
more  directly  connected  with  his  profession.  At 
this  time  he  invented  a  submarine,  or  phinging-boat, 
connected  with  which  were  bombs  and  torpedoes, 
the  whole  affair  aggregating  a  fearful  auxiliary  for 
naval  warfare,  but  a  little  too  far  in  advance  of  the 
age  to  be  fully  appreciated.  He  invited  the  atten 
tion  of  the  French  government  to  his  invention,  and 
Bonaparte,  then  First  Consul,  appointed  Volney,  La 
Place,  and  Monge  as  a  commission  to  examine  its 
claims.  The  experiment  was  made  in  the  harbor 
of  Brest,  in  the  spring  of  1801.  The  inventor  could 
descend  to  any  depth  or  rise  to  the  surface,  and 
where  no  very  strong  current  interfered  the  boat 
was  quite  obedient  to  her  helm  while  under  .water. 


EGBERT  FULTOX.  227 

Fulton  remained  in  the  boat,  while  submerged,  for 
over  four  hours ;  but  its  motion  while  in  this  condi 
tion  was  slow  and  its  power  to  stem  a  strong  cur 
rent  was  limited.  The  French  government  through 
its  commissioners  declined  to  patronize  the  Ameri 
can  novelty,  though  they  spoke  highly  of  the  skill 
and  ingenuity  displayed  by  its  inventor.  Fulton 
realized  the  position  he  occupied,  the  prejudice  that 
was  excited  against  him,  and  the  notorious  jealousy 
with  which  French  engineers  looked  upon  all  foreign 
competitors.  In  addition  to  his  inventive  genius 
Fulton  had  a  full  complement  of  lobby  assurance, 
and  stormed  every  available  point  in  court  and  com 
mittee  to  have  his  plans  adopted.  We  verily  be 
lieve  he  must  have  overstepped  the  grounds  of  pro 
priety  with  the  grave  Napoleon,  for  at  a  certain 
court  ball  the  latter  remarked  excitedly  to  ex- 
Ambassador  Livingston,  "  Debarrassez  moi  de  ce 
fou  cPAmericain"  which  remark,  though  emanating 
from  a  Eoyal  source,  was  more  pointed  than  polite. 
The  condemned  "fou  d'Americain"  subsequently 
excited  the  admiration  of  the  scientific  world  by 
his  brilliant  achievements,  and  reared  a  shaft  of 
fame  more  enduring  than  the  dynasty  of  the  Bona- 
partes.  Failing  in  France,  Fulton  accepted  an  in 
vitation  from  the  English  Ministry,  who  also  ap 
pointed  a  commission  to  test  the  merits  of  his 
torpedo.  Mr.  Pitt  was  very  friendly  disposed  to 
the  invention,  but  Lord  Melville  was  strongly  op 
posed,  and  condemned  it  as  visionary  and  impracti- 


228  COXTINEXTAL   SKETCHES. 

cable.  In  December,  1806,  he  returned  to  New 
York,  where  he  was  supplied  with  the  necessary 
capital  by  the  Hon.  Robt.  Livingston,  with  which 
he  built  the  celebrated  "Clermont,"  the  first  steamer 
that  ever  navigated  American  waters.  She  soon 
made  regular  trips  between  New  York  and  Albany, 
and  although  her  rate  of  speed  at  first  was  ooly 
five  miles  an  hour,  this  was  soon  increased  by  im 
proved  machinery.  The  darling  object  of  his  life 
was  accomplished;  steam  navigation  was  now  no 
vague  theory,  but  an  established  fact,  and  from  that 
time  (1807)  steamboats  were  multiplied  on  all  the 
waters  of  the  United  States,  from  the  St.  Lawrence 
to  the  Gulf  of  Mexico.  His  success  was  now  waft 
ed  on  every  breeze,  and  the  penniless  schoolboy  of 
Lancaster  county,  Pennsylvania,  wore  a  well-earned 
coronet  of  fame.  He  constructed,  in  1807,  a  large 
boat  named  "The  Car  of  Neptune,"  which  plied 
the  waters  of  the  Hudson  with  increased  speed, 
being  a  great  improvement  on  the  "Clermont."  In 
1809  Fulton  obtained  his  first  patent  from  the 
United  States,  and  the  usual  penalty  of  excessive  liti 
gation  incident  to  all  prominent  inventors  absorbed 
the  next  two  years  of  his  eventful  life.  In  1811 
he  was  appointed  one  of  the  commissioners  to  ex 
plore  the  route  of  an  inland  navigation  from  the 
Hudson  river  to  the  Lakes.  He  afterwards  con 
structed  ferry-boats  to  run  between  New  York  city 
and  the  New  Jersey  shore,  a  large  boat  for  Long 
Island  Sound,  five  for  the  Hudson,  and  several  for 


ROBERT  FULTON.  229 

the  Ohio  and  Mississippi  rivers.  In  1814  Congress 
authorized  the  President  to  build  one  or  more  bat 
teries  for  coast  defence,  and  Fulton  was  appointed 
to  superintend  their  construction.  He  commenced 
the  construction  of  a  war  steamer  and  launched  it 
within  four  months.  It  was  called  the  "  Demologos," 
afterwards  named  "Fulton  the  First."  It  was  a 
heavy,  unwieldy  mass,  and  could  only  make  about 
three  miles  an  hour,  but  it  was  considered  a  marvel 
and  a  most  potent  engine  of  defence.  In  1815  he 
attended  the  Legislature  of  New  Jersey  as  a  wit 
ness,  and  in  crossing  the  Hudson  on  his  return 
caught  a  severe  cold,  which  terminated  his  life, 
February  24,  1815,  at  the  comparatively  early  age 
of  fifty.  He  was  considered  by  his  compeers  and 
the  general  public  as  one  of  the  rare  men  of  the 
period.  He  possessed  solid  ability,  tact,  pluck,  pa 
tience,  and  enthusiasm,  and  was  one  of  the  most 
popular  men  in  the  State  of  New  York,  his  death 
there  being  recognized  as  a  great  public  calamity. 
He  died  in  the  midst  of  his  triumphs  and  in  the 
height  of  his  fame.  In  1806  he  married  Harriet, 
the  daughter  of  "Walter  Livingston,  a  relative  of 
his  life-long,  steadfast  friend,  the  Chancellor. 

There  was  something  intensely  prepossessing  in 
the  personal  appearance  of  Robert  Fulton.  His 
figure  was  slender,  a  little  above  the  ordinary  size, 
and  his  large,  dark  eyes  and  features  of  manly 
beauty  rendered  him  an  exceedingly  handsome  man. 
His  conversational  powers  were  vivacious  and  spark- 


230  CONFINENTAL  SKETCHES. 

ling,  and  he  possessed  the  manners  and  address  of  a 
natural  gentleman.  In  1846  Congress  passed  an  act 
appropriating  $76,200  in  full  of  the  claim  of  Fulton 
against  the  United  States  for  inventing  floating 
steam  batteries,  and  applying  steam  to  navigation — 
a  worthy  recognition  of  the  services  of  a  distin 
guished  man  of  whom  Pennsylvania  and  the  coun 
try  may  well  feel  proud. 


APPENDIX. 


APPENDIX. 


LIST  OF  GOVEKNOBS  OF  THE  COLONIES 
ON  THE  DELAWAEE,  AND  OF  THE 
PKOVINCE  AND  STATE  OF  PENNSYL 
VANIA,  1623-1876. 


ACCESS.  EXIT. 

1623  The   Dutch  planted  a  Colony  on  the  Delaware, 

under  Cornelius  Jacob  May,  appointed  Gover 
nor  by  the  West  India  Company,  under  author 
ity  of  the  States  General. 

1624  William    Useling,    appointed    Governor  of  the 

Swedish  Colony  to  be  established  on  the  Dela 
ware.  (Never  arrived). 

1630  David  Petersen  DeVries  (Dutch). 

1631  John  Printz  (Swedish). 

1638    Peter  Minuit  (Swedish,  but  himself  a  native  of 

Holland) 1640 

1640    William  Nieft,  Dutch  Governor  of  New  York. 

1643    John  Printz  (Swedish) 1653 

1653  John  Papegoia   (son-in-law  of  Printz)  1654 

1654  John  Claudius  Risingh 1655 

1655  DerykSmidt  (temporary )f 1657 

1655    Nov.  29th,  John  Paul  Jaquet* 1657 

1657    Jacob  Alrich 1659 

1659    Alex.  De  Hinoyossa* 1664 

*  Under  Stuyvesant,  Dutch  Governor  of  New  York, 
t  Colony  divided  into  City  and  Company. 

(233) 


234  APPENDIX. 

ACCESS.  EXIT. 

1664    Robert  Carr,  under  English  Governor  of  New 

York 1673 

1673  Anthony  Colve  (under  the  Dutch) 1674 

1674  Sir  Edmund  Andross  (English  Governor  of  New 

York) 1681 

1681    William  Penn,  founder  of  the  Province 1684 

1684    Governor's  Council,  Thomas  Lloyd,  President . . .  1687 

1687  Five  Commissioners  appointed  by  William  Penn  1688 

1688  John  Blackwell,  Lieutenant-Governor 1690 

1690  President  and  Council 1691 

1691  Thomas  Lloyd,  Deputy  Governor 1692 

1692  Benjamin  Fletcher,  Governor  of  New  York 1693 

1693  William  Markham,  Lieutenant-Governor 1699 

1699    William  Penn,  again  Governor,  Dec.  3d 1701 

1701    Andrew  Hamilton,  Deputy  Governor  (died). 1703 

1703  Edward  Shippen  and  Council 1704 

1704  John  Evans 1709 

1709    Charles  Gookin 1717 

1717    Sir  William  Keith 1726 

1726    Patrick  Gordon 1736 

1736    James  Logan,  President  of  Council 1738 

1738    George  Thomas,  Lieutenant-Governor 1747 

1747  Anthony  Palmer,  President  of  Council 1748 

1748  James  Hamilton,  Lieutenant-Governor 1754 

1754    Robert  H.  Morris,  Lieutenant-Governor 1756 

1756    William  Denny,  Lieutenant-Governor 1759 

1759    James  Hamilton,  Lieutenant-Governor 1763 

1763    John  Penn  (son  of  Richard),  Lieutenant-Gover 
nor  1771 

1771  James  Hamilton,  President  and  Council,  May  6th 

till  October  16th 1771 

1771  Richard  Penn  (brother  of  John),  Lieutenant- 
Governor  from  Oct.  16  till 1773 

1773  John  Penn,  again  Lieutenant-Governor  till  Sep 
tember 1776 

1776  Thomas  Wharlon,  Jr.,  President  of  Supreme  Exe 
cutive  Council 1778 

1778  Joseph  Reed,  President  of  Supreme  Executive 

Council..  1781 


APPENDIX.  235 

ACCESS.  EXIT. 

1781  William  Moore,  President  of  Supreme  Executive 

Council 1782 

1782  John  Dickinson,  President  of  Supreme  Execu 

tive  Council 1785 

1785    Benjamin  Franklin,  President  of  Supreme  Exe 
cutive  Council 1788 

1788    Thomas  Mifflin,  President  of  Supreme  Executive 

Council....  1791 


GOYERNOES  UNDER  THE  CONSTITUTION 
OF  THE  STATE. 

1791  Thomas  Mifflin 1799 

1799  Thomas  McKean 1808 

1808  Simon  Snyder 1817 

1817  William  Findlay 1820 

1820  Joseph  Hiester 1823 

1823  John  Andrew  Shulze 1829 

1829  George  Wolf. 1835 

1835  Joseph  Ritner 1839 

1839  David  R.  Porter  (first  Governor  under  Constitu 
tion  of  1838) 1845 

1845  Francis  R.  Shun  k 1848 

1848  William  F.  Johnson 1852 

1852  William  Bigler. 1855 

1855  James  Pollock 1858 

1858  William  F.  Packer 1861 

1861  Andrew  G.  Curtin 1867 

1867  John  W.Geary 18/3 

1873  John  F.  Hartranft 1879 

Two  Pennsylvanians,  both  Revolutionary  soldiers,  were 
Presidents  of  the  Continental  Congress,  viz.,  Gen.  Thomas 
Mifflin,  December,  1783,  and  Gen.  Arthur  St.  Clair,  Febru 
ary,  1787. 


236  A.PPENDIX, 

CHKONOLOGICAL     HISTOKY     OF    PENN 
SYLVANIA,  1609-1776. 


1609    Delaware  Bay  discovered  by  Captain  Henry  Hudson. 
1616    The  Delaware  river  explored  as  far  as  the  Schuylkill, 

by  Captain  Hendrickson,  in  the  yacht  "  Restless." 
1618    Captain  May  gives  his  name  to  the  Cape. 
1623    Dutch  settle  on  the  shores  of  the  Delaware . 
1626    Dutch  build  a  trading-house  on  Bile's  Island,  Bucks 

county . 

1630  Dutch  settle  at  Cape  May. 

1631  Captain  DeVries  arrived  in  the  Delaware  with  two  ships 

and  colonists. 
1635    War  between  the  Leuni  Lennappi  and  the  Susquehan- 

nocks. 
1638    Swedes  arrived,  and  erected  Fort  Christina  near  the 

site  of  Wilmington. 

1641  Minnit,  the  first  Swedish  Governor,  died . 

1642  Lutheran    catechism  translated  into  the  Indian  lan 

guage  by  Campanius.      Swedes  laid  the  foundation 

of  a  capitol  at  Tinicum . 
1646    Church  erected  at  Tinicum .    First  mention  of  Upland, 

now  Chester. 
1648    Grant  to  Sir  Edmund  Ployden,  as  Governor  and  Earl 

Palatine . 

1651    The  Dutch  erect  Fort  Casimer. 

1655    Swedes  on  the  Delaware  subjugated  by  the  Dutch,  un 
der  Peter  Stuy  vesant .  i 
1657    The  name  of  Fort  Christina  changed  to  Altona,  and 

that   of  Fort  Casimer  to  New    Amstel,    now    New 

Castle. 
1664    New   Netherlands  conquered  by  the  English,  under 

Sir  Robert  Carr. 

1672  Dutch  recovered  New  Netherlands. 

1673  George  Fox,  founder  of  the  Quaker  Society,  visited  the 

Colonies. 
1675    Quakers  settled  at  Upland . 


APPENDIX.  237 

1679  First  vessel  launched  on  Lake  Erie.  First  English 
child  born  in  Pennsylvania . 

1681  William  Penn  received  the  charter  of  Pennsylvania, 

March  4th,  on  condition  of  yielding  two  beaver-skins 
annually. 

1682  Penn  arrived  at  New  Castle,  October  27th .  Visited  Up 

land,  October  28th,  and  changed  its  name  to  Ches 
ter.  Treaty  of  Amity  under  the  Elm  at  Shackamax- 
on,  November  4th.  First  session  of  Council  and 
Assembly  at  Chester,  December  4th.  First  Grand 
Jury  of  Pennsylvania  summoned  to  attend  Chester 
courts.  First  English  child  born  in  Philadelphia. 

1683  First  session  of  Council  and  Assembly  held  in  Phila 

delphia,  March  10th.  Meetings  for  worship  com 
menced  at  Darby,  by  Friends.  Germantown  found 
ed.  First  Post-Office  established  in  Philadelphia  by 
William  Penn .  First  sheriff  of  Philadel  phia  elected . 
Number  of  dwellings  in  Philadelphia,  eighty. 

1684  Pennsburg  Manor-house,   Bucks  county,  erected  for 

William  Penn.  Population  of  Pennsylvania,  7,000; 
population  of  Philadelphia,  2,500. 

1685  First  book  printed  in  the  Middle  Colonies  by  William 

Bradford,  at  Philadelphia.  Court-house  at  Chester 
erected . 

1688  Protest  against  slavery  by  the  German  Friends  of  Ger 
mantown  . 

1692  The  Province  taken  from  Penn.  First  school  estab 
lished  at  Darby. 

1694  Penn's  rights  restored,  August  30. 

1695  Christ  Church,  Philadelphia,  originally  founded . 

1697  Paper  mill  built  by  Bradford  and  the  Rittenhuysens 

on  the  Wissahickon . 

1698  Shawnees    Indians    from    Carolina    settled    on   the 

Susquehanna.  First  Baptist  and  Presbyterian  con 
gregation  formed  in  Philadelphia. 

1699  Yellow  fever  raged  in  the  Province .    James  Logan 

came  to  Pennsylvania . 

1701  Penn's  second  visit  to  the  Province,  August,  1699.  He 
remained  till  November,  1701.  Philadelphia  char- 


238  APPENDIX. 

tered  as  a  city .  Edward  Shippen  elected  first  Mayor 
of  Philadelphia,  under  the  charter.  Penn  returned 
to  England. 

1703  Separation  of  the  three  lower  counties.      Governor 

Andrew  Hamilton  died,  April  20. 

1704  First  Presbyterian  Church  in  Pennsylvania  erected  in 

Philadelphia,  known  as  the  "Old  Buttonwood 
Church." 

1705  An  act  passed  to  prevent  the  importation  of  Indians  as 

slaves . 
1710  French  Huguenots  settle  on  Pequea  Creek,  Lancaster 

county . 
1712  William  Penn  seized  with  paralysis.  An  act  passed 

forbidding  the  importation  of  negroes  as  slaves. 

1714  Conrad  Weiser  came  to  this  country  from  Germany. 

1715  Governor  Gookin  held  a  council  with  the  Indians  at 

Philadelphia.  First  regularly  organized  Baptist 
Church  in  Delaware  county. 

1718  William  Penn  died  at  Kuscombe,  England,  July  30th, 
at  the  age  of  74  years.  Dunkers  settled  about  Ger- 
mantown  and  in  Lancaster  county.  Hannah  Penn 
for  some  time  exercises  the  proprietor's  prerogatives, 
through  representatives. 

1720  First  Iron  Furnaces  erected  in  Pennsylvania. 

1721  First  Insurance  Office  opened  in  Philadelphia. 

1722  Irish  and  Scotch  settlements  made  in  Donegal  and 

Paxton. 

1723  Benjamin  Franklin  arrived  in  Philadelphia.    Paper 

money  first  issued  in  the  Province.  Act  passed  re 
ducing  the  rate  of  interest  from  eight  to  six  per  cent . 

1726  "  Log  College,"  on  Neshaminy  creek,  Bucks  county, 

established  by  Rev.  William  Tennant.  First  Iron 
Works  erected  in  Lancaster  county. 

1727  First  German  Reformed  ministers  arrived  in  Pennsyl 

vania. 

1728  The  Carpenter's  Society  established,  1724  ;  Bartram's 

Botanic  Garden,  near  Gray's  Ferry,  commenced. 

1729  First  mill  built,  near  the  site  ofMercersburg,  Franklin 

county.  First.permanent  settlement  in  York  county. 
Work  commenced  on  the  old  State-house,  Philadel- 


APPENDIX.  239 

phia ;  completed  1734.  Temporary  Court-house  and 
Jail  built  near  Lancaster.  Duty  laid  on  foreigners 
and  Irish  servants  imported  into  the  Province. 

1730  Thomas  Godfrey  invented  the  Quadrant. 

1731  The    Library  Company,    of   Philadelphia,    founded. 

First  Baptist  church  erected  in  Philadelphia.  Inocu 
lation  first  practiced  in  Pennsylvania. 

1732  Dunkers  settled  at  Ephrata,  Lancaster  county. 

1733  First  German  Reformed  church  erected  at  German- 

town.  First  negroes  emancipated  in  Pennsylvania. 
First  Roman  Catholic  church  erected  in  Philadel 
phia.  First  Lutheran  church  erected  in  the  Pro 
vince.  First  classical  school  erected  at  Ephrata. 

1734  First  Episcopal  church  in  Lancaster  county,  erected 

at  Conestoga.  Silk,  in  small  quantities,  manu 
factured  in  the  Province.  First  Masonic  lodge 
in  Pennsylvania  organized  in  Philadelphia,  Benja 
min  Franklin,  Master. 

17  5    John  Penn  resides  in  the  Province  from  1734  to  1735 ; 
Thomas  Penn  from  1732  to  1741. 

1736  Governor  Gordon  died  in  August. 

1737  Benjamin  Franklin  appointed  Postmaster  of  Philadel 

phia. 

1738  Conrad  Weiser  and   William    Parsons    visit    Wyo 

ming.  Benjamin  West,  the  great  American  artist, 
born  in  Springfield  township,  Delaware  county,  Oc 
tober  10.  First  Presbyterian  church  erected  near 
the  site  of  Mercersburg.  First  fire  company  organ 
ized  in  Philadelphia. 

1739  Rev.  George  Whitfield  arrived.    Moravian  settlement 

commenced  at  the  Forks  of  the  Delaware. 

1740  War  declared  against  France.    First  Sabbath-school  in 

America  established  at  Ephrata.  Lazaretto  erected 
for  sick  immigrants  at  Tinicum,  on  the  Delaware 
river.  First  permanent  settlement  at  Bethlehem. 

1741  York  laid  out.    Whitfield's    church,   Fourth    street, 

Philadelphia,  erected.  Count  Zindendorf  arrived  in 
the  Province. 

1742  Rev.  Henry   M.    Muhlenberg   arrived.    German  Re 

formed  minister  at  Germantown  ordained  by  Bishop 


240  APPENDIX. 

Nitschman.  Election  riot  in  Philadelphia,  October 
1.  Treaty  with  the  Six  Nations  at  Philadelphia. 

1743  First  German  Lutheran  church  in  Philadelphia,  St. 

Michael's,  erected.  Sister's  house  at  Bethlehem 
erected.  American  Philosophical  Society  organized 
in  Philadelphia  ;  incorporated  1780 ;  building  erected 
1785. 

1744  Proclamation  of  war  against  France  made  in  Philadel 

phia  in  June. 

1745  General  Anthony  Wayne   born    in   Chester   county. 

Lindley  Murray,  Grammarian,  born  in  Lancaster 
county.  Franklin  stoves  invented  by  Dr.  Franklin. 

1747  First  Steel  furnace  erected  in  Philadelphia  by  Stephen 

Paschall. 

1748  First  Public  Lottery    sanctioned   by  the  Legislature. 

Fort  de  la  Presque  Isle  erected. 

1749  Lewis  Evans  published  a  map  of  the  Middle  Colonies, 

An  Academy  and  Charitable  school  established  in 
Philadelphia.  It  1750  it  was  opened  as  a  Latin 
school ;  in  1753  it  was  incorporated  and  endowed ;  in 
1755  it  was  chartered  under  the  title  of  "  The  College 
Academy  and  Charitable  School  of  Philadelphia ;" 
and  in  1799  it  became  the  University  of  Pennsylvania. 
First  settlement  in  Tuscarora  valley  made  by  Scotch- 
Irish. 

1751  Pennsylvania    Hospital    at    Philadelphia    founded 

buildings  erected,  1755  to  1804.  The  Loganian  Li 
brary  founded. 

1752  First    Fire     Insurance    Company    in    the    Colonies, 

"  The  Philadelphia  Contributionship,"  established. 
Franklin  and  ;Kinnersley  establish  the  identity  of 
electricity  and  lightning.  State-house  bell  im 
ported  from  England  ;  re-cast  in  Philadelphia,  1873. 

1753  Washington's  expedition  to  Veuango  ;  the  Forks  of  the 

Ohio  fortified  by  his  advice;  he  visits  the  Half  King 
Tarracharison,  and  the  Queen  Alliquippa.  Franklin 
appointed  Deputy  Postmaster -General  for  the  British 
Colonies.  French  invaded  Western  Pennsylvania. 
Beginning  of  the  French  atod  Indian  war. 


APPENDIX.  241 

1754  First  settlement  on  the  site  of  Pittsburgh.    Fort  Du 

Quesne  built  by  the  French.  March  of  Colonial 
troops  for  the  Ohio  country,  April  22.  Battle  of  Great 
Meadows,  May  28.  Washington  in  command  of  the 
troops,  May  30.  Surrender  of  Fort  Necessity,  July  4. 

1755  Defeat  of  Braddock,  July  9.     Braddock  died  of  wounds, 

July  13. 

1756  England  declared  war  against  France,  May  17.    Fort 

Granville,  on  the  Juniata,  burned  by  Indians,  July 
30.  Fort  Halifax,  Dauphin  county,  erected.  Kit- 
tanning  destroyed  by  Colonel  Armstrong,  September 
8.  First  line  of  stages  and  wagons  between  Philadel 
phia  and  Baltimore. 

1757  First  Weekly  Post  between  Philadelphia  and  Carlisle. 

1758  The  French  «retreat  from  Fort  Du  Quesne,  Novem 

ber  24. 

1759  First  Theatre  erected  in  Philadelphia.    Company  for 

Insurance  on  Lives  (Presbyterian)  established. 

1760  Products  of  Pennsylvania  so  vast  as  to  require  8,000 

to  9,000  wagons  for  transportation  to  Philadelphia. 
Classical  school  established  in  Cumberland  Valley. 
1862    Connecticut  settlers    arrived    at    Wyoming,  and  are 
attacked    by    Indians.     War  with  Spain    declared. 
George  III.  proclaimed  in  Pennsylvania,  January  21. 

1763  Peace  concluded  at  Paris,  February  10.    Pontiac'swar. 

Mason  and  Dixon  commenced  running  boundary 
line  between  Pennsylvania  and  Maryland.  Massa 
cre  of  settlers  in  Wyoming  county  by  Indians,  Oc 
tober  15. 

1764  Colonel  Henry   Boquet's  expedition  against  the  In 

dians.  Medical  department  of  the  University  of 
Pennsylvania  founded— the  oldest  medical  school  in 
the  country. 

1765  Stamp  Act  passed,  March  8.    Robert  Fulton  born  in 

Lancaster  county. 

1766  Stamp  Act  repealed,  March  18. 

1769  Methodism  first  introduced  into  Pennsylvania.  Ameri 
can  Philosophical  Society  founded. 

1773  First  Methodist  Conference  in  the  United  States  held 
in  Philadelphia.  First  Steamboat  floated  on  the 
11 


242  APPENDIX. 

Schuylkill  by  Oliver  Evans.  Resolutions  passed  in 
the  Province  to  resist  the  duty  on  Tea,  October  18. 

1774  First  Continental  Congress  assembled  in  Carpenter's 

Hall,  Philadelphia,  September  5.  Resolutions 
against  the  Slave  Trade  passed  by  the  First  Congress. 

1775  Second  Continental  Congress  assembled  in  Philadel 

phia,  May  10.  First  Pennsylvania  company  that 
marched  to  the  seat  of  war  was  a  company  of  rifle 
men  from  York,  July  1.  Continental  money  first 
issued. 

1776  Declaration  of  Independence  adopted,  July  4.     Read 

from  the  rear  of  the  State-house,  July  8.  Convention 
for  forming  State  Constitution  met  in  Philadelphia, 
July  15.  Declaration  of  Independence  signed,  August 
2.  Washington  retreated  across  the  Delaware,  De 
cember  8. 

1777  Battle  of  Brandywine,  September  11.     Congress  ad 

journed  to  Lancaster,  September  18.  Massacre  at 
Paoli,  September  20.  British  occupied  Philadelphia, 
September  26.  Congress  assembled  at  Lancaster  and 
adjourned  to  York,  September  27 .  Supreme  Execu 
tive  Council  met  at  Lancaster,  October  1.  Battle 
of  Germantown,  October  4 .  British  fleet  sailed  up 
the  Delaware,  November  18.  Washington  retired 
to  Valley  Forge,  December  11 . 

1778  British  evacuated  Philadelphia,  June  18.     Battle  of 

the  Kegs,  January  7.  Battle  of  Wyoming,  July  3 
and  4. 

1782  Preliminary  Treaty  of  Peace  signed  at  Paris,  Novem 

ber  30. 

1783  Cessation  of  hostilities  proclaimed,  April  19.    Treaty  of 

Peace  signed  at  Paris,  September  3.  Continental 
Army  disbanded,  November  3. 

1786  An  Act  passed  appropriati  ng  the  proceeds  of  60,000  acres 

of  land  in  aid  of  Public  Schools,  April  7. 

1787  Convention  for  framing  the  National  Constitution  met 

in  Philadelphia,  May  10.  Continued  in  session  until 
September  17.  National  Constitution  adopted,  Sep 
tember  17. 


APPENDIX.  243 

1789  "  Pennsylvania  Society  for  Promoting  the  Abolition  of 
Slavery  "  incorporated.  Convention  for  framing  the 
new  State  Constitution  met  in  Philadelphia,  Novem 
ber  24. 

1791  First  "  Bank  of  the  United  States  "  incorporated,  Feb 
ruary  25. 

1793  Washington's  second  inauguration  took  place  in  old 
Congress  Hall,  March  4.  Wayne's  campaign,  1793  to 
1795. 

1796  First  Type  Foundry  in  America  established  in  Phila 

delphia.  General  Anthony  Wayne  died  at  Presque 
Island,  September  27. 

1797  John  Adams  inaugurated  President,  March  4. 

1799  State  Legislature  met  in  Lancaster. 

1800  Seat  of  the  Federal  Government  removed  from  Phila 

delphia  to  Washington,  D.  C. 

1802    An  Act  passed  for  the  education  of  the  poor,  gratis. 
1804    The  frigate  Philadelphia  gallantly  burned  by  Decatur, 

in  the  harbor  of  Tripoli . 
1806    First  Railroad  in  the  United  States  built  in  Ridley 

township,  Delaware  county. 

1811  First  steamboat  launched  at  Pittsburgh. 

1812  Legislature   removed   to  Harrisburg.    Steam  water 

works  at  Fairmount  commenced .  Declaration  of 
war  against  Great  Britain,  June  19. 

1813  Perry's  fleet  built  in  Erie  in  seventy  days ;  his  victory, 

September  10.  The  American  Flotilla  under  Lieu 
tenant  Angus,  engage  the  British  vessel  Junon,  38 
guns,  and  Martin,  16  guns,  outside  Crows' Shoals, 
July  29. 

1814  Battle  of  Fort  Erie,  August  15.     Sortie  at  Fort  Erie, 

September  17. 

1816  Pittsburgh  incorporated  as  a  city.  Second  "Bank  of 
the  United  States,"  at  Philadelphia,  chartered 
April  10. 

1818  First    Light-house   on   the   Great   Lakes    erected   at 

Presque  Isle ;  rebuilt,  1857.  Lehigh  Canal  com 
menced;  completed  1838. 

1819  Corner-stone  of  the  State  Capitol  at  Harrisburg  laid, 

May  31 ;  main  building  completed,  1821 . 


244  APPENDIX. 

1820    General  Synod  of  the  Lutheran  Church  established . 
1822    State  Legislature  first  met  in  the  State  Capitol  at  Har- 
risburg. 

1824  Lafayette's  second  visit  to  Pennsylvania.      American 

Sunday-school  Union  formed  in  Philadelphia. 

1825  Schuylkill  Navigation  Canal  completed  ;  commenced 

1815.  Historical  Society  of  Pennsylvania  established. 
1827    Paper  made  from  straw  at  Meadville,  by  Col.  William 

Magraw. 
1834    Common  school  system  of  Pennsylvania  established, 

May  1.    Railroad  and  Canal  opened  to  Pittsburgh. 

First    Homeopathic    Medical  school    in  the    world 

erected  at  Allentown. 

1838  Convention  to  revise  State  Constitution  met  at  Phila 

delphia,  and  closed  their  labors,  February  22.  The 
amended  Constitution  adopted  by  the  people  at  the 
next  election.  Buckshot  war,  December  4-8. 

1839  The  Pennsylvania  banks  suspended  specie  payments, 

August  13. 
1844    "Native  American"  and  Irish  riot  in  Philadelphia; 

30  houses  and  3  churches  burned  ;  14  persons  killed, 

and  40  wounded. 

1846    First  Telegraph  lines  erected  in  Pennsylvania. 
1851    Christiana  riot,  Lancaster  county,  against  the  attempt 

to  rescue  fugitive  slaves,  September  11. 
1854  Normal  School  at  Philadelphia  founded. 
1857  Normal  School  Act  passed . 

1859  Agricultural  College  of  Pennsylvania,  Centre  county, 

opened.  Success  of  Col.  Drake  in  boring  for  Petro 
leum,  August  29. 

1860  People  of  Pittsburgh  refused  to  permit  the  shipment  of 

ordnance  from  the  Arsenal  to  Southern  forts,  De 
cember  24. 

1861  Act  passed  to  organize  the  Militia  of  the  State,  April 

12.  Bill  passed  by  the  State  Senate  to  define  and 
punish  treason,  April  13.  Two  Pennsylvania  regi 
ments  raised  for  the  United  States  reported  ready  for 
service,  April  13.  Five  companies  of  Pennsylvania 
volunteers,  accompanied  by  regular  troops  from 
Carlisle,  reached  Washington,  D.  C.,  April  18,  being 


APPENDIX.  245 

the  first  volunteer  troops  that  entered  the  National 
Capital,  under  the  call  of  President  Lincoln.  Act 
passed  to  organize  the  Reserve  Corps  of  the  Com 
monwealth,  May  15.  Lieutenant  John  T.  Greble,  of 
Philadelphia,  killed  at  the  battle  of  Great  Bethel, 
Va.,  June  10,  the  first  Pennsylvania  officer  who  fell 
in  the  war  for  the  Union.  Pennsylvania  Reserve 
Corps  marched  to  the  defence  of  Washington,  July  21. 

1862  The  whole  Militia  force  of  the  State  called  out  by 

Governor  Curtin,  September  14,  to  repel  invasion  of 
the  State.  General  Stuart's  Confederate  cavalry 
made  a  raid  into  Pennsylvania,  demanded  the  sur 
render  of  Chambersburg,  destroyed  the  military 
stores,  burned  the  machine-shops,  depot  buildings, 
etc.,  October  10. 

1863  Second  invasion  of  Pennsylvania.     Lee  advances  north 

of  Chambersburg,  June  16.  Confederates  occupied 
the  town.  Skirmish  near  Gettysburg,  June  23.  Con 
federates  advanced  to  Shippensburg,  June  24  ;  near 
Carlisle,  June  25.  Confederates  occupied  Gettys 
burg,  and  Unionists  evacuated  Carlisle,  June  26. 
General  Meade  assumed  command  of  the  Army  of 
the  Potomac  ;  Confederates  occupied  York  ;  threat 
ened  Harrisburg;  skirmish  at  Columbia  Bridge; 
bridge  burned,  June  28.  Confederates  shelled  Car 
lisle  on  the  night  of  July  1.  Battle  of  Gettysburg, 
July  1-3.  General  Reynolds  killed,  July  1. 

1864  Great  Sanitary  Fair  at  Logan  Square,  Philadelphia, 

opened  June  7.  Third  invasion  of  Pennsylvania  by 
the  Confederates,  July.  Chambersburg  burned, 
July  30. 

1868  Corner-stone  of  the  new  Masonic  Temple  in  Philadel 
phia  laid  June  24.  James  Buchanan,  ex-President 
of  the  United  States,  died  at  Wheatland,  near  Lan 
caster,  June  1.  Thaddeus  Stevens  died  at  Washing 
ton,  D.  C.,  August  11;  buried  at  Lancaster. 

1873  Convention  to  revise  State  Constitution  met  in  Phila 
delphia,  and  closed  their  labors,  November  3.  Con 
stitution  adopted,  December  16,  1873. 

1876  Centennial  of  the  Independence  of  the  States ;  Inter 
national  Exposition  at  Philadelphia,  July  4. 


246  APPENDIX. 


TABULAR  STATEMENT  OF  TROOPS  FUR 
NISHED  BY  PENNSYLVANIA  DURING 
THE  REBELLION. 

1861. 

Under  call  of  the  President,  April  15th,  1861, 
for  three  months 20, 979 

"  Pennsylvania  Reserve  Volunteer  corps,"  ori 
ginally  intended  for  State  service,  but  sent 
into  the  service  of  the  General  Government, 
under  call  of  the  President,  of  July  22,  1861, 
for  three  years 15, 856 

Organized  under  Act  of  Congress  o/  July  22, 

1861,  for  three  years 93, 759 

130,594 

1862. 

Under  the  call  of  the  President  of  July  7th,  1862, 
including  18  nine  month  regiments 40, 383 

Organized  under  draft  of  August  4th,  1862,  for 
nine  months 15, 100 

Independent  companies  for  three  years 1, 358 

Recruits  forwarded  by  Superintendents  of  Re 
cruiting  Service 9, 259 

Enlistments  in  other  State  organizations,  and 
in  the  Regular  Army 5, 000 

71,100 

1863. 

Organized  under  special  authority  of  War  De 
partment,  for  three  years 1, 066 

Under  call  of  the  President,  June,  1863  : 

For  six  months 4, 484 

For   emergency 7, 062 

Recruits  forwarded  by  Superintendents  of  Re 
cruiting  Service 4, 458 

Enlistments  in  Regular  Army 934 

Ninety  days  militia,  June,  1863 25, 042 

43,046 


APPENDIX.  247 

1864. 
Re-enlistment  in  old  organizations,  for  three 

years 17, 876 

Organized  under  special  authority  from  War 

Department,  for  three  years 9, 867 

Under  call  July  27th,  for  one  year 16, 094 

Under  call  July  6th,  for  one  hundred  days. . .    7, 675 
Recruits  forwarded  by  Superintendents  of  Re 
cruiting  Service 26,567 

Drafted  men  and  substitutes 10,651 

Recruits  for  Regular  Army 2,974 

91,704 

1865. 

(Recruiting  for  volunteers,  ceased  in  April  of 
this  year), 

Under  call  of  the  President,  of  December  19th, 
1864,  for  one  year 9, 645 

Recruits  forwarded  by  Superintendents  of  Re 
cruiting  Service 9, 133 

Drafted  men  and  substitutes 6, 675 

Recruits  for  Regular  Army 387 

25,840 


Total  number  of  men  furnished 362, 284 


The  above  statement  does  not  include  the  25,000  Militia  in 
active  service  in  September  1862. 


CONTENTS. 


PAGE 

Prefatory,       .        .        . 3 

Robert  Morris, 7 

Benjamin  Eush, 17 

Benjamin  Franklin, ..26 

John  Morton, 39 

George  Clymer, 51 

James  Smith, .60 

George  Taylor,       .        .        .        .        ....      69 

James  Wilson,        .        .        .        .        .        .        .    .- .      76 

George  Ross, '    ,       .       .       .      85 

Anthony  "Wayne, •  ...      94 

Arthur  St.  Clair, .104 

Thomas  Mifflin,      .        .        .        .  .        .        .110 

General  William  Irvine, 117 

Major-General  Muhlenberg,          124 

Andrew  Porter,     ........    131 

General  Joseph  Reed, 138 

General  John  Armstrong,  Jr.,      .        .    '  .       .        .    146 
Generals  George  and  John  Gibson,      .        .  .    153 

Major-General  John  Cadwalader,        .        .        .        .    160 
Captain  Nicholas  Biddle,      .        .       .        .       .       .    168 

Thomas  McKean, .175 

Francis  Hopkinson, 186 

Hon.  Hugh  Williamson,  LL.D.,  .        .        .       .       .194 
John  Dickinson,  LL.D.,        .        .        .        ..'.        .202 

Hon.  Gouverneur  Morris, 209 

Benjamin  West, 216 

Robert  Fulton, 223 

Appendix, 233